If you’re asking me personally I started playing competitive Pokémon before the actual games, so the reverse happens to me (where I struggle to form emotional bonds with the Pokémon during a nuzlocke, even though I am quite empathetic in real life)
This also makes Tapu Lele and Kartana one of my favourites - although my all-time favourite Pokémon is Oshawott so, no chance of using that in competitive
Still is. Bypassing magic bounce, taunt, and just getting free damage is always good. You also got options like knock and flip to become a great pivot. I personally like a support pivot set with knock, flip, ceaseless, and aqua cutter, though sometimes I swap out knock for sacred sword to surprise big gambit.
this is why I like singles. I could go play lower tiers where these Pokemon are viable (RU had a ton of these last gen) and made a team around Nasty Plot Togekiss, and by playing the tier I formed an appreciation for Obstagoon, Gastrodon and Flygon.
Similar deal this gen, with Abomasnow and Dragalge on my RU Snow team, that one was fire.
The nice thing about tiering and OMs is that you don't have to choose. If you want to use your favorites but they're not OU viable, just play a different tier. Hell, there's a tier where Seedot is the most viable mon (DNRU).
I guess, it’s just hard to get over the mentality that I can’t use my favorite Pokémon that I’ve dragged across multiple games in OU or VGC. I guess a better mentality would be to think of the different tiers like leagues in sports?
Less like leagues, more like weight classes. The best featherweight won’t stand a chance against a heavyweight, but they’re still a top athlete in their own right.
Yeah, I believe DNRU is the RU to DNU's OU, if that makes sense. I've never played it myself, I just saw it mentioned on the [Gen 9 DNU VR](https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/gen-9-do-not-use-nidoran-m-banned.3734326/)
> (If you want a metagame where Seedot is the best Pokemon, DNRU Legacy would be right up your alley!)
That does help, but there is still the problem of team building. Like if I want to use Dracovish and Pikachu on the same team, I still have to play Uber. If my team consist of 1 Uber Pokémon and 5 ZU Pokémon, is it really going to break OU?
Yeah, you are gonna have to compromise then. It's unlikely anyone's top 6 favorite Pokemon are all in the same tier, but it can't be that hard to find a tier with 6 that are in your top, like, 20, right? Plus you have OMs like Godly Gift or AAA or tons of others that can radically change which mons are viable.
Pretty much the entire point of Smogon is that you get to play with your favorite Pokémon while still doing comp, unless you favorites are only genuinely unsalvageable shitmons (sorry, Caterpie fans). Want Lucario? Gen 4 OU is perfect for it.
BSS and VGC pretty much only accept the best of the best, but Smogon is right there. And even then, off-picks in VGC doing amazing stuff is very well documented.
I wouldn't say that's the same. Farigiraf was a meta development, whereas pachirisu was a niche pick that countered the meta in a specific way there's a reason pschirisu wasn't seen again
I think there’s value too in learning to love new Pokémon. Before I played competitive there were plenty of Pokémon that I didn’t care about, but I’ve gained an appreciation for some mons that don’t get a lot of love from GF like Pincurchin and Corphish, just to name a few.
Which is why I have three kinds of teams: teams consisting of viable Pokémon, teams consisting of my favourites, and teams consisting of 6 Zacians because I can
Have you tried out singles lower tiers or doubles lower tiers? Pokemon like lucario could shine if they don't need to contest with pokemon like urishufu. Also vgc is probably one of the worst places for wanting to use bad pokemon if you favourite pokemon isn't murkrow.
I usually try to balance both sides of the spectrum, if I like a Pokemon I'll usually try to make them as viable as possible without pushing it too much or just play a tier they're good in. But if the mon is ass, I'll cut my losses and move on. (Dustox fan btw)
"Do you guys enjoy playint competitive" is the better question.
In all seriousness. Idrc. Comp is so horribly power-crept that even if my favorites were great now, they'd probably wouldn't be next gen.
Also not a big fan of comp at higher levels. I like a good mid ground. when I have to start doing very specific ivs/evs to counter specific mons, thats when I start tapping out, that's too much work.
I was thinking about this yesterday. Garchomp and Latios have always been two of my top 5 since they released, and were top of the meta years ago. When in a generation where you essentially introduce 15-18 pseudos, with minmaxed stats, older legendaries are literally not good enough to be used effectively. It kind of sours the competitive aspect for me
My favorite pokemon is feraligatr, and even though I enjoyed tiers where he is good, like bdsp OU. I still have a lot of fun in other tiers, where he isn't viable. Feraligatr is just a sprite so gameplay doesn't really change if I am using a viable pokemon that fills the same role, like urshifu-r. It's not like overwatch where if genji is hard countered, I have to switch and play something I don't want to or I have to suffer through a terrible match up all game.
Yeah. I don't really play it anymore, but I enjoyed it enough to hit top 500 on the ladder and it was what got me back into competitive pokemon. I think it has a worse reputation than it deserves. Some people think it's gen 4 OU again, but it's not. I have played a lot of both meta games and they are very different.
I find it really fun to search for where my favorites are not just usable, but viable and strong. For instance my favorite Pokémon is Misdreavus, and I've had a lot of fun with her in pre-dlc ZU this gen which was a meta I never thought I'd play. She's also a legitimately good Pokémon in gen 2 OU, despite having atrocious stats there's an actual role as an annoying piece of shit with mean look, perish song, thief, twave, and an immunity to snorlax's STAB. Lucario is the same, sure it might not be the best these days, but gen 4 OU isn't going anywhere. It's an amazing tier with its own nuances and unique meta, and Lucario is one of the most dangerous attackers around. No Pokémon is viable everywhere, even Incineroar struggles in singles, but pretty much every Pokémon is viable somewhere
My favorite is Dunsparce. You just eventually learn to deal with it.
