Top 5 Team Building Mistakes in Gen 9 OU

[@FungallyInfectious]

The “don’t try to cover every mon” mistake really speaks to me bc I get beaten by 1 mon and I immediately go and change a part of one of my mons to counter that threat and I think I now know why I struggle to push past 1200.

[@rhinoceros2469]

I watched this while eating a mcChicken. Very enjoyable watch 👍

[@danielbetancourt1483]

Lol this is about to be me

[@wedding2710]

I think I'll do this too

[@BananaBanzaiii.]

Hell Yeah

[@kiedisboughen5318]

Was it good?

[@lukemilyo3376]

Bro is living large

[@Yodaminnesota]

With regard to immediate power, I think a lot of people are blinded by booster speed on paradox mons and neglect choiced options. Specs moth is inanely underrated but I only see booster at my rank band (1500)s

[@SantosOverlord]

even boots overheat with u-turn is solid

[@pinkacross2042]

I'd be careful with Specs Moth-- due to the rising popularity of Heatran, it's a somewhat inconsistent option. That being said, you're very correct that a lot of people just use Booster Energy without considering alternative sets on Proto pokemon.

[@TwoHeadedMeerkat]

To be honest, I kinda thought Iron Moth learned Quiver Dance, which was why I always saw it running Booster Energy. That's not the case, but still

[@esralper00]

Booster mons are indeed amazing but I've seen a ton of people just waste their booster on a pointless switch-in. They're like a less imporant unburden pokemon. They are not switch in once and sweep, but what seperates a good player from great in my opinion is a person one uses their booster energy to their highest capacity

[@maxmustermann5590]

3:40 thats what I always said about lando in gen 7. So many people hate it, I loved it in the builder. It did so much, you had so much freedom in your other slots

[@pinkacross2042]

Yes, exactly! You've got the idea.

[@damijanhug3428]

Sooo true

[@damijanhug3428]

Centralizing, but killable with that 4x

[@pawouapproval984]

Very dope, I highly second that last step - trying to build to beat EVERYTHING makes it very easy to create holes in your team

[@asprinjuice425]

Dude this was seriously the perfect video I needed to get into competitive, it corrected a lot of presumptions I had that most videos don't cover

[@pinkacross2042]

I'm so glad I was able to help! :D

[@Cena_is_chinese]

Part 2 please. I am learning master Pinkacross !!

[@captainfishhead6389]

This is factual information

[@PedroHenrique-vs3mf]

TY!I lost a friendly tournament today, and now I see why: I had a bad stall team, per say. Sometimes I was 2 or 3 turns ahead, but thats uselles if u cant break their defenses. Now I see it

[@warriordinag3921]

I’m actually glad that I don’t have to focus on everything. I make teams to fit cosplays of various obsessions, and I felt stretched kinda thin trying to account for different team styles at the same time, so thanks!

[@RocketPropelledMexican]

This is why constructing and using balance teams is the hardest and probably not something beginners should start off with. It's much easier to make these mistakes when trying to build a balance team.

[@IfYouNeedAnEdge]

As another teambuilding enjoyer, sometimes it can be useful to look at things that were effective in previous metas as well, sometimes things end up cycling over after a couple of generations. In the current meta for instance, Taunt seems very strong for multiple reasons, and many mons have access to it, including some of the strongest in the format.

[@porygon-z1]

The first team I ever played on the OU latter was in Gen 8 with your Porygon-Z rain team that Freezrai covered on his channel, ever since I’ve fallen in love with the weather play styles and was excited to see you have a YT channel, thanks for the great content!

[@pinkacross2042]

I remember that team... good times! Welcome to the channel and I'm happy to hear you're enjoying the content! :D

[@Juan-e3v4m]

Dude ive been struggling getting into the gist of competitive pokemon and this videos are absolute gold. Easy sub from me. Really liked the video where you critiqued and improved other peoples teams.

