Challenge Pokemon Black challenge run: fighting fire with fire

Magnus0

Magnus0

Introduction
Hey, I'm back with another challenge run because I have too much free time!

The idea is that I can only use the same type that type-specialists use against them. For example, I can only use normal types against Lenora and only bug types against Burgh. Pokemon black is an interesting game to do this challenge in, because it has both a dragon and a ghost type specialist quite late into the game. Those type specialists are usually quite challenging because the Pokemon you can use are by definition weak to that specialists’ STAB moves.

You know what other Pokemon game has both ghost and dragon type gym? Pokemon SoulSilver (nice bridge, if I may say so myself). I completed this same challenge in Pokemon SoulSilver before, so if you want an example of how the run works, look at this thread: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...hallenge-run-fighting-fire-with-fire.3660477/


Rules:
  • Against gym leaders and e4 members, I can only use pokemon of the type that they specialize in. The first gym is an exception, since there are literally zero available options to use. I can use whatever I want outside of gym fights.
  • I have to beat N and Ghetsis to complete the challenge, even though they are not type specialists.
  • As the meme goes, you don’t become the champion without knowing how to spam full restores. I can use two in-battle items, just like the gym leaders I’m fighting. To make things a bit easier for myself, I will allow healing items of any kind.
  • As I´m playing on an emulator, I use the ´change impossible evolutions` option of the pokemon randomizer. This enables me to use trade-only pokemon.
  • I’m playing on set mode.

Starter choice
This choice honestly doesn’t really matter. Emboar is the only starter that can be used in a major battle: Marshal. It’s kind of terrible against Marshal though, so I plan on getting a different fighting type for that battle. I chose Oshawott in the end, since it can learn the most HM’s.


In preparation for Cilan
Cilan is a grass-type specialist, but there are no available grass types before fighting him. Therefore, I can use whatever I want against him. I catch a Lillipup because I can use it later on against Lenora. I make sure to catch one with vital spirit so that it will have intimidate after it evolves into Herdier.

I only use Lillipup in battle so that it gets as much experience as possible. This is no problem at all for Lillipup, since it is very powerful. It’s even better than my starter, honestly. I beat all of the trainers on route 2 and the ones in the Dreamyard. I also fight Cheren in the trainer school. After beating literally every trainer around, Lillipup reaches level 13.


Cilan
I use tackle, which depletes about 1/3 of the opposing Lillipup’s health. Cilan’s Lillipup uses work up on both turn 1 and 2, so I can just knock it out with tackle without taking damage. Tackle is a clean 3HKO after all, so I don’t trigger Cilan to use a potion. My Lillipup levels up during the fight.

Pansage has slightly better bulk, so it barely escapes a 3HKO from tackle. It sets up two work ups, which means I hit get to hit it with two tackles. I then get hit by a +2 vine whip, which doesn’t do enough damage for a 2HKO, while I use leer to skilfully dodge a potion again. Lillipup takes another vine whip, and then finishes the fight with tackle.


Road to Nacrene City
I get the cut TM from Fennel, which gives me access to the main part of the Dreamyard. After kicking team plasma’s ass for doing the same to Munna, I catch a Munna of my own. Munna is going to be my answer to Caitlin way down the line. Compared to the other available psychic types, Musharna has the best special bulk and the best movepool for the job. It also evolves very early on, which gives me a good pokemon to fall back to. Most of the other pokemon I use in the early game will be ditched after beating the gym of their type after all.

After I beat Cheren on route 3, I catch a Blitzle. It’s the only electric type option for Elesa, besides Emolga. It doesn’t matter that Blitzle is basically the only option though, since it is absolutely perfect for countering Elesa’s volt switch spam. Lillipup evolves after the fight with Cheren by the way, so it’s ready for Lenora. That’s why I focus on levelling Blitzle and Munna for now.

I get a chesto berry from Cheren when I arrive in Necrene City. I really like this bit of game design. It not only gives you an answer to Lenora’s hypnosis spam, it also strengthens Cheren’s character by showing his tactical side. It turns out that this chesto berry is going to be important.


