SwSh Battle Facilities Discussion & Records

[Rain Moon]

Hello all! After what I would consider a fortunate run, I have a Normal Restrictive Sparring streak of 106 . The squad was Heliolisk/Braviary/Chansey.

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Heliolisk @ Life Orb

Level: 50

Ability: Dry Skin

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 Def/ 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Rising Voltage

- Parabolic Charge

- Hyper Beam

- Grass Knot

Heliolisk Details

This thing’s speed and Life Orb-granted power are great. sb879 mentions in this post, and Eisenherz used to great effect in this streak. Speed ties Salazzle; not a risk I’ll take with it in the lead, but it makes it less of a nuisance if it come out in the back. Both sb879 and Eisenherz do a thorough job of talking about this mon in their posts, so I’ll just explain Hyper Beam and Grass Knot.

Hyper Beam

I’ve run both Hyper Voice and Dragon Pulse here, but the drawbacks of both have come back to haunt me in prior attempts. Among other things, (in E. Terrain) and suck hard for the backline; and its Super Fang aren’t fun, either. Hyper Beam is only way to guarantee a OHKO on all of these Pokemon. This is probably already documented elsewhere, but the AI seems to prioritize either super effective moves or the hardest possible hits when choosing its second mon, making especially bad. I’ve had it use Clangorous Soul instead of Close Combat against a Dynamaxed , which is no bueno. The 75% KO chance against with Hyper Beam is also clutch, if a bit risky. Finally, it doesn’t change in power post-Dynamax, which has come into play against in previous attempts. The 8 PP is fine if you only use Hyper Beam/Max Strike as a last-ditch effort. I almost never us it on a last mon Grass type, for example.

Grass Knot

I started with Grass Knot, ran Surf for a while, then swapped back after a… fair number of battles. Surf makes passive sustain easier than Grass Knot; you only lose 2 net HP per battle if you get Rain up turn one and win in three turns, assuming you don’t take hits and don’t have the weather changed or nullified. However, Grass Knot has a few juicy targets. Here’s a rundown of the differences; "HB" means also taken out by Hyper Beam, "ET RV" means also taken out by Rising Voltage if Electric Terrain is up. I’m not including anything taken out by an unboosted Max Lightning.

Max Overgrowth deals with , , , , , (HB)

Max Geyser has (ET RV):, (HB/ET RV), (HB/ET RV), and (but only if non-Sturdy; not an advisable gamble)

is rough to manage with the backline; Yawn + Power-Up Punch + Unaware is not a good time. It’s also a common second Pokemon due to Earthquake hitting hard. It’s possible to OHKO outside Dynamax with Grass Knot, but that never came into play. is kind of clutch because you can force a Surf with the backline, heal , then KO outside Dynamax. Not triggering Swift Swim on and is also nice; I’ve had both of them end streaks while running Surf.

Coalossal is the only iffy one lost, but not unmanageable by the backline. No matter what you run, Endure is still a pain. and are also hit harder by Surf/Geyser, but does fine against them.

Braviary @ Leftovers

Level: 50

Ability: Defiant

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Att / 132 Def/ 4 SpD / 116 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Fly

- Shadow Claw

- Bulk Up

- Rest

Braviary Details

sb879 mentions the potential of as backline mon, and I enjoyed using it quite a bit. Without support, it can set up on stuff doesn’t like (or things that would waste Hyper Beam PP), such as Grass types (except ), , , Quick Claw , and bulky Normals like and . With Confide support from , it can set up on some bulky Faires and Psychics too, if it can avoid crits. In most cases, it handles Body Press users and OK.

I don’t remember if the 4 EVs Attack do anything, or if it was a holdover from when I was running more Special Defense. Otherwise, I used the EVs to hit 126 speed (outspeeds Flapple, Mr. Rime, and Butterfree), maximize HP, and add physical bulk. Fly has good power and PP (24) without causing recoil. Fly also has the fringe benefit of netting a turn of Leftovers recovery if used outside Dynamax. Shadow Claw (24 PP) hits all of Flying’s resists (Rock, Steel, and Electric) neutrally; I believe Bisharp and Morpeko are the only RS resists between these two moves, and the latter is OHKOed by +3 Max Airstream. Defense drops from Phantasm are great, both to soften Pokemon for 2HKOs and to reduce Body Press damage. Rest is the healing move for when Leftovers aren’t keeping up. The way I play , it gets statused a lot, so Roost wasn’t going to work in this case. also needs to maintain its Body Press neutrality, and it really likes having Bug and Grass resists. Plus, being able to go from 20 HP to full is clutch.

The typical strategy is to get to +3 Attack and make sure you use at least one Airstream on the Pokemon you set up on. If those boosts come from Defiant boosts so you’re not using Bulk Up PP, even better. Once you get to that stage, you OHKO 87% of the RS roster in Dynamax, and you outspeed everything except for and . Because has to tank a fair number of physical attacks and the occasional crit, the extra speed to outpace is not worth the drop in bulk. Bulk Up PP and Fly PP are both precious; if you can kill (or even two-shot) a second or third mon with Max Phantasm or Shadow Claw, generally do it. Rest is usually my burner PP if I need a Max Guard or if I’m at full and don’t want to use attacking PP on a wake-up turn; Leftovers do a pretty good job of maintaining health.

Chansey @ Eviolite

Level: 50

Ability: Natural Cure

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

IVs: 0 Att, 20 Spe

Impish Nature

- Seismic Toss

- Confide

- Charm

- Rest

Let just say it took me… a while… to land on for this slot. I’ll just do a brief-ish synopsis of the predecessors I tried for more than one run

The Road to Chansey

@ Lum Berry/Rocky Helmet; Flamethrower/Wish/Protect/Toxic OR Light Screen

I thought I needed wish support for a Life Orb user. It ended up eating a lot of status, hence the Lum Berry at one point. Regenerator + Rocky Helmet slaps. Flamethrower was for and . Light Screen made me realize that supporting with Special Attack drops was a pretty good strategy. .

@ Eviolite; Shadow Ball OR Toxic/Conversion/Eerie Impulse/Recover

A bit of a gimmick, but it was quite good at not dying to Body Press and if it survived the initial hit! Trace was also clutch; it allows me to scout things like and nab a heal with . Toxic couldn’t directly handle , but with Conversion it could proc a Dig and allow to come in. In the end, its downfalls were not enough PP, susceptibility to Crits + status, and no way to lower the impact of physical moves beyond changing type. .

@ Eviolite; Iron Defense/Confide/Rest/Flame Charge OR Swift

Crit immunity from Battle Armor combined with Eviolite-bolstered bulk is a hell of a drug cocktail. With enough initial health, Iron Defense virtually neutralizes Body Press. Both Flame Charge and Swift have 32 PP, which is pretty good. The former has a handy speed boost effect and hits /// harder, while the latter does better against and , among other things. The problem? Rest and no Leftovers combined with low damage output. Rest requires the use of one PP to wake up, and especially against Body Press users just has sit there and take hits while chipping away at the opponent. That being said, I did hit mid-80s with a Flame Charge build alongside a Surf + Dragon Pulse ; might have hit 100 that time had I not let drop to a Grass Glide off that I though was going to be a Grassy Terrain.

@ Rocky Helmet; Knock Off/Confide/Baby-doll Eyes/Rest

Oh hey it’s again! I was getting sick of burning through all of its PP just trying to stay alive and do damage, so back to Regenerator! This iteration never did as well as my streak but I tried anyway. ’s base stats are just kind of trash; NFE Pokemon like and have better BSTs. Base 103 HP/86 Def/86 SpD bulk is only a touch better than . Even with max SpDef investment stuff like crit Psychics and Ice Beams were ending streaks. Fun fact; does not learn Charm. Which, fair; it’s not cute.

Tldr; I needed something that could keep up PP-wise, not die to crit special attacks, handle status, and heal to full without burning through a ton of Rest (or other recovery) PP. Enter .

Chansey Details

The special wall to ’s physical tank. Seismic Toss is pretty great; it’s a 3 to 5HKO on almost all the non-Ghost types, and its damage output can’t be reduced by dumb stuff like Moonblast or Charm. Eviolite ’s ability to take special hits is still stellar even with only HP investment; it takes 24% max from a crit Moonblast. Confide allows to take special hits even better, and can provide with new, though sometimes risky, setup opportunities against certain Pokemon. Light Screen has more PP, but it’s temporary and can only hit the equivalent of -2 SpA. Even though ’s goal is primarily to be a special wall, I have max physical bulk + Charm to make stuff like and much more manageable. Yes, a Bold naturue would be marginally better for the lower Attack stat, but I got Impish when breeding didn’t feel like burning the Mint. Rest is good for full heals and staying in even if you get Poisioned or Burned. Natural Cure also means you can swap out after Rest. This synergy preserves PP by avoiding wakeup turns, conserves your replenished HP by not taking hits, and it can let eat a water move or deal with a debuffed opponent. The 20 Speed IV lets it underspeed and (allowing for stalling while they flip flop Trick Room) while still getting the jump on outside Trick Room.

Eisenherz already went through some of the funny anti-threats to a -led team, so I’ll just do threats for my team.

Major threats (high speed to low speed)

Crit Drill Run comes close to OHKOing Dynamaxed from full. If is already Dynamaxed, you can hope it chooses Acupressure (it sometimes does if you have enough health) or swap to , use a Bulk Up, and Fly. Freezes, flinches, crits, misses, and Acupressure boosts are all concerning. If it’s a lead, is the safest option.


This thing is awful. Best strategy is usually to hope is boosted, or hope it Taunts . is faster than , and Night Slash does up to 58% to Dynamaxed . I’ve never done vs , but takes up to 35% on a crit, and 3HKOs, leaving it at low health and likely stuck with Taunt. can’t OHKO with Fly and it can’t boost because of Taunt. Pressure makes everything worse, especially in the back line where Fly PP are precious, or you're burning through 6 Seismic Toss PP.


Not a bad lead ( deals), but stress-inducing in the back if is out. Faster than , and Strong Jaw Fire Fang or Crunch hurts a lot. If it didn’t use Electrify most of the time it would be truly terrifying. Having Electric Terrain up against this thing is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, Electrify becomes useless for , because Rising Voltage/Max Lightning off anything but Parabolic Charge is a OHKO on . However, if is low on health and needs to swap out, it gives extra juice to hit with, and Rest is disabled until the terrain is gone.


Honestly not too bad as far as Sturdy Body Pressers go, but it deserves a mention. It’ll often go for Spikes if is close to full and Dynamaxed. Otherwise, if is in decent shape, it sets up pretty handily on , especially if Dynamax is available.


Quick Claw Superpower + possible Contrary. Kind of BS.


Hits everything hard, can chip my mons with Hail, and it has Ice Shard pick off a weakened or . At one point, I had EVed to have a ratio of Attack to Defense that let it always OHKO with Fly after Wood Hammer recoil. Nowadays, I usually take the 75% OHKO chance with Max Strike.


If Electric Terrain is up, Rising Voltage KOs. If not, needs to switch in and get to +1 and hit with Fly. Swagger can complicate the whole thing. I never do more than one Bulk Up against this thing because of Swagger.


Max Lightning will OHKO if it’s not Sturdy; if is at or near full, or already Maxed, I tend to go for it and hope for the best. Otherwise, has to get lucky with Iron Defenses while contending with Sandstorm nullifying its Leftovers.


Not sure if this or is worse, probably ? cannot stay in. can set up if it’s near full health and can avoid crits before it has boosted; a single crit is OK between Rests if you’re around +3 Def. If there are still Dynamax turns and hasn’t set up, in an ideal world should boos to+4 then do Max Phantasm into Max Airstream. However, crits are scary, so earlier Dynamaxing is sometimes required. If there's no Dynamax, use Bulk Up, chip with Shadow Claw, and Rest as needed.


Not only is it a member of Sturdy Body Press gang, sucks extra hard because it also gets Sand Stream to boost its special defense and whittle down the back line. Meteor Beam annihilates . I usually just tank the Body Press if has enough health; it has the weakest Body Press of any of the Sturdy Body Press Gang. Otherwise you have to burn Fly PP dodging Meteor Beam, or Seismic Toss with while taking quite a bit of damage. Even if is set up, it has to burn a turn of Dynamax with Max Guard to avoid the Power Herb Meteor Beam.

The Run

Before I start out, I just want to say I got lucky in terms of my encounters with the Sturdy Body Press Gang . I only remember encountering 6 during the whole run, and two confirmed didn’t have Sturdy.

Leg 1: 38 battles.

Pretty clean and efficient leg. At the end of Battle 38, the only PP had were 8 Grass Knot PP. had 1-2 battles left. took out a Sand Force and a non-Sturdy without taking a Body Press.

Leg 2: 67 cumulative; 29 battles

Things were a bit hairier here. I leaned hard on and it got down to 2 Rest PP by the mid 50s. took out 3 , each of which used Taunt. After hitting a with two Charms from , I swapped in to set up but got frozen after one or two Bulk Up boosts. It worked out (thawed with no crits!) but still scary. Somewhere in the 60s I passed up a second mon for healing on ( must have been at full). I actually had to end the leg because was almost dead. was around half and only had one Rest PP. Good thing the first leg went so well! My encounters with the Sturdy Body Press Gang again included and . was a lead, and I set up on it with . It wasn’t Weak Armor, so I might have saved . A Gigalith came out on turn 2 of a Dynamax, but Guard + Phantasm + Shadow Claw dealt with it ( was at +3 Att).

Leg 3: 106 cumulative; 39 battles.

How I survived this leg is anyone’s guess; I should have had my mons taken out or heavily dented so many times. The worst battle was 87, the only I saw and it was a lead. was at 2/3 HP. I swapped in the and went straight for the Dynamax, debuffing the heck out of that thing’s defense and preventing Heavy Slams; three Phantasms and a Shadow Claw did it, but I was at about ¼ health at the end. Rested against the incoming , took 1/3 health in damage, swapped to , debuffed with Charm (no crits!) and got awake, healed up, and set up, again avoiding crits.

Other notable experiences: Finally had a this leg. It came out after I’d Parabolic Charged a , and then dealt with it after setting up a bit (Dynamax was available). On a different battle, had a go for a Breaking Swipe into a pretty healthy +3 Att/ +1 Def Dynamaxed (though I guess Rock Wrecker would have only done 58% tops without a crit). Had a couple scary experiences where they could have hit me hard instead of using Electrify. In one, used Electrify again a not-too-healthy Dynamaxed after Terrain was already up; Max Lightning KOed. In another I had to switch out in Electric Terrain due to a second mon Blissey. I should have used as an intermediate to stall terrain but went straight to for a Fly. After the Fly comes out and uses Electrify as I switch to . Apparently even in terrain, Wild Charge only tops out at 91% against unboosted . Battle 97 I had a target a Dynamaxed with Swagger; very odd. I swapped in and luckily the Swagger missed. I got a Bulk Up + Fly off and things were great.

Last battle was just a crash and burn due to lack of PP. Burned my last Seismic Toss, Bulk Up and Fly PP on a , in came a ghost-immue . I was Dynamaxed with , so I Hyper Beamed with (last PP; only had one electric PP in Parabolic Charge), got wrecked by :beheyeem:. only got a few Shadow Claws off before going down, and like heck if ’s Struggles would have taken it out. Might have been able to get the win if I’d let go down before attacking with , but I didn’t.

And now that’s all the types over 100 before the DP remakes! sb879, your Ice run was wild; I really enjoyed your writeup!

Amazing work!

 

[CTNC]

I feel like I'm trying to steal the 106 Normal streak's thunder (Pun not intended but it works with Heliolisk.) by posting so soon after it, but I've been meaning to do this write up longer than it took to get this Rock streak. That sounds like that'd mean something because, as I probably don't need to say because of how much I've said it before, I use Status Moves Only, but it somehow only took 4 Days. Anyway, if you didn't see it because it's at the bottom of the page, you should check out. Congrats to CuneH8sVappy on bringing the final type to 100 Wins. I remember thinking getting over 50 wins was unbelievable and now there's 100 in every type! This community is insane.


Fun Fact: The AI isn't restricted by the Species Clause in Restricted Sparring. I had an opponent use Lycanroc-Night then send out Lycanroc-Day right after the first one fainted! Does that count as the AI cheating? They aren't restricted to one type, but it's breaking the one clause that's almost a sacred rule.

I got 13 Wins in Electric and I still feel like I could do better! My goal was 12 wins to beat my Fighting team but now I feel like 15 is possible. Someone with more knowledge and skill might even be able to get 20!

I'm pretty reckless at the beginning of streaks and after losing enough times, I switched Raichu to Iron Defense/Confide/Recycle/Rest Magnezone so I'd have a better chance of getting streaks that wouldn't end to Crits in the first 3 "Battles." Magnezone is so much better and I was able to get a leg of 8 with Magnezone caring almost all of the team's weight. The only reason it didn't last longer was "Battle" 9 started with Weavile. That thing knows Taunt and will use it whenever you try to do anything. That with the power 3HKO everything means Weavile is an instant streak ender, no matter what team I'm using.

I don't take losing well when I know I can do better or it's very punishing, so I had to say the try I was doing would be my last until I finish Rock and that try looked like it could hit 15. After 2 Legs of 5, "Battle" 11 started with Dusknoir. I kept Magnezone in even though a Critical Fire Punch would KO because I'd never lost to Dusknoir before... and I got Crited... and Toxicitry got OHKOed because I forgot that Luxray knows Psychic Fangs. On the bright side, Raichu gets to keep all the glory of being in my best Electric streak.


By coincidence, my Rock Team is only Pokemon from the Hoenn Dex. Kind of suitable that I did that for at least one team because Emerald was my first game. It's also two aquatic Pokemon and a Blue Eyed Lunatone and the Moon is sometimes tied to Water in the same way the Sun is tied to Fire, which is also kind of suitable because of how many Water types this team laughs at and how scared of Grass Types it can be. Flapple is pretty much game over if it comes out when Lunatone hasn't used Cosmic Power.


Shiny Lunatone @ Leppa Berry
Levitate
Calm 252 HP/228 Def/28 Spe
- Recycle
- Cosmic Power
- Toxic
- Rest

Moveset Notes

(You can skip this paragraph. It's just shameless bragging.) This Lunatone is a Living Legend and I'm not just saying that because its ribbon says so. Its Pokeball alone makes it awesome, a Safari Ball. It was caught in Johto's Safari Zone! I used it for the second half of my Soul Silver playthrough as a "setup "sweeper"" with Cosmic Power and Toxic. (I would've used Sandstrom instead because of Toxic Spikes, but I had Tyranitar's Sand Stream for an infinite Sandstorm.) With Gravity to make Spikes and Toxic Spikes affect Flying types, this Lunatone helped KO Red's Charizard in One Turn with Status Moves Only. Oh, and it's a Square Sparkle Shiny. (That's a 1 in 8 Chance for Shinies transferred from Gens 3 to 5.)

I don't need to go over the Leppa Berry and Recycle being infinite PP again, but I'd like to mention that it's the first move this time because the first move gets its PP restored if multiple moves run out. I found that out after checking what would happen if a move had 0 PP when a "battle" starts and the Pokemon had an uneaten Leppa Berry because an Unnerve Vespiquen made me think I'd run out of PP when I was trying Magnezone in Electric.

