------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nintendo Pokemon Fire Red/Leaf Green Competitve battling guide Written by pokemaniac1342 pokemaniac1342_2k3@yahoo.com Started on: 3 December 2004 Finished on: Unfinished yet. Version 1.1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2004 Wong Yin Kwan -ATTACK OF THE DEADLY LAWLERS: This FAQ is for private and personal use only.It can only be reproduced electronically, and may be posted on other web sites as long as this disclaimer and the above copyright notice appears in full, and the FAQ is not altered in any way. This FAQ is not to be used for profitable/promotional purposes. This includes being used by publishers of magazines, guides, books, etc. or being incorporated into magazines, etc. in any way. This FAQ was created and is owned by me, pokemaniac1342 (Wong Yin Kwan) . All copyrights and trademarks that are not specifically mentioned in this FAQ are acknowledged. If you are to post this on your website, please make sure that: -This FAQ is not altered in any way. -The disclaimer above and the above copyright notice appear in full. -The FAQ is in the original format, not HTML. -No banners are in the FAQ anywhere. -I have given you written permission, whether in an email, or otherwise. Failure to do what is mentioned above can prove detrimental to your health as my deadly team of lawyers wreck your house and pull faces at you. As if I didn't put my email enough times already, my email, as well as other interesting info about me (oh yes please) will be in the Contact Information, which is a ruse to make my FAQ look bigger. Rawr, sue me, my deadly team of lawyers shall take you on. -THE LAWYERS RETURN! All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. Don't you love them? ============================================================================== 1)Introduction: [CBGIntro] | ======================= Uhh, right, introduction. So, you've finished the game, crushed the UnElite 5 like little worms under your iron boots of justice many times, and er, are getting bored of thrashing your 7-year-old sister at Pokemon. What is perfect for people like you, oh yes, is competitive battling. Forget inferior AI, forget stupid movesets. Competitve battling pits you against other players over the internet! Generally, players TEND to be a lot smarter then AIs (urgh), so you're sure to have some challenge when you step into the world of competitive battling! There are 2 ways to bring your hard-earned Pokemon skills online: Netbattle, and RSBot. Both are basically battle simulators (sorry, no in-game RPG stuff, this is competitive BATTLING, which is virtual link battles). All you need to do, is to download and set-up the programs, input your Pokemon (which is to say, create them. There is no need to have some sort of link between your GBA and your PC, because NB/RSBot allows you to create your Pokemon, as well as moves on the spot. There is also room to customize even things like nature, EVs, IVs, items, gender, and whatnot. Of course, all moves are the actual moves that the Pokemon can learn in the game, so there's no illegal movesets and BS like Aeroblasting Mewtwo.) The programs follow a system that is identical to the actual system used in the game, so don't you worry about Hydro Pump suddenly becoming a Fire move because by this stage, both simulators are near-perfect in terms of realism, closely following every aspect of an actual link battle. To finish the intro, let's just say that competitive battling is a world where you go online, create and customize your own (legal) teams on-the-spot, and take on other trainers from around the world over the internet in a battle system that is nearly identical to an actual link battle. Cool, no? =============================================================================== 2) Table of Contents [SEARCH SYSTEM: If you see a component in the Table Of Contents which you want to view immediately, please press Ctrl + F in your browser (or whatever does find) to bring up the FIND option, and key in the search code which is highlited in square brackets beside the item] 1)-Introduction ------------------------------------------->[CBGIntro] 2)-You are currently staring at it. ------------------------> [HERE] 3)-Version History -------------------------------------------->[CBGVH] 4)-How to battle competitively -------------------------------->[CBGHT] -Netbattle ----------------------------------------------->[CBGNB] -RSBot --------------------------------------------------->[CBGRS] 5)-The Basic stuff -------------------------------------------->[CBGBS] 5-*: Shortforms, abbreviations, and whatnot -------------->[CBG50] 5-A: Type advantages/disadvantages, physical/special ----->[CBG5A] 5-B: Natures --------------------------------------------->[CBG5B] 5-C: Stats ----------------------------------------------->[CBG5C] -5-C-1: IVs ------------------------------->[5C1X] -5-C-2: EVs ------------------------------->[5C2X] -5-C-3: Hidden Power ---------------------->[5C3X] -5-C-4: Base Stats ------------------------>[5C4X] 5-D: Items ---------------------------------------------->[CBG5D] 5-E: Abilities ------------------------------------------->[CBG5E] 5-F: Status Ailments ------------------------------------->[CBG5F] 6)-Advanced information --------------------------------------->[CBGAD] 6-A: Choice Of Pokemon ----------------------------------->[CBG6A] 6-B: Choice Of Moves ------------------------------------->[CBG6B] 6-C: Speed ----------------------------------------------->[CBG6C] 6-D: Stats In Battle ------------------------------------->[CBG6D] 6-E: Prediction ------------------------------------------>[CBG6E] 7)-Pokemon Analysis - coming in the next update -------------->[CBGPWN] 8)-FAQs ----------------------------------------------------->[CBGFAQ] 9)-Credits ---------------------------------------------------->[CBGCR] 10)-Contact Information (filler muahaha) -------------------->[CBGCRAP] ================================================================================ 3) Version History [CBGVH] | ================= Version 1.0 > Following TEH ME fashion, I've done most of the stuff except my movesets, which will come in a later update. Version 1.1 > Major thanks to Amazing Ampharos for this update: He proof-read the guide and gave his own insights on how to do things, and corrected some of my errors. Big thanks AA, you rock! Version 1.2 > Minor update, mainly to include several issues on Pokemon abbrevs which are bugging the boards. Updates can be found by searching for "CBGABR" Remember, if anyone at all finds any error to correct, or wishes to contribute, just do it. Include your name you want to be credited