Underdark Industries Presents: RD Branch

[albinodrow]

Underdark Industries Presents
The Research and Development Branch

Welcome to Underdark Industries. Far below your surface world we are working hard to bring you the best of new game technologies. As part of the R+D Branch I'm responsible for digging into the core mechanics of PokeMMO. I strive to understand even the toughest of sciences, so you don't have to!


Attention: I am currently becoming a co-owner of a 16 acre Ranch, complete with animals and farmland. I shall be quite busy with day to day operations, however since my true love is Pokemon I shall remain here as well. When PokeMMO does updates I will be on more often, but the ranch combined with the X and Y release being close (its 10/11 for me as I type this) I may not have a whole lot of time.
I shall list ways to contact me through the internet, since I swear on my scientist's coat I will get wifi on the ranch.

SPOILER: Click to show

Made topic look nicer all around and updated each section to include new things.
Updated Anti-Metagame Kingdra with helpful EV calculations.
Decided to keep track of updates.
Abusing Spoiler tags.

SPOILER: Click to show

Updated Smeargle in breeding section.
Updated links in main post.

SPOILER: Click to show

Added Nuzlocke'd section.
Cleaned up some other posts.
Downloaded a lot of pokemon roms for N64+Gamecube

SPOILER: Click to show

Tried using tables in some posts. It didn't work.
Updated front page a bit.
Picked my nose.
Started massive research Project on the Gen I didn't battle metagame with (lol 3rd Gen).

SPOILER: Click to show

Added the Box Trick for PokeMMO to results.
Sneezed on my cat.

SPOILER: Click to show

Added Tyranitar to Anti-Metagame Section (Finally)
Added F.E.A.R to Anti-Metagame Section.
Believing myself to have forgotten something important...

SPOILER: Click to show

Fixed spoiler under Anti-Metagame Tyranitar.
Restored portions to Anti-Metagame post.
Added Portal Stamps. Wheeeeeeeeee.
PokeMMO plans to add legendaries next update. WHEEEEEEEEE!
Almost have service on my new cell phone. Going to be able to log on from anywhere for science!
Added Smeargle to non-combat Pokemon.
Added Competitive Item Locations link to main post.
Added "Nature or IV" section to Results.
Modified some results. Plan to enter alternative pokeballs available in PokeMMO.
Added alternative pokeball unlockables to Results section.

SPOILER: Click to show

Updated a couple posts.
Doing preliminary research into 6th gen mechanics since hacking the 3DS has proven difficult. No base stats for megas and the new pokemon have been released, but plenty of other data.
Converting overflow containment units into 6th gen usage as we all await a PokeMMO update.

SPOILER: Click to show

Added Super Training to X/Y Mechanics

• Opening Notes/Future Development
  
• Non-Competitive Pokemon
  
• Results
  
• Lab Rats
  
• Competitive Pokemon: The Anti-Metagame
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Team Building 101
  
• Nuzlocke'd
  
• Overflow Containment
  

There are many Pokemon here, but as good as they look on paper most of them I have used in game. I can tell you from first hand experience if a particular set worked, or if it was just good on paper and bad in application. Since I have a rather deep understanding of the metagame and mechanics, please feel free to ask questions or add your own bits of experience.
I also have quite the collection of Pokemon (ever is it growing) that I would be willing to breed and trade with you. If you need something in particular I can show you either how to get it, or if I have it already I'll trade one. You can check out the Lab Rats section for the good ones.

---

Trade Secrets, From Me to You

These are not very secret, but it is a nice shopping list of things you will find useful no matter your experience level. I refer to them quite often if I have a question, simply so I don't have to memorize it all.

PokeMMO IV Calculator You should download this.
Altering Cave Cycle Reference Tool
Veekun's PokeDex Research Tool
Implemented Pokemon: Locations and Held Items Reference Tool
PokeMMO Breeding Mechanics Reference Tool
EV Training Guide Reference Tool
Breeding Chain Guide Useful Moves
Competitive Item Locations/Move Tutors Useful Items/Tutors

---

To Do List:

Comprehensive list of available moves for popular Pokemon (and how to get them) ~MNRunner See "Breeding Chain Guide" link above.
Make banners for the lab and Wiki ~AlbinoDrow+Plasmis
F.E.A.R. Pokemon ~AlbinoDrow
3rd Gen Metagame Strategies (and how it reflects in PokeMMO) ~AlbinoDrow
Lv. 50 VS Lv. 100 Metagame Play and Stat Differences (The debate on whether to train for a specific bracket) ~AlbinoDrow
Synchronize section when Field Abilities are released. ~AlbinoDrow
Repeat/Timer Balls. (I need to get online to check this before I post it) ~AlbinoDrow

---

Future Pokemon:

When the moves are available THEN I will train them. Until then I don't see the point. Honestly if I'm just going to retrain the superior version, whats the point?
These are here as very popular Pokemon that may explode into existence once the moves are available. Be prepared for them!
When Heal Bell is Available:
Heal Bell+Seismic Toss Chansey/Blissey
Heal Bell/Curse/Wish Umbreon

When Substitute is Available:
Tyraniboah
Jumpeon (Baton Pass Espeon)
Subseed Breloom

Things that may never be:
Selfdestruct Snorlax

---

Contact the Head of Research
If you have any questions, concerns, wish to chat, or have an idea/post you would like me to add, please contact me!

Twitter: @szarkai
Tumblr: Contrarious
Global Link: Contrarious

I will accept all friend requests coming from Team Sanctuary, so be sure to mention that!

[albinodrow]

Non-Competitive Pokemon
Useful Pokemon You Should Consider

Not every Pokemon set developed has a place in the competitive scene. Yet these are some of the ones I found to be near irreplaceable in their unique roles. I'll share some insight and my recommendations for some Pokemon that you may find quite enjoyable and helpful in your own game experiences.

• Opening Notes/Future Development
  
• Non-Competitive Pokemon
  
• Results
  
• Lab Rats
  
• Competitive Pokemon: The Anti-Metagame
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Team Building 101
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Nuzlocke'd
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Walls
  

"Non-competitive Pokemon?"
You may be wondering what the point is to having such a thing. Besides breeding stock, what other pokemon is worth taking up a space in your team or pc? Well there are quite a few. Maybe you have an HM Slave you frequently call upon. Maybe you have something you use for trivial tasks but take no further notice of them.
These are such Pokemon, but I have gone a step further with it and gave them a classification. I'll also be mentioning my personal favorites for specific non-competitive roles you may have interest in. The glory in these Pokemon is that EV training is entirely optional!

So without further ado, let's get started!

---

The Poacher:

Some Pokemon have a talent for allowing trainers to catch others with ease. Things that inflict status moves are commonly used alongside Pokemon that inflict little damage. Since fainting your opponent is not the goal here, sometimes it takes a certain amount of skill if you want to conserve your Pokeballs. Paralysis is a common status to use while catching Pokemon, but inflicting Sleep upon your prey is the best. False Swipe is another useful move that will bring your prey down to 1HP and make it easier to catch. Be careful though, as poisoning and burns will inflict damage at the end of each turn and may faint your intended prey. You also have to be careful of self damaging moves it may use like Take Down or Selfdestruct.

Recommendation: Parasect

_{You were expecting someone else?}

Parasect. Yes you heard correctly. There are plenty of other Pokemon you could use instead, but I recommend Parasect. I've found it very helpful despite it being.... well its Parasect so you get the idea. This Pokemon is special because its easy to obtain in the first place, and you don't need much to get it going. Its also able to learn both Spore and False Swipe. Combined with the aforementioned "easy to get", I place Parasect in the highest regard. Just be aware that its Effect Spore may poison your intended prey if you are not careful.
Moveset:
Spore (Gained with Paras at 25, or Parasect at 27)
A 100% accurate sleep move. Surely the most efficient since it can effect all types and put them to sleep to ease their capture.
False Swipe (Needs to be bred in from Scyther who learns it at 13)
A move that is incapable of bringing your prey below 1HP making it even easier to capture. Just beware of recoil and end of turn damage that may try to foil your attempt. It is also useless against Ghost Types.
The other two moves are really up to you. Since Parasect may spend some time between PokeCenters I usually place more utility moves or HMs.
Notable moves include Giga Drain (Parasect 51), Aromatherapy (Parasect 59), Cut/Flash/Rock Smash (HM moves), Sweet Scent (Bred), etc.
If you wish to EV train Parasect to make it more effective, I would say give it max attack (to power False Swipe) and then Hit Points (for more effective bulk). Speed is relative.

