Hey Dan, when watching videos with teams, I feel like it's almost never talked about if the team requires the shadow that is out of rotation. So for instance this team with S-K Marowak. I feel like the biggest of this being Shadow Drapion (and to a lesser extent because it is in rotation right now Shadow Feraligator). It might be a good video on how to determine if you don't have access to a specific Shadow how to determine if you need it to be shadow to have the team work, and if so and you don't have one, how to determine if you can substitute it. One of my biggest issues is team building. I really struggle on finding a team that I've come up with myself, and I've also just stopped looking at teams that I don't have the mons for that I see others using because I've had little success on building the non-shadow to replace it.
I feel this! I don’t have a shadow Kwak or Drapion. You can always make the non shadow work in these teams, you just need to cognizant of the matchup differences between the 2. Playing a non shadow sometimes feels like a completely different pokemon.
What's really odd is that in Ultra League the Drapion is rated much higher than the shadow. The W-L is bad but it's recommended. What about maybe Quagsire or regular meta Dragonite evolutions? Those almost have to be shadow. I'm expecting Bibarel to join that.
I’ve played almost all seasons of GBL since it came out and was a long believer in the algorithm, so I’d play it just to play it, normally doing roughly 500-700 battles per season and never getting higher than 2200’s. Then 6 months ago I discovered your channel and for the first time ever discovered the importance of move timing. Last season I reached my highest ever ranking of 2600’s thanks to your channel
Hey Dan and thanks for another showcase. As I mentioned my gameplay is rusty since I havent played as much in the end of last season and the beginning of this season. vsthe dragonite lead I really should have won. What I should have done instead of throwing my energy with marowak vs dunsparce is one shield and farm down to throw 2 moves at dragonite. The cmp tie vs bibarell was just me being curious on who would win that one since I already knew I had won ;) Did also alow more catches than I usually do but as I mentioned the team has worked out well. Have the last couple of days used it to climb from around 2000-2100 to now being at 2668 ELO currently. The thoughtprocess behind this team is just having a great core in the backround with shadow k-wak and toxapex with a good and safe lead. Used the same strategy in the past with skarmory + whiscash in the back + wigglytuff lead.
@@PortoPaul Well I would say that the 2000 ELO is like the wild west. You never know what your oponent is going to do haha. Just try and stick to the basics and not overcomplicate things in that range I would say. When you get to higher ELO they players will be better but also more predictable since they will do what you are supposed to do if that makes any sense. Good luck!
I’ve been running Dunsparce, S-Marowak, and S-Hippowdon. Triple rock/ground movesets. Bad against grass obviously (instant Chesnaught loss), but things like jumpluff and serp can be managed with the rock coverage. Got me to veteran a few days ago. I might try the Toxapex in the back, it’s probably a more solid pick (but less funny than the hippo).
This is my 4th season. Last season my highest ELO was 2180. Im finally getting a solid grasp on typings and had the most success during limited cups. Then the open GL came back and I tanked. I think what holds me back more than anything is not knowing all the match ups. I take the game as seriously as I can, but the last 6 months have been crazy. Hurricanes, work, adulting, etc. Not an excuse, just reality. I am extremely competitive when it comes to gaming, and ultimately, I'd love to hit legend someday. I know I need to grind GBL to get the experience and continue learning in order to do so. Consistency goes along way and right now I dont have it. Dan, I love the channel and content and what you do for the community. Even had my work shcedule synced up with the channel for a while. Morning video at 7:30 on the ride in. Later lunch break in the afternoon for the 1:30 vid. I have decent Mons and always hunting for more. Now I just need to put in the work.
Top tier plays are appreciated, and great to see submissions from such high ranked players, but ngl, I do enjoy the "wth is going on here" moments we get from the not so high ranked players lol.
I have been around the 2200 at the end of the season a couple of times, playing regularly. One issue i find is as the cups change away from Great League I am less competitive because i can't grind the game to get candy for new meta mons but i want to play for the dust each day or most days, so using suboptimal teams pretty heavily moderates my ranking. Also, I change my team quite a bit, i find it pointless to grind and build new and interesting mons but then just use dunsparce and toxapex for 500 battles to maximise my chances of leveling up. So there's that factor as well. I enjoy the content though, it helps guide my team building and the gameplay critiques help reinforce good habits and highlight the not so good habits. As far as taking it seriously, I would be interested to know what would constitute "taking it seriously". Like you, i'm a father with a full time job so there is an obvious ceiling to my taking it seriously, although i would like to get into some competitive PvP again (more show 6 pick 3 format) in the future as I enjoy the psychological side of that way of playing. Forgot to add, that i've been playing since about 2019, but took a break over the last couple of years for family reasons, the last season i played alot was the Noctowl-Lanturn meta.
It’s all of the components and mechanics of gameplay strategy and overall understanding of how to put and use them together as a cohesive whole is what I’m sure a lot of us are lacking. This is my second season now, or technically 1.7 seasons in since I started Pogo and PVP in mid Aug of this year, and I’ve got about 2100 battles in since I’ve been playing a lot, but I can say that I still need the experience of using my Pokemon together as a team along with team reading is what I’m lacking the most. Experience will teach you that but I also have just started to get typings down well enough that I don’t need to keep looking back at a typings chart that often anymore and can understand and know the weaknesses, resistances and super effectiveness on the fly while playing which has increased my level as well. I’m around 2100-2200+ but seeing improvement steadily thx religiously watching your videos and trying to learn everything that you teach. In summary, there’s so many components to PVP that it takes a lot of time and experience to learn how to get them to work together even if you understand some components here and there while still lacking understanding and skill in others.
Why I struggle to get above 2200: 1. Too busy to play five sets a day every day, so I don't get enough reps, and don't have the proper decisions internalized enough to make the right play in the moment in real time. I recognize that I did it wrong as soon as I think about it but it's not instinctive enough to do it without thinking about it. 2. Forgetful in general, and also I often have to play when I'm tired (see "busy"), so I make a lot of mistakes: Wait too long to switch, get a typing matchup backwards, forget how much energy I (or they) have banked, etc. But I enjoy watching your channel because it improves my game and helps me have more fun, within the limitations that are hard to overcome (and in particular, aren't about *knowledge*).
