Team building and first picks in POCKET MYTH

1. Team Building Approach and Direction

Approach

Whatever team you build, new and free-to-play players should concentrate resources and push only 1 to 3 Pokémon to the limit; the rest can be bridged to level 100 with utility Pokémon such as Whimsicott, Banette and Ditto. As far as possible, let one Pokémon eat all the resources, and only pass what it cannot use on to the next one.

Direction

Elite Four team (18 type-based teams in total)

• Pros: the Plate bonuses cover many stats, and the whole team enjoys that type's bonus
• Cons: a single team type limits function, application and team building to some extent

Recommendation: the Elite Four Cup is the mode you should weigh most heavily among all battle modes, because its Plate bonuses cover many stats. So whether or not you build an Elite Four team, you should lean toward one. For Elite Four lineups you can refer to the Hall of Fame of the Elite Four Cup, which lists past Elites and the teams of the 18 element champions.

Weather team

• Pros: huge strength under its own weather
• Cons: it is a system team, so once the weather is pushed out or disappears its strength drops sharply; and small weather cannot compete with a legendary's major weather for control of the weather

Trick Room team

• Pros: Trick Room lets slow Pokémon move first and control the pace of the match
• Cons: the room can only be set by a move, and a switch means 2 turns before the team is strong. Whether you can set the room at all is one problem, and those 2 turns easily leave you on the back foot. Trick Room teams suit doubles better

Mixed team

• Pros: more Pokémon choices, complete functions, decent in every mode, and best on the ladder
• Cons: it lacks the burst that a system team gets from its pieces reinforcing each other

Other teams are not recommended for now; leaning toward an Elite Four team is better, and a mixed team also performs well across modes.

2. Choosing Your First Pokémon

Previously I would recommend Gholdengo without hesitation as a free-to-play first pick, but it is hard to farm as a shiny, so Gyarados is generally the better recommendation: finishing the level 50 side quest gives you a shiny one. Since the Awakening system arrived, Gyarados has cemented its place as the free-to-play first choice again. Recommended free-to-play Pokémon:

• Gyarados: the level 50 side quest gives a shiny, and there is a permanent shiny at the Lake of Rage
• Dragonite: there is a permanent shiny Dratini at the Dragon's Den, and it is very easy to run into
• Gholdengo: hard to farm as a shiny, but its Golden Body ability guarantees it is no ordinary Pokémon
• Scizor from the first recharge or the zero-yuan purchase: with a Flying Gem and Acrobatics its damage is brutally high
• Krookodile, which can be obtained as a shiny exchange at launch: with Baton Pass or a Mimic Herb, its Swagger move is the most absurd damage
• Sleep-and-Quiver-Dance Pokémon: extremely strong against teams that cannot resist sleep, but they are all rather frail
• Tyranitar: it can take hits and deal them, and it resists most of the Dark series
• The starter trio and other free-to-play Pokémon: most are strong, and anything whose juvenile form can be farmed in the wild is worth considering
• Depending on your budget, you can pay to obtain top-tier Pokémon such as shiny URs, primary legendaries and Dark-series Pokémon from Shiny Invasion and similar events

3. How to Develop a Pokémon

The Pokémon screen shows the options for improving a Pokémon; most of them are fixed improvements, and only held items, Terastallization, Nature, ability, moves and EVs can be customized. The menu screen also has Plates and Badges that give fixed improvements. Here I will mainly talk about EV allocation.

We all know that having the right to move first means controlling the match, which makes Speed very important. But does every Pokémon need Speed EVs? No! Even a damage dealer does not necessarily need Speed! How you allocate depends mainly on the role. Every strength can be a weakness. For example, a Groudon with 90 Speed will never outspeed a 135 Speed Miraidon even with a full 252 Speed EVs, so in that case Speed EVs are simply wasted.

Here is an overview of whether to add Speed:

• Tanks basically never need Speed, including tanky damage dealers and tanky supports
• Supports mostly do not need Speed. If they are secondary damage dealers or need to move first with support and control moves, such as Toedscruel and sleep-and-Quiver-Dance Pokémon, they do need Speed
• Warriors generally do not add Speed; they act as semi-bulky damage dealers and can be treated as tanky damage dealers
• Damage dealers basically always need Speed: they need damage and the right to move
• Roamers basically always need Speed, to move first and then switch

Let us also use a Speed stat of 100 as the reference for whether to add Speed, by base Speed:

• Above 100 base Speed: basically always add Speed to guarantee the right to move
• 80 to 100 base Speed: if the Pokémon has a way to boost Speed it can skip Speed EVs and rely on the boost to move first; if it carries control such as sleep, Spore or Taunt, adding Speed is recommended to secure first-turn control; otherwise choose based on preference and role
• Below 80 base Speed: generally not recommended to add Speed, since even with it you probably will not move first

Summary: how you develop a Pokémon depends on your own situation. I suggest maxing Attack and Speed on the main C; the others can take a scattered spread, because free-to-play resources are nowhere near enough, and you can respec once the team is more or less finished. The other customizable parts are held items, Tera and Stellar, Nature, ability and moves, all chosen according to your needs. For IVs, I suggest washing out 3 to 4 stats at 31 with capsules, then using Silver Crown training.

