Challenge I do Ultra Sun solo challenges

twillight

I did all these:
1 - Ariados
2 - Magenzone
3 - Arbok
4 - Crabominable
5 - Persian (alolan)
6 - Malamar
7 - Ribombee
8 - Gumshoos
9 - Salamance
10 - Delibird part1 part2 part3 part4 part5
11 - Sudowoodo part1 part2
12 - Luvdisc
13 - Blissey
14 - Beedril
15 - Raticate (alolan)
16 - Politoed
17 - Ditto
18 - Metagross
19 - Hariyama
20 - Goodra
21 - Decidueye
22 - Minior
23 - Trevenant (total fail, traded pokemons are just not working out for me)
24 - Tsareena
25 - Castform
26 - Omastar
27 - Cradily
28 - Aurorus
29 - Archeops
30 - Tyrantrum
31 - Kabutops
32 - Rampardos
33 - Relicanth
34 - Armaldo
35 - Carracosta
36 - Electabuzz

I make notes on the important battles, here is my fossils-chart:

fossils chart.jpg

You have questions, I have answers.
 
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Pineapple1001 said:
Hi! It’s nice seeing runs of my favorite Pokémon games, here are some questions.
Did you have any runs in particular that you enjoyed doing?
Hardest?
Any you are looking forward to doing?
Click to expand...
Enjoyed: Tyrantrum (sry, my brain always mixes this with Tyranitar) was a fun strong pokemon. As I usualy do the lamest possible tier looking for those that can not do it, it was a much needed refreshment.
Malamar was my first, and I made a lot of mistakes that influenced my chances, plus I was determined to not use the "Superpower is a buff" ability as long as possible... It was though, but I totaly loved it.
Crabominable also had a lot of things to show. It is not the loser it looks like - at least mine with peak speed IV was not. It is surprisingly resilient to damage, and can hit, plus I think the design is funny.

Hardest: Sudowoodo, Delibird and Ariados were where I "pissed blood". Even with the affliction-system maxed through the roof. Plus back then I did not touch the speed-up-gameplay option, so it took forver too.
I also add Luvdisc, which proved surprisingly competent. Sure, in the end it was using Hydro Pump (super strong, super inaccurate move) and praying to the RNG to make it connect who-knows-how-many times, but the little fish did it, Well, until the postgame, because Faba proved unbeatable even with saving between moves.
Lastly Ditto. For that one I had to stretch the Solo Challenge Rules to the max, because there is this Team Skull encounter when you enter Poni Canyon, and normaly you can not win that. But speedrunners do this thing, that when they are switched out by Roar or other such moves (to HM-friends), they just switch back getting a hit. That loophole was waht I used, although I switched myself out. That at least made The League possible.
Btw, Decidueye was something that I both enjoyed, and proved to be "hardest". I did not bother with EV-traning it, what was both a mistake and source of fun, because this way it was a very good mixed attacker, only later had to adjust things to max its Speed out. But the Postgame definitely demands specialisation one way or another, so I just didn't do that. Making berries takes literal days, and I was just not into that. Its problem by the way was, that Dark-type damage is everywhere in the game, so anything that has a dark-type weakness is just not fun to play.

Looking forward: I'm moving towards The Slow Ones, meaning anything below 45 Speed, plus there are a select few I'm interrested in, because of a gimmick:
Not Slow Ones: Ledian (obvisouly pathetic pokemon), Mr. Mime, Dugtrio (these two have very low HP), Hawlucha (thiy trying to mix its types into one sounds worth a run), Spinda (it's Castform, but physical. I'm not a fan of its condition-gimmick either). Dunsparce, Carbink, Tropius. Also Registeel, because if I have to go to ultraspace to hunt for pokemon, I might as well do a legendary too.
And the real slow ones, where not even a speed-boosting nature and good speed IV can help: Torkoal, Parasect, Slowbro/Slowking (only one of these), Snorlax, Magcarg, Shiinotic, Stunfisk, Quagsire, Corsola, Toxapex, Mudsdale, Pallosand, Turtonator, Gastrodon, Probopass, Beheeyem, Golisopod, Kecleon, araquanid. And finaly Shedinja, if I can wizard it into the game.
Currently doing Electabuzz, which isn't even a fully evolved pokemon, and literaly only have 5 moves to work with (and my Hidden Power does not help either, because it turned out to be Electric).
 
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Ultra Sun with Gastrodon​


So, I thought, it's time to make some of The Slow Ones. I made the save during the Electabuzz-run, so I could go for SOS-chain. Because if it is slow, it better have stats. On this sidenote, WHEN one summons an ally IMMEDIATELY knock it down, and continue the chain with the new one. I tested it, and 1 ally per mon is what you get here. Considering Relicanth, we must consider ourselves lucky.

Anyway, I got one with neutral nature which Speed was only like 10 IV, but I thought this is a perfect pokemon to check out how a Slow One works. It has decent bulk just be looking at it, and practicaly no weaknesses (the only grass-type move that threatened me was Tsarena's Z-move during the gauntlet-trial), PLUS it has Recover, what is seriously good.

The HUGH problem here is, that like Electrabuzz, it practicaly has no ove-variety. It has 2 water-moves (Muddy Water and Scald), 2 ice-move (Blizzard and Ice Beam), 1 poison move (at this point you don't have to worry about double-battles, so, you know), and that's pretty much it, at least until you reach The League, where you can get Mud Bomb from the Move-reminder (which I did not use in the end).

Went against the Team Skull-line at lvl 50, but in the end you have to do serious grinding to have a chance against Totem Kommo-o. There I went at lvl 67 with Blizzard. Not the most accurate move, but you only have to use like 2 times.

