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Charlie (Charizard) (M) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31
- Flamethrower
- Heat Wave
- Solar Beam
- Air Slash
I'm planning on leading with these two, mega evolve Charizard, Latias uses Helping Hand, Charizard uses Heat Wave. Like you can see above, my Latias is not perfect, lacking perfect SpA and Spe. I want to give him a new spread, and was thinking about a basic 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe, which would make a very fast support pokemon. Are there any other spreads that would work better? I'd love recommendations.
Charlie (Charizard) (M) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31
- Flamethrower
- Heat Wave
- Solar Beam
- Air Slash
I'm planning on leading with these two, mega evolve Charizard, Latias uses Helping Hand, Charizard uses Heat Wave. Like you can see above, my Latias is not perfect, lacking perfect SpA and Spe. I want to give him a new spread, and was thinking about a basic 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe, which would make a very fast support pokemon. Are there any other spreads that would work better? I'd love recommendations.
I'd be very, very wary of relying on 90% accuracy moves. Over a long streak, both Heat Wave and Draco Meteor are going to miss at inopportune times, and though it seems tiny, even a 1% chance of missing twice in a row, which is what 90% accuracy means, is devastating. Eruption Typhlosion is probably a better option if you are looking for a spread Fire-type attacker.
Mega Slowbro finally has a home, and it has a four-digit address! Posting a 1050 win, ongoing streak in ORAS super singles with Dragonite / Mega Slowbro / Chansey.
Previous musings on the team can be found here and here.
The team was the product of two thought processes happily coming together. The first was finding a way to make Mega Slowbro work in the maison. Its massive defensive stats and ability to boost make it first look like a decent Suicune replacement, but as discussed at length earlier in this thread, Mega Slowbro's combination of low Speed, demand for a mega slot, Psychic typing, need to take a hit in non-mega forme when switching into an attack, and lower base Special Defense meant that head-to-head, Suicune is just better at the biased mixed-wall role. I played around with ways to better play to Slowbro's strengths, but none were successful. Most notable was using partial attack, partial cripple Memento Latios as a way to get Slowbro in safely to set up, as Shell Armor would ensure that critical hits wouldn't bypass Memento's stat drops, but though good against many things, Slowbro still loses to some threats even after fully setting up, and playing a strategy of sacking one Pokemon just to set up a second is really dangerous if the second Pokemon can be beaten by a follow up foe. I accordingly set Mega Slowbro aside in my maison plans for quite a while.
The second inspiration for the team was the recent success of Chansey in streaks by VaporeonIce and GG Unit, and my desire to test Chansey out myself. Chansey dominates most special attackers, and though its base Defense is painfully low, the combination of HP EVs, Eviolite, and massive HP mean that it is passibly bulky against many physical attacks too. Sadly, unlike Suicune, it has no real attack power, so is reduced to Seismic Toss, PP Stalling, and Toxic as ways to win, all of which have flaws when compared to something like +6 Scald from Suicune. Still, the ability to switch into almost any special attack is very appealing, and as shown by VaporeonIce and GG Unit's success, Chansey can clearly anchor successful teams. The question for me was how best to do so without merely going over other people's well trodden ground.
Considering possible sets, I decided I really liked GG Unit's Seismic Toss / Minimize / Substitute / Soft Boiled build, and would start by giving it a try. I feel naked having a team without Substitute, and Minimize means that Chansey can pseudo-boost its defenses against both physical and special attackers. I began by just subbing Chansey into my previous Dragonite / Mega Metagross / Suicune team in place Suicune. Awkwardly, however, though it could cover similar threats, it plays differently enough that it leaves certain holes. The combination of Pressure, Substitute, and better physical bulk meant that Suicune could safely switch into and set up on many physical attackers merely by Sub-stalling out their most damaging attack. Although a fully set-up Chansey beats many physical attackers, switching into them is much harder, so Chansey covers fewer threats than does Suicune, meaning that forcing Chansey into Suicune's mixed role was not successful.
The best way to complement Chansey, then, would be to pair it with something well suited to handling physical attackers. Gliscor is perhaps the most common choice for a physical wall, and Aegislash as well, but both have been heavily played, and I wanted to look in a different direction. At this point, I remembered Mega Slowbro, and it seemed it might finally have a place for it to shine. (It's interesting to note that during all the teambuilding process, I had no clue that Chansey and Mega Slowbro are a popular Battle Spot core. But it makes perfect sense, given their harmony in Maison play). I started with an older Slowbro set of mine, built to function as a Suicune style mixed wall, except with its bias towards beating physical attackers instead of special ones. Sadly, this mixed build proved too greedy. Allowing Slowbro to better switch into special attacks left it too vulnerable to certain powerful physical ones, especially given its vulnerability to critical hits on the switch turn, and its low Speed almost always forcing it to take a second hit before being able to act. Accordingly, Calm Max Special Defense Slowbro was out, and Bold Max Defense Slowbro was in.
All that remained was finding a third partner. Honestly, I didn't do a ton of theorymoning on this, and instead went straight for Dragonite, an old standby. Dragonite beats a solid fraction of maison foes by itself, synergizes well with the weaknesses of Chansey and Slowbro, and plays best out of the lead spot because it doesn't have to risk breaking its Multiscale to switch in. While it's hard to say that Dragonite is the best possible partner, I felt confident that it was a pretty good one. It was time to start battling!
My Dragonite set is fairly standard. Since I didn't theorymon it around any specific threats, and I'm not running Roost or Substitute, I went with the basic 252 Attack / 252 Speed that have previously served me well, rather than something bulkier. Dragonite is still extremely hard to OHKO thanks to Multiscale, and can handle many entire teams on its own. While Extreme Speed is a viable option, I like Fire Punch for better rounding out the coverage and letting me beat more bulky Grass-types without having to lock into Outrage. Remember, though, that 2x super effective Fire Punch is weaker than neutral Outrage, so recognize that against certain Grass-type foes, Outrage is still correct. When in doubt, run the calcs, especially now that the process is much faster with turskain's preloaded enemy sets.
Slowbro's set is also pretty standard, with everything skewed towards physical bulk save for a little HP EV shaving to take advantage of level 50 EV mechanics. This allows Slowbro to switch into most physical attackers, though it has to be careful against certain particularly high powered foes because it is vulnerable to critical hits on the switch turn, and will almost always have to take a second attack as well before it can move. While defensive Maison Pokemon normally want Substitute, Slowbro thankfully doesn't need it, as Shell Armor prevents crits, the stat boosting moves counter side effect stat drops, Scald/Rest handle status, and Chansey can take on foes with OHKO moves. When fully set up, Slowbro can defeat most foes, even Special Attacking ones, and with Rest and the relatively high PP of Slowbro's boosting moves, it can stall out a lot of irritating status moves or Water-immune foes. While Slowbro mostly switches in against physical attackers, its typing also lets it switch into opposing Slowbro and Slowking and set up on them with ease.
Don't gloss over Slowbro's Regenerator just because it gets replaced when Slowbro Mega Evolves. In fact, it proves very important. First, Regenerator works well with Chansey's Natural Cure. If Chansey switches into a Blizzard and gets frozen, Regenerator makes it much safer for Slowbro to switch in, take a hit, and then switch back out to a now healthy Chansey. Second, Regenerator makes switch stalling much easier, as it allows Slowbro to take a bunch of weak attacks during the switch stalling process without getting slowly worn down. Third, when the foe runs multiple sets on the same Pokemon, and one is physical and another special, Regenerator makes Slowbro a reasonable scout. Finally, Regenerator just helps cover for mistakes. Over lengthy streaks, there's a danger of misclicking or not thinking clearly and accidentally switching Slowbro into an attack you shouldn't. Regenerator can often undo much of the pain from this.
As noted earlier, I use GG Unit's choices for Chansey's moves, and have been very satisfied, particularly with the way that Minimize gives Chansey a way to pseudo-boost both of its defenses. The biggest oddity in my Chansey build is its Speed. Traditionally, Chansey focuses all its EVs on bulk and runs a Bold nature, while I max Speed and run Timid. While unusual, I strongly support this high Speed EV spread for Maison play.
First, this team needs a fair bit of Speed for safety against OHKO foes. Walrein4 has 85 Speed, so given the extreme vulnerability of Dragonite and Slowbro, it is absolutely essential that Chansey hits this benchmark, and I feel much safer being able to outrun 105 Speed Articuno2 as well. Second, Chansey is already so bulky that the extra bulk is not that helpful. Maxing HP EVs, for example, only adds about 5% to Chansey's actual hp, thanks to her enormous base HP stat. And a Bold nature by definition only adds 10% to Defense. Since Chansey isn't switching into most physical attackers, this extra physical bulk is not very important for switching-in, while once fully set up, Substitute + Minimize mean that Chansey beats many physical attackers regardless of how low her Defense is. Third, Substitute works best against foes you outspeed. When you outspeed a foe, there's no guessing when you need to re-Sub, no worries about unexpected crits, and no danger of a final attack breaking your Sub right as you KO a foe you dominate, leaving you needlessly unprotected against a subsequent enemy. The issue of re-Sub prediction is especially complicated thanks to Minimize, as once your evasion is maxed, there's no way to be sure when an attack will hit and break your Sub. Not having to guess on this, or spam Substitute on turns when the foe ends up missing, is a real joy, and helps conserve Chansey's limited Substitute PP. Finally, outspeeding foes makes certain fights a lot less grindy. Sure, Chansey can often beat foes even after being burned or the like, but being able to get a Sub up before a Leech Seed or Will-O-Wisp greatly eases play and limits your opportunities to make a mistake. Over the course of a long streak, you are going to get sloppy, and thus having a spread that simplifies a number of battles is much appreciated. Similarly, when going first, you never have to worry about sloppy Substitute play, where an unexpected crit leaves Chansey with too few HP to make a Substitute and a wasted (and likely fatal) turn. I strongly recommend, if you try this team, or a different Chansey + Slowbro variant, that you stick with Timid, max-Speed Chansey. I think you'll like it.
Unlike some of my earlier teams, I don't have a perfectly clear hierarchy of play decisions. Typically, If I can safely switch in and fully set up Chansey or Slowbro, I'll do so, but if Dragonite can safely Dance twice, or even just once against certain foes, I'm likely to leave it in, because a +2 Dragonite conveniently handles most of the things that otherwise threaten the team, while Dragonite sweeps go far faster than other types of victory. While it is sometimes necessary, I try to avoid just sacrificing Dragonite for a free switch-in as much as possible, as a mostly helathy Dragonite in reserve can be important to handling certain later threats, like Contrary Serperior.
Be very careful with setting up Dragonite, however. I had several failed streaks with this team before this run, and one of the biggest things I learned was the danger of being too greedy with Dragonite. Few things feel worse than Dragon Dancing as Latios4 also Dragon Dances, Dragon Dancing and getting KOed by Druddigon's Outrage, or Dragon Dancing and getting forced out by Dragon Tail while also getting Multiscale broken. In short, judging how much to Dragon Dance is an important skill. Some foes (Latios4, Haxorus, Donphan, Tyrantrum, etc.) are threatening enough that you need to attack them right away, but most of the time, it's not too hard to get a single Dance off, which can be "free" when it turns a 2HKO into a OHKO, and makes subsequent foes much easier. When you can safely grab a second Dance though, it's usually good to do so, since at that point you outspeed everything and there are far fewer foes that can avoid being OHKOed. Further Dragon Dances give sharply diminishing returns, so unless they're almost completely "free" they are not usually worth it.
Chansey's PP are quite limited, so make decisions with PP preservation in mind. Without access to Rest or Pressure, or massive a massive PP move like Growl, Chansey is limited in its ability to indefinitely stall. This is further exacerbated by the fact that it cannot hurt Ghost-types, and the fact that Seismic Toss's low Damage means that it lines up very poorly against foes with Rest when trying to PP stall.
PP awareness takes a few forms. First is that against some foes, Chansey can just stall out their damaging moves and then switch to something else to set up and finish them off. For example, against Lanturn4, Chansey can stall it out of Ice Beams and Charge Beams and then switch to Dragonite, which can laugh as it Dragon Dances all the way to +6.
Second is recognizing when switch stalling is viable. My previous teams didn't do a lot of switch stalling, but this one definitely does. Against Ghost-types in particular, it can be hard to directly stall out all of their damaging moves, since Chansey is immune to Ghost-type attacks, and so Ghost type foes won't use these moves against Chansey until all other damaging moves are gone, and even then will mix them with useless status moves too. In such a situation, however, switch stalling can often work. For example, against Froslass4, the AI will start by targeting Chansey with all of its Blizzards and Destiny Bonds. After that, the only moves remaining are 15 PP of Icy Wind and 15 PP of Shadow Ball. By switching back and forth between Chansey and Slowbro, both moves can be safely stalled out without suffering any damage, thanks to Regenerator and Chansey's Ghost-type immunity. I then typically bring in Dragonite and set it up to +3 during the Struggle turns, and end up with a threatening Dragonite and healthy, high PP Chansey and Slowbro.
