Movepool Submissions / List of Restricted Moves / Guide to building a movepool in XY

bugmaniacbob

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Permission to post granted by Birkal

These three pages are the end product of the most recent PRC thread. Due to problems with the scms I'm not entirely sure how long it will be until they are uploaded to the site, but until that time this thread will be used in order to have a place for process OPs to link to pertinent information that is not given elsewhere, which will become relevant in the movepool stages.

Events: Movepool Submissions deals with the various finer details regarding the Movepool Submissions stage, including an explanation of what "RMs" are and how they relate to the stage.

List of Restricted Moves is simply a list of RMs divided up in a way that makes them more easily digestible and comparable.

Guide to Creating a CAP Movepool in XY is simply an update of an earlier guide that provided all the information you would need, in one place, to make any movepool from scratch, including TM/tutor lists, precedents from canon Pokemon, and some examples.

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Events: Movepool Submissions

Introduction


This stage of the CAP process is where complete movepools are created and submitted for consideration by the Movepool Leader. There are restrictions on the number of moves that are allowed, as well as how many competitive moves are allowed per movepool. Different competitive moves may or may not be allowed into a movepool based on the lists generated by the Move Discussion stage of the CAP process, which in turn are based on the needs and demands of the individual CAP Project and its concept. Note that any certain competitive moves have restrictions associated with how many can be placed in a single movepool, and that any of these restricted moves that is not specifically listed as allowed in the Move Discussion stage will not be allowed on any submitted movepool even if it was never brought up for discussion, it is illegal by default. A full list of moves that are restricted in this way, hereafter known as "Restricted Moves" or RMs, can be found below.

The movepools submitted are intended to be structured like a normal Pokémon movepool. A complete movepool should contain four lists of moves, according to the method by which the Pokémon learns the moves — Level-Up Moves, Technical Machines, Move Tutor Moves, and Egg Moves. When submitting your movepool, the egg groups for the Pokémon must be specified — illegal egg move combinations need not be specified, but it may be in your interests to highlight any illegal combinations (if, indeed, any exist at all) that give your movepool an identity or some unique competitive slant. Project participants can submit draft proposals of full movepools and edit them based on feedback from the CAP community. After your final submission has been made, the Movepool Leader will select those movepools from the overall pool that are judged to be good enough to appear on the voting slate, and the CAP's final movepool will be decided by a vote by the CAP community. Note that more detailed instructions, as well as further rules, will be given in the OP of the movepool submissions thread once posted.

Movepool Considerations

Movepools have to be moderated, as if they are too barren or too bloated, they run the risk of either overpowering or underpowering the given CAP. This does not mean that there are any enforced standards that all movepools must conform to; however, there are certain restrictions as to size and effectiveness, and the Movepool Leader reserves the right to reject your movepool should it contain an illegal number of moves. The way that this is quantified is by counting the total number of moves and "Restricted Moves", or RMs, in a given movepool. A RM 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 a given movepool", and the list of RMs is compiled by members of the Policy Review Committee. Note that there are a number of exemptions from the above rules, which are detailed below.

A list of RMs that splits them up by their attributes for easier viewing is located in the post immediately following this one.

Restricted Move List



* Curse only counts as a Restricted Move for Pokémon that are not of the Ghost-type

Illegalities and Exemptions


As previously mentioned, there are a number of considerations that also need to be taken into account, in terms of particular moves that cannot be used under any circumstances, as well as those moves that may be considered as a single Restricted Move in addition to another, identical move, in order to preserve movepool flavour without compromising competitive integrity, up to a point. In addition to the above clarification about the move Curse on Pokémon of the Ghost-type, the following rules are applicable at all times unless the Movepool Leader explicitly states otherwise:
Legendary Pokémon signature moves are automatically disallowed for all CAPs.

