Part 1: Introduction, Mechanic and AI
Greetings and welcome on this article focused on the latest iteration of Pokemon post-game Battle Facilities: the BATTLE TREE!
After beating the Elite 4, Poni Plains finally become accessible, and after beating Dexio and getting the ability to use Mega Evolution, the player is finally asked to confront Red or Blue (it's possible to choose either with no difference outside of the Pokemon used) in order to gain access to the facility. The Battle Tree reintroduces most mechanics we are familiar with from the ORAS Battle Maison, however reducing the amount of modes available to the player due to Triples and Rotation battles not being present at all in Sun/Moon. In similar fashion to other "first set of titles" of previous gens, there's no Tutors available for BPs (they are however available in UltraSun and UltraMoon), but several evolutionary items, held combat items, and Mega Stones are available for buying. The character which enables IV checking is also present at the facility, and will enable IV checking from the PC after the player has hatched 20 Eggs and talks with him.
Victories in any mode will award the player with Batte Points (or BPs) that can be used either at the nearby vendors or the Royale Dome to buy items. In Normal battles, the player will get 1 BP per victory upwards to 10, then 2 BP per victory in battles up to the 20, and a final bonus of 20 for beating the Legend. In Super battles, the player will receive 2 BP for battles 1-10, 3 for battles 11-20, 4 for battles 21-30, 5 for battles 31-40, 6 for battles 41-50, a bonus of 50 BPs for beating the Battle Legend at 50, and 7 BP per victory afterward.
The Battle Tree allows the player to challenge the AI in Singles, Doubles, and Multi Battles, the latter also allowing to play with any AI Trainer beaten in the other 2 modes if you choose to invest 10 BP in "recruiting" them. In similar fashion to Maison, the player is asked to complete the normal mode before being allowed into the Super mode of a category, once more having to win 20 battles in a row and then face a easier version of the "Battle Legend", in this case Red for Singles, Blue for Doubles, and both at same time for Multis at the 20th battle. Red will also gift the Kanto starters' Mega Stones once beaten for the first time in Singles. The difficulty, however, is considerably higher compared to previous battle facilities, as enemy Trainers will have access to Z-Crystals and eventually Mega Stones and legendary Pokemon, with the only actual roster advantage for the player being access to the Tapus and Ultra Beasts that the AI does not have in any set.
[note for HTML editing: the following section would greatly benefit for readability if put on some tables rather than a list]
Every time a streak ends (to loss or retreat), the following day you will be rewarded with the following prizes, depending on how many battles in a row you went through before the ending.
There's also 3 vendor NPCs on the left, which can trade your Battle Points for evolutionary items, important battle items, or Mega Stones.
Specifically, you can get the following evolutionary items from the first vendor:
The second vendor will offer the following equippable items:
And the third vendor will offer all the Mega Stones for the Pokemon present in the base Alolan Pokédex for 64 BPs, or all the Mega Stones except Diancite if playing on UltraSun or UltraMoon.
BATTLE TREE MECHANICS
In this section, we'll cover on the rules used by the facility. Those rules affect both the player and the AI.
First, a quick rundown of what is allowed to be used on Battle Tree.
1) Pokemon allowed
The Battle Tree allows the use of the entire Pokedex, excluding Mythical Pokemon, Mewtwo, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Xerneas, Yveltal, Zygarde, Necrozma, and the Cosmog evolutive line. In fact, several post-40 victories AI trainers will feature several legendaries if not mono-legendary team compositions, while also featuring Mega Evolutions occasionally, so the player has to keep in mind that using suboptimal Pokemon will inevitably result in a pure power disadvantage once the first easy AI sets are left behind. As usual, the Species Clause is active, so your team must feature up to 6 Pokemon with different Pokedex number.
2) Items allowed
Every item available is allowed on the Tree, with the usual Item Clause (a team cannot have item duplicates). It's worth mentioning that while the AI Trainers are coded to respect the Item Clause, there's still the possibility of an AI trainer generating with several Mega Stones or Z-Crystals, resulting effectively in Pokemon generated with items they will not be able to use. Consumable items are not consumed on use, nor is using Fling, Thief, or similar mechanics permament, since the Facility replicates PvP mechanics. Note that the Item Clause applies to the entire team box submitted, even Pokemon that are in the team but not selected to be used, so you are not able to register a box with two Pokemon holding the same item even if you only intend to use one at time.
3) Moves/Abilities allowed
Differently from what one might be used to by playing on Showdown, there's no actual ruleset in regard to how moves are used. You can put as many Pokemon to sleep as you wish, evasion and OHKO moves are allowed, and Smeargle can essentially be run with any move existent in the game. The same goes for abilities; all abilities are allowed, including the usually competitively banned Moody, Snow/Sand Veil, and even unreleased ones. The AI can in fact generate with unreleased abilities (currently, the only ones being the Hidden Abilities of Oranguru, Passimian, and Heatran), and there's a few AI sets that do run items not available in the current games (such as Custap and Enigma Berries).
4) Pokemon levels
Also a returning feature from the latest facilities, all the Pokemon in the player's team will be temporarily downleveled to 50, even if normally they could not exist below that level as they evolve later. However, they are not leveled up to 50, so any Pokemon below 50 will remain at that level.
