StrongDonk's Guide To Greatness

Opening Statement

I’m StrongDonk, the Rapidash. Tournament winner and former rank one. When I achieved rank one it made me reflect on my journey as a PAC player. This guide is the product of my deliberations. The target audience of this guide is primarily myself - I talk my way through how I approach the opening, the midgame, the endgame, carousels, itemization and much more. However, it would be selfish to not share my insights on the game with the wider community. Read at your leisure, and I highly encourage you to have an open but critical approach to this guide. Keep in mind that at the end of the day, I'm not spitting facts, I'm simply sharing my opinion as a high elo player. Also, if you are a beginner I recommend not starting with this guide as it assumes some base knowledge of the game.

First things first, Pokemon Autochess is not a game that is entirely figured out like Chess is. We don’t have engines like Stockfish or AlphaZero that can tell us what the best moves are. On top of that the game is luck based, you will high roll and you will low roll. You will win and you will lose. I am an intuitive player. I can’t read code and I can’t tell you what objectively is the best option. But I can, and I will, tell you about the StrongDonk approach to this beautiful and complex game. I have one rule that I live and play by.

“I might be wrong” - Björn Natthiko Lindeblad

No matter the extent of my own conviction, I might be wrong. This keeps me humble, this keeps me listening, this keeps me learning.

The Concept of Wincondition

When you play PAC like I do, you play ranked and you play to win. I assume that readers of this guide play to win the game as well. So - let’s have a look at what it means to win, and the concept of winconditions.

You gain elo when placing 3rd or higher - thereby winning is placing in the top 3. The wincondition is the set of circumstances that enable this placement. It’s your job as a PAC player to identify your winconditions, and play for them. It’s the quintessence of success. Every high elo player does this whether they spell it out or not. In this guide I will refer back to winconditions where I find it appropriate.

The Opening

I like drawing parallels to regular old chess. Chess like many of us know is divided into three stages: The Opening, The Midgame, and The Endgame. The Opening consists of stages 1 - 10 (until your unique pick), The Midgame consists of stages 10 - 20 (until your legendary pick), and The Endgame is the rest of the game. Each of these stages requires different approaches and strategies in order to be successful, so without further ado, let’s dive in.

Pregame

The game actually starts as soon as you queue for a lobby. It's important to approach the game with a sound state of mind. So much of sports in general comes down to your mental state. If your mental state is poor, you will tilt and let yourself down. A game of pokemon autochess is a long series of decision making. What items to take, which pokemon to play, how to position, when to roll and so on. When your mental state is bad, you will make bad decisions whether you are knowledgeable in the game or not. Don’t play hungry, don’t play too tired. It will end up frustrating you.

Another side of the mental game is all about confidence. As StrongDonk I know I can win, I can beat any competitor. I can play meta comps to give me higher chances for winning, or I can play something more meme oriented and less favorable in the meta just to have fun. I like to put on a good song, shake my body and lock in. At other times I'll join VC on discord and just chat. Being cognizant of the importance of the mental game helps me win - and it will help you too. Anyone can win any game. Also, if you don’t get the comp or placement you want - don’t let that spoil your mood too much. At the end of the day we are playing an online browser game, it’s not worth getting angry over. Ever. Nobody makes this point about elo quite as eloquently as Improvising.

“Number go up, number go down” - Improvise

Treasure Town

As we load in we are directly faced with the opportunity to pick a portal. The symbols on the portals determine which region and starter you will be offered. The decision needs to be made quickly. To be honest, I don’t place too much value on the first portal unless I have a pair in my shop that I want to two star. For example, if I have two swinubs in my shop, I will take an ice region to guarantee myself a piloswine. Alternatively, I have decided before the game that I want to play something in particular. In these cases l have a clear idea of what i would want to play, and of course I pick the portal that matches this synergy. I always have in mind that I might not get what I want. The items, the current meta, and what you enjoy playing should above all else direct you towards what you should play.

Round 1- 3 PVE

First of all, don't lose to spearows. Don’t play two ratatas or two goomys. These pokemon are weak beyond reproach on their own.

Now, in my experience you can approach the first PVE rounds with three different strategies.

This strategy is most commonly played. You simply buy pairs of units and field a board that costs no more than six gold. This will allow you to hit the first interest bump of 10 gold. Don’t roll.
Play any eeveelution against ratatas on stage 2. This is strong enough to beat them and allows you to hit the interest bump of 10 one stage earlier.
The third strategy is the greedy board stat. Buy all pairs and fill out your bench. Ignore not making interest. Buy every pair and triple as they appear in the shop. This strategy enables you to play many two stars on your board without rolling, which will save you hp in the opening. When using this strategy you don’t streamline your play. The addpics, what your competitors are playing, your items, and choices of uniques at t 10 will guide you towards what you should play. If you want to learn how to play the greedy board strat I recommend watching Waterelle play on twitch.

Early Items

Itemization is the hardest skill to master in pokemon autochess in my opinion. There is a ton of complexity and it's always changing. It's meta and pokemon dependent. Itemization is also dependent on the stage of the game. Every high elo player has their own conception of good itemization, and they don’t always agree with each other.

Choosing Your Opening Items Like StrongDonk:

In the opening before I have any real direction towards what I will play, I always pick up items that generically work well together. Generally speaking I prioritize damage first. I don’t expect to win rounds when I don’t have the means of dealing damage. Once I have two damage dealing items I craft a defensive item. The ideal items vary from patch to patch and synergy to synergy. In patch 6.9 I love making rocky helmet, stardust and souldew. In patch 6.7 I loved making dice, punching glove and shiny charm. The ideal early item choices will always be fluctuating as the game develops. The game is like a river - ever flowing, ever changing - but still the same.

Here are examples of teams that I like to play in the opening. These are all StrongDonk approved.

The Ghost Game

This set up will get you to t 10 with plenty of health and gold. Simply pick up a ghost t 10 and slowly transition into a ghost 8 board. Lampent will make good use of these items in the midgame as well. The ideal holder of the dice glove combination in The Endgame is Glalie with ice 2 active. Glalie is fast and the freeze stalls. Stall is the name of the game when playing ghost as you buy time for the ghost 8 curse. To get ice 2 you need an ice stone or level 9.

The dice glove combo is also well utilized in an amorphous composition, so look at the addpics and consider an amorph pivot when playing this opening. My ideal third item on the backliner is an upgrade, especially when pivoting amorphous.

Tempo Poison

We all know that poison is strong in the opening. This is my preferred set up. Again its dice glove - I believe in this set up, but i know my high elo peers have their doubts. The thing is that it saves me plenty of hp in the opening and the items play well in amorphous and ice which are two synergies that I believe in.

Eelektross

Eelektross is one of my favorite children of PAC. I just love playing this guy.