Finally, when Chansey has to stall out a Rest-using foe, remember that once all the moves that can hurt Chansey are out of PP, you can use Seismic toss to make the foe Rest, and then switch around on the Rest turns rather than continue to attack while the foe sleeps. This is not a very common situation, but it's good to keep in mind.
As with all teams, proper play against OHKO threats is important. Though Chansey beats slower OHKO users thanks to Substitute, you don't want to switch it directly in against most of them, since switching into a Sheer Cold would be devastating. Accordingly, proper play often involves semi-sacrificing Dragonite. For example, against a lead Walrein4, my play is for Dragonite to Dragon Dance twice. If neither Sheer Cold lands, then +2 Dragonite can merrily go on a rampage with Outrage. If Sheer Cold hits, then Chansey gets a free switch in, and can set up, with the option to later let Slowbro set up once the OHKO moves are out of PP. Note that since Dragonite is immune to Ground-type attacks, foes will not target Dragonite with Fissure, meaning Chansey can switch directly into slower foes whose only OHKO move is Fissure, such as Whiscash.
Note that while very reliable, this team can be very slow. Some battles end in just a few turns after a Dragonite sweep. But others can require switch-stalling or other long, drawn-out processes. Don't start a battle unless you know you'll have time for it to go long, as otherwise you risk trying to take shortcuts that can get you in trouble. Slowbro, for example, dominates Dusknoir. But get impatient and don't properly stall it before you attack, and you risk walking into a Destiny Bond. No good! Patience is power with this team.
The following Pokemon most worry me when playing. While they can usually be dealt with, sloppiness against them can lead to disaster, so be smart.
Contrary Serperior4:
While Dragonite can Dragon Dance and then outspeed OHKO Serperior, and Chansey already behind a Substitute can stall it out, Contrary Serperior is very dangerous if it comes in against Mega Slowbro. Even a fully setup Slowbro is 2HKOed by Leaf Storm, while +6 Scald fails to OHKO back, and a crit at +4 or a normal +6 breaks Chansey. Note that if Dragonite is still alive, +4 Leaf Storm only does 56.8 to 67%, so a near healthy Dragonite can revenge Serperior, barring a crit, but if Dragonite has already been KOed, I often favor setting up Chansey over setting up Slowbro against trainers that might have a Serperior in reserve.
Latios4:
If you play properly, Latios4 is not a problem. Outrage, and KO it. Sadly Dragonite will be locked into a move and beaten by many other things, but that's not typically the end of the world, especially against Veterans, whom Chansey and Slowbro typically cover very well. The problem is that against all other Latios, the typical technique is to Dragon Dance once first and then kill them. Doing this against Latios4 can be fatal, however. If Latios Dragon Dances along with you, it will still outspeed Dragonite, and can then OHKO it the next turn. The mixed attacking STAB move combination of Draco Meteor and Outrage then put Chansey and Slowbro under extreme pressure, and even if they don't sweep you outright, can open holes for other Pokemon to exploit. In short, when facing a lead Latios from a trainer with access to sets 3 and 4, don't play games. Assume the worst, and attack immediately.
Armaldo4:
Slowbro can't switch directly in, since a Stone Edge crit on the switch turn allows for a KO the next turn. And sacrificing or semi-sacrificing Dragonite has its own issues. First of all, Stone Edge, even without a crit, has a 1/16 chance to KO through Multiscale. This might be an incentive to run a slightly bulkier set save for the fact that a crit (fairly likely with Stone Edge) will OHKO too, so extra bulk is no guarantee of safety. The second issue is that even at +1, Outrage only has an 11/16 chance to OHKO. So whatever you do with Dragonite, it has a chance to lose. Worse, if you attack Armaldo and lose, it will have fewer struggle turns before it dies, meaning Slowbro will be unable to set up completely, and thus will be vulnerable to more follow ups. I play this differently at different times, so am surely making a mistake sometimes. Sadly, the correct play might be to Dragon Dance twice, hope at least one of the Stone Edges misses and the other fails to OHKO, and then sweep, so that if Dragonite dies, Slowbro will have a little more setup time.
Volcarona4:
Not a huge problem in the lead spot, since it likes to Quiver Dance while Dragonite Dragon Dances. Dance twice, then KO with Outrage is my usual play, though you do risk a Flame Body burn. Later in a match, if Dragonite has fainted or is weakened, Volcarona is a much bigger threat. Bug Buzz wrecks Slowbro, while the combination of Special Attacking boosting, Flame Body, and an attack that bypasses Substitute means that with bad luck, Chansey can also be beaten. Thankfully, Volcarona generally prefers to send Heat Waves at Chansey before Bug Buzzes, but Volcarona is still very scary to face if Dragonite has fallen.
Fast (or Quick Claw) OHKO users:
Donphan4 and Pinsir4 can both cause huge problems. Thankfully, Pinsir typically locks into X-Scissor against Slowbro and Superpower against Chansey, but against Dragonite, while it still favors X-Scissor, it occasionally leads with Guillotine, which can be devastating. One of the big advantages of getting Dragonite to +2 is that afterwards, Pinsir4 is no longer a threat. Donphan is even more of a roll of the dice, as it doesn't need to lock into a move, and Quick Claw + Sturdy can do evil things. There's nothing you can do but try to kill it as quickly as possible. Don't play games; attack!
Aggron4: Taunt + Sturdy + Metal Burst is mean, though since you only lose one Pokemon to this, its not usually the end of the world. Both immediately Earthquaking (you'll still 2HKO, even through Shuca Berry) and switching to Slowbro and immediately Scalding are effective options, though you risk losing a Poke to Metal Burst either way. The AI is a bit erratic in when it uses Metal Burst, so trying to predict things is tough.
While the following aren't exactly major threats, misplays can turn them into problems, so make special note of the following.
Dragon-type foes that can potentially OHKO through Multiscale:
If the foe can OHKO Dragonite if you give it time to act (remember abilities like Mold Breaker and Rivalry here) don't give it the time. Attack and KO it first.
Dragon Tail:
Trying to set up and instead getting forced out while having your Multiscale broken is misearable. Usually, against foes with Dragon Tail, the best plan is just to attack.
Taunt users:
The AI loves to Taunt. Thankfully, you can use this to your advantage and just play like it has already taunted you when facing a faster Taunt foe. Crobat, for example, can wreck you if you try to set up while it Taunts you, but if you just Outrage, you end up in reasonable position. Same thing for Slowbro versus Weavile.
Moves that trump Minimize:
Remember that Dragon Rush, Flying Press, and Body Slam will have 100% accuracy against Chansey if it has used Minimize. Even fully set up, Chansey shouldn't try to stay in against these moves.
For reference, I had to restart my streak several times due to preventable losses. Thankfully, I learned from them. Here are things that tripped me up early on:
1. Foolish switch of Chansey into Renuniclus's Trick
2. Latios4 sweeping me after bad decision to Dragon Dance first turn
3. Misplaying against Dragon Tail Nidoqueen coupled with getting punished by Dry Skin Toxicroak
4. Unwisely trying to Dragon Dance against Druddigon, and then facing Contrary Serperior
Battle Videos
Note that these are subject to future removal should I need to add new proof videos or the like, due to the unfortunate cap of 10 video uploads at a time.
4WXG-WWWW-WW2V-H63S: Proof of 1050th consecutive victory. Fairly boring demonstration of switch stalling Froslass4, though because Dragonite was already KOed, my plan became to let Chansey eat a couple extra Icy Winds during the switch stalling process, count Icy Winds, and re-setup Chansey after all 15 were used up while Froslass used up its Shadow Balls, thereby ending with a fully set up Chansey without an Icy Wind Speed drop. Sadly, I lost count of the Icy Winds, and so decided it was better to just accept a -1 Speed Chansey then risk Slowbro taking a needless Shadow Ball.
JX7G-WWWW-WW2V-H64V: Not paying attention/sloppiness almost cost me at battle 928. I miss the opposing trainer's name, so I lazily assume foe is leading with Latios1 or 2, and thus try to set up a Dragon Dance against Latios4 rather than immediately attack it. Streak could easily have been lost here.
Q8VW-WWWW-WW2V-H7DQ: An early streak ends on battle 383 thanks to foolishly trying to Dragon Dance against Druddigon, and then facing Contrary Serperior. Lessons learned for future attempts.
QWGW-WWWW-WW2V-H7EZ: Donphan4 can be a real jerk, and Chansey is forced into a very scary setup attempt against Volcarona. A win on battle 365, but could easily have ended badly.
I'm loving the team and absolutely plan to continue the streak. A Peterko style checklist guide to what to do against all leads seems a reasonable future exercise as well, so I'll be sure to share if I put that together. Thanks for reading, and best of luck with your streaks!
Against Donphan4, if Dragonite is alive it could be possible to switch stall it out of Stone Edge PP with Slowbro - switch Slowbro on Stone Edge, switch Dragonite on EQ/Fissure/Seed Bomb for nil while recovering with Regenerator, and repeat. After it's out of Stone Edge, Dragonite can set up to +6 on Seed Bomb and KO it.
Aggron4 also sounds like it could be switched around - its damage is nil and Chansey is immune to Shadow Claw on top, so switching between Slowbro and Chansey with Regenerator recovery and the occasional Softboiled should remove its Taunt PP and allow safely busting Sturdy with Seismic Toss, and then setting up fully.
Maybe it would be possible to try something similarly cute with Regenerator against Armaldo4: switch Slowbro - if Stone Edge doesn't CH Slowbro on the switch, you can set up partially right away. If it does crit and Slowbro is at 20%, it can be switched out for 33% recovery (which puts it at 50% minimum, back to being able to set up on it) while saccing Dragonite on the switch-in instead (which would've happened on a CH anyway) to make the recovery. In the case there are no CHs, it would leave you Dragonite alive against it - but if the CH does happen, Armaldo has 2 Stone Edge PP (or less if it missed on D-Nite) left when Slowbro starts to set up at 50% HP in the worst case, so it still doesn't sound great. Chansey set-up with Sub to stall the final Stone Edge PP and then Minimize/Softboiled/Sub to probably get at least +4 Evasion and a Sub could be an alternative, if Armaldo doesn't CH the Sub with Struggle - not sure if that's better than Mega Slowbro with limited set-up or not.
Nice job, NoCheese ! I was wondering a couple of things about the set choices.
1) 252 Speed EVs on Chansey surprised me. The fastest thing you outspeed is Clawitzer4, but Clawitzer4 actually wrecks Chansey anyway (though you do get in a Seismic Toss). My guess was that this was for Roserade4, who is an annoyance otherwise, and I doubt the extra EVs would make a difference anywhere else. Obviously, outspeeding Articuno2 is pretty significant.
2) The big surprise for me was Fire Punch over Roost on Dragonite. I feel like Roost gives you so many more opportunities to get a lot of boosts, and bar a really unfortunate sequence of Quick Claw activations/non-activations, makes Donphan4 a pretty trivial opponent. I'd think that Forretress4 would be the main annoyance to your team who isn't handled comfortably by your other Pokemon, but Forretress also tends to give Dragonite a LOT of set-up turns. Did you find Fire Punch to be particularly useful? It's entirely possible there's something big I'm missing.
Hey guys, I was wondering if you could help me out. I'm currently trying to get 50 wins in each catagory, and I'm currently trying to beat the battle chatelaine for the 50th battle in super rotations. She uses these pokemon:
Would you guys have any suggestions on how to guarantee how to beat her? Last time using my current team of dragonite, gengar, mega kanga, and darmatarian I lost, and I really don't want to risk having to do the 50 battles all over again. :(
Hey guys, I was wondering if you could help me out. I'm currently trying to get 50 wins in each catagory, and I'm currently trying to beat the battle chatelaine for the 50th battle in super rotations. She uses these pokemon:
Would you guys have any suggestions on how to guarantee how to beat her? Last time using my current team of dragonite, gengar, mega kanga, and darmatarian I lost, and I really don't want to risk having to do the 50 battles all over again. :(
Use Calm Mega Slowbro with Calm Mind/Iron Defense/Slack Off/Scald. After an Iron Defense, it will wall the musketeers (aside from Terrakion Sacred Sword at +6, which ignores Defense boosts - attack with Scald a few times to KO it before it gets there, also to avoid any ridiculous Rock Slide chain flinches - could use a Bold Slowbro to wall Terrakion even at +6), and Calm Mind will handle Latias (no need to hurry to keep up with its Calm Mind boosts - +3 Slowbro already walls +6 Dragon Pulse with Slack Off).
