tip for beginner #2 (showdown): item using

The whole battle section is not that active now so i’m going to try to add more stuff. Last time I did tips for beginners and apparently there was a few people who liked my tips so i’m going to add more n_n. So this time I will explain how to give the right pokemon the right item. This article is more towards singles rather than doubles. So here are the common items you will see those item listed in popular items  when you are choosing your item: Assault Vest, Choice Band, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Eviolite, Focus Sash, Leftovers, Life Orb, Lum Berry, Mental herb, Power Herb, Rocky Helmet and Sitrus Berry. We will go through all of them.

Assault Vest: It increases your special defense by 50%, but you are only able to use attack moves. Pokemon that carries this item are usually pokemon with both offensive and defensive presence. Pokemon that has bad defense can’t make good use of the increased bulk, and defensive walls likes to be able to use static move. Most good assault vest user has good coverage to make good use of every moveslot. Assault vest is especially good on pokemon that needs special bulk while having good coverage at the same time, like conkeldurr and tornadus-t. Assault vest helps a pokemon to have more switch-in opportunity. It’s also notable that regenerator + assault vest makes a really good combo, since assault vest users switch a lot a regenerator recovers your health when you switch. And regenerator is the only way the pokemon can gain health itself without getting support from other pokemon. When holding assault vest  , that pokemon should have all attack moves since it can't use static moves. Also  , don 't try using trick to trick opponent an assault vest because you can't use trick itself with an assault vest. Some notable assault vest users are: tornadus-t, conkeldurr, raikou, tangrowth and slowking.

Choice Band: It increases your attack by 50%,but locks on the first move you use until you switch/lose the item. It's good on physical wall breakers and makes them hit much harder. Holding choice band makes prediction a lot more important because you can't switch between coverages. It's mostly good on physical offensive pokemon, though it can turn some defensive pokemon into offensive pokemon. However, those defensive pokemon needs at least a little bit offensive presence to make good users of choice band. For example, snorlax is generally a defensive pokemon but holding a choice band can make it a good wall breaker and surprise the opponent. It's good because it does have legit attack and some good coverages. However things that are too defensive and relies on static moves, like ferrothorn, will not be a good user of choice band. When holding choice band, the moves should mostly be attack moves. Usually the only viable static move with a choice item would be suicidal move like healing wish, baton pass for momentum, and trick/switcheroo to punish pokemon that hates not being able to switch move. Tricking the opponent's wall with a choice item is extremely helpful, since they can't recover or they will not be able to attack you back. Choice band is good on wallbreakers and some revenge killers. Some notable choice band users are: Dragonite, Kyurem-black, Azumarill and scizor.

Choice Scarf: It increases your Speed by 50%, but locks on the first move you use like choice band. It's only good on offensive pokemon, at least a pokemon that can run offensive sets. Choice scarf makes certain pokemon good revenge killers, since most revenge killers requires high speed. Like all choice items, usually the only viable moves are attack moves, suicidal move, baton pass and trick/switcheroo. All choice items requires good prediction and this one is no exception. Since you are locked into one move, the opponent can play around your pokemon if you don't predict right. Choice scarf is best on pokemon that needs speed. Basically pokemon with already really really good speed won't need it, like mewtwo or deoxys-a/n/s in ubers. And pokemon with very low speed or pokemon that are not suppose to outspeed to things won't need it either. For example, you won't need choice scarf on let's say azumarill since it's still not fast enough after a choice scarf, and you don't want to give a defensive pokemon a choice scarf like mew (unless you are running offensive mew which is incredibly situational). Some notable choice scarf users are: excadrill, keldeo, garchomp, landorus-t, tyranitar and magnezone.

Choice Specs: It increases your Special attack by 50, but locks on the first move you use like all the other choice items. Pretty much the same purpose as choice band except special instead of physical. It's good a special wallbreakers and allows them to hit as hard as they can. Like all other choice items, prediction gets crucial. Some notable users are: magnezone, keldeo, kyurem black and raikou.

Eviolite: It increases your physical defense and special defense by 50% if your pokemon is not fully evolved(not including mega evolution). It's used on every defensive non fully evolved pokemon (except if u r playing in lc). Eviolite just provide so much additional bulk. There are a few non fully evolved pokemon that don't run eviolite though, like sneasel, because it's a very offensive mon. Some notable eviolite users are: Chansey, porygon2, gligar and golbat.

Focus Sash: It allows a pokemon to survive any attack at full health, leaving 1 hp if the attack would have killed it(single use). This item is used mostly on suicide lead and is only used on frail pokemon. If you are not using the focus sash pokemon as a lead, it's necessary to carry a hazard remover because stealth rock and spikes breaks focus sash(unless it's name it's the sash pokemon is named alakazam), because focus sash only works when you are at full health. While focus sash is mostly good on suicide lead so that can do as much support as they can before they die, it can also be useful for some sweepers, especially cloyster and alakazam. Cloyster usually can't find much opportunity to set up shell smash since it's easily knocked out by a special move, but focus sash guarantees you to survive an attack at full health. Alakazam has magic guard so that hazards have no affect on it, which is the main problem for all other focus sash users, and focus sash guarantees it to survive an attack which is usually hard for alakazam. The notable focus sash users are basically all the suicide lead that doesn't have sturdy already, like azelf and garchomp, and setup sweepers that are very frail like cloyster and vivillon, and alakazam.

