Pokémon/Competitive battling

Table of Contents

I.   Preface II. The Basics III. Moves IV. Items V.   Individual Values (IVs) VI. Effort Values (EVs) VII. Traits (Abilities) VIII. Natures IX. The Job System X.   Move Combinations XI. Making a Team XII. Credits

- I. Preface -

First, I would like to describe the work below. This section can be skipped, but it might be interesting to read. This work is a compilation of my five years of Pokémon knowledge, and I will try my best to convey this information to the younger generations when I retire. I consider myself to be a good Pokémon battler, but not in any case the best. Even chess engines creators consider themselves mediocre chess players when they write programs that beat grandmasters, and I shall use this case to justify my ability in writing this guide. With the right knowledge, patience, and creativity, anyone who reads this guide can greatly improve their battling abilities, and possibly even beating me. I will however give you a fair warning. To many people, this guide will be boring if you're not committed into learning the art of battling Pokémon. I will admit that even I cannot consider every factor in this guide when creating my team. The strategy is to use as much of the below information as you can. The more you use, the better battler you will be.

Pokémon Competitive Battling is an art that many has discovered. This does not include beating the game and become "the Pokémon master." This guide will focus on player(s) vs. player(s) battles, for which this guide was designed to do. It might be harsh to say this, but beating the game does not make you a Pokémon master, because the game is truly programmed for eight years olds to beat. When taking the skills you know to reach over battlers all over the world, you will learn the wondrous and complex beauty of Pokémon battling and you will recognize the many strategies it uses. If Nintendo were to make a Pokémon game for the sole purpose of connecting to people online, then I would truly think that its genre should be Strategy, not Role Playing.

This guide will cover all three generations, but it's best if you know what they are. Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow versions consist of the First Generation, also called RBY. Gold, Silver, and Crystal versions consist of the Second Generation, usually called GSC. And finally, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Fire Red, and Leaf Green consists of the Third Generation, which are called RSE and FRLG separately. When I refer to a ___ Generation, then you should know which versions I am talking about.

Finally, I have decided to make this guide public. It would be nice to give me credit for this guide, but you can put it on your websites or send it to your friends without asking me for permission. Although I do not encourage plagiarism, my goal is to have as many people read this guide as possible. Therefore, I will be happier knowing that people will read this, not being busy enforcing who has what on whose site(s). As a final note, I am happy to say that I wrote this with the least amounts of typos possible and I use the most correct English grammar that I know. I'm really tired to reading guides that are full of errors, so consider this my gift to your eyes and brain.

- II. The Basics -

Without legal restrictions, Pokémon Battling is basically pitting 6 of your own Pokémon against 6 of your opponent's Pokémon over a link cable. Level 100 is the highest you can go, so it's best to train your Pokémon to level 100. Use your best Pokémon! It's recommended that two of the same type of Pokémon is not a good idea, but if you think that it gives you an advantage, do so! First, we will talk about the two commands to battle. If you have battled many times before, you can skip this section.

Attack: This is where you attack the enemy. Choose one move from a movepool of up to four moves, and you will attack your opponent with that move. Depending on the move you have chosen, it could hit or miss, not attack right away, or not have any obvious or immediate effect.

Change: If you want to exchange Pokémon, simply go to Change and choose a Pokémon from your party of up to six Pokémon. Note that when you switch, your opponent's selected move (this is turn-based, after all) will strike while your action is switching, so make sure that you don't make a bad switch.

Now, we will talk about the stats of each Pokémon. There are six in total: HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed. Pokémon attacks are split into three types: Physical, Special, and ???. Seriously, Nintendo classifies the third type as ???. For the sake of simplicity, we will only focus on the first two types. The damage moves that deal Physical damage, which are Normal, Fighting, Poison, Ground, Flying, Bug, Rock, Ghost, and Steel, are determined by a) the power of the attack, and b) your Attack stat. How much damage you take from a Physical move is determined by your Defense stat. So far simple, right? If you have a low Attack, then you will have trouble dealing a lot of damage with Physical moves; if you have a low Defense, you will have trouble surviving Physical moves; and vice-versa. The other type (besides Physical) is Special. The damage moves that deal Special damage, which are Fire, Water, Electric, Grass, Ice, Psychic, Dragon, and Dark, are determined by a) the power of the attack, and b) your Special Attack stat. How much damage you take from Special move is determined by your Special Defense stat. Again, very simple. We now take the Pokémon Alakzam as an example. Alakazam has a very low Attack and very high Special Attack. With the information that you were provided above, it is best to give Alakazam a Special attack, such a Confusion (type: Psychic), rather than giving it a Physical attack, such a Dig (type: Ground). Now, you know to find Special Attacks for Alakazam and not Physical Attacks.

I mentioned "the power of the attack," so what is it? An attack has four characteristics: a) power, b) accuracy, c) type, and d) special effects. Let's take the move Ice Punch. Ice Punch's characteristics are a) 75 base power, b) 100% accuracy, c) type: Ice, and d) has a 10% change of inflicting the status Freeze to the opponent. Now, what does 75 base power mean? For a rough explanation, base power shows the strength of an attack originally. Once again, let's take Alazakam as an example. Mega Punch (type: Normal) has a base power of 85. However, if you look at your Alakazam's stats, you will once again see that its Special Attack is most likely more than double its Attack. In this case, even though Mega Punch has a higher base power than Ice Punch, it is a Physical Attack so it will deal less damage than Ice Punch if Alakazam uses them.

I mentioned "base power," so what is it? Base power is the power that is officially given to us. Several things can change this. First, there is something called Same Type Attack Bonus, or in short, STAB. If the type of the move you are uses matches (one of) the type of the Pokémon using it, then the attack receives a 1.5x move bonus. Confusion's base power is 50, but if used Alakazam (Confusion's type is Psychic, Alakazam's type is Psychic), then Confusion's power will be: 50 x 1.5 = 75 power. Second, there are Type Alignment Advantages. Third, there moves that temporarily raise a type's power. Fourth, there are items that temporarily raise a type's power when attached. And finally, there are Abilities that raises a type's power under special conditions. We will attack about all of these later.

We have gone over Attack, Defense, Special Attack, and Special Defense. Now, it's time for Speed. Speed is not complicated at all, since for most cases, the Pokémon with the higher Speed moves first. In case of a tie, it will be a coin flip. In Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow versions, Speed is a major contribution to Critical Hits. A Critical Hit is simply a chance that your attack will hit a gap in your opponent's defenses and deal double the damage that it was supposed to do. The higher the Pokémon's Speed, the more chance it has of dealing double damage. Note that this only applies to the First Generation.

Finally, there is HP. HP stands for Hit Points, or Health Points. With either interpretation, if your HP reaches 0, then your Pokémon will be fainted. This means that you must switch out this Pokémon without the penality of you opponent having an extra move, and that this Pokémon cannot fight in the same battle again. Note that for player(s) vs. player(s) battles, item usage are not allowed but attached items can be allowed. As you get hit, you lose HP, but there are moves and items that can raise your HP back up again. We will talk about this later. The point is, if you think that your almost-fainted Pokémon will be of some use later, switch it out so that it won't faint.

While we keep talking about Pokémon stats, we need to remember that they are quite random. If then, how do we compare Pokémon if your Zapdos' Attack is more than mine? There is a system called Base Stats. Base Stats are values to compare stats easier. For example, your level 10 Charmander might have a higher Attack than a level 10 Bulbasaur, but a level 10 Charmander could in theory have a lower Attack than Bulbasaur also. When we check base stats, Charmander's Base Attack stat is 52, and Bulbasaur's Base Attack stat is 49. This means that most of the time, Charmander will have a higher Attack than Bulbasaur but not all of the time. Another use is to compare stats within a Pokémon. Alakazam's Base Attack stat is 50, and its Base Special Attack stat is 135. What this means is that even if Alakazam uses a Physical Attack that has a power which doubles a Special Attack, the Special Attack would still deal more damage because its Base Special Attack stat is more than twice its Base Attack stat. Yes, Fire Punch (damage: 75) will deal more damage than Hyper Beam (damage: 150) coming from Alakazam. I cannot list the system because every Pokémon has 6 Base Stats for HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed. Almost every Pokédex out there has base stats for each Pokémon though.

While we're on the subject, it is important to keep an eye on your move's Power Point (PP). Every move has PPs that determine how many times you can use that move. When a move's PP reaches zero, you cannot use that move anymore. When all four of your moves' PPs reach zero, then you will use a move called Struggle, a low-damage move that will hit all Pokémon and you will even take damage from this move.

Items cannot be used during a player(s) vs. player(s) battle, but one item could be attached. The item can either be a one-time usage (or two, but we will get to this later) or permanent. After the battle, your one-time usage item will reappear. Beware that in the Third Generation, there are moves that can steal or knock away your item.

For all battles, these rules should (and sometimes set by your console) be applied: 1) No Pokémon shall be over level 100. 2) No moves or combinations of moves can be on a Pokémon that isn't legal. 3) No items can be used. 4) No unofficial Pokémon. 5) No unofficial moves or items.

- III. Moves -

This whole section is devoted to the different effects of Pokémon moves. So far, I've only introduced moves that do damage. However, there are also moves that do not do damage, or is said to deal indirect damage. A moveset is defined as the four moves that your Pokémon have. This will be a long section, but there are lots of information that needs to be known. After reading this section, you will hopefully become better at selecting the moves to go in your Pokémon's movesets. Note that we are now getting to the analysis study of Pokémon.

1. Type Alignment Advantages

Don't be scares about the terminology, it merely means "which types have the advantage over which types." For every type that your move is "super- effective" against, the power of the attack is increased by 2x. If a move is super-effective against a type, then the move's type is stronger than the Pokémon's type that is taking the hit. For example, Ember is a Fire type. Charmander (type: Fire) uses Ember against a Bulbasaur (type: Grass/Poison). Ember's base power if 40. When used, Ember's power will become: 40 (base power) x 1.5 (STAB) x 2 (Fire is strong against Grass) = 120 power. See how chosing the right attacks can deal more damage to certain Pokémon? If your move is "not very effective" against a Pokémon, then that means your move's type is weak against the Pokémon's type that is taking the hit. In this situation, the move's power is halved, or is multiplied by 0.5x. For example, Charmander uses Ember against a Squirtle. When used, Ember's power will be: 40 (base power) x 1.5 (STAB) x 0.5 (Fire is weak against Water) = 30 power. x 0.5 is the same as ÷ 2. Be careful, as there are some moves that do no damage (x 0) to a type. For example, Normal attacks are useless against a Ghost Pokémon, such as Gengar. See how using the same move (Ember) deals different amounts of damage to different Pokémon? Type Alignment Advantages must be memorized, as they are very important when fighting a Pokémon. How do you know which type is strong or weak against which? You would have to memorize it. I will list them:

a) Normal: -2x: None -0.5x: Rock, Steel -0x: Ghost

b) Fire: -2x: Grass, Ice, Bug, Steel -0.5x: Fire, Water, Rock, Dragon

c) Water: -2x: Fire, Ground, Rock -0.5x: Water, Grass, Dragon

d) Electric: -2x: Water, Flying -0.5x: Electric, Grass, Dragon -0x: Ground

e) Grass: -2x: Water, Ground, Rock -0.5x: Fire, Grass, Poison, Flying, Bug, Dragon, Steel

f) Ice: -2x: Grass, Ground, Flying, Dragon -0.5x: Fire, Water, Ice, Steel

g) Fighting: -2x: Normal, Ice, Rock, Dark, Steel -0.5x: Poison, Flying, Psychic, Bug -0x: Ghost

h) Poison: -2x: Grass, (Bug RBY) -0.5x: Poison, Ground, Rock, Ghost -0x: Steel

i) Ground: -2x: Fire, Electric, Poison, Rock, Steel -0.5x: Grass, Bug -0x: Flying

j) Flying: -2x: Grass, Fighting, Bug -0.5x: Electric, Rock, Steel

k) Psychic: -2x: Fighting, Poison -0.5x: Psychic, Steel -0x: Dark

l) Bug: -2x: Grass, Psychic, Dark, (Poison RBY) -0.5x: Fire, Fighting, (Poison GSC/RSE/FRLG), Flying, Ghost, Steel

m) Rock: -2x: Fire, Ice, Flying, Bug -0.5x: Fighting, Ground, Steel.

n) Ghost: -2x: (Psychic GSC/RSE/FRLG), Ghost -0.5x: Dark, Steel -0x: Normal, (Psychic RBY)

o) Dragon: -2x: Dragon -0.5x: Steel

p) Dark: -2x: Psychic, Ghost -0.5x: Fighting, Dark, Steel

q) Steel: -2x: Ice, Rock -0.5x: Fire, Water, Electric, Steel

It's a pain to memorize this chart if you're a starter, but if you know which moves beats which types, then you will deal a lot more damage! Before we move on, don't forget that some Pokémon have two types, and Type Alignment Advantages can be stacked with each other and other damage multipliers. Let's say Charmander uses Ember on a Paras (type: Bug/Grass) and scores a Critical Hit. Ember's power will be: 40 (base power) x 1.5 (STAB) x 2 (Fire is strong against Bug) x 2 (Fire is strong against Grass) x 2 (Critical Hit) = 480 damage. Wow, that's a lot of damage! If you encounter a Charmander with your Paras, switch right away to a Fire, Water, Rock, or Dragon type immediately! These types resist Fire, and Paras falls. Now that you know the basics are Type Alignment Advantages, let's try to organize four moves that best fit your Pokémon.

2. Move Variety

It is recommended that you vary your moves. If you do this, you will get more coverage, meaning you will hit more Pokémon with super-effective attacks and less Pokémon with not very effective attacks. If your Charmander was fighting a Dratini (type: Dragon) and all Charmander have are Fire attacks, then they will be very weak against Dratini! Let's say your teach your Charmander Body Slam (type: Normal). This way, you have an attack that deals normal damage against Dratini instead of not very effective damage. The point is, one Fire move is enough. If you meet a Grass Pokémon, you only need one Fire attack, not four. The more variable your moves are, the more cumulative damage output it has. Although this section is very brief, the remaining sections of this guide will constantly refer back to Move Variety.

