Gen III Battle Frontier Discussion and Records

Kommo-o · Sep 17, 2021

Only thing I can say is that we gottem now. The Reptomons are indeed the best of the best. La créme de la créme.

As for a short note, Perish Song Marowak improved the team incredibly well and now puts more control over Curse/DT users. Team still struggles against dual Psychic leads but it's a small price to pay for salvation. I am confident that we can break through 200 wins though, so stay tuned! Streak has been updated on the leaderboard!

AnonS · Sep 21, 2021

Hello, everyone!

Posting here to report completed Gold Symbol streaks in all seven Emerald facilities on retail. Obviously not competing for the top spots, but it was a sore spot of mine ever since kid-me wrote the whole Frontier off as impossible. I've been taking this on in a few different Gen 3-5 games over the past year, inspired by such videos as Werster's All Gold Prints run in SoulSilver making the prospect look doable, and it's let me appreciate the sheer depth of the challenges and the effort people put into teambuilding, opponent analysis, stat/damage calculations, and the facilities' individual mechanics.

Adding to the challenge was my avoidance of IV breeding where feasible and prioritizing the use of Pokemon I caught in the wild, especially as part of my ingame team--these are basically fresh files I am attempting to 100%. I did relent somewhat as the challenge dragged on, and I knew some ingame mons were never going to measure up in the first place (here's looking at you, Sableye). No glitches were used; RNG manipulation was limited to the Latis, controlling for Natures/Abilities when breeding, and the Factory. My Emerald cart's clock is obviously dead, so resources like EV-reducing berries were also partially limited, not to mention the 1-2 chances you get at a Lum Berry.

All Symbols were achieved on Open Level, with the tragic exception of the Factory, which was L50 for reasons detailed later. After all, my starter Swampert learned EQ at level 52, and I wasn't going to waste the TM on it just for that.

This isn't so much a showcase of innovative strategy as it is an affirmation of how feasible the Frontier is for the average player who possesses only cursory competitive knowledge, as well as the efficacy of the help and resources provided by sites such as this one. It's also a personal narrative of my evolving skill and understanding from making rookie preparation mistakes ingame to finally finishing the job, with all the tense moments along the way.

Below are team importables and descriptions with picture proof of each streak in the order I obtained the Symbol. I might continue these in the future, but for now I'm content for the old dogs to retire as champions. They've taken a lot of beatings.

Achieved on January 19th.

(Awaken) Slaking (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Truant
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Sassy Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 28 Atk / 0 Def / 23 SpA / 26 SpD / 23 Spe
- Hyper Beam

(Duero) Milotic (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Marvel Scale
Level: 60
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 11 Atk / 6 Def / 28 SpA / 28 SpD / 14 Spe
- Surf
- Ice Beam

(Clacker) Metagross @ Bright Powder
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 28 HP / 30 Atk / 23 Def / 18 SpA / 11 SpD / 25 Spe
- Meteor Mash
- Shadow Ball

You will see just how horribly I underestimated the impact of Natures later on, but for the Palace, I was keenly aware of their necessity right from hitting New Game. Sassy has the highest chance to use a smart attacking move, at a (paltry) 88%, while Naive sits at 56% and Adamant at 35% (I must have misread and thought it was higher). I would've used my Swampert, but it had Bashful. Yuck. So instead I dragged my Milotic out from the PC and threw it into battle after some EV training and move rearrangement, having previously used it to win the Beauty painting in Contests. Adamant Metagross I was rolling with mostly for the other facilities and lack of superior options.

Taking cues from Werster's All Gold Symbols run, I went all-out attacking, not so much as giving the option to use a support move, though reading this thread, I can see that turtling with stat boosts is generally a more effective strategy in the long run.

The whole setup basically ran on Slaking melting everything with Hyper Beam and a high chance to attack every turn it got, figuring I could tempt fate for a mere six sets without running into disaster. I probably would've tried something different had I not run into a Sassy Slakoth with such good IVs in Petalburg Forest after just a little hunting, which in retrospect was quite frankly a miracle. The other two are there for Normal resists, bad matchups, and in Shadow Ball's case, Shedinja.

I dub this the Hamon Beat strategy.

For a team so all-in on a gamble in an already infamous facility, I was stunned and surprised to see it achieve 42 wins on the first attempt. Spenser Silver presented some challenge, especially with his Crobat's speed and status screwing with Slaking and his Lapras's bulk/OHKO attempts, but the two big scares came in Set 6. Fight 40 saw Wailord3 use the recharge turns to set up some Double Teams in Slaking's face, triggering a desperate little dance between Milotic soaking up hits and Slaking firing another Beam off. I'd lost all hope by the time it was up to +6, but in another spectacular miracle, Slaking nailed the bastard.

Spenser Gold was predictably the other scare. I'd switched to Milotic lead for his Arcanine, then had Slaking revenge kill his Slaking on its recharge turn, then take Suicune down to 5% as it got pelted with Surfs (damn its full physical bulk). Sassy's attack rate falls to pieces below 50% HP, so Slaking never got another shot in. It was down to Adamant Metagross, who was fortunately EV trained to beat Cune out in Speed--but it took two Surfs to the face while wasting its turn on "incapable of using its power." I was losing my mind seeing this thing blow it, but then "a glint appeared in its eyes," and it love-tapped Cune with a Shadow Ball for the win.

If that's not the most anime shit ever, I don't know what is. It's still my Battle Video because nothing ever topped it.

The final fight is also what cemented the importance of exact damage calculations to me, because I'd run through most of Platinum's Frontier without having done so up to that point and knew how likely my strategy was to fall apart in the face of Spenser's bulky-ass team even with the exact ranges. Not running damage calcs had also sank me earlier in the Emerald Factory. I didn't even have importables before getting this first Symbol--I finally understood how seriously I needed to take this place. With the most loathed facility out of the way first, I had newfound resolve to continue, as well--it was the first time anything had actually gone my way in Emerald, and it wouldn't have been the first razor-thin loss in a gold fight. Without that glint in Clacker's eyes, I might've given up right then and there.

Achieved on February 6th.

(Caesar) Swampert (M)
Ability: Torrent
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 104 SpA / 150 Spe
Bashful Nature
IVs: 6 HP / 27 Atk / 8 Def / 24 SpD / 0 Spe
- Surf
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Protect

(Clacker) Metagross
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 28 HP / 30 Atk / 23 Def / 18 SpA / 11 SpD / 25 Spe
- Meteor Mash
- Shadow Ball
- Rock Slide
- Brick Break

(Dumb Luck) Latios (M)
Ability: Levitate
Level: 60
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
IVs: 10 HP / 10 Atk / 16 Def / 19 SpA / 24 SpD / 28 Spe
- Psychic
- Dragon Claw
- Thunderbolt
- Recover

(Awaken) Slaking (M)
Ability: Truant
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Sassy Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 28 Atk / 0 Def / 23 SpA / 26 SpD / 23 Spe
- Return
- Earthquake
- Aerial Ace
- Hyper Beam

Yes, I actually went with that godforsaken blue smear the game called a Latios, not to mention the other squishy blue blob that vaguely resembled a Swampert. I said I horribly underestimated Natures' impact, and my standards for IVs were far too lax, to boot. Somehow I had it in my head that I wouldn't be taking too many hits, anyway, so a few points of bulk couldn't possibly make a difference. Metagross and Slaking were only as good as they were by the fortune of not getting something I would've found acceptable sooner.

The lead changed according to the Wild Pokemon on each Set and floor. Set 9 also used (Banded) Slaking as the lead to deal with all the squishy Psychic types. If you're wondering about certain suspect move choices like Return vs. Double-Edge and no EQ on Metagross, I wasn't yet able to trade in Gen 3, so without glitches, I was stuck with the limited resources of a single Emerald cart. This also left me without a Lum Berry for a long time in the other facilities, since GF apparently didn't see it fit to include a non-clock method of obtaining one.

Recover on Latios was a bigger help than I even expected it to be, especially when it matched up well against the wild Pokemon and could top itself off.

This was another facility in which I achieved the Gold Symbol on the first try--don't expect that to be the case for all of them. Considering how long each set is, and how much active attention it requires even on the lowest floors, I was as grateful for this outcome as I was in the Palace.

I attribute a large part of my success to finding a Choice Band fairly early on (I think it was Set 4 or 5) and slapping it on Metagross and later Slaking, which made dealing with the wild Pokemon infinitely easier. A larger part, of course, can be attributed to the Battle Pyramid Wild Pokemon guide, without which I would've been blindsided many times over. Some of this crap is downright cruel. Pressure Stalling and Destiny Bond against poor little kids in 2005? Jesus.

I mostly played it safe on each floor, walking patiently, stockpiling any unguarded items, trying to cover and scan the largest possible area for the exit, always preparing for and fighting wild Pokemon to gain visibility, and generally avoiding trainers unless I was really desperate for a direction hint. No real scares from the trainers except for a Metagross mirror around Set 7-8 when the other two were beat up (EQ sure would've been nice) and a Latias lead around Set 9-10. I had to remind myself I could use healing items in battle sometimes.

Brandon himself wasn't much trouble, especially with how well Swampert played against him in Silver and how Metagross/Swampert/Latios each countered a bird (Articuno/Moltres/Zapdos) for Gold.

More importantly, it paved the way for me to freely teach Latios Calm Mind, and Metagross my favorite move of all: EXPLOSION!

Achieved on March 20th.

My memory of this isn't 100%, but for the winning streak, Set 1 had something like:
Growlithe1
Ivysaur1
Sableye1

Set 2:
Hitmonlee1
Plusle1
Dunsparce1 (swapped for Swellow1); might've been Sharpedo1

Set 3:
Zangoose2
Vigoroth2
Parasect2 (swapped for Kadabra2, I think; other possibilities were Machoke2, Seviper2, and Grumpig2)

Set 4:
Heracross1
Kingdra1
Jolteon1

Set 5:
Heracross2
Kingdra2
Weezing2

Set 6:
Porygon2(3) (swapped for Lanturn3)
Miltank3 (swapped for Slaking3)
Aerodactyl3

Slaking3 is Banded Slaking, confirming that it was indeed the spirit animal of this entire quest.

Again, not totally sure (the swaps mentioned probably don't match up with the 10 listed in the picture), but it was something like that. I do remember the final team/fight well:

Lanturn3 @ Bright Powder
Ability: Illuminate
EVs: 255 SpA / 255 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: all 3
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder
- Confuse Ray
- Rain Dance

Slaking3 @ Choice Band
Ability: Truant
EVs: 255 Def / 255 SpD
Adamant Nature
IVs: all 3
- Earthquake
- Shadow Ball
- Aerial Ace
- Brick Break

Aerodactyl3 @ King's Rock
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 255 Atk / 255 SpA
Hardy Nature
IVs: all 21
- Double-Edge
- Rock Slide
- Fire Blast
- Dragon Claw

Yes, I lost to Noland Gold in Open Level, back on January 9th, in what could've been my first Gold Symbol. What that record doesn't tell you is that it came after its own few weeks of struggling to even make it to Set 6 (I'd only done so once before and lost on Fight 36), which was already following weeks of futility in the Platinum Battle Factory (including a Fight 48 loss), and that it came down to my Quagsire4/Typhlosion2/Metagross8 vs. his Latios8/Entei3/Milotic4 (I think), and after navigating absolutely sadistic RNG, I lost with his Milotic at around 10%. I needed to take a two-hour walk outside after that.

Later I ran damage calcs that suggested I could've won with a few different plays. I took researching sets more seriously after that, and lo and behold, my win at the Palace became a reality. I guess it really is a test of knowledge.

Anyway, literal months of suffering with awful rentals convinced me to try the RNG manipulation Exarion used in his Gold Symbols run, which was designed for Level 50. You can recognize some of the Pokemon, as well as where I failed to hit the right frames (Set 6 in particular was wrong every time, which both frustrated and terrified me, though it makes the victory taste sweeter seeing those rejects pull it off somehow). Aware of the IV glitch present in the opponents' Pokemon, I tried not to swap too much unless the mon itself was worth it (21IV Miltank3 for 3IV Slaking3 was a gamble I'm glad paid off).

Maybe my EonTimer calibration was off, maybe I wasn't using the beeps correctly, or maybe my reaction time was bad, but I did struggle with consistently landing on the right frames, and it's not like the sets were free even if I did. It made the whole process even more stressful, but I knew it was my best shot at finally breaking the Factory curse.

I could relate various tales of hax on failed streaks, but the eventual successful one didn't have too many scares. Set 3 was a common failure point--even on the successful streak, I didn't get the ideal rentals--and here I was forced into a tough 1v1 with Vigoroth2 (Endure/Salac/Reversal) vs. Cloyster2 (a Dive/Double Team/Leftovers Toxic Staller) after Zangoose and its Immunity were taken down. But like big brother Slaking before him, somehow Vigoroth managed to nail it with Reversal on low HP. There was no Noland Silver at 21, since I'd already beaten him in Open Level.

The other scare was, of course, all of Set 6, which somehow left with me with exactly zero of the mons I was aiming for. Still haven't figured out why. I swapped for Lanturn figuring Water/Electric was a combo with many good matchups, and even though it had 3IVs, I was in a bad spot already, so might as well take the risk on Hydro Pump and Thunder. Miltank's bulk put in good work, but going into the final battles, by March I'd already learned to respect the power of CB Slaking, Attack investment or not.

