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So I've always wanted to do one of these, so here I am. I am aiming to beat Pokémon Ultra Sun with the following restrictions (which I will post with each update as a refresher):
RESTRICTIONS
-No Held Items
-No Item Usage in Battle (including Roto-Powers, excluding Poké Balls)
-Pokémon may not have their moveset altered through any means, except for automatic level-up learns (due to empty slots) and Sketch
-Pokémon cannot evolve (though evolved forms can be captured)
-Switch = SET
-No Pokémon Refresh
No Held Items is simple enough to understand.
No Item/Roto-Power Usage during battle means I have to plan each fight carefully so as to avoid losing. Poké Balls are exempted because otherwise I'm not going to win.
No Altered Movesets means what moves a Pokémon has when I catch it, it's stuck with. Empty slots being filled with new level-up moves are okay as they cannot really be avoided. Also I cannot abuse the Move Deleter.
No evolving is simple enough, don't evolve things. I can catch evolved forms though.
Switch = SET because it makes trainer fights a little harder since I cannot react to what they are about to send out.
No Pokémon Refresh since that can be abused for some overpowered benefits like random survives and whatnot.
As for the style of these updates, they are going to be text only. The reason why is simply that I don't have a capture card-modded 3DS to record with and I'm not using an emulator for this, so yeah. The text updates are mostly going to focus on what I do, how I do it, and why I do what I do with minor allusions to the plot, since the main focus here is the challenge.
Without further ado, the first update so this isn't some empty post:
UPDATE #1: START - END TRIAL #1
So yeah, I start the game, do the things I need to do and advance the plot enough to start the real important things. So for the starter of this game, I choose to pick Popplio. The reason I pick Popplio is not because it's the best Starter Pokémon ever made, but mostly because it has a solid earlygame for this run and that it influences what Hau, Teacher Emily, and Gladion uses, as well as Ilima's Smeargle, which works out in favour of the adorable seal. Courtesy of King Feraligatr, Popplio gets christened FateIsSealed. And oh boy what a good Popplio it is (despite Serious Nature), having this IV spread first try:
20-21 / 25 / 16 / 27 / 19-21 / 30
If this were a speedrun, this would be something that would be ran. But alas, it isn't, and Popplio isn't going to get much usage at all outside of the earlygame. Nevertheless, it handles a wild Yungoos, Hau's Litten, and the forced wild Spearow fight without much issues with straight Water Gun spam. After more plot, we finally get to learn how to catch a Pokémon with Professor Kukui and I put it to use, catching a Pikipek. Didn't get a good spread unfortunately with horrible Attack IV's, but it was Jolly with decent speed. For its purposes, Keen Eye is the better ability as it won't be getting anything to abuse Skill Link with. Christened Woody by Giratina93. After initial IV calculations I was hoping for a mid-teens Attack IV, but in hindsight, I should have resetted and tried for another one. Whatever.
ANYWAY, I put Pikipek in the lead position (as it will be the main lead up until the end of Route 2) and deal with the trainers with Peck spam and dealt with a few wilds until it hit Level 6 for Hau 2.
Hau 2 Team: Lv6 Pikipek / Lv7 Popplio
Pikipek softens up Pichu but gets taken out, but Popplio picks up the slack and sweeps with Water Gun. Not much else to talk about.
Now we are out of the prologue, I head to the south to get the Rotom-Dex and head back up, taking out the two trainers with Pikipek's attacks. Nothing worth catching here so I go straight to the Trainer's School after stocking up on items (to use between battles) and Poké Balls. Here I get the Exp. Share and I leave it on; I don't plan to do much grinding (if at all) this run and it will make things much more efficient. For the trainers, the Bonsly trainer I swapped in Popplio and Water Gun'd to death, while the other three trainers (Grimer trainer, Metapod trainer, Ekans trainer) were dealt with using Pikipek's Echoed Voice, barely surviving the Grimer fight. After those three I got the call to take on Teacher Emily and her Rowlet.
Teacher Emily Team: Lv9 Pikipek / Lv10 Popplio
Pikipek peck spams and Rowlet falls. Not much else to talk about here.
Nothing worth catching in the school for this run, so I progress into Hau'oli Town. Cycling through the plot triggers, I then head into the grass to catch a Furfrou. It gets christened URS Dog by King Feraligatr. URS standing for Ultra Recon Squad... I guess King Feraligatr isn't fond of that first URS fight.
Anyway, Furfrou is the first Pokémon that I am catching that will have a significant purpose in the long term as a debuffer, with the main usage being abusing Baby-Doll Eyes to debuff melee-based enemies to help make some fights easier. Its HP IV is bad, but having really good defensive IV's make up for it and it will prove to do its job. Much sooner than expected, actually. As after taking out the Skull Grunt with Pikipek, Ilima will make sure it comes out to play.
So what I was hoping to do is Rock Smash sweep with Pikipek, but a lack of Defence drops and a terrible Attack IV, meant that Ilima's Yungoos got enough debuffing in to one shot Pikipek with a Tackle. Ouch. Furfrou picks up the slack and picks it off. For Smeargle I could have Tackle spammed, but instead used Growl to reduce Smeargle's Attack to -6. Furfrou lived with 1 HP. After that, I switched in Popplio and Water Gunned the Smeargle to its demise, taking 4 DMG per Leafage and not suffering a crit. Ilima down.
Moving on, I head up to Route 2. Pikipek deals with the forced Cutiefly trainer handily with some Pecks. More traversal ensues as I take the forced detour to the Big Wave Beach to deal with the Skull Grunt with a Drowzee. Three Pecks does the job. After that, it's back on the critical path. I catch a Spearow (stats irrelevant) and head into the Pokémon Centre to please Hau by performing the Roto Lotto and to trade for a Hawlucha (Immediately unequipping the X Attack). This Hawlucha as those familiar with Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon know is ridiculously good with perfect Attack, but it's not going to be the star of the show of this playthrough. Nevertheless, it has a critical role to play for the first trial in Verdant Cavern.
So Verdant Cavern is simple enough, Hawlucha in the lead deals with each of the pre-Totem fights handily. One Karate Chop for the Yungoos, one Wing Attack for the Skull Grunt's Drowzee, and two Karate Chops for the Gumshoos. For Totem Gumshoos for some safety (probably not needed but whatever), I put Pikipek in the lead.
So the strat for this fight is simple enough. Lead with Pikipek and Rock Smash Totem Gumshoos to rough it up and drop its Defence until Totem Gumshoos and Yungoos take out the Pikipek (Not like Pikipek needs much experience at this point), and Hawlucha then cleans up with Karate Chop. And that is what happens. Pikipek got two Rock Smashes in for one Defence drop, and Hawlucha only needed one Karate Chop for both targets.
Trial done, and this is where I will leave it at this point. Will cover the rest of Melemele Island next. We'll get a couple more members at least, one of which is one of the main reasons I went for Ultra Sun as opposed to Ultra Moon.
Current Death Count: 0 Current IGT: 1:58
(Real Time is a little longer due to closing the 3DS while using calculators to check IV's)
CURRENT TEAM
Pikipek [Woody] (M)
Lv12 Jolly, Keen Eye
Caught Route 1, Lv3
IV's: 7-8 / 0-3 / 29 / 22-23 / 15-17 / 20-23
EV's: 5 / 10 / 3 / 0 / 2 / 7
Stats: 31 / 23 / 15 / 12 / 14 / 25
-Peck
-Growl
-Echoed Voice
-Rock Smash
Comments: In hindsight I probably should have resetted for one with a not rubbish Attack IV (which would have mattered for Ilima in particular), but it did its job fairly well. Won't be seeing too much more of this guy for the rest of the run.
Hawlucha [Cha] (M)
Lv13 Brave, Unburden
Traded in Route 2, Lv8
IV's: 22-23 / 31 / 17-19 / 12-13 / 2-3 / 11-13
EV's: 0 / 10 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0
Stats: 46 / 36 / 26 / 25 / 21 / 33
-Tackle
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
Comments: Did its job in Trial 1 impeccably. Not much else to say about it, but this guy won't be starring for too much longer.
Popplio [FateIsSealed] (F)
Lv14 Serious, Torrent
Caught Route 1, Lv5
IV's: 20-21 / 25 / 16 / 27 / 19-21 / 30
EV's: 2 / 15 / 3 / 0 / 2 / 8
Stats: 40 / 24 / 22 / 27 / 23 / 20
-Pound
-Water Gun
-Growl
-Disarming Voice
Comments: Really good Popplio and I might consider bringing her to Totem Alola Marowak as one of my answers for that fight (and I am not looking forward to that) just because of those IV's. Don't expect anything after that for this seal though.
Furfrou [URS Dog] (M)
Lv11 Adamant, Fur Coat
Caught Hau'oli City, Lv8
IV's: 0-4 / 21-26 / 26 / 10-14 / 20-26 / 0-5
EV's: 0 / 12 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 3
Stats: 37 / 27 / 21 / 18 / 27 / 27
-Tackle
-Growl
-Sand Attack
-Baby-Doll Eyes
Comments: Helped save the first try Ilima fight and has been chilling out at the back of the party since, accumulating experience for later as a bulky debuffer. Sucks about the HP IV though, but expect more from URS dog later on.
RESTRICTIONS
-No Held Items
-No Item Usage in Battle (including Roto-Powers, excluding Poké Balls)
-Pokémon may not have their moveset altered through any means, except for automatic level-up learns (due to empty slots) and Sketch
-Pokémon cannot evolve (though evolved forms can be captured)
-Switch = SET
-No Pokémon Refresh
UPDATE #2: END TRIAL #1 - START AKALA ISLAND
So the first thing I do after clearing the trial is head out for the Z-Moves Tutorial, something that won't benefit me because... well, yeah. No Held Items. Heading into Route 3, it's time to catch a second Hawlucha. You might be thinking that I should just use the traded Hawlucha, right? Well there is some issues with the traded Hawlucha. In this playthrough while it has great physical attack, it suffers from having two mid-powered STAB moves. While it gets Hone Claws to help, it doesn't have any form of recovery and there's no using potions in fights to help it set up.
Which is why I decide to catch another one. One that is at Level 12. Why Level 12? Because at Level 12, Hawlucha has Roost, which is a big deal. It's a big deal because it makes set up sweeps with Hone Claws much easier, especially later on in the game when unboosted Karate Chops and Wing Attacks are not going to cut it. And I am going to be using this Hawlucha for pretty much the rest of the game. I also want to have Limber as the paralysis immunity will come in handy for the endgame (Mould Breaker is technically better but I'm not going to spend a long time in SOS fights for a good one). Don't worry though, the traded Hawlucha will be around for a little while at least for some double Hawlucha fun.
So I decide I need a good Hawlucha and start resetting. To help, I constructed an IV table that allows me to calculate stats easier:
After a lot of hours resetting and ignoring that I could just get an Ability Capsule to change abilities (also thanks to sb789 for telling me I could use a Lv12 with Repel, that helped speed things up), I settle on this one:
I can tell it's a 31 in Special Defence because its characteristic is "Somewhat Vain" (IV unit digit ends in 1/6 and SpA cannot be less than 27). Sadly it's Unburden, which means I am going to need to grind Mantine Surfing for an Ability Capsule. A minigame I didn't bother with in my casual playthrough.
For those who are interested in the ones I caught that I had resetted on:
A couple of these (Limber Serious, Unburden Jolly) could have been passable but I wasnt confident enough in them and I hadn't realised about Ability Capsule until I got the one I ultimately kept.
We name our new Hawlucha Hawlu. So I have two Hawlucha named Hawlu and Cha respectively. Hawlu takes the lead. From there, finally move on into the Melemele to assist Lillie with getting her Nebby back in the bag. Only for Rotom to activate its Experience Power. Didn't realise that there were forced Rotom Power activations at certain points in the game so in the spirit of the category, I idled with the screen on and let the power run out so I didn't benefit. After that, it was time to catch another Pokémon. A Cottonee.
Cottonee is the main reason I went with Ultra Sun, because priority paralysis and priority Leech Seed will be incredibly helpful throughout the run. Later in the game I can also catch one in Malie Garden with priority Charm and Poison Powder, but I'm probably likely to keep Furfrou as the bulk will probably result in more drops as opposed to Cottonee's bad bulk making it likely to be one-shot often. Anyway, we get the Cottonee first encounter at Lv12 (need at least Lv10), and it had Prankster. IV's don't really matter much. Thanks to Giratina93, its name is Fluff.
After that excursion, it's Seaward Cave time to meet Zossie and Dulse of the Ultra Recon squad for the first encounter with them.
This fight I assumed would be fairly free thanks to Hawlucha, but Dulse's Furfrou proved to be quite the troll, constantly reducing Attack (easily negatable with Hone Claws at least, which also negates Sand Attack), taking not much damage thanks to Fur Coat, and dealing decent damage with Headbutt. Fortunately Hawlu's Roost outheals the Headbutts and eventually the Furfrou was dispatched. After that fight, it was time to put Nebby back in the bag and take on Hau again.
Hau 3 Team: Hawlu Lv13 / Cha Lv14 / Popplio Lv15 / Furfrou Lv13 / Pikipek Lv13 / Cottonee Lv12
Strat here is setting up to get +2 Attack on Litten and then sweep Hau's team. It's what happened, though I needed three Hone Claws because of a Growl. Hawlu tanked an Ember and a Lick with no status afflictions and sweeped Hau's team. Of course Pikachu's Static activated, but the Pikachu was the last member to come out and there was a free heal after the fight.
After Hau 3, it was time to take on Hala for the Melemele grand trial. Along the way I dispatched a Rising Star with a Growlithe with two Wing Attacks, no Ember burn.
Island Kahuna Hala Team: Hawlu Lv14 / Cha Lv15 / Popplio Lv15 / Furfrou Lv13 / Pikipek Lv14 / Cottonee Lv13
Machop is setup bait, and as such, this fight is completely free. Hawlu can freely set up two Hone Claws and then one shot Hala's whole team, with the worst thing Machop could do being Revenge (which doesn't deal much). Makuhita's Fake Out didn't deal much either. Could have used either Hawlucha here as with Hau 2, but Hawlu needs the experience for later on.
With that, Melemele Island is pretty much wrapped up. There isn't anything else on the island (including Ten Carat Hill) that is worth catching at the moment, so it's just a matter of learning how to ride a Tauros, learning how to do Commemorative Photos, and learning how to Mantine Surf (I beat the course record and got 4 BP for the first try), and we are at the start of Akala Island, where this update ends.
Next update: Grinding a minigame just to fix an ability. I'll probably cover up to the Battle Royal tutorial.
Current Death Count: 0 Current IGT: 3:14
(Real time is way higher by a few hours due to Hawlucha resets)
Pikipek [Woody] (M)
Lv14 Jolly, Keen Eye
Caught Route 1, Lv3
IV's: 7 / 1-3 / 29 / 22-23 / 17 / 23
EV's: 6 / 15 / 3 / 0 / 2 / 13
Stats: 34 / 26 / 17 / 14 / 15 / 28
-Peck
-Growl
-Echoed Voice
-Rock Smash
Comments: Kept in the party for IV checking for now, it doesn't have much more use this run (though being Lv12 for the second Hawlucha catch helped) so expect it in the box very soon.
Cottonee [Fluff] (M)
Lv13 Impish, Prankster
Caught Melemele Meadow, Lv12
IV's: 5-11 / 30 / 5-10 / 1-2 / 25-30 / 29-30
EV's: 1 / 3 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 5
Stats: 34 / 15 / 23 / 12 / 21 / 26
-Fairy Wind
-Growth
-Leech Seed
-Stun Spore
Comments: Accumulating experience it doesn't need too much of, but hey, it might help it survive a hit for the fights that matter... probably not.
RESTRICTIONS
-No Held Items
-No Item Usage in Battle (including Roto-Powers, excluding Poké Balls)
-Pokémon may not have their moveset altered through any means, except for automatic level-up learns (due to empty slots) and Sketch
-Pokémon cannot evolve (though evolved forms can be captured)
-Switch = SET
-No Pokémon Refresh
UPDATE #3: START AKALA ISLAND - BATTLE ROYAL TUTORIAL
First things first, the surf grinding. The Mantine Surfing wasn't too bad and once I got the hang of it, I was raking in the BP, getting the 100 I need for an Ability Capsule in 12 extra sessions. With that grind out of the way, it was time to head into Heahea City proper and for the first fight of the island: against Dexio.
Fairly dangerous fight really. Technically, I could just death abuse this fight, but it was winnable. Set up a Hone Claws on Mime Jr. only for its confusion to deal a lot of damage, meaning I couldn't set up a second to get a one shot on Espeon without getting KOed by Mime Jr. So I had to go for it. Mime Jr. fell to a Wing Attack, and then Hawlu got KOed by Espeon (not without dealing a lot of damage though). Then I proceed to spaghetti the fight. Instead of sending in Cottonee, I sent in Cha for it to get one shot (Probably a result of bad SpD). Then I tried Popplio, only for it to get confused and self-hit. Not surviving the next attack. THEN I sent in Cottonee to sack itself paralysing the Espeon and it was Furfrou who saved the day.
After that screw up, it was into Route 4 I went. Here I find and catch a Mudbray in the wild one route earlier than hoped, but it ended up being the right call considering what happens next. As for Mudbray and why catch it? It's for one fight: Totem Alolan Marowak. Could catch something else, but ehhh. Worldie Feard christened the Mudbray Tony Calzoni. After that, it was time for Paniola Town and Hau 4.
Hau 4 Team: Hawlu Lv15 / Cha Lv16 / Popplio Lv16 / Furfrou Lv15 / Mudbray Lv14 / Cottonee Lv14
Really spaghettied this fight; should have lead with Furfrou or Cottonee. Torracat was first up and set-up proved hard for Hawlu due to power and then Lick paralysis (Need to get to +3 to sweep). So I send in Furfrou to debuff Torracat's Attack to -5 (tanking Z-Scratch in the process) before switching Hawlu back in. Tried to set up, but parahax proved to be troublesome and then a Fire Fang crit took out Hawlu. So it was up to Cha, who set up to +3 and took out Torracat, but also got paralysed by Lick. Which meant that Pikachu came in and took out Cha with an Electro Ball. So Mudbray comes in and one shots the Pikachu. From there Hau sent in Noibat (which Mudbray cannot touch) so I had to send in Cottonee. And then proceeded to sweep Hau with it. Paralysis + Leech Seed, and then having the opportunity to use Growth to boost that really weak Fairy Wind to deal not pitiful damage results in Cottonee salvaging the fight.
I had no right to win that fight, really. But I did. So it was time to head up through Paniola Ranch (dispatching a Gentleman with a Sableye and the Twins with Cottonee/Petilil) and then get to the next main fight: Gladion.
Luckily for me, this was a free fight. "Zubat" (Zorua really) can't do much to Hawlu at all so Hawlu sets up to +4 Attack (enough to one shot Type: Null) and sweeps. At least this fight went right.
Now it was time for the Brooklet Hill trial. After Hawlu and Cha dispatched a Rufflet + Vullaby duo with a slew of Wing Attacks. The Dewpider were dealt with with a single Wing Attack and the Wishiwashi in two (the second one decided to call for another). I also battled a Fletchling trainer which went down in two Wing Attacks. After all that, it was time for Totem Araquanid.
In hindsight I probably could have lead with Cottonee for paralysis and potential Leech Seed, but Hawlu was decent enough. So leading with Hawlu, a Wing Attack dealt around 40% (yay 252 Defence EV's) and Hawlu tanked a Bubble. Masquerain was the add of the day with its Intimidate making Hawlu not in a great position. So I decide that Cottonee needs to come in because of Masquerain supports, but I want a safe switch-in. So I send Mudbray in to get one-shot by Bubble. Tailwind comes up. Now Cottonee gets its chance and paralyses Araquanid with Stun Spore and somehow lives through the round, tanking a Leech Life at least. It gives an opportunity to Leech Seed. Leech Seed missed. At this point, I decide to send in Cha, who takes out Araquanid in two Wing Attacks. Not even Masquerain's Stun Spore could stop Cha, helped by Tailwind petering out denying Araquanid another attack. After that, Cha cleaned up Masquerain with Wing Attack, taking nothing from anything Masquerain could do.
So for the lead choice, that fight was fairly optimal with no mess-ups unlike Dexio and Hau 4. I took the quick travel out of the hills (I could catch something for Totem Alolan Marowak but I'm kinda confident in Popplio/Mudbray to help Hawlu and Cha) and used a Pokémon Centre to heal for the first time since Route 1. Then it was time for more Ultra Recon Squad fun with Dulse 2.
Different Pokémon (Poipole instead of Furfrou), but Dulse 2 proved to be very trolly. Charm abuse meant that Hone Claws setup didn't work out very well, but Hawlu still managed to Roost away all of Poipole's Venoshock PP. After a while I sent in Mudbray and spammed Bulldoze through Charm abuse to get Poipole down to the point where Dulse used a Super Potion, and then when Mudbray was about to be KOed, I sent in Cha. Cha cleaned up with a Wing Attack.
With Dulse accounted for, it was onto Royal Avenue, and with a brief intermission with Team Skull (two Wing Attacks taking out the Drowzee), it was time for the Battle Royal Tutorial.
Battle Royal Team: Hawlu Lv21 / Cha Lv22 / Popplio Lv21 / Furfrou Lv19 / Mudbray Lv18 / Cottonee Lv18
Got the one round fight here. Hawlu uses Karate Chop on Rockruff. Rockruff doesn't defend itself. Rockruff is taken out in one shot while Torracat and Type: Null attack each other.
With the Tutorial out of the way, it was finally time to spend the 107 BP I got from Mantine Surf spam to buy an Ability Capsule. This instantly gets used to change Hawlu's ability to Limber. An ability I would have loved to have earlier... But now we don't have to worry about Hawlucha getting paralysed.
That's where I'll leave it off. Next time, I'll cover through to Olivia and hope Totem Alolan Marowak goes well (Odds are it won't).
Current Death Count: 0 Current IGT: 5:26
(Again, Real Time is much higher)
CURRENT TEAM
Hawlucha [Hawlu] (M)
Lv21 Lonely, Unburden Limber
Caught Route 3, Lv12
IV's: 22 / 28-29 / 30 / 31 / 31 / 17
EV's: 8 / 6 / 2 / 4 / 11 / 9
Stats: 68 / 53 / 37 / 42 / 38 / 58
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
-Roost
Comments: Not the best of performances this update though half of it was me spaghetti-ing with it. Hopefully things get better next time... It should.
Hawlucha [Cha] (M)
Lv22 Brave, Unburden
Traded in Route 2, Lv8
IV's: 23 / 31 / 19 / 12-13 / 3 / 11
EV's: 8 / 18 / 3 / 3 / 11 / 11
Stats: 71 / 58 / 42 / 40 / 33 / 54
-Tackle
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
Comments: Filling its role as back-up quite well outside of the spaghettied fights with Dexio and Hau 4. Also double Hawlucha for double fights is pretty good.
Popplio [FateIsSealed] (F)
Lv21 Serious, Torrent
Caught Route 1, Lv5
IV's: 20 / 25 / 16 / 27 / 21 / 30
EV's: 10 / 23 / 5 / 4 / 14 / 22
Stats: 56 / 33 / 31 / 38 / 33 / 29
-Pound
-Water Gun
-Growl
-Disarming Voice
Comments: More sitting in the party to get experience. Hopefully it does well for the next totem...
Furfrou [URS Dog] (M)
Lv19 Adamant, Fur Coat
Caught Hau'oli City, Lv8
IV's: 1-2 / 22 / 26 / 11 / 20-22 / 0
EV's: 8 / 20 / 2 / 6 / 14 / 17
Stats: 58 / 44 / 32 / 27 / 43 / 44
-Tackle
-Growl
-Sand Attack
-Baby-Doll Eyes
Comments: Saved the Dexio fight I had no right to win and crippled a Torracat enough for Hawlu and Cha to try (and fail) to sweep Hau 4. Going to have an important role next update for the physically-based totems coming up.
Mudbray [Tony Calzoni] (F)
Lv18 Relaxed, Stamina
Caught Route 4, Lv14
IV's: 27-28 / 14 / 23-24 / 5-9 / 17-18 / 30
EV's: 7 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 5 / 8
Stats: 58 / 43 / 37 / 22 / 28 / 23
-Mud-Slap
-Mud Sport
-Rototiller
-Bulldoze
Comments: Caught for Totem Alolan Marowak, it helped this update with Hau's Pikachu and Dulse's Poipole. Also provided good sack fodder for Cottonee to come in safely when needed. Pretty happy with it at the moment.
Cottonee [Fluff] (M)
Lv18 Impish, Prankster
Caught Melemele Meadow, Lv12
IV's: 7 / 30 / 8 / 1-2 / 25-26 / 30
EV's: 8 / 6 / 2 / 2 / 6 / 13
Stats: 44 / 20 / 30 / 16 / 27 / 34
-Fairy Wind
-Growth
-Leech Seed
-Stun Spore
Comments: Well it 1v1ed Hau's Noibat and Eevee, and paralysed Espeon and Totem Araquanid to help get through those fights. Doing its job.
Pikipek [Woody] (M)
Lv15 Jolly, Keen Eye
Caught Route 1, Lv3
IV's: 7 / 1-3 / 29 / 22-23 / 17 / 23
EV's: 6 / 16 / 3 / 2 / 3 / 13
Stats: 36 / 28 / 18 / 15 / 16 / 30
-Peck
-Growl
-Echoed Voice
-Rock Smash
Comments: Pikipek is going to spend the rest of the run here so... Pikipek was put into the party to help deal with the earlygame, making problem fights for Popplio such as Teacher Emily and Trial Captain Ilima easier. Unfortunately Pikipek had bad Attack which meant that it couldn't really do its job properly, but did its job in some places at least. Its final act was basically to help get a Lv12 Hawlucha easier (being Lv12 at the time).
RESTRICTIONS
-No Held Items
-No Item Usage in Battle (including Roto-Powers, excluding Poké Balls)
-Pokémon may not have their moveset altered through any means, except for automatic level-up learns (due to empty slots) and Sketch
-Pokémon cannot evolve (though evolved forms can be captured)
-Switch = SET
-No Pokémon Refresh
UPDATE #4: BATTLE ROYAL TUTORIAL - END GRAND TRIAL #2
To start with this update, I decide to head straight towards the Wela Volcano Park for the Third Trail. To prepare for it (since I didn't feel ready), I dispatch the trainers (Sightseer w/ K-Meowth, Ace Trainer w/ Noibat + Kadabra, Hiker w/ Roggenrola) for experience. To prepare for the Totem Fight, I prepare by putting Cottonee in the lead position. Although this means I would have to switch out for the first two fights, it would give me an ideal lead for the Totem fight because its disruptive capabilities will come in handy, and that I would otherwise have to sack something to get it in safely, which is not ideal at all.
So the trial. First up is the Alolan Marowak fight. I deal with this by switching in Popplio and take it out with two Water Guns and a Disarming Voice (Yay Cursed Body). The second fight against Hiker David's Magmar I do a similar strat, but the Magmar took out Popplio (not without taking a lot of DMG). So I send in Cha to clean up. Now for the fight I was not really looking forward to: Totem Alolan Marowak.
First question was Leech Seed or Stun Spore. I pick Stun Spore because it won't miss and for parahax potential. Cottonee gets one shot, but it got the paralysis on Marowak at least. Next up was Furfrou as Salazzle comes in. Because of Torment shenanigans, I alternate between Growl and Baby-Doll Eyes until Furfrou falls, getting four attacks off to reduce Marowak to -3 Attack (Marowak Detected one BDE) and dodging two Poison Gases from Salazzle (her Flame Burst being the main DMG against Furfrou). Also some full paralysis helps. So I send in Mudbray. Then the "fun" begins.