3. Area Effects

It is important to talk about this before anything else. Area Effects affect the game greatly. They can increase the power of certain types of moves, decrease it, power up healing moves, prevent certain situations to happen, or even do damage. There are six moves that inflict Area Effects. They are a) Sunny Day, b) Rain Dance, c) Sandstorm, d) Hail, e) Mist, and f) Spikes.

a) Sunny Day

Using Sunny Day will: -Give a 1.5x boost to all Fire Attacks -Decrease all Water Attacks by half -Solarbeam requires no charge (more on this later) -Thunder’s accuracy is reduced to 60% -The Status Effect "Freeze" cannot be inflicted (more on this later) -The power of Moonlight, Morning Sun, and Synthesis is doubled (more on this later) -Pokémon with the Ability "Chlorophyll" has doubled Speed (more on this later) -The type of the attack "Weatherball" changes to Fire (more on this later) -The last Area Effect is overridden

b) Rain Dance

Using Rain Dance will: -Give a 1.5 boost to all Water Attacks -Decrease all Fire Attacks by half -Solarbeam's power is reduced in half (more on this later) -Thunder will always hit -The power of Moonlight, Morning Sun, and Synthesis is halved (more on this later) -Pokémon with the Ability "Swift Swim" has doubled Speed (more on this later) -Pokémon with the Ability "Rain Dish" recovers some HP every turn (more on this later) -The type of the attack "Weatherball" changes to Water (more on this later) -The last Area Effect is overridden

c) Sandstorm

Using Sandstorm will: -Hurt all Pokémon on the field that are not Rock, Ground, and/or Steel -The type of the attack "Weatherball" changes to Rock (more on this later) -The last Area Effect is overridden

d) Hail

Using Hail will: -Hurt all Pokémon on the field that are not Ice -The type of the attack "Weatherball" changes to Ice (more on this later) -The last Area Effect is overridden

e) Mist

Using Mist will: -Prevent all Status Changes (more on this later) -The last Area Effect is overridden

f) Spikes

Using Spikes will -Hurt your opponent on switch-ins. -Can be used up to three times, will not change current Area Effect -One spikes will take away 1/12 of the opponent's HP on switch-ins, two will take away 1/8, and three will take away 1/4 -Will stay indefinately unless "Rapid Spin" is used

Remember, if your Pokémon uses one of those moves listed above, then you should be more careful about what the Area Effect is. Just as above, as more information is revealed, these Area Effects will play a larger role.

4. Status Effects

Remember how Ice Punch's special effect was a 10% of inflicting the Freeze status to your opponent? Besides Faint, there are five Status Effects: Freeze, Burn, Sleep, Paralyze, and Poison. Status Effects stays with that Pokémon even if it switches out, so beware of these effects. Note that while you are inflicted with one Status Effect, your opponent cannot inflict another Status Effect on you.

a) Freeze

When you have the Freeze status, you cannot attack at all and you have to wait until you defrost or use certain moves to defrost yourself. Other Pokémon (opponent or friendly) can also defrost you, and certain items when attached can defrost you. If Sunny Day is in play, you cannot get Freeze inflicted upon you. Also, switching to a Pokémon, use Sunny Day, then swithc back to the frozen Pokémon, you will become defrosted. If Fire Spin, Flame Wheel, or Sacred Fire is used by the frozen Pokémon or its opponent, then the frozen Pokémon will be defrosted. If you have another Pokémon in your party that knows Heal Bell or Aromatherapy, then you can switch to that Pokémon, use that move, and your frozen Pokémon will be defrosted. This is the worse Status Effect since there is little you can do to become defrosted. Having a Burnt Berry, Miracleberry, Aspear Berry, or Lum Berry attached will cure this Status Effect. More about Items Attachment later.

b) Burn

When you have the Burn status, your Attack halves and you lose HP every round. This is a bad thing, since Pokémon that rely heavily on Physical Attacks will not perform well at all. However, curing the Burn status is much easier. As with the above, Heal Bell and Aromatherapy will work, but the burned Pokémon can use it too since unlike the Freeze status, burned Pokémon can still use moves. The move Refresh rids the user of Burn, Paralyze, and Sleep (in special conditions). Also, using Rest would change you Status Effect to Sleep and you no longer be burned. Information on the move "Rest" will be provided later on. Note that you cannot use Refresh or Rest with the Freeze status because you cannot move. Burn does not have a duration, so you cannot wait it out. Having an Ice Berry, Miracleberry, Rawst Berry, or Lum Berry attached will cure this Status Effect.

c) Sleep

Note: You can use the move "Rest" to inflict the Sleep Status Effect upon yourself.

When you have the Sleep status, you go to sleep and cannot use most moves. Just like the Freeze status, it is random how long you will be sleeping for, but you'll be asleep for at least 2 turns and the most 5 turns. There are two moves that you can use while sleeping. They are: Sleep Talk and Snore. Sleep Talk randomnly uses a move in your moveset besdies Sleep Talk and you will use it while being asleep. Snore (type: Normal) has a base power of 60. By using Sleep Talk, you can Sleep Talk Heal Bell and Aromatherapy to get rid of the Sleep Status Effect, but you cannot use those moves directly. More about self-inflicted Sleep and the move "Rest" later on. Having a Mint Berry, Miracleberry, Chesto Berry, or Lum Berry attached will cure this Status Effect.

d) Paralyze

When you have the Paralyze status, you have a one in four chances of being "fully paralyzed" and not attack. Paralysis cuts your Pokémon's speed to 25% of its original speed, probably ensuring that you'll attack second! Just as above, you can use Heal Bell, Aromatherapy, Refresh, or Rest to get rid of this Status Effect. Paralysis doesn't have a duration, so you cannot wait it out. Having PRZCureBerry, Miraclebery, Cheri Berry, or Lum Berry attached will cure this Status Effect.

e) Poison

Note: Pokémon that has Poison as (one of) its type(s) cannot be poisoned except by the move "Twinneedle."

This one splits into two categories: being poisoned or badly poisoned. Besides Poisonpowder, there are moves that has a chance of infliting the status Poison. This type of Poison are only normal Poison, and will steadily decrease your HP every round. If you are poisoned by the move "Toxic," then you are inflicted with Toxic Poison, just it will still show up as the Status Effect Poison. This type of Poison is deadly, since you lose more HP for every round you've been poisoned! Even if you switch out, the count does not reset, but you do not lose HP if you are switched out. Just as above, you can use Heal Bell, Aromatherapy, Refresh, or Rest to get rid of this Status Effect. Having PSNCureBerry, Miracleberry, Pecha Berry, or Lum Berry attached will cure this Status Effect.

5) Status Problems

Status problems are similar to Status Effects, but they can go away if you switch out the inflicted Pokémon. Also, many Status Problems can be inflicted upon a Pokémon at the same time. In summary, you can inflict one Status Effect and many Status Problems on a single Pokémon, until their durations expire. While Status Effects and Status Problems do not deal direct damage, you can see how they can greatly hinder your opponent's ability to attack or defend. Status Effects and Status Problems are usually refered together as Status Abnormalities.

a) Confusion

Note: "Outrage" and "Petal Dance" will confuse the user. The move "Teeter Dance" will confuse all Pokémon on the field, including your own.

Confusion is probably the most popular Status Problem. When you're confused, you have a 50% chance of attacking, and if you don't attack, you hurt yourself. To recap, you have a 50% chance of using a move successfully and 50% chance of hurting yourself. That's not a good thing at all. To clarify, you do not attack yourself with the move you selected, but rather your own Attack stat attacks your Defense stat. Knowing, this, Pokémon with a high Attack tend to hurt themself more when confused and vice-versa. However, unlike Paralysis, Confusion only lasts for 2 to 5 turns. You can use Heal Bell or Aromatherapy to get rid of the Confusion Status Problem, but remember that you don't have to switch to a Pokémon with these moves. When you switch Pokémon, all Status Problems go away. Note that Refresh only works with Paralyze, Poison, and Burn. Having a Bitter Berry, Miracleberry, Persim Berry, or Lum Berry attached with cure this Status Problem.

b) Leech Seed

Note: Grass Pokémon cannot be inflicted with this Status Problem.

There's no doubt about it; this move is extremely annoying. While it reduces your opponent's HP every turn, the user actually get healed by the HP that the opponent loses. This is deadly especially if you leech high HP Pokémon like Snorlax or Blissey. There is no way to get rid of Leech Seed unless you switch out.

c) Attract

Note: You cannot infatuate a Pokémon that has the same gender as the user or if the Pokémon has no gender.

When you use Attract on a Pokémon, it become infatuated, or attracted to the user. Note that your opponent has to have the opposite gender from yours. When you're charmed, you have a 50% chance of attacking and a 50% chance of not attacking. There is no penalty for not attacking, but Attract lasts indefinately. There is no way to get rid of Attract unless you switch out.

d) Disable

When you Disable a Pokémon, one of its move, chosen randomnly, cannot be used for some amount of time. This can be frustrating because obviously, it limits your movepool. However, you can wait until the Disable goes away or if that Pokémon cannot function with that move disabled, then you most switch.

e) Taunt

When you Taunt a Pokémon, it can only use moves that deal damage. If you are one of those people who only use attacking moves and not moves that deal Status Abnormalities, then you won't mind. However, there are many strategies with Taunt, and it will be described later on.

f) Imprison

When you Imprison a Pokémon, it cannot use moves that the user has. There is no way to get rid of Imprison unless you switch out.

g) Encore

When you use Encore, your opponent will be forced to use the move it used last again. If it works well, then keeping the encored Pokémon in will not be an advantage, so you must switch. Encore only lasts 2 to 6 turns though, so you can wear it out if you want.

6) Status Changes

(The term "Status Ailments" usually talks about both Status Effects and Status Changes)

Status Changes deal with the actually stat of your Pokémon. If you guessed it, Status Changing moves increase or decrease Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed. Other stats we haven't talked about yet and can be changed are Accuracy, Evasion, Boost, and Resistance. Besides from the last four, it should be obvious to you what Status Changes do. To articulate on this subject, increasing a stat one stage multiplies the stat by 1.5x, two stages = 2x, three stages = 2.5x, and the highest you can go is six stages = 4x. Using this method, then the reverse is true. Decreasing a stat one stage divides the stat by 1.5x, and etc.... This is simple for the first five stats listed above. For these ones I'll just list the moves that best increase or decrease that stat. I will give further details for the last four. Note that None doesn't neccessarily mean that there are no moves that do this, but it is not recommended that you do this or the moves have a lot accuracy or are not worth using.

a) Attack

Increase: Swords Dance, Dragon Dance, Belly Drum, Bulk Up, Curse Decrease: Charm, Featherdance, Tickle, Will-o-Wisp

b) Defense

Increase: Iron Defense, Acid Armor, Barrier, Cosmic Power, Bulk Up, Curse Decrease: Screech, Tickle

c) Special Attack

Increase: Tail Glow, Calm Mind, (Amnesia RBY) Decrease: None

d) Special Defense

Increase: Amnesia, Cosmic Power, Calm Mind Decrease: Metal Sound, Fake Tears

e) Speed

Increase: Agility, Dragon Dance Decrease: Cotton Spore, Scary Face

f) Accuracy

Accuracy is how well the opponent hits you. Decreasing Accuracy one stage decreases the original accuracy of the incoming move to 67.4%, two stages to 53.3%, three stages to 42.5%, four stages to 40.4%, five stages to 32.9%, and six stages to 28.4%. These values are experimental values, but they should be a close estimate.

Increase: Foresight, Haze Decrease: Mud Slap, Octazooka, Smokescreen, Sand-Attack

e) Evasion

Evasion is how well you evade or dodge an attack. Increasing Evasion one stage decreases the original accuracy of the incoming move to 65.9%, to stages to 50.0%, three stages to 44.2%, four stages to 59.6%, five stages to 67.1%, and six stages to 71.6%. These values are experimental values, but they should be a close estimate.

Increase: Double Team, Minimize Decrease: Foresight, Haze

f) Boost

Boost is when you raise the power of one type of move. For example, "Charge" increases the power of Electric attacks. It is not recommended that you use boosting moves, since unlike moves that raises Attack or Special Attack, this only benefits one type.

g) Resistance

Resistance is when you resist the power of one type of move. For example, "Mud Sport" decreases the power of Electric attacks used against you. Resistance moves are not entirely non-usable, since your opponent is more likely to have more than one move.

7) Other Moves

There are other moves that do not fit the above descriptions. We will analyze them here.

a) Haze

This is one of the most important concept in the game, although not the most important move. Have you wondered what would happen if your opponent uses Swords Dance six times? It would be impossible to beat that Pokémon. When you use Haze, every Status Changes on the battling field go away. That annoying Scyther's Swords Dances are gone and its attack are back to normal. Be careful, since it also takes away your own Status Changes. That is why it is not recommended to have Status Changing moves and Haze in a moveset.

b) Roar and Whirlwind

These moves are called Pseudo-Hazing or for short, PHazing. Pseudo-Hazing, if you know what pseudo is, means to have the effects of Haze without using the move "Haze." When you Roar, you force your opponent to switch (unless under special circumstances, which we will talk about later) and if you recall from above, Status Changes go away when you switch! This is a clever way to remove your opponent's Status Changes without Hazing yourself also. Beware, though, that your opponent will have a new Pokémon in, and that Roar and Whirlwind almost always go last. This means you will take a hit from your opponent, so PHaze fast before your opponent gets a chance to attack! Note that Roar will not affect Pokémon with the ability "Soundproof" (more on this later).

c) Baton Pass

Baton Pass is a handy move that could be impossible to beat or could deal you a lot of trouble depending on what Pokémon you have. Baton Pass applies the Status Changes (listed above) to another Pokémon in your party and then automatically switches to that Pokémon. This could be useful, since what if a Pokémon with a good Attack doesn't have Swords Dance to raise its Attack some more? Simple! You use Swords Dance on another Pokémon that knows Baton Pass, then Baton Pass to the Pokémon you want its Attack to increase. While this is very useful and can produce unstoppable Pokémon, you have to remember the strategies above (Hazing and PHazing) and not overdo this tactic. One thing to note though. Baton Pass also pass some of the Status Problems, Substitute (more on this later), Perish Song (more about this later) and Mean Look (more on this later). It's not very nice to Baton Pass Leech Seed to the next Pokémon, since only switching, not Baton Passing, will get rid of Leech Seed.

d) Mean Look and Spider Web

Mean Look is a useful move that does not allow your opponent to switch out. Spider Web does the same thing, but most battler refer to both as Mean Look or Trapping. Its strategies will be dealt with later, but there are a few things that you should know about this move. Baton Pass on both sides will keep the Mean Look status. If the user uses Baton Pass to another Pokémon, then the opponent is still trapped. If your trapped opponent Baton Pass to another Pokémon, then that new Pokémon will still be trapped. This is a good way to prevent Hazing or PHazing, since your opponent cannot switch to a Pokémon with Haze, Roar, or Whirlwind. If you switch out the user, then the trapped opponent will no longer become trapped.

e) Substitute

Oh my, what a wonderful move. Substitute will sacrifice one-fourth of your HP and create another copy of that Pokémon. The copy will have the same stats as the original, but all hits will be taken by the copy until the so-called Substitute breaks. While not very appealing to many beginners, this could save you a lot of time and especially good if you predict that your opponent will switch. If you use Baton Pass with a Substitute in play, then the Substitute will be transfered to the next Pokémon but with the latter Pokémon's stats.

f) Fire Spin, Whirlpool, Wrap, etc...