by. ================================================================================ 4) How to Battle Competitively [CBGHT] | ================= Right, on to the real stuff. Without any witty and pointless comments, I shall indicate to you the 2 ways of competitive battling and how to use them. +++++++++<<<<[{{THE FIRST WAY: NETBATTLE}}]>>>>++++++++++++ /================== | [CBGNB] | ==================/ Battle chip! Airhoc3 U! Slot in! RIGHT ON POKEMAN!!! Battle chip! Airhoc3 V! Slot in! KEEP EM COMIN! Battle chip! Airhoc3 W! Slot in! I FEEL THE POWER!!! Program Advance! PitHockey3! OH YEAH MAMA! OK, sorry bout that, not THAT sort of Netbattle. This is the Pokemon one. The pros about this method of competitive battling is that it is VERY user friendly, with a pretty powerful in-build Datadex (Pokedex, and vital info), an easy-to-use Team customizer, easy battle interface, and nice pictures. The ideal program for people starting out, because it's so simple to learn how to use it. Also, more newbies frequent NB then RSBot, which allows beginners to have competition at roughly the same level. Of course, NB doesn't get the nick nubbattle for nothing, because there are quite a lot of pure idiots who frequent NB. People who disconnect mid-battle when they are about to lose, and whatnot. Of course, I prefer this simply because Netbattle is SUCH A COOL PROGRAM. Seriously, just try it. Go to http://www.netbattle.net OR http://www.tvsian.com/netbattle Same thing basically. Download the program. I don't really need to give instructions, because there's a nice DOWNLOAD section. Download Netbattle Advance, which is 0.9.4 last time I checked, install it, and voila. (NB advance is the latest version at the time when I typed this thingy out. For you, you might want to see which is the latest version before downloading. *****To start battling with it: OPEN TEH PROGRAM!!! Bet you never knew how. Just set all the stuff whatever way you want when that wizard thingies pops up. Select your Language, store your password to protect your own username, and customizing whether you want any music, whether the in-battle status is detailed or not, whether you want the HP bar to be animated or not, and other visual effects. I suggest disabling auto updates simply because it doesn't work for me X(, and you can choose whether to show your team to whoever wants to challenge you, or to keep it hidden until the battle starts. Finally, choose your method of saving battle records (logs). Finish the silly thing. You can't start battling yet, because you have to build a team. Click on the "team builder" button, input your choice of a nickname, what kind of graphics you want the Pokemon to look like, your personal profile which people will read when they challenge you (so you can put your NO ATTRACT and other BS rules there), and finally, set the auto-message that will appear when you win or lose. A rule of thumb is to include "gg" (good game) in both, to show sportsmanship. Then, go to each individual Pokemon slot, select your desired Pokemon from the drop-down list, select what item you want it to hold, select it's 4 moves, and finally, click on the "Expert" button to customize it's Nature, Ability, as well as EV distribution (we'll get to that later). After you make sure all 6 Pokemon as well as your user profile is done, you can save the team, and start battling in one of the stadiums! Usually, Blue Heaven or Tafop would be the stadium on top with the most people, so go there. There'll be a chat window once you connect, as well as a sidebar with all the trainers that are currently connected to the stadium. Double-click on a user's name to see his information, from there you can challenge him, or send him a private message (PM). There, that should be all you need to start your Netbattle experience. If you encounter problems with installation, or runtime errors, don't come crying to me dammit, go to http://www.tvsian.com/netbattle and click on forums. There are bug reports and troubleshooting sections there. __________________________SECURITY ALERT DAMMIT_______________________________ Oh, please download NB ONLY from http://www.tvsian.com/netbattle or http://www.netbattle.net. Downloading from other places might result in virus infection, which I won't be responsible for because you were too stupid to read. ______________________________________________________________________________ ******************************************************************************* +++++++++<<<<[{{THE SECOND WAY: RSBOT}}]>>>>+++++++++++++++ /================== | [CBGRS] | ==================/ RSBot is basically a channel on mIRC. Yep, mIRC, so everything is text-based, which requires you to input all of your actions in IRC commands. This is confusing for beginners, which is why I recommend Netbattle to beginners. However, RSBot has much less of the idiots that NB boast. WHICH MEANS, RSBotters tend to be more challenging. Which is once again why I recommend NB to beginners first, before even trying evil RSBot. *******To battle using RSBot: Download the latest version of mIRC at http://www.mirc.com if you haven't yet. Open the program. Ignore the picture of the dude, and proceed. Fill in your info, and the a nickname. On the left bar, lick on SERVERS. Click EDIT. Input: Description: whateveruwant IRC Server: irc.your-irc.net Port: 6667 No password or other stuff needed. Click OK. At the top bar, click File, and then CONNECT. Once connected, type /join #Rsarena You will join RSBot. At the right should be a list of names. Doubleclick @Darkbot to open a private window with the bot and create a team. *To form a team, just input addpoke nickname,species,level,item,move,move,move,move For example, addpoke rapist,Tauros,100,Choice Band,Return,Earthquake,Hidden Power,Iron Tail Darkbot should respond saying you got your pogey created. *To customize EVs, input changestatexp slot, HP,ATT,DEF,SPD,SA,SD *slot means the slot your Pogey is in on the roster. For example, changestatexp 1,6,252,0,252,0,0 *To change moves, changemoves slot,move,move,move,move *To change items, changeitems slot,item *To change natures, changepersonality slot,nature *To change abilities, changetrait slot, trait number *To create a team on your Pokemon, use formteam slot,slot,slot,slot,slot,slot So let's say the first Pokemon you created is the starter, and you want your team to be in order of how you created them. You will input formteam 1,2,3,4,5,6 *To view your team, input viewteam *To view individual slots, input viewrost slot *To battle, PM someone. If that person is free, PM Darkbot and input battle opponent 1-15,1-15 the numbers are for color code so the fights won't get mixed up. for example, battle nub 5,12 To attack, type !