Other Pokemon of note include Magneton, who is capable of learning Thunder Wave and is resistant to most forms of attack thanks to its Steel typing.
If I did not already have my Poacher, I would use Parasect.

I started with Bulbasaur because I planned on using it as an early Poacher. Its bulk and movepool make it very efficient despite it having no access to False Swipe. If you are starting a new game and wish for a quick and easy poacher, choose Bulbasaur. It can start poaching as early as level 15 and requires no breeding! The next best early game poacher you can get is a Pikachu from Viridian Forest and teach it Thunder Wave.
Moveset:
Sleep Powder (Lv. 15)
Inferior to Spore, but still useful regardless. Has no regard for your foe's typing.
Leech Seed (Lv. 7)
Useful for inflicting small amounts of damage at the end of each turn and healing you at the same time. This move does not work on Grass types and may accidentally faint your intended capture.
Sludge Bomb (TM 36)
Since it was my starter I have maintained that it has at least one powerful move I can use in battle against trainers.
Synthesis(Lv. 39/47/53)
I also maintain that since Venusaur may be away from a PokeCenter for prolonged periods of time I give it a healing move. I opted for Synthesis over a draining move in case I needed to heal and not inflict damage in the event of trying to capture a pokemon.
Other useful moves:
Sweet Scent (Lv. 25/29)
This move can lure wild pokemon when used in grass/caves/etc. Its notable for its potential abuse in the Safari Zone or with Repels since you do not need to walk around to encounter something. This move does not work in the field as of 8/03. I do not think it will ever be allowed use in the field because of the Safari Zone Economy.

---

The Hatcher:

Quicknotes for PokeMMO's Breeding Mechanics:
There is an egg check every 10 minutes from the time you put both Pokemon in Island 4's Daycare. No steps are required, only time. There will be a chance to get an egg so long as the daycare man does not say "they prefer to play with other Pokemon"
Experience gained in the daycare is based on PvE fights, not steps. Therefore you do not have to worry about leveling your breeding pair while walking around. Just dont battle.
Hatching eggs takes steps as usual, however it takes twice the usual amount in PokeMMO. A rough estimate includes 20+ minutes on a bike going up and down on cycling road nonstop.

Pokemon with the abilities Magma Armor or Flame Body are unique in that they can halve the steps required to hatch eggs. (This is NYI in PokeMMO as of 8/03). The easiest to get for this is another otherwise terrible Pokemon: Slugma.

Slugma and Magcargo's currently available abilities are Magma Armor and Flame Body, so no matter which you catch they are instantly viable to use. Since battling is not recommended if you have Pokemon in the Daycare, I will not include a moveset. Just catch or trade for one, and instantly benefit once overworld abilities such as this are enabled.

---

The Moneymaker and Item Hunters:

Pokemon such as these offer the ability to gain extra items and cash for in game purchases (such as Ultra Balls, Medicine, TMs, Evolution Stones). You don't particularly NEED these Pokemon, but they are still very useful nonetheless.

Recommendation: Level 100 Meowth

_{Seriously, Lv. 100?}

Yes I know, level 100? Well, Meowth is one of the few Pokemon that can learn Pay Day. Pay Day will give you 5x the users level of money PER use. So at level 100, it will give you 500 PokeDollars per use. This doubles with the Amulet Coin as well! Anything with Pay Day at level 100 holding the Amulet Coin works for this honestly, but I picked Meowth for another reason as well.
Meowth also has the Pickup Ability, which once implemented will give a 10% chance at picking up an item after a battle (so long as it is not holding anything already). PLUS Meowth can learn Thief or Covet through TM/Breeding! This makes it fill two roles at once!

SPOILER: Click to show

Zigzagoon and Linoone, and a few others, also have the Pickup Ability. The pickup chart is based on the level of the pokemon with the ability, but generally the higher the level the better the items. PokeMMO staff have stated that they wish to make a unique pickup chart for the game, which I will post when it is released. If you want to maximize Pickup gathering, have a full team of Pokemon with the ability.

To maximize money gathering use a high level Pokemon with Pay Day holding the Amulet Coin. I use Meowth for both simply because I carry Poachers and Traveling Pokemon with me (in case of shinies/need to quicktravel). I don't have a lot of team space left.

SPOILER: Click to show

Located in Island 5 are a couple of trainers that you can rebattle using the VS. Seeker to get quick cash. To get to them, go to Island 5, then head north until you reach Resort Gorgeous. In there you will find two rich trainers each giving about 10000 Pokedollars. If you use an Amulet Coin and battle both of them, you can get about 40000 Pokedollars. Of course, you can repeat this process as much as you want, thanks to the Vs. Seeker.

---

The Breeder

Now that Breeding is released in PokeMMO, new non-combatants have become useful! Besides Ditto, other Pokemon are extremely useful and should be caught if you plan on getting into this part of the trade and battle metagames.

Recommendation: Smeargle

Egg moves are the entire point of breeding in PokeMMO. Thus Smeargle has attained a part in the "useful" area outside of battles. With its signature move Sketch, Smeargle can learn ANY move. Usually I get a Pokemon that knows the move I wish to breed, go into a double battle with it and Smeargle, then Sketch that move. Make sure Sketch goes last and you target the Pokemon going to use the move you want.
Smeargle is also in the Field egg group, which is the most common group possible. It easily passes the moves, and for those not in the Field egg group you only need a "bridge" capable of learning the move. A Bridge is a Pokemon that shares an egg group with the Pokemon that knows the move, and the Pokemon you want to know the move. So long as that bridge can learn it as well, it can continue to pass the move on until you reach the designated Pokemon.

SPOILER: Click to show

Heat Wave and Hypnosis to Zubat:
Heat Wave is learned only by Charizard by utilizing the Move Relearner
Sketch Heat Wave from Charizard to Smeargle
Breed Smeargle (Field) with Farfetch'd (Field/Flying)
Breed Farfetch'd with Hoothoot (Flying)
Level Heat Wave Hoothoot (Flying) until it learns Hypnosis
Breed Heat Wave+Hypnosis Hoothoot (Flying) with Zubat (Flying)
Profit

You can also use Smeargle as a Poacher, Moneymaker, Item Hunter, etc etc. It can learn any and every move with Sketch, so it can fit any non-combat role!
[/size]

[albinodrow]

Results
and the Notes You Didn't Want to Read

Here is quite possibly the most helpful section. It is where I'll be adding the shortcuts, tips, and exploits you may be interested in.

Current Tips:
The Box Trick
Capture Rate
Maximizing Defenses
Capturing Relicanth
Nature VS IVs
Unlocking Alternate Pokeballs

Coming Soon:
Stat Stages and Calculations; a Reference Guide
Nature or IVs?

• Opening Notes/Future Development
  
• Non-Competitive Pokemon
  
• Results
  
• Lab Rats
  
• Competitive Pokemon: The Anti-Metagame
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Team Building 101
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Nuzlocke'd
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Walls
  

---

---

The Box Trick
EV Training Lv. 100 Pokemon

Ever trade for a Lv. 100 Pokemon only to realize the EV spread may not be what you want it to be? Like they used the cookie cutter spread off Smogon, but the IVs are not 31? Well, don't release that Pokemon just yet!

It is possible to EV train a Pokemon at any level, including level 100. Rather than having the stats recalculate upon leveling up, you have the game recalculate in another way. Depositing a Pokemon in the PC will cause the stats to be recalculated in the handhelds, but this does not always work in PokeMMO. To truly be certain that the stats are correct, which is especially useful for IV calculating, you must relog. It is a longer process, but will force the server to recalculate the stats on your Pokemon.

Rule of thumb when calculating IVs: Level up in increments of 5 (Lv. 5, Lv. 10, Lv. 15, etc) and relog before calculating. At these levels the IVs will become clearer, rather than a broad range. You may not get a perfect calculation until much later levels, but this will at least give you an idea of what to expect.

0-10 IVs: Bad
11-15 IVs: Fair
16-19 IVs: Decent
20-24 IVs: Good
25+ IVs: Great
31: Perfect
In PokeMMO you should not expect nor try to get 31s all around. That will only drive you insane. Instead aim for anything over 25 in the main stats the Pokemon will be using. HP is the next important out of that, then the other IVs really could be anything.

---

The Capture Rate:

I honestly do not think anything has changed in PokeMMO from other Pokemon games. If it is different, I will rework this. This is also the first grand note added since it is useful early on in the game, not to mention the first NC Pokemon are poachers.

