Shoddy Battle & NetBattle team-building

[Khoi]

This applies for mainly OU metagame, but any other tiers works too. How do you guys come up with teams? Do you guys start looking up information on certain OUs, and find the ones that you think has the highest stats and plug them in your team? Or do you make something similar to a checksheet and pick off everything that might be essential for a team (ex: Phys. Wall, Spe. Wall, Tank, Phys. Sweeper, Spe. Sweeper, Mixed Sweeper, Stealth Rock, Rapid Spin, Toxic, Parz, etc?).

Or if you're like me, do you pick at least one of your favorite Pokemon, regardless of it's stats in the metagame, and plug it into your team anyways? Similar to a signature Pokemon. Like Lance's Dragonite in the anime, etc. Back during NetBattle, my teams always had a Gardevoir. I tested with so many Gardevoir sets that I eventually made my own that was not considered Standard by Smogon. However, it was effective against Jolteon, Vaporeon, and anything with "____ Absorb" ability.

Point being, how do you make your team? Do you spend countless hours into research on what Pokemon and what stats you would want in your team? Or what? I'm curious. If you're going to ask me how I've personally created my teams, and this may seem a bit serious, but this is how I've always been in competitive games:

a) Look at the tiers, pick out '6' Pokemon from a specific tier
b) Read all of the standard-sets from that specific tier, and try to memorize most of it
c) Think of 6 Pokemon that would work well in conjunction with each other, stats and typing first.
d) Think of movesets that would work in conjunction with typing
e) Once all of that is finished, distribute EVs. But before doing so, looking at how much Speed I need to outspeed certain types of Pokemon. (ie: How much speed would Dragonite need to outspeed standard T-tar that doesn't have DD) Apply the calculations, plug and drop.
f) Figure out my team's weaknesses by playing against people over and over.
g) Adjust EVs (but very rarely, moves) if necessary after countless battles.

That's how I finish a team. But once I think that team is well-suited enough, I move on to make a new team. Sounds wacky, but that's how I play metagame.

PS ; Shoddy's interface sucks, the lag sucks, but worst off is that it doesn't have a Pokedex to help you. So you have to rely on Smogon for 100% of the research. I'm working on my new OU team as I am typing up this thread. Awesome.

[Corn]

1) Get a favorite Pokemon or concept that I like, like Hail, Flygon, etc. etc.
2) Build a team that gets rid of counters and checks of that main Pokemon.
3) Rip sets from Smogon.
4) Find a good lead.
5) Play, change Pokemon.

[TřbiasBlack]

i find pokemon i have an affinity towards, or ones that i think are effective. then i work strategies around them and try to build as much synergy between them, and/or set them up where theyre independent but can set-up for others (see my Embargo using Wondertomb, or spikes/destiny bond Froslass). then i play a match or two to develop that sense of effectiveness, and adjust accordingly. for instance, Mind Grape is a great idea, but it needs work. i could either do a simple fix, a minor overhaul, or a complete removal/replacement. Then i look at the opponents i have and their teams if applicable, then i work out how i could best go up against them, and find as many flaws that i can. then i work on a pokemon or three that could either exploit that weakness and destroy them, or sabotage them and cripple them.

[Dyxanije]

I pick 1-3 Pokemon that I want to use on a team and build the rest of my team to compliment the Pokemon I wanted to use. Then I try to incorporate a wide variety of attacks so I have all my bases covered. I also might do a few practice matches to see if anything needs changing.

[Dusk]

I'm entirely new to this, but for the team for the UU tournament we're having:

I looked in the tier list and picked out all my favorite Pokemon in the tier: Clefable, Sceptile, Lanturn, Aggron, Arcanine, Hitmontop, Leafeon, Umbreon, Froslass, Ludicolo. I tried to use as many of those as I could on one team. I read a little bit about Froslass and it seemed like a solid lead so I started building my team off Pokemon that worked well with Spikes. At first I tried to make my entire team about forcing my opponent to switch so that they would take more Spikes damage. I put in SubSeed Sceptile, Encore Clefable, someone with Roar, and then I tried to balance the types out a bit by looking under Team Options for each of the Pokemon I was using and trying to figure out good partners for them. After playing a few practice matches, I found out my team had a lot of weaknesses, so I tried to balance that out wherever I could. Like I kept getting owned by Venusaurs and Altarias, so I looked for counters to those. It's really just been trial and error for me.

[DarkestTempest]

I tend to make offensive teams. I pick a couple of sweepers with good synergies, pick another one or two that can switch in on what threatens my original choices, uses the rest non-lead slots to shore up any weaknesses and run a suicide lead (unless one of the "Shore weakness" pokemon also can serve as a bulky lead, then I'll use that as a lead instead).

[Piggy 2.0]

2 attackers from both spectrums, Walls for both spectrum revenge/set-up, a "lolwut" to fuc k with people.

Then I play someone and see what changes need to be made.

[Khoi]

Interesting responses. I'm assuming all of you use standards as well? As in standard movesets from Smogon. I won't lie, I sort of do, but I make changes according to my own tastes and battle experience. For example, my Rhyperior that had Focus Punch. I enjoy predicting very much, it's a 50/50 for me, always. If I'm right, I hit something, if I'm wrong, either something hits me and I can't hit back, or I miss because I hit a Ghost type.

