Sword & Shield **Official news only** DLC Crown Tundra 22nd October

I'm honestly not sure myself but I've never seen a single Dusk Lycan used in any VGC stream or gameplay I watched, and I assumed you'd at least see a occasional one in meme teams or low ladder...
After some googling it seems that neither 2018 or 2019 banned Lycanroc Dusk but always went out of their way to mention banning Ash-Greninja.
Here's an excerpt the 2019 rules in particular
  • All Pokémon from National Pokédex No. 001 through 807 are allowed, with the following restrictions:
    • Mythical Pokémon and Ash-Greninja are not permitted.
    • Players may only include two of the following Pokémon in their teams: Mewtwo, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Xerneas, Yveltal, Zygarde, Cosmog, Cosmoem, Solgaleo, Lunala, Necrozma.
  • Pokémon must have the Alola symbol, showing they were caught in the Alola region.
[side note lmao they really let you bring cosmog & cosmoem....did anyone risk their entire bracket just to meme.....]
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

On to new Horizons!
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So I’m about to replay the whole game + DLC, CT is clearly postgame content, but when should IoA optimally be played to try and fit with the main story?
From the levels involved, I believe that the "intended" route of Isle of Armor is akin to:
-go there as soon as you hit the wild area
-Do the first trial
-Go back and mess with Milo & Nessa
-Second trial
-Go back and do Kabu
-Third trial, get kubfu
-Go to hammerlocke, maybe start going to bea?
-Go back, do the Tower
-finish the game
-finish the postgame
-G-Max Urshifu Quest
-bonus round: go start crown tundra now
-Final battle at the IoA
-bonus round: now you're all tundra

note that this is probably really optimistic considering you get the exp charm against your will and I'm sure if you bother capturing pokemon or raids or whatever you're going to reach the intended levels anyway, But it's probably the intent that you would weave IoA in & out of the first half of your adventure so you have your Urshifu ready for the second half


Ha-ha....that's really funny. I wonder why Light That Burns The Sky of all possible things gets the copyright claim and nothing else.

This actualy feels like a conversation we had before and I think we determined that Dusk was, in fact, legal?
Based on my practice with Isle of Armor, I actually think the most optimal path is more like this:

- Sign up for the Gym Challenge at Motostoke, battle Hop afterwards
- Go to the Isle via Wedgehurst, battle Klara/Avery then enter the Dojo and battle Mustard
- Do Route 3+4, then Milo
- Trials 1+2
- Travel Route 5
- Do Trial 3 once you reach Hulbury in the main game, now you have Kubfu
- Do Nessa, then circle back to Motostoke and now do Kabu
- Now Kubfu should be ideally ready to go assuming you also did the four viewing spots on IoA with it, so it's now time to do the Towers

For the main story, this is what I found to be the most ideal path from my experience. While you can *start* IoA as soon as you get to the Wild Area, it's more optimal to do it after signing up for the Gym Challenge as then you'll be more on par with the first two battles there.

It's also worth going back there a few times mid game even after getting Urshifu, first when you fully evolve your starter so that you can Gmax them (also do some Raid battles there along the way for more Max Shrooms for Gmax Urshifu later on) and again once you get the Water Bike mid-late game to explore the sea areas of the Isle, especially if you want to evolve a Galarian Slowpoke or just look for more Pokemon there.
 
I need to pull a Worldie again...

How exactly do you catch G-Moltres? Peony implies you're meant to "cut it off", but I can't seem to ever be faster than it even when it's cycling around very large islands or rock formations :x
 
I need to pull a Worldie again...

How exactly do you catch G-Moltres? Peony implies you're meant to "cut it off", but I can't seem to ever be faster than it even when it's cycling around very large islands or rock formations :x
Start from the train station. It flies right across the sea before turning around and going to the dojo; so rather than chase it, you can cycle off to the dojo first and cut it off there.
 

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
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I wonder why Light That Burns The Sky of all possible things gets the copyright claim and nothing else.
Not only it, but also some other Z-Moves like the Starter's Signature Z-Moves. Apparently it has to do them being used in trailers, since its a several second long animation it's easy for the Youtube bots to pick it up and flag it. If the Z-Move was shown in a trailer in full then it's flaggable.
 