Mudbray takes a Torment and a Flame Wheel for little damage, and fires off a Bulldoze, dealing damage to Marowak and one-shotting the Salazzle. The Salazzle would not get a replacement. Good start. But because of Torment, I had to alternate between it and another move: Mud-Slap. The accuracy drop ends up playing havoc with Marowak, as not only did it trigger Cursed Body three times in a row (making sure the more powerful Bulldoze could be used with impunity), but the accuracy drops resulted in Marowak missing all but two Hexes (both unboosted). Marowak tried to Detect its way to try and drain Bulldoze's PP, but try as it might, its inability to hit and some full paralysis meant that eventually, Mudbray took it down. The Hawlucha were not needed at all.
tl;dr, Totem Alolan Marowak got Pokémon'd.
So the Fire Trial was won. I take the free heal from the trainer and head down and continue with the story. It was also curtains for Popplio at this point as on Route 8, I replace Popplio in the party with a Trumbeak that I capture. Stats are irrelevant as it is needed for one purpose, and that purpose was fulfilled after I did the forced Festival Plaza tutorial: Trade it for an Arbok. Arbok is pretty much only in the party for one fight: Totem Lurantis. But we'll get there in a minute.
Time for the Fourth Trial in Lush Jungle. For the trial, I decide to lead with Hawlu and take all the wild fights (Fomantis, Comfey, Sudowoodo) on purpose for some experience. Fomantis is one-shot. Comfey was trolly with Sweet Kiss but no self-hits though I also switch around a few times (to Arbok, then to Cha) and Cha finished it off. Hawlu 1v1ed the Sudowoodo though Sudowoodo was annoying with Wood Hammer. After that, it was Totem Lurantis time with no time to swap leads (as much as I would have liked Arbo leading, but whatever).
Hawlu leads and I open by switching to Arbok to blunt Lurantis' offence and bait it into bringing out Kecleon (Comfey is WAY worse in spite of Kecleon's offensive potential since it can priority heal and remove defence debuffs). From there, Arbok paralyses Lurantis before the sun comes up and takes some Solar Blades and Dizzy Punches while screeching Lurantis, only hitting one out of two before Arbok was taken out. The defence debuff was all that was needed at that point, as Hawlu could come in and two-shot Totem Lurantis with Wing Attack (which it does). Barely outspeeding by one point after one Low Sweep helped. Unfortunately Hawlu got Screeched and Dizzy Punched and was in KO range (and it couldn't one shot Kecleon with Karate Chop), so I swap in Cha and Cha does the clean up instead. I did misclick and Wing Attack instead of Karate Chop (which costed a turn), but it was still a clean win. Maybe could have used Hone Claws with Hawlu, but it's whatever.
Trial done, it was time to make way towards the Grand Trial. First, some plot triggers in the Dimension Lab, and then a trip through to Konikoni City via Diglett's Tunnel. Along the way, there was a double battle against some Skull Grunts with Hau and a Herdier-wielding Police Officer I had to deal with (Hawlu deals with them easily). In Konikoni I hit the plot trigger and then make way towards the Ruins of Life. Along the way there was a Punk Girl with Ariados and a Skull Grunt with Alolan Raticate I took care of, as well as an invitation to Hano Grand Hotel from Faba of Aether Foundation. Before I could take on Olivia, I needed to take on Plumeria 1. To prepare for this (and Olivia), I put Furfrou in the lead position as its Baby-Doll Eyes is needed.
So Plumeria 1 is a tricky fight when you are aiming to try and sweep with an underleveled Hawlucha, mostly because of Golbat with its Wing Attack and Confuse Ray. So leading with Furfrou was a wise choice to debuff its Attack as much as possible before Furfrou bit the dust. It managed to drop Golbat to -3 Attack and had two self-hits from confusion. After that, I send in Hawlu to try and set up and sweep. Hawlu gets up to +2 Attack and after a Roost, went in to sweep Plumeria, two shotting Golbat and one shotting Salandit. No self-hits from confusion. Both Golbat and Salandit outsped and the Roost mattered in the end as -3 Wing Attacks and a Flame Burst would have been enough to KO Hawlu otherwise.
With Plumeria 1 out of the way, it was time to take on Olivia. No change in party, no change in strats, and a free heal from Lillie meant I was ready to go.
Olivia is pretty much a free fight. Once Hawlucha gets to +3 Attack it one shots her whole party. Anorith however packs a punch with Smack Down so it was necessary to debuff it for safety. So Furfrou gets the lead and manages to easily tank repeated Bug Bits to get Anorith down to -6 Attack while still having health to spare. After this, it was time to switch to Hawlu, set up to +3 Attack, and sweep with Wing Attack and Karate Chop. And that's what happened. Karate Chop crit both Lileep and Lycanroc though it didn't matter much. Also Lycanroc outpsed Hawlu, but only used Bite (which didn't flinch).
Olivia is down and it is time to head to Grand Hano Resort to see what Faba wants. But first I have some unfinished business with Akala Island which I will cover at the start of next update. I'm not sure whether I am going to cover until Guzma 1 or Totem Mimikyu next update, but do expect to see some really interesting strats next update.
Current Death Count: 0 Current IGT: 7:29
(I think you get it at this point, but Real Time is much higher)
CURRENT TEAM
Hawlucha [Hawlu] (M)
Lv27 Lonely, Unburden Limber
Caught Route 3, Lv12
IV's: 22 / 29 / 30 / 31 / 31 / 17
EV's: 8 / 21 / 11 / 8 / 16 / 23
Stats: 85 / 69 / 48 / 53 / 48 / 74
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
-Roost
Comments: Had a better time around this update with things coming together for it and strats working out. Limber helped on the Skull Grunt double fight at least.
Hawlucha [Cha] (M)
Lv27 Brave, Unburden
Traded in Route 2, Lv8
IV's: 23 / 31 / 19 / 13 / 3 / 11
EV's: 8 / 33 / 12 / 7 / 16 / 23
Stats: 85 / 71 / 51 / 48 / 40 / 65
-Tackle
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
Comments: Spent most of its time in the wings though it helped clean up Totem Lurantis' add where Hawlu would have otherwised be knocked out.
Arbok [Arbo] (F)
Lv25 Impish, Intimidate
Traded Route 8, Lv22
IV's: 7 / 12-13 / 31 / 26-28 / 30-31 / 7-8
EV's: 0 / 9 / 2 / 0 / 3 / 6
Stats: 66 / 56 / 51 / 39 / 52 / 47
-Bite
-Glare
-Screech
-Acid
Comments: Got this trade for one fight (Totem Lurantis) and it did its job. If only both Screeches hit though. Nevertheless it's not really needed anymore at this point unless in an emergency.
Furfrou [URS Dog] (M)
Lv23 Adamant, Fur Coat
Caught Hau'oli City, Lv8
IV's: 1-2 / 22 / 26 / 11 / 22 / 0
EV's: 8 / 35 / 7 / 10 / 19 / 22
Stats: 68 / 52 / 38 / 33 / 52 / 53
-Tackle
-Growl
-Sand Attack
-Baby-Doll Eyes
Comments: Its Attack debuffs helped for Totem Alolan Marowak, Plumeria 1, and Olivia. Not much else I can say really.
Mudbray [Tony Calzoni] (F)
Lv24 Relaxed, Stamina
Caught Route 4, Lv14
IV's: 27 / 14 / 23 / 9 / 18 / 30
EV's: 7 / 17 / 11 / 6 / 10 / 20
Stats: 74 / 57 / 48 / 29 / 36 / 31
-Mud-Slap
-Mud Sport
-Rototiller
-Bulldoze
Comments: Mudbray did its job against Totem Alolan Marowak ridiculously well, one shotting Salazzle, and inflicting the accuracy pain on the totem and living. Wasn't used for much else though I might use it to deal with Nihilego. Don't expect too much else from Mudbray though. It has seriously done its job.
Cottonee [Fluff] (M)
Lv23 Impish, Prankster
Caught Melemele Meadow, Lv12
IV's: 7 / 30 / 8 / 1-2 / 25 / 30
EV's: 8 / 21 / 7 / 6 / 11 / 21
Stats: 53 / 25 / 37 / 19 / 34 / 43
-Fairy Wind
-Growth
-Leech Seed
-Stun Spore
Comments: Only saw use against Totem Alolan Marowak this update to paralyse the totem which had a long term effect in my favour. Doing its job.
Pikipek [Woody] (M)
Lv15 Jolly, Keen Eye
Caught Route 1, Lv3
IV's: 7 / 1-3 / 29 / 22-23 / 17 / 23
EV's: 6 / 16 / 3 / 4 / 3 / 13
Stats: 36 / 28 / 18 / 15 / 16 / 30
-Peck
-Growl
-Echoed Voice
-Rock Smash
Comments: Pikipek was put into the party to help deal with the earlygame, making problem fights for Popplio such as Teacher Emily and Trial Captain Ilima easier. Unfortunately Pikipek had bad Attack which meant that it couldn't really do its job properly, but did its job in some places at least. Its final act was basically to help get a Lv12 Hawlucha easier (being Lv12 at the time).
Popplio [FateIsSealed] (F)
Lv22 Serious, Torrent
Caught Route 1, Lv5
IV's: 20 / 25 / 16 / 27 / 21 / 30
EV's: 10 / 25 / 8 / 6 / 14 / 24
Stats: 58 / 35 / 32 / 40 / 34 / 30
-Pound
-Water Gun
-Growl
-Disarming Voice
Comments: Popplio was chosen as a starter for its good earlygame and to influence matchups (particularly in Hawlucha's favour). Being a really good Popplio stat wise, it did its job for the earlygame really well and was kept in the party for Totem Alolan Marowak. Sadly Akala Island didn't go too well for Popplio with Espeon confusion-trolling it to death and taking the hits pre-Totem Alolan Marowak so that it didn't make it to the fight, but nevertheless it had done a good job for what I had in mind for it, before making way for other Pokémon.
RESTRICTIONS
-No Held Items
-No Item Usage in Battle (including Roto-Powers, excluding Poké Balls)
-Pokémon may not have their moveset altered through any means, except for automatic level-up learns (due to empty slots) and Sketch
-Pokémon cannot evolve (though evolved forms can be captured)
-Switch = SET
-No Pokémon Refresh
UPDATE #5: END GRAND TRIAL #2 - END TRIAL #6
To start with, the unfinished business on Akala Island I mentioned last update. So before going to see what Faba wants, I fly to Route 7. Here I can catch a Pokémon called Pyukumuku. And for this run, I want to catch three of them. Why I want to catch Pyukumuku and catch three of them in particular I will cover later, but I'll let the nicknames of the three do the talking here: Trini, Troto, and Luene. In terms of IV spreads, Luene is the most ideal, followed by Troto and Trini.
Anyway, it's time to see what Faba wanted and he wants to take me and Hau to Aether Paradise for some glorious plot. Along the way, Nihilego comes and attacks us.
You can actually run from this fight, but I decided to take it down with Mudbray. Two Bulldozes do the trick.
After more cutscenes, we are in Ula'ula Island and Malie City. Before taking on Hau 5, I decide to do some PC work. Mudbray and Arbok are out (the latter will be out for good now), and Trini and Troto are in. Time to take on Hau 5.
Hau 5 Team: Cha Lv28 / Hawlu Lv27 / Furfrou Lv24 / Cottonee Lv24 / Trini Lv17 / Troto Lv19
This is a fight you can death abuse if you don't really want to deal with beating this fight, but considering I had the strats for it, I decide to go for a win. Cha leads against Torracat and Cha doesn't do too much, gets off two Wing Attacks and dies to a Z-Fire Fang and a regular Fire Fang. Not ideal, so I send in Hawlu. Hau sees the opportunity to switch in his wrecking ball Alolan Raichu to tank the Wing Attack. I don't want Hawlu anywhere near it, so I switch in Trini, who gets one shot by Psychic. Not a bad thing as Raichu took a chunk from Innards Out. That was fun, let's do it again with Troto. Unfortunately Raichu used Psychic again and Troto barely survived with 3 HP. Bugger. Oh well, 3 damage and a Safeguard it is. So I send in Furfrou and it tanks a Psychic and lands the KO with Tackle. Major threat down.
Leafeon comes in, and in hindsight I should have just debuffed for as long as possible to aid Hawlu, but I wanted the experience so I swap in Hawlu immediately to take the Giga Drain. From there, Leafeon started spamming Quick Attack like nobody's business while Hawlu got up to +4, and several Roosts later (need to HP to tank Tauros' Horn Attack since it outspeeds), Hawlu started OHKOing everything with Wing Attack. Leafeon, Noibat, Tauros, then Torracat fell one by one, with Hawlu surviving Leafeon's Quick Attack and Tauros' Horn Attack. Hau 5 was beaten.
After that, it was back to the Pokémon Centre to box the two Pyukumuku and add Mudbray back into the party, and then around Malie City and Malie Garden for plot triggers before heading off to Mount Hokulani. The two Skull Grunts at the bus stop were handled by Hawlu (Houndour was one shot, Golbat died to three Wing Attacks and no self-hit) and it was up to Mount Hokulani.
At the top, I altered the tam again to prepare for Sophocles' Trial, putting Cha and Furfrou in the box and adding all three Pyukumuku to the party, as well as putting Mudbray in the lead. After finding the missing Charjabug, it was time for the trial. Mudbray handled the Elekid and Electabuzz, one shotting Elekid and two shotting Electabuzz with Bulldoze and suffering as little as a Low Kick. For the Totem, I would swap leads, this time Trini would lead for Totem Togedemaru.
Okay so you saw a little bit of it against Hau's Alolan Raichu, but tit's time to explain this strat, a strat that I am going to be using to beat several fights in this run. The basic strategy is that I have multiple Pyukumuku and the objective is to get them one shot from full HP. The reason I want this is to trigger Innards Out, which deals DMG equal to Pyukumuku's HP before the attack. Counter can also help if it survives a physical attack, but generally having Pyukumuku one shot is more reliable. So one thing you are going to see is that I want the Pyukumuku to have a high HP / low defences set up, but also having levels low enough to guarantee one-shots, so level management is a thing.
Anyway onto the fight itself and this strat turns Totem Togedemaru into a joke, as it one shots each of the three Pyukumuku with Zing Zap, taking 50, 55, then 54 DMG to get KOed even after Sitrus Berry. Dedenne got called up by Togedemaru but fortunately the only thing it has to deal with Mudbray is Super Fang (which cannot KO) so three Bulldozes later, the Dedenne falls. Even after Sitrus Berry and a Charm on the third Bulldoze. Trial done.
With the trial done, it was time to head back down to Malie City to get ready for the first Guzma Fight. For experience management reasons (See: Totem Mimikyu), the Pyukumuku go back into the PC, with Cha and Furfrou coming back out. Furfrou leads for Mr. Destruction in human form.
Team Skull Leader Guzma Team: Furfrou Lv26 / Cha Lv28 / Hawlu Lv30 / Cottonee Lv27 / Mudbray Lv27
So this fight was a little bit of a wake up call here as I had initially marked as a free fight but digging deeper into stats in the middle of the fight, wasn't as simple, namely Masquerain could outspeed and one shot either Hawlucha. So the original plan of cripple, set-up, sweep wasn't quite going to work. Nevertheless I was already in the fight so I had to improvise. Furfrou managed to get Golisopod to -3 before being taken out to a combination of First Impression and Razor Shell (it used Sucker Punch one turn), but nevertheless it was Hawlu's turn. Setting up to +2 with Hone Claws, Razor Shell defence drops eventually got to a point where it wasn't sustainable to set up higher, so I Wing Attack to trigger Emergency Exit. Masquerain comes in and it was time to gamble on a 75% hit from Cottonee (didn't realise Stun Spore was 75% until after Pyukumuku catching).
After sacking Mudbray to a one shot from Air Slash, it was moment of truth from Cottonee to determine whether the potential deathless run was possible. Stun Spore hit, Cottonee got nuked, and it was time for Cha to make one of its final appearances in this run, cleaning up Guzma with three Wing Attacks (two to Masquerain, one to Golisopod) thanks to full paralysis on Masquerain. Cottonee saved the day, some lessons were learned. Namely, EV's are very important and that I am going to consider getting EV Vitamins. And you know the easy way to get some Vitamins in bulk? Mantine Surf. But more on that later.
Anyway, Guzma 1 is down and back in the lead Hawlu goes. I head down Route 11 and then Rotom activates its money powers so I idle for a few minutes in the spirit of the no Roto-Power restriction. First trainer I fight on Route 11 was the Black Belt with a Bewear and that was tough to beat with STAB Take Down so a Baby-Doll Eyes from Furfrou and Roost spam and eventually Bewear got in KO range of Wing Attack. Which I take. Then came Route 12 and Mudsdale Galloping and it's time to do some Mantine Surfing for Vitamins. After bad movement got me into a fight with a Starmie with its +2 Speed EV's now meaning that Hawlu was facing a net -8 after Carbos (39 > 41). A bunch of surfing and high scoring later and I had enough Beach Points to buy what I needed: 30 HP Ups, 28 Proteins, and 26 Carbos. The 30 HP Ups are for the three Pyukumuku after Totem Mimikyu, while the Proteins and Carbos are for Hawlu, a Pokémon I catch later this update, and a Pokémon I will catch on Poni Island.
After stuffing Hawlu with a bunch of vitamins, it was off to Aether House to advance the plot, take out a Preschooler's Elekid with Mudbray, and take out a Team Skull Grunt's Drowzee with Hawlu. Before I take on the trial though, I do two things. The first thing is fight the unavoidable trainer battle with the Ace Trainer (Gible + A-Marowak) early in order to get Hawlu to Lv33. This was just setting up to +4 on Gible and Roosting to heal and then sweeping the trainer (A-Marowak was two shot though). The second thing? Catch an Absol. I buy 10 Ultra Balls and using Repels and a Lv33 Hawlu, start resetting for a good one in Mount Lanakila. What I needed was Lv33 for Detect and Super Luck for ability (which was easy to tell), to get that 50% crit rate on Slash and Night Slash. The resets were these:
Attack is great. Concerned about bulk and speed however, but I roll with it anyway. Things won't possibly go wrong, right? WreckDra christened the Absol Knife Face. As for why Absol? The main reason is for Aether Paradise which is going to be really awful, probably the hardest section for this run, and Absol should help a lot. Even immediately for the upcoming trial. To prepare for the trial, I put Cottonee, Cha, and Mudbray in the box (The latter two will now be there for the rest of the run), and in their place, the three Pyukumuku. Absol takes the lead into the trial. I also stuff Proteins and Carbos into Absol.
The Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar were easy pickings for Absol, with only Gengar outspeeding to use Night Shade. Absol one shot all three of them. And then to prepare for Totem Mimikyu, Trini takes the lead.
Just like Totem Togedemaru, Totem Mimikyu was a free fight. Play Rough one shot both Trini and Troto, both retaliating for 112 Damage, and Mimikyu was down (Mimikyu has 111). Luene wasn't needed and enjoyed free experience and eight Special Defence EV's. As for the called add, it was Jellicent, and a crit Night Slash from Absol finished him off. Trial #6 done.
And with that, that's the update. I'll cover to the end of Aether Paradise next. This coming stretch will be the hardest stretch in the run. Po Town isn't great thanks to Guzma 2 being Guzma 2 and so some trainers need to fall there, and Aether Paradise is all sorts of awful. Thank goodness I don't have to win the Lusamine fight (and trying to win that fight will require some different strats and potentially level grinding), but will I try to anyway? Who knows.
Current Death Count: 0 Current IGT: 11:39
CURRENT TEAM
Absol [Knife Face] (M)
Lv34 Adamant, Super Luck
Caught Mount Lanakila, Lv33
IV's: 6 / 29 / 11-12 / 20 / 0-1 / 10
EV's: 0 / 100 / 0 / 6 / 8 / 100
Stats: 90 / 122 / 49 / 56 / 46 / 67
-Slash
-Swords Dance
-Night Slash
-Detect
Comments: Coming in just in time for Totem Mimikyu, Absol is doing a good job. Aether Paradise is soon and that bulk + speed is concerning however.
Hawlucha [Hawlu] (M)
Lv33 Lonely, Unburden Limber
Caught Route 3, Lv12
IV's: 22 / 29 / 30 / 31 / 31 / 17
EV's: 8 / 109 / 17 / 16 / 35 / 102
Stats: 102 / 91 / 58 / 64 / 58 / 96
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
-Roost
Comments: Not a super great run with the only real sweeps being Hau 5 and the unavoidable Ace Trainer. Hopefully those Vitamin EV's help.
Furfrou [URS Dog] (M)
Lv28 Adamant, Fur Coat
Caught Hau'oli City, Lv8
IV's: 2 / 22 / 26 / 11 / 22 / 0
EV's: 8 / 37 / 11 / 17 / 37 / 32
Stats: 81 / 63 / 46 / 40 / 64 / 64
-Tackle
-Growl
-Sand Attack
-Baby-Doll Eyes
Comments: Saved the team against Alolan Raichu. Tried to weaken Golisopod to extremes, but circumstances didn't help. Might want a lot of levels if it is going to keep doing great debuffs in the future however.
Pyukumuku [Trini] (F)
Lv20 Naive, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv17
IV's: 15-16 / 0-1 / 25-28 / 9-10 / 31 / 2-4
EV's: 0 / 0 / 0 / 6 / 0 / 3
Stats: 55 / 29 / 62 / 19 / 56 / 7
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Did what it needs to do for now.
Pyukumuku [Troto] (F)
Lv21 Lonely, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv19
IV's: 15-16 / 30 / 14 / 2-3 / 5-6 / 27-28
EV's: 0 / 0 / 0 / 6 / 0 / 3
Stats: 57 / 39 / 55 / 18 / 60 / 12
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Survived an Alolan Raichu's Psychic after SpA EV's... But didn't let me down elsewhere.
Pyukumuku [Luene] (M)
Lv22 Naughty, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv18
IV's: 24 / 8 / 5-6 / 1 / 2-3 / 31
EV's: 0 / 0 / 0 / 6 / 8 / 3
Stats: 62 / 36 / 63 / 18 / 56 / 14
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Only needed once, but did it for that one time.
Pikipek [Woody] (M)
Lv15 Jolly, Keen Eye
Caught Route 1, Lv3
IV's: 7 / 1-3 / 29 / 22-23 / 17 / 23
EV's: 6 / 16 / 3 / 4 / 3 / 13
Stats: 36 / 28 / 18 / 15 / 16 / 30
-Peck
-Growl
-Echoed Voice
-Rock Smash
Comments: Pikipek was put into the party to help deal with the earlygame, making problem fights for Popplio such as Teacher Emily and Trial Captain Ilima easier. Unfortunately Pikipek had bad Attack which meant that it couldn't really do its job properly, but did its job in some places at least. Its final act was basically to help get a Lv12 Hawlucha easier (being Lv12 at the time).
Popplio [FateIsSealed] (F)
Lv22 Serious, Torrent
Caught Route 1, Lv5
IV's: 20 / 25 / 16 / 27 / 21 / 30
EV's: 10 / 25 / 8 / 6 / 14 / 24
Stats: 58 / 35 / 32 / 40 / 34 / 30
-Pound
-Water Gun
-Growl
-Disarming Voice
Comments: Popplio was chosen as a starter for its good earlygame and to influence matchups (particularly in Hawlucha's favour). Being a really good Popplio stat wise, it did its job for the earlygame really well and was kept in the party for Totem Alolan Marowak. Sadly Akala Island didn't go too well for Popplio with Espeon confusion-trolling it to death and taking the hits pre-Totem Alolan Marowak so that it didn't make it to the fight, but nevertheless it had done a good job for what I had in mind for it, before making way for other Pokémon.
Arbok [Arbo] (F)
Lv26 Impish, Intimidate
Traded Route 8, Lv22
IV's: 7 / 13 / 31 / 26-27 / 30-31 / 7-8
EV's: 0 / 9 / 2 / 0 / 12 / 6
Stats: 69 / 58 / 52 / 40 / 54 / 48
-Bite
-Glare
-Screech
-Acid
Comments: Arbok came in for one fight. That fight was Totem Lurantis. It successfully paralysed it and reduced its Defence to -2. For that one job, it did good.
Hawlucha [Cha] (M)
Lv31 Brave, Unburden
Traded in Route 2, Lv8
IV's: 23 / 31 / 19 / 13 / 3 / 11
EV's: 8 / 36 / 16 / 9 / 27 / 26
Stats: 97 / 81 / 58 / 55 / 46 / 74
-Tackle
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
Comments: Cha was the original Hawlucha who would eventually play backup to a Roost Hawlucha that would be caught. It aced trial 1, and when it was needed, it would usually do what was needed, whether it be roughing up, or salvaging. It failed for Hau 4/5 and Dexio however, but as the backup, it did its job for the most part. Now it is making the way for other Pokémon and if needed again, will be too weak to make much impact.
Mudbray [Tony Calzoni] (F)
Lv28 Relaxed, Stamina
Caught Route 4, Lv14
IV's: 27 / 14 / 23 / 9 / 20 / 30
EV's: 7 / 26 / 13 / 7 / 18 / 30
Stats: 85 / 66 / 56 / 33 / 41 / 36
-Mud-Slap
-Mud Sport
-Rototiller
-Bulldoze
Comments: The Pokémon that was captured for Totem Alolan Marowak that ended up not only trolling it into submission, but did a lot of other things such as acing Nihilego, acing the Electric Trial, and salvaging a Hau fight. Mudbray will be missed, but it definitely punched above its weight in terms of what I had planned for it. Making way for other Pokémon now.
Cottonee [Fluff] (M)
Lv28 Impish, Prankster
Caught Melemele Meadow, Lv12
IV's: 7 / 30 / 8 / 2 / 27 / 30
EV's: 8 / 31 / 11 / 7 / 19 / 38
Stats: 62 / 30 / 45 / 23 / 41 / 53
-Fairy Wind
-Growth
-Leech Seed
-Stun Spore
Comments: Just chilling in the PC for now since the Pyukumuku need experience. It will be back.
RESTRICTIONS
-No Held Items
-No Item Usage in Battle (including Roto-Powers, excluding Poké Balls)
-Pokémon may not have their moveset altered through any means, except for automatic level-up learns (due to empty slots) and Sketch
-Pokémon cannot evolve (though evolved forms can be captured)
-Switch = SET
-No Pokémon Refresh
UPDATE #6: END TRIAL #6 - END AETHER PARADISE 2
This is the the start of what is probably the most difficult stretch of this challenge run by my calculations, and what better way to start than with an annoying and tricky fight in Plumeria 2?
Absol takes the lead for Golbat and shows its lack of bulk by taking a lot from Wing Attack, but deals a crit Night Slash in return... which it survives. I decide a little sacking is needed to get around Golbat so I send in Luene to survive a Wing Attack and get KOed the next turn. Maybe should have gone for Counter strats... We'll get to that later in the update. Anyway I send in Furfrou to pick off the Golbat with Tackle. Salazzle comes in and her Sludge Bomb is good enough to one shot both Pyukumuku but out of risk of her using another move, I sack Absol to get a Pyukumuku in to guarantee Sludge Bomb. Sludge Bomb was used anyway. Absol gets KOed and the remaining two Pyukumuku come in to get one shot by Sludge Bomb with the recoil taking out Salazzle (116 DMG, Salazzle has 111 HP).
