Tomas Elliot

Mega Lopunny is lovely! <3

@Chimchain please let me know when Chapter 3 is ready to begin!

While you make some valid points, you are failing to consider a few things: 1) I am already in the middle of testing the changes Void suggested (refer to his post for more details) which means you didn't need to suggest physically defensive Rotom and Clefable over Chansey, as I am already testing both 2) Honckrow and Curselax are rarely seen (if at all) in OU. The day I start carrying around specific counters to such (relatively) obscure Pokemon is the day I start worrying about Scarf Arbok. 3) Mamoswine is kept in check by Rotom, which as mentioned I am already testing with fully defensive set. 4) You don't need to tell me people won't always make the most logical choice: you have no idea of how many matches I've lost because of that. For example I remember once using a Sun team (it was still Gen 5) against a Rain team. I had my Scarf Heatran out against this guy's Jirachi, which had the rain hax set (Sub/CM/Water Pulse/Thunder). I had previously won the weather war, so we were in permanent Sun. I selected Dragon Pulse, assuming he would switch to his last Pokemon (Dragonite)... And not only he didn't switch, he selected Thunder as a move. AND THUNDER HIT IN SUN PARALYZING HEATRAN ON HIT, which went on to cost me the match. What I am trying to say is, people do silly things and luck rewards them for it. Or they do clever things and lose to hax. That's just how the game goes. One must create the best team possible and play to the best of his abilities, predicting all the moves of the opponent by pondering on what the most logic thing to do in a certain situation would be: this will let you win most matches. But sometimes the opponent will do illogic things and you will lose: that's just how not only Pokemon, but life in general goes. So no point in thinking too hard about it, or raging because of it

Exactly how does Flygon need Bug Buzz? I thought its Atk was higher than its SpAtk?

Ok then, I'll mess around a bit with both twins and get back at you. Unfortunately, my internet key offer is coming close to expiration, so untill I recharge it my time on the internet will be very limited, but still...

JESUS CHRIST it has taken a while, but it would seem the serious feedback I was wating for, that keeps the balance of the team in mind and addresses issues by bringing up actual facts and giving detailed explanation other than "because I said so", has finally arrived. Before I move on to replying to your points, I would like to take a moment to thank you for the effort you put into providing an actually helpful post. Now onto the points you made: 1) But but but... I like Wish-passing ;-; (Seriously tho, when the only reason for running a Pokemon over another is "because I like it", then it means there is no actual reason for not trying out the change. I will give Clefable a try) 2) I am a bit iffy about Defog, because I am not really enthusiastic about the idea of removing my own Rocks, and not being able to remove Leech Seeds, thus giving Ferrothorn a chance to annoy me... But this aside, should I actually go for it, wouldn't Latias be better than Latios, considering that we want this Pokemon to repeatedly take hits from Keldeo, and we lack a cleric? I do get that the whole point about Latios is baiting problematic Pokemon like Tyrannitar but Latias can use Recover, thus improving her ability of repeatedly switching into Keldeo (I highly doubt people would be so silly to leave Keldeo out against any of the Lati twins, chances are they would switch out and attempt another sweep later, forcing me to switch my dragon in again...). I am not saying I don't want to make this change, I just want to hear your detailed opinion in regards of which one of the Lati twins is more useful to this team. 3) I am still iffy about Charizard taking hits because while it is true its Mega form got a buff, it is also true that its base form is the usual glass cannon we remember from past generations, and so it still has the issue of having to switch in and Mega evolve... I honestly feel more confortable using it the way I have done so far! On the other hand, I do see your point about not needing EQ anymore with Latios baiting Ttar and Heatran and Landorus freed from defensive duties thanks to Rotom's more defensive set... I think in the end it will all boil down to the Lati twins question I asked above: if the more defensive Latias is chosen, then I'll keep Charizard the way it is now, while if the baiter Latios is chosen, then I'll give a try to the split you are suggesting for Charizard... 4) As for Rotom and Ferrothorn, you have finally done what I had been requesting for 4 damn posts, that is, freeing them from their current duties so that they can switch to the sets suggested without ruining the balance of the team. So yeah, of course I am going to run them with the sets you are suggesting now. Again, thanks a lot for bringing some much needed common sense (why is it even called "common sense", if it isn't common at all?) to this topic. I'll wait for your reply on the Lati twins thing before proceeding with the edits.