These items and water 3 is StrongDonk approved. The water opening is excellent for making extra econ and hitting early evos. When the game offers a bronze dojo ticket I often commit to an Eelektross reroll. I like to play the eel in aquatic, and I will roll at level 6 or 7 depending on the circumstances of the game. For instance if there are good aquatic epic additionals like Inkay or Beartic - or when I have a Gastrodon/Corsola region - it is simply better to roll at level 7 for odds at hitting these pokemon as well as Eelektross. Sometimes I will refrain from taking a portal when I play aquatic to guarantee that I keep region. In these cases I simply play the t10 with the highest tempo - the one i believe will save me the most hp during the midgame. For example I would play Heracross in bug 2 with tank items, and later down the line I would sell it to play aquatic 8 with a fully evolved Eelektross.

Admittedly it’s never ideal to roll for three star uncommons. For the most part the gold investment and quality of the fully evolved unit don’t add up. Three star uncommons have the most value in the midgame, after which they tend to fall off. This means that you have roughly 3 rounds or so before the endgame where your three star uncommon has a high value, given that you find your evolution at all. Eelektross is an exception to this rule, with good itemization this guy makes the final board and keeps its quality throughout.

Mamoswine

Momoswine is my favorite common reroll target. Mamoswine’s cast is very strong and you should play around it. Soul dew and shell bell are essentials, the third slot is flexible - I strongly recommend rocky helmet (especially in ice), Kings Rock, or as i played in the finals of the tourney, Stardust. Play these items on mamoswine and you will find success.

There are plenty of other StongDonk approved openers, and I might keep adding to the list. Shoutout to Charmelion with Shiny Charm and Choice Specs as well as Quilladin with Rocky Helmet and Stardust as valid options in The Opening. The list can be made very long in fairness - so to help you out just follow these principles:

“If you aim to winstreak you need to evolve your item holders”

“Don’t itemize pokemon that you intend to keep on your board as synergy fillers, lest you want to end up in what Tort refers to as jail”

“You can’t go wrong with water 3, ground digging or baby when you lack generic items”

Early Rolls

Rolling is fun. Rolling is gambling. Rolling costs gold. When we roll in the opening we should roll with our win conditions in mind. Always roll with a purpose. Always be cognizant of the odds at which you roll so you find the pokemon you want.

Rolling at PVE:

You can roll on PVE to get three ground mons digging. Be careful to not evolve them as then they won’t dig that round. You can lock the evolution in your shop. I play this way when my mind is bent on playing ground - it’s not optimal. Ground is best when you are served a ground opening - but it’s not detrimental to your game if you roll. You play towards your winconditions, which in this case is efficient digging and early evos. As long as you have your winconditions in mind and understand why you make plays you’re fine. Be careful to not roll away too much gold. Make sure mudkip is available as a regional.
Rolling for wilds at t 3.

Rolling at t 4:

At t 4 after the first carousel you have the best odds for finding common units (70%). When I have a pair of Litwicks and Charmanders with items to go with them, I will always roll to evolve them here. I bank on winstreaking to make up for lost gold.

Rolling at t 8:

If you are playing a common reroll strategy this is when you roll down. I no longer recommend rolling at Gary because the wild odds have been increased to 6 %, which I think is too high. I will roll when I have 5 copies of my desired mon, and I will consider rolling when I have 4. Make a habit of scouting the lobby before rolling to see if other players are holding copies of your desired mon. Mamoswine, Poliwrath, Klingklang and Raichu are examples of solid reroll targets.

Rolling at Gary: It’s usually a bad idea.

Add Picks

During the opening we are offered an item component alongside one uncommon, and one rare pokemon, to be added to the game. These additionals, both uncommon and rare, are strong pokemon. Make a habit of checking which pokemon are added and start thinking about including them on your team. Some of them, like Clawitzer, can determine the outcome of an entire game. When choosing what to add, I think above all else the item should be prioritized first. This is especially true when you are looking to complete an itemset. Adding a pokemon of the synergy you intend to play comes second (in most cases).

In 1250 lobbies you play the same players over and over again, and you learn that some mons are favored by particular players. If you do not intend to play Clawitzer or Dewpider, it's prudent not to add these for amorphous players - and for the kind of players that like to aoe one shot your board. There are others like these as well, but they will change with ebb and flow of patches. I’ve noted down some mons that you should have an extra thought about before adding to the game, regardless of if they come with your desired item or not. Again, remember your winconditions and play towards them; adding strong pokemon that you don’t intend to play gives your opponent winconditions to play for.

Prioritize your desired item first
Prioritize adding a pokemon of the synergy you aim to play
Be aware of what your competitors are playing
Be aware of adding meta defining mons

Uncommon additionals

Be wary of Sinistea
Be wary of Capsakid
Be wary of amogus Dewpiders and Koffings
Be wary of adding Chinchou for Raichu rerollers

Rare Additionals

Be wary of Theivul in shiny lobbies
Be wary of Clawitzer
Be wary of Bellibolt for electric light players
Be wary of Sunflora
Be wary of Pancham
Dont add Bronzor for sound players (check if they got primarina or seismitoad as hatches)

Being Contested

Aw rats you are being contested. Bummer. Or?

There will be times when you are contested while playing Pokemon Autochess. This can feel bad because you will have a harder time hitting the mons you want. However, I want to impress upon you that being contested is not all doom and gloom, in fact - it can be great!

The Perks of Being Contested

Firstly, there is a greater chance of high quality addpics being added to the game sharing synergies with your comp when more people want to play them. Secondly, you will have greater chances of acquiring your desired portals for t 10 and 20.

Being Contested Like StrongDonk

As I see it you have three options tied to three different winconditions when being contested. Choose wisely.

Pivot out of the contested comp. You don’t have to hard commit to the synergy you are playing and being contested in. You can simply choose to pivot out of it and not deal with the lower odds of finding your desired mons. The wincondition in this case is that you save money and find your evos when not being contested.

Commit to an early rolldown. When I visit my relatives in Ireland for Christmas it's first come first serve at the dinner table. The early bird gets the worm as they say. When you roll down before the player who is contesting you, you will find the mons first. The player who is contesting you will have a harder time naturalling and finding evolutions that are on your board already. The wincondition here could be you find Klingklang and Revaroom whereas the player contesting you does not. The downside is an early blow to your econ.

Tempo level - just keep a good pace for levels and you will find the higher quality units before your competitors as the higher tiers become available to you first. For example when you are being contested in ground I advise you to hit level 8 quickly so you make sure that you are the one who finds Rhydon.

Pivoting

I was once asked in Discord on how to pivot, and it made me realize that pivoting is something elusive for a lot of players. Pivoting is not that easy to explain because there is not a single correct way to do it. Nevertheless, if you want to get good at the game it's a skill that you need to master, so I will share a few notes on pivoting.