# # is the number of your attack which will be displayed. So, if you want to use attack 1, type !1 To switch, type #slot Slot being the slot number of target Pogey. There. Quite the complication, so I suggest you start with NB:( Full credit to http://www.freewebs.com/synre/rsbottutorial.htm which you should refer to if you don't understand me. ******************************************************************************* +++++++++<<<<[{{RULES}}]>>>>+++++++++ Both methods of competitive battling have a set of rules which you have to adhere to, in order to enjoy the experience. Sleep Clause: Standard rule, this means that no more than ONE Pokemon of the same player can be asleep at any one time. This is to prevent lucky sleep runs with Hypnosis and whatnot. Self-induced sleep like Rest does NOT contribute to the clause, so you can have a resting Pokemon, and still have another Pokemon put to sleep. If you have already put one of your opponent's Pokemon to sleep, and try to use a sleep move again, the move will simply fail. Freeze Clause: Same as above, except for Freeze. This is not standard, because Freeze is more luck based, and to clause Freeze is to clause luck. Self-KO clause: If both players are down to one last Pokemon, the moves PERISH SONG, EXPLOSION, SELFDESTRUCT, MEMENTO, and DESTONY BOND will fail. This is to prevent forced draws, which is a cheap way to not lose. 00ber clause: NO 00bers, simple as that. Legends are usually allowed. Celebi is banned on RSBot but not on NB. Wobbuffet and Wynaut, although not 00bers, are usually banned for cheapness. Species clause: No more than one species of the same Pokemon on one team. Auto-enforced, imagine having 3 Blisseys. The other clauses will be decided by the player who you want to challenge. They will usually put their own rules in their profile, like NO 00BERs, NO LEGENDS, NO BEATING ME, or whatever. =============================================================================== 5) The Basic Stuff [CBGBS] | =================== So now, you've got your pretty programs set-up and ready to roll. However, if you ever hope to become decent and actually win battles online, you need to go beyond what you learnt in-game. Forget the times when your Level 100 Charizard one-hit KO a Level 50 Vaporeon: Such BS isn't going to happen competitvely, where everything is level 100, and type advantages matter. Also, you need to be savvy about your Pokemon's nature, because different natures will benefit certain stats and drop certain others. Also, if you haven't learnt about EVs, you need to know how to spread it so that your Pokemon is well customized to do what it's supposed to do. This chapter aims to teach you how. ----> 5-*: SHORTFORMS, ABBREVIATIONS, AND WHATNOT <---- [CBG50] The sad truth is Pokemon players are lazy people, and can't be bothered to type out in full, the names of Pokemon, names of attacks, names of items, and generally names. Therefore, sicky abbreviations are used, and you MUST know these abbreviations to comprehend Pokemon players or this guide properly. Check back here when in doubt. --- STAT ABBREVIATIONS: HP: Hit-points. (However, this has another meaning) ATT: Attack DEF: Defense SPD: Speed SA: Special Attack SD: Special defense --- ITEM ABBREVIATIONS: Lefties: Leftovers CB: Choice Band LB: Light Ball DST: DeepSeaTooth Salac: Salac Berry Liechi: Liechi Berry (In fact, due to lazyness, we can't be bothered to add "berry", so we just put the name) --- ATTACK ABBREVIATIONS: To make this, I go down the list of Pokemon attacks, and give the said abbrviations as I see fit. I may miss some, but I try. AA: Aerial Ace AP: Ancientpower BP: Baton Pass BD/Drum: Belly Drum BS: Bodyslam, or bull**** BB: Brick Break BU: Bulk Up CM: Calm Mind CR: Confuse Ray DB: Destiny Bond DT: Double Team DE: Double-Edge DD: Dragon Dance EQ: Earthquake m00b: Explosion ES: Extremespeed FB: Fire Blast FP: Focus Punch FT: Flamethrower HP: Hidden Power (also means Hit Points, but when I say HP Ghost or HP Bug, I mean Hidden Power in that element) IB: Ice Beam LS: Leech Seed/Light Screen ML: Mean Look MM: Meteor Mash OH: Overheat Psong: Perish Song QA: Quick Attack RS: Rock Slide ST: Seismic Toss SB: Shadow Ball/Sludge Bomb SW: Silver Wind SD: Swords Dance/Sunny Day Sub: Substitute Twave: Thunder Wave Tbolt: Thunderbolt VT: Volt Tackle WW: Whirlwind WoW: Will-o-Wisp (NOTE, I'm pretty sure I have NOT gotten all the abbreviations, just the ones I think I'll use and see often.) --- MOVESET/COMBO ABBREVIATIONS: Thunderdance: Use of Rain Dance to give Thunder perfect accuracy SunnyBeam: Use of Sunny Day to make SolarBeam one-turn. SubPunch: Using substitute, then using Focus Punch while protected by the sub. BoltBeam: Thunderbolt + Ice Beam. Only resisted by Lanturn and Magneton. FlameClaw: Fire move (fire blast?) + Dragon Claw. No resistances. SkarmBliss: Use of Skarmory and Blissey on the same team. Use Skarmory, which is a great physical tank, to soak up physical hits, and use Blissey for special hits. Hard to break without proper counters. P-Trapping: Mean Look + Perish Trap. Pointless, cheap, and not workable. Trickband: Using Trick to swap a Choice Band on the opponent. WishPass: Using a slow Pokemon to use Wish, then baton pass to the recipient so that it can get healed without taking hits. EndRev/SubRev/EndFlail/SubFlail: EndRev/Flail is basically, to use endure to endure a killing blow, get yourself to 1hp, and fire off with a max powered Reversal/ Flail. SubRev/SubFlail works on the same concept, to set-up sub, let the opponent break it, set-up sub again, repeat until your HP is 1, and Rev/Flail. Allows you to be immune to status while subbing, and to get some boosts in. PseudoPassing (ppass): Fairly uncommon, but means using Reflect/Light Screen/ Safeguard, before switching to another pogey and let the new pogey benefit from the screens. TSS (Toxic-Spikes-Sandstorm): Basically, involves starting with Tyranitar to induce a Sandstorm, and using a team that are Sandstorm immune while using spikes and toxic to keep the opponent constantly getting damaged. Novel, but Suicune doesn't think much of most TSS teams. Lati@s: It's not a combo or anything, but Lati@s is just a term that means Latios/Latias, since they are both similar. ClubWak: Marowak with Thick Club. Doubled attack is nothing to sneer at. JaskWak: Ninjask baton passing speed to Marowak. A speedy 500+ attack demon is the LAST thing you want to sneer at. ChestoRest: Using Rest on a pokemon that has Chesto Berry. Chesto Berry wakes you up instantly, so it's basically a one-turn full heal. Pyroshuffle/Toxicshuffle: Use Toxic/Will-o-wisp on the opponent, and use Roar to bring out other Pokemon, then inflict status, and roar again, repeat. This is for inflicted the entire of the opponent's team