Gen III Battle Frontier Discussion and Records

[Golden Blissey]

Gen III Battle Frontier Discussion and Records

The front lines of Pokemon battling!​

Want to chat about the Gen III Battle Frontier? Visit the Battle Tree Discord Server: https://discord.gg/QrsE2ep (courtesy of turskain)

Things to keep in mind:

• Regular Smogon and Orange Islands forum rules apply.
• Feel free to discuss anything about the teams and strategies you use, the enemy Pokemon and movesets you encounter, and your streak successes and failures. Theorymoning is encouraged as well. Free form discussion is really helpful, so don't be shy, even if you're posting about a very early loss or a poorly optimized team.
• Reliable information on how the AI plays is most appreciated. For example, the AI Pokemon don't switch out, even when Tricked a Choice Band while using a non-damaging move. Also, the AI still try to use status moves when you're behind a Substitutes. The more information we have, the better our streaks can get.
• Any other useful information concerning the Battle Frontier is also appreciated. Examples include that Dragonite and Tyranitar do not appear in level 50 challenges, and Soul Dew does not give any stat boosts when held in challenges.

Leaderboard Requirements:

• All records require an importable of the team used. A description is appreciated, but not mandatory.
• Records on emulators are eligible. Records on retail and emulator will be marked differently so that others wanting to replicate the streak are aware.
• When posting a record, please make it clear the facility it is for, what level you challenged at (if applicable), and whether you played on retail or emulator.
• Any record equal to or greater than the required wins for Gold Symbol of their respective facility (see below) requires some form of proof. A short description of your overall streak and how it ended is sufficient, or a photo with a camera or a screenshot of the emulator if you prefer.

Gold Symbols/Proof Requirements

• Battle Tower: 70 wins
• Battle Arena: 56 wins
• Battle Factory: 42 wins
• Battle Palace: 42 wins
• Battle Dome: 10 tournaments (40 rounds)
• Battle Pike: 10 passes through (70 rounds)
• Battle Pyramid: 10 rounds (70 floors)

If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Best of luck to everyone!

Potentially Useful Resources:
Smogon Resources:
Battle Frontier Max Stats Pokemon Database (Hozu’s post)
Hozu’s spreadsheet
Battle Frontier Speed Tiers (Level 100)
Battle Pyramid Wild Pokemon Guide by Expert Evan

Battle Frontier Damage Calculator by turskain
Battle Tower Guide by Kommo-o

Previous Gen III Battle Frontier Threads:
Emerald Battle Frontier Guide PLEASE HELP DEVELOPING
Gen 3 Battle Frontier Record thread
The Battle Frontier discussion thread!

Bulbapedia Pages:
Gen III Battle Frontier
Battle Arena
Battle Dome
Battle Factory
Battle Palace
Battle Pike
Battle Pyramid
Battle Tower
List of Trainers

Pokemon Emerald Gold Symbols Speedrun FAQs:
All Gold Symbols FAQ by Werster
All Gold Symbols FAQ by Exarion

Leaderboards

Battle Tower
Battle Dome
Battle Factory
Battle Palace
Battle Arena
Battle Pike
Battle Pyramid

Credits

Special thanks to the following. No contribution is too small!
Actaeon
Adedede
atsync
Expert Evan
FriendOfMrGolem120
Kommo-o
McMeghan
Miss Cottonee
Nelson Tangela
oiponabys
SoulWind
Texas Cloverleaf
Thomaz

And of course, the Orange Island mods:
Codraroll
DHR-107
NoCheese

 

[Golden Blissey]

* = ongoing streak, ^ = retail streak, $ = emulator streak

Battle Tower Singles Records:

#1. Adedede, (1036^*) - Level 100 - Slaking / Wobbuffet / Gengar
#2. Actaeon, (361$) - Level 100 - Alakazam / Zapdos / Tyranitar (team)
#3. Kommo-o, (323$) - Level 50 - Latios / Suicune / Steelix (team), (165$) - Level 50 - Starmie / Flygon / Scizor
#4. Jirachee, (252$) - Level 50 - Tauros / Suicune / Latias
#5. Texas Cloverleaf, (99^) - Level 100 - Suicune / Snorlax / Salamence (team, end of streak at 99)
#6. Suspicious Derivative, (70^*) - Level 50 - Salamence / Starmie / Snorlax

Battle Tower Doubles Records:

#1. Golden Blissey, (105^*) - Level 50 - Ludicolo / Kingdra / Raikou / Latios

 

[Golden Blissey]

* = ongoing streak, ^ = retail streak, $ = emulator streak

Battle Dome Singles Records:

#1. atsync, (48^) - Level 50 - Swampert / Skarmory / Shedinja
#2. Miss Cottonee, (22^) - Level 100 - Gengar / Milotic / Slaking
#3. oiponabys, (20^) - Level 100 - Metagross / Latios / Breloom
#4. Suspicious Derivative, (15^*) - Level 100 - Slaking / Starmie / Heracross*

*Additional Pokemon used in streak. See their post for details.

Battle Dome Doubles Records:

#1.

 

[Golden Blissey]

* = ongoing streak, ^ = retail streak, $ = emulator streak

Battle Factory Singles Records:

#1. atsync, (53^) - Level 50 - Post
#2. Suspicious Derivative, (34^) - Level 50 - Post
#3. Miss Cottonee, (30^) - Level 100 - Post

Battle Factory Doubles Records:

#1.

 

[Golden Blissey]

* = ongoing streak, ^ = retail streak, $ = emulator streak

Battle Palace Singles Records:

#1. Suspicious Derivative, (42^*) - Level 50 - Salamence / Starmie / Regice


Battle Palace Doubles Records:

#1.

 

[Golden Blissey]

* = ongoing streak, ^ = retail streak, $ = emulator streak

Battle Arena Records:

#1. Kommo-o, (56$*) - Level 100 - Starmie / Salamence / Metagross (team)
#1. Suspicious Derivative, (56^*) - Level 50 - Heracross / Starmie / Salamence

 

[Golden Blissey]

* = ongoing streak, ^ = retail streak, $ = emulator streak

Battle Pike Records:

#1. Suspicious Derivative, (140^) - Level 50 - Salamence / Starmie / Blissey*

*Additional Pokemon used in streak. See their post for details.

 

[Golden Blissey]

* = ongoing streak, ^ = retail streak, $ = emulator streak

Battle Pyramid Records:

#1. Suspicious Derivative, (70^*) - Level 50 - Slaking / Starmie / Blissey*

*Additional Pokemon used in streak. See their post for details.

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

Emerald Battle Frontier Guide PLEASE HELP DEVELOPING

We were asking for the Gen IV Frontier....which I have played. Still a fair amount of horseshit involved, but it's far more surmountable, I would argue. I ditched my old username and wasn't on Smogon when they came out, so maybe people here wanted the Gen IV one. Most of the discussion on the...

www.smogon.com

70 tower wins with Suicune / Snorlax / Salamence, streak is still active, cartridge

 

[oiponabys]

20 wins in Battle Dome Solo open level, on cartridge with this team https://pastebin.com/3EdALBrP
Streak over (did not lose, but I played too much with pomeg berry glitch)

 

[Kommo-o]

Ayeee it's finally here! Reporting 323 wins at Emerald Battle Tower with Team Azure. Did this streak on emulator and once my Gen 3 cartridge arrives, I will update from cartridge :D

 

[Adedede]

Great job! I'm updating my streak, I'll also upload a video on YouTube when I'll have time.

1036 wins reached, this is the team I've used in the last 500 battles:

SIMBA (Slaking) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Truant
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Shadow Ball
- Hyper Beam

LUNEDI' (Wobbuffet) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Shadow Tag
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Destiny Bond
- Counter
- Encore
- Mirror Coat

6 A.M. (Gengar) (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Destiny Bond
- Perish Song
- Protect
- Mean Look

 

[atsync]

Nice to see this here finally. I just gonna post some random bits of info here and then I'll start contributing streaks of my own.

Frontier Pokemon tiers

The following is mostly trivia, but it also includes some info that players should be mindful of when preparing for and playing streaks.

In the frontier, the Pokemon you see as opponents are roughly separated into "tiers" based on which trainers use them, when they appear, and how many sets they have. I like to separate them into Low, Mid, High and Legend tiers.

Low tier basically contains unevolved and weaker fully evolved Pokemon, covering the range of entries from 1-162 in Hozu's spreadsheets. These Pokemon only have 1 set and generally only appear very early during a streak before vanishing. Of these, only Shedinja can be encountered after 49 wins.

List of Low tier Pokemon

Abra, Aipom, Anorith, Ariados, Aron, Azurill, Bagon, Baltoy, Barboach, Beautifly, Beedrill, Beldum, Bellsprout, Bulbasaur, Butterfree, Cacnea, Carvanha, Cascoon, Caterpie, Charmander, Chikorita, Chinchou, Clamperl, Clefairy, Cleffa, Corphish, Corsola, Cubone, Cyndaquil, Delibird, Diglett, Ditto, Doduo, Dratini, Drowzee, Duskull, Dustox, Eevee, Ekans, Electrike, Elekid, Exeggcute, Farfetch'd, Feebas, Flaaffy, Gastly, Geodude, Goldeen, Grimer, Growlithe, Gulpin, Hoothoot, Hoppip, Horsea, Houndour, Igglybuff, Jigglypuff, Kabuto, Kakuna, Krabby, Kirlia, Koffing, Larvitar, Ledian, Ledyba, Lileep, Lombre, Lotad, Loudred, Luvdisc, Machop, Magby, Magikarp, Magnemite, Makuhita, Mankey, Mareep, Marill, Mawile, Meditite, Meowth, Metapod, Mudkip, Natu, Nidoran-F, Nidoran-M, Nidorina, Nidorino, Nincada, Nosepass, Numel, Nuzleaf, Oddish, Omanyte, Onix, Paras, Phanpy, Pichu, Pidgeotto, Pidgey, Pikachu, Pineco, Poliwag, Poliwhirl, Poochyena, Psyduck, Ralts, Rattata, Remoraid, Rhyhorn, Sandshrew, Seedot, Seel, Sentret, Shedinja, Shellder, Shroomish, Shuppet, Silcoon, Skiploom, Skitty, Slakoth, Slowpoke, Slugma, Smeargle, Smoochum, Snorunt, Snubbull, Spearow, Spheal, Spinarak, Spinda, Spoink, Squirtle, Staryu, Sunkern, Surskit, Swablu, Swinub, Taillow, Teddiursa, Tentacool, Togepi, Torchic, Totodile, Trapinch, Treecko, Tyrogue, Unown, Venonat, Vibrava, Voltorb, Vulpix, Weedle, Whismur, Wingull, Wooper, Wurmple, Wynaut, Yanma, Zigzagoon, Zubat

Mid tier is the next step up and contains "stronger" Pokemon as defined by the game. These Pokemon cover the range of entries from 163-372 in the spreadsheets. They each have 2 sets, with set 2 being the stronger set in most cases, and are most commonly encountered during battles 15-28 of a Tower streak. However, select species (which I've highlighted) can appear occasionally in certain trainer's pools after 49 wins, usually using their second "stronger" set only (but Wobbuffet and Ninjask notably have BOTH of their sets included in their respective post-49 wins pools).

List of Mid tier Pokemon

Absol, Arbok, Azumarill, Banette, Bayleef, Bellossom, Cacturne, Camerupt, Castform, Chansey, Charmeleon, Chimecho, Cloyster, Combusken, Crawdaunt, Croconaw, Delcatty, Dragonair, Dunsparce, Furret, Girafarig, Gligar, Gloom, Golbat, Gorebyss, Graveler, Grumpig, Grovyle, Haunter, Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, Hitmontop, Huntail, Illumise, Ivysaur, Jumpluff, Kabutops, Kadabra, Kecleon, Kingler, Lairon, Lickitung, Linoone, Lunatone, Machoke, Magcargo, Magneton, Mantine, Marshtomp, Masquerain, Metang, Mightyena, Minun, Murkrow, Ninjask, Noctowl, Octillery, Omastar, Parasect, Pelipper, Persian, Pidgeot, Piloswine, Pinsir, Politoed, Plusle, Poliwrath, Ponyta, Porygon, Primeape, Pupitar, Quilava, Qwilfish, Raticate, Relicanth, Roselia, Sableye, Sandslash, Scyther, Seadra, Seaking, Sealeo, Seviper, Sharpedo, Shelgon, Sneasel, Solrock, Stantler, Sudowoodo, Sunflora, Swalot, Swellow, Tangela, Togetic, Torkoal, Tropius, Venomoth, Vigoroth, Volbeat, Wailmer, Wartortle, Weepinbell, Wigglytuff, Wobbuffet, Zangoose

High tier basically contains fully evolved "strong" Pokemon not covered by the previous tiers. These are by far the most common Pokemon you'll encounter during the post-49 wins phase of your streak. Most of these Pokemon have 4 sets they can use against you. Initially, you'll only see set 1 variants of these species, but as you progress you'll see set 2, and then set 3, and finally set 4. Eventually, most of the trainers you face can use ANY of a Pokemon's sets against you, often forcing you to "scout" the set to determine how to best counter it.

On the following list, I've highlighted particular species. These guys are special because they have EIGHT different sets they can use rather than the traditional 4. Keep this in mind when scouting!

List of High tier Pokemon

Aerodactyl, Aggron, Alakazam, Altaria, Ampharos, Arcanine, Armaldo, Blastoise, Blaziken, Blissey, Breloom, Charizard, Claydol, Clefable, Cradily, Crobat, Dewgong, Dodrio, Donphan, Dugtrio, Dusclops, Electabuzz, Electrode, Espeon, Exeggutor, Exploud, Fearow, Feraligatr, Flareon, Flygon, Forretress, Gardevoir, Gengar, Glalie, Golduck, Golem, Granbull, Gyarados, Hariyama, Heracross, Houndoom, Hypno, Jolteon, Jynx, Kangaskhan, Kingdra, Lanturn, Lapras, Ludicolo, Machamp, Magmar, Manectric, Marowak, Medicham, Meganium, Metagross, Milotic, Miltank, Misdreavus, Mr. Mime, Muk, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Ninetales, Quagsire, Raichu, Rapidash, Rhydon, Salamence, Sceptile, Scizor, Shiftry, Shuckle, Skarmory, Slowbro, Slaking, Slowking, Snorlax, Starmie, Steelix, Swampert, Tauros, Tentacruel, Typhlosion, Umbreon, Ursaring, Vaporeon, Venusaur, Victreebel, Vileplume, Wailord, Walrein, Weezing, Whiscash, Xatu

Finally, we have the Legends tier, which obviously contains the Frontier-legal Legendary Pokemon. Dragonite and Tyranitar are also grouped with these guys by the game, despite not being Legendary Pokemon. These guys only start appeared after 49+ wins has been reached in the Battle Tower. The number of sets each species has varies: Dragonite and Tyranitar have a whooping TEN sets they can use, while Latias and Latios have eight and the rest have six.

