SPOILERS! Sword and Shield in-game team discussion thread

Worldie said:
I don't think I've ever heard anyone before *not* being happy of the exp share not completely breaking the exp curve to the point you have to rotate 20 mons to not overlevel :P
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It's not me despiring the overleveling aspect of the Exp. Broke. It's the fact it just enables me to use so many mons at once. XY and ORAS, I could easily rotate 20 mons around and not have an issue. SM lesso once I got to Poni Island, and USUM was a nightmare, but not like this. The changes to the PC healing (or lack thereof) made it even more annoying to rotate so many mons around, only to realize they were still at half health from earlier fights.
 
I just beat the 4th gym (yes I've been playing for a week and I'm only half-ish way through, I'm really slow/spend too much time raiding or running around the Wild Area). My team at the moment stands at:

Corvisquire (Roald) - Orbeetle (Bryn) - Lanturn (Chester) - Golisopod (Gregor) - Skorupi (Stefan) - Mogrem (Wilhelm)

A few notes
- I've been rotating Pokemon in and out after every route/trip to the Wild Area. I honestly had a bit of a crisis earlier because I had 3+ boxes of Pokemon and I could not decide on what I wanted to use! I think I've settled on the first four, and last two slots are still up for rotation. Actually anyone's spot is up for grabs if I feel like it.
- Corvisquire is fine. The line is one of my favourite bird designs, and Rookidee was pretty lit early on with Hone Claws + Power Trip + STAB. Unfortunately its movepool is pretty stagnant and I've only just been able to upgrade to Drill Peck. Offensively MOR right now so I don't end up pulling him out for big battles often anymore.
- Orbeetle is bulky, decently powerful, and decently speedy! Blipbug needs to be babied and Dottler was pretty passive. Screen support and Struggle Bug were situational to the say the least and I almost dropped it, but since evolving it has become very useful. Got a facelift from the move relearner with Psybeam + Bug Buzz + Hypnosis too!
- Oh Lanturn. I love Lanturn. It's a great design (that translated into 3D exceptionally well). However... Lanturn's stats, aside from HP, and movepool are wonderfully average. It sponges hits decently and Bubble Beam + Discharge are good STABs at least. I love him anyway.
- Golisopod is the MVP. I was worried Emergency Exit would be a problem but he's so bulky he can tank a few hits and dish out massive damage, and with Leftovers can hang above 50% for awhile. Great movepool too. Got everything it needed out of the box with the relearner and water STAB a few levels after evolving. He's the highest leveled right now too, probably because even in bad situations he'll survive and swap out, still netting max EXP. Slow pivoting is surprisingly handy in game sometimes too.
- I picked up Skorupi and Impidimp/Mogrem to take on the Ghost gym, and to bring a little more speed/priority to the team since 3 of them run pretty slow. They did well in the gym battle (thanks to flopping once, and gaining enough levels to learn stronger STAB in Night Slash and Dark Pulse). That GMax Gengar is pretty nasty. Skorupi is kinda paper bag-ish offensively right now so I hope evolution patches that up.

I have Centiskorch, Golett, and Ninjask in the wings. I also had Shellos and Joltik assisting for awhile but decided to consolidate my Water and Electric type. I'm looking to fill the last two slots with Dark, Fairy, Ice, Fighting, or Ground types, that are offensively mixed or special, and have decent speed. At least one Galarian Pokemon too. Maybe another Fire type...

I haven't been using healing items, which has actually been kinda rough, so if my team is beat up I'll camp and cook a Wobbuffett class meal to heal up a little bit. It reminds me of the cooking mechanic from the Tales Of franchise. Plus it gives me an excuse to look at all my cute Pokemon. The routes are annoyingly short however, so its not a mechanic I need to use all that often. A few more trainers and puzzles and optional areas to explore would have been welcome.
 
