Team building tips?

[Elekidkid]

Wow... I haven't been here in forever... or at least anything team building relating. So nostalgic...

Anyway, off of my trip down memory lane. My friend and I have recently picked up our old Advanced Generation games (marching band does that to ya, ha) and we're looking to battle each other. Now, I'm a bit out of practice with building competitive teams... I think the last time I ever actually did was back in the days of RBY and some meddling around in GSC. So, I'm kind of lost in this whole thing. I'd just basically like some tips as to what are good ways to build teams, what items are useful (those items completely get me, I have no clue about those), and what old strategies are useless now that they've come up with some new moves and the Pokémon powers. My friend is the kind of kid that goes for all out offense, if that helps at all.

Thanks a lot, guys.

[andyizcool]

what items are useful (those items completely get me, I have no clue about those), and what old strategies are useless now that they've come up with some new moves and the Pokémon powers.

You can't use items when battling against friends so you'll be relying on recovery moves or Leftovers if you want to heal yourself. New Berries will recovery you against status or the Stat Berries will increase a certain stat when you have 25% or lower HP. An old stategy that's now kind of useless is Annoyers because Substitute is the most overused move since it's a Move Tutor on Pokemon FR/LG/Emerald. The main metagame involves a load of sweeping or pulling out Skarmbliss. Skarmbliss being Skarmory and Blissey on a team because Skarmory has the Defence whereas Blissey has the Special Defence and HP making them perfect Walls/Sponges.

[Elekidkid]

Haha, yeah, sorry, should've been more specific. I meant the attachment items. Like... I know what they do, but I'm not really sure which ones are even worth using or how to get them.

Noooo! You can't take away my annoyers! So yeah... does this mean that my Mean Look/Toxic Umbreon is all but useless? =(

[Sceptile_Master]

If you don't know how to EV train I suggest you learn that. It helps alot. Also learn what natures do and stuff. Well a small guide is on my site that might help a bit. It's under advanced generation. I know I'm not suppossed to say that but I'm just trying to help. If a mod feels strongly though tell me and I promise I wont do it again.

On andies note skarm and bliss are used. You should probably know what to have on them. Skarmaory's spikes + toxic + whirlwind combo is used widly. It's a bit stingy though and it's real boring if everyone uses it. Althoguh my friends haven't realised it yet so i can get away with it although I usually don't use them.

[andyizcool]

Noooo! You can't take away my annoyers! So yeah... does this mean that my Mean Look/Toxic Umbreon is all but useless? =(

Curse - Baton Pass Umbreon now works Baton Passing a few Curses to Aerodactyl holding a White Herb so then it doesn't lose Speed but it keeps the Attack and Defence boosts. Mean Look - Baton Pass Umbreon also works for trapping Pokemon and then bringing in a Pokemon they're weak to or a Calm Minder.

[Sceptile_Master]

This may be my memorie failing me andy but doesn't the white herb only work once?

[andyizcool]

This may be my memorie failing me andy but doesn't the white herb only work once?

True but Aerodactyl is meant to sweep everything or as much as it can once six Curses have been Baton Passed to it.

[Sceptile_Master]

5 curses is still more than enough to slow it down to a sitting duck. It's defenses aren't the best in the world.

[Gagome]

5 curses is still more than enough to slow it down to a sitting duck. It's defenses aren't the best in the world.

I think you haven't understood fully the strategy using Umbreon and Aerodactyl. True, after 5 or 6 Curses Umbreon is slow and Aerodactyl would be too if it wasn't for White Herb. After Umbreon uses Baton Pass (because Curse made it slow this move is used last) and Aerodactyl comes in White Herb kicks in and cures the Speed reduction from Curse. Now Aerodactyl is quite fast naturally so it strikes usually first and with the Attack boost of 5 or 6 Curses it is very likely it will kill everything.

[Sceptile_Master]

Oh right I was being stupid and thinking of the white herb on umbreon. A good plan I do say. I remember baton passing something like 2 speed boosts and 4 attack boosts onto a groudon once against one of my friends. It was quite unstoppable. He isn't too strategically minded so I had my crap lv 100 ninjask charging up while I (it was a double battle) had one of my best pokemon out. He went after the othe rpokemon trying to kill it off but it didn't matter if it died (which it did) because groudon finished the rest.

[rinku]

Keep in mind that your metagame is going to depend on what carts you have access to. If you are literally just playing with Ruby & Sapphire, you have a much different set of choices than if you can trade with Fire Red, Leaf Green or Colosseum. No Umbreon in pure R/S for example.

Plenty of room for good annoyers in the modern game - but they probably don't dominate as much as they used to. Milotic is an excellent defender/annoyer, for example.

[Elekidkid]

Hmmmm, so would a team based around Pokémon with crazy Defense stats be pretty much useless?

Also, what are some useful generic strategies. I'm more into using UU Pokémon (or slower with higher defenses... which lends itself to UU anyway), so are there any tips for strategies I could apply to the UU realm, or is everything in the guide on the GSC Forums good for this as well?