Life Orb is that great?

[Joseph-B2]

so, I've been trying to EV train my team for the "tOUrnament" coming up.

so I looked on Smogon and it recommended certain items for certain pokes.

a lot of them say "life orb," so I have one and I've been trying it out but I don't really like the "recoil" or whatever - the idea of the "Scope Lens" sounds much better to me.

what works better in a real match?
or, what is a good substitution for smogon's recommendation of a Life Orb?

thanks in advance for any input/advice!!
(ps - winning BPs and EV training would be ridiculously ... shall we say... "not fun" if I didn't have a job that involves waiting for hours of video to capture =P )

 

[Tina]

It's a 1.3x boost to all attacks.. compare to the Choice items have a 1.5x boost to only one attacking stat and lock the move choices, while Life Orb gives almost as much, lets you switch moves and powers up all moves, only for a mere 10% recoil.

Scope Lens only works a small amount of the time (plus people get pissed off about critical hits and "hax"), while Life Orb works all the time with 10% recoil being the only drawback.

 

[The Fool on the Hill]

I would consider the Scope Lens only really useful on Super Luck Absol, which gives him a 50% chance of a Critical Hit if he uses Night Slash, Psycho Cut, etc. And even then, a 50% chance isn't that spectacular...

 

[Hector]

I'm a fan of Life Orb on sweepers, especially fragile ones that aren't going to take many hits and live anyway. I use three on my team I'm working on, so I might be a bit biased.

 

[Mijzelffan]

if you have good coverage, you could use an expert belt instead

 

[NoirTHECHA]

the life orb is pretty good on sweepers, and if that recoil is getting you down then just use it on a poke that can get back some of that damage. like a toxicroak with a life orb on a rain dance team gets great attacking power plus health back thanks to the ability dry skin. so that is something to think about.

 

[Joseph-B2]

haha ok, is it bad if I ask for definitions of "sweepers" and "coverage"??

I see the term "sweeper" all the time when reading up on competitive pokemon....

in all honesty, I think I'm gonna just get obliterated in this tourney =)
but I'm ok with that... I really just wanna battle people "for fun" - but it seems harder to find people willing to do that.

... I'll look for more of those type people after the tOUrnament =)

thanks, all!

 

[Hector]

a sweeper is a Pokemon that has one job: to take out as much of the opposition as possible.

coverage refers to how many different types a particular move set can hit super effectively or for normal effectiveness. Obviously, you want maximum coverage.

 

[Joseph-B2]

mmm ok, I see..... wouldn't you want ALL your pokes to be "sweepers" then?

also, most of what I've read online doesn't seem to emphasize "coverage" - it seems to emphasize having ONE super powerful move.

I mean, if everyone has EV trained pokes and these certain moves - wouldn't the battle essentially be over as soon as it begins? like, doesn't it just become a question of math at that point??

I'm just having a hard time understanding how skill comes into play in competitive pokemon battles.

like, in other games, a veteran of a certain RTS (for example) would have enough skill to beat a newbie even if the newbie had a vastly superior set of troops.

would a veteran pokemon battler be able to win with vastly inferior pokes??

sorry for all the text/questions - thanks in advance!! =)

I just wanna make my hours and hours of training time worthwhile =)

 

[ShinyFlareon]

mmm ok, I see..... wouldn't you want ALL your pokes to be "sweepers" then?

Not necessarily. Some pokemon do not have the offensive stats to work as a 'sweeper.' It's all about playing to a particular pokemon's strengths and weaknesses.

For instance, take Shuckle. It's base stats are (in order of HP/Attack/Defense/Special Attack/Special Defense/Speed) are 20/10/230/10/230/5. Obviously, Shuckle won't be doing a lot of damage with attacks. However, it's defenses mean that it is excellent at taking hits, and the moves it learns means that Shuckle is most effectively used as a wall; something that can come in and stop your opponent's sweepers from doing their job, while usually messing with them (like spreading status around). Pokemon like Shuckle aren't meant to take out a lot of pokemon directly, but to stay in the battle as long as possible and generally make things difficult for your opponent.

also, most of what I've read online doesn't seem to emphasize "coverage" - it seems to emphasize having ONE super powerful move.

Usually, a sweeper will have one 'main' move that they use. Due to STAB, base power, or any number of reasons, it is simply the most powerful and effective move to use. The other moves on the set are supposed to help offer coverage.

