Let's Play! Herman Gigglethorpe's Pokemon Solo Playthroughs

Pokemon Crystal Solo Rattata Part 4: Pokemon League Woes


My computer crashed while I was typing up the turn-by-turn notes for the first Elite 4 member, so the first battle won't be covered in as much detail.


Will the Psychic Elite 4 master's Pokemon ranged from 40-42. To capitalize on their Ghost weakness, conserve Return PP, and for neutral coverage on one of Lance's Pokemon, the disappointing Focus Energy was replaced with Shadow Ball. This meant one hit KOs for the 2 Xatus and Jynx. Exeggutor's HP and DEFENSE were too high for a super effective Shadow Ball to kill, so Rattata tried a PINK BOW Return instead. This failed to cut down the coconut tree and allowed it to cast the 5 turn team DEFENSE buff Reflect. Slowbro required 2 Super Fangs and 2 Returns to kill while it increased its ATTACK and DEFENSE with Curse, and even then it was stalling until Reflect expired. A Psychic from Slowbro left TOPPERCENT at Level 61 and 78/139 HP.


Koga the Poison master with Level 40-44 monsters was next. Ariados and Venomoth were squashed with a single Return, and even the otherwise tough Muk thanks to a random critical. Crobat survived a Return thanks to its higher level and caused a second one to miss with a Double Team evasion buff. Koga healed his "flying mouse" with a Full Restore, but fortunately Toxic missed. Forretress was 3rd in the lineup, but the Bug/Steel type deserved to be covered last. 2 Super Fangs reduced the bagworm's HP to 1/4, followed by a Return finisher. All the enemy did was set up Spikes to injure my non-existent teammates upon switching in, and launching a weak Swift. TOPPERCENT won at Level 62 with 120/142 HP.


Bruno the Fighting master with Level 42-46 Pokemon was worse than Jasmine, and couldn't be delayed until later like the Steel Gym Leader. Sure, all 3 of his "Hitmon-" Pokemon were too fragile to survive a Return, but then came Machamp with a 120 power and 80% accuracy Cross Chop. An attempt to play "safe" by tricking Hitmonlee into committing suicide with Hi Jump Kick miss recoil damage using Dig failed. You can't use a move's more annoying properties to your benefit, it seems.


DEATH COUNT: 10


One try came close to victory when Machamp whiffed a Cross Chop, but earlier injuries from Hitmonchan's 40 power priority move Mach Punch and Onix 100 power Earthquakes that even Dig couldn't avoid assured defeat.


DEATH COUNT: 11


This playthrough can now go one of two ways. Spending hours grinding levels to beat the Elite 4 without healing in battle is possible, but this would make Kanto even more of an anticlimax than it already is, and Red's 70s-81 team would still be too tough for even a "top percentage" Rattata without any recovery. Or I could use FULL RESTORES in combat in the Elite 4, fight the Kanto Gym Leaders normally, and then allow consumable items again in Mt. Silver. Hopefully, X items won't be needed, but we'll see about that when Rattata stares down Red's Pikachu.
 
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Pokemon Crystal Solo Rattata Part 5: If Lance Can Cheat, So Can Rattata!


Even when JOEY made the use of FULL RESTORES legal for this solo challenge, Bruno was still far more difficult than most RPG bosses. Many attempts failed whenever Machamp connected with Cross Chop, and a critical in one battle would have have given TOPPERCENT a Lavender Town tombstone if I hadn't reset. (But Lavender Town replaced its graveyard tower with a radio tower of all things in Pokemon Crystal. Never mind!)


DEATH COUNT: 16


A critical Mach Punch from Hitmonchan that made Rattata punch-drunk with 42/142 HP was a good omen, as strange as it sounds. That meant the RNG would play out differently. And sure enough, TOPPERCENT dodged a Cross Chop. It took 3 Returns to kill the martial artist with enough arms for a Hindu god, because Bruno healed it with an item after the first. Rattata consumed the only FULL RESTORE of the battle as soon as Onix appeared.


Onix may have had same type attack bonus, but its Earthquakes were unremarkable coming from Butterfree-grade 45 base ATTACK. Shadow Ball was safer than Dig here, and 3 of the inappropriately physical attacks made the rock snake crash to the ground. For some reason, Onix had cast Sandstorm earlier to cause 1/16 max HP damage to Rattata at the end of each turn. Rattata conquered the 3rd Elite 4 member with 57/142 HP at Level 62.


Karen's Dark and Poison 42-47 teamcaused problems for earlier variants, but not TOPPERCENT. Umbreon's Sand-Attack accuracy debuff missed, leaving it open for a 2 Return KO. One Return each made Vileplume, Houndoom, and Murkrow faint. The Gengar had only 60 base HP and DEFENSE and was weak to its own Ghost type, so a Shadow Ball put it to rest. Rattata won at Level 63 without taking a single hit!


Pokemon players call Lance a cheater because he uses illegal movesets in the first generation and Dragonites below the level needed to evolve Dragonair in the 2nd. No need to feel guilty about chugging FULL RESTORES when fighting an illegitimate Champion!


Lance's entire team consisted of Flying types from 44-50. Gyarados was a free kill because it always used Rain Dance on the first turn no matter what the RNG was. The first 2 Dragonites tended to use the move Hyper Beam, whose drawback for its 150 power was making its user lose the next turn. They sometimes cast the 120 power Ice move Blizzard, or Thunder Wave to inflict paralysis. To give you an idea of how frustrating Lance was, take a look at the next line:


DEATH COUNT: 22


If Rattata limped long enough to get to Charizard, its 100% accuracy 95 power Flamethrower was enough to take her out with 2 breaths. Two attempts failed on the 2nd Dragonite after a Blizzard + Hyper Beam combo. But the worst failure of all was on the last Level 50 Dragonite when the Hall of Fame was in sight. Lance's last Dragonite cast Outrage, a 100% accuracy 90 power Dragon attack. The catch was that after every 2-3 uses, the caster would become confused and have a 50% chance to damage itself instead of making a move. Not only did Dragonite snap out of confusion in one Outrage, it got a critical hit too!


TOPPERCENT's success started when Dragonite #2 missed with both Hyper Beam and Thunder Wave. Then Shadow Ball got high damage rolls against Aerodactyl, so 2 were enough to kill. Aerodactyl's Wing Attack left Rattata at high enough HP to survive one Flamethrower with 26 health, giving her enough time to strike with 2 Returns.


A total of 9 FULL RESTORES were necessary to survive Dragonite #3's Outrages and stall until it hit itself in confusion. Lance used his own FULL RESTORE, but this left his last monster open to attack. And a Safeguard meant to prevent confusion came too late in the battle to save Dragonite. A lone Rattata became the Champion of the Johto/Kanto Pokemon, shaming most of Poke-Japan's trainers.


My cell phone pictures seem to be too big for both Realms Beyond and Smogon for some reason.


TOPPERCENT the Rattata Stats and Moves


Level 64 @ PINK BOW


HP: 146
ATTACK: 108
DEFENSE: 85
SPCL. ATK: 69
SPCL. DEF: 81
SPEED: 129


Return
Dig
Shadow Ball
Super Fang
 
Pokemon Crystal Solo Rattata Part 6: Kanto's Leaders Need to Hit the Gym


About 90% of Kanto barely counts as an update. The trainers there probably would have lost to a solo Weedle's Poison Sting, let alone a solo Rattata's Return. Kanto's Gym Leaders shouldn't be dignified as such, but here's a summary for most of them:


Lieutenant Surge: 40-46 Electrodes, Raichu, Magneton, Electabuzz, flawless victory at 66

Sabrina: 46-48 Espeon, Mr. Mime, Alakazam, flawless victory at 67

Erika: 41-46 Tangela, Jumpluff, Victreebel, Bellossom, flawless victory at 71

Janine: 33-39 Crobat, Weezings, Ariados, Venomoth, flawless victory (unknown level)

Misty: 42-47 Golduck, Quagsire, Lapras, Starmie, flawless victory at 76

Blaine: 45-50 Magcargo, Magmar, Rapidash, flawless victory at 79


It wasn't just the Gym Leaders either. JOEY's doppelganger Cal in the Viridian City Trainer House had all 3 fully evolved Johto starters at Level 50, but Meganium, Typhlosion, and Feraligatr were bowled over with a single Return each before they could move at Level 79. And ??? the rival's last stand in Mt. Moon fared no better with his 41-45 Sneasel, Golbat, Magneton, Gengar, Alakazam, and Feraligatr when Rattata was at Level 77.


Only 2 trainers posed a legitimate threat to TOPPERCENT: Brock and Blue. Brock specialized in 41-44 range Rock types that resisted Return, forcing Rattata to rely on the much weaker Shadow Ball or Dig. Graveler Rolled Out once, Rhyhorn summoned an Earthquake while Rattata was underground, and Omastar Surfed. Onix and Kabutops were ineffectual, however, and TOPPERCENT exited the arena at Level 78 with 55/183 HP.


Blue represented a significant rise in difficulty for the last 2 battles of the game. Pokemon Crystal resembled Chrono Cross in that most of the challenge came from a few abnormally hard bosses. The original Pokemon rival had this team in the 54-58 range: Pidgeot, Alakazam, Rhydon, Gyarados, Exeggutor, and Arcanine. Pidgeot had just enough HP and DEFENSE to prevent a guaranteed one-shot Return, and sometimes struck back with Wing Attack. Alakazam as a low DEFENSE and HP "Black Mage" was free experience.


Rhydon was as dangerous as before and could take advantage of instant Earthquake damage or continuous Sandstorm buffeting. Exeggutor could drain 1/8 HP per round with Leech Seed status, and Arcanine cast Flamethrower or picked off a weakened Rattata with its signature priority move Extremespeed.


DEATH COUNT: 27


Yes, even Sandstorm got a kill once. There was a viable if unorthodox solution without excessive grinding: Hidden Power. TOPPERCENT's test turned out to be useful after all when she realized she had a Hidden Power Water that could deal 4X damage to Rhydon's Rock/Ground typing. Rattata took a loss rather than reset on the penultimate attempt because she got enough experience from Blue to level up to 80. One RARE CANDY boosted her to 81, and this time TOPPERCENT lived up to her name.


Pidgeot and Alakazam died before they could act, a Hidden Power critical prevented Rhydon from attacking, and Gyarados wasted all its turns consuming Full Restores or summoning Rain Dance. Exeggutor managed to launch Leech Seed just before a Return and Shadow Ball KO, but Rattata was at high enough HP to survive an Arcanine Flamethrower. Blue's AI was too stupid to follow it up with Extremespeed, so a 2nd Return won the final Kanto badge.
 
Pokemon Crystal Solo Rattata Finale: The Rattata That Roared


The only obstacle keeping TOPPERCENT the Rattata from seeing the credits screen for the last time was Red, the player character from the original Pokemon games. His monster levels of 73-81 were far above any Kanto trainer, and were stronger than any AI trainer until Barry in the 4th generation game Pokemon Platinum. All Pokemon Crystal solos were effectively grinding for this particular battle. Red's team of Pikachu, Espeon, Snorlax, Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise was well-balanced, but had no Normal resistance.


If Charizard's Flamethrower didn't bake Rattata, Snorlax's critical Body Slam crushed her, Blastoise's Surf drowned her, and Venusaur cast an environmentally friendly Solarbeam after changing the weather with Sunny Day to prevent the charge turn.


FINAL DEATH COUNT: 32


Finding a moveset that could beat Red without having to resort to silly Full Restore and X item steroids took a bit of creativity. The only attacking move needed was Return, and Sleep Talk + Rest could provide healing, and status recovery. So the plan at first was to use only 3 moves to force Sleep Talk to either pick Rest to recover, or Return to attack. That didn't work when Surf and Flamethrower were 2 hit kills. But if those moves missed. . .


That's where Double Team came in. This evasion increasing move is widely hated in multiplayer Pokemon for making battles luck-based, but Red the AI trainer wouldn't complain. The Double Team tactic failed once when one too many Solarbeams seared Rattata. Then one battle summary looked like this:


Pikachu: 4 Double Teams, 4 Thunder misses, 1 Return KO

Espeon: 1 Return KO

Snorlax: Return critical, enemy Amnesia SPCL. DEF +2, Return KO

Venusaur: Return, Sunny Day, 3 Double Teams to waste turns, all Solarbeams miss, enemy Synthesis healing, 2 more Returns KO

Charizard: Return, Flamethrower, Return KO

Blastoise: Rest, Surf miss, Sleep Talk Return, Surf, Sleep Talk Rest, Surf, Sleep Talk wasted Double Team, Surf miss, Sleep Talk Return KO


Look at my avatar if you want to see the victory screenshot.



TOPPERCENT the Rattata Final Stats and Moves


Level 89 @ PINK BOW

HP: 210
ATTACK: 158
DEFENSE: 126
SPCL. ATK: 104
SPCL. DEF: 122
SPEED: 187

Return
Rest
Sleep Talk
Double Team


This was a fun variant, though the pre-Move Relearner and consumable TMs prevented me from experimenting as much with the moveset as I would have liked. These restrictions made the game more strategic than tactical, however, and some readers may prefer long-term planning to the short-term moveset swapping of the later Pokemon installments.



Rattata is in the Medium Fast experience group, which takes 1,000,000 points to reach Level 100. For comparison, OG PUFF the Jigglypuff only needed 800,000 with Fast, JITTERBUG the Volbeat could reach max level with 600,000 due to being Erratic, but poor TOADETTE the Breloom would have needed 1,640,000 to do it.
 
Pokemon Pearl Solo Kricketune Part 1: Bugsy's TM


No Pokemon player can resist the call of a new variant for long. Dantski of Realms Beyond said: "Hah and I was convinced this was going to be a Kricketune playthrough" when I posted the beginning of the Pachirisu solo there. Now everyone will finally get to see the Bug type with the "bring it on" battle pose and the weird cry in action!


To begin the game, I set the clock on my DS Lite to 4:00 AM, because Kricketot could only be caught in the morning or at night. ALBA the female trainer went through about 2 Kricketots on Route 202 until she found one with a Jolly (+Speed, -Sp. Atk) Nature and the mediocre "proud of its power" innate IV stat characteristic. Kricketot probably had a good Defense IV because its stat was higher than an earlier Relaxed (+Defense, -Speed) version ALBA caught before.


Kricketot began with no attacking moves, only the Attack debuff Growl and the "counterattack after a few turns of taking damage" move Bide. It would have been too painful to waste all the PP for both moves and use Struggle, so Kricketot relied on the "bait and switch" method in early trainer and wild battles to gain experience with the starter Piplup. Piplup was chosen for HM convenience, and to ensure the rival Barry would have the Turtwig starter that was weak to Bug.


Kricketot evolved at Level 10 in the Ravaged Path after Piplup beat up a few Zubats and Geodudes. He gained his first move Fury Cutter, which was introduced in the Johto games as the TM you get for defeating the 2nd Gym Leader Bugsy. This physical Bug attack has 95% base accuracy, and doubles its power for every consecutive hit from a starting value of 10.


