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Mastering the MaisonTable of ContentsWhy Bother With the Battle Maison?
While Pokémon XY and ORAS are certainly fun to play, for many serious battlers, the games' biggest shortcoming is their lack of truly competitive battling. These games are designed to be beatable by younger children, after all, and accordingly, an experienced player with intelligently chosen and trained Pokémon will find little difficulty in smashing through underleveled storyline foes controlled by a simplistic AI. To make things more interesting, some players play through the game using complicated self-enforced "challenge" rules (Nuzlocke, etc.) that limit the Pokémon they can use, how these Pokémon can be obtained, and how and when they can be healed, taught TMs, and so forth. However, another way to find in-game challenge, and to keep the games strategically interesting long after completing the storyline, is to build lengthy winning streaks in the Battle Maison. In the Maison, you can compete in single, double, triple, rotation, and multi battles against leveled-up and fully EVed computer-controlled teams. While winning an individual battle in the Maison is often trivial, designing and playing a team to a lengthy winning streak can be a challenging and rewarding endeavor. Furthermore, many important items and TMs can most easily be obtained by winning battles in the Maison, so even for competitive players not interested in building a massive streak, success in the Maison can be helpful. This article is intended to introduce players to the Battle Maison and aid in team design and play. It will first discuss the overall format of the Maison and items that can be won or purchased inside. It will then address general strategies for building successful teams in all Maison battle formats and the basic tendencies of the AI. Finally, it will provide format-specific advice on strategy and recommended Pokémon as well as threats for each of the five Maison battle formats. Maison BasicsBasic RulesWhile most Pokémon are allowed to participate in Maison battles, there are a few important limitations. First, event Pokémon and cover legendaries are banned. Second, the Species Clause is in effect, so you cannot use two Pokémon of the same species, even with different formes. Third, the Item Clause is in effect, so no two of your Pokémon can hold the same item. Any of your Pokémon above level 50 will be auto-lowered to level 50 during your Maison battles, while Pokémon at lower levels retain their levels. All of the AI's Pokémon will be at level 50, and by battle 40 of a super battle streak, all will have perfect IVs and 510 EVs divided between either two or three stats. The exact progression of the IVs is as follows:
The size of your team varies depending on the battle format you choose. In singles, you use a team of three Pokémon, with one active and two in reserve. In doubles, you use a team of four, with two active and two in reserve. Triples battles involve teams of six, with three Pokémon active and three in reserve. Rotation teams use four Pokémon in total, three active and one in reserve. Finally, Multis teams consist of two separate groups of two Pokémon, with one member of each group active and one in reserve. You control one of these groups, while your partner, either another human or the AI, controls the other. In XY, your list of available AI partners for Multis expands with every Friend Code you add, though the specific Pokémon that an AI-controlled friend can use are randomly determined. In ORAS, Friend Codes no longer increase your available partner options, though the default partners, particularly Steven, are stronger than the XY defaults. There are two levels of play in the Maison, regular and super. While the focus of this article is on building teams for success in super battles, you'll first need to complete the regular level of each battle format before you can play the associated super level. 20 consecutive victories, including a final victory over a Battle Chatelaine, are required to complete a regular level. In the super level, there is no limit to streak length. You'll fight a tougher version of the Chatelaine at battle 50, but unlike in regular formats, your super battle streak will not end after a victory against the Chatelaine. As long as you keep winning, you'll be able to extend your streak indefinitely. After a single loss, however, your streak will end, and you'll have to start back at battle one if you want to build a new one. What Can You Win?Upon beating a Chatelaine in any regular battle format, all Pokémon on your team for the battle will be awarded the Skillful Battler Ribbon. Upon beating a Chatelaine in any super battle format, all Pokémon on your team for the battle will be awarded the Expert Battler Ribbon. Note that the only requirement for the ribbon is participating in the Chatelaine battle; a Pokémon need not have been on your team for any of the previous battles. When you beat the Chatelaine for a super battle format for the first time, a trophy will appear in the Maison lobby commemorating the achievement. There's one trophy for each format, five in all. After your first 100-win streak, you receive a Lansat Berry. After your first 200-win streak, you receive a Starf Berry. In XY, the Berries are given to you by the girl in the left side of the Maison lobby, while in ORAS, you receive the Berries from the girl in the house immediately east of the Maison.  