Noland Gold was decidedly less of an asshole this time--of course, in Level 50, he couldn't bring legendaries by Set 6, anyway. Instead, he had:

Ludicolo3 @ Leftovers
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 170 HP / 170 Def / 170 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: all 31
- Leech Seed
- Rain Dance
- Double Team
- Giga Drain

Slowbro3 @ Quick Claw
Ability: Unknown
EVs: 255 SpA / 255 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: all 31
- Surf
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Attract

Clefable3 @ Lum Berry
Ability: Cute Charm
EVs: 255 Def / 255 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: all 31
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower
- Magical Leaf

Bulky crap as usual. Slaking's Aerial Ace for once gave me a countermeasure to Double Team spam, which was enough to drop Ludicolo. Out came Slowbro, and I switched to Lanturn to use Ludicolo's prior Rain Dance against it with Thunder, though it ran out quickly (it was mostly to preserve Slaking). I actually screamed out "NO!" when Bro's Quick Claw activated before Lanturn could get a hit in the turn after the switch--only to be saved by Lanturn's own Bright Powder. Thunder missed next turn, but Slaking came in for the revenge kill. Clefable, lacking any item hax or evasion nonsense, relieved me so much that I forgot about Truant and took a hit, but it was so weak I could respond with EQ next turn and still take another hit. Slaking was in the red by now, so to give it one last hit, I switched in Aerodactyl, who was too weak to finish Clef off before it ate a TBolt, but it had done its job in opening up Slaking for the revenge kill. I like to picture that final EQ bringing the whole cursed facility crashing down by the rafters.

Even though Slaking got all three KOs, in its own ironic way, this facility taught me to appreciate a mon I never had before, just like it was meant to.
I love this little guy more than anything now, because he represents a light in the darkness. He represents freedom.

Achieved on June 7th.

(Dumb Luck) Latios (M) @ Cheri Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 60
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
IVs: 10 HP / 10 Atk / 16 Def / 19 SpA / 24 SpD / 28 Spe
- Psychic
- Dragon Claw
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind

(Awaken) Slaking (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Truant
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Sassy Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 28 Atk / 0 Def / 23 SpA / 26 SpD / 23 Spe
- Return
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Hyper Beam

(Clacker) Metagross @ Quick Claw
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 28 HP / 30 Atk / 23 Def / 18 SpA / 11 SpD / 25 Spe
- Meteor Mash
- Shadow Ball
- Brick Break
- Explosion

For Set 10, since Metagross didn't play too well against Lucy Gold:

(Joestar) Starmie @ Bright Powder
Ability: Illuminate
Level: 60
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 24 HP / 26 Atk / 15 Def / 24 SpA / 27 SpD / 26 Spe
- Surf
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam

I'm aware of how useful Natural Cure would be in the Pike, but I wasn't aware until recently that you can control for Abilities in Emerald breeding like you can Natures. I bred Starmie here primarily to replace the underperforming Latios and Swampert simultaneously in other facilities, particularly the Arena, where you can't switch anyway.

The main idea here was to set up CM sweeps on strong trainers, run from Wild Pokemon, and spam CB EQ with a Levitate partner in Double Battles.

Pretty standard stuff. I ate a couple dumb losses in Sets 3-5 before really figuring this place out and reading up on what the hints meant. (Getting destroyed by a Silver Wind Scizor is why Slaking had Fire Blast.) Once I realized the value of "Strong Trainer" fights healing you afterward, I avoided normal trainer fights at all costs.

Lucy Silver had an amusing sequence where Metagross, frozen from an earlier room, refused to thaw out for a good 20 turns in front of her Shuckle, which I'd already scouted to be capable of dealing exactly zero damage to it.

Set 9 saw Slaking get put to sleep early and proceed to sleep through a good two whole double battles while Latios desperately fought for its life against the likes of Double Team Moltres and Suicune. It woke up at the very end of the set to nonchalantly save the day in another double. My sorry excuse for a Lum Berry, Latios's Cheri Berry, even got some clutch use against Thunder Wave.

Set 10 saw Slaking get a magic crit on a Slowbro in an early double that kicked off a fantastic streak of luck, including two full heals. Lucy Gold, meanwhile, saw my dumpster-tier Latios singlehandedly sweep her, including her Steelix, who tried to EQ it twice and missed a Rock Slide as I spammed Psychic and waited to die. Perhaps trampling flowers is not the only thing Lucy did to reach her position.

Achieved on June 11th.

(Awaken) Slaking (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Truant
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Sassy Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 28 Atk / 0 Def / 23 SpA / 26 SpD / 23 Spe
- Return
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Hyper Beam

(Clacker) Metagross @ Quick Claw
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 28 HP / 30 Atk / 23 Def / 18 SpA / 11 SpD / 25 Spe
- Meteor Mash
- Shadow Ball
- Brick Break
- Explosion

(Joestar) Starmie @ Bright Powder
Ability: Illuminate
Level: 60
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 24 HP / 26 Atk / 15 Def / 24 SpA / 27 SpD / 26 Spe
- Surf
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam

For Set 10, since Starmie didn't play well against Tucker Gold:

(Caesar) Swampert (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 104 SpA / 150 Spe
Bashful Nature
IVs: 6 HP / 27 Atk / 8 Def / 24 SpD / 0 Spe
- Surf
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Toxic

The usual suspects. Again, Starmie fills the role of Swampert and Latios, mostly for its use as a revenge killer and strong matchup mon in this limited format. Slaking is a nuke despite its extreme vulnerability to hax, and Metagross's Explosion was great for capping off games in which it beat the lead. Team Preview helped me make smart decisions here, even though the ingame analysis said my team was "willing to risk total disaster at times." Not if I know you've got Bright Powder, asshole.

The third and final facility I cleared without any deaths. I'll take a 3-4 split on that--it's probably far better than most people get, though I paid for it hard with the troublesome four.

Not much to say here--Team Preview and the 3IV glitch made this relatively painless. All facilities should have Team Preview, frankly. Slaking's lack of Shadow Ball made a Fight 39 Gengar a scary proposition without Starmie, but the trainer didn't bring it.

Tucker Gold on Fight 40 should've been a smooth fight, but apparently home team favoritism gave him some double Quick Claw hax that let his leadoff Metagross beat my frail Swampert, even after I switched it in on Protect. Imagine a big cross-shaped chunk of mineral crashing down on top of a defeated Caesar's broken body, if you will. Then imagine my reaction to seeing my starter get punked in this manner.

Given Tucker's Metagross knows Protect, that should've spelled the end for Slaking, who I led off with in the first place. In what I can only assume was a move of extreme arrogance, Tucker chose to attack instead. It was yet another miracle in a series of impossible comebacks on the part of Slaking and the Slaking family, the true heroes of this challenge. Or perhaps it was the last of Caesar's Hamon, for I never used him again.

Two Hyper Beams later, Gross and Latias were but smithereens carted off by the winds, and dear Caesar's memory was laid to rest.

Achieved on August 14th.

(Jet) Latios @ Lum Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 60
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 21 Atk / 15 Def / 22 SpD / 29 Spe
- Psychic
- Dragon Claw
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind

(Clacker) Metagross @ Quick Claw
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 28 HP / 30 Atk / 23 Def / 18 SpA / 11 SpD / 25 Spe
- Meteor Mash
- Shadow Ball
- Earthquake
- Explosion

(Joestar) Starmie @ Bright Powder
Ability: Illuminate
Level: 60
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 24 HP / 26 Atk / 15 Def / 24 SpA / 27 SpD / 26 Spe
- Surf
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam

What's this? A Latios with good stats and a Lum Berry? EQ on Metagross? This was the facility that finally drove me to acquire the means to trade in Gen 3 and correct some of my dumb mistakes, such as missing out on Lum Berries and not RNG manipulating Latios, as well as getting some extra TMs. Said Latios is the very same Werster and Exarion used in their runs. I could go on a big rant about how stupid being unable to switch is, but it doesn't matter. I've made the most of trading by filling out my National Dexes. At least I was fortunate enough to have a second copy of Emerald.

I ate shit on and off in this facility for a good six months, occasionally reaching Set 8 but always faltering. Many losses were due to team composition--I was so sick of my bad Latios that I ran Slaking/Metagross/Starmie instead, but as strong as Slaking was, Truant was just devastating in a facility where you can get instakilled after three turns for doing nothing. Too often it let the second mon get free setup that made the cleanup crew's job too difficult.

Frustrated with Slaking's failures, I tried running CM sweeps with bad-Latios lead for a while, and got as close as fight 54 in an incredible streak of luck--but I lost because I forgot about Quagsire's Damp when attempting to explode. 100% my fault, but I knew I'd never get it that good again.

Good-Latios lead still took some luck, but it pulled it off fairly quickly. Set 8 luckily had a lot of trainers who could only use one set of each species. Fight 55 nearly tore my heart out once again--Lass Emilee led with her Alakazam4 (elemental punches, Bright Powder) and got a miss to kill Latios, then took 67% off Metagross before going down, but next up was Breloom4 (Focus Punch), which I made a gutsy play on from experience and predicted the Focus Punches until it went down. Had anything gone wrong with Metagross, Starmie would've lost, because it had to revenge kill Dusclops4 (bulky physical attacker) in back.

I took solace in a tense fight 55, as I knew going into 56, Greta Gold, that I'd already won. Her Umbreon could do nothing to stop Metagross's Explosion after I let Latios lose judging on purpose, and Starmie swept Gengar and Breloom.

Though I still consider the Battle Factory to have been more stressful, I probably would've let out a deeper growl of victory here had the win against Greta Gold not been guaranteed.

Achieved on August 30th.

(Jet) Latios @ Lum Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 60
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 21 Atk / 15 Def / 22 SpD / 29 Spe
- Psychic
- Dragon Claw
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind

(Clacker) Metagross @ Quick Claw
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 28 HP / 30 Atk / 23 Def / 18 SpA / 11 SpD / 25 Spe
- Meteor Mash
- Shadow Ball
- Earthquake
- Explosion

(Joestar) Starmie @ Bright Powder
Ability: Illuminate
Level: 60
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 24 HP / 26 Atk / 15 Def / 24 SpA / 27 SpD / 26 Spe
- Surf
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam

At last, the team crystallized. It probably would've been Swampert in back if I had a good one, matching the classic speedrun team--but I liked Starmie's speed and coverage for revenge killing, anyway.

The big threats are special walls and strong Normal types, given the relative lack of physical attacks. I nearly exploded Metagross on an Umbreon too early around Set 8 but thought better of it in case something like Blissey came out--and guess which fat pink blob was second. Electric types could also be scary if Latios/Metagross had already taken some damage.

I was leading Slaking instead of Latios back when I was stuck with bad-Latios, but a series of awful hax (like double Bright Powder and Double Team Tauros) convinced me that giving free turns to the AI, even to switch, was far inferior to CM sweeps, especially once I picked up Good-Latios.

Ignore the 70 wins at Level 50--that's a different streak I did (and am currently doing) later.

Good-Latios smoothed over this process immensely; most of the moments I could complain about occurred in failed streaks. Playing on Open Level did treat me to quite a few Dragonites and Tyranitars in Sets 9-10, which Starmie luckily played well against--the biggest scare was getting caught flat-footed against a Dragon Dance TTar, where it managed two boosts on me. But Starmie just edged it out by what I estimate to have been 2 Speed.

Anabel Gold had only a small chance of winning based on the calcs I ran, mostly around her Raikou getting a crit Thunderbolt after a few Calm Minds (the strat was to get Latios in a CM war with it and 3HKO). She got her crit, but without the boosts. No Bright Powder on her Latios. Her Snorlax got the kill to make it 2v1, but fittingly for my nicknames, I held onto a red crystal in desperation, and an Explosion catapulted us both into space.

Thus ends the tale of how, with trickery, luck, and knowing their next mon, I defeated the ancient gods of Emerald, whose power far outstripped my own.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed to this thread with tips or Frontier help/guides, particularly turskain's damage calculator. I only have the Factory left in Gen 4, and want to tackle the Battle Subway in Gen 5, as well.

In conclusion:

N1c69 · Sep 21, 2021

AnonS said:
(Awaken) Slaking (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Truant
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Sassy Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 28 Atk / 0 Def / 23 SpA / 26 SpD / 23 Spe
- Hyper Beam

I got to give this Slaking a go. I have a sassy gyarados, which may work similarly. Wish support (Xatu?) way be an idea with sassy slaking in palace.
There's a man in Lilycove who can give you a lum berry if you rng or soft reset a few times.

Kommo-o · Sep 21, 2021

AnonS said:
Hello, everyone!

Posting here to report completed Gold Symbol streaks in all seven Emerald facilities on retail. Obviously not competing for the top spots, but it was a sore spot of mine ever since kid-me wrote the whole Frontier off as impossible. I've been taking this on in a few different Gen 3-5 games over the past year, inspired by such videos as Werster's All Gold Prints run in SoulSilver making the prospect look doable, and it's let me appreciate the sheer depth of the challenges and the effort people put into teambuilding, opponent analysis, stat/damage calculations, and the facilities' individual mechanics.

