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Challenge Ultra Sun Damageless- What could possibly go wrong?
- Thread starter Ironmage
- Start date
I need knowledge on ribombee. Whether its aura is +2 or something else, whether it favours Quiver Dance or attacking, how it chooses its summons, what said summons' AI preferences are. First we need to get through the captian fights. Despite being after a boosted level 60, they're all only in the low 50s. Easy boss rush is easy.
Damage is within the range for +2 defense, it's willing to use Dazzling gleam turn 1 against mimikyu, and it summons blissey at just over half health. Blissey is the only part of that that's exploitable, and if its the low-health option, we still have some problems.
Second attempt: will summon pelliper at 15/16, will occasionally use quiver dance on mimikyu. Pellipper prioritizes stockpile. By turn 4 I've managed to toxic both of them and protect against every attack, somehow. I use my Z-move against pellipper to prevent it attacking, but it lives in the red. Attempt is over. Almost, but massively unreliable.
Resisting every one of their moves with talonflame is not enough to force quiver dance turn 1.
>sends in quick claw rampardos
>doesn't get quick claw
>totem goes for quiver dance
>rock slide misses
I'm not at the point where quick claw rock slide OHKOs, so I think my best reset-abuse strategy is to go for a Z-move and hope they use quiver dance. I stick with rampardos on the possibility that the AI would be more likely to select a boosting move against a higher level opponent. It seems to have worked, but I'll leave the actual analysis of my idea to someone else.
Hapu wasn't difficult, due to the fact that there wasn't anything stopping me from just mashing STABs.
Acrobatics alone isn't enough to take out Gladion's crobat, so I use my Z-move early. I don't pick up on him using zoroark instead of lucario, but they were both weak to fighting and both slower than tsareena (I feared lucario's potential priority), so that didn't help much. Silvally would have been a whole lot more threatening if it wasn't weak to first impression. Lucario proper is sturdy enough to take low sweep, so on the next attempt I use mimikyu's ghost STAB.
The final double battle is actually one of the crazier fights in this part of the game. Glalie knows ice shard, there's two steel types that resist my safe spread moves (forretress is neutral, but defensive enough that rock slide still doesn't OHKO), and a sand stream tyranitar. I end up using goggles on tsareena and using my Z-move on forretress.
I've done some theorycrafting for the E4, gathered some stuff, and used my remaining rare candies on mimikyu. If everything goes to plan, I should be ready for the E4. Next part will show how successful that plan is.
Main combat team:
rampardos lvl 77
iron tail
rock slide
bullddoze
brick break
primarina lvl 69
sparkling aria
hydro pump
ice beam
moonblast
tsareena lvl 66
trop kick
high jump kick
power whip
low sweep
mimikyu lvl 66
shadow sneak
play rough
shadow claw
X-scissor
talonflame lvl 67
flare blitz
natural gift
acrobatics
brave bird
golisopod lvl 65
first impression
sucker punch
liquidation
brick break
support team:
meowth lvl 58
kadabra lvl 52
reserves:
zorua lvl 27
tentacool lvl 20
rattata lvl 25
drifblim lvl 53
toucannon lvl 59
Damage is within the range for +2 defense, it's willing to use Dazzling gleam turn 1 against mimikyu, and it summons blissey at just over half health. Blissey is the only part of that that's exploitable, and if its the low-health option, we still have some problems.
Second attempt: will summon pelliper at 15/16, will occasionally use quiver dance on mimikyu. Pellipper prioritizes stockpile. By turn 4 I've managed to toxic both of them and protect against every attack, somehow. I use my Z-move against pellipper to prevent it attacking, but it lives in the red. Attempt is over. Almost, but massively unreliable.
Resisting every one of their moves with talonflame is not enough to force quiver dance turn 1.
>sends in quick claw rampardos
>doesn't get quick claw
>totem goes for quiver dance
>rock slide misses
I'm not at the point where quick claw rock slide OHKOs, so I think my best reset-abuse strategy is to go for a Z-move and hope they use quiver dance. I stick with rampardos on the possibility that the AI would be more likely to select a boosting move against a higher level opponent. It seems to have worked, but I'll leave the actual analysis of my idea to someone else.
Hapu wasn't difficult, due to the fact that there wasn't anything stopping me from just mashing STABs.
Acrobatics alone isn't enough to take out Gladion's crobat, so I use my Z-move early. I don't pick up on him using zoroark instead of lucario, but they were both weak to fighting and both slower than tsareena (I feared lucario's potential priority), so that didn't help much. Silvally would have been a whole lot more threatening if it wasn't weak to first impression. Lucario proper is sturdy enough to take low sweep, so on the next attempt I use mimikyu's ghost STAB.
The final double battle is actually one of the crazier fights in this part of the game. Glalie knows ice shard, there's two steel types that resist my safe spread moves (forretress is neutral, but defensive enough that rock slide still doesn't OHKO), and a sand stream tyranitar. I end up using goggles on tsareena and using my Z-move on forretress.
I've done some theorycrafting for the E4, gathered some stuff, and used my remaining rare candies on mimikyu. If everything goes to plan, I should be ready for the E4. Next part will show how successful that plan is.
Main combat team:
rampardos lvl 77
iron tail
rock slide
bullddoze
brick break
primarina lvl 69
sparkling aria
hydro pump
ice beam
moonblast
tsareena lvl 66
trop kick
high jump kick
power whip
low sweep
mimikyu lvl 66
shadow sneak
play rough
shadow claw
X-scissor
talonflame lvl 67
flare blitz
natural gift
acrobatics
brave bird
golisopod lvl 65
first impression
sucker punch
liquidation
brick break
support team:
meowth lvl 58
kadabra lvl 52
reserves:
zorua lvl 27
tentacool lvl 20
rattata lvl 25
drifblim lvl 53
toucannon lvl 59
I start with Molayne, since he's the most threatening. The possibility of spikes from kelfki means that I equip mimikyu with an air balloon. I'm intending to use it against dugtrio. It goes for thunder wave instead, which I prepared for with a cheri berry on rampardos. Metagross is next, and I attempt to use talonflame to discourage bullet punch. Z-flare blitz KOs. Rampardos bulldozes magnezone, and mimikyu's disguise takes a hit from dugtrio's iron head, successfully preventing it from using sucker punch. I notice that the order would have me screwed over if there were spikes, I had expected to do all of the ones with rampardos at once. Rampardos takes out bisharp.
I swap my now-broken air balloon for spell tag on mimikyu for acerola, hoping for a clean sweep. I don't OHKO dhelmise and lose disguise, but fortunately froslass doesn't go for ice shard. I swap to primarina for palossand and rampardos for drifblim.
For Kahili, I run Z-crystal on mimikyu, wiki berry on talonflame, and hard stone on rampardos. rock slide takes out braviary.
What do you mean, hawlucha has its hidden ability? The one mon I was going to use mimikyu for just happens to bypass disguise, and I only find this out after I send it in?
On attempt 2, molayne goes much the same, with the exception that mimikyu ran spell tag instead of air balloon. I trade acrobatics for fly on talonflame. Once hawlucha is dealt with, I switch to primarina for mandibuzz, but my inability to read calcs means that I mistake moonblast KOing for ice beam KOing. It forces a reset now, but it only really means that I need to risk rock slide's accuracy one more time than I thought.
