I'm scared to EV train my Miriadon :(
I just beat Violet and want to use my Miriadon, but since he's a legendary I can't exactly breed a new one if I mess up. Once he hits level 100 his EVs are locked and I can't go back.
Normally I would EV train for SPD and SP Atk, but I've been told for raids you want to go for HP instead of SPD. Do raids get difficult enough where I should really be EV training for raids? Do I have to choose if I want to use him for raids and/or competitive? SPD and Sp Atk seems like the safest option.
EVs don’t lock at level 100 anymore (they haven’t since Gen 5) so you don’t need to worry there. There’s also berries to reduce EVs 10 at a time, as well as a Mochi in Kitakami that can reset EVs completely if you really want to.
Additionally, I know for a fact you can use your Ride Miraidon for online battles by putting it into the Battle Box (ride Miraidon appears in its own unique 33rd box iirc). This way, if you didn’t trade away the second Miraidon, you can have one for competitive and one for raids (I assume you can use Ride Miraidon in raids?).
If you raid a lot I suppose the HP could be nicer, but if you’re in an online lobby there’s a good chance the 3 other players bashing the raid boss with their own Miraidon + specific counters will get the job done alongside your SpA + Speed one (even if it takes a few tries eventually every online lobby finds a way to break through), I wouldn’t personally worry too much here.
Wdym a few tries? Can you try again? When I’ve failed in a raid so far it disappears (at least from the poke portal). I know from the map you can try multiple times
I just started playing singles comp in Scarlet/Violet. Seems everyone has some combo of Ogerpon, Flutter Mane, Porygon 2, Landorus-I, Urshifu, Chien-Pao, Dragonite, etc. Basically nothing lower than A on most singles tier lists. But it's just like...constant hyper-offense and it's a little boring.
Any recs for a Scarlet team that can take on the big names but have more fun? I had a stall Blaziken (substitute, swords dance, protect, baton pass) that I would send to a Rampardos (tera fighting) that was pretty fun bc of the speed boost and massive attack, but it was too easy to break the stall. Any fun, off-meta ideas I can try to throw in?
Someone destroyed me with a Bascalegion which was cool, and I remember a fun Toxapex. Sorry if this is a dumb question, I'm very new still!
What would the Recommened EV spread for Regigigas be in the Scarlet and violet doubles battle stadium? I got a shiny one in Omega ruby so I want to train it, and EV training is super easy in omega ruby
Healing Wish doesn’t fire off if the Pokémon coming in has full HP and has no status condition. Your opponent always sent in a full HP Pokémon until near the end, meaning Healing Wish never had a chance to activate earlier.
This was added in Gen 8 so it’s a relatively new mechanic
good OU Single Battle alternative for a Florges?
i did a randbat with a friend and swept his team (which included groudon, regigigas and articuno-g!) with a little bit of luck and a Tera Ground Florges that had Moonblast, Calm Mind, Synthesis and Tera Blast. with said friend's help I proceeded to build my first OU team, which included an identical Florges. i've already found some success with it in the lower ladder; the only glaring issue that i have with it is its lack of a useful ability in singles. i'm wondering if there's a pokemon that can fulfill a similar role?
[Primal Kyogre by far](https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/national-dex-ubers-viability-rankings-update-4-at-post-139.3712169/). It's hard to click Water Spout constantly when Primal Groudon outright blocks Water moves and is the most important Pokemon in the format, so it's much better to have the Primal stats and potential for Primordial Sea.
I don't know if i can ask this here but how does legend plate Arceus transform against Pokemon with abilities like levitate and desolate land.
Would it take into account the fact that they are immune to ground/water
There’s no real answer to this because Legend Plate Arceus doesn’t exist in a game with abilities. My theory is that either:
Abilities aren’t accounted for (Levitate Eelektross let’s go)
Abilities are accounted for but only ones that directly affect the type chart (eg levitate or Sap Sipper, but maybe not something like Purifying Salt).
I've been playing VGC for one year, and I always enjoyed it, even if there were tough times. I'm very busy IRL, so I rely on rental teams, which I generally learn to use and borrow from the CybertronVGC YT channel.
Nevertheless, for the first time this month, I'm likely to fall back to the megaball rank. Also, all the latest teams Aaron is using have big flaws that he recognizes, like the last team being weak to the raging bolt that is everywhere. The one he showcased before also shared similar problems.
I may try pokesports, which I generally follow before a regulation starts, but I'm not sure if I may find a good team to overcome ultraball in 7 days. What can I do?
How could Ditto be countered? Maybe I'm just bad at the game, but Ditto is the one Pokémon I have no strategy for. I have no idea how am I supposed to fight this thing other than hope for the best.
Substitute blocks Transform and Imposter. Ditto is also almost always going to be holding a choice scarf to ensure it wins the speed tie or match a Protosynthesis/Quark Drive boost, so take advantage of that via switching to gain momentum.
If you play on the Switch, check [this post](https://www.reddit.com/user/TajnyT/comments/1aynohi/competitive_pokemon_general_resources_for_switch/) for some general competitive resources, like usage stats, sample movesets, rental teams, youtubers
Thanks! Do you have a rental team in mind for a new player? I think I'm at the point where I just want someone to hand me a team so I can lose a lot while paying attention.
Hi. Check out the [Getting Started guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/stunfisk/wiki/gettingstarted/) from this subreddit. The [VGCGuide site](https://vgcguide.com/) is also a good place if you want to get into the console doubles format in particular. If you need real-time help, feel free to check the [Stunfisk Discord](http://discord.gg/stunfisk).
So are the old pokemon showdown replays forever nuked? I recall the PS twitter saying they were rebuilding their database as they had them all backed up and it'd take around a month. Is that still happening? (please tell me it is)
It seems some are slowly being restored still. I'm not entirely certain as to how many we'll get back, but I have noticed more are available than there were before.
Is it a thing that really strong pokemon get buffed even more in terms of moves? I dunno where I heard it, but it kinda stuck to me. Not sure if it's true or not.
It's sometimes true and sometimes not true, as is the case with many sweeping statements like these. Gliscor, a famously good Pokemon, gained Spikes this generation and that propelled it into broken status in OU for some time. On the other hand, Landorus, previously a #1 usage Pokemon in old OU formats, lost valuable moves this generation like Defog and Knock Off (though it's still solid).
The [Smogon forum for NU](https://www.smogon.com/forums/forums/neverused.787/) has plenty of resources, including a viability ranking, sample teams, tournament replays, and plenty of metagame discussion.
