Create a Balanced Pokémon Team

Preparing for a link party? Finish the game and need something to do? Does your friend have an unbeatable team? If you have a balanced Pokémon team, you will be prepared to take on anything. Read on to learn how to be the very best!

Steps

Choosing Your Pokémon

  1. Consider your goals. If you're trying to beat a friend, then you need to build a team specifically created to counter theirs. If you're trying to make a team for competitive battling, then you need to make one that can stand up to the top Pokémon. If you're just bored, or you want to do it for the sake of having a team, then consider sticking to your favorite Pokémon.
  2. Research all the Pokémon and their possible moves. You may want to use a site like Serebii.net, Bulbapedia, or Smogon. If you cannot obtain the Pokémon you desire in your version, use the GTS in Jubilife City to trade for them. Unsatisfactory stats or moves of the Pokémon you traded for can be solved with breeding once you are done planning everything out.
    • Remember that to breed with a male Pokémon and keep the same species, the female needs to be replaced with a Ditto.
  3. Choose your Pokémon. If you're trying to beat a friend, then try to use Pokémon whose types are super-effective against his/hers. Also try to make strategies that can counter your friend's. For example, if his main Pokémon is a Snorlax who tanks (can take many hits while dealing damage to your team and healing itself with Rest): consider "Sub-Punching" it. Put up a Substitute, and then use Focus Punch the next turn.
    • All teams should have a high type variety, usually with no more than two Pokémon of the same type. This not only means mixing types, but also physical and special users as well. However, if you plan on Baton Passing Nasty Plot or Swords Dance, having more of one type of attack than the other will broaden your options a bit.
    • It's also a good idea to keep some Pokémon on your team that are not designed for attacking, but instead for healing other Pokémon or taking many hits. This is called "stalling."
    • If you aren't battling competitively, you don't have to be so selective, but it is a good thing to keep in mind, and your Pokémon team will be far stronger because of it!
  4. Try basing a team around a specific move or battle mechanic. Some teams may be based around a single mechanic, like weather, Trick Room, or Tailwind. If you're going to go this route, your team should have many Pokémon that can take advantage of that effect. Be sure to include Pokémon that can balance out any weaknesses and one or two who can set up the field condition.
  5. Be sure that your team includes a strong core. This is essential for a competitive team. A core is two or three Pokémon whose strengths and weaknesses complement each other and who can switch in to each other's counters.
  6. Have the right nature on your Pokémon. Natures will decrease one stat by 10%, while increasing another by 10%. It's important to have one that will increase a stat that is important to that Pokémon, while decreasing a less important stat, like Special Attack for physical attackers.

Breeding Pokémon

  1. Consider breeding Pokémon. In order to get Pokémon that are optimal for battling, you may need to breed for desirable egg moves, IVs, or natures. Pokémon can learn moves from their parents. If both parents have a move that the baby can learn from level up, it will start with that move.
    • There are also certain moves, called egg moves, that a Pokémon can only learn by breeding a father or mother (from Gen VI onward) with that move.
    • TM or HM moves can only be passed down in games prior to Gen VI. These moves are only passed down from the father.
    • Natures can be inherited if the parent holds an Everstone. The chance is 50% prior to B/W 2, and guaranteed from then onward.
  2. Know that IVs (Individual Values) can be passed down. An IV is a randomized hidden value for each stat, from 0-31. At level 100, a stat will be roughly increased by the IV value, with the increase being lower at lower levels. These can make a huge difference in the power of your Pokémon, as well as determining what type of Hidden Power it has. Therefore, you should have as close to 31 IVs as possible in each of your Pokémon's stats.
    • Hidden Power is a Special move learned by nearly every Pokémon which changes type and power based on its IVs. It can be useful for special attackers who need coverage of a certain type. There are online calculators which can determine what IVs you need for Hidden Power.
    • Three of a Pokémon's IVs are randomly inherited from its parents. If either parent holds a Power item (Power Bracer, Anklet, Band, Lens, Weight, Belt), the baby will inherit the corresponding stat. If both parents hold one, the baby will only inherit one of those stats from a randomly chosen parent. After that, the baby will inherit two other random IVs. From B/W onward, if one Pokémon holds a Destiny Knot, 5 IVs will be inherited.
  3. Breed for Hidden Abilities. Hidden Abilities can be passed down if the female Pokémon has it. Male and genderless Pokémon can pass on their hidden abilities when bred with Ditto. The female Pokémon has an 80% chance to pass her ability to the baby. This chance does not apply if Ditto is one of the parents.