I test Olivia first on my third attempt, to see if I have potential for all of them. I need to save my Z-move for gigalith rather than using it on armaldo for the accuracy. I'll lead primarina so I don't need to contend with iron tail's 80%. Rampardos doesn't OHKO cradily, but it went for stealth rock on at least that attempt.
Fourth attempt, cradily goes for rock tomb. it misses. Lyancroc lives a brick break, and isn't so kind. It was last, so I won't need goggles for it. Next try has golisopod taking out armaldo to try to have a move choice on primarina for cradily (ice beam KOs out of sand), but it backfires since it brings out gigalith earlier than I would have liked. I take a risk with iron tail's accuracy on cradily, and it pays off. Lycanroc is once again last, and sand doesn't let it live specs sparkling aria.
molayne's pretty reliable at this point, and I use talonflame for Acerola's Dhelmise to keep disguise just in case of ice shard on froslass. It still doesn't go for it, so I feel safe using mimikyu for drifblim instead of rock slide's 90% accuracy. I forgot about aftermath. That was stupid.
Attempt 6, another shot at kahili. I lead Z-move to reduce my number of accuracy checks, then KO hawlucha with fly and mandibuzz with moonblast. Rock slide takes out toucannon, and natural gift takes out oricorio. We've now beaten each of the four at least once. Acrobatics is relearned, and Acerola goes down cleanly and with no accuracy checks. However, this is the first time I see reflect out of Molayne's klefki. While it's easily dispelled via brick break, it does mean rampardos needs to live with paralysis, which ends up costing me the match.
It works fine on attempt 7 though, so there's likely some damage rolls at play. If I fail this one, I'll probably level rampardos. I don't miss anything on kahili, and Acerola is still reliable. For Olivia, I use primarina for armaldo and golisopod for cradily. This makes Olivia 100% reliable, for 2/4.
With mimikyu holding Z, talonflame holding aspear berry, and golisopod to lead, I make my first attempt against Hau. He runs 252 speed on everything except incineroar. It's not doing crabominable any favours, but it does make the other four members more threatening. First impression takes out Raichu (useless as ever), moonblast on crabominable, first impression again on Leafeon, and natural gift on noivern (I have never seen an HP bar empty that fast).
Then comes tauros. I send out mimikyu. Up until now, I've fought with a team of six, and only used my Disguise turn for attacking. Both of that changes now, as I use Roto Boost to remove Intimidate, start outspeeding, and make it irrelevant whether iron head would have flinched. Snuggle OHKOs.
As poetic as it would be to end this with a duel of aces, I'm not risking rock slide's accuracy now when specs Aria is more than sufficient. Kukui goes on about some "choosing moves in the heat of the moment" nonsense, oblivious to the fact that everything in the champion's match was planned in advance.
The main team:
Rampardos lvl 79
iron tail
rock slide
bulldoze
brick break
primarina lvl 71
sparkling aria
hydro pump
ice beam
moonblast
golisopod lvl 67
first impression
sucker punch
liquidation
brick break
Tsareena lvl 68
trop kick
high jump kick
power whip
low sweep
Talonflame lvl 69
flare blitz
natural gift
acropbatics
fly
Mimikyu lvl 67
shadow sneak
play rough
shadow claw
X-scissor
support team:
Kadabra lvl 52
Meowth lvl 58
Reserves:
Drifblim lvl 53
toucannon lvl 59
zorua lvl 27
tentacool lvl 20
rattata lvl 25
I swap my now-broken air balloon for spell tag on mimikyu for acerola, hoping for a clean sweep. I don't OHKO dhelmise and lose disguise, but fortunately froslass doesn't go for ice shard. I swap to primarina for palossand and rampardos for drifblim.
For Kahili, I run Z-crystal on mimikyu, wiki berry on talonflame, and hard stone on rampardos. rock slide takes out braviary.
What do you mean, hawlucha has its hidden ability? The one mon I was going to use mimikyu for just happens to bypass disguise, and I only find this out after I send it in?
On attempt 2, molayne goes much the same, with the exception that mimikyu ran spell tag instead of air balloon. I trade acrobatics for fly on talonflame. Once hawlucha is dealt with, I switch to primarina for mandibuzz, but my inability to read calcs means that I mistake moonblast KOing for ice beam KOing. It forces a reset now, but it only really means that I need to risk rock slide's accuracy one more time than I thought.
I test Olivia first on my third attempt, to see if I have potential for all of them. I need to save my Z-move for gigalith rather than using it on armaldo for the accuracy. I'll lead primarina so I don't need to contend with iron tail's 80%. Rampardos doesn't OHKO cradily, but it went for stealth rock on at least that attempt.
Fourth attempt, cradily goes for rock tomb. it misses. Lyancroc lives a brick break, and isn't so kind. It was last, so I won't need goggles for it. Next try has golisopod taking out armaldo to try to have a move choice on primarina for cradily (ice beam KOs out of sand), but it backfires since it brings out gigalith earlier than I would have liked. I take a risk with iron tail's accuracy on cradily, and it pays off. Lycanroc is once again last, and sand doesn't let it live specs sparkling aria.
molayne's pretty reliable at this point, and I use talonflame for Acerola's Dhelmise to keep disguise just in case of ice shard on froslass. It still doesn't go for it, so I feel safe using mimikyu for drifblim instead of rock slide's 90% accuracy. I forgot about aftermath. That was stupid.
Attempt 6, another shot at kahili. I lead Z-move to reduce my number of accuracy checks, then KO hawlucha with fly and mandibuzz with moonblast. Rock slide takes out toucannon, and natural gift takes out oricorio. We've now beaten each of the four at least once. Acrobatics is relearned, and Acerola goes down cleanly and with no accuracy checks. However, this is the first time I see reflect out of Molayne's klefki. While it's easily dispelled via brick break, it does mean rampardos needs to live with paralysis, which ends up costing me the match.
It works fine on attempt 7 though, so there's likely some damage rolls at play. If I fail this one, I'll probably level rampardos. I don't miss anything on kahili, and Acerola is still reliable. For Olivia, I use primarina for armaldo and golisopod for cradily. This makes Olivia 100% reliable, for 2/4.
With mimikyu holding Z, talonflame holding aspear berry, and golisopod to lead, I make my first attempt against Hau. He runs 252 speed on everything except incineroar. It's not doing crabominable any favours, but it does make the other four members more threatening. First impression takes out Raichu (useless as ever), moonblast on crabominable, first impression again on Leafeon, and natural gift on noivern (I have never seen an HP bar empty that fast).
Then comes tauros. I send out mimikyu. Up until now, I've fought with a team of six, and only used my Disguise turn for attacking. Both of that changes now, as I use Roto Boost to remove Intimidate, start outspeeding, and make it irrelevant whether iron head would have flinched. Snuggle OHKOs.
As poetic as it would be to end this with a duel of aces, I'm not risking rock slide's accuracy now when specs Aria is more than sufficient. Kukui goes on about some "choosing moves in the heat of the moment" nonsense, oblivious to the fact that everything in the champion's match was planned in advance.
