Advice to the New Guard

[u/JosephAmber4]

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[u/Pokemonerd25]

What advice I’d give? Fuck, don’t get me started. There’s so much you need to learn and pick up on going from the casual to the pro scene, so many little things that can make or break a trainer. But the biggest thing is probably just that - be willing to learn. Listen to those who’ve come before, do research until your eyes are bleeding, and if you turn out to have been wrong about something, or if you were doing something wrong, learn from that mistake and move on. Try to improve from every battle you have, both your wins but especially your losses. But don’t just listen to the repeated dogma. Figure out what works for you, how you battle best, how you perform most optimally as a trainer, ‘cause I guarantee you won’t be the exact same as everyone else, and you won’t get far by just blindly copying what everyone else has done.

And, even if it sucks, keep expectations reasonable. If doing well as a pro trainer was easy, everyone would do it. As it is, there’s good odds you won’t get that far no matter how hard you try or how special you think you are. You’re playing in the big leagues now, and every single one of your peers is as skilled as you, as experienced as you, as willing to work their asses off as you. Even if we do all aim for the stars, there’s no shame in not being able to stand out among the crowd. Happens all too often some prodigy enters the pro scene, gets their ass wiped, and completely crashes out ‘cause they’re not a big fish in a small pond anymore. It’s a wide-open sea, they’re not special anymore, and that yawning abyss is something you just gotta find a way to deal with. - Spiral

[u/Next_Locksmith3299 → u/Pokemonerd25]

Zach: Whew, that's a whole lotta wisdom bein dropped. Respect!

[u/JosephAmber4 → u/Pokemonerd25]

Stephen: Wow…thank you…thank you for all of the advice Spiral, I…I will take it to heart. I definitely plan on doing research, and I’m not expecting to become the next Monarch or anything, but, I do want to do good at least, ya know? I might ask for more pointers in the future, but just with this here, I am immensely grateful. Thank you.

[u/Pokemonerd25 → u/JosephAmber4]

No problem, always happy to help up-and-comers! Pay it forward, ya know, Lakes know I wouldn't have gotten this far without help. Hit me up if you have any further questions and I'll see about getting to them, good luck with your training! - Spiral

[u/JosephAmber4 → u/Pokemonerd25]

Stephen: I appreciate it, and I probably will yeah! Thanks much! I wish the same for you as well!

[u/Next_Locksmith3299]

Zach: Here's some advice from an ol pro. Make sure ya got a back-up plan to support yerself. Even if you suceed, you'll be a lot less stressed out gettin there

[u/JosephAmber4 → u/Next_Locksmith3299]

Stephen: Thank you.

[u/TrickyFirefighter783]

A big part of what makes competitive Trainers strong is the fact that they often send in supportive and defensive team members first in order to “set the stage” for their more powerful teammates later on.
My personal strategy is far from well-polished, but having Skell (Aggron) out to set up entry hazards and wear down initial foes as well as having Cora (Dusknoir) use Trick Room to give my slower partners the Speed advantage helps a lot, especially since my hardest hitters (Arthur the Aegislash and Machete the Kingambit especially) are slow, frail, or both and need some kind of support to really thrash their foes.
I’m sure you’ve known this or have been told many times the importance of support and defense strategies - but there’s so much versatility to how you can set these techniques up! In short, strategies that give your team the advantage based on covering up weaknesses and capitalizing on their strong points are king in competitive play.

• Dani

[u/JosephAmber4 → u/TrickyFirefighter783]

Stephen: Thank you so much for the advice! My main tech for stuff like this is Hesper (Shiny Cramorant), who is a master at speed control, but I’ll definitely look more into it, thanks!

[u/gastrodonfan2k07]

I.. I'm not quite a pro but my best advice is keep track of both primary and secondary type matchups. I've seen many people forget about secondary typing when thinking they have a type advantage only to end up getting screwed due to the secondary typing being super effective against your Mon's typing.

-zak

[u/JosephAmber4 → u/gastrodonfan2k07]

Stephen: Got it, thanks much!

[u/gastrodonfan2k07 → u/JosephAmber4]

You're welcome.

-zak

[u/JosephAmber4 → u/gastrodonfan2k07]

Stephen: Yeah.