These moves are very special because they prevent the opponent from switch for 2 to 5 turns. While doing little dammage, it takes a away a fraction of your opponent's HP until your opponent is released.

g) Rapid Spin

I've already explained that Rapid Spin will blow away Spikes. I will clarify that it only blow away the Spikes hurting you, not the Spikes you used to hurt the opponent. Also, Spikes will release you from restraining moves such as Fire Spin and Wrap. It also has a little bonus of doing 20 base damage to the enemy.

h) Perish Song

Perish Song can be a weak, easy to avoid move or it can be very deadly. When Perish is used, 3 turns later, both sides will faint no matter what! This might sound bad, but you can switch out at any time during the count to save your Pokémon. Further strategies about Perish Song will be explained later on.

i) Protect and Detect

These moves protect the user from any damage done that round. Of course, it won't protect the damage taken by Wrap (and other restrianing moves), Hail, Sandstorm, Poison, Burn, and Leech Seed. It seems like a move that stalls time, but it can be used to predict your opponent's move without losing a lot of HP if that move is indeed super-effective. For example, Magneton uses Protect against a Venusaur. Venusaur uses Earthquake, and Magneton is protected! It is not a waste of move, since you will now probably switch out Magneton to prevent being eradicated by Earthquake, which Magneton has a 4x weakness against.

j) Double Slap, Rock Blast, Bullet Seed, etc...

These moves are very weak but they attack several times randomnly, 2 to 5, in one turn. It seems like a risk only, but these moves are mainly used to break Substitute. Let's say use you Rock Blast and you attack four times. The Substitute breaks on the second Rock Blast, meaning that the last two Rock Blasts will hit your opponent, not the Substitute.

k) Fly, Dig, and Dive

Fly is a two-turn attack, first flying up into the air to avoid most attacks, then attack the enemy for 70 damage. Dig and Dive does almost the same for 60 damage. These moves are mainly used with the item Leftovers attached (more about this later) to slowly heal the user's HP. Beware that some moves do hit while you're Flying and Diving.

l) Thunder, Twister, and Gust

These moves hit Flying Pokémon. That is about it.

m) Earthquake and Magnitude

These moves hit Diving and Digging Pokémon. That is about it.

n) Endure

Endure makes sure no matter what that you will have at least 1 HP left after your opponent strikes you. However, Sandstorm, Hail, Leech Seed, Poison, and Burn will not protect you.

o) Swift and Faint Attack

Swift hits no matter what, besides Pokémon using Protect, Detect, Substitute, Pokémon using Endure and is at 1 HP, and Ghost Pokémon. Faint Attack hits any Pokémon that is visible on the field, meaning that it hits what Swift hits besides Flying, Digging, and Diving Pokémon.

p) Dream Eater and Nightmare

Dream Eater can only be used if your opponent is asleep. It is a Psychic attack that does 100 damage while 50% of the HP that your opponent lost heals you. Nightmare is the same, but for every round that your opponent is asleep, it will lose one fourth of its HP. You only need to use Nightmare once.

q) Counter and Mirror Coat

Counter retaliates with double the damage when you are hit by a Physical Attack. Mirror Coat retaliates with double the damage when you are hit by a Special Attack. This sounds great, but if you use Counter and your opponent uses a Special attack, then Counter does nothing. The key here is to predict what your opponent will do. Note that if you faint, you cannot Counter to faint you opponent. Just a little reminder.

r) Headbutt, Rock Slide, Crunch, etc...

These moves has a chance of flinching the opponent, making them not able to attack for that round only. In order to flinch, you need to strike first.

s) Future Sight and Doom Desire

These moves deal damage in the future, or in several rounds. They do not get STAB, and they do not consider Type Alignment Advantages.

t) Quick Attack, Mach Punch, and Extremespeed

These moves always attack first, unless both Pokémon uses one of these three, then their Speed comes into play. Even though Quick Attack and Mach Punch does little damage, it could be use quite effectively with strategy.

u) Heal Bell and Aromatherapy

These move are almost on the bottom of the list mainly because I've talked so much about them. As described many times before, they get rid of Status Effects and Status Problems on your entire party.

v) Refresh

Like above, I've talked about this move. It heals the Burn, Poison, and Paralyze Status Effects.

w) Aeroblast, Slash, Cross Chop, etc...

These moves have a higher chance of dealing a Critical Hit. In fact, their chances of dealing a Critical Hit are doubled.

x) Rest

Rest fully recovers your HP and Status Effects (except Freeze) and you go to sleep for the next 2 turns. You are under the Status Effect "Sleep."

y) Outrage, Thrash, and Petal Dance

These moves will attack for 2 or 3 turns with that same move, then the user is confused. The user during these attacks is uncontrollable, not having a choice of using another move or switching out. Even though the user attacks two or three times, it only uses up 1 PP.

z) Toxic

I've talked about this move but I want to review it. When you are Toxic Poisoned, you lose more HP per round for every round you're not cured. This is a deadly attack indeed.

Now, you have learned mostly all you know about moves. This section should give you the idea that attacking relentlessly is not the only strategy out there. Even though I've given you these moves and what they do, I do not expect you to use them effectively...yet. These moves work well together, and you will be taught how to. For now, try to memorize some of these moves, or constantly refer back to them instead of just saying "I don't have to worry since this move doesn't do damage." This is especially true for the Second Generation, where most battle stalls, or are so long because these above moves are so effective at preventing your opponent from using only damaging moves effectively.

- IV. Items -

The only way items can be used is for attachment. You can only attach one item to a Pokémon in the Second and Third generation, so that means RBY Pokémon will not use Items in player vs. player battles. There are several items are that very good to attach, there are items that you shouldn't even bother with, and there are some items that people think are good but in reality they are not. This section will list some recommended items to attach and some items to avoid. Of course, this mostly applies only for competitive battling, and some items that are extremely bad can become useful ingame because it is easy to get and NPCs do not think very much by themselves.

Generally, items that boost one stat (like X Attack or Guard Spec. in GSC) or items that boosts one type (such as Twistedspoon or Charcoal) are bad. This is because they do not benefit the Pokémon entirely, but just a stat or one or two attacks. The old saying is, "When in doubt, use Leftovers." The reason why is below.

1) Recovery Items

a) Leftovers

This item is great. Every turn, it heals one-sixteenth (1/16) of your maximum HP. This does not sound very good, but think about it. If you last 8 moves, then your HP has healed by half of your maximum HP! If you end up in the yellow or red zone after 8 turns, then you know that Leftovers has saved you. This is the most used item on every competitive team, since between 4 and 5 out of 6 Pokémon will hold Leftovers. To recap, you heal automatically without using a healing move.

b) Shell Bell

This is another healing item, but it acts quite differently. When you attack someone, Shell Bell will restore one-eighth (1/8) of the damage taken by your opponent back to you. While this sounds wonderful, it's not. First, it can only recover HP if you use a move that damages your opponent. Second, for Shell Bell to roughly equal the power of Leftovers, that move must take away half of your opponent's HP. Since that is a hard quota to get to, Leftovers is superior. However, Shell Bell is a good substitute for Leftovers on Pokémon that you use to attack often and if you are too lazy (or have no way to trade) to get 4 to 5 leftovers by trading.

c) Miracleberry or Lum Berry

These items heal every Status Effect and Confusion immediately on the user. However, it can only be used once per battle. This item is mostly found on attackers, who cannot be hindered by Paralysis killing its Speed or Burn killing its Attack. Miracleberry is for GSC and Lum Berry is for RSE/FRLG.

d) Mint Berry or Chesto Berry

These items only heal the Sleep Status Effect, but they are sometimes preferred over Miracleberries and Lum Berries. Pokémon with the move "Rest" usually have this berry attached, since it is a free 100% HP Recovery move and you wake up right away. If you have Miracleberry or Lum Berry attached, an opponent might Paralyze you and you will cure the Paralysis, making Miracleberry or Lum Berry not usable for Rest again. Remember that Rest also recovers Status Effects such as Paralysis.

2) Stat Changing and Related Items

a) Scope Lens

This item increases the chance of getting a Critical Hit. When used properly on certain Pokémon, each time you attack you will have a 50% chance of dealing a Critical Hit.

b) Quick Claw

This item gives you a 10% chance of going first. True that a 10% chance is bad and true that this item is generally not useful, but in some very rare cases, it could be useful.

c) Brightpowder

This item gives you a 10% chance of evading your opponent's attack. Basically, this item gives a 0.9x multiplier to every attack coming at you. If your opponent attacks you with Heat Wave (accuracy: 90%), then Heat Wave's accuracy is now 90% x 0.9 = 81%. It's really unreliable, but like Quick Claw, there are some rare applications to it.

3) Pokémon-Specific Items

a) Thick Club

This item doubles the attack of Cubone and Marowak. It's only for Marowak, but unlike X Attack, which gives s 10% boost to Attack, this gives a 100% boost to Attack, so it's worth using.

b) Soul Dew

This item gives both Special Attack and Special Defense a 1.5x multiplier when attached to Latias or Latios. Like Thick Club, it is Pokémon-specific, and it makes Latias and Latios extremely powerful. Beware that some battlers will forbid this item on Latias and Latios.

c) Metal Powder

This item gives both Attack and Defense a 1.5x multiplier when attached to Ditto. Like Thick Club, it is Pokémon-specific.

4) Third Generation Items

k) Choice Band (RSE/FRLG only)

This item multiplies your Attack status (not Special Attack also) by 1.5x. While doing so, you can only use one move from your moveset, unless you switch out. This might sound appealing or pure unusable to some people, but when used correctly, it works wonders.

l) White Herb (RSE/FRLG only)

This item rids Status Changes inflicted upon you either by your opponent, by the user, or by a user's teammate (or party-mate if you so want to call it that). However, this item can only be used once. If your opponent uses Charm, then White Herb will cure your Defense decrease right away. If you use Overheat, then White Herb will cure your Special Attack decrease right away. If Umbreon uses Curse six times and Baton Passes to you, then White Herb will cure your Speed decrease right away while keeping the Attack and Defense increases. It is handy in a couple of situations.

m) Salac Berry, Petaya Berry, and Leichi Berry (RSE/FRLG only)

These items increase a certain stat by one stage when your health reaches 25%. Salac Berry increases Speed, Petaya Berry increases Attack, and Leichi Berry increases Special Attack. There are other berries that increase different stats, but those are usually not used so they will not be included.

- V. Individual Values (IVs) -

This section goes further into depth and the game's calculations. This section can be skipped and you can go back to this later, but it helps to understand one move of the game, Hidden Power. IVs, sometimes called Determinant Values (DVs), are hidden values in the game that generates the random stats of your Pokémon. In the Second Generation, IVs range from 0 to 15. In the Third Generation, IVs range from 2 to 31. What do I mean by random stats? For example, a Pokémon with an Attack IV of 8 might have an Attack of 334, while a Pokémon with an Attack IV of 14 might have an Attack of 342. The higher the IV, the higher the stat. For GSC, there are 5 IV stats: HP, Attack, Defense, Special, and Speed, with each one ranging from 0 to 15. Note that both Special Attack and Special Defense from GSC comes from the same IV stat. This means that Special Attack and Special Defense in GSC will always complement each other. For RSE/FRLG, there are 6 IV stats: HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed, with each ranging from 2 to 31. IVs are irrelevant when battling over GameBoys because it is so hard to get ones with the IVs you like. Once again, IVs are hidden values (there are ways to find it if you search for an IV calculator on the internet) and are random. However, if you battle online, where you can set the IVs of your Pokémon, then it will play a huge factor.

1) Shiny Pokémon

In the Second Generation, and only in the Second Generation did IVs have anything to do with Shiny Pokémon. Basically, if all of your IVs are 10 (HP, Attack, Defense, Special, and Speed), then your Pokémon is shiny. Granted that having IVs of 10 will not yield the greatest stats, but if you battle online and want to make your Pokémon shiny, then make all of its IVs 10.

2) Hidden Power

As I stated above, IVs come into calculation with the move Hidden Power. Before I go on, this is a fair warning. The rest of this guide will consists of lots of numbers and calculations. This is a strategic part of Pokémon, and serious battlers know better than just push buttons. While this will be very interesting to some, knowing sections I - IV would already make you a better battler by far. However, the rest of the guide will separate the good from the great.

Back on topic, Hidden Power is a move that does from 68 and 70 damage and can be any type except Normal. While this seems random, it is only to a point. The random part is to get the IVs needed for Hidden Power's type and damage, since IVs determines Hidden Power's type and damage. Note that Hidden Power is usually abbreviated as "HP: Type" since you would want to specify which type your Hidden Power is. For example, I would say that my Gyarados has HP: Flying. Now that we know that IVs contribute to Hidden Power, we will find out how.

a) The Second Generation

Attack and Defense IVs determine Hidden Power's type in GSC. For the purposes of the Pokémon not sucking, I will list what IVs needed to get what type from 8-15 instead of 0-15.

Attack IV-Defense IV-Type of Hidden Power

8-8-Fighting 8-9-Flying 8-10-Poison 8-11-Ground 8-12-Fighting 8-13-Flying 8-14-Poison 8-15-Ground

9-8-Rock 9-9-Bug 9-10-Ghost 9-11-Steel 9-12-Rock 9-13-Bug 9-14-Ghost 9-15-Steel

10-8-Fire 10-9-Water 10-10-Grass 10-11-Electric 10-12-Fire 10-13-Water 10-14-Grass 10-15-Electric

11-8-Psychic 11-9-Ice 11-10-Dragon 11-11-Dark 11-12-Psychic 11-13-Ice 11-14-Dragon 11-15-Dark

12-8-Fighting 12-9-Flying 12-10-Poison 12-11-Ground 12-12-Fighting 12-13-Flying 12-14-Poison 12-15-Ground

13-8-Rock 13-9-Bug 13-10-Ghost 13-11-Steel 13-12-Rock 13-13-Bug 13-14-Ghost 13-15-Steel

14-8-Fire 14-9-Water 14-10-Grass 14-11-Electric 14-12-Fire 14-13-Water 14-14-Grass 14-15-Electric

15-8-Psychic 15-9-Ice 15-10-Dragon 15-11-Dark 15-12-Psychic 15-13-Ice 15-14-Dragon 15-15-Dark

You might be wondering how to use these numbers, and it's all very simple. Once again, if you're battling over GameBoys, then don't even consider getting a specific IV for more than one stat, because it is just too hard. If you are battling online, you can set the IVs so it will yield a certain type of Hidden Power. For example, you want your Celebi to have HP: Electric. You should then set your Attack IV to 14 and your Defense IV to 15. Note that Celebi doesn't use its Physical Attack (or it shouldn't) anyways so lowering its Attack IV won't really make a big difference. Now, how do you know what will be the power of Hidden Power? The Special IVs determine this. Once again, I will provides IVs from 8-15 to not Butcher your Pokémon's Special.

