King of the Bugs! Countering Yanmega

Yanmega was once one of the most commonly seen Pokémon on teams seen on Battle Revolution's online feature. His ability, Speed Boost, makes him faster on every turn AND he's capable of using Hypnosis. To an unprepared team, Yanmega can spell certain doom.



Enter the Yanmega killers. These three insomniacs can't be put to sleep by Yanmega, two are capable of slowing him down with Paralysis, and all three resist his most common attacking move, Bug Buzz. In Stadium Style battles, these guys can really shut Yanmega down.

Many people still use Yanmega. I can tell you personally that if you don't have a counter for this monstrous bug, he'll probably end up doing severe damage to your party. Any of these three counters are useful, and Stealth Rock certainly gives Yanmega trouble, due to 4x weakness. Also take note that Yanmega's base speed is actually pretty average, and when it appears he may not out speed his opponent initially, he may use Detect or Protect for a free Speed Boost. Take away that free boost by putting up a Substitute, using Agility, or trying something else devious.

Rivals! Variety!

A rival in Pokémon training is a good thing to have. By comparing your trained Pokémon and battling style to theirs, you can often pinpoint flaws in your team and devise new strategies. All it takes is a healthy thirst for competition and desire to improve yourself.

When you have rivals that you battle regularly, you may find yourself hard-pressed to surprise them. Having a team of regulars is fine, but a variety of Pokémon that you can use in your team always gives you an advantage over regular opponents.

Some of the trainers I've battled with have been very faithful to a regular party of six Pokémon, and my variety of trained Pokémon almost always overpowers them. Especially during rematches.

Think of it like this... if your opponent knows what is coming, they can plan ahead for your team. Battling you may become like preparing for an in-game Gym Leader or Elite Four Trainer. Don't make it so easy for them!

I always try to break what my rivals use regularly, so they're forced to rethink even their most basic strategies.

Johnny's PokéReview #2: Toxicroak

"Neurotoxin"

#454 - Toxicroak, the Toxic Mouth Pokémon
Ability: Dry Skin (Recovers HP in rain, loses HP in sun, absorbs water, weak to fire)
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 6 Def or Spdef
Hold: Focus Sash
-Sucker Punch
-Bullet Punch
-Pursuit
-Snatch

Neurotoxin exists for the very purpose its name implies: to screw with both yourself and the opponent. Optimized towards mind games rather than brute force, it can counter anything...assuming you choose the right move.

Sucker Punch is for when the opponent uses an offensive move. Hit em with a strong attack.

Bullet Punch covers offensive status moves like T-Wave. While you'll still be hit, they'll take damage, and ensures the opponent can never be safe regardless of what they use.

Pursuit is for if they foolishly decide to switch out, with the bonus of working even if they don't.

Lastly, Snatch steals healing and other support moves, which works well with Sucker Punch, as the latter is expected on Toxicroak, whereas Snatch isn't very common.

This moveset creates a scenario where the opponent cannot do ANYTHING without the possibility of being screwed. All they can do is limit the damage. This has the bonus of working best against psychics and ghosts, two things Toxicroak has trouble countering without Sucker Punch, and who might be tempted to set up on Toxicroak, or switch out to avoid the punch.

This also hast he benefit of working even once the opponent knows it's moveset (perhaps even working better), as long as the user doesn't brandish it against pokémon resistant to dark or steel, or heavy hitters (such as choice users) who exclusively use one type of attack.

EVs are for HP and Attack since not only does Dry Skin recover HP in rain, but all moves are priority, with the sole exception of non-switch Pursuit, so speed is useless. Focus Sash allows it to continue living, and as it's designed for optimal use in rain, sandstorm and hail aren't as much of a problem. Entry hazards are negated by the rain's recovery, thus ensuring that the focus sash won't be wrecked by Stealth Rock (which he resists). He even has the benefit of absorbing Toxic Spikes, and Dry Skin allows him to absorb water-attacks, giving him the bonus of Water Absorb.

All in all, Neurotoxin isn't intended to be a heavy hitter. He isn't meant to carry his own weight. His mission is simple: screw with your opponent and their walls and more frail sweepers. He is there for fun, and is not meant for "serious" OU-style teams. He probably won't win any battles for you, and may even be a dead weight at times. But damn is he fun, and really, isn't that what Pokémon is all about?