Took me a while, but I managed to track down the origin of the whole "bird Jesus" thing... I wasn't aware of it! And honestly, I don't find it to be funny at all... :/ EDIT: Yay can't wait to see Lopunny

On a side note, am I the only one who fails to get why people are making all these Jesus references when talking about Mega Pidgeot? O.o EDIT: also @OP make Mega Lopunny next <3

Sigh... It's not like I don't want to do it. It's just that I don't see the need to: what is a Special attack that 252 Def 252 SpDef can take, and 252 HP 252 Def can't? Dumping all those EVs into HP along with Def on the other hand improves Chansey's ability to take Physical hits (which you WILL be taking, you cannot just assume your prediction will always be correct, and/or your opponent will always be a step behind you). As I have said in FOUR different posts now, I don't want to make changes because a self-proclaimed "expert" tells me to, or because "most people use this set": I want to make changes because there is an actual need for them. So if there was a Special move from any Special attacker in the tier that my set cannot take (Secret Sword deals Physical damage, so my set is actually better at "tanking" it, even if, let's be honest here, Secret Sword will most likely obliterate Chansey regardless), then I would consider making this change. But in my experience there is no such thing, so I don't see the need for a change, it's that simple. Of all the changes that were "politely suggested", the only one that is somewhat justified is the one to Rotom's set, because indeed a full Physically defensive set would make it easier to counter Talonflame while giving me a true way of dealing with Keldeo... Except that I need Rotom with Trick to cripple defensive threats which are the bane of this team, as I have been explaining for the past FOUR posts (I am seriously starting to doubt people's reading skills): before I change Rotom's set, I need to know how else I can deal with such threats. And so far all the answers I have received to this simple question amount to: 1) "Lol I am good at this trust me" 2) "Lol Specs Rotom is bad now you will lose to Keldeo" 3) "Lol you will also lose to Clefable good luck with that" 4) "Landorus+Exca+Zard can handle them" which is the closest thing to an actual answer, except it is horribly inaccurate: Charizard cannot carelessly switch into Chansey or Ferrothorn, as both can cripple it with Thunder Wave, as for Excadrill and Landorus well, the only thing a Pokemon with four offensive moves can do to a wall is attack it. Too bad neither of them will ever come close to even hoping to score a clear kill on Chansey (barely 2KOed, and if it used Wish on my switch then the whole thing becomes pretty pointless) and most importantly Ferrothorn (whose more Physical set is 3KOed by both, and can do a lot of annoying things in return, most notably Leech Seed + Protect). After that, more people talking about Chansey's spread, which has NEVER been a problem and, as far as I am concerned, never will be. So I once again repeat my question, in the hope that someone will be so gracious to provide an answer to it: should I remove Trick from Rotom in order to make it a pure Physical wall, what other adjustments/changes should/could I make in order to find another way of crippling/stopping defensive threats, most notably Ferrothorn and Chansey?

True, but weren't fossils kinda hard to come across in this RP?

I see... I hope there will be no problems if I claim a Clefairy too, I like it much more than Lunatone/Solrock to be honest...

1) If nobody is planning to claim that line, I think Clefairy would be perfect for Mao, as it would kill two birds with one stone: the "Pokemon from outer space" thing and the "recently retconned into Fairy" thing. 2) The more I think about it, the more I think the Feebas thing was a stroke of pure genius. Excuse me while I congratulate myself 3) @Commander exactly what was your reasoning for suggesting Dodrio/Pidgeot/Tropius? Just curious...

