An easy way to do this is to just use your own PP as a marker. Using an attacking move say 10 times, knowing setup took 2 turns, and that SOS failed twice is easier IMO than remembering specific total turn numbers(unless you just use a notepad or something)
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Post-Game Utility-mon Sets
- Thread starter Dragontamer
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Reminds me of a specific quirk to keep in mind while I was chaining Imposter Ditto. Somehow slipped my mind that Transform makes every move have 5 PP- which I didn't have a problem until about 40 minutes later when I forgot about keeping track and the Ditto struggled to death. (I usually swapped between Dittos but forgot after a while).
Speaking of, I also used Imposter Ditto to quickly check opposing Pokemon's ability and movesets if there is anything annoying to take note of (that was before I remembered about Entrainment). Keep in mind Imposter only copies the wild Pokemon on the left side of the battle and not the right.
Also Butterfree is a godsend throughout the game to catch and stop endless SOS chains. The set I use is:
Butterfree @none
Ability: Compoundeyes
----
Sleep Powder
Stun Spore
Air Slash/U-turn
Thief
Thief+Compoundeyes is great for farming items like guaranteed Leftovers from Munchlax (especially when paired with Thief Weavile). Double Powder for versatility depending on mon (Stun Spore for a permanent stop to chains, Sleep Powder for Electrics). Air Slash is generally useful for the Grass types you want to chain and also was VERY useful trying to find Razor Claws in Jangmo-o chains. U-turn for momentum to defeat a low HP partner pokemon as you switch to your False Swiper.
Also if you are the type to look for specific-coloured Miniors, the trade Poliwhirl named 'Whirly' is pretty useful straight away. Use a Water Stone immediately fresh from the trade to get a Poliwrath with Damp. Waterium-Z Bubble does *just* enough damage to Minior without KO-ing them, enough to reveal what colour the core is. Damp cancels out Self-destructs while Fighting means you resist the suddenly stronger Power Gems. If you don't like the colour of the Minior- simply run away since levelling up Whirly means more of chance of KOing the Miniors (and because it was traded, it levels up pretty fast).
'Whirly' the Poliwrath (aka Minior-Miner) @Waterium-Z
Ability: Damp
----
-Bubble
-Hypnosis (optional, needs Heart Scale)
-Any
-Any
I find Whirly was better than Parasect during my second in-game playthrough since Parasect is weak to Power Gem + False Swipe isn't as good against Rock typing while Meteor form Minior is immune to Spore. Hypnosis is optional if you ever want to up the catch rate but unfortunately Whirly has just forgotten that move so it's up to you if you want to relearn it. Didn't feel the need to since I usually caught the Miniors with no problem.
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A friend of mine discovered (through internet research) a methodology for chaining Dittos:
1. Some pokemon with only "refresh" as an attack.
2. Some Pokemon (probably Smeargle) with Switcharoo, False Swipe, and a Leppa Berry
3. Ditto transforms into the "refresh" Pokemon. Use Smeargle to trick the Leppa Berry onto it. It will spam refresh, while the Leppa Berry will ensure its PP never fades out. Use False Swipe to knock it down to 1HP.
4. Muk with "Memento". All "called in" Dittos transform into this Muk, and then self-KO themselves.
Its good for raising the chain perpetually by spamming "Adrenaline Orb", but not so good for grabbing "Imposter" dittos or "shinies". Still, if you're willing to lose out on those, its a way to kill lots of Dittos.
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I've been thinking of "Seismic Toss" and "Return" as ways to KO the ditto without necessarily the Ditto being able to do much damage to my Pokemon. It'd be "safer" since a shiny imposter ditto won't insta-kill itself with Memento.
1. Some pokemon with only "refresh" as an attack.
2. Some Pokemon (probably Smeargle) with Switcharoo, False Swipe, and a Leppa Berry
3. Ditto transforms into the "refresh" Pokemon. Use Smeargle to trick the Leppa Berry onto it. It will spam refresh, while the Leppa Berry will ensure its PP never fades out. Use False Swipe to knock it down to 1HP.