with status, but I advise against it because smart opponents will just switch in a Pokemon which already has status, or use some other counter. (Note: Once again, incomplete) --- POKEMON ROLE ABBREVIATIONS: Throughout the guide, I will use a LOT of these to explain what Pokemon are suited to do. Mind you, this is fairly self-explanatory. Sweeper: A Pokemon that is meant to attack, and faint other Pokemon. Simple as that: They're ATTACKERS. There's physical sweepers (like Machamp and Heracross), special sweepers (Starmie, Alakazam), mixed sweepers (Swampert, Salamence), and Choice Sweepers (Tauros, Medicham). Figure it out: physical, special, and mixed. Choice sweepers = physical sweepers with choice band. Tank: A Pokemon meant to TAKE hits. Of course, they can attack, but most of the time indirectly (Toxic, W-o-W). Physical tanks are meant to take physical hits (Skarmory, Weezing, Steelix), special tanks special hits (Blissey, Regice), and er, there isn't mixed tanks, but such types do exist, like Shuckle (I call them walls, personally). Sponge generally means the same as tank: to "soak" up hits. Phazer: A Pokemon that uses a pseudo-hazing move to force the opponent to switch, thereby negating stat boosters. Examples of phazing moves are Roar, Whirlwind, Lock-on, Mind-Reader, Yawn, and Perish Song. Examples of phazers include Skarmory, Donphan, and Suicune. An explanation: Roar and Whirlwind are self-explanatory - they force a switch. Lock on/Mind Reader is almost always followed by an OHKO move, and thus forces a switch. Yawn causes a delayed sleep effect, and opponent usuallly switches out to prevent this effect. Perish Song is basically telling your opponent "you can just scram the hell away now, or stay and die". Hazer: A Pokemon that uses the move haze. Rather than force switches to negate stat change, haze simply cancels all stat changes. Common hazers are Weezing, and that's pretty much it. Maybe Vaporeon? Take note that hazers need to be able to take hits, therefore Crobat, while having the fastest haze in the game, isn't suited to haze. Cleric: A Pokemon with the move Heal Bell or Aromatherapy. The role of those moves are to heal the entire team of status illments (poison, sleep, etc), and therefore extend support. Common Clerics are Blissey, Miltank, and Celebi. Spiker: A Pokemon that uses the move Spikes. Spikes hurts the opponents whenever they switch, so using Spikes is a great way to whittle down at your opponent's healths. Common spikers are Skarmory and Forretress. Spinner: A Pokemon that uses Rapid Spin to blow away spikes. Forretress, Blastoise, and Armaldo basically. Weird people can use Starmie, but that's a waste of sexy special sweeper material. BPer: A Pokemon that uses stat upping moves, followed by Baton Pass to pass those stats to another Pokemon. A fairly easy tactic to stop, considering most teams use Phazers/Hazers of some sort. DDer/CMer/SDer/**er: Basically, a Pogey that uses Dragon Dance/Calm Mind/ . My, aren't we lazy. Annoyer: Pokemon intended to...annoy. Usually by virtue of chance moves and whatnot, like Confuse Ray. --- GENERAL ABBREVIATIONS: @: A term to indicate attached item. @Salac Berry means the Pokemon holds a Salac. UU/NU/OU: A term to classify Pokemon under how commonly they are used. OU means overused, and points to Pokemon like Salamence and Metagross, which nearly every other team uses. UU points to things like Exploud and and Quagsire: while they are used, they are fairly uncommon and UnderUsed. NU stands for not used, like Raticate and Furret which no one gives a hell about. 00ber/uber: All Tier 1 and Tier 2 (except Slaking) Pokemon. While not going into Tiers, the list of 00bers are -Mewtwo -Rayquaza -Ho-oh -Lugia -Kyogre -Groudon -Deoxys (all forms) -Mew -Latios -Latias (this list is NOT exclusive. For example, RSBot bans Celebi while NB doesn't, so Celebi and Jirachi are both arguable. Mew is deemed too unpredictable (it basically gets everything), and the others are fairly obvious. Legendary: Non-00ber, but still legendary. -Suicune/Raikou/Entei -Articuno/Zapdos/Moltres -Regice/Regirock/Registeel These are generally not banned, but rules are flexible. Hax: A term for luck. Extreme luck, usually. Don't go HAX the moment the opponent critical hits you, or you'll look like an idiot. CH: Critical Hit PAR: Paralyze SE: Super-effective NVE: Not very effective OHKO: One-hit Knockout. Similarly, 2HKO, 3HKO, etc. There, you should feel a bit more like a pro battler now, huh? Go dazzle your n00b friends with these stuff and watch their blank faces. Oh, that reminds me. n00b: Idiot. One who is newbie, stupid, refuses to take advice, and acts like a 4-year old. metagame: That's basically the competitive battling world 5-A: TYPE ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGE / PHYSICAL AND SPECIAL <---- This is going to be one of the most important things you need to learn. Sure, idiots with a single-digit IQ can figure out that Water beats Fire, but in order to be able to quickly make decisions in-battle regarding usage of moves or retreating, you NEED to know what types mean. For one, there are several modifiers of damage depending on type. ========================== If the type of your attack is super-effective against your opponent: Dmg x2 If the type of your attack is not very effective against your opponent: Dmg x0.5 If the type of your attack is ineffective against your opponent: Dmg x0. If the type of your attack is 4x effective against your opponent: Dmg x4 If the type of your attack is 4x not effective against your opponent: Dmg x0.25 ========================== So, if you use a Water move like, Surf, against Charizard which is fire/flying, your attack will do double the normal damage. If you use a Grass move like Leaf Blade against said Charizard, it will ony do 1/4 of the normal damage as Charizard is Fire/Flying and both fire and flying resists grass. (In 1.0, I foolishly FORGOT the flying part and listed this as a half-damage thing. If anyone read that, forgive me:D Thank you Amazing Ampharos for pointing that out) If you use say, a ground move like Earthquake against Charizard which is part flying, it will do NO damage at all. If you use a rock move, like Rock slide, which is super-effective against BOTH Fire AND Flying, it will be 4x effective, and do 4 times the normal damage. However, let's say you use a Ground move on a Jolteon. Jolteon, being pure electric, is 2x weak to ground, and thus the ground move does double the damage. So, as you can see, type advantages mean a lot when you battle competitively. Also, if you look at your Pokemon's stats, there is ATTACK, and SPECIAL ATTACK. As the name goes, ATTACK is the stat that determines how much damage you can inflict while you use a physical attack. SPECIAL ATTACK determines the amount of pain you dish out when you use a special attack. Some Pokemon are very strong in Special Attack, like Alakazam, so it would be wise to work on its Special Attack, and give it special moves so it can do a lot of damage. However, you first need to learn what moves are special and what moves are physical. Now, the tedious part, which you HAVE to memorize somehow, is the complete list of type advantages and disadvantages. ***A thing to remember is unlike Pokemon cards, the TYPE OF THE ATTACK can be different from the type of Pokemon! If Blastoise, a Water Type, uses Ice Beam, it would count as an Ice move, NOT a Water move! So apply weakness and resistance likewise.