Alright. It's been a while since I've posted in this thread with any real news about my personal Frontier experiences so prepare for a wall of words.. Jumpman style. If you're not into tl;dr, skip down to the bolded line. For those reading the whole thing, I do sort of have a point for being this long-winded early on so be patient.
A few weeks back, I went on vacation with my family and we never fly anywhere since my mom hates flying. So we drive. And long drives mean a lot of time to kill so naturally it was the perfect time for me to start playing Platinum again. However, I forgot two things: 1) to print out the moveset lists for BT pokemon before I left AND 2) to trade over a new team to toy around with. "No big deal," I thought, "I'll just play Factory." Well, Battle Factory is a bitch and a half without a cheat sheet and I never made it past my personal best of 29. Getting more and more frustrated, I gave up and switched over to Battle Tower with my fun 1-49 speed run team (or "Gary" team) to see how far I could go.
The 1-49 team is a Choice themed team based around two pokemon I really wanted to use: Arcanine and Machamp. To round it out and glue it together I used Latios as the third member. Those early BT battles are so boring that you might as well at least make it somewhat interesting and use pokemon you like, right? The team is as follows:
Arcanine (M) @Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252Atk/6Def/252Spe
Nature: Adamant
~ Flare Blitz
~ ExtremeSpeed
~ Iron Head
~ Thunder Fang
CB Flare Blitz is so beastly that I don't even care about recoil. It OHKOs a lot of pokemon which makes it perfect for speed running the early battles. ExtremeSpeed is a nice finisher move for after I switch out or for certain more frail yet speedy lead pokemon. The other two moves are fillers that hit resistances for super effective damage. Pretty basic stuff. The reason I also call this group "Team Gary."
Latios (M) @Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6HP/252SpAtk/252Spe
Nature: Timid
~ Dragon Pulse
~ Thunderbolt
~ Surf
~ Draco Meteor
Yeah, I said this was a Choice team but I quickly found that Choice Specs didn't really work here and that Life Orb made things much easier. Another pretty self-explanatory pokemon. Loves the Intimidate support from Arcanine.
Machamp (F) @Choice Scarf
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 6HP/252Atk/252Spe
Nature: Adamant
~ DynamicPunch
~ Stone Edge
~ Ice Punch
~ ThunderPunch
The anti DT and finishing pokemon. You get the idea. Been there, seen that. I use Adamant here since Jolly really doesn't get me much further in terms of speed.
So that's all fine and good, but after this team did its job of clearing the first 7 sets in the Tower I found it extremely difficult to keep a streak going. Maybe that's because I didn't know the movesets or maybe it's just because I never designed it to win large amounts of battles in a row. It was for fun after all. Whatever the case, I gained a lot of BP over the course of my vacation and reaffirmed that Team Gary can do its intended job but I gave up by the time I got home.
Fast forward to last week. I decided to give my fun team a whirl again but this time in the WiFi Tower instead to see how I'd fair. And also because nobody has seemingly tried it out yet so no matter what I did I would "have a record" for the time being. Arcanine was its amazing self and tore through the early ranks 2-3 (I had already cleared rank 1 some time ago) due to the numerous amounts of Scizor and Metagross. However, rank 4 I noticed a huge flaw in my team: I was completely destroyed by the common BT Gengar and its good pal Froslass. Those two could Focus Sash/Destiny Bond my team with no trouble and leave me down 2-1 at the best case scenario. And that's if they were a lead pokemon.. which they often weren't. Obviously this was a fatal flaw and if I really wanted to pursue a record, I'd have to change out a pokemon. I went with their natural counter Weavile and subbed out Arcanine.
It seemed like a grand idea to me but then I found myself losing often when even as low as rank 2. Why? I had no way to stop Scizor or Metagross from terrorizing me without Arcanine. They're practically on every team. I first tried dropping Machamp since he never seemed to do much and reinserted Arcanine into the line up. Now anything with a rock attack, especially Tyranitar, had a great shot at beating me. So I swapped Machamp back in and switched out Latios for another powerful special attacker that also happened to be a solid switch in for Meta/Scizor: Zapdos. Things worked out alright after that, but I still lost more than I wanted to. However, the core of my new WiFi Tower team was born and with some tweaking I found the proper combination to get me to rank 10..