Special IV-Power of Hidden Power

8-68 9-69 10-69 11-70 12-68 13-69 14-69 15-70

b) The Third Generation

The Third Generation is more complicated, since all IVs are considered into Hidden Power's type. It is crucial to consider the best IVs for your Pokémon. For example, to get HP: Rock, you can use 31 Hit Points, 31 Attack, 30 Defense, 30 Speed, 31 Special Attack, and 30 Special Defense IVs, or 30 Hit Points, 30 Attack, 31 Defense, 30 Speed, 31 Special Attack,k or 30 Special Defense IVs. Since both yields HP: Rock, we need to pick the better once. Note that one uses 31 Attack IVs and one uses 30 Attack IVs. It is recommended to use the one with 31 Attack IVs since HP: Rock is a Physical Attack and it's more compatible with a higher Attack stat. This is assuming that the rest of this Pokémon's damaging moves are Physical Attacks, as it should be. Here is a list of all the highest combinations of IVs to get different types of Hidden Power with 70 Power. Since all 6 IVs come into consideration, a complete list would be confusing and not needed. Once again, pick the IVs combination that does not exploit your Pokémon's weakness or downgrade your Pokémon's strengths. A common mistake is HP: Ice on Jolteon. You have to choose the combination that retains Jolteon's high Speed, or else Aerodactyl can beat it.

HP/Attack/Defense/Speed/Special Attack/Special Defense

Fighting: 31/31/30/30/30/30, Attack advantage 30/30/31/30/30/30, Defense advantage

Flying: 31/31/31/30/30/30, Attack and Defense advantage 30/30/30/31/30/30, Speed advantage

Poison: 31/31/30/31/30/30, Attack advantage 30/30/31/31/30/30, Defense advantage

Ground: 31/31/31/31/30/30, best combination

Rock: 31/31/30/30/31/30, Attack advantage 30/30/31/30/31/30, Defense advantage

Bug: 31/31/31/30/31/30, Attack and Defense advantage 31/30/30/31/31/30, Speed advantage

Ghost: 31/31/30/31/31/30, best combination

Steel: 31/31/31/31/31/30, Attack, Defense, and Speed advantage 31/30/30/30/30/31, Special Defense advantage

Fire: 31/31/30/30/30/31, Attack advantage 31/30/31/30/30/31, Defense advantage

Water: 31/31/31/30/30/31, Attack and Defense advantage 31/30/30/31/30/31, Speed advantage

Grass: 31/30/31/31/30/31, HP advantage 30/31/31/31/30/31, Attack advantage

Electric: 31/30/30/30/31/31, Special Attack advantage 31/31/31/31/30/31, Speed and Defense advantage

Psychic: 31/30/31/30/31/31, best combination

Ice: 31/30/30/31/31/31, Speed advantage 31/31/31/30/31/31, Attack and Defense advantage

Dragon: 31/30/31/31/31/31, HP advantage 30/31/31/31/31/31, Attack advantage

Dark: 31/31/31/31/31/31, best combination

- VI. Effort Values (EVs) -

First, please note that EVs only appear in the Third Generation. EVs are hidden values that can increase your Pokémon's stats. You can obtain EVs for every stat (HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed), with a maximum of 255 EVs for one single stat and 510 EVs total for all of the stats combined. For every 4 EVs of one stat, your Pokémon will gain 1 point to that stat. For example, if you gained 4 Attack EVs, then your Pokémon will gain 1 point in its Attack stat. It sounds great, right? How, then, do you obtain EVs to raise your Pokémon's stats?

1) Vitamins

Vitamins are HP Up, Protein, Iron, Calcium, Zinc, and Carbos. Each vitamin will give you 10 EVs of HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed, respectively. However, you can only use 10 Vitamins of each kind, with a total of 51 Vitamins can be used.

2) Fainting a Pokémon

Believe it or not, fainting a Pokémon will gives you from 1 to 3 EVs of one stat, or the EVs could be split into 2 stats but the maximum EVs you can get total from one Pokémon is 3. For example, Aron gives +1 Defense EVs. If you fight a lot of Arons, then your Pokémon's Defense will raise faster than your other stats, since for every four Arons you faint, you get +1 to your Defense stat. Since the maximum EVs you can gain for one stat is 255, the EVs that you can use is actually 252, since 252 can be divided by 4. This is important if you go through a process of "EVs training," meaning that you will only battle certain Pokémon to get the EVs you want. Giving a Pokémon 255 EVs of one stat is a waste of 3 EVs, since instead of 255 + 255 = 510, you can split up 252 + 252 + 6 = 510, and the 6 EVs (actually 4) will be used for another stat. Two EVs will be left unusued no matter what. Even if you're not so keen on undergoing complete EVs training, you can train in an area where there are many Pokémon that gives the EVs that you want. If you battle online, you will be able to set your Pokémon's EVs. This is very important because you can give up to 63 points to a single stat using EVs. I will now provide a list of which Pokémon recieves what EVs.

Note: Although it seems better to try to look for Pokémon that gives +2 or +3 EVs, these Pokémon are probably very rare and are not populous, so it is actually faster to find an area with many Pokémon with +1 EVs and faint them instead.

Pokémon      EVs received   other EVs received

a) HP EVs

Caterpie        1 Point      None Nidoran (F)     1 Point      None Nidorina        2 Points     None Nidoqueen       3 Points     None Clefairy        2 Points     None Clafable        3 Points     None Jigglypuff      2 Points     None Wigglytuff      3 Points     None Slowpoke        1 Point      None Grimer          1 Point      None Muk             1 Point      1 Point (Attack) Lickitung       2 Points     None Chansey         2 Points     None Kangaskhan      2 Points     None Lapras          2 Points     None Ditto           1 Point      None Vaporeon        2 Points     None Snorlax         2 Points     None Mew             3 Points     None Hoothoot        1 Point      None Noctowl         2 Points     None Chinchou        1 Point      None Lanturn         2 Points     None Igglybuff       1 Point      None Marill          2 Points     None Azumarill       3 Points     None Wooper          1 Point      None Quagsire        2 Points     None Piloswine       1 Point      1 Point (Attack) Phanpy          1 Point      None Blissey         2 Points     None Entei           1 Point      2 Points (Attack) Celebi          3 Points     None Wurmple         1 Point      None Shroomish       1 Point      None Slakoth         1 Point      None Slaking         3 Points     None Shedinja        2 Points     None Whismur         1 Point      None Loudred         2 Points     None Exploud         3 Points     None Makuhita        1 Point      None Hariyama        2 Points     None Azurill         1 Point      None Delcatty        1 Point      1 Point (Speed) Gulpin          1 Point      None Swalot          2 Points     None Wailmer         1 Point      None Wailord         2 Points     None Barboach        1 Point      None Whiscash        2 Points     None Castform        1 Point      None Tropius         2 Points     None Wynaut          1 Point      None Snorunt         1 Point      None Glalie          2 Points     None Spheal          1 Point      None Sealeo          2 Points     None Walrein         3 Points     None Relicanth       1 Point      1 Point (Defense) Jirachi         3 Points     None

b) Attack EVs

Beedrill        2 Points     1 Point (Sp. Defense) Ekans           1 Point      None Arbok           2 Points     None Nidoran (M)     1 Point      None Nidorino        2 Points     None Nidoking        3 Points     None Paras           1 Point      None Parasect        2 Points     1 Point (Defense) Mankey          1 Point      None Primape         2 Points     None Growlithe       1 Point      None Arcanine        2 Points     None Machop          1 Point      None Machoke         2 Points     None Machamp         3 Points     None Bellsprout      1 Point      None Weepinbell      2 Points     None Victreebel      3 Points     None Muk             1 Point      1 Point (HP) Krabby          1 Point      None Kingler         2 Points     None Hitmonlee       2 Points     None Rhydon          2 Points     None Goldeen         1 Point      None Seaking         2 Points     None Scyther         1 Point      None Pinsir          2 Points     None Tauros          1 Point      1 Point (Speed) Gyarados        2 Points     None Flareon         2 Points     None Dratini         1 Point      None Dragonair       2 Points     None Dragonite       3 Points     None Totodile        1 Point      None Croconaw        1 Point      1 Point (Defense) Feraligatr      2 Points     1 Point (Defense) Sentret         1 Point      None Spinarak        1 Point      None Ariados         2 Points     None Unown           1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Attack) Snubull         1 Point      None Granbull        2 Points     None Qwilfish        1 Point      None Scizor          2 Points     None Heracross       2 Points     None Teddiursa       1 Point      None Ursaring        2 Points     None Swinub          1 Point      None Piloswine       1 Point      1 Point (HP) Octillery       1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Attack) Kingdra         1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Attack & Sp. Defense) Donphan         1 Point      1 Point (Defense) Stantler        1 Point      None Tyrogue         1 Point      None Entei           2 Points     1 Point (HP) Larvitar        1 Point      None Pupitar         2 Points     None Tyranitar       3 Points     None Combusken       1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Attack) Blaziken        3 Points     None Mudkip          1 Point      None Marshtomp       2 Points     None Swampert        3 Points     None Poochyena       1 Point      None Mightyena       2 Points     None Nuzleaf         2 Points     None Shiftry         3 Points     None Breloom         2 Points     None Sableye         1 Point      1 Point (Defense) Mawile          1 Point      1 Point (Defense) Carvanha        1 Point      None Sharpedo        2 Points     None Camerupt        1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Attack Trapinch         1 Point      None Vibrava          1 Point      1 Point (Speed) Flygon           1 Point      2 Points (Speed) Cacturne         1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Attack) Zangoose        2 Points     None Seviper          1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Attack) Solrock         2 Points     None Corpish          1 Point      None Crawdaunt        2 Points     None Anorith          1 Point      None Armaldo          2 Points     None Shuppet          1 Point      None Banette          2 Points     None Absol            2 Points     None Huntail          1 Point      1 Point (Defense) Bagon            1 Point      None Salamence        3 Points     None Groudon          3 Points     None Rayquaza         2 Points     1 Point (Sp. Attack) Deoxys          1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Attack & Speed)

c) Defense EVs

Squirtle        1 Point      None Wartortle       1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Defense) Metapod         2 Points     None Kakuna          2 Points     None Sandshrew       1 Point      None Sandslash       2 Points     None Parasect        1 Point      2 Points (Attack) Poliwrath       3 Points     None Geodude         1 Point      None Graveler        2 Points     None Golem           3 Points     None Slowbro         2 Points     None Shellder        1 Point      None Cloyster        2 Points     None Onix            1 Point      None Exeggcute       1 Point      None Cubone          1 Point      None Marowak         2 Points     None Koffing         1 Point      None Weezing         2 Points     None Rhyhorn         1 Point      None Tangela         1 Point      None Seadra          1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Attack) Omanyte         1 Point      None Omastar         2 Points     None Kabuto          1 Point      None Kabutops        2 Points     None Bayleef         1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Defense) Meganium        1 Point      2 Points (Sp. Defense) Croconaw        1 Point      1 Point (Attack) Feraligatr      1 Point      2 Points (Attack) Sudowoodo       2 Points     None Pineco          1 Point      None Forretress      2 Points     None Gligar          1 Point      None Steelix         2 Points     None Shuckle         1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Defense) Magcargo        2 Points     None Corsola         1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Defense) Skarmory        2 Points     None Donphan         1 Point      1 Point (Attack) Miltank         2 Points     None Suicune         1 Point      2 Points (Sp. Defense) Silcoon         2 Points     None Cascoon         2 Points     None Seedot          1 Point      None Pelipper        2 Points     None Nincada         1 Point      None Nosepass        1 Point      None Sableye         1 Point      1 Point (Attack) Mawile          1 Point      1 Point (Attack) Aron            1 Point      None Lairon          2 Points     None Aggron          3 Points     None Torkoal         2 Points     None Duskull         1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Defense) Dusclops        1 Point      2 Points (Sp. Defense) Clamperl        1 Point      None Huntail         1 Point      1 Point (Attack) Relicanth       1 Point      1 Point (HP) Shelgon         2 Points     None Beldum          1 Point      None Metang          2 Points     None Metagross       3 Points     None Regirock        3 Points     None Registeel       2 Points     1 Point (Sp. Defense)

d) Special Attack EVs

Bulbasaur       1 Point      None Ivysaur         1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Defense) Venusaur        2 Points     1 Point (Sp. Defense) Charmeleon      1 Point      1 Point (Speed) Charizard       3 Points     None Butterfree      2 Points     1 Point (Sp. Defense) Oddish          1 Point      None Gloom           2 Points     None Vileplum        3 Points     None Venomoth        1 Point      1 Point (Speed) Psyduck         1 Point      None Golduck         2 Points     None Abra            1 Point      None Kadabra         2 Points     None Alakazam        3 Points     None Magnemite       1 Point      None Magneton        2 Points     None Gastly          1 Point      None Hunter          2 Points     None Gengar          3 Points     None Exeggutor       2 Points     None Horsea          1 Point      None Seadra          1 Point      1 Point (Defense) Jynx            2 Points     None Magmar          2 Points     None Porygon         1 Point      None Zapdos          3 Points     None Moltres         3 Points     None Mewtwo          3 Points     None Quilava         1 Point      None Typhlosion      3 Points     None Natu            1 Point      None Xatu            1 Point      1 Point (Speed) Mareep          1 Point      None Flaaffy         2 Points     None Ampharos        3 Points     None Sunkern         1 Point      None Sunflora        2 Points     None Espeon          2 Points     None Misdreavus      1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Defense) Unown           1 Point      1 Point (Attack) Girafarig       2 Points     None Slugma          1 Point      None Remoraid        1 Point      None Octillery       1 Point      1 Point (Attack) Houndour        1 Point      None Houndoom        2 Points     None Kingdra         1 Point      1 Point (Attack & Sp. Defense) Porygon2        2 Points     None Smoochum        1 Point      None Raikou          1 Point      2 Points (Speed) Torchic         1 Point      None Combusken       1 Point      1 Point (Attack) Beautifly       3 Points     None Ralts           1 Point      None Kirlia          2 Points     None Gardevoir       3 Points     None Masquerain      1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Defense) Roselia         1 Point      None Numel           1 Point      None Camerupt        1 Point      1 Point (Attack) Spinda          1 Point      None Cacnea          1 Point      None Cacturne        1 Point      1 Point (Attack) Seviper         1 Point      1 Point (Attack) Lunatone        2 Points     None Chimecho        1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Defense) Gorebyss        2 Points     None Latios          3 Points     None Kyogre          3 Points     None Rayquaza        1 Point      2 Points (Attack) Deoxys          1 Point      1 Point (Attack & Speed)

