REPOST: Just in case you missed it!
Finally we are here. You have your team. Now it is time to use it in battle!
At the beginning of every battle both trainers end out their lead pokemon. It is important to analyze your and the opponent's pokemon and decide what decision to make. Let me give an example. You send out a Swampert with Surf, Earthquake, Ice Beam, and Stealth rock. Your opponent sends out a Weavile. If your not sure how a certain match-up fairs, don't worry. You will most likely do poorly during your first few battles, but this is normal. You will learn about what is to be expected as you play. For the record, most Weaviles have nothing that can hurt a Swampert very much. It is safe to set up stealth rock, or attack with Surf. There is one problem with Earthquake. Many lead Weaviles have a focus sash (never gets one hit) and Counter (deals double damage back if hit by a physical attack). If you use Earthquake, there is a chance that the Weavile with survive with a focus sash and OHKO (1 hit ko) with Counter. It's simply safer to attack with Surf than Earthquake.
You decide to set up Stealth Rock, and your opponent switches in to a Gengar to avoid the risk. You first thought might be "Pah. Gengar can't hurt Swampert. I'm going to one hit him with Surf!" There is a problem with this. Assuming your opponent knows what he's doing. He probably switched in to Gengar because his version of Gengar is good against Swamperts. Gengar can learn Energy Ball which is 4* effective on Swampert and will easily OHKO. Of course, he might be using reverse psychology, but we'll get into that in the next volume.
You switch to Dragonite, because he resists leaf type and will not be one hit by anything in Gengar's normal arsenal. Now it's your turn to plow away. Hit him with a Dragon Claw. You don't have much to lose. There are better (yet more risky!) solutions, but again, we will cover that later. The opponent switches to Bronzing to abosrb the Dragon Claw. Gengar could have stayed in and sacrificed itself to make a dent in Dragonite but remember that this is very different than in-game battling. it is important to preserve your pokemon as much as possible, because you have no potions to fall back on. Anyway, the Bronzing switches in, but you are one step ahead. You had Fire Blast on your Dragonite for just this sort of situation. Fire (no pun intended) away a Fire Blast and take the lead.
I don't want to get too much into prediction this volume, but let me remind you to remember your pokemon's role in battle. Lets say that the Dragonite from the previous example had Dragon Dance. instead of attacking with Dragon Claw, he could have used Dragon Dance to raise his attack and speed by 1 each. I know this might seem odd, because you could 1-hit that Gengar but think again! What are the chances that he is going to stay in? Do you think he would take the risk? Evan if he did stay in. Dragonite can survive a Shadow Ball from Gengar. After a Dragon Dance you will be most likely faster than Gengar, and more prepared to OHKO most of the opponent's team. I bit more useful than Dragon Clawing if I do say so myself.
As you probably picked up from this article, there are more things to consider than simply what is the best option from your current match-up, but I'm saving those for the next volume - all about prediction. I'll see you then. Dragonite, out.
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