PTG Clan Competitive Pokemon Moveset Guide

[BeGa Man]

Hello all! This is my first guide for Pokemon and is mainly for our Wiispace Pokemon Trainers Guild Clan (PTG):
http://www.wiispace.com/anime/9181-w...-clan-ptg.html
Also is my first game guide ever so please do read and I hope it helps you! And do feel free to jump over and join our clan! .

Movesets for Pokemon on a competitive level

Introduction
This guide is about choosing the best movesets for Pokemon so that they are as strong and useful as they can be and therefore best for competitive play especially against humans.

When playing Pokemon on a competitive level vs. humans, it is important for your Pokemon to do the most damage it can do and also to counter as many Pokemon types as it can. This guide will help you plan out a moveset for this with general rules to follow and steps. Therefore it is best to plan the Pokemon’s moveset before breeding or training.


The Pokemon Stats
1) Which Stat is best?
Ever wonder why your Gyarados with Ice Beam was not killing Pokemon with a weakness to ice? Ever wonder why your Golem with Hyper Beam barely made a scratch? It is because these moves are of the wrong type.

If you did not know already, in Pokemon every move is one of three types:
-Physical
The power of Physical moves is based on the Pokemon’s Attack stat and its damage is based on the enemies Defense stat.
-Special
The power of Special moves is based on the Pokemon’s Special Attack stat and it’s damage is based on the enemies Special Defense stat.
-Status
These do not attack but changes something such as improve the Pokemon’s stats, lower stats of the enemy or give the enemy a hindrance such as Paralyze.

So because the power of the move depends on the one of the two attack stats it is important to check which attack stat of the Pokemon is the strongest and therefore what type of moves (Special or Physical) the Pokemon should have.

2) Physical moves or Special moves or both? What is the right choice?
Now it is time to check what attack stat (Attack or Special attack) is the strongest so we can begin to choose our moves. To do this jump online to one of the many Pokemon pokedex sites such as:
Marriland:
Pokemon.Marriland.com - Diamond / Pearl Pokedex
Serebii:
Serebii.net Diamond & Pearl Pokédex
And find your Pokemon.

Once you found the Pokemon you should look at the stats of the last evolution of that Pokemon because sometimes the strengths of the stats can change. An example of this is Murkrow’s Attack stat and Special attack stat are the same, however once it evolves into Honchkrow its Attack stat becomes more powerful then its Special attack stat.

So now we can see which stat is the strongest and now we know what type of moves we should choose:
-Those with a higher Attack stat should have Physical moves only
-Those with a higher Special attack stat should be Special moves only
-Those with equal stats can have ether.

So with our example above, the reason why our Gyarados was not doing much damage with Ice Beam is because Gyarados has a fantastically high Attack stat and a low Special attack stat and the move Ice Beam is Special attack. Therefore the power of Ice Beam was being drawn from the low Special attack stat so was not doing much damage. The best Ice move for Gyarados is a Physical move such as Ice Fang. Even though this move has only 65 power, it draws from Gyarados’s Attack stat which is very strong so does more damage.

[BeGa Man]

Choosing moves
Ok! Now we know what type of moves our Pokemon should have in order to do the most damage so it is now time to start choosing moves. However before you start jotting away there is a few rules that you need to follow (Note: type in this chapter refers to the group type such as grass, fire, dark etc)

3) One move the same type as the Pokemon’s type
If you did not know already, if a move is the same type as the Pokemon’s type then the move receives a x1.5 power boost. Therefore all your Pokemon should have a move of the same type as its self. This includes two type Pokemon.

This means that these moves will not only be boosted by the highest attack stat but will also receive the x1.5 boost and if it is a two type Pokemon then it will increase the amount of Pokemon It can counter.

4) No more then one move of the same type!
With competitive play it is all about counters (or super effective moves). You want to take down as many Pokemon as you can in one go. Therefore your Pokemon should have a large range of moves of different types so that it can counter as many Pokemon as it can.

Therefore you should really only have one move of the same type per Pokemon. For example you should not have a Dragonite with only dragon moves. That means that it can only counter other dragons. What you should do is give Dragonite as many different type moves as you can such as Aqua Tail and Stone Edge (TM) because then Dragonite could not just counter Dragons but also Fire, Rock, Ground, Bug, Flying, Bug, Ice

There are some exceptions to this rule however. I myself like to have back up systems for high damage but low accuracy moves. For example my Starmie has Ice Beam, Psychic, Surf AND Hydro Pump. Psychic and Hydro Pump are the same type as the Pokemon type moves and Ice beam is to counter more Pokemon but Surf is a safety net as Hydro Pump does not have a very strong accuracy. So I use Hydro pump vs strong Pokemon but I use Surf on weaker units that I know I can K.O. easily and don’t want a chance at getting a miss with Hydro Pump. So it is ok to have two moves of the same type if one move is strong but misses a lot but no more then that.

