All Gens Throwback Thursdays

Cheers, all ^.^

So, Smogon's Facebook would like help with a new thing called Throwback Thursdays, where every week we'd put up a new little blurb about something pertaining to past gens. These would just be a few paragraphs each, and could cover things like a weird mechanic, interesting strategy, or micro how-to blurbs about something. Stuff like Maintaining Spikes in GSC, DPP Anti-leads, RestTalk in ADV, etc. would all be cool. If you find yourself writing more than just a few paragraphs, rather than posting what you have here, hit up Article Approvals and we can discuss turning it into a full on-site article.

These blurbs are really helpful for our Facebook, so doing a lot of them would count with stuff like Twitter updates and Youtube videos for earning the Social Media badge
.

I'll give an example of the kinds of things we're looking for below. Anyone can post their own here, or feel free to critique others to ensure we're putting out quality information. If you're posting your own, try to come up with a good open-ended question for the end, as engaging more people on social media is always a huge plus.



RBY Freeze Clause

Status in RBY is more limited than in later gens. Poison and burn are rarely seen, mostly due to their decreased power (1/16 instead of 1/8), Toxic being somewhat bugged (Pokemon become regular poisoned after switching), and the lack of Will-O-Wisp. Usually, both players will try to put something to sleep early in the game, and after that, paralysis is the most common status tossed around. Freezes, although unreliable, can be extremely potent; this is especially true in Gen I, where a Pokemon will never thaw out unless it's hit by a rare Fire-type attack.

While a ~10% chance to freeze (~9% from Blizzard, due to its 90% accuracy Gen I) might seem low, the added bulk of many Pokemon makes fishing for a freeze somewhat viable. Many players will actively try not to paralyze a Chansey, for instance, because they'll lose the ability to freeze it in a Chansey vs Chansey mirror match. For that same reason, Chansey's a popular switch-in to predicted Thunder Waves.

Due to the popularity of Ice Beam and the buffed Blizzard (not just from Ice-types like Jynx, Lapras, and Cloyster, but from common threats like Tauros, Chansey, Snorlax, and Starmie as well), the smaller pool of status moves, and most importantly the increased potency of freezes, the Freeze Clause was added to ensure only 1 Pokemon per team could be frozen at a time. This is, somewhat controversially, one of the very few times Smogon breaks from cartridge mechanics in their rulings, but it is widely accepted as a necessary alteration to maintain a healthy competitive metagame.

Have you ever won or lost a game due to (un)timely freezes? Tell us your stories below!
 
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Typhlito

One Active Dawg
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k heres one.

Sleep Talk mechanic in ADV

So until recently, most of us are under the impression that sleep turns are burned off every turn no matter the move. However, it ended up not being the case here when it comes to using sleep talk. Sleep talk still works the same in terms of the move randomly choosing any move your pokemon knows except for sleep talk however, in most cases it does not burn off the sleep turn. When I am talking about sleep turns, I mean the number of turns it takes for your pokemon to wake up. So in most cases, if you use sleep talk and switch before waking up, the turns that you use sleep talk will not count towards waking up your pokemon.

Now there are several scenarios for how sleep talk works. I'll start with the exceptions to the rule of not burning sleep turns. The first scenario is when you never switch at all. Keep in mind that this mechanic only applies if you switch after using sleep talk but before you wake up so if you never switch, you would still wake up 2 turns after using rest. The next scenario is when you use sleep talk then, nothing, then switch before waking up. In this scenario, its really the biggest exception to the rule because if you do nothing for the second turn, it doesn't matter what you do in the first. The sleep turn will be burned off regardless. So you effectively burn off both sleep turns and wake up when you switch in. The last scenario is when you dont use sleep talk at all. Both sleep turns will be burned and you will wake up when you come back in.

Now for the scenarios that apply to this rule. If you use nothing, then sleep talk, then switch before waking up, the first turn will not burn a sleep turn even though you did nothing. So you would still be asleep for 2 more turns if you switch out. Then next scenario is if you sleep talk twice and then switch. The same will happen as the scenario before this one. Your pokemon would still have 2 turns before waking up.

Now if you just use 1 move before switching, the rule is still the same. If you sleep talked a turn then switch, that turn did not burn off a sleep turn. If you did nothing that turn and switch, it will burn off a sleep turn. So if you wanted to, you could effectively keep a pokemon asleep for the entire match. This can possibly be used to your advantage if you have a fast phazer like crobat or if you want to keep a pokemon put to sleep by hypnosis sleeping so that they cant sleep your other mons. Anyway, here's a tutorial match I had with someone that shows how it works.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-251815861

So what are your opinions on this mechanic? Does it change the way you feel about the gen as a whole?
 

