EV’s: The other thing which is most intimidating to new players, but is also super important. EV’s, or ‘Effort Values’, are attributes which give bonuses to your Pokemons stats, permanently. Earning EV’s are gained and determined by which Pokemon you fight in the wild AND as of Generation 6, Super Training! Super Training is the new and by far easiest way to raise your Pokemon's EV's in no time at all. How do EV's work? 4 EV's = 1 stat point. Did your Talonflame earn 4 EV's in attack? Congrats, those 4 equate to 1 permanent stat point in attack. Each Pokemon can earn a max of 510 EV points total, and each of your Pokemon's stats can only receive a max of 252 EV's. Because of this, people typically (but not always) dump EV points into 2 stats that they absolutely want to max out. Take Garchomp for example - he is often seen with 252 EV's being pumped into his gargantuan attack, and 252 EV's being pumped into his excellent speed, making for a super fast, super hard hitting Garchomp. "Oh boy, I can't wait to start EV training the Pokemon I beat the game with!" Sorry sport, they've most likely already gained their full amount of EV's from the standard enemies you beat playing the main game. You CAN reset any Pokemon's EV spread completely with a reset bag in super training, however. Here is a complete guide on everything EV's, and here is a beginners guide on EV training. If you want to get EV's by battling Pokemon and not by Super Training, this article lists the type of EV points received by defeating every imaginable Pokemon in the game. ABILITIES: Each Pokemon in the game has 1 ability (some Pokemon have several to choose from, but still can only have 1 active throughout its life) that can affect how it fights in battle. For example, Gengar has the ability ‘levitate’, meaning he is unaffected by ground moves. Many abilities are considered extremely useful in competitive play. When building a competitive team, take a look at what Pokemon you want to use, then research their possible abilities. Some Pokemon have abilities that are almost always clean-cut winners, like Talonflame (Gale Wings) or Scizor (Technician). Other Pokemon have multiple good abilities that you must decide which you like best, like Gyarados (either Moxie or Intimidate). STAB: STAB stands for ‘Same Type Attack Bonus’. This simply means that moves of a specific type are 50% stronger when used by that type of Pokemon. For example, a fire attack will do 50% more damage when coming from a Pokemon who is a fire type, or a water attack will do 50% more damage when coming from a Pokemon that is a water type, etc. ITEMS: Items are things that can be held by Pokemon in battles that can drastically change the overall strategy of a team, or the outcome of a game completely. There are items that have 1-time consumable use (berries, focus sashes, white herb, etc), and there are items that have continuous use throughout the game (choice band/scarf/specs, leftovers, life orb, flame orb, etc). For a detailed look at the more common competitive battling items, go here or here!. THE COMPETITIVE METAGAME: TIERS: Tiers are attempts by the competitive community to classify Pokemon by their level of usefulness in a battle. The tiers mainly found in Pokemon are (in order of most powerful to least powerful) Ubers (too powerful for competitive play. If you want to play with your Mega Mewtwo, you must do so in the Ubers playlist) OU (Overused…this is widely considered the main tier of competitive Pokemon, and is often referred to as 'standard play') BL (Borderline) UU (Underused) BL2 (Borderline 2) RU (Rarelyused) NU (Neverused) LC (Little Cup) Limbo NFE (Not Fully Evolved) Here is a current list of these tiers, as defined by Smogon, for the singles metagame. Other communities may have different Pokemon ranked in different tiers, but the names for the tiers are usually the same AN INTRODUCTION TO STRATEGIES Team Building, Weather, Status Effects, Trick Room, Entry Hazards, Sweepers, Stallers, Healers and more! There’s so much to discuss here it is impossible to contain it all in a single paragraph. To put it simply, it’s this: Competitive Pokemon teams are usually built with a central theme or objective in mind. You put together Pokemon that compliment one another and cover each other’s weaknesses. (see: synergy). Some teams are built around a set-up sweeper – a Pokemon who can power itself up with a move like Dragon Dance, Quive Dance, Agility, or Nasty Plot, and then single-handedly wipe out an enemy team. Other successful teams have been built around utilizing weather, gravity, or trick room. There are so many ways to build a team. Here are a handful links that are incredibly helpful and can get anyone started (NOTE: some of these are dated, but still relevant in terms of learning basic strategy) Competitive Pokemon Dictionary (Commonly used phrases, abbreviations, etc. MUST-READ) Pokemon Team Building Smogon’s complete list of competitive articles (some are dated but still VERY worth reading, especially in the ‘Reference Lists and Strategy’ section) Pokemon-Online’s Team Building Guide Shofu's X-Y Team Building Guide Smogons 2 Guides to Pokemon Cores, Edition 1 and Edition 2 Beldum Laboratories Synergy Pokedex OU Team Building Frameworks in Teambuilding ONLINE BATTLE SIMULATORS Pokemon Showdown Pokemon-Online REDDIT COMPETITIVE DISCUSSION SUBREDDITS Want to find other people on reddit to talk strat with? r/stunfisk r/pokemonshowdown r/friendsafari - gotta get those dittos for IV breeding somewhere!