Dear sir allow me to let you know I love you
yeah I fell into the chase trap too until realizign that the circuit it goes around the island seems to be hard set, so you probably are meant to see the general path it travels and try waiting it out

Not only it, but also some other Z-Moves like the Starter's Signature Z-Moves. Apparently it has to do them being used in trailers, since its a several second long animation it's easy for the Youtube bots to pick it up and flag it. If the Z-Move was shown in a trailer in full then it's flaggable.
ah, the Algorithm strikes once more, then
 
yeah I fell into the chase trap too until realizign that the circuit it goes around the island seems to be hard set, so you probably are meant to see the general path it travels and try waiting it out
To be fair it'd also be nice if I hadn't spent the last 30 minutes trying to get a +6 Moltres in several types of balls and it's still there
 
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I really liked going after the birds, by the way. Articuno's illusions were a bit annoying, but I'm amazed that they finally made roaming Pokémon interesting. Turns out that when you translate Pokémon into a 3D environment where you can see the roamer in question and chase after them and have actual things to figure out, the concept is super interesting! Zapdos especially was very fun to chase down.
 
I really liked going after the birds, by the way. Articuno's illusions were a bit annoying, but I'm amazed that they finally made roaming Pokémon interesting. Turns out that when you translate Pokémon into a 3D environment where you can see the roamer in question and chase after them and have actual things to figure out, the concept is super interesting! Zapdos especially was very fun to chase down.
I mean honestly the most important thing about this is that they dont keep running away
 
Zapdos IMO was the easiest but wild pokemon kinda were annoying, bad luck caused me to use around 30 something pokeballs.
Moltres- was the hardest, I managed to False swipe it but my gengar kept on sleeping it until it spammed nasty plot almost killing my full team, I had to battle it twice, and managed to start at the Water Tower and cut it off around one of the islands. Sharkpedos almost got me multiple times both times I went to battle it.
Articuno I had to chase twice but battle once, I caught on the 2nd time and noticed the real one taunts before spinning(probably known by everyone else at this point) and managed to have good luck and caught it in around 14 pokeballs.
 
Moltres- was the hardest, I managed to False swipe it but my gengar kept on sleeping it until it spammed nasty plot almost killing my full team, I had to battle it twice, and managed to start at the Water Tower and cut it off around one of the islands. Sharkpedos almost got me multiple times both times I went to battle it.
Moltres is particularly painful... it has a solid moveset and it's inevitable to have to endure a +6 very angery bird plowing through your team.
Took me 57 balls until it finally settled to stay in the Premiere Ball despite the red HP and paralysis... Throwing in Zacian-C is possibly the best option as at level 100 it can facetank 3-5 (depending on EVs) +6 hits before needing to be healed, which combined with paralysis and occasional hurricane miss means you generally only have to heal every 6 or so turns.

Painful.

Whoever said that guaranteed catch legendaryes are a sin and "it was fun when we had 3 catch rate leges", I hate you.
 

Pikachu315111

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Moltres is particularly painful... it has a solid moveset and it's inevitable to have to endure a +6 very angery bird plowing through your team.
Took me 57 balls until it finally settled to stay in the Premiere Ball despite the red HP and paralysis... Throwing in Zacian-C is possibly the best option as at level 100 it can facetank 3-5 (depending on EVs) +6 hits before needing to be healed, which combined with paralysis and occasional hurricane miss means you generally only have to heal every 6 or so turns.

Painful.

Whoever said that guaranteed catch legendaryes are a sin and "it was fun when we had 3 catch rate leges", I hate you.
Zapdos gave me the most problem because it kept criting and decreasing my Pokemon's Defense. The other two were annoying (as well as the Swords of Justices) but had an easier time.
 
In theory, would it be quicker to start a new file; race to Wedgehurst station and then the Crown Tundra; unlock Raid Adventures and use Necrozma to get your free Ability Patch than it would be to get the 200 Dynite Ore?
 
