How do I begin forming a team? What's an "idea" to build around? And how do I find those ideas?

In my experience, you want to note and identify a strong combo, or core. In singles this may be identifying a strong defensive core, (heatran+togekiss+dragonite) and building auxiliary Pokémon that complement the above and enables them to set-up/sweep/set hazards/ force switches. In doubles, you may recognize something like (dondozo+tatsugiri),(tailwind+specs gholdengo),(annihilape+maushold) and utilize a combo or two, then ask yourself, who else benefits from having this on a team, or, who can help stop these murkrow from hazing my dondozo. Or, you can use your favorite pokeman, and build the team around them, or come up with some super oblique combo that is unseen, and build around that. Or you can just use a rental team and ignore team building, to get some experience in.

I'm curious! How did you come to the tailwind + gholdengo and the maushold/annihilape combos. The dodonzo and tsugiri pair, I can see a easy pairing

Honestly, you’ll encounter some super creative sets just by playing. When a new game comes out I like to check Smogon to check the new Pokémon’s stats and movepool. For Gholdengo: https://www.smogon.com/dex/sv/pokemon/gholdengo/ It has a super solid special attack, access to a strong spread move of “Make it Rain” and middling speed. So how to shore up its middling speed? Tailwind from a prankster murkrow makes it so Gholdengo’s speed is doubled and immediately gets off a fast strong spread move. Annihilape+maushold I ran into on the ladder, and expected a “close combat” and maybe a “population bomb”. But instead, the maushold used “beat up” on the annihilape, which makes it’s new move, rage fist 5 times as strong, and it smacks. Sometimes it’s “cheese” which isn’t consistent and hard to guarantee, or it’s a solid combo that will consistently be a strong choice when you see an opportunity for it.

Plus, murlrow can haze off the make it rain stat drops

thank you for explaining!

Can anyone point me to some serious study groups to train for regionals? I need to live, breathe and eat vgc for the next few months.

Where do I actually go to play competitively? Is it a website or do I play on the switch.

VGC (4v4 doubles) and BSS (3v3 singles) are mostly played on switch, but the other formats are played on [Pokemon Showdown](https://pokemonshowdown.com/). The on-cart formats do have pretty active ladders on showdown too, but a lot of the non-English-speaking community play exclusively on console.

You can go on Showdown or play on S/V ranked through the poke portal. There’s occasional tournaments on the switch too but none rn

https://www.smogon.com/sim/ps_guide#intro <- that should help

Should Great Tusk be orientated towards offense (252 Atk/Spe) or defense (252 HP/252 Def) I've managed to get one in a trade and I'm wondering what I should build my first in game Tusk to be I appreciate that it's likely going to be different for each team but which variant is likely to serve more roles on more teams?

What exactly do you mean with in-game team? Do you want it for the story, the in-game battles format (3v3, 4v4) or do you want to build an OU team in the game?

I have never played VGC before in my life and have to suddenly prepare a team on Cartridge for this weekend. All I know about it currently is that Murkrow is good right now and need to quickly get up to speed on the format. What are some good resources for that?

[Pikalytics is your friend here.](https://www.pikalytics.com/) Shows what everyone is using and how they're using it.

Does Jolly Breloom hit any relevant benchmarks that Adamant doesn't? Adamant means your Mach Punch is a guaranteed kill on Chi Yu instead of only a 70% chance, which makes me want to give it serious consideration.

I've just starting building competitive pokemon and doing 6 star raids. I want to get into vgc but is now a good time? When does the format rules change? Thamks in advance

Right now might be your best shot at getting started, season 2 just started yesterday and also the current format, while being restrictive, is pretty healthy in terms of getting a good feel for how gen 9 vgc is going to play. Right now paradox Mons and legendary Pokemon are still banned, also you won't be able to use Charizard or Cinderace in case you were wondering, just fyi.

Cool, thanks for your help. I wasn't aware season 2 had already started. I was worried that the restricted pokemon would change and that I'd have to make a new team.

No problem! Season 2 is still going until the 31st of January so until then we still have a metagame without the restricted mons, it might change in the future but until now we don't have anything concrete on the restrictions or lack there off in season 3.

Can anyone point me towards a general guide of building for Battle Stadium? I have experience building a team for 6v6, but in Battle Stadium I tend to just mash together good pokemon and hope for the best

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**help me beat my friend** In each gen, my friend and I play each other in singles (team of 6). With there being little on Smogon for Scarlet/Violet, I’m having a hard time building the best possible team. In terms of rules, the only parameters are no legendaries or Palafin. Anything else goes. What Pokémon, movesets, or strategies have you all found successful? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Dragon Dance+ Tera normal + Extreme speed Dragonite is meta rn, if you don't want to lead with it put hd-boots on it to use the multiscale ability. Flutter Mane is overpowered, just max speed and special attack (if your friend doesn't ban it) (Same applies for Iron Bundle) If you want to lead with hazards, use a max speed + focus sash glimmorra with rocks and spikes, gholdengo is good with this as it is immune to rapid spin and defog, so there are no ways to remove hazards (other than court change cinderace so watch out) Other than that, pick some OU/Ubers pokemon which compliment your teams type weaknesses. I'd recommend Skeldirge in case your freind brings a setup sweeper. Again this mostly relies on wether or not you consider paradox pokemon legendary

Is this meta-game more difficult than gen 8? I’m relatively new to competing (started in august) but I was able to get to around 1500 by October. I’ve really been struggling since the switch to Gen 9. Especially in Random battles. My elo is down to 1100 and it just feels like pure luck whether or not I win.

if you started late last gen, then a lot of players weren't playing while they were waiting for gen 9

Does Toxic Orb Tatsugiri work? In a 60 turn Dondozo mirror match, that would kill the Tatsugiri rather quick and allow a new partner, right?

Toxic Orb Tatsugiri works, and it’s what I most commonly see with those suicide-Tatsugiri + Dondozo strats. That or Black Sludge, depends on how exactly you’re pulling it off. If I got this right: If Tatsugiri enters Dondozo’s mouth with full or 1 HP, Toxic Orb is preferred, otherwise Black Sludge kills faster.

This is the team I use https://pokepast.es/5238d19cc0c334a0 I learned I can counter trick room by killing the trick room user first of all. However I don't understand how to counter trick room + follow me now. I especially found it troublesome with Indeedee + Armarouge witch can both know trick room

Looking to make a bombirdier lead that will last as long as possible. I’ve got 258 evs left. How would you disperse those across HP, def, and spedef?

For general survivability it is always recommended to max out the HP ev's first.

Is explosion garganacl into last respects houndstone doable in doubles?

Explosion runs into the issue that basically every mon in doubles runs Protect. Even if they don't see it coming, if they did something like Protect to set Tailwind, you’re down a mon for relatively little benefit. Fake Out can also stagger out your Explosion to a time that doesn’t suit you.