DMN: Muddy Water Z, 67

UN: Bliizard choice spec, survived 1 turn naturaly, 1 on affliction

I pretty much left on Choice Spec for the gauntlet-run. Mina: muddy water. Ilima: I used sludge wave at 68, but muddy water (or scald) would probably be better (higher damage results in less hits to take). Mallow was an important lesson, as it turned out, Tsareena has a Z-move, and grass is devastating, so had to use an affliction here, plus Blizzard was the move to use (Ice Beam is only on Victory Road unfortunately). Kiawe and the Hiker: muddy water. Sophocles: mw. Totem Ribombee: Sludge Wave Z, and Scald finishes the rest (that burn is super-helpful against the Blissey). Finaly Hapu: scald.

Gladion 3 was Blizzard start, then Scald. The starter on this save-file was Decidueye. I know, most fair would have been Primarina, but I shrugged that off for now.

The League went from right to left, its 2 ice beam metronome and 2 scald metronome. Nothing really effects you from their side. Hau was not too bad, used Sludge Wave and Recover. Without the healing that would be candies or affliction.

POSTGAME:

Not interrested. The naked snail design doesn't really catch me, and I dleiberately left in the low speed IV, not even rolling for a damage-boosting nature. And just by the look of it, maybe at times I'd re-draw the EVs to physical build to use Return... After all there's only 9 base point difference in ATK and SAtk, so it'd definitely wouldn't be farfetch'd, but I lack the patient to even try. Theoreticaly it has the moves to succeed, unless of course Faba stands in the way, what is not at all impossible.

gastrodon.jpg
 

Ultra Sun with Palossand​


This was very similar to Gastrodon, meaning similar speed, similar bulk, both had access to healing moves.. A bit more weaknesses, and a more diverse movepool now. This time I got better IVs and a boosting nature, so healing was less necessary, but the main lesson of this run was teaching me about bulk. Bulk is good, can compensate for some of the speed lost. To be honest, most of the speed lost.

Now I came out of training pretty late, because I wanned Earth Power to fight Totem Togedemaru. And, you know, you must grind sooner or later anyway. Used Iron Defense, Earth Power and Shadow Ball there.

Most of the stuff was delt with Shadow Ball. It is pretty much as effective as Dark-type damage, plus it deals at least neutral damage, and this time it is STAB, so it was pretty all-around move.

At Nanu Giga Drain took over, but at lvl 57 I still needed more speed. I mean You would need, as I just passed with affliction. Those bloody Z-moves really teaches you, Do Not Neglect Speed.

As a sidenote I mention that after the Aether Island the Choice Spec will become very useful alternative to Metronome, many times preferable over that.

Totem Kommo-o went dow to Psychic Z.

DMN: Shadow Ball Z.

UN: Shadow Ball Z at 73, at which level I easily (49 HP left) tanked a hit. Bulk is good.

Then came the gauntlet-trials, where Earth Power and Sludge Bomb dominated. Hapu though was Psychic.

Against Gladion I started to grind for levels, but at 80 it got very sluggish, so looked through my backpack, and realised i have Rock Polish, and form that it became easy-peasy. I wrote up my speed this time, it was 140, and that was not at all enough, worst enemy being the Zoroark, which either did Dark Z, or Grass Knot, both super-effective, so you definitely need to ouspeed there.

Anyway, started The League with 17 candies, went right to left: Sludge Bomb, Shadow Ball, Shadow Ball (I was going to preserve PP, and this just worked first try), Earth Power.

Hau was no biggy, given I had Sludge Bomb, a powerful poison move, and my starter was the owl, so he had Primarina and fire-eevee.

POSTGAME:

I thought I'll try my luck with this one, just to see how it goes. It is clearly a special attacker, I won't need to try to respec to physical build, just see in this form how it goes. It's kinda good all in all until now after all.

And I was right. Went against the Z-Boss for first as he is as usual the weakest. Earth Power the Carbink, then Shadow Ball.

RR: Archie: Shadow Ball. Maxie: Shadow Ball. Lysandre: Sludge Bomb. Cyrus: earth power*2, poison sludge, psyíchic, earth power. - and an affliction was needed at 94, so there was space for improvement. Ghetsis: Earth Power, except against Hydrei... which was Sludge Bomb. again, an affliction was needed, but there was still room for leveling up. I forgot to heal, but shrugged and tried anyway. The Dugtrio did Sandstorm what is good, outsped the majority of his team, then got the affliction against MU2X. Earth Power for the win!

Red / Blue: went for Red, just to figure it out wether it is possible, after all he is stronger, but possibly smoother. At lvl 100 (no hyper training!) Sludge Bomb on metronome took him out. Now THIS felt satisfying.

palossand.jpg


With now lernt about bulk, I see some more runs as "unnecessary" (and traveling the ultra-space for legendaries is too hard for me), so currently the list of my planned runs are, in order of expected difficulty:
Dugtrio, Beheeyem, Araquanid, Jynx, Golisopod, Stunfisk, Dunsparce, Corsola, Spinda, Probopass, Parasect, Shiinotic Toxapex, Bastiodon, Ledian Magcargo, Turtonator, Torkoal
 

Ultra Sun with Beheeyem​


I'm slowly working my way towards Bastiodon, this is the next step towards that goal.

First grinded to evolve, because yes, I can still use my savefile at Totem Togedemaru. Then I went in, used Echoed Voice to shoot things down, and when the Skarmory hit me with Taunt switched to Psychic and Charge Beam.

Against Guzma you definitely need Protect, on the other hand you have an electric move, even if not the best, it works.

Totem Mimikyu as always a nuisance, but Psychic with Choice Spec at lvl 54 was fine, assuming the Banette did not Curse me.