A shadow dragonite? Spicy, I like it. The rock slide after 2x drill runs was pretty good too. I'll try and remember that. And an avalugg? Lots of interesting stuff at the top ELO ranges apparently! Regular avalugg isn't looking terrible though. 112 attack, 142 def, 124 stamina for a 1995 overall stat product. Buffed ice fang and avalanche, body slam, icy wind, crunch, earthquake for charged moves. PVPoke tags it with "bulky", sure it has some bulk. "Fast move pressure" which makes sense since STAB ice fang does add up... but they also tag it as spammy? I guess body slams aren't too bad at 12 turns but we know how much you love non-STAB body slam now. 16/14/16/14 for the avalanches and those would sting but 16 turns isn't really spammy. @15:55 I'm curious what the opponent's play was there not shielding the morpeko? Hoping to live with a fragile morpeko and get off a move with it to take out the dunsparce and then another move on the next pokemon to come in? I'm a relatively new player as far as PvP goes. Ignored it the first few seasons of playing pokemon go. As such, my roster isn't super deep with meta pokemon. I also generally only play a set or *maybe* two most nights. I got into this game to encourage me to walk, so I walk instead. Playing GBL while on the streets in -10 windy weather on cell reception doesn't seem wise. Listening to and sometimes watching your channel has helped a lot, but I also still make a lot of really *really* dumb plays that has meant I generally live in the lower Ace ranks. I'd need to actually focus to fast move optimize and put in effort to get higher and while that is a thing I'd like to do, I also enjoy playing with my cat!
Dan jonkus and Yasser have videos out how to fix gbl lag , I can confirm it works , perhaps mention their videos or make your own as well to spread the word
In my third season. Hit 2400 elo at high and ended at 2200. I do gripe a bit when attention gets focused on extremely rare mons because it really does seem out of the reach of most players. But I understand the tension: on the one hand players are gonna click on the vids featuring the latest shiny mon because they are trying to strategize their way out of the problem with good team building; The reality is that it takes tactical precision in the moment, gained by reflexes they just don't possess yet. Agree it's stuff like learning move timing, free switch after charge move, catching, farming etc that can turn those losing scenarios into winning ones, i see players all the time that would win if they knew they should farm vs throw a last minute charge move. It's just difficult to explain, and hard to learn without practice.
One last thing that drives me nuts: the team builder opposition not being consistent! For example I'll build a team and half the time serperior or talonflame is listed as the bottom ranked opposition, and half the time they aren't. So I'll set up a team thinking I've got my bases covered then run into one of those common rank 21 mons as lead and wonder why a slot got wasted on, say, carbink when the top of the Meta is so obviously weighted to mud slappers
I'm normally around 2000-2200 and for the most part I don't have the time to learn counts as much as I'd like. I also like to try and get creative and build my own teams rather than trying to stick with just the meta. I normally do a lot better in limited cups because there's a lot less to learn and focus on
Hey Dan, I’m the exact person you’re talking about at the end of the video. I’ve been taking gbl pretty seriously for about 4 seasons and I can’t break out of ace. I submitted my first video ever a couple days ago at this same Elo going 17-3 with a team. I’m not sure if it’s me being bad at adapting to the meta changing daily or what, but it would be dope if you could at least watch I don’t think I play that poorly, but veteran has been impossible for me. Highest Elo was last season around 2400
As someone who doesn't really care about GBL, I get to around the 2000 elo with no meta mons then play rest of season just for the dust, if the game was stable, no bs lag, would maybe try more, I like to just use mons I like even if I get walked on 😂
The only season I tried in was when swampert was meta, then took a long break, came back last season, I have a very short attention span so hyper fixate on game for a month or two then leave for a year😂
Yea I watched the jonkus video on it, I just don't feel GBL is to me a serious thing, like I get all typings and that, and could do better, but I'm just not invested into this game like that, as long as I get to rank 20 and get to the Pokémon appears reward I'm ok, anyways lower elo is easier wins😂😂
Like I'm level 42 don't have azu or dunsparce, like no meta mons at all 😂 what I'm saying is a game that you really don't have many options before you hit a wall I don't find interesting, to climb high you really need good ranked meta mons, with meta mons you have anti meta then the hundreds in-between that sometimes are spicy, and core break but it's rare, my favourite elo range is 1800s because, people actually have fun and use spicy mons, high elo isn't fun, it's stressful, just watch some of these GBL streamers they always seem to have more fun when running spicy picks 😂
Been playing on and off since GBL started. Very consistently the last few seasons. I have made it to 2500+ a few times, but rarely much further. I do get what you are saying about understanding matchups, but the thing is matchups are changing all the time. Move changes can make it so you practically have to relearn the meta every season. And there is just so much to know, especially in open GL. I generally get good and bad matchups, but can be hard to know what to do in more neutral situations. That combined with team reading being a hard skill to pick up means I can accidentally put myself into a situation I can’t dig myself out of. I guess in shorter terms, I feel like the gap from poor to competent is much smaller than the gap from competent to proficient and the amount of time and/or effort to get there is simply something I have yet to be able to put in.
2nd season and first I'm taking seriously. I appreciate seeing both good plays and mistakes commented on. Your videos are my morning cup of coffee and really help me to get my head into the game. Thanks for shepherding us noobs and crappy players. We'll get better.
I am about 4th season or so, and the best I get to is about 2300 and I feel like I hit a wall in which the team I use starts getting hard countered and I have trouble finding another team I am comfortable with to readjust. After getting stomped for a set or two and losing a ton of ELO, it is hard to be motivated to jump back in for a few days.