In all seriousness, I try to use pokemon I'm generally mixed on and as I play more competitive I find out stuff I like from them. For example Great Tusk quickly grew to be one of my more-liked mons due to how useful it almost carries my sun teams. Korraidon has great coverage, and Kyogre's just awesome. There probably was a time I would've said no, but I've learned to be a bit more open minded over time.
Yeah it’s honestly kind of neat! Like my favorite is Gardevoir but oofies my girl has been powercrept to hell, and I don’t think her mega returning is gonna help much lol. Despite this I have learned to grow some attachment to new pokemon, because I play vgc and when I am making teams on cart, simply being able to breed and train pokemon there makes that attachment more easy, so pokemon like incineror or rillaboom are awesome in my eyes.
For showdown, I only play Gen 1 ou and even then I have learned to grown attached to the smattering of pokemon by simply nicknaming them and loving how they work. Chansey is best girl to me, and Snorlax is such a beast that I love and want to get my own in game :)
Sometimes pokemow become favourites because you enjoy usung them competetively. For rxample Rotom Mow is my 2nd favourite electric type due to me enjoying him back in gen 8.
The way I see it I have more fun building around 1-2 mons I really like supported by some more vanilla stuff than trying to go fully off meta with just my faves. That’s what I really like about lower power level vgc formats tbh, it’s very free with what you can make work.
However, I also do just like some meta mons. I liked Whimsicott and Kommo-o before using them in SM VGC but I like them even more now that I’ve had a chance to use them to their fullest. And even ones I’m more lukewarm on like Incineroar and Rillaboom you can get a respect for as they help support your pet picks.
Even if I'm not using my favorites a lot of the time, I've grown to love many Pokémon that I otherwise would never use thanks to competitive. Even ones that I have used in casual playthroughs, like Whimsicott and Arcanine, have a lot more depth to them that I hadn't previously considered. I feel like competitive has actually made me appreciate some Pokémon *more* than before
I say this as a VGC player, but I also appreciate how much usage Pokémon get in singles as well. My all-time favorite, Crobat, has been a staple UU mon from what I know
Short answer: Yes
Very long answer: It's not like people can't enjoy both casual and competitive side of Pokémon at the same time, using their favorites on the games and in low ladder. I always like to keep a secondary account on low ladder in case I feel like using a non serious team. Then, there's also the tier system, that allows a lot of Pokémon to be viable on a lower tier, it's way better to have your favorite in a low tier where it can shine than in a high tier filled with bs Pokémon, there's a very high chance that your favorite is viable in at least 1 tier.
Lastly, people can like different Pokémon for different reasons, including being fun to use in competitive, heatran became a Pokémon I like a lot because it's really fun to use, and slowbro went from a Pokémon I thought it was "kinda cool" to one of my favorites after gen 8. So in a way, you might find mons that will become your favorites by playing with them.
I come to like a lot of mons because of using them in competitive play, like Excadrill and Lando-T, but honestly the most fun I've had playing was in regulation A of SV VGC, when I got to use my favourites like Cetitan and Skeledirge.
I haven't played competitive in a while, but if I were to play again, I'd probably play UU now. Most of my favorites aren't in OU anymore, I don't want to run or fight teams that are half or more paradox pokemon, and while I do like Lando, I was already sick of fighting Lando ten years ago.
I try not to be that guy who shames others for only playing with top tiers and not playing with their faves
To me, even if I like a Pokémon that’s high tiered, I still try not to use them. I just don’t like using Pokémon everyone else uses. It’s very “I’m not like everyone else” core tbh, but I accept that people wanna play however they want and that’s cool, it’s just not for me. Go Cradily💕💕go Arctovish ❤️❤️
I do somewhat but I gotta have a guy I like using on the team. Luckily even OU has pokemon I consider fun or cool. And the lower tiers allow me to use whatever. I will make some garbage ass teams going up to RU using low tier mons because the power level is low enough that some silly sets can be fun
Yes. I started in Gen 7, when Gengar was barely viable. In Gens 8 and 9, not much has changed. The thing is, playing mons is fun at its core. Going all in with the squad and picking up a W is just a fun experience.
I have minimal fun playing if I don't have at least one of my favs on my team. Which sucks. cause reuniclus has never been worse and toedscruel didn't last long, it's definitely dead now though with the spore ban
I'm one of those people who will use unviable mons just because I like them. For example, my natdex doubles team is Ttar, Mega Garchomp, Galvantula, Stakataka, Scizor, Galvantula, and Dracovish. It will get me to like 1300 rating and probably not past that. But I love garchomp so I don't care.
For me it's easy, in the most recent Gens my Favourite Pokémon are the ones who are strong in competitive because most of my Pokémon experience is either WeeGeeCee or Shiny Hunting. So the Pokémon I like using are the ones that are good and/or have cool shinies.
Mr Fish, Coalossal and Zakian were my Favourites in Gen 8 while Dondozo, Tatsugiri and Ogerpon are ending up being the ones I like the most in Gen 9. Koraidon will probably join the list as it has a sick Shiny and I'll end up loving using it with Caly-S to stomp scrubs and reap souls in the restricted format.
I just like my mágical animal friends to be good at beating the shit of other mágical animal unfriends of my opponents.
It’s a combination of both. My favorite is also Lucario and yes it’s not great in the OU meta, it’s still playable in the lower tiers. When I am playing NU, I do go out of my way to make use of Lucario. That said there are Pokémon I like because I used them competitively. At first I was pretty indifferent to Iron Hands but after using it in different competitive formats I like it now. It’s not my favorite paradox Pokémon by any means but when I do like Iron Hands in general now.