Plumeria is again negligeable, Gladion is a bit annoying, but Nanu is finaly a bit interresting: Signal Beam works best at him, pretty much a one-time move for this run, and Protect mitigates the Z-move's damage so you don't have to grind like 2 more levels from 67. That's still 10 level of grinding from the Gladion-fight (57).

Against Lusamine Psychic on metronome works again, no biggy, especialy that I had nature-boosted damage. And was STAB.

Totem Kommo-o: Psychic Z

DMN: Shadow Ball Z

UN: Shadow Ball Z at lvl 72, and I both had the bulk AND the damage to knock it down full legit

The gauntlet-trial is pretty much Shadow Ball and Psychic, the interresting part is Totem Rimbombee, where sure, Psychic Z is nothing new, but Steel Wing, a physical move works wonders on the Blissey. Hapu is Energy Ball.

Gladion 3 was again a big wall, because his pokemons are fast (actualy faster than the pokemons of The League!), and that Dark Z is just too much, plus the chip-damage, and the Sucker Punches... Passed at 86, 11 more levels after Hapu.

Let's talk a bit on moves that worth holding to. Recover is something you will like, but Calm Mind is simply not needed, and you get it as TM later too. So you have 2-3 moveslots to work with, and I regularly swapped in-and-out moves. Would have been easier if I would have known I could remove Calm Mind. Then when you go in The League, I suggest bringing in Signal Beam. You don't absolutely need it, but it makes life much easier, despite at this point I was using candies obviously.

Went from right to left as usual: Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball. Real shame is, Mirror Coat is not a priority-move, so it is useless thinking using that against the Klefki. Passed Molayne at 88 at the price of 1 affliction (beside removing the paralyzis).

Against Hau I won at 91, though that jump is mostly thanks to I was inevstigating empiricaly wether I can shoot down the Tauros, and did not try Signal Beam, because that's one less charge on metronome. Turned out that was unnecessary, and despite not really outspeeding like anything, you have the bulk to stand the damage (you outspeed Primarina, Flareon and Crabominable with my speed).

POSTGAME:

I'm not interrested. The design does not touch me, the stats are very similar to Palossand, there's no mechanical gimmick, so I'm just moving on to the next playthrough.

beheeyem.jpg
 

Ultra Sun with Probopass​


This is an important run, because we've reached a limit. The limit under which pokemons will have to rely on affliction.

Sure, everything falls back to movesets in the end, but the stats reached the limits considering power of moves, bulk, damage-ranges, speed...

I consider myself bloody lucky choosing this nature to fall on, boosting damage instead of speed. From the previous playthroughs I knew the speed of a pokemon with base speed 40 should be enough. And it was. Actualy, 35 could work the same. But under that...

But let's start it the beginning.

Evolving is only possible after Totem Togedemaru, so I was leveling up, and sometimes remembering I wanna shimmy this up to max affliction, just to be sure. I got there at 42 (the answer to the universe, life and everything), and Earth Power easily delt with the hedgehog.

The other important move was Power Gem. That thing has high damage (especialy considering Ancient Power's 50), and ton of PP. And hits 100% of the time. A bit overpowered, I'd say, but not complaining.

Totem Mimikyu was Power Gem on Choice Spec - an item this pokemon fell back most of the times.

I did not like Gladion, or any dual-battles in which I had to fall back to Discharge, that's just a nasty move, but Volt Switch has its own problems, so what can one do until island 4 and machop shove to get Thunderbolt, right?

Now Nanu was the first real problem, grinded from 52 to 58, and still only won because the Krokorok for some unfathomable reason decided it'll Swagger me instead of Earthquake. Oh, how I hate when that move is supereffective against me!

At Lusamine I used Tri Attack, a kinda useless move in this run, although until I just HAD TO switch it off, it surved well. No grinding, at 62 it was a first try victory, but only because I got 2 affliction, and the Beware for Azatoth's command tried to use Zen Headbutt against me. Well, I took my victory and ran away before somebody start asking questions.

Passed Kommo-o at 71, I so "love" when you have the super-effective move, but no Z-crystal. So I used Choice Spec.

DMN: earth power, choice spec

UN: dazzling gleam, choice spec, still at lvl 71, because this thing simply couldn't harm me in any meaningful way.

Then it was a series of Earth Power and Power Gem, until reached Hapu's grand trial at lvl 73, and my nose got bashed so hard it bled. Hard. The only move I could fall back, which was not resisted, was Dazzling Gleam (I'd've welcomed it when going against Lusamine by the way). Probopass simply does not have anything else here, and you should be happy with the neutral damage. And that is a problem. I always considered Hapu a good final trial-master with pretty bulky pokemons, but this was a bit much. Passed at 89, and only because I critted the first two pokemon of the dw.... magical forest creature. And that was with 232 special attack on choice spec.

Gladion 3 after this with thunderbolt was a laughingstock, but our trials did not end yet.

The League you can do in like any order you wish, though Molayne is always the hardest. Entered at lvl 90, at Molayne was 91, if that matters. I only had to use Power Gem (has 20 PP, so that's fine) and Earth Power (needs an Elixir to refill PP). I brought in Magnet Rise, but it was not needed - or simply was no time to apply it.

See, Hau was the final frontier here, and if he was that hard, the postgame would totaly just falling back on affliction, and I just don't care that much about Mr. Corn Moustache. It started with Raichu, which started with the supereffective Focus Blast. So activating Magnet Rise was out of question. Next, just to mess with me, came Tauros. That thing has BULK, not to mention can deal damage. It's Earthquake did ca. the same as Raichu, if affliction did not activate of course. And though I did pass first try at 92, I loaded back, and rolled to not get any affliction, at least until the Primarina, as the second half I could oneshot all. The Noivern did some negligeable damage, still counts, but I had enough bulk to tank that damage too, though I had like 30 HP left top. So outspeeding the first three just didn't really happen, thus my only option was to oneshot the Primarina. I sped the game to 10 times speed, and started shooting to a roll where I did no crit, and still could oneshot the seel. Because I wanned to know, if it is within the range, or out of it. After like 20 tries, I finaly got the oneshot, so yes, it IS possible, though barely, to solo with Probopass, no affliction. But this was at level 100, the bulk was at its limit, the damage was just range, and the speed just did not help more (had maximum IV, but obviously you can see it on the attached picture, as well can put the lvl 100 stats into the calculator).

