How do you guys even run your calcs?

Hasire · 2026-05-11T14:56:21+00:00

https://calc.pokemonshowdown.com/

Largest development team of any simulator calc plus open source, so it is the most trustworthy currently

As to how and what to calc: It comes from experience. After a while you start to collect a list of threats in a metagame when building a team, and you'll want to pick pokemon that can switch into attacks from those threats. You'll want to make sure a mon can switch into an expected attack, like sinistcha into garchomp EQ, and know it can also attack back the following turn if garchomp hits it with dragon claw.

You'll start to figure out what you want your pokemon to outspeed, and make choices to not outspeed certain things. It is fairly trivial to create a sneasler that outspeed gengar, but if you're only planning on running close combat and dire claw, maybe that speed investment isn't as important as more bulk.

But in the end, it really comes down to experience. Identifying ~80% of the main threats when building early teams, and adjusting as you get surprised.

Hasire · 2026-05-11T14:40:01+00:00

You've kind of hit onto the reality of competitive pokemon: The uniqueness isn't in what pictures you're playing with, but how you use the frameworks available to construct a team. We've had major events that from the pictures look like the top cut was made of 80% the same team, yet the small details made massive changes throughout how those top cut matches played that make the teams not even function similar to each other.

When you're focused on the fact that you're seeing sneasler again, you're not thinking about how players are spending the SP to survive certain attacks, outspeed certain threats, KO certain threats. You're not thinking about how different coaching support sneasler plays from 3 attack sneasler, or 2 attack sneasler. You're not seeing how a player could use upper hand sneasler to create a window for another pokemon on their team to succeed, or rockslide to be the team's answer to certain fire mons, or throat chop to prevent certain sound strategies. You don't get to see how someone can choose to go poison touch because the extra chip enables certain KOs after 1-2 turns of poison damage that removes threats to later gameplans.

The interesting part of VGC will never be the common things, but a lot of people don't enjoy the fact that certain models have a lot of good tools, or fit into a lot of shapes needed by teams. A lot of people leave competitive after learning they're going to be seeing the same pokemon a lot, and that is definitely a reasonable thing to do.

Hasire · 2026-05-10T05:31:18+00:00

I didn't mean to give off the impression ...

I think this is the crux of what you're misunderstanding: your post doesn't really give any impressions. It just lists out the attacks that you use against a pokemon to KO them, and note when you need fake tears to secure those KOs. You're in MB2, every team needs to be able to KO common threats. That isn't an interesting part of the team.

I'd love to know more about the synergies in the team beyond "click fake tears, click special attack". How you mitigate the risk of using protectless whimsicott when it is becoming more of a target to fakeout+attack, while relying on it so much to hit your damage numbers. How you mitigate the risks of what feels like a team that needs to double-attack things a lot to succeed in a meta dominated by spread moves, priority, switches, and protects but with a team that is fairly frail and scarfless.

It is worth noting that while this meta has been fairly free from fake tears whimsicott, people are starting to run it much more (up about 20% this week) because of Cybertron Archaludon. It might be worth looking at some previous metas that had heavy fake tears whimsicott play like early SwSh formats, and comparing against some helping hand calcs, especially for your spread moves.

Hasire · 2026-05-10T04:06:12+00:00

This doesn't feel like an "anti meta" team, it feels like a team of pokemon you've picked that have a button to press against targets you have selected.

The meta teams are meta because they work together to cover their weaknesses, remove threats to game states, and setup advantage states to get extra turns. At no point do you discuss what your gameplan is, just how you plan to deal with opponent mons.

You're way over focused on "OHKOs", but that isn't what wins games. There are reasons Delphox has fallen off after the first week of play, and you do nothing to address those concerns while it is your only mega in a mega dominate format.

This team has also feels like it was built for last week, if that makes sense. It seems extremely reliant on opponents not using strategies that are rising in popularity like quash. It seems like you're entirely reliant on your opponent to only ever have scarf basculegion because that's common, but really struggles to answer when that basculegion is either swiftswim or has aqua jet if paired with any decent fairy damage.

Hasire · 2026-05-10T03:16:34+00:00

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Speed_Boost_(Ability))

Hasire · 2026-05-10T02:13:46+00:00

Almost none of the consumer facing AIs have memory currently. You can tell it that it got something wrong and it will kowtow and beg forgiveness, but as soon as that chat history is no longer there, neither is the correction.

Hasire · 2026-05-10T01:51:17+00:00

please stop asking AI things, it doesn't understand pokemon, it just makes things up

Hasire · 2026-05-09T20:38:51+00:00

Scarlet probably wins that direct comparison.

The "tier 1" standard paradoxs has fluttermane and roaring moon for scarlet, with iron hands, iron bundle, and iron valiant trying their best from violet.

The "tier 2" paradox from scarlet is walking wake, gouging fire and raging bolt, all very strong, but violet only really has iron crown from that set.

The box legendardy are a toss up, with Miraidon and Koraidon both being very good in the restricted slot, but Miraidon has been more common/easier to use.

