TEAM AZURE (GENERATION III)
Hello everyone, it's been a while since I picked up on anything battle related. While I have been working with my current G7 team consisting of Garchomp / Tapu Fini / Mega Scizor at 320 after a hiatus of around 1 year or so, I had also been working on doing some stuff in Generation III. To be more specific: Pokemon Emerald's Battle Frontier. I had been grinding BPs at the Battle Tower for the sole reason of earning enough BPs for the exclusive Gen 3 tutors you can buy at Emerald such as Counter, Soft-boiled and Seismic Toss. Gen 3 is also one of my personal favorites since some of my favorite Pokemon, such as Lati@s, Metagross, Salamence, Swampert and Blaziken originate from this generation. I should also add that I am a huge fan of Pokemon Colosseum and XD: Gales of Darnkess, to the point where I even fully immersed myself on how to RNG the Gamecube games. As a reference I have fully collected ribbons from all generations on Pokemon originated from there, such as my RNG abused Shiny Colosseum Suicune among others as well.
Now going back into topic: I present to you a finished streak at 323 wins with Latios / Suicune / Steelix at the Battle Tower in Pokemon Emerald. For those who know me, I'm the guy that hangs out at the Battle Tree Discord ranting about Gen 3 and my experience at Emerald's Battle Tower. I pretty much own the #frontier channel since I'm the one who mostly uses it whenever I am grinding wins at the Tower. For those that do not, the main reason why I am sharing this is precisely to destroy the myth of Generation III's Battle Tower being unbeatable because of the "insane amount of hax items" present at the Battle Frontier. Of course, the team is not invincible and it has its own flaws as well. However, I can say this is the most consistent Singles Battle Tower team I have ever used.
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When I first decided to plunge seriously into Gen 3 Battle Tower, I decided to use this team, which was based on the team Werster used for his Pokemon Emerald speedrun. It's one of the most perfectly balanced teams for Battle Tower and the fact that these three Pokemon can be easily obtainable in-game without needing to trade from other Gen 3 games, made it highly appealing to use. I decided to do Open Level at this point and since I had access to flawless versions of this Pokemon, I played around with the EVs to suit them to my own preferences. I got good results using Werster's team, however, it had a flaw on the long run which is being weak vs Water type Trainers (Swimmers, Fishermen, Sailors) who had a lot of Water/Ice types on their team, meaning that Latios could get easily overwhelmed since outside it, the team lacked proper answers to Water types.
On my insatiable curiosity of trying more stuff, the next well known team I wanted to try out was Jumpman16's team of Choice Band Salamence, Suicune and Snorlax (It was his team, right?). This was a good opportunity for my Shiny RNG abused Colosseum Suicune to shine in here since this was perhaps the only "proven" Suicune team in Gen 3. Also I should mention that Suicune is one of my favorite Pokemon ever alongside Latios. This team was solid overall, however, it had a massive flaw of being weak to Banded Normal types such as Slaking and Ursaring who were pretty much claiming a kill if they ever showed up. Also, if Curse users managed to get a boost, Band Salamence stopped bieng a reliable answer to them. This is a damage calc on Snorlax 2 who carries Curse and Rock Slide: 252+ Atk Choice Band Salamence Brick Break vs. +1 170 HP / 170 Def Snorlax: 110-130 (42.9 - 50.7%) -- 3.1% chance to 2HKO. Don't get me wrong, I think this team was interesting, but I found it kind of underwhelming when trying to achieve +100 wins.
I could say this version of the team was kind of inspired from my Gen 7 team with me using CB Flygon as a lead and Morning Sun SD Scizor. For those who do not know, Gales Scizor gets Morning Sun as a purify move, so I went ahead and RNG'd an Adamant Gales Scizor: 29-31-30-18-30-30 which yielded a 68 power Hidden Power Fighting. Now, for those who are not familiarized with Gamecube RNG, the spreads on certain shadow Pokemon are conditioned by Nature Locks which greatly limits the amount of possible spreads on a Shadow Pokemon. Also, against trainers with multiple shadow Pokemon, locking the 1st or 2nd shadow can also influence which spreads you can hit. The IVs are kinda disappointing, but this was the best HP Fighting Scizor I could get from Gales and use it as a pseudo-Gen 4 Scizor but without the priority Bullet Punch that makes it the monster it is well known for since Gen 4. The team did fairly well since I was consistently getting around 70-90 wins on each attempt. However, the team was highly vulnerable to almost all 8 sets of Lati@s that appeared at the Battle Tower and Alakazam shredded me into pieces. While Flygon was fortunately faster than Lati@s 8, which were the sets invested on Speed, even a Banded Hidden Power Bug only had a 12.5% chance to OHKO Latios, while Latias could easily laugh at the damage and KO back with Dragon Claw or Ice Beam. Scizor can handle them well, but it loses to critical hits and the occasional paralysis that can come from Latias carrying Thunder Wave or simply by spamming Thunderbolt. Scizor also needed a boost in order to kill HP invested Latios & Latios with a +2 Silver Wind.
After being tired of getting parahaxed to death by Lati@s and Alakazam (because it happened a lot), I decided to go for a different direction. I decided to replace Flygon with Latios again mostly due to the fact that Latios can easily beat the other Lati@s in Frontier as long as they don't get a critical hit. Also, because of Scizor's initial lack of power and vulnerabilty to get CH'd and its x4 to Fire which made even meme sets such as Ursaring 3, I decided to go back into Banded Metagross. Originally, I didn't thought that the lack of Electric immunity would hurt this team much since Latios had the Lum Berry to protect itself from status ailments. Latios also performed nicely against Lanturn and Ampharos as Psychic 2HKO'd them most of the time. However, it all came down to shambles when I met this stupid thing:
| Lv: 50 stats: 140/76/80/162/115/200 | Lv.100 stats: 271/149/156/319/226/394 |
Just look at this set: King's Rock, the only Pokemon who uses 394 in Gen3, a move with a 30% chance of flinching the opponent. Complete bullsh*t set. From the 4 losses I had when using this team, 3 of them were caused by this big piece of sh*t. Bite flinched Latios to death making it unable to 2HKO it with Psychic, Thunderbolt/Thunder Wave would paralyze Metagross and 2HKO it, and after having its devilish deeds done, it didn't needed to sweat to finish off Suicune. Despite these results, they were two things clear: Latios & Suicune were pulling their own weight most of the time. I mean, we are talking about two of the most broken Pokemon in G3 and they were sweeping the opponent 75% of the time where Metagross was barely involved at all. The lack of Electric type immunity also hurted this team as Jolteon 4 can easily cheese through it with Emerald's broken RNG at its favor. I heavily considered going back to Flygon / Suicune and use Metagross as the 3rd team member, but the reason why I never used it was because CB Metagross spoiled me so much to the point where Flygon/Metagross would be competing for the item. Both miss some really important KOs without the Band, so I decided to look for another solution. The team performed decently well, gaining around 90-120 wins on average until Jolteon 4 decides to show up. I knew there was missing something, so I needed to be a bit creative and find a Pokemon that could glue both Latios & Suicune.
With Latios and Suicune being able to clean the mayority of the Pokemon sets present in Gen 3, I need a team member that could be the glue of this team. A Pokemon whose typing could protect both Latios & Suicune. You don't even need to check Serebii or Smogon to know that the amount of Steel types in G3 was quite limited. I guess I kinda resigned myself to conform with ~100 wins until I was casually talking on my IRC channel with Zari. On IRC, he shared his idea of using Curse Steelix / Zapdos / Vaporeon team based on the perfect team synergy of its members. While I was talking to him, something clicked inside my head. What if I test Steelix as my final team member? Steelix is the only Pokemon in Gen 3 that possesses this Ground / Steel typing, which not only makes it immune to Electric moves but also grant it 9 resistances and two immunities overall, while only having 4 weaknesses which were complemented perfectly by Latios / Suicune. Latios resist the Fighting type attacks that Steelix doesn't wants to take, while being immune to Earthquake. On the other hand, Steelix resist Ghost, Dark, Dragon and Bug type attacks giving it a great matchup vs Pokemon like Scizor 2/3/4, Dusclops 2 and Absol 1/2, which are Pokemon that Latios doesn't want to face.
