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My own Salazzle did just as amazing vs. Lusamine - I was only 2-3 levels higher with mine, but I did have Nasty Plot and Sludge Bomb on my side.
Furthermore, though I did use a Revive after it fell to a Metronome-induced Scald, I had Zygarde to clear all those defense boosts on Clefable with Haze.
EDIT: While Lusamine is one thing, the Elite 4 will be really something else...
Lusamine 1 actually gave me more trouble than Lusamine 2 ever did, possibly because I was a bit underleveled when I went through Aether Paradise (Guzma 3 was definitely the hardest fight there, though). I can't recall any of Lusamine's mons giving me trouble except for Clefable, who I ended up brute-forcing to death with Sinister Arrow Raid.
Strictly speaking, that happened to me too, but Lusamine 1 isn't a battle you need to win. I lost to her, and the game just progressed like I had won it.
It drew Camouflage from Metronome, so it was Psychic typed. It was no longer Fairy... Which is ultimately how CRoll managed to beat her.
Croll Log said:
It gave me a few extra turns of damage, but I could do little against its great defenses and HP. Things then took an unexpected turn when its Metronome gave it Camouflage, transforming it into the Psychic type (sidenote: According to Bulbapedia, there were no locations where Camouflage could do this, at least up to Gen VI). Alas, it next got a lucky Metronome hit with Shadow Ball, and Microwave was done.
Haha, I didn't even notice that myself. Well spotted, DHR-107, I was afraid I'd remembered wrong for a moment there!
I also see that I forgot to elaborate on the point I had begun to make in the part you quoted: Ultra Space appears to be the only place in the Pokémon games where Camouflage will call a Psychic typing. Not bad for a location you visit for one battle. They even made the typing different from when you face Deoxys in space in ORAS (where it will call Dragon instead).
Her Mismagius did the same in my battle. I had a Pokemon out in the red and instead of going for the kill, it used Pain Split and healed my Pokemon. Weird.
Though her Clefable did call up Blue Flare first turn against Sandslash...
Ooh, this took too long. I've been busy with Christmas preparations (and execution, I suppose), and besides I've had to grind a lot to get through this session. But without further ado...
Part 11: The long road to Lanakila
Through a combination of sheer luck and AI misplay, I had defeated Lusamine on Poni Island. Now all that remained was to climb the top of Mount Lanakila, and get to the gates of the Pokémon Leauge. It is not a long stretch of road, and it only has two trainers on it, so in theory this should be a fairly quick ordeal.
The problem was, though, that my team was still severely underlevelled. Ten levels or more, for some Pokémon. So when I met up with Gladion at the bottom of the first elevator, I was in for a world of trouble.
Defeating his Crobat was easy enough, as long as I let Microwave (Magneton) lead. Acrobatics did little to it, while Thundershock did lots in return. Gladion would then send in Silvally (Fire), and I'd lose the battle. Multi-Attack would KO Microwave, Campbell (Alakazam) would fall to X-Scissor, and if Katla (Salazzle), Non-Stop (Minior) and Macho (Machamp) managed to KO it, Lucario or Weavile would come in and mop them up with one-hit-KO's.
I tried changing my strategy. I tried grinding. I evolved Microwave into Magnezone, and taught my team some new moves, but each time Gladion proved I hadn't ground enough. Long story short...
Loss count: 39 (+6).
Eventually, I realized that Macho would be the key to this battle. If Microwave could get Golbat out of the way, and Volt Switch on the KO, Macho could come in and 2HKO Silvally with Stone Edge. It would then, ideally, have enough HP left to tank a hit from Lucario or Weavile, and deal some hefty damage in return with Cross Chop. Then Non-Stop could help Katla mop them up, since they were both weak to Fire.
I managed to follow the plan with reasonable success. With Thundershock forgotten in favour of Discharge, Microwave could 3HKO Crobat, and have plenty of HP to spare. Ironically, I would have been worse off if I had got a Crit and KO on the second hit, since I needed to have Microwave off the field when Silvally entered. On my sixth try, Silvally got a crit with Multi-Attack and KO'd Macho, but in the seventh battle things went my way instead. Macho had a little less than half its HP remaining, when Silvally went down and Lucario switched in. Macho took a hit from Aura Sphere, but survived with a few HP to spare, and dealt massive damage with Cross Chop. Lucario used Quick Attack for the KO on the next turn. I sent in Katla to retaliate, and take out Lucario with Flamethrower. Now, only Weavile stood between me and victory, and it was weak to Fire.