I mean, if everyone has EV trained pokes and these certain moves - wouldn't the battle essentially be over as soon as it begins? like, doesn't it just become a question of math at that point??

Well...yes, to be honest.

I'm just having a hard time understanding how skill comes into play in competitive pokemon battles.

like, in other games, a veteran of a certain RTS (for example) would have enough skill to beat a newbie even if the newbie had a vastly superior set of troops.

would a veteran pokemon battler be able to win with vastly inferior pokes??

Yes, because the veteran battler knows how to USE his pokemon better. Many inexperienced competitive players make the mistake of using moves of all the same type (ie a Charizard with 3 fire moves), moves that don't effectively utilize a pokemon's strengths (ie using a Sudowoodo, who has only base 30 Special Attack, use special moves like Earth Power, Hidden Power, etc.), or using moves that easily let the opponent take advantage of them (such as two-turn moves like Fly, which allow the opponent to switch to something resistant, or Hyper Beam-like moves that require the user to recharge the next turn).

sorry for all the text/questions - thanks in advance!! =)

I just wanna make my hours and hours of training time worthwhile =)

No worries! Trust me, I know exactly how you feel...

 

[Joseph-B2]

ok, looks like I can only get one Life Orb anyway.

I have a Rampardos that is being made into the "rock polish" type seen here

I can eventually get a focus sash from the old guy in Rt 221.

does that seem like the best item for a Rampardos?
...I really don't see myself doing much more in the Battle Frontier. ...I still have a life =)

 

[Joseph-B2]

Edo-kun - thanks man! that info helps a lot actually!

I can see how I have learned some of those lessons but definitely not all of them (I never thought about that downside to "Fly," etc =P)

I do still refuse to sacrifice some pokemon that I just think are cool.

I've sculpted a team by trying to make the most out of the pokes that I have an affinity for.
unfortunately, my favorite pokemon, Ledian, had to be left off the team.... apparently he's just too sucky =(

 

[ShinyFlareon]

Edo-kun - thanks man! that info helps a lot actually!

I can see how I have learned some of those lessons but definitely not all of them (I never thought about that downside to "Fly," etc =P)

I do still refuse to sacrifice some pokemon that I just think are cool.

I've sculpted a team by trying to make the most out of the pokes that I have an affinity for.
unfortunately, my favorite pokemon, Ledian, had to be left off the team.... apparently he's just too sucky =(

Glad I could help!

And...well, Ledian being 'too sucky' gets into the territory of another aspect -- tiers. Smogon seems to be the leading authority as to which pokemon is in what tier, and separates every fully evolved pokemon (and some not fully evolved ones, like Trapinch, Chansey, and Pikachu) into 5 tiers: Uber (legendaries and stuff), OU (overused; pokemon that people use a lot. this seems to be the 'standard' tier), BL (borderline; pokemon that are slightly overkill in UU, but aren't quite up to snuff for OU), UU (underused; pokemon that people don't use very often or that are too weak to compete with threats in OU), and NU (neverused; pokemon that you rarely, if ever, see used in competitive play, usually because they are very weak). Ledian falls into the NU tier, and to take it straight from the horse's mouth:

When considering Ledian for a team in any tier, you will generally find that something else does whatever Ledian does better.

All that this means is that Ledian simply wouldn't be able to effectively compete along with the rest of your team, which mainly consist of pokemon in the OU tier. Of course, if you don't care so much about tiers, then that's not much of a problem. I recently battled a guy at my friend's school, while I was visiting her, who used pokemon in tiers ranging from Dialga (an Uber tier pokemon) to Rotom (UU). It's all a matter of who you're battling.

 

[Joseph-B2]

thanks again for the info.

I read all that on Ledian and even though I think I have some other "NUs" on my team, Ledian just seemed really beneath them.

but who knows, someday if I come across some truly just-for-fun battlers I'll break him out =)

I'm just trying to find my balance between fun and pokemon-as-a-math problem. ya know? =)

 

[DRWS!]

I read all that on Ledian and even though I think I have some other "NUs" on my team, Ledian just seemed really beneath them.

I use a Ledian as a lead on one of my teams, in order to Baton Pass Attack boosts to other members of my team, and annoy other leads. He was quite successful at it, because most battlers didn't know what to expect from him, and therefore how they should counter it.

(Of course, it was also occasionally a bit shit )

I'll give you the set, if you fancy using him