Most importantly, victories at the Maison allow you to collect Battle Points (BP), which can be used to pay for Move Tutors (in ORAS), exchanged for TMs (in XY), or traded for useful items (in both). In regular-level battles, the BP gain is as follows:
In super battles, the BP gain is as follows:
Note that this is a much higher rate of BP accumulation than in previous generations, so if you're just looking to get all relevant items and TMs, you don't need to do a lot of grinding. If you are trying to build a record-worthy streak, you'll quickly find yourself with thousands of BP. The full list of available items and TMs is as follows: Left Counter ORAS
Right Counter ORAS
Left Counter XY
Right Counter XY
In ORAS, the following moves are available from the move tutors: Left
Middle Left
Middle Right
Right
General Advice and AI TendenciesGeneral AdviceAlthough recommended strategies vary by battle format, there are some basic facts you should keep in mind regardless of format. Variance is your enemy in the Maison, so when designing and playing your team, focus on reducing variance, even at the cost of expected value. Using 100% accurate moves is one important way of doing this. In competitive battles, for example, the extra OHKOs that Fire Blast nets typically make it better than Flamethrower, even with its 15% miss chance. However, in the Maison, your team should already have the edge over the AI in the "average" state of the world thanks to your human intelligence in building and playing your team, so you need to minimize the harm in the "unlucky" state of the world. With Fire Blast, it's only a matter of time before you'll miss twice in a row (which will happen in 2.25% of Fire Blast pairs), and if you plan to win hundreds of battles consecutively, it's a near-certainty that this will happen at some point in your streak. As such, refrain from trying a set that regularly needs to use inaccurate attacks. Even 90% accuracy can be remarkably risky. You're going to be stuck missing sometimes thanks to the occasional Lax Incense- or Double Team-using foe; there's no reason to increase this chance with unreliable moves, especially when an untimely miss can cost you a streak. A notable example of the importance of accuracy over anything else can be found in Azumarill, which heavily relies on its inaccurate but otherwise great STAB Play Rough; as such, Wide Lens, which is laughably bad in competitive battles, is mandatory for its item. Focusing on reliability doesn't apply solely to move accuracy, either; when building your team, in every single thing you should be looking for as much accuracy and as little potential for failure as possible. A classic example is Weakness Policy Dragonite; while it utterly steamrolls teams if the item is triggered, it relies on getting hit by a super effective attack first, not to mention that STAB Ice-type moves and critical hits can OHKO Dragonite even through Multiscale. Dragonite gets much, much more mileage out of Lum Berry, which doesn't provide the absurd power Weakness Policy potentially brings but prevents Dragonite from being stopped in its tracks by a status move or secondary effect, making it much more valuable in the long run. Critical hits, flinches, stat drops, and other secondary effects of an enemy's attacks are similarly a big source of variance, so you also need to be prepared to minimize their risk. Using powerful and speedy offensive Pokémon is one good way of doing this, as a foe can't hax you if you outspeed and OHKO it. Substitute can provide protection from unexpected otherwise fatal critical hits and blocks status moves and secondary effect stat drops and status from attacking moves, but it can be too slow for the more offensive battle formats such as doubles. On bulkier setup Pokémon, Rest can heal an unexpected status, and, better still, while your Pokémon is sleeping, it cannot be re-statused. Lum Berry can likewise heal unexpected status, and Focus Sash can prevent your Pokémon from being OHKOed by an untimely critical hit. Similarly, when accounting for Fire- and Electric-types while teambuilding, it isn't enough to simply bring a switch option that resists their attacks; no matter how little damage Garchomp takes from switching into a Flamethrower, the burn chance still stands and is still just as likely to cripple Garchomp. Perhaps the most important means of reducing variance is to play conservatively. Don't try to set up too much when a critical hit can KO your Pokémon. Conversely, when you can safely set up, take advantage of it, as once you have a sweeper set up, there are fewer ways for bad luck to wreck you. When you know you can handle your opponent's other Pokémon, recognize that a surefire 2HKO is often a better choice than an OHKO on a move that could miss twice, even if the chance is tiny. More generally, when deciding your play for a turn, always consider what could go wrong and how to minimize your pain in such a situation. A well-designed team should