Lordjokester

TAW is an awesome gaming environment, not only for PRO, but for dozens of other games you might play. Come check us out at taw.net and see for yourself everything we have to offer!

Before you jump into PVP matches, make sure you have at least a good grasp on: Types - how each type interacts with each other, what's super-effective, neutral or ineffective against what; Base stats - the six stats each of your Pokémon have, and what roles they'd be better at fulfilling; Battle stats - possible stage increases and decreases on one or more of those base stats, that only last during the battle they're applied on, and that can be either self-inflicted (Swords Dance, Withdraw, Nasty Plot, Amnesia), inflicted by/on your opponent (Growl, Tail Whip, Sweet Scent) or activated by held items (Petaya Berry, Salac Berry, Apicot Berry); Abilities - special skills that your Pokémon inherently possesses, what activates them, when do they activate, how to use them to your favor - note that while a species may have access to more than one ability, a Pokémon may only have one ability as its own; Natures - each Pokémon has a different nature, that either increases one stat by 10% while reducing another by 10% (Adamant is +Atk - Sp Atk, Timid is +Spd - Atk), or is neutral and doesn't alter any stats at all (Hardy, Serious); Effort Values (EVs) - points your Pokémon earns that add to their stats, most commonly by battling (each Pokémon yields a different number: defeating a Magikarp yields 1 Speed EV, while defeating a Chansey yields 2 HP EVs), but they're also attainable with the use of specific consumables for each stat (Protein, Zinc, Calcium). A Pokémon starts with 0 EVs, and you can attribute a max of 252 EV points to a stat, with a limit of 510 overall (only 508 being actually usable) - EV gains can be amplified with the use of Power items (they all cut your in-battle speed by half, but increase EV gain, like how Macho Brace doubles EVs gained after a battle while every other Power item - Bracer, Anklet, Weight, etc - gives you +8 on their specific EV); Individual Values (IVs) - fixed hidden values that affect each of your Pokemon's base stats separately, randomly assigned from 1 to 31 - these are defined when you catch a Pokémon, and cannot be changed; Teambuilding Movesets - what's worth having on your team, choosing between physical and special moves, damaging or non-damaging/utility moves, and so forth; Secondary Move Effects - if and what are the potential secondary effects of your moves, and who's affected by them (Leaf Storm decreasing your Sp Atk in two stages, Dynamicpunch confusing your opponent upon connecting, Waterfall may flinch upon contact); Roles - what position each Pokémon on your team occupies, whether it's better suited to be a sweeper, a cleric, a tank, a lead, a revenge-killer, and so on; Weaknesses - not only the type weaknesses your team has, but also type matchups that your team struggles to deal with (like having too many Pokémon being weak to Ground types, or being unable to deal with threats like say a Garchomp or a Forretress); Counterplaying - applying your knowledge on your team's strongest and weakest features in order to maximize the former and minimizing the latter, having different ways to deal with multiple/common threats, not relying on a single strategy to win all matches, adapting to the flow of each battle; Held Items - understanding the different held items and their uses, if they need activation before being used (pinch berries, for example), and what secondary effects they may carry (Life Orb dealing recoil damage, Black Sludge healing only Poison types, etc); Battling STAB - an acronym for Same Type Attack Bonus, a 50% damage boost of an attack when it is the same type as one of the types of the Pokémon using the attack, and whether it's better to use a STAB move versus a super-effective, non-STAB one; Status conditions - ailments that affect your Pokémon's performance in-battle, their effects (Burn cutting your physical damage dealt in half, Paralysis reduces Speed and has a 25% chance of making it unable to move for that turn, etc), and whether they're non-volatile (remains outside of battle and after being switched out - Burn, Poison, Freeze, etc), volatile (inflicted by a move or ability from another Pokémon and wears off when switched out of battle or when a battle is over - being binded, Confusion, Cursed, etc), or while a Pokémon is in battle; Prediction - trying to make intelligent guessing based on collected experience and information throughout the battle, and taking moves in advance of expecting your opponent to make a certain play; Setup - moves that buff your Pokémon's stats (Quiver Dance, Calm Mind, Nasty Plot, etc), and spotting ideal moments/opportunities with using them during the battle; Entry Hazards - status moves that alter the battlefield and interact with Pokémon switching in/entering after those were set, either by dealing damage (Stealth Rock, Spikes), spreading status conditions (Toxic Spikes) or reducing stats (Sticky Web), as well as how to get rid of them (Defog, Rapid Spin) and if your team needs either of them. Although this is an extensive list and some may argue that it covers things that someone who's just beginning on the PVP world shouldn't worry about yet, I believe this is a good starting place for a solid foundation that'll serve you for many battles and seasons to come. Have fun on the competitive world!

