Gen III Battle Frontier Discussion and Records

Woah, green typhlosion, this challenge is awesome. The Emerald chapter is an (overall) pretty faithful rendition of the Battle Frontier experience, with Rald using some really good strategies, unlike the anime where they retooled the brains to glorified Gym leaders. Still a good season imo, but its nowhere similar to the challenge in the games. And you are even bringing the 1-week limit, good luck!

Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying it! Yeah, the anime really dumbed the Frontier down, I was not a fan.

Does that mean we're going to fight a souped up Dynamax Kyogre at the end? :psynervous:

Sadly not (fighting the real thing is brutal enough!) but I have a spare Jirachi lying around I might gift myself once I'm done.
 
Reached 117 wins with Gengar, Metagross and Kingdra in the Arena! After the NU challenge with Huntail, I had the inspiration to try out Kingdra and it didn't disappoint. This is a simple playstyle.
Gengar abuses it's great coverage/great defensive typing to take down 1 or multiple opponents.

Metagross is the bulky backbone and resists psychic and dragon (Kingdra's weakness). Metagross has enough speed to out speed all variants of Metagross and Jolly Donphan. If your last member is weak to ice (it is recommended to run enough 204 speed to outspeed Jynx, imo). Metagross plays a key role here. It checks the Latis, booms on bulky water types and special walls to help remove Kingdra's biggest threats. Metagross isn't ohkoed by anything un boosted besides fire and ground types, which Kingdra dominates.

Kingdra is the interesting one of the core. With swift swim, Kingdra can heavily invest in bulk, while still out speeding everything under rain. I went with just enough speed to out speed the 105 speed tier (with things like Nidoking, Articuno). Simple move set to hit as many things as possible. Kingdra is actually a really nice partner with Metagross. It would even fit nicely under a rain dance team.

https://pokepast.es/ae79393329fe21d1

Loss: Battle 118 to Aerodactyl. Got haxxed really bad. Will upload video.
https://kapwi.ng/c/i9AoyBxV

Edit: Also tried with mixed results, losing in streaks in the 70s: Reversal Heracross, Reversal Medicham, Reversal Blaziken (too slow with Naughty, not enough power with Naive), Salac Berry D-bond Gardevoir.

I am proud to report a 145 streak in the Arena! I've retried my Gengar, Metagross, Kingdra team (which has surprisingly amazing synergy) and made huge modifications.

Regarding Gengar's set, I moved the HP Evs to defence. This actually makes a small difference in a couple of calculations.

Defensive Calculations
252+ Atk Nidoking Shadow Ball vs. 36 HP / 0 Def Gengar: 120-142 (85.7 - 101.4%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Nidoking Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Gengar: 113-134 (83.7 - 99.2%)

252+ Atk Weezing Shadow Ball vs. 36 HP / 0 Def Gengar: 119-140 (85 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Weezing Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Gengar: 112-132 (82.9 - 97.7%)

I also replaced fire punch for substitute. This is actually an amazing move in the Arena, when it is timed correctly. I use it to block mirror coat, block leech seed, confusion, sleep and it eases prediction a lot. You can even use substitute to scout out the set, which helps you determine whether to destiny bond or not. For instance, you can block trick CB users, hypnosis gardevoir/ lovely kiss dream eater jynx. You can scout/ hope for a miss on fire blast charizard, etc.

It was Kommo-os suggestion to run Jolly. I bred a beldum with 31/31/31/16/26/31 and it was an excellent third member. Being able to out speed most versions of Latios & Greta's Gengar & speed tie with her Breloom was super clutch. You will notice that I replaced Meteor Mash with endure. Endure was Actaeon's idea. Really cool strat. Against something like a faster fire type, you can endure to ensure you get the speed boost and retaliate back, while still keeping Metagross alive. I considered Agility as well, but I highly doubt it works as well as endure. Endure's higher priority ensures you get the speed boost and open level is more difficult to streak in with so many dangerous Tar and D-nite sets.

Metagross Set Explanation: Max attack, max speed, outspeeds Jolteon 4 @+1 (if it doesn't paralyze you first lol). EQ, Shadowball for coverage, explosion as a nuke. Endure > Meteor Miss.

Last time, kingdra had huge problems with mirror coat Swampert (I actually crit through it last time and lucked out). I replaced HP electric for Hp grass for this reason.

Kingdra Set Explanation
Lives dragon claw from Modest Latios
Near maximum special attack (248 is the maximum for 30 Sp A)
6 speed to outspeed the 105 speed tier before a swift swim boost.

Defensive Calculation

252+ SpA Latios Dragon Claw vs. 172 HP / 84 SpD Kingdra: 144-170- (83.7 - 98.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Offensive Calculation.
248+ SpA Kingdra Hidden Power Grass vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Swampert: 156-184 (89.1 - 105.1%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
248+ SpA Kingdra Hidden Power Grass vs. 170 HP / 170 SpD Swampert: 248-292 (64.7 - 76.2%)

Other thoughts
This was a lucky as shit run. Any Arena run really requires it. Whether it's the order you get something, lack of QC/ BP/focus band activations, lucky freezes and paras. I managed to get some lucky freezes (key one on focus band Latias -who lived Kingdra's ice beam but got frozen) and didn't get haxxed by QC.

List of losses before I achieved this record:

Brightpowder synthesis Meganium soloing (Gengar missed, healed back up to full after hitting solar beam). Metagross misses explosion.
Missed explosion on Heracross (next time I remembered to shadowball into endure into explosion).
Mirror coat Blastoise smashing Kingdra
Double team Metagross
Freaking horndrill Seaking
Double team Umbreon
Last pokemon Gyarados (why couldn't this have been out vs Gengar?)
Lum rest Vaporeon vs Kingdra.
Bright Powder Raichu- missed EQ twice.
Missed explosion on Blissey with Metagross.

Loss @ battle 146. I actually forgot who the lead AI mon was, but I destiny bonded with Gengar. Scizor countered vs Metagross (I used EQ into explosion). Kingdra couldn't break through Metagross under light screen and tied in the judging.

Lost to lead AI mon, counter Scizor, light screen Metagross.

Edit: If anyone wants to see replays, I'll try it again- either stream/record. I doubt I'll be this lucky again though.

https://pokepast.es/71895758fc13a1cd
 

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Hello everyone. I took a small break from Pike and wanted to try out some of the not played formats on the list so I settled with Dome Doubles Open Level (100). After a couple runs I love it! I actually think that it's probably one of the most fun formats around! They are fast paced and you can check your opponents teams so you can prepare accordingly. I am currently at 20 Battle Tournaments won, and even though this might sound a bit unimpressive I do believe that I can push the record even further! The AI does no favours and starts floading you with Legends as soon as Round 6-7.

So here is the team I used:

latios.png

Latios@ Lum Berry
Nature: Timid
Shiny: No
Ability: Levitate
IV's: 31/12/31/31/31/31
EV's: 12 HP/ 28 Def. / 236 Sp.Atk. / 12 Sp.Def. / 220 Spe.
Moves:
- Psyhic
- Ice Beam
- Thuderbolt
- Waterfall

metagross.png

Metagross@ Choice Band
Nature: Adamant
Shiny: Yes
Ability: Clear Body
IV's: 31/31/31/X/31/31
EV's: 184 HP / 252 Atk. / 72 Spe.
Moves:
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Shadow Ball
- Explosion

latias.png

Latias@ Magnet
Nature: Timid
Shiny: No
Ability: Levitate
IV's: 31/12/31/31/31/31
EV's: 28 HP/ 4 Def. / 252 Sp.Atk. / 4 Sp.Def. / 220 Spe.
Moves:
- Psyhic
- Ice Beam
- Thuderbolt
- Protect

Yeah I do love my Eon Twins and I am really trying to test their limits!

Strategy: So Dome format is a 2vs2 with team preview. The idea is to have two blistering fast and hard hitting Pokemons and wrecks havoc before the opponent can react. So why not use the single most broken Pokemon in Gen3 aka Latios along with it's loving partner which is... the same Pokemon with a bit less power and more bulk? Remember those times where you wish Latios Thunderbolt could one shot a Walrein? Well you now can with the aid of Latias! Joking aside the two of them can obliterate any non Steel/Rock/Normal Pokemon when they focus fire the same opponent. And those threats are handled by another amazing Pokemon..Metagross! That's what I am trying to capitalize on. Turn 1 focus fire the most dangerous target then the game is a 2vs1 which should be easy win from there. Sometimes they pack that of a punch that they can split their attacks but one must be careful doing so. Against Normal heavy teams I use Metagross/Latias and go Boom Turn 1. Protect is mandatory for Latias in order to safely have Metagross Explode and I gave Latios Waterfall mainly to safely 1-hit KO the likes of Rhydon/ Golem and also inflict SE hits into Regirock. Magnet for Latias is more of a guts move rather than a calculated one. My main though has I want to make sure Water Pokemon will go down and so I gave her a Magnet.

I love the team so far! I had a loss at 8 streaks but I did use a weird Dive Latias set that had it's flaws and CM Latios which I found to be useless in such a fast pasted game.
Some improvements that's I can think of is probably have Modest Latios since Waterfall with Timid barely misses some KO into fire types ( haven't run the calcs it's just what I have reported). Starmie can also be considered instead of one of the Lati's to have STAB Waterfall but I am really enjoying the Dragon type of the Latis. Magnet is also questionable so I would like to hear some of your ideas!
If you have any suggestions I would be more than happy to hear them!

Will be updating soon!
IMG_20210323_121703.jpg
 
I am proud to report a 145 streak in the Arena! I've retried my Gengar, Metagross, Kingdra team (which has surprisingly amazing synergy) and made huge modifications.

Regarding Gengar's set, I moved the HP Evs to defence. This actually makes a small difference in a couple of calculations.

Defensive Calculations
252+ Atk Nidoking Shadow Ball vs. 36 HP / 0 Def Gengar: 120-142 (85.7 - 101.4%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Nidoking Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Gengar: 113-134 (83.7 - 99.2%)

252+ Atk Weezing Shadow Ball vs. 36 HP / 0 Def Gengar: 119-140 (85 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Weezing Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Gengar: 112-132 (82.9 - 97.7%)

I also replaced fire punch for substitute. This is actually an amazing move in the Arena, when it is timed correctly. I use it to block mirror coat, block leech seed, confusion, sleep and it eases prediction a lot. You can even use substitute to scout out the set, which helps you determine whether to destiny bond or not. For instance, you can block trick CB users, hypnosis gardevoir/ lovely kiss dream eater jynx. You can scout/ hope for a miss on fire blast charizard, etc.

It was Kommo-os suggestion to run Jolly. I bred a beldum with 31/31/31/16/26/31 and it was an excellent third member. Being able to out speed most versions of Latios & Greta's Gengar & speed tie with her Breloom was super clutch. You will notice that I replaced Meteor Mash with endure. Endure was Actaeon's idea. Really cool strat. Against something like a faster fire type, you can endure to ensure you get the speed boost and retaliate back, while still keeping Metagross alive. I considered Agility as well, but I highly doubt it works as well as endure. Endure's higher priority ensures you get the speed boost and open level is more difficult to streak in with so many dangerous Tar and D-nite sets.

Metagross Set Explanation: Max attack, max speed, outspeeds Jolteon 4 @+1 (if it doesn't paralyze you first lol). EQ, Shadowball for coverage, explosion as a nuke. Endure > Meteor Miss.

Last time, kingdra had huge problems with mirror coat Swampert (I actually crit through it last time and lucked out). I replaced HP electric for Hp grass for this reason.

Kingdra Set Explanation
Lives dragon claw from Modest Latios
Near maximum special attack (248 is the maximum for 30 Sp A)
6 speed to outspeed the 105 speed tier before a swift swim boost.

Defensive Calculation

252+ SpA Latios Dragon Claw vs. 172 HP / 84 SpD Kingdra: 144-170- (83.7 - 98.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Offensive Calculation.
248+ SpA Kingdra Hidden Power Grass vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Swampert: 156-184 (89.1 - 105.1%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
248+ SpA Kingdra Hidden Power Grass vs. 170 HP / 170 SpD Swampert: 248-292 (64.7 - 76.2%)

Other thoughts
This was a lucky as shit run. Any Arena run really requires it. Whether it's the order you get something, lack of QC/ BP/focus band activations, lucky freezes and paras. I managed to get some lucky freezes (key one on focus band Latias -who lived Kingdra's ice beam but got frozen) and didn't get haxxed by QC.

List of losses before I achieved this record:

Brightpowder synthesis Meganium soloing (Gengar missed, healed back up to full after hitting solar beam). Metagross misses explosion.
Missed explosion on Heracross (next time I remembered to shadowball into endure into explosion).
Mirror coat Blastoise smashing Kingdra
Double team Metagross
Freaking horndrill Seaking
Double team Umbreon
Last pokemon Gyarados (why couldn't this have been out vs Gengar?)
Lum rest Vaporeon vs Kingdra.
Bright Powder Raichu- missed EQ twice.
Missed explosion on Blissey with Metagross.

Loss @ battle 146. I actually forgot who the lead AI mon was, but I destiny bonded with Gengar. Scizor countered vs Metagross (I used EQ into explosion). Kingdra couldn't break through Metagross under light screen and tied in the judging.

Lost to lead AI mon, counter Scizor, light screen Metagross.

Edit: If anyone wants to see replays, I'll try it again- either stream/record. I doubt I'll be this lucky again though.

https://pokepast.es/71895758fc13a1cd

Congrats for taking that #1 spot on the Arena leaderboards! Was wondering what took you so long to consider Substitute considering that I also had some success using it on Gengar. Really big fan of Gengar surviving those unboosted Shadow Balls and I like how the renewed team looks. We did had some discussion before about Rain teams not really being fit for Arena but I guess this somehow inspired you to run Kingdra as the last mon. Kingdra is a really nice mon on this team that takes advantage of what Metagross can't reliably defeat and I'm a big fan of how you fit Kingdra into this team without making it look out of place.

My only suggestion would be to swap the items from Gengar and Kingdra. Gengar unfortunately has to rely on contact moves like Ice Punch to destroy Breloom and Parasect which can trigger Effect Spore and cripple Gengar with Sleep. I feel that Lum will save Gengar from those situations while Cheri Berry makes sure that Kingdra's sweep is not stopped by paralysis.

Congratulations once again!
 
I really think doubles for the frontier are heavily unexplored. The Palace/Factory are already the worst for singles, but the Dome and Tower could be cool to theorymon further. Glad to hear you're enjoying it, wouldn't have expected it to be fast paced like you mentioned. Thank you for the write up.

Yeah Doubles got the short end of the stick since no Leaders there and as a result the whole Battle Frontier is more Singles inclined.
They are fast paced indeed I mean there is absolutely no chance to set up in doubles so this alone results in faster games along with the fact that two Pokemon on the field can target one of the opposing Pokemons and quickly end the game. I
I like improvising and trying new teams and Doubles are indeed a fertile ground due to being that much neglected from the main player database.
 
Pokemon Adventures: Emerald - GBA

View attachment 325145

Day 6
Battle Palace

View attachment 324965

Day six and we arrive at the Battle Palace. Having suffered a bruising loss at the Dome, Emerald arrives at the Battle Palace demanding a match with Spenser in order to maintain his target of defeating all seven facilities within the span of a week. Unexpectedly, Spenser agrees to his request, stating that a battle out of view of the press suits him better anyway...

Analysis
Definitely underestimated how difficult this one would be. Because the Palace has one of the lowest thresholds for the gold, I figured it wouldn't take me too long. But it ended up taking me six tries - one ending at 28 wins, the next at 39, the next at 30, the next at 37, and the one after that at 35. I've warmed to the Palace slightly, though. Very slightly.

Incidentally, I'd be greatly interested if someone with knowledge of the game's internal workings could clue me into the cleverness of the AI. My Pokemon generally used an effective move if it could (only on a couple of occasions did Sceptile use Earthquake against a Flying foe, for instance) but it also played in other intelligent ways as well, such as avoiding using Leaf Blade or Thunderpunch against Sharpedo so as to bypass Rough Skin, or always using Leaf Blade once its HP was low enough for Overgrow to activate. Curiously, the enemy AI seemed much stupider, resulting in all sorts of glorious instances like a Forretress using Explosion while Dusclops was out.

