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Hey!
I've made a new video, very different from previous ones: I've talked a lot about possible set-up sweepers for PP stalling teams!
This time, behind a clear click-bait title, I've explained a bit better my theorymoning processes behind a set and a team's idea.
Hope it'll be interesting and helpful.
Next time I will show how I've used those infos to build an effective team, defining team members, planning strategies and gameplans vs. threats and also testing it in a few matches.
Hello everyone,
This thread is extremely motivating and inspiring with all the beautiful creations and remarkable feats it contains. I’ve been reading it from time to time in the last year, since it has awakened my interest in PvE team building. Finally I think I have a good reason to join the conversation, namely a new team idea for the Battle Dome. My teams were never particularly good, because I always picked Pokemon from my favorites and never came up with any consistent strategies worth mentioning here, so I kept giving up. However Adedede showed me recently that there are endless possibilities for consistent teams in Battle Frontier without using only specific Pokemon or muster strategies.
Seeing that none has registered any records for the Battle Dome Doubles, I thought I should try that out, since I already had a somewhat good team for it. Thus I would like to present you Team ILIASTER.
My old team used to be the following naive creation.
MEKLORD (Metagross) @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Explosion
In Dome Doubles you have to use only 2 of your 3 team members against 2 Pokemon selected and controlled by the AI, so the challenges are fairly short. In these battles self-destruct strategies work very well in my opinion. After figuring this out, I proceeded in making a team around a CB Metagross with Explosion. I maximized its ATK to make sure it can destroy almost everything it hits (except Aggron, Steelix etc.) without caring much about its speed. I also threw in Absol that would Protect during Explosion, finish off Focus Band/Endure users with Quick Attack and face ghosts with Shadow Ball. In case I had to fight against Pokemon that resist Explosion I would select Lanturn with its high-coverage moveset. Of course this team didn’t work out very well. Fast opponents such as Charizard and Ninetails could OHKO Metagross in the first turn and Lanturn was unable to face 2 opponents at the same time. Other times Explosion missed or Metagross flinched due to Fake Out and couldn’t explode on the next turn, as it would be endangering its teammate that had already used Protect. Of course OHKO moves caused me trouble too. This team was awfully inconsistent.
After reviewing it once again, I was determined to make it work better and I came up with the following changes. Absol and Lanturn had to go, sadly.
Metagross doesn’t need Adamant and max ATK EVs. There are very few Pokemon that resist CB Explosion and going for Adamant at the cost of max speed, just to cover defensive Skarmory and the likes of it is useless. Metagross must explode as fast as possible, because critical hits and status problems can ruin my strategy. It has to be as fast as it can get. 262 is the max speed and it sure needs each one of these points. The rest of its move-slots take up coverage moves for the (very frequent) cases when Explosion is not recommended to use. HP Steel is prefered over Meteor Mash for the added accuracy (thanks Adedede ). Regirock is always a 2HKO anyways.
MEKLORD (Metagross) @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hidden Power [Steel]
- Earthquake
- Aerial Ace
- Explosion
To make the choice of the teammates more clear, I should first mention the issues the Explosion strategy has to deal with.
Many threats can outspeed Metagross and OHKO it (most notably fire types) or critical hit it and make it faint before it explodes. This also applies to many Quick Claw holders.
Although it sure looks sturdy, it’s ability is not Sturdy making it vulnerable to OHKOs.
If Metagross flinches due to Fake Out, it might not be able to explode on the next turn.
Pokemon with the ability Damp negate the Explosion.
Explosion is useless against Ghost types and a few other Pokemon that survive it.
Focus Band holders and Endure users can survive the Explosion.
Opposing Pokemon could use Protect during Explosion.
Explosion could miss (due to Bright Powder etc.).
A teammate that can take care of most of these issues is Sableye. It is essential to use a ghost, in order to stop relying on Protect during Explosion and take care of other things at the same time. Also it is the only ghost that can learn Fake Out, which provides very useful support to Metagross. Sableye can use Fake Out on possible Quick Claw holders, fast status inducers and practically any Pokemon faster than Metagross that can endanger it. Torment in combination with Protect helps against Endure users or anyone who evaded or survived Explosion (this video demonstrates it perfectly). Sableye is unaffected by Flail and Reversal. It can survive all (critical) hits from the Endure users with the exception of powerful moves such as Overheat. That is when Torment and Protect come in handy. In addition to that, Protect is useful in situations when Metagross should use Earthquake instead of exploding, although Sableye can survive one EQ. Sableye’s spread should give it enough bulk to deal with common moves. Also note that its typing has no elemental weakness.
