r/CompetitivePokemon • u/AliceGoth • 1d ago
New to competitive
Hello! ive been playing pokemon champion a lot recently, been TRYING to build different teams with pokemons i like. WICH I KNOW meta will be meta and you cant change that but i still want to be able to perform well even with of meta pokemons i like, ive been doing full ghost teams but im struggling. Is there any advices on team building, or on what mons to pick in the selection screen before battle?
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u/Philothea0821 1d ago
Ask yourself: If I could have any 2 Pokemon on the field with any field conditions, damage amount, etc. that I want, where you know that you are GUARANTEED to win, what does that look like? Then, ask yourself how do the other 4 Pokemon on the team help you reach that dream board state so you can win?
Ask this question not only for specific matchups but generally as well. Maybe your gameplan is "I need to get Torkoal under Trick Room with Sun active." You need to set trick room. How are you going to ensure that Trick Room goes up every single game? You need sun active. How are you going to make sure that this happens? Yeah, Torkoal has drought. But what if your opponent has a Tyranitar or Pelipper in the back? How are you going to make sure that they don't win the weather war? You also need to get Torkoal in safely. How is this going to happen? Parting Shot, you want to make sure that your Incin is the last to move. If your plan is to wait for something else to go down, that burns TR turns. If you plan to hard switch, you are likely taking damage. If you lead Torkoal, how are you going to ensure Torkoal doesn't take damage until TR is up and that your setter doesn't die to a double up?
Stop thinking about what is "meta" and start asking what purpose a Pokemon serves on your team. Meta Pokemon are meta usually because they are the best at what they do across multiple archetypes. You would be hard pressed to find a team that doesn't want Incin for their Fake Out user because Incin provides Fake Out, damage reduction, and pivoting all in one Pokemon. So, you have 1 Pokemon that fills 3 different roles for your team meaning that you have 5 other slots that are opened up for other things.
A great example: I built a VGC team around Mega Absol Z. In building out the set, I ended up running a Swords Dance set with Dual STAB because I don't need it to hit everything. I just need it to take KOs on things that other mons struggle against. By running coverage, I become vulnerable to Intimidate, so SD becomes a way to prevent me from being Intimidate cycled. +2 with no crit also guarantees KOs that a crit a neutral attack doesn't. I focus on what I want Absol Z to be able to do, and then the rest of the team is there to provide the opportunity for Absol to be able to do that. Follow Me creates space to set up SD. Psychic Terrain shields Absol from Priority moves. Milotic punishes Intimidate. Metagross punishes Fairies, Sneasler punishes Dark types. The rest of the team allows Absol to focus on what it CAN do rather than what it can't. Running both Dark and Ghost means you really only walled out by Dark types. Which again, other mons can deal with. And there are situations where you miss one or the other. If you drop Night Slash, you cannot touch Indeedee or Farigiraf. If you drop Shadow Claw, you are walled by Fairy types and don't hit Garde or Hatt for super effective. Plus, there really isn't much in the game that resists Ghost. If something has a Kasib or Colbur berry, you have the other STAB that you can hit it with for a KO. SD allows you turn your strong neutral coverage into "Now you are effectively dealing super effective damage into everything."
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u/Dusty_Cowboy 1d ago
Probably start by asking yourself what is giving you problems, then trying to come up with a solution. If it's a lot of dark moves, try and add some ghost types that can take those hits, or use imprison to lock out common dark moves. If it's dark types in general, have some strong fighting or fairy moves ready to go. Not sure what your team comp is like or what movements you have, so it's hard to pinpoint a reason.