Adding to the challenge was my avoidance of IV breeding where feasible and prioritizing the use of Pokemon I caught in the wild, especially as part of my ingame team--these are basically fresh files I am attempting to 100%. I did relent somewhat as the challenge dragged on, and I knew some ingame mons were never going to measure up in the first place (here's looking at you, Sableye). No glitches were used; RNG manipulation was limited to the Latis, controlling for Natures/Abilities when breeding, and the Factory. My Emerald cart's clock is obviously dead, so resources like EV-reducing berries were also partially limited, not to mention the 1-2 chances you get at a Lum Berry.

All Symbols were achieved on Open Level, with the tragic exception of the Factory, which was L50 for reasons detailed later. After all, my starter Swampert learned EQ at level 52, and I wasn't going to waste the TM on it just for that.

This isn't so much a showcase of innovative strategy as it is an affirmation of how feasible the Frontier is for the average player who possesses only cursory competitive knowledge, as well as the efficacy of the help and resources provided by sites such as this one. It's also a personal narrative of my evolving skill and understanding from making rookie preparation mistakes ingame to finally finishing the job, with all the tense moments along the way.

Below are team importables and descriptions with picture proof of each streak in the order I obtained the Symbol. I might continue these in the future, but for now I'm content for the old dogs to retire as champions. They've taken a lot of beatings.

Achieved on January 19th.

View attachment 373394
(Awaken) Slaking (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Truant
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Sassy Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 28 Atk / 0 Def / 23 SpA / 26 SpD / 23 Spe
- Hyper Beam
View attachment 373395
(Duero) Milotic (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Marvel Scale
Level: 60
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 11 Atk / 6 Def / 28 SpA / 28 SpD / 14 Spe
- Surf
- Ice Beam
View attachment 373396
(Clacker) Metagross @ Bright Powder
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 28 HP / 30 Atk / 23 Def / 18 SpA / 11 SpD / 25 Spe
- Meteor Mash
- Shadow Ball

You will see just how horribly I underestimated the impact of Natures later on, but for the Palace, I was keenly aware of their necessity right from hitting New Game. Sassy has the highest chance to use a smart attacking move, at a (paltry) 88%, while Naive sits at 56% and Adamant at 35% (I must have misread and thought it was higher). I would've used my Swampert, but it had Bashful. Yuck. So instead I dragged my Milotic out from the PC and threw it into battle after some EV training and move rearrangement, having previously used it to win the Beauty painting in Contests. Adamant Metagross I was rolling with mostly for the other facilities and lack of superior options.

Taking cues from Werster's All Gold Symbols run, I went all-out attacking, not so much as giving the option to use a support move, though reading this thread, I can see that turtling with stat boosts is generally a more effective strategy in the long run.

The whole setup basically ran on Slaking melting everything with Hyper Beam and a high chance to attack every turn it got, figuring I could tempt fate for a mere six sets without running into disaster. I probably would've tried something different had I not run into a Sassy Slakoth with such good IVs in Petalburg Forest after just a little hunting, which in retrospect was quite frankly a miracle. The other two are there for Normal resists, bad matchups, and in Shadow Ball's case, Shedinja.

I dub this the Hamon Beat strategy.

For a team so all-in on a gamble in an already infamous facility, I was stunned and surprised to see it achieve 42 wins on the first attempt. Spenser Silver presented some challenge, especially with his Crobat's speed and status screwing with Slaking and his Lapras's bulk/OHKO attempts, but the two big scares came in Set 6. Fight 40 saw Wailord3 use the recharge turns to set up some Double Teams in Slaking's face, triggering a desperate little dance between Milotic soaking up hits and Slaking firing another Beam off. I'd lost all hope by the time it was up to +6, but in another spectacular miracle, Slaking nailed the bastard.

Spenser Gold was predictably the other scare. I'd switched to Milotic lead for his Arcanine, then had Slaking revenge kill his Slaking on its recharge turn, then take Suicune down to 5% as it got pelted with Surfs (damn its full physical bulk). Sassy's attack rate falls to pieces below 50% HP, so Slaking never got another shot in. It was down to Adamant Metagross, who was fortunately EV trained to beat Cune out in Speed--but it took two Surfs to the face while wasting its turn on "incapable of using its power." I was losing my mind seeing this thing blow it, but then "a glint appeared in its eyes," and it love-tapped Cune with a Shadow Ball for the win.

If that's not the most anime shit ever, I don't know what is. It's still my Battle Video because nothing ever topped it.

The final fight is also what cemented the importance of exact damage calculations to me, because I'd run through most of Platinum's Frontier without having done so up to that point and knew how likely my strategy was to fall apart in the face of Spenser's bulky-ass team even with the exact ranges. Not running damage calcs had also sank me earlier in the Emerald Factory. I didn't even have importables before getting this first Symbol--I finally understood how seriously I needed to take this place. With the most loathed facility out of the way first, I had newfound resolve to continue, as well--it was the first time anything had actually gone my way in Emerald, and it wouldn't have been the first razor-thin loss in a gold fight. Without that glint in Clacker's eyes, I might've given up right then and there.

View attachment 373388

Achieved on February 6th.

View attachment 373398
(Caesar) Swampert (M)
Ability: Torrent
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 104 SpA / 150 Spe
Bashful Nature
IVs: 6 HP / 27 Atk / 8 Def / 24 SpD / 0 Spe
- Surf
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Protect
View attachment 373397
(Clacker) Metagross
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 28 HP / 30 Atk / 23 Def / 18 SpA / 11 SpD / 25 Spe
- Meteor Mash
- Shadow Ball
- Rock Slide
- Brick Break
View attachment 373399
(Dumb Luck) Latios (M)
Ability: Levitate
Level: 60
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
IVs: 10 HP / 10 Atk / 16 Def / 19 SpA / 24 SpD / 28 Spe
- Psychic
- Dragon Claw
- Thunderbolt
- Recover
View attachment 373394
(Awaken) Slaking (M)
Ability: Truant
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Sassy Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 28 Atk / 0 Def / 23 SpA / 26 SpD / 23 Spe
- Return
- Earthquake
- Aerial Ace
- Hyper Beam

Yes, I actually went with that godforsaken blue smear the game called a Latios, not to mention the other squishy blue blob that vaguely resembled a Swampert. I said I horribly underestimated Natures' impact, and my standards for IVs were far too lax, to boot. Somehow I had it in my head that I wouldn't be taking too many hits, anyway, so a few points of bulk couldn't possibly make a difference. Metagross and Slaking were only as good as they were by the fortune of not getting something I would've found acceptable sooner.

The lead changed according to the Wild Pokemon on each Set and floor. Set 9 also used (Banded) Slaking as the lead to deal with all the squishy Psychic types. If you're wondering about certain suspect move choices like Return vs. Double-Edge and no EQ on Metagross, I wasn't yet able to trade in Gen 3, so without glitches, I was stuck with the limited resources of a single Emerald cart. This also left me without a Lum Berry for a long time in the other facilities, since GF apparently didn't see it fit to include a non-clock method of obtaining one.

Recover on Latios was a bigger help than I even expected it to be, especially when it matched up well against the wild Pokemon and could top itself off.

This was another facility in which I achieved the Gold Symbol on the first try--don't expect that to be the case for all of them. Considering how long each set is, and how much active attention it requires even on the lowest floors, I was as grateful for this outcome as I was in the Palace.

I attribute a large part of my success to finding a Choice Band fairly early on (I think it was Set 4 or 5) and slapping it on Metagross and later Slaking, which made dealing with the wild Pokemon infinitely easier. A larger part, of course, can be attributed to the Battle Pyramid Wild Pokemon guide, without which I would've been blindsided many times over. Some of this crap is downright cruel. Pressure Stalling and Destiny Bond against poor little kids in 2005? Jesus.

I mostly played it safe on each floor, walking patiently, stockpiling any unguarded items, trying to cover and scan the largest possible area for the exit, always preparing for and fighting wild Pokemon to gain visibility, and generally avoiding trainers unless I was really desperate for a direction hint. No real scares from the trainers except for a Metagross mirror around Set 7-8 when the other two were beat up (EQ sure would've been nice) and a Latias lead around Set 9-10. I had to remind myself I could use healing items in battle sometimes.

Brandon himself wasn't much trouble, especially with how well Swampert played against him in Silver and how Metagross/Swampert/Latios each countered a bird (Articuno/Moltres/Zapdos) for Gold.

More importantly, it paved the way for me to freely teach Latios Calm Mind, and Metagross my favorite move of all: EXPLOSION!

View attachment 373400

Achieved on March 20th.

My memory of this isn't 100%, but for the winning streak, Set 1 had something like:
Growlithe1
Ivysaur1
Sableye1

Set 2:
Hitmonlee1
Plusle1
Dunsparce1 (swapped for Swellow1); might've been Sharpedo1

Set 3:
Zangoose2
Vigoroth2
Parasect2 (swapped for Kadabra2, I think; other possibilities were Machoke2, Seviper2, and Grumpig2)

Set 4:
Heracross1
Kingdra1
Jolteon1

Set 5:
Heracross2
Kingdra2
Weezing2

Set 6:
Porygon2(3) (swapped for Lanturn3)
Miltank3 (swapped for Slaking3)
Aerodactyl3

Slaking3 is Banded Slaking, confirming that it was indeed the spirit animal of this entire quest.

Again, not totally sure (the swaps mentioned probably don't match up with the 10 listed in the picture), but it was something like that. I do remember the final team/fight well:
View attachment 373415
Lanturn3 @ Bright Powder
Ability: Illuminate
EVs: 255 SpA / 255 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: all 3
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder
- Confuse Ray
- Rain Dance
View attachment 373417
Slaking3 @ Choice Band
Ability: Truant
EVs: 255 Def / 255 SpD
Adamant Nature
IVs: all 3
- Earthquake
- Shadow Ball
- Aerial Ace
- Brick Break
View attachment 373418
Aerodactyl3 @ King's Rock
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 255 Atk / 255 SpA
Hardy Nature
IVs: all 21
- Double-Edge
- Rock Slide
- Fire Blast
- Dragon Claw

Yes, I lost to Noland Gold in Open Level, back on January 9th, in what could've been my first Gold Symbol. What that record doesn't tell you is that it came after its own few weeks of struggling to even make it to Set 6 (I'd only done so once before and lost on Fight 36), which was already following weeks of futility in the Platinum Battle Factory (including a Fight 48 loss), and that it came down to my Quagsire4/Typhlosion2/Metagross8 vs. his Latios8/Entei3/Milotic4 (I think), and after navigating absolutely sadistic RNG, I lost with his Milotic at around 10%. I needed to take a two-hour walk outside after that.

Later I ran damage calcs that suggested I could've won with a few different plays. I took researching sets more seriously after that, and lo and behold, my win at the Palace became a reality. I guess it really is a test of knowledge.

Anyway, literal months of suffering with awful rentals convinced me to try the RNG manipulation Exarion used in his Gold Symbols run, which was designed for Level 50. You can recognize some of the Pokemon, as well as where I failed to hit the right frames (Set 6 in particular was wrong every time, which both frustrated and terrified me, though it makes the victory taste sweeter seeing those rejects pull it off somehow). Aware of the IV glitch present in the opponents' Pokemon, I tried not to swap too much unless the mon itself was worth it (21IV Miltank3 for 3IV Slaking3 was a gamble I'm glad paid off).

Maybe my EonTimer calibration was off, maybe I wasn't using the beeps correctly, or maybe my reaction time was bad, but I did struggle with consistently landing on the right frames, and it's not like the sets were free even if I did. It made the whole process even more stressful, but I knew it was my best shot at finally breaking the Factory curse.

I could relate various tales of hax on failed streaks, but the eventual successful one didn't have too many scares. Set 3 was a common failure point--even on the successful streak, I didn't get the ideal rentals--and here I was forced into a tough 1v1 with Vigoroth2 (Endure/Salac/Reversal) vs. Cloyster2 (a Dive/Double Team/Leftovers Toxic Staller) after Zangoose and its Immunity were taken down. But like big brother Slaking before him, somehow Vigoroth managed to nail it with Reversal on low HP. There was no Noland Silver at 21, since I'd already beaten him in Open Level.

The other scare was, of course, all of Set 6, which somehow left with me with exactly zero of the mons I was aiming for. Still haven't figured out why. I swapped for Lanturn figuring Water/Electric was a combo with many good matchups, and even though it had 3IVs, I was in a bad spot already, so might as well take the risk on Hydro Pump and Thunder. Miltank's bulk put in good work, but going into the final battles, by March I'd already learned to respect the power of CB Slaking, Attack investment or not.

Noland Gold was decidedly less of an asshole this time--of course, in Level 50, he couldn't bring legendaries by Set 6, anyway. Instead, he had:
View attachment 373407
Ludicolo3 @ Leftovers
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 170 HP / 170 Def / 170 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: all 31
- Leech Seed
- Rain Dance
- Double Team
- Giga Drain

View attachment 373408
Slowbro3 @ Quick Claw
Ability: Unknown
EVs: 255 SpA / 255 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: all 31
- Surf
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Attract
View attachment 373409
Clefable3 @ Lum Berry
Ability: Cute Charm
EVs: 255 Def / 255 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: all 31
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower
- Magical Leaf

Bulky crap as usual. Slaking's Aerial Ace for once gave me a countermeasure to Double Team spam, which was enough to drop Ludicolo. Out came Slowbro, and I switched to Lanturn to use Ludicolo's prior Rain Dance against it with Thunder, though it ran out quickly (it was mostly to preserve Slaking). I actually screamed out "NO!" when Bro's Quick Claw activated before Lanturn could get a hit in the turn after the switch--only to be saved by Lanturn's own Bright Powder. Thunder missed next turn, but Slaking came in for the revenge kill. Clefable, lacking any item hax or evasion nonsense, relieved me so much that I forgot about Truant and took a hit, but it was so weak I could respond with EQ next turn and still take another hit. Slaking was in the red by now, so to give it one last hit, I switched in Aerodactyl, who was too weak to finish Clef off before it ate a TBolt, but it had done its job in opening up Slaking for the revenge kill. I like to picture that final EQ bringing the whole cursed facility crashing down by the rafters.