Fury Cutter wouldn't normally be considered as a move for a solo, but it was all that Kricketune had to work with. It proved surprisingly effective in the first Barry battle on the route east of Jubilife City. Fury Cutter connected 6 times in a row, taking out the Level 9 Turtwig in 1 hit even after the Level 7 Starly cut Kricketune's Attack to stage -3 with Growls. Route trainers, Oreburgh Mine workers, and Oreburgh Gym subordinates fell to the chitin blade as well.


Gym Leader Howard Roark had the honor of being the first DEATH COUNT of the playthrough. His Level 12 Geodude and Level 12 Onix crushed Kricketune under same type attack bonus Rock Throws, and Geodude in particular had too high a Defense for even a built-up Fury Cutter to slice through it in time.


DEATH COUNT: 3


One attempt experimented with the Fighting type HM Rock Smash, which worked well on Geodude and killed it in 2 hits. Then Kricketune tried setting up Fury Cutter on the Onix that had lower Attack. This failed. If possible, it was best to avoid having to lock in an HM move until the Move Deleter later in the game.


Take 4 featured the unlikely success of Growl. One of those intimidated Geodude into -1 Attack, and its Rock Throws were now manageable. Kricketune slashed with precision with Fury Cutter, and after 4 of those eroded Geodude, he pulverized Onix and the Level 14 Cranidos with one attack each. Not bad for a forgotten Bug type only 3 levels higher than the Gym Leader's star! Kricketune emerged with his first badge 18/54 HP at Level 17.



Kricketune Stats and Moves


Level 17 @ Quick Claw
Ability: Swarm


HP: 54
Attack: 39
Defense: 26
Sp. Atk: 23
Sp. Def: 24
Speed: 29



Fury Cutter
Growl
Bide
Leech Life
 
Pokemon Pearl Solo Kricketune Part 2: In the Name of Realms Beyond


Kricketune's solo journey through Sinnoh was routine until he reached Commander Mars in the Valley Windworks in Floaroma Town. Mars opened with a Level 14 Zubat that reduced Fury Cutter's power to 1/4 with its Poison/Flying typing. More importantly, Zubat carried Toxic, a special Poison status ailment whose strength increases at the end of each turn. Once afflicted with it, Kricketune had no chance of survival on the first attempt, but he at least limped long enough to be picked off by a Level 16 Purugly Fake Out.


DEATH COUNT: 4


To prepare for the next encounter, Kricketune equipped a Pecha Berry to cure Toxic once if it appeared. And Zubat used it as its 2nd move in the fight when Kricketune's low accuracy sleep move Sing missed. Unfortunately, Zubat cast Toxic again while Fury Cutter was gaining strength. Then Pokemon Pearl's terrible trainer AI activated and made Purugly use the ordinary Scratch instead of the priority flinching move Fake Out. Kricketune survived at Level 20 with 10/62 HP while poisoned, so if Mars hadn't been so stupid, Team Galactic would have won.


Eterna Forest had a special gimmick: Double Battles with an AI trainer named Cheryl who had a Chansey companion. This section was quite difficult for a route filled with lower level trainers, because Bug Catcher Jack and Lass Briana came with a Pachirisu and Beautifly. Pachirisu's Spark had a high chance of inflicting paralysis and ending Fury Cutter streaks when Kricketune lost a turn. Beautifly's Gusts had same type attack bonus and were super effective against my solo monster.


DEATH COUNT: 6


Berry preparation was in order, so Kricketune equipped a Cheri Berry to cure paralysis once. That wasn't necessary when a Fury Cutter combo combined with Chansey Egg Bombs took out Pachirisu before it could roll a paralysis with Spark. Fury Cutter doesn't check for consecutive hits to the same target in Double Battles, only that it hits someone at all. So Beautifly was hacked apart with one hit when it appeared after the duo's other Pokemon died.


Eterna City had the name changing NPC, so Kricketune was renamed DANTSKI in honor of the Realms Beyond member who wanted to see that Pokemon in a solo challenge. I don't know Dantski's gender, so when I refer to "him", it's specifically about the Kricketune.


Gardenia's Gym in Eterna City was full of Grass types that were either weak or neutral to Bug attacks, and once DANTSKI reached Level 26 and replaced Fury Cutter with the more reliable X-Scissor, he weeded the battle arenas. Gardenia herself had a Level 19 Cherubi and Level 19 Turtwig who were eviscerated with one move. X-Scissor's 80 power wasn't strong enough to one-shot the Level 22 Roserade, who had competitive-caliber stats for an opponent this early in the game. Roserade automatically healed some HP with a Sitrus Berry and used some ineffective move I didn't notice. A 2nd X-Scissor won DANTSKI his second badge, and the trainer ALBA could use Cut outside of battle.


HM MULE the Bidoof's logging allowed me to reach the Old Chateau and grab the Substitute TM. A Smogon member suggested using that move for the Pachirisu playthrough, so of course I remembered to find it again. Substitute sacrifices 1/4 of max HP to create a decoy that takes minor hits for you and blocks debuffs and status ailments.


Team Galactic also blocked their Eterna City headquarters with Cut trees. DANTSKI rampaged through the grunts until he reached Commander Jupiter, who opened with a Level 18 Zubat. A Substitute precaution was meant to avoid Supersonic confusion, but all the enemy did was cast resisted Giga Drains. 2 X-Scissors clipped its wings, and then a Level 20 Skuntank appeared.


Although it didn't resist Bug like Zubat, Skuntank had much better HP and Defense and could survive a neutral X-Scissor. Skuntank ate a Sitrus Berry like Gardenia's Roserade did and unleashed Poison Gas, which failed thanks to the Substitute. A 2nd X-Scissor chased Team Galactic out of Eterna City with DANTSKI at Level 28 and 63/83 HP. ALBA the trainer received the Bicycle as a reward for saving the shop owner and took a break for a while.


DANTSKI the Kricketune Stats and Moves


Level 28 @ Quick Claw
Ability: Swarm

HP: 83
Attack: 62
Defense: 42
Sp. Atk: 37
Sp. Def: 38
Speed: 48


X-Scissor
Substitute
Sing
Leech Life
 
Pokemon Pearl Solo Kricketune Part 3: Final Moveset. . .Before the 3rd Gym?


Not much happened in the solo Kricketune "challenge" between the Commander Jupiter battle and Hearthome City, where Barry the hasty rival challenged DANTSKI to another battle. Trying to make a Substitute doll against the Level 19 Starly was pointless when Endeavor broke it in one hit. Due to the properties of Endeavor, it meant Starly's max HP was more than 1/4 of DANTSKI's, at least. One X-Scissor knocked Starly out of the sky.


Next came a Level 20 Ponyta, whose Fire type resisted X-Scissor and prevented a one hit KO. Ponyta's only move was to Growl to reduce Attack to -1. This wasn't enough to stop one hit KOs on both the Level 20 Buizel and the Level 21 Grotle, and DANTSKI won again with 72/94 HP at Level 32.


An NPC in one Hearthome City building gave DANTSKI a Shell Bell hold item, which replenished a small amount of HP after attacking an enemy. Near Hearthome City was the Lost Tower, and odd dungeon that had little to do with the plot but was still mandatory. This was because the Strength HM was at the top. But more importantly for DANTSKI, there was a Return TM randomly lying around.


In other Pokemon games, NPCs give Return as a reward for having a Pokemon with a high friendship stat, so its placement in Pearl is strange. Return served as a good supplement to X-Scissor if an enemy resisted Bug, even if it didn't have the badge boosts and same type attack bonus that TOPPERCENT the Rattata had.


Veilstone City features both the department store and the Game Corner, whose TMs offer many options to a solo Pokemon. DANTSKI wanted Swords Dance, a move that would buff his Attack by 2 stages per use. The problem was that it cost 80,000 Poke Dollars because Game Corner TMs. Money usually wasn't a problem for other solo runs. I remembered the parable of the "pearl of great price" as ALBA sold off most of the TMs acquired throughout the playthrough. Smogon members would probably have an allergic reaction to selling the multiplayer move Stealth Rock!


That still wasn't enough cash, so DANTSKI mugged a few trainers to the south of Veilstone to get the rest. Swords Dance was worth it against Veilstone's Fighting type Gym Leader Maylene. Her Level 27 Meditite was perfect bait for Substituting and increasing DANTSKI's Attack to +4 (3X normal). Meditite wasted turns trying to block attacks with Detect or Meditating to increase its own Attack before DANTSKI decided to hack it with X-Scissor. Level 27 Machoke and Level 30 Lucario fell to one boosted Return each, even though the latter resisted Normal. DANTSKI got his 4th badge with 117/119 HP at Level 41 holding the Shell Bell.


Crasher Wake the Water Gym Leader of Pastoria City was a pushover too. DANTSKI even had full HP at Level 44 thanks to his Shell Bell reversing any damage taken. Crasher Wake's Level 27 Gyarados Intimidated DANTSKI and reduced his Attack to -1, but 2 Swords Dances raised it to +3. Gyarados's 60 power Bite was ineffectual against a higher leveled opponent. Level 27 Quagsire and Level 30 Floatzel were neutral to Bug and could therefore be cut down with X-Scissor.


While ALBA was chasing down a Team Galactic member, Barry ran into her and challenged DANTSKI to another rival battle. He didn't even bother to evolve his Level 26 Starly, making for a good Swords Dance opportunity. The enemy Wing Attack may have been more of a danger from a Staravia. One Return felled Starly and Level 25 Ponyta, while X-Scissor sliced Level 28 Grotle and Level 25 Buizel. With the Shell Bell, DANTSKI won with full HP at Level 45.



DANTSKI the Kricketune Stats and Moves

Level 45 @ Shell Bell
Ability: Swarm

HP: 131
Attack: 101
Defense: 67
Sp. Atk: 61
Sp. Def: 59
Speed: 82

X-Scissor
Return
Substitute
Swords Dance
 
Pokemon Pearl Solo Kricketune Part 4: Boring Gyms


The plot railroaded ALBA and DANTSKI after Cynthia handed out a Secret Potion to cure the Psyducks who were blocking the route to Celestic Town. This was yet another Johto reference in a game that started with a news broadcast about the Red Gyarados.


Going through the Defog route was annoying without the HM, so I had to backtrack to pick it up in the Great Marsh (i.e. Safari Zone) near Pastoria City. Don't know why the developers chose to give it to an NPC right by the entrance inside the park, and they probably didn't know either. At least finding Surf in the Kanto games required navigating the Safari Zone correctly! In the Platinum version, Defog is instead in the Solaceon Ruins.


After dealing with a Team Galactic Grunt and seeing a cutscene about legendary Pokemon lore in Celestic Town, DANTSKI had to backtrack to Hearthome City to battle Fantina the Ghost type Gym Leader. The odd design choice was changed in Platinum, where Fantina is the 3rd Gym Leader. The NPCs inside the Gym had funny lines about how ALBA must have intentionally failed the quiz in order to battle them, and questioned if she had a Poketch on the DS touch screen at all. (One of its starting applications is a calculator.) Pokemon trainers can answer basic arithmetic problems in order to bypass battles, but choose not to because they realize that "higher levels" and "more money" make for better math.


Fantina's Level 32 Drifblim had the terrible 30 base power Astonish as its main attacking move, along with the weak 40 power Gust. It took 2 of the former and 1 of the latter to break the Substitute, allowing DANTSKI to buff himself twice with Swords Dance. Drifblim tried to dodge attacks with a Minimize evasion boost, but this failed to stop X-Scissors, even when Fantina fed it a Hyper Potion. Drifblim dealt more damage in death with its passive Aftermath ability than it could achieve in. . .undeath? It was a Ghost type, after all.


Level 36 Mismagius only had a partial resistance to Bug and fell to one X-Scissor. Level 34 Gengar was Ghost/Poison and only took 1/4 damage from DANTSKI's main move, letting it live long enough to Spite some PP away from X-Scissor. Fantina healed her star with 1 Hyper Potion before conceding the match. DANTSKI was Level 52 with 101/153 HP and the Shell Bell.


Barry tried to put up more of a fight in Canalave City by leading with a Level 31 Staravia's Intimidate. The Substitute + Swords Dance combo was free when Staravia whiffed a Take Down. Staravia tried to buff evasion with Double Team, much like Fantina's Drifblim and its Minimize, but a single Return was sufficient to ground the bird. Level 32 Ponyta, Level 30 Heracross, Level 35 Grotle, and Level 32 Buizel all saw stars after a single Return or X-Scissor. At least Buizel struck with a token Quick Attack, which failed to break the Substitute. DANTSKI's victory was at Level 53 and full HP while holding the Shell Bell.


Byron the Steel Gym Leader began with a Level 36 Bronzor, which was the perfect bait for Substitute and Swords Dance. Its Flash Cannon was a viable attack, but Bronzor only shot it once. Instead, Byron told it to cast 2 useless Hypnosis and 1 nullified Confuse Ray against the Substitute. Once all 3 Swords Dances were completed, DANTSKI bisected Bronzor and a Level 39 Bastiodon with X-Scissor. Steelix's extraordinary Defense and resistance to Bug kept it alive for the first X-Scissor, but even Byron's healing item couldn't save it from a critical hit. Steelix's attack on Round 1 was. . .Ice Fang. Not even Iron Tail with more base power and same type attack bonus. DANTSKI got his 6th badge with full HP and Substitute intact.


At this point, I'm trying to finish the playthrough as quickly as possible. As strange as it sounds, solo Kricketune is too easy to be fun once it gets its final moveset. It plays much like an inferior Pinsir, without any gimmicks other than having to rely on Fury Cutter at the beginning. At least solo Pachirisu was funny when I was dying to Leech Seeds from random NPC trainers.


DANTSKI the Kricketune Stats and Moves


Level 55 @ Shell Bell
Ability: Swarm

HP: 161
Attack: 129
Defense: 84
Sp. Atk: 78
Sp. Def: 72
Speed: 105

X-Scissor
Return
Substitute
Swords Dance
 
Pokemon Pearl Solo Kricketune Part 5: Boring Dungeons


Battles with Commander Mars and Commander Jupiter at Sinnoh's lakes were not worth mentioning here, because the "evil team gauntlet" was always the weakest part of the Pokemon story mode. In Snowpoint, the trendy saying was CUBISM, because apparently there was a renewed interest in Picasso's early art.


Candice the Ice Gym Leader opened with a Level 38 Snover, which was far more dangerous than its weak stats would imply. Snover's passive ability was Snow Warning, which summoned a never-ending hailstorm that pelted DANTSKI for 1/16 max HP at the end of every round. Combined with the 1/4 HP drop from the Substitute meant to set up Swords Dance, and you can see why DANTSKI wanted Shell Bell healing. Level 40 Medicham stalled for a turn with Detect, though Level 38 Sneasel and Level 42 Abomasnow both fell to a +2 X-Scissor without being able to attack. DANTSKI got the 7th badge with 122/180 HP at Level 62.