The main team:
Rampardos lvl 79
iron tail
rock slide
bulldoze
brick break
primarina lvl 71
sparkling aria
hydro pump
ice beam
moonblast
golisopod lvl 67
first impression
sucker punch
liquidation
brick break
Tsareena lvl 68
trop kick
high jump kick
power whip
low sweep
Talonflame lvl 69
flare blitz
natural gift
acropbatics
fly
Mimikyu lvl 67
shadow sneak
play rough
shadow claw
X-scissor
support team:
Kadabra lvl 52
Meowth lvl 58
Reserves:
Drifblim lvl 53
toucannon lvl 59
zorua lvl 27
tentacool lvl 20
rattata lvl 25
So, I'm back for the postgame quests, after a nearly two-year break. This was spurred on much like the start of this challenge, where I saw another damageless run and was disappointed at the amount of level grinding. In this case, said run was of UMoon, which I was pretty sure you didn't need to be mid-90s to beat.
After failing to remember that I can't move with the D-pad for a while and turning animations back off after one fight, I start heading towards the Battle Tree. I end up catching one of the Blacephalon at this point, though I don't yet know if they're actually going to see use. Beast Boost certainly seems good for clearing teams, but there's too many dark and dragon types coming up for me to be confident in Blace specifically.
I don't put much stock in the Festival Plaza takeover since selection is out of my control, so I take the opportunity to use Explosion. "you shouldn't be able to battle this effectively with other's pokemon" Dude, I have the Gold Knowledge symbol back in Emerald.
Alright, time to actually go to the battle tree to pick up items. The Sturdy Skarmory guarding the exit of Poni grove would have been a big problem if it was smart enough to not try to Sky Drop Talonflame. Even so, I needed to rearrange my movesets since my only mon with Ground coverage is slower than the same trainer's electivire. After what is hopefully the last time I ever seriously use Jolly Flamethrower Talonflame, Tsareena takes out electivire with a Z-move.
I sneak past all avoidable trainers in Poni gauntlet and lead Primarina against the last black belt. I breifly panic when he sends out Hawlucha, but fortunately it wastes a turn charging sky attack. I really need a faster team. On seeing a forced double battle, I considered just running with one mon, but I wasn't sure if I would immediately be forced into the red/blue fight, so I sent out my two fastest mons any prayed. It required both the enemy Comfey to use light screen against two physical attackers and magmortar to target mimikyu, but it worked.
I was correct about the red/blue fight occurring nearly immediately. I had the opportunity to make only a few steps, though that might have been enough for the fly point. I check that on my second attempt, after losing to a flinch on mimikyu from Aerodactyl's iron head. It is, but I try mimikyu lead+ roto boost setup against Red this time around, since his team is overall slower. I get paralyzed immediately.
With that avenue currently stalled, it was time to focus on the other parts of the power boost I would like to obtain. I burn through the guardians of a tranquil forest with repeated Z-moves, then capture one of my future sweepers. Did take a few tries though, I'm still saving my master ball for something else. Unfortunately, synchronize failed and I end up with a Bold nature. Hopefully kartana's natural attack stat is enough.
As for what I use the master ball on, I'm still worried about the forced multi battle. Between the spread damage reduction and the fact that my ally is acting passively, it's quite possibly the hardest DPR check in the game. Just having a strong STAB isn't going to be enough. I need weather-boosted strong STAB. Unfortunately, Kyogre is UMoon exclusive and I won't be able to run both a choice item and receive STAB on groudon. Also, since Eruption is learned at level 90, I hope Lava plume is going to be enough. I know I'll be needing to use special moves, so I leave my Jolly syncrhonizer off and get a Mild nature, which is good for my purposes. Both Groudon and Kartana are being EV'd for Speed in the Pelago right now.
Next part will hopefully involve me obtaining a Choice Scarf.
The main team:
Mimikyu lvl 70:
Shadow Sneak
Play Rough
Shadow Claw
Thunder Wave
Tsareena lvl 69
Trop Kick
High Jump Kick
Power Whip
Low Sweep
Rampardos lvl 81
Iron Tail
Rock Slide
Bulldoze
Brick Break
Talonflame lvl 71
Flare Blitz
Natural Gift
Acrobatics
Fly
Primarina lvl 72
Surf
Hydro Pump
Ice Beam
Moonblast
Golisopod lvl 68
First Impression
Sucker Punch
Liquidation
Brick Break
Support Team:
Meowth lvl 58
Kadabra lvl 53
Reserves:
Drifblim lvl 53
toucannon lvl 59
Zorua lvl 27
Tentacool lvl 20
Rattata lvl 25
Groudon lvl 60
Kartana lvl 60
I don't put much stock in the Festival Plaza takeover since selection is out of my control, so I take the opportunity to use Explosion. "you shouldn't be able to battle this effectively with other's pokemon" Dude, I have the Gold Knowledge symbol back in Emerald.
Alright, time to actually go to the battle tree to pick up items. The Sturdy Skarmory guarding the exit of Poni grove would have been a big problem if it was smart enough to not try to Sky Drop Talonflame. Even so, I needed to rearrange my movesets since my only mon with Ground coverage is slower than the same trainer's electivire. After what is hopefully the last time I ever seriously use Jolly Flamethrower Talonflame, Tsareena takes out electivire with a Z-move.
I sneak past all avoidable trainers in Poni gauntlet and lead Primarina against the last black belt. I breifly panic when he sends out Hawlucha, but fortunately it wastes a turn charging sky attack. I really need a faster team. On seeing a forced double battle, I considered just running with one mon, but I wasn't sure if I would immediately be forced into the red/blue fight, so I sent out my two fastest mons any prayed. It required both the enemy Comfey to use light screen against two physical attackers and magmortar to target mimikyu, but it worked.
I was correct about the red/blue fight occurring nearly immediately. I had the opportunity to make only a few steps, though that might have been enough for the fly point. I check that on my second attempt, after losing to a flinch on mimikyu from Aerodactyl's iron head. It is, but I try mimikyu lead+ roto boost setup against Red this time around, since his team is overall slower. I get paralyzed immediately.
With that avenue currently stalled, it was time to focus on the other parts of the power boost I would like to obtain. I burn through the guardians of a tranquil forest with repeated Z-moves, then capture one of my future sweepers. Did take a few tries though, I'm still saving my master ball for something else. Unfortunately, synchronize failed and I end up with a Bold nature. Hopefully kartana's natural attack stat is enough.
As for what I use the master ball on, I'm still worried about the forced multi battle. Between the spread damage reduction and the fact that my ally is acting passively, it's quite possibly the hardest DPR check in the game. Just having a strong STAB isn't going to be enough. I need weather-boosted strong STAB. Unfortunately, Kyogre is UMoon exclusive and I won't be able to run both a choice item and receive STAB on groudon. Also, since Eruption is learned at level 90, I hope Lava plume is going to be enough. I know I'll be needing to use special moves, so I leave my Jolly syncrhonizer off and get a Mild nature, which is good for my purposes. Both Groudon and Kartana are being EV'd for Speed in the Pelago right now.