Even though Slaking got all three KOs, in its own ironic way, this facility taught me to appreciate a mon I never had before, just like it was meant to.
I love this little guy more than anything now, because he represents a light in the darkness. He represents freedom.
View attachment 373425

View attachment 373402

Achieved on June 7th.

View attachment 373429
(Dumb Luck) Latios (M) @ Cheri Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 60
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
IVs: 10 HP / 10 Atk / 16 Def / 19 SpA / 24 SpD / 28 Spe
- Psychic
- Dragon Claw
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
View attachment 373430
(Awaken) Slaking (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Truant
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Sassy Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 28 Atk / 0 Def / 23 SpA / 26 SpD / 23 Spe
- Return
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Hyper Beam
View attachment 373438
(Clacker) Metagross @ Quick Claw
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 28 HP / 30 Atk / 23 Def / 18 SpA / 11 SpD / 25 Spe
- Meteor Mash
- Shadow Ball
- Brick Break
- Explosion

For Set 10, since Metagross didn't play too well against Lucy Gold:
View attachment 373431
(Joestar) Starmie @ Bright Powder
Ability: Illuminate
Level: 60
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 24 HP / 26 Atk / 15 Def / 24 SpA / 27 SpD / 26 Spe
- Surf
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam

I'm aware of how useful Natural Cure would be in the Pike, but I wasn't aware until recently that you can control for Abilities in Emerald breeding like you can Natures. I bred Starmie here primarily to replace the underperforming Latios and Swampert simultaneously in other facilities, particularly the Arena, where you can't switch anyway.

The main idea here was to set up CM sweeps on strong trainers, run from Wild Pokemon, and spam CB EQ with a Levitate partner in Double Battles.

Pretty standard stuff. I ate a couple dumb losses in Sets 3-5 before really figuring this place out and reading up on what the hints meant. (Getting destroyed by a Silver Wind Scizor is why Slaking had Fire Blast.) Once I realized the value of "Strong Trainer" fights healing you afterward, I avoided normal trainer fights at all costs.

Lucy Silver had an amusing sequence where Metagross, frozen from an earlier room, refused to thaw out for a good 20 turns in front of her Shuckle, which I'd already scouted to be capable of dealing exactly zero damage to it.

Set 9 saw Slaking get put to sleep early and proceed to sleep through a good two whole double battles while Latios desperately fought for its life against the likes of Double Team Moltres and Suicune. It woke up at the very end of the set to nonchalantly save the day in another double. My sorry excuse for a Lum Berry, Latios's Cheri Berry, even got some clutch use against Thunder Wave.

Set 10 saw Slaking get a magic crit on a Slowbro in an early double that kicked off a fantastic streak of luck, including two full heals. Lucy Gold, meanwhile, saw my dumpster-tier Latios singlehandedly sweep her, including her Steelix, who tried to EQ it twice and missed a Rock Slide as I spammed Psychic and waited to die. Perhaps trampling flowers is not the only thing Lucy did to reach her position.

View attachment 373403

Achieved on June 11th.

View attachment 373441
(Awaken) Slaking (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Truant
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Sassy Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 28 Atk / 0 Def / 23 SpA / 26 SpD / 23 Spe
- Return
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Hyper Beam
View attachment 373442
(Clacker) Metagross @ Quick Claw
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 28 HP / 30 Atk / 23 Def / 18 SpA / 11 SpD / 25 Spe
- Meteor Mash
- Shadow Ball
- Brick Break
- Explosion
View attachment 373443
(Joestar) Starmie @ Bright Powder
Ability: Illuminate
Level: 60
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 24 HP / 26 Atk / 15 Def / 24 SpA / 27 SpD / 26 Spe
- Surf
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam

For Set 10, since Starmie didn't play well against Tucker Gold:
View attachment 373444
(Caesar) Swampert (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 104 SpA / 150 Spe
Bashful Nature
IVs: 6 HP / 27 Atk / 8 Def / 24 SpD / 0 Spe
- Surf
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Toxic

The usual suspects. Again, Starmie fills the role of Swampert and Latios, mostly for its use as a revenge killer and strong matchup mon in this limited format. Slaking is a nuke despite its extreme vulnerability to hax, and Metagross's Explosion was great for capping off games in which it beat the lead. Team Preview helped me make smart decisions here, even though the ingame analysis said my team was "willing to risk total disaster at times." Not if I know you've got Bright Powder, asshole.

The third and final facility I cleared without any deaths. I'll take a 3-4 split on that--it's probably far better than most people get, though I paid for it hard with the troublesome four.

Not much to say here--Team Preview and the 3IV glitch made this relatively painless. All facilities should have Team Preview, frankly. Slaking's lack of Shadow Ball made a Fight 39 Gengar a scary proposition without Starmie, but the trainer didn't bring it.

Tucker Gold on Fight 40 should've been a smooth fight, but apparently home team favoritism gave him some double Quick Claw hax that let his leadoff Metagross beat my frail Swampert, even after I switched it in on Protect. Imagine a big cross-shaped chunk of mineral crashing down on top of a defeated Caesar's broken body, if you will. Then imagine my reaction to seeing my starter get punked in this manner.

Given Tucker's Metagross knows Protect, that should've spelled the end for Slaking, who I led off with in the first place. In what I can only assume was a move of extreme arrogance, Tucker chose to attack instead. It was yet another miracle in a series of impossible comebacks on the part of Slaking and the Slaking family, the true heroes of this challenge. Or perhaps it was the last of Caesar's Hamon, for I never used him again.

Two Hyper Beams later, Gross and Latias were but smithereens carted off by the winds, and dear Caesar's memory was laid to rest.

View attachment 373404

Achieved on August 14th.

View attachment 373450
(Jet) Latios @ Lum Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 60
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 21 Atk / 15 Def / 22 SpD / 29 Spe
- Psychic
- Dragon Claw
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
View attachment 373451
(Clacker) Metagross @ Quick Claw
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 28 HP / 30 Atk / 23 Def / 18 SpA / 11 SpD / 25 Spe
- Meteor Mash
- Shadow Ball
- Earthquake
- Explosion
View attachment 373452
(Joestar) Starmie @ Bright Powder
Ability: Illuminate
Level: 60
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 24 HP / 26 Atk / 15 Def / 24 SpA / 27 SpD / 26 Spe
- Surf
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam

What's this? A Latios with good stats and a Lum Berry? EQ on Metagross? This was the facility that finally drove me to acquire the means to trade in Gen 3 and correct some of my dumb mistakes, such as missing out on Lum Berries and not RNG manipulating Latios, as well as getting some extra TMs. Said Latios is the very same Werster and Exarion used in their runs. I could go on a big rant about how stupid being unable to switch is, but it doesn't matter. I've made the most of trading my filling out my National Dexes. At least I was fortunate enough to have a second copy of Emerald.

I ate shit on and off in this facility for a good six months, occasionally reaching Set 8 but always faltering. Many losses were due to team composition--I was so sick of my bad Latios that I ran Slaking/Metagross/Starmie instead, but as strong as Slaking was, Truant was just devastating in a facility where you can get instakilled after three turns for doing nothing. Too often it let the second mon get free setup that made the cleanup crew's job too difficult.

Frustrated with Slaking's failures, I tried running CM sweeps with bad-Latios lead for a while, and got as close as fight 54 in an incredible streak of luck--but I lost because I forgot about Quagsire's Damp when attempting to explode. 100% my fault, but I knew I'd never get it that good again.

Good-Latios lead still took some luck, but it pulled it off fairly quickly. Set 8 luckily had a lot of trainers who could only use one set of each species. Fight 55 nearly tore my heart out once again--Lass Emilee led with her Alakazam4 (elemental punches, Bright Powder) and got a miss to kill Latios, then took 67% off Metagross before going down, but next up was Breloom4 (Focus Punch), which I made a gutsy play on from experience and predicted the Focus Punches until it went down. Had anything gone wrong with Metagross, Starmie would've lost, because it had to revenge kill Dusclops4 (bulky physical attacker) in back.

I took solace in a tense fight 55, as I knew going into 56, Greta Gold, that I'd already won. Her Umbreon could do nothing to stop Metagross's Explosion after I let Latios lose judging on purpose, and Starmie swept Gengar and Breloom.

Though I still consider the Battle Factory to have been more stressful, I probably would've let out a deeper growl of victory here had the victory against Greta Gold not been guaranteed.

View attachment 373405

Achieved on August 30th.

View attachment 373457
(Jet) Latios @ Lum Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 60
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 21 Atk / 15 Def / 22 SpD / 29 Spe
- Psychic
- Dragon Claw
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
View attachment 373458
(Clacker) Metagross @ Quick Claw
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 28 HP / 30 Atk / 23 Def / 18 SpA / 11 SpD / 25 Spe
- Meteor Mash
- Shadow Ball
- Earthquake
- Explosion
View attachment 373459
(Joestar) Starmie @ Bright Powder
Ability: Illuminate
Level: 60
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 24 HP / 26 Atk / 15 Def / 24 SpA / 27 SpD / 26 Spe
- Surf
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam

At last, the team crystallized. It probably would've been Swampert in back if I had a good one, matching the classic speedrun team--but I liked Starmie's speed and coverage for revenge killing, anyway.

The big threats are special walls and strong Normal types, given the relative lack of physical attacks. I nearly exploded Metagross on an Umbreon too early around Set 8 but thought better of it in case something like Blissey came out--and guess which fat pink blob was second.

I was leading Slaking instead of Latios back when I was stuck with bad-Latios, but a series of awful hax (like double Bright Powder and Double Team Tauros) convinced me that giving free turns to the AI, even to switch, was far inferior to CM sweeps, especially once I picked up Good-Latios.

Ignore the 70 wins at Level 50--that's a different streak I did (and am currently doing) later.

Good-Latios smoothed over this process immensely; most of the moments I could complain about occurred in failed streaks. Playing on Open Level did treat me to quite a few Dragonites and Tyranitars in Sets 9-10, which Starmie luckily played well against--the biggest scare was getting caught flat-footed against a Dragon Dance TTar, where it managed two boosts on me. But Starmie just edged it out by what I estimate to have been 2 Speed.

Anabel Gold had only a small chance of winning based on the calcs I ran, mostly around her Raikou getting a crit Thunderbolt after a few Calm Minds (the strat was to get Latios in a CM war with it and 3HKO). She got her crit, but without the boosts. No Bright Powder on her Latios. Her Snorlax got the kill to make it 2v1, but fittingly for my nicknames, I held onto a red crystal in desperation, and an Explosion catapulted us both into space.

Thus ends the tale of how, with trickery, luck, and knowing their next mon, I defeated the ancient gods of Emerald, whose power far outstripped my own.
View attachment 373463

View attachment 373406

Thanks again to everyone who contributed to this thread with tips or Frontier help/guides, particularly turskain's damage calculator. I only have the Factory left in Gen 4, and want to tackle the Battle Subway in Gen 5, as well.

In conclusion:
View attachment 373460

A man of culture who is abusing Jojo references as much as I do. 10/10 just for that. Congratulations for winning all the Gold symbols! Of course, you took the better decision in the end to restart your save and manipulate the Latios/Metagross and then trade with your games. It's a lot of work but in the end it is so much worth it specially because you don't really want to stay with a one-time TM or item. Also, FYI even with a dead battery, you can actually use the Emerald cloning glitch to get multiple TMs and items without trading. It massively helps a lot on the Frontier challenge.

Also, I will be adding your records later but I should make note that your Factory run is the only record I will not be including because it was RNG manipulated. Good luck with the rest of your challenges and thanks for sharing! Really enjoyed reading your post personally and hope there is more to come!

Kommo-o · Sep 21, 2021

N1c69 said:
I got to give this Slaking a go. I have a sassy gyarados, which may work similarly. Wish support (Xatu?) way be an idea with sassy slaking in palace.
There's a man in Lilycove who can give you a lum berry if you rng or soft reset a few times.

Sassy could work but also I do remember HeadsILoseTailsYouWin mentioning on the Discord Gentle Gyarados who has good odds of setting up and then attacking when it is at lower HP.

Nature	Attack	Defense	Support	Attack (<50%)	Defense (<50%)	Support (<50%)
Gentle	18%	70%	12%	90%	5%	5%

Your chances are pretty good on setting up Dragon Dance at a green HP bar and then once Gyarados is at yellow, it gains a whooping 90% chance to set up. It could make a Sub DD really good depending on the situation. Dragon Dance + Thunder Wave would be great options in here.

AnonS · Sep 21, 2021

N1c69 said:
There's a man in Lilycove who can give you a lum berry if you rng or soft reset a few times.

Yeah, I found this out upon rewatching speedruns more closely. I foolishly assumed you could buy them with BP at the Frontier like you can in Platinum, forgetting that Gen 3 wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire. Way too easy to lock yourself out of forever by saving after the guy gives you a Pecha or whatever. Same thing with the Berry Master's wife.