Disaster Area

formerly Piexplode
It's definitely nessecary for Ubers, but in OU and below I am against it (was on the fence at smogon discussion time); there's Ortheore, and m9m (who was scared away from Smogon). Kristoph I think is also not behind freeze clause, and I'm unsure of Lutra's stance (probably pro but judging by the posts in the thread their stance is definitely not obvious). Yes, there is a majority in support of freeze clause (as far as can be measured) amongst the RBY community, but it would be erroneous to describe those against it merely a small clique (by RBY terms; it's definitely over 1% however you slice it, but it could be much higher (5-10%ish) depending on how wide you consider 'community' to be. And noone's actually tried to measure it... well m9m sorta did but that never really concluded). Also yeah everyone who I know is against freeze clause uses rby2k10. Also that forum's had very little life over the past few months anyway, and PP is where the largest regular RBY tournaments happen... all that being said, I'm okay with it stating that it's 'widely accepted' so long as that doesn't hide the fact that it IS a controversial clause (at least such that there exists some reasonable amount of opposition to it).
 
Critical Hit Mechanic in RBY

Back in RBY, in the complex times of old, critical hits behaved differently than they do in the current times. As of right now, in Generation Six, critical hits occur at a ratio of 6.25% while dealing 1.5 damage of the original attack. However, in RBY, this was not the case! The amount a Pokemon would land a critical hit, along with how much damage it would do, was based on both the user's Speed and the user's level. Let's use Electrode as an example. Electrode's base Speed is 140, which means it has roughly around 27.3% chance to land a critical hit on every attack that is not affected by critical hit changes (think Slash). The formula for finding this is simple; the Pokemon's base Speed stat divided by 512. The damage increase of the attack will be 1.97x, since it will be Level 100. However, if the Electrode was at say only Level 50, its attacks would only deal 1.90x damage. Formulating this is somewhat different, following a formula of (2x + 5) / (x + 5), where x is the indicator of a Pokemon's level. That's just the basics of the formulas and stuff regarding critical hits, but let's get to the juicy stuff!

Critical hits are so special in this generation because they follow a unique set of properties, including what was already mentioned. In Generation One, and Generation One alone, critical hits will ignore all stat differences, even beneficial changes. This means that a +2 Starmie deals the same amount of damage with a critical hit Surf as a -2 Starmie would while also landing a critical hit on the Surf. While this can be disadvantageous at times, it can also be beneficial for when a stat is dropped. An Attack drop from a Burn will also not be included when modifying the damage for a critical hit. Meaning that a Burned Rhydon deals the same amount of damage as a free of ailment Rhydon will when both score a critical hit. This also includes the opponent's Defense / Special Defense drops or raises. This also creates a situation where critical hits can effectively deal less damage than a non-critical hit move. This is a very unlikely scenario, however, but it is one that should be mentioned as only being applicable in Generation One.

Another thing to note is that critical hits will not make it impossible to miss an attack, as with every other attack, which has a 255/256 chance of missing. Finally, the differentiating of critical hits is very odd in this generation. Moves with a high likelihood of landing a critical hit, namely Slash, are roughly eight times more likely to land a critical hit than every other attack. The formula to identify this is simply the Pokemon's base Speed divided by 64. A hypothetical example is Electrode, which has 140 Speed, using Slash (which it does not learn, this is just for example to illustrate the likelihood of a critical hit mind you!) would land a critical hit every single time it attacks with the move. Very few Pokemon receive access to high critical hit moves, with Persian being one of the most notable, although even that is niche itself. An error was made during the development of the games, causing Focus Energy and Dire Hit to divide the critical hit ratio in fourths; so don't expect that to be a safe bet anytime soon!

What are your thoughts on this wacky mechanic with all these funky formulas? Do you prefer the new mechanics or would you like to see these old mechanics make a return? Let us know in the comment section below!

antemortem Jellicent
 
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Isa

I've never felt better in my life
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re: adv sleep talk

i am not a master of this mechanic but i think it looks good. that being said, if we're doing GP, someone might wanna check the language (should we use "I" in these type of posts?, lots of paragraphs starting with "Now,", informal language). if we're not, then it's good to go imo
 

Isa

I've never felt better in my life
is a Tournament Director Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
re: critical hits in RBY

a lot of pokémon with a base speed of 64+ get access to slash/razor leaf (scyther, pinsir, dugtrio, venusaur...) but they're not competitively viable due to other reasons
persian isn't really firmly in the ou tier, rather, it's a shaky existence and would probably be dropped to BL if tiers were redone today
critical hits deals ~1.97* the damage at level 100 rather than ~1.95* the damage, also bonus points for mentioning level 5 critical hits which deal ~1.5* (and level 50's dealing ~1.90* sounds a tad much, but atm i cannot find the formula D:)
 

antemortem

THE ORIGINAL DAVE
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Socialization Head
i am not a master of this mechanic but i think it looks good. that being said, if we're doing GP, someone might wanna check the language (should we use "I" in these type of posts?, lots of paragraphs starting with "Now,", informal language). if we're not, then it's good to go imo
I've already grammar checked it myself.
 
Maybe I'll do something else, I need a badge to be able to use larger avatar =__= Sorry for my english, hope this "article" is good :heart:

Good old days are gone, welcome RBY 2.0!

"the times they are a-changin'" - that's what Bob Dylan was singing some years ago and no one would have expected this today: RBY IS CHANGED. Thanks to Crystal_ researchs we discovered that the RBY we played for 15 years was wrong. Infact what our old gen players got was a new metagame in which Body Slam don't paralyze Normal Type Pokemon and a lot more!