e) Special Defense EVs

Ivysaur         1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Attack) Venusaur        1 Point      2 Points (Sp. Attack) Wartortle       1 Point      1 Point (Defense) Blastoise       3 Points     None Butterfree      1 Point      2 Points (Sp. Attack) Beedrill        1 Point      2 Points (Attack) Ninetales       1 Point      1 Point (Speed) Venonat         1 Point      None Tentacool       1 Point      None Tentacruel      1 Point      None Drowzee         1 Point      None Hypno           2 Points     None Hitmonchan      2 Points     None Mr. Mime        2 Points     None Eevee           1 Point      None Articuno        3 Points     None Chikorita       1 Point      None Bayleef         1 Point      1 Point (Defense) Meganium        2 Points     1 Point (Defense) Ledyba          1 Point      None Ledian          2 Points     None Cleffa          1 Point      None Togepi          1 Point      None Togetic         2 Points     None Bellossom       3 Points     None Politoed        3 Points     None Hoppip          1 Point      None Umbreon         2 Points     None Slowking        3 Points     None Misdreavus      1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Attack) Shuckle         1 Point      1 Point (Defense) Corsola         1 Point      1 Point (Defense) Mantine         2 Points     None Kingdra         1 Point      1 Point (Attack & Sp. Attack) Hitmontop       2 Points     None Suicune         2 Points     1 Point (Defense) Lugia           3 Points     None Ho-oh           3 Points     None Dustox          3 Points     None Lotad           1 Point      None Lombre          1 Point      None Ludicolo        3 Points     None Masquerain      1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Attack) Spoink          1 Point      None Grumpig         2 Points     None Swablu          1 Point      None Altaria         2 Points     None Baltoy          1 Point      None Claydol         1 Point      None Lileep          1 Point      None Cradily         2 Points     None Milotic         2 Points     None Kecleon         1 Point      None Duskull         1 Point      1 Point (Defense) Dusclops        2 Points     1 Point (Defense) Chimecho        1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Attack) Regice          3 Points     None Registeel       1 Point      2 Points (Defense) Latias          3 Points     None

f) Speed EVs

Charmander      1 Point      None Charmeleon      1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Attack) Weedle          1 Point      None Pidgey          1 Point      None Pidgeotto       2 Points     None Pidgeot         3 Points     None Rattata         1 Point      None Raticate        2 Points     None Spearow         1 Point      None Fearow          2 Points     None Pikachu         2 Points     None Raichu          3 Points     None Vulpix          1 Point      None Ninetales       1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Defense) Zubat           1 Point      None Goldbat         2 Points     None Venomoth        1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Attack) Diglett         1 Point      None Dugtrio         2 Points     None Meowth          1 Point      None Persian         2 Points     None Poliwag         1 Point      None Poliwhirl       2 Points     None Ponyta          1 Point      None Rapidash        2 Points     None Voltorb         1 Point      None Electrode       2 Points     None Staryu          1 Point      None Starmie         2 Points     None Electabuzz      2 Points     None Tauros          1 Point      1 Point (Attack) Magikarp        1 Point      None Jolteon         2 Points     None Aerodactyl      2 Points     None Cyndaquil       1 Point      None Quilava         1 Point      None Furret          2 Points     None Crobat          3 Points     None Pichu           1 Point      None Xatu            1 Point      1 Point (Sp. Attack) Skiploom        2 Points     None Jumpluff        3 Points     None Aipom           1 Point      None Yanma           2 Points     None Murkrow         1 Point      None Sneasel         1 Point      None Delibird        1 Point      None Smeargle        1 Point      None Elekid          1 Point      None Magby           1 Point      None Raikou          2 Points     1 Point (Sp. Attack) Treecko         1 Point      None Grovyle         2 Points     None Sceptile        3 Points     None Zigzagoon       1 Point      None Linoone         2 Points     None Taillow         1 Point      None Swellow         2 Points     None Wingull         1 Point      None Surskit         1 Point      None Vigoroth        2 Points     None Ninjask         2 Points     None Skitty          1 Point      None Delcatty        1 Point      1 Point (HP) Meditite        1 Point      None Medicham        2 Points     None Electrike       1 Point      None Manectric       2 Points     None Plusle          1 Point      None Minun           1 Point      None Volbeat         1 Point      None Illumise        1 Point      None Vibrava         1 Point      1 Point (Attack) Flygon          2 Points     1 Point (Attack) Feebas          1 Point      None Luvdisc         1 Point      None Deoxys          1 Point      1 Point (Attack & Sp. Attack)

3) Ways to speed up EVs Training

Yes there are, and they're not really hard to get (well some of them). The items or events below affect EVs Training in some way.

a) Macho Brace

The game does not tell you what the Macho Brace is for, besides the fact that it halves the wearer's Speed. That can't be all that it does, since it will make the Macho Brace useless. In fact, the wearer will gain double whatever EVs it gets. Fainting a Taillow while wearing a Macho Brace will give you 2 Speed EVs (Taillow originally gives 1 Speed EV). If your Pokémon is at a high level and won't be affected by the huge Speed decrease, then please use this great item!

b) EXP. SHARE

As you all know, the wearer of EXP. SHARE gets half of the experience while not in battle. Also, the wearer will get EVs, not half, but full. If your Jolteon faints a Taillow and your Zigzagoon (that was never in battle) has EXP. SHARE attached, then both Jolteon and Taillow gains 1 EV. This is a good way to train up weak Pokémon both experience-wise and EV-wise.

c) The PokéRUS

If you haven't heard of this before, the PokéRUS doubles the EVs received, just like the Macho Brace. This is good, but the PokéRUS is random whether or not it will infect one of your Pokémon. If you're lucky enough to have it, then it will infect your whole party. The PokéRUS will go away, so if you want to keep it so that it could infect new Pokémon, then put one infected Pokémon in a box, since the PokéRUS doesn't go away if the infected Pokémon is in a box. When the want to infect a new Pokémon, withdraw the infected Pokémon and when it infects your party, put it in a box again. Note that a Pokémon that has been infected by the PokéRUS will not get PokéRUS again, since its Memory T Cells will ensure that.

- VII. Traits -

First, please note that Traits only appear in the Third Generation. Each Pokémon has an Trait, or Ability, and they will benefit the Pokémon in one way. Some Pokémon has unique Traits that only that Pokémon can have. Note that these are not moves, but they will activate indefinately or when an event happened. You do not "use" these Traits, but they are automatic. Right now, it's only important that you know Traits exist and that they are something not to overlook. Below is the list of all the Abilities in alphabetical order and what they do. For the sake of simplicity, they will not include their functions in the field, but just in battles.

1) Air Lock When a Pokémon with this Trait is active, all effects of the current weather are completely negated.

2) Arena Trap Pokémon with this Trait prevent any opposing Pokémon from leaving play, except those that are Flying type or possess the Trait Levitate.

3) Battle Armor Pokémon with this Trait have a thick layer of armor that prevents Critical Hits.

4) Blaze When the HP of a Pokémon with this Trait falls below 1/3 it's total HP, that Pokémon's Fire type attacks will do 1.5x damage.

5) Cacophony Pokémon with this Trait negate the effects of Sound Moves by drowning them out.

6) Chlorophyll Pokémon with this Trait absorb sunlight to double their Speed while it is Sunny.

7) Clear Body Pokémon with this Trait are completely immune to all stat-lowering attacks.

8) Cloud Nine When a Pokémon with this Trait is active, all effects of the current weather are completely negated.

9) Color Change When a Pokémon with this Trait is attacked, it will change its type to that of the move it was hit with.

10) Compoundeyes Pokémon with this Trait have large eyes, making all attacks 30% more accurate.

11) Cute Charm When a Pokémon with this Trait is attacked with a Contact Move, there is a 30% chance of the attacker becoming Attracted if the attacker is of the opposite gender.

12) Damp When a Pokémon with this Trait is active, the battle arena becomes so damp that no active Pokémon can use Explosion or Selfdestruct.

13) Drizzle Pokémon with this Trait cause Rain to fall for the remainder of the battle when they enter play.

14) Drought Pokémon with this Trait cause the weather to be Sunny for the remainder of the battle when they enter play.

15) Early Bird When a Pokémon with this Trait falls asleep, the duration of its sleep will be only half as long as it would have been.

16) Effect Spore When a Pokémon with this Trait is attacked with a Contact Move, there is a 10% chance of the attacker becoming either Paralyzed, Poisoned, or Asleep.

17) Flame Body When a Pokémon with this Trait is attacked with a Contact Move, there is a 30% chance of the attacker becoming Burned.

18) Flash Fire When a Pokémon with this Trait is attacked with a Fire type move, it becomes immune to all Fire type moves, and its own Fire type moves become 1.5x more powerful.

19) Forecast Pokémon with this Trait change their type according to the weather.

20) Guts When a Pokémon with this Trait receives a status ailment, its Attack is increased by 1.5x.

21) Huge Power Pokémon with this Trait have double their normal Attack.

22) Hustle Physical attacks from Pokémon with this Trait do 1.5x more damage, but their accuracy is 20% lower.

23) Hyper Cutter Pokémon with this Trait are extremely fierce, and their Attack cannot be lowered.

24) Illuminate Pokémon with this Trait emit a warm glow that attracts wild Pokémon. It has no effect in battle.

25) Immunity Pokémon with this move have a natural immunity to all forms of Poison.

26) Inner Focus Pokémon with this Trait concentrate intensely to prevent Flinching.

27) Insomnia Pokémon with this Trait are unable to fall Asleep.

28) Intimidate When Pokémon with this Trait enter play, their presence is so intimidating that any opposing Pokémon has its Attack reduced by one level.

29) Keen Eye Pokémon with this Trait have exceptional vision, and their Accuracy cannot be lowered.

30) Levitate Pokémon with this Trait can float in the air, thereby avoiding all Ground type attacks.

31) Lightning Rod When a Pokémon with this Trait is in play, all Electric attacks are drawn to it, regardless of the intended target.

32) Limber Pokémon with this Trait have extremely flexible bodies that are unable to be Paralyzed.

33) Liquid Ooze When Pokémon with this Trait are attacked by a HP draining attack, such as Giga Drain, the attacker's HP will drop instead of rise.

34) Magma Armor Pokémon with this Trait are covered in a burning exterior that prevents Freezing.

35) Magnet Pull Pokémon with this Trait are magnetically charged and will prevent all Steel type Pokémon from leaving play.

36) Marvel Scale When a Pokémon with this Trait receives a status ailment, its Defense is increased by 1.5x.

37) Minus If the Ally of a Pokémon with this Trait has the Trait "Plus", its Special Attack will be 1.5x greater.

38) Natural Cure Pokémon with this Trait posses the ability to cure themselves upon leaving play.

39) Oblivious Pokémon with this Trait are immune to the move Attract.

40) Overgrow When the HP of a Pokémon with this Trait falls below 1/3 it's total HP, that Pokémon's Grass type attacks will do 1.5x damage.

41) Own Tempo Pokémon with this Trait have unique minds and cannot become Confused.

42) Pickup Pokémon with this Trait have a chance to pick up items after battles with wild Pokémon. It has no effect in battle.

43) Plus If the Ally of a Pokémon with this Trait has the Trait "Minus", its Special Attack will be 1.5x greater.

44) Poison Point When a Pokémon with this Trait is attacked with a Contact Move, there is a 30% chance of the attacker becoming Poisoned.

45) Pressure When a Pokémon with this Trait is attacked, the attacker loses an extra PP from the attack it used.

46) Pure Power Pokémon with this Trait have double their normal Attack.

47) Rain Dish Pokémon with this Trait use a dish atop their heads to collect rainwater and use it to heal themselves by 1/16 of their total HP each turn it Rains.

48) Rock Head Pokémon with this Trait have a thick skull that prevents recoil damage from moves such as Double-Edge.

49) Rough Skin Pokémon with this Trait have extremely coarse skin that damages any Pokémon that uses a Contact Move against it by 1/16 of their total HP.

50) Run Away Pokémon with this Trait can flee from wild Pokémon without fail. It has no effect in battle.

51) Sand Stream Pokémon with this Trait cause a ferocious Sandstorm to rage for the remainder of the battle when they enter play.

52) Sand Veil Pokémon with this Trait are slightly more evasive during a Sandstorm.

53) Serene Grace When a Pokémon with this Trait uses an attack that has an extra effect, the chances of the effect occurring are doubled.

54) Shadow Tag Pokémon with this Trait possess the ability to freeze the shadows of opponents and prevent them from leaving play.

55) Shed Skin When a Pokémon with this Trait has a status ailment, there is a 30% chance each turn of the Pokémon shedding the ailment.

56) Shell Armor Pokémon with this Trait have a thick layer of armor that prevents Critical Hits.

57) Shield Dust Pokémon with this Trait are coated in a strange powder that the negates the extra effects of most moves.

58) Soundproof Pokémon with this Trait are completely immune to all Sound Moves.

59) Speed Boost The Speed of any Pokémon with this Trait rises by one level at the end of every turn.

60) Static When a Pokémon with this Trait is attacked with a Contact Move, there is a 30% chance of the attacker becoming Paralyzed.

61) Stench Pokémon with this Trait posses an unbearable stench that keeps away wild Pokémon. It has no effect in battle.

62) Sticky Hold Pokémon with this Trait cannot have their item stolen in any way.

63) Sturdy Pokémon with this Trait are completely immune to all One-Hit KO attacks.

64) Suction Cups Pokémon with this Trait use suction cups to anchor themselves, negating the effects of Roar and Whirlwind.

65) Swarm When the HP of a Pokémon with this Trait falls below 1/3 it's total HP, that Pokémon's Bug type attacks will do 1.5x damage.

66) Swift Swim Pokémon with this Trait use their incredible swimming ability to double their Speed while it is Raining.

67) Synchronize When a Pokémon with this Trait becomes Paralyzed, Poisoned, or Burned, the Pokémon that inflicted it receives the same status as well.

68) Thick Fat Pokémon with this Trait receive half damage from Fire type and Ice type attacks.

69) Torrent When the HP of a Pokémon with this Trait falls below 1/3 it's total HP, that Pokémon's Water type attacks will do 1.5x damage.

70) Trace When a Pokémon with this Trait enters play, it copies the Trait of an opposing Pokémon until it leaves play.

71) Truant Pokémon with this Trait are extremely lazy, and cannot attack consecutively.

72) Vital Spirit Pokémon with this Trait are extremely alert and cannot fall Asleep.

73) Volt Absorb When a Pokémon with this Trait is attacked with an Electric type move, it will absorb the damage and recover a maximum of 1/4 its total HP.

74) Water Absorb When a Pokémon with this Trait is attacked with a Water type move, it will absorb the damage and recover a maximum of 1/4 its total HP.

75) Water Veil Pokémon with this Trait are surrounded by a shield of water that prevents Burns.

76) White Smoke Pokémon with this Trait are protected by a veil of smoke that negates the effects of all stat-lowering moves.

77) Wonder Guard Pokémon with this Trait are protected by a mystical barrier that negates damage from all attacks except those that are Super Effective against them.