Interestingly, Dragonite and Tyranitar don't seem to appear as opponents in Level 50 at all. Presumably this is because it is "illegal" to obtain a level 50 variant of those species. In addition, some of us in the Battle Tree Discord have speculated that set 5/6 variants of Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Raikou, Entei and Suicune don't appear in level 50 either. This is based off the fact that these specific sets are listed AFTER Dragonite and Tyranitar in the Frontier database, and that the game simply removes all sets in that range when playing at level 50. I do not have enough experience with the Frontier to confirm this but if anyone spots these and can debunk this feel free to let me know (preferably with evidence).

List of "Legendary" Pokemon

Articuno, Dragonite, Entei, Latias, Latios, Moltres, Raikou, Regice, Regirock, Registeel, Suicune, Tyranitar, Zapdos

Post-49 wins trainer archetypes

The following is a reference list that shows the various trainer types and which Pokemon/sets they can use. Note that any references to Dragonite and Tyranitar only apply to Open level. If you're playing level 50 you won't see either of these guys so you can just ignore them. We can tentatively assume the same about set 5/6 variants of Articuno/Zapdos/Moltres and Raikou/Entei/Suicune.

In cases where I say something like "Set 4 High tiers" without further elaboration of specific species or type, assume that the trainer can use any High tier of the given set.

Youngster Jaxon – Set 4 High tiers of specific species
Youngster Logan – Set 4 High tiers of specific species

Lass Emilie – Set 4 High tiers of specific species
Lass Josie – Set 4 High tiers of specific species

Species used by Youngsters/Lasses

Alakazam, Breloom, Clefable, Dewgong, Dodrio, Dugtrio, Dusclops, Electrode, Exploud, Fearow, Forretress, Glalie, Golem, Granbull, Hariyama, Hypno, Jynx, Lanturn, Ludicolo, Manectric, Marowak, Medicham, Misdreavus, Mr. Mime, Quagsire, Raichu, Rhydon, Shiftry, Skarmory, Victreebel, Vileplume, Whiscash, Xatu

---------------

Camper Armando – Set 4 High tiers of specific species
Camper Skyler – Set 4 High tiers of specific species

Picnicker Ruth – Set 4 High tiers of specific species
Picnicker Melody – Set 4 High tiers of specific species

Species used by Campers/Picnickers

Aerodactyl, Altaria, Ampharos, Armaldo, Claydol, Cradily, Donphan, Electabuzz, Gardevoir, Gengar, Golduck, Heracross, Houndoom, Kangaskhan, Machamp, Magmar, Miltank, Muk, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Ninetales, Porygon2, Rapidash, Scizor, Shuckle, Slowbro, Slowking, Steelix, Tauros, Tentacruel, Ursaring, Wailord, Weezing

---------------

Swimmer (M) Pedro – Set 4 High tier Water/Normal/Fighting + Sharpedo-2
Swimmer (M) Erick – Set 4 High tier Water/Normal/Fighting + Sharpedo-2

Swimmer (F) Elaine – Set 4 High tier Water/Normal/Ice
Swimmer (F) Joyce – Set 4 High tier Water/Normal/Ice

---------------

Pokefan (M) Todd – Set 4 High tiers of specific species + Delcatty/Porygon/Dunsparce/Wigglytuff/Chansey/Absol (set 2 only)
Pokefan (M) Gavin – Set 4 High tiers of specific species + Delcatty/Porygon/Dunsparce/Wigglytuff/Chansey/Absol (set 2 only)

Pokefan (F) Malory – Set 4 High tiers of specific species + Delcatty/Porygon/Dunsparce/Wigglytuff/Chansey/Absol (set 2 only)
Pokefan (F) Esther – Set 4 High tiers of specific species + Delcatty/Porygon/Dunsparce/Wigglytuff/Chansey/Absol (set 2 only)

Species used by Pokefans

Altaria, Ampharos, Blissey, Clefable, Dewgong, Espeon, Flareon, Flygon, Gardevoir, Jolteon, Jynx, Lapras, Lanturn, Ludicolo, Milotic, Miltank, Misdreavus, Mr. Mime, Ninetales, Porygon2, Quagsire, Rapidash, Raichu, Shuckle, Slowbro, Slowking, Snorlax, Umbreon, Vaporeon, Vileplume, Whiscash, Xatu

---------------

PKMN Breeder (M) Oscar – Set 4 High tiers of specific species
PKMN Breeder (M) Wilson – Set 4 High tiers of specific species

PKMN Breeder (F) Clare – Set 4 High tiers of specific species
PKMN Breeder (F) Tess – Set 4 High tiers of specific species

Species used by Breeders

Aggron, Arcanine, Blastoise, Blaziken, Blissey, Charizard, Crobat, Espeon, Exeggutor, Feraligatr, Flareon, Flygon, Gyarados, Jolteon, Kingdra, Lapras, Meganium, Metagross, Milotic, Salamence, Sceptile, Slaking, Snorlax, Starmie, Swampert, Typhlosion, Umbreon, Vaporeon, Venusaur, Walrein

---------------

Cooltrainer (M) Leon – Set 1-4 High tiers of specific species
Cooltrainer (M) Alonzo – Set 1-4 High tiers of specific species
Cooltrainer (M) Vince – High tiers with >4 sets (see tier list) + Latios/Dragonite/Tyranitar (all sets)
Cooltrainer (M) Bryon – All sets of Dragonite/Tyranitar/Legends (excluding Latias)

Species used by Leon

Aerodactyl, Ampharos, Claydol, Donphan, Exeggutor, Flygon, Gardevoir, Gengar, Heracross, Houndoom, Jolteon, Machamp, Muk, Ninetales, Porygon2 Scizor, Shuckle, Starmie, Steelix, Tentacruel, Ursaring, Vaporeon, Venusaur, Wailord

Species used by Alonzo

Aggron, Arcanine, Blastoise, Blaziken, Blissey, Charizard, Crobat, Espeon, Feraligatr, Flareon, Gyarados, Kingdra, Lapras, Meganium, Metagross, Milotic, Salamence, Sceptile, Slaking, Snorlax, Swampert, Typhlosion, Umbreon, Walrein

Cooltrainer (F) Ava – Set 1-4 High tiers of specific species
Cooltrainer (F) Miriam – Set 1-4 High tiers of specific species
Cooltrainer (F) Carrie – High tiers with >4 sets (see tier list) + Latias/Dragonite/Tyranitar (all sets)
Cooltrainer (F) Gillian – All sets of Dragonite/Tyranitar/Legends (excluding Latios)

Species used by Ava

Breloom, Clefable, Dewgong, Dodrio, Dugtrio, Dusclops, Fearow, Forretress, Granbull, Hariyama, Jynx, Lanturn, Manectric, Marowak, Medicham, Misdreavus, Mr. Mime, Quagsire, Raichu, Skarmory, Victreebel, Vileplume, Whiscash, Xatu

Species used by Miriam

Alakazam, Altaria, Armaldo, Cradily, Electabuzz, Electrode, Exploud, Glalie, Golduck, Golem, Hypno, Kangaskhan, Ludicolo, Magmar, Miltank, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Rapidash, Rhydon, Shiftry, Slowbro, Slowking, Tauros, Weezing

---------------

PKMN Ranger (M) Tyler – Set 4 High tiers
PKMN Ranger (M) Chaz – Set 3 High tiers
PKMN Ranger (M) Nelson – All sets of Dragonite/Tyranitar/Legends (excluding Latias)

PKMN Ranger (F) Shania – Set 2 High tiers
PKMN Ranger (F) Stella – Set 1 High tiers
PKMN Ranger (F) Dorine – All sets of Dragonite/Tyranitar/Legends (excluding Latios)

---------------

Dragon Tamer Maddox – High tier Dragons, “Dragonic” Pokemon (e.g. Gyarados, Sceptile) + Lati@s/Dragonite/Tyranitar (all sets)
Dragon Tamer Davin – High tier Dragons, “Dragonic” Pokemon (e.g. Gyarados, Sceptile) + Lati@s/Dragonite/Tyranitar (all sets)
Dragon Tamer Trevon – High tier Dragons, “Dragonic” Pokemon (e.g. Gyarados, Sceptile) + Lati@s/Dragonite/Tyranitar (all sets)

Species used by Dragon Tamers

Aerodactyl, Aggron, Altaria, Charizard, Flygon, Gyarados, Kingdra, Lapras, Milotic, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Rhydon, Salamence, Steelix

---------------

Black Belt Mateo – High tier Fighting/Rock (all sets), no legends
Black Belt Bret – High tier Fighting/Fire (all sets), no legends
Black Belt Raul – High tier Fighting/Steel (all sets), no legends

Battle Girl Kay – High tier Fighting/Rock (all sets), no legends
Battle Girl Elena – High tier Fighting/Fire (all sets), no legends
Battle Girl Alana – High tier Fighting/Steel (all sets), no legends

---------------

Expert (M) Alexas – All sets of specific High tiers, mostly with “high” Attack/physically oriented Pokemon + Regis/Tyranitar
Expert (M) Weston – All sets of specific High tiers, mostly with “high” Sp. Atk/specially oriented Pokemon + Regis/Latios/Tyranitar
Expert (M) Jasper – All sets of specific High tiers, mostly with “high” HP/Defense/Sp. Def. stats + Regis/Tyranitar

Expert (F) Nadia – All sets of specific High tiers, mostly with “high” Attack/physically oriented Pokemon + Regis/Dragonite
Expert (F) Miranda – All sets of specific High tiers, mostly with “high” Sp. Atk/specially oriented Pokemon + Regis/Latias/Tyranitar
Expert (F) Emma – All sets of specific High tiers, mostly with “high” HP/Defense/Sp. Def. stats + Regis/Dragonite

Species used by Alexas/Nadia

Aerodactyl, Aggron, Breloom, Gyarados, Heracross, Kingdra, Machamp, Marowak, Metagross, Rhydon, Salamence, Scizor, Steelix, Ursaring

Species used by Weston/Miranda

Alakazam, Ampharos, Blaziken, Crobat, Espeon, Gardevoir, Gengar, Houndoom, Jynx, Misdreavus, Sceptile, Starmie, Swampert

Species used by Jasper/Emma

Blissey, Cradily, Dusclops, Exeggutor, Lapras, Ludicolo, Milotic, Miltank, Quagsire, Shuckle, Slowbro, Slowking, Snorlax, Umbreon, Wailord, Walrein

---------------

Psychic (M) Rolando – High tier Psychic + Latios/legendary birds (all sets) + Wobbuffet (both sets)
Psychic (M) Stanly – High tier Psychic + Latios/legendary beasts (all sets) + Wobbuffet (both sets)
Psychic (M) Dario – High tier Psychic + Latios/Regis (all sets) + Wobbuffet (both sets)

Psychic (F) Karlee – High tier Psychic + Latias/legendary birds (all sets) + Wobbuffet (both sets)
Psychic (M) Jaylin – High tier Psychic + Latias/legendary beasts (all sets) + Wobbuffet (both sets)
Psychic (M) Ingrid – High tier Psychic + Latios/Regis (all sets) + Wobbuffet (both sets)

---------------

Hex Maniac Delilah – High tier Ghost/Dark (all sets) + Sharpedo/Absol (set 2 only)
Hex Maniac Carly – High tier Poison/Ghost (all sets) + Seviper-2
Hex Maniac Lexie – High tier Dark/Poison (all sets) + Seviper/Sharpedo/Absol (set 2 only)

---------------

Pokemaniac Miller – Set 1/2 of specific High tiers + Dragonite/Tyranitar (all sets) + Zangoose-2
Pokemoniac Marv – Set 3/4 of specific High tiers + Dragonite/Tyranitar (all sets) + Zangoose-2
Pokemaniac Layton – All sets of specific High tiers + Dragonite/Tyranitar (all sets) + Zangoose-2

Species used by Miller/Marv

Aerodactyl, Aggron, Blastoise, Blissey, Charizard, Donphan, Exploud, Feraligatr, Flygon, Glalie, Golem, Granbull, Gyarados, Kangaskhan, Lapras, Marowak, Meganium, Metagross, Miltank, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Rhydon, Salamence, Skarmory, Slaking, Snorlax, Steelix, Swampert, Tauros, Ursaring, Venusaur, Wailord, Walrein

Species used by Layton

Aerodactyl, Aggron, Charizard, Gyarados, Lapras, Meganium, Metagross, Salamence, Snorlax, Steelix, Swampert, Ursaring

---------------

Gentleman Brooks – Set 4 High tiers
Gentleman Gregory – High tiers with >4 sets (see tier list) + Dragonite/Tyranitar (all sets) + Lati@s (sets 1-4 only)
Gentleman Reese – All sets of Dragonite/Tyranitar/Legends

---------------

Triathlete (M runner) Mason – Set 4 High tiers
Triathlete (M runner) Toby – Set 3 High tier

Triathlete (F runner) Dorothy – Set 2 High tier
Triathlete (F runner) Piper – Set 1 High tier

Triathlete (M swimmer) Finn – High tier Ice/Fighting (all sets) + Water (sets 3-4 only, 3-8 for Starmie/Lapras) + Sneasel/Cloyster (set 2 only)
Triathlete (M swimmer) Samir – High tier Ice/Fighting (all sets) + Water (sets 3-4 only, 3-8 for Starmie/Lapras) + Sneasel/Cloyster (set 2 only)

Triathlete (F swimmer) Fiona – High tier Ice/Fighting (all sets) + Water (sets 1-2 only, sets 1/2/5-8 for Starmie/Lapras) + Sneasel/Cloyster (set 2 only)
Triathlete (F swimmer) Gloria – High tier Ice/Fighting (all sets) + Water (sets 1-2 only, sets 1/2/5-8 for Starmie/Lapras) + Sneasel/Cloyster (set 2 only)

Triathlete (M cyclist) Nico – Set 4 High tier
Triathlete (M cyclist) Jeremy – Set 3 High tier

Triathlete (F cyclist) Caitlyn – Set 2 High tier
Triathlete (F cyclist) Reena – Set 1 High tier

