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antemortem

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Socialization Head
This is not the place to write Pokemon of the Week posts. If you're interested in writing those, private message me.

Here's a brief illustration as to what Trainer Tips are:
  • typically a couple of short paragraphs (can be written in whatever manner you wish as long as it's somewhat personal while retaining a competitive nature) on "how to better employ" a particular battle tactic or strategy;
  • beneficial to both competitive and non-competitive parties interested in dabbling a bit in the competitive field.
The best way to get a grip on how to write them is by using old ones as frames of reference, so here are some written by other current contributors.

Trainer Tip # 64 - Rain in OU

In Generation V, weather wars dominated the Overused tier, with many battles being decided by who can get their weather to stay permanently. With direct type advantage over the Sun and Sand setters, Politoed quickly became the poster child for Rain teams. Once Generation VI rolled in, Drizzle's effect was nerfed and the ban on Swift Swim + Drizzle was lifted. This paved the path to the offensive Rain teams we see in the ORAS OU tier today.

While Politoed sets the Rain, it relies on powerful Pokemon with Swift Swim to abuse strong attacks with doubled Speed. Threats such as Life Orb Kabutops and Choice Specs Kingdra are often the go-to sweepers, while some teams opt to use their Mega slot on Mega Swampert, a strong and bulky attacker that becomes a serious force under the Rain. Since most Pokemon with Swift Swim are already Water-types, their attacks not only receive the Rain boost, but a STAB boost as well, with only the most dedicated of walls able to withstand the hits.

Not all sweepers on Rain teams rely on Swift Swim. In the rain, Tornadus-Therian gets access to a perfect accuracy STAB Hurricane, which can put serious holes teams should they have no resist. With Regenerator and U-Turn, as well as tremendous base 121 Speed, Tornadus-T has no problem switching in and out of the battlefield to fire off attacks. Mega Manectric can use a perfect accuracy Thunder that rivals Life Orb Torn-T's Hurricane in power. Like Torn-T, Mega Manectric can pivot out with a fast Volt Switch and wreck havoc on the opponents.

Thanks to Cheek Pouch for the writeup and Andrew for the art! What Pokemon do you use as sweepers for your Rain teams? How do you combat the weather?
Trainer Tip #13 - Paralysis (in UnderUsed)

Feraligatr is paralyzed! It's unable to move!

Does this statement seem familiar? That's probably because it's the bane of all of our existences. Paralysis in UnderUsed (and paralysis in general) serves very specific and standardized purposes: to hamper the Speed stats of otherwise dangerous Pokemon, and generate more vulnerable turns for the user. However, the use of paralysis has always been a controversial topic, so much so that the term 'Yellow Magic' has been coined in retaliation to the notion that using methods of paralysis requires little to no skill. That being said, this game has many interesting nuances, and many ways to take advantage of them to win. In a tier that has decent staple Ground-types, such as Krookodile, Mamoswine, and Gligar, a few token Electric-types, such as Zapdos, Rotom, and Mega Ampharos, as well as multiple clerics, it's difficult to present a solid argument as to why 'Yellow Magic' should have its brain picked.

With this in mind, a question is begged: is paralysis truly a broken feature in UU, or is it just another tool to be used carefully and intuitively to secure a win? The answer, in my opinion, is the latter. Too arrogantly do we switch in our Crobat's on Stealth Rock Cobalion, assuming advantage over a lack of Swords Dance by firing off several Brave Birds and Roosting. Too assuredly do we spam our Entei's Sacred Fires against Will-O-Wisp Rotom-Heat, thinking we have a win secured with only a weakened Mamoswine to trump, when Thunder Wave appears and completely changes the outcome of the game. In short, we're not careful enough as battlers and tacticians, and we complain about a status condition that has been present since day one.

Paralysis has been profoundly influential since the dawn of RBY OU, where games were literally decided based on how effectively one uses Thunder Wave. In a game where 24 move slots spell a win or a loss, sparing one for a situational game changer is a risk, and one that will not always pay off. Furthermore, Pokemon is a game that rests on on the "best" course of action, not the "ultimate" course of action; just because you made the right play doesn't mean that the RNG will always reward you with the optimal outcome. This is a limitation placed upon the game for a specific purpose: luck is fun, and it adds dimension to an otherwise perfectly controlled environment. Paralysis is a way to generate your own luck based on the limits of your intuition.

