Competitive Play 101- Knowing your role

Competitive Play 101
In this topic I’ll try to explain the basics of building and using a good competitive team. I’m assuming you already know about IVs, EVs, Natures, and team roles. If not then read the other topics first and come back when you’re done.

Building a good competitive team is a tricky task. You can’t
just throw a bunch of good pokes together and call it a team. If you don’t use pokes that cover each other’s weakness and work effectively together, you’ll find yourself on the losing end of an embarrassing sweep all too often.

ALWAYS REMEMBER it is important to use a few pokes you really like in battle. After all, this is only a game and if you don't have fun playing it then what's the point?

Lesson 1: Know your role
There are many different battles roles in competitive play. Among them are sweepers, tanks, walls, and supporters. A good player must know how to use each type effectively and which types will best fit his team. There are generally two schools of thought in this area, fast sweeping teams, and slower tankish teams. I’ll briefly explain the basics of both.

Fast Teams: The idea behind speed teams is to load up on fast sweepers and attempt to take out your opponent quickly and with overwhelming power. Speed teams generally have 3-4 fast sweepers, maybe a support poke, and 1-2 walls/tanks. Choosing your wall is an extremely important step here. With only 1-2 defensively minded pokes you need to make sure you cover as many types as possible. Choose walls that have some form of recovery move and make sure that they cover each other’s weaknesses well. Speed teams also normally only have one support poke in them. If you plan to use a speed team you need to pick a support poke that covers your teams needs the best. Do you need a roarer or a spinner more? Do you want to set up stealth rock or would you rather have the option to wish pass? Many support pokes can fill multiple roles, so it’s important to figure out what you’re team needs the most and then choose a supporter that offers you the best options. Finally you need to pick your sweepers. Make sure that you chose pokes who will be able to either boost their stats quickly (through sword dance and nasty plot) or hit hard with out setting up. You must also make sure your sweepers have good type coverage and that at least one or two can switch in fairly easily.

Tank Teams: Tank teams are built to wear down the opposition and prevent you’re opponent from setting up a sweep. Tank teams generally consist of 2 walls, 1-2 tanks, a support poke, and 1-2 sweepers. Recovery moves are important for tank teams because they allow you to wear down your opponent slowly. Make sure that at least two of your pokes have a way to recover HP other than leftovers. It’s also a good idea to make sure at least one of your tanks has a way to boost its offensive stats. This could be through the use of calm mind, curse, or dragon dance. Support is also important for tank teams, especially rapid spinning and stealth rock. Tank teams are designed to cause a lot of switches so making sure stealth rock is set up as early as possible is important. You’ll also want to make sure you have a rapid spinner who can keep spikes and SR away form your side of the field. Finally you need to choose a sweeper. Pick something that is fast and doesn’t necessarily need to set up. The sweeper’s role on a tank team is to come in late game and finish off your opponent’s weakened pokes, so being able to OHKO isn’t as important as it is one a speed team.

Others: There are certainly plenty of other ways to bulid a team too these are simply the two most common. Never be afriad to experiment and find out waht works for you, just be sure you consider each pokemon's battle role as you add it to your team.