OK so I think I’m got my Sword team down; I would like some opinions before I confirm it. I’ve also got the gyms I expect each member to perform against:

Inteleon: Should perform well against Kabu, Gordie, and maybe Raihan
Orbeetle: Should be able to handle Milo, Bea, and *maybe* Piers
Dubwool: Nothing in particular, but it should provide help against anyone that isn’t Bea or Gordie
Mamoswine: The only non-new member of my party, should be good against Gordie and I expect it’ll roflstomp Raihan
Toxtricity: *Might* prove useful against Nessa (albeit after copious EXP candy consumption, cuz I’m using the Route 5 one) and probably against Opal
Sirfetch’d: Should come in handy against Nessa’s Drednaw, Gordie, and Piers

Planning to put my Shield team up for review once I figure it out (just need to decide one more team member for that)
 
Aight, I beat the game and then restarted twice to try all starters, here are my opinions:

Inteleon/Coalossal/Flapple/Sirfetch'd/Boltund/Darmanitan-G
Status: End
Time: ca. 25h

First run, new Pokémon, I barely knew their types and all, I run almost blindly lmao
-Inteleon was a real killer, since you can find Scope Lens in-game and that went very well with its signature move Snipe Shot. Sometimes it was just a matter of "Press A to kill", and not much more tbh
Name was James because 007
-I was hyping A LOT for Coalossal as I saw it as a hard block for Fire-types that could capitalize on Steam Engine to steamroll them all (pun intended). Even if it is a Magcargo 2.0 under many aspects (same Def, SpA and Spe), I found myself baiting a Fire move, throw Charlie (Coalossal) on the field, and then profit.
What separates Coalossal from other Fire-types like Cinderace, Centiskorch and the others is a signature move called Tar Shot: not only it slows down the opponent, but also makes them 2x to Fire. This simplified many battles since it just had the bulk to use Tar Shot, go Dynamax if needed, and then destroy everything with Max Flare.
Yeah it was the main Dynamax user, very good HP and nice defenses, with Max Rockfall generating Sand to boost its SpD, and Max Flare to set Sun and be very, very dangerous.
-Flapple has a particular history behind: as an Applin, I was about to thrash it and go for other Grass-types. But after discovering that it had a Defense-dropping Seed Bomb, Dragon Dance, Acrobatics AND Dragon Rush, I just sat and said: "Nice".
Its typing couldn't always grant a DD boost, but many other times it could just stare at its opponent and keep pushing DD to sweep entire opponents.
Also one of my favs, I mean it has apple peel as wings c'mon! And was called Melinda, because I think it is an Italian variety/brand of apples ahah
-Sirfetch'd.
Enough said. I bought Sword mainly for it.
I discovered later that it had stellar Attack, Swords Dance, and First Impression to finish off almost any 20-25% neutral target. Loved him so much, I had it in Run 2 too. Name was Reginald.
-At first Boltund was a filler and a way to defeat Nessa (Applin knew only Astonish...), but match after match it carved itself a niche as a potent attacker with Strong Jaw-boosted Crunch and Play Rough, not to mention hey - it's a dog lol
Called it Duke, as the first corgi owned by Queen Elizabeth II was called Dookie, or Duke.
-Last but not certainly least, Wilma.
Yep, Darmanitan-G has the same impact of a garbage truck filled with solid concrete, hitting you from behind at 300 mph. Gorilla Tactics and Choice Scarf share their downside, so I just went "Hey why not?" when I found the Scarf in Ballonlea.
Ice Punch just was enough, I think running Icicle Crash can be risky as if it miss, you will miss your Darmanitan-G. And I don't really know who decided to give an Ice-type with Band 140 Atk almost the best moves to cover its weak spots: mine had Flare Blitz to dismantle Steel- and opposing Ice-types, Zen Headbutt to crush Fighting-types, and EQ to smash Fire-, Rock-, and other Steel-types.
The fact that Gorilla Tactics is unlocked when Dynamaxing made me go insane, Wilma was the 2nd most used Dynamax yser in my team. Really packed a punch, and hit like a nuclear weapon. Very very suggested.

Thwackey/Barraskewda/Centiskorch/Sirfetch'd/Perrserker
Status: 3rd gym
Time: ca. 9h

Small opinions here as I already reset it to do a Nuzlocke-like 3rd run.
This time I tried Grookey as many friends and the #GrookeyGang tribe suggested me.
Turned out I wasn't always confident and had trust issue with the real power of this grassy ape.
Barraskewda on the other hand was just the missile I thought it was.
Centiskorch is quite the guy, being the main Dynamax in my team alongside Perrserker.
Sirfetch'd.
Perrserker was a pleasant discovery: a Tough Claws, 100+ Atk, Steel-type Meowth. Quite a Viking YES.

