Sounds like great ideas! I am also trying to come up with ways to make these runs more fun! I do not like overpowering myself too much, so I can definitely understand using some restrictions as challenge. At the end of the day, we are just here to have fun, so I think do what you feel like!
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Challenge Pokemon Scarlet Monotype Run (Grass) (Completed!)
- Thread starter DetectiveTogekiss
- Start date
Trainers who have adventured in the Unova region are probably quite familiar with the monkey Pokemon, Pansage, Pansear and Panpour. Naturally, when trainers first arrive the Unova-based Blueberry Academy, they might want to capture the three Pokemon for their journey around the biomes. However, instead of Pansage, trainers might be able to find Grookey instead in the Coastal Biome once the biodiversity of that biome has been expanded. Just like many previous starter Pokemon, Grookey isn’t too bad for a first-staged Pokemon, having some workable Attack and Speed. However, it won’t be able to catch up with the harsh environment around the Academy and should be left on the team to gain passive experience. After gaining one level, Grookey evolves into Thwackey, which isn’t too terrible as far as NFEs go, but it should still rather evolve again as soon as possible into the almighty Rillaboom.
The Galar starters share two things in common: their uninteresting pure-typings and their min-max stat distributions At the first glance, Rillaboom may not seem as crazy as its Galarian siblings, but it most definitely has its own merits. Rillaboom is a bulky attacker with workable bulk and a surprisingly good Speed. Its strength lies in its base 125 Attack that is the highest among all Grass-type starter Pokemon. Combining that with its natural access to Tera-Grass, Rillaboom can even tear through tough Grass-resists with its STAB moves. As if that isn’t impressive enough, Rillaboom can even boost its firepower with its abilities. Overgrow is the default one for Grass-type starters, and Rillaboom can make good use of it thanks to its good bulk, though it is definitely not the superior ability. If you are considering putting Rillaboom on your team, you are most likely looking at its Hidden Ability, Grassy Surge. Having Grassy Terrain set on the field every time it comes out means Rillaboom basically gets a free 30% power boost in its Grass-type moves. Healing your opponents at the end of each turn isn’t ideal, but bear in mind that Rillaboom and its partner get the same healing effect as well, which can be utilized effectively by defensive plays like Protect-stall or screen support. Rillaboom also appreciates passive recovery as it sometimes like to spam recoil-inducing moves, and its capability to take big hits with its 100/90/70 bulk allows it to win 1-on-1 in many situations. Grassy Surge is also absolutely wonderful for team support, with Rillaboom being a great teammate to Unburden users or other Grass-type Pokemon. Rillaboom’s only unfortunate attribute comes from its 85 Speed. While it isn’t bad by any means, Pokemon around the Blueberry Academy are for some reasons way faster than that. Rillaboom certainly has ways to work around this issue, but the mediocre speed will still bite at times. Its pure Grass-typing is also less than ideal, as it has an unfavourable matchup against most trainers in the Academy, most notably three of the Elite Four members. However, with solid stats backing it up, Rillaboom doesn’t really worry about type charts all that much, and it can find more than enough opportunities to demolish its opponents. Overall, Rillaboom has a great offensive power, a reliable bulk and a great Hidden Ability to work with its stats, which are all great traits for a Pokemon to be useful in a single-player playthrough.
Rillaboom’s great tale doesn’t stop here, as its moveset almost feels tailormade by its creators. First of all, Rillaboom’s signature move, Drum Beating, is basically Seed Bomb that also guarantees a speed-dropping effect on the target. Not only is it a reliable STAB for Rillaboom to use for consistent damage, but it is also a wonderful way to work around Rillaboom’s average Speed, as well as a great way to support slower allies. Rillaboom sometimes prefers an even stronger damage though, and it may want to run Wood Hammer for its massive base power. However, Wood Hammer does wear down Rillaboom a lot, usually much more than what Grassy Terrain heals for. Having high-power moves is great, but Rillaboom’s favourite toy has got to be Grassy Glide. Thanks to Grassy Surge setting up Grassy Terrain, Grassy Glide is basically a guaranteed priority move for Rillaboom. The lowered base power for the move hurt a little bit, as having a priority move that doesn’t KO targets is not as useful as just spamming Wood Hammer, but Grassy Glide is still an excellent move that allows Rillaboom to control the battlefield more often than not. Rillaboom’s main strategy revolves around its Grass-type damage output, and it often feels like running more than one Grass-type moves because of that. However, Rillaboom still has plenty of options in terms of type coverage. Acrobatics pairs