It turns out that Weavile is rather fast, and that Night Slash has a high crit ratio. Katla went down in a single hit. I tried sending in Non-Stop next, and get a Power Gem off. Maybe even two, if Weavile activated Shields Down and I had a chance to outspeed on the second turn. Non-Stop got one Power Gem off, and hurt Weavile badly, but not before taking an Ice Shard and some 60 % damage. With its Defense even weaker when Shields Down was active, the next Ice Shard had no problem KO-ing. Things suddenly didn't look as bright as they had, since my two remaining Pokémon were a weakened Microwave, and Campbell, which had a type disadvantage. Since Campbell was faster, and did know Dazzling Gleam after all, I tried sending it out first.
Weavile used Night Slash. Goodbye, Campbell!
Okay, Microwave was left alone. Good physical bulk, but Night Slash hits for neutral damage, with a high crit ratio. If it got another crit, I would lose this battle for the seventh time (oh, the stakes...). Luckily, it didn't crit, Microwave had some HP to spare afterwards, and Flash Cannon backed by Metal Coat is enough to wipe most Ice-types off the table. Weavile was cleanly KO'd, and I won. Yay!
I then began what I thought would be a sort of Victory Road, with trainers and obstacles, up the side of Mount Lanakila. What I got was a single, straight and narrow path with no trainers whatsoever. The wild Pokémon didn't provide much of a challenge either, I mean, Ice-types were never feared for their power and ferocity (except for two minutes ago in the Gladion battle, but Weavile is the only Ice-type built like that). I still managed to lose Campbell a couple of times to wild Absol, though. At level 48, Alakazam still isn't very sturdy, and STAB Sucker Punch hits hard. I stubbornly insisted on it leading the party in case we found any trainers, but before I knew we were at the peak of the mountain with nary a Trainer in sight.
Since I knew Vanillish could be found on Mount Lanakila, I had decided to catch one, should I encounter it. I never did, though, and looked up which grass/cave to find it in. It turns out to be another Weather SOS encounter. Notoriously, it practically never hails in this game. Every day for weeks, I've visited Tapu Village in the hope of seeing hail so I could encounter Vanillite. I've been greeted by clear skies every single time, no matter the time of day or day of the week. And now it turns out Vanillish is equally hard to find? Why does Game Freak hate Ice-types so much?
Oh well, it was time for the final battle for Team Two. After reaching the gates of the Pokémon League, I would be allowed to mix and match Pokémon from both teams for the final Pokémon League assault. All that remained was the battle against Hau.
It turns out that Hau has a particularly well-trained Raichu, with coverage seemingly tailored to take out my entire team. Psychic for Katla and Macho. Focus Blast for Microwave. Thunderbolt for Non-Stop, and that hit hard enough to OHKO Campbell as well. Hau swept me, effortlessly, and I had to go back to grinding.
A couple of attempts later, I had identified the problem: Raichu. If I could KO it reasonably effectively, the rest of the team lay open. Primarina would be a problem for Macho (with Moonblast), Non-Stop (with Sparkling Aria) and Katla (ditto), but Hau had decided to put Flareon and Komala on his team, both with exploitable weaknesses and a distinct lack of battling prowess.
A strategy began to form. Campbell would take a Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball Raichu for massive damage, then Microwave could come in. It would eat a Focus Blast but survive thanks to Sturdy, and KO Raichu with Flash Cannon. Then the rest of the team just needed to overcome Primarina, and pick off Flareon and Komala later.
This was not a very good plan, it turned out. As mentioned above, the rest of the team was weak to Primarina, and would fall to a single move. True enough, Katla could outspeed and deal some super-effective damage with Sludge Wave, but not enough to KO or make much of a difference. I realized after a while that I needed to really bulk up Campbell: It needed to be able to OHKO Raichu with Shadow Ball.