- VIII. Natures -

First, please note that Natures only appear in the Third Generation. Natures are like Traits; they are automatic. However, Traits raises a certain stat while lowering another stat, or they could have no stat changes at all. This change will be 10% in either direction. Also, all Pokémon can randomnly have any Nature from the list below, while each Pokémon can only have one or two Traits assigned to them. Natures are like IVs in a way. If you want a Pokémon with a specific Nature, it is very hard to do so becaues it is random, but still possible since Natures are not hidden and there are less Natures than there are IVs. Natures are important because they give a boost in your Pokémon's strengths. If you are Machamp, you would love a 10% in Attack while would not mind a 10% decrease in Special Attack. Below is a list of Natures in the order of what it increases, what stat they increase, and what stat they decrease. Note that Natures do not alter a Pokémon's HP stat.

1) Bashful No Change

2) Docile No Change

3) Hardy No Change

4) Serious No Change

5) Adamant +10% Attack -10% Special Attack

6) Brave +10% Attack -10% Speed

7) Lonely +10% Attack -10% Defense

8) Naughty +10% Attack -10% Special Defense

9) Bold +10% Defense -10% Attack

10) Impish +10% Defense -10% Special Attack

11) Lax +10% Defense -10% Special Defense

12) Relaxed +10% Defense -10% Speed

13) Mild +10% Special Attack -10% Defense

14) Modest +10% Special Attack -10% Attack

15) Quiet +10% Special Attack -10% Speed

16) Rash +10% Special Attack -10% Special Defense

17) Calm +10% Special Defense -10% Attack

18) Careful +10% Special Defense -10% Special Attack

19) Gentle +10% Special Defense -10% Defense

20) Sassy +10% Special Defense -10% Speed

21) Hasty +10% Speed -10% Defense

22) Jolly +10% Speed -10% Special Attack

23) Naïve +10% Speed -10% Special Defense

24) Timid +10% Speed -10% Attack

- IX. The Job System -

Believe it or not, all of the above information I would consider "Basic Knowledge" to Pokémon. Now, we're in the land of "how to use it," not "what is it." First of all, no, we not not in Final Fantasy Series. Pokémon has a Job System, but the moveset of the Pokémon determines its job. If you're with me so far, then you should know that The Job System is not an official system, but it is there for competitive battlers to reference and put their Pokémon into categories. Most of the terminology above are official, or are created by Nintendo. From now on, most of the terminology will be player- created, since the players will take the information that is given and analyze every inch of it.

As I described above, there the Job System depends on a Pokémon's moveset. Some Pokémon can only do (or be proficient at) certain jobs, depending on its type and stats. Also, I will start referencing "Base Stats" of Pokémon. If you remember, "Base Stats" are not the stats of a Pokémon at a level, but it is rather an average ratio used for comparison purposes. I will try to define all of the terminology as well.

1) Physical Sweeper

Physical Sweepers are called so because these Pokémon literally "sweeps," meaning they take down many Pokémon. As you can guess, Physical Sweepers use Physical Attacks efficiently. A good Sweeper would be able to take down at least two Pokémon before fainting. Here is an example of a Physical Sweeper. This is also a good chance to get used to the format for describing a Pokémon:

Heracross (F) @ Leftovers           <-- Species, Gender, and Attached Item Trait: Guts                         <-- Trait EVs: 58 HP / 252 Attack / 200 Speed <-- Effort Values Distrubution Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)        <-- Nature -Swords Dance                       <-- First move -Focus Punch                        <-- Second move -Megahorn                           <-- Third move -Rock Slide                         <-- Fourth move

This is the proper way to present a moveset. Although all of the information above is not neccessary, it is good to have the Pokémon's moves and Nature. Regarding the moveset above, Heracross will Swords Dance to double its Attack, then Focus Punch, Megahorn, and Rock Slide will totally devastate your opponent if your opponent does not have a Pokémon that resists these moves. Note that just having four attacks on Heracross is not as effective as having Swords Dance then three attacks. This is an example of how Status Changing moves and Damaging moves can work together to create a good moveset.

2) Special Sweeper

Special Sweepers is another Sweeper that uses Special Attacks. Here is an example of a Special Sweeper:

Starmie @ Leftovers                 <-- Some do not have a Gender Trait: Nature Cure                  <-- Its other Trait has no effect EVs: 42 HP / 216 Speed / 252 Special Attack Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) -Surf -Ice Beam -Rapid Spin/Thunderbolt             <-- "/" indicates own preference -Recover

Notice now this Sweeper does not boosts up its attacking power but instead boosts up its staying power with the move Recover, so it could faint less quickly and deal more damage. Also notice something about the Effort Values of both Sweepers. Usually, maximum (252) EVs go into Attack or Special attack, depending on the type of Sweeper. There are also many EVs on Speed, since a Sweeper that attacks first takes less damage. The Nature of Sweepers often increases Attack, Special Attack, or Speed also.

3) Mixed Sweeper

Mixed Sweeper is merely a Sweeper that uses both Physical and Special Attacks. There aren't many of these, since it is better to specialize in either Physical or Special. However, there are a few Pokémon that make good Mixed Sweepers, and here is an example:

Swampert (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Torrent EVs: 38 HP / 128 Attack / 220 Special Attack / 124 Special Defense Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd) -Curse -Earthquake -Ice Beam/Surf -Rest

Once again, Rest is for staying power so Swampert can come back and sweep some more. EVs is a problem for Mixed Sweepers since should it go into Attack or Special Attack? Curse takes care of that problem, since using Curse lets you concentrate more on Special Attack and other stats while giving reduced contribution to Attack. If you don't know, Curse increases Attack and Defense one stage while lowers Speed one stage. The reason this sweeper doesn't need Speed is because Curse makes it powerful defensively also, not just offensively. Since it's also defensive, it doesn't need to go first. Note that Physical and Special Sweepers usually have high offensive stats but low defensive stats.

4) Hazer

A Hazer is a Pokémon that uses Haze. Since Haze is such an important move, there are Pokémon that are designated to do this job. Here is an example of a Hazer:

Weezing (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Levitate                     <-- Weezing is now immune to Earthquake! EVs: 196 HP / 156 Attack / 158 Defense Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd) -Sludge Bomb -Haze -Will-O-Wisp -Pain Split/Rest

No, I'm not some kind of rapist that likes Female Pokémon; there is a reason for me choosing them. Male is the default Gender online, so many Pokémon using Attract are Female. For this reason, I use Female Pokémon so they can't be attracted.

Of course, a Hazer can't just Haze; it needs to have other jobs as well. Hazers are usually Tankers or Walls (more about this later), or Pokémon that can stall for a long time. This is because it needs to Haze many times if your opponent keeps Swords Dancing.

5) Pseudo-Hazer (PHazer)

A PHazer is a Pokémon that usually uses Roar or Whirlwind to force switching. There are other exceptions, but that will be explained later. PHazers are very similar to Hazers, but they are more popular because many Pokémon learn Roar. Here is an example of a PHazer:

Suicune @ Leftovers                 <-- More Leftovers? Yup, good item. Trait: Pressure EVs: 252 HP / 128 Defense / 64 Speed / 64 Special Attack Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) -Calm Mind -Surf -Rest -Roar

Like Hazers, PHazers need to last, so Rest is there.

5) Physical Tanks

If you guessed it, Physical Tanks are intended to take damage. These can also deal damage, but by rather indirect moves with a possible addition of one damaging move that does not have to deal a lot of damage. Usually, it's Toxic or Will-O-Wisp plus Rest or Recover on a Pokémon with a very high Defense. Here is an example of a Physical Tank:

Steelix (F) @ Leftovers             <-- Notice how it's immune to Sandstorm Trait: Sturdy EVs: 252 HP / 80 Attack / 42 Speed / 136 Special Defense Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk) -Earthquake -Rock Slide -Explosion -Toxic

Steelix resists many Physical Attacks but can still dish out some damage. Steelix can never be a sweeper, but it serves its purpose as a Physical Tank well. In fact, Steelix doesn't even need Rest because it takes so little damage from Physical Attacks.

6) Special Tanks

Of course, Special Tanks are the Special version of Physical Tanks. Here is an example of a Special Tank:

Regice @ Leftovers Trait: Clear Body                   <-- Opponent cannot lower stats EVs: 200 HP / 200 Defense / 56 Special Attack / 54 Special Defense Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) -Ice Beam -Thunderbolt -Thunder Wave/Counter -Rest

As you have guessed, neither Ice Beam or Thunderbolt will do much damage, but Regice is extremely tough to take down.

7) Walls

Of course there aren't many Mixed Tanks. Why? Their Defense and Special Defense stat is so high that they have no Attack or Special Attack at all! Of course, I'm talking about Shuckle, and for the sake of simplicity, let's just focus on Walls. Walls are like Tanks, but they are not expected to faint their opponents in any way. However, they are expected to take more hits than Tanks, so this job is for people who like to take their battles slow and steady. Here are two good types of Physical and Special Walls. There aren't much, so that's why they're in the same category:

Skarmory @ Leftovers Trait: Sturdy EVs: 196 HP / 30 Attack / 252 Defense / 32 Speed Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk) -Spikes -Drill Peck -Rest -Roar

Blissey @ Leftovers Trait: Nature Cure EVs: 240 HP / 252 Defense / 14 Speed / 4 Special Attack Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) -Aromatherapy/Heal Bell -Softboiled -Seismic Toss -Ice Beam

These two Pokémon often work together as a team and they make great Walls. Of course, they will probably not defeat any Pokémon alone, but they will resist most attacks thrown at them.

8) Cleric (Healer)

Clerics use Heal Bell or Aromatherapy to rid its team of Status Effects. These are very helpful if you encounter an opponent that tries to Paralyze your team to death, or if you have a Sleeping Pokémon on your team because it used Rest. Clerics are, as predicted, good tankers, so they can keep healing the party. Of course, one great Cleric is Blissey. Here is an example of another Cleric:

Miltank (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Thick Fat                    <-- Trait makes it a good Tanker. EVs: 168 HP / 172 Attack / 168 Defense Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) -Curse -Body Slam -Milk Drink -Heal Bell

9) Annoyer/Staller/Drainer

Woop! This is one of my favorite jobs. Annoyers annoy the daylights out of most people, using Double Team, Confuse Ray, Thunder Wave, Attract, and Rest as some popular annoying moves. Unlike Tanks and Walls, Annoyers don't absorb hits--they evade or try to make their opponents not able to attack. Sometimes, Heal Bell and Roar can send Annoyers packing. Sometimes, Annoyers are unstoppable after many Status Changes. I put Annoyers and Drainers together because most Annoyers find a way to replenish their HP, and it's usually from Leech Seed, Mega Drain, or Giga Drain. Yes, Mega Drain is an effective move if used right. Here is an example of a Drainer:

Ludicolo (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Swift Swim EVs: 252 HP / 130 Defense / 128 Special Defense Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) -Leech Seed -Toxic -Protect -Seismic Toss

I know Ludicolo can regenerate HP with the Rain Dish Ability, but this is a great Rain Dance counter since an Annoyer that goes first is almost too powerful.

10) Spiker

A Spiker uses Spikes. You've already seen a good Spiker, and that is Skarmory. However, Skarmory is not the only option, because if you ewant a Spiker as a starter (your leading Pokémon), then other Spikers are better. If you use Skarmory first, there is a chance that you will get eradicated by a Magneton with the Magnet Pull Ability. No example for now, because I'm going to introduce to you another job first.

11) Spinner

A Spinner uses Rapid Spin to get rid of those evil Spikes. You've already seen a good Spinner, and that is Starmie. But hey, a Pokémon can have two jobs, and a Spiker/Spinner combination is actually very good. Here is an example of a Spiner that is a Spinner as well:

Forretress (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Sturdy EVs: 252 HP / 70 Attack / 188 Defense Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk) -Spikes -Rapid Spin -Earthquake -Explosion

If Forretress encounters another Spiker, then it will Rapid Spin after a few Spikes. Note that Rapid Spin only rids your opponent's Spikes, unlike Haze. After three Spikes or when it thinks that it will faint, then it uses Explosion, getting rid of a Pokémon. Of course Earthquake is there for a damaging move if is rarely used.

12) Baton Passer

A Baton Passer uses Baton Pass. Usually BP stands for Baton Pass and BP'er stands for Baton Passer. A BP chain includes two or more Pokémon Baton Passing different Status Changes and finally Baton Passing to a nearly indestructable Pokémon. However, a BP chain should be aware of Hazing and Pseudo-Hazing. Since I can't decide on which example to show you, here are examples of two Baton Passers:

Scizor (F) @ Leftovers/Leichi Berry <-- Increases Attack at 25% Health Trait: Swarm EVs: 110 HP / 108 Defense / 128 Speed / 164 Special Defense Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk) -Swords Dance -Agility -Hidden Power [Bug] -Baton Pass

Ninjask (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Speed Boost EVs: 6 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) -Swords Dance -Substitute -Silver Wind -Baton Pass

Scizor is not a Sweeper, but if its current opponent poses no threat to Scizor after at least one Swords Dance and one Agility, then use HP: Bug to get rid of that Pokémon then Baton Pass. It is the same for Ninjask. If Ninjask's Substitute is not broken, then Silver Wind after Swords Dance could do wonders. But getting back on topic, just think how good Heracross, Tyranitar, or Machamp is with Swords Dance and Agility Baton Passed. Their Attack and Speed would have been doubled!

13) 'er

Okay, so that's not really the name of the job. Basically, adding the prefix -er to any move can make it a job. You will commonly hear Tyranitar makes a good Dragon Dancer or Suicine makes a good Calm Minder. There are very few moves that have -er added after it though, because only moves that could significantly benefit a Pokémon would be a candidate. I assume that you don't need an example, because it's pretty self-evident what I will put. If you really want an example, then scroll up and look at Suicune's moveset (Calm Minder) or Heracross' moveset (Swords Dancer).

However, there is a point that I should make. Sometimes, we competitive battlers get lazy, and certain abbreviates starts to pop up. For example, CM stands for Calm Mind and CM'er is a Calm Minder. DD, SD, and ST stands for Dragon Dance, Swords Dance, and Sleep Talk, respectively. Even Pokémon is abbreviated to Pogey by some battlers!

14) Other Jobs

There are many other jobs, but they have become forgotten or not used when the Third Generation comes out. Generally, we consider the Third Generation battles to be of a faster pace, so many stallers or indirectly damaging Pokémon are out. Some examples are Toxi-Shufflers, Para-Shufflers, and Perish Trapper. I will only briefly describe them as most attention have now focused on the Third Generation and many battlres do not battle GSC much anymore.

a) Toxi-Shufflers

These Pokémon use Toxic then Roar or Whirlwind so all of their opponent's team's Pokémon are Poisoned.

b) Para-Shufflers

These Pokémon use Thunder Wave then Roar or Whirlwind so all of their opponent's team's Pokémon are Paralyzed.

c) Perish Trapper

Perish Trapping is not really gone, but it's not really for one Pokémon anymore. In GSC, one Pokémon uses Mean Look and Perish Song to prevent the opponent from switching out of the inevitable fate. However, in RSE/FRLG, there are much more opportunities to faint that Pokémon before it uses this combination, so two Pokémon must Perish Trap. I will give examples as the guide progresses.