The way the player selects Pokemon in Battle Tree is identical to Battle Spot and VGC: you are asked to enter with a selected team that fits the Clauses (either one of the saved teams, a QR team, or your party), and select 3 for Singles, 4 for Doubles, 2 for Multis. For Multi Battles, the Clauses are applied per Trainer, which means the 2 Trainers (valid for both AI and players) can have duplicated Pokemon, duplicated items, and as well use one Mega Evolution and Z-Move each if they so please. Once your Party is selected, you will continue to battle with it in same order until you either decide to take a break or lose. Taking a break has no effect on the ongoing streak, so you are allowed to freely swap things around in between battles if you decide so, and even change your partner for Multi Battles. You are also allowed to Scout the Trainer you just beat to use in Multi Battle with AI for 10 BP, and it will use the first 2 Pokemon it had in that specific battle (so the lead + the 2nd Pokemon if it was Singles, or the two leads if it was Doubles).
Every AI Trainer has a fixed set of Pokemon to access, with the IVs depending on the number of current battles. The Pokemon that the Trainer is generated with are completely random and vary each time you battle them, so for Trainers with particularly big rosters, every battle will likely be different from the others. Most Trainers also feature several sets of the same Pokemon, which means it's uncertain which set the Pokemon is running until it either reveals a move or the item equipped. The abilities the AI Pokemon are generated with is also random, with 33% chance for each ability including the Hidden Ability. A Pokemon that only has a normal ability and a Hidden one will have 66% chance to generate with the normal ability and 33% to have its Hidden Ability. However, if you Scout a Trainer, his Pokemon will always have the abilities they had at the moment of the recruitment when used in a later Multi battle.
AI TRAINERS GENERATION AND RANDOMNESS
Before going into the details of how the AI chooses what to do, a little emphasis must be given to the biggest cause of frustration and "cheat impression" from Battle Tree: randomness. As it can be understood from the previous paragraph, a lot about what you will be facing will be randomly generated. Pokemon will have random sets, random abilities, and are also not 100% predictable. When facing a Pokemon, you should also be wary of what movesets and stat spread each specific Trainer can carry, as well as the possible items it can have and what abilities the Pokemon has access to if they are not revealed istantly by a screen message (like Intimidate or Pressure).
1) AI Pokemon IV, EV, Natures, and Abilities
In contrast with the random nature of the rest of the Pokemon generation, all sets have already fixed EVs and Nature. The IVs are also fixed, but they are based on the Trainer you are facing rather than tied to the specific set. It is important to note that this includes Pokemon designed around the usage of Trick Room (usually very slow with a nature that reduces Speed), which results in those Pokemon having Speed IVs higher than 0, so if you are running correct spreads your Pokemon of same speed tier will be always underspeeding them outside of the rare Iron Ball sets. The IVs for the AI will progressively increase as you progress through the facility. While it is not perfectly omogeneous, the enemy IVs will start at 19 in Super Battles, then will eventually hit 23, 27 and finally 31 IV once you reach the Trainers that appear only past battle 40. As mentioned in the previous chapter, the Ability every Pokemon gets is random between the ones available, with 66% chance to have a normal ability and 33% to have its Hidden Ability. This also occasionally leads to weird bad sets where, for example, a Guts or Poison Heal Pokemon holding a Toxic Orb is generated without the needed ability, ending up only harming itself. To balance out situations like those, several sets that are based on a specific ability of the Pokemon also have a "Backup plan": for example, the sets that rely on a combination of Sturdy and Metal Burst or Endeavour will also often feature a Focus Sash as equipped item, and sets reliant on weather will often also have access to the related weather setting move.
2) Team generation
Every time a new Trainer is generated, the game picks one of the Trainers available for the number of battle you are at, then picks the required amount of Pokemon from its team one by one making sure that the Clauses are respected. Since those are all the conditions for creating the enemy team, the AI can generate with teams that do not synergize, or even Pokemon that harm each other in some cases, as well as have perfectly synergic compositions if the dice rolls are favorable. Some Trainers have dedicated teams who are guaranteed to synergize, often Weather or Trick Room based, while others have a very big roster of different Pokemon to pick from, resulting in very unpredictable compositions to face.
3) Apparently unpredictable AI behaviours
There are instances which will often create confusion or frustration for the player, with apparently inconsistent behavior by the AI. As your streak continues, you will inevitably witness odd actions such as consecutive uses of Protect, weird Pokemon swaps, using resisted or nullified moves while clearly superior alternatives exist, and so on. Typically, the AI prioritizes moves based on power and effect (accuracy is not a factor considered), but the move selection is based on a potentially weighted roll, so expecially in situations where there's no guaranteed OHKO, there's a significant chance for the AI to not select the highest damage attack. It's these instances you'll notice the AI selecting suboptimal moves which merely inflict any kind of damage or status, unlike the choices a person might make. In Doubles, they may not select the most obvious target for their attacks either. The AI may also switch one of its active Pokemon with one from its backline in order to resist the last attack that connected, to absorb it with an immunity, or to circumvent move-locking into a ineffective move. If a swap into a resistance is performed, the incoming Pokemon will also have a move that can hit your active Pokemon for supereffective damage.