Scorbunny/???/???/???/???/???
Status: Beginning
Time: started now lmao

Aight so I tried 2 starters, now the one I'm missing.
So far I saw Cinderace being quite a solid attacker with Pyro Ball, let's see how it works.
I have no real plan on the rest of the team, but since I can't really Nuzlocke a game with overworld encounters, I'd figure out some ruleset specifically for SwSh.
Will do a log in a specific site that I will put in my signature later on. Just stay tuned lol
 
Just defeated Leon to complete the main story.

I'm... disappointed with his battle. Basically, for two things:
- The unreasonable level spike that happens from Hop in the finals to him. It's more than 15 levels across the 3 major battles that happen across the way! I wanted to get the game done this weekend so I used Exp Candies to jump from low-50s to low-60s for all my Pokémon.
- That his team is actually not really threatening. Or at least it isn't if you picked Sobble. Outside of Haxorus and its Outrages, his team is not very difficult to deal with. He also lacks any kind of strategy (or attempt at one) unlike Kukui.

At the end, my rotation party had 16 pokémon, 2 more than the one I used in Let's Go.

Level 61 Sirfetch'd
Level 62 Dracovish
Level 62 Sandaconda
Level 62 Dragapult
Level 63 Inteleon
Level 63 Duraludon

Level 61 Arctovish
Level 61 Dracozolt
Level 62 Toxtricity
Level 62 Arctozolt
Level 62 Corviknight
Level 62 Drednaw
Level 62 Coalossal
Level 62 Cramorant
Level 62 Eternatus
Level 63 Flapple
 
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Lucchini said:
Is anybody planning an ingame tier list topic for this gen? Should be fairly complex taking into account the existence of the Wild Area and the forced Exp Share.
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I feel like it's a bit too early for that at the moment, a lot of people haven't even beaten the game yet.
 
Well. My team ended up pretty overleveled for the Champion Cup, I have to say. I didn't get how the Exp Candy would affect my overall experience until it was too late.

Inteleon: A monster in the first half of the game, but its frailty and lack of coverage start making it more difficult to use over time. A glass-cannon, but still good.

Gallade: A great member of the team. Fighting moves are so very useful in the later parts of the game, Gallade is probably my most used 'Mon overall.

Doublade: kept this guy with an Eviolite as my defensive wall. Not used as often, but it could take a lot of hits, and the AI seemed to have issues with its resistances, somehow.

Togekiss: I just used the one traded to you in-game, and it was great. Hits hard, and Fairy typing is very useful.

Darmanitan-G: Hits like freight train. Choice Band-ability, combined with a Choice Scarf, and that thing hurts.

Toxtricity: The last addition to my team, and it was very needed. Its STAB combo is very good, and boosted-Boomburst is great for the rest.

Gallade and Toxtricity were definitely the stars of the Champion Cup for me.
 
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Here was my team and my thoughts on them:

Chad (Sirfetch’d): Preformed exactly as I expected. Hit hard, crit often, didn’t last forever with the low speed and meh bulk. Evolved stupidly early

KILLDOZER (Barraskewda): Pretty fun to use- learns like ever TR, evolves early, and OHKOes so much stuff. Very frail tho and could rarely sweep most major fights

Grimmsnarl: Basically a retyped, less critty Sirfetch’d. Levels up oddly fast and can ride thru the game with just STABs

Chandelure: Late addition to the team (like post gym 8 lol). Originally a sinistea was in that slot but mine was a genuine sinistea and evolving that was not gonna happen in the immediate future. Chandelure is a killing machine, what a twist

Arctozolt: Added him cuz he‘a a cutie. Pretty bulky with assault vest and avalanche+freeze dry alone is pretty great. Unfortunately the electric STAB is thundershock until like level 50 or something. Blegh

KILLDOZER 2 (Dracovish): Sadly Fishious Rend is postgame, but my favorite new pokemon of the gen (worth the grind in sword to find the fossils) was pretty damn good. Gave it lefties and it could last a while and it hit hard back with various fang moves and the occasional Draco Meteor.

my levels stayed a few over the opponents outside of Leon, who I was underleved for (57-60). Fun game, I was constantly swapping around team members with the portable box system until I finally found something I liked and it’s nice to have that freedom. I could see no-raid no-dynamax runs being a semi-decent challenge
 
ChronoRebel_GreatGryffon said:
- Corviknight (main Gigantamax candidate)
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You'll be disappointed to know that you have to *actually catch a gigantamax Corviknight in a raid* in order to do this, something you don't get a chance to do until shortly before the end of the game and even there it requires to actually find & beat a 3+ star gigacorvi raid on top of landing the catch.

