What i mean by limit is: Imagine a charmander fully EV trained with the best moves it can have, the best setup! (Reached his limit) But battling against an
average Giratina. Even if this Charmander is the best Charmander that could ever exist he will still have a hard time against an average Giratina, because he doesn't have the stats to compete. So is possible for a Charmander to win against a Giratina? Everything is possible! But the odds are high? No.
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About the EV spreads on situations where is not bad is in situations where the base stats of the pokémon is already very high. Like some legendaries, in this situation it will not be the best setup he could have but will still be more or less on the same level as an common pokémon with the best setup possible. In this situation his stats maybe "enought" for what he need to do and doesn't need to be perfect.
I respect you opinion, and maybe there is one aspect of it that i didn't understood very well, maybe i am wrong and you are right, i am not the owner of the true, maybe i will even change my opinion in the future and think the exact opposite of what i'm thinking now, i'll keep my mind open! But right now, i think the point your brought about when the EV spread being split on various stats on pokémons with weaker stats doesn't make sense, make the math on your mind. A pokémon with the EV being spread that much in most situations woulnd't be able to handle a hit of a pokémon with high base Sp atk or attack and EV of 252 on his Sp atk or attack stat (the one being used). It will be rare a situation where he would be able to withstand the damage.
Also a pokémon having 66 on speed in most situations he wouldn't be able to outspeed a pokémon with average base speed but with 252 EV points in speed. And even in the rare situation where he is... Surprise! his attack stat only has 100EV stats on it because he spread it too much, and because of that he manage to be faster but caused a cute ammount of damage since his opponent actualy has 252 EV in defense stat and 4 EV in HP, his opponent survived the hit easily and retaliate beating your pokémon in one hit because his base attack stat was already high and had 252 EV in attack stat, and you actualy had a "good" defense stat but only improove it abit because of the spread and only had given 100 EV points to it. (Not enought to withsthand the hit of a pokémon with high attack and 252 EV stats given to attack)
So pokémon with average or "enought" base stats with a big spread of EV's, they are limited to being good only against pokémons with no EV's, weak base stats or other pokémons with two much spread of EV's.
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The thing you said, remind me of when i'm playing against other players and i happen to see them using offensive setups Zapdos but with Discharge instead of Thunderbolt/Thunder.
And then it comes to: If Zapdos has 225 Sp atk and his point here is causing damage. Most of the time he will be able to defeat his opponent in one hit, on top of that discharge only has 30% of causing paralysis. Since pokémon games has a game mechanic based in percentage, even a small change of a higher value will be too much. So people running discharge on offensive Zapdos are giving his opponent a bigger chance to live and retaliate, and 30% chance of paralyzes doesn't compensate for that, instead would be more useful to just defeat his opponent already instead of hoping for paralysis. You defeating your opponent in one hit is "problem solved" but doesn't defeating him in one hit on most situations is bad, even if you manage to get a paralysis, he can just retaliate, and in reality beat your Zapdos in one hit instead! ("Problem solved" on his side)
The truth is, Zapdos that are used for offensive setups are better paired with Thunderbolt/Thunder, Thunder by standarth if accuracy is not an issue, thunderbolt if accuracy is an issue.
But Zapdos with discharge, only if is being used with defensive setups or doesn't has acces to a electric move that causes more damage.
On defensive setups discharge is better than thunderbolt/thunder, because if you are running defensive setups your pokémon attack or sp attak will not be that much to defeat most opponents in one hit, and in this situation discharge will be more usefull then because has better accuracy than thunder, and still have the benefit of, 30% chance of causaing paralysis, what is a very useful stat condition for your opponent to have when you are running a defensive setup. And on defensvie setups, in most of the situations, defeating your opponent in one hit or as fast as possible is not a necessity.
But then why most people run offensive setup Zapdos with discharge? Because of the herd effect! most people are not able to see the thing the way it truly is and think for themselves, they just copy others. Is normal and In certain situations is even good, but at certain point they need to think for themselves and see things the way it truly is.
But since herd effect works that way, if is fashionable saying that offensive Zapdos is better with discharge, most people will say that it is, no matter what! (Even if it isn't)
But if the next month the fashion become saying the offensive setup Zapdos is better with thundershock they will start saying that is better with thundershock, even if is obvious that is not! And they will downvote everything that doesn't have thundershock and will not even make sense to explain to them that thundershock wouldn't be a good move for that situation, they will never accept that because they are under effect of herd mentality, they can't see trought things, even if is obvious.
I'm not saying that this is your case ok? Let's keep this clear! I'm just pointing out an interesting fact.
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Everything i said has exceptions but if had to explain everything in it's minimal details this already big text would become a whole book, hehe.
Jan 25, 2023
by
Hórus