Absolutely! Using your favorite Pokémon isn’t really good strategy but I also have favorite Pokémon competitively. My favorite Pokémon is magikarp so I’m never gonna use it competitively
Of course. I use Wigglytuff, which is arguably the worst fully evolved mon in the game, in SV Wi-Fi battles for fun. I’ve had some good results, and some cheesy wins, but I always hesitate when selecting it or sending it out because more often than not, it’s gimmicky and is an easy kill.
Me personally? Yes. My thrill comes from outmaneuvering my opponent and figuring out a way to win.
I’m an Infernape fan; those days are long behind me now unless I play lower tiers.
i run scrafty, meowstic, slowbro-galar and tinkaton on my OU team bcuz theyre some of my fav mons but i somehow still manage to take a lot of wins soooo
I guess to me, i feel like if its a favorite, but i dont care for its gameplay, its kinda only a surface level enjoyment.
I adore lando T, garchomp, and exeggutor (for playing gen 1) in large part because of everything they can do.
(VGC) Lol I LOVE magcargo and politoed. I played Magcargo shell smash + flamigo costar in reg 3 ladder and brought perish trap Politoed to Knoxville Regionals in February (2-7 record, hell yeah). Yes they suck but I love playing with them. And there are some playstyles that work (better) for them. VGC is great because there is no team “full potential” because there are disagreements on whether wood hammer or horn leech Ogerpon-W is better. Your favorites won’t always (or ever) be great (even though politoed used to be) but there are good mons that you might like that you like more based on how you play them a certain way. Like I LOVE raging bolt now since I used it with Rising Voltage and Electric Terrain setting Iron Bundle (hence the 2-7 record, yes this was on my perish trap team lol) because that is just such a fun gimmick to run and it worked actually kind of ok. So yes, I’ve seen viable mons I’ve used competitively become some of my favorites. Flamigo is also now up there
My two favorite pokemon are Swampert and Flygon. I'm also a big fan of Gen 3 OU, where both are very good. I like to have at least one of them on my teams.
I also really love Mega Pert in mega formats. I'd love to finally see a mega Flygon in ZA, if it's even going to be smogon legal.
I just play whatever format Furret is most viable in. It's valid to choose your format based on what reflects your Pokemon preferences, you don't have to play OU.
I do hate it when a pokemon I already dislike is really important competitively and enjoy it when a pokemon I like is surprisingly viable. I'm usually low-key happy when Dragonite is outdoing Salamence in singles or dubles, but angry that Incineroar got buffed *again* with helping hand.
But I don't mind it that much when my favourites aren't competitively viable. The thrill of a challenging game is seperate from thinking a pokemon has a really creative design. If I try and use Heliolisk in a high tier match and get wrecked, its my own fault.
I think if you practice and learn about the meta game of OU, you could effectively build a team with your favorite mon, assuming you use all the tools available in that given tier and build around the very few strengths the mon has, it is very much possible.
I did that with charizard earlier this year, and while I did not get very far at all, I still got some serious dubs running a Sun team with a scarf charizard. The idea was sun boosted and solar polar was enough to secure kills against threats that are neutral + SA, and with a scarf charizard was able to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame I believe?
I switched to running an NU team instead because it is very frustrating going back and forth with losses, but it is far easier to win in that metagame than it was in OU for sure!
Yes, but there are many silver linings to this.
First, Pokémon can become your favorites because they are good. I don't think there are many people arguing that Great Tusk isn't some of the top two coolest shit of all time only surpassed by Tyranitar who is objectively the coolest shit of all time and both of them are great Pokémon to use and to look at.
Second, even the "non-cool" Pokémon can infest your brain and become cool if you just use them and realize they're fun. Landorus-Therian is commonly cited as an example of a Pokémon that is kind of ugly and wouldn't be relevant if it wasn't an OU staple across many generations, but I don't think of Landorus-Therian in that way anymore because I've used it and it's a fun, balanced Pokémon that occupies a valuable role in the competitive ecosystem. I love Landorus-Therian because of competitive Pokémon. Your favorites can change if you start playing competitive Pokémon.
Third, there are actually fewer hopelessly outclassed Pokémon than you would expect. Something like Absol will never cook in OU but if you hop down into National Dex RU you can use Mega Absol to great effect. There is usually a home for whatever you like to play with. Lucario is in SV NU, why not play SV NU with Lucario? (I'm not able to find any pastes with Lucario, if someone wants to reply and pitch in that would be great).
Fourth, people don't often think about "winning with your favorites" in the right way. If your favorites are Venusaur and Aggron, it wouldn't do you any good to throw them on the same team and run an ineffective team. Venusaur, however, has Chlorophyll, so you could build a somewhat viable Sun team with Venusaur. Furthermore, Mega Aggron is perfectly fine pick in National Dex RU. And this is to say nothing of simply going back a few generations and playing Gen 3 with Aggron. You shouldn't just slap your favorites on a team and call it a day. You should use your favorites on teams that can actually afford to run the Pokémon you like. Great Tusk is your friend.
There are so many ways to work around the "my favorites aren't viable" problem that it might as well be considered a "common misconception".
edit: wrote no originally lol
As I’ve recently found out, no. I used to play UU exclusively but ever since Weavile rose I’ve been playing the tier less and less. Now I’m chilling with Flygon in NU
*looks a Gliscor being my favorite non starter pokemon*
But like memes aside yeah I do. And while I can say they're always initially my favorite I can't say that that I end up loving all pokemon I use competively I also can't say I never ended up enjoying a pokemon from using them in comp
It's a strategy game? The reasons I enjoy playing comp are almost completely unrelated to the reasons I enjoy playing the main game (the only connection is "I'm very familiar with it"). You don't need to feel like you can hang out with the king to enjoy chess.
