Challenge Pokemon with Status Moves ONLY (Pokemon Black Complete!)

[CTNC]

I'd say Cheren is the toughest rival for this challenge because he uses Roost then Taunt and uses one of the most powerful Pokemon after ditching those moves, but Brendon/May make Hoenn games impossible. (or close enough in Gen 3.) Cheren is still the toughest rival that's possible to beat without an insane amount of RNG manipulation.

Cheren leads with Liepard, but he doesn't know Taunt anymore. The closest thing to a problem was that if if it wasn't holding a Sitrus Berry, Garbodor's Rocky Helmet might have KOed Liepard before a second layer of Toxic Spikes. If that doesn't say it's weak, I don't know what does.

Gigalith was pretty easy. Switch to Servine to take Earthquake, use Protect, feel bad for Cheren when Stone Edge missed, Protect again, and tank a Giga Impact. During the first Protect, he used Stealth Rock, which might have mattered with Cofagrigus against Haxorus.

Emboar is worth laughing at just because he has a Focus Sash and 3 Attacks that have recoil. Dealing less than half to Alomomola with Wild Charge is also a little sad.

Simisage was a lot worse than it should have been. I thought Lilligant would be fine, but Energy Ball dealt about a third when I switched then I used Protect. I tried to use Synthesis, but something horrible happened. Simisage used Rock Slide, which dealt almost half of Lilligant's remaining HP and I'd like to say it made me flinch, but what really happened was I accidentally used Aromatherapy. She was able to barely endure a Brick Break and use Synthesis, so things were looking good again... until a Rock Slide Flinch stopped a second Synthesis. Lilligant wouldn't be able to endure any more hits.

I switched to Cofagrigus against Haxorus and an X-Scissor dealt about 20 damage during the switch. I got overconfident and forgot to use Protect. He used Outrage... And he had a Dragon Gem... Cofagrigus got KOed... The only Pokemon that had a chance of endure a hit was Alomomola and he already had some damage from switching into Emboar's Flare Blitz. I used Protect and Outrage confused Haxorus! I then tried Wish, but Haxorus was able to use Outrage. I'm not sure how, but Alomomola endured it! I used Protect and Haxorus didn't hurt itself in confusion. I tried Wish again even though I knew another Outrage would KO, (In hindsight, I should have risked using Protect twice in a row.) and Haxorus hurt itself in confusion!

I finished with using Toxic on Unfezant. Facade was pretty strong because STAB Power 140 moves tend to be pretty strong, but I'd pretty much already won. The most notable thing was I sent in Reshiram because they were the only Pokemon I hadn't used against Cheren.


If you think I feel clever for saying the next opponent is a Shining star and that it's a Brilliant "battle," don't worry, I don't. I feel unoriginal for forcing a Diamond and Pearl joke.


Edit: Fixed a Typo in Wild Charge. Wind Charge sounds like a Flying type version of that move.

 

[CTNC]

When writing commentary for the Ghost Elite Four I noticed what the game says when Leech Seed missed, "The foe's Cofagrigus avoided the attack!" I feel like the game said this challenge is a lie by calling a Status Move an Attack... I've been letting this challenge define who I am as a Pokemon trainer to the point of never attacking again and the game said it's a lie!

I may be suffering a slight existentialist crisis...


On a more light hearted note, some Brilliant pun about a Shining trainer, because Diamond and Pearl's Champion.

I lost whatever respect I had for Cynthia when her Spiritomb used Double Team. Leech Seed landed first turn, so up yours Cynthia! For more karma, she missed with Will-O-Wisp twice and Garbodor's Toxic poisoned her right after her Full Restore. Spiritomb deal no damage other than inflicting a burn because the only attack she tried was Sucker Punch.

Garchomp's Earthquake didn't deal much when I switched to Servine because bulky Pokemon that resist attacks tend to not take much damage. Three Dragon Rushes were even worse, but only because of Protect, a Miss, and Protect again. Cynthia really shouldn't rely on 75 Accuracy. On the turn before Garchomp fainted, she finally hit with Dragon Rush and almost dealt half damage it Servine.

