I've been playing the Battle Tower for about half a year now. Rather, I should say that the Tower's been playing me. Six months of Brightpowder misses, Ice Beam freezes, and Focus Band activations does a lot for one's patience. Jumpman and Peterko must be saints by now. Still, I have experienced more pleasure than frustration in this endeavor. As such, I would like to continue.
First, however, I need to establish how to continue by recognizing my mistakes. One of the goals with which I constructed my first team was speed, for practicality's sake. Twenty-one turns of Acupressure seems like it would take a while. Additionally, spending less time on individual streaks means that I can feasibly attempt more, allowing me to learn faster. As I go for longer streaks, I think I'll let this one slide, but it's been useful for me. After more analyzing and theorizing than I care to admit (yet still not enough), I came up with the following combination:
Dusknoir (FRAUD) @ Choice Scarf
Male, Bold, Pressure
252 HP / 116 Defense / 116 Special Defense / 20 Speed
152 / 120 / 187 / 76 / 170 / 68
Trick / Grudge / Disable / Protect
Scizor (FISKARS) @ Iron Plate
Male, Adamant, Technician
94 HP / 252 Attack / 164 Speed
157 / 182 / 120 / 75 / 100 / 106
Bullet Punch / Superpower / Substitute / Swords Dance
Heatran (GOBLIN) @ Leftovers
Female, Modest, Flash Fire
188 HP / 252 SpAtk / 68 Speed
190 / 99 / 126 / 200 / 126 / 106
Flamethrower / Earth Power / Hidden Power Electric / Substitute
Hopefully you can follow my train of thought. Trick and Grudge leave the opposing Pokemon locked into a move with no PP. In this way, Dusknoir allows Scizor three to five turns of setup. Given this time, Scizor can boost enough to threaten 95% of the Battle Tower with OHKOs. Heatran rounds out the team, taking down leads Dusknoir can't handle, and absorbing fire attacks aimed at Scizor.
While it is unorthodox, there are advantages to such a strategy. The usefulness of Grudge is in its ability to force Struggle. Not only does this severely limit the opponent's raw offensive power, but it also allows me to set up on super-effective attacks. Swords Dancing three times on a Heatran is quite satisfying. Simply controlling the opponent's move allows me to avoid all kinds of annoyances such as stat drops and secondary status effects. This allows me to set up quickly and effectively, regardless of the opposing Pokemon.
Despite these qualities, this team has some shortcomings. Foremost on this list is Dusknoir's speed. Even with a Choice Scarf, my paranormal radio fails to outpace the majority of Battle Tower Pokemon. When so often moving second, I risk being haxxed before Dusknoir even gets a chance to Trick. My team doesn't have a great chance of winning when robbed of Dusknoir right off the bat. Scizor's setup can also be threatened by Critical Hits; even Struggle is capable of using the Tower's trump card. Heatran has pulled me through some messes, but bringing me back from 1-3 is not something she is consistently able to do.
I enjoyed using this team, but it failed (and I failed) to produce the streaks I was looking for. While plenty of my losses were due to stupid mistakes or hax, plenty of them happened simply because my team wasn't constructed well enough, which was disappointing.
Dusknoir (FRAUD) @ Choice Scarf
Male, Bold, Pressure
252 HP / 116 Defense / 116 Special Defense / 20 Speed
152 / 120 / 187 / 76 / 173 / 65
Trick / Grudge / Disable / Rest
Feraligatr (CHAW) @ Salac Berry
Male, Jolly, Torrent
252 Attack / 4 Defense / 252 Speed
160 / 157 / 121 / 89 / 103 / 143
Waterfall / Outrage / Substitute / Swords Dance
Umbreon (VILYA) @ Leftovers
Male, Impish, Synchronize, Shiny
252 HP / 232 Defense / 36 Special Defense
202 / 85 / 176 / 64 / 154 / 85
Payback / Curse / Protect / Wish
Some frustrating losses led me to rethink my team. I decided to take advantage of the relatively predictable amount of damage output from Struggle. A pinch sweeper is a good way to capitalize on opponents that often bring me to around 20% HP. Fully set up, Feraligatr only has trouble with the following 10 Pokemon: Linoone 2, Porygon-Z 2, Slowbro 2, Suicune 3, Cloyster 2, Unaware Bibarel 2, Tangrowth 1-4. Feraligatr proved more offensively impressive than Scizor.
I was also quite happy with Umbreon. Originally intended to beat Pokemon Dusknoir couldn't handle, it ended up performing its fair share of sweeps. Critical hits happened as often as I expected them to; despite this, Umbreon's immense bulk kept it alive. Unfortunately, pitiful offensive power and an EV spread unfit for this purpose kept
Vilya from being truly successful (cookie for the reference on that one).
As you, no doubt, suspected, this team flopped quite spectacularly, never getting past 80. The "pinch berry" theory proved quite finicky and frustrating. Even considering Feraligatr's defensive prowess, he returned completely unable to function without Dusknoir. Even minor hax saddled this team with a loss. Despite how sexy it looked, Dusknoir / Feraligatr / Umbreon was not as viable as I had hoped. I took a step in the wrong direction, and it didn't pay off.
I plan to revisit a Trick / Struggle strategy in the future. There are some faster (if frailer) Grudge users out there. My next endeavor, however, will be a standard Trick team.