Balancing Your Team

  1. Plan out your team so that each Pokémon has a role. Look at the stats and moves of each Pokémon to determine whether it's a good fit for a given role. Consider the following formula:
    • Physical Sweeper (Pokémon with high Attack stat)
    • Special Sweeper (Pokémon with high Special Attack stat)
    • Physical Wall (Pokémon with high Defense, who can soak up damage)
    • Special Wall (Same as Physical Wall, but for Special Defense)
    • Lead (Pokémon who sets up entry hazards or field conditions early in the game.)
    • Crippler (Pokémon who inflicts status conditions, then switches out to a Sweeper)
  2. Choose your Pokémon's moves. Be sure that the moves that you're assigning them are compatible. Except in some circumstances, do not have two moves of the same type on one Pokémon, such as Surf and Hydro Pump. This is because you will want to ensure that your Pokémon can defeat as many types of Pokémon as possible. Stat boosters and restoration moves are OK (Synthesis, Aromatherapy, Growth and Petal Dance are all Grass-type moves, but only one is used for attacking), as are moves like Flamethrower and Overheat, which can be used in different circumstances.
    • An attacking Pokémon should have a strong move/moves of its own type, as it will get a boost to this move's power (called STAB). It should also have coverage moves that can hit different types than your main attack, otherwise your Pokémon will be walled by certain types. Some attackers can use a set-up move which can bring its power up to ridiculous amounts, others might use some support move, healing, or switching moves like U-Turn. Priority is also a good idea, because moves of a higher priority will always go before moves of a lower priority.
    • Your team's tank is a hardy Pokémon with high HP that can take a lot of damage while you heal and manage your other Pokémon. Tanks should have moves like healing, Taunt, Protect or Substitute, or status. Moves like Aromatherapy or Wish that help your teammates are good too.
    • Support Pokémon use status moves to cripple opposing Pokémon, get rid of threats like set-up sweepers, get rid of entry hazards, or help your team.
  3. Choose a strong lead Pokémon. This is the one that you usually send out first. They are usually either fast, so that they can put out delayed moves and other hazards before your opponent can do anything. Sometimes, leads are bulky so that they can set up hazards multiple times throughout the match. They can carry an entry hazard, like Stealth Rock, Sticky Web, Spikes, or Toxic Spikes, set up a beneficial field condition, like weather, Reflect and Light Screen, or Trick Room, or Baton Pass boosts to another teammate. They also usually have moves to disrupt your opponent, status, or phasing, as well as an attack so they will not be completely useless once hit with Taunt.
  4. Don't fixate on brute power. Remember that competitive battling isn't just about wiping out your opponent; it's about strategy and prediction, too. Be sure that you can lay traps (e.g. Stealth Rock, Spikes, Toxic Spikes). Have stat boosters such as Swords Dance. It may not look like much, as you may just want to attack as soon as possible, but Swords Dance doubles your Pokémon's Attack power. Even if it just adds 50%, try it anyway. Use moves with added effects, such as Flamethrower and Blizzard, which respectively have a chance of burning and freezing the target. Make sure that the moves you use are complemented by the Pokémon's stats.
    • For example, using Flamethrower and Blizzard with a Pokémon that has a low special attack stat would be a bad idea.
    • Keep in mind that many Pokémon aren't offensively inclined. These Pokémon would likely be most effective with status moves that cause these effects, as they wouldn't do much damage with physical or special attacks.
  5. Check your team for weaknesses. If you see that half of the Pokémon have a weakness to one type, then switch out at least one Pokémon. Simply giving your Pokémon a Water move will not protect it from a Gallade's Fire Punch, so don't try to simply change the move set. You'll end up wasting a move slot and not fixing the problem.