What does it mean to pivot?

In pokemon autochess to pivot is to change synergies. For example when you are winstreaking with poison and you see that four of your opponents have slammed safety goggles, you need to pivot out of poison. Playing poison from that spot is no longer synonymous with your win-condition because of the opposing rune protection. Another example of a solid pivot is when you see a lot of players in your lobby going for water and psychic, or a lot of soul dew and choice specs in the lobby - to simply pivot into ice. At other times you might miss your t. 10 or t. 20 portal - or you simply see a unique that is strong enough to merit a pivot. Nothing will teach you to pivot as well as putting reps into the game. This is a skill you learn from doing. Don’t be afraid of clicking strong mons and attempting to fit them into your team.

The Actual Pivot

So now you know why you should pivot. The actual pivot doesn’t have to happen immediately. I argue that the pivot begins as soon as you decide to pivot. Pick up mons that you want from the shop and keep playing your strongest board. There is no need to spend all of your gold. Make your way towards fielding the board that you believe has chances to win the lobby. Make sure you keep items on evolved pokemon if you want to win matchups.

The Rolldown

Sometimes, regardless of whether you are pivoting or not, you need to roll down and upgrade your board as much as you can. I will go into more detail on this later. You always roll with a purpose. You should know the odds that you are rolling at and which pokemon you are trying to hit.

The Midgame

Ah, so we have reached the midgame. You either beat or lost to Gary and now you get to choose a portal. Here are some small pointers to help you make a good decision:

Your active synergies during your battle with Gary determine which portal that spawns. If you want it explained in greater detail please read John Rei’s PAC guide.
The portals move anticlockwise. This means that you almost always want to move clockwise to make it to your desired portal.
Items are very strong in PAC. Picking a unique that uses the items you already have will give you an advantage in the midgame. For instance if you have a Razor Claw, Razor Fang and a Reapers Cloth, you can’t go wrong with picking Flutter Mane.

Midgame Strategy

Winning in the opening is a bonus, but winning rounds in the midgame is essential. Of course if you play baby 7 you want early losses after Gary, but other than that, I can think of few cases when you still want to lose rounds at this point in the game.

I mentioned it briefly earlier - if you intend to winstreak you need to evolve your item holders. Items are so impactful in PAC, and if your itemholders in the midgame are a cyndaquil or a nidoran, you can’t expect to win rounds. With all the items you get during the opening and midgame combined - you get 6 fully crafted items in total. Fully itemized, you have enough for two fully equipped carries. The t 10 is an impactful holder of items, likewise is your legendary. However, if you play your items on unevolved mons at this stage of the game with the intention of moving them later - you accept the notion of losing rounds. It’s up you whether you are okay with that or not. You can’t expect a child to do the job of an adult.

Using Dittos

In order to have evolved item holders while not committing to an exorbitant amount of rolls, I use my dittos. The only mons that matter whether they are evolved or not for you to win rounds at this stage of the game are your item holders. The rest can wait for later, but it is a nice bonus if you find them.

What you need to understand about dittos is that they are a resource. They cost 5 gold, and when they are on your bench that is five gold that doesn’t contribute to the quality of your board, nor to the level that you are at. The dittos just take up free parking.

Again we return to the notion of wincondition. The wincondition of most games for me include winstreaking through The Midgame. I want to win these rounds with gold left over for pushing levels such that I am at level 7 when fighting MewDuo and level 8 after fighting TowerDuo. To be at this level requires me to invest the majority of my gold into leveling. But I still want to reach The Endgame with more than two lives remaining. The way I achieve a healthy state for The Endgame is by playing items that go well together on evolved pokemon, and I achieve this by using my dittos and light rolling on good odds. In many cases I will then sell the temporary itemholder and move the items over to my legendary. The itemholder has done its job, which is winning rounds for me during The Midgame. Playing amorphous is a great way of practicing this skill. However, if the wincondition is hitting a two star ultra, it's prudent to hold on to your dittos. Just keep in mind that holding on to your dittos will make your board weaker during The Midgame.

Tempo vs Interest

I assume that the readers of this guide know that your interest caps at 50 gold, at which point you make five extra gold per round. If you are a beginner i recommend that you reach this state as quickly as possible and then slow roll/push levels. More money will give you enough of an advantage over your competitors that roll when they shouldn’t at lower elo. At intermediate/high elo the go to 50 gold into slow roll strat fails. In fact it is in most cases too greedy - your board will not be strong enough to win rounds and you will bleed out during the midgame.

Ways to Mitigate Bleeding Out in The Midgame

Go Straight to Level 6 After Fighting Gary.

I often go straight to level 6 after fighting Gyarados to activate the synergy i’m playing (aquatic 6,

field 6, Ice 6, dragon 5 water 3). When you do this you drop below 50 gold. Most often you will be able to stay at 40, in some cases 30. You tempo to level six when you believe the next pokemon in on your board raises the quality of your board significantly. You hedge your bets on starting up or continuing your winstreak. Again, don’t expect to win if your mons carrying items are unevolved. This includes hatchmons

Roll With the Purpose of Evolving Your Itemholders

This is key, you roll at the best odds for evolving your itemholders. If you are using hitmonchan as a tank, you can roll for a Magmar with rage for damage. Once you have those two you can safely push levels. You don’t have to play your ideal final board at this stage of the game. You simply make solid plays that take you to the endgame with plenty of gold and health leftover.

Dropping Below 50 Gold

Don’t be afraid of dropping below 50 gold to 40 if it makes your board stronger. Push that level, take that evolution. Winning is good. One extra gold on interest isn’t the ultimate wincondition. Getting to t.20 with more than two lives is. You make the money back by winning rounds.

Play the Addpicks

Pokemon that are available as addpicks are both cheaper and stronger than their mainpool counterparts. A Croagunk is stronger than a Croconaw. It’s a good rule of thumb to prioritize addpics over mainpool mons when you can.

Positioning

I’m not a player who is known for positioning, in fact I'm quite lazy. Positioning does matter though. I tend to focus more on my game, playing my best board, making good decisions and winning that way rather than outpositioning all my competitors. However, as Rais has pointed out to me - players are less concerned with positioning and more focused on making a board during The Midgame. You can use this to your advantage and catch your opponents off guard. Here are some basic pointers on positioning:

Generally speaking you want to play your 3 range units in the back, 2 range units in the middle, 1 range units in front.
Vanilite always targets from left to right - put your main damage carry on the right to not get frozen. The safest play is to position your whole team on the right hand side leaving your ranged carry safe and secure.
Boxing your units: When playing normal you box your units naturally to maximise shielding. This kind of positioning is useful in other comps too - especially when you are fighting dark and wild. The three by three by three positioning in a corner protects your backline damage dealer that lacks defensive stats.
Spreading your units: You play this way to make your mons less susceptible to massive area of effect casts.
Hover over your competitors icon to gauge who you are fighting next. Scout them and reposition in order to outposition them. This is especially useful if you want to take down a winstreaker or punish the greed of baby 7 players. If you are efficient and know you are into baby 7 boards that are trying to stabilize, you can punish them by playing a stronger board. Roll extra, slam items.

