Challenge 4th Generation Battle Facilities Discussion and Records

atsync · Jul 7, 2020

Atem91 said:
Also what you quoted to me applies to the guy with the garchomp streak, I got the gold prints with Garchomp but never got further than 180 due to weavile always coming out, so id argue he was luckier than I am as at least my strategy had a chance of beating anything whereas using garchomp relies on weavile never showing up, not trying to put anyone down just pointing out the fact that we all rely on some of kind of luck to do anything in games XD

Speaking of Weavile, your Raikou pretty much loses to that most of the time too. Weavile out-speeds Rash Raikou every single time (by just 1 point funnily enough, assuming you're playing at level 100) and almost always 2HKOes:

252+ Atk Weavile Ice Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Raikou: 153-181 (48.4 - 57.2%) -- 93.4% chance to 2HKO

I agree that pretty much any Pokemon you could use in the Hall is gonna rely a bit on match-up luck (and that guy with the Garchomp streak was added to the list long before I had any involvement with this project anyway), but I do think it's a little weird that you would criticize Garchomp's ability to get far without luck because of Weavile's existence (fair enough I guess) and your apparent misfortune of having Weavile repeatedly showing up early after 170 to stop your Garchomp streaks, and then decide to resolve that issue by using a Pokemon and set that also loses to Weavile roughly 95% of the time and probably also relies on Weavile not showing up to get far! Did Weavile just magically stop showing up as an opponent after you made the change?

I mean at that point it might have been better just to use an anti-Weavile move on your Garchomp (the best option is Swagger which gives Garchomp a roughly 60% chance of winning due to Jolly Garchomp's ability to out-speed rank 10 Weavile if it's at level 100, Sandstorm is another less effective option but it has applications against other threats like the Confuse Ray-spamming Umbreon).

Atem91 · Jul 7, 2020

atsync said:
Speaking of Weavile, your Raikou pretty much loses to that most of the time too. Weavile out-speeds Rash Raikou every single time (by just 1 point funnily enough, assuming you're playing at level 100) and almost always 2HKOes:

252+ Atk Weavile Ice Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Raikou: 153-181 (48.4 - 57.2%) -- 93.4% chance to 2HKO

I agree that pretty much any Pokemon you could use in the Hall is gonna rely a bit on match-up luck (and that guy with the Garchomp streak was added to the list long before I had any involvement with this project anyway), but I do think it's a little weird that you would criticize Garchomp's ability to get far without luck because of Weavile's existence (fair enough I guess) and your apparent misfortune of having Weavile repeatedly showing up early after 170 to stop your Garchomp streaks, and then decide to resolve that issue by using a Pokemon and set that also loses to Weavile roughly 95% of the time and probably also relies on Weavile not showing up to get far! Did Weavile just magically stop showing up as an opponent after you made the change?

I mean at that point it might have been better just to use an anti-Weavile move on your Garchomp (the best option is Swagger which gives Garchomp a roughly 60% chance of winning due to Jolly Garchomp's ability to out-speed rank 10 Weavile if it's at level 100, Sandstorm is another less effective option but it has applications against other threats like the Confuse Ray-spamming Umbreon).

Yeah for some reason when I made the change I didnt find any weavile after the 170 battles, thats just rng tho, all depends on the seed you start the game on and the frames that are advaned so till someone comes up with rng manipulation all we can do is hope to get lucky, btw just looked at gen 3 records today and noticed I would place 1 place infront of you in palace pike tower and arena, thought that was quite funny XD

Atem91 · Jul 7, 2020

atsync said:
Speaking of Weavile, your Raikou pretty much loses to that most of the time too. Weavile out-speeds Rash Raikou every single time (by just 1 point funnily enough, assuming you're playing at level 100) and almost always 2HKOes:

252+ Atk Weavile Ice Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Raikou: 153-181 (48.4 - 57.2%) -- 93.4% chance to 2HKO

I agree that pretty much any Pokemon you could use in the Hall is gonna rely a bit on match-up luck (and that guy with the Garchomp streak was added to the list long before I had any involvement with this project anyway), but I do think it's a little weird that you would criticize Garchomp's ability to get far without luck because of Weavile's existence (fair enough I guess) and your apparent misfortune of having Weavile repeatedly showing up early after 170 to stop your Garchomp streaks, and then decide to resolve that issue by using a Pokemon and set that also loses to Weavile roughly 95% of the time and probably also relies on Weavile not showing up to get far! Did Weavile just magically stop showing up as an opponent after you made the change?

I mean at that point it might have been better just to use an anti-Weavile move on your Garchomp (the best option is Swagger which gives Garchomp a roughly 60% chance of winning due to Jolly Garchomp's ability to out-speed rank 10 Weavile if it's at level 100, Sandstorm is another less effective option but it has applications against other threats like the Confuse Ray-spamming Umbreon).

Also garchomp is so overused anyway I think letting an unusual pokemon shine is what the hall is all about.

Holthyr · Jul 7, 2020

Atem91 said:
Also garchomp is so overused anyway I think letting an unusual pokemon shine is what the hall is all about.

I know I am no expert but the reason so many use Garchomp is it works... When so few do work and those that do are so "fragile" even when they do. It's the battle frontier not like you can use just any unusual Pokemon you decide I seriously believe only a small fraction is even plausible.

Atem91 · Jul 8, 2020

Holthyr said:
I know I am no expert but the reason so many use Garchomp is it works... When so few do work and those that do are so "fragile" even when they do. It's the battle frontier not like you can use just any unusual Pokemon you decide I seriously believe only a small fraction is even plausible.

I agree as over the years I have tested so many pokemon and most have failed, but this Raikou is so unique its godly with its good stats and insane bolt beam+ aura sphere coverage, with a bit of luck and playing smart there is no limit to what this beast can do, I have used him in some battle tower trios to and they have easily got over 100

Anna says hi · Jul 12, 2020

Reporting a completed Battle Factory streak with 73 wins (Level 50).

This post will be split into 3 parts, due to length. The first two parts will be mainly focused on the streak itself, (this post was originally 74000 characters) while the third part will be focused on the strategies used and will have a strategy guide for level 50 factory, as well as notes on the sets you will face during the first 20 battles of a level 50 streak.

So. A while ago I set out to acquire all 5 gold prints in the gen 4 battle frontier. I got my factory print and managed to continue the streak for 5 wins post-49. You'd think I'd then be done with factory and move on to the rest of the facilities. You'd be wrong. I still haven't bothered to RNG one of the mons for the team I plan on using. I let my save file sit for around a year. So I drifted back to Factory.

Factory, as a facility, is perfect for informed casual play. You don't have to spend time and effort preparing a team, you can just hop right in with no preparation and have as good a shot at getting that coveted gold print as someone with 999 hours on their save file and multiple boxes full of battle ready mons. The streaks are short and low-stakes, making it a facility where the best way to succeed is to keep throwing attempts at the game until you get lucky enough.
I won't say that there's no luck involved in factory - certainly, any ten year old can get the gold print if they trade a few times, get a Garchomp4 in their round 6 draft, and get a good team in round 7. But being able to make good decisions significantly increases your odds in Factory. There's a reason that in Emerald, the Knowledge Symbol is associated with the Factory - going in completely blind is the surest way to get spat right back out. The gen 4 battle factory is a test of your perseverance and ability to judge a scenario and determine what is the least bad option, and it requires this for twenty-one battles in a row if you want the Gold.

With that out of the way, let's get into the streak.

As usual, I didn't bother to keep track of the first 28 battles since, while not exactly trivial, it's generally accepted that round 5 is when the Factory starts to get difficult.

I'm informed that my opponent doesn't specialize in any particular type.

(set 2)
For some reason, Feraligatr decides not to use Superpower against Ursaring and I instead take a torrented Aqua Tail to the face. Ursaring just barely survives the poison damage long enough to chunk Quagsire2. Vaporeon cleaned up.

Battle 31, my opponent specializes in Water types.
I may want Feraligatr over Vaporeon for several reasons, being its better coverage and higher speed. However, this would leave my team lopsided towards physical defense. What pushes me over the edge is the fact that Feraligatr has way better matchups against opposing waters compared to Vaporeon.
492 | Feraligatr | Adamant | White Herb | Aqua Tail | Superpower | Dragon Claw | Shadow Claw | Atk/Def

(set 2)
Straightforward battle. Ursaring easily OHKOes all of these with Facade.

Battle 32, my opponent does not specialize in any particular type.
I want Gastrodon2 for several reasons. It's super bulky, has reliable recovery and a fantastic support move, and is specially biased, making it work more with my team than Feraligatr.
518 | Gastrodon | Sassy | Zoom Lens | Muddy Water | Mud Bomb | Recover | Yawn | SpA/SpD

(set 2)
Drifblim survived Crunch and tricked Ursaring a Black Sludge. Combined with Aftermath damage, it wasn't surviving much longer. Typhlosion selected Earthquake vs Ursaring, which it survived with 3 HP. Umbreon2's only way of touching Magnezone was with Confuse Ray, and it eventually went down.

Battle 33, my opponent specializes in Water types.
All of those options are terrible trades, and I quite like my team as is.

(set 2)
Vaporeon used Acid Armor turn 1, Rain Dance turn 2 as I attacked twice.

Battle 34, my opponent doesn't use any particular type.
I prefer Gastrodon2's extra Ground typing and recovery to Vaporeon2.

(set 2)
Electrode2 was an annoyance but I prevailed eventually.

Battle 35, no specialty, no trade.

(set 3)
Steelix3 doesn't have a ground move, so its best way to hurt Magnezone is with resisted payback. This one just kept cursing up. Tentacruel got thunder waved then critted Magnezone with a surf. Gastrodon cleaned up.

Round ended with 32 trades.

My first opponent uses Steel Pokemon.

(set 3)
Luxray Superpowers down Aggron, and Gyarados and Gallade switch around to get Gastrodon down to -6 while depleting Stone Edge PP, allowing Gyarados to set up to +6. You'll be seeing me use this technique a lot during this round and round 10.

Battle 37 is a water specialist.
Metagross3 is a punchmaster set without any STAB, and nothing really complements Gyarados4 better than my existing team. "It's entirely possible I go this round without trading once. That's how good Gyarados4 is."

(set 2)
"never mind roserade2 i really want this" Gallade switches in against Roserade and cleans house. Close Combat against Lapras2 was a 13/16 roll that I got.

Battle 38, no specialty.
Leech seed greatly enhances Gyarados's ability to set up far more than Thunder Wave can. I don't really care about the set itself, just the fact that it has Leech Seed. Of course, Roserade is also one of the better set 2 seeders.
573 | Roserade | Calm | Big Root | Giga Drain | Leech Seed | Ingrain | Synthesis | SpA/SpD

(set 2)
Gyarados switches in on an Avalanche and Mamoswine uses Curse before dying to two waterfalls. Gyarados actually sets up against Lanturn2, and Muk is OHKO'd.

Battle 39, no specialty.
"Exam season's coming up, but I'm neck-deep in battling" this is way too relatable

(set 2)
Roserade turns out to be Poison Point, which is relevant here. Jolteon2 is completely walled by Roserade, but it gets a Dig crit right when I decide to start attacking. Starmie finishes with Blizzard. Gallade is bulky enough to survive even a crit Hydro Pump 13/16 of the time, and this doesn't crit. It then proceeds to survive Garchomp2's Draco Meteor to put it in Waterfall kill range.

Battle 40, Ground specialty.
This may indicate I should swap for Garchomp2 since I'm worried about a potential Gliscor. However, there could be a Mamoswine instead which would make a Garchomp swap a very bad idea. I eventually decide not to swap.

(set 2)
Ludicolo2 is a really annoying double teaming toxic stall-leech seed set that fortunately can't do a single thing to Roserade. 40 turns of switch-stalling later, I have my +6 gyarados ready to wreck whatever they could possibly- oh. sash punchmaster rhydon. It sucks to have to throw away a perfectly good +6 gyarados, but oh well. Roserade doesn't get paralyzed on the switch-in, and Leaf Blade crit OHKOs Rhyperior in the back.

Battle 41, Ground specialty.
The previous battle's Rhydon2's Focus Sash prevents certain problem mons like Garchomp3 and Gliscor3 from showing up. Roserade is generally a better leech seed user than Ludicolo. It sure says something about the leech seed + gyarados4 core that I've basically not even entertained the thought of trading for most of this round.

(set 3)
Gyarados switches in on Aggron3 and sets up 3 Dragon Dances.

I'm in a weird spot at this point. I'm one trade away from 35 (which would giving me an extra elevation) and my two-mon core is basically good enough to have carried me through the entire set at this point.

Battle 42, Flying specialty
"flying spec, fuck it i'm taking aggron over gallade"
After running some calcs against various fliers I do confirm that Aggron3 does allow me to reliably beat every flier.
735 | Aggron | Adamant | Muscle Band | Iron Tail | Dragon Rush | Avalanche | Aerial Ace | Atk/Def

(set 4)
Roserade took down Lanturn and Staraptor showed up. It locked into Brave Bird, and Aggron clicked Avalanche to victory.

Ended round with 35 trades.

Starting in Round 7, there's no point to trading just for the sake of increasing your trades counter. Any trades I do will be specifically to improve my team.
My first opponent has no specialty.

(set 3)
Gallade3 doesn't have a fighting move, so Miltank can KO with two Facades. I actually got crit by Psycho cut, but survived anyway. Scizor cleaned up.

Battle 44, no specialty.
No trade.

(set 3)
Donphan3 is a fangmaster set. Reversal crit against it, picking up the KO.