Kommo-o said:
Of course, you took the better decision in the end to restart your save and manipulate the Latios/Metagross and then trade with your games. It's a lot of work but in the end it is so much worth it specially because you don't really want to stay with a one-time TM or item. Also, FYI even with a dead battery, you can actually use the Emerald cloning glitch to get multiple TMs and items without trading. It massively helps a lot on the Frontier challenge.

Also, I will be adding your records later but I should make note that your Factory run is the only record I will not be including because it was RNG manipulated.

I didn't actually restart my save with the Symbols. I have another Emerald cart (no, I don't know why) and sped through the game to pick up the relevant stuff there. Metagross was also not manipulated; it resembles the one speedrunners reset for, but they don't match exactly (I think it's stronger, slower, and not as bulky). I know how to do Battle Tower cloning, but I wanted to keep the whole thing glitchless.

Understandable with the Factory run. For what it's worth, the Open Level streak that ended at 41 was not manipulated.

I use JoJo nicknames across all my games because they're snappy and weirdly fitting (different protags, different settings and villains, supernatural powers/creatures doing the fighting for you). Works a little better with Stand names, but that's what games past Gen 3 are for.

Thanks again!

Kommo-o · Sep 22, 2021

New update but my 3rd attempt using the Reptomons has ended in 209 wins on retail cartridge. My loss came against Thriathlete Nico. Well as a matter of fact, it was a tie at the 210th battle where Shiftry and Muk exploded on my whole team but since the game brands ties as losses, there was nothing I could've done. I will be looking forward to make more Double attempts at a later future since this had been a fun experience.

N1c69 · Sep 24, 2021

I've been using this Aggron in Palace with some success:

Aggron @ Sitrus Berry
Careful nature, 100evs in all but spA (looking to change evs)
-Double team
-Toxic
-Rock Slide
-Earthquake

Caught in Victory Road, I quickly trained this Aggron to lv50 and fed it vitamins so it was frontier ready quick. I haven't run calcs and I'm sure there are better ev spreads. Careful nature in palace has a 42% chance to attack regardless of HP%. >50%HP gives a 50% chance to set up DT. Toxic is usually used just in time when Aggron is walled but evading due to boosted evasion.
I wanted to use Aggron in Palace since it can deal with Spensor silver team's Crobat and Lapras, making it easy to earn at least 4+4+15= 23 BP relatively quickly before losing a streak. So far it has swept plenty, tanked some non STAB fight and ground moves, and most importantly, stopped Pinsir and Crowdaunt's guillotine and Seaking and Lapras's horndrill, all of which have happened before/during facing Spensor silver.
Sitrus Berry has been working well since Aggron usually sets up on normal, rock, flying, etc moves, which deal little damage. Leftovers and Lum Berry could be run if not needed by other mons. I lost a moment ago with my timid leech seed Meganium and sassy kingdra at steak 30 to a CM Espeon.

potatobagel · Oct 5, 2021

Hello, just dropping by to report that I've completed all Gold Symbols on retail for my second copy of Emerald. I used brand new teams for each of the facilities, most of which I copied from this thread ^^. Only a couple of things to report:

1. Jolly CB Tauros is pretty spectacular at the Battle Arena. I was trying the with team with Endure Medicham and Yawn Snorlax and it was just too passive for my taste. Switched to Metagross + Latios + CB Salamence, had some issues with Jolly Salamence's speed and weakness to Ice. Swapped Salamence with Tauros and got the 56 wins in one go.

2. If you're RNG breeding, you can use the save battle video frame advancement method to quickly get a 30/31/31/21/31/30 Serious Ditto (Frame 43270, for Physical Attackers) and a 31/14/30/30/30/31 Bold Ditto (Frame 638063 for Special Attackers). I bred these little blobs to death >:) and of course, having a Synchronize lead will give you many more chances to hit a target frame.

That's all for now, gonna get back to trying to get a 205 win streak in BW...

AnonS · Oct 10, 2021

Hello again!

Posting to report a streak of 105 wins in the Level 50 Battle Tower on retail.

This marks the conclusion of the 70-streak I had going in my post up above, at least in terms of getting the Gold Shield. It didn't sit right with me to get all the Gold Symbols but still leave the final 100-win prize behind, but I also didn't want to drag the old guard out of retirement just to get dropped somewhere in Sets 11-15--and possibly fail again, or struggle to make it back in the first place. Frankly, for a reward as minor as a Secret Base decoration, I didn't expect to stay motivated if I lost even once. So I used what I had lying around to make a Level 50 team that probably wouldn't lose. To the thread regulars, it may look familiar.

(RAF) Skarmory (F) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 116 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 15 Def / 16 SpA / 30 SpD / 0 Spe
- Protect
- Rest
- Torment
- Roar

(Suzi Q) Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Level: 50
EVs: 22 HP / 252 Def / 236 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 9 Atk / 12 Def / 24 SpA / 15 SpD / 15 Spe
- Protect
- Soft-Boiled
- Substitute
- Growl

(Lisa Lisa) Latias (F) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 6 Def / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 27 HP / 19 Atk / 30 Def / 16 SpA / 13 SpD
- Dragon Claw
- Recover
- Substitute
- Calm Mind

As the trained eye can see, this is a bootleg version of Adedede's Iridescence, and to be honest, even if I were creative enough to come up with it on my own, I'd probably have a mental block on the concept of stall.

There's other "safe" strats, like TrickBand and Memento teams, but they didn't seem too airtight to me. If you're unfamiliar, the strategy here is to PP Stall the opponent's lead with SkarmBliss using Torment, Protect, Substitute, healing, switching, etc. according to the set (Torment in particular to let you always Protect on the most dangerous move), Growl them to -6 Atk, then set up a CM/Sub sweep as they Struggle, since Struggle did not do fixed 25% recoil damage until Gen 4. Some leads aren't suited for this--particularly Clear Body users, but also setup sweepers, users of Explosion/Double-Edge that are just going to kill themselves before you can set up, and anything that might be able to PP Stall your one attacking move, Dragon Claw (such as Claydol2, with Leftovers/Double Team/Cosmic Power)--which is why Skarmory can phaze.

As if the 3000+ wins a more refined version of this team already achieved wasn't proof enough of its efficacy, this one--with its imperfect IVs, no Natural Cure on Blissey, Roar over Whirlwind (not that I ran into a troublesome Soundproof user), and slow, offensively weak Latias (I could've raised another Latios but figured I might as well let his sister get a chance to shine)--still managed at least 105. I had to dump 30 extra EVs into Blissey's Speed over HP to reach the important 106 benchmark (and boy, did it help); Latias at least had enough Defense to tank all those extra Struggles from its -Spe Nature, although even with a perfect IV and maximum investment, it was still tragically 3 points slower than Anabel Gold's Raikou. Luckily, that didn't bite me in the ass the two times I had to win that CM war.

Adedede could describe the threats better than I could (Metagross and the Regis come to mind), but the most consistent scare was any leadoff Fire or Electric mixed attacker, since Skarmory couldn't Torment it safely. Predicting the AI isn't always a certainty, either; it loves to use EQ on Skarmory for some reason, and I nearly lost to a Flareon of all things that decided to Overheat on Blissey (and thus the switch).

I've used a TrickScarf setup to achieve 100-win streaks in Gen 4's Battle Towers before, and had that been an option here in Emerald, I probably would've gone for it again just for the time it saves; if I can say anything to my own credit, it's that even with the strong premise, this team requires a lot more thought and awareness to play effectively than something like that (which is basically a flowchart). That's doubly so with how long it takes to complete each fight. Call it "A Month in Venice."

Thankfully, I didn't eat a loss despite some close calls. With no speedup to rely on, some sets took upwards of two hours, and all of them took at least 90 minutes to complete. I certainly didn't see any reason to take unnecessary risks for the sake of a few minutes, and thus patiently nursed even Latias's Substitutes for maximum health.

Eating so many attacks can be scary no matter how well-defended you are, and yet each battle gradually grew less panic-inducing as the lead began to exhaust its scariest options. It really flipped the script in some ways, too; suddenly Horn Drill/Sheer Cold Dewgong and Lapras were free setup thanks to Sturdy, while the fairly "honest" 3-4-attack mons a normal team would be happy to put down in one turn were now long, tense affairs. More than once, Blissey was forced to stand strong and risk crits/parahax against the likes of Latios3 (mixed attacker with EQ) and Zapdos4 (TBolt/Drill Peck/TWave/Light Screen)--thank God it wasn't Zapdos5 with Double-Edge and Scope Lens.

A Rapidash in Set 15 repeated the Flareon mockery with Overheat/Double-Edge, but after it killed itself, I managed to set up on CB Absol of all things because Latias was out, so it locked itself into Shadow Ball on Blissey. An opposing Blissey, Blissey4 with CM/Ice Beam/Softboiled, appeared twice to halt Latias's sweep and force me to stall it out of Ice Beam, since Latias came nowhere close to a 2HKO even at +6. Anabel herself was scary in fight 70 by immediately hitting the 3/8 TBolt OHKO range on Skarmory and forcing my slower Latias to win the CM war.

Special mention to Camper Armando, a 21-IVer in Set 10 who was the only trainer to put together the triple threat--a team in which all three Pokémon were difficult or impossible to set up on. Ursaring2 (Quick Claw/Double-Edge), Weezing4 (Explosion), and Miltank4 (Curse/Double Team/Double-Edge/Milk Drink) had me playing a merry game of Roar roulette, money on black and every space red. My only hope was to randomly phaze in Miltank, let it set up a few Curses, phaze it out, rinse-repeat until it was out of Curse--a plan made extra difficult by Double Team causing Roar to miss and waste PP. In the end, I didn't manage to set up--Ursaring and Weezing killed themselves against Skarmory, and I intentionally let Miltank ram itself into Blissey to take massive recoil. Blissey died, and a +0 Latias was just strong enough to take off the last 33% or so before it could heal.

Anabel in fight 105 was, of course, above 100, and thus shouldn't have been scary if my only goal was to get the Gold Shield, but past experience left me with doubts. In Open Level, I'd died on fight 51 and came out at least expecting the Silver Shield, but Scott didn't cough it up until I clawed my way back to that point and actually finished the set. Is it true, then, that the effective requirements are 56 and 105 wins for the Shields? If someone could look into this, I'd be very grateful. I was also grateful to Anabel for CMing turn 1, letting my Torment go off and the battle essentially be over right then and there.

If the Open Level streak launched Anabel into space, I guess you could think of this Level 50 streak as her eternal purgatory, reliving her past failures and watching each battle be settled in the most painful, protracted way possible.

Thanks again for all the resources and strategies shared here, and especially, of course, to Adedede.

...Eventually, Anabel stopped thinking.

Adedede · Oct 10, 2021

AnonS said:
Predicting the AI isn't always a certainty, either; it loves to use EQ on Skarmory for some reason, and I nearly lost to a Flareon of all things that decided to Overheat

Dude, I can't stop smiling.
I think this whole line is the best quote I've ever read about my team, only a player who has actually used it a lot can say that and relate.

Btw, I'm really glad and proud that my team and in particular the ideas behind it (Torment lead on a Sturdy user, fast Blissey, PPs stall gameplan) are actually working, being tested by other players and helping.

N1c69 · Oct 11, 2021

Reached a streak of 42 on cart in palace doubles lv50 using the following team: https://pokepast.es/95db202b8df1c799

Aggron has "better than average" IV tier 100evs in all but spA and lv50 stats of 156/125/211/71/88/76
Zapdos has "quite impressive" IV tier (flawless def), 100evs in all but atk and lv50 stats of 158/122/118/149/120/131
Milotic has "quite impressive" IV tier (flawless def), max def and hp evs and lv50 stats of 198/65/141/120/141/89

Explanation:
Offensively, this team utilizes rock + ground and electric + ice coverage, with mixed offenses. Defensively, the teams forms a good type core, with switch ins for each others weaknesses. Drill peck KO's Heracross and hits grass and fight types as well as damaging to special walls or ground types. Light screen and Twave help Aggron. If everything goes to plan, Aggron can set up to achieve 2x def, 2x spD, 2x evasion and fights a poisoned or paralyzed opponent which helps with paraflinch combos or toxic stalling. Milotic compliments the Aggron + Zapdos core nicely. A bold nature leaves this Milotic mostly using toxic and recover.
This team may work in other formats, but I like using it in palace doubles since Aggron takes 75% damage from surf, while Zapdos takes 75% damage from rock slide. Also, 3v3 means that if Aggron or Zapdos can get an early KO, the match is close to won. Using a mon with the ability sturdy and another with toxic + recover is ideal for mitigating hax in a format where you cannot chose your moves.

Threats:
This team is weak against fighting and grass types. Never rely on Milotic using surf or ice beam since it will usually toxic or recover. Aggron can be a pain and set up when it needs to attack, but as long as is aided by its teammates and can utilize its stat boosts, it does well. Zapdos is the real game saver. Aggron is underpowered IV wise in battles to come, so I will breed for better IVs and run calcs for better ev spreads. I have a Zapdos yet to be caught in Leaf Green, but since it will be lv50, I will be limited to vitamins unless I enter open level (which is a whole different ball game considering Ttar and Dragonite).