Planning ahead
Before facing Lenora, I first have some business in the exterior of Pinwheel Forest. First of all, I catch a Tympole, because its water STAB will be very useful against Clay later on. I also catch an Audino to support Herdier during the fight with Lenora. I still need something to cover Burgh, but sadly the only available bug types, Venipede and Sewaddle, can only be caught after beating Lenora.

I considered picking up Sawk or Throh as well. Both seem like they could solo Marshal with bulk up. My team is already getting quite stacked though, so I fear that there won’t be enough exp to go around. That’s why I decide against catching either of the two fighting types. Once I catch a Venipede to fight Burgh with, I am covered up until Skyla, so there is still plenty of time left to figure out how to beat the E4.

I fight all the trainers in the area and the ones in Nacrene gym. Herdier, Munna, Blitzle and Tympole are all around level 17 at this point.


Lenora
I lead with Audino. Its job is to take intimidate and spam growl. Audino can get four growls off before fainting. Lenora’s Herdier actually takes quite some recoil damage from take down, thanks to Audino’s high HP. My Herdier sets up three work ups, while the opposing Herdier uses leer three times to offset the growls somewhat. It doesn’t really matter though, because My Herdier outspeeds and OHKO’s with a +3 take down. Lenora sends out Whatchog, which uses hypnosis. I gave my Herdier a chesto berry though, so Herdier wakes up and OHKO’s Whatchog as well.

I put Audino in the pc. I do keep Herdier for a while though, just in case. It’s the most powerful pokemon on my team after all.
 
Pinwheel Forest and Castelia City
After beating Lenora, I have to retrieve the skull fossil that team plasma stole from the museum. I catch a Venipede first though, as I need a bug type for Burgh. My original plan with Venipede was to use rollout, but it turns out that you can´t catch a Venipede at a low enough level to have still have rollout. It´s not too bad though, since I can use an iron defence strategy instead. I drive team Plasma out of Pinwheel forest. Lenora rewards me with a moon stone, which I immediately use to evolve Munna. I also catch two Sewaddles before leaving the forest.

There are a couple of things I need to do in Castelia city. I fight all of the dancers for the amulet coin, I fight all of the battle company for the exp share, I get the eviolite and finally I get the flash tm. After some business with team Plasma, I´m ready to fight Burgh. Venipede evolves just in time, learning iron defence in the process.


Burgh
I lead with a flash Sewaddle. Burgh´s Whirlipede has screech, which might screw up my setup, but flash prevents that. I bring in my own Whirlipede and set up iron defence three times. The opposing Whirlipede doesn´t even try to use screech. It uses struggle bug instead, which is perfectly fine with me. I use a screech of my own so I can do some damage, while Burgh´s Whirlipede just keeps on spamming struggle bug. After some very stally turns, my Whirlipede wins the ditto. Dwebble comes out. It´s the most threatening Pokemon to my Whirlipede, but I´m at +6 defence at this point, so I don’t have anything to worry about. A screech and two bug bites take care of Dwebble. Leavanny comes out, but it gets walled even harder than Dwebble. Whirlipede uses bug bite to remove the sitrus berry, while Leavanny just uses string shot. I then get an unnecessary crit on poison tail, which speeds the fight up a little. I put Whirlipede in the PC after it did its job.


The desert
Since Venipede took most of the exp since catching it, my other pokemon are still a little low-levelled. I prioritise training Blitzle, because it has to evolve in time for Elesa. I beat all of the trainers on route 4, including Cheren. I also clear out the entire desert resort, after which Blitzle evolves. I pick up the plume fossil and catch a Sigilyph I just randomly encountered. Both Archen and Sigilyph can be used against Skyla later on, though I’m not giving them any experience. I go to Nimbasa City for the bike, so that I can quickly cycle all the way back to Nacrene city to revive Archen. I also pick up a rare candy and the solar beam TM in the newly opened up section of Pinwheel forest on the way to Nacrene City.