The Shortcut:
Put your target to Sleep and throw Ultra Balls.
If that does not work, lower target's health before continuing.
In the Safari Zone: Bait once then throw Balls.

Capture Rate is defined as the rate at which a Pokemon can be captured. Some are more difficult than others, and there are things that can alter the capture rate in your favor. Low capture rate is bad, high capture rate is good.
Species, current health, status, and Pokeball used are all part of the formula that determines if you catch the Pokemon or not.

From Bulbapedia

• The health of the Pok�mon (relative to its full health), which can reduce the probability to ⅓� at full health.
  
• The type of Pok� Ball, which can augment by some �.
  
• Any status ailment of the wild Pok�mon, i.e. 2� increase for sleep or freeze, and 1.5� for others.
  The effects stack multiplicatively � for example, a 2� and a 3� will combine to be 6�. If the calculation ends up greater than 1, the wild Pok�mon is assured to be caught.

In short, to guarentee a capture you should inflict a status, lower the health, and use an Ultra Ball.



Yea... I'm not going into that. I could but I doubt you'd read it. I'll just let you in on what you need to know.
Better Pokeballs = Better Capture
Regular Pokeballs have a rate of 1x. Great Balls are 1.5x, and Ultra Balls are 2x. This means that Ultra Balls are clearly superior in PokeMMO. As no specialty balls have been added (as of 8/03), we wont get into them right now.

SPOILER: Click to show

Since Legendaries are planned for the next update, Timer Balls are going to become very useful.
Veekun: "Attempts to catch a wild Pokémon. Has a catch rate of 1.1× on the first turn of the battle and increases by 0.1× every turn, to a maximum of 4× on turn 30."
Timer Balls are possible to get in FireRed/LeafGreen! However before I reveal the location of them I must confirm the data. You could google it for now, but when I have made sure of their availability in PokeMMO I will also post it here with a "how to obtain" sub-section.

Some Status Effects are Better than Others.
A status effect increases the rate by a bonus of 1.5x. HOWEVER, if the status is Sleep or Freeze the rate increases by 2x. Thus sleep is the superior choice since it is the easiest and does not have a chance at fainting your target. Sleep and Freeze further increase to 2.5x in generation 5 onwards.

---

Unlocking Alternate Pokeballs

So, with Legendary Pokemon on their way Timer Balls (with their 4x capture rate max on turn 30) are going to prove to be extra useful. So how to get such an item in PokeMMO? Easy! Essentially you need to complete the game.

The merchant on Island Two will provide rare items for you. He starts out with Great Balls and Fresh Water (Fresh Water also heals as much as a Super Potion at a lower price throughout the games. Using them over the expensive stuff can be an easy way to save cash). As you progress after that point he will gain more items. Simply talk to him to listen to his speech each time he gains more items (enter and exit a nearby building multiple times if you have done everything but never talked to him to reload the area and unlock the next set of items).

Rescue Lostella:
Soda Pop
Ultra Ball
Obtain National Dex:
Lemonade
MooMoo Milk
Complete Network Machine (aka gain access to all islands):
Lava Cookie
Repeat Ball
Timer Ball

Once he informs you that he is shipping in items from a distant land (aka Hoenn; where they first appeared) then you've unlocked everything he has to offer!

---

Hit Points or Defense/Special Defense?

While training bulky Pokemon you may run into this question. Which is more important? HP or Def/SpDef? Without simulating it in a damage calculator, you may struggle to answer this.

The Shortcut:
Hit Points with Few Exceptions
Magic Numbers

Smogon did an article on this question called Maximizing Defenses. They even had an applet you could use to determine exactly where to put EVs to max your defense. But its pointless since it all says the same thing. Over and over.

For the Metagame you only need to consider what sort of attack you wish to take. A Timid Alakazam's Unboosted Psychic for instance. Just run a damage calculator and input EVs to your specific pokemon until it can withstand what you wish of it.

SPOILER: Click to show

Hit Points are also part of the "magic number" simulator. I'll copy an old smogon post for your benefit:
SR, Spikes, Leech Seeds, Sandstorm, Hail, poison, burn; almost any kind of passive damage falls under the "sixteenth part" rule, so does Leftover and Black Sludge and other healing abilities like Rain Dish and Poison Heal. The damage or the healing increases for every sixteenth of your HP. Still, many player tend to put maximum HP on their walls, some people hit the sixteenth exactly.
Because the damage will be round down when you don't hit the sixteenth, actually you should exceed the sixteenth by one health point. It allows you to survive one more turn without wasting EV in HP.
These are some of the magic numbers: 305, 321, (337), 353, 369, 385, 401, etc.
However, there are three expections: 338 HP, and 404, 405 HP.
First one is to survive Seismic Tosses and Night Shades one more round than usual. Mons with 338 or more HP plus Leftover will survive five Tosses with only 1 left; of course this number is even, so you will build up fewer substitutes but in that case you are fine with 337 anyway, because you won�t get hit directly. 404 is for those base 100 Mons, who can form 101-subs but can�t exceed 404. If you don�t want to sub, 401 is fine but 405 HP is better for those who want to and can have that much HP as it allows more subs.
Keep your HP in odd numbers I have mentioned before: That rule applies to any situation the "fourth part rule" is; to SR weak Pokemon and to Substitute user. Having an odd number of HP allows them, to switch in more or to build up more subs (four times without leftover), with only a mere part of their health left.
There is an expection: if you want use stat-raising berries or want to trigger abilities like Blaze and Swarm, you can and should keep your HP even because that way your berry/ability will be activated after you have lost 3/4 of your HP, ergo after three instead of four subs.
Often the second rule is covered by the first one, but some players carelessly put one HP in some glass cannons. One more point actually can cause more trouble occasionally than help; minimal, but present - better put it somewhere else, because the damage can be much more crucial when using Life Orb sweeper.
The Life Orb introduced in the 4th gen is a bit odd, because it doesn't work with the "sixteenth part". As it lowers your HP every round by the tenth part of the maximum, you may have expected it: having a zero at the end of your maximum HP can't be good. If you follow the second rule, you won't have problem; many Life Orb run minimin HP, so at 31 IV it shouldn't cause troble anyway.
There actually are some Mons in this meta those minimum HP is XX9, those, whose base HP has a four or a nine in the end (74, 79, 84, 89, 94, etc.): Ferrothorn, (Thundurus), Empoleon, Landorus, Golurk and Amoonguss.
From those only Thundurus (now uber), Landorus and Empoleon (UU) may run Life Orbs. Good, that the Smogon analysts put the remaining four EV in something else than HP to keep the Life Orb recoil low. For those who accidently do that, here again: Better don't dump the last for EV into HP.

---

Nature or IVs
Which is more important?

A very important question! Both are generally important in the competitive metagame, but while breeding this question usually floats through people's heads. As a timesaver, which would be more important to focus on; Nature or IV?
Generally speaking, it depends on the Pokemon you are using and how you are going to train it. Base stats are very important, and against new players you can get away with having less than perfect Pokemon (or if you use strategy and prediction). Still, this should clear things up.

x= floor(floor(2*100+X +floor(252/4))*100/100 + 5)*N

Someone made a graph! Original post here.
Blue: Positive Nature (IVs 1-31)
Green: Neutral Nature (IVs 1-31)
Red: Negative Nature (IVs 1-31)
Black: Minimum Value in a Nature
White: Maximum value in a Nature

Result of Calculations:
If you have a positive Nature, the Pokemon is worth keeping unless the IV is below roughly 13, in which case a neutral Nature would be favorable so long as the IV is above roughly 18.

Neutral Nature:
17<IV

Positive Nature:
13<IV

Again having both good IVs and a Beneficial Nature is best, but according to science it doesn't always have to meet both. This is probably why my Neutral Natured Venusaur does just fine in competitive...[/size]

---

The Great Relicanth Hunt
Encountering this Rare Pokemon in PokeMMO

After doing it myself, I can happily testify that Relicanth is indeed rare and difficult to find, even using max repels.

How to Do it:
Surf at the bottom of Island 7 by the ruins.
Have a Pokemon Lv. 60 in the front of your party.
Use many Max Repels (avg. 40)

I can't find Relicanth's encounter rate, but it took me 46 Repels to encounter a level 67 with a level 62 at the head of my party. However, they can be seen ranging from level 60 to 80, which is higher than all the other wild Pokemon in the area. Thus the max repels to prevent Tentacools from mobbing you.
Good Luck!