Cyrus's first team of Level 40-43 Murkrow, Golbat, and Sneasel in Team Galactic's Veilstone headquarters was so pathetic DANTSKI didn't even have to Swords Dance to kill them all in one hit. Commander Saturn wasn't much better, though at least Toxicroak struck with its own X-Scissor (?) while DANTSKI was Swords Dancing.


Commanders Mars and Jupiter challenged Barry and me to a Double Battle on the Spear Pillar atop Mt. Coronet. This was somewhat difficult because Barry sent out a Munchlax that did nothing but buff its own defenses with Stockpile, or debuff the enemies' Defense with Screech. Both Mars and Saturn started with ineffectual Bronzors that tended to use Gyro Ball or Extrasensory with low attacking stats.


A Level 46 Skuntank, however, was bulky enough to take 1 X-Scissor, and shot a Flamethrower instead of skunk spray. Level 45 Purugly, however, was helpless before X-Scissor, and the final Golbat cast Confuse Ray on Munchlax instead of DANTSKI. DANTSKI won at Level 66 with about 2/3 max HP.


Cyrus used evolved Pokemon in his final battle, though Level 45 Honchkrow's terrible AI whiffed with Steel Wing, and failed to disable the Substitute's items with Embargo. A Swords Dance followed by a critical X-Scissor defeated the mob boss crow. Level 46 Crobat outsped with a Bite, but failed to harm the Substitute and crashed to the ground after a single Return. Level 45 Gyarados's Intimidate failed to faze the Substitute, and it too collapsed after a Return. Weavile finally managed to break the Subsitute with its high Speed and Night Slash, though it was weak to X-Scissor. DANTSKI conquered Team Galactic with full HP at Level 67.


DANTSKI took one Water Pulse from Palkia before a Swords Dance boosted X-Scissor sent the legendary Pokemon of space back to its own world.


Volkner, the Electric Gym Leader of Sunyshore City, was good enough to make a surprisingly interesting battle. Level 46 Raichu broke DANTSKI's first Substitute with a critical Charge Beam that also buffed its Sp. Atk. Then the questionable AI took effect, and Raichu wasted its buff by attacking with the physical Brick Break, or failing to paralyze the 2nd Substitute with Thunder Wave. One Swords Dance boosted X-Scissor snapped Raichu, but somehow Static passive ability paralysis ignored the Substitute and afflicted DANTSKI.


Level 47 Ambipom unnecessarily buffed its Speed with Agility, allowing a free X-Scissor. Level 49 Luxray's Thunder Fang destroyed the final Substitute, and DANTSKI couldn't immediately counterattack because he was fully paralyzed that round. A Charge Beam increased Luxray's Sp. Atk, but the early route Electric type couldn't take advantage of the boost when an X-Scissor sliced it in half.


Level 47 Octillery's signature Water move Octazooka decreased DANTSKI's accuracy, creating a real possibility of a DEATH COUNT after another turn wasted on paralysis. Octillery cast Charge Beam to fit the Gym's nominal Electric theme, and at last DANTSKI cut off the tentacles with a final X-Scissor to win at Level 70 with 61/202 HP. Kricketune's Shell Bell has been useful during this playthrough!


Next was a generic Surf route and a dull and confusing Victory Road. Pokemon Pearl is probably the blandest entry in the main series, and you're not missing out on much if you haven't played a Sinnoh game. At least the trainers provided enough experience for a few more levels before the Elite 4. . .



DANTSKI the Kricketune Stats and Moves

Level 74 @ Shell Bell
Ability: Swarm

HP: 213
Attack: 172
Defense: 112
Sp. Atk: 104
Sp. Def: 96
Speed: 139

X-Scissor
Return
Substitute
Swords Dance
 
Pokemon Pearl Solo Kricketune Finale: Not So Boring Elite 4


Barry the twig-armed rival rushed into the Pokemon League Pokemon Center to challenge DANTSKI one more time before the end of the game. (Why does everyone have such tiny arms in this game? Maybe they're on the Chrono Cross diet plan. Even Poshul only weighs 26 lbs.!)


Level 48 Staraptor was the best choice he could have made for his lead. Its guaranteed Intimidate debuff and Flying type put DANTSKI at a disadvantage. Perhaps anticipating future multiplayer tactics, Staraptor switched with a U-Turn attack to Level 49 Rapidash. The flaming horse Bounced into the air for a 2 turn Flying attack instead of immediately breaking the Substitute with a Fire move, so DANTSKI managed to Swords Dance twice. A Return sent Rapidash to the glue factory and plucked Staraptor's feathers. Another Return crushed Level 50 Heracross's exoskeleton.


Level 51 Snorlax had such high HP that it was best to Substitute and Swords Dance one more time. Its Earthquake was "not very effective" against DANTSKI's Bug type, though a Body Slam managed to destroy the Substitute doll. One boosted X-Scissor put Snorlax to sleep. Level 49 Floatzel dealt minor damage with a priority Aqua Jet before an X-Scissor skinned it. Level 53 Torterra's tree was chopped down with another X-Scissor, resulting in a 206/216 HP victory at Level 75.


Since I just wanted to finish the game quickly, I didn't bother finding every Rare Candy in Sinnoh, and only bothered to boost DANTSKI to Level 78. This was enough, as none of the final opponents had levels as high as Red's team from Crystal.


Aaron the Bug master began with a Level 53 Dustox that made excellent Substitute bait. Its Light Screen was irrelevant as DANTSKI only used physical attacks, though there was only enough time to set up one Swords Dance before a freak Bug Buzz critical destroyed the Substitute doll. Return and X-Scissor exterminated Dustox and Levels 53-57 Vespiquen, Drapion, Heracross, and Beautifly without taking any damage. The Shell Bell even restored enough HP that DANTSKI at Level 78 didn't have to consume a healing item before the next Elite 4 member.


Bertha the Ground master opened with a Level 55 Quagsire that summoned a Sandstorm on the first round. Sandstorm dealt as much Substitute-ignoring damage at the end of every round as Hail, making me thankful for the Shell Bell. Although Quagsire didn't hit hard directly, its Double Team evasion meant DANTSKI had to kill it quickly with X-Scissor after 1 Swords Dance before wasting too much PP or dying to Sandstorm attrition. Level 56 Sudowoodo was no more than free experience and 1 use of X-Scissor PP.


Level 56 Golem had high enough Defense in its rocky shell to survive one X-Scissor and let it retaliate with a half power Earthquake. Quagsire's Sandstorm abated that round. Bertha healed her Rock/Ground type with a Full Restore, and DANTSKI used Return to drain enough HP to avoid activating more Full Restores before a final X-Scissor. Or so I thought. The 1st Return was a critical hit, and a 2nd was a KO. Level 55 Whiscash was as vulnerable to X-Scissor as Sudowoodo, but Hippowdon was robust and survived one to buff its Attack and Defense with Curse. This wasn't enough to prevent DANTSKI's victory, and Kricketune left the arena at Level 79 with 223/227 HP.


Flint the "Fire master" only had 2 Fire types due to Sinnoh's horrible Pokemon selection. Flint's Rapidash Bounced much like Barry's, meaning a free Substitute and Swords Dance for DANTSKI. One Return was sufficient to put down Rapidash. Level 58 Drifbliim was one of the most dreaded opponents of the playthrough because Kricketune didn't have many options for dealing with Ghost types, especially those that took 1/4 damage from X-Scissor. It was an anticlimax when Drifblim wasted most of its moves trying to Burn DANTSKI's Substitute with Will-o-Wisp. Two more Swords Dances and a lucky X-Scissor critical popped Driblim's balloon in one hit, and the Shell Bell mitigated passive Aftermath damage somewhat.


Level 61 Infernape outsped even Jolly Kricketune and Thunderpunched to break the Substitute. The doll's sacrifice gave DANTSKI one chance to KO with Return. Level 57 Lopunny perished after one X-Scissor, though Level 57 Steelix required 2 thanks to its high Defense and Steel type. Steelix's only move was. . .Sunny Day. Just like Jasmine's Steelix. Maybe Flint needed to slap a weather move onto Steelix to fit the Fire theme? (For some reason, many opponents use Steelix in Pearl. . .) At Level 79, DANTSKI survived with 172/227 HP.


Despite his type nominally being weak to Bug, Lucian the Psychic master was the most difficult of the Elite 4. Sure, DANTSKI murdered Level 59 Mr. Mime and later Level 59 Girafarig with one X-Scissor before they could make a move. But Medicham broke the Substitute with Fire Punch, and could survive 1 unboosted X-Scissor. A 2nd Fire Punch forced DANTSKI to limp through the rest of the battle. Level 60 Alakazam outsped DANTSKI and cast a half damage Focus Blast that left Kricketune at less than 1/4 HP, preventing him from stuffing another Substitute doll. A Swords Dance gamble against Level 63 Bronzong succeeded when the bell buffed Sp. Atk and Sp. Def with Calm Mind instead of attacking. One +2 X-Scissor made a Liberty Bell sized crack, ending the battle at Level 80 with 81/230 HP.


Cynthia has a reputation of being the hardest Pokemon League Champion from what I remember, and I'd have to agree. I think her Garchomp sometimes took out my Level 100 Palkia if its Spacial Rend missed back when I used to level grind my multiplayer teams. The Jolly nature was meant to outspeed this dragon.


Fortunately, her Level 61 Spiritomb was breathing room for Substitute and 2 Swords Dances. The 108-themed Ghost type cast a weak Silver Wind and failed to Embargo the Shell Bell, until it remembered it had Dark Pulse to break the Substitute. This was too late to prevent an X-Scissor KO. A 2nd Substitute did nothing more than waste 25% of DANTSKI's HP when Gastrodon's "super effective" Stone Edge destroyed it immediately. A single X-Scissor salted the slug, gutted the Level 63 Milotic, and pressed Level 60 Roserade.


Both of Lucario's types resisted DANTSKI's attacks, so the only option was Return. A half damage Aura Sphere was a minor inconvenience, as was the enemy Full Restore. More Returns sent Lucario flying off the stage in Super Smash Bros. DANTSKI's Jolly +10% Speed was useless against Level 66 Garchomp when it got the first move. However, that first move was "not very effective" Earthquake instead of a neutral damage Outrage, and one last X-Scissor won the game at Level 80 with 159/230 HP.


Solo Kricketune was funny back when I had to rely on consecutive Fury Cutters to deal any damage, but the variant was over once DANTSKI learned the reliable X-Scissor in the 2nd Gym. Substitute from the Old Chateau after Gym 2, Return from the Lost Tower, and Swords Dance from the Veilstone Game Corner provided all the moves he needed for the rest of the game. The only plausible alternative might have been using the Flying type Aerial Ace instead of Return for better type coverage with less raw power. Kricketune plays like "Pinsir lite" rather than a unique Pokemon like some other solos.


(Kricketune does learn the Dark type Night Slash starting in the later 4th generation Johto remakes, but DANTSKI had to make do with a more limited move selection.)


Something about Sinnoh bothers me, and I'm not entirely sure why. Perhaps it's the bland terrain, or maybe there's lower enemy variety in Pearl compared to other Pokemon installments. The "4th generation slowness" isn't so bad if you turn off battle animations, like I do for all my solos. It's doubtful I'll play Pearl again for a long time.


(That said, I have fond memories of 4th generation multiplayer, because Pearl was the 1st Wifi Pokemon game.)


DANTSKI the Kricketune Final Stats and Moves


Level 80 @ Shell Bell
Ability: Swarm


HP: 230
Attack: 185
Defense: 121
Sp. Atk: 112
Sp. Def: 103
Speed: 150


X-Scissor
Return
Substitute
Swords Dance


EDIT: I put in the victory screen, but I have no clue why the image rotated this way on Smogon. Its alignment is fine on my computer. . .



Kricketune.jpg
 
Pokemon Crystal Solo Geodude Part 1: English Translators Didn't Anticipate Gender When Naming Pokemon


Geodude is a staple of the Pokemon series, frequently appearing in caves starting with Mt. Moon in the original Red/Blue/Yellow. The developers must have thought Rock/Ground was a great defensive type, but those crippling 4X weaknesses to Water and Grass say otherwise, along with 2X weaknesses to Fighting, Ice, Ground, and Steel. Electric immunity and resistances to Normal, Fire, Poison, Flying, and Rock have their uses.


Geodude's base stats:


HP: 40
ATTACK: 80
DEFENSE: 100
SPCL. ATK: 30
SPCL. DEF: 30
SPEED: 20


Spectacular ATTACK and DEFENSE by the standards of an unevolved Pokemon in a 3 form evolution line, but abysmal in everything else. SPEED is the worst "dump stat" to have when you risk going last in a round against an enemy that can one-shot you with Surf or Giga Drain.


In this alternate Pokemon Crystal timeline, our heroine was named PETRA. She selected Chikorita as her starter purely to manipulate ??? the red-haired rival and keep him from having Feraligatr or Meganium. On the bottom of the mountain route north of New Bark Town, PETRA captured 2 female Level 3 Geodudes to compare their starting stats. The 2nd looked better, so PETRA stuffed Chikorita and the other Geodude in the PC.


(All individual Pokemon have random bonuses added to their base stats. The variance is weaker in Crystal than in later games, but it was still worth a try. As for the "Geodude" name, the only Pokemon that weren't genderless in the 1st generation games were the gimmick Nidoran lines. This explains why there are female "Mr. Mimes" too.)


Geodude grinded for a bit against the Rattatas and Hoothoots for a while before marching north of Cherrygrove City. Trainers such as Youngster Joey didn't stand a chance against Geodude resisting their Normal attacks like Tackle. Geodude panicked whenever a wild Poliwag or Bellsprout jumped her and threatened to blow Bubbles or graze her with Vine Whip. It was obvious that Geodude had to shun Sprout Tower for now.


Geodude leveled to 11 and learned Rock Throw just in time for Gym Leader Falkner in Violet City. She should have had the advantage against the Flying type specialist, but Pidgey and Pidgeotto outsped Geodude and decreased her accuracy with "super effective" Mud Slaps. A single Rock Throw grounded Pidgey, though Pidgeotto barely survived a Rock Throw thanks to its better stats. Even 3 Mud Slaps throughout the battle didn't prevent 2 Rock Throws and the final Tackle from securing victory at Level 12 and 19/34 HP.


Falkner's ATTACK badge bonus and Mud Slap TM were both useful for the purely physical Geodude. She narrowly avoided a DEATH COUNT when Youngster Gordon's Level 10 Wooper sprayed a Water Gun and eroded her to 1 HP (!) on the way south of Violet City. Geodude had to pick her battles more than other solos, because she never knew when one of them might have a Water or Grass type that couldn't be outsped and killed in one hit.


Mud Slap didn't last for long. Geodude upgraded to Magnitude in Union Cave. This is a Ground type gambler's favorite move because of its unique properties. According to Serebii, Magnitude's "Richter Scale" is random for every use. Base power for each level:


Magnitude 4: 10, 5% chance
Magnitude 5: 30, 10% chance
Magnitude 6: 50, 20% chance
Magnitude 7: 70, 30% chance
Magnitude 8: 90, 20% chance
Magnitude 9: 110, 10% chance
Magnitude 10: 150, 5% chance


This means that Magnitude can be weaker than even Mud Slap on a bad roll, or have a 15% chance of being better than Earthquake.