The Team
Sceptile @ Lum Berry
Leaf Blade
Crunch
Earthquake
Thunderpunch
120 Att, 252 Sp.Atk, 138 Speed (Hasty)

These three again. Sceptile is my lead, naturally. Suffers rather from 4-moveslot syndrome but Earthquake generally works out as a better choice than HP Ice. Fortunately, Hasty is a beneficial nature in the Palace and means it attacks nearly all of the time, especially when under half health. But if it ever doesn't, Lum Berry can give it a second chance to strike.

Sudowoodo @ Choice Band (Rock Head)
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Double-Edge
Brick Break
6 HP, 252 Att/Sp.Def (Quirky)

Amazing if it can get the right move off, dead weight if not. Quirky isn't the best nature in the Palace, but it's just good enough to attack most of the time (56%, to be exact). I used Sudowoodo in my last Ultra Moon playthrough and am rather fond of it, but I wish I'd been able to use it in a facility where I could really get the best out of it. It's an interesting Pokemon to EV, though. Max Sp.Def gives it an unexpected amount of staying power.

Dusclops @ Leftovers
Pain Split
Will-o-Wisp
Confuse Ray
Night Shade
48 HP, 210 Def, 252 Sp.Def (Rash)

Honestly really, really starting to dislike this thing. Nearly all of my losses were due to ending up with Dusclops as my final team member and it not being able to outlast anything. I initially ran Curse as a quick way to whittle down enemies, but of course it kept using it at totally inappropriate moments and dying to the opponent's next move.

Unfortunately Rest is classed as a Defence move rather than a Support one, meaning that with a Rash nature it is very unlikely to be chosen. This leaves Pain Split as a decidedly inferior healing option. I really wish this had been given a better nature, Rash is so awful for it and forces me to waste EVs patching up its bulk. Seemed to attack directly far more than its Nature would suggest - Night Shade seemed a more reliable choice than Shadow Ball.


View attachment 325147
Spenser (Silver)

Expected this to be a much longer fight than it turned out to be. Crobat came out first against Sceptile: Crobat used Toxic while Sceptile used Leaf Blade. I considered a switch but thought better of it. Since Crobat's only attacking move is Fly, I can switch to Sudowoodo if it uses it, but I don't want either of the other two poisoned. Sceptile subsequently uses Crunch while Crobat Double Teams. It finally correctly uses Thunderpunch on the third turn, taking it down.

Lapras comes out. This was the one I was most concerned about facing. Since Sudowoodo doesn't have Sturdy, Horn Drill is quite capable of cleaving through my team. Nothing to be done, though. I Leaf Blade as it uses Horn Drill and mercifully misses. It Protects twice but the second one fails, and my second Leaf Blade takes it down.

Slaking last of all. It gets off a Shadow Ball as Sceptile uses Earthquake for chip damage, bringing Sceptile down to the range where it's more likely to attack, and it goes for a Leaf Blade next turn, taking Slaking to around 20%. Unfortunately Slaking Swaggers and Sceptile hits itself next turn, but this brings it down to around 10%, enough to take advantage of Overgrow. So I switch to Sudowoodo. Slaking gets a critical Shadow Ball, bringing the rocky tree down to 30%, and then gets smashed by Rock Slide the next turn.

View attachment 325148
Spenser (Gold)

It's Sceptile v Arcanine. I switch to Sudowoodo to soak up the inevitable Overheat. With the given EV spread and the fact that Spenser's Arcanine has a neutral nature and no Sp.Atk investment, Overheat isn't even a 4HKO when you factor in the Sp.Atk drop. Unfortunately Sudowoodo idles for the next two turns as Arcanine first tries Extremespeed and then Protect. I finally get off a Rock Slide which leaves it on ~5%, and it Roars Dusclops in. I switch back and promptly finish the job.

Slaking comes out next. I switch in Dusclops hoping to burn it. No joy, but Pain Split reduces its HP beautifully after it gets off a Shadow Ball. It takes two uses of Will-o-Wisp to burn it. Wanting to save Dusclops for Suicune, I switch back into Sudowoodo as it Hyper Beams for pitiful damage.

Suicune comes out and, rather than do the sensible thing and drown Sudowoodo with Surf, uses Calm Mind twice, allowing me to get in two hits with Double-Edge. And then on the third turn... it idles, and I finally get the KO. Yes, I just beat a Suicune with a Sudowoodo.

I'm amused too, Spenser.


View attachment 325157

_____________________________________________________________________

We're almost done, but not quite yet. Tomorrow, it's time for the greatest challenge of all - the Tower!


Pokemon Adventures: Emerald - GBA

1616529130574.png


Day 7
Battle Tower

1616519454206.png

Here we are at last, the final challenge. And what a week it's been. With disaster looming over the Battle Frontier, and a dastardly enemy to defeat, Emerald must race to the top of the Battle Tower in time to save the day - but first, he has 70 floors' worth of Trainers to tackle...

Analysis
I dislike the way Emerald's team is quickly filled out in the final few chapters so as to give him a full team of six with which to challenge the Tower. And while Mantine, Mr Mime, and Snorlax all have their charms it's disappointing not to see the third Hoenn Pokedex holder not get Hoenn Pokemon (even more galling given that Noland takes Mawile for himself). Still, mustn't grumble.

I guess the old saying is true, though... anything goes in the Tower if it can battle well.

Here's the problem. I'm not a patient person. Like, at all. If you're at all familiar with my history in this thread (and god bless you if you are) you'll know I prefer fast and bulky offense to stall-and-set-up teams. I don't like playing so passively because of the sheer multitude of things that can unexpectedly get the lead on you (Vileplume! Espeon! Machoke! Even Crawdaunt!) But this time, I had no choice.

I made it to the silver symbol in just two attempts (the first ending at a miserable 20 wins). I actually found the earlier rounds far harder than the later ones; I guess when you plan for capable AI and top-tier threats, it's easier to get caught off guard.

This team was a lot of fun to put together, and worked far better than I expected it to. Unfortunately, I didn't reach the gold in time, and unfortunately I ended up losing to Anabel anyway. The length of the battles made it physically impossible to do more than a few attempts - my fourth try hit 49 wins at 23:00 GMT, and I only just began the 10th set of battles a few minutes before midnight. But by that point, I was so determined to push to the finish line and win the gold symbol that I stuck with it. I'm detailing it anyway as I'm not letting my slog go uncommemorated, and it's the end of the challenge anyhow.

The Team
1616526393176.png
Mr Mime @ Lum Berry
Protect
Thunder Wave
Thief
Flash
252 HP/Speed, 6 Def (Jolly)

While it doesn't get a vast array of disruptive moves, Mr Mime learns just enough to act as a decent crippler lead. A couple of accuracy drops is usually sufficient to give Snorlax room to boost, but it's surprising how often I can get in the full six. Protect is used for scouting and to waste PP. Thief is included despite carrying a Lum Berry because, having absorbed a status, Mr Mime can then nab the opponent's item on the next turn.

Mantine @ Brightpowder (Swift Swim)
Mud-Slap
Confuse Ray
Toxic
Dive
244 HP, 236 Def, 16 Sp.Def, 12 Speed (Impish)

The backup crippler. If I can fully incapacitate the opponent's lead with Mr Mime, I will generally switch straight to Snorlax and keep this in reserve. But if I absolutely need to completely reduce the opponent's accuracy, I've got this as insurance. Toxic was rarely used (I considered Haze) but provides a way to nail Double Teamers with no recovery like Umbreon1 and Clefable2.

Snorlax @ Leftovers (Thick Fat)
Substitute
Curse
Amnesia
Hidden Power (Steel)
12 HP, 252 Def, 244 Sp.Def (Quiet)

Pseudo-Registeel. Once it's maxed out and has a Sub up only Quick Claws and random crits are threatening. HP Steel was chosen because nothing is immune to it but unlike HP Flying or Rock it only requires one imperfect IV. It’s incredibly irritating to be forced to run such a useless nature (a Special sweeping Snorlax was never on the cards) but go with it: Snorlax is good enough to cope. The HP EVs allow for five Substitutes with Leftovers recovery if needed.
_____________________________________________​

Typically, the most difficult fight of all was the battle right before Anabel Gold. The opponent was Battle Girl Kay, who led with Steelix. The database of enemy Pokemon and Trainers informed me that Kay can have the first three variants of Steelix, but all three have Earthquake so it's hard to get a lock on which it is until it finally uses Sandstorm, confirming that it's the second variant. I can't paralyse it, but I manage to get three uses of Flash in before it KOs. I send out Mantine next and finish minimising its accuracy with Mud-Slap while it tries to hit me with Dragonbreath.

Here's where I mess up. Dragonbreath from Steelix is not even a 10HKO (not factoring in Sandstorm damage) and I can't poison it, either. So I figure, why not kill it off and cripple the next Pokemon. Bad idea. The next Pokemon is Machamp.

It promptly fires off a Rock Slide, though I do manage to land a Confuse Ray before Mantine faints. Out comes Snorlax. My only hope here is that I can get a Substitute up and stall it out of Cross Chop PP.

Which is what happens. Blessedly, Machamp hits itself on the first turn, allowing me to get a Sub up. I avoid all 5 Cross Chops and start frantically Cursing (both in-game and IRL) but, to my astonishment, Machamp proceeds to start using Counter over and over rather than try and finish me off with Rock Slide. I max my stats and knock it out. The final foe is Donphan, which is a quick 2HKO.

Every time I get impatient it backfires on me. Why can't I ever learn...

1616530633514.png


1616519492871.png

Anabel (Silver)

Despite me not being remotely worried about this battle, she actually put up more of a fight than expected. Mr Mime crippled her Alakazam right off the bat and Snorlax comfortably set up on it before knocking it out in a single hit.

Entei was sent out next, and I got in one HP Steel before it Roared Snorlax out for Mantine. Time to do some more crippling, then. I hit it a few times with Mud-Slap before it finished Mantine off. Mr Mime proceeded to paralyse it and finish minimising its accuracy before it got lucky with Return. Now it was just Snorlax left, but that meant I couldn't be phazed again. I set up and bashed it with HP Steel until it died (even at +6, it's still a 4HKO).

She sends out her own Snorlax last. Rather than even attempt trying to break my mighty Sub, she instead tried pointlessly to Yawn me twice as I felled it. Top-level AI intelligence, that.

1616519494225.png

Anabel (Gold)

I get a couple of accuracy drops in with Mr Mime, but Raikou boosts as I do it and promptly manages to hit me with Thunderbolt for a KO. Mantine won't be useful later in the fight, so I send it out next and get one more accuracy drop before Thunderbolt hits again.

This is enough room for Snorlax to get in and boost all the way up. Now comes the annoying part. Anabel's Raikou invests heavily in Defence and HP so even at +6 HP Steel does low damage, particularly if Reflect has been used. The only viable way to win here is to stall it out of PP so I spam Amnesia and Curse while it runs itself out of Rest and Reflect PP. Once that's done I go in for the kill and 4HKO.

Latios out next. It breaks my Sub with Psychic but I renew and proceed to 2HKO.

Snorlax v Snorlax. It Curses as I attack, doing around 40%. It Curses again as I attack again. It then Rests. So now Hidden Power can only 3HKO, and it can stall me out with Rest while it boosts and strikes back. This it does, and I'm just out of PP when it breaks my last Substitute and knocks me out.

Goddammit.


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______________________________________________________

Final tally
Battle Factory - completed, gold symbol achieved
Battle Pike - completed, gold symbol achieved
Battle Pyramid - completed, gold symbol achieved
Battle Arena - failed, silver symbol achieved
Battle Dome - completed, gold symbol achieved
Battle Palace - completed, gold symbol achieved
Battle Tower - failed, silver symbol achieved
Closing thoughts
So that's the challenge completed. Good fun, creatively engaging, and also bloody frustrating in many places. But it's been good to have something to work toward! It's given me some ideas about which facilities I want to return to in the future, and how to build new teams, so that's something.

I'll let Brandon's words of praise resonate for a moment...

1616549192051.png

...and I'll leave you with this closing image, in which Mr Mime quite accurately resembles my current battle-weary state:
1616546427488.png

I hope you've enjoyed reading these posts, and thank you to everyone who's commented nice things about it. If you've not read the Pokemon Adventures manga I would highly recommend it (though not the Viz translations, which are awful). I'm planning a post in the next couple of days relating to the research I did for this challenge, so look out for that.
 
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I haven't had the time recently to finish playing through XD and get Selfdestruct on my Snorlax, so I instead decided to try out Luke Warm's original Lati Sandwich team that he made in this post. Took several tries after losing at 55 to Double Team + ChestoRest Metagross, but I managed to reach 67 KOs this time.

latios gif.gif

Latios @ Lum Berry
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Mild
EVs: 6 HP, 252 SpA, 252 Spe
IVs: 16/31/7/16/18/21
Psychic
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Memento

Memento seemed really good in theory, since it allows you to cripple a pokemon that would beat you 1v1 anyway, but I did not find it to be very useful in practice. I usually preferred to get in some chip damage even if Latios couldn't win the 1v1 so that Snorlax could finish the enemy off in one hit and thus I rarely found myself using Memento at all.
I chose Ice Beam over Dragon Claw since Snorlax can handle Psychics and Houndoom pretty well, but is threatened by powerful Ground types (Rhydon, Marowak, Donphan, etc) and Salamence/Dragonite which are mostly all OHKOed by Ice Beam.

snorlax gif.gif

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
Nature: Careful
EVs: 144 HP, 252 Atk, 114 Def
IVs: 31/26/31/22/1/9
Return
Earthquake
Shadow Ball
Curse

I found Leftovers to be actually pretty good even in such a fast paced facility. The extra recovery allows Snorlax to survive and get the KO in certain situations it otherwise wouldn't have and also helps win Body in judging. 6.25% HP per turn might not seem like much, but factoring in multiple turns, it actually ended up making a difference more often than I expected. I found Quick Claw to be too unreliable and Chesto Berry is only good against a select few pokemon like Jynx. I decided to switch to Leftovers after a Starmie almost ended one of my runs by finishing off a weakened Snorlax that could have survived with the extra HP recovery and hitting Latias with Ice Beam.
Curse proved to be a bit more useful than Memento and definitely was nice on occasion. However, due to Snorlax being slow, it is vulnerable to being haxed if you try to get greedy with setup especially with the 3 turn limit. Thus I found myself usually making the safer play of just going for the KO when I felt that I was in a good enough position. Curse also has the niche use of dodging Destiny Bond when you can just win judging anyway and against Counter users like Wobbuffet.
I followed the example of submenceisop for the EV spread (hits Leftovers number and lets Snorlax survive CB Double-Edge from Ursaring and tank Meteor Mash better)

latias gif.gif

Latias @ TwistedSpoon
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Mild
EVs: 6 HP, 252 SpA, 252 Spe
IVs: 0/4/28/18/25/12
Psychic
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Dive

Dive actually proved to be much better than I thought. It provides super effective coverage against stuff like Steelix, Aggron, and Rhydon and definitely came in clutch a couple of times during judging.

How I Lost
I ended up losing to a team of Regirock, Raikou, and Latias. Regirock is really bad news since it can beat Latios 1v1, has Clear Body, and can even Explode to take out my Snorlax at low health. I stupidly use Psychic + Memento (forgetting Clear Body) since I fear Regirock using Explosion and OHKOing my Snorlax. Unfortunately, Regirock manages to flinch Snorlax once with Rock Slide. It then uses Rock Slide again and tanks an Earthquake like a champ before finishing Snorlax off with Superpower (flinch didn't really matter since it could have blown up anyway). Latias KOs Regirock but gets hit with T-Wave and 2 turns of full paralysis vs Raikou. I actually end up winning the judging, but I have no chance vs the opposing Latias being at 60% HP and paralyzed and it finishes my Latias off with Dragon Claw.
 

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Taking the honor of posting what submenceisop and I think is a pretty good attempt at a full-Pressure meme stall/setup, after some nights of discussion. It was a nice experience to finally build something acceptable for this archetype, and half the credit goes to submence of course.

