Pokémon General Thread

Yeah, I'm also going to go with paralysis. Speed control is useful, but IMO what really makes it stand out is that it's the only persistent status effect that doesn't deal damage, making Thunder Wave invaluable when I'm trying to catch Pokémon.

Sure, sleep has a higher catch multiplier, and outright skipping their turn is in theory better than just making them slower, but it's unreliable (unless you have Spore) and in my experience it tends to wear off a turn or two after I apply it.

Sleeps lasts 1 to 3 turns since gen VI. So, 33% chance of waking up the turn after it was inflicted.

Freeze has a 20% chance of ending up at any turn; so 20% chance of lasting 0 turns. That means that both freeze and sleep are roughly even after a single turn ( sleep has a 66% chance of lasting beyond the turn it was inflicted, freeze has a 64% chance of doing so), and freeze has a 40% chance of outlasting sleep.

Paralysis is the most consistent effect for capture due to not wearing out, while sleep is the most solid one.

I mostly use status effects entirely for ease of capture, so Sleep is probably my favorite in that regard.

Freeze goes away too quickly. Paralysis is just not as good, plus it's horribly obnoxious when you're on the receiving end.

Freeze wears off now?

I thought it used to be more or less permanent unless you used an item, or had a mon with flame wheel.

Ah, I miss Darkrai for catching legendaries (and its good Dark Void, not the horribly nerfed version we got last gen, rather than tweaking the move akin to how other spread moves work).

Just have it sleep the opponent, and chug balls while damaging them just by being there.

Freeze does go away. It also has the issue of it being a crapshoot to both inflict and get to stick. At least with Sleep you know it will at the very least last for about a couple of turns.

Freeze was permanent in gen I, unless you were hit by a fire attack other than Fire Spin. Since gen II it is unreliable sleep. And since Gen III it is the sole status effect without a dedicated move to inflict it. Not even something like Inferno or Zap Cannon.

Edited by Eriorguez on Mar 4th 2021 at 5:10:13 PM

I really don't get why they nerfed Darkrai after removing Dark Void from Smeargle.

Especially considering that Mythicals aren't eligible for official formats anyway, so there's no reason not to make them Purposely Overpowered.

Honestly, making Dark Void have 75% accuracy against a single opponent, and 50% against multiple, would be optimal. That way, in both cases, you have a 75% chance of getting an opponent to sleep.

I'd say a move that isn't even meant for official competitive should be a bit more impressive. 100% chance in singles, in doubles 100% for the primary target with a 50% chance to also hit the partner.

Honestly, some moves in that style would be cool. Instead of 75% damage when hitting multiple targets, choose a main target to do 100% damage to and the partner takes 50% Splash Damage.

Have you guys seen those alternate Ace Pokémon for the other gym leaders videos? I have ideas. I've only seen the opinions of two Youtubes, Hybrid Hero and Mand JTV. Of the two I think hybrid has the better approach to open the floodgates so that The Pokémon trainers could access any Pokémon of their type from any generation.

I'd seen Michael's, and I prefer the approach that leaders use the Pokemon that are actually in their games, instead of retconning teams.

My favorite status condition to inflict is probably Burn.

It's hilarious how you can just utterly neuter most physical attackers with a single Will-O-Wisp. The DOT is just a nice little cherry on top.

Guts + Flame Orb + Facade is also a reliable way to deal big damage if you want burn to work for you, rather than against your opponents. My favorite status condition is attract. I like the idea of a pokemon being so infatuated it can't attack, and unlike burn/poison it won't be damaging them every turn, meaning you won't accidentally KO a pokemon before you can capture it should your first pokeball throws be unlucky.

Attract is a volatile condition and doesn't do anything for capture.

Those of us who have faced Whitney known the horrors of Attract.

Easy fix is to fight with mostly female pokemon.

Tell that to a little boy who thought girls had cooties and very deliberately used mostly male Pokémon.

GASTLY used CURSE.

Somehow I have a feeling that fight would had furthered entrenched his sexism

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Mar 4th 2021 at 4:23:51 AM

Sneaky Miltank and her womanly wiles...

@Eriorguez I never said attract affected captured rates. I said that attract won't damage the opponent each turn, making an accidental KO happen before it can be caught (the problem with burn, poison.) Unless your point was more about not including confusion and attract as status conditions, referring to them as volatile, which is not a distinction I make.

Attract is favored before it nets you a high chance of free turns where the opponent can't attack (higher than paralysis if memory serves), thus your pokemon won't take damage/faint and end the attract and you can just keep chucking pokeballs until capture works. It's why I've always liked using pokemon like Delcatty or Clefable for their wide movepools and cute charm ability.

Edited by GlitterCat on Mar 4th 2021 at 4:59:09 AM

Yeah, but non-volatile status outright boost the capture rate; 2.5x for sleep and freeze (2x prior to gen V), 1.5x for poison, paralysis and burn.

And you may not make the distinction, but the game does.

Edited by Eriorguez on Mar 4th 2021 at 2:00:42 PM

That's fine, I know it's not as useful for capture as the main statuses. (My Delcatty also used thunder wave for when I really needed that extra capture rate boost.) I just think attract's neat. I guess it (and confusion) count as volatile because they a) can be healed by switching out, b) do not affect capture rate the way the big 4 do.

Edited by GlitterCat on Mar 4th 2021 at 5:08:54 AM