My Pokémon, Let me show you themFollow

I did a great deal of research last night on different pokémon and their strengths/weaknesses and move sets. My plan is to keep all of these pokémon on hand in my boxes and ready to battle when needed. I won't be able to do this at the VGCs because I can only register 6, though, I'd like to be able to use different team setups for different tournaments at least. I have found that being unpredictable is huge asset, especially when using pokémon most people aren't used to seeing, or are generally unfamiliar with.

Since the release of the generation 4 games, things have changed up a bit. Before, I felt like the only pokémon I could REALLY count on was Snorlax, now my strategy for him is not so solid anymore... Mostly because of new fighting-type moves that are special attack based that he cannot use Counter with, and also because of moves that USED TO BE special attacks but are now considered physical. Gengar has been severely nerfed for this reason as well. Moves like Ice Punch and Thunder Punch and Fire Punch are just about useless now to a pokémon like Gengar, because his attack stat is low, whereas his special attack is incredible. The least they could have done is let him use moves like Ice Beam and Flamethrower >< They also lowered the accuracy of Hypnosis to 60% -___-

It begs me to wonder... Why would they give physical attackers such a blessing of being able to choose many different elements to attack with, but then totally ***** them by giving special attackers Fighting-type attacks?

Anyway, here is a list of possible party candidates I will be using. How I will arrange them in actually parties, I am not yet sure. There are so many to choose from.


Drifblim - Careful Nature - Leftovers (HP and SpD EVs)

Calm Mind - Substitute - Hypnosis/Attract - Baton Pass

I fought Drifblim once in game and was fairly impressed by it's defenses. It has an ungodly amount of HP.. and it's a Ghost type! If this had been in Generation 3 it would have killed everything, especially if it could learn Amnesia. But it's not generation 3 anymore, and the best it can hope for is Calm Mind and a Sub to be Baton Passed with. Aftermath is cool though.

Ninjask - Hasty - Bright Powder (Speed and HP EVs)

Substitute - Swords Dance - Baton Pass - (either X-scissor or Double-Team)

Ninjask is still pretty awesome in Gen4 I think. It is a good lead and can setup an attacker with Swords Dance fairly easily, and depending on circumstances, and provide whoever it's switching to with it's Sub as well, and hopefully x3 Swords Dance.

Slowking - Bold - Leftovers (HP and Defense EVs)

(Not sure if I plan on using this one at all yet. I kind of favor Slowbro, if not just because it's a Gen1 Pokémon.)

Wobbuffet - Bold - Leftovers (HP, Def and Special Defense divided evenly EVs)

Counter - Encore - Safeguard - Mirror Coat

It has been called a god among pokémon by some. It is definitely one to be feared, as using any kind of attack against it is almost certain death. It's only real downfall is it's inability to heal itself.

Starmie - Modest - Life Orb (HP and Special Attack EVs)

Ice Beam - Psychic - Surf - Thunderbolt

One of my old favorite special sweepers. It covers a lot of weaknesses, and I have one-shot-killed many many pokémon with it. Natural Cure is also a big help.

Shuckle - Careful - Grip Claw or Leftovers (HP and Special Defense EVs)

Encore - Toxic - Wrap - Knock-off or Attract

People don't know what to do about Shuckle most of the time. He looks like a water type, but is actually bug/rock. It doesn't have much HP, but has INSANE defense and special defense. It is great for stall tactics and even better at annoying the hell out of people.

Snorlax - Bold - Leftovers (HP and Defense EVs)

Counter - Amnesia - Toxic - Rest

My all-time FAVORITE pokémon! Nothing is more awesome than watching Snorlax take down uber after uber. Mewtwo, Kyogre, Latias/os, Rayquaza, almost every other pokémon can't do **** for damage on him once he's got all 3 Amnesia buffs up, and any damage done at all is immediately healed by leftovers. Any attempt to attack physically is returned in spades with Counter, 1-hit KOing the opponent. While special attackers attack again and again praying for critical hits, they die faster and faster under the weight of Toxic-- any attempt to heal themselves with Roost or Recover or Synthesis only delays the inevitable, as Toxic does more and more damage with each turn. Status effects like paralyze and burn are fully healed along with all HP by Rest, which induces sleep for exactly two turns and no more. If I had a million dollars, I'd have a life-sized Snorlax statue sitting in my front yard.

Bronzong - Brave - Macho Brace (HP and Attack EVs)

Gyro Ball - Earthquake - Rest or Explosion - Trick Room

Another Gen4 that I was impressed with. A very solid wall with adequate offensive capabilities. Very awkward resistance and weaknesses that will frustrate many attackers.

Blissey - Bold - Leftovers (HP and Defense EVs)

Aromatherapy- Attract - Toxic - Softboiled

Another good wall, possibly the best wall against special attacks, tons of HP, self healing ability and the ability to erase status ailments on all other party members. It's probably more effective now than it was in Gen3 even.