In UnderUsed, there is always a steady rise of paralysis users, including, but not limited to, Whimsicott, Rotom-Heat, and Cobalion. These Pokemon utilize paralysis in response to very fast and powerful forces in the tier such as Mega Beedrill, Hydreigon, Salamence, Darmanitan, and Mega Aerodactyl. The response is associated with the overall offensive nature of the tier; in some instances, paralysis evens the playing field for more diverse playstyles, an important component of a healthy tier. Overall, the backlash over paralysis tends to be generated by the same users that refuse to use it. In response, we at Smogon University suggest that you become slightly more open-minded in your pursuits. And happy paralyzing.

Thanks to King UU for the writeup and chameleonskyes for the art.

If you want to try your hand writing these, post your idea or write-up in this thread and I'll look over it and move from there! Don't be shy to at least take a shot; you can write about just about anything so long as it's relevant to competitive Pokemon/Smogon's official tiers! :]

Completed tips not yet used
Trainer tip #???- Spikes in PU

In a tier dominated by entry hazards, PU has plenty of different Spikes users to choose from. Roselia is the most notable as a former S rank, not only for Spikes but also for being a great defensive wall and incredibly hard to switch into when running offensive sets, making it incredibly unpredictable. It's easy to switch in expecting a weak defensive hit and then get blown away by an offensive Leaf Storm. Meanwhile, it can set up both Spikes and Toxic Spikes, and still has more useful support options with Sleep Powder an Synthesis. Quilladin has been gaining some notoriety as an alternative option recently thanks to its offensive spiking set which can lay hazards on common threats such as Roselia and Golem. While it still sees use as a defensive Spiker thanks to its great bulk and Synthesis, offensive sets can threaten foes like Pawniard and Stunfisk and use the switches it forces to lay Spikes.

PU also has a number of suicide spiking leads. Venipede has access to both types of Spikes, Endeavor, and Speed Boost, making it annoying to deal with for unprepared teams. Glalie only has access to regular Spikes, but gets Taunt, Freeze Dry, and Explosion so it can't easily be set up or removed on. Quilladin also has a suicide set, while it faces competition from Glalie as a Spiker with Taunt it can use its natural typing to handle Golem more effectively and gets Endeavor to mess with foes. Dwebble, while being the only Pokemon with both Stealth Rock and Spikes, can also be setup fodder for a large portion of the tier.

Spikes are best abused by strong attackers and sweepers like Stoutland, Fraxure, and Floatzel who can force a lot of switches and wear down grounded counters like Gourgeist-XL. Toxic Spikes, on the other hand, mostly benefit special attackers such as Rotom-F and Chatot, as many of the best specially defensive walls such as Audino, Grumpig, and Assault Vest Bouffalant are susceptible to the poison. Running Pokemon to deter Defog like Pawniard and Electric-types to threaten Vullaby and Swanna can also help to keep Spikes up over a long game.
 
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antemortem

THE ORIGINAL DAVE
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Socialization Head
Question: Are Other Metas-related trainer tips allowed?
tbh i don't mind the idea, but it would have to be over an especially popular OM (like top 5) and not get too lost in the details. for instance AAA is a hugely diverse ruleset, so something specific about it would have to be honed in on
 

nv

The Lost Age
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I was thinking about maybe writing a tip about Gyarados / the new drops that have occurred directly because of the Megas / Non-Megas being tiered separately, but idk if this would fit more in "Pokemon of the Week" or not. I guess the tip could be geared on how that new mechanic has influenced the lower tiers.

Either way, I am really happy to be able to start contributing to Social media as I have been wanting to get into and now that there is a forums to ask questions and whatnot, I am definitely intrigued. Speaking of questions, should this forums have a SQSA or something of that sort? Idk I am social media noob lol.
 

antemortem

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Socialization Head
I was thinking about maybe writing a tip about Gyarados / the new drops that have occurred directly because of the Megas / Non-Megas being tiered separately, but idk if this would fit more in "Pokemon of the Week" or not. I guess the tip could be geared on how that new mechanic has influenced the lower tiers.
The latter part of your post intrigues me the most; just remember that something like this has to be concise, so it would need to fit in two or three mid-length paragraphs. I think it could be interesting, especially if you focus specifically on either Gyarados in UnderUsed, or "how the new mechanic has influenced the lower tiers" in response to this month's quick drops.
 