Milotic was sent in next so I suspected an Ice attack. I knew I'd have to switch, but before that I could use Protect and see what attack. She used Dragon Tail. I figured that meant it was safe to use Leech Seed and it was. Dragon Tail made me switch to Cofagrigus. I was pretty sure she didn't have an Ice attack, so I used Protect then switched to Servine. He took a bit more damage from Hydro Pump than what Leech Seed could heal and Protect on Milotic's final turn made me want to post on the Stupid AI thread again. She finally used Blizzard. Why didn't she use it earlier?

Braviary hurt a ton. I switched to Cofagirigus thinking I'd be able to use Will-O-Wisp, but Brave Bird dealt just over half. (Then I used Protect out of habit even though Braviary wasn't having his HP drained between turns.) I wasn't sure if anyone could endure, but Alomomola was my best hope. Brave Bird dealt just under half, but I was still very worried that it could be a 2HKO. Fortunately, Alomomola was able to endure and use Wish and Protect. The second time Alomomola was in red health, Braviary tried Shadow Claw. That's not dumb AI, that's the AI not caring that is wasn't the strongest move because it would KO anyway. The turn after that he used Shadow Claw after Wish had healed. I thought he was out of Brave Bird PP, but he used Brave Bird the next turn. Another stupid thing, but this one mattered because it let Alomomola almost heal to full HP.

When Eelektross was sent in I switched to Servine to let him get healed by Wish. I saw Wild Charge coming, but I didn't think he'd know Flamethrower until right after I chose Leech Seed. It dealt over half, but taking it was probably better than fearing and trying to play around it. When thinking about who to switch to I chose Alomomola because, "Why not?" That's when I realized I could heal him and Servine by Protect then switching back to the other. Right before Eelektross fainted I switched to Reshiram for Flamethrower instead because of Cynthia's last Pokemon.

Lucario outspeed and used Dragon Pulse, but it dealt less than half to Reshiram and Will-O-Wisp burned first try and Leech Seed speed things up. Not that tough without Mega Evolution

 

[CTNC]

Additional rules for The Elite Four are that I can't heal between "battles" and, for Round 2, I lose if any of my Pokemon faint. The way I see it, it's either do this and have fun with added challenge or let Route 1 be the only real highlight of this challenge.

I started with Psychic again and it's the worst again. Most "battles" are running in blind and somehow dominating, but I had to plan way more for this one and that planning came from losing 10 times against her. (I counted wins/losses for fun. This one is 1W/10L.)

Musharna looks like a problem because of Hypnosis, but all that means is someone is falling asleep. I lead with Servine for Leech Seed because even Synchronize wouldn't destroy my strategy, Toxic or Will-O-Wisp wouldn't make me risk another Hypnosis after the Full Restore. I risk Servine being put to sleep even though he knows Gastro Acid because Lilligant needs to stay awake way more than Servine and there's time for Servine to wake up later. If she starts with Reflect or if Hypnosis misses, like it did this time, I switch to Cofagrigus and let him sleep instead. (Psychic has too many Shadow Ball users, the odds of using him against Dark or Ghost are laughable, and he's sleeping through most of Fighting wither way.) Musharna always tries Dream Eater against sleeping Pokemon and Hypnosis against awake ones, so I switch between my sleeping Pokemon, and anyone else. When she's going to use a Full Restore, I make sure to have Garbodor out to use Toxic Spikes. He only gets one layer, but that's good enough. When Musharna is about to go down, I make sure to have Reshiram out.

It sounds like it'd be a good idea to do the Psychic Elite Four later and use Leech Seed against Musharna as healing, but she also knows Psychic and will use it if it KOs. (or against anyone that has a status problem other than sleep) Garbodor is KOed with just a little damage, so that would probably backfire.


Reshiram baits out Metagross because they know Earthquake and we need to use Will-O-Wisp on them ASAP. Will-O-Wisp deals about a third to Reshiram after a burn. With a burn, Metagross is the perfect chance for Servine to wake up. He was already awake, so I got to use Leech Seed immediately and that heals most of what Metagorss can do. When he's about to faint I switch back to Reshiram because having a Grass type out when an opponent faints means she will send out her worst Pokemon. (It says a lot when I say something with Magic Guard isn't the worst.)