- X. Move Combinations -

I must admit that this guide is mostly for the Third Generation, which is RSE/FRLG. If you are wondering why I don't include RBY and GSC information, the answer is, sections I-V includes most of RBY and GSC information. However, from now on, it will almost be stricly RS/FRLG. Also, it is extremely hard to go back and forth between the three because there were many changes and reading the guide would be very confusing. Every time a new generation comes out, there were not only additions--there were many modifications as well, including most of the game mechanics. The worse was from RBY to GSC. RBY is a whole new world to us now, because everything is so simplistic and so different. Some notable changes were changes in Type Alignment Advantages (and additions), Hidden Power, the change of most moves, the collapse of the Psychic type, item attachment, as well as many moves additions. RSE/FLRG introduces Effort Values, new strategies (this was a tough one), Natures, and Abilities. As you can see, this is why the below Move Combinations will mostly apply to the Third Generation. I will try to organize them into the order of most important to least, but if they are listed, then they are important in some way.

If you do not know what a move does, please refer to this page: http://www.smogon.com/advance/moves

1) Subpunching

If you can predict a switch or a Status Inducing move, the use Substitute and your opponent won't attack you with a damaging attack. Then, you use Focus Punch, dealing 150 Fighting Damage, very successful if you have a high Attack, if it is super-effective or if it has STAB. The hard thing is to predict when to use Substitute. Here is an example:

Turn 1: You send out Starmie.

Opponent sends out Snorlax.

(Starmie isn't going to hurt Snorlax...trust me)

Turn 2: You call back Starmie. You send out Heracross.

Enemy Snorlax uses Curse. Enemy Snorlax's attack rose! Enemy Snorlax's Defense rose! Enemy Snorlax's Speed fell!

(Snorlax will not be staying in for Heracross)

Turn 3: Opponent calls back Snorlax. Opponent sends out Skarmory.

Heracross uses Substitute. Heracross has created a Substitute!

(Skarmory is an effect counter to Heracross, but it's Skarmory who will be taking damage)

Turn 4:

Heracross focuses its energy!

Enemy Skarmory uses Drill Peck. It's super-effective! Heracross' Substitute faded.

Heracross uses Focus Punch. Heracross' Focus Punch dealt 35% damage to Skarmory Skarmory restores its health using Leftovers.

(Heracross did its job)

Turn 5:

You call back Heracross. You send out Starmie.

Enemy Skarmory uses Spikes. Spikes scatter around Starmie!

(Your opponent knows Heracross will switch out)

If you don't follow what just happened, then you will learn by experience anyways. The point is, Subpunching is not a strategy that you take for granted, since it requires much anticipation.

2) BoltBeaming

A BoltBeamer is a Pokémon that has both Lightning Bolt and Ice Beam in its moveset. The good thing is, only Laturn and Magneton resists these two moves, so you can pretty much do decent damage to most Pokémon. Two good BoltBeamers are Regice and Lanturn.

3) EndReving

An EndRever is a Pokémon that uses Endure (End) and Reversal (Rev). If you recall from memory or the link above, Reversal's power increases as your HP decreases. When you Endure a hit, your HP will be at 1, so that gives Reversal maximum power. This is usually used with Salac Berry, and if you recall, Salac Berry raises your Speed when your health reaches 25%. This way, your Speed rises when you Endure and you are probably fast enough to take down your opponent. This strategy can be used for Flail and Endeavor, which does approximately the same thing. Watch out, since if your opponent switches to a Ghost type, then Reversal, Flail, and Endeavor is useless. Sandstorm will also defeat this strategy.

4) SubReving

A SubRever is a Pokémon that uses Substitute (Sub) and Reversal (Rev). Since Endure's accuracy falls to 50% if you Endure twice in a row, you need to predict if your opponent's attack will faint you or not. When you use Substitute, you create a copy of yourself for the cost of 25% of your maximum. Substitute never faints the user, so after four Substitutes, your HP will be extremely low. Note how this works almost like Endure, but you can use Substitute repeatedly without fail (unless no one broke your Substitute, then you just attack the opponent). After four Substitutes, Salac Berry will activate and you can then Reversal, Flail, or Endeavor. A downfall to this strategy, even though it is often considered better than EndReving, are moves that attack multiple times. You will be fainted by moves such as Rock Blast and Bonemerang. A Ghost type can still defeat you, and so can Sandstorm.

5) Stat Changing + Baton Pass

Although this isn't a real strategy, it's here because pummeling you opponent with attacking move isn't going to do. Have some strategies in increasing your stats or decreasing your opponent's stats, because this will be more beneficial for you in the long run. Take Heracross for example. Swords Dance then Megahorn is better than Megahorn then Megahorn.

6) BellyRest

If you do not know, Belly Drum sacrifices half of your maximum HP while maximizing your Attack. If you don't know how much Belly Drum maximizes by, I can tell you that it's enough to OHKO (One Hit Knock Out, or meaning you faint the opponent in one attack) most Pokémon. Belly Drum followed by Rest means that you will replenish your HP sacrificed, making you an awesome Sweeper. Usually, BellyRest involves using a Mint Berry or a Chesto Berry to restore the Sleep Status Effect.

This strategy requires exact timing. If you spot its weakness, taking away half of you HP and giving your opponent a chance to attack isn't fun. This is why most of the time, you have to predict a switch and use Belly Drum. Also, you can induce a Sleep/Paralyze Status Effect, and/or the Confusion/Attract Status Problem. This way, you are lowering the chances your opponent has of attacking, or forcing a switch, giving you a free Belly Drum. Here is an example:

Turn 1: You send out Starmie. Opponent sends out Milotic.

Turn 2: You call back Starmie. You send out Snorlax.

Enemy Ludicolo uses Calm Mind. Milotic's Special Attack rose! Milotic's Special Defense rose!

(Milotic cannot faint Snorlax because Snorlax's Special Defense is too high)

Turn 3: Opponent calls back Ludicolo. Opponent sends out Aggron

(Your opponent hopes to Roar away Snorlax's expected Curses)

Snorlax uses Belly Drum. Snorlax cuts its HP in half to maximize its Attack!

Now, Aggron cannot roar because Snorlax will OHKO it. This is now the realm of guessing work as to if Snorlax will use Return, Brick Break, or Earthquake. If Snorlax can Rest, then it will be almost unstoppable. However, once again, you need to time this. Note that it is best to use this at the end of a battle, when it's more likely that there are less Pseudo-Hazers that could Roar or Whirlwind away your Belly Drumer.

7) Parafusion

Parafusion hurts, literally. This is the strategy of using both Paralysis and Confusion, giving your opponent a 33% chance to attack! This is best used with Seismic Toss since you need a Pokémon with good defenses to be able to survive using both of these moves, and Seimic Toss always deals 100 HP off your opponent no matter what the user's Attack stat is. The last slot is probably Rest, Shadow Ball, or Attract.

8) Swagger + Psych Up, Flatter + Psych Up.

Swagger confuses the opponent and raises its Attack by two stages. Flatter confuses the opponent and raises its Special Attack by two stages. Psych Up copies all of the Status Changes that your opponent has, and if you raised your opponent's Attack or Special Attack, then you can copy it. Note that you do not copy your opponent's Confusion since that is a Status Problem. This is a way to boosts up your Attack or Special Attack if you cannot learn Swords Dance or Tail Glow. Umbreon is a good candidate for Swagger + Psych Up. Its defenses are so high that it doesn't mind raising its opponent's Attack. No Pokémon can legally have both Flatter and Psych Up, so you might want to switch out then Psych Up your opponent.

Note that Psych Up by itself is extremely good. Predict a Belly Drummer, Psych Up, and you'll be Belly Drumed without losing half of your maximum HP!

9) TrickBand

Remember what I said about Choice Band? It raises your Attack by 1.5x but it only allows you to use one attack only until you switch out. Trick switches your item with your opponent's. However, if you Trick Choice Band with a non- Physical Sweeper, then your opponent is forced to use the move that had used against you while you used Trick. Choice Band is great, but not on Starmie and Ludicolo. This strategy will seriously hinder your opponent's strategy.

A good TrickBander is Alakazam, since it has great Speed to allow it to pull it off. Notice that you no longer have Choice Band, so you are not required to use Trick again. It's a neat strategy that requires not a lot of anticipation.

10) Thief

Thief is an interesting move that I don't use much, since it tends to have a very complex strategy. There are only several items worth stealing, and those are items that the Pokémon's moveset is depended upon. What I'm saying is, without that item, the Pokémon is technically screwed. This can backfire see, since if your opponent doesn't have that kind of Pokémon, then your Pokémon with Thief is really useless. You can steal Leftovers, but that's about it.

One example is Lum Berry. If you steal Lum Berry then Burn a Gyarados through Will-o-Wisp, then Gyarados' Attack halves, greatly disabling its Sweeping abilities. Note that Lum Berry will cure any Status Effect inflicted on Gyarados, such as Burn.

Another example is to steal Choice Band. If you recall, it multiplies every physical damage by 1.5x, so you just lowered the Attack of a good Sweeper, like Heracross. Note that the other option for Heracross is Leftovers or Salac Berry, but if you steal Choice Band, then it cannot have Leftovers nor Salac Berry! Heracross is now just a mediocre Sweeper. Be careful though, since you have to switch out your Pokémon using Thief because Choice Band will force it to use Thief again. Also, make sure that the Choice Band stealer is also a Sweeper, so it can actually use Choice Band when it switches in again.

So how do you know if your opponent's Gyarados have Lum Berry or if your opponent's Heracross have Choice Band? You don't. This is why Thief is only used by experts who have great anticipation skills, and yes, it can be very effective.

11) Snatch

This move is evil...very evil. It's similar to Psych Up, but unlike Psych Up, it steals your opponent's Status Changes, not only copy. Also, it can steal Substitutes, surprising those Annoyers. Just wait until Suicune uses Calm Mind 3 times while you act like you don't know what's going on, then use Snatch and leave your opponent crying. Note that Snatch always go second, so you cannot start off a round be stealing someone that was done before. You steal at the end of the round, so make sure to Snatch before your opponent gets a chance to attack.

12) Perish Trapping

As I said before, in RSE/FRLG, this works best with two Pokémon. Those two canditates are usually an Umbreon Baton Passing Mean Look to someone with solely Perish Song and a healing move or Protect. Some good Candidates are Lapras, Wigglituff, Celebi, Altaria, and Misdreavus. In the old days of GSC, Lapras used to Whirlpool to keep the opponent in its place, and Misdreavus used to Mean Look. Now, both of those moves would waste so much time and Lapras and Misdreavus would faint before setting up Perish Trapping.

13) MintyRest, ChestoRest, LumRest

Minty Rest is Rest + Mint Berry attached, and ChestoRest is Rest + Chesto Berry attached. This gives you a free 100% HP Recovery. It's that simple. Use it when you think you will faint (but time it so you don't faint). LumRest is Rest + Lum Berry attached. This is a strategy in the Third Generation because of Will-O-Wisp alone. True that you can Rest the Burn Status Effect off, but if you're a Physical Sweeper, then you certainly don't want your Attack halved.

14) Rain Dance + Thunder (ThunderDance)

An effect of Rain Dance is that Thunder will never miss. Think about it...Lightning appears in storms, right? Anyways, you can have someone from your team use Rain Dance and make your team benefit from it. For example, use water Pokémon, Pokémon with Hydro Pump, Pokémon with Thunder, and Pokémon with the Rain Dish or Swift Swim Trait.

15) Sunny Day + Solarbeam (SunnyBeam)

An effect of Sunny Day is that Solarbeam will not require a charge. Remember that Solarbeam take in sunlight then attack. Now, it just attack because Sunny Day provides the sunlight that Solarbeam needs. You can also include fire Pokémon, Pokémon with Fire Blast, Exeggutor because of the Chlorophyll Trait, and of course, someone with Solarbeam.

16) Leech Seed + Ingrain + Mega/Giga Drain + Leftovers

Ingrain restores HP every turn, and so does Leech Seed and the item Leftovers. Mega Drain/Giga Drain will also restore some HP that you have dealt to your opponent. Obviously, this is an Annoyer/Drainer to the max. Ingrain also means your opponent cannot Roar or Whirlwind you out, because your roots are implanted to the ground.

17) Spore + Focus Punch

Breloom is famous for this. It is fast enough to use Spore, 100% of the time Sleeping your opponent. Then, it uses Focus Punch, because your opponent cannot attack and make Focus Punch lose concentration. That means you have to switch in order to get annihilated, but when you switch, you don't attack, you Breloom gets a free Focus Punch no matter what.

18) Rest + Sleep Talk

This is so annoying, because you have to defeat a Sleep Talker in three rounds or less to prevent it from using Rest again. Sleep Talk attacks while asleep, so coupled with Return and Earthquake, it could cause lots of damage while not being fainted easily.

19) Toxic + Spikes + Sandstorm (TSS)

This is consists of a team that purely annoys. You mainly damage by Toxic, Spikes, and Sandstorm via using Roar or Whirlwind to force being hurt by Sandstorm. However, remember that Sandstorm damages both sides, and Rock, Steel, and Ground Pokémon don't get damaged. Because of this, Suicune can sometimes destroy a TSS team because it has high defenses and is able to Surf its way out of it.

20) Swords Dance/Bulk Up/Calm Mind + Salac Berry

Swords Dance, Bulk Up, or Calm Mind gets you ready to become a sweeper, and when your HP gets low, Salac Berry will increase your Speed so you can attack first with boosted up stats.

21) Agility + Petaya Berry/Leichi Berry

First Agility, then start attacking. When your health is low, your Attack or Special Attack increases and you have a better chance of fainting your opponent easier. Metagross can use this strategy somewhat well.

22) Wish + Baton Pass (WishPass)

First, use Wish. Then, use Baton Pass and pass it to a Pokémon with low health. Since Wish can be Baton Passed, the low health Pokémon will be healed.

23) Pseudo-Passing

Pseudo-Passing is to pass an effect created by one Pokémon to the next without the use of Baton Pass. This is really impossible except for three moves: Reflect, Light Screen, and Safeguard. When these moves are used, a barrier that halves Physical attacks, a barrier that halves Special attacks, and a barrier that stops all Status Effects and Status Problems, repectively, will be formed. These barries will stay for five turns, unless the move Brick Break was performed by your opponent to knock out these barriers. Even if you switch out the user, these barriers still stays, so their effects also stays.