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nv

The Lost Age
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Trainer Tip #??? - Mega Separation Anxiety

Starting with the December tier shifts, after a long and somewhat heated debate, Pokemon Showdown's upper staff had finally decided to tier the non-Mega and their Mega formes separately. This mechanic change caused a lot of the lower tiers to be flipped on their heads with powerful threats such as Gyarados and Sableye now in UU, Diancie now in RU, Abomasnow and Sceptile now in NU, and Altaria, Camerupt, and Audino now in PU.

Those that were in favor of doing so thought that by tiering the Megas separately from their non-Mega formes would give the lower tiers much needed diversity. Those against it wanted to keep true to the game itself by grouping the "regular forme" with the Mega as the Mega is just a "boosted" version of the original Pokemon; same as if you added a Life Orb or a Choice item to a Pokemon. But the question wasn't so much as to whether or not the upper staff would do it, it was a question of when.

They had a back and forth of waiting until Generation 7, waiting until the new games, or waiting until the following month (which happened to be December). The decision wasn't unanimous, but it became probably one of the biggest decisions that the upper staff of PS! had to make.

What are your thoughts on separating Megas? Do you think it diversified or hindered the lower tiers? Let us know in the comments below!

I am not too sure how well I did as this is my first ever Trainer Tip, but I would love some feedback from anyone. Thanks in advance!
 
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Trainer Tip #???- Life Orb Numbers

Contrary to popular belief, the recoil taken from Life Orb is 9%, not 10% of a pokemon's health. This is only the case, however, if the Life Orb user doesn't have their HP being divisible by 10. Some pokemon have their base HP ending in numbers other than multiples of 10, while some don't. So make sure you check your IVs and adjust them to suit the Life Orb number accordingly!
 

Stratos

Banned deucer.
Trainer Tip #???- Life Orb Numbers

Contrary to popular belief, the recoil taken from Life Orb is 9%, not 10% of a pokemon's health. This is only the case, however, if the Life Orb user doesn't have their HP being divisible by 10. Some pokemon have their base HP ending in numbers other than multiples of 10, while some don't. So make sure you check your IVs and adjust them to suit the Life Orb number accordingly!
this could be worded better:

The recoil taken from Life Orb is 10% rounded down. So a Pokemon with, for example, 360 HP will take 36 from each Life Orb recoil, while a Pokemon with 359 HP will take 35, so after two attacks the one with less HP will have more! If your Pokemon is right on the tipping point, it could pay off to lower their EVs or IVs so that their HP ends in a 9.
 

antemortem

THE ORIGINAL DAVE
is a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
Socialization Head
Trainer Tip #??? - Sand in OU

During Generation V, weather simply governed the Overused tier. The victor of the battle was usually decided upon whose weather would be up permanently. Due to being able to directly set up Sand by virtue of ability, Hippowdon and Tyranitar became the mainstay for Sand teams. However when Generation VI came around, Sand's effect was nerfed and the ban of Excadrill, Sand's most powerful user, was terminated.

Hippowdon or Tyranitar as aforementioned, sets the Sand, and in OU it relies upon Excadrill to take advantage of it. Excadrill is the centerpiece of Sand teams, as it is the only viable Sand Rush user in OU. Under Sand, Excadrill's speed is doubled due to its ability Sand Rush and with access to Swords Dance it's not hard to see how much of a threat it is.

However Excadrill isn't the only abuser of Sand. Mega Garchomp is a terrifying wallbreaker under Sand. With access to Swords Dance and a nice ability in Sand Force, which boosts the power of Rock, Ground, and Steel-type moves under Sand, it can easily break past common defensive cores and terrorize the rest of the team!

is this good?

if it is i can really get used to doing this
You get the gist of it, though I suggest you add onto it by adding on a paragraph for defensive Pokemon that benefit from sand.
 