Loss:
Milotic persisted on using toxic on the opponent's Venusaur while their Porgon2 spammed recover until eventually finishing my team with it's Tbolt, Ice beam, Psychic coverage. Aggron was close to winning after boosting stats but ran out of PP since Porygon2 used recover.

AnonS · Oct 17, 2021

Adedede said:
Dude, I can't stop smiling.
I think this whole line is the best quote I've ever read about my team, only a player who has actually used it a lot can say that and relate.

Btw, I'm really glad and proud that my team and in particular the ideas behind it (Torment lead on a Sturdy user, fast Blissey, PPs stall gameplan) are actually working, being tested by other players and helping.

Thank you!

Watching some of your videos again, I honestly played even safer than I should have. Rarely did I switch in Latias unless the opponent was fully Struggling, even if the only threat was losing the Lum Berry from, say, Thunderbolt. But that goes to show the team's flexibility, accounting for player habits like that.

I'll just leave the streak at 105, since there's not much else to prove.

Kommo-o · Oct 26, 2021

RNG Hub Resources

It's been a while since I posted in here and for the moment being, I have not been able to play Gen 3 due to work and other commitments. I wanted to add a useful resource to the forum by providing accessible links to resources on how to RNG abuse on Gen 3 that can help other players obtain their Pokemon without hacking or cheating, if you wish to go this route. This thread will be added on the first page of the forums linked as a resource and of course please let me know if you think we should add more resources to this list and be sure to provide a link:

General Preparations for RNG abuse in Gen 3 by Arseus and Hozu
A comprehensive guide on Breeding RNG abuse in Emerald by ShinyMewTrader
Eon Timers for Windows/MacOS

All retail RNG guides below by I'm a blisy:

Pokemon Colosseum RNG abuse guide for emulator by me
Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness Guide by Lego
Optimizing Dolphin for Weaker PCs
Lua scripts by New Order of Breeding (property of Real.96) [Password: allyouneedisnoob]
FR/LG Egg RNG Guide by PokemonRNG
FR/LG Stationary RNG Guide by Pokemon RNG
RS TID/SID RNG Guide by PokemonRNG
RS Egg RNG Guide by PokemonRNG
RS Live Battery Stationary RNG Guide by PokemonRNG
Emerald Egg RNG Abuse Guide by PokemonRNG
RS Tower Latios Glitch

I will post for the moment being the most relevant links but of course you can expect this page to get bigger since I will to contact some people and ask them for permission to share their tools on this post. Of course, feel free to ask more questions in here and I'll be happy to respond.

iSoNkei · Oct 27, 2021

As someone that has exctensively used RNG manipulation in cartidge I would say that those two pastebins I have included below that contain ACE codes by Merrp and written by Sleipnir17 are of utmost importance to anyone experienced enough with RNG manipulation in cartridge as well as the ACE Generator which pretty much can help you change your PRNG state and get whichever spread for Legendary Pokemon without having to wait months with your gameboy open . I do have to point out though that it can be used to alter the IV's of Pokemon's so up to you whether you want to include it or not. Last but not least a link to Glitch City Research Institute server in discord might be a good idea. There are a lot of RNG resources there and people are really helpful answering questions and help someone get a hang with RNG Manip.

https://pastebin.com/kYfBzVE3
https://pastebin.com/dFLaf2TB
https://e-sh4rk.github.io/EmeraldACE_web/

There is also this post from Reddit written by ShinyMewtrader that explains in detail how to Egg RNG Abuse in cartridge that I have found very useful:

pokemonrng/comments/78xian

QuentinQuonce · Nov 2, 2021

I'm back after a long hiatus, with an extremely long post about three new streaks I've made in the Tower.

And when I say extremely long, I mean extremely extremely long. Spoiler tag time, methinks.

Also, namesearched myself recently on the Battle Facilities Discord and it gave me a laugh. Thanks for being so complimentary, guys.

Singles

I've been prevaricating over an attempt at a Singles run for years. Literally, years. Read back if you care to and you'll see multiple posts from me where I mull over how precisely to do it, what to use, how to play them. But something always held me back - namely, my dissatisfaction with the kind of team needed to achieve a really long streak.

Here's the thing. I've always been a fan of hyper offense. Why exactly this is is fairly simple to explain: I'm not the most patient person (though the length of time it took to accomplish this kind of speaks against that) and bulky offence, in my mind, allows one to have their cake and eat it too. This in no way diminishes my awe of strategies used by those who've gotten four-figure streaks, like Kommo-o's Die Deutsche Wissenschaft or Adedede's Iridescence. But I wanted to do things my own way - which, as various characters in the games remind us, is what Pokemon is all about. And I am so happy to finally prove to myself and others that hyper offense can go the distance.

Anyway, enough of getting mushy. Time for some hard numbers.

The team

I decided to bring my old team out of retirement, though the individual Pokemon are new.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This team was crafted years ago. It's not the most novel, but it worked at the time. But that was when I was a lot less experienced and a lot less knowledgeable about how the Frontier works. I was curious as to whether I could improve on it - and really take it to the next level. As mentioned, on my old file, I got to 100 wins with this - but on my current save, I hadn't touched Tower Singles. I was determined that this team should not only get past 100 wins, but make it far enough to stake out a place on the leaderboard.

A slightly modified version of Green_typhlosions's old team

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

Metagross @ Cheri Berry
HP Steel
Earthquake
Agility
Explosion
252 Attack, 170 HP, 88 Speed (Adamant)

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

As you can see, there are a few small changes. Latios now runs Surf and Metagross runs HP Steel over Meteor Mash. It also holds a Cheri Berry. Scope Lens was very much a filler item - though Leftovers had some initial appeal, paralysis is the one status that really shuts Metagross down (that and being frozen, but that's uncommon enough to discount).

I got to 105 wins with this team, which was really all I wanted (at last, that Gold Shield - hurrah). But something occurred to me. Why was I running this team in Open Level? What was the point? Would it in fact not be better at level 50 - and if so, what was the point in continuing?

In fact, I've come around to the school of thought that any team which doesn't run Tyranitar or Dragonite should just be level 50 by default. You remove a small cohort of enemies (Articuno/Zapdos/Moltres/Raikou/Entei/Suicune sets 5&6 don't show up in Level 50 either, which makes them marginally less common) for basically no downside. So I went back to basics and redid the team for level 50.

The final draft

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

Metagross @ Cheri Berry
HP Steel
Earthquake
Agility
Explosion
252 Attack, 174 HP, 84 Speed (Adamant)

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

There's no difference at all except for the slight tweaking of Metagross's EVs to account for it being level 50. 84 Speed EVs hits 101 Speed which outruns the entire Frontier after one Agility. Explosion on Metagross is the key move here. Not only does it easily wipe out a multitude of opponents, it also has a slight niche in that it prevents slower opponents making their move that turn if you don't kill them. This is relevant when up against things like Snorlax and Blissey, for whom any opportunity to boost can prove disastrous. So many matches are won on the model of:

Slaking gets a kill > switch to Metagross and explode for a second kill > back to Slaking for a third kill

This team operates incredibly cleanly. It's fast, very powerful, and perhaps most importantly has the bulk to weather blows from opponents and respond in kind. It is by no means perfect (as my loss demonstrates) but it's got the result I wanted, and that's good enough.

I got to 168 wins with this team after just two attempts. I hadn't realistically expected to get over 200, but a part of me really wanted to get past 191 just so I could pip sixth place on the leaderboard. Nevertheless, I'm happy with seventh for now - though probably not forever; others will probably overtake in time. I don't expect I'll be trying again in a hurry when there are other modes to be busy with. It's not that I don't aspire to do better than this, it's more that I'm not that interested in singles at the moment compared to the more interesting experience doubles and multi offer. But for now, I'm pretty happy with this.

Some usage comments

-If the opponent has two Pokemon left and Metagross has just fainted, ALWAYS switch to Slaking unless there's an ironclad reason not to. I learned this the hard way when I took down the opponent's first Pokemon, blew up on the Snorlax that came out second and it managed to get in a Quick Claw'd Curse (leaving it at around 5%). I stupidly figured Latios could take care of it but what do you know, its Quick Claw activated again and it killed me with Shadow Ball. Slaking destroyed it with Double-Edge but that left it helpless against the Metagross that came out third.

-Did consider Calm Mind on Latios, but eventually opted not to pursue it. I'm in two minds about whether this would actually manifestly improve the squad (most things it can't beat it still can't with CM, and it wouldn't have prevented my loss) but given the opportunities Latios sometimes finds to set up it's worth comment.

-Lum Berry might have been more worthy of Metagross than Latios, especially given the sheer number of battles where Latios saw no action at all. The Cheri Berry came in handy quite often, though. It's especially good against Electrics like Jolteon - get T'Waved, recover from paralysis, use Agility, smack them with Earthquake next turn.

-Threats:

Intimidate leads can be troublesome, particularly Salamence (see below for more on this); Double-Edge usually still scrapes a KO, but not always.
Boosting leads, particularly those which can survive one hit. Some variants of Registeel, Regirock, and Metagross can all tank an Earthquake and potentially boost themselves.
Anything faster than Slaking. Not necessarily dangerous, but disruptive. Aerodactyl in particular loves to fish for flinches.
Fake Out users, obviously. Most can be taken care of, but the free turn they get out of it can be deadly if played right.
Endure users - not usually too tough as Latios can stomach Reversal and Metagross laughs at Flail users. But they, also, can be disruptive.
As ever, OHKO users. Though fortunately I didn't meet many this time around.

My loss

Losing match was against Cooltrainer Carrie. Salamence came out first - I used Double-Edge for about 90%, while it got off a Dragon Dance. I switched to Metagross as it danced again, then predictably got hit with Earthquake next turn. I switched in Latios and promptly ate a Double-Edge. This had the beneficial effect of causing a double KO, but I knew there was no chance of me killing both remaining mons without dying first. Slaking OHKOed Machamp with Double-Edge but of course her third mon was Snorlax, who Hyper Beamed me to death.

Possibly could have played that one better, but DD Salamence is very hard to stop. Latios would have been the better switch, but at +2 it would have won regardless. Still, I've had worse losses.

I also had a particularly tense but brilliant win at battle 131. After Slaking killed the first mon with Double-Edge, Dusclops #1 came out and nastily got the upper hand against Metagross on the switch, burning it and then inflicting confusion for an eventual KO. After Slaking finished it offwith Shadow Ball, Blissey came out and started Double Teaming as I switch to Latios. Despite it getting in 5 Double Teams and using Toxic, I miraculously managed to freeze it with Ice Beam and was subsequently able to wear it down with Aerial Ace while it even more miraculously stayed frozen for 7 turns. Definitely the best - but most nail-biting - battle of the run.

Doubles

With my reflections regarding the merits of Level 50 vs Open Level weighing on me, I began to think about the Lightningrod team I previously used in Open Level Doubles, and whether that, too, might have more success in the other mode. It's not particularly afraid of Dragonite or Tyranitar any more than the previous squad, but why face more enemies than you absolutely have to?

The team

green_typhlosion said:
Dodrio @ Choice Band **3xTheMagic**

252 Atk/Spe, 6 Sp.Def (Adamant)
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/30

Hyper Beam
Drill Peck
Double-Edge
Hidden Power Steel

Ability: Early Bird

Thrilled to finally have a chance to incorporate one of my favourite Pokemon into a Frontier team. Dodrio is the sweeper, nuff said. Its job is to get a kill on turn one, and it’s very good at doing this. Doesn’t have a great deal of staying power – however, with its Electric weakness removed, can usually take one non-Ice hit which is enough time for Marowak to get stuff done: EQ if it can kill the other Pokemon, PS if it can’t. Wishes it was just a touch faster (it ties with numerous other fast Pokemon at 319 Speed) but it hasn't cost me a match yet.

Hyper Beam is not ideal in terms of accuracy or for the recovery turn. However, it kills virtually anything that does not resist it; getting an immediate KO is worth the tradeoff and gives Marowak time to act. Double-Edge is rarely used because it’s just so much weaker, but it very, very occasionally comes in useful. Meanwhile Drill Peck murders Grass- and Fighting-types, and Hidden Power Steel is better than Steel Wing. That’s literally it. It KOs Jynx but isn’t good for much else.

Marowak @ Thick Club **SongOfSusannah**

198 HP, 16 Atk, 252 Sp.Def, 44 Spe (Careful)
IVs: 31/31/31/x/31/31
Earthquake
Icy Wind
Perish Song
Protect

Ability: Lightningrod

Running this as a pure sweeper was an early idea, but it would have been such a waste. Actaeon’s Perish Song team reminded me that Wak gets that particular move and the cheap and easy kills it makes possible were too tempting to resist. And in conjunction with Dodrio’s immediate power it works so well; gets troublesome foes out of the way nicely and puts sweepers on a timer which prevents them from gaining momentum. Even when the opponent has three Pokemon left instead of two, Perish Song still works beautifully as the opponent can only switch out one of them and I’m still guaranteed one kill.

Icy Wind is occasionally useful for some speed control and/or chip damage, especially against Dragons, while Earthquake wrecks things even with minimal Attack investment. Careful with full Special Defence is excellent, allowing it to sponge all sorts of attacks that would ordinarily destroy it and survive with a shred of HP remaining, which is useful for baiting attacks with Protect. 16 Attack EVs gets me to 200 (400) Attack while 44 EVs in Speed outruns all Regi variants.