tremendously with Rillaboom, since the gorilla can run Grassy Seed, which automatically triggers thanks to Grassy Surge, to enjoy the boosted power of Acrobatics with a +1 in its Defense at the same time. Grass/Flying form a strong combination that is only notably resisted by Steel in common, which is where Rillaboom’s Ground-type coverage options come in handy. Earthquake is always a great choice for strong physical attackers, but Rillaboom’s Grassy Surge will cut the power of the move in half, making it a little too weak. When Arceus closes a door, it sometimes opens another one, if it deems you worthwhile. As if Game Freak planned everything for our gorilla friend here, Rillaboom has access to High Horsepower, which is more or less as strong as Earthquake but without the drawback of hitting your partner or lower power in Grassy Terrain. Fighting-type moves function equally well against Steel-type opponents, and Rillaboom has plenty of those as well. Drain Punch goes well with the bulky attacking style of Rillaboom, giving the gorilla another way to recover the recoil damage taken from Wood Hammer. Alternatively, Hammer Arm is simply a much stronger move, and the speed drop doesn’t hurt too much as Rillaboom can follow things up with Grassy Glide. If Rillaboom isn’t particularly worried about Steel-types, Knock Off can work well as a strong coverage, as well as a great way to weaken its foes. While it is open to strong moves of other types, Rillaboom’s main strategy is still to juice out Grass-type damage. To amplify its strength, Rillaboom can also run some of its setup options, like Swords Dance, which pumps up its Wood Hammer to a whole new power level. Bulk Up is a milder boost, but having a Defense boost is always safe against the strong physical attackers around. Growth is really only helpful if Rillaboom wants to use its base 60 Special Attack, presumably unleashing a strong Boomburst around the field. Other great moves for Rillaboom to consider include, Fake Out for first-turn control, U-turn for a second chance of spreading Grassy Terrain or getting out of bad matchups, Brick Break and Body Slam for even more attacks, Substitute and Leech Seed to take advantage of the passive healing. Rillaboom’s wide asset of tools continues to be effective around the Deeper Area Zero thanks to its powerful damage output with Tera-Grass, though it should be careful about Grassy Terrain giving its opponents free healing. Similarly, Rillaboom manages to make things work in the Kitakami revisit, as it is capable of demolishing pretty much everything with its strong Grass-type moves. Despite having an uninteresting pure Grass-typing, Rillaboom ends up being a great addition thanks to a wonderful ability and moves that synergize well with said ability. In fact, Rillaboom’s main issue seems to be how boring it is, as it pretty much clicks the same two buttons in every battle when Wood Hammer is enough most of the time. Rillaboom is a living proof that Grass-type starters can very well be excellent choices, beating the worst starter type allegations.
With Grassy Surge powering up Grass-type moves for its teammates, Rillaboom is without a doubt a great contender for a potential team slot on a mono-Grass team. It is a powerful physical attacker itself, and the Grassy Terrain would enable its teammates for even stronger Grass assault. However, Grassy Terrain isn’t exactly a necessity, as it often gives the opponents free healing that can ruin potential 2HKOs. The Blueberry Academy is also filled with Grass-resists to the point that most Grass teams would rather run Pokemon that don’t use Grass-type moves that much, making the terrain not as useful. Rillaboom is still a great Pokemon, thanks to its accesses to good moves like High Horsepower and Knock Off, and having STAB-priority is never a bad thing. Rillaboom can work well on a Grass-type team, and its usefulness entirely depends on the rest of the team structure.
Rillaboom = Phil Collins, Cinderace = David Beckham and Intellion is the next James Bond. The first 2 are dead certs so gens W and X and chances are the next bond will be Y aka Millenial.
Getting back on topic, I started my Grass run of Violet with my sister Aaliyah :)
Getting back on topic, I started my Grass run of Violet with my sister Aaliyah :)
Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle present one of the toughest decision-making scenarios in video game history, with each of the adorable Pokemon having their own dedicated fanbase. 27 years later, trainers no longer need to make any tough choices among the three starter Pokemon, as they can all be caught with the correct biome expansion in the Indigo Disc DLC. Without any decision to be made, there are little to no reasons not to catch the amazing Bulbasaur, which would prove to be a reliable Grass-type partner for trainers. However, just like its other starter fellows, Bulbasaur is way too weak at this form to make any impacts around the Blueberry Academy, and even its evolution, Ivysaur, struggles to do much with its average and unimpressive stats. Thus, Bulbasaur should just sit back and be cute until it can evolve into its final evolution, Venusaur.