---

[albinodrow]

The Lab Rats:
My Personal Stock Pokemon

This is simply going to be a quick run-through of the Pokemon I have as Breeding Stock. Only the noteworthy ones will be listed, and I only mention them in case you need something bred or to note things I may consider breeding in the future.
If you would like a Pokemon bred, please feel free to message me I breed for free for teammates, otherwise I enjoy other egg move Pokemon or upgrades to ones I already have.

• Opening Notes/Future Development
  
• Non-Competitive Pokemon
  
• Results
  
• Lab Rats
  
• Competitive Pokemon: The Anti-Metagame
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Team Building 101
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Nuzlocke'd
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Walls
  

---

Currently Unobtainable Events:

Shroomish
Lotad
(Leech Seed/Rain Dance/Surf)
Spoink
(Magic Coat/Psychic/Psych Up)
Plusle
Minun
(Thunderbolt/Thunder Wave)
Roselia
Feebas
Snorunt
Girafarig
Spheal
(Powder Snow)
Carvanha
Cacnea

---

Currently Obtainable Events:

Relicanth
(Rest/Double Edge/Rock Slide/Ancientpower)
Chinchou
Lickitung
Gligar
Noctowl
Lunatone
Beautifly
Volbeat
Illumise
Surskit
Mareep
Absol Lv.8 [quirky] HP[0-7] ATK[0-31] DEF[5-17] SATK[0-31] SDEF[5-17] SPD[25-31]
(Shadow Ball/Thunderbolt/Flamethrower/Ice Beam)
Bagon Lv.13 [naive] HP[3-9] ATK[27-31] DEF[24-30] SATK[20-27] SDEF[0-1] SPD[0-7]
(Dragon Dance/Hydro Pump/Thrash)
Aron
Slakoth
Mawile
Stantler
Houndour
Poochyena
Teddiursa
(Cross Chop/Seismic Toss)
Zigzagoon
Shuckle
Sableye
Shuppet
Snubbull
Aipom
Pineco
Spinda
Togetic
(Unknown if this is an event or not)

---

Other Egg Move Pokemon/Breeding Stock:

I'm always looking for better IVs through trades so these may change as I upgrade.

Charmeleon Lv.25 [careful] HP[4-7] ATK[14-17] DEF[0-2] SATK[0-2] SDEF[25-28] SPD[16-19]
(Thunderpunch)
Abra Lv.7 [lonely] HP[22-31] ATK[18-31] DEF[0-12] SATK[0-4] SDEF[19-31] SPD[6-19]
(Thunderpunch/Ice Punch/Fire Punch)
Rhyhorn Lv.6 [sassy] HP[24-31] ATK[0-13] DEF[10-26] SATK[0-6] SDEF[24-31] SPD[0-16]
(Curse/Superpower/Hidden Power)
Staryu Lv.5 [adamant] HP[0-19] ATK[10-29] DEF[0-9] SATK[0-19] SDEF[0-9] SPD[10-29]
(Ice Beam/Thunderbolt/Surf/Psychic)
Scyther Lv.10 [careful] HP[20-29] ATK[9-18] DEF[20-29] SATK[10-19] SDEF[20-29] SPD[20-29]
(Baton Pass/Silver Wind)
Scyther Lv.9 [sassy] HP[5-15] ATK[0-2] DEF[18-28] SATK[13-23] SDEF[0-6] SPD[24-31]
(Baton Pass/Silver Wind/Steel Wing)
Electabuzz Lv.30 [brave] HP[0-3] ATK[5-7] DEF[21-23] SATK[22-24] SDEF[9-12] SPD[0-2]
(Thunderpunch/Ice Punch/Fire Punch/Cross Chop)
Eevee Lv.6 [lax] HP[7-23] ATK[7-23] DEF[0-16] SATK[10-26] SDEF[0-3] SPD[24-31]
(Curse/Wish/Yawn/Hidden Power)
Eevee Lv.8 [adamant] HP[15-27] ATK[3-14] DEF[13-24] SATK[0-9] SDEF[20-31] SPD[28-31]
(Toxic/Yawn)
Eevee Lv.9 [lonely] HP[2-12] ATK[2-12] DEF[12-22] SATK[10-21] SDEF[4-14] SPD[23-31]
(Toxic/Shadow Ball)
Snorlax Lv.12 [hasty] HP[14-21] ATK[22-29] DEF[0-11] SATK[4-11] SDEF[22-29] SPD[15-23]
(Curse/Return/Shadow Ball/Rest)
Marill Lv.10 [careful] HP[20-29] ATK[0-9] DEF[0-9] SATK[10-29] SDEF[20-29] SPD[0-9]
(Present)
Smeargle Lv.25 [serious] HP[22-25] ATK[24-27] DEF[22-25] SATK[20-23] SDEF[6-9] SPD[30-31]
(Varies)
Larvitar Lv.17 [quiet] HP[0-5] ATK[8-13] DEF[12-17] SATK[10-15] SDEF[12-17] SPD[22-27]
(Dragon Dance/Rock Slide/Earthquake)
Larvitar Lv.10 [serious] HP[0-9] ATK[2-11] DEF[10-19] SATK[20-29] SDEF[20-29] SPD[17-26]
(Hidden Power/Curse/Superpower)
Dusclops Lv.38 [bashful] HP[18-20] ATK[0-31] DEF[12-14] SATK[0-31] SDEF[22-23] SPD[23-25]
(Curse/Will-O-Wisp/Pain Split)

---

Rare/Hard to Obtain Pokemon:

[albinodrow]

This section I'm going to cover some Pokemon that I think are very notable for their current anti-metagame behaviors and ability to counter some of the common Pokemon of PokeMMO.
Smogon is a somewhat useful resource for any Pokemon metagame, and it still holds weight no matter how much players hate it. People will copy smogon rather than create their own sets, but this is not always a bad thing. Smogon sets are tried and true and require very little experimentation and testing.
To use a Smogon set effectively in PokeMMO however, some things must be noted. Smogon assumes your Pokemon have 31 IVs in all sets, unless they note otherwise. This is useful for things like Pokemon Online where you CAN set all to 31, but in PokeMMO this is very unlikely. Instead you must calculate and spend your EV points differently to outspeed what you need it to, or live what you expect it to. Use damage calculators to your advantage. DO NOT COOKIE CUTTER THE EV SPREADS.

Edit 8/28 Update: Going to put a 3rd Gen Metagame Survival Guide here too. Prepare for some mess as I update it when possible.

• Opening Notes/Future Development
  
• Non-Competitive Pokemon
  
• Results
  
• Lab Rats
  
• Competitive Pokemon: The Anti-Metagame
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Team Building 101
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Nuzlocke'd
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Walls
  

---

The Anti-Metagame

Anti-Metagame Pokemon are the bane of competitive players. They are made specifically to ruin common teams, and will destroy anyone who is new to the metagame (and even some older players). I personally love them because they take out a very wide range of threats and make for a solid team member, if you can use them correctly.
Lets start with two of my favorites. Kingdra and Tyranitar.

Kingdra
The King of Dragons

Anyone who has faced Clair in GSC/HGSS knows how much of a pain Kingdra can be. Its naturally bulky, fast, and can dish out some massive damage if given the chance. This has never changed imo throughout the games, but its usage is low because of a small movepool, need for rain, and Drizzle+Swift Swim clauses. To truly be effective it requires rain, unless you spend more EV points in speed and not bulk. This makes it tricky to use, but highly effective when given the chance.
Kingdra's main focus is to destroy opposing dragons, quite possibly removing your opponents main sweeper or only sweepers. Just be wary of steel types and special walls.

Moveset:
Rain Dance (TM) Changes the weather to rain for five turns, so you have 4 turns to inflict damage. This is enough for mid-late game sweeping, but you should try not to use Kingdra until you clear out anything that could stop it.
Surf (HM) Does more damage with Rain in effect, and is type boosted. Very effective as a general move.
Ice Beam (TM) This move is for anti-dragons. An Ice Beam coming off of a Kingdra is nothing to laugh at and should seek to KO all other dragons in one shot. This means max investment in Special Attack.
Outrage/Dragonbreath (Egg Moves) Whichever you prefer, as both have their benefits and drawbacks. Outrage can inflict massive damage for 2-3 turns before confusing Kingdra, but with limited Rain this isnt too bad of a problem. Outrage will also force Kingdra to attack until it is confused, therefore you will be stuck for the duration. Dragonbreath can be used as an alternative with its 30% chance to paralyze opponents. It is not as powerful as Outrage, but in return you are not stuck using it and left with confusion.
Ability: Swift Swim (100%)
Swift Swim double's Kingdra's speed in rain. Speed will not double on the turn the rain begins (in the case of Rain Dance) however it will remain doubled until the rain ends.