My Rank 10 Platinum WiFi Tower Team (catchy name not included)
Weavile (M) @Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252Atk/6SpDef/252Spe
Nature: Jolly
~ Fake Out
~ Ice Punch
~ Night Slash
~ Brick Break
The original Weavile used Ice Shard in the last slot but I quickly found Brick Break to be way more useful and important. Without it, other lead Weavile are a bit tricky to handle and its a nice failsafe for certain random pokemon should they appear in a tight situation. Anything that I can use Fake Out against on turn 1 will promptly be flinched. Great for negating the common Focus Sash and scouting for Leftovers vs another item. If I can OHKO on turn 2, I obviously go for it. If it's a 2HKO over turns 2 and 3, I go for it only if I know it will benefit me to do so. If not, I switch out. A 1 HP Weavile is still extremely valuable (and one with Sash still intact is even better) for common Garchomp and Salamence so I hardly ever sacrifice it early on in the match. It's so good that I've learned maximizing its potential is best done by hitting and running.
Fire leads are the most tricky here since many of them can dish out a lot of damage and I have nothing that resists them. Infernape is probably the pokemon I hate seeing the most at the start of a battle since it has so many options and so many ways to hurt me. It varies from Mach Punch or Close Combat to Overheat or Flare Blitz to even the always fun Stone Edge. Any of those moves are just as likely to be seen on a switch out so it's very dicey to do so. Yet if you stay in, Mach Punch or Vacuum Wave can potentially get you since Brick Break isn't strong enough to OHKO and the other attacks are resisted.
Zapdos (-) @Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 212HP/220Def/8SpAtk/60SpDef/4Spe
Nature: Bold
~ Thunderbolt
~ Hidden Power (Ice)
~ Roost
~ Toxic
If Weavile has to switch out, it's usually in favor of this pokemon. Zapdos started out on this team as a max SpAtk/max Spe Modest Life Orber with 3 attacks and Roost. However, the purpose of Zappy was to first and foremost counter Scizor/Metagross and an offensive version would too often die to bad luck or even sometimes just Choice Banded versions when already weakened. Even strong neutral hits were doing a lot of damage. Not enough staying power at all. I scrapped it for a more bulky version with tweaked EVs from the Smogon analysis to suit level 50. I might be able to better optimize the spread but whatever.. it does the job. Can eat a Stone Edge if it has to.. or even an Outrage from certain Garchomp and smack back with HP Ice so they can be revenge killed. Since switching to the bulky spread, Zapdos has developed a penchant for drawing critical hits. Always on the switch in, too. If I lose, it's usually because Zapdos fainted before I wanted it to (or should have) due to some timely luck.
You might be wondering where Heat Wave is if the main goal is to counter steels. Switching to a bulky spread with Leftovers loses a lot of punch.. so much so that other bulky pokemon can effectively wall Zapdos. I've been caught a few times heads up against a Blissey or Cresselia, for example, and there's just no way to win that without Toxic. Also helpful for: Hippowdon, Swampert, Dusknoir, Wobbuffet, Snorlax (haven't seen an Immunity Lax yet), Lanturn, Umbreon, Ampharos, Cradily, Regice, Ludicolo, and even Kingdra.. to name a few. An absolutely amazing Toxic staller with help from Pressure and Roost. Works great with Weavile, too, since it can buy some more time with Fake Out. Thunderbolt does enough to still cover Scizor/Metagross in a 2-3HKO depending on the scenario all while Roostin'. The only steel that makes me long for Heat Wave is Bronzong since it usually has Calm Mind and Rest. For Zong I usually spam Thunderbolt until I get lucky and/or force it into a predictable rest in which case I switch to my last pokemon. I fought one Bronzong earlier tonight with Iron Defense/Calm Mind/Rest/Flash Cannon which I was forced to Pressure stall in order to beat. I don't like Bronzong much.
Machamp (F) @Sitrus Berry
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252HP/252Atk/6Def
Nature: Adamant
~ DynamicPunch
~ Stone Edge
~ Bullet Punch
~ Bulk Up
The only pokemon that didn't leave the original team!.. technically. I've often considered using Metagross here instead but then fire pokemon would really be a pain in the ass. Like Zapdos, I had to tweak Machamp for a more bulky variety. With two weaknesses to rock already, I needed something that could take a Stone Edge and still dish out a lot of physical damage. Choice Scarf was already putting me in a jam and Stone Edges were doing too much on the switch. With the extra HP investment, Machamp becomes much more sturdy (except when OHKO moves are involved har har). The Sitrus Berry has come in very handy as it turns potential 2HKOs into 3HKOs, etc and allows some time to Bulk Up. One attack boost turns Machamp into a monster that is hard to stop.