Cosmic Power boosting both Defenses frees up a moveslot and it's hard to go wrong with Toxic. An "offensive" move can end set up Pokemon before they can become threats, take down Pokemon that could KO through +6 Defenses with a Crit, or save some HP by using it on opponents that are down to a do nothing move before they can attack again with Struggle. Even though it's tempting to go for a quick "battle" it's sometimes better to do nothing instead of something so you can stall until a do nothing move and heal the rest of the team by switching between them. You'll have plenty of time to set up Cosmic Power again anyway.

I used Rest instead of Moonlight because status problems can easily be lethal when trying to endure forever, Cosmic Power helps tons with enduring 3 turns, and the odds of 2 Crits happening while asleep are pretty low. That said, it will happen eventually and I'll get pissed off when it happens. It also makes Ice Beam much less scary because Spamming Rest means always being Asleep, which means you can't get Frozen.

The Spe EVs are to outspeed Magneton, Kangaskhan, Gyrados, Milotic, and Orbeetle before Trick Room. Turns out Milotic isn't worth outspeeding because of nearly OHKOing with Crits and Gyrados's Scald won't let Lunatone come back after Taunt, so a spread of 252 HP/236 Def/4 SpD/12 Spe would probably be better. The SpD EVs are so Porygon's Download boosts Atk instead of SpA. (If you want to try his moveset with an attack instead of Toxic, screw you for messing with perfection there's 4 leftovers EVs that can be put into SpA. They wouldn't do anything in any other stats.)

Craydily @ Leftovers
Storm Drain
Calm 252 HP/212 Def/44 SpD
- Confide
- Tickle
- Leech Seed
- Synthesis

Moveset Notes

Cradily wasn't just chosen for Storm Drain and its Grass neutrality. Honestly, I was looking at Tyantrum or maybe Carbink for Charm because it's almost needed to endure powerful Physical attackers. I thought I'd have to use one of them because almost no Rock types can lower Atk, but that changed when I realized I'd missed Tickle. (Tickle is even better than Growl because of Body Press and Outrage's confusion.) Lileep with Eviolite is bulkier than Cradily and Leech Seed can be used for healing, or so I though until I double checked and found out that Leech Seed can only be learned after evolution. I'm glad I wasn't able to try Lileep because healing without having to use Leech Seed is way too good and there's a funny problem with Leech Seed. Part of the reason I use it is it affects Pokemon that aren't affected by Sandstorm or Toxic, but Cradily is my best answer to Grass types. It's a bearable problem though because Corsola can easily endure -6 Grass attacks. Turns out x4 damage isn't a ton when it's also 1/4 power.

Storm Drain was way more useful than Tickle and Confide, but it has a downside. It raises Special Attack. Still, immunities are awesome, especially ones to major weaknesses. Tyantrum couldn't hope to hold a candle to Cradily even if Cradily couldn't learn Tickle. Suction Cups is a way way less useful Ability but may be worth looking at just to not get Storm Drain's SpA boosts. :P

Synthesis was used instead of Rest because I wanted to try it before deleting a transfer only move. It's not bad for a Pokemon that isn't the front line and it didn't run out of PP because of Leech Seed's healing, but it could easily run out and Rest also heals burns.

Corsola @ Rocky Helmet
Regenerator
Bold 252 HP/172 Def/84 SpD
- Confide
- Toxic
- Sandstorm
- Recover

Moveset Notes

Nihilego would've been a pretty good last Pokemon because Poison types can use Black Sludge as a second Leftovers, but Regenerator makes Leftovers look like a joke. I barely used Recover because switching was almost the same thing.

Sandstorm and Toxic is overkill, but I didn't know what else to teach. I didn't consider Reflect much before trying Rotom in Electric and I didn't think about double checking Corsola's movepool for it until I was writing this. Oops... At least Sandstorm is like Light Screen because it raises the SpD of Rock types. Toxic is the first choice for "offense" because it's faster and only needs 1 PP instead of 4 or 5. Sandstorm was used a few times to speed things up, but Reflect would've been so much better. I even wished Corsola could learn Reflect a few times, which again, I found out it does after this streak... Reminder: The N in my name stands for Noob. (Actually, can I still say that after this streak? I think anyone that can get 10 wins is pretty good and I got way better than just 10 with just Status Moves.)

There weren't many item choices for Corsola. Almost every other defensive item was one use, situational and/or luck based, or the SpD boosting Assault Vest that lives up to its first three letters. Bright Powder is one of the better options from a purely defensive standpoint, but the Rocky Helmet was an "offensive" option that stopped some Physical attackers from stopping me. The Rocky Helmet is almost an attack, but it's their fault for touching Corsola. It may be kind of my fault they got hurt, but it's mostly their fault. Don't they know how spiky coral can be? And don't get me started on the poisonous types of coral... Actually, please do. I like talking about Toxic. >:D

I said this team laughs at Water types earlier and it's easy to see how. Cradily can switch into Water attacks, Corsola can switch into and heal from Ice attacks, and Lunatone can take Ground attacks from the Water types that also have Ground attacks.


Legs 1 and 2 lasted for 4 "Battles" before I had to heal but Leg 3 was a bit better. Here's my thought after each "battle" in the last leg.

9: Scorching Sands Burn... This leg won't last long. -_-
10: Just one more to go, but my hopes are kind of low after the burn.
11: Tied with Fighting. That could be good enough, but I want to beat it.
12: Fighting is back on the bottom. >:)
13: Rock is tied with Electric!
14: Wow, this keeps going.
15: This is way better than I'd ever expect. How hasn't a Grassy type KOed me yet though? I'm not complaining though, I... wait...

I'm going to keep going with Status Moves Only for at least 5 in every type. I will dominate the bottom of the Leader Board!

Uh... *checks leader board* Oh, well, that's an unexpected problem. I'm not last! So... Should I try to say this streak is worse because it has Post Crown Tundra Pokemon and that one was before the Crown Tundra or ask for them to beat me?

16: A leg of 8?! This makes Magnezone feel almost kind of pathetic for not doing better. Stupid Weavile...
17: It just keeps going... 0_o
18: ...
19: Can... Can I get 20?

The Streak

I take screenshots when the streak starts looking good or when there's tough opponents, so I don't have much from the first leg and I don't remember everything and am piecing together everything from the screenshots. the first "battle" usually isn't worth talking about I can reset if I'm not doing really good after it without losing much progress, or any progress if the lead isn't very good.

I didn't face it in this streak, but Tentacruel is one of the few Water types that threaten this team. Sword Dance and a Toxic immunity means doing nothing is not an option. Liquid Ooze punishes Leech Seed by making it harm instead of heal and even without it Corsola will more damage than Regenerator can heal from +6 Cross Poison when switching between her and Cradily. The Rocky Helmet is why Tentacruel is beatable, but Corsola will be hurting afterward.

"Battle" 4 started with Skarmory. There's no good plan, so I went with Cosmic Power twice, Rest, Dynamaxing to tank hits better while asleep, then spamming Cosmic Power and Rest. Steel Wing raising Def was an "Oh crap" moment, but Lunatone endured through everything. The second Pokemon, Krookodile, made me switch because of Power Trip being making them even more terrifying than other Pokemon with set up moves. I don't remember what happened with the last Pokemon, but Lunatone had 12 HP left against Comfey in one screenshot and Comfey was using Giga Drain in the next. -_- I'm not sure if I was overconfident in Cosmic Power, forgot about Triage giving Giga Drain priority, or desperate enough for Rest to try it even though there was no chance of using it before getting KOed... All of the above? Sometimes mistakes like that make me think my biggest obstacle is me.

First Heal used.

I faced a Lickilicky lead in "Battle" 5 and it felt so good to use Toxic before it could use Rollout. The other Pokemon, Appletun and Accelgor, would've been a terrible leads to face, but Lickilicky's Defense Curl spam and easily shrugged off Body Slam let Lunatone use enough Cosmic Powers to use Toxic and endure anything other than Crits. Thankfully, no Crits happened.

"Battle" 6's Rhyperior didn't have anything Super Effective, but its Base 140 Atk made me switch to Cradily for Leech Seed and Tickle anyway. I thought it was safe to bring Lunatone back against Vespiquen because she's weak, but a few turns later, she U-Turned into Tangrowth. I'd be worried if she hadn't let me use Cosmic Power or I didn't have Toxic.

"Battle" 7's Dusknoir has Super Effective moves against my entire team, but they're easy to switch around and they're all Punching moves. Switch to Corsola, Cradily for Thunder Punch, then Corsola again for Ice Punch. Slurpuff's only attack is Misty Explosion, (lol) so I didn't take it seriously. The last Pokemon, Coalossal, was tanked easily by Lunatone and Tar Shot's PP let me heal the rest of the team by switching.

"Battle" 8 started with Politoed. I switched to Cradily for Confide then back to Lunatone when Perish Song was ending. Vileplume came out next and I was happy as I could be to see a Grass/Poison type with Corrosive Gas, which was very happy. Seriously, I'm not being sarcastic. Lunatone outspeeds it and had 1 PP left in Cosmic Power in case of item removing moves. Vileplume's Giga Drain is easily endurable and Moonblast and Strength Sap let Lunatones stats go to -6/+6/-6/+6/+0. Absolute perfection. Clawitzer was last. That would suck if I didn't have 6 Cosmic Powers and Toxic, but I do, so-

Critical Hit!

Well, that sucks. Second Heal used.

The first Pokemon after the heal wasn't a very nice sight, Porygon-Z. I used Corsola's Sandstorm and Cradily's Leech Seed to take it down quick and take its Shadow Balls easier. In hindsight, I may have overreacted. It spammed Conversion. I knew it liked doing that, but not to the point of barely attacking. The second Pokemon was just as scary as I thought it'd be, Palossand. Poltergeist made me pretty unwilling to switch to Lunatone when they hadn't eaten the berry, especially when Palossand also knows Energy Ball. I kept Cradily in and used Leech Seed. After Poltergeist's 5 PP, they used Scorching Sands and the worse case scenario happened, a Burn. I thought that he was crippled to the point of being unreliable because of having Leftovers canceled out, but I think I was a little wrong about that. I didn't take a screenshot of the last Pokemon, but that means it wasn't scary enough to remind me to take a pic.

"Battle" 10 should've been uneventful because the Bouffalant lead couldn't do anything to Lunatone, Milotic could be taken care of by switching between Cradily and Corsola, and the last Pokemon was another I forgot to take a pic of. For some reason, I kept Lunatone in instead even though Surf Crit would be almost a OHKO. A Crit happened right after Rest and I had to Dynamax just to endure until they woke up. I thought I was safe to stay in more because what's the odds of two Crits? Turns out, high enough. Another Crit right after a Rest... After that, I was forced to do the safe common sense strat of switching. Corsola got frozen at one point, so I kept her in to try to thaw and use Confide. When she did, I found out Milotic had Competitive... I'd forgotten about that. So glad it was weak enough to not matter.

The "Battle" that would make Rock tie with Fighting started with a Vanilluxe with Snow Warning. I switched to Corsola for Sandstorm and Confide because of Flash Cannon being Super Effective before using Cosmic Power, but Corsola got frozen by Ice Beam. That lasted one turn, but Lunatone also got frozen when I switched to them. That also lasted one turn. Whiscash's Dragon Dance both made it a massive threat and almost a joke because it would spend time setting up and Dynamaxing lets me block two attacks. That meant I only had to take two or three hits. Gyarados is extremely annoying. It knows and will use Taunt. I can switch between Craydily and Corsola, but I tried using a move between switches a lot but Gyarados kept on using Taunt. The good news is it doesn't use Taunt every time, so I was able to use Toxic eventually.

The 12th "Battle" was less tricky. Greedent, unlike most Pokemon with Thief, can use its item. It needs a turn and Cosmic Power had 1 PP, so it wasn't a problem. Bisharp was even less of a problem. Its main "threat" comes from Torment, but Dynamaxing can end that after Bisharp faints. Brick Break isn't that strong, Slash Crits more often but it's a Normal Attack, and It's really hard to use enough sarcasm to give Sucker Punch "justice" against me. Kommo-o hits very hard with Close Combat, even after 6 Cosmic Powers, but I was able Toxic before Rest. I Dynamaxed for double HP and it used use Clangorous Soul twice. It didn't have enough HP the second time. Sadly, that's not the most pathetic use of Clangorous Soul I've seen. That dishonor goes to the Kommo-o that used it 3 times in a row against Rotom and got KOed by Will-O-Wisp before it could attack.

13, the one that would tie with my Electric team's current record started with Skuntank. It's very predictable and easy to deal with, but it causes problems. Corrosive Gas meant I had to switch to Corsola, but it loves to use Memento afterward so Stuntank wasn't there for long. I switched back to Lunatone when it was KOing itself. Pikachu isn't something Lunatone can set up Cosmic Power on because of the purposefully "would be overpowered if it wasn't just for Pikachu" Light Ball. I took it down fast with Craydily's Leech Seed, Corsola's Rocky Helmet when taking Play Roughs, and Volt Tackle's recoil when I was switching back to Craydily. Pelipper is a mix between a relief because of low power and only knowing Hurricane and Spit Up and tension because Spit Up has 300 Power after 3 Stockpiles. Craydily was down to 26 HP in one screenshot, but he was able to heal after they ran out of Stockpiles with Leech Seed and one Synthesis.

14 was practically free. Drampa let Lunatone use Cosmic Power, Accelgor came back but couldn't Crit before Toxic's take down, and Obstagoon only has 5 PP in attacks.

Druddigon is pathetic but it knows Taunt. Its best attack is Dragon Tail, so I switched to Corsola after getting Taunted for the Rocky Helmet.
Runerigus is a Special Attacker even though it swapped its counterpart's Atk and SpA to make it a better Physical Attacker and it knows Dark Pulse instead of Shadow Ball... The sad thing is it's still a pretty big threat because of Night Shade. I couldn't switch to Lunatone because I'm pretty sure they'd get KOed. Leech Seed and switching between Craydily and Corsola managed to win yet again, but I had to use a Synthesis. Cloyster is scary, but it would be terrifying if it didn't think Icicle Spear and Rock Blast really were only 25 Power or if it liked using Shell Smash more than once. I used a status move on it (I think Leech Seed) then switched between Cradily to take Razor Shell and Corsola to take Icicle Spear, which dealt a lot of damage even though it was resisted because of Skill Link. (or very bad luck causing 5 hits every time)

16 looked really good then really bad. Mr. Rime pretty much means free healing because its only attack is Psychic, but it also randomly uses Copycat and that can copy Psychic. I wait until it's out of Psychic and Copycat PP before trying to heal. Mandibuzz is also not a problem if you don't have to worry about Knock Off. I checked the summary screen, glanced at the item slot, and stayed in. I thought there was no Leppa Berry because Lunatone usually uses it, but I forgot to make them use it and I didn't pay enough attention to see that they still had the berry! I was kicking myself, but Lunatone wasn't down yet. They can still be useful because of Levitate and their 6 Rest PP. I forgot to take a pic of the last Pokemon, so you can assume it was another easy Pokemon, but I remember one of the Pokemon I forgot to screenshot was Rotom

Lunatone didn't need the Leppa Berry in "Battle" 17 to be an MVP. I laugh at water types by having Craydily absorb Water attacks with Storm Drain and Corsola take and Regenerate from Ice attacks and Mamoswine is almost the same but with Lunatone for Levitate instead. Corviknight's only attack is Steel Beam so it can only attack once and it has low SpA, but Taunt lets it be annoying anyway. Annoying, but ineffective. Wishiwashi let Lunatone be useful again because of Earthquake, Ice Beam, and Brine does literally nothing, practically nothing, and just giving a very unwanted boost to Lunatone, Corsola, and Craydily respectively. I still let Corsola take an Earthquake to use Toxic because I was sure she could take it and recover from it. She was because Regenerator is awesome.

Lanturn made me want to switch because it was so weak, but its only effective attack against Craydily was Thunderbolt so I spammed Confide some before switching to save PP. Dedenne feels like it should be a joke, but a move that half you HP is kind of disturbing when my entire plan is don't die. For some reason, it didn't use Super Fang more than once on Corsola and it was only using Super Fang when I was switching to Corsola, so Craydily did better than expected and it wasn't that big of a deal. Judging by one pic, I tried to have Lunatone wake up against it, but they didn't wake up. To be fair, Lunatone had earned the right to take a nap. The last Pokemon was another I forgot to screenshot.

19 had some Pokemon that may have looked tough. Klefki can KO itself with Steel Beam and using Foul Play on Corsola. Rocky Helmets are fun. It didn't use Steel Beam when I was switching to Corsola and I wasn't sure if Craydily would enure it, so I switched back to Lunatone and they finally fainted after lasting a few more than the usual 4 "Battles." Comfey, despite what earlier screenshots implied, was a joke. Craydily used Leech Seed, Corsola never took a Giga Drain, and Comfey's Grassy Terrain helped heal my team. I had more fun with Talonflame. Toxic, U-Turn adding the Rocky Helmet, and Sandstorm should only take 3 or 4 turns. That was qui- Oh, right, Roost. I didn't want to switch to Craydily even though it was spamming Roost, but I did want to laugh about the Overheat used on Corsola. I wonder how much I could add to the stupid AI thread...

Trevenant almost said no to 20 Wins, but Tickle weakened attacks to the point Synthesis could heal it and Corsola was able to use Toxic, but the Lilligant that came out afterward was unbeatable. It didn't even need to use Quiver Dance. It's awesome to have gotten so far, but just imagine when I beat 20!

The Final Score

So close, yet so far, yet so much more than enough to be happy.

There's a point in your skill level where you're really good but you're able to see how much better the absolute best are so you feel like you have lots to learn. I thought I'd have trouble beating 11 with Rock because of its weaknesses, but I'm either lucky or better than I thought I was. There weren't many Grass Pokemon but luck can only explain so much. Probably both. Knowing I did this is kind of surreal. It's like the Fighting streak again but with a team that isn't terrible and I'm more proud than confused.

I'd wonder how far I would've gotten if I hadn't screwed up with the Leppa Berry at 16, but that last "battle" looked like I would've lost either way. I'm amazed I got a streak this long! Seriously, I was consistently getting Legs of 4 and my best streak before this was 8 and there's such a glaring weakness to Grass! (And Bug and Fighting... How'd I even get Legs of 4? Don't know, don't care.) I'm not going to try to improve this team's streak any time soon, if ever. Well done team, well done.


Should I go back to Electric or go for the next type? Using Regice would be sweet after coming up with the name ".. -.-. .", (I need to bump the nickname thread.) but getting and transferring Ninetales would probably be so much better because it'd let Eviolite Sealeo heal with Ice Body instead of only having one Pokemon with "Leftovers Healing." That sounds better than Thick Fat Walrein. Maybe not Ice yet. Amoonguss/Tangela/Eldegoss would be fun for Triple Regen before a serious Grass try with Appletun. Actually, Tangrowth would be a better third Pokemon, but I like using different evolution chains and don't want to transfer another. Then again, using better Pokemon makes worse Pokemon feel ever worse when going back to worse types. I felt it when going from Magnezone to Lunatone. Clefable has about the same bulk as Lunatone, so maybe Fairy? Yeah, I'm thinking Fairy next. The lower bulk is why I wanted to do Rock early. No matter what type I try next, I will keep trying to dominate the bottom of the leaderboard and celebrate my "failures!"