---------------

Bug Maniac Avery – High tier Bug (all sets) + Parasect/Masquerain/Venomoth/Scyther/Pinsir (set 2 only) + Shedinja-1 + Ninjask (both sets)
Bug Maniac Liam – High tier Bug (all sets) + Parasect/Masquerain/Venomoth/Scyther/Pinsir (set 2 only) + Shedinja-1 + Ninjask (both sets)

---------------

Fisherman Theo – High tier Waters (Lanturn/Whiscash/Wailord/Tentacruel/Starmie only, all sets) + Seaking/Sharpedo/Mantine/Crawdaunt/Kingler/Octillery/Huntail/Gorebyss/Relicanth/Cloyster (set 2 only)
Fisherman Bailey – High tier Waters (Lanturn/Whiscash/Wailord/Tentacruel/Starmie only, all sets) + Seaking/Sharpedo/Mantine/Crawdaunt/Kingler/Octillery/Huntail/Gorebyss/Relicanth/Cloyster (set 2 only)

---------------

Ruin Maniac Hugo – High tier Rock/Steel + Regis (all sets)
Ruin Maniac Bryce – High tier Rock/Steel + Regis (all sets)

---------------

Collector Gideon – Starters (all sets)
Collector Tristran – Starters (all sets)

---------------

Guitarist Charles – High tier Electric/Dark (all sets) + Absol-2 + legendary birds (all sets)
Guitarist Raymond – High tier Pokemon/Regis/Lati@s sets with Thunder Wave

---------------

Bird Keeper Dirk – High tier Flying (all sets) + legendary birds (sets 1-4) + Pidgeot-2
Bird Keeper Harold – High tier Flying (all sets) + legendary birds (sets 1-4) + Pidgeot-2

---------------

Sailor Omar – High tier Water/Fighting (all sets)
Sailor Pete – High tier Water/Fighting (all sets)

---------------

Hiker Dev – High tier Rock/Ground + Tyranitar (all sets)
Hiker Corey – High tier Rock/Ground + Tyranitar (all sets)

---------------

Kindler Andre – High tier Fire/Ghost + Dragonite (all sets)
Kindler Ferris – High tier Fire/Ghost + Dragonite (all sets)

---------------

Parasol Lady Alivia – High tier Pokemon sets with Hail/Rain Dance/Sunny Day (if set 1-4 only, no legends)
Parasol Lady Paige – High tier Pokemon sets with Hail/Rain Dance/Sunny Day (if set 1-4 only, no legends)

---------------

Beauty Anya – Eeveelutions (all sets)
Beauty Dawn – High tier Pokemon/Legendary sets with Attract

---------------

Aroma Lady Abby – High tier Grass/Psychic (all sets) + Wobbuffet (both sets) + Sunflora/Jumpluff/Tropius/Cacturne/Bellossom (set 2 only)
Aroma Lady Greta – High tier Grass/Psychic (all sets) + Wobbuffet (both sets) + Sunflora/Jumpluff/Tropius/Cacturne/Bellossom (set 2 only)

AI behaviour

During early rounds (the first 4 rounds of the Tower I believe), the AI tends to act rather randomly and will sometimes use nonsensical options (e.g. Thunderbolt into a Ground-type, status into an already status-ed Pokemon, Attract on a genderless Pokemon). This, on top of the generally weaker species you see, makes these rounds easier overall, although the randomness of the AI can sometimes make switching less safe.

After this time, the AI becomes "smarter" and starts to use the "correct" moves. As a result, you will no longer be able to rely on AI "stupidity" to win as much as before. However, the AI also follows some rough attacking patterns that can make them predictable.

The following is a list of some behaviours I've noted from "smart" AI opponents (expanded from the list I posted in a previous thread):

• If the AI is in a situation where they know they have a move that can/will KO your Pokemon, it will generally favour this move no matter what.
  • They tend to favour this option above all others.
  • If they have multiple moves that can KO you, they may use any of them. The AI can sometimes shoot themselves in the foot because of this - they may try and fail to KO you with a move that only had a 10% chance to do so, when they had another move with a guaranteed chance to KO, for example.
  • However, if the AI has a priority move like Quick Attack that can KO you at your current HP level, they will usually favour that above all other options.
• If the AI can't KO, they'll typically use their most powerful move against your current Pokemon.
  • They tend to only react to whatever they're facing and usually won't try to "predict" a switch-in from something that it has faced in the battle already. For example, if you were facing a SPIT Starmie with Milotic, and subsequently switched to a Flygon on Thunderbolt, the AI will only act next turn in accordance with the fact that it's facing a Flygon for that turn (i.e. it'll use Ice Beam) - it won't take Milotic's previous presence in battle into account to try and "predict" a switch-in by throwing out a Thunderbolt. This fact can be used to our advantage to PP stall dangerous Pokemon out of their moves by switching back-and-forth between team mates on resisted moves. The AI will usually never pick up on this.
  • As a result of this and the above, 4-attacks sets tend to be the easiest to predict.
  • If a opponent's preferred move runs out of PP, the opponent seems to attack somewhat randomly after that (rather than select their second strongest attack), making them harder to predict.
• The AI is generally not aware of abilities that grant an immunity to certain moves (e.g. Volt Absorb) until they trigger them, but once they do, they'll generally refuse to use the moves that trigger it again unless you switch away.
• Sets involving status moves (especially no-attacks sets, such as those awful Double Team spammers) can be harder to predict sometimes.
  • If they can't KO you, they'll often try using status moves instead.
  • They'll generally try anything that may be effective against you but the order in which they use these moves is sometimes random. They seem to have a preference for boosting stats before inflicting status however, so if the AI carries moves that boost themselves, they will usually prioritize using those over other status moves (Toxic, Leech Seed, etc).
  • Pokemon with status moves tend to use these moves against Pokemon currently not inflicted by status if they are unable to KO you with one of their moves. They also tend to not use these moves again once you are inflicted with the status, at least until it wears off. This applies to volatile and non-volatile status.
    • In the same example above, if the Pokemon has already successfully used Leech Seed and Toxic on you, they probably won't use these again and will continue boosting and protecting instead. If you were to remove these statuses with a switch or through some other method, they would be inclined to use them again.
• The AI is content with getting into boosting wars with you if you decide to set up. The amount they decide to boost seems to depend on the move.
  • For most moves that boost power (e.g. Curse, Calm Mind), they will keep boosting until they can KO you, or until they've maxed out their boosts.
  • Dragon Dance is slightly different. They prefer to use this only until they out-speed you, and then they'll start attacking regardless of the power level.
    • As a general rule, the AI seems to like having the Speed advantage and will use whatever means they have to get it. This can include stat-changing moves (Icy Wind, Dragon Dance, etc) or status (i.e. paralysis)
• The AI is terrible at playing with status moves against Substitute. For example, they will often happily spam status moves repeatedly into Substitute, allowing for some free set-up opportunities.
• The AI almost never switches out of your Pokemon no matter how bad the match-up is for them - they'll stick with the Pokemon even if it has absolutely no way to damage your Pokemon (e.g. a mono-Electric attacker against a Ground-type). This is what allows crippling/TrickBand strategies to work.
  • They are some situations where the AI may switch:
    • Wonder Guard is a notable exception to the above rule. If Shedinja completely walls a set and the opponent has a back-up Pokemon that has some way to hurt Shedinja, they'll usually switch immediately.
    • The most common situation where a switch will occur for most teams relates to resist switching. If you attack a Pokemon with one of your moves, and the opposing Pokemon has a back-up Pokemon that resists or is immune to that attack, they may switch to the resistant Pokemon in an attempt to predict the same move. This can be played around sometimes if you have an alternate move that can do comparable damage and/or is sufficient to KO them, so be sure to look out for this. The AI only cares about resistances in these situations and has no regard for whether the Pokemon that it is switching in can actually do damage to your Pokemon or not.
      • I am not certain if this also extends to immunities/resistances granted by abilities (Volt Absorb, Thick Fat, etc.) - the rules around this are different in each generation. I can't recall ever seeing it though.
    • Some Pokemon carry moves like Explosion and Baton Pass which, when used, results in the opponent "switching" their Pokemon. This should be kept in mind when using crippling strategies.
    • If the opponent is afflicted with Perish Song, they usually stay in until the counter drops to 1 and then switch immediately, assuming they can do so.
    • If the opponent has the ability Natural Cure, is asleep AND has at least 50% of its HP remaining, it may switch to cure itself. Seriously.
• A Pokemon with Sleep Talk will favour this move if sleeping. Pokemon with Rest and Sleep Talk are unable to figure out when it is about to wake up after using Rest and will attempt to use Sleep Talk on the turn it wakes up, resulting in failure. The same probably applies to Snore, but the only set that has Snore in the Frontier is Sealeo1, which only appears during the early "random" AI rounds.
• Psych Up is used by the opponent in ways that can be exploited by us.
  • If you start setting up against a Pokemon with Psych Up, the Pokemon will tend to eventually start spamming Psych Up in an attempt to match your boosts. They may not start using it immediately, but after about 3-5 turns of boosting, they'll start spamming it endlessly until you stop boosting and they have copied the same boosts you have. They can do this EVEN if they are low on health.
  • Some sets have Swagger and Psych Up together and they often like to combo these moves together - Swagger to confuse you and boost your attack, and then Psych Up to copy the boosts for themselves. This can be abused for a free switch out to cure the confusion.
• The AI like to use recovery moves like Recover when sitting at around 60% HP or less.
• The AI also like to set weather if it isn't active yet.
• The AI tends to use Counter and Mirror Coat somewhat erratically, just randomly throwing out these moves whenever they like.
  • I have even observed opponents attempt to use these moves when their HP is in the red and they have no prospect of surviving an attack to reflect back at you.
• The AI also tends to use OHKO moves like Sheer Cold randomly as well. Sets with OHKOes moves alongside more standard moves will often alternate between the OHKO move and its other moves.
• The AI likes to use Explosion when it HP drops very low/into the red.

Some doubles AI behaviour:

• The AI loves spread damage moves, ESPECIALLY if their partner is immune to the attack.
• If a Skill Swap user is paired with a Pokemon with Truant, the Pokemon will favour using Skill Swap on its Truant ally over other options (including KOing if it’s possible). After acquiring Truant themselves and loafing the next turn, the Skill Swap user will attempt to swap it to one of the opposing Pokemon.

If there's anything else to add or anything here that isn't correct/clear, let me know.

Speed tiers

I have made more complete speed tiers for both Level 50 and Open. These lists only include sets that appear during 49+ win streaks since I believe these are the main sets that you should be preparing for. This basically includes all sets of High tier and Legends, as well as selected Mid and Low tier sets that may appear occasionally from specific opponents.

For Open, I set the level to 100. I have not included Dragonite, Tyranitar or set 5/6 variants of Articuno/Zapdos/Moltres/Raikou/Entei/Suicune for the level 50 list for now, nor have I included Frontier Brain Pokemon. Please let me know if you see any errors and I'll amend it.

Level 50 speed tiers

200
Jolteon-4

182
Crobat-3, Crobat-4, Jolteon-1

180
Ninjask-1, Ninjask-2

172
Dugtrio-1, Dugtrio-2, Dugtrio-3, Dugtrio-4, Sceptile-1, Sceptile-2, Sceptile-4, Sneasel-2

171
Aerodactyl-1, Aerodactyl-2

167
Raikou-1, Raikou-2, Raikou-3, Raikou-4, Starmie-3, Starmie-4, Starmie-5, Starmie-7, Starmie-8

166
Gengar1

162
Espeon-2, Espeon-3, Espeon-4, Gengar-2, Gengar-3, Gengar-4, Gengar-5, Gengar-6, Gengar-7, Gengar-8, Tauros-1

161
Sceptile-3

160
Electrode-2, Electrode-3, Electrode-4

157
Electabuzz-3, Manectric-1, Manectric-2, Manectric-3, Manectric-4, Scyther-2

156
Kangaskhan-3

152
Charizard-1, Charizard-2, Charizard-3, Dodrio-1, Dodrio-2, Dodrio-3, Dodrio-4, Entei-1, Entei-2, Entei-3, Entei-4, Fearow-1, Fearow-2, Fearow-3, Flygon-1, Flygon-2, Ninetales-1, Ninetales-2, Ninetales-3, Ninetales-4, Raichu-1, Raichu-3, Salamence-1, Salamence-7, Salamence-8, Typhlosion-1, Typhlosion-3, Zapdos-1, Zapdos-2

151
Espeon-1, Latias-8, Latios-8

150
Aerodactyl-3, Aerodactyl-4, Crobat-1, Crobat-2, Heracross-2, Jolteon-2, Jolteon-3, Misdreavus-4, Pinsir-2

149
Xatu-3

147
Arcanine-1, Arcanine-2, Arcanine-3, Arcanine-4, Houndoom-2, Houndoom-3, Houndoom-4

146
Electabuzz-2, Rapidash-2, Rapidash-3, Rapidash-4

145
Gardevoir-6, Magmar-2, Meganium-3

144
Electrode-1

143
Pidgeot-2

142
Kangaskhan-4, Moltres-3, Moltres-5, Venomoth-2, Zangoose-2

141
Charizard-4, Flygon-3, Flygon-4, Raichu-1, Rapidash-1, Salamence-2, Tentacruel-3, Typhlosion-2, Typhlosion-4, Zapdos-3

140
Alakazam-1, Alakazam-2, Alakazam-3, Alakazam-4

137
Articuno-1, Golduck-4, Heracross-3, Heracross-4, Suicune-1, Suicune-3, Suicune-4

136
Houndoom-1, Sharpedo-2

135
Starmie-1, Starmie-2, Starmie-6

134
Breloom-1

133
Gardevoir-1, Gyarados-2

132
Blaziken-3, Gardevoir-3, Gardevoir-4, Gardevoir-8, Glalie-2, Medicham-1, Medicham-2, Medicham-3

130
Jumpluff-2, Latias-1, Latias-2, Latias-3, Latias-4, Latias-5, Latias-6, Latias-7, Latios-1, Latios-2, Latios-3, Latios-4, Latios-5, Latios-6, Latios-7, Tauros-2, Tauros-3, Tauros-4

128
Flareon-3

127
Absol-2

126
Golduck-2

125
Electabuzz-4

123
Lapras-2

122
Breloom-2, Breloom-3, Breloom-4, Delcatty-2, Metagross-5

121
Gardevoir-5, Glalie-3

120
Exploud-3, Fearow-4, Miltank-1, Miltank-2, Miltank-3, Miltank-4, Raichu-4, Salamence-3, Salamence-4, Salamence-5, Salamence-6, Slaking-1, Slaking-2, Slaking-3, Slaking-4, Tentacruel-1, Tentacruel-2, Tentacruel-4, Zapdos-4

