Basics of Battling - for beginners. (Dr.Barber)

Hey everyone,

Seeing as though this is going to be a popular topic here, I figured I might as well make a topic on the "basics of battling," for beginners.

Casual players who do not play competitively and usually just play the Pokemon games for the story, might find themselves to be strong, and use any Pokemon they catch, and teach them all physically or specially attacking moves.

However, in competitive play, people make use of a lot of different things you might not know about Pokemon. (Abilities, IV's and EV's, buffing moves, setups, sweepers, walls.)

Now I am in no way a professional, and don't claim to be.
But I feel like I am able to provide basic knowledge that will help beginners to learn how to battle competitively in Pokemon.

The coolest thing I've found about Pokemon is that there are hundreds upon hundreds of possible teams, and thousands of strategies to be found. There are over used strategies and preferred strategies for each Pokemon, but its very much up to explore.

This thread will be changed over time, adding more information as time goes on. Post below to give any insight or comments, any questions feel free to ask below as well.

I'm going to be dividing this thread into chapters, that may change as I add to it. But I want to cover just the basics, and then talk about what would make a well rounded team or a well rounded Pokemon.

1. Pokemon types
2. Abilities
3. Natures
4. EVs and IVs
5. Making a good team
6. Tiers
7. Sweepers, walls, and setups.

1. Pokemon Types

The most common thing people know about Pokemon is how they are organized and categorized by "types."
These types basically give the Pokemon their own weaknesses and resistances.
Since Pokemon Red and Blue versions, types have been around. However, there are many more types now than before.
The same simple idea applies.

EX: Fire > Grass > Water > Fire
Charmander > Bulbasaur > Squirtle > Charmander

However there are much more types to take into consideration.

You can use this chart to check weaknesses and resistances in battle.


Also keep in mind that a lot of Pokemon have TWO types, so they have more than 1 weakness or resistance, or somethings a 4x weakness or resistance due to its type.

2. Abilities

Each Pokemon has an ability, sometimes more than one. An ability is a characteristic given to each Pokemon that have an effect in battle or the overworld of Pokemon (encounter ratings etc.) A Pokemon can only have one ability at a time. Abilities can be changed through breeding, random encounters, or using an ability capsule if the Pokemon has a secondary ability. Knowing your Pokemons ability is important, because they all do something different. If a Pokemon has 2 abilities and a hidden ability, make sure you look at all of them and think which one is going to help you most, and try to catch that Pokemon with that ability.

For example :
Dragonite has the ability "Inner Focus", and a hidden ability "Multiscale."
Multiscale reduces damage by 50% if the wielder is at full health.
Inner Focus prevents flinching.

Knowing this, you'd decide what kind of ability you would want for your Dragonite, and catch or breed accordingly.

Hidden abilities are mostly found while hunting for the Pokemon in the wild.
(These are easier to pick out using ORAS's Dex Nav, and some hidden abilities are found using the friend safari in XY)

Most of the time if a Pokemon has a hidden ability, it is preferred over the regular abilities, however this is not always the case.

3. Natures

The Pokemons nature is also a characteristic you can't change in your Pokemon unless you catch or breed that Pokemon over and over until you find the prefered one. The Nature of the Pokemon is a characteristic that changes the Pokemon's stats. Usually raising one, and lowering another. Here is a list of each possible nature and how it effects your Pokemon.


Now you may be wondering, how do I know which to have for which Pokemon? Thats going to be up to you, and the best way to decide is to look at your Pokemon's base stats. If the Pokemon is a Special Attacker instead of a  Physical Attacker, teach your Pokemon Special moves instead of Physical, and choose a Nature that raises Special Attack. Or something that lowers Physical Attack, because you won't be using it. If your going to use both, dont choose a Nature that will lower either stat.

EX: Pokemon that are train for Attack and Speed are typically Jolly or Adamant, because it is not going to make Special Attack any use.