Every false swipe gaming theorem thus far has consisted of a crucial aspect of the game of Pokemon and the details that make them what they are. Stats, moves, typing, even the turn-based battle system. However, we have, until now, not delved into the immeasurable importance of teammates. We all know the feeling of soloing in game with your overleveled starter alone. What do you need other Pokemon for?
Well apart from using HM moves to advance through specific parts of the map since not every starter can surf. In the competitive scene though there is no such thing as one Pokemon alone. being sufficient in taking on an opposing set of six.
You can't beat your opponent by leveling your Pokemon high enough to the point where you just mash your way through everything through sheer force in spite of your stat moves being resisted. The teammate dynamic is woven into the fabric of competitive strategy. One might say that no Pokemon is an island, but instead alters their build and playstyle based on the other Pokemon they are paired with. Having well-chosen teammates is imperative to competitive success, but without good teammates, you'll fall flat faster than an unsupported Marshawn facing Maze Grovyle on Rift.
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Teammates being important starts with the very foundation of competitive Pokemon. That which differentiated from in-game. Against a computer, you'll easily be able to use your super effective move against whatever Pokemon they currently have out.
But against another human, and thus will switch out. But it's not as easy just switching Pokemon A out of danger. Pokemon B, the one switching in, has to be able to take the move to aim that Pokemon B, or the whole thing is pointless.
You need teammates to fall back on against opposing Pokemon, and a good team is one that can do this repeatedly against the threats prominent in a particular metagame. A quick way to illustrate this, if your entire team is weak to Earthquake, it doesn't matter if you keep Heatran in against that Garchomp, or if you switch to Tyranitar, you need to pair these Pokemon with a teammate or teammates that can take moves they're weak to, like Earthquake. Type synergy goes a long way, but bulk helps as well.
Blissey doesn't need to resist Dracometer to switch into it, for example. Obviously, this type of synergy between teammates covering attacks aimed at them is essential for bulky teams, but it isn't just for purposes of switching into things defensively. It's also to set up offense. Even hyper offense teams that rarely switch, instead preferring a constant barrage of setting up and attacking to overwhelm the opponent, still need type synergy.
After all, that's what affords team members their opportunities to set up. If an opponent aims an Earthquake or Close Combat at a Dragon Dance Tyranitar, that's an opportunity for Gyarados to get a Dragon Dance itself. Meanwhile, more balanced offense teams, which switched more, appreciate being able to play defensively to get their big hitters in. Teammates are important to each other's function offensively as well, working together to break down and or eliminate their checks on the opposing team for an eventual win down the line.
For instance, even with Regenerator, a bulky physical wall like Slowbro is unlikely to be able to able to handle other strong physical attackers once it's eaten something like a Swords Dance boosted Stolen Edge from Tarakion or Outrage from Garchomp. The importance of teammates obviously just goes beyond just being able to switch between them. It's what teammates do once they've switched in that's so important, especially as it is for the benefits of their teammates. Perhaps the most basic of such benefits, which are so teammate-oriented as to literally be called team support or just support, is the setup of entry hazards, which are so useful that Pokemon, most commonly suicide leads like Azoth, will often sacrifice themselves just to get them set up.
The all-encompassing stealth rock. Talk about taking one for the team. Given how offensive Pokemon become exponentially more difficult to deal with in conjunction with hazards, it's more than worthwhile if wielded. well.
The power of hazard leads is such that Deoxyspeed and Defense have been banned from OU multiple times because they were too good at getting both rocks and spikes before fainting. It made them the ultimate team players. While hazards are far and away the most essential common such form of team support, there are a myriad of other utility moves used for similar purposes.
For example, field conditions such as weather, but more on that later, as well as something like trick room. The spreading of status is also essential to the functioning of many Pokemon and their teams. Consider the teams that love buffing their slow, heavy hitters through copious amounts of Thunder Wave. Trick is incredibly effective team support as well.
Forcing a choice item on an unenthusiastic opponent opens up many dangerous threats to be unleashed at full potential similarly well to Stealth Rock. As soon as Blissey eats that scarf, it's going to get utterly dominated by Heatran. To briefly go back to hazards, their power is well known. Stealth Rock's type-based nature is most infamous, but Spikes and Toxic Spikes can similarly throttle teams.
Many Pokemon prefer, with some even outright requiring team support in the form of removing opposing hazards with Rapid Spin or Defog, or even preventing them from being set up outright with tactics like high speed stats in conjunction with Taunt or Sleep moves, or the likes of Magic Bounce. Sometimes even just well applied offensive pressure can get the job done. If a team is aggressive enough with tactics like these, it can play at a fast enough pace to deny rocks entirely, as opposed to the pace slowing nature of hazard removal. This is an example of teammates being important in facilitating a game plan, which is of course a team effort.
