Gen III Battle Frontier Discussion and Records

[QuentinQuonce]

Reporting a streak of 42 wins in Battle Factory Doubles (level 50).

I swapped after every battle, which is not best practice - but I was very keen to get the best Pokemon available as soon as possible. Battles 1-21 were, predictably, very difficult but I was able to make it through using basic combinations; during the first round I opted for a Water/Grass/Fire trio, making use of a Growlithe with Intimidate and a fast Poliwhirl, while in the second and third round I chopped and changed constantly.

Battles 21-28 were swept quite easily with the unexpectedly great combination of Glalie 1 (Ice Beam, Crunch, Hail, Protect) and Whiscash 1 (Earthquake, Rock Slide, Amnesia, Rest), swapping the third for whatever worked best as backup. Battles 28-35 were similarly quite easy as I managed to get my hands on a Choice Band Aerodactyl and paired it with a Marowak so abused the Earthquake+Flying combination to its fullest extent.

The final round (which I finished about five minutes ago) was definitely the most nerve-wracking. I was given a truly abysmal opening choice (Donphan, Miltank, Meganium, Rapidash, Breloom, and Muk) and opted for Donphan/Miltank as leads with Meganium as backup. Fortunately the first trainer had a Xatu so I grabbed that and then got hold of a Swampert after the next battle. By no means a top-tier team, but the EQ+Flyer combination once again pulled its weight.

Final battle was extremely dicey. I was told the final trainer had Grass-types so swapped my third team member for the Jynx the last trainer had used. Big mistake.

Opponent sends out Arcanine and Meganium while I send out Xatu and Donphan. Arcanine promptly drops Xatu with a critical hit Crunch, leaving Jynx wide open to my Donphan's Earthquake. It survives with 2 HP remaining while Arcanine dies and Meganium survives with ~40%. Opponent sends out Vileplume and I know it's over. Donphan can drop Meganium with a second Earthquake if it attacks Jynx, but Earthquake won't KO Vileplume in one hit. Jynx is KO'd by Meganium, Donphan uses Earthquake and kills it while bringing Vileplume down to around 30%. Expecting a Giga Drain, I wince... and then Vileplume uses Sludge Bomb. Thank you, dim-witted AI. And I win next turn.

On to round 7! ...tomorrow, once I'm level-headed enough to try again. Hopefully the next opening six will be better.

EDIT: It wasn't. Was given an even worse opening selection (Blastoise, Umbreon, Nidoking, Manectric, Vileplume, Tentacruel); chose Blastoise, Manectric, and Vileplume and lost to a Granbull and Alakazam (which managed to evade 2 consecutive attacks for some lovely extra BS). Sigh.

 

[Voltolos]

Hey guys! I’m back after a small hiatus after I got into another game I was playing, but I’m back.
What kind of mons would you recommend for a hyper offense team on this? Maybe not something meant to get into the thousands, but a team that can reasonably get you the Battle Tower gold? I’ve experimented with my own teams and had little luck unfortunately. I should be able to RNG most of the mons at this point.

thank you in advanced!

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Hey guys! I’m back after a small hiatus after I got into another game I was playing, but I’m back.
What kind of mons would you recommend for a hyper offense team on this? Maybe not something meant to get into the thousands, but a team that can reasonably get you the Battle Tower gold? I’ve experimented with my own teams and had little luck unfortunately. I should be able to RNG most of the mons at this point.

thank you in advanced!

"hyper offense"

*cracks knuckles* MY time to shine! Hyper offense is the style I like best so here are two ideas you might be interested in.


1. Green_typhlosion's old team
Several years ago on an old save file, I made it past 100 wins with this team:

Slaking @ Choice Band
Double-Edge
Earthquake
Shadow Ball
Aerial Ace
252 Attack/Speed, 6 HP (Adamant)

As discussed on other teams in this thread, an incredible lead. Nine times out of ten it can one-shot the opponent and give you an instant 3-2 advantage. Double-Edge is essential here over Return as it allows you to KO bulkier foes like Venusaur and Blastoise reliably, while Slaking has enough HP to eat the recoil multiple times. It's often tempting to KO the first foe and switch out, but against a lot of weaker foes it's so bulky you can simply leave it in, take a hit, and KO the next turn as long as you chose the right move.

Latios @ Lum Berry
Dragon Claw
Thunderbolt
Psychic
Ice Beam/Calm Mind
252 Sp.Attack/Speed, 6 HP (Modest)

Best special attacker in the game; there's precious little to say about it that hasn't already been said. The fourth move is your call - I generally ran Ice Beam to have the versatility, but a single CM makes Latios extremely hard to stop.

Metagross @ Scope Lens
Meteor Mash
Earthquake
Aerial Ace/Agility
Explosion
252 Attack, 170 HP, 88 Speed (Adamant)

Plays a dual role as a pivot and a bulky attacker. A lot of matches can be very easily won by KOing with Slaking, switching to Metagross, exploding, and switching back to Slaking. But don't sacrifice Metagross unless you absolutely have to; it's the best option against the Regi trio and bulkier things like Shuckle that don't die in one hit. Aerial Ace is invaluable against Double Teamers (especially Blissey) while Agility can come in handy if you need to sweep. The given EVs outrun everything in the Frontier after one Agility, but tweak them if you decide not to run it.


2. Sand and Water

If that team's just a bit too standard for you, there's this one which I've been wanting to try for a while but never got around to doing so. It's based off Jumpman16's classic Starmie-Garchomp-Tyranitar team from gen IV, but obviously Garchomp doesn't exist here so we're going with its nearest equivalent:

Starmie @ Mystic Water/Twistedspoon/Scope Lens/Leftovers/Petaya Berry
Surf
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Psychic
252 Sp.Attack/Speed, 6 HP (Modest)

Timid is an option if you're desperate to outspeed everything except Timid Jolteon, but Modest gives you that extra edge that nudges certain 2HKOs up to OHKOs, particularly with bulkier Fighting-types. Natural Cure is obviously the preferred ability choice; the item choice is really up to you and what you consider the greatest threats. Mystic Water and Twistedspoon both boost the power of your STABs while Scope Lens gives a generic (but unreliable) chance at a critical hit. Leftovers isn't the worst idea in the world but overall Petaya Berry is probably your best option.

Flygon @ Choice Band
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Double-Edge
Fly/Hidden Power (below)
252 Attack/Speed, 6 HP (Adamant)

The brute force team member. Jolly is an option since Flygon isn't quite as fast as it wants to be, but the added power that comes with Adamant is hard to turn down - CB Earthquake OHKOs a lot of stuff. Rock Slide and Double-Edge round out your coverage while the fourth move is again up to you. While Hidden Power is a godsend to Flygon's rather barren movepool, Bug and Fighting both require an imperfect Speed IV while Ghost requires an imperfect Attack IV (edit: refer to Actaeon's post below for a correction on this). The only other viable physical option is Steel (only requires an imperfect Sp.Def IV) but most things you'll want to be hitting with Steel are already covered by the other moves so decide for yourself whether it's worth it. There's no point opting for HP Flying when you can run Fly instead (the second turn is much less of a hindrance in the Tower).

Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Aerial Ace
Dragon Dance
8 HP, 252 Attack, 248 Speed (Adamant)

Slightly tricky to set up but very hard to stop once it gets going. Also sets up Sandstorm for Flygon which is nice. Earthquake and Rock Slide are standard (unfortunately Ancientpower is illegal with Dragon Dance) while Aerial Ace is once again essential to hit Evasion haxxers but also takes care of troublesome Fighting, Grass, and Bug types which ordinarily threaten Ttar. The given EVs get you to 330 Speed after one DD (assuming level 100) which outspeeds a very large tier of foes. Again, Jolly is an option but inferior IMO since you want to get your Attack as high as it can possibly go. Lum Berry is needed here to block any errant status that might shut you down.




Hope this helps!

 

[Actaeon]

"hyper offense"

*cracks knuckles* MY time to shine! Hyper offense is the style I like best so here are two ideas you might be interested in.


1. Green_typhlosion's old team
Several years ago on an old save file, I made it past 100 wins with this team:

View attachment 282279
Slaking @ Choice Band
Double-Edge
Earthquake
Shadow Ball
Aerial Ace
252 Attack/Speed, 6 HP (Adamant)

As discussed on other teams in this thread, an incredible lead. Nine times out of ten it can one-shot the opponent and give you an instant lead. Double-Edge is essential here over Return as it allows you to KO bulkier foes like Venusaur and Blastoise reliably, while Slaking has enough HP to eat the recoil multiple times. It's tempting to often KO the first foe and switch out, but against a lot of weaker foes it's so bulky you can simply leave it in, take a hit, and KO the next turn as long as you chose the right move.

View attachment 282277
Latios @ Lum Berry
Dragon Claw
Thunderbolt
Psychic
Ice Beam/Calm Mind
252 Sp.Attack/Speed, 6 HP (Modest)

Best special attacker in the game; there's precious little to say about it that hasn't already been said. The fourth move is your call - I generally ran Ice Beam to have the versatility, but a single CM makes Latios extremely hard to stop.

View attachment 282278
Metagross @ Scope Lens
Meteor Mash
Earthquake
Aerial Ace/Agility
Explosion
252 Attack, 170 HP, 88 Speed (Adamant)

Plays a dual role as a pivot and a bulky attacker. A lot of matches can be very easily won by KOing with Slaking, switching to Metagross, exploding, and switching back to Slaking. But don't sacrifice Metagross unless you absolutely have to; it's the best option against the Regi trio and bulkier things like Shuckle that don't die in one hit. Aerial Ace is invaluable against Double Teamers (especially Blissey) while Agility can come in handy if you need to sweep. The given EVs outrun everything in the Frontier after one Agility, but tweak them if you decide not to run it.


2. Sand and Water

If that team's just a bit too standard for you, there's this one which I've been wanting to try for a while but never got around to doing so. It's based off Jumpman16's classic Starmie-Garchomp-Tyranitar team from gen IV, but obviously Garchomp doesn't exist here so we're going with its nearest equivalent:

View attachment 282280
Starmie @ Mystic Water/Twistedspoon/Scope Lens/Leftovers/Petaya Berry
Surf
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Psychic
252 Sp.Attack/Speed, 6 HP (Modest)

Timid is an option if you're desperate to outspeed everything except Timid Jolteon, but Modest gives you that extra edge that nudges certain 2HKOs up to OHKOs, particularly with bulkier Fighting-types. Natural Cure is obviously the preferred ability choice; the item choice is really up to you and what you consider the greatest threats. Mystic Water and Twistedspoon both boost the power of your STABs while Scope Lens gives a generic (but unreliable) chance at a critical hit. Leftovers isn't the worst idea in the world but overall Petaya Berry is probably your best option.

View attachment 282281
Flygon @ Choice Band
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Double-Edge
Fly/Hidden Power (below)
252 Attack/Speed, 6 HP (Adamant)

The brute force team member. Jolly is an option since Flygon isn't quite as fast as it wants to be, but the added power that comes with Adamant is hard to turn down - CB Earthquake OHKOs a lot of stuff. Rock Slide and Double-Edge round out your coverage while the fourth move is again up to you. While Hidden Power is a godsend to Flygon's rather barren movepool, Bug and Fighting both require an imperfect Speed IV while Ghost requires an imperfect Attack IV. The only other viable physical option is Steel (only requires an imperfect Sp.Def IV) but most things you'll want to be hitting with Steel are already covered by the other moves so decide for yourself whether it's worth it. There's no point opting for HP Flying when you can run Fly instead (the second turn is much less of a hindrance in the Tower).

View attachment 282282
Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Aerial Ace
Dragon Dance
8 HP, 252 Attack, 248 Speed (Adamant)

Slightly tricky to set up but very hard to stop once it gets going. Also sets up Sandstorm for Flygon which is nice. Earthquake and Rock Slide are standard (unfortunately Ancientpower is illegal with Dragon Dance) while Aerial Ace is once again essential to hit Evasion haxxers but also takes care of troublesome Fighting, Grass, and Bug types which ordinarily threaten Ttar. The given EVs get you to 330 Speed after one DD (assuming level 100) which outspeeds a very large tier of foes. Again, Jolly is an option but inferior IMO since you want to get your Attack as high as it can possibly go. Lum Berry is needed here to block any errant status that might shut you down.




Hope this helps!

Those are some nice, universal teams - I think the "Werster team" of Lat@s/Metagross/bulky water and the "old Jumpman" consisting of Mence, Curselax and CMCune also deserve mention if you're looking for reasonably fast, reasonably reliable wins (although the latter heavily struggles against bulky OHKO-ers like Walrein).

A couple of nitpicks: good alternatives to Dragon Claw (which is very specific) on Latios are Surf and Hidden Power [Fire]; the first reliably 2HKOes stuff like Regirock and Aggron if it runs Modest, and the latter makes it able to reliable beat Metagross, provided Metagross doesn't critical hit or activates Quick Claw. I recently noted that Modest Latios' Surf actually OHKOes Armaldo and Regirock in the rain while testing a Ludicolo team. The Regirock sets that are able to survive Surf don't really pose a threat (e.g. the Curse/Rest one).

Another minor detail: HP[Ghost] doesn't lower Attack, you can run 30 Def and SpD. It's really good - OHKOes Gardevoir as well.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Those are some nice, universal teams - I think the "Werster team" of Lat@s/Metagross/bulky water and the "old Jumpman" consisting of Mence, Curselax and CMCune also deserve mention if you're looking for reasonably fast, reasonably reliable wins (although the latter heavily struggles against bulky OHKO-ers like Walrein).

A couple of nitpicks: good alternatives to Dragon Claw (which is very specific) on Latios are Surf and Hidden Power [Fire]; the first reliably 2HKOes stuff like Regirock and Aggron if it runs Modest, and the latter makes it able to reliable beat Metagross, provided Metagross doesn't critical hit or activates Quick Claw. I recently noted that Modest Latios' Surf actually OHKOes Armaldo and Regirock in the rain while testing a Ludicolo team. The Regirock sets that are able to survive Surf don't really pose a threat (e.g. the Curse/Rest one).

Another minor detail: HP[Ghost] doesn't lower Attack, you can run 30 Def and SpD. It's really good - OHKOes Gardevoir as well.

Ah yes, you're right re HP Ghost - was going off Psypoke's Hidden Power page which has imperfect Attack and Sp.Def as the preferred set. Didn't realise it could be done the other way.

http://www.psypokes.com/dex/hp.php

 

[Kommo-o]

Hey guys! I’m back after a small hiatus after I got into another game I was playing, but I’m back.
What kind of mons would you recommend for a hyper offense team on this? Maybe not something meant to get into the thousands, but a team that can reasonably get you the Battle Tower gold? I’ve experimented with my own teams and had little luck unfortunately. I should be able to RNG most of the mons at this point.

thank you in advanced!