Since I dropped Ice Shard on Weavile, I needed a priority outside of Fake Out so I deleted the now unnecessary Ice Punch for Bullet Punch (actually I took my 2v2 Machamp and swapped RS for SE and Protect for Bulk Up but you get the idea). It's a great insurance policy against weak Scarf Chomps with sandstream support. ThunderPunch was only there for Slowbro/king in the original team which are now very well covered by Weavile and Zapdos.
Machamp is usually a "mid to late game" mon after I've scoped a majority of the opposing team. I only go to her from lead Weavile if a rock user and/or Gyarados starts. Some Gyara have SE and if they do, they will use it right away. Don't like switching Zapdos into that because a steel pokemon is usually lurking. If Gyara doesn't have SE, it will generally use DD (more than once too) so it's a gimme kill for Machamp. She can survive a Waterfall after a DD but sometimes the flinch can screw me. Zapdos cleans up if that happens but it's not a situation I enjoy being in.
This team definitely isn't perfect (Rain Dance teams usually have a good chance of beating me), but I thought I'd share the unique process that allowed me to stumble across a very enjoyable team that *gasp* doesn't contain Garchomp, Tyranitar, Salamence, Gengar, Blissey, Scizor, Latios, or Metagross. Shocking I know. It actually lost quite a bit on my way up, but that's the beauty of WiFi Tower.. you don't have to start from square one if you lose.
I faced all sorts of interesting teams the last few days (I've been doing this nonstop I have no life) and it was cool to see what the Japanese trainers are using. An extremely common Japanese team is Scizor/Mamoswine/Milotic which actually inspired me to use Zapdos (which I didn't see often for some reason) since it can wreck those 3 if it has Heat Wave. Other favorites from the Japs include Paraflinch Togekiss and Calm Mind Bronzong, though Zong isn't as common. Toxic+Evasion is also a pretty common Japanese strategy.. there's a lot of Counter/Minimize/Toxic/Softboiled Blissey running around which I find a bit odd and silly. Oh well, Machamp has no problems with that pokemon. Anyway, it's now late so I can't remember some of the other stupid things I've seen.
My current streak stands at 14 for Rank 10.. I'll post a picture once I, hopefully, improve on the number of wins. I was going to wait to post this but whatever, I already wrote it up. Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading my ramblings..
A few weeks back, I went on vacation with my family and we never fly anywhere since my mom hates flying. So we drive. And long drives mean a lot of time to kill so naturally it was the perfect time for me to start playing Platinum again. However, I forgot two things: 1) to print out the moveset lists for BT pokemon before I left AND 2) to trade over a new team to toy around with. "No big deal," I thought, "I'll just play Factory." Well, Battle Factory is a bitch and a half without a cheat sheet and I never made it past my personal best of 29. Getting more and more frustrated, I gave up and switched over to Battle Tower with my fun 1-49 speed run team (or "Gary" team) to see how far I could go.
The 1-49 team is a Choice themed team based around two pokemon I really wanted to use: Arcanine and Machamp. To round it out and glue it together I used Latios as the third member. Those early BT battles are so boring that you might as well at least make it somewhat interesting and use pokemon you like, right? The team is as follows:
Arcanine (M) @Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252Atk/6Def/252Spe
Nature: Adamant
~ Flare Blitz
~ ExtremeSpeed
~ Iron Head
~ Thunder Fang
CB Flare Blitz is so beastly that I don't even care about recoil. It OHKOs a lot of pokemon which makes it perfect for speed running the early battles. ExtremeSpeed is a nice finisher move for after I switch out or for certain more frail yet speedy lead pokemon. The other two moves are fillers that hit resistances for super effective damage. Pretty basic stuff. The reason I also call this group "Team Gary."
Latios (M) @Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6HP/252SpAtk/252Spe
Nature: Timid
~ Dragon Pulse
~ Thunderbolt
~ Surf
~ Draco Meteor
Yeah, I said this was a Choice team but I quickly found that Choice Specs didn't really work here and that Life Orb made things much easier. Another pretty self-explanatory pokemon. Loves the Intimidate support from Arcanine.
Machamp (F) @Choice Scarf
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 6HP/252Atk/252Spe
Nature: Adamant
~ DynamicPunch
~ Stone Edge
~ Ice Punch
~ ThunderPunch
The anti DT and finishing pokemon. You get the idea. Been there, seen that. I use Adamant here since Jolly really doesn't get me much further in terms of speed.
