Intro to Battle Spot Triple Battles - the only way to ladder 6v6 is at the battle spot.
The main thing you have to keep in mind in Triples is... How are you going to set up a sweep? First you must get around all of the Fake Outs, Follow Mes, Trick Rooms, Tailwinds, Weather, etc. If you keep setting up the sweep in mind when you're building your team you should do just fine.
Triple battles have so many possibilities it may be hard for one to try to plan out an effective team. First, before you put together a team, let me list off a few items of interest. Keep in mind many battles that will not even last five turns. Keep in mind though… Everything has a counter.
I. Speed & Priority – In triples many combinations that you will not see in singles or even doubles are possible and in the end many strategies ultimately lie in setting up your sweepers to sweep.
a. Fake Out – Speed priority of 3 first-turn flinch.
i. An easy way to pave the way for your initial setup and/or sweeper is to prevent opponents from doing anything. What better way to do that?
ii. Opponents of Fake Out have the option of using Quick Guard, but that too has a speed priority of 3. You could always use a Ghost, Protect, etc.
b. Gale Wings – Speed priority of 1 when using a flying-type move.
i. Talonflame’s hidden ability is a quick way to take out things like any pesky Blaziken who thinks it can Speed boost its way to victory.
ii. Having Gale Wings also means Talonflame has access to a priority Tailwind (egg move), which can turn your entire side into speedsters.
c. Prankster – Status category moves have their priority increased by 1.
i. Reflect and Light Screen is often used by Pranksters.
ii. Use it to pave way for setups! Imagine a priority Trick, Growl, etc.
d. Trick Room – The slowest Pokémon strikes first.
i. If you do run a Trick Room team make sure you don’t get Taunted! On that note abilities such as Oblivious or Aroma Veil will not be affected by Taunt.
e. Thunder Wave
i. Being paralyzed is pretty much a death sentence to many of the fragile sweepers. That’s why I always have a cleric around.
II. Weather
a. You can essentially have something with over 250-300+ (at lv. 50) speed on the first turn without Choice Scarf. Kingdra, Excadrill, Venusaur, etc. Imagine having two of those Pokémon out at the same time…
b. Since Triple battles do not take as many turns as other formats weather has a lot of potential and may last the whole battle.
III. Mat Block – Protects your whole team from damaging attacks, speed priority of 0, and may only be used on the first turn the user can attack.
a. Greninja’s signature move is a no-brainer way to get a Sword Dance on a Speed Boost Pokémon on the first turn, right? Only when the opponent isn’t using priority or something faster.
b. Watch out for Fake Out users too. You need to make sure that your Greninja (or Smeargle) is safe to use mat Block. Often times I personally find late game the easiest time to set up with mat Block.
IV. Hitting/Hindering Multiple Pokémon
a. Moves such as Earthquake and Rock Slide are invaluable for hitting all of the opposing side.
b. Intimidate will allow some of your more defensively frail Pokémon to be able to set up and/or sweep.
c. Intimidators only really need to really worry about Contrary, Competitive, and Defiant which will be rarely seen.
V. Team Synergy
a. There are a number of abilities such as Telepathy that can allow you to things like freely spam Earthquake.
There are many more things to keep in mind, but I’d rather not bore you with a wall of text. Go on out there and experiment! Please tell us of your experiences and suggestions.
The main thing you have to keep in mind in Triples is... How are you going to set up a sweep? First you must get around all of the Fake Outs, Follow Mes, Trick Rooms, Tailwinds, Weather, etc. If you keep setting up the sweep in mind when you're building your team you should do just fine.
Triple battles have so many possibilities it may be hard for one to try to plan out an effective team. First, before you put together a team, let me list off a few items of interest. Keep in mind many battles that will not even last five turns. Keep in mind though… Everything has a counter.
I. Speed & Priority – In triples many combinations that you will not see in singles or even doubles are possible and in the end many strategies ultimately lie in setting up your sweepers to sweep.
a. Fake Out – Speed priority of 3 first-turn flinch.
i. An easy way to pave the way for your initial setup and/or sweeper is to prevent opponents from doing anything. What better way to do that?
ii. Opponents of Fake Out have the option of using Quick Guard, but that too has a speed priority of 3. You could always use a Ghost, Protect, etc.
b. Gale Wings – Speed priority of 1 when using a flying-type move.
i. Talonflame’s hidden ability is a quick way to take out things like any pesky Blaziken who thinks it can Speed boost its way to victory.
ii. Having Gale Wings also means Talonflame has access to a priority Tailwind (egg move), which can turn your entire side into speedsters.
c. Prankster – Status category moves have their priority increased by 1.
i. Reflect and Light Screen is often used by Pranksters.
ii. Use it to pave way for setups! Imagine a priority Trick, Growl, etc.
d. Trick Room – The slowest Pokémon strikes first.
i. If you do run a Trick Room team make sure you don’t get Taunted! On that note abilities such as Oblivious or Aroma Veil will not be affected by Taunt.
e. Thunder Wave
i. Being paralyzed is pretty much a death sentence to many of the fragile sweepers. That’s why I always have a cleric around.
II. Weather
a. You can essentially have something with over 250-300+ (at lv. 50) speed on the first turn without Choice Scarf. Kingdra, Excadrill, Venusaur, etc. Imagine having two of those Pokémon out at the same time…
b. Since Triple battles do not take as many turns as other formats weather has a lot of potential and may last the whole battle.
III. Mat Block – Protects your whole team from damaging attacks, speed priority of 0, and may only be used on the first turn the user can attack.
a. Greninja’s signature move is a no-brainer way to get a Sword Dance on a Speed Boost Pokémon on the first turn, right? Only when the opponent isn’t using priority or something faster.
b. Watch out for Fake Out users too. You need to make sure that your Greninja (or Smeargle) is safe to use mat Block. Often times I personally find late game the easiest time to set up with mat Block.
IV. Hitting/Hindering Multiple Pokémon
a. Moves such as Earthquake and Rock Slide are invaluable for hitting all of the opposing side.
b. Intimidate will allow some of your more defensively frail Pokémon to be able to set up and/or sweep.
c. Intimidators only really need to really worry about Contrary, Competitive, and Defiant which will be rarely seen.
V. Team Synergy
a. There are a number of abilities such as Telepathy that can allow you to things like freely spam Earthquake.
There are many more things to keep in mind, but I’d rather not bore you with a wall of text. Go on out there and experiment! Please tell us of your experiences and suggestions.
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