Understanding Pokemon

To get good at PAC you need to have a solid understanding of the pokemon. It’s always been funny to me that a forgotten pokemon from the mainline games like Chimecho can be the strongest in PAC. Conversely a VGC menace like Sneasler is rarely played and not considered very good. What I am saying is that PAC knowledge is separate from knowledge of the mainline pokemon games, and to be good at PAC, you better study up. It helps immensely to have a solid understanding of stats; both of what they do and what is considered high/low. Compare different pokemon with each other and do not be afraid to experiment. When you know the pokemon, its synergies, their abilities - it becomes clear to you how to itemize and what your winconditions are. This is not something I can teach you, you need to teach yourself.

Walrein

I’ve been hesitant to display any pokemon stats on the guide as these are always subject to change with patches and meta, and I'm not intending to update the guide every time a new patch drops. Be that as it may, I still want to mention Walrein and a few others. Walrein is an exemplary tank and when itemized fills that role better than any other ice or aquatic unit. From ice synergy it receives sp. def, it has 300 hp, and is slow. A slow unit with no dashing ability makes it excellent at protecting your backline carries, it stays in place and plugs gaps where dark units would otherwise jump. Game movement is based on base speed, please read John Reis guide for more detail on that. Walrein has an ability that scales with special defense making it really strong in ice 8. The aquatic synergy gives it protection from poison and other forms of cc that can otherwise be used to take out a tank. Sealeo is not that good of a tank, but Walrein certainly is. I have shown one way that I like to itemise it. This particular set nullifies any crit caster and makes them kill themselves on the powerlens. Walrein with these items is the bane of Hydreigon.

Cursola

Cursola has a massive 16 sp def stat but only 6 defense. You need to play Cursola with rock active or with a rocky helmet for it to be effective, 200 hp and 6 def will melt pretty quickly at the stage of the game when you can acquire it. The itemset I have demonstrated on this unit will make your Cursola very hard to kill, especially as it keeps healing from the aquatic waves. This will give it enough time to get casts off which curse, and kill pokemon. Cursola is very strong and is balanced around that it's hard to get one on your board. Not only do you need to find three Corsolas, they also need to die in battle. When I have items for Corsola I use my dittos on him. When the game gives me a gold dojo ticket, Cursola is a prime target. He is just that good. If you are a real diabolical player you can also just slam a wide lens and call it a day.

Gastrodon

Gastrodon has a whopping 270 hp 10 def, 12 sp def and bis typing. Compare that to Arctovish, your unique pick. I would pick Gastrodon over Arctovish on my team any day.

Launch rocks at the target, dealing Ability Power 40/80 special damage. Raise the user's Ability Power by 25.

80 sp. damage, and raise AP. Both damage and AP scaling scales with AP. Think about that. With the natural sustain of aquatic and this itemset Gastrodon is turned into a menace. I once played it in light 5 with rock and it went infinite. I’m pretty sure if more players knew the strength of Gastrodon, this unit would get nerfed.

Arctovish

The Arctovishish there for two reasons. Firstly to demonstrate that out of all the mons shown, Arctovish is the weakest one despite being a unique pick. Secondly it is there to demonstrate an effective build.

Lapras

Lapras pre nerf was a stat demon with 12/12 defenses and 225 hp available at t10. It is still a great option as a unique, but you need to boost its defensive stats with items or by playing ice for sp. def to unlock its potential. The bis for lapras is quite versatile - in most lobbies, say 70%, you want a Rocky Helmet as it gives defense and crit protection. In lobbies where your opponents don’t build crit, a band bell build is better. Lapras is most commonly viewed as a tank, and its stats and bis certainly support this claim. However, I see Lapras more as a disruptor. When Lapras casts it dives to the enemy backline freezing all adjacent enemies and taking the aggro. It disrupts your opponents play at the price of not protecting your own backline. Because it’s a disruptor you can play a sticky barb build where the enemy takes itself out on it. In most cases however I want the first or the second build demonstrated.

Aurorus

This unit got nerfed, that is how good it is. It is better than any ice unique statwise and its ability does a tremendous amount of damage. I was fortunate that this unit was added for me in the tournament when playing ice in two of my games. Like Walrein, Aurorus is also slow which is great for protecting your backline. Stardust and Soul Dew is on it to get it to cast and give it sustain from shield. Rocky helmet provides physical defense and protection from crit.

Note: Hail got nerfed, but the unit is still very strong.

Torracat

Compare the stats of Torracat to the dark addpics. It has as low hp as the bugs that you get two of, and the weakest attackstat of the lot. Also if you compare the two dark bugs with each other one is stronger, and it’s not Drapion.

Note:

These stats are taken pre Torracat buff in order to make the point that addpics are stronger than main pool pokemon. The point still holds true in my opinion despite the buff. Have a look at the wiki and decide what you think.

Dashers

Most dashers are field units with an ability that allows them to dash to the furthest target and deal damage in an area of effect. With the exception of the legendary dogs/cats the casts are low pp and as such I like giving them two caster items and one defensive item to bring out their potential. I’ve shown different combinations of items that work well together. Note at the Javen build (on the Raikou) requires a high AD stat to work. Dashers provide a team with back-line access and can snipe opponents carries. To gain access to your opponents carries that are protected by a 9 box formation you can try backlining your team, baiting the opponent forward. My favourite build for dashers is the one that appears twice. Also note that any dasher with a flame orb build is very effective against ice.

The epic pool of dashers in field is very strong. When Rapidash, Gogoat, Mudsdale or Floatzel are added to the game you can consider rolling down on turn 16 and stabilizing off of them. Don’t roll below 20 gold as this will hinder you from reaching level 9 and capping out your board.

Ultras

The 2 star ultras are units with exceedingly high quality and you should always try to fit them on your team. An early Porygon 2 can sway the tides of a game.

Understanding Items

Items are incredibly powerful in PAC, and any mon can hold three of them. While it is good to recite what works, it’s even better if you understand why it works. When in doubt ask in the discussion on Discord and SirSmithy will explain anything to you.

The fun part is that when you understand why something works it creates this gap that you can experiment in. An example being stardust and black belt.