Reuniclus is next, so I switch back to Servine because of Magic Guard. I use Gastro Acid the next turn (obviously) and Protect and Rest after than because Psychic is a 3HKO. Rehiram's the best at taking Special hits so I switch back to them... and forget to use Protect twice for some reason... They barely avoid getting KOed by 3 Psychics but I finally remember Protect and Resiram is able to heal with Rest after that. (Because why wouldn't I teach Rest to everyone? :P) Reuniclus used Focus Blast during Protect and Rest, so I thought she was out of Psychic PP and switched to Cofagrigus. She wasn't out of PP and Psychic dealt a little over a third to Cofagrigus. He didn't need full HP, so that's fine. In hindsight, ending out a sleeping Pokemon the turn before the opponent faints isn't a good idea, but it worked.

I saw Bronzong as an opportunity to use Lilligant. Psychic dealt more than I expected, but Leech Seed and Protect let me not care much. Aromatherapy also let me not care about Rest's downside, so after Protect again I switched back to Reshiram again, who finished with Will-O-Wisp and... I forgot about Protect again... How?

Sigilyph sucks. Immunity to Toxic Spikes, Wonder Skin, and can hit Leech Seed users Super Effectively. Fortunately, Toxic didn't miss and I remembered to use Protect. Psychic hit hard enough to force Reshiram to use Rest next turn and, this doesn't happen much, but Sigilyph outspeeds Reshiram so I got to heal after taking damage. I switched to Alomomola and Psychic lowered his Special Defense. it dealt about than a third, so I could still use Wish and Protect spam. I'd rather use it and still have full HP, but as long as it works I can't complain much.

Gothitelle looks easy and she is, but it's worth noting that Flatter has made me lose because I risked confusion damage when I thought Reshiram could endure it and a Psychic. I switched to Reshiram yet again to tank everything and use on the turn I thought Gothitelle would faint. I was wrong, but she used Flatter on her last turn.

 

[CTNC]

I think I could have either done the second hardest or the easiest second. I went with the harder one, so come back in two days if you want to laugh at the Fighting Elite Four again.

My record against the Ghost Elite Four is 6W/4L, but that includes a rage restart after a SpD drop when I was trying Ghost first. The problem is luck with secondary effects.

I start with Leech Seed against her Cofagrigus and Rest because of the damage from the Psychic Elite Four. I don't need him for the rest of this match or the next one, so he can stay asleep. I switched to Garbodor and he took Shadow Ball pretty well. It deal about what 3 turns of Leech Seed could heal. The Psychic he took while using Toxic Spikes, not as well. It lowered SpD, but it's not a 2HKO. I used Protect on the turn she used a Full Restore because I'd messed up predicting when she'd use it. (I think that's because of her Cofagrigus's HP being divisible by 8.) She used Will-O-Wisp afterward, but I'd used Protect. If I knew it was that instead of Psychic, I'd have taken it. Anyway, Psychic gets Gorabodor into red health when he uses Toxic Spikes and she tried Shadow Ball when I used Protect. I hoped Garbodor was still low enough to be able to be KOed by Shadow Ball so she'd use it again when I used Rest and she used Shadow Ball! I guess the SpD drop may have worked in my favor. (Also, it lowered SpD again, but that didn't matter. :P) I switched to Lilligant because this was the best chance for Aromatherapy and half the team is asleep. With the damage she already had, Psychic took Lilligant down to half health. I used Aromatherapy first instead of Synthesis and wished I did them the other way around when she was burned by Will-O-Wisp.

Froslass was very easy. Switch to Alomomola and spam Wish and Protect.

Drifblim is the biggest threat because of Thunder and not being affected by Toxic Spikes. I stick with Alomomola because it deals less than half, but paralysis is almost an instant KO because of being able to stop Wish. It has made me lose, but I got really lucky this time with two Thunder misses and a use of Acrobatics. Even after using Wish on the turn of a miss, I used Protect the next turn just to not risk paralysis.

Golurk is annoying because of Curse making me switch. After Curse, I looked at my team for who to switch into an Earthquake. Servine was the obvious answer, but Cofagrigus had some damage and I'd just used Wish. Also, it'd be worth it just for the chance to use my one Pokemon with a terrible match up against her. I was to excited to remember Protect before switching back to Alomomola, but Golurk didn't use Curse again when I used Protect. (Curse gets through Protect.)

Jellicent and Chandelure could have been problems if either lowered SpD, but that didn't happen and Wish Protect spam is stupidly good. I risked trying Hail against Jellicent and it payed off my making Chandelure faint on a turn I was using Protect so Alomomola finished at full HP.