I've been playing GBL for probably 3-4 years now. Based on the stats in game, I win about 50% of my matchups (12,733 wins in 24,766 battles). I think my highest ranking ever was barely over 2500 but most seasons I peak around 2300. Here's my guess on why I don't get higher: - Fast move counters like dragon breath that are one or two turns are really hard for me to count - so I just stop usually. - I struggle in normal Great League/Ultra League because there are too many Pokemon to remember best matchups for. I tend to do wayyyy better in limited cups because I start to understand where my team works better. - I have a difficult time trying to figure out opponent team compositions unless it's an obvious ABB where they switch out of a neutral matchup. It's a lot for me to try and count moves + analyze team composition. I can really only do one at a time. - I like when GBL updates moves each season, but then I struggle putting together a team that works for me. I know you love using Togedemaru, but I've never had success with that one. So I usually start with teams you suggest, then play around with other pokemon that I'm comfortable with. When I do that, my rating drops significantly. (For instance, as soon as the Holiday Cup ended this season, I dropped from 2200 to 1700 trying to figure out a good Great League team)
I never have hit 2100 elo. I get discouraged with all the lag. If I actually put work in I probably would be able to climb. I only do about 400 matches a season and normally have a above 50% win ratio. The lag of this game is my personal biggest issue.
I've played GBL for about 2.5 years and made it to the end of the GBL challenge research once. I usually end the season around 2200. I still have a lot to learn and also put in only mild effort on move timing and such. My biggest problems are identifying win/lose conditions and switching properly (timing, energy, chip, etc).
A Lot of what I'm dealing with is essentially getting the top 25 pokemon and their right move set, configuring a team, also the algorithm with it's pairings, sometimes it gives you easy battles but the other hand is shit that eats right through you.
4 season in now. 1900-2400 elo for the past 2 season. Been watching you for a year. The main problem is still awareness on when to switch for better match ups and getting caught. I see those when i lose. But what i still don’t get is when an ABC team is so consistent on getting a 2-3 or 3-2 or 4-1; and an abb mostly gets me 4-1,5-0 or 0-5. The teams just get hard countered and i still don’t have the skill on getting away from a hard counter team. Maybe a compilation of being hard countered video make sense to me. I know thats a tall order tho.
I have been playing about 3 seasons now. My two biggest issues that keep me from breaking 2000 are, respectively, 1. Pokemon selection. Only being active for one year now I simply do not have the Pokemon (mainly shadow) to stay competitive. I haven't encountered enough rocket takeovers but I will say often times I follow these videos it will say Sandslash then I watch only to see Shadow Variant. Match that with the iv choice and I haven't even seen a shadow Cubone since I began. 2. Team building. I just can't stay nailing down the perfect combos.
I am one of those people who have been playing for five or seasons and struggle around 2200, although I got to expert last season (huge run during catch up) and veteran the previous two, but most of my time I lived at 2200-2300. I struggle with fast move timing (but getting better), getting caught, team reading, and focusing for more than 5 seconds to keep track of counts. I do have some very good pokemon, including for UL, and a handful for ML.
I think the deciding factor is that it’s team comp and then adapting to the ELO meta you play in. If you can’t do that then you/I struggle in climbing at points. If your team gets you to Ace but that team won’t get to VET and then having to change it to another Team then learn that team matches and being Ace range it’s still a Wild West of abilities. It’s part of the game but I think that’s the hardest bit
Hi Dan, really liked this video since it came from a top player. I'm in my first full season (started late last season). Still needing to get charge TMs to get pokemon with the right moves...and feeling out teams
I've probably played gbl seriously for about 3 full seasons with this being my 4th with my highest being around 2400. I think alot of my issue falls on team building and the games match making. I feel I usually grind a team together and start doing well, only to then see multiple sets where im continuously core broken by random non meta pokemon. Maybe that's just m, but it always feels like after doing well, the game changes the tides against you. Also having returned to the game this spring after not playing for 4 or 5 years I felt it took along time for me to actual catch meta relevant pokemon that were in rotation and not stuck behind eggs, elite tm, or shadow hunts which slowed me down drastically
Hi Dan! Happy holidays and Happy New Years we made it🙌 about your question at the end: besides charged move tm limited obtainability and hard pressed for shadow pokemon on Rocket events; it’s the lack of meta mon spawning. Hard earning Candies and XL candies. Besides having to spend hours and years farming XL candy via walking with buddies 🤦🏽♂️
I’ve played the game since 8/23. Dabbled here and there in GBL and would get to Ace for the dust and stop. Last season I started to “try” or get sets in every day. Hit 2498 with last set of last season. Now I’m 355 battles in with a 55% win rate so I should hit Veteran this season if I can stay consistent with sets.
I have played about 5 seasons and maxed out at 2498 ELO. I play 900-1000ish battles per season. I play mostly for the stardust and just because it is something to do when I can't walk around. I can't be bothered to learn all of the counts, so I only know the ones that I see all the time. I tend to do better in limited metas where I can play out the same match ups over and over and figure out the winning plays. In the open leagues I see too many combinations of Pokémon and movesets and a single misplay can sink a match.
I'm not a hard core player, even less so far the post 4 or so seasons but I've been getting Veteran almost every season since the first time ive gotten to that level. Been to Expert level for about 5 times as well. The thing i feel hold me back from Progressing is that sometimes my teams got hard countered a lot and it sometimes a bit difficult to play out from it; i do sometimes though. I don't normally use content creators team so maybe i should start doing that more and see what happens...
I'm in my first full season and I ended last season at 2000 elo (1974 to be technical, but I hit 2001, then lost the final set 1-4 LOL, and I only had 1.5 months to play in the last season) and I think my biggest two weaknesses are counting moves and knowing what moves certain pokemon have (like I know the main meta moves but I will never forget being hit by a solarbeam licki, or meteor mash wiggly)
For me every season is hard to hit Veteran. Once I hit it I usually stop. It comes around to performance issues, I'm not as quick analyzing as much as others, among other things
This is my 4th season,managed to just hit veteran at i think 2503 or something and im around 2300 at the moment. Need to slow down because im recognizing names and dont want to battle people like, well like this video. Getting the feel for move counts is getting easier, Dont want to count. Team reading and building has been my biggest weakness i think but my roster is filling out rapidly
I've played for 3 or 4 seasons now and max out just above 2500 every year. I know most of the typing's strengths/weaknesses, but don't know all of the counts (and lose track of counts pretty easily during switches). I think my biggest issue is that I play maybe one set per day, on average. I try to get to 200 wins so I i can get the rewards and usually that takes me a little under 400 battles. Could I be better? Probably. But that would require more time battling, and when each set takes 15-20 minutes, thats a lot of extra time playing when you have a family (and ither hobbies outside of the game).