 

[Obstagoon2]

in the battle tower singles i use an Xerneas holding a Power herb.Then i use Geomancy then moonblast or thunder

 

[CTNC]

With previous streaks, I was thinking, "I hope people try to beat this. I love seeing any streaks." This time, I'm thinking good luck. Instead, I'm begging you to try Clefable if you want a long streak. Clefable is unbelievable. So few things can OHKO with a Crit and some of the things that can can only do KO after boosting their stats a few times. Having room for Toxic (or an attack like Moonblast or Stored Power if you're not me) means she's quick (by my standards) after she sets up.


Clefable @ Leppa Berry
Magic Guard
Bold 252 HP/148 Def/108 SpD
-Recycle
-Cosmic Power
-Toxic
-Soft-Boiled

This is pretty much what you'd expect from me, a Leppa Berry and Recycle for infinite PP, Cosmic Power to boost both defenses, and Toxic even though I can stall almost anything until Struggle. The only thing that might stand out, (other than Status Moves Only if you aren't used to that being the only thing I do by now,) is there's a 1 Turn Healing Move instead of Rest. I figured I could get Poisoned or Burned with Magic Guard to not worry about Paralysis, Freezing, or Sleep instead of healing status problems by using Rest. So far the Recycle Leppa combo has needed help about every other "battle," but... I don't know how to say it, so I'm just going to quote this and make a couple of massive understatements.

Clefable has about the same bulk as Lunatone, so maybe Fairy? Yeah, I'm thinking Fairy next. The lower bulk is why I wanted to do Rock early. No matter what type I try next, I will keep trying to dominate the bottom of the leaderboard and celebrate my "failures!"

I underestimated Clefable. This streak isn't a failure.

When I was using the Leppa Recycle combo before it was with Pokemon that either has low bulk or (Gallade and Raichu) or multiple common weaknesses. (Magnezone and Lunatone) Clefable has neither. As I said before, you can get Poisoned or Burned without any downside (or so I thought until Vespiquen's Venoshock proved me wrong...) so you can tank Fire and Poison attacks or Scorching Sands until you get "unlucky." Just avoid Thunderbolt and Thunder until then. Also, you don't have to worry about having to wake up after using Rest. Honestly, half the reason for using Soft-Boiled was because I caught a 0 Atk IV one in a Luxury Ball on Fire Red. Moonlight would be good enough if you want to use this but can't get Soft-Boiled. (If you don't mind cloned Pokemon, I can get you a mostly untouched from capture clone in Gen 7.)

I actually didn't use any PP Ups because I was only 90% sure about using them on the transfer only moves because what if I want that move to be the one I get to 1 PP first? I would've made Clefable worse in a way I couldn't undo. (Starting with a move at 1 PP lets you eat the Leppa Berry immediately, which protects it from moves like Corrosive Gas or Bug Bite. It's the difference between some Pokemon being massive problems and being forgettably easy.) That said, I should've used PP Max on Soft-Boiled but my logic was, "what if I have to spam Soft-Boiled enough that it runs out of PP first?" and I'm still not sure about Recycle and Toxic because they only have 10 PP instead of Cosmic Power's 20. Speaking of Cosmic Power, I didn't boost its PP because I'd always want to use it immediately so that's what I wanted at 1 PP most. PP Ups don't matter much anyway when you're not going to have more than 10 PP most of the time. I would've made up my mind before a good streak if this wasn't the first streak.

I wonder how well Unaware would do. It would let Clefable easily beat Pokemon that set up, but Toxic already lets you beat most of them and you'd be vulnerable to status problems unless you use Rest for healing or Aromatherapy over Toxic. I'd say you could go with Cute Charm if you want an Ability you know is worse, but I can't say it's the worst Ability period. You never know how good or bad Luck based stuff can be. It's usually far from good enough, but if extreme RNG abuse gets discovered, you can make the opponents use Male Pokemon and bow down to the queen of the infinite streak. (That's not happening because SwSh isn't close to as broken as BDSP, but wouldn't that be awesome?)


Mimikyu @ Leftovers
Disguise
Bold 252 HP/172 Def/84 SpD
-Charm
-Confide
-Toxic
-Rest

I went with Mimikyu for my second Pokemon because Disguise lets her take a hit when she switches in the first time without taking much damage. One Charm does a ton, Confide's effects still help a lot after even just one use, and you can usually Rest after using either and use more if you need to. Sometimes you'll need to Dynamax to take half damage while asleep and Max guard when you wake up if you want to use Charm or Confide more. I think Disguise makes up for not having a Steel neutrality, especially against anything with Steel Beam, and having an immunity to the already resisted Fighting type is surprisingly useful. I tried Toxic instead of Will-O-Wisp because Mimikyu can't relearn Toxic but my last Pokemon can and both of them can learn Will-O-Wisp. The last Pokemon can't lower Attack without burning and I usually prefer Toxic for the Pokemon I send in Mimikyu against, so I'd probably stick with Toxic on Mimikyu.


Galaran Weezing @ Black Sludge
Levitate
Calm 252 HP/4 Def/252 SpD
-Confide
-Will-O-Wisp
-Haze
-Rest

Weezing can use Black Sludge to get around the Item Clause restricting you to one Leftovers. That's already a good enough reason to use her, but the Poison neutrality is also useful, especially for someone that can use Will-O-Wisp, and Levitate's immunity is always a very nice bonus. Will-O-Wisp is why I sent out Weezing against almost everything I sent it out against. It's for either for Poison and Steel types that deal enough damage to Clefable to worry about or Physical Attackers so strong that I'd rather take 17 turns of them at half power than 6 at full power. The 6 sounds better, but healing fast enough to endure can be a problem with Rest and it can let Clefable use Cosmic Power against Pokemon she wouldn't be able to.

In theory, Confide weakens Special Attackers that Clefable should be afraid of. In practice, it wasn't used much while Clefable was still around. Haze wasn't useful much but it's a life saver against certain threats like Tentacruel. Even with 48 PP, it wasn't always my first choice for PP to waste because of resetting Charm's and Confide's debuffs. Basically, Haze feels useless until you need it.

Weezing's Ability options are Levitate, Neutralizing Gas, and Misty Surge. I went with the obviously good one. Neutralizing Gas is interesting but I have no idea when it'd be useful. Maybe against Cinccino or anything that could have Guts? If anyone wants to say Magic Guard, do you think Weezing could survive against Alakazam? I feel safe saying Neutralizing Gas is way worse than Levitate, but I can almost guarantee it's way better than Misty Surge. Misty Surge might look tempting at first glance for giving your team an immunity to Status Problems, but that would backfire very badly when your healing move is Rest and it gives the immunity to the opponent too. I usually switch to Weezing for Will-O-Wisp, so you can see why Misty Surge would suck. If I needed someone neutral to Steel, I'd use an Ability Patch on Tapu Lele if I chose her. (If the idea of doing that made you cringe, don't worry. I'd rather go with Sap Sipper Azumarill.)

Notable "Battles"

This was my first streak to get past 3. I'm not sure if something clicks when the streak gets going or if I just don't care enough to try hard, but streaks are either really short or have a very good chance at double digits.

I don't know if it was "Battle" 2 or 3 because it was before I started taking screenshots, but I ran into Druddigon. It knows Taunt and a Poison attack, so it sounds like my strategy would involve praying. I pray that Clefable gets poisoned. Everyone outspeeds and can use Toxic or Will-O-Wisp and a Critical Hit didn't do enough to Clefable to make me care. The only thing I cared about was that Poison Tail didn't Poison.

"Battle" 4's last Pokemon was one I'd never feared before but I didn't know its speed and Clefable's berry was eaten. I was pretty sure Alcremie is too slow to use Misty Explosion before Clefable could use Recycle, but Alcremie went first... because Baby Doll-Eyes has Priority. Unrelated thing I thought when writing this: Recycle + Fling could solve world hunger.

"Battle" 5 started with using Cosmic Power's last PP to eat the berry then making a choice. Stall Vileplume to Struggle, or lose Weezing's Black Sludge to Corrosive Gas for the rest of the "battle." I went with PP stalling. Worth it.
Steelix could KO Clefable with a Crit, but I'm a risk taker before the streak gets going so I risked keeping Clefable in. (Note: I think my average streak is about 1. I should stop being so reckless.) When you take risks and you're stalling to Struggle, you will get Crited. Fortunately, that didn't happen until Heavy Slam was out of PP. In hindsight, I should've Dynamaxed, switched to Weezing when they used Dig, and used Will-O-Wisp. It's so easy to get stuck in the mind set of "brute forcing" nothing. (You could make a drinking game out of all my rare sentences... Might as well throw in when I get sidetracked like this too if you want to chug.) Beartic can easily be beaten when you're already at +6/+6, but it still wasn't a vary good last Pokemon. Sword Dance means he's getting in some hits that still pack a punch through Cosmic Power

An Eldegoss in "Battle" 6 used Worry Seed on Clefable. I forgot about that until Accelgor poisoned Clefable with Sludge Bomb. That was funny after how many times I used Worry Seed on Magic Guard Pokemon in game.

In "Battle" 7 I remembered Garbodor has some weird moves, (Seed Bomb, Body Slam, and 2 other Attacks) but I didn't remember a Poison Attack. Clefable only had 133/202 HP after the last "Battle" and got KOed by Gunk Shot... Dumbest mistake in years. X(
I sent in Weezing, got outspeed, and missed with Will-O-Wisp. Gunk Shot dealt almost half! The second Will-O-Wisp landed, but there was no way Weezing would be able to use Rest when anything could KO so I switched to Mimikyu. To add insult to injury, Mimikyu got Poisoned by the last Gunk Shot. -_- I wasn't happy about the second Pokemon, Ribombee. I was pretty sure it knew Psychic and Quiver Dance (Thankfully, it doesn't know Quiver Dance.) and it's surprisingly strong for an early game Bug. I was so glad that Mimikyu could use Toxic and Rest between Confides. I didn't even need to Dynamax! I don't remember how it happened, but Weezing was able to use Rest some time even though she was down to 26/172 HP. I think what happened was I switched back after the last Gunk Shot PP and 3 Charms. Judging by a screenshot of Weezing Dynamaxed against Kangaskhan, I think I used Dynamax to take less damage while asleep and Max Guard when waking up.

I thought that if the team didn't work without Clefable then I should work on that so I chose not to heal until Mimikyu and Weezing were in bad shape.


"Battle" 8 could've started pretty badly. Magnezone would force me to switch to Mimikyu if she wasn't already out and hope it uses Steel Beam to break the Disguise. I used Confide and they used Steel Beam. (That move looks way cooler than it sounds.) Musharna and Thievul were easy, but Knock Off was annoying.

"Battle" 9 had some really strong Pokemon in the back, but it was almost free because they were the wrong strong Pokemon for this team. Mr. Rime couldn't do much after a few Confides, I switched against Tauros every turn for Mimikyu to "take" Facade and Weezing to take Lash Out or Stomping Tantrum, and Falinks's only attack that does anything to Mimikyu is x4 Resisted.

"Battle" 10 had another Fighting type, Conkeldurr. Mimikyu's disguise was busted by the lead Toxapex and I didn't know if Conkeldurr had Guts. Dynamaxing to block some Stone Edges felt like a good idea but it might make Conkeldurr use Bulk Up. Between Max Guard and missing, Weezing only took 3 or 4 Stone Edges. I could switch to Mimikyu after that because the other attacks were Fighting.

"Battle" 11 started with Starmie. I think having Mimikyu out already let her use her Disguise's free turn for an extra Confide instead of switching was the difference between being able to Rest and wake up or Rest and Switch. That's already a good thing, but it's even better when the only Pokemon you can switch to is weak to Psychic. A first turn Thunderbolt Paralyzed Mimikyu, (I didn't know secondary effects got through Disguise.) but that didn't stop anything. I'd worry about Appeltun's Solar Beam if I didn't have a resist and I'd worry about Pinsir if the reason I worry about it wasn't KOed.

I started "Battle" 12 with a mistake, Will-O-Wisp on Quagsire. Leftovers and Power-Up Punch meant I had to use a lot of PP. (mostly Haze.) The Steel Beam user would've been a possible problem if it wasn't Corviknight, or so I thought. The last Pokemon was a Drought Torkoal and I had to switch because Corviknight's final move was Taunt. Torkal used a Critical Hit Lava Plume and almost KOed Mimikyu. It'd be 2HKO even without the Crit. Mimikyu's almost dead but Weezing would take a ton of damage if I switched... Do I sacrifice Mimikyu for Toxic or stall to Struggle? I figured I was going to heal after this "battle" either way.


Leg 1: 12 "Battles"
The best Leg I've gotten before was 11. Suck it Rock team! (Just kidding. You did very well. :P)


There were no problems in "Battle" 13 and Clefable got burned in "Battle" 14 by Froslass.

"Battle" 15 had one of the worst Pokemon to face, Toxicroak. The only user of Nasty Plot, a Poison type, and user of Corrosive Gas. The main reason I can't say it's the worst is Weavile, but it can give Weavile a run for its money. I switched to Weezing for Will-O-Wisp and Haze spamming. At one point whe Toxicroak was attacking, Weezing had 75 HP before taking a hit and I thought 29 HP could be enough to endure another because I used Confide attack for Rest, but Weezing got KOed. For some reason, I think I was thinking Toxicroak had -2 SpA. I thought Mimikyu had little chance because Toxicroak's other attack is Shadow Ball. Why does it know Shadow Ball instead of a Fighting attack? Oh, right. Focus Blast sucks... But why did its other attack have to be Shadow Ball? For some reason, Toxicroak didn't use Nasty Plot much against Mimikyu, even getting down to -4 SpA after enough Confides, and was okay with not boosting past +0. I Dynamaxed durring the final Rest before Will-O-Wisp ended Toxicroak's rein of terror to take less damage, which was pretty importaint after one Shadow Ball's SpD drop.

If Mimikyu and Weezing could endure, Celfable and Mimikyu should be able to too.


"Battle" 16
Technician Chinccino could've KOed if I got unlucky. It got 2 Crits in a row in a 4 Hit Tail Slap, but that was after enough boosts to recover easily.
I couldn't burn Magnezone and I wasn't sure when it would try Steel Beam, so I had to stay in with Clefable, not that I minded with +6/+6 Defenses. I can wait all day, infact, I'm used to waiting all day. I thought Dunsparce was depressing for being Dunsparce, but then it missed 3 out of 4 Dual Wingbeats.

The lead of "Battle" 17 was Pikachu and I knew it was stupidly strong, but I still used Cosmic Power instead of switching and using Charm. Volt Tackle brought Clefable down to 84/202 HP. Hm... That looks like she could endure. I risked Soft-Boiled and she endured with 2 HP!

"Battle" 18
Malamar used Baton Pass on Turn 1 while I was using Cosmic Power and sent out Drifblim. Their Flame Orb activated. Usually that wouldn't be a big deal because I could switch to Weezing and let them take her Black Sludge. I didn't know how used Leppa Berries worked with Trick and Recycle, so I panicked and switched to Mimikyu. Drifblim stole her Leftovers. I couldn't use Toxic because they were burned. There's no way Clefable's not using the Leppa Berry.

I found out that the game keeps track of used items for Recycle instead of being them being lost when Trick takes nothing. Turns out the nothing is something. Even if I didn't panic, there's still be a 50/50 on if Trick was used an odd or even number of times.


Leg 2: 6 "Battles"
Leg 1 got my hopes up for 30, but I was thinking 25 would be lucky if I can get a legs as low as 6. Still, beating 20 feels good.


After struggling (not as in using Struggle. I'd forfeit if was quit or use Struggle. in Leg 2, Leg 3 started with 3 easy "battles," but I was still nervous because what if this Leg was even shorter? I risked getting Clefable Pyralasied by staying in against Miltank's Thunderbolts in "Battle" 21, but I was paranoid enough to use Toxic immeditly instead of setting up to +6/+6 first

"Battle" 22 made me switch immediately because of Crawdaunt knowing Knock Off. I think I'd have to switch even without Knock Off because of the Base 120 Atk and chance of Adaptability. I switched to Mimikyu for Toxic and hoped Charm wouldn't be stopped by Hyper Cutter. It was stopped and I had to switch to Weezing, who was barely Not 2HKOed. A tough lead, but it would get much worse. Tentacruel is a worst case scenario. A Poison type with Sword Dance and Black Sludge, easily a Top 5 threat no matter what type I'm trying. I have to use Will-O-Wisp to weaken it then stall to Struggle because the Black Sludge will cancel out the Burn. Also, even if I'm using a team that has Leech Seed, Liquid Ooze can make things even worse. Against Weezing, they would use Waterfall with 1 Sword Dance buff then wouldn't use Poison Jab until they had 3, which I never let them get. I switched to Clefable after Sword Dance ran out of PP and was amazed by how little Poison Jab was doing. I'm not sure if Tentacruel was that weak without boosts or if it was because of the burn. Probably the Burn. I was also "unlucky" enough to get Poisoned. The last Pokemon was yet another one I worried about, but I only worried about it when it's a lead because I can't use anything before Salazzle can use Corrosive Gas. The Leppa Berry was already eaten and Salazzle's only attacks are Acrobatics and Scale Shot. Needless to say, I had no trouble with her and Mimikyu was able to use Rest to recover from Crawdaunt.

"Battle" 23 had Steelix again. I risked having Clefable taking Heavy Slam again even though Crits would OHKO instead of Dynamaxing and switching to Weezing during Dig. I didn't realize that strategy until after the streak. Good thing it didn't Crit.

"Battle" 24 was another easy one, but I'm making a warning because of something that happened. Always use Toxic on Blissey before she can use Safeguard. (or KO ASAP if you, like everyone else, are using attacks) Metronome could call a OHKO move, like Guillotine, which it did. I'd be so mad if it hit.

I wasn't sure if "Battle" 25 would start easy or hard because the power of Krookodile's Power Trip can get crazy fast. I don't remember if I used Cosmic Power or Toxic, but Krookodile used... Flamethrower? Sweet, it's a Zoroark. Not a threat for this team. I can set up until it uses U-Turn. Krookodile used 4 Bulk Ups.

"Battle" 26 was another easy one because Oranguru is setup fodder, but Exploud is worth mentioning because Boomburst could OHKO with a Crit after Throat Spray and it has either Scrappy, which lets it hit Mimikyu, or Soundproof, which makes it immune to Confide. I risked taking the Crit and kept Clefable in because I was afraid of what it could do to Mimikyu. An Alcremie also made me worry about Recycle's PP because it wasn't using Misty Explosion. In hindsight, it was stupid to worry about because Toxic had plenty of PP so I could switch to spamming that.