119
Lanturn-3, Lanturn-4

115
Jynx-1, Jynx-2, Jynx-3, Jynx-4, Xatu-1, Xatu-2, Xatu-4

113
Magmar-3, Magmar-4

112
Donphan-2, Electabuzz-1

111
Metagross-1, Metagross-2, Metagross-3, Metagross-8

110
Kangaskhan-1, Kangaskhan-2, Moltres-1, Moltres-2, Mr. Mime-2, Mr. Mime-3, Mr. Mime-4

105
Articuno-2, Articuno-3, Articuno-4, Golduck-3, Heracross-1, Kingdra-1, Kingdra-2, Kingdra-3, Kingdra-4, Misdreavus-1, Misdreavus-2, Misdreavus-3, Nidoking-1, Nidoking-2, Nidoking-3, Nidoking-4, Suicune-2

102
Magmar-1

101
Gyarados-1, Gyarados-3, Gyarados-4, Milotic-1, Milotic-2, Milotic-3, Milotic-4, Shedinja-1

100
Altaria-1, Altaria-2, Altaria-3, Altaria-4, Blaziken-1, Blaziken-2, Blaziken-4, Gardevoir-2, Gardevoir-7, Glalie-1, Glalie-4, Medicham-4, Meganium-1, Meganium-2, Meganium-4, Shiftry-2, Shiftry-3, Shiftry-4, Venusaur-2, Venusaur-3, Venusaur-4

99
Moltres-4, Mr. Mime-1

98
Blastoise-1, Blatoise-3, Blastoise-4, Feraligatr-3, Feraligatr-4

97
Marowak-2, Marowak-3, Marowak-4

96
Nidoqueen-1, Nidoqueen-2, Nidoqueen-3, Nidoqueen-4, Ursaring-3

95
Claydol-1, Claydol-2, Claydol-3, Claydol-4, Kingler-2

94
Golduck-1

90
Cloyster-2, Dewgong-2, Dewgong-3, Dewgong-4, Ludicolo-2, Ludicolo-3, Ludicolo-4, Mantine-2, Metagross-4, Metagross-6, Metagross-7, Shiftry-1, Skarmory-1, Skarmory-2, Skarmory-3, Skarmory-4, Venusaur-1, Victreebel-2, Victreebel-3, Victreebel-4

88
Blastoise-2, Feraligatr-1, Feraligatr-2, Exploud-1, Exploud-2, Exploud-4, Seaking-2

87
Hypno-2, Hypno-3, Hypno-4, Lanturn-2

85
Flareon-1, Seviper-2, Scizor-1, Scizor-2, Scizor-3, Scizor-4, Umbreon-1, Umbreon-2, Umbreon-3, Umbreon-4, Vaporeon-1, Vaporeon-2, Vaporeon-3, Vaporeon-4, Walrein-2, Walrein-3

81
Dewgong-1, Ludicolo-1, Victreebel-1

80
Clefable-2, Clefable-3, Clefable-4, Lapras-1, Lapras-3, Lapras-4, Lapras-5, Lapras-6, Lapras-7, Lapras-8, Porygon2-1, Porygon2-2, Porygon2-3, Porygon2-4, Swampert-1, Swampert-2, Wailord-2, Wailord-3, Wailord-4, Weezing-1, Weezing-2, Weezing-3, Weezing-4, Whiscash-1, Whiscash-2, Whiscash-3

78
Hypno-1, Lanturn-1

76
Flareon-2, Flareon-4, Walrein-1, Walrein-4

75
Ampharos-2, Ampharos-3, Ampharos-4, Blissey-1, Blissey-2, Blissey-3, Blissey-4, Cacturne-2, Crawdaunt-2, Exeggutor-2, Exeggutor-3, Exeggutor-4, Machamp-1, Machamp-2, Machamp-3, Machamp-4, Machamp-5, Machamp-6, Machamp-7, Machamp-8, Ursaring-1, Ursaring-2, Ursaring-4, Ursaring-5, Ursaring-6, Ursaring-7, Ursaring-8

72
Clefable-1, Masquerain-2, Swampert-3, Swampert-4, Wailord-1, Whiscash-4

70
Aggron-1, Aggron-2, Aggron-3, Aggron-4, Bellossom-2, Donphan-1, Donphan-3, Donphan-4, Hariyama-1, Hariyama-3, Hariyama-4, Muk-1, Muk-2, Regirock-1, Regirock-2, Regirock-3, Regirock-4, Regice-1, Regice-4, Registeel-1, Registeel-3, Registeel-4, Vileplume-1, Vileplume-2, Vileplume-3

67
Ampharos-1, Exeggutor-1, Relicanth-2

65
Armaldo-1, Armaldo-2, Armaldo-3, Armaldo-4, Golem-1, Golem-2, Golem-3, Golem-4, Gorebyss-2, Granbull-1, Granbull-3, Huntail-2, Marowak-1, Octillery-2, Wigglytuff-2

64
Tropius-2

63
Chansey-2, Cradily-2, Cradily-3, Cradily-4, Hariyama-2, Muk-3, Muk-4, Regice-2, Regice-3, Registeel-2, Vileplume-4

60
Forretress-1, Forretress-2, Forretress-4, Kecleon-2, Rhydon-1, Rhydon-2, Rhydon-3, Rhydon-4

58
Dunsparce-2, Granbull-2, Granbull-4

57
Cradily-1

55
Quagsire-1, Quagsire-3

54
Forretress-3, Porygon-2

53
Wobbuffet1, Wobbuffet2

50
Parasect-2, Slowbro-2, Slowking-2, Slowking-4, Snorlax-1, Snorlax-2, Snorlax-3, Snorlax-4, Snorlax-5, Snorlax06, Snorlax-7, Snorlax-8, Steelix-1, Steelix-2, Steelix-3, Steelix-4

49
Quagsire-2, Quagsire-4

45
Dusclops-1, Dusclops-2, Dusclops-3, Dusclops-4, Slowbro-1, Slowbro-3, Slowbro-4, Slowking-1, Slowking-3, Sunflora-2

25
Shuckle-2, Shuckle-3, Shuckle-4

22
Shuckle1

Open (level 100) speed tiers

394
Jolteon-4

359
Crobat-3, Crobat-4, Jolteon-1

356
Ninjask-1, Ninjask-2

339
Dugtrio-1, Dugtrio-2, Dugtrio-3, Dugtrio-4, Sceptile-1, Sceptile-2, Sceptile-4

338
Aerodactyl-1, Aerodactyl-2, Sneasel-2

329
Raikou-1, Raikou-2, Raikou-3, Raikou-4, Raikou-5, Starmie-3, Starmie-4, Starmie-5, Starmie-7, Starmie-8

327
Gengar-1

319
Espeon-2, Espeon-3, Espeon-4, Gengar-2, Gengar-3, Gengar-4, Gengar-5, Gengar-6, Gengar-7, Gengar-8, Tauros-1

318
Sceptile-3

316
Electrode-2, Electrode-3, Electrode-4

309
Electabuzz-3, Manectric-1, Manectric-2, Manectric-3, Manectric-4, Scyther-2

306
Kangaskhan-3

299
Charizard-1, Charizard-2, Charizard-3, Dodrio-1, Dodrio-2, Dodrio-3, Dodrio-4, Entei-1, Entei-2, Entei-3, Entei-4, Fearow-1, Fearow-2, Fearow-3, Flygon-1, Flygon-2, Ninetales-1, Ninetales-2, Ninetales-3, Ninetales-4, Raichu-2, Raichu-3, Salamence-1, Salamence-7, Salamence-8, Typhlosion-1, Typhlosion-3, Zapdos-1, Zapdos-2

298
Espeon-1, Latias-8, Latios-8

296
Aerodactyl-3, Aerodactyl-4, Crobat-1, Crobat-2, Jolteon-2, Jolteon-3

295
Heracross-2, Misdreavus-4, Pinsir-2

294
Xatu-3

289
Arcanine-1, Arcanine-2, Arcanine-3, Arcanine-4, Houndoom-2, Houndoom-3, Houndoom-4

288
Electabuzz-2, Rapidash-2, Rapidash-3, Rapidash-4

285
Magmar-2

284
Electrode-1, Gardevoir-6, Meganium-3

281
Pidgeot-2

279
Kangaskhan-4, Moltres-3, Moltres-5, Venomoth-2, Zangoose-2

278
Charizard-4, Flygon-3, Flygon-4, Raichu-1, Rapidash-1, Salamence-2, Tentacruel-3, Typhlosion-2, Typhlosion-4, Zapdos-3, Zapdos-6

276
Alakazam-1, Alakazam-2, Alakazam-3, Alakazam-4

269
Articuno-1, Golduck-4, Heracross-3, Heracross-4, Suicune-1, Suicune-3, Suicune-4

268
Houndoom-1, Sharpedo-2

266
Raikou-6, Starmie-1, Starmie-2, Starmie-6

262
Breloom-1

261
Gardevoir-1, Gyarados-2

259
Blaziken-3, Dragonite-6, Dragonite-7, Dragonite-8, Gardevoir-3, Gardevoir-4, Gardveoir-8, Glalie-2, Medicham-1, Medicham-2, Medicham-3

256
Jumpluff-2, Latias-1, Latias-2, Latias-3, Latias-4, Latias-5, Latias-6, Latias-7, Latios-1, Latios-2, Latios-3, Latios-4, Latios-5, Latios-6, Latios-7, Tauros-2, Tauros-3, Tauros-4

251
Flareon-3

249
Absol-2

248
Golduck-2

246
Electabuzz-4

240
Lapras-2

239
Breloom-2, Breloom-3, Breloom-4, Delcatty-2, Metagross-5

238
Gardevoir-5, Glalie-3

236
Entei-5, Entei-6, Fearow-4, Miltank-1, Miltank-2, Miltank-3, Miltank-4, Raichu-4, Salamence-3, Salamence-4, Salamence-5, Salamence-6, Slaking-1, Slaking-2, Slaking-3, Slaking-4, Tentacruel-1, Tentacruel-2, Tentacruel-4, Zapdos-4, Zapdos-5

235
Exploud-3

233
Lanturn-3, Lanturn-4

226
Jynx-1, Jynx-2, Jynx-3, Jynx-4, Xatu-1, Xatu-2, Xatu-4

222
Magmar-3, Magmar-4

221
Electabuzz-1

218
Donphan-2, Metagross-1, Metagross-2, Metagross-3, Metagross-8

216
Kangaskhan-1, Kangaskhan-2, Moltres-1, Moltres-2, Moltres-6, Mr. Mime-2, Mr. Mime-3, Mr. Mime-4

206
Articuno-2, Articuno-3, Articuno-4, Articuno-5, Articuno-6, Golduck-3, Heracross-1, Kingdra-1, Kingdra-2, Kingdra-3, Kingdra-4, Misdreavus-1, Misdreavus-2, Misdreavus-3, Nidoking-1, Nidoking-2, Nidoking-3, Nidoking-4, Suicune-2, Suicune-5, Suicune-6

199
Magmar-1

198
Gyarados-1, Gyarados-3, Gyarados-4, Milotic-1, Milotic-2, Milotic-3, Milotic-4

196
Altaria-1, Altaria-2, Altaria-3, Altaria-4, Blaziken-1, Blaziken-2, Blaziken-4, Dragonite-1, Dragonite-2, Dragonite-3, Dragonite-4, Dragonite-5, Dragonite-9, Dragonite-10, Gardevoir-2, Gardevoir-7, Glalie-1, Glalie-4, Medicham-4, Meganium-1, Meganium-2, Meganium-4, Shedinja-1, Shiftry-2, Shiftry-3, Shiftry-4, Venusaur-2, Venusaur-3, Venusaur-4

194
Moltres-4, Mr. Mime-1

192
Blastoise-1, Blastoise-3, Blastoise-4, Feraligatr-3, Feraligatr-4

189
Marowak-2, Marowak-3, Marowak-4

188
Nidoqueen-1, Nidoqueen-2, Nidoqueen-3, Nidoqueen-4, Ursaring-3

186
Claydol-1, Claydol-2, Claydol-3, Claydol-4, Kingler-2

185
Golduck-1

176
Cloyster-2, Dewgong-2, Dewgong-3, Dewgong-4, Ludicolo-2, Ludicolo-3, Ludicolo-4, Mantine-2, Metagross-4, Metagross-6, Metagross-7, Shiftry-1, Skarmory-1, Skarmory-2, Skarmory-3, Skarmory-4, Venusaur-1, Victreebel-2, Victreebel-3, Victreebel-4

172
Blastoise-2, Feraligatr-1, Feraligatr-2, Exploud-1, Exploud-2, Exploud-4, Seaking-2

170
Hypno-2, Hypno-3, Hypno-4, Lanturn-2

166
Flareon-1, Seviper-2, Scizor-1, Scizor-2, Scizor-3, Scizor-4, Umbreon-1, Umbreon-2, Umbreon-3, Umbreon-4, Vaporeon-1, Vaporeon-2, Vaporeon-3, Vaporeon-4, Walrein-2, Walrein-3

158
Dewgong-1, Ludicolo-1, Tyranitar-1, Tyranitar-2, Tyranitar-3, Tyranitar-4, Tyranitar-5, Tyranitar-6, Tyranitar-7, Tyranitar-8, Tyranitar-9, Tyranitar-10, Victreebel-1

156
Clefable-2, Clefable-3, Clefable-4, Lapras-1, Lapras-3, Lapras-4, Lapras-5, Lapras-6, Lapras-7, Lapras-8, Porygon2-1, Porygon2-2, Porygon2-3, Porygon2-4, Swampert-1, Swampert-2, Wailord-2, Wailord-3, Wailord-4, Weezing-1, Weezing-2, Weezing-3, Weezing-4, Whiscash-1, Whiscash-2, Whiscash-3

153
Hypno-1, Lanturn-1

149
Flareon-2, Flareon-4, Walrein-1, Walrein-4

146
Ampharos-2, Ampharos-3, Ampharos-4, Blissey-1, Blissey-2, Blissey-3, Blissey-4, Cacturne-2, Crawdaunt-2, Exeggutor-2, Exeggutor-3, Exeggutor-4, Machamp-1, Machamp-2, Machamp-3, Machamp-4, Machamp-5, Machamp-6, Machamp-7, Machamp-8, Ursaring-1, Ursaring-2, Ursaring-4, Ursaring-5, Ursaring-6, Ursaring-7, Ursaring-8