Ehh I'm writing a ton of essays either ways may as well help you guys out. I'll send you guys something 7-8 hours from now and if you guys are happy with what I submitted then let me know. Would you guys want me to send you something by pm or just post something here. Thanks
 

antemortem

THE ORIGINAL DAVE
is a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
Socialization Head
Ehh I'm writing a ton of essays either ways may as well help you guys out. I'll send you guys something 7-8 hours from now and if you guys are happy with what I submitted then let me know. Would you guys want me to send you something by pm or just post something here. Thanks
either method is fine
 

MZ

And now for something completely different
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Thought I'd try my hand at one of these, lmk if the language or something else needs fixing. Thanks Magnemite for looking it over

Trainer tip #???- Spikes in PU

In a tier dominated by entry hazards, PU has plenty of different Spikes users to choose from. Roselia is the most notable as a former S rank, not only for Spikes but also for being a great defensive wall and incredibly hard to switch into when running offensive sets, making it incredibly unpredictable. It's easy to switch in expecting a weak defensive hit and then get blown away by an offensive Leaf Storm. Meanwhile, it can set up both Spikes and Toxic Spikes, and still has more useful support options with Sleep Powder an Synthesis. Quilladin has been gaining some notoriety as an alternative option recently thanks to its offensive spiking set which can lay hazards on common threats such as Roselia and Golem. While it still sees use as a defensive Spiker thanks to its great bulk and Synthesis, offensive sets can threaten foes like Pawniard and Stunfisk and use the switches it forces to lay Spikes.

PU also has a number of suicide spiking leads. Venipede has access to both types of Spikes, Endeavor, and Speed Boost, making it annoying to deal with for unprepared teams. Glalie only has access to regular Spikes, but gets Taunt, Freeze Dry, and Explosion so it can't easily be set up or removed on. Quilladin also has a suicide set, while it faces competition from Glalie as a Spiker with Taunt it can use its natural typing to handle Golem more effectively and gets Endeavor to mess with foes. Dwebble, while being the only Pokemon with both Stealth Rock and Spikes, can also be setup fodder for a large portion of the tier.

Spikes are best abused by strong attackers and sweepers like Stoutland, Fraxure, and Floatzel who can force a lot of switches and wear down grounded counters like Gourgeist-XL. Toxic Spikes, on the other hand, mostly benefit special attackers such as Rotom-F and Chatot, as many of the best specially defensive walls such as Audino, Grumpig, and Assault Vest Bouffalant are susceptible to the poison. Running Pokemon to deter Defog like Pawniard, Electric-types to threaten Vullaby and Swanna, and Spinblockers to prevent Cryogonal or Avalugg from removing your hazards can help to keep Spikes up over a long game.
 
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Trainer tip: just because it's a legendary Pokemon doesn't mean it's amazing or viable in OU. Articuno will probably never be usable because of its horrible defensive typing and shallow movepool. The regies are crippled by their lack of recovery.(for the newer players)
 

Perry

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Trainer tip: just because it's a legendary Pokemon doesn't mean it's amazing or viable in OU. Articuno will probably never be usable because of its horrible defensive typing and shallow movepool. The regies are crippled by their lack of recovery.(for the newer players)
I don't think I understood your point, sir. I mean, most of the new players do not use legendaries because they migrated from the games itself and there they believe "legends are far too powerful for everything and you are noob for using it hahaha" (I'm sure someone said that to everyone while in low ladder). So, a better way would explain why using legends is not completely forbidden at all and/or explain the tiering process (if you're more into competitive).
But anyways I don't think that the Facebook staff is looking for as I guess the main objective would be "competitive hints" but I guess I could be wrong so do not take that to heart.
 
This is late but I will PM you antemortem for your thoughts. In the meantime just to give everyone an idea of my writing I'll post something here. Feedback would be appreciated. Thanks

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SgjUl47v3WjXDHiqRlL_85Hba70n4HrHwmICK7gjIVQ/edit
I wrote that recently for english

Here is also something I thought up on the spot ish...



Emilio, often provided with amusement and enjoyment in yugioh, unlatched the door to his exquisite car. Starting the car, Emilio carefully looked at all the parts of his wallet and discovered that he had $200 dollars. The car started to move and Emilio took off and drove down to his favorite locals. Bypassing several cars, Emilio contemplated about the great decks that he can build for $200. Emilio pulled up to his locals and unlatched his seat-belt and slammed the car door shut. Opening the door to his locals, Ryan, an employee at Emilio's favorite locals, greeted Emilio and presented Emilio with a card catalog. Emilio examined the contents of the card catalog and noticed a peculiar page. The page had an amazing picture of Kozmo dark destroyer, a very sought after card, however, Emilio discovered that the page lacked a price tag. Confused, Emilio asked Ryan, "how much does Kozmo dark destroyer cost?" Ryan then replied, "$200." Enraged, Emilio threw his wallet and left his locals.

