The Pokemon games allow players to bond with their Pokemon, train them up, and test their might against opponents. From fellow hopefuls along the Routes to the powerful Gym Leaders of each region, the world is brimming with opportunities for battle. Unfortunately, rivals both great and small can sometimes employ strategies that leave players gritting their teeth in frustration.
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Fortunately, there are ways to counter or avoid nearly all of these tricky tactics. Players who want to become expert trainers can do their research, understand their opponents' movesets and tactics, and learn strategies to dethrone them in battle. Even the most frustrating of strategies can be subverted by skilled Trainers.
Using Protect & Detect
Essentially, these moves simply result in wasted turns. The Pokemon that uses these moves will be shielded from whatever attack the player makes. It's especially frustrating when the player has used a powerful move with low PP, as it means the move will lose a use for no reason.
Fortunately, neither of these moves are guaranteed to succeed, and become more likely to fail the more often they are used. Still, when opponents do use them successfully, it's not uncommon for players to grow exasperated.
How To Counter It
To avoid wasted PP, it's best to avoid using low-PP moves on Pokemon who are known users of Protect and Detect. Additionally, certain attacks can hit through these protective moves, such as Future Sight and Shadow Force.
If these moves are unavailable, players can try inflicting status conditions or hazardous weather to damage their opponents. Additionally, bear in mind that Protect and Detect both have limited uses — they won't keep frustrating players for the whole battle.
Constant Switching
When opponents repeatedly use switching moves like U-Turn, it becomes nearly impossible for players to form any kind of strategy. Players may wind up wasting turns on less-than-effective or even completely ineffective moves, or wind up in an endless cycle of switching out their own Pokemon in an attempt to create a proper matchup.
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Alternatively, some moves may even force the player's chosen Pokemon off the field and drag another out, such as Whirlwind. This throws even bigger wrenches into the player's strategies, as they are forced to either waste a turn switching again, or battle with a potentially unsuitable Pokemon.
How To Counter It
If a player notices that their opponent is prone to these techniques, use a move to trap them in battle and prevent switching. Mean Look is an effective move to use, completely preventing opponents from escaping. Other attacks such as Fire Spin, Bind, and Whirlpool deal a small amount of damage every turn, and prevent the affected Pokemon from switching out while they are active.
When it comes to preventing forced switching, there aren't as many options; however, using the move Ingrain prevents the user from being forced off the battlefield.
Repeatedly Inflicting Statuses
Status effects like poison, sleep, or paralysis are part of any Pokemon match. However, when a player's team can never move due due to constantly being asleep or frozen, the game grows frustrating. Players are forced to use items every other turn, or risk taking damage from harmful effects.
How To Counter It
When going up against Pokemon that are infamous for causing status effects, players should always have their Pokemon hold an appropriate Berry. This will allow them to cure the effect at least once, without the player having to waste a turn to heal them. Different Berries cure different effects:
- Cheri Berry: Cures paralysis
- Chesto Berry: Cures sleep
- Pecha Berry: Cures poison
- Rawst Berry: Cures burn
- Aspear Berry: Cures freezing
- Persim Berry: Cures confusion
- Lum Berry: Cures all status conditions, including confusion. This is the best Berry to have on hand when entering a tought fit, as it ensures the Pokemon will remain fit for battle.
Spamming Defensive Moves
Every trainer has come up against this maddening technique. The opponent will repeatedly use one move that boosts their Pokemon's Defense or Special Defense, lessening the damage the player does. Eventually, it becomes impossible to do more than a minute amount of damage, even with powerful attacks.
Players can try to counter this by bombarding the opponent with Defense-lowering moves. However, this risks players entering a stalemate in which Pokemon only raise and lower stats, rather than attacking.
How To Counter It
Though it may be a tedious process, the best way to counter is for the player to use Attack or Special Attack-boosting moves or items on their own Pokemon. Eventually, players should be able to deal sufficient damage to their opponent — even if it takes awhile to get there.
Alternatively, players can use Clear Smog to nullify any stat changes that have taken place during the battle. Players can also take a page from an earlier tactic and force opponents to switch out via Roar or Whirlwind, which will erase any stat changes.
Spamming Evasive Moves
This may be among the most frustrating tactics in all of Pokemon, simply because it takes all the fun out of battling. It usually involves the opponent repeatedly using a move that boosts their own evasion, such as Double Team, or lowers the player's accuracy, such as Sweet Scent.
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When an opponent uses these sorts of moves over and over, it becomes almost impossible for players to land a hit. This type of strategy is banned in some competitive battles — but the games' AI still lets plenty of trainers get away with it.
How To Counter It
Certain moves are guaranteed to always hit. Aerial Ace and Phantom Force are good choices to try and land some damage on a slippery foe, but Swift is one of the most common moves that's guaranteed to hit.
Alternatively, players can try to get some chip damage in via damaging weather conditions such as sandstorms or hail. As an added bonus to this method, Blizzard is guaranteed to land when hail is falling — and it's a very powerful move.