Air. Food. Water. Every human being needs these things. They are simply vital for existence. Championship Pokemon trainers have additional needs. While they might not be required to exist, they are absolutely necessary for successful Pokemon battling and breeding. In this week's edition of Pokemusings, we're going over five essential ingredients for a winning Pokemon recipe (and no, we're not making Psyduck a L'Orange).

 
Above: It looks funky and isn't much of a fighter, but Smeargle is amazingly useful for breeding

1) Battle Items
While it's important to have the right blend of Pokemon with the right blend of moves, it's almost as important to make sure your Pokemon are holding the best battle items. Single-boost items like Mystic Water and Charcoal are fine for beating the game, but they're mostly a joke in competition. The items you want to use include Life Orb, Choice Specs, Choice Band, Choice Scarf, Leftovers, and Expert Belt. Sure, there are others that might come in handy, but these six should be mandatory for any serious Pokemon trainers backpack.

2) Smeargle
Breeding egg moves into Pokemon is another seemingly grueling task. Some egg-move chains require you to mate several pairs of Pokemon, which requires a fair bit of time. This is where Smeargle comes in. This unique Pokemon might be crap in battle, but it's immensely useful for breeding. It knows the move Sketch, which allows it to learn any move in the game. Once it learns a new move, it can just breed with any species that is allowed to learn it. Use Smeargle and Sketch to save a lot of breeding time.