The Most Expansive Guide to Competitive Battling

                                                 An Expansive guide to Competitive Pokemon

Are you new to Monotype? Are you an average player trying to up your game? Then, THIS IS THE GUIDE FOR YOU! Now, as I mostly Monotype, this guide will be biased towards that tier but the tips and tricks can be applied to ANY TIER, and are guaranteed to help you get better at Pokemon.

Here are the Steps to Greatness:

1. The Basics
Do you know the type chart? Do you know what resists what, what is super effective against what types. These are things every battler must know to be successful. YOU CANNOT EXPECT TO BE GOOD AT MONS IF U DON'T KNOW KNOW THE TYPE CHART. Learn it. Love it. Memorize it. It is your friend. Don't be afraid to have the chart up in a tab in case your not sure.

Build your knowledge base. How well do you know the tier? Every tier is different. But there are sets that people commonly run on a Pokemon that do a certain job for their team. Smogon analysis is great for this: http://www.smogon.com/dex/xy/pokemon. Click on the Pokemon you want to know more information about and it will show you common sets people run in the tiers the Pokemon is played in as well as team options and how to beat it. For example, in Monotype, psychic loves to run choice scarf Victini as a great revenge killer and as a Wincon in the psychic vs bug. Also, running blue flare so it doesn't have to lower its speed while still beating everything v-create does outside of maybe Volcarona. Having experience of little tidbits of information and learning what Pokemon commonly run can be the difference between winning and losing any given game.

Acknowledge the type of player you are. Every player is different and prefers a certain play style over others. If you like to make plays every turn and out predict your opponent into submission Offense or hyper offense may be the play style. If you like to play it safe, while having the opportunity to make plays if need be Balanced or Bulky offense might be your preferred play style. If you like to have walls to everything on your opponents team, and waiting it out till all the main threats are weakened / killed off by your walls stall or semi stall may be your play style. Every play style has its weaknesses and strengths, but learning what type of player you are is very important on your road to greatness

2. Build a team
Remember in Step 1, acknowledging the type of player you are? Here's where its most important. Build a team that corresponds to the type of player you are (beginners should start with bulky offense/balanced). Team building is an art, a skill developed through massive amounts of experience and knowledge of the Metagame. Not everyone is capable of building a great team, and for those who are iffy team builders, you can go to the Pokemon Showdown forums and use sample teams people post there until you feel comfortable building your own teams.

Every play style has very simple team structures. Here, we will go over the balanced build structure and the type we will use as an example is flying. This is the build most commonly found on Monotype team. So on balanced, its very simple. You have your physical wall, on flying this would be Skarmory. This is the Pokemon that takes hits on the defensive side of the spectrum. This pokemon can wall the majority of physical attackers your team has to worry about. Next, you have your special wall, on flying this would be your Zapdos, that does the same as the physical wall but on the specially defensive side. Then, you have your revenge killer, this would usually be scarf Landorus-t or Togekiss. This is a very fast Pokemon (most likely scarf), that functions as a glue to the team and able to pick off weakened threats and clean up weakened teams. Furthermore, your physical/special wallbreaker, which on flying could be your Landorus-I or Dragonite. This Pokemon's job is to absolutely crush your opponents walls with high powered stabs and coverage. Lastly, is your setup sweeper, which would be your mega Gyarados or Dragonite as well. This Pokemon functions as a late game Wincon when your wall breakers have beaten down or weakened your opponents team to the point this Pokemon can sweep.

Generic Flying http://prntscr.com/d4gy0c

3. Battle
So you know the basics, you have your team, now its time to battle! This is where all the fun is at. There are several things that make up a battle that we're going to break down all at once

TEAM PREVIEW- This is probably the most unappreciated part of a battle, but experienced battles take this step very seriously. From the team preview here is everything you must determine: Opponent's mega choice, possible hazard setters, possible hazard removers and most IMPORTANTLY, DETERMINING YOUR WINCONS. Your Wincon is a Pokemon on your team that has a good matchup vs your opponent and can potentially sweep your opponent team or clear the way for other sweepers on the team. From the get go you should be figuring out a game plan on how you can win the battle while also taking your opponent's wincons into account.

Here we have a mach battle between myself and Lotus Champ Torpid.
http://prntscr.com/d4habg

Now, we are going to go over both team's thought processes in how they can win the game.

Flying: While it's technically a type disadvantage, this flying team has a decent matchup vs Electric. Basically in the electric matchup, since this Zapdos has toxic it can actually one vs one the entire team. So the most sure fire way of winning is eliminating threats to Zapdos using Landorus-I which has no good switch-ins on electric outside of zapdos that fears the rock slide that lando i could potentially be packing. You also have secondary wincons in d nite that can dragon dance up and sweep if magnezone is weakened and zard y that can potentially outspeed more than half of Torpid's Electric team.

Electric: Electric has a similar plan in winning with Zapdos. To achieve this, you must weaken, or kill off the Landorus-i, and the zard y. You must also burn/weaken the dragonite. Basically, eliminate all threats to Zapdos for it to clean up late game. You also have another strong wincon in specs Raikou that can ohko the entire team outside of Landorus-i that can come in on an electric move, and zapdos that avoids the two hit ko from specs t-bolt. There's also Rotom that can throw off wisps and gain momentum and mega Ampharos that baits in Landorus-I and can toxic the Zapdos if its running it.