EREBOS (Sableye) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
Calm Nature
- Fake Out
- Torment
- Protect
- Seismic Toss
The 3rd teammate has to be one that can shut down fast Pokemon and threats to Metagross in general. It must be very fast, preferably a special attacker to face those physical walls that Metagross can’t OHKO as well as the ghosts. The first one that comes to mind is Latios. I chose it over Latias for the added strength which is more important in these short battles than bulkiness. Latios needs Thunderbolt for Skarmory and the Damp opponents, which are mostly water types, Ice Beam for the Dragons and fast ground types, such as Dugtrio and for the durable Walls that resist Metagross, such as Aggron and Steelix. Psychic is finally for Gengar and it provides a powerful STAB move to use for max neutral damage. It is important that Latios resists fire moves that cause much trouble to its teammates. The spread makes sure that Latios can outspeed everything, except some Jolteon and Crobat. At first I went for max SpATK, but Adedede reminded me of the threatening Adamant Shadow Ball Gengar, so I’ve changed my mind. High Speed is indeed a huge advantage in Dome Doubles.
The main idea is to have Metagross explode on the first turn, an FTK, as people say in Yu-Gi-Oh. That is however not always possible and it depends on the match up. Checking out the opponent’s team is therefore extremely important. Metagross is one of the 2 Pokemon I always send out. The choice between Sableye and Latios is where things get tricky and require a lot of prediction/thinking. In theory I would like to use only Latios alongside Metagross to get rid of the foes that survive Explosion or just battle using other moves, which is what I do 70% of the time, despite Explosion being my main strategy. However some of these Pokemon might threaten Latios. I will try to break down the “choice dilemma” in different case scenarios.
If I decide I can proceed with the Explosion strategy, Sableye should be picked over Latios, if only one of the following cases applies to one Pokemon of the opponent’s team and the rest of the team is slower than Metagross:
Pokemon with OHKO moves and Quick Claw or higher Speed than Metagross. Slow OHKO users without Quick Claw are harmless! Applicable Pokemon: Seaking(2), Nidoking(1), Rhydon(2,3,4), Lapras(8), Walrein(3), Crawdaunt(2), Pinsir(2), Gligar(2), Dugtrio(3,4), Donphan(3,4), Whiscash(4), Wailord(4).
Endure user with moves that can harm Latios. Applicable Pokemon: Medicham(2), Lanturn(2), Glalie(2), Donphan(2), Electrode(3), Miltank(3), Flareon(3 -> see "big threats" below), Meganium(3), Blaziken(3), Kingdra(3), Salamence(3), Dodrio(4), Heracross(4), Gardevoir(5).
Protect user that can threaten Latios. In those cases however it’s better to choose Latios and not Explode at all. Applicable Pokemon: Glalie(1), Walrein(1), Forretress(2), Salamence(2), Articuno(3).
Quick Claw holder with super effective moves against Metagross. Applicable Pokemon (excluding those mentioned earlier and those that should not be dealt with using explosion): Blaziken(1), Magmar(2), Ursaring(2,7,8), Swampert(2), Granbull(3), Jynx(3), Hariyama(3), Armaldo(3), Machamp(3), Gyarados(3), Breloom(4), Slowking(4), Flareon(4), Gardevoir(7), Snorlax(7). Dragonite(9,10) is an exception due to its Inner Focus ability that prevents Fake Out from working. It should be dealt with by Latios using Ice Beam.
In all other cases Latios should be prefered over Sableye for his ability to take down the Pokemon that manage to evade Explosion. Also Latios can team up with Metagross whenever the Explosion plan cannot work (resisting Pokemon, ghosts, Damp ability, Fake Out) or when it’s just too risky to explode when I can win easily with other moves, which is what happens 80% of the time.