Also your Pokemon might not be able to learn many types of moves such as Riachu. But before you start to fill it up with the same type moves try use different Status moves first.

5) Wide range of different types
As stated above, the goal of Pokemon in competitive play is to counter as many Pokemon as you can. So instead of filling up the moveset with moves of all the same type you should try and map out a group of different moves to counter as many Pokemon as you can.

What you should do first is see the list of different moves your Pokemon can do by using the Online pokedex’s again:
-Marriland:
Pokemon.Marriland.com - Diamond / Pearl Pokedex
-Serebii:
Serebii.net Diamond & Pearl Pokédex

Then you should use this chart in order to find the total list of what counters what:
GameFAQs: Pokemon LeafGreen Version (GBA) Attack Chart by chronodreamers
Now what you should do is on a piece of paper write down all the types that all the moves can counter in order to see what combination would be best.

For example let’s say we remembered that Dragonite can learn Thunder Punch and Fire Punch via Heart Scale and we don’t know what move combination would be best. What we should now do is write down all the types that the 5 move types can counter like so:
-Dragon
Dragon
-Flying
Bug, Grass, Fight
-Water
Fire, Rock, Ground
-Stone
Flying, Fire, Bug, Ice
-Fire
Bug, Grass, Steel, Ice
-Electric
Flying, Water

Because Dragonite is Flying/Dragon type we really should keep these move types so now we can counter Dragon, Bug, Grass and Fight. Now Steel type is a threat to dragon type so it would be a good idea to counter it so we should include Fire Punch. Now we can counter Dragon, Bug, Grass, Fight, Steel and Ice. Now Rock type seems not to be the best choice as we can already counter 50% of the types already so we should pass. And so the final move type should be Water as it counters more then Electric does.

Therefore it would be a much better idea to give Dragonite a Dragon move and a Flying move for the x1.5 Boost along with Fire Punch and Aqua Tail because the end result is that it can now counter Dragon, Bug, Grass, Fight, Steel, Ice, Fire, Rock, Ground types making him much more efficient.

6) No move under 80 power for moves not of the same as its type
This is a general rule I have made. Because the other moves you are about to choose are not the same as the Pokemon type it does not gain the x1.5 power boost therefore you really should not have any moves that are under 80 power because the end result will be that they are quite weak and wont be very effective even if it is a Pokemon’s weakness. If The Pokemon that you are looking at cannot learn a lot of different type moves it is better to double up a move type (such as my Starmie example) or give the Pokemon a Status move instead of a move under 80 power.

7) Status moves
If your Pokemon cannot learn that many moves of different types and/or only has weak under 80 power moves then you should look into Status moves instead.

However there are once again a few rules you should follow but unlike the others, these are simply suggestions and are not that critical.

8) General Status moves tips
-Paralyze
This move not only gives a change that the enemy might not attack but also makes the enemy much slower. Therefore Paralyzing moves are a good idea for lower speed Pokemon.

For example lets say a faster Pokemon comes out and neither of you can counter one another easily. You can paralyze it and then you will be faster and so you will attack first from now on and the enemy will have chances of not attacking therefore you should win.

-Sleep and Freeze moves
These moves are fairly risky; you should only have these moves if your Pokemon can attack hard or take a lot of damage because the enemy can fall out of sleep any time and you are taking up a move slot.

A good example is Gengar. He is fast so you can put your enemy to sleep quickly and he has a great Special Attack stat so he can hit hard. This allows him to put much stronger Pokemon to sleep and use pure force to kill the enemy quickly before they wake up.

- Raising own stats vs. lowering enemy stats
There are two types of stat changers, ones that raise the user’s stats and those that lower the enemies. In competitive play it is not getting a kill but getting as many kills as you can. Therefore wasting a turn to lower an enemy’s stat is not a good idea as raising your Pokemon’s stat. This is because as soon as there Pokemon dies the move is now wasted, However if you raise your stats and killed the Pokemon the change will remain until it dies making it more worth it as you can fight more and more enemies with the bonus.