I own plenty of save files in Gen 3 that are part of my RNG project and in one of my Fire Red save files, I had access to a H-1 spread that had slots 3, 5 and 11. Guess what? Victory Road Onix was available in slot 3 and it has access to a full 70 power HP Steel. After RNGing the Onix and trade evolving it, Steelix was ready to roll. My experience with G3 Curse users is terrible mostly due to the fact that they are so vulnerable to critical hits. When I used Snorlax, I wanted to scream every time it got nuked by a critical hit attack. Snorlax always moves last and because of this, you don't really know when it could be the right time to Rest, because an unexpected crit can easily overwhelm you and force to Rest or die easily by a strong crit. For this reason, I decided to test a Choice Band set specially taking into account that because of Steelix's average 85 base Attack, he was going to appreciate the extra power. After making the calculations, I can't say I feel disappointed by this decision specially considering that it was able to OHKO 170 HP Metagross from full health. While its Explosion was much weaker than Metagross' it was still strong enough to OHKO +1 Curselax, who would otherwise go ham on this team. The very first run ended at 123 which was very good at the same level of my runs using Werster's team. I lost to Latias 1 after being too greedy and CM 1st turn only to be CH'd to death. After sending Steelix, Latias froze Steelix with Ice Beam (My biggest mistake in here, was not attempting to BoltBeam stall via switching). After Steelix went down, Suicune was the only guy left to keep me in the battle (I was using Leftovers back then). While I tried to set-up on the hopes of stalling Latias' Thunderbolt's PP, Suicune got CH'd during its sleep and well, it was game there. I had a very strong impression from my team on the 1st run.
On the second run, this thing came here to make my life impossible:
| Lv: 50 stats: 176/81/122/110/141/90 | Lv.100 stats: 343/158/239/216/278/176 |
Another AIDS set but this one involved a Pokemon that normally, it wouldn't be threatening from start but it became much more dangerous that what I originally thought. When I played with the Werster team, the strategy was to CM once and then, attempt to 2HKO it as fast as possible with Psychic. However, on this battle, I was never able to get the 2nd Psychic I needed to finish it off since the RNG played in favor of the AI. After losing my Lum Berry and some Leech Seed damage, I swapped into Suicune in the hopes of PP stalling to get my chances to win, however, this plan backfired on me. Take into account that in G3, the Struggle mechanics are completely different in G3 than what they were in G4 and onward: the damage done by Struggle recoil is 25% of what you deal, not a 25% of your total HP. In other words, if you are, say Blissey, a pokemon with the outrageous base Attack of 10, the damage from Struggle recoil would be nothing more than 5 or 6 points of your total HP (don't take this as a fact, but the damage is so ridiculously low that Blissey basically nullifies it and even gains HP if using Leftovers). After PP stalling Ludicolo, it will never die from Struggle. My 2nd mistake was precisely thinking I could take it down with Latios after PP stalling. My Psychics never landed and Latios got defeated eventually by Ludicolo's continuous Struggles. My only chance was to pull out something as ridiculous as this:
+6 0 SpA Suicune Surf vs. 170 HP / 170 SpD Ludicolo: 79-93 (23 - 27.1%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery
Yeah, attempting a 5HKO against an opponent with +6 evasion who also had a x4 resist to Surf. I simply forfeited the match knowing that, as I was running out of Surfs, I was never going to win this fight. This loss eventually made me think about many stuff. My objective was to reach +100 wins but with Ludicolo 4 being a fairly common set on certain Trainers, I knew I was going to struggle against it. It's never good to struggle against Double Team sets if you want to suceed in G3 Battle Tower. Looking back into the battles I have done so far, I realized that the amount of times I used Rock Slide were extremely barren. I only used it like against Pokemon like Zapdos or Scyther, but it has never seen use outside those situations. Also, when you take into account's Steelix' average base 85 Attack, it isn't a good move for Steelix to get locked into on the long run as it is something that many other Pokemon can take advantage of. Toxic was the solution I came up with to deal with Ludicolo 4 as well as any Double Team user without Rest. It worked to perfection and it has even surpassed my own expectations. Pokemon like Ludicolo 4, Umbreon 1/2 and Blissey 1 can now be defeated without me risking my Pokemon's PP or relying on hitting an attack. All I have to do is set up with Suicune once they are poisoned and the poison damage will do all the work.
Latios (Enkidu) (M) @ Lum Berry
IVs: 31-4-31-31-31-31
EVs: 28 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 6 SpD / 220 Spe
Lv.50 stats: 159 HP / 87 Atk / 101 Def / 182 SpA / 131 SpD / 173 Spe
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Claw
- Thunderbolt
RNG'd on Sapphire with Pokemon Box by /u/serenechaos1 [Emulator, Method 4 spread]
Suicune (Suigetsu) @ Chesto Berry
IVs: 31-24-31-31-31-31
EVs: 236 HP / 148 Def / 126 Spe
Lv.50 stats: 205 HP / 82 Atk / 169 Def / 110 SpA / 135 SpD / 121 Spe
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Bold
- Surf
- Rest
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
RNG'd by me on Pokemon Colosseum [Emulator, GC Method]
Steelix (GoldDigger) @ Choice Band
IVs: 31-31-31-11-30-31
EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 120 SpD / 4 Spe
Lv.50 stats: 167 HP / 150 Atk / 220 Def / 58 SpA / 100 SpD / 51 Spe
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Adamant
- Toxic
- Explosion
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Steel]
RNG'd by me on Pokemon Fire Red [Emulator, Method H-1 spread]
Latios is legitimately one of the most broken Pokemon in the whole game. It has access to the best boosting move in G3 which is Calm Mind, a move that boosts its Special power while raising its Special Defense. After a couple of Calm Mind boosts, it can easily shrug off Dark, Ice and Dragon type attacks (In Generation III, all of these attacks are special moves. There was no physical/special split and it was defined by type. Ex: Crunch was a special move and reduced SpD instead of Def). At +1 Latios obtains a ridiculous amount of OHKOs. At +2 you're killing anything that has somewhat decent bulk to survive +1 neutral attacks like Ursaring. At +4 you OHKO all variants of Swampert and any bulky Water type, regardless of how much they invest on their Special Defense. The most scary part is the amount of Pokemon Latios can easily set up Calm Minds against. Pokemon like Quagsire, all Typhlosion variants, Charizard, Swampert and Venusaur are easy set up fodder. Most of the time, you only need one single Calm Mind to bring havoc to your opponent's team, and if the situation calls for it, you can even set up more depending on the opposition. Psychic is Latios' main STAB and it ravages the Poison and Fighting types present on the Frontier while being a consistent and reliable STAB capable of reducing the foe's Special Defense if lucky. Dragon Claw is the best secondary STAB Latios has access to (special move). It is Latios main option vs Salamence, opposing Lati@s and Kingdra. Bulky sets are OHKO'd at +1 while offensive sets are destroyed easily at +0. Thanks to the small bulk investment, Latios can survive their attacks and OHKO or 2HKO in return. Thunderbolt is the chosen coverage move on Latios to kill the insane amount of Water types present in G3. After a couple of boosts, it becomes strong enough to take down bulky tanks such as Milotic, Walrein and Lapras. Thunderbolt overall complements its coverage leaving Latios moveset only being resisted by Steelix and Magneton (The latter does not appears anymore after 4 rounds).
The speed tiers in Frontier are really interesting as there are very few +252 Spe Pokemon on their sets. In fact, only two Pokemon are faster than a +Spe Latios in the whole game. The infamous +252 Spe Jolteon and Crobat 3/4 which are neutral 252 Spe. With 200 Spe and 182 Spe being the two fastest speed stats in the game, the next number on the list is 172, which is where Sceptile 2/3/4 and Dugtrio 1 - 4 sit. This pretty much shows you why +252 Spe on Latios is not needed. 220 Speed EVs are used to creep Dugtrio and Sceptile by 1 point, making Latios only being outspeeded by 2 Crobat sets and a single Jolteon set. This is pretty crucial as +220 Timid Latios also gets the jump on Pokemon like Gengar 1 and Starmie 3 allowing it to smack them before they hit Latios back. Max Special Attack is used to maximize Latios' sweeping capabilities while the rest is invested on Latios' HP in order to grant it a little bit of bulk. 28 HP EVs, and 4 EVs in Def / SpD balances Latios' defenses better than using 36 EVs in HP. A Lum Berry is used as it allows Latios to get rid of annoying status ailments coming from the likes of Lanturn and Venusaur.