Remember what I said about being Poisoned having no drawbacks? "Battle" 27 was when Vespiquen proved me wrong. She outspeed me and Venoshock dealt excactly half, but Clefable was able to set up a little and endure until U-Turn, and she U-Turned to Cloyster... That'd be terrifying if they realized Skill Link Icicle Spear was better than Razor Shell and if they liked using Shell Smash more than once. Then again +2 Atk and a 50% chance to lower Def is still kind of terrifying. Toxic doesn't let much stuff terrify for long though.

"Battle" 29 was yet another that was wither soloed or almost soloed by one Pokemon, but this time it wasn't Clefable soloing. This was Mimikyu's time to shine! Pinsir knowing Bug Bite meant I had to switch and Seismic Toss meant an unnerfable 50 Damage. I think I like having Normal and Fighting immunities more than someone not weak to Steel. Also, Mold Breaker can be an annoying Ability to face, but when it gets past Disguise and you'd rather save Disguise for something else, I was pretty unannoyed. The Fighting imminity continued to be useful against Mienshao because I didn't think Clefable would be able to set up and Charm would lower damage taken quicker than Cosmic Power. The last Pokemon was another Clefable couldn't switch into, Golispod, but it was still one that could be Charmed and Toxiced.

I was pretty optomistic about "Battle" 30 even though it started with Sirfetch'd. Fairy resists Fighting and Meteor Assult gives free turns. Turns out, it gave more free turns than expected with 5 Defogs and it didn't Crit with Brave Bird. The rest of the opponent's team, just as easy. Before taking on Restricted Sparring, when I was ignorant enough to think 10 would be easy, I thought the good types would only get 20. I just got 30! 0_o

Another Starmie came out in "Battle" 33, but it wasn't the lead. It shows how some Pokmeon are only threats if they're the lead.


"Battle" 34 had another Pinsir lead but this one didn't have Mold Breaker. I activated their Eject Pack with Confide and thought it was a nice run when they sent out Weavile. Knowing and loving to use Taunt, outspeeding anything I'd use for any type, and the power to 2-3HKO anything makes Weavile instant death sentence. Still, I had to try to use Toxic. Trying and failing against the impossible is still better than surrender! I still accepted my fate, but it wasn't the fate I expected. "The opposing Weavile used Shadow Claw." What!? Too soon to celebrate, it might be a KO. Guess what message popped up after the hit.

A critical hit!

Mimikyu didn't faint. She had 27 HP left. She survived a Super Effective Critical Hit! By the way, did you know Toxic has 90 Accuracy? Immagine how soul crushing it'd be if it missed after that! Good thing it didn't miss. Weavile tried to finish her off with Night Slash, but I switched to Weezing. I Dynamaxed, and blocked a Shadow Claw. The second Max Guard failed and Weavile used Shadow Claw again! The third blocked Taunt and Weavile finally got a Taunt off on Weezing's fourth turn right before fainting. Oh, and Mimikyu had just enough HP to endure Pinsir's Stealth Rock and Bug Bite to recover with Rest. Pretty good outcome from certain death.


"Battle" 35 had a bit of luck. Drapion forced me to switch to Weezing and my first Will-O-Wisp missed. Accupressure sharply raised Evasion and made the second Will-O-Wisp miss. That was actualy looking like it could be a problem because Will-O-Wisp would be down to Half PP after the next one. Fortuantly, the third one burned and I could switch back to Clefable. Based on past experince against Drapion, it would spam Accupressure, even when it's at +6 everything and there's still PP in attacks. Turns out, It actually attacks when Cross Poison is Super Effective. The second Pokemon was Octillery, and I'm never in a mood to deal with Moody, but Toxic meant I didn't have to deal with it long enough to become a problem.


Final "Battle"

When I read Lycanroc I hoped that they were leading with a Midnight Form one. Nope, Midday. It can't do much, but Stealth Rock and Roar are very annoying for stopping Clefable from setting up and punishing switching. I can't say it wasn't easy to wait for Toxic, but I'm not sure if I can say it wasn't a threat either. I was sure Magneton was a threat though. It didn't look like a threat at first because Mimikyu was out, able to use Confide, and avoided Thunder Wave. I figure they can't do much if they aren't attacking, Flash Cannon only has 10 PP, and Clefable's at full HP. I'm sure she can set up.

A critical hit!

OHKO

I underestimated Magneton.

I sent out Weezing for Will-O-Wisp then used Confide. I thought 70 HP was enough to endure another Flash Cannon, so I tried Rest and realized that my calculation/estiment was off because I'd forgotten Black Sludge healing shortly after the KO. (In my defence, I think I was looking away durring the Black Sludge healing.) Mimikyu continued spamming Confide and Rest to survive. It took until Magneton's third Thunder Wave before it worked, but Pyralysis never did anything. I'm not complaining though. The more they use moves other than Flash Cannon, the more they're not using Flash Cannon. Mimikyu looked like she'd have a lot of trouble when a Flash Cannon lowered her SpD, but she was able to use Confide until she could endure anything, even after her SpD was lowered again... I have to thank the stupid AI though. At one point, Magneton used Magnet Raise after it wore off instead of 2HKOing before Mimikyu could wake up and use Rest again.

If the last Pokemon is a Physical attacker that isn't immune to Toxic, I'm good. They sent out Dedenne. Hmm... Dedenne is weak, but Mimikyu is at -2 SpD... I think I can use Confide enough to live? Spoiler: I couldn't. I don't think the Dazzling Gleam Critical Hit mattered. I'm sure I was dead either way.

I'll count that as Magneton Sweep because the lowered SpD is what realled KOed Mimikyu, but maybe I should take another look at Dedenne for my Electric Recycle user... *checks stats* I think Raichu is bulkier. -_-

I don't know what's crazier, 38, a leg of 20, or that I'm not confused about how this team got so far. Interestingly, how good a leg does doesn't seem to be a sign of how good the rest of the run is or will be. My teams are pretty likely to be at full health or pretty close after every "Battle" and not many nonrenewable PP are used, so heals are only needed after facing the worst of the worst or to restore PP if it's after the Recycle user goes down.


Next type, Ice. Coincidentally, this means I'm doing all three types weak to Steel in a row. The lack of Poison/Ice types or Ice types with Regenerator is a problem, but I'm hoping the Ability Ice Body can make up for that. Also, letting the Snow Warning Pokemon have Leftovers lets me use Eviolite Sealeo instead of Walrein. Is being ~14.5% bulkier worth more than a Rocky Helmet? I'm pretty nostalgic for Walrein, but I still think it's probably worth it. Besides, I like the idea of using Pokemon most people would look over and NFEs are very easy to look over. Now that I've spoiled that I'm using what my mom thinks is the cutest member of their evolution chain, (I agree that Sealeo is very underrated, but Spheal can never not be the cutest! <3) I think it's easy to guess what my other two Pokemon are.


Edit if anyone is reading this and wants an update: The Ninetales I have knows Confide and Charm but I think I need one with Heal Bell and Aurora Veil, so I'm going to need another one transferred... -_- I'm going to see how well I can do without Recycle because that sounds less painful.

Edit 2: The first try with Grass that made it past the first "battle" got 6 Wins before being instantly destroyed by Exploud in "Battle" 7 because I tried Leech Seed for Healing instead of Toxic and Confide probably would've been blocked by Soundproof. I'm going to try EVs focusing on Special Defense instead of mixed Defenses for Amoonguss. I didn't get to use any heals, but I think it was a pretty good run because of getting 5 easily and who it beat. Weavile's Night Slash was healed by Regenerator, even when it's a Critical Hit. I'm torn between confidence and thinking I'll die as soon as I run into something offensive with Fire, Flying, or Ice STAB.

 

[CTNC]

Merry Christmas to one and all! There's no better type for this day than Ice, unless you live in the southern hemisphere. I'd use Fire for you, but... *looks at Heatmor* No. Just no. I'm saving that for last.

Since it's Christmas, I'd like to bring up and make fun of the pathetic excuse of a Pokemon called Delibird. Did you know Delibird can learn Recycle? Did you know Jynx has Base 35 Defense and is still physically bulkier than Delibird? Yeah... There's a reason I never considered anyone other than Mr. Rime for my Recycle user. At least Delibird is bulkier over all than Smoochum. (Delibird is still worse on the Special side.) Ninetale's Snow Warning is festive enough and far better than a bird that's best used as deli meat.


Mr. Rime @ Leppa Berry
Ice Body
Bold 252 HP/156 Def/60 SpD/36 Spe
-Recycle
-Iron Defense
-Calm Mind
-Slack Off

Ice may be known for its weaknesses, but they don't matter much if you set up to +6/+6 Defenses and can endure Critical Hits. The Leppa Berry and Recycle let you recover PP forever and Mr. Rime can easily turn into an unkillable wall that can and will PP stall everything to Struggle while driving opponents mad with the tapping of her feet. Defensive Ice types aren't much of a joke if you ask me.

I tried Rest instead of Slack Off at first because it heals status problems, but it takes too long to wake up. I don't know why Mr. Rime can learn Slack Off, but I'm not complaining. I'm also not complaining about Iron Defense because it makes up for the loss of Barrier, but I am complaining about not learning Amnesia.

The EVs are to balance the Defenses but have SpD slightly higher for Porygon 2/Z's Download and give enough speed to boost against Solrock, Gardevoir, and Lycanroc Midnight before they can land a hit. Magneton is also outspeed but that doesn't matter because you're going to lose if you haven't already set up and it has Thunder Wave. 4 EVs are wasted because they wouldn't do anything anywhere. In theory they can be put into SpA, but that ain't happening! They went into Def for 160/60 Defensive EVs and it let me "train" by force feeding health drinks and Candies without having to use feathers too.


Alolan Ninetales @ Leftovers
Snow Warning
Bold 252 HP/180 Def/76 SpD
-Aurora Veil
-Toxic
-Rest
-Heal Bell

I know using something with Snow Warning seems extremely predictable from the guy that uses Status Moves Only, but I didn't want Snow Warning. It can take down almost anything without using any PP, but the problem is it will take down almost anything. I know that sounds very good, but sometimes you want to switch to heal with Leftovers instead of end things. I wanted Snow Warning just to let a Pokemon with Ice Body use its Ability like a second Leftovers.

I had Charm and Confide instead of Aurora Veil and Heal Bell because I didn't know which of the two I wanted to replace with Aurora Veil because Confide does less than Charm but is still good and it can't be relearned and I thought those moves would be better than Heal Bell. As soon as I switched Mr. Rime's Rest to Slack Off, I faced a ton of Pokemon that could Poison, Burn, or Paralyze... That made choosing which move to drop for Aurora Veil easy. I'd drop the one I wasn't already dropping for Heal Bell. It's also when I tried a Triple Regen Grass team because I needed help transferring a third Vulpix just for Heal Bell. (I forgot to teach the first Vulpix Confide and Toxic... Thanks a ton to Kurona for helping with everything!)

Ninetales and Mr. Rime have the same base Defenses so they'd have the same EV spread if I didn't give Mr. Rime any Spe EVs. The only difference in bulk would be Ninetales having 7 less HP but it's more like 4 HP at most in practice because of Mr. Rime almost always taking chip damage from a Struggle with +6 Defense at the end of a "battle."


Sealeo @ Eviolite
Ice Body
Calm 252 HP/164 Def/92 SpD
-Growl
-Confide
-Toxic
-Rest

I have to ask, who else ever thought Growl was useless? I could have asked this earlier, but who else ever thought Confide was a weird waste of a 100th TM slot? Now I'm looking for Pokemon that can learn Growl (or Tickle, Charm, or Feather Dance) and breed in Gen 7 just for Confide. (Also for Toxic and Recycle, but Confide is a very big reason.)

Eviolite makes Sealeo ~14.5% bulkier than Walrein but I'm nostalgic about Walrein and he can hold a Rocky Helmet. I value the bulk that lets me do nothing more than something that does something and taking less damage so I can use Toxic helps way more than the Rocky Helmet when I need to do something. (especially against Special Attackers.) Also, Walrein looked so much better in the 2D games.

If I didn't want Ice Body, Thick Fat would make Sealeo or Walrein still look good, but Lapras gets Heal Bell, which would let me replace Ninetales with something that isn't weak to Rock, like Sandslash. I'm not sure if that'd be worth it because a fast Aurora Veil was pretty nice and I'd have to chose between Charm, Confide, and Toxic for Lapras's last 2 moves.

Notable "Battles"

The first 3 "Battles" had a few moments worth mentioning. Dynamaxing against Mienshao to make it KO itself with High Jump Kick, Heal Bell proving very useful, and Vespiquen preventing Heal Bell by making it useless with Toxic Spikes.

I wasn't sure how "Battle" 4's lead, Thievul, would let things go because the risk of Knock Off forces me to switch and Parting Shot's switch will make someone other than Mr. Rime face the bigger back line threat. I thought Sealeo's Eviolite was less important than Ninetales's Leftovers, so I let him take the Knock Off. I wasn't sure if I should use Confide for Burning Jealousy or Toxic for whatever comes out after Parting Shot. I chose Confide and Thievul used Parting Shot but switched to a Special Attacker, Ribombee. Moonblast brought Sealeo to just over half HP when he used Toxic, so I used Rest to heal and Dynamaxed for 2 turns of less damage and Max Guard after waking up. The last Pokemon made me wish I hadn't Dynamaxed. Krookodile's Power Trip with Bulk Up makes it one of the most powerful stat boosting Pokemon and Sand Tomb can surprisingly lethal too. I switched to Ninetales for a Dark resist and Auora Veil. In hindsight, I should have used Toxic before Auora Veil because it came down to 1 turn. If she woke up from the Rest she had to use a turn sooner, if Toxic was a turn faster, if Aurora Veil was a turn longer, if Sand Tome ended a turn sooner... Any of those would've let Ninetales endure or at least switch out. I risked Mr. Rime's Leppa Berry against Thievul because I didn't need to protect it when I'm healing either way. Amusingly, Mr. Rime was able to eat it before Knock Off and could've used Recycle before Thievul fainted.

"Battle" 5 made me use Sealeo against Coalossal and he was in bad shape afterward. 92 HP and Asleep. I'm so glad a last turn Dynamax stopped another Heat Crash. I'd forgotten about that. I just Dynamaxed for less damage. This made the next "Battle" ugly, not that it was ever going to be pretty.

Lead Kangaskhan was a joke and let Mr. Rime set up, but Braviary's Whirlwind would make her +6/+6 Defenses useless. I switched to Ninetales in case it tried Bulk Up but it used Whirlwind and forced out Sealeo. I Dynamaxed and hoped Sealeo would wake up and be able to do something. He stayed asleep, but Dynamaxing paid off because of Brave Bird's recoil. I let Sealeo get KOed because I thought Braviary had a Super Effective attack like Superpower or Rock Slide and might have gone with a KO with that. Nope, Brave Bird KO. I sent out Ninetales and used Aurora Veil... and OHKOed by Iron Head. I kind of called it? Braviary used Brave Bird again Mr. Rime and KOed itself. Mr Rime was down to 51/187 HP, so there was a chance I'd lost. I wasn't sure if Scrafty was beatable, but fortunately it didn't know any Dark attacks and its Life Orb didn't make it strong enough to be a threat. I think I even remember easily enduring a Crit after recovering.

Legs of 4 and 2 don't look good, but the last leg is the one you're forced to drag out and this team can recover against the right Pokemon. I'd be happy sharing a streak of 9, but 10 would be nice and I knew for sure that I'd be ready to move on to the next team if I got 11. If I got 13, I'd be annoyed that Electric didn't do better.

"Battle" 7 started with the harmless Toxapex then Corviknight forced me to switch. I switched to Sealeo first to take Steel Beam and Sealeo was out when Ninetale's Hail took down Corviknight. Good thing because I wouldn't have wanted Mr. Rime out against what happened to be the last Pokemon, Beartic. I used Toxic and I was okay with taking Superpower because of the secondary effect. Beartic wasted the first of its few turns with Rain Dance before attacking. Superpower took Sealeo down to 81/197 HP, but I thought it looked like it wouldn't be a 2HKO after the Attack drop so Sealeo would be able to use Rest. Sealeo endured it at 3 HP! I switched to Ninetales and she didn't take a ton from a -2 Superpower and took nothing from a final turn Rain Dance.

"Battle" 8 put me against Steelix and "Battle" 11 had Magneton. I'm not proud to talk about how I won against them. I would've lost if they were leads but they came out after Mr. Rime was able to set up to +6/+6. The only way to win was to hope they didn't get a Critical Hit. Ninetales would have no chance and Sealeo wasn't weak to Steel, but I didn't have faith in his ability to take a Body Press or Thunderbolt. Basically, I won because I got lucky.

I also took massive risks in "Battle" 9 against Scolipede and Porygon-Z after setting up against Appletun. Scolipede because I knew it'd use Baton Pass, Porygon-Z because I'm afraid of letting that thing attack anyone else, and Scolipede again because I was on a one track mind of doing nothing.

I already mentioned "Battle" 11's Magneton, but I'd like to mention the opponent leading with a Mr. Rime caused a Mr. Rime dance off. Mine could dance way longer before the opponent's Struggled to keep going.

I had a question about "Battle" 12. How was Alakazam not a threat? Base 135 SpA and Shadow Ball doesn't sound like it'd let Mr. Rime set up. At least Exeggutor always deals respectable damage. Actually, that's going to be pretty bad with types weak to Grass... I thought Beheeyem would be a threat because of Cosmic Power and Stored Power, but I'd forgotten that its Psychic attack was actually Psychic. I sent out Ninetales and let her take damage for nothing...

The Final "Battle"

Final should be in quotation marks because I feel like the second to last one is what really ended the streak. Battle is in quotation marks because it feels wrong to not use them when I'm not fighting.

Sandaconda was interesting because it looked like it could've been a nightmare with Coil, but the only attack it used after I switched to Ninetales was Sand Tomb. Weird, but damage between turns added up. Corviknight was sent in against Ninetales, who was down to 63 HP. Needless to say, I switched to Sealeo and Steel Beam dealt 63 Damage. This is when Snow Warning always activating is bad. I'd want to switch between Ninetales and Sealeo to heal them with Leftovers and Ice Body, but I only had 8 turns until Corviknight fainted.

Ninetales was out when the opponent sent in their last Pokemon, Solrock. The plan was Aurora Veil then switch to Mr. Rime and spam Iron Defense and Slack Off until Solrock is down to just Cosmic Power. Solrock used Cosmic Power while Ninetales used Aurora Veil, but it looked kind of bad after that. Between Hail and Flare Blitz's recoil, I thought a Crit could KO Solrock and I wasn't sure if Mr. Rime would endure after she got burned. The good news was a Flare Blitz Crit didn't KO Mr. Rime. The bad news, it KOed Solrock and left Mr. Rime at 27 HP with a Burn. I'd won the battle but lost the war. Well, I could get lucky enough for the net opponent's team to let me recover, but I doubt it.