Other moves to consider are:
-Fake Out for a quick priority attack. Can help wear down pokémon for later sucker punching or pursuiting, and generally just screw with them further.
-Feint, normally a pretty crappy move, can add a new dimension to Neurotoxin's mind games by adding the possibility of even hitting through protect or detect, although it may be more useful in doubles than in singles.
-Taunt, Torment, Captivate, Attract, and Swagger are other notables, for their ability to mess with the opponent, but they rely on speed, and are generally not as effective for the purpose of screwing with the opponent as the other moves.

A Sketchy Breeding Trick

Sometimes you may devise a set of moves for a Pokémon you want to hatch, only to discover your combination of Egg Moves is impossible.

For example, say you'd like an Ursaring who knows Night Slash and Close Combat. When you check what Pokémon can give those moves, you realize no one parent can send both, and you'll have to settle for just one.

But wait! There's hope!

Enter Smeargle!

Smeargle can learn any move with Sketch. (Except for Chatter)
Anyone in the Ground Egg Group can breed with Smeargle. Any female in the Ground Egg Group can have Smeargle pass any combination of Egg Moves onto hatched Pokémon. Sketch Close Combat and Night Slash and breed with a female Ursaring. The baby will have both moves!

Smeargle starts with a single Sketch on level 1 and learns a new one every ten levels, provided you've used the Sketch already in your move list. Setting up the Sketches can take a little time. Sketching your partner Pokémon in a Double Battle is certainly the best method. If you're short on TMs, Smeargle's ability to Sketch TM moves and breed them can be indispensable. Any Pokémon can have TMs they are compatible with bred into them, so keep that in mind.

By chaining from Smeargle's moves through multiple Egg Groups, you could get unusual Egg Move combinations or rare TMs to Pokémon outside of the Ground Egg Group too. Just look for someone who can breed with Smeargle that is in multiple Egg Groups, and experiment.

Keep Smeargle in mind when you encounter a problem with Egg Moves, or run out of TMs!

Breeder's Cup

The Breeder's Cup, also known as The Baby Cup, is a style of Pokémon battling where you use the youngest forms of Pokémon straight from their eggs, up to level 5.

Only the initial forms of Pokémon are allowed. For example, Pichu is allowed, but Pikachu is not. Even though Pikachu evolves into Raichu, he is not the very first form.

Single form Pokémon are not allowed. Pokémon like Tauros or Spiritomb don't evolve at all, so technically they aren't the first form of anything. As such, you cannot use them.

This is where a trainer's ability to breed really shines through. This cup relies almost entirely on breeding Egg Moves into your Pokémon.

Remember that Egg moves come from the male when breeding, and the baby will always be the same species as the female. Oh, and make sure your Pokémon are in the same Egg Group before breeding, too! Otherwise, you'll never get an egg.

Both Serebii's Pokédex and Bulbapedia outline which Egg Groups Pokémon are in and which Egg Moves they can learn. You can find links to these resources on the right side of this page.

Natures, IVs and Effort Points have little impact on Pokémon at level 5, but the small increases they give are certainly worth it. If you intend to Effort Train without passing level 5, make the most of vitamins and dividing up experience points. Using a bunch of exp. shares, or making a lot of Pokémon take part in the battle can be useful here. This can be very time consuming, especially considering you'll need to find low level Pokémon to battle for Effort Points if you want to stay under level 5.

Again, Serebii's Pokédex has lists of where to get Effort Points.

The Breeder's Cup is a real test of not only breeding skill, but strategy. Give it a try some time!

The Allure of Shiny Pokémon

Shiny, or Alternate Color Pokémon are really rare. When you run into a wild Pokémon, or hatch an egg, you have a 1 in 8192 of it being shiny. A majority of the people who I've been playing Pokémon with for years have never even seen a single one.

Shiny Pokémon are pretty awesome looking a lot of the time, so it's no wonder why people want them so bad. A shiny Pokémon in your ranks really makes your team unique.



So what happens when you're playing online with Battle Revolution, or online with the Battle Tower, and you see a team of shiny Pokémon? No one is that lucky, right? Especially when its a lot of popular shiny Pokémon, like Metagross.

A lot of people suspect hacking when they see teams like this, but I urge you to take a second look before jumping to a conclusion.