[@pinkacross2042]

Thanks so much! :D

[@doughnut1147]

Glad this popped up on my feed. Haven’t played Pokémon since Gen 6, and I even more green with Showdown/OU, so this has been really helpful

[@kylejdtv4245]

awesome vid, ofc ur gonna say to use lower tier picks tho, I’ve seen those Thundy-T teams lmaoo on a serious note though, great vid! I like to consider myself a somewhat decent teambuilder and this is still all very helpful stuff to me, will definitely share this as I know a lot of people struggle the most with teambuilding and this covers most of the bases for people to look out for/that they commonly struggle with, particularly tips #1, #2 and #5 I feel like people commonly overlook (seriously, the fact that Specs Val sees so little usage on ladder is criminal). Looking forward to seeing a part 2!

[@boop53]

i think #5 is what hit me the most - i build a lot of teams with wanting to answer a lot of common threats. I used to run clodsire a whole lot just for walking wake - now i kinda accept wake is gonna be scary but something can manage it, it doesnt necessarily have to wall i find trying to check anything results in a team thats too passive.

[@EvelynIsBased]

Great video, I've personally been fighting against problem 2 with myself, I bias against OU pokemon so so much, been struggling a lot in the new meta game for it

[@pinkacross2042]

Great tusk is your friend! :D

[@silverjay2240]

i really struggle with the last step! thanks a lot pinkacross!

[@dominicpirola8240]

This advice is so universal thank u it links to vgc in so many ways

[@megazardxl7844]

I’ve been playing Gen 3 a lot lately and it helped me learn how good a uu Pokémon can be on certain teams. I brought that to Gen 9 and have been getting nice results with mamoswine I realize it’s not perfect but when gliscore was everywhere it’s made huge strides

[@pinkacross2042]

That's awesome! Mamoswine is such a cool pokemon.

[@mehemynxm6974]

it is insane how many dumb or odd team ideas i can get away with testing, just by putting tusk on my team. And I'm a below average player as well. Though it is kind of annoying to run pseudo mandatory mon.

[@pinkacross2042]

Yea it's a bit like g8 Landorus-- if you're running a team that's not HO or Stall, it's a really strong choice.

[@jimmyjuice697]

The last one is so true. If you try to cover every metagame threat, your team is gonna end up super unfocused. If you ever do another video, I'd consider listing an over-reliance on revenge killers as checks. This is ok for checking some mons, but meta-defining stuff really needs more consistent answers. Back in SS, I had a team where the whole squad got 2HKO'd by Dragapult Shadow Ball, and a Scarfed Kart was the only thing faster. If the opposing team has any sort of defensive backbone or consistent check, you're very unfavoured to win that battle.

[@pinkacross2042]

Very good point! Some things do indeed need really solid answers, and that's a great example.

[@bennconner1195]

These are some of the best tips on KZbin.

[@ValianceGames]

I came here from your second video from recommendations. You recommending this video AND the playstyles video got me to sub. Freaking awesome man 😊

[@pinkacross2042]

Ah thanks so much! Glad you're enjoying the content! :]

[@KyomaGaming]

taking notes, knowledge is never enough 👀 part 2 please! Draft league made me forget how to teambuild for ladder xdd

[@pinkacross2042]

For ladder and for tournaments! A lot of people think you can forget teambuilding in tournaments because you "only need to win 2/3"

[@JamalMansfield]

This is unheard of bros uploading again The end is near the end is near!!!!!!! Good video Excellent advice really helped me out

[@illusoataraxia9289]

Your channel has a lot of potential, keep going I know you gonna grow larger

[@pinkacross2042]

Thank you for the kind support!