So this is it. It was quit enjoyable, but this is a treshold. There are more pokemons coming, but yeah, we got to some goal.

probopass.jpg
 

Ultra Sun with Tyranitar​


As it is a pseudo-legendary when I've seen I have a Pupitar in one of my savefiles, I made the run with it, despite being a random pokemon with speed-hindering nature on top of it. Because it is a pseudo-legendary. What of course doesn't mean it faces no problems.

I had the Pupitar on my party while training up the previous two pokemons I made playthrough with, so went in to Totem Togedemaru at 44, and buldozed it to the ground, and Guzma wasn't a problem either (have Protect though), but then we got to Totem Mimikyu, and I did not check the shops, so had to train to 54 and used Earthquake to pass the test. Maybe Shadow Claw could have helped, maybe not.

Lusamine was the point I did have to check the shops, because despite all my stats, Return did kinda nothing. So I bought Aerial Ace and put it on metronome, and passed at 65 (grinded from 60). My guess here the AI is choosing moves at random, as the Beware again could have just off me, but did not.

Then Totem Kommo-o posed a problem, had to grind from 69 to 73, so finaly Aerial Ace Z put it down, with support from the Sandstorm conjured by the ability. Scary how many pokemon simply do not have more than 1 ability.

DMN: Crunch Z

UN: Crunch Z, and had enough bulk to tank one hit. On the sidenote if your pokemon can have Sturdy, you should play with the tought. Funny thing was, Probopass did not need that here, but elsewhere it was life-saver - and its other ability was even more useless, that was the only thing I had it running!

Mina: earthquake

Ilima: crunch (you won't believe how long it too me realising dark is STAB now)

Mallow: aerial ace

Kiawe and the Hiker: earthquake (and of course have crunch, or rock slide or something just in case Curse Body activates, and there is the bird... I think such stuff is obvious, you will have something at you anyway with the 4 moveslots)

Sophocles: earthquake

Totem Ribombee: Rock Slide Z at lvl 74

Hapu: crunch

Gladion 3: rock slide -> Brick Break. Rock Polish is advisable.

Went in to The League at 76 with 17 candies, and no intention for the POSTGAME. It is a physical pseudo-legendary with Earthquake, Return, and more. Obviously it could. Even if the speed would be an issue, that's my fault not picking a damage-boosting or speed-boosting nature So why bother, we could learn absolutely nothing from it. Now back to The League:

Kahili: Rock Slide

Acerola: Crunch

Olivia: Earthquake

Molayne: Earthquake (an elixir refilled to PP)

Hau: now Hau "of course" had all kinds of super-effective move against not-godzilla, so I had to start consuming candies. The Raichu outsped and shot Focus Blast, the Tauros outsped and hit with Earthquake (and was 2 hit anyway), and the Primarina was 2-shot too. Crabominable and Flareon was meh, the Noivern did some minor damage - but that still could terminate the run.

So I started to try the run after each candy, hoping for the necessary afflictions, or just turning the tide by incrising the stats. At lvl 87 got 1-1 affliction against Tauros and Primarina, and the rest could not stop me (obviously), so that was the end of this.


tyranitar.jpg
 
Spent my day researching my forthcoming playthroughs, and at least could determine some pokemon's damage-type to plan on.
I'm still not sure about toxapex (leaning towards special), Bastiodon weirld looks like special is the way, Spinda will be special more likely.
Can't decide on Ledian and Torkoal. Ledian would be easier if I could land my hand on one with hidden Ability, and the right nature, AND excellent IVs. I might have to dwelve into breeding, pfff. So not want that.
The best thing is, I give 1% chance now to Turture-nator. It is obviously a special build, and with my current experience I just MIGHT be able to pull this off finding one with SOS-chain.
 
Here is an update people considering solo runs might find useful.
I sorted the pokemons I want to do runs with under which starter I will pick. Resistances and stuff. So I'll need 3 archive saves, one for each starter.
The goal was to reach Royal Avenue, collect as many different species as possible for the sake of PokePelago (didn't bother with the 1% and SOS allies, got comfortably over 75 pokemon without buying a single pokeball), and then have enough BP to buy EV-training items for everyone, and an Ability Capsule (Mantine-surfing for the win). Also Timer Balls - the supermarket sells them at half price. You get enough Adrenaline Orbs for free to work with.
With that I can go doing SOS-chaining to get the best possible pokemons, and essentialy train them at the same time under the leadership of one higher level pokemon I used until this point.
To do SOS-chaining you will find use of a pokemon able to learn False Swipe (Decidueye or Hawlucha), a ghost type pokemon (if you are after a Normal or Fighting type this makes it easy), and Rufflet (that ghost-type immunity can come in handy), as well as Slowpoke (Yawn, excellent bulk, self-heal).

If you are after Hidden Abilities, you better catched a Carbink. Sure, it only gains the necessary move to identify opponent ability at lvl 40, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. The other option in the game only occures on island 3: Elgyem's Simple Beam. It'd be convenient to just go that far, but I like to "build connection" to my pokemon, and Island 3 is already stretching it.

As in the School on the first island you have to face a pokemon supereffective against your starter, it is adviseable to get another pokemon to be the lead. I chose Grubbin this time, it is very good against the Araquanid, has some bulk, and overall well-covered.