Although this might sound great in theory, in practice it’s usually not that simple due to the fact that it’s impossible to know which 2 Pokemon the opponent will use and which sets they have. The trainer info might be a bit helpful in that, but should be considered with caution. It’s not unusual that both of the opponent’s Pokemon could fulfil the requirements of being a threat to Metagross, in which case I can’t afford to decide which one I should stop with Sableye’s Fake Out. For example, what if I use Fake Out on Dewgong predicting a Quick Claw OHKO set, but then Metagross flinches by Medicham’s Fake Out and has to explode next turn with the risk of getting hit by Quick Claw OHKO moves? A more realistic bad situation is that Explosion misses due to Brightpowder and Sableye is left alone against an opponent with powerful moves. That is why I always pick Latios, unless just one of the cases mentioned above applies. It’s safer to risk with Latios than with Sableye!
BIG threats:
Any Overheat/Fire Blast user that is faster than Metagross (Charizard, Entei, Ninetails etc.) will almost always take down Metagross before it explodes. If it is just one, it can be taken care of with Fake Out. If there are more than one, the team is in a very risky position and Metagross should not be chosen at all.
Flareon2,3,4: they all hold Quick Claw and know Shadow Ball. 3 and 4 also know Overheat. Thus they put both Latios and Metagross in danger (see loss below). It’s better to face them with Fake Out from Sableye, if their teammates are harmless.
Walrein4: this monster can evade Explosion with Brightpowder and it has devastating moves (Surf, Ice Beam, Sheer Cold, EQ). Sableye can’t do much against it, even after Torment. Sableye should be used over Latios, because it could be Walrein3. Walrein is one of the worst pokemon this team can face.
Note: I have misplayed once and didn’t protect with Latios on Explosion, but the referee still gave me the win, after the battle ended in what you would call a tie. I didn’t even know there was a referee in Dome and I was very surprised (and relieved) that I was promoted to the next round. It might have to do with the fact that Latios had already beaten one of the opponent’s Pokemon, but I’m not sure. If someone knows why this happened, please let me know. The battles would be even easier, if I don’t have to Protect at all. :D
Here is a video with samples of my streak:
In the final match of the 84th tournament I was up against COOLTRAINER ALONZO.
Immediately I chose Latios over Sableye, because the opponent's team contained multiple fast threats to Metagross (Charizard, Flareon). Unfortunately both Charizard and Flareon were chosen. I went for EQ with Metagross afraid to Explode, because a fast Overheat could take it down and I would end up facing both Charizard and Flareon with Latios. Latios should use Thunderbolt on Charizard. Unless a series of hax occurred, I wouldn’t have lost, but that’s exactly what happened. Flareon’s Quick Claw activated and it scored a critical hit with Shadow Ball on Latios making it faint. Obviously EQ Metagross couldn’t do anything to Charizard. That was a rare and fine demonstration of hax by the AI (the reason why I love BF :D) and I’m very glad that my streak didn’t end due to misplaying on my part.
I wonder though, if I had used Explosion and caused a tie, would I have been given the win?
Battle Dome is one of my favorites facilities, GOSCIZOR, well done. I always say to myself if I choose move over the other then it'd be a different story but that's just how we learn. I don't think I read your record anywhere though so be nice to hear how far you got.
Meanwhile my DDMence has a new friend, my newly EV-trained Slaking, much faster than my previous one. I will be using Salamence with Starmie/Gengar and Snorlax/Slaking for getting Gold symbols. My Metagross is slow and falls 1 HP short of a vital recovery mark when holding Leftovers so I would have to breed more to get one that won't cost me plays in some situations where it could've won with the right stats.
I was searching the internet and found I had not obtained the Eon Ticket and there was a Pomeg glitch allowing me to get it. So I am now soft resetting for my 3rd party member to go with Salamence and Slaking... a decently IVd Latias with either Modest or Timid. So my Gold Arena attempt is put on hold because a strong Latias will make things much easier for me. Despite differences in base stats, I can actually reset for a Latias that outshines any of my other captured legendaries because it is a stationary event.
Edit: My lati@s suck so far so this one will be competitive!
Hello everyone! BIG UPDATE: I've reached today 1211 wins on Tower Singles Lv.50!
I'm really happy, but just because my current creation is working greatly, more than I could have ever expected.
This is just a quick update, the real detailed celebration post will come when 2K will be achieved, or if I'll die in the process, or when the team will lose, in order of probability.