Plumeria down and it was time to head to Po Town. Here I stuff the Pyukumuku with the HP Ups I got them last update and then fight a few optionals on the way there: An Ace Trainer with Alolan Sandshrew, Wigglytuff, and Haunter (Swords Dance into one shots), a Lass with a Sneasel and Komala (Same as the Ace Trainer), and a Skull Grunt with an Alolan Rattata and Haunter (Same strat). For the forced double fight heading into Po Town, Absol Slashes and Hawlu's Karate Chop took care of the Scraggy / Pawniard duo.
Hawlu takes the lead into Po Town, and after dealing with the Spinarak and Trubbish Grunts, I deposit the three Pyukumuku in the PC in an earlier centre to keep them Lv26 for Guzma 2 (and give Cottonee some more experience). After that, it was back to Po Town to clear out grunts before Guzma 2. The Drowzee Grunt was dealt with by Absol's Night Slash, the Alolan Raticate and Golbat double fight saw the former fall to a single Karate Chop and the latter to Night Slashes and a Wing Attack, the Ekans and Salandit grunt was dealt with by Absol's Night Slashing, the Fomantis and Mareanie grunt fell to Wing Attacks, and the Spinarak/Pawniard/Golbat grunt fell to Wing Attack, Karate Chop, and Wing Attacks respectively. After that I prepared for Guzma 2 by adding the Pyukumuku back into the party and doing a couple of rounds of Mantine Surf to get 8 HP Ups and 8 Irons for Furfrou to instantly down (physical bulk for debuffing is good). Back into Po Town afterwards and it was time for Guzma 2, this time with better preparation.
First up was the Pyukumuku sackings. Trini lead to get one shot by First Impression (75 DMG), triggering Golisopod's Emergency Exit to bring in Masquerain. From there Masquerain one shots Troto and Luene with Bug Buzz so that happens (75 + 77 DMG) and Masquerain falls. I send in Furfrou while Golisopod returns. Furfrou puts the bulk to good use and not only gets Golisopod to -6 Attack, but -6 Accuracy as well and survives (thanks in large part to no instant First Impression). After the deed was done, Hawlu gets switched in, sets up to +2 Attack (and running Golisopod out of Razor Shell PP in the process), and then sweeps, picking off Golisopod and two shotting Pinsir (taking a Throat Chop in return). Much smoother compared to the first fight.
With Guzma down, it was time to prepare for Gladion 2. This is a fight I am not required to win to progress the story, but I have the strats to win the fight so... One thing worthy of note is that Troto (who will lead against Golbat) is that it survives but Acrobatics has a 15/16 chance of dealing enough damage that Counter will one shot in return. Remember that now...
... Because the 1/16 chance of it dealing not enough damage for Counter to one shot happened. But Innards Out finished off Golbat at least. I send in Cottonee against "Type: Null" (Zoroark) and try to paralyse the Zoroark, but I forgot that Dark-types being immune to Prankster Status is a thing this generation and Cottonee gets one shot in return. Whoops. Hawlucha one shots anyway with a critical Karate Chop, tanking a Hyper Voice. Hawlu then Karate Chops the real Type: Null, but gets KOed in return by Crush Claw. Furfrou steadies the ship by debuffing Type: Null to -4 Attack, then Absol comes in to take out Type: Null in two Night Slashes, taking an X-Scissor in the process.
After this I need to get ready for Nanu. First thing I do however is something I should have done earlier: Catch a Skarmory. I catch a Sturdy one on Route 17 and it gets named Bladebird by DHR. Skarmory is mostly for Spikes which will help minorly for Nanu as well as eliminating Sturdy for some later fights, namely Sophocles, Molayne, and Olivia. Aftet that, it's Nanu time, with one Pyukumuku (Trini) for Nanu.
Skarmory gets two layers of Spikes down before falling. At this point I make a critical blunder: Sending in Hawlu and hoping to outdamage Sableye. Sableye survived three Wing Attacks and three shot Hawlu. After Absol picked off Sableye (after Hyper Potion usage) I try to sack / debuff / sweep on Krokorok with Cottonee / Trini / Furfrou (Sack Cottonee for safe Trini entry, etc), but only got off one BDE because Swagger sucks. Absol did not mind the Attack Boost and took out Krokorok, but Persian was a little bit too bulky and took out Absol. The deathless run was officially down the drain.
So Cottonee was out and Luene was in with a different strat to try and beat Nanu.
Like last time, Skarmory got two Spikes down. This time however, I send in Absol and Absol outraces the Sableye, taking a Power Gem to two shot with Night Slash. As Krokorok came in, I send in Trini to die to Earthquake and bait the Hyper Potion while Furfrou debuffed Krokorok. This time Krokorok got down to -3 before dying off the back of Swagger shenanigans and the like. Then Hawlu came in and got Swaggered, but Hawlu has an uncanny ability to not hit itself in confusion. Krokorok gets one shot, and so did Persian thanks to a critical hit. Annoyed at losing to Nanu, but whatever. Time for the most annoying part of the game after returning back to the team of Hawlu / Absol / Skarmory / Furfrou / Cottonee.
At Aether Paradise I take down three employees before moving to the mandatory fights. One with Alolan Dugtrio and Toucannon (Karate Chop, then Wing Attack followed by Night Slash after Hawlu fell), one with Kecleon and Stoutland (Karate Chop and Wing Atttack, then Karate Chops followed by a Steel Wing after Roar brought Skarmory in), and one with Arbok and Lurantis (Wing Attack spam). Then it was time for Faba 1 with Absol taking the lead.
Absol dodged Hypnosis and took out Hypno with Night Slash and Slash with no critical hits. Night Slash got disabled turn two, hence the Slash.
Faba 1 down and I put the Pyukumuku trio in alongside Hawlu/Absol/Furfrou to take on the Aether Executive Gauntlet. The first one with Alolan Muk I send in Furfrou on the X Defend to debuff Muk to -4 Attack. After Furfrou fell, Absol came in and set up to +2 Attack, dodging a Gunk Shot and taking down Muk with two crit Slashes. The second one used Magneton and I send in Luene to get one shot by Magneton and then picked off what's left with Karate Chop. The third one with Porygon2 I send in Trini on the X Speed who then survived a Discharge with 2 HP... Troto on the other hand got one shot which was good. Absol then survived a Signal Beam to take out Porygon2 with a critical Night Slash.
After Executives, I return to the team I used for Faba 1 to take on the two Employee fights with Hau. The Gorebyss + Huntail fight saw both of them two shot by a combination of Night Slash and Psychic, while the Anorith + Lileep fight saw Anorith one shot by Psychic and Lileep fall to Night Slash + Psychic. Next was the gauntlet of Employees with Gladion followed by Faba 2 and his support friend. For this I change my team to Troto / Absol / Hawlu / Furfrou / Cottonee / Luene, with the Pyukumuku mainly there for the first fight.
For the first part of the Gauntlet, while both Pyukumuku go down in a turn, both managed to Helping Hand Type: Null into one shotting Magmar and then Electabuzz with Crush Claw. Troto got one shot by Discharge while Luene survived the same Discharge before being picked off by Faint Attack. After that, it was the Absol show, with Absol picking off Houndoom (after all that Discharge damage) and surviving two Discharges with 1 HP to one shot Manectric with a critical Night Slash (Type: Null missed a Crush Claw on Manectric). Now it was Faba 2 time with Hau.
So the objective of this fight was to get Luene finished off (to stop potential overlevelling) as soon as possible and then Troto abd then do stuff. The objective. An objective that would have been accomplished had the enemies not decided to gang up on Hau. Not that it was a bad thing as I found out later, but more on that later. The best the Pyukumuku could do was spam Helping Hand on Hau's Pokémon and it was a kinda viable strat with Alolan Raichu dealing damage to Ledian before falling, Incineroar overkilling Ledian with a Z-Move before falling, and then Leafeon finishing off support employee and Faba's Claydol before falling. Noivern then came in and Faba finally decided to attack the Pyukumuku, but Helping Hand on Hau was too strong as by the time Luene fell, all Faba had left was a Bruxish that was low on health. Noivern picked it off. I was definitely annoyed at all the levels the two Pyukumuku got during this fight, but now that I look back at it, it wasn't too bad as Luene's levels allowed for a strat later on in Aether Paradise that I kinda needed...
Back to the non-Pyukumuku team for the two Skull Grunts which fell to Night Slash and then Karate Chop. After that, I went triple Pyukumuku for Guzma 3 after a lot of strategising.
Troto leads because its best use was to get one shot by Golisopod's First Impression. Which it did, triggering Emergency Exit and Masquerain's entrance. I send in Trini to get it one shot by Bug Buzz, but this time around instead of sending in Luene, I send in Hawlu because this time around, Hawlu was faster. Hawlu picks off Masquerain and Vikavolt comes in. NOW I send in Luene to get it one shot by Thunderbolt, and then I went to Absol. The main job of Absol here was to critical Vikavolt with Night Slash, which it did. Vikavolt was down for the count, and Golisopod was down soon after from a critical Night Slash after Detect blocked its First Impression. Pinsir outsped Absol however and took it out with X-Scissor, and Furfrou only got one Baby-Doll Eyes off before Storm Throw one shot it. It was down to a damage race between Hawlu and Pinsir and Hawlu survived two Stone Edges to set up to +1 Attack and two shot with Wing Attack.
Now it was time to prepare for Dulse 3 and Lusamine afterwards so I drop to just Absol Hawlu / Furfrou after healing to prepare for a death abuse on Lusamine...
... Which was a bad idea. Needed two critical Night Slashes to deal with Poipole and only got one, and after Absol fell (with a Fell Stinger boost), the Hyper Potion came. Furfrou and Hawlu combined couldn't take down the stone wall Poipole, making me wipe to Dulse of all people. It's what I get for undercutting.
So I swap my team around. Remember all those levels I didn't want Luene to get but wrong targets in the Faba 2 fight meant it got a lot of experience? I figured those would come in handy. So I add it to the party to try and take out Dulse.
Turned out it was a good idea. Taunt on the X Defend, then two Counters finish off the Poipole with Luene surviving with 2 HP. Why didn't I do this last time?
And now it was time for Lusamine. This fight I am not required to win and looking at her team and my strats, a win would be highly unlikely. So I deposit everyone bar Absol and head in.
Aether President Lusamine Team: Absol Lv45
Absol slashes twice and then gets one shot by Moonblast. First and only intended death abuse of the run.
After that it was time for some plot with Lusamine taking Guzma with her to take on Necrozma, Lillie gaining a Z-Powered form, Nebby evoling into Cosmoem, Hau getting some major character development, Gladion looking to clean up some mess, and me... breathing a sigh of relief that this brutal stretch is finally over. Thank goodness. I set up my team ready for Poni Island and that's where this update ends.
Next Update, I'll cover through until everyone's favourite fight of the game: Ultra Necrozma. You folks already know how that fight is going to go before I even say anything about it I guess, so this next stretch will be more of a breather if anything.
Current Death Count: 3 (Nanu, Dulse 3, Lusamine [Intentional]) Current IGT: 15:55
CURRENT TEAM
Absol [Knife Face] (M)
Lv45 Adamant, Super Luck
Caught Mount Lanakila, Lv33
IV's: 6 / 29 / 12 / 20 / 2 / 10
EV's: 6 / 133 / 13 / 27 / 23 / 124
Stats: 116 / 165 / 65 / 74 / 61 / 90
-Slash
-Swords Dance
-Night Slash
-Detect
Comments: Doing an okay job. Aether Paradise is out of the way however so expect it to fade in the coming updates as better options surface and its speed + bulk issues become more pronounced.
Hawlucha [Hawlu] (M)
Lv45 Lonely, Unburden Limber
Caught Route 3, Lv12
IV's: 22 / 29 / 30 / 31 / 31 / 17
EV's: 12 / 135 / 25 / 37 / 51 / 124
Stats: 136 / 126 / 79 / 89 / 81 / 133
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
-Roost
Comments: Kinda holding up still. Did well in both Guzma fights but nevertheless, this wasn't the best update for it.
Furfrou [URS Dog] (M)
Lv40 Adamant, Fur Coat
Caught Hau'oli City, Lv8
IV's: 2 / 22 / 26 / 11 / 22 / 0
EV's: 91 / 67 / 104 / 34 / 53 / 56
Stats: 119 / 92 / 73 / 57 / 90 / 92
-Tackle
-Growl
-Sand Attack
-Baby-Doll Eyes
Comments: Great job for Guzma 2 but not too great of a job elsewhere. Still holding up.
Cottonee [Fluff] (M)
Lv36 Impish, Prankster
Caught Melemele Meadow, Lv12
IV's: 7 / 30 / 8 / 2 / 27 / 30
EV's: 8 / 53 / 14 / 13 / 30 / 55
Stats: 76 / 38 / 56 / 28 / 50 / 66
-Fairy Wind
-Growth
-Leech Seed
-Stun Spore
Comments: Did very little this update. Don't know whether I am still going to use it or drop it.
Skarmory [Bladebird] (M)
Lv38 Gentle, Sturdy
Caught Route 17, Lv36
IV's: 19 / 1 / 7-8 / 5-6 / 13 / 23
EV's: 0 / 14 / 1 / 2 / 4 / 4
Stats: 104 / 67 / 102 / 37 / 69 / 67
-Swift
-Spikes
-Agility
-Steel Wing
Comments: Spikes setter. Used in one major fight and isn't getting much screentime for now. Later on those Spikes will come into play however, and Skarmory knows that.
Pyukumuku [Luene] (M)
Lv34 Naughty, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv18
IV's: 24 / 8 / 5 / 1 / 3 / 31
EV's: 104 / 9 / 2 / 13 / 16 / 8
Stats: 98 / 53 / 95 / 26 / 85 / 19
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Gained a lot of levels this update which isn't as bad as I thought. Going to run with levelling up though as two more levels later, a reliable strat for one fight next update (not Ultra Necrozma) becomes a thing and makes said fight much less painful.
Pikipek [Woody] (M)
Lv15 Jolly, Keen Eye
Caught Route 1, Lv3
IV's: 7 / 1-3 / 29 / 22-23 / 17 / 23
EV's: 6 / 16 / 3 / 4 / 3 / 13
Stats: 36 / 28 / 18 / 15 / 16 / 30
-Peck
-Growl
-Echoed Voice
-Rock Smash
Comments: Pikipek was put into the party to help deal with the earlygame, making problem fights for Popplio such as Teacher Emily and Trial Captain Ilima easier. Unfortunately Pikipek had bad Attack which meant that it couldn't really do its job properly, but did its job in some places at least. Its final act was basically to help get a Lv12 Hawlucha easier (being Lv12 at the time).
Popplio [FateIsSealed] (F)
Lv22 Serious, Torrent
Caught Route 1, Lv5
IV's: 20 / 25 / 16 / 27 / 21 / 30
EV's: 10 / 25 / 8 / 6 / 14 / 24
Stats: 58 / 35 / 32 / 40 / 34 / 30
-Pound
-Water Gun
-Growl
-Disarming Voice
Comments: Popplio was chosen as a starter for its good earlygame and to influence matchups (particularly in Hawlucha's favour). Being a really good Popplio stat wise, it did its job for the earlygame really well and was kept in the party for Totem Alolan Marowak. Sadly Akala Island didn't go too well for Popplio with Espeon confusion-trolling it to death and taking the hits pre-Totem Alolan Marowak so that it didn't make it to the fight, but nevertheless it had done a good job for what I had in mind for it, before making way for other Pokémon.
Arbok [Arbo] (F)
Lv26 Impish, Intimidate
Traded Route 8, Lv22
IV's: 7 / 13 / 31 / 26-27 / 30-31 / 7-8
EV's: 0 / 9 / 2 / 0 / 12 / 6
Stats: 69 / 58 / 52 / 40 / 54 / 48
-Bite
-Glare
-Screech
-Acid
Comments: Arbok came in for one fight. That fight was Totem Lurantis. It successfully paralysed it and reduced its Defence to -2. For that one job, it did good.
Hawlucha [Cha] (M)
Lv31 Brave, Unburden
Traded in Route 2, Lv8
IV's: 23 / 31 / 19 / 13 / 3 / 11
EV's: 8 / 36 / 16 / 9 / 27 / 26
Stats: 97 / 81 / 58 / 55 / 46 / 74
-Tackle
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
Comments: Cha was the original Hawlucha who would eventually play backup to a Roost Hawlucha that would be caught. It aced trial 1, and when it was needed, it would usually do what was needed, whether it be roughing up, or salvaging. It failed for Hau 4/5 and Dexio however, but as the backup, it did its job for the most part. Now it is making the way for other Pokémon and if needed again, will be too weak to make much impact.
Mudbray [Tony Calzoni] (F)
Lv28 Relaxed, Stamina
Caught Route 4, Lv14
IV's: 27 / 14 / 23 / 9 / 20 / 30
EV's: 7 / 26 / 13 / 7 / 18 / 30
Stats: 85 / 66 / 56 / 33 / 41 / 36
-Mud-Slap
-Mud Sport
-Rototiller
-Bulldoze
Comments: The Pokémon that was captured for Totem Alolan Marowak that ended up not only trolling it into submission, but did a lot of other things such as acing Nihilego, acing the Electric Trial, and salvaging a Hau fight. Mudbray will be missed, but it definitely punched above its weight in terms of what I had planned for it. Making way for other Pokémon now.
Pyukumuku [Trini] (F)
Lv28 Naive, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv17
IV's: 15 / 0 / 27 / 9 / 31 / 3
EV's: 104 / 8 / 3 / 12 / 0 / 8
Stats: 80 / 39 / 85 / 25 / 77 / 9
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Doing its job as sack bait / damage reflector. Still more to come.
Pyukumuku [Troto] (F)
Lv31 Lonely, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv19
IV's: 16 / 30 / 14 / 3 / 6 / 28
EV's: 104 / 8 / 1 / 12 / 6 / 8
Stats: 87 / 57 / 80 / 25 / 87 / 17
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Doing its job as sack bait / damage reflector. Also supporter I guess. Still more to come.
RESTRICTIONS
-No Held Items
-No Item Usage in Battle (including Roto-Powers, excluding Poké Balls)
-Pokémon may not have their moveset altered through any means, except for automatic level-up learns (due to empty slots) and Sketch
-Pokémon cannot evolve (though evolved forms can be captured)
-Switch = SET
-No Pokémon Refresh
UPDATE #7: END AETHER PARADISE 2 - END ULTRA NECROZMA
After the whole thing with Aether Paradise, it was time to call for the legendary Sun Pokémon to save the world by landing on Poni Island's Seafolk Village. After hitting the assorted plot triggers, it was time to head into the wild to go find Hapu at the Ruins of Hope. Along the way I took on a Cook with an Exeggcute and Ribombee (both fell to Wing Attacks). After hitting the associated plot triggers, it was on to Exeggutor Island to take on three Pinsirs, all of which fell to Wing Attacks. Picking up the Sun Flute to go with Lillie's Moon Flute, it was off to the Altar of the Sunne via Vast Poni Canyon.
But first, I needed to take on the Team Skull Grunts. The first one with Ekans fell to two Wing Attacks. Then came the group of five... which lead with a Fomantis that was easy to set up Hone Claws, heal, and one shot everything (Alolan Raticate, Houndour, Mareanie, and Golbat were the others). At this point, Luene hit Lv36 and was ready for a fight later on this update. More on that later, but nevertheless, it took the lead for the fourth and final fight with Dulse.
Just like every other Dulse fight, Dulse trolled, but to a lesser extent. The main troll here was not using X Defend turn 1 which I had anticipated to get Taunt off. It Poison Jabbed, but Luene survived the following Poison Jab to Counter for more than half damage before falling to Poison damage. Absol then came in, set up to +2 (in case of shenanigans... it used Poison Jab) and then took Poipole out with Night Slash.
With that out of the way, it was time to enter Vast Poni Canyon, where I catch a Boldore and an Alolan Dugtrio. Codraroll named them Pebble and 'Sup'Sup'Sup respectively, replacing Cottonee and Luene in the party for now. Boldore is mostly for the final trainer gauntlet at the end of the canyon and Kiawe + David during the Trial Captains section of Mina's trial, while Dugtrio is also for the Trial Captains part, namely Mina and Sophocles, and also has some other uses. I also resetted for at least a decent one, which it was. Nothing amazing though. I then use this opportunity to stuff the 10 Proteins and Carbos I had left into Alolan Dugtrio and continued on.
First was the Veteran with Beheeyem and Absol, which Absol took the lead for. Beheeyem had nothing on Absol, but then I misplayed on Banette's Phantom Force spam with Detect and PF was strong enough that it could two shot. Eventually I had to rely on Hawlu Wing Attacking to end it. I then continued along the path, avoiding most trainers except for a lone Punk Girl with a Scrafty who fell to two of Hawlu's Wing Attacks. Then it was time for the final trainer gauntlet. Dugtrio took the lead for the Ace Trainer (Alolan Graveler and Lapras), where Dugtrio stopped Graveler with Dig and Earth Power, then roughing up Lapras with Iron Head. Absol then cleaned up with two Night Slashes.
Next was the Veteran with a Talonflame, Wailord, and Glaceon. Boldore took the lead and destroyed the Talonflame while living Wailord's Heavy Slam to set up Stealth Rock. I then tried to pick it off with Absol, but no dice and it had half health left. So I send in Furfrou who completly cripples Wailord down to -6 Atk and -6 Acc before Hawlu came in, set up, and swept the rest of the team.
Last in the gauntlet was Veteran Eric with Noctowl, Gengar, Slowking, and Flygon. Boldore took the lead and Rock Slided through Noctowl's support to take it out with Sturdy intact. Boldore then set up Stealth Rock on Flygon and fell. Furfrou then came in and dropped Flygon's Attack to -5 before falling and then Hawlu came in. Here I needed to set up as much as possible until Flygon runs out of Dragon Rush PP (misses help here) and Eric withdraws Flygon (while keeping health high to tank Gengar) and then sweep. I manage to get to +5 before the withdraw and got full HP before sweeping with Wing Attack, Wing Attack (tanking Gengar's Shadow Ball), then Karate Chop on the returning Flygon. Worth noting this took two tries after I resetted the first fight following an unfortunate Dragon Rush crit limiting Furfrou's debuff potential to -3 at best and not getting Hawlu to +4 which meant that it couldn't muscle past Slowking (+3 doesn't one shot) and then a bad Swords Dance misplay and I was ultimately swept by Gengar. Not getting up SR didn't help. I counted this as a death.
After Eric was taken down, I return to prepare for the Draogn Trial and the Necrozma fights, putting Absol (who is now pretty much not going to be used much anymore), Furfrou, Skarmory, and Boldore in the box for Cottonee (emergency paralysis) and the three Pyukumuku. Hawlu lead into the trial and took down the Jangmo-o and Hakamo-o with two Wing Attacks. I then put Luene into the lead for Totem Kommo-o.
Totem Kommo-o used Thunder Punch!
It's Super Effective!
Luene took 92 damage!
Luene used Counter!
Totem Kommo-o took 184 damage!
Totem Kommo-o fainted!
... Yeah that pretty much describes the fight. Anyway it was straight into the Altar of the Sunne to summon Solgaleo and watch it get devoured by Necrozma. Time for Dusk Mane Necrozma.
Dusk Mane liked to use Morning Sun every other turn which made Pykumuku take outs a little annoying and making me wish I used Taunt, but we still got through. Luene countered a Psycho Cut then used Innards Out, and then Troto countered a Sunsteel Strike to take out Dusk Mane Necrozma. All in-between Morning Suns. Not the cleanest fight, but I'll take it.
After that it was time for wormholes. I got a decent one in terms of time with only needing one attempt to get through and the right wormhole being the fourth to show up. Then it was straight up Ultra Megalopolis for the Ultra Necrozma fight.
Really free fight here. Ultra Necrozma straight up one shots the Pyukumuku with Photon Geyser and the damage from Innards Out from all three add up to a KO on Ultra Necrozma. Not the most exciting strat, but it's the most efficient and viable strat for this run considering the restrictions.
Alternative solutions you could do for Ultra Necrozma? One would be to catch a Lapras from Poni Breaker Coast, level it up to mid-late 50's so it can tank a Power Gem and use Perish Song. After that, let it one shot everything until it falls. There's also a Zorua strat where you let it feign as Hawlucha and try to run it out of Photon Geyser PP and then once it falls, set up Leech Seed with Cottonee and then have a fresh Sturdy Magnemite (28 or less HP) just repeatedly take hits and go back to full from Leech Seed until Leech Seed finishes off Ultra Necrozma (Photon Geyser ignores Sturdy for what it's worth, it also only has 5 PP).
Anyway with Ultra Necrozma down for the count, it was time to go back to the normal world, say goodbye to Lillie, and prepare for Trial Captains, setting up the team for Mina. As for Poipole? I said no to it. It isn't needed for the run and it isn't very useful for the run. That is the end of this update. Next update: I'll cover until just before the Pokémon League. Hitting the endgame now!
Current Death Count: 4 (Nanu, Dulse 3, Lusamine [Intentional], Veteran Eric) Current IGT: 18:04
CURRENT TEAM
Hawlucha [Hawlu] (M)
Lv50 Lonely, Unburden Limber
Caught Route 3, Lv12
IV's: 22 / 29 / 30 / 31 / 31 / 17
EV's [452]: 18 / 152 / 39 / 46 / 56 / 141
Stats: 151 / 143 / 89 / 100 / 90 / 149
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
-Roost
Comments: Decent job this update. Did set up on a few trainers and swept them.
Dugtrio ['Sup'Sup'Sup] (M)
Lv47 Jolly, Tangling Hair
Caught Vast Poni Canyon, Lv45
IV's: 7 / 23 / 22 / 9 / 0-1 / 20
EV's: 4 / 107 / 9 / 8 / 4 / 106
Stats: 93 / 121 / 72 / 50 / 71 / 143
-Mud Bomb
-Earth Power
-Dig
-Iron Head
Comments: Not a great Vast Poni Canyon and that bulk doesn't really help. Hoping it will do its job for Trial Captains.
Furfrou [URS Dog] (M)
Lv43 Adamant, Fur Coat
Caught Hau'oli City, Lv8
IV's: 2 / 22 / 26 / 11 / 22 / 0
EV's: 97 / 80 / 110 / 39 / 55 / 65
Stats: 128 / 100 / 79 / 62 / 97 / 100
-Tackle
-Growl
-Sand Attack
-Baby-Doll Eyes
Comments: Helped on the trainer gauntlet at the end of Vast Poni Canyon to help Hawlu sweep.
Skarmory [Bladebird] (M)
Lv41 Gentle, Sturdy
Caught Route 17, Lv36
IV's: 19 / 1 / 8 / 6 / 13 / 23
EV's: 6 / 28 / 7 / 10 / 10 / 15
Stats: 112 / 73 / 110 / 41 / 74 / 73
-Swift
-Spikes
-Agility
-Steel Wing
Comments: Nothing of real note this update other than collecting experience. Its time is coming.
Boldore [Pebble] (F)
Lv46 Sassy, Sturdy
Caught Vast Poni Canyon, Lv45
IV's: 20 / 1 / 10-11 / 7-8 / 7-8 / 15
EV's: 4 / 2 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 3
Stats: 129 / 102 / 106 / 54 / 49 / 27
-Smack Down
-Rock Slide
-Stealth Rock
-Sandstorm
Comments: Brought onto the team for Kiawe and the Vast Poni Canyon trainer Gauntlet. Did a good gob dealing with the problematic Talonflame and Noctowl despite the horrible Attack IV and got Stealth Rock down. Impressed.