*** THE BORING LIST. ============== NORMAL ============== PHYSICAL ---EFFECTIVE AGAINST: NONE --NOT VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST: STEEL, ROCK ---NO DAMAGE AGAINST: GHOST --WEAK AGAINST: FIGHTING ---RESISTANT AGAINST: NONE --TAKES NO DAMAGE FROM: GHOST As you can see, normal is a pretty boring type. While it offers no form of super-effectiveness whatsoever, it is also only resisted by 2 types. It does no damage against ghost, but normal types also receive no damage from ghost moves. Take note that Normal boasts several good offensive moves, most notably Return, which is a cool 102 base damage 100% accuracy move. ============== FIRE ============== SPECIAL ---EFFECTIVE AGAINST: GRASS, ICE, BUG, STEEL --NOT VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST: FIRE, WATER, ROCK, DRAGON ---NO DAMAGE AGAINST: -- --WEAK AGAINST: WATER, GROUND, ROCK ---RESISTANT AGAINST: FIRE, GRASS, ICE, BUG, STEEL --TAKES NO DAMAGE FROM: -- --SPECIAL NOTES: Fire types cannot be burnt (Thanks to AA for suggesting that I include type immunities. All other SPECIAL NOTES under this section is credited to AA) Fire is a pretty sad type. While it offers coverage against a nice selection of types, it is also weak to 3 of just about the most common attack types to exist. You'll struggle to find teams without Earthquake, Rock Slide, and Surf. That being said, Fire is still a pretty cool type, because it is SE against Steel, and that means roasted Skarmory and Metagross. Fire has a nice selection of moves, Flamethrower for accuracy, Fire Blast for power, and Overheat being the one-time alternative for physical attacking fire types to provide a one-time strong fire hit. ============== WATER ============== SPECIAL ---EFFECTIVE AGAINST: FIRE, GROUND, ROCK --NOT VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST: WATER, GRASS, DRAGON ---NO DAMAGE AGAINST: -- --WEAK AGAINST: ELECTRIC, GRASS ---RESISTANT AGAINST: FIRE, WATER, ICE, STEEL --TAKES NO DAMAGE FROM: -- Water is one of the most common attack types to exist. Mainly because so MANY good water Pokemon exist. Also, it covers Ground and Rock while resisting Steel, a very interesting combination. Water also only has 2 special weaks, 2 fairly predictable ones. So is to say, Water is a pretty dominant type. Good attacks include Surf. ============== GRASS ============== SPECIAL ---EFFECTIVE AGAINST: WATER, GROUND, ROCK --NOT VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST: FIRE, GRASS, POISON, FLYING, BUG, DRAGON, STEEL ---NO DAMAGE AGAINST: -- --WEAK AGAINST: FIRE, ICE, POISON, FLYING, BUG ---RESISTANT AGAINST: WATER, ELECTRIC, GRASS, GROUND --TAKES NO DAMAGE FROM: -- --SPECIAL NOTES: Immune to Leech Seed. Pretty sad type really, while containing several cool Pokemon, grass simply lacks powerful attacks. Solarbeam requires set-up, and Leaf Blade is limited to Sceptile. Also, it is ineffective against a BUNCH of types, and grass types are weak to a nearly equally large BUNCH. ============== FIGHTING ============== PHYSICAL ---EFFECTIVE AGAINST: NORMAL, ICE, DARK, STEEL, ROCK --NOT VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST: FLYING, PSYCHIC, POISON, BUG ---NO DAMAGE AGAINST: GHOST --WEAK AGAINST: FLYING, PSYCHIC ---RESISTANT AGAINST: BUG, ROCK, DARK --TAKES NO DAMAGE FROM: -- Fighting is another fairly common type, and a very common attack type, mainly because it is super-effective against Normal, as well as several other tricky types like Steel. Few weaknesses is nice as well. The common fighting attacks are Focus Punch, Brick Break, and Cross Chop. ============== ELECTRIC ============== SPECIAL ---EFFECTIVE AGAINST: WATER, FLYING --NOT VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST: ELECTRIC, GRASS, DRAGON ---NO DAMAGE AGAINST: GROUND --WEAK AGAINST: GROUND ---RESISTANT AGAINST: ELECTRIC, FLYING, STEEL --TAKES NO DAMAGE FROM: -- Nice type. While it covers Water and Flying, 2 fairly common types (water is all-present, while Flying has Skarmory, it has good moves of it's type to back it up, including the all-cool Thunderbolt. Also, it only has one weak, which is nice. ============== GROUND ============== PHYSICAL ---EFFECTIVE AGAINST: FIRE, POISON, ROCK, ELECTRIC, STEEL --NOT VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST: GRASS, BUG ---NO DAMAGE AGAINST: FLYING --WEAK AGAINST: WATER, GRASS, ICE ---RESISTANT AGAINST: POISON, ROCK --TAKES NO DAMAGE FROM: ELECTRIC Not hard to see why Earthquake is so popular. Cool type coverage, only not effective agaist 2 fairly uncommon types. Also, ground-types enjoy electric immunity. Includes sexy moves like Earthquake. Another issue brought up by AA is that Ground types enjoy absolutely no physical weaks, which is why most Grounds can make good physical tanks. ============== ROCK ============== PHYSICAL ---EFFECTIVE AGAINST: FIRE, FLYING, ICE, BUG --NOT VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST: FIGHTING, GROUND, STEEL ---NO DAMAGE AGAINST: -- --WEAK AGAINST: WATER, GRASS, FIGHTING, GROUND, STEEL ---RESISTANT AGAINST: NORMAL, FIRE, POISON, FLYING --TAKES NO DAMAGE FROM: -- Rock is another cool type, mainly because Rock Slide is a cool move, and it covers flyers, which are fairly common. Rock-types actually has it's fair share of weaks, but it resists several types, including Normal, which is always nice. Good moves include Rock Slide and Ancientpower. ============== ICE ============== SPECIAL ---EFFECTIVE AGAINST: GROUND, DRAGON, FLYING, GRASS --NOT VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST: FIRE, WATER, ICE, STEEL ---NO DAMAGE AGAINST: -- --WEAK AGAINST: FIRE, FIGHTING, ROCK, STEEL ---RESISTANT AGAINST: ICE --TAKES NO DAMAGE FROM: -- --SPECIAL NOTES: Cannot be frozen. Ice moves are ever-present, because of their ability to PWN/RAPE/MAUL/RIP a type that is otherwise fairly hard to take down: Dragon. Other then the almighty Kingdra, and Lati@s,ALL fully evolved Dragons are Dragon/Flying, and therefore FOUR times weak to ice. That basically means a One-hit KO (OHKO) from an Ice Beam from anything with decent special Attack, which is nothing short of cool. Besides, it also covers Ground, which is nice as well. Cool moves are basically Ice Beam and HP Ice.