I trained Campbell until it was at level 53, on par with Raichu. Now, it had no excuse not to do its job. It took 90 % off Raichu's HP with Shadow Ball, but fell to its second Thunderbolt and from there on the sob story repeated itself.
Loss count: 44 (+5).
Luckily, I found out that I didn't need to grind any more. Among the items in my Bag was a Spell Tag, which boosts Ghost-type moves by 15 %. I swapped out Campbell's Twistedspoon (it didn't use Psychic in this battle anyway), and went straight back to Hau. Once again, Campbell took the dreaded Thunderbolt for some 60 % damage, and once again it avoided getting Paralyzed. It then blasted Raichu off the side of the mountain with a single Shadow Ball. Hau didn't send in Primarina as I had anticipated, but rather Komala. Campbell managed to halve Komala's HP with Psychic, before falling to Wood Hammer.
I sent in Macho next, and KO'd Komala with Stone Edge (though not before taking another Wood Hammer - that little koala was deceptively fast). I had actually encountered Komala in a previous attempt, where it had switched out when it saw Macho. This time, it didn't switch, but if it had, Stone Edge would have been my best bet against both Primarina and Flareon.
Primarina was next, and took out Macho with Moonblast. This time, I had Microwave left with full HP, and was certain of success.
Primarina used Hydro Vortex. Okay, not unconditional success, then. But Microwave did have Sturdy after all, so it got a Discharge off, with enough power to KO. Flareon avenged its team mate with Quick Attack on the next turn.
I decided to finish this battle with Non-Stop. Flareon would not like a Power Gem to the face. Hau was a smart fellow, though, and decided to lower Non-Stop's Attack with priority Baby-Doll Eyes, to soften the blows a little. Power Gem failed to 2HKO or even 3HKO, and Flareon got off several Flare Blitzes, enough to overpower and KO Non-Stop. In my defense, Non-Stop was the lowest-levelled Pokémon on my team. And with Flareon's HP in the red, Katla had no problem KO-ing it with Sludge Wave on the next turn.
Then we could skip merrily up to touch (but not enter) the Pokémon League gate, to end the two-team part of the challenge. Once there, we also encountered Kukui, and listened to his story on how he disbanded Alola's traditional Final Trial, by turning the sacred mountain into a construction site in an effort to copy Kanto's Pokémon League, since that had impressed Kukui so much on a Kanto trip a few years ago.
Now all I have left to do is to assemble the final team. Oh, and beat the Pokémon League. Between what turned out to be my ten trustworthy team-mates, there ought to be six Pokémon with enough synergy to handle the task.
Usually holds a Twisted Spoon, but currently a Spell Tag.
Performance: Campbell is great for cleaning up "route trash", and can go toe-to-toe with other strong Pokémon too - provided that they don't outspeed him and have super-effective moves. Campbell is actually rather frail in that regard, but he hits stuff super-hard. In that spirit, Recover was forgotten to make room for Dazzling Gleam. It is a great move against Dark-types, provided that they are slow enough to be outsped, frail enough to be OHKO'd, and don't carry Sucker Punch.
Performance: Microwave is a very reliable fellow, even when underlevelled. Its ability allows it to survive any attack and retaliate, usually dealing a lot of damage. It lost some bulk upon evolution, but is redeemed by the extra offensive power. At this point of the game, and this far below the level curve, endurance isn't as important as getting the KO is. I really wish it would have a more powerful and reliable Electric STAB, though, but alas, Thunderbolt is post-game only.
Machamp AKA Macho - lvl 51 - Brave nature
Ability: No Guard
- Cross Chop
- Stone Edge
- Bulldoze
- Knock Off
Holds a Scope Lens
Performance: Macho hits things hard, and he hits them reliably. No Guard is great, since it allows powerful but inaccurate moves to be simply powerful, no buts. Cross Chop is a clean KO on most things that don't resist it. Stone Edge is a great option against those who do. Knock Off is mostly used for coverage, but is useful against (slow!) Psychic-types. Bulldoze is mostly used when it's more Super-effective than anything else, and in battles of attrition.