If played patiently, I think it can go pretty far. It features my two favorite blue Pokemon:

1616579705960.png

Dusclops (F)
Impish Nature
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Def / 124 SpD
- Torment
- Protect
- Thief

- Icy Wind

Dusclops leads with Protect usually to scout the set if there's no possibility of the opponent setting up. Electric-types, which the team is weak to, can't OHKO Dusclops even with a critical hit, so they usually have plenty of opportunity to get Icy Winded and/or Tormented. Thief is for Quick Claw, especially the physicals like Rhydon and Ursaring. Dusclops' ability to soak up PP right from the start by spamming Protect in between the "real moves" greatly helps if the strategy doesn't fully develop as wished.

The EVs bless Dusclops with these calcs. You can tweak what you want, but you simply can't guarantee everything. I chose to never die to Electric assaults, since these are the most threatening in my opinion:

170+ Atk Metagross Meteor Mash vs. 252 HP / 132+ Def Dusclops on a critical hit: 122-144 (82.9 - 97.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
255 Atk Metagross Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 132+ Def Dusclops on a critical hit: 125-148 (85 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
255+ Atk Rhydon Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 132+ Def Dusclops on a critical hit: 127-150 (86.3 - 102%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
255+ SpA Raikou Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 124 SpD Dusclops on a critical hit: 122-144 (82.9 - 97.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
255+ SpA Latios Psychic vs. 252 HP / 124 SpD Dusclops on a critical hit: 124-147 (84.3 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
255+ Atk Snorlax Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 132+ Def Dusclops on a critical hit: 122-144 (82.9 - 97.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO


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Articuno @ Leftovers
Calm Nature
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 220 HP / 60 SpD / 228 Spe
- Haze
- Substitute
- Protect

- Toxic

Articuno, a slightly improved Delibird, stalls what it can and prevents setup with Haze, which is a very nice, spammable move even if it does nothing because of its large base PP. Toxic is ideally never used, but is essential to remove Water Absorb threats from the field even if Suicune has setup already. It also gives Articuno a way to fight back, should something completely go the wrong way. The EVs let it outspeed even Jolteon-4 after Icy Wind and Articuno is pretty bulky on the special side:

255+ SpA Gengar Psychic vs. 220 HP / 60+ SpD Articuno: 41-49 (21.2 - 25.3%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery
55+ SpA Alakazam Thunder Punch vs. 220 HP / 60+ SpD Articuno: 71-84 (36.7 - 43.5%) -- 99.3% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 SpA Walrein Ice Beam vs. 220 HP / 60+ SpD Articuno: 38-45 (19.6 - 23.3%) -- possible 6HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 SpA Swampert Surf vs. 220 HP / 60+ SpD Articuno: 35-42 (18.1 - 21.7%) -- possible 7HKO after Leftovers recovery
-2 255 SpA Blaziken Thunder Punch vs. 220 HP / 60+ SpD Articuno: 28-34 (14.5 - 17.6%) -- possible 9HKO after Leftovers recovery

Note that this Articuno is way different from the Articuno on Mono Ice since it's faster, has Leftovers, and doesn't need to wall physicals as well since Dusclops can Thief and/or Torment them (and stall way more PP on its own than Jynx, lol). It's less bulky, but provides a lot of utility and usually leaves the field pretty healthy to help Suicune later in the game if it gets stuck.


1616579737372.png

Suicune @ Salac Berry
Bold Nature
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 60 HP / 212 Def / 4 SpA / 4 SpD / 228 Spe
- Surf
- Substitute
- Calm Mind

- Rest

We all know how easily Suicune sets up, but now it's against unboosted Struggles. We consider the other dogs as well, but Suicune is the only one that has its counters wallable by Articuno and it's by far the easiest to setup against Struggles. The strongest unboosted Struggle in the game:

255 Atk Pure Power Medicham Struggle vs. 60 HP / 212+ Def Suicune: 24-29 (13.1 - 15.8%) -- possible 7HKO

It spams Calm Mind, Substitutes into Salac Berry and Rests up. After it wakes up, it finishes boosting up and Substitutes yet again only before Resting up. Finally, it Substitutes and sweeps after waking up, usually sweeping in the range of 50% to 60% of its health where it still survives plenty of moves even if its Substitute would be broken. Then it cleans with a net speed of 201, outspeeding even Jolteon-4 and preventing the Substitute break against many other fast threats such as Espeon, Aerodactyl, Gengar and Sceptile (against the latter, Suicune can just make another Sub if it's at high enough health). The Salac Berry also prevents the Substitute from getting broken by a faster Pokemon's crit Struggle when clicking Surf for the first time.

So yeah, the Water Absorbers and Double Team Water-type walls Suicune gets stuck against are all Toxic bait for Articuno.


Problems? A lot of things are a bit shaky, but worth mentioning are the following:
Water Absorb or bulky water OHKOers with quite some luck, the Rhydon crit 18%, and incredible Thunderbolt parahax from the start. Other than that, it's a matter of patience, careful play and good scouting/looking up sets to keep winning consistently.

In the end, I think this team is about as good as the Christmas Special Stantler + Suicune + Delibird team, with a better filler over Delibird such as Steelix.
 
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So unfortunately the tragedy struck at Round 49. The opponent had Gardevoir/Slowing and Magmar. I decided to lead with Metagross and Latias since I have trouble doubling up with Latis vs Gardevoir. He used Garde/Slowking. I decided to explode with my Metagross but he used Flamethrower and Fire punch on it and KOed. Latias wasnt able to do much after that since he packed ice coverage moves. He even Frozen her with ice beam not that it would matter.

So 49 Battle Tournaments won. I am a bit disappointed, I think that the team can easily break the 100 BT benchmark and the result doesn't depict it's full potential.

Suggestions: Modest Latios is probably better than Timid since the latter missed some crucial KOs against some fire types. Jolly Metagross is also needed I think or at least more speed investment than the one I used after all my loss would have been averted if I was able to outspeed at least one of his Pokemons. Jynx also gave me trouble and should be probably be outsped as well.

I will return to Dome Doubles when I manage to RNG my Modest versions of the Latis. But it will take some time since I play in cartridge.

Overall I hope, decpite my somewhat early loss, to get more people involved into Doubles and I am proud that a double Lati team is able to perform admirably in another facility not named Arena.

Thanks for reading!

IMG_20210325_004737.jpg
 
Partly because my Emerald challenge involved intense study into their sets to figure out how to beat them, and partly because I find it interesting, I thought I’d do a novelty post analysing the Frontier Brains’ movesets. This might get long so I'm spoiler tagging each one.

The Brains are the only opponents in the Frontier who have dedicated sets, and for whom care was taken not to waste EVs. So several of their Pokemon have 252/252/6 spreads rather than the typical 255/255 or 170/170/170 most opponents in the Frontier do, and several have more complex spreads where more than three stats are boosted.

What made me want to write this post was that some of them are… pretty janky. In contrast to, say, Gale of Darkness, which gave opponent mons in the Orre Colosseum top-standard movesets and often made full use of Hidden Power with custom IV spreads, many of the Brains' Pokemon are inferior to the sets used by the other NPCs. It was fun to examine them and try to rationalise why they were designed the way they were. Intrigued to read people's insights!

Silver Team

1616709338179.png

Alakazam @ Brightpowder
Thunderpunch
Fire Punch
Ice Punch
Disable
106 HP/152 Def/100 Sp.Atk/152 Speed (Modest)
IVs: 24/24/24/24/24/24

This is garbage. Alakazam’s EVs are all over the place and without a Psychic move it's easy to stall out. There's already a Modest multipuncher set but it doesn't run full speed; if this did, or even was Timid, it'd have been a legitimate threat.

1616709394330.png

Entei @ Lum Berry
Fire Blast
Return
Calm Mind
Roar
100 HP/152 Atk/152 Def/100 Sp.Atk/6 Sp.Def (Lonely)
IVs: 24/24/24/24/24/24

Not terrible but it's hard to do Entei well in gen 3. Once again the EVs are all over the place.

1616709373227.png

Snorlax @ Quick Claw
Body Slam
Belly Drum
Yawn
Shadow Ball
152 HP/152 Att/106 Sp.Atk/100 Sp.Def (Adamant)
IVs: 24/24/24/24/24/24

For some reason, this has 106 EVs in Special Atk despite... not having any special moves. Yawn+Belly Drum almost works but the AI never pulls it off correctly, and Belly Drum with no recovery sucks.


Gold Team


1616709402115.png

Raikou @ Lum Berry
Thunderbolt
Calm Mind
Reflect
Rest
158 HP/200 Def/100 Speed (Modest)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

This had the potential to be a fantastic lead if not for the fact that it’s infamously a sitting duck against literally any Electric-immune Pokemon. Any other move other than Reflect would have saved this, even with the garbage EVs.

1616709061733.png

Latios @ Brightpowder
Psychic
Calm Mind
Recover
Dragon Claw
252 HP/Def, 6 Speed (Modest)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

This isn't too bad. The EVs mean it can probably get off a couple of Calm Minds.

1616709376301.png

Snorlax @Chesto Berry
Curse
Return
Shadow Ball
Rest
252 HP/Atk, 6 Sp.Atk (Adamant)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Her best mon without doubt. Except for the fact that again we’ve got EVs deposited in Sp.Atk when they could go literally anywhere else, this is a sturdy wall that can be quite tough to beat if it gets going.

Silver Team

1616710227799.png

Regirock @ Quick Claw
Explosion
Earthquake
Ancientpower
Superpower
152/152/106/100 (Adamant)
IVs: 16/16/16/16/16/16

White Herb would be a better choice to counteract Superpower but this ain't too shabby. Not a bad lead at all.

1616709085702.png

Registeel @ Leftovers
Earthquake
Metal Claw
Toxic
Iron Defence
152 HP, 152 Atk, 6 Sp.Atk, 200 Sp.Def (Adamant)
IVs: 16/16/16/16/16/16

Trash. Hits like garbage and is easily walled. And oh look, another mon with EVs pointlessly placed in Special Attack. Can be an intense pain to kill though.

1616709092112.png

Regice @ Chesto Berry
Ice Beam
Thunder
Amnesia
Rest
106 HP/152 Def/100 Sp.Atk/152 Sp.Def (Modest)
IVs: 16/16/16/16/16/16

Not too bad at all. Calm Mind would have been more optimal though.

Gold Team

1616710238102.png

Articuno @ Scope Lens
Blizzard
Water Pulse
Aerial Ace
Reflect
6 HP, 252 Def/Speed (Mild)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

1616710245031.png

Zapdos @ Lum Berry
Thunder
Detect
Drill Peck
Light Screen
6 HP, 252 Def/Speed (Mild)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

1616710252573.png

Moltres @ Brightpowder
Fire Blast
Hyper Beam
Aerial Ace
Safeguard
6 HP, 252 Def/Speed (Mild)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

I’m assuming the reasoning for making all three birds Mild was so that neither offensive stat would be compromised, with full defence EVs to balance out the shortfall. Unfortunately this leaves all three with distinctly average offences. Maybe this is why all three rely on high-power, low-PP and low-accuracy moves rather than the more reliable counterparts. None of the three are really used to their potential.

Silver Team

1616710655420.png

Heracross @ Salac Berry
Megahorn
Rock Tomb
Endure
Reversal
106 HP, 152 Atk, 100 Sp.Def, 152 Speed (Jolly)
IVs: 20/20/20/20/20/20

The spread EVs means it doesn’t excel at anything but this isn't totally terrible.

1616710668064.png

Umbreon @ Leftovers
Body Slam
Confuse Ray
Psychic
Faint Attack
152 HP, 100 Def, 152 Sp.Atk, 106 Sp.Def (Calm)
IVs: 20/20/20/20/20/20

Not the worst moveset considering the offensive nature of the arena but it won’t be killing anything with that dismal Sp.Atk. It's odd for Umbreon to be the leader of the Arena's signature Pokemon but it definitely wins points for style.

1616710714665.png

Shedinja @ Brightpowder
Shadow Ball
Return
Confuse Ray
Aerial Ace
252 Atk, 6 Def, 252 Speed (Adamant)
IVs: 20/20/20/20/20/20

Can’t fault her for wasting EVs because it’s Shedinja after all but why not stick them in Sp.Atk like everyone else? Having it as the third Pokemon is clever though, I can imagine that caught a lot of people out.

Gold Team

1616710669729.png

Umbreon @ Chesto Berry
Double-edge
Confuse Ray
Rest
Psychic
252 HP/Sp.Atk, 6 Sp.Def (Calm)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Maxing Sp.Atk this time? It still sucks. Interesting to have this as a lead though, it's one of those Pokemon that's either dead weight or a horrendously tricky foe depending on the matchup.

1616710685053.png

Gengar @ Leftovers
Psychic
Hypnosis
Dream Eater
Destiny Bond
252 HP/Def, 6 Sp.Atk (Modest)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Maxed Defence and HP on Gengar is such a weird flex, especially with a Modest nature. It still barely survives most Shadow Balls, and any Psychic move will still KO it. With zero speed, it's unlikely to be killing much with Destiny Bond.

1616710699449.png

Breloom @ Lum Berry
Spore
Focus Punch
Giga Drain
Headbutt
6 HP, 252 Atk/Speed (Jolly)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

When Breloom of all things has the best EV and Nature combination, something’s badly wrong. Headbutt is a cool option and presumably was included with the intention of scoring flinches to win the judging. It's nice when the Brain's Pokemon is adapted to their facility.

Silver Team

1616711091045.png

Seviper @ Brightpowder
Swagger
Crunch
Poison Tail
Giga Drain
252 HP/Def, 6 Sp.Atk (Brave)
IVs: 16/16/16/16/16/16

Not brilliant but then it is a Seviper after all. Max HP doesn’t save it, Psychic still OHKOs pretty much all of the time.

1616711123608.png

Shuckle @ Chesto Berry
Toxic
Rest
Sandstorm
Protect
252 HP, 106 Sp.Atk, 252 Sp.Def (Bold)
IVs: 16/16/16/16/16/16

Yet another mon with wasted Special Atk EVs. How do you fuck up Shuckle? It's one of the simplest mons to do EVs for. Sandstorm is an odd choice considering it hurts Milotic and leaves it completely helpless against Steel types.

1616711107961.png

Milotic @ Leftovers
Surf
Ice Beam
Mirror Coat
Recover
152 HP, 100 Def, 152 Sp.Atk, 106 Sp.Def, (Modest)
IVs: 16/16/16/16/16/16

Not terrible. None of the Milotic in the Frontier are great IMO.

Gold Team
1616711096451.png

Seviper @ Focus Band
Swagger
Crunch
Sludge Bomb
Giga Drain
252 HP/Sp.Atk, 6 Sp.Def (Bold)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Seviper is just not threatening no matter how you play it. Why is this Bold? EVs are a weird inversion of the silver set.

1616711480734.png

Steelix @ Brightpowder
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Explosion
Screech
252 HP/Sp.Def, 6 Sp.Atk (Brave)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Once again we’ve another mon with excess EVs dumped pointlessly in Sp.Atk. Did someone just mix up the order and think Speed came fourth? Why is this Brave instead of just Adamant?

1616711495845.png

Gyarados @ Chesto Berry
Dragon Dance
Return
Roar
Rest
252 HP/Sp.Def, 6 Atk (Adamant)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Not bad, and very threatening if you’re statused. Utterly useless against Ghosts, Rocks, and Steels though, which is stupid because it typically comes out last.

Silver Team

1616711753940.png

Crobat @ Brightpowder
Confuse Ray
Double Team
Toxic
Fly
152 HP, 100 Sp.Atk, 106 Sp.Def, 152 Speed (Adamant)
IVs: 16/16/16/16/16/16

Adamant with only one physical move is ass. Useless Sp.Atk EVs just add insult to injury.

1616711830954.png

Slaking @ Scope Lens
Earthquake
Swagger
Shadow Ball
Brick Break
152 Atk, 152 Def, 100 Sp.Atk, 106 Speed (Hardy)
IVs: 16/16/16/16/16/16

Oh good, more useless Sp.Atk EVs, yay. This isn't bad, though. Could use a STAB move.

