Tips and tools to make better PvP team

[LuxSpes]

Hello!

I got the idea for making this thread after reading some discussion going on in the battle thread and the question thread.

So like the title indicates, the basic idea of this thread is to create one large database for users that seeks to improve their performance in online battle or that more simply want to get into competitive battling.

First the basic:

Serebii's X&Y pokédex: This is allows to check the basic of every pokemon, their base stats, their movepool, their availability, their egg group, etc. Keep in mind that not everything is yet known about X&Y and as such, it is yet to be complete. Overall, Serebii is a good source of knowledge.

Here's the type match-up chart as of Gen VI for those who need the reminder

Marriland's team builder: While it's not complete for X&Y(as in they haven't implemented the type change that some pre-gen6 mon got), it's still a very good way of seeing how balanced is your team in terms of weaknesses.

Found this Damage calculator that despite not supporting gen 6, is fully customizable meaning you can enter the typing, stats and EVs of the pokemon yourself. You can even choose the stats on the move you want to test. It also has most of the popular set already on it.

For more advanced stuff, here's a guide on breeding a 5 IV pokemon in X&Y

Feel free to post some of the tools and or tips that helped you and I'll try to update the OP whenever I can.

Also it would be great if this could become a thread where we can ask questions about battling strategy. I'm no Comp expert myself, having only used some fully trained team occasionally on PBR, but I'll try my best to answer simple questions and hopefully, more qualified people will join the thread to do the same if this thing takes off.

Edited November 5, 2013 by LuxSpes

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

I like using this tool:

http://www.smogon.com/calc/

It was outdated(Gen 4), but the interface is easy to tweak for Gen 5/6 Pokemon

[LuxSpes]

Would it be a good idea to give a link to Smogon if only because their sets are the one most generally run by dedicated players?

[Gcubedude]

Here are some things that I have used that make breeding easier, to go alongside the image you posted:

(1) Pokemon in the "Undiscovered" Egg Group always have 3 perfect IVs when caught in the wild.

Here's a link to Bulbapedia's list of those in the Undiscovered Egg Group.

This is new to X and Y, and it is extremely helpful when breeding. Not only does it ensure that legendaries have 3 perfect IVs when they're caught, it also gives baby Pokemon like Togepi 3 perfect IVs to start breeding with. All you have to do is evolve the baby, and it can start passing down their perfect IVs to other Pokemon.

Here's a list of baby Pokemon that can be caught in the wild, as well as their Egg Groups.

(2) Consider getting a father for each Egg Group.

When you breed without using Ditto, the female determines the species of the children. A male Chespin bred with a female Fennekin will give you nothing but Fennekin eggs. Thus, you could get a male Pokemon for each Egg Group with as many perfect IVs as you care (4 is great, 5 is amazing, 6 is lucky), then breed it with a female of whatever Pokemon you want. To make things easier, if you want, say, a Charizard, and you have a Friend Safari with Charmeleon, you could hunt down a female Charmeleon, which will have at least 2 perfect IVs, and breed it with a male Pokemon of either the Monster or Dragon Egg Group with plenty of perfect IVs.

But in the above example, Charmeleon have a 12.5% chance of being female. Combined with two other Pokemon in the Friend Safari, and it might take a while to get a female, right?

Well, it could, or you could use a certain trick. If the lead of your party is a Pokemon with the Cute Charm ability, any Pokemon encountered in the wild has a 66.7% of being the opposite gender of the Cute Charmer. So if your lead is a male Pokemon with Cute Charm, that Charmeleon suddenly has a much greater chance of being female.

Here's a list of Pokemon with the Cute Charm ability.

Using (1), you could breed evolved babies to easily get a 4 or 5 IV father, then breed it with a female who doesn't have a baby form, and thus couldn't use (1).

The Cute Charm trick is also helpful for the next point:

(3) Don't forget the rules for passing down Abilities.

Here are the main points of ability passing, both old and new:

• If the HA Pokemon is female, it must be bred with a Pokemon of the same Egg Group in order to have any chance of passing its ability down. According to Bulbapedia, this chance is 60%.
• If the HA Pokemon is male, it must be bred with a Ditto in order to have any chance of passing its ability down.
• If breeding without Ditto, and the female does NOT have a HA, then there is an 80% chance of passing its ability down (unless the Pokemon only has one non-Hidden Ability).