Cottonee [Fluff] (M)
Lv40 Impish, Prankster
Caught Melemele Meadow, Lv12
IV's: 7 / 30 / 8 / 2 / 27 / 30
EV's: 8 / 67 / 23 / 15 / 31 / 62
Stats: 83 / 44 / 62 / 31 / 56 / 74
-Fairy Wind
-Growth
-Leech Seed
-Stun Spore
Comments: Being in and out of the party in case it is needed, which it hasn't at the moment. Might have been nice for the first try Veteran Eric, but whatever.
Pikipek [Woody] (M)
Lv15 Jolly, Keen Eye
Caught Route 1, Lv3
IV's: 7 / 1-3 / 29 / 22-23 / 17 / 23
EV's: 6 / 16 / 3 / 4 / 3 / 13
Stats: 36 / 28 / 18 / 15 / 16 / 30
-Peck
-Growl
-Echoed Voice
-Rock Smash
Comments: Pikipek was put into the party to help deal with the earlygame, making problem fights for Popplio such as Teacher Emily and Trial Captain Ilima easier. Unfortunately Pikipek had bad Attack which meant that it couldn't really do its job properly, but did its job in some places at least. Its final act was basically to help get a Lv12 Hawlucha easier (being Lv12 at the time).
Popplio [FateIsSealed] (F)
Lv22 Serious, Torrent
Caught Route 1, Lv5
IV's: 20 / 25 / 16 / 27 / 21 / 30
EV's: 10 / 25 / 8 / 6 / 14 / 24
Stats: 58 / 35 / 32 / 40 / 34 / 30
-Pound
-Water Gun
-Growl
-Disarming Voice
Comments: Popplio was chosen as a starter for its good earlygame and to influence matchups (particularly in Hawlucha's favour). Being a really good Popplio stat wise, it did its job for the earlygame really well and was kept in the party for Totem Alolan Marowak. Sadly Akala Island didn't go too well for Popplio with Espeon confusion-trolling it to death and taking the hits pre-Totem Alolan Marowak so that it didn't make it to the fight, but nevertheless it had done a good job for what I had in mind for it, before making way for other Pokémon.
Arbok [Arbo] (F)
Lv26 Impish, Intimidate
Traded Route 8, Lv22
IV's: 7 / 13 / 31 / 26-27 / 30-31 / 7-8
EV's: 0 / 9 / 2 / 0 / 12 / 6
Stats: 69 / 58 / 52 / 40 / 54 / 48
-Bite
-Glare
-Screech
-Acid
Comments: Arbok came in for one fight. That fight was Totem Lurantis. It successfully paralysed it and reduced its Defence to -2. For that one job, it did good.
Hawlucha [Cha] (M)
Lv31 Brave, Unburden
Traded in Route 2, Lv8
IV's: 23 / 31 / 19 / 13 / 3 / 11
EV's: 8 / 36 / 16 / 9 / 27 / 26
Stats: 97 / 81 / 58 / 55 / 46 / 74
-Tackle
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
Comments: Cha was the original Hawlucha who would eventually play backup to a Roost Hawlucha that would be caught. It aced trial 1, and when it was needed, it would usually do what was needed, whether it be roughing up, or salvaging. It failed for Hau 4/5 and Dexio however, but as the backup, it did its job for the most part. Now it is making the way for other Pokémon and if needed again, will be too weak to make much impact.
Mudbray [Tony Calzoni] (F)
Lv28 Relaxed, Stamina
Caught Route 4, Lv14
IV's: 27 / 14 / 23 / 9 / 20 / 30
EV's: 7 / 26 / 13 / 7 / 18 / 30
Stats: 85 / 66 / 56 / 33 / 41 / 36
-Mud-Slap
-Mud Sport
-Rototiller
-Bulldoze
Comments: The Pokémon that was captured for Totem Alolan Marowak that ended up not only trolling it into submission, but did a lot of other things such as acing Nihilego, acing the Electric Trial, and salvaging a Hau fight. Mudbray will be missed, but it definitely punched above its weight in terms of what I had planned for it. Making way for other Pokémon now.
Absol [Knife Face] (M)
Lv48 Adamant, Super Luck
Caught Mount Lanakila, Lv33
IV's: 6 / 29 / 12 / 20 / 2 / 10
EV's: 2 / 147 / 19 / 33 / 28 / 135
Stats: 124 / 177 / 70 / 80 / 65 / 97
-Slash
-Swords Dance
-Night Slash
-Detect
Comments: Absol was brought onto the team to help out with Totem Mimikyu's add and mainly Aether Paradise. It did its jobs there for the most part as well as putting in some work against otherwise unfavourable matchups like Guzma 3 picking off weakened bugs. Despite the impressive Attack, the poor bulk and middling speed is now wanting and is starting to fall out of favour as things hit harder and outspeed it. Last major act was helping out in Vast Poni Canyon. Will it make another appearance? We'll see. But for now, I don't have much else in the way of plans since its flaws are really getting in the way now.
Pyukumuku [Trini] (F)
Lv31 Naive, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv17
IV's: 15 / 0 / 27 / 9 / 31 / 3
EV's: 104 / 11 / 9 / 12 / 0 / 8
Stats: 87 / 42 / 94 / 27 / 85 / 9
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Did the jobs it needed to do this update. Has some more use left.
Pyukumuku [Troto] (F)
Lv34 Lonely, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv19
IV's: 16 / 30 / 14 / 3 / 6 / 28
EV's: 104 / 11 / 7 / 12 / 6 / 8
Stats: 95 / 62 / 88 / 27 / 95 / 18
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Did the jobs it needed to do this update. Has some more use left.
Pyukumuku [Luene] (M)
Lv38 Naughty, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv18
IV's: 24 / 8 / 5 / 1 / 3 / 31
EV's: 104 / 18 / 11 / 14 / 16 / 14
Stats: 108 / 60 / 106 / 29 / 95 / 21
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Did the jobs it needed to do this update. Has some more use left.
For those of you following along: Do you folks want to see me do postgame with these restrictions as well? I haven't done postgame casually at all so it will be kinda blind for me (Rainbow Rocket in particular) and I'm not too keen on it (nor have I done any routing on it), but if you folks want to see what I can come up with to deal with that, I might give it a shot (Also helps as to what to use the Master Ball on).
Getting close to the end now (still want thoughts on doing postgame).
RESTRICTIONS
-No Held Items
-No Item Usage in Battle (including Roto-Powers, excluding Poké Balls)
-Pokémon may not have their moveset altered through any means, except for automatic level-up learns (due to empty slots) and Sketch
-Pokémon cannot evolve (though evolved forms can be captured)
-Switch = SET
-No Pokémon Refresh
UPDATE #8: START TRIAL #8 - ENTER TOP MOUNT LANAKILA
With Ultra Necrozma down and my team set up in the last update, it was time to head straight into Mina's Trial, starting with a fight with Mina herself.
Goal of this fight is simple, debuff Mawile (yay Intimidate), set up, sweep (except not really because Ribombee is crazy fast). So Furfrou got Mawile to -6 Attack before falling, and then Hawlu came in. Roost did a good job to PP stall out Play Rough and then it was time to set up to +6 Attack. Upon getting there, Mawile was one shot by Karate Chop and Granbull (who came in after) was one shot by Wing Attack. Unfortunately Ribombee was faster so Hawlu got one shot by Z-Dazzling Gleam, but Boldore and then Skarmory were there to pick off Ribombee with the help of Sturdy and their STAB attacks.
Now comes the tour of Alola with Trial Captains. First up was Ilima after healing with an unchanged lineup.
Same strat as Mina here, debuff the Gumshoos, set up to a point Hawlu could one shot everything (+3), then sweep. Furfrou did brilliantly here getting Gumshoos to -6 Attack and -6 Accuracy, barely surviving. Hawlu then came in, boosted to +3, and one shot Gumshoos, Smeargle, and Komala, taking no real damage.
With that, I went straight to Lush Jungle for the next leg, healing up beforehand, and taking on the next fight—Mallow—with the same team and lineup.
So this is the fight in Ultra Sun. In Ultra Moon you fight Lani instead. Anyway, this fight is the same cripple lead, setup to +3 with Hawlu, then one shot everything, though this fight is a little tougher because of Leech Seed shenanigans as well as Shadow Claw having a high critical hit rate. So Furfrou did its job again, getting Trevenant to -6 before falling. Hawlu then comes in and gets to +2 before a critical Shadow Claw and Leech Seed shenanigans left Hawlu on the brink of falling. Luckily Shadow Claw did not critical after that as Hawlu got back up to full health with three Roosts, got the third Hone Claws in, and Wing Attacked Trevenant to oblivion, and same with Shiinotic and Tsareena.
Two more petals down and it was time for Kiawe for the next leg. I heal up the team and put Cottonee in the lead for what is the most difficult part of the trial.
This fight is way more difficult because of Talonflame making a Hawlucha sweep unviable and with David coming right after, I have to play carefully. Cottonee got a little bit of luck here, getting a Stun Spore and a Leech Seed in due to Full Paralysis before inevitably getting one shot. I then send in Dugtrio to take out the Arcanine with Dig. I then send in Furfrou to tank Alolan Marowak's Z-Flame Wheel and then Furfrou got Alolan Marowak to -3 before Burn took it out. Hawlu comes in and the main objective here was to damage race Marowak. Cursed Body triggered after the first Wing Attack however, but then I misplay, spamming Roost in the face of dropping defence from Shadow Bone instead of getting at least one Hone Claws off. Eventually Marowak survived two more Wing Attacks with barely any HP left to take out Hawlu. So at that point I send in Dugtrio to take out Marowak. Talonflame comes in and I choose to sack Skarmory to safely get Boldore in with Sturdy intact. Boldore then takes a Brave Bird to one shot with Rock Slide.
Right after Kiawe was Hiker David with his trusty Magmar who fell to one Dig from Dugtrio. After that, it was time for the final part of the Trial Captains section of Mina's Trial with Sophocles (in Ultra Moon you get Nanu instead). I put Skarmory in the lead for this fight.
This fight is one of the major fights where entry hazards speed things up. This is because Magnezone and Alolan Golem have Sturdy which can result in bad things happening if I am not careful. Fortunately Togedemaru leads with Spiky Shield so I safely get two layers of Spikes down before Skarmory falls to Zing Zap + Fell Stinger. I then send in Dugtrio who takes a Fell Stinger to the face before one shotting Togedemaru with Dig (No Spiky Shield trolling). Magnezone and Golem suffer similar fates getting outspeed and one shot by Dig after Spikes.
Trial captains down and it was time for Totem Ribombee (after Nanu gives me the last petal because he can't be bothered after getting belted by Hau). To prepare I bring the Pyukumuku in and leave the other three slots to Hawlu, Cottonee (emergency paralysis or Leech Seed), and Boldore (in case I have to deal with Pelipper). Luene takes the lead for the totem.
This was a fight I was concerned about because Totem Ribombee could troll with Quiver Dance and Draining Kiss to negate Pyukumuku sacks, as well as Pelipper being Pelipper. What I found out however, was that the fight was completely free with the strats I was using. Totem Ribombee starts by one shotting Luene with Bug Buzz, dealing over half in return due to Innards Out, and then Blissey gets called in. Troto comes in and gets one shot by Ribombee's Bug Buzz, with Innards Out finishing off the Totem and leaving Blissey to Heal Pulse nothing. I then send in Hawlu to one shot Blissey with Karate Chop and enjoy a lot of experience. Free fight is free I guess.
Now it was time for the final Kahuna in Hapu. I swap back to the team I used for the Trial Captains and put Furfrou in the lead for Hapu.
The classic debuff, setup, sweep strat is the order of the day here. Furfrou takes on Golurk and gets Golurk to -4 before falling thanks to a crit, even after getting Stealth Rock on my side of the field. Then Hawlu comes in. I set up to +6 Attack and get a few Roosts in with no critical hits coming Hawlu's way, then start the sweep. Golurk falls to Wing Attack. Gastrodon falls to a critical Wing Attack. Flygon gets a critical Dragon Breath in (with no paralysis), but Hawlu survives to one shot with Wing Attack. Finally Mudsdale actually survived a Wing Attack to... use Payback, which Hawlu lives with little health left. Lucky break. Hapu uses a Hyper Potion on Mudsdale, but two more Wing Attacks and Mudsdale is down, even after Stamina is factored. All Grand Trials down.
With that, it was time for the endgame and the hike up Mount Lanakila. But first it was time for Gladion 3. I prepare for this fight by bringing the Pyukumuku back in and putting them with Hawlu, Furfrou, and Cottonee joining them for Gladion's last stand. Luene leads.
Strat here is to use the Pyukumuku to deal with the Crobat, then get rid of Zoroark using another Pyukumuku and Hawlu, before using either Lucario or Silvally to debuff then set up to +3 and sweep. Luene starts by getting two shot by Cross Poison, but takes out the Crobat through a combination of Counter and Innards Out damage. I then send in Trini for "Lucario" (Zoroark) and Trini gets one shot by Night Daze. I send in Hawlu to take a Hyper Voice and finish off Zoroark. Silvally comes in next and I swap in Troto to sack but Troto survives a Crush Claw to deal not much damage through Innards Out. Furfrou then comes in and gets Silvally to -6 Attack before falling. Hawlu comes back in, Roosts up, and gets to +3 Attack. Eventually Silvally got Hawlu to -3 Defence with Crush Claw spam, but the defence drop didn't matter since Hawlu outsped both Silvally and Lucario, taking out the former with Wing Attack, and the latter with Karate Chop.
With Gladion down, it was time to prepare for Mount Lanakila proper by catching a certain Pokémon. But first it was time to say goodbye to Trini, Troto, and Luene. They won't be taking further part for the main story at least (we'll see about postgame if I do it), and I bring Dugtrio, Skarmory, and Boldore back in, mostly for a full party of six. So I head to Mahalo Trail to meet up with Lillie who wants her Solgaleo to have a new owner. So I caught it to appease her wishes. Unsurprisingly, Solgaleo was christened Nebby. Credits Blitzamirin. Also managed to get this spread first try:
Docile 31 / 31 / 31 / 16-17 / 2-3 / 30
Shame about that special bulk, but it will have to do, really good spread. Solgaleo is here for the final stretch of the game to help make that section much less stressful. It takes the lead and I head back into Mount Lanakila for the climb up. First fight was Ace Trainer Seth with a Scyther and Malamar. Both were two shot by Solgaleo. Next up was another Pokémon to catch: Necrozma. Really easy to catch, easy to reset stats for, and will be of valuable help in the Pokémon League though the league will still not be free by any means. Christened Purple Haze by Integer Mova, and takes the second slot for a certain Double Battle coming up (also I immediately unequipped the Ultranecrozium Z it was holding).
Next trainer fight was Ace Trainer Jada (Vanilluxe, Mismagius), whose Pokémon were one shot by Solgaleo using Sunsteel Strike and Crunch respectively. Now it was time for the infamous double fight with Master Breon (Glalie, Bisharp, Tyranitar) and Apprentice Kaimana (Vikavolt, Forretress). Solgaleo and Necrozma lead for me and Necrozma one shots Vikaolt with Power Gem while Solgaleo one shots Glalie with Sunsteel Strike. Bisharp and Forretress come in and a Crunch from Solgaleo and Power Gem from Necrozma deal with Forretress. Bisharp just tries to deal damage with Night Slash as I swap Necrozma out for Hawlu, who then proceeds to one shot Bisharp and Tyranitar with an unboosted Karate Chop.
With the double fight down, it was up to the top of Mount Lanakila with the final Pokémon Centre. This is where I will stop for now. Next update: The final preparations and the Pokémon League proper. Final stretch (Of the main story at least)! Also no, the league isn't free with this rule-set even if I have both Solgaleo and Necrozma, and no I'm not getting Dusk Mane Necrozma because it's not as useful as having them both separate and I'm not allowed to use Ultra Necrozma because that means using a held item which is banned.
Current Death Count: 4 (Nanu, Dulse 3, Lusamine [Intentional], Veteran Eric) Current IGT: 19:59
CURRENT TEAM
Solgaleo [Nebby] (-)
Lv61 Docile, Full Metal Body
Caught Mahalo Trail, Lv60
IV's: 31 / 31 / 31 / 17 / 3 / 30
EV's: 2 / 9 / 2 / 9 / 1 / 0
Stats: 257 / 192 / 154 / 154 / 115 / 141
-Sunsteel Strike
-Cosmic Power
-Crunch
-Zen Headbutt
Comments: Solgaleo is in for the final stretch for this game, with a decent Mount Lanakila for a warm up. We'll see how well it really goes once we get into the league.
Necrozma [Purple Haze] (-)
Lv65 Bold, Prism Armour
Caught Mount Lanakila, Lv65
IV's: 31 / 6-7 / 29-30 / 31 / 27-28 / 31
EV's: 2 / 5 / 2 / 7 / 1 / 0
Stats: 221 / 133 / 170 / 190 / 138 / 127
-Photon Geyser
-Iron Defence
-Power Gem
-Night Slash
Comments: Just like Solgaleo, Necrozma has been caught for the final stretch of this game. Did decently well in the Lanakila double fight, it has some important roles to fill for the league.
Hawlucha [Hawlu] (M)
Lv56 Lonely, Unburden Limber
Caught Route 3, Lv12
IV's: 22 / 29 / 30 / 31 / 31 / 17
EV's [510]: 29 / 178 / 43 / 56 / 53 / 151
Stats: 169 / 162 / 99 / 113 / 100 / 167
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
-Roost
Comments: Did very well this update, getting setup sweeps on multiple opponents with Furfrou's help and in general just showing how well it has aged from the beginning of the game to still be able to sweep things. Unsurprisingly going to the league.
Dugtrio ['Sup'Sup'Sup] (M)
Lv52 Jolly, Tangling Hair
Caught Vast Poni Canyon, Lv45
IV's: 7 / 23 / 22 / 9 / 1 / 20
EV's: 8 / 137 / 17 / 22 / 7 / 114
Stats: 103 / 138 / 80 / 57 / 78 / 158
-Mud Bomb
-Earth Power
-Dig
-Iron Head
Comments: Did as well as I expected for the Trial Captains I needed it for though its power is still lacking... I'm not sure whether I'm going to use this or Cottonee for the league yet.
Furfrou [URS Dog] (M)
Lv47 Adamant, Fur Coat
Caught Hau'oli City, Lv8
IV's: 2 / 22 / 26 / 11 / 22 / 0
EV's [489]: 99 / 97 / 115 / 53 / 56 / 69
Stats: 139 / 111 / 86 / 69 / 106 / 109
-Tackle
-Growl
-Sand Attack
-Baby-Doll Eyes
Comments: Once again showed why it's still on the team with the ability to debuff things with Baby-Doll Eyes and the physical bulk to back it up, helping Hawlu getting the sweeps it needs. Definitely a lock for the league as there are fights there I want to get some setup sweeps for.
Skarmory [Bladebird] (M)
Lv45 Gentle, Sturdy
Caught Route 17, Lv36
IV's: 19 / 1 / 8 / 6 / 13 / 23
EV's: 10 / 56 / 12 / 19 / 13 / 20
Stats: 122 / 83 / 121 / 45 / 81 / 80
-Swift
-Spikes
-Agility
-Steel Wing
Comments: Did well on the shake-up fight with Sophocles, getting the Spikes it needs to get down. Will be heading into the league because Sturdy sucks and Spikes will help rectify that.
Pikipek [Woody] (M)
Lv15 Jolly, Keen Eye
Caught Route 1, Lv3
IV's: 7 / 1-3 / 29 / 22-23 / 17 / 23
EV's: 6 / 16 / 3 / 4 / 3 / 13
Stats: 36 / 28 / 18 / 15 / 16 / 30
-Peck
-Growl
-Echoed Voice
-Rock Smash
Comments: Pikipek was put into the party to help deal with the earlygame, making problem fights for Popplio such as Teacher Emily and Trial Captain Ilima easier. Unfortunately Pikipek had bad Attack which meant that it couldn't really do its job properly, but did its job in some places at least. Its final act was basically to help get a Lv12 Hawlucha easier (being Lv12 at the time).
Popplio [FateIsSealed] (F)
Lv22 Serious, Torrent
Caught Route 1, Lv5
IV's: 20 / 25 / 16 / 27 / 21 / 30
EV's: 10 / 25 / 8 / 6 / 14 / 24
Stats: 58 / 35 / 32 / 40 / 34 / 30
-Pound
-Water Gun
-Growl
-Disarming Voice
Comments: Popplio was chosen as a starter for its good earlygame and to influence matchups (particularly in Hawlucha's favour). Being a really good Popplio stat wise, it did its job for the earlygame really well and was kept in the party for Totem Alolan Marowak. Sadly Akala Island didn't go too well for Popplio with Espeon confusion-trolling it to death and taking the hits pre-Totem Alolan Marowak so that it didn't make it to the fight, but nevertheless it had done a good job for what I had in mind for it, before making way for other Pokémon.
Arbok [Arbo] (F)
Lv26 Impish, Intimidate
Traded Route 8, Lv22
IV's: 7 / 13 / 31 / 26-27 / 30-31 / 7-8
EV's: 0 / 9 / 2 / 0 / 12 / 6
Stats: 69 / 58 / 52 / 40 / 54 / 48
-Bite
-Glare
-Screech
-Acid
Comments: Arbok came in for one fight. That fight was Totem Lurantis. It successfully paralysed it and reduced its Defence to -2. For that one job, it did good.
Hawlucha [Cha] (M)
Lv31 Brave, Unburden
Traded in Route 2, Lv8
IV's: 23 / 31 / 19 / 13 / 3 / 11
EV's: 8 / 36 / 16 / 9 / 27 / 26
Stats: 97 / 81 / 58 / 55 / 46 / 74
-Tackle
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
Comments: Cha was the original Hawlucha who would eventually play backup to a Roost Hawlucha that would be caught. It aced trial 1, and when it was needed, it would usually do what was needed, whether it be roughing up, or salvaging. It failed for Hau 4/5 and Dexio however, but as the backup, it did its job for the most part. Now it is making the way for other Pokémon and if needed again, will be too weak to make much impact.
Mudbray [Tony Calzoni] (F)
Lv28 Relaxed, Stamina
Caught Route 4, Lv14
IV's: 27 / 14 / 23 / 9 / 20 / 30
EV's: 7 / 26 / 13 / 7 / 18 / 30
Stats: 85 / 66 / 56 / 33 / 41 / 36
-Mud-Slap
-Mud Sport
-Rototiller
-Bulldoze
Comments: The Pokémon that was captured for Totem Alolan Marowak that ended up not only trolling it into submission, but did a lot of other things such as acing Nihilego, acing the Electric Trial, and salvaging a Hau fight. Mudbray will be missed, but it definitely punched above its weight in terms of what I had planned for it. Making way for other Pokémon now.
Absol [Knife Face] (M)
Lv48 Adamant, Super Luck
Caught Mount Lanakila, Lv33
IV's: 6 / 29 / 12 / 20 / 2 / 10
EV's: 2 / 147 / 19 / 33 / 28 / 135
Stats: 124 / 177 / 70 / 80 / 65 / 97
-Slash
-Swords Dance
-Night Slash
-Detect
Comments: Absol was brought onto the team to help out with Totem Mimikyu's add and mainly Aether Paradise. It did its jobs there for the most part as well as putting in some work against otherwise unfavourable matchups like Guzma 3 picking off weakened bugs. Despite the impressive Attack, the poor bulk and middling speed is now wanting and is starting to fall out of favour as things hit harder and outspeed it. Last major act was helping out in Vast Poni Canyon. Will it make another appearance? We'll see. But for now, I don't have much else in the way of plans since its flaws are really getting in the way now.
Pyukumuku [Trini] (F)
Lv34 Naive, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv17
IV's: 15 / 0 / 27 / 9 / 31 / 3
EV's: 110 / 11 / 9 / 12 / 0 / 15
Stats: 95 / 46 / 103 / 29 / 92 / 11
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Trini was brought in for the Innards Out ability as well as Counter, helping getting through some tough trainer fights by taking out threats with its attributes as well as making Totems and Necrozma variants "free" with its fellow Pyukumuku. Needless to say, it did its job, but due to team constraints for the league, that's it for Trini.
Pyukumuku [Troto] (F)
Lv35 Lonely, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv19
IV's: 16 / 30 / 14 / 3 / 6 / 28
EV's: 104 / 11 / 7 / 14 / 6 / 11
Stats: 97 / 63 / 90 / 28 / 98 / 19
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Troto was brought in for the Innards Out ability as well as Counter, helping getting through some tough trainer fights by taking out threats with its attributes as well as making Totems and Necrozma variants "free" with its fellow Pyukumuku. Needless to say, it did its job, but due to team constraints for the league, that's it for Troto.
Pyukumuku [Luene] (M)
Lv38 Naughty, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv18
IV's: 24 / 8 / 5 / 1 / 3 / 31
EV's: 104 / 18 / 11 / 14 / 16 / 14
Stats: 108 / 60 / 106 / 29 / 95 / 21
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Luene was brought in for the Innards Out ability as well as Counter, helping getting through some tough trainer fights by taking out threats with its attributes as well as making Totems and Necrozma variants "free" with its fellow Pyukumuku. Got levelled high enough to one round Totem Kommo-o which it did very well. Needless to say, it did its job, but due to team constraints for the league, that's it for Luene.
Boldore [Pebble] (F)
Lv49 Sassy, Sturdy
Caught Vast Poni Canyon, Lv45
IV's: 20 / 1 / 10 / 7 / 8 / 15
EV's: 12 / 23 / 9 / 7 / 3 / 13
Stats: 138 / 110 / 113 / 57 / 52 / 29
-Smack Down
-Rock Slide
-Stealth Rock
-Sandstorm
Comments: Boldore was brought in for the end part of Vast Poni Canyon as well as a couple of Trial captain fights. Boldore did the job it needed to, took out the threats it needed to take out (bar Mina's Ribombee, but that was a team effort), and its Stealth Rock helped I guess? Not really needed anymore and although I could use it instead of Skarmory for the league, Spikes is more effective for the fights I absolutely need hazards for (Molayne, Olivia).
Cottonee [Fluff] (M)
Lv46 Impish, Prankster
Caught Melemele Meadow, Lv12
IV's: 7 / 30 / 8 / 2 / 27 / 30
EV's: 19 / 91 / 27 / 23 / 33 / 74
Stats: 97 / 54 / 73 / 37 / 66 / 88
-Fairy Wind
-Growth
-Leech Seed
-Stun Spore
Comments: Crippled an Arcanine to make Kiawe much more manageable. Couldn't ask for much mroe really. Don't know if I'm using it or Dugtrio for the league yet.
I think someone needs to make a hero of Its_A_Random for possibly being the first and likely only person to ever actually make use of not one but THREE Pyukumuku in a ingame run of any Pokemon game.
RESTRICTIONS
-No Held Items
-No Item Usage in Battle (including Roto-Powers, excluding Poké Balls)
-Pokémon may not have their moveset altered through any means, except for automatic level-up learns (due to empty slots) and Sketch
-Pokémon cannot evolve (though evolved forms can be captured)
-Switch = SET
-No Pokémon Refresh
UPDATE #9: POKÉMON LEAGUE + FINAL PREPARATIONS
So we are finally at the league and at this point of the run, it is time for final preparations. And the thing is, the League isn't free at the current stats and if I were to go straight in, I would get wiped. Molayne is a complete pain, Olivia is free-ish, Acerola is annoying, Kahili is annoying, and Hau is a complete pain. So to remedy this, I decide some EVing of my Solgaleo and Necrozma among other things. So after a bunch of theorising and using damage calculators, I settle on this team being the final six for the league:
Hawlu is mainly for Molayne and Olivia, using Molayne's Klefki as setup bait and being able to handle Olivia's Probopass much easier than Solgaleo.
