Teambuilding / Abstract Building Blocks

How “lucky” or “unlucky” you are in Pokémon is determined by a lot more than your karma or random variance. There’s a lot that goes into whether a player is “lucky” or not, much of which is within a player's control. While this concept might be easy to understand in theory, it is difficult to internalize, even for the most advanced players. This article will cover the teambuilding part of improving your luck.

Take Control of the Odds

There’s a lot of potential variance in Pokémon - critical hits, secondary effects, damage rolls, and accuracy are just some of the ways that make predicting the outcome of a turn difficult. However, there are certain things you can do as a teambuilder to nudge the game to favor you more or to punish you less. For example, you can select more accurate moves instead of less accurate moves. 

To be more direct, a player who prioritizes accurate moves in the teambuilding process is far less likely to lose games due to missing a move than a player who does not. This isn’t to say accuracy is the end-all, be-all of teambuilding - sometimes you need to run an inaccurate move to bring out the maximum value in a Pokemon. That being said, whenever you choose to use a move that is not a guaranteed hit you should be thinking about whether you are likely to have alternatives (such as Dragon Pulse and Draco Meteor on the same Pokemon) as well as the scenarios where you will be forced to rely on the move.

Act First

Moving consistently after your opponent (having a team with poor Speed control) is implicitly risky. By moving after your opponent you’re risking critical hits and secondary effects (Scald burns, Thunderbolt paralysis, Muddy Water accuracy drops, etc) that might be prevented by attacking first. One of the best ways to ensure you avoid negative RNG is to knock out your opponent’s Pokemon before it can attack - after all, a fainted Pokemon can’t crit or flinch you. To set up opportunities for your Pokemon to move first, focus on speed control with fast Pokemon, the item Choice Scarf, or moves such as Tailwind, Icy Wind, and Trick Room.

Pay Attention to Team Composition

Certain playstyles can also be more susceptible to poor luck. If a team is very fast and frail, a single bit of bad luck can cause a domino effect that can cost the whole game. However, a team that is too defensive can lose too much offensive presence by a surprise knockout or status effect. Additionally, a team that is stretched too thin and relies too heavily on any one Pokémon for a specific matchup is susceptible to losing games due to a single bit of bad luck.

Wrapping up

Accuracy, Speed, and Playstyle are just three examples of many that influence whether luck will favor you on any given day. It is a mistake to think that just because we are all playing the same game we therefore should all have more or less the same luck. Certain players really are luckier or unluckier than others - not because they were born with something, but because of the decisions they made. The good news is if you consider yourself to be “unlucky” when it comes to Pokémon, it’s likely because you are making decisions that make you vulnerable to luck. As a student of the game you should be constantly assessing which of your decisions gives you the opportunity for good “luck” and which makes you vulnerable to bad “luck”. By paying attention and learning to identify decisions that improve your odds, you can change your luck for the better.