Werster's team (Swampert, Latios, Metagross) is the prime example of hyper offense. Additionally if trading between different games is not an option, you can just use Slaking / Starmie / Salamence and it will do good enough to get you to the Gold symbol.

When I started streaking seriously on Gen 3, I made a few years ago an upgraded version of Werster's team. Assuming you can RNG abuse your Pokemon to flawless IVs, this should definitely give you great chances to obtain Gold Symbols on Gen 3 Frontier. Hope it helps!

My upgraded version of Werster's World Record Team

https://pokepast.es/9a85761a338210f0

A few notes:

• 204 Spe on Metagross gives you 116 Speed which allows you to outspeed all Jynx sets (1-4). You don't want to go lower with this team since otherwise Jynx beats Swampert and Latios easily.
• 28 HP / 12 Def on Latios lets you survive Scizor 2's Silver Wind at full HP while minimizing Burn/Poison damage.
• 80 Spe on Swampert lets you outspeed base 60s like Weezing and Clefable.
• 156 Atk EVs on Swampert hit a jump point in Attack but you can drop more in SpA in case it is required. 78 is the bare minimum to OHKO 3 IV Breloom (which is specific for Dome).
• 172 HP on Swampert maximizes HP recovery while preventing Alakazam from 2HKOing with Psychic after a turn of Protect.
• You can also opt for Hidden Power Steel on Metagross for a more reliable STAB in case you don't want to trust Meteor Mash's accuracy, but take into account that you'll miss the SpD boost from the leftover 4 EVs which will be wasted.

 

[Kommo-o]

2. Sand and Water

If that team's just a bit too standard for you, there's this one which I've been wanting to try for a while but never got around to doing so. It's based off Jumpman16's classic Starmie-Garchomp-Tyranitar team from gen IV, but obviously Garchomp doesn't exist here so we're going with its nearest equivalent:

View attachment 282280
Starmie @ Mystic Water/Twistedspoon/Scope Lens/Leftovers/Petaya Berry
Surf
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Psychic
252 Sp.Attack/Speed, 6 HP (Modest)

Timid is an option if you're desperate to outspeed everything except Timid Jolteon, but Modest gives you that extra edge that nudges certain 2HKOs up to OHKOs, particularly with bulkier Fighting-types. Natural Cure is obviously the preferred ability choice; the item choice is really up to you and what you consider the greatest threats. Mystic Water and Twistedspoon both boost the power of your STABs while Scope Lens gives a generic (but unreliable) chance at a critical hit. Leftovers isn't the worst idea in the world but overall Petaya Berry is probably your best option.

View attachment 282281
Flygon @ Choice Band
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Double-Edge
Fly/Hidden Power (below)
252 Attack/Speed, 6 HP (Adamant)

The brute force team member. Jolly is an option since Flygon isn't quite as fast as it wants to be, but the added power that comes with Adamant is hard to turn down - CB Earthquake OHKOs a lot of stuff. Rock Slide and Double-Edge round out your coverage while the fourth move is again up to you. While Hidden Power is a godsend to Flygon's rather barren movepool, Bug and Fighting both require an imperfect Speed IV while Ghost requires an imperfect Attack IV (edit: refer to Actaeon's post below for a correction on this). The only other viable physical option is Steel (only requires an imperfect Sp.Def IV) but most things you'll want to be hitting with Steel are already covered by the other moves so decide for yourself whether it's worth it. There's no point opting for HP Flying when you can run Fly instead (the second turn is much less of a hindrance in the Tower).

View attachment 282282
Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Aerial Ace
Dragon Dance
8 HP, 252 Attack, 248 Speed (Adamant)

Slightly tricky to set up but very hard to stop once it gets going. Also sets up Sandstorm for Flygon which is nice. Earthquake and Rock Slide are standard (unfortunately Ancientpower is illegal with Dragon Dance) while Aerial Ace is once again essential to hit Evasion haxxers but also takes care of troublesome Fighting, Grass, and Bug types which ordinarily threaten Ttar. The given EVs get you to 330 Speed after one DD (assuming level 100) which outspeeds a very large tier of foes. Again, Jolly is an option but inferior IMO since you want to get your Attack as high as it can possibly go. Lum Berry is needed here to block any errant status that might shut you down.

Hope this helps!

I like this team, so I am reviewing for a few corrections. Most specifically on the Flygon taking into account that I've used it plenty of times. Realistically speaking, CB Flygon only needs Rock Slide and Earthquake. 95% of the time, you are only using these moves but I think there are far better options for the last two. Fire Blast and Flamethrower deserve a mention as with a Hasty/Naive nature it's your best move to hit Forretress and Scizor without getting smacked by Counter since Scizor 1 can carry a Focus Band and Forry might as well just explode on your face. Quick Attack is a safety insurance vs Medicham 2. Take into account that no one in your team is able to take a full powered Reversal against it since no one can OHKO it and scouting it is a pain since Medicham 3 can run Dynamic Punch and smack Tyranitar if it hits. If you opt for a Hidden Power on Flygon, use HP Ghost or HP Bug instead. HP Ghost hits the Lati@s for super-effective damage, it destroys Gengar and it is also extra PP to smack Dusclops hard. HP Bug gets some Grass types like Parasect or Exeggutor, so it isn't terrible although I do consider it inferior to what HP Ghost can achieve.

On the Tyranitar set, you might just want to use Taunt or Substitute instead of Aerial Ace. Tyranitar is a very good DD user with the bulk to shut down stuff like Blissey and set in their faces with little consequences. Psychic types on this Gen are unable to get past Tyranitar (God bless GF for not creating Focus Blast on this gen) and you'll be surprised how Taunt can stop passive Pokemon like Regice or Blissey. Goes without saying, Substitute is the best move ever in Gen 3. Also, you'll want to use HP Rock over Rock Slide. Never trust that stupid 90% acccuracy on such a sub-par move. HP Rock has more PP and only -5 less power which makes for a reasonable good STAB.

 

[Kommo-o]

I blame Actaeon for even making me consider using this:

 

[Actaeon]

I blame Actaeon for even making me consider using this:
View attachment 282619

Yes! I'm happy to get blamed for this. This is approximately the set I used, although some SpD EVs can be transferred into SpA; Leftovers and more healing with Giga Drain make up for the loss in Special Defense while having more chance to 3HKO or 4HKO certain Pokémon this Forretress is for, such as Whiscash, Walrein and Lapras. It 2HKOes Rhydon anyway (and Whiscash too because of the 3 IVs), while Rhydon can never crit it to death. ProTox is interesting; I didn't even use Toxic and just attacked (Explosion is ridiculously good in Dome), but I guess Forretress beats more opponents with Toxic indeed (I'm having Armaldo in my mind right now), and then it has a way to keep pressuring Resting opponents (such as the ST OHKO sets). HP[Bug] is nice for Lati@s I guess, but the standard Slaking/Gengar partners eat them alive anyway (unless they QC Gengar or something). Counter is also a nice filler; prevents Tucker's Metagross from getting lucky with critical hits.