usually have a huge advantage in the good state of the world, so always pay more attention to the bad state when considering plays. Yes, you might be able to get in one more boost before attacking, but what if your opponent's attack is a critical hit? What if it gets a freeze or a flinch? Obviously, in a tight spot you'll sometimes have to take a chance and hope for the best, but as a general matter, you'll keep streaks going longer by playing like a pessimist. Continuing on the subject of making the best play decisions, knowing the specific sets that your opponents' Pokémon are using really helps in determining the optimal line of play. Be sure to pay attention to the opposing Trainer's name when the battle starts (don't zone out in the moments between battles!), because each named enemy Trainer has access to a specific list of Pokémon sets. Search for the Trainer's name in Team Rocket Elite's Maison Trainer list, available in the Resources section below, and see what sets are available for the Pokémon you are facing in the named Trainer's list. Much of the time, there will only be one set available for each Pokémon, letting you easily pull up the set from the Maison Pokémon List to see that Pokémon's specific moves, nature, item, and EVs. Note, however, that enemy Pokémon abilities are randomly selected from among their regular and hidden abilities (even unreleased ones!), so keep the different ability possibilities in mind when considering your strategy. Opposing Pokémon split their EVs evenly between the two (255 each) or three (170 each) listed stats, so if you need to calculate the foe's exact stats, it is easy to do so. The more you play, the more you'll start to remember which Trainers have access to which sets, what you can OHKO, and what you can outspeed, and you'll find yourself consulting the lists a lot less, but it's a good idea to get into the habit of checking frequently early on. Better to spend a little extra time reminding yourself of the set you are facing than to blow a streak to an avoidable mistake. Remember that some Trainers have access to multiple sets for the same Pokémon, complicating the job of divining their set. For some Pokémon, this isn't a big deal, but for others, particularly the legendary Pokémon used by "Veteran" Trainers, the correct strategy against one set might be badly suboptimal against another. In such a situation, it's particularly important to choose a line of play that punishes you the least when you guess the set wrong. Conservative play! If you can't figure out which line is best, it's often best to just attack, as getting some damage in will make things easier for your other Pokémon. This is common sense, but it's important to pay attention as you battle. Over lengthy streaks, it's easy to go into autopilot mode, and when that happens, mistakes become more likely. Remember that there are all sorts of oddities you might forget or lose track of, especially because opposing Pokémon now have access to their hidden abilities and there are more unusual abilities and items available this generation than previously. Sound moves may KO through your Substitute, Gale Wings Talonflame may wreck your fully set up Dragonite with priority Brave Bird, and so forth. Stay focused during the battle, as failing to notice Tailwind or Trick Room going into effect can easily end a streak. Keep track of your opponents' possible abilities so you don't accidentally do something foolish such as trigger a Miltank's Sap Sipper with your Ferrothorn's Leech Seed. Remember that when one of a foe's possible abilities gives an immediate message, as is the case with Intimidate and Pressure, you can often deduce which ability the foe has the moment it enters play by the presence or absence of that message. Don't get careless against Pokémon with a Weakness Policy or Custap Berry, because though these items are often easy to play around when you remember them, blindly attacking into them can spell big trouble. In short, pay attention, as even a brief moment of forgetfulness or carelessness can ruin a monster streak. While access to Mega Evolution gives you an edge in the Maison compared to the Subway and Tower, the tradeoff you face is that there are a lot more things to watch out for and more ways to be punished for sloppiness. It also warrants emphasis that just as in competitive play, natures, IVs, and EVs matter a lot. Though your foes in the regular battles and the early rounds of super battles will have imperfect IVs, after battle 40 your opponents will have perfectly IVed Pokémon. Accordingly, using Pokémon with bad IVs will put you at a big disadvantage. Depending on your matchup, losing just a few points of Speed can turn outspeeding your opponent's Pokémon into being outsped, while the loss of just a little Attack might turn a guaranteed OHKO into a 2HKO. Take the time to breed for near-perfect IVs. It is well worth it. While this was a huge hassle in previous generations if you didn't RNG, the new