1616711901258.png

Lapras @ Quick Claw
Ice Beam
Horn Drill
Confuse Ray
Protect
252 Def, 106 Sp.Atk, 152 Sp.Def (Quiet)
IVs: 16/16/16/16/16/16

Not terrible given that the weighted odds for the AI means Horn Drill hits 95% of the time, but not having Water STAB isn't brilliant.

Gold Team

1616712033562.png

Arcanine @ White Herb
Overheat
Extremespeed
Roar
Protect
6 HP, 252 Atk/Def (Hasty)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Not so bad. Maxed Defence is weird with a Hasty nature but it gives it some unexpected bulk.

1616712054347.png

Slaking @ Scope Lens
Hyper Beam
Earthquake
Shadow Ball
Yawn
6 HP, 252 Atk/Speed (Hardy)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

My god, an actual decent EV spread and moveset. Hardy is fantastic in the Palace so this is a genuine threat.

1616712065656.png

Suicune @ King's Rock
Surf
Blizzard
Bite
Calm Mind
252 HP/Def, 6 Speed (Hasty)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Somewhat threatening but boosting with no recovery sucks.

You can tell there was actually a bit of thought here. All of his Pokemon have fairly useful natures for the Palace, and movesets to match.

Silver Team

1616712459452.png

Swampert @ Focus Band
Surf
Earthquake
Ice Beam
Counter
152 HP/152 Atk/106 Def/100 Sp.Atk (Brave)
IVs: 20/20/20/20/20/20

Not bad but it's hard to do Swampert very badly. Focus Band has a habit of activating every time it uses Counter. Not that anyone smart will care because they’ll be Giga Draining it to death.

1616712443352.png

Salamence @ Lum Berry
Earthquake
Brick Break
Dragon Claw
Aerial Ace
152 HP/152 Atk, 106 Def, 100 Speed (Adamant)
IVs: 20/20/20/20/20/20

Dragon Claw is out of place on this, if this was a DD set or just had a fourth physical move like Rock Slide it’d be fearsome. Seriously, why could this not just have maxed Attack and Speed?

1616712432462.png

Charizard @ White Herb
Overheat
Rock Slide
Aerial Ace
Earthquake
100 HP, 152 Atk, 106 Def, 152 Speed (Quiet)
IVs: 20/20/20/20/20/20

Quiet and 152 Speed is stupid. Why is nothing in the Frontier full speed? Mixed Charizard is super stylish though, this thing looks great.

Gold Team

1616712702455.png

Metagross @ Quick Claw
Psychic
Meteor Mash
Earthquake
Protect
252 HP/Atk, 6 Def (Brave)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Pretty swish, hard to find fault with this really. Psychic is a cool option but unlikely to KO anything.

1616712762059.png

Latias @ Chesto Berry
Thunderbolt
Psychic
Calm Mind
Rest
252 HP/Def, 6 Speed (Modest)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Weird to have this be Modest rather than Bold or something but it's still good. The Dome is mostly too fast-paced to boost like this but Latias is one of the few mons who can get away with it.

1616712808694.png

Swampert @ Leftovers
Surf
Earthquake
Ice Beam
Mirror Coat
252 HP/Atk, 6 Def (Brave)

Mirror Coat with no Sp.Def investment is weird, but Swampert is still pretty decent nonetheless. Congrats Tucker. You are officially the best Frontier Brain.
 

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FIST OF THE SOUTH STAR
:latios: :snorlax: :salamence:

So I decided to look back into the Battle Arena and decided to go for a higher record mostly because my last attempts were pretty much done over by unfortunate events and decided to give this facility another shot. I decided to try a similar concept to a "Sandwich" but I wanted to add a twist of my own. I gotta say this, Arena sucks so hard. It really took me several tries to get at 77 wins but it's insane how you can easily get haxxed out of here or get counter-teamed if the AI's lineup simply destroys yours. No switching is one of the worst gimmicks to play with. Either way, I can't say I had fun doing this and I'm glad I won't touch this facility for some time. IMO it is worse than Palace (which admittedly grew on me).

The team ended up with 77 wins on Lv.50 retail after several attempts on the Battle Arena.


Spr_3e_381_s.png

Enkidu (Latios) (M) @ Lum Berry
IVs: 4 Atk
EVs: 28 HP / 12 Def / 246 SpA / 4 SpD / 220 Spe
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt

Latios is the best Pokemon in Generation III. Period. Nothing else to discuss on how this beast sets up and if you're lucky enough to avoid crits, Latios can pretty much destroy anything after a single or two Calm Minds. Because the facility doesn't allows me to switch out, Latios plays more recklessly knowing that most of the stuff he would lose to, will be destroyed by Snorlax. Initially, I also tried Memento but considering how hard Snorlax gets done by critical hits, it was difficult to really justify its use since the AI only has three turns as well. I felt that Calm Mind was the perfect move to use because Snorlax is not really going to lose against Scizor and Forretress with some Curse boosts under its belt and Rest helping out on the Body judgement. Ice Beam was the preferred move on this team because it murders Salamence 4 and Kingdra can't win against Latios in 3 turns anyways.

220 Speed allows Latios to outspeed all Sceptile / Dugtrio sets meaning that only Jolteon and Crobat can outspeed it. The HP and Def EVs allows Latios to survive a +252 Atk Silver Wind from Scizor at full health while 4 SpD EVs are used to avoid a stat increase go to waste. Rest goes into Special Attack for maximum power.


Spr_3e_143_s.png

Humbaba (Snorlax) (M) @ Chesto Berry
IVs: 27 SpA
EVs: 44 HP / 212 Atk / 206 Def / 44 SpD / 4 Spe
Ability: Thick Fat
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Adamant Nature
- Rest
- Curse
- Earthquake
- Shadow Ball

STAB-less Snorlax. That's right, you're not blind and you neither have a bug in your PC screen. Curse Snorlax without STAB feels really good because it's meant to destroy what Latios cannot handle which is pretty much Jynx, opposing Psychic types like Alakazam, Lati@s and Espeon that get lucky with crits and bulkier ones like Hypno. To be fair, I have only missed the STAB damage against Pokemon like Regice, but other than that, it has barely been missed. It's difficult to strike a balance because if you run STAB, you'll get walled by something. Without Shadow Ball, Shedinja has fun with this team lol. Without Earthquake, Aggron and Metagross are having a field trip. In the end, I sacrifice the STAB damage for the best coverage possible for Snorlax and it does pays off.

A Chesto Berry is what precisely allows Snorlax to obliterate Jynx while preventing it from falling victim to Sleep which is the worse status ailment to deal with on the Battle Arena.

212 Atk EVs will always guarantee a OHKO on 0 HP / 0 Def Latios after a single Curse boost. 44 HP and 206 Def means that Snorlax will never be 2HKO'd by Heracross' +252 Atk Brick Break at +1. 4 Spe is to allow Snorlax to outspeed opposing Slowbro / Slowking / Steelix and the rest goes into Special Defense to slightly increase its already impressive special bulk.

  • +1 212+ Atk Snorlax Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Latios: 156-184 (100.6 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
  • +1 212+ Atk Snorlax Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 255 Def Alakazam: 161-190 (123.8 - 146.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
  • 212+ Atk Snorlax Shadow Ball vs. 255 HP / 0 Def Jynx: 190-224 (110.4 - 130.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
  • 212+ Atk Snorlax Shadow Ball vs. 255 HP / 0 Def Latias: 96-114 (51.3 - 60.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
  • 212+ Atk Snorlax Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 255 Def Hypno: 86-102 (53.7 - 63.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

  • 255+ Atk Machamp Cross Chop vs. 44 HP / 206 Def Snorlax: 205-242 (85 - 100.4%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
  • 255 Atk Magmar Cross Chop vs. 44 HP / 206 Def Snorlax on a critical hit: 204-240 (84.6 - 99.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
  • 255+ Atk Hariyama Cross Chop vs. 44 HP / 206 Def Snorlax: 193-228 (80 - 94.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
  • 255+ Atk Heracross Brick Break vs. +1 44 HP / 206 Def Snorlax: 102-120 (42.3 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
  • 170+ Atk Metagross Meteor Mash vs. +1 44 HP / 206 Def Snorlax: 67-79 (27.8 - 32.7%) -- guaranteed 4HKO


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Salamandra (Salamence) (F) @ Leftovers
EVs: 54 HP / 236 Atk / 220 Spe
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Adamant Nature
- Aerial Ace
- Substitute
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance

It was really difficult to come out with a good Salamence spread. Trust me when I say this, it's really hard to balance bulk and power with this thing because Aerial Ace will never be the perfect STAB move with it. But I wanted something that could act as an emergency check to Double Team spammers that get out of control and are winning via Skill points on judgement so I felt that Salamence was the perfect Pokemon for the job. On the team's order, Salamence will deal with the Fighting types that get to face Snorlax and they'll be set up against. Intimidate also helps since the Pokemon that can beat Snorlax won't appreciate having their Attack cut down. STAB Aerial Ace means that Salamence will never miss its attacks and will always win on Skill. Earthquake complements its Flying STAB and its main use is for Steel types like Metagross. Substitute protects Salamence from attacks and Thunder Wave spam. Despite this, I feel that Salamence still remains as the weakest link, although I am not sure how would anything else improve over it.

54 HP gives a perfect Leftovers number which means that in 4 turns Salamence will recover the lost HP from a single Substitute. 220 Speed means that Salamence will always outspeed stuff like Arcanine, Houndoom, Alakaza, Heracross and anything below that. You don't really want to go lower than 135 because that's where you get to outspeed Greta's Breloom in case you want to experiment further with the EV spread and you really want to avoid the Spore if you're up against it.

I lost to Lass Josie who has one of the most limited pools in Frontier and only uses Set 4s. She started with Glalie 4 and after using the calculator I find out that setting up CM was viable:

170 SpA Glalie Ice Beam vs. +1 28 HP / 6 SpD Latios: 68-80 (42.7 - 50.3%) -- 1.2% chance to 2HKO

Under normal circumstances, Latios would've been able to set up to +2 and actually KO back Glalie. It would've been the best play since it was from start and considering that she also had Ludicolo 4 on her pool, I felt it could've been a worth risk. Of course things don't go ass planned and she instead gets a critical hit which OHKOs Latios.

Next was Snorlax but I made a fatal error in judgement here. For the next two turns, Snorlax uses Curse, however, I didn't use the damage calculator at this point and felt that I would've won Mind and Body. Glalie of course uses Earthquake and Crunch but its 3 attacks are not even able to lower my HP less than 50%. Glalie tanks the +2 Earthquake on the final turn and after the judging screen, I realized I made an error in judgement. The judge ties both Pokemon (I lost on Mind, we both tied on Skill and I won on Body which gaves us a score of 3 for both).

The correct play was simply to set a single Curse once and then Earthquake because a +1 Earthquake is strong enough to 2HKO it. But yeah, I did really messed up on this one and I did felt weariness from attempting Arena several times.

Last mon is Salamence and her next Pokemon was Dewgong 4. You know where this is going, right? Yep, murdered by Ice Beam. Classic Gen 3.

  • :regice: Set 6 is one of the worst Pokemon to deal with. Lack of STAB doesn't awards you Mind points so you gotta win via Body and Skill which is hard said that done if Regice comes up at a lower percentage (which mostly happens because Latios will usually die doing chip damage to this Pokemon) and it gains the advantage on Body if it uses Rest. I've lost two streaks to Regice 6, so please be mindful of this particular set.
  • :lapras: Goes without saying. With Snorlax not having STAB, it takes a while to take it down. Pray that Set 7/8 miss their OHKO moves. There's also Confuse Ray which is extremely annoying.
  • :walrein: Less threatening than Lapras because it has less sets but you don't want to mess with Walrein 3/4 because of Sheer Cold
  • :snorlax: Set 5 and Set 6 deserve a mention because they have Shadow Ball for Latios and Counter; but they also carry Brick Break, which unlike to what happens with Swampert, you can't cheap the judging round if you get hit by it and you're forced to attack.
  • :pinsir: Doesn't appears often unless you're starting on early rounds, but you have to be really careful because if you think that spamming Calm Mind will get you out of the judging round, Guillotine is no joke.
  • :regirock: I hate this Pokemon with a passion. It's bulky enough to survive two Psychics and if it is Set 2/6 at low health, it's guaranteed to blow up on Snorlax. Best you can do is set up a Calm Mind once and hope crits are not on its favor.
  • :steelix: Same issue with Regirock but Steelix's Quick Claw is problematic if it grabs a lucky Rock Slide flinch. It can also explode on turn 1, but this isn't really the worst outcome.

IMG_20210325_151540.jpg


Just to clarify, it was on-going at the time I took this picture but since I lost the first battle, felt that it would've been just a waste of time to take another one.


 
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I gotta say this, Arena sucks so hard. It really took me several tries to get at 77 wins but it's insane how you can easily get haxxed out of here or get counter-teamed if the AI's lineup simply destroys yours. No switching is one of the worst gimmicks to play with. Either way, I can't say I had fun doing this and I'm glad I won't touch this facility for some time. IMO it is worse than Palace (which admittedly grew on me).

Totally agree with this assessment of the Arena.

How good was Rest on Snorlax in your experience? Do you think it's better than Selfdestruct?

(Also, spots #2 and #4 on the Open Level Arena leaderboard are both under my username)
 
Partly because my Emerald challenge involved intense study into their sets to figure out how to beat them, and partly because I find it interesting, I thought I’d do a novelty post analysing the Frontier Brains’ movesets. This might get long so I'm spoiler tagging each one.

The Brains are the only opponents in the Frontier who have dedicated sets, and for whom care was taken not to waste EVs. So several of their Pokemon have 252/252/6 spreads rather than the typical 255/255 or 170/170/170 most opponents in the Frontier do, and several have more complex spreads where more than three stats are boosted.

What made me want to write this post was that some of them are… pretty janky. In contrast to, say, Gale of Darkness, which gave opponent mons in the Orre Colosseum top-standard movesets and often made full use of Hidden Power with custom IV spreads, many of the Brain's Pokemon are inferior to the sets used by the other NPCs. It was fun to examine them and try to rationalise why they were designed the way they were. Intrigued to read people's insights!

Silver Team

View attachment 326018
Alakazam @ Brightpowder
Thunderpunch
Fire Punch
Ice Punch
Disable
106 HP/152 Def/100 Sp.Atk/152 Speed (Modest)
IVs: 24/24/24/24/24/24

This is garbage. Alakazam’s EVs are all over the place and without a Psychic move it's easy to stall out. There's already a Modest multipuncher set but it doesn't run full speed; if this did, or even was Timid, it'd have been a legitimate threat.

View attachment 326022
Entei @ Lum Berry
Fire Blast
Return
Calm Mind
Roar
100 HP/152 Atk/152 Def/100 Sp.Atk/6 Sp.Def (Lonely)
IVs: 24/24/24/24/24/24

Not terrible but it's hard to do Entei well in gen 3. Once again the EVs are all over the place.

View attachment 326020
Snorlax @ Quick Claw
Body Slam
Belly Drum
Yawn
Shadow Ball
152 HP/152 Att/106 Sp.Atk/100 Sp.Def (Adamant)
IVs: 24/24/24/24/24/24

For some reason, this has 106 EVs in Special Atk despite... not having any special moves. Yawn+Belly Drum almost works but the AI never pulls it off correctly, and Belly Drum with no recovery sucks.


Gold Team


View attachment 326023
Raikou @ Lum Berry
Thunderbolt
Calm Mind
Reflect
Rest
158 HP/200 Def/100 Speed (Modest)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

This had the potential to be a fantastic lead if not for the fact that it’s infamously a sitting duck against literally any Electric-immune Pokemon. Any other move other than Reflect would have saved this, even with the garbage EVs.

View attachment 326006
Latios @ Brightpowder
Psychic
Calm Mind
Recover
Dragon Claw
252 HP/Def, 6 Speed (Modest)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

This isn't too bad. The EVs mean it can probably get off a couple of Calm Minds.