Manectric @ Scope Lens **(Th)underdog**

252 SpA/Spe, 6 HP (Timid)
IVs: 31/0/31/31/31/31

Thunderbolt
Crunch
Toxic
Protect

Ability: Lightningrod

My backup Lightningrodder. It’s not terrible offensively and Toxic very occasionally comes in handy but it mostly finds use as a pivot and staller: Protect runs down the clock on any errant Perish timers and more importantly shields from friendly ~~fire~~ ground. Needs a better item so I’m open to ideas.

Gyarados @ Lum Berry **Dr Jan Itor**

74 HP, 252 Atk, 40 Def, 20 Sp.Def, 124 Spe (Adamant)
IVs: 31/31/31/30/30/30

Dragon Dance
Double-Edge
Earthquake
Hidden Power Flying

Ability: Intimidate

The cleaner. Usually comes out straight after Dodrio dies. One Dragon Dance is generally enough to put the hurt on everything and it can almost always find the time since it’s bulky enough to live through most attacks with its major weakness nullified. Intimidate is, as ever, great especially in conjunction with Marowak’s decent bulk. It’s EVd to outrun almost the entire Frontier after one boost, with the remainder put towards some extra bulk.

This team has seen some good times since I first put it together, and I'm really happy with how it operates. After Actaeon suggested replacing Crunch on Manectric with Swagger, I made the switch and it's proven incredibly effective. Being able to potentially give Gyarados +3 Attack and +1 Speed in a single turn is incredibly potent and has led to some absolutely cracking wins. I've even taken it to the Gamecube titles and used it in the Orre Colosseum - it's even more effective there, though largely due to the fact that the AI is a little less sharp in those games; opponents in the Frontier avoid the usage of Electric moves altogether, whereas opponents in Colosseum and XD will fruitlessly use them over and over to no avail.

Some slight tweaking of stats occurred again to account for the level change: Gyarados' EVs were modified to 74 HP / 252 Attack / 36 Defence / 148 Speed, and Marowak's to 208 HP / 12 Defence / 244 SDef / 44 Speed. I also changed Manectric's item from Scope Lens to Brightpowder.

Anyway, onto the results. I got to 107 wins with this on Level 50 which... okay, it's good, but I was hoping to do a lot better. I don't think the level change makes a vast difference, but I felt more assured with this playing it at level 100. Maybe the increased power made it feel smoother, or perhaps I just need more time to adjust. In terms of threats and potential adjustments, very little has changed, so I won't be writing this up in great length - for slightly more detail, refer to the original post.

However, I think I've gone as far with this squad in Gen III as I can. To be sure, it's the best Doubles team I've used by far, and I don't see much substantially improving it. It absolutely dominates the Orre Colosseum in XD, I've been farming Pokecoupons like mad. And though it's very effective in Gen III, I'm interested as to how it'll do elsewhere. So I've recently transferred this team to Gen V, and I'll be writing up how it performs in the Subway in due course...

Yep. It's back.

My real passion, and my favourite mode by far of all the battle facilities in the series.

Introduction

Longtime readers will no doubt be aware that, after sinking a lot of time into this mode, I eventually achieved the frankly staggering high of 270 wins. While at the time that was a massive achievement, it irked me at the time not to have gotten to 300 and I started planning a fresh attempt. That was just over a year ago.

Here's where that whole patience thing comes into play again. Because I play on retail, there's no speeding up to be done as with emulators.

For those not mathematically gifted (a category in which I very much include myself) 266 wins is 38 rounds. And boy, does that take a lot of time to get up to. It is very tempting to watch television or read or multitask in other ways while I grind out these streaks, but Multi - more so than the other modes - is extremely punishing. A single mistake here can be far more devastating and much harder to recover from than elsewhere. So I've limited myself to one or two rounds per session to ensure no loss of concentration.

And even with that, it has taken multiple attempts to finally climb back up to this level. This has taken not weeks, but months.

I can also confirm, having been more attentive with trainer rosters this time around, that this phenomenon, as originally noted by atsync, also happens in multi. As an example, the 70th fight of my current run was against Fisherman Theo and Dragon Tamer Davin. Davin sent out Lanturn and Sharpedo, neither of which are in his pool of Pokemon (no feeble pun intended).

Really, this makes Multi just Doubles-but-with-an-extra-limitation-for-your-side. The big challenge in this mode is partnering with an NPC and suffering the incompetence that arises because of it. And for some reason that's what I find to be most fun.

The team

My squad was the same as ever.

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

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

These two really are superb and pull every bit of their weight; side by side, they're absolutely sick. A potential variant I'm thinking of trying is me with Latios + NPC with Tauros. Tauros is much harder to play wrongly when it only runs two moves (even more so after being Choice-locked) and with Levitate factored in it won't hesitate to use Earthquake. At present, though, I'm not willing to mix records in case it messes up the preset partner I already have saved in the Salon. Maybe it's worth a go on another save file; to be explored in the future no doubt.

But for now, it's Tauros up front, Latios in the back. NPC partners vary but the vast majority of the time, I go with Orienne, the partner acquired via mixing records, who runs with Latias and Aerodactyl. Her team obviously compliments mine extremely well and has similar offensive might.

This streak is still active; I've yet to progress beyond 266. Stay tuned for updates!

Kommo-o · Nov 3, 2021

green_typhlosion said:
I'm back after a long hiatus, with an extremely long post about three new streaks I've made in the Tower.

And when I say extremely long, I mean extremely extremely long. Spoiler tag time, methinks.

Also, namesearched myself recently on the Battle Facilities Discord and it gave me a laugh. Thanks for being so complimentary, guys.

Singles

I've been prevaricating over an attempt at a Singles run for years. Literally, years. Read back if you care to and you'll see multiple posts from me where I mull over how precisely to do it, what to use, how to play them. But something always held me back - namely, my dissatisfaction with the kind of team needed to achieve a really long streak.

Here's the thing. I've always been a fan of hyper offense. Why exactly this is is fairly simple to explain: I'm not the most patient person (though the length of time it took to accomplish this kind of speaks against that) and bulky offence, in my mind, allows one to have their cake and eat it too. This in no way diminishes my awe of strategies used by those who've gotten four-figure streaks, like Kommo-o's Die Deutsche Wissenschaft or Adedede's Iridescence. But I wanted to do things my own way - which, as various characters in the games remind us, is what Pokemon is all about. And I am so happy to finally prove to myself and others that hyper offense can go the distance.

Anyway, enough of getting mushy. Time for some hard numbers.

The team

I decided to bring my old team out of retirement, though the individual Pokemon are new.

This team was crafted years ago. It's not the most novel, but it worked at the time. But that was when I was a lot less experienced and a lot less knowledgeable about how the Frontier works. I was curious as to whether I could improve on it - and really take it to the next level. As mentioned, on my old file, I got to 100 wins with this - but on my current save, I hadn't touched Tower Singles. I was determined that this team should not only get past 100 wins, but make it far enough to stake out a place on the leaderboard.

A slightly modified version of Green_typhlosions's old team

View attachment 382429
Slaking @ Choice Band
Double-Edge
Earthquake
Shadow Ball
Aerial Ace
252 Attack/Speed, 6 HP (Adamant)

View attachment 382433
Metagross @ Cheri Berry
HP Steel
Earthquake
Agility
Explosion
252 Attack, 170 HP, 88 Speed (Adamant)

View attachment 382436
Latios @ Lum Berry
Psychic
Thunderbolt
Ice Beam
Surf
252 Sp.Attack/Speed, 6 HP (Modest)

As you can see, there are a few small changes. Latios now runs Surf and Metagross runs HP Steel over Meteor Mash. It also holds a Cheri Berry. Scope Lens was very much a filler item - though Leftovers had some initial appeal, paralysis is the one status that really shuts Metagross down (that and being frozen, but that's uncommon enough to discount).

I got to 105 wins with this team, which was really all I wanted (at last, that Gold Shield - hurrah). But something occurred to me. Why was I running this team in Open Level? What was the point? Would it in fact not be better at level 50 - and if so, what was the point in continuing?

In fact, I've come around to the school of thought that any team which doesn't run Tyranitar or Dragonite should just be level 50 by default. You remove a small cohort of enemies (Articuno/Zapdos/Moltres/Raikou/Entei/Suicune sets 5&6 don't show up in Level 50 either, which makes them marginally less common) for basically no downside. So I went back to basics and redid the team for level 50.

The final draft

View attachment 382430
Slaking @ Choice Band
Double-Edge
Earthquake
Shadow Ball
Aerial Ace
252 Attack/Speed, 6 HP (Adamant)

View attachment 382434
Metagross @ Cheri Berry
HP Steel
Earthquake
Agility
Explosion
252 Attack, 174 HP, 84 Speed (Adamant)

View attachment 382435
Latios @ Lum Berry
Psychic
Thunderbolt
Ice Beam
Surf
252 Sp.Attack/Speed, 6 HP (Modest)

There's no difference at all except for the slight tweaking of Metagross's EVs to account for it being level 50. 84 Speed EVs hits 101 Speed which outruns the entire Frontier after one Agility. Explosion on Metagross is the key move here. Not only does it easily wipe out a multitude of opponents, it also has a slight niche in that it prevents slower opponents making their move that turn if you don't kill them. This is relevant when up against things like Snorlax and Blissey, for whom any opportunity to boost can prove disastrous. So many matches are won on the model of:

Slaking gets a kill > switch to Metagross and explode for a second kill > back to Slaking for a third kill

This team operates incredibly cleanly. It's fast, very powerful, and perhaps most importantly has the bulk to weather blows from opponents and respond in kind. It is by no means perfect (as my loss demonstrates) but it's got the result I wanted, and that's good enough.

I got to 168 wins with this team after just two attempts. I hadn't realistically expected to get over 200, but a part of me really wanted to get past 191 just so I could pip sixth place on the leaderboard. Nevertheless, I'm happy with seventh for now - though probably not forever; others will probably overtake in time. I don't expect I'll be trying again in a hurry when there are other modes to be busy with. It's not that I don't aspire to do better than this, it's more that I'm not that interested in singles at the moment compared to the more interesting experience doubles and multi offer. But for now, I'm pretty happy with this.

Some usage comments

-If the opponent has two Pokemon left and Metagross has just fainted, ALWAYS switch to Slaking unless there's an ironclad reason not to. I learned this the hard way when I took down the opponent's first Pokemon, blew up on the Snorlax that came out second and it managed to get in a Quick Claw'd Curse (leaving it at around 5%). I stupidly figured Latios could take care of it but what do you know, its Quick Claw activated again and it killed me with Shadow Ball. Slaking destroyed it with Double-Edge but that left it helpless against the Metagross that came out third.

-Did consider Calm Mind on Latios, but eventually opted not to pursue it. I'm in two minds about whether this would actually manifestly improve the squad (most things it can't beat it still can't with CM, and it wouldn't have prevented my loss) but given the opportunities Latios sometimes finds to set up it's worth comment.

-Lum Berry might have been more worthy of Metagross than Latios, especially given the sheer number of battles where Latios saw no action at all. The Cheri Berry came in handy quite often, though. It's especially good against Electrics like Jolteon - get T'Waved, recover from paralysis, use Agility, smack them with Earthquake next turn.

-Threats:

Intimidate leads can be troublesome, particularly Salamence (see below for more on this); Double-Edge usually still scrapes a KO, but not always.

Boosting leads, particularly those which can survive one hit. Some variants of Registeel, Regirock, and Metagross can all tank an Earthquake and potentially boost themselves.

Anything faster than Slaking. Not necessarily dangerous, but disruptive. Aerodactyl in particular loves to fish for flinches.

Fake Out users, obviously. Most can be taken care of, but the free turn they get out of it can be deadly if played right.

Endure users - not usually too tough as Latios can stomach Reversal and Metagross laughs at Flail users. But they, also, can be disruptive.

As ever, OHKO users. Though fortunately I didn't meet many this time around.

My loss

Losing match was against Cooltrainer Carrie. Salamence came out first - I used Double-Edge for about 90%, while it got off a Dragon Dance. I switched to Metagross as it danced again, then predictably got hit with Earthquake next turn. I switched in Latios and promptly ate a Double-Edge. This had the beneficial effect of causing a double KO, but I knew there was no chance of me killing both remaining mons without dying first. Slaking OHKOed Machamp with Double-Edge but of course her third mon was Snorlax, who Hyper Beamed me to death.

Possibly could have played that one better, but DD Salamence is very hard to stop. Latios would have been the better switch, but at +2 it would have won regardless. Still, I've had worse losses.

I also had a particularly tense but brilliant win at battle 131. After Slaking killed the first mon with Double-Edge, Dusclops #1 came out and nastily got the upper hand against Metagross on the switch, burning it and then inflicting confusion for an eventual KO. After Slaking finished it offwith Shadow Ball, Blissey came out and started Double Teaming as I switch to Latios. Despite it getting in 5 Double Teams and using Toxic, I miraculously managed to freeze it with Ice Beam and was subsequently able to wear it down with Aerial Ace while it even more miraculously stayed frozen for 7 turns. Definitely the best - but most nail-biting - battle of the run.

View attachment 382419

Doubles

With my reflections regarding the merits of Level 50 vs Open Level weighing on me, I began to think about the Lightningrod team I previously used in Open Level Doubles, and whether that, too, might have more success in the other mode. It's not particularly afraid of Dragonite or Tyranitar any more than the previous squad, but why face more enemies than you absolutely have to?

