Guide to Creating a CAP Movepool in X/Y
IntroductionMovepools are largely considered the single most important competitive aspect of a Pokémon. The reasoning for this is that a movepool defines a Pokémon's diversity, what they can and cannot beat, and what functionality they can provide for their team. Some movepools, such as those of Tyranitar and Genesect, are enormous and provide nearly limitless options, while others, like that of Talonflame, are just big enough to make the Pokémon worth using. Both of these types of movepools have their respective places with different CAPs, but there's a lot to movepools that might not be apparent at first glance. This article's focus is to make sure that you have all the information and all the resources you need in order to understand how to go about building a movepool and how movepools interlink with the CAP process. Movepool RestrictionsIn the past, many CAP movepools have tended to creep in power toward being bloated with as many legal moves as possible. In order to address these issues, as well as bring CAP Pokémon movepools back in line with the movepools of common OU Pokémon, some limitations and restrictions were placed upon the movepool stage of the CAP process. As described in this process guide article, the size of a Pokémon's movepool is limited by its Base Stat Rating (a measure of how good the stat spread is relative to all other Pokémon), such that the greater the BSR, the lower total number of moves, and number of Restricted Moves, are allowed in the movepool. A Restricted Move is defined as "A move that is considered by the combination of its power, accuracy, effect chance, move priority, power points, and overall type coverage to be of distinct individual competitive advantage in any given movepool", and a list of them can be found here. Note, however, that there are lots of rules governing what is and isn't a Restricted Move based on different situations - for example, a Pokémon with Zap Cannon would have it classed as a RM if it had No Guard as well, but not if it had a different ability. The article provided goes into more detail about these restrictions and exemptions. A complete list of Restricted Moves can also be found in that article, but you can also refer to this article for a list of these moves split up into categories, thus making them a lot easier to deal with. Once these restrictions are set, you as a movepool creator must adhere to them strictly. Movepool RequirementsWhile the raw limit placed on the number of Restricted Moves and total number of moves that may be in your CAP Pokémon's movepool is generally the only specific requirement placed, there exist some other requirements that need to be adhered to. Certain moves that all Pokémon get, such as Toxic, Round, and Protect, are required on all movepools, unless the Movepool Leader specifies otherwise. All of these are Technical Machines, and are highlighted on the list of TM moves below. In addition, the Restricted Moves that are and are not allowed on your movepools will be specified during the Move Discussion stages, such that all moves that are too strong or otherwise undesirable for that particular CAP will be made illegal. You should be aware that the default position on any particular move is that they are illegal - if they are not specifically listed in the Move Discussion as allowed, then they are disallowed. If there's a particular move you want to add to your movepool for flavour reasons, but which is not brought up for discussion during this time, then make sure that you bring it up yourself so that the Movepool Leader can declare it allowed. You should also take note that Legendary Signature moves (a list of which can be found here) are automatically disallowed for all CAPs. Technical Machine MovesThere are 100 TM moves available to all Pokémon, plus 5 HM moves. Existing fully-evolved Gen VI Pokémon have anywhere between 22 and 59 TM moves in their movepool, with an overall average of 37 moves. It should be noted that, with some exceptions, Fire- and Grass-type Pokémon tend not to learn any Ice-type moves, while Ice- and Grass-type Pokémon tend not to learn any Fire-type moves. Be aware, again, that the moves in bold in the table below must be present on all movepools if they are to be considered legal; the reason for this is that all fully-evolved Pokémon (with certain exceptions, such as Wobbuffet and Regigigas) obtain them. The sole exception to this is where the CAP is genderless (and hence has no egg moves), in which case you may forgo Attract. It is also the case that Sunny Day tends to be present on all Pokémon bar those of the Water or Ice typing, while Rain Dance tends to be present on all Pokémon bar those of the Fire typing. These are not required on CAP movepools, however. TM Move List
Level-Up MovesA level-up move list can contain anywhere from 13 to 25 moves, although the average number of moves is around 18. Up to eight of these moves will be Heart Scale moves, meaning that they can only be relearned using a Heart Scale, aren't known at level 1, and aren't learned at any higher level. A Pokémon may only have a Heart Scale move if it has at least 4 level 1 moves already; consequently, you may have a maximum of twelve effective level 1 moves. This, however, would be an extreme case, as with Florges. As a Pokémon levels up, the moves tend to get more powerful. This means that a move such as Crunch or Earthquake would usually be learned later than Bite or Mud-Slap. Furthermore, if the Pokémon has a pre-evolution, as with Florges or Noivern, one of the following two things will generally happen.
