Cores and Modes

14min 13sec read

Learn about how we look at some of the relationships between Pokémon within a team.

Written by Wolfe Glick

Teambuilding / Abstract Building Blocks

 

A core is a group of Pokémon that synergize so well that their synergy is a defining factor of how your team plays. The Pokémon in a core often aid each other both offensively (hitting different parts of the type chart for super effective, working together to take KOs, etc.) and defensively (switching in on super effective/threatening attacks for each other). 

Really, a core is simply a natural extension of the synergy that you’ll build into your team at the beginning of the teambuilding process. Defining a core is practically useful to think about during teambuilding because once you have established a core, it can provide direction for your team, and you can base your remaining Pokémon slots on supporting its strengths and covering its weaknesses

EXAMPLE

I started my 2012 Worlds Team with the core of Heatran and Cresselia. This core worked exceptionally well together defensively, with Cresselia using Skill Swap to remove Heatran's Ground-type weakness, Sunny Day to remove Heatran's Water-type weakness, and Psychic typing to help with Fighting-type Pokemon. Heatran also (at the time) resisted all of Cresselia’s Bug-, Dark- and Ghost-type weaknesses.

This pairing worked well offensively too - Cresselia threatened the Fighting-type Pokemon that Heatran feared, could use Sunny Day to increase Heatrans firepower, and utilized Icy Wind which had the dual purpose of slowing down opponents and hitting popular Ground-type Pokemon for super effective damage.

 

How do I make a core?

If you already have an idea for the start of your team, the core of your team is going to be the Pokémon that support it and bring it closer to being battle-ready. We have a guide to making cores in Step 2 of our teambuilding guide.


Classic Cores

Many cores are specifically useful within the format they are created in, and may be less useful in other formats because they are taken out of context. However, a few cores have classically cropped up across many formats, and they are worth paying attention to.

Fire/Water/Grass Core (FWG)

Although you may first think of the Route 1 choice between the starter Pokémon, Fire-type, Water-type, and Grass-type Pokémon all resist attacks that would otherwise hit each other for super effective damage. These cores usually lend themselves well to bulky offense, because each Pokémon has to be able to switch in and take an attack to make full use of the natural defensive synergy. There are usually standout Fire-, Water-, and Grass-type Pokémon in any given format, and it’s easy to pair them together on a team that’s focused on switching and positioning Pokémon carefully.

 

EXAMPLE

The Fire-Water-Grass core has been prolific in many VGC formats, but one where it was the most influential was VGC17. In 2017, the most common version of this core was Arcanine, Tapu Fini, and Kartana, often referred to as AFK. These three not only had incredible defensive synergy, but they also offered useful utility for the rest of the team. Arcanine was arguably the best Intimidate user, and Tapu Fini’s Misty Surge ability was incredibly valuable in a format with lots of status and opposing terrains.

These Pokemon worked well together both defensively and offensively - one example of this is the fact that Tapu Fini and Kartana perfectly resist each other's weaknesses. On top of having synergistic typings and abilities, these three Pokemon also had complementary base stats. Kartana’s paper thin Special Defense stat could be protected with Tapu Fini’s naturally high Special Defense, and Tapu Fini's comparably lower physical Defense was protected by both Kartana's rock-solid base Defense stat as well as Arcanine's intimidate. This core also made use of one physical attacker (Kartana), one special attacker (Tapu Fini), and one Pokemon that could go either way (Arcanine). Lastly, the Speed stats of this core were able to cover a wide swath of the format - Tapu Fini was typically middling Speed, Arcanine often ran max Speed allowing it to outpace much of the middle of the format, and Kartana was one of the fastest legal Pokemon.

This core was not strong ONLY because of the typing of the Pokemon. There were many factors involved in allowing this specific combination of Pokemon to be as oppressive as it was. That being said, the typing of the Pokemon involved absolutely was a contributing factor to how prevalent this core was in VGC17.

To see this core in action, check out this match between myself and Tobias Koscitzki from the 2017 Pokemon World Championships.

 

Dragon/Fairy/Steel Core

Dragon-type, Fairy-type, and Steel-type Pokémon all have useful defensive and offensive typing– and it turns out that their defensive synergy pairs quite nicely. Furthermore, Pokémon of these types tend to have high base stat totals, so they tend to synergize well together.

 

EXAMPLE

While not quite as famous as the Fire-Water-Grass core, the Fairy-Dragon-Steel (or fantasy) core is quite powerful in its own right. One format where this core was especially popular was VGC14. One of the best Pokemon in the 2014 format was Aegislash (who has since received a nerf), and many players looked for partners that paired well with it. Hydreigon and Aegislash have perfect defensive synergy - Hydreigon resists the Ground-, Fire-, Ghost-, and Dark-type weaknesses of Aegislash, and Aegislash resists the Fighting-, Dragon-, Fairy-, and Ice-type weaknesses of Hydreigon. Add to this potent defensive synergy a strong Mega-Evolution in the form of Mega Mawile and you have a core with a strong offensive and defensive backbone.

What I personally really like about this core is that to me it feels more flexible than the Fire-Water-Grass core. Fairy, Dragon, and Steel all have good defensive synergy with each other, but picking two out of the three types will still offer a lot of value in most formats.