The last opponent sent out Beartic. I'd switch to Ninetales for Aurora Veil then Toxic, but she was down to ~120 HP. I switched to Sealeo instead and he took a Liquidation. He was able to use Toxic and endure a Superpower. I Dynamaxed to take less from Superpower. The first Max Guard blocked Superpower and the second one failed but they used Rain Dance that turn! The third one blocked another Superpower, but it still had 2 PP left. Either Sealeo would faint or Ninetales would take damage she couldn't afford to take. I sacrificed Sealeo to let Ninetales in safely. I used Aurora Veil first because there was no was Beartic wasn't using Rain Dance and I thought I'd need it. The good news is Ninetales got a few turns without taking hits to heal with Leftovers. The bad news is it's because Beartic was using Sword Dance three times! It was still a 2HKO because of Auora Veil and
Ninetales could've endured with Rest if Aurora Veil lasted a turn longer. (Before anyone mentions Light Clay, I don't think so. Leftovers is too good to lose.) I considered switching to Mr. Rime in case they tried finishing with Superpower instead of Liquidation, but it seemed unlikely and pointless. Ninetales got KOed. Beartic had one turn left, but so did I. Mr. Rime had no chance.


It was a good run, but the end hurt a lot. Especially because they finished off Mr. Rime with the Superpower I wish they'd used earlier. -_- I want to complain about the luck at the end because it was a lot of little things, but I didn't face many threatening Pokemon and I survived two Pokemon that would've been instant losses if they got Crits.

Every streak has be better than the last and... Ha, no. Not this time. Beating 38 with Ice? lol. I'd be shocked if I got even half that with Ice.

14 is just enough to beat Electric, so I want to try to do better than 13 with Magnezone instead of Raichu until I beat Ice or get too annoyed at a team I know can do good doing bad. You'd think I'd try Grass next because of already getting to 6 with Triple Regen, but I'm thinking about using a Confide Ferrothorn instead of Amoonguss. I gave up on Triple Regen after the second Scizor... I'm thinking about Ground next and I wonder which Recycle user will be best, Claydol with Toxic and Cosmic Power but who can only heal with Rest, Palossand with Toxic and Shore Up but who can only boost 3 times with Stockpile, or the worst case scenario, of Palossand with Iron Defense and Amnesia without Toxic.

Problem unrelated to "Fighting"

I like having my teams' Pokemon next to each other, preferably in the same row or column, and that hasn't been a problem yet because there's somehow been no Pokemon that are on multiple teams yet. (The only possible overlap so far is Bewear from Fighting for Normal as a "close enough to a Fighting resist.") The reason I say somehow is... *inhales* Ground and Water have Seismitoad, Water and Poison have Toxapex, Poison and Grass might share Amoonguss, Grass and Dragon have Appleton, Dragon and Fire have Turtonator, Fire and Steel have Heatran, Steel and Flying will probably share Celesteela, Ghost will either share Drifblim with Flying or still might share Palossand with Ground, and Ghost and Bug have have Shedinja. I just listed a chain with 10 types and there's still even more overlap! Slowking in Water and Psychic is very tempting and Poison and Dark will probably share a Poison/Dark type (I'm hoping for Alolan Muk to get patched in After the Pokebank update but I don't think that's happening.) which brings the linked teams upto 12 types! I'm looking at 6 types that aren't part of that chaos. (Fighting, Electric, Rock, Fairy, Ice, and Normal. Even then, Normal could share Oranguru.) It might be two chains instead of one if Grass doesn't use Amoonguss and Ghost and Ground don't share Palossand.

 

[Luke Warm]

Reporting an ongoing 100-consecutive win streak (with each fight at the 'MAX' rank) in the Dynamax Category of the Sw/Sh Battle Tower (Zacian etc. not allowed but Dynamax allowed).

General comments on the team: The main novelty/selling point of this team is that it is easy to obtain on a single copy of Sword or Shield without the Crown Tundra expansion. It's also reliable for medium-length streaks since it only took me a few attempts to get up to 100 consecutive wins. The team is not suitable for extremely long streaks, because it can lose to bad RNG, and nor is it fully optimised. But it's pretty good considering the ease with which it may be obtained, even if Dugtrio does have an egg move. The team is as follows.

Team Description

Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Jolly Nature
Ability: Sand Veil
Evs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Memento
- Earthquake
- Reversal

Gyarados @ Lum Berry
Jolly Nature
Ability: Intimidate
Evs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Bounce
- Power Whip

Dragapult @ Choice Specs
Timid Nature
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- U-Turn
- Draco Meteor
- Hydro Pump
- Shadow Ball

How the Team Works

Dugtrio's purpose is to set up stealth rocks, thereby allowing Gyarados to sweep without fear of Focus Sash or the Sturdy ability. (Also, Leon's Charizard is 4x weak to SR). Dugtrio also beats most frail electric types who would otherwise threaten Gyarados. Memento is there so that Dugtrio can get out the way and allow Gyarados to come in unscathed when his job is done. The attack/special attack drop also helps Gyarados set up, assuming that the opponent doesn't get a crit. Alternatively he can use reversal, which does a lot of damage at 1HP (sometimes this results in the battle being won 3-0).

The Gyarados set is, by now, fairly standard. To be brief, the idea is to dragon dance, dynamax, then sweep. Since hidden abilities are extremely difficult (impossible?) to obtain without Crown Tundra, Intimidate is selected for this team.

I wasn't really sure what the best third option would be, but as Gyarados can have trouble against physical walls like Avalugg I went for a specially-based option, and Dragapult is just generically good. In runs he tended not to be used much, though he was very useful against a lead substituting Butterfree, since he has the infiltrate ability. Based upon the run, I suspect that he should have flamethrower on his moveset (perhaps instead of U-Turn) because most of the times I did use him were against an opponent weak to fire. Also, possibly Life Orb instead of Choice Specs, to allow switching between moves and so that the damage boost on dynamaxing is retained.

Picture 'Proof'

 

[Luke Warm]

Update to post #431: The team of Dugtrio, Gyarados and Dragapult has reached 263 consecutive wins, equalling Suspicious Derivative's record in the Dynamax Singles category. Beginning from the 101st battle, Dragapult ran life orb rather than choice specs, but the team was otherwise the same throughout.

I certainly didn't expect to get anywhere near this far with the team, and was originally aiming for just 70 wins, so as to reach the proverbial Salon Maiden Anabel. In fairness, there were certainly a few close shaves, and one match against Leon that I was lucky to win, as explained below.

Close Shaves

Aside from general cheese (e.g. QC Bewear was scary at one point because it got not one but two (two!) extra attacks in), here were some specific issues with the team.

1. The team doesn't have any real answer to Ditto. Only a few trainers can use Ditto (essentially the PokeKids, Beauties and League Staff) and when I ran into one I tried not to dynamax until at least the second pokemon was revealed. In the event I encountered 3 (maybe 4) dittos, but none of them had the imposter ability, so it was plain sailing.

2. Leads that Dugtrio can't really touch (although you can always just do Stealth Rocks + Memento or switch). These include trick room Aromatisse, whom I encountered at least twice. This one isn't too bad because you can usually mess about and/or DDance until TR ends, and then take it out and sweep. One of the scariest leads is Galarian Weezing since he can have fairy moves for Dragapult, levitate for Dugtrio, and thunder for Gyarados. Vanilluxe is obliterated by reversal, but can use ice shard/hail damage/random freezes to get around the focus sash.

3. Dracozolt in the opponent's backline. Unless highly boosted, Gyarados cannot OHKO it. I think I only ever saw one or two of these, but one of them was able to KO dynamax Gyarados with bolt beak. Fortunately Dragapult was able to come in and clean up. Perhaps there is a case of keeping Dugtrio alive or just switching to Dragapult (even if this 'wastes' the dynamax turns), against trainers who can run this.

4. Hop's noble companion, Dubwool, is a tougher opponent than one might think. For example:
252 SpA Dragapult Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Dubwool: 103-123 (58.1 - 69.4%)
this lends further credence to the idea that Dragapult should carry flamethrower (super effective against fluffy variants).
Hop's other noble companion, Zacian (or Zamazenta), would also be a dangerous opponent. But fortunately he doesn't seem to like the battle tower :).

5. Most Leon fights were easy wins, but one was very close. If memory serves, Leon led Mr. Rime, who takes a single EQ from Dugtrio before taking it out, getting around focus sash somehow (ice shard or fake out). Gyarados comes in, and dares not dragon dance in case Rime has thunder or freeze dry, so it DMaxes and takes it out. (NB: Waterfall without DMaxing risks failing to KO if it turned out to be the freeze dry variant, as shown below.)
252 Atk Dugtrio Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 252 Def Mr. Rime: 67-81 (43.2 - 52.2%)
252 Atk Gyarados Waterfall vs. 0 HP / 252 Def Mr. Rime 64-76 (41.2 - 49%)
Gyarados then beats Charizard with max geyser, so I'm in good shape, but with only one DMax turn left. Final opponent is Aegislash, who uses king's shield to tank the max geyser. It's now a guessing game as to when it will use KS next. Anyhow I am either unlucky or make a mistake because he somehow beats Gyarados, and gets a swords dance in. So now Leon has a 62.5% chance to win:
+2 0 Atk Aegislash-Blade Shadow Sneak vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragapult: 152-182 (93.2 - 111.6%)
But Leon, the former Champion of the Galar Region and all-round excellent trainer, decides to be a sport. He doesn't choose Shadow Sneak, letting me KO him with Shadow Ball.

6. Fun fact: King's Rock Boltund would be a big issue for this team. He trolls Dugtrio speed-wise (base 121 vs base 120), and can beat Dugtrio through flinch hax. He is obviously a big threat to Gyarados too. Dragapult can OHKO with Draco Meteor, but that has a 10% chance of missing. However, since Boltund isn't running a 31 speed IV, Dugtrio actually outspeeds (by one point!) and OHKOs with earthquake.

Overall, I think this team has a good bang-to-buck ratio. It's easily obtainable if, like me, you only have the "plain-vanilla" version of Sword/Shield. (Caveat: Dreepy/Drakloak have an encounter rate of 1-2% each so they are perhaps not 'easy', but the others, plus Stunky for memento, are common). Despite that, given some luck, they can get some good streaks out.

I'm not sure if I will continue the run past this point. I agree with other posters such as Eisenherz that getting long streaks is perhaps a little too straightforward if things like Gyarados + Dynamax are allowed, even if this team does feature the less-overpowered intimidate version. If I return to the Dynamax category, it will probably be with a novelty team. (Can you sweep Leon with a Magikarp? What if you can only use the eeveelutions? Pokemon with a BST of 500 or less? Pokemon found on Oleana's team? Pokemon from the in-game rental teams? Etc. Etc.)

Picture 'Proof'

 

[CuneH8sVappy]

With Pokemon Legends: Arceus in the midst of its rollout, I figured I better get this posted! After retiring Heliolisk and Normal, I tried few RS types briefly. Fairy was awful. Dragon and Grass were meh and great (respectively), but I couldn’t do anything very original with them and didn’t get any notable streaks. A few types later, and I have two Restricted Sparring streaks that are type-specific records at the time of posting: Poison, 140 battles, Nihilego/Toxapex/Drapion and a somewhat unconventional Flying streak of 163 battles with Thundurus-T/Tornadus-T/Corviknight.

I’ll start with the more vanilla of the two: Poison. Nothing out of the ordinary, and only 8 battles more than the previous record. I just wanted to see a Nihilego team live up to its potential. I’ll try to keep it brief-ish, but that’s not usually my forte…

Nihilego @ Leftovers

Level: 50

Ability: Beast Boost

EVs: 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Power Gem

- Grass Knot

- Acid

- Dazzling Gleam

sb879 ’s set from their Rock run, suggested in their Poison write-up as a Naganadel replacement. It has 128 attacking PP, compared to Naganadel’s 112. Leftovers was also sb879’s idea; it lets it heal against stuff like and . It struggles with Steel types, hence:

Toxapex @ Rocky Helmet

Level: 50

Ability: Regenerator

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def/ 4 SpD

Relaxed Nature

- Scald

- Knock Off

- Recover

- Haze

Toxapex details

Overall a great Pokemon, and helps Nihilego out with resistances to Water, Steel, and Fighting, as well as great physical bulk. Not my first time using Pex, but Knock Off, Haze, and Rocky Helmet are new to me. Eisenherz used Haze Pex in their Dual Regenerator Poison streak alongside Amoonguss and Drapion. Knock Off (32 PP) is nice to conserve Scald PP (24) if you get taunted and does OK damage if Pex isn’t burned… which, Pex spent over a third of my run burned. Removing items is stellar, too, and if Pex maxes (more often than you’d expect!), the SpDef drops also help conserve Scald PP. Haze has so many PP (48) and really helps against setup sweepers like and or stuff like Screech and . Recover generally gets used sparingly due to Regenerator, but non-Rest recovery helps. Rock Helmet is necessary to conserve PP against physical attackers, and it helps battles end more quickly. The drop from 55 Speed to 49 Speed with a Relaxed nature is mostly trivial. is the only somewhat annoying loss there due to Stomping Tantrum.

I tried a few Ground immunities in the third slot briefly, but a Psychic immunity was what this team really needed.

Drapion @ Black Sludge

Level: 50

Ability: Battle Armor

EVs: 252 HP / 60 Def / 196 SpD

Impish Nature

- Knock Off

- Struggle Bug

- Iron Defense

- Rest

Drapion details

Three ground weaknesses seems risky, but between Nihilego KOing most Grounds with Max Overgrowth, Toxapex’s bulk, and Iron Defense on something with 115 speed (Drapion), Ground-type attacks were manageable. was especially satisfying to dismantle with Drapion because it can Knock Off its Thick Club before Iron Defensing. Speaking of Drapion’s moves: Knock Off has a good combo of power, utility, and PP. Struggle Bug lowers the opponent’s Special Attack one stage in both Dynamax and non-Dynamax forms. It has the same number of PP as Confide (32), but deals chip damage and isn’t affected by Taunt. Iron Defense + Battle Armor lets Drapion beat almost any physical attacker (at the cost of some PP). Rest heals health and status. I thought I had set the EVs up such that Drapion could switch in to and set up Iron Defenses, but I messed something up. It worked out anyway!

Like most RS teams, this team has some major threats!

Poison team threats

Certain Pokemon with Ground attacks



Nihilego either doesn’t have a guaranteed OHKO on these guys, or it gets outsped. Pex is best against and , Drapion handles the last three but really sweats against .



Theoretically really bad in the back, but that situation never came up.

Steels with electric moves



Backline handles OK; Rock Helmet on Pex help a lot. With enough health, Nihilego can take on the magnet duo but generally ends the encounter with +1 SpA and Sandstorm + Misty Terrain up () or with +0 SpA, Sandstorm, a large dent in its health and two turns of Nihilego Dynamax left (; it usually Steel Beams). Otherwise, its up to Drapion to Struggle Bug.

Future Sight users



Drapion generally needs to be blocking Future Sights which can be hard to keep track of. Swoobat is faster than Nihilego and can force it out with Light Screen. Exeggutor isn’t OHKOed by Max Ooze, but I can usually get it to waste a few turns on Trick Room by swapping in the slower Toxapex on the lead, then going to Drapion.



Really, really bad in the back, not amazing in the front, either. Struggle Bug can trigger Competitive. If it’s a lead, Nihilego needs to burn all three Dynamax turns to take it out without a Scald burn.



Gyarados is 100% fine in the lead. It is less fine in the back. Nihilego can’t come back in due to Scald burn risk, and it doesn’t OHKO with unboosted Power Gem, anyway. Taunt + Whirpool is extremely bad. Luckily it very, very rarely uses Whirlpool (I have seen it happen, though!); it stuck with Scald on this run.



Hits Nihilego hard if Quick Claw procs, Drapion can’t touch this thing, and Pex really hates getting trapped by Sand Tomb AND having chip damage every turn.

The Poison team run

Leg 1 was 43 battles. Nothing too notable. It ended a little early because I didn’t realize was a relatively safe swap into :kommoo: from , so I let Pex get KOed.

Leg 2 was 47 battles. Accidentally had take a Future Sight off a; luckily the I was stalling didn’t use Draco Meteor the same turn. On battle 70 I got Pex burned from a Solrock Flare Blitz, so that’s 21 battles burned. I had only used 1 Recover PP at that point, though.Battle 75 got lucky that a post-Dmax, last mon Magnezone against Nihilego was non-Analytic; Pex and Drapion dealt with it with help from lingering Grassy Terrain; not only did it help with healing my team, but it also caused Magnezone to use Steel Beam again after some Struggle Bug debuffs. Confide wouldn’t have popped the Air Balloon. Got lucky against a Quagsire on battle 81; had Drapion buffed with Iron Defense and thank heavens it wasn’t Unaware. I got Drapion frozen by a Porygon-Z Tri Attack on Battle 85; P-Z came in on Pex and I was trying to debuff it after knocking off its normal gem with Pex. I fixed it on battle 87 by PP stalling a second mon opposing . I don’t have notes on the end of this leg, but I’m assuming it was a PP issue.

Leg 3 was 50 battles. Pex got burned on 106 this time; was trading Scalds with a Gyarados hoping for a burn; we got the burns on the same turn. That makes 35 battles burned this leg, and 56 battles total. Had to Dynamax Pex against a Whiscash at 119 after getting Parting Shotted by a lead Obstagoon; luckily it was a turn 2 parting shot, I Hazed on the switch, Whicash only Dragon Danced, and I hit the 2HKO roll with Geyser. In retrospect, Ooze is probably the best play against lead Obstagoon. End of streak Nihilego was down to 1 Power Gem PP by the 3rd mon of battle 134. Third mon is… Vespiqueen. I’m out of Dynamax and it’s Pressure; I’m stubborn so I stalled it out, which isn’t the most fun considering the AI can’t take a hint that Toxic Spikes will get absorbed by an all-Poison team. Rock Helmet helps, and I got it to Thief my Drapion’s Black Sludge after using Knock Off with Pex, which was fun. 137 was Nihilego’s last hurrah with more than 2 PP; I did Ooze + Overgrowth into Gardevoir, Overgrowth into Barraskewda (I was at full and no crit), and Power Gem into Torkoal. after that I was down to 2 PP… and it was Grass Knot and Dazzling Gleam, so no STAB. 138 I stall out the lead Comfey with my back line. Politoed takes care of itself without landing a hit on me, and Drapion demos last mon Beheeyem with 4 Knock Off PP to spare. 139 lead Galvantula. I decide to burn Nihilego’s last 2 PP to kill it. Kanghaskhan and Obstagoon are the last 2 Pokémon, both easily stalled out by the back line. 140 I left Nihilego go down to lead Bouffalant. Took it down with some Rocky Helmet chip and a few Scalds and Knock Offs. In comes Butterfree. Uh oh. I Dynamax Drapion, any by some stroke of luck, come within a few HP of taking it out with Drapion’s remaining attacking PP. I swap in Pex, who eats one Hurricane while another misses; it takes out the Butterfree with its penultimate Scald. In comes Escavalier. Normally a great matchup for Pex, but I’m burned and have one Recover PP left. I swap a bit with Drapion to heal off that Hurricane. I thought Drapion got taken out in the crossfire, but I wasn’t paying close enough attention. I came needlessly close to losing because I forgot about Drapion, but I managed to get just enough damage off between the last Scald, a few burn-weakened Knock Offs, and Rocky Helmet chip that Escavalier’s killing Smart Strike KOed it with Rocky Helmet chip. With just an attackless Drapion left, the streak was over before battle 141 started

With some patience and luck, this Poison team might hit 150, but it would be an unpleasant ride filled with Struggle stalling.