So that's all fine and good, but after this team did its job of clearing the first 7 sets in the Tower I found it extremely difficult to keep a streak going. Maybe that's because I didn't know the movesets or maybe it's just because I never designed it to win large amounts of battles in a row. It was for fun after all. Whatever the case, I gained a lot of BP over the course of my vacation and reaffirmed that Team Gary can do its intended job but I gave up by the time I got home.
Fast forward to last week. I decided to give my fun team a whirl again but this time in the WiFi Tower instead to see how I'd fair. And also because nobody has seemingly tried it out yet so no matter what I did I would "have a record" for the time being. Arcanine was its amazing self and tore through the early ranks 2-3 (I had already cleared rank 1 some time ago) due to the numerous amounts of Scizor and Metagross. However, rank 4 I noticed a huge flaw in my team: I was completely destroyed by the common BT Gengar and its good pal Froslass. Those two could Focus Sash/Destiny Bond my team with no trouble and leave me down 2-1 at the best case scenario. And that's if they were a lead pokemon.. which they often weren't. Obviously this was a fatal flaw and if I really wanted to pursue a record, I'd have to change out a pokemon. I went with their natural counter Weavile and subbed out Arcanine.
It seemed like a grand idea to me but then I found myself losing often when even as low as rank 2. Why? I had no way to stop Scizor or Metagross from terrorizing me without Arcanine. They're practically on every team. I first tried dropping Machamp since he never seemed to do much and reinserted Arcanine into the line up. Now anything with a rock attack, especially Tyranitar, had a great shot at beating me. So I swapped Machamp back in and switched out Latios for another powerful special attacker that also happened to be a solid switch in for Meta/Scizor: Zapdos. Things worked out alright after that, but I still lost more than I wanted to. However, the core of my new WiFi Tower team was born and with some tweaking I found the proper combination to get me to rank 10..
My Rank 10 Platinum WiFi Tower Team (catchy name not included)
Weavile (M) @Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252Atk/6SpDef/252Spe
Nature: Jolly
~ Fake Out
~ Ice Punch
~ Night Slash
~ Brick Break
The original Weavile used Ice Shard in the last slot but I quickly found Brick Break to be way more useful and important. Without it, other lead Weavile are a bit tricky to handle and its a nice failsafe for certain random pokemon should they appear in a tight situation. Anything that I can use Fake Out against on turn 1 will promptly be flinched. Great for negating the common Focus Sash and scouting for Leftovers vs another item. If I can OHKO on turn 2, I obviously go for it. If it's a 2HKO over turns 2 and 3, I go for it only if I know it will benefit me to do so. If not, I switch out. A 1 HP Weavile is still extremely valuable (and one with Sash still intact is even better) for common Garchomp and Salamence so I hardly ever sacrifice it early on in the match. It's so good that I've learned maximizing its potential is best done by hitting and running.
Fire leads are the most tricky here since many of them can dish out a lot of damage and I have nothing that resists them. Infernape is probably the pokemon I hate seeing the most at the start of a battle since it has so many options and so many ways to hurt me. It varies from Mach Punch or Close Combat to Overheat or Flare Blitz to even the always fun Stone Edge. Any of those moves are just as likely to be seen on a switch out so it's very dicey to do so. Yet if you stay in, Mach Punch or Vacuum Wave can potentially get you since Brick Break isn't strong enough to OHKO and the other attacks are resisted.
Zapdos (-) @Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 212HP/220Def/8SpAtk/60SpDef/4Spe
Nature: Bold
~ Thunderbolt
~ Hidden Power (Ice)
~ Roost
~ Toxic
If Weavile has to switch out, it's usually in favor of this pokemon. Zapdos started out on this team as a max SpAtk/max Spe Modest Life Orber with 3 attacks and Roost. However, the purpose of Zappy was to first and foremost counter Scizor/Metagross and an offensive version would too often die to bad luck or even sometimes just Choice Banded versions when already weakened. Even strong neutral hits were doing a lot of damage. Not enough staying power at all. I scrapped it for a more bulky version with tweaked EVs from the Smogon analysis to suit level 50. I might be able to better optimize the spread but whatever.. it does the job. Can eat a Stone Edge if it has to.. or even an Outrage from certain Garchomp and smack back with HP Ice so they can be revenge killed. Since switching to the bulky spread, Zapdos has developed a penchant for drawing critical hits. Always on the switch in, too. If I lose, it's usually because Zapdos fainted before I wanted it to (or should have) due to some timely luck.