News about Matchups:

- Chansey vs Snorlax: 100% HP Chansey can now "easily" enter on Snorlax's Body Slam without risk (apart from CH) creating an uncomfortable situation from both sides (Hyper Beam or Body Slam? Softboiled, Counter or Thunder Wave?)
- Chansey vs Tauros: Not too different from Snorlax situation, the only execption is that no one would switch in Chansey against "The Bull". 1v1 situation now is a bit risky for Tauros since Chansey can easily stall it while Tauros can't do nothing (but crit!) because Chansey can't be paralyzed no more.
- Snorlax vs Tauros: This time Snorlax can't be considered as a Tauros Check/Counter, but things doesn't change since Tauros will continue to need a crit to win a 1v1 situation against Snorlax.
- Tauros vs Tauros // Snorlax vs Snorlax: Good Luck!

Goodbye old friends...

Both Golem and Rhydon now need a huge Thunder Wave support to press on Chansey since Tauros and Snorlax's Body Slam can't help anymore. Even if their usage reduced, they are still useful to stop Zapdos and Jolteon!

...welcome abroad Electrics Monsters!

While Gol/Don "are gone", Zapdos and Jolteon's usage increased. They can easily support Physical 'mons with Thunder Wave against Chansey and press more on Water Types Pokemons. Even if his staying power is low, Jolteon -could- be able to kill Chansey alone with crits and fpar, thanks to his high speed.
This last "news" isn't good for Water 'mons since now Slowbro has more difficulty to setup and both it and Lapras need someone which will par Zapdos to be able to press on it. Even with this issue, Starmie remains one of the top threat thanks to his high speed and good special.

Exeggutor

Exeggutor find more difficult to enter now since Rock types are gone and Zapdos and Lapras are both top threats for it. It is not as good as it was since it is no more necessary to have it in your squad and you could need something to stop certains threat. Exeggutor will anyway remain the best sleeper in game.

Leads in RBY 2.0:

Jynx is now probably the best lead since can use Rest without problem and stall Chansey while spamming Blizzard and Lovely Kiss. Jynx as a lead is probably the main reason of why Exeggutor lead totally disappeared.
Gengar is able to outspeed Jynx, but hypnosis low accuracy is still a problem. Starmie is a good lead but has a bad matchup against Jynx/Starmie. Alakazam could stop Jynx lead with Thunder Wave+Seismic Toss.
Jolteon Lead is now a new option since is the one which press more on Jynx, while it lose against Alakazam.

Other stuff:

Crystal discovered that between two paralyzed mons, the one with a stat boost is faster than the one without. This is really helpfull for Slowbro since now it is faster than Chansey and Snorlax and can kill both of them easily.


And what about you? Do you like this new meta or miss the old one? What won't change is that RBY will be one of the funniest meta ever!
 
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hello, doing this for the
// Jellicent antemortem check both my posts!

RBY UBER: Mewtwo Strikes Back
"I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrilevant; it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are."

Here we are again Smogon with a new article about RBY. This time we're gonna analyze the stallish RBY UBER! As you see I started this post with one of the most important quote of my life (I hope it is one of yours too!), offered by one of the greatest Pokemon ever: Mewtwo.
Mewtwo is the king of RBY Uber, with excellent stats! As you can easily understand then, RBY Uber is centralized on it and there are just a few ways to stop this beast:
1- Freeze it. A paralyzed Mewtwo would win against an unparalyzed one. If you can't froze it, just try to paralyze it and go on with the other ways (good luck!)
1- You can simply boom on it hoping that Mewtwo will stay in (risky)
2- Just spam physical moves (probably the best way to kill it)
3- Copying it with Mew
4- Trying to stall it with Slowbro (it depends, it isn't the best moves if Mewtwo has Thunderbolt!)

Another big threat in RBY Uber is obviously Mew: has a perfect movepool (since it can learn every MT!) and good stats, but we will focus on it later.

As always, paralyze opponents is useful (do not paralyze Mewtwo in case you don't know how to stop it!)

Main Sets and Other Option!

Mewtwo:


- Ice Beam, Thunderbolt/Psychic, Amnesia, Recover
Thunderbolt is probably better than Psychic since Slowbro won't stall you while Psychic can hurts Snorlax (3HKO) and can try to drop Chansey, killing it.

Other options: thanks to Barrier, Mewtwo is able to resist to Selfdestruct and Explosion, but for coverage problems it is better to not run it.


Mew:


- Swords Dance, Softboiled, Body Slam, Explosion/Earthquake/Hyper Beam
Explosion can be an emergency plan against some threats (as Mewtwo), while Earthquake let you hit Gengar.

- Thunder Wave, Reflect, Softboiled, Transform
Main target of this set is to copy opponent's Mewtwo (and his stats boost), setting a Reflect before using Transform.

- Swords Dance, Softboiled, Body Slam, Transform
Funny and unexpected!


Snorlax


- Body Slam, Earthquake, Hyper Beam, Selfdestruct
Second best Physical Attacker in the tier

- Body Slam, Selfdestruct, Reflect, Rest
Reflect let you counter others Snorlax (and Mew, Critical Hits apart), Selfdestruct is always a good emergency button and is totally unexpected with Reflect+Rest. This set can't touch Gengar.