Battle 45 is good with Normal types.
I want Floatzel3 over Nidoqueen mainly for its consistency, high natural speed, and ability to hit using its special attack. If Nidoqueen wasn't Rivalry, I may have decided not to make this trade.
684 | Floatzel | Modest | Wave Incense | Surf | Ice Beam | Focus Blast | Rain Dance | SpA/Spe

(set 3)
Flygon3 whiffed a Draco Meteor into Miltank, who then crit Facade. Flygon then used Flamethrower(?) and crit. I switched in Scizor as Ursaring protected, and it was revealed to be Guts when Scizor outsped. Ambipom then high rolled Scizor with technician Aerial Ace. Then, it landed Gunk Shot against Miltank and poisoned it, but I was thankfully using Facade that turn for the OHKO.

Battle 46 is good with Water types.
Miltank's time has come - it's just too weak to pick up kills with Reversal in round 7. I'm instead going to use the Ursaring set that carried me to victory in round 5. This time, I know it has Guts, making it even stronger at the cost of not being able to outrun anything but the slowest Pokemon.
697 | Ursaring | Adamant | Toxic Orb | Facade | Superpower | Crunch | Protect | HP/Atk

(set 4)
Hypno4 is a choiced set. As expected, it locked into Focus Blast against Ursaring. Milotic was able to come in and didn't even need to PP stall Focus Blasts, as all of them whiffed. Houndoom4 elected to not use Sunny Day, instead trying to Dark Pulse. Metagross4 was cleaned up.

Battle 48 is good with Flying types.
Metagross4 is a risky set, but its Flying resistance made me more willing to use it over Scizor. Additionally, it can clean up battles with Explosion.
892 | Metagross | Adamant | Quick Claw | Meteor Mash | Zen Headbutt | Earthquake | Explosion | HP/Atk

(set 4)
Gyarados4 Dragon Danced twice against Ursaring, who high rolled it with Guts Facade. Lickilicky4 exploded against Ursaring. Yanmega4 crit Metagross and dodged a Meteor Mash, but went down to Milotic.

Battle 49 has no specialty.
Since Thorton is capable of using all four sets of his Pokemon(supposedly he'll only use set 4 of non-legendary species and this holds true but I still want to verify it), I decided to keep track of items present in the previous battle.
Chesto Berry, Lax Incense, Wise Glasses, Toxic Orb, Quick Claw, Lum Berry

I have some really fun stuff to play with here. Before I blindly swapped [ursaring] for Gyarados4, I wanted to make sure my team could beat a potential Raikou or Zapdos. I eventually decided to swap Milotic4 out instead due to concerns over potential non-legendary Electric types.
This was my team going into Thorton, which he rated 19 percent:
697 | Ursaring | Adamant | Toxic Orb | Facade | Superpower | Crunch | Protect | HP/Atk (guts, 20 IV)
892 | Metagross | Adamant | Quick Claw | Meteor Mash | Zen Headbutt | Earthquake | Explosion | HP/Atk (24 IV)
880 | Gyarados | Adamant | Chesto Berry | Waterfall | Earthquake | Rest | Dragon Dance | Atk/Spe (24 IV)

Battle 49:

Keeping track of items in post-Gold Print rounds is important because of the fact that trainers will be capable of using any set of any species in these rounds.

Battle 50 is a Normal specialist.

Battle 57, no specialty. Trainers are capable of using all 4 sets past this point.

Battle 64, no specialty.

Continued in next post.

Anna says hi · Jul 12, 2020

(continued from previous post due to length)

My first opponent has no specialty.

A closing note: When I first started playing Factory, I was completely unaware of the mechanics that it used. I thought that trading to get elevations was just superstition, and I thought that level 50 and level 100 modes would be near-equal in difficulty. Now, anyone who's played factory seriously knows that those are false, but it's not commonly known. Factory has a lot of complexities regarding how it works that's pretty hidden from the casual player, and the info isn't easy to find unless you know what you're looking for. When playing factory and chatting on discord logs and on Werster's stream, I've had people who didn't know that trading would give you better mons in your subsequent drafts. Having coached at least one person in factory, I've become more aware that my initial experience with playing Factory casually was nothing unique. The goal of this post isn't to demonstrate a feat of luck and skill, but to inform people about the factory, that it does follow rules, and that it can be beaten.

Additionally, I hope I didn't set the bar too high for people that want to post their own records. That this post was even possible was the result of me having a discord server to speak on where I could share my factory runs and log battles. That I felt it was necessary is because, as the saying goes, "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence", and I felt that blowing an 8+-year-old record out of the water is quite the claim.

Shoutouts:
atsync for maintaining this thread and having a level 50 record that stood for nearly 10 years.
turskain for maintaining the discord server where all this goes down, for maintaining the battle facilities damage calculator, and for having a good style of post for me to emulate here.
Team Rocket Elite for datamining frontier sets every generation.
Jumpman16 and The Dutch Plumberjack for getting me into serious battle facility play as a whole back in gen 6.
Level 51 for being active on the battle facility discord server every once in a while.
average fella for trying really hard even if you haven't succeeded yet.
NebulaCRUNCH on discord (don't know your smogon username sorry) for being willing to learn.
Glen for inspiring the level 50 factory guide I'm working on.

Anna says hi · Jul 12, 2020

Battle Factory Level 50 Strategy Guide, brought to you by The Letter A

This post will cover:
-intro
-hidden mechanics
-general strategy and long-term strategy
-round-specific strategies
-my thoughts on sets you'd find in round 1

And my thoughts on round 2 and 3 sets will be in the next post, due to character limits. Again.

Introduction

The Battle Factory is fundamentally different from other facilities because you aren't allowed to use your own Pokemon, instead being given a random selection of rentals to choose from. Additionally, after every battle, you are given the option to trade for any one of the previous trainer's Pokemon. This is the core gimmick of the factory, being forced to use a potentially unsynergetic team, and swapping around to improve it. However, the fact that you are forced to win against a trainer before being able to take any of their sets means that strong sets like Starmie4 are just as likely to end your run as they are to improve your round, and thus your team will mostly be dictated by the Pokemon you get in your initial choice of 6 at the start of every round (called a draft).

Hidden Mechanics

The most detailed information about the Factory isn't widely publicized, and this is probably why the Factory is so daunting to face casually.
The most important mechanic to be aware of is that swapping more often will permanently increase the quality of sets in your draft. Specifically, for every seven swaps you make (picking your initial team from your draft counts as a swap), one Pokemon in your draft will be chosen from the pool of sets you'd normally get in next round's draft (this is called an elevation).

The list of Pokemon you'd normally receive in each round's draft is as follows, using index numbers from this list:
Round 1: 0 IV Pokemon of very weak species with only 1 possible set (Index 1 to 150)
Round 2: 4 IV NFE or weak fully evolved Pokemon using the first set of their species (Index 151 to 250)
Round 3: 8 IV NFE or weak fully evolved Pokemon using the second set of their species (Index 251 to 350)
Round 4: 12 IV fully evolved (plus Porygon2 and Rhydon) non-legendary Pokemon using the first set of their species (Index 351 to 486)
Round 5: 16 IV fully evolved non-legendary Pokemon using the second set of their species (Index 487 to 622)
Round 6: 20 IV fully evolved non-legendary Pokemon using the third set of their species (Index 623 to 758)
Round 7: 24 IV fully evolved non-legendary Pokemon using the fourth set of their species (Index 759 to 894)
Round 8+: 31 IV fully evolved and legendary Pokemon using all possible sets for their species (Index 351 to 950)

For example, if you just began round 6 and you've swapped 23 times prior, you will receive three 20 IV Pokemon that use set 3, and three 24 IV Pokemon that use set 4.

In the first six battles of every round, you will face either a trainer that uses Pokemon you'd normally find in the current round's draft, or a trainer that uses Pokemon you'd normally find in the previous round's draft. That is to say, any trainers will not mix and match Pokemon from multiple rounds, until round 8.
In the seventh and final battle of every round, you will face a trainer that uses Pokemon you'd normally find in the next round's draft. The only exception to this is fighting Thorton on battle 49, who will use either set 4 non-legendary Pokemon, or legendary Pokemon from all sets, at 31 IVs, letting him use sets with index numbers between 759 and 950.

I should also talk about the attendant that tells you about your opponent and what exactly she means. In the first two rounds, her advice is self-explanatory. She'll just state the species of the Pokemon on your opponent's team. However, in round 3 and 4, she will always list the first move (in the top-left slot) of the opponent's lead. For example, if she says the opponent's using a Golbat that knows Aerial Ace, even though set1 and set2 Golbat both know Aerial Ace, she's referring to set1 Golbat, but not set2 Golbat, since that has Poison Fang as its first move.
In round 5 and onward, her advice refers to the most common type on your opponent's team. If she says that the opponent doesn't care about the types of Pokemon, it means that none of the Pokemon your opponent uses will have any types in common. If there is a type that several Pokemon on your opponent's team share, she'll pick the most common type. (For instance, a trainer using Skarmory, Dragonite, and Salamence would cause the attendant to say Flying type.) If two or more types are equally common (For instance, Tauros, Rhydon, and Rhyperior, or Feraligatr, Quagsire, and Hippowdon), the attendant will pick one of the most common types seemingly at random. It's possible she uses the index number to prioritize announcing certain types over others, but I haven't bothered to test this.

The battle factory's AI is weird. I have a theory that, every round, it adds a new "layer" that differently affects the AI's decision-making process. Whether this is the case or not, the simplest thing to remember is that during the first four rounds (with the notable exception of Thorton's silver print battle at 21), the AI will use moves semi-randomly (called 'Bad AI'), but starting in round 5, the AI will use moves intelligently, including going for KOes if one is possible, using boosting moves if they can't KO, trying to status your Pokemon if possible (called 'Smart AI'). Smart AI has a few quirks that can be exploited:
-They are equally likely to select all moves that can KO on their highest roll and don't have major drawbacks (like recoil, moving last, requiring a recharge, or lowering user's attacking stats). This can lead to scenarios where the AI has a guaranteed KO with STAB Psychic but using non-STAB Focus Blast instead and either missing the KO due to a low roll or missing outright.
-If they don't have a KO on you and only have damaging moves, they'll go for the move that does the most damage. I've exploited this several times to safely switch mons in.
-The AI will not switch out if they are locked into a move you are immune to, or only have status moves that don't affect your Pokemon. The only time I've ever seen the AI switch out due to being unable to hurt my mons is when using Shedinja.

The only other mechanic I should talk about is how Item and Species Clauses are implemented. Due to the fact that you can bring your opponent's Pokemon onto your team, the opponent's team may not have any species or items present in the previous battle. While this may seem obvious, it is still worth mentioning, as it is very important to keep in mind against trainers capable of using multiple sets of one species.

General strategies and long-term strategy

Remember that the odds are stacked against you. On any specific run, you are overwhelmingly likely to lose before battle 49. Don't get discouraged if you lose several times at low numbers. It will happen. I've lost on battle 1 several times, and I'm pretty sure that just about everyone who's gone after the Gold print has as well. Hax happens. Sooner or later you'll have the perfect run and get your gold print, even if it takes hundreds of hours.
With that out of the way, let's talk general strategies. While the specifics differ every round, you'll usually want to not lead with your best Pokemon, and favor fast but frail Pokemon over slow, bulky ones. At the start of every round, keep in mind what you want your team to eventually look like, not necessarily in terms of species or sets, but in favor of archetypes you're fairly certain that you're likely to have the opportunity to trade for. For instance, if you receive a Magneton in your round 2 draft, you might think "Mag + Water + anti-grass". This'll help with choosing better sets to trade for. Additionally, in rounds where you've decided to trade every battle for the sake of receiving elevations, you usually want to designate a teamslot to repeatedly trade away (nicknamed the 'churn slot' by average fella). This can be either your lead slot or one of your backup slots.

Now, long-term strategy. There are a few spots in level 50 that feature large difficulty spikes, so the aim is to trade as much as possible to increase the chances of surviving this. The hardest points of any level 50 run are: Battle 7, Battle 14, Battle 21, and the entirety of Round 5. The difficulty spike on the last battles of the first 3 rounds is simple enough to explain: You're fighting Pokemon that far outclass what you naturally have access to in terms of stats and moves. Fortunately, Battles 7 and 14 take place with bad AI, so it's likely that the AI will just make stupid moves, letting you win. However, if the AI randomly selects effective moves, you're in for a VERY rough time.
Round 5's difficulty spike, on the other hand, comes from a multitude of factors. First off, elevations are no longer so much more powerful than what the enemies will be using (for example, Surf Lumineon when the average enemy is using STABs between 50 and 60 BP). Secondly, the sets that you naturally receive in round 5 (set 2 of fully evolved Pokemon) are usually gimmicky, unreliable, or too specialized. Thirdly, round 5 is when Smart AI kicks in full-force, so you can't just hope the AI picks bad moves. All this combines to form a massive roadblock that relies on you getting a good draft or getting trade options with reliable moves that you're lucky enough to beat.

Because of this, the commonly accepted 'best' long-term strategy for level 50 is:
-Trade every battle during rounds 1 and 2 to get two elevations, which gives you better odds at round 3 Thorton. Since the first two rounds can be lost with little consequence, there is no downside to trading every battle during these rounds.
-Trade after every battle during round 3, keeping your two best mons from the draft in your party. I like to have my churn slot be in the lead position by default so that I can counter-team Thorton's lead.
-Trade after every battle during round 4, since it's your last chance and round 5 is way likelier to go favorably with four elevations to choose from.
-Trade only to improve your team during round 5. Trading after every battle here is likely to get you to lose to something stupid and completely preventable.
-Before going into round 6, look at the number of trades you have in the record-keeping PC. Keep this in mind that 35 trades will give you an elevation in round 7. Since elevations in round 7 are of dubious worth (Set4's are consistently great, but only having one guaranteed to choose from may cause your draft to vary wildly in quality), keep track of how many trades you'll need to do to get to 35, and trade accordingly to either stay under or hit the 35-trades benchmark. Aside from this, trade mainly to improve your team, although with four set4 mons to choose from, round 6 drafts are usually high-quality.
-Since elevations do not matter in round 8 and onwards, trade only to improve team quality in round 7 and later.

