Pokemon Classes

[mjbmitch]

Do any of you specialize your Pokemon to a certain class? By class I mean heal, tank, damage, etc. I have been thinking about this and it may seem dull right now, but I think if you are a Wi-Fi Battle freak like me, it can be the difference between a win or a loss.

Physical Sweeper: Offense-oriented Pokemon designed to use physical attacks to KO as many opposing Pokemon as possible. Usually have high Attack and Speed stats, and wield moves such as Earthquake, Close Combat and Swords Dance. Examples of Physical Sweepers are Electivire, Garchomp and Heracross.

Special Sweeper: Offense-oriented Pokemon designed to use special attacks. Usually have high Sp.Attack and Speed and commonly use moves such as Psychic, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt and Nasty Plot. Examples include Alakazam, Azelf and Starmie.

Mixed Sweeper: Effectively a combination of the above two, boasting high stats in both Attack and Sp.Attack. This may result in the other stats (Speed included) being slightly lower than normal however. Examples include Infernape, Lucario and Salamence.

Physical Wall: Designed to defend the rest of the party against a Physical Sweeper. Its high Defense stat allows it to take physical attacks without suffering too much damage, although Sp.Defense is usually quite average, and isn't particularly good at getting quick KOs. Usually uses disabling and healing moves in combination with attacks. Examples include Skarmory, Forretress and Cloyster.

Special Wall: Designed to defend against an opponent Special Sweeper. Generally has a high Sp.Defense stat, but usually an average Defense stat and average offensive stats too. Examples include Blissey, Regice and Milotic.

Mixed Wall: The mixed wall can defend against both types of attacks with its high Defense and Sp.Defense. Again, usually lacks a particularly strong offense. Examples include Suicune, Bronzong and Registeel.

Tank: A Pokemon that packs both high offensive and defensive stats, but generally has very low Speed to balance it out. Can take hits and dish them out. Examples include Swampert, Snorlax and Rhyperior.

PHazer: Wields either Haze, Roar or Whirlwind to eliminate opponent's stat boosts. Usually a Wall of some sort. Examples include Skarmory, Weezing and Suicune.

Spiker: Wields either Spikes, Toxic Spikes or Stealth Rock to punish foes that switch in. Again, usually a Wall of some sort. Examples include Forretress, Skarmory and anything capable of learning the Stealth Rock TM.

Spinner: Wields Rapid Spin to remove Spikes, Toxic Spikes or Stealth Rock utilized by the opponent. Examples include Forretress, Starmie and Claydol.

Baton Passer: Uses multiple stat-boosting moves and then passes them to another Pokemon using the move Baton Pass. Ninjask, Jolteon and Ambipom are examples of good Baton Passers.

Cleric: A somewhat vague term that is usually used to describe a Pokemon that uses Aromatherapy/Heal Bell to heal the team's negative status effects, but can also sometimes describe a Pokemon that heals its team-mates with Wish, although WishPasser is also used to describe the latter. WishPassers usually use Baton Pass to pass the Wish since the Pokemon being healed doesn't have to worry about getting hit on the way in.

Annoyer: These are the guys that harrass you with status effects and whatnot and usually refuse to die. More often than not a Wall of some sort, although some Annoyers use an insanely high Speed stat to get their disabling moves down before the opponent can attack. Usually wields moves such as Confuse Ray, Thunder Wave, Attract and Taunt. Examples include Umbreon, Celebi, and to some extent Gengar and Starmie.

Thanks King of Lucario for the info.

[glow=yellow,2,300]Did I miss any? If so, can you post a class here. I am trying to beat my friend in Pokemon D/P and I can't seem to. I gave him all my advise before we were going to battle and now he knows all my strategies. LOL![/glow]

 

[112% Elusive]

Darkrai. ick.

Tanks HAVE weaknesses, they're just plain hard to kill. (I'm looking at you Blissey. >>)

Smeargles, if used correctly are good status users.

I tend to give all my pokemon damaging attacks. enough said. XD

 

[KoL]

In competitive play Pokemon are all assigned to different roles, although these roles can vary depending on the moveset, EVs and Nature. The roles have been officially names as follows:

Physical Sweeper: Offense-oriented Pokemon designed to use physical attacks to KO as many opposing Pokemon as possible. Usually have high Attack and Speed stats, and wield moves such as Earthquake, Close Combat and Swords Dance. Examples of Physical Sweepers are Electivire, Garchomp and Heracross.