(HP will be explained later)*Fine, Flygon is Ground/Dragon, but it's 4x weak to ice ANYWAY so I win* ============== POISON ============== PHYSICAL ---EFFECTIVE AGAINST: GRASS --NOT VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST: POISON, GROUND, ROCK, GHOST ---NO DAMAGE AGAINST: STEEL --WEAK AGAINST: GROUND, PSYCHIC ---RESISTANT AGAINST: GRASS, FIGHTING, BUG, POISON --TAKES NO DAMAGE FROM: -- --SPECIAL NOTES: Cannot be poisoned. This doesn't mean it doesn't take damage from poison attacks, just that Poison-types can't get the poison condition. Rather crappy type to attack with, considering it only covers grass, but poison is still a cool type due to the low amount of weaks, good coverage of resistances including FIGHTING, and cool selection of Pokemon and moves. Weezing and Muk are both darned evil, and Sludge Bomb and Toxic are prime poison moves which are widely used. ============== PSYCHIC ============== SPECIAL ---EFFECTIVE AGAINST: FIGHTING, POISON --NOT VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST: PSYCHIC, STEEL ---NO DAMAGE AGAINST: DARK --WEAK AGAINST: DARK, GHOST, BUG ---RESISTANT AGAINST: FIGHTING, PSYCHIC --TAKES NO DAMAGE FROM: -- Used to be the dominant type back in RBY, but less popular now. Psychic-types are still cool, because Dark weak is pretty hard to exploit, and bug attacks/ ghost attacks are fairly predictable. Super-effectiveness against Fighting and Poison (Weezing, basically) is nice too. Cool moves are basically...Psychic. ============== FLYING ============== PHYSICAL ---EFFECTIVE AGAINST: GRASS, BUG, FIGHTING --NOT VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST: ELECTRIC, ROCK, STEEL ---NO DAMAGE AGAINST: -- --WEAK AGAINST: ELECTRIC, ICE, ROCK ---RESISTANT AGAINST: GRASS, FIGHTING, BUG --TAKES NO DAMAGE FROM: GROUND Ground immunity is plain cool. Good to take care of Heracrosses and Brelooms. Drill Peck and Aerial Ace are among the better flying moves. Of course, there's <<(((((((((-------------o.0!!! o.0!! AEROBLAST!! 0.o!! 0.o!!-------------)(*^(#! Which remains coolest move to exist, but is unfortunately only learnt by a uber and a painting thingie which isn't too good to attack with. ============== BUG ============== PHYSICAL ---EFFECTIVE AGAINST: DARK, PSYCHIC, GRASS --NOT VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST: FIRE, FIGHTING, POISON, FLYING, GHOST, STEEL ---NO DAMAGE AGAINST: -- --WEAK AGAINST: FIRE, FLYING, ROCK ---RESISTANT AGAINST: GRASS, FIGHTING, GROUND --TAKES NO DAMAGE FROM: -- Bug's a pretty OK type, considering it covers a unique combination of types, but falls short by being resisted by 6 types. Bug Pokemon are also OK-ish, with Heracross being outstanding of course. Cool moves are Megahorn and Silver Wind. ============== DRAGON ============== SPECIAL ---EFFECTIVE AGAINST: DRAGON --NOT VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST: STEEL ---NO DAMAGE AGAINST: -- --WEAK AGAINST: ICE, DRAGON ---RESISTANT AGAINST: FIRE, GRASS, WATER, ELECTRIC --TAKES NO DAMAGE FROM: -- While Dragon moves don't cover much, they also don't get resisted by much. Unfortunately, the only Dragon moves worth using are Dragon Claw and Dragonbreath. Dragon-types are cool, resisting a bunch of elemental types, but dies to ever- present Ice Beams. ============== DARK ============== SPECIAL ---EFFECTIVE AGAINST: PSYCHIC, GHOST --NOT VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST: FIGHTING, DARK, STEEL ---NO DAMAGE AGAINST: -- --WEAK AGAINST: FIGHTING, BUG ---RESISTANT TO: GHOST, DARK --TAKES NO DAMAGE FROM: PSYCHIC While the Psychic immunity is cool, Dark doesn't really have much going for it. For one, it covers a pretty pathetic selection of tpyes. Also, the dark movepool consists of one move: Crunch. You COULD use HP Dark, Faint Attack, or Bite, but they won't be very useful. ============== GHOST ============== PHYSICAL (WOULD YOU READ? GHOST IS physical, NOT SPECIAL!!!) ---EFFECTIVE AGAINST: GHOST, PSYCHIC --NOT VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST: DARK, STEEL ---NO DAMAGE AGAINST: NORMAL --WEAK AGAINST: GHOST, DARK ---RESISTANT TO: POISON, BUG --TAKES NO DAMAGE FROM: NORMAL, FIGHTING Double immunity is sexy, but it can't touch normals, which kinda sucks. I suppose the Poison resistance can be exploited pretty well, but Shadow Ball and to a very little extent, Night Shade, plus HP Ghost are pretty much the only usable ghost attacks. At least there are a bunch of cool ghost Pokemon. ============== STEEL ============== PHYSICAL ---EFFECTIVE AGAINST: ROCK, ICE --NOT VERY EFFECTIVE AGAINST: FIRE, WATER, ELECTRIC, STEEL ---NO DAMAGE AGAINST: -- --WEAK AGAINST: FIGHTING, FIRE, GROUND ---RESISTANT TO: NORMAL, GRASS, ICE, FLYING, PSYCHIC, BUG, ROCK (getting a bit long?), GHOST, DRAGON, (wtf lol)DARK, STEEL --TAKES NO DAMAGE FROM: POISON --SPECIAL NOTES: Cannot be poisoned. That's a grand total of 10 resistances and a handy immunity. Explains why Steel-types are pretty dominant. However, it sucks to be weak against both Fighting AND Ground. The steel-attacks are not very wide-covering, but Meteor Mash (Iron Tail, to a small extent) are still widely used, because the users (Metagross and Tauros) attack at a mindlessly irresponsible rate, and Meta's STAB makes MM a very very powerful attack. Tauros Iron Tail simply rapes Aerodactyl. END BORING LIST. =============================================================================== There, don't you love me? I just finished the typing chart. [ STAB ] Now, to finish this off, I need to touch on STAB. Same Type Attack Bonus Which means if the move you used is the same type as the Pokemon, the attack is 1.5x as powerful. Which is to say, a Flamethrower from Charizard will get STAB, a Drill Peck from Dodrio will get STAB, and a Shadow Ball from Banette will get STAB. Keep in mind that 1.5x is a LOT, which is why STAB is a pretty big thing to learn. Every type gets STAB, even Normal types. Remember that. Just to make it clearer: Flamethrower's base power is 90. If Charizard uses Flamethrower, base power becomes 90*1.5 = 135. Significant. Great, I finished. Now excuse me while I grab a nice 20 hours of sleep. zzZZZzZZZZZ... ============================================================================== [CBG5B] | ================= ----> 5-B: NATURES <---- zzZZzZZ...oh hi. When we say natures (or, personality, traits, whatever), we mean that little "Brave", or "Modest", or "Timid", or "pimp". While it's pretty sad that pimp is not a nature, we as cool trainers need to put that aside and learn about natures because they