Beginner's Guide to Competitive Pokemon
Pokemon is fun and easily accessible on the surface, but competitive Pokemon is an entirely different beast. This page covers common competitive formats, and how to get competitively viable Pokemon.
Players must have incredible knowledge in order to correctly read their opponents, often making decisions based on what they think their opponent will do. The kind of foresight employed in competitive Pokemon battles is similar to chess, but instead of only having to memorize six move-sets, you have to learn hundreds. If your opponent sends out a Pokemon you're unfamiliar with, you're immediately at a huge disadvantage.
Pokemon VGC - Video Game Championship Series
This format is officially sanctioned by The Pokemon Company with tournaments all over the world. Most Premier Challenges have cash rewards, and the seasons culminate to the Pokemon World Championship Series. Some International level events give out special event Pokemon for attending.
VGC always uses the Double Format with four on four battles. This not only takes less time than single battles, making it more viable for large-scale tournaments but involves more complicated strategies than Single format battles too.
Visit the official Play! Pokemon for a list of Pokemon Leagues and tournaments in your area which rewards Championship Points (CP). Tournaments have no entry pre-requisites except for the Pokemon World Championships, which require a certain amount of CP. You can see the requirements for each age division below.
Additionally, there are occasionally online tournaments that use the same ruleset, giving players the chance to earn CP from home. Check back for online tournament schedule as soon as it's released.
Pokemon VGC Ruleset
- Double Format, may select four Pokemon from your party of six during 90-second team preview.
- All Pokemon auto-leveled to 50
- Only Pokemon obtained in Alola allowed. These Pokemon must have the black clover marking.
- Pokemon obtained from official events in Pokemon Sun and Moon are also allowed.
- Nicknames must not be obscene or misleading. For example, you cannot have an Arcanine named Ninetales.
- No Mega Stones allowed.
- No same items or Pokemon.
- Banned Pokemon: Cosmog, Cosmoem, Solgaleo, Lunala, Necrozma, Magearna, Zygarde, Ash-Greninja.
Smogon OU Rules
Smogon is a well-known Pokemon website and community that focuses on competitive battling. You can find countless advice on competitively viable Pokemon here, and they have established their own set of rules and regulations, most notably for "OU Singles." OU stands for Overused, and includes every Pokemon except those considered "Uber." These usually crossover with the same Pokemon banned in the official VGC formats, but include additional bans for abilities, moves, and items, that may be considered to unbalance the game. Additionally, Smogon generally allows the use of Pokemon obtained from any generation of games.
Basics
Before you can start building a cohesive team, learn about these basic Pokemon mechanics.
- Types: There are 18 different types in the Pokemon world, and they heavily affect both how much damage your Pokemon will dish out and receive. If you want to compete, you'll have to memorize the type-chart and quickly be able to determine how your moves will affect the opponent.
- Base Stats and Battle Stats: Learn about the six stats each Pokemon has. By looking at a Pokemon's Base Stats, you can usually determine if it would be a good attacker, special attacker, or defensive Pokemon.
- Stat Modification: Each of the eight stats can be increased or reduced in battle. See the effects in this section.
- Abilities: Each species of Pokemon has one special power called an ability. These are another aspect that must be well-known so you can anticipate how your opponent's Pokemon work.
- Status Conditions: Pokemon battles aren't all about who does the most damage. Many competitive battles are turned because of a debilitating status condition.
- Attack Conditions: Along with status conditions, there are other conditions to many attacks that can help or hurt either Pokemon. Examples include Recoil and Trapping.
- Weather: There are a number of weather conditions that can change the effects of Pokemon abilities and moves, which can be used an integral battle strategy.
Getting the Best Pokemon
Everyone who seriously competes uses the best Pokemon possible. You will have to consider these three factors which affect your Pokemon's Base Stats. Click on each for full, detailed explanations.
- Natures: Each and every Pokemon has their own Nature which increases one stat while reducing another. You will have to decide how you want to use your Pokemon, then choose the best Nature for it.
- Individual Values: IVs are fixed hidden values that affect each of your Pokemon's eight base stats, randomly assigned from 1 - 31. Your Pokemon is "born" with these, so-to-speak, and can't be changed except by using incredibly rare Bottle Caps.
- Effort Values: EVs are points your Pokemon earns, most commonly by battling. These also affect your Pokemon's stats, and can be tailored and customized for what you want your Pokemon to best at. There is, however, a finite number of EVs your Pokemon can accrue, so choose wisely.
The best way to get a Pokemon with the correct Nature and IVs is by Breeding. See the Individual Values guide first to see how you can possibly catch a Pokemon with decent IVs before Breeding.
Coming Soon
Check back soon for more articles on:
- Common Team Roles
- How to Build a Pokemon Team
- How to Capture and Create Specific Pokemon - like Alolan Ninetales, Tapu Koko, and more
- Everstone, Smeargle, Evo-Boost and other unique strategies.