View attachment 326021
Snorlax @Chesto Berry
Curse
Return
Shadow Ball
Rest
252 HP/Atk, 6 Sp.Atk (Adamant)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Her best mon without doubt. Except for the fact that again we’ve got IVs deposited in Sp.Atk when they could go literally anywhere else, this is a sturdy wall that can be quite tough to beat if it gets going.

Silver Team

View attachment 326025
Regirock @ Quick Claw
Explosion
Earthquake
Ancientpower
Superpower
152/152/106/100 (Adamant)
IVs: 16/16/16/16/16/16

White Herb would be a better choice to counteract Superpower but this ain't too shabby. Not a bad lead at all.

View attachment 326009
Registeel @ Leftovers
Earthquake
Metal Claw
Toxic
Iron Defence
152 HP, 152 Atk, 6 Sp.Atk, 200 Sp.Def (Adamant)
IVs: 16/16/16/16/16/16

Trash. Hits like garbage and is easily walled. And oh look, another mon with EVs pointlessly placed in Special Attack. Can be an intense pain to kill though.

View attachment 326010
Regice @ Chesto Berry
Ice Beam
Thunder
Amnesia
Rest
106 HP/152 Def/100 Sp.Atk/152 Sp.Def (Modest)
IVs: 16/16/16/16/16/16

Not too bad at all. Calm Mind would have been more optimal though.

Gold Team

View attachment 326026
Articuno @ Scope Lens
Blizzard
Water Pulse
Aerial Ace
Reflect
6 HP, 252 Def/Speed (Mild)

View attachment 326027
Zapdos @ Lum Berry
Thunder
Detect
Drill Peck
Light Screen
6 HP, 252 Def/Speed (Mild)

View attachment 326028
Moltres @ Brightpowder
Fire Blast
Hyper Beam
Aerial Ace
Safeguard
6 HP, 252 Def/Speed (Mild)

I’m assuming the reasoning for making all three birds Mild was so that neither defensive stat would be compromised, with full defence EVs to balance out the shortfall. Unfortunately this leaves all three with distinctly average offences. Maybe this is why all three rely on high-power, low-PP and low-accuracy moves rather than the more reliable counterparts. None of the three are really used to their potential.

Silver Team

View attachment 326034
Heracross @ Salac Berry
Megahorn
Rock Tomb
Endure
Reversal
106 HP, 152 Atk, 100 Sp.Def, 152 Speed (Jolly)
IVs: 20/20/20/20/20/20

The spread EVs means it doesn’t excel at anything but this isn't totally terrible.

View attachment 326035
Umbreon @ Leftovers
Body Slam
Confuse Ray
Psychic
Faint Attack
152 HP, 100 Def, 152 Sp.Atk, 106 Sp.Def (Calm)
IVs: 20/20/20/20/20/20

Not the worst moveset considering the offensive nature of the arena but it won’t be killing anything with that dismal Sp.Atk. It's odd for Umbreon to be the leader of the Arena's signature Pokemon but it definitely wins points for style.

View attachment 326039
Shedinja @ Brightpowder
Shadow Ball
Return
Confuse Ray
Aerial Ace
252 Atk, 6 Def, 252 Speed (Adamant)
IVs: 20/20/20/20/20/20

Can’t fault her for wasting EVs because it’s Shedinja after all but why not stick them in Sp.Atk like everyone else? Having it as the third Pokemon is clever though, I can imagine that caught a lot of people out.

Gold Team

View attachment 326036
Umbreon @ Chesto Berry
Double-edge
Confuse Ray
Rest
Psychic
252 HP/Sp.Atk, 6 Sp.Def (Calm)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Maxing Sp.Atk this time? It still sucks. Interesting to have this as a lead though, it's one of those Pokemon that's either dead weight or a horrendously tricky foe depending on the matchup.

View attachment 326037
Gengar @ Leftovers
Psychic
Hypnosis
Dream Eater
Destiny Bond
252 HP/Def, 6 Sp.Atk (Modest)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Maxed Defence and HP on Gengar is such a weird flex, especially with a Modest nature. It still barely survives most Shadow Balls, and any Psychic move will still KO it. With zero speed, it's unlikely to be killing much with Destiny Bond.

View attachment 326038
Breloom @ Lum Berry
Spore
Focus Punch
Giga Drain
Headbutt
6 HP, 252 Atk/Speed (Jolly)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

When Breloom of all things has the best EV and Nature combination, something’s badly wrong. Headbutt is a cool option and presumably was included with the intention of scoring flinches to win the judging. It's nice when the Brain's Pokemon are adapted to their facility.

Silver Team

View attachment 326040
Seviper @ Brightpowder
Swagger
Crunch
Poison Tail
Giga Drain
252 HP/Def, 6 Sp.Atk (Brave)
IVs: 16/16/16/16/16/16

Not brilliant but then it is a Seviper after all. Max HP doesn’t save it, Psychic still OHKOs pretty much all of the time.

View attachment 326044
Shuckle @ Chesto Berry
Toxic
Rest
Sandstorm
Protect
252 HP, 106 Sp.Atk, 252 Sp.Def (Bold)
IVs: 16/16/16/16/16/16

Yet another mon with wasted Special Atk EVs. How do you fuck up Shuckle? It's one of the simplest mons to do EVs for. Sandstorm is an odd choice considering it hurts Milotic and leaves it completely helpless against Steel types.

View attachment 326042
Milotic @ Leftovers
Surf
Ice Beam
Mirror Coat
Recover
152 HP, 100 Def, 152 Sp.Atk, 106 Sp.Def, (Modest)
IVs: 16/16/16/16/16/16

Not terrible. None of the Milotic in the Frontier are great IMO.

Gold Team
View attachment 326041
Seviper @ Focus Band
Swagger
Crunch
Sludge Bomb
Giga Drain
252 HP/Sp.Atk, 6 Sp.Def (Bold)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Seviper is just not threatening no matter how you play it. Why is this Bold? EVs are a weird inversion of the silver set.

View attachment 326045
Steelix @ Brightpowder
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Explosion
Screech
252 HP/Sp.Def, 6 Sp.Atk (Brave)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Once again we’ve another mon with excess EVs dumped pointlessly in Sp.Atk. Did someone just mix up the order and think Speed came fourth? Why is this Brave instead of just Adamant?

View attachment 326046
Gyarados @ Chesto Berry
Dragon Dance
Return
Roar
Rest
252 HP/Sp.Def, 6 Atk (Adamant)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Not bad, and very threatening if you’re statused. Utterly useless against Ghosts, Rocks, and Steels though, which is stupid because it typically comes out last.

Silver Team

View attachment 326047
Crobat @ Brightpowder
Confuse Ray
Double Team
Toxic
Fly
152 HP, 100 Sp.Atk, 106 Sp.Def, 152 Speed (Adamant)
IVs: 16/16/16/16/16/16

Adamant with only one physical move is ass. Useless Sp.Atk EVs just add insult to injury.

View attachment 326048
Slaking @ Scope Lens
Earthquake
Swagger
Shadow Ball
Brick Break
152 Atk, 152 Def, 100 Sp.Atk, 106 Speed (Hardy)
IVs: 16/16/16/16/16/16

Oh good, more useless Sp.Atk EVs, yay. This isn't bad, though. Could use a STAB move.

View attachment 326050
Lapras @ Quick Claw
Ice Beam
Horn Drill
Confuse Ray
Protect
252 Def, 106 Sp.Atk, 152 Sp.Def (Quiet)
IVs: 16/16/16/16/16/16

Not terrible given that the weighted odds for the AI means Horn Drill hits 95% of the time, but not having Water STAB isn't brilliant.

Gold Team

View attachment 326051
Arcanine @ White Herb
Overheat
Extremespeed
Roar
Protect
6 HP, 252 Atk/Def (Hasty)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Not so bad. Maxed Defence is weird with a Hasty nature but it gives it some unexpected bulk.

View attachment 326052
Slaking @ Scope Lens
Hyper Beam
Earthquake
Shadow Ball
Yawn
6 HP, 252 Atk/Speed (Hardy)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

My god, an actual decent EV spread and moveset. Hardy is fantastic in the Palace so this is a genuine threat.

View attachment 326053
Suicune @ King's Rock
Surf
Blizzard
Bite
Calm Mind
252 HP/Def, 6 Speed (Hasty)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Somewhat threatening but boosting with no recovery sucks.

You can tell there was actually a bit of thought here. All of his Pokemon have fairly useful natures for the Palace, and movesets to match.

Silver Team

View attachment 326060
Swampert @ Focus Band
Surf
Earthquake
Ice Beam
Counter
152 HP/152 Atk/106 Def/100 Sp.Atk (Brave)
IVs: 20/20/20/20/20/20

Not bad but it's hard to do Swampert very badly. Focus Band has a habit of activating every time it uses Counter. Not that anyone smart will care because they’ll be Giga Draining it to death.

View attachment 326059
Salamence @ Lum Berry
Earthquake
Brick Break
Dragon Claw
Aerial Ace
152 HP/152 Atk, 106 Def, 100 Speed (Adamant)
IVs: 20/20/20/20/20/20

Dragon Claw is out of place on this, if this was a DD set or just had a fourth physical move like Rock Slide it’d be fearsome. Seriously, why could this not just have maxed Attack and Speed?

View attachment 326058
Charizard @ White Herb
Overheat
Rock Slide
Aerial Ace
Earthquake
100 HP, 152 Atk, 106 Def, 152 Speed (Quiet)
IVs: 20/20/20/20/20/20

Quiet and 152 Speed is stupid. Why is nothing in the Frontier full speed? Mixed Charizard is super stylish though, this thing looks great.

Gold Team

View attachment 326062
Metagross @ Quick Claw
Psychic
Meteor Mash
Earthquake
Protect
252 HP/Atk, 6 Def (Brave)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Pretty swish, hard to find fault with this really. Psychic is a cool option but unlikely to KO anything.

View attachment 326065
Latias @ Chesto Berry
Thunderbolt
Psychic
Calm Mind
Rest
252 HP/Def, 6 Speed (Modest)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31

Weird to have this be Modest rather than Bold or something but it's still good. The Dome is mostly too fast-paced to boost like this but Latias is one of the few mons who can get away with it.

View attachment 326068
Swampert @ Leftovers
Surf
Earthquake
Ice Beam
Mirror Coat
252 HP/Atk, 6 Def (Brave)

Mirror Coat with no Sp.Def investment is weird, but Swampert is still pretty decent nonetheless. Congrats Tucker. You are officially the best Frontier Brain.
This is really funny; nice post. A few minor nitpicks:

You mention Calm Mind on Regice would be better for Brandon. I think everyone would agree, but sadly Regice can't learn it. Calm Mind Regice would be sick lol.

I don't really agree on the "Shuckle is easy to EV". Like Dusclops, it's hard to get a good spread because the Defenses exceed its HP and therefore you really only have a few jump points and you usually have to take Sitrus into consideration.
 
This is really funny; nice post. A few minor nitpicks:

You mention Calm Mind on Regice would be better for Brandon. I think everyone would agree, but sadly Regice can't learn it. Calm Mind Regice would be sick lol.

You're quite right. For some reason I was convinced it could!

I don't really agree on the "Shuckle is easy to EV". Like Dusclops, it's hard to get a good spread because the Defenses exceed its HP and therefore you really only have a few jump points and you usually have to take Sitrus into consideration.

What I meant was that it's a very straightforward mon in terms of what it's built for. Much like, say, Shedinja, where putting EVs into HP or defenses is usually pointless. No one invests in offenses or speed when EVing Shuckle (unless you're doing a Rollout set or something I guess). You put EVs into defences and HP and that's it. How you calculate them can be tricky but it's unlike, say, Anabel's Entei which invests in multiple stats.
 
Totally agree with this assessment of the Arena.

How good was Rest on Snorlax in your experience? Do you think it's better than Selfdestruct?

(Also, spots #2 and #4 on the Open Level Arena leaderboard are both under my username)

I am currently running yawn, rest, shadowball, earthquake on Snorlax. It's absolutely amazing and much more consistent than self-destruct. It wins judgements like nobody's business. I'm going to unveil my team once I hit 100+ wins. I've had quite a few losses around 70-80 right now and I'm convinced this team can reach 100+. I've used a lot of Arena pokemon and my updated Gengar set and Yawn Snorlax are the two best I've used. The thing that makes them useful is that they are almost never useless in any matchup. Yawn Snorlax lives anything besides crits and ohko moves and wins judgements against any non fighting moves and confusion/para hax. Curse Lax is far worse than yawn snorlax, but it is still the most viable curse user. The thing that I love about Yawn Snorlax is that it guarantees value almost all the time because yawn goes through evasion. This allows you to set up or win judgements.

Other thoughts
CM sucks in the Arena. No one can really pull this off well. I've tried Raikou, Suicune, Latios, Latias. All of them would rather have sub/rest/recover or another coverage move. You also don't do enough to special walls, so you basically lose most of the time even with boosts.
Belly drum sucks. The ones that get it are weak AF. Linoone/Zard/Poliwrath have their niches, but their power falls just short of being viable, along with that fact that you risk focus band, bright powder.
Reversal users are inconsistent. I've used Medicham, Heracross, Blaziken. Not impressed with any of them. Oddly enough, they can be little too frail or hax prone. You absolutely need a Swords dance/ attack boost, but sometimes you just can't pull that off. As I'm typing this, maybe this works with yawn/cripple lead.
Mirror coat/counter sucks. Judge doesn't like it and you have to time it perfectly.
Modest Latios sucks. I just don't like it. The power increase is not worth the speed drop.
Attacking Latias. Crappy version of Latios.

Things to Use
Destiny Bond. Gengar is the absolute best. I've made decent use of salac Gardevoir, but it's lacks the typing to truly make use of it.
YAWN SNORLAX. That is ALL.
Support Latias. I've seen Actaeon use it and it's pretty useful. A good cripple lead and can make use of recover and other support moves, while not being completely useless out on offence.
Timid Latios.
Swift swimmers. Best one is obviously Kingdra, followed by Ludicolo.
Perish Song strat. I'm not familiar how to optimize it, but from watching Actaeon, it's pretty consistent.
Dragon Dance Gyarados. Best DD user and it finds the opportunity to set up most of the time. I'm not too impressed with salamence in comparison because of the worse defensive typing and getting ROFL stomped by swimmers. I have PTSD using Salamence, it's ironic that I'm hating on it so much because my username is submenceisop. Haha.
Explosion/ Self-destruct. Metagross is the best explosion user obviously, but it runs into some issues with missing/focus band. Still an amazing nuke. I've used Snorlax as a boomer, but as I wrote above, it's far better as yawn user.
Rest/ Recover. Works really well if you can time it correctly to win body and keep yourself healthy.
Substitute. A powerful move in the Arena if you can time it correctly. At the very least, it can help you win the body judging if your sub can tank a hit.

Just my 2 cents.
 
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Lately I've been trying to get a timid Latios with perfect IVs from the Ruby/Sapphire roaming encounter glitch. The general wisdom is that the nature is not able to be manipulated and is totally random. After encountering a ton of non-timid Latios I decided to see if rng manipulation was possible.

The roaming encounter glitch occurs because a roamer battle in R/S doesn't clear the opponent party data like is done for all other battles. So slots 2 and 3 for battle tower trainers are encounterable as wild Pokémon with their IVs carried over (as well as their held item and EVs). The nature and ability are not carried over and I think this is because their PID is used to generate these instead of using the fixed nature/ability in their battle tower set. In the battle tower, PID generation seems to occur at 5, 18, and 27 frames after hitting 'A' to start the battle for slots 1, 2, and 3 respectively. I wasn't able to absolutely confirm this but it seems like the simplest explanation.

So the good news is that it seems like you can use rng manipulation to get the exact nature you want from your "stolen" Pokémon from the tower.
The bad news is that you can only realistically manipulate the nature of one of the two slots, and since trainer Pokémon are chosen at random you'd have to do it at the start of every single battle for it to work. You could use the break feature to save/reset the frame counter between each battle, then go for the same frame every time. It'd still only work for one slot (or two if you found the right frame I guess), and still wouldn't guarantee that your target Pokémon would even show up.