As I do not know any starter-alteration, and even if I would I would not like to spend days with EV-training, this is a good compromise.

Without further ado I'll go and catch Araquanid, Dunsparce (it has very attractive special moves - all which come on island 4 only, so...), Corsola, Spinda, Toxapex and Kecleon. Wish me luck with a like.

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Ugh, hunting Dunsparce is time-consuming. That thing tries to burn your PP, has Rollout, and is normal type, so your best bet is to swap 2 pokemon of your choice (I use a lvl 30 charjabug and a lvl 25 Hawlucha), hit the Dunsparce to the red, wait until it summons an ally, then knock it out and continue the change with the new pokemon. Because these buggers while do shout for help, that only arrives 1 per lifetime of a Dunsparce.
So bring like 50 Super Potion, and swap around your pokemons to avoide the effect of Spite.

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Spinda was easy. Those things drop from the sky like rain, and have no condition-moves. I suggest bringing Hawlucha with False Swipe and Hone Claws, plus an attacking move, and possible Roost. Also Carbink, which can be very useful standing around with Harden, Sharpen and some attacking moves. If you bring a ghost-type, do not forget to give it a non-ghost type damage move (I can be stoopid/forgetful sometimes).

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I realised how unlikely I get the right nature Mareanie, but checked what ppeared the ones falling while chaining Corsola (which has that annoying issue with self-healing), and boom, Modest nature! Just what I wanned!
By the way, hunting Corsola/Mareanie on the MeleMele Sea has its trick. One, Mareanie will attack the Corsola, what can be a problem so to say, and other times they spread Toxic Spikes, what is understandably not good, so you should bring with yourself Antidotes.

Hah, almost done a serious mistake when rolling for Corsola. It's one thing I settled for Mild instead of Modest, but I really need the max Speed IV along it!

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Ok, got the Dewpider. That it makes switching out impossible in Brooklet Hill was annoying, but as I got a Naughty as 31th, it was fine. For that I checked what I wanned to see on the others, and realised I did not roll for Spinda to have its super-dope Hidden Ability. If it'll be needed, I'll go back and chain for another one - let's hope it won't come to that. But then I'll have so muchm ore level, it'll be easier.
Why can't we just Ability Capsule for that? And why can't we just buy PP-refilling items?
 
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Ultra Sun with Araquanid​


I'm not sure why I did not ditch this one, but it did worth it.

So made myself a new savefile for like the half a dozen next plathroughs, catched myself one Dewpider in Brooklet Hill (totem 2 area), and started the run after EV-training.

Sure, this thing is not the fastest (42 base speed), but it is tanky to the point it is worth using Leftover sometimes (not against the challange-points, but overall).

The hardest part of this is the movepool, which is practicaly nonexistent, and any good move it can have is learnt by levelups: Crunch, bug-moves, water-moves - ending with Liquidation, the only physical water move accessible. Given this pokemon has way higher physical attack than special... But even until that its ability pushes the special water-moves to the point they can easily compete with the phyiscal ones, and if you get rain on Island 3, that's just amusing.

Totem 3 (the Volcano trial, fire trial) was done at lvl 25, and for either the tankiness, or just for sheer luck I did not have to grind at all until Ultra Necrozma.

At totem 4 start with Aqua Ring (that move is practicaly useless outside of this moment) so the Kecleon is summoned and not the Comfy, which provides a defensive boost to the Lurantis, what is not good, because eventualy it'll just outheal your damage.

Plumeria was not that weak this time, but not very strong either, so duh.

Against Olivia use Bubble Beam and Leech Life. I hesitated which bug-move to use all the time, but you can re-buy Bug Bite at the beach, and you get Leech Life from TM. X-scizor is not good, it's only advantage would be the more PP, and that's not a real factor here. On the other hand Lunge is bloody worth it, do not give it up.

On the other hand Mirror Coat is not required at all, so as you always need your 4th slot to swap in and out TMs, forget that.

Against Totem Togedemaru (lvl 41) start with Aqua Ring (you can delete it after this one), then Bubble Beam and Crunch yourself out of the fight. Bug Bite is also adviseable to steal the totem's Sitrus Berry.

Guzma is a big nuisance, because you'll definitely need Protect against it, and you have no supereffective option against it, and your bulkyness definitely has its limits. So you'll either need to overlevel a lot, or hope for afflictions (those for some strange reason consistently showed up during this playthrough).

A sidenote: Araquanid's backsprite is good. From the front it is just a bubble with legs, but from the back it has all kinds of details, so it rocks. Metaphoricaly. Has no rock-moves.

As you have a strong water-move which is boosted further by your ability, you won't have problem for the majority of the playthrough. On the margin of this though: seems the Water Z is NOT boosted by your ability for whatever reason, so you might as well skip that option, because the moves normaly do as much as a Z-move, so metronome (or whatever else) in that case is just better.

On the Aether Paradise (2nd visit) I finaly got Liquidation (if you don't get it via levelup the only access is at the Battle Tree, meaning you won't get it even for the postgame, being locked behind one of the highest level challenges).

I won at lvl 58 against Lusamine using Lunge, and some affliction. It's not even neutral aganst everything, so if you decide to seriously overlevel her, you can just use Return instead, but I found this more exciting.

Totem Kommo-o is the first real problem where you have to grind, I did from 65 to 71, and still had to have affliction to support me. As said affliction came into play regularly in this one, but there was a point it no longer saved me, just wait and see.

Against Ultra Necrozma used my water move, that giving me the best damage, and though I could survive 1 turn from bulk, damage was lacking, so needed 3 turn, aka. 2 affliction at lvl 72. I got that fast, but it's far from ideal, you should definitely grind some more to make it a 2-turn encounter.