By the way, EQ also OHKOs the 3 IV fast Jolteon without even investing in Attack :)

 

[Kommo-o]

Yes! I'm happy to get blamed for this. This is approximately the set I used, although some SpD EVs can be transferred into SpA; Leftovers and more healing with Giga Drain make up for the loss in Special Defense while having more chance to 3HKO or 4HKO certain Pokémon this Forretress is for, such as Whiscash, Walrein and Lapras. It 2HKOes Rhydon anyway (and Whiscash too because of the 3 IVs), while Rhydon can never crit it to death. ProTox is interesting; I didn't even use Toxic and just attacked (Explosion is ridiculously good in Dome), but I guess Forretress beats more opponents with Toxic indeed (I'm having Armaldo in my mind right now), and then it has a way to keep pressuring Resting opponents (such as the ST OHKO sets). HP[Bug] is nice for Lati@s I guess, but the standard Slaking/Gengar partners eat them alive anyway (unless they QC Gengar or something). Counter is also a nice filler; prevents Tucker's Metagross from getting lucky with critical hits.

By the way, EQ also OHKOs the 3 IV fast Jolteon without even investing in Attack :)

Figured I'd let you know but 36 SpA EVs gives you the best chance to 2HKO Rhydon 2 (max SpD) for a 78.5% chance while guaranteeing the 2HKO on Set 3/4 for Battle Tower. 212 HP / 252 SpD gives higher bulk than something like 252 HP / 212 SpD so in the end, you don't miss the higher HP. Anything lower than that and sadly Starmie 3 will OHKO with a crit Surf.

 

[Actaeon]

Figured I'd let you know but 36 SpA EVs gives you the best chance to 2HKO Rhydon 2 (max SpD) for a 78.5% chance while guaranteeing the 2HKO on Set 3/4 for Battle Tower. 212 HP / 252 SpD gives higher bulk than something like 252 HP / 212 SpD so in the end, you don't miss the higher HP. Anything lower than that and sadly Starmie 3 will OHKO with a crit Surf.

Ah I see, you wanted to make a set that can be used in other facilities as well. I only looked at what it can do in the Dome, so I didn't really consider Starmie; Slaking and Gengar outspeed and KO it anyway.

 

[Actaeon]

I made it to 42 battles in Factory lv. 50! Will play on Discord this evening (in about 6 hrs) to see how far I can get.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

I made it to 42 battles in Factory lv. 50! Will play on Discord this evening (in about 6 hrs) to see how far I can get.

You're beating my record mere days after I got there? Arrrrggggghhhhhh.

 

[Kommo-o]

TEAM FORTRESS
​

I decided to kick a new project consisting of making teams that are good enough to grind for the Gold Symbol in Battle Tower. With my main focus being on singles (since you only get the Symbol on that format anyways) I decided to restrict myself to a pool consisting of using only Pokemon that can be obtained on Emerald. With the most obvious and acessible one being Werster's Speedrun Record Team, I wanted to drift away from that one. I also wanted a focus on Hyper Offense since I wouldn't really recommend my most successful team, Der Deutsche Wissenschaft, if your only objective is to get that shiny thing on your Frontier Pass, considering how slow the team can be since it relies on massive set-up and crippling the AI to win games.

Team Fortress

Thanos (Starmie) @ Lum Berry / Petaya Berry
IVs: 6 Atk
EVs: 252 SpA / 6 SpD / 252 Spe
Ability: Natural Cure
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt

The first Pokemon I wanted to consider was Starmie for various reasons. In case RNG abusing a new Lati@s is not an option, you can self-suffice for Starmie if all you care for is getting the Gold Symbol. I had been spoiled too much by Lati@s recently and while I don't think too greatly of Starmie due to its inability to set up and increase its stats, it did well enough for the team. Starmie is a very simple Pokemon to use. Use that great Speed tier to blaze anything that can be hit super-effectively thanks to its amazing coverage.

Modest is the only nature that should be considered as otherwise Timid is too weak and Starmie fails to pick up the OHKO on all Armaldo sets which is something you don't really want to miss out. While a Lum Berry might seem contradictory, just as DrDimentio mentioned earlier on this thread, the ability of retaining momentum without having to activate Natural Care back and forth can be valuable at times. If you feel it is totally unnecessary, you can use whatever item you feel like since Starmie doesn't really has an "ideal" item on this generation. Mystic Water and Twisted Spoon are good options to boost your STAB or you can even use King's Rock works for the lols.

Hollander (Forretress) (M) @ Leftovers
IVs: 0 Atk
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Def / 4 SpA / 252 SpD / 6 Spe
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 50
Calm Nature
- Toxic
- Protect
- Counter
- Giga Drain

I mainly started to brainstorm on this set after watching Actaeon live on his stream using it on stream at the Dome. I didn't used to think very highly about Forretress due to the "relative" lack of STAB (outside Hidden Power, your strongest STAB is Pin Missile, lol) and its only value is on being one of the few mons on this game to have access to Sturdy. Unlike Steelix, it isn't weak to Water which is nice. Unlike Skarmory it isn't weak to Electric and it resists Ice which makes it a nice switch-in for Lati@s. However, this absolute massive unit of a beast changed my perceptions on it. If Smuckem ever wanted to torture me by re-creating the cursed Gen 3 sets that gives me Vietnam flashbacks, I would forgive him knowing that as long as I have Forry, the HOLLANDER is my shepherd and I shall not want.

Once you see the video below, you'll be surprised by how much work this absolute tank has put in. From cock-blocking Dewgong 3, putting an NBA Ring performance vs Miltank 4, stalling out Haxrein, banning Milotic 3 into the Shadow Realm and even tanking a Fire Blast from Blissey 3, this guy is the real MVP of this team. Toxic allows Forretress to beat Umbreon, Latios 5, Ludicolo 4, Miltank and any set-up sweeper vulnerable to the move and complements well with Protect to stall out poison turns. Giga Drain is the most obnoxious choice in the set however there is a good reason why it is here. Thanks to this, Forretress can easily crush Whiscash into oblivion as not only it avoids the 2HKO from a crit Surf but also recovers the necessary amount of HP to overwhelm Set 3/4 and beat them 1-v-1. It's not a strong move but it is strong enough to 2HKO Whiscash and Rhydon while blocking all OHKO moves. Between Toxic + Protect + Giga Drain and its chip recovery, it also does very well against Walrien 4 despite its strong SpA investment. Counter is what made the difference on this set: I previously ran Earthquake but after having my ass handed over to Anabel's Curselax, I needed something to deal better with it. Since Flygon ran Earthquake, I felt the move was simply unnecessary and Counter provided an excellent middle-ground that still allowed Forretress to beat Metagross 1-v-1 while offering an additional tool against Curse users. Despite having almost no defense investment, Forretress is still bulky from the physical side and it does very well on exploiting Counter.

244 HP and 252 SpD provides maximum special bulk allowing Forretress to survive an onslaught of special attacks including Whiscash's Surf, Walrein's Surf, Blissey's Fire Blast, etc. Most notably, it avoids the OHKO from a crit Surf from Starmie 3 which can come in handy on a pinch considering that both Starmie / Flygon speed tie it. 6 Spe EVs allows Forretress to outspeed all Rhydon sets and smack them with Giga Drain assuming QC doesn't activates. 4 EVs are placed in Defense and Special Attack to take advantage of the small boosts.

TheLetterA (Flygon) (F) @ Choice Band
IVs: 30 Def / 30 SpD
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Hasty Nature
- Fire Blast
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ghost]

The Queen of Palace and the best Flygon in the world. Choice Band is the only usable item for Flygon on this gen and it makes its already decently strong Earthquake STAB into a very strong nuke. If you ever have to consider using other item in Flygon, don't even bother and use another Pokemon instead.