To finish the battle faster, bring something that can OHKO Latias for after Slowbro has taken out the Musketeers with Scald so you don't have to stall it out. If you're really paranoid, bring dual screens support for Mega Slowbro to double its bulk while you boost.
Use Calm Mega Slowbro with Calm Mind/Iron Defense/Slack Off/Scald. After an Iron Defense, it will wall the musketeers (aside from Terrakion Sacred Sword at +6, which ignores Defense boosts - attack with Scald a few times to KO it before it gets there, also to avoid any ridiculous Rock Slide chain flinches), and Calm Mind will handle Latias (no need to hurry to keep up with its Calm Mind boosts - +3 Slowbro already walls +6 Dragon Pulse with Slack Off).
To finish the battle faster, bring something that can OHKO Latias for after Slowbro has taken out the Musketeers with Scald so you don't have to stall it out. If you're really paranoid, bring dual screens support for Mega Slowbro to double its bulk while you boost.
Against Donphan4, if Dragonite is alive it could be possible to switch stall it out of Stone Edge PP with Slowbro - switch Slowbro on Stone Edge, switch Dragonite on EQ/Fissure/Seed Bomb for nil while recovering with Regenerator, and repeat. After it's out of Stone Edge, Dragonite can set up to +6 on Seed Bomb and KO it.
Aggron4 also sounds like it could be switched around - its damage is nil and Chansey is immune to Shadow Claw on top, so switching between Slowbro and Chansey with Regenerator recovery and the occasional Softboiled should remove its Taunt PP and allow safely busting Sturdy with Seismic Toss, and then setting up fully.
Maybe it would be possible to try something similarly cute with Regenerator against Armaldo4: switch Slowbro - if Stone Edge doesn't CH Slowbro on the switch, you can set up partially right away. If it does crit and Slowbro is at 20%, it can be switched out for 33% recovery (which puts it at 50% minimum, back to being able to set up on it) while saccing Dragonite on the switch-in instead (which would've happened on a CH anyway) to make the recovery. In the case there are no CHs, it would leave you Dragonite alive against it - but if the CH does happen, Armaldo has 2 Stone Edge PP (or less if it missed on D-Nite) left when Slowbro starts to set up at 50% HP in the worst case, so it still doesn't sound great. Chansey set-up with Sub to stall the final Stone Edge PP and then Minimize/Softboiled/Sub to probably get at least +4 Evasion and a Sub could be an alternative, if Armaldo doesn't CH the Sub with Struggle - not sure if that's better than Mega Slowbro with limited set-up or not.
I really like the Donphan4 and Aggron4 ideas, and will have to put those into practice. As I noted in my writeup, my previous teams didn't do a lot of switch stalling, and while this one certainly does, it's still not quite instinctual for me, and this shows in my strategy gaps. Your Armaldo4 idea is intriguing, but like you, I'm unsure if it's better. Armaldo4 just seems destined, for this team, to be a foe where deciding on the true optimal strategy is tough. Arguments can me made for immediately attacking, dancing once, dancing twice, and your switch around plan.
1) 252 Speed EVs on Chansey surprised me. The fastest thing you outspeed is Clawitzer4, but Clawitzer4 actually wrecks Chansey anyway (though you do get in a Seismic Toss). My guess was that this was for Roserade4, who is an annoyance otherwise, and I doubt the extra EVs would make a difference anywhere else. Obviously, outspeeding Articuno2 is pretty significant.
2) The big surprise for me was Fire Punch over Roost on Dragonite. I feel like Roost gives you so many more opportunities to get a lot of boosts, and bar a really unfortunate sequence of Quick Claw activations/non-activations, makes Donphan4 a pretty trivial opponent. I'd think that Forretress4 would be the main annoyance to your team who isn't handled comfortably by your other Pokemon, but Forretress also tends to give Dragonite a LOT of set-up turns. Did you find Fire Punch to be particularly useful? It's entirely possible there's something big I'm missing.
Once I EV enough to get to 106 Speed, to outrun Articuno2, it seems that I might as well take the 6 extra Speed from going all the way to 252, as just 6 extra HP seem almost inconsequential. Roserade is certainly the place where I benefit the most from this (though against a lead Roserade, I usually just set up Dragonite), but when Chansey is already in and set up, outspeeding other things in that range can be handy, though definitely not necessary. Excadrill, for example, could portentially get two Earthquake hits in a row in when you are Seismic Tossing it down, but if you outspeed it, you don't need to worry about this or spam Substitutes, since you can just resub when and if it actually hits.
The biggest attraction of Fire Punch for me is not having to lock into Outrage as often, which is one place where bad things are likely to happen to Dragonite. Bulky grass types, for example, can often be handled by +2 Fire Punch, and I'm a lot less worried by a Fairy-type in reserve when I'm Fire Punching. I suspect most of the time, this isn't a huge issue, as a teammate can typically cover for Dragonite when I Outrage, but the conservative attacking options Fire Punch allows are nice. Having a move that can actually hit Togekiss can occasionally be convenient, even though Chansey handly beats it even through Aura Sphere. Fire Punch is also nice for things like Scizor, Skarmory, and Bronzong, though of course many times Dragonite's partners can handle these better. Admittedly, none of these are major issues. So how valuable is the opportunity to set up more deeply on more things? Going beyond +2 on Dragonite offers sharply diminishing returns, so giving up even an occasionally used moveslot for a few more +6s doesn't excite me too much, since against many things where Roost gets me to +6, I can probably get to +2 unaided. And Forretress4 is actually a place where Fire Punch is not too helpful, since I don't want to trigger its Custap Berry if I can help it.
What really does excite me, however, is being able to set up on Donphan4. I need to run the calcs for how much damage Dragonite would take from Seed Bombs with Turskain's swtich-stall plan, since even resisted attacks can slowly wear Dragonite down, but Roost completely negates that, so if the switch-stall Seed Bomb damage has the potential to be at all problematic, Roost gains a lot of points in my book.
Sorry if this isn't the proper place to ask this, but I remember some time ago when a guy posted a streak of like 1,200 or so in Super Singles with a team consisting of Mega Kanga, Suicune and Gliscor. I decided I wanted to hit a streak of at least 100 so I copied that team because I really love Suicune and I had easy access to the other two. But I don't remember the moves and EV spreads of the team lol Could someone point me in the right direction? I remember the guy had the streak in XY and not ORAS if that helps. Again, sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this.
Edit: Found it like right after I left this post. :P
Are there any pokemon or items that can't be used if we want to be put on this list? For example, would using gengarite disqualify a team in multi battles with live person?
Are there any pokemon or items that can't be used if we want to be put on this list? For example, would using gengarite disqualify a team in multi battles with live person?
In terms of Pokemon or items that can't be used, it is advised that you stay away from hacked Pokemon of any sort. Other than that, there aren't really any restrictions. Using Mega Stones of any variety doesn't disqualify a team in any of the different Battle Maison challenges. The Battle Maison doesn't really conform to Smogon's usual tier system, so Mega Gengar is perfectly fine to use, along with any other Mega Evolution save Diancie. Just keep in mind that you can't use duplicate Pokemon and items in the Battle Maison (except for if you're battling with the AI in Multi Battles).
I am looking to try and go for a long run in multi battles with a live person on my team in both ORAS and X/Y
I was thinking of using a gengar as a lead (timid, spd spA EVs) [gengarite; shadow ball, sludge bomb, dark pulse, energy ball] and protean greninja as an anchor (timid, spd spA EVs) [quick claw; ice beam, extrasensory, dark pulse, scald].
Will this team work for both games or could it be refined more?
Also, any suggestions as to what my teammate should use?
The above would be my team for the X/Y battle maison. I know there are more mega evolutions in ORAS, so should my team change at all for ORAS? Is there any way I can make this team better? (I've heard technician scizor is good and I used to use technician scyther in pokemon diamond's battle tent with all stab moves and that got me a couple hundred streak with a gengar as the lead).
I am looking to try and go for a long run in multi battles with a live person on my team in both ORAS and X/Y
I was thinking of using a gengar as a lead (timid, spd spA EVs) [gengarite; shadow ball, sludge bomb, dark pulse, energy ball] and protean greninja as an anchor (timid, spd spA EVs) [quick claw; ice beam, extrasensory, dark pulse, scald].
Will this team work for both games or could it be refined more?
Also, any suggestions as to what my teammate should use?
The above would be my team for the X/Y battle maison. I know there are more mega evolutions in ORAS, so should my team change at all for ORAS? Is there any way I can make this team better? (I've heard technician scizor is good and I used to use technician scyther in pokemon diamond's battle tent with all stab moves and that got me a couple hundred streak with a gengar as the lead).
U'll probably get a reply more thourough then mine but a few basics are that you Dont want to rely on a random sometimes work, sometimes doesn't, item like quick claw in the maison. Greninja will often hold a focus sash because he's quite frail ,which leads on to the point that both ur poke are on the frail side so if you know that ur live partner will be providing bulk and/or support then u may want to choose 1 of ur special/fast/'glass cannon' sweepers over the other. Bare in mind the AI does like a KO so If ur partners mon are very bulky then u could be the target for most of the AI strong attacks. Also there's nothing dark pulse is hitting that shadow ball isn't hitting harder with gengar, energy ball also will only hit the water/ground pokemons for more damage then his STAB moves, substitute and destiny bond may help you more
Hi! Posting my "all-trophies-got achievement" XD
[sorry for my bad english]
- Super Single Chatelaine video: G49W-WWWW-WW3W-YYNT
- Normal Multi (NO Super!) Chatelaine with real live person: 7PFW-WWWW-WW3W-YYRA (I'm posting this for later considerations)
- Super Multi Chatelaine with same RLP: BV8W-WWWW-WW3W-YYS6
- Super Triple battle 100°: KDMG-WWWW-WW3W-YHVU
- forgot to save Super Rotation. I even forgot to give items to my team and still won lol
- Super Double Chatelaine had some "problems" (accidentally gave Choice-Scarf to Garchomp)
Since nobody used Houndoom for any record, is so strong AND I really like him, I've decided to build a team around and (try to) make a record with it.
So far I've managed to beat the Chatelaine with my friend "Brendom" aka Rob and still going, wait for us!
Houndoom @ Houndoominite
Trait: Unnerve ---> Solar Power
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
- Heat Wave
- Dark Pulse
- Solar Beam
- Sludge Bomb
Landorus-T @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SAtk)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Knock Off
- Protect
Lucario @ Life Orb
Trait: Justify (not the best...)
Nature: Jolly (+Spe, -SAtk)
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- ExtremeSpeed
- Bullet Punch
- Close Combat
- Protect
In NON-Super Multi we used Aegislash over Lucario, which one you think is better?
I prefer Lucario for his 4x resist to Rock (switching out Chary), BP priority and ExtremeSpeed "double priority". Close Combat is another great move too...
But I'm not totally sure
Are the leaderboards ever updated? I used this thread a lot "growing up" (I'm almost 30 but Maison was my first foray into competitive), and it's super important to my life experience that I get my (current) final of 142 wins in super multi AI up on the OP. I've also got 112 strong wins in trips, but that's ongoing enough, and last-spot-enough, that I'm not posting proofs until something significant happens.
Are the leaderboards ever updated? I used this thread a lot "growing up" (I'm almost 30 but Maison was my first foray into competitive), and it's super important to my life experience that I get my (current) final of 142 wins in super multi AI up on the OP. I've also got 112 strong wins in trips, but that's ongoing enough, and last-spot-enough, that I'm not posting proofs until something significant happens.
Yes, they are. But I can take a few days. OP lists the last update date, and the page and post number through which things have been updated. I plan to update today.
EDIT for further clarification: Your AI multis streak was still ongoing at the time of the last update, and so wasn't leaderboard eligible. If it's finished now, post the proof video and I can add it.