Next part will hopefully involve me obtaining a Choice Scarf.
The main team:
Mimikyu lvl 70:
Shadow Sneak
Play Rough
Shadow Claw
Thunder Wave
Tsareena lvl 69
Trop Kick
High Jump Kick
Power Whip
Low Sweep
Rampardos lvl 81
Iron Tail
Rock Slide
Bulldoze
Brick Break
Talonflame lvl 71
Flare Blitz
Natural Gift
Acrobatics
Fly
Primarina lvl 72
Surf
Hydro Pump
Ice Beam
Moonblast
Golisopod lvl 68
First Impression
Sucker Punch
Liquidation
Brick Break
Support Team:
Meowth lvl 58
Kadabra lvl 53
Reserves:
Drifblim lvl 53
toucannon lvl 59
Zorua lvl 27
Tentacool lvl 20
Rattata lvl 25
Groudon lvl 60
Kartana lvl 60
"Now, even I would be hard-pressed against the Champion, especially if Gladion or the grandson of the kahuna were aiding him/her... But with you tripping him/her up, perhaps it won't be so difficult for me to win, even against the Champion! I thank you in advance, Miss Lillie!"-Faba, before the Multi Battle. I find it hilarious how the narrative puts Faba's bragging about him being the Foundation's last line of defense as just him being full of himself. But in this run, he's right. He's right about being tougher to crack than his boss. He's right about Lillie hindering more than helping. I'm bringing in the strongest attack I can think of on this cartridge, and still need to be noticeably higher leveled to have a chance at winning.
There is actually one more mon I want to get. I'm going to be facing a good amount of Poison types, including the fast and ground-immune Crobat, so getting an offensive Psychic type seems like a good idea. I'm not sure about my ability to actually catch a legendary without my master ball, so I fall back on my gen 3 frontier experience and choose Starmie. Third catch is Mild after two neutral natures, so I run with it.
Despite now checking and noting that Red and Blue have higher levels than most of the Rocket trainers, I still want my items now. I was correct that Red's overall lower speed makes him easier. Despite most of my team being similar level and having worse IVs, this plan should work with a 76% chance from accuracy rolls.
I equip Fighting Z to rampardos, miracle seed to Tsareena, and Wiki berry to Talonflame, then lead golisopod. In addition to First impression getting through one of his only two speed-invested mons while not caring about Static since I don't need Golisopod for the rest of the fight, it baits out Charizard early. This lets me take it out with Natural Gift and have a full-power acrobatics for Venusaur. I then succeed on both my required accuracy checks: Power whip on Blastoise, and Rock slide on Lapras (power whip also KO's lapras, but has 5 less accuracy). Venusaur falls to acrobatics, and Rampardos finishes off Snorlax with its Z-move. Just as Planned.
While taking a break from Mantine surf to try to get the Earthquake TM, I walk unprepared into the Dexio fight. Fortunately, after Talonflame crits his Espeon with Acrobatics mimikyu OHKOs slowking and uses up Disguise against Metagross, leaving only his frailest members to face Golisopod's SE priority.
I end up getting one scarf and one band. I'm honestly not that much of a fan of Mantine Surf, so I'm glad I haven't gone for a mega-capable mon.
Turns out you can also access Eruption of Groudon via the move reminder. I'm still waiting for Staryu's EVs, but I bring both kartana and groudon for some EXP against the first couple rocket grunts. At the moment, Kartana has the Scarf, Golisopod has the Band, and Groudon has the Red Orb. I do however need more levels before I can beat Faba. I go through the trainers in Poni coast and Guantlet I skipped earlier, including testing Groudon's doubles capabilities alongside talonflame in case I need to earthquake.
I just IV calc'd groudon to start doing damage calculations and he's 31/6/0/3/31/31. Two of the guaranteed max are in defensive stats, and everything else is terrible. Thanks to the intimidate from Granbull and scrafty, Eruption is still my best play against Bruxish despite the resist, and it begins KOing at level 68. Thank Arceus he doesn't bring his fast Alakazam to this fight, I would need to be level 77 to outspeed it.
First attempt, I fail damage roll against the claydol, but faba ends up using an X defense instead of attacking. I also don't KO bruxish, but the AI doesn't understand how Desolate Land works. No, I end up losing to something I forgot to check for: the grunt's 252 HP/252 SpD Calm Scrafty. I need another five levels to get a 3/16 chance to beat it, and beating out Zam with a level 79 to guarantee an OHKO.
While grinding, I decide to take out the rest of the route captains. Usually involves a small adjustment to account for priority of focus sash (toucannon sees some use for rock blast), but nothing too difficult at this point. Last one had high enough levels that it took some thought. I need a roll to use precipice blades over earthquake on torkoal (though I suppose I also could have used a Z-move on Rampardos) and switch in the faster kartana against ninetales-A.
I had a terrible idea. Since Bruxish is stupid and doesn't understand Desolate Land, I might be able to use a single-target move on Scrafty. Unfortunately, the only thing that would outdamage spread Eruption is Overheat. I know from a couple checks that it's uncertain whether they go to Shiinotic and Hypno or scrafty and bruxish first, but they do seem to be paired. I wanted to be able to keep bruxish around if it continues being stupid for more than one turn while still being able to take out shiinotic if scrafty appears earlier, so I produce a moveset of Overheat/Flamethrower/Precipice Blades/Eruption. That's the kind of moveset I would have come up with when I was a kid.
On my first attempt with that moveset, scrafty and bruxish come out third. I Overheat scrafty, and bruxish goes for Waterfall and fails, as planned. Now I can just switch to Mimikyu and shadow claw... oh wait I never changed my team off of my reserves I chose to level-grind on a whim, I don't have mimikyu. I go for the X-item, hoping bruxish tries for another Waterfall. It doesn't, and uses Psychic Fangs. But it chooses to OHKO Lillie's useless Clefairy right after removing its useless screens instead of ending the attempt. Back at +-0 SPA, groudon finishes with another Eruption. The last line of defense has finally crumbled.
The main team:
Groudon lvl 73
overheat
precipice blades
flamethrower
eruption
kartana lvl 67
leaf blade
psycho cut
smart strike
sacred sword
mimikyu lvl 74
shadow sneak
play rough
shadow claw
thunder wave
golisopod lvl 73
first impression
sucker punch
liquidation
brick break
talonflame lvl 75
flare blitz
natural gift
acrobatics
fly
primarina lvl 75
surf
hydro pump
ice beam
moonblast
Reserves:
Tsareena lvl 70
Rampardos lvl 82
Drifblim lvl 59
Toucannon lvl 65
Rattata lvl 25
Staryu lvl 23
Tentacool lvl 22
Zorua lvl 28
Support team:
kadabra lvl 53
meowth lvl 66
There is actually one more mon I want to get. I'm going to be facing a good amount of Poison types, including the fast and ground-immune Crobat, so getting an offensive Psychic type seems like a good idea. I'm not sure about my ability to actually catch a legendary without my master ball, so I fall back on my gen 3 frontier experience and choose Starmie. Third catch is Mild after two neutral natures, so I run with it.