Recommended EV Spread:
Smogon says 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe, which is pretty much all you need. Maximize Special Attack, invest enough in speed to outspeed most threats in rain, then dump the rest into Hit Points for survivability.

SPOILER: Click to show

Let's say you want to outspeed Salamence, the current popular dragon dance sweeper. Its base speed is 100, which means at max IVs and EVs with a beneficial nature, it can reach 328 speed at level 100 (167 at 50).
Kingdra has a base speed of 85 (reaching a max of 295/150). In the rain, this can double to 590/300.
After one Dragon Dance, max speed Salamence hits 492 speed (250.5). So even after a Dragon Dance, max speed Kingdra can outspeed Salamence so long as there is rain.
BUT you don't have a +speed nature! How many EVs should you put into Speed to beat Salamence in the rain? Kingdra with max IVs but no speed investment and a neutral nature will only get up to 412 speed at level 100 in the rain. 210 at level 50 in the rain. Obviously this is bad, since if Salamence has one Dragon Dance it will outspeed Kingdra even in the rain! So we must get over 492 speed in the rain, which is 247 (to outspeed 492) at level 100.
With a neutral nature and 31 IVs in speed, you need to invest 164 EVs into Speed to outrun +1 (Dragon Dance) Salamence in the rain.
With two Dragon Dances, it is impossible for Kingdra to outspeed Max Speed Salamence in the rain. With no Dragon Dances max speed Salamence will not outspeed neutral minimum speed Kingdra in the rain (even with 0 IVs in Speed).

Tyranitar
Tyrant of Battle

Holy crap I'm finally adding this guy? YES I AM! Tyranitar is wildly known as a powerhouse Pokemon in almost every sense. It has charted in OU since its release, and it is likely to remain there. This particular version of Tyranitar was hugely popular in 3rd and 4th gen battling, so I present you with: Tyraniboah.

Moveset:
Substitute (Tutor) The main part of Tyraniboah's entire set is a Sub-Punch focus. Send out Tyranitar against something that isn't able to do anything to it, and set up Subtitute on the switch. Most of the time people will switch out on Tyranitar thus giving you a free sub, protecting you from status and allowing you to score a free hit while the substitute is alive.
Focus Punch/Superpower (TM/Egg) Focus Punch is the second part of any sub-punch set. With substitute to protect you while Tyranitar focuses its power, Focus Punch will not fail to hit (since Tyranitar can't get hit). It does require a bit of prediction to use without a sub, which is why I listed Superpower as an alternative. It may not be as powerful as FP, and will result in stat drops, but it is still very powerful and can be used without relying so much on subs or prediction.
Crunch/Pursuit (Lv./Egg) Because fighting type moves will not work against ghost types, you need a way to hit them for as much type coverage as possible. Crunch is great for power, but Pursuit can work wonders with a bit of prediction. Switch in to a Ghost type and threaten it out, then KO it anyways with Pursuit (or pick of a weakened Pokemon that is likely to switch). You may not get a free sub by using Pursuit, but KOing something is well worth it imo.
Ice Beam/Flamethrower/Thunderbolt (TM) The fun part about Tyraniboah is its ability to use elements. Does your team have a problem against the common Heracross, Scizor, Salamence, etc? Pick the element that kills and vola! This is where Tyraniboah's ability to KO one of its own threats or team problem area comes in. Personally I favor Flamethrower to threaten Scarm-Bliss combos and steel types, which is currently the checks for the common dragon types.
Ability: Sand Stream (100%)
No other choice but this ability, and its a good one. Pokémon that are not Ground, Rock, or Steel take 1/16 their max HP at the end of every turn. Every Rock Pokémon's original Special Defense is raised by 50% for the duration of Sandstorm as well. SolarBeam's power is halved; Moonlight, Morning Sun, and Synthesis only heal 1/4 the user's max HP.

Recommended EV Spread:
Smogon says 252 HP / 52 Atk / 176 SpA / 28 Spe, which is straightforward. You will need 31 IVs in HP for the set to truly be effective, since you NEED 101 HP Substitutes. This ensures that they will not break by Night Shade or Seismic Toss, which are very common moves in the level 100 bracket. Tyranitar's low Special Attack is where you are going to focus the main bulk, with calculations to ensure you can 2HKO Specially Defensive Skarmory with Flamethrower or Thunderbolt, or whichever elemental move you chose to take on a specific need. Bring speed up enough to outspeed Blissey as often as possible, and Machamp. The rest can be dumped into attack for powerful FP or Superpower shots.

SPOILER: Click to show

Holy Algebra Batman!
As I stated above, the EV spread hiarchy goes from HP>Sp Attack>Speed>Attack. You NEED 404 HP no matter what, thus 31 IVs and 252 EVs. REQUIRED. Raise special attack based on your IV so that you can 2HKO the prime threats your Boah is after with the element of your choice. Raise Speed to outspeed Blissey and Machamp more often than not, then dump the rest into attack. Durring Sandstorm Tyranitar's defenses and HP will add to enough bulk to make it survivable without any other defense investment.

---

F.E.A.R

Ahh the FEAR section. These Pokemon are fairly anti-metagame, but also a bit gimmicky. Older players will know exactly what you are doing one they see one of these Pokemon, but others may be taken in entirely by surprise.

F: Focus Sash
E: Endeavor
A: (Quick) Attack
R: Rattata

I'll just quote from Bulbapedia (cause I'm lazy):
After one of the player's Pokémon faints, the F.E.A.R. Pokémon can be sent out against an opponent's Pokémon with (preferably) full HP. During the first turn, the F.E.A.R. Pokémon will use Endeavor, and the opponent will most likely use an offensive attack to try to defeat the F.E.A.R. Pokémon (assuming, of course, that the opponent isn't aware of this strategy). The F.E.A.R. Pokémon would indeed faint, if it were not holding the Focus Sash, which allows the user to hold on to 1 HP after a hit which would otherwise knock it out from max-HP. When the Pokémon uses Endeavor, the HP of the opponent's Pokémon will equal the HP of its own (which is now, assuming Focus Sash triggered, equal to 1). During the following turn, the F.E.A.R. Pokémon can use Quick Attack to wipe out the remaining 1 HP of the opponent's Pokémon. Focus Sash will not work twice, so a Pokémon can only use this strategy once.

In Generation V, the Ability Sturdy was altered to function like a Focus Sash, but can activate multiple times providing the Pokémon regains all of its HP. With this change came new notable users of F.E.A.R. - A level 2 Probopass can use Pain Split to wear down the opponent's HP whilst healing itself, whereas Aron can use a combination of Endeavor and a held Shell Bell for multiple uses of Endeavor. Generation V also introduced Solosis, a Pokémon able to combine Magic Guard and Endeavor, but also set up Trick Room for its allies.

Many Pokemon can use this strategy, but because they are usually very low level it can be easy to spot out what is happening. At most you can hope to score a couple fun KOs if your opponent has no counters for it, or does not know what is going to happen.

---

Surviving the PokeMMO Metagame
A Guide to Competitive Playing (for 3rd Gen Pokemon)

I never seem to have the same sort of format for posting. Sorry!

Ahem, anyways I figured this would be a great place to put a metagame survival guide. This is new ground for me as well since I've only really battled 4th and 5th gen Pokemon.
Why after the anti-metagame Pokemon? Well, my few anti-metagame Pokemon are universal. Some people can counter them, but for the most part they are noted for their ability to crush the common Pokemon in just about every Metagame. Thus, they are very useful for beginners since they are simple yet effective.