Fun fact: No Kozmo dark destroyer is no longer $200 it's $70 ish....Still expensive for a card you need to play three of...


Hope that gives everyone an idea of my writing capabilities and stuff....
 
The role of Spikes in OU is a very important one, although OU does have a lack of viable Spikes users. Spikes allow the user to inflict hazard damage on Ground and Steel types, who often otherwise resist Stealth Rock. Targets such as Mega Metagross and Hippowdon are easier to handle with the effective use of Spikes. Damage from Spikes also stacks with Stealth Rock, punishing switches even more than Stealth Rock alone.

The one prominent offensive Spikes user is Klefki, who often plays a support role. Klefki offers quite a bit to an offensive team, starting with its solid Steel / Fairy defensive typing. Its typing allows it to check Latios and Mega Gardevoir effectively, as an example. In addition, Prankster Thunder Wave can help offensive teams deal with a variety of fast sweepers and cleaners, such as Mega Charizard X, Mega Alakazam, Mega Lopunny and Kingdra. Klefki also has a deep movepool, including options such as Toxic and Magnet Rise, to make it all the more useful.

Skarmory and Ferrothorn are two of the more prominent defensive Spikes users, and both are a common sight on balance teams. Both offer a valuable Steel typing, giving both great resists to use defensively. Skarmory offers phazing to a team through use of Whirlwind, increasing the effectiveness of Spike stacking. Skarmory is also useful to check threats such as Weavile and Mega Diancie. Ferrothorn offers a lot of utility in its own right, being able to further support its team with moves like Thunder Wave and Leech Seed. Ferrothorn can check many threats defensively, such as Mega Altaria, Mega Gyarados, and Mega Diancie. It also helps against Rain teams.

What success do you have with Spikes in OU? How do you combat Spikes in OU? Let us know in the comments below!
 

antemortem

THE ORIGINAL DAVE
is a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
Socialization Head
This is late but I will PM you antemortem for your thoughts. In the meantime just to give everyone an idea of my writing I'll post something here. Feedback would be appreciated. Thanks

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SgjUl47v3WjXDHiqRlL_85Hba70n4HrHwmICK7gjIVQ/edit
I wrote that recently for english

Here is also something I thought up on the spot ish...



Emilio, often provided with amusement and enjoyment in yugioh, unlatched the door to his exquisite car. Starting the car, Emilio carefully looked at all the parts of his wallet and discovered that he had $200 dollars. The car started to move and Emilio took off and drove down to his favorite locals. Bypassing several cars, Emilio contemplated about the great decks that he can build for $200. Emilio pulled up to his locals and unlatched his seat-belt and slammed the car door shut. Opening the door to his locals, Ryan, an employee at Emilio's favorite locals, greeted Emilio and presented Emilio with a card catalog. Emilio examined the contents of the card catalog and noticed a peculiar page. The page had an amazing picture of Kozmo dark destroyer, a very sought after card, however, Emilio discovered that the page lacked a price tag. Confused, Emilio asked Ryan, "how much does Kozmo dark destroyer cost?" Ryan then replied, "$200." Enraged, Emilio threw his wallet and left his locals.

Fun fact: No Kozmo dark destroyer is no longer $200 it's $70 ish....Still expensive for a card you need to play three of...


Hope that gives everyone an idea of my writing capabilities and stuff....
this isn't quite the type of thing I'm looking for
 
this isn't quite the type of thing I'm looking for
I kinda was writing something random to give you an idea of what I'm capable of would you want me to write something about pokemon in a certain format then. I wrote that for the soul purpose of giving you an idea of what I'm capable of writing. I can write something pokemon related just let me know if it would be worth my time to actually try and write something. Thanks.
 

dhelmise

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I kinda was writing something random to give you an idea of what I'm capable of would you want me to write something about pokemon in a certain format then. I wrote that for the soul purpose of giving you an idea of what I'm capable of writing. I can write something pokemon related just let me know if it would be worth my time to actually try and write something. Thanks.
you just need to post your entry for facebook in the thread and then they either accept it or dont. we dont need an idea of your writing, just your knowledge of what youre writing about.
 