Elesa
I got the return TM for Zebstrika before facing Elesa. Spark is just short of 2HKO’ing, which is actually a good thing since Elesa wastes her potions on Emolga instead of her more dangerous Zebstrika. Return is a 4HKO on her Zebstrika, and her best move is flame charge, which Is like a 6HKO. Her Zebstrika gets a crit though, so I have to use one super potion. Her second emolga is 3HKO’d by spark, and it can’t do anything back. It’s not the most interesting fight – I only spammed spark and return – so I apologise for the quite boring description here. I promise there will be some more spicy strategies later in the run. I put Zebstrika in the box.


In preparation for Clay
I go to route 16 to fight all of the trainers for exp, something I normally don’t do. There is also a rare candy here. I beat all of the trainers on route 5 as well, which makes Palpitoad evolve. Since I don’t have any other Pokemon I intend on using for the long-term, I give almost all of my experience to Musharna for the time being. It’s already getting quite overlevelled.

I catch a Ducklett as fly slave. I then pick up the rocky helmet and heart scale at the cold storage. I also considered catching a Vannilite here, but I don’t think that that is necessary. High levelled Vannilish and even Beartic can be caught in Iccirus City in winter, so I don’t have to waste exp on raising a Vannilite myself. Brycen is possibly the worst gym leader in the entire franchise anyway, so I shouldn’t worry about him too much.


Clay
My Palpitoad outspeeds and OHKO’s Krokorok, which surprised me. I know that Palpitoad actually has decent speed, and mine has a speed increasing nature as well, but outspeeding a Krokokrok while being slightly underlevelled is still impressive. OHKO’ing Krok is very nice though, since now I don’t have to deal with swagger, torment or bulldoze speed drops or whatever. Excadrill uses Hone claws as I get it to half of its health with muddy water. It uses bulldoze on the next turn before falling to a second muddy water. I now have to win the ditto against Palpitoad. My Palpitoad took some damage from bulldoze, but it also has eviolite, which Clay’s Palpitoad doesn’t have. Clay’s Palpitoad wastes a turn on aqua ring, but I miss my muddy water. The second muddy water hits though, thankfully, and it’s a 2HKO. A third muddy water finishes the fight.


Next time, I'll cover the last three gym leaders. I will also catch two new important pokemon that I'm going to use against the E4. Can you guess which two?
 
Chargestone Cave and Celestial Tower
After beating Clay, I have to get through the Chargestone Cave. I get the lucky egg from professor Juniper, which will be very important for the remainder of the run. I switch the egg around A LOT just to get extra experience. It´s kind of annoying, but also necessary. The cave itself isn´t very challenging, mostly because I have an overlevelled Musharna. One problem with that though, is that Musharna doesn´t learn many good non-phychic type offensive moves. I actually use return on it so it can beat the many dark types of team plasma. I catch a Boldore here as well.

After getting through the Cave, I go to Celestial tower to add a new Pokemon to my team. I do my best to avoid the trainers on route 7 so I can battle them later. You have probably guessed it by now, I´m catching a Litwick. Because of the nature of this challenge, all of Shauntals Pokemon have a super effective STAB move to use against me. I figured that the best strategy for beating her is to just overpower her with super effective STAB moves of my own. Upon catching my Litwick, I realise that it gets imprison. Lampent learns minimise through the move relearner as well. Imprison + shadow ball is a perfect for shutting down Shauntals lead, which allows me to set up minimize with ease. That seems like a solid strategy, better than any of the other ghost types can manage.

I beat all of the trainers around the area with Litwick. It levels very quickly thanks to the lucky egg. I also trade the Boldore for an Emolga. The good thing about this is that the Emolga is always level 30, regardless of Boldore's level. In case you need a recap, my team for Skyla consists of Emolga, Archen and a random Sigilyph I found. None of them have really been trained.