[Dusk]

Interesting responses. I'm assuming all of you use standards as well? As in standard movesets from Smogon. I won't lie, I sort of do, but I make changes according to my own tastes and battle experience. For example, my Rhyperior that had Focus Punch. I enjoy predicting very much, it's a 50/50 for me, always. If I'm right, I hit something, if I'm wrong, either something hits me and I can't hit back, or I miss because I hit a Ghost type.

I feel like I'm too much of a noob to make new and creative movesets. I switched things up a few times - my Donphan uses Roar instead of Assurance, and my Moltres had HP Ice at one point, but I mostly base my strategies off the Smogon movesets.

[Dyxanije]

Interesting responses. I'm assuming all of you use standards as well? As in standard movesets from Smogon. I won't lie, I sort of do, but I make changes according to my own tastes and battle experience. For example, my Rhyperior that had Focus Punch. I enjoy predicting very much, it's a 50/50 for me, always. If I'm right, I hit something, if I'm wrong, either something hits me and I can't hit back, or I miss because I hit a Ghost type.

I start with the Smogon movesets and switch things around as I battle more.

[Khoi]

I feel like I'm too much of a noob to make new and creative movesets. I switched things up a few times - my Donphan uses Roar instead of Assurance, and my Moltres had HP Ice at one point, but I mostly base my strategies off the Smogon movesets.

While I understand where you're coming from, inventing sets is part of the element of surprise. That's how you get people to mess up on their prediction, so many times, I messed up because my predictions are BASED off of Smogon's standards. I don't look up movesets either, I just try to remember what I can. I think trial&error is the best way to learn too, but some time along the way, it'd be nice to make your own crap once in a while, that works.

[Dusk]

While I understand where you're coming from, inventing sets is part of the element of surprise. That's how you get people to mess up on their prediction, so many times, I messed up because my predictions are BASED off of Smogon's standards. I don't look up movesets either, I just try to remember what I can. I think trial&error is the best way to learn too, but some time along the way, it'd be nice to make your own crap once in a while, that works.

Of course. Like I said, I'm completely new to this. My first match was like 3 days ago against you. I figure if I keep battling, I'll be making my own movesets, but for now I'm just playing casually.

[Russt]

Of course. Like I said, I'm completely new to this. My first match was like 3 days ago against you. I figure if I keep battling, I'll be making my own movesets, but for now I'm just playing casually.

Casual competitive battling ftw.

[Dusk]

Casual competitive battling ftw.

Anyone who's ever participated in a neighborhood Halo or Smash tournament's done it.

[TřbiasBlack]

Interesting responses. I'm assuming all of you use standards as well? As in standard movesets from Smogon. I won't lie, I sort of do, but I make changes according to my own tastes and battle experience. For example, my Rhyperior that had Focus Punch. I enjoy predicting very much, it's a 50/50 for me, always. If I'm right, I hit something, if I'm wrong, either something hits me and I can't hit back, or I miss because I hit a Ghost type.

I do that 60% of the time. the rest i go with an idea from smogon, and adapt it.

[Bribery]

I generally like to build my teams around a particular Pokemon, usually my favorite of the tier (Jirachi in OU, Arcanine in UU). After selecting my main sweeper, I pick Pokemon that can cover its weaknesses, not necessarily type weaknesses, but also weaknesses to a certain Pokemon. For example, CM Jirachi gets stopped in its tracks by Tyranitar, so having something like Breloom to switch into Tyranitar helps a lot.

A crucial part of team building is also knowing what threats to counter in the metagame. That's why Smogon's Shoddy Battle Statistics are very useful. They update them monthly (though February was lost due to a server change). Though usage alone doesn't determine how deadly a Pokemon is, certain Pokemon are used more than others for a good reason.

And of course, the most important part of team building is...using your team. Some teams look amazing on paper but totally suck in practice. Testing your team helps you pick out weaknesses that you may have missed when team building. I've been revamping my OU team since October. xD

Most of my teams end up being "semi-stall", meaning it utilizes entry hazards and bulky sweepers. That's just my playing style. Build your team to your style. Some people like glass cannon offence, others like stall or balanced teams.

[DarkestTempest]

I almost always use standards, but I tend to use pokemon with multiple viable standard sets (Celetran is my favourite core), and thus I try to keep an element of surprise by using not-so-standard sets, rather than really-non-standard sets. Sometimes I do mess around with sets to see if I can make them more effective for me, though, but almost all the time I would go back to standards because those are the most effective sets for me.

It's probably because when I make a team, I look for sets that are easy to use and don't depend on too much support, and non-standard sets tend to work better only at some specific situations that requires a lot of support.

[Slaking]

For UU I just picked a few favourites and went on to analyze the common threads in UU.

Basically, I don't switch complete teams very often.
1) Pick Pokémon that I like, to test around what's commonly found.
2) Be sure that their not completely ripped, and implant some suprises.
3) Figure my weaknesses, does not always work out as well. (I somehow always end up having 3+ Pokémon weak to Fightning)
4) Play some matches.
5) Adjust my weaknesses and try again.

Repeat 4 and 5 untill I'm statisfied, and sometimes I just randomly switch. Most of my teams contain weird sets, and one or two sweepers.