[@CRPit]

Definitely gonna take this into consideration, I’m at like 1400 and don’t consider going too far, but still great video

[@pinkacross2042]

This teambuilding knowledge can certainly help you at 1400 ELO-- what I meant by focusing on top-level teambuilding is that the ultimate goal is to WIN (i.e. no luvdisc teams lol)

[@5darkelves994]

​@@pinkacross2042nuh uh luvdisk is broken just you wait

[@CRPit]

@@5darkelves994 facts luvdisc will have 140 speed next gen to compensate for power creep

[@senny-]

Dude, I love your voice. Also, thanks for this. I learned a lot! I definitely noticed a lot of this in my teams but I wasn't really sure then how to single these errors out. Looking forward for more of these!

[@pinkacross2042]

Thank you, that's very kind of you to say! More of these videos will be coming in the future for sure!

[@Sanninsuplex]

Can't wait for part 2

[@cerulean3569]

Another great vid. Would be cool if you recorded a yourself making a team and explaining your mindset and what you go over before laddering with it

[@pinkacross2042]

This sounds like a great video idea!

[@cerulean3569]

@@pinkacross2042 keep up the great work, I've been waiting forever for people start actually doing building advice that actually has some depth to it and you've already dropped 2 back to back great vids now

[@melikmourali2072]

I love this team you used by the way, that's exactly my style (but I have the problem of hating Kingambit lol, so I would have had another Dark type instead). Also what you said about using lower tier Pokemon is so underrated. You need to justify it, but even then it's just more fun and adds a surprise element to your gameplay. My favorite thing in NU is a Mixed Honchkrow set with Dark Pulse and Sucker Punch with Moxie. No one expects to get OHKO-ed by a +1 Sucker Punch after dying to Dark pulse lol

[@pinkacross2042]

That sounds hilarious! I can understand hating Kingambit, but avoiding it in OU will definitely hurt your teambuilding. Give it a try, you might like it! pokepast.es/462a65710beb3ac6 Here's the team I used in the video.

[@dirkauditore8413]

Bro you've been killing it with the content, thanks :)

[@EasterRab]

For immediate power I have a suggestion. Life orb Hawlucha Close combat Brave bird Poison jab / fire punch U turn / thunder punch (Adamant / Jolly) Limber / Mold Breaker This Hawlucha set one-two shots with it's main stab moves, brave bird does hella recoil but it can one-shot great tusk and a lot more pokemon.

[@nelson5073]

Very informative, I'd like to see a part 2

[@luckylucas8596]

For your second point, I found something similar to this conclusion when I was laddering back in Gen 6 NU. I used to have Kabutops on the team, but it got banned in a suspect test. I need another mon that could fill the role of Water-type hazard remover. I originally went with Wartortle because it was the only mon I could think of that fit both of those. The problem was that Wartortle was way too passive and lost tons of momentum every time it came in. So then, I checked to see if there were any Water types with RS or Defog that also got U-Turn. Lo and behold, Lumineon fit the bill. It was probably a 0% usage mon even in NU, but thanks to Lumineon, I was able to hit top 100 (for a short period, I wasn’t consistent).

[@pinkacross2042]

Nice! Lumineon is an awesome pokemon, one of my favorites! :D

[@olafmikoaj3121]

When I teambuild the first thing to do is to choose central pokemon that I like and then other mons that complement it in a offensive or defensive way. And I'm not using pokemon that I hate to play againt like gliscor or kingambit because they would be annoying for my oppoonent and I want these games to be fun to play rather than to always win.

[@suspiciousshadeofgreen]

8:40 “You should be afraid” -Pinkacross

[@cheesecakeatnight6780]

Perfect video for dinner, love this content

[@captainfishhead6389]

This will be helpful

[@algar6616]

great content, good work very clean

[@Interiorcrocodilealigator10838]

I find it funny how garchomp was the don dotta of anti pivot moves and now is uubl. Rocky helm spam was always gonna give it a good use. I’d say at worse chomp struggles w/ 4mss. Sd? Spikes? Liquidation? Iron head? Dragoon stab being kinda shite, Eq being anti rilla synergy. Also pretty sure it lost stomping tantrum and or HHP. At the end of the day as long as ur prepared for hazard game, and knock, boots, magic guard/regen bois in mind to answer u prob have a good solid team until u discovery like an ss volc, kyurem situation. Ig nowadays that’s valiant, ogrepon, pult, dnite, rilla still. I love using heat mons. Like skill swap ribombee, lemme sand tomb tox jail a Hatt switching into gliscor. But bro was alr hella greedy anyways. Spikes and knock basically covers an offensive weakness

[@rotem6033]

Love your channel!

