Meowscarada (M) @ Shell Bell
Ability: Overgrow
Tera type: Grass
Nature: Docile (Minted to Adamant)
- Flower Trick
- Night Slash
- Low Kick
- U-Turn
The one team member I had planned to use from the very beginning. Sprigatito was my starter of choice, I love cats and it was always the Paldea starter I wanted to use. I had no idea what it would evolve into, but I was definitely not expecting a magician! I have no issues with it standing up. In fact, I actually prefer it this way.
Flower Trick is a really great Grass-type move and a cool signature move. When I saw that it never missed and always gets a Crit, I was astounded. Night Slash for secondary STAB. I was considering changing it to Knock Off during the late-game and I asked my friend DrumstickGaming whether it would be better, but he told me that most end-game opponents aren’t holding any items, so I kept Night Slash. Low Kick for coverage, it is helpful against Steel-types and various heavy opponents. I went with U-Turn in the last slot, it can be useful to gain momentum and send in a different team member if I have a bad matchup. Meowscarada is fast enough to pull it off successfully.
There are other options though. I had Hone Claws for a long while, but got rid of it late in the game. It rarely felt necessary to set up, it was often better to just attack right away. Meowscarada learns some other coverage moves such as Play Rough and Thunder Punch, Brick Break is also an alternative over Low Kick for more consistent damage. It learns moves from other types too, but most of them have lower base power so I didn’t go for any of them.
I gave it the Shell Bell fairly early on and never changed it since it worked pretty well. My Meowscarada had a Docile Nature, but I found an Adamant Mint very early in the game and since I discovered that Meowscarada had high Attack, I gave it the Mint. Like every Grass-type starter, Meowscarada has Overgrow as its only regular Ability. It is very situational, but better than nothing. Protean would be really cool, but you can’t have everything.
Overall, I am really glad I picked Sprigatito since Meowscarada is awesome, it is easily my favorite Gen 9 starter and one of my overall favorite Pokémon from Gen 9. It is also a candidate for my favorite Grass-type starter, not sure whether I like it or Serperior better in the end. Meowscarada worked well as a fast Physical attacker, it was useful in many battles. It was one of the MVPs of the team.
Dachsbun (F) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Well-Baked Body
Tera type: Fairy
Nature: Impish (Minted to Adamant)
- Play Rough
- Crunch
- Stomping Tantrum
- Ice Fang
I had seen Fidough from the early pre-release info and I was interested in it. It is a Fairy-type, which meant that it could potentially go on my team. And it is a dog. If I used it alongside Sprigatito, it would mean I would have both cat and dog on my team! I ended up catching a Fidough early on, I kept it to see what would happen. It eventually evolved into Dachsbun, which seemed like a good dog. It ended up being very loyal to the point that it stayed with me for the whole game.
Play Rough is the obvious STAB move, which Fidough learned surprisingly early. The other moves varied a bit throughout the playthrough. I ended up sticking with Crunch as the second move, it helps against Ghost- and Psychic-types. Then I went with Stomping Tantrum, which is great against Poison-, Steel- and Fire-types, the three types that resist Fairy. Ice Fang in the last slot since I couldn’t think of anything better. It has low base power but is super effective against Grass-, Flying- and Ground-types. And Dragon-types, though I already have Play Rough for that.
Dachsbun has some other options though. It learns Thunder/Fire Fang as well, I used at least one of them early on, but scrapped it later. There’s Dig as an alternative to Stomping Tantrum, as well as Psychic Fangs and Body Press. It also gets Work Up to boost.
Well-Baked Body was an Ability I didn’t expect, but it turned out to be really cool. Immunity to Fire and a free Defense boost when it gets hit by a Fire-type move? I approve!
It had a Muscle Band for a long while, but I later changed it to an Expert Belt since it has pretty good coverage and can hit many types for super effective damage. It had an Impish Nature which is actually great for Dachsbun since it has high Defense. But I minted it to Adamant towards the end of the game in order to raise its Attack a bit.
Dachsbun was a great Pokémon I’m glad I stuck with it throughout the whole game. While it wasn’t the strongest, it was still good enough and very useful in many situations. It offered some great coverage and defensive utility. I don’t like dogs IRL, but this is yet another dog Pokémon I like a lot.
Tinkaton (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
Tera type: Fairy
Nature: Serious (Minted to Adamant)
- Play Rough
- Gigaton Hammer
- Fake Out
- Swords Dance
Early on, I ran into a Tinkatink. It looked cute, and it was a Fairy-type, so I decided to add it to my party… and it stayed on my team throughout the game. It evolved into Tinkatuff after a while, and then into Tinkaton. Which is a really great Pokémon. A cute pink dwarf with fluffy hair in an adorable twintail-style, and it carries a giant hammer. This is Pokémon design at its absolute best. When I played, I thought about getting rid of either Dachsbun or Tinkaton since one Fairy-type would have been enough. But in the end, I kept both of them. I love Fairy-types and I always have one of my team, but now I ended up with two!