Zapdos


Thunderbolt, Drill Peck, Thunder Wave, Agility
Has a good matchup against Exeggutor and Slowbro. Not so bad against Chansey and Thunder Wave is always a good support move.


Exeggutor


Sleep Powder, Stun Spore, Psychic, Explosion
Always a good support to have in your squad with the double spore combo.


Slowbro


Amnesia, Surf, Thunder Wave/Ice Beam, Rest
Can easily stall a Thunderbolt-less Mewtwo and can sweep opponent's whole team when Mewtwo is gone. Thunder Wave is a good support move while Ice Beam is used to spam freeze all around.

Other Options: Psychic could be a good option against Light Screen Chansey (cause of special drops) but Mewtwo can easily setup on it then.


Chansey


Light Screen, Softboiled, Ice Beam, Thunder Wave/Sing
Completely walled by Jynx, Light Screen Chansey is able to stall Mewtwo Psychic-less while trying to freeze it with Ice Beam. Sing can be a good option to transform Chansey in a backup sleeper.

Other Option: Counter is unexpected but not as good as the other moves.


Jynx


Lovely Kiss, Ice Beam, Psychic/Mimic/Body Slam, Rest
One of the two RBY Lead, able to sleep and be used as a Sleep Absorber, while it try to freeze opponent's squad with STAB Blizzard. Mimic could help Amnesia.


Gengar


Hypnosis, Explosion, Thunderbolt, Night Shade/Counter
Faster than Jynx, Gengar can boom and be the best boom/sleep absorber in the game, while can continue to wall some Mew and Snorlax's set. Counter is unexpected.


Articuno


Blizzard, Ice Beam, Double Edge, Rest, Other Options: Hyper Beam ed Agility
His main task is to spam Blizzard (2HKO on Exeggutor/Zapdos and 3HKO on Snorlax). Double Edge + Hyper Beam let it try to kill Chansey. Bad matchup against Slowbro.


Golem


Golem: Earthquake, Explosion, Body Slam, Substitute
Used to wall Zapdos, able to boom and to resist to opponents Selfdestruct/Explosion.


Rhydon


Rhydon: Earthquake, Rock Slide, Body Slam, Substitute
Worst than Golem, can get some 3HKO on Mew/Slowbro.


Tauros


Body Slam, Hyper Beam, Earthquake, Blizzard
Not as good as it is in RBY OU, can be a lead since it press on Gengar and Jynx.


Starmie


Light Screen, Ice Beam, Thunder Wave/Thunderbolt, Recover
It is able to stall Slowbro thanks to Light Screen while can try to freeze (useful against Mewtwo too)/crit it with Thunderbolt. Thunder Wave is always good.


This is RBY Uber and this is how it works. Are you ready to trying it? Good Luck and Have Fun!
 
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Lutra

Spreadsheeter by day, Random Ladderer by night.
is a Community Leader Alumnusis a Programmer Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
During Summer said:
- Thunder Wave, Reflect, Softboiled, Transform
Main target of this set is to copy opponent's Mewtwo (and his stats boost), setting a Reflect before using Transform.
I came up with it to hardcounter SD, Earthquake, Hyper Beam, Softboiled Mew.

Otherwise, some very impressive cutting edge points from both of your articles.
 
Sorry for my ignorance, why is paralyzing Mewtwo a bad idea? Why does Chansey lose to a Mewtwo with psychic?

0 SpA Mewtwo Psychic vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Chansey: 135-160 (21 - 24.9%) -- guaranteed 5HKO
 

Lutra

Spreadsheeter by day, Random Ladderer by night.
is a Community Leader Alumnusis a Programmer Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
Mewtwo is bulky. Booming can't even OHKO it, which is why you have to consider how you can take it down or wall it.


+2 Mewtwo Psychic vs. Chansey: 256-301 (36.4 - 42.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+3 Mewtwo Psychic vs. Chansey: 314-369 (44.6 - 52.4%) -- 20.2% chance to 2HKO
+2 Mewtwo Psychic vs. -1 Chansey: 385-453 (54.7 - 64.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+3 Mewtwo Psychic vs. -1 Chansey: 473-556 (67.2 - 79%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

= 641-754 (91.2% to 107.2%) for +2 Mewtwo +Psychic special down
= 787-925 (111.9% to 131.6%) for +3 Mewtwo (999) + Psychic special down
 

:heart: :heart: :heart:

Toxic Sandstorm Spikes (TSS) in ADV

Hei Smogon, this is you friendly neighbour During Summer here and we're gonna analyse TSS team in ADV this time!
TSS teams are built around (as you can understand from his name) the combined use of Sandstorm, Spikes and Toxic.

Sandstorm

First of all: sandstorm. It is probably the most important part of this type of team, as its damage can help you defeat your opponent thanks to a 6% health loss every turn (doesn't affect Ground-, Steel-, and Rock-types, though), making Leftovers recovery useless. Furthermore, sandstorm can also help you understand which set your opponent is running; for example, you will assume whether or not an opposing Salamence is running a Choiche Band. Sandstorm also helps against Endure / Substitute + Reversal / Flail and Salac Berry Pokemon, killing them when they reach 1 HP and avoiding their potential sweep.