Geodude avenged previous solo characters east of Azalea Town by shaking Hiker Anthony's Geodude and Machop with Magnitude without taking a single point of damage. hammer



Team Rocket in the Slowpoke Well was even more pathetic than always when Rock Throw and Magnitude bankrupted their Slowpoke tail business. Twins Amy and May of the Bug type Gym made up for their incompetence. Their Ledyba's Supersonic confused Geodude and made her punch herself in the face multiple times, reducing her HP to 24/49 by the end of the battle. And Bug/Flying types were supposed to be an easy win. . .


Bugsy was easier than his subordinates due to the lack of status effect trickery. One Rock Throw crushed Metapod's chrysalis, and another conked Scyther after a single Fury Cutter. Kakuna dodged one Rock Throw and tried to Harden to ward off a one hit KO, though +1 DEFENSE wasn't enough when the 2nd connected. Geodude's 2nd badge was won at Level 21 with 50/53 HP.


PETRA couldn't do much when ??? the rival Hypnotized Geodude with his Gastly. Then again, all Gastly could do was Lick with its wimpy base power and lack of ATTACK muscle. Geodude was furious when she woke up and retaliated with a Magnitude 10. Gastly envied other members of its species in later generations that could block Ground moves with the Levitate ability. Zubat's Supersonic confusion was another threat to Geodude, though a Rock Throw sent it crashing down. Quilava singed Geodude with Ember before her Magnitude 6 opened a fissure. Geodude defeated ??? at Level 22 with 43/55 HP.


In the National Park, PETRA made sure to talk to the woman who gave her the Quick Claw hold item. With such low SPEED, even a small random chance to go first could save Geodude in the Elite 4.


Most trainers in and around Goldenrod City fell to the might of Magnitude, but School Kid Alan with his Level 16 Tangela was an exception. Its tangle of vines had high enough DEFENSE to take a Rock Throw, and 2 Absorbs sucked the life out of Geodude. She will have her revenge later!


DEATH COUNT: 1


When Petra teleported to town after that fiasco, Geodude was obviously ready to fight her 3rd Gym Leader. rolleye Whitney's Clefairy was crushed under a Magnitude 8, but 2 lesser Magnitude 6 rolls against Miltank allowed the cow to build her Rollout combo twice. A final Magnitude 10 toppled Miltank and won Geodude her 3rd badge at Level 30 with 68/74 HP. The SPEED boost from Whitney's badge was welcome for a Pokemon who desperately needed it.


At some point in that session, Geodude was named SUPERDEATH after the Realms Beyond player who suggested that Pokemon. (When "she" appears in the report, assume that's referring to the Geodude.)


Sudowoodo required 3 Magnitudes to kill because the rolls were 6, 6, and 4. "Super effective" Low Kicks let Sudowoodo put up a surprisingly good fight for a wild Pokemon, and SUPERDEATH emerged with 45/74 HP. When the fake tree was destroyed, SUPERDEATH backtracked to Violet City and conquered Sprout Tower at last. The Flash HM wasn't necessary to win the game, but it would make navigating several caves much easier.


??? returned when PETRA explored the Burned Tower in Ecruteak City. His Haunter cast the Ghost type Curse in an attempt to make SUPERDEATH lose 1/4 max HP, but ??? didn't realize that the percentage damage only occurred if Geodude failed to KO an enemy that round. Magnitude 9 exorcised Haunter, Magnitude 7 snuffed out Quilava, Rock Throw grounded Zubat, and Magnitude 4 aftershocks demagnetized Magnemite. SUPERDEATH defeated ??? for the 2nd time at Level 31 with 69/77 HP.


SUPERDEATH didn't look forward to the prospect of the Kimono Girls and their Vaporeon to win the Surf HM, so the best places to train would be the routes surrounding Ecruteak City. But that will be for another update.



SUPERDEATH the Geodude Stats and Moves

Level 31 @ Quick Claw



HP: 77
ATTACK: 65
DEFENSE: 77
SPCL. ATK: 29
SPCL. DEF: 29
SPEED: 30


Rock Throw
Defense Curl
Rollout
Magnitude
 
Pokemon Crystal Solo Geodude Part 2: Binary Matchups


SUPERDEATH delayed her battle with the Ghost Gym Leader Morty as long as possible, training on the routes northeast towards the Lake of Rage, and west to the Olivine City coastline. (Surfing out of combat is impossible in Crystal without the 4th badge.) One trainer named Sailor Huey in Olivine City's lighthouse proved fatal when a Level 18 Poliwhirl outsped the Level 34 Geodude and eroded her with a Water Gun.


DEATH COUNT: 2


SUPERDEATH later returned at Level 39 and outsped and defeated Sailor Huey's team without a single point of damage taken. Playing with solo Geodude is a mix of highs and lows: either Geodude crushes opponents with Ground attacks and Rock Throws that actually hit, or you lose horribly to Rock/Ground's many weaknesses. SPEED really is the most necessary stat in Pokemon.


Around the Lake of Rage, SUPERDEATH rose to Level 36 and replaced the chancy Magnitude with the reliable 100 power Earthquake. Now it was time to return to Morty's Gym and banish the Ghost types. Even then, some of the Gastly line enemies outsped SUPERDEATH and tried to Lick or cast a Curse. Instead of the usual Quick Claw, SUPERDEATH equipped a Mint Berry to prepare for the Gym Leader.


The Mint Berry wasn't necessary when Hypnosis attempts by Gengar and one of the Haunters missed. Gastly's Curse was useless due to the 2nd generation mechanics where the percentage damage only took effect when SUPERDEATH failed to kill an enemy that turn. The final Level 23 Haunter's Night Shade dealt damage equal to the Ghost's level, leaving SUPERDEATH at 70/93 HP at Level 38.


Postponing the Kimono Girls' Eevee evolution battles until after the 4th badge paid off when Level 38 SUPERDEATH dropped Level 17 Vaporeon into an Earthquake pit instead of drowning to some Water move. The true terror of the deep came from the route trainers on the way to Cianwood City. Swimmer Kara's Level 20 Starmie had more SPEED and a 65 power Bubblebeam that dropped a Geodude 21 levels higher to 14/101 HP. shakehead


SUPERDEATH had no business trying to earn Chuck the Fighting Gym Leader's badge yet, but all 3 of Jasmine's Pokemon were relatively slow and weak to Earthquake, so she was chosen as the 5th badge. A freak critical hit Iron Tail made SUPERDEATH rue being a Rock type. Geodude won on the 2nd Jasmine attempt without a single HP lost at Level 43 after Steelix whiffed with Iron Tail. Sometimes luck determines the outcome in Pokemon battles.


DEATH COUNT: 3


Red Gyarados the HM FISH was much easier to catch with Geodude than with Rattata, as weird as that sounds. One Rock Throw took the shiny Pokemon down to critical HP, and a Great Ball succeeded eventually. But this easy victory had ominous foreshadowing of future battles. If SUPERDEATH couldn't one-shot a Level 30 Gyarados with Rock Throw while being 13 levels higher, how could she hope to fight Lance's Gyarados?


The female Rocket Executive in the Mahogany Town hideout was mildly annoying when Rock Throw and Rollout missed a Zubat, allowing Confuse Ray to take effect. (Rock moves have questionable accuracy except for Power Gem, and that didn't exist in Crystal.) The 3 wild Electrodes at the end dealt minimal damage even when one Selfdestructed.


SUPERDEATH should have had an advantage against Pryce's Ice Gym by being a Rock type, but this time it was Geodude's Ground type that caused problems. Earthquake barely failed to KO Boarder Douglas's Cloyster, and the bivalve replied with a "super effective" Aurora Beam. Skier Roxanne's Jynx flirted with the DEATH COUNT when it outsped Geodude and Ice Punched her to 19/133 HP. If Geodude fares this poorly by the Elite 4, I may have to consider evolving her into Graveler to avoid grinding sessions so long they would trivialize Kanto. (Even Full Restores can't save you from 4X damage Surfs. . .)


Pryce himself was an anticlimax at Level 47 after his underlings almost killed Geodude twice. Seel and Dewgong were clubbed with an Earthquake before they could move, and Piloswine wasted its only turn on Mist to prevent nonexistent debuffs. Stupid AI saved a variant once again.


Waiting until after Jasmine and Pryce to battle Chuck was the correct decision, as suggested by the Cianwood Gym trainers. Blackbelt Yoshi's Level 27 Hitmonlee still outran Geodude and Double Kicked to chip away some rocks. Chuck's Primeape squandered its turn on a failed Leer, and Earthquake toppled both Primeape and Poliwrath without an issue. SUPERDEATH's next stop would be the Team Rocket controlled Radio Tower in Goldenrod City. (i.e. free experience points for any solo.)



SUPERDEATH the Geodude Stats and Moves

Level 48 @ Quick Claw

HP: 118
ATTACK: 105
DEFENSE: 122
SPCL. ATK: 49
SPCL. DEF: 49
SPEED: 50

Rock Throw
Rollout
Defense Curl
Earthquake


If Geodude can't beat an opponent, the only real solution is to gain more levels. Aside from Rock, Ground, and Normal attacks, Geodude doesn't have any fancy options like status ailments or significant buffs,. (Defense Curl is only there to power up Rollout.) And Geodude's defensive typing, HP, and SPCL. DEF are too horrible to compensate for the near Slowpoke caliber SPEED. That's why I'm considering Graveler for the endgame, but I'd like to go as far with Geodude without having to resort to hours of grinding that would make post-Elite 4 opponents too easy.
 
Pokemon Crystal Solo Geodude Part 3: Rag Arm Rock Throw


Team Rocket's failed invasion of Goldenrod City provided about 5 levels to Geodude. The only notable event of the ??? rival battle underground against Golbat, Haunter, Magnemite, Sneasel, and Quilava was being outsped and hit with a Faint Attack from Sneasel. Then again, with 35 base SPCL. ATK, even same type attack bonus left SUPERDEATH at a healthy 109/126 HP at Level 51.


(In the early generations of Pokemon, all moves of a certain type were physical or special. Sneasel was clearly meant to be a physical attacker, but was stuck with the then-special Dark/Ice type combination. Physical Water types such as Gyarados and Kingler also had this problem to a lesser extent. See also TOADETTE the solo Breloom, who played like a Fighting type pretending to be a Grass type too.)


An unlikely threat was the female Rocket Executive's Level 32 Murkrow, who was faster than SUPERDEATH and cast 32 damage Night Shades. Geodude was down to 8/131 HP after Rock Throw missed its mark twice in a row. Never bet your life on Rock type attacks.


The final male Rocket Executive was much easier, and the only concern was his faster Houndoom with Faint Attack. A single Earthquake sent the hellhound to the underworld, and Team Rocket was disbanded at 88/131 HP at Level 53.


Random trainer Pokemon at Levels 27-30 such as Tauros, Fearow, and Dugtrio all had higher SPEED than SUPERDEATH. Most concerning were the Levels 36-37 Seadras in Clair's Dragon type Gym that were also faster. If Geodude couldn't go first against a Seadra, how could she hope to defeat a Level 40 Kingdra that knew Surf?


It was time for Geodude to grow up. SUPERDEATH traded her cool back sprite for an ugly one as a Graveler at Level 56 inside the 8th Gym. Here are the stat comparisons:


Geodude


HP: 139
ATTACK: 125
DEFENSE: 146
SPCL. ATK: 59
SPCL. DEF: 59
SPEED: 61


Graveler


HP: 156
ATTACK: 142
DEFENSE: 162
SPCL. ATK: 76
SPCL. DEF: 76
SPEED: 77


A modest improvement for the most part, but the SPEED increase was just enough to allow SUPERDEATH to outrun her opponents. A misclick on the first round against Clair's first Dragonair made SUPERDEATH Throw a Rock instead of using Earthquake, a nearly fatal mistake when Dragonair's Surf broke onto her. Geodude would certainly not have survived that! Aside from the botched beginning, SUPERDEATH's Earthquake shook all 3 Dragonairs and the Kingdras in one hit. That Surf left Graveler at 48/156 HP at Level 57.


Attempting to conserve Earthquake PP by using Rock Throw against Cooltrainer Reena's Level 31 Starmie was a foul ball. Starmie's critical Bubblebeam proved once again that Rock/Ground matchups were either clear victories or crushing defeats.


DEATH COUNT: 4


??? in Victory Road was another battle where any damage taken could be blamed on Rock Throw whiffing. Sneasel, Kadabra, Typhlosion, Magneton, and Haunter fell one by one to Earthquake. But Golbat flew out of the way of the 1st Rock Throw and broke its teeth trying to Bite Graveler. A 2nd Rock Throw succeeded and left SUPERDEATH at Level 61 with 156/171 HP by the end of the battle.


SUPERDEATH's evolution may have made the variant viable, but the Pokemon League was still dangerous. Will's 2 Xatus and Jynx died to one Rock Throw or Earthquake, but Slowbro and Exeggutor had enough HP and DEFENSE to take a hit. Exeggutor fortunately cast Psychic instead of some Grass attack, and Slowbro tried to buff itself with Curse. Graveler defeated the Psychic master at Level 62 with 114/174 HP.


The only action the Poison master Koga's team of Ariados, Forretress, Muk, Crobat, and Venomoth took was to set up useless Spikes when Earthquake failed to KO the armored bagworm in one shot. Spikes deals damage to non-Flying Pokemon, but only when switching. Guess what a solo Pokemon never does.


Bruno the Fighting master probably would have snapped Geodude in half, but Graveler's Earthquakes pinned Hitmontop, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Machamp, and Onix at a full life bar.


Karen's Umbreon could have been troublesome if Sand Attack's accuracy debuff didn't miss. Two Earthquakes destroyed the Dark Eevee evolution. Vileplume, Gengar, and Houndoom were all too slow to prevent more Earthquake aftershocks, and for once Rock Throw hit when SUPERDEATH tossed a boulder at Murkrow.


Graveler managed to outspeed Lance's Gyarados and take it out with one Rock Throw. However, all the Dragonites were too robust to die when being pounded with pebbles. The Level 50 Dragonite took advantage of its neutral damage Outrage after a Rollout combo missed to break throw Graveler's weak SPCL. DEF for the KO.


DEATH COUNT: 5


The 1st Dragonite's "super effective" Blizzard after a Rollout miss may have helped SUPERDEATH because it was a sign of a new RNG seed. The 2nd Blizzard missed, allowing Rollout to double its base power each turn. Graveler's Rollout gathered no moss when crushing all 3 Dragonites and Charizard thanks to a QUICK CLAW activation on the Fire type. The best moves Aerodactyl had against Graveler were. . .half damage Hyper Beams that made it waste 2 turns recharging. At least that way, SUPERDEATH could afford to miss 2 consecutive Rock Throws! SUPERDEATH, you need to practice your pitching both on and off the baseball diamond. Graveler conquered the Pokemon League with 43/180 HP.