[@orydjinnz]

thank you pinkacross, I will now win 7 smogtours 🙏🏾

[@leaflotus6726]

I have a big anti OU bias, highest i had on a team was RU and while I would sometimes climb it wasnt great, croganoll was a funny guy but its just not all that. But Shiftry with his new ability setting tailwind with a focus sash into explosion generally one shots or really hurts something.

[@bartram4037]

Banger vid

[@quiche6400]

Informative watch and huge call out for me lol

[@pinkacross2042]

Haha no worries, almost everyone makes all of these mistakes at some point!

[@samaobama6654]

Bro really came with the receipts for #2 getting #1 on the ladder with alomamola and thunderous

[@sambews5679]

Tyty!

[@zaybrah8826]

Great vid dude. Maybe some chill, low music in the next? Just a suggestion.

[@pinkacross2042]

I think that's a good idea, thank you for the feedback!

[@MintyChipArt]

#5 is the one I struggle the most with

[@pinkacross2042]

Especially if you were around in gen 8, this makes sense-- some generations, solid answers to the whole tier are possible, and some generations (like gen 9) you absolutely can't.

[@wezen89]

Very good explanation with great detail. Keep up the good work, one day you might even get a better mic!

[@pinkacross2042]

Haha hopefully soon! I'm looking into it!

[@wezen89]

@@pinkacross2042 Thanks for your dedication to your channel!

[@lukeanderson6124]

Im set for gambit every team has a counter ive lost too many times to that beast

[@SethRietdijk]

will you make similar videos in other metagames? such as national dex, ubers, and the like

[@pinkacross2042]

It's possible, but unlikely. OU is the metagame I'm most familiar with and my life is very busy these days... perhaps at some point in the future though! These rules all definitely apply to other metagames though, such as natdex and ubers.

[@devenandplants7253]

Very good video

[@Mepphy99]

Great Tusk Is my friend but God i Wish it could take a special Attack without tering

[@qiucrystal3154]

Hi, thanks so much for your video! In terms of resistances and immunities. I am wondering will a Tera suffice? Like you have no resistance to dragon, but you make one or two of your mons Tera steel or fairy.

[@pinkacross2042]

Good question! It depends on the situation, but almost always no. Having to use your Tera just to respond to one of your opponent's moves is pretty terrible, and it really puts you on the back foot in a game. If you regularly have to use Tera to respond to a non-Terad pokemon, that's a sign of a weak team.

[@blazekaizer9000]

Great tusk is dope but he may just do a little too much for the tier

[@pinkacross2042]

I'd argue that this tier NEEDS great tusk-- it's not difficult to deal with defensively, and it provides tons of utility. I'd say it's an extremely healthy pokemon. The unhealthy ones are difficult to deal with defensively.

[@videakias3000]

nice advice but I am just going to ingore most of it since I play just for fun and have accepted the fact that I am never going to surpass 1398 elo.

[@pinkacross2042]

Fair enough, if you don't feel the need to become better at building, there's no need to! This game is for fun after all. Still though, I have faith that you'll make it to 1400s! :]

[@videakias3000]

@@pinkacross2042 I am playing the game for 2 years and I have never surpassed 1398. the one time I reached it was pure luck. the team I was using was pretty bad and I got many opponents that lost connection.

[@mintx1720]

One disagreement: Sneasler is immediate power, it can be a tera fight CC mon with 130 base attack.