Fire Blast allows Flygon to hit opposing Scizor and Forretress without triggering Counter. It's also a good move to hit Skarmory in case Starmie is down. Rock Slide smashes Zapdos and Articuno into smithereens while providing good coverage against Flying types immune to Earthquake. Hidden Power Ghost is chosen as the last coverage move due to its ability to hit Gengar for super-effective damage while still providing super-effective damage on the Lati@s twins.

Max Attack and Speed are required to allow Flygon outspeed as many threats as possible while powering up its banded Earthquake. A Hasty nature is preferred since lowering Special Defense makes it easier for Manectric and Jolteon to hit Flygon with their coverage special moves like Crunch and Bite which is unwanted. Flygon also carries a convenient resistance to Fire.

Threatlist

• Extremely dangerous due to Flygon/Starmie speed tying it. It almost always survives Thunderbolt which means that you have to win the speed tie on the second turn.
• Set 2 has access to Calm Mind, access to Rest, Double Team spam and a STAB that none of my team member are immune to. A complete nightmare to face if Flygon fails to dispatch it quickly. Arguably the biggest threat to this team.
• Set 3 is the most dangerous set since it always survives Banded Earthquake and has Fire Blast and Blizzard to hit both Flygon and Forretress.
• A little bit tricky to handle as otherwise until you find the correct set, you might be giving it unwarranted opportunities to set-up. Forretress walls most sets but can't do a lot back in return other than relying on Counter. Set 4 is a huge nightmare because of Baton Pass.
• Set 2 and Set 4 are dangerous because of Mirror Coat which means that I am forcibly to swap into Forretress to scout the set (specially if it comes from Dragon Tamers since this trainer archetype have Pokemon vulnerable to Starmie). Missing Toxic or crits can easily spell doom for the team.
• Similar to Milotic but less threatening due to its lower power and it is easier for Forretress to stall it.
• The quickest way to get rid of it is smacking it with a Banded Earthquake or HP Ghost but Set 4 makes it more threatening because of Brightpowder and if Flygon misses, Forretress will be forced to stall it.
• All curse sets are dangerous threats to this team as otherwise if Flygon cannot smack them to death, you'll have to rely on Counter which may also not be reliable since some just like to attack immediately or continue to boost. Access to Immunity also makes Toxic a 50/50.

Exportable

TEAM FORTRESS

Game Play sample

I pretty much got into 70 without too many issues on my 2nd attempt. Funnily enough, my first loss came to Granbull 2 due to me trying to bait and out-predict like I did on the previous battle to it. My strategy completely backfired since it almost seem like if the AI actually learned from it and completely counter-acted. Ultimately Jolteon 4 hit the scene. Fuck that thing. Fuck Jolteon 4. You know how it ended.

After the first loss, I quickly speedrunned the first 4 rounds which are usually done very fast by Starmie. Anabel's Silver party was an easy win as once Flygon switches safely, Banded Earthquake will cream her team (mind you, her Zam has Bright Powder so one miss will easily mean you are at odds of losing this match). On Anabel Gold, I rely on sacking something to get Flygon safely vs Snorlax. Flygon will easily switch into Raikou and murder it on cold blood while Forretress will easily wall Latios to death once it gets poisoned but the issue is on Lax. If you have to sack something on the last turns of poison damage on Latios (and if it gets a couple of CM boosts) it's important to sack something as otherwise you lose momentum once Lax comes in and it's incredibly dangerous to give this monster a free turn to use Curse. On the video, before Latios died on the last turn, I switched into Starmie expecting the OHKO but it didn't kill it, neverless, Starmie was weakened enough to lure Snorlax to just Shadow Ball to finish it off and as a bonus Flygon already had some chip damage to work with which made handling Snorlax very easy.

I admit that I have grown more fondly of Forretress and this is the way to use it properly in Gen 3. Sure, it's a lot of meme material specially when your best STAB is Pin Missile which is 18 base power (?) but it has some nice attributes for an Sturdy user. It's not weak to Electric, Ground or Water and it still resists Ice. Also Giga Drain has proven its value on destroying Whiscash which is not something Steelix or Skarmory can do reliably. Overall, Forretress has definitely risen on my eyes as one of the most valuable Sturdy users to use on this gen. I guess it will be matter of time in case you see me testing Magneton.

Hopefully this team helps users who don't have the possibility of trading between GBA or Gamecube games and helps more than one to get the so desired Gold Symbol. I'll be doing my best on creating teams that can reach consistently to Gold using only Emerald native Pokemon. If you have any more suggestions or different teams you'd want me to try, please let me know!

 

[Actaeon]

TEAM FORTRESS
​

I decided to kick a new project consisting of making teams that are good enough to grind for the Gold Symbol in Battle Tower. With my main focus being on singles (since you only get the Symbol on that format anyways) I decided to restrict myself to a pool consisting of using only Pokemon that can be obtained on Emerald. With the most obvious and acessible one being Werster's Speedrun Record Team, I wanted to drift away from that one. I also wanted a focus on Hyper Offense since I wouldn't really recommend my most successful team, Der Deutsche Wissenschaft, if your only objective is to get that shiny thing on your Frontier Pass, considering how slow the team can be since it relies on massive set-up and crippling the AI to win games.

Team Fortress

Thanos (Starmie) @ Lum Berry / Petaya Berry
IVs: 6 Atk
EVs: 252 SpA / 6 SpD / 252 Spe
Ability: Natural Cure
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt

The first Pokemon I wanted to consider was Starmie for various reasons. In case RNG abusing a new Lati@s is not an option, you can self-suffice for Starmie if all you care for is getting the Gold Symbol. I had been spoiled too much by Lati@s recently and while I don't think too greatly of Starmie due to its inability to set up and increase its stats, it did well enough for the team. Starmie is a very simple Pokemon to use. Use that great Speed tier to blaze anything that can be hit super-effectively thanks to its amazing coverage.

Modest is the only nature that should be considered as otherwise Timid is too weak and Starmie fails to pick up the OHKO on all Armaldo sets which is something you don't really want to miss out. While a Lum Berry might seem contradictory, just as DrDimentio mentioned earlier on this thread, the ability of retaining momentum without having to activate Natural Care back and forth can be valuable at times. If you feel it is totally unnecessary, you can use whatever item you feel like since Starmie doesn't really has an "ideal" item on this generation. Mystic Water and Twisted Spoon are good options to boost your STAB. Magnet works in case you want to guarantee the Thunderbolt KO on opposing Starmies. Petaya or even King's Rock works for the lols.