4. The Type-Coverage System

Type Coverage

On a Pokémon's screen, tap the exclamation mark to the left of its type to see the type matchup chart. 0 means immunity, meaning no damage; memorize all the type immunities. Status moves are generally not blocked by type immunities. Plenty of other types resist things, so skim the chart once and get familiar with it in battle.

Move Coverage

Move icons have 3 markers. Top left is the move category, of which there are 3: an explosion shape means a physical move, multiple rings mean a special move, and a bean shape means a status move. Top right is the move's type, of which there are 18. The text is the name, and PP is the number of uses. Tap a move to see its full description.

Sturdy and Dynamax are immune to one-hit KO moves: Fissure (Flying types are immune), Sheer Cold (Ice types are immune) and Guillotine (Ghost types are immune). Golden Body and the Generation-skip ability are immune to Perish Song. The Shed Shell held item and the Ghost type are immune to binding moves.

Ability Coverage

We know the Prankster ability lets a Pokémon move first with status moves, but it does not work on Dark types; that is a good example of covering a specific ability. Unaware is a very popular and top-tier ability, but it is not unsolvable: Mold Breaker ignores the opponent's ability, and moves such as Stored Power and Swagger are not affected by Unaware. Magic Bounce and Golden Body are likewise ignored by Mold Breaker, which can use status moves on them. For abilities that prevent switching, such as Shadow Tag and Arena Trap, Ghost types are unaffected, and a Shed Shell holder is unaffected by binding and Shadow Tag. There are also all the weather and terrain abilities that cancel and compete with each other.

Detail Coverage

For example, Pain Split divides HP evenly between both sides. Pyukumuku is a classic user and can be a real headache; you can predict it and switch in a Pokémon at low or red HP, and sometimes you can turn the tables and take the opponent's HP instead. Also put yourself in the opponent's shoes and predict their plays. Summary: good coverage lets you build a team with a wider answer sheet and stronger functions. For example, Scizor's only weakness is a four-times weakness to Fire, so adding a teammate with the Fire-immunity ability makes a fairly perfect coverage pairing. So when building a team, think hard about resistances and coverage.

5. Recommended Flexible Picks

Garganacl: a personal favorite. Its signature move Salt Cure is an extremely practical attrition move that deals 1/8 HP per turn, doubled against Water and Steel, and is only negated by the Magic Guard ability and the Covert Cloak held item. Recommended EVs: 252 in both defenses, 6 HP; recommended moves: Salt Cure, Recover, Iron Defense, Stealth Rock / Body Press; recommended held item: Shed Shell; Tera: Grass, which perfectly avoids its weaknesses and blocks Leech Seed.

Hatterene: an extremely practical bug-level ability in Magic Bounce, which ignores and reflects status moves used by the opponent. It can set up and Baton Pass, and it also has Stored Power, a move with an extremely high damage ceiling. Recommended EVs: 200 in both defenses, 100 Sp. Atk, 10 HP; recommended moves: Calm Mind, Stored Power, Draining Kiss, Baton Pass / Rest; held item: Mimic Herb; Tera: Ghost, because binding and Shadow Tag are everywhere right now.

Clodsire: its Unaware ability needs no explanation, and its extremely high special bulk makes it a nightmare for many special attackers. EVs: 252 in both defenses and 6 HP, or 252 Sp. Def and HP with 6 Defense; moves: Toxic, Amnesia, Earthquake, Yawn / Mud Shot / Rest / Toxic Spikes; held item: Shed Shell / Leftovers / Black Sludge; Tera: Grass / Steel / Ghost / Poison (with Black Sludge).

Skeledirge: Clodsire's Unaware brother, and it can be caught alongside Clodsire in the Rock Tunnel. Recommended moves: Yawn, Rest, Fire Spin / Torch Song, Will-O-Wisp / Shadow Ball / Roar; held item: Binding Band / Leftovers; Tera: Grass.

Clefable: Unaware plus Baton Pass, and it does not fear Mimic. Baton Pass, inherited boosts, unlimited possibilities, but it fears Taunt. Moves: Minimize, Cosmic Power, Moonlight, Baton Pass; held item: Mimic Herb / Leftovers; Tera: Steel.

Ditto: a hundred transformations, a hundred capabilities, a hundred uses. Moves: no move beats a move; held item: Choice Scarf, Leftovers; Tera: Stellar is recommended.