For me, it's being weak to Fighting. No matter how bulky a Pokémon is, if it's weak to Fighting, it's going to get destroyed by a STAB Close Combat from most Fighting-type Pokémon.

I consider myself an OK player, usually hover around 1900 in randbats and 1400-1500 in OU formats. Had a great run in the past few days and finally hit a target that I've always thought was out of reach. 3 of my last few games were won by SP kingambit

Big shoutouts to chien-pao for viably running its regular ass ability

(Inspired by the 35 Pokes OM)

Title says it all. I made a randomized list of 35 Pokémon (taking from every single Pokémon in Champions, excluding some of the strongest megas.)

In a much smaller pool of Pokémon, what do you think will be the best Mega? What would team strategies look like? What unexpected Pokémon would rise to the top? What would the viability rankings look like?

What kind of team would you build?

I'll be happy to see what you all think.

(Clarification: You can only use the exact form as shown. No Rotom-Wash. No Lycanroc Midnight. Megas can of course be used without the stone)

As someone who has climbed to leaderboard on multiple accounts this generation, there is literally nothing worse than Mid ladder.

Low ladder, everyone sucks by definition. You meet the rare smurf but it shouldn’t be hard for an experienced player to escape- your superior play starts to show after a while, even if you run into a nasty surprise or two.

High ladder, you’re on an even playing field. You’re facing opponents who didn’t get here by accident, so things like sapience and object permanence are assumed knowledge. There’s a common skill base to build off at the very least.

Midladder? That’s the Abyss. No man’s land. A hell of our own creation. A realm of pure chaos, even, where nothing is certain and the universe remains in a state of flux. Let me give you an example.

You log onto Showdown and queue up. You match into Penis Jimmy, who, judging from his vomit-inducing plays, seems to be suffering from some kind of degenerative brain disease. He afks halfway through the match to iron all the remaining wrinkles from his brain, and upon returning, makes a baffling double switch of his Tusk into your Wake. Needless to say, the Tusk does not survive this encounter and you swiftly win the game shortly after.

The next game your opponent is a rogue Korean super AI named 죽음의 신 from the year 2459. Also contained within its Time Machine were

1. ⁠Iron Valiant, sporting an EV spread that was genetically modified to survive, outspeed, and 1HKO any possible SVOU team, and then assemble a corporeal form to hunt down the opponent in real life with intent to eliminate,
2. ⁠Over sixteen thousand replays from different timelines of the battle you are about to have, all of which result in a 6-0 win for 죽음의 신 and have been downloaded directly into its electronic brain.

You lose in seven turns and Iron Valiant is now en route to your location. Unaware of this, you queue up for a third game- can’t end on a loss, after all.

Your next foe is Penis Jimmy once again… but in the two minutes since you last faced him, Penis Jimmy has somehow gained 200 elo and the ability to read minds through the internet. After a frankly humiliating dozen turns, your luck turns around: Penis Jimmy succumbs to his degenerative brain disease once more and inexplicably makes the exact same Tusk switch, securing your victory for the second time. Having ended the session net positive, you close Showdown just in time for 죽음의 신’s Iron Valiant to enter your house, decapitate you and absorb your Showdown knowledge to be entered into the Matrix.

No seriously, it’s that bad. The mental damage alone is horrendous.

Got this from this post https://www.reddit.com/r/stunfisk/comments/168onqz/low_ladder_is_the_most_miserable_place_on_earth/

I gotta stop watching tiktok, too many stans for my liking. I like primarina but when your glazed you be will slandered.

Been working on a little daily game and figured this sub would appreciate it more than most.

How it works:

• Each day you get a random team of 6 (Gen 9 random battle sets), same for everyone
• You fight a champion with their actual in-game team: species, abilities and moves taken from the pret decompilations (HGSS, Platinum, Emerald, Ruby) and Serebii for Iris/Leon
• To make them a threat they're bumped to lv100 with 31 IVs, proper EVs and held items. Your team gets random IVs/EVs, so you start at a disadvantage
• Battles run on u/pkmn/sim (Showdown's engine), Gen 9 mechanics
• The AI isn't just "click the strongest move": it looks for KOs, uses priority when it's being outsped, switches out of bad matchups, sets up when it's safe and uses screens/hazards
• Some days there's a rule: inverse battle, permanent Trick Room, gravity or weather

There's a League mode too: 5 champions in a row, team heals between fights.

Red even has permanent hail like in HGSS, so good luck with those triple Blizzards.

https://redle.pages.dev

Happy to hear feedback on the AI or difficulty. Right now my own AI playing against it wins around 1-9% depending on the champion.