Dragapult is also both very rare and with difficult weather mechanics so unless you're purposely altering the clock data / getting one traded, it's difficult to obtain (plus, it evolves atrociously late, you're risking to have to carry a complete deadweight mon for most of the game)
 
Worldie said:
You'll be disappointed to know that you have to *actually catch a gigantamax Corviknight in a raid* in order to do this, something you don't get a chance to do until shortly before the end of the game and even there it requires to actually find & beat a 3+ star gigacorvi raid on top of landing the catch.

Dragapult is also both very rare and with difficult weather mechanics so unless you're purposely altering the clock data / getting one traded, it's difficult to obtain (plus, it evolves atrociously late, you're risking to have to carry a complete deadweight mon for most of the game)
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Dragapult being a late comer, not much of a problem. I can have another mon in the 6th spot till i get Dragapult. About G-max able mon being Max Raid catch exclusive, I knew that, but I had hoped it could be done relatively soon in the game. Bummer, but if RNG isn’t on my side, I can live without it.

Those things aside, what about the team as as whole ?
 
ChronoRebel_GreatGryffon said:
Dragapult being a late comer, not much of a problem. I can have another mon in the 6th spot till i get Dragapult. About G-max able mon being Max Raid catch exclusive, I knew that, but I had hoped it could be done relatively soon in the game. Bummer, but if RNG isn’t on my side, I can live without it.

Those things aside, what about the team as as whole ?
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Looks okay, but from personal experience i'd recommend you to not stack physical attackers as you're doing, you might end up regretting it at some point... :P



Also, I realized I never went out and posted what team I ended up playing after my original thoughts.
Worldie said:
- Grookey: cause, grass master race
- Wooloo (at least for a while): because it's just too cute for its own good and must be protected

If they're not too rare / off track:
- Galarian Ponyta: I must maintain my degenerate weeb level
- Impidimp: I just love the typing. Been wanting a Fairy/Dark for ages as they're my 2 favourite types.

The other 2 slots i'll fill with whatever I end up needing, maybe Togekiss and a Eevolution if I run into them.
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I did start Grookey as I planned.
I grabbed about everything I could find on the way, original team was pretty much just whatever route 1 stuff i could find, including a Fluffy Wooloo.
Note: I played on *SET* for for me being unable to swap in certain mons was a issue, and didn't use Camp aside literally once to check it out, so no Arnie bonuses either.

This was my final team (slightly higher levels by the final battle of the main story)
1574696697168.png