As a side note: people usually only use this glitch to get one of the Lati twins but it works for the Regis as well. I think all three probably benefit more from a non-Dark type hidden power but the option is there. You can also use it to acquire the GameCube-exclusive berries and the leichi berry.

edit - If you assume that my given frame delays are correct (they may not be), you can find the right frame for a double-slot nature rng by using Pokefinder for R/S, filtering for the nature you want, then finding instances where those natures are 9 frames apart. Then you subtract 18 to get the frame to start the battle. Here are frames for Timid and Modest:

NatureFrame to start battleSlot 2 PID frameSlot 3 PID frame
Timid149615141523
Modest177517931802

edit 2 - Did more thorough testing and the delay is very inconsistent. Each frame should reliably give the same set of PIDs, but the delays vary frame to frame because the game re-rolls when a team violates the item or species clause. So you can't just look for natures that are X frames apart. You could still use this but you'd have to map out the PID results manually. The PIDs are generated with R/S method 1 stationary.
 
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How good was Rest on Snorlax in your experience? Do you think it's better than Selfdestruct?

I felt that a well-timed Rest could arguably save you, if you were able to set up a Curse and not take too much damage on the process. I haven't used Self-Destruct a lot, but I think it could work out with Calm Mind much better than what Memento can do. I would've taken the nuke over anything else on the last two streaks that were ruined by Regice 6. Also, huge shout-out to submenceisop's and Actaeon's Yawn Snorlax lead. It's the best way to use Snorlax in Arena and you only need a Heart Scale. submenceisop's team is much better than mine, so if you want to try something new, give Yawn Snorlax a chance.

(Also, spots #2 and #4 on the Open Level Arena leaderboard are both under my username)

Fixed already! Thanks for letting me know
 
Here's a post about the YawnLax I first used on a fun/test team with Snorlax, Ice Punch Gar-surviving Liechi DDMence and sweeper Latios. I think this is "Arena news" for everyone who likes to attempt a new 100+ streak. The Arena is one of the most entertaining facilities to test stuff in, since it requires no patience whatsoever. It does invoke smart play and good understanding of the inevitable Judge. The set is as follows, I didn't have a Snorlax image for this general moveset, as it's perfectly executable by other bulky Pokemon such as Walrein, Slowbro/king, Quagsire and Blastoise:

1616846437896.png

Yawner @ Chesto Berry
- Yawn
- Rest
- Main Attack
- Coverage Attack

Usually the strategy goes like this: Yawn, Attack, Rest or Yawn, Rest, Attack. In some cases you don't need Rest and you can keep attacking. I usually burn through the Chesto Berry if I (would) get below around 70% of Snorlax' HP; with more than that, it can still survive a lot of critical hits and Rest up turn 1 against the next opponent. You win Skill and Body because they don't Attack on turn 3, and if they have a Chesto/Lum Berry you either Yawn them again on turn 3 or just finish them off if that seems better. The good thing is that you get this info on turn 2.

YawnLax is definitely the best user of the strategy, and it turned out to work so well in Arena everybody's building teams around it. The original test team got way improved of course, but Snorlax' ability to work through 2 or 3 opponents consistently by regaining its HP, outbulking and outdamaging the opponent is really fantastic. The strategy is not affected by Quick Claw, and Yawn is unaffected by Evasion boosts or Brightpowder. Naturally, the question is "what's the best spread"? And what's the best team to back it up?

The long discussions and testing with submenceisop resulted in the following conclusion:
  • Use Adamant and get more actual kills with Shadow Ball + Earthquake coverage;
  • Use the way bulkier, original Careful set, tank more hits, and make up for the loss of power by using Return over Shadow Ball.
Evidently, these approaches require different backup, although any backup should cover Fighting Pokemon, strong Normal-types, and be able to put up a good fight against OHKO abusers. It should also be able to take advantage of free sleeping turns, since Snorlax will often get a Yawn off even if it loses.

The Careful Lax can't touch Gengar, so the second Pokemon should be able to set up on it. My original Liechi Ice Punch-surviving Mence is a joke of course (that's actually really threatening if it doesn't get haxed, which it does too often), but a serious candidate teammate is Timid Calm Mind Latios, who takes incredible of advantage of Yawn, and even gets a free Calm Mind against Snorlax-critting Machamp for example.

On the other hand, the Adamant set allows more variation in the second spot. Latios still works of course, but since Ghost-types and Pokemon with Psychic/Electric coverage are no longer a real threat to Snorlax, Dragon Dance Substitute Gyarados is a very solid option for the second spot, and Intimidate is always useful, even on the second-to-last Pokemon. Gyarados also fights bulky Water OHKO users better than Latios, since its Substitutes can be made to tank a variety of weaker Ice Beams with good probability, while retaining plenty of offensive capabilities. Having Gyarados at +1 behind a Substitute can easily turn the game around against a really bad lead matchup.

A glaring downside of Adamant Lax is that it's less secure than expected against special attackers, for example it can get 3HKOed by Raikou Thunderbolt + Thunderbolt CH, and the same holds for Latios Psychic for example, whereas Careful Lax wins against these nearly 100% of the time. And these Pokemon can usually fry through your second Pokemon as well, since the team was built under the assumption that Snorlax takes care of these.

Currently I am are testing more obscure options, like Skarmory, in the second spot. But for the Careful Lax + Latios setup, I wanted to share what I think is a good spread, backed up by some math:

1616847704206.png

Actaeyawn (Snorlax) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 200 HP / 76 Atk / 180 Def / 52 SpD
Careful Nature (+SpD, -SpA)
- Yawn
- Return
- Earthquake
- Rest

First of all, I was looking for a HP number that minimizes "roundoff damage" for the Judge. That means it has, on average, the most HP amounts available that do not get screwed by the roundoff the Judge makes when calculating the "Body" percentage from full health. The formule the judge uses is "Score = CurrentHP * 100 / StartHP", and he rounds down the result. So I looped through all possible HP amounts of Snorlax and calculated the percentage of amounts that do get rounded down. This so-called "average roundoff damage" can be seen in the following table. I included all MaxHP's of 70 to 362, so maybe you can use this for your own teambuilding to find good "Arena HPs":

70 42.429
71 48.803
72 46.75
73 48.822
74 48.162
75 33.0
76 46.895
77 48.857
78 48.231
79 48.873
80 37.125
81 48.889
82 48.293
83 48.904
84 47.143
85 46.588
86 48.349
87 48.931
88 47.25
89 48.944
90 44.0
91 48.956
92 47.348
93 48.968
94 48.447
95 46.895
96 47.438
97 48.99
98 48.49
99 49.0
100 0.0
101 49.01
102 48.529
103 49.019
104 47.596
105 47.143
106 48.566
107 49.037
108 47.667
109 49.046
110 45.0
111 49.054
112 47.732
113 49.062
114 48.632
115 47.348
116 47.793
117 49.077
118 48.661
119 49.084
120 41.25
121 49.091
122 48.689
123 49.098
124 47.903
125 39.6
126 48.714
127 49.11
128 47.953
129 49.116
130 45.692
131 49.122
132 48.0
133 49.128
134 48.761
135 47.667
136 48.044
137 49.139
138 48.783
139 49.144
140 42.429
141 49.149
142 48.803
143 49.154
144 48.125
145 47.793
146 48.822
147 49.163
148 48.162
149 49.168
150 33.0
151 49.172
152 48.197
153 49.176
154 48.857
155 47.903
156 48.231
157 49.185
158 48.873
159 49.189
160 43.312
161 49.193
162 48.889
163 49.196
164 48.293
165 48.0
166 48.904
167 49.204
168 48.321
169 49.207
170 46.588
171 49.211
172 48.349
173 49.214
174 48.931
175 42.429
176 48.375
177 49.22
178 48.944
179 49.223
180 44.0
181 49.227
182 48.956
183 49.23
184 48.424
185 48.162
186 48.968
187 49.235
188 48.447
189 49.238
190 46.895
191 49.241
192 48.469
193 49.244
194 48.99
195 48.231
196 48.49
197 49.249
198 49.0
199 49.251
200 24.75
201 49.254
202 49.01
203 49.256
204 48.529
205 48.293
206 49.019
207 49.261
208 48.548
209 49.263
210 47.143
211 49.265
212 48.566
213 49.268
214 49.037
215 48.349
216 48.583
217 49.272
218 49.046
219 49.274
220 45.0
221 49.276
222 49.054
223 49.278
224 48.616
225 44.0
226 49.062
227 49.282
228 48.632
229 49.284
230 47.348
231 49.286
232 48.647
233 49.288
234 49.077
235 48.447
236 48.661
237 49.291
238 49.084
239 49.293
240 45.375
241 49.295
242 49.091
243 49.296
244 48.689
245 48.49
246 49.098
247 49.3
248 48.702
249 49.301
250 39.6
251 49.303
252 48.714
253 49.304
254 49.11
255 48.529
256 48.727
257 49.307
258 49.116
259 49.309
260 45.692
261 49.31
262 49.122
263 49.312
264 48.75
265 48.566
266 49.128
267 49.315
268 48.761
269 49.316
270 47.667
271 49.317
272 48.772
273 49.319
274 49.139
275 45.0
276 48.783
277 49.321
278 49.144
279 49.323
280 45.964
281 49.324
282 49.149
283 49.325
284 48.803
285 48.632
286 49.154
287 49.328
288 48.812
289 49.329
290 47.793
291 49.33
292 48.822
293 49.331
294 49.163
295 48.661
296 48.831
297 49.333
298 49.168
299 49.334
300 33.0
301 49.336
302 49.172
303 49.337
304 48.849
305 48.689
306 49.176
307 49.339
308 48.857
309 49.34
310 47.903
311 49.341
312 48.865
313 49.342
314 49.185
315 48.714
316 48.873
317 49.344
318 49.189
319 49.345
320 46.406
321 49.346
322 49.193
323 49.347
324 48.889
325 45.692
326 49.196
327 49.349
328 48.896
329 49.35
330 48.0
331 49.35
332 48.904
333 49.351
334 49.204
335 48.761
336 48.911
337 49.353
338 49.207
339 49.354
340 46.588
341 49.355
342 49.211
343 49.356
344 48.924
345 48.783
346 49.214
347 49.357
348 48.931
349 49.358
350 42.429
351 49.359
352 48.938
353 49.36
354 49.22
355 48.803
356 48.944
357 49.361
358 49.223
359 49.362
360 46.75
361 49.363
362 49.227

As you can see, there is a "local optimum" at 260, so I settled for that and optimized bulk for it. Note that Snorlax' Defense plus its Special Defense is nearly 260, as the classical rule for optimizing bulk dictates. These calcs are more specific:
  • It royally avoids the 2HKO from Raikou Tbolt + Tbolt crit among other special assaults;
  • It royally avoids the 2HKO from Rhydon and Metagross without critical hits;
  • Machamp does only 95% max without a critical hit;
  • Hariyama-4 is nasty, because it first uses Fake Out and then Cross Chop which is an interesting combined roll. This Snorlax has around 75% chance of being able to use Yawn according to my simulator, based on 10.000 simulations, factoring in crits (and of course misses);
  • It easily lives Rock Slide + Superpower from Regirock.
On the offensive side, it still OHKOs uninvested Houndoom and Raichu for example, and although Return needs (quite favourable) rolls to get some 2HKOs against Psychic-types, you can usually win Body anyway. I decided to ditch the 4 Speed EVs because they introduce a waste of 4 EVs simultaneously, and outspeeding other Snorlax is not necessary, while still outspeeding Slowking/Slowbro is fine and may be helpful to just KO it without taking an extra Surf or Psychic.

I can add some calculations if wished, thanks for reading.
 

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Here's a post about the YawnLax I first used on a fun/test team with Snorlax, Ice Punch Gar-surviving Liechi DDMence and sweeper Latios. I think this is "Arena news" for everyone who likes to attempt a new 100+ streak. The Arena is one of the most entertaining facilities to test stuff in, since it requires no patience whatsoever. It does invoke smart play and good understanding of the inevitable Judge. The set is as follows, I didn't have a Snorlax image for this general moveset, as it's perfectly executable by other bulky Pokemon such as Walrein, Slowbro/king, Quagsire and Blastoise:

View attachment 326703
Yawner @ Chesto Berry
- Yawn
- Rest
- Main Attack
- Coverage Attack

Usually the strategy goes like this: Yawn, Attack, Rest or Yawn, Rest, Attack. In some cases you don't need Rest and you can keep attacking. I usually burn through the Chesto Berry if I (would) get below around 70% of Snorlax' HP; with more than that, it can still survive a lot of critical hits and Rest up turn 1 against the next opponent. You win Skill and Body because they don't Attack on turn 3, and if they have a Chesto/Lum Berry you either Yawn them again on turn 3 or just finish them off if that seems better. The good thing is that you get this info on turn 2.

YawnLax is definitely the best user of the strategy, and it turned out to work so well in Arena everybody's building teams around it. The original test team got way improved of course, but Snorlax' ability to work through 2 or 3 opponents consistently by regaining its HP, outbulking and outdamaging the opponent is really fantastic. The strategy is not affected by Quick Claw, and Yawn is unaffected by Evasion boosts or Brightpowder. Naturally, the question is "what's the best spread"? And what's the best team to back it up?

The long discussions and testing with submenceisop resulted in the following conclusion:
  • Use Adamant and get more actual kills with Shadow Ball + Earthquake coverage;
  • Use the way bulkier, original Careful set, tank more hits, and make up for the loss of power by using Return over Shadow Ball.
Evidently, these approaches require different backup, although any backup should cover Fighting Pokemon, strong Normal-types, and be able to put up a good fight against OHKO abusers. It should also be able to take advantage of free sleeping turns, since Snorlax will often get a Yawn off even if it loses.

The Careful Lax can't touch Gengar, so the second Pokemon should be able to set up on it. My original Liechi Ice Punch-surviving Mence is a joke of course (that's actually really threatening if it doesn't get haxed, which it does too often), but a serious candidate teammate is Timid Calm Mind Latios, who takes incredible of advantage of Yawn, and even gets a free Calm Mind against Snorlax-critting Machamp for example.

On the other hand, the Adamant set allows more variation in the second spot. Latios still works of course, but since Ghost-types and Pokemon with Psychic/Electric coverage are no longer a real threat to Snorlax, Dragon Dance Substitute Gyarados is a very solid option for the second spot, and Intimidate is always useful, even on the second-to-last Pokemon. Gyarados also fights bulky Water OHKO users better than Latios, since its Substitutes can be made to tank a variety of weaker Ice Beams with good probability, while retaining plenty of offensive capabilities. Having Gyarados at +1 behind a Substitute can easily turn the game around against a really bad lead matchup.

A glaring downside of Adamant Lax is that it's less secure than expected against special attackers, for example it can get 3HKOed by Raikou Thunderbolt + Thunderbolt CH, and the same holds for Latios Psychic for example, whereas Careful Lax wins against these nearly 100% of the time. And these Pokemon can usually fry through your second Pokemon as well, since the team was built under the assumption that Snorlax takes care of these.