PICK YOUR LEAD- A lead is something that has a good matchup vs your opponents team (can be a wincon), or something can come in and gain momentum without much loss. For example common lead with electric would be Rotom wash. It can volt switch and gain momentum, and it can cripple physical attackers.

MAKING PREDICTIONS- Pokemon is all about risk vs reward. Each play made must take this into account, always thinking of your wincons and how you will win the game. Knowing the right move to make comes with experience and every game you are not always required to make predictions. Other factors that can affect your predictions is if you know your opponent is very skilled or the opposite very inexperienced and you may learn this by checking their rank, or by the plays they make and if they make any sense.

Here is a video where I explain how to predict vs Alliance K-Molts http://sendvid.com/zevg8hnz

MAKING PLAYS- Making plays is something you learn with experience. You'll learn when you have to make plays and when you don't have to. Generally when you have matchup or your vsing an inexperienced battler you wont have to make plays and can just click whats in front of you. The time when you have to make plays is when you don't have a wincon necessarily vs a team, or your vsing an experienced opponent. Here, ill explain a few tactics that experienced players use to get that extra edge.

MAKING YOUR BEST PLAY- Your best play is generally your safest option. This play is usually the most obvious that while it doesn't always give the highest reward, it has the least risk.

Here is a video of me explaining it http://sendvid.com/w8o36q85

MAKING A NEUTRAL PLAY- A neutral play is similar to your best play as it is usually low risk that covers multiple options your opponent can go for. This is seen when scouting your opponent's moveset as well as sacking / letting a pokemon take damage that isn't needed to win the game.

Here is a video of me explaining it http://sendvid.com/w8o36q85
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                                               ***ADVANCED TECHNIQUES (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK)***

LURING- Luring your opponent is using a move to hit a Pokemon that would usually wall an entire pokemon's moveset, or most of its moveset. Luring your opponent can give you a huge advantage and open up the way for the rest of your team to win

Here is a video of Bit vs someone on the ladder http://sendvid.com/tl74bffe

BLUFFING- Bluffing your opponent is where you give your opponent the illusion your running a certain set that you may not actually running. This mostly works on Pokemon known to run a multitude of sets commonly. Bluffing is VERY RISKY, should it not work, you basically lose a Pokemon for no reason, and probably will lose the game as well. Bluffing also only works at high levels of play. YOU CANNOT BLUFF AN OPPONENT WHO DOESN'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING OR DOESN'T KNOW THE STANDARD SETS a particular pokemon could run.

Here is a video of Soma vs bit on the ladder http://sendvid.com/oe6r4ku1

HARD READ- Making a hard read is where you predict a single possible option your opponent can make, when they have multiple possible plays they can make. This can be a huge risk, but can yield a huge reward. Usually you will have to make a hard read if your at a large disadvantage, your opponent is very skilled, or your opponent has many counters to your team

Here is a video of me vs Valiant NGJ http://sendvid.com/tze43ld0

STAYING IN- Similarly to a hard read staying is making a play that would normally be bad, but can work against a very aggressive opponent. This can give you a large advantage and force your opponent to overthink his next move and play a bit safer.

Here is a video of me vs Bit http://sendvid.com/zl7nsygg

CONDITIONING YOUR OPPONENT- Conditioning your opponent is when you show your opponent you have counters to specific pokemon on their team, forcing them to over predict and double switch to gain an advantage. This is a tactic that generally works with bulkier teams with pokemon that can take hits and wall most or all of a Pokemon's moveset.

Here is a video of me vs Lotus Quazar http://sendvid.com/afnbl61b
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HAX- Pokemon is a game of numbers. Moves have a chance to miss, to freeze to burn, to paralyze and sometimes it's your only chance for victory. You should never rely on hax to win you every game, but its something you can't dismiss. YOU SHOULD ONLY RELY ON HAX AS YOUR LAST OPTION to beat a specific threat that your team cannot handle otherwise. A game is usually left up to hax if the opponent has a set that completely 6-0es your entire team, or you have misplayed to the point of letting your initial counter get knocked out.

Here is a video of me explaining hax http://sendvid.com/ybqofkxp

4. Learning from others
A great way to learn as well is to watch others play. Watching great players battle it out as well as watching poke tubers is a great way to improve your battling skill. By doing this, you can see what sets the top players are running, as well as learning how people play at a higher level. I cannot stress this enough how much watching others can help you improve.

Recommended competitive Pokemon channels:
https://www.youtube.com/user/pokeaimMD
https://www.youtube.com/user/Thunderblunder777
https://www.youtube.com/user/MrJamvad
https://www.youtube.com/user/chimpact
https://www.youtube.com/user/3MV33

5. Versatility
In the game of Pokemon, it's very important to be versatile. Do not get stuck in your own ways of playing the game. Learn to adjust to the type of opponent you are facing. At higher levels of play, learn to play the PLAYER, not the team. This means making your plays according to how your opponent plays and not just on the team makeup. For example, if you're vsing someone who plays very safe, don't be afraid to make some plays and out predict your opponent to break down their walls.

Here is a video of me explaining how to be versatile http://sendvid.com/ru5gvwtw

And that is it! My guide to upping your game. I hope you take everything I've said to heart and use all of this knowledge to your advantage to get better at Pokemon! Keep battling, keep having fun and you too can become great.

                                                                                                            -Lotus Wincon