Offensive Calcs Latios (Lv.50)
Defensive Calcs Latios (Lv.50)
Suicune is another broken Pokemon in Generation 3 and it is an absolutely fantastic Pokemon to use. The only complain I have about it, is how hard Game Freak made it to obtain a competitive Suicune on Gen 3 since the FR/LG roamer versions are glitched to 0 IVs. Learning Colo/XD RNG was hard, but it paid off as I could finally use a flawless Suicune and beat the crap out of the whole Frontier. Surf is your main STAB and the only one Suicune needs, because Suicune is so bulky that it can easily set up all the way to +6 against Water types that don't pack a super-effective move against it, such as Walrein, Wailord, Milotic, Feraligatr and Slowking. Substitute is the crux of this set as it allows Suicune to be immune against status ailments such as paralysis and confusion. Trust me, it makes Porygon 3 and all Dusclops sets look like a bunch of stooges. After a couple of Calm Mind boosts, Suicune can pretty much weaken some super-effective hits, rendering them unable to break its Sub and continue to set-up. Rest allows it to recover its health back to full health while curing Suicune from burn, paralysis or poison in case it gets hit by those. As someone who has used both Chesto Berry and Leftovers, Chesto wins the match up in G3 for its ability to cure Suicune in one turn. At Lv.50, Tyranitar is in-existent, which means that you don't have to worry about permanent sandstorm at all, which is something that depletes Suicune's HP slowly without Leftovers. While the chip recovery from Leftovers eventually allows Suicune to set up more Substitutes on the long run, the immediate recovery that can be provided with ChestoRest has been much more useful in many cases, specially against the incredibly dangerous Houndoom 3, where Suicune gets another chance to fully recover HP and set up more Calm Minds to stall its Solarbeam should things end up like this.
At first I used a 252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spe at Lv.100 in Open Level (accidentally I also used 204 HP EVs at Lv.50 when I first started on the streak), however, after facing Slaking, I noticed that all Slaking sets (1-4) ran 0 Spe EVs. The good thing about Slaking 3 (Choice Band Slaking) is that it does not run STAB moves, however, Slaking 4 has Yawn and Thunderbolt. In order to make this a reliable set-up fodder, I run 136 Speed EVs on Suicune which allows us to outspeed any neutral base 100 without Speed EVs. This allows Suicune to outspeed all Slaking sets and make them set-up fodder, Zapdos 5/6 and all Jynx sets. 236 HP gives Suicune 51 HP Substitutes which means that Seismic Toss will never break your Sub in one hit. The rest is invested in Defense to make Suicune as physically bulky as possible. Despite only investing 148 Def EVs, don't underestimate Suicune's bulk. It is still as great as ever and don't forget that the power creep on this generation is quite low considering that boosting items such as Life Orb didn't existed back then. The only boosting item is Choice Band and the two main users: Armaldo & Aerodactly are easily handled by Steelix. Personally, I never found myself asking for more bulk taking into account that the amount of stuff Suicune walls is a bigger list than what Gen 4/5/6/7 brings later.
Offensive Calcs Suicune (Lv.50)
Defensive Calcs Suicune (Lv.50)
Finally, the last team member and thestar of the team: Steelix. Steelix is pretty much inferior to its Steel type cousins on many ways: Steelix doesn't has Metagross' sky high Attack stat, nor doesn't have Registeel defenses. BST wise, the only thing Steelix has above its competition was its sky high Defense stat which makes Steelix ridiculously bulky from the physical side to the point where it can eat a +2 +252 Atk Earthquake from Salamence at full HP. I was sold out on Steelix's unique Ground / Steel typing which was not shared by anyone else on G3. Many people underestimate how god this type combination is as it grants Steelix 2 immunities to Poison & Electric, 9 whooping resistances and only 4 weaknesses. Sturdy is also a god-send ability I'll gladly take over Rock Head any day. Steelix being immune to OHKO moves means it laughes at Lapras 7/8 who only run OHKO moves.
Earthquake is Steelix's main STAB move of choice and it completely ravages anything that is hit super-effectively by the move thanks to the extra boost provided by its Choice Band. Hidden Power Steel is another reliable STAB for Steelix capable of hitting Armaldo, Articuno and Cradily much harder than what Earthquake does, while hitting Pokemon immune to Earthquake for good damage. Explosion is a capable nuke allowing Steelix to blow itself up taking down bulky Pokemon such as Snorlax, Blissey and Umbreon when needed. Toxic is my odd-ball choice in here, and yeah, at first glance you would think it doesn't makes sense using a status move on a Choice locked Pokemon, but Toxic is definitely worth the last slot here. Steelix most of the time will be clicking Earthquake or HP Steel when going into the offensive, but Toxic allows Steelix to reliably check any Double Team user that lacks a way to recover from status ailments or Rest such as Blissey 1, Umbreon 1/2, Dusclops 2 and Ludicolo 4. You only need to hit one Toxic and from there, Suicune can set up against these Pokemon safely behind a Substitute as Poison damage chips down their health. It pretty much takes away a lot of pressure from Suicune as being my main answer for Double Team spammers and I haven't been disappointed on Toxic's performance as I know that I only need to hit once regardless of the evasion boosts to win.
132 HP EVs and 120 SpD EVs takes the most out of Steelix's lower Special Defense stat, maximizing its capability of taking strong neutral and resisted special attacks. It also allows Steelix to survive weak Water types that lack heavy investment in their Special Attack stat. Max Attack is used to further bolster Steelix's power and Explosion's nuking capabilities. Even one single point missed on this stat, already makes Steelix lose some crucial KOs which is why it is imperative to fully invest on its meager Attack stat. Because of its imperfect Special Defense IV, Steelix ends up with 4 leftover EVs which are placed in Speed simply to win the Speed tie vs opposing Steelix & Belly Drum Snorlax. This means that Steelix will always be faster than them and will 2HKO them with Earthquake before they pull something out. To further illustrate Steelix's offensive and defensive prowess you can see some calculations below:
Offensive Calcs Steelix (Lv.50)
Defensive Calcs Steelix (Lv.50)
The speed tiers in Frontier are really interesting as there are very few +252 Spe Pokemon on their sets. In fact, only two Pokemon are faster than a +Spe Latios in the whole game. The infamous +252 Spe Jolteon and Crobat 3/4 which are neutral 252 Spe. With 200 Spe and 182 Spe being the two fastest speed stats in the game, the next number on the list is 172, which is where Sceptile 2/3/4 and Dugtrio 1 - 4 sit. This pretty much shows you why +252 Spe on Latios is not needed. 220 Speed EVs are used to creep Dugtrio and Sceptile by 1 point, making Latios only being outspeeded by 2 Crobat sets and a single Jolteon set. This is pretty crucial as +220 Timid Latios also gets the jump on Pokemon like Gengar 1 and Starmie 3 allowing it to smack them before they hit Latios back. Max Special Attack is used to maximize Latios' sweeping capabilities while the rest is invested on Latios' HP in order to grant it a little bit of bulk. 28 HP EVs, and 4 EVs in Def / SpD balances Latios' defenses better than using 36 EVs in HP. A Lum Berry is used as it allows Latios to get rid of annoying status ailments coming from the likes of Lanturn and Venusaur.
Offensive Calcs Latios (Lv.50)
- 252 SpA Latios Psychic vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Lanturn: 97-115 (48.5 - 57.5%) -- 94.5% chance to 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (97, 98, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 115). - 252 SpA Latios Psychic vs. 255 HP / 0 SpD Misdreavus: 89-105 (53.2 - 62.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 105). - +1 252 SpA Latios Dragon Claw vs. 255 HP / 0 SpD Latios: 190-224 (101.6 - 119.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO.
Possible damage amounts: (190, 192, 194, 197, 199, 201, 203, 206, 208, 210, 212, 215, 217, 219, 221, 224). - +1 252 SpA Latios Dragon Claw vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Gardevoir: 92-109 (64.3 - 76.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (92, 93, 94, 95, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 109). - +1 252 SpA Latios Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Moltres: 187-220 (113.3 - 133.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO.
Possible damage amounts: (187, 189, 191, 193, 195, 198, 200, 202, 204, 206, 209, 211, 213, 215, 217, 220) - +2 252 SpA Latios Thunderbolt vs. 255 HP / 0 SpD Dewgong: 227-268 (115.2 - 136%) -- guaranteed OHKO.
Possible damage amounts: (227, 230, 233, 235, 238, 241, 243, 246, 249, 251, 254, 257, 259, 262, 265, 268). - +3 252 SpA Latios Thunderbolt vs. 170 HP / 170 SpD Milotic: 197-232 (103.1 - 121.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO.