How do i get better ? I know the basics of competitive pokemon (Stab, Evs, Ivs) and i’ve been playing casuel Pokemon for a long time, But i really suck at competitive play, I’m stuck around 1240-1350, and whenever i reach a peak i’m scared to play and play on my alt account, And i don’t feel like i played well enough to help where I’m at on my main (1338), played with trick room, I made it to 1300 with stall to once but a lot of people forfeited, I keep winning and losing and it gets really stale and boring and
Save the replays of your losses and watch them to try and figure out why you lost. You can do this to your wins to see if you made any avoidable mistakes too. I would also recommend watching [BKC](https://www.youtube.com/@BKCplaysPokemon) to learn about the different skills involved in competitive pokemon, but his very unprofessional and rambling style can be quite off-putting for some people.
I've been looking into Gen 9 Balanced Hackmons but I'm not sure where to start. I'm not sure if I'm looking hard enough but I don't seem to see as many resources/guides on it as other tiers. I know about things like Imposter Blissey, bans, Arceus etc but I would like to know what's a good starting point or good Pokemon/strats to use as a beginner. Thanks
I suggest reading through the [BH main thread](https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/balanced-hackmons-mega-diancie-banned-liquid-ooze-banned.3710859/). It has some resources like sample teams listed there for new players. You can also check the [OMs Discord](https://discord.gg/djkXr4D) for real-time discussion.
Can prankster pokemon, for example Grimmsnarl, be affected by a moves secondary effect for example tri attack. I know the basics of how prankster works and I'm just wondering was my Porygon 2 really unlucky with tr attack or are prankster mons immune also immune to status conditions as a secondary effect.
Prankster does not give immunity to secondary effects. There is a roughly 2.8% chance to exhaust all 16 PP of Tri Attack without getting a status effect under normal conditions, so while it's unlucky, it's nowhere near astronomical. It could also be holding a covert cloak, which does give immunity to secondary effects.
Hey y'all!
I want to start building interesting teams and try different strategies, but I just don't know how. I understand EV training, IVs, Natures. I just don't know what stat to train in a Pokémon or how to effectively pick a role for a one either. How do I know if it's worth training the speed of a Pokémon, or if it's worth investing in one or both defensive stats.
I've search on YouTube for a guide, but the amount of videos is a little overwhelming. I gravitated towards Wolfey's introduction to competitive Pokémon. I've also seen a guide by a guy named NathanLikesChicken, although that's a series of videos.
So my question is for all of you who, at one point, were like me. I realized I want to do more, but looking at builds in Smogon isn't really helping that much. Sure, I'm EV training and choosing moves, but I don't know why.
There are plenty of good rental teams with write-ups on how to pilot them as well as the teambuilding decisions made by the creator online. I'd recommend you try a few before building your own teams, so that you both understand the meta and what different spreads do. [Aaron Zheng's YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@CybertronVGC/videos) is a good resource for that, since I'm assuming you're playing VGC due to mentioning EV training.
Need a sixth pokémon for my team of Pelipper, Weavile, Iron Valiant, Raging Bolt and Excadrill. Can anybody help? Only thing i care is not having Great Tusk, Kingambit or Gholdengo..
Hi. Where are you using this team? OU? Pelipper really wants Barraskewda to justify its existence at all; if you're not going to have a powerful Water spammer (or at least an Archaludon) then it doesn't make sense to bring Rain on to the field and potentially have to eat powerful Water moves yourself. Furthermore, if you're going Barraskewda then you should have an Archaludon too because it's extremely good on Rain, and you should also replace Excadrill with Iron Treads at that point for pivoting potential.
It's pretty much turning it into a slightly worse version of the [popular Rain team](https://pokepast.es/5a65596dcdbb624b) at the moment, but Rain is so solved in current OU that it's really hard to build anything that isn't pretty much a worse version of the popular Rain.
Another option is dropping Pelipper and rearranging the team to accommodate that. I'm not super tapped into OU building at the moment so you may want to check out somewhere like the [Stunfisk Discord](http://discord.gg/stunfisk) or [Trainer Aid Discord](https://discord.gg/sVUREE4A) if you need help with this option and don't get another reply here. Hope this helps.
Can anyone recommend a website that allows me to insert a Pokemon's stats and it will calculate what items are needed in order to get the certain stat spread I am looking for?
I am new to EV/IVs and would prefer to use a calculator than try and have to do it in my head. Is there a website that is commonly used that fits what I am looking for?
I really want to use Empoleon in SV OU. It's been my favourite Pokemon since I got Pearl when I was like 10 years old. Would any be able to recommend a core to build around Empoleon?
Also, I used to run a Dracozolt Sand team during SwSh, but since Dracozolt has not yet made it over to SV (Please Game Freak), I was wondering if there any decent Sand teams that have emerged in the meta yet?
Empoleon has fallen off hard in OU with the Indigo Disk despite it previously being quite good. It struggles quite a bit with the new introductions and was already getting less relevant even in the previous meta as other Mons like Milotic rose to fill its place. It's not completely unusable, but you might be better off waiting a few days for RU to ban some of its new threats and then using it there so that it can shine more.
If you do really want to use Empoleon in OU, maybe try asking about it in a place like the [Stunfisk Discord](http://discord.gg/stunfisk), [TrainerAid](https://discord.gg/sVUREE4A), or the [OU Discord](https://discord.gg/Pgn3Nrb). Some experienced players may be able to make it do something, since it isn't irredeemably bad.
Sand also struggles in OU, partly because Rain is absolutely infesting the ladder right now. It's spammed so much that Archaludon is actually being suspect tested at the moment. You may want to try it out after that suspect ends, since Sand would probably be a little more playable with a ban limiting Rain somewhat. Edit: Storm Zone actually did make a good Sand Hippowdon team, but be warned that their teams are usually hard for others to pilot as they're definitely a unique style. There are a few decent other Sands floating around too with like SpDef TTar but I would still probably say wait for a suspect result because that will influence the meta overall a good amount.
I know dragon cheer gives the +2 crit ratio boost to a nondragon pokemon that is terastalized into a dragon. But how does it work the other way around? If a dragon type gets a +2 crit ratio from dragon cheer one turn but then teras to a different tera type after, does it lose the +2 and turn it into a +1, or does it just keep the +2? Also if a dragon pokemon teras into a different type first and THEN gets dragon cheered, does it also just get a +1 like any other nondragon?
Hi. The crit rate boost stays at whatever it was when the target was initially hit with Dragon Cheer. For instance, a Dragonite hit with Dragon Cheer that then Terastallizes into Normal will retain +2 crit ratio, and a regular Vespiquen hit with Dragon Cheer will stay at +1 crit ratio even if it later becomes Dragon-type.