 

[CTNC]

I had to bump the Stupid AI thread for this one. One of these videos is the one thing you should take less seriously than anything else in its game and involves someone's humiliating defeat. The other is Dogsong. I'm not sure which is which, so maybe you should play both at the same time. :P

You'd disrespect and/or hate this guy if you got migraines from trying to comprehending him too! WTF ARE YOU THINKING WITH GRASS KNOT!

Breloom wasn't way too easy because of Spore, but it's only non-Fighting attack is Grass Knot. (I'll admit I've lost once because of panicking about Spore.) Cofagrigus and Garbodor could take anything.

After that, the strategy was have Cofagrigus tank everything and use Rest because nothing was a 3HKO. Nothing. There's onyl two Pokemon that were worth talking about, and even then, it was because of how much they sucked.

Throh... broke me. I switched to Servine to take Earthquake then I used Protect and...

Throh used Grass Knot. Against Servine.

Even if you ignore that it's resisted, Throh has good Physical attacks and his Special Attack is one of the worst in the game. (Base 30. Only 6 Fully Evolved Pokemon have worse, 5 Tie, and even the Hitmons are better.) I know it's Game Freak's fault that he knows a Special Attack in the first place, so let's ignore the Physical/Special split too. His other attacks are the Power 70 Retaliate, Power 120 STAB Superpower, and resisted Power 100 Earthquake. Servine's light enough for Grass Knot to be Power 40.


Toxicroak absorbed Toxic Spikes and knew Earthquake, but 10 PP isn't much to stall and his other attacks were Venoshock and Low Sweep. Needless too say, I got Toxic Spikes back up.

 

[CTNC]

The Dark Elite Four isn't a complete joke. Only his Liepard is, but he's less of a joke because he doesn't know Grass Knot.

By the way, do the Elite Four have more than one Full Restore? I don't know because they don't use more than one against me. I wonder if that's a glitch or if I need to post in the stupid AI thread again. I know trainers used multiple Potions, but never Full Restores for some reason...

I lead with Lilligant because some of my Pokemon were asleep, including Servine. She was easily able to use Leech Seed, Aromatherapy, and Synthesis before switching to Garbodor. I used Toxic Spikes while they used a Full Restore then Protect to see what Sharpedo knew. It was Earthquake and Earthquake always makes me switch to Servine. Night Slash wasn't doing that much and I couldn't see having any problems, or at least I couldn't until the Crit. It only took Servine down to half health, but that's pretty annoying compared to almost full.

Scrafty came out second and Protect blocked Poison Jab. I switched to Garbodor and used Protect to block the next move, Head Smash. I thought I could use Toxic Spikes then Rest... I'd underestimated the amount of recoil Head Smash and Garbodor's Rocky Helmet do... Garbodor was down to about 1/4, so the odds of him getting back into "battle" were slim, which really sucks when there's still the Champion after this.

I had to switch against Krookodile and he was going to use Earthquake, so do I even need to say it? (I switched to Servine.) Servine was getting worn down too, so I had to use Rest on the turn Krookodile went down.

I switched to Reshiram for Will-O-Wisp against Bisharp and he used X-Scissor on the switch. I switched back to Servine to bait an X-Scissor then to Garbodor for Rest. (I don't think he could've endured anything than a Burn weakened Resisted attack at his HP.) Garbodor outspead because he hasa base 75 Speed for some reason. I switched back to Reshiram before Bisharp fainted because one of the last two Pokemon was a Poison type and I wanted to Will-O-Wisp it ASAP.

Liepard came out instead and it was a prefect chance for healing. Rest for Reshiram then switch to Lilligant for Aromatherapy again even though Liepard knew Aerial Ace. It looked like a 3HKO so I wasn't sure if I should use Synthesis or Aromatherapy first. I went with Synthesis and found out Lilligant was faster. Even if it meant Lilligant would have trouble coming back in again, I had to use Aromatherapy... Liepard used Sucker Punch instead of Aerial Ace.

I switched to Reshiram again against Drapion and they took Poison Fang pretty well because it's a Power 50 Attack. I used Will-O-Wisp and wasted a turn with Toxic before using Rest. When Reshiram woke up I used Protect because there wasn't enough time to wake up after another Rest and switched to Servine to bait a Poison Fang then to Cofagirigus.