[@BananaR777]

someone gets it. It's low spdef and crap typing outside of terastallize really holds back. Offensivly it's a glass canon.

[@mileschicken1]

How do i tell whether a choice band or choice scarf is appropriate for certain Pokémon? In my case H-Arcanine.

[@pinkacross2042]

Look at their team composition and see if they have any speed control. If they don't, a pokemon is most likely Choice Scarf. Furthermore, you can check usage stats for the pokemon and see how common each item is.

[@mileschicken1]

@@pinkacross2042Thanks mate, very helpful. Really enjoy your videos as they are straight to the point and very clear. Too many vids out there that are 40+ minutes of waffling.

[@legomagic007_YT]

Sneasler isn’t immediate power: I’ve used 4 attacks + white herb and still destroyed with it

[@wacobodene3453]

mhm yes of courseeeee

[@DungeonsPlayer2312]

amazing video.

[@pinkacross2042]

Thanks! :]

[@DungeonsPlayer2312]

@@pinkacross2042 Np. Also, I wanted to ask, Is there a better way to use booster energy? Having immediate power can come from booster energy, but my team is pivoting around a lot and doesn't like being locked into one move, so is there a better way to use booster energy or another way to have immediate power?

[@pinkacross2042]

@@DungeonsPlayer2312 Booster energy is best used on teams where you don't expect games to go on for a long time. For balanced teams, generally you don't want to run Booster Energy pokemon. I would recommend using Specs, Band, and naturally strong pokemon (such as Ogerpon-Wellspring).

[@DungeonsPlayer2312]

@@pinkacross2042 So booster energy is for HO teams? Considering how HO teams like shorter games

[@pinkacross2042]

@@DungeonsPlayer2312 Generally yes, HO and sometimes Offense.

[@starvictim9516]

Part 2!

[@Passbyword]

Wow those were really good tips! I have some questions like with step 1 so it mostly not about same type but about pokemon who work same like toxapex and normal slowking as they both stally switch regen users? And about step 2 and 5 with how would be good way to understand what pokemon you need on your team while not being Ou biased and what you need to counter and know how do it if you don't have knowledge about them?

[@pinkacross2042]

1: Yes, it's not so much about the same type. Having repeating types is just fine-- but having pokemon that do a lot of the same things defensively is not. Two regen pokemon isn't the issue here, the issue is that Toxapex and Slowking both answer Walking Wake, Iron Valiant, Basculegion, Iron Moth, etc. They do a lot of the same things, so you're probably not making smart choices and making the most of your 6 slots. 2: Write down the threats to your team after you've added about 3 or 4 pokemon. When you search for what could help solve these issues, look throughout OU, UU, RU, and just keep looking-- you might find exactly what you need.

[@Passbyword]

@@pinkacross2042 i see thank you for answer

[@Threveroj]

❤

[@Nako3]

Hes not boring if you go Tera Ice choice band!

[@pinkacross2042]

lol true

[@GlassShadowsPkmn]

part 2 pls

[@Dozkek]

How can you determine whether the two or three pokemon have defensive overlap?

[@pinkacross2042]

Often they have the same type resistances. You can also write down which pokemon the walls you've chosen answer, and see if a lot of them are the same as another wall you've chosen.

[@jscurf26]

Great video

[@AvaluggEnjoyer420]

i dont want great tusk to be my friend though i like avalugg

[@jankcity6081]

when you say "speed control" do you mean speed control like 252+ speed pult, or speed control like choice scarf iron valiant? how fast are we talking?

[@orkodork2764]

In this case I think he means thing like thunder wave to slow down the opponent

[@Squonkle]

Usually, speed control can refer to a lot of things: naturally fast mons, scarfed mons, priority moves, or speed lowering moves. Really, speed control is anything that helps you move before your opponent

[@pinkacross2042]

Yes, Squonkle is correct here. I meant that generally speaking, my opponent has a slow team-- so slow that he has nothing to outspeed even Manaphy, which is fairly slow for a sweeper. Speed control could be 252 Dragapult, it could be a Booster Energy Iron Valiant, it could be a CB Meowscarada-- it depends on the team how much speed control is needed.