I have done a total of 2105 battles and I have won 1108 but yet I still feel like I have no idea what I am doing lol. I have reached a max of 2000 ELO and I still am learning what beats what. A big part of that was I played the game when it came out and created one of the first Pokémon Communities in Phoenix. I quit approx 6 years ago and am just coming back into it. Knowing the moves and what beats what is challenging and alot of times I pick the right matchup but forget they have a move I am weak to. I am terrible at the counts also lol.
2379 is highest ive ever been. I get types pretty well but i dont count and often lose matches by a fast move or two. Ive won 22 straight before and often get 6-10 game winning streaks. I just cant seem to break through to veteran or higher.
I've hit 2850 for rating as a high point in a prior season, but I generally hit Veteran rank by about the halfway point of the season or a bit later, but my challenge is I'll get crazy frame drops on my Android or make misplays in a game or two which can take a set that easily should have been a 3-2 or 4-1 set to the opposite very quickly. Then I spend the rest of the sets trying to regain rating I either should not have lost or trying to break even on the day.
i usually sit around 1800-2200 elo but yeah im not a hardcore player and only recently started gbl after coming back from 3yr break lol done 3 seasons now but yeah my problem is match ups i still sometimes get confused if i dont battle a certain mon much and i switch to wrong pokemon or whatever lol plus im slightly behind on some pokemon so depends what im up against i sometimes just get murdered haha but its all fun and i still enjoy it so i guess thats all that matters oh and the lag the lag is a killer basicly like every 3rd match i get shafted with a few second lag and it messes up my counting etc
I've been playing since before season 1 (skipped 4 seasons a year or two ago). I pour my heart and soul grinding my sets and spend literally HOURS researching teams (my PvPoke sims and watching TH-cam creators), but I can't seem to get any success... I always get stuck at 2300ish and, at this point, I'm just starting to accept I'm just trash at this game...
I'm sorry but I don't like that top-left. It's weak to stall for a glitch but the only win con more reliable than Niantic incompetence is human stupidity, and there was a tiny chance the opponent was running Sludge Bomb and Stone Edge. I've seen it on here and I've actually run it while trying different spicy movesets.
Want to know what’s up? This game is created for kids and casual players yet gbl is organized in a manner to be super sweaty as if the same people who play league and valorant should be playing this game. That’s wrong, for one. Secondly, elo needs to be done away with and replaced with win based ranking. The top players will still get to the top, but more casual players can still find success and not quit playing once they hit rank twenty. Expecting people to know type weaknesses is fair. Knowing resistance as well is a big ask. Some goes for expecting people to know move counts since there are at least twenty mon in the meta, each with different fast and charge moves. Expecting to know fast move timing, again, is too big an ask for something that is supposed to be a casual game. Also, content creators put out these ridiculous teams as if people have good iv shadows and have traded to get mon below a cp cap. If you give me a team with mon I can find in the wild, I can probably run it with no problem and get to 2400. You give me a meta where if I don’t have a low friend level traded drudigon and I’m screwed, and that’s Niantic’s fault for creating such a meta and the creators for not using their platforms to call out Niantic on their BS.
Well said lol, content creators use the platform to promote buying the tickets, making every part of this game impossible for casual players to keep up, as a semi f2p player I just hatched my first galarian corsola today, I don't think my 15/15/14 is good for pvp😂😂
Never spent a dollar on the game and make legend every season. All PVP games are going to be sweaty towards the top. Proper move timing also isn’t difficult at all. It’s all pretty much the same. Knowing charge move counts is difficult, especially trying to keep up with it during a battle when they are switching out. That and predicting teams back lines are really what separates legend players from leaderboard players
Except 2500 isn’t near the top. If you know move counts and fast move timing, you belong well above 2500. If you know type weaknesses and how to play teams and that’s it, 2500 is where you belong.
Great point. There needs to be different tier rankings or something. If battles ever evolved to a 5 vs. 5 in the future it could make it better but also a longer battle so idk. There needs to be a consideration on the point you made with dir hard battlers and casual battles players. Good video though. Thanks for your time and insight.
:( I keep investing resources to build mons and almost every team has something or other I don't have cuz I don't have one built cuz no good iv ones or haven't been available in a while. My teams do get me 4-1/3-2/2-3 usually but still no really good team
Lol. At the end. You kinda suck. Tell me why you suck so bad dude. Lol. Dan! We are watching you to do better! Please help us!! Maybe dumb it down for us.
I've played every season since season 1 (over 45,000 battles) and I always end up around 2100-2200. The truth is this game is so laggy and cheating is so prevalent that I don't feel like putting in the effort.. I just crack open a beer and am happy to collect my stardust and rare candy. My win % is always just about 50% every season anyway.
Last season was my first season playing PvP battles and I hit ACE and got up to 2200 elo! I had 938/1,795 battles 🙂 have not hit ACE this season but I mainly just know the basics at the moment 🥲
Hey Dan, when watching videos with teams, I feel like it's almost never talked about if the team requires the shadow that is out of rotation. So for instance this team with S-K Marowak. I feel like the biggest of this being Shadow Drapion (and to a lesser extent because it is in rotation right now Shadow Feraligator). It might be a good video on how to determine if you don't have access to a specific Shadow how to determine if you need it to be shadow to have the team work, and if so and you don't have one, how to determine if you can substitute it. One of my biggest issues is team building. I really struggle on finding a team that I've come up with myself, and I've also just stopped looking at teams that I don't have the mons for that I see others using because I've had little success on building the non-shadow to replace it.
I feel this! I don’t have a shadow Kwak or Drapion. You can always make the non shadow work in these teams, you just need to cognizant of the matchup differences between the 2.