So, I've been lurking around a bit and I'm starting to (kinda sorta) get the hang of this, even if I am still having troubles remembering who is who in terms of names, personalities and strategies (I have problems remembering such stuff IRL too, I am generally bad at remembering people)... I hope that, when the time comes, people will be ultra-nice to me, so that I can take advantage from the transfer student thing to get to know everyone! Also, I've given it some thought, and I've come up with some Pokemon I would like to get for Mao's team in the future... I hope there aren't many people who have their sight set on the same ones! 1) A Pokemon that is said to be from outer space, either the Clefairy line or the Elgyem line (I can see Mao drooling all over the space theme) 2) A Pokemon with very bizarre evolution requirements, like Feebas (just imagine Mao putting lipstick on the fish in an attempt to "increase its Beauty stat"...) 3) Clauncher/Clawitzer is a Pokemon I like a lot, but I am not sure to which extent it fits the theme. Having to pick a single Water-type, Feebas/Milotic is probably better. 4) I would like to add a flier too, but what is a Flying-type that fits Mao's personality/theme? I cannot think of anything... 5) Something I always forgot to ask: are we running with the whole Gen 6 "OMG! A new type was discovered! So cool!" thing, or are we behaving as if the Fairy type was something we had always known? Because in the first case, a Pokemon that was retconned to be Fairy-type, like Snubbull/Granbull, would fit Mao's theme (with fourth wall breaking jokes included).

Where I live, laughing at people (because that's what "lol" stands for) in every sentence is bullying. And as I said, it's not that I don't want to use the sets you suggested (hell I even said I'd give the Excadrill one a try), it's simply that doing so would solve some problems, but also cause some other problems to arise (this is most glaring in Rotom's case, which I have been explaining with A LOT of details for the past 3 posts), So I am simply demanding that, upon suggesting a change, you also address the problems that would arise because of said change. As I already said, don't try to make this whole thing personal when it really isn't. All I am asking is that you suggest not just a change, but also a way of solving the problems that such change would cause.

Your "lol dood you should do what I say cuz I'm so gud" attitude certainly won't solve the problem. Chansey already has maximum Def AND maximum HP, meaning she is taking the minimum damage from Secret Sword possible. Reducing her HP to invest in SpDef would only cause her to die to Sacred Sword more quickly, so I hardly see how your insistence on this point solves the supposed Keldeo weakness. Physically Defensive Rotom would solve the problem? Probably. But what you are failing to see (possibly because you are too busy keeping up your attitude and making this whole discussion sound like it's personal when it really isn't) is that the problem here is the conflicting needs. I NEED a way to prevent Chansey, Ferrothorn and the likes from just keeping on switching in, setting up hazards, keeping their teams healthy and crippling my Pokemon with status. Such Pokemon are the bane of a semi-stall team like mine, because a team like this is all about switching in and out, and Pokemon like those can make switching a true pain (it's not nice to see your HP reduced by the tanked hit, the entry hazards and the Toxic damage every time you switch in, even the cleric Chansey will have troubles keeping everyone healthy on the long run). Therefore, I need a way to effectively cripple them and prevent them from doing just that: Specs Rotom can accomplish this with Trick while at the same time being still capable of checking a key threat like Talonflame, so I thought I'd kill two birds with a stone. You say that making Rotom a Physical wall would allow it to better counter Talonflame while being able to effectively take on Keldeo without fearing Secret Sword? I completely agree with you. Unfortunately, switching Rotom to such set would mean I wouldn't have any way to deal with the aforementioned Chansey, Ferrothorn and the likes. And note that by "dealing" I mean "using strategies to prevent them from doing their job", not merely "throwing in there a fighting type and threatening them with a SE move", because in this second case they'll simply be able to switch out and try again later. With Specs Rotom, it's often the opponent himself who sends in Chansey/Ferrothors, expecting a Volt Switch or a Hydro Pump... Only to get screwed by Trick (hell in one of the replays I provided, pulling this on a Celebi pretty much won me the game, that should be enough proof of what I am saying). This is the question you have failed to answer yet: if Rotom switches to fully defensive set, how am I supposed to stop Chansey, Ferrothorn and the likes? None of my Pokemon can learn Taunt, and none can learn Trick/Switcheroo except Rotom: are you suggesting that I replace something else with a Pokemon that does? If so, which Pokemon I should remove? And which Taunter/Tricker should I add? And with which set? And is all of this even NEEDED, considering the nature of the team? These are the problems that arise when the balance of a team is altered: one doesn't simply change a set without thinking about the bigger picture. If the current balance leaves me opened to a threat, the entire team, not just one set, needs to be reworked, but sometimes doing so is not possible without utterly scrapping the entire ideas, and in such a case it is better (or at least, I think it is better) to be weak to a single Pokemon that isn't even that common, rather than losing to defensive threats that are in every other team and/or revolutionize the team entirely. If you are willing to discuss such points, then a discussion that can be of help and eventually improve the team can be sparked. But throwing around your supposed "experience" and bullying people into using the sets you find to be good without even bothering to try and see how the team actually works is not going to do any good.