Now, on to a higher streak with what I consider a more interesting team!



I’ll start off with a bit of team building. First off, Flying has every possible sub-type available to it if you count and for available Grass/Flying (not that or would be RS juggernauts). It also two pseudo-legendaries ( and ) and a whopping 12 RS-eligible legendaries if you count Galarian birds and the Therian formes of the Forces of Nature. Its Recycle users aren’t great ( and ), though Eisenherz had some luck with with a Normal team. I stuck with a couple legendaries supported by a true legend, Mirror Armor .

My first thought was “it would be funny to do another team with a Life Orb lead.” Regenerator was my first thought. It’s so fast; the only things faster are and . provides a nice electric immunity and a way to manage the magnet duo of . is too good not to use and covers annoying stuff like and anything that might inflict poison. Plus, I had Leftovers free, so could have them!

After a few rounds of learning the team, I got a decent run out of Flying v1!

Here are the original sets, if anyone is curious

Tornadus-T set v1 (Mixed All-Out-Attacker Life Orb)

@ Life Orb

Level: 50

Ability: Regenerator

EVs: 252 SpA / 28 SpD / 228 Spe

Naive Nature

- Air Cutter

- Heat Wave

- Grass Knot

- Crunch

Air Cutter is STAB + lots of PP (40), Heat Wave (16 PP) hits Steels. Grass Knot has quite a few PP (32), hits Rocks, and otherwise has good coverage. Crunch has the same PP as Dark Pulse (24) but unique takes out special tanks such as , , , and when used as Max Darkness. The Special Defense EVs were to prevent a Special Attack-boosting Download.

Thundurus-T set v1 (bulky Nasty Plot)

@ Shell Bell

Level: 50

Ability: Volt Absorb

EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 4 SpA / 28 SpD / 196 Spe

Timid Nature

- Nasty Plot

-Rising Voltage

- Grass Knot

- Rest

Even virtually no SpA investment, this thing hit like a truck after 2 Nasty Plots. Speed was for . Those SpA EVs guarantee a OHKO on at +6 SpA, but I quickly learned that +4 was generally plenty.

I’ll go over ’s set later, since it didn’t change, but I will mention that it had Body Press and Drill Peck as attacking moves.

For this team, my first two legs were 45 and 49. One reason that team didn’t go further was paralysis hax from a on battle 98 taking out my poor . carried the torch as a backup lead for 18 battles, which got me thinking: why not just lead with ?

…there are a couple problems leading with , both speed related. One is Will-o-Wisp . Switching forms to :thundurus-incarnate: would get me enough speed to outspeed it, but the loss of Volt Absorb and Special Attack were both way worse than making the backline deal with . also isn’t great, but doesn’t get OHKOed by Ice Beam even outside Dynamax, so it’s just a (scary) freeze/crit chance. Max Airstream would help, but doesn’t get special Flying moves. It does get Fly, though, which led to:

Thundurus-T @ Shell Bell

Level: 50

Ability: Volt Absorb

EVs: 4 HP / 20 Att / 244 SpA / 12 SpD / 228 Spe

Mild Nature

- Rising Voltage

- Volt Switch

- Grass Knot

- Fly

Move and EV explanation for Thundurus-T

Rising Voltage is almost a given for any special Electric type; a base 140 power max move with 32 PP is awesome. Electric is a stellar offensive type in RS, so Thundurus-T gets a second Electric move in Volt Switch (32 PP). I tried Thunder Shock, but without terrain boosts or Beast Boosts, its low power was not cutting it. Outside Dynamax, Volt Switch’s ability to pivot and inflict a bit of damage was theoretically useful against the troublesome . Grass Knot compliments electric moves well and has good PP (32). Fly provides STAB Airstream, which is still potent with minimal attack investment, OHKOing 27 Pokemon on the RS roster. The middling 24 PP isn’t ideal, but in practice it was generally one of my last moves to run out of PP. In total, only 120 PP, but it performed admirably

A neutral nature and the given Speed EVs outspeed . The 20 Attack EVs guarantee a OHKO against with Max Airstream. The bulk EVs are a holdover from when I tested a Rash (SpDef-lowering) nature and still wanted to avoid SpA-boosting Downloads from the family. I swapped to Mild mostly because of . Speaking of , those bulk EVs give more favorable rolls against its Ice Beam, so they stuck. Losing one point of Special Attack didn’t meaningfully affect any damage calcs. Speaking of Special Attack, this hits a whopping 215 SpA. This is better than Life Orb (equivalent of 210) but still worse than Timid (225). Unlike those two Pokemon, doesn’t really get to use power boosts from Terrain, which sucks a bit. The only exception is Rising Voltage, which still doubles in power if the target is grounded and Electric Terrain is up.

Before moving on the next mon, a curious note on the AI knows it has Volt Absorb before using any moves, likely because it has no other abilities.

I needed a second mon the could handle , and I wasn’t willing to give up Leftovers on . Prior to bringing back into the fray, I had a few other thoughts: and . The idea with was to give it Tailwind and pair it with an Iron Head with some attack investment. could also bait Electric moves for Volt Absorb. In practice, battles with were so dang slow due to its lack of power, and not having Leftovers wasn’t fun. I never tested , but the burn immunity was intriguing. In the end I pivoted back to a revamped ; one of the few things that didn’t change from v1 was its speed stat!

Tornadus-T @ Expert Belt

Level: 50

Ability: Regenerator

EVs: 36 HP / 20 Def / 204 SpA / 20 SpD / 228 Spe

Timid Nature

- Nasty Plot

- Air Slash

- Dark Pulse

- Rest

Move and EV explanation for Tornadus-T

Faster than , and OHKOs with Expert Belt-boosted Dark Pulse without boosting. Beautiful. I tried Rocky Helmet + Heat Wave for a bit with Grass Knot over Rest, but clearing status is nice, as is the perfect accuracy of Dark Pulse. Dark Pulse also has excellent neutral coverage alongside Flying moves. is probably one of the few Regenerator Pokemon that doesn’t make good use of Rocky Helmet, at least in my experience Its bulk is merely OK, so it likes staying near full health to tank hits. Rocky Helmet generally leaves it with chip damage, which reduces its survivability. I tried Air Cutter over Air Slash until a Cloyster in the backline ended a previous streak attempt. The extra 16 PP of Air Cutter is nice, but its low power outside Dynamax wasn’t cutting it. Air Slash OHKOs Cloyster, assuming it hits. Nasty Plot allows for safe sweeps; I generally use it after I stall an opposing Pokemon out of damaging moves by swapping between and Corviknight. Discounting Sturdy and Unaware, OHKOs literally everything except Blissey at +4 SpA if it’s Dynamaxed.

Regenerator is an incredible ability that allows for passive healing without needing Leftovers. The 36 HP EVs hit 159 HP, which maximized Regenerator recovery (divisible by 3) and minimizes residual damage like burns, and 204 SpA EVs OHKO Froslass with Dark Pulse with an Expert Belt boost. As alluded to previously, the 228 Speed EVs and a Timid nature outspeeds everything except and . The remaining EVs were split evenly between the defenses with no specific calcs in mind.

Corviknight @ Leftovers

Level: 50

Ability: Mirror Armor

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Att / 156 Def / 92 SpD / 4 Spe

Impish Nature

- Drill Peck

- Body Press

- Bulk Up

- Roost

Details for Corviknight

I am far from the first to use , but man if it isn’t good. Mirror Armor is stupid, preventing bulk decreases from stuff like Screech and Psychic, lowering Special Attack of Moonblasters, and bouncing Attack decreases when I’m setting up Bulk Ups. This is pretty close to the build EightVelociraptors used in their incredible Steel streak; my only tweaks were enough Defense so that is OHKOed by Body Press at +3 Def and having Leftovers free to use on . In practice, I didn’t usually set up to +3 with Bulk Up. I learned pretty quickly that Dynamaxing was risky due to its low Speed (even after one Airstream it only hits 132) and middling Attack. If it was early game, usually I’d set up two Bulk Ups unless I was up against something like that wasn’t 2HKOed by a +2 Drill Peck. I’d only Dynamax if the second Pokemon didn’t have a Fire or Electric move. I tried Rest for a bit to clear status, but doesn’t like being asleep, and the rock resist granted by Roost was essential against .

Flying team threats

Fast Pokemon that use Ice Moves



Freeze hax are scary, as is super effective damage. with an Airstream boost handles both effortlessly, and outspeed and KOs the latter with either a boosted Dark Pulse or Max Darkness. and would be a lot scarier if they actually used their Ice moves!

Assorted Fast or Bulky Psychics



Light Screen + U-Turn off is no joke when you have a special lead that doesn’t outspeed. isn’t as bad because it can’t pivot, but it still necessitates a swap to if it’s in the lead. isn’t OHKOed by , and Grudge can force out. A vs. an already Dynamaxed can wreck you with Mirror Coat (I think it only uses this if it sees you use an Electric move) or waste a Dynamax turn (and PP!) by copying Fly if you try to avoid a Mirror Coat.

Most Electrics



I think and are the only electrics that poses minimal threat to this team, but I still switch to if it see it in the lead so I don’t get hit by Parting Shot if Max Overgrowth doesn’t KO. would also be totally fine if it weren’t for Baton Pass, Motor Drive, and Agility. Anyway, these are, Reason #1 why I avoid Dynamaxing early on, as the strategy against most of these is “hope can still Dynamax” or “hope is set up.” Otherwise, be prepared for long, nail-biting switch stalling with VERY careful counting or to get swept. Both and can sometimes dodge a 2HKO from , and the former can set up Light Screen. Sturdy on either of these two is bad for a set up , and Magnet Pull messes with .

Hard-hitting Fire Types



Reason #2 why I don’t Dynamax early on, as I need Dynamax to beat either of these, and :orviknight: is either too slow or too weak to KO these Pokemon. Not a problem at all in the lead, just in the back.

Select Bulky Rock types



can OHKO from full THROUGH DYNAMAX with a crit Meteor Beam… off base 60 attack with imperfect IVs. Safest option I found was swapping to , Body Press, Roost, back to , Grass Knot. ’s special bulk is deceptively high, meaning is 2HKOing it and could take a chunk from Power Gem. If isn’t out, generally gets a lot of PP wasted by Cosmic Power + Moonlight. is awkward if it comes in against anything except or a boosted . Luckily, non-Dynamax Grass Knot is a OHKO as long as it doesn’t have Sandstorm up. kind of sucks no matter what. Too bulky to OHKO with , and it likes to waste turns with Endure or lower speed with Tar Shot.

Miscellaneous



is a nightmare for the backline due to high damage from Ice Beam on , high bulk, and the chance for a Scald burn. is mostly an issue due to Spite burning through PP; I don’t have a way to OHKO it without boosting and Shadow Ball hits a bit too hard to stall it out with and . I don’t know if showed up this run; maybe once after was boosted? Anyway, Pressure and Expert Belt elemental punches suck, as does not KOing this thing with . I think Volt Switch to to Dark Pulse is probably the move here? You avoid permanent status and have a 50/50 shot of only getting hit with Fire Punch on .

Flying run with v2 team

Leg 1: 56 battles. Stupidly smooth and efficient. No status on , and by the end of the last battle of this leg was down to 1 Grass Knot and 1 Fly PP by the end of that battle. had 2 battles and had 1 battle left at that point. I remember 4 ; 2 had the Air Stream boost, 2 absorbed the burn. A couple ’s; never great but they got dealt with by , Body Press, Roost, , Grass Knot

Leg 2. 54 battles (Cumulative 110). Battle 74 I got VERY lucky; I decided to take a chance on lead to get some health back on . I manage to get a full swap cycle in to to ). In comes via Baton Pass on a decently healthy . I maxed. Airstream doesn’t OHKO and Blizzard crit; still in the yellow healthwise. Back to , so I assumed last mon was a pushover and swapped out . It’s and is just over half after a switch cycle (88 HP). I didn’t check calcs and assumed Dark Pulse would OHKO. It did, but there was a only a 25% chance of that happening and Psychic had a 50% chance to OHKO me, I later learned. Check your calcs! Battle 98 I dodged two possible Scald burns off a with ; it was a second mon and I had no boosts, but Dynamaxing seemed like the best move so I could get at least a couple unburned Airstreams off if the first Scald didn’t burn. After the last battle of the leg., was down to 2 PP (one each of Volt Switch and Grass Knot), Corv had maybe 1 battle left (only 1 Drill Peck and 1 Roost PP, though), and had 1-2 battles left. only used 2 Rest PP, and I think it was only to bait Leech Seeds off a

Leg 3. 53 battles (Cumulative 163). Weirdly enough, the shortest leg. Battle 124 last mon with no Dynamax was stressful, but I successfully Struggle stalled it, only burning one more Grass Knot PP than necessary to tank ’s last RV PP out of paranoia. Mon 2 on Battle 128 was nerve racking; had already burned through more PP than I wanted at that point, so swapped in on Shadow Ball. I set up two Nasty Plots on an Endure and a Spite (Nasty Plot is probably the least valuable PP after Rest). Got asleep battle 134 due to Effect Spore . At battle 135 I keep in and against the 2nd of this leg a get lucky with a turn 1 Endure. 3rd mon was , so I woke up against it. I wanted to PP stall it since it had gotten some Cosmic Powers off; turns out I hadn’t used any Roost PP up until that point! Battle 138 had a 2nd mon encounter after was Maxed; Will O Wisp hit . Third mon was a , which eats for breakfast. Battle 142 Nasty Plot got hit by a Spite of the 3rd of the leg on battle 142. At battle 160, PP were running low on , so I swapped in to finish off a weakened and got paralyzed. 162 was ’s last full battle; it was down to 2 Fly PP after that. Battle 164 I blew through the Fly PP on ; apparently plain Fly does less than 50%. In comes Quick Claw Contrary . I don’t quite understand what my original notes on this encounter said, but all I know everyone on my team fainted and the killing blow was a boosted Quick Claw Night Slash off

I’m pretty sure 163 is close to the limit of this particular Flying team, which I think is still good considering I wasn’t able to squeeze in a Leppa Berry!

 

[Celestial Automaton]

Does anyone hear from ReptoAbysmal these days? I absolutely loved his Trick Room doubles teams. I like how he was able to find a fun and interesting way to play the nerfed tower. I found the fake quotations from GF about Acid Spray friggin hilarious! I’m waiting for a part 7!

 

[CTNC]

It's been a long time, but not as long as its been since Eisenherz updated the leaderboard. (I can't help but notice Eisenherz had the best Normal streak before CuneH8sVappy's 106. :P To be fair, it's hard to care about this thread when the Battle Tower is a joke.) I'm back with another Status Moves Only Restricted Sparring Team. I said I'd do Ground, but then I remembered the slim possibility of Gliscor being added to SwSh when Home gets updated. (I figure SwSh will get a patch to add the region marks for BDSP and P:LA) Instead, I went with Poison and got a streak of over 20! One of my Pokemon got KOed on the first "battle" of Leg 3 and I rage quit because I knew I wouldn't be happy with a streak cut short like that. I then got a streak with a slightly better first 2 legs, then someone got KOed as soon as Leg 3 started again. Legends: Arceus was coming out, so I figured screw it! I'm not sharing Poison until I get a streak close to 30.

I didn't want to try Poison again yet because Alolan Muk's Spite would be really nice, (again, if it gets patched in. BDSP's lack of regional variants could make Dexit even more rage inducing if it meant that only original Muk could be in Gen 8 games.) so I went with a type that wouldn't be improved by any "potential but probably not happening" Home updates, Dragon. Every Dragon Type is already in SwSh. (other than Mega Evolutions)



Appletun @ Leppa Berry
Thick Fat
Calm 252 HP/164 Def/92 SpD
-Recycle
-Leech Seed
-Recover
-Protect

There’s a choice between Leppa Berry users, Appletun with Recycle or Alolan Exeggutor with the Harvest. Harvest is tempting because being an Ability opens a moveslot but Recover, Iron Defense and Amnesia, and Thick Fat looked better. (I thought Appletun also learned Stockpile, but he doesn’t for some reason. That’s a bummer because I was looking forward to Stockpile + Leech Seed.) I switched to Leech Seed and Protect after one too many Crits OHKOed then tried Exeggutor after thinking I could use the extra moveslot for Dual Screens and Leech Seed. (I wanted Calm Mind and Curse, but turns out Exeggutor gained Calm Mind in SwSh and only Original Exeggutor learns it. That’s slightly annoying, but I’m glad the Original form gets stuff the Alolan Form doesn’t.) I went back to Leech Seed Appletun as soon as a lead Vanilluxe destroyed the team because Exeggutor doesn't have Thick Fat.

Unlike every other Pokemon with Leppa Berries I've used, this Appletun can't boost its Defenses, but Leech Seed’s healing is almost like an increase in bulk and can give much needed help to the rest of the team. Turn 1 is almost always Leech Seed because it's that good, even if the opponent has a Super Effective attack. I haven't seen many able to OHKO Appletun. The only problem is 90 Accuracy. Not affecting Grass types would be a problem if this team didn't laugh at them. Protect felt like filler when I chose it, but it amplifies Leech Seed by letting you get two turns of healing from every attack taken and buying an extra turn for Poison or Leech Seed to finish off an opponent’s Pokemon without needing to Dynamax has saved me multiple times. It’s not perfect if the opponent can set up, but I can always spam Recover.

Without Rest or G-Max Sweetness, I have to be careful about Status Problems but it's usually not a problem. Fire and Electric Types have trouble touching this team, Appletun doesn't want to take more than one Ice attack, and the rest of the team doesn't care about Poison.

I forget to mention this sometimes, but I go for EV spreads that balance Defense and Special Defense as much as possible while keeping Special Defense a point or two higher because of Porygon 2/Z's Download. The Defensive stats of the other two Pokemon on this team have more lopsided stats, so Appletun is the only on on this team with interesting EVs.


Dragalge @ Black Sludge
Poison Point
Bold 252 HP/252 Def/4 SpD
-Toxic
-Confide
-Haze
-Rest

If there's a Poison type, I'll use them if I can just to use Black Sludge as a second Leftovers. Having synergistic resists, including a "resistance" to Fairy, is just a nice bonus. That said, I don't think any one else would be.

I needed Special Attackers weakened more than Physical Attackers and resetting stat boosts can be more useful than moves that can lower them below their starting point, so Dragalge not being able to learn Growl or Charm didn't feel like much a problem. (How can Dragalge learn Play Rough but not Charm, let alone learn Play Rough in the first place?)

Toxic wasn't used much because Leech Seed affects Pokemon of every type except the one type this team laughs at, but it was good for Pokemon that I needed to spam Haze against and the occasional Pokemon that really needed to be weakened by Confide.

Poison Point was annoying more times than it was useful because it kept activating on the turn I was trying to use Toxic, but the times it can save you by letting you not have to use Toxic make it worth it.