Leftovers: It heals 1/16 of max HP each turn. Leftovers is one of the most used item there is It's good on almost every defensive pokemon and is used on some setup sweepers too. Defensive walls use them so they can last longer and setup sweepers use it so they get more setup chances. Most subsitute users use leftovers so that regenerate a little health after each substitute. Most leftovers users carry at least one static move, either it's a support move or a setup move. If you are using an all out attacker then leftovers is usually not the best choice. The notable users are pretty much almost all defensive pokemon like clefable, slowbro, amoonguss, tangrowth, defensive landorus-t, skarmory and some setup sweepers like sub calm mind keldeo an nasty plot thundurus.

Life Orb: It boosts power by 30% but makes the holder take 10% recoil each turn it attacks. 10% recoil damage may seem kind of bad but really, 10% isn't that much and the reward helps a lot. Life orb is good on most offensive pokemon and helps pokemon wall break. Pokemon that enjoys switching coverage a lot and offensive pokemon that carries static moves will prefer life orb over choice items most of the times. Setup pokemon that wants extra fire power also appreciates life orb a lot. Life orb doesn't need as much prediction as choice items but it's still good to have nice predictions. Sheer force users likes life orb a lot, since sheer force actually negates the recoil from life orb if you are using a move that has a secondary effect. The notable users are most offensive mons like keldeo, tornadus-thundurus, gengar, alakazam, serperior, bisharp etc.

Lum berry: It Cures status. One-time use. It's good on pokemon that absolutely hate status. Most offensive physical attacker especially hates burn and paralysis, and most defensive pokemon hates toxic. Pokemon that doesn't hate status too much shouldn't use it, like heatran who's immune to two status and clerics who can just shake them off themselves. Pokemon that hates status appreciates lum berry though. A lot of outrage users likes it because it can cure the confusion after using outrage. And if the pokemon is to be burned or paralyzed, it also helps because outrage users hates them. However rest users usually doesn't need lum berry, instead they usually run chesto berry. Chesto berry only cures sleep so it won't cure other status for you. The main point of using chesto berry instead of lum berry is that you won't waste your item on a status that won't matter much. Most rest users only wants the item to cure sleep so chesto berry is the better choice. Rest cures the status you have anyway. Lum berry is useful for pokemon that hates at least 2 status. Some notable users are dragonite, bisharp and togekiss.

 Mental herb: It removes the effects of infatuation, Taunt, Encore, Torment, Disable, and Cursed Body. One-time use. It's only good on pokemon that hates these things especially taunt. It's used on defensive pokemon because they are the ones that hates taunt the most. Mental herb is not used as much as the other items but if you need a pokemon to do it's job without getting stopped by taunt users, than mental herb is a good choice. Honestly the only notable user i can think of is deoxys-d since it's very vulnerable to taunt and usually doesn't even run an attack move.

Power herb: It removes the charge up turn from all moves. One-time use. You only use this item if you are using a move that takes a turn to charge. Don't over use this combo though, since you are using up your item slot for it. Don't mindlessly use power herb+charging move because it might not be worth it. For example, ice burn+kyurem white is generally not worth it because choice specs/life orb ice beam hits nearly as hard as ice burn. Choice specs and life orb will also boost the power of other moves and you can fire ice beam as much as you want. This item is extremely situational. If you are running power herb and a charging move, you will usually only use that charging move only once. The notable users are xerneas (i know i was listing mostly OU pokemon here but this is the only pokemon that usually runs power herb), heatran (solar beam+power herb to lure in water types, requires a really good prediction) and hawlucha(not really recommended to use power herb but it's viable).

Rocky Helmet: it damages the foe for 1/6 of max HP when its attack makes contact. It's only used on physically bulky pokemon, as you want your pokemon to take as many physical hits as possible to punish physical attackers. Rocky helmet might seem to be a good option for special attackers to discourage physical move, but really they can usually only take one physical move making rocky helmet not worth it. Rocky helmet is especially good on pokemon that already has an ability that damages the opponent when they make contact. It punishes the opponent's physical attacker incredibly hard, making them losing 29% of the health everytime they it activates. Some notable users are: garchomp, skarmory, landorus-t, tangrowth and ferrothorn.

Sitrus Berry: It restores 1/4 of the max HP when at 1/2 HP or less. One-time use. It's more used on doubles than singles. In single, it's not that useful, cuz mostly pokemon would just use leftovers instead of sitrus berry if they want extra health. The main use for sitrus berry in singles is for belly drum users. Almost all belly drum users needs sitrus berry. You lose half of your health when you use belly drum and you need the instant health from sitrus berry so you don't just get killed at the turn you are using belly drum. Even if the opponent didn't attack you that turn it's still helpful to make you not as vulnerable to priority move. Some notable users are: Azumarill, Slurpuff(don't use it in OU tho) and hawlucha(not a belly drum user but sitrus berry is used to activate unburden).

So that's what's all to show. There are other viable items like custap berry, some type berry, weak policy, weather rocks but they are extremely situational. If you are unsure of which item to use you can always check smogon analysis. If you are really unsure then leftovers on defensive pokemon and life orb on offensive pokemon will do. If you have any questions or suggestions please say so. I actually had a bit techinical difficulties so if something weird pop up then it woul be nice to tell me about it. I hope this article helps and have a good day n_n