These items are strikingly similar, stardust provides shield upon casting while also providing special defence. Blackbelt provides shield upon dealing critical damage. Hippo is a player who saw the blackbelt and thought - this item will be good in wild. Wild has an overlap with normal through Aipom, Lickytung, Raticate, Zangoose and Dodrio. The blackbelt was crafted and combined with razor fang, loaded dice and put on the highest damage dealing pokemon - the legendary. This pokemon received shield upon dealing damage. I have seen Hippo win games with this set up with a Raticate on the final board in 1250 lobbies - which I think speaks to its strength. This type of build can also be utilized in fairy which also has an overlap with normal and benefits crit. To find these ideas you need game knowledge and the guts to try your ideas.

Studying Players as a Way to Improve

An effective way to improve is by studying the games of others. This is common practice in chess, and for an aspiring PAC player I recommend doing the same. Have a particular eye out for players whose style fits your own and take it from there. By watching others play you get a feel for how to itemize, how to play econ, what units to play around and general tempo. I learnt a lot from watching Maz play the game. He doesn’t always play meta, but he is always up there competing with the strongest players.

Strategizing Like Monty Mole

When I showed this guide to Monty pre-release, he remarked that there was more to be written about tempo and carousels. In response I asked him to write what was missing. Monty is a very skilled PAC player and this is what he has to say:

Monty’s midgame decision making:
My main objective in the midgame is gathering key resources for the late game. It's important to judge the state of the lobby in order to know what those are. If there is a board you can not beat late game (i.e. steel when playing ground), you need health. Roll a little, level early, scout opponents and try to out-position them. This means you will likely have subpar items later because more health means last picking on carousels, plan around this. The main wincon here is your bad matchups losing to somebody else but even if they don’t, having a lot of health later gives you time to find a way to beat them.
If your intended board hits a big power spike at level 9, or requires very specific 4-5 cost units to be strong, you need gold. Prioritise keeping your streak (whether it be win or loss) but avoid dropping below 50 gold and evolving units that aren't making the final board. Some synergies like psy and water have ways to help accumulate gold. When loss-streaking consider fitting one of these in. Since you need to get your actual late game synergy in for t19 anyways, consider rolling at t16 to stabilise.
Finally, if your items have subpar synergy or your components are mixed (i.e.2 charcoals and 2 spoons) you likely need specific components to complete a decent build. Losestreaking both helps your economy and lets you pick first in carousel rounds. Plan out a few options for your final items early and commit only once you actually get them. Building items late lets you pick whatever is stronger into the lobby, so be aware of what others are playing.

Personally I would never play for a losestreak past t10, and it goes to show the variety of ways this game can be played successfully. Monty also brings something to light that I thus far have failed to mention, that being the priority order of item carousels. The lowest health player gets the first pick. You will never get optimal items when 100 streaking.

The Endgame

Out of all of the parts of the game, I struggle the most with The Endgame. Countless times I have entered the 20 portal with plenty of gold, life, and a solid board only to go sixth. It’s one of the worst feelings. So, for that reason I have asked other players what they think are the most important parts of a successful endgame. Let's see what they had to say shall we.

Q: What three things do you reckon are most important for a successful endgame?

Swigglers advice:

Post t20 scouting to gauge how much you need to be rolling to atleast secure a top4.
Having a plan pre t20 of what to do in case you dont hit your ultra/s early

enough or miss your t20.

Scouting every turn. Hedging your positioning between the 2 most likely opponents (more important the fewer players there are left)

Swiggler puts a lot of emphasis on scouting. Scouting your opponents is closely tied to Swigglers idea of wincondition in any comp. Scouting to know when to roll, how much to roll and how to position. The second part of Swigglers advice is to enter the endgame with a contingency plan. Swiggler is not the type of player to give up when he doesn’t “hit”. He is the type of player who finds a way to win.

Torts advice:

After t 20 you should have a good idea of what you are working with in terms of money and units so recognizing whether you are playing for a win or placements is the first.
Second I would say is don’t be afraid to spend to 0. It’s the late game at this point and health is worth more than money. A lot of players make the mistake of trying to keep econ after t 20 and then try to roll every 1 turn, but this is too apm heavy for most.
Third would be understanding win conditions and counter play. If you are in a winning position what things are you going to alter or add to the board in terms or items units or synergies to beat the other strong looking opponents.

Straight off the bat Tort recognizes that we can’t win every game. You should play the game differently if you are playing for placements compared to if you are playing for first. Secondly Tort emphasizes the importance of playing a strong board. There is a huge difference in board quality from round 18 and round 21. At this point of the game as tort says “health is more important than econ”. Don’t be afraid to roll away all your gold in search of evolutions. Tort’s last piece of advice centers around game knowledge. What are your winconditions? Find them and play for them. Sometimes it’s simply down to positioning, sometimes you need to pivot from water to aquatic to deal with the ghost boards, and sometimes you just have to hit Rhydon.

Rais advice

Prepare a plan after your t10 choice, you gotta understand as early as possible what your gameplan is and which boards you want to achieve. Think of the best item sets your t20s can get.
Think of an exit plan. You don’t always get what you want, and sometimes you are forced to pivot. In those cases unless you get a very strong t20 that makes you win out, aim for top4 and roll even to 0 to stabilize (in these cases i like a very late legendary pick meanwhile watching what bottom lobby is playing and try to counterplay them to save elo).
Scouting and repositioning. I think this is what makes a very skilled player, winning very bad matchups by repositioning based on what you're facing. You can also save a lot of hp the early rounds after t20 cause people are trying to stabilize and dont think of positioning.

Rais is player fear playing against, his sound boards are the stuff of nightmares. As a player he often opts for a loose streak into a comeback type of playstile where he waits for optimal itemsets for his pokemon. As such, he emphasizes planning and adapting starting from t10. Rais recognizes similarly to tort that sometimes you play for first, and in other games you play for placements. Interestingly, in the games when Rais plays for placements he will counterteam the lowest life competitors to snatch placements from them. Just like Swiggler, Rais also values scouting and repositioning in the endgame.

Tegberen

I’d say staying committed is up there in the top three

e.g

In terms of my playstyle I like to commit early to items, and just click any free unit the game gives me. That means I will often end up with suboptimal item builds, and units that don’t synergise together.
It's important to stay committed to the strat and just rely on your luck to "finish" the items sets on later carousel stages etc. Continue maintaining your tempo to the endgame. If you start greeding midway, it might cost you the game so you have neither of both worlds. Neither the health/gold nor the true giga bis set ups.

Tegberen emphasizes staying committed to your strat. Teg is a player that can play the game in various ways, he is no one trick pony. Whatever strat he chooses, he thinks it's important to commit to it. There is no half-assing yourself to victory.