Despite now checking and noting that Red and Blue have higher levels than most of the Rocket trainers, I still want my items now. I was correct that Red's overall lower speed makes him easier. Despite most of my team being similar level and having worse IVs, this plan should work with a 76% chance from accuracy rolls.
I equip Fighting Z to rampardos, miracle seed to Tsareena, and Wiki berry to Talonflame, then lead golisopod. In addition to First impression getting through one of his only two speed-invested mons while not caring about Static since I don't need Golisopod for the rest of the fight, it baits out Charizard early. This lets me take it out with Natural Gift and have a full-power acrobatics for Venusaur. I then succeed on both my required accuracy checks: Power whip on Blastoise, and Rock slide on Lapras (power whip also KO's lapras, but has 5 less accuracy). Venusaur falls to acrobatics, and Rampardos finishes off Snorlax with its Z-move. Just as Planned.
While taking a break from Mantine surf to try to get the Earthquake TM, I walk unprepared into the Dexio fight. Fortunately, after Talonflame crits his Espeon with Acrobatics mimikyu OHKOs slowking and uses up Disguise against Metagross, leaving only his frailest members to face Golisopod's SE priority.
I end up getting one scarf and one band. I'm honestly not that much of a fan of Mantine Surf, so I'm glad I haven't gone for a mega-capable mon.
Turns out you can also access Eruption of Groudon via the move reminder. I'm still waiting for Staryu's EVs, but I bring both kartana and groudon for some EXP against the first couple rocket grunts. At the moment, Kartana has the Scarf, Golisopod has the Band, and Groudon has the Red Orb. I do however need more levels before I can beat Faba. I go through the trainers in Poni coast and Guantlet I skipped earlier, including testing Groudon's doubles capabilities alongside talonflame in case I need to earthquake.
I just IV calc'd groudon to start doing damage calculations and he's 31/6/0/3/31/31. Two of the guaranteed max are in defensive stats, and everything else is terrible. Thanks to the intimidate from Granbull and scrafty, Eruption is still my best play against Bruxish despite the resist, and it begins KOing at level 68. Thank Arceus he doesn't bring his fast Alakazam to this fight, I would need to be level 77 to outspeed it.
First attempt, I fail damage roll against the claydol, but faba ends up using an X defense instead of attacking. I also don't KO bruxish, but the AI doesn't understand how Desolate Land works. No, I end up losing to something I forgot to check for: the grunt's 252 HP/252 SpD Calm Scrafty. I need another five levels to get a 3/16 chance to beat it, and beating out Zam with a level 79 to guarantee an OHKO.
While grinding, I decide to take out the rest of the route captains. Usually involves a small adjustment to account for priority of focus sash (toucannon sees some use for rock blast), but nothing too difficult at this point. Last one had high enough levels that it took some thought. I need a roll to use precipice blades over earthquake on torkoal (though I suppose I also could have used a Z-move on Rampardos) and switch in the faster kartana against ninetales-A.
I had a terrible idea. Since Bruxish is stupid and doesn't understand Desolate Land, I might be able to use a single-target move on Scrafty. Unfortunately, the only thing that would outdamage spread Eruption is Overheat. I know from a couple checks that it's uncertain whether they go to Shiinotic and Hypno or scrafty and bruxish first, but they do seem to be paired. I wanted to be able to keep bruxish around if it continues being stupid for more than one turn while still being able to take out shiinotic if scrafty appears earlier, so I produce a moveset of Overheat/Flamethrower/Precipice Blades/Eruption. That's the kind of moveset I would have come up with when I was a kid.
On my first attempt with that moveset, scrafty and bruxish come out third. I Overheat scrafty, and bruxish goes for Waterfall and fails, as planned. Now I can just switch to Mimikyu and shadow claw... oh wait I never changed my team off of my reserves I chose to level-grind on a whim, I don't have mimikyu. I go for the X-item, hoping bruxish tries for another Waterfall. It doesn't, and uses Psychic Fangs. But it chooses to OHKO Lillie's useless Clefairy right after removing its useless screens instead of ending the attempt. Back at +-0 SPA, groudon finishes with another Eruption. The last line of defense has finally crumbled.
The main team:
Groudon lvl 73
overheat
precipice blades
flamethrower
eruption
kartana lvl 67
leaf blade
psycho cut
smart strike
sacred sword
mimikyu lvl 74
shadow sneak
play rough
shadow claw
thunder wave
golisopod lvl 73
first impression
sucker punch
liquidation
brick break
talonflame lvl 75
flare blitz
natural gift
acrobatics
fly
primarina lvl 75
surf
hydro pump
ice beam
moonblast
Reserves:
Tsareena lvl 70
Rampardos lvl 82
Drifblim lvl 59
Toucannon lvl 65
Rattata lvl 25
Staryu lvl 23
Tentacool lvl 22
Zorua lvl 28
Support team:
kadabra lvl 53
meowth lvl 66
Watch out when going into the room with the mirror. You'll be stuck behind a multi battle with Guzma. In my case, I had Kartana in the lead slot on my first try. I take out Raticate, and his Golisopod baits out Fearow's attack. It gets crit and activates Emergency Expert, but +1 Sacred Sword takes out fearow next turn.
I head left, and appreciate Kartana's psycho cut since I still don't have Starmie ready yet. Perhaps I won't at all. A grunt's muk is bulky enough to live one, but goes for minimize. Even so, I might need to play around that bulk against Archie's.
I lead Golisopod on Mightyena, KOing with first impression. This baits his Crobat in, giving me a beast boost on psycho cut before kartana's typing brings in the fire punch-wielding Muk. I crit both times, but I hope it didn't matter. Sharpedo's next, and because this is RSE Archie, it'll have rough skin over mega evolving into strong jaw. I take it out with Groudon's Solarbeam. Kyogre's scripted to appear last, and solarbeam doesn't KO thanks to its massive SpD. I bring kartana back in and Leaf Blade instead. I then forget to save and change my lead before heading to the right wing, and need to do it again. Turns out the crit against crobat mattered. Third time, I have Talonflame Z the crobat, and run band over scarf on kartana to deal with muk. This ends up being a mistake, as it changes the order so I'm locked into psycho cut when Kyogre is coming out. Fortunately, this is RSE maxie, and he doesn't realize that this groudon isn't weak to his itemless kyogre. Solarbeam 2HKOs.
One of the grunts before Maxie poses some problems. I had kartana in front in order to fight the previous grunt's haunter, but was unable to OHKO their hypno. I end up switching to mimikyu, and trying to heal their status (its swagger/thunder wave/attract/ foul play) with items. Unfortunately I take a risk not knowing that full heal doesn't break attract, but luck out anyway.
Maxie's Weezing is capable of taking a psycho cut from Banded Kartana, but it's not a major issue. Groudon has enough power in Eruption to not care about its ground immunity. And since it's RSE Maxie, his own groudon never picked up a neutrality to Grass, so it does still fall to Banded Leaf Blade.