There is a method to increase the chance at which you might encounter a shiny Pokémon. If you use the Poké Radar and capture or defeat a Pokémon that appears in the rustling grass because of it, a chain is started. Capturing or defeating more of these same Pokémon in a row keeps the chain going, and also increases the chance of your chain Pokémon appearing shiny. (You will actually see the grass sparkle wildly if it is shiny). The more you see of the same Pokémon, the greater the chance of seeing a shiny. Because running into non-Poké Radar wild Pokémon might break the chain, using Repels is usually helpful.

Although the ability Synchronize can be used to help determine a wild Pokémon's nature, IVs are still generated at random. So even using chains doesn't always create Pokémon worth battling with. Amazingly tough shiny Pokémon should always be suspect.

This page has information on the Poké Radar. I've also added Bulbapedia, an amazing Pokémon Wiki to the list of links.

Shiny Gastly, for example, can never be encountered by use of the Poké Radar. There are a lot of Pokémon like this, so when you see them in groups cheating is probably not that far off.

Move forward with discretion. Shiny Pokémon are rare, but aren't always an indicator of cheating.

Johnny's PokéReview #1: Regigigas

"Ruin Gigas"

#486 - Regigigas, the Colossal Pokémon
Ability: Slow Start (Atk and Spd halved for five turns)
Nature: Adamant, Impish, Careful
EVs: 252 HP, 128 Def, 128 Spdef
Hold: Leftovers
-Return, Fire/Ice/Thunderpunch, Earthquake, Stone Edge
-Thunder Wave
-Knock Off
-Substitute

Now, Regigigas gets a lot of hate. A TON of hate. And why? Because of his ability: Slow Start. This reduces his Atk and Spd stats for the first five turns he's out, and this is reset every time he's re-deployed! This puts his very high Base 160 Atk and base 100 Spd to waste. This much is obvious. On top of this, he lacks a few of the staple TMs that almost everything else gets: Rest and Protect.

But what people DON'T seem to see is the rest. He is one of the only bulky pokémon to get Thunder Wave AND Knock Off. He has tremendous defenses: Base 110 HP, Def, and Spdef - with the listed EVs, he can have up to 424 HP and 288 Def and Spdef at Lv100 (319 Def or Spdef with a + nature)!

While he may lack Rest and Protect, people need to look elsewhere besides "lol slow start sux." Rather than wait for it to wear off, use him in more of a bulky annoyer role! Thunder Wave and Knock Off allow Gigas to cripple the opposition as they struggle to overcome his HP and defenses with just ONE weakness (a feat Leftovers + Substitute makes harder). These two moves together can wreck a team, leaving it vulnerable for your other 5 (or two, in 3v3) pokémon to slaughter! And Return, or other 1st slot moves are there on the off chance he lasts those fateful five turns. Adamant is listed because even with NO Atk EVs and a 0 IV, he'll still have at least 325 Atk at Lv100! Some pokémon can barely REACH that number even with max EVs and IVs.

Other options? You want other options?
-Confuse Ray for further annoyance and lasting those 5 turns.
-Toxic for crippling the opponent's team further (especially walls that won't suffer much from T-wave).
-Safeguard for preventing Gigas from being burned (though Substitute can do that too).
-Psych Up for those pokémon who try and set up on Gigas (though T-wave and Knock Off may scare them pretty good).
-Swagger, to toy with physical fighting users (such as Close Combat). Swagger, then switch to a ghost!
-Rock Slide, to use with T-wave for paraflinchhax. Not the best pokémon for the job, but certainly usable, and could help those five turns pass faster.
-Drain Punch can allow him to recover some HP (especially with leftovers aid), but it's generally not a good idea to depend on him lasting all five turns, and even then DPunch is weak.

Some of the "other options" may seem novelty (such as Swagger and Psych Up), but half the fun of Gigas is that the general opinion is that he sucks so much that he can't do anything, so they can easily catch them by surprise. As it stands, though, T-wave + Knock Off is a potent combination that Gigas' incredible HP and defenses can make an excellent offense. Remember, speed and power isn't the only way to win.

Aside from that, also consider that since his only weakness is fighting, a ghost is the perfect backup. Switch to your Gengar, Mismagius, Dusknoir, Spiritomb, Drifblim, or whatever other ghost you may carry when you predict that Close Combat. Regigigas is best used to cripple the enemy and then pass the baton to the appropriate pokémon to finish the job.

Remember, rather than think what he CAN'T do BECAUSE of Slow Start, look at what he CAN do DESPITE Slow Start.