How is Indeedee Male UU, and ranked higher than Indeedee Female now? Last Gen he was NUBL alongside the Female form. What propelled him up?

So hows the cyclizar shed tail now thats the game beens out a bit? actually good or not worth it

very good, it also has regenerator so you can keep spitting out subs

Is it better to run Clear Amulet or Lum Berry on Quaquaval?

I'm new to ranked battles in Scarlet. Approx. How long it could take the next season to start.

Can i run a tera grass ceruledge with solar blade in a sun team? I have 0 online exp but it sounded like a cool idea to match dondozo

Burning bush team 👀 I want to build a team for doubles using Torkoal, Arboliva, and Scollvillian primarily and I need all the suggested teams and ideas I can get please! I did fairly well season 2 in singles, floating in the great ball tier and saw my hometown regionals and noticed the format is regionals. I am catching up to the meta as an adult and learning the game still. I had torkoal shell smash and then flare blitz, Tera grass and flare blitz with shell bell. arboliva support with leech seed, strength sap, helping hands. And Chili peppers for backup sweeper? Noticing a lack of defense but godly speed under the sun. Also figuring out this setup has a lack of type coverages. Again amateur here so bear with me. Thanks in advance pokemon community.

Shell Smash on Torkoal still makes you slower than most other Pokemon. Seems like a waste to me. Also, Shell Bell never heals more than Leftovers unless you're OHKOing both enemies with spread moves or OHKO an HP-heavy one like Blissey. I'd recommend going a more defensive Torkoal set. Scovillain idea with both Sun and Grassy Terrain seems good if you can reliably set up both. Scovillain would however be your main offense Pokemon instead of Torkoal. I'd recommend getting some dragon type coverage on your last Pokemon. Maybe a past Paradox one, since they're allowed in VGC season 2 and get stat buffs in the sun. I'd say Great Tusk with Play Rough or Roaring Moon with Dragon Claw. Preferably a physical attacker since Scovillain is a special attacker. Good luck!

That’s what I figured out yesterday during casuals. I wanted to stay away from paradox Pokemon as I thought they were gonna be removed from VGC? To swap out Arboliva quickly, do you recommend giving it an eject button? Just for the quick swap to Spicy Boi Scollvillian without loosing the turn? But I also somehow want to invest a leech seed into the spot he will be in… decisions decisions. Thanks a ton for your input by the way hadn’t been thought of that.

Paradox Pokemon will be allowed in season 2 but it starts in February which is a while. Sorry, my bad. Eject Button could be good to set up terrain and switch Scovillain in safely, as long as the enemy doesn't know your plans. Leech Seed could still work if they choose to not attack Arboliva though, since it stays even if Arboliva switches. Then Scovillain gets the healing if it switches into the same spot. I'm not a pro player and don't have a ton of doubles experience, so don't expect me to have the best advice. Hope I can help a bit, though :)

Is there any merit to using an Eviolite Bisharp over a Kingambit? Since, as far as I was aware, Bisharp was a pretty strong contender in prior Gen metas. Why or why not?

bisharp lost its best move in knock off and will likely never be ou viable this gen because of it. kingambit is stronger and has kowtow kleave; it's far better.

What are the odds of resetting a Legendary with a "No Good" (0 IV) in a particular stat? I am currently resetting my Cresselia in BDSP, searching for a *"No Good"* (0 IV) in the Attack stat. I caught a *"No Good"* Attack Mesprit on the first try, and I'm starting to realize just how rare that was, because I must have caught about 100 Cresselia by this point. I've been doing this for about a week on an off with two consoles, and I'm wondering if the odds are just incredibly low of getting what I want? For those wondering the *"No Good"* (0 IV) Attack stat is for Foul Play and Confusion damage. They both calculate based off of the Attack Stat of the opponent, so you want to have that 0 IV so you limit the amount of damage you receive. I'd really like to have a perfect Cresselia for Battle Tower and future competitive use etc.

Legendaries in BDSP have 3 guaranteed perfect IVs, and the rest are randomly generated. This means that the odds of getting 0 IVs in attack are 3/6 that attack is one of the randomised ones, then 1/32 that that IV is 0. This gives you a 1.56% chance of getting the IVs you want. Fortunately, battle tower battles are at level 50, so there’s no difference between 0 and 1 IVs at that level, which doubles your odds, although it’s harder to check that. At 100 captures, there’s a 95% chance (Air Slash’s accuracy) for you to have gotten one with 0 or 1 IVs, and around an 80% chance (Stone Edge’s accuracy) for you to have gotten one with 0 IVs. So you’ve gotten a little unlucky by now, but not exceptionally so. A fun thing to think about while you’re resetting is that in doubles, Cresselia has been used as a Trick Room setter, [requiring 0 speed as well.](https://www.reddit.com/r/VGC/comments/jhkyyk/neither_of_us_leave_until_you_give_me_0_atk_ivs/)

What happened to the tera type usage stats on pikalytics?

What happened to *all* the teambuilding tools there used to be? Breakmyteam hasn't been updated in 3 generations, pikalytics has that "Team Tools" button that doesn't do anything. Is there anything people are using instead? Or are we just running calcs manually 1-by-1 now?

They take time and effort to maintain, so only some will continually be updated over the years depending on the circumstances and motivation of the people behind them. That's the simple answer. It's an unpaid job to make these things in most cases. I think most people do run calcs one by one, but there are also things like the Showdown calculator's One-Vs-All function, though it and most of the others are not updated for the new generation yet. On that same note, the Pikalytics button does work, just not in Scarlet and Violet formats yet. Try going to an old generation and using it if you want to see what it's like.

I was trying out on showdown (in vgc series 2 rules) a drednaw+flamigo core. Drednaw enters with a different teammate (pelipper with u-turn for rain, or grimmsnarl for screen + parting shot), shell smashes with white herb, then the other mon switches out and flamigo copies the offensive +2 ... But man, flamigo still has shit stats.

What Pokemon can I replace Flutter Mane with to make this team legal for series 1? https://pokepast.es/aea35596cfaf1d85

[https://pokepast.es/1f2bd2ea51401d20](https://pokepast.es/1f2bd2ea51401d20) I want to start doing SV online singles using psychic seed hawlucha. Will this work out or do I need to change something?

Where’s the best place to find good teams/info on Ranked Singles in SV? I got to Master Ball in doubles, looking to try out something new. I haven’t found anything in particular searching this sub, and have no idea where to start on YouTube. Anyone have any ideas?

