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SIGN UP USING GOOGLE IF YOU WANT TO PLAY! DO NOT USE POKEMON TRAINER CLUB, IT'S BUGGY AS gently caress CLICK HERE TO BE OUR FRIEND AND GET A GOOMY JOIN THE POKéGOONS DISCORD TOO! What is Pokémon GO? Pokémon GO is a Mobile Free2Play Augmented Reality game where you, as a new Pokémon Trainer, walk around IRL and are randomly approached by sprites of Pokémon on your phone. Your goal is ostensibly, as the slogan goes, to "catch 'em all" and complete your Pokédex. In addition to catching Pokémon, you can also battle against other trainers' Pokémon in Gyms, against other trainers in 3v3 matches, and against Team GO Rocket NPCs. The game is developed by Niantic, makers of the original AR game Ingress, and other related titles such as Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. How to play With the above image as basis, let's review the basics. 1) The current in-game weather conditions. Usually based on actual weather, but may be wrong. Different Pokémon will appear based on the conditions - grass in sunny conditions, water in rain, flying in windy, etc. 2) A gym currently controlled by Team Valor (more on teams later). Teams control gyms with a maximum of 6 Pokémon holding down a gym at a time. Only one Pokémon per species can be stationed at a gym, which means you're going to see only one Blissey instead of 4! Hey look, there's a Blissey right there! To take control of a gym, you must battle (and defeat) the defending Pokémon using the same strategy used in the main games (water beats fire, ghost beats psychic, etc.). Over time, however, Pokémon will lose their battling power in gyms if they are not regularly fed berries. In addition, there are Raid Battles, but that's for another section. Holding a gym for 10 minutes nets you one Pokécoin, but your rewards can only be cashed out after your Pokémon is kicked out of the gym, and you can only get 50 coins in a single day. You must be Level 5 or higher to fight in gyms. 3) A PokéStop. Once you get within the radius of the area, you can spin its photodisc to get free items, such as Pokéballs and Eggs. You can only spin once every 5 minutes; purple stops mean you've tagged it recently, blue means you haven't, and a halo around the blue stop means you've never been there before. You can also spin gyms, too! 4) A wild Pokémon! Specifically, a Luvdisc. While roaming around, you will get pinged about Pokémon appearing. Tap the Pokémon and point your camera to the horizon. Flick a Pokéball in the direction of the Pokémon, and you can "capture" it. You can miss (so you have to aim), and the Pokémon can break free randomly, just like in the regular series. Wild Pokémon can also jump to evade and attack, so you'll need to time your tosses. Pokémon will sometimes run away if they break free. 5) The heads-up display. Here, you can see a clear shot of your face, your buddy Pokémon, your current level, the progress you've made to the next level, and your name. When you walk, your buddy Pokémon will pick up candy of their species over a set distance. For example, a lowly Magikarp will pick up a candy every 1km, while legendaries take a good 20km. 6) The Nearby tab. Clicking on this will show you wild Pokemon in your vicinity and where to find them, as well as nearby raid battles. 7) Research tasks. By completing tasks, you get items and free Pokémon encouters. These Pokemon will always have decent to good stats and won't run away! 8) It's you! Your avatar will stay in the middle of the screen and the world will revolve around them. You can customize your avatar with hats, shirts, pants, shoes, and other stuff that soothes your fragile psyche. Gyms and PokéStops are based on regional landmarks or noteworthy locations, but can also be sponsored locations. Drink some Starbucks and go walk off those calories! Once captured, a Pokémon will come with certain stats. CP stands for Combat Points, and is a rough gauge of how strong your Pokemon is. Height and Weight are mostly there for flavor, aside from a couple special achievements. Pokémon will come with two attacks; a fast attack and a charge attack (usually a signature move; i.e. Pidgeot getting Air Cutter or Venonat getting Bug Buzz). HP stands for Hit Points - if your Pokémon's HP reaches zero, it faints and cannot battle anymore until it is revived. Catching a Pokémon will grant you EXP, Stardust, Species Candies, and (for new Pokémon) a Pokédex entry. If it's a duplicate, you can "transfer" it to the Professor and gain candies specific to the Pokémon line (so, Pidgey Candies work for Pidgey, Pidgeotto, Pidgeot, but not Spearow.) Stardust and Candies are used to level up your Pokemon swiftly; you gain Stardust for every wild Pokémon captured (more for accurate throws, among other bonuses), and when you trade in a Pokémon, you gain 1 candy of that type, in addition to the 3 you got originally. In addition, you may select one Pokémon at a time to be your Buddy, which means that as you walk, you will be given that species' candy in increments correlated to their egg distance. Battling in a gym is simpler than in the mainline games. You can swipe left/right to dodge attacks, tap to use a quick attack, or activate a charge attack, which