Choosing for Type

  1. Plan out your team based on type. Gym leaders and certain types of themed trainers often structure their teams around a certain type of Pokémon: water, electric, poison, etc. However, a single-type team isn't very balanced. Prepare your team to fight many types of Pokémon. You should have Pokémon on your team that are strong against most of the main types—even several of the most common types.
  2. Choose a few Pokémon from the classic elemental types. A balanced team might include a Fire Pokémon, a Water Pokémon, and a Grass Pokémon. The three Starter Pokémon always give you a choice between Fire, Water, and Grass. For instance, in Pokémon X/Y, the Grass starter is Chespin, the Fire starter is Fennekin, and the Water starter is Froakie.[1] No matter which starter you choose, however, you'll have the chance to acquire the other "starter" types in the wild or through trades.
    • Fire Pokémon are strong against grass, ice, bug, and steel types, but weak against water, ground, dragon, and rock Pokémon.
    • Water Pokémon are strong against fire, ground, and rock types, and weak against electric, grass, and dragon types.
    • Grass type Pokémon are strong against water, ground, and rock types, but weak against fire, poison, flying, bug and dragon types.
  3. Consider Pokémon from other common types. You will probably encounter Bug, Flying, Poison, Psychic, and Electric Pokémon in the early game and throughout your adventure. This is not to say that they cannot be very powerful! Flying Pokémon, in particular, can be useful for quick transport as well as strong, hard-to-counter Flying-type attacks.
    • Electric Pokémon are strong against water and flying Pokémon, but weak against grass, electric, ground, and dragon types.
    • Flying type Pokémon are strong against grass, fighting, and bug types, but weak against electric, rock, and ice types.
    • Bug type are strong against Grass, Psychic, and Dark, and weak against Fire, Flying and psychic.
    • Poison type Pokémon are strong against grass and fairy, but weak against ground, rock, psychic and steel types.
    • Psychic type Pokémon are strong against fighting and poison types and ghost types, but weak against ghost, dark, and steel Pokémon.
  4. Try to use at least one resilient, physically-strong Pokémon. Ground and Rock types are resistant to a wide variety of common types, although they do have their weaknesses. Their defensive stats are usually high, which balances out the weaknesses of some other Pokémon. Fighting types are strong against some of the physical and commonly "hard to hurt" types, although they are open to great damage from special attack-prone types.
    • Ground type Pokémon are strong against fire, poison, electric, rock, and steel types, but weak against grass, flying, and water types.
    • Rock type Pokémon are strong against ice, fire, flying, and bug types, but weak against fighting, ground, and steel types.
    • Ice type Pokémon are strong against grass, ground, flying, grass and dragon Pokémon, but weak against fighting, fire, and steel.
    • Fighting Pokémon are strong against normal, ice, rock, dark, and steel Pokémon, but weak against poison, flying, bug, ghost, fairy, and psychic types.
  5. Avoid Normal types, in general. Some Normal Pokémon can grow to become very powerful, but they won't give you a significant leg up over any other type. Normal type Pokémon are not statistically stronger against any other type, and they are weak against fighting, ghost, rock, and steel. The upside of Normal Pokémon is that they are versatile: they can often learn TM moves from diverse other types.
  6. Select less common types for special effect. Dark, Dragon, Ghost, and Fairy are relatively rare in the Pokémon world, but these types can be some of the most powerful fighters when used in combination with hardier and more common teammates.
    • Dark type Pokémon are strong against ghost and psychic Pokémon, and weak against fighting, fairy, and bug Pokémon.
    • Dragon type Pokémon are strong against other dragon types, but weak against ice and fairy.
    • Ghost type Pokémon are strong against ghost and psychic types, but weak against dark and psychic types.
    • Fairy types are strong against dragon, fighting, and dark, and weak against poison and steel. They are resisted by fairy and fire.
    • Steel type Pokémon are strong against ice, fairy, and rock Pokémon, but weak against water, fire, and steel.[2]