In theory, would it be quicker to start a new file; race to Wedgehurst station and then the Crown Tundra; unlock Raid Adventures and use Necrozma to get your free Ability Patch than it would be to get the 200 Dynite Ore?
You need to complete the Tundra to unlock the UB quest and you specifically need the Necrozma from that Adventure to complete it. Judging by the text files, there's specifically a check for the right Necrozma otherwise Peony will note that it isn't the right one
 
You need to complete the Tundra to unlock the UB quest and you specifically need the Necrozma from that Adventure to complete it. Judging by the text files, there's specifically a check for the right Necrozma otherwise Peony will note that it isn't the right one
Damn. Thank you
 
You need to complete the Tundra to unlock the UB quest and you specifically need the Necrozma from that Adventure to complete it. Judging by the text files, there's specifically a check for the right Necrozma otherwise Peony will note that it isn't the right one
There is, indeed. I can attest to that as I started showing Peony all my USUM Ultra Beasts and made a specific comment that Necrozma wasn't from "this place". You need one caught in the Max Lair (or at the very least have one caught in Gen VIII, but it's not like there's another method that does not involve hacking).
 
There is, indeed. I can attest to that as I started showing Peony all my USUM Ultra Beasts and made a specific comment that Necrozma wasn't from "this place". You need one caught in the Max Lair (or at the very least have one caught in Gen VIII, but it's not like there's another method that does not involve hacking).
Not quite, you could transfer the necrozma over from another save, probably wouldn't work, but if the requirements were just captured in gen8(which they probably aren't) it could work.
 
Since the game specifically tracks captures done in your Adventure separate from just owning it, it probably does specifically have to be Necrozma from that file's Adventure because that's one of the real flags its looking at.


Likewise I imagine there's a bunch of similar flags involved with ending the Calyrex, Bird and Regi quests
 
I have completed the Crown Tundra. I wanted to post my thoughts in it in a similar way to my previous posts about the main game and the Isle of Armor, but I will keep things a bit shorter this time around.

I started playing the Crown Tundra on the release date of October 23rd (as I live in Europe) and I beat it yesterday. Beat it, as in having completed it by my own standards, if nothing else. Beating it took me a little more than a week, which is fine.
First of all, I really liked the Crown Tundra on the whole. It was really fun to play through.

Before I started, I wasn’t super motivated to go through it as I felt that I really needed a break from Pokémon (which I still do, more about that later), but I still started preparing a new team for it and then I started playing it on the release date.

I like the environments on the Tundra. I love snow, both IRL and in video games, and more cold areas in Pokémon can never hurt if you ask me. In terms of regional layout, the Crown Tundra felt a bit more linear compared to the Isle of Armor. The Tundra has three dead ends while the Isle of Armor felt more like a circle with one dead end at best. I don’t mind it, just an observation. And the areas on the Crown Tundra felt really big, far bigger than I had expected.

I liked the story too. Or rather, the stories. I decided to do them in order, so I started with the Calyrex story, then I did the Regis, then the birds and lastly the Swords of Justice. I have not completed the UB/Necrozma story though, and I’m not sure if I will either. Maybe, but probably not.

My favorite story was the one with Calyrex. I, like many others, thought that Calyrex’s design was really weird at first. But after seeing it in the game, playing through the story about it and seeing it change expression multiple times, made me like it a lot more. I liked the lore/backstory for Calyrex and how it got to reunite with its horse in the end. The stories for the others felt less developed but they were still enjoyable enough. I really liked the way they handled the birds as roamers this time around. I detested the way roaming legendaries worked in the gen 2-5 games, but it feels like they can really do something great with them now that the games are in 3D. The puzzles to unlock the regis were fun but mostly easy, though I failed with the one for Registeel and had to look it up even if should have been super obvious from the start.

As for the possible choices of Pokémon, I went with Spectrier and Regieleki. I knew almost nothing about the horses before I started playing, but I went with the Ghost-type horse since Ghost is my second favorite type. I did not know what it would look like, but I really like Spectrier’s design. It is also a fast special attacker which I prefer over a slow physical attacker, so I feel that I made the right choice. I wasn’t as sure about the Regis, but I went with Regieleki since it seemed fun. It seems to have a rather lackluster movepool, though. But whatever, I’ll probably not use it for anything more serious than my upcoming mid-game team anyway.