builds up throughout a battle as you attack. Some attacks charge faster and can be used more often, but are weaker. Moves can vary within the same species, so it brings some variety to the game. Introduced in this game (and totally ripped off by Game Freak for Sword/Shield) is Raid Battles. At Level 20, trainers are allowed to participate in battles against super-powered Pokémon controlled by the game as long as they have a Raid Battle Pass. These can be anything from a Magikarp that a 10-year-old could beat by himself to a Mega Charizard X that can only be taken down by at least a few high-level players. Winning gives you items you can only get from Raid Battles (including items that let you re-roll a Pokémon's attack choice), a chunk of XP, and the chance to capture the Pokémon you just beat. If you're one of those people who can't get enough of Raids, there are EX Raids, where only the rarest Pokémon (such as Deoxys) show up. EX Raids require an EX Raid pass, which are fairly difficult to get and require you to have won a raid and fulfill other specific conditions. (NOTE: EX Raids are currently disabled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, in order to avoid encouraging social gatherings.) Adventure Sync A fairly new feature, Adventure Sync allows you to use your phone like a pedometer and track distance for hatching eggs while the game is closed! You can link your game account to a fitness app (such as Google Fit) and it will automatically update your distance the next time you open the game. This means that any devices tracking steps via the same fitness app should also be compatible with Adventure Sync and award you distance. Note that this sometimes bugs out and requires you to re-enable and re-connect everything, but when it works, it's pretty drat handy. Team GO Rocket Occasionally, PokéStops will be taken over by Team GO Rocket! There, you can battle Rocket Grunts, which tend to use teams of a specific type (which will be hinted at in their dialogue). If you win, you get a chance to catch a Shadow Pokémon, which can be purified via candy and Stardust. Purified Pokémon get a small boost to their base stats and cost less to power up and evolve, and also get a neat white glow. Defeating grunts also builds progress towards locating and battling one of the three GO Rocket Leaders for extra rewards and unique Shadow Pokemon. From time to time, you'll be given the opportunity to do some special research tasks involving battling Team GO Rocket, which culminate in some special encounters... Friendship You can be friends with other Trainer Battles And then there is PvP! Oh yes, it took a few years but they put in PvP. It's a lot like battling in a gym, except more complicated. Battles are 3v3 affairs, with little swiping minigames that power up your charged attacks, and each side also gets two Protect Shields to use to cancel out an opponent's charged attack. There is a GO Battle League feature where you are randomly matched against players from around the world in a ranked ladder system. Ranking up just requires you to win a certain amount of battles; your win/loss ratio isn't factored in so you can't rank down. There are unique rewards you can earn by winning several battles in a row, such as rare Pokémon. You can use Premium Raid/Battle Passes to earn different/more rewards if you choose, but this isn't necessary unless you've got passes burning a hole in your pocket. Community Day Once a month, Pokémon GO will showcase a certain Pokémon for several hours, and they'll show up everywhere. Exclusive event-only moves can be obtained by evolving those Pokémon to their final form. In the past there was a predictable rotation with these featured Pokémon, but 2020 pretty much threw that out the window after the Sinnoh starters got their days in the limelight. You can also expect a "Greatest Hits" Community Day in December, where all of the previously featured Pokémon throughout will show up at once, spawn rates are jacked up to insane amounts, and you get another chance to obtain those exclusive moves you might have missed. The Teams There are three teams to choose from, each representing the three Legendary Birds (Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres). Team Mystic (Blue - Led by Blanche) Team Instinct (Yellow - Led by Spark) Team Valor (Red - Led by Candela) Currently, aside from color preference, there is no benefit to picking one over the other. Pick whatever you like! If you really want to change teams later, there is an option to do so via the in-game store, but you can only do this once a year. Items Just like in the games, you can acquire a variety of items that do a variety of effects. Most, if not all of these, are straightforward and explain themselves perfectly in the descriptions. The Store - Alright, cut the bullshit. It's F2P, right? What's the catch? If battling in gyms is too time-consuming, you can also purchase Pokécoins in the shop, and these can be used to buy a variety of items. The choice to pay to play is always up to you, but this game does not appear to grant huge bonuses to players that spend a little (XP up is negligible; arguably incubators would be the items of choice). The best value for your Pokedollar is almost always an Ultra or Adventure Box. While the exact contents are regularly changed up, Ultra Boxes contain mostly Battle Passes and Adventure Boxes contain mostly Incubators. They sometimes appear with different holiday-themed names, and they cost 1,480 coins. Items available for purchase:
