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[Livingtime]

Is the ban still in place if Kingdra used rain dance it self?

[Superpower22]

I don't think so. I'm pretty sure it's just Drizzle+Swift Swim.

[Zachmac]

Is the ban still in place if Kingdra used rain dance it self?

Nope, I've used it myself.

The problem is that drizzle calls endless rain simply by sending a pokemon in. Rand Dance eventually fades, and Kindgra has to go through the trouble of setting it up. It's no more broken then Dragon Dance, IMO.

[redcharzard]

Nope, I've used it myself.

The problem is that drizzle calls endless rain simply by sending a pokemon in. Rand Dance eventually fades, and Kindgra has to go through the trouble of setting it up. It's no more broken then Dragon Dance, IMO.

Correct although dragon dance isn't even a recommended set for Tyranitar anymore due to all the newer stuff in b/w/b2/w2. Also the Drizzle/swift swim combo ban only for competitive play and is allowed for competitive doubles and ds online play although it is considered cheap.

[Zachmac]

Correct although dragon dance isn't even a recommended set for Tyranitar anymore due to all the newer stuff in b/w/b2/w2. Also the Drizzle/swift swim combo ban only for competitive play and is allowed for competitive doubles and ds online play although it is considered cheap.

Oh, I was comparing the ability/move combo to the move dragon dance, not the individual sets for Kindgra.

[trailblazers]

Would there be interest in starting up something like this again?

http://www.serebiiforums.com/showthr...gue-of-Pokemon
http://www.serebiiforums.com/showthr...League-Pokemon

It's like a pokemon league like MLB or NBA, where individual species of pokemon are the players- there's a regular season where everyone plays each other, and then the playoffs to determine a league champion. Would there be any interest in trying to revive a wifi version of this?

[Livingtime]

I'm fairly new to the competitive scene, so I just found smogon. In official battling events (The 2013 Winter Friendly for example), do people still follow things like the evasion clause, tiers, 1HITKO+lock-on, etc.? basically the 'hax' parts of battles. I feel at a loss, if people ranked higher would use it i'd feel cheated. Although, from seeing team building guides, strategies and whatnot, it seems restrictions exist?

Oh, and are there any full guides on IVs? I've been having to jump around a few sites trying to figure out all I need to know.

[ChaosBlizzard]

I'm fairly new to the competitive scene, so I just found smogon. In official battling events (The 2013 Winter Friendly for example), do people still follow things like the evasion clause, tiers, 1HITKO+lock-on, etc.? basically the 'hax' parts of battles. I feel at a loss, if people ranked higher would use it i'd feel cheated. Although, from seeing team building guides, strategies and whatnot, it seems restrictions exist?

Oh, and are there any full guides on IVs? I've been having to jump around a few sites trying to figure out all I need to know.

Official tournaments like the wifi tournaments and irl tournaments follow what are called VGC rules. Smogon also covers VGC sets for certain top contenders of that metagame. The name stands for Video Game Championships, because it's the ruleset used by the VGCs. VGCs are a double battle format that do not follow Smogon's rules. Things like the evasion clause, sleep clause, and Smogon tiers don't apply to it. From what I understand, it's basically just "don't use any legendaries." If you want a fairly informal means of learning about VGCs and have some time to kill, a friend of mine makes a Pokemon podcast that tends to focus on the VGCs a lot. If you want something text based, Smogon covers VGC stuff too I think, in addition to their own metagames.

As for a guide to IVs, this is pretty much everything about how they actually function, I think. IV breeding is a little beyond, but that should explain how they function on a technical level.

[Livingtime]

Thanks! That helped a lot ^_^ If the IVs judge says one stat has the best potential followed by 'this stat is also good' and they can't be better, does this mean both stats are at 31?

So I hear Unown has some potential in OU, is this really true?

Also, is Darmanitan with Belly Drum and Zen Mode an alright idea? maybe with leftovers?

[redcharzard]

Thanks! That helped a lot ^_^ If the IVs judge says one stat has the best potential followed by 'this stat is also good' and they can't be better, does this mean both stats are at 31?

So I hear Unown has some potential in OU, is this really true?

Also, is Darmanitan with Belly Drum and Zen Mode an alright idea? maybe with leftovers?

Yes they both have 31 and those pokemon/movesets are horrible(Darmanitan is in UU so its okay but Zen mode is a gimic.)

[ChaosBlizzard]

Thanks! That helped a lot ^_^ If the IVs judge says one stat has the best potential followed by 'this stat is also good' and they can't be better, does this mean both stats are at 31?

Yes.

So I hear Unown has some potential in OU, is this really true?

Unequivocally no.

Also, is Darmanitan with Belly Drum and Zen Mode an alright idea? maybe with leftovers?

Fire/Psychic is about the worst typing possible in terms of not being revenge killed, and between Zen Mode's abysmal speed and the fact that it is necessarily at less than half health, it will almost certainly go down before it can get an attack off. Regular Darmanitan is a high-risk high-reward Pokemon in UU as it is; Zen Mode is, like redcharizard said, a gimmick that doesn't work.