Playing a non shadow sometimes feels like a completely different pokemon.
Good point. Yeah shadow marowak is a must
What's really odd is that in Ultra League the Drapion is rated much higher than the shadow. The W-L is bad but it's recommended.
What about maybe Quagsire or regular meta Dragonite evolutions? Those almost have to be shadow. I'm expecting Bibarel to join that.
Would Hippowodon (I only have the non shadow) work?
@@libradawg9added bulk is what makes it higher - in fact as more stat product is added the more the regular is preferred over the shadow
I’ve played almost all seasons of GBL since it came out and was a long believer in the algorithm, so I’d play it just to play it, normally doing roughly 500-700 battles per season and never getting higher than 2200’s. Then 6 months ago I discovered your channel and for the first time ever discovered the importance of move timing. Last season I reached my highest ever ranking of 2600’s thanks to your channel
Hey Dan and thanks for another showcase. As I mentioned my gameplay is rusty since I havent played as much in the end of last season and the beginning of this season. vsthe dragonite lead I really should have won. What I should have done instead of throwing my energy with marowak vs dunsparce is one shield and farm down to throw 2 moves at dragonite.
The cmp tie vs bibarell was just me being curious on who would win that one since I already knew I had won ;)
Did also alow more catches than I usually do but as I mentioned the team has worked out well. Have the last couple of days used it to climb from around 2000-2100 to now being at 2668 ELO currently.
The thoughtprocess behind this team is just having a great core in the backround with shadow k-wak and toxapex with a good and safe lead. Used the same strategy in the past with skarmory + whiscash in the back + wigglytuff lead.
I love the team and I am going to run it today.
Thank you for the submission! Any advice on how to play in the 2,000+ range would be appreciated
@@PortoPaul Well I would say that the 2000 ELO is like the wild west. You never know what your oponent is going to do haha. Just try and stick to the basics and not overcomplicate things in that range I would say. When you get to higher ELO they players will be better but also more predictable since they will do what you are supposed to do if that makes any sense. Good luck!
I’ve been running Dunsparce, S-Marowak, and S-Hippowdon. Triple rock/ground movesets. Bad against grass obviously (instant Chesnaught loss), but things like jumpluff and serp can be managed with the rock coverage. Got me to veteran a few days ago. I might try the Toxapex in the back, it’s probably a more solid pick (but less funny than the hippo).
I copied your team but using the non-shadow K.Wak. 5-0 in my first set. Cool team!
Glad to hear you had success with it 😊@@Jordz3n
This is my 4th season. Last season my highest ELO was 2180. Im finally getting a solid grasp on typings and had the most success during limited cups. Then the open GL came back and I tanked.
I think what holds me back more than anything is not knowing all the match ups. I take the game as seriously as I can, but the last 6 months have been crazy. Hurricanes, work, adulting, etc. Not an excuse, just reality.
I am extremely competitive when it comes to gaming, and ultimately, I'd love to hit legend someday. I know I need to grind GBL to get the experience and continue learning in order to do so. Consistency goes along way and right now I dont have it.
Dan, I love the channel and content and what you do for the community. Even had my work shcedule synced up with the channel for a while. Morning video at 7:30 on the ride in. Later lunch break in the afternoon for the 1:30 vid.
I have decent Mons and always hunting for more. Now I just need to put in the work.
Top tier plays are appreciated, and great to see submissions from such high ranked players, but ngl, I do enjoy the "wth is going on here" moments we get from the not so high ranked players lol.
There is definitely a wtf couple battles coming tomorrow afternoon
I have been around the 2200 at the end of the season a couple of times, playing regularly. One issue i find is as the cups change away from Great League I am less competitive because i can't grind the game to get candy for new meta mons but i want to play for the dust each day or most days, so using suboptimal teams pretty heavily moderates my ranking.
Also, I change my team quite a bit, i find it pointless to grind and build new and interesting mons but then just use dunsparce and toxapex for 500 battles to maximise my chances of leveling up. So there's that factor as well.
I enjoy the content though, it helps guide my team building and the gameplay critiques help reinforce good habits and highlight the not so good habits.
As far as taking it seriously, I would be interested to know what would constitute "taking it seriously". Like you, i'm a father with a full time job so there is an obvious ceiling to my taking it seriously, although i would like to get into some competitive PvP again (more show 6 pick 3 format) in the future as I enjoy the psychological side of that way of playing.
Forgot to add, that i've been playing since about 2019, but took a break over the last couple of years for family reasons, the last season i played alot was the Noctowl-Lanturn meta.
It’s all of the components and mechanics of gameplay strategy and overall understanding of how to put and use them together as a cohesive whole is what I’m sure a lot of us are lacking.
This is my second season now, or technically 1.7 seasons in since I started Pogo and PVP in mid Aug of this year, and I’ve got about 2100 battles in since I’ve been playing a lot, but I can say that I still need the experience of using my Pokemon together as a team along with team reading is what I’m lacking the most.
Experience will teach you that but I also have just started to get typings down well enough that I don’t need to keep looking back at a typings chart that often anymore and can understand and know the weaknesses, resistances and super effectiveness on the fly while playing which has increased my level as well.
I’m around 2100-2200+ but seeing improvement steadily thx religiously watching your videos and trying to learn everything that you teach.
In summary, there’s so many components to PVP that it takes a lot of time and experience to learn how to get them to work together even if you understand some components here and there while still lacking understanding and skill in others.
Why I struggle to get above 2200:
1. Too busy to play five sets a day every day, so I don't get enough reps, and don't have the proper decisions internalized enough to make the right play in the moment in real time. I recognize that I did it wrong as soon as I think about it but it's not instinctive enough to do it without thinking about it.
2. Forgetful in general, and also I often have to play when I'm tired (see "busy"), so I make a lot of mistakes: Wait too long to switch, get a typing matchup backwards, forget how much energy I (or they) have banked, etc.
But I enjoy watching your channel because it improves my game and helps me have more fun, within the limitations that are hard to overcome (and in particular, aren't about *knowledge*).
A shadow dragonite? Spicy, I like it.