Currently I am are testing more obscure options, like Skarmory, in the second spot. But for the Careful Lax + Latios setup, I wanted to share what I think is a good spread, backed up by some math:

View attachment 326704
Actaeyawn (Snorlax) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 200 HP / 76 Atk / 180 Def / 52 SpD
Careful Nature (+SpD, -SpA)
- Yawn
- Return
- Earthquake
- Rest

First of all, I was looking for a HP number that minimizes "roundoff damage" for the Judge. That means it has, on average, the most HP amounts available that do not get screwed by the roundoff the Judge makes when calculating the "Body" percentage from full health. The formule the judge uses is "Score = CurrentHP * 100 / StartHP", and he rounds down the result. So I looped through all possible HP amounts of Snorlax and calculated the percentage of amounts that do get rounded down. This so-called "average roundoff damage" can be seen in the following table. I included all MaxHP's of 70 to 362, so maybe you can use this for your own teambuilding to find good "Arena HPs":

70 42.429
71 48.803
72 46.75
73 48.822
74 48.162
75 33.0
76 46.895
77 48.857
78 48.231
79 48.873
80 37.125
81 48.889
82 48.293
83 48.904
84 47.143
85 46.588
86 48.349
87 48.931
88 47.25
89 48.944
90 44.0
91 48.956
92 47.348
93 48.968
94 48.447
95 46.895
96 47.438
97 48.99
98 48.49
99 49.0
100 0.0
101 49.01
102 48.529
103 49.019
104 47.596
105 47.143
106 48.566
107 49.037
108 47.667
109 49.046
110 45.0
111 49.054
112 47.732
113 49.062
114 48.632
115 47.348
116 47.793
117 49.077
118 48.661
119 49.084
120 41.25
121 49.091
122 48.689
123 49.098
124 47.903
125 39.6
126 48.714
127 49.11
128 47.953
129 49.116
130 45.692
131 49.122
132 48.0
133 49.128
134 48.761
135 47.667
136 48.044
137 49.139
138 48.783
139 49.144
140 42.429
141 49.149
142 48.803
143 49.154
144 48.125
145 47.793
146 48.822
147 49.163
148 48.162
149 49.168
150 33.0
151 49.172
152 48.197
153 49.176
154 48.857
155 47.903
156 48.231
157 49.185
158 48.873
159 49.189
160 43.312
161 49.193
162 48.889
163 49.196
164 48.293
165 48.0
166 48.904
167 49.204
168 48.321
169 49.207
170 46.588
171 49.211
172 48.349
173 49.214
174 48.931
175 42.429
176 48.375
177 49.22
178 48.944
179 49.223
180 44.0
181 49.227
182 48.956
183 49.23
184 48.424
185 48.162
186 48.968
187 49.235
188 48.447
189 49.238
190 46.895
191 49.241
192 48.469
193 49.244
194 48.99
195 48.231
196 48.49
197 49.249
198 49.0
199 49.251
200 24.75
201 49.254
202 49.01
203 49.256
204 48.529
205 48.293
206 49.019
207 49.261
208 48.548
209 49.263
210 47.143
211 49.265
212 48.566
213 49.268
214 49.037
215 48.349
216 48.583
217 49.272
218 49.046
219 49.274
220 45.0
221 49.276
222 49.054
223 49.278
224 48.616
225 44.0
226 49.062
227 49.282
228 48.632
229 49.284
230 47.348
231 49.286
232 48.647
233 49.288
234 49.077
235 48.447
236 48.661
237 49.291
238 49.084
239 49.293
240 45.375
241 49.295
242 49.091
243 49.296
244 48.689
245 48.49
246 49.098
247 49.3
248 48.702
249 49.301
250 39.6
251 49.303
252 48.714
253 49.304
254 49.11
255 48.529
256 48.727
257 49.307
258 49.116
259 49.309
260 45.692
261 49.31
262 49.122
263 49.312
264 48.75
265 48.566
266 49.128
267 49.315
268 48.761
269 49.316
270 47.667
271 49.317
272 48.772
273 49.319
274 49.139
275 45.0
276 48.783
277 49.321
278 49.144
279 49.323
280 45.964
281 49.324
282 49.149
283 49.325
284 48.803
285 48.632
286 49.154
287 49.328
288 48.812
289 49.329
290 47.793
291 49.33
292 48.822
293 49.331
294 49.163
295 48.661
296 48.831
297 49.333
298 49.168
299 49.334
300 33.0
301 49.336
302 49.172
303 49.337
304 48.849
305 48.689
306 49.176
307 49.339
308 48.857
309 49.34
310 47.903
311 49.341
312 48.865
313 49.342
314 49.185
315 48.714
316 48.873
317 49.344
318 49.189
319 49.345
320 46.406
321 49.346
322 49.193
323 49.347
324 48.889
325 45.692
326 49.196
327 49.349
328 48.896
329 49.35
330 48.0
331 49.35
332 48.904
333 49.351
334 49.204
335 48.761
336 48.911
337 49.353
338 49.207
339 49.354
340 46.588
341 49.355
342 49.211
343 49.356
344 48.924
345 48.783
346 49.214
347 49.357
348 48.931
349 49.358
350 42.429
351 49.359
352 48.938
353 49.36
354 49.22
355 48.803
356 48.944
357 49.361
358 49.223
359 49.362
360 46.75
361 49.363
362 49.227

As you can see, there is a "local optimum" at 260, so I settled for that and optimized bulk for it. Note that Snorlax' Defense plus its Special Defense is nearly 260, as the classical rule for optimizing bulk dictates. These calcs are more specific:
  • It royally avoids the 2HKO from Raikou Tbolt + Tbolt crit among other special assaults;
  • It royally avoids the 2HKO from Rhydon and Metagross without critical hits;
  • Machamp does only 95% max without a critical hit;
  • Hariyama-4 is nasty, because it first uses Fake Out and then Cross Chop which is an interesting combined roll. This Snorlax has around 75% chance of being able to use Yawn according to my simulator, based on 10.000 simulations, factoring in crits (and of course misses);
  • It easily lives Rock Slide + Superpower from Regirock.
On the offensive side, it still OHKOs uninvested Houndoom and Raichu for example, and although Return needs (quite favourable) rolls to get some 2HKOs against Psychic-types, you can usually win Body anyway. I decided to ditch the 4 Speed EVs because they introduce a waste of 4 EVs simultaneously, and outspeeding other Snorlax is not necessary, while still outspeeding Slowking/Slowbro is fine and may be helpful to just KO it without taking an extra Surf or Psychic.

I can add some calculations if wished, thanks for reading.

I wanted to report my team when I hit 100 wins, but I'm getting frustrated by the hax. I lost 4 times in the 80s. The most bullshit one was Greta's Umbreon solo'ing because of confusion hax.

1616893249601.png


This Snorlax differs from Actaeon's, because it's meant to get key koes. Some of the important ones are down below.

188+ Atk Snorlax Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Latias: 95-112 (50.8 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
188+ Atk Snorlax Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gengar: 129-152 (95.5 - 112.5%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
188+ Atk Snorlax Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Jolteon: 159-188 (113.5 - 134.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Defensive Calculations
252+ Atk Choice Band Armaldo Rock Slide vs. 92 HP / 188 Def Snorlax: 113-133 (45.7 - 53.8%) -- 44.9% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Machamp Cross Chop vs. 92 HP / 188 Def Snorlax: 209-246 (84.6 - 99.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

This Snorlax is meant to ko the dangerous threats that give Gyarados problems. Although you can be 2koed by ridiculous max roll+ crit from stuff like Raikou (happened to me while I was streaming), I do feel on this team, you can't risk not ko'ing anything with electric coverage (quite easy for that to happen with bad confusion or paralysis luck).

The Careful one should be used IF: being walled by Gengar is not a problem (IE: Latios or something like that) and if these targets are not a issue.
This Lax still solo'es quite a lot, even with less special bulk. It's only when crits and spe def drops with maximum rolls that you get into some trouble.

1616893895758.png

Speed tier: Outspeed Slaking, some variants of Zapdos, outspeed everything besides Jolteon 4 after a DD
Defensive calcs: Lives most non stab/non crit thunder punch - Modest Sceptile is a roll to ko(requires too much bulk). This gyarados also has the chance to keep it's substitutes up against weaker ice beams.

This Gyarados also checks Metagross (helpful for Latios) and is a good second pokemon to follow Snorlax (checking fighting types).

252 SpA Typhlosion Thunder Punch vs. 80 HP / 32 SpD Gyarados: 149-176 (82.7 - 97.7%) - This is the strongest thunder punch you can 100% tank.
252 Atk Aerodactyl Rock Slide vs. 80 HP / 0 Def Gyarados: 137-162 (76.1 - 90%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
-1 252+ Atk Choice Band Aerodactyl Ancient Power vs. 80 HP / 0 Def Gyarados: 119-140 (66.1 - 77.7%)
252+ SpA Whiscash Ice Beam vs. 80 HP / 32 SpD Gyarados: 40-48 (22.2 - 26.6%)

+1 228+ Atk Sharp Beak Gyarados Hidden Power Flying vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gardevoir: 146-172 (102 - 120.2%)
+1 228+ Atk Gyarados Hidden Power Flying vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gardevoir: 133-157 (93 - 109.7%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

This Gyarados needs Sharp Beak to guarantee the ko on Gardevoir unfortunately, although you do get the koes on 0 hp Gengar and Espeon. It's possible to run liechi or a different item if you rather play risky. I tend to play on the safer end, settling for one DD and substitute. Gyarados in most situations, doesn't need more than this, that Latios rarely comes out. When it does, it means Sh*t hit the proverbial fan, which is fairly common in the Arena with focus band/miss hax and unfortunate crits.

1616894944429.png


Latios is a good cleaner, checks Skarmory/aerodactyl and electric types. This set is self explanatory.

I have calm mind and dragon claw here for Latias/Latios and Ice Punch Gardevoir.

244 SpA Latios Dragon Claw vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Gardevoir: 62-73 (43.3 - 51%) -- 4.7% chance to 2HKO

I lost twice in my testing to ice punch gardevoir and you stand no chance without CM. I'm still not a huge fan of CM, but it's necessary for this reason.

I'm willing to test out Careful Snorlax and CM Latios though. Often Latios trades it's lum or takes chip damage to set up a CM. With a dependable sleep inducer, Latios can potentially find the time to set up AND be at full health with it's Lum berry. This could unlock Latios's full potential as an Arena sweeper instead of it's best role as a cleaner (3rd mon).

Edit: I just went through the calculator again. I also think running much less attack on Snorlax (minimum 36 Attack evs for 0 HP Jolteon is viable).
It's not much less bulkier than Actaeon's careful Snorlax. Damn my curiosity. I should try this again.

36+ Atk Snorlax Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Latios: 91-108 (48.6 - 57.7%) -- 95.7% chance to 2HKO
36+ Atk Snorlax Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Jolteon: 141-166 (100.7 - 118.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

New bulkier Adamant Snorlax
252+ SpA Latios Psychic vs. 200 HP / 120 SpD Snorlax: 71-84 (27.3 - 32.3%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

Actaeon's Snorlax
252+ SpA Latios Psychic vs. 200 HP / 52+ SpD Snorlax: 68-81 (26.1 - 31.1%)

https://pokepast.es/481c8b0a64165163- previous team.

https://pokepast.es/b9a01edadfddf4b4 - much bulkier one. Just keep getting haxed, but this team is really solid.
 
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Reporting a streak of 59 wins in Battle Tower Multi at level 50, partnered with myself.

Contrary to last time, I've managed a fairly consistent and stable way of making this work. My two GBAs placed side by side flat on my desk gets a very strong and consistent wireless signal, which has only failed me once in numerous attempts. Finding this mode very interesting. I'll definitely be investing some time into this since I know I can go much further than 59 wins, and my loss was due to a mistake I shouldn't have made.

Purely for fun, I decided to pair my primary Emerald game (IGN Joziah) with my Japanese Emerald save. When paired with a Japanese game the process is even slower than usual because the text on a Japanese game prints much faster than it does on an English one, causing a slight time delay, but it's amusing to see how they interact. Curiously, the Japanese game views the opposing trainers as having Japanese names, but their Pokemon have English ones which, like all English text viewed on a Japanese save file, only displays the first five letters (Teddiusa is TEDDI, Horsea is HORSE, etc).

To further test the theory I mentioned in my last post about swapping partners, I subbed out the Japanese game and partnered with one of my spare copies (IGN Rald, the one I did my Pokemon Adventures challenge with) to see what would happen. It looks like I was right - despite the Rald save file having a streak of 0, the opponents were of the calibre you'd expect to see in round 5.

However, being able to sub out in this way creates an amusing quirk, that you can essentially "preserve" a streak and pick it up later. After I switched partners, I actually ended up losing at 37 wins, meaning both the Rald save file and the Joziah save file had a streak of 0. The Japanese save file, however, still had its streak of 35 intact, so I partnered again with the Joziah save and continued on. This is why the image in this thread is from that game - it has a streak of 59, while the Joziah file only displays a streak of 24. I also didn't get a ribbon for reaching 56 wins - not sure if this is to prevent the save with the shorter streak from "cheating" it or if you simply don't ever get ribbons in this mode (much like how you don't get ribbons for doing wireless contests). Will test that further.

I didn't feel like reinventing the wheel (at least not yet) so my primary game used the following team:

1616895430547.png

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

1616895445478.png

Aerodactyl @ Choice Band
Earthquake
Ancientpower
Aerial Ace
Double-Edge
252 Att/Speed, 6 HP (Adamant)


Both partner games used

1616895460861.png

Tauros @ Choice Band
Double-Edge
Earthquake
-
-
252 Att/Speed, 6 HP (Adamant)

1616895493074.png

Latias @ Lum Berry
Psychic
Thunderbolt
Ice Beam
Dragon Claw
252 Sp.Att/Speed, 6 HP (Modest)

Latios and Tauros vs Regice and Swampert. Latios Psychic'd Swampert while Tauros Earthquake'd (In hindsight, I don't know why I elected to go for Earthquake); Regice Ice Beamed Latios to death, and Aerodactyl got hit by Swampert's Mirror Coat when it came out.

Tauros finished Swampert, Registeel came out to replace it and was 2HKO'd by Earthquake. Regice kept Resting but eventually I took it down. Then Starmie emerged. Unfortunately it was set 7 which outspeeds and has Psychic and Ice Beam. It used Cosmic Power once, survived two Earthquakes and KO'd in turn with Psychic. I sent out Latias figuring I could tank a non-crit Ice Beam and bypass any potential freeze since it was holding a Lum Berry. Ice Beam did 60%, my Thunderbolt missed and Starmie hit me with Ice Beam again the next turn.

Kommo-o, I'm wondering if this mode should be counted separately from the standard multi mode where you partner with an NPC - later battle facilities don't distinguish, but they're considered separate modes in Emerald, and the internal records are counted as such. It's certainly a very different experience from partnering with an NPC.


1616893853690.png
 
Kommo-o, I'm wondering if this mode should be counted separately from the standard multi mode where you partner with an NPC - later battle facilities don't distinguish, but they're considered separate modes in Emerald, and the internal records are counted as such. It's certainly a very different experience from partnering with an NPC.

For the moment being, I am not separating leaderboards any further, however, I did made the disntinction since I remember that your first Multi streak was done with an NPC partner that used your 2nd game's team. On this case, since this new Multi streak was done by you controlling both players, as such I updated this on the leaderboard. Hopefully it does differentiate both streaks and thanks for filling that empty slot! Let me know if you have another suggestion since I don't have experience on how Gen 3 Multi battles work.

I did try to use your trick on registering an NPC with a party I wanted them to use. However, it didn't worked and instead I got a rooster full of apprentices. I asked Runeblade14's save file to test but couldn't get their NPC registered on my save file. Dunno since I did made a couple of Multi battle runs.
 
I did try to use your trick on registering an NPC with a party I wanted them to use. However, it didn't worked and instead I got a rooster full of apprentices. I asked Runeblade14's save file to test but couldn't get their NPC registered on my save file. Dunno since I did made a couple of Multi battle runs.

If it's a new streak, the NPC partner won't appear during the first round - not sure why. I'm fairly sure they won't appear if they have the same species as you, due to species clause* but otherwise they should show up in the Battle Salon from the second round onwards. Perhaps if their recorded streak was in Multi, they'll only show up from the start of their streak? So if Player A has a Multi record of 21 (with NPCs) and they mix records with player B, player B might only encounter them from the fourth round onwards. Hmm. Something else to research.

*weirdly, this does not apply to regular NPCs - I once did a Multi run with Starmie and Hitmonlee and partnered with an NPC who also had a Hitmonlee. Much like Multi mode in Gen IV onwards, item clause is not in effect.
 
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After days of searching I've finally found a suitable Latios in the R/S Battle Tower. Timid, perfect IVs, and shiny.
Latios Shiny sprite from Black & White

It turns out that someone actually did go frame by frame to find the right conditions to RNG a timid Latios in the R/S Battle Tower. They even went a step further and used TID/SID manipulation to make the Latios shiny. Just phenomenal work, even if their description had issues.