Pokemon Professors tend to hand out Pokemon with great stats across the board to novice trainers, and Venusaur is a prime example of that. With none of its stats dip below 80, Venusaur is a classic jack-of-all-trade, master of two, namely its Special Attack and Special Defense both sitting at 100. Venusaur is a reliable Grass-type special attacker capable of providing steady damage output. Grass/Poison isn’t that great of an offensive typing, since opposing Poison or Steel are quite common, but Venusaur can find ways to work around them. The dual typing works better in terms of defensive uses, as Venusaur only has four weaknesses and has some good matchups against pesky Fairy or Fighting. Unfortunately, the Blueberry League isn’t too nice to Grass-types, and Venusaur is still left with bad times against Crispin, Drayton and Amarys. Still, its 80/83/100 bulk means Venusuar won’t go down easily, allowing it to make the best use out of its great offense. Venusaur’s biggest issue is its average base 80 Speed, which isn’t quite enough for the fast environment around the Blueberry Academy, meaning that it often needs to take a few hits in battles. It can fix this problem with its Hidden Ability, Chlorophyll, which doubles its Speed under strong sunlight. Venusaur can thus most effectively unleash its power on sun teams. Otherwise, Venusaur would go for the standard Overgrow, which can be quite useful under the right circumstances for providing a crucial Grass-type boost. Speaking of boosts, Venusaur is a good user of Tera, and it naturally comes with two possible choices. Tera-Grass is stronger in terms of raw power of moves, while Tera-Poison is more useful defensively. Overall, Venusaur is shaping up great, with it more or less resembling Vileplume in some ways, and that can never go wrong.
As the first final-evolved starter Pokemon (in Pokedex order), Venusaur was given nice treats in terms of accessible moves. Common Grass-type options like Energy Ball, Giga Drain or Leaf Storm are always fantastic, with Solar Beam being possibly the best move for Chlorophyll sets. Petal Dance is not good in Doubles and is not recommended. Venusuar’s Poison-type move selection is a little lacking by comparison, but it gets a good one in Sludge Bomb. Even if Sludge Bomb fails to do enough damage, it can still fish for a nasty 30% poison chance. Those weren’t why Venusaur is good though, after all Vileplume and even Amoonguss can run those moves. What Venusaur excels at is its wonderful selection of coverage options. Weather Ball is of course great for a Chlorophyll abuser who needs Fire-type moves to dent sturdy Steel-types. However, that move is far away from being reliable, since many trainers in the BBA like to play around with weather, and its inability to hurt Fire-types can be devastating as well. That isn’t a big problem for our big flower frog friend here though, since it learns Earth Power, which is another way to deal with Steel-types and a great UNO reverse card for Fire-types. Thanks to Earth Power/Weather Ball rounding off a pretty decent coverage with its STABs, Venusaur feels comfortable running four attacks most of the time. It is still open to other options though, since it is given neat tools in other departments as well. First of all, Knock Off is one of the best moves in the game; while Venusaur isn’t the strongest user of this move, it still appreciates the utility of removing powerful items on its opponents. Otherwise, Venusaur is most likely running Growth, which is pretty much Venusaur’s only way to boost its Special Attack and is especially effective under sun. Sleep Powder, Substitute and Charm are great ways to create setup opportunities, Synthesis and Leech Seed help Vensuaur stay healthy, Poison Powder and Toxic provide passive damage. Venusaur doesn’t have crazy impressive attributes like some of the other Grass-type starters do *cough cough Meowscarada*, but Venusaur proves to be helpful with its reliable stats and movesets. It unfortunately doesn’t have too much of a great time in the deeper part of Area Zero, since it is slower than the big boss Pokemon and is weak to its Zen Headbutt assault. The Epilogue isn’t that much better, thanks to the abundance of Poison-type Pokemon, but that won’t be a big issue if Venusaur is running Earth Power. Overall, Venusaur stands the test of time and continues to be a great Pokemon after almost 30 years of colourful adventures.
Venusaur proves itself to be the real OG Grass-type yet again with a decent placement on a mono-Grass team. In Monotype runs, coverage moves are everything, and having Earth Power immediately secures Venusaur great consideration. Unlike Toedscruel, Venusaur is actually threatening with its offenses; unlike Sunflora or Arboliva, Venusaur is actually quite fast; unlike Earthquake users, Venusaur doesn’t worry about hitting teammates or Initmidate users. Even without considering Earth Power, Venusaur is still one of the best Chlorophyll users around, and that alone should give it a decent niche when paired with sun setters. Venusaur would probably be even better if it is accessible earlier on, but its late addition is still worthwhile for those who don’t mind spending 3000 BPs to unlock the grass frog.
Here is the penultimate Pokemon!
Grass-type Pokemon are commonly found to reside in the gleeful grassfield, where sunlight is abundant and strong, and not really in dark caves near hard rocks or cliffs. Chespin proves this stereotype wrong by taking residence in the Chargestone Cavern of the Blueberry Academy after 3000 BP are spent in expanding the biodiversity of the Canyon Biome. Like what its sturdy shell suggests, Chespin is pretty good at defending itself and would prove to be a bulky Pokemon to use, provided that it battles in a first-stage-Pokemon-friendly environment. Since the Blueberry Academy is not exactly nice to Pokemon with such low base stats, Chespin should just evolve as soon as possible. Even its evolution, Quilladin, cannot take hits against strong opponents around the Academy despite having good defenses and an adorable face. Chespin and Quilladin should thus be left behind until they can reach their final evolution, Chesnaught.