Note that this does not include non-legendary signature moves, although these may also be frowned upon by voters in terms of their flavour. As stated above, these moves should not be put into your movepools unless specifically allowed by the Movepool Leader, and all of them naturally count as RMs if this is the case. A list of all moves that this rule applies to is below.


Move copies count as RMs, but only count once as Restricted Moves when more than one are present in a movepool.

As seen in the below table, there are some moves that have other moves listed in the columns next to them. These moves are "equivalent" in terms of the Restricted Move list, which means that the moves collectively count as 1 Restricted Move when put together on the same movepool. For instance, if a movepool has both Recover and Slack Off on it, they count together as 1 Restricted Move, but still count as 2 moves toward the total move count.


If a RM is completely outclassed by another RM in the movepool, the two moves only count together as one RM.


As above, certain moves are so much outclassed by other moves that there is literally no scenario where the lesser move would be a wiser choice over the former. For example, Tail Glow provides a three-stage boost to Special Attack, but Nasty Plot only boosts the stat by two stages. As with the above rule, if both Tail Glow and Nasty Plot are on the same movepool, they count as 1 Restricted Move, but still count as two moves towards the total move count. This rule is also not absolute; if an outclassed RM is available with other RMs and the outclassing RM is not, owing to movepool illegalities, it may be required that both the outclassed RM and the outclassing RM count as RMs. All combinations of outclassing and outclassed Restricted Moves are listed in the table below.


All moves made competitively viable by an ability are also considered RMs.

Abilities, such as Technician and No Guard, affect the viability of specific moves that might not otherwise be considered RMs. If a move's Base Power, accuracy, or secondary effects are made comparable to an existing Restricted Move by an ability, then that move is considered a RM. For instance, a Pokémon with No Guard would turn Dynamic Punch into a Restricted Move through the removal of its very low accuracy as a factor.
Movepool Size

The actual number of moves and RMs that a given movepool can have is inversely proportional to its BSR, or Base Stat Rating, which is used as a measure of the overall potency of a stat spread, is used in the Stat Limits and Stat Spread Submissions stages. In essence, higher rated stat spreads are paired with less powerful or diverse movepools in order to impose a limit on how effective a given Pokémon is overall, in the interests of balance; this is rarely the case in the actual games, and is purely a pragmatic ruling. Note that the Topic Leader may decide to alter the movepool limits, should it be deemed necessary for that particular CAP's concept.



Resources

  • Movepool Builder (XY) — an Excel-based tool for building a movepool while highlighting RMs, pointing out commonly paired moves, and hopefully saving time and bother.
  • List of Restricted Moves by type and attribute — a useful resource if comparing similar, potential RMs, as well as making clear which moves will be considered in the Attacking and Non-Attacking threads of the Move Discussion stage.
  • A Guide to Creating a Movepool in XY — a guide with some tips for building movepools as well as documenting certain typical patterns in Nintendo's movepools.
 
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bugmaniacbob

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List of Restricted Moves

Introduction

Greetings! Before the existence of Restricted Moves (used as part of the Movepool Submissions stage), a list of competitive moves was drawn up by the community's brightest minds for sake of easily finding the moves that one wanted on one's movepool, without having to trawl through long lists of very uninteresting moves to get them. Furthermore, they went ahead and categorised them, which made it easy as pie to find what you were looking for. Thus, this current list attempts to do for Restricted Moves what they did for all "competitive" moves - to arrange a list of Restricted Moves by type and function, which should help you when it comes to building a movepool. Remember, however, that some moves may become RMs, which are not on this list, based on the ability or other features of the Pokémon. For example, Zap Cannon would become an RM if the Pokémon in question had the ability No Guard.