[Hakunamawatta]

HI guys, I just started WI-FI battling a few days ago and well, I need to know when and how to use my Gengar and Staraptor. They're pretty powerful seeing how they helped me win few matches against high ranked battlers it just feels if 'm not using them the right way :/
Can someone help me?

[Dragonicwari]

@Hakun It would depend on your play style really, if you could provide some battle logs that would be helpful as well. Essentially what it comes down to is they are both sweepers, if you can remove whatever walls them on your opponents team they can just finish off the rest of their team. Another use would be to use them as revenge killers since they are both fairly fast. Gengar is a great abuser of substitute and either pain split for taking down walls (like blissey) a notch or disable that can be useful against a few more mons.

I'm sure they both have a couple other tricks up their sleeves (Gengar in particular) but it would really depend on how you already use it for someone to suggest a specific set or a slight modification to how you battle instead of a vague answer like I have to give you

[koolaidman594]

what do you guys think of the doubles combo of a magic guard alakazam @ focus sash and specially defensive cofagrigus @lefties as leads, then first turn switching out cofagrigus for a regigigas @life orb and having kazam use skill swap on gigas? is it competitively viable? it sounds awesome to me, but id like a more experienced player's opinion

[redcharzard]

what do you guys think of the doubles combo of a magic guard alakazam @ focus sash and specially defensive cofagrigus @lefties as leads, then first turn switching out cofagrigus for a regigigas @life orb and having kazam use skill swap on gigas? is it competitively viable? it sounds awesome to me, but id like a more experienced player's opinion

Not bad if your going for the whole switch in when its the opponent uses a ghost type move strategy but with team preview it can be predicted and countered. If alakazam gets koed by 2 attacks or hit with fake out then another move your strategy falls apart and fake out is pretty common.

[koolaidman594]

Not bad if your going for the whole switch in when its the opponent uses a ghost type move strategy but with team preview it can be predicted and countered. If alakazam gets koed by 2 attacks or hit with fake out then another move your strategy falls apart and fake out is pretty common.

ok, that makes sense, thanks for the feedback!

[Rebel562]

I'm looking at my OU team, and I need a general counter for Rain teams (again, GENERAL, and without using any other weathers). The best I've got right now is Thunder + Clam Mind Reuniclus. Any suggestions?

[Zachmac]

I'm looking at my OU team, and I need a general counter for Rain teams (again, GENERAL, and without using any other weathers). The best I've got right now is Thunder + Clam Mind Reuniclus. Any suggestions?

Ferrothorn, Gastrodon, and Rotom-W are all popular choices.

Unless Rotom is scarfed, they all share a common weakness to Keldeo, though. It's a tricky one to wall, so you'd want an offensive check for that. Latios is a good one, since it can outrun it and hit it with STAB psychic, while resisting fighting and water attacks. Latias could work better sometimes, as Latios will take a hefty amount from Choice Specs Hydro Pump, so that's an option to.

[T-Bolt]

I was considering using Me First on my Accelgor, so if Accelgor used me first, and the opponent's, for example, Latios was going to use Draco Meteor on Accelgor,

Would the damage done on Latios by Me First after turning into Draco Meteor depend on Accelgor's or Latios' SpAtk?

[redcharzard]

I was considering using Me First on my Accelgor, so if Accelgor used me first, and the opponent's, for example, Latios was going to use Draco Meteor on Accelgor,

Would the damage done on Latios by Me First after turning into Draco Meteor depend on Accelgor's or Latios' SpAtk?

It would depend on Accelgor's s.atk and most people woundn't waste draco meteor on Accelgor when another attack would ko it due to its low defenses. Accelgor is in RU or UU so its not seen that often and me first is a bit of a gimic though it does have its uses.

[T-Bolt]

It would depend on Accelgor's s.atk and most people woundn't waste draco meteor on Accelgor when another attack would ko it due to its low defenses. Accelgor is in RU or UU so its not seen that often and me first is a bit of a gimic though it does have its uses.

Got it. Thanks.

And I also had another question, does Sawsbuck get STAB on Nature Power?

[Livingtime]

Arcanine or Typhlosion?

[Rebel562]

Is there any competitive rule involving Aqua Ring? I keep getting told that my Blastoise legally shouldn't have Aqua Ring (ability: Rain Dish, every other move is either through level up or TM).

[Dragonicwari]

There is no rule against aqua ring, but in short: aqua ring is an egg move and dw blastoise can't have it. A more in depth explanation below

Last that I checked dw Blastoise only has been released as male gendered. Aqua ring is an egg move for blastoise and thanks to Dream world breeding mechanics you cannot breed a male dw pokemon and get a dw pokemon from the eggs of the parent (in this case blastoise). Also, if you breed try to breed a pokemon, it is the female that determines what pokemon it is and male poiemon determine the egg moves. so if you wanted to breed aqua ring onto a blastoise it cannot be dw since there is no way to get a dw female blastoise through any breeding method.

[Zachmac]

Arcanine or Typhlosion?

It depends, but usually Arcanine is considered better most of the time though, since it gets Close Combat, Morning Sun, Wild Charge and Extreme Speed along with it's fire attacks, while Typhlosion has less reliable coverage.

It's bulk also may not look better then Typhlosion's, but it does get the ability intimidate, which really helps it take some hits better.