Duraludon @ Leftovers
Heavy Metal
Calm 252 HP/4 Def/252 SpD
-Rest
-Screech
-Reflect
-Light Screen

You’d think the Mechagodzilla Pokemon would be awesome and unstoppable, but no. There are barely any Steel types with worse Special Bulk than Duraludon's Base 70 HP and 50 SpD. She's just the only Dragon that isn't weak to Dragon. She's frail enough that I checked if there was anyone bulky enough to tank Ice attacks even without resistances and Guzzlord's bulk looks insane, but it still takes Ice attacks 25% worse than Duraludon. I really didn't want to use a Pokemon that doesn't even get Sandstorm or Swagger (not that I'd want to use those. lol) but I thought Dual Screens might let Duraludon do just enough to do something and the important thing was not dying. Speaking of not dying, Leech Seed helps a ton with the disappointing bulk. It takes Vanilluxe's Ice Beam from being a 2HKO with Hail to survivable.

Reflect was the more useful of the two screens. I sometimes switched to Duraludon for Reflect so Dragalge could survive an attack they need to switch into for Toxic. Reflect would've been used as the move to waste PP if she didn't have Screech.

Screech isn’t used to weaken Body Press. That’s a bad idea because it only affects one move and using Screech means staying in on a move Duraludon is weak to even though rest of the team can deal with easily. Screech is used because it has 64 PP. It’s more like a version of Splash that can somehow miss. (Congrats Duraludon, you made me make Splash sound less pathetic than one of your moves!) There weren't any moves that did anything useful to opponents, unless you count Attract, and Iron Defense and Subsitute encourage staying in. Subsitute would probably be a worse Protect anyway and... Wait, Light Screen and Reflect have a ton of PP and I Gigantamaxed Duraludon a lot... I should've used Protect. It's kind of annoying to realize that kind of thing in the write up after getting the streak...

All of Duraludon's Abilities either do nothing or almost nothing, but opponents knowing Heavy Slam and Heat Crash but not knowing Low Kick or Grass Knot made Heavy Metal the best choice and Light Metal is worse than useless.

Do I have anything good to say about Duraludon? Uninvested Base 85 Speed outspeed more than I expected and Steel types still resist a ton of stuff. I'd say having room for Protect would be an up side if I used it and if it wasn't because of having nothing else. It's hard to be positive when my more Specially Bulky Dragalge has better Physical Bulk than this joke of a Steel type. I wish Turtonator would've worked...

Notable "Battles"

Instead of just sharing "battles" from the best streaks, I'm going to share a loss too.

I knew it'd be bad from the moment I saw Marowak. Remember how I said I almost always use Leech Seed on Turn 1? Nope, not this time! Marowak is probably one of the few Pokemon that can OHKO. Thick Club Outrage is terrifying even without a Dragon weakness. I switched to Duraludon for Reflect and Outrage dealt over half. Reflect let Duraludon endure the second hit and I let her Rest because I can't. Outrage ended and confused Marowak. I don't want to complain about the confusin nerf in Gen 7, but a fifty fifty chance would be a lot nicer than a 1 in 3 right now...

I need Leech Seed and am expecting them to use Bonemerang so I switch back to Appletun but they hurt themself in confusion instead. I try to use Leech Seed and Outrage does over half health! Protect stalls a precious turn lets Leech Seed heal to the point where I know Appletun would be able to take another Outrage... if Reflect hadn't worn off that turn... I switch back to Duraludon and she takes a lot of damage. She's not going to survive long enough to wake up. I Gigantamax to make it takes two Outrages to KO her and let her get KOed. There was no avoiding that loss.

I send out Dragalge and use Toxic. Outrage OHKOs.

Appletun came back out and used Protect. Marowak snapped out of confusion but gets confused again by Outrage ending. There's one turn left.
I either need Double Protect or Marowak to hurt itself in confusion.

Tentacruel lives up to its name in Restricted Sparring. A Poison type with Black Sludge and Sword Dance that could have Liquid Ooze or Clear Body is evil. Even if it's not that strong, that's a very cruel combo that can easily end me. Fortuantly, it didn't have Liquid Ooze and only used Sword Dance once. To my amazement, +2 Cross Poison doesn’t KO after Recover and Leech Seed. Add in Protect to heal the extra damage from the one Critical Hit and, I CAN NEVER DIE! Then it used another Sword Dance... I hope they're out of Cross Poisons and, nope. Not out, but I don’t have much longer left... And I jinxed it. +4 dealt as much a +2 Crit and Poisoned Appletun immediately. ;_; There’s only two turns left and it’s Double Protect or die. There's a longer delay between a move failing and the "But it failed." than between using a move and its animation and it's taking longer than... Wait, what? It worked!? I’m cheating fate. I can’t believe I’m winni- The last Pokemon was Accelgor. I might have had a chance with full HP and it would've been a joke if Marowak hadn't KOed everyone else. Can't complain though. It's fair after cheating death twice.

Streak Over at 9 Wins


I don't remember if this was in the streak I'm showing off or not, but I have a pic of Appletun against Meowstic. Appletun was frozen and at 48/217 HP. You know something's a joke when it has a Super Effective move and you still try to thaw a frozen Pokemon at low health against it.


The first "Battle" worth sharing in my best streak was the 7th. The lead, Clawitzer, is strong, but it only has Water Pulse and laughable coverage. Wait, isn’t one of the other moves Dragon Pulse? Okay, this is the one time I can be terrified by the coverage... Doesn’t stop me from laughing at Dragon Pulse being the only coverage unless you count Terrain Pulse though.

Duraludon had a bit of damage so I don’t know for sure, but Dragon Pulse looked like it did about half. (I was at my laptop and had to check the Damage Calculator to see if it really did half. 77-91 (43.5 - 51.4%) Duraludon sucks!) It’s Gigantamax or die! I’m going to hope he can endure another Dragon Pulse because hoping for 3 Max Guards is useless. That never hap- It happened. After all 3 Max Guards working, I used Rest and... Oh, Duraludon went first... and Clawitzer dealt a tiny bit over half... It’s not a 2HKO because of Leftovers, but I still have to sacrifice Duraludon...

Appletun’s Protect stalls the final turn and next is Grapploct... I tried to use Recover and go first because they used Circle Throw. That’s lucky. The problem is it dealt respectable damage and Dragalge is weak to Stomping Tantrum. They’re strong enough that I have to risk Toxic. Dragalge went first and poisoned them and they use Taunt instead of Stomping Tantrum!

I switched to Dragalge and they used Circle Throw to make me switch again on their final turn. I have to hope their last Pokemon is something I can beat and I’m feeling like the odds are good because Grapploct was probably the better of their two Pokemon. Their last Pokmeon was Thievul. Can’t they remove the Leppa Berry? Meh. I’m healing after this, so don’t care.


Leg 1: 7 "Battles"

I may have been able to save Duraludon if I realized she was faster and used Screech before Rest, but I only had that chance because of Triple Max Guard. It's a fair loss and a leg of 7 is impressive for Status Move Only.


"Battle" 8 started with Tangrowth, but it was easy enough that I didn't take screenshots or notes other than, "Thanks for Grassy Terrain!"

Mienshao, however, was a different story. I used Protect to block Fake Out then Leech Seed missed. It’s not a big deal because of Grassy Terrain, but High Jump Kick dealt a tiny bit over half damage. Oh, and Grassy Terrain just ran out. Did it heal enough to stop High Jump Kick from being a 2HKO? I use Protect to make the one miss then chose Recover and... 7 HP left! Holy crap. Another Protect makes another High Jump Kick miss for a self KO. In hindsight, switching Dragalge might have been better than keeping Appletun in.

The last Pokemon had funnier notes because Miltank only knows Thunderbolt and Whirlpool. I might have been worried if Appletun hadn't Recovered from 7 HP, but I wouldn't have had to. I try Leech Seed even though they could have Sap Sipper and they go with Thunderbolt. I wasn't paying complte atention, but Thunderbolt made me think, “What did that do?” The loss of HP made me think, “I don’t think it did do.” I switched to Dragalge for Toxic because of Milk Drink letting them use endure longer and use more Thunderbolts then switched between Duraludon and Dragalge because I didn't care if either of them got Paralyzed. I didn’t need Leech Seed. Leftovers and Black Sludge are healing off the Thunderbolts.


“Battle” 9 is a big one because that's what the last streak got and the lead looked promising. Lunatone has Cosmic Power and Moonlight, but isn’t Shiny and doesn’t know Toxic or Recycle. I laugh at your Lunatone as much as my Lunatone would laugh at you. I guess Moonblast is Super Effective or something, but I’m not sure about that because it dealt less than half.

Cloyster is way scarier than Lunatone. I always fear Skill Link and now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure Cloyster has had Skill link almost every time, like maybe two or three times that it didn't. That's annoying luck. Anyway, Leech Seed landed, which is nice, but Icicle Spear hit 5 times and came very close to KOing Appletun! I used Protect then switched to Duraludon because she should be able to endure, I guess... My faith is low after Clawitzer. Why’d they use Shell Smash on the turn I switch!? *Sigh* It's Gigantamax or die and I might die either way... I chose the Screech PP Max Guard and they used... Razor Shell? Uh... Okay. Do I have a chance? Max Guard failed and they didn’t lower my Defense with Razor Shell. I have a chance. Cool. Duraludon can use Reflect and Rest.

I let Duraludon stay in after a Razor Shell lowered their Defense, (I usually don’t have a Damage Calculator open, but it was still up after checking Clawitzer.) but the second Defense drop made me switch to Appletun. Leech Seed healed what Razor Shell dealt but I didn’t know if Cloyseter had one or two turns left. I Protect and they faint!
Their last Pokemon was Blissey. I have Leech Seed. It healed 40 HP. Per turn. Duraludon needed healing, so I'll let you put two and two together.


There wasn't much challenge in "Battle" 11, but it had a few interesting moments. Beartic used Rain Dance and Sword Dance, but I used Leech Seed and switched to Dragalge for Haze. (All Beartic has is Liquidation and Superpower, no Ice attacks.) I would've used Toxic on Lycanroc-Day if its coverage wasn't Psychic Fang. I switched to Appletun instead and Lycanroc loves to use Stealth Rock and spam Roar. Leech Seed and Leftovers heals more than Stealth Rock deals, so it's only a problem for Appletun. Even then, it's not much of one.


I seem to be really good at tempting fate with this team. For example, right when I started thinking the second leg was doing good, "Battle" 12's lead turned out to be Abomasnow, the one Grass type that laughs at this team. I immeditly switched to Duraludon for Reflect and she lost a third of her health from the first Ice Punch. She outspeeds and gots to use Reflect before taking another Ice Punch, so she only went down to half HP. I switched to Dragalge for Toxic and they used Ingrain during the switch, which felt lucky, then...

Critical Hit!

They outspeed and KOed. I have to stall an Ice type to Struggle. 0_o

I never thought I’d say this, but I believe in you Duraludon! (I’m sorry for bashing on you and Screech is awesome.) I had her use Rest even when she’s above half HP because you can’t be frozen when asleep, but I still use Screech after waking up so Reflect wears off then renewed Reflect every time between Rests. I switched to Appletun when they ran out of Ice Punches to save Duraludon’s HP and Rest PP. I’m so glad I figured out Exeggutor wouldn’t work before this because Ice Shard would deal over half. Thick Fat is awesome! MY FAT PIE CAN NEVER DIE!

As awesome as stalling Abomasnow to Struggle felt, it's not over yet. The second Pokemon was Porygon-Z. The good news it it doesn’t have any Super Effective Moves and likes to use Conversion. The bad news is it still has Base 135 SpA and a 50/50 chance of having Adaptability because it doesn’t have Download. Shadow Ball is dealt a less than half to Appletun and I can alternate between Recover and Protect, so that wouldn't be a problem unless they lowered my Special Defense, which they did. After that, it was disturbingly powerful. Recover and two turns of Leech Seed almost full healed it, but I’m so glad I only had to take one.

After Porygon-Z came Miltank... with Sap Sipper... and I don’t have Toxic... I can't lose unless I try, but it's still annoying. I’m healing after this, so why not Duraludon Screech Spam? It has 50 PP left and they can’t out damage Leftovers healing until they use Whirlpool. I’d laugh at that move, but it’s not funny after Gyrados seemingly using it at random. Screech had 11 PP left when Miltank KOed itself with Struggle.


Leg 2: 5 "Battles"

It was cut short by a Critical Hit, but it happens and is less annoying than loss by Leech Seed missing. 5 is still pretty good for Status Moves Only.


I got a breather for "Battle" 13. Morpeko, is annoying because of Parting Shot being unpredictable and a combination of tons of PP and changing forms every turn making it take over a half hour if you stall it to Struggle, (IIRC, it was 40 Minutes.) but not a potential streak ender. I protect against Fake Out then they use Parting Shot and the Leech Seed I was using landed on Runerigus. If that’s their best, I’ve already won. It was. Their last Pokemon was a Lighting Rod Pincurchin. I still don’t get how every team is doing better than Electric.


“Battle” 14's Mantine knowing Rest made me use Confide a few times, but it wasn't any real trouble. Knowing Hurricane would be scary for Appletun if it didn't love using Rain Dance first. That's a risk free Leech Seed.

Exploud's Boomburst dealt a little under half to Appletun, which means death after their Throat Spray. There’s no way I don’t need Light Screen and Confide. I switched to Duraludon and used Light Screen, but I’d forgotten that Exploud knows Focus Blast. Fortunately, it missed. Even if it hit, Duraludon went first so Light Screen would’ve made it not horrible. It went better than expected. I switched to Dragalge to take the next Focus Blast, which somehow hit, and used Haze because its PP are less valuable than Confide's then spammed Confide. I'd forgotten about Soundproof, but it had Scrappy instead.

I have a question about the last Pokemon. What’s more annoying, Thievul’s Knock Off not letting you use Appletun or Poison Point activating when you’re trying to use Toxic? It’s hard to tell when they’re just kind of annoying from the last Pokemon, especially when they spam Parting Shot after you Rest then use Dynamax to take less on the incoming damage from attacks that didn’t happen. Torment was also a little annoying because I had to use some of Dragalge’s slightly more valuable Confide PP instead of just Haze.

“Battle” 15 started with staring down death, Weavile. It’s been a good run. Might as well use Protect to waste a PP... They used Triple Axel? Cool. I’d probably risk trying Leech Seed if Appletun was at full HP instead of 168/217. I can switch to Duraludon and get Taunted then... Wait, Dragalge has Poison Point, so maybe... The first Night Slash was a Critical Hit and didn’t trigger Poison Point. I switched back to Duraludon and Night Slashe’s damage makes me sure the next one would KO, so I Dynamax and block a Night Slash. I expected Taunt on the second turn of Gigantamax, but they used Night Slash again and it would’ve KOed without Gigantamax. I switched back to Dragalge and got Crited again because of Weavile’s Scope Lens, but Poison Point Poisons and they can’t KO without another Crit. They used Taunt when I tried to Rest and I don’t know if they’ll use Triple Axel or Night Slash. I can’t afford to lose Appletun and he already has a worrying amount of damage. I’m pretty sure they’d use Night Slash, but I sacrificed Duraludon instead of letting Appletun take more damage. I sent Dragalge back in and try Rest. They use Night Slash again... and Crit again. Dragalge survived at 5 HP! Guess what the next two Night Slashes did. Critical Hits. The third one left Dragalge at 4 HP because it didn’t Crit, but don’t worry, the one after that did. Apparently, facing Weavile wasn’t enough bad luck. The AI must have thought it was weird that they weren’t using Taunt because they used it on their final turn before going down.

I needed something Appletun could switch into and I got kind of lucky with Whiscash. I say kind of because could be bad after 6 Dragon Dances. Thankfully, Zen Headbutt didn’t deal that much more than half damage and didn’t cause flinches. I wasn’t sure how safe I was because Wishcash was the better Pokemon against Dragalge. Their last Pokemon might be good against Appletun.

The third Pokemon was Alakazam. Between high power and the possibility of Magic Guard, this could suck. It used Reflect while I tried Leech Seed and nothing happened at the end of the turn... Crap. Magic Guard. Psychic was dealing a little less than half, but just when I thought I may be good, it lowered my Special Defense. It’s still barely doing more than half after the drop, so I may still be fine? Nope, that first one was just a low roll and the third Psychic after the drop lowered Special Defense again. I hope they’re out of Psychic PP and they use Shadow Ball. Okay, I know I keep tempting fate, but I think I’m good now for real... Oh, a Critical Hit. I want to complain, but it didn’t do enough to make me panic. Another Crit happened and it lowered Special Defense again. I switched to Dragalge and it lowered Dragalge’s Special Defense... Really? I was going to switch back either way, but really? Alakazam couldn’t do much without the Special Defense drops and Reflect and Safeguard gave plenty of time to have Dragalge heal and use the Leppa Berry to restore Appletun’s PP.


“Battle” 16 started with staring down death again. Salazzle... and I had Protect go back to 10 PP against Alakazam instead of keeping it at 1 PP so I could protect the Leppa Berry from Corrosive Gas by eating it immediately... You’ve got to be kidding me. I used Protect to was a PP, but they used Acrobatics. That's interesting, but I still switched to Dragalge because they know and will use Corrosive Gas. After a little bit, I start thinking this isn't going to work. Corrosive Gas has 40 PP and I don’t think Dragalge had enough PP to outlast that and the rest of the moveset. It did try Acrobatics when Appletun used Protect on Turn 1, so maybe there’s a chance of keeping the berry? I have no choice but to try and... Corrosive Gas... I’m tempted to rage quit. It's not Poison losing on "Battle" 1 of the third leg yet again, so I spam Recycle instead. They used Disable the turn after Recycle ran out of PP. I'm not sure if the AI is being stupid or trying to rub salt in the wound. The only bright side is they can't do anything threatening other than Corrosive Gas.

I really hoped the next Pokemon would be one I’d lose to without Duraludon because I’d know I'd lose even if I didn't lose the Leppa Berry. Seaking isn't that strong, but I'd forgotten it knows Drill Run and let Dragalge take a Super Effective hit. It didn't do more than half though and I could just switch to Appletun after that. Seaking's Bounce is a joke with Protect. Drednaw was a slightly bigger threat. They used Dragon Tail to make me switch and I let Dragalge use Rest but she went down to 100/172 from another Dragon Tail. Poison Point activated, which helped save PP, and they spammed Skitter Smack against Appletun for the rest of the "battle," which was healed by Recover spam.

The start of “Battle” 17 was annoying because was easy and I had a death wish after losing the Leppa Berry. Crustle would’ve been no problem with a Leppa Berry and I think it could let Dragalge wake up. Yep, Leech Seed outheals Heavy Slam. Bring on something I’d need Duraludon for! Tell me I would’ve lost either way! Ooh, Drampa! That will do. Kill me you floppy neck chicken winged “dragon!” >:D And it has Sap sipper too. :D Now that I think about it, I should try to limp across the finish line and win this “battle” which means maybe I should’ve used Recover instead of Leech Seed. Dragalge got to use Toxic before fainting, so I’m going to Gigantamax and hope I can beat the last Pokemon with next to no HP. Judging by my PP though, I don’t think that’s happening. 2 Leech Seed, 4 Recover, and 2 Protect and 1/8 rounding down means... The last Pokemon is Stuntank? There might be a chance after all. Will it use Memento? Nope. Acid Spray takes out Appletun’s last 26 HP.

