Competitive Pokémon Team Building in Gen 9

Jul 9, 2024

Competitive Pokémon Team Building in Gen 9

Key Challenges

  • Building a competitive team in Gen 9 is difficult.
  • Often, it’s impossible to fit everything desired on one team.
  • Opportunity costs are involved in adding certain Pokémon or moves.

Essential Components for Teams

  • Resistances to All Types
  • Ground and Electric Immunities
  • Hazards and Hazard Control
  • Priority and Fast Pokémon
  • At least one Knock Off user

When It's Okay to Skimp

  • Resistances to All Types
    • Some types like Ice and Ghost can occasionally be neglected, especially with offensive teams.
    • Ice: Weavile and Kyurem are the main threats; other types of defensive answers can work.
    • Ghost: Gengar and Dragapult are the main threats; strong special walls or offensive threats can compensate.
    • Disaster Types to Lack: Dark, Grass, Water, Steel
  • Ground and Electric Immunities
    • Ground immunity is somewhat negotiable; Terra Flying Pokémon or Air Balloon can help.
    • Electric immunity: Generally essential due to rising threats like Raging Bolt.
  • Hazards and Hazard Control
    • Almost every team should set hazards; only Dual Screens/Aurora Veil teams can ignore hazards.
    • Hazard Removal Methods: Rapid Spin, Defog, Court Change, Mortal Spin, Magic Bounce, Tidy Up.
    • Some hyper offense teams can ignore hazard removal with heavy-duty boots and taunt leads.
  • Priority and Fast Pokémon
    • Easier for bulky teams to abandon priority since they can handle sweepers with raw defense.
    • Fast Pokémon are usually necessary for Revenge killing; hard stall teams can afford to skip.
  • Knock Off
    • Teams generating shorter games (hyper offense) can afford to lack Knock Off.
    • Balance and bulkier builds should always include a Knock Off user.

General Rules

  • Offensive teams can drop more requirements compared to balanced or bulkier teams.
  • Skimping should only be done when the team is compensating strongly in other areas.
  • Important to critically evaluate if lacking a type resistance, hazard control, or Knock Off user impacts the team’s effectiveness.

Conclusion

  • The video explains when and how to dodge certain team-building requirements.
  • It emphasizes that while skimping is occasionally necessary, it should be done thoughtfully.

Note: The presenter streams every Saturday at 8 PM Eastern Standard Time on YouTube.

Full transcript