Based on a warrior with a wood armor, Chesnaught takes pride in its wonderful physical strengths. First of all, Chesnaught gains a new secondary Fighting-type. Grass/Fighting is definitely an odd combination: they bring six weaknesses together including a devastating double weakness to Flying, but they also provide neat resistances, most notably to the famous Ground/Rock combos commonly seen in Double Battles. Overall, having too many weaknesses outweighs having great resistances in the land of Blueberry Academy, where most Pokemon run powerful coverage moves. Because of that, Chesnaught finds it difficult to utilize its great 88/122/75 bulk and struggles to fulfill the tanking role that it is supposed to take. Chesnaught’s next best attribute after its mighty Defense is its great 107 Attack. 107 is still higher than average, but it is nothing too spectacular, considering Chesnaught’s Grass/Fighting offensive typing is ineffective against tough foes like Flying, Poison or Bug-types. In addition, Chesnaught’s base 64 Speed means it often needs to move after its foes, further restricting its offensive capabilities. In terms of raw stats, Chesnaught really can’t achieve much in both offense and defense. However, things are not over yet, as Chesnaught has some more tools to help itself out. Overgrow is a standard boost for Grass-type starters, and Chesnaught gets to use it well thanks to its good bulk and powerful Grass-type moves. That being said, Chesnaught likes it Hidden Ability, Bulletproof, a lot more, since Bulletproof provides neat immunities against strong special moves like Focus Blast and Sludge Bomb, though blocking Pollen Puff from allies is unfortunate. If Chesnaught wants to remove its subpar defensive typing, it can choose to use Tera-Grass for better protection against tough Psychic or Fairy-types. Unfortunately, Chesnaught cannot naturally come with Tera-Fighting, which would probably be a better Tera-type for both offensive and defensive purposes.
Chesnaught’s great tales do not stop there, as it excels with its wonderful moveset as well. Protection is a key element in Double Battles, and that is Chesnaught’s game. Outside of the universaly accessible Protect, Chesnaught has three more special protecting moves. Its former exclusive move, Spiky Shield, punishes contact-inducing users, further strengthening its ability to handle physical attackers, though using that move requires some mind games with the AI. Wide Guard is more widely useful, since it can consecutively block common spread moves, and the AIs are usually not smart enough to notice players spamming Wide Guard against their ChargeQuake. Quick Guard also doesn’t fail with consecutive uses, but most priority users (Dragonite) are just too threatening for Chesnaught to handle, and it is more niche in general. In a twist of fate, Chesnaught can also run Feint to remove opposing protection attempts, but those are rather rare outside of a few troll trainers. Chesnaught usually doesn’t run all of these moves together, and it is free to run some other support options. Reflect is a standard move for physical tanks, while Coaching offers a similar support for allies and helps buff their Attack as well. Pain Split and Super Fang are both ways to reliably wear foes down, though they are both quite situational. Spikes are always neat, but they are not too effective around the Blueberry Academy. Chesnaught’s great base 107 Attack means it can comfortably run some attacks to avoid being too passive. In terms of Grass-type moves, Chesnaught doesn’t get too many fancy options, but Seed Bomb and Bullet Seed are steady options, while Wood Hammer is much more powerful with a significant drawback in harming Chesnaught’s longevity. On the other hand, Chesnaught’s Fighting-type STAB Drain Punch helps it stay in the field for longer and is quite effective hitting all the Fighting-weak targets around. Close Combat and Hammer Arm are some stronger options with notable drawbacks, while Brick Break is neat against screen setters. If Chesnaught has slots open for coverage moves, Knock Off is probably the first one to consider, as it threatens Psychic-types or Ghost-types and provides great utility for removing powerful items. Otherwise, it can choose between Earthquake, High Horsepower, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Iron Head, Poison Jab, Crunch, Thunder Punch, Zen Headbutt, Body Slam or anything else from its vast movepool. Chesnaught can even go for a setup approach by utilizing Bulk Up, Curse or even Belly Drum for building up stats and Leech Seed, Synthesis for healing itself. Chesnaught really doesn’t lack moves, as it clearly has enough tools for offense, defense and support. Its biggest issue is how it wants to achieve so much and yet its suboptimal typing severely holds it back. Chesnaught is at least a considerable option for all the Double Battles in the Blueberry Academy thanks to its access to Wide Guard. Its low speed and poor matchup against Psychic-type Pokemon start to become more of a hindrance in the Area Zero expedition, where it struggles to contribute against the big boss Pokemon. It is still not too great in the Kitakami revisit but certainly still usable. Overall, Chesnaught isn’t as flashy as some of its fellow Grass-type starters, but it has surprisingly gained quite many interesting moves since its debut, which are more than enough to help it stay relevant even in the toughest environment.