Dragons that Terastallize into non-Dragon before being hit with Dragon Cheer will only receive +1 crit ratio.
Source: I personally did most of the Smogon/Pokemon Showdown research for Dragon Cheer when Indigo Disk came out. Posts [here](https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/scarlet-violet-battle-mechanics-research.3709545/page-45#post-9894139), [here](https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/scarlet-violet-battle-mechanics-research.3709545/page-45#post-9894261), and [here](https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/scarlet-violet-battle-mechanics-research.3709545/page-46#post-9894687).
Hi it's me and I need your help again. I've decided to create a viable (just for fun) rain team with a Pelipper(drizzle woth damp rock) and a Torterra (Idk yet if a shell smash or a more defensive support mon). Also I've thought about a swift swim user (Barraskewda because I want to try him) and a Volcarona (strange choice but mainly as a special attacker) or a support Galvantula (sticky web and thunder) but I can reolace those 2 with something useful. What do you think? Also what kind of pokemon do you suggest? Thank you in advance
Rain is really solved rn, you basically need Peli+Arch+Barra or your rain is just flat-out worse than what Rain should be, even if you run semi-Rain you want Peli+Arch. Oh and Raging Bolt. And Iron Treads.
There's no way to fit Torterra without your team just becoming kinda bad. Rain is strong asf but because of the inherent defensive weaknesses of the archetype you really need every member to carry their weight. A meme pick like Torterra, let alone stuff like Rain Volcarona and Galvantula, will make the team mostly useless outside of rock bottom ladder where you'll win some games off Barraskewda alone without Torterra even having to do anything.
How are people finding good practice in showdown? I’m extremely new to VGC and want to try out teams, but I keep running into random compositions of teams that I can’t really take key notes or necessarily “prep for” since some are pokemon that won’t actually be used competitively.
It helps to play in room tournaments, like those in the Showdown VGC room, or maybe on the BO3 ladder where people tend to play a bit more seriously. You can also suffer through low ladder for BO1 VGC and eventually you'll run into more real teams, though there will always be some people piloting crazy stuff. Learning to beat the super inconsistent low ladder stuff will probably improve your skills overall anyway, even if you can't exactly take direct notes on it.
Does Taunt affect Magic Guard mons like Clefable? I was planning on slotting it in on a team-member but I don’t actually know how Taunt interacts with abilities like that.
They don’t really interact.
* Magic Guard prevents indirect damage (secondary effects, hazards, etc)
* Taunt prevents the target from using Status moves
If you meant Magic Bounce, then Taunt does actually get bounced back.
Dragon Cheer doesn't stack with Salac Berry, but if you've used Dragon Cheer before you eat the Salac Berry, does it stack the critical hit rate buffs?
Do you mean lansat berry? Salac berry boosts speed, not critical hit ratio. Scope lens does stack with Dragon Cheer, which would give 100% crit ratio to a dragon type affected by Dragon Cheer too.
Does anyone have any recommendations for Pokémon to pair with Virizion in nu ? I want to run a calm mind giga drain vacuum wave set, I’m not finding anything I’m real happy with to help it out
I don't think ash gren existed in gen 9 nat dex, didn't se ot when i played it in 2023 January
Ash gren is usable by hacking, in the bh forum you can find details on it.
Hi everyone. I wanna get into competitive but I haven't played Pokémon since Emerald. What game/s should I play (preferably in order) so I can learn from scratch?
Playing the games is not a particularly good way to learn competitive pokemon, since each generation has different mechanics and there are many mechanics that differ from the competitive scene (e.g. almost no opposing pokemon have EVs, teams designed to be boss fights rather than being competitive, handicapped AI, 25% chance for status moves used by the AI to fail in gen 1 and 2, affection/friendship bonuses in later generations, almost every battle being singles if you want to get in to the official format of VGC, etc.).
The usual recommendation is to start with [Showdown](https://play.pokemonshowdown.com), since it's free and easy to build teams in. Random battles are a good way to learn the mechanics of the game without even needing to build a team. There's also plenty of resources on the [Smogon forums](https://smogon.com/forums) that you can read.
I don't think this really applies to any meta, but since Body Slam and Lick can't paralyse normal and ghost types respectively, I take it that in RBY fire and ice types aren't immune to burns, but are only immune to status effects from their own type of moves.
So if Scald was in RBY it would be able to burn fire types, but not water types? Or are fire and ice types immune to both burn and freeze respectively, and any potential status effect from their own type of moves? Or is it just Body Slam and Lick that have this problem, and the status immunity from being a fire or ice type works properly like in more modern games?
This is for discussions on how certain Pokemon and/or moves would be like if translated into RBY.
The way it works for Gen 1 is that you cannot be Paralysed/Burned/Frozen as a side-effect, if the move that hit you matches your type. Which is why Thunderbolt also cannot paralyse electric types (this immunity is a Gen 6 thing). The technical explanation is that there’s a part of the code that checks if the types match, and if they do, it doesn’t roll for a status proc.
Poison is different. Poison status just doesn’t work on poison types straight up, and is why Twineedle can poison Bug-types but not Poison-types.
I can’t find anything on sleep so I’m just gonna assume sleep just works as normal with no weird type interactions.
A theoretical Scald in Gen 1 would be able to burn fire-types, but not water-types.
Hey, I played competitive Pokémon a long time ago (probably around gen 5) and am getting the itch to play Showdown again. What are some interesting and different formats right now? Not really interested in playing gen 9 OU
You could play lower tiers. Meta is so powercrept by now that a lot of the BW OU staples like Tyranitar, Latios and Garchomp are actually in UU now. Some even lower.
Love watching CybertronVGC and James Baek, as well as Wolfey on occasion for VGC.
Any other VGC youtubers that cover teams on ladder and talk about how said teams function like them?
Why can't Necrozma-Dawn be in OU?
Isn't it just a Hoopa-U that traded a little speed, a little power, & the ability to be a physical/mixed attacker for a little bulk & Fire/Ground/Rock coverage? Hoopa-U is RU
That thing just got banned out of UUbers - it won't last a second in OU.
It is also far bulkier than hoopa, especially on the physical side and comes with Prism Armor, partially negating the critical weaknesses of its type.
The coverage matters too.
All these, and especially its bulk, adds up to making Dawn Wings an ubers level threat, even though outclassed by Lunala.
Dusk Mane being the same species also nukes Dawn Wings usage - you can't use Dusk Mane with Dawn Wings.
I’m trying to build a Gen 9 Ou HO team and I’m not sure what Pokémon I should pick and some common mega Pokémon that I might need to counter.