If you're having trouble and find yourself losing in the early rounds of the factory, you could try this strategy instead:
-Trade after every battle in rounds 1 and 2, since losing in these rounds is of little consequence.
-In round 3, trade mainly to improve your team to give yourself a better shot against Thorton.
-In round 4, look at your current trades, and try to hit 21 trades by the end of the round or, if you're confident enough, trade every battle.
-In round 5 and onwards, trade only to improve your team.
This strategy is better to help learn decision-making in Level 50 factory, although missing out on an elevation in rounds 5 and 6 hurts a lot.

Round-specific teambuilding strategies

Round 1 is unique due to the fact that everything's stats are so low that EV investment will make up a significant portion of something's offensive power or bulk. Losing here is of so little consequence and the round so monotonous if you're familiar enough with the pool of sets that you can play it inebriated, while multitasking, and without access to a set database.
Generally you'll want to lead with your best attacker here (Such as Minun, Magby, or a Bug/Flying) in interest of faster battles. The main pokemon archetypes you'll want to watch out for here are Rock/Ground, Bug/Flying, and strong Electric special attackers. You have full team preview during this round so you'll know if a threat to your team is coming up.
Also there's nothing wrong with resetting at the round 1 draft if you want to try again for better sets, since you aren't losing any progress.

The round 2 trading strategy in the battle factory differs completely from round 1 strategy. This is due to the fact that you will, 90% of the time, have exactly one mon that is so much better than the rest of your team that your "team" should be built around supporting that one mon.
While round 1 focuses mainly on getting the best pokemon available and keeping them throughout the round regardless of how badly they synergize and round 3 focuses on elevations mainly, round 2 highly rewards two-mon cores. These two-mon cores usually feature one mon as the main (usually your elevation) and one as the backup (a non-elevation that you either found in the draft or traded for and kept). These two-mon cores favor defensive synergy over offensive synergy. Two-mon cores should have a mon capable of beating pokemon of every type or common type combinations (like rock/ground or normal/flying), but it is fine if one mon doesn't resist a type the other is weak to. The mons themselves should also be capable of holding their own, unless the main mon is so vastly strong by round 2 standards (like Electabuzz2) that the backup is only needed to patch specific holes. Examples of strong two-mon cores include:
Mantine/Magneton
Persian/Misdreavus
Gligar/Huntail
Note that while two-mon cores mainly apply if you have a useful elevation, it's possible that your elevation will have bad moves (as in Raticate) or stats unsuited to speedy battles (as in Dusclops). In these cases, there is nothing wrong with simply using a team that focuses on a two-mon core that does not include your elevation.
Since it's possible to face (and thus trade for) round 2 sets as enemies in round 3, it's not unlikely that you will be using a round 2 set against battle 21 Thorton, and thus some sets will acknowledge that fact.

Round 3, strategy, as mentioned above, focuses on elevations. Battle 21 is incredibly difficult to do without any elevations, and sometimes Thorton will pick a team that you just cannot win against. At the round 3 draft, you want to look at your elevations and think long and hard "Is this mon likely to pitch in majorly against Thorton?" If the answer is no for one of them, you have to look at your other mons and ask that question again. Once you find two mons that you can say yes to, you have to pick the two best mons in your draft, and keep them throughout the whole set. It is very likely that these mons will not have good synergy with each other, and you will have to deal with it. Any time you want to replace one of the two mons you found on your draft, you ask yourself "Is this more likely to help me against Thorton than the mon I'm throwing away?" If the answer is no, you don't replace that mon. Round 3 is tough, and a lot of the time you will find yourself with a choice of set1s you are forced to choose one of against Thorton. In that case, you either pick something you know can counter his lead, or you pick the mon that's most likely to get off an attack.

Never get discouraged if you keep losing on round 3, especially against Silver print Thorton. This round is by far the most luck-dependent thing you'll face in the early parts of factory, and I'd estimate somewhere between a 40%-60% success rate for each individual run here (as opposed to success rates in the 80-90% range for rounds 1, 2, and 4).

Round 4 trading strategy is similar to round 1 trading strategy. At this point, elevations stop being special, so don't feel obligated to keep them throughout the whole round.
Round 5 and onwards trading strategy is self-explanatory: You trade for fast, strong mons as your first choice, bulky, strong mons as your second choice, and avoid gimmicks wherever possible.

Guide to individual sets in the first round:

Inspired by Glen's list for fully evolved pokemon that can be found here.

(continued in next post)

Anna says hi · Jul 12, 2020

(continued from previous post)

Thanks for reading through this. It took me the better part of two days of work to put these four posts together, and I ran into the 65k character limit multiple times while posting this. I hope that this comprehensive guide will raise awareness and increase the amount of players level 50 factory gets, compared to its level 100 version.

atsync · Jul 13, 2020

I've gone ahead and added that guide to the OP for easier access.

Spoke about this briefly on discord but:

HeadsILoseTailsYouWin said:
In the seventh and final battle of every round, you will face a trainer that uses Pokemon you'd normally find in the next round's draft. The only exception to this is fighting Thorton on battle 49, who will use either set 4 non-legendary Pokemon, or legendary Pokemon from all sets, at 31 IVs, letting him use sets with index numbers between 759 and 950.

Thorton actually seems to use different sets depending on whether you're playing in Platinum or HGSS. As far as I know, this is the only difference between both versions.

In Platinum:

	Level 50	Open Level
Battle 21 (Thorton1, Silver) (IV=12)	High Tier (set 1)	High Tier (set 4) and Legendaries (any set)
Battle 49 (Thorton2, Gold) (IV=31)	High Tier (set 1)	High Tier (set 4) and Legendaries (any set)

In HGSS:

	Level 50	Open Level
Battle 21 (Thorton1, Silver) (IV=12)	High Tier (set 1)	High Tier (set 1)
Battle 49 (Thorton2, Gold) (IV=31)	High Tier (set 4) and Legendaries (any set)	High Tier (set 4) and Legendaries (any set)

In other words, it looks like they swapped the Level 50 Gold battle with the Open Level Silver battle in the transition from Platinum to HGSS.

I'm not 100% certain about his IVs in Platinum. In HGSS he uses IV=12 for battle 1 and IVs=31 for battle 2. It may be similar in Platinum but if this was a straight swap between the versions it honestly wouldn't surprise me if both of his Level 50 battles were done with IVs=12 and both of his Open Level battles were done with IVs=31. Probably the first way to test this would be to challenge Open Level in Platinum and check his IVs during the Silver battle - if they are 31 then I would suspect that the IVs for the Gold battle in level 50 are 12.

EDIT:

This video of Thorton2 in Platinum is from TotalPotato's 52 win streak. In the battle, Ambipom1 inflicts 53 damage with Shadow Claw against TotalPotato's 31 IV Nidoking3 which is only possible if Ambipom1's Attack IV is 21 or higher. Since it can't be 12, I therefore believe that the Platinum IVs are probably the same as HGSS (12 for battle 1, 31 for battle 2).

Krusiv · Jul 13, 2020

Hey all. I decided to pick Platinum back up after getting bored with Gen 8's Battle Tower. To get the silver and gold prints, how important is it to have perfect IVs? Obviously the higher the better but I'm just curious about time invested vs actual results. If that makes sense.

And going for high win streaks will require perfect IVs, I'm assuming? Thanks for any and all advice.

Atem91 · Jul 13, 2020

Krusiv said:
Hey all. I decided to pick Platinum back up after getting bored with Gen 8's Battle Tower. To get the silver and gold prints, how important is it to have perfect IVs? Obviously the higher the better but I'm just curious about time invested vs actual results. If that makes sense.

And going for high win streaks will require perfect IVs, I'm assuming? Thanks for any and all advice.

I have done up to 50 wins before without proper ev training or knowing IVs or even natures just with a good team synergy and coverage so its def doable, I would actually argue that team synergy and strategy is more important than evs and ivs although they are important to, Id say that ivs and evs only become more important from battles 49 onwards as all enemies have all ivs of 31 and its almost impossible to keep going if you are not at least on par with them to not always be at disadvantage, specifically when it comes to speed ties, other than that I say experiment with different teams and have fun and find what works for you, copying other people rarely works its better for each person to find their own style and path :)

Atem91 · Jul 15, 2020

HeadsILoseTailsYouWin said:
(continued from previous post due to length)

My first opponent has no specialty.

918 | Latias | Adamant | Expert Belt | Dragon Claw | Zen Headbutt | Earthquake | Aerial Ace | Atk/Spe
896 | Zapdos | Serious | Yache Berry | Thunder | Drill Peck | Thunder Wave | Rain Dance | Atk/Spe
379 | Dewgong | Careful | Razor Fang | Waterfall | Avalanche | Headbutt | Fake Out | Atk/SpD (hydration)
435 | Machamp | Adamant | Scope Lens | Cross Chop | Earthquake | Bullet Punch | Foresight | HP/Atk (guts)
853 | Lickilicky | Adamant | Lax Incense | Body Slam | Power Whip | Earthquake | Explosion | HP/Atk
889 | Dragonite | Adamant | Choice Band | Outrage | Giga Impact | Earthquake | Superpower | Atk/SpD
"so this is where all the legendaries were" Latias2 and Zapdos1 are both overshadowed by choice band Dragonite. Lickilicky is good enough to work here, and Dewgong is a backup against other, faster dragons that OHKO Dragonite.
Dragonite4/Lickilicky4/Dewgong1

Items present in draft: Expert Belt, Yache Berry, Razor Fang, Scope Lens, Lax Incense, Choice Band
Battle 71:

453 | Jolteon | Timid | Focus Sash | Thunderbolt | Thunder Wave | Agility | Baton Pass | SpA/Spe
589 | Jolteon | Hardy | Razor Claw | Discharge | Double Kick | Dig | Thunder Wave | Atk/SpA
725 | Jolteon | Timid | Lax Incense | Thunder | Shadow Ball | Rain Dance | Yawn | SpA/Spe
~~861 | Jolteon | Modest | Razor Fang | Thunderbolt | Hyper Beam | Shadow Ball | Signal Beam | SpA/Spe~~
Jolteon crit Dragonite with Thunderbolt, leaving it at 1 HP for Dewgong to finish off.

397 | Slowbro | Bold | Chesto Berry | Psychic | Surf | Calm Mind | Yawn | Def/SpA
~~533 | Slowbro | Adamant | Expert Belt | Zen Headbutt | Aqua Tail | Earthquake | Avalanche | HP/Atk~~
669 | Slowbro | Modest | Choice Specs | Psychic | Flamethrower | Shadow Ball | Signal Beam | HP/SpA
805 | Slowbro | Quiet | Leftovers | Psychic | Surf | Ice Beam | Trick Room | HP/SpA
No way was Dewgong beating a Slowbro, so Lickilicky switched in. Damage calcs revealed the set to be Specs, which only option against was to explode and hope Dewgong could take whatever was in the back, which was decently likely since it was guaranteed to not be Water or Electric type.

419 | Gengar | Timid | Payapa Berry | Shadow Ball | Sludge Bomb | Spite | Confuse Ray | SpA/Spe
555 | Gengar | Modest | Life Orb | Shadow Ball | Dream Eater | Hypnosis | Substitute | SpA/Spe
~~691 | Gengar | Modest | Scope Lens | Psychic | Energy Ball | Focus Blast | Confuse Ray | SpA/Spe~~
827 | Gengar | Modest | Lum Berry | Shadow Ball | Sludge Bomb | Thunderbolt | Destiny Bond | SpA/Spe
If this was set 2, I lose if I got unlucky with sleep turns or if the Gengar got high rolls. If this turned out to be set 4, I would lose regardless. This actually confused Dewgong, revealing set 1. Dewgong got lucky enough to break through confusion once and thanks to odd move choice (it used Spite several times), I won.

Battle 72, no specialty.
The main choice was between Jolteon1 and Gengar1. Obviously I'd need to get rid of Dewgong, and both of those are decent sets. I think what eventually tipped me into deciding on Gengar was the fact that Jolteon is best as a lead to pass Agility to stuff, and since Dragonite was my lead, Gengar made a better backup, in addition to good defensive synergy with Lickilicky.
Items in previous battle: Choice Band, Lax Incense, Razor Fang, Focus Sash, Choice Specs, Payapa Berry

373 | Skarmory | Impish | Occa Berry | Drill Peck | Steel Wing | Spikes | Roar | Atk/Def
509 | Skarmory | Careful | Leftovers | Fly | Toxic | Double Team | Roost | HP/Def/SpD
645 | Skarmory | Impish | Razor Claw | Drill Peck | Slash | Payback | Night Slash | Atk/Def
781 | Skarmory | Adamant | Life Orb | Brave Bird | Steel Wing | X-Scissor | Rock Slide | Atk/Def
I superpowered, it birded, and we both died.

~~436 | Shuckle | Impish | Lax Incense | Stone Edge | Bug Bite | Swagger | Power Trick | HP/Def/SpD~~
572 | Shuckle | Careful | Grip Claw | Wrap | Swagger | Attract | Toxic | HP/Def/SpD
~~708 | Shuckle | Impish | Lax Incense | Gyro Ball | Substitute | Double Team | Power Trick | HP/Def/SpD~~
844 | Shuckle | Calm | Leftovers | Toxic | Substitute | Double Team | Sandstorm | HP/Def/SpD
Gengar hardwalls both set 2 and set 4. This turned out to be set 4. I got a poison, and Lickilicky was brought in on the turn it fainted, allowing me to explode it on whatever came in next.

401 | Alakazam | Timid | Brightpowder | Psychic | Shadow Ball | Calm Mind | Future Sight | SpA/Spe
537 | Alakazam | Modest | Colbur Berry | Psychic | Focus Blast | Charge Beam | Recover | SpA/Spe
673 | Alakazam | Timid | Wise Glasses | Psychic | Charge Beam | Signal Beam | Grass Knot | SpA/Spe
809 | Alakazam | Modest | Expert Belt | Psychic | Shadow Ball | Energy Ball | Focus Blast | SpA/Spe
This whiffed a focus blast into Lickilicky, revealing it to be one of the Modest sets, but if this had been Timid, my play against shuckle would have been 100% necessary.