Hollander (Forretress) (M) @ Leftovers
IVs: 0 Atk
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Def / 4 SpA / 252 SpD / 6 Spe
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 50
Calm Nature
- Toxic
- Protect
- Counter
- Giga Drain

I mainly started to brainstorm on this set after watching Actaeon live on his stream using it on stream at the Dome. I didn't used to think very highly about Forretress due to the "relative" lack of STAB (outside Hidden Power, your strongest STAB is Pin Missile, lol) and its only value is on being one of the few mons on this game to have access to Sturdy. Unlike Steelix, it isn't weak to Water which is nice. Unlike Skarmory it isn't weak to Electric and it resists Ice which makes it a nice switch-in for Lati@s. However, this absolute massive unit of a beast changed my perceptions on it. If Smuckem ever wanted to torture me by re-creating the cursed Gen 3 sets that gives me Vietnam flashbacks, I would forgive him knowing that as long as I have Forry, the HOLLANDER is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Once you see the video below, you'll be surprised by how much work this absolute tank has put in. From cock-blocking Dewgong 3, putting an NBA Ring performance vs Miltank 4, stalling out Haxrein, banning Milotic 3 into the Shadow Realm and even tanking a Fire Blast from Blissey 3, this guy is the real MVP of this team. Toxic allows Forretress to beat Umbreon, Latios 5, Ludicolo 4, Miltank and any set-up sweeper vulnerable to the move and complements well with Protect to stall out poison turns. Giga Drain is the most obnoxious choice in the set however there is a good reason why it is here. Thanks to this, Forretress can easily crush Whiscash into oblivion as not only it avoids the 2HKO from a crit Surf but also recovers the necessary amount of HP to overwhelm Set 3/4 and beat them 1-v-1. It's not a strong move but it is strong enough to 2HKO Whiscash and Rhydon while blocking all OHKO moves. Between Toxic + Protect + Giga Drain and its chip recovery, it also does very well against Walrien 4 despite its strong SpA investment. Counter is what made the difference on this set: I previously ran Earthquake but after having my ass handed over to Anabel's Curselax, I needed something to deal better with it. Since Flygon ran Earthquake, I felt the move was simply unnecessary and Counter provided an excellent middle-ground that still allowed Forretress to beat Metagross 1-v-1 while offering an additional tool against Curse users. Despite having almost no defense investment, Forretress is still bulky from the physical side and it does very well on exploiting Counter.

244 HP and 252 SpD provides maximum special bulk allowing Forretress to survive an onslaught of special attacks including Whiscash's Surf, Walrein's Surf, Blissey's Fire Blast, etc. Most notably, it avoids the OHKO from a crit Surf from Starmie 3 which can come in handy on a pinch considering that both Starmie / Flygon speed tie it. 6 Spe EVs allows Forretress to outspeed all Rhydon sets and smack them with Giga Drain assuming QC doesn't activates. 4 EVs are placed in Defense and Special Attack to take advantage of the small boosts.

TheLetterA (Flygon) (F) @ Choice Band
IVs: 30 Def / 30 SpD
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Hasty Nature
- Fire Blast
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ghost]

The Queen of Palace and the best Flygon in the world. Choice Band is the only usable item for Flygon on this gen and it makes its already decently strong Earthquake STAB into a very strong nuke. If you ever have to consider using other item in Flygon, don't even bother and use another Pokemon instead.

Fire Blast allows Flygon to hit opposing Scizor and Forretress without triggering Counter. It's also a good move to hit Skarmory in case Starmie is down. Rock Slide smashes Zapdos and Articuno into smithereens while providing good coverage against Flying types immune to Earthquake. Hidden Power Ghost is chosen as the last coverage move due to its ability to hit Gengar for super-effective damage while still providing super-effective damage on the Lati@s twins.

Max Attack and Speed are required to allow Flygon outspeed as many threats as possible while powering up its banded Earthquake. A Hasty nature is preferred since lowering Special Defense makes it easier for Manectric and Jolteon to hit Flygon with their coverage special moves like Crunch and Bite which is unwanted. Flygon also carries a convenient resistance to Fire.

Threatlist

• Extremely dangerous due to Flygon/Starmie speed tying it. It almost always survives Thunderbolt which means that you have to win the speed tie on the second turn.
• Set 2 has access to Calm Mind, access to Rest, Double Team spam and a STAB that none of my team member are immune to. A complete nightmare to face if Flygon fails to dispatch it quickly. Arguably the biggest threat to this team.
• Set 3 is the most dangerous set since it always survives Banded Earthquake and has Fire Blast and Blizzard to hit both Flygon and Forretress.
• A little bit tricky to handle as otherwise until you find the correct set, you might be giving it unwarranted opportunities to set-up. Forretress walls most sets but can't do a lot back in return other than relying on Counter. Set 4 is a huge nightmare because of Baton Pass.
• Set 2 and Set 4 are dangerous because of Mirror Coat which means that I am forcibly to swap into Forretress to scout the set (specially if it comes from Dragon Tamers since this trainer archetype have Pokemon vulnerable to Starmie). Missing Toxic or crits can easily spell doom for the team.
• Similar to Milotic but less threatening due to its lower power and it is easier for Forretress to stall it.
• The quickest way to get rid of it is smacking it with a Banded Earthquake or HP Ghost but Set 4 makes it more threatening because of Brightpowder and if Flygon misses, Forretress will be forced to stall it.

Exportable

TEAM FORTRESS

Game Play sample

I pretty much got into 70 without too many issues on my 2nd attempt. Funnily enough, my first loss came to Granbull 2 due to me trying to bait and out-predict like I did on the previous battle to it. My strategy completely backfired since it almost seem like if the AI actually learned from it and completely counter-acted. Ultimately Jolteon 4 hit the scene. Fuck that thing. Fuck Jolteon 4. You know how it ended.

Hopefully this team helps users who don't have the possibility of trading between GBA or Gamecube games and helps more than one to get the so desired Gold Symbol. I'll be doing my best on creating teams that can reach consistently to Gold using only Emerald native Pokemon. If you have any more suggestions or different teams you'd want me to try, please let me know!

Very nice, fast and easy access team, just like you want it to be. I've been thinking a bit on how to fight the most important threats you mentioned. The only thing I can see that would prove useful in many situations without changing the whole concept is to somehow include Light Screen on Starmie. The most swappable move on Starmie is probably Thunderbolt, because against many Waters you have to scout Mirror Coat anyway, use Surf (Swampert) or you can beat with Psychic anyway because they can't hurt you. Lanturn can be problem too (with or without Tbolt) but I guess Flygon takes good care of that. The only Flying-types you'd use Tbolt on are Gyarados and Mantine, I guess, but Forretress actually takes quite good care of Gyarados and if it's the Rest variant, Flygon can 2HKO it with Rock Slide.

Light Screen would make it far easier to switch in Forretress against other Waters and Psychic-types, but I'm not sure it would improve the team in general. In particular, opposing Starmie would become more dangerous, although Forretress should be able to win because of Light Screen, and under the effects of Light Screen Flygon survives an Ice Beam if it can switch in on an Electric move. What do you think?

EDIT: Wanted to see how fast I could get a Gold Symbol and got annihilated by Silver Anabel; Surfed with Starmie, got crit by Thunderpunch and then I missed EQ with Flygon, resulting in a very quick loss. I guess switching to Flygon Turn 1 is an option, but then the same hax could happen I guess. Team works well in general I think, although random paralyses on Starmie (e.g. when switching into a Granbull overheat and then getting hit with a Tbolt) can quickly spell doom; I think Lum Berry is really the way to go.

 

[Kommo-o]

Very nice, fast and easy access team, just like you want it to be. I've been thinking a bit on how to fight the most important threats you mentioned. The only thing I can see that would prove useful in many situations without changing the whole concept is to somehow include Light Screen on Starmie. The most swappable move on Starmie is probably Thunderbolt, because against many Waters you have to scout Mirror Coat anyway, use Surf (Swampert) or you can beat with Psychic anyway because they can't hurt you. Lanturn can be problem too (with or without Tbolt) but I guess Flygon takes good care of that. The only Flying-types you'd use Tbolt on are Gyarados and Mantine, I guess, but Forretress actually takes quite good care of Gyarados and if it's the Rest variant, Flygon can 2HKO it with Rock Slide.

Light Screen would make it far easier to switch in Forretress against other Waters and Psychic-types, but I'm not sure it would improve the team in general. In particular, opposing Starmie would become more dangerous, although Forretress should be able to win because of Light Screen, and under the effects of Light Screen Flygon survives an Ice Beam if it can switch in on an Electric move. What do you think?