Skyla
I lead of with Archen. Skyla’s Swoobat sets up amnesia on turn 1, which is perfect. Archen uses pluck, which is just powerful enough to get Swoobat into orange. On the next turn, Swoobat fails to knock me into defeatist range thanks to eviolite, while Archen defeats Swoobat with another pluck.
Skyla brings out Swanna, who outspeeds and KO’s Archen with bubblebeam, unsurprisingly. I bring out Sigilyph. Swanna outpseeds, but it uses aqua ring instead of an attacking move, which gives me the opportunity to use tailwind. Sigilyph actually outspeeds after a tailwind. It uses charge beam, which doesn’t do all that much damage, but it goes down to a crit bubblebeam. I don’t know if that crit mattered, but It’s a good thing nonetheless for allowing Emolga to come in to quickly finish the job. Emolga’s electro ball knocks Swanna out thanks to tailwind. Electro ball OHKO’s Unfezant as well.


A small little detour
Before continuing through Twist Mountain, I have to do something else. With surf, I get access to Mistralton Cave. I need an Axew, but not for the reason you might expect. Axew is the only Pokemon that can pass dragon dance to a Scraggy via breeding. Breeding a dragon dance Scraggy might seem like a lot of effort, but I think it’s worth it. Scraggy is the only Pokemon that can be used against two of the E4 members after all. It even as the stats and movepool to actually sweep both Marsal and Grimsley.

Axewally, I do also want an Axew for Drayden. There is an interesting dynamic with Drayden’s Fraxure and Haxorus. Both of them are male, and both of them have the rivalry ability. This gives me two potential strategies to beat him. The first is to also use a male Fraxure with rivalry, to increase the power of my moves. The second option is to use a female Fraxure with mold breaker (more importantly, one without rivalry). This reduces the power of Drayden’s Pokemon. I decide to go for the latter option, as surviving an attack is more important to me than doing more damage.

After some time, I have an Axew and a dragon dance Scraggy on the exp.share. I clear out the rest of Mistralton cave. I didn’t bother catching Cobalion, since I’ve used it before and it was trash. I also clear some of route 17 and 18 to level Litwick and Axew. I was there to catch a Scraggy to breed anyway.

After I get through Twist Mountain, I catch a Beartic and a Vanillish in the dark grass right above the gym. I don’t train them at all, since they come at a surprisingly high level. Beartic especially is level 37, only two levels below Brycen’s Beartic. That’s kind of pathetic from Brycen, to be honest. Scraggy is at around level 30 now, so it can hold its own against the trainers in Icirrus gym to gain even more exp. Litwick is also very close to evolving at this point.


Brycen
Expert belt flash cannon from Vanillish is a 2HKO on the opposing Vanillish. I switch out to a death fodder Vanillite against Beartic, after which I bring in my own Beartic. I use bulldoze as my Beartic gets swaggered, which is exactly what I want. My Beartic immediately snaps out of confusion thanks to a persim berry, and it takes the opposing Beartic out with a +2 rock slide. Cryogonal stood absolutely no chance.


Team Plasma stuff
Scraggy evolves just before the avalanche of Team Plasma grunts in the Dragonspiral Tower and Relic Castle. This is great, because it’s nearly invincible to the grunts thanks to its typing. Axew and Lampent also evolve at the Relic Castle. Not much else of note really happens at this point, except for some story stuff.


Drayden
My fraxure and Drayden’s Fraxure both use dragon dance twice. His Fraxure is actually, faster, but I still outspeed on turn 3 because of Drayden’s galaxy brain dragon dance + dragon tail combo. From there, my Fraxure OHKO’s both of Drayden’s remaining Pokemon. Tell me why Drayden is such a dumdum.


I think I did pretty well against these final gym leaders. I didn't have to use much experience on the Pokemon I used against the last gym leaders. This resulted in my three main Pokemon for the E4 being at a pretty high level. At this point, only the E4 remains. I am fully prepared, I think. The only problem is that I also have to beat N and Ghetsis, so hopefully I can sweep them with dragon dance moxie Scrafty or something.
 
Shauntal
As I mentioned before, chandelure gets imprison. It´s a perfect way to shut Cofagrigus down to the point where it´s no longer threatening. I set up three minimizes just in case, while Cofagrigus uses… grass knot. Silly AI. After the setup is done, I outspeed and OHKO all of Shauntal´s Pokemon, even that fat Jellicent. Turns out that the minimize setup wasn´t even necessary.