breeding mechanics, particularly the use of Destiny Knot, make it relatively easy to breed Pokémon with five perfect IVs, with the imperfect one in the unused offensive stat. Better still, the more quality Pokémon you breed, the faster future breeding projects will go, as you'll have more well-IVed parents available! Choose your EVs and nature with care as well. While maximizing Speed and an attacking stat for offensive Pokémon and HP and a defensive stat for defensive ones can be correct, the best spreads are often based around specific threats that need to be outsped. Snail489's Maison Speed Tiers list can be very useful in figuring out what Speed stats you should EV your Pokémon to achieve. Additional helpful information such as Smogon's Battle Maison leaderboard and Team Rocket Elite's complete list of Maison Pokémon and their four possible sets can be found in the Resources section below; pay special heed to the fourth set (e.g. Scizor4) for normal Pokémon and the first and second sets for legendary Pokémon, as these are by far the most common sets after battle 40, but recognize that legendary sets three and four still appear fairly frequently and certain Trainers, particularly those focusing on just a few types of Pokémon, have access to regular Pokémon with sets one, two, and three even deep into a streak. Above everything, however, it should be stressed that the Maison has an extremely steep learning curve and most battles are decided at the teambuilding stage. If you want to go above and beyond, it is not enough to be simply a decent battler—the Maison is extremely unforgiving to blind play and won't hesitate to punish even the tiniest mistake on your part, and if you tackle it without proper knowledge of the AI's sets, damage calculations, and proper Maison-geared play in general, it won't have a hard time doing so. Proper preparation and knowledge make the difference between winning streaks of 50 and 500, and that's no exaggeration—quite the opposite. AI TendenciesYou can also improve your play decisions by keeping some facts about the AI in mind. The AI loves to go for OHKOs, so if it has a move that can OHKO one of your Pokémon, it will probably use it. Though the AI does account for weaknesses and resistances, it will choose to go for the KO over a super effective hit that is not a guaranteed KO. When multiple moves may KO or none of them will, the AI typically chooses its strongest move, adjusted for weaknesses and resistances, although there is some variation when several moves are close in effective power. This sometimes results in the AI using an inaccurate move such as Focus Blast to finish off a low-HP Pokémon instead of the "correct" choice of an accurate attack. Be careful not to overpredict in such a situation. Notably, the AI seems to have a preferred move with which to attack your Pokémon but may start using suboptimal moves after its first choice has run out of PP; for instance, while Vaporeon prefers using Ice Beam against Gliscor, it may occasionally throw in a Signal Beam between its Surfs after it has run out of Ice Beam PP, for no apparent reason whatsoever. It should also be noted that the AI has a very strong preference for speed control moves: it is very likely to use Trick Room if it cannot OHKO any of your active Pokémon (and occasionally even if it can), and if your active Pokémon outspeeds its and it has a move such as Icy Wind at its disposal, it will most likely use it. For instance, an opposing Regice strongly prefers using Icy Wind over Thunderbolt against Greninja, and, curiously, an opposing Froslass might use Icy Wind over Shadow Ball against Aegislash under Trick Room. Additionally, the AI might not recognize ability-based immunities at first and therefore will try using a Fire-type move against Heatran, Thunder Wave against Limber Hitmonlee, and an OHKO move against Sturdy Aron; after triggering the ability once, the AI will stop using these moves, however. The AI hardly ever switches, which is great for setting up against crippled or poorly-matched foes, but recognize that there are some situations when the AI will switch. If a foe is Choice-locked into a non-damaging move or one to which your Pokémon is immune, it will switch out, though it will often wait a few turns beforehand. Note that this only applies to Choice-locking and not merely running out of PP on all but one move. Even if a foe's remaining moves are completely useless, it will spam them until it runs out of PP and proceed to use Struggle until it faints. Additionally, a foe will usually switch out if it has a teammate that is immune to or absorbs the last move one of your Pokémon used, provided that the immunity is ability-based, not typing-based; for instance, the AI will often switch in its Latios if your Pokémon used Earthquake the turn before, but it will not switch to Zapdos in this scenario. The AI does understand Perish Song, so it will switch out on the final turn if it is able to. Finally, the AI