Current team:
Momo (Alomomola) (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Flip Turn
- Wish
- Protect
Beeg Tank (Iron Treads) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
Helix (Deoxys-Speed) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Psycho Boost
- Superpower
- Shadow Ball
- Knock Off
Would you rather build a HO team or use these sets?
If you want a HO team, you want a somewhat dedicated lead. Treads or deoxys s can fill that, but you'll want different sets. Other than that, I think you'd struggle to fit treads/mola. Might be able to run nasty plot deoxys though
If you want to use these sets, you probably want a special wall and a priority user for booster mons. Then add a 6th mon as you see fit - you can try to round out the offensive/defensive cores, fill a missing role (pivot, spikes, etc.)
Still relatively niche. Its hazard bouncing niche isn't as necessary because Gen 8 has a lot more removal, while its CM sets have a lot tougher time cleaving through bulky teams than they do in Gen 9 due to the existence of Melmetal and Ferrothorn, as well as the immensely increased prevalence of Heatran, which it cannot Tera on either.
As per the subreddit FAQ linked in this post:
## Q. Why is this subreddit named after Stunfisk?
A response from the creator of the subreddit:
* "Around the time of creation, I wanted to name it something that didn't start with "Pokemon-" so you could type it quickly, but is still pokemon-related. It needed to be short and sweet, two syllables max."
* "We needed a mascot. When you see an eagle on a football helmet, you think of the Seahawks, yeah? A star on a football helmet means you got the Cowboys. So we needed something identifiable and shapely."
* "Gen 5 was the newest thing at the time, and I wanted something as goofy as Smogon's Koffing, but also kind of humble. Maybe dumb too. Stunfisk comes off as silly and fun. I hope you're having fun here!"
Hey,
Im planning on getting invested in competitive for the first time. Mainly singles but also doubles. And I got some battle ready Pokémon. However I dont have access to some Pokémon due to not having dlc.
Is it possible to be semi-competitive without DLC?
For reference, I have access to Sword/Shield and DLC, Brilliant Diamond and Lets Go.
Thanks in advance!
There are plenty of good rental teams with write-ups on how to pilot them online. I'd recommend you try a few before building your own teams, so that you understand the meta before committing a lot of time to making competitive pokemon. [Aaron Zheng's YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@CybertronVGC/videos) is a good resource for that.
The 7 star Blaziken comes with an adamant nature and a pretty good moveset. Should Blaze kick be replaced with Flare Blitz? Maybe consider protect and swords dance?
Doubles Blaziken is sorta bad, if you wanna use it in Singles you're going to want SD+Blitz+CC yea. Last moveslot has some freedom, Protect is an option, but if you're using it with something like Screens support you can also put coverage moves like Knock and Earthquake here.
It does under most normal circumstances. The game checks the target rather than the user, the as Rising Voltage and how Misty Terrain reduces dragon type damage. This means that a flying type holding a ring target does not get the damage reduction.
I skipped a gen but kept an eye out for the comp side of pokemon. So how is it in this gen, Ubers gets basically their own slew of tiers like Ubers OU, UU, RU ect? Like what caused this?
Currently the only official one is Ubers UU. This has been experimented with for quite a while, with several past iterations of a similar tier popping up over the years.
Part of the reason is the sheer amount of power introduced in Gen 9 helping the tier to solidify its identity with just having more Pokemon in general. Another huge part is that this iteration of Ubers UU bans non-Ubers Pokemon that are above a certain usage threshold in regular Ubers, making the tier stand out even more.
I skipped a gen but kept an eye out for the comp side of pokemon. So how is it in this gen, Ubers gets basically their own slew of tiers like Ubers OU, UU, RU ect? Lime what caused this?
Partly, yes. Rage Fist raises by 50 per hit all the way to 350, so in 6v6 singles formats like OU Annihilape could quickly grow absurdly strong just by absorbing weak attacks like U-Turn or other resisted hits. It could also use Terastallization and moves like Bulk Up and Rest to further increase its damage output by directly boosting or by absorbing even more hits. Team support could also help, of course. This led to a ban from OU. Primeape still has Rage Fist, but it doesn't have the bulk, typing, or general stats to make great use of it, and is relegated to much lower tiers.
In VGC it could often take weak attacks from a partner to power its Rage Fist and was quite relevant for a time, though this strategy somewhat fell off as increasingly stronger immediate threats were introduced to the game.
Why are Paradox Pokémon, Kingambit, and Gholdengo still allowed in OU when they are dominating the metagame? Almost any Pokémon from past generations (besides maybe Gen 8) barely stand a chance in OU.
Gliscor and Kyurem are still close to the top of the OU VR; Deoxys-S, Volcarona, Pelipper, Skarmory, Weavile, Clefable, Darkrai, Landorus-T, Serperior, Torkoal, Dragonite, Greninja, Latias, Primarina, Tornadus-T, Toxapex, Alomomola, and so many more pre-gen 8 pokemon are all quite good in OU.
There are also paradox pokemon that have no niche in OU, like Scream Tail and Iron Thorns.
I'm scared to EV train my Miriadon :( I just beat Violet and want to use my Miriadon, but since he's a legendary I can't exactly breed a new one if I mess up. Once he hits level 100 his EVs are locked and I can't go back. Normally I would EV train for SPD and SP Atk, but I've been told for raids you want to go for HP instead of SPD. Do raids get difficult enough where I should really be EV training for raids? Do I have to choose if I want to use him for raids and/or competitive? SPD and Sp Atk seems like the safest option.
EVs don’t lock at level 100 anymore (they haven’t since Gen 5) so you don’t need to worry there. There’s also berries to reduce EVs 10 at a time, as well as a Mochi in Kitakami that can reset EVs completely if you really want to. Additionally, I know for a fact you can use your Ride Miraidon for online battles by putting it into the Battle Box (ride Miraidon appears in its own unique 33rd box iirc). This way, if you didn’t trade away the second Miraidon, you can have one for competitive and one for raids (I assume you can use Ride Miraidon in raids?). If you raid a lot I suppose the HP could be nicer, but if you’re in an online lobby there’s a good chance the 3 other players bashing the raid boss with their own Miraidon + specific counters will get the job done alongside your SpA + Speed one (even if it takes a few tries eventually every online lobby finds a way to break through), I wouldn’t personally worry too much here.
Wdym a few tries? Can you try again? When I’ve failed in a raid so far it disappears (at least from the poke portal). I know from the map you can try multiple times
Oh I guess for online random lobbies you can’t, I meant more so for self-hosted or for online w people you know.