759 | Absol4 | Jolly | BrightPowder | Substitute | Swagger | Punishment | Will-O-Wisp | Atk/Spd
<...> It is with shame that I admit I legit cannot recall facing a single lead Absol4 on this run x__x but I think I'd handle it similarly to how I handle Infiltrator Spiritomb4. Obviously Gliscor should get in safely, which means Aegislash must take the burn, so switch to Aegislash, try KOing it on the spot, and if Aegislash gets burned, go to Gliscor, which then handles it easily.
because there are a number of issues with this cute theorymon approach, chief of which is that Gliscor obviously cannot Sub reliably after being hit with Swagger and that, even after an Intimidate, Punishment on a +2 Gliscor actually freaking hurts. This means that Gliscor should switch out after being hit with Swagger—but it should get in first. And the approach of "go to Aegi, wait for burn, switch in Gliscor afterwards" boils down to essentially sacking Aegislash if Absol uses Swagger on the switch and you're then trying to tank 100 BP Punishments, meaning Gliscor might only get in after losing another Pokemon, meaning fewer switch options to tank those Punishments. And once lost, Gyarados's health is gone for good. Oh, and, it's always kind of a downer when Absol Subs on that first turn, which you could have used to set up a DD and then Sub on it yourself :>
If you're still following, this calls for a new approach, which is:
-turn one: DD
-if Absol Subs or misses its status move, great; Sub with Gyarados, stall out Punishment PP, and set up to +6;
-if Absol hits with Swagger: go to Aegi, switch-stall Punishment (which it "usually", grrrr, uses instead of WoW on a +2 target), and if it does use WoW, you can go to Gliscor;
-if Absol hits with WoW, go directly to Gliscor;
-and never keep in a +2 Gliscor until Punishment PP is gone.
Unless Absol Subs on turn 1, this usually results in a somewhat damaged Aegi + Gyara (with Gyara often burned) and a mostly healthy Gliscor... which isn't /ideal/, not in the slightest lol, but still workable in most situations. Burn foddering Aegislash is infinitely more preferable than burn foddering Gyarados, but in this case the difference between the actual damage is so big that I grudgingly have to sacrifice my most "secure" sweeper... I didn't play it like this the first time I ran into Absol4, though, which featured Gliscor indeed tanking two (iirc) 100-BP Punishments and hitting itself in confusion, me losing Aegislash, and Gyarados surviving Absol's last Punishment with literally 3 HP. Poison Heal recovery brought Gliscor back from the brink of death, and the next mon was Sceptile4. I was so full of adrenalin that I literally forgot to stall Energy Ball and got Gliscor Leech Seeded. Gliscor still beat Sceptile because Gliscor is stupidly good, but obviously it was on a serious timer and wouldn't have been able to beat something faster or powerful...
...but the last mon was a worthless pos in Sylveon4, I had Gyarados as death fodder to reset Leech Seed, and so I won after all :T
For reference, this was battle #1028. I was at #1040 when I posted, lol (but had already written Absol's entry at the time of playing), so that ongoing 1024 streak was really this close to being a completed 1027 streak T_T Two more run-ins with Absol4 occured; on the first it used Sub as Gyarados set up Dragon Dance, so that one was easy, and while it burned Gyarados on the second one, at least I now knew how to play against it >_> And so my run continued, leading to where I am now. Mega Gyarados isn't going home just yet.
ORAS Super Singles streak update: 1420 ongoing wins. Let's try this again.
#1420: X9WG-WWWW-WW3W-R9X7
...because not only is 1420 an anagram of 1024, which is cool, you also may recall what memories I have associated with this number...
....yeah, the demise of that other team I named after a Rush song in a chokefest and a Zapdos2 party. Team Clockwork Angels. In that one battle where I burnt my wings flying too close to the sun—again, 3,5k battles in under two months is just too many, not much else to it.
I'm now on my longest Battle Maison run yet, and I don't think something like that double loss is likely to happen again. Triples was probably just me being a tad burnt out, not to mention I was really rushing to 1450 at that point because only a couple days before I had been given a surprise new goal to shoot for (if you know what I'm saying) and I was also trying to "make up" for my loss in doubles, which didn't help in terms of not choking towards a rather big goal in 2k—but especially the contrast between my singles streak and the end of my doubles run is like enormous lol. I'm not attributing that loss solely to this because I'm pretty sure it would have been a pretty damn difficult matchup even if I had been fully focused (and still, that Thunder Wave party)—but it is eery how I lost that run that fast while playing it without a real goal in mind. I was at 1000, as the first goodstuff doubles battler ever, I was #2 at the leaderboards, and Eppie was #1 at 2k, which I really didn't believe I would be able to reach because I had been a tad lucky getting to 1k as is. Saying I was playing "just for fun" is a bit of a stretch, but I was trying just to get a bunch of battles in—a rather small bunch, it would turn out. It was a difference of night and day with the run to the actual 1k, which really had an air of "I cannot lose" over it—it wasn't just a matter of focus, I really was motivated to my very core to prove that I had finally finally finally cracked that puzzle (and that those €30,- for the game and fifteen hours of beating the game and eight hours of RNGing that Thundurus hadn't been a waste of time and money lmao), and while I would have been plenty satisfied getting to 500 with it, I got sufficiently caught up in storming the leaderboard to actually go where no Blaziken had ever gone before. While it took me over a month as opposed to a mere ten days, making it more of a marathon than a sprint, the feeling throughout this singles run honestly was similar. I wanted "a 2^10 streak for my 2^10th post", I wanted that triple 1k, and especially as my postcount was rapidly growing from GP checking, any loss would have spelled the end—and while that loss certainly could have happened at a couple points (Drizzletoed battle lol), it didn't. I'm not sure how, but it really does seem to be a matter of "form"—I absolutely cannot put my finger on what else could cause me to win those close calls I would have lost in the blink of an eye four months back. For this update, I immediately knew what number I wanted to hit, and there were a couple neat benchmarks along the way such as the classic cool number 1253, and especially 1400 was a number I could chase with a downright savage blood thirst, for reasons that should be obvious x_x
Finding a next goal is gonna be harder because there aren't any cute numbers in sight, nor are there any spots on the leaderboards I can move up to (there wouldn't be much honour in hitting 1560 because of, uhm, circumstances, not to mention I wouldn't be surprised if that number is outdated)—but I guess I can take it easy. Every even 100 is a goal in and of itself, as is every 30th battle of a hundred because I have this crazy statistic where I've never lost a 500+ streak beyond that point haha (606 w/ game eject in triples, 810 in singles, 1028 in doubles, 1420 in triples, 607 in doubles, early 500s in triples—and now 1420+ in singles) I know what happened last time I didn't have a clear goal or tried to take bites too large for me to chew, and I guess it's good to be aware of that. While it's probably too far out to actively think about just yet, the circumstances and experience for hitting 2k with this team are looking better than they did on my triples run. Who knows lol. I knew I was mathematically obligated to beat 523 with this team, but I wasn't sure if beating even my Greninja record was possible—just look at me now. I didn't think this team would be better than Clockwork Angels, but I guess it is—it already outperformed it in terms of leaderboard ranking, and it now also beats it in terms of streak length. I guess it would be nice to have it beat my doubles streak in terms of leaderboard ranking as well, because "Greninziken no. 7" would make for a godawful song title lol.
But yeah, team Clockwork Angels is not just any ol' team—it was the first time I crafted something here that I really felt that... worked. Even when it still had Nidoking over Hydreigon, the way the cogs quite literally clicked into each other was unlike anything I had ever played before—and when the backups actually had type synergy, it left the Maison crumbled in its wake. I think it's still the one I am most proud of. I loved that team, in a way unlike I've ever loved anything else before, and even though I haven't really touched it anymore after the absurd "lol double Swagger from Jolteon on Water-types + lol double instantaneous confusion self-hit + lol double crit from QC Blizzard" 500-something loss I briefly referenced in my 1k, I still do. I've got a 100-something run waiting to be continued as soon as I figure out a way to always have the feeling "this is fun" prevail over "sigh 100+ hours required to achieve something even remotely of note". I still remember getting past 606 with my Greninja team, which was at the time my personal best in triples and the Maison altogether (after losing it to hardware failure), which just felt... not right lol. I remedied it before too long, but this time I've upset the universe's balance once again—and while I do plan on trying another triples run for 2k, I fear this time it may be permanent. 1420 was my goal for posting next because ">1400" and "anagram" and "personal best," but now that I actually did it, I'm really not sure how to feel.
Well, all good things must come to an end, but some ends are more ignominious than others. After 1067 wins, Dragonite / Mega Slowbro / Chansey lost on battle 1068.
Hydreigon flinched and then KOed Dragonite, and Slowbro was broken by getting Dragon Tailed after it slept to recover Crunch Damage. Chansey can't really beat Hydreigon regardless, but I even foolishly added insult to injury by Minimizing Chansey, which gives Dragon Rush 100% accuracy. Clearly, once Dragonite fell, the correct play is to immediately sacrifice Chansey, which would have let me fully set up Slowbro, since Dragon Tail would have been unable to phaze it. Sure, fully set up Mega Slowbro still can lose to a very small number of threats, but the odds of victory would have been heavily in my favor (and indeed, given that the Pokemon my opponent had in reserve were in fact Ninetails and Lucario, I would have won easily). Frustrating, but sometimes the best way to really learn is to get punished for foolishness, and punished I was.
Loss video: BSLW-WWWW-WW3W-T59M
Happily, even before I lost, VaporeonIce and I were discussing possible alternative partners for the Mega Slowbro / Chansey core, so this loss may have the silver lining of giving something new the chance to shine.
Updated through here. SwingBlade, post the code for your losing AI multis battle and I can get you added as well. Continued good luck with the streaks, everybody!
You know that feeling when you're fully motivated to chase down that top record?
You check if all your Pokémon are holding the right items one last time before you talk to the receptionist who welcomes you to the Battle Maison. Next you select your format of choice and almost end up with X Pokémon from your Battle Box which is part of a 6 vs. 6 Wi-Fi team, because you're so eager to start your streak. From that point forward the game is on. You know most of the Maison sets, know the weak spots of your team and most importantly, you've theorymonned multiple situations against bad match-up's in order to figure out a way to keep momentum and have the upper hand. Then your streak starts and you're doing extremely well. You plow your way through the first 50 battles and start setting goals for yourself (100, 200, 300, 400, 500..). You keep achieving your goals because you play flawless and the top record starts whispering in your ears (catch me, catch me), until this happens;
Battle #559 Vs. Pokémon Ranger Willow (Slowbro/Clawitzer/Starmie/Walrein);
WCFW-WWWW-WWXM-JGMB
Arguably, I should have taken out the Clawitzer first but I don't feel like I have to assume I'm going to miss three times with 95% accurate moves (Lax Insense), and get OHKO'd three straight turns right after. The ''Walrein roll'' was a 2.7% chance of happening and that isn't even factoring in the multiple misses against it due to Lax Insense. My streak brutally ends as my greatest nemesis decides my time has come and I'm back at the bottom.
''Started from the bottom now we're here''
Luckily, I'm a stubborn motherfucker so I figure ''hey, it's not gonna pull that shit against me a second time'' So we go back to the receptionist who welcomes me to the Battle Maison. I plow my way through the first 50 battles and start setting goals for myself (100, 200, 300, 400, 500). I keep achieving my goals because I play flawless and the top record starts whispering in my ears (catch me, catch me), and ''I've gotta catch 'em all'';
After 6,000+ battles with the same team I think I can safely say that I've faced almost every possible match-up the AI could throw at me; the best, the worst, the ''I don't care'' ones and the ''please don't'' ones. I've seen 5 straight Rock Slide flinches, first turn OHKO's on Dusclops, Blizzard freezes, Swagger confusions, random Taunts, Quick Claw rampages, 6 straight paralysis, but also dual Explosion leads, Dig + Earthquake combo's, Synchronized Will-O-Wisps and more. During this run I've managed to improvise, adapt and overcome them all, leading to another milestone for Doubles; 2,000 straight wins.
==========================
Battle Maison Super Doubles 2,000 straight wins (ongoing);
Trick Room;
Trick Room twists the dimensions which is needed to make use of the most effective and deadliest Maison Doubles strategy to date; sweeping the AI with a level 1 Aron and a bulky, hard hitting back-up. By using Trick Room and relatively slow Pokémon, speed EVs can be shifted to HP, Defense and Special Defense which allows those slow Pokémon to become incredibly bulky, and Aron to move first on anything without priority moves/items.
Foresight;
Foresight allows Aron to hit Ghost types which is one of the most annoying type for Trick Room teams. Foresight also ''ignores'' Double Team users who try to stall, and allows Kangaskhan to wreck havoc with Fake Out / Double-Edge after Mega evolving.
Night Shade;
Night Shade deals consistant damage which is ideal for a Pokémon with only base 90 Attack, uninvested. Night Shade takes out every non Sitrus Berry Pokémon after a full HP Endeavor from Aron. The only real downside of Night Shade is being unable to hit Normal types.
