11-16-200906:00 AM
Today I will be teaching a little bit about prediction. Prediction can be defined as knowing how an opponent will react in a given situation. It is a very important skill to work on to be a master battler. It takes a while to learn how people will react since certain people will react differently in the same sitaution.
Possibly the easiest way to explain prediction is by assuming the opponent is a computer and not a player. The AI is programmed with how to react to each situation. Normally it will do an attack that is supereffective if it has one. Use this to your advantage. If you know what attack the opponent will likely use, you can prepare for it and perform a counter action. In this kind of situation, you can switch to a pokemon that has immunity or resistance to the attack type that is going to be perfomed. If the computer does not have a supereffective attack, the next step it would generally do would be to inflict your pokemon with a status condition. If it happens to be a move that is affected by type such as thunder wave, you can counter by switching to the right kind of pokemon or one that has an ability that blocks it. If the computer doesn't have any of these either, the next step it will do is a set-up type of move. This can be anything from Swords Dance to Reflect to weather moves. These can easily be blocked by the move taunt. THe fastest pokmeon other than Deoxys that can learn taunt is Aerodactyl and Crobat. If you move slower than your opponent, you can also counter these moves with haze which resets all stat changes. Barriers can be shattered with the move brick break. If the computer doesn't have a set up type of move either, then it will normally do a stab attack unless you resist it. In general, you will find it way easier to predict the computer than your opponents because opponents can think for themselves.
Consider this situation. One of your pokemon had used Stealth Rock early on in the battle. The opponent now has out a Donphan while you have out a Jolteon. At first, you may think your opponent will use Earthquake to ohko your Jolteon. This is what players with less experience will do, although some good plyers do this. In general, the average expereinced opponent will use Rapid Spin to get rid of Stealth Rock. It will also deal fair damage to Jolteon since Jolteon's defense is rather low while Donphan's attack is pretty high. There are a few possiblities on what you could do. You could switch to a ghost type since if Rapid Spin doesn't inflict damage the stones are not blown away. Many ghost type pokemon also have the levitate ability providing you with immunity to Earthquake. Now if you have Hidden Power grass, water, or ice you could do that since Donphan's special defense isn't that high.
If you have a type advantage over your opponent, a lot of times your opponent will switch pokemon. If you can guess what type of pokemon they will bring out, you could hit the enemy with a supereffective attack on the switch in. If you can get good at this, you will have an edge in battles. Really strong opponets may try and foresee this and might switch to something else or not switch at all. Most of the time, you can tell a person's true ability within the first few turns, at least I can.
Another attribute that makes it easier to predict is knowing the metagame. If you know whjat pokemon to expect and movesets for that pokemon, then you will be able to know whwat your opponents pokemon are capable of.
Possibly the easiest way to explain prediction is by assuming the opponent is a computer and not a player. The AI is programmed with how to react to each situation. Normally it will do an attack that is supereffective if it has one. Use this to your advantage. If you know what attack the opponent will likely use, you can prepare for it and perform a counter action. In this kind of situation, you can switch to a pokemon that has immunity or resistance to the attack type that is going to be perfomed. If the computer does not have a supereffective attack, the next step it would generally do would be to inflict your pokemon with a status condition. If it happens to be a move that is affected by type such as thunder wave, you can counter by switching to the right kind of pokemon or one that has an ability that blocks it. If the computer doesn't have any of these either, the next step it will do is a set-up type of move. This can be anything from Swords Dance to Reflect to weather moves. These can easily be blocked by the move taunt. THe fastest pokmeon other than Deoxys that can learn taunt is Aerodactyl and Crobat. If you move slower than your opponent, you can also counter these moves with haze which resets all stat changes. Barriers can be shattered with the move brick break. If the computer doesn't have a set up type of move either, then it will normally do a stab attack unless you resist it. In general, you will find it way easier to predict the computer than your opponents because opponents can think for themselves.
Consider this situation. One of your pokemon had used Stealth Rock early on in the battle. The opponent now has out a Donphan while you have out a Jolteon. At first, you may think your opponent will use Earthquake to ohko your Jolteon. This is what players with less experience will do, although some good plyers do this. In general, the average expereinced opponent will use Rapid Spin to get rid of Stealth Rock. It will also deal fair damage to Jolteon since Jolteon's defense is rather low while Donphan's attack is pretty high. There are a few possiblities on what you could do. You could switch to a ghost type since if Rapid Spin doesn't inflict damage the stones are not blown away. Many ghost type pokemon also have the levitate ability providing you with immunity to Earthquake. Now if you have Hidden Power grass, water, or ice you could do that since Donphan's special defense isn't that high.
If you have a type advantage over your opponent, a lot of times your opponent will switch pokemon. If you can guess what type of pokemon they will bring out, you could hit the enemy with a supereffective attack on the switch in. If you can get good at this, you will have an edge in battles. Really strong opponets may try and foresee this and might switch to something else or not switch at all. Most of the time, you can tell a person's true ability within the first few turns, at least I can.
Another attribute that makes it easier to predict is knowing the metagame. If you know whjat pokemon to expect and movesets for that pokemon, then you will be able to know whwat your opponents pokemon are capable of.