so we back on the grind.
Caught Machop and Slugma in the Firey Path. IV's below
Taught Bulk Up and Secret Power to Machop and Flamethrower to Slugma using all the money available until Maxie.
Maxie
Slugma(25): Terrible, Flamethrower 2HKO's but Sand Attack and Bite's 3HKO make Mightyena a very scary and luck based matchup. Golbat smashes you with WA, 2HKO comparing to Flamethrower's bare 2HKO and Camerupt just shreds you, don't.
Aron(25): Bite 6HKO's and +0 Rock Tomb 3HKO's, possible with good luck. Golbat is a joke as Rock Tomb 2HKOs and Wing Attack/Confuse Ray are pitiful. Camerupt is impossible however, Magnitude wrecks it
Tentacool(26): Bite 4HKO's and Bubblebeam 3HKo's, possible with no crits. Golbat is impossible as WA 2HKO's and Bubblebeam only 4HKO's.
Machop(26): Beats Mightyena, can't beat Golbat or Camerupt because Magnitude 6-8 2HKo's, bad matchup
Evolved Machop into Machamp before Flannery and triggered Guts before the fight
Flannery
Machamp(28): Guts Karate Chop OHKO's Numel and Slugma and Revenge OHKO's Camerup, it usually Tackles or Magnitudes, you live both. However, Guts Karate Chop/Secret Power only 4HKO's and it KO's with Overheat after all the chip, so Torkoal is impossible.
Tentacool(27): BubbleBeam OHKO's her first three mons, then you die against Torkoal since Body Slam 2HKO's while Beam 4HKO's
Slugma(28): Slugma with Rock Throw spam, but it dies to everything else. Awful matchup
Aron(27): kills Slugma with Rock Tomb and can live 1 Numel Overheat at full and KO with 2 Rock Tombs, but it dies to Camerupt and Torkoal's Overheat/Magnitude.
Needed all 4 members to take down Torkoal, and even then it came down to the wire with Slugma. Taught Overheat to Slugma over Smog. Got Tentacool to 29 so testing it and it's evolution seperatly.
Norman
Tentacool(29): Bubblebeam 5HKO's Spinda while it's Facade 2HKO's, and everything else can nearly OHKO with STAB attacks, while Slaking OHKO's, awful matchup.
Tentacruel(30): Now having actual Defense, Facade becomes a 6HKO while BubbleBeam 3HKO's. The same goes for Vigoroth, meaning Tentacruel can beat one, but not both without healing. If Linoone doesn't click Belly Drum or Tentacruel outspeeds, Tentacruel can 3HKO it with Bubblebeam, if not Tentacruel loses the matchup(assuming Tenty is at full, if not it needs to heal as Facade/Slash 5HKO's). Lastly, Bubblebeam 12-14HKO's Slaking and Facade 2HKO's, avoid. OK matchup, though the ranges might be off because of my ass IV in Special Attack.
Slugma(28): Facade 2HKO's from Spinda and Overheat can't even OHKO it, you die. The others OHKO you, so this is a lost cause.
Aron(28): Strength's 4HKO compared to Psybeam's 7HKO makes this an easy matchup in terms of damage output. Teeter Dance throws a wrench in that however, as confusion cam make you lose this matchup. He then sends in Slaking next, which either goes for a 4HKO with Feint Attack or Yawn/Counter, which is a wasted slot. Strength comes to a 16-17HKO, which makes this impossible.
Machamp(29): Psybeam suprisingly 4HKO's, but you outspeed so 1 Bulk Up+Karate Chop takes it out. You live any hit from both Vigoroth and Linoone and both die to 1 Karate Chop, though they will knock you below 1/2(unless Linoone Belly Drums like me). Slaking usually Counters so you can Bulk Up again, and then Karate Chop 2HKO's/Revenge OHKO if it clicks Facade.
Machamp easily solo'd this fight, and Tentacool evolved after with the EXP Share.
Taught Surf, Ice Beam and Sludge Bomb to Tentacruel and evolved Aron before May 3, clearing out every trainer from Petalburg to Fortree. No rain on the route.