Possible damage amounts: (197, 199, 201, 204, 206, 208, 211, 213, 215, 218, 220, 222, 225, 227, 229, 232). - +4 252 SpA Latios Psychic vs. 170 HP / 170 SpD Swampert: 212-250 (108.1 - 127.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Possible damage amounts: (212, 215, 217, 220, 222, 225, 227, 230, 232, 235, 237, 240, 242, 245, 247, 250)
Defensive Calcs Latios (Lv.50)
- 255+ SpA Gardevoir Ice Punch vs. +1 28 HP / 4 SpD Latios: 57-68 (35.8 - 42.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (57, 58, 59, 59, 60, 61, 61, 62, 63, 63, 64, 65, 65, 66, 67, 68). - 255+ SpA Latios Dragon Claw vs. +1 28 HP / 4 SpD Latios: 93-110 (58.4 - 69.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 110). - 255+ SpA Lapras Ice Beam vs. 28 HP / 4 SpD Latios: 124-146 (77.9 - 91.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (124, 125, 127, 128, 129, 131, 132, 134, 135, 137, 138, 140, 141, 143, 144, 146). - 255 Atk Huge Power Medicham Shadow Ball vs. 28 HP / 4 Def Latios: 136-160 (85.5 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO.
Possible damage amounts: (136, 137, 139, 140, 142, 144, 145, 147, 148, 150, 152, 153, 155, 156, 158, 160). - 255+ SpA Arcanine Crunch vs. +1 28 HP / 4 SpD Latios: 52-62 (32.7 - 38.9%) -- 99.5% chance to 3HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (52, 53, 53, 54, 55, 55, 56, 57, 57, 58, 58, 59, 60, 60, 61, 62). - 0 SpA Golduck Ice Beam vs. 28 HP / 4 SpD Latios on a critical hit: 129-152 (81.1 - 95.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (129, 130, 132, 133, 135, 136, 138, 139, 141, 142, 144, 145, 147, 148, 150, 152). - 255+ SpA Houndoom Crunch vs. 28 HP / 4 SpD Latios: 124-146 (77.9 - 91.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (124, 125, 127, 128, 129, 131, 132, 134, 135, 137, 138, 140, 141, 143, 144, 146). - 255+ SpA Regice Ice Beam vs. +3 28 HP / 4 SpD Latios: 57-68 (35.8 - 42.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Possible damage amounts: (57, 58, 59, 59, 60, 61, 61, 62, 63, 63, 64, 65, 65, 66, 67, 68)
Suicune is another broken Pokemon in Generation 3 and it is an absolutely fantastic Pokemon to use. The only complain I have about it, is how hard Game Freak made it to obtain a competitive Suicune on Gen 3 since the FR/LG roamer versions are glitched to 0 IVs. Learning Colo/XD RNG was hard, but it paid off as I could finally use a flawless Suicune and beat the crap out of the whole Frontier. Surf is your main STAB and the only one Suicune needs, because Suicune is so bulky that it can easily set up all the way to +6 against Water types that don't pack a super-effective move against it, such as Walrein, Wailord, Milotic, Feraligatr and Slowking. Substitute is the crux of this set as it allows Suicune to be immune against status ailments such as paralysis and confusion. Trust me, it makes Porygon 3 and all Dusclops sets look like a bunch of stooges. After a couple of Calm Mind boosts, Suicune can pretty much weaken some super-effective hits, rendering them unable to break its Sub and continue to set-up. Rest allows it to recover its health back to full health while curing Suicune from burn, paralysis or poison in case it gets hit by those. As someone who has used both Chesto Berry and Leftovers, Chesto wins the match up in G3 for its ability to cure Suicune in one turn. At Lv.50, Tyranitar is in-existent, which means that you don't have to worry about permanent sandstorm at all, which is something that depletes Suicune's HP slowly without Leftovers. While the chip recovery from Leftovers eventually allows Suicune to set up more Substitutes on the long run, the immediate recovery that can be provided with ChestoRest has been much more useful in many cases, specially against the incredibly dangerous Houndoom 3, where Suicune gets another chance to fully recover HP and set up more Calm Minds to stall its Solarbeam should things end up like this.
At first I used a 252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spe at Lv.100 in Open Level (accidentally I also used 204 HP EVs at Lv.50 when I first started on the streak), however, after facing Slaking, I noticed that all Slaking sets (1-4) ran 0 Spe EVs. The good thing about Slaking 3 (Choice Band Slaking) is that it does not run STAB moves, however, Slaking 4 has Yawn and Thunderbolt. In order to make this a reliable set-up fodder, I run 136 Speed EVs on Suicune which allows us to outspeed any neutral base 100 without Speed EVs. This allows Suicune to outspeed all Slaking sets and make them set-up fodder, Zapdos 5/6 and all Jynx sets. 236 HP gives Suicune 51 HP Substitutes which means that Seismic Toss will never break your Sub in one hit. The rest is invested in Defense to make Suicune as physically bulky as possible. Despite only investing 148 Def EVs, don't underestimate Suicune's bulk. It is still as great as ever and don't forget that the power creep on this generation is quite low considering that boosting items such as Life Orb didn't existed back then. The only boosting item is Choice Band and the two main users: Armaldo & Aerodactly are easily handled by Steelix. Personally, I never found myself asking for more bulk taking into account that the amount of stuff Suicune walls is a bigger list than what Gen 4/5/6/7 brings later.
Offensive Calcs Suicune (Lv.50)
- +6 0 SpA Suicune Surf vs. 0 HP / 255+ SpD Slowbro: 81-96 (47.6 - 56.4%) -- 85.9% chance to 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96). - +6 0 SpA Suicune Surf vs. 255 HP / 0 SpD Blastoise: 94-111 (50.5 - 59.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 111) - +1 0 SpA Suicune Surf vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Arcanine: 178-210 (107.8 - 127.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO.
Possible damage amounts: (178, 180, 182, 184, 186, 189, 191, 193, 195, 197, 199, 201, 203, 205, 207, 210). - +6 0 SpA Suicune Surf vs. 0 HP / 170 SpD Venusaur: 84-99 (54.1 - 63.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99). - +2 0 SpA Suicune Surf vs. 255 HP / 0 SpD Heracross: 102-121 (54.5 - 64.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (102, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 116, 117, 118, 119, 121). - +6 0 SpA Suicune Surf vs. 255 HP / 0 SpD Regice: 107-127 (57.2 - 67.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery.
Possible damage amounts: (107, 109, 110, 111, 113, 114, 115, 116, 118, 119, 120, 121, 123, 124, 125, 127). - +1 0 SpA Suicune Surf vs. 255 HP / 255 SpD Regirock: 119-140 (63.6 - 74.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (119, 120, 121, 123, 124, 126, 127, 128, 130, 131, 133, 134, 135, 137, 138, 140). - +6 0 SpA Suicune Surf vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Lanturn: 122-144 (61 - 72%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (122, 123, 125, 126, 128, 129, 131, 132, 133, 135, 136, 138, 139, 141, 142, 144).