EDIT: Wanted to see how fast I could get a Gold Symbol and got annihilated by Silver Anabel; Surfed with Starmie, got crit by Thunderpunch and then I missed EQ with Flygon, resulting in a very quick loss. I guess switching to Flygon Turn 1 is an option, but then the same hax could happen I guess. Team works well in general I think, although random paralyses on Starmie (e.g. when switching into a Granbull overheat and then getting hit with a Tbolt) can quickly spell doom; I think Lum Berry is really the way to go.

I guess it really comes down to the structure of the team. There will always be something I can't cover. Thunderbolt is still important since it's Starmie's best chance to get rid of Gyarados and the DD set has Thunder Wave which can potentially screw Forretress on beating it. If Flygon could learn the move, I would've definitely ditched Fire Blast for it. Explosion would've also be a valid alternative for Curse users as well, it gets the job done without ifs or buts.

Lanturn is not really problematic since Starmie > Flygon is always a clean switch-in. Agreed on opposing Starmies being an issue but if someone can afford to use a Petaya Berry and if you get hit by Thunderbolt first, you live the hit, get the SpA boost and always OHKO. Hence why I listed it as the 2nd item. Lum's utility is extremely underrated on Starmie and it is a good item regardless of Natural Care.

Granbull 2 is just horrible. On the video the 1st loss occured because I failed to stall it and Jolteon 4 showed up. I should've just 2HKO it with Surf and tank the Thunderbolt. I was doing this without looking into sets since I wanted to prove this team's effectiveness on the early rounds. Either way, it's not really that bad but the biggest issue comes in determinating which set you face.

 

[Kommo-o]

Here's a record from a year ago, 46w / 30s in Battle Factory L50 Doubles

I lost b47 no less than thrice; I think I logged all these runs more or less thoroughly on the Discord server, if anyone cares...

e: I definitely remember Marowak + fast Ground immunity demolishing rounds, too. Despite its bad speed, Wak is surprisingly reliable at getting EQ off T1, and that's usually all it needs to do for game. Aside from fast CBers (Furret2 in early rounds is particularly wondrous, mark my words -- the only time that I beat a round without using the third pkmn slot at all was with Furret2 and the Belly Drum Poliwrath, what a riot), Fake Out mons are another high priority. You'd be surprised how good the respective sets of Dewgong and Hariyama are. Or perhaps not, since "FO is good in Doubles" is usually learnt quickly.

While I'm at it, here's the other record established 2006 (!), 50w / 22s in L100 Singles

"lol factory". I don't remember much about this run, obviously; I think Noland had Flygon and Suicune.

There's no further "treasures" to dig up, I never played anything other than factory in Gen3 on cartridge, because I have always thoroughly hated breeding and EV training, and never was that worse than back then (and RNG abuse not yet discovered afaik). The exception is when I won Arena Silver with things like 0EV Spark Raikou from the 10JAHRE event. True grit.

Genuinely curious, did you use AERO-ASS at least on the Arena run????

 

[Actaeon]

I guess it really comes down to the structure of the team. There will always be something I can't cover. Thunderbolt is still important since it's Starmie's best chance to get rid of Gyarados and the DD set has Thunder Wave which can potentially screw Forretress on beating it. If Flygon could learn the move, I would've definitely ditched Fire Blast for it. Explosion would've also be a valid alternative for Curse users as well, it gets the job done without ifs or buts.

Lanturn is not really problematic since Starmie > Flygon is always a clean switch-in. Agreed on opposing Starmies being an issue but if someone can afford to use a Petaya Berry and if you get hit by Thunderbolt first, you live the hit, get the SpA boost and always OHKO. Hence why I listed it as the 2nd item. Lum's utility is extremely underrated on Starmie and it is a good item regardless of Natural Care.

Granbull 2 is just horrible. On the video the 1st loss occured because I failed to stall it and Jolteon 4 showed up. I should've just 2HKO it with Surf and tank the Thunderbolt. I was doing this without looking into sets since I wanted to prove this team's effectiveness on the early rounds. Either way, it's not really that bad but the biggest issue comes in determinating which set you face.

A problem with Petaya Berry is vs other Starmie is that it won't activate before you use the first Thunderbolt, even if they outspeed you. It activates after both users made their move, so then you still need to win the speed tie...

 

[Kommo-o]

A problem with Petaya Berry is vs other Starmie is that it won't activate before you use the first Thunderbolt, even if they outspeed you. It activates after both users made their move, so then you still need to win the speed tie...

Shoot, I completely forgot about pinch berry mechanics >.>. They're different on this gen

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Well, my Doubles run ended at 127 wins. Got flattened by a rogue Cursing Snorlax but the team achieved some truly excellent wins along the way, including

• battle 111: a very tense bout against 3 OHKO users (Walrein, Lapras, and Wailord) and an opposing DDing Gyarados, all four of whom Gyarados took down singlehandedly with a shred of HP remaining thanks to all of Lapras' OHKO moves miraculously missing
• battle 124: a victory snatched from the jaws of defeat against a Dragonite and Regice who obliterated Marowak and Dodrio (but not before falling victim to Perish Song); Gyarados and Manectric exploited their eventual switch turn to get a Swagger+Dragon Dance combo off and proceeded to slaughter the opposing team

Was hoping it'd get a little bit further (150 was what I had in mind) but I'm happy to have got past 100 so I'm not feeling any immediate rush to go again right away.

And I have pushed my Multi streak once again to 259 wins! Can we make it to 300?!

Pretty much exclusively running with my record-mixed partner Orienne at this point (Latias/Aerodactyl) since she far outranks pretty much every Frontier-generated Trainer. Seriously Game Freak, I should not be being offered Quagsire and Rapidash as partners at this stage.

Oh wait, maybe it's a deliberate ploy to make me lose. Ugh.

 

[Kommo-o]

Pretty much exclusively running with my record-mixed partner Orienne at this point (Latias/Aerodactyl) since she far outranks pretty much every Frontier-generated Trainer. Seriously Game Freak, I should not be being offered Quagsire and Rapidash as partners at this stage.

Oh wait, maybe it's a deliberate ploy to make me lose. Ugh.

You can have pre-set AI partners by record mixing? Didn't knew about it. Is there a way to have beneficial partners?

 

[QuentinQuonce]

You can have pre-set AI partners by record mixing? Didn't knew about it. Is there a way to have beneficial partners?

Yep! I've done this quite a few times: mixing records with other copies of RSE will make the other player show up in the Battle Salon when you choose a partner in addition to all the AI trainers who'll offer to partner with you. They're always on the left-hand side of the room right at the bottom, after you've reached 7 battles (they don't appear in the first round, for some reason).

They'll have the team they used in their challenge, just controlled by the AI (much like how you can fight your friends in Secret Bases). If you mix records with someone who has a streak in Singles they'll appear with two of their three Pokemon (it's random which ones, and in which order they'll be used) whereas if you mix records with a partner who has a streak in Multi they'll have the two Pokemon they used (but again, the order can vary). I don't know if it works for Doubles because I haven't tried mixing records with a game that has a Doubles streak recorded.

You can also potentially fight them in Singles (and possibly Doubles, but I don't know); they'll be assigned a position based on how far they got, much like how Anabel always appears at battle #35 and #70. So if I broke my streak at 25 battles and you mix records with me, then whenever you play Tower Singles you will always fight me at battle #25.