You might be wondering where Heat Wave is if the main goal is to counter steels. Switching to a bulky spread with Leftovers loses a lot of punch.. so much so that other bulky pokemon can effectively wall Zapdos. I've been caught a few times heads up against a Blissey or Cresselia, for example, and there's just no way to win that without Toxic. Also helpful for: Hippowdon, Swampert, Dusknoir, Wobbuffet, Snorlax (haven't seen an Immunity Lax yet), Lanturn, Umbreon, Ampharos, Cradily, Regice, Ludicolo, and even Kingdra.. to name a few. An absolutely amazing Toxic staller with help from Pressure and Roost. Works great with Weavile, too, since it can buy some more time with Fake Out. Thunderbolt does enough to still cover Scizor/Metagross in a 2-3HKO depending on the scenario all while Roostin'. The only steel that makes me long for Heat Wave is Bronzong since it usually has Calm Mind and Rest. For Zong I usually spam Thunderbolt until I get lucky and/or force it into a predictable rest in which case I switch to my last pokemon. I fought one Bronzong earlier tonight with Iron Defense/Calm Mind/Rest/Flash Cannon which I was forced to Pressure stall in order to beat. I don't like Bronzong much.
Machamp (F) @Sitrus Berry
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252HP/252Atk/6Def
Nature: Adamant
~ DynamicPunch
~ Stone Edge
~ Bullet Punch
~ Bulk Up
The only pokemon that didn't leave the original team!.. technically. I've often considered using Metagross here instead but then fire pokemon would really be a pain in the ass. Like Zapdos, I had to tweak Machamp for a more bulky variety. With two weaknesses to rock already, I needed something that could take a Stone Edge and still dish out a lot of physical damage. Choice Scarf was already putting me in a jam and Stone Edges were doing too much on the switch. With the extra HP investment, Machamp becomes much more sturdy (except when OHKO moves are involved har har). The Sitrus Berry has come in very handy as it turns potential 2HKOs into 3HKOs, etc and allows some time to Bulk Up. One attack boost turns Machamp into a monster that is hard to stop.
Since I dropped Ice Shard on Weavile, I needed a priority outside of Fake Out so I deleted the now unnecessary Ice Punch for Bullet Punch (actually I took my 2v2 Machamp and swapped RS for SE and Protect for Bulk Up but you get the idea). It's a great insurance policy against weak Scarf Chomps with sandstream support. ThunderPunch was only there for Slowbro/king in the original team which are now very well covered by Weavile and Zapdos.
Machamp is usually a "mid to late game" mon after I've scoped a majority of the opposing team. I only go to her from lead Weavile if a rock user and/or Gyarados starts. Some Gyara have SE and if they do, they will use it right away. Don't like switching Zapdos into that because a steel pokemon is usually lurking. If Gyara doesn't have SE, it will generally use DD (more than once too) so it's a gimme kill for Machamp. She can survive a Waterfall after a DD but sometimes the flinch can screw me. Zapdos cleans up if that happens but it's not a situation I enjoy being in.
This team definitely isn't perfect (Rain Dance teams usually have a good chance of beating me), but I thought I'd share the unique process that allowed me to stumble across a very enjoyable team that *gasp* doesn't contain Garchomp, Tyranitar, Salamence, Gengar, Blissey, Scizor, Latios, or Metagross. Shocking I know. It actually lost quite a bit on my way up, but that's the beauty of WiFi Tower.. you don't have to start from square one if you lose.
I faced all sorts of interesting teams the last few days (I've been doing this nonstop I have no life) and it was cool to see what the Japanese trainers are using. An extremely common Japanese team is Scizor/Mamoswine/Milotic which actually inspired me to use Zapdos (which I didn't see often for some reason) since it can wreck those 3 if it has Heat Wave. Other favorites from the Japs include Paraflinch Togekiss and Calm Mind Bronzong, though Zong isn't as common. Toxic+Evasion is also a pretty common Japanese strategy.. there's a lot of Counter/Minimize/Toxic/Softboiled Blissey running around which I find a bit odd and silly. Oh well, Machamp has no problems with that pokemon. Anyway, it's now late so I can't remember some of the other stupid things I've seen.
My current streak stands at 14 for Rank 10.. I'll post a picture once I, hopefully, improve on the number of wins. I was going to wait to post this but whatever, I already wrote it up. Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading my ramblings..