Do you think im behind in lvls

[Sarah Frost]

So i am wondering if i am behind in lvls right now i am trying to get my 4th badge My team is

Level 7 vaporion
Level 21 Lucario
Level 26 bayleef
Level 26 Pidgeotto
Level 50 charizard

What level were your pokemon when you came to this gym Also do you think i should deposit pidgeotto ?

[Cameron;]

I don't remember exactly but I was probably a bit higher than that as I tend to train a bit more than I should. And I personally adore Pidgeotto. Didn't use one on my SS team, but don't see why you should remove it.

[Sarah Frost]

well i caught it as a pidgey when i left new bark town, and trained it up, but im thinking since i have charizard i have a flying/fire pokemon in 1 soo pigeotto would be a waste of a slot, plus it's special attack stat isn't that high the question i am stuck with now is if i do remove pidgeotto from my party i am left with 2 slots to fill up.

I usually train 1 of each element so id have fire, grass, water, fighting, flying, psychic or normal. I tend to go with the ones that have the highest special attack within it's element or normal attack in the case of normal types.

i should probably train vaporion and lucario a little more...maybe leave one of them in day care, but i heard day care lowers their stats

[Cameron;]

No clue about the daycare thing. Ask someone else.

With that logic, then yes, either remove the Charizard or the Pidgeotto. Around 4th gym area some good catches are Yanma, Abra, Miltank, Magnemite, Mareep, and Flaaffy (I recommend an electric type highly).

[Sarah Frost]

Hmm im thinking of adding snorlax and alakazam

Alakazam has 135 special attack and some choice moves, snorlax has high hp and good defences too but ill check out flaaffy too thanx

[Cameron;]

Where do you plan on getting a Snorlax from? They aren't at that stage of the game-- are they even in the game? I can't remember.

I personally don't care much about stats in a playthrough. Playthroughs are for fun. I use whatever Pokemon I happen to love. When you worry too much about stats, the game loses its fun. Imo.

[Sarah Frost]

that true, but snorlax is one of my favorite pokemon lol, im thinking ill transfer it from my platanim version to soul silver it's level 60 maybe ill transfer the lvl 1 snorlax instead.

I am a stratigic person that way tho, plus high special attack = good chances of winning

[Sarai Smythe]

I've got to ask-

How do you apply

HighSpecialAttack=GoodChanceofWinning

to something like Pidgeotto that innately has higher physical attack and can rely on physical attacks that don't use the special stat?

Or is that just where you've arrived from using lots of special attacks?

Given your team, I would be -far- more worried about how lopsided the levels are than about whether or not Pidgeotto/Pidgeot has high special attack. Especially with a level 7 Vaporeon- Vaporeon are actually pretty strong for special attack, so why you'd have it at level 7 and be leaving it there is something that's important to know also. If you've just got it to have Surf, why haven't you replaced it with a special attacker that you're going to level up that can learn Surf- as Surf is a pretty strong move for a special attacker?


As levels go, my usual rule is to have my team at most three levels below the level of the things I've been fighting, and preferably one or more levels higher in level than the trainer pokemon I've been fighting. If you stick to that kind of level range, you're pretty safe from everything.

[Sarah Frost]

i like special attack stat so i go for it, special attack is my main concern then special defence. as for vaporeon, well i bred it with dito and had a lvl 1 eevee then i evolved it and i started training it to catch it up with the other pokemon i taught vaporion surf too.

With me i do a rotation, so when their all on equal level and one levels up i rotate it, but if there is a higher level i leave them towards the bottom of the team.

[Sarai Smythe]

I predict that a lot of rock, fighting, normal, and poison moves will be a big threat to you. I believe those are the most dangerously physical-attack heavy types, so if you're really set on focusing on the special stats you'll want types that resist those. Charizard will do well against Fighting, but suffers hard from rock attacks. Pidgeotto isn't much help on any of those particularly given it, like Charizard, is more of a sweeper-type mon. Bayleef is going to suffer hard from poison attacks, but Lucario is going to be resisting both rock and normal, and immune to poison- but is badly threatened by anything fast with fighting attacks (like, say, another Lucario). In that respect, Vaporeon really doesn't help much either.

From that angle, you should deposit pidgeotto. You'll also want some serious physical walling- a special-attack oriented Forretress can be a really fun idea, particularly since Flash Cannon will let it put decently-sized holes in Rock types (much like Lucario), and it can throw up Barrier or Light screen if you get a bit desperate to bolster the defenses of the rest of your team against an opposing sweeper (you do seem to have a predilection towards fast, fragile, powerful 'mons). Exeggcute is another good choice- being Grass/Psychic, it's weak to poison, but it has strong physical defense, excellent special attack, and resistance to Fighting attacks, which you're currently lacking outside Charizard.

That's my take if I look at it from the 'keep the special attack' angle.

My experience tells me something wholly different, though. That says to me that you should be training your Pidgeotto and teaching it physical attacks (Steel Wing for rock types, Featherdance to weaken physical offenses and thereby protect both itself and the rest of your team, Whirlwind to force out unfavorable opponents or an enemy that's using stat-boost moves, etc.), because having a fully special-oriented team is kind of asking pretty hard for someone like Bruno to step in and punch giant holes in your team. It also tells me that your Bayleef should be boxed- it's a nice pokemon, but with the set of types and capabilities you have on the rest of your team, having a pure-grass doesn't help you for anything. Vaporeon keeps you from having to worry about water-types, Charizard handles other grass types, and that only leaves Electric as a resistance that Bayleef gives you that you haven't already got. On the flip side, Vaporeon chews up other water types and deals out water damage, thereby covering rock and ground- so using Grass moves doesn't get you any advantage there either.

So on the 'experiences I've had' side, I would say that you should be tossing Bayleef and picking up some kind of a tough Ground type like Geodude/Graveler/Golem (preferably not Ground/Steel, as Lucario provides most of what you would want a Steel type for) and also something that is either Ghost, Dark, or Psychic with some quality, so you'll be able to handle Ghost and Psychic pokemon. You could always manage something close to both by grabbing Tyranitar (always a strong and viable selection) later on in the game and manage for the time being with a water/ground like Quagsire or something -really- interesting like one of the rock/water fossil pokemon (given your team and your predilection for special attack, I'd say Omastar is the best choice- strong physical defenses and a good special attack stat, as well as giving you your second Water HM learner -and- the surprisingly useful Ancientpower).