Guide to using trick room effectively?

Question

Format is gen 8 singles
Likely OU, may subject to change.
I would like to know how to effectively use trick room and good Pokemon to set up and function in tr. And any other tips when using trick room. Currently using eviolite Porygon2 as setter and slowbro. Shld I just hv 1?

Answer 1

I'm not an expert on the topic as while I have done this before, I'm not the greatest battler. But I know a thing or two.

First of all, those are some good choices for setters. Another one I see a lot is Bronzong, since you did let me know you were going that low to use Porygon2. Hatterene is also a popular choice. I'd recommend at least two setters, but not more than three.

Other than that, the sky's the limit as to what you can put in a Trick Room team. It enables you to put stuff in that normally would get obliterated in any other tier. In the olden days I'd put a Gigalith in for memes and Choice Band it and call it my sledgehammer. All you have to do is make sure your choice actually does enough damage to the threats you're anticipating.

But, even so, let's look at OU for starters. Perhaps you could put in Scizor, who's fairly slow at base 65 speed. If Trick Room wears out you have a backup option in Bullet Punch, or, God forbid something slower shows up. Alolan Marowak and Tangrowth have excellent offensive stats and pretty poor speed, although Tangrowth doesn't have the greatest movepool either so only use that for memes.

Finally, don't have everything in your team be slow. By no means does this mean make them go hyperspeed, but maybe have something to be able to set-up into it. For example, a long time ago I used Gyarados to Dragon Dance into the last turn of a Trick Room. You have to be careful when doing this, though.

Comments

Bronzong got less than 0.1% usage last month. I'm pretty sure Hatterene is the only popular trick room user. https://www.smogon.com/stats/

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First of all, why are you immediately jumping to the 1800 levels? How many people do you think are that high-ranked in here? How many people do you think are going to consider Trick Room a serious build? Like, it's decent, but it's still a tad gimmicky and you can't tell me the vast majority there don't prefer more conventional team builds. I will admit there's not much a difference between 0.1% and about 1% usage rate, though.

Second, you still definitely want more than one Trick Room user, and Bronzong can fit the role. I just looked at what he had and what his original plan was, and if he was willing to go as low as Porygon2 (they're in the same tier), then I was willing to look that low. With Trick Room, possibilities are opened much further and there's much more leeway for outsiders to roll in.

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When I want to know what Pokemon are useful, I'd rather see what the high ladder people are using than what people around my rankings are using. I trust that high ladder people are more likely to use the really good Pokemon and less likely to use noobtraps. Also Porygon2 might have better synergy with Hatterene because they share less weaknesses.

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Why is Porygon2 so low? Because of its reliance on eviolite? Porygon2 doesn't have very good defensive typing imo but other than that it's pretty tanky, can recover, and has good utility.

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Porygon2 is usually outclassed by Chansey.

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Fair, but Porygon2 can be used to set the Room up as well as its normal duty which Chansey could do better.