ABATTBQ11 said:

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Keep venusaur out longer. Beat giratina down with frenzy plant or sludge wave and try to make them burn shields. When you're close to getting knocked out, send out gardevoir. You can do it either right before or right after you release a charge move. Right after gives you an element of surprise, but right before puts a one shot cannon in your pocket. Charm will hit giratina hard while they try to switch. You might knock it out, but even if you don't you've dealt damage and are at least partially charged for their counter.

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If they bring Giratina-A to open against my Venusaur, I don't switch. IMO, the V will do enough damage that it offsets the risk of being the first switcher. If you switch and then they switch to something that counters your new one, not only is that one screwed, but you'll still have a mostly-full Giratina to deal with later.

So my 1711 one would probably not be too helpful.

I've been leading with a Steelix. It counters Giratina well, and sometimes baits them to switch to Swampert. Then I get to unleash Venusaur on them. I'm pretty much screwed if someone leads with a Charizard or Typhlosion though.

I have a couple Venusaurs. Both of them have Vine Whip with Petal Blizzard. From my understanding, Vine Whip is not bad but Frenzy Plant would be better. I think I have understood this correctly, but would not be surprised if someone said that is wrong.

Anyhow, I am only lv26 and am following the instructions of some of you to not use Dust or Candy until lv30. Should I wait or should I upgrade?

At level 26, I'd still wait. I know it sucks not being a part of some of the new battle features, but honestly, you're in "deck building" phase. Unless you have something that's sure to be a killer now, keep hoarding your candy and dust until later, when you can really tailor things.

Or, ignore that and forge ahead. It's your call.

Powered up a Togekiss and TM'd it to get the fairy move. It alternated back and forth from Air Slash and Dark Pulse until I ran out of TMs. Love it.

Just went 3-0 with Armaldo/Snorlax/Clefable, and 1-1 with Swampert/Snorlax/Clefable.

Is Armando good?

Saint Pablo said:

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Is Armando good?

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I'm not sure I'd say he's good, but he's able to get off a charge or two before he gets killed, which seems to get my opponent to burn at least one shield. I'll be honest, I don't know much about the movesets or pay much attention to it. I just used him as an opener one day and decided to stick with him.

jm94 said:

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ABATTBQ11 said:

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Keep venusaur out longer. Beat giratina down with frenzy plant or sludge wave and try to make them burn shields. When you're close to getting knocked out, send out gardevoir. You can do it either right before or right after you release a charge move. Right after gives you an element of surprise, but right before puts a one shot cannon in your pocket. Charm will hit giratina hard while they try to switch. You might knock it out, but even if you don't you've dealt damage and are at least partially charged for their counter.

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If they bring Giratina-A to open against my Venusaur, I don't switch. IMO, the V will do enough damage that it offsets the risk of being the first switcher. If you switch and then they switch to something that counters your new one, not only is that one screwed, but you'll still have a mostly-full Giratina to deal with later.

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By the time your venusaur is almost gone, giratina will be near death too unless they burn shields. The tactical goal is to kill it with fast attacks from your second Pokemon, partially building a charged move that you will hit their next Pokemon with, forcing them to either take a large hit or burn a shield.

Switching gives you 2-3 advantages. 1, your switch timer is already running. When it comes to putting venusaur back out or throwing out giratina, it will most likely be ready to go. That means you you can deliver a 1-2 charge attack punch later. You get one switch for the faint, and the other because your timer has reset. 2, your second mon is already building energy for their charge move if and when they switch. Kill giratina with charm, and you're halfway to shadow ball or synchronoise. Even if they pull it, you'll get in attacks and get a head start on charging up. Beat the second mon down, force a shield burn or two, and put in giratina to finish it when gardevoir is knocked out.

This sets you up for their third Pokemon. The hope is to have drawn out their shields already and have venusaur waiting in the wings with a charged frenzy plant. When their third Pokemon comes out, you can switch to venusaur and blast it immediately. Then back to giratina to finish them. You really just want to get to the end game with more built up energy and charge moves. Unless their third gives you some kind of terrible mismatch, like a clefable against giratina, you'll be doing so much damage so quick that they can't fight back. Switching early, but not too early, is usually, and counterintuitively, the best way to do it.

Admittedly, this may work better with a bulkier clefable that can absorb hits and fast attacks.

If your opener is clearly outclassed by theirs and you have a really good counter you can switch to, at what time do you make the move? I really think tactics are the part of my game I need to refine the most

jm94 said:

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Finally got a Deino as a Battle League reward.

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I don't believe you. All I've seen are tepig, snivy, and oshawott

As soon as you have a cheap charge if yours is a spammer, immediately if they're not.

Also, been getting killed by the delay problems tonight. Was doing really well earlier today, but tonight I went 5-5 in two rounds. 2-3 were really close and came down to who had the last attack, but I'd taken some damage while lagging and couldn't get charge moves off as fast. I almost wish they'd move to a true turn based battle system.

Just went 5-0 with Armaldo/Snorlax/Clefable. I think one time the switch glitch got my opponent, but they also burned both shields right away. They started with a Giratina and I had Armaldo. I got off three attacks, and they wasted shields on the first two. So by the time I put my Clefable in, they were almost done. Another battle, I meant to swap in Snorlax but accidentally hit Clefable. Then the opponent actually switched to Giratina. I clobbered it.

Saint Pablo said:

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Powered up a Togekiss and TM'd it to get the fairy move. It alternated back and forth from Air Slash and Dark Pulse until I ran out of TMs. Love it.

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Got another fast TM from a raid, used it and ended up with dark pulse again. So frustrating

Yeah... A lot of gameplay aspects just plain suck. I think the developers and designers need to take a month off and start playing their game from scratch, just to see what it's like.

What do you guys think of the new Egg event?

Any rares?

Nothing I don't have already

I need the gen 5 ones.

Archen is another aerodactyl. Tortouga is another kabuto/omanyte. I hatched an archen early. Even saw one on the nearby once. If I wasn't going to monster jam with the fam, I'd have gone for it.

Went 5-0 with alolan muk, clefable, and giratina-a, and I feel incredibly accomplished. Got a meditite as my encounter, but I'll take it.

ETA A-muk is a pretty good lead. Powers up fast, and only weak to ground types. Takes neutral against fairies, but has poison charge moves. Also resistant to all venusaur attacks, but deals neutral damage with dark and poison moves. Great giratina counter as it resists ghost and dark moves and is neutral to dragon. Also has bulk to take attacks. Only really bad match up you could be in is swampert with mud shot. Chances of a neutral matchup or better are very high.

https://pokemondb.net/type/dual

Great resource for understanding strengths and weaknesses of dual types.

Burned all my TMs. All my dust and my team still freaking blows.

I'm looking for more active friends to build XP. I'm friends with a few posters on here but I think I'm missing some. Trailblaz3r12. 0162 1634 9251 thank you.

I sent you a request. Unfortunately, I am nowhere near you.

While we are at it, my code is...


3033 4199 9433

According to that list, you should have a bunch of steel types.

Added you! My username is zklement1

caleblyn said:

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According to that list, you should have a bunch of steel types.

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Yes and no. They have a lot of resistances, but their attacks aren't always as good and there typically defense oriented.

I've been using Charizard a lot lately. He makes grass run, but is also a good counter vs Dragons with the right charge move.

It seems like I go 3-2 or 2-3 every day. Pretty much every match is decided by match ups, especially the first one.

Is there some kind of map out there for the team rockets?

I suck at finding them.