The single most important tip for beginners to Pokemon Showdown Singles

Outro music: Future Girlfriend 音楽 - Benson cut 今夜

#CompetitivePokemon​​ #PokemonShowdown #CompetitivePokemonExplained​

[erikcarp]

Okay the little clap in the thumbnail, perfect lol

[pooofloopxgjs]

It’s always a good day when Nathan, who likes chicken, uploads

[jacksonder]

ive been falling in and out of competitive pokemon for a while. i hardly play but i loved watching pokeaim, blunder, emvee and other ppl in that circle. i doubt i'll fully get back into everything, but its always a treat to see you in my recommended. your videos breathe a new life into the scene, and i love to just chill while watching ur vids. much love

[saltlakeatrocity]

I think a big barrier I used to have on this issue was that I used to be too overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices that opens up to me by switching, and thus had a "I'd rather lose having done my best with a more limited palette of options than have to consider every possibility that could result from every combination of my switch & their reaction and/or prediction thereof". I think this was certainly influenced by my belief at the time that anyone with more competitive pokemon experience than me would always have perfect prediction abilities—and trying to switch against them would be like trying to counter a chess grandmaster who has extensively practiced and rehearsed the perfect counter to any play I might attempt. Of course, with more experience comes a better understanding of what kinds of skills are commonplace.

The logical conclusion of these two mentalities does lead to what you mentioned about switching feeling passive. Expanding on that notion, when I was first starting I definitely had a vague notion that every turn in a competitive pokemon battle is a proverbial "point" to the player who had the best ratio of damage dealt vs damage taken for that turn—and winning was just a matter of having more of these "points" in your favor than your opponent. This meant passive choices like switching was giving your opponent free points, and therefore letting them close in on their win condition without making progress on your own. Of course this notion is entirely false for a multitude of reasons I couldn't possibly fully articulate in a youtube comment—but those reasons don't become abundantly clear until quite some time into competitive pokemon battling.

[lazyscholar]

Another good lesson is learning how to exploit predictable switch ins. Knowing when to click discharge and when to click heatwave on Zapdos requires you to be aware of predictable switch in like heatran and zeraora.

Switching in is more than just switching in a ground type on an electric move, you also need to consider possible counters to the switch in. Looking at Zapdos again, sometimes letting bulky grass types like Rillaboom eat an earthquake is better for your momentum (you can return with wood hammer) than switching into Zapdos, who is immune to ground but not to the rock type move that usually follows.

[coldore]

I was not expecting this but im still happy for this

[ryankane]

Thanks! I've been getting into VGC doubles this last year, there is less switching, but it is still very important!

[teetaw]

A video on types of environment affecting teams (weather, gravity, trick room, terrain) would be very helpful! They might need to be individual videos though cuz there’s so much to cover, you’re call though! Btw my vote for next monotype is fighting! Keep up the great work :)

[davidrodkey]

Crazy to see the 11 eagles jersey and know that it's a Wentz jersey. Man 2017 was such a fun year.

[brayloncroom]

good tutorial man, I think a lot of people need to know this

[SilverScarletSpider]

Nathan used instant transmission in the intro 😳

[howbanana]

i really liked the whole series about teambuilding. thats what kind of got me through that whole hurdle. if youre looking for more video ideas, i could maybe suggest a sort of "hidden mechanics" video? like when i first started out i had no idea burn decreased your attack, or that you had to stack toxic spikes to actually inflict toxic.

i think that would be a very beginner friendly series that a lot of people could benefit from, and im sure it would get a lot of traction as far as views go too.

[shreyash]

Yesterday, it was my first anniversary of joining showdown, can't believe how much I have improved

[joshuaiglesia]

I think you could do a coaching video where you help a newcomer grasp the roots of the cornerstones of Pokémon- maybe seeing the interactions could be easy for some to digest.

[grahamwylie]

Make a vid about offensive doubling! I don’t see players on showdown do this enough, but it’s arguably the best tactic for getting KOs. You could mention analyzing your opponent’s team, and deciding whether they need X pokemon, thus making it “safe” to double into something offensive, and then also mid-ground doubles, etc. Lots of good stuff here, and it’s a natural sequel for this vid

[JeremiKress]

Jujutsu Kaisen reference in the thumbnail?

[AngelKitten]

thx! the game is so painful as a newbie.

[No-vlco]

I love it when I take like 30 or more seconds to overthink what I should switch out to, if I should play mind games, if my opponent knows I’ll switch to that, etc. I also like predicting when they switch in, because I can just switch into a counter or OKO with a super effective move they didn’t know I had. I sometimes end up overthinking too much and they end up not switching, so I need to work on that lol.

[Aquilenne]

I feel like that first Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur scenario was not a great choice of example.

Staying in to Air Slash and hope for flinches was the correct play there.

The optimal move for Blastoise is to Shell Smash, which will allow it to then outspeed Charizard if the opponent stays in, beat the not set up Blastoise if s/he switches to that (and then sweep the Venusaur and Charizard), and outspeed and OHKO the Venusaur with Ice Beam if the opponent switches to that.

Switching is a guaranteed loss, and the only way to counter that is to play to your outs by going for the small chance of air slash flinching while Charizard is still faster.

[bagamer]

You should do a follow up video on double switching and predicting!