Defensive Calcs Suicune (Lv.50)
- 255+ SpA Houndoom Crunch vs. +1 236 HP / 0 SpD Suicune: 41-49 (20 - 23.9%) -- guaranteed 5HKO
Possible damage amounts: (41, 42, 42, 43, 43, 44, 44, 45, 45, 46, 46, 47, 47, 48, 48, 49) - 255+ SpA Regice Thunderbolt vs. +2 236 HP / 0 SpD Suicune: 45-54 (21.9 - 26.3%) -- 9.7% chance to 4HKO
Possible damage amounts: (45, 46, 46, 47, 48, 48, 49, 49, 50, 50, 51, 51, 52, 52, 53, 54) - 0 Atk Swampert Earthquake vs. 236 HP / 148+ Def Suicune: 44-52 (21.4 - 25.3%) -- 0.1% chance to 4HKO
Possible damage amounts: (44, 44, 45, 45, 46, 46, 47, 47, 48, 48, 49, 49, 50, 50, 51, 52) - 255+ SpA Flygon Solar Beam vs. +2 236 HP / 0 SpD Suicune: 51-60 (24.8 - 29.2%) -- 100% chance to 4HKO
Possible damage amounts: (51, 51, 52, 52, 53, 54, 54, 55, 55, 56, 57, 57, 58, 58, 59, 60) - 255+ SpA Slowbro Psychic vs. +1 236 HP / 0 SpD Suicune: 43-51 (20.9 - 24.8%) -- guaranteed 5HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (43, 43, 44, 44, 45, 45, 46, 46, 47, 47, 48, 48, 49, 49, 50, 51). - 255+ Atk Ursaring Double-Edge vs. 236 HP / 148+ Def Suicune: 81-96 (39.5 - 46.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Possible damage amounts: (81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96) - 255 SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. +6 236 HP / 0 SpD Suicune: 37-44 (18 - 21.4%) -- possible 5HKO
Possible damage amounts: (37, 37, 38, 38, 39, 39, 40, 40, 40, 41, 41, 42, 42, 43, 43, 44) - 255+ SpA Houndoom Solar Beam vs. +3 236 HP / 0 SpD Suicune: 49-58 (23.9 - 28.2%) -- 93.5% chance to 4HKO
Possible damage amounts: (49, 49, 50, 51, 51, 52, 52, 53, 53, 54, 55, 55, 56, 56, 57, 58) - 0+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Earthquake vs. 236 HP / 148+ Def Suicune: 67-79 (32.6 - 38.5%) -- 98.5% chance to 3HKO
Possible damage amounts: (67, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79) - 255+ SpA Alakazam Thunder Punch vs. +2 236 HP / 0 SpD Suicune: 45-54 (21.9 - 26.3%) -- 9.7% chance to 4HKO
Possible damage amounts: (45, 46, 46, 47, 48, 48, 49, 49, 50, 50, 51, 51, 52, 52, 53, 54)
Finally, the last team member and the
Earthquake is Steelix's main STAB move of choice and it completely ravages anything that is hit super-effectively by the move thanks to the extra boost provided by its Choice Band. Hidden Power Steel is another reliable STAB for Steelix capable of hitting Armaldo, Articuno and Cradily much harder than what Earthquake does, while hitting Pokemon immune to Earthquake for good damage. Explosion is a capable nuke allowing Steelix to blow itself up taking down bulky Pokemon such as Snorlax, Blissey and Umbreon when needed. Toxic is my odd-ball choice in here, and yeah, at first glance you would think it doesn't makes sense using a status move on a Choice locked Pokemon, but Toxic is definitely worth the last slot here. Steelix most of the time will be clicking Earthquake or HP Steel when going into the offensive, but Toxic allows Steelix to reliably check any Double Team user that lacks a way to recover from status ailments or Rest such as Blissey 1, Umbreon 1/2, Dusclops 2 and Ludicolo 4. You only need to hit one Toxic and from there, Suicune can set up against these Pokemon safely behind a Substitute as Poison damage chips down their health. It pretty much takes away a lot of pressure from Suicune as being my main answer for Double Team spammers and I haven't been disappointed on Toxic's performance as I know that I only need to hit once regardless of the evasion boosts to win.
132 HP EVs and 120 SpD EVs takes the most out of Steelix's lower Special Defense stat, maximizing its capability of taking strong neutral and resisted special attacks. It also allows Steelix to survive weak Water types that lack heavy investment in their Special Attack stat. Max Attack is used to further bolster Steelix's power and Explosion's nuking capabilities. Even one single point missed on this stat, already makes Steelix lose some crucial KOs which is why it is imperative to fully invest on its meager Attack stat. Because of its imperfect Special Defense IV, Steelix ends up with 4 leftover EVs which are placed in Speed simply to win the Speed tie vs opposing Steelix & Belly Drum Snorlax. This means that Steelix will always be faster than them and will 2HKO them with Earthquake before they pull something out. To further illustrate Steelix's offensive and defensive prowess you can see some calculations below:
Offensive Calcs Steelix (Lv.50)
- 252+ Atk Choice Band Steelix Earthquake vs. 170 HP / 0 Def Metagross: 173-204 (98.2 - 115.9%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO.
Possible damage amounts: (173, 175, 177, 179, 181, 183, 185, 187, 189, 191, 193, 195, 197, 199, 201, 204). - 252+ Atk Choice Band Steelix Hidden Power Steel vs. 170 HP / 0 Def Aerodactyl: 210-248 (119.3 - 140.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO.
Possible damage amounts: (210, 213, 215, 218, 220, 223, 225, 228, 230, 233, 235, 238, 240, 243, 245, 248). - 252+ Atk Choice Band Steelix Earthquake vs. 170 HP / 170+ Def Registeel: 124-146 (70.4 - 82.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery. Possible damage amounts: (124, 125, 127, 128, 129, 131, 132, 134, 135, 137, 138, 140, 141, 143, 144, 146).
- 252+ Atk Choice Band Steelix Explosion vs. +1 170 HP / 170 Def Snorlax: 267-315 (104.2 - 123%) -- guaranteed OHKO.
Possible damage amounts: (267, 270, 274, 277, 280, 283, 286, 289, 292, 296, 299, 302, 305, 308, 311, 315). - 252+ Atk Choice Band Steelix Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 255 Def Muk: 200-236 (111.1 - 131.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Possible damage amounts: (200, 202, 205, 207, 210, 212, 214, 217, 219, 221, 224, 226, 228, 231, 233, 236). - 252+ Atk Choice Band Steelix Earthquake vs. 255 HP / 0 Def Scizor: 107-126 (60.4 - 71.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (107, 108, 109, 110, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117, 118, 119, 120, 122, 123, 124, 126). - 252+ Atk Choice Band Steelix Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Forretress: 79-94 (52.6 - 62.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94). - 252+ Atk Choice Band Steelix Hidden Power Steel vs. 255 HP / 0 Def Latios: 90-106 (48.1 - 56.6%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 106). - 252+ Atk Choice Band Steelix Earthquake vs. 255 HP / 0 Def Nidoqueen: 239-282 (121.3 - 143.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO.
Possible damage amounts: (239, 242, 245, 248, 250, 253, 256, 259, 262, 265, 267, 270, 273, 276, 279, 282). - 252+ Atk Choice Band Steelix Earthquake vs. 255 HP / 0 Def Regirock: 119-140 (63.6 - 74.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (119, 120, 121, 123, 124, 126, 127, 128, 130, 131, 133, 134, 135, 137, 138, 140)
Defensive Calcs Steelix (Lv.50)
- +2 255+ Atk Salamence Earthquake vs. 132 HP / 0 Def Steelix: 142-168 (85 - 100.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO.
Possible damage amounts: (142, 144, 146, 147, 149, 151, 152, 154, 156, 157, 159, 161, 162, 164, 166, 168). - 255+ Atk Flygon Earthquake vs. 132 HP / 0 Def Steelix: 88-104 (52.6 - 62.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 104). - 255+ Atk Machamp Cross Chop vs. 132 HP / 0 Def Steelix: 107-126 (64 - 75.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (107, 108, 109, 110, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117, 118, 119, 120, 122, 123, 124, 126). - 255+ SpA Alakazam Fire Punch vs. 132 HP / 120 SpD Steelix: 117-138 (70 - 82.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (117, 118, 120, 121, 122, 124, 125, 126, 128, 129, 131, 132, 133, 135, 136, 138). - 0 SpA Walrein Surf vs. 132 HP / 120 SpD Steelix: 127-150 (76 - 89.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (127, 129, 130, 132, 133, 135, 136, 138, 139, 141, 142, 144, 145, 147, 148, 150). - 255 SpA Ampharos Fire Punch vs. 132 HP / 120 SpD Steelix: 96-114 (57.4 - 68.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (96, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 114). - 170+ Atk Choice Band Aerodactyl Earthquake vs. 132 HP / 0 Def Steelix: 85-100 (50.8 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100). - 170+ Atk Metagross Earthquake vs. 132 HP / 0 Def Steelix: 68-80 (40.7 - 47.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (68, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80). - +6 0+ Atk Snorlax Return vs. 132 HP / 0 Def Steelix: 74-88 (44.3 - 52.6%) -- 23% chance to 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88). - 255+ Atk Forretress Earthquake vs. 132 HP / 0 Def Steelix: 56-66 (33.5 - 39.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (56, 56, 57, 58, 58, 59, 60, 60, 61, 62, 62, 63, 64, 64, 65, 66). - 255+ Atk Choice Band Ursaring Mega Kick vs. 132 HP / 0 Def Steelix: 46-55 (27.5 - 32.9%) -- guaranteed 4HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (46, 47, 47, 48, 48, 49, 50, 50, 51, 51, 52, 52, 53, 53, 54, 55). - 0+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Earthquake vs. 132 HP / 0 Def Steelix: 103-122 (61.6 - 73%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (103, 104, 106, 107, 108, 109, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117, 118, 119, 120, 122)
This is usually my initial thought process depending on what the AI has at their disposition.