StrongDonk

Itemization: Have items on your best units, don’t be afraid of selling something to move the items over to a better option. But with that in mind don’t sell something strong and hard to hit like an Aurorus or Beware - these guys are good enough to hold the fort while you pick up items for your legendary.
Countercomping: You need to render judgement on what the threats are in the lobby. Is it AP or AD heavy? Are there any dark players? Do you need cc protection? Always have an idea about what item you want next off of carousels whether that is for countering or adding to your carries. I make a mental priority list that I follow. It might look something like: 1 rocky helmet, 2 soul dew, 3 power lens.
Scouting and Positioning: At this point of the game you definitely want to be winning. Positioning can mean the difference between losing and winning. Scout and position as much as your APM allows you to while also planning your team and rolling. It’s hard work, but winners do it.

If I was asked the same question as the others, that is what I would say. We have now read the advice from various top players (and myself) and we are starting to get a good idea about what is needed for the later stages of the game. A common denominator from everyone asked is a sudden shift of priority to scouting and repositioning. Therefore you should make a habit of scouting post t20 and position for the two most likely opponents.

Before we conclude the endgame chapter, I would like to delve deeper into the points I encircled as important for the endgame. Let’s get into it.

Itemization:

I have consistently been making a point of emphasizing the strength of items throughout this guide. Once again I say that items are very strong in PAC, and your board will be significantly stronger when strong units hold items that synergize well together. In fairness this is a very hard skill to master and I can’t give you a step by step manual on how to itemize successfully. I believe you should be looking at the stats and the ability of the mons you are playing, and use that to guide where you put your items. For example, you are throwing the game if you don’t sell your Seadra when playing dragon to move its adc items to your Reshiram. Plays like this should be a no brainer. Likewise you should be selling your Blastoise to move the items to your Drizzle. Sometimes it’s easy to sell and move items and at other times it feels like you are killing your darlings, but it should still be done.

Sell and Move

In other cases I don’t think it's worth it to sell and move items. Eelektross, Aurorus, and Beware are too good to sell. Their stats are strong enough that you can wait and build a new itemset for your legendary.

Don’t Sell

Countercomping

Thankfully most comps and builds have natural counters in the game. Ideally you start countercomping the main threats early on through continuous scouting. I will give some examples on counterplay to teach you how to think.

Poison, Ice, Ghost

Poison, ice and ghost are CC comps (crowd control), meaning that they inflict status on your enemies team. Ghost curses, freeze, and poison can all be mitigated through anti CC. Some pokemon like A-ninetails and the others down below have abilities/dish (cherrim) that provide rune protect (anti CC). (Be mindful so you get the correct Cherrim dish.) You can also get rune protect by going light 4. Note that if you want protection from ghost curses you want your Safety Goggles on a fully evolved and fully itemized three star so that it gets priority for the killing curse. This will protect the rest of the team.

Another alternative if you don’t want to deal with status at all is to play aquatic. Please read the wiki on aquatic for further information. (Won’t be covered here as its subject to change from patch to patch)

Amorph

This is my preferred set up on my adc (attack damage carry) carry in amorph.

The amorphous synergy provides your whole team with extra hp and speed per active synergy on your team. X-ray is not required on a carry in amorphous because the speed is already very high, and with these items your carry will reach tremendous amounts of speed. I prefer punching glove over red orb in amorphous because I am expecting to be contested. When the amorphous addpicks are in and the angle is good you’re bound to be contested. Punching Glove provides damage on percentage of health which is very effective against high HP pokemon. In other words Punching Glove is a good way to deal damage to other amorphous boards. The main drawback of this build is that it gets walled by Rocky Helmet. The Loaded Dice helps mitigate failed positioning when your carry gets stuck on a Rocky Helmet by spreading damage to an adjacent enemy. When Loaded Dice procs, Punching Glove procs twice.

Grass

Grass is a stall comp with an overheal mechanic. Thwacky itemized with a green orb in grass can present a real threat in a lobby. However, when you play Thwacky you are faced with a certain constraint. Have a look at the board below.

In order to unlock the potential of Thwacky and of green orb, the grass player needs to position in 9 box (3x3x3) position. When your opponent clumps together in a 9 box, there is counterplay in the form of aoe casts. Pads is always a good item on casters as any damage dealt on shield will be doubled. Any comp with sound active,(Thwacky), is a comp with shield. Since we are dealing with high hp overhealed mons, Dice, Glove, Upgrade is also worth trying. The constraint is that you need to position such that you don’t get stuck on a Rocky Helmet if they have one when playing Glove.

Bruisers

A very common build in pokemon autochess is Muscle Band and Shell Bell. These items synergize extremely well together and is the PAC equivalent of what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. To deal with band bell you need high damage burst to take them down before the band gets full stacks. One of the reasons Raichu and Lapras are such menaces in PAC is because they dash to the backline and deal with the mons that are supposed to deal with them. As you can see, crit with razor fang (armor break) is an effective way of dealing with Muscle Band, Shell Bell builds - and if you want to counter the counter, you can build band bell Rocky Helmet. The only way to take out band bell helmet is with high damage casts.

AP and PP/Caster Comps

There are times when you want to counter caster comps - that is to say comps that rely on AP and PP for damage and support. Any comp can be a caster comp, but the most prominent ones will have psychic, water or sound synergy. Sound is a class of its own and I will share a few words on it further down. Water and psychic however can be countered with sp. def. The obvious counter is ice. You can also take assault vest, stardust or power lens from carousels as they all provide utility and sp def. Rocky Helmet will be the most efficient way to nullify any crit casters, particularly when combined with items made from nevermelt ice. A second counter to caster comps is the Ghost synergy. Ghost has a chance to silence on hit and the ghost 6 curse causes the highest AP pokemon on the opponents team to suffer from fatigue. You can also consider slotting in a Haunter on your team with PP items to inflict board wide fatigue on the enemies board. A final option that is less commonly seen is to play speed items with blue orbs as shown below. You don't always have the luxury of picking items nor have the gold needed to find mons to counter caster comps. Your best option in many cases is to spread your units. In the endgame castercomps rely on mons that have casts that do damage in an aoe (area of effect) and the last thing you want to do is to clump your units together making them perfect targets.

ADC, Wild

ADC builds, and Wild synergy gets countered by Rock and Rocky Helmet. Against wild that predominantly have 1 range units you want to position your units in a 9 box in a corner. This serves the purpose of restricting the amount of mons that are attacking at the same time from the enemy while also protecting your backline carries.

Dark/Crit

Similarly to wild you counter dark by positioning your mons in a 9 box in a corner. As far as items go, a Rocky Helmet negates crit. Another effective countermethod to dark is slotting in Rock or Fairy into your team. As a player you should learn the mechanics around jumping units. Priority is determined by base speed, not actual speed. Dark units jump to the enemy that is furthest away.