Mamoswine - Adamant - Life Orb (Attack and Speed EVs)

Earthquake - Ice Shard - Stealth Rock - Stone Edge

One of the only Gen4 attackers that really stood out to me. It has incredibly high attack and for an offensive pokémon has pretty amazing endurance. It's ability to hit hard with ground and ice (with STAB even!) makes it incredibly tough.

Dugtrio - Jolly - Life Orb (Attack and Speed EVs)

Earthquake - Aerial Ace - Sucker Punch, Stone Edge

Another one of my old favorites, if not just for Arena Trap and it's immunity to electricity. A really good counter for Thunder Wave whores, among other things.

Alakazam - Timid - Life Orb (Speed and Sp. Attack EVs)

Signal Beam, Focus Blast, Shadow Ball, Psychic

Now with Signal Beam for those pesky Dark types! For some reason First Gen pokémon are always my favorite, probably because I know them best from the good old days. One of the best special sweepers out there by far that isn't an uber.

Gengar - Modest - Life Orb (Speed and Sp. Attack EVs)

Focus Blast - Hidden Power (Fire) - Thunder - Shadow Ball

Yet another old favorite, but one that has lost a lot of shine since the changes of generation 4. It used to be, someone would buff up a physical attacker and prepare to attack, only so I could switch in Gengar and render them completely helpless when all they had were fighting and normal type attacks. These days physical sweepers are packing all kinds of heat, including psychic and ghost physical attacks (wtf...) Seems these days he's just another special sweeper that falls short in a serious competition -_____-

Skarmory - Jolly - Shed Shell or Leftovers (Speed and HP EVs)

Spikes - Whirlwind - Drill Peck - Roost

A good lead pokémon, now with Roost for added survivability! Flooding the opponents team with spikes then shuffling them about is a tried and tested tactic of awesome (or annoyance if you are on the other side of it). It also makes it a lot harder for an opponent to maneuver about switching pokés in and out of battle. If a Skarmory is allowed to establish enough spikes, the battle is more or less over before it begins. Teams without a strong fire or fighting offensive to deal with Skarmory are usually *******

Forretress - Relaxed - Shed Shell or Leftovers (HP and Attack EVs)

Earthquake - Explosion - Rapid Spin - Spikes or Stealth Rock

Similar to Skarmory, it's job is to lay down spikes and to switch in to absorb moves that steel resists. It also functions as a counter spike, as Rapid Spin can knock away spikes layed by the opponent. Explosion is especially effective in double battles, particularly if paired with a ghost type that won't be killed in the blast.

Slowbro - Relaxed - Leftovers (HP and Special Defense EVs)

Yawn - Slack off - Amnesia - Ice Beam

Slowbro is a very solid pokémon defense wise. It is very hard to kill without specifically exploiting it's weaknesses. It's ability to effortlessly put opponent's pokémon to sleep with Yawn is by itself a scary feature. Slack Off is new I think, and amazing-- that and the use of Amnesia make Slowbro almost as godly as Snorlax in some ways.

There are probably a few others out there I should look into. Ubers like Mewtwo and Arceus are a given, though (If and when they are allowed.)

What are those "EVs" you spoke of?

ERRRRR....I MEAN.....LOL POKEMON ARE FOR ****

UP HIGH BRO-SEIDIN, LORD OF THE BROCEAN, LETS GO PLAY SOME ******* MADDEN.

Hey man, pokémon is serious business.

I have a pure ice team that is awesome purely because of snow cloak evasion hax. Bad luck can also happen though, sandstorm teams and Heatran/Scizzor can own me if I don't counter them properly. I have a pure batton pass team too, but I haven't used it yet so I don't know how good it is. Also, my friend has a team that's kick *** and almost always wins with it.

Shoddy battle ftw.

People used Dragonite and Salamence because they could sweep through anything, even walls, if you set them up properly. Sounds like your opponents were just bad at avoiding getting beamed.

I recommend an entire team of Shiny Bidoofs.

Do you have candy?

I thought you were being sarcastic in some way... You really didn't know?

Well, EV = Effort Value. They have been around in some form or another since Red and Blue/Green.

There's also IVs, but those cannot be changed on an individual pokémon without hacking, and also determine what element "Hidden Power" is. In order to get the highest IVs, you have to breed pokémon, much the same way they breed horses to produce stronger and faster results.

i guess there's not much effects for articuno or the other legendary birds if we're able to raised a dragonite or gyrados... i wonder why there's no evil gyarados available for raising.. ==

While you can't determine the outcome of IV's you can always check them. There is an IV calc here. You pretty much just take the babies into a level 100 battle and just look at their stats, you put in their stats and it will tell you what their IV's are. While this is very tedious if your a serious battler then that's probably what you want to do to make sure your IV's are in the right place.

Check out Serebii if you don't already, it's a really good pokemon site.