24) Mimic + Imprision

This is pretty much obvious. Use Mimic then select the move that you don't want your opponent to do. Then, use Imprision, and your opponent cannot use that move anymore! 25) Sleep Status Effect + Stat Boosts

When you put your opponent to sleep, rare will it stay in. You expect a switch on the next turn, so this is called a free turn. You can use whatever move without being damaged. Some used this time to use Substitute, some use Calm Mind, some use Swords Dance, and some use Confusion. The point is, this is the perfect time to set up a combination. Milotic can use Hypnosis then Rain Dance. It can also Calm Mind and use Surf the next turn for at least 50% damage (unless it's not very effective). Avoid putting Snorlax or other Pokémon that you think might have Sleep Talk to sleep.

26) Substitute/Protect + Speed Boost

Ninjask has a great Trait called Speed Boost. Every turn, Ninjask's Speed will raise by one stage. The problem is, Ninjask is already the fastest Pokémon in the game (besides Deoxys-Emerald) and it literally cannot take a hit. However, it can Baton Pass the Speed Boots, but first, it needs to survive. Using Substitute or Protect ensures that Ninjask won't take too much damage (in the case of Substitute, 25% of its maximum HP). However, while Protect ensures 100% Evasion, using Protect twice lowers its accuracy to 50%, so it's pretty risky. If you think that Ninjask can take a hit from a Pokémon (by giving it Defense/Special Defense DVs or something) then you can use Protect, Swords Dance, Protect, Baton Pass. It's generally better, however, to use Substitute.

27) Swagger + Screech

As I explained before, when you hurt yourself in Confusion, your Attack stat attacks your own Defense stat. For this reason, Swagger, which raises the opponent's Attack and confuses it, is dangerous. What's worse is Screech going along with it. It lowers your opponent's defense, so you can have a field day when your opponent hurts itself.

28) Defense Curl + Rollout

The only reason that this combination is on here is because of Shuckle. If you use Defense Curl, then Rollout's damage will double. This means that Rollout used by Shuckle will do 1,440 damage instead of 720 damage. This isn't a lot of damage, trust me, since Shuckle's base Attack stat is 10, with 100 and above making a good Physical Sweeper. Of course, this is dangerous, so only someone with godly defenses like Shuckle can pull this off.

29) Mean Look + Spore + Lock-On + Sheer Cold

Since FishMew (Mew with Fissure + Horn Drill + Rest + Sleep Talk) isn't legal in the Third Generation, this is the other cheap OHKO tactic only to be used legally by Smeargle. In my opinion, this doesn't work, because Smeargle has too low defenses. However, if Mean Look is passed to Smeargle, then we have something going on here. Lock-On + Sheer Cold is 100% OHKO, Mean Look prevents your opponent from switching, and Spore prevents your opponent from murdering Smeargle.

30) Hidden Power

This should be a lot higher up the list, but I felt that I've already explained this to you. Hidden Power is used in many ways:

a) To provide a damaging move if the highest damaging move of that type is less than 70 power.

Scizor is a Baton Passer usually, yes, but it still needs a damaging attack. Scizor can use Silver Wind, which is a good attack in because if it raises all of its stats, then that would be a very good thing to Baton Pass! However, some people do no have the patience to breed for Silver Wind, so they might use Hidden Power [Bug], which is a good alternative.

b) To cover weaknesses.

Zapdos is a good Pokémon. It is an extremely good annoying with Substitute + Thunder Wave. However, to Swampert, neither Thunder Wave nor Thunderbolt can work, so Zapdos wants a way to hurt it. Using Hidden Power [Grass] is a good idea.

c) To have a damaging attack.

Believe it or not, but some Pokémon, like Aggron, have a terrible moveset when it comes to giving it damaging moves. For this reason, an Aggron with Choice Band would be likely to have Hidden Power [Rock] or Hidden Power [Steel].

31) Pseudo-Hazing

Like Hidden Power, this section is also last because I've already talked about some of it. I said that Roar and Whirlwind are Pseudo-Hazing moves, and they are. If you force your opponent to switch, then its Status Changes are gone. However, there are more ways. The most common Pseudo-Hazing moves are:

a) Roar and Whirlwind

As I said before, these moves forces switching, so they are the most popular.

b) Status Ailments

Somewhat hinted above, moves such as Sleep Powder, Attract, and Confuse Ray usually make the opponent switch. The reason is, you don't want a Sleeping Pokémon in battle and you also don't want someone with a 25% chance of attacking in battle. Note that Paralysis and Burn also works somewhat, but Tankers and Walls normally stay in.

c) Yawn

Yawn is a move that makes the opponent go to sleep 100% the next move, but not immediately. Your opponent knows that his or her Pokémon will go to sleep, so they usually switch out, giving you a free turn.

d) Leech Seed

Again, no one wants to be Leech Seeded, so they switch out if they think that they are not able to faint the user.

e) Perish Song

Not all uses of Perish Song are Perish Trapping. Your opponent surely doesn't want to be fainted, so they will switch out before the count ends. Perish Song without Mean Look is a hint that you are not wanted.

f) Mind Reader or Lock-On

These moves make the next move have 100% Accuracy, and most Pokémon will be switched out. The reason is because an OHKO move is expected, or something that could be annoying such as Zap Cannon or Dynamicpunch.

- XI. Making a Team -

Before I begin, I want to emphasize to you how important this section is. If there's anything that you should read before creating a team, then the Job System and this section are the ones. Please do not skip this section, as it contains some extremely vital information.

Since we've learned almost everything there is to know about Pokémon, it's time to put them together and create a team. The last step is by far, the hardest steps. True that there are "standard" movesets for every Pokémon, the harder parts in my opinion is to make your Pokémon work together, not just to find the right moves for your Pokémon. If you don't know what a "standard" moveset is, every Pokémon has between one and three standard movesets. They are the theory of the best chosen moves for that Pokémon. However, half of your team will probably have to deviate from these standard movesets a bit in order for them to flow with the rest of your team. There are many things that you need to know about the team making process, and I will now attempt to list them:

1) First, let's try to see the theory of the jobs that your team should have. Except of a TSS team (Toxic, Spikes, Sandstorm), a team should not have all Sweepers, all Tanks, or all Annoyers. Of course this doesn't mean that they are not usable, but it is advised that you mix up the jobs that your Pokémon have. For example, if you have all Sweepers and you encounter two powerful tanks such as Skarmory and Blissey. Your hits will bounce off them, so you need another type of Pokémon to defeat these two Pokémon. Also, usually, you start with a Pokémon that is likely to "do something in a short time." Don't send out Steelix as your starter, send in someone fast and can cover many types. Zapdos is a good starter because it can Paralyze and Substitute, Ninjask is not bad because it will Baton Pass to a sweeper, a Choice Bander is not bad because it can probably majorly damage or OHKO its opponnent, and Zangoose is also a good choice since its Swords Dance + Salac Berry combination can probably take down one Pokémon.I will list the "backbone" in creating a team. Like Introduction, Body, Body, Body, Conclusion rule to writing essays, these jobs will be the basic structure to your team and you can deviate from these structures as you become a better battler.

a) Physical Sweeper, Physical Sweeper, Special Sweeper, Special Sweeper,   Tanker, Annoyer.

First, I will say that two of the six Pokémon needs to also be a Hazer or Pseudo-Hazer. This will be the theme to all of the sets, because Hazing is so important that it's critical to have some Pokémon doing it. Second, a Spinner would be a great addition to this team, since this team relies mainly on attacking power and Spikes would greatly hinder that. You might one to make one of your Special Sweeper a Starmie since it can be both a Special Sweeper and a Spinner. Also, you might want to make your Tanker or Annoyer a Pseudo- Hazer since they are the prime candidates. Again, start with Zapdos or another fast Pokémon.

b) Baton Passer, Physical Sweeper, Physical or Mixed Sweeper,  Special Sweeper, Tanker, Wall.

Ninjask is perfect for this team, because Speed Boost will benefit all Sweepers, even Tankers. If you do manage a Swords Dance with Ninjask, then Baton Pass it to your Physical Sweeper because it can really Sweep. The Tanker and Wall are for switch-ins, such as when the Sweeper encounters something that it's sure it cannot kill. The Tanker or Wall would then absorb the damage, sending out Ninjask again or another Sweeper when you predict a switch. This relies on some prediction. You can have only one Pseudo-Hazer in this team since this is a face-paced team, and you try to defeat your opponent before they can set up their Status Changes.

c) Physical Sweeper, Special Sweeper, Physical or Mixed Sweeper, Drainer,   Tanker, Cleric.

This is a Sleep Talking team, even though it doesn't show it. Two of the Sweepers should have Rest, and so should the Drainer and possibly the Tanker. Then, the Cleric pops up from time to time to Heal Bell, and it would be good if this Cleric is a Tanker or Wall (not someone that can't survive very long like Vileplume or Miltank). This is actually an Annoy Team, even though it has many Sweepers. With Rest + Heal Bell, the Sweepers doesn't seem to faint!

d) Spiker, Physical Sweeper, Special or Mixed Sweeper, Tanker, Drainer,   Cleric.

This team is purely Annoy. The Sweepers are for Stallers or Drainers such as Ludicolo, but with a Spiker, Drainer and a Tanker, you will seriously aggravate your opponent, especially with a Cleric. A Sleep Talker would fit the theme here, and of course two or more Hazers or Pseudo-Hazers are needed. The more you Roar or Whirlwind, the more your opponent will be hurt with Spikes.

e) Baton Passer, Baton Passer, Physical Sweeper, Physical Sweeper,  Special or Mixed Sweeper, Magneton.

This is really a weak team in the hands of a novice but powerful in the hands of an experienced battler. True that Roar and Whirlwind rid Status Changes, but a good battler would know what to Baton Pass, when to Baton pass, and when to send in Magneton. One of Magneton's traits is Magnet Pull, which prevents Skarmory from switching, getting rid of one major Pseudo-Hazer. This team relies heavily on prediction.

f) Zapdos, Umbreon, Celebi, Drainer, Physical Sweeper, Special Sweeper.

Once again, this team requires a lot of prediction and should only be handled by experienced battlers. Umbreon can Mean Look and Baton Pass to Celebi and Celebi can Perish Song. Zapdos' Thunder Wave and Substitute makes this strategy easier, especially if Umbreon and Celebi is not taking that much damage from a Paralyzed Pokémon.

g) Spiker or Drainer, Special or Mixed Sweeper, Heracross, Magneton, Dugtrio,   Shuckle.

If you're been battling for a while, then you must know what I'm trying to do here. Shuckle's Wrap and Encore keep its opponent in while you switch to Heracross or Dugtrio, doing damage. Magneton is there once again for Skarmory, and it's nice to have a Spiker to take off more damage as your opponent switches since this is a major Annoy team. As always, you need a Sweeper to take down those Stallers.

2) Neutralizing Your Weaknesses.

Let's say you choose set A from the above. You cannot send in two Fire Pokémon and two Rock Pokémon! You will then have a major Water weakness! After you're done with making a team, try to list the weaknesses of each Pokémon as 2 and the resistances of each Pokémon as 0.5. It doesn't matter if it's 4x or 0.25x, just list them as 2x or 0.25x. For example, my team is:

Zapdos Blissey Ludicolo Skarmory Metagross Regice

Zapdos: Rock, Ice: 2x; Grass, Fighting, Flying, Bug, Steel: 0.5x; Ground 0x. Blissey: Fighting 2x; Ghost 0x. Ludicolo: Poison, Flying, Bug: 2x, Ground, Steel: 0.5x. Skarmory: Fire, Electric: 2x; Normal, Flying, Psychic, Ghost, Dragon, Dark, Steel, Grass, Bug: 0.5x; Poison, Ground: 0x. Metagross: Fire, Ground: 2x; Normal, Grass, Ice, Flying, Rock, Dragon, Steel, Psychic: 0.2x; Poison: 0x. Regice: Fire, Fighting, Rock, Steel: 2x; Ice: 0.5x.

Now, multiply the weaknesses and Resistances of each type that shows a weakness. All this mean is that start with the weaknesses of each type and start to look around. After all of the weaknesses (2x) are done, stop.

Rock = 2 x 0.5 x 2 = 2x team weakness Ice = 2 x 0.5 x 0.5 = 0.5x team weakness Fighting = 2 x 2 = 4x team weakness! Poison = Immune by Metagross and Regice Flying = 2 x 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 = 0.25 team weakness Bug = 2 x 0.5 = 1x team weakness Fire = 2 x 2 x 2 = 8x team weakness!! Electric = 2 = 2x team weakness Ground = Immune by Zapdos and Skarmory Steel = 2 x 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 = 0.125 team weakness

As you can see, my team is weak against Fighting and very weak against Fire. In general, you should not get a 4x team weakness and definately not a 8x team weakness and above. I have to exchange a Pokémon weak to Fire for a Pokémon strong against Fire. It's recommended that I try to get a Pokémon that resists Fighting also.

Of course you don't have to do all of these calculations, but it's extremely recommended. After many battles, you should be able to look at a team and spot out its weakness. Until then, it's best if you do the above.

3) Getting Coverage

Now, we're talking about the offense here. This section is mainly about teams that have more than two Sweepers, since Annoy teams usually use other tactics being using Type Alignment Advantages to win. Of course, there are some move that you should have:

A Water Attack A Fire Attack A Ground Attack A Ghost Attack An Ice Attack An Electric Attack

Having these moves can pretty much deal super-effectiveness to most teams, and there should be a Fire Blast in there somewhere, as well as Earthquake and others listed above. If you can't find enough Pokémon to fit 5 of these moves, then your team should undergo a different strategy besides Sweeping.

4) Finalizing Your Team

First of all, look it over. Do you have conflicting moves? If one of your Pokémon has Rain Dance and the other has Sunny Day, then you should take off one Area Effect. Does three of your Pokémon all have Fire Attacks? If so, then you have too many; exchange one for a Ground Attack or the useful Shadow Ball. Do you have a strategy to take down Blissey? Skarmory? Slaking? Do you have enough Pseudo-Hazers in case you encounter one of those Baton Passing Chains? What are your strategies against a Calm Minding Suicine, a Cursing Snorlax, a Dragon Dancing Salamence, or a Choice Banding Metagross? These are the questions that you must answer before you send a team off into battle. It seems as if there are too many restrictions, but the more questions you can answer, the better your team is. Remember that you cannot possibly defeat every team with just one team, and that one team will always beat yours, so do not overdo these questions. However, the Pokémon that I've listed above are some of the most popular Pokémon choices out there, so it's critical that you have a method for at least making them switch out. Then try a few battles, see what you're weak at and improvise. You will improvise many times before you make a team that you're comfortable with and win more than you lose. Patience is one of the key to success.

Just like many games, theory and practice are two different things. You might have a great team, but you might not know how to use it. Maybe your anticipation isn't as good, or that you forgot which Pokémon can counter your opponent's menacing Metagross. You won't get success right away, but you have to keep trying. Practice makes perfect, or near perfect. I have given you one half of the process to become a competitive battler. It's up to you to train the other half and your determination will decide everything. Good luck!