Against Cyrus, I lead Kartana, with the scarf to outspeed houndoom and weavile. Mimikyu then takes out honchkrow and talonflame once again uses its Z-move on crobat. Unfortunately, I messed up with the calculator and went for the damage roll with +1 kartana and not the guaranteed KO with groudon.
You know what, let's give groudon a break here, I am trying to avoid just using brute force. I back out to access the PC and bring back the old ace, now with choice band and the Earthquake TM to OHKO dialga. The rest of the team is starting to approach their level 82, anyway.
Without a crobat, Lysandre's entire team is slower than Kartana, and everything but honchkrow is weak to one of its moves thanks to gyarados-Mega's dark type. I equip it with an Expert belt and teach protect over leaf blade to handle mienshao's Fake Out, and sweep.
Ghetsis is likewise slow, and only has two mons that aren't weak to fighting. These are, naturally, his guaranteed first and last mons. I have mimikyu Z-move cofagrigus, then build up Beast Boosts with banded Sacred Sword. Neutral typing can't save Zekrom once kartana is at +3.
At this point I head back to the move relearner to re-teach Kartana Leaf Blade. Like ghetsis, only giovanni's lead and legendary are worth being concerned about. I use Golisopod to take out dugtrio before it could use sandstorm, sucker punch, or most dangerously stealth rock. This brings out rhyperior first, providing Beast Boost fodder for banded Leaf Blade. This is enough to take out both Nidoking and Nidoqueen, with no risk of Poison Point thanks to Kartana's steel type. Then, only Mewtwo remains and I have mimikyu ready with a super-effective STAB Z-move.
Honestly, if there was a grunt with two golbats, I would have been in trouble for a while.
The main team:
Golisopod lvl 77
First Impression
Sucker Punch
Liquidation
Brick Break
Kartana lvl 72
leaf blade
psycho cut
sacred sword
smart strike
mimikyu lvl 77
shadow sneak
play rough
shadow claw
thunder wave
Primarina lvl 77
surf
hydro pump
ice beam
moonblast
Rampardos lvl 85
Iron Tail
Rock Slide
Earthquake
Brick Break
Talonflame lvl 78
Flare Bltiz
Natural Gift
Acrobatics
Fly
Reserves:
Toucannon lvl 69
Drifblim lvl 62
Tsareena lvl 73
Rattata lvl 40
Zorua lvl 28
Tentacool lvl 22
Staryu lvl 37
Groudon lvl 74
Support team
Meowth lvl 66
Kadabra lvl 53
I head left, and appreciate Kartana's psycho cut since I still don't have Starmie ready yet. Perhaps I won't at all. A grunt's muk is bulky enough to live one, but goes for minimize. Even so, I might need to play around that bulk against Archie's.
I lead Golisopod on Mightyena, KOing with first impression. This baits his Crobat in, giving me a beast boost on psycho cut before kartana's typing brings in the fire punch-wielding Muk. I crit both times, but I hope it didn't matter. Sharpedo's next, and because this is RSE Archie, it'll have rough skin over mega evolving into strong jaw. I take it out with Groudon's Solarbeam. Kyogre's scripted to appear last, and solarbeam doesn't KO thanks to its massive SpD. I bring kartana back in and Leaf Blade instead. I then forget to save and change my lead before heading to the right wing, and need to do it again. Turns out the crit against crobat mattered. Third time, I have Talonflame Z the crobat, and run band over scarf on kartana to deal with muk. This ends up being a mistake, as it changes the order so I'm locked into psycho cut when Kyogre is coming out. Fortunately, this is RSE maxie, and he doesn't realize that this groudon isn't weak to his itemless kyogre. Solarbeam 2HKOs.
One of the grunts before Maxie poses some problems. I had kartana in front in order to fight the previous grunt's haunter, but was unable to OHKO their hypno. I end up switching to mimikyu, and trying to heal their status (its swagger/thunder wave/attract/ foul play) with items. Unfortunately I take a risk not knowing that full heal doesn't break attract, but luck out anyway.
Maxie's Weezing is capable of taking a psycho cut from Banded Kartana, but it's not a major issue. Groudon has enough power in Eruption to not care about its ground immunity. And since it's RSE Maxie, his own groudon never picked up a neutrality to Grass, so it does still fall to Banded Leaf Blade.
Against Cyrus, I lead Kartana, with the scarf to outspeed houndoom and weavile. Mimikyu then takes out honchkrow and talonflame once again uses its Z-move on crobat. Unfortunately, I messed up with the calculator and went for the damage roll with +1 kartana and not the guaranteed KO with groudon.
You know what, let's give groudon a break here, I am trying to avoid just using brute force. I back out to access the PC and bring back the old ace, now with choice band and the Earthquake TM to OHKO dialga. The rest of the team is starting to approach their level 82, anyway.
Without a crobat, Lysandre's entire team is slower than Kartana, and everything but honchkrow is weak to one of its moves thanks to gyarados-Mega's dark type. I equip it with an Expert belt and teach protect over leaf blade to handle mienshao's Fake Out, and sweep.
Ghetsis is likewise slow, and only has two mons that aren't weak to fighting. These are, naturally, his guaranteed first and last mons. I have mimikyu Z-move cofagrigus, then build up Beast Boosts with banded Sacred Sword. Neutral typing can't save Zekrom once kartana is at +3.
At this point I head back to the move relearner to re-teach Kartana Leaf Blade. Like ghetsis, only giovanni's lead and legendary are worth being concerned about. I use Golisopod to take out dugtrio before it could use sandstorm, sucker punch, or most dangerously stealth rock. This brings out rhyperior first, providing Beast Boost fodder for banded Leaf Blade. This is enough to take out both Nidoking and Nidoqueen, with no risk of Poison Point thanks to Kartana's steel type. Then, only Mewtwo remains and I have mimikyu ready with a super-effective STAB Z-move.
Honestly, if there was a grunt with two golbats, I would have been in trouble for a while.
The main team:
Golisopod lvl 77
First Impression
Sucker Punch
Liquidation
Brick Break
Kartana lvl 72
leaf blade
psycho cut
sacred sword
smart strike
mimikyu lvl 77
shadow sneak
play rough
shadow claw
thunder wave
Primarina lvl 77
surf
hydro pump
ice beam
moonblast
Rampardos lvl 85
Iron Tail
Rock Slide
Earthquake
Brick Break
Talonflame lvl 78
Flare Bltiz
Natural Gift
Acrobatics
Fly
Reserves:
Toucannon lvl 69
Drifblim lvl 62
Tsareena lvl 73
Rattata lvl 40
Zorua lvl 28
Tentacool lvl 22
Staryu lvl 37
Groudon lvl 74
Support team
Meowth lvl 66
Kadabra lvl 53
As much as I'm doing this out of not liking some of the other damageless runs I've seen, I can recognize the need to take the safest option possible when there's more risk from losing than I've been playing with. So my interest in taking on the E4 rematch is in seeing if I can take on a boss with the increased risk of an unknown opponent several fights after I would reasonably have saves. That, and beating Giovanni doesn't cause the credits to roll.
I feel that I'm going to need starmie for this, so I work at leveling up the reserves. I work towards having level 75 as a minimum, which is still slightly below the levels of most of the main team.