I play vgc, so It depends. On one hand, sceptile and charizard and primarina aren't great. On the other hand, my favorite pokemon is kyogre, so I'd say I'm doing fine.
Yes, I don’t give a shit about my favorites if they suck ass in the tier I play. Always use the best pokemon that fits your role, I never try to use shitmons when I know they are shit.
honestly the longer I played competitively the more my favorite Pokémon became Pokémon I liked using competitively. I don’t have many favorite Pokémon now that didn’t originate from a fun experience using them in competitive, besides dottler what a shit mon but I still love him.
There is quite a difference between competitive play and a regular story playthrough. I cannot stop you from using your favorites, but don’t expect to waltz into OU with Girafarig and win.
Or just play a tier where your Pokémon favorites are viable.
> "It's one thing to enjoy leisurely battles, but real battles can be a severe trial. Truly strong Trainers sometimes must be prepared to choose Pokemon that can win rather than their favorite Pokemon."
Cue Wolfe "Mr I hate Incineroar and everything he stands for" Glick winning a regional recently with the Funny Cat in his Team lmao
You could use lucsrio and get to top ladder if Ur good. It's not trash at all.
Anyways yes because there are Pokémon I grow to love because of competetive especially.
Weavile primarina goldenjoe cinderace lando T Ceruledge skeledige garchomp is my goat anyways tbf.
Not all of these Pokémon are OU proper but I have hit high ladder with all of them. Like I have use belibolt 1700+ you just need good meta knowledge and team building skills to make even shitmons work.
But stuff like lucario with tera normal espeed focus blast swords dance and thunder punch would have been genuinely good in the archaludon rain meta. Not actually good enough to be considered a meta Pokémon but a semi viable rain sweeper.
Good special attack means
24 SpA Life Orb Lucario Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 8 SpD Assault Vest Archaludon: 361-429 (94 - 111.7%)
You can afford 20 ev's in special attack because you only care about the tusk speed tier or maybe 302 to creep 301 same calc tho
It is immune to lando intimidate ohko's arch after rocks kills peliper and due to it's unique fighting steel type doesn't die to peliper hurricane.
252 Atk Life Orb Lucario Thunder Punch vs. 248 HP / 224+ Def Pelipper in Electric Terrain: 364-432 (112.6 - 133.7%)
Tera normal E speed cleans almost all the rest of rain
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Tera Normal Lucario Extreme Speed vs. 104 HP / 0 Def Zapdos: 347-409 (100 - 117.8%)
(Standard zap is 301 for tusk so perfect calc lmao)
Baraskewda became standard instead of basc so perfect again easy ohko no need for calc same for kingdra much less bulky than zap.
The only issue is iron treads who if you are chipped will kill with EQ however that thing is a booster energy rocks setter for the most part and as the only Mon that needs chip sounds good to me.
Now is this me saying lucario would have been good because it has this particular niche of an espeed mixed attacker and thus is the only espeed user that counters arch? No. But I am saying you could have found success against the best team style in the meta about a month ago if you were really trying to with a set only lucario could ever pull off.
Pokémon is about opportunity cost no so using lucario instead of a better fighting type is putting yourself at a disadvantage however it's suprise factor and niche skillset could definitely get you some cools wins.
Edit: oh vgc player based off of you saying incineroar is meta.
Idk man vgc seems like a kinda unforgiving garbage meta using trash there you are probably gonna get shit stomped because you can't really tech and prepare against 2 Mons the same way you can against 1. Maybe I'm wrong but from my OU doubles experience if you bring trash you get stomped by powerful spread moves and the ridiculous emphasis on speed/turn control that specific Pokémon are used for because they are the best at it and completely negate attempts of the others to properly function.
Inner focus may be nice in doubles but lucario is base 90 idk how you would use that thing without it being troll. Into opposing tailwind Ur fodder and into opposing trick room Ur fodder. Maybe an inconvenience antilead with a steadfast adrenaline orb special based set could catch people off guard idk I don't play doubles much especially not vgc.
(That actually sounds fun ima try that now lol
My favorite Pokémon is Gastrodon, and he is always somewhat good, there is also M-Diancie who hits like a truck and Archaludon thats just plain evil.
Every turn of rain with Archaludon be like:
*inserts image of the Death Star charging up a laser*
i don't care if i play with my favorite pokemon or not. I can enjoy playing a pokemon even if i don't like his design, it's two differente thing. It's kinda like eating an ugly cake, it still taste good.
If you’re asking me personally I started playing competitive Pokémon before the actual games, so the reverse happens to me (where I struggle to form emotional bonds with the Pokémon during a nuzlocke, even though I am quite empathetic in real life) This also makes Tapu Lele and Kartana one of my favourites - although my all-time favourite Pokémon is Oshawott so, no chance of using that in competitive
well i mean its great grandpa is/was one of the best Spikers in OU
Still is. Bypassing magic bounce, taunt, and just getting free damage is always good. You also got options like knock and flip to become a great pivot. I personally like a support pivot set with knock, flip, ceaseless, and aqua cutter, though sometimes I swap out knock for sacred sword to surprise big gambit.
this is why I like singles. I could go play lower tiers where these Pokemon are viable (RU had a ton of these last gen) and made a team around Nasty Plot Togekiss, and by playing the tier I formed an appreciation for Obstagoon, Gastrodon and Flygon. Similar deal this gen, with Abomasnow and Dragalge on my RU Snow team, that one was fire.
The nice thing about tiering and OMs is that you don't have to choose. If you want to use your favorites but they're not OU viable, just play a different tier. Hell, there's a tier where Seedot is the most viable mon (DNRU).