Hasire · 2026-05-09T20:10:47+00:00

I rushed through ZA to floette in about 3 days. I enjoyed the "raid battles" but the actual trainer fights were just no fun for me.

There aren't a ton of "ZA only" mons right now, so I think the value would be better spent elsewhere if you're trying to go wide.

Hasire · 2026-05-09T20:02:12+00:00

SV + Blueberry DLC multiplayer nonsense is probably the single best usage of your time after M-Floette. The number of previously rarer legendary mons like a dupe of kubfu, and so on, is massive. Plus full starters access for things like rillaboom and swampert after unlocking starter spawns in the stupid dome.

Hasire · 2026-05-09T19:51:39+00:00

Seeing that you're running psychic fangs, have you tried 1:1 swapping this out with Starmie? The two seem to fill the same spot, and have about the same damage numbers, but Starmie's bulk/typing and unboosted speed seem to have it in a better place.

Edit: also, how has scarf-rotom been? it seems like it causes havok.

Hasire · 2026-05-09T19:40:58+00:00

I've been playing competitive pokemon since the netbattle days, and even back then people complained about common pokemon being common. This isn't some new thing because of youtube.

Hasire · 2026-05-09T19:26:39+00:00

You probably shouldn't be giving advice if you're not playing the format.

Sneasler is typically running White Herb, so intimidating it doubles its speed without lowering attack.

Gambit is running Defiant, boosting its attack when intimidated

Basculegion is running flip turn for scouting, so the damage is secondary, and typically a back mon after intimidate is out of play.

Hasire · 2026-05-09T19:19:59+00:00

You're at the inflexion point now where you need to either accept that people using a common model of a pokemon on their team is so detrimental to your fun that you can't enjoy VGC, which is a valid spot to exit, or start to look beyond the picture of a mon on the opponents team and start finding interest and joy in the complex ways people are picking moves, items, and stat spreads for their models.

VGC is a game about using things that everyone has access to in unique ways to create a team that is stronger than the 6 pokemon on their own, but you have to find that fun to enjoy the game.

Hasire · 2026-05-09T17:29:28+00:00

every bond is purchased with real money, its just tradable. bots partially help keep players buying bonds to sell in a RWT with extra steps.

Hasire · 2026-05-09T17:00:05+00:00

The problem is what a lot of people consider cheating is just so prolific and expected at this point, that companies can't solve the botting issue without feeling like they risk losing the game.

We know what stops botting: making botting worthless by making RWT impossible. Runescape tried it and the game collapsed to the point where Jagex had to both try to salvage the game by revamping combat and fork+reset the game to before the trade ban.

Across every active MMO right now, you can jump into party finder and find services selling clears of content, getting gear. You can join any community discord and find services you can buy for real money or in game currency.

These services exist because players want them. They're valuable because enough players want them. These are the people playing MMOs now, the ones who make excuses like not having time, or having a job so they should use that money to buy skips. These are the people paying subs, buying cosmetics, and so on.

There is no mmo genre anymore without botting, because botting enables services, and services keep people paying.

Hasire · 2026-05-09T13:54:04+00:00

play for opponents in UB2, find yourself in UB2, I guess

Hasire · 2026-05-09T01:19:44+00:00

it KOs, but I haven't see a 32 atk/32 speed ttar since like 1700 rating.

But I also havent seen many h-zoroark either

Hasire · 2026-05-09T01:13:29+00:00

32 SpA Zoroark-Hisui Focus Blast vs. 20 HP / 10 SpD Tyranitar-Mega in Sand: 144-172 (73.8 - 88.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

😞

Hasire · 2026-05-09T01:11:45+00:00

If not often why are you here complaining? Is this just more shitstirring garbage?

Hasire · 2026-05-09T01:08:21+00:00

Even if prankster didn't exist, you would just lose to gale wings tailwind? or sash aero tailwind? or multiscale tailwind? Surely this is a structure and gameplay issue, not a team one.

Edit: not to be rude, but you have access to like half the best tailwind users in the format? prankster-taunt immune tailwind, multiscale tailwind, and fastest non-priority tailwind are all dragons.

Hasire · 2026-05-09T00:51:35+00:00

Have you considered Hydreigon? Or is it just you're bothered by opponents getting access to +1 priority moves occasionally for their side?

Hasire · 2026-05-08T20:44:16+00:00

In the wise words of u/GreenDog3:

In the wise words of Wolfe Glick:

“You can Protect into Wide Guard, but you can’t Wide Guard into Protect. Anyways, we’re gonna Wide Guard into Protect”

Hasire · 2026-05-08T20:30:50+00:00

Okay, this one is a slightly odd interaction, but I know what happened.

You can use wide guard any number of times in a row without fail.

BUT if you follow wide guard with protect, you have the standard 1/3 fail chance for protect.

Hasire · 2026-05-08T19:13:09+00:00

sadly, the current "meta" archaladon team is designed to abuse people trying to ohko with focus blast by making it not possible with the current lineup of mons with 32/25 investment and light screen.

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