dhelmise

everything is embarrassing
is a Site Content Manageris a Battle Simulator Administratoris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Community Leaderis a Programmeris a Community Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Top Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
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Trainer Tip #???: Sand in Monotype

Monotype has a plethora of team types to choose from, and they often differ from those found in standard tiers. However, some archetypes remain powerful, despite the teambuilding restrictions. Sand teams, a common archetype in OU, also thrives in Monotype because of how the common sand setters, Tyranitar and Hippowdon, mesh with the Pokemon they share a type with.

Tyranitar makes for an excellent Stealth Rock setter and special tank thanks to the 1.5x boost in Special Defense that sand provides. Moreover, Tyranitar is commonly paired with Mega Sableye and Overcoat Mandibuzz to form a nice defensive core, which allows Dark players to routinely win the entry hazard war and chip away at the opposing team. On Rock-type teams, Tyranitar's Sand is used to boost the Special Defense of the entire team throughout the match. However, Rock-type teams often struggle in the overall metagame and aren't very common.

Regardless, where Sand really shines in Monotype is on Ground teams. Here, Hippowdon is paired withMega Garchomp and Sand Rush Excadrill to form a potent offensive core. Mega Garchomp uses the boost from Sand Force to wallbreak, and Excadrill uses the extra Speed provided by Sand Rush to clean up late-game.

Some other common Pokemon on Ground-type sand teams include Mamoswine, Seismitoad, and Landorus.

Mamoswine, often holding an Assault Vest, is used commonly because it resists Ice-type attacks, which makes it a good option to switch into when facing a foe that might carry Ice Beam or Hidden Power Ice, and it provides Ice-type coverage and priority in Ice Shard.

Seismitoad is used commonly because it has Water Absorb, which means that it can be used as a switch in against Water-type teams or teams with Water-type coverage, it has access to Grass Knot, which means that it can damage or KO opposing Water-types while they're in, and it has access to Sludge Bomb, which means that it damage or KO Fairy-types such as Azumarill.

Landorus is used commonly because it can be used as a special wallbreaker because of its awesome Speed tier to severely damage or KO foes with Sheer Force- and Life Orb-boosted attacking options in Sludge Wave, Psychic, Focus Blast, and Earth Power, which is boosted by STAB too. Gravity is sometimes used on Landorus too because it allows Landorus to break through common defensive cores in Monotype, such as Skarmory + Zapdos on Flying-type teams, and Tyranitar + Mandibuzz + Mega Sableye on Dark-type teams.

-----------

scpinion looked over it and said it was okay

feel free to reduce paragraph sizes/combine small paragraphs if the size is a bit big :)
 

dhelmise

everything is embarrassing
is a Site Content Manageris a Battle Simulator Administratoris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Community Leaderis a Programmeris a Community Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Top Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
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Trainer Tip #???: Status

There are four different types of status conditions; paralysis, burn, freeze, and poison, all with unique effects. Paralysis effectively reduces a Pokemon's Speed stat to a quarter of what it originally was, except for Pokemon with Quick Feet as their ability where this condition raises Speed by 50%, and prevents said Pokemon from attacking a quarter of the time. However Electric-type Pokemon cannot be paralyzed.

Burn halves damage dealt by a Pokemon's physical moves, except for Pokemon with the Guts Ability, where this condition raises Attack by 50%. Additionally, at the end of each turn, the Pokemon loses 1/8 its maximum HP. Keep in mind Fire-type Pokemon cannot be burned.

Freeze causes a Pokemon to be unable to move, however attacking the afflicted Pokemon with a Fire-type move will remove the freeze status. Freeze additionally has 20% for the afflicted Pokemon to thaw out without external aid. Ice-type Pokemon cannot be frozen.

Poison causes a Pokemon to lose 1/8 of its maximum HP every turn, however if a Pokemon is badly poisoned it will first lose 1/16 of its maximum HP, and lose an additional 1/16 each consecutive turn. However switching out resets the process. A Pokemon with the Poison Heal as its Ability will gradually recover health instead when poisoned. Steel and Poison-type Pokemon are unable to become poisoned.
Sleep?
 

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