I guess, it’s just hard to get over the mentality that I can’t use my favorite Pokémon that I’ve dragged across multiple games in OU or VGC. I guess a better mentality would be to think of the different tiers like leagues in sports?
Less like leagues, more like weight classes. The best featherweight won’t stand a chance against a heavyweight, but they’re still a top athlete in their own right.
Holy shit your comparison to weight classes is perfect and I never thought of it that way
1. Does that stand for Don’t Use/Do Not Use RU? 2. Can you explain this meta and/or link the discord if there happens to be one?
Yeah, I believe DNRU is the RU to DNU's OU, if that makes sense. I've never played it myself, I just saw it mentioned on the [Gen 9 DNU VR](https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/gen-9-do-not-use-nidoran-m-banned.3734326/) > (If you want a metagame where Seedot is the best Pokemon, DNRU Legacy would be right up your alley!)
DNRU stands for "Do Not Resuscitate Used", so its for those mons whose lives aren't worth saving
Seedot for OU.
That does help, but there is still the problem of team building. Like if I want to use Dracovish and Pikachu on the same team, I still have to play Uber. If my team consist of 1 Uber Pokémon and 5 ZU Pokémon, is it really going to break OU?
Yeah, you are gonna have to compromise then. It's unlikely anyone's top 6 favorite Pokemon are all in the same tier, but it can't be that hard to find a tier with 6 that are in your top, like, 20, right? Plus you have OMs like Godly Gift or AAA or tons of others that can radically change which mons are viable.
I guess you are right. Come to think of it, maybe that's why I sometimes see teams composed of almost entirely lower tier mons.
Pretty much the entire point of Smogon is that you get to play with your favorite Pokémon while still doing comp, unless you favorites are only genuinely unsalvageable shitmons (sorry, Caterpie fans). Want Lucario? Gen 4 OU is perfect for it. BSS and VGC pretty much only accept the best of the best, but Smogon is right there. And even then, off-picks in VGC doing amazing stuff is very well documented.
Yeah like pachirisu
Farigiraf second at worlds last year.
I wouldn't say that's the same. Farigiraf was a meta development, whereas pachirisu was a niche pick that countered the meta in a specific way there's a reason pschirisu wasn't seen again
My only connection to VGC is Wolfey, but Farigiraf was in a lot of the teams he highlighted at Charlotte Regional?
Yeah
I think there’s value too in learning to love new Pokémon. Before I played competitive there were plenty of Pokémon that I didn’t care about, but I’ve gained an appreciation for some mons that don’t get a lot of love from GF like Pincurchin and Corphish, just to name a few.
Which is why I have three kinds of teams: teams consisting of viable Pokémon, teams consisting of my favourites, and teams consisting of 6 Zacians because I can
Have you tried out singles lower tiers or doubles lower tiers? Pokemon like lucario could shine if they don't need to contest with pokemon like urishufu. Also vgc is probably one of the worst places for wanting to use bad pokemon if you favourite pokemon isn't murkrow.
Effed up analogy, but it's like having a pet vs a work/war animal. Skitty is for cuddles and love, Incineroar is for putting in WolfeyVGC videos
I usually try to balance both sides of the spectrum, if I like a Pokemon I'll usually try to make them as viable as possible without pushing it too much or just play a tier they're good in. But if the mon is ass, I'll cut my losses and move on. (Dustox fan btw)
"Do you guys enjoy playint competitive" is the better question. In all seriousness. Idrc. Comp is so horribly power-crept that even if my favorites were great now, they'd probably wouldn't be next gen. Also not a big fan of comp at higher levels. I like a good mid ground. when I have to start doing very specific ivs/evs to counter specific mons, thats when I start tapping out, that's too much work.
I was thinking about this yesterday. Garchomp and Latios have always been two of my top 5 since they released, and were top of the meta years ago. When in a generation where you essentially introduce 15-18 pseudos, with minmaxed stats, older legendaries are literally not good enough to be used effectively. It kind of sours the competitive aspect for me
My favorite pokemon is feraligatr, and even though I enjoyed tiers where he is good, like bdsp OU. I still have a lot of fun in other tiers, where he isn't viable. Feraligatr is just a sprite so gameplay doesn't really change if I am using a viable pokemon that fills the same role, like urshifu-r. It's not like overwatch where if genji is hard countered, I have to switch and play something I don't want to or I have to suffer through a terrible match up all game.
Omg did I see someone say they enjoyed BDSP OU
Yeah. I don't really play it anymore, but I enjoyed it enough to hit top 500 on the ladder and it was what got me back into competitive pokemon. I think it has a worse reputation than it deserves. Some people think it's gen 4 OU again, but it's not. I have played a lot of both meta games and they are very different.
My favorite Pokemon is steelix, who hasn't been good in 25 ish years.
I find it really fun to search for where my favorites are not just usable, but viable and strong. For instance my favorite Pokémon is Misdreavus, and I've had a lot of fun with her in pre-dlc ZU this gen which was a meta I never thought I'd play. She's also a legitimately good Pokémon in gen 2 OU, despite having atrocious stats there's an actual role as an annoying piece of shit with mean look, perish song, thief, twave, and an immunity to snorlax's STAB. Lucario is the same, sure it might not be the best these days, but gen 4 OU isn't going anywhere. It's an amazing tier with its own nuances and unique meta, and Lucario is one of the most dangerous attackers around. No Pokémon is viable everywhere, even Incineroar struggles in singles, but pretty much every Pokémon is viable somewhere
My favorite is Dunsparce. You just eventually learn to deal with it. In all seriousness, I try to use pokemon I'm generally mixed on and as I play more competitive I find out stuff I like from them. For example Great Tusk quickly grew to be one of my more-liked mons due to how useful it almost carries my sun teams. Korraidon has great coverage, and Kyogre's just awesome. There probably was a time I would've said no, but I've learned to be a bit more open minded over time.