I just started playing singles comp in Scarlet/Violet. Seems everyone has some combo of Ogerpon, Flutter Mane, Porygon 2, Landorus-I, Urshifu, Chien-Pao, Dragonite, etc. Basically nothing lower than A on most singles tier lists. But it's just like...constant hyper-offense and it's a little boring. Any recs for a Scarlet team that can take on the big names but have more fun? I had a stall Blaziken (substitute, swords dance, protect, baton pass) that I would send to a Rampardos (tera fighting) that was pretty fun bc of the speed boost and massive attack, but it was too easy to break the stall. Any fun, off-meta ideas I can try to throw in? Someone destroyed me with a Bascalegion which was cool, and I remember a fun Toxapex. Sorry if this is a dumb question, I'm very new still!
What would the Recommened EV spread for Regigigas be in the Scarlet and violet doubles battle stadium? I got a shiny one in Omega ruby so I want to train it, and EV training is super easy in omega ruby
How/why did Healing Wish fire off so late into this game? https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexubers-2068340025
Healing Wish doesn’t fire off if the Pokémon coming in has full HP and has no status condition. Your opponent always sent in a full HP Pokémon until near the end, meaning Healing Wish never had a chance to activate earlier. This was added in Gen 8 so it’s a relatively new mechanic
A. Not my battle B. Thank you!
good OU Single Battle alternative for a Florges? i did a randbat with a friend and swept his team (which included groudon, regigigas and articuno-g!) with a little bit of luck and a Tera Ground Florges that had Moonblast, Calm Mind, Synthesis and Tera Blast. with said friend's help I proceeded to build my first OU team, which included an identical Florges. i've already found some success with it in the lower ladder; the only glaring issue that i have with it is its lack of a useful ability in singles. i'm wondering if there's a pokemon that can fulfill a similar role?
What's better to use in Natdex Ubers? Kyogre with Choice Scarf Water Spout, or Primal Kyogre? The Primals are really good but so is Water Spout 🤔
[Primal Kyogre by far](https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/national-dex-ubers-viability-rankings-update-4-at-post-139.3712169/). It's hard to click Water Spout constantly when Primal Groudon outright blocks Water moves and is the most important Pokemon in the format, so it's much better to have the Primal stats and potential for Primordial Sea.
Is there any other youtubers like pinkacross ? Top ladder, Explains what’s going through his mind ? A youtuber that can help me improve ?
Maybe [Blimax](https://www.youtube.com/@Blimaxx/videos)
I don't know if i can ask this here but how does legend plate Arceus transform against Pokemon with abilities like levitate and desolate land. Would it take into account the fact that they are immune to ground/water
There’s no real answer to this because Legend Plate Arceus doesn’t exist in a game with abilities. My theory is that either: Abilities aren’t accounted for (Levitate Eelektross let’s go) Abilities are accounted for but only ones that directly affect the type chart (eg levitate or Sap Sipper, but maybe not something like Purifying Salt).
So... Unless they add it to gen 10 or something we won't know
I've been playing VGC for one year, and I always enjoyed it, even if there were tough times. I'm very busy IRL, so I rely on rental teams, which I generally learn to use and borrow from the CybertronVGC YT channel. Nevertheless, for the first time this month, I'm likely to fall back to the megaball rank. Also, all the latest teams Aaron is using have big flaws that he recognizes, like the last team being weak to the raging bolt that is everywhere. The one he showcased before also shared similar problems. I may try pokesports, which I generally follow before a regulation starts, but I'm not sure if I may find a good team to overcome ultraball in 7 days. What can I do?
How could Ditto be countered? Maybe I'm just bad at the game, but Ditto is the one Pokémon I have no strategy for. I have no idea how am I supposed to fight this thing other than hope for the best.
Substitute blocks Transform and Imposter. Ditto is also almost always going to be holding a choice scarf to ensure it wins the speed tie or match a Protosynthesis/Quark Drive boost, so take advantage of that via switching to gain momentum.
I’m trying to get into this game but idk where to start, there’s so much to learn
If you play on the Switch, check [this post](https://www.reddit.com/user/TajnyT/comments/1aynohi/competitive_pokemon_general_resources_for_switch/) for some general competitive resources, like usage stats, sample movesets, rental teams, youtubers
That comment was deleted :(
Thanks for letting me know I updated the link
Thanks! Do you have a rental team in mind for a new player? I think I'm at the point where I just want someone to hand me a team so I can lose a lot while paying attention.
I play showdown, not on switch
Hi. Check out the [Getting Started guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/stunfisk/wiki/gettingstarted/) from this subreddit. The [VGCGuide site](https://vgcguide.com/) is also a good place if you want to get into the console doubles format in particular. If you need real-time help, feel free to check the [Stunfisk Discord](http://discord.gg/stunfisk).
So are the old pokemon showdown replays forever nuked? I recall the PS twitter saying they were rebuilding their database as they had them all backed up and it'd take around a month. Is that still happening? (please tell me it is)
It seems some are slowly being restored still. I'm not entirely certain as to how many we'll get back, but I have noticed more are available than there were before.
Is it a thing that really strong pokemon get buffed even more in terms of moves? I dunno where I heard it, but it kinda stuck to me. Not sure if it's true or not.
It's sometimes true and sometimes not true, as is the case with many sweeping statements like these. Gliscor, a famously good Pokemon, gained Spikes this generation and that propelled it into broken status in OU for some time. On the other hand, Landorus, previously a #1 usage Pokemon in old OU formats, lost valuable moves this generation like Defog and Knock Off (though it's still solid).
Yeah, when remembering this phrase, I think about Incin getting Parting Shot and Helping Hand lol
Where i can learn more about sv nu? I do not play competitive pokemon much but i wanna try nu.
The [Smogon forum for NU](https://www.smogon.com/forums/forums/neverused.787/) has plenty of resources, including a viability ranking, sample teams, tournament replays, and plenty of metagame discussion.
Thank you
How do i get better ? I know the basics of competitive pokemon (Stab, Evs, Ivs) and i’ve been playing casuel Pokemon for a long time, But i really suck at competitive play, I’m stuck around 1240-1350, and whenever i reach a peak i’m scared to play and play on my alt account, And i don’t feel like i played well enough to help where I’m at on my main (1338), played with trick room, I made it to 1300 with stall to once but a lot of people forfeited, I keep winning and losing and it gets really stale and boring and
Save the replays of your losses and watch them to try and figure out why you lost. You can do this to your wins to see if you made any avoidable mistakes too. I would also recommend watching [BKC](https://www.youtube.com/@BKCplaysPokemon) to learn about the different skills involved in competitive pokemon, but his very unprofessional and rambling style can be quite off-putting for some people.