So basically you're complaining that you're unable to, or have a really hard time dealing with specific Pokémon and thus they need to be banned, instead of, you know, building your team around them or in a more balanced way, that actually accounts for those weaknessess of yours, like any PVP player is supposed to? Genesect and Darkrai - they're banned because the former is really versatile when it comes to stat investments, abilities and move possibilities, which limits its counters to very limited options, while the latter is literally the 30th fastest Pokémon in the entire game (as of Gen VII), which makes him the fastest sleep-inducing user by a wide margin, despite Dark Void's nerf (Hypnosis is now its most reliable choice, with a 70% accuracy) - the disruptive, rinse-and-repeat potential of snowballing the match by putting the entire opposition to sleep is too high. Clefable and Blissey - Blissey is a massive specially defensive tank, but pretty much allergic to physical moves. Sure, having a Fighting move or two is ideal, but even strong STAB, neutral, physical hits can make quick work of it. Now for Clefable it gets a little trickier, but nothing immensely difficult is necessary, with a bunch of different counters appliable, from having Steel and Poison types (that take little damage from Moonblast and can hit back with their own super-effective STAB moves), from having Fire types (they're also resistant to Fairy, and while not hitting back super-effectively, can use the opportunity to set up on Clefable and either force a switch-out or just straight up get the KO) and putting up offensive pressure (Clefable can't afford to be bulky on both Defense and Special Defense, so you can simply hit it harder on the non-invested stat). Finally, Kellsbelles already said everything there is to say about switching: it's one of the basic principles of PVP battling, alongside with prediction and mindfulness of the biggest threats to your team when teambuilding, as well as how to deal with them throughout the battle. These are skills that come with practice, though, so don't feel discouraged if you don't quite get it at first/don't get it right at first. Every battle is different, with people staying in when you thought they'd switch up, people switching up when you thought they'd have no reason to, or some other third thing. So make sure you've done everything you could on your end, and the rest will sort itself out.

Stalling: one of many different styles of play, stall teams revolve around dealing residual damage (like sandstorm, hail, toxic spikes, stealth rock, etc), usually on Pokémon with high defenses/HP and constant/reliable recovery. Stall teams usually extend battles for several minutes because of the aforementioned reliance on residual damage, and because having a team full of dedicated tanks means you're giving up on offensive power/capabilities. If it takes 20 turns for my Sableye to pick up a KO on your Scizor because that's how long it took to wear it down by relying on burn damage from Will-O-Wisp + staying alive with repetitive Recover usage, I'm using a stalling strategy, and that's ok by the rules. Time stalling: forcing your opponent to wait for you to make a move for no reason other than to irritate them or make them wait, or to exploit the match timer; If I use up all of the time available for me to make my move, every turn, for no reason other than letting the match timer run out to get the default win, I'm time stalling, and that's an illegal move. Let's say I'm down to my last two Pokémon, while you only have one, but I've lost my win condition (say, I only have offensive Psychic-type moves on my team, but your Pokémon is a Dark-type sweeper, and for the sake of the argument I'm unable to status you); thus, instead of just playing the rest of the match out and you eventually picking up the KOs on me, I use up all the time available to me every turn until the overall match timer runs out. This makes me the winner by default, since I have two Pokémon left and you only have one, despite the fact that I'd be unable to defeat you through battling mechanics. One makes the battle last longer by having more turns, while the other unecessarily extends its time duration to the limit for no reason other than forcing out an otherwise unwinnable scenario. That's the difference, and why the distinction is made.

The Art of Warfare [TAW] The Art of Warfare [TAW] is a highly organized international gaming community that has been established in 2001 with 2800+ current active members playing over 40+ games, now including Pokémon Revolution Online. We look forward to having a lot of active players in PRO based all around the world, consisting of both experienced and new players, just like we do for most other divisions within our ranks. What we offer you in TAW: Active and organized players in Pokémon Revolution Online, as well as 40+ other games (you join us and you have a clan for all your games) International community ranging from EU (Europe), NA (North America), SA (South America) to OC (Oceanic)/SEA/etc Huge TeamSpeak (top ranking in the world) A website at www.taw.net as well as Forums and Wikis News and articles Shop for some goodies A ranking system for those who wish to advance within the community An event per week that has been planned and worked on by our Officers Clan wars, Tournaments, and rewards Loyalty from your clan mates A lot of other games to play with fully developed teams, which are just a channel away! (list of our units or games can be found HERE) And much, much more! What do we offer you in Pokémon Revolution Online: A place for those who are looking to find others to play with Players with common goals and game styles Mature members that respect your levels of skill and game knowledge Training sessions to improve your current player level, if interested Organized callouts, communication, and related documents Requirements to join: Be able to understand and speak English (Not required to be perfect) Must be 16 years old+ Must be willing to use TeamSpeak Have a mic Be Mature and respectful to others Be active And most importantly have fun! If you are either a casual gamer, a hardcore gamer or something in between, we have something for you here, in TAW. How to join TAW? If you are interested, all you have to do is create an account on our website by clicking over HERE and join our Pokémon Revolution Online division by creating an account. After that, keep an eye out for our email since we will contact you ASAP. Need more information before joining? The info you have read above is to make things short and simple. If you're interested, but still have some doubts or questions, or want to have a chat about it first, just contact me in either of the following contact addresses, PM me or comment here: Email: [email protected] ; Steam: LordJokester ; Why die alone when we can survive together? Check us out and be prepared to be impressed! We look forward to having you join our family. Happy catching and get ready for fun! Come looking for friends, and find a family as we have found ours!