140
Clefable-1, Masquerain-2, Swampert-3, Swampert-4, Wailord-1, Whiscash-4

136
Aggron-1, Aggron-2, Aggron-3, Aggron-4, Bellossom-2, Donphan-1, Donphan-3, Donphan-4, Hariyama-1, Hariyama-3, Hariyama-4, Muk-1, Muk-2, Regirock-1, Regirock-2, Regirock-3, Regirock-4, Regirock-5, Regirock-6, Regice-1, Regice-4, Regice-6, Registeel-1, Registeel-3, Registeel-4, Registeel-5, Registeel-6, Vileplume-1, Vileplume-2, Vileplume-3

131
Ampharos-1, Exeggutor-1, Relicanth-2

126
Armaldo-1, Armaldo-2, Armaldo-3, Armaldo-4, Golem-1, Golem-2, Golem-3, Golem-4, Gorebyss-2, Granbull-1, Granbull-3, Huntail-2, Marowak-1, Octillery-2, Wigglytuff-2

124
Tropius-2

122
Chansey-2, Cradily-2, Cradily-3, Cradily-4, Hariyama-2, Muk-3, Muk-4, Regice-2, Regice-3, Regice-5, Registeel-2, Vileplume-4

116
Forretress-1, Forretress-2, Forretress-4, Kecleon-2, Rhydon-1, Rhydon-2, Rhydon-3, Rhydon-4

113
Dunsparce-2, Granbull-2, Granbull-4

109
Cradily-1

106
Quagsire-1, Quagsire-3

104
Forretress-3, Porygon-2

102
Wobbuffet1, Wobbuffet2

96
Parasect-2, Slowbro-2, Slowking-2, Slowking-4, Snorlax-1, Snorlax-2, Snorlax-3, Snorlax-4, Snorlax-5, Snorlax-6, Snorlax-7, Snorlax-8, Steelix-1, Steelix-2, Steelix-3, Steelix-4

95
Quagsire-2, Quagsire-4

86
Dusclops-1, Dusclops-2, Dusclops-3, Dusclops-4, Slowbro-1, Slowbro-3, Slowbro-4, Slowking-1, Slowking-3, Sunflora-2

46
Shuckle-2, Shuckle-3, Shuckle-4

41
Shuckle1

Other random tidbits

• BP rewards at the end of completed rounds for all facilities will increase gradually as you extend your streak, with the maximum yield seemingly capped at 15 BP.
• In at least some facilities, the Frontier Brains will challenge you again with their gold teams at certain win streak intervals.
  • In the Battle Dome, Tucker will challenge you every 5 rounds (5 tourneys/20 battles) with his Swampert/Metagross/Latias team.
  • In the Battle Pyramid, Brandon will challenge you every 5 rounds (35 floors) with his Articuno/Zapdos/Moltres team.
  • My current theory is that this only occurs in facilities that use non-standard metrics to measure streak lengths. For example, the Pyramid and Dome don't record streaks by number of wins, but by number of floor cleared and number of tourneys cleared, respectively. I suspect that Lucy will continue to challenge you with her Gold team in the Pike (where streaks are reported as number of rooms cleared) while the Brain won't appear again in the Tower, Factory, Arena and Palace. Feel free to correct me on this though.
  • Have spoken to some people and apparently it occurs in the Tower too. Probably occurs in all facilities.
  • BP rewards are increased if you beat the Brain at the end of the round, capped at 25 BP.

 

[Jirachee]

ohhh, I've been waiting for this one!

This is my streak from like, august or september. I don't quite remember. It reached 252 though but I think it can be improved upon. I don't have much proof other than this picture but I streamed my streaks live and I know McMeghan watched, if you want to take his word for it.

Anyway, here's the interesting stuff:

Tauros (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ghost]
- Double-Edge

I like Tauros as a lead because Normal STAB is ridiculously good, and getting that Intimidate off right away means that there isn't any physical lead that's gonna be overly problematic. Tauros is also really fast, the only quicker dude is like Crobat I think, and he's no issue at all. Return is the move I'll use usually but Double-Edge is useful because there's a few guys that JUST barely tank Return, and that's really annoying.

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Rest
- Calm Mind

Suicune is a mon I've used in every generation of Tower so far, from 3 to 7. I just really like it, every one of its qualities mesh together so well. It'll beat pretty much anything one on one bar those horrid Lapras sets and its Water / Ice clones. As long as you set Suicune up you should win the game, and Tauros's Intimidate really helps with that. Most physical attackers have low PP moves which will drain quickly thanks to Pressure. I considered Sub over Ice Beam but on this particular team I think you really need Ice Beam to deal with a couple of problematic dudes, and honestly Suicune usually doesn't mind a critical hit unless it's an Electric move.

Latias (F) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
- Recover

Latias is very fast and that should you be able to set up, it will win the game. The cool thing is that 'Tias can set up on the dudes that Suicune can't. The extra speed is really nice because sometimes you just need to finish off one mon after Tauros kills two and Latias can just easily hit em back. I've tried a couple of different coverages, Thunderbolt + Ice Beam, Psychic + Thunderbolt, Dragon Claw + Hidden Power Fire; but I've always found this one to be the most effective. Boosted Claws will power through everything and the typing is really nice. Thunderbolt will slay the Steels aside from Steelix, which can explode but won't at full health.

Anyway sorry for the mostly vague descriptions, this is all from my memory from 6 months+ ago. This makes me want to play more though! I'll be sure to post an update if I can improve my best streak.

 

[Golden Blissey]

ohhh, I've been waiting for this one!

This is my streak from like, august or september. I don't quite remember. It reached 252 though but I think it can be improved upon. I don't have much proof other than this picture but I streamed my streaks live and I know McMeghan watched, if you want to take his word for it.

Anyway, here's the interesting stuff:

Tauros (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ghost]
- Double-Edge

I like Tauros as a lead because Normal STAB is ridiculously good, and getting that Intimidate off right away means that there isn't any physical lead that's gonna be overly problematic. Tauros is also really fast, the only quicker dude is like Crobat I think, and he's no issue at all. Return is the move I'll use usually but Double-Edge is useful because there's a few guys that JUST barely tank Return, and that's really annoying.

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Rest
- Calm Mind

Suicune is a mon I've used in every generation of Tower so far, from 3 to 7. I just really like it, every one of its qualities mesh together so well. It'll beat pretty much anything one on one bar those horrid Lapras sets and its Water / Ice clones. As long as you set Suicune up you should win the game, and Tauros's Intimidate really helps with that. Most physical attackers have low PP moves which will drain quickly thanks to Pressure. I considered Sub over Ice Beam but on this particular team I think you really need Ice Beam to deal with a couple of problematic dudes, and honestly Suicune usually doesn't mind a critical hit unless it's an Electric move.

Latias (F) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
- Recover

Latias is very fast and that should you be able to set up, it will win the game. The cool thing is that 'Tias can set up on the dudes that Suicune can't. The extra speed is really nice because sometimes you just need to finish off one mon after Tauros kills two and Latias can just easily hit em back. I've tried a couple of different coverages, Thunderbolt + Ice Beam, Psychic + Thunderbolt, Dragon Claw + Hidden Power Fire; but I've always found this one to be the most effective. Boosted Claws will power through everything and the typing is really nice. Thunderbolt will slay the Steels aside from Steelix, which can explode but won't at full health.

Anyway sorry for the mostly vague descriptions, this is all from my memory from 6 months+ ago. This makes me want to play more though! I'll be sure to post an update if I can improve my best streak.

At this stage, a picture like that is sufficient for proof.
I'm assuming you completed this on emulator, but don't hesitate to let me know if otherwise.

Anyway, good streak and thanks for sharing!

Also, atsync you never cease to amaze me with your research. <3

 

[Adedede]

Ok, here's the video, a more specific post about this team mechanics will come soon.

 

[Kommo-o]

Great job! I'm updating my streak, I'll also upload a video on YouTube when I'll have time.

1036 wins reached, this is the team I've used in the last 500 battles:

SIMBA (Slaking) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Truant
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Shadow Ball
- Hyper Beam

LUNEDI' (Wobbuffet) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Shadow Tag
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Destiny Bond
- Counter
- Encore
- Mirror Coat

6 A.M. (Gengar) (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Destiny Bond
- Perish Song
- Protect
- Mean Look

Really interesting streak that you have in here. I can see the magic of using this team by going strong right off the bat and use Slaking to grab quick KOs with a Choice Band equipped. I do like the idea of using Gengar on a defensive role since it is heavily outclassed as a sweeper due to the lack of a special STAB. Wobbuffett is an interesting choice and I can see the reasoning behind it since it combines its trapping abilities with Gengar. I do have some questions though to which I am curious on how this team could handle certain threats.

How do you deal with Lapras 8 who has Quick Claw and Sheer Cold at its disposal? Throughout +1000 wins I can imagine that at some point Sheer Cold can activate at turn 1 and take your Slaking out of the picture. While Gengar can Perish Trap it, at some point Sheer Cold can hit at the moment you are not protecting unless you are lucky enough to get a double protect after using Perish Song; and Wobbuffet can't do anything against Lapras other than Encore it and take into account that Struggle won't kill Lapras soon due to its Gen 3 mechanics which will allow Lapras to eventually use its other OHKO move. Of course, I can see Perish Song doing the job on Lapras but you can end up potentially lose two Pokemons just from a turn 1 QC activation. How did you dealt with an scenario like this or how would you deal with it?

 

[Adedede]

Really interesting streak that you have in here. I can see the magic of using this team by going strong right off the bat and use Slaking to grab quick KOs with a Choice Band equipped. I do like the idea of using Gengar on a defensive role since it is heavily outclassed as a sweeper due to the lack of a special STAB. Wobbuffett is an interesting choice and I can see the reasoning behind it since it combines its trapping abilities with Gengar. I do have some questions though to which I am curious on how this team could handle certain threats.

How do you deal with Lapras 8 who has Quick Claw and Sheer Cold at its disposal? Throughout +1000 wins I can imagine that at some point Sheer Cold can activate at turn 1 and take your Slaking out of the picture. While Gengar can Perish Trap it, at some point Sheer Cold can hit at the moment you are not protecting unless you are lucky enough to get a double protect after using Perish Song; and Wobbuffet can't do anything against Lapras other than Encore it and take into account that Struggle won't kill Lapras soon due to its Gen 3 mechanics which will allow Lapras to eventually use its other OHKO move. Of course, I can see Perish Song doing the job on Lapras but you can end up potentially lose two Pokemons just from a turn 1 QC activation. How did you dealt with an scenario like this or how would you deal with it?

Lapras 8 is definitely the most dangerous threat to this team.
This team can't afford to lose Slaking on turn 1, since Wobbuffett is too passive and if Gengar is my last mon, I automatically lose due to battle frontier rules about tie.

If Lapras is not the opponent lead and I'm in advantage, I can play around it according to the scenario.
When I face Lapras as a lead, I directly switch into Wobbuffett. If it is Lapras 8 and Sheer Cold hits on the switch or before Wobbuffett's first Destiny Bond, I switch to Gengar, I Protect on the first move and then keep on DBing. If Lapras run out of PP I can Perish Song it, otherwise Choice locked Slaking has to defeated the two reamining mons.

I was in this situation (Lapras 8 lead) 4 times, and every time a wrong sequence of bad luck could have ended my streak.
Two times Sheer Cold missed twice, allowing my Wobbuffett to DB and get the kill.
Two times Wobbuffett died, I switched to Gengar and I clicked Protect. Then I spammed DB (and luckily the AI didn't get the combination of QC+hit on the first DB). One time I made Lapras run out of PP (2 Sheer Cold PP used for Wobbuffett, 1 on my Protect, 1 miss on Gengar and another Protect), while another time Gengar brought it with him and Choice locked Slaking defeated the two reamining mons (I don't remember which they were): that's definitely the luckiest win I achieved with this team.

 

[atsync]

My current best in the level 50 Battle Factory is 53 wins, done on cart. This was done a very long time ago so I don't remember much about how I lost, but according to my notes my opening draft for round 8 was Kingdra4/Vileplume4/Weezing1/Dusclops3/Metagross2/Tentacruel1.

Picture proof

Here's some info about the Battle Factory.

Available Pokemon

The rentals available in the Factory are pooled from the same sets used by opponents in the Frontier. The Factory offers Level 50 and Open (Level 100) modes. The Pokemon available for selection are different for each mode. In Level 50, the early rounds have you use Low and Mid tier Pokemon, with High tier Pokemon appearing at round 4, and Legends appearing in round 7/8. In Open, you start with the High tiers in round 1, with Legends appearing in round 4/5. Further details are below.

Level 50

In round 1, you use a mix of Low and Mid tier Pokemon. The specific sets you use cover the range of entries from 111-200 in Hozu's spreadsheet, but excluding Unown (entry 127). This results in the following pool of 89 Pokemon sets:

Level 50 round 1 sets

Aipom-1, Anorith-1, Ariados-1, Aron-1, Azumarill-1, Bayleef-1, Beautifly-1, Beedrill-1, Butterfree-1, Cacnea-1, Charmeleon-1, Chinchou-1, Clamperl-1, Combusken-1, Corsola-1, Croconaw-1, Delcatty-1, Delibird-1, Drowzee-1, Dustox-1, Eevee-1, Elekid-1, Exeggcute-1, Farfetch'd-1, Flaaffy-1, Furret-1, Gloom-1, Graveler-1, Grimer-1, Grovyle-1, Growlithe-1, Haunter-1, Houndour-1, Illumise-1, Ivysaur-1, Kadabra-1, Kabuto-1, Koffing-1, Krabby-1, Ledian-1, Lickitung-1, Lileep-1, Lombre-1, Loudred-1, Luvdisc-1, Machoke-1, Magby-1, Magcargo-1, Marshtomp-1, Masquerain-1, Mawile-1, Minun-1, Murkrow-1, Nidorina-1, Nidorino-1, Nosepass-1, Nuzleaf-1, Omanyte-1, Onix-1, Parasect-1, Phanpy-1, Pidgeotto-1, Plusle-1, Poliwhirl-1, Ponyta-1, Porygon-1, Pupitar-1, Quilava-1, Raticate-1, Rhyhorn-1, Roselia-1, Sableye-1, Sealeo-1, Skiploom-1, Spinda-1, Spoink-1, Staryu-1, Sudowoodo-1, Teddiursa-1, Tentacool-1, Togetic-1, Vibrava-1, Volbeat-1, Voltorb-1, Wailmer-1, Wartortle-1, Weepinbell-1, Wobbuffet-1, Yanma-1

In round 2, you use set 1 variants of all 105 Mid tiers (see my previous post), and in round 3, you use set 2 variants of the same Mid tiers.