Notes on the Relationship between Restricted Moves and Movepools
  • Curse is only counted as a Restricted Move for Pokémon that are not of the Ghost-type.
  • The signature moves of Legendary Pokémon are automatically disallowed for all CAPs.
  • When two or more equivalent Restricted Moves are present in a movepool, the two moves collectively count as one Restricted Move. Both moves still count towards the total move count, however.
  • If a Restricted Move is entirely outclassed by another Restricted Move in the same movepool, the two moves collectively count as one Restricted Move. Both moves still count towards the total move count, however.
  • All moves not on this list made competitively viable by an ability, such as Technician or No Guard, are also considered Restricted Moves on a Pokémon with that ability.
  • Please refer to this process guide for a full list of equivalent, outclassing, and Legendary signature moves.

Restricted Moves

Competitive Physical Attacking Moves


Bug
-Attack Order
-Megahorn
-Pin Missile
-U-turn**
-X-Scissor

Dark
-Crunch
-Foul Play
-Knock Off**
-Night Slash
-Payback
-Pursuit
-Sucker Punch

Dragon
-Dragon Claw
-Dragon Tail**
-Dual Chop
-Outrage

Electric
-Spark
-Thunder Fang
-Thunder Punch
-Volt Tackle
-Wild Charge

Fairy
-Play Rough

Fighting
-Brick Break
-Circle Throw**
-Close Combat
-Cross Chop
-Drain Punch
-Flying Press****
-Focus Punch
-Hammer Arm
-High Jump Kick
-Jump Kick
-Low Kick
-Mach Punch
-Reversal
-Seismic Toss
-Sky Uppercut
-Storm Throw
-Superpower

Fire
-Blaze Kick
-Fire Fang
-Fire Punch
-Flame Charge**
-Flare Blitz

Flying
-Acrobatics
-Bounce
-Brave Bird
-Drill Peck
-Flying Press****

Ghost
-Shadow Claw
-Shadow Sneak
-ShadowStrike*

Grass
-Bullet Seed
-Horn Leech
-Leaf Blade
-Petal Blizzard
-Power Whip
-Seed Bomb
-Wood Hammer

Ground
-Bonemerang
-Drill Run
-Earthquake

Ice
-Avalanche
-Ice Fang
-Ice Shard
-Ice Punch
-Icicle Crash
-Icicle Spear

Normal
-Body Slam
-Double-Edge
-Explosion
-Extreme Speed
-Facade
-Fake Out
-Frustration
-Head Charge
-Return

Poison
-Cross Poison
-Gunk Shot
-Poison Jab

Psychic
-Psycho Cut
-Zen Headbutt

Rock
-Head Smash
-Rock Blast
-Rock Slide
-Stone Edge

Steel
-Bullet Punch
-Gear Grind
-Gyro Ball
-Iron Head
-Iron Tail
-Meteor Mash

Water
-Aqua Jet
-Aqua Tail
-Crabhammer
-Razor Shell
-Waterfall
-Water Shuriken

Competitive Special Attacking Moves

Bug
-Bug Buzz
-Signal Beam

Dark
-Dark Pulse
-Night Daze

Dragon
-Draco Meteor
-Dragon Pulse

Electric
-Charge Beam**
-Discharge
-Thunder
-Thunderbolt
-Volt Switch**

Fairy
-Dazzling Gleam
-Moonblast

Fighting
-Aura Sphere
-Focus Blast
-Vacuum Wave

Fire
-Eruption
-Fiery Dance
-Fire Blast
-Fire Pledge
-Flame Burst
-Flamethrower
-Heat Wave
-Lava Plume
-Mystical Fire
-Overheat

Flying
-Air Slash
-Hurricane

Ghost
-Night Shade
-Shadow Ball

Grass
-Energy Ball
-Giga Drain
-Grass Knot
-Grass Pledge
-Leaf Storm
-Petal Dance
-Solar Beam

Ground
-Earth Power

Ice
-Blizzard
-Freeze-Dry
-Frost Breath
-Ice Beam

Normal
-Boomburst
-Hidden Power†
-Hyper Voice
-Nature Power‡
-Tri Attack
-Weather Ball††