Small update I guess, but just hit 1400 wins. Haven't been able to play as intensely as I had due to my remote work office but at least it is a game I can play during my procrastination times. I'll work on the threatlist when I have the time since it's very outdated on the main post. Other than that, hope I can hit the 2K mark on Gen3
I'm about halfway through the game. Just got to my first trainer with two shadows (Paras and Growlithe) so I'm learning the ins and outs of RNGing multiples. You RNG soonest to lastest. As soon as a pokemon gets sent into battle, its PID is set even if you don't catch it and/or lose. For this trainer, Paras and Growlithe are slots 3 and 4. So I RNG Paras, KO one of the leads and let Paras come into battle. Then I attack myself until I faint. Since that Paras is now fixed, I can RNG Growlithe.
For the birds, there's a slight hiccup but not really. Greevil leads with Rhydon and Moltres. So (aw darn) I will have to pick between the two of those... I think I know which one I'm going for! I'll make sure I hit the Moltres spread then die, then RNG the next mon, catch Moltres, die again, repeat until I have all five pokemon that aren't Rhydon.
TL;DR I can get the three Kanto birds (and Eggy and Tauros) independently! Here are the best special spreads (no hidden power) that the XD RNG is capable of generating:
I'm definitely using that Bold spread for Zapdos, and there was an urgent cry for me to go for TIMID Moltres, so that's what I'm going with. Thoughts on Articuno? How about Lugia?
That was a rare and fine demonstration of hax by the AI (the reason why I love BF :D) and I’m very glad that my streak didn’t end due to misplaying on my part.
I wonder though, if I had used Explosion and caused a tie, would I have been given the win?
I really enjoyed these videos (especially the loss, Flareon is an old favorite who never gets love), but this quote gained you a sub. Looking forward to more!
You are guaranteed to win double knockout scenarios if you were ranked first in the tournament. In the event of a tie in the Battle Dome, the game compares your tournament seed to your opponent, whoever has the higher seed moves on in the bracket. Interestingly, Bulbapedia mentions that the player should *always* win in the event of a double knockout, but I do not think this is true, since UPokeCenter mentions that the winner is the trainer with the higher tournament rank.
In summary, if your trainer profile on the Battle Dome says "The best candidate to become a champ!", you will always win Double KO scenarios except against Tucker.
Hi everyone (and sorry if I'm monopolizing the thread with my posts, quarantine is hitting pretty hard)!
I'll upload a video every 100-wins benchmarck I'll reach.
Today I've just achieved 1302: I wanted to upload just 2 matches, but I've immediately started recording when a Snorlax 1 (Double-Team Leftovers evil) appeared again to salute me.
This video shows how to effectively set gameplan and stall out really threathening foes to stall teams (namely Snorlax1 and Umbreon4, that are just 2HKO'd by +6 Dragon Claw and both carrying Leftovers, Double-Team: they won't die by Struggle recoil, basically risking to cause an endless match).
I made a commentated video on how Der Deutsche Wissenschaft works and did a little coverage on the team's set-up, how the team members work and I even commented on one battle vs Ranger Nelson where he pulled Registeel 1 / Zapdos 1 / Latios 5. I only covered one battle since I was about to enter my remote work shift, but hopefully I can do more about these in the future. Please let me know your thoughts!
(Daily) update! 1407 reached like a (slow) hot knife in butter, of course with a bad commented video as I like it:
P.S.: If someone's using my team, there's something that may be found interesting on the 7th match, where I basically decided to scout A.I.'s team after a stalling process on an opponent in a 3-2 situation
Apologies for the terrible audio quality, but I made another commentary video on Der Deutsche Wissenschaft:
Few interesting match-ups against Suicune 1 as an example and nothing special about the rest. Hope you all enjoy and hopefully the next video will have my voice clear
Long time lurker here! I just got a 42 win streak at the Battle palace. I don't know how to add pictures of the pokemon, so I'll just list the sets down below. It's straight from smogon.
Gengar is my lead and the goal is to deal as much damage as possible before going down. I bred it with will-o-wisp, but this move arguably was unnecessary. Thankfully, Gengar rarely ever chooses it in the first place. Flygon is the physical attacker, deals with any electric types and is the rock resistance of the group. I tried to breed one with hidden power bug, but I didn't get the right ivs for it. Decided to keep it anyway because the ivs were good. Milotic is the physical wall and it frequently clicks toxic or recover. It's meant to stall the opposition out and beats the bulky waters. It easily stalled out the Slaking and Lapras on Battle 21 and Suicune on Battle 42.