I'll be honest... I was disappointed.
It hits hard, and gets some early dark coverage, but its moveset is eeeh... and its low speed actually made it take a beating even from Hau's Intelleon on top of not really being able to swap into anything.
Also the fact you end up giving Hau Intelleon and Leon Cinderace, both very fast glass cannons, is a big yikes if you're playing on SET.
I picked it up at start thinking to evolve it into Corviknight but... I just didn't like the fact it barely does damage. Being pure flying over Flying/Normal also means no stab on normal attacks which are quite plenty early...
Actually funny and adorable but... bad level up moveset, low damage... it's definitely adorable, just not exactly going to carry any team anywhere sadly. A bit disappointing, I'd rather let them stay and sleep on the road instead
Purposely aimed for a Drizzle Pelipper at start, caught and carried over until almost the end. It actually hits pretty hard once it evolves (even though you can't really get much more than Water Pulse without raids), and it'd have been the actual star of the team if not for the little detail that it also boosted Hau's Intelleon's damage to the point I couldn't swap anything into it and had to always sacrifice one mon to let Boltund come in and oneshot it.
Actually pleasantly surprised by the little guy. Ofc he's adorable, but Boltund is actually pretty damn good, expecially once you get early access to Thunder Fang TM. I actually wasn't carrying him around at start, but caught a Boltund later on and well, 121 base speed also made it outspeed basically everything for that fast Nuzzle... probably my best pokemon, I won't lie. 10/10 would recommend this good boi for any run
Acquired a Mongrel in the forest while trying to pick a Galar Ponyta (I had very bad luck with spawns in the end). I wanted to try the new "fairy/dark", honestly he is a bit disappointing to use in game since he's slow, but it has high enough defense to usually take a hit and hit hard in return, expecially once it evolves.
I caught this at some point and I replaced Rillaboom with it. It had Swift Swim, so I could sinergize well with my own Pelipper + could actually swap into the horrible rock weaknesses I was stacking. It has solid coverage honestly and being only weak to grass helps a ton. Would recommend if you want a water type that isn't Sobble
Caught this in the a raid, with HA... I didn't want to use it at first but I didn't have a fire type so gave it a go. It gets early TM love with elemental fangs, but tends to be a bit slow for my likings. It didn't feel very good for SET as switching it in means usually taking 2 hits (one when you switch, and one when you get outspeed as well), but it surely packs a punch.
Got a Defiant Pawniard and I have a thing for Defiant mons. I'll have to say though, dragging that Pawniard all the way from lvl 35 or so to 52 was a terrible slog, but once it evolved it could easily run down anything that wasn't fire type. One of my favourite mons
Got this one off a raid. I just found it adorable and I didn't have a psychic type so why not. It's fast, gets good coverage and good stabs. Sadly outside of raids it comes veeery late in the game, but I wish more people could enjoy this adorable belly guy.
 
Just finished the main story a few days ago. All in all, I quite liked the team I used, though I might sub some members out for others if I venture to replay the game sometime.
  • Inteleon (named "Isaac") was a pretty alright pick, and I don't regret committing to Sobble back in March. However, it was a bit too "press A to win" for my tastes; speedy attackers tend to make in-game runs boring, in my experience. Its movepool is also pretty bland, mostly being limited to Water moves with a few utility options like U-Turn and Sucker Punch being the best coverage it gets via levelup. (Mind you, those are both physical moves on a special attacker.) All in all, Inteleon wasn't one of my favorite team members, but I'd still definitely use it again since I always stick with my starter and Sobble is easily my favorite of the three Galar has to offer. (He totally got screwed compared to the other two, though; Cinderace and Rillaboom get Protean and Grassy Surge respectively, meanwhile Inteleon is stuck with SNIPER? Really??)
  • Corviknight (named "Meta Knight") really surprised me with how much I enjoyed using it. I caught it as a Rookidee on Route 1 (though I later shuffled it out for a G-Max Corviknight with Mirror Armor), and as it evolved, its typing carried it to being easily one of my most useful team members. I just love how they made a tanky regional bird for once; the closest we had to that before was Noctowl, which was... not great. Couple that with an awesome design throughout all stages of its evolution, and you have easily my new favorite regional bird. (Sorry, Staraptor, but you had your 13 years in the sun.)
  • Centiskorch (named "Stache") was another new mon that really surprised me with how much I liked it. I know it's total beans competitively (quad weakness to rocks, hello!), but that beefy HP stat combined with those offenses and its early access to moves like Scald and Leech Life made it a godsend on my team. (And since mine had Flash Fire, I loved sending it out against Hop's Scorbunny to render it completely unusable.) I swear Fire/Bug is just a blessed typing or something, seeing how Volcarona is also one of my all-time favorite Pokemon. Also, its Gigantamax form is SUPER COOL, even if it's not exactly viable. Centi was a mon I mostly decided to use on a whim, and boy, am I glad I did.
  • Appletun (named "Slapple") was a mon I knew for certain I was going to use as soon as I saw it. Applin was a design I fell in love with at first sight, and this thing's stats, typing, movepool, and ability all sealed the deal for me. Grass/Dragon is such a cool and unique typing that let me use a Dragon-type on an IGT for once, not to mention it rounded out the FWG core with Centiskorch and Inteleon. Keeping it in the back of the party until I got a Sweet Apple from that one NPC in Hammerlocke was a bit of a pain, but beyond that point, it was nothing but fun times for me and Appletun. The only problem I found with it was that its superb experience group made it always trail just ahead of the other party members in terms of level (thanks, EXP All), but even that didn't stop me from using it every now and then. This thing is easily my favorite new mon of the generation, to the point that I still take it into the Battle Tower along with Corviknight and a few others.
  • Weezing (named "Doug") was... okay. I still love Galarian Weezing's design (it's easily one of, if not my favorite new design of the generation), and it getting Misty Surge through HA is pretty neat, but raising one up from a Koffing was a bit of a slog. Once it did evolve, it didn't really wow me in terms of performance, though it got the job done against opposing Fairies, I guess (granted, Corviknight kind of had that down pat anyway). I'm actually struggling to think of things to say about it in retrospect. It really was just... there for most of the game. I still adore this dapper lad, but on a future playthrough, I'll probably end up using a Psychic-type in its place, like Malamar or Galarian Rapidash.
  • Arctozolt (named "Sneezie") was a bit of a last-minute decision on my part, and one that I'm ultimately glad I made. Electric/Ice is an incredibly awesome and unique typing that covers two of my favorite types, and although Arctozolt starts out at level 10 and is kind of meh stat-wise, I still love the little guy for what it is. At first, I had to rely on TRs to get any usable STAB moves on it since - well, just look at this thing's levelup movepool - but when I did, the BoltBeam STAB coverage served me well and let Arctozolt nuke anything in its path. Overall, I liked using Arctozolt, though in a future playthrough, I may end up subbing it out for another Ice-type like Eiscue or Mr. Rime (if I can find either of them before the endgame, that is).
 