SUPERDEATH the Graveler Stats and Moves


Level 64 @ QUICK CLAW



HP: 180
ATTACK: 165
DEFENSE: 188
SPCL. ATK: 89
SPCL. DEF: 89
SPEED: 90


Rock Throw
Rollout
Defense Curl
Earthquake
 
Pokemon Crystal Solo Graveler Part 4: Choking in the Final Battle


Lt. Surge was far more irritating than an Electric Gym Leader should have been for a Ground type. His Electrodes often made Earthquake or Rock Slide miss and lose PP, but caused no damage directly. Raichu's Quick Attack and Electabuzz's SPCL. DEF team buff Light Screen were useless against Graveler.


Janine only managed to buff Venomoth's critical hit rate with a DIRE HIT. Her team was helpless against Rock Throw and Earthquake. Sabrina's Espeon had high SPEED and reduced SUPERDEATH to 126/199 HP at Level 70, though her Alakazam couldn't survive an Earthquake even at double DEFENSE with its Reflect.


???'s final challenge at Mt. Moon was nothing more than free experience points, as his Sneasel, Alakazam, Gengar, Golbat, Magneton, and Typhlosion all crumbled when hit with Rock Throw or Earthquake. The same fate happened to Brock's fossil Rocks and Blaine's Fire team.


Misty and Erika were saved for last to compensate for Graveler's crippling weakness to Water and Grass. Misty's aquatic Pokemon weren't safe from an underwater Earthquake, though Rock Throw was required for Erika. Rock Throw's accuracy was as unreliable as always when it missed Tangela and Bellossom. Tangela failed to cast some move I couldn't record, probably a status ailment. Bellossom had to charge up a Solarbeam for a turn to deal any damage, leaving it open to attack. Both Gym Leaders surrendered when SUPERDEATH was at full HP.


Graveler's first attempt against Blue failed when Rock Throw sailed past Exeggutor. SUPERDEATH was baked by a Solarbeam shortly afterwards.


DEATH COUNT: 6


Take 2 was aborted, but wasn't actually a death. This was because Pidgeot insisted on using Whirlwind to force me to switch to one of the non-combat HM MULES. It was annoying enough that I simply reset and deposited the Surfers and Fliers into the PC.


RESET COUNT: 1


Take 3 was almost a success, but Rock Throw was too weak to gut Gyarados. Hydro Pump's water pressure split Graveler apart.


DEATH COUNT: 7


SUPERDEATH's trick to winning this battle was to Defense Curl + Rollout when Pidgeot appeared. The combo flattened Pidgeot, Exeggutor, Alakazam, Rhydon, and Gyarados. You've never experienced the power of Rollout until you've killed a Pokemon that has high DEFENSE, resists Rock, and is present while Reflect is active. hammer Arcanine fell down after a single Earthquake, and SUPERDEATH scored another lopsided victory at full HP.


With the help of 9 Rare Candies acquired throughout the adventure, Graveler rose to Level 86 just before Red. This still wasn't enough. SUPERDEATH was simply too slow to avoid Pikachu debuffs to ATTACK with Charm, Reflect team buffs and Psychics from Espeon, or Solarbeams from Venusaur barring lottery winning QUICK CLAW luck.


DEATH COUNT: 14


I was hoping Snorlax would appear after Espeon because it would have made perfect Defense Curl + Rollout bait, but apparently the order of Red's team changes based on what Pokemon you lead with.


At this point, the variant has stalled. SUPERDEATH the Graveler may have some hope at higher levels, and the best way to do that is to fight the Elite 4 repeatedly. If nothing else, this playthrough has shown the importance of SPEED, even relative to other "high damage, low HP" battle systems like Fire Emblem.
 
Pokemon Crystal Solo Graveler Finale: Double Team Saves Another Solo Challenge


Grinding Graveler to Level 89 wasn't all that difficult. I had forgotten to battle some trainers in the southeastern region of Kanto. The routes surrounding Vermilion City, Lavender Town, and Fuchsia City had many weak opponents, as well as the sea route to the east of Blaine's Seafoam Islands makeshift Gym. Cal's Level 50 Johto starters squeezed out some more experience, and a few wild Golbats and Gravelers in Silver Cave put SUPERDEATH on par with TOPPERCENT the Rattata. (Makes sense considering they're both Medium Slow.)


Unfortunately, Graveler was functionally no faster than before. The Quick Claw failed to activate against Pikachu and Espeon, and their Charm and Reflect skills weakened SUPERDEATH's ATTACK to the point where she had no hope against Venusaur and its Solarbeam.


FINAL DEATH COUNT: 15


But PETRA had one final trick that could work without leveling into the 90s. Double Team could be learned by practically any Pokemon that could learn moves from TMs, courtesy of the Celadon City Game Corner. With enough evasion to dodge attacks, Leftovers would heal 1/16 of Graveler's HP per turn.


Pikachu Charmed SUPERDEATH once again at the start of the battle, reducing her attack to the -2 stage. I predicted that Espeon might use its first turn to set up Reflect, and this AI exploit worked. Graveler's Double Team illusions tricked Espeon into missing its first Psychic, though the 2nd still hit at +2 evasion. After the 3rd Double Team, Espeon switched from Psychic to the perfect accuracy Swift. The catch was that Swift had only 60 base power, SUPERDEATH resisted its Normal type, and Espeon's base ATTACK was a meager 65.


The first 3 Rollout hits were needed to flatten Espeon. This buildup in base power ensured both Venusaur and Blastoise would be crushed in one hit too! Snorlax couldn't do anything at all but buff its useless SPCL. DEF with Amnesia or Body Slam into a Double Team illusion as SUPERDEATH rose to +6 evasion. 4 Rollouts were needed to make Snorlax into a pancake at -2 ATTACK, and the 5th smothered Charizard's flame after a failed Fire Spin. SUPERDEATH's Leftovers were so successful that she was at full HP by the end of the final battle, not an easy feat for such a slow Pokemon.


Solo Geodude/Graveler was fun to play. Rock/Ground in theory make a perfect combo, and SUPERDEATH never had to fall back on Return like so many other physical solos. In practice, Rock Throw and Rollout misses sometimes cost Graveler the battle, and few other attacking types would have this disadvantage.


Rock/Ground made for a valuable defensive type in the first few Johto Gyms, but quickly became a liability when SUPERDEATH had to fight some enemy she couldn't outrun, which happened often. Even Water and Grass types that were 20 levels lower were a credible challenge. And Red couldn't be defeated through sheer level advantage. Some luck with Double Team and Rollout salvaged the variant at the last moment.


You probably won't see any more Pokemon solo challenges until Christmas or so, when I'll hopefully get Sword or Shield. (No spoilers!)



SUPERDEATH the Graveler Final Stats and Moves


Level 89 @ Leftovers


HP: 257
ATTACK: 238
DEFENSE: 270
SPCL. ATK: 133
SPCL. DEF: 133
SPEED: 134


Rock Throw
Rollout
Double Team
Earthquake


Graveler.jpg
 
Pokemon Shield Solo Wooloo Part 1


Now that it's Christmas, it's time for another Pokemon solo challenge! Pokemon Shield opened with a cutscene of Champion Leon using a technique to grow his Charizard to impress the audience. One of the programmers must at GameFreak must be obsessed with the Kanto Fire type starter. It gets into Super Smash Bros, receives 2 Mega Evolutions in X and Y, and now it's the Champion's star Pokemon.


My trainer SOLEDAD was watching the event on her phone. She soon met Hop, Leon's younger brother and her future rival. Leon offered the choice of starters, and it didn't matter that much because it was going to spend the rest of its life in a PC Box. A nice cutscene played displaying how type advantages worked when the starters frightened each other. SOLEDAD picked Grookey the Grass type, leaving Hop with Sobble the Water Pokemon.


Hop led with a Level 3 Wooloo, a Normal type sheep that was typical early game fodder. Grookey's Scratch took it out, and it learned Branch Poke just in time for Level 5 Sobble. Branch Poke was a 40 power physical Grass move that easily defeated Sobble.


SOLEDAD and Hop's next mission was to rescue a Wooloo that had broken through the fence to the west of the player character's house. It had wandered into Slumbering Weald, a foggy forest considered too dangerous to enter.


Some wild encounters here showed that GameFreak tried to prevent early Pokemon from being generic. Skwovet's base stats skewed towards HP, Attack, and Defense, at the cost of abysmal Speed. Rookidee was pure Flying, an unusual type in Pokemon. The only other pure Flying Pokemon that comes to mind is Tornadus the legendary monster from Unova. Though according to Serebii, Rookidee evolves into a Steel/Flying type.


??? the wolf appeared at the end of this area. SOLEDAD couldn't flee, and moves were completely ineffective. The wolf generated some fog and then the battle ended. Leon arrived to rescue Hop and SOLEDAD and praised their bravery. Charizard rescued the missing Wooloo. Hop wondered how his brother found us, considering he was "pants with directions". Pokemon Shield takes place in the region of Galar, and so people talk like it's cartoon England. They even remembered to say "Mum" instead of "Mom".


It took some time for me to decide on a solo Pokemon. I liked Wooloo's design, but wanted to catch a few more monsters to see what Galar had to offer. One Mystery Gift provided a Gigantamax Kanto Meowth, but I didn't want to use it. A flock of Wooloos blocked the path on Route 1 and forced SOLEDAD to run through the grass. (Probably would be pronounced "grahss" if this game had voice acting.)


Blipbug is a Bug type that adds Psychic when it evolves, but its move selection is abysmal until its final form according to Serebii. Nickit the fox seems to be the typical early game Dark type like Poochyena or Purrloin. And Purrloin itself appears in Shield.


But Wooloo was the one that impressed me. When I fought her, it seemed to have absurd Defense. Even Branch Poke did low damage, and it was possible Grookey would lose while trying to catch the sheep. One Poke Ball later, and I found out why it was so much sturdier than Hop's Wooloo. My Wooloo had the Fluffy passive ability which halved the power of "contact" moves (e.g. Tackle) with the drawback of a Fire weakness.


Still, I checked out the Route 2 Pokemon. Hoothoot was there in the daytime for some reason. Not even a regional Hoothoot, but the same kind as CEDRIC from a Crystal solo run. One fight with a Yamper told me that it started with Nuzzle, a weak Electric move that was more valuable for its guaranteed paralysis if it connected. Galar had a Normal/Dark variety of Zigzagoon. Chewtle seemed to be a physical Water type. Fishing was possible here without having to find a rod, and Arrokuda filled the high Speed Water type niche.


Wooloo leveled up by fighting and catching wild Pokemon, though of course those were stuffed in the PC to adhere to the rules. Perhaps she didn't need to considering Youngster Jake's Level 6 Skwovet was a pushover. Lass Lauren's Level 6 Chewtle wasn't any stronger. Tackles bounced off of Wooloo's wool.


Youngster Benjamin at least brought 2 Pokemon: a Level 5 Blipbug and a Level 7 Nickit. Blipbug's Struggle Bug was a special move that targeted Wooloo's weaker defensive stat, though all Nickit could do was to Quick Attack for pity damage.


Old Professor Magnolia and Leon asked Hop and SOLEDAD to battle to prove their worthiness for a Gym challenge endorsement. Hop opened with a Level 6 Wooloo. This was a Tackle exchange with the exception of a Growl. Growl would have been a free turn in a team playthrough, but there was no way for Wooloo to regain the Attack lost from this debuff during the fight.


Hop's Level 8 Sobble proved that the AI trainers in Galar were as stupid as in every previous region. All Sobble had to do was to cast Water Gun repeatedly. If it did that, Hop had a decent chance of starting the DEATH COUNT. But no, the Water starter wasted most of its turns Pounding for weak "contact" damage. One Growl was annoying, though. Level 5 Rookidee ineffectually Pecked until Wooloo's rolling Tackles took it down. She won the battle at around half health at Level 11 while holding an Oran Berry.



Some time after the battle, I looked up Wooloo's level up moveset and realized it had nothing to deal with Ghost types at all. Having to waste PP and rely on Struggle sounded like a horrible variant playthrough, so in desperation I looked at the TM list. Sure enough, Wooloo could learn the Dark move Payback, and the TM for that happened to be in a well-hidden area behind Professor Magnolia's house. That saved the playthrough.


Wooloo may evolve later in the playthrough if necessary, similar to SUPERDEATH the Geodude/Graveler in Crystal. But I want to know how long she can last in her base form without excessive leveling. The Move Relearner and Name Rater are combined into one NPC in Pokemon Centers now, so it may be easier to play with Wooloo's moveset. No Heart Scales needed either. Certainly different from the long-term moveset planning in Crystal solos!


EWE the Wooloo Stats and Moves


Level 11 @ Oran Berry
Ability: Fluffy
Nature: Relaxed (+10% Defense, -10% Speed)
Characteristic: Alert to Sounds (highest IV is Speed)


HP: 31
Attack: 14
Defense: 20
Sp. Atk: 15
Sp. Def: 16
Speed: 17

Tackle
Payback
Defense Curl
Copycat


Imagine SOLEDAD shouting "Wooloo, I choose EWE!" in every battle, and you can see why I picked the name.
 
Pokemon Shield Solo Wooloo Part 2


Hop and SOLEDAD's next stop was the first Wild Area in front of the city of Motostoke. This was "open world" in comparison to the linear Routes, and focused on older Pokemon. Some "out of depth" monsters were roaming outside the grassy areas, including a Level 26 Onix that EWE managed to flee from when it set up Curse instead of attacking.


The weather in this area was Hail, causing 1/16 max HP damage to all non-Ice Pokemon at the end of every round. I wonder if this game has seasons based on real time, at least in relation to the Northern Hemisphere. Ice monsters such as Snover, Delibird, and Vanillite enjoyed the Hail in the grass, though other creatures like Metapod, Tyrogue, and Pancham also made appearances.


Pokemon Breeder Chloe promised that she had a lot of cash, so of course EWE challenged her. This was a mistake. Her Pokemon were all Galar starters at Level 13, and Fluffy was detrimental to Wooloo once Embers started flying.


DEATH COUNT: 1


After that loss, Chloe disappeared. A Level 15 Roselia of all Pokemon gave EWE a Magical Leaf cut after wasting its first few turns changing Fluffy to Insomnia with Worry Seed.


DEATH COUNT: 2


EWE should never have accepted Presents from a wild Delibird. Combined with Hail, they were gifts in the German sense of the word.


DEATH COUNT: 3


A Xatu fortunately Teleported away before it could murder Wooloo as well. One NPC at the Motostoke entrance offered to trade TMs for Watts from various Dynamax spots around the Wild Area: Low Kick, Iron Tail, Calm Mind, Iron Head, and Hydro Pump. Useful for Steel solos at least.


Motostoke was a steampunk and clockwork city filled with smokestacks. One place of interest was a cafe where Dwight challenged EWE to a battle against a Level 10 Combee. Its Struggle Bugs and Sweet Scents failed to prevent victory.