Spikes

Spikes is a big help for a TSS team, damaging your opponent by 25% on every switch-in if you manage to lay down 3 layers and allowing your Pokemon to sweep more easily. Using bulky Pokemon that force those switches is crucial to fullfill this strategy; Celebi makes for a good example, as it has good bulk and access to recovery moves in Leech Seed and Recover. An offensive example is DD Tyranitar against Swampert. Every time Swampert switches in to stop a potential Tyranitar sweep is will lose at least 25% of his HP: this means that Swampert won't be able to switch in multiple times. A Ghost-type Pokemon usually is a good addition to the team because it can prevent the opponent from using Rapid Spin. Phazers such as Skarmory also greatly benefits the team, being able to force switches thanks to Roar or Whirlwind.

Toxic

Last but not least there's Toxic: "The affected Pokémon will lose 1⁄16 of its maximum HP at the end of the first turn, which then increases by 1⁄16 each turn. In other words, they lose 1⁄16, 2⁄16, 3⁄16, 4⁄16 and so on". There's nothing to add. Your opponent's Heal Bell user will faint while trying to solve his team's status problems thanks to Spikes and sandstorm. Toxic is surely one of the best moves in this game.

TSS Evolution during DPP / HG-SS

DPP brought a lot of new things thathelp TSS teams such as Stealth Rock, Toxic Spikes, and Gliscor.

Stealth Rock

Long considered the best move of this game, Stealth Rock is a really useful move especially in TSS teams. This Rock-type move is affected by weaknesses and resistances, and t removes 6.25%, 12.5%, 25% or 50% of the foe's health, depending on whether or not the foe is weak to it. This move became such an important part for "stallish" teams that it centralised every team around it.

Toxic Spikes

Another important support for TSS is now Toxic Spikes, which can either poison or apply Toxic on the foe when it switches in, depending on how many layers are laid down.

Gliscor and Special Defense Boost

If someone will ever ask you which Pokemon better represents TSS seams I suggest Gliscor as your answer. This Pokemon became an important part for this type of team; it has good Speed, a great ability in Sand Veil, which increases its evasion by 20% under sandstorm, and a large movepool, including Taunt, which can be used to prevent the foe from using Heal Bell.
Besides this, in DP every Rock-type Pokemon gets a 50% Special Defense boost during sandstorm, letting you turn 3HKOs into 2HKOs and giving you more control of the field.

Did you ever try a TSS Team? What's your opinion about it? Do you like it or not? Let us know!
 
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Typhlito

One Active Dawg
is a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis an Artist Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
here's another one. Double check it for mistakes since my tablet loves to spell check everything >.<

It's a trap! - Trappers of ADV

In this article, we will be talking about the trappers commonly seen in Adv. The trapper role plays a significant role in the adv metagame. That is because depending on a trapper's ability, it is able to trap certain threats and potentially KO them. What makes trappers so good is the fact that they are difficult to counter since they usually only appear if they are able to KO the opposing pokemon. However, most trappers are only viable solely for the fact that they are able to trap threats. So if the opponent does not possess pokemons that are affected by your trapper, it will most likely preform poorly in that match up.

So there are 4 abilities and three moves that give pokemon the ability to trap and defeat certain threats. Each ability has its limitations due to the fact that no one ability can trap all pokemon. These consist of...

Arena Trap



This is an ability that traps all grounded foes. This means that if a pokemon is part flying or has the levitate ability, it is unaffected by arena trap. The only viable user of the ability in OU is dugtrio. Diglett is a good user of the ability in NU. Trapinch is more niche in NU since it lacks the speed the others have but it's actually the most powerful of the bunch and has access to priority with quick attack. Anyway, one thing that these pokemon have in common is a strong earthquake. This spells trouble for any rock, steel or electric pokemon that stands in their way. Dugtrio is the main reason pokemon like tyranitar uses specific ev spreads to prevent diction from straight out beating it. They also can defeat other trappers such as magneton and dangerous sweepers like heracross. The biggest issue with arena trap is that it's users will almost always use choice band in order to deal enough damage since their power is sub par. So after they defeat a certain threat, the opponent can send out a set up mon like salamence to take advantage of diction being forced to switch due to being locked on earthquake.

Magnet Pull



This an ability that traps only steel type pokemon. Although that's a much smaller range of trapable pokemon compared to arena trap, magnet pull catches some pokemon that arena trap does not; notably skarmory and forretress. Magnetron is the only viable user of magnet pull with nosepass and magnemite being stuck in NU with marginal success. However magneton is not a one trick pony. It can act as a sleep absorber, spread status with thunder wave and toxic, use it high special attack to deal damage along side metal sound which drops it's foes special defense by 2. It can even beat dugtrio with the use of a salac berry and endure. However, it can't take many hits and it's easily taken down by faster foes.