I'm interested in seeing what you have to say. Cheers! Link to Battle 42
Edit: LMAO. Lost at Battle 44 to wailord with fissure, double team, hydro pump and rest.
Scyther
Adamant 30/31/31/21/30/31
-Morning Sun
-Silver Wind
There were no good hidden power spreads for Scyther for literally any type, unfortunately. All required severe compromises in IVs. Good news is, I'm on the final stretch and I expect to finish this weekend. Here's what I got left (that I'm bothering to catch):
Solrock - Baton Pass [Bold 31/7/31/16/31/31]
Electabuzz - Follow Me [Timid 31/18/26/31/27/31 HP Ice 70]
Swellow - Baton Pass [Timid 31/0/31/14/31/31]
Lapras - Heal Bell [Bold 31/2/30/30/30/31]
Lugia - Feather Dance / Psycho Boost
Articuno - Heal Bell / Extrasensory / Haze
Zapdos - Baton Pass / Extrasensory / Metal Sound
Moltres - Morning Sun / Extrasensory / WoW
Dragonite - Heal Bell
Togepi - Helping Hand / Tri-Attack
Just a heads up that aside from Solrock and Swellow, all Baton Passers have been caught. Natu, Lunatone, and Beedrill have been purified, and Hypno is awaiting its shadow bar mitzvah.
I've gotten to the point where I can knock out two or three of these a night.
I struggled really hard in this one. I lost multiple times on my way to 42 and even lost the final match at 41 for level 50 vs Noland. Had no answers vs Noland’s Espeon. Finally got him on open level. Lost on battle 44 with a crappy team.
Battle Dome
By far the easiest facility I've done so far. Lost to rest, sleep talk, sheer cold lapras. 35 championships.
I usually lead with Latios, which decimates everything with its speed and coverage. The things faster than Latios like Aerodactyl, Jolteon are easily destroyed by Swampert. Latios can handle Crobat, Sceptile quite easily. Metagross is my main physical attacker and I don’t really notice the drawbacks of choice band, when I know 2/3 pokemon that will be used. I even okoed a suicune under reflect using banded explosion. I have shadow ball here instead of rock slide because Swampert covers fire types and latios covers flying types nicely with bolt/beam coverage. Swampert is my physical tank and is the glue of the team. Protect actually comes in handy, getting leftovers and allows me to scout for the opponent’s moves.
Dome Ace Tucker. Mostly easy matchup. I always choose Latios and Swampert and lead with Latios. If Tucker leads with Swampert, I calm mind up 4 times to guarantee the oko on it and Metagross/Latias. If he leads with Metagross, I immediately switch to Swampert.
Potential Threats
Things with ice moves: Milotic, Regice, Starmie, Lapras, Walrein
Fast stuff with good coverage like Gengar with Giga drain and Alakazam with fire punch and ice punch
Random stuff that surprised me like quick claw slowking with flamethrower.
Never faced bright powder or focus band heracross (who was the bane of my existence in the battle factory), but that mon would be a threat
Ohko users like Lapras (which I lost to). This was the instance when I wish I had a substitute user. I experimented with Sub CM Latias in the early stages, but I was shocked at the extreme lack of power. CM Latias couldn't oko even weak little cup pokemon with unboosted dragon claw.
Latios and Latias (Some sets have focus band which is infuriating)
Kingdra
This one was fun. Basically steamrolled the competition, besides a few close calls. I probably should have chosen Latios and Metagross as Latios tends to be faster than most starmies anyway. Credit to user Kommo-O for the Metagross set
There were no good hidden power spreads for Scyther for literally any type, unfortunately. All required severe compromises in IVs. Good news is, I'm on the final stretch and I expect to finish this weekend. Here's what I got left (that I'm bothering to catch):
Made another video and this time it is a full 7 trainer run with Der Deutsche Wissenschaft! It was kind of an easy one but being able to finally discuss for longer on a full run made it worth. Hopefully the audio should be better this time, but let me know any kind of feedback (total noob on recording shenanigans).
Update: 1610 achieved, added a new video with a few (interesting) fights.
I'm also planning a lot of new contents (teambuilding, fast gold symbol-runs, LC challenge...), that I'll develop when my streak'll be over, let me know if it may be interesting!
Enjoy and of course don't be shy if there are questions or suggestions!