So I'm off to a great start. I have very little hands on battling to PokeMMO outside of unofficial challenges and battling with a team of Lv. 1 Pokemon. Plus I can't log on for a while to battle and train, so its all paper research for me! Now to teach you, I'll also show some insight onto my researching, which is really just massive amounts of reading.
Stage One: Read up on Smogon Articles from gens 1-3, starting with 3 and working backwards (so the most relevant come first). I could read the more recent articles, but all that provides is a future look at movesets, but without the physical/special split I don't see that as being overly helpful. (but whats fun is looking at archive articles from their forums. Sometimes unpublished sets are amazing *Careful Toxicroak Set lol*)
Read up and follow some competitive topics in PokeMMO's forums. Trends in the archives there (along with Trade Chat) with the more recent articles will allow me to get a grasp on what's going on in PokeMMO's metagame.
Stage Two: Play Pokemon Online (or other Pokemon Battle simulators) and play in the third gen. I may not get practice with PokeMMO's possible movesets, but a bit of hands on experience with third gen battling is direly needed. Since 3rd gen didn't have wifi, competitive battles were not nearly as commonplace as they are in later gens. With this I feel as though it is safe to assume that not many people are going to be experts. PokeMMO is getting enough new players in, and old players out, that the metagame is still full of fresh blood. If you get some experience from a simulator (thus no need to spend hours training in PokeMMO just yet), then you're slightly ahead of the curve!
A substitute for this can be watching battles during tournaments. You don't need to participate to spectate! This way you can get a clearer look at how people are likely to battle, with what, and how they may handle certain threats. Try to spectate on as many battles as possible, especially when it gets closer to the semi-finals.
Stage Three: Theorymon. That is to say, write down some movesets for Pokemon you may want to use in PokeMMO. With its different breeding mechanics you'll likely look up new moves for old Pokemon. The more you know its strengths, the more you know its weaknesses. I find that if I battle with a Pokemon enough, I know exactly how to handle it if I have to battle against it. Knowledge is power here.

[albinodrow]

I've had a brainwave (shocking!). I could simply tell you what Pokemon are powerful and how some Pokemon can be used, but what is the good in that in the long run? Yes it's a helpful shortcut, but knowing which Pokemon are good is only one part in the competitive metagame. Instead, I will tell you how to build and effective and enjoyable team, and later some of my tips on battling. I personally do not battle to win. I battle to have fun and expand my knowledge in the competitive area. However, the teams I have created in the past are excellent and fairly original, not to mention varying between easy and difficult to use.

• Opening Notes/Future Development
  
• Non-Competitive Pokemon
  
• Results
  
• Lab Rats
  
• Competitive Pokemon: The Anti-Metagame
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Team Building 101
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Nuzlocke'd
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Walls
  

---

Team Building 101
How to Build a Team that Suits You

Teams are fairly easy to create once you have the basics down. Still, it takes time and practice with them to be effective. This holds true with any team. You could copy a Smogon team for Pokemon Online that won 1st place in a tournament and still lose in battle with it.
Instead, you want to create a team that suits your unique battle style. I'll walk through a team I made at the end of the 4th generation metagame.

First, a few questions must be answered before you start. Do you prefer attacking straight on? Do you enjoy using entry hazards? Do you enjoy status effects? Do you like using bulky Pokemon?
With these answered you know how you would like to battle. Personally I enjoy using well placed walls, crippling status effects, and perhaps one extremely powerful Pokemon that requires little to set up. This reflects in my trading habits as well since I value bulky Pokemon over fast attacking ones.
I also enjoy countering my opponent's moves and out-predicting them. Thus I fight strategically over hyper offensive. Still, I do have problems with hyper offensive teams sometimes if I cannot out-predict them as often as necessary. Because I know of this, I tend to use bait Pokemon.


The DPPt metagame was HO (Hyper Offense). Scizor, Salamence, Gyarados, Lucario, and other high speed+high attack Pokemon were very common. Most teams had maybe one wall or entry hazard user, then the rest sweepers. I made a team to work in this environment, and still keep to my preferred battle style.

First, I picked out a couple of Pokemon I really liked. I always liked Sneasel, and it got an evolution in DPPt so I decided to use a Weavile.
I loved using entry hazards like Spikes and Stealth Rock, plus I liked Forretress for its amazing bulk. Not to mention it could lay down plenty of hazards and even Rapid Spin my opponent's away!
For the rest, it was basically like fitting in what works and what does not.

Forretress, since it had hazards, was originally the lead Pokemon. However, it had a huge 4x weakness to fire. Honestly that weakness would hurt it in the HO environment BADLY, so I decided for a Pokemon with Flash Fire. Forretress baits in the fire moves, Flash Fire takes it and gains a bonus to its own fire! Heatran was chosen here for its wide movepool. It even had Earth Power to devastate the fire Pokemon that attacked!
Heatran has a 4x weakness to ground, another common attack type in any competitive battle. This could be resolved by a flying type or levitate. I chose Togekiss for this. Togekiss is specially defensive where Forretress is physically defensive, so it also suits there. Plus Togekiss could get Thunder Wave, which worked to cripple opposing sweepers by cutting their speed.
Weavile was going to be my main sweeper, but it had a major weakness to Fighting type moves. 4x weakness in fact... So a ghost type was in order.
Dusknoir was put in charge of this, and brought in Will-o-Wisp to burn opposing sweepers as well!
So I have 5 Pokemon so far: Forretress, Heatran, Togekiss, Weavile, and Dusknoir. They all work very well together by covering each others weaknesses, and all but Weavile have a level of bulk. I lacked offensive power still. Infernape became my answer to this, and replaced Forretress as lead. This made 6 Pokemon that could work well with each other, provided their movesets could as well.
(Feel free to copy this team for 4th gen battles. Its not nearly as good in the 5th gen, but perfect in 4th gen if you want something fun to use and easy once you get the hang of it)

Lets start with my new lead: Infernape.
Infernape was mostly used as a sweeper, or suicide lead. I didn't change the recipe much and left it as a suicide lead. This meant it would die quickly, but had a few key jobs first.

Item: Focus Sash - Popular item for leads as it prevents the Pokemon from fainting, provided it had full health when attacked. This made sure I had at least one turn use a move.
Ability: Blaze - Strengthens Fire moves to inflict 1.5× damage at 1/3 max HP or less.
Moveset:
Flamethrower (TM) I opted for Flamethrower for its 100% accuracy. Since Infernape's ability is Blaze, I felt it was necessary to use a fire move to profit off of this. Since Focus Sash would keep Infernape alive at 1HP, Blaze would activate and Flamethrower would be boosted.
Taunt (Level) Another popular move for leads as it prevents opposing Pokemon from using anything but attacking moves. This could stop something from setting up, then if Infernape is at full health when attacked next it would be thrown into Blaze range and get a boosted Flamethrower!
Close Combat (Level) Another attacking move that had the added bonus of dropping Infernape's defenses. I could hit with this and it was sure that the next incoming attack would bring me into Blaze range, but not before doing a ton of damage!
Earthquake (TM) Earthquake was just used for coverage and to beat other Infernape leads. If anything resisted Flamethrower, EQ was there to hit it instead. Rarely was my Infernape able to use this however, since Taunt/Stealth Rock were more important to set up.

Now comes my secondary lead and spinner, Forretress.
Forretress's main, and only, job was to set up as many entry hazards as possible, rapid spin away hazards on my side, and bait in fire type moves with its 4x weakness.

Item: Leftovers Heals 1/16th HP at the end of every turn.
Ability: Sturdy Prevents 1HKO moves from working.
Moveset:
Rapid Spin (Level) Rapid Spin was only used to get rid of opposing spikes, toxic spikes, leech seed, stealth rock, and any other hazards my opponent had set up. Mainly Stealth Rock though. Sadly this was blocked by ghost types so a degree of prediction had to be used.
Spikes (Level) Can go up to 3 layers, inflicting a decent chunk of damage on anything switching in. The more layers the better, so this was an important move. If I got to 3 layers, my opponent was in for a world of hurt on every switch in! Alas, my efforts could be ruined by Rapid Spin.
Stealth Rock (TM) Very popular entry hazard in the 4th gen. This did a bit of damage (more if the Pokemon switching in was weak to rock, up to 50% on the 4x weak Ninjask for example). It would break opposing Focus Sash users as well. However it is prone to being blasted away by Rapid Spin.
Explosion (Level) Oh Explosion, how much fun you were in 4th gen. It ignored some of the opponent's defenses and almost always scored a KO. It was great to use when Forretress's job was over so it could go out with a BANG.

Now that Forretress had a turn, I usually ended up switching to Heatran or Dusknoir at this point. So, on to Heatran!

Heatran was a VERY popular choice scarf-revenge killer Pokemon. I took advantage of this completely, and changed the recipe towards the more unusual variants.