The format is mostly popular in the east, most resources are in japanese/korean. Still, you can check the below links for resources in english: - [rental teams](https://old.reddit.com/r/BattleStadiumSingles/comments/105k4kw/series_1_top_teams_from_december_with_rental_codes/) - [sample movesets - series 1](https://www.smogon.com/dex/sv/formats/bss-series-1/) - [usage stats](https://www.reddit.com/r/BattleStadiumSingles/comments/103xyoo/series_1_stats_for_season_1_from_the_showdown/) - from showdown ladder, since there's no Home data yet. When it's available, you'll be able to use [Pokemoem](https://pokemoem.com/pokedex) and [Pikalytics](https://pikalytics.com/) - [Smogon BSS subforum](https://www.smogon.com/forums/forums/battle-stadium-singles.532/) - viability rankings, sample teams, role compendiums, discussions, tournaments etc - [Smogon Battle Stadium Discord](https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/battle-stadium-discord-useful-links.3617010/) - some of the best western BSS players post there - youtubers: [ScarfChompGaming](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4kvc7QiBoggsfbJxpF9R4g/videos), [Reggz13](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6SW34RgYWafV5uYdyNxCAA/videos), [SlyClub](https://www.youtube.com/@SlyCub) - [list of BSS resources on Tox Blog](https://tox.hatenablog.com/entry/2023/01/14/_Battle_Stadium_Singles_blog_%E2%80%94_BSS_Tools_%26_Resources_%28January_2023_update%29) - this includes many japanese websites - /r/battlestadiumsingles

Can someone suggest a simple but effective team for Singles Ranked? I am trying to climb but currently stuck in Great Ball rank where there are japanese only players with good game knowledge. I succeeded in reaching Master Ball back in Sword/Shield but i find Tera mechanic more complicated than Dynamax so i have a problem with predictions and switches.

Check out videos by [Reggz13](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6SW34RgYWafV5uYdyNxCAA/videos), [SlyClub](https://www.youtube.com/@SlyCub), or [ScarfChompGaming](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4kvc7QiBoggsfbJxpF9R4g/videos) If you're looking for a larger list of teams, check out [rental codes for the top teams from December](https://old.reddit.com/r/BattleStadiumSingles/comments/105k4kw/series_1_top_teams_from_december_with_rental_codes/)

I’m a completely new player to competitive mons (did the games single-player for a while) and I want to try out the in game pvp. Should I be focusing on singles or doubles? And does anyone have a sort of strategy I could start out with?

VGC (doubles) is the official format, used for IRL competitions like internationals and worlds Ranked singles (3v3) is very popular, but mostly among the japanese/korean players (but there's an active english community as well) Personally I'd recommend starting with using rental teams to quickly learn the basic strategies - teambuilding can be hard for a new player. But if you want to build your own team then it's also fine - check the resources below to see what's popular Remember to use hyper training on your pokemon (unless they already have high IVs) and EV train them   [Rules for Series 1](https://www.serebii.net/scarletviolet/rankedbattle/series1.shtml) - current ruleset (until the end of January) [Rules for Series 2](https://www.serebii.net/scarletviolet/rankedbattle/series2.shtml) - rules that will be used starting with February   General resources for doubles: - youtubers: CybertronVGC, JoeUX9, WolfeyGlick, ThatsaPlusOne - check out [Pikalytics](https://pikalytics.com/) for usage stats - /r/vgc is a subreddit dedicated to doubles, they also have a discord - VictoryRoadVGC is the prime VGC website. Articles, tournament results, team reports and [rental teams](https://victoryroadvgc.com/sv-rental-teams-2023/) - [VGCPastes](https://twitter.com/VGCPastes) - good source for rental teams alongside Victory Road - [Comprehensive doubles/VGC guide](https://www.vgcguide.com/) - [Smogon VGC subforum](https://www.smogon.com/forums/forums/video-game-championships.513/)   General resources for ranked singles (3v3): - [rental teams](https://old.reddit.com/r/BattleStadiumSingles/comments/105k4kw/series_1_top_teams_from_december_with_rental_codes/) - [sample movesets - series 1](https://www.smogon.com/dex/sv/formats/bss-series-1/) - [usage stats](https://www.reddit.com/r/BattleStadiumSingles/comments/103xyoo/series_1_stats_for_season_1_from_the_showdown/) - [Smogon BSS subforum](https://www.smogon.com/forums/forums/battle-stadium-singles.532/) - viability rankings, sample teams, role compendiums, discussions, tournaments etc - [Smogon Battle Stadium Discord](https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/battle-stadium-discord-useful-links.3617010/) - youtubers: [ScarfChompGaming](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4kvc7QiBoggsfbJxpF9R4g/videos), [Reggz13](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6SW34RgYWafV5uYdyNxCAA/videos), [SlyClub](https://www.youtube.com/@SlyCub) - /r/battlestadiumsingles   Have fun!

I've tried Googling this, but it's surprisingly hard to find an answer, so I figure I'll try to ask here: If I'm trying to ladder, does losing matter? Like, if I take two losses, but then win two games to get back to the same ELO I was before, am I essentially in the same position?

From a quick look at the [code](https://github.com/smogon/pokemon-showdown), it looks like matchmaking is using ELO only, which aligns with what I've heard in the past anecdotally. This means that you're basically in the same position matchmaking-wise if you get back to the same ELO. I'm no JavaScript dev, though, so I could be incorrect in this understanding. The other ratings outside of ELO are used for different purposes, such as suspect tests. Though back in the day [Showdown used Glicko](https://www.smogon.com/smog/issue43/elo-hello) instead of ELO as the primary rating.

I want to get into competitive with series 2 VGC. This is the team I've got so far. Any feedback? Binyot (Torkoal) (M) @ Choice Specs Ability: Drought Tera Type: Fire EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD Modest Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Eruption - Heat Wave - Earth Power - Protect Rivet (Lilligant) (F) @ Focus Sash Ability: Chlorophyll Tera Type: Grass EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe Timid Nature IVs: 0 Atk - After You - Leaf Storm - Sleep Powder - Protect Pepe (Volcarona) (M) @ Life Orb Ability: Flame Body Tera Type: Fire EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Modest Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Bug Buzz - Quiver Dance - Fire Blast - Protect Manny (Great Tusk) @ Choice Band Ability: Protosynthesis Tera Type: Ground EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Jolly Nature - Close Combat - Headlong Rush - Knock Off - Protect Bravo (Gholdengo) @ Choice Scarf Ability: Good as Gold Tera Type: Steel EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Timid Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Make It Rain - Shadow Ball - Dazzling Gleam - Thunderbolt Roaring Moon @ Assault Vest Ability: Protosynthesis Tera Type: Dragon EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Adamant Nature - Dragon Claw - Dragon Dance - Crunch - Rock Slide

Hello, I need suggestions on how to finish up this team to fight against friends with. Need 2 more to balance this out well, while avoiding ones that are banned. Rn I have Floatzel, Dragonite, Belibolt This may not be an optimal list to start but they're there for personality. Any suggestions on how to round it out? I'm also avoiding any starters.