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Just started Sword, not much progress because I've been raiding a bit, but Gyarados is absolutely busted thanks to move reminder being infinite (meaning you can basically pick up Ice Fang almost immediately), and learning fucking Waterfall literally at level 21. The Magikarp phase is basically irrelevant with permanent exp share and the presence of exp candies and it's broken enough that I already have it at level 20 before even hitting the first gym off just like raiding for an hour for candies.

Stone evolution mons get an amazing ingame buff now with all of their pre-evo moves added into their natural learnset. With the infinite move reminder, you basically want to evolve mons as soon as you get the stone. If Gyarados wasnt silly enough I evolved Nuzleaf at the actual first gym town and managed to pick up Sucker Punch, Extrasensory and Leaf Blade from the reminder, stuff I wouldnt have access to at level 20 and would usually have to wait until the mid 30s even to pick up.

(oh and apparently you can tutor Nuzleaf Explosion which is pretty silly, never had to use it tho lol)

So yeah, by gym 1 i already had a Gyarados and a Shiftry running around with movesets that would honestly qualify for lategame. Game balance is hilariously out of whack with this one.

Other mons:
I picked Scorbunny and seems like hes probably the best starter of rhe bunch. Solid and gets cool coverage in Double Kick, which becomes the totally balanced Max Knuckle.
Rookidee is an earlygame coolmon with HC+Power Trip but doesnt do much more
My first raid got me Roggenrola which was overlevelled as fuck and was my carry-mon for a while in wild area
Everyone else kinda got outshone by Gyarados and Shiftry so um yeah LOL
 
TM13IceBeam said:
just like raiding for an hour for candies.
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I'd just mention that doing any raiding and using the drops *will* break any difficulty the game would have.
They provide massive amount of exp candies AND high BP TRs (stuff like fireblast, thunderbolt, earthquake,...)

Everyone has mentioned that if you want any sort of challenge from SwSh, you *must* opt out of arnie and raid drops.
(raid catches on the other hand tend to not break anything as they'll be scaled to your level once caught, at least)
 
Worldie said:
I'd just mention that doing any raiding and using the drops *will* break any difficulty the game would have.
They provide massive amount of exp candies AND high BP TRs (stuff like fireblast, thunderbolt, earthquake,...)

Everyone has mentioned that if you want any sort of challenge from SwSh, you *must* opt out of arnie and raid drops.
(raid catches on the other hand tend to not break anything as they'll be scaled to your level once caught, at least)
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I raided, but used the candies to bring new catches up to speed with the rest of my team level wise- actually pumping a high level team member with more candies tho is an easy way to instawin the game. Luckily I got mostly mediocre TRs overall but I could see how some could also screw over difficulty
 
Worldie said:
I'd just mention that doing any raiding and using the drops *will* break any difficulty the game would have.
They provide massive amount of exp candies AND high BP TRs (stuff like fireblast, thunderbolt, earthquake,...)