-Burning, Poison etc
These moves are also risky in my opinion; they are only helpful for a handful of situations and once again take up a move slot.

Personally I only use such a move against large powerful Pokemon, for example giving burning or poisoning Rhyperior is a good idea to weaken him over time incase you cannot kill him quickly.

[BeGa Man]

Getting the moves
9) Start!
So now we know what type the moves should be (Physical or Special), what different move types we should have (same as the Pokemon type, along with the best combination of different moves) and any status moves we should have. It is now when we should see how to get these moves into our Pokemon.

By far the most easiest way is to head over to my Pokemon Farm and send me a request and all the hard work will be done for you :
http://www.wiispace.com/nintendo-wi-...html#post92609

If you want to do it yourself you must learn how to Breed TM’s and Egg moves to obtain some of the moves. Here is a quick guides I found for now:
GameFAQs: Pokemon Diamond (DS) TM Breeding Guide by LightSpecter
GameFAQs: Pokemon Diamond (DS) Egg Moves Guide by Umbrelava

But do check back later as my next Guide will be a Breeding guide.


Summery
Here is a tick list and summery of all the steps for quick reference and in case the guide was confusing:

1) Check the last evolution of the Pokemon’s stats to see which attack stat is best (Is the Attack stat better then the Special Attack stat?)
2) Based on the answer above, choose what should the moves be Physical, Special or both (Physical relates to the Attack stat, Special relates to the Special Attack stat)
3) Choose one (or maybe more) move of the same type as the Pokemon type. (includes a second move for the second type if needed)
4) Do not have more then one move of the same type (sides exceptions)
5) Choose a range of moves of different types then choose the best combination to counter the most (or counter its weaknesses etc) Pokemon it can to make it as efficient as it can.
6) Choose moves with only 80 power or more to avoid weak moves making the Pokemon less effective.
7) Fill any gaps with Status moves before putting in moves of the same type
8) Have a quick look at the tips to best use status moves
9) Get the moves


Anyways that’s it! I hope this guide has helped you
Any questions? Any criticism? Anything to add? Post below!!!

[Bluewarwolf]

Awesome, BeGa. Although, for people like you and me, this comes standard..... I've been doing that sorta stuff with my Pokemon since Yellow came out. Red and Blue I was just getting used to the game. Anyways, awesome job

Oh yea, I had to buy another Pearl game, so I'm still at the beggining of the game..... heheh

[BeGa Man]

Originally Posted by Bluewarwolf

Awesome, BeGa. Although, for people like you and me, this comes standard..... I've been doing that sorta stuff with my Pokemon since Yellow came out. Red and Blue I was just getting used to the game. Anyways, awesome job

Oh yea, I had to buy another Pearl game, so I'm still at the beggining of the game..... heheh

i am getting more and more requests from my farm asking for dragonites with dragon rush AND dragon pulse haha so thought it was a good time to post it.

[FriedToad]

About poisoning...


My Vespiqueen (i can hear the gasps now) knows these moves


Gust
Toxic
Silver Wind
Heal Order

Toxic is a life saver when facing certain pokemon. Mainly becaus its the only attack ( i think) in which its poisoning does more damge each turn. If Vespiqueen gets low on health, ill just use heal order.

NOTE: all my poke's are lv 30 - 35, completed the game twice.

[BeGa Man]

Originally Posted by FriedToad

About poisoning...


My Vespiqueen (i can hear the gasps now) knows these moves


Gust
Toxic
(forgot what it is i should pick up my DS, considering the amount of work me and my freind did to get the pokemon we want)
Heal Order

Toxic is a life saver when facing certain pokemon. Mainly becaus its the only attack ( i think) in which its poisoning does more damge each turn. If Vespiqueen gets low on health, ill just use heal order.

NOTE: all my poke's are lv 30 - 35, completed the game twice.

yep that might work fine in singleplayer but for multiplayer vs humans its how fast you can kill...it would take many moves to kill a pokemon by toxic. And it also limits the range of moves you can have and thus you can counter less.

[FriedToad]

THat is true, its also unaffective on dark and ghost.

[Metroidmaster 117]

Nice thread. Even though I know this stuff and more and apply it, U made think a little bit about my movesets. Kudos.

[Bluewarwolf]

Sheesh, dig up a tired old sticky, why dont you lol j/k

BeGa, if you still read this, I found my old Pearl game The last dated entry in the journal was January 19th lol