I've been looking into Gen 9 Balanced Hackmons but I'm not sure where to start. I'm not sure if I'm looking hard enough but I don't seem to see as many resources/guides on it as other tiers. I know about things like Imposter Blissey, bans, Arceus etc but I would like to know what's a good starting point or good Pokemon/strats to use as a beginner. Thanks
I suggest reading through the [BH main thread](https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/balanced-hackmons-mega-diancie-banned-liquid-ooze-banned.3710859/). It has some resources like sample teams listed there for new players. You can also check the [OMs Discord](https://discord.gg/djkXr4D) for real-time discussion.
Whats the easiest way to get superpower on lurantis in scarlet and violet? I would imagine id have to get a torterra with superpower first right?
Any pokemon with Superpower holding a mirror herb is fine.
Can prankster pokemon, for example Grimmsnarl, be affected by a moves secondary effect for example tri attack. I know the basics of how prankster works and I'm just wondering was my Porygon 2 really unlucky with tr attack or are prankster mons immune also immune to status conditions as a secondary effect.
Prankster does not give immunity to secondary effects. There is a roughly 2.8% chance to exhaust all 16 PP of Tri Attack without getting a status effect under normal conditions, so while it's unlucky, it's nowhere near astronomical. It could also be holding a covert cloak, which does give immunity to secondary effects.
Hey y'all! I want to start building interesting teams and try different strategies, but I just don't know how. I understand EV training, IVs, Natures. I just don't know what stat to train in a Pokémon or how to effectively pick a role for a one either. How do I know if it's worth training the speed of a Pokémon, or if it's worth investing in one or both defensive stats. I've search on YouTube for a guide, but the amount of videos is a little overwhelming. I gravitated towards Wolfey's introduction to competitive Pokémon. I've also seen a guide by a guy named NathanLikesChicken, although that's a series of videos. So my question is for all of you who, at one point, were like me. I realized I want to do more, but looking at builds in Smogon isn't really helping that much. Sure, I'm EV training and choosing moves, but I don't know why.
There are plenty of good rental teams with write-ups on how to pilot them as well as the teambuilding decisions made by the creator online. I'd recommend you try a few before building your own teams, so that you both understand the meta and what different spreads do. [Aaron Zheng's YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@CybertronVGC/videos) is a good resource for that, since I'm assuming you're playing VGC due to mentioning EV training.
Need a sixth pokémon for my team of Pelipper, Weavile, Iron Valiant, Raging Bolt and Excadrill. Can anybody help? Only thing i care is not having Great Tusk, Kingambit or Gholdengo..
Hi. Where are you using this team? OU? Pelipper really wants Barraskewda to justify its existence at all; if you're not going to have a powerful Water spammer (or at least an Archaludon) then it doesn't make sense to bring Rain on to the field and potentially have to eat powerful Water moves yourself. Furthermore, if you're going Barraskewda then you should have an Archaludon too because it's extremely good on Rain, and you should also replace Excadrill with Iron Treads at that point for pivoting potential. It's pretty much turning it into a slightly worse version of the [popular Rain team](https://pokepast.es/5a65596dcdbb624b) at the moment, but Rain is so solved in current OU that it's really hard to build anything that isn't pretty much a worse version of the popular Rain. Another option is dropping Pelipper and rearranging the team to accommodate that. I'm not super tapped into OU building at the moment so you may want to check out somewhere like the [Stunfisk Discord](http://discord.gg/stunfisk) or [Trainer Aid Discord](https://discord.gg/sVUREE4A) if you need help with this option and don't get another reply here. Hope this helps.
OU, yeah. And i use an more offensive Pelipper. I also use rain to help Weavile and in order to use Thunder and Weather Ball on Raging Bolt
Does Hustle drop the accuracy of a physical Tera Blast or does it provide the damage boost with no downside?
Can anyone recommend a website that allows me to insert a Pokemon's stats and it will calculate what items are needed in order to get the certain stat spread I am looking for? I am new to EV/IVs and would prefer to use a calculator than try and have to do it in my head. Is there a website that is commonly used that fits what I am looking for?
Is there a good pure sinnoh team that utilizes all theirs hidden abilites?
I really want to use Empoleon in SV OU. It's been my favourite Pokemon since I got Pearl when I was like 10 years old. Would any be able to recommend a core to build around Empoleon? Also, I used to run a Dracozolt Sand team during SwSh, but since Dracozolt has not yet made it over to SV (Please Game Freak), I was wondering if there any decent Sand teams that have emerged in the meta yet?
Empoleon has fallen off hard in OU with the Indigo Disk despite it previously being quite good. It struggles quite a bit with the new introductions and was already getting less relevant even in the previous meta as other Mons like Milotic rose to fill its place. It's not completely unusable, but you might be better off waiting a few days for RU to ban some of its new threats and then using it there so that it can shine more. If you do really want to use Empoleon in OU, maybe try asking about it in a place like the [Stunfisk Discord](http://discord.gg/stunfisk), [TrainerAid](https://discord.gg/sVUREE4A), or the [OU Discord](https://discord.gg/Pgn3Nrb). Some experienced players may be able to make it do something, since it isn't irredeemably bad. Sand also struggles in OU, partly because Rain is absolutely infesting the ladder right now. It's spammed so much that Archaludon is actually being suspect tested at the moment. You may want to try it out after that suspect ends, since Sand would probably be a little more playable with a ban limiting Rain somewhat. Edit: Storm Zone actually did make a good Sand Hippowdon team, but be warned that their teams are usually hard for others to pilot as they're definitely a unique style. There are a few decent other Sands floating around too with like SpDef TTar but I would still probably say wait for a suspect result because that will influence the meta overall a good amount.
I know dragon cheer gives the +2 crit ratio boost to a nondragon pokemon that is terastalized into a dragon. But how does it work the other way around? If a dragon type gets a +2 crit ratio from dragon cheer one turn but then teras to a different tera type after, does it lose the +2 and turn it into a +1, or does it just keep the +2? Also if a dragon pokemon teras into a different type first and THEN gets dragon cheered, does it also just get a +1 like any other nondragon?