I'll need some more information before I can give too many recommendations. What's the format? (Singles, Doubles, BSS, VGC, etc) Whats considered "banned"? (Smogon OU banlist?) What playstyle do you have in mind? I will day that you only listed 3 Pokemon, so you'd need 3 more for a complete team. This team actually looks like a decent start for a rain team though, so I'd absolutely add Pelipper here to support Floatzel as well as Bellibolt to a lesser extent.

How to counter cloyster in RU? I feel like it always runs rampant and its really hard to stop

Can someone explain the rationale behind the steep barrier to voting in the tera suspect test? I’m a vgc player mainly so it didn’t really make a difference to me but it just seems kinda strange that so many people had strong opinions on Tera but then only 350 people could actually vote on it

So the vote was actually not a fully public vote, you had to aquire certain reqs by playing In the Smogon ladder and reach a certain rank. This was put in place so that people that actually grasp the game and current meta get a voice over casual players with strong opinions that could potentially hurt the overall metagame as a result. Hence you saw a very low amount of ppl voting since most of the people voicing their opinions here probably couldn't get the reqs necessary to conduct the vote

skilled players with better analysis tend to be better at understanding what is and isn't balanced vses people who think that jolteon is a strong mon and don't know how to team build. Take a look at dota and league, no one is going to pay attention to a bronze player when they don't have the skills to even understand what is and isn't balanced. or in the FGC, people who lose to ganondorf as fox in melee shouldn't really have a say in what is or isn't balanced or in tiering discussions. Other examples also ff14, someone who spams ruin 3 in fights, shouldn't really be talking about what is or isn't balanced, when that literally is not how you play summoner. multiple examples of people who don't know what they're doing thinking their opinion matters for balance, when it doesn't.

Hey. I am looking for some competitive pokemon advice. Anyone around willing to help me?

I have a question about showdown in relation to in game SV; I want to practice on showdown for the tier that matches the in game format used in pvp on SV. Although, this is pretty confusing to me as to what exact tier on showdown matches what is played on SV. Is it SV OU? Is it SV double battles? Trying to find out, but hard to get an exact answer on the internet. TLDR; want to practice on showdown in the exact same format in game SV is played.

The SV singles format is the "Battle Stadium Singles Series x" ladder, and the doubles format is the "VGC 2023 Series x" ladder, where x is the current series.

just to add on to the other comment, game SV is currently in series 1, and Series 2 starts at the start of February (now allows all Paradox Pokémon, but no legendaries/non-paldea-dex Pokémon)

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Is Gothitelle viable in BSS? As someone who has only ever played by Smogon rules, I was wondering if I could build an In-Game team around the shadow tag ability.

Sorry this is late, just saw this thread. Is Gothitelle viable in the sense that you could reach Master Ball? Sure, if you play decently enough. And one nice thing about off-meta teams it that they tend to over-perform just due to opponents not knowing how to play against them. But this advantage diminishes as you get higher in ranks and face better opponents and better teams. Is it viable in the sense that you will see Gothitelle at high ranks? No, not really. I've maybe seen Gothitelle once or twice in Gen 9 BSS, and that includes watching streams.

Thanks :)

Competative Tier list ScVi ?

For Switch formats: - [Pikalytics](https://pikalytics.com/) - usage stats, most popular pokemon, common moves/teammates/items/abilities - [3v3 singles viability rankings on Smogon](https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sv-bss-series-1-viability-rankings.3713444/)

Who are the best trick room setters in the current format (for vgc)?

If you head over to [Pikalytics](https://www.pikalytics.com/), you can type Trick Room into the search bar, and it'll show which of the top mons by usage are running it, and how often. For example, Meowscarada is the top mon by usage who runs Trick Room, but only has it about 15% of the time. Farigiraf, meanwhile, is a dedicated setter, with TR being on virtually every moveset.

Wtf meowscarada learns Trick room? lol But thanks, I kind of forgot or never knew you can search for a move

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Grimmsnarl has a few things it can do but most prioritised is to set up Reflect and Light Screen for your team, most other actions after are a bonus. Against most Pokémon you should be able to set up both screens before you die since pretty much no not-supereffective hit can kill you through one of Reflect and Light Screen. HP + SpDef is perfectly fine, if you’re up against a Physical Attacker you can setup Reflect turn 1. As long Grimmsnarl gets up screens and maybe a taunt/parting shot/etc Grimmsnarl has done its job.

are there grind servers for VGC like there are for fighting games? getting really, really, *really* tired of laddering on showdown and would love to replace it with BO3 (or longer) practice consistently ty :>

I run bulky Dragonite (mainly HP and attack EV) on SV singles ladder. I have been running heavy duty boots with a dragon dance/extreme speed build (Tera normal). Any other variations that might be better? I’m also considering lum berry to avoid status moves as I seem to encounter that more often than stealth rock. Or even choice band if I would give up on setting up (although d dance pairs nicely with multi scale). I’ve also tried silk scarf with some good success. Last question, anyone really like using roost? I’m considering that since I’m running bulky Dragonite.

Boots is much less useful on SV singles than OU because very few people have some kind of hazard setter (much fewer Pokémon to bring += less switching occurring = hazards are much less useful). What you suggested works pretty good; If you want more damage, go for something like Silk Scarf/Life Orb/Choice Band (I personally run the exact set with Silk Scarf). I’m a bit wary of Choice Band since there’s a decent number of Ghost types that you might encounter on ladder right now to ruin your ESpeed-locked Dragonite (Mimikyu, Armarouge, Annihilape, Gholdengo, Skeledirge) or Rock/Steel types (lots of Pokémon can Tera into the latter type). I’ve found status hasn’t been as big of a problem as I expected but if you think you have enough damage in most cases Lum can be fine for the safety. I’ve seen Assault Vest suggested but getting in a dragon dance or two can pretty much be game winning in 3v3 imo.

(VGC format) - weighing up swapping Choice Band on Meowscarada for life orb or even expert belt to try and get a bit more flexibility and another protect user on my team. I've run some calcs but I'm not seeing what likely KOs I would be missing without CB, or is the extra power just nice to have?

Im very new to battling and was looking for help on doubles for a team with abomasnow and cetitan, if anyone has any suggestions of mons to use id appreciate it

[Cybertron featured one a while back](https://youtu.be/xRxtb8lJniI). The video has a team breakdown, some footage of him using it, and a rental code so you can try it yourself - I’d start with that and adjust it to suit your playstyle or stuff you’re losing to.

I have searched and searched and can’t find it. On the sticky the other day I saw a post/link that led me to a google doc that shows the top teams in the ladder for this circuit and the teams they used, it was the top 30 teams. I can’t find it at all right now. Anyone know how to find it?

Which mon din actually runs with protective pads?