I like how the DLC lets you choose between different Pokémon/forms depending on your own, as opposed to it being dependent on which game version you picked. That way, you still have a choice even after getting the game. It feels like a step forward compared to in the past, and that’s good.

Regarding Dynamax Adventures, I have only tried it once so far, which was the one time you have to go through it during the story. I got myself a Suicune, which is cool. From what I understand, it seems to be pre-determined that you always get a Suicune? But I don’t mind as it is my favorite Johto legendary and I can never have too many of it. Not sure if I am going to try to catch all the other legends (probably not, but we’ll see) but even so, appreciate that the option to get all of them exists. I like catching legendaries, but I caught all in both US/UM and OR/AS rather recently. Though in reality, it was 2 and 4 years ago, respectively. But it still feels very recent. Because of that, I don’t feel super motivated to do it again, especially not since I will probably not use most of them for anything this time around.

This also makes S/S with the Expansion Pass take the new top spot as the games in the series with the most legendaries to catch, which is great. And they added a mythical too, Keldeo! It is one of my top three favorite mythicals, which is awesome! I kind of wish the game itself had given more hints about Keldeo existing without an event and how you get it to appear, but whatever! I’m super happy about it! Now I can finally train a nicknamed Keldeo of my own. Which I am surely going to do, it will be a member of my future mid-game team.

Like with the Isle of Armor, the Crown Tundra brought back many old Pokémon, including several favorites of mine. Notably Dragonite, Altaria, Walrein, Salamence, Metagross, Garchomp, Magmortar, Audino, Carracosta, Archeops, Cryogonal, Tyrantrum and Aurorus. Plus a ton of legendaries, not listing them since all old ones were added to the games. I am also very surprised about the fact that the Hoenn starters were apparently added to the games with this update? It seems you can get them through Dynamax Adventures. Strange, but I don’t mind.

I like how they brought back Audino, it means another great way to train and level grind. I also really like how you can catch fossils in the wild! That’s just so great. Even after 24 years, the Pokémon games can add new, small things like this that has never happened before!

But even so, there are still many old Pokémon that I’m missing. How I wish dexit wasn’t a thing… but now it is, and I have more or less accepted it at this point.

While I think the Crown Tundra is fun, it isn’t perfect. For me, the biggest issue it has is this: similar to the regular wild area and the Isle of Armor, it has zero regular trainers. I also wish it had more trainer battles in general, the only mandatory one is the first battle against Peony. Which was fun, but I was there was more. It felt like the Isle of Armor had considerably more trainer battles. But on a positive note, it seems like you can have a daily rematch with Peony after completing the story, so that’s great.

There’s also the Galarian Star Tournament. I tried it once and it was fun, I might try it more times in the future, we’ll have to see.

After playing through the Crown Tundra, I can definitely say once and for all that I prefer overworld encounters over random encounters. For me, and the way I play Pokémon, overworld encounters encourage exploration while random encounters hinder it. I think overworld encounters are amazing while random encounters are more of a burden and a hinderance, I really hope they will continue with overworld encounters in the future and move away more and more from random encounters.
Like with the Isle of Armor, I decided to make a new team for the Tundra. This is my fourth full in-game team for Sword. I named it the Tundra team for obvious reasons. I did not expect the Crown Tundra to feature “level scaling” since the Isle of Armor didn’t despite what was said before the release, so I trained the entire team to level 60 before starting on the Crown Tundra. Which was a good thing since the wild Pokémon were at around level 60 when I arrived, and I was even underleveled in the first battle against Peony since his team was at around level 70.

I used only Galarian Pokémon and forms here even if I considered using some older Pokémon, notably for a Fairy-type. None of the team members have Hidden Abilities even if several of them would benefit from that. I bred them with specific Natures but they do not have good IVs and they are not properly EV-trained.