Egg MovesEgg moves are those moves learned through breeding. In order to have egg moves, you must specify which egg groups the CAP belongs to. The movepool designer will have to decide on egg groups that grant access to the moves that are listed, and it is preferred that they make flavour sense on the Pokémon, but is not entirely necessary. If you are struggling, note that Smeargle can pass down any egg moves you desire, and so putting the CAP in the Field egg group is an entirely legitimate recourse. A Pokémon may have as few as 4 egg moves and at most 13 egg moves, but the average is typically around five. Pokémon that are genderless or do not breed cannot have any egg moves. It is not necessary to specify egg move illegalities, but you may do so if you choose; note that due to new breeding mechanics, illegal egg move combinations will no longer occur barring circumstances with prior generation moves or event moves, the former of which is not an issue as all CAPs for XY are assumed to have come into being in Generation VI, and the latter is typically unnecessary unless you deliberately want an illegality to be present. Move Tutor MovesMove Tutors are people in the Pokémon world that teach Pokémon moves for a price. In Pokémon X and Y, there are only a few Move Tutors, and most of these are limited to starter Pokémon. Because of this, they have little competitive value and high flavour price, but are worth mentioning to make you aware that they exist. Note that Draco Meteor is found on most Dragon-types. Move Tutor Move List
Event MovesA fifth location for moves to be placed in is that of "event moves", which would in theory be analogous to an existing Pokémon being distributed via a Nintendo promotion, which includes a move it would not ordinarily learn. This has never been done before, and indeed is frowned upon as a choice for various historical reasons, but is currently the only real option if you want the CAP to somehow have incompatibilities between its moves, as any event moves would be illegal alongside egg moves. Another option would be to specify a shiny or fixed-nature distribution, such that there is some other competitive cost to the use of that move. This would, in theory, be one way to include a powerful move while keeping the CAP balanced by imposing a cost. Flavour NotesWhat is this "flavour" that people keep harping on about? When the word "flavour" is used in the context of CAP, it typically refers to the little, non-competitive extras that are added to all Pokémon in existence in order to give them substance and, in many cases, a personality. This can range from abilities, such as Necturna's Forewarn, to various moves, such as Cyclohm's Double Hit and Tri Attack (its second and third evolutionary stages have two and three heads, respectively). In this case, flavour doesn't mean that the move itself is non-competitive, but that the move is added because it fits with the CAP's artistic theme; a steam train Pokémon would be expected to be able to use Scald, for example. It's hard to engineer good flavour into a movepool, and aside from the cases already mentioned it isn't enforced, but it's a good idea to get to know some of the precedents set, as while originality is always good, seeing which moves commonly occur on similar Pokémon can allow you to build a sturdy foundation, on top of which the rest of the movepool can sit. It should be made absolutely clear, however, that while flavour is all well and good, it should never take precedence over competitive concerns, and indeed should not be discussed or even faintly alluded to in any of the competitive discussion threads. There are places in the forum where this kind of discussion is allowed, but make certain to read the rules of the threads in question before jumping in. Type-Move GuidelinesThese moves appear on more than 5% of fully-evolved Pokémon (i.e. 20 or more fully-evolved Pokémon) and are found on over 90% of the Pokémon of a given type. Hence, if you see a Pokémon of that type, you would expect to find the moves listed after it.
Move-Move GuidelinesThese moves appear on more than 5% of fully-evolved Pokémon (i.e. 20 or more fully-evolved Pokémon) and are found together on over 90% of the Pokémon that have the first. Hence, if you see the former move in a movepool, you would expect to find the latter, as well. Note that this table does not work in reverse—nearly all Pokémon with Blizzard also have Ice Beam, but not all Pokémon with Ice Beam have Blizzard.
ExampleBelow is an example movepool for Talonflame. It shows how each of its moves fit into its movepool. Talonflame's Movepool
Talonflame has 50 total moves (seven moves are found twice) in its movepool, 24 of which are Restricted Moves, such that it conforms fairly to the general rule of having half of the moves in a movepool be RMs. It can clearly be seen from the above lists that the reason Talonflame is highly competitive, at least in terms of its movepool, is its level-up pool, which features everything it really needs to be successful, with only a few competitive TMs, such as Swords Dance and U-turn, not being found on the level-up list. Note that Talonflame's BSR is around 250, and hence it sits roughly between "Above Average" and "Good" in terms of its BSR; hence, if Talonflame were a CAP, it would be allowed a far more expansive movepool. The reason that Talonflame is competitively viable in its current state is its Gale Wings ability, and the movepool is nothing particularly exceptional, barring high-powered STAB moves. This, then, is a good example of a successful Pokémon with a limited movepool. |
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