Poison
-Acid Spray**
-Clear Smog**
-Sludge Bomb
-Sludge Wave

Psychic
-Extrasensory
-Psychic
-Psyshock
-Stored Power

Rock
-Paleo Wave*
-Power Gem

Steel
-Flash Cannon

Water
-Hydro Pump
-Muddy Water
-Scald
-Surf
-Water Pledge
-Water Spout

Competitive Non-Attacking Moves


Stat Boosting
-Acid Armor
-Agility
-Amnesia
-Autotomize
-Barrier
-Belly Drum
-Bulk Up
-Calm Mind
-Charge Beam**
-Coil
-Cosmic Power
-Cotton Guard
-Curse (every type except Ghost-type)
-Defend Order
-Dragon Dance
-Flame Charge**
-Growth
-Iron Defense
-Nasty Plot
-Quiver Dance
-Rock Polish
-Shell Smash
-Shift Gear
-Swords Dance
-Tail Glow

Stat Reduction
-Acid Spray**
-Memento
-Parting Shot

HP Restoration
-Healing Wish
-Heal Order
-Ingrain
-Leech Seed
-Milk Drink
-Moonlight
-Morning Sun
-Pain Split
-Recover
-Rest
-Roost
-Soft-Boiled
-Slack Off
-Synthesis
-Wish

Support
-Aromatherapy
-Baton Pass
-Circle Throw**
-Clear Smog**
-Defog
-Dragon Tail**
-Encore
-Heal Bell
-Knock Off**
-Light Screen
-Rain Dance
-Rapid Spin***
-Reflect
-Roar
-Sleep Talk
-Spikes
-Stealth Rock
-Sticky Web
-Taunt
-Toxic Spikes
-Trick Room
-U-turn**
-Volt Switch**
-Whirlwind

Status Induction
-Glare
-Hypnosis
-Lovely Kiss
-Nuzzle***
-Sleep Powder
-Spore
-Stun Spore
-Swagger
-Thunder Wave
-Toxic
-Will-O-Wisp
-Yawn

Miscellaneous
-Counter
-Destiny Bond
-Detect
-Disable
-King's Shield
-Magic Coat
-Mirror Coat
-Nature Power‡
-Perish Song
-Protect
-Refresh
-Spiky Shield
-Substitute
-Super Fang
-Switcheroo
-Trick

Footnotes
* Created move.
** Can be treated as either an attacking move or a non-attacking move depending on Topic Leader discretion.
*** These moves deal damage, but are only considered competitive for the use of their secondary effects for support purposes.
**** Treated as both the Flying and the Fighting type in damage calculation.
† Can be any type except Normal or Fairy. Classified as a Normal-type move.
†† Changes type and Base Power depending on the weather.
‡ Nature Power is treated as Tri Attack (but affected by Taunt and Prankster) for the purposes of CAP.
 

bugmaniacbob

Was fun while it lasted
is an Artist Alumnusis a CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Guide to Creating a CAP Movepool in XY

Introduction


Movepools 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 Restrictions

In 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 Requirements

While 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 Moves

There 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



Bolded entries indicate moves that every Pokémon will ordinarily have.

* Except genderless Pokémon

Level-Up Moves


A 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.
  • Up to three level 1 moves may be repeated in further levels. These moves are learned by the Pokémon's pre-evolution as well. For example, Noivern learns Hurricane, Dragon Pulse, and Boomburst at Level 1, and learns them again at Level 62, 70, and 75, respectively.
  • The Pokémon has a few level 1 moves, and then an extremely short or non-existent movepool. For example, Florges learns four level 1 moves and eight Heart Scale moves, but has no other level-up moves. This is typically only the case for Pokémon that evolve via stone items. In this case, you may be advised to include a pre-evolution movepool to describe the remainder of its movepool.
Egg Moves

Egg 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 Moves

Move 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 Moves

A 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 Notes

What 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 Guidelines

These 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 Guidelines


These 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.




Example

Below 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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