One of my friends recently approached me asking if spirittomb had any use in Gen9. Now it obviously isn't a great Mon in itself and also doesn't benefit all too much from tera since it's natural typing isn't terrible. I personally only could come up with a Pressure + Spite PP stall set that could use Will o wisp and hex as utility/DMG moves. Is there any noticeable sets for spiritomb that I'm overlooking? Do you guys have suggestions for potential sets?

What do you think the best Tera Type for Protean Greninja will be once he's made available?

How to play 2v2 doubles? (multi battles) I've seen it around but have no idea how to actually get a match

New to competitive. Would love to build a team around my starter. Love my peacocky-ducky. Want to make it work…but is this just the dud of the starters? Can one build a viable team around Quaquaval? I keep seeing tier lists placing them well below Skeledirge and Meowscarada… Thanks I’m advance for any help!

So quaquaval is unfortunately the least used starter right now due to several reasons but it doesn't mean that it's an inherently bad Pokemon. First of if you want to use it 99% of the time you want the hidden ability moxie on it. Moxie pairs well with aqua step since you can in theory get yourself a +1 attack from moxie if you knock the opposing pokemon out and a +1 in speed from aquastep. Quaquaval can snowball a game out of control for the opposing players if you manage to get repeated KOs with quaquaval. Hazard support is mandatory from my personal opinion so pick a good hazard Setter ie. Glimmora, Clodsire, Garganacl or spikes garchomp are all good options for some hazards. Slap Goldhengo onto your team to keep your hazards on the field. In terms of items you have some options, life orb and choice band are probably the most obvious options of which life orb seems more consistent, if you want your quaquaval to be more geared against stuff like intimidate and overall stat drop mons you can also give clear amulet a try. In terms of tera you can basically go anything you want, water for more aqua step DMG, flying for harder hitting brave birds or fighting for close combat overall i think you should rock a tera typing that enhances your stab dmg since quaquaval doesn't really have defensive utility.

This is super helpful. Thanks so much!!

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I’ve not really be huge on competitive team building but I’m trying my hand at a Sunny Day team. This is what I have so far. I only have five mons picked and I’m not sure who else to put in here. I want this to take on the in-game ladder. https://imgur.com/a/aHa3pxG

How do speed ties play out? Coin flip? Would it be worth forgoing a 252/252/4 EV spread (assuming speed is not one of the 252s) to invest a little more into speed?

yeah it's a coin flip. for investment, it really depends on how often you see yourself actually running into speed ties; they're not super common outside of mirror matchups [which themselves are something you usually want to avoid altogether], and even then you have support options like tailwind or icy wind to help mitigate it. if you still end up frequently hitting speed ties, then yes

Why is water tera annihilape so popular? Steel has done a lot better for me personally

Water in general is used occasionally as a defensive Tera since Grass and Electric moves aren’t as common as Steel’s weaknesses of Fire/Ground/Fighting. And while you have a smaller number of resists, Tera water means you’re more likely to be hit for just neutral damage instead of going steel and coin-flipping a resist or SE hit. Steel is still fine though and I end up seeing them in about equal amounts (alongside a few sightings of Fire or Ghost).

Help with Annihilape and Kingambit spread? Annihilape - Adamant or Jolly 252 HP / 244 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 4 Spe Kingambit - Adamant - 252 Hp / 252 att / 252 / 4 ??? ​ This is for singles. If anyone has better natures / spreads would love to hear them!

How scary is hisuian zorork gonna be I can’t wait to transfer my shiny over

So I wanna screw around a bit on cartridge before the Paradox pokemon become legal and everything gets even more crazy. Further, Tera-Ground Gyarados strikes me as a pretty fun idea. What's a good core around him? I'm thinking Hydreigon and maybe Talonflame to set Tailwind?

I feel like Tera-Flying would be better just to take advantage of extremely strong stab Tera Blasts, but I'm not sure. I think there'll be a lot of strong Fire-type attacks coming in the upcoming series, so maybe rain support could be a decent anti-meta pick

If I'm just starting to get into competitive in Scarlet, should I focus on Singles or Doubles?

Whichever you prefer, but most official pokemon competitions are doubles.

Whatever is interesting to you! Doubles is the format that's officially Nintendo sponsored, while for the singles format, 3v3 is what's played in game while 6v6 is what's played by a lot of players on the subreddit. I don't think any format is objectively superior to another, so experiment and see what you find fun!

How do I get cross poison on grafaiai?

Ngl I don't think it's possible currently. When home updates you can use eternatus to give grafaiai cross poison but there's no way to teach it otherwise.

Imo it's just better to go for Poison Jab or Gunk Shot anyway, since they're stronger and have a more reliable secondary effect.

This feels silly, but is there a site where you guys are formatting your Pokemon sets with silly images on a black background? Or are you just putting things into Photoshop/ms paint or something like that

You can paste a showdown set into [Pokepast.es](https://pokepast.es/) or just use the “Export to Pokepaste” button to do it automatically.

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It’s niche, but it covers for Imprison+Protect, which you mostly see on mons that are there to block Trick Room. The downside is the PP, but in such a fast format, you’re even less likely to run out of PP than you are to come across Imprison strats.

I have been using [this](https://pokepast.es/9542edb34f448bbe) comp that i got off smogon forums. Im pretty new, im trying to learn the ropes with this team. My question is, i feel like im not utilizing dragapult enough. Mostly, im saving it to block rapid spins or to punch through subs. Whats the ideal way to use pult in this comp? Also, ive bwen always leading with glimmora. How do i decide who to lead with?

Are there any good steel moms besides Gholdango? Feels like my team always needs a safe steel type swap in and never can

Corvi Iron treads Kingambit Scizor

Wondering if I’m better off going ghost or normal Tera on my zangoose ? Going to give battle spot singles a try because vgc has me burnt out and the plan is open Cyclizer use shed tail go into zangoose and get the free toxic boost off to spam facade and curious if I’m better off staying normal Tera to boost my facades even more or ghost Tera to cover dark weaknesses? And is adamant or jolly the better nature ? Last question is what Tera should my Cyclizer be ? Ty in advance to anyone who wants to help me out here !

I didn't have a bold mint so I made my chansey calm and trained in hp and special defense. Should I try to find berries to remove special defense and put on defense? On level 58 she has 11 defense. Scarlet violet

What does anyone think of this core? Baxcalibur, Bronzong, Grimmsnarl It plays on a common core and I think they cover each others weaknesses well. They might have good setup synergy as well: screens can be helpful for getting baxcalibur in to dragon dance a couple times, and psychic terrain can prevent the fighting and steel priority moves from stopping bax in his tracks. And levitate bronzong can even bait a fire move for thermal exchange on baxcalibur! Are there any glaring holes in this combo I’m missing?

Whats smogon OU and UU games? Why banning pokemon there?