AI BEHAVIOUR: ATTACK PRIORITY, RECOGNITION AND COMMON CHOICES
Even though the AI is generally never fully predictable, there are a few events that appear to have higher priority, which can allow you to have a general idea of what will happen. It's still important that even if such events have a higher chance to happen, , the AI can still do something else, so do not act blindly and always ponder your actions before clicking on the DS screen, expecially late in the streak where an error can easily turn in a loss and streak drop. Note that several of those behaviours are limited to Doubles/Multis since they are triggered by interaction of multiple Pokemon.
Part 1: AI move selection priority and common behaviours
- Setup moves
Most AI sets that are based on boosting moves tend to attempt to set up until a certain breakpoint before committing to attack. For moves that buff several stats like Quiver Dance and Dragon Dance, the breakpoint looks like either outspeeding your Pokemon or being able to OHKO them. Several Stockpile+Rest/Roost users will usually attempt to reach 2 stacks and then heal up if needed, occasionally going to 3 if not damaged. Other boosting moves aren't as consistent and cannot be predicted reliably.
- Weather and Terrains
If an AI set is running a Weather or Terrain setting move and the specific Weather or Terrain is not up, the AI generally priorizes setting it up if there's no option to OHKO an active enemy right away. This also occasionally leads to funny interactions of AI Pokemon in Doubles taking turns setting different Weathers, often Sandstorm and Rain since a lot of Trick Room specialists run both slow Rain setters and some Sand setters.
It's worth mentioning that most Drizzle, Drought, Sand Stream and Snow Warning Pokemon also have the dedicated Weather setting move in their movesets to artificially balance out the chance of not having the necessary Ability, with the notable exception of Aurora Veil users who do not have direct access to Hail themselves aside from Alolan Ninetales' Hidden Ability.
- Speed control
Moves that affect Speed such as Tailwind and Icy Wind are very high in the priority list for the AI. Tailwind nearly always is set anytime is not up and Trick Room is not active, and Icy Wind is generally spammed by the Pokemon who have it, expecially in Doubles where the AI priorizes spread moves. Trick Room is also usually priorized if your active Pokemon are faster than both the AI's, and occasionally the AI might try to revert Trick room if it is active and your active Pokemon are slower than their. Note that in case the AI threatens a KO that turn, a Trick Room setter can still choose to go for the attack instead. It is important to note that if two Trick Room setters are active at same time for the AI, they will never try to Trick Room at same time, one will always use another move instead.
- Phazing
Moves that will force a swap (Roar, Whirlwind, Dragon Tail) have high priority for the AI if your Pokemon have boosts active. While they aren't particularly dangerous on their own outside of denying your boosts, it is important to keep track of phazing spam when the AI happens to have had the chance to setup the occasional entry hazard or you are relying on setup moves. Take advantage of the negative priority of those moves to use Taunt or take out the Pokemon before it can become a issue.
- Paralysis and Sleep
Status inducing moves are very high on the priority list for the AI, expecially Paralysis since it doubles as status and speed control. If a set runs those, you can be expecting it will be attempting to status you first unless your active Pokemon is immune to it. Most sets featuring Hypnosis also have Zoom Lens or Wide Lens as equipped item to patch up the low accuracy. Will-o-Wisp is usually priorized if your active Pokemon have high Attack, while Toxic does not look like having a particularly high priority instead.
- Damage over accuracy
While the AI appears to be able to calculate when it can OHKO your Pokemon, it does not factor in the accuracy of the moves. As result it often will go for a high damage supereffective Focus Blast, rather than secure a KO with a Psychic. While you can't realistically always plan ahead of the move selection, a 4x weakness is a nearly guaranteed move selection, and the AI ignoring the possibility of missing high damage moves can definitely cause some lucky misses for you.
- Fake Out (and Fling flinches)
If a Pokemon has Fake Out, it will use it the first turn the Pokemon is out, unless something prevents it from happening (Ghost Immunity, Psychic Terrain, but the ability Inner Focus does not prevent the AI from trying). There are also a few Ambipom, Infernape and Weavile sets that have Fake Out and Fling with an item that causes Flinch, on top of U-Turn or Thief, resulting in one of your Pokemon essentially being forced to skip two turns (or more), while watching the enemy steal your item and get away with it.
- Priority on low HP
If one of your Pokemon is at very low HP, expecially due to a Focus Sash or Sturdy, and the AI has access to a priority move, it will generally use it the turn after. Consider using Protect, swapping, and if playing Doubles plan your other Pokemon's action in order to not give give a completely free KO.
- Stall sets
Some sets run a completely stall oriented moveset: usually a damage over time move (Toxic, Leech Seed, Sandstorm, Hail, Wrap) as well as a mix of Stockpile, Substitute, Protect, Double Team, Leftovers, Recover, and similar moves or items. There's a large number of AI Pokemon with this kind of moveset, with many variations, and their general behaviour is to alternate the damage over time move to Protect or Substitute, and setting up their defensive or evasion boosts every now and then, occasionally even chaining several Protect uses in a row.