May 3
Lairon(34): Rock Tomb OHKO's Slugma, 2HKO's Lombre and Iron Tail OHKO's Grovyle: be careful as Leaf Blade 3HKO's you. Great matchup
Tentacruel(34): Surf and Sludge Bomb twice, an easy sweep
Slugma(35): Flamethrower 2HKO's Slugma and Lombre and OHKO's Grovyle, you can actually sweep this with good luck on Lombre not clicking Fury Swipes.
Machamp(34): Karate Chop and then Revenge twice, basically Fighting Tentacruel sweep.
May clearly can't handle any of my Pokemon, so I let Machamp get the experience. Got everyone to 35 before Winona.
Winona
Lairon(35): You outspeed and OHKO Swablu, then Altaria comes in. Earthquake 2HKO's, but Rock Tomb 2HKO's and you outspeed after one drop, making this possible. Pelipper beats you with Water Gun's 2HKO, but Tropius requiring a 2 turn charge move means you can beat it with Rock Tomb. Rock Tomb 7HKO's, with Steel Wing's 6HKO, possible defense buff and Sand Attack this is a lost cause.
Tentacruel(35): Ice Beam doesn't K.O Swablu(loving that SpA IV), but Mirror Move/Aerial Ace does next to nothing(15% most from Ace). Ice Beam 2HKO's Altaria(possible OHKO with better SpA IV) and you live one non-crit EQ, even if it Dragon Dances. Surf 2HKO's Skarm and Aerial Ace only 7HKO's. Aerial Ace 10HKO's you and Sludge Bomb 3HKO's(2HKO's after poison damage). Lastly, Tropius.
Slugma(35): Flamethrower 2HKO's Swablu, it usually Aerial Ace/Safeguard into Perish Song. You can't beat Pelipper which comes in next, nor Altaria due to Earthquake. You can't OHKO Skarmory or Tropius with Flamethrower, so you have to Overheat and choose which one you beat, as Aerial Ace 2HKO's from Skarm and 3HKO's from Tropius. bad matchup.
Machamp(35): Swablu oddly doesn't like to Aerial Ace you if you start clicking Bulk Up, instead going for Safeguard, Mirror Move spam and then clicking Perish Song. By getting to +3, you can OHKO Swablu with Facade, Skarm with boosted Revenge, and 2HKO the rest with Facade. Machamp suprisingly sweeps this as long as Supersonic doesn't cause it to hit itself too much.
Machamp gets the EXP for this match.
Team Rankings
Lairon isn't much of an improvement over Aron, only really getting a slight speed and power upgrade. Honestly, this thing just sucks, it hasn't had good matchup in any gym barring Winona, and largely has been mitigated to cleaning out routes and having a slow EXP group. I don't see this getting better until Aggron at 42, and even then that's going to have to deal with Juan and Wallace soon, so I think
D Tier suits it well, nice physicall wall but not much beyond that
Tentacruel got the glow up it deserved after Norman tbh. Before that, it struggled to deal with anything that wasn't a Water weak type and basically was limited to Bubblebeam. Now that it has Surf, Sludge Bomb and Ice Beam, it shreds pretty much everything that's not a Gym Leader. Its first true matchup in Winona went really well, and seeing the late game ahead,
B/C Tier seems like a good place for it.
Machamp is pretty good once it evolves into Machamp. Wrecks Norman, sweeps Winona and cleans Route trainers well enough. Lack of STAB that isn't Revenge or Karate Chop is starting to prove annoying though, this thing needs Brick Break. Honestly if everything goes well in the E4 and Juan, this is an easy
C Tier.
Slugma bad lmao. This thing has been limited to route cleaning unevolved mons and cleaning up the weak links of Gym Leader's teams(and sometimes even that is impossible, i.e Norman). This thing is frail as shot, taking 25% from a Swellow's Quick Attack and taking even more damage from attacks like Spinda's Facade and Skarmory's Aerial Ace doing 70%. Unless this thing gets a super power upgrade in Magcargo, this is probably going in
F Tier.