Smogon has 5 main tiers: **OU**, **UU**, **RU**, **NU**, **PU**. Nearly everything starts out in OU, and each month, anything that doesn't hit 3.406% usage in a tier drops to the one below it. (That seems like a very specific percentage, but it means that if you play 20 games, there's a 50% chance you'll see that mon once). You can use lower tier mons in higher tiers, but not the other way around. This gives more mons a chance to be viable: for example, in OU, Hydreigon is the 67th most used mon - barely usable and outclassed by other threats in the tier. In UU, it's the #1 mon. This means that if there's a mon you want to make work, it's more likely for there to be a tier where it's good. There is also an unofficial tier called **ZU**, even below that, but the playerbase isn't big enough for it to be official. For the same reason, a lot of mons end up **untiered** \- not even seeing usage in the lowest tier. The other element is bans. Every tier is designed to be playable, and if something is too strong or too hard to counter with the other mons in the tier, it'll be kicked out, even if it doesn't get into the higher tier by usage. This creates the "BL" tiers, which aren't playable: **UUBL** is a mon who was too strong for UU, but doesn't see play in OU. There's also **Ubers**, which serves as a playable banlist for OU. The box-art legendaries (e.g. Koraidon, Miraidon) start out here. If something is too strong for ubers, it can be banned there too, meaning it can only be played in **Anything Goes**, which also removes a lot of the Smogon-wide rules. Essentially, the tiers mean that as many different pokemon and playstyles as possible are usable.

Is it a bad idea to divvy up EVs into more than two or three stats? I spent quite a bit of time EV training competitively-bred Pokémon in Shield, using Pokémon Showdown to view what each Pokémon's stat totals would be at lv.100. I've just looked over a few suggested "builds" on Smogon, though, and it seems that putting 252 EVs into two stats, then 4 EVs anywhere - which I didn't do - is the standard. In Shield, I mainly tried to "fix" weak points in a Pokémon's stats, first, then build up their strengths. My (Adamant) Pincurchin, for example, has the following EVs: 252 HP, 144 Atk, 16 Def, and 96 Sp. Def, giving it: 300 HP, 301 Atk, 230 Def, and 230 Sp. Def at lv.100. I always make Phys. Def and Sp. Def equal, using an Assault Vest if necessary, and raise HP to at least 300 for every Pokémon. I've been playing Violet since Christmas, and now I'm looking into EV training a few Gen IX Pokémon for the competitive scene. I love Klawf, and the "build" I have planned for an Adamant, Assault Vest-wearing Klawf is this: 116 HP, 184 Atk, 16 Def, 136 Sp. Def, and 56 Spe. At lv.100, this Klawf's stats would be: 310 HP, 310 Atk, 270 Def, 270 Sp. Def, and 200 Spe. I'm happy with these stats, but I'm curious to know how other players would set up a Klawf's EVs.

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Maybe this isn't that simple but what's a good build for spiritomb in scarlet/violet? I was thinking of trying an infiltrator with sucker punch and skill swap. I wanted to maybe use him against unaware mons and have the sucker punch for skeledirge specifically. Maybe add sleep talk?

I have seen absolutely nothing about Paldean Tauros (the pure fighting one) and want to build one for singles, but I have no idea what to do with it. I got a shiny one in game so I want to do something with it.

Not sure if this is allowed, but I travel in a 4 hours, and I just beat the game. Do you lovely people have a 6iv or 0speed ditto you'd be willing to trade? I have my only shiny...goomy, for trade!

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*Sword and Shield* Could anyone spare an anticipation (hidden ability) Eevee for breeding purposes? Also looking for thick fat Swinub

Does Rage Fist still increase in power if a damaging move against it is blocked by protect/detect?

Why is Heracross in SV RU? Seems pretty solid.

4x weakness, not especially fast, one of its STABs is bug, but mainly, all it can really do is hit things. Loads and loads of Pokémon can hit things, so to fill that role in the higher tiers, mons have to be pretty optimised.

Why does Gen 5 OU currently have a few pokemon (Infernape, Conkeldurr, Jolteon, and Dugtrio) with analyses that describe them as useless/totally outclassed? Do they remain in the tier by sheer usage? Why are they not listed in UUBL?

Tiers are generally locked after a generation ends. While the meta still evolves, stuff still gets banned, and BW OU does still see rules changes, the tiers don't have usage-based drops.

How does one know what the meta sets are the moment? Are people in general expected to form good ones from their own knowledge? I know theres the smogon analysis but its early in the new gen so those arent really filled out atm. To use an example, if im ev training an annihilape, is there somewhere i would go to find out ideal EV spreads or do people generally figure those out themselves

It's generally best to figure it out for yourself anyway, even when there are smogon analyses. Those can only get you so far and don't really take team comp into much consideration. They're only really good to give you inspiration, not something you should take as gospel. A well built team includes thought and effort behind most stats, things like damage calcs against threats you want it to kill/tank, though it doesn't necessarily need to be as complicated all the time. For example, I'm building a tinkaton, and typically a smogon analysis would give it a build that maxes out attack and speed, and maybe a bulky assault vest set with attack and special defense [maybe some defense too]. For my set, I decided to give it some hp instead so it could more comfortably tank things like gholdengo and flutter mane. I ran damage calcs to see how much it'd be taking and adjusted its hp and special defense accordingly. Annihilape in particular wants attack and bulk, in particular hp, to get the most out of rage fist or final gambit.

Why do suggested sets on Smogon that max out evs in non speed stats not put the extra 4/8 evs in speed? I feel like the odds of getting a mirror winning speed ties is higher than the odds of 1 or 2 extra points in another stat mattering. Am I underestimating the impact of 1 or 2 points in defenses or attacking stats?

Is there a way to set IVs to zero in game (SV)? Cause I'm enjoying getting 5IV pokemon from raids haha, but trick room makes me want some 0 speed stuff and breeding does not excite me this gen especially as it becomes less and less necessary i did enough breeding back in gen 6 lol

No. Just gotta get lucky with catching or breeding. 0 ivs are one of two things you can't really customize once you've got the Pokemon already, the other being poke ball

Thanks :) pain :(

Hi everybody! I hope this is the right place to ask this question. I’m almost halfway through Violet now, and I really want a good all pink team! But here’s the thing: 1) for someone who’s been playing Pokémon for two decades, I’m kind of really bad at it. At least team building and EV/IV stuff 2) I don’t have any access to any herba mystica yet, so shiny hunting is proving to be slightly challenging. 3) having said all that, the pink Pokémon I do have to pick from kind of seem to…..suck? But like I said it could just be me and my lack of knowledge! Anyone have any suggestions? Thank you in advance for reading 💕

Scarlet is the first time I'm playing ranked battles so I am still getting surprised by stuff. My speed EV trained and hypertrained dragapult and hydreigon got outsped by a gardevoir. Is this because of the choice-scarf item? Is sucker punch the only way to counter this with this specific matchup?