Team at a glance:
1604338542799.png
1604338580076.png
1604338706276.png
1604338734719.png
1604338806499.png
1604338814357.png


Team details:

1604338534721.png

Rillaboom (M) @ Miracle Seed
Ability: Overgrow
Nature: Adamant
- Drum Beating
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- U-Turn

The only Galar starter I hadn’t used yet; it was an obvious choice for a first member of this team. Drum Beating for STAB and a cool signature move, Knock Off and Drain Punch for coverage, they also have the side effects of removing opposing held items or recovering HP. U-Turn to escape from battles if it was up against a bad matchup.

1604338585813.png

Dragapult (F) @ Dragon Fang
Nature: Mild
Ability: Infiltrator
- Dragon Darts
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt

The pseudo-legendary of Gen 8, I felt like using it somewhere and this felt like a good opportunity. Since it evolves very late and I was going to train the team to level 60 before starting on the Crown Tundra, why not use it here? I decided to go for a mixed set since both of its offensive stats are great. Dragon Darts and Shadow Ball for STAB, the former is also an awesome signature move. Flamethrower and Thunderbolt for coverage. I went with Infiltrator as the Ability but Clear Body might have been better, I’m not sure.

1604338712773.png

Runerigus (F) @ Soft Sand
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Wandering Spirit
- Shadow Claw
- Earthquake
- Body Press
- Will-O-Wisp

From the 21 Pokémon I had trained for my previous teams, there was one out of the 18 types which wasn’t represented: Ground. So I decided to use a Ground-type for this team. I settled on Runerigus because it is really cool and I wanted to use it somewhere. It is also a regional evolution and those are awesome. Shadow Claw and Earthquake for STAB, Body Press for coverage, it also benefits from Runerigus’ great Defense. Will-O-Wisp in the last slot since I couldn’t think of anything better. It doesn’t get a lot of other coverage options and the first three moves were enough.

1604338742975.png

Weezing-G (M) @ Black Sludge ** Smoke City
Nature: Modest
Ability: Levitate
- Sludge Bomb
- Strange Steam
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt

Obligatory Fairy-type. I had used almost all the new Fairy-types and I was considering using an older one, but then I decided to stick with my rule of only using new Pokémon and Galarian forms. So I used the only new one I hadn’t used yet, which was Galarian Weezing. It is also a Galarian form which massively improves upon a boring old Kanto Pokémon, which is great. I decided to make it an all-out Special attacker. Sludge Bomb and Strange Steam for STAB, the latter is less accurate than Dazzling Gleam but it is more powerful and also a signature move which automatically makes it a lot cooler, so I went with it. Flamethrower and Thunderbolt for coverage… the same coverage moves as Dragapult got, but they offer good extra coverage so I went with them here as well. It is also the only member of the team which is nicknamed since it is an old Pokémon even if it is a Galarian form.

1604338762624.png

Indeedee (M) @ Leftovers
Nature: Modest
Ability: Synchronize
- Psychic
- Hyper Voice
- Mystical Fire
- Calm Mind

I needed another special attacker on the team and settled for Indeedee. The Females are cuter but the Males have higher Sp.att and that matters more so I went with a Male one. Psychic and Hyper Voice for STAB, Mystical Fire for coverage. Then I went with Calm Mind in the last slot, I had nothing else with a boosting move on the team and it felt better than having extra coverage. Synchronize was the Ability since it felt better than Inner Focus.

1604338791338.png

Perrserker (M) @ Metal Coat
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Tough Claws
- Iron Head
- Close Combat
- Crunch
- Seed Bomb

The last member of the team I decided on. I was considering several others, but settled for Perrserker. A viking cat, how cool isn’t that? Plus another regional evolution, can never use too many of them. Iron Head for STAB, the other moves for coverage. Tough Claws too boost the power of three of its moves a bit.
Decided to add some pictures from my playthrough as well, didn’t take as many that felt worth posting as from the Isle of Armor, but here are a few at least.




The Tundra team at three stages: After hatching, after going through the intial training, and after going through the Crown Tundra.


Arriving at the Crown Tundra.