Latios, Steelix and Suicune have a fantastic defensive synergy as the three team members can rely on each other's resistances to cover for their weaknesses: Latios can switch into the Ground and Fight attacks that Steelix doesn't wants to take. Thanks to Steelix's immunity to Electric type attacks, Suicune and Steelix can swap stall in order to deplete the PP from Pokemon who rely on Boltbeam coverage like Lapras 4 and Regice 2/3/6. Suicune can also take into the mayority of the Fire types that threaten Steelix. Steelix resists the Dragon, Dark, Bug and Ghost type attacks that threaten Latios heavily. Latios resist Grass and it can easily set up on them. Overheat users such as Arcanine and Charizard can be baited into Overheating Suicune, waste their White Herb and weaken their Special attack by siwtching back and forth between Steelix/Suicune to the point where their Special Attack is weak enough for Suicune to recover any lost health and set up safely. Steelix's insane Defense stat allows it to act as an emergency check for any Dragon Dance or Curse user that might get out of control and kill them off with Explosion.
Latios, Steelix and Suicune have a fantastic defensive synergy as the three team members can rely on each other's resistances to cover for their weaknesses: Latios can switch into the Ground and Fight attacks that Steelix doesn't wants to take. Thanks to Steelix's immunity to Electric type attacks, Suicune and Steelix can swap stall in order to deplete the PP from Pokemon who rely on Boltbeam coverage like Lapras 4 and Regice 2/3/6. Suicune can also take into the mayority of the Fire types that threaten Steelix. Steelix resists the Dragon, Dark, Bug and Ghost type attacks that threaten Latios heavily. Latios resist Grass and it can easily set up on them. Overheat users such as Arcanine and Charizard can be baited into Overheating Suicune, waste their White Herb and weaken their Special attack by siwtching back and forth between Steelix/Suicune to the point where their Special Attack is weak enough for Suicune to recover any lost health and set up safely. Steelix's insane Defense stat allows it to act as an emergency check for any Dragon Dance or Curse user that might get out of control and kill them off with Explosion.
- If the AI leads with something that can´t threaten Latios, even with a critical hit, set up a Calm Mind. Pokemon like Feraligatr, Charizard, Venusaur, Golduck and Machamp can't really do much against Latios and most get destroyed at +1.
- If the AI leads with something that Latios can defeat but is at risk if it sets up, go for the kill. Against Gengar leads, I always go for the KO because it's not worth for me to waste my Lum Berry or get Ice Punch damage on me.
- If Latios needs a Calm Mind boost in order to KO what it is in front of it, go for it.
- Sometimes Latios will need the defensive buff from Calm Mind in order to respond back with a OHKO. Latios 1 leads are incredibly dangerous since they have a 25% chance of OHKOing Latios with a +252 Spa Dragon Claw. Because of their max HP investment, I need a Calm Mind to guarantee the KO on them, while nullifying their small chance of KO-ing me in return.
- If Latios cannot set up against what it is in front of it, but can 2HKO it at the cost of receiving damage, go for it. This is my to go strategy vs Houndoom leads since I cannot risk Suicune switching into Sunny Day from Houndom 3 and get hit hard by Solarbeam.
- Steelix is your first hand switch-in to Electric types, except vs Lanturn who is always 2HKO'd by Latios' Psychic.
- Because there is no Scald in Gen 3, it's generally not worth getting Suicune to switch into Ice attacks, except when you are switch stalling Boltbeam coverage with Steelix / Suicune. If stalling Boltbeam is crucial to secure your victory, do it.
- If you see Double Team, scout the set and check if the opponent has Rest or a way to heal status. If none of these are true, first, poison the target with Steelix's Toxic. Once done, swap into Suicune and proceed to set up with Substitute/Calm Mind depending on the rest of its moveset. Remember: Struggle won't kill something with low Attack + Leftovers, which is why Toxic is so key when dealing with Double Teamers such as Ludicolo 4.
- Against Water-types, Suicune should always be your first switch-in, except vs Pokemon like Starmie and Lanturn, which are Pokemon that Latios comfortably defeats. Pokemon like Milotic, Slowbro and Slowking lose to Suicune 1-v-1. Suicune can either 2HKO or 3HKO them at +6 while these Pokemon are unable to break its Substitute and become PP stalled in the process.
- Reversal Medicham, one of the most dangerous sweepers in G3 Tower, can be dealt easily by Suicune. Against Medicham leads, I always CM knowing that Latios can survive Shadow Ball. If it Fake Outs, this is Reversal Medicham: swap into Suicune, set up a Calm Mind to guarantee Medicham's Psychic will be unable to break your Sub, then set up with Substitute. It's always important to attack Medicham but only when you're behind a Substitute which will Protect you from Medicham's full powered Reversal next turn, in case it decides to go for Endure. Don't worry about Heracross 4 (which knows Reversal). I've never seen him going for Endure vs Latios as it always aims for the Megahorn OHKO.
- Steelix should only explode only against Curse users that Earthquake can't pressure enough to avoid more set ups. Snorlax is the only Explosion target that I don't really hesitate on using the move into (Unless it's Belly Drum Snorlax which is defeated by Earthquake).
- The AI has a certain tendency of abusing Counter / Mirror Coat. Make sure you scout for these and act accordingly. Regirock 2 has Counter which is something that will KO Steelix in return, if you scout for this move, send Suicune instead. Don't forget to Sub first, because it knows Explosion! On a similar vein, this also makes Latios great vs Swampert as it will always be abusing one of these moves. I had always gotten into x4 by setting up on it and OHKOing Swampert.
This is what pretty much threatens the team mostly:
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Gardevoir: Gardevoir 3/4 are the most dangerous sets due to their coverage. It's one of those situations where I don't really want to CM but I have to. They have Ice Punch, Fire Punch and Thunderbolt / Magical Leaf coming from +252 SpA hitting all of my team members super-effectively. To make matters worse, Gardevoir 4 has Brightpowder. +1 CM avoids the Ice Punch 2HKO while Dragon Claw 2HKOs it in return at +1. However, if she gets a crit or a miss, I am in big trouble.
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Rhydon: Goes without saying. All 4 sets have Quick Claw and despite Steelix's immunity to Horn Drill, it can still 2HKO Steelix with Earthquake while Steelix only has a 12.5% chance to OHKO. What I usually do is swap into Steelix on the potential Megahorn / Horn Drill, then switch into Suicune to take the expected Earthquake and KO with Surf immediately. After taking the damage, Rhydon is usually more tempted to Earthquake again instead of going for Horn Drill. This has been my strategy to deal with the threat of a Quick Claw Horn Drill, however, I have seen it a few times going for Horn Drill when Sucune is on the field. (Once, it Horn Drilled at the same turn I switch out Steelix into Suicune, which fortunately ended up as a miss). I guess it is once of those AI shenanigans cases where you never know what the AI can do.
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Snorlax: Snorlax leads are generally bad news because I am 80% of the time force to explode on it if it reveals Curse thanks to its bulk, access to Immunity and Rest which invalidates using Toxic as an option. Losing Steelix at a potential turn 1 always suck because its resistances are always valuable to have around on the match.
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Lapras: The difficulty of dealing with Lapras is scouting the set. Lapras has 8 whooping sets and they all have their counter strategy in order to deal with them. Steelix laughs at sets 7/8. Latios owns set 1. Lapras 3 is a potential Explosion target because of Confuse Ray, which kills it immediately. Lapras 4/5 can be PP stalled by swap stalling between Steelix / Suicune. As a lead, I always stay and Thunderbolt in order to potentially scout the set knowing I will take lots of damage in the process or potentially get bunked by 7/8.
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Houndoom: I really hate looking at this thing at a lead position. Thanks to the small bulk investment, Latios always survives Crunch outside a critical hit, in case it decides to use it and not go for Counter or Sunny Day. Getting critted, puts me on a difficult position as I am forces to set up Calm Minds where Crunch doesn't breaks the Sub or weaken Solarbeam's damage in the hopes of not getting a CH again. Crunch makes it difficult because of its 20% chance of reducing the Special Defense.
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Latios: Against Latios leads I am always forced to Calm Mind because Modest +252 SpA has a 25% chance to OHKO Latios with Dragon Claw while my +0 Dragon Claw fails to OHKO it thanks to their common 255 HP investment. I prefer to take the risk of getting a 6.25% chance of me being CH'd rather than give the AI a 25% chance to KO me. If he crits, I have to hope that Steelix gets the good roll with HP Steel as otherwise, I am screwed.