Solgaleo is the main damage dealer for Olivia outside of Probopass and has utility for Acerola and Molayne should things go wrong.
Necrozma handles Kahili and once Hau's Alolan Raichu goes down, Necrozma can potentially run riot through Hau though there are some RNG gates such as Noivern Dark Pulses and Incineroar being a damage range before Lv70.
Alolan Dugtrio is a great backup for Molayne and easily handles Hau's Alolan Raichu once it hits Lv58 due to outspeeding.
Boldore is for Stealth Rock, which I originally dismissed but as it turns out, it really helps secure certain KOes on each fight (looking at you Kahili, Hau).
Skarmory is for Spikes which also works with Stealth Rock to secure KOes. In a run where I don't have item assistance in battle and I can't alter movesets, entry hazards will play a large role.
With that out of the way, I need to EV Solgaleo, Necrozma, and Dugtrio (Skarmory and Boldore EV's don't matter). So first I do Mantine Surf to get 10 Proteins, 10 Calciums, and 20 Carbos to throw down the mouths of Solgaleo and Necrozma, as well as eight Ethers to use in between fights. However the 100 EV's in stats for Solgaleo and Necrozma were not going to completely cut it as I calculated out. So I decide I need to get their chosen EV's to 252 (or close to 252). And this ends up showing one slight problem. See, originally I was going to do SOS EV Training to get the EV's quickly. However in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Game Freak altered the SOS mechanics so that a wild Pokémon can only get help successfully once per encounter unless I use an Adrenaline Orb. And doing that would break the rules against item assistance in battle. I get why they did it, but it's inconvenient.
So I decide to EV train the old fashioned way after assessing the ways which I can get EV's very efficiently and decide on this:
-Attack*: Route 11 at night (Average 160 EV's per 100 Encounters) [Komala, Ariados, Pancham, Trumbeak]
-Speed: Route 10 at night (Average 120 EV's per 100 Encounters) [Alolan Raticate, Fearow]
-Special Attack: Thrifty Megamart (Average 60 EV's per 100 Encounters) [Haunter]
*: After doing this I found that Haina Desert was more efficient at 200 EV's per 100 Encounters with Alolan Dugtrio and Krokorok
All three training spots took more encounters on average to fully EV (+148 for Attack and Speed, +152 for Special Attack), but we got there in the end. One side effect of the EV training however was that a lot of levels were gained (Hawlucha who did the fighting got 7 levels, Dugtrio got 5, Solgaleo got 2, etc.) and this ends up making the league fights way more doable than before on top of the gained EV's. For example, Molayne can potentially be Hawlucha swept now that it outspeeds all his Pokémon and SR + 3 Spikes can result in Metagross being one shot, but mostly comes to Reflect timing (more on that later), and Dugtrio being able to outspeed Hau's Raichu. To top off the final preparations, I buy Full Restores and Revives to use between fights and head into the league.
So who to fight first? Molayne won't be first. Though I can potentially deal with him now, a few extra levels for safety would be more desirable. Acerola won't be first either because although I shouldn't have too many issues with her, she is still a sketchy fight and a few more levels wouldn't hurt. So it comes to between Olivia and Kahili. Both are free with the EV's and increased levels, but I pick Olivia first because she doesn't need any extra safety levels unlike Kahili where a Lv67 Necrozma would be just that little bit safer to combat some of the randomness she can bring.
So Olivia is a fairly simple fight with some nuance to it. As for the strat, first is to set up Stealth Rock with Boldore, then set up as many layers of Spikes as I can with Skarmory. Then I would send in Solgaleo and run riot with Sunsteel Strike until Probopass comes in, where Hawlu would take over, maybe Solgaleo comes back later.
As for the fight itself, Boldore gets up Stealth Rock before falling and Skarmory gets two layers of Spikes up. Solgaleo comes in and one shots with Sunsteel Strike and then Olivia sends in Probopass. I switch in Hawlu and got Thunder Wave which is why I got Limber in the first place, and then dispatch it with Karate Chop. Gigalith comes in and I swap Solgaleo back in to tank a Stone Edge, before demolishing it, Lycanroc, and Cradily with Sunsteel Strikes.
With Olivia down, it was time to pick a new member. As outlined earlier, I want extra safety for Molayne and Acerola so I pick Kahili. Having some extra levels on Skarmory since Spikes is useless helps.
For Kahili it is a simple fight. Set up Stealth Rock and send in Necrozma to rip through her team with its attacks. There is some randomness with Hawlucha outspeeding though Throat Chop doesn't do much and Mandibuzz lives an attack to potentially confuse, but it shouldn't be too difficult. Stealth Rock is important here as Toucannon can be a damage range without it.
As for the fight itself, Boldore sets Stealth Rock down and takes not much from Brave Bird so I take it on with Boldore. Braviary won out in the end, but it only had little health left. So I send in Necrozma to pick it off with Power Gem. Hawlu comes in and uses Throat Chop for not much damage and gets one shot by Photon Geyser. Mandibuzz comes in and takes a Power Gem and responds with Brave Bird. At least it wasn't Flatter. Kahili uses a Full Restore but Power Gem two shots anyway and Toucannon and Oricorio get taken out by Power Gem.
With Kahili now down, it was down to Molayne and Acerola. Still wanting some extra safety for Acerola, I pick Molayne as the extra levels now make that fight a lot more doable.
The strat here is to set up Stealth Rock like usual, and try to get three layers of Spikes down (which should be easy considering it's Klefki). After that, Klefki is kinda setup bait so the objective is to get to +6 and sweep with Hawlucha. This is a fight where Limber is critical as not being paralysed by Thunder Wave helps. The main nuance here is to get Klefki down on a turn where Reflect expires. If I don't? Well the fight isn't over, but things are a little more interesting.
So onto the fight itself, and Boldore gets Stealth Rock down and then falls. Skarmory manages to get three layers of Spikes down despite one turn of full paralysis and deal damage before falling (and stalling out a Reflect). From there I send in Hawlu and start setting up. All Klefki wants to do is use Flash Cannon and try Thunder Wave once and I get to +5 Attack easily. I then Roost for safety as Klefki ran out of Flash Cannon PP and Molayne swaps in Magnezone. From there it was basically Karate Chop for days. Magnezone fell in one hit, I got the 5/8 chance to one shot Metagross with Karate Chop after hazards (If I didn't, this fight would be more interesting...), and then Bisharp, Dugtrio, and Klefki (after Full Restore) fell to one Karate Chop.
With Molayne down, it was finally time to take on Acerola.
Acerola is kinda a sketchy fight which is why I left her last as the extra levels on Solgaleo and Necrozma make this fight a lot more consistent. As is par for the course, Stealth Rock, then Spikes, then use Necrozma first followed by Solgaleo if Necrozma falls.
For the fight, Boldore gets Stealth Rock up on a Screech and takes a Shadow Claw to deal half damage to Banette. Acerola then makes the decision to switch in Palossand to take a Rock Slide before Earth Power finished off Boldore. Skarmory then came in to set up Spikes and got three layers for free due to outspeeding while Palossand used one turn to cast Iron Defence, then use Z-Shadow Ball to trigger Sturdy, then took out Skarmory. Necrozma comes in and takes out Palossand with Photon Geyser (with what I assumed was a damage range). Dhelmise came in to get one shot (Three Layers + Stealth Rock was guaranteed where anything less was a range), then Froslass came in to cast Confuse Ray. Necrozma resists the self hit to one shot with Power Gem and then Banette returned to get one shot by Photon Geyser (even after Full Restore). Drifblim comes in for the last stand and Necrozma finally hits itself as Drifblim gets Amnesia off. Necrozma finally snaps out after this and I opt to switch to Night Slash (better damaging move) as Drifblim uses Ominous Wind. And it's a critical hit. And gets the stat boosts. Necrozma still outspeeds however, and gets a lucky useful critical Night Slash that finishes off Drifblim. Still alive after Aftermath. Bullet kinda averted I guess.
With Acerola down, it was finally time to become Champion of Alola! I do my final preparations and then take on my first challenger—and the final boss of the main story—Hau.
Hau is a little bit sketchy with some RNG gates (Noivern, Incineroar Damage Ranges) but with the levels on Dugtrio, this fight has a consistent opening as it now outspeeds Raichu. Basically Stealth Rock, then Spikes, then take out Raichu with Dugtrio and then get Necrozma in to take care of the rest of the fight. If things go wrong, Solgaleo and Hawlucha are there to back up.
Boldore leads against Raichu and does its job of setting up Stealth Rock and falling before Skarmory comes in. Skarmory takes a Thunderbolt to set up Spikes**, before Raichu finishes it off as well. I send in Dugtrio to deal with the Raichu, outspeeding and one shotting it with Dig. Incineroar comes in and worrying about Earthquake making Dig a waste, I opt to use Earth Power which does quite decent damage, enough to put it in Full Restore range after hazards. Incineroar goes for Z-Flare Blitz. Easy one shot on Dugtrio, but it means Necrozma could get in safely. From there Hau uses a Full Restore, but Power Gem two shots. Noivern comes in next and uses Dragon Pulse (not Dark Pulse or Air Slash like I was expecting) so Power Gem takes it out. Tauros is next and uses Double-Edge for decent damage (nothing Necrozma cannot take) and takes it out with a Photon Geyser. Crabominable and Leafeon also try but both get one shot by Photon Geyser. And that is GG.
**: It is worth noting that I did reset this fight twice (safety saving before the fight) as Raichu managed to paralyse with Thunderbolt and Skarmory got fully paralysed. Twice in a row for a 1/1600 chance. At first I thought this would throw everything out of the window but after doing calcs, the denial of Spikes didn't really matter in the end because I got the Incineroar second scenario which meant that after Dugtrio's Earth Power, sack the Power Gem damage range would turn into a certain KO and everything else fell in one shot. Interesting footnote regardless.
And that is it for the main story. I have now beaten Ultra Sun with the mentioned restrictions. Now to wonder if I go for Post-Game...
Final Death Count (Main Story): 4 (Nanu, Dulse 3, Lusamine [Intentional], Veteran Eric) Final IGT (Main Story): 25:52
FINAL TEAM
Solgaleo [Nebby] (-)
Lv65 Docile, Full Metal Body
Caught Mahalo Trail, Lv60
IV's: 31 / 31 / 31 / 17 / 3 / 30
EV's [510]: 2 / 248 / 2 / 9 / 1 / 248
Stats: 273 / 243 / 164 / 164 / 122 / 190
-Sunsteel Strike
-Cosmic Power
-Crunch
-Zen Headbutt
Comments: Solgaleo was brought into the party as a beatstick for Mount Lanakila and the Pokémon League. While its role was kinda overshadowed by Necrozma, it still had an important role to fill which made Olivia consistent.
Necrozma [Purple Haze] (-)
Lv69 Bold, Prism Armour
Caught Mount Lanakila, Lv65
IV's: 31 / 6 / 29 / 31 / 27 / 31
EV's [510]: 2 / 5 / 2 / 252 / 1 / 248
Stats: 234 / 141 / 180 / 245 / 146 / 178
-Photon Geyser
-Iron Defence
-Power Gem
-Night Slash
Comments: Necrozma like Solgaleo was brought in as a beatstick for the Pokémon League and was kinda the star of the show, dealing with Kahili, Acerola, and most of Hau's team. Can definitely see why this thing is capable of steamrolling the endgame of Ultra Sun/Moon, even in its hindered state and without item help. Definitely helped make the game beatable.
Hawlucha [Hawlu] (M)
Lv66 Lonely, Unburden Limber
Caught Route 3, Lv12
IV's: 22 / 29 / 30 / 31 / 31 / 17
EV's [510]: 29 / 178 / 43 / 56 / 53 / 151
Stats: 198 / 191 / 117 / 132 / 117 / 196
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
-Roost
Comments: Oh yes Hawlu. Hawlu was the main star of the team, being the go to set-up sweeper for the entire run. Having Hone Claws AND Roost alongside dual STAB's (albeit fairly weak) was such a big deal and you can see why I ultimately dropped the traded Hawlucha for this one. Did its job in most fights, and in some it didn't. Definitely needed support to get the sweeps but that's why teammates exist, to make the fights possible in a relatively efficient manner. Did its job for the Pokémon League at least and it definitely is one of the big reasons why this run is possible to beat in a somewhat efficient manner.
Dugtrio ['Sup'Sup'Sup] (M)
Lv59 Jolly, Tangling Hair
Caught Vast Poni Canyon, Lv45
IV's: 7 / 23 / 22 / 9 / 1 / 20
EV's [510]: 8 / 252 / 17 / 22 / 7 / 204
Stats: 115 / 173 / 91 / 64 / 88 / 193
-Mud Bomb
-Earth Power
-Dig
-Iron Head
Comments: Dugtrio was originally brought in for certain fights in Trial Captains and while it was underwhelming, it got a spot in the Elite Four team as a backup for Molayne (which was ultimately not needed) and for final Hau to deal with Alolan Raichu. Definitely had some potential to do more, but I'm okay with it despite being limited in what it actually did.
Boldore [Pebble] (F)
Lv55 Sassy, Sturdy
Caught Vast Poni Canyon, Lv45
IV's: 20 / 1 / 10 / 7 / 8 / 15
EV's [510]: 12 / 171 / 9 / 156 / 3 / 161
Stats: 154 / 144 / 127 / 84 / 58 / 51
-Smack Down
-Rock Slide
-Stealth Rock
-Sandstorm
Comments: Boldore was brought in for the end part of Vast Poni Canyon as well as a couple of Trial captain fights. Boldore did the job it needed to, took out the threats it needed to take out (bar Mina's Ribombee, but that was a team effort). It then contributed to the league by setting up Stealth Rock; a hazard that was very important to securing KOes and making strats much more consistent in tandem with Skarmory's Spikes.
Skarmory [Bladebird] (M)
Lv52 Gentle, Sturdy
Caught Route 17, Lv36
IV's: 19 / 1 / 8 / 6 / 13 / 23
EV's [510]: 10 / 204 / 12 / 103 / 13 / 168
Stats: 140 / 115 / 140 / 63 / 93 / 111
-Swift
-Spikes
-Agility
-Steel Wing
Comments: Skarmory was brought in for one main job: To set up Spikes. This was to offset Sturdy and in some fights, to make fights more consistent. Skarmory definitely did its job in that regard and even helped out against Mina when her Ribombee ran amok. Definitely a great support Pokémon for this run.
Pikipek [Woody] (M)
Lv15 Jolly, Keen Eye
Caught Route 1, Lv3
IV's: 7 / 1-3 / 29 / 22-23 / 17 / 23
EV's: 6 / 16 / 3 / 4 / 3 / 13
Stats: 36 / 28 / 18 / 15 / 16 / 30
-Peck
-Growl
-Echoed Voice
-Rock Smash
Comments: Pikipek was put into the party to help deal with the earlygame, making problem fights for Popplio such as Teacher Emily and Trial Captain Ilima easier. Unfortunately Pikipek had bad Attack which meant that it couldn't really do its job properly, but did its job in some places at least. Its final act was basically to help get a Lv12 Hawlucha easier (being Lv12 at the time).
Popplio [FateIsSealed] (F)
Lv22 Serious, Torrent
Caught Route 1, Lv5
IV's: 20 / 25 / 16 / 27 / 21 / 30
EV's: 10 / 25 / 8 / 6 / 14 / 24
Stats: 58 / 35 / 32 / 40 / 34 / 30
-Pound
-Water Gun
-Growl
-Disarming Voice
Comments: Popplio was chosen as a starter for its good earlygame and to influence matchups (particularly in Hawlucha's favour). Being a really good Popplio stat wise, it did its job for the earlygame really well and was kept in the party for Totem Alolan Marowak. Sadly Akala Island didn't go too well for Popplio with Espeon confusion-trolling it to death and taking the hits pre-Totem Alolan Marowak so that it didn't make it to the fight, but nevertheless it had done a good job for what I had in mind for it, before making way for other Pokémon.
Arbok [Arbo] (F)
Lv26 Impish, Intimidate
Traded Route 8, Lv22
IV's: 7 / 13 / 31 / 26-27 / 30-31 / 7-8
EV's: 0 / 9 / 2 / 0 / 12 / 6
Stats: 69 / 58 / 52 / 40 / 54 / 48
-Bite
-Glare
-Screech
-Acid
Comments: Arbok came in for one fight. That fight was Totem Lurantis. It successfully paralysed it and reduced its Defence to -2. For that one job, it did good.
Hawlucha [Cha] (M)
Lv31 Brave, Unburden
Traded in Route 2, Lv8
IV's: 23 / 31 / 19 / 13 / 3 / 11
EV's: 8 / 36 / 16 / 9 / 27 / 26
Stats: 97 / 81 / 58 / 55 / 46 / 74
-Tackle
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
Comments: Cha was the original Hawlucha who would eventually play backup to a Roost Hawlucha that would be caught. It aced trial 1, and when it was needed, it would usually do what was needed, whether it be roughing up, or salvaging. It failed for Hau 4/5 and Dexio however, but as the backup, it did its job for the most part. Now it is making the way for other Pokémon and if needed again, will be too weak to make much impact.
Mudbray [Tony Calzoni] (F)
Lv28 Relaxed, Stamina
Caught Route 4, Lv14
IV's: 27 / 14 / 23 / 9 / 20 / 30
EV's: 7 / 26 / 13 / 7 / 18 / 30
Stats: 85 / 66 / 56 / 33 / 41 / 36
-Mud-Slap
-Mud Sport
-Rototiller
-Bulldoze
Comments: The Pokémon that was captured for Totem Alolan Marowak that ended up not only trolling it into submission, but did a lot of other things such as acing Nihilego, acing the Electric Trial, and salvaging a Hau fight. Mudbray will be missed, but it definitely punched above its weight in terms of what I had planned for it. Making way for other Pokémon now.
Absol [Knife Face] (M)
Lv48 Adamant, Super Luck
Caught Mount Lanakila, Lv33
IV's: 6 / 29 / 12 / 20 / 2 / 10
EV's: 2 / 147 / 19 / 33 / 28 / 135
Stats: 124 / 177 / 70 / 80 / 65 / 97
-Slash
-Swords Dance
-Night Slash
-Detect
Comments: Absol was brought onto the team to help out with Totem Mimikyu's add and mainly Aether Paradise. It did its jobs there for the most part as well as putting in some work against otherwise unfavourable matchups like Guzma 3 picking off weakened bugs. Despite the impressive Attack, the poor bulk and middling speed is now wanting and is starting to fall out of favour as things hit harder and outspeed it. Last major act was helping out in Vast Poni Canyon. Will it make another appearance? We'll see. But for now, I don't have much else in the way of plans since its flaws are really getting in the way now.
Pyukumuku [Trini] (F)
Lv34 Naive, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv17
IV's: 15 / 0 / 27 / 9 / 31 / 3
EV's: 110 / 11 / 9 / 12 / 0 / 15
Stats: 95 / 46 / 103 / 29 / 92 / 11
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Trini was brought in for the Innards Out ability as well as Counter, helping getting through some tough trainer fights by taking out threats with its attributes as well as making Totems and Necrozma variants "free" with its fellow Pyukumuku. Needless to say, it did its job, but due to team constraints for the league, that's it for Trini.
Pyukumuku [Troto] (F)
Lv35 Lonely, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv19
IV's: 16 / 30 / 14 / 3 / 6 / 28
EV's: 104 / 11 / 7 / 14 / 6 / 11
Stats: 97 / 63 / 90 / 28 / 98 / 19
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Troto was brought in for the Innards Out ability as well as Counter, helping getting through some tough trainer fights by taking out threats with its attributes as well as making Totems and Necrozma variants "free" with its fellow Pyukumuku. Needless to say, it did its job, but due to team constraints for the league, that's it for Troto.
Pyukumuku [Luene] (M)
Lv38 Naughty, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv18
IV's: 24 / 8 / 5 / 1 / 3 / 31
EV's: 104 / 18 / 11 / 14 / 16 / 14
Stats: 108 / 60 / 106 / 29 / 95 / 21
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Luene was brought in for the Innards Out ability as well as Counter, helping getting through some tough trainer fights by taking out threats with its attributes as well as making Totems and Necrozma variants "free" with its fellow Pyukumuku. Got levelled high enough to one round Totem Kommo-o which it did very well. Needless to say, it did its job, but due to team constraints for the league, that's it for Luene.
Furfrou [URS Dog] (M)
Lv47 Adamant, Fur Coat
Caught Hau'oli City, Lv8
IV's: 2 / 22 / 26 / 11 / 22 / 0
EV's [489]: 99 / 97 / 115 / 53 / 56 / 69
Stats: 139 / 111 / 86 / 69 / 106 / 109
-Tackle
-Growl
-Sand Attack
-Baby-Doll Eyes
Comments: Furfrou was brought in very early as a debuffer. Access to Baby-Doll Eyes and Sand Attack as well as good physical bulk was a very desirable quality and Furfrou definitely did its job, saving several fights and allowing Hawlu to do its job in sweeping things. Ultimately dropped for the league after lots of furious calculations and strat revisions made Furfrou redundant, but nevertheless did its job.
Cottonee [Fluff] (M)
Lv46 Impish, Prankster
Caught Melemele Meadow, Lv12
IV's: 7 / 30 / 8 / 2 / 27 / 30
EV's: 19 / 91 / 27 / 23 / 33 / 74
Stats: 97 / 54 / 73 / 37 / 66 / 88
-Fairy Wind
-Growth
-Leech Seed
-Stun Spore
Comments: Cottonee was brought in for its ability to deliver priority paralysis and priority Leech Seed. This helped a lot during the earlygame and midgame but by the lategame it became increasingly a benchwarmer as other strats made it redundant, with its last major note being crippling Kiawe's Arcanine. Definitely justified its use and is one core reason why Ultra Sun is easier than Ultra Moon for this challenge.
Final Thoughts
So I originally wanted to showcase this challenge run with the restrictions it has as a way of showing off some of what I thought were some interesting strats (and routing decisions) as well as giving me an incentive to finish a challenge run as I have sometimes started a challenge run and then just not finish it for whatever reason. I also managed to do this without using wormhole Pokémon which is a nice bonus (and looking at variants for Ultra like Ultra Moon with no duplicates, you won't need wormhole Pokémon either). I'm proud to at least finish this run and if people want me to do postgame to see what things I can come up with (as well as giving me a reason to do the postgame arc of this game), I'm fairly game.
As for the run itself, I felt that the routing was fairly solid and creative (Catching Pyukumuku and their level routing as an example, a Pokémon that most people won't bother with casually due to no direct attacking moves but can be really efficient when used well) though near the end I had to do a lot of improvising and I feel it the routing there (especially E4 prep) could be more efficient. I also relied a little too much on EV's and IV's but they helped make this run a little more efficient I guess. It is crazy how much a route can change when you plan a run like this out completely on theory and damage calcs, then you get into the run itself and get into the nitty gritty and have to make adjustments or improvise solutions based on the hand you are dealt. My execution to be honest wasn't the best. Several instances of sloppy play and some premature resets on scenarios that would have ended with a win anyway, but overall I'm fairly happy with it despite the avoidable deaths all arising from those misplays. Definitely some lessons learned there.
For the curious, I did once try this once on White 2 Challenge Mode a few years ago with similar restrictions but made leeway for HM Slaves on the provision that I never used them for battle and I stopped at Victory Road because of IRL commitments at the time being pretty heavy. That was an interesting run despite not doing any routing beforehand with a lot of party swapping as opposed to this run and some crazy difficulty spikes (I have memories of getting a party of six into early 30's level-wise just to clear Elesa though I didn't use any duplicates). I might go back and finish that run one day if I have the motivation (I still have the save) just for closure. Just a nice contrast to this run where it's routed and I managed to limit myself to 17 Pokémon with some seeing a lot of use throughout the run and others being one fight wonders like Arbok.
If any of you want to one up me on this (I don't mind), I recommend Ultra Moon with a no duplicate Pokémon rule. Did do some looking into that and it's definitely doable, even Ultra Necrozma despite not being able to rely on Toxic stalling, Cottonee, or Pyukumuku sacking.
What's next? If people want me to do postgame for this (I do want to know if some are interested in it), then I'll do it. After that, I might do some other challenge run in the future, but not for a few months at least.
There's probably more thoughts I want to talk about but I don't have those in my head at the moment. Thanks for reading this run and I hope I did my best to entertain and inform you throughout this run.
Congrats on finishing this run in the main game! Also, I say you should do the postgame, especially as you haven't done it before. Would be kind of interesting to see you do it pseudo-blind.
Well here's the first postgame update. Two weeks since the main story was beaten and I spent most of the time taking a little break before routing and then doing the thing. Pretty meaty update, still more to do however.
RESTRICTIONS
-No Held Items
-No Item Usage in Battle (including Roto-Powers, excluding Poké Balls)
-Pokémon may not have their moveset altered through any means, except for automatic level-up learns (due to empty slots) and Sketch
-Pokémon cannot evolve (though evolved forms can be captured)
-Switch = SET
-No Pokémon Refresh
UPDATE #10: POSTGAME PART I
So for postgame, what I am going to do is most of the major and minor arcs that involve Trainer/Totem fights. What this means is that I'll do the following:
-Beat Episode Rainbow Rocket ~ The major postgame arc
-Get to Battle Tree and fight either Red or Blue (Probably not going to beat a normal tree chain though despite everything being allowed...)
-Get the Trial Guide Outfit (Ilima, Totem Gumshoos)
-Zygarde Cube (involving Dexio fights)
-Mount Lanakila Veteran (Involves beating all Route Kahunas)
-I guess when it's all done, defend the league at least once to show that you can do Round 2 of the Pokémon League in this challenge?
-There's probably some other minor fights you can do but I don't think they lead to anything significant, correct me if I am wrong.
For all this, I'm going to beat it without using any wormhole Pokémon. Wormhole Pokémon can be very efficient and some are very usable but getting them is rather inconsistent and can take too long to get. No wormhole Pokémon also means a little more challenge because of reduced options.
Anyway onto the postgame itself and first things first was to get the free Type: Null as required for the Episode Rainbow Rocket arc. It's not useful for the run so in the box it goes. Then comes the Blacephalon invasion in Poni Grove. Dealing with the two is required for Rocket arc so I catch the two because it's not like I am going to be using Beast Balls after this. I reset the first one in particular and settle for this:
Timid 31 / 25 / 31 / 31 / 16 / 15
Not too bad. Named IT Dept. by Merritt, Blacephalon is going to have some use in the postgame as a special sweeper thanks to its quite excellent moveset. Boxed for now. The other Blacephalon is also boxed and isn't going to be used. One thing worth noting was that Blacephalon's move usage was manipulatable so getting it to use Mind Blown turn one by using Hawlu as a lead was very consistent which helped the catch rate a fair bit.
Anyway after catching the Blacephalon it was time to kick off the Rainbow Rocket arc with the mandatory Battle Agency visit in Festival Plaza. There were some solid options here. There was a Sitrus Berry Toucannon set, a Focus Sash Weavile set, but I picked neither. Instead I went for the third option: A Liechi Berry Feraligatr set with Substitute and Dragon Dance. Really good set considering what the Rainbow Rocket Grunt uses. So the agency fight starts and the default allies supplied a Mudsdale set and a support Sableye set. But I didn't need either because SubDD Liechi Feraligatr easily sets up on Raticate and one shots everything the rocket has. Two substitutes, three Dragon Dances, and two fortunate Super Fang misses helped but that's beside the point. With that down, Rainbow Rocket takes over Aether Paradise with the help of some wormholes or something like that. But we'll deal with them later.
