The Official Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Discussion Thread

[Tickle Buffalo]

I find it hilariously ironic that pretty much everybody who plays PokeMon competitively shoots for the same individual values, 31s all around.

If everybody's going for 31 IVs in Speed and whatever attacking/defending stat(s) your PokeMon uses, then where's the individuality?

There are better ways to be an individual. Different team composition, different movesets, different EV spreads, different items, they all do a better job than having a suboptimal set of randomly generated numbers.

You're one of those guys who takes skill focus in basket weaving, eh?

[Sakura Leic]

There are better ways to be an individual. Different team composition, different movesets, different EV spreads, different items, they all do a better job than having a suboptimal set of randomly generated numbers.

You're one of those guys who takes skill focus in basket weaving, eh?

Yeah that's why I'm going to EV train 2 Budews and 2 Beldums to compare thier stats.

[Tickle Buffalo]

Why not just figure out what spread you want, and only train one of each? Seems like a lot less effort.

[Sakura Leic]

Hmm maybe you're right, the Special Defense stat of the Roserade differs very much, I guess I'll train the Calm one first.  But if I do that I'll only have 2 pokemon purely focused on being Special Sweepers, Lucario and Gardevoir.

Now the Metagross situation is very complicated to me, it seems it would be better for it to have higher defense so it can stand up to another's Explosion. 

[Tickle Buffalo]

So what was your team again? I'm thinkin' you're not using tiers, so it's probably just pokemon you like, but I can at least make some recommendations.

[Sakura Leic]

The 10 I want to use are Blaziken, Roserade, Gardevoir, Gallade, Lucario, Mammoswine, Absol, Feraligater, Metagross, and Salamance.  All of them except for Roserade, Lucario, and Gardevoir are Physical attackers.  

But I want to turn Metagross and Mammoswine into defense tanks since Metagross has high Defense and Mammoswine has high HP, although I'm not sure that's a good plan since Mammoswine has low Defense and Special Defense.  I was thinking of turning Roserade into a Special attack tank but that means I would have to sacrifice speed which means it's wouldn't be a special sweeper, but then again I guess that won't really matter since I'm going to teach it Synthesis rather than Calm mind.

I'm also trying to compete with Will Gallent, you know the guy with the Eevees on EV steroids, but now he has a new team.  I forgot most of them but I know he has a Absol, Garchomp, and a super powerful Metagross with Explosion.  That Metagross is only a partial tank so that means if I turn my Metagross into a tank it might stand up to his Explosion but since it has higher attack and probably speed, I think that's basicly what his team is really all about since he said he has no tanks, I might be severly damaged by an Earthquake before I get a chance to use Magnet Rise.

[Pyro]

But I want to turn Metagross and Mammoswine into defense tanks since Metagross has high Defense and Mammoswine has high HP, although I'm not sure that's a good plan since Mammoswine has low Defense and Special Defense.

I personally would not recommend it because Mamoswine's high attack makes it a better physical sweeper.

[Sakura Leic]

So I should focus and attack and speed like the other physical attackers?

[Tickle Buffalo]

Don't think of 10 pokemon. You can't play 10v10. Just focus on putting together a team of 6 for now, and make sure they work together. It's deeper than just specific roles for each pokemon, you've really gotta think about it. You mentioned Mamoswine/Metagross/Roserade on the defence, and maybe they could work, but if you look, every single one of them is weak to fire. Bad. Look at how your team is put together, so you can avoid stuff like that. Think about what threatens each individual pokemon you've got, and then look at the rest of your guys and see what you've got that can counter it. Y'see how I beat Akamaru twice, even though all my pokemon are UU? That's 'cause my team works together, and his doesn't. Your pokemon aren't working alone, they're working together. Either you put together a team that really works together, or you're gonna lose. And that's that.

tldr SYNERGY SYNERGY SYNERGY


(also swear at him until he stops using garchomp. garchomp is just bullshit.)

[Sakura Leic]

I see that's something I forgot to consider, and what's all the UU and UO stuff that you and Hypershell talk about when regarding Garchomp and other pokemon?

[Solar]

Over Used
BorderLine
Under Used
Never Used

[Sakura Leic]

Okay so with the pokemon I have what are they?

[Solar]

http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/

[Sakura Leic]

Huh I thought most of them would be overused but I guess most are under used too.

[Tickle Buffalo]

I see that's something I forgot to consider, and what's all the UU and UO stuff that you and Hypershell talk about when regarding Garchomp and other pokemon?

Tiering. Y'know how some pokemon are great, and others aren't? Like Dragonite and Altaria. Dragonite has great stats, and a good movepool. Altaria is worse at pretty much everything. So, if you give people the choice, everyone is gonna use Dragonite over Altaria, 'cause why wouldn't you? Doing otherwise is just handicapping yourself. The solution is to put them in different tiers. Really great pokemon have the uber tier, where everyone plays with uber pokemon. OU pokemon are still good, but they're worse, so they have their tier where people don't use ubers, because it's unfair. UU are even worse, so they get a tier where OU and uber pokemon are banned, so everyone can still use Altaria without Dragonite making him look bad.

Obviously nothing forces people to play with bans on tiers, but it can still be a good way to gauge pokemon power. You look up Altaria, notice it's UU, so it's not that good. Dragonite, OU, probably a better pokemon. Garchomp, uber, very good pokemon. There are arguments over where pokemon deserve to be placed, of course, but still, it's generally reliable.

[Legendary]

It doesn't really matter. OU matches allow PokeMon from all tiers up to OU, so you can play with all of them, technically.

That's assuming you're playing by tiers tho.

[Sakura Leic]

Eh I would probably use UU pokemon even if I knew about tiers before to show how great they can be.

[Solar]

Some are completely outmatched by others that can do what they do but better no matter how hard you try though. Hell, for example, no matter how good your strategy may be or how much effort you put into breeding it there is just no way you'll ever be able to make Luvdisc anything even 10000km close to passable. (Ok, that's NU but you get the point)

[Sapphire Knight]

Well, I've been trying to play 'catch up' and am now at the Lake of Rage and trying to catch to Red Gyrados. Which Pokeball should I use?

[Sakura Leic]

Some are completely outmatched by others that can do what they do but better no matter how hard you try though. Hell, for example, no matter how good your strategy may be or how much effort you put into breeding it there is just no way you'll ever be able to make Luvdisc anything even 10000km close to passable. (Ok, that's NU but you get the point)

Yeah that's true, I'll never use a pokemon that helpless.  Another thing that site's move set generator is so weird.

[TheOnly]

Akamaru, battle in 30mins if you somehow get this by then.

[Akamaru]

Umm... I just got it. 

I can do it now if you want.

[Dr. Wily II]

Well, I've been trying to play 'catch up' and am now at the Lake of Rage and trying to catch to Red Gyrados. Which Pokeball should I use?

Personally...
I like to wait until after 8pm, and throw Dusk Balls.

[Legendary]

Well, I've been trying to play 'catch up' and am now at the Lake of Rage and trying to catch to Red Gyrados. Which Pokeball should I use?

Ultra Balls are generally all purpose, but try Net Balls or Dusk Balls (nighttime). If you have Black Apricots, Heavy Balls are nice too.

[TheOnly]

Akamaru, amma be online around 7.30 or so, so yea.