Everyone has mentioned that if you want any sort of challenge from SwSh, you *must* opt out of arnie and raid drops.
(raid catches on the other hand tend to not break anything as they'll be scaled to your level once caught, at least)
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honestly even without exp candies i think gyarados is easily one of the best mons simply because you can just pretend the magikarp phase doesn't even fucking exist, with exp share basically being permanent. you can just catch karp as early as the 2nd rival battle, let him gain exp passively and he'll likely evolve maybe around just in time for the fire gym latest to wreck shit. his movepool has zero reliance on TRs because he literally gets everything he needs to start snowballing off level ups (bite, waterfall, ice fang, crunch)

i've used gyarados multiple times in older gens and s/s incarnation has got to be the most broken one yet in-game. gyara's issue has always been shitty movepool when he evolves unless there are TMs for him to use to tide over until he gets actually good stuff off level ups. s/s literally averts this by giving you like... his 2nd best stab move for competitive battling? 1 level after evolution? wack lol
 
I finished my story-mode run about a week or so ago.

Mudsdale is a powerhouse as usual during the playthrough with its Stamina ability, capable of taking out huge chunks of AI teams with STAB Earthquake. I didn't run into too many special sweepers and if I did I'm sure I switched out to another member of my team that could take the hit or OHKO the sweeper. This is the second Pokémon I got to level 100 in this game.

Bolthund ripped through half the game with Play Rough, STAB Electric, and Crunch. I wasn't even lucky enough to pull an attack-boosting nature on my run, I'm going to have to correct that with a mint later. Crunch + Electric offers decent type coverage to begin with and Play Rough helped add just a little more. It wants to attack first and hit hard. This is my first 100 level 'mon.
 
Going to get Shield for Christmas, so I have ample time to plan out my team! Thinking of going for a team of:

  • Inteleon
  • Boltund
  • Corviknight
  • Grimmsnarl
  • Grapploct
  • Frosmoth
I’ve got a decent balance of availability and don’t have any type overlap, which as far as in-game goes is more than good enough for me. All I’ve gotta do now is think up some good nicknames for them - I’ve already settled on “Balberith” for Grimmsnarl, but for the others I’m at a loss at the moment.
 
VagueKatti said:
  • Grimmsnarl
  • Grapploct
  • Frosmoth
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I'm just going to mention you that all of those are available quite late in the game (the last 2 almost by the end of the storyline) or are available via very rare spawns in wild area (in the case of Impidimp's line, which otherwise is available normally about halfway into the game).

You might need some ...earlier alternatives for Snom and Grapploct ....
 
Worldie said:
I'd just mention that doing any raiding and using the drops *will* break any difficulty the game would have.
They provide massive amount of exp candies AND high BP TRs (stuff like fireblast, thunderbolt, earthquake,...)

Everyone has mentioned that if you want any sort of challenge from SwSh, you *must* opt out of arnie and raid drops.
(raid catches on the other hand tend to not break anything as they'll be scaled to your level once caught, at least)
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Raids don't quite scale. My first trip into the wild area was level 16 Hoothoots and a level 18 duskull and a level 20 blipbug.

I think raids just have a range per star rating and there's a mid-game upgrade to the 30s followed by the post game upgrade to the late 50s-60s
 
Worldie said:
I'm just going to mention you that all of those are available quite late in the game (the last 2 almost by the end of the storyline) or are available via very rare spawns in wild area (in the case of Impidimp's line, which otherwise is available normally about halfway into the game).

You might need some ...earlier alternatives for Snom and Grapploct ....
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Thanks for the warning - because of the availability issues and learning that I can’t disable the EXP Share, I opted to try a very different approach.

I’ve managed to assemble a rotation of 10 ‘mons, which not only cover all types but have no overlap whatsoever. They’re also all new to gen 8.

Water - Inteleon

Fire/Rock - Coalossal

Grass/Dragon - Flapple (playing Shield, I’ll ask a friend to trade the item)

Flying/Steel - Corviknight

Normal/Psychic - Indeedee

Electric/Poison - Toxtricity

Fighting - Grapploct

Ground/Ghost - Runerigus

Dark/Fairy - Grimmsnarl

Bug/Ice - Frosmoth

Still definitely has some availability issues, but organizing every type like this is wayyyy too satisfying to give up.
 
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