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vP (beginner) Guide

As a experienced PvP player, Im here to talk about constantly ongoing theme, how to improve your PvP gameplay.

My journey started 1,5 years ago and I'm still hooked to a daily PvP and weekly guild events.  As a beginner you start with a pretty much good pokemon, which is your starter and later by leveling, clearing quests, participating in events doing PvP mode etc. you'll get resources to upgrade your  team, switch pokemons and balance the things out in your team.

For your team to work in PvP you need to follow some of the basic tips as:

Ø Have coverage on your team for every type you can possibly face. Each pokemon should know differenty type of moves, stacking moves of the same type wont get you anywhere. Each pokemon should have coverage for their weakness (ex. Charizard Y is weak to rock, water and electric type moves, so having grass attack as Hidden power grass or Solar beam should cover 2 out of 3 his weaknesses).

Ø  Get into pokemons stats and RVs. At level 30 Pokedex will be unlocked for you. Once you get to know pokemons rvs and stats you can not only plan the movesets which would work but also you can predict is your pokemon faster then your opponent's pokemon, can your pokemon survive some type of attacks, etc.

Ø Dont stack same type of pokemons in your team. It never worked, not even for gym leaders which were obsessed with their types. This leads to your whole team being weak to same weaknesses and can be swept easily. It may work if you want to become a PoP champion of a certain type.

Ø Have mix of physical and special attackers, and have at least one of setup or tank pokemon. Same goes for stackiking special or physical attackers as for stacking the same pokemon types. It can be countered really easy by throwing in one bulky pokemon which could create a mess to your team. Having a setup or wall pokemon is a must. Setup pokemons and moves are there to help you gain adventage over your opponent or to prevent your opponent of setting up on you. Some examples of setup pokemons are Darkrai, Hooh, Lugia, Skarmory, Forretress etc. With them you can increase your speed by releasing Tailwind, put spikes, toxic spikes or stealth rocks at your opponent, boost your deffenses by putting Light screen or Reflect etc. Wall pokemons are there to tank incoming attacks, they have huge deffenses and usually are slower pokemons. With them you want to have a safe switch when you excpect your opponent to do some type of attack.

Ø Get into move mechanics and abilities. At first you think that there are plenty of moves which you can possibly face by doing PvP but with time and practice, also some additional reading on google you can get  into them pretty easy. Also having a look at what commonly used pokemons can learn can help you with predicting what type of a move your opponent is about to release. Knowing abilities of pokemons is one of the most important thing in PvP. They can elevate your gameplay to another level or make your team go „meh“. Some of the abilities can complement each other (Drought and Chlorophyl, Drizzle and Swift Swim), can make you ignore some type of attacks or lose another weakness (as Weather abilities – Desolated land will make your pokemon immune to water type attacks etc), can give you some immunities (Magic guard will make you immune to harmfull stat moves), can increase your damage done, recover your HP and many other effects.

Ø Have at least one pokemon with status effect immunity or setup pokemon which can prevent your opponent of using status effects. Since PvP is loaded with status moves atm, having a steel or posion type of a pokemon can be helpfull to avoid toxics, or simply run extremly fast pokemon with a move Taunt to prevent your pokemons of being paralyzed, under toxic or burn effects or sleep. Having Aromatherapy move can be extremely usefull.

Ø Natures?!? Having a nature which will increase your beneficial stat and decrease the nonbeneficial one is great, and can give you an advantage. So dont give up on trying to get a perfect nature for your pokemon, it will benefit you in a long run. Fixed exchange will be your frenemy and may give you headache, but don't give up.

Ø Chose your items wisely! Items are of a big help to your pokemons, so if you cant get their signature items, chose the best alternative. Dont put leftovers on a skuishy glass cannon pokemon, it wont do a thing and it's a waste of a great item.

Ø Have a berries stacked up and equiped. ALLWAYS! Losing a match because you didnt have a berry on your pokemon is a sad, sad feeling. SO get your bag filled with these which you want to use. You can get them in shop, in adventure or dropped from boxes.

Ø Get used to PvP timers. First, you need to get used on what time of a day PvP is going on for you, and second you need to get used to act fast within 10 second which is a limit in match to chose your move.

Ø Practice whenever you can! There are many ways for you to practice a PvP, you have regular PVP matches, double PVP matches, arena mode, PoP Champions, or non ranked matches where you can practice vs different teams and playerys.

Ø Keep on upgrading your team. Work on your pokemons upgrades, level, special training and Ivs. AT beginning it may seem as its not important thing to do, but having a full leveled Ivs gives great deal of a damage, speed, attack or deffense.

Ø Never give up! even when you face a really strong trainer in PvP dont run away. It's a lesson, you will learn something from it. You may lose many times but by the time you catch up with his/her team you will know his way of thinking and thing or a two about his playstyle. Also it may give you and idea of what is wrong with your team or you may discover what the weakness of your opponent team is.

Hope some of these may be helpfull to you folks!