Using (1) and (2), you could catch a baby, evolve it, and breed it until you get a 5 perfect IV father. Then use a Cute Charmer to catch a female of whatever Pokemon you want from the Friend Safari. If you want, you can keep catching until you have one with its HA. Give one parent the Destiny Knot, give the other an Everstone if they have a good nature, and place them in the Day-Care Center.

(4) Keep breeding rate in mind, and use every trick possible to speed up hatching time.

Here's the link to Bulbapedia with the Day-Care Center quotes.

This doesn't actually pertain directly to making a better PvP team, but it makes the breeding process quicker and less stressful.

To summarize what the link above says, when breeding Pokemon, the rate at which they produce eggs is affected by two things: if they are of the same species, and if they have different ID numbers. If neither condition is fulfilled, then they won't produce many eggs. If either condition if fulfilled, they'll produce a good amount of eggs. If both conditions are fulfilled, they'll produce eggs very quickly. Talk to the Day-Care Man to see how close your Pokemon are.

Finally, there are two methods of speeding up the actual hatching of the egg.

1. Have a Pokemon with either the Flame Body or Magma Armor ability in your party. This cuts the amount of time it takes to hatch the egg by about half. Having multiple Flame Body/Magma Armor Pokemon does NOT further decrease the time; only the first one matters.
2. Use the Hatching O-Power, especially LV. 3 if you have it. To get the Hatching O-Power, you must have every other O-Power (Here's a list of every O-Power and their location), then you must max out your Lumiose City Style. A fast way of increasing your style is to use the Bargain O-Power at your highest LV, then go to the Pokeball Boutique in Lumiose City, buy one of any ball, then exit the menu. Talk to the girl again, buy another ball, exit, repeat. If you use LV. 3 Bargain Power, you get 50% off, which means you can buy until you have max style, then sell all of them back to get your money back. To check if you have max style, go to Cafe Introversion, and if you have fulfilled both conditions, Mr. Bonding will be there, waiting to give you the Hatching O-Power.

(5) Egg Moves

Certain Pokemon can get different moves through breeding that they couldn't normally learn. These are called Egg Moves, and much like Hidden Abilities, the mechanics have been changed in X and Y to make it easier. Here's Bulbapedia's info on it (I think I've linked this page three times now), and here are the main points:

• If the father has any Egg Moves, the baby will be born with that move.
• New to X and Y, the mother can also pass down Egg Moves, although I'm not super familiar with the exact mechanics.
• Also new to X and Y, if a baby has an Egg Move, then forgets it later, they can now relearn it using the Move Relearned.

The Serebii link LuxSpes posted also gives what Egg Moves a Pokemon can learn, although like he said, some Pokemon may not yet have an Egg Move list posted, as things are still being discovered.

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Also, I'd like to add that I would like to see this thread get going. Although I don't battle competitively on any regular basis, I try to do what I can to learn about the intricacies of Pokemon battling as well as the preparation required to build a good team. That's why my post has a lot of info on breeding; it's my current focus, as I want to have a good stock of high-IV good nature Pokemon before I step into the competitive scene.

I would like to offer my help to anyone who's willing to improve their game, whether they just want to beat their friends or reach the highest skill level they can. I'm going to follow this thread, so if you want help, you can ask here, or send me a PM if you want my help personally. Of course, I hope more people would be willing to help those who wish to improve, and maybe we could help each other improve.

Edited November 5, 2013 by Gcubedude

[LuxSpes]

Just to add to the Pokeball/Style trick, buying Premier ball is the best option since their the cheapest merchandise in the store.

[Gcubedude]

Just to add to the Pokeball/Style trick, buying Premier ball is the best option since their the cheapest merchandise in the store.

Yes, but if you use Bargain Power LV. 3, you can buy them for the same amount that you can sell them for (100 Poke). This applies to all of the balls, so if you have the Power, you can buy any ball, then sell them all back and come out even.