I have more than one copy of Emerald so I mixed records with myself to ensure that there'd always be a guaranteed strong partner; my partner has a Latias and Aerodactyl, which complements my team of Tauros and Latios well.

 

[dgice]

Yep! I've done this quite a few times: mixing records with other copies of RSE will make the other player show up in the Battle Salon when you choose a partner in addition to all the AI trainers who'll offer to partner with you. They're always on the left-hand side of the room right at the bottom, after you've reached 7 battles (they don't appear in the first round, for some reason).

They'll have the team they used in their challenge, just controlled by the AI (much like how you can fight your friends in Secret Bases). If you mix records with someone who has a streak in Singles they'll appear with two of their three Pokemon (it's random which ones, and in which order they'll be used) whereas if you mix records with a partner who has a streak in Multi they'll have the two Pokemon they used (but again, the order can vary). I don't know if it works for Doubles because I haven't tried mixing records with a game that has a Doubles streak recorded.

You can also potentially fight them in Singles (and possibly Doubles, but I don't know); they'll be assigned a position based on how far they got, much like how Anabel always appears at battle #35 and #70. So if I broke my streak at 25 battles and you mix records with me, then whenever you play Tower Singles you will always fight me at battle #25.

I have more than one copy of Emerald so I mixed records with myself to ensure that there'd always be a guaranteed strong partner; my partner has a Latias and Aerodactyl, which complements my team of Tauros and Latios well.

I believe I can confirm the doubles streak appearance (had to face my sun dusclops team with my rain dusclops team and it was very much the spider man meme).
So do you have to record swap between every round? I think I've only seen the singles teams come over. This sounds way more consistent than instructing the apprentices. I was trying a thing where I would send all the apprentices to lvl 50 except the good ones so that I would have a better chance at good partners in open level multi (it's super slow since you can only tell them one thing a day).

I wonder if there is a cap on the record swap opponents in singles, my 57th and 58th battles are actually both record swap opponents (this was a long time ago so my memory is rough and I question whether I really did it), one is a team with whishmur :D because once your first battle is easy then it's a simple task to make your second battle easy and you could theoretically undergo an exponentially lengthy process to guarantee your wins.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

I believe I can confirm the doubles streak appearance (had to face my sun dusclops team with my rain dusclops team and it was very much the spider man meme).
So do you have to record swap between every round? I think I've only seen the singles teams come over. This sounds way more consistent than instructing the apprentices. I was trying a thing where I would send all the apprentices to lvl 50 except the good ones so that I would have a better chance at good partners in open level multi (it's super slow since you can only tell them one thing a day).

I wonder if there is a cap on the record swap opponents in singles, my 57th and 58th battles are actually both record swap opponents (this was a long time ago so my memory is rough and I question whether I really did it), one is a team with whishmur :D because once your first battle is easy then it's a simple task to make your second battle easy and you could theoretically undergo an exponentially lengthy process to guarantee your wins.

No, you don't have to record swap between every round. Just a completed streak on the other game is all that's needed for the other Trainer to appear and stay there. I only had to get to 7 battles in Multi with my alternate Emerald game for that game's Trainer (Orienne) to appear in my Battle Salon (I deliberately didn't do a streak in Singles because that requires three Pokemon instead of two).

There does seem to be a cap on specific opponents and partners as I've had apprentices vanish and be replaced by others. I've only got two apprentices currently in the tower, one at battle #5 and one at battle #13. Similarly, I've mixed records a few times and had partners disappear and be replaced by the newer ones. I don't believe I have any record-mixed opponents in Singles on my current file.

The apprentice partners are never particularly good due to having awful EV spreads and random natures. Bulbapedia has a list of potential Pokemon picks for each one but you're not guaranteed specific moves or items since sometimes they won't ask you for those. The two I have are Beauty Kali with Ninetales, Lanturn, and Mawile and Bug Catcher Alann with Pinsir, Shedinja, and Dustox (I won't get any more since my internal battery is dead). They're workable in earlier rounds but by around the fifth round the other AI trainers will be far better picks.

 

[Actaeon]

No, you don't have to record swap between every round. Just a completed streak on the other game is all that's needed for the other Trainer to appear and stay there. I only had to get to 7 battles in Multi with my alternate Emerald game for that game's Trainer (Orienne) to appear in my Battle Salon (I deliberately didn't do a streak in Singles because that requires three Pokemon instead of two).

There does seem to be a cap on specific opponents and partners as I've had apprentices vanish and be replaced by others. I've only got two apprentices currently in the tower, one at battle #5 and one at battle #13. Similarly, I've mixed records a few times and had partners disappear and be replaced by the newer ones. I don't believe I have any record-mixed opponents in Singles on my current file.

The apprentice partners are never particularly good due to having awful EV spreads and random natures. Bulbapedia has a list of potential Pokemon picks for each one but you're not guaranteed specific moves or items since sometimes they won't ask you for those. The two I have are Beauty Kali with Ninetales, Lanturn, and Mawile and Bug Catcher Alann with Pinsir, Shedinja, and Dustox (I won't get any more since my internal battery is dead). They're workable in earlier rounds but by around the fifth round the other AI trainers will be far better picks.

Looking forward to the results! This streak is already a big achievement. So if I understand correctly, there's never really a reason to partner up with another trainer than your 'Swap friend', right? I guess we'll have to think about optimizing the sub-par AI to do what we want most of the time. Probably it's just attacking, like with Aero and Latias. Earthquake + Immunity is definitely the simplest combo that the AI understands.

The AI double battle engine understands more strategies, though; it can Toxic your Guts Pokémon, Skill Swap your Slaking or power you up with Flash Fire. Wouldn't it be interesting to let the suboptimal AI boost our 'smart' Pokémon, letting them do something effective guaranteed? Here's some wild ideas, some more serious than others, but all can be used alongside an AI player:

• Use Slaking and have a Skill-swapping partner Gengar. If you use EQ with Slaking you KO the Gengar, preventing losing momentum. Another EQ-immune Pokémon (that might also use EQ alongside Levitate Slaking) is probably the best filler;
• Have a partner Clefable or Togetic (or BOTH!) that ONLY know(s) Follow Me, then you know for sure the partner will just act like a punching bag, like you want it to;
• Letting your 'dumb' partner use (CB) Hyper Beam with something like Slaking and Roar them out in the same turn, or attack with your own Pokémon as well (Zapdos and Latios are good for this). This is known as Hyper Roar;
• A Crobat partner with Toxic, HP Fire and Haze has the speed and ability to power up Flash Fire, activate Guts and Haze away Overheat SpA falls. Cool to use alongside Houndoom, Arcanine, Ursaring, Machamp, Heracross and Swellow, for example.
• Having the partner use only Explosion and Earthquake while you have immunes like Gengar, although the AI will probably Explode at the worst times. Dusclops with Protect, Shadow Ball, EQ and Imprison (for example) as a lead, and special sweeper Haze Gengar (for example a set as on the Haymaker team) as backup. Possibly Substitute. Other Explosion strategies, such as a Foresight Aerodactyl lead with CB Gengar come to mind. This particular combo is good because Rock/Steels fall to an Aero Earthquake + Gengar's damage, Ghost-types can't block Explosion anymore, and Gengar can put Aerodactyl in Liechi berry range, for example. All in one turn, and it doesn't matter THAT much what the opponent brings (ofc there are still problematic Pokémon, such as Cradily, Armaldo, Shuckle and Skarmory but generally they're too passive to really pose a threat anyway).
• (More to add??)