4. Muk with "Memento". All "called in" Dittos transform into this Muk, and then self-KO themselves.
Its good for raising the chain perpetually by spamming "Adrenaline Orb", but not so good for grabbing "Imposter" dittos or "shinies". Still, if you're willing to lose out on those, its a way to kill lots of Dittos.
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I've been thinking of "Seismic Toss" and "Return" as ways to KO the ditto without necessarily the Ditto being able to do much damage to my Pokemon. It'd be "safer" since a shiny imposter ditto won't insta-kill itself with Memento.
I think you mean Recycle? Refresh only rids you of status conditions. Recycle restores your held item.
I've been using a complex combo of 5 pokemon.
1. Recycle Smeargle.
2. Trick Pokemon (Dhelmise)
3. User of False Swipe (Decidueye)
4. Gyarados; easiest thing I know of to get with intimidate, sub, and has Crunch and Waterfall (totalling up to 30PP, which when drained means time to catch.)
5. Status spreader, Magnezone in my case.
It goes with a lot of swapping; swap to recycler to eat transform, swap to tricker, give leppa, swap to false swiper, swipe, swap to Gyarados, sub, and kill in a row until 30. @30, swap to smeargle, then Magnezone, status, and throw timer balls until struggle weakens it or timer works.
At the very least, you can pick up an extra Shiny Stone in Malie City after Nanu's grand trial. A boy sells it in the flea market next to the Punk Girl selling hats.
Only in Sun version though... (Dusk Stone in Moon apparently).
Also another utility mon I use for chains:
Masquerain @None
Ability: Intimidate
----
-Thief
-U-turn
-Stun Spore
-filler
Kind of works similar to Butterfree but has Intimidate to help with SOS chaining. U-turn + Intimidate combination is useful for lowering Attack as well as bringing my False Swiper in (which is Weavile who appreciates any Intimidates because of low defense). Also has Thief in case you need any items and Stun Spore to stop chains when needed.
Though I haven't gotten around to chaining for hidden abilities yet, I feel Leavanny deserves a mention: it's available via Island Scan at Poni Meadow on Wednesday at a high level (57), already knows Entrainment and gets False Swipe via TM. Not the most specialized choice, but relatively easy to obtain and as such a useful starting point.
For chaining Abras, this is what I'm going to be using:
Smeargle
Ability: Irrelevant
- Mean Look (for stopping Teleport)
- False Swipe
- Return (damage)
- Thunder Wave (for stopping allies when i'm done)
After about 15 kills, Mean Look a new Abra, murder the first one and keep on going. I just want SpA and SpD to breed with and a Modest nature would be nice.
Smeargle
Ability: Irrelevant
- Mean Look (for stopping Teleport)
- False Swipe
- Return (damage)
- Thunder Wave (for stopping allies when i'm done)
After about 15 kills, Mean Look a new Abra, murder the first one and keep on going. I just want SpA and SpD to breed with and a Modest nature would be nice.
Have you considered Toxic instead of Thunder Wave? You can check for Magic Guard that way.
Yeah, that could work.
Are there any rematchable double battles in the game to use for Sketching?
This is my concept for a Tapu Koko catcher.
Smeargle @ Cheri Berry
Technician, you can optionally EV it to have 195 speed if you want to do a turn 1 speed check for a 30/31 IV
-Sand Attack (any random Ground move works)
-Conversion
-Spore
-False Swipe
Since Tapu Koko has such a low catch rate coupled with a high level, the extra capture boost from Sleep status helps over something gimmicky like Soak+Paralysis. Once you become Ground type on turn 1 (after sponging one hit), Tapu Koko can't hit you with anything other than Nature's Madness, which can't kill you unless you're already at 1 HP. This will let you throw balls with impunity and continue Sleeping him as needed. This set helps if you're planning on doing a lot of resets for Koko, especially since most of his sets use Hidden Power.