Maybe it's because I'm tight-minded, but I tend to prefer mathematics, calculations and actual data collected upon repeatedly testing solutions out (PARTICULARLY this last one), rather than "I'm gud at dis trust me lol". Excuse my lack of faith. Your comment on Rotom is particularly gratuitous: Specs Rotom is not good nor bad (like the vast majority of Pokemon used competitively), it simply does its job. "Its job" meaning "cripple the support Pokemon this Taunt-less team cannot stop otherwise by Tricking them a choice item". Suggesting a different Pokemon/set/option whatever to do the same job is fine, but if you tell me to redesign a Pokemon so that it does a completely different job, I expect you to provide a better reason than "lol dis set sux trust me I'm gud".

1) On Chansey: absolutely not. In general increasing HPs is better than increasing defenses to increase bulk, for a whole mathematical reason that I don't feel like explaining right now. But yeah, if you have time, grab a pencil and a paper, check out the Gen 6 damage formula on Bulbapedia, and try and do some math: you'll see that in general, the more HP the merrier. 2) On Ferro: I might try the split set you suggest, but honestly, I am already content with the purely Physical set I use because in 98% of situations I use it to tank physical hits: if a Special Attacker appears, I generally switch to Chansey immediately. 3) On Excadrill: I personally prefer to have HP maxed out on Excadrill for the reasons stated above: this being said, while I generally like to hit hard with Excadrill when it is not attacking, you do have a point in regard of giving it more bulk to help it stay alive longer and spin better. I'll mess around and see how I can rearrange the EVs to factor in this suggestion. 4) On Rotom-W: I think it's a matter of personal preference. The set you suggest is better to exploit Pain Split and to act specifically as a wall, while the set I use is better to make use of Trick. I just happen to like Trick a lot. Do keep in mind that this team lacks a Taunter, so Trick is vital to cripple those Ferrothorns and Chanseys that keep switching into Rotom-W, and that would otherwise be free to do their job, as I have no other way of stopping them. 5) On Charizard: absolutely not. Charizard is there for one reason and one reason only: step in after a companion has fallen, set up ONE Dragon Dance, and push for game. It is NOT supposed to take hits, I have NEVER used it to take ANY hits (except maybe 4x resisted ones, which won't hurt anyway), and honestly, the day I start using Set-Up sweepers to take hits will be the day I stop playing Semi-stall altogether... Charizard doesn't need to recover, nor to have any bulk: when he attacks, at the end of the turn either the opponent is dead or he is. It's that simple. And it is the duty of the other team members to guarantee that he comes out on top. He doesn't need to shrug off Stealth Rocks damage, because it is the duty of the player to make sure Stealth Rocks aren't there at all when it comes in. And most certainly it is not going to use Dragon Dance twice, unless the opponent is very very stupid. But even when I've faced total noobs, they have always had the decency to send in something with a Rock-type move as soon as they saw Charizard, which means, you guessed it, it's either kill or be killed. And thus, max Atk and max Spe to be sure I am the one killing. As for Outrage+Earthquake canceling the need for Flare Blitz, I have only one word for you: Skarmory (please notice I have no Magnezone in this team). And Skarmory aside, EQ is not STAB and is not boosted by Tough Claws, so chances are it will miss important kills on stuff like Ferrothorn (which in return can cripple Zard with T-wave), Venusaur (which in return can put Zard to sleep), also I have noticed that people tend to immediately send in the likes of Landorus-T and Gliscor as soon as they realize my Zard is the X variant: in a Flare Blitz-less scenario, in order to get past them I'd be forced to lock myself into Outrage (which can spell disaster if the opponent still has a Ferrothorn or a Fairy-type at their disposal) or to flat out switch to something else, which is something that I don't want to do end-game, because chances are I have sacrificed at least one Pokemon to find an opening for Zard to come in, and I won't get another such occasion... So yeah, the only thing you are right about are the 4 random EVs in HP (moved those to SpDef to make sure HP has a odd number).

coughFarfetch'dpokedexentrycough

Is it just me or the "Terra-Hammer Time" ones are broken?