Including Lilligant-H and Decidueye-H, which both require Pokemon Legends: Arceus to be obtained, Chesnaught is the fourth Grass/Fighting-type Pokemon available. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing to share your types with other Pokemon, but Grass and Fighting just simply do not go well together. Fighting ends up being an awful addition for mono-Grass teams due to the shared Flying-weakness, as well as ineffectivenesses against common Grass-resists. Still, Chesnaught manages to find some utilities with its wide array of support options, most notably Wide Guard, to help protect its Grass-type allies from spread moves like Blizzard and Heat Wave. Accesses to Rock Slide and Knock Off are neat as well depending on Chesnaught’s teammates. Other than that, Chesnaught isn’t too helpful, as a Grass-type team would prefer something with even stronger coverage options. It is quite unfortunate our giant hedgehog friend isn’t as good as it could’ve been, but Chesnaught is still better than many other fully-evolved Pokemon around already, and we will gladly take it as a victory.
Grass-type Pokemon are commonly found to reside in the gleeful grassfield, where sunlight is abundant and strong, and not really in dark caves near hard rocks or cliffs. Chespin proves this stereotype wrong by taking residence in the Chargestone Cavern of the Blueberry Academy after 3000 BP are spent in expanding the biodiversity of the Canyon Biome. Like what its sturdy shell suggests, Chespin is pretty good at defending itself and would prove to be a bulky Pokemon to use, provided that it battles in a first-stage-Pokemon-friendly environment. Since the Blueberry Academy is not exactly nice to Pokemon with such low base stats, Chespin should just evolve as soon as possible. Even its evolution, Quilladin, cannot take hits against strong opponents around the Academy despite having good defenses and an adorable face. Chespin and Quilladin should thus be left behind until they can reach their final evolution, Chesnaught.
Based on a warrior with a wood armor, Chesnaught takes pride in its wonderful physical strengths. First of all, Chesnaught gains a new secondary Fighting-type. Grass/Fighting is definitely an odd combination: they bring six weaknesses together including a devastating double weakness to Flying, but they also provide neat resistances, most notably to the famous Ground/Rock combos commonly seen in Double Battles. Overall, having too many weaknesses outweighs having great resistances in the land of Blueberry Academy, where most Pokemon run powerful coverage moves. Because of that, Chesnaught finds it difficult to utilize its great 88/122/75 bulk and struggles to fulfill the tanking role that it is supposed to take. Chesnaught’s next best attribute after its mighty Defense is its great 107 Attack. 107 is still higher than average, but it is nothing too spectacular, considering Chesnaught’s Grass/Fighting offensive typing is ineffective against tough foes like Flying, Poison or Bug-types. In addition, Chesnaught’s base 64 Speed means it often needs to move after its foes, further restricting its offensive capabilities. In terms of raw stats, Chesnaught really can’t achieve much in both offense and defense. However, things are not over yet, as Chesnaught has some more tools to help itself out. Overgrow is a standard boost for Grass-type starters, and Chesnaught gets to use it well thanks to its good bulk and powerful Grass-type moves. That being said, Chesnaught likes it Hidden Ability, Bulletproof, a lot more, since Bulletproof provides neat immunities against strong special moves like Focus Blast and Sludge Bomb, though blocking Pollen Puff from allies is unfortunate. If Chesnaught wants to remove its subpar defensive typing, it can choose to use Tera-Grass for better protection against tough Psychic or Fairy-types. Unfortunately, Chesnaught cannot naturally come with Tera-Fighting, which would probably be a better Tera-type for both offensive and defensive purposes.