Battle 73, Water specialist.
Trading for Alakazam was an option but I eventually decided against it due to lower bulk and speed.
Items in previous battle: Choice Band, Lax Incense, Payapa Berry, Life Orb, Leftovers

394 | Hypno | Brave | Iron Ball | Psycho Cut | Fling | Hypnosis | Trick Room | Atk/SpD
530 | Hypno | Quirky | Persim Berry | Dream Eater | Nightmare | Drain Punch | Hypnosis | SpA/SpD
666 | Hypno | Adamant | Sitrus Berry | Zen Headbutt | Fire Punch | ThunderPunch | Ice Punch | Atk/SpD
802 | Hypno | Modest | Choice Specs | Psychic | Shadow Ball | Signal Beam | Focus Blast | SpA/SpD

416 | Poliwrath | Modest | Rindo Berry | Surf | Vacuum Wave | Psychic | Double Team | HP/SpA
~~552 | Poliwrath | Adamant | Lax Incense | Waterfall | DynamicPunch | Poison Jab | Bulk Up | HP/Atk~~
688 | Poliwrath | Modest | Wide Lens | Hydro Pump | Focus Blast | Blizzard | Mud Bomb | HP/SpA
824 | Poliwrath | Adamant | Expert Belt | Waterfall | Focus Punch | Earthquake | Hypnosis | HP/Atk

387 | Ludicolo | Adamant | Muscle Band | Waterfall | Razor Leaf | Drain Punch | Swords Dance | Atk/SpD
~~523 | Ludicolo | Impish | Leftovers | Leech Seed | Toxic | Double Team | Rain Dance | HP/Def/SpD~~
659 | Ludicolo | Modest | Wide Lens | Hydro Pump | Grass Knot | Blizzard | Focus Blast | HP/SpA
795 | Ludicolo | Modest | Lum Berry | Surf | Giga Drain | Ice Beam | Rain Dance | SpA/SpD
Outrage rolled a 3-turn duration, so I never found out what any of these sets were.

Battle 74, no specialization.
No trade.
Items known to be in previous battle: Choice Band, Lax Incense, Payapa Berry.

365 | Medicham | Jolly | Salac Berry | Zen Headbutt | Reversal | Endure | Fake Out | Atk/Spe
501 | Medicham | Jolly | Cheri Berry | Drain Punch | Poison Jab | Detect | Recover | Atk/Spe
637 | Medicham | Modest | Wise Glasses | Psychic | Focus Blast | Shadow Ball | Calm Mind | SpA/Spe
773 | Medicham | Adamant | Scope Lens | Psycho Cut | Fire Punch | ThunderPunch | Ice Punch | Atk/Spe
Switching out Dragonite here is ill-advised because if it isn't set 4, then I give set 3 a free turn to calm mind, set 2 gets good chip on Licki, and set 1 won't use fake out on Nite again, giving it a potential chance to get its Salac up. Naturally, this turns out to be set 4 and Dragonite dies for Gengar to revenge it.

353 | Blastoise | Modest | Mystic Water | Hydro Pump | Signal Beam | Icy Wind | Mirror Coat | Def/SpA/SpD
489 | Blastoise | Adamant | Shell Bell | Waterfall | Focus Punch | Double Team | Aqua Ring | HP/Atk
625 | Blastoise | Adamant | Life Orb | Aqua Tail | Earthquake | Avalanche | Zen Headbutt | HP/Atk
761 | Blastoise | Modest | Shell Bell | Hydro Cannon | Ice Beam | Hyper Beam | Focus Blast | HP/SpA
No ruling out any items here. Again, the best play is to just spam attacks at it hoping to chip it down. I want to use shadow ball here to not activate Torrent accidentally. This got a freeze against Gengar that lasted 2 turns, ending with Blastoise at an HP value that, when eyeballed, appeared to be in Torrent range but outside of a guaranteed Body Slam KO after Shell Bell recovery, forcing me to go for Power Whip. Fortunately, it hit, but Licky took a Focus Blast in the process, meaning that i probably wasn't going to be beating much outside of stuff like Golem or Shuckle.

351 | Venusaur | Modest | White Herb | Leaf Storm | Sludge Bomb | Amnesia | Sleep Powder | SpA/SpD
487 | Venusaur | Bold | Big Root | Giga Drain | Ingrain | Leech Seed | Sleep Powder | HP/Def/SpD
623 | Venusaur | Adamant | Black Sludge | Seed Bomb | Earthquake | Outrage | Curse | Atk/SpD
759 | Venusaur | Modest | Wise Glasses | Frenzy Plant | Sludge Bomb | Hyper Beam | Synthesis | HP/SpA

My best hope was for this to be set 2. It used Sludge Bomb, leaving Lickilicky at 10 HP, but unpoisoned. Body Slam did not paralyze, so my only hope was to dodge something with Lax Incense. Of course, that did not happen, so I lost. Note that the damage roll for Body slam was somewhat ambiguous as to whether this was set 1 or set 4. Set 4 would explain why it didn't go for a guaranteed kill, as the AI doesn't like using Hyper Beam clones.

Streak ended with 73 wins and 54 trades, just one win off from tying the Open Level record.

A closing note: When I first started playing Factory, I was completely unaware of the mechanics that it used. I thought that trading to get elevations was just superstition, and I thought that level 50 and level 100 modes would be near-equal in difficulty. Now, anyone who's played factory seriously knows that those are false, but it's not commonly known. Factory has a lot of complexities regarding how it works that's pretty hidden from the casual player, and the info isn't easy to find unless you know what you're looking for. When playing factory and chatting on discord logs and on Werster's stream, I've had people who didn't know that trading would give you better mons in your subsequent drafts. Having coached at least one person in factory, I've become more aware that my initial experience with playing Factory casually was nothing unique. The goal of this post isn't to demonstrate a feat of luck and skill, but to inform people about the factory, that it does follow rules, and that it can be beaten.

Additionally, I hope I didn't set the bar too high for people that want to post their own records. That this post was even possible was the result of me having a discord server to speak on where I could share my factory runs and log battles. That I felt it was necessary is because, as the saying goes, "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence", and I felt that blowing an 8+-year-old record out of the water is quite the claim.

Shoutouts:
atsync for maintaining this thread and having a level 50 record that stood for nearly 10 years.
turskain for maintaining the discord server where all this goes down, for maintaining the battle facilities damage calculator, and for having a good style of post for me to emulate here.
Team Rocket Elite for datamining frontier sets every generation.
Jumpman16 and The Dutch Plumberjack for getting me into serious battle facility play as a whole back in gen 6.
Level 51 for being active on the battle facility discord server every once in a while.
average fella for trying really hard even if you haven't succeeded yet.
NebulaCRUNCH on discord (don't know your smogon username sorry) for being willing to learn.
Glen for inspiring the level 50 factory guide I'm working on.

So you basically lost to RED :D

average fella · Jul 17, 2020

58 wins in Factory Level 50

factory is hard. i have only logged dramatic battles and late round drafts.

i don't keep track of these, besides thorton battles.

for round 3, i got pretty good elevations, tentacruel1 lead can beat most things and kangaskhan1 beats most thorton comps with endure reversal and isn't a slouch vs bad ai with double-edge. ultimately the churn brought me to somewhere that i honestly didnt want to go to, with furret2 in the last slot.

thorton immediately leads off with something threatening, staraptor1. it returns me to near-death as i icy wind to remove a speed tie for the next turn. but aha, the ai is capable of switching. it switches to magnezone1 as i sludge bomb as a finisher, ineffectively.

252 Atk Staraptor Return vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tentacruel: 123-145 (84.2 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Tentacruel Icy Wind vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Staraptor: 84-100 (55.6 - 66.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

i have no choice but to sack near-dead tentacruel. furthermore, i'm scared of parahax tbolt on kang, so i put in furret. it lives a frustration, i get a roll to live, and i use that valuable turn of life to frustration it to within an inch of its life.

252 SpA Tentacruel Surf vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Magnezone: 66-78 (48.5 - 57.3%) -- 90.6% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Furret Frustration vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Magnezone: 32-38 (23.5 - 27.9%) -- 77.3% chance to 4HKO
252 SpA Magnezone Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Furret: 144-171 (96.6 - 114.7%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Furret Frustration vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Magnezone: 32-38 (23.5 - 27.9%) -- 77.3% chance to 4HKO

in comes kang. i dont need to post the roll for crunch to kill, in comes flareon1, who promptly dies. raptor double teams as i endure, and this is the crucial part, it returns as i... think it'll double team again and double-edge. i'm left at 2 health, and thorton is dead.

252 Atk Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Flareon: 130-154 (99.2 - 117.5%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO [down to 128 health]

252 Atk Staraptor Return vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kangaskhan: 102-121 (59.6 - 70.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (102, 103, 105, 106, 108, 108, 109, 111, 112, 114, 114, 115, 117, 118, 120, 121)
note: i'm at 20 health after, so it got a relatively low roll. 1 roll higher and i lived, any top half roll and i die

-1 252 Atk Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Staraptor: 76-91 (50.3 - 60.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

also in order to tolerate early battles, i usually drink during them. the day i did this was my birthday, so i had a new york strip steak, sliced up a few potatoes to have some oven fries, and had a half bottle of carnivor cabernet sauvignon wine. i must say, not the best wine i've had, although for 10 bucks a bottle it ain't too bad. i'm not a wine snob so don't criticize this rating i tried my best. i guess i can post a picture of the bottle.
.

This is where it really gets interesting.

My draft is composed of:

754 | Tyranitar | Adamant | White Herb | Superpower | Dragon Claw | Shadow Claw | Aqua Tail | Atk/Def
746 | Kingdra | Adamant | Lum Berry | Waterfall | Outrage | Iron Head | Dragon Dance | HP/Atk
828 | Ampharos | Quiet | Zoom Lens | Thunder | Focus Blast | Signal Beam | Power Gem | HP/SpA
869 | Probopass | Modest | Life Orb | Flash Cannon | Power Gem | Earth Power | Thunderbolt | SpA/SpD
811 | Miltank | Adamant | Muscle Band | Giga Impact | Earthquake | Rock Slide | Zen Headbutt | Atk/Spe
868 | Hippowdon | Adamant | Quick Claw | Earthquake | Stone Edge | Crunch | Thunder Fang | HP/Atk

Hey, it's my old buddy Tyranitar3. Kingdra3 carries this draft, I genuinely considered using Ampharos instead of stacking Edgequake instances with Miltank4 and Hippowdon4, but Amph is just too bad. Kingdra3/Miltank4/Hippowdon4 is my party.

Battle 38
Vs.
654 | Gastrodon | Adamant | Shell Bell | Waterfall | Earthquake | Stone Edge | Fissure | HP/Atk
723 | Flygon | Timid | White Herb | Draco Meteor | Earth Power | Flamethrower | Giga Drain | SpA/Spe
702 | Rampardos | Adamant | Life Orb | Head Smash | Zen Headbutt | Fire Punch | ThunderPunch | HP/Atk

Immediately, I'm scared. Gastrodon fissure is incredibly threatening, so I go Miltank. I come in on a Fissure whiff, Giga Impact does a chunk as eq does under half, Fissure kills me. Here's the relevant roll.

252+ Atk Muscle Band Miltank Giga Impact vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Gastrodon: 157-186 (74 - 87.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Kingdra has to Waterfall to revenge kill it, I can't risk DD'ing on a Fissure. In comes Flygon3, the other ground I could conceivably be scared of.

I have to exhaust its white herb and get it to -2. This game's only hope is Hippowdon4 being a fat mf long enough for Kingdra to live one of these Dracos. Hippo tanks a draco, and tanks another, Flygon is at -2.

I have to get an Outrage off, now. In perma-sand, the odds are stacked against me if I try to dd twice to outspeed the 160 speed Flygon3.

-2 252 SpA Flygon Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Kingdra: 92-110 (52.2 - 62.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
-4 252 SpA Flygon Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Kingdra: 62-74 (35.2 - 42%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

I do, and it kills, as it lops off over half my health. The last is Rampardos3, I either need to get an outrage crit or a head smash miss.

252+ Atk Kingdra Outrage vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Rampardos: 141-166 (71.2 - 83.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Outrage crits. Jam escaped, battle won.

Battle 39
Vs.
669 | Slowbro | Modest | Choice Specs | Psychic | Flamethrower | Shadow Ball | Signal Beam | HP/SpA
755 | Salamence | Modest | Wise Glasses | Draco Meteor | Hydro Pump | Flamethrower | Ominous Wind | SpA/Spe
711 | Steelix | Relaxed | Iron Ball | Gyro Ball | Payback | Swagger | Curse | Atk/Def

Flygon3 is an interesting trade option over Hippo. I deliberate a bit, and eventually settle on using it over Hippo. It immediately comes in handy by living a Psychic on a roll, dracoing to do half, and opening Kingdra to dragon dance and kill Slowbro.

252+ SpA Choice Specs Slowbro Psychic vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Flygon: 129-153 (86 - 102%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Flygon Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Slowbro: 105-124 (53.5 - 63.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Slowbro Psychic vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Kingdra: 111-132 (63 - 75%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252+ Atk Kingdra Outrage vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Slowbro: 126-148 (64.2 - 75.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Outrage mows down Salamence, but I get intimidated in the process. I don't get a 2-turn, outrage bounces off steelix, and Miltank has to contend with Steelix.

252+ Atk Kingdra Outrage vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Steelix: 20-24 (13.7 - 16.5%) -- possible 7HKO

And here's where the drama comes in. See, if I was against a human at this point, the game is unwinnable. I am not.