There were no good hidden power spreads for Scyther for literally any type, unfortunately. All required severe compromises in IVs. Good news is, I'm on the final stretch and I expect to finish this weekend. Here's what I got left (that I'm bothering to catch):
Solrock - Baton Pass [Bold 31/7/31/16/31/31]
Electabuzz - Follow Me [Timid 31/18/26/31/27/31 HP Ice 70]
Swellow - Baton Pass [Timid 31/0/31/14/31/31]
Lapras - Heal Bell
Lugia - Feather Dance / Psycho Boost
Articuno - Heal Bell / Extrasensory / Haze
Zapdos - Baton Pass / Extrasensory / Metal Sound
Moltres - Morning Sun / Extrasensory / WoW
Dragonite - Heal Bell
Togepi - Helping Hand / Tri-Attack
Just a heads up that aside from Solrock and Swellow, all Baton Passers have been caught. Natu, Lunatone, and Beedrill have been purified, and Hypno is awaiting its shadow bar mitzvah.
I've gotten to the point where I can knock out two or three of these a night.
I probably forgot to mention, but there's a huge chance you won't be able to hit the Timid 31/6/31/31/31/31 Moltres. Due to Dolphin's clocking, the spread is not obtainable. I remember having to settle with HP Ice, not because it was needed, but because the Timid with 6 Atk was impossible to obtain on both of my computers
Want to chat about the Gen III Battle Frontier? Visit the Battle Tree Discord Server:https://discord.gg/QrsE2ep(courtesy of turskain)
Things to keep in mind:
Regular Smogon and Orange Islands forum rules apply.
Feel free to discuss anything about the teams and strategies you use, the enemy Pokemon and movesets you encounter, and your streak successes and failures. Theorymoning is encouraged as well. Free form discussion is really helpful, so don't be shy, even if you're posting about a very early loss or a poorly optimized team.
Reliable information on how the AI plays is most appreciated. For example, the AI Pokemon don't switch out, even when Tricked a Choice Band while using a non-damaging move. Also, the AI still try to use status moves when you're behind a Substitutes. The more information we have, the better our streaks can get.
Any other useful information concerning the Battle Frontier is also appreciated. Examples include that Dragonite and Tyranitar do not appear in level 50 challenges, and Soul Dew does not give any stat boosts when held in challenges.
Leaderboard Requirements:
All records require an importable of the team used. A description is appreciated, but not mandatory.
Records on emulators are eligible. Records on retail and emulator will be marked differently so that others wanting to replicate the streak are aware.
When posting a record, please make it clear the facility it is for, what level you challenged at (if applicable), and whether you played on retail or emulator.
Any record equal to or greater than the required wins for Gold Symbol of their respective facility (see below) requires some form of proof. A short description of your overall streak and how it ended is sufficient, or a photo with a camera or a screenshot of the emulator if you prefer.
Battle Tower: 70 wins
Battle Arena: 56 wins
Battle Factory: 42 wins
Battle Palace: 42 wins
Battle Dome: 10 tournaments (40 rounds)
Battle Pike: 10 passes through (70 rounds)
Battle Pyramid: 10 rounds (70 floors)
If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Best of luck to everyone!
Between one series and another in Battle Tower, I'm relaxing a bit in Battle Dome Singles using one of my all-time favs: Perish Song Gengar, the set that I've started to use in my first Tower run and with which I am totally in love.
My renewed interest in Dome has been turned on in a Discord conversation, coming to know that in this facility if you tie a match and you are the top-ranked player on the board, you'll win 100% of times (bar vs. Tucker, but I'll show you later that this is not an issue at all).
That's completely different from Tower (where you always lose the tie), and this mechanic immediatley puts Perish Song Destiny Bond Gengar in S+ rank for Dome, no doubts.
I've tried some teams with more aggressive suicidal approaches, but sadly BSTs of my members weren't that good (and that's the main parameter the game uses to assign rankings).
So I've passed to a slightly more balanced team featuring another good ol' fellow, Slaking, and with its 670 BST I'm sure I'll always be top-ranked! (Moreover, Slaking is a beast in Dome, period.)
What I'm presenting to y'all is an ongoing streak of 40 Wins in Battle Dome Singles at lv.50
This is a short preview featuring Tucker fight, completely annihilated by Perish Song (time has passed but I still remember how to do it)
P.S.: A write-up with more detailed teambuillding and tests should be interesting, because I've tried the dumbest stuff in the process, and it'll probably come sooner or later, especially if I'll reach decent numbers with the team!
