Long term planning in RBY
Aug 11, 2014 1:07:47 GMT -8
Post by Isa on Aug 11, 2014 1:07:47 GMT -8
Hey folks, time for another instance of "Isa talks about RBY"!
I'd like to talk a bit about long term planning in RBY and how you should approach it. Despite being less important (arguably) in RBY compared to some of the newer generations, it's still a very important thing to keep in mind, both when playing your team and when building it.
I got the idea to talk a bit about this after playing my game vs. Dre for Ruins of Alph Premier League. A brief discussion was held afterwards in the shoutbox and the general consensus was that Dre misstepped by letting his Chansey die early to my Tauros in exchange for paralysis. The reason behind was that even if something is bound to die in the short term to my Tauros, in the long term paralyzed Chansey is still very useful at 50% - not as a general rule, but because Dre had seen 5 out of 6 Pokémon on my team and out of those (Gengar/Tauros/Alakazam/Starmie/Exeggutor), Chansey walls four out of five which makes it a big team player. In the long run, the wise thing to do is to preserve your Chansey and maybe sacrifice something else (sleeping Cloyster etc).
Other in-game examples are quite natural - when you have a Zapdos on your team, your long term plan should be to remove Golem/Rhydon/maybe Jolteon, who are all losing matchups for Zapdos. That goal is achieved first by scouting if your opponent has one of those Pokémon or not - one way of doing that is by using Snorlax Body Slam a lot. Many players will send in their Golems and Rhydons on Body Slam to block the heaviest damage. From there, you can approach the next part of the goal, which is to take down the Golem/Rhydon. This can be done from this position with Snorlax Surf (more on that later) or with Earthquake, but the important thing is that you stay in and attack. A lot of people seem to have their flowcharts - if Golem is in, send in Exeggutor. However, this fails to note the long term goals that you have. Yes, Golem will not damage you heavily with his Earthquake if you go for Exeggutor. This does not make it the ideal play though - with Zapdos on the sidelines, having that Golem dead is priority #1. Similar things go for using other Pokémon that have a wall - Rhydon can't muscle through Exeggutor for example, so in order to give your Rhydon the opportunity to wreck the opposing team, you must first develop a plan on how to remove or damage Exeggutor to the point that it won't be a hindrance. Paralysis helps here, as does chip damage. Earthquake plus Rock Slide from Rhydon on Exeggutor deals a minimum of 45% and a maximum of 53%, so if you can get Eggy down to that range and nail it with paralysis (Seismic Toss Alakazam helps with both!) Rhydon is free to run wild.
With regards to teambuilding, which I've already touched on - this is where the planning starts. In later generations this is much more emphasized but again, it's important in RBY as well.
Say that your team carries a Zapdos. What methods do you have to make sure that his counters are removed from the battlefield? Note that this is an entirely different question than "What do you have to stop [Zapdos' counters] from dealing damage to you?" - yes, Exeggutor walls Rhydon, but it is a very rare happening to actually see Exeggutor kill Rhydon in the mid game. Therefore, you need to plan. What matchups are favorable for Rhydon to the point that he will stay in and use attacks, but are unfavorable enough that you can weaken him significantly and in the end make him a non-factor for Zapdos? This is where Snorlax tends to shine - only Gengar and the Rocks have a good time dealing with Body Slam based damage. How can you threaten Chansey to the point where Starmie can become a relevant offensive power? Exeggutor with boom is a great way to go - Psychic makes Chansey come in, Boom takes it off the field. Of course you can also muscle your way through with raw physical fire power, but usually Chansey is saved for the specialists, so while Snorlax certainly wins 1v1 versus Chansey, it's not a reliable way to kill it - this changes a bit during the end game, though.
Long term planning also goes defensively - the opening example is one way to highlight that. When up against a team consisting of Alakazam/Tauros/Snorlax/Golem/Exeggutor/Slowbro (as an example), saving your Chansey shouldn't be as much of a high priority as when facing a team of Starmie/Chansey/Lapras/Tauros/Exeggutor/Snorlax. Chansey has much more work to do versus the other team as it hard walls four out of six members of the team (booms not factored in though), whereas on the first team Chansey doesn't have any real walling business outside of Exeggutor and Alakazam and can therefore be sacrificed more freely. When up versus a Rhydon, you might want to consider using Exeggutor less than you'd otherwise do when facing threats like Snorlax, and instead find alternate ways of countering what needs to be countered.