The rock slide after 2x drill runs was pretty good too. I'll try and remember that.
And an avalugg? Lots of interesting stuff at the top ELO ranges apparently! Regular avalugg isn't looking terrible though. 112 attack, 142 def, 124 stamina for a 1995 overall stat product. Buffed ice fang and avalanche, body slam, icy wind, crunch, earthquake for charged moves. PVPoke tags it with "bulky", sure it has some bulk. "Fast move pressure" which makes sense since STAB ice fang does add up... but they also tag it as spammy? I guess body slams aren't too bad at 12 turns but we know how much you love non-STAB body slam now. 16/14/16/14 for the avalanches and those would sting but 16 turns isn't really spammy.
@15:55 I'm curious what the opponent's play was there not shielding the morpeko? Hoping to live with a fragile morpeko and get off a move with it to take out the dunsparce and then another move on the next pokemon to come in?
I'm a relatively new player as far as PvP goes. Ignored it the first few seasons of playing pokemon go. As such, my roster isn't super deep with meta pokemon. I also generally only play a set or *maybe* two most nights. I got into this game to encourage me to walk, so I walk instead. Playing GBL while on the streets in -10 windy weather on cell reception doesn't seem wise.
Listening to and sometimes watching your channel has helped a lot, but I also still make a lot of really *really* dumb plays that has meant I generally live in the lower Ace ranks. I'd need to actually focus to fast move optimize and put in effort to get higher and while that is a thing I'd like to do, I also enjoy playing with my cat!
@15:55 top left is in the back 😂😂
Dan jonkus and Yasser have videos out how to fix gbl lag , I can confirm it works , perhaps mention their videos or make your own as well to spread the word
In my third season. Hit 2400 elo at high and ended at 2200. I do gripe a bit when attention gets focused on extremely rare mons because it really does seem out of the reach of most players. But I understand the tension: on the one hand players are gonna click on the vids featuring the latest shiny mon because they are trying to strategize their way out of the problem with good team building; The reality is that it takes tactical precision in the moment, gained by reflexes they just don't possess yet. Agree it's stuff like learning move timing, free switch after charge move, catching, farming etc that can turn those losing scenarios into winning ones, i see players all the time that would win if they knew they should farm vs throw a last minute charge move. It's just difficult to explain, and hard to learn without practice.
One last thing that drives me nuts: the team builder opposition not being consistent! For example I'll build a team and half the time serperior or talonflame is listed as the bottom ranked opposition, and half the time they aren't. So I'll set up a team thinking I've got my bases covered then run into one of those common rank 21 mons as lead and wonder why a slot got wasted on, say, carbink when the top of the Meta is so obviously weighted to mud slappers
I'm normally around 2000-2200 and for the most part I don't have the time to learn counts as much as I'd like. I also like to try and get creative and build my own teams rather than trying to stick with just the meta. I normally do a lot better in limited cups because there's a lot less to learn and focus on
Hey Dan, I’m the exact person you’re talking about at the end of the video. I’ve been taking gbl pretty seriously for about 4 seasons and I can’t break out of ace. I submitted my first video ever a couple days ago at this same Elo going 17-3 with a team. I’m not sure if it’s me being bad at adapting to the meta changing daily or what, but it would be dope if you could at least watch I don’t think I play that poorly, but veteran has been impossible for me. Highest Elo was last season around 2400
As someone who doesn't really care about GBL, I get to around the 2000 elo with no meta mons then play rest of season just for the dust, if the game was stable, no bs lag, would maybe try more, I like to just use mons I like even if I get walked on 😂
The only season I tried in was when swampert was meta, then took a long break, came back last season, I have a very short attention span so hyper fixate on game for a month or two then leave for a year😂
Have you tried the Android lag fix that was widely spread on twitter and youtube yesterday? It seems to work for many players.
Yea I watched the jonkus video on it, I just don't feel GBL is to me a serious thing, like I get all typings and that, and could do better, but I'm just not invested into this game like that, as long as I get to rank 20 and get to the Pokémon appears reward I'm ok, anyways lower elo is easier wins😂😂
Like I'm level 42 don't have azu or dunsparce, like no meta mons at all 😂 what I'm saying is a game that you really don't have many options before you hit a wall I don't find interesting, to climb high you really need good ranked meta mons, with meta mons you have anti meta then the hundreds in-between that sometimes are spicy, and core break but it's rare, my favourite elo range is 1800s because, people actually have fun and use spicy mons, high elo isn't fun, it's stressful, just watch some of these GBL streamers they always seem to have more fun when running spicy picks 😂
Same. Lol. I tried really hard a couple seasons ago and I didn't enjoy it at all. Rather just run my preferred mons and get stardust lol
Been playing on and off since GBL started. Very consistently the last few seasons. I have made it to 2500+ a few times, but rarely much further. I do get what you are saying about understanding matchups, but the thing is matchups are changing all the time. Move changes can make it so you practically have to relearn the meta every season. And there is just so much to know, especially in open GL. I generally get good and bad matchups, but can be hard to know what to do in more neutral situations. That combined with team reading being a hard skill to pick up means I can accidentally put myself into a situation I can’t dig myself out of.
I guess in shorter terms, I feel like the gap from poor to competent is much smaller than the gap from competent to proficient and the amount of time and/or effort to get there is simply something I have yet to be able to put in.
2nd season and first I'm taking seriously. I appreciate seeing both good plays and mistakes commented on. Your videos are my morning cup of coffee and really help me to get my head into the game. Thanks for shepherding us noobs and crappy players. We'll get better.
I am about 4th season or so, and the best I get to is about 2300 and I feel like I hit a wall in which the team I use starts getting hard countered and I have trouble finding another team I am comfortable with to readjust. After getting stomped for a set or two and losing a ton of ELO, it is hard to be motivated to jump back in for a few days.
I've been playing GBL for probably 3-4 years now. Based on the stats in game, I win about 50% of my matchups (12,733 wins in 24,766 battles). I think my highest ranking ever was barely over 2500 but most seasons I peak around 2300. Here's my guess on why I don't get higher:
- Fast move counters like dragon breath that are one or two turns are really hard for me to count - so I just stop usually.