While most teams in the 2014 format that utilized these typings well had two of Aegislash, Mawile, and Hydreigon, Markus Liu brought the Fairy Dragon Steel core to Worlds 2014 (and finished in the top 4) with Azumarill, Mawile, and Hydreigon. You can see how they use the pieces flexibly in their top 8 match, bringing Mawile and Azumarill in the first two games and Hydreigon and Azumarill in the third

 

Modes

A mode can either refer to a mode at teambuilding or during battling.

Teambuilding modes

A teambuilding mode can refer to two (sometimes three) Pokémon that work together in a way that the rest of your team doesn’t.

  • Two Pokémon that are often led together (e.g. Politoed and Kingdra are a team’s rain mode)

  • Two Pokémon that work well together, but are kind of disjoint from the rest of the team (Indeedee-Female and Hatterene can be a faster team’s Trick Room mode)

Modes operate differently on your team than cores will: when a few Pokémon are your team’s core, your team works around them and highlights their strength. Pokémon in a mode stick out– often, they work together explicitly, and might not work as harmoniously with the rest of your team. This doesn’t make them bad choices - often modes are quite powerful, but sometimes they might work together awkwardly with the rest of your team, and you might be constricted on which Pokémon you can lead, which you can bring in the back, and which you can take to battle together. 

 

EXAMPLE

In 2018, Sweden’s Nils Dunlop finished in the Top 4 at the World Championships with a team that featured Mimikyu and Snorlax. This team was overall quite fast - Tapu Koko, Choice Scarf Landorus-Therian, Jolly Mega Metagross and Jolly Mimikyu were all heavily invested in their Speed stats. However, Nils added Trick Room on his Mimikyu and paired the support that Mimikyu offered with Trick Room and Z-Destiny Bond (Which redirected all opponents attacks to the user for one turn) with his Belly Drum Snorlax, creating an extremely threatening Trick Room Snorlax mode on his otherwise fast team.

 

When should I add a mode to my team?

If you have a core of three or four Pokémon that work well together, a mode might add some depth and variability to your team, because then you can do one of four things:

  • Play your core the way you originally intended it

  • Lead with your mode, and finish off with core Pokémon in the back

  • Lead with core Pokémon, and bring your mode Pokémon in back for a momentum shift on switches

  • Flexibly integrate your mode into your core’s play (mix core and mode Pokémon in front and back)

However, be careful with modes:

  • Modes can restrict your options during team preview. For instance, if you have a Trick Room mode on your team (e.g. Porygon2 and Escavalier), and if you have a Pokémon that only works in Trick Room (Escavalier), you’re always going to have to bring it with your Trick Room setter, or hope your opponent sets up Trick Room for you. This can make your team feel like it doesn’t mesh together very well.

  • Sometimes modes can give you fewer options for picking lead and back Pokémon. For instance, if two Pokémon need to come next to each other, you’ll only be able to lead them or bring them in the back next to each other. This also reduces flexibility.

  • When your team only has a few lead options, at best, your opponent will respect your mode and make a game plan for it, or at worst you might telegraph all of your viable leads to your opponent from team preview.

Battling modes

A battling mode is a set of Pokémon on your team that form a game plan that you can reuse in a lot of different battling scenarios. Coming up with these modes can save you time during the team preview stage of the game. Similarly to cores, battling modes are all about how your Pokémon synergize together: the difference here is practical. Core refers to the Pokemon’s synergy in the abstract based on your work during the theorymon stage, and battling modes are about what you actually intend to bring to games, and how does that game plan actually work out?

 

EXAMPLE

For instance, if your team is Urshifu-Rapid-Strike / Landorus-Incarnate / Incineroar / Amoonguss / Xerneas / Rillaboom, you might call leading Xerneas / Rillaboom with Incineroar / Amoonguss in the back your Xerneas setup mode. If you instead wanted to focus on dealing damage early with less of a focus on setting up, you might instead go with something like Urshifu / Landorus in the front with Xerneas / Rillaboom in the back. You might call something like this your late-game Xerneas mode.

 

How do I find battling modes on my team?

Unlike a teambuilding mode which is an intentional choice in teambuilding, battling modes are often (not always) found in practice. Some of the questions you can ask yourself to figure out what the modes are on your team include:

  • Do I find myself always feeling like I need to always have the same four Pokémon in certain matchups?

  • Are there Pokémon on my team that I’ve found work especially well alongside each other in battle?

  • Are there Pokémon on my team that feel like they need another team member or they can’t be used well?

  • After picking my leads, do I find that I often know which two Pokémon would work best in the back?

Wrapping Up

Distinctions like cores, teambuilding modes, and battling modes are useful conceptual tools to think about how the Pokémon on your team synergize. You don’t need any one of them, and if you don’t end up thinking about the game this way, that’s totally okay. These terms broadly capture the different relationships that Pokémon on your team have with each other, and they can be useful when you’re diagnosing an issue on your team– is your core solid? Do you have a mode (or even two or three!), and does it mesh well with the rest of your team? Thinking in these ways can lead to a deeper and more fluid understanding of your team.