You use set 1 High tiers in round 4, set 2 High tiers.in round 5, set 3 High tiers in round 6 and set 4 High tiers in round 7. If you manage to survive to round 8, you'll use any set of the High tiers and legendary Pokemon. As per other facilities, Dragonite, Tyranitar and set 5/6 variants of the legendary birds/beasts don't appear in level 50 mode.

Open

Open level skips the Low and Mid tier rounds and gives you the High tiers straight away. You use set 1 High tiers in round 1, set 2 High tiers in round 2, set 3 High tiers in round 3 and set 4 High tiers in round 4. In round 5, you can get any set of High tiers and legendary Pokemon.

IVs of rentals

In the factory, the rentals you pick from have set IVs depending on what round you're in. They start off quite low, but as you progress, the IVs of the Pokemon in your opening draft will gradually increase until they reach 31. There is no difference in how this works between Level 50 and Open. The specifics are as follows:

ROUND	IVs of rentals in opening draft
1	3
2	6
3	9
4	12
5	15
6	21
7+	31

Swapping and its effect on the draft

During a streak, when you complete a battle, you have the option to swap one of you rentals for a Pokemon you just battled against. You can't view the stats/moves of these potential swaps before you pick them, so you either have to make note of their traits as you battle them and/or use a database of sets.

The game keeps track of how many times you swap during a streak on the Records screen. The act of selecting you team of 3 from the opening draft is counted as a "swap" for the purposes of this tracker, so this count will always increase by at least 1 no matter what you choose to do at the end of each battle. If you swap enough times, the opening draft will be changed with the addition of "better" sets - this is the game's way of rewarding you for swapping a lot in a single streak. I like to refer to these better sets as elevations. The way at it works is that if you swap enough, Pokemon from the round above the one you are currently at are included in your opening draft. For example, if you swap enough to qualify for an elevation by round 5 of level 50, 1 of your available rounds will be a Pokemon set normally seen in round 6 (i.e. a set 4 High tier with IV=21), while the rest of the draft will be the default round 5 sets (set 3 High tiers with IVs=15).

The number of swaps you need is as follows:

Number of swaps	Number of elevations
21	1
28	2
35	3

As you can see, the number of swaps needed to get a single elevation is quite high - you would need to swap after every battle of the first 3 rounds just to get a single elevation! This also means that you can't see any elevations at all in your drafts until round 4.

While the swap count can increase above 35 and continue to subsequently increase the number of elevations (e.g. 42 swaps > 4 elevations), your swap count after that point will be basically irrelevant. This is because by the time you accumulate this many swaps (which can only occur by round 7 at the earliest), the draft will only contain High tier/legendary Pokemon of any set with 31 IVs by default, which means they can't really be improved anymore. Therefore, elevations really only come into play during rounds 4, 5 and 6 assuming you are able to swap that many times.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the elevations you receive are also random, and sometimes the sets you receive are subjectively bad, and possibly worse than the non-elevated sets. Receiving Xatu-2 in your round 4 level 50 draft as an elevation is hardly a fitting reward for swapping lots! Because of this and the large number of swaps you need to get the effect, I think swapping purely for the sake of increasing the swap count is of questionable strategic merit, although it may matter more if we decide to use swap count as a way to resolve win streak ties for this facility.

Opposing trainers and their IVs

The trainers you face use the exact same rentals that you do applicable to whatever round you are in, even in battle 7. The actual trainers you face are the same ones that you see in the other facilities, but since they use rentals, this is of little importance.

The IVs of the trainers have a strange bug associated with them that can be used to make life easier for us: they are fixed at a value that is tied in to your current progress in the Battle Tower. Basically, in the Tower, trainer IVs start at 3 and gradually increase as you win more and more in a similar pattern to the IVs I listed above for out rentals, until they reach 31. The IVs of the Factory trainers are subsequently copied from the trainers that are being encountered at your current streak length in the Tower. For example, if you have a streak of 105 wins in the Tower, the trainers you face there have 31 IVs at that point, which means that the IVs of the Factory trainers are 31 as well. If you haven't even started a streak yet, the IVs of the Factory trainers will be set to 3 to match the early-Tower trainers.

What this means is that we can nerf the Factory trainers by only doing streaks in the Factory with a low streak value recorded in the Tower (i.e. by having the streak count at 0 in the Tower). This leaves the opponent's IVs stuck at 3, and since our IVs increase as our win streak continues, we can eventually gain a huge IV advantage over the opponents. This will of course mean any swap-ins we make during a streak will also have terrible IVs, but as I discuss above, swapping isn't really that important so this is nullified slightly.

EDIT: According to Werster/Exarion's pastebins, the final trainer of each round has IVs of 6 rather than 3.

One thing to keep in mind is that PREVIOUS streak value in the Tower is used if you have started a streak and lost it (i.e. it isn't active). In this situation, the Factory uses the IVs of the trainers you WOULD see if the Tower streak was still active. For example, if you have previously recorded a streak of 200 wins in the Tower that is no longer ongoing, and the records screen is displaying the previous value as "200", the IVs of the Factory trainers will be 31 because the Tower trainers would be 31 IF the 200 streak WAS ongoing. Because of this, simply not having an ongoing streak is not enough to get the low IV effect in the Factory - you actually have to reset the previous streak count to 0. Luckily, this is easily done by starting a new streak and immediately fleeing from the first battle, which sets the previous value to 0, but just make sure you double check this if you want to take advantage of this bug.

Note that Factory Head Noland is exempt from this bug. I'm not 100% certain of his IVs but I believe he uses 31 for at least his Gold symbol battle. He also uses sets from the same round as you to keep things fairer.

EDIT: Seems to be 15 for the silver battle and 31 for the gold.

Opponent informer

At the start of each round, before you select your team of 3 and/or decide to swap for a Pokemon you just defeated, the Factory attendant will provide you with information that is aimed to help you make decisions about swapping. He gives 2 pieces of information: 1) any types of Pokemon that the opponent has a preference for, and 2) the strategy and types of moves the opponent seems to like.

The first part is easy to understand: if the opponent's team has a type that is represented more than any other type, the attendant will tell you so. If the opponent is using Blastoise/Vaporeon/Flareon, you will be told that the trainer likes the Water-type. If there is a tie, he'll state that the opponent has no preference. There are some things to keep in mind when using this information. Firstly, secondary types or abilities that might cover traditional weaknesses aren't taken into account here. You might think you're being smart being bringing a Thunderbolt-spamming team against a Water-type trainer, but that won't necessarily work out well for you if those Water-types happen to be Quagsire and Lanturn. Be mindful of stuff like this when deciding how to approach opponents.

Secondly, keep in mind that a tie (i.e. no preference of type) does NOT necessarily mean that the opponent doesn't have any Pokemon with shared types. It is possible for opponents to have multiple instances are more than 1 type, and have them cancel out to give the impression of no preference. For example, a team of Vileplume/Alakazam/Exeggutor has TWO Grass-types and TWO Psychic-types, and yet would trigger the no preference message due to Grass/Psychic cancelling out. What this means is that you can't assume that just because you are facing a lead with a particular type that you definitely won't see another Pokemon of the same type, because it is possible with particular combinations of Pokemon. A lead Rhydon doesn't mean that a Golem back-up isn't possible, for instance.

For the second piece of information, the game looks at what kinds of moves the opponent's Pokemon have and gives a statement based on this. A statement of "high risk, high return" means that the opponent has Pokemon with lots of powerful moves with drawbacks (think recoil moves, sacrificial moves, charge/re-charge moves and the like), while a statement of "depends on the battle's flow" indicates weather-changing moves. I believe the Bulbapedia Factory page linked in the OP details all the different statements and what moves are indicated. I personally don't find this information all that helpful most of the time but it may be useful occasionally for scouting purposes.

Other information

• Species clause is still in effect in Factory, but very rarely it is possible to have 2 sets of the same species appear in the same draft. The most likely situation in which this occurs is if you swap enough to received elevations, and one of the elevations just happens to be of the same species as the default draft options. Very recently, I was doing a streak of level 50 and had Xatu-2 (IV=15) as my round 4 elevation with Xatu-1 (IV=12) as part of my default draft. I once had another incident where I had 2 Tauros sets. The game will NOT allow you to take both sets though.
• Item clause can actually be broken in the Factory, usually by encountering an opponent with an item shared by one of your team members. The game will allow you to swap for the Pokemon with the shared item.

 

[Miss Cottonee]

Yay, good to see this thread here. :3

atsync: Wow, you've made some monstrous posts. :O Those might come in handy for anyone (including me), thanks a lot!

It's not much, but here are my highest records in the Battle Factory and the Battle Dome:

Battle Factory lv.50: 29 wins
Battle Factory open: 30 wins
Battle Dome open: 22 wins

All ended, as you can see:

I'm not really good at the Dome, am I? 243 championships. ._.

All I know about the 22 streak is that the OHKO Lapras (Lapras 8) of Gentleman Gregory owned me. ^^' Anyway, this is the team I used for it:

Battle Dome team

(Mephisto) @ Focus Band (changed to Brightpowder later on)
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt | Fire Punch | Ice Punch | Destiny Bond

(Alcina) @ Lum Berry (could have been Leftovers before)
Ability: Marvel Scale
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def
Bold Nature
- Toxic | Recover | Ice Beam | Surf

(Lance) @ Choice Band
Ability: Truant
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hyper Beam | Earthquake | Shadow Ball | Brick Break

The third slot always has been a wobble position. I never could find an appropriate teammate for Gengar and Milotic... I've tried using Weezing (lv. 50), Metagross, Snorlax, and now Slaking. Slaking is just brute forcing to all troublesome Pokémon, which works up to a certain point. Anyway, the team was good enough to grind battle points with, which was basically all I was doing. :P

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

Emerald Battle Frontier Guide PLEASE HELP DEVELOPING

We were asking for the Gen IV Frontier....which I have played. Still a fair amount of horseshit involved, but it's far more surmountable, I would argue. I ditched my old username and wasn't on Smogon when they came out, so maybe people here wanted the Gen IV one. Most of the discussion on the...

www.smogon.com

70 tower wins with Suicune / Snorlax / Salamence, streak is still active, cartridge

Almost lost my streak to a leading Snorlax 2, it revealed Curse when I switched to Mence so my best play was to Curse alongside it with my Lax, but it crit me the first turn of the Lax duel. Probably should have been the end of it but was juuuuust able to PP stall the EQs and Rock Slides with switches between Mence and Suicune, and then Suicune took care of the rest.

98 now and climbing, low key waiting to lose the streak so I can go do the Factory with atsync's latest information

edit: streak dead at 99. roar vaporeon and roar lapras baited out salamence and last mon bulk up machamp beats suicune and snorlax. got impatient, should have chipped lapras with lax instead of mence.

 

[Kommo-o]

Figured I could update this post with a new team I have at my disposal. Ladies & Gentleman I introduce you to the GUCCI GANG

Dior (Latias) @ Lum Berry
Modest Nature
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 124 HP / 4 Def / 156 SpA / 4 SpD / 220 Spe
- Psychic
- Ice Beam / Dragon Claw
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind

Ouroboros (Gyarados) @ Leftovers
Adamant Nature
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 180 HP / 148 Atk / 4 Def / 8 SpD / 168 Spe
- Substitute
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power Flying
- Dragon Dance

Knightmare (Metagross) @ Choice Band
Adamant Nature
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 50
EVs: 164 HP / 252 Atk / 92 Spe
- Explosion
- Earthquake
- Shadow Ball
- Meteor Mash


I have ordered an Emerald cartridge to be mailed to my country, so once it is here, I will update you with my new team's feats :).

 

[atsync]

I have a completed streak of 48 tourney wins in the Level 50 Singles Battle Dome, on cart.

Proof

Team

Swampert @

Brave
Torrent
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31
EVs: 252/252/0/0/4/0

Earthquake
Surf
Ice Beam
Protect

Skarmory @

Impish
Sturdy
IVs: 31/31/31/21/31/31
EVs: 252/0/0/0/252/4

Drill Peck
Toxic
Protect
Rest

Shedinja @

Adamant
Wonder Guard
IVs: x/31/x/x/x/31
EVs: 0/252/0/0/4/252

Shadow Ball
Silver Wind
Swords Dance
Protect

The idea of using Shedinja in the Battle Dome was proposed by Golden Blissey a few months ago, and at the time I basically dismissed the idea because I felt that it would be too risky to have such a frail Pokemon on a team, Wonder Guard be damned. Having since tried the idea myself though, I found that it exceeded my expectations. Granted, it isn't the easiest Pokemon to use since it requires good knowledge of the Frontier sets (or a database) and some knowledge of AI behaviours as well, but if you can get that down it is highly rewarding.

The "gimmick" behind using Shedinja in the Dome is that it completely and utterly destroys Tucker2. His Swampert/Metagross/Latias team has no way to harm Shedinja whatsoever, which means that simply having Shedinja on your team for this battle is a guaranteed path to the Gold Symbol. The fact that Tucker continues to re-challenge you at the end of every 5 tourneys makes this even more hilarious - you literally get a free win every 20 battles! However, the Dome in general is perfectly suited for Shedinja simply because of team preview. At the start of each battle you can look at the opponent's team and assess whether Shedinja is a good choice in the battle or not, and if it isn't you can simply let it sit out and have its teammates handle it.