Capsakid/Rage Strats

To play normally in Capsakid lobbies can feel unfair. Rage is so powerful and can melt your team before it’s able to do anything. But fear not, there is counterplay to this as well, and it's called Shiny Charm. Your goal is to position the holder of the charm in such a way that the enraged mons get stuck on it. As the saying goes: when Capsakid is added, make Shiny Charm.

Barbtar

During the time I’m writing this part of the guide, Tyranitars holding Sticky Barb, Shell Bell, and AV are all over the meta. Thank goodness there is counterplay to this as well.

Protective Pads: prevent your mon from taking damage on Sticky Barb
No 9 box allowed: 9 boxes are Barbtars wet dream. It jumps into the middle of it taking the aggro of everything around it. You need the enemy Tyranitar to target your unit holding the protective pads. The whole build is based on Tyranitar getting monster stacks, it’s your job as a player to prevent it.
AP builds: Rock is vulnerable to AP. In the tournament I used a souldew/stardust build to great effect on a Mamoswine vs Agentavocados Barbtar team.
True Damage/Execute
Ghost 8/Spell Tag
Nickit holding Aqua Egg

Steel

Steel is a burst comp that ignores defenses. The only real counters are Shiny Charm or outbursting it.

Normal

Against normal you need to build Protective Pads. Normal has overlap with Sound and as such has access to mons that put your team to sleep. Rune protection is advisable. It is also advisable to put pads on a caster that deals damage in an aoe to nuke the 9 box of normal mons.

Rock + Fighting

Rock and fighting are defensive synergies. A great way to deal with them is by having true damage on your team. True damage is available through playing steel, red orb, and some mons have abilities that deal true damage.

Whereas rock and fighting are defensive synergies, they lack scaling. Sure they can get scaling from Soul Dew and Muscle Band, but you can outscale them by playing something like grass with Green Orb and Thwacky.

Light

A pokemon in the lightspot is a hypercarry. Only one mon on the enemy light team gets the benefit from the light synergy, and it is bound to the light spot. Light hypercarries can be very hard to kill, I recommend using the same ADC builds which I showed to deal with bruisers to burst them down. However, the most efficient counter to light is playing a Porygon 2 on your board. It will copy the light synergy for free.

Baby 7

Yes, even baby 7 can be countered. But you have to act before it gets too late.

Open Fort the baby 7 player. This will delay the acquisition of golden eggs to later stages of the game when defeats are more costly.
Strongboard round 16-20 in order to prevent the baby 7 player from stabilizing. A baby 7 player has to win some of these rounds while they are waiting for the golden eggs to hatch. This is when they are vulnerable. This is when you punish them. Don’t let them beat you during these stages.

Ground

Similarly to baby 7 you need to kill the ground player before they get the ground monster set up online on a fully dug board. I recommend playing with high tempo to punish the early weakness of ground. Also, as Thomas Wang and Birp showed in the tournament, Bisharp with bis is also good against ground. (flame orb, red orb, dice, goggles)

Sound

This is your best counterplay against a capped out sound board.

As a final comment to conclude The Endgame section of this guide I would like to strengthen the merit of the advice given by the other players. Admittedly the endgame isn’t my greatest strength - however I used the advice I received from these players during the tournament - and as we know I won that tournament.

Misc

Hotkeys

If you aren't rolling with hotkeys, you should start now. Rolling manually by mouseclicking is too slow. Ideally you should also sell using hotkeys.

Getting a Read on the Meta

Whenever a new patch drops, new things are added to the game. We are often incentivised to play these new things by them being quite strong. Have a lookout for new mons, but more importantly look at changes to items. Throughout this guide I have shown examples of stardust used on mons as I believe the item is very good since it got buffed. 10 sp. def coupled with plenty of shield goes excellently with a rocky helmet on a tank. It is sp. def, PP and sustain all in one item. Don’t be afraid to play the new things, and when items are changed, think about how you can make use of them.

Strategizing For Tournaments

Tournaments play differently from classical, scribbles and ranked. Tournament games are a category all on its own and has its own discipline of strategy. This is how I strategized for my tournament win.

Pre-Game

The tournament was announced one week before it was played, and I directly got down to devising a strategy and set up goals for the tournament. First thing first i wanted to reach an elo of 1400. Being 1400 gave me an advantageous seeding where I didnt’’t have to face tournament threats like former champions during the opening rounds.

Practice Games

I made the decision to play aquatic during the early rounds of the tournament. So during the week prior to the tournament I made myself comfortable playing aquatic; I learnt which units are good, which boards win during different stages of the game, when to roll, which uniques and legendaries to go for and a theory for itemization in aquatic.

Early Rounds

The reason I went for aquatic in the early rounds was to counter any player who tries to win with poison or ghost. Poison and ghost are common and effective strategies to sus out players who are not prepared for it. As predicted I was into poison during the first round of the tourney, and you can watch how it went for me on BigWeffs youtube channel.

Later Rounds

During later rounds I wanted to go for something that I know can beat high elo players. I am very comfortable playing ice as I have climbed to rank 1 plaining this synergy. When ice-additionals were in the game I played ice and it proved to work very well. Pre-tournament my feel on the meta in 1250 is that AP is back, and with the nerfs to ice it is less played. I used this to my advantage and punished players going for AP builds.

Finals

In the finals you need to play to win, and I got a blessed ground start with an 8 roll Mamoswine and an Incense dug from my first 4 holes. I wanted to play Ice, but there were no Ice additionals, so I opted to play ground instead. Ground has a very high cap with Ground Monster and with that a good chance to win. I know that my competitors are also playing for the win and I was expecting to fight weaker boards in the midgame that cap out very high late, such as baby 7. I wanted to punish these players by winning hard in the midgame. I positioned my Mamoswine on a fully dug hole and let it crash down on my opponents with the bonus of ground 6.

Tying the Knot

The final pages of this guide are made up of my rants. Before we go there I want to thank everyone who has read this guide. I really hope that you have learnt something from reading and that you have enjoyed it. This project would never have been fulfilled if it wasn’t for my peers. Special thanks goes to John Rei, Monty, Rais, Hippo, Tort, Swiggler, Tegberen, and anyone else who I have failed to mention that have been part of the process of putting this guide together.

Secondly I would like to thank the creators of this game Keldaan and Curry for making the best game of all time. If I didn’t think it was, I wouldn’t have made rank 1, won a tournament, and produced this long ass guide. In my rants I do criticize our devs because you can’t care as much about PAC like I do and not have opinions. However, I want to stress that I appreciate both Curry and Keldaan more than I criticize them. I believe that this game suffers from its own success. This pet project is so successful and engaging for so many of us. It amazes me that Curry has the endurance and willingness to go through idea threads, make decisions on balance, and take all the hatred and complaints of unhappy gamers. His skin is thicker than my own and I admire him. That doesn’t mean that I always agree with him.