Shadow Tag



When I said that every trap ability has its limitations, I lied. Shadow tag is able to trap any pokemon in the game. The only two pokemons that get this godsend ability are wobbuffet and wynaut. Both pokemon are sent to ubers because of it. Why? The better question is why not. There are no counters to wobbuffet due to its ability to trap what ever it wants and use either counter, mirror coat, or encore to stop them in their tracks. Wobbuffet vs Wobbuffet matches would also result in an endless battle due to struggle dealing less than what leftovers recover each turn. Status is really the only way to beat it although encore would still put you in a bad position.

Trace



Trace has many uses. It copies any ability simply by switching into a pokemon. This can also apply to trappers. It is able to copy arena trap, magnet pull, and shadow tag with ease and trap the trapper. The most prominent user of trace is porygon 2. It is a very bulky pokemon with access to moves like recover and status moves. It can easily trap trappers like dugtrio and take them out. It can also trap magneton as well if it carries hp fire but this is quite rare. Gardivoir is a much more niche. It does a decent job at trapping magneton and setting up a sub and calm mind but it's average speed and weak defense makes it difficult to sweep with after its sub is taken down. Porygon can copy and beat diglett in NU but thats as far as it's trapping capabilities can go. So while trace is great as an answer to trappers, it is unable to trap any other pokemon once it switches and copies a new ability. So it's probably considered the most limited trap ability of all.

Mean Look



This is a move move traps any pokemon. This move is commonly paired with perish song in order to nab some easy KO's and that is exactly what haunter, gengar, variants of mean look jynx, and misdreavus plans to do in what ever tier they are used in. They would also use moves like protect and substitute to stall out the perish song turns before switching. However, Jynx is able to use mean look in other ways besides just perish song. It can use the move along with lovely kiss and calm mind to set up on certain pokemon. However, it's not fast or bulky enough to pull off such a sweep on its own. Umbreon can baton bass mean look to other pokemon giving you an opportunity to set up as they watch helplessly or to a perish song pokemon like celebi. The biggest problem with this strategy is that you need a turn to trap the right pokemon and if they switch before you use it, you would reveal your strategy making it harder to pull off later.

Pursuit



This move may look weak with its 40 bp however should the opponent's pokemon try to switch, it's power will double and hit the switching pokemon before the next pokemon appears. This makes it easy to trap spinblockers such as ghost types. This is why it is recommended to pair up a spinner like forretress with a pursuit pokemon. The thing is that pursuit is a dark type move which means that it is considered a special attack. This limits the amount of pokemon that can use the move well since a decent amount of pokemon do learn it. Houndoom makes excellent use of the move with its high special attack and stab along with fire blast and will-o-wisp. It's susceptible to being trapped by dugtrio and can't really stop bulky waters with recovery outside of using sunny day and solar beam so it's not seen that often. Tyranitar is probably the most common user of the move. It is seen on mixed and special variants of tyranitar since they can easily defeat gengar if it has already put another pokemon to sleep. However since pursuit tyranitar it usually doesn't set up, bulkier pokemon like snorlax can walk all over it. The same goes for metagross but to a lesser extent. It still has meteor mash to boost its attack and explosion in emergencies. However, it does not get stab on pursuit making it the weakest user of the move. Deoxys-A can make decent use of pursuit since it can force switches easily with its monstrous attack stats. That high special attack makes up for the fact that it lacks stab on the move. However, using the move takes careful prediction due to it being easily prone to being ohko'd. So while pursuit can be a great move, it takes prediction to work effectively.

Spider Web



Another move that is able to trap any pokemon. It works the same as mean look but it's only seen on ariados. Ariados is not a great pokemon in NU but it can baton pass spider web onto other set up pokemon and prepare for a sweep. So it works very similar to umbreon in OU.

So what type of trapper do you prefer? What kind of pokemon do you have paired with these trappers? Do you think trappers are good or bad for the adv metagame? Post away!
 
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ADV NFE

Yo Smogon! is DS again with a new article about Adv NFE. The difference between standard OU and NFE is the fact that you can only use Not Fully Evolved Pokemon. Pokemon without an evolution aren't accepted in this meta (so goodbye Porygon, Sneasel, Skarmory, Lapras and a lot more!). Adv NFE is generally based on offensive teams, even if we could have some defensive mons able to stop some common threats. The only Not Fully Evolved pokemon banned is Wynaut.

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Common Strategies:

- Physical Baiting:
The most used strategy in NFE is surely the physical baiting. Using pokemon which share same weakness and counter, main targets of this playstyle are then Physical Wall as Graveler and Seadra.

- Special Baiting: This playstyle is focused on bait Chansey and using then Tricking/Attract/Focus Punch/Explosion to kill her and start to clean with your special sweeper.

- Baton Pass:
Everybody know Batonpass, best recipe of NFE is probably Scyther.

- Para-team:
Paralysis is a good support for every slow-sweeper. Common move is also Substitute, used to setup on a fully par.

- Safeguard: Different Pokemons learn Safeguard, used principally to protect an endure user against Will-o-Wisp or Thunder Wave. Safeguard is a good move even to let sweep easily Kadabra and Vigoroth.

- Others: You can try everything you want, maybe a Spikes Control team, why not? Just use your immagination!