Brick Break;
Brick Break allows Dusclops to take out Normal types who've been hit by Endeavor. It also ensures to take down Rampardos2 and Rampardos4 after Sitrus Berry activation, which is crucial given that it may have Mold Breaker. Bastiodon4 also falls to Endeavor + Brick Break despite of Sitrus Berry, although it isn't a real threat bar Rock Slide flinches.
''Redrum'' is a reference to Stephen King's ''The Shining'', which is murder spelled backwards.
Endeavor;
Endeavor brings down the targeted Pokémon to 12 or 1 HP, depending on the condition of Aron. This allows me to take out the AI's Pokémon fairly easy with a combination of Endeavor + Night Shade/Brick Break, or even Fake Out/Mach Punch from my back-up.
Toxic;
Toxic is mainly used when facing dual Ghosts or Stall sets and probably 95% of the time when I face Cofagrigus, which removes Sturdy would I have Foresighted it with Dusclops. Spiritomb deserves special mention given that it likes to Sucker Punch Aron, and one of the sets has Substitute.
Swagger;
Swagger sounds like a filler move and while I have to admit that it isn't used much, it really, really isn't a filler move. It is by far better than Stealth Rock/Sleep Talk/Screech or Rain Dance/Sunny Day, unless you run Pokémon that benefit from the latter two. If you don't believe me I'd invite you to watch this battle video from the 1,296 run: AY5W-WWWW-WWWN-YNWH.
Protect;
Protect is mandatory as it allows Aron to go through turn 1 unscattered while Dusclops sets up Trick Room. Since Aron works like a magnet, Protect sees quite a lot of play in later turns, especially when I need to Foresight a Ghost type or to avoid damage from priority moves / twist the dimensions again.
''Mithril'' is a reference to J.R.R. Tolkien's ''Lord of the Ring's''. Mithril is a metal which is stronger than steel but light as a feather.
Fake Out;
Fake Out is one of the top 5 moves for Maison Doubles and combined with Scrappy/Parental Bond the main reason why I use Kangaskhan. Fake Out reaches a Base Power of 90 (!!) after Mega Evolving thanks to Parental Bond, guaranteeing that the targeted Pokémon will not strike back that turn, with a few exceptions aside (Inner Focus etc). The best part isn't actually the amount of damage it does after Mega Evolution, but the privilege of flinching Ghost types thanks to Scrappy. Consider Mega Kangaskhan for all your Doubles teams for the sole fact that it has access to Fake Out.
Double-Edge;
Double-Edge has pros and cons when comparing it with Return. Double-Edge, (in combination with Night Shade) allows Mega Kangaskhan to OHKO a lot of the AI's Pokémon at the cost of (heavy) recoil. Given that Kangaskhan usually moves before the AI and that Dusclops + Aron do most of the work, I really prefer Double-Edge over Return for critical situations, were Kangaskhan needs to deal as much damage as possible.
Drain Punch;
Drain Punch used to be Rock Slide during the 1,748 and 1,296 runs and was slashed in after I lost to Cradily because Walrein4 screwed me over. Drain Punch allows Kangskhan to restore HP lost from Double-Edge recoil or general damage received from the AI. While a Super Effective Drain Punch deals less damage than a (non resisted) Double-Edge, it is the better option against things that are in KO range to create durability for Kangaskhan.
Sucker Punch;
Sucker Punch deals with Ghost types which can be considered a threat to the team given that Dusclops has to Forrsight them first for Mega Kangaskhan to hit them otherwise. However, the main reason I run Sucker Punch (and not Crunch) is the fact that it has priority. Sucker Punch helps in situations were the AI outslows Kangaskhan during Trick Room, or outspeeds her when Trick Room isn't up (anymore).
Sucker Punch provides great coverage with Drain Punch, while the few Pokémon who'm resist the combination all fall to Double-Edge.
Drain Punch;
Drain Punch is Conkeldurr's strongest accurate move that comes with no drawbacks, but heals it instead. Thanks to Iron Fist, Drain Punch reaches a Base Power of 146 which is incredibly strong.
Knock Off;
Knock Off received an amazing boost in Generation 6 and is one of the best moves for a Fighting type, thanks to it's secondary effect and movetype. Given that all Maison Pokémon have a held item, Knock Off has a Base Power of 97, most of the time.
Ice Punch;
Ice Punch deals with Grass and Flying types, while being boosted by Iron Fist. It provides great coverage for the team in general and OHKO's Pokémon like Landorus/Torterra/Hawlucha.
Mach Punch;
Mach Punch is a great priority move which helps against weakened mons when Trick Room has ran out. It is also boosted by Iron Fist, meaning that it reaches a decent Base Power (78), with priority. Conkeldurr's stats distribution and it's movepool make it the best (non mega) Trick Room attacker out there.
''Undisputed'' is a reference to the film series called ''Undisputed'', which is about the best prison fighters in the world.
Side note: My teams are always 50% male / 50% female if the species allow me to. I do this to minimize things like Cute Charm/Rivalry affection, which is obviously bullshit but I am a perfectionist (which is why Level 1 Aron has flawless IV's).
==========================
If you were to ask me if I'm going to continue this streak; for now, I won't.
The last ~700 battles have been quite stressful as the slightest misplay or hax would mean that I'd be back at zero without really acomplishing anything (I already had the record so the goal was 2,000).
And besides, having the top record which is still live feels pretty great (doesn't it, VaporeonIce ? ^^).
Another reason why I probably won't play for a while is the battle sessions I've done in the past few weeks, which I'll spoiler-post beneath. Quite a few of these sessions are insane for my standards and actually something I'd frown upon would someone post such logs. The reason for these sessions however is that I feel like my play get's better if the session is longer. I've had the feeling during this whole streak that I've been completely able to predict and outpredict Artificial Intelligence.
Here's the log:
Battles: 2.000 Battle Points: 13.894 Rare Candy's: 289 Amount of days: 21 Amount of hours: ~ 100 Average battles per day: 95 Average hours per day: ~ 4.8 Average Battle Points per day: 662
Then there was that one battle against Aurorus/???/Machamp/Armaldo which I almost lost.
Truth be told, for some reason I do not remember the ??? Pokémon and because my heart rate was going through the roof I ended up not saving the battle video, but I did keep a chatlog between me and turskain from #BattleMaison on SynIRC (people should check that channel out more often!). Aurorus had Snow Warning which made me lose Aron on turn 1 or 2 (perhaps the mystery Pokémon was a priority user which would mean I lost Aron on turn 1 because in such situations I open with Trick Room + Endeavor over Trick Room + Protect, but I honestly do not remember). Anyway, here's the log:
22:05 Eppie: Judgement day
22:05 Eppie: Choice Band Armaldo's Stone Edge vs Kangaskhan-Mega (Critical Hit) (205 - 243 HP) Damage: 96.7% - 114.62% | 81.25% Chance to OHKO
22:05 Eppie: If it hits and crits I'm out
22:06 Eppie: didn't happen
22:07 Eppie: Stone Edhe hitting, critting and knocking 100% mega kang out is 4.1%
22:07 Eppie: fuck I forgot to save the video
22:07 turska: it was locked into stone edge?
22:08 Eppie: yes
22:08 Eppie: dusclops/conk/kang vs. armaldo/machamp
22:08 Eppie: conk drain punched and dusclops night shaded armaldo before that CC took down conk
22:08 Eppie: armaldo KO'd dusclops with stone edge
22:09 Eppie: then it was kang vs 15% armaldo + 30% machamp (-1 defense)
22:09 Eppie: was forced to fake out machamp
22:09 Eppie: since CC would've been clean 1hKO
22:09 Eppie: god, should've saved that video
22:11 Eppie: 1/25 times I lose that one
22:12 Eppie: that calc was the crit calc btw
22:12 Eppie: 64.15% - 76.42% without crit
22:12 Eppie: I was scared it may knock me out without needing a crit
22:12 Eppie: like 1/16 or so 22:12 turska: is that right? stone edge has an elevated crit rate, right
22:12 turska: so it'd be a 1/8 CH chance
22:12 Eppie: good you mention that
22:13 Eppie: that means 8.2% 22:13 Eppie: 1/12 times I lose
I tried using your team (I only had a Gurdurr, and I was an idiot so I forgot to remove Lucky Egg on Gurdurr, and to give him a Eviolite or Assault Vest, now I evolved it, so it's fine. On a similar note, my Kangashkhan is Early Bird, and not Scrappy. I need to change that too), and I was on the 31st battle, when my opponent used double rock slide with a Ramprados and some other Pokemon, and flinched my Dusclops, preventing it from setting up Trick Room. This ruined everything, and I couldn't really make a comeback. How do you deal with this? (The stupid AI used Explosion and badly damaged my Gurdurr, which was left off to fight a Charizard with only one turn of Trick Room left, which also made things worse.)
Well, all good things must come to an end, but some ends are more ignominious than others. After 1067 wins, Dragonite / Mega Slowbro / Chansey lost on battle 1068.
Hydreigon flinched and then KOed Dragonite, and Slowbro was broken by getting Dragon Tailed after it slept to recover Crunch Damage. Chansey can't really beat Hydreigon regardless, but I even foolishly added insult to injury by Minimizing Chansey, which gives Dragon Rush 100% accuracy. Clearly, once Dragonite fell, the correct play is to immediately sacrifice Chansey, which would have let me fully set up Slowbro, since Dragon Tail would have been unable to phaze it. Sure, fully set up Mega Slowbro still can lose to a very small number of threats, but the odds of victory would have been heavily in my favor (and indeed, given that the Pokemon my opponent had in reserve were in fact Ninetails and Lucario, I would have won easily). Frustrating, but sometimes the best way to really learn is to get punished for foolishness, and punished I was.
Loss video: BSLW-WWWW-WW3W-T59M
Happily, even before I lost, VaporeonIce and I were discussing possible alternative partners for the Mega Slowbro / Chansey core, so this loss may have the silver lining of giving something new the chance to shine.
Updated through here. SwingBlade, post the code for your losing AI multis battle and I can get you added as well. Continued good luck with the streaks, everybody!
My experience with Chansey was that Hydreigon uses Dragon Tail often enough to allow you to get a Sub up and stall it out of Dragon Rush before using Minimize. It definitely could've used Dragon Rush every time and flinched Chansey to death (which would've inadvertently placed you in the still-desirable 'Slowbro can't be phazed' territory), but I always felt comfortable enough with Chansey against Hydreigon that I'd switch it in on turn 2 if Dragon Rush flinched Kangaskhan on turn 1. On paper, not the greatest matchup, but a good example of giving the AI enough rope to let it hang itself.
edit NoCheese as far as other partners did you come across any battles or leads you couldn't have taken without Dragonite? If you Thunder Wave it on the first turn, Hydreigon is more likely than not to miss the TrickScarfer, and after that Chansey has an easy set-up.
Posting a streak of 1438 wins in Rotations. Write-up here.
Battle videos: #512 - XH3G-WWWW-WW3X-XGLH vs. Mismagius/Chandelure/Reuniclus/Slowking #1439 - A5PW-WWWW-WW3X-XGJS vs. Lapras/Ferrothorn/Barbaracle/Starmie
I lost the streak on Tuesday, but it took me some time to write up this post.
This was the closest battle in the streak prior to the loss.
Formatting: the leftmost Pokémon is the currently active Pokémon. Leftovers not listed; Toxic/Burn damage are. "X rotated in" messages are skipped.
Hex Maniac Celia sent out Mismagius, Reuniclus, and Chandelure
I sent out Gengar, Dragonite and Klefki
vs.
From the start, this looks like a risky match-up. Immediately, Chandelure may have Infiltrator to counter Klefki while Mismagius threatens Perish Song.
Since rotating in Klefki would risk Infiltrator being revealed, I go to Gengar and use Shadow Ball to inflict super-effective damage.
Turn 1
Gengar used Shadow Ball on Chandelure - 15%, SDef drop
Chandelure used Shadow Ball on Gengar - 1%, Focus Sash, SDef drop
23%, -1 SDef
vs.
1%
Gengar hits the prime offender, leaving it at low enough HP to be easily KO'd later. Shadow Ball instead of Calm Mind or Will-O-Wisp means Gengar won't be staying for long, howewer.
I go for another Shadow Ball to deal more damage and start sweeping.
In hindsight, Destiny Bond could also have been an option; howewer, there's still a chance of Will-O-Wisp being used, which would backfire.
Turn 2
Gengar used Shadow Ball on Mismagius - 10%, SDef drop
Mismagius used Power Gem on Gengar - KO
I sent out Kangaskhan
10%, -1 SDef
23%, -1 SDef
vs.