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Latias: Because +1 does not OHKOs her, I am forced to go for the Dragon Claw 2HKO unlike what I do with Latios. The good thing is that outside a critical hit or a Brightpowder miss, she can't beat Latios. Set 5 is one of the most annoying one because of Thunder Wave, Calm Mind and Recover. In case Latios misses, I set up with Suicune at the same time (Sub first to avoid T-wave later, then CM. At some point she will spam T-wave), go into the CM war and PP stall her. Once she's out of Dragon Claw PPs, it's Steelix's time to poison her.
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Heracross: Heracross generally is bad news. Set 1 has Focus Band which could activate at the worst scenario possible. Set 2 has max HP which makes Latios' Psychic only a 18.8% chance to OHKO. Set 3 has Bright Powder which can make Latios miss at the worst scenario.
You can check my playlist in here where I picked some of my Gen 3 replays to display my prowess. I didn't add a voice commentary on the videos (sorry guys, I know some videos deserve me to describe my thought process as to why I chose certain moves) since I don't own a microphone and all I have is my labtop's built in microphone. I did a video commentary on my 200th win video since it was a special benchmark worth for me to do so. Sorry for the bad audio quality! I wasn't satisfied with the end product, although I might be able to do more voiced commentary videos at some point, or even a live stream despite the bad audio quality of my voice.
Loss:
Battle #324 vs Expert Emma:
3 /
5 / Unknown (tl;dr at the end of this comment)
The loss came at Battle #324 vs Expert Emma. Emma is one of the AIs who can carry any of the 4/8 sets available on her Pokemon. I knew this was going to be a long battle since her rooster involved bulky Pokemon as Blissey, Umbreon, Miltank, Milotic, Ludicolo, etc at her disposal. The battle started with her leading Blissey and me leading Latios as always. My counterplay against Blissey has always been going into Steelix since it walls Blissey 2, and it deals very well with Blissey 3/4. Blissey 1 is kinda annoying because of its access to Sing & Substitute, but it is something manageable. After switching into Steelix, Blissey reveals Calm Mind, which means that it could be either Blissey or Blissey 4. To have a review about those sets, let's take a look at them:
However, on this turn, because Toxic has imperfect inaccuracy, I missed it on the free turn I had as she grabbed her 2nd Calm Mind. My biggest mistake in here was not analyzing the situation here and let Steelix stay on this turn. I was so used on getting Toxic to poison Blissey on turn 1 that I grew spoiled on my strategy and I didn't checked the calcs back then. I guess this is what happens when you have set plans for some sets and it might play against you on a single moment were things don't go as you expected. By letting Steelix stay in, Fire Blast landed the OHKO on Steelix and I knew that I screwed up in here big time. My 2nd alternative was now to switch into Suicune and PP stall Blissey. At +2 Fire Blast and Blizzard can't break the Sub, so I know that the best thing to do was to set up the Sub and then CM all the way to +6 and waste purposefully her PPs on the turns she decided to attack. With Pressure, Blissey can only attack 2 times using Fire Blast and 3 times with Blizzard. After she ran out of Blizzard and Fire Blast attacks, I decided to waste Calm Mind PPs because I needed her Softboiled PP gone as well in order to make her Struggle and attack her with Surfs. At this point, both of us were at +6 so I knew this was going to take a while and a lot of PPs. I wasted purposefully CM and some Rest/Sub PPs until she finally started to use Struggle. Once she started to Struggle, thanks to the fact that this Blissey set didn't had Leftovers, I knew I was not going to be locked into one of those Gen 3 infinite battles and I could beat her down. After finishing off Blissey, Suicune had around 13 Surf PPs left, 12 CMs, 10 Rest and 8 Substitutes I think. When her Struggles broke the Substitute (She did two times while I was spamming Surf), I used Rest purposefully to save up some PPs for what was going up next.
Normally, this would had been able to reverse the situation and would mean I was recovering the momentum I lost after letting Steelix die so foolishly, however, I knew that the next Pokemon to come, would be a huge issue: Lapras. At +6, you would normally think you don't have anything to fear from Lapras, however, Lapras has the possibility of being Water Aborsb and the set 3 Lapras who knows Dragon Dance and Double Edge which beats Suicune 1-v-1 if it is Water Aborsb since DD boosts its Special Attack. Also, there's the fact that Lapras has 8 whooping sets in Generation III with all having different counterplay depending on the moves they reveal. At this point, I knew that I had to stay and go for Surf for two reasons: A) It will tell me if Lapras has Water Absorb which would then, force me to PP stall it if it isn't Lapras 3. B) It will give me information of which set is using depending on the moves it reveals.
After using Surf, Lapras didn't took damage which means that it wasn't Shell Armor and it had indeed Water Absorb. Lapras went for Double Edge and it broke the Substitute on a Critical Hit. Now, I was facing the worst situation possible: It didn't mattered whether Suicune was at +6 since it was a sitting duck vs Water Absorb Lapras. The CH was the worst part because now it was impossible for me to scout whether it was Lapras 3 or Lapras 5.
Now, Shell Bell was a completely giveaway, however, I never payed attention myself to the item it was holding all this time while also being completely worn out at this point, didn't allowed me to think properly. Suicune had a lot of PP depleted after that battle vs Blissey and while the crit Double Edge threw me off and somehow putting this idea on my head that I could face Lapras 3 which wasn't true. I only focused on the crit Double Edge and that's it. It's very easy to miss on details like these when you don't pay attention. Switching Latios out was the other big misplay I did here because I thought on the possibility of Lapras 3 which never existed. Lapras goes for a Double Edge and from here, I knew I was going to lose very likely. Lapras gets another critical hit which makes Latios take a big chunk of health when it was at 100%.
255 Atk Lapras Double-Edge vs. 28 HP / 4 Def Latios: 62-73 (38.9 - 45.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (62, 62, 63, 64, 64, 65, 66, 67, 67, 68, 69, 70, 70, 71, 72, 73).
255 Atk Lapras Double-Edge vs. 28 HP / 4 Def Latios on a critical hit: 124-146 (77.9 - 91.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (124, 125, 127, 128, 129, 131, 132, 134, 135, 137, 138, 140, 141, 143, 144, 146).
The worst part is that even a +252 Double Edge is a 2HKO while a +0 Thunderbolt makes a clean 2HKO as shown below:
252 SpA Latios Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Lapras: 115-136 (56 - 66.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (115, 116, 118, 119, 121, 122, 123, 125, 126, 127, 129, 130, 131, 133, 134, 136)
Latios only ends up around 41 HP left after the critical hit Double Edge and from here, it all comes down whether I can get a critical hit Thunderbolt or not. Again, at this point, the correct thing to do maybe was to try to stall it out with what Suicune had left of PP. With 7 Double Edge, 7 Iron Tails, 7 Thunderbolts and 5 Psychic PPs factoring Pressure, this was the right play to do so. This means Lapras would had been stalled with the 28-30 PPs I had left between Rest, Calm Mind and Substitute without me going into Surf to heal it and ruin the self-damage when it started to Struggle. Also, the two turns I spend sleeping with Rest after having used my Chesto Berry meant that I could even save some spare PPs. If Lapras didn't had that Double Edge crit, I would had been OK as well, but when you go over 300 wins without being taken down by Emerald's broken RNG, you know that the game will have its sweet payback.
After the crit Double Edge, I knew I was screwed and I needed the RNG to back me up here. A para or a crit. None of the two happened and Lapras finished me off with a 2nd Double Edge with around 30% HP left. Suicune was sent out and since this thing has Thunderbolt, I needed up to set up again all the way up with the hopes of not having another critical hit. While I was working on it, when it was time for me to Rest, Lapras gets yet ANOTHER critical hit which puts Suicune on Red. I was not going to wake up on that turn and Lapras finishes me off with another Thunderbolt.