After that, it's time to put the team together. Molayne has Sturdy on magnezone, and Olivia might have it on Propobass. Therefore, Rampardos is required. I recognize that since I have uncertain enemies, I am going to need something generally good, so I bring out Groudon again. Talonflame seems like it would fall off pretty significantly without foreknowledge, so groudon replaces its slot. I round off with my two best remaining utility picks in Golisopod and Mimikyu, and fast attackers in Starmie and Kartana.
Finishing off the last vestiges of certainty, I go for Molayne first, leading Steelium kartana, with spell tag mimikyu and scarf rampardos in the back. The plan was to use a fast mon to bait out klefki's thunder wave instead of its spikes, which worked too well and I lose to a full paralysis. On closer inspection, I don't need scarf to outspeed everything except dugrtio, so I can use cheri berry on rampardos. Spell tag shadow sneak 2HK0s dugrtio, avoiding the risk of an iron head flinch on the turn disguise is used. Metagross is a damage roll on rampardos, so I use groudon for it instead
Conveniently, leading kartana against olivia leaves probopass for last, meaning that rampardos does not need to handle cradily. Sandstorm is a nonissue since I'm only using types immune to it.
Groudon can plow through most of Acerola's team with neutral hits and being tanky enough to not encourage her to use priority, but frosslass is still faster, so it takes a Z from mimikyu. I don't use mimikyu for the whole thing since cursed body and aftermath could mess me up.
Starmie sees its first use against Kahili, where it is capable of beating everything except mandibuzz with Specs Thunderbolt. One threat can be taken out with a Z-move, and in this case I opt for mimikyu to use it once again.
Alright, time for the champion match. after using some of my 73 leppa berries to be at full strength, I start the final equip. I run band kartana, scarf rampardos, silverpowder golisopod, specs starmie, and ghost-Z mimikyu. Starmie leads due to its speed and coverage.
And... it's Hau again. Raichu is slower than starmie and can't take a Surf, golisopod takes out Leafeon, kartana sweeps 3 mons with sacred sword, starmie ice beams noivern. I'm dissapointed that it was against the same team as earlier, so I turn the Exp share off and go through the E4 again.
This time I match up against Plumeria, who despite having only half her EVs allocated, she brought a bigger threat than any of the members of Rainbow Rocket managed to commit to. She brought a 252 Speed Jolly Crobat. Nothing I have, not even talonflame, is faster. I would have needed to lose the specs on starmie to go for scarf instead, and losing that power would have put me in a weaker position against most other leads (I would not have been able to KO Hau's raichu, for example).
I'm already pushing the higher end of the level I want to be at (hence the lack of Exp share for the e4 redo), it would take days to train up a faster anti-flying mon, and I don't have a guarantee of encountering Plumeria again soon. At least for now, I'm treating this as an endpoint. Crobat is truly the most powerful mon in Alola.
The team (at my save point before the first attempt):
Starmie lvl 75
Psychic
Surf
Thunderbolt
Ice Beam
Groudon lvl 75
Flamethrower
Earth Power
Eruption
Solarbeam
Kartana lvl 75
leaf blade
psycho cut
smart strike
Sacred Sword
Mimikyu lvl 77
Shadow Sneak
Play Rough
Shadow Claw
X-Scissor
Golisopod lvl 77
First Impression
Sucker Punch
Liquidation
Brick Break
Rampardos lvl 85
Rock Slide
Earthquake
Brick Break
Iron Tail
Reserves:
Drifblim lvl 75
Toucannon lvl 75
tsareena lvl 75
talonflame lvl 78
primarina lvl 77
rattata lvl 40
tentacool lvl 22
zorua lvl 37
Support Team
Kadabra lvl 59
Meowth lvl 76
I feel that I'm going to need starmie for this, so I work at leveling up the reserves. I work towards having level 75 as a minimum, which is still slightly below the levels of most of the main team.
After that, it's time to put the team together. Molayne has Sturdy on magnezone, and Olivia might have it on Propobass. Therefore, Rampardos is required. I recognize that since I have uncertain enemies, I am going to need something generally good, so I bring out Groudon again. Talonflame seems like it would fall off pretty significantly without foreknowledge, so groudon replaces its slot. I round off with my two best remaining utility picks in Golisopod and Mimikyu, and fast attackers in Starmie and Kartana.
Finishing off the last vestiges of certainty, I go for Molayne first, leading Steelium kartana, with spell tag mimikyu and scarf rampardos in the back. The plan was to use a fast mon to bait out klefki's thunder wave instead of its spikes, which worked too well and I lose to a full paralysis. On closer inspection, I don't need scarf to outspeed everything except dugrtio, so I can use cheri berry on rampardos. Spell tag shadow sneak 2HK0s dugrtio, avoiding the risk of an iron head flinch on the turn disguise is used. Metagross is a damage roll on rampardos, so I use groudon for it instead
Conveniently, leading kartana against olivia leaves probopass for last, meaning that rampardos does not need to handle cradily. Sandstorm is a nonissue since I'm only using types immune to it.
Groudon can plow through most of Acerola's team with neutral hits and being tanky enough to not encourage her to use priority, but frosslass is still faster, so it takes a Z from mimikyu. I don't use mimikyu for the whole thing since cursed body and aftermath could mess me up.
Starmie sees its first use against Kahili, where it is capable of beating everything except mandibuzz with Specs Thunderbolt. One threat can be taken out with a Z-move, and in this case I opt for mimikyu to use it once again.
Alright, time for the champion match. after using some of my 73 leppa berries to be at full strength, I start the final equip. I run band kartana, scarf rampardos, silverpowder golisopod, specs starmie, and ghost-Z mimikyu. Starmie leads due to its speed and coverage.
And... it's Hau again. Raichu is slower than starmie and can't take a Surf, golisopod takes out Leafeon, kartana sweeps 3 mons with sacred sword, starmie ice beams noivern. I'm dissapointed that it was against the same team as earlier, so I turn the Exp share off and go through the E4 again.
This time I match up against Plumeria, who despite having only half her EVs allocated, she brought a bigger threat than any of the members of Rainbow Rocket managed to commit to. She brought a 252 Speed Jolly Crobat. Nothing I have, not even talonflame, is faster. I would have needed to lose the specs on starmie to go for scarf instead, and losing that power would have put me in a weaker position against most other leads (I would not have been able to KO Hau's raichu, for example).
I'm already pushing the higher end of the level I want to be at (hence the lack of Exp share for the e4 redo), it would take days to train up a faster anti-flying mon, and I don't have a guarantee of encountering Plumeria again soon. At least for now, I'm treating this as an endpoint. Crobat is truly the most powerful mon in Alola.