Grimsley
This fight is actually more difficult than you might expect, or rather, it´s annoying. The reason for that is that Grimsley´s Scrafty has sand attack, which lowers the already shaky accuracy of high jump kick. I use dragon dance one turn 1 one, as the opposing Scrafty uses sand attack. After that, I OHKO all of Grimsley´s Pokemon, but I did have to reset a couple of times for an RNG roll that doesn´t result in Scrafty killing itself with recoil damage.


Caitlin
I use yawn on turn 1 to buy some time later on while Reuniclus uses thunder. I set up a special attack boost with charge beam while Reuniclus lands another thunder. At least it doesn´t paralyze, since that would have made me yawn for nothing (because synchronise). Reuniclus fell asleep, so I took the time to heal with moonlight. Reuniclus sleeps for a second turn while I set up with another charge beam. Reuniclus wakes up and lands its third thunder, and it paralyzes both Musharna and Reuniclus (because synchronise), and I set up another charge beam. Reuniclus lands its fourth thunder in a row, of course, and it’s a crit. Musharna barely survives and sets up ANOTHER charge beam. I use a full restore to heal and to get rid of the paralysis, while Reuniclus can’t move thanks to paralysis. Musharna’s paralysis is gone now, so it outspeeds and KO’s Reuniclus with shadow ball. Sigilyph uses a fairly weak shadow ball, while I OHKO it with a charge beam. Musharna and Gothitelle are both OHKO’d by shadow ball.


Marshal
I start off with a dragon dance, but Throh wastes no time and goes straight for storm throw, which depletes just over half of my health bar. I had to use three rare candies to survive two storm throws. I use high jump kick, which fails to OHKO, while a second storm throw gets Scrafty in red. Marshal uses a full restore and I just use high jump kick again to basically nullify that full restore. Another high jump kick takes out Throh. Marshal brings out Sawk, which is an annoying Pokemon to deal with because it has sturdy. I use a full restore to heal back to full HP while Sawk breaks its sturdy on my rocky helmet with karate chop. Get. Outplayed. High jump kick sweeps from here.
 
Natural Hormonia Gropius
I lead with Reshiram, unsurprisingly. Zekrom outspeeds but it uses the not very effective fusion bolt, while I use dragon breath for some good damage. Zekrom uses light screen, but dragon breath still 2HKO's from here. After Zekrom goes down, Carracosta comes out. I use dragon breath knowing full well that Reshiram is going down to stone edge. This is all according to plan, because now I can safely bring in Scrafty. I set up just one dragon dance and sweep from there. N's team is actually extremely weak to fighting type attacks.


Ghetsis
I use fusion flare on Cofagrigus, which is a 2HKO. Cofagrigus uses toxic and then stalls with protect on the following turn. I use another fusion flare on Ghetsis´ switch, Bouffalant, but it the combination of earthquake and poison damage takes Reshiram out. I bring out Scrafty and set up a dragon dance, because that worked well last time. Head charge depletes slightly over half of Scrafty´s HP though, so I can´t set up further. This matters, because Hydreigon outspeeds and KO's Scrafty even at +1. Musharna can actually tank two dragon pulses, so I used yawn to buy some time. This kinda worked, but I would have to spam max revives and full restores to beat Hydreigon and start another dragon dance setup, so I decided to just start over. I still have like 5 rare candies in my inventory, so I boostScrafty up to level 60. I set up two dragon dances on Bouffalant and sweep from there. Ghetsis is honestly the only fight in the game that stopped me in my tracks.


Conclusion
And with that, team plasma is defeated, for now at least. The challenge was actually much easier than I anticipated, probably because the gym leaders in gen 5 just kinda suck. The gen 5 e4 on the other hand is very threatening, but I didn't have much problems there either. Maybe in the future, I'll do the challenge in Platinum, to really challenge myself. That game is pretty hard even on a more casual run, so I'm curious if I could complete the challenge. I can already see Fantina being a problem. Anyway, thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this thread as much as I enjoyed doing the challenge run.
 
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