Item: Wise Glasses - I could have used a Choice item, but for the set I was going for I decided against it. I also did not want to use Leftovers/Life Orb since it would give away the ruse of acting like it HAD a choice item! Expert Belt was another choice, but I wanted the small increase in all of the special attacks.
Ability: Flash Fire - Forretress baited in the fire move, and Heatran absorbed it. This also increased Heatran's fire attack power making it more threatening.
Moveset:
Flamethrower (TM) Like with Infernape, I valued high accuracy over high power. There is nothing worse than missing with a move in a crucial moment! This was also common on choice item Heatrans. Lava Plume could have been used for an extra 30% chance to burn though
Earth Power (Level) Another common for choice Heatran moves, and rounded out its coverage.
Substitute (TM) This is where things got interesting. When I switch Heatran into a fire type move for Flash Fire boost, 90% of opponents will believe it has a Choice Scarf and plans to revenge kill something of theirs. They usually switched out immediately to their wall, giving me a FREE Substitute! Now I could attack until the substitute was destroyed without taking any damage.
Toxic (TM) Another fun move for Heatran. Like I mentioned, most people would switch immediately to a wall when Heatran comes out. Perfect time to use Toxic and slowly let the poison build up. Unless they could heal the poison, this would be fatal to their defenses. Not to mention most HO teams had precious few defensive Pokemon.

Now with Infernape, Forretress, and Heatran alone things were fun. Forretress baited fire moves, Heatran took them and scared out the attacker. With their wall out and possibly badly poisoned I could switch Forretress back in for more Spike layers (since walls didnt usually do a lot of damage). Rapid Spin on my team meant I could switch fairly freely, while forcing them to switch often to keep up. I racked up quite a lot of damage between Spikes and Stealth Rock, crippled their wall with toxic, and could still inflict massive damage with Infernape (if it was still up) or Heatran.
The more I could soften them up, the easier it would be for Weavile later. Luckily I also had a spinblocker in my ghost type: Dusknoir.

Item: Leftovers - What little can be done to keep Dusknoir alive longer helps, so Leftovers was used here.
Ability: Pressure - Makes the opponent use 2PP rather than 1 per attack. Nothing better on Dusknoir anyways, even though Pressure isnt a great ability.
Moveset:
Will-o-Wisp (Level@Duskull) The bane of sweepers everywhere! Burn would cut the attack of the opposing Pokemon while doing a small amount of damage at the end of each turn. Sadly this was inaccurate, but still made enough of a threat to most sweepers.
Pain Split (Egg) Dusknoir has no reliable healing moves in DPPt, so Pain Split was necessary. It pools your remaining HP, and your opponent's remaining HP then splits them evenly. This was fun against Blissey and other high HP Pokemon and made for a semi-reliable healing move.
Night Shade (Level) Night Shade and Seismic Toss were unique in that they did damage according to the level of the user. So at level 100 Dusknoir could do 100 damage per Night Shade to anything but normal types. Since most sweepers have around 200HP, 2 or 3 hits did the trick. Even one would do a decent amount of damage and could threaten walls if left unchecked.
Shadow Sneak (Level) Shadow Sneak is the Quick Attack of the Ghost types. This was mainly used to do a bit of damage before Dusknoir got KOed, or finish off something that had low HP.

Dusknoir always did a bit of damage, but its main purpose was damage control for my sweeper: Weavile.

Weavile is fast and hits hard. It can take out common dragon types quickly, and if my opponent's Pokemon were already softened up it became a simple clean up job. This was also where I earned the nickname of Weavile, since it was my primary Pokemon and spelled the end for my opponents.

Item: Expert Belt - I hated being stuck in a choice item, and since Weavile usually had to stay out for a few turns without switching being stuck in a move was bad for it. Expert Belt boosted super effective hits, and could be used to fake a choice item.
Ability: Pressure - Again, not a great ability, but the only one Weavile got.
Moveset:
Ice Punch (Egg) In one shot, Ice Punch has a great chance of KOing common dragons since most of them have a 4x weakness to ice moves. Plus Weavile is an ice type with Expert Belt so this hit HARD.
Ice Shard (Level@Sneasel) Anything I feared would be faster than Weavile got hit with Ice Shard. This could KO the common dragons that were softened up, or anything previously softened. This also destroyed Ninjasks and such before they could set up a Substitute.
Brick Break (TM) Opposing Weaviles, or anything weak to fighting moves, got a Brick Break to the face.
Night Slash (Level) More type coverage here, with the added bonus of an increased critical rate. Seriously all of Weaviles moves were just used for supereffective hits, combined with entry hazards, Expert Belt, and possibly STAB. Weavile KOed everything at the end of a match, or at least inflicted massive damage. Easy to set up since so long as I had some hazards there was very little chance to stop Weavile from destroying a few things.

Last but not least, another wildcard of the team: Togekiss!

I'm a Roflcopter!
"lulululululululul"

Togekiss can take out anything, but it cheats. It cheats a lot. A lot of people hate it because it cheats. However, its hilariously fun to use.

Item: Sitrus Berry - Since I already had 2 Leftovers in use, due to item clause I could not put Leftovers on Togekiss as well. Sitrus Berry was better than nothing, so it was used instead.
Ability: Serene Grace - Doubles the chance of secondary effects happening. This is the key to Togekiss's entire set.
Moveset:
Thunder Wave (TM) 100% chance to paralyze unless the foe was a ground type. This would cripple sweepers and set up for the dreaded ParaFlinch combo!
Air Slash (Level@Togekiss) A fairly powerful flying type move with a 30% chance to cause the opponent to flinch. Doubled by Serene Grace it left a 60% chance to Flinch. This, with paralysis made it very difficult for an opponent to get a hit in, let alone break through Togekiss's defenses.
Aura Sphere (Level@Togekiss) Honestly the last two moves are entirely optional. I went with Aura Sphere here since I lacked more fighting type moves outside of my suicide lead. It never misses, which is a plus sometimes.
Magical Leaf (Level@Togetic) Another move that can never miss. I went with Magical Leaf here because my team has very little against Water types. Mostly Togekiss just used Thunder Wave then Air Slash spam for ParaFlinch, but sometimes I used Magical Leaf/Aura Sphere when it would do more damage (like against ground types).

With all of the team able to work together in some way, with status, hazards, and resistances/immunities it is able to score many victories. Since 4th gen was so HO this team thrived since it could counter popular team choices. Still, it had a weakness to water types and required a deal of prediction to use effectively. This was the first competitive team I ever made and used, and it served me very well. It was the only team I needed in 4th gen because it was so effective! Though Infernape and Togekiss were not the first choices. I had to experiment and battle with a few other Pokemon until I found what fit better and what could work out more. This is normal in team building as well, since while building the team you may not notice its weaknesses right away and have to switch a couple Pokemon as you battle more and more.

I wont give the EV spreads used since they are not really needed in this example, but for a basic team it got me through my first trials in competitive battling. It was very fun to use in any situation so I didn't mind when I lost on occasion, which is really the entire point. Find a team you enjoy using and battles will always be enjoyable!

---

[albinodrow]

Holy crap something for this section finally!

SPOILER: Click to show

The Nuzlocke Challenge, or Pokemon Hardcore, is something you may simply wish to avoid. Trust me. Once you start to Nuzlocke a Pokemon game, playing any other way is unfathomable. Still, it is an extremely fun, and also eye-gougingly difficult way of playing the game.

• Opening Notes/Future Development
  
• Non-Competitive Pokemon
  
• Results
  
• Lab Rats
  
• Competitive Pokemon: The Anti-Metagame
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Team Building 101
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Nuzlocke'd
  
• Competitive Pokemon: Walls
  

Main Rules: These are pretty much mandatory for a run to be considered "Nuzlocke".
1) Any Pokemon that faints is considered DEAD and must either be released or permanently boxed. (No using them for HMs or ANYTHING)
2) You may only catch the first Pokemon encountered in a new area. (This rule usually comes attached with plenty of variations)
3) Nickname all Pokemon! (This forms a sort of trainer to Pokemon bond that helps to DEVASTATE you when said Pokemon dies)