252+ Atk Muscle Band Miltank Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Steelix: 44-54 (30.3 - 37.2%) -- 66.5% chance to 3HKO
252 Atk Steelix Gyro Ball (150 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Miltank: 91-108 (54.4 - 64.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

I eq as it curses, presumably to ensure an ohko with 2 curses. I eq again as it swaggers me. I self-hit, seemingly dead to rights, as it decides cursing again is the move. I eq to kill. Thanks, Swagger!

252+ Atk Muscle Band Miltank Earthquake vs. +1 0 HP / 252+ Def Steelix: 30-36 (20.6 - 24.8%) -- guaranteed 5HKO

Where perfectly fine runs go to die.

I asked Santa for 2 legendaries, and I got them, I guess.

590 | Flareon | Jolly | Salac Berry | Fire Fang | Flail | Endure | Sand-Attack | Atk/Spe
810 | Slowking | Modest | Wise Glasses | Psychic | Surf | Ice Beam | Flamethrower | HP/SpA
817 | Cradily | Calm | Leftovers | Stone Edge | Seed Bomb | Earthquake | Mirror Coat | HP/Def/SpD
680 | Nidoking | Modest | Expert Belt | Earth Power | Sludge Bomb | Ice Beam | Shadow Ball | SpA/Spe [RIVALRY]
908 | Regigigas | Impish | Lax Incense | Return | Aerial Ace | Thunder Wave | Confuse Ray | HP/Def/SpD
943 | Regirock | Careful | Quick Claw | Stone Edge | Earthquake | Hammer Arm | Explosion | Atk/SpD

Hidden within what you may see as another instance of a round 7 draft shitting on me is hidden synergy. Flareon2 is awful, as is Rivalry Nidoking3. I have a plan for this team. Regigigas speed control for Regirock4 and Slowking4 to dole out punishment, the speed control will be insane, and it doesn't matter that Regigigas has effectively 90 attack and 60 speed most of the time, it's fat and it's got twave, what's not to love? Regigigas1/Regirock4/Slowking4 is my team.

battle 43
This isn't as dramatic as some others, but I do encounter something funny. See, Milotic3 outlasts Slowking4 and can kill Regirock4. What am I to do? Parafuse it! Milotic3 will not stop using Mirror Coat until I use a physical move, I burn turns to get past Slow Start and the results are delightful, I don't even have to use my back-line.

battle 44
vs.
627 | Typhlosion | Adamant | Shuca Berry | Flare Blitz | Earthquake | Shadow Claw | Aerial Ace | Atk/Spe
742 | Tangrowth | Modest | Heat Rock | SolarBeam | Wring Out | Synthesis | Sunny Day | Def/SpA
642 | Lanturn | Modest | Sitrus Berry | Hydro Pump | Thunder | Blizzard | Rain Dance | HP/SpA

Typhlosion is twaved in lead, no issue. Regirock4 is the safest switchin in the world, BUT it gets Flare Blitz burned, which means that not only is it taking chip, but it can't ohko Typhlosion. stone edge+eq into shuca is enough to kill, but Typhlosion gets an eq off of its own, which means that Regirock is nearly dead and burned.

In comes Tangrowth. I boom without a second thought as it sets up Sunny Day.

252 Atk burned Regirock Explosion vs. 0 HP / 252 Def Tangrowth: 85-100 (50 - 58.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

And here's the tragedy... I forgot Leaf Guard exists. My strategy of twaving it when it's in cloro for Slowking to kill it has gone down the drain, Regigigas can't even get a move off on it, and I wouldn't dare put in Slowking on a solarbeam. I am probably dead...

Not so fast. The AI has a tendency to use Wring Out at weird times, and it does here, when Solarbeaming was a likely instant win.

252+ SpA Tangrowth Wring Out (121 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Slowking: 62-73 (31.3 - 36.8%) -- 72.1% chance to 3HKO

The last of Lanturn3 comes out, and I'm just as sad. Little did I know, the Leaf Guard-procing sun would come into my favor.

Thunder in Sun misses, as it does half the time, and I not only get a crit, I get a high roll crit.

252+ SpA Wise Glasses Slowking Psychic vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Lanturn on a critical hit: 201-237 (88.9 - 104.8%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO

Jam escaped, run still alive.

battle 45
Another bulky water I can't beat with Slowking4, Dewgong4. Regigigas mishes it by parafusing it and getting past Slow Start, causing it to shred it and the next mon, and leave Cradily4 parafused for Regirock to Hammer Arm it twice for an easy kill.

battle 46
Easy. Togekiss4 aura spheres Regigigas as it gets twaved, Slowking comes in easily, ice beams twice as it air slashes me once to kill. Crobat4 comes in, who can't touch Regirock. I get a useless Quick Claw proc as stone edge kills it, and Marowak4 gets boomed on.

battle 47
Skarmory4 is a bit difficult, it brave birds Regigigas for a chunk as i twave, brave birds Slowking for a hefty chunk as Flamethrower kills. Typhlosion4 uses its valuable turn of life to charge up Solarbeam before it dies, and Shuckle4 uses its valuable turn of life to Sandstorm before it dies.

battle 48
Dragonite3 is twaved as it dracos into Regigigas, Slowking comes in on parahax. ice beam kills, and I would like you to observe this roll:
252+ SpA Crobat Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 252+ SpD Regirock: 23-28 (14.8 - 18%) -- possible 6HKO
It does this twice as stone edge obviously ohkos, Whiscash3 is an obvious drama candidate with Fissure and twave immunity, but it gets quick claw boomed on. Thorton awaits.

battle 49
Vs
794 | Electrode | Quirky | Focus Sash | Thunderbolt | Signal Beam | Explosion | Mirror Coat | SpA/Spe
851 | Aerodactyl | Adamant | Choice Band | Stone Edge | Aerial Ace | Earthquake | Dragon Claw | Atk/Spe
949 | Cresselia | Modest | Leftovers | Psychic | Ice Beam | Signal Beam | Moonlight | HP/Def/SpD

Thorton has given me matchup woes before, and I was expecting something bad, in a bad way. Regirock comes in safely on a mirror coat, eqs safely as it mirror coats again, and it unleashes a wet noodle Thunderbolt to paralyze Regirock in its dying breath.

252 SpA Electrode Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 252+ SpD Regirock: 43-52 (27.7 - 33.5%) -- 0.2% chance to 3HKO

Next up is Aerodactyl4, and finally the Quick Claw is paying dividends. Quick Claw Stone Edge, it's gone, no parahax or stone edge missing here.

252 Atk Regirock Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Aerodactyl: 204-240 (131.6 - 154.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Last up is Cresselia4, and Quick Claw works again with boom this time. I was so hyped about getting quick claw boom that I didn't notice it was lefties, so I made the decision to put Regigigas in on it to just either burn turns with parafusion so that I can kill it with Slow Start up, or burn turns with parafusion so I can remove Slow Start and kill it easier This could have been horrible if it was Cresselia2, but it wasn't. I twave as it psychics me to do a pittance, get lefties recovery, and give me great relief. I Return as it gets parahaxed, next Return kills. Thorton has been slain, gold symbol acquired.

252 Atk Regirock Explosion vs. 168 HP / 168 Def Cresselia: 179-211 (82.8 - 97.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
-2 0 Atk Regigigas Return vs. 168 HP / 168 Def Cresselia: 33-40 (15.2 - 18.5%) -- possible 8HKO after Leftovers recovery

I don't intend to touch Factory for a long, long while. oh yes, shoutouts, i will do them.

HeadsILoseTailsYouWin for enlightening me to the """""joys"""" of level 50 factory, i.e. it's more beatable
turskain when i was going over losses in the channel it was interesting to see alternate viewpoints on what i could or could not have done [i've mulled over some hax losses for too long before he told me that it was dumb to do so, and was correct]. also the battle facilities calc was invaluable
Altissimo cheering me along as factory is, without fail, factory.
atsync for pointing out random details that I completely miss, cheering me along and occasionally helping me go over preventable losses

Atem91 · Jul 18, 2020

average fella said:
58 wins in Factory Level 50

factory is hard. i have only logged dramatic battles and late round drafts.

i don't keep track of these, besides thorton battles.

for round 3, i got pretty good elevations, tentacruel1 lead can beat most things and kangaskhan1 beats most thorton comps with endure reversal and isn't a slouch vs bad ai with double-edge. ultimately the churn brought me to somewhere that i honestly didnt want to go to, with furret2 in the last slot.

thorton immediately leads off with something threatening, staraptor1. it returns me to near-death as i icy wind to remove a speed tie for the next turn. but aha, the ai is capable of switching. it switches to magnezone1 as i sludge bomb as a finisher, ineffectively.

252 Atk Staraptor Return vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tentacruel: 123-145 (84.2 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Tentacruel Icy Wind vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Staraptor: 84-100 (55.6 - 66.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

i have no choice but to sack near-dead tentacruel. furthermore, i'm scared of parahax tbolt on kang, so i put in furret. it lives a frustration, i get a roll to live, and i use that valuable turn of life to frustration it to within an inch of its life.

252 SpA Tentacruel Surf vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Magnezone: 66-78 (48.5 - 57.3%) -- 90.6% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Furret Frustration vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Magnezone: 32-38 (23.5 - 27.9%) -- 77.3% chance to 4HKO
252 SpA Magnezone Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Furret: 144-171 (96.6 - 114.7%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Furret Frustration vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Magnezone: 32-38 (23.5 - 27.9%) -- 77.3% chance to 4HKO

in comes kang. i dont need to post the roll for crunch to kill, in comes flareon1, who promptly dies. raptor double teams as i endure, and this is the crucial part, it returns as i... think it'll double team again and double-edge. i'm left at 2 health, and thorton is dead.

252 Atk Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Flareon: 130-154 (99.2 - 117.5%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO [down to 128 health]

252 Atk Staraptor Return vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kangaskhan: 102-121 (59.6 - 70.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (102, 103, 105, 106, 108, 108, 109, 111, 112, 114, 114, 115, 117, 118, 120, 121)
note: i'm at 20 health after, so it got a relatively low roll. 1 roll higher and i lived, any top half roll and i die

-1 252 Atk Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Staraptor: 76-91 (50.3 - 60.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

also in order to tolerate early battles, i usually drink during them. the day i did this was my birthday, so i had a new york strip steak, sliced up a few potatoes to have some oven fries, and had a half bottle of carnivor cabernet sauvignon wine. i must say, not the best wine i've had, although for 10 bucks a bottle it ain't too bad. i'm not a wine snob so don't criticize this rating i tried my best. i guess i can post a picture of the bottle.
.

Where it usually gets interesting.

My draft is composed of a few sets that are quite fine, and some trash, but not enough to bog this draft down:

664 | Froslass | Modest | Expert Belt | Ice Beam | Thunderbolt | Signal Beam | Destiny Bond | SpA/Spe
670 | Weezing | Sassy | Lax Incense | Sludge Bomb | Thunderbolt | Dark Pulse | Explosion | SpA/SpD
663 | Lopunny | Modest | Wise Glasses | Charge Beam | Ice Beam | Shadow Ball | Focus Blast | SpA/Spe
659 | Ludicolo | Modest | Wide Lens | Hydro Pump | Grass Knot | Blizzard | Focus Blast | HP/SpA
505 | Mr. Mime | Calm | Light Clay | Dream Eater | Hypnosis | Light Screen | Reflect | SpA/SpD
594 | Glaceon | Calm | Leftovers | Ice Beam | Double Team | Yawn | Hail | SpA/SpD

I got 4 good mons, Lass3 is great in back, Weezing3 is great in back, Glaceon3 is great in back, Ludi3 can be good as a lead since it won't really be getting forced out a lot. I elect to use Ludicolo3/Froslass3/Weezing3, and don't trade once during the set.

The only dramatic battle was 35, wherein the ai got some truly amazing pulls. The matchup was Ludicolo3/Froslass3/Weezing3 vs Staraptor3/Garchomp3/Tyranitar3.
Vs.
653 | Staraptor | Adamant | Muscle Band | Brave Bird | Return | Steel Wing | Pursuit | Atk/Spe
757 | Garchomp | Adamant | Focus Sash | Dragon Rush | Stone Edge | Aqua Tail | Aerial Ace | Atk/Spe
754 | Tyranitar | Adamant | White Herb | Superpower | Dragon Claw | Shadow Claw | Aqua Tail | Atk/Def

I was forced out for the first time in the set, brave bird nearly killed Weezing, and I was fully accepting that I would have had to sack it to put Froslass in.

252+ Atk Muscle Band Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Weezing: 102-120 (75.5 - 88.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Until... Weezing's Lax Incense kicked in for the first time in the set, and I was able to boom on it, meaning I could put Ludicolo in without risking another flying, as there was no specialty in the team preview.

0 Atk Weezing Explosion vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Staraptor: 235-277 (151.6 - 178.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Ludi comes in on Garchomp3, an incredibly threatening mon with Sash and Dragon Rush. I anticipate having to trade with it, and I do not.

Dragon Rush whiffs. I hit a 77% blizzard, which gets a lucky freeze. It continues to be frozen as I grass knot for the kill. I hope you don't need calcs to demonstrate that Garchomp doesn't take blizzards well and that grass knot deals at least 1 damage.

In comes Tyranitar3, a Factory Ttar through and through in that it has no good moves at all. Focus blast technically can kill, but I go for the safe grass knot, due to the fact that that min roll grass knot+min roll Froslass signal beam kills it with no risk. Of course, it doesn't ohko me with wet noodle dragon claw, so this situation doesn't come to pass, but round 5 is slain with a horrible draw offset by amazing in-battle luck.

252+ SpA Ludicolo Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 116-140 (68.2 - 82.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Expert Belt Froslass Signal Beam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 55-67 (32.3 - 39.4%) -- 98.5% chance to 3HKO

This is where it really gets interesting.