- Sending in Pokemon with supereffective coverage
When you beat an enemy Pokemon or a swap is forced and the AI has still multiple Pokemon in the back, the AI will priorize sending in the Pokemon with the highest damage potential. When a new Pokemon is sent out you are usually facing 2 possibilities: it is the Pokemon with the highest damage potential against your current active Pokemon, or if it does not have any super effective attack, it means the AI has no other super effective to use.
Part 2: Moves and abilities the AI does and does not recognize
- Encore
If a AI Pokemon is Encored on a status, setting or move you are immune to, it will generally either switch the following turn, or use the move once, fail and switch out turn after if still possible. If a Pokemon is Encored in a setup move, however, it might keep using it up to 3 times and possibly swap out after 2 or 3 uses if Encore is still active.
- Taunt
The AI will generally not swap out if Taunted if the Pokemon has at least one usable move. Pokemon forced to Struggle because of Taunt will occasionally not swap out, and sometimes will just KO themselves.
- Substitute and status moves
While the AI will still try to status a Substitute every now and then, but it will usually stop after one failure, unless the specific set only carryes status moves.
- Misty Terrain
The AI does not properly recognize Misty Terrain. Moves that have both a damage and status component like Nuzzle, as well as occasionally Swagger and Flatter, do not trigger the immunity message and the AI can attempts to use them despite the immunity to the status provided by the terrain, giving you free turns and even free boosts. Fliers/Levitaters are often the ones not recognizing the presence of Misty Terrain and attempt to use status moves despite the immunity message, expecially most Rotom variants who carry one or two status moves. Note that this does not happen for Rest: the AI will never attempt to use Rest if affected by Misty Terrain (as well as by Electric Terrain).
- Lightning Rod, Storm Surge and Levitate
Differently from Misty Terrain, the AI does recognize those abilities, and will stop using moves that trigger them, or swap their Pokemon if they don't have any usable move left due to those abilities. In fact, it can use those against you by occasionally swapping their Pokemon with one of them that can absorb or redirect your last attack.
Part 3: Doubles and Multi Battle special interactions
- Spread moves
Differently from Singles, the AI loves to priorize spread moves in Doubles. If one of your Pokemon is weak to a spread move and single target ones will not pick a OHKO, generally the AI will go for the spread option. Occasionally not caring if this hits his own partner.
- Explosion
The AI use of Explosion is generally inconsistent, and while the AI will often commit to it first turn, sometimes it will wait or not use it at all. Being matched with a partner which will be immune to it, the Pokemon or its partner being low enough that it'll potentially die the same turn, and not having any super effective option to use usually trigger the usage. Do note that one Lickilicky set carries a Normalium-Z with Explosion, and the AI will always use it before Explosion.
- Earthquake, Sludge Wave, Discharge and Surf
The AI likes using Earthquake anytime the other active Pokemon is a Flying-type or Levitater. If this combination happens (in fact, several trainers have rosters that cause it to happen) the Earthquake sequence is nearly guaranteed. This is also somewhat applicable to Surf matched with Water Absorb, Storm Drain, and Discharge with Ground-type Pokemon or Lightning Rod and Volt Absorb, the rare Sludge Wave sets when matched with Steel-types, and Explosion while matched with a Ghost-type. The rare Telepathy Pokemon also contribute to activate this mechanic.
- Wide Guard
The AI is not coded to play around Wide Guard. It does not use it reactively if it is available (rather, often uses it even if you are not using any spread attack), and does not react to you using Wide Guard either. Combined the AI giving priority to spread moves in Doubles, and several AI sets only running spread moves, Wide Guard can completely deny certain sets if used correctly.
- Protect with Spread moves
Even though Protect usage is not consistent and generally not predictable, there's a few situations in Doubles where the AI decides to Protect, usually when matched with a spread attack user. If the situation is favorable to using a spread move, you can often expect the other Pokemon to Protect that turn, but it rarely attempts to double Protect in those situations. Despite this, there's an interesting interaction that causes the AI to Protect even if it's immune to the partner's spread move due to typing or ability.
Greetings and welcome on this article focused on the latest iteration of Pokemon post-game Battle Facilities: the BATTLE TREE!
After beating the Elite 4, Poni Plains finally become accessible, and after beating Dexio and getting the ability to use Mega Evolution, the player is finally asked to confront Red or Blue (it's possible to choose either with no difference outside of the Pokemon used) in order to gain access to the facility. The Battle Tree reintroduces most mechanics we are familiar with from the ORAS Battle Maison, however reducing the amount of modes available to the player due to Triples and Rotation battles not being present at all in Sun/Moon. In similar fashion to other "first set of titles" of previous gens, there's no Tutors available for BPs (they are however available in UltraSun and UltraMoon), but several evolutionary items, held combat items, and Mega Stones are available for buying. The character which enables IV checking is also present at the facility, and will enable IV checking from the PC after the player has hatched 20 Eggs and talks with him.
Victories in any mode will award the player with Batte Points (or BPs) that can be used either at the nearby vendors or the Royale Dome to buy items. In Normal battles, the player will get 1 BP per victory upwards to 10, then 2 BP per victory in battles up to the 20, and a final bonus of 20 for beating the Legend. In Super battles, the player will receive 2 BP for battles 1-10, 3 for battles 11-20, 4 for battles 21-30, 5 for battles 31-40, 6 for battles 41-50, a bonus of 50 BPs for beating the Battle Legend at 50, and 7 BP per victory afterward.