Gengar takes one for the team while weakening Mismagius. Since I've lost a Pokémon, any Perish Song use from Mismagius will start knocking out my team.
I'll need to start getting KOs, but because there are two Ghost-types that are prone to using status moves on the field, I can't go Mega on Kangaskhan.
Turn 3
Mismagius used Protect
Dragonite used Substitute
10%, -1 SDef
23%, -1 SDef
vs.
75%
Since Reuniclus may Trick away Dragonite's Lum Berry if Substitute is not used, I go for it fishing for a free turn, which succeeds. Mismagius using a harmless move over Perish Song is very good.
Turn 4
Mismagius used Perish Song
Dragonite used Dragon Dance
Mismagius's song count is 3
Dragonite's song count is 3
10%, -1 SDef, Song 3
23%, -1 SDef
vs.
75%, +1 Atk/Spe, Song 3
In hindsight, using Dragon Dance behind Substitute might've been a mistake, given the immediate threats out on the field and two of the enemy Pokémon having been weakened into KO range even without boosts.
Even after Perish Song, Dragonite can still move three times before it is knocked out. At +1, Outrage should be able to deal considerable damage to the enemy team.
Turn 5
Mismagius used Protect
Dragonite used Outrage - Protect
Mismagius's song count is 2
Dragonite's song count is 2
10%, -1 SDef
23%, -1 SDef
vs.
75%, +1 Atk/Spe
The AI chooses a good move, taking away Dragonite's limited time.
Because Dragonite had a Substitute up and was afflicted by Perish Song, a wasted turn with Mean Look or Perish Song was not a possible AI move; Protect and Power Gem were the AI's only choices if it opted to move with Mismagius on this turn, so this outcome isn't unexpected. In hindsight, it would have better to rotate in Kangaskhan to use Fake Out or Klefki to use Protect at this point, then rotating Dragonite back in at this point to make its movepool wider.
Turn 6
Dragonite used Outrage on Mismagius - miss
Mismagius used Power Gem - Sub broke
Mismagius's song count is 1
Dragonite's song count is 1
10%, -1 SDef
23%, -1 SDef
vs.
75%, +1
Even with Protect, Dragonite could still have done damage. With a BrightPowder miss, I'm now in a really bad spot, with Dragonite dying very soon.
Turn 7
Mismagius switched out for Slowking
Dragonite used Outrage on Slowking - 2%
Dragonite's song count is 0 - KO
2%
23%, -1 SDef
vs.
Dragonite falls while damaging Slowking. I think missing the KO was in my favor; if Mismagius entered the field again right away, it could use Perish Song to take out another of my Pokémon. With Slowking on the field, it may set up Trick Room to waste a turn while removing the threat of Perish Song before Mismagius enters the field again.
+1 88+ Atk Dragonite Outrage vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Slowking: 184-217 (91 - 107.4%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
I still don't know what Chandelure's ability is, as it only moved once to attack Gengar. If Chandelure doesn't have Infiltrator, Klefki can set up on these three foes and potentially sweep. If it has Flame Body, using Fake Out on Kangaskhan would risk a burn - which would probably lose me the battle at this point, since I need Kangaskhan to sweep.
Kangaskhan can't Mega Evolve at this point, as I will need it to KO Mismagius and Chandelure sooner or later, both of which are prone to using status moves that avoid Sucker Punch. Without Mega Evolving, its damage output is too low to damage Reuniclus sufficiently, while Focus Blast deals a ton of damage prior to Mega Evolution on top of Double-Edge recoil. Howewer, if I did rotate in Kangaskhan and it managed to KO Chandelure, Slowbro and Mismagius, Klefki could easily finish the battle. But the risk of a Focus Blast from Reuniclus at any point when attempting that is too high.
I don't feel safe rotating in Kangaskhan at this point - leaving Klefki as the only option, with the hope that Chandelure doesn't have Infiltrator.
Turn 8
Klefki used Substitute
Reuniclus used Trick - it failed
Reuniclus is poisoned by Toxic Orb
PSN
23%, -1 SDef
2%
vs.
131 HP
Very nice luck. Usually, Protect would be used next for recovery, but there are still status moves the AI can use (Trick Room and Calm Mind) so I go for Calm Mind greedily to possibly grab an extra boost, since I need to set up faster than Chandelure to power through.
Turn 9
Klefki used Calm Mind
Slowking used Trick Room - the dimensions are twisted
2%
23%, -1 SDef
PSN
vs.
141 HP, +1 SAtk/SDef
The AI wastes another turn, allowing Klefki to Calm Mind freely. Things are looking better.
Turn 10
Klefki used Calm Mind
Chandelure used Will-O-Wisp - Klefki was burned
Klefki takes burn damage
2%
30%, -1 SDef
PSN
vs.
131 HP, BRN, +2 SAtk/SDef
Oh shit. It turns out Chandelure is Infiltrator after all. Luckily, it used Will-O-Wisp instead of Heat Wave, which is a lot less lethal to Klefki, and I managed to get two boosts which allows Klefki to survive an unboosted Heat Wave:
0 SpA Chandelure Heat Wave vs. +2 212 HP / 28 SpD Klefki: 84-98 (52.8 - 61.6%)
Turn 11
Reuniclus used Focus Blast - Sub lives
Klefki used Dazzling Gleam on Reuniclus - 65%
Reuniclus takes poison damage
60%, PSN
30%, -1 SDef
2%
vs.
121 HP, BRN, +2 SAtk/SDef
At +2, Klefki's Substitute survives Reuniclus4 Focus Blast:
0 SpA Reuniclus Focus Blast vs. +2 212 HP / 28 SpD Klefki: 30-36 (18.8 - 22.6%)
Reuniclus reveals that its ability is not Magic Guard, which is very nice since it's the main threat to Kangaskhan at this point. The poison damage will wear it down nicely.
Turn 12
Klefki used Dazzling Gleam on Chandelure - 1%
Chandelure used Heat Wave on Klefki - 31HP
Klefki takes burn damage
7%, -1 SDef, -1 SDef
2%
PSN
vs.
21 HP, BRN, +2 SAtk/SDef
Chandelure's Heat Wave dealt exactly 90 damage, right in the middle of the damage range,
It's hard to judge Chandelure's exact HP from the health bars, but given it survived at 1% it seems to have come down to a low damage roll.
Klefki's in trouble, as burn damage will KO it shortly. With an intact Substitute, it can still attack Reuniclus and Slowking if Chandelure does not rotate, however.
Turn 13
Reuniclus used Recover - 100%
Klefki used Dazzling Gleam - 60%
Reuniclus recovered back to full, but Toxic damage is now at 12.5%.
Klefki will get KO'd very soon.
Since I now know that Chandelure doesn't have Flame Body, it's safe to use Fake Out on Kangaskhan - in retrospect, I should have used the move as soon as Chandelure revealed its ability, as any KOs or chip damage would've been valuable and possibly result in Klefki KOing Chandelure earlier instead of it being able to survive.
Turn 14
Kangaskhan used Fake Out on Slowking - KO
The AI sent out Mismagius
10%
47%, PSN
7%, -1 SDef
vs.
11 HP, BRN, +2 SAtk/SDef
Fake Out unfortunately doesn't do much, taking out the least threatening foe.
Turn 15
Chandelure used Heat Wave on Klefki - KO
7%, -1 SDef
47%, PSN
10%
vs.
With Trick Room having ended some time ago, Chandelure is now faster than Klefki and goes for the KO. It's all down to Kangaskhan now - can it sweep with Double-Edge and avoid Focus Blast?
Turn 16
Kangaskhan used Double-Edge on Chandelure - critical hit, KO
47%, PSN
10%
vs.
173 HP
Kangaskhan takes its second KO. Reuniclus4 is still not in KO range for Double-Edge:
252 Atk Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Reuniclus: 72-85 (38.9 - 45.9%)
0 SpA Reuniclus Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Kangaskhan: 132-156 (73.3 - 86.6%)
At 173 remaining HP, if Reuniclus uses Focus Blast, there is a chance that Kangaskhan will lose this battle after Double-Edge recoil - max roll Double-Edge deals 28 recoil damage with 156 maximum from Focus Blast, and KOing Mismagius will also inflict some recoil damage. Hopefully, Reuniclus won't use the move.
Turn 17
Kangaskhan used Double-Edge on Reuniclus - 1%
Reuniclus used Recover - 50%
Reuniclus takes poison damage
32%, PSN
10%
vs.
145 HP
Double-Edge misses the KO, but Reuniclus uses Recover instead of attacking and the Toxic damage that's been racking up tides it over to KO range. Kangaskhan should be able to sweep now.
Turn 18
Kangaskhan used Double-Edge on Reuniclus - KO
10%
vs.
125 HP
Just Mismagius left. There's still a risk of BrightPowder, but Kangaskhan should be hugely favored.
Turn 19
Kangaskhan used Double-Edge on Mismagius - miss
Mismagius used Perish Song
Kangaskhan's song count is 3
Mismagius's song count is 3
10%, Song 3
vs.
125 HP, Song 3
Speak of the devil - BrightPowder causes a miss for the second time in the battle. At this point, Mismagius has avoided 2 out of 3 attacks aimed at it that would've knocked it out.
Turn 20
Kangaskhan used Double-Edge on Mismagius - miss
Mismagius used Mean Look
Kangaskhan's song count is 2
Mismagius's song count is 2
10%, Song 2
vs.
125 HP, Song 2
A second miss in a row, up to a streak of three consecutive misses starting from Dragonite Outrage earlier. Luckily, Mismagius didn't use Protect - if the AI was playing correctly (using Protect to stall) while dodging two Double-Edges, it would win the battle as Kangaskhan's Perish count runs out before Mismagius's due to it being faster.
Turn 21
Kangaskhan used Double-Edge on Mismagius - KO
(blank)
vs.
117 HP
I win
Kangaskhan finally lands a Double-Edge. If this one missed or Mismagius tried a double Protect, it could've still won... but thanks to the AI's lack of Protect usage, even two consecutive misses couldn't turn the battle around.
The AI's team is Lapras/Ferrothorn/Barbaracle/Starmie.
The key point in the loss is Barbaracle4 choosing Cross Chop (thanks to the Rotations AI's unpredictability - it is a less-than-ideal attack against all three of my Pokémon) on Kangaskhan when I switch out of Perish Song. I could not play offensively against Lapras because of Ferrothorn4, which walls Dragonite and Kangaskhan.
After losing Kangaskhan, the situation was grim. The AI continued to make good rotations, and I lost 3-0.
Aside from the match-up and great AI rotations, Lapras CH'd Dragonite's Substitute earlier. Without the CH, it would not break, and even with a CH it needs a decent damage roll for it to happen. If the CH had not happened earlier in the battle, Dragonite would have had an intact Substitute when Starmie used Ice Beam later, and there would still have been a chance to win.
I was planning to do a full warstory like with #521, but writing a Rotations warstory turned out to be a really daunting task, so I opted to only do it for the more exciting of the two.
Battle log:
Turn 0
Pokémon Ranger Tanner sent out Lapras, Ferrothorn and Barbaracle
I sent out Gengar, Dragonite and Klefki
Turn 1
Klefki used Substitute
Lapras used Block - it failed
Turn 2
Klefki used Dazzling Gleam
Lapras used Body Slam - Sub not broken
Turn 3
Klefki used Dazzling Gleam
Lapras used Perish Song
Klefki's song count is 3
Lapras's song count is 3
Turn 4
I rotated Dragonite
Dragonite used Substitute
Lapras used Body Slam - CH, sub broken
Lapras's song count is 2
Turn 5
I rotated Klefki
AI rotated Ferrothorn
Klefki used Dazzling Gleam
Klefki's song count is 2
Turn 6
I rotated Dragonite
Dragonite used Substitute
Ferrothorn used Gyro Ball - sub broken
Turn 7
Klefki used Dazzling Gleam
Barbaracle used Stone Edge - sub broken
Klefki's perish song count is 1
Turn 8
Switch Klefki for Kangaskhan
Barbaracle used Cross Chop on Kangaskhan - KO
I sent out Klefki
Turn 9
Gengar used Shadow Ball on Barbaracle - 10%
Barbaracle used Stone Edge on Gengar - 1%
Turn 10
Klefki used Substitute
Barbaracle used Shadow Claw - CH, sub broken
Turn 11
Gengar used Shadow Ball on Ferrothorn - 80%
Ferrothorn used Curse
Turn 12
Gengar used Shadow Ball on Barbaracle - KO
AI sent out Starmie
Turn 13
Klefki used Substitute
Ferrothorn used Gyro Ball - Sub broke
Turn 14
Klefki used Protect
Lapras used Body Slam on Klefki - Protect
Lapras's song count is 1
Turn 15
Klefki used Substitute
Ferrothorn used Gyro Ball - Sub broke
Turn 16
Klefki used Protect
Lapras used Perish Song
Klefki's song count is 3
Lapras's song count is 0 - KO
Turn 17
Starmie used Ice Beam on Dragonite - KO
Turn 18
Klefki used Substitute
Starmie used Surf on Klefki - Sub broken
Klefki's song count is 2
Turn 19
Starmie used Surf on Gengar - KO
Turn 20
Klefki used Calm Mind
Starmie used Surf on Klefki
Klefki's song count is 1
Turn 21
Klefki used Calm Mind
Starmie used Thunderbolt on Klefki - KO
A while after, I took a closer look at Maxie on OR, who has Crobat @ Life Orb (Brave Bird/Cross Poison/Super Fang/Roost) and Mega Camerupt (Fire Blast/Earth Power/Flash Cannon/Yawn) as an AI partner. Crobat is fast and has decent power with Life Orb Brave Bird - I'd rather have Choice Band and Super Fang/Roost could be questionable choices, but Crobat's offensive movepool is quite limited and the AI's ability to use U-Turn is dubious, so they don't seem like such bad choices. Mega Camerupt, on the other hand, is crippled with bad move choices, lacking Heat Wave, having Yawn to waste turns with, Flash Cannon to provide no useful coverage (at least give it AncientPower), on top of its 4x Water weakness and low Speed making its time on the field even less productive.
