Pokemon Battling 101

Okay Gold and Silver has brought some MAJOR changes to pokemon battling. Not only are there two new types to deal with but there are a whole host of new moves. Many are stat changing moves and there are new status effects. To find out about them go to The Art of Stat Changing I've also had some more experience battling real people on a pokemon battle Simulator known as G/S bot. Knowing How to Battle can be broken down into stages.

1. Know your pokemon, their types and type advantages

  1. Memorize the pokemon.
    Go for the fully evolved Frequently used ones first.
  2. Start Learning about each pokemon's Stat Profile.
    Type weaknesses aren't the only vunerable point of each pokemon. Some pokemon have high defense or special defense and some don't. Some are Meant to be and all out attacker with little defense E.G. Octillery and Xatu and some are all defense like Umbreon and Shuckle. If you know the profile of each pokemon then you have an advantage against it.

2. Know What moves pokemon can learn and are likely to know and the power of those moves

  1. Learn the standard movesets
    Knowing what moves a pokemon is likely to know gives you an advantage in knowing what pokemon to use against it.
  2. Know the power of frequently used moves.
    When you know how powerful a particular move is and how likely the opponent's pokemon is to have it you can make a good assesment of what sort of threat the opponent's pokemon poses to your own. For Example if you knew that Suicune and Tentacruel often have Mirror Coat (A special based counter) on their movesets, You would know that it is suicide to use electric or other special based attacks against them. Also Remeber the baton passers. If you see a Sciro Using swords dance or agility get a Hazer or whirlwinder out pronto because if you opponent gets' his BP set up. You're done.

3. Learn your own team

This a part of the old adage Know Thyself and Know thy enemy. You must know how your team works. Sure it looks good on paper but how does it really fare? Test it out against other people or pokemon stadium if you can. It will help you know how much your pokemon can take and how well your strategy works in different situations. However be aware that a Team that can win in Stadium2 can be ripped apart by an experienced human opponent.

4. Predict your opponent

I cannot emphasize this point enough. If you can predict what your opponent will do you have real power in battle situations. The best way to be able to do this is practice with other actual people or look at the battle from the other person's perspective and say to yourself "What would I do?"

For example if you had a water pokemon out and your opponent sent out an electric what would you do? Unless you want your water type to faint or you have a strategy to counter electrics somehow you're probably going to switch. And most likely to a ground type Which wouldn't be effected by your opponent's electric attack. Or a grass type that would take little damage. Of course if you are using the electric You should recognie the opponent will switch. You can use this opportunity to switch yourself or Use a counter move if you have one. Now one of the things that really sets gold and silver apart is that the attack hidden power can give any pokemon an attack of a max 70 base power of any type. Because of this you can never be totally sure that your opponent doesn't have a move to counter it's weaknesses. In electrics this is often of the Ice, Water or Grass type so in the electric example. If you anticipate a switch and your electric has a water, grass or ice hidden power then it can Use that move in anticipation of a switch and faint the ground type before it knows what hit it. You can also try to Fake out an opponent by using what might look like a standard set. With some key modifications to trip them up! This is where using underused pokemon can be helpful because it will be difficult for your opponent to predict you. So being unique and creative CAN help you at times.