This can be seen on Gen 5 uber offensive sub teams, which run the incredibly rock weak Ho-Oh, but alongside help from Darkrai packing not just Dark Void, but sometimes even Taunt, and screaming breakneck offensive pressure at every moment. every other angle as well from the likes of Scarf Genesect, Soul Dulatios, and Offensive Groudon, these teams are incredibly consistent at denying opposing rocks. Another more direct example of such teammate-based strategy is that which revolves around trapping.
It's a simple concept. Your trapper forcibly removes the Pokemon standing in the way of your threat, and then your threat is free to rampage through the opponent's team which now lacks a counter to it. The most classic example of this idea is pairing Magnezone, whose magnet pull traps steel types alongside dragon types, who before fairy types were introduced in Gen 6, only had their stab resisted by steels, with Magnezone effortlessly destroying the likes of Skarmory, threats like Choice Band or Dragon Dance Dragon Knight, and even the most powerful of the two.
were free to outrage through everything in sight. This facilitates the usage of certain Pokemon to their maximum potential, especially since it allows them to run more threatening movesets. For example, a Magnezone-supported Dragonite did not have to include fire coverage in its moveset, since Magnezone was forcibly removing the Pokemon like Skarmory and Ferrothorn that it would use the fire moves for. Trap-based strategies are in no short supply, given the wide variety of ways to trap the opponent and their subsequent wide reach, in addition to the gigantic number of Pokemon capable of taking advantage of such support. In fact, trapping is so strong in removing opposing team members that many of its forms have found themselves banned.
Dogtrio's dominance has led to the Arena Trap ban in every generation starting with 4, while Shadow Tag in its entirety has never been allowed to remain in OU. It's not just abilities either. Trapping moves have also had their share of ruthless efficiency.
Heatran's Magma Storm is the most notable because it's such a strong move in general, especially when bolstered by the additional chip damage. But it also had the devastating effect of allowing Heatran to lure in and destroy Pokemon. It would then proceed to dominate. Taunting or exploding on Blissey in Generation 4 was one thing, but winning Weather Wars for some teams in Gen 5 by luring in Polito, trapping it, and then using Sunny Day and Solar Beam to completely destroy it was another entirely.
Weaker trapping moves can be incredibly nasty too. Think of how potentially ruinous Whirlpool Tapu Fini could be, or the likes of Mean Look Umbreon or Misdravis in Gens 2 and 3, or even the occasional Block Toxapex. Of course, Generations 2 through 7 featured the most famous trapping move of all, Pursuit, and almost always, most effectively wielded by Tyranitar.
Titar's Pursuit was one of each generation's most foundational important strategies, enabling everything imaginable, including Elixir, elevating monsters like Landerous Incarnate and Kel'diel to broken heights, but more on Tyranitar later. Don't worry, we haven't forgotten the monster this theorem is named after. In fact, its presence was so important that its force removal by Dugtrio was one of the most definitive arguments against Arena Trap, given how crucial Tyranitar was in holding so many metagames together against a slew of enormous threats.
Having teammates you can switch between is fantastic of course. But switching can be risky. After all, the opponent can predict it, and this can spell bad news for frailer Pokemon. What if you had a way of making switches to such pokes completely riskless?
Well, that's why Switch Move using teammates are so excellent. They ensure you are able to get your glass cannons on the field safely. Nothing takes advantage of your opponent following the basic tenet of competitive Pokemon, switching.
like a switch move see what they bring in and respond in turn alternatively slow switch moves can be used to let the switch move user take a hit from a faster pokemon before bringing in the big threat this facet of gameplay is so enormous it is directly responsible for how nearly effortless it has become to get a huge threat on the field safely for example in gen 6 Adaptability Choice Band Crawdaunt hits incredibly hard, but is also quite slow and incredibly frail. Nevertheless, it consistently manages to hit the field with support from reliable switch move users like Rotom Wash and Tornado Styrian. Such examples run wild in newer generations with additions of Flip Turn, Buff Teleport, and Chilly Reception.
The latter two's negative priority is even a boon because it ensures that the user doesn't have to force the opponent out. The user can take the hit before bringing the teammate in safely. Of course, slow users of U-Turn and Volt Switch can play similarly.