will switch out if it uses a move such as U-turn or Volt Switch, but it only chooses these moves for their damage, not for the switching ability, so you can often prevent their use by using Pokémon against which these moves are not very effective. Additionally, after the AI's active Pokémon faints, it will use a mechanic similar to the ability Forewarn to determine the Pokémon it will send out next; it always chooses its next active Pokémon based solely on the effective Base Power of its remaining Pokémon's moves, taking type effectiveness and other damage multipliers into account. Accordingly, it will send out a Tyrantrum against your Dragonite locked into Outrage, it will prefer sending out a weak Explosion user such as Carbink over a considerably more threatening foe such as Volcarona against your Mega Kangaskhan, and if it sends out, for instance, a Grass-type against your Gliscor, you can assume it won't have an Ice-type waiting in the wings. A few moves deserve special attention for how the AI handles them. In the Battle Subway and Tower, the AI did not understand Substitute and would often spam status moves into a Substitute, giving your Pokémon turn after turn of free setup. The AI no longer does this and will not attempt to status a Pokémon behind a Substitute unless it has the Infiltrator ability or no other usable moves. The only exceptions are Teeter Dance and Pain Split, which the AI will still use against a Pokémon behind a Substitute to no avail. Where possible, the AI will often, but not always, open with Fake Out, unless your Pokémon is immune to the move or there is another move that can achieve a KO. The AI uses Protect erratically, sometimes even when it could attack for a KO, making it difficult to predict when a foe will spend a turn using Protect. There does appear to be a tendency to use the move on the first turn and to alternate between Protect and other moves, but it is not a 100% chance. Similarly, while the AI very rarely uses Protect twice in a row, it does occasionally happen. The AI recognizes when your Pokémon are immune to Trick and so will never waste a turn trying to Trick a Pokémon with Sticky Hold or a Mega Stone. This doesn't apply to the ORAS Mega Stones, however; the AI will try to use Trick on an ORAS Mega Evolution before it Mega Evolves, and it will stop doing so only afterwards. Yawn also deserves a special mention, as the AI will often use this move multiple times in a row, such as while you're trying to switch around it. However, the AI is not predicting your switch; it simply doesn't recognize the Yawn state and is using the move against a "non-sleeping" target. The redirection abilities Storm Drain and Lightningrod deserve a special note for how the AI handles them in doubles and triples. In the Subway, it would keep spamming Water- and Electric-type moves to no avail and supercharging the Storm Drain / Lightningrod user; however, in the Maison it stops using those moves altogether after triggering the ability the first time. Notably, this even applies to spread moves such as Surf, which aren't blocked completely by the ability. A final thing of note regarding the AI in doubles and triples is that it doesn't seem to be aware of its teammates, which makes life considerably easier in these formats. Standard examples include the AI using Helping Hand into its ally's Curse and happily KOing its allies with Earthquake and Explosion. Coping With LosingRemember that no matter how well you build and play your team, you are going to lose. As a rule of thumb, a good team's losses almost always involve some bad luck, but there's also usually a way you could have played or teambuilt around losing to that ill fortune. Accordingly, if you want to improve in the Maison, don't blindly blame hax for your losses, and instead consider what decisions you could have made differently that might have allowed you to win the battle. Sure, it's frustrating to lose to low-probability events, but over a long streak, you are going to face a lot of them. Accept this, and work on minimizing the impact of these unlucky stretches, and you'll be well-positioned for Maison success. Whine about hax without thinking closely about your decisions, and you are dooming yourself to more failures. Similarly, note that there is no evidence of the AI choosing teams designed specifically against you, so don't waste energy complaining about bad matchups; over a long streak, probability dictates that they will happen, but you aren't being cheated. Format-specific GuidelinesWhat follows is advice specific to each battle format, followed by discussion of recommended Pokémon in that format. Remember that all of the general guidelines above apply regardless of format; also note that the recommended Pokémon and threatlists are not intended to be comprehensive and that you can surely have success using or face difficulties against unlisted Pokémon. Click on the links below to take you to the formats you're most interested in: |