The Battle Tree allows the player to challenge the AI in Singles, Doubles, and Multi Battles, the latter also allowing to play with any AI Trainer beaten in the other 2 modes if you choose to invest 10 BP in "recruiting" them. In similar fashion to Maison, the player is asked to complete the normal mode before being allowed into the Super mode of a category, once more having to win 20 battles in a row and then face a easier version of the "Battle Legend", in this case Red for Singles, Blue for Doubles, and both at same time for Multis at the 20th battle. Red will also gift the Kanto starters' Mega Stones once beaten for the first time in Singles. The difficulty, however, is considerably higher compared to previous battle facilities, as enemy Trainers will have access to Z-Crystals and eventually Mega Stones and legendary Pokemon, with the only actual roster advantage for the player being access to the Tapus and Ultra Beasts that the AI does not have in any set.
[note for HTML editing: the following section would greatly benefit for readability if put on some tables rather than a list]
Every time a streak ends (to loss or retreat), the following day you will be rewarded with the following prizes, depending on how many battles in a row you went through before the ending.
5 Wins: Moomoo Milk
10 Wins: PP Up
20 Wins: Rare Candy
30 Wins: Bottle Cap
40 Wins: PP Max
50 Wins: Ability Capsule (Gold Bottle Cap in USUM)
100 Wins: Lansat Berry
200 Wins: Starf Berry
10 Wins: PP Up
20 Wins: Rare Candy
30 Wins: Bottle Cap
40 Wins: PP Max
50 Wins: Ability Capsule (Gold Bottle Cap in USUM)
100 Wins: Lansat Berry
200 Wins: Starf Berry
There's also 3 vendor NPCs on the left, which can trade your Battle Points for evolutionary items, important battle items, or Mega Stones.
Specifically, you can get the following evolutionary items from the first vendor:
King's Rock 32BP
Deep Sea Tooth 32BP
Deep Sea Scale 32BP
Dragon Scale 32BP
Up-Grade 32BP
Dubious Disc 32BP
Protector 32BP
Electirizer 32BP
Magmarizer 32BP
Reaper Cloth 32BP
Whipped Dream 32BP
Sachet 32BP
Deep Sea Tooth 32BP
Deep Sea Scale 32BP
Dragon Scale 32BP
Up-Grade 32BP
Dubious Disc 32BP
Protector 32BP
Electirizer 32BP
Magmarizer 32BP
Reaper Cloth 32BP
Whipped Dream 32BP
Sachet 32BP
Toxic Orb 16BP
Flame Orb 16BP
Iron Ball 16BP
Ring Target 16BP
White Herb 32BP
Mental Herb 32BP
Power Herb 32BP
Focus Sash 32BP
Air Balloon 32BP
Red Card 32BP
Eject Button 32BP
Weakness Policy 32BP
Choice Band 48BP
Choice Specs 48BP
Choice Scarf 48BP
Life Orb 48BP
Rocky Helmet 48BP
Assault Vest 48BP
Safety Goggles 48BP
Terrain Extender 48BP
Protective Pads 48BP
Flame Orb 16BP
Iron Ball 16BP
Ring Target 16BP
White Herb 32BP
Mental Herb 32BP
Power Herb 32BP
Focus Sash 32BP
Air Balloon 32BP
Red Card 32BP
Eject Button 32BP
Weakness Policy 32BP
Choice Band 48BP
Choice Specs 48BP
Choice Scarf 48BP
Life Orb 48BP
Rocky Helmet 48BP
Assault Vest 48BP
Safety Goggles 48BP
Terrain Extender 48BP
Protective Pads 48BP
Specifically, Gengarite, Scizorite, Pinsirite, Aerodactylite, Lucarionite, Kangaskhanite, Gyaradosite, Absolite, Alakazite, Garchompite, Sablenite, Metagrossite, Sharpedonite, Slowbronite, Glalitite, and Salamencite.
BATTLE TREE MECHANICS
In this section, we'll cover on the rules used by the facility. Those rules affect both the player and the AI.
First, a quick rundown of what is allowed to be used on Battle Tree.
1) Pokemon allowed
The Battle Tree allows the use of the entire Pokedex, excluding Mythical Pokemon, Mewtwo, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Xerneas, Yveltal, Zygarde, Necrozma, and the Cosmog evolutive line. In fact, several post-40 victories AI trainers will feature several legendaries if not mono-legendary team compositions, while also featuring Mega Evolutions occasionally, so the player has to keep in mind that using suboptimal Pokemon will inevitably result in a pure power disadvantage once the first easy AI sets are left behind. As usual, the Species Clause is active, so your team must feature up to 6 Pokemon with different Pokedex number.