First thing we are going to do this postgame is the Zygarde Arc. This simply involves heading to Resolution Cave, catching Zygarde, and then meeting Sina and Dexio on Route 16 to be able to make a Power Construct Zygarde. I want to do this first in particular to catch two other Pokémon I want to use in this postgame. Zygarde itself as a really bulky Ground-type beatstick that is for the most part, a sort of upgrade over the A-Dugtrio I had been using. The other is a Noivern as a Tailwind setter, which should come in handy for a couple of fights, as well as some utility such as Air Slash and Super Fang. But first, I have to get there. And firstly, there was a fight with Ace Trainer Jackson who I ran into. Stealth Rock, then a Necrozma sweep took care of that. Then I put Hawlu in the lead for easy escapes after failing to run from a Fearow a few times with Boldore. Just as I was about to enter Poni Meadow en route to Resolution Cave however, Dexio catches me off guard and challenges me. Yay blind trainer fights...
At least Hawlu was faster than Dexio's Espeon so it got off a Wing Attack before being one shotted, while Skarmroy got two layers of Spikes down before being taken out. I send in Dugtrio to finish off Espeon with Iron Head and get a Dig on Slowking before being taken out, and Boldore being at one health means it did nothing. I send in Solgaleo at this point and basically Crunch my way to victory, with his A-Raichu doing nothing after losing the speed tie, Metagross got two shot but got a Brick Break off, and Mega Alakazam did decent damage with Focus Blast before being one shot.
At this point I gain the ability to Mega Evolve but it's not important at all for obvious reasons. Straight into Resolutuion Cave at this point where I go straight to the bottom to Master Ball the Zygarde. Got named King Squama by Giratina93, I managed to get this first try:
Lonely 21-22 / 31 / 31 / 20-21 / 5-6 / 31
Not the best spread, but it's good enough. Soon after I get the Noivern encounter I am looking for and catch that fot the reasons I mentioned earlier in the update. Named REEEEEEEEEEE by Blitzamirin. Don't really approve of the name but it's whatever. ANYWAY Noivern went into the box alongside Zygarde and it was time to wrap up the Zygarde sidequest with Dexio 3 in Route 16. To prepare for this fight, I put Cottonee into the team over Hawlu for Stun Spore because the increased levels of Dexio's team (Lv60 -> Lv63) means that what I used to outspeed in the last fight now outspeed me and Stun Spore on Espeon is a pretty critical part of my strat for it to work.
Strat here is to paralyse Espeon to make it slower (instant reset if I don't get it because of how hard it hits Solgaleo/Necrozma with Shadow Ball which can be very bad) and set up hazards before using Solgaleo to cleave through his team save Alolan Raichu where I use Dugtrio for safety.
Onto the fight and Stun Spore Espeon was a second try with one reset with Cottonee dying in one hit. I then got Stealth Rock and two layers of Spikes up before getting Solgaleo to finish off the Espeon. Zygarde-10% falls to a Sunsteel Strike, Slowking falls to a Crunch, and Alakazam misses a Focus Blast before falling to Crunch. A-Raichu outspeeds Solgaleo so I switched in Dugtrio on a Reflect and left it with a silver of health left with Dig while Raichu two shot with Psychic. I send Solgaleo back in to finish off Raichu and Reflect with Crunch and then two shot Metagross with Crunch (taking a Brick Break).
After that, I got a free Zygarde-10% with no chance to save between the fight and getting it. Zygarde-10% has a better moveset at least with Earthquake and whatnot so-
Modest 29-30 / 31 / 31 / 12 / 31 / 24-25
Goddamnit. And I'm not going to reset because that means doing Dexio 3 again. It also means I need to disassemble it and absorb it into the Zygarde I caught in Resolution Cave because Lonely Land's Wrath hits harder than Modest Earthquake and the Crunch coverage isn't that useful. And disassembling both is even worse because it drops to Lv50 and has a worse moveset of Land's Wrath / Bind / Haze / Sandstorm.
So it's time to prepare for the first of two EV grinds (the other part happens later). First I swap Cottonee/Boldore/Skarmory out and put Hawlu (Best lead for EV grinding due to high PP) and the two Zygarde's in. Then I disassemble the Modest Zygarde-10% I got from Dexio and pour all the cells into the Zygarde-50% I got in Resolution Cave to give it Power Construct. Next up was some more Mantine Surfing for 10 Proteins, 20 Calciums, and 30 Carbos for the three new catches. Then I put 10 Proteins and 10 Carbos into Zygarde and do the Attack training in Haina Desert for a guaranteed 2 EV's per fight for a total of 152 EV's. After that, I pull Dugtrio out of the party and pull in Blacephalon and Noivern, putting 10 Calcium and 10 Carbos into both. From there, it was a matter of getting 152 Speed EV's from Route 10 at Night and 152 Special Attack EV's from Thrifty Megamart.
With that done, it was time for me to do the second postgame quest chain that I decide to do: The Trial Guide outfit chain. This arc involves talking to Ilima in his room and initiating a fight with him. After you win, re-enter his room and talk to him and he'll ask you to return his Normalium Z to its pedestal in Verdant Cavern. Doing this triggers a refight against Totem Gumshoos (Totem Alolan Raticate in Ultra Moon) where the Totem is significantly stronger than before. Beating it gives you the Trial Guide outfit.
Well let's get straight into the Ilima re-fight shall we?
Ilima uses the same Gumshoos/Smeargle/Komala lineup as before with the same EV spreads and everyone is at Lv60. For this fight, instead of going for setup shenanigans I opt to do Zygarde strats. Zygarde pretty much steamrolls this fight and if its health drops low enough, Power Construct has its back. So the order of the day here is endless Land's Wrath spam. It's a clean two shot on Gumshoos who missed Hyper Fang, a clean one shot on Smeargle, and Komala survives a hit which baits a Full Restore (Komala can also use Sucker Punch if it wants). Not a hard fight with the gear I have.
With that, it was time to prepare for Totem Gumshoos. The postgame fight is actually quite difficult to win without cheese with this ruleset. It's Level 60, holds a Chople Berry, gets Hyper Fang / Ice Fang / Protect / Crunch backed up by Strong Jaw and gets a +2 boost to all of its stats. This is quite significant as it punches a significant hole in anything I can use against it, even if it has absolute minimum Attack. The Lv58 Yungoos helper is easy to deal with though it has a trolly moveset of Hyper Fang / Mud-Slap / Torment / Super Fang. The best Pokémon to use for Totem Gumshoos without resorting to cheese are Cobalion and Terrakion since they can just fire off Sacred Swords without too many issues since they resist all or most of Gumshoos' attacks and one shot the helper, but that requires wormholes and I am not doing wormholes so I decide to solve the problem by throwing some sea cucumbers at it. I go with the other three I did simply for the experience.
There's definitely some luck involved with the triple Innards Out strategy since you need Hyper Fang to hit three times which is a 72.9% chance (and one shot but that's guaranteed at those levels) to get the KO. Fortunately the three Hyper Fangs hit and Totem Gumshoos goes down. If either missed and an Innards Out got weakened enough for Totem Gumshoos to survive due to a Yungoos, Blacephalon would have probably picked up the slack. Anyway, with Totem Gumshoos down, I go to Zygarde who one shots the Yungoos with a Land's Wrath (it crit but I don't think it mattered).
With that done, it was time for what should be the last major EV grind of the run, a HP EV grind. The basic premise of this grind is to boost the HP of the Pyukumuku so as to not only mean they can be at a lower level and live hits, but they can also have decent level ranges for where they counter an attack and it will one shot. This is fairly important for some of the postgame fights as "one for one" Counter strats are going to help me deal with specific threats. Furthermore, having three Pyukumuku allows for extra flexibility as it means I can have one at a lower level and one or two at higher levels, especially in the cases of multiple threats needing to be countered.
For this grind, I pick Poni Breaker Coast, specifically for the trigger encounters on the water with Wailmer dropping 1 HP at a 70% rate and Wailord dropping 2 HP at a 10% rate. There is also a bonus of random encounters with Gastrodon and Lapras both dropping 2 HP at 20% and 5% respectively, but relying on the triggers is quicker. I was concerned that I was going to get to a point where I couldn't EV train further due to overleveling, but I got the 152 HP EV's I needed to get in without too many issues with overleveling. Like always Hawlu took the lead (replacing Noivern) for efficiency, though Wailord occasionally lives hits. Hawlu also needs some experience as it needs to hit Lv77 to outspeed certain threats. I also got two Special Defence EV's because of a trainer fight but that's whatever.
With the HP grind done, it was time to do the Route Kahuna sidequest. Basically there is a Veteran on the Mount Lanakila summit who will not fight you unless you beat the eight "Route Kahunas", special trainers that you can only fight when you beat everyone else on their route. These are situated in Route 3, Route 5, Route 8, Mount Hokulani, Route 12, Ula'ula Meadow, Poni Wilds, and Poni Plains (which is a postgame area, hence this being a postgame sidequest).
First up was Ace Trainer Makana (Slowpoke, Butterfree) on Route 3, who goes down very easily because we are massively overleveled. Trial Guide Bronson (Slowpoke, Mr. Mime) on Route 5, Ace Trainer Eileen (Fletchinder, Fearow) on Route 8, Veteran Akira (A-Persian, Absol) on Mount Hokulani all went down in similar fashion. At this point Troto hit Lv49 which is what I want, so I replace it in the party with Furfrou (who needs Experience) and then continue on. Collector Andrew (Larvesta, Pinsir) on Route 12 and Golfer Dean (Hariyama, Alakazam) in Ula'ula Meadow both went down in similar fashion to the earlier route kahunas, and then it was off to the Poni Island route kahunas, which were not the pushovers the first six were.
First was Dancer Julia (Four Oricorio) and to prepare for this fight, I put Boldore in over Blacephalon because she relies on Focus Sash and Stealth Rock puts paid to that. The trainers weren't that bad though the Ace Trainer with the Granbull managed to take out Hawlu (Zygarde steadied the ship for that fight). Dancer Julia proved to be troublesome with trying to deny Stealth Rock with confusion spam, but Boldore eventually got Stealth Rock up and reduced her first Oricorio to 1 HP. From there, I switched to Hawlu and spammed Wing Attack until the fight was done, only taking an Air Slash from the Pom-Pom variant.
Finally the last Route Kahuna was on Poni Plains and Blacephalon returns to the team (over Boldore) as it's actually going to be useful for the trainers here... Well for the Veteran it took down Skarmory and died to Araquanid... Hawlu and Zygarde finished that fight, but Blacephalon took on the Hiker and Ace Trainer and Hawlu took on the Police Officer's Stoutland (and Zygarde, thanks Roar). Finally it was time for Ace Trainer Cole (Druddigon, Dragalge, Kommo-o). For this I lead with Trini to deal with Druddigon. It survived two attacks and got two Counters to deal with Druddigon, but Rough Skin recoil meant it was a true one for one. I then send in Zygarde predicting Dragalge (which I got right) and I just clicked on Land's Wrath until his Pokémon were down. Dragalge was one shot and Kommo-o was two shot (it used Dragon Dance and was still outsped at +1).
With this, it was time to take on Veteran Aristo, the Route Kahuna of Route Kahunas. He has a Carbink that can set up screens (boosted by Light Clay) and Stealth Rock. He also has four different weather setters (one for each weather) with their respective length-increasing rock: Torkoal, Pelipper, Alolan Ninetales, and Gigalith. All ran offensive sets, and everyone is at Level 65, natured, EV'd, and 30 IV's across the board. To prepare for this, I add Solgaleo and Necrozma over the two Pyukumuku and lead with Solgaleo since it's the best Pokémon to deal with his Carbink and Sunsteel Strike negates Sturdy.
Solgaleo leads and Sunsteel Strike means that Carbink does absolutely nothing. He switches in Torkoal and to preserve Solgaleo, I switch in Zygarde. Torkoal used Fire Blast and it burned. Not the best luck but I roll with it and Zygarde survives Torkoal's assault (helped by Power Construct) to three shot with Land's Wrath. Alolan Ninetales comes in next and I just let it take out Zygarde with a Blizzard to bring Solgaleo back in safely. Ninetales tries a Dazzling Gleam which deals not much while Solgaleo one shots with Sunsteel Strike. Gigalith comes in and takes a Sunsteel Strike with not much left and uses Stone Edge for not much. After that two shot, Pelipper was easy to deal with: Just two Zen Headbutts and it is down. Also got a flinch which was nice. For that, I get a Life Orb and that is another sidequest down.
With that done, next up was to get Trini, Luene, and Hawlu to their needed levels for future fights, so a few trainer fights fixed that up, as well as Furfrou's level getting high enough that it can tank what it needs to tank (though some more levels later won't hurt). So I decide to now take on the sidequest to reach the Battle Tree. The main aim of this is to reach the Battle Tree and fight either Red or Blue. You can also do some Battle Tree chains if you want to, but that's not really my cup of tea based on my limited experience with the tree in vanilla Sun/Moon. Also gives you access to a bunch of things you can spend points accrued from Mantine Surf on but most of it is banned in this challenge and the things that aren't you can buy elsewhere anyway.
Leaving to Poni Coast from Poni Plains gives you a Red Card from Looker and Anabel and the Coast has nothing special. Poni Gauntlet itself has two mandatory fights on the way to the tree but I also fight two optionals since I plan to change parties between the second mandatory fight and entering the tree and hitting those optionals (Scientist, Sightseer) is annoying. The optionals and mandatory Black Belt go down fairly easily. For the Veterans Double Fight (Houndoom + Magmortar + Volcarona, Comfey + Whimsicott + Lilligant), I lead with Zygarde and Noivern. These two combined basically rip through the fight. All Zygarde needs to do is use Land's Wrath and Noivern using Air Slash after Tailwind (to mitigate potential Sunny Day speed boosts) and the Veterans go down without too many issues. The Fire-type Veteran couldn't even get an attack off, while the other Veteran got Light Screen up so it, Whimsicott, and Lilligant did things, but nothing involving dealing significant damage.
From there, I fly back and assemble my team for the Red/Blue fight, putting Troto and Luene in over Hawlu and Noivern. From there, I head into the tree and opt to fight Blue. The reason I choose to fight Blue is that despite his well-balanced team, he is generally an easier fight to deal with and has several physical attacks ripe enough for Pyukumuku Counter strats to work. Some complications however, which I'll cover. I pick Solgaleo for the lead position since it can take on Alakazam in a one on one fight and have health to spare later.
I start with some Crunch spam to deal with Alakazam which takes two shots to down because of Reflect. Shadow Ball dealt a lot of damage but Solgaleo could take it. Arcanine is next and wanting to preserve Solgaleo in case it is needed, I send in Troto... to die to Flare Blitz and Extreme Speed. More damage than I hoped but whatever, it reduced the Reflect timer. I send in Zygarde to pick off Arcanine with Land's Wrath (damage range), taking a Flare Blitz and seeing Reflect off. He then sends in Gyarados and I send in Luene to take the Ice Fang. This is where it gets a little hairy, as Gyarados can Dragon Dance. What this means is that either I use Counter and risk him setting up for free, or I go for Taunt and risk getting two shot by Crunch with no Counter magic (Best case scenario is DD > Taunt > Crunch > Counter which leaves Gyarados on the brink). So I opt for Taunt (as it's the safer option) and get double Crunch for 67 damage from Innards Out. Oh well. I send in Necrozma who takes a Crunch to two shot with Power Gem. Aerodactyl is next and leaves Necrozma with 1 HP after two Crunches with Necrozma two shotting with Power Gem. Machamp did nothing as Photon Geyser one shot, and a combination of Photon Geyser and Blacephalon's Shadow Ball finished off Exeggutor.
With that, it leaves two significant things to check off:
-Beat Episode Rainbow Rocket ~ The major postgame arc
-I guess when it's all done, defend the league at least once to show that you can do Round 2 of the Pokémon League in this challenge?
I'll do Rainbow Rocket in the next update at least. IDK what other significant sidequests there are that involves fighting and winning outside of Trial Captain re-fights though (and IIRC those don't lead to anything significant outside of Ilima).
Current Death Count: 4 (Nanu, Dulse 3, Lusamine [Intentional], Veteran Eric) Current IGT: 36:58
CURRENT TEAM
Solgaleo [Nebby] (-)
Lv71 Docile, Full Metal Body
Caught Mahalo Trail, Lv60
IV's: 31 / 31 / 31 / 17 / 3 / 30
EV's [510]: 2 / 248 / 2 / 9 / 1 / 248
Stats: 297 / 265 / 178 / 178 / 133 / 208
-Sunsteel Strike
-Cosmic Power
-Crunch
-Zen Headbutt
Comments: Doing decently in the postgame. Amazing what having great bulk and speed does alongside good strength.
Hawlucha [Hawlu] (M)
Lv77 Lonely, Unburden Limber
Caught Route 3, Lv12
IV's: 22 / 29 / 30 / 31 / 31 / 17
EV's [510]: 29 / 178 / 43 / 56 / 53 / 151
Stats: 229 / 222 / 135 / 153 / 135 / 228
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
-Roost
Comments: Did most of the fighting this update due to the grinding that I opted to do, not too much in the way of significant fights however.
Blacephalon [IT Dept.] (-)
Lv67 Timid, Beast Boost
Caught Poni Grove, Lv60
IV's: 31 / 25 / 31 / 31 / 16 / 15
EV's [510]: 0 / 6 / 0 / 252 / 0 / 252
Stats: 168 / 172 / 96 / 270 / 121 / 220
-Fire Blast
-Trick
-Shadow Ball
-Mind Blown
Comments: Mostly spent time either dealing with field trainers or cleaning up. Not super impressive to be honest.
Zygarde [King Squama] (-)
Lv69 Lonely, Aura Break Power Construct
Caught Resolution Cave, Lv60
IV's: 22 / 31 / 31 / 20 / 5 / 31
EV's [510]: 0 / 252 / 0 / 6 / 0 / 252
Stats: 243 / 227 / 173 / 131 / 139 / 200
-Land's Wrath
-Glare
-Safeguard
-Dragon Breath
Comments: Did most of the legwork for significant fights alongside Solgaleo. Annoying that I had to go with the Land's Wrath set because I rolled Modest on the Zygarde with the better set, but you have got to roll with the punches sometimes. Also Power Construct really helps.
Noivern [REEEEEEEEEEE] (M)
Lv61 Quirky, Infiltrator
Caught Resolution Cave, Lv56
IV's: 30 / 25 / 2 / 29 / 8 / 4
EV's [510]: 0 / 6 / 0 / 252 / 0 / 252
Stats: 193 / 106 / 103 / 179 / 107 / 195
-Tailwind
-Whirlwind
-Super Fang
-Air Slash
Comments: Niche Tailwind setter of choice chosen for speed and choice of other moves over the probably better Pelipper but I digress. Did its job for the Veteran Doubles fight but kinda questioning whether or not it is redundant.
Pikipek [Woody] (M)
Lv15 Jolly, Keen Eye
Caught Route 1, Lv3
IV's: 7 / 1-3 / 29 / 22-23 / 17 / 23
EV's: 6 / 16 / 3 / 4 / 3 / 13
Stats: 36 / 28 / 18 / 15 / 16 / 30
-Peck
-Growl
-Echoed Voice
-Rock Smash
Comments: Pikipek was put into the party to help deal with the earlygame, making problem fights for Popplio such as Teacher Emily and Trial Captain Ilima easier. Unfortunately Pikipek had bad Attack which meant that it couldn't really do its job properly, but did its job in some places at least. Its final act was basically to help get a Lv12 Hawlucha easier (being Lv12 at the time).
Popplio [FateIsSealed] (F)
Lv22 Serious, Torrent
Caught Route 1, Lv5
IV's: 20 / 25 / 16 / 27 / 21 / 30
EV's: 10 / 25 / 8 / 6 / 14 / 24
Stats: 58 / 35 / 32 / 40 / 34 / 30
-Pound
-Water Gun
-Growl
-Disarming Voice
Comments: Popplio was chosen as a starter for its good earlygame and to influence matchups (particularly in Hawlucha's favour). Being a really good Popplio stat wise, it did its job for the earlygame really well and was kept in the party for Totem Alolan Marowak. Sadly Akala Island didn't go too well for Popplio with Espeon confusion-trolling it to death and taking the hits pre-Totem Alolan Marowak so that it didn't make it to the fight, but nevertheless it had done a good job for what I had in mind for it, before making way for other Pokémon.
Arbok [Arbo] (F)
Lv26 Impish, Intimidate
Traded Route 8, Lv22
IV's: 7 / 13 / 31 / 26-27 / 30-31 / 7-8
EV's: 0 / 9 / 2 / 0 / 12 / 6
Stats: 69 / 58 / 52 / 40 / 54 / 48
-Bite
-Glare
-Screech
-Acid
Comments: Arbok came in for one fight. That fight was Totem Lurantis. It successfully paralysed it and reduced its Defence to -2. For that one job, it did good.
Hawlucha [Cha] (M)
Lv31 Brave, Unburden
Traded in Route 2, Lv8
IV's: 23 / 31 / 19 / 13 / 3 / 11
EV's: 8 / 36 / 16 / 9 / 27 / 26
Stats: 97 / 81 / 58 / 55 / 46 / 74
-Tackle
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
Comments: Cha was the original Hawlucha who would eventually play backup to a Roost Hawlucha that would be caught. It aced trial 1, and when it was needed, it would usually do what was needed, whether it be roughing up, or salvaging. It failed for Hau 4/5 and Dexio however, but as the backup, it did its job for the most part. Now it is making the way for other Pokémon and if needed again, will be too weak to make much impact.
Mudbray [Tony Calzoni] (F)
Lv28 Relaxed, Stamina
Caught Route 4, Lv14
IV's: 27 / 14 / 23 / 9 / 20 / 30
EV's: 7 / 26 / 13 / 7 / 18 / 30
Stats: 85 / 66 / 56 / 33 / 41 / 36
-Mud-Slap
-Mud Sport
-Rototiller
-Bulldoze
Comments: The Pokémon that was captured for Totem Alolan Marowak that ended up not only trolling it into submission, but did a lot of other things such as acing Nihilego, acing the Electric Trial, and salvaging a Hau fight. Mudbray will be missed, but it definitely punched above its weight in terms of what I had planned for it. Making way for other Pokémon now.
Absol [Knife Face] (M)
Lv48 Adamant, Super Luck
Caught Mount Lanakila, Lv33
IV's: 6 / 29 / 12 / 20 / 2 / 10
EV's: 2 / 147 / 19 / 33 / 28 / 135
Stats: 124 / 177 / 70 / 80 / 65 / 97
-Slash
-Swords Dance
-Night Slash
-Detect
Comments: Absol was brought onto the team to help out with Totem Mimikyu's add and mainly Aether Paradise. It did its jobs there for the most part as well as putting in some work against otherwise unfavourable matchups like Guzma 3 picking off weakened bugs. Despite the impressive Attack, the poor bulk and middling speed is now wanting and is starting to fall out of favour as things hit harder and outspeed it. Last major act was helping out in Vast Poni Canyon. Will it make another appearance? We'll see. But for now, I don't have much else in the way of plans since its flaws are really getting in the way now.
Cottonee [Fluff] (M)
Lv46 Impish, Prankster
Caught Melemele Meadow, Lv12
IV's: 7 / 30 / 8 / 2 / 27 / 30
EV's: 19 / 91 / 27 / 23 / 33 / 74
Stats: 97 / 54 / 73 / 37 / 66 / 88
-Fairy Wind
-Growth
-Leech Seed
-Stun Spore
Comments: Cottonee was brought in for its ability to deliver priority paralysis and priority Leech Seed. This helped a lot during the earlygame and midgame but by the lategame it became increasingly a benchwarmer as other strats made it redundant, with its last major note being crippling Kiawe's Arcanine. Definitely justified its use and is one core reason why Ultra Sun is easier than Ultra Moon for this challenge.
Dugtrio ['Sup'Sup'Sup] (M)
Lv62 Jolly, Tangling Hair
Caught Vast Poni Canyon, Lv45
IV's: 7 / 23 / 22 / 9 / 1 / 20
EV's [510]: 8 / 252 / 17 / 22 / 7 / 204
Stats: 120 / 182 / 95 / 67 / 93 / 203
-Mud Bomb
-Earth Power
-Dig
-Iron Head
Comments: Dugtrio was originally brought in for certain fights in Trial Captains and while it was underwhelming, it got a spot in the Elite Four team as a backup for Molayne (which was ultimately not needed) and for final Hau to deal with Alolan Raichu. Definitely had some potential to do more, but I'm okay with it despite being limited in what it actually did.
Boldore [Pebble] (F)
Lv56 Sassy, Sturdy
Caught Vast Poni Canyon, Lv45
IV's: 20 / 1 / 10 / 7 / 8 / 15
EV's [510]: 12 / 171 / 9 / 156 / 3 / 161
Stats: 157 / 146 / 129 / 86 / 59 / 52
-Smack Down
-Rock Slide
-Stealth Rock
-Sandstorm
Comments: Boldore was brought in for the end part of Vast Poni Canyon as well as a couple of Trial captain fights. Boldore did the job it needed to, took out the threats it needed to take out (bar Mina's Ribombee, but that was a team effort). It then contributed to the league by setting up Stealth Rock; a hazard that was very important to securing KOes and making strats much more consistent in tandem with Skarmory's Spikes.
Skarmory [Bladebird] (M)
Lv53 Gentle, Sturdy
Caught Route 17, Lv36
IV's: 19 / 1 / 8 / 6 / 13 / 23
EV's [510]: 10 / 204 / 12 / 103 / 13 / 168
Stats: 143 / 117 / 143 / 64 / 95 / 113
-Swift
-Spikes
-Agility
-Steel Wing
Comments: Skarmory was brought in for one main job: To set up Spikes. This was to offset Sturdy and in some fights, to make fights more consistent. Skarmory definitely did its job in that regard and even helped out against Mina when her Ribombee ran amok. Definitely a great support Pokémon for this run.
Pyukumuku [Trini] (F)
Lv53 Naive, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv17
IV's: 15 / 0 / 27 / 9 / 31 / 3
EV's: 252 / 46 / 29 / 41 / 17 / 30
Stats: 162 / 74 / 160 / 47 / 144 / 17
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Totem Gumshoos worked out alright, got a bunch of HP EV's and levels for fights to come. Not sure if it's the best option but I'm sure Episode Rainbow Rocket will work out for it.
Pyukumuku [Troto] (F)
Lv49 Lonely, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv19
IV's: 16 / 30 / 14 / 3 / 6 / 28
EV's: 252 / 23 / 12 / 21 / 19 / 18
Stats: 151 / 89 / 126 / 38 / 137 / 25
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Totem Gumshoos worked out alright, got a bunch of HP EV's and levels for fights to come. Not sure if it's the best option but I'm sure Episode Rainbow Rocket will work out for it.
Pyukumuku [Luene] (M)
Lv54 Naughty, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv18
IV's: 24 / 8 / 5 / 1 / 3 / 31
EV's: 252 / 56 / 29 / 43 / 35 / 25
Stats: 170 / 90 / 151 / 43 / 135 / 30
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Totem Gumshoos worked out alright, got a bunch of HP EV's and levels for fights to come. Not sure if it's the best option but I'm sure Episode Rainbow Rocket will work out for it.