Boxes - Various rotating variety item purchases are available and seem to rotate in and out daily. Sometimes these are good buys and sometimes they're not, but they're pretty much always better than the single item purchases. Accessories - How to Make the Game Play Itself by Spending Money There are a few IRL accessories you can buy to augment your gameplay. All of them connect via Bluetooth and do the same thing: allow you to catch Pokemon, spin Pokestops, and track distance even while your phone is locked or you're using another app. These are excellent for players that want to let the game run while they're doing other things, but are absolutely not required. Official Devices: Pokemon GO Plus + - An updated Go Plus released in 2023 with some new features, notably a rechargable battery and the ability to use Great/Ultra Balls and not just regular balls. Pokemon GO Plus - The original accessory designed exclusively for Pokemon GO and released in 2016. While connected, the wristband vibrates and lights up when a Pokemon or Pokestop are nearby; you then press the button on the device to attempt a catch or spin the stop. Not recommended at this point due to its scarcity and the fact that it's inferior to other, newer devices (including the official Go Plus +). Poke Ball Plus - Marketed and released alongside the Let's Go! Pikachu/Eevee games, it also has Pokemon GO connectivity and functions like the Go Plus. It has one additional feature: if you have a Pokemon in the ball from one of the Let's Go! games (via the "Go for a Stroll" feature), it will automatically spin stops for you! It also has a rechargeable battery. Unofficial Devices: CodeJunkies develops a line of unofficial devices that function with Pokemon GO known as the "Go-tcha". They have a few different varieties of Go-tcha now, so if you're interested, you should be able to find something that suits your playstyle. I've personally used the Go-tcha Classic since 2018 and I can vouch for its success. I also highly recommend buying directly from this website or trying to find one at a store such as Gamestop; scammers selling knockoffs are prevalent on Amazon. Words of Wisdom - DON'T BE AN IDIOT
Random Facts
Helpful Links The Silph Road FAQ - Has a lot of information rounded up in a simple, easy to use FAQ. The Silph Road Reddit - Yeah, reddit sucks, ok, but its an aggregation of information that can be hard to find elsewhere. The Sliph Road Atlas - Want to know where certain Pokémon nest? Check here to find out where to go! Niantic Labs Twitter and Pokemon Twitter will most likely be where official updates are posted. Starter's Guide to Pokémon Go Gym combat mechanics - If you want to be the next Giovanni, you need to know how to battle! EXP Calculator (courtesy of mirthdefect!) - this is a really good calculator to use when planning how many Pidgey you need to sacrifice for those sweet gains Pokemon GO Datamined Resource - Collection of information decoded from game files, very good resource 11/10, also great for looking up movesets and best DPS for raids. PvPoke - An open-source tool for simulating, ranking, and building teams for PvP battles. Helpful Apps for determining IVs that won't softban you PokéGenie (iOS) Calcy IV (Android) If there's anything that needs to be put in the OP, post in the thread or shoot me a PM. Previous thread: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3898898 (thanks Edward Mass!) DizzyBum fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Aug 9, 2023 |
# ? Dec 4, 2020 00:42 |
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# ? Mar 29, 2024 12:10 |
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TIMELINE OF FEATURES What the hell? People still play this buggy piece of trash? Did they ever fix the servers? Pokemon GO has gone through several changes since its initial release in summer of 2016. Aside from the basic gameplay loop of spinning stops for items and throwing balls at rats and birds, the game has improved significantly and there's a lot more content available. Here's a rough overview of features that have been added and updated since then, in order of release date. 2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
DizzyBum fucked around with this message at 00:47 on Aug 9, 2023 |
# ? Dec 4, 2020 00:43 |
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Reserved for info on Niantic Wayfarer and how to submit new stops and gyms
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 00:43 |
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New thread, new special research! I'm excited for a guaranteed shiny Celebi.
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 00:53 |
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gently caress Niantic. Greedy money grubbing bastards. (It needed to be on the first page) Gutted about the December Community Day changes. I just looked it up and almost everything I have saved up to evolve were 2018 Community Day moves.