The team

This team has seen some good times since I first put it together, and I'm really happy with how it operates. After Actaeon suggested replacing Crunch on Manectric with Swagger, I made the switch and it's proven incredibly effective. Being able to potentially give Gyarados +3 Attack and +1 Speed in a single turn is incredibly potent and has led to some absolutely cracking wins. I've even taken it to the Gamecube titles and used it in the Orre Colosseum - it's even more effective there, though largely due to the fact that the AI is a little less sharp in those games; opponents in the Frontier avoid the usage of Electric moves altogether, whereas opponents in Colosseum and XD will fruitlessly use them over and over to no avail.

Some slight tweaking of stats occurred again to account for the level change: Gyarados' EVs were modified to 74 HP / 252 Attack / 36 Defence / 148 Speed, and Marowak's to 208 HP / 12 Defence / 244 SDef / 44 Speed. I also changed Manectric's item from Scope Lens to Brightpowder.

Anyway, onto the results. I got to 107 wins with this on Level 50 which... okay, it's good, but I was hoping to do a lot better. I don't think the level change makes a vast difference, but I felt more assured with this playing it at level 100. Maybe the increased power made it feel smoother, or perhaps I just need more time to adjust. In terms of threats and potential adjustments, very little has changed, so I won't be writing this up in great length - for slightly more detail, refer to the original post.

However, I think I've gone as far with this squad in Gen III as I can. To be sure, it's the best Doubles team I've used by far, and I don't see much substantially improving it. It absolutely dominates the Orre Colosseum in XD, I've been farming Pokecoupons like mad. And though it's very effective in Gen III, I'm interested as to how it'll do elsewhere. So I've recently transferred this team to Gen V, and I'll be writing up how it performs in the Subway in due course...

View attachment 382420

Yep. It's back.

My real passion, and my favourite mode by far of all the battle facilities in the series.

Introduction

Longtime readers will no doubt be aware that, after sinking a lot of time into this mode, I eventually achieved the frankly staggering high of 270 wins. While at the time that was a massive achievement, it irked me at the time not to have gotten to 300 and I started planning a fresh attempt. That was just over a year ago.

Here's where that whole patience thing comes into play again. Because I play on retail, there's no speeding up to be done as with emulators.

For those not mathematically gifted (a category in which I very much include myself) 266 wins is 38 rounds. And boy, does that take a lot of time to get up to. It is very tempting to watch television or read or multitask in other ways while I grind out these streaks, but Multi - more so than the other modes - is extremely punishing. A single mistake here can be far more devastating and much harder to recover from than elsewhere. So I've limited myself to one or two rounds per session to ensure no loss of concentration.

And even with that, it has taken multiple attempts to finally climb back up to this level. This has taken not weeks, but months.

I can also confirm, having been more attentive with trainer rosters this time around, that this phenomenon, as originally noted by atsync, also happens in multi. As an example, the 70th fight of my current run was against Fisherman Theo and Dragon Tamer Davin. Davin sent out Lanturn and Sharpedo, neither of which are in his pool of Pokemon (no feeble pun intended).

Really, this makes Multi just Doubles-but-with-an-extra-limitation-for-your-side. The big challenge in this mode is partnering with an NPC and suffering the incompetence that arises because of it. And for some reason that's what I find to be most fun.

The team

My squad was the same as ever.

View attachment 382427
Tauros @ Choice Band
Double-Edge
Earthquake
-
-
252 Attack/Speed, 6 HP (Adamant)

View attachment 382425
Latios @ Lum Berry
Psychic
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Dragon Claw
252 Sp.Atk/Speed, 6 HP (Modest)

These two really are superb and pull every bit of their weight; side by side, they're absolutely sick. A potential variant I'm thinking of trying is me with Latios + NPC with Tauros. Tauros is much harder to play wrongly when it only runs two moves (even more so after being Choice-locked) and with Levitate factored in it won't hesitate to use Earthquake. At present, though, I'm not willing to mix records in case it messes up the preset partner I already have saved in the Salon. Maybe it's worth a go on another save file; to be explored in the future no doubt.

But for now, it's Tauros up front, Latios in the back. NPC partners vary but the vast majority of the time, I go with Orienne, the partner acquired via mixing records, who runs with Latias and Aerodactyl. Her team obviously compliments mine extremely well and has similar offensive might.

This streak is still active; I've yet to progress beyond 266. Stay tuned for updates!

View attachment 382428

Great to see you back and congrats on all the new streaks. Unfortunately I cannot add your Lv.50 Singles 168 win streak because Agility is a not a legal move for Metagross pre-level 50. Beldum learns no moves besides Take Down and Metang learns the move at Lv.56 and considering that Emerald does not lowers the level of your Pokemon unlike newer games, this is one of those niche situations in Gen 3 where some moves are locked out (similar to how Raikou cannot use Crunch pre-Level 50). Because Metang/Metagross are genderless Pokemon they can only breed with Ditto and they cannot pass down the move.

Besides that, congratulations on the massive Multi streak that you built so far. Tauros + Latios is a good old combination in Gen 3 like peanut butter & jelly or chocolate with milk. Genuinely impressed that your wireless connectors were stable enough to get into 200 wins although I probably would guess that you did a few battles in between due to a previous issue you shared with the GBA Wireless adapters.

If you want a 100 winning team, my suggestion would be to run Endure + Explosion Metagross with a Salac Berry since it is legal for Lv.50 and I think it can give you the same benefit of running a decently fast Metagross who can also Endure hits and explode on the opponent. If you're running Modest, I think you can still afford Calm Mind over Surf considering that Ice Beam still OHKOs Rhydon 3/4 with a Modest nature and Houndoom shouldn't be a concern when Slaking is able to kill it instantly. Just my two cents in case you want to rebuild a Lv.50 streak and glad to see you around as always!

QuentinQuonce · Nov 3, 2021

Kommo-o said:
Great to see you back and congrats on all the new streaks. Unfortunately I cannot add your Lv.50 Singles 168 win streak because Agility is a not a legal move for Metagross pre-level 50. Beldum learns no moves besides Take Down and Metang learns the move at Lv.56 and considering that Emerald does not lowers the level of your Pokemon unlike newer games, this is one of those niche situations in Gen 3 where some moves are locked out (similar to how Raikou cannot use Crunch pre-Level 50). Because Metang/Metagross are genderless Pokemon they can only breed with Ditto and they cannot pass down the move.

You're quite right and I can't believe I didn't check that! The Metagross was downloaded rather than bred so that was a stupid oversight I shouldn't have made; I guess now I've no excuse not to try again. Thanks for your suggestions, will do some tinkering.

Kommo-o said:
Besides that, congratulations on the massive Multi streak that you built so far. Tauros + Latios is a good old combination in Gen 3 like peanut butter & jelly or chocolate with milk. Genuinely impressed that your wireless connectors were stable enough to get into 200 wins although I probably would guess that you did a few battles in between due to a previous issue you shared with the GBA Wireless adapters.

This multi streak is with NPC partners so no wireless adaptors needed - 59 is still the absolute max I've achieved with two games. Though I'm sure I'll eventually try again with two-person multi.

Though some unfortunate news about my multi streak...

Kommo-o · Nov 4, 2021

green_typhlosion said:
You're quite right and I can't believe I didn't check that! The Metagross was downloaded rather than bred so that was a stupid oversight I shouldn't have made; I guess now I've no excuse not to try again. Thanks for your suggestions, will do some tinkering.

This multi streak is with NPC partners so no wireless adaptors needed - 59 is still the absolute max I've achieved with two games. Though I'm sure I'll eventually try again with two-person multi.

Though some unfortunate news about my multi streak...

View attachment 382725

Oooof, rip. 280 is a huge achievement though specially with an NPC partner. I've added both your Doubles and Multi streaks to the leaderboard!

dgice · Nov 4, 2021

Kommo-o are we not separating multi and link multi into different categories or has no one submitted? Also check out what the ranking hall calls it, just link apparently.

Kommo-o · Nov 4, 2021

dgice said:
Kommo-o are we not separating multi and link multi into different categories or has no one submitted? Also check out what the ranking hall calls it, just link apparently.
View attachment 382864 View attachment 382866

Honestly I was completely unaware that the other facilities have Multi capabilities. Not surprised to see how they are just called Multi Battle Rooms because copy & paste goes brrrrr. Assuming that people are submitting Multi streaks, they would 100% be separated from Doubles.

QuentinQuonce · Nov 5, 2021

Kommo-o said:
Honestly I was completely unaware that the other facilities have Multi capabilities. Not surprised to see how they are just called Multi Battle Rooms because copy & paste goes brrrrr. Assuming that people are submitting Multi streaks, they would 100% be separated from Doubles.

Battle Tower is the only facility with multi capability afaik? Palace, Factory, and Dome have Doubles, Pike, Pyramid, and Arena all only have one mode, but Tower has multi with NPC and multi with another player, which are separate modes unlike in Gen IV and beyond. I did ask before whether they could be considered separately but iirc you said they'd stay as one.

Kommo-o · Nov 5, 2021

green_typhlosion said:
Battle Tower is the only facility with multi capability afaik? Palace, Factory, and Dome have Doubles, Pike, Pyramid, and Arena all only have one mode, but Tower has multi with NPC and multi with another player, which are separate modes unlike in Gen IV and beyond. I did ask before whether they could be considered separately but iirc you said they'd stay as one.

Nevermind, I got confused by all of this lol. Yeah, Multi with a partner and NPC partner will remain as the same leaderboard. I admit that I don't know enough about how different the modes can be between doing with a partner and with an AI. There isn't really strong interest anyways, so I'll keep them together as one unless there is enough evidence to suggest that both modes are completely different.

iSoNkei · Nov 22, 2021

Pleased to announce a 105 win streak in Battle Arena LvL.50 in cartridge using GOD SPEED team by Actaeon submenceisop and Kommo-o (all of whom; if not mistaken; have contributed to the creation of it).
I would also want to personally thank Actaeon for demonstrating me the team, clarifying how it should be used, identifying potential threats and explaining specific strategies! His advises saved me a lot of time and helped me propel the team to the streak! Hence I do consider him the mastermind behind the success.
I don't intend to go into much detail about the team all the people that worked around it have explained most stuff in their respectable posts in this thread and if one needs advice they should really contact them.

The few things that I have to report can be summarised by the following:
1) Yawn Snorlax (and probably Snorlax in general) is a phenomenal Pokemon and shines in Arena. If you struggle with the facility it would be a good advice to try using one!
2) Medicham wasn't used that much and when I did most of the times tragedy had struck somewhere along the way :P. This is somewhat surprising in a sense that with only two Pokemons you can pretty much make any streak happen.
3) Losses are bound to happen and will happen as soon as round 2. The only way to get good results is well... keep trying.

Opponent lead with Ludicolo. He used Double Team three times while I used Return and missed one of them. I won the judgement. He then had Dodrio. He used Drill Peck and I Return putting him into yellow. I used Return again but he went for Endure which activated his salac berry. He then swept me with Flail.

Yeah I know I didn't reinvent the wheel with those points but Arena is a pretty barren place when it comes down to being creative.
I promised a streak of 200 and will try make this happen but will also take my time and try improve other streaks aswell in Palace and Dome mainly.

Once again thank you for all the inspiration and effort! It's been a hell of a time playing along with you guys!

Kommo-o · Nov 22, 2021

iSoNkei said:
Pleased to announce a 105 win streak in Battle Arena LvL.50 in cartridge using GOD SPEED team by Actaeon submenceisop and Kommo-o (all of whom; if not mistaken; have contributed to the creation of it).
I would also want to personally thank Actaeon for demonstrating me the team, clarifying how it should be used, identifying potential threats and explaining specific strategies! His advises saved me a lot of time and helped me propel the team to the streak! Hence I do consider him the mastermind behind the success.
I don't intend to go into much detail about the team all the people that worked around it have explained most stuff in their respectable posts in this thread and if one needs advice they should really contact them.

The few things that I have to report can be summarised by the following:
1) Yawn Snorlax (and probably Snorlax in general) is a phenomenal Pokemon and shines in Arena. If you struggle with the facility it would be a good advice to try using one!
2) Medicham wasn't used that much and when I did most of the times tragedy had struck somewhere along the way :P. This is somewhat surprising in a sense that with only two Pokemons you can pretty much make any streak happen.
3) Losses are bound to happen and will happen as soon as round 2. The only way to get good results is well... keep trying.

Opponent lead with Ludicolo. He used Double Team three times while I used Return and missed one of them. I won the judgement. He then had Dodrio. He used Drill Peck and I Return putting him into yellow. I used Return again but he went for Endure which activated his salac berry. He then swept me with Flail.

Yeah I know I didn't reinvent the wheel with those points but Arena is a pretty barren place when it comes down to being creative.
I promised a streak of 200 and will try make this happen but will also take my time and try improve other streaks aswell in Palace and Dome mainly.

Once again thank you for all the inspiration and effort! It's been a hell of a time playing along with you guys!

Congratulations on the streak and for reaching that amazing record! Getting more than 100 wins is a massive feat on the Arena considering how difficult and unforgiving it can be. Your streak is added to the leaderboard for the years to come and hope to see more of you!!

Gen III Battle Frontier Discussion and Records

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