My draft is composed of:

754 | Tyranitar | Adamant | White Herb | Superpower | Dragon Claw | Shadow Claw | Aqua Tail | Atk/Def
746 | Kingdra | Adamant | Lum Berry | Waterfall | Outrage | Iron Head | Dragon Dance | HP/Atk
828 | Ampharos | Quiet | Zoom Lens | Thunder | Focus Blast | Signal Beam | Power Gem | HP/SpA
869 | Probopass | Modest | Life Orb | Flash Cannon | Power Gem | Earth Power | Thunderbolt | SpA/SpD
811 | Miltank | Adamant | Muscle Band | Giga Impact | Earthquake | Rock Slide | Zen Headbutt | Atk/Spe
868 | Hippowdon | Adamant | Quick Claw | Earthquake | Stone Edge | Crunch | Thunder Fang | HP/Atk

Hey, it's my old buddy Tyranitar3. Kingdra3 carries this draft, I genuinely considered using Ampharos instead of stacking Edgequake instances with Miltank4 and Hippowdon4, but Amph is just too bad. Kingdra3/Miltank4/Hippowdon4 is my party.

Battle 38
Vs.
654 | Gastrodon | Adamant | Shell Bell | Waterfall | Earthquake | Stone Edge | Fissure | HP/Atk
723 | Flygon | Timid | White Herb | Draco Meteor | Earth Power | Flamethrower | Giga Drain | SpA/Spe
702 | Rampardos | Adamant | Life Orb | Head Smash | Zen Headbutt | Fire Punch | ThunderPunch | HP/Atk

Immediately, I'm scared. Gastrodon fissure is incredibly threatening, so I go Miltank. I come in on a Fissure whiff, Giga Impact does a chunk as eq does under half, Fissure kills me. Here's the relevant roll.

252+ Atk Muscle Band Miltank Giga Impact vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Gastrodon: 157-186 (74 - 87.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Kingdra has to Waterfall to revenge kill it, I can't risk DD'ing on a Fissure. In comes Flygon3, the other ground I could conceivably be scared of.

I have to exhaust its white herb and get it to -2. This game's only hope is Hippowdon4 being a fat mf long enough for Kingdra to live one of these Dracos. Hippo tanks a draco, and tanks another, Flygon is at -2.

I have to get an Outrage off, now. In perma-sand, the odds are stacked against me if I try to dd twice to outspeed the 160 speed Flygon3.

-2 252 SpA Flygon Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Kingdra: 92-110 (52.2 - 62.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
-4 252 SpA Flygon Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Kingdra: 62-74 (35.2 - 42%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

I do, and it kills, as it lops off over half my health. The last is Rampardos3, I either need to get an outrage crit or a head smash miss.

252+ Atk Kingdra Outrage vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Rampardos: 141-166 (71.2 - 83.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Outrage crits. Jam escaped, battle won.

Battle 39
Vs.
669 | Slowbro | Modest | Choice Specs | Psychic | Flamethrower | Shadow Ball | Signal Beam | HP/SpA
755 | Salamence | Modest | Wise Glasses | Draco Meteor | Hydro Pump | Flamethrower | Ominous Wind | SpA/Spe
711 | Steelix | Relaxed | Iron Ball | Gyro Ball | Payback | Swagger | Curse | Atk/Def

Flygon3 is an interesting trade option over Hippo. I deliberate a bit, and eventually settle on using it over Hippo. It immediately comes in handy by living a Psychic on a roll, dracoing to do half, and opening Kingdra to dragon dance and kill Slowbro.

252+ SpA Choice Specs Slowbro Psychic vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Flygon: 129-153 (86 - 102%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Flygon Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Slowbro: 105-124 (53.5 - 63.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Slowbro Psychic vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Kingdra: 111-132 (63 - 75%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252+ Atk Kingdra Outrage vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Slowbro: 126-148 (64.2 - 75.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Outrage mows down Salamence, but I get intimidated in the process. I don't get a 2-turn, outrage bounces off steelix, and Miltank has to contend with Steelix.

252+ Atk Kingdra Outrage vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Steelix: 20-24 (13.7 - 16.5%) -- possible 7HKO

And here's where the drama comes in. See, if I was against a human at this point, the game is unwinnable. I am not.

252+ Atk Muscle Band Miltank Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Steelix: 44-54 (30.3 - 37.2%) -- 66.5% chance to 3HKO
252 Atk Steelix Gyro Ball (150 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Miltank: 91-108 (54.4 - 64.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

I eq as it curses, presumably to ensure an ohko with 2 curses. I eq again as it swaggers me. I self-hit, seemingly dead to rights, as it decides cursing again is the move. I eq to kill. Thanks, Swagger!

252+ Atk Muscle Band Miltank Earthquake vs. +1 0 HP / 252+ Def Steelix: 30-36 (20.6 - 24.8%) -- guaranteed 5HKO

Where perfectly fine runs go to die.

I asked Santa for 2 legendaries, and I got them, I guess.

590 | Flareon | Jolly | Salac Berry | Fire Fang | Flail | Endure | Sand-Attack | Atk/Spe
810 | Slowking | Modest | Wise Glasses | Psychic | Surf | Ice Beam | Flamethrower | HP/SpA
817 | Cradily | Calm | Leftovers | Stone Edge | Seed Bomb | Earthquake | Mirror Coat | HP/Def/SpD
680 | Nidoking | Modest | Expert Belt | Earth Power | Sludge Bomb | Ice Beam | Shadow Ball | SpA/Spe [RIVALRY]
908 | Regigigas | Impish | Lax Incense | Return | Aerial Ace | Thunder Wave | Confuse Ray | HP/Def/SpD
943 | Regirock | Careful | Quick Claw | Stone Edge | Earthquake | Hammer Arm | Explosion | Atk/SpD

Hidden within what you may see as another instance of a round 7 draft shitting on me is hidden synergy. Flareon2 is awful, as is Rivalry Nidoking3. I have a plan for this team. Regigigas speed control for Regirock4 and Slowking4 to dole out punishment, the speed control will be insane, and it doesn't matter that Regigigas has effectively 90 attack and 60 speed most of the time, it's fat and it's got twave, what's not to love? Regigigas1/Regirock4/Slowking4 is my team.

battle 43
This isn't as dramatic as some others, but I do encounter something funny. See, Milotic3 outlasts Slowking4 and can kill Regirock4. What am I to do? Parafuse it! Milotic3 will not stop using Mirror Coat until I use a physical move, I burn turns to get past Slow Start and the results are delightful, I don't even have to use my back-line.

battle 44
vs.
627 | Typhlosion | Adamant | Shuca Berry | Flare Blitz | Earthquake | Shadow Claw | Aerial Ace | Atk/Spe
742 | Tangrowth | Modest | Heat Rock | SolarBeam | Wring Out | Synthesis | Sunny Day | Def/SpA
642 | Lanturn | Modest | Sitrus Berry | Hydro Pump | Thunder | Blizzard | Rain Dance | HP/SpA

Typhlosion is twaved in lead, no issue. Regirock4 is the safest switchin in the world, BUT it gets Flare Blitz burned, which means that not only is it taking chip, but it can't ohko Typhlosion. stone edge+eq into shuca is enough to kill, but Typhlosion gets an eq off of its own, which means that Regirock is nearly dead and burned.

In comes Tangrowth. I boom without a second thought as it sets up Sunny Day.

252 Atk burned Regirock Explosion vs. 0 HP / 252 Def Tangrowth: 85-100 (50 - 58.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

And here's the tragedy... I forgot Leaf Guard exists. My strategy of twaving it when it's in cloro for Slowking to kill it has gone down the drain, Regigigas can't even get a move off on it, and I wouldn't dare put in Slowking on a solarbeam. I am probably dead...

Not so fast. The AI has a tendency to use Wring Out at weird times, and it does here, when Solarbeaming was a likely instant win.

252+ SpA Tangrowth Wring Out (121 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Slowking: 62-73 (31.3 - 36.8%) -- 72.1% chance to 3HKO

The last of Lanturn3 comes out, and I'm just as sad. Little did I know, the Leaf Guard-procing sun would come into my favor.

Thunder in Sun misses, as it does half the time, and I not only get a crit, I get a high roll crit.

252+ SpA Wise Glasses Slowking Psychic vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Lanturn on a critical hit: 201-237 (88.9 - 104.8%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO

Jam escaped, run still alive.

battle 45
Another bulky water I can't beat with Slowking4, Dewgong4. Regigigas mishes it by parafusing it and getting past Slow Start, causing it to shred it and the next mon, and leave Cradily4 parafused for Regirock to Hammer Arm it twice for an easy kill.

battle 46
Easy. Togekiss4 aura spheres Regigigas as it gets twaved, Slowking comes in easily, ice beams twice as it air slashes me once to kill. Crobat4 comes in, who can't touch Regirock. I get a useless Quick Claw proc as stone edge kills it, and Marowak4 gets boomed on.

battle 47
Skarmory4 is a bit difficult, it brave birds Regigigas for a chunk as i twave, brave birds Slowking for a hefty chunk as Flamethrower kills. Typhlosion4 uses its valuable turn of life to charge up Solarbeam before it dies, and Shuckle4 uses its valuable turn of life to Sandstorm before it dies.

battle 48
Dragonite3 is twaved as it dracos into Regigigas, Slowking comes in on parahax. ice beam kills, and I would like you to observe this roll:
252+ SpA Crobat Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 252+ SpD Regirock: 23-28 (14.8 - 18%) -- possible 6HKO
It does this twice as stone edge obviously ohkos, Whiscash3 is an obvious drama candidate with Fissure and twave immunity, but it gets quick claw boomed on. Thorton awaits.

battle 49
Vs
794 | Electrode | Quirky | Focus Sash | Thunderbolt | Signal Beam | Explosion | Mirror Coat | SpA/Spe
851 | Aerodactyl | Adamant | Choice Band | Stone Edge | Aerial Ace | Earthquake | Dragon Claw | Atk/Spe
949 | Cresselia | Modest | Leftovers | Psychic | Ice Beam | Signal Beam | Moonlight | HP/Def/SpD

Thorton has given me matchup woes before, and I was expecting something bad, in a bad way. Regirock comes in safely on a mirror coat, eqs safely as it mirror coats again, and it unleashes a wet noodle Thunderbolt to paralyze Regirock in its dying breath.

252 SpA Electrode Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 252+ SpD Regirock: 43-52 (27.7 - 33.5%) -- 0.2% chance to 3HKO

Next up is Aerodactyl4, and finally the Quick Claw is paying dividends. Quick Claw Stone Edge, it's gone, no parahax or stone edge missing here.

252 Atk Regirock Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Aerodactyl: 204-240 (131.6 - 154.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Last up is Cresselia4, and Quick Claw works again with boom this time. I was so hyped about getting quick claw boom that I didn't notice it was lefties, so I made the decision to put Regigigas in on it to just either burn turns with parafusion so that I can kill it with Slow Start up, or burn turns with parafusion so I can remove Slow Start and kill it easier This could have been horrible if it was Cresselia2, but it wasn't. I twave as it psychics me to do a pittance, get lefties recovery, and give me great relief. I Return as it gets parahaxed, next Return kills. Thorton has been slain, gold symbol acquired.

252 Atk Regirock Explosion vs. 168 HP / 168 Def Cresselia: 179-211 (82.8 - 97.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
-2 0 Atk Regigigas Return vs. 168 HP / 168 Def Cresselia: 33-40 (15.2 - 18.5%) -- possible 8HKO after Leftovers recovery

I'm playing with house money, and now they've decided to give me a good draw.

616 | Arcanine | Jolly | Salac Berry | Flare Blitz | Thunder Fang | Reversal | Endure | Atk/Spe
942 | Suicune | Modest | Wacan Berry | Surf | Ice Beam | Extrasensory | Calm Mind | HP/SpA
477 | Electivire | Jolly | Scope Lens | ThunderPunch | Cross Chop | Thunder Wave | Screech | Atk/Spe
620 | Metagross | Modest | Wise Glasses | Psychic | Flash Cannon | Shadow Ball | Sludge Bomb | Def/SpA
827 | Gengar | Modest | Lum Berry | Shadow Ball | Sludge Bomb | Thunderbolt | Destiny Bond | SpA/Spe
700 | Wailord | Adamant | Leftovers | Waterfall | Avalanche | Earthquake | Curse | HP/Atk

The gist of the draft is Suicune, an elec immune, and a fat grass resist. Metagross2/Suicune4/Electivire1 is an amazing draft.

...Literally nothing notable happens for the first 4 games. Metagross usually takes out one or two mons, I remember it taking out Cresselia2 once, the thing that it's the most equipped to take out, so that was fun, and then Suicune4 sets up a calm mind or 2 and cleans.

battle 54
vs.
584 | Gallade | Jolly | Brightpowder | Drain Punch | Fire Punch | ThunderPunch | Ice Punch | Atk/Spe
772 | Marowak | Adamant | Thick Club | Earthquake | Stone Edge | Iron Head | ThunderPunch | Atk/Def
947 | Latios | Modest | White Herb | Luster Purge | Draco Meteor | Hyper Beam | Surf | SpA/Spe

Metagross tanks 2 fire punches and kills with 2 shadow balls. It psychics marowak to do a fair amount, Suicune then proceeds to rk marowak. Latios misses a draco meteor as Suicune ice beams, I had a contingency plan if it hit draco number 1 [force it to draco evire, and then it's out of kill range for cune], but it didn't so 2 ice beams killed. Latios4 is a little bit better than Metagross2, perhaps, so I took it.

battle 56
Vs
913 | Entei | Jolly | King's Rock | Fire Fang | Bite | Iron Head | Stone Edge | Atk/Spe
922 | Regigigas | Careful | Leftovers | Facade | Zen Headbutt | Double Team | Substitute | HP/Def/SpD
522 | Electrode | Timid | Brightpowder | Charge Beam | Thunder Wave | Flash | Swagger | SpA/Spe

Dramatic battles should be funny.