 

[CTNC]

One Pokemon making me panic makes me think a trainer is tough, but Alder had two and I probably should have lost against the second one.

I feel like looking up someone's team beforehand is cheating, but I figured I'd learn the lead and its moveset from my first loss, so I figured I might as well. I lead with Garbodor because Alder's lead, Accelgor, couldn't do anything to him. Me First and three attacks resisted by Poison ler me use Toxic and Toxic Spikes almost too easily, but Bug Buzz lowering Special Defense made him stop being a joke. I had to switch to Cofagrigus after Rest. Protect blocked Energy Ball and I decided to let Cofagrigus take another instead of switching before Accelgor fainted.

Druddigon's first impression was pathetic. Night Slash dealt next to nothing when I switched to Alomomola so I got overconfident and used Hail instead of Wish. Outrage dealt about half and I didn't think I'd be able to bring Alomomola back in after that and the chip damage from Night Slash and 2 turns of Hail. Also, did you know that if a 3 turn Outrage is ended on the second turn by something like Protect then it doesn't cause confusion? That happened. I switched back to Cofagrigus while Druddigon used Payback. I'm not sure if I forgot about Protect again or if I didn't think Cofagrigus would get another chance for Rest later, but I used Rest and endured Outrage at a sliver of health. Druddigon may have dealt masive damage to my team, but Toxic Spikes ended his reign of terror.

I switched to Reshiram against Volcarona and thought nothing could go wrong. Volcarona used Quiver Dance. What I should have done is switch to Servine, use Protect, and switch back to Reshiram. What I did instead is panic and pray that I'd be using Protect when they finally attacked. I got lucky enough to only only block the attack, but to see it was Hyper Beam! Volcarona had one turn left and he was going to use an attack Cofagrigus was immune to!

I don't know how strong Vanilluxe was because of my luck. Stayed in with Cofagrigus to wake up and they used Light Screen and missed with Blizzard. I thought I could still switch to Alomomola and be able to use Wish, but Blizzard hit and it was a 2HKO from his really low health. I thought I wouldn't be able to use Aromatherapy, so figured Garbodor should take a hit because it's better for a Pokemon that's asleep for the rest of the "battle" to take a hit than anyone awake, not that it mattered when Blizzard missed.

I felt safe guessing Bouffalant knew Earthquake and switched to Cofagrigus. I was right. I checked the next attack with Protect and Stone Edge worried me. Bouffalant can 3HKO Cofagrigus and no one resists Rock. I figured Garbodor could take the hit (In hindsight, that was stupid. He might have been as likely to use Earthquake because of having the same Power) and Stone Edge Missed. I switched to Lilligant, use Protect and blocked Megahorn, then switched back to Cofagrigus. Megahorn activated Mummy which revealed and replaced Sap Sipper... 3 Bugs, an Ice type, and this... Does Alder hate Grass types or something? Anyway, Bouffalant went down after reavealing Alder's apparent hatred.

Escavalier was quickly crippled by Will-O-Wisp and I'd pretty much already won. I tried to bring Servine in for Leech Seed, but a Critical Iron Head dealt half of his remaining HP so he wasn't enduring a Bug attack. This "battle" was the first time since before the first Gym I haven't used Leech Seed.



Thanks for reading and/or watching. If you're just here for the fanfiction, sorry, that's not going to be any time soon. Hopefuly it will be done by the time BDSP comes out.




I've been waiting until I finished this until I tried Restricted Sparing and I am going to use Status Moves Only because I gave up attacking forever because I'm insane. If you excuse me, I've got to beg for a 31/0/31/XX/31/31 Ditto on Ultra Moon, some Pokemon with cool Pokeballs and/or Hidden Abilities, and help transfering Pokemon because I'm not paying for Pokemon Bank or Pokemon Home.

I'm going to start with a Fighting team of Recycle Gallade and the Regen duo of Mienshao and Mienfoo to 5 Wins before doing anything more serious!

By the way, I checked the movesets for Taunt users and one of the five stood out.

Gyarados @ Rocky Helmet
Bold 252 HP/252 Def
- Scald
- Taunt
- Whirlpool
- Icy Wind

If I can't do anything other than attacking with Struggle then I have to concede, so... Uh, any ideas on how to beat this?