Throughout this guide I have shown that I know a lot about the game, but I still think I might be wrong.

Disclaimer - The Rants of StrongDonk

The upcoming part of the guide will not make you a better pac player. If you only care about getting better at PAC, please leave now! For you guys who are still here - you know just as well as me that when you love the game like we do, you will discover that you have opinions, and shockingly, others do not agree with them. *sigh* What follows is the part of the guide where I spill the tea. I will speak my mind on topics concerning pokemon autochess. And you, my fellow readers, will find yourself in accord or discord - or perhaps both. If this is not why you’re reading, then I once more invite you to stop reading now.

The growing disinterest in the game

Among high elo players (1300+) I have noticed a declining interest in the game. I can mention names, but I won’t. Players leave and come back all the time - but despite this fact I can’t help but notice fewer high elo players actively playing the game. As of writing this guide patch 6,9 just dropped, and it’s hard to fill a lobby in 1250+. I believe there are plenty of valid reasons for the declining interest in the game, and by addressing this issue, I hope that positive change will follow.

When understanding the why’s of any given situation which has a lot of differing, but still true answers, I consult the principle of Occams Razor.

Occams Razor: Occams razor is a problem solving principle that suggests that when faced with competing hypotheses to explain a phenomenon, one should generally prefer the simplest one, that is the one requiring the fewest assumptions and entities.

Occams Razor basically tells us not to overcomplicate things, the truth is often found in the simple answers. A simple answer as to why people in high elo are less interested in PAC during patch 6.9 is simply because they are tired of playing pac. They don’t enjoy playing the game anymore. The big eater belt manaspam that predated the patch when writing this, was for many not an enjoyable meta, and even I suffered from burnout from playing during this time. The patch before the normal rework similarly suffered from balance issues with Blasephalon and Togeghost dominating the meta. In the words of Keldaan:

“I don’t care about the balance of the game” - Keldaan

Perhaps the devs not caring about balance is problematic, I sure think so. And maybe you do too.

The Consequences of the Developers not Caring About Balance or the Competitive Aspects of the Game

The thing is, our beloved developers don’t care much, or at all, about game balance. The competitive aspects of the game, which drew me in and kept me playing, are not prioritized. Instead our creative endeavors are spent on gimmicks such as “expeditions”. All the power to you if you love these kinds of additions, for my part, I wish more energy went into making the game more competitive and more balanced. If I wanted expeditions I would play Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. It seems to me that the developers want to go in a different direction than the player base I talk to, and that can be very frustrating. At the end of the day PAC is not a democracy - PAC is the Kingdom of Curry and Keldaan. Their word is law, they make the decisions around here. And just like the kings of old who didn’t know what happened in their land, Curry and Keldaan are disconnected from the way the game actually plays at 1250 elo.

Besides not having the time to play the game, the devs also undervalue the anecdotal “Based on my experience I feel like” type of arguments when it comes to game balance. Everything needs to be backed by numbers, and in so doing, the player experience doesn't matter when it comes to balance. Not in the slightest. The place you can turn to to actually change something in the game is the idea thread section on Discord. Ultimately I feel like idea threads is a hostile place, and for my own mental - I don't venture down that alley anymore. I have been made feel stupid for having ideas too many times.

Winrate/Pickrate

I don’t know where to squeeze this section in, but I suppose here is as good a place as any. I just quickly want to express my frustration regarding win/pickrate. Balance decisions are made around winrate. When something wins across all ranges of elo it gets nerfed. No questions asked. I’ve since the day I started playing PAC felt that pickrate has been misunderstood. In a game with 8 players, when something is considered good - it is picked or crafted regardless of whether it is a good spot for it or not. For example in Rocky Helmet metas - everyone makes at least one. This means that Rocky Helmet goes first, last, and in all the places in between too - making the winrate very average. With such an average placement, the strongest item in the game won’t be nerfed. I believe the same to be true of strong pokemon. High pick rate makes win rate average regardless of the actual strength.

Ways of Knowing

When it comes down to it there are many different ways of knowing. Oftentimes we don’t stop and ask why we know something, and then keep asking why. In science we value empirical knowledge, that is to say that the things we know need to be falsifyable. Science demands evidence. In contrast there is also phenomenological knowledge, that is to say knowledge we have based on feeling. Any faith in god is a phenomenological form of knowledge, and this is not falsifyable, the only evidence is our feeling. Arguably phenomenological knowledge is less valuable than empirical knowledge as it can only ever be anecdotal. But what if the anecdotes add up? What if a significant chunk of the player base thinks that it is not fun to play because grass overheal is overtuned? Or in a big eater belt mana spam meta? Or think it sucks to lose to sound? When the game developers care about balance - this warrants changes to be made to game balance.

Short Term/Long Term Consequences

Short term people will take breaks from the game due to burnout, and lobbies take a longer time to fill. Long term fewer players in high elo will stream the game, and like in one of the recent tourneys, nobody will stream it. When balance is cared for, there will be more content creators, more guides, and more interest in the game all around.

The Burdens of Being a High Elo Player

I’m too skilled at PAC to enjoy playing classic or scribbles. I get little pleasure from what my old roomie (shoutout to Erik) called pwning n00bs.This leaves me with Ranked and JAC (Johnautochess) as my options. Ranked is fraught with tryhards and metaspammers. I can join them, or go 6th playing non meta. JAC is, well it’s not PAC. There is no casual game option for skilled players like myself. In the words of Tegberen this is so sad.

“So sad” -

What it Takes to be One of the Bigdogs

Myth or non myth, it is said that 10 000 hours are required to master any skill. To become one of the Bigdogs you need to play a lot of PAC. I encourage anyone to stop and ask themselves if that is really what they want before committing to becoming one of the PAC goats.

At the end of the day, PAC is highly addictive. You get sucked in, and once you're stuck, it’s not easy to quit. Take my word for it.

The Player Base

“To care about the game, is to complain about the game” - StrongDonk

It is only when you really care about something that you expend energy on complaining about said thing. If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t bother complaining in the first place. And thus, because people on Discord care about PAC, people on Discord complain about PAC. Some verbally and publicly, others verbally and privately. Either way, to be a PAC fan is conducive to complaining about missed rolldowns, game balance, even particular players playstiles are complained about. Hell, I often see rants of complaints in lobbies waiting for games to fill. And here I am, complaining about complaining. For this reason I'm less active on Discord. Or at least I hope I am. I don’t care for all the negativity of others because I have plenty of my own to get around. With all of this said, it's still the community that makes the game. And we make the community. There are no games without players. There are no players without creators. We are in this together, until we move on to greater things.