Furfrou [URS Dog] (M)
Lv52 Adamant, Fur Coat
Caught Hau'oli City, Lv8
IV's: 2 / 22 / 26 / 11 / 22 / 0
EV's [510]: 101 / 104 / 119 / 57 / 58 / 71
Stats: 153 / 124 / 96 / 76 / 116 / 120
-Tackle
-Growl
-Sand Attack
-Baby-Doll Eyes
Comments: No fighting this update, lots of experience gathering to deal with some of the things I need to deal with for Episode Rainbow Rocket
You can also fight Hala in Iki Town. As far as the League rematch goes, the first time you do it the title defense fight is always Hau. So if you want to mess around with the other title defense fights you'll need to do it twice. I usually bank over some Level 100 mons to quickly get past the first rematch, then use my ingame team after that and reset for the different challengers at the end. It's kind of annoying though, and only Kukui and Guzma are really worth fighting (USUM Hau is nothing but a level jump of his champion team that you'll have matched).
Anyway here's the Rainbow Rocket Update. Home stretch now.
RESTRICTIONS
-No Held Items
-No Item Usage in Battle (including Roto-Powers, excluding Poké Balls)
-Pokémon may not have their moveset altered through any means, except for automatic level-up learns (due to empty slots) and Sketch
-Pokémon cannot evolve (though evolved forms can be captured)
-Switch = SET
-No Pokémon Refresh
UPDATE #11: EPISODE RAINBOW ROCKET
For this update, I'll cover the whole Rainbow Rocket arc and clean up everything else in what should be the final update. To start things off, I head into Aether Paradise and put Furfrou into the party over Hawlu to get some extra experience on it ahead of the fights I need it for. First up were some Rainbow Rocket Grunts. I won't cover these in detail as all I do for each and every one is park Solgaleo in front of them and watch them crumble and occasionally dodge a Zen Headbutt.
The first major fight of Episode Rainbow Rocket is to fight Faba and his helper. Faba carries a Claydol, Hypno, and Bruxish and is the main damage dealer. His helper uses a Granbull, Scrafty, and Shiinotic and mainly specialises in debuffing offences (Intimidate + Snarl spam). Both parties are in their early 60's. For this fight we get help from Lillie who possesses a lone Lv60 Clefairy. The Clefairy is decent support with dual screens, Sing, and Moonblast and Friend Guard helps cushion a lot of the assault. Main thing is that I have to do all the damage dealing. For this fight, I lead with Solgaleo because not only does it rip through the helper without many issues, its ability makes any attempt to debuff it futile.
So Solgaleo takes the lead and makes quick work of Granbull with Sunsteel Strike while Clefairy sets up Reflect and Faba uses an X-Defend on Claydol. Shiinotic is next and Sunsteel Strike from Solgaleo also makes quick work of Shiinotic. However, Effect Spore activates and puts Solgaleo to sleep. Claydol starts going on an Earth Power rampage at this point while Clefairy puts up Light Screen. Scrafty comes in and with Solgaleo asleep (I got a three turn sleep), Scrafty gets a few Snarls off to weaken Clefairy, Clefairy Moonblasts Claydol (not Scrafty smh Lillie) and gets a Special Attack debuff, and Claydol lets loose some Earth Powers. Solgaleo finally wakes up on the sixth turn and two shots Scrafty with Sunsteel Strike while Clefairy renews screens and Solgaleo gets taken out by Claydol because one of its Earth Powers was a critical hit. It was a quite convenient time to fall however as I send in Blacephalon to one shot everything Faba has with Shadow Ball while Clefairy sits pretty.
With the fight done with, I put Hawlu back in the party over Noivern and head straight into Team Rocket's Castle. Starting off was a double fight with Rocket Grunts where Guzma helped me out, but the fight was an easy one turn with Golisopod one shotting Raticate and Solgaleo one shotting Fearow. Now comes the important part of which wing to choose first. The West Wing has Archie and the East Wing has Maxie. I pick the West Wing first because Archie is an easier fight while Maxie has a little bit of sketchiness (though still easy). The West Wing is a standard teleporter maze en route to Archie. Along the way I hit one optional grunt with a Haunter.
The Archie fight is fairly simple. He leads with a Mightyena and follows with Crobat, Muk, Sharpedo, and Kyogre. Mightyena is easy setup bait which makes him ripe for a Hawlucha sweep. This is also the fight I want Hawlu to be at least Level 77 for as it outspeeds Crobat which means it doesn't have to put up with Air Slash RNG (on top of Air Slash two shotting). Kyogre is the most physically bulky thing he has but, is EV'd in Special Attack and Special Defence and can be one shot at +4. Furfrou leads because its job is to debuff Mightyena and make a setup sweep much easier.
The Furfrou debuff mission goes fairly well as I get it down to -6 Attack and -2 Accuracy before falling. Hawlu comes in and sets up to +4 Attack with nothing bad happening and one shots Archie's whole team with its attacks. Easy fight, probably because of overleveling but yeah.
Now it was time for the East Wing. This wing has three memory puzzles (walk on the panels in the specified order) and the later puzzles have forced fights with grunts to distract you and try to make you forget. Nothing a little typing into a Notepad doesn't fix. I put Solgaleo into the lead to deal with the grunts.
Now for Maxie. Maxie uses Mightyena, Crobat, Weezing, Camerupt, and Groudon. This fight is also a fight that is ripe for a Hawlucha sweep following Furfrou debuffs though I need to spend more turns setting up and even at +6, Hawlucha doesn't one shot Groudon since it is EV'd in Attack and Defence. On the plus side, Earthquake is Groudon's only Physical Attack and its best attack in Flamethrower doesn't do much damage (though it can burn troll). As with Archie, Furfrou leads.
Mightyena got a turn one critical hit here which did reduce Furfrou's debuff efforts but still got Mightyena to -5 Attack. Hawlu comes in and gets to +6 Attack, but not without some trouble as Mightyena got two critical elemental fang attacks in a row. Luckily Hawlu could live the attacks because it is overleveled and Roost off the damage. Eventually Hawlu ripped through Maxie's team with only Groudon surviving to deal 70ish damage with Flamethrower. Maxie tried Full Restores but that was just delaying the inevitable. And I could just talk to Lillie if I needed to heal anyway.
Solgaleo takes the lead again and I use the PC to add Boldore to the party over Furfrou for Stealth Rock. Furfrou's mission is now done. Now was the decision to go for the Upper West Wing for Cyrus first or the Upper East Wing for Lysandre first. I pick the Upper West Wing seeing as I picked Boldore. This was so I could Stealth Rock on Cyrus and Lysandre isn't a good fight to get Stealth Rock up on early because of Mienshao and its Fake Out. But more on Lysandre later. The Upper West Wing has the classic tiles spin you in a certain direction puzzle with about three puzzles to deal with. I run into no optional grunts here and get to Cyrus.
Cyrus uses Houndoom, Crobat, Honchkrow, Weavile, and Dialga (Palkia in Ultra Moon). This fight isn't a simple sweep fight however as it mostly comes down to reacting to what Cyrus does. Outside of Dialga his party is fairly frail though so ultimately he's the easier fight between him and Lysandre. For this fight I lead with Boldore for Stealth Rock.
Houndoom opens with Dark Pulse but luckily it doesn't flinch and Stealth Rock comes up. As Boldore gets picked off, I send in Zygarde to one shot Houndoom with Land's Wrath. Weavile comes in and I swap to Solgaleo to take the Ice Punch and critical Night Slash (with a fair bit of health left) to take out Weavle and Honchkrow with Sunsteel Strikes. Crobat then comes in do deal a critcal X-Scissor (which Solgaleo survives with 7 HP) and take out with Zen Headbutt. Dialga is last and picks off Solgaleo after taking a Crunch. From there, it was just a matter of sending in Zygarde and picking off Dialga with a simple Land's Wrath. Another boss down.
With that done, I prepare for the Upper East Wing by replacing Boldore with Troto and putting Solgaleo back in the lead. The Upper East Wing has Meowth Surveillance statues which you can swap between one of two directions by going behind and pressing the button. The goal is to not get caught by the statues or you have to redo the room. I hit one optional grunt in this section en route to Lysandre.
Lysandre leads with Mienshao and also uses Honchkrow, Pyroar, Gyarados (which can mege evolve), and Xerneas (Yveltal in Ultra Moon). This is definitely the tougher fight of the two and being reactive and strategic is more critical with this fight. You might notice I put Troto the Pyukumuku in this fight. This is because it can reliably deal with Mega Gyarados and can also stop Xerneas from using Geomancy for free with Taunt (If Taunt hits during a charge, Geomancy fails). The reason I pick Troto and not either of the other two Pyukumuku is because it's leveled enough that it can survive a Crunch, but leveled low enough that Crunch deals enough damage for Counter to one shot (the other two are too high leveled). For this fight, I lead with Hawlu as it can deal with Lysandre's other Pokémon the easiest.
Mienshao leads with Fake Out, but Hawlu one shots with Wing Attack. Honchkrow comes next and I make a minor misplay here, going straight for Wing Attacks when I could Hone Claws then Wing Attack as it would allow me to one shot Honchkrow and Pyroar. Doesn't really matter though, Honchkrow is two shot by Wing Attack and Lysandre's Pyroar goes into the red as a combination of Honchkrow's Psychic and Pyroar's Flamethrower take Hawlu out. Solgaleo comes in and I opt for Crunch for reliability. Lysandre uses his Full Restore but Crunch is a clean two shot anyway. Gyarados comes next and I want to get Troto in safely as well as preserve Solgaleo for Xerneas. To do this, I decide to use Blacephalon as death fodder, letting Earthquake one shot it. I then send in Troto, take the Crunch, and one shot with Counter. Xerneas comes in and because Pyukumuku has Taunt, Xerneas can't really set up. So I go for Taunt and Xerneas goes straight for Moonblast, picking off Troto. I send Solgaleo back in and take out Xerneas with Sunsteel Strike.
With Lysandre gone, I prepare my team for the last two fights of Episode Rainbow Rocket. For this, I replace Troto and Blacephalon with Trini and Luene as they have roles to play for the last two fights.
First of the fights is Ghetsis. Ghetsis uses Cofagrigus, Bouffalant, Bisharp, Hydreigon, and Zekrom (Reshiram in Ultra Moon). His team is not too difficult to deal with considering what I have. Once Cofagrigus goes down and because the bosses in Episode Rainbow Rocket are rigged to always send out their legends last, I can use Hawlu to rip through the heart of Ghetsis' team. There are two strats for Zekrom. I can either use Zygarde or I can sack some Pyukumuku since Bolt Strike outright one shots Pyukumuku. I lead this fight with Solgaleo because it is the most efficient to deal with Cofagrigus thanks to Crunch.
Solgaleo leads and manages to two shot Cofagrigus with Crunch, even after it used Power Split to try and weaken Solgaleo. Bouffalant comes next and predicting the Earthquake, I swap in Hawlu to be blessed with a correct prediction. Learning my lesson from Lysandre, I opt to use Hone Claws to get to +1. Bouffalant deals a lot of damage with Head Charge, but Hawlu lives and one shots Bouffalant, Bisharp, and Hydreigon all in quick succession with a single Karate Chop. Zekrom is last and I opt just to sack the two Pyukumuku to take out Zekrom through Innards Out recoil. One Bolt Strike missed but that was inconsequential.
After Ghetsis and his breakdown and subsequent owning by Colress comes Giovanni. Giovanni leads with a Smooth Rock Dugtrio, and also uses Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Rhyperior, and Mewtwo who mega evolves depending on the version (X in Ultra Sun, Y in Ultra Moon). Giovanni's Ground-types are best dealt with using Zygarde, while Mega Mewtwo X is best dealt with using Pyukumuku. There is some RNG with Pyukumuku strats on Mega Mewtwo X however because of the flinch chance. Both Pyukumuku were leveled and EV'd for this fight (though tbh I shouldn't have leveled Trini as much as I did in retrospect) so they can survive a Zen Headbutt and one shot in return with Counter. Hawlu takes the lead because I wanted to try and take out Dugtrio before it did something annoying.
Unluckily for me, unboosted Wing Attack isn't a one shot on Giovanni's Dugtrio and Dugtrio gets Stealth Rock up on me. After Giovanni tried to preserve Dugtrio with a Full Restore, he switched in Rhyperior to keep Dugtrio for later and to tank the Wing Attack. Two can play at that game! I react by swapping in Zygarde into Rhyperior's Thunder Punch and deal a lot of damage with Land's Wrath. Rhyperior uses Earthquake, but it ends up putting Zygarde into Power Construct range and Zygarde in its Complete form lets rip, picking off Rhyperior, one shotting Nidoking, and one shotting Dugtrio after Giovanni used another Full Restore on it. Nidoqueen barely survived a Land's Wrath to use Earth Power, but didn't do much else. Last was Mewtwo. I swap in Trini and Mega Mewtwo X used Zen Headbutt to see Trini live with 5 HP. Would have prefered a KO but whatever. It was picked off afterwards. I send in Luene and Mega Mewtwo used Zen Headbutt which combined with Stealth Rock, left Luene with 1 HP left (Luene leveled up to Lv56 mid-fight and as a result, Zen Headbutt had a 1/16 chance to KO after Stealth Rock. That was the second highest roll). Luckily Luene didn't flinch and Counter sent Mewtwo and Giovanni into the stratosphere.
And with that, Episode Rainbow Rocket was done, and my reward was 55 Big Nuggets. Okay. Now I guess it's time to do some clean up and finish up this thing for good in the next update.
Current Death Count: 4 (Nanu, Dulse 3, Lusamine [Intentional], Veteran Eric) Current IGT: 38:46
CURRENT TEAM
Solgaleo [Nebby] (-)
Lv75 Docile, Full Metal Body
Caught Mahalo Trail, Lv60
IV's: 31 / 31 / 31 / 17 / 3 / 30
EV's [510]: 2 / 248 / 2 / 9 / 1 / 248
Stats: 313 / 280 / 188 / 188 / 140 / 219
-Sunsteel Strike
-Cosmic Power
-Crunch
-Zen Headbutt
Comments: Pulled in a lot of work for Episode Rainbow Rocket. Definitely proud of it.
Necrozma [Purple Haze] (-)
Lv76 Bold, Prism Armour
Caught Mount Lanakila, Lv65
IV's: 31 / 6 / 29 / 31 / 27 / 31
EV's [510]: 2 / 5 / 2 / 252 / 1 / 248
Stats: 257 / 154 / 198 / 269 / 160 / 195
-Photon Geyser
-Iron Defence
-Power Gem
-Night Slash
Comments: Didn't do anything at all this update. Outside of accruing experience for the Pokémon League tilts which I'm sure will come in useful.
Hawlucha [Hawlu] (M)
Lv81 Lonely, Unburden Limber
Caught Route 3, Lv12
IV's: 22 / 29 / 30 / 31 / 31 / 17
EV's [510]: 29 / 178 / 43 / 56 / 53 / 151
Stats: 240 / 234 / 142 / 161 / 142 / 239
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
-Roost
Comments: Pulled in a lot of work on the Team bosses from outright sweeps to tearing holes. Amazing to see how well this moveset aged even though being overleveled might be part of the reason...
Blacephalon [IT Dept.] (-)
Lv70 Timid, Beast Boost
Caught Poni Grove, Lv60
IV's: 31 / 25 / 31 / 31 / 16 / 15
EV's [510]: 0 / 6 / 0 / 252 / 0 / 252
Stats: 175 / 180 / 100 / 282 / 126 / 229
-Fire Blast
-Trick
-Shadow Ball
-Mind Blown
Comments: Swept Faba and didn't do too much else. I guess the experience will help for the league.
Zygarde [King Squama] (-)
Lv73 Lonely, Aura Break Power Construct
Caught Resolution Cave, Lv60
IV's: 22 / 31 / 31 / 20 / 5 / 31
EV's [510]: 0 / 252 / 0 / 6 / 0 / 252
Stats: 256 / 240 / 183 / 138 / 147 / 212
-Land's Wrath
-Glare
-Safeguard
-Dragon Breath
Comments: Helped out in a couple of fights for Episode Rainbow Rocket. Land's Wrath missed out on a few KO's that a +Attack Earthquake would have gotten but you can't help RNG.
Noivern [REEEEEEEEEEE] (M)
Lv62 Quirky, Infiltrator
Caught Resolution Cave, Lv56
IV's: 30 / 25 / 2 / 29 / 8 / 4
EV's [510]: 0 / 6 / 0 / 252 / 0 / 252
Stats: 196 / 107 / 105 / 182 / 109 / 199
-Tailwind
-Whirlwind
-Super Fang
-Air Slash
Comments: This thing could have been routed out to be honest, since the only thing it has really done was help out on the Veteran Doubles fight, and even then something else could have taken the spot really. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Probably a good Doubles Tree option if you are insane enough to try Battle Tree with these restrictions.
Pikipek [Woody] (M)
Lv15 Jolly, Keen Eye
Caught Route 1, Lv3
IV's: 7 / 1-3 / 29 / 22-23 / 17 / 23
EV's: 6 / 16 / 3 / 4 / 3 / 13
Stats: 36 / 28 / 18 / 15 / 16 / 30
-Peck
-Growl
-Echoed Voice
-Rock Smash
Comments: Pikipek was put into the party to help deal with the earlygame, making problem fights for Popplio such as Teacher Emily and Trial Captain Ilima easier. Unfortunately Pikipek had bad Attack which meant that it couldn't really do its job properly, but did its job in some places at least. Its final act was basically to help get a Lv12 Hawlucha easier (being Lv12 at the time).
Popplio [FateIsSealed] (F)
Lv22 Serious, Torrent
Caught Route 1, Lv5
IV's: 20 / 25 / 16 / 27 / 21 / 30
EV's: 10 / 25 / 8 / 6 / 14 / 24
Stats: 58 / 35 / 32 / 40 / 34 / 30
-Pound
-Water Gun
-Growl
-Disarming Voice
Comments: Popplio was chosen as a starter for its good earlygame and to influence matchups (particularly in Hawlucha's favour). Being a really good Popplio stat wise, it did its job for the earlygame really well and was kept in the party for Totem Alolan Marowak. Sadly Akala Island didn't go too well for Popplio with Espeon confusion-trolling it to death and taking the hits pre-Totem Alolan Marowak so that it didn't make it to the fight, but nevertheless it had done a good job for what I had in mind for it, before making way for other Pokémon.
Arbok [Arbo] (F)
Lv26 Impish, Intimidate
Traded Route 8, Lv22
IV's: 7 / 13 / 31 / 26-27 / 30-31 / 7-8
EV's: 0 / 9 / 2 / 0 / 12 / 6
Stats: 69 / 58 / 52 / 40 / 54 / 48
-Bite
-Glare
-Screech
-Acid
Comments: Arbok came in for one fight. That fight was Totem Lurantis. It successfully paralysed it and reduced its Defence to -2. For that one job, it did good.
Hawlucha [Cha] (M)
Lv31 Brave, Unburden
Traded in Route 2, Lv8
IV's: 23 / 31 / 19 / 13 / 3 / 11
EV's: 8 / 36 / 16 / 9 / 27 / 26
Stats: 97 / 81 / 58 / 55 / 46 / 74
-Tackle
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
Comments: Cha was the original Hawlucha who would eventually play backup to a Roost Hawlucha that would be caught. It aced trial 1, and when it was needed, it would usually do what was needed, whether it be roughing up, or salvaging. It failed for Hau 4/5 and Dexio however, but as the backup, it did its job for the most part. Now it is making the way for other Pokémon and if needed again, will be too weak to make much impact.
Mudbray [Tony Calzoni] (F)
Lv28 Relaxed, Stamina
Caught Route 4, Lv14
IV's: 27 / 14 / 23 / 9 / 20 / 30
EV's: 7 / 26 / 13 / 7 / 18 / 30
Stats: 85 / 66 / 56 / 33 / 41 / 36
-Mud-Slap
-Mud Sport
-Rototiller
-Bulldoze
Comments: The Pokémon that was captured for Totem Alolan Marowak that ended up not only trolling it into submission, but did a lot of other things such as acing Nihilego, acing the Electric Trial, and salvaging a Hau fight. Mudbray will be missed, but it definitely punched above its weight in terms of what I had planned for it. Making way for other Pokémon now.
Absol [Knife Face] (M)
Lv48 Adamant, Super Luck
Caught Mount Lanakila, Lv33
IV's: 6 / 29 / 12 / 20 / 2 / 10
EV's: 2 / 147 / 19 / 33 / 28 / 135
Stats: 124 / 177 / 70 / 80 / 65 / 97
-Slash
-Swords Dance
-Night Slash
-Detect
Comments: Absol was brought onto the team to help out with Totem Mimikyu's add and mainly Aether Paradise. It did its jobs there for the most part as well as putting in some work against otherwise unfavourable matchups like Guzma 3 picking off weakened bugs. Despite the impressive Attack, the poor bulk and middling speed is now wanting and is starting to fall out of favour as things hit harder and outspeed it. Last major act was helping out in Vast Poni Canyon. Will it make another appearance? We'll see. But for now, I don't have much else in the way of plans since its flaws are really getting in the way now.
Cottonee [Fluff] (M)
Lv46 Impish, Prankster
Caught Melemele Meadow, Lv12
IV's: 7 / 30 / 8 / 2 / 27 / 30
EV's: 19 / 91 / 27 / 23 / 33 / 74
Stats: 97 / 54 / 73 / 37 / 66 / 88
-Fairy Wind
-Growth
-Leech Seed
-Stun Spore
Comments: Cottonee was brought in for its ability to deliver priority paralysis and priority Leech Seed. This helped a lot during the earlygame and midgame but by the lategame it became increasingly a benchwarmer as other strats made it redundant, with its last major note being crippling Kiawe's Arcanine. Definitely justified its use and is one core reason why Ultra Sun is easier than Ultra Moon for this challenge.
Dugtrio ['Sup'Sup'Sup] (M)
Lv62 Jolly, Tangling Hair
Caught Vast Poni Canyon, Lv45
IV's: 7 / 23 / 22 / 9 / 1 / 20
EV's [510]: 8 / 252 / 17 / 22 / 7 / 204
Stats: 120 / 182 / 95 / 67 / 93 / 203
-Mud Bomb
-Earth Power
-Dig
-Iron Head
Comments: Dugtrio was originally brought in for certain fights in Trial Captains and while it was underwhelming, it got a spot in the Elite Four team as a backup for Molayne (which was ultimately not needed) and for final Hau to deal with Alolan Raichu. Definitely had some potential to do more, but I'm okay with it despite being limited in what it actually did.
Boldore [Pebble] (F)
Lv56 Sassy, Sturdy
Caught Vast Poni Canyon, Lv45
IV's: 20 / 1 / 10 / 7 / 8 / 15
EV's [510]: 12 / 171 / 9 / 156 / 3 / 161
Stats: 157 / 146 / 129 / 86 / 59 / 52
-Smack Down
-Rock Slide
-Stealth Rock
-Sandstorm
Comments: Boldore was brought in for the end part of Vast Poni Canyon as well as a couple of Trial captain fights. Boldore did the job it needed to, took out the threats it needed to take out (bar Mina's Ribombee, but that was a team effort). It then contributed to the league by setting up Stealth Rock; a hazard that was very important to securing KOes and making strats much more consistent in tandem with Skarmory's Spikes.
Skarmory [Bladebird] (M)
Lv53 Gentle, Sturdy
Caught Route 17, Lv36
IV's: 19 / 1 / 8 / 6 / 13 / 23
EV's [510]: 10 / 204 / 12 / 103 / 13 / 168
Stats: 143 / 117 / 143 / 64 / 95 / 113
-Swift
-Spikes
-Agility
-Steel Wing
Comments: Skarmory was brought in for one main job: To set up Spikes. This was to offset Sturdy and in some fights, to make fights more consistent. Skarmory definitely did its job in that regard and even helped out against Mina when her Ribombee ran amok. Definitely a great support Pokémon for this run.
Pyukumuku [Trini] (F)
Lv55 Naive, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv17
IV's: 15 / 0 / 27 / 9 / 31 / 3
EV's: 252 / 56 / 31 / 44 / 17 / 32
Stats: 168 / 78 / 166 / 49 / 149 / 17
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Good Postgame though this was probably the lest contributive of the three outside of Zekrom.
Pyukumuku [Troto] (F)
Lv52 Lonely, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv19
IV's: 16 / 30 / 14 / 3 / 6 / 28
EV's: 252 / 32 / 12 / 23 / 21 / 20
Stats: 157 / 94 / 130 / 40 / 142 / 26
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Good postgame, did the things it needed to do outside of Blue.
Pyukumuku [Luene] (M)
Lv57 Naughty, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv18
IV's: 24 / 8 / 5 / 1 / 3 / 31
EV's: 252 / 66 / 31 / 49 / 35 / 27
Stats: 179 / 96 / 160 / 47 / 142 / 32
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Good postgame, did the things it needed to do. Nice that the Defence EV's came in handy in the end.
Furfrou [URS Dog] (M)
Lv55 Adamant, Fur Coat
Caught Hau'oli City, Lv8
IV's: 2 / 22 / 26 / 11 / 22 / 0
EV's [510]: 101 / 104 / 119 / 57 / 58 / 71
Stats: 161 / 130 / 101 / 81 / 123 / 127
-Tackle
-Growl
-Sand Attack
-Baby-Doll Eyes
Comments: Did its job for Maxie and Archie in allowing Hawlu to set up a sweep easily. Not going to be needed for anything else, really.
Final Update I guess. Includes a bunch of stuff I said I wasn't going to do but did anyway because why not.
RESTRICTIONS
-No Held Items
-No Item Usage in Battle (including Roto-Powers, excluding Poké Balls)
-Pokémon may not have their moveset altered through any means, except for automatic level-up learns (due to empty slots) and Sketch
-Pokémon cannot evolve (though evolved forms can be captured)
-Switch = SET
-No Pokémon Refresh
UPDATE #12: CLEANING UP
Cleaning Up Some Loose Ends
To start things off, I decide to do some cleanup. First thing I do is assemble the team I am going to use for the rest of this playthrough. This team is Hawlu / Solgaleo / Necrozma / Zygarde / Blacephalon / Boldore. Essentially a set up sweeper, four legendary beatsticks, and a Stealth Rock setter for the league because you know, Sturdy. I put Blacephalon in the lead position and take on one of the trainers that become available after Episode Rainbow Rocket, Faba (again). Faba brings alongside his usual three, an Alolan Raichu and an Alakazam. Everything is at Lv63 however so he is basically a joke. Blacephalon Shadow Ball rips through his whole team. Only his Claydol lived a Shadow Ball (with like 1 HP), but Faba used an X-Defend on it that turn... so yeah. You get a Dubious Disc for winning the fight.
Next thing I decide to clean up is Hala's re-fight. You just approach him in Iki Town and ask to fight him. Hala uses Hariyama / Bewear / Poliwrath / Machamp / Crabominable and they are all at Lv63. Basically easy pickings for Solgaleo / Necrozma. I lead with Necrozma simply because Photon Geyser does not miss unlike Zen Headbutt. The fight was nothing special as Photon Geyser one shots everything. Hariyama using Fake Out was the only thing Hala could do. For winning, you get the Z-Crystals of the starter Pokémon you didn't choose. Since I picked Popplio, I got the Decidium Z and the Incinium Z.
Continuing the clean-up and next port of call was Paniola Town for Kiawe's postgame quest. This is an Ultra Sun Exclusive quest; in Ultra Moon you get to do Mallow's postgame quest instead. ANYWAY, you talk to him in his room and he tells you to go to Thrifty Megamart in Royal Avenue. There you find out that Kiawe gets sacked from his part-time job and how Kiawe wants to become a great dancer. He also challenges you to a fight. He uses the same Pokémon from the Trial Captain fights in Mina's trial, but with everything at Lv60. His Arcanine (survived a Power Gem) and Talonflame (outspeeding despite overleveled Necrozma) got Flare Blitzes off but there was not much he could do. After the fight he basically remembers your fight just like Ilima. I think it means you can partner him in Battle Tree Multis after fulfilling some other condition but I'm not too sure. You can also get a Protector from Kiawe's parents.