Entei outspeeds and bites latios as I hit a surf. I get out of the way, Electivire comes in, tanks a Bite and a Fire Fang, and tpunch kills. cross chop does under half as zen kills near-dead electivire.

252 Atk Electivire Cross Chop vs. 168 HP / 168 Def Regigigas: 88-104 (42.7 - 50.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

Suicune then has to contend with this thing. I cm as it double teams, and then I get lucky, and get a surf crit to kill it. This is where the fun starts, in comes Electrode2.

It swaggers, self-hit. Charge beams into wacan, self-hit. T-waves, self-hit. Charge beam crits, suicune is dead. Charge beam does a whole 20 damage to Latios as draco wipes it off the face of the planet.

252+ SpA Latios Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Electrode: 159-187 (117.7 - 138.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Can't get good drafts forever.

577 | Gliscor | Jolly | Razor Fang | Earthquake | Fire Fang | Thunder Fang | Ice Fang | Atk/Spe
464 | Walrein | Adamant | Chople Berry | Ice Fang | Aqua Tail | Swagger | Encore | HP/Atk
565 | Claydol | Modest | Rindo Berry | Earth Power | AncientPower | Signal Beam | Shadow Ball | Def/SpA
522 | Electrode | Timid | Brightpowder | Charge Beam | Thunder Wave | Flash | Swagger | SpA/Spe
546 | Armaldo | Adamant | Scope Lens | Crush Claw | Aqua Tail | Aerial Ace | Swagger | Atk/SpD
742 | Tangrowth | Modest | Heat Rock | SolarBeam | Wring Out | Synthesis | Sunny Day | Def/SpA

These last 3 mons are horrible. I can't choose anything other than Gliscor2/Walrein1/Claydol2.

battle 57
Vs
Vaporeon1/2
388 | Shiftry | Jolly | Persim Berry | Seed Bomb | Faint Attack | X-Scissor | Fake Out | Atk/Spe
468 | Magnezone | Bold | Light Clay | Thunderbolt | Mirror Shot | Light Screen | Reflect | Def/SpA

Gliscor eqs into vapo to do a pittace as ice beam kills. This is where encore comes in, walrein encores vapo into continuing ice beam, and manages to get it dead with the help of swagger, with about 170 hp left. This is where I misplay, swaggering into persim when I knew damn well that by using fake out, it was set 1. Miraculously, it didn't matter.

+2 252 Atk Shiftry X-Scissor vs. 0 HP / 252 Def Claydol: 118-140 (87.4 - 103.7%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO

I somehow live this, and the lastmon is simultaneously amazing, and loses to Claydol. The run lives at least 1 more game. Claydol is traded for Magnezone1.

battle 58
Vs
685 | Mismagius | Timid | Wise Glasses | Shadow Ball | Energy Ball | Icy Wind | Destiny Bond | SpA/Spe
492 | Feraligatr | Adamant | White Herb | Aqua Tail | Superpower | Dragon Claw | Shadow Claw | Atk/Def
622 | Slaking | Adamant | Lum Berry | Crush Claw | Fire Punch | ThunderPunch | Ice Punch | Atk/Def

Gliscor has to switch out into mag. I switch into an icy wind, and lay light screen as shadow ball gets an unfortunate crit. I'm able to live 2 more shadow balls and dole out 2 thunderbolts, and in comes Feraligatr.

Another AI quirk is that it will basically never use superpower, even when it's the correct move to use. I put in Walrein on it, confident that I'll need to swagger it to win. Swagger comes down, no self-hit through 2 shadow claws vs me, and it's Gliscor vs. the world.

Gliscor uses thunder fang, flinch. Another thunder fang, self-hit. I'm given a new lease on life.

Slaking1 is very, very fat. I need to get a fire fang burn if I wish to win.

The sequence goes like crush claw, loaf, yawn, loaf, as I fire fang, fire fang, fire fang, fire fang, and the last one finally burns. At this point, it's pretty much stuck slacking off, and eqing it constantly while burned results in a net loss thanks to truant, so I live another day.

Feraligatr2 is a good trade option that has actual good moves. Feraligatr>Walrein, no-brainer.

battle 59
Vs
714 | Tentacruel | Modest | Focus Sash | Surf | Sludge Bomb | Giga Drain | Mirror Coat | SpA/SpD
879 | Porygon-Z | Modest | Expert Belt | Tri Attack | Shadow Ball | Thunderbolt | Recover | SpA/Spe [download]
?

Tentacruel lives an earthquake with sash, kills with surf. I use this time to lay screens with mag as it kills me. Feraligatr is at 120/160 with dual screens... and still gets ohko'd by pz4 with a download boost. This run got 2 battles more than it had any right to get.

I don't intend to touch Factory for a long, long while. oh yes, shoutouts, i will do them.

HeadsILoseTailsYouWin for enlightening me to the """""joys"""" of level 50 factory, i.e. it's more beatable
turskain when i was going over losses in the channel it was interesting to see alternate viewpoints on what i could or could not have done [i've mulled over some hax losses for too long before he told me that it was dumb to do so, and was correct]. also the battle facilities calc was invaluable
Altissimo cheering me along as factory is, without fail, factory.
atsync for pointing out random details that I completely miss, cheering me along and occasionally helping me go over preventable losses

Luck at its best lol

megacyber · Jul 24, 2020

Hey, i was looking through some of the teams for ideas, and this record: 7. shipship (139) - Azelf, Alakazam, Heatran, Scizor is in the wrong category, it should be in the tradeback category, since scizor has bullet punch

Level 51 · Aug 6, 2020

Another day, another disappointing Arcade streak!!!!! Reporting an Arcade streak of 95.

I feel obliged to post this because it's a higher streak than my current PB. Same team as the one in this post, and once again I lost to being just off on the board at just the wrong time. Sorry that I keep forgetting to save Battle Videos, so I'll go over the losing battle in detail while I can still remember it.

Battle 96 vs Ace Trainer Thad (Ice): Articuno / Mamoswine / Abomasnow
There's two team-swap tiles on the board, and as enticing as they are, I still don't want to go up against my own team because I'll look like an idiot if I lose after doing that. I steer clear of the tiles and aim for a patch of two opposing status tiles in a row (I think para + para or para + poison, not sure -- either is cool, because outspeeding Articuno and Abomasnow with Blissey just make them both significantly easier to handle, since I can click Substitute before they move, and poison chips Mamoswine into guaranteed Surf range). Instead, I hit the +Lv tile in front of the patch.

Garchomp vs Articuno: of course the natural move here is to swap into Blissey. I do so and eat a Blizzard on the way in, confirming that it's Articuno-1.
Blissey vs Articuno: I set up a Substitute as it uses Fly.
Blissey vs Articuno: I hit it with a Toxic it as it lands, breaking the Substitute.
Blissey vs Articuno: I click Softboiled, mostly as a precautionary measure, since I'm wary of letting my health get too low (I need it fairly high so I can get a Seismic Toss on Mamoswine to chip it into Surf range). Articuno uses Hail, and I get chipped.
Blissey vs Articuno: Articuno uses Blizzard. Blissey is frozen and frozen solid.
Blissey vs Articuno: I don't want Blissey getting low, since there's a chance I will need it for Abomasnow, so I switch out to Starmie to take a potential Blizzard. Instead, Articuno uses Fly.
Starmie vs Articuno: I'm wary of bringing Blissey back in to eat the Fly, since it's actually doing quite a lot of damage, Articuno is due to faint to Toxic soon, and I don't want Mamoswine coming in on my almost-dead Blissey. My idea is to leave Starmie in, take the Fly, and then KO Articuno, so that the AI sends in Abomasnow next, which should be softer for Blissey to re-enter on. So I stay in, and Thunderbolt into empty space. Articuno uses Fly, dealing quite a lot of damage, and with Hail chip Starmie is down to 46 HP.
Starmie vs Articuno: Thunderbolt KOs Articuno. Abomasnow is sent in.
Starmie vs Abomasnow: I switch to Blissey. Abomasnow Earthquakes (??) on the switch-in, and I can only imagine this is because Starmie was at such low HP. This damage plus Abomasnow's newly-summoned Hail bring Blissey down to ~30% (?) HP. Turns out it was Abomasnow-4, which may be the only Abomasnow Blissey can't (typically) handle.
Blissey vs Abomasnow: I try to use Soft-Boiled. Abomasnow wins the 76 Speed stat speed tie and Wood Hammers me for the KO. I bring in Garchomp; in retrospect, my out may have been to attempt to bait the Wood Hammer by going Starmie -> Garchomp instead, but (a) I didn't think of that and (b) I bet it would have used Earthquake anyway.
Garchomp vs Abomasnow: I use Outrage. Abomasnow previously EQing instead of Wood Hammering the Blissey switch-in means that it's not in range of Outrage, so it returns an Avalanche and Garchomp is KOed.
Starmie vs Abomasnow: I Psychic Abomasnow for the KO.
Starmie vs Mamoswine: I seem to recall Mamoswine was a range, so I check the calculator to check if it still is.
- 252 SpA Starmie Surf vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD (Lv 53) Mamoswine: 192-228 (83.8 - 99.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- lol
I use Surf, and get KOd by an Earthquake in return.

A lot of things went poorly this battle; the +Lv tile, most obviously, but also some unfortunate AI move choices that may have made my life easier had they gone another way, plus the freeze and the speed tie. This was a really, really annoying loss, because on one hand I don't feel like it was out of my control enough that I can feel okay with losing it, and yet it was enough out of my control that it really feels like the game was just being a twat on purpose.

Still not stopping this streak until I hit a number I'm happy with (preferably 200, may stop at ~100+ if I lose enough sanity attempting 200). I've been sort of half-playing Arcade while writing this, so I'm already back at battle 20, which is a start. I think the prospect of having to slog through those early battles is a real momentum-killer, so it's nice at least to be able to tune them out in favor of writing this report.

ok that's all cya

GG Unit · Aug 6, 2020

Level 51 said:
Another day, another disappointing Arcade streak!!!!! Reporting an Arcade streak of 95.

I feel obliged to post this because it's a higher streak than my current PB. Same team as the one in this post, and once again I lost to being just off on the board at just the wrong time. Sorry that I keep forgetting to save Battle Videos, so I'll go over the losing battle in detail while I can still remember it.

Battle 96 vs Ace Trainer Thad (Ice): Articuno / Mamoswine / Abomasnow
There's two team-swap tiles on the board, and as enticing as they are, I still don't want to go up against my own team because I'll look like an idiot if I lose after doing that. I steer clear of the tiles and aim for a patch of two opposing status tiles in a row (I think para + para or para + poison, not sure -- either is cool, because outspeeding Articuno and Abomasnow with Blissey just make them both significantly easier to handle, since I can click Substitute before they move, and poison chips Mamoswine into guaranteed Surf range). Instead, I hit the +Lv tile in front of the patch.

Garchomp vs Articuno: of course the natural move here is to swap into Blissey. I do so and eat a Blizzard on the way in, confirming that it's Articuno-1.

Blissey vs Articuno: I set up a Substitute as it uses Fly.

Blissey vs Articuno: I hit it with a Toxic it as it lands, breaking the Substitute.

Blissey vs Articuno: I click Softboiled, mostly as a precautionary measure, since I'm wary of letting my health get too low (I need it fairly high so I can get a Seismic Toss on Mamoswine to chip it into Surf range). Articuno uses Hail, and I get chipped.

Blissey vs Articuno: Articuno uses Blizzard. Blissey is frozen and frozen solid.

Blissey vs Articuno: I don't want Blissey getting low, since there's a chance I will need it for Abomasnow, so I switch out to Starmie to take a potential Blizzard. Instead, Articuno uses Fly.

Starmie vs Articuno: I'm wary of bringing Blissey back in to eat the Fly, since it's actually doing quite a lot of damage, Articuno is due to faint to Toxic soon, and I don't want Mamoswine coming in on my almost-dead Blissey. My idea is to leave Starmie in, take the Fly, and then KO Articuno, so that the AI sends in Abomasnow next, which should be softer for Blissey to re-enter on. So I stay in, and Thunderbolt into empty space. Articuno uses Fly, dealing quite a lot of damage, and with Hail chip Starmie is down to 46 HP.

Starmie vs Articuno: Thunderbolt KOs Articuno. Abomasnow is sent in.

Starmie vs Abomasnow: I switch to Blissey. Abomasnow Earthquakes (??) on the switch-in, and I can only imagine this is because Starmie was at such low HP. This damage plus Abomasnow's newly-summoned Hail bring Blissey down to ~30% (?) HP. Turns out it was Abomasnow-4, which may be the only Abomasnow Blissey can't (typically) handle.

Blissey vs Abomasnow: I try to use Soft-Boiled. Abomasnow wins the 76 Speed stat speed tie and Wood Hammers me for the KO. I bring in Garchomp; in retrospect, my out may have been to attempt to bait the Wood Hammer by going Starmie -> Garchomp instead, but (a) I didn't think of that and (b) I bet it would have used Earthquake anyway.

Garchomp vs Abomasnow: I use Outrage. Abomasnow previously EQing instead of Wood Hammering the Blissey switch-in means that it's not in range of Outrage, so it returns an Avalanche and Garchomp is KOed.

Starmie vs Abomasnow: I Psychic Abomasnow for the KO.

Starmie vs Mamoswine: I seem to recall Mamoswine was a range, so I check the calculator to check if it still is.

252 SpA Starmie Surf vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD (Lv 53) Mamoswine: 192-228 (83.8 - 99.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

lol

I use Surf, and get KOd by an Earthquake in return.

A lot of things went poorly this battle; the +Lv tile, most obviously, but also some unfortunate AI move choices that may have made my life easier had they gone another way, plus the freeze and the speed tie. This was a really, really annoying loss, because on one hand I don't feel like it was out of my control enough that I can feel okay with losing it, and yet it was enough out of my control that it really feels like the game was just being a twat on purpose.