Calyrex being surprised. I love how it reacted to various things.


I got a phone call, and the birds got so disturbed that they ran away!


Hello friends, it's time for ponies again.


For me, being able to catch and battle any mythical Pokémon is a dream, but one of my three favorites? EPIC!


Pony is dead caught, long live pony!
Catching it went surprisingly easy, it only took a few balls. The Hail was super annoying though!


To be boxed for the moment, but it will be trained seriously later on.


Hey there Klara, who invited you to the Tournament? I don't mind though, you are welcome to lose to me once more!


Unrelated to the Crown Tundra, but as I was breeding the team members, I saw a Male and Female Frillish in the grass and they just looked so cute together so I took a picture of them.
I have completed the Crown Tundra, but I am not done with Sword yet. There are a few other things I want to do before taking another break. Will this be my last time playing Sword? Maybe. I don’t know yet. Maybe I’ll abandon it once I’m done, or maybe I’ll return one day. We’ll have to see.

These are the five major things I’m planning to do in Sword next:
  • Complete my Armor and Tundra Pokédexes
  • Unlock the ability to battle Honey (only about halfway there at the moment)
  • Train the 27 Pokémon from my four and a half teams to specific levels
  • Make new (original) teams for the Battle Tower and win a total of at least 200 battles in both Single and Double
  • Make some kind of mid-game team
Maybe I’ll do more than this, but probably not. While there are more things to do, and I kind of want to do some of them, I don’t really feel like it. So probably not. At least at the moment, I don’t feel like doing anything more than this right now.

And after that? I’m still unsure if I will get any more games after Sword. We’ll have to see what’s going to happen next. I’m not sure if this is allowed, but I wanted to speculate a little, so I made a list of possible alternatives as for what might be released next:
  • Sword/Shield follow-up game (third/alternate versions or sequels)
  • More DLC packs
  • Let’s Go Johto
  • D/P remakes
  • Gen 9
In addition to that, there’s yet another idea I have had for a future Pokémon game, but I feel that going into that would be way too much wishlisting so I won’t say anything about it.

Another alternative would be if they take a break in 2021 and not release a new game until 2022. It could happen, but I doubt it.

Lately, I feel that I have been getting even more burnt out on Pokémon. I really need a break from the series. Which will happen once I am done with all I have planned to do on Sword, and that will probably be towards the end of this year or at the beginning of next depending on how long things take. Then I’ll go back to playing Three Houses which I had to take a rather abrupt break from because of the release of the Crown Tundra. There’s also XC2 which I’m not quite done with yet, plus several other Switch game I am interested in and want to play. So I’m honestly looking forward to taking a break from Pokémon.

But that is a bit sad to say as well. Lately, both Pokémon and these forums have been feeling more like a chore than something I enjoy spending time on, so I really need that break. Though I still like Pokémon, S/S, and the forums as well. I’ll continue with Sword for the time being, but I’m feeling more and more unsure about continuing with Pokémon afterwards. My burnout is getting worse and it feels like no matter what comes next, it is at the risk of being too little, too late. It is sad to say, but that’s how it is. So I can’t say if I’ll continue with Pokémon after Sword and the DLC.

Still, I liked the DLC on the whole. If I am allowed to dream a little more, I really want to see one or more DLC packs which includes all remaining missing Pokémon, so that dexit no longer is a thing. That would make me very happy. But I don’t think it is going to happen.

Those are my thoughts on the Crown Tundra. On the whole, I liked it. And looking back, I really enjoyed the DLC/Expansion Pass on the whole. If I decide to get any more Pokémon games after Sword, and there’s DLC for them as well, it is very likely that I’ll get it.

I wanted to compare the DLC for Sword to that of XC2, but the truth is that I still haven’t done everything in the XC2 DLC yet! I have completed around 90% of the DLC for the main game, but I still haven’t even started on Torna. I will get it done in the future though, likely next year. But even if I can’t compare the DLC for S/S to anything, I still think it was good, fun and enjoyable.

That’s all from me now. I still have more posts to make here, hopefully I can get more done soon. See you around!
 
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