Special Sweeper: Offense-oriented Pokemon designed to use special attacks. Usually have high Sp.Attack and Speed and commonly use moves such as Psychic, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt and Nasty Plot. Examples include Alakazam, Azelf and Starmie.

Mixed Sweeper: Effectively a combination of the above two, boasting high stats in both Attack and Sp.Attack. This may result in the other stats (Speed included) being slightly lower than normal however. Examples include Infernape, Lucario and Salamence.

Physical Wall: Designed to defend the rest of the party against a Physical Sweeper. Its high Defense stat allows it to take physical attacks without suffering too much damage, although Sp.Defense is usually quite average, and isn't particularly good at getting quick KOs. Usually uses disabling and healing moves in combination with attacks. Examples include Skarmory, Forretress and Cloyster.

Special Wall: Designed to defend against an opponent Special Sweeper. Generally has a high Sp.Defense stat, but usually an average Defense stat and average offensive stats too. Examples include Blissey, Regice and Milotic.

Mixed Wall: The mixed wall can defend against both types of attacks with its high Defense and Sp.Defense. Again, usually lacks a particularly strong offense. Examples include Suicune, Bronzong and Registeel.

Tank: A Pokemon that packs both high offensive and defensive stats, but generally has very low Speed to balance it out. Can take hits and dish them out. Examples include Swampert, Snorlax and Rhyperior.

PHazer: Wields either Haze, Roar or Whirlwind to eliminate opponent's stat boosts. Usually a Wall of some sort. Examples include Skarmory, Weezing and Suicune.

Spiker: Wields either Spikes, Toxic Spikes or Stealth Rock to punish foes that switch in. Again, usually a Wall of some sort. Examples include Forretress, Skarmory and anything capable of learning the Stealth Rock TM.

Spinner: Wields Rapid Spin to remove Spikes, Toxic Spikes or Stealth Rock utilized by the opponent. Examples include Forretress, Starmie and Claydol.

Baton Passer: Uses multiple stat-boosting moves and then passes them to another Pokemon using the move Baton Pass. Ninjask, Jolteon and Ambipom are examples of good Baton Passers.

Cleric: A somewhat vague term that is usually used to describe a Pokemon that uses Aromatherapy/Heal Bell to heal the team's negative status effects, but can also sometimes describe a Pokemon that heals its team-mates with Wish, although WishPasser is also used to describe the latter. WishPassers usually use Baton Pass to pass the Wish since the Pokemon being healed doesn't have to worry about getting hit on the way in.

Annoyer: These are the guys that harrass you with status effects and whatnot and usually refuse to die. More often than not a Wall of some sort, although some Annoyers use an insanely high Speed stat to get their disabling moves down before the opponent can attack. Usually wields moves such as Confuse Ray, Thunder Wave, Attract and Taunt. Examples include Umbreon, Celebi, and to some extent Gengar and Starmie.

There you have it. There may be others, but these are the most common ones.

 

[mjbmitch]

Thanks, I will add that to the main post.

 

[Magpie]

Before I came to this forum, I really didn't know about these 'classes' and pretty much had a team of six Pokemon with all attacking moves. I never, ever use status/defensive moves in-game, so in that respect I never really paid anything like that much attention.

However, once I became interested in competitive play, and Nintendo gave us the gift of WiFi I started to think about it more. I realised that a couple of my Pokemon were completely 'wrong', for example my Miltank. She had all offensive moves, with Heal Bell. I was completely wasting her defensive capabilities. Now, with a bit of knowledge behind me, she often wins the battle for me, or puts up a good fight trying ^^

I'd say I'm still an attacker at heart, but I've embraced the other kinds of moves. I've never made Pokemon choices based on what they can do though. I use my favourites and just try to use them to the best of their abilities. A few sites would say me using my Manectric is suicide in OU, but he holds his own. I'd much rather win with Pokemon I like, that just go for the most powerful ^^

So, because of that I've never had a PHazer or a Spinner. I have a team of mixed Attackers and a couple of Defenders, and that's it. I'd say I specialise in Attacking, with a slight lean towards Special Sweepers...