Training Your Pokémon

  1. Train Pokémon through battles. This is more effective at increasing happiness and raising the strength of your Pokémon than if you use rare candies to gain levels quickly. For competitions, make sure all your Pokémon are trained to level 100. Otherwise, they will be at a big disadvantage.
  2. Understand and utilize Effort Values (EVs). These are points that your Pokémon gain for defeating other Pokémon, whether it's in a trainer battle or in the wild. EVs are essential to raising strong Pokémon. Certain Pokémon give different EVs, so you should make sure you only train against Pokémon who give the right EVs, instead of just randomly. Note that you will not receive EVs in a link battle with friends or in the Battle Tower/Battle Subway. Consider the following list of Pokémon according to EV: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/List_of_Pok%C3%A9mon_by_effort_value_yield
    • You can have a maximum of 255 EVs per stat, and 510 EVs total on all stats. With every 4 EV points in a stat, it gains 1 stat point at level 100. This means that the maximum amount of EVs that can be used to increase a Pokémon's stats is 508. Because of this, do not give 255 EVs to a stat, but 252. This way, you have 4 extra EV's which can be used to increase another stat by one point.
    • It is usually a good idea to max out the EVs for a Pokémon's most important stat. However, in certain cases you can use less – such as if your Pokémon only needs a certain Speed stat to outspeed a common threat.
    • Figure out which stats you want to develop on your Pokémon, and figure out how many and which Pokémon you need to fight to reach those EVs. Make sure to keep a log of your progress. Consider logging stats in a spreadsheet so that you don't lose track.[3]
  3. Use vitamins to supplement EV training. Buy as many vitamins (e.g. Protein, Carbos) for your Pokémon as you can, and use them before EV training. Each vitamin that you give to your Pokémon will increase its EVs by 10 in a certain stat. Vitamins can only be used for the first 100 EVs.
    • If you have 100 EVs or more, vitamins will have no effect. For example, Carbos gives your Pokémon 10 Speed EVs. If you use 10 Carbos with no previously gained Speed EVs, your Pokémon will gain 100 Speed EVs. If you already have 10 Speed EVs, you may use 9 Carbos. If you have 99, you may use 1 Carbos, and it will only give you 1 EV.
    • Remember to give your Pokémon EVs that they can use. Don't give an Alakazam Attack EVs, for example, because they are not physical attackers.
  4. Use items to accelerate the level-up process. If you're going to battle online, EV train beforehand using Power Items. Use the Experience Share or Macho Brace during early levels. The Macho Brace will double the EVs you receive from each Pokémon you battle, but it lowers speed while it is held.
    • Give your Pokémon Pokérus, if you have access to it. This also doubles the EVs, but without the speed depletion. The effects still remain even after the Pokérus is gone. This results in your Pokémon ending up with higher stats.
  5. Use held items to prepare your team for battle. Sweepers should hold an item to increase their attacking stats, like Life Orb, a Choice item, or Expert Belt. Assault Vest can be used for more bulky attackers, and Choice Scarf can be used to outspeed opposing Pokémon, or can be Tricked onto another Pokémon to lock them into a move. Defensive Pokémon can use Leftovers to increase their longevity. Poison types can use Black Sludge instead, in case their item is stolen. Megas will need their corresponding mega stone to Mega Evolve, and certain other items can be useful on specialized sets.

Tips

  • Get a Pokémon with a good ability. Some abilities are very powerful and game-changing, while others have no effect in battle. Make sure you have the right one.
  • You can use certain berries on your Pokémon that increase their happiness, but lower their EVs in a stat. If the Pokémon has over 100 EVs in the stat being lowered, the amount of EVs will be lowered to 100. If it has less than 100 EVs in the stat, each berry will cause the Pokémon to lose 10 EVs in that stat. This is good for erasing unwanted EVs. Always keep vitamins handy in case you accidentally lower EVs in the wrong stat. Also remember to save before using these berries.
  • Using Rare Candies before you have reached the EV cap will cause no adverse effects; this is simply a widely spread rumor.
  • Ensure that you know the type matchup table well; even if your team has multiple types of pokemon, sending the wrong one out during battle will be disastrous. This also helps you to predict moves your opponent may use and switch out to tank them.
  • Remember that some Pokémon can learn moves through a move tutor, which means you can have a level 50 Pokemon that knows a move it learns at lv 70. This will help to cut down on time spent training your Pokémon.

Things You'll Need

  • Poké Balls
  • Poké Radar
  • Macho Brace
  • A lot of time and determination (depending on the Pokémon)
  • A stronger Pokémon to back up the Pokémon you're training
  • Experience (Exp.) Share, but only if your Pokémon is too weak to defeat the opponents to get the EVs it needs. Remember that a Pokémon that holds the Exp. Share still gains the same amount of EVs that it would if it defeated the opponent on its own.
  • EV-reducing berries

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.pokemonxy.com/en-us/pokemon/starters/
  2. ↑ http://www.dltk-kids.com/pokemon/battle.htm
  3. ↑ http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/List_of_Pok%C3%A9mon_by_effort_value_yield
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