Single use TMs returned in Shield with a twist. These were now called TRs, or Technical Records. They were meant to be balanced by teaching rare and powerful moves, though I doubted that when the first was Focus Energy. Hop and SOLEDAD stayed at a fancy hotel, only to run into Team Yell. These Grunts must have been based on "football supporters". They fought EWE with Galar Zigzagoon and Nickit, since every villain team since Johto had to use Dark types. It was mostly an exchange of Tackles until the final Double Battle when Hop joined SOLEDAD. Zigzagoon now used Snarl, a special Dark move that hit both Pokemon and debuffed Sp. Atk. Hop led with his Wooloo. It was funny to see us send out matching Pokemon.


The opening ceremony for the Gym Challenge showed off most of the Gym Leaders, though one was absent. One thing I'll say in Shield's favor is that the Pokemon League actually feels like a sporting event this time. SOLEDAD received the Flying Taxi, continuing the Alola tradition of banishing HM MULE inconveniences.


Hop fought against EWE once again on the west side of Motostoke. His Level 11 Wooloo was just another Tackle exchange, with the exception of an enemy Potion. When I discovered that Level 14 Sobble had higher Speed, EWE used Payback to take advantage of its damage doubling properties when she took prior damage from Pound or a rare Water Gun. Two Growls made EWE weaker.


During the final phase of the battle, Hop's AI had the most shameful performance of any enemy trainer I've seen in a long time. His Level 12 Rookidee had EWE at 1 HP after a Peck, and what did it do? Cast the Defense debuff Leer until it died to Paybacks! shakehead EWE won at Level 14.


Route 3's Pokemon were Stunky, Growlithe, Rookidee, Mudbray, and newcomers Gossifleur and Rolycoly.


Gossifleur is a pure Grass type with Rapid Spin, which now has a Speed buffing bonus. Its Cotton Down ability lowers the Speed of all other Pokemon if hit with an attack. Rolycoly is a Rock type that evolves into Coalossal, which has the gimmick Steam Engine ability that buffs Speed to +6 if hit by Water or Fire.


Lass Rei sent out a Level 12 Kanto Vulpix that only used Quick Attack, Tackle, and Tail Whip. Not as much of a threat as a Fire type should have been. At least a wild Growlithe cast Ember and forced EWE to run away! Schoolgirl Hannah's Level 13 Pancham, however, required both Fluffy and an Oran Berry to survive its super effective Circle Throws.


Schoolboy Marvin's Level 12 Budew and Gossilfleur were pathetic and could be Tackled to death. EWE learned Double Kick just in time to exploit Schoolgirl Kayleigh's Level 12-13 Purrloin and Skwovet's Fighting weaknesses. Postman Tad brought a Level 14 Delibird appropriate for his theme. One of its Presents healed EWE by mistake, though another was a critical hit.


One random trainer was the most fearsome obstacle in this playthrough so far: Schoolboy Peter. His Level 13 Bug/Fire Sizzlipede singed EWE's wool with Embers and sent her back to the Pokemon Center.


DEATH COUNT: 4


It was apparent that Pokemon Shield used an experience formula similar to the Alola games that punished solo characters. EWE the Wooloo was only a few levels higher than her enemies at best. I then decided to return to the Wild Area and attempt to catch a high level Pokemon. It was risky in terms of the DEATH COUNT, but even getting one in the 20s level range would give EWE a substantial amount of experience points. But the developers must have had this potential exploit in mind. SOLEDAD couldn't even throw a Poke Ball at Level 28 Liepard, even after a weak Double Kick from EWE. Hail damage struck again.


DEATH COUNT: 5


One NPC warned me that the Pokemon across the bridge should only be caught if I had a few badges already, but of course I didn't listen. (Encounter tables based on bridges is Dragon Quest plagiarism.) One Vanillite's Powder Snow was sufficient to knock EWE out cold.


DEATH COUNT: 6


Even attempting a Chloe rematch was useless when Scorbunny's Ember scorched Wooloo.


DEATH COUNT: 7


The final humiliation was having to flee from a lower level Snover because its Powder Snow froze EWE. It was clear that Affection bonuses would be necessary to even reach the first Gym in a reasonable amount of time, let alone beat the game. Having Tackle as your best same type attack until Level 21 is atrocious. In the next update, I'll play with the camping system.



EWE the Wooloo Stats and Moves



Level 17 @ Nothing
Ability: Fluffy
Nature: Relaxed (+10% Defense, -10% Speed)
Characteristic: Alert to Sounds (highest IV is Speed)


HP: 42
Attack: 19
Defense: 28
Sp. Atk: 23
Sp. Def: 22
Speed: 24

Tackle
Payback
Defense Curl
Double Kick
 
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Pokemon Shield Solo Wooloo Part 3


I never managed to get any noticeable Affection bonuses like boosted experience, passive evasion, or more criticals, but feeding Wooloo some curries in the camp minigame did provide a couple of extra levels, enough to defeat Schoolboy Peter and his pesky Sizzlipede. He had a Dottler too, an evolved form of Blipbug that was weak to Payback. EWE survived with 28/46 HP at Level 19.


Galar Mine at the end of Route 3 was the first cave in the game. All wild encounters were on the map, instead of the horde of Zubats that awaited previous Pokemon trainers. Galar Mine must have been cut from Unova and pasted in Galar, since most of the Pokemon were from Generation 5: Roggenrola, Timburr, Drilbur, and Woobat. Rolycoly was the only new monster here.


EWE did surprisingly well against the trainers for a Normal type, considering she was confronting Rock and Fighting monsters. Worker Keith used a Level 14 Roggenrola with the passive Weak Armor ability that decreased its Defense after being attacked in exchange for a Speed boost. This only made it easier for Double Kick to kill. Worker Georgia sent out 3 Level 14 Timburrs, whose Low Kicks were less threatening than their Rock Throws that got around Fluffy. Worker Sandra relied on Level 14 Kanto Diglett and a Level 15 Rapid Spinning Drilbur. Worker Russel only had a Level 15 Rolycoly.


The miniboss of Galar Mine was Bede, who had been presented as an aloof antagonist in earlier cutscenes. Her Level 13 Solosis retreated to its Poke Ball after a single Payback. Level 15 Gothita's Tickle decreased both Attack and Defense, EWE's most important stats. It managed to cast a Psybeam before fainting. Finally, there was a new Pokemon, a Level 16 pure Psychic Hatenna. Three Paybacks killed the final opponent, though an Oran Berry autohealing saved EWE after a Confusion put her at low health. EWE endured at Level 20 with 18/48 HP.


Route 4 was another grassy area with different encounters. Electrike, Eevee, Kanto Diglett, Budew, Pumpkaboo, Yamper, and Galar's local Steel type Meowth were here.


Pokemon Breeder Jaime had a decent team for an early trainer. I didn't know the Level 14 Galar Meowth's type at the time, but a couple of Double Kicks were sufficient. Unfortunately, it Growled before croaking. EWE then had to fight my favorite Pokemon Butterfree, which was at Level 15. Tackle was better than Payback here. Butterfree mostly cast Confusion, but only confused EWE with a Supersonic after some failed attempts. An enemy Potion dragged out the fight for a few more turns. You know your Pokemon is weak when you take many rounds to kill a Kanto Bug type.


Slaughtering Jaime's Butterfree leveled EWE to 21, so she could finally replace Tackle with Headbutt. Level 14 Seedot was only a formality once the star of the team was gone. Other trainers on the route dressed as Pikachu or Eevee, probably as a Let's Go reference. They weren't notable enough to discuss, except that one of them had a new Pokemon named Milcery. It turned out to be Fairy type, though I only learned that when I looked it up on Serebii while typing this post.


SOLEDAD's next stop will be Turffield, where Milo the Grass Gym Leader awaits.




EWE the Wooloo Stats and Moves



Level 21 @ Oran Berry
Ability: Fluffy
Nature: Relaxed (+10% Defense, -10% Speed)
Characteristic: Alert to Sounds (highest IV is Speed)


HP: 50
Attack: 23
Defense: 35
Sp. Atk: 28
Sp. Def: 26
Speed: 28

Headbutt
Payback
Defense Curl
Double Kick
 
Pokemon Shield Solo Wooloo Part 4


Turffield's Gym stadium displayed several features added to Sword and Shield. First was the minigame of shepherding a flock of Wooloos to the next area, where they would roll and break the bales of hay. This was easier than it sounds. Anyone with bad memories of Beaver Bother from Donkey Kong 64 can relax.


Subordinate trainers were easy to defeat with Headbutt. They preferred Gossifleur, Oddish, Budew, and Bounsweet in the 16-17 level range. The only annoyance was Gym Trainer Mark's Oddish and its Stun Spore paralysis. Although the game suggested the challenge would reset completely if SOLEDAD left the stadium to heal before fighting Milo, but this wasn't entirely true. Sure, she had to play the minigame again, but the trainers did not demand rematches. If they did, this solo run would have been much more difficult, especially with PP management.


Gym Leader Milo was the first battle where the new Dynamax mechanic appeared. It's a sort of combination of Mega Evolutions from Kalos and Z Moves from Alola. Dynamaxed Pokemon gain max HP, immunities to some specific moves, and have their moves changed to more powerful versions. For EWE, this turned Headbutt into a Speed debuffing 120 power Max Strike, Payback into Sp. Def lowering 100 power Max Darkness, Double Kick into the 80 power Attack buff Max Knuckle, and Defense Curl into the Protect clone Max Guard.


My mistake on the first attempt was using Dynamax too early. Its drawbacks are that it only lasts 3 turns, and can only be used in specific areas like Gyms. I believed that Wooloo would gain Attack similar to an old Mega Evolution, and only learned the mechanics by looking them up on Bulbapedia after the battle. The Level 19 Gossifleur went down to 2 Max Strikes, while it used the special Normal move Round.


Then the Level 20 evolved form Eldegoss appeared, and Milo tried out his own Dynamaxing powers. Max Overgrowth created Grassy Terrain to buff its future Grass attacks and to heal all grounded combatants for a small amount at the end of each round. Dynamax expired and EWE returned to her normal form, only holding out for one more Headbutt before a final Max Overgrowth planted her into the ground.


DEATH COUNT: 8


On a 2nd attempt, I conserved Dynamax until the Eldegoss appeared. EWE Headbutted Gossifleur like a soccer ball for a few rounds, and one of them even got a lucky flinch. At around this point I got the idea to try to hold out until both Pokemon were no longer Dynamaxed, and prepare with a Max Knuckle Attack bonus. Max Overgrowth was far stronger on the 2nd use this time, making me suspect Eldegoss had a special Grass attack to ignore Fluffy in addition to its physical move. Sure enough, Serebii said it had both Leafage and Magical Leaf.


DEATH COUNT: 9


I doubted EWE could win this at Level 22, but I gave it one more attempt. Gossifleur was as irrelevant as always. On the 2 turns of the Dynamax showdown, EWE buffed its Attack with weak Max Knuckles while Eldegoss had the stupid AI kick in and use Leafage's Max Overgrowth instead of the Magical Leaf version. Max Guard on Round 3 blocked a Max Strike from Round and healed EWE from Grassy Terrain. EWE struck back on the next turn with a critical flinching Headbutt! Two more Headbutts won EWE the first badge at critical HP.



So it seems Dynamaxing was invented to prevent players from relying on Mega Evolutions and Z Moves to get past normal battles, yet provide a tactical option and new threat in boss fights.


Milo's TM was Magical Leaf. It looked like most of the good attack swere restricted to single use TRs, reviving the "TM stinginess" of Pokemon White. (That game placed most of its TMs in the postgame, instead of selling them for a special currency like in Shield.) Another reward for clearing the 1st Gym was allowing capture of Pokemon up to Level 25. This was of course meant to prevent players from exploiting the Wild Areas by throwing Poke Balls at an overleveled monster until they got lucky.



EWE the Wooloo Stats and Moves



Level 22 @ Cheri Berry

Ability: Fluffy
Nature: Relaxed (+10% Defense, -10% Speed)
Characteristic: Alert to Sounds (highest IV is Speed)


HP: 52
Attack: 23
Defense: 36
Sp. Atk: 29
Sp. Def: 27
Speed: 30

Headbutt
Payback
Defense Curl
Double Kick
 
Pokemon Shield Solo Wooloo Part 5


SOLEDAD's next step was not Route 5 to progress the story, but the Wild Area. This was an attempt to find a Watt shop that sold a Swords Dance TR, a +2 Attack buff that would make EWE's life much easier if she evolved. The problem was that the shops were random, and none of them had it at the time.


One guaranteed source of TRs was Raids. Various spots throughout the Wild Area could start a Dynamax enabled battle against massive wild Pokemon with enhanced stats. Even without online players, the game was generous enough to provide 3 AI teammates. Battles against Bunnelby, 2 Delibirds, Oddish, Ralts, Rookidee, and Pidove provided massive amounts of experience point candies even if SOLEDAD failed to capture them when the battle ended. Skorupi was much more difficult because it was a 2 star Raid activated by a Wishing Star. Winning that round required some caution with Max Guard.


If I were using a Pokemon better than Wooloo, this would probably have made the rest of the game easy. Some TRs found in random drops were endgame moves like Ice Beam, Blizzard, Tri Attack, Zen Headbutt, and Poison Jab. For now, EWE had to settle for a source of easy level grinding. Using all candies as a test before raised Wooloo from 22 to 32, but I reset to avoid being overleveled.


Route 5 had mostly Pokemon from older generations like Stufful, Wobbuffet, Spritzee, Minccino, and Magikarp. The exception was Applin, a gimmick Grass/Dragon type that had branching evolution paths based on giving it fruit. Cook Stuart challenged EWE with one. This was obnoxious because all it did was Withdraw to buff its Defense. Wooloo had to bump it with 8 Headbutts and 1 Payback to win. shakehead Pokemon Breeders on this route weren't noteworthy.


Team Yell Grunts tried to intimidate a man into giving them a bike on the eastern bridge, but SOLEDAD and EWE were there to stop them. The 1st Grunt had a Galar Zigzagoon that was so weak to Fighting that it fell to one Double Kick. Not one use of the move. One kick. A Level 18 Thievul made up for it by Snarling for significant damage. Two uses of Double Kick hunted the evolved Nickit.


Team Yell Grunt #2 was one of the silliest battles I've had in a Pokemon game. His only monster was a Level 18 Sableye who could only be hit with Payback. The problem was that it knew Disable, and cast it often. EWE had to waste about 16 turns throughout the combat with Defense Curl while Sableye was scratching the sheep for 1 damage. It made me briefly regret canceling evolution at Level 24, but stories like this don't happen often. The Y-COMM falsely claimed after the battle "My Wooloo evolved and now it looks entirely different!"


Another rival battle with Hop was the last major battle before arriving in the town with the Water Gym. His Level 18 Wooloo was vulnerable to Double Kick, and it was obvious he hadn't replaced it with a Fluffy one. Level 19 Corvisquire was still a pure Flying type, and attacked accordingly with Pluck and Peck. These were contact moves that EWE's wool absorbed for minimal damage.