To get a lot of millage out of it though, you do need to have a rough understanding of which Pokemon tend to be good match-ups for Shedinja and which ones aren't (being mindful of set ambiguity from a lot of the trainers). So before I started this streak, I decided to go through the entire roster of post-49 wins Pokemon to see which Pokemon get walled consistently by Shedinja and which ones are always losing match-ups:

Shedinja's match-ups

Absol – set 2 KOes

Aerodactyl – all sets KO

Aggron – all sets KO

Alakazam – sets 1 and 4 have Fire Punch, other sets only have status

Altaria – all sets KO

Ampharos – sets 2 and 4 have Fire Punch, other sets are walled

Arcanine – all sets KO

Armaldo – all sets KO

Articuno – set 2 has Toxic, sets 3 and 6 have Aerial Ace, other sets are walled (set 5 has Swagger)

Bellossom – walled

Blastoise – set 1 has Bite, other sets are walled

Blaziken – all sets KO

Blissey – set 1 has Toxic and set 3 has Fire Blast, other sets are walled

Breloom – set 2 has Leech Seed, other sets are walled

Cacturne – set 2 KOes

Chansey – set 2 KOes

Charizard – all sets KO

Claydol – set 1 has Rock Slide and set 4 has Shadow Ball, other sets are walled

Clefable – set 3 has Flamethrower, set 4 has Shadow Ball, set 2 is walled, set 1 only has Metronome

Cloyster - set 2 KOes (with Toxic)

Cradily – sets 1 and 2 have Rock moves and set 4 has Toxic, set 3 is walled

Crawdaunt – set 2 KOes

Crobat – all sets KO

Delcatty – walled

Dewgong – walled

Dodrio – all sets KO

Donphan – all sets KO

Dragonite – sets 1 and 2 have Aerial Ace, sets 6 and 8 have Flamethrower, set 10 has Fire Blast, sets 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9 are walled

Dugtrio – sets 2 and 4 have Rock moves, sets 1 and 3 are walled

Dunsparce – set 2 KOes

Dusclops – all sets KO (with status or Shadow Ball)

Electabuzz – set 3 has Fire Punch, other sets walled

Electrode – walled

Entei – all sets KO

Espeon – set 2 has Shadow Ball, sets 3 and 4 have Bite, set 1 is walled

Exeggutor – set 3 has Toxic, other sets walled

Exploud – sets 1 and 4 have Shadow Ball, set 3 has Overheat, set 2 is walled

Fearow – all sets KO

Feraligatr – sets 1 and 4 have Aerial Ace, set 3 has Rock Slide/Crunch, set 2 is walled

Flareon – all sets KO

Flygon – all sets KO

Forretress – sets 1 and 4 have Rock Slide, set 1 also has Spikes, other sets walled

Gardevoir – sets 3 and 4 have Fire Punch, set 5 has Shadow Ball, sets 6 and 7 have Will-O-Wisp, sets 1 and 2 are walled and set 8 only has Destiny Bond

Gengar – sets 1, 3 and 8 are walled (set 1 has Confuse Ray and set 8 has Destiny Bond), sets 2, 5 and 6 have Shadow Ball, sets 4 and 7 have Fire Punch

Glalie – set 1 has Crunch and set 3 has Shadow Ball, set 4 has both, set 2 is walled

Golduck – set 4 has Aerial Ace, other sets walled although set 2 has Swagger

Golem – sets 1 and 4 have Rock moves, set 3 has Flamethrower, set 2 is walled

Gorebyss – walled

Granbull – set 2 has Overheat, set 3 has Rock Slide, set 4 has Crunch, set 1 is walled

Gyarados – set 1 has Bite, set 2 has Fire Blast, sets 3 and 4 are walled

Hariyama – all sets KO

Heracross – sets 1 and 3 have Rock moves, sets 2 and 4 are walled

Houndoom – all sets KO

Huntail – set 2 KOes

Hypno – sets 1 and 4 have Fire Punch and set 3 has Shadow Ball, set 2 can use Nightmare

Jolteon – set 4 has Bite/Shadow Ball, other sets are walled

Jumpluff – set 2 KOes

Jynx – all sets walled, set 2 can PerishTrap tough

Kangaskhan – sets 2 and 4 have Shadow Ball, sets 1 and 3 are walled

Kingdra – walled

Kingler – set 2 KOes

Lanturn – all sets “walled” but sets 1, 3 and 4 have Confuse Ray

Lapras – all sets “walled”, sets 1 and 3 have Confuse Ray though

Latias – sets 4, 7 and 8 have Shadow Ball, set 8 also has Aerial Ace, other sets are walled

Latios – sets 6, 7 and 8 have Shadow Ball, set 8 also has Aerial Ace, other sets are walled

Ludicolo – all sets KO

Machamp – KOed by all sets except sets 2 and 7

Magmar – sets 1, 2 and 4 have Flamethrower/Fire Blast, set 3 is walled

Manectric – sets 2 and 4 have Crunch, sets 1 and 3 are walled

Mantine – "walled" but has Confuse Ray

Marowak – all sets KO

Masquerain – walled

Medicham – set 3 has Fire Punch and set 4 has Shadow Ball, sets 1 and 2 are walled

Meganium – set 2 has Leech Seed and set 4 has AncientPower, other sets are walled

Metagross – set 1 has Aerial Ace, sets 4 and 7 have Shadow Ball, set 5 has Rock Slide, sets 2, 3, 6 and 8 are walled (set 2 has Swagger)

Milotic – walled

Miltank – sets 1, 2 and 3 have Shadow Ball, set 4 is walled

Misdreavus – sets 1 and 4 have Shadow Ball, sets 2 and 3 are “walled” but still have Confuse Ray

Moltres – all sets KO

Mr. Mime – set 4 has Fire Punch, other sets are walled, set 2 has Swagger

Muk – set 3 has Flamethrower, other sets are walled

Nidoking – set 2 has Shadow Ball and set 3 has Fire Blast, other sets are walled

Nidoqueen – only set 1 is walled

Ninetales – all sets KO

Ninjask – set 2 KOes

Octillery – set 2 KOes

Parasect – walled

Pidgeot – set 2 KOes

Pinsir – walled

Porygon – walled

Porygon2 – set 1 has Aerial Ace/Shadow Ball, other sets are walled

Quagsire – set 2 has AncientPower, other sets are walled

Raichu – walled

Raikou – set 4 has Bite, all other sets are walled

Rapidash – all sets KO

Regice – set 4 can set Hail, all other sets are walled

Regirock – all sets KO

Registeel – set2 2 and 6 have Aerial Ace, sets 3 and 4 have AncientPower, set 5 has Toxic, set 1 is walled

Relicanth – set 2 KOes

Rhydon – sets 1, 2 and 4 have Rock moves, set 3 is walled

Salamence – all sets KO

Sceptile – only set 2 is walled

Scizor – set 1 has Aerial Ace, other sets are walled

Scyther – set 2 KOes

Seaking – walled

Seviper – set 2 KOes

Sharpedo – set 2 KOes

Shedinja – KOes with Shadow Ball, runs max Speed too so faster than Adamant Shedinja and a speed-tie at best with Jolly

Shiftry – set 1 has Faint Attack, set 2 has Leech Seed, the other sets are walled

Shuckle – all sets KO

Skarmory – all sets KO

Slaking – all sets KO

Slowbro – set 3 has Shadow Ball, other sets are walled

Slowking – set 4 has Flamethrower, other sets are walled

Sneasel – set 2 KOes

Snorlax – all sets KO

Starmie – sets 1 and 6 can confuse but the other sets are walled

Steelix – set 4 is walled, the others can KO

Suicune – set 2 has Toxic, set 4 has Bite, other sets are walled

Sunflora – walled

Swampert – walled

Tauros – set 3 has Flamethrower, set 4 has Rock Tomb, set 1 can confuse but otherwise it and set 2 are walled

Tentacruel – set 2 has Toxic, other sets are walled (set 1 has Confuse Ray)

Tropius – walled

Typhlosion – all sets KO

Tyranitar – has Sand Stream to invalidate Shedinja

Umbreon – set 4 has Toxic, sets 1 has Faint Attack, set 3 has Shadow Ball, set 2 is walled

Ursaring – sets 2 and 6 are walled, the others are not

Vaporeon – set 1 has Bite and set 2 has Shadow Ball, others are walled

Venomoth – walled

Venusaur – set 2 has Leech Seed, the other sets are walled

Victreebel – walled

Vileplume – set 2 has Toxic, other sets are walled

Wailord – walled

Walrein – set 1 can set Hail, the other sets are walled

Weezing – only set 2 is walled

Whiscash – set 1 has Rock Slide, other sets are walled

Wigglytuff – walled

Wobbuffet – walled (just watch out for Destiny Bond)

Xatu – all sets KO

Zangoose – set 2 KOes

Zapdos – all sets KO

Red = stuff you want to avoid, Green = stuff you overall wall outside of minor things like Confuse Ray (which is checked by Protect and Lum Berry). The rest is stuff where some sets are walled and others are not, although in some cases it's only 1 set out of 4 or similar so sometimes it can be worth using Shedinja there. The overall trend that you might notice is that Shedinja does very, VERY well against Water-type trainers - being able to just say no to the likes of Swampert, Starmie, Lapras and Milotic is phenomenal.

Shedinja doesn't really have much of a move pool, and so it can really only run a Swords Dance set with STABs. Protect is a no brainer to scout for sets, and Lum Berry provides temporary protection from confusion, burn and poison damage. Toxic may also be a good choice to run over Silver Wind or Swords Dance, but otherwise there isn't a lot of room to deviate from this set I don't think.

The decision to run Swampert and Skarmory was partly due to the convenience of already having this sets ready to go, but together they synergise very well, covering each other's small number of weaknesses nicely. The Swampert I used here is one I used in the Pyramid previously but with Protect over Rest and holding Leftovers. Protect is useful for: a) set scouting, b) PP stalling, and c) generating free turns to recover with Leftovers. Otherwise the set is a simple STABs + Ice Beam set up that is probably the standard for Frontier Swamperts. Skarmory is exactly the same as the one I used for the Flygon/Skarmory/Lanturn Dome run I did a while ago but with Chesto Berry instead of Leftovers, which is a good alternative to Leftovers for the free Rest it provides. I'm quite fond of Skarmory especially because it's probably the best single-Pokemon check/counter to those scary Quick Claw Rhydon sets, courtesy of Sturdy, its defensive typing and raw physical bulk.

Swampert/Skarmory works well as a pair to complement Shedinja in situations where Shedinja would be deadweight, but the Swampert/Skarmory pairing does have issues with Ice and Fighting moves sometimes. I can usually get by on their natural bulk but Ice moves can freeze whenever and cause a loss, and the lack of Fighting resistance really made Machamp quite a rough opponent for this team (those Cross Chops are brutal when they crit, and most Machamp sets have anti-Shedinja moves as well). There are probably numerous other pairings you could use alongside Shedinja that may lack these drawbacks of course so it's worth experimenting if you want to try a Dome Shedinja run.

I lost the second battle of my 49th tourney to the following team:

Team I lost to

The 2xFire-types on this team combined with the possibility of Leech Seed from Breloom convinced me to leave Shedinja out of this battle. I decided to lead with Swampert because I figured it had a higher chance of having a favourable lead match-up, and I also felt that a lead Breloom situation would be easier to adapt to than if I lead Skarmory and was facing down Ninetales/Rapidash.

Elena lead with Ninetales which used Fire Blast on Swampert and died to Earthquake. Breloom came out second and used Double Team while Ice Beam took Breloom down to a tiny sliver of HP. From there I failed to hit Breloom again due to its single Double Team boost while it Focus Punched its way through my team.

A haxy loss to Breloom-4 for sure, but that's life. I'm happy with this run, but this loss did make me question whether it would be more optimal to increase Swampert's SpA investment. Swampert's SpA is actually not that impressive, and while Surf at least has STAB and Torrent to support it, Ice Beam's power is rather pathetic at times. A neutral-natured Swampert needs 44 SpA EVs to get the OHKO on this Breloom in Dome*, while 52 EVs also gets the OHKO on Salamence-4. Probably worth exploring - I think Swampert can afford to drop at least some of its Attack and HP EVs to accommodate for this.

*Note: the regular trainers in the Dome have their IVs fixed at 3 apparently - this fact, along with team preview and the small number of wins required to reach Tucker2, makes this the easiest facility to get the gold symbol in.

 

[Miss Cottonee]

That's pretty cool atsync, congrats! :)
(Even though losing to a "team looking for its first win" would make me really pissed ^^')

The overall trend that you might notice is that Shedinja does very, VERY well against Water-type trainers - being able to just say no to the likes of Swampert, Starmie, Lapras and Milotic is phenomenal.

That's good news! I might try playing with Shedinja along with Milotic, it definitely has some good matchups against water and grass Pokémon. But the omnipresent Shadow Ball hurts it a lot, as I look at your analysis. Frankly speaking, I had plans for a Drill Peck Skarmory (I already bred one) and a mixed Swampert, so I might decide to follow your example with a similar team, too! ^^

By the way, I was wondering: Silver Wind doesn't give Shedinja much coverage beside Shadow Ball. Right now I have one in my Ruby playthrough with Aerial Ace. Could that come in handy? Or did Silver Wind have some crucial advantages against certain Pokémon?

A haxy loss to Breloom-4 for sure, but that's life. I'm happy with this run, but this loss did make me question whether it would be more optimal to increase Swampert's SpA investment. Swampert's SpA is actually not that impressive, and while Surf at least has STAB and Torrent to support it, Ice Beam's power is rather pathetic at times. A neutral-natured Swampert needs 44 SpA EVs to get the OHKO on this Breloom in Dome*, while 52 EVs also gets the OHKO on Salamence-4. Probably worth exploring - I think Swampert can afford to drop at least some of its Attack and HP EVs to accommodate for this.

I'm not an expert to go into such details, but my experience with Swampert in the Factory is that one with a mixed set and full HP and SpA impressed me the most. The STAB Earthquake was powerful without any boosts, the HP gave it some bulk and the max SpA (I think it's Quiet) made Surf and Ice Beam so powerful. If you can switch just a few EVs from Atk to SpA to get the job done, it looks really solid theoretically.

 

[Kommo-o]

I have a completed streak of 48 tourney wins in the Level 50 Singles Battle Dome, on cart.

Proof

View attachment 167849

Team

Swampert @ View attachment 167829

Brave
Torrent
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31
EVs: 252/252/0/0/4/0

Earthquake
Surf
Ice Beam
Protect

Skarmory @ View attachment 167830

Impish
Sturdy
IVs: 31/31/31/21/31/31
EVs: 252/0/0/0/252/4

Drill Peck
Toxic
Protect
Rest

View attachment 167831

Shedinja @ View attachment 167832

Adamant
Wonder Guard
IVs: x/31/x/x/x/31
EVs: 0/252/0/0/4/252

Shadow Ball
Silver Wind
Swords Dance
Protect

The idea of using Shedinja in the Battle Dome was proposed by Golden Blissey a few months ago, and at the time I basically dismissed the idea because I felt that it would be too risky to have such a frail Pokemon on a team, Wonder Guard be damned. Having since tried the idea myself though, I found that it exceeded my expectation. Granted, it isn't the easiest Pokemon to use since it requires good knowledge of the Frontier sets (or a database) and some knowledge of AI behaviours as well, but if you can get that down it is highly rewarding.