Chesnaught’s great tales do not stop there, as it excels with its wonderful moveset as well. Protection is a key element in Double Battles, and that is Chesnaught’s game. Outside of the universaly accessible Protect, Chesnaught has three more special protecting moves. Its former exclusive move, Spiky Shield, punishes contact-inducing users, further strengthening its ability to handle physical attackers, though using that move requires some mind games with the AI. Wide Guard is more widely useful, since it can consecutively block common spread moves, and the AIs are usually not smart enough to notice players spamming Wide Guard against their ChargeQuake. Quick Guard also doesn’t fail with consecutive uses, but most priority users (Dragonite) are just too threatening for Chesnaught to handle, and it is more niche in general. In a twist of fate, Chesnaught can also run Feint to remove opposing protection attempts, but those are rather rare outside of a few troll trainers. Chesnaught usually doesn’t run all of these moves together, and it is free to run some other support options. Reflect is a standard move for physical tanks, while Coaching offers a similar support for allies and helps buff their Attack as well. Pain Split and Super Fang are both ways to reliably wear foes down, though they are both quite situational. Spikes are always neat, but they are not too effective around the Blueberry Academy. Chesnaught’s great base 107 Attack means it can comfortably run some attacks to avoid being too passive. In terms of Grass-type moves, Chesnaught doesn’t get too many fancy options, but Seed Bomb and Bullet Seed are steady options, while Wood Hammer is much more powerful with a significant drawback in harming Chesnaught’s longevity. On the other hand, Chesnaught’s Fighting-type STAB Drain Punch helps it stay in the field for longer and is quite effective hitting all the Fighting-weak targets around. Close Combat and Hammer Arm are some stronger options with notable drawbacks, while Brick Break is neat against screen setters. If Chesnaught has slots open for coverage moves, Knock Off is probably the first one to consider, as it threatens Psychic-types or Ghost-types and provides great utility for removing powerful items. Otherwise, it can choose between Earthquake, High Horsepower, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Iron Head, Poison Jab, Crunch, Thunder Punch, Zen Headbutt, Body Slam or anything else from its vast movepool. Chesnaught can even go for a setup approach by utilizing Bulk Up, Curse or even Belly Drum for building up stats and Leech Seed, Synthesis for healing itself. Chesnaught really doesn’t lack moves, as it clearly has enough tools for offense, defense and support. Its biggest issue is how it wants to achieve so much and yet its suboptimal typing severely holds it back. Chesnaught is at least a considerable option for all the Double Battles in the Blueberry Academy thanks to its access to Wide Guard. Its low speed and poor matchup against Psychic-type Pokemon start to become more of a hindrance in the Area Zero expedition, where it struggles to contribute against the big boss Pokemon. It is still not too great in the Kitakami revisit but certainly still usable. Overall, Chesnaught isn’t as flashy as some of its fellow Grass-type starters, but it has surprisingly gained quite many interesting moves since its debut, which are more than enough to help it stay relevant even in the toughest environment.
Including Lilligant-H and Decidueye-H, which both require Pokemon Legends: Arceus to be obtained, Chesnaught is the fourth Grass/Fighting-type Pokemon available. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing to share your types with other Pokemon, but Grass and Fighting just simply do not go well together. Fighting ends up being an awful addition for mono-Grass teams due to the shared Flying-weakness, as well as ineffectivenesses against common Grass-resists. Still, Chesnaught manages to find some utilities with its wide array of support options, most notably Wide Guard, to help protect its Grass-type allies from spread moves like Blizzard and Heat Wave. Accesses to Rock Slide and Knock Off are neat as well depending on Chesnaught’s teammates. Other than that, Chesnaught isn’t too helpful, as a Grass-type team would prefer something with even stronger coverage options. It is quite unfortunate our giant hedgehog friend isn’t as good as it could’ve been, but Chesnaught is still better than many other fully-evolved Pokemon around already, and we will gladly take it as a victory.
GRAND FINALE!
Before we had Smugleaf taking over the Unova region with its smug expression, we had Treecko which is equally smug and equally leafy. Treecko gathered high popularity thanks to its appearance as Ash’s Pokemon in the anime, and many fans were eager to see Treecko return for the Indigo Disk DLC. Fans were thus satisfied to see wild Treecko roaming around the Canyon Biome once 3000 BPs were used for biome expansion. Treecko’s swiftness and smugness were unfortunately not too effective in the tough environment of the Blueberry Academy. Treecko should just wait patiently until it gets to evolve into Grovyle and then wait patiently again until it fully grows to its final form, Sceptile.
Prior to Generation III, Grass-type Pokemon (minus Jumpluff) are usually slow and bulky. Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire break the mold by introducing a fast special sweeper as the Grass-type starter of the region. Sceptile impressed players with its blazing base 120 Speed, which is still really fast by present standard. Even in the speedcrept Blueberry Academy, Sceptile is often able to strike first and pulls off its tricks. The real problem is that it doesn’t actually have too many interesting tricks to pull off with. Its base 105 Special Attack and base 85 Attack seem to be quite promising at first, but the Academy is filled with bulky Pokemon that Sceptile doesn’t really threaten too many Pokemon with its offenses. Things get worse when Sceptile’s pure Grass-type is taken into consideration. Sceptile’s STAB moves are ineffective against three of the Elite Four members, which severely limits its uses in battles. Sceptile’s offense-oriented stats also leave it with poor defenses. With base 70/65/85 bulk combined with a total of five weaknesses, Sceptile often gets one-shot by powerful moves around the Academy. That being said, Sceptile is supposed to take a sweeping role, and it should just focus on its offenses instead. It can use Tera-Grass to boost its mediocre offense to a better level. Being a pure-type Pokemon, Sceptile doesn’t get to use defensive Tera, but at least it doesn’t need to worry about getting swept by the opponent before doing damage. Its Abilities also amplify its strengths in two different ways. Overgrow gives it another possible Grass-type damage boost, though it often faints without hitting the low health range. Unburden is a fantastic Ability that synergizes well with Sceptile, but Sceptile is usually fast enough and doesn’t need the speed boost. Sceptile is looking great as a sweeper, since it has no hope being a bulky Pokemon, and now it just needs some good moves to go with that role.