2) Items allowed
Every item available is allowed on the Tree, with the usual Item Clause (a team cannot have item duplicates). It's worth mentioning that while the AI Trainers are coded to respect the Item Clause, there's still the possibility of an AI trainer generating with several Mega Stones or Z-Crystals, resulting effectively in Pokemon generated with items they will not be able to use. Consumable items are not consumed on use, nor is using Fling, Thief, or similar mechanics permament, since the Facility replicates PvP mechanics. Note that the Item Clause applies to the entire team box submitted, even Pokemon that are in the team but not selected to be used, so you are not able to register a box with two Pokemon holding the same item even if you only intend to use one at time.
3) Moves/Abilities allowed
Differently from what one might be used to by playing on Showdown, there's no actual ruleset in regard to how moves are used. You can put as many Pokemon to sleep as you wish, evasion and OHKO moves are allowed, and Smeargle can essentially be run with any move existent in the game. The same goes for abilities; all abilities are allowed, including the usually competitively banned Moody, Snow/Sand Veil, and even unreleased ones. The AI can in fact generate with unreleased abilities (currently, the only ones being the Hidden Abilities of Oranguru, Passimian, and Heatran), and there's a few AI sets that do run items not available in the current games (such as Custap and Enigma Berries).
4) Pokemon levels
Also a returning feature from the latest facilities, all the Pokemon in the player's team will be temporarily downleveled to 50, even if normally they could not exist below that level as they evolve later. However, they are not leveled up to 50, so any Pokemon below 50 will remain at that level.
The way the player selects Pokemon in Battle Tree is identical to Battle Spot and VGC: you are asked to enter with a selected team that fits the Clauses (either one of the saved teams, a QR team, or your party), and select 3 for Singles, 4 for Doubles, 2 for Multis. For Multi Battles, the Clauses are applied per Trainer, which means the 2 Trainers (valid for both AI and players) can have duplicated Pokemon, duplicated items, and as well use one Mega Evolution and Z-Move each if they so please. Once your Party is selected, you will continue to battle with it in same order until you either decide to take a break or lose. Taking a break has no effect on the ongoing streak, so you are allowed to freely swap things around in between battles if you decide so, and even change your partner for Multi Battles. You are also allowed to Scout the Trainer you just beat to use in Multi Battle with AI for 10 BP, and it will use the first 2 Pokemon it had in that specific battle (so the lead + the 2nd Pokemon if it was Singles, or the two leads if it was Doubles).
Every AI Trainer has a fixed set of Pokemon to access, with the IVs depending on the number of current battles. The Pokemon that the Trainer is generated with are completely random and vary each time you battle them, so for Trainers with particularly big rosters, every battle will likely be different from the others. Most Trainers also feature several sets of the same Pokemon, which means it's uncertain which set the Pokemon is running until it either reveals a move or the item equipped. The abilities the AI Pokemon are generated with is also random, with 33% chance for each ability including the Hidden Ability. A Pokemon that only has a normal ability and a Hidden one will have 66% chance to generate with the normal ability and 33% to have its Hidden Ability. However, if you Scout a Trainer, his Pokemon will always have the abilities they had at the moment of the recruitment when used in a later Multi battle.
AI TRAINERS GENERATION AND RANDOMNESS
Before going into the details of how the AI chooses what to do, a little emphasis must be given to the biggest cause of frustration and "cheat impression" from Battle Tree: randomness. As it can be understood from the previous paragraph, a lot about what you will be facing will be randomly generated. Pokemon will have random sets, random abilities, and are also not 100% predictable. When facing a Pokemon, you should also be wary of what movesets and stat spread each specific Trainer can carry, as well as the possible items it can have and what abilities the Pokemon has access to if they are not revealed istantly by a screen message (like Intimidate or Pressure).
1) AI Pokemon IV, EV, Natures, and Abilities
In contrast with the random nature of the rest of the Pokemon generation, all sets have already fixed EVs and Nature. The IVs are also fixed, but they are based on the Trainer you are facing rather than tied to the specific set. It is important to note that this includes Pokemon designed around the usage of Trick Room (usually very slow with a nature that reduces Speed), which results in those Pokemon having Speed IVs higher than 0, so if you are running correct spreads your Pokemon of same speed tier will be always underspeeding them outside of the rare Iron Ball sets. The IVs for the AI will progressively increase as you progress through the facility. While it is not perfectly omogeneous, the enemy IVs will start at 19 in Super Battles, then will eventually hit 23, 27 and finally 31 IV once you reach the Trainers that appear only past battle 40. As mentioned in the previous chapter, the Ability every Pokemon gets is random between the ones available, with 66% chance to have a normal ability and 33% to have its Hidden Ability. This also occasionally leads to weird bad sets where, for example, a Guts or Poison Heal Pokemon holding a Toxic Orb is generated without the needed ability, ending up only harming itself. To balance out situations like those, several sets that are based on a specific ability of the Pokemon also have a "Backup plan": for example, the sets that rely on a combination of Sturdy and Metal Burst or Endeavour will also often feature a Focus Sash as equipped item, and sets reliant on weather will often also have access to the related weather setting move.
2) Team generation
Every time a new Trainer is generated, the game picks one of the Trainers available for the number of battle you are at, then picks the required amount of Pokemon from its team one by one making sure that the Clauses are respected. Since those are all the conditions for creating the enemy team, the AI can generate with teams that do not synergize, or even Pokemon that harm each other in some cases, as well as have perfectly synergic compositions if the dice rolls are favorable. Some Trainers have dedicated teams who are guaranteed to synergize, often Weather or Trick Room based, while others have a very big roster of different Pokemon to pick from, resulting in very unpredictable compositions to face.
