The beauty of Pokémon are the various ways you can enjoy the game. Most players will play through the main campaign. Others may decide to fill out the entire Pokédex. It’s a task wh🍒ich has become more difficult over time as the🥃re over 800 creatures to collect. And of course, there are those who wish to test their skills and abilities against other aspiring trainers. Whichever way you play, this is a series anyone can enjoy.
Competitive Pokémon battling has grown in popularity over the past decades. Now we even have official tournaments held by the Pokémon Company every year. There are regional, national and international level tournaments held for all ages. It’s become quite an event now. Which is why some of you may be interested in joining the competitive scene. This the best time to jump into the game and learn the basics. It’s never been so accessible and fun to get into competitive Pokémon battling. However, there are many things to learn and understand before you can get started. While you could turn on your copy of Pokémon Sun/Moon and start battling online, the end result may not be the best. There𒆙 are many things that you should be awareꦺ to make the experience as enjoyable as possible.
The following 25 tips are aspects ⛄of compe🏅titive battling that are essential to know before playing. I know that reading and studying can be a bit boring. But in the long run, a little bit of research can really pay off. Without further ado, let’s get into the list.
25 The Importance Of Effort Values 📖
Effort Values (or EVs) are one of the hidden stats in Pokémon. These are essentially bonus stats that give your Pokémon an advantage in battle. Each Pokémon can gain up to 255 EVs, where 4 EVs are equal to 1 stat point. For exa🎀mple, if you put 8 EVs into Speed, the Pokémon’s Speed stat increases by 2.
EVs are gained by defeating Pokémon. You can find a guide online which lists how many EVs a Pokémon drops and what stat they boost. In competitive Pokémon, eveꩵryone will optimize their EVs distribution to take advantage of strong stat🌼s. So, Mewtwo can get EVs in Special Attack to make the most of its strengths.
24 Use Status Moves ꧙
In a regular playthrough, there isn’t much need to u🐟se status moves. This includes stuff like Swords Dance, Hypnosis, or Shell Smash. They usually buff stats and lower the stats of opposing Pokémon. However, 🔯the campaign won’t challenge players enough to force them to use such attacks.
In a competitive match, these moves are extremely important. Especially one𒉰s that increase your stats. Sometimes that is the only way you can do enough damage for a win. There are tons of status moves to use. You should get familiar with the♒m and use the ones that work well with your Pokémon.
23 ꧋ Use Your Favori♓te Pokémon
It might be tempting at first to di🌺sregard your own favorites and go for Pokémon that are strong or popular choices. But that’s not necessa🥂ry. Ultimately, competitive battling is another way to enjoy Pokémon. If you want to have fun, then make it easy for yourself by picking the Pokémon you like.
You may not be able to use ༒them in every battle, but there are some ways to make weaker Pokémon work. And chances are, your favorite Pokémon is actually a viable choice for the battle.
22 🌺 Double Battles Are Fun
It’s a good idea♔ to do practice double battling. First of all, it’s actually really fun and adds another layer of strategy 🉐to the game. There are different tactics and viable Pokémon when it comes to double battles. Some Pokémon are more useful in this mode than they are in single battles.
Also, this is the official format of Pokémon tournaments or VGC as it is more commonly known.
It’s the format you’ll be playing if you want to participate in rating matches. It’s a good idea to practice this for🌸mat if you are interested in entering a physical tournament at the regional or national level.
21 Don’t Always Use Powerful 🐭Attacks
It’s tempting to load up your Pokémon with attacks like Hydro Pump, Hyper Beam, ꦿand Fire Blast, but they aren’t always꧒ the best option for competitive battles. They tend to have low accuracy which can cost you the game. A single miss may decide your defeat.
Rather, try and look at some alternatives like Scald. This is a Water move with less power than Hydro Pump. However, it has 100 Accuracy and can even burn the opponent. That sort of utility can be more valuable than outright power. Not to say you 🥂should never use powerful moves. They still do have a use, just not as often as a regular playthrough.
20 Legendaries♚ Aren’t The Best Option 💛
After catching a legendary Pokémon, the first thing you want to do is give iꩲt a test run. You want to see what it’s capable of, especially in online battles against other players. However, this isn’t alwꦇays the best choice to take.
More often than not, a lot of legendaries will be banned from competitive play. Power🍷ful beasts like Mewtwo, Dialga, Xerneas, and others are not allowed in many forms of competitive battling. You can still use weaker ones like Suicune or Zapdos. Also, event Pokémon ma📖y also be banned from battles, depending on the rules set by the Pokémon Company.
19 Breeding Perfect Pokémon ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ
This may not be something obvious at first, but breeding for the best Pokémon can giveও you an advantage. Pokémon have another hidden stat called Individual Value. This is a value they are assigned from the start and cannot n꧟ormally be changed.
A Pokémon can have a max IV of 31 in each stat.
The best way to achieve this is through breeding. It’s possible to e✤ven get Pokémon with 31 IVs in every stat. In the generation 7 games, there is an IV trainer who can boost the stat at the price of bottle caps. It will still take a while to do.
18 Team Synergy🥀ꦕ
One of the most important things to note is that your Pokémon team ꧙must have synergy. The six Pokémon should work well together and cover their weaknesses. A simple example could be if your main attacker is an Electric-type, you may want a Flying-type to cover its weakness to Ground attacks.
There are other things you also need to consider. For example, what sort of team you’re building. If it’s a team based on sweeping as fast as possible, you need Pokémon that can fulfi🅰ll those roles.
17 Type Match-Ups ꦡ
This𝔉 is a simple one but still important to note. Make sure you know the type chart by heart, or at least most of it. The last thing you want to do is use the wrong move because you don’t know a type’s weakne🌱ss or resistance.
Another important thing to know is the types of some commonly used Pokémon. You want to be sure about what type🔯 a Pokémon is before attacking it. If you’re not🍸 familiar with the types, you may waste a turn on a useless attack.
16 The Tier List 🌟
In Pokémon, the tier list can be imp🗹ortant if you wish to follow it. These are also known as the Smogon tier list since that’s the mo꧟st commonly used one. It should also be noted that the Smogon list is not an official tier and has no bearing on tournament play.
The tier list can be great for people who want to use different Pokémon.
If you’re sick of seeing the same old overpowered legendaries, this may be for you. There are several 🧸tiers like Overused (OU) and Underused ജ(UU). Find the one you like the most and start building your team for that tier.