How to get into Pokemon competitve battling?

I want to start getting into Meta-Game but I really don’t know where to start or what kinds of Pokémon to choose from or about tiers. I really need some help with this. (Please don’t start any hate. I’m sorry that I didn’t get into Meta-Game early on).

Pleaselog inorregisterto add a comment.

Before I answer this, I just want to make sure you know exactly what competitive battles (or the “metagame” as you call it) is. Simply put, basically any battle that take place between two (or more) people is a competitive battle, but they’re almost always associated with the rules and tiers from a site called Smogon that I’m sure you’ve heard of.

“Competitive” battles are different from in-game as they require much more thought put into teambuilding and battles than an in-game battle against a computer does. A computer is just a program, but a person can plan ahead, predict and make intelligent moves that a computer could not achieve.

You might notice that I mentionSmogona lot in this. That’s because they own basically the entire competitive Pokemon metagame. Their tiers are by far the most popular and balanced, but they are not in control of everything. Smogon doesn’t control anything in-game and their rules are not official - you can play competitive games without the influence of their rules and tiers, but just keep in mind that most competitive games follow their rules. For example, the Pokemon VGC competitions are most definitely competitive battles, but they are official tournaments and aren’t influenced by Smogon at all.

If you’re new, remember that it’s OK to lose. Even in the lower part of Showdown’s ladder, most players are much more experienced than you are if you’ve never played competitive Pokemon before. As I said, just practise. It’ll take some time, but you will get better.