As a fast and decent Pokémon, Crobat was the straight lead choice. First, I tried a team of Scarf Garchomp/Wide Guard Aegislash, with the goal of spamming Earthquake alongside Crobat and grabbing KOs, while having Aegislash to shut down Earthquake and Surf from opponents.
This team failed horribly, due to a reason I overlooked after having a good time with Wide Guard in other modes: in AI Multis, most of your streak in a trophy run is spent in battles 1-40, where you mainly fight Set1-3s. Without knowing the enemy's set - and the terrifying rare sets featured in the early battles - Wide Guard was completely ineffective at accomplishing anything, and I lost quickly.
As such, I went back to the drawing board, bringing in Mega Salamence to the lead. For the back-up, Greninja could support Camerupt with Mat Block to get at least one Sheer Force-boosted attack out of it. It ended up being the exact same Pokémon I first tried when using Wally as the AI partner, and using the same two Pokémon as the #1 streak does - not a coincidence, since Wally's and Maxie's team configurations aren't so different with a fast, useful lead and a worthless, slow back-up that struggless to accomplish anything of value.
With this team, I was much more succesful and reached a win streak of exactly 50 wins, losing in battle 51 right after beating the Chatelaines in a very close battle. It worked pretty similarly to the team I used first with Wally that reached 49 wins - the leads do what they can, then Greninja attempts to make Magnezone/Camerupt do something, anything under Mat Block. It was worse than Wally and much worse than Steven, but with good enough luck it survived to just barely beat the Chatelaines using Maxie as the AI partner.
After having success with some of the worse AI partners in the game, a while later I turned my eyes towards Brendan (May if you're playing as the male character), who runs Claydol @ Light Clay (Reflect/Light Screen/Earth Power/Psychic) and Exploud @ Assault Vest (Hyper Voice/Fire Blast/Blizzard/Shadow Ball). Unlike the other AI partners which at least have one effective set, this AI partner doesn't use Mega Evolution, and instead sticks to two slow, weak, very mediocre Hoenn-native Pokémon with poor sets.
First, I tried to think of something that could synergize with the useless AI partner. If Claydol set up screens, Mega Slowbro could capitalize on them with Shell Armor and possibly set up even in Doubles. But Screens alone (2/3 reduction in Doubles, as opposed to 1/2 in Singles) couldn't guarantee set-up against two Pokémon - so I looked towards a Snarl-using lead to augment Mega Slowbro with Special Attack drops. I settled on Arcanine, which had decent Speed, learned Snarl, had Intimidate as its ability, and had a decent STAB Flare Blitz.
I settled on Arcanine @ Choice Scarf (Flare Blitz/Close Combat/Extreme Speed/Snarl - Extreme Speed with Scarf was not useful, but I had it leftover from a previous set with the move's PP maxed so I didn't want to overwrite it) using a Jolly nature (outspeeding Nita's Landorus, which would otherwise outspeed and OHKO it) with Mega Slowbro (Scald/Rest/Calm Mind/Iron Defense) running a Calm nature. I played two attempts with this team - the first ended in the first 20 battles, with Mega Slowbro being overpowered by a combination of Altaria2 and Cradily2 (possible Storm Drain - I couldn't use Scald, because if it got a Special Attack boost, Slowbro would've been overpowered). The second lost at battle 47, after ridiculous luck enabling the very shaky set-up to get that far.
While the team almost got to the Chatelaine, it was very unreliable and I did not think it could get far without extreme amounts of luck to avoid the numerous bad match-ups and unfortunate circumstances. Crippling opponents for setting up Mega Slowbro was inconsistent; sometimes Claydol/Exploud would kill off opponents I was attempting to cripple instead of setting up screens, ruining the plan. Other times, Claydol would set up Reflect and not bother with Light Screen, leaving Slowbro high and dry on its weaker defensive side. Slowbro also shared Psychic-type weaknesses with Claydol, which didn't help matters.
Howewer, Scarf Arcanine was effective at cleaning up foes and patching up Brendan's nonexistent offense. After scrapping the Mega Slowbro idea, I stopped trying to cooperate with Brendan and picked up Mega Salamence as a strong Mega with Intimidate, and Choice Scarf Sawk for a fast, hard-hitting lead that has Sturdy to function as a Focus Sash for reliability.
This team was more succesful, reaching the Chatelaines on the first attempt. Posting a streak of 53 wins in AI Multis with Brendan as the AI partner.
Unlike with usual AI Multis attempts, there's little attempt at synergy with the partner here. Brendan is extremely inconsistent - Claydol may set up screens, but it might not set up the one that you need, and it may also choose to attack repeatedly with its very weak STAB moves instead. Exploud looks like it might be alright at using Hyper Voice at a glance - but the AI is very bad at choosing moves, opting to use Blizzard and Fire Blast frequently and forgoing its multi-target STAB move.
You really can't rely on them to attack enemies, support your team, or really accomplish anything at all. I generally ignored Brendan's Pokémon, and focused on KOing both Pokémon of an AI trainer with Sawk and Salamence if possible to allow Salamence to 1v1 the remaining AI trainer's Pokémon. If Sawk is able to outspeed and OHKO an enemy, it guarantees its survival for the rest of the turn with Sturdy serving as a Sash and is able to dent another Pokémon if it's locked into a suitable move, which is often enough of an advantage for Mega Salamence to clean up with Brendan slowly chipping away to possibly finish off one or two Pokémon if Exploud doesn't miss its moves.
In Brendan's defense, Claydol did often set up screens, which augmented Mega Salamence's bulk significantly and increased its longevity quite a lot. Aside from that, his contributions were pretty slim.
I think I was very lucky to make it to the Chatelaine on the first attempt. Howewer, Sawk/Salamence seems like a solid core to pair up with useless AI partners - I would recommend it as something to be ran with any of the four AI partners in ORAS, even, as any of them ought to be more effective than Brendan/May.
#54 - 77SG-WWWW-WW3X-AQX7 vs. Carracosta/Bronzong/Aurorus/Carbink
The loss. Mara sends out Levitate Bronzong, which survives for a long time under TR while doubling down on Rock Slide with Carracosta, flinching Salamence and Claydol a lot and heavily wearing down the team.
After Claydol activates Carracosta's Weakness Policy as TR ends, I finish it off with Return. This backfires horribly, as it allows Bronzong to set up TR again, while Claydol uses Earth Power on Levitate Bronzong, which was targeted towards Carracosta - if I used Return on Bronzong, both enemy Pokémon are KO'd and the battle is trivially won.
Allowing TR to go up again brings out an Aurorus4 that moves faster, and gets my team KO'd. The battle comes down to Brendan's Exploud facing off against a 15% Aurorus4 and Carbink3, where it misses Aurorus with Fire Blast, then uses Blizzard which hits Aurorus but misses the KO - if Exploud had chosen decent moves and not missed, it could've still won the battle alone. But Brendan is not a very useful AI partner, and he handily loses the battle without a chance.
While this streak's length is rather modest, I'm submitting it to the leaderboards (unlike my Wally and Maxie streaks) because it's the only trophy-winning run using Brendan/May that I know of, and Sawk differentiates it from stock AI Multis gambits, if only slightly with Mega Salamence still serving a major role.
I've now beaten the Chatelaines in AI Multis using Steven, Wally, Maxie and Brendan - in order of usability. While the non-Steven partners are generally terrible choices, with persistence, decent picks and good luck it's possible to break 50 with them, but I would not recommend trying it.
Here is a warstory of a Team Leer battle in Triples. I meant to write it already when posting the 1000-win streak, but only now got it done.
This is the closest battle with Team Leer during my triples streak, which is still sitting at 2000 wins. I've no plans to continue the streak for now.
Health percentages are estimates, especially on Articuno which has Leftovers and is a pain to track with the health bar. I had this battle video posted before, but took it down since to make space for new ones. Leer Defense drops are not tracked - they only affected Explosion damage on Heatran on Turn 1.
Turn 0
I sent out Talonflame, Meowstic, and Sawk
Veteran Alfie sent out Articuno, Landorus, and Heatran
vs.
This line-up didn't look very threatening to me. Just an usual day - use Leer, grab KOs on Landorus and Articuno, and call it a day.
Turn 1
Articuno Protect
Meowstic Leer - Heatran hit, Landorus activates White Herb, Articuno Protect
Talonflame uses Brave Bird on Landorus - 30%
Heatran used Dragon Pulse on Talonflame - 40%
Sawk uses Close Combat on Articuno - Protect
Landorus used Explosion - Heatran 50%, Talonflame KO, Meowstic 25%, Sawk 1%
I sent out Scizor to replace Talonflame
Alfie sent out Regice to replace Landorus
50%
vs.
25%
1%
However, I missed the threat of White Herb Landorus4 entirely, on top of Articuno using Protect for its ally's Explosion, avoiding Close Combat from Sawk. As a result, Talonflame is KO'd outright, and Sawk's Sturdy is broken while Meowstic takes a heavy blow. Heatran is revealed to be the Choice Scarf set, and curiously locks into Dragon Pulse over harder-hitting options like Magma Storm on Meowstic.
Heatran is a big problem, as it outspeeds Sawk, and can now KO it with Dragon Pulse. As such, I switch it out to preserve it.
Turn 2
I switched out Sawk for Gastrodon
Meowstic used Leer - Articuno hit, Regice's Clear Body activates, Heatran hit
Scizor used Bullet Punch on Regice - 20%
Heatran used Dragon Pulse on Meowstic - KO
Articuno used Blizzard on Gastrodon - 70%, freeze
Regice used Thunder Wave on Gastrodon - it failed
I sent out Salamence to replace Meowstic
50%
20%
vs.
90%
70%
The turn goes alright, but Gastrodon takes a fair bit of damage from 100% Blizzard, as it is only hitting one target after Meowstic's demise. Regice turns out to be Regice4, and was targeting Meowstic with Thunder Wave - which luckily got redirected to Gastrodon instead of Scizor. Regice has Clear Body, preventing a Leer BP OHKO.
Sawk is still outsped by Heatran, so I send out Salamence in the center.
Turn 3
Scizor used Bullet Punch on Regice - KO
Heatran used Dragon Pulse on Salamence - CH, Salamence KO
Articuno used Blizzard on Gastrodon - miss
Gastrodon thawed out - Gastrodon used Scald on Articuno - 80%, burn inflicted
I sent out Sawk to replace Salamence
Alfie sent out Regirock to replace Regice
50%
70%, BRN
vs.
80%
70%
Regice is finished off, but Salamence being CH'd with Dragon Pulse is very bad. I'm not exactly sure what move I was using on Salamence (aside from it not being Protect) - it's been several months since I played this battle. A good move at this point would've been Return on -2 Defense Heatran, which would have KO'd it as was already weakened in order to allow Sawk to enter the field without being OHKO'd by a faster Heatran - or using Protect to bait, but in a desperate situation like this, going on the offensive wouldn't necessarily have been a bad idea.
The crit OHKO (after Heatran weirdly locked into a non-STAB move on Turn 1) puts me in a very bad spot, as I'm forced to bring out Sawk as my last Pokémon and have no way to prevent Heatran from outspeeding and KOing it. After Sawk goes down, I will have to 2v4 the battle with just Scizor and Gastrodon left, against an AI that can take three moves per turn to my two and has one mystery Pokémon left.