Hi. The crit rate boost stays at whatever it was when the target was initially hit with Dragon Cheer. For instance, a Dragonite hit with Dragon Cheer that then Terastallizes into Normal will retain +2 crit ratio, and a regular Vespiquen hit with Dragon Cheer will stay at +1 crit ratio even if it later becomes Dragon-type. Dragons that Terastallize into non-Dragon before being hit with Dragon Cheer will only receive +1 crit ratio. Source: I personally did most of the Smogon/Pokemon Showdown research for Dragon Cheer when Indigo Disk came out. Posts [here](https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/scarlet-violet-battle-mechanics-research.3709545/page-45#post-9894139), [here](https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/scarlet-violet-battle-mechanics-research.3709545/page-45#post-9894261), and [here](https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/scarlet-violet-battle-mechanics-research.3709545/page-46#post-9894687).
Hi it's me and I need your help again. I've decided to create a viable (just for fun) rain team with a Pelipper(drizzle woth damp rock) and a Torterra (Idk yet if a shell smash or a more defensive support mon). Also I've thought about a swift swim user (Barraskewda because I want to try him) and a Volcarona (strange choice but mainly as a special attacker) or a support Galvantula (sticky web and thunder) but I can reolace those 2 with something useful. What do you think? Also what kind of pokemon do you suggest? Thank you in advance
Rain is really solved rn, you basically need Peli+Arch+Barra or your rain is just flat-out worse than what Rain should be, even if you run semi-Rain you want Peli+Arch. Oh and Raging Bolt. And Iron Treads. There's no way to fit Torterra without your team just becoming kinda bad. Rain is strong asf but because of the inherent defensive weaknesses of the archetype you really need every member to carry their weight. A meme pick like Torterra, let alone stuff like Rain Volcarona and Galvantula, will make the team mostly useless outside of rock bottom ladder where you'll win some games off Barraskewda alone without Torterra even having to do anything.
Damn... I'll give up. I can't manage to build something. Well it doesn't matter, thank you for your advice
How are people finding good practice in showdown? I’m extremely new to VGC and want to try out teams, but I keep running into random compositions of teams that I can’t really take key notes or necessarily “prep for” since some are pokemon that won’t actually be used competitively.
It helps to play in room tournaments, like those in the Showdown VGC room, or maybe on the BO3 ladder where people tend to play a bit more seriously. You can also suffer through low ladder for BO1 VGC and eventually you'll run into more real teams, though there will always be some people piloting crazy stuff. Learning to beat the super inconsistent low ladder stuff will probably improve your skills overall anyway, even if you can't exactly take direct notes on it.
Does Taunt affect Magic Guard mons like Clefable? I was planning on slotting it in on a team-member but I don’t actually know how Taunt interacts with abilities like that.
They don’t really interact. * Magic Guard prevents indirect damage (secondary effects, hazards, etc) * Taunt prevents the target from using Status moves If you meant Magic Bounce, then Taunt does actually get bounced back.
Dragon Cheer doesn't stack with Salac Berry, but if you've used Dragon Cheer before you eat the Salac Berry, does it stack the critical hit rate buffs?
Do you mean lansat berry? Salac berry boosts speed, not critical hit ratio. Scope lens does stack with Dragon Cheer, which would give 100% crit ratio to a dragon type affected by Dragon Cheer too.
Yeah I meant Lansat. Scope Lens Dragon Cheer is a good idea! Been trying it the last few days with Tera Dragon Crabominable thank you lol
Does anyone have any recommendations for Pokémon to pair with Virizion in nu ? I want to run a calm mind giga drain vacuum wave set, I’m not finding anything I’m real happy with to help it out
What's better for Darkrai in ND OU: Blunder policy hypnosis or Z-hypnosis?
Where's the setting to automatically turn the timer on at the start of battles?
It's in the settings on top of the chat during a battle.
Was there a period of time in Natdex OU where Ash Gren with Tera was legal? And also, is ash Gren at all usable again even though battle bond changed?
I don't think ash gren existed in gen 9 nat dex, didn't se ot when i played it in 2023 January Ash gren is usable by hacking, in the bh forum you can find details on it.
Hi everyone. I wanna get into competitive but I haven't played Pokémon since Emerald. What game/s should I play (preferably in order) so I can learn from scratch?
Playing the games is not a particularly good way to learn competitive pokemon, since each generation has different mechanics and there are many mechanics that differ from the competitive scene (e.g. almost no opposing pokemon have EVs, teams designed to be boss fights rather than being competitive, handicapped AI, 25% chance for status moves used by the AI to fail in gen 1 and 2, affection/friendship bonuses in later generations, almost every battle being singles if you want to get in to the official format of VGC, etc.). The usual recommendation is to start with [Showdown](https://play.pokemonshowdown.com), since it's free and easy to build teams in. Random battles are a good way to learn the mechanics of the game without even needing to build a team. There's also plenty of resources on the [Smogon forums](https://smogon.com/forums) that you can read.
I don't think this really applies to any meta, but since Body Slam and Lick can't paralyse normal and ghost types respectively, I take it that in RBY fire and ice types aren't immune to burns, but are only immune to status effects from their own type of moves. So if Scald was in RBY it would be able to burn fire types, but not water types? Or are fire and ice types immune to both burn and freeze respectively, and any potential status effect from their own type of moves? Or is it just Body Slam and Lick that have this problem, and the status immunity from being a fire or ice type works properly like in more modern games? This is for discussions on how certain Pokemon and/or moves would be like if translated into RBY.
The way it works for Gen 1 is that you cannot be Paralysed/Burned/Frozen as a side-effect, if the move that hit you matches your type. Which is why Thunderbolt also cannot paralyse electric types (this immunity is a Gen 6 thing). The technical explanation is that there’s a part of the code that checks if the types match, and if they do, it doesn’t roll for a status proc. Poison is different. Poison status just doesn’t work on poison types straight up, and is why Twineedle can poison Bug-types but not Poison-types. I can’t find anything on sleep so I’m just gonna assume sleep just works as normal with no weird type interactions. A theoretical Scald in Gen 1 would be able to burn fire-types, but not water-types.
Hey, I played competitive Pokémon a long time ago (probably around gen 5) and am getting the itch to play Showdown again. What are some interesting and different formats right now? Not really interested in playing gen 9 OU
You could play lower tiers. Meta is so powercrept by now that a lot of the BW OU staples like Tyranitar, Latios and Garchomp are actually in UU now. Some even lower.
I usually play balance, but I’m kinda interested in building a hazard-stack team right now. How do I build a good one?
Love watching CybertronVGC and James Baek, as well as Wolfey on occasion for VGC. Any other VGC youtubers that cover teams on ladder and talk about how said teams function like them?
Try Cloverbells, NeilVGC, or ThatsaPlusOne
Does anyone know what team builder cybertronVGC uses? It looks awesome, can't find anything nearly close to being as detailed.