3) Apparently unpredictable AI behaviours
There are instances which will often create confusion or frustration for the player, with apparently inconsistent behavior by the AI. As your streak continues, you will inevitably witness odd actions such as consecutive uses of Protect, weird Pokemon swaps, using resisted or nullified moves while clearly superior alternatives exist, and so on. Typically, the AI prioritizes moves based on power and effect (accuracy is not a factor considered), but the move selection is based on a potentially weighted roll, so expecially in situations where there's no guaranteed OHKO, there's a significant chance for the AI to not select the highest damage attack. It's these instances you'll notice the AI selecting suboptimal moves which merely inflict any kind of damage or status, unlike the choices a person might make. In Doubles, they may not select the most obvious target for their attacks either. The AI may also switch one of its active Pokemon with one from its backline in order to resist the last attack that connected, to absorb it with an immunity, or to circumvent move-locking into a ineffective move. If a swap into a resistance is performed, the incoming Pokemon will also have a move that can hit your active Pokemon for supereffective damage.
AI BEHAVIOUR: ATTACK PRIORITY, RECOGNITION AND COMMON CHOICES
Even though the AI is generally never fully predictable, there are a few events that appear to have higher priority, which can allow you to have a general idea of what will happen. It's still important that even if such events have a higher chance to happen, , the AI can still do something else, so do not act blindly and always ponder your actions before clicking on the DS screen, expecially late in the streak where an error can easily turn in a loss and streak drop. Note that several of those behaviours are limited to Doubles/Multis since they are triggered by interaction of multiple Pokemon.
Part 1: AI move selection priority and common behaviours
- Setup moves
Most AI sets that are based on boosting moves tend to attempt to set up until a certain breakpoint before committing to attack. For moves that buff several stats like Quiver Dance and Dragon Dance, the breakpoint looks like either outspeeding your Pokemon or being able to OHKO them. Several Stockpile+Rest/Roost users will usually attempt to reach 2 stacks and then heal up if needed, occasionally going to 3 if not damaged. Other boosting moves aren't as consistent and cannot be predicted reliably.
- Weather and Terrains
If an AI set is running a Weather or Terrain setting move and the specific Weather or Terrain is not up, the AI generally priorizes setting it up if there's no option to OHKO an active enemy right away. This also occasionally leads to funny interactions of AI Pokemon in Doubles taking turns setting different Weathers, often Sandstorm and Rain since a lot of Trick Room specialists run both slow Rain setters and some Sand setters.
It's worth mentioning that most Drizzle, Drought, Sand Stream and Snow Warning Pokemon also have the dedicated Weather setting move in their movesets to artificially balance out the chance of not having the necessary Ability, with the notable exception of Aurora Veil users who do not have direct access to Hail themselves aside from Alolan Ninetales' Hidden Ability.
- Speed control
Moves that affect Speed such as Tailwind and Icy Wind are very high in the priority list for the AI. Tailwind nearly always is set anytime is not up and Trick Room is not active, and Icy Wind is generally spammed by the Pokemon who have it, expecially in Doubles where the AI priorizes spread moves. Trick Room is also usually priorized if your active Pokemon are faster than both the AI's, and occasionally the AI might try to revert Trick room if it is active and your active Pokemon are slower than their. Note that in case the AI threatens a KO that turn, a Trick Room setter can still choose to go for the attack instead. It is important to note that if two Trick Room setters are active at same time for the AI, they will never try to Trick Room at same time, one will always use another move instead.
- Phazing
Moves that will force a swap (Roar, Whirlwind, Dragon Tail) have high priority for the AI if your Pokemon have boosts active. While they aren't particularly dangerous on their own outside of denying your boosts, it is important to keep track of phazing spam when the AI happens to have had the chance to setup the occasional entry hazard or you are relying on setup moves. Take advantage of the negative priority of those moves to use Taunt or take out the Pokemon before it can become a issue.
- Paralysis and Sleep
Status inducing moves are very high on the priority list for the AI, expecially Paralysis since it doubles as status and speed control. If a set runs those, you can be expecting it will be attempting to status you first unless your active Pokemon is immune to it. Most sets featuring Hypnosis also have Zoom Lens or Wide Lens as equipped item to patch up the low accuracy. Will-o-Wisp is usually priorized if your active Pokemon have high Attack, while Toxic does not look like having a particularly high priority instead.
- Damage over accuracy
While the AI appears to be able to calculate when it can OHKO your Pokemon, it does not factor in the accuracy of the moves. As result it often will go for a high damage supereffective Focus Blast, rather than secure a KO with a Psychic. While you can't realistically always plan ahead of the move selection, a 4x weakness is a nearly guaranteed move selection, and the AI ignoring the possibility of missing high damage moves can definitely cause some lucky misses for you.