If you actually think Sceptile has good moves to go with its special sweeping set, you are in for a surprise. In terms of Grass-type STABs, Sceptile has the usual stuff like Leaf Storm, Energy Ball or Giga Drain, which are reliable but nothing exciting. It still needs to stick to its STAB moves though, since it has next to no other options. If Sceptile wants to run coverage moves, it pretty much can only pick Focus Blast, which at least has the benefit of hitting Steel-type Pokemon for super effective damage. However, we have seen how Fighting-type coverage is not really that good for Grass-type Pokemon, and Focus Blast is no exception despite its great base power. Vacuum Wave faces similar issues, on top of being really weak without STAB and an unnecessary tool for a fast Pokemon like Sceptile. Sceptile’s next best option is Dragon Pulse, which only covers for Dragon-type Pokemon and isn’t too threatening without STAB (RIP Mega Sceptile). Sceptile’s moveset is so lackluster Hyper Beam is actually an option. Of course, that move is still undesirable thanks to its lack of super effective targets and a disastrous drawback, but it can be a neat choice for Sceptile to use as a final blow. Game Freak clearly knew Sceptile’s need of better special moves, but they decide to give it other things instead. Sceptile surprisingly receives an incredible utility in Shed Tail, arguably one of the most broken moves of all time. Unfortunately, Shed Tail isn’t as good in single-player, since AIs are just all about attacking and break substitutes easily. Sceptile can choose to support its teammates through other options like Quick Guard or Dragon Cheer, but they are both rather situational. Sceptile actually ends up having more moves that support a physical setup set, thanks to its access to Swords Dance, Dragon Dance, priorities in Quick Attack and Upper Hand, as well as some useful physical moves like Leaf Blade, Earthquake, Scale Shot, Throat Chop, etc.. Sceptile can go for a physical sweeper role, but there are definitely better Pokemon suited for this role. Sceptile’s weird moveset continues to bring it down after the story wraps up in the Blueberry Academy, though its good Special Attack and good speed tier are at least effective enough in the Area Zero trip. The Kitakami trip isn’t as nice though, since Sceptile’s moves are not too useful against the Poison-type Pokemon seen there. Overall, Sceptile is blessed with great gifts, but its gifts are just not useful enough in the setting of the Indigo Disk DLC. There is a time to shine for every Pokemon, and this ain’t it for Sceptile.
Pokemon with great coverage moves are amazing in Monotype runs. We already know that Sceptile doesn’t have any of those, so it should be no surprise that Sceptile isn’t that good in a Mono-Grass setting. Sceptile is one of the fastest special attackers available for the team, but that isn’t a big enough niche when there are so many fast strong attackers like Meowscarada or Ogerpon. Slower special attackers make up for it with their access of better moves, like Arboliva’s Earth Power or Vileplume’s Moonblast. Sceptile doesn’t even have synergy with its fellow Grass-type Pokemon, since it doesn’t have abilities that revolve around sun or Grassy Terrain. Sceptile is still usable, but team slots on Mono-Grass runs are better left for something more valuable.
No essays written for these two, as Virizion is locked to post-game and Iron Leaves is time-exclusive at a high level. You can still take a look at the pictures I took for them though!
That's finally it for this thread! We are officially done!!!! I hope you have been enjoying reading all these, and I wish you all great Pokemon adventures!
Before we had Smugleaf taking over the Unova region with its smug expression, we had Treecko which is equally smug and equally leafy. Treecko gathered high popularity thanks to its appearance as Ash’s Pokemon in the anime, and many fans were eager to see Treecko return for the Indigo Disk DLC. Fans were thus satisfied to see wild Treecko roaming around the Canyon Biome once 3000 BPs were used for biome expansion. Treecko’s swiftness and smugness were unfortunately not too effective in the tough environment of the Blueberry Academy. Treecko should just wait patiently until it gets to evolve into Grovyle and then wait patiently again until it fully grows to its final form, Sceptile.