play a major part in competitve battling. You see, in-game, it didn't really matter a crap unless you were into contests, but you might want to know that what natures do is they will raise a particular stat by 10%, while dropping another stat by 10%. For example, MODEST is a nature that raises SPECIAL ATTACK by 10%, while dropping ATTACK. This will be good on a Pokemon that doesn't require any attack, but instead uses special attacks. For example, Vaporeon. The difference natures make is great. Let's take a Vaporeon, with perfect IV and no EVs. Firstly, let's look at it's stats, when it has a HARDY nature, which is neutral and does nothing to stats. HP: 401 ATT: 166 DEF: 156 SPEED: 166 S.ATT: 256 S.DEF: 226 Now, let's see a similar Vaporeon, with a MODEST nature. HP: 401 ATT: 149 (-) DEF: 156 SPEED: 166 S.ATT: 281 (+) S.DEF: 226 Major difference. By sacrificing a stat that you DON'T NEED, you can up a stat that you need, and make your Pokemon more powerful. This is one way to customize your Pokemon to specific tasks. Now, let's bring the pain back as I bring on the list of Natures and what they do. THE OTHER BORING LIST. =========================================================== ----> NEUTRAL NATURES: Natures that don't modify any stats HARDY, DOCILE, SERIOUS, QUIRKY, BASHFUL These natures are not recommended, because it's to your advantage to up a stat by 10% while customizing the Pokemon to not make use of the stat that you sacrifice. ----> SPEED BOOSTERS: Natures that raise speed TIMID (+ speed, - attack) JOLLY (+ speed, - special attack) HASTY (+ speed, - defense) NAIVE (+ speed, - special defense) Generally, only Timid and Jolly are used. Obviously, Timid for Pokemon like Jolteon and Alakazam who need to be fast, but don't need attack. Jolly for Pokemon like Dugtrio and Tauros, who needs speed, but doesn't need special attack. ----> ATTACK BOOSTERS: Natures that raise attack LONELY (+ attack, - defense) ADAMANT (+ attack, - special attack) BRAVE (+ attack, - speed) NAUGHTY (+ attack, - special defense) Adamant is used on individuals like Charizard and Tyranitar, who need to do a lot of physical attacking work, but no special attacking, and at the same time aren't fast enough to make use of Jolly. Brave is for mixed attackers, who doesn't need speed, like Ampharos. Lonely and Naughty are pretty rare. ----> SPECIAL ATTACK BOOSTERS: Natures that boost SA MODEST (+ special attack, - attack) MILD (+ special attack, - defense) QUIET (+ special attack, - speed) RASH (+ special attack, - special defense) Generally, only modest is used, on special sweepers who aren't fast enough, or doesn't need that much speed, like Milotic and Vaporeon. ----> DEFENSE BOOSTERS: Natures that boost defense RELAXED (+ defense, - speed) BOLD (+ defense, - attack) IMPISH (+ defense, - special attack) LAX (+ defense, - special defense) Relaxed is used for defensive Pokemon (tanks), that are darned slow already and could do hell with that speed, like Snorlax and Weezing. Bold is for tanks who don't need to attack, like Suicune, and Impish for the opposite of Bold, like Skarmory. Lax isn't really used. ----> SPECIAL DEFENSE BOOSTERS: Natures that boost SD CALM (+ special defense, - attack) CAREFUL (+ special defense, - special attack) GENTLE (+ special defense, - defense) SASSY (+ special defense, - speed) All are used except Gentle. Calm for Pogeys like Suicune, Careful for certain Snorlaxes, and Sassy also works for Snorlax, as well as thingies like Regice and Skarmory. ----> FERTILITY BOOSTERS: Nature that raises egg yield PIMP (+ fertility, - nothing) All Dittos are PIMP natured. (Actually, if you couldn't figure it out, Dittos aren't PIMP natured even though they should be, so don't send your Ditto in an attempt to mesmerize your opponent's Pokemon because it will likely fail) END OF OTHER BORING LIST. PHEW. YOU MUST H8 ME NOW. =========================================================== ============================================================================== [CBG5C] | ================= ----> 5-C: STATS <---- Every Pokemon has stats, you see. The most basic ones are the ones which are clearly shown, like HP and ATT. But what do they do? HP: Hit-points. These determine just how much punishment you can take. On the pretext that defenses are equal, the Pokemon with the higher HP will be able to take more hits. ATT: Attack. This determies how much damage you can inflict when you use physical moves. So, a Machamp will do much more damage using Cross Chop then using Fire Blast, because Machamp has a large-ass amount of attack. DEF: Defense. Determines how well you take physical hits. Higher defense means you take less damage from physical hits. SPD: Speed. Determines who goes first. While this may seem pointless, remember that speed is a KEY factor in competitive battling, and attacking first always yields advantage. SA: Special attack. Determines how much pain you can dish out when using special moves. SD: Special defense. Determines how well you take special hits. Of course, these are basic, but there are several key stats which are, infact, hidden in-game. Of course, both NB and RSBot allows you to customize these stats just like you can customize Natures, so you can further specialize your Pokemon in different roles. ################################################# [5C1X] }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}>5-C-1: IVs (INDIVIDUAL VALUES) All Pokemon have IVs. IVs, are like genes. They determine your Pokemon's stats. IVs can range from the lowest 0 to the highest 31. The higher your IVs are in a particular stat, the higher that stat will be. However, IVs are hidden in-game, and it's tough to find them unless you go through specific measures. However, in competitve battling, IVs are ALWAYS preset at 31, which means your Pokemon will always have their highest non-EV boosted stats. Let's finish with an example to make it clear. Let's use Vaporeon again. Here I have a Vaporeon, which I set the HP IV to be 31. It's HP is: 401. Here I have another, which I set the HP IV to be 17. It's HP is: 387. Here I have another, which I set the HP IV to be 0. It's HP is: 370. Because ALL stats are set at IV 31, it doesn't make sense to change it because you want as high the stats as possible (unless you are a very weird man). There is no drawback to setting all IVs to 31, and it's default anyway. However, when you need Hidden Power to come in play, you will need to change your IVs a little. I'll hit that later. ################################################# [5C2X] }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}>5-C-2: EVs (EFFORT VALUES) If you are familiar with EV training in-game, you can skip this section. Basically, EVs are a sort of addition to