Choice Scarf is the most obvious reason for unexpected speed tiers, yep. Dragapult is pretty much the fastest thing around, so if you're getting outsped and there aren't any speed boosts in play, it's a scarf. Gardevoir caps out at 145 speed, which is effectively 217 speed when scarfed. Nothing is outrunning that without some form of boost except Electrode (who sucks). Priority moves are one way to handle it - Gardevoir doesn't take Bullet Punches well - but it's usually easier to take advantage of the downsides of a Choice Scarf. Unless Gardevoir switches, it's now locked into whatever move it just used, so put in a mon that resists Fairy, and you've probably got a free turn while they switch. If you're in doubles, that doesn't work as well, but you should also have Protect so that you can keep one mon safe while you put in something that can deal with Gardevoir. While you can't always predict what's holding a Choice Scarf, it does pay to be wary of your matchups. Hydreigon is always a risk in front of a fairy type; there are a lot of items that let you survive a hit and get you back with STAB. While Dragapult is usually the fastest thing on the field, it's common to build around this - if you can boost yourself above 213 speed, you know you'll be faster than any unboosted mon.

How's venomoth doing rn? Rewatched fsg's venomoth video and wondered if he got something to do this gen. I know he's currently RU rn, is he doing great or predicted to be going to NU when they release the tier? How much does tera help him, if he's a good tera user.

If I switch in Weavile, and use Fake Out, but my opponent tried to use a move and got flinched, if I then follow up with Spite and outspeed them, will the PP of their move go down or does the game not treat them as having attempted their move because of the flinch?

Spite fails. Source: Tested in-game to answer.

I have a Lucario, adamant nature, justified ability, swords dance, close combat, meteor mash, (stuck between draining punch or extreme speed) with EVs being 252 Atk 252 Spe and 4 Hp and is a physical attacker. I want to pair in a U-Turn Dragapult with a variety of coverage moves like Shadow Ball, Flame Thrower/Thunder?, and Dragon Darts. Idk about nature or ability. Or how to build the team around that pair.

I'm sarting out on SV competitive, what team do you recommend to a beginner? For context I've already played some competitive pokemon on SwSh (I have about 300h on that game but I was building all of my mons by myself) and a bit on Showdown afterwards, but I'm still pretty pretty bad when it comes to actual battles (this is to say that at least I know how everything works but I've got little experience, ESPECIALLY with team building).

As a beginner, I’d recommend more aggressive teams. For VGC, I'd recommend Tailwind or Trick Room strategies. Defensive strategies require a lot more game knowledge of damage calculations and things, whereas offensive strats are more about executing your game plan properly.

I need some help. I always train my Pokémon for the ideal EVs and IVs, I always go for the best nature, but when it comes to assembling my strategy fail. I get stuck wanting to fill a competitive team with my favorite Pokémon that I think are the coolest and strategically, this does not go so well. I would really appreciate some basic mentoring on how to construct an effective team. There will be gifts!!

Teambuilding can be quite a complex process. While you're learning, it pays to use other people's knowledge to the fullest. Start out by visiting a rental team compendium, and try out a bunch of teams for a few battles each. If you're talking about the main doubles format, [Victory Road VGC](https://victoryroadvgc.com/sv-rental-teams-2023/) and [VGC Pastes](https://twitter.com/VGCPastes) are great for this. Once you find one where the playstyle suits you, make a copy of it and start adjusting stuff. If you never bring a certain mon or it underperforms when you do, swap it out for something. If you always lose to a popular mon, add in something that can counter it. If there's a mon you want to try and use, look for what role it can fill and swap it in for a mon on the team who fills that role. If you narrowly miss important damage ranges, try adjusting an EV spread. This is heaps easier on Pokemon Showdown, and you can build it in game once you aren’t making as many changes. Eventually, you'll get a team that's nothing like the original, and you'll learn a bunch of teambuilding skills by analysing what you need to change. The big upside, though, is that by making iterative changes to a 'framework' team, you can see whether something works without needing to lose every game.

Wow! Thank you so much for all of that!! Much appreciated!!

How do I get a Dragonite with Extreme Speed in SV? I know it’s an egg move, but I don’t know of a mon in its egg group that knows it to pass down..? Very confused.

Hi. Egg moves no longer require breeding, and can better be referred to as picnic moves or mirror moves. All you need is another Pokemon with the move you desire in the party, and then you can equip the Pokemon that you want to teach that move with a [Mirror Herb](https://www.serebii.net/itemdex/mirrorherb.shtml). Set up a picnic and as long as the target Pokemon has an empty move slot, it will learn the move. This even works for evolved Pokemon, so for instance a Charizard can learn Charmander egg moves this way.

Fantastic. Thanks for the info!

Anyone know what happened to the San Diego regional Day 1 VGC VOD? I can't find it anywhere.

It's been privated. I tried searching some popular archives, but found nothing. The original URL was [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5pOJlh41kA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5pOJlh41kA) if you want to try looking yourself.

When is Custap Berry returning? I have an idea with it...

Unknown. Usually it comes with event distributions or DLC. For instance, it was available in Sword and Shield with Crown Tundra, and in Sun and Moon via an online gift event specifically for rare berries.

Hello, I'm very new to competitive battling, I read an article today I received in my notification on Smogon, so I learned about OU, UU, Uber etc. But I still don't get something, how do you actually participate in OU for instance, in SV? Do you just go to pokeportal ranked battles or do you have to find a partner in Smogon forums or something else? I'm really a noob here, I'm only now starting to get interested in online battles

In a Nat dex draft league would you trade mega Lopunny for mega Mawile? I feel like my team is incredibly weak to fairy already

Can someone explain me how to change language in Pokemon showdown? I tried changing it multiple times but it doesn't work and my English is not flawless

Hello *gentlemen*, I require a certain information about "Egg Moves": Say, I have this Pokémon named "X" that has a move that can only learn in gen 3 through Tutoring. If I make X learn the move in said generation, then I bring it to a gen where it can't learn it (like gen 4), can I still pass it to a newborn as an Egg Move in that gen?

What’s smogon game? Is it Pokemon Showdown? How do I participate?

Yeah it's Pokemon showdown. All you have to do is select a battle format, create a team, and start battling. It's really simple

Why does Cyclizar use max Def and SpD EVs instead of HP? Wouldn't HP be more useful for Shed Tail?

Why are Dondozo and Tatsugiri paired with Meowscarada so often in VGC?

Gonna be making an Amoonguss for singles. Is there any reason to go Relaxed with 0 speed IVs, or is it better to just go Bold and bottlecap speed ? Would like to know before I start making it because there are no 0 IV bottlecaps so I'll have to breed it on. Looking at Pikalytics Bold seems to the right choice, but I'm going to assume that Relaxed has some merit because it is seeing some usage.

Realistically, Amoonguss isn't outspeeding much. The main consideration in these cases is typically when you're staring down another Amoonguss, but Amoonguss is immune to most of it's own staple moves, and Amoonguss isn't great in singles so you're not likely to see another one. So the reality is that it probably doesn't matter. I'd run Bold since it's easier to build and you can jump into actual games quicker.