Smeargle @ Cheri Berry
Technician, you can optionally EV it to have 195 speed if you want to do a turn 1 speed check for a 30/31 IV
-Sand Attack (any random Ground move works)
-Conversion
-Spore
-False Swipe
Since Tapu Koko has such a low catch rate coupled with a high level, the extra capture boost from Sleep status helps over something gimmicky like Soak+Paralysis. Once you become Ground type on turn 1 (after sponging one hit), Tapu Koko can't hit you with anything other than Nature's Madness, which can't kill you unless you're already at 1 HP. This will let you throw balls with impunity and continue Sleeping him as needed. This set helps if you're planning on doing a lot of resets for Koko, especially since most of his sets use Hidden Power.
Currently trying to come up with something for chaining. Considering:
Pangoro @ Leftovers
Ability: Scrappy (for ghost types)
Irrelevant nature
- Crunch (main attack)
- Drain Punch (recovery)
- Entrainment (checking for HAs after a while)
- False Swipe
Of course, in order to get this HA Pangoro, I'm going to need to grab a Smeargle first...
Going to be farming a ton of Leppa Berries in Poke Pelago, as well as having a Shiinotic with Spore/Thunder Wave when I feel like stopping. Is there anything useful that I'm overlooking?
Pangoro @ Leftovers
Ability: Scrappy (for ghost types)
Irrelevant nature
- Crunch (main attack)
- Drain Punch (recovery)
- Entrainment (checking for HAs after a while)
- False Swipe
Of course, in order to get this HA Pangoro, I'm going to need to grab a Smeargle first...
Going to be farming a ton of Leppa Berries in Poke Pelago, as well as having a Shiinotic with Spore/Thunder Wave when I feel like stopping. Is there anything useful that I'm overlooking?
Nope. The most reliable way to sketch something is to use wild Smeargles - find a wild one, have it sketch the desired move, then switch to your Smeargle in order to sketch it.
That's what I'm doing. I managed to get FS, Mean Look, and Tackle easily. Although having 15 straight encounters on Route 2 without a Smeargle was a pain. 20% chance my ass.
Currently planning to finish up with Toxic and then get chaining - I didn't know where it was before I looked it up this morning and found that it's in the Aether Paradise.
I managed to get Tackle by doing the following (with a Yungoos as an example). This is basically how to get any damaging move that isn't False Swipe onto a Smeargle:
- Lead with Smeargle. False Swipe the wild Smeargle to make sure it calls an ally.
- Switch out to Yungoos. Sketch will fail on the incoming ally, so kill it with Tackle.
- Once a new ally comes in, kill the original with Tackle so it Sketches off it.
- Switch back to your Smeargle and sketch the move off of it.
For Mean Look, I just led with a Gastly and then had it switch out, False Swipe was what I started the first Smeargle with. Toxic should be mostly like Mean Look.
Damaging moves are the tricky part because you have to have a fresh Smeargle called in so that it has the PP for Sketch. Also, I learned the hard way not to start the process with Mean Look, because I had to wait until the wild Smeargle Struggled.
- Lead with Smeargle. False Swipe the wild Smeargle to make sure it calls an ally.
- Switch out to Yungoos. Sketch will fail on the incoming ally, so kill it with Tackle.
- Once a new ally comes in, kill the original with Tackle so it Sketches off it.
- Switch back to your Smeargle and sketch the move off of it.
For Mean Look, I just led with a Gastly and then had it switch out, False Swipe was what I started the first Smeargle with. Toxic should be mostly like Mean Look.
Damaging moves are the tricky part because you have to have a fresh Smeargle called in so that it has the PP for Sketch. Also, I learned the hard way not to start the process with Mean Look, because I had to wait until the wild Smeargle Struggled.
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Use a Sableye if hunting for HA after 20 or so kills. You can scout for HA that way as any ghost with Ability scouting moves are illegal until bank, and Sableye's Dark Type ensures Riolu's Prankster boosted moves will fail.
Leavanny is a fucking beast. With its pre-evo it gets Grass Whistle allowing you to put things to sleep too (with using an X-Accuracy). It can do anything. Scout for HA with Entrainment, keep up a chain and False Swipe.