- I struggle in normal Great League/Ultra League because there are too many Pokemon to remember best matchups for. I tend to do wayyyy better in limited cups because I start to understand where my team works better.
- I have a difficult time trying to figure out opponent team compositions unless it's an obvious ABB where they switch out of a neutral matchup. It's a lot for me to try and count moves + analyze team composition. I can really only do one at a time.
- I like when GBL updates moves each season, but then I struggle putting together a team that works for me. I know you love using Togedemaru, but I've never had success with that one. So I usually start with teams you suggest, then play around with other pokemon that I'm comfortable with. When I do that, my rating drops significantly. (For instance, as soon as the Holiday Cup ended this season, I dropped from 2200 to 1700 trying to figure out a good Great League team)
Hey Dan!
I think breaking down high elo matches is very beneficial. We get to see high lvl battles with your top tier breakdown. Very educational
I never have hit 2100 elo. I get discouraged with all the lag. If I actually put work in I probably would be able to climb. I only do about 400 matches a season and normally have a above 50% win ratio. The lag of this game is my personal biggest issue.
I've played GBL for about 2.5 years and made it to the end of the GBL challenge research once. I usually end the season around 2200. I still have a lot to learn and also put in only mild effort on move timing and such. My biggest problems are identifying win/lose conditions and switching properly (timing, energy, chip, etc).
A Lot of what I'm dealing with is essentially getting the top 25 pokemon and their right move set, configuring a team, also the algorithm with it's pairings, sometimes it gives you easy battles but the other hand is shit that eats right through you.
4 season in now. 1900-2400 elo for the past 2 season. Been watching you for a year. The main problem is still awareness on when to switch for better match ups and getting caught. I see those when i lose. But what i still don’t get is when an ABC team is so consistent on getting a 2-3 or 3-2 or 4-1; and an abb mostly gets me 4-1,5-0 or 0-5. The teams just get hard countered and i still don’t have the skill on getting away from a hard counter team. Maybe a compilation of being hard countered video make sense to me. I know thats a tall order tho.
I have been playing about 3 seasons now. My two biggest issues that keep me from breaking 2000 are, respectively,
1. Pokemon selection. Only being active for one year now I simply do not have the Pokemon (mainly shadow) to stay competitive. I haven't encountered enough rocket takeovers but I will say often times I follow these videos it will say Sandslash then I watch only to see Shadow Variant. Match that with the iv choice and I haven't even seen a shadow Cubone since I began.
2. Team building. I just can't stay nailing down the perfect combos.
I am one of those people who have been playing for five or seasons and struggle around 2200, although I got to expert last season (huge run during catch up) and veteran the previous two, but most of my time I lived at 2200-2300.
I struggle with fast move timing (but getting better), getting caught, team reading, and focusing for more than 5 seconds to keep track of counts. I do have some very good pokemon, including for UL, and a handful for ML.
I think the deciding factor is that it’s team comp and then adapting to the ELO meta you play in. If you can’t do that then you/I struggle in climbing at points. If your team gets you to Ace but that team won’t get to VET and then having to change it to another Team then learn that team matches and being Ace range it’s still a Wild West of abilities. It’s part of the game but I think that’s the hardest bit
These battles were amazing , very nice showcase
Hi Dan, really liked this video since it came from a top player. I'm in my first full season (started late last season). Still needing to get charge TMs to get pokemon with the right moves...and feeling out teams
I've probably played gbl seriously for about 3 full seasons with this being my 4th with my highest being around 2400. I think alot of my issue falls on team building and the games match making. I feel I usually grind a team together and start doing well, only to then see multiple sets where im continuously core broken by random non meta pokemon. Maybe that's just m, but it always feels like after doing well, the game changes the tides against you. Also having returned to the game this spring after not playing for 4 or 5 years I felt it took along time for me to actual catch meta relevant pokemon that were in rotation and not stuck behind eggs, elite tm, or shadow hunts which slowed me down drastically
Hi Dan! Happy holidays and Happy New Years we made it🙌 about your question at the end: besides charged move tm limited obtainability and hard pressed for shadow pokemon on Rocket events; it’s the lack of meta mon spawning. Hard earning Candies and XL candies. Besides having to spend hours and years farming XL candy via walking with buddies 🤦🏽♂️
7 seasons made veteran twice it's a mix of my dumb plays, outside obligations, and lag that keeps me from climbing higher consistentantly
I’ve played the game since 8/23. Dabbled here and there in GBL and would get to Ace for the dust and stop. Last season I started to “try” or get sets in every day. Hit 2498 with last set of last season. Now I’m 355 battles in with a 55% win rate so I should hit Veteran this season if I can stay consistent with sets.
I have played about 5 seasons and maxed out at 2498 ELO. I play 900-1000ish battles per season. I play mostly for the stardust and just because it is something to do when I can't walk around. I can't be bothered to learn all of the counts, so I only know the ones that I see all the time. I tend to do better in limited metas where I can play out the same match ups over and over and figure out the winning plays. In the open leagues I see too many combinations of Pokémon and movesets and a single misplay can sink a match.
I'm not a hard core player, even less so far the post 4 or so seasons but I've been getting Veteran almost every season since the first time ive gotten to that level. Been to Expert level for about 5 times as well.
The thing i feel hold me back from Progressing is that sometimes my teams got hard countered a lot and it sometimes a bit difficult to play out from it; i do sometimes though. I don't normally use content creators team so maybe i should start doing that more and see what happens...
I'm in my first full season and I ended last season at 2000 elo (1974 to be technical, but I hit 2001, then lost the final set 1-4 LOL, and I only had 1.5 months to play in the last season) and I think my biggest two weaknesses are counting moves and knowing what moves certain pokemon have (like I know the main meta moves but I will never forget being hit by a solarbeam licki, or meteor mash wiggly)
For me every season is hard to hit Veteran. Once I hit it I usually stop. It comes around to performance issues, I'm not as quick analyzing as much as others, among other things
Is it worth it to build a Marowak if you don't have a shadow?