Play Rough is the main STAB move. Just like for Dachsbun, there’s no other alternative for a Physical Fairy-type move. Gigaton Hammer for secondary STAB. At first, I misunderstood how it works. I thought it worked like Hyper Beam and the likes, meaning that it required a recharge after being used, so I wasn’t sure if it was worth keeping. But I then learned how it really worked: you can’t use Gigaton Hammer twice in a row, but you can still use other moves on the turn after using Gigaton Hammer. So I kept it. I originally had Brutal Swing and later on Knock Off in the third slot, but I scrapped them since they didn’t offer any useful coverage. Instead, I went with Fake Out for chip damage. I then taught it Swords Dance through TM in order to boost. Tinkaton doesn’t have super high Attack, so this helps a lot.
Tinkaton has a few other options, but not many. It learns Skitter Smack, Brutal Swing/Knock Off as mentioned, Bulldoze, Brick Break, Ice Hammer and Rock Slide/Stone Edge. It could theoretically go mixed since its Sp.att is only slightly lower than its Attack, but it doesn’t have a particularly good Special movepool. It gets Flash Cannon, but it doesn’t learn either Dazzling Gleam or Moonblast, meaning its best Special Fairy-type move is Draining Kiss. It doesn’t get any non-STAB special moves outside of Tera Blast either.
My Tinkaton has Mold Breaker, which is the kind of Ability that is never bad since it will bypass any opposing Abilities. Own Tempo is the other Ability it has and it has its uses as well. Not sure which is better, but Mold Breaker worked. It held a Big Root early on, when it still knew Draining Kiss. I later changed it to a Leftovers once I found one, and ended up keeping it for the rest of the game. It was really great as it allowed Tinkaton to heal itself and stay alive for longer.
My Tinkaton had a Serious Nature, but like I did for most other members of the team, I gave it an Adamant Mint towards the late-game since it ended up being a Physical attacker.
Overall, Tinkaton was an excellent Pokémon, both in terms of performance and design. It is one of my favorites from Gen 9, and right now I’d say it is my overall favorite as well. I love everything about it! The lack of coverage was usually not an issue since it could boost with SD, hit hard with its STABs and recover with Leftovers. It was the second MVP of the team, it never let me down.
Pawmot (M) @ Clear Amulet
Ability: Volt Absorb
Tera type: Electric
Nature: Hasty (Minted to Adamant)
- Wild Charge
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch
- Fire Punch
I caught a Pawmi early on and added it to my party. Looking back now, most of my team members were obtained relatively early on and ended up sticking with me throughout the whole game. I thought Pawmi was cute, and an Electric-type could be good. And I can’t remember the last time I used the new Pikaclone on an in-game team… if I ever did it in any other game than Yellow. It evolved into Pawmo quite quickly, but then it took a while before it became a Pawmot. I first found out how to do it, then DrumstickGaming told me about the Levincia ring trick which made it a lot easier.
Wild Charge was the Electric move of choice, it hits hard at the cost of causing recoil. Thunder Punch could have been an alternative, but I wanted the extra power from Wild Charge, the recoil was something I would have to live with. It had Double Shock for a while, it is even more powerful but the drawbacks of low PP and losing the Electric-type after using it made me remove it quite quickly. Close Combat for secondary STAB, yet another powerful move with a drawback in that it lowers Pawmot’s defenses. I then went with Ice Punch for coverage, it gives Pawmot a Physical BoltBeam and allows it to hit Ground-, Grass- and Dragon-types. In the last slot, I went with Fire Punch. I guess it helps against Bug-types, but it doesn’t really offer anything else that’s notable. I had Revival Blessing for a while, but I scrapped it since I never used it, though it could have helped in some of the final battles.
There are other options though. Seed Bomb and Play Rough are other coverage alternatives. It also gets Bulk Up to boost, and Thunder Wave/Nuzzle for Paralysis support. I gave it the Clear Amulet as soon as I found it and I never changed it. Blocking Intimidates and other random stat drops is never bad.
Mine initially had Static as its Ability, it later upgraded to Volt Absorb which is really great. The other alternative is Natural Cure which is also solid, not sure which is better. It had a Hasty Nature, but since it turned out to be a Physical attacker, I minted it to Adamant in the late-game just like most other team members.