I have come to one conclusion; hax is inevitable. Of course, I've known this since I first attempted the Tower. The problem is, I haven't been implementing this knowledge to its full extent. I always knew to use Flamethrower over Fire Blast in an environment where streaks matter. What I still need to deal with is the fact that Ice Beam Freezes, Flame Body Burns, and Brightpowder misses are all inevitable, but conquerable. While that perfect combination of opposing Pokemon and hax is
going to happen, I can postpone this event by taking such things into account. For example, Jumpman has found a way to incorporate accuracy increases, immunity to Critical hits, and team synergy into twelve moveslots. It's not enough that I use 100% accurate moves, I need to deal with things the opposition brings to the table as well.
Which brings me to my current project: Lapras. A couple of critical hits followed by freezes led me to seek out a teammate immune to both. Because the Battle Tower imposes pessimism, I initially rejected the hope that one of my favourite Pokemon would be uniquely viable in the Battle Tower. Since scouting it more thoroughly, I have come to believe that Lapras is an excellent Tower 'mon, using him is certainly not a pipe dream. With the very real and consistent possibility of six Curses under its belt, Lapras literally cannot be ohko'd by any Pokemon except for the lucky few with ohko moves. Needless to say, I was pleased when I saw that another person came to the same conclusion.
Jumpman16 said:
I've been theorymonning a Lapras for the third slot on a team like this to soak up Ice Beams and prevent freezing, and I think Lapras@Leftovers: Waterfall/Ice Shard/Curse/Sub, 252HP/4Atk/252SpD, Shell Armor is the best set. Things like Charizard FT, Infernape FT, and Gengar Shadow ball aren't even guaranteed to break Lapras's Sub (barely but still), and you can forget about physical attacks on 237HP and 400Def stats that make even Lv100 252HP/Def+ Dusknoir jealous (probably mainly because Lapras can actually use Curse correctly lol). Adding Shell Armor to all this makes Lapras seem really awesome on paper, but it would probably be really annoyed by electrics and fighters since +6 Ice Shard doesn't kill a whole lot of pokemon. Going with Avalanche over Sub to triple the Ice damage (Avalanche doesn't get 120 BP if the foe hits your Sub) seems appetizing but risky even with Lapras's Shell Armor inability to be OHKOed by literally any move (even Raikou Wise Glasses Thunder [71-87%]). This is because of dumb Paralysis stuff on stuff I have to Waterfall, and Focus Sash/Counter garbage—seven pokes have this combo including mega idiot Gliscor who takes SE damage from both WF and IS and would OHKO with Counter then outspeed Drapion. Otherwise, against sash/counter pokemon like Breloom and Weavile, I can use the NVE move first then use the normal- or super effective move, essentially employing a rather *puts on sunglasses*... "effective" strategy (Phiddlesticks that was for you!).
This would make going without Sub on a sweeper poke in the BT actually a somewhat worry-free proposition for the first time, at least on paper, but there's probably some dumb stuff that will be able to kill Shell Armor +6Def Lapras with 237HP/161SpD. In a cursory look at what possibly could, Venusaur is OHKOed by Ice Shard every time, and while Meganium 3 is not (78-93%), it is incapable of killing 100% HP lapras even with Overgrow Leaf Storm, which does 200-236HP, and I find that kind of hilarious (if I weren't at 100% HP I'd just switch to Drapion probably or just Waterfall it first with the same "effective" strat I'd use for some of the Counter/Sash pokes).
I was planning to make this post later in the summer, (after I had actually accomplished something with what is now just a team in theory) but I didn't want to miss responding to this. Lapras as a hax-"immune" Pokemon for incredibly lengthy streaks sounds fun to me.
As for
"dumb stuff that could KO this Lapras", not even Adamant Life Orb Head Smash Rampardos can do 70% to the plesiosaur on the physical side. Able to survive a Leaf Storm from Roserade (theoretically; normally you'd just Shard it for super effective damage), nothing's touching Lapras on either side of the spectrum. It is important to remember that few Tower Pokemon have stat boosting items such as Choice Specs.
What I worry about is the offense. 8/2 Ice Shard will get rid of most sweepers, but bulky Pokemon, or those that resist Ice might give Lapras trouble. You were suggesting Avalanche over Substitute (I assume partly because that's pretty ballsy), but I was actually thinking of replacing Waterfall. I'd have to go through and figure out the exact difference, but only two Pokemon (Heatran and Empoleon) resist Ice 4x. The higher power helps out against water types, and bulkier neutral Pokemon like Cresselia. Fire types are almost a non-issue in this circumstance; Avalanche followed up by Ice Shard deals with even Intimidate Arcanine equally as well as Waterfall. Even if Avalanche isn't worth it over Waterfall, I'd have a hard time giving up my Substitute, (see the avatar) especially one that can withstand STAB attacks. What I worry about are Pokemon like Lanturn, who can take my attacks quite well, and hax me with moves like Discharge.
Latias (Flow) @ Choice Scarf
Female, Timid, Levitate
252 HP / 182 Defense / 76 Speed
187 / 90 / 133 / 130 / 150 / 154
Trick / Thunder Wave / Charm / Recover
Drapion (Doopliss) @ Black Sludge
Male, Careful, Battle Armor
252 HP / 56 Defense / 196 Special Defense / 4 Speed
177 / 110 / 137 / 72 / 132 / 116
Crunch / Substitute / Acupressure / Rest
Lapras (Hymn) @ Leftovers
Male, Careful, Shell Armor
252 HP / 4 Attack / 252 Special Defense
237 / 106 / 100 / 94 / 161 / 80
Ice Shard / Waterfall / Curse / Substitute
What do you think? I'm going to attempt it.
...right after finals, that is. :(