After that it was more Liquidation (and a Lunge against Mallow). this even worked against Gladion 3, IF I got an affliction to avoid the damage from the Crobat.

At the door of The League I forgot to eat for candies, so grinded from 75 to 84 (had 16 candies), but it didn't really influence the final outcome.

Lvl 84 was more than enough for the Elite 4: against 3 of them used Liquidation, 1 time used Crunch. But then came Hau, and that hurt.

It barely mattered what I used aganst Hau, just hit big, so I used another PP-refiller afetr the first two. The problem was, the Raichu, the Noivern and the Tauros outsped, and the Leafeon coming last could easily finish me off with priority-move. So I just needed more HP. Thus I started to munch candies. I had to crawl up to 91, trying after each one, for the game to let me win.

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Postgame... On one hand I'm not really interrested, but maybe this one deserves it.
the postgame... is mostly a bunch of Liquidation. The Z-boss is easy to be honest, and against Faba you have poison Jab and Crunch. Now Archie. Archie is hard, so max out your level and stats before even trying. Combine Liquidation and Lunge. And possibly set up a Reflect? That might help against Hau too. Against the RR-bosses it's either Liquidation, or Liquidation plus Lunge. It works, trust me. And Giovanni is actualy doable without affliction, because the MU2X uses Stone Edge, which has a good chance to miss!

Now Red and Blue. Don't even attempt Red. The Raichu outspeeds with supereffective move, so you simply has no chance there. On the other hand Blue... Well, he isn't a cakewalk either, but as you can see, I've done it.

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Ultra Sun with Dunsparce​

This is a gimmick-pokemon, An interresting one, but to give it true justice, some future speedrunner has to do the post-game knowing the AI and stuff, because it's complicated.

Let's talk about moves: you'll need them. And without good stats, don't even try the run. The moves mostly come from leveling up, and a lot of them are just so cool, and not re-learneable, so you'll constantly hesitate to override anything.

At the beginning you'll start with Rollout, or even better Charge Beam. With Serene Grace that move 100% of the time buffs your special attack. That's great. For the same reason never ever remove Ancient Power - that's your ultimate buffcard, a true ace. You have trouble - start fishing for the omniboost.

Totem 3 is the Volcano trial, can be done at 28. Start by fishing for the omni-boost, and be sure to outspeed the totem. Then do Drill Run. That move is sooo useful (and on Island 3's beach relearnable).

Totem 4: 30, Olivia: 34, Nihilego 36, Totem Togedemaru 41/42. There use Yawn to pass the first turn where it casts Spikey Shield. Then Ancient Power for omniboost, Drill Run and Body Slam for damage.

Against Guzma 1 do a Rock Tomb. You won't really use physical rock moves with this one, with the exception of this. Usualy Body Slam is just way more profitable being STAB and the additional effect.

Totem Mimikyu is an interresting one as you don't really have a move against it, but with Choice Spec the Shadow Ball TM can solve all your problems somehow. Dunsparce while voulnerable and strange, somehow has a tiny bulk that allows you to tank some hits.

At Guzma 2 I used Protect and Ancient Power. I carry my shame.

At Nanu use Protect to block his Z-move. Aside that, that fight is not really threatening.

For Guzma 3 I was at lvl 57, and relied on omniboost to pass, then had to go out and grind to 61 to succeed against Lusamine. I don't really have advice there, I ended up using all kinds of moves in whatever order... Not random button-mashing, but it's just complicated, you understand.

Reached the Kommo-o lair at 66, but had to grind to 73, and to be honest I should have grinded more, to 75 to ensure this. Dragon Rush would have been used here, which I learnt ditching Yawn, which is a very good move, but is only against single targets (aka. totems), so not endgame material. Now as you can't get the Z-crystal until you beat this totem instead went and learnt Zen Headbutt, and used Z with that. There came a lot of swapping beach-moves, so have like 50 BP in your pocket to not get stuck.

Because I overrided Drill Run with Zen Headbutt, I decided to use Bulldoze against Dusk Mane Necrozma just in case we run into speed-issues.

UN was 2 turns, the first I survived from my HP. That went down at 76. now THAT was where I used Dragon Rush Z.

Against Mina yet again used Shadow Ball. I know that's weird, but it worked, so it was fine. The other parts of the gauntlet-trials are not easy, I could say complicated even, but you can manage it... Interresting fact is, I passed Totem Ribombee by using Ancient Power. I got one of those rare multi-omniboosts for the first try, so I ran with it.

Against Hapu Zen Headbutt served after an omniboost at lvl 78.

Reached The League at 79, with 19 candies, so grinded to 81 and entered. First did Acerola, so Zen Headbutt could be overwritten if needed. Aganst Kahili I tried my luck first with Body Slam, it worked, so I did not think more about that. The other two were obviously Drill Run, using an ether to refill the PP, than thinking about Hau I was really not sure how it will go, so I drank the elixir too to refill all my PPs.

Thought about starting with an omniboost, but the Raichu is very-very fast, and has a fighting-type move, so it was just not worth it. I mean with that effort I could have just fish for an avoid damage affliction, pfff. Then I seeked out the order things coming at me, and checked how much damage I'm doing against them with different moves... And by consuming a candy each try I started to worry, because of the speed, and the damage taken, damage delt... It seemed I wouldn't even gain anything by learning Return!

Finaly reached lvl 100, so it was either now or never. The idea was to Drill Run the Raichu, the Tauros, then the Incineroar (bare minimum preventing it from trying its Z-move), then have enough HP to survive the Leafeon (the Crabominable was not really a problem), and finaly the Noivern. And I did it. And I asked no further questions.