Prior to Generation III, Grass-type Pokemon (minus Jumpluff) are usually slow and bulky. Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire break the mold by introducing a fast special sweeper as the Grass-type starter of the region. Sceptile impressed players with its blazing base 120 Speed, which is still really fast by present standard. Even in the speedcrept Blueberry Academy, Sceptile is often able to strike first and pulls off its tricks. The real problem is that it doesn’t actually have too many interesting tricks to pull off with. Its base 105 Special Attack and base 85 Attack seem to be quite promising at first, but the Academy is filled with bulky Pokemon that Sceptile doesn’t really threaten too many Pokemon with its offenses. Things get worse when Sceptile’s pure Grass-type is taken into consideration. Sceptile’s STAB moves are ineffective against three of the Elite Four members, which severely limits its uses in battles. Sceptile’s offense-oriented stats also leave it with poor defenses. With base 70/65/85 bulk combined with a total of five weaknesses, Sceptile often gets one-shot by powerful moves around the Academy. That being said, Sceptile is supposed to take a sweeping role, and it should just focus on its offenses instead. It can use Tera-Grass to boost its mediocre offense to a better level. Being a pure-type Pokemon, Sceptile doesn’t get to use defensive Tera, but at least it doesn’t need to worry about getting swept by the opponent before doing damage. Its Abilities also amplify its strengths in two different ways. Overgrow gives it another possible Grass-type damage boost, though it often faints without hitting the low health range. Unburden is a fantastic Ability that synergizes well with Sceptile, but Sceptile is usually fast enough and doesn’t need the speed boost. Sceptile is looking great as a sweeper, since it has no hope being a bulky Pokemon, and now it just needs some good moves to go with that role.
If you actually think Sceptile has good moves to go with its special sweeping set, you are in for a surprise. In terms of Grass-type STABs, Sceptile has the usual stuff like Leaf Storm, Energy Ball or Giga Drain, which are reliable but nothing exciting. It still needs to stick to its STAB moves though, since it has next to no other options. If Sceptile wants to run coverage moves, it pretty much can only pick Focus Blast, which at least has the benefit of hitting Steel-type Pokemon for super effective damage. However, we have seen how Fighting-type coverage is not really that good for Grass-type Pokemon, and Focus Blast is no exception despite its great base power. Vacuum Wave faces similar issues, on top of being really weak without STAB and an unnecessary tool for a fast Pokemon like Sceptile. Sceptile’s next best option is Dragon Pulse, which only covers for Dragon-type Pokemon and isn’t too threatening without STAB (RIP Mega Sceptile). Sceptile’s moveset is so lackluster Hyper Beam is actually an option. Of course, that move is still undesirable thanks to its lack of super effective targets and a disastrous drawback, but it can be a neat choice for Sceptile to use as a final blow. Game Freak clearly knew Sceptile’s need of better special moves, but they decide to give it other things instead. Sceptile surprisingly receives an incredible utility in Shed Tail, arguably one of the most broken moves of all time. Unfortunately, Shed Tail isn’t as good in single-player, since AIs are just all about attacking and break substitutes easily. Sceptile can choose to support its teammates through other options like Quick Guard or Dragon Cheer, but they are both rather situational. Sceptile actually ends up having more moves that support a physical setup set, thanks to its access to Swords Dance, Dragon Dance, priorities in Quick Attack and Upper Hand, as well as some useful physical moves like Leaf Blade, Earthquake, Scale Shot, Throat Chop, etc.. Sceptile can go for a physical sweeper role, but there are definitely better Pokemon suited for this role. Sceptile’s weird moveset continues to bring it down after the story wraps up in the Blueberry Academy, though its good Special Attack and good speed tier are at least effective enough in the Area Zero trip. The Kitakami trip isn’t as nice though, since Sceptile’s moves are not too useful against the Poison-type Pokemon seen there. Overall, Sceptile is blessed with great gifts, but its gifts are just not useful enough in the setting of the Indigo Disk DLC. There is a time to shine for every Pokemon, and this ain’t it for Sceptile.
Pokemon with great coverage moves are amazing in Monotype runs. We already know that Sceptile doesn’t have any of those, so it should be no surprise that Sceptile isn’t that good in a Mono-Grass setting. Sceptile is one of the fastest special attackers available for the team, but that isn’t a big enough niche when there are so many fast strong attackers like Meowscarada or Ogerpon. Slower special attackers make up for it with their access of better moves, like Arboliva’s Earth Power or Vileplume’s Moonblast. Sceptile doesn’t even have synergy with its fellow Grass-type Pokemon, since it doesn’t have abilities that revolve around sun or Grassy Terrain. Sceptile is still usable, but team slots on Mono-Grass runs are better left for something more valuable.
No essays written for these two, as Virizion is locked to post-game and Iron Leaves is time-exclusive at a high level. You can still take a look at the pictures I took for them though!
That's finally it for this thread! We are officially done!!!! I hope you have been enjoying reading all these, and I wish you all great Pokemon adventures!