The "gimmick" behind using Shedinja in the Dome is that it completely and utterly destroys Tucker2. His Swampert/Metagross/Latias team has no way to harm Shedinja whatsoever, which means that simply having Shedinja on your team for this battle is a guaranteed path to the Gold Symbol. The fact that Tucker continues to re-challenge you at the end of every 5 tourneys makes this even more hilarious - you literally get a free win every 20 battles! However, the Dome in general is perfectly suited for Shedinja simply because of team preview. At the start of each battle you can look at the opponent's team and assess whether Shedinja is a good choice in the battle or not, and if it isn't you can simply let it sit out and have its teammates handle it.

To get a lot of millage out of it though, you do need to have a rough understanding of which Pokemon tend to be good match-ups for Shedinja and which ones aren't (being mindful of set ambiguity from a lot of the trainers. So before I started this streak, I decided to go through the entire roster of post-49 wins Pokemon to see which Pokemon get walled consistently by Shedinja and which ones are always losing match-ups:

Shedinja's match-ups

Absol – set 2 KOes

Aerodactyl – all sets KO

Aggron – all sets KO

Alakazam – sets 1 and 4 have Fire Punch, other sets only have status

Altaria – all sets KO

Ampharos – sets 2 and 4 have Fire Punch, other sets are walled

Arcanine – all sets KO

Armaldo – all sets KO

Articuno – set 2 has Toxic, sets 3 and 6 have Aerial Ace, other sets are walled (set 5 has Swagger)

Bellossom – walled

Blastoise – set 1 has Bite, other sets are walled

Blaziken – all sets KO

Blissey – set 1 has Toxic and set 3 has Fire Blast, other sets are walled

Breloom – set 2 has Leech Seed, other sets are walled

Cacturne – set 2 KOes

Chansey – set 2 KOes

Charizard – all sets KO

Claydol – set 1 has Rock Slide and set 4 has Shadow Ball, other sets are walled

Clefable – set 3 has Flamethrower, set 4 has Shadow Ball, set 2 is walled, set 1 only has Metronome

Cloyster - set 2 KOes (with Toxic)

Cradily – sets 1 and 2 have Rock moves and set 4 has Toxic, set 3 is walled

Crawdaunt – set 2 KOes

Crobat – all sets KO

Delcatty – walled

Dewgong – walled

Dodrio – all sets KO

Donphan – all sets KO

Dragonite – sets 1 and 2 have Aerial Ace, sets 6 and 8 have Flamethrower, set 10 has Fire Blast, sets 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9 are walled

Dugtrio – sets 2 and 4 have Rock moves, sets 1 and 3 are walled

Dunsparce – set 2 KOes

Dusclops – all sets KO (with status or Shadow Ball)

Electabuzz – set 3 has Fire Punch, other sets walled

Electrode – walled

Entei – all sets KO

Espeon – set 2 has Shadow Ball, sets 3 and 4 have Bite, set 1 is walled

Exeggutor – set 3 has Toxic, other sets walled

Exploud – sets 1 and 4 have Shadow Ball, set 3 has Overheat, set 2 is walled

Fearow – all sets KO

Feraligatr – sets 1 and 4 have Aerial Ace, set 3 has Rock Slide/Crunch, set 2 is walled

Flareon – all sets KO

Flygon – all sets KO

Forretress – sets 1 and 4 have Rock Slide, set 1 also has Spikes, other sets walled

Gardevoir – sets 3 and 4 have Fire Punch, set 5 has Shadow Ball, sets 6 and 7 have Will-O-Wisp, sets 1 and 2 are walled and set 8 only has Destiny Bond

Gengar – sets 1, 3 and 8 are walled (set 1 has Confuse Ray and set 8 has Destiny Bond), sets 2, 5 and 6 have Shadow Ball, sets 4 and 7 have Fire Punch

Glalie – set 1 has Crunch and set 3 has Shadow Ball, set 4 has both, set 2 is walled

Golduck – set 4 has Aerial Ace, other sets walled although set 2 has Swagger

Golem – sets 1 and 4 have Rock moves, set 3 has Flamethrower, set 2 is walled

Gorebyss – walled

Granbull – set 2 has Overheat, set 3 has Rock Slide, set 4 has Crunch, set 1 is walled

Gyarados – set 1 has Bite, set 2 has Fire Blast, sets 3 and 4 are walled

Hariyama – all sets KO

Heracross – sets 1 and 3 have Rock moves, sets 2 and 4 are walled

Houndoom – all sets KO

Huntail – set 2 KOes

Hypno – sets 1 and 4 have Fire Punch and set 3 has Shadow Ball, set 2 can use Nightmare

Jolteon – set 4 has Bite/Shadow Ball, other sets are walled

Jumpluff – set 2 KOes

Jynx – all sets walled, set 2 can PerishTrap tough

Kangaskhan – sets 2 and 4 have Shadow Ball, sets 1 and 3 are walled

Kingdra – walled

Kingler – set 2 KOes

Lanturn – all sets “walled” but sets 1, 3 and 4 have Confuse Ray

Lapras – all sets “walled”, sets 1 and 3 have Confuse Ray though

Latias – sets 4, 7 and 8 have Shadow Ball, set 8 also has Aerial Ace, other sets are walled

Latios – sets 6, 7 and 8 have Shadow Ball, set 8 also has Aerial Ace, other sets are walled

Ludicolo – all sets KO

Machamp – KOed by all sets except sets 2 and 7

Magmar – sets 1, 2 and 4 have Flamethrower/Fire Blast, set 3 is walled

Manectric – sets 2 and 4 have Crunch, sets 1 and 3 are walled

Mantine – "walled" but has Confuse Ray

Marowak – all sets KO

Masquerain – walled

Medicham – set 3 has Fire Punch and set 4 has Shadow Ball, sets 1 and 2 are walled

Meganium – set 2 has Leech Seed and set 4 has AncientPower, other sets are walled

Metagross – set 1 has Aerial Ace, sets 4 and 7 have Shadow Ball, set 5 has Rock Slide, sets 2, 3, 6 and 8 are walled (set 2 has Swagger)

Milotic – walled

Miltank – sets 1, 2 and 3 have Shadow Ball, set 4 is walled

Misdreavus – sets 1 and 4 have Shadow Ball, sets 2 and 3 are “walled” but still have Confuse Ray

Moltres – all sets KO

Mr. Mime – set 4 has Fire Punch, other sets are walled, set 2 has Swagger

Muk – set 3 has Flamethrower, other sets are walled

Nidoking – set 2 has Shadow Ball and set 3 has Fire Blast, other sets are walled

Nidoqueen – only set 1 is walled

Ninetales – all sets KO

Ninjask – set 2 KOes

Octillery – set 2 KOes

Parasect – walled

Pidgeot – set 2 KOes

Pinsir – walled

Porygon – walled

Porygon2 – set 1 has Aerial Ace/Shadow Ball, other sets are walled

Quagsire – set 2 has AncientPower, other sets are walled

Raichu – walled

Raikou – set 4 has Bite, all other sets are walled

Rapidash – all sets KO

Regice – set 4 can set Hail, all other sets are walled

Regirock – all sets KO

Registeel – set2 2 and 6 have Aerial Ace, sets 3 and 4 have AncientPower, set 5 has Toxic, set 1 is walled

Relicanth – set 2 KOes

Rhydon – sets 1, 2 and 4 have Rock moves, set 3 is walled

Salamence – all sets KO

Sceptile – only set 2 is walled

Scizor – set 1 has Aerial Ace, other sets are walled

Scyther – set 2 KOes

Seaking – walled

Seviper – set 2 KOes

Sharpedo – set 2 KOes

Shedinja – KOes with Shadow Ball, runs max Speed too so faster than Adamant Shedinja and a speed-tie at best with Jolly

Shiftry – set 1 has Faint Attack, set 2 has Leech Seed, the other sets are walled

Shuckle – all sets KO

Skarmory – all sets KO

Slaking – all sets KO

Slowbro – set 3 has Shadow Ball, other sets are walled

Slowking – set 4 has Flamethrower, other sets are walled

Sneasel – set 2 KOes

Snorlax – all sets KO

Starmie – sets 1 and 6 can confuse but the other sets are walled

Steelix – set 4 is walled, the others can KO

Suicune – set 2 has Toxic, set 4 has Bite, other sets are walled

Sunflora – walled

Swampert – walled

Tauros – set 3 has Flamethrower, set 4 has Rock Tomb, set 1 can confuse but otherwise it and set 2 are walled

Tentacruel – set 2 has Toxic, other sets are walled (set 1 has Confuse Ray)

Tropius – walled

Typhlosion – all sets KO

Tyranitar – has Sand Stream to invalidate Shedinja

Umbreon – set 4 has Toxic, sets 1 has Faint Attack, set 3 has Shadow Ball, set 2 is walled

Ursaring – sets 2 and 6 are walled, the others are not

Vaporeon – set 1 has Bite and set 2 has Shadow Ball, others are walled

Venomoth – walled

Venusaur – set 2 has Leech Seed, the other sets are walled

Victreebel – walled

Vileplume – set 2 has Toxic, other sets are walled

Wailord – walled

Walrein – set 1 can set Hail, the other sets are walled

Weezing – only set 2 is walled

Whiscash – set 1 has Rock Slide, other sets are walled

Wigglytuff – walled

Wobbuffet – walled (just watch out for Destiny Bond)

Xatu – all sets KO

Zangoose – set 2 KOes

Zapdos – all sets KO

Red = stuff you want to avoid, Green = stuff you overall wall outside of minor things like Confuse Ray (which is checked by Protect and Lum Berry). The rest is stuff where some sets are walled and others are not, although in some cases it's only 1 set out of 4 or similar so sometimes it can be worth using Shedinja there. The overall trend that you might notice is that Shedinja does very, VERY well against Water-type trainers - being able to just say no to the likes of Swampert, Starmie, Lapras and Milotic is phenomenal.

Shedinja doesn't really have much of a move pool, and so it can really only run a Swords Dance set with STABs. Protect is a no brainer to scout for sets, and Lum Berry provides temporary protection from confusion, burn and poison damage. Toxic may also be a good choice to run over Silver Wind or Swords Dance, but otherwise there isn't a lot of room to deviate from this set I don't think.

The decision to run Swampert and Skarmory was partly due to the convenience of already having this sets ready to go, but together they synergise very well, covering each other's small number of weaknesses nicely. The Swampert I used here is one I used in the Pyramid previously but with Protect over Rest and holding Leftovers. Protect is useful for: a) set scouting, b) PP stalling, and c) generating free turns to recover with Leftovers. Otherwise the set is a simple STABs + Ice Beam set up that is probably the standard for Frontier Swamperts. Skarmory is exactly the same as the one I used for the Flygon/Skarmory/Lanturn Dome run I did a while ago but with Chesto Berry instead of Leftovers, which is a good alternative to Leftovers for the free Rest it provides. I'm quite fond of Skarmory especially because it's probably the best single-Pokemon check/counter to those scary Quick Claw Rhydon sets, courtesy of Sturdy, its defensive typing and raw physical bulk.

Swampert/Skarmory works well as a pair to complement Shedinja in situations where Shedinja would be deadweight, but the Swampert/Skarmory pairing does have issues with Ice and Fighting moves sometimes. I can usually get by on their natural bulk but Ice moves can freeze whenever and cause a loss, and the lack of Fighting resistance really made Machamp quite a rough opponent for this team (those Cross Chops are brutal when they crit, and most Machamp sets have anti-Shedinja moves as well). There are probably numerous other pairings you could use alongside Shedinja that may lack these drawbacks of course so it's worth experimenting if you want to try a Dome Shedinja run.

I lost the second battle of my 49th tourney to the following team:

Team I lost to

View attachment 167848

The 2xFire-types on this team combined with the possibility of Leech Seed from Breloom convinced me to leave Shedinja out of this battle. I decided to lead with Swampert because I figured it had a higher chance of having a favourable lead match-up, and I also felt that a lead Breloom situation would be easier to adapt to than if I lead Skarmory and was facing down Ninetales/Rapidash.

Elena lead with Ninetales which used Fire Blast on Swampert and died to Earthquake. Breloom came out second and used Double Team while Ice Beam took Breloom down to a tiny sliver of HP. From there I failed to hit Breloom again due to its single Double Team boost while it Focus Punched its way through my team.

A haxy loss to Breloom-4 for sure, but that's life. I'm happy with this run, but this loss did make me question whether it would be more optimal to increase Swampert's SpA investment. Swampert's SpA is actually not that impressive, and while Surf at least has STAB and Torrent to support it, Ice Beam's power is rather pathetic at times. A neutral-natured Swampert needs 44 SpA EVs to get the OHKO on this Breloom in Dome*, while 52 EVs also gets the OHKO on Salamence-4. Probably worth exploring - I think Swampert can afford to drop at least some of its Attack and HP EVs to accommodate for this.

*Note: the regular trainers in the Dome have their IVs fixed at 3 apparently - this fact, along with team preview and the small number of wins required to reach Tucker2, makes this the easiest facility to get the gold symbol in.

48 tourney wins with Shedinja is really impressive and I'm glad you pulled this off! I have experimented with many Swampert's spreads since using Werster's spread by myself. If this helps, you can use this spread which is optimized for Frontier use after discussing it with HeadsILoseTailsYouWin on the Tree Discord:

Swampert @ Leftovers
EVs: 172 HP / 180 Atk / 4 Def / 52 SpA / 20 SpD / 80 Spe
Ability: Torrent
Level: 50
Brave Nature
- Surf
- Protect
- Ice Beam
- Earthquake

172 HP hits 197 HP which gives you an extra Leftovers number + an extra turn of surviving Leech Seed / Toxic from full HP. With 20 SpD EVs and Protect you always survive 2 Psychics from all Alakazam sets which is the most prominent Special threat Swampert can beat 1 on 1. The 52 SpA achieves the OHKO on Salamence 4 which is something your team needs while KO-ing Breloom. 80 Speed EVs are there so you can outspeed all Weezing & Clefable sets. The rest is dumped in Attack simply for extra power. The 4 Def EVs are simply so you don't waste a stat increase. Swampert is one of the most fascinating Pokemon to EV train since you can pretty much customize its stats to what you need and it becomes quite challenging to come up with a good spread since its stats are so balanced. Additionally, if you want Swampert to remain useful for Tower purposes as well, you can bump up to 76 SpA and cut the Atk EVs to 156. 156 Atk hits a jump point in Attack without missing some crucial KOs while 76 SpA guarantees the OHKO on max IVs Salamence 4 and 2HKOs Weezing 3 who can explode on Pert:

76 SpA Swampert Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Salamence: 170-200 (100 - 117.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
76 SpA Swampert Surf vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Weezing: 69-82 (49.2 - 58.5%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO

Hope this helps and thanks for sharing this!