The loss came at Battle #324 vs Expert Emma. Emma is one of the AIs who can carry any of the 4/8 sets available on her Pokemon. I knew this was going to be a long battle since her rooster involved bulky Pokemon as Blissey, Umbreon, Miltank, Milotic, Ludicolo, etc at her disposal. The battle started with her leading Blissey and me leading Latios as always. My counterplay against Blissey has always been going into Steelix since it walls Blissey 2, and it deals very well with Blissey 3/4. Blissey 1 is kinda annoying because of its access to Sing & Substitute, but it is something manageable. After switching into Steelix, Blissey reveals Calm Mind, which means that it could be either Blissey or Blissey 4. To have a review about those sets, let's take a look at them:
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Blissey 3 | Bold | Focus Band | Fire Blast, Blizzard, Calm Mind, Softboiled | Natural Care or Serene Grace | 0 / 0 / 255 / 0 / 255 / 0 |
| Lv: 50 stats: 330/27/68/95/187/75 -
Blissey 4 | Bold | Focus Band | Counter, Ice Beam, Calm Mind, Softboiled | Natural Care or Serene Grace | 0 / 0 / 255 / 0 / 255 / 0 |
| Lv: 50 stats: 330/27/68/95/187/75
However, on this turn, because Toxic has imperfect inaccuracy, I missed it on the free turn I had as she grabbed her 2nd Calm Mind. My biggest mistake in here was not analyzing the situation here and let Steelix stay on this turn. I was so used on getting Toxic to poison Blissey on turn 1 that I grew spoiled on my strategy and I didn't checked the calcs back then. I guess this is what happens when you have set plans for some sets and it might play against you on a single moment were things don't go as you expected. By letting Steelix stay in, Fire Blast landed the OHKO on Steelix and I knew that I screwed up in here big time. My 2nd alternative was now to switch into Suicune and PP stall Blissey. At +2 Fire Blast and Blizzard can't break the Sub, so I know that the best thing to do was to set up the Sub and then CM all the way to +6 and waste purposefully her PPs on the turns she decided to attack. With Pressure, Blissey can only attack 2 times using Fire Blast and 3 times with Blizzard. After she ran out of Blizzard and Fire Blast attacks, I decided to waste Calm Mind PPs because I needed her Softboiled PP gone as well in order to make her Struggle and attack her with Surfs. At this point, both of us were at +6 so I knew this was going to take a while and a lot of PPs. I wasted purposefully CM and some Rest/Sub PPs until she finally started to use Struggle. Once she started to Struggle, thanks to the fact that this Blissey set didn't had Leftovers, I knew I was not going to be locked into one of those Gen 3 infinite battles and I could beat her down. After finishing off Blissey, Suicune had around 13 Surf PPs left, 12 CMs, 10 Rest and 8 Substitutes I think. When her Struggles broke the Substitute (She did two times while I was spamming Surf), I used Rest purposefully to save up some PPs for what was going up next.
Normally, this would had been able to reverse the situation and would mean I was recovering the momentum I lost after letting Steelix die so foolishly, however, I knew that the next Pokemon to come, would be a huge issue: Lapras. At +6, you would normally think you don't have anything to fear from Lapras, however, Lapras has the possibility of being Water Aborsb and the set 3 Lapras who knows Dragon Dance and Double Edge which beats Suicune 1-v-1 if it is Water Aborsb since DD boosts its Special Attack. Also, there's the fact that Lapras has 8 whooping sets in Generation III with all having different counterplay depending on the moves they reveal. At this point, I knew that I had to stay and go for Surf for two reasons: A) It will tell me if Lapras has Water Absorb which would then, force me to PP stall it if it isn't Lapras 3. B) It will give me information of which set is using depending on the moves it reveals.
After using Surf, Lapras didn't took damage which means that it wasn't Shell Armor and it had indeed Water Absorb. Lapras went for Double Edge and it broke the Substitute on a Critical Hit. Now, I was facing the worst situation possible: It didn't mattered whether Suicune was at +6 since it was a sitting duck vs Water Absorb Lapras. The CH was the worst part because now it was impossible for me to scout whether it was Lapras 3 or Lapras 5.
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Lapras 3 | Docile | Brightpowder | Double-Edge, Psychic, Confuse Ray, Dragon Dance | Water Absorb | 170/ 0 /170/ 0 /170/ 0 |
| Lv: 50 stats: 226/105/121/105/136/80 -
Lapras 5 | Docile | Shell Bell | Psychic, Thunderbolt, Iron Tail, Double Edge | Water Absorb | 0 /255/ 0 /255/ 0 / 0 |
| Lv: 50 stats: 205/137/100/137/115/80
Now, Shell Bell was a completely giveaway, however, I never payed attention myself to the item it was holding all this time while also being completely worn out at this point, didn't allowed me to think properly. Suicune had a lot of PP depleted after that battle vs Blissey and while the crit Double Edge threw me off and somehow putting this idea on my head that I could face Lapras 3 which wasn't true. I only focused on the crit Double Edge and that's it. It's very easy to miss on details like these when you don't pay attention. Switching Latios out was the other big misplay I did here because I thought on the possibility of Lapras 3 which never existed. Lapras goes for a Double Edge and from here, I knew I was going to lose very likely. Lapras gets another critical hit which makes Latios take a big chunk of health when it was at 100%.
255 Atk Lapras Double-Edge vs. 28 HP / 4 Def Latios: 62-73 (38.9 - 45.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (62, 62, 63, 64, 64, 65, 66, 67, 67, 68, 69, 70, 70, 71, 72, 73).
255 Atk Lapras Double-Edge vs. 28 HP / 4 Def Latios on a critical hit: 124-146 (77.9 - 91.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Possible damage amounts: (124, 125, 127, 128, 129, 131, 132, 134, 135, 137, 138, 140, 141, 143, 144, 146).
The worst part is that even a +252 Double Edge is a 2HKO while a +0 Thunderbolt makes a clean 2HKO as shown below:
252 SpA Latios Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Lapras: 115-136 (56 - 66.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (115, 116, 118, 119, 121, 122, 123, 125, 126, 127, 129, 130, 131, 133, 134, 136)
Latios only ends up around 41 HP left after the critical hit Double Edge and from here, it all comes down whether I can get a critical hit Thunderbolt or not. Again, at this point, the correct thing to do maybe was to try to stall it out with what Suicune had left of PP. With 7 Double Edge, 7 Iron Tails, 7 Thunderbolts and 5 Psychic PPs factoring Pressure, this was the right play to do so. This means Lapras would had been stalled with the 28-30 PPs I had left between Rest, Calm Mind and Substitute without me going into Surf to heal it and ruin the self-damage when it started to Struggle. Also, the two turns I spend sleeping with Rest after having used my Chesto Berry meant that I could even save some spare PPs. If Lapras didn't had that Double Edge crit, I would had been OK as well, but when you go over 300 wins without being taken down by Emerald's broken RNG, you know that the game will have its sweet payback.
After the crit Double Edge, I knew I was screwed and I needed the RNG to back me up here. A para or a crit. None of the two happened and Lapras finished me off with a 2nd Double Edge with around 30% HP left. Suicune was sent out and since this thing has Thunderbolt, I needed up to set up again all the way up with the hopes of not having another critical hit. While I was working on it, when it was time for me to Rest, Lapras gets yet ANOTHER critical hit which puts Suicune on Red. I was not going to wake up on that turn and Lapras finishes me off with another Thunderbolt.
Emma leads Blissey 3, I switch out into Steelix in order to attempt to Toxic it. Toxic misses and I screw up by staying again and Blissey gets the OHKO with +2 Fire Blast. Suicune comes next and succesfully PP stalls it. Struggle + Surf brings her down eventually and Lapras 5 comes next. Didn't payed attention to hold item, and I sent Latios thinking on the possibility of Lapras 3 (which wasn't real). Lapras CHs with Double Edge and Latios is now in range for a Double Edge OHKO. Thunderbolt fails to crit or get the parahax and Lapras gets the kill. On a desperate attempt, I try to set up in order to weaken Thunderbolt and stall it. Sadly, the AI gets a crit and Lapras beats Suicune.
Special Thanks & Credits:
I would like to thank first and foremost all the people at the Battle Tree Discord: I've learned a lot by hanging around with you guys and it was fun to share my experiences on Gen 3 with everyone. I'm glad that some people have even become interested on challenging the Gen 3 Frontier thanks to my write ups in the #frontier channel. Special mention to HeadsILoseTailsYouWin who made me aware of the inexistence of Tyranitar/Dragonite at Lv.50 while explaining briefly why the Lv.50 calcs are much better than Lv.100 calcs. Another shout-out to atsync who made me aware of the existence of a downloadable Gen 3 spreadsheet at the forums and turskain for adding support for Gen 3 on his damage calculator. You guys rock and helped me achieve this!
I would like to thank my good friend @Chrystalials#6440 for rendering the awesome 3D models of my Shiny Pokemon from Pokemon Colosseum. Credits to Serebii.net for the ball and icon sprites.
1st EDIT: Corrected some minor spelling mistakes.
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