 

[RonJenzy]

By the way, I checked the movesets for Taunt users and one of the five stood out.

Gyarados @ Rocky Helmet
Bold 252 HP/252 Def
- Scald
- Taunt
- Whirlpool
- Icy Wind

If I can't do anything other than attacking with Struggle then I have to concede, so... Uh, any ideas on how to beat this?

A faster/Prankster Taunt user to stop its Taunt? It would suck to be forced to have that for every team you build but I don't see another way around it. Does every type even have one of those? It's a no investment Gyarados so it's not blazing fast, at least.

 

[CTNC]

A faster/Prankster Taunt user to stop its Taunt? It would suck to be forced to have that for every team you build but I don't see another way around it. Does every type even have one of those? It's a no investment Gyarados so it's not blazing fast, at least.

It's just not 0 IVs, Restricted Sparing Pokemon have 15 IVs in all stats, so you only need an uninvested Base 74 Speed to outspeed. Also, why didn't I think of that? Maybe because of not wanting to see Taunt ever. Anyway, good idea, but part of the problem is what if it uses Taunt when I switch to my Taunt user or what if it uses Whirlpool first? I haven't faced one yet, (or anything because of needing to breed and transfer from Gen 7 for Toxic, Confide, and Spite) so it might not be as unpredictable as I'm afraid it might be. I'm pretty sure the AI likes using Taunt first, but then again, trying to predict the AI doesn't always work. Throh used Grass Knot on Servine and the AI hasn't changed much since Gen 5. Either way, it's worth trying.

Another idea I had is slapping Water Absorb/Storm Drain on teams or Ghosts because they can't be trapped, but not every type has that. I've been looking at Fairy most because of Cosmic Power Recycle Clefable (Leppa Berries are OP) and Fairy has Mimikyu for not being trapped. Speaking of, Mimikyu has 96 Speed. I wasn't thinking about Speed before, but that's a pretty nice coincidence.

For Psychic and/or Water, I'm seriously considering Oblivious Recycle Slowbro. I know it's probably worse than Regenerator even when I almost need the Taunt Immunity.

One last thing is there's 150 Pokemon in Restricted Sparring and each trainer has 3, so that averages to about 1 in ever 50 "battles." With Status Moves Only, 50 sounds like a really good streak, so maybe I should give up on some types being able to beat Gyrados and pray I don't run into one because the odds of enduring to 50 without Gyrados would be worse than the odds of facing Gyrados. I'm pretty sure Dark will be one of those types because the only Recycle user (Alolan Muk) was Dexited.

 

[sb879]

I'm going to start with a Fighting team of Recycle Gallade and the Regen duo of Mienshao and Mienfoo to 5 Wins before doing anything more serious!

lol I literally said this as a joke once

As far as Gyarados goes, I wouldn't worry about it when going for 5 streaks; you're more than likely not going to see it in that span. But fwiw I'm not sure if I've ever actually seen it use Whirlpool, though slow strats give a first time for anything. For more serious streaks, keep in mind Magic Coat is another anti-Taunt option that works independently of speed, though getting Taunted on the switch is a risk as you mention.

 

[Dobbly]

By the way, I checked the movesets for Taunt users and one of the five stood out.

Gyarados @ Rocky Helmet
Bold 252 HP/252 Def
- Scald
- Taunt
- Whirlpool
- Icy Wind

If I can't do anything other than attacking with Struggle then I have to concede, so... Uh, any ideas on how to beat this?

From memory Gyarados has always prioritised Icy Wind if you outspeed it, then Taunt once it is faster, then Scald. At least in the times I’ve faced it, never seen it use Whirlpool once as Scald does more damage. So as long as you have a faster Toxic/Taunt user as a lead or that you can pivot in you should be OK.
Not sure if you had 2 Pokémon that were both slower you could endlessly switch between them while it burns through all it’s Taunt PP or whether the AI would throw out a random attack every now and then?

 

[RonJenzy]

Thinking about it more, Gyarados also probably isn't going to immediately Whirlpool most of the time. I'm no expert on Pokemon AI but I think that Scald's higher BP would likely make it a lot more attractive a lot of the time, so you may be safe until that runs out of PP (or if you fall into Whirlpool KO range I guess?). In the end, you're likely just gonna have to do some testing to see how it (and other things tbh) react to status-only sets.