So this little thing is interresting to play, and somewhat more powerful than you would imagine, and King's Rock don't really help (actualy Leftover is a good item to have on it until the end of midgame outside the trial-battles), but it's more of professional youtuber material, who have patience to try the same battle a million times, and probably have bigger brain to do the setup-moves and stuff for the postgame. For me, it sounds like a headache trying. But feel free to do yourself, I'm not stopping you.

Btw, this was one of the original pokemons I considered running, maybe, but it looked too slow and gimmicky to try. Turned out I used it in the end. It was fine to do the stuff up to this point. I recommend it if you are looking for an interresting challenge.

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Ultra Sun with Corsola​


This little buddy is not as bad as people say. Well, not for single. But it's slowness is a serious threat to it at key places though. I took it on my Primarina-savefile, and that might not have had been the best idea, but I wanned to make the run "fair". Reap what you saw.

Easily grinded to lvl 29 to fight Totem 3 with Bubble Beam, Ancient Power and Recover. Recover is cool. The little bugger has enough bulk to get use of it occasionaly. Lefotver on the other hand is insufficient. So just use Wise Glasses, Choce Spec and Metronome with this one.

Oh, yeah, let's mention the movepool. It's narrow, though you can buy all kinds of TMs in the shops. The Beaches... are not that useful, not useful at all. And for some weird reason Corsola gets a ton of physical moves, which it is not set to use. Even though its only potential ability that might be of any use, at least in theory, is Hustle, an ability that buffs physical moves. Whatever.

For stats it has 35 base speed, so it won't really outspeed key things, and its other stats pretty much suck too, so my thought-process was that if I can't outspeed, at least be able to hit hard, so that's why that ability. Also, my Hidden Power was Dragon, which do not help.

Needed a serious grind for Totem 4, grass being supereffective against us, so slipped through at 39, with Ancient Power, an omniboost in the first turn, and Recover. Don't get used to Ancient Power, as Island 3, and definiitely 4 gets a big nerf on chances for condition activation, and 10% is not great to start with, so at 41 swap it out for Power Gem. That's just power, but power is good.

Our water-move will be Bubble Beam with its 65 power and chance to slow, but when the time comes, we'll switch it out for various TMs. That will be our TM-slot, because otherwise the moves we learn are not relearnable, and simply are too good to abandon: Recover, Earth Power, Power Gem.

Against Totem Mimikyu we'll have to pick up Shadow Ball with choice spec, and if we'd ever need to have a water-move back, we could get Water Pulse, but we won't need that, and later we get Scald. That'll be a good one.

As Corsola's stats stink a bit (and we didn't even get to the bottom of the barrel with Bastiodon), Choice Spec is generaly better than Metronome.

Btw, Guzma while occasionaly uses First Impression does not worth putting up Protect, the move is not super-effective. Just tank the hits and knock down his pokemons.

Lusamine is a problem on paper the very least, but at 62 starting with Psychic, then managing health with Recover, and when running out of PP changing to Power Gem, the encounter is manageable.

Reached the Kommo-o Lair at 68, but could only beat it at 78 with Psychic Z (and power gem). this level is also good for the necrozma-battles, which are delt with Shadow Ball Z, though UN is trouble, as it is faster, and a 2-turn fight, so you'll need an affliction along surviving a turn on bulk.

At Ilima I had to set up Reflect, because everything hits hard and supereffective, and that pesky Wood Hammer only deals recoil-damage if it is actualy causing damage. Crap. Whatever.

On the Volcano during the gauntlet-trial I adwise Wise Glasses as held item, because of the cursed body. the rest is kinda obvious.

Gladion 3 is annoying, because there is a random factor on wether the Zoroark will and which turn use Z-move. Seems entirely random, unfortunately. But it is 2-turn at 89, so it has its chances. By the way I got there at 80, with 19 candies, so only grinded 1 level, then started chemicaling up. You either should neglect the Z-threat, or try to block it with Protect. Hail can be advantageous to you because of ranges... Ugh, this fight is complicated. Not to mention you'll use all 4 moveslots, as you'll need Power Gem to get rid of the bat, Earth Power for the Zozorark + Lucario, and you better recover before you move on from the Zoroark, else you definitely won't have enough HP against the Silvally...

Moving on: climb the mountain, went into The League. From right to left (held item: choice spec):

Kahili: 89, Power Gem
Acerola: 90, Psychic
Olivia: 90 -> 91, Scald
Molayne: 91, Scald.

Hau was again a wall for this one, just push it to lvl 100, no need to complicate things. I tried both with Choce Spec and Metronome, and the whole thing is largely the same. Shoot down the Raichu, and if you want to be sure roll for damage-avoiding affliction against the Leafeon (or just have a different starter thus a different - and most importantly slower - eeveelution), continue with the Tauros, the Crabominable is like nothing, Incineroar is a joke, but the Noivern is still there, so if you just survived on 1 HP, you are in danger. Also nte that that this time, for whatever miraculous reason, Hau can use like 5 fullheals, so Metronome has a definite advantage here. But it's no clear, because you have a chance to have the Leafeon in range, and I think I was speedtied with it, so it's a big roll of dice here.

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Ultra Sun with Spinda​


Ha. this was fun. Hard, but fun. And as I created this specificaly just to beat The League, I'm not even attempting the Postgame

So first got a Quiet one. Yeah, yeah, Speed-lowering nature, but the calculation said it would still equal to a 40 base speed pokemon, and that can be ... solved, so I thought, let's use this. But then gave it a second thought, and as I found that I made a backsave during the SOS-chain, I changed my mind and spent like half a day looking for an attack-boosting nature hidden ability one. Totaly did worth it. Was so much more functional.

Btw, as hidden ability barely occured unlike for Kecleon, I thought maybe its island-coding, but when I hit the entry up, turned out you can only get Spinda at 1 place, so what could I do. Anyway, let's start the go.