If you have any questions, hit me up and I shall answer.
I'd like to talk a bit about long term planning in RBY and how you should approach it. Despite being less important (arguably) in RBY compared to some of the newer generations, it's still a very important thing to keep in mind, both when playing your team and when building it.
I got the idea to talk a bit about this after playing my game vs. Dre for Ruins of Alph Premier League. A brief discussion was held afterwards in the shoutbox and the general consensus was that Dre misstepped by letting his Chansey die early to my Tauros in exchange for paralysis. The reason behind was that even if something is bound to die in the short term to my Tauros, in the long term paralyzed Chansey is still very useful at 50% - not as a general rule, but because Dre had seen 5 out of 6 Pokémon on my team and out of those (Gengar/Tauros/Alakazam/Starmie/Exeggutor), Chansey walls four out of five which makes it a big team player. In the long run, the wise thing to do is to preserve your Chansey and maybe sacrifice something else (sleeping Cloyster etc).
Other in-game examples are quite natural - when you have a Zapdos on your team, your long term plan should be to remove Golem/Rhydon/maybe Jolteon, who are all losing matchups for Zapdos. That goal is achieved first by scouting if your opponent has one of those Pokémon or not - one way of doing that is by using Snorlax Body Slam a lot. Many players will send in their Golems and Rhydons on Body Slam to block the heaviest damage. From there, you can approach the next part of the goal, which is to take down the Golem/Rhydon. This can be done from this position with Snorlax Surf (more on that later) or with Earthquake, but the important thing is that you stay in and attack. A lot of people seem to have their flowcharts - if Golem is in, send in Exeggutor. However, this fails to note the long term goals that you have. Yes, Golem will not damage you heavily with his Earthquake if you go for Exeggutor. This does not make it the ideal play though - with Zapdos on the sidelines, having that Golem dead is priority #1. Similar things go for using other Pokémon that have a wall - Rhydon can't muscle through Exeggutor for example, so in order to give your Rhydon the opportunity to wreck the opposing team, you must first develop a plan on how to remove or damage Exeggutor to the point that it won't be a hindrance. Paralysis helps here, as does chip damage. Earthquake plus Rock Slide from Rhydon on Exeggutor deals a minimum of 45% and a maximum of 53%, so if you can get Eggy down to that range and nail it with paralysis (Seismic Toss Alakazam helps with both!) Rhydon is free to run wild.
With regards to teambuilding, which I've already touched on - this is where the planning starts. In later generations this is much more emphasized but again, it's important in RBY as well.
Say that your team carries a Zapdos. What methods do you have to make sure that his counters are removed from the battlefield? Note that this is an entirely different question than "What do you have to stop [Zapdos' counters] from dealing damage to you?" - yes, Exeggutor walls Rhydon, but it is a very rare happening to actually see Exeggutor kill Rhydon in the mid game. Therefore, you need to plan. What matchups are favorable for Rhydon to the point that he will stay in and use attacks, but are unfavorable enough that you can weaken him significantly and in the end make him a non-factor for Zapdos? This is where Snorlax tends to shine - only Gengar and the Rocks have a good time dealing with Body Slam based damage. How can you threaten Chansey to the point where Starmie can become a relevant offensive power? Exeggutor with boom is a great way to go - Psychic makes Chansey come in, Boom takes it off the field. Of course you can also muscle your way through with raw physical fire power, but usually Chansey is saved for the specialists, so while Snorlax certainly wins 1v1 versus Chansey, it's not a reliable way to kill it - this changes a bit during the end game, though.
Long term planning also goes defensively - the opening example is one way to highlight that. When up against a team consisting of Alakazam/Tauros/Snorlax/Golem/Exeggutor/Slowbro (as an example), saving your Chansey shouldn't be as much of a high priority as when facing a team of Starmie/Chansey/Lapras/Tauros/Exeggutor/Snorlax. Chansey has much more work to do versus the other team as it hard walls four out of six members of the team (booms not factored in though), whereas on the first team Chansey doesn't have any real walling business outside of Exeggutor and Alakazam and can therefore be sacrificed more freely. When up versus a Rhydon, you might want to consider using Exeggutor less than you'd otherwise do when facing threats like Snorlax, and instead find alternate ways of countering what needs to be countered.
If you have any questions, hit me up and I shall answer.