Optional Rules:
Alts to Rule #2
x)You cannot catch a Pokemon previously caught in the same challenge. You may either skip them, or bar yourself from capturing anything in the area since the first encounter was already used up. Generally evolutions count as well.
x)Gift Pokemon (like Eevee, Togepi, etc) are always free. GC Pokemon are not gifts as you have to earn them, but things that come free are free. Otherwise they count as the encounter for that area. Breeding is never allowed in Nuzlockes.
x)No item use in battle. (besides Pokeballs)
x)Battle style must be set to "set" (aka no switching Pokemon before your opponent sends out a new one)
x)Limit on Pokecenter usage. Some people have a set limit to how many times they can use a town's Pokecenter, or have it so they buy items from the store and throw them away as a "pokecenter fee".
x)Limit on item buying. You can set limits on how many items you can buy at each shop, or an overall limit. This rule is mostly on runs where a Pokemon with pickup is easily encountered and captured.
x)Shiny Pokemon are always captured. (since they are so rare and nobody wants to pass them up, generally challengers catch them anyways then decide if they want to use it or not. If captured in an area where you already captured a Pokemon, if you want to use it just release what you already caught for the area and continue as normal)
x)Legendary Pokemon are not allowed (or the non-uber legendaries are allowed so long as they are the first encounter. In terms of the running dog/cat/gerbils if it was your first encounter for an area but it fled, since it has the same IVs+nature and will always be the same exact Pokemon now that it has been generated, you may catch it anywhere since it was the first encounter for x area)
x)Safari Zone is banned/limited. (you can either just catch one Pokemon of your choice in the first safari zone run, the first encounter from the entire safari zone, or the first encounter for each sub-area of the safari zone)
x)Bug Catching Contest is banned/limited. (similar to the safari zone alts. You may use the last bug captured on your first contest in the nuzlocke.)
x)Sub-Areas! Most challengers agree that if an area has a sufficiently different encounter table, it can be counted as a sub area. Like Pinwheel Forest (Outer and Inner).

As the challenger these rules are self imposed. You are free to add or subtract any amount of optional rules that you think would add a challenge to your game (or too much of a challenge). There are also different types of Nuzlocke runs too!

No-sleep challenge!
Added on to the other rules, this one dictates that you are not allowed to sleep during the challenge. USE CAUTION WITH THIS RULE. Some people specifically stay up late so they are already starting to get tired at the start of the run.

Mono-type challenge!
Some people choose one type and only allow themselves to use Pokemon that have that type. It takes over the first encounter rule and changes it to "first encounter of x type"

I'd recommend looking at the Nuzlocke Forums and reading other user's challenges before starting your own so you get the idea.

[albinodrow]

Heeey I'm altering this!

---

Kalos Research Branch Division
Action Replay, Pokesav, Pokegen, and other hacking tools are currently incompatible with 3DS games and thus Kalos Pokemon. I will be falling back to older methods to create competitive use Pokemon, and sharing information as I do so.

First of all, I want to make it very clear that I do not cheat. Well, not in the way most people would. I have used PokeSav and PokeGen MANY times in the past to create competitive use Pokemon, but they are ALWAYS within legal bounds. To me using the program this way just makes breeding and training a thing of the past. So long as the moves are possible to chain and the stats are within in-game bounds, I view the Pokemon as legal and able to be used in tournaments. Yes they all have 31s in their IVs, but most people do this! I do not approve of Wondertombs and hacking to give yourself an unfair and illegal advantage.
PokeGen can also be used to collect event Pokemon that may have happened outside of your country without having to trade for them! If you live in a small town, THIS IS A LIFESAVER. Now you can miss events without much worry since you can just edit your save file to have the wondercard. It is a timesaver when used correctly, otherwise it is as good as any other cheating device in the wrong hands.

With Nintendo making the 3DS very difficult to emulate, Pokemon X and Y have an unknown amount of time where the online battles will be near hack proof. To even transfer Pokemon from a hacked game onto X/Y it needs to go through the Pokemon Bank, which will block obviously hacked Pokemon!
However, since I make my Pokemon as near-legit as possible (even adding in trash bytes and hex codes) I believe I can get around this. It will allow me to supply myself with hacked Pokemon from 5th gen and below, but no new Pokemon (until an update that can work with them). Thankfully, the new EV training system in X/Y makes it easier, and I already have a way to make breeding simpler for myself (and you!)

---

The Pokemon Bank
How to Transfer Artificially Created Pokemon to X/Y

I do not know this for sure, but I am positive it will work anyways. When I do it myself or get confirmation, I will remove this message.

Create a legal Pokemon within PokeGen and transfer it to your 5th Gen game of choice. You can use PokeSend or a Flashcard if available, but this is mostly up to you. (I plan on making use of the fakeGTS spoofs since my 3DS will surely block my Flashcard). If done correctly, with all the correct trash and hex values, they can pass normal GTS and WiFi checks through Nintendo's servers. We BELIEVE that this will also hold true for the Pokemon Bank, thus allowing the creations to be transferred.

How does this help Kalos Pokemon?

Make a full set of Dittos and male Smeargles with every nature and max IVs. This will ease breeding since the higher IVs give you a greater chance of producing high IV babies. It is still luck, but it is currently my best idea at a shortcut. If you need a movepool bridge (like Relicanth), just create one in 5th gen and transfer it over. This is cheating somewhat, but its mostly a time saver.
With breeding this way there is also a boost to Pokemon you may be able to trade off. PokeGen killed trading for me, but clearly I'm going to need to get back into it and abuse Serebii Chat if I want X exclusives (like Mega Stones o.O). The GTS/Wonder Trades will likely be a repeat of all the other GTS generations, so I definitely recommend using a chat room to find a trade partner. Serebii Chat is great for this so long as you trade fairly and make it clear what you are offering or looking for.

So to recap, fakeGTS a few legal Pokemon (work on the PIDs) to the 5th gen, pass them into 6th, breed, and enjoy!

10/18 Update:
Just looked up some more information. Making a FakeGTS for 6th gen is going to be near impossible as the connection itself between X/Y games and the normal GTS is also encrypted. So that's out of the bag. It honestly looks like making legal Pokemon into Black/White and Transferring them over through the Pokemon Bank (set to release late December) is still the only way to get said Pokemon.
However the normal GTS has encountered its usual load of crap. People asking for impossible to get Pokemon simply because if they are mentioned in game (Like the Reshiram/Zekrom statues) you can ask for them in the GTS without needing to see them.
THERE MAY STILL BE A GLITCH POSSIBLE! Put up a Pokemon that evolves via trade onto the GTS and ask for an impossible Pokemon. Then trade something for something random while that Pokemon is still up. Take the Pokemon off the GTS once you complete a GTS trade, and see if it will gain the trade "flag" to evolve!

---

I will be editing this as more information becomes available, giving advice to shortcuts in breeding and training, until PokeGen works with the 6th generation (thus destroying any need to breed and train again)

---

Super Training
The only way to train!

You can still train the old way with EV grinding on wild Pokemon, but with Super Training available right from the start why should you? No reason whatsoever!

After you finish the tutorial levels and open up the full Super Training menu, a few things start to appear if you pay attention. The Pokemon currently on the screen will punch the bag whether you touch the screen or not, so if you leave the screen open while adventuring it will still work out!
You can either give it a new punching bag to work on its stats, or let it punch the blank one and occasionally find new work out bags (sometimes even rare ones!)

Another, possibly more interesting thing to note, is that when you catch another Pokemon it too will pop up on the training screen. It will be on the bottom "bench" waiting its turn. That's not all! The longer it waits, the more it will "rest". Once it is rested (its icon will turn on its side like its laying down or sitting) click on it to have it become the new active training Pokemon. It will be fully rested and far more active than usual! I have discovered that being fully rested ups the chances of finding a new punching bag, and increases the chances of finding a rare punching bag! Be careful since you have a limited amount of space and may have to throw out or use up some bags. Your Pokemon will not find new bags if your inventory is already full.
What's great about this is that you never have to train right away! You can just reset all the EVs you've obtained so far with a reset bag and train it again! Since it is also faster and able to be used on any level Pokemon (without leveling them up) you can also retrain Pokemon with relative ease rather than having 2+ copies with different stats trained.

Other interesting bags I've found:
Soothe Bag - Increases friendship

[albinodrow]

*Overflow Containment Unit*

[albinodrow]

*Overflow Containment Unit*

[albinodrow]

Open for suggestions and comments!

[NANNAN]

I want to ask a question but I feel like it's going to be answered in the post after the one im reading.

[albinodrow]

I found a N64 Emulator so I've been playing Pokemon Stadium 2. Arbok is crazy good as a rental Pokemon I might make some more notes as I find interesting things in the different stadiums.
It also made me want to do another Nuzlocke run of the old games so I might add a section on that sort of thing.
Yay for emulators!

[Tetz]

Yay for emulators!

[NANNAN]

If that is what you wish for go for it. I'm looking forward to see what the results are. But I think bulbapedia covers most if not all of it.

Also as another note, I'm thinking of incorporating the research into our team A.I as both a backup and quick access for people within the team.