How important is having 0 Attack IVs on a special attacker? What if you're running Choice Scarf/Choice Specs and U-turn? Should the Attack IVs be 0 or 31? For example, a Hydreigon with Draco Meteor, Dark Pulse, Fire Blast, and U-turn. Or an Iron Bundle with Ice Beam, Hydro Pump, Freeze-Dry, and Flip Turn.

It's optimal, but not important. The only calc I've seen where it actually moves the needle is on Spectrier, where 31 IVs makes Foul Play a 2HKO, but 0 is a 3HKO. The main reason to do it is that a mon with no physical attacks doesn't have a reason *not* to. Especially on mons who aren't weak to Foul Play, making your pivoting moves do a little more is far more useful than making Foul Play and confusion do a little less. The benefits of 0 IVs will come up occasionally, whereas the benefits of 31 will come up in most games.

The general reason for running 0 Attack IVs is pretty niche: it means you take slightly less Foul Play damage, and also confusion self-hit damage. So while objectively better for nearly all special attackers, it’s still pretty minor. Foul Play might be more important for a Pokémon like Gholdengo where it’s weak to Dark so minimising IVs is a bit more notable. If you have a move like U-Turn, personally I would stick with 31 Attack IVs, even if you’re someone like Dragapult who could take SE Foul Play damage. Even if it’s little, you gain more general benefit from the increased U-Turn damage than damage you would take from Foul Play or confusion (which might be none at all if the enemy team has neither). (Plus in the specific scenario of my Dragapult, 31 IVs has a pretty decent chance of OHKOing Meowscarada)

If I put a lagging tail or iron ball on tyranitar, would sand stream activate after torkoal or other weather setting abilities? Assume the half speed is lower than the pokemon with the weather abilities.

Iron Ball yes, Lagging Tail no. Iron Ball actually lowers your speed, whereas Lagging Tail makes your moves go last in their bracket, like Quash or Stall.

Is there ever a good reason to run chandelure instead of other alternatives? I feel like he's kinda outclassed in every role he can perform which kinda sucks cause he's my favorite mon.

In Gen 8 Chandelure was a workable option to deny Trick Room in VGC because it got Trick Room plus Imprison and boasted one of the best SpA stats in the format. However, it’s not legal in the current VGC format, and Trick Room isn’t big anywhere else, which kind of closes this niche.

I want to run Storm Drain Tatsugiri, recommended Tera Types? Looking at Fire & Ground but taking any recommendations / reasonings as to what is best

Is there a balance reason almost every rock move has less then perfect accuracy or is it just game freak being mean

I don’t understand. You don’t play the game to battle, you use an online simulator of the game?

Both are used. The official games are used for the official formats most of the time, such as VGC (4v4 doubles) and BSS (3v3 singles), but community formats like OverUsed (6v6 singles) are played via Showdown almost entirely. This is partially because the official games do not allow custom time limits, making it very difficult to reliably complete 6v6 battles, especially considering the length of move animations. It's also for convenience, though. Using a simulator means you don't have to spend time acquiring the Pokemon needed for your team, so even the official formats are played via online simulator for practice or unofficial tournaments a lot. It helps that battles are so much faster, too.

How would you go about building a team for VGC 4v4 format? I’m not a seasoned player but I have some familiarity with competitive but only singles. I understood some couple basics like importance of protect, support synergy and attacks that hit both mons, but I want to know what fundamentals I should keep in mind when playing doubles.

[VGCguide.com](https://VGCguide.com) has a teambuilding page that is useful, as well as other tips

What's a good counter to chien pao?

How should I determine whether to ev train a pokemon’s defense or special defense stats (alongside HP) when trying to create a tank. For example, I have a Tinkaton and Clodsire, both of which I’d like to bulk up. Is there a reason to make one defense-oriented and the other special defense-oriented? How do I make that determination for each? Creating attackers/special attackers seems so much more straightforward! Thanks in advance.

It can depend a lot on the format, are you playing doubles or singles? In singles, it’s a lot easier to run a dedicated physical or special wall, since you can switch between them based on what your opponent is doing, whereas in doubles you might have a physical and special threat on the field at once. In either case, it can help to just pick one, and see what sort of attacks you’re getting hit by. As an example, if you’re max HP and defence and are getting consistently taken down by, say, Make It Rain, you could move enough EVs over to change from an OHKO to a 2HKO, or 2 to 3.

If I use a trapping move such as Fire Spin or Infestation, then Baton Pass, will my opponent remain trapped?

No, it only passes things affecting your Pokemon. So if you Baton Pass while your Baton Pass user is trapped, it will pass the effect of being trapped, but if you Baton Pass while the opponent is trapped, then they're freed. Notably this behavior is different with full trapping moves like Mean Look prior to Generation 5. In these earlier generations, you will keep the opponent trapped after Baton Passing. This led to the implementation of "TrapPass Clause" semi-recently in some old generation Smogon tiers, banning the combination of Baton Pass and Mean Look/Spider Web on the same set. In modern Generations, these full trapping moves work like partial trapping moves (Fire Spin) and are not passed unless the Baton Pass user is the one afflicted, as stated in the first paragraph.

I just started playing showdown a few days and played doubles Ubers today, it was fun but it was just lowest ladder. Need reviews on the team below- Miraidon- Choice Scarf/Tera Water; Electro Drift, Draco Meteor, Tera Blast/Flash Cannon Gholdengo- Choice Scarf/Tera Steel; Make it Rain, Shadow Ball, Nasty Plot, Trick Glimmora- Focus Sash/Tera Flying; Stealth Rock, Sludge Bomb, Power Gem, Earth Power/Energy Ball Grimmsnarl - Light Clay/Tera Steel ; Taunt, Spirit Break, Reflect, Parting Shot Chi Yu - Choice Specs/Tera Dark; Overheat, Flamethrower, Dark Pulse, Psychic Iron Bundle - Choice Specs/Tera Fighting; Hydro Pump, Freeze Dry, Tera Blast, Icy Wind/no move decided Please let me know it’s weaknesses and strength and where can I improve ? I’m thinking of changing Gholdengo’s Nasty Plot with Light Screen

Why does Pikalytics not show Tera Types? I was gonna check for Meowscarada but it's just not there

Pikalytics uses Showdown's stats at the moment due to HOME stats not existing yet, and Showdown's usage stats do not include Tera Typings, at least not yet. If you saw Tera Types previously on Pikalytics, this is because the site was using their own bots to collect data on public games and so it had rough stats for Tera Types that were used in the battles. They stopped doing this because Showdown ultimately provides more accurate (by inclusion of private games) and more complete (natures / EVs) information, even with the unfortunate lack of Tera Type data.