Next port of call was the GAME FREAK building in Heahea City. Here you can take participate in a doubles battle against GAME FREAK members Morimoto (Gengar, Machamp, Dragonite) and Iwao (Kecleon, Ambipom, Blissey) once per day. For the first time you beat them, you get an Oval Charm, so I better fight them right? Basically this fight was a textbook Necrozma + Blacephalon sweep with shoutouts to Blacephalon for missing a Fire Blast on Blissey and shoutouts to Blissey for missing Thunder twice in a row. Not much else the employees could do.
With that done, it was time to move to Konikoni city to visit Lana's place. This involves two successive fights (though you could prepare in-between if you wanted to). The first fight is against Lana's younger twin sisters who use Corsola and Luvdisc. Neither posted much of a threat. Lana on the other hand was surprisingly trolly. She uses Lanturn, Cloyster, and Araquanid (which holds a Waterium Z), all of which are reasonably bulky on at least one side, even at Lv60. Anyway Lanturn survived a Photon Geyser and got Necrozma paralysed and after a Full Restore, got a Hydro Pump in. Lani sent in Araquanid in next and predicting some Bug-type move, I switch in Hawlu. Hawlu ended up getting one shot by Z-Liquidation boosted by Water Bubble. "Whoops". Solgaleo steadied the ship however, taking out Araquanid with a Zen Headbutt and a Crunch and took out Cloyster with two Sunsteel Strikes.
At this point there's not much else really to do. I guess the Kantonian Gym in Malie, but I decide to return to the Battle Tree. This is because I had learned there was no level cap on the Normal Lines so I figured out to give the tree a go with all the overpowered, overleveled, EV-Trained Pokémon I possess. Surely the tree will be nice despite the levels, right?
Battle Tree Time
So the first line I take on is the Singles line with a team of Blacephalon (Lv72), Solgaleo (Lv77), and Zygarde (Lv74). Basically this is a "speedrun" team to try and take down the tree as quickly as possible, with Blacephalon leading to get some quick wins. The streak was not super unevenful though some Staraptor shenanigans happened on Battle #6, the Sturdy Metal Burst Aggron made its appearance Battle #8, and Milotic tried some confusion shenanigans on Battle #13 (no self hits though). Eventually I get to Red in Battle #20 where he used (Mega) Blastoise, Charizard, and Venusaur. Mega Blastoise survived a Shadow Ball to one shot Blacephalon with Water Pulse, and then Solgaleo basically overpowered Red, picking off Blastoise and one-shotting the other two. For winning, I got the Mega Stones for each of the Kanto Starters: Venusaurite, Charizardite X, Charizardite Y, and Blastoisinite.
Next up was the Doubles Tree. My team for this was Solgaleo (Lv77), Zygarde (Lv74), Blacephalon (Lv72), and Necrozma (Lv78). Once again the goal was to get through as quickly as possible. And this was basically a nigh-perfect run. Nothing on my team died even once and I didn't even need to switch because Zygarde and Solgaleo just ripped through everything. Zygarde simply spammed Land's Wrath for days (which kinda makes me glad I dropped the Earthquake Zygarde) and Solgaleo used the appropriate single-target when needed. Blue was fight #20 with Tyranitar, Alakazam, Pidgeot, and Rhyperior. Blue was a perfect two round fight where everything was KOed before they could do anything.
Finally it was the Multi Tree. For my partner I picked the default option of Pokémon Breeder Rada. Rada used the Barbaracle-1 set (Bright Powder w/ Shell Smash and Double Team) and the Hawlucha-1 set (Salac Berry w/ Acrobatics and Taunt). As for my team, I used Zygarde (Lv74) and Solgaleo (Lv77). Basically what I learned from the Doubles Tree. The run was definitely sketchy in some places, with special notes to Battle #7 where Bright Powder Electivire dodged a Land's Wrath, Weezing got a Will-O-Wisp hit, and Focus Punch one shot Barbaracle. Rada lost both Pokémon that fight (as well as Battle #15 which wasn't as bad), but my Pokémon being the overleveled things they are, helped steady the ship with the lone death on my side being one death for Zygarde after a Counter. For Battle 20, it was Red (Snorlax, Blastoise) and Blue (Aerodactyl, Alakazam). The first couple of rounds were sketchy involving an Ice Fang flinch on Zygarde and Barbaracle repeatedly missing Stone Edge on Aerodactyl, but eventually I just swapped to Solgaleo and it and Barbaracle combined to rip through Red and Blue's team (Blue first).
The Rest of the Game
With that, the Normal Tree lines were over and done with. Don't even bother trying to get me to do the Super Tree lines however, since most of the Pokémon I used are banned and the level cap means I won't stand even a remote chance of going far. So with that, there was ONE more thing to wrap up until round two, and that is the Kantonian Gym in Malie City. Here you just fight all the trainers then you can fight the Gym Leader to get a Surge Badge. They all use one Pokémon in their mid 50's so Necrozma took care of them in one shot. No Ryuki for the day so yeah.
Now it was time for the Pokémon League: Round Two. I'll be doing a round three as well for the variable final fight since Hau is fixed to be the champion for round two. I buy Revives, Full Restores, and Ethers to heal between fights. So for these league rematches, I do the same order as I did for round one, that is: Olivia, Kahili, Molayne, Acerola. All four Elite Four members uses the same team as in round one, but they are all at Lv66 and have revamped movesets.
Pokémon League Round Two Team: Boldore Lv60 / Blacephalon Lv72 / Solgaleo Lv77 / Hawlu Lv82 / Zygarde Lv74 / Necrozma Lv78
For the Olivia fight, I started with Stealth Rock before replacing Boldore with Solgaleo once it falls. Armaldo falls to Sunsteel Strike and Gigalith lives a Sunsteel Strike. Here I was expecting a Full Restore and went for Zen Headbutt, but it missed. Twice. And no Full Restore either. Solgaleo fell to three Earthquakes so I send in Zygarde to wipe the floor with Olivia with repeated Land's Wrath spam.
For Kahili, it was mostly the same as the first round: Set up Stealth Rock and let Boldore fall to Braviary's Superpowers, send in Necrozma and sweep with Power Gem/Photon Geyser. Hawlucha still outspeeds and uses Throat Chop, and Mandibuzz still lives a Power Gem to which it used Toxic, but everyone else falls like flies.
Molayne is a little bit different to round one. In round one it was a matter of a setup sweep with Hawlu. This time around I have Zygarde, who can reliably deal with Molayne's team and take the punishment. As usual, set up Stealth Rock and send in Zygarde. Klefki still loves Reflect and Land's Wrath is a two shot under Reflect, so the objective is to take out Klefki on the turn Reflect expires, using Glare and Safeguard alongside Zygarde's bulk to stall out the turns. Once Klefki is down, the only thing that can do something is Metagross (survives a Land's Wrath). It deals damage with Meteor Mash, which at worst, allows Zygarde to go Complete Form. But yeah, Zygarde > Molayne.
Finally, Acerola is a free fight. Blacephalon can one shot all of Acerola's Pokémon with Shadow Ball as outspeed everything she has so the only thing to worry about is a random Sucker Punch from Banette after setting up Stealth Rock with Boldore. Banette doesn't go for the Sucker Punch in this round so Acerola's team gets ripped to pieces by Blacephalon.
Finally it was time for the first title defence fight. For the first time around, you are always going to fight Hau, who has the same team, just at a higher level. And with better options and higher levels, it's an easy fight.
First up was setting up Stealth Rock on Alolan Raichu, which happens. Raichu takes out Boldore with Focus Blast + Quick Attack. I send in Zygarde at this point to take a Psychic and one shot with Land's Wrath. Crabominable comes out next and I deal with this by switching in Solgaleo to take the Ice Hammer and one shot with Sunsteel Strike. Incineroar is third and I swap Zygarde back in to take the Flare Blitz, upgrading to Complete Form and one shotting with Land's Wrath. Noivern is fourth out and I swap Solgaleo back in to take Dragon Pulse and then Dark Pulse, not flinching and taking out Noivern with Sunsteel Strike. From there it was just Sunsteel Strikes until Hau is down. Tauros got one shot, and Leafeon needed two (using Leaf Blade) and leaving Solgaleo in the red zone for HP. But yeah, Hau got taken down.
Round Two is done and now the whole point of this shows up where I go back to do Round Three where the idea is that I can defend against a random title defence trainer. As for the Elite Four itself, the only real differences were Olivia and Kahili. Olivia I actually used Crunch to pick off Gigalith. From there, Cradily got one shot by Sunsteel Strike before I swapped to Zygarde for the rest of the fight on Probopass. As for Kahili, Mandibuzz used Snarl this time around, but it doesn't change much. Molayne and Acerola went the same way. As for which random trainer I get to fight to defend my title for Round Three? It's...
...Professor Kukui, one of the more competent trainers. He uses a team of Lycanroc Midday, Alolan Ninetales, Braviary, Magnezone, Snorlax, and Decidueye. Lycanroc is Lv69 while everyone else is Lv68 and Decidueye holds a Grassium Z. Everyone has the same movesets as in regular Sun/Moon. Fitting that the last fight of this run happens against the Professor.
The fight begins with Boldore and Lycanroc making a Stealth Rock trade greeting. After that, a combination of Stone Edge and Accelerock takes out Boldore though Boldore got a Rock Slide off. I send in Solgaleo to pick off Lycanroc with Sunsteel Strike and Snorlax comes in. I swap in Hawlu at this point to avoid its High Horsepower and two shot it with Karate Chop (taking a Body Slam in the process). Braviary was next and I swap Solgaleo back in to take the Brave Bird and take it out with Sunsteel Strike. Decidueye comes in at this point, but Crunch is an easy KO, so yeah. Magnezone was next and I swap in Zygarde to block its Thunder Wave and take it out with Land's Wrath. Finally it was Alolan Ninetales and I swap Solgaleo back in for Ninetales to miss its Blizzard. From there it was a Sunsteel Strike finale. GG Kukui.
With that, I get some fangirls who give me two Sweet Hearts for clearing round three. And that is it. The Ultra Sun No Pokémon Refresh No Evolving No Altered Movesets No Item Assistance In Battle Switch = SET (NPRNENAMNIAIBSS) Challenge completed.
THE END
Final Death Count: 4 (Nanu, Dulse 3, Lusamine [Intentional], Veteran Eric) Final IGT: 42:50 (Closer to 50 hours real time)
FINAL TEAM
Solgaleo [Nebby] (-)
Lv80 Docile, Full Metal Body
Caught Mahalo Trail, Lv60
IV's: 31 / 31 / 31 / 17 / 3 / 30
EV's [510]: 2 / 248 / 2 / 9 / 1 / 248
Stats: 334 / 298 / 201 / 201 / 149 / 233
-Sunsteel Strike
-Cosmic Power
-Crunch
-Zen Headbutt
Comments: Solgaleo was brought into the party as a beatstick for Mount Lanakila and the Pokémon League. While its role was kinda overshadowed by Necrozma, it still had an important role to fill which made Olivia consistent. In the postgame however, Solgaleo came into its own, as it could take out any Rainbow Rocket Grunt and play significant roles in major fights. Also part of the deathless Doubles Tree duo with Zygarde. Definitely one of the strongest Pokémon for postgame.
Necrozma [Purple Haze] (-)
Lv80 Bold, Prism Armour
Caught Mount Lanakila, Lv65
IV's: 31 / 6 / 29 / 31 / 27 / 31
EV's [510]: 2 / 5 / 2 / 252 / 1 / 248
Stats: 270 / 162 / 207 / 283 / 169 / 205
-Photon Geyser
-Iron Defence
-Power Gem
-Night Slash
Comments: Necrozma like Solgaleo was brought in as a beatstick for the Pokémon League and was kinda the star of the show, dealing with Kahili, Acerola, and most of Hau's team. Can definitely see why this thing is capable of steamrolling the endgame of Ultra Sun/Moon, even in its hindered state and without item help. Did not too much in the postgame in terms of dealing with specific threats, but is definitely a force to be reckoned with.
Hawlucha [Hawlu] (M)
Lv84 Lonely, Unburden Limber
Caught Route 3, Lv12
IV's: 22 / 29 / 30 / 31 / 31 / 17
EV's [510]: 29 / 178 / 43 / 56 / 53 / 151
Stats: 249 / 242 / 147 / 167 / 147 / 248
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
-Roost
Comments: Oh yes Hawlu. Hawlu was the main star of the team, being the go to set-up sweeper for the entire run. Having Hone Claws AND Roost alongside dual STAB's (albeit fairly weak) was such a big deal and you can see why I ultimately dropped the traded Hawlucha for this one. Did its job in most fights, and in some it didn't. Definitely needed support to get the sweeps but that's why teammates exist, to make the fights possible in a relatively efficient manner. Did its job for the Pokémon League at least and it definitely is one of the big reasons why this run is possible to beat in a somewhat efficient manner. Postgame it was kinda niche but still did its thing in the fights I needed it to.
Blacephalon [IT Dept.] (-)
Lv75 Timid, Beast Boost
Caught Poni Grove, Lv60
IV's: 31 / 25 / 31 / 31 / 16 / 15
EV's [510]: 0 / 6 / 0 / 252 / 0 / 252
Stats: 187 / 193 / 107 / 302 / 135 / 246
-Fire Blast
-Trick
-Shadow Ball
-Mind Blown
Comments: Blacephalon was a more niche use for the postgame since its frailty among other things meant it wasn't super great for some major fights, but nevertheless found its own niche, destroying Faba and Acerola alongside being good for Singles Tree. Not super amazing but definitely had its place.
Zygarde [King Squama] (-)
Lv78 Lonely, Aura Break Power Construct
Caught Resolution Cave, Lv60
IV's: 22 / 31 / 31 / 20 / 5 / 31
EV's [510]: 0 / 252 / 0 / 6 / 0 / 252
Stats: 273 / 257 / 195 / 147 / 157 / 226
-Land's Wrath
-Glare
-Safeguard
-Dragon Breath
Comments: Zygarde was brought in as a direct upgrade to Dugtrio. This isn't its best set but the Earthquake / Crunch set was locked behind a Modest Natured Zygarde so I absorbed it into this one. This proved to be a blessing in disguise as Land's Wrath was pretty much all it needed, especially in doubles fights since it meant I could partner it with things like Solgaleo with impunity. Power Construct definitely had its place and allowed Zygarde to be useful for much longer in a fight, and played a role in a lot of major fights. Definitely a beast, part of the deathless Doubles Tree duo with Solgaleo.
Boldore [Pebble] (F)
Lv60 Sassy, Sturdy
Caught Vast Poni Canyon, Lv45
IV's: 20 / 1 / 10 / 7 / 8 / 15
EV's [510]: 12 / 171 / 9 / 156 / 3 / 161
Stats: 167 / 156 / 138 / 92 / 62 / 55
-Smack Down
-Rock Slide
-Stealth Rock
-Sandstorm
Comments: Boldore was brought in for the end part of Vast Poni Canyon as well as a couple of Trial captain fights. Boldore did the job it needed to, took out the threats it needed to take out (bar Mina's Ribombee, but that was a team effort). It then contributed to the league by setting up Stealth Rock; a hazard that was very important to securing KOes and making strats much more consistent in tandem with Skarmory's Spikes. Stealth Rock also helped in the postgame on round two of the league and against Cyrus in Episode Rainbow Rocket.
Pikipek [Woody] (M)
Lv15 Jolly, Keen Eye
Caught Route 1, Lv3
IV's: 7 / 1-3 / 29 / 22-23 / 17 / 23
EV's: 6 / 16 / 3 / 4 / 3 / 13
Stats: 36 / 28 / 18 / 15 / 16 / 30
-Peck
-Growl
-Echoed Voice
-Rock Smash
Comments: Pikipek was put into the party to help deal with the earlygame, making problem fights for Popplio such as Teacher Emily and Trial Captain Ilima easier. Unfortunately Pikipek had bad Attack which meant that it couldn't really do its job properly, but did its job in some places at least. Its final act was basically to help get a Lv12 Hawlucha easier (being Lv12 at the time).
Popplio [FateIsSealed] (F)
Lv22 Serious, Torrent
Caught Route 1, Lv5
IV's: 20 / 25 / 16 / 27 / 21 / 30
EV's: 10 / 25 / 8 / 6 / 14 / 24
Stats: 58 / 35 / 32 / 40 / 34 / 30
-Pound
-Water Gun
-Growl
-Disarming Voice
Comments: Popplio was chosen as a starter for its good earlygame and to influence matchups (particularly in Hawlucha's favour). Being a really good Popplio stat wise, it did its job for the earlygame really well and was kept in the party for Totem Alolan Marowak. Sadly Akala Island didn't go too well for Popplio with Espeon confusion-trolling it to death and taking the hits pre-Totem Alolan Marowak so that it didn't make it to the fight, but nevertheless it had done a good job for what I had in mind for it, before making way for other Pokémon.
Arbok [Arbo] (F)
Lv26 Impish, Intimidate
Traded Route 8, Lv22
IV's: 7 / 13 / 31 / 26-27 / 30-31 / 7-8
EV's: 0 / 9 / 2 / 0 / 12 / 6
Stats: 69 / 58 / 52 / 40 / 54 / 48
-Bite
-Glare
-Screech
-Acid
Comments: Arbok came in for one fight. That fight was Totem Lurantis. It successfully paralysed it and reduced its Defence to -2. For that one job, it did good.
Hawlucha [Cha] (M)
Lv31 Brave, Unburden
Traded in Route 2, Lv8
IV's: 23 / 31 / 19 / 13 / 3 / 11
EV's: 8 / 36 / 16 / 9 / 27 / 26
Stats: 97 / 81 / 58 / 55 / 46 / 74
-Tackle
-Hone Claws
-Karate Chop
-Wing Attack
Comments: Cha was the original Hawlucha who would eventually play backup to a Roost Hawlucha that would be caught. It aced trial 1, and when it was needed, it would usually do what was needed, whether it be roughing up, or salvaging. It failed for Hau 4/5 and Dexio however, but as the backup, it did its job for the most part. Now it is making the way for other Pokémon and if needed again, will be too weak to make much impact.
Mudbray [Tony Calzoni] (F)
Lv28 Relaxed, Stamina
Caught Route 4, Lv14
IV's: 27 / 14 / 23 / 9 / 20 / 30
EV's: 7 / 26 / 13 / 7 / 18 / 30
Stats: 85 / 66 / 56 / 33 / 41 / 36
-Mud-Slap
-Mud Sport
-Rototiller
-Bulldoze
Comments: The Pokémon that was captured for Totem Alolan Marowak that ended up not only trolling it into submission, but did a lot of other things such as acing Nihilego, acing the Electric Trial, and salvaging a Hau fight. Mudbray will be missed, but it definitely punched above its weight in terms of what I had planned for it. Making way for other Pokémon now.
Absol [Knife Face] (M)
Lv48 Adamant, Super Luck
Caught Mount Lanakila, Lv33
IV's: 6 / 29 / 12 / 20 / 2 / 10
EV's: 2 / 147 / 19 / 33 / 28 / 135
Stats: 124 / 177 / 70 / 80 / 65 / 97
-Slash
-Swords Dance
-Night Slash
-Detect
Comments: Absol was brought onto the team to help out with Totem Mimikyu's add and mainly Aether Paradise. It did its jobs there for the most part as well as putting in some work against otherwise unfavourable matchups like Guzma 3 picking off weakened bugs. Despite the impressive Attack, the poor bulk and middling speed is now wanting and is starting to fall out of favour as things hit harder and outspeed it. Last major act was helping out in Vast Poni Canyon. Will it make another appearance? We'll see. But for now, I don't have much else in the way of plans since its flaws are really getting in the way now.
Cottonee [Fluff] (M)
Lv46 Impish, Prankster
Caught Melemele Meadow, Lv12
IV's: 7 / 30 / 8 / 2 / 27 / 30
EV's: 19 / 91 / 27 / 23 / 33 / 74
Stats: 97 / 54 / 73 / 37 / 66 / 88
-Fairy Wind
-Growth
-Leech Seed
-Stun Spore
Comments: Cottonee was brought in for its ability to deliver priority paralysis and priority Leech Seed. This helped a lot during the earlygame and midgame but by the lategame it became increasingly a benchwarmer as other strats made it redundant, with its last major note being crippling Dexio's Espeon. Definitely justified its use and is one core reason why Ultra Sun is easier than Ultra Moon for this challenge.
Dugtrio ['Sup'Sup'Sup] (M)
Lv62 Jolly, Tangling Hair
Caught Vast Poni Canyon, Lv45
IV's: 7 / 23 / 22 / 9 / 1 / 20
EV's [510]: 8 / 252 / 17 / 22 / 7 / 204
Stats: 120 / 182 / 95 / 67 / 93 / 203
-Mud Bomb
-Earth Power
-Dig
-Iron Head
Comments: Dugtrio was originally brought in for certain fights in Trial Captains and while it was underwhelming, it got a spot in the Elite Four team as a backup for Molayne (which was ultimately not needed) and for final Hau to deal with Alolan Raichu. Definitely had some potential to do more, but I'm okay with it despite being limited in what it actually did.
Skarmory [Bladebird] (M)
Lv53 Gentle, Sturdy
Caught Route 17, Lv36
IV's: 19 / 1 / 8 / 6 / 13 / 23
EV's [510]: 10 / 204 / 12 / 103 / 13 / 168
Stats: 143 / 117 / 143 / 64 / 95 / 113
-Swift
-Spikes
-Agility
-Steel Wing
Comments: Skarmory was brought in for one main job: To set up Spikes. This was to offset Sturdy and in some fights, to make fights more consistent. Skarmory definitely did its job in that regard and even helped out against Mina when her Ribombee ran amok. Definitely a great support Pokémon for this run.
Pyukumuku [Trini] (F)
Lv55 Naive, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv17
IV's: 15 / 0 / 27 / 9 / 31 / 3
EV's: 252 / 56 / 31 / 44 / 17 / 32
Stats: 168 / 78 / 166 / 49 / 149 / 17
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Trini was brought in for the Innards Out ability as well as Counter, helping getting through some tough trainer fights by taking out threats with its attributes as well as making Totems and Necrozma variants "free" with its fellow Pyukumuku. It also did several things in the postgame from dealing with Totem Gumshoos and countering a couple of attacks. It did its job.
Pyukumuku [Troto] (F)
Lv52 Lonely, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv19
IV's: 16 / 30 / 14 / 3 / 6 / 28
EV's: 252 / 32 / 12 / 23 / 21 / 20
Stats: 157 / 94 / 130 / 40 / 142 / 26
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Troto was brought in for the Innards Out ability as well as Counter, helping getting through some tough trainer fights by taking out threats with its attributes as well as making Totems and Necrozma variants "free" with its fellow Pyukumuku. It also did several things in the postgame from dealing with Totem Gumshoos and countering a couple of attacks. It did its job.
Pyukumuku [Luene] (M)
Lv57 Naughty, Innards Out
Caught Route 7, Lv18
IV's: 24 / 8 / 5 / 1 / 3 / 31
EV's: 252 / 66 / 31 / 49 / 35 / 27
Stats: 179 / 96 / 160 / 47 / 142 / 32
-Helping Hand
-Taunt
-Safeguard
-Counter
Comments: Luene was brought in for the Innards Out ability as well as Counter, helping getting through some tough trainer fights by taking out threats with its attributes as well as making Totems and Necrozma variants "free" with its fellow Pyukumuku. Got levelled high enough to one round Totem Kommo-o which it did very well, and did several things in the postgame from dealing with Totem Gumshoos and countering a couple of attacks (shoutouts Mega Mewtwo X). It did its job.
Furfrou [URS Dog] (M)
Lv55 Adamant, Fur Coat
Caught Hau'oli City, Lv8
IV's: 2 / 22 / 26 / 11 / 22 / 0
EV's [510]: 101 / 104 / 119 / 57 / 58 / 71
Stats: 161 / 130 / 101 / 81 / 123 / 127
-Tackle
-Growl
-Sand Attack
-Baby-Doll Eyes
Comments: Furfrou was brought in very early as a debuffer. Access to Baby-Doll Eyes and Sand Attack as well as good physical bulk was a very desirable quality and Furfrou definitely did its job, saving several fights and allowing Hawlu to do its job in sweeping things. Eventually fell by the wayside at the league, only finding usage afterwards in the postgame where it helped Hawlu sweep Maxie and Archie. But nevertheless, it did its job.
Noivern [REEEEEEEEEEE] (M)
Lv62 Quirky, Infiltrator
Caught Resolution Cave, Lv56
IV's: 30 / 25 / 2 / 29 / 8 / 4
EV's [510]: 0 / 6 / 0 / 252 / 0 / 252
Stats: 196 / 107 / 105 / 182 / 109 / 199
-Tailwind
-Whirlwind
-Super Fang
-Air Slash
Comments: In all honesty, Noivern could be routed out altogether. Wanted for Tailwind and only used on the Veteran Doubles fight in Poni Gauntlet, which while solid, could be replaced without too many issues. No matter.
Final Final Thoughts
I guess I can just copy/paste most of the things I said in my original Final Thoughts and it would apply. For those who are curious, my main inspiration for this challenge was from those Final Fantasy Self-Imposed Challenge runs where people would try to beat the game with a bunch of restrictions that make the game a lot harder just for the challenge. I thought they were pretty cool and decided to apply it to a Pokémon game by stripping away a lot of the things that help make Pokémon games easier from evolving to moveset changing to using items.
In terms of the main themes of this run, I guess it would be sacrifice and support. Sacrifice comes from the idea of just using Pokémon to achieve some purpose then faint, or get one shot and deal damage in return, which was a common theme from Furfrou's debuffs, Cottonee's one turn stands to inflict some status, and the Pyukumuku doing what a Pyukumuku does best. Support is also another thing that these Pokémon did, but also in a common team structure. Before the endgame where I could get my hands on some legends, you would often see me use Hawlucha, some secondary attacker that I need for some purpose, and a bunch of Pokémon whose main use was to support the party and try to achieve some goal, whether it be a setup sweep or taking out a threat / cheesing a fight.
MVP was definitely Hawlu followed by the Pyukumuku. Hawlu for being a setup sweeper that can be found very early in the game and can remain relevant throughout the entire run. The Pyukumuku while they could be replaced with some other way to cheese through the fights I cheesed with them (for example, Perish Song Lapras), they were a really efficient way to cheese through the fights I wanted to cheese and gave this run a unique identity. LVP would be Pikipek and Noivern. Pikipek was just awful thanks to its terrible IV's and didn't do things really effectively. Noivern, well there was nothing wrong with it, just that I found it to be redundant.
What's next? I'll probably do another challenge run, but in a few months. Already have some ideas in my head but I'm not sure what I will do yet (if I do another thread like this). I'm also interested in some constructive criticism to allow me to improve my writing and whatnot. Definitely had fun with this (though tracking EV's and IV's for optimal calcs was a lot of work), wouldn't have finished if I didn't.
Other than that? I don't really know. Thank you to everyone on the OI Discord who contributed things like names for each of the Pokémon. Finally, thanks for reading this challenge run. I hope I did my best to entertain and inform you throughout this run, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Congrats on finishing this run, Random. Was nice to see all the strategies you came up with to prevail in this run. Now only if it was possible for you do the same run for my UM hack (when it gets finished)..........