Overall, Pawmot was really great. It was strong and offered useful coverage with its STABs. I just wish I had been able to fully evolve it at an earlier point. But even so, it was pretty fantastic.
Revavroom (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Overcoat
Tera type: Steel
Nature: Docile (Minted to Jolly)
- Spin Out
- Poison Jab
- Bulldoze
- Shift Gear
I initially encountered a Revavroom when I battled the first Star Boss, but it was so weird! I wasn’t sure if it was a real Pokémon or just some strange other thing that the Star Bosses used. I later saw a wild Varoom and I was wondering what it was. It looked really cool! Then I got super disappointed as I got into battle with it and found that it was just a Ditto which had transformed into a Varoom. Fortunately, I caught a real one soon afterwards and added it to my party immediately. This was still relatively early on in the game, but close to the start of the mid-game. It evolved into Revavroom at a later point, and I discovered that the Star Bosses just used their own special versions of this Pokémon. I never thought I’d see a Pokémon based on a car out of all things. I don’t really care much for cars, and truth be told, I don’t even have a car! But Revavroom is really cool… to the point that it became a permanent member of my team.
Spin Out and Poison Jab are the STAB moves. I used Iron Head at first and I was considering keeping it, but Spin Out lowering Revavroom’s Speed wasn’t that bad since it is pretty fast, and it can boost or re-boost with Shift Gear. I didn’t use Gunk Shot over Poison Jab since it is too inaccurate for my tastes. Bulldoze for coverage, it helps against opposing Steel-types which resist my STABs. Then Shift Gear in the final slot to boost.
Unfortunately, Revavroom doesn’t have a lot of other options. There’s Zen Headbutt… and Magnet Rise, I suppose. Otherwise nothing that feels particularly notable. Overcoat is the only regular Ability it has. It isn’t super useful, but not useless either. My Revavroom was holding a Rocky Helmet for a long while, but I changed it to a Black Sludge once I found one. Revavroom was the only Poison-type on my main team and recovery is never bad.
It had a Docile Nature, but I minted it to Jolly. The reason it isn’t Adamant is because I found a Jolly Mint and I gave it to Revavroom since it has quite high Attack but not quite as high Speed. It could benefit from the extra boost and use it in combination with Spin Out.
Overall, Revavroom was pretty good. It was strong with solid STABs, but the lack of coverage was a letdown in some instances. But the good still outweighs the bad, and I found it very useful in some situations.
Cyclizar (M) @ Muscle Band
Ability: Shed Skin
Tera type: Dragon
Nature: Quirky (Minted to Adamant)
- Dragon Claw
- Body Slam
- Iron Head
- Shift Gear
I had seen various NPCs with Cyclizar early on in the game, and I was wondering what kind of Pokémon it was. It was similar to Miraidon, but a bit more “basic”. It looked really cool and I wanted one for myself. Towards the late early-game, I finally found one. It was around the same time as I caught Varoom. I decided to add Cyclizar to my party as well, and I kept it with me throughout the rest of the game.
Dragon Claw was the main STAB move, I prefer it over Outrage or Dragon Rush since it is accurate and has no drawbacks. Body Slam for secondary STAB, I originally had Facade but upgraded to Body Slam after a while. I had Fire Fang in the third slot for a while, but later changed to Iron Head in order to have a weapon against Fairy-types. In the last slot, I had U-Turn at first, which I then changed to Shed Tail since it seemed cool. But I never used either of them, so I replaced them with Shift Gear. Cyclizar has many other options though, and its Sp.att isn’t too shabby either, which means it can go special or mixed instead of full-Physical.
It was holding the Amulet Coin throughout most of the game since I didn’t have anything better. Towards the end of the game, I looked up where you could get better items. I bought an Expert Belt for Dachsbun and the Muscle Band it had been holding was given to Cyclizar.
Shed Skin is the only regular Ability for Cyclizar, and it is pretty good. A bit luck-based, but being able to cure status is never bad. Since Cyclizar turned out to be a Physical attacker like the rest of the team, I gave it an Adamant Mint late in the game.
Overall, Cyclizar was a solid member of the team. It was fast, pretty strong and could help in many situations.
After beating the game, I decided to check the defensive synergy of the team just for fun. To my own surprise, it turned out that I actually have at least one resist or immunity to every type! I didn’t expect that.
It is still pretty unbalanced though, I have three weaknesses to Fire, Ground and Fairy, but only 1-2 resists/immunities for each of them.
Either way, that’s the Eternal Adventurers. This team was very different from most of the other in-game teams I have made in the past, but think that’s a good thing. I liked this team a lot and I’m very happy about it.