This is my 4th season,managed to just hit veteran at i think 2503 or something and im around 2300 at the moment. Need to slow down because im recognizing names and dont want to battle people like, well like this video. Getting the feel for move counts is getting easier, Dont want to count. Team reading and building has been my biggest weakness i think but my roster is filling out rapidly
I've played for 3 or 4 seasons now and max out just above 2500 every year. I know most of the typing's strengths/weaknesses, but don't know all of the counts (and lose track of counts pretty easily during switches). I think my biggest issue is that I play maybe one set per day, on average. I try to get to 200 wins so I i can get the rewards and usually that takes me a little under 400 battles. Could I be better? Probably. But that would require more time battling, and when each set takes 15-20 minutes, thats a lot of extra time playing when you have a family (and ither hobbies outside of the game).
I have done a total of 2105 battles and I have won 1108 but yet I still feel like I have no idea what I am doing lol. I have reached a max of 2000 ELO and I still am learning what beats what. A big part of that was I played the game when it came out and created one of the first Pokémon Communities in Phoenix. I quit approx 6 years ago and am just coming back into it. Knowing the moves and what beats what is challenging and alot of times I pick the right matchup but forget they have a move I am weak to. I am terrible at the counts also lol.
This is a really good and balanced nced team. I dont have a shadow marawack, but gonna try my none shadow
2379 is highest ive ever been. I get types pretty well but i dont count and often lose matches by a fast move or two. Ive won 22 straight before and often get 6-10 game winning streaks. I just cant seem to break through to veteran or higher.
I've hit 2850 for rating as a high point in a prior season, but I generally hit Veteran rank by about the halfway point of the season or a bit later, but my challenge is I'll get crazy frame drops on my Android or make misplays in a game or two which can take a set that easily should have been a 3-2 or 4-1 set to the opposite very quickly. Then I spend the rest of the sets trying to regain rating I either should not have lost or trying to break even on the day.
I started in late September, I can’t get past 2300, about ready to just tank to get a chance at 5 star every 3 sets lol
In my third season. I just get to level 20 for dust for now. Im old and haven't bothered to put in the effort.
i usually sit around 1800-2200 elo but yeah im not a hardcore player and only recently started gbl after coming back from 3yr break lol done 3 seasons now but yeah my problem is match ups i still sometimes get confused if i dont battle a certain mon much and i switch to wrong pokemon or whatever lol plus im slightly behind on some pokemon so depends what im up against i sometimes just get murdered haha but its all fun and i still enjoy it so i guess thats all that matters oh and the lag the lag is a killer basicly like every 3rd match i get shafted with a few second lag and it messes up my counting etc
I've been playing since before season 1 (skipped 4 seasons a year or two ago). I pour my heart and soul grinding my sets and spend literally HOURS researching teams (my PvPoke sims and watching TH-cam creators), but I can't seem to get any success... I always get stuck at 2300ish and, at this point, I'm just starting to accept I'm just trash at this game...
I'm sorry but I don't like that top-left. It's weak to stall for a glitch but the only win con more reliable than Niantic incompetence is human stupidity, and there was a tiny chance the opponent was running Sludge Bomb and Stone Edge. I've seen it on here and I've actually run it while trying different spicy movesets.
Want to know what’s up? This game is created for kids and casual players yet gbl is organized in a manner to be super sweaty as if the same people who play league and valorant should be playing this game. That’s wrong, for one. Secondly, elo needs to be done away with and replaced with win based ranking. The top players will still get to the top, but more casual players can still find success and not quit playing once they hit rank twenty. Expecting people to know type weaknesses is fair. Knowing resistance as well is a big ask. Some goes for expecting people to know move counts since there are at least twenty mon in the meta, each with different fast and charge moves. Expecting to know fast move timing, again, is too big an ask for something that is supposed to be a casual game. Also, content creators put out these ridiculous teams as if people have good iv shadows and have traded to get mon below a cp cap. If you give me a team with mon I can find in the wild, I can probably run it with no problem and get to 2400. You give me a meta where if I don’t have a low friend level traded drudigon and I’m screwed, and that’s Niantic’s fault for creating such a meta and the creators for not using their platforms to call out Niantic on their BS.
Well said lol, content creators use the platform to promote buying the tickets, making every part of this game impossible for casual players to keep up, as a semi f2p player I just hatched my first galarian corsola today, I don't think my 15/15/14 is good for pvp😂😂
Never spent a dollar on the game and make legend every season. All PVP games are going to be sweaty towards the top.
Proper move timing also isn’t difficult at all. It’s all pretty much the same.
Knowing charge move counts is difficult, especially trying to keep up with it during a battle when they are switching out. That and predicting teams back lines are really what separates legend players from leaderboard players
Except 2500 isn’t near the top. If you know move counts and fast move timing, you belong well above 2500. If you know type weaknesses and how to play teams and that’s it, 2500 is where you belong.
Great point. There needs to be different tier rankings or something. If battles ever evolved to a 5 vs. 5 in the future it could make it better but also a longer battle so idk. There needs to be a consideration on the point you made with dir hard battlers and casual battles players. Good video though. Thanks for your time and insight.
:(
I keep investing resources to build mons and almost every team has something or other I don't have cuz I don't have one built cuz no good iv ones or haven't been available in a while.
My teams do get me 4-1/3-2/2-3 usually but still no really good team
I really need a good k wak😢
Lol. At the end. You kinda suck. Tell me why you suck so bad dude. Lol. Dan! We are watching you to do better! Please help us!! Maybe dumb it down for us.
Hey
I've played every season since season 1 (over 45,000 battles) and I always end up around 2100-2200. The truth is this game is so laggy and cheating is so prevalent that I don't feel like putting in the effort.. I just crack open a beer and am happy to collect my stardust and rare candy. My win % is always just about 50% every season anyway.
Last season was my first season playing PvP battles and I hit ACE and got up to 2200 elo! I had 938/1,795 battles 🙂 have not hit ACE this season but I mainly just know the basics at the moment 🥲