One thing, Fell Stinger. That's it. In two kills this thing goes +6 Attack. Until Bank comes out this thing's unparallelled.
By the way, I'd like to share what I use to chain on Ditto:
Munchlax
Ability: Doesn't matter.
Nature: Same.
- Recycle
Alakazam @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Doesn't matter.
Nature: Same.
- Trick
Of course, Munchlax and Alakazam can be replaced by anything that learns Recycle and Trick/Switcheroo.
Ditto must transform on Munchlax. Then, switch the item switcher in and Trick/Switcheroo a Leppa Berry on the Ditto. From that point onwards, Ditto has essentially infinite PP.
Feel free to switch in your False Swiper (dunno if anything not called Smeargle can have Trick/Switcheroo and False Swipe/Hold Back) and endlessly KO helper Ditto until you get the one you want (or your Leppa Berry supply runs out, which is unconceivable, to put it bluntly).
PRO TIP: Don't use Kartana to chain Ditto. An Imposter will make your Ultra Boosts backfire badly.
UPDATE: Just checked and there are some Pokemon not called Smeargle that learn an hp-to-1 move and an item switching move (Corphish and Binacle lines, as well as Gallade and an event Celebi) but none of them are available right now.
Munchlax
Ability: Doesn't matter.
Nature: Same.
- Recycle
Alakazam @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Doesn't matter.
Nature: Same.
- Trick
Of course, Munchlax and Alakazam can be replaced by anything that learns Recycle and Trick/Switcheroo.
Ditto must transform on Munchlax. Then, switch the item switcher in and Trick/Switcheroo a Leppa Berry on the Ditto. From that point onwards, Ditto has essentially infinite PP.
Feel free to switch in your False Swiper (dunno if anything not called Smeargle can have Trick/Switcheroo and False Swipe/Hold Back) and endlessly KO helper Ditto until you get the one you want (or your Leppa Berry supply runs out, which is unconceivable, to put it bluntly).
PRO TIP: Don't use Kartana to chain Ditto. An Imposter will make your Ultra Boosts backfire badly.
UPDATE: Just checked and there are some Pokemon not called Smeargle that learn an hp-to-1 move and an item switching move (Corphish and Binacle lines, as well as Gallade and an event Celebi) but none of them are available right now.
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The "Killing Dittos safely" part I haven't really figured out yet, especially as Imposter Dittos start showing up.
But in theory, moves like "Return" and "Seismic Toss" are what we need to reliably KO Ditto, without the Ditto being able to KO us.
There is a much simpler way to do this: just use Substitute. Substitute prevents Imposter from activating, and since the ditto calling for help only knows Recycle, the substitute will never end up going down. I use a Kadabra with Trick/Substitute/Calm Mind/Psybeam to both trick the berry on and knock out the reinforcements (Calm Mind gives the necessary power boosts if underleveled, Psybeam has high PP), plus it's Synchronize ability allows me to hunt for a specific natured 4IV Ditto.
I was going to say an Imposter-proof Silvally-Ghost but that thing's movepool sucks so much it doesn't learn a Fighting-type move. Not even Brick Break.
Substitute on a Synchronizer is a really cool idea. Gonna use it. (though I'll have to train all my Synchronizers. Perhaps I can leave them at Evelup Island while I'm at work)
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You only need one Synchronizer of any nature for getting specific-natured mons from SOS battles.
There is a glitch with Synch + SOS battles whereby a Pokemon with Synchronize must be on the field when the new Ally appears, but the nature will be synched with the first Pokemon in your party, regardless of whether the first pokemon in your party is the Synchronize pokemon. So just raise one Synchronizer to a sufficient level with the moves you want (Trick/Sub/CM/Psybeam in your case), and then put any random pokemon with the nature you want at the lead of your party. The lead mon can be fainted, if you don't want it to actually appear in the battle at all -- the Synchronize will still work.
This glitch only exists when Synchronizing allies in SOS battles. Otherwise synching natures is the same as previous gens.