Here's my guide for their post:
  1. Get a copy of Ruby or Sapphire with a dead battery (or turn off real-time clock in your emulator).
  2. Use TID/SID manipulation to make frame 3636 a shiny frame.
    1. In R/S this just means generating your TID/SID on frame 3636. Start a new game and wait until about frame 3558 before Prof. Birch uses the shrink ray on you. The delay in about 78 frames from final dialogue to generation.
    2. This yields the TID of 56656 and the SID of 51494.
    3. Feel free to RNG your starter at frame 3636 to verify things. You should get one that's shiny and timid.
  3. Beat the game. A fast run takes several hours to complete.
    1. If you have an option then Sapphire is faster than Ruby because of Kyogre.
    2. Mudkip makes things go pretty quickly.
    3. If you switch to the box legendary right away then their level will be in a good place for the E4.
    4. Catch some level 40s from Victory Road to use as meat shields to heal/revive your real team.
  4. Import or create a team for the Battle Tower and get to a 49 streak.
    1. The R/S Battle Tower is incredibly easy. Even the 'best' AI literally seem to use moves at random.
    2. The trickiest part is safely dying to the shiny Latios. Avoid using leftovers and try to give all three of your team members some way to stall themselves to death.
      1. Latios with momento and Metagross with a choice band + earthquake are my two favorites for this.
  5. RNG time.
    1. In the lobby, talk to the clerk until you've registered for the Tower and saved the game. Hit 'A' at frame 1935, 1936, or 1937. She'll walk you into the battle room where you should see Dragontamer Joel for frame 1935, Cooltrainer Bret for frame 1936, or Triathlete Toby for frame 1937. Frame 1934 is a fighter girl and 1938 is a rocker. If you didn't get a trainer in the target frames then you have to play through all 7 sets to try again.
    2. After getting through the starting dialogue with your opponent, wait until frame 3614 to start the battle. If all goes well then the Pokémon in slot 2 will be a Shiny Latios. Lose to it.
  6. Initiate the R/S roaming Pokémon encounter glitch.
    1. This post describes it pretty well.
    2. A level 40 Crobat with mean look lets you use repels to filter out non-roamers, but you can't evolve Zubat until level 36 if you want mean look before level 40.
    3. Best way to roamer hunt that I've found is to go south of Mauville and go in and out of the cycling road building. Stop when the roamer is on a nearby route and go up into Mauville. Check again and head to an adjacent route. Check again and hopefully you found them.
  7. Trade your Latios to Emerald and keep in mind that it is EV trained.

Something interesting that I found is that your TID/SID actually seems to influence the Battle Tower RNG. While confirming the glitch I had to alter my test save's TID/SID for Latios to spawn at those frames.
 
Here's a post about the YawnLax I first used on a fun/test team with Snorlax, Ice Punch Gar-surviving Liechi DDMence and sweeper Latios. I think this is "Arena news" for everyone who likes to attempt a new 100+ streak. The Arena is one of the most entertaining facilities to test stuff in, since it requires no patience whatsoever. It does invoke smart play and good understanding of the inevitable Judge. The set is as follows, I didn't have a Snorlax image for this general moveset, as it's perfectly executable by other bulky Pokemon such as Walrein, Slowbro/king, Quagsire and Blastoise:

View attachment 326703
Yawner @ Chesto Berry
- Yawn
- Rest
- Main Attack
- Coverage Attack

Usually the strategy goes like this: Yawn, Attack, Rest or Yawn, Rest, Attack. In some cases you don't need Rest and you can keep attacking. I usually burn through the Chesto Berry if I (would) get below around 70% of Snorlax' HP; with more than that, it can still survive a lot of critical hits and Rest up turn 1 against the next opponent. You win Skill and Body because they don't Attack on turn 3, and if they have a Chesto/Lum Berry you either Yawn them again on turn 3 or just finish them off if that seems better. The good thing is that you get this info on turn 2.

YawnLax is definitely the best user of the strategy, and it turned out to work so well in Arena everybody's building teams around it. The original test team got way improved of course, but Snorlax' ability to work through 2 or 3 opponents consistently by regaining its HP, outbulking and outdamaging the opponent is really fantastic. The strategy is not affected by Quick Claw, and Yawn is unaffected by Evasion boosts or Brightpowder. Naturally, the question is "what's the best spread"? And what's the best team to back it up?

The long discussions and testing with submenceisop resulted in the following conclusion:
  • Use Adamant and get more actual kills with Shadow Ball + Earthquake coverage;
  • Use the way bulkier, original Careful set, tank more hits, and make up for the loss of power by using Return over Shadow Ball.
Evidently, these approaches require different backup, although any backup should cover Fighting Pokemon, strong Normal-types, and be able to put up a good fight against OHKO abusers. It should also be able to take advantage of free sleeping turns, since Snorlax will often get a Yawn off even if it loses.

The Careful Lax can't touch Gengar, so the second Pokemon should be able to set up on it. My original Liechi Ice Punch-surviving Mence is a joke of course (that's actually really threatening if it doesn't get haxed, which it does too often), but a serious candidate teammate is Timid Calm Mind Latios, who takes incredible of advantage of Yawn, and even gets a free Calm Mind against Snorlax-critting Machamp for example.

On the other hand, the Adamant set allows more variation in the second spot. Latios still works of course, but since Ghost-types and Pokemon with Psychic/Electric coverage are no longer a real threat to Snorlax, Dragon Dance Substitute Gyarados is a very solid option for the second spot, and Intimidate is always useful, even on the second-to-last Pokemon. Gyarados also fights bulky Water OHKO users better than Latios, since its Substitutes can be made to tank a variety of weaker Ice Beams with good probability, while retaining plenty of offensive capabilities. Having Gyarados at +1 behind a Substitute can easily turn the game around against a really bad lead matchup.

A glaring downside of Adamant Lax is that it's less secure than expected against special attackers, for example it can get 3HKOed by Raikou Thunderbolt + Thunderbolt CH, and the same holds for Latios Psychic for example, whereas Careful Lax wins against these nearly 100% of the time. And these Pokemon can usually fry through your second Pokemon as well, since the team was built under the assumption that Snorlax takes care of these.

Currently I am are testing more obscure options, like Skarmory, in the second spot. But for the Careful Lax + Latios setup, I wanted to share what I think is a good spread, backed up by some math:

View attachment 326704
Actaeyawn (Snorlax) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 200 HP / 76 Atk / 180 Def / 52 SpD
Careful Nature (+SpD, -SpA)
- Yawn
- Return
- Earthquake
- Rest

First of all, I was looking for a HP number that minimizes "roundoff damage" for the Judge. That means it has, on average, the most HP amounts available that do not get screwed by the roundoff the Judge makes when calculating the "Body" percentage from full health. The formule the judge uses is "Score = CurrentHP * 100 / StartHP", and he rounds down the result. So I looped through all possible HP amounts of Snorlax and calculated the percentage of amounts that do get rounded down. This so-called "average roundoff damage" can be seen in the following table. I included all MaxHP's of 70 to 362, so maybe you can use this for your own teambuilding to find good "Arena HPs":

70 42.429
71 48.803
72 46.75
73 48.822
74 48.162
75 33.0
76 46.895
77 48.857
78 48.231
79 48.873
80 37.125
81 48.889
82 48.293
83 48.904
84 47.143
85 46.588
86 48.349
87 48.931
88 47.25
89 48.944
90 44.0
91 48.956
92 47.348
93 48.968
94 48.447
95 46.895
96 47.438
97 48.99
98 48.49
99 49.0
100 0.0
101 49.01
102 48.529
103 49.019
104 47.596
105 47.143
106 48.566
107 49.037
108 47.667
109 49.046
110 45.0
111 49.054
112 47.732
113 49.062
114 48.632
115 47.348
116 47.793
117 49.077
118 48.661
119 49.084
120 41.25
121 49.091
122 48.689
123 49.098
124 47.903
125 39.6
126 48.714
127 49.11
128 47.953
129 49.116
130 45.692
131 49.122
132 48.0
133 49.128
134 48.761
135 47.667
136 48.044
137 49.139
138 48.783
139 49.144
140 42.429
141 49.149
142 48.803
143 49.154
144 48.125
145 47.793
146 48.822
147 49.163
148 48.162
149 49.168
150 33.0
151 49.172
152 48.197
153 49.176
154 48.857
155 47.903
156 48.231
157 49.185
158 48.873
159 49.189
160 43.312
161 49.193
162 48.889
163 49.196
164 48.293
165 48.0
166 48.904
167 49.204
168 48.321
169 49.207
170 46.588
171 49.211
172 48.349
173 49.214
174 48.931
175 42.429
176 48.375
177 49.22
178 48.944
179 49.223
180 44.0
181 49.227
182 48.956
183 49.23
184 48.424
185 48.162
186 48.968
187 49.235
188 48.447
189 49.238
190 46.895
191 49.241
192 48.469
193 49.244
194 48.99
195 48.231
196 48.49
197 49.249
198 49.0
199 49.251
200 24.75
201 49.254
202 49.01
203 49.256
204 48.529
205 48.293
206 49.019
207 49.261
208 48.548
209 49.263
210 47.143
211 49.265
212 48.566
213 49.268
214 49.037
215 48.349
216 48.583
217 49.272
218 49.046
219 49.274
220 45.0
221 49.276
222 49.054
223 49.278
224 48.616
225 44.0
226 49.062
227 49.282
228 48.632
229 49.284
230 47.348
231 49.286
232 48.647
233 49.288
234 49.077
235 48.447
236 48.661
237 49.291
238 49.084
239 49.293
240 45.375
241 49.295
242 49.091
243 49.296
244 48.689
245 48.49
246 49.098
247 49.3
248 48.702
249 49.301
250 39.6
251 49.303
252 48.714
253 49.304
254 49.11
255 48.529
256 48.727
257 49.307
258 49.116
259 49.309
260 45.692
261 49.31
262 49.122
263 49.312
264 48.75
265 48.566
266 49.128
267 49.315
268 48.761
269 49.316
270 47.667
271 49.317
272 48.772
273 49.319
274 49.139
275 45.0
276 48.783
277 49.321
278 49.144
279 49.323
280 45.964
281 49.324
282 49.149
283 49.325
284 48.803
285 48.632
286 49.154
287 49.328
288 48.812
289 49.329
290 47.793
291 49.33
292 48.822
293 49.331
294 49.163
295 48.661
296 48.831
297 49.333
298 49.168
299 49.334
300 33.0
301 49.336
302 49.172
303 49.337
304 48.849
305 48.689
306 49.176
307 49.339
308 48.857
309 49.34
310 47.903
311 49.341
312 48.865
313 49.342
314 49.185
315 48.714
316 48.873
317 49.344
318 49.189
319 49.345
320 46.406
321 49.346
322 49.193
323 49.347
324 48.889
325 45.692
326 49.196
327 49.349
328 48.896
329 49.35
330 48.0
331 49.35
332 48.904
333 49.351
334 49.204
335 48.761
336 48.911
337 49.353
338 49.207
339 49.354
340 46.588
341 49.355
342 49.211
343 49.356
344 48.924
345 48.783
346 49.214
347 49.357
348 48.931
349 49.358
350 42.429
351 49.359
352 48.938
353 49.36
354 49.22
355 48.803
356 48.944
357 49.361
358 49.223
359 49.362
360 46.75
361 49.363
362 49.227

As you can see, there is a "local optimum" at 260, so I settled for that and optimized bulk for it. Note that Snorlax' Defense plus its Special Defense is nearly 260, as the classical rule for optimizing bulk dictates. These calcs are more specific:
  • It royally avoids the 2HKO from Raikou Tbolt + Tbolt crit among other special assaults;
  • It royally avoids the 2HKO from Rhydon and Metagross without critical hits;
  • Machamp does only 95% max without a critical hit;
  • Hariyama-4 is nasty, because it first uses Fake Out and then Cross Chop which is an interesting combined roll. This Snorlax has around 75% chance of being able to use Yawn according to my simulator, based on 10.000 simulations, factoring in crits (and of course misses);
  • It easily lives Rock Slide + Superpower from Regirock.
On the offensive side, it still OHKOs uninvested Houndoom and Raichu for example, and although Return needs (quite favourable) rolls to get some 2HKOs against Psychic-types, you can usually win Body anyway. I decided to ditch the 4 Speed EVs because they introduce a waste of 4 EVs simultaneously, and outspeeding other Snorlax is not necessary, while still outspeeding Slowking/Slowbro is fine and may be helpful to just KO it without taking an extra Surf or Psychic.

I can add some calculations if wished, thanks for reading.

Reporting a 170 Arena streak! I really wanted to hit 200, but missed the cut due to the a bad damage roll. Actaeon reached 219 unofficially (lost to Lapras, Dewgong and Salamence- two sheer cold hits).

Actaeon and I have been teambuilding for a while and we agreed that Yawn Careful Snorlax is the best Arena mon barr none and came to a consensus on it's bulk. Shadowball requires a little too much investment for it to be worthwhile, although its more viable on my gyarados team.
1617140145879.png


Snorlax (God) @ Lum Berry - Set explanation
The optimal 260 HP
4 speed to out speed opposing Snorlax/ Slow twins / Steelix
A good amount of def and SpD
Rest in attack

252+ Atk Choice Band Armaldo Rock Slide vs. 196 HP / 220 Def Snorlax: 109-129 (41.9 - 49.6%)
252+ Atk Machamp Cross Chop vs. 196 HP / 220 Def Snorlax: 200-236 (76.9 - 90.7%)
252+ SpA Latios Psychic vs. 196 HP / 76+ SpD Snorlax: 67-79 (25.7 - 30.3%)
[/SPOILER]

You have nickname this Snorlax. It adds to the luck factor by like 100%. I nicknamed mine "Unkillable" and it was getting haxxed left and right. "God" is a fitting one for Lax. Basically, this Snorlax dominates judging by timing rest/attacking properly. Notice this Snorlax has LUM BERRY. Both Latios and Lax want it, but it is essential for Snorlax to have it to avoid losses due to confusion/para. In particular, it guarantees the victory vs Greta by spamming return.

Latios ("Soul Dew" ) @ Cheri Berry
Standard Latios set with 3 coverage moves for maximum effectiveness.

1617140410950.png

As expected, Yawn Snorlax unlocks Latios's true potential as a sweeper. It gets the opportunity to set up a CM, while being @ full health in a lot of scenarios. Latios or Snorlax sweeps often and ideally Medi doesn't come out.

1617141539571.png


Medicham (ALL- IN) @ Salac Berry
Set Explanation/ Max attack & Max speed.
Actaeon and I have discussed multiple other spreads. Including 252 attack/ 76 def/ rest in speed. This one avoids the ko from QC snorlax and lives an Adamant Gengar shadow ball ( My loss was to Gengar 2, Cool trainer Vince).
252+ Atk Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Medicham: 122-144 (90.3 - 106.6%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO

Last one is Medicham. It's your haymaker last spot, when things go wrong. I asked Actaeon to try out Heracross for me and the problems of being walled by shedninja and poison types came into play. Medicham has the power and un resisted coverage to destroy things and potentially squeeze out a win. Stab fighting moves are huge godsend after Latios, handling blissey/regis, ice types.

Other choices we discussed: Slaking, CB Ursaring, Heracross, Tauros, Arcanine

I will post some replays. Thank you to Actaeon for watching the streak and his help for making this a reality. We deserve ton of props for figuring this out. Although this team has the potential to cross 200 with good luck. I had pretty good luck until the very end.

Memorable moments
Sailor Omar going 4/4 on ohko moves
Medicham dodging burns from houndoom 3x
Regice NOT attacking latios- Latios won 2x lol

Threat list
Opposing psychic types- spam return targets
Crits from Metagross
QC users obviously
Houndoom vs Latios. It's possible to get haxxed here, but both Actaeon and I never did.
ohko users
Scizor in slot 2. Ended two runs before this.

https://pokepast.es/1c7c1ecf35ae184a

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/531026323

Edit: I'm gonna try this team again. With a different Medicham spread. Adamant 252/76/rest in speed. Really want to hit 200
 

Attachments

  • Medicham Arena.png
    Medicham Arena.png
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