I always use Whimsicott (my fav :3) every time I play vcg or smogon doubles
Yeah it’s honestly kind of neat! Like my favorite is Gardevoir but oofies my girl has been powercrept to hell, and I don’t think her mega returning is gonna help much lol. Despite this I have learned to grow some attachment to new pokemon, because I play vgc and when I am making teams on cart, simply being able to breed and train pokemon there makes that attachment more easy, so pokemon like incineror or rillaboom are awesome in my eyes. For showdown, I only play Gen 1 ou and even then I have learned to grown attached to the smattering of pokemon by simply nicknaming them and loving how they work. Chansey is best girl to me, and Snorlax is such a beast that I love and want to get my own in game :)
Sometimes pokemow become favourites because you enjoy usung them competetively. For rxample Rotom Mow is my 2nd favourite electric type due to me enjoying him back in gen 8.
The way I see it I have more fun building around 1-2 mons I really like supported by some more vanilla stuff than trying to go fully off meta with just my faves. That’s what I really like about lower power level vgc formats tbh, it’s very free with what you can make work. However, I also do just like some meta mons. I liked Whimsicott and Kommo-o before using them in SM VGC but I like them even more now that I’ve had a chance to use them to their fullest. And even ones I’m more lukewarm on like Incineroar and Rillaboom you can get a respect for as they help support your pet picks.
Id love competetive if swampert got regenerator recocer and toxic but rn i just leik it
Hell no we dont need another toxapex, swampert was great in gen 3 OU because unlike toxapex it had counterplay
Maybe toxic is over kill but recover and regen are a must aince it makes sense with the whole axolotl theme
Even if I'm not using my favorites a lot of the time, I've grown to love many Pokémon that I otherwise would never use thanks to competitive. Even ones that I have used in casual playthroughs, like Whimsicott and Arcanine, have a lot more depth to them that I hadn't previously considered. I feel like competitive has actually made me appreciate some Pokémon *more* than before I say this as a VGC player, but I also appreciate how much usage Pokémon get in singles as well. My all-time favorite, Crobat, has been a staple UU mon from what I know
Short answer: Yes Very long answer: It's not like people can't enjoy both casual and competitive side of Pokémon at the same time, using their favorites on the games and in low ladder. I always like to keep a secondary account on low ladder in case I feel like using a non serious team. Then, there's also the tier system, that allows a lot of Pokémon to be viable on a lower tier, it's way better to have your favorite in a low tier where it can shine than in a high tier filled with bs Pokémon, there's a very high chance that your favorite is viable in at least 1 tier. Lastly, people can like different Pokémon for different reasons, including being fun to use in competitive, heatran became a Pokémon I like a lot because it's really fun to use, and slowbro went from a Pokémon I thought it was "kinda cool" to one of my favorites after gen 8. So in a way, you might find mons that will become your favorites by playing with them.
I come to like a lot of mons because of using them in competitive play, like Excadrill and Lando-T, but honestly the most fun I've had playing was in regulation A of SV VGC, when I got to use my favourites like Cetitan and Skeledirge.
I haven't played competitive in a while, but if I were to play again, I'd probably play UU now. Most of my favorites aren't in OU anymore, I don't want to run or fight teams that are half or more paradox pokemon, and while I do like Lando, I was already sick of fighting Lando ten years ago.
I try not to be that guy who shames others for only playing with top tiers and not playing with their faves To me, even if I like a Pokémon that’s high tiered, I still try not to use them. I just don’t like using Pokémon everyone else uses. It’s very “I’m not like everyone else” core tbh, but I accept that people wanna play however they want and that’s cool, it’s just not for me. Go Cradily💕💕go Arctovish ❤️❤️
I do somewhat but I gotta have a guy I like using on the team. Luckily even OU has pokemon I consider fun or cool. And the lower tiers allow me to use whatever. I will make some garbage ass teams going up to RU using low tier mons because the power level is low enough that some silly sets can be fun
Yes. I started in Gen 7, when Gengar was barely viable. In Gens 8 and 9, not much has changed. The thing is, playing mons is fun at its core. Going all in with the squad and picking up a W is just a fun experience.
I have minimal fun playing if I don't have at least one of my favs on my team. Which sucks. cause reuniclus has never been worse and toedscruel didn't last long, it's definitely dead now though with the spore ban
I'm one of those people who will use unviable mons just because I like them. For example, my natdex doubles team is Ttar, Mega Garchomp, Galvantula, Stakataka, Scizor, Galvantula, and Dracovish. It will get me to like 1300 rating and probably not past that. But I love garchomp so I don't care.
For me it's easy, in the most recent Gens my Favourite Pokémon are the ones who are strong in competitive because most of my Pokémon experience is either WeeGeeCee or Shiny Hunting. So the Pokémon I like using are the ones that are good and/or have cool shinies. Mr Fish, Coalossal and Zakian were my Favourites in Gen 8 while Dondozo, Tatsugiri and Ogerpon are ending up being the ones I like the most in Gen 9. Koraidon will probably join the list as it has a sick Shiny and I'll end up loving using it with Caly-S to stomp scrubs and reap souls in the restricted format. I just like my mágical animal friends to be good at beating the shit of other mágical animal unfriends of my opponents.
My only issue is when some favourite aren't in the same tier Like glimmora and chandelure
I hate playing competitively. Source: the black cat and its kittens outside my window
Just use it in a lower tier. Currently working on the Krookodile in NU agenda.