the stat system. Each Pokemon has a maximum of 510 EVs, which can be split into each stat to give bonuses to the stats. Each stat can have a maximum of 255 EVs invested. The idea is that 4 EVs = 1 stat point, so by giving 255 EVs to a stat, you effectively add 63 points to that stat. However, to maximise EV usage, you should always only put a maximum of 252 EVs into a stat, because 252 and 255 EVs all give the max, and you want to conserve EVs. Another rule of thumb is to make sure all your EVs are even numbers. The smallest amount of EVs that will bring it up a point is always an even number, so try to have even numbers in each spread of EVs. Do you see where this is going? By utilising EVs, you can FURTHER customize your Pokemon! Let's take Tauros as an example. Tauros does NOT need special attack, special defense, nor defense because it was meant to be a fast sweeper. Therefore, we will put 252 EVs in ATT, 252 EVs in SPD, and the remaining 6 EVs into HP. Thus, Tauros is now a specialized Fast Psysical Sweeper! Let's do the example thing again. Tauros with perfect IVs, Jolly nature, and no EVs: HP: 291 ATT: 236 DEF: 226 SPD: 281 SA: 104 SD: 176 Tauros with perfect IVs, Jolly nature, and 252 EVs in attack and speed, 6 in HP. HP: 292 ATT: 299 DEF: 226 SPD: 350 SA: 104 SD: 176 Just look at that speed and attack boost by focusing EVs into attack and speed. This will open up a field which will likely take you a long time to get the hang of: EV spreading. While basic spreads like 252/252/6 and 252/129/129 work, there are usually better spreads that make the best out of each Pokemon's strengths, while covering it's weaknesses and allowing it to take on opposition it will normally die to. The concept is impossible to put into a guide, so that's an aspect you'll have to use experience for: As you play more, you will get the hang of it! Take note that Netbattle has EVs set as 85 per stat as the default, so please take some time to customize it to make your Pokemon more powerful. ################################################# [5C3X] }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}>5-C-3: Hidden Power Throughout movesets, and my guide, and poketalk, you'll hear "HP Ice", "HP Rock", "HP ghost", and other stuff like that. Do not mistaken HP for Hit-points: HP in this case means HIDDEN POWER. A major part of competitive battling. You see, HP is normally useless in-game. Why? Because HP has a random base power, and a random element. Well, not random, but it depends on IVs, which ARE random, in-game, so using Hidden power is a pointless gamble. But Netbattle/RSBot allows you to customize IVs, which is to say, -You have control over what type and how powerful your HP is. While it's obvious you want the power to be the maximum (70), it's not as easy to decide what element you want it. Most of the time, you want it to cover a weakness, or kill some other type of Pokemon you can't kill. For example, Charizard may use HP Grass, as Grass covers both Water and Rock, it's main weaknesses. So HP in competitive battling is basically a base-70 move with an element of your choice. Not bad, heh. The point it you can just select from a drop-down list what HP element you want (or in RSBot, input it), but the program's new IV deployment may not be ideal. The most prominent examples are HP Flying, HP Ghost, and HP Ice. HP Flying: When you select HP Flying, Netbattle automatically rearranges your IVs to 31/31/31/30/30/30, which means your speed is one point less than the max. However, 30,30,30,31,30,30 is ALSO HP Flying, but it doesn't sacrifice speed. This is useful for situations when your Pokemon NEEDS to be fast, like Aerodactyl. HP Ghost: When you select HP Ghost, you get 31/31/30/31/31/30. Good, that's what we want. HP Ice: When you select HP Ice (common on Jolteon), you get 31/31/31/30/31/31. That means 1 point less in speed, which allows Aerodactyl to pwn you. Not good. Instead, use 30,31,30,31,31,31, which is still HP Ice, but allows max speed. That's about it huh. ################################################# [5C4X] }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}>5-C-4: BASE STATS There's another system you would need to know, one less hidden, but equally important nonetheless, and that is base stats. You know, some Pokemon are made to do certain things. Their base stat says so. For example, Alakazam simply can NOT attack physically, and the opposite can be said for Rhydon. That's because their base stats say so. Every species of Pokemon has a set of base stats, and these determine just how high a stat would go. For example, Alakazam's base stats: HP: 55 ATT: 50 DEF: 45 SPD: 120 SA: 135 SD: 85 Notice the absurdly high base for speed and special attack. This means that you can pump EVERYTHING to boost Alakazam's attack, but it'll still suck compared to it's SA because Alakazam's attack just sucks. There is no way you can change it, just like there is no way to change the fact that Snorlax is plain slow. Alakazam, lvl100, with max IVs, ADAMANT (+ att, - SA), and max attack EVs: Att: 218 SA: 275 See, even with you putting EVERYTHING into attack, it's SA still outshines attack by a large chunk. Now let's see a special oriented zam. Lvl100, max IVs, MILD (+ SA, - def so attack is not lowered), max SA EVs. Att: 136 SA: 405 Sorry, Alakazam will ALWAYS be a special sweeper. It's important to understand that base stats play a part in determining what roles Pokemon play. You might like to see Alakazam using Slash, but that won't cut it. So, your decisions for Pokemon will always depend on a Pokemon's base stats. So, for a overview of what we learnt in this section: IVs are individual values, they determine how high your stats go. They range from 0 to 31, but since Netbattle/RSBot always has them set at 31, you shouldn't care. EVs are effort values. You can spread them between the stats. You should always invest EVs in a set the Pokemon needs, and invest wisely. Hidden Power has base power and type dependant on your IVs. In competitve battling, you can just select the type, but there are certain IV combinations that work better. And lastly, every species of Pokemon has a set of base stats, which determine how high it's stats can go. You should decide on which Pokemon to use for what purpose based on the base stats. Phew, aren't we quick. ============================================================================== [CBG5D] | ================= ----> 5-D: ITEMS <---- The next dimension of competitive battling would be the attached item. You have a choice of letting your Pokemon hold an item, and the item will benefit it in some way or another. The rule of thumb is, when in doubt of what item to use, use Leftovers. Lefties NEVER hurt, because it heals 1/16