Performance: Katla did amazingly during The Miracle, but didn't quite follow up (she wasn't expected to, though - nothing could follow up that battle). She is at least rather fast, and has some decent power in Sludge Wave and Flamethrower. Great for taking out wild Pokémon, or finishing off weakened foes. Fire/Poison has some surprising coverage. I need a move to replace Dragon Rage, but Salazzle's TM learnset is surprisingly barren. I suppose Dragon Pulse, learned by level-up at level 56, is the best option I'll get.
Minior AKA Non-Stop - lvl 48 - Quirky nature
Ability: Shields Down
- Acrobatics
- Power Gem
- Shell Smash
- Stealth Rock
No item.
Performance: Non-Stop has been surprisingly sturdy, usually surviving a move from most opponents, and capable of hurting them in return. I decided to replace U-turn when Shell Smash was offered to it, as that move can easily be replaced via TM if forgoing it turns out to be a bad decision. Without Shields Down, Minior doesn't quite have the power to OHKO, but it can chip off some HP in any case. Stealth Rock might become useful in the upcoming Elite Four battles, as they will involve a few switch-ins each. And if it gets the opportunity to set up a Shell Smash, Non-Stop becomes outright deadly.
Oh, small screw-up there, then. It seems like the move made no difference, and Flareon just is that bulky (or Minior just is that weak with its shields up).
So, I'm sat atop Mount Lanakila, trying to figure out which Pokémon to bring for my assault on the Elite Four. After some consideration, I think I've got a team ready.
Decidueye, AKA Ludwig - Brave nature
Ability: Overgrow
Current level: 45
Current moveset: Leaf Blade/Spirit Shackle/Pluck/Facade
Ludwig gets a free pass. He's my starter, after all. While there probably are better Pokémon suited for the job, as a tradition I keep my starter in the team until the very end. Ludwig has some problems with fragility and isn't the hardest-hitting Pokémon around, but immunity to two types should help.
Alakazam, AKA Campbell - Quiet nature
Ability: Inner Focus
Current level: 53
Current moveset: Psychic/Shadow Ball/Charge Beam/Dazzling Gleam
Campbell is an obvious candidate, with his amazing Sp.Atk and good coverage. Although he's not the best at taking hits, he usually dishes out enough damage to keep the odds in my favour.
Magnezone, AKA Microwave - Jolly nature
Ability: Sturdy
Current level: 51
Current moveset: Volt Switch/Thunder Wave/Discharge/Flash Cannon
Microwave has consistently been one of my most reliable team members, taking hits like a champ and retaliating with great power. Sturdy has saved my tail several times. Obviously one to keep for the final stretch of the game.
Machamp, AKA Macho - Brave nature
Ability: No Guard
Current level: 51
Current moveset: Cross Chop/Stone Edge/Bulldoze/Knock Off
Macho is another heavy-hitter with great merits behind him. A little slow, but he can take hits, and boy can he strike back. No Guard allows him to use high-power moves without the usual accuracy drawback.
Vaporeon, AKA Bubbles - Careful nature
Ability: Water Absorb
Current level: 44
Current moveset: Scald/Aurora Beam/Quick Attack/Bite
Bubbles has also been extremely reliable. Scald hits like a truck. Aurora Beam is to be replaced with Ice Beam, for great coverage. Quick Attack has priority. Bite exists. With a little training, this little fellow will probably do well against the Elite Four.
Clefable, AKA Rosalina - Hasty nature
Ability: Magic Guard
Current level: 46
Current moveset: Moonblast/Psychic/Grass Knot/Body Slam
The controversial choice. Rosalina has never seen serious action, and I was wondering whether to pick her or Non-Stop (Minior). If not for tradition, I would probably have ditched Ludwig and brought Non-Stop instead, but as it stands right now, I had to pick one. Rosalina has not proven herself yet, but she seems to have a decent mix of offense and defense. I might have picked her just because I'd like to give her some action, at least. Another excuse - using Rosalina, I have three Pokémon from each team.
As always, I'm open for suggestions. If it's overwhelmingly clear that Minior would be a better choice than Clefable, I might swap Rosalina out and Non-Stop in. There will be a bit of grinding now to put everybody on equal footing, and I might use the Exp. Share because this game really falls flat in that department.