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 01:18 |
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From my local discord:quote:Tips for anyone trying to meet the level 43 requirements. Meltan count as legendaries for the catch 5 legendaries requirement. Transfer a Pokemon to Pokemon Home to get a Meltan box. Also a Poliwrath with Mud Shot and PowerUp Punch against Blanche's Great League team can get 14 Super effective moves per set if you don't do any of the bubbles on the charge moves.
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 01:26 |
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Main grabs from this Community day will be more Rock Wrecker Rhyperior and Hydro Cannon Swampert, for the common player:Kantesu posted:In order of usefulness (for December CDay), I'd probably put it:
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 01:39 |
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I'm gonna predict we see redo community days for the 2018 stuff.
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 02:13 |
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The Discord in the OP kinda got overshadowed by the general goon Pokémon server, at least for organizing remote raiding. Pokégoons https://discord.gg/9EpBXsZv
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 02:32 |
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Well, at least I can finally evolve this shiny mudkip. I also don't have a shiny piplup so maybe I'll get lucky and catch one of those I won't
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 02:56 |
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New thread same Niantic Hail satan
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 03:25 |
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Why the heck is the new stuff so hard to catch? This new generation's Pidgey is frequently showing as red when using an ultra ball, which generally only happens with legendaries or third tier evolutions. Do they do this on launch and adjust it later?
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 03:30 |
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I've been having more poo poo run away overall since the update. It wouldn't surprise me if Niantic raised the catch difficulties across the board when they added the platinum medals and bonuses. I have nothing to support it, but it would be :Niantic: as gently caress.
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 03:42 |
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Mustached Demon posted:I'm gonna predict we see redo community days for the 2018 stuff. Yea this makes sense Edit also I saw this smilie earlier for the first time I guess it’s for the main series but it would work here too slave to my cravings fucked around with this message at 04:11 on Dec 4, 2020 |
# ? Dec 4, 2020 04:09 |
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They completely forgot about the gen 5 starters, didn't they? Hail Niantic, hail Satan.
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 04:11 |
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Lorak posted:Main grabs from this Community day will be more Rock Wrecker Rhyperior and Hydro Cannon Swampert, for the common player: I need the gyra quite badly so that'll be nice, as well as sceptile/torterra/empoleon What are we actually missing out on ? Meteor mash metagross, frenzy plant venusaur, last resort umbreon, anything else?
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 04:58 |
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mastershakeman posted:I need the gyra quite badly so that'll be nice, as well as sceptile/torterra/empoleon Frenzy Plant Meganium, Blast Burn Typhlosion, Smack Down Tyranitar. Hydro Pump Blastoise also is an edge case I think?
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 05:03 |
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How long until the next iOS update? This shrunken menu is awful
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 05:05 |
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Yeah my discord’s full of a lot of grumpy people with a lot of Larvitars and Shadow Larvitars. Having a whole squad of Smack Down tyranitars comes in handy, and they hit the sweet spot where you actually see enough of them that you can afford to level them up.Dr Tran posted:How long until the next iOS update? This shrunken menu is awful Have you seen the bug where your trading screen occupies like a small postage stamp-sized square in the middle of your screen, it’s so good
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 05:07 |
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They still haven't said anything about getting rid of frustration, have they?
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 05:15 |
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Eevee is the one I’m extra bitter about. Walked a 99.9% GL Umbreon and a 15/15/15 for UL. I was really looking forward to those. Not enough that I can afford to spend an Elite TM though, especially since I only have uh... two Elite Charge TMs.
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 05:27 |
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The biggest kick in the nuts is that most (if not all) of those CD moves are mandatory for building strong versatile GBL teams that won't be outclassed by future move buffs or new moves being added in, they're just so good they're practically futureproof. What's worse is that since GBL wasn't a thing until January, more than a few old guard players probably skipped out on things like chikorita day because Venusaur was the flat better option for raiding, which was the meat-and-potatoes gameplay for the lion's share of the community for the longest time. To turn around and dick slap your audience at the final countdown like that, what a class act. White Light fucked around with this message at 15:05 on Dec 4, 2020 |
# ? Dec 4, 2020 08:21 |
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There really isn’t a worse way they could have handled it. If they’d come out firmly and say “2018 Community Day moves will be back in June of 2021” at least then people could make a reasonable judgement about whether it’s worth burning an ETM for that length of time. It’s entirely possible someone will burn a dozen ETMs and find out the next day “yeah we’re adding all those moves to the general move pool starting tomorrow”.