Turn 4
Scizor used Bullet Punch on Regirock - 50%
Heatran used Dragon Pulse on Sawk - KO
Articuno used Blizzard on Gastrodon - miss
Regirock used Earthquake - Heatran KO, Scizor 45%, Gastrodon 45%
Gastrodon used Scald on Regirock - KO
Alfie sent out Cresselia to replace Regirock
60%, BRN
vs.
45% (empty center)
45%
Heatran takes down Sawk, but the AI does something unexpected with the Regirock3 it brought in. KOing its allied Heatran with Earthquake is a very welcome freebie, even though its offensive potential with Dragon Pulse was limited. Scizor would have to use Superpower to KO it while risking Flame Body - and with how close the battle got, any extra damage from Heatran could have turned it into a loss.
With the lucky allied KO from the AI, the battle is now a lot more even, with a manageable 2v2 match-up - Scizor can KO both Cresselia and Articuno with super-effective STAB moves.
Articuno missing with Blizzard on Gastrodon twice by now is also great, as its damage output is pretty high at 100% effectiveness.
Turn 5
Articuno used Tailwind
Cresselia used Swagger on Scizor - Scizor confused
Scizor hit itself in confusion - 15%
Gastrodon used Scald on Cresselia - 85%
85%
50%
vs.
15% (empty center)
45%
Swagger throws a wrench in Scizor's ability to close out the battle. If it hits itself once more, the streak is done for.
Tailwind is a wasted turn for Articuno, as the opponents both outspeed my Pokémon already.
Turn 6
Articuno used Blizzard on Gastrodon - 10%
Cresselia used Round on Gastrodon - 2%
Scizor is confused - Scizor used Bug Bite on Cresselia - KO - stole and ate its Lum Berry - Scizor ate Lum Berry and snapped out of confusion
Gastrodon used Scald on Articuno - 15%
10%, BRN
vs.
5% (empty center)
2%
Scizor manages to hit through confusion, OHKOing Cresselia and stealing Lum Berry with Bug Bite to get rid of its confusion to eliminate any further risk.
Meanwhile, Articuno is being worn down by burn damage.
Turn 7
Articuno used Blizzard on Gastrodon - KO
Scizor used Bug Bite - it failed
Auto-center!
4%, BRN
vs.
5%
Thanks to the tie mechanics in the Maison, I would win if I attacked with Scizor and both Pokémon were KO'd, with Scizor being the last Pokémon to die as Life Orb recoil happens after the attack. But as Articuno is expiring to its burn, I can just use Protect to finish the battle.
Turn 8
Scizor used Protect
Articuno used Blizzard - Protect
Articuno KO from burn damage
I win
Scizor and Gastrodon barely eke out the win, with Scizor claiming two KOs and Gastrodon claiming one, while Landorus exploded, Heatran died to friendly fire from Regirock, and Articuno fell to a burn inflicted by Scald early in the battle.
I misplayed pretty strongly in this battle starting from Turn 1, and I thought I had lost the battle when Heatran CH'd Salamence - but thanks to great luck and bad plays from the AI, Scizor and Gastrodon managed what was essentially a 2v5 comeback, as Sawk, Talonflame, Salamence and Meowstic did not deal any meaningful damage to enemy Pokémon and Landorus blew itself up.
For now, I'm pretty much finished with the Battle Maison, having met all my goals - it took a long while and a lot of runs to finally make it to 1000+ in Doubles and Rotations, but it was worth it.
In the process of playing the Maison (and doing assorted activities such as breeding and completing a livedex), I've reached a playtime of 999:59 on the save file on both Y and OR. Having spoken to other Maison players, these numbers seem like par for the course in chasing multiple top streaks. Paraphrasing Jumpman16: "Time remains the great equalizer in the Maison" - with the inflated streak lengths the Maison has brought thanks to Mega Evolution and a general power creep in favor of the player, that line is more true than ever before, with 4 different modes, all of which can be stretched past the 1000-win mark.
I'm hoping that the next battle facility installment will increase the difficulty to decrease the length of streaks drastically - frankly, playing a single winning streak for hundreds of hours is not sane game design. You could say the ultra-long streak in previous generations never were, but it has really gotten out of hand with the Maison. Some of the possible ways GameFreak could help with this are:
1) Giving the AI trainers the ability to use Mega Pokémon - perhaps Ace Trainers are guaranteed to have one of the game's Mega Pokémon on their team. This would even out the Mega advantage slightly, without throwing too many Mega Kangaskhans at the player given there's quite a large amount of Megas in the game, and not all trainers would need to be able to run them.
2) A more dangerous trainer set list - right now, the majority of Maison trainers only use Set4s, and are very predictable. The amount of deviant trainers could be doubled, and all type specialists could be given the Roller Skater treatment of being able to run both Set3s and Set4s.
3) A notably stronger AI. Major improvements seem unlikely given the difficulties involved, but squashing some of the bugs and quirky behaviours in Rotations and Triples could help a fair bit.
4) A larger, more threatening pool of AI-usable Pokémon - Azumarill and Diggersby with hardcoded Huge Power, Eviolite users such as Chansey and Porygon2, Rotom formes, Aegislash, Amoonguss, Jellicent, Therian formes for the genies, Megas as mentioned before... while possibly cutting out of some of the weaker Pokémon in the pool (looking at you, Dewgong4 - please don't make a Quick Claw Sheer Cold + Encore set, though)
5) Separate set lists for different modes - Singles, Doubles, Triples, Rotations. In the past, Singles was always the main mode and Doubles seemed like a secondary priority - but with four main modes and a bigger emphasis on all of them with the five trophies, the sets are being stretched out more thin than ever before. A larger amount of AI sets in Doubles/Triples running moves exclusive to the modes would spice it up, and keeping them separate to still allow Singles sets to have four usable moves. For Rotations, the list might use some more screens, field conditions, Wish, and other strategies more effective in that mode - though a Singles list is probably good enough already.
SEE YOU NEXT MISSIONhopefully in the Frontier; failing that, maybe new Megas in Z will spice up the Maison clone. If even that doesn't happen, maybe in the seventh generation...
Yes, they are. But I can take a few days. OP lists the last update date, and the page and post number through which things have been updated. I plan to update today.
EDIT for further clarification: Your AI multis streak was still ongoing at the time of the last update, and so wasn't leaderboard eligible. If it's finished now, post the proof video and I can add it.
Hydreigon @ Life Orb
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Flash Cannon
- Earth Power
I'd never really used Waifumon before this, nor had I ever done Super Multi until this streak. I decided to grab Gardevoir and and try her out while unlocking Super mode, and was pretty impressed with her sweepy power. I experimented with the whole handful of partner options in the normal Multi AI mode, before determining that Steven was the best fit for my team. I don't need to go into how good Steven is, you guys know. My builds aren't exactly original, I mostly just copied from the Smogon listings and adapted a bit. I forget who, but someone recommended Energy Ball on Gardevoir, so I swapped it in over Calm Mind since my play style is hit-hard-hit-fast with minimal setting. For as often as Quagsire and Carracosta came up, I was pleased with the results. Gardevoir was so strong, in fact, that I don't think I even have to bring out Hydreigon but a handful of times in the first 100 battles. While I did pull Hydreigon from Smogon, the only real difference from my normal build is Flash Cannon over Flamethrower/Focus Blast.
I can't check the replay myself right this moment since my 3DS is dead and the charger is outside and, well, I'm feeling pretty lazy right now. It was a tight battle that took a nosedive when a crucial Rock Slide missed, and Miltank (a ding-dang farm animal) closed things out on me.
I'm hoping that the next battle facility installment will increase the difficulty to decrease the length of streaks drastically - frankly, playing a single winning streak for hundreds of hours is not sane game design. You could say the ultra-long streak in previous generations never were, but it has really gotten out of hand with the Maison. Some of the possible ways GameFreak could help with this are:
1) Giving the AI trainers the ability to use Mega Pokémon - perhaps Ace Trainers are guaranteed to have one of the game's Mega Pokémon on their team. This would even out the Mega advantage slightly, without throwing too many Mega Kangaskhans at the player given there's quite a large amount of Megas in the game, and not all trainers would need to be able to run them.
2) A more dangerous trainer set list - right now, the majority of Maison trainers only use Set4s, and are very predictable. The amount of deviant trainers could be doubled, and all type specialists could be given the Roller Skater treatment of being able to run both Set3s and Set4s.
3) A notably stronger AI. Major improvements seem unlikely given the difficulties involved, but squashing some of the bugs and quirky behaviours in Rotations and Triples could help a fair bit.
4) A larger, more threatening pool of AI-usable Pokémon - Azumarill and Diggersby with hardcoded Huge Power, Eviolite users such as Chansey and Porygon2, Rotom formes, Aegislash, Amoonguss, Jellicent, Therian formes for the genies, Megas as mentioned before... while possibly cutting out of some of the weaker Pokémon in the pool (looking at you, Dewgong4 - please don't make a Quick Claw Sheer Cold + Encore set, though)
5) Separate set lists for different modes - Singles, Doubles, Triples, Rotations. In the past, Singles was always the main mode and Doubles seemed like a secondary priority - but with four main modes and a bigger emphasis on all of them with the five trophies, the sets are being stretched out more thin than ever before. A larger amount of AI sets in Doubles/Triples running moves exclusive to the modes would spice it up, and keeping them separate to still allow Singles sets to have four usable moves. For Rotations, the list might use some more screens, field conditions, Wish, and other strategies more effective in that mode - though a Singles list is probably good enough already.
1. I think it would even it out a lot more than slightly; my kneejerk reaction is to call this a horrible idea unless it's done in a Frontier-style mode where it's exclusive to that. Definitely not in a format where you have absolutely no forewarning. While many Megas may not be competitively viable, they still have grossly inflated BSTs and are designed to do something with a large degree of effectiveness. If streaks are going to be a thing (a thing as the game sees them; not this leaderboard) you cannot rationalize the prospect of building a meager team of three pokemon that can prepare itself for taking down one of a large pool of Megas. Even when only one trainer type can pack them, the idea is no better. If streaks cease to exist, and battle facilities are mere challenges of reaching a boss following 50 battles, then yeah, why the hell not, though there are still glaring issues with this (which I think would be mitigated by a variation of team preview.)
Where this can begin to sound remotely feasible is in a format where you enroll a battle box of Pokemon and much like the Battle Dome of Emerald, can see what your opponent runs. As it stands, while you're still limited to a strict selection, the AI has no access to the equalizers you do.
2. Not a bad idea, though all they really need to do is perhaps make some movesets more utilitarian (ie threatening) and not shut out the overwhelming majority of Set1-3s following an arbitrary milestone. No need to double the trainer amount IMO.
3. Absolutely. The main thing that needs to go is their inability to watch what the other hand is doing. They'll switch out the middle pokemon to something that has Volt Absorb only to KO their teammate with Earthquake (though the replaced poke didn't necessarily block that move.) A change as intricate as making the AI acknowledge turn order and realising that X poke will KO Y target by itself, thereby preventing doubling up shenanigans and the wholly wasted turns that result, is probably a tall order, though I say that only because the AI is just that retarded right now.
4. YES. It kind of annoyed me how fucking Seaking was still in the Battle Facilities as long as it was, to give one example. I also didn't really understand why it could make the cut but not Jellicent or Aegislash. While Dewgong really has no truly threatening sets apart from some Walrein4-esque shit, they can do a lot better if they insist on keeping Dugtrio and Whiscash around. Back in the day, if you had gone on the battle sharing server and typed Dewgong into the search, you'd see a lot of infuriating battles with P.I. Chester or Conway with Salac Horn Drill/Sheer Cold Resttalk Dewgong4... but that was back in the day when OHKO specialists were a thing. I don't miss those times.
5. I can get behind that, but I think perhaps making a bunch of sets less terrible (replacing random shit and overlapping status on some pokes for more useful support, for example) would be more feasible and cut down on the number of entries. And I think you'd mitigate a lot of problems by overhauling the AI like you suggested. Having said that, wouldn't you agree the nature of Rotations kinda limits how effective this would be? Sure, there's stuff that works inherently better, but even if the AI runs a much narrower pool, there's still going to be some limit to their options that screws any hope of cohesion. Specialty trainers in other formats still have this problem, also- the Beauty with her Rain Dance team, or Mara's Trick Roomers- their pools are deliberately stacked with pokes that function better in that environment, but it doesn't prevent them from getting a bad batch.