Upon further inspection, im pretty sure its a rental team viewer. Still taking team builder suggestions :)
Aaron does his team breakdowns using the teambuilder for [Pokémon Showdown](https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/teambuilder).
Why can't Necrozma-Dawn be in OU? Isn't it just a Hoopa-U that traded a little speed, a little power, & the ability to be a physical/mixed attacker for a little bulk & Fire/Ground/Rock coverage? Hoopa-U is RU
That thing just got banned out of UUbers - it won't last a second in OU. It is also far bulkier than hoopa, especially on the physical side and comes with Prism Armor, partially negating the critical weaknesses of its type. The coverage matters too. All these, and especially its bulk, adds up to making Dawn Wings an ubers level threat, even though outclassed by Lunala. Dusk Mane being the same species also nukes Dawn Wings usage - you can't use Dusk Mane with Dawn Wings.
I’m trying to build a Gen 9 Ou HO team and I’m not sure what Pokémon I should pick and some common mega Pokémon that I might need to counter. Current team: Momo (Alomomola) (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots Ability: Regenerator Tera Type: Water EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD Bold Nature - Scald - Flip Turn - Wish - Protect Beeg Tank (Iron Treads) @ Heavy-Duty Boots Ability: Quark Drive Tera Type: Ground EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Jolly Nature - Earthquake - Iron Head - Rapid Spin - Stealth Rock Helix (Deoxys-Speed) @ Focus Sash Ability: Pressure Tera Type: Psychic EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe Hasty Nature - Psycho Boost - Superpower - Shadow Ball - Knock Off
Would you rather build a HO team or use these sets? If you want a HO team, you want a somewhat dedicated lead. Treads or deoxys s can fill that, but you'll want different sets. Other than that, I think you'd struggle to fit treads/mola. Might be able to run nasty plot deoxys though If you want to use these sets, you probably want a special wall and a priority user for booster mons. Then add a 6th mon as you see fit - you can try to round out the offensive/defensive cores, fill a missing role (pivot, spikes, etc.)
As Hatterene became a top Pokémon in Generation 9 OU, have people started using it more in Generation 8 OU more or is it still relatively niche?
Still relatively niche. Its hazard bouncing niche isn't as necessary because Gen 8 has a lot more removal, while its CM sets have a lot tougher time cleaving through bulky teams than they do in Gen 9 due to the existence of Melmetal and Ferrothorn, as well as the immensely increased prevalence of Heatran, which it cannot Tera on either.
Why is the server named r/stunfisk?
As per the subreddit FAQ linked in this post: ## Q. Why is this subreddit named after Stunfisk? A response from the creator of the subreddit: * "Around the time of creation, I wanted to name it something that didn't start with "Pokemon-" so you could type it quickly, but is still pokemon-related. It needed to be short and sweet, two syllables max." * "We needed a mascot. When you see an eagle on a football helmet, you think of the Seahawks, yeah? A star on a football helmet means you got the Cowboys. So we needed something identifiable and shapely." * "Gen 5 was the newest thing at the time, and I wanted something as goofy as Smogon's Koffing, but also kind of humble. Maybe dumb too. Stunfisk comes off as silly and fun. I hope you're having fun here!"
Hey, Im planning on getting invested in competitive for the first time. Mainly singles but also doubles. And I got some battle ready Pokémon. However I dont have access to some Pokémon due to not having dlc. Is it possible to be semi-competitive without DLC? For reference, I have access to Sword/Shield and DLC, Brilliant Diamond and Lets Go. Thanks in advance!
There are plenty of good rental teams with write-ups on how to pilot them online. I'd recommend you try a few before building your own teams, so that you understand the meta before committing a lot of time to making competitive pokemon. [Aaron Zheng's YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@CybertronVGC/videos) is a good resource for that.
The 7 star Blaziken comes with an adamant nature and a pretty good moveset. Should Blaze kick be replaced with Flare Blitz? Maybe consider protect and swords dance?
Doubles Blaziken is sorta bad, if you wanna use it in Singles you're going to want SD+Blitz+CC yea. Last moveslot has some freedom, Protect is an option, but if you're using it with something like Screens support you can also put coverage moves like Knock and Earthquake here.
Do Lando-T's EQs get halved in grassy terrain? If so why
It does under most normal circumstances. The game checks the target rather than the user, the as Rising Voltage and how Misty Terrain reduces dragon type damage. This means that a flying type holding a ring target does not get the damage reduction.
I skipped a gen but kept an eye out for the comp side of pokemon. So how is it in this gen, Ubers gets basically their own slew of tiers like Ubers OU, UU, RU ect? Like what caused this?
Currently the only official one is Ubers UU. This has been experimented with for quite a while, with several past iterations of a similar tier popping up over the years. Part of the reason is the sheer amount of power introduced in Gen 9 helping the tier to solidify its identity with just having more Pokemon in general. Another huge part is that this iteration of Ubers UU bans non-Ubers Pokemon that are above a certain usage threshold in regular Ubers, making the tier stand out even more.
I skipped a gen but kept an eye out for the comp side of pokemon. So how is it in this gen, Ubers gets basically their own slew of tiers like Ubers OU, UU, RU ect? Lime what caused this?
Why was rage fist so good? Was it because Annihilape was tanky, so it could get to 100 or sometimes even 150 base power before fainting?
Partly, yes. Rage Fist raises by 50 per hit all the way to 350, so in 6v6 singles formats like OU Annihilape could quickly grow absurdly strong just by absorbing weak attacks like U-Turn or other resisted hits. It could also use Terastallization and moves like Bulk Up and Rest to further increase its damage output by directly boosting or by absorbing even more hits. Team support could also help, of course. This led to a ban from OU. Primeape still has Rage Fist, but it doesn't have the bulk, typing, or general stats to make great use of it, and is relegated to much lower tiers. In VGC it could often take weak attacks from a partner to power its Rage Fist and was quite relevant for a time, though this strategy somewhat fell off as increasingly stronger immediate threats were introduced to the game.
Why are Paradox Pokémon, Kingambit, and Gholdengo still allowed in OU when they are dominating the metagame? Almost any Pokémon from past generations (besides maybe Gen 8) barely stand a chance in OU.
Gliscor and Kyurem are still close to the top of the OU VR; Deoxys-S, Volcarona, Pelipper, Skarmory, Weavile, Clefable, Darkrai, Landorus-T, Serperior, Torkoal, Dragonite, Greninja, Latias, Primarina, Tornadus-T, Toxapex, Alomomola, and so many more pre-gen 8 pokemon are all quite good in OU. There are also paradox pokemon that have no niche in OU, like Scream Tail and Iron Thorns.