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 08:29 |
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Pvp strategy question! I have an Azumarill lead and then Altaria and Registeel. I just fought Meganoum lead, Umbreon and Gyarados. I swapped from Azu to Registeel when I saw Meganium, then Regi killed Umbreon but we each lost a shield. Then his Gyarados came out and I swapped to Azu, and he obviously swapped back to Meganium and hosed me up and I ended up losing. What would a better approach have been in this situation? I definitely managed shields somewhat poorly, but I’m so lost w typing and strategy here.
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 09:27 |
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Has anyone seen a froakie? I sure as hell haven't. Put an incense on also. I think I got 5 new spawns out of 50.
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 09:53 |
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I've seen one on radar, about 2 blocks away. Once. One of the GBL rewards includes this generations starters, so I'm thinking that might be my best bet. I think that's rank 14 or something....
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 10:39 |
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Captain Duvel posted:Has anyone seen a froakie? I sure as hell haven't. Put an incense on also. I think I got 5 new spawns out of 50. I think Incense, like lures don't attract the new pokemon either.
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 11:49 |
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Darth TNT posted:I think Incense, like lures don't attract the new pokemon either. I thought the same on seeing that post, but checked their known issues page and it says incense are unaffects. But never rule out Niantic being Niantic..
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 13:03 |
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tildes posted:Pvp strategy question! Personally I'd have let Gary kill Regis here, so you maintain your ability to make switches. When Regi dies you bring in Azu, they bring in Meganium to get away from your Ice Beam, and then you can switch to Altaria and kill them with flying. You wind up with a mostly-OK Altaria and fully-OK Azu for whatever their third guy is.
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 13:16 |
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Hahah so I just realized that perfect snowver I have used to be shadow until an unsuspecting me purified it welp
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 14:58 |
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Karma Comedian posted:Hahah so I just realized that perfect snowver I have used to be shadow until an unsuspecting me purified it welp If it helps, a mega abomasnow will do more damage than a shadow one (in PVE at least)
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 15:07 |
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tildes posted:Pvp strategy question! I rarely ever switch out when I don't have switch priority. Unless the enemy can clearly farm you down while saving his charged moves you're often better just eating a loss then bringing in a counter and if he switches you can chase That team type often leads altaria for that reason- even if you run into a counter (like azu) you're often doing a lot of chip damage to them and they will try to kill you asap instead of farming
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 15:41 |
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Karma Comedian posted:Hahah so I just realized that perfect snowver I have used to be shadow until an unsuspecting me purified it welp Normal one looks to have basically all the same important wins and losses as Shadow. Couple are different, but it should be functionally very similar (and cheaper to make). Plus you'll be able to Mega it for raids.
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 15:46 |
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Auxiliary Treats posted:The Discord in the OP kinda got overshadowed by the general goon Pokémon server, at least for organizing remote raiding. Adding it now, thanks!
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 18:04 |
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mastershakeman posted:I rarely ever switch out when I don't have switch priority. Unless the enemy can clearly farm you down while saving his charged moves you're often better just eating a loss then bringing in a counter and if he switches you can chase thumper57 posted:Personally I'd have let Gary kill Regis here, so you maintain your ability to make switches. When Regi dies you bring in Azu, they bring in Meganium to get away from your Ice Beam, and then you can switch to Altaria and kill them with flying. You wind up with a mostly-OK Altaria and fully-OK Azu for whatever their third guy is. Thank you for the tips! It sounds like I’m maybe undervaluing keeping the flexibility to switch in general. I’m also maybe change my lead- I do keep running into counters.
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 18:42 |
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tildes posted:Pvp strategy question! Agree with the other poster that switching Regi out was where you went wrong. It's taken me a while to develop good switch instincts and not put myself in this same situation. In related PVP news...I just realized I have a shiny Venusaur with Frenzy Plant with 95.3% PVP IVs for Ultra League. I didn't touch it all last season, because I was a dumb dumb who just started PVP and thought that bad attack IVs made everything worthless, but I'm happy to give this thing a whirl when UL starts!
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 19:27 |
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That new thread aroma. I visited a remote gym for the first time in a year last night. Previously, I had a pokemon take my from 0 to 3 days short of gold in one stay. I was kicked out by this morning.
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# ? Dec 4, 2020 23:34 |
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I can't not think "maga Obamasnow"
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# ? Dec 5, 2020 00:15 |
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Finally had a Froakie on the nearby to finish the timed research.
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# ? Dec 5, 2020 00:32 |
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# ? Mar 29, 2024 12:10 |
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Karma Comedian posted:I can't not think "maga Obamasnow" Would drone strike be a charged move or fast?
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# ? Dec 5, 2020 00:37 |