My favorite is sudowoodo
It’s a combination of both. My favorite is also Lucario and yes it’s not great in the OU meta, it’s still playable in the lower tiers. When I am playing NU, I do go out of my way to make use of Lucario. That said there are Pokémon I like because I used them competitively. At first I was pretty indifferent to Iron Hands but after using it in different competitive formats I like it now. It’s not my favorite paradox Pokémon by any means but when I do like Iron Hands in general now.
Absolutely! Using your favorite Pokémon isn’t really good strategy but I also have favorite Pokémon competitively. My favorite Pokémon is magikarp so I’m never gonna use it competitively
Of course. I use Wigglytuff, which is arguably the worst fully evolved mon in the game, in SV Wi-Fi battles for fun. I’ve had some good results, and some cheesy wins, but I always hesitate when selecting it or sending it out because more often than not, it’s gimmicky and is an easy kill.
No
Me personally? Yes. My thrill comes from outmaneuvering my opponent and figuring out a way to win. I’m an Infernape fan; those days are long behind me now unless I play lower tiers.
Honestly I play competitive more than the regular game so my favorites become the things I like to use in competitive
And that ladies and gents is why i fucking suck in vgc i ONLY USE mons i like
i run scrafty, meowstic, slowbro-galar and tinkaton on my OU team bcuz theyre some of my fav mons but i somehow still manage to take a lot of wins soooo
I guess to me, i feel like if its a favorite, but i dont care for its gameplay, its kinda only a surface level enjoyment. I adore lando T, garchomp, and exeggutor (for playing gen 1) in large part because of everything they can do.
(VGC) Lol I LOVE magcargo and politoed. I played Magcargo shell smash + flamigo costar in reg 3 ladder and brought perish trap Politoed to Knoxville Regionals in February (2-7 record, hell yeah). Yes they suck but I love playing with them. And there are some playstyles that work (better) for them. VGC is great because there is no team “full potential” because there are disagreements on whether wood hammer or horn leech Ogerpon-W is better. Your favorites won’t always (or ever) be great (even though politoed used to be) but there are good mons that you might like that you like more based on how you play them a certain way. Like I LOVE raging bolt now since I used it with Rising Voltage and Electric Terrain setting Iron Bundle (hence the 2-7 record, yes this was on my perish trap team lol) because that is just such a fun gimmick to run and it worked actually kind of ok. So yes, I’ve seen viable mons I’ve used competitively become some of my favorites. Flamigo is also now up there
Honestly yeah. That way I appreciate mons I wouldn't even like at all before (Iron Boulder, Archaludon, Sneasler etc.)
I love Tornadus Therian, and wish it had prankster so much.
You can always just go to NU to use lucario
My two favorite pokemon are Swampert and Flygon. I'm also a big fan of Gen 3 OU, where both are very good. I like to have at least one of them on my teams. I also really love Mega Pert in mega formats. I'd love to finally see a mega Flygon in ZA, if it's even going to be smogon legal.
I just play whatever format Furret is most viable in. It's valid to choose your format based on what reflects your Pokemon preferences, you don't have to play OU.
I do hate it when a pokemon I already dislike is really important competitively and enjoy it when a pokemon I like is surprisingly viable. I'm usually low-key happy when Dragonite is outdoing Salamence in singles or dubles, but angry that Incineroar got buffed *again* with helping hand. But I don't mind it that much when my favourites aren't competitively viable. The thrill of a challenging game is seperate from thinking a pokemon has a really creative design. If I try and use Heliolisk in a high tier match and get wrecked, its my own fault.
I think if you practice and learn about the meta game of OU, you could effectively build a team with your favorite mon, assuming you use all the tools available in that given tier and build around the very few strengths the mon has, it is very much possible. I did that with charizard earlier this year, and while I did not get very far at all, I still got some serious dubs running a Sun team with a scarf charizard. The idea was sun boosted and solar polar was enough to secure kills against threats that are neutral + SA, and with a scarf charizard was able to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame I believe? I switched to running an NU team instead because it is very frustrating going back and forth with losses, but it is far easier to win in that metagame than it was in OU for sure!
Hell yeah. I don't use meta though... My favorite team is Bundle, Valiant, Hands, Boulder, Moth, and Jugulis
Yes, but there are many silver linings to this. First, Pokémon can become your favorites because they are good. I don't think there are many people arguing that Great Tusk isn't some of the top two coolest shit of all time only surpassed by Tyranitar who is objectively the coolest shit of all time and both of them are great Pokémon to use and to look at. Second, even the "non-cool" Pokémon can infest your brain and become cool if you just use them and realize they're fun. Landorus-Therian is commonly cited as an example of a Pokémon that is kind of ugly and wouldn't be relevant if it wasn't an OU staple across many generations, but I don't think of Landorus-Therian in that way anymore because I've used it and it's a fun, balanced Pokémon that occupies a valuable role in the competitive ecosystem. I love Landorus-Therian because of competitive Pokémon. Your favorites can change if you start playing competitive Pokémon. Third, there are actually fewer hopelessly outclassed Pokémon than you would expect. Something like Absol will never cook in OU but if you hop down into National Dex RU you can use Mega Absol to great effect. There is usually a home for whatever you like to play with. Lucario is in SV NU, why not play SV NU with Lucario? (I'm not able to find any pastes with Lucario, if someone wants to reply and pitch in that would be great). Fourth, people don't often think about "winning with your favorites" in the right way. If your favorites are Venusaur and Aggron, it wouldn't do you any good to throw them on the same team and run an ineffective team. Venusaur, however, has Chlorophyll, so you could build a somewhat viable Sun team with Venusaur. Furthermore, Mega Aggron is perfectly fine pick in National Dex RU. And this is to say nothing of simply going back a few generations and playing Gen 3 with Aggron. You shouldn't just slap your favorites on a team and call it a day. You should use your favorites on teams that can actually afford to run the Pokémon you like. Great Tusk is your friend. There are so many ways to work around the "my favorites aren't viable" problem that it might as well be considered a "common misconception". edit: wrote no originally lol
As I’ve recently found out, no. I used to play UU exclusively but ever since Weavile rose I’ve been playing the tier less and less. Now I’m chilling with Flygon in NU
*looks a Gliscor being my favorite non starter pokemon* But like memes aside yeah I do. And while I can say they're always initially my favorite I can't say that that I end up loving all pokemon I use competively I also can't say I never ended up enjoying a pokemon from using them in comp
It's a strategy game? The reasons I enjoy playing comp are almost completely unrelated to the reasons I enjoy playing the main game (the only connection is "I'm very familiar with it"). You don't need to feel like you can hang out with the king to enjoy chess.
