This blog is here to help everyone get better at competitive Pokemon. I share moveset guides, competitive teams and more. Formerly Competitive_Pokemon_Movesets
Moves: Torch Song is Skeledirge’s signature move, boosting Skeledirge’s special attack with each use. Shadow Ball is Skeledirge’s strongest ghost stab and mostly rounds out Skeldirge’s coverage. Substitute helps Skeledirge fire off several Torch Songs against bulkier teams and steamroll through them. Slack Off then provides longevity, helping Skeledirge check common threats and shake off the cost of Substitute.
Spread: We run 248 HP EVs so that Skeledirge’s HP isn’t divisible by 4, allowing us to make 4 Substitutes. We then run 20 Defense EVs so that Garganacl can’t break our sub with a Salt Cure. The 44 Speed EVs help Skeledirge outspeed Corviknight and slower Kingambit sets. We then throw the rest into Special Defense with a Calm nature to help Skeledirge take on a variety of special attackers. Given its typing and already solid Defense, a specially defensive Skeledirge has a better chance at setting up Substitutes, but a more physically defensive spread can be run.
Unaware is the ability we’re going with, which lets Skeledirge ignore the many set-up sweepers in this generation. Heavy Duty Boots helps Skeledirge avoid the otherwise crippling weakness to Stealth Rocks. And lastly, you can run either Fairy or Water for the tera type. Both are excellent defensive types and will help Skeledirge set up Torch Songs.
Usage/Team Support: Skeledirge can be a powerful asset for many bulky teams, providing both defensive utility and a win condition. It can take advantage of the more passive teams that may otherwise outlast a balance or bulky offense team, while also checking big threats on offense like Iron Valiant. Crucially, Skeledirge cleanly checks Garganacl, one of the biggest threats in OU. Having Pokemon that lure in Garganacl will provide Skeledirge many opportunities to set-up and then run through the opposing team.
Moves: Flower Trick is Meowscarada’s signature move, boasting a 70 bp and a guaranteed crit. Between that crit and a Choice Band, Meowscarada can pick up KOs on many bulky threats and easily breaks down teams. Knock Off not only boasts impressive power, but also has fantastic utility by removing items. This is the move Meowscarada will be going for most of the time. U-Turn is always fantastic on a fast Protean user, helping Meowscarada pivot around the opponent’s team and chip away at its checks. The last move can either be Play Rough or Trick. I personally prefer Play Rough for the coverage against powerful threats like Baxcalibur, but Trick can also be used to cripple walls like Clodsire.
Spread: Real simple spread here! We’re just maxing out on attack and speed, trying to get as much out of Meowscarada’s strengths as we can. Choice Band accentuates this by providing that extra power Meowscarada may need to control the game. You can then run tera grass for the extra power on Flower Trick, or you can run tera fairy to dodge a Mach Punch and get more out of Play Rough. Protean compliments this all by providing stab to whichever move Meowscarada goes for. Even with the nerf, this is still a terrifying ability!
Team Support/Usage: Meowscarada is able to provide a lot of utility to its team. Having access to both Knock Off and U-Turn, it’s able to chip away at the opposing team while pivoting around them. It then brings some wallbreaking potential with the power of Flower Trick. This all makes Meowscarada a great fit for offensive teams that appreciate the utility and role compression this Pokemon provides. Specifically, Meowscarada excels on hazard based teams due to its ability to force switches and remove the opponent’s Heavy Duty Boots.
I always preferred Mato's artstyle over Yamamoto's for the manga. (Her style was really cute, especially with how she drew Pikachu. He's just a little bean.)
Seeing her artwork done for the first series anime is really cool 😍
Some amusing Pokemon descriptions from the Versus Books guide for Gold and Silver. The writer's bias towards Arcanine being the best Fire-type (by that point), how mean he is to Murkrow compared to Houndour, that weird Unown "Nuzzling" tangent, and calling Ditto a love machine in particular.
What can say to help someone who has no mind for "builds" in any game and the best I'm capable of is copying others stuff, and I just can't pick moves/abilities and items or whatever that together myself?
Luckily for us, there are a lot of team-building resources for competitive pokemon! If you are wanting to make a team around a Pokemon, I always recommend going with one of the most common sets. This will make building the team a lot easier since there will be a lot of examples to look at. You can find common sets on Smogon’s pokedex, this blog, or the usage stats Pokemon Showdown makes available. If you’re not building your team around this Pokemon, but you still want to include it, things can get a bit more complicated.
Be warned: I go on quite the long explanation here. Click the read more if you want to do so. Sorry mobile users.
The first thing you want to ask yourself is what role the Pokemon is playing on the team. Some Pokemon are fairly one dimensional and have set roles (take Blissy or Barraskewda for example), while others can do a variety of things.
For the sake of explaining things, let’s take Landorus-Therian, one of the most versatile Pokemon ever made. Now, let’s look at one of the sample teams on Smogon that normally has Lando on it: https://pokepast.es/0762e3d8032e86ae
These five Pokemon (Regieleki, Magearna, Garchomp, Spectrier, and Cinderace for those who are too lazy to click on a link.) create a very powerful offensive team on their own, but lack a ground immunity, making Landorus-T a good fit. Now, since this is a hyper-offense team that relies on putting out constant pressure, all of the defensive sets Landorus can run aren’t really going to be in the running. That means we probably aren’t running Defog, either.
Now looking at these five, I notice that there isn’t a Stealth Rock setter. Garchomp can, but this person is opting to run a Swords Dance breaking set which doesn’t really have room for Stealth Rocks. That means we really need to have a Stealth Rock setter. Landorus can do that really well, so we’ve already got one move down. Really, we have two down because there’s no way we’re running a Landorus without Earthquake.
Landorus-Therian (M)
Ability: Intimidate
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
The rest of the set is going to be up to personal preference. On this team I would probably run a leading set with Focus Sash and Explosion so that I can guarantee that Stealth Rocks are put up for the rest of my Pokemon. I noticed that a lot of these Pokemon really need the chip damage from rocks to guarantee K.O.s. The last move I would run then would be a coverage move like Stone Edge or something. The person who built this team went a slightly different route and is running Swords Dance in this last slot. I like that decision a lot, as it helps them break through things and get off a really powerful explosion if their Landorus is going to be useful later in the game.
You could also go down a completely different route if you wanted to, though. Say you don’t want Landorus to be a lead, and you want to go with Swords Dance and Stone Edge in the last two slots so that it can be of more use in the mid-game, for example. At the end though, you’ll just want to pick something and then test out your team and notice what works and what doesn’t. If you never use one of your moves, then maybe you should pick something else. If you’re noticing that your team is really having issues with speed control, maybe you’ll want to change one of your sets to a Scarf set, or use a different Pokemon entirely. There are a lot of options in Pokemon, but once you narrow it down, thing’s can get a lot easier.
I really hope this helped. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask!