But Level 21 Drizzile was equipped with both Round and Water Pulse to soak EWE. This ended one battle, and a 2nd attempt at Level 26 after using some candies.


DEATH COUNT: 11


I decided I had enough of Hop and raised EWE to 30 with even more candies. She increased to 31 during the battle. Drizzile seemed easy enough when it started attacking with the weak Bind instead of casting Water Pulse, though an enemy Super Potion prolonged the fight. A final Round at the end of the battle reduced EWE to 5/69 HP. Wooloo was a sad case if she had a real chance of losing to an opponent 10 levels lower making poor decisions!


All remaining trainers before the end of the route were trivial in comparison. What I think I'll do is to see how far I can advance with Wooloo, then stuff her full of candies if she isn't up to the task. If the raids respawn frequently, evolution can be saved as a last resort.


EWE the Wooloo Stats and Moves



Level 31 @ Cheri Berry

Ability: Fluffy
Nature: Relaxed (+10% Defense, -10% Speed)
Characteristic: Alert to Sounds (highest IV is Speed)


HP: 69
Attack: 31
Defense: 49
Sp. Atk: 39
Sp. Def: 37
Speed: 41

Headbutt
Payback
Defense Curl
Double Kick
 
Pokemon Shield Solo Wooloo Part 6


Hulbury the seaside town had more than just a Gym to attract EWE the Wooloo. She found a Shell Bell near some anchored boats, an item familiar to anyone who's read previous solo playthroughs. For those who haven't, the Shell Bell heals its wielder for a small amount of HP after attacking an opponent. It may not seem like much, but for a low Attack Pokemon like Wooloo, the Shell Bell can make the difference between barely surviving a battle and losing.


According to one NPC, Gym Leaders who were too weak were sent to the "minor division". This hinted that all NPC challengers in Galar's Pokemon League fought each leader in the same order as the player, instead of Unova's version where Gym Leaders changed their teams based on how many badges the challenger had. (In story text, not in the linear gameplay.)



Nessa's Gym was Water type, and had a puzzle based on turning on and off pipes to get through a maze of waterfalls. All 3 subordinate trainers were easy to defeat with Headbutts, though EWE still took damage due to being too weak to kill most of them in one hit. Their teams were in the 20-21 level range and featured Tympole, Krabby, Corphish, Remoraid, and Chewtle.


With the help of 7 Dynamax candies acquired from Raids, EWE now had higher max HP when transformed. This bonus was permanent. This sounds overpowered until you read what happened next. Nessa opened with a Level 22 Goldeen that increased its Speed with Agility, then confused EWE with Water Pulse attacks. Wooloo grew to Dynamax size in an attempt to buff its Attack with Max Knuckle, though it took all 2 of those and a Headbutt after returning to normal to beat even a Goldeen at Level 31. EWE Headbutted a Level 23 Arrowcuda into the goal with one move.


Nessa's final Pokemon and Dynamax user was Drednaw, an evolved Chewtle with Water/Rock typing. I didn't know it was a Rock type at the time, so a Headbutt dealt only half damage. Its Max Geyser had the side effect of making it Rain on the field. A Max Strike mortally wounded the puny Wooloo.


DEATH COUNT: 12


On Take 2, EWE conserved her Dynamax until Drednaw arrived. She Headbutted Goldeen 3 times while dealing with Water Pulse confusion again. Arrokuda was irrelevant after the first Headbutt made it flinch. Wooloo's Max Knuckles didn't smash Drednaw's shell, and a combination of Max Darkness, Max Geyser, and a final Water Gun insult caused another loss.


DEATH COUNT: 13


Wooloo's only chance of winning the 2nd badge was to level up with more candies. Sugar and empty calories were becoming essential to EWE's diet. She rose to Level 34 and temporarily replaced Double Kick with Reversal to increase Max Knuckle's power from 80 to 100. Goldeen flinched on the 1st Headbutt and died after the 2nd. Arrokuda drained some HP with a Whirlpool. When Dynamax Drednaw showed itself, I learned that the main benefit of Level 34 was having enough Speed to attack before it. This advantage didn't last long when a Max Strike debuffed EWE. Drednaw's last 2 attacks were Max Darkness, and 3 Max Knuckles were sufficient to make turtle soup with Wooloo at about 1/3 max HP to spare.


Nessa's TM was. . .Whirlpool. TRs were the way to go, since they at least taught powerful moves in spite of the dated technology making them disappear after 1 use. EWE returned to the Wild Area and participated in more Raids for more suspiciously healthful candies.


I'll just mention the highlights here instead of every individual Raid. An AI Magikarp cast Hydro Pump against a Bonsly, making me wonder if GameFreak had expanded its pitiful moveset when I wasn't looking. Sure enough, while I was writing this post, I looked at Serebii and found out Magikarp could get it through a TR. And trolls seem to use Magikarp in online Raids just to sabotage the team. Except in my case, the AI controlling Magikarp actually helped! A giant Caterpie made for a good laugh, but was no stronger than a regular Caterpie. For the sake of petty revenge, EWE Headbutted all 3 of Chloe's Galar starters to death in one move to avenge the DEATH COUNT.


EWE had to roll to Galar Mine No. 2 east of Hulbury to advance the story. Bede awaited her at the entrance with a Level 21 Solosis, Level 22 Gothita, Level 23 Hatenna, and Level 22 Galar Ponyta. All were Psychic types that cast Psybeam or Confusion, which could still deal significant damage even when overleveled. Headbutt was the solution for the first 3 Pokemon, though EWE capitalized on Galar Ponyta's higher Speed and struck with a double power Payback after being hit with Confusion. It was a close battle at Level 35, and EWE held on with 28/77 HP.


All my readers will laugh at EWE when they learn she had to flee from a wild Level 25 Galar Stunfisk and narrowly avoided fainting. This Ground/Steel bear trap variant of a Unova Pokemon hit hard with the Fighting type Revenge and Mud Shot.


Workers and Rail Staff inside the mine sent out Carkol, Roggenrola, Timburr, Drilbur, and Onix in the 21-23 range. Double Kick proved useful here, and keeping Reversal would have been impractical outside of Dynamax battles because it only had high base power if HP was in critical range.


Team Yell Grunts blocked the path to the south with Thievul, Galar Linoone, Pancham, and Liepard to fit the "generic Dark type" theme. Hop led with Wooloo because his ambition was synchronized battles, which were not a Pokemon League event yet. Linoone Night Slashed only to fall to a Double Kick immediately afterwards. That Normal secondary type hurt the regional variant more than it helped. Thievul used decent tactics for an AI trainer and cast Torment after an initial Snarl to prevent EWE from Double Kicking consecutively. Pancham's Low Sweep decreased EWE's Speed after she tripped. Hop's Wooloo was a decent teammate for a joke Pokemon and finished the battle by Tackling Pancham.


Kabu the Fire Gym Leader said he preferred to train against Water types. He must not have known how the type chart worked, or that candy was the key to power in this game.


Motostoke Outskirts featured Koffing, Noctowl, and Sudowoodo in the grass. Only 2 trainers challenged EWE on this short route. Madame Caroline's Level 22 Yamper flinched after a Headbutt, and a Payback exploited Level 24 Swoobat's weakness to Dark after it cast Air Cutter. Police Officer Raymond sent out a Level 23 Growlithe as was typical of his trainer class. Its Attack decreasing Intimidate ability was mildly annoying, though 2 Headbutts were still enough to make it faint.


I think it was at this point that EWE replaced Defense Curl with the superior Defense buff Cotton Guard.


Fighting through these routes made me realize the subtle difference between battling trainers in earlier Pokemon installments vs. Shield. Crystal solos feel like a desperate attempt to gain every last experience point from underleveled opponents and endgame Rare Candy hoards to prepare for Red. Enemy trainers in Shield are more of an obstacle than a major source of levels, and weaker solo Pokemon depend on catch experience at the beginning and Wild Area candies later on. The way I handle it is to try to use only enough candies to give Wooloo a chance to win, not to make the game as easy as solo Feraligatr in Johto.


That said, EWE will probably have a sugar rush in a Gym where Fluffy is detrimental. . .


EWE the Wooloo Stats and Moves



Level 36 @ Shell Bell

Ability: Fluffy
Nature: Relaxed (+10% Defense, -10% Speed)
Characteristic: Alert to Sounds (highest IV is Speed)


HP: 79
Attack: 37
Defense: 57
Sp. Atk: 45
Sp. Def: 43
Speed: 48

Headbutt
Payback
Cotton Guard
Double Kick
 
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Pokemon Shield Solo Wooloo Part 7


Most of this session was played last night, though it was too late for me to type up a satisfactory post until today.


Before entering the Motostoke stadium again, Marnie challenged EWE to a battle in the Budew Drop Inn. Team Yell was essentially her hooligan fan club, though Marnie herself was pleasant to the player character. She opened with a Level 24 Croagunk that was free experience thanks to a Headbutt flinch. Level 24 Scraggy was Dark/Fighting and weak to Double Kick, though it took 2 hits to KO and EWE had to absorb a minor Low Kick. Low Kick was based on weight, and Wooloo had the advantages of both being light and Fluffy.


Level 26 Morpeko was Galar's designated Pikachu clone. Unlike others of its ilk, Morpeko was Electric/Dark and changed from a "happy" to an "angry" model every round. I didn't know its typing or gimmick at the time, so I tried alternating between Double Kick and Headbutt. Morpeko was durable for an Electric type, so EWE had to endure Thundershocks and a paralysis side effect. EWE triumphed at Level 36.


EWE maxed out her Dynamax level with more candies before taking on the Fire Gym. This time, Motostoke's stadium had an unusual challenge instead of enemy trainers in the conventional sense. It was a contest to either catch or defeat enough Pokemon in a Double Battle where the AI "ally" was trying to sabotage me. A pesky Salandit was irritating when it attacked Wooloo with Fake Out and Will o Wisp burn status. Catching Pokemon was worth more points than defeating them, so I decided to capture some and then reset the Gym Leader battle if EWE fainted in order to maintain the solo run.


The first try against Kabu was such a disaster that EWE didn't get to see his 2nd or 3rd Pokemon. His weakest monster was a Level 25 Kanto Ninetales that outsped Wooloo and cast Will o Wisp, Fire Spin, and Ember. With half Attack from Burn status, there was no way EWE could win.


(Before anyone asks, this is a no Battle Item solo, so EWE couldn't eat X items or Burn Heal.)


DEATH COUNT: 14


Wooloo's final move from level ups was Double Edge, a 120 power physical Normal move with recoil damage to the user. It was still the best the sheep had in a region without Return. Protect from a TM replaced Cotton Guard. Even at Level 40, Ninetales still outfoxed EWE with a fast Will o Wisp, and an Ember finished her off.


DEATH COUNT: 15


For the next attempt, a status curing Lum Berry hold item replaced the Shell Bell. This negated Ninetales's Will o Wisp, allowing EWE to KO it with 2 Double Edges. Kabu's next Pokemon was a cruel twist: a Level 25 Arcanine with passive Intimidate. To raise EWE's Attack back to normal, I clicked Dynamax then Max Knuckle. That combined with 2 Max Strikes wasn't enough, and an Agility buff combined with Flame Wheels torched Wooloo again.


DEATH COUNT: 16


On Take 4, EWE somehow dodged a Will o Wisp for a change. It wasn't because of Affection bonuses, because the only things Wooloo got out of brief experiments with camping was a few experience points and some occasional text in combat about being sleepy or something. Max Strike's Speed decrease let EWE act first and finish off Ninetales on the 2nd turn with a Max Knuckle. Arcanine also happened to know Will o Wisp, which was blocked by the Lum Berry. Max Strike followed by Double Edge after Dynamax wore off defeated the dog.


Kabu's last Pokemon was a Level 27 Centiskorch. But not just any Centiskorch. This one had Gigantamax powers. Gigantamax was a slightly enhanced version of Dynamax that came with a special move. In this case it was G-Max Centiferno, which roasted EWE after 2 rounds of the Bug type Max Flutterby and its irrelevant Sp. Atk debuff. To my dismay, Protect failed to nullify Dynamax attacks, much like how Z Moves could deal reduced damage to Protect in Alola. It seemed only Max Guard could block those.


DEATH COUNT: 17


EWE wolfed down some more candies to grow to Level 45 before trying again. I Protected on the first turn against Ninetales to try to manipulate its AI into not hitting with Will o Wisp, though it only cast Ember this time. Double Edge and a Double Kick knocked out the kitsune. Arcanine's Will o Wisp was cured, and EWE won that round with Max Knuckle and Max Strike after taking a Flame Wheel. EWE managed to KO herself with Double Edge recoil after surviving a Max Flutterby from Centiskorch.


DEATH COUNT: 18


The last couple ofattempts were made at Level 50. EWE finally outran Ninetales, though a regular Double Edge still failed to clobber it. Max Strikes were needed for a clean victory. Max Knuckles counteracted Intimidate, though Arcanine was hardy and could take a few hits. Two Double Edges could not break through Centiskorch's Gigantamax HP.


DEATH COUNT: 20


This must have been my hardest Pokemon variant ever. Halfway to the level cap, and Wooloo still could not beat the 3rd Gym with no enemy above 27. Without easy experience candies, you would be reading a solo Dubwool playthrough long before this point. There were only 2 solutions I could think of at this point: become even more obscenely overleveled, or track down a Substitute TR. Substitute would block Will o Wisp and Intimidate at the cost of 1/4 max HP, allowing EWE to buff her Attack to +3 with Max Knuckle.


At this point, I fought Raids for a long time in the Wild Area and begged each Watt trader to sell the TR. SOLEDAD the trainer had enough Watts to buy several, but no one was willing to sell one to her until this morning. I can't emphasize enough how much of a relief this was to finally get Substitute. None of the Normal Raid monsters bothered to drop it and yielded endless Tri Attacks instead of something for Wooloo's meager move selection.


EWE the Wooloo Stats and Moves



Level 50 @ Nothing

Ability: Fluffy
Nature: Relaxed (+10% Defense, -10% Speed)
Characteristic: Alert to Sounds (highest IV is Speed)


HP: 106
Attack: 50
Defense: 78
Sp. Atk: 61
Sp. Def: 58
Speed: 66

Double Edge
Payback
Protect
Double Kick
 
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Pokemon Shield Solo Wooloo Part 8


Substitute was absolutely worthless in the Kabu battle. His AI was not predictably stupid like I had hoped, and Ninetales kept casting Ember, which always dealt more than 1/4 max HP and thus broke the Substitute doll. No Will o Wisp when I wanted it most. White Herb failed to stop Arcanine's Intimidate too. Maybe it only works on debuff side effects for moves like Superpower, Draco Meteor, and Overheat? Experimenting with the Shell Bell was no more successful. On Take 1 of this session, Arcanine's Flame Wheel scored the KO. On Takes 2-3, EWE perished after being hit with either G-Max Centiferno or her own Double Edge.