Totem 3 was done at 32, and Spinda pretty much sucks until you gain Dizzy Punch, because that at least has SOME power. Unfortunately the moves' power-level will be stuck at the range for the whole game, so yeah, this is not Luvdisc. Two move you also want to preserve for ever on your moveset: Hypnozis and Sucker Punch. Both are pretty much cheat-moves. Treasure them. Without Hypnosis for instance I'd've needed much more than lvl 35 to pass Totem 4. Dunno, but I put at least 3 times in a row sleep the opponent.

Another fun move is Brick Break. I rarely get to use fighting-type moves, just because pokemons rarely have them in this one, but they are good. On the other hand fights like Hau 6 (the first fight on Ulaula island) is complicated, you need a bunch of moves - I used Hypnozis, Sucker Punch, Brick Break and Dizzy punch all at 41. Totem Togedemaru is not better either, although maybe a bit more predictable.

Against Guzma you'll need Protect, so that's one moveslot, and while the first time I could use just Dizzy Punch and Sucker Punch, for the other two Rock Slide was necessary. But as I noticed Dizzy Punch's confusion rarely if ever played any role, with easy heart changed it to Facade when it came to that. Not forgetting that after Guzma 3 (ok, Nanu exactly) you get Return too.

And Facade is not entirely useless, as I used it against Gladion 2, where I don't remember, got maybe poisoned, or something like that.

Lusamine is tricky, as you want to get over her being one of the biggest obstacles, so you try every trick in the book before trying brute force (aka. overleveling). I got lucky at 66(6) using Return metronome, but 70 is the more realistic number. Now the secret here is to roll a fight where the Clefairy throws Charm at you, buffing your Attack.

Kommo-o is a very annoying totem, I threw at it Hypnotize Z (yes, it was for the speedboost), Zen Headbutt and Return (for the minion). I passed at 71, but that involved affliction, range and luck, so you probably will overlevel too much here just because of this, but I passed, so moving on.

DMN was Thief on metronome. I tried various options before this, but only this passed at 71, without affliction.

For UN I passed at 72, but it's underestimating it. You need 1-2 more levels to have it in range. You need an affliction first turn, hitting it with hypnozis, which shall last for 3 turn (meaning you hit it 3 times with thief on metronome - Spinda really doesn't have much attacking power by itself, and the normal typing doesn't help either), THEN still must be hit with a Sucker Punch. I had to use 2 of this latest, but as said you just need 1-2 more levels to have the thing in range. It still requires everything to work on your favour, but that CAN work out.

Then comes the Gauntlet Trial, and that's where you start learning the Elemental Punches. First shall be Ice Punch against Mallow (grass), and Hapu (ha, so she is Ground). on the Volcano you can just use Sucker Punch, that'll work out fine. Against Gladion 3 pick up Thunder Punch (along it I used Ice Punch on the grass type Silvally).

Gladion was über-hard by the way, had to climb from 79 to 93. Already had to grind from 73 to 79 between Totem Ribombee and Hapu, but yeah, this was a big gap, and obviously Rare Candy time. I had 19 of this, so only had to manualy grind to 81. It's overdoing it, but I always do it this way.

Did The League from right to left as usual (all metronome): Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, Brick Break, Fire Punch. Yeah, all the elemental punches appeared. Still kept Sucker Punch just in case, so Brick Break went in place of Thunder Punch. Could choose Ice Punch given the order, it didn't really matter much in the end. And I think I once did the ghost room with PPMaxed Sucker Punch, if you are wired that way.

Interrestingly this time Hau was no biggy. Just put on Return, and metronome his team. See, with Contrary as ability you get at least one boost from the Tauros to your Attack, and that's more than enough.

On the margin, while doing some grinding at Tapu Village found a shiny male Snorunt. I think I'll do that next, then the KEcleon, then Toxapex. Then 2 saveslots will be freed, so I think will start one with a new starter. Probably the grass one. Maybe the fire one. Who knows.

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So my future plans are for this series are:
1 - shiney Glalie. Its IVs are not bad, has Brave nature, so I'll have to do a physical run, but it'll be fine. It'll help relieve some tension.
2 - Kecleon: this is a gimmick-mon, and the gimmick sounds painful. We'll see.
3 - Golisopod: with its gimmivk-ability and U-turn I'll have to put down second pokemons instantly, so the double-fights to be able to challange the Z-warriors will be painful or much delayed, but, you know, yolo.
4 - Dugtrio: it just has low HP. I still might decide against it. Basicaly an Archeops, without the bottom 50% HP, but sure.
5 - Jynx: I'm not sure this one is necessary, I expect will turn out like Amaura: terrible resistances, but the stats are way too high for the PvE to feel it.
6 - Toxapex: I expect this to pass through, though only with affliction. It's one of the next step towards Bastiodon. This stll has 35 speed, so I'm not too worried.
7 - Turtunator: another 35 speed (actualy 36) pokemon, with horrible movepool, crappy ability, bizarre stats... But with that speed it just might work out in the end.
8 - Ledian: one must try.
9 - Bastiodon: sooner or later I have to finish the all-fossils challange.
10 - Shiinotic: this sound even worse than Bastiodon, but with a slightly better movepool?
11 - Parasect: I'm so not looking forward to this. It's Shiinotic, but physical.
12 - Torkoal: this is Turtonator, but even worse.
+1 if by some miracle Torkoal can do The League, I'm considering an Onix-run. It's a QR-code pokemon, so perfect stats are not possible, and it just looks horrible either way... Must find one where despite every shady tricks a pokemon can not do the Ultra game story.
+2: Shedinja. I have no idea from how to import it into the game yet, but definitely have to be tried. This is one of those impossible gimmick-pokemons which must be tried in every generations along Ditto and Smeargle just to see how it goes.
 
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