After messing up with OBS Studio thanks to the kind feedback of many people who are watching regularly, I have another video with a significant improvement between my commentary's audio and the background music. Stand-out battle from this is how Haxdon almost beated me thanks to a turn 1 Horn Drill but an Earthquake crit and Initimiswap from Gyara/Registeel saves the day.
Battle Arena
Got 83 with Starmie, Salamence, Scizor. Forgot that you face Greta again on battle 84. I usually lead with Starmie and this put me at a huge disadvantage.
Starmie is usually my lead, except for matches against Greta. It’s great coverage and speed usually gives me an advantage early on except against electrics and specially defensive mons. I had bright powder first, but changed it to mystic water. Starmie’s special attack sometimes barely misses out on 1koes against neutral targets like sableye, which it secures with the item.
Salamence’s evs are set to be faster than neutral base 85s. After a DD, you out speed everything, so the only real tradeoff from running this spread over max attack/speed is not speed tying neutral base 100s before a dragon dance. I like lum berry for absorbing status from t-wave, swagger and burns. Salamence’s power was slightly underwhelming at times, but it was still very consistent.
Scizor swept Greta in the second battle and is the glue of the team. I changed the item to lum berry for that battle, but I went with leftovers otherwise. The idea is if Salamence or Starmie loses to a faster dragon type like latios/latias or a something bulky like Snorlax, Scizor can boost up and ko it.
Potential Threats
Bulky waters Milotic, Regice, Starmie, Lapras, Walrein, Slowbro
Alakazam with fire punch and ice punch
Ohko users
Electabuzz- lives Starmie's surf, has ice punch and fire punch to ko salamence and scizor
Kingdra
Battle Arena
Got 83 with Starmie, Salamence, Scizor. Forgot that you face Greta again on battle 84. I usually lead with Starmie and this put me at a huge disadvantage.
Starmie is usually my lead, except for matches against Greta. It’s great coverage and speed usually gives me an advantage early on except against electrics and specially defensive mons. I had bright powder first, but changed it to mystic water. Starmie’s special attack sometimes barely misses out on 1koes against neutral targets like sableye, which it secures with the item.
Salamence’s evs are set to be faster than neutral base 85s. After a DD, you out speed everything, so the only real tradeoff from running this spread over max attack/speed is not speed tying neutral base 100s before a dragon dance. I like lum berry for absorbing status from t-wave, swagger and burns. Salamence’s power was slightly underwhelming at times, but it was still very consistent.
Scizor swept Greta in the second battle and is the glue of the team. I changed the item to lum berry for that battle, but I went with leftovers otherwise. The idea is if Salamence or Starmie loses to a faster dragon type like latios/latias or a something bulky like Snorlax, Scizor can boost up and ko it.
Potential Threats
Bulky waters Milotic, Regice, Starmie, Lapras, Walrein, Slowbro
Alakazam with fire punch and ice punch
Ohko users
Electabuzz- lives Starmie's surf, has ice punch and fire punch to ko salamence and scizor
Kingdra
Nice one, bro. I am surprised how well you did with Scizor because like you said mixed punches and fast special sweepers can be deadly. I run Starmie/Salamence and I have been getting real unlucky but the two work wonders together so I know I will get Gold symbol with these alone. Have you tried Scope Lens/Lansat Berry Starmie? I have because Salac/Petaya berry are out of reach and was wondering if you found crucial critical hits Starmie can score OHKOs with useful. Brightpowder is fine and like Scope Lens gives you that extra chance to hit for more damage you would expect. I have made up for time with Mysticwater myself but I feel after 50 battles or so it's probably not as effective as a hax item would be.
Arena is about team selection and order and I run a Latias in my third slot because Ice-type moves that do knock Salamence out are set up bait for Calm Mind sweepers. This is what I am trying and bar unreal luck, I am well on my way. My record is 53 right now so I wasn't far off but there's always that chance you get that Electabuzz or Alakazam leads that can take out Starmie, Salamence and even your Scizor but you managed to avoid such, where as myself I get these leads and have to set up with Latias after they take out two/thirds of my team.
I congratulate you on your gold symbol and avoiding elemental punches :)
Just recently, I lost to some Brightpowder, Electric-type, which evaded all my attacks from turn 1 with Double Team, and win judges decisions taking my run back to 0.