[@alexminnich7048]

Could you do one on UU too?

[@pinkacross2042]

I'm not very familiar with the UU tier unfortunately, and due to the constantly changing nature of the UU metagame, I think it's the kind of tier where you have to be really involved to make educational content related to it. Therefore I'll probably stick to OU, but I'd say all of these rules apply to UU as well! :]

[@alexminnich7048]

Thank you. I just love how offensive uu has gotten. I don't like stally tiers.

[@ShadyHitchhiker]

If I wanted to take an Absol onto the Gen 3 OU ladder, how should I go about that?

[@pinkacross2042]

That's a great question. I don't play gen 3 OU, but I know Absol has a ton of attack and dark is a special type, so... I would say probably don't do that?

[@ShadyHitchhiker]

@@pinkacross2042 Never tell me the odds!

[@psychopatate_levrai]

PART TWO

[@kubas.642]

Yo is there anyway i could show you my dragapualt team? Cause i’ve been think abt adjusting somehow but im not sure

[@Cena_is_chinese]

He offers training $

[@pinkacross2042]

Sure, just send it to me on Smogon, discord, or by gmail. I can take a look. :]

[@pinkacross2042]

@@Cena_is_chinese I do indeed offer paid tutoring but for small things like help adjusting a team I have no problem helping out for free, as long as I've got the time. :]

[@danielshamlian2800]

Serious education happening

[@pinkacross2042]

Glad you're learning! :D

[@HouseRoaches]

Part 2

[@fulltimeslackerii8229]

wait so you’re telling me my 6 AV regenerator mons teams are bad? i can switch around forever and never die

[@pinkacross2042]

6 Regenerator teams would be classified as Stall, and thus defensive overlap would be OK. If the whole team is full of pokemon that do exactly the same thing though, that's a problem. The regenerator thing is a coincidence, the point I was trying to make is that Slowking, Toxapex, and Amoonguss do a lot of the same things for a team.

[@kylhor2541]

hello from france

[@pinkacross2042]

Hello! :D

[@theclew47]

One more tip: remember to know what youre building

[@alexminnich7048]

I need help building around sd ogerpon

[@pinkacross2042]

Which form of Ogerpon?

[@alexminnich7048]

@@pinkacross2042 wellspring the best pon

[@pinkacross2042]

@@alexminnich7048 I'd recommend HO or balance for Waterpon to start with.

[@alexminnich7048]

@@pinkacross2042 For balance, which set would you recommend?

[@pinkacross2042]

@@alexminnich7048 Depends on the type of team-- if it's hazard stack I'd go Ivy Cudgel, Knock Off, Encore, and Horn Leech, if not Hstack I'd go SD Encore Ivy Cudgel Power Whip.

[@uscninja4190]

What team are u using?

[@pinkacross2042]

It's a very solid Rillaboom balance: pokepast.es/462a65710beb3ac6 I'll add this link to the description.

[@Qwertyness-oh3ov]

But great tusk is boring what

[@oscen335]

Use booster bulk up, its more fun

[@Dokushin1989]

“Great Tusk is boring” is the truth. If your narrow focus is to win ranked matches in this gross meta then fine it’s a mistake but if your goal is to enjoy Pokémon then yeh great tusk is boring af.

[@turtle_7777]

Great tusk is very versatile though. I would expect you to say this about ghold or gambit, but not tusk

[@Dokushin1989]

@@turtle_7777 Oh I’d say that about them too, don’t worry. But being too “versatile” makes a Pokémon boring. Why use anything else?

[@stomp21]

Boredom is a building mistake? 😆

[@ightddeeghhv233]

❤