- Fake Out (and Fling flinches)
If a Pokemon has Fake Out, it will use it the first turn the Pokemon is out, unless something prevents it from happening (Ghost Immunity, Psychic Terrain, but the ability Inner Focus does not prevent the AI from trying). There are also a few Ambipom, Infernape and Weavile sets that have Fake Out and Fling with an item that causes Flinch, on top of U-Turn or Thief, resulting in one of your Pokemon essentially being forced to skip two turns (or more), while watching the enemy steal your item and get away with it.
- Priority on low HP
If one of your Pokemon is at very low HP, expecially due to a Focus Sash or Sturdy, and the AI has access to a priority move, it will generally use it the turn after. Consider using Protect, swapping, and if playing Doubles plan your other Pokemon's action in order to not give give a completely free KO.
- Stall sets
Some sets run a completely stall oriented moveset: usually a damage over time move (Toxic, Leech Seed, Sandstorm, Hail, Wrap) as well as a mix of Stockpile, Substitute, Protect, Double Team, Leftovers, Recover, and similar moves or items. There's a large number of AI Pokemon with this kind of moveset, with many variations, and their general behaviour is to alternate the damage over time move to Protect or Substitute, and setting up their defensive or evasion boosts every now and then, occasionally even chaining several Protect uses in a row.
- Sending in Pokemon with supereffective coverage
When you beat an enemy Pokemon or a swap is forced and the AI has still multiple Pokemon in the back, the AI will priorize sending in the Pokemon with the highest damage potential. When a new Pokemon is sent out you are usually facing 2 possibilities: it is the Pokemon with the highest damage potential against your current active Pokemon, or if it does not have any super effective attack, it means the AI has no other super effective to use.
Part 2: Moves and abilities the AI does and does not recognize
- Encore
If a AI Pokemon is Encored on a status, setting or move you are immune to, it will generally either switch the following turn, or use the move once, fail and switch out turn after if still possible. If a Pokemon is Encored in a setup move, however, it might keep using it up to 3 times and possibly swap out after 2 or 3 uses if Encore is still active.
- Taunt
The AI will generally not swap out if Taunted if the Pokemon has at least one usable move. Pokemon forced to Struggle because of Taunt will occasionally not swap out, and sometimes will just KO themselves.
- Substitute and status moves
While the AI will still try to status a Substitute every now and then, but it will usually stop after one failure, unless the specific set only carryes status moves.
- Misty Terrain
The AI does not properly recognize Misty Terrain. Moves that have both a damage and status component like Nuzzle, as well as occasionally Swagger and Flatter, do not trigger the immunity message and the AI can attempts to use them despite the immunity to the status provided by the terrain, giving you free turns and even free boosts. Fliers/Levitaters are often the ones not recognizing the presence of Misty Terrain and attempt to use status moves despite the immunity message, expecially most Rotom variants who carry one or two status moves. Note that this does not happen for Rest: the AI will never attempt to use Rest if affected by Misty Terrain (as well as by Electric Terrain).
- Lightning Rod, Storm Surge and Levitate
Differently from Misty Terrain, the AI does recognize those abilities, and will stop using moves that trigger them, or swap their Pokemon if they don't have any usable move left due to those abilities. In fact, it can use those against you by occasionally swapping their Pokemon with one of them that can absorb or redirect your last attack.
Part 3: Doubles and Multi Battle special interactions
- Spread moves
Differently from Singles, the AI loves to priorize spread moves in Doubles. If one of your Pokemon is weak to a spread move and single target ones will not pick a OHKO, generally the AI will go for the spread option. Occasionally not caring if this hits his own partner.
- Explosion
The AI use of Explosion is generally inconsistent, and while the AI will often commit to it first turn, sometimes it will wait or not use it at all. Being matched with a partner which will be immune to it, the Pokemon or its partner being low enough that it'll potentially die the same turn, and not having any super effective option to use usually trigger the usage. Do note that one Lickilicky set carries a Normalium-Z with Explosion, and the AI will always use it before Explosion.
- Earthquake, Sludge Wave, Discharge and Surf
The AI likes using Earthquake anytime the other active Pokemon is a Flying-type or Levitater. If this combination happens (in fact, several trainers have rosters that cause it to happen) the Earthquake sequence is nearly guaranteed. This is also somewhat applicable to Surf matched with Water Absorb, Storm Drain, and Discharge with Ground-type Pokemon or Lightning Rod and Volt Absorb, the rare Sludge Wave sets when matched with Steel-types, and Explosion while matched with a Ghost-type. The rare Telepathy Pokemon also contribute to activate this mechanic.
- Wide Guard
The AI is not coded to play around Wide Guard. It does not use it reactively if it is available (rather, often uses it even if you are not using any spread attack), and does not react to you using Wide Guard either. Combined the AI giving priority to spread moves in Doubles, and several AI sets only running spread moves, Wide Guard can completely deny certain sets if used correctly.
- Protect with Spread moves
Even though Protect usage is not consistent and generally not predictable, there's a few situations in Doubles where the AI decides to Protect, usually when matched with a spread attack user. If the situation is favorable to using a spread move, you can often expect the other Pokemon to Protect that turn, but it rarely attempts to double Protect in those situations. Despite this, there's an interesting interaction that causes the AI to Protect even if it's immune to the partner's spread move due to typing or ability.
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