You can find every type of pokemon in NFE but the only things you will sure to find in every team is Scyther or Chansey (or both!). They are really good so my tip for you is to use them if your starting with this new amazing tier.
Scyther has the best stats of the metagame, a really good movepool and a double physical STAB, the only problem is his typing, making it really frail.
Chansey, as always, is the perfect special wall, able to support every type of team with Safeguard, Wish, Thunder Wave and a lot more. Another tip I would give you is to use an high investment on special attack or your chansey will become a setup-field for Pupitar or Machoke. A Thunder Wave+Seismic Toss-less Chansey won't be able to face CM Kadabra. Just use what fill better with your needs.

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Leading Choice:

Choose the right lead in Adv NFE is really important, since if you choose the right pokemon you will be in a positive situation from the start of the battle.

Physical leads:
Scyther: Probably the best lead. Choice Band Schyer is really good as lead since can hit everything with his double STAB and HP Ground (which literally destroy every rock-, steel-type that is supposed to have a free-entry on both Scyther's STAB). Hyper Beam -could- be a good option to get some extra kill. Baton Pass or Reversal Scyther are other good options to start.
Graveler: Graveler is a good option to press on Scyther since the first turn, with his good double stab and the possibility to boom, this rock beast is able to scare every pokemon in NFE.
Cubone: Cubone can stop both Scyther and Graveler, OHKOing easily both Graveler and Scyther. Switch with the right pokemon on this monster is really important since the moment that with his high atk can literally smash your squad turn by turn. Substitute is a good option to make Cubone able to stop Duskull and Koffing Will-o-Wisp.
Machoke: Machoke has some good match-up against other leads. Is one of the best Pokemon in the tier, able to make pressure on everything (but Scyther). 252 HP evs make it able to resist to non-CB Schyter's Flying STAB and OHKOing it with Rock Slide then (this only if opponent's Scyther isn't Bulky with 248 HP / 204 Def). CB Machoke is able to OHKO/2HKOing everything with the right move. Counter stop Cubone, defeating it after his Earthquake.

Metang: Metang has a good physical resistance and a good STAB in Meteor Mash. Reflect let it be able to stop Machoke and Explosion can be used to boom on a specific target as an emergency plan.

Vigoroth: If you need an answer to a sleep-lead, Vigoroth is the right choice. 140 HP / 116 SDef evs make Vigoroth bulkyer than Machoke (on both Physical and Special def) and his Double Edge STAB is stronger than Machoke's Cross Chop. Thanks to his high speed, Vigoroth can run Encore. It can learn Counter too. If you feel good, you can try a CB set for Lead Vigoroth.

Special leads:
Seadra:
Here we are with the first "special" lead. Seadra is a good antilead, able to stop every physical lead thanks to his great bulkyness. Unfortunately is completly walled by Chansey. A good tip would be to switchback on Machoke/Physical -mon on turn 2, after kingdra's lead.
Clamperl: If you are able to send Chansey KO, this beast will became unstoppable. Good bulkyness and a 540 Special Atk Stat make Clamperl a big threat of this meta.

Grovyle:
A good lead able to make damages on Chansey too thanks to Focus Punch, Endeavor and Leech Seed. Scyther will stop it but Grovyle has a good matchup against every other leader.

Haunter: "
Master of unpredictability"; his high SAtk can OHKO both Seadra and Clamperl (with Magnet as support item). Explosion is OHKO on Chansey, Giga Drain for Graveler and Shadow Ball for Kadabra. Hypnosis is a great option to start in a 6vs5 position (except for Vigoroth).

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Most common OU sets:



Chansey (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
~ Thunder Wave
~ Seismic Toss
~ Softboiled
~ Aromatherapy / Wish


Chansey (F) @ Lucky Punch / Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
~ Ice Beam
~ Thunderbolt
~ Softboiled
~ Calm Mind


Clamperl (M) @ DeepSeaTooth
Trait: Shell Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
~ Surf
~ Ice Beam
~ Hidden Power [Grass]
~ Substitute / Protect / Confuse Ray


Cubone (M) @ Thick Club
Trait: Rock Head
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Swords Dance
~ Earthquake
~ Ancientpower
~ Double-Edge


Cubone (M) @ Thick Club
Trait: Rock Head
EVs: 60 HP / 252 Atk / 196 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
~ Swords Dance
~ Earthquake
~ Rock Slide
~ Double-Edge


Diglett (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Arena Trap
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
~ Earthquake
~ Rock Slide
~ Beat Up
~ Sludge Bomb


Graveler (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Rock Head
EVs: 84 HP / 252 Atk / 172 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Earthquake
~ Explosion
~ Rock Blast / Hidden Power [Rock]
~ Substitute


Graveler (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Rock Head
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Earthquake
~ Explosion
~ Rock Blast / Hidden Power [Rock]
~ Double-edge


Haunter (M) @ Magnet / Lum Berry
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 6 SAtk
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
~ Shadow Ball
~ Explosion
~ Thunderbolt / Sludge Bomb
~ Giga Drain / Hypnosis / Will-O-Wisp / Destiny Bond


Haunter (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SAtk
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
~ Sludge Bomb
~ Shadow Ball
~ Explosion
~ Giga Drain / Hidden Power [Fire] / Hypnosis / Will-O-Wisp / Destiny Bond