Still not stopping this streak until I hit a number I'm happy with (preferably 200, may stop at ~100+ if I lose enough sanity attempting 200). I've been sort of half-playing Arcade while writing this, so I'm already back at battle 20, which is a start. I think the prospect of having to slog through those early battles is a real momentum-killer, so it's nice at least to be able to tune them out in favor of writing this report.

ok that's all cya

I was thinking of this facility as one that would be ripe for the “real” modern Blissey to dominate, especially when paired with an Intimidate lead. You might as well have Minimize over Toxic since even if I were to grant the assumption that it helps win battles faster on average (which to be brief I would say is not the case in practice), using a moveslot that simply speeds up wins rather than turns some losses into wins is forfeiting the ability to execute a better long-term plan than the AI, basically your 2nd-biggest advantage after the ability to freely switch.

Stat boosting against a free opponent makes Blissey that much more of a win condition and in the Arcade makes you much more resilient to bad squares where you can just sacrifice stuff to ensure a Blissey set-up and make basically any square but a team swap palatable.

I messed around with a run several years ago with a team of Gyarados, Garchomp, and Drapion. I lost somewhere in the triple digits (don’t remember the exact number but I remember checking the leaderboard and seeing it would’ve been like 3rd) to Drapion staying frozen for many turns against something that slowly chipped it down while doing Leftovers amounts of damage. With that team it was just a standard SD/Sub (which should basically always be the first choice for a spare moveslot, particularly in earlier gens where the AI spams status moves on a Sub) Garchomp that was mostly there as an Electric/paralysis immunity, which Blissey would’ve done just as well in addition to covering special attackers.

The Gyarados had Thunder Wave, Dragon Dance, Waterfall, and I believe Earthquake. I liked having the flexibility to either muscle through things or just sacrifice it to get off a Thunder Wave and Intimidates to still ensure a Drapion setup rather just having a pure suicide lead, a concept I felt was unexplored in the Arcade. Gyarados/Drapion/Blissey I feel would have a decent shot at 200, but just the general concept of Intimidate+speed control lead, Blissey, and bulky stat booster with Rest should be very solid.

Level 51 · Aug 6, 2020

GG Unit said:
I was thinking of this facility as one that would be ripe for the “real” modern Blissey to dominate, especially when paired with an Intimidate lead. You might as well have Minimize over Toxic since even if I were to grant the assumption that it helps win battles faster on average (which to be brief I would say is not the case in practice), using a moveslot that simply speeds up wins rather than turns some losses into wins is forfeiting the ability to execute a better long-term plan than the AI, basically your 2nd-biggest advantage after the ability to freely switch.

Stat boosting against a free opponent makes Blissey that much more of a win condition and in the Arcade makes you much more resilient to bad squares where you can just sacrifice stuff to ensure a Blissey set-up and make basically any square but a team swap palatable.

This is a fair idea! I do prize Toxic's ability to deal damage on turns that I heal, since it does actually let Blissey beat some physical attackers it would not really stand a chance against otherwise. But in a world with consistently optimal play and infinite time (mostly to PP stall Ghosts with), I think Minimize is indeed the better option.

I also need to get my hands on a Seismic Toss Blissey that isn't at Level 100, lol :P

GG Unit · Aug 7, 2020

Level 51 said:
This is a fair idea! I do prize Toxic's ability to deal damage on turns that I heal, since it does actually let Blissey beat some physical attackers it would not really stand a chance against otherwise. But in a world with consistently optimal play and infinite time (mostly to PP stall Ghosts with), I think Minimize is indeed the better option.

I also need to get my hands on a Seismic Toss Blissey that isn't at Level 100, lol :P

I'm sure I've discussed it at length in other posts, but boosting evasion (oh yeah and Double Team > Minimize for the higher PP since they're both +1 that gen) takes much less time in the long run since you have to Sub or Softboiled less often when attacks are missing. Blissey completely takes the momentum away from any special attackers (and most physical attackers at -1 too), and running Toxic just introduces the opportunity to give that right back to the AI when something breaks the substitute the turn it dies to Toxic and leaves Blissey completely naked against some threatening physical attacker. There are only like 5 ghost types you can face in the first place (one of which is immune to Toxic as well), and the number of times you're able to just set up Blissey within the first 10 turns and press Seismic Toss until everything's dead more than makes up for the rare occasions PP stalling is necessary.

Almost any move would be more useful than Toxic - if you're that worried about physical attackers (which seems to be putting too much on Blissey since it's already covering every special attacker and you have two whole other Pokemon) just set up Defense Curl; if you're that worried about Ghosts just run Shadow Ball, which has 100% accuracy, would KO any of them in fewer turns than Toxic, and most importantly allow you to choose the turn you try to KO them and make sure you've got a Sub and 100% HP first. In the last battle you lost it would've been trivial to set up on even a leveled-up Articuno (even with the worst possible luck you can just sacrifice the least essential team member to get off a Natural Cure, and with Intimidate Fly wouldn't be breaking a Blissey Substitute) and the only thing that even introduced the possibility of a loss was taking a harmless set-up fodder lead and intentionally limiting the number of turns it could stay on the field.

Almost any other non-damaging status move (Growl, Flash, Aromatherapy, Light Screen, Safeguard), could be used in a team support capacity. Even some elemental special attack to hit a 4x weak Pokemon your team's somewhat weak against would be worse than Double Team but still better than Toxic. Yeah it would be better to have a Timid one that outspeeds more stuff you don't want critting or statusing or OHKOing, but the improvement from a better moveset is going to be more substantial than a different distribution of Blissey's stats when it's walling itemless special attackers and outspeeding paralyzed opponents regardless of IVs/EVs/nature.

kevlightning · Aug 10, 2020

Hey, I'm not sure if this is the best place to post, but I'm looking for some advice for the battle tower. I'm trying to get a 100 win streak using Chinese Dood's old team, but I'm having trouble dealing with a few pokemon. One of my main problems is with the normal-type tanks that deal physical damage like lickilicky with power whip or life orb snorlax. Especially when they have good coverage like with the elemental punches. I can sacrifice my latios and deal a hit, but I usually only deal around half damage and they can usually kill my latios afterwards or leave it with almost no health for life orb to kill. My suicune is also pretty useless in those situations because they can usually break through my substitute in one hit. I can also try switching to metagross and using explosion, but that also puts me in a really vulnerable position if its only the first pokemon in the battle.

I'm not the greatest competative player, but the farthest I've gotten was to 84 wins, and that was pretty lucky. Anyone know what I could do in those situations or have any other good teams for my latios? I don't have an action replay, so I cant get any other legendaries and my suicune doesn't have the best ivs or nature (relaxed)

atsync · Aug 11, 2020

kevlightning said:
Hey, I'm not sure if this is the best place to post, but I'm looking for some advice for the battle tower. I'm trying to get a 100 win streak using Chinese Dood's old team, but I'm having trouble dealing with a few pokemon. One of my main problems is with the normal-type tanks that deal physical damage like lickilicky with power whip or life orb snorlax. Especially when they have good coverage like with the elemental punches. I can sacrifice my latios and deal a hit, but I usually only deal around half damage and they can usually kill my latios afterwards or leave it with almost no health for life orb to kill. My suicune is also pretty useless in those situations because they can usually break through my substitute in one hit. I can also try switching to metagross and using explosion, but that also puts me in a really vulnerable position if its only the first pokemon in the battle.

I'm not the greatest competative player, but the farthest I've gotten was to 84 wins, and that was pretty lucky. Anyone know what I could do in those situations or have any other good teams for my latios? I don't have an action replay, so I cant get any other legendaries and my suicune doesn't have the best ivs or nature (relaxed)

I don't know how much help I can provide about Chinese Dood's team specifically, but there are plenty of many other good teams using Latios listed on the leaderboard including some that don't use other legendaries, so obviously I'd start there. I feel like a lead LO 4-attacks Latios like you're using is a relatively unorthodox choice in singles, but Latios can certainly use other sets in singles. For example, Latios is a great Calm Mind sweeper not just because of its good stats but also because Dragon Pulse is a reliable STAB that nothing is immune to (which means that it doesn't really need to run coverage and can run both Substitute and a recovery move alongside Dragon Pulse and Calm Mind). You could pair it with a crippler lead to facilitate easier set-ups. Latios can also work as a crippler lead itself. It is probably worse than Latias overall at this role because it has worse defensive stats but it does have a niche in its access to Memento. You may want to check out McGrrr's Latios/Scizor/Gyarados team in particular which uses a lead Specs Latios with Dragon Pulse/Thunderbolt/Surf/Trick. The strategy uses Latios as a hyper offense-esque lead similar to your LO 4 attacks but also has the ability to Trick its Specs onto certain opponents to facilitate set-ups for Swords Dance Scizor and Dragon Dance Gyarados.

kevlightning · Aug 12, 2020

atsync said:
I don't know how much help I can provide about Chinese Dood's team specifically, but there are plenty of many other good teams using Latios listed on the leaderboard including some that don't use other legendaries, so obviously I'd start there. I feel like a lead LO 4-attacks Latios like you're using is a relatively unorthodox choice in singles, but Latios can certainly use other sets in singles. For example, Latios is a great Calm Mind sweeper not just because of its good stats but also because Dragon Pulse is a reliable STAB that nothing is immune to (which means that it doesn't really need to run coverage and can run both Substitute and a recovery move alongside Dragon Pulse and Calm Mind). You could pair it with a crippler lead to facilitate easier set-ups. Latios can also work as a crippler lead itself. It is probably worse than Latias overall at this role because it has worse defensive stats but it does have a niche in its access to Memento. You may want to check out McGrrr's Latios/Scizor/Gyarados team in particular which uses a lead Specs Latios with Dragon Pulse/Thunderbolt/Surf/Trick. The strategy uses Latios as a hyper offense-esque lead similar to your LO 4 attacks but also has the ability to Trick its Specs onto certain opponents to facilitate set-ups for Swords Dance Scizor and Dragon Dance Gyarados.

Thanks I'll try out McGrrr's team and see if I have better luck with it. I'll post and update if I can get past 100.

JoebertIII · Aug 25, 2020

...and I thought that level 50 and level 100 modes would be near-equal in difficulty. Now, anyone who's played factory seriously knows that those are false, but it's not commonly known

Quick question for HeadsILoseTailsYouWin: Did you explicitly explain why level 50 is easier than open level? I assume it is because the sets all rise chronologically, whereas the open level sets will be random after round 4, but I was just looking for some confirmation on that. Thanks in advance!

Anna says hi · Aug 25, 2020

It's not just due to the fact that in open you have to do rounds with enemies that use multiple sets, but the timing of each round with respect to both when the AI gets smart and how many elevations you're likely to have make certain rounds easy or difficult on both level 50 and 100, but for completely different reasons - like even though you see the same sets in both L50 round 7 and L100 round 4, L100 round 4 is obviously going to be way easier due to bad AI, the pseudo-team preview, and less elevations at the time giving you two or three chances at a good legendary without the massive risk of getting a full draft of horrible sets in L50 round 7.
I guess I'll compare each round and how they compare in L50 vs L100

Round 1 - Complete joke in both. In L50, the bad AI tends to bring out the worst of the sets (nearly everything has at least one dud move that the AI has a chance to spam), while in L100, everything is much frailer than later on due to lower IVs and you'll be picking strong moves.
Round 2 - Easiest round in L50, easier than round 1 usually. Elevations are just so much of a power boost in L50 compared to what the opponents use. In L100, you have the same issue as in L50 round 1 in that a lot of set 2s run status moves that the AI is unlikely to get lucky with. Round 2 is a slog in both L100 and L50 thanks to everything having weak or unreliable moves relative to their stats.
Round 3 - Easiest round in HGSS L100 due to the fact that thorton uses set 1s while you'll have access to set 4s, and everything else is running really risky movesets. In L50, the thorton battle alone makes this round very dependent on your draft. Trade options in L50 round 3 tend to be pretty terrible compared to what you get in your draft, exacerbating this issue even more.
Round 4 - The breather round in L50. Possible to lose here if you get bad draft or if your opponents get lucky, but it doesn't happen to me much. In L100, you're getting awesome mons, but enemies will also use those same awesome mons against you with bad AI.
Round 5 - THE streak-killing round in both modes (aside from thorton in level 50). Smart AI is only responsible for about half of your dead runs here, it's just that round 5 is when a lot of factors combine to cause a massive difficulty spike in both modes. These factors are smart AI, the team preview-lady finally stopping telling you what type their lead is, and usually the mons themselves. In L50, your default draft options will usually have unreliable moves, while if the AI is using set1s, they'll have consistent STABs for the cost of extremely narrow coverage, making it a pain to trade for better mons, although this does mean that if you manage to survive the first few battles, you'll likely survive the full round. In L100, you'll be getting really unreliable drafts, and half the time your enemy will have a full team of set4s, while the other half they'll be completely unpredictable. It's just a horrible combination that causes a massive difficulty spike.
Round 6 - In L100, this is the same as round 5 except the AI will have unpredictable teams all the time instead of only half. In L50, this is a breather round thanks to the fact that over half of your draft should consist of set 4's while the AI is stuck using the unreliable set 2's and risky set 3's. Even though this is technically a breather round, you will lose around 40% of the time here.
Round 7 - In L100, same as round 6. In L50, worse than round 5, and is probably equivalent to L100's round 5. You can't expect a consistently good draft, your opponents will be using set 4's, and there's smart AI. At least you don't have to worry about multiple sets until thorton whips out a legendary.

So yeah. Both L50 and L100 have their high and low points. L100 has a way better early-game (round 3 and 4 especially) while L50 has a less terrible late-game and is more consistent overall. (Round 6 especially, with round 2 being less of a slog than its L100 counterpart).

Challenge 4th Generation Battle Facilities Discussion and Records

atsync

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