DEATH COUNT: 23


EWE eventually succeeded while still at Level 50, but it was because of luck rather than my skill. She had the Lum Berry equipped again, and this time Ninetales promptly cast Will o Wisp. Why couldn't that happen in the Substitute attempts? Arcanine whiffed its Will o Wisp, and EWE set up all 3 Max Knuckles. A Double Edge picked off Arcanine when it was at low HP, and with +2 Attack, one Double Edge slew the giant Centiskorch! Most of the damage EWE took this time was from her own Double Edge at the end based on Centiskorch's Dynamax HP.



SOLEDAD the trainer received the Will o Wisp TM for her victory, a useful move for a change. But still incompatible with Wooloo. At this point I was anxious for Hop to shut up about the Wild Area for long enough that I could save. No need for a stats section for this part because EWE hadn't leveled up.
 
Pokemon Shield Solo Wooloo Part 9


To reach the city of Hammerlocke, SOLEDAD biked through the Wild Area to the northeast. I had been to the entrance before, but a gatekeeper prevented entry until I got the first 3 badges. Hammerlocke had dark medieval castle walls surrounding it, giving it a distinctive look. Mr. Focus in one house was a joke battle with a Level 2 Cottonee. . .with the infamous Focus Sash and Endeavor moveset to take EWE down to 1 HP. Someone at GameFreak wanted to reference the Diamond/Pearl Rattata. A Focus Sash was the reward for this battle.


EWE and all other solos were barred from participating in a Battle Cafe meal because this was only for Double Battles. She couldn't go to the Gym yet either, as Raihan the Dragon trainer would only accept challengers with 7 badges. Instead, SOLEDAD and EWE climbed the rocky Route 6 to enter the town of Stow-on-Side.


Team Yell Grunts wanted to stop challengers from moving through the route because they wanted to make sure their favorite Ground type Siliconda could stay asleep. They were unexpectedly challenging because the first Grunt had a Stunky that dealt passive Aftermath recoil upon death, in addition to the Double Edge damage. A Galar Linoone was easy to kill with Double Kick, and a Liepard wasn't much tougher.


Double Edge recoil almost caused a loss against random route trainers too. EWE won a battle against Beauty Anita's Levels 29-30 Clefairy and Clefable with only 28/106 HP. Backpacker Ruth's Throh was also a threat with its always critical Fighting type Storm Throw. Artist Duncan had a face that made me think he would stab passerby when no one else was looking, though his Levels 29-31 Koffing and Sudowoodo were ordinary and could be defeated with Double Edge and Double Kick.


Hop wanted to cheer up after his loss to Bede by fighting me again in Stow-on-Side. He opened with a previously unseen Water/Flying Level 28 Cramorant which died to one Double Edge. Level 30 Silicobra Dug underground and forced me to waste a turn with Substitute. A second Double Edge and a Double Kick ensured it wouldn't slither around for a while. Level 33 Drizzile needed both a Sucker Punch and a Water Pulse to break the Substitute doll, and a Double Edge and Double Kick combo beat the Water starter. The Electric/Poison Toxel was Level 29 and had low Defense, making it easy prey for Double Edge. This was a close match as EWE only survived with 15/108 HP thanks to the Shell Bell.


Hop wasn't even the worst battle in this town. Both versions' Gyms would have been difficult for a weak Normal type like Wooloo. At least with Sword's Fighting Gym, EWE would have been able to use her best attacks. Instead, she was stuck with Shield's Ghost Gym where everything was immune to Double Edge and Double Kick. The gimmick here was riding down a sort of pinball course on a vehicle that required mildly rotating the joystick to move through. It wasn't as bad as it might sound to some of my readers.


EWE had to leave to heal at the Pokemon Center after every Gym Trainer battle to have enough PP for her only viable damaging move, Payback. 10 uses was low for a move with normally 50 base power. EWE's opponents sent out Pumpkaboos, Phantump, Haunter, and Drifblim.


The most significant encounter was with a Level 32 Galar Corsola used by Lynne. It was a bleached and sad-looking Ghost type as a commentary on global warming who had a nasty habit of casting Disable. Double Kicks were used to waste turns while Corsola was shooting Ancient Power, and by the time EWE connected with enough Paybacks, she was only at 12/108 HP. If at any point you ask yourself "Am I overleveled?" during a solo Wooloo playthrough, the answer is "NO!"


Allister the Gym Leader always wore a mask. He opened with a Level 34 Galar Yamask that used Disable as much as Galar Corsola. Its Wandering Spirit ability turned Fluffy against Wooloo and made her Paybacks deal less damage. Its Brutal Swing wasn't powerful, but its Disable allowed it to stall for many turns if the AI was being cruel.


As if Yamask was not enough of a problem, Allister's 2nd Pokemon was a Level 34 Mimikyu. Its secondary Fairy type made Payback neutral, and Disguise blocked some damage from the first attack. The fake Pikachu liked to use Baby Doll Eyes, a sort of priority Growl. With reduced Attack, EWE barely defeated Mimikyu and saw the 3rd Pokemon, a Level 35 Cursola that used the Curse ailment to reduce HP at the end of every round. This wasn't technically a DEATH COUNT because EWE ran out of Payback PP and could do nothing. I then reset the game to avoid wasting time with my character in a "walking dead" state.


PP LOSS: 1


It was now obvious that EWE needed a 2nd move that could hit Ghost types, but Wooloo suffered from a shortage of attacks unlike most Normal monsters. The only options were Electro Ball, a special attack that dealt damage based on how much the user outsped the opponent, or Wild Charge, a 90 power physical move with recoil damage. I tried Electro Ball first. Yamask wasted many turns with Disable as before. Electro Ball broke Mimikyu's Disguise. EWE had a Dynamax growth spurt and attacked Max Darkness, though this did not prevent Mimikyu from buffing its Attack with Hone Claws and Slashing open the sheep.


DEATH COUNT: 24


EWE's next attempt was at Level 55 and with Wild Charge instead of Electro Ball. Yamask was immune to Electric attacks due to being part Ground, but EWE tricked it into disabling Substitute instead of Payback. Baby Doll Eyes from Mimikyu softened EWE's attacks, but at least Cursola committed suicide with Curse. Level 36 Gengar had a Gigantamax form that was mostly a head, a wide open void of a mouth, and arms. Gengar didn't mind EWE being immune to its main Ghost type, and used its secondary Poison type to drench the arena with Max Ooze.


DEATH COUNT: 25


EWE ate more candy than an entire town during Halloween and leveled to 60. Her troubles began when Yamask Disabled Payback again. Though I had a new idea this time: Max Lightning from Wild Charge. This not only dealt heavy Electric damage, but also created the Electric Terrain effect that would make future Max Lightnings or Wild Charges 50% stronger. EWE came close to victory when Gengar wasted its first turn on a weak Max Darkness, though regular Payback even with doubled power couldn't reduce its Gigantamax HP to 0.


DEATH COUNT: 26


Success came when Yamask Disabled Substitute. EWE's Substitute lasted into the Mimikyu phase, and she took advantage of that by hitting with Payback and Electro Ball before finishing off the Alola favorite with Max Lightning. Cursola had fragile enough Defense that an Electric Terrain boosted Max Lightning defibrillated it. Dynamax lasted long enough for one Max Darkness before EWE reverted to her regular size and exorcised Gengar with a final Payback. Allister's AI wasted the opportunity to win by clicking Max Darkness twice. Wooloo triumphed at Level 60 with around 70/126 HP. Hex was the TM reward and was as useless for this playthrough as the others.


Fortunately for EWE, she won't have to face a Red caliber Champion. Leon's Pokemon are in the 60s according to Serebii, so it may be possible even if Wooloo has to eat enough candies to be at Level 100.


EDIT: I forgot to type the stats section!


EWE the Wooloo Stats and Moves



Level 60 @ Shell Bell

Ability: Fluffy
Nature: Relaxed (+10% Defense, -10% Speed)
Characteristic: Alert to Sounds (highest IV is Speed)


HP: 126
Attack: 60
Defense: 93

Sp. Atk: 74
Sp. Def: 69
Speed: 80

Double Edge
Payback
Protect
Wild Charge
 
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Pokemon Shield Solo Wooloo Part 10


Once Allister was defeated, a loud noise was heard in Stow-on-Side. Bede was trying to destroy the mural with a borrowed Copperajah elephant, but it seemed that SOLEDAD caught her just in time. EWE set up a Substitute in front of the lead Level 32 Duosion, though its Psybeam easily broke it. It generated both Reflect and Light Screen defenses for its team, so Paybacks only dealt half damage for a few rounds. Bede healed Duosion with some item I can't remember as well. Level 35 Hattrem took a Double Edge and required a Payback finisher, allowing it to cast Psybeam once. Level 32 Gothorita and Level 33 Galar Ponyta both fell to one Double Edge, resulting in a slim 28/126 HP victory.



The Pokemon League chairman Rose was so disappointed with Bede's lack of regard for historical sites that he stripped her of her Gym Challenger status. The mural collapsed entirely shortly afterwards and revealed a cave with 2 wolf statues. One wielded a sword and one bore a shield. This was thought to be a reference to the 2 heroes that saved Galar from the Darkest Day, as depicted in the tapestry. It was suggested that the historical records ignored 1 hero because there was only 1 statue in the Budew Drop Inn. (Or maybe they couldn't afford 2 monuments or something. . .)


SOLEDAD's next stop was Glimwood Tangle, a dark forest filled with mushrooms to illuminate the path. It looked visually distinct from other Pokemon forests. The wild Pokemon theme here was the Fairy type. Various goblins like the Dark/Fairy Impidimp and Morgrem lurked in the grass, as well as Shiinotic the Grass/Fairy mushroom from Alola.


One embarrassing moment occurred when I forgot to heal after the Bede battle. EWE promptly fainted to Double Edge recoil against Cook Derek's team.


DEATH COUNT: 27


Cook Derek's squad of Milcery, Shiinotic, and Sinistea the Ghost teacup was easily defeated when EWE was at full health like she should have been in the first place. Would a British region be complete without a tea Pokemon? Madame Judy sent out 2 Indeedees that succumbed to Double Edge. It was only after the fight that I learned that Indeedee was Normal/Psychic like Girafarig and Oranguru instead of a Fairy type.


The mushroom forest town of Ballonlea was much brighter than the Glimwood Tangle, though it kept the Fairy theme. Giving a letter to an old man in one house from what may have been a ghost provided a Choice Scarf, a 50% boost to Speed with the drawback of being locked into 1 move until switching. Generally not a good choice for a solo run unless you're a slow but powerful attacker.


Pokemon Breeder Elena was much more helpful. She promised a way to make Pokemon strong without evolution, which got my hopes up for the Eviolite. Sure enough, she handed it to EWE after her Level 30 Dottler wielding the item died. Now EWE had 50% more Defense and Special Defense barring the odd Knock Off or Embargo disabling it in combat. Ballonlea got even better for Wooloo when she found the Rest TM. Combined with the Sleep Talk TR from the Wild Area, and now a new defensive strategy was possible. Whenever EWE's health was low, she could count sheep and sleep off the damage. Sleep Talk had a chance of picking an attack move, so the 2 turn downtime wasn't as bad.


Another discovery happened while talking to the Move Relearner. Substitute showed up on the "forgotten moves" list, meaning TRs could be relearned without penalty and were not truly "single use" for the purposes of a solo run. Headbutt replaced Double Edge both to avoid recoil damage and take advantage of the flinch chance. Raw power wasn't as necessary now that EWE had a healing move.


Opal's Gym was presented as an audition on a stage, and all battles were mandatory. Gym Trainers here used Spritzee, Slurpuff, Swirlix, Aromatisse, Morgrem, and Gardevoir in the 34-35 level range. During each combat, a quiz question would appear, and answering correctly or incorrectly would raise or lower EWE's stats. Taking notes in Microsoft Word paid off when one question was about the previous trainer's name. But "what do I eat for breakfast every morning?" might as well have been a coin flip because there was no way to know. I picked "curry" because this game (and Tales of [whatever]) are obsessed with it, but the answer was "omelet". This cost EWE some Defense and Special Defense for the rest of the battle.



When EWE won her audition, she was at Level 61. Opal led with a Level 36 Poison/Fairy Galar Weezing, complete with top hat smokestacks. No Pokemon could fit the idea of the Victorian gentleman better. Weezing tended to use Sludge, which dealt minor damage at most. About 3 Headbutts could KO the regional variant, and one scored a flinch. The quiz question for this part was about Opal's nickname. I guessed "wizard", and EWE's Speed rose to +2 as a reward.


Level 36 Mawile was another Intimidate monster, much to my displeasure. Pokemon games tend to be biased against physical attackers, at least if they don't have a move like Swords Dance or Dragon Dance to increase their stats. Saying Opal's favorite color was "purple" based on her outfit yielded a +2 bonus to Defense and Special Defense. Telling the truth about Opal being 88 years old instead of 16 was an Attack and Special Attack penalty. When she demanded such cheap flattery, she was demoted to "biddy" instead of remaining a respectable "crone".


Mawile required so many Wild Charges to kill that EWE was at 4/15 PP. Its minor Draining Kiss attack and Iron Defense buff prolonged the fight. Next came Level 37 Togekiss, which cast ineffectual Air Slashes as EWE Rested. A misclick happened at one point when I chose Wild Charge instead of Sleep Talk.


Opal's last Pokemon was a Level 38 Alcremie, which became a wedding cake with Gigantamax. Not the first time I've fought an enemy like that in an RPG! Alcremie's only attack was a wimpy G-Max Finale that was based on Draining Kiss. Its other moves were Acid Armor to increase its Defense and Sweet Kiss to inflict confusion. The latter seemed like a relief at first, because self-inflicted damage might have offered the opportunity to stall out Alcremie's PP. But this was not to happen. EWE Struggled herself to death after many rounds of hoping for a critical hit that ignored enemy buffs and EWE's lowered Attack.


DEATH COUNT: 28


EWE adopted more offensive tactics for Round 2. One Headbutt made Galar Weezing flinch, though poison status from Sludge required Resting when Mawile appeared. Lying and saying Opal looked 16 increased Attack to +1. A few rounds of enemy Crunches and EWE's Wild Charges left Mawile at low enough HP to finish off with a Max Lightning. Electric Terrain ensured a 1 hit knockout against Togekiss, and 2 Max Strikes demolished Alcremie the cake when Booster wasn't available. Since EWE was healed automatically after this battle, I couldn't find the exact HP result. It was in the "medium" range, not healthy or critical. Draining Kiss was the TM reward. Perhaps useful for defensive Fairy types, but not for a Wooloo.


EWE the Wooloo Stats

Level 61 @ Eviolite


Ability: Fluffy
Nature: Relaxed
Characteristic: Alert to Sounds


HP: 128
Attack: 61
Defense: 95
Sp. Atk: 78
Sp. Def: 72
Speed: 81


Headbutt
Rest
Sleep Talk
Wild Charge
 
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