Haunter (M) @ Poison Barb / Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SAtk
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
~ Sludge Bomb
~ Substitute
~ Hidden Power [Fire] / Hypnosis / Will-O-Wisp / Destiny Bond
~ Giga Drain / Thunderbolt / Explosion / Night Shade / Shadow Ball


Haunter (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 240 HP / 188 Spd / 80 SDef
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
~ Mean Look
~ Perish Song
~ Hypnosis
~ Protect


Kadabra (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 216 HP / 56 Def / 176 Spd / 60 SAtk
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
~ Psychic
~ Fire Punch / Seismic Toss
~ Trick
~ Recover / Calm Mind / Hidden Power [Water]


Kadabra (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 80 HP / 192 Def / 176 Spd / 60 SAtk
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
~ Psychic
~ Fire Punch / Hidden Power [Water] / Seismic Toss
~ Encore
~ Recover / Substitute / Calm Mind


Kadabra (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 80 HP / 192 Def / 176 Spd / 60 SAtk
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
~ Psychic
~ Fire Punch / Hidden Power [Water]
~ Calm Mind
~ Recover


Kadabra (M) @ Leftovers / Lum Berry
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 244 HP / 88 Def / 176 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
~ Psychic
~ Fire Punch / Seismic Toss
~ Reflect
~ Calm Mind / Hidden Power [Water]


Kadabra (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 244 HP / 88 Def / 176 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
~ Psychic
~ Fire Punch / Hidden Power [Water] / Seismic Toss
~ Barrier
~ Recover


Kadabra (M) @ Leftovers / Lum Berry
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
~ Psychic
~ Fire Punch / ThunderPunch / Seismic Toss
~ Attract
~ Substitute / Calm Mind


Koffing (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
~ Sludge Bomb
~ Will-O-Wisp
~ Explosion
~ Pain Split


Koffing (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 208 HP / 176 Def / 124 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
~ Sludge Bomb
~ Will-O-Wisp
~ Taunt
~ Pain Split


Koffing (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 208 HP / 176 Def / 124 SAtk
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
~ Sludge Bomb
~ Will-O-Wisp
~ Explosion
~ Fire Blast / Thunderbolt


Machoke (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Cross Chop
~ Rock Slide / Hidden Power [Rock]
~ Rest
~ Sleep Talk


Machoke (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Cross Chop
~ Rock Slide
~ Hidden Power [Ghost]
~ Sleep Talk / Facade / Focus Punch


Machoke (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Guts
EVs: 236 HP / 22 Atk / 252 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Cross Chop
~ Rock Slide
~ Encore
~ Counter


Machoke (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Guts
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Cross Chop
~ Rock Slide
~ Bulk Up
~ Substitute / Hidden Power [Ghost]


Marshtomp (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Def / 160 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
~ Curse
~ Earthquake
~ Hidden Power [Rock] / Rock Slide
~ Surf / Hydro Pump


Metang @ Leftovers
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 234 Atk / 24 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Meteor Mash
~ Earthquake
~ Explosion
~ Reflect


Metang @ Leftovers / Lum Berry
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Meteor Mash
~ Earthquake
~ Explosion
~ Agility


Metang @ Choice Band
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 234 Atk / 24 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Meteor Mash
~ Earthquake
~ Explosion
~ Rock Slide


Pupitar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Shed Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) / Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Dragon Dance
~ Earthquake
~ Rock Slide
~ Taunt / Rest


Scyther (M) @ Salac Berry / Liechi Berry
Trait: Swarm
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
~ Substitute / Endure
~ Swords Dance
~ Hidden Power [Flying]
~ Reversal


Scyther (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Swarm
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) / Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Silver Wind
~ Aerial Ace / Hidden Power [Flying]
~ Hidden Power [Ground] / Steel Wing
~ Quick Attack / Hyper Beam


Scyther (M) @ Leftovers / Lum Berry
Trait: Swarm
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) / Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Swords Dance
~ Silver Wind
~ Aerial Ace / Hidden Power [Flying]
~ Hidden Power [Ground] / Steel Wing


Scyther (M) @ Salac Berry
Trait: Swarm
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Substitute
~ Swords Dance
~ Silver Wind / Hidden Power [Bug]
~ Hidden Power [Flying] / Aerial Ace


Scyther (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Swarm
EVs: 248 HP / 56 Atk / 204 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Swords Dance / Substitute / Morning Sun
~ Agility
~ Baton Pass
~ Hidden Power [Flying] / Hidden Power [Bug]


Scyther (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Swarm
EVs: 248 HP / 56 Atk / 204 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Light Screen
~ Morning Sun
~ Counter
~ Hidden Power [Flying] / Hidden Power [Bug]


Seadra (M) @ Petaya Berry / Leftovers
Trait: Poison Point
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
~ Hydro Pump
~ Ice Beam
~ Agility
~ Substitute / Hidden Power [Grass]


Seadra (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Poison Point
EVs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Spd
Bold Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
~ Surf
~ Ice Beam
~ Rest
~ Sleep Talk


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So Smogon, this is Adv NFE. Do you think it could be consider an official tier? What are your opinion? Try it and let us know!
 

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