We must mention not just moves, but abilities as well, going beyond the aforementioned trapping abilities, which are of course incredibly powerful. However, arguably even more direct and impactful support abilities are those that immediately summon field conditions upon entry. Yes, again, Tyranitar comes to mind, with its game-shaping sandstorm, as do Politoed and Ninetales for the way they shape Gen 5's OU, and of course many others across many years and tiers, from Gigalith and Vanillix in recent lower tiers, going all the way back to when Groudon and Kyogre changed Uber forever in Generation 3. These aren't the only field condition abilities, of course.
The Tapu similarly changed the game in Gen 7 when they summoned terrains upon switching in. Some of the most powerful effects in the game that enabled nearly endless Pokemon to reach terrifying extremes. Abilities don't need to summon field conditions to act as amazing support either.
Magic Guard helps soak annoying pressure from Toxic. Rough Skin and Iron Barbs punish obnoxious contact moves like U-Turn. Hey, there's a way your opponent can fight back against the opposing team trying to enable their own teammates. Intimidate weak and scary physical attackers, Regenerator allows walls to take repeated hits from huge threats. And then of course there are so many miscellaneous ways teammates are important in helping each other in all sorts of ways.
It can be through moves. As Baton Pass was so good at this that it got banned. Wish can heal teammates, so can Leech Seed, while weakening opponents at the same time.
Knockoffs Ida removal is among the best support there is. If one could fit Aroma Therapy or Heal Belt, it's game changing. Phasing moves like Roar and Whirlwind are integral parts of teams defenses against boosting threats.
And it can be through other abilities for instance, Heatran's Flashfire, Gastrodon's Stormdrain, and Rotomwatch's Levitate give them crucial immunities to dangerous attacks. It's not just defensive either. Something like Mega Metagross is so good at blasting through teams for the benefits of its teammates thanks to the immense power it gains on contact moves through its tough claws, while Superior's combination of glare and contrary leaf storms enable all sorts of offensive mayhem.
It can be through held items. A Pokemon simply holding Lum Berry can be enough to assuage pressure from opposing status spam, which can be immensely useful both offensively and defensively. And sometimes it's simply through playstyle. For example, a Pokemon can sacrifice itself quite literally to take down an opponent through Destiny Bond or Explosion, but it can also sacrifice itself to land a major boosted hit on an opponent for its teammate's benefit. This aspect of everything being playstyle dependent is what truly makes for the nigh endless possibilities in Pokemon.
So finally, let's go over why this is the Tyranitar theorem. Well, it's all about teammates, right? Consider this then. Post-Home Gen 9 currently notwithstanding, Tyranitar is the ultimate teammate. Here's how good it is.
The sand it summons is so good that Tyranitar's mere existence enables entire teams and shapes entire metagames. Even if Tyranitar itself does next to nothing in battle. Oh, but T-Tar is far more than just a sand machine.
It can support your team in pretty much any way you want. We've already mentioned its pursuit, whose importance we cannot overstate. It was one of the biggest viability gatekeepers.
It's got Stealth Rock, obviously. And it can do that both offensively. and defensively, thus being able to fit on any type of team.
Since it has taunt, it can lead off hyper offense and shut down slow bulky setups just as well as it can lean into monstrous bulk and resist late in typing to function as an incredible hit taker for its team. Oh, it's a good user of Toxic and Thunderweight too, so you can enjoy messing with your opponent through status, and it's quite good at phasing the opponent too, even taking on the mighty GSC Snorlax with it. Forget this utility stuff you say. Well that's just fine because Tyranitar is a superb teammate in breaking the game open through sheer strength, bolstered further by excellent coverage. Gen 8 TAR remained excellent because of this power.
Its choice ban set ensured that it only missed pursuit minimally, instead directly wrecking the opposing team itself. The ban set was a terror in every other generation with the item as well. Oh and Tyranitar wasn't just support.
Its Dragon Dance variant was one of the best Pokemon to send in late game to clean everything up across multiple generations. Tyranitar was excellent with and without its Mega, in OU and Ubers alike, both directly and indirectly with power and utility. Tyranitar is the essence of what teammates and Pokemon are all about and has thoroughly earned this theorem being named for it. Thanks for watching everyone, and as always if you liked the video and you want to see more, be sure to subscribe to FalseSwipeGaming for more weekly Pokemon content, and in the comments I would know what do you think about the Tyranitar theorem?
Is there any other really good teammates you think we missed? Whatever it is let me know in the comments, and thank you so much to our patrons for continued support of our videos, and thank you to everyone else watching as well. and follow my crew on these social media platforms. And that's all I got. See you next time, everyone.