The team (at my save point before the first attempt):
Starmie lvl 75
Psychic
Surf
Thunderbolt
Ice Beam
Groudon lvl 75
Flamethrower
Earth Power
Eruption
Solarbeam
Kartana lvl 75
leaf blade
psycho cut
smart strike
Sacred Sword
Mimikyu lvl 77
Shadow Sneak
Play Rough
Shadow Claw
X-Scissor
Golisopod lvl 77
First Impression
Sucker Punch
Liquidation
Brick Break
Rampardos lvl 85
Rock Slide
Earthquake
Brick Break
Iron Tail
Reserves:
Drifblim lvl 75
Toucannon lvl 75
tsareena lvl 75
talonflame lvl 78
primarina lvl 77
rattata lvl 40
tentacool lvl 22
zorua lvl 37
Support Team
Kadabra lvl 59
Meowth lvl 76
If Crobat reliably goes for Fly against Golisopod, you can 3HKO it with Sucker Punch and use the Protect TM (probably over Brick Break) to handle the turns where it's on its way down. It might need a few PP Ups if some Sucker Punches get wasted into Crobat's Protect, but as long as it never decides to pick Leech Life or Poison Fang (except perhaps on the third try, where it might be inclined to get back some health but will get KO'd first), you're good to go.
Thanks for reminding me about the weaknesses of two-turn moves. There is one other optimization I can do for when I have a free turn, though it requires a short sidequest. I haven't really had a good idea what to put as mimikyu's last move slot up until know. Beating the same trainer and their oricorio in each of the four meadows unlocks the Swords Dance TM, which I teach to both mimikyu and golisopod. I also figure I can hit anything that's water-weak with Starmie and one of Groudon or Kartana, so Golisopod also learns it.
I then realize I could just use X Attacks instead.
I make a minor speed optimization to my e4 routing. Kartana can take out Acerola's froslass without the need for a Z-move. This is also the first time I see reflect out of Molayne's klefki, preventing me from using mimikyu against dugtrio. Fortunately, STAB works against him since he prioritizes earthquake against Starmie. However, there's now a risk of him using Spikes. It doesn't seem to be happening, but I don't really have an answer if it does.
I get Hau again. Since this now my first run through after the reset, I wonder if it's scripted. I choose to save after him at this point. Then, I get Ryuki. He has no EVs, no natures, and no fast ice neutrals. I reset to keep Exp down.
What? No, get out of here, Hau, I would like to fight somebody else.
Next up is Kukui. Fortunately, he doesn't lead accelrock and I outspeed before he has a chance to set up Stealth Rock. Rampardos takes out magnezone in case of sturdy. Snorlax is specially defensive, leaving it vulnerable to Kartana (I was breifly worried since I still had reflect up in the calculator from Molayne earlier). Starmie against Braviary brings out Decidueye earlier, meaning that I don't need to worry about hail if I OHKO ninetales. Mimikyu takes it out over another ice beam from starmie since I'm worried about sucker punch. Kartana takes out the non-snow warning ninetales with a slight amount of overkill (the calc tells me it's 438-517%)
Next is Guzma. I know he'll use priority turn 1, so I switch to mimikyu. I then Z-move. I needed it to avoid the attack this turn, but it doesn't give me a free answer. Vikavolt's SE flash cannon outdamages his thunderbolt, leading to a loss. I should have double switched against golisopod into groudon since I knew it was going to Waterfall. Team Skull is apparently no joke.
Ryuki again, then Youngster Tristan. He also has no EVs or natures, but at least has type diversity. Thunderbolt KOs emolga, so I use it over Ice Beam in case sharpedo is out next. He sends out Exeggutor instead, so I switch to Golisopod. Again to preserve starmie's move choice, I use rampardos against magmortar. Kartana then takes out Tauros, but I can't keep it in due to Rough Skin. Starmie finishes.
Molayne has thankfully yet to use Spikes within his first two turns against rampardos (I don't quite OHKO through reflect). I'm guessing that the AI has equal priority for "this is faster, use speed control" and "this is physically biased, use reflect", and that priority is higher than the one assinged to "have a move for a field effect that is not currently active."
At this rate, I probably will be going until I get at least one of the Team Skull fights again, but that's probably enough for now.
The team:
Rampardos lvl 87
Iron Tail
Rock Slide
Earthquake
Brick Break
Golisopod lvl 78
First Impression
Sucker Punch
Liquidation
Protect
Starmie lvl 76
Psychic
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Surf
Mimikyu lvl 78
shadow sneak
play rough
shadow claw
thunder wave
Kartana lvl 76
psycho cut
sacred sword
smart strike
leaf blade
groudon lvl 76
rock polish
earth power
eruption
solarbeam
I then realize I could just use X Attacks instead.
I make a minor speed optimization to my e4 routing. Kartana can take out Acerola's froslass without the need for a Z-move. This is also the first time I see reflect out of Molayne's klefki, preventing me from using mimikyu against dugtrio. Fortunately, STAB works against him since he prioritizes earthquake against Starmie. However, there's now a risk of him using Spikes. It doesn't seem to be happening, but I don't really have an answer if it does.
I get Hau again. Since this now my first run through after the reset, I wonder if it's scripted. I choose to save after him at this point. Then, I get Ryuki. He has no EVs, no natures, and no fast ice neutrals. I reset to keep Exp down.
What? No, get out of here, Hau, I would like to fight somebody else.
Next up is Kukui. Fortunately, he doesn't lead accelrock and I outspeed before he has a chance to set up Stealth Rock. Rampardos takes out magnezone in case of sturdy. Snorlax is specially defensive, leaving it vulnerable to Kartana (I was breifly worried since I still had reflect up in the calculator from Molayne earlier). Starmie against Braviary brings out Decidueye earlier, meaning that I don't need to worry about hail if I OHKO ninetales. Mimikyu takes it out over another ice beam from starmie since I'm worried about sucker punch. Kartana takes out the non-snow warning ninetales with a slight amount of overkill (the calc tells me it's 438-517%)
Next is Guzma. I know he'll use priority turn 1, so I switch to mimikyu. I then Z-move. I needed it to avoid the attack this turn, but it doesn't give me a free answer. Vikavolt's SE flash cannon outdamages his thunderbolt, leading to a loss. I should have double switched against golisopod into groudon since I knew it was going to Waterfall. Team Skull is apparently no joke.
Ryuki again, then Youngster Tristan. He also has no EVs or natures, but at least has type diversity. Thunderbolt KOs emolga, so I use it over Ice Beam in case sharpedo is out next. He sends out Exeggutor instead, so I switch to Golisopod. Again to preserve starmie's move choice, I use rampardos against magmortar. Kartana then takes out Tauros, but I can't keep it in due to Rough Skin. Starmie finishes.
Molayne has thankfully yet to use Spikes within his first two turns against rampardos (I don't quite OHKO through reflect). I'm guessing that the AI has equal priority for "this is faster, use speed control" and "this is physically biased, use reflect", and that priority is higher than the one assinged to "have a move for a field effect that is not currently active."
At this rate, I probably will be going until I get at least one of the Team Skull fights again, but that's probably enough for now.
The team:
Rampardos lvl 87
Iron Tail
Rock Slide
Earthquake
Brick Break
Golisopod lvl 78
First Impression
Sucker Punch
Liquidation
Protect
Starmie lvl 76
Psychic
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Surf
Mimikyu lvl 78
shadow sneak
play rough
shadow claw
thunder wave
Kartana lvl 76
psycho cut
sacred sword
smart strike
leaf blade
groudon lvl 76
rock polish
earth power
eruption
solarbeam