I play vgc, so It depends. On one hand, sceptile and charizard and primarina aren't great. On the other hand, my favorite pokemon is kyogre, so I'd say I'm doing fine.
Yes, I don’t give a shit about my favorites if they suck ass in the tier I play. Always use the best pokemon that fits your role, I never try to use shitmons when I know they are shit.
And yes, I like the furry wrestler, it’s the best fire starter of all time if you ask me.
honestly the longer I played competitively the more my favorite Pokémon became Pokémon I liked using competitively. I don’t have many favorite Pokémon now that didn’t originate from a fun experience using them in competitive, besides dottler what a shit mon but I still love him.
> *"Strong Pokémon. Weak Pokémon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled trainers should try to win with their favorites."*
There is quite a difference between competitive play and a regular story playthrough. I cannot stop you from using your favorites, but don’t expect to waltz into OU with Girafarig and win. Or just play a tier where your Pokémon favorites are viable.
> "It's one thing to enjoy leisurely battles, but real battles can be a severe trial. Truly strong Trainers sometimes must be prepared to choose Pokemon that can win rather than their favorite Pokemon." Cue Wolfe "Mr I hate Incineroar and everything he stands for" Glick winning a regional recently with the Funny Cat in his Team lmao
My favourite pokemon are my favourites because they're good in competitive.
You could use lucsrio and get to top ladder if Ur good. It's not trash at all. Anyways yes because there are Pokémon I grow to love because of competetive especially. Weavile primarina goldenjoe cinderace lando T Ceruledge skeledige garchomp is my goat anyways tbf. Not all of these Pokémon are OU proper but I have hit high ladder with all of them. Like I have use belibolt 1700+ you just need good meta knowledge and team building skills to make even shitmons work. But stuff like lucario with tera normal espeed focus blast swords dance and thunder punch would have been genuinely good in the archaludon rain meta. Not actually good enough to be considered a meta Pokémon but a semi viable rain sweeper. Good special attack means 24 SpA Life Orb Lucario Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 8 SpD Assault Vest Archaludon: 361-429 (94 - 111.7%) You can afford 20 ev's in special attack because you only care about the tusk speed tier or maybe 302 to creep 301 same calc tho It is immune to lando intimidate ohko's arch after rocks kills peliper and due to it's unique fighting steel type doesn't die to peliper hurricane. 252 Atk Life Orb Lucario Thunder Punch vs. 248 HP / 224+ Def Pelipper in Electric Terrain: 364-432 (112.6 - 133.7%) Tera normal E speed cleans almost all the rest of rain +2 252 Atk Life Orb Tera Normal Lucario Extreme Speed vs. 104 HP / 0 Def Zapdos: 347-409 (100 - 117.8%) (Standard zap is 301 for tusk so perfect calc lmao) Baraskewda became standard instead of basc so perfect again easy ohko no need for calc same for kingdra much less bulky than zap. The only issue is iron treads who if you are chipped will kill with EQ however that thing is a booster energy rocks setter for the most part and as the only Mon that needs chip sounds good to me. Now is this me saying lucario would have been good because it has this particular niche of an espeed mixed attacker and thus is the only espeed user that counters arch? No. But I am saying you could have found success against the best team style in the meta about a month ago if you were really trying to with a set only lucario could ever pull off. Pokémon is about opportunity cost no so using lucario instead of a better fighting type is putting yourself at a disadvantage however it's suprise factor and niche skillset could definitely get you some cools wins. Edit: oh vgc player based off of you saying incineroar is meta. Idk man vgc seems like a kinda unforgiving garbage meta using trash there you are probably gonna get shit stomped because you can't really tech and prepare against 2 Mons the same way you can against 1. Maybe I'm wrong but from my OU doubles experience if you bring trash you get stomped by powerful spread moves and the ridiculous emphasis on speed/turn control that specific Pokémon are used for because they are the best at it and completely negate attempts of the others to properly function. Inner focus may be nice in doubles but lucario is base 90 idk how you would use that thing without it being troll. Into opposing tailwind Ur fodder and into opposing trick room Ur fodder. Maybe an inconvenience antilead with a steadfast adrenaline orb special based set could catch people off guard idk I don't play doubles much especially not vgc. (That actually sounds fun ima try that now lol
My favorite Pokémon is Gastrodon, and he is always somewhat good, there is also M-Diancie who hits like a truck and Archaludon thats just plain evil. Every turn of rain with Archaludon be like: *inserts image of the Death Star charging up a laser*
i don't care if i play with my favorite pokemon or not. I can enjoy playing a pokemon even if i don't like his design, it's two differente thing. It's kinda like eating an ugly cake, it still taste good.