Disclaimer: I like Drampa and Yung Dramps, but I did try to taunt Drampa in a way that would make Yung Dramps mad at me.


Leg 3: 4 Wins. I'd say that's okay, but the third leg usually lasts the longest because I'm forced to limp on after losing Pokemon.

Total Streak Wins: 16

I want to put off types that might be improved when Pokebank updates and I'm not ready to stop using Appletun, so Grass is next. After that, there's a Pokemon I put way too much theory crafting into for minor details that don't matter just for style. I even learned how to do RNG abuse in Emerald for it. I also caught a Ralts with 0 Atk and SpA IVs because Defense Curl is an Emerald only Tutor that's better than Bulk Up if I ever want to try Fighting again.

I almost wish this wasn't believable after every other team I've used because it's April Fool's Day. The best joke would be people thinking it's a joke even though it's real.

 

[P Mystery]

All of Duraludon's Abilities either do nothing or almost nothing, but opponents knowing Heavy Slam and Heat Crash but not knowing Low Kick or Grass Knot made Heavy Metal the best choice and Light Metal is worse than useless.

The AI always did seem to be confused about Low Kick and Grass Knot, but not about Heat Crash and Heavy Slam. Seeing this observed by someone else is nice. Thanks!

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

It's nice and quiet. I think I'll just scoot on over here...

That guy who evidently is a banned alt or something asked what I was up to, and the answer at the time of questioning was "nothing related to pokemon" but in recent weeks that has changed much for the worse. I've been running randos often and, because Mr. Eisenherz has also been infected, there's no end in sight. I'd also planned to record a little bit, because a few teams had been extremely fun to play (so fun that they weren't dropped for the next roll served up by my faithful bot EVELYN.) Hence the ulterior motive for answering the dead account's question... shilling my rando dump in video form. Coincidentally, these teams all had a recurring theme in Gravity. I couldn't be bothered to rewatch any battle consisting of an effortless sweep, so I saved the ones from each run which gave the teams a workout... or a lot of grief.

Bronzong: Trick Room/Gravity/Rain Dance/Iron Head
Arctovish: Fishious Rend/Icicle Crash/Freeze Dry/Stone Edge
Mamoswine: Icicle Crash/High Horsepower/Knock Off/Ice Shard
Zapdos: Thunderbolt/Hurricane/Heat Wave/Weather Ball

Speed Swap is also highly desireable on that Zong, but, rain is far too important for multiple abusers. I've taken to Ice Shard in lieu of Superpower on Mamoswine primarily because the former tends to be clicked more than once per run, and the frail ice-weak pokes can usually be killed from over 50% HP. Zapdos is terrifying in TR with its coverage and this team was the first time I'd used it since obtaining one.

Leon was looking like a routine minimal-effort stomping until his third poke entered and I was punked by what's probably my least favorite move from this particular enemy. Let's also marvel at just how pathetic Ninjask can be, and hope that the SV battle facility has something better.

Musharna: Trick Room/Gravity/Psychic/Helping Hand
Tangrowth: Leaf Storm/Focus Blast/Ancientpower/Sludge Bomb
Azumarill: Liquidation/Play Rough/Iron Tail/Knock Off
Heatran: Eruption/Flash Cannon/Dragon Pulse/Earth Power

If you think Tangrowth looks like a shitty set you'd expect from the AI, hee hee, stop! You flatter me! I do try. Earth Power would be much preferred, but we can't all be Abomasnow levels of pitied, so the meme omniboost lurks in its stead. If Eruption weren't an event move I probably would unironically mess around with Magma Storm; you non rando players would probably wonder why I didn't just replace Dragon Pulse with it, but that move actually does get used unironically fairly often.

That first battle is very Battle Towery and I knew it was going to be included in the final dump.

Bronzong: Trick Room/Gravity/Rain Dance/Iron Head
Togekiss: Air Slash/Dazzling Gleam/Heat Wave/Aura Sphere
Gastrodon: Hydro Pump/Earth Power/Sludge Bomb/Blizzard
Copperajah: Heavy Slam/Heat Crash/Power Whip/Stone Edge

Gastrodon initially ran Muddy Water and Sludge Wave (lol) but the former provided little extra benefit under Gravity with its side effect cancelled, and Sludge Bomb has a better chance of hax. Briefly considered running triple STAB, but Gastro inevitably finds itself pitted against Shiinotics without a steel friend nearby, as it did this run, and so I like the added damage. I could have just as easily run my main Copper, a Sheer Force set, and still taken full advantage of Gravity; but I love abusing the weight moves and its type coverage is less accurate than Play Rough/Rock Slide/Horsepower. This one actually ran Horsepower also, but there were a couple runs without Gravity and Life Orb already claimed, and Copper found itself staring up at Leon's Charizard without even a hail mary attempt to damage it. Thus, Stone Edge came about. Gastro stole its Expert Belt, so I was using Protective Pads to circumvent all the undesireable consequences from its slams.

I've lost to that same fucking Cinccino under the same exact fucking circumstances previously. But not today! (some circumstances still immensely favorable to me.)

Here's hoping that the next time I record some randos, Togekiss is able to bring Moonblast back from PLA into Swsh without any roadblocks, and maybe Aura Sphere on my IBG. These were a lot of fun and generally quick to record. Will that dead account be around to see these..? :elethink: why does this always happen the dream is dead all hope is lost there is nothing left there wont be a tomorrow such delicious despair

 

[CTNC]

I'm back and it's been a while because I've been having massive problems with a lot of types... My luck with Grass has been terrible. I kept on losing at 12 Wins and I keep on running into Gyarados. I can get first Legs of 7 easily, but I keep on losing to stupid BS like Leech Seed missing twice in a row or a Crit after a Leech Seed miss. Poison was going unbelievably well with a First Leg of 24... then I took a break for the night after finishing a First Leg and turned the power off the next morning. I'm still pissed off about that. I needed an item for two types, but I sold it because it was taking up bag space and I thought I'd never need it because I’d never play competitive on my Switch... Oops... The good news is I was able to use another Switch profile to get another one and give it to trade fodder, trade it to my cousin’s game while we were on vacation, then trade it from their game to my main save file. You'll know the item when you see it. After a good streak with one of those types, I moved onto the other type and couldn't get a third leg. I got 12 wins, so I figured screw it and moved to another type. I couldn't get more than 10 wins with it, but my last run was a little better.


I'm going to share 5 teams that have gotten at least 12 wins, but I'm only going to share two streaks because I'm pretty unhappy with the streaks that never got a third leg.

Poison Team

Toxapex @ Rocky Helmet
Regenerator
Calm 252 HP/148 Def/108 SpD
-Toxic
-Confide
-Haze
-Recover

Toxapex is like one half of a Pokemon that can never die, so I'm going to talk about how both Toxapex and Amoonguss work. They both have Toxic, Confide, filler, and a healing move. Toxapex and Amoonguss have about the same bulk, they play pretty much the same way, and switching is like using a priority move that heals 1/3 HP and changes your type between Water and Grass. The synergy between those types is some of the best in the game. You get to make Pokemon switch between moves that would be Super Effective if you weren't constantly switching to a Pokemon that resists the attacks. Toying with the AI like that never get old.

Toxic is for Pokemon too strong to stall to Struggle, Confide can make it easier to endure the Special Attacking threats, the healing move is for when switching would put the other Regenerator in danger. Toxapex's filler move, Haze, makes Pokemon that boost their stats very easy to beat, unless they're immune to Toxic like Scizor, then you're to going to need to rely on the Rocky Helmet...

It's possible to win without using any PP. You usually have to use Confide or Toxic, but it's not that rare to use nothing.

There's only two Leftovers and a Rocky Helmet is the next best item. I figured the Pokemon in the lead would get to use Leftovers less because I'd switch out on turn one, which means no healing on turn one. Also, Pokemon will almost always KO themselves against Toxapex when they use Struggle thanks to the Rocky Helmet. It also makes some physical attackers much easier to deal with, like Scizor, and it speeds things up a ton by letting me not always stall to Struggle.



Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Regenerator
Calm 252 HP/204 Def/52 SpD
-Toxic
-Confide
-Rest
-Spore

Amoonguss is like one half of a Pokemon that can never die. I don't think I need to explain that again. Rest is used over Synthesis because it's not affected by weather, has more PP, and can heal Status Problems. That said, Synthesis is probably better than Spore for this team because Toxic, unlike Leech Seed, stops Spore from working. I'm not that bothered though because it has more than 8 PP and I can use it when it will fail just to save the PP of a more useful move, like Confide.



Drapion @ Black Sludge
Battle Armor
Calm 252 HP/28 Def/228 SpD
-Toxic
-Confide
-Venom Drench
-Rest

Drapion doesn’t do much, which is saying a lot on this team. She’s on the team for two reasons. One, because she’s Shiny. Two, she’s immune to Psychic attacks. Psychic Pokemon would be insane threats without Drapion. Her bulk is pretty nice, but that doesn’t always come up when I use her. When it does matter, it means they’re out of Psychic attack PP or something was strong enough to force me to use my third Pokemon to prevent either of the first two from fainting.

I was looking forward to Venom Drench because it looked like an Anti-Shell Smash. Sure, you have to poison the opponent first, but it's still -2, -2, -2! Right? Well, turns out it's only -1, -1, -1. I assumed it was better because of needing to poison the opponent first, but it's just a worse Noble Roar/Tearful Look! Ugh, such a waste of a TR... I may be complaining, but it can still lower Attack and there's next to no other moves worth looking at. Protect only has 16 PP and can be replicated with Dynamax, Iron Defense has 24 PP that you'll go through quickly when staying in and Toxapex has the Rocky Helmet, and Screech is tempting because it has 64 PP. If you want to ask about Confuse Ray, no. Just no. It has 16 PP and not only can do nothing, but is likely to do nothing. You can't talk me into using it.

Grass Team

Appletun @ Leppa Berry
Thick Fat
Calm 252 HP/164 Def/92 SpD
-Recycle
-Leech Seed
-Recover
-Protect

This is the same Appletun from my Dragon Team. You can just scroll up for a longer description. The main thing is Recycle + Leppa Berry = Infinite PP and Leech Seed's healing makes up for not being able to boost Defenses. After trying Stockpile on other Pokemon, I'm tempted to try Stockpile over Protect, but it's so good for stalling and extra healing from Leech Seed.



Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Regenerator
Calm 252 HP/204 Def/52 SpD
-Toxic
-Confide
-Rest
-Spore

This is the same Amoonguss from my Poison Team. It's not as insane without a second Regenerator Pokemon, but she's still very good and the typing helps against Fighting types, Bugs, and it would be good against Poison if the last Pokemon didn't handle Poison better.


Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Iron Barbs
Calm 252 HP/124 Def/132 SpD
-Toxic
-Leech Seed
-Confide
-Rest

Ferrothorn lets this team do something a second Regenerator wouldn't let it, survive against Flying and Ice types. Iron Barbs is also occasionally useful, like when switching between Ferrothorn and Amoonguss every turn. Ferrothorn's bulky enough that it doesn't have to use Rest that often, especially if I got to use Leech Seed.

After two good teams failed to do as good as they could, I wanted to try a type that looked kind of bad. For the first streak I'm sharing, who wants to see how well I can do without Recycle or Regenerator?

The Bug type Recycle users are Genesect and Arceus. One of them is banned. The other can’t hold a Leppa Berry when they’re a Bug type and isn’t even in SwSh. There's still a must use Pokemon though and the two teammates have to "resist" all of Bug's weaknesses between the two of them. As much as I wanted to use one of the many Poison/Bug types Scolipede, the only fully evolved Bug/Poison type in SwSh, for Black Sludge, Poison doesn't help Bug Defensively.



Shuckle @ Leftovers
Contrary
Calm - EVs: 252 HP/156 Def/100 Spe
Toxic
Power Split
Rest
Confide

Sometimes I look at what I have created and see madness. 100 Speed EVs on something with Base 5 Speed?! Am I crazy?! Oh, right. Status Moves Only. Of course I’m insane. Well, let me explain the method to my madness. Shuckle is naturally faster than Pyukumuku and anyone that’s using lower priority moves like Focus Punch or Dragon Tail, which made me consider breeding for 31/0/31/0/31/0 IVs for fun. 100 Spe EVs lets Shuckle outspeed Pinchurin, Escavalier, Torkoal, Greedent, Wishiwashi, and Gigalith. Is that worth putting so many EVs into Speed? Maybe for two or three of them, but it’s not wasting EVs. The Damage Calculator says not putting them in Defenses makes literally no difference in damage for most of the attacks Shuckle could be switched into. When there’s a difference it’s almost always 2 more Damage and it’s usually from attacks that could deal over 40% damage. There’s a few cases where it’s 1 or 3 Damage or from a weaker move, but I don’t think that matters much. This feels like an ironic double standard from someone that breeds for 0 Atk IVs because of confusion and Foul Play and had it pay off with enduring at 1 HP, but there’s something about using Spe EVs on Shuckle that’s hard to say no to. Style points maybe? I feel like I’m the only one impressed by this though... Maybe the details with the last Pokemon will impress someone.

Power Split is why Shuckle is the lead. It averages the user's and target's offensive stats and this change even affects Critical Hits, but it can have not much effect if used by a Pokemon with higher offensive stats. The second weakest user in SwSh is Araquanid and I'm not even sure if their 67 Atk and 55 SpA with 0 IVs and a Calm Nature is low enough, but Shuckle’s Base 10 offensives lets it get low as a beautiful 13 Attack and 15 Special Attack. Lowering their offenses by a third would be good enough, but almost half is so sweet. If you really have to lower their stats again, you can switch out then back in to reset Shuckle's stats.

Confide feels like overkill on preventing kills if you use it after Power Split but it can be used instead of Power Split and has expendable PP. Most other moves are either moves that don’t look that useful, do pretty much nothing, attacks, or moves that do worse than nothing. (Mostly because of Contrary, but Power Trick wasn’t meant for me and Guard Split is just trying to lose outside of Doubles. Speaking of, I wonder what Restricted Sparring Doubles would be like... Probably a nightmare for me.) Shell Smash and Encore are the main exceptions, but Shell Smash wearing off when you switch sucks for someone that switches as much as I do and Encore only has 8 PP. Encore still looks like a nice option though because it could let the last Pokemon sneak in if the right move gets Encored.

Toxic and Rest are for stalling 6 Turns instead of until Struggle and healing. Pretty self explanatory.

Contrary takes advantage of random stat drops from moves like Shadow Ball and makes debuffing likemoves Sirfetch'd's Defog hilarious, but backfires with Intimidate and Strength Sap.


Buzzwole @ Rocky Helmet
Beast Boost
Calm - EVs: 252 HP/4 Def/252 SpD
-Toxic
-Confide
-Roost
-Rest

Despite Ultra Beasts being known for being very weird and Buzzwole flexing literally every time it does anything, Buzzwole is the least weird Pokemon on this team and the smallest flex. Maybe Rest and Roost is weird, but Rest can heal Status Problems and there weren’t many options. If I wasn’t using Rest, I’d be using Harden, Taunt, or maybe even Protect even though Dynamax lets anything use Max Guard. It’s still better than Buzzwole’s Special movepool, but that’s not saying much. (I’d complain that the mosquito Pokemon doesn’t get Bug Buzz if it wasn’t an Ultra Beast.) Not having Leftovers means Buzzwole will need to use healing moves a lot and Roost is the much easier one to use. It's better to use Rest when you can to save Roost PP.

The Rocky Helmet can make it so you don't have to endure as long against physical attackers or let you not use Toxic and there's not many defensive item choices. It's a really good item, but I kind of wish there were more options other than Bright Powder.

It seems kind of odd that I went with Buzzwole instead of a Steel type, but I just needed someone not weak to Rock, Buzzwole's Special bulk is between Scizor's and Escavalier's when they're running balanced bulk EV spreads but his Physical bulk is much better and the extra weaknesses are okay because the resistances are better with this team. The Fighting resist for Shuckle and Dark resist for the really easy to guess the last Pokemon are really nice.



Shedinja @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Wonder Guard
Sassy - IVs: 30 HP/27 Atk/3 Def/13 SpA/29 SpD/0 Spe
-Toxic
-Will-O-Wisp
-Baton Pass
-String Shot

The star of the team is usually the lead, but Shedinja either switches in and laughs or didn’t want to be out against the opponent’s lead.

Everything knows Toxic because Toxic is kind of good. Will-O-Wisp is just for Pokemon immune to Toxic, but it can be used against Pokemon you can switch every turn against to save Toxic's PP. Baton Pass has 64 PP and lets you switch after Shedinja “takes” the opponent’s move if Shedinja is slower, which they probably are. Switching back to Shedinja doesn’t use PP, so you get two turns of nothing out per PP. It’s like Baton Pass has over 100 PP! I can't say 128 PP because sometimes I use it just in case the next Pokemon can hurt Shedinja. If String Shot looks useless, that’s because it is. It’s like Splash but it can miss! It’s partly used for showing off with a HG/SS exclusive Tutor Move and partly because it’s Shedinja’s only move other than Baton Pass (or False Swipe) with 64 PP. Perfect for doing nothing!

The IVs look like they’re just a random encounter, and most of the stats are pretty much random, but this Shedinja was RNGed to look that way and still be optimal. A 0 or 1 Spe IV and a Sassy Nature gives the minimum possible Speed, which lets Baton Pass make you switch after the opponent moves. I thought I’d be able to have 36 Speed by using a Level 45 Shedinja, (Shedinja could inherit moves from Ninjask if Nincada evolved at the level Ninjask learned them in Gens 3 and 4 and Ninjask learned Baton Pass at Level 45 in those Gens.) but Restricted Sparring sets every Level 50 instead of lowering Levels above 50. (Oddly, the Battle Tower only lowers Levels above 50 without raising ones under 50.) That doesn’t matter much because only Wishiwashi and Gigalith have 37 Speed and the next slowest Pokemon, Aromatisse and Musharna, have 41 Speed. It’s lucky that I got a 0 Spe IV Shedinja because a 2 Spe IV still gives minimum Speed at Level 45 but doesn’t give minimum at Level 50.

As for the other IVs, the HP IV might as well not exist and low Attacking stats don’t matter (or so I thought) without attacks and when confusion damage and Foul Play always OHKO either way. The Defense stats, however, aren’t entirely pointless. Porygon 2/Z’s Download makes Defenses matter because the lower one determines Download’s boost. A Sassy Nature and a SpD IV that’s at least 22 or 23 higher than Def (for odd or even Def IVs respectively) lets Shedinja’s Special Defense be naturally higher than its Physical Defense. All that said, everything except the lowest possible Speed is pointless complexity done for fun with theory crafting a Shedinja that looks like a mix of “randomly bad” and style points from using it seriously. It would’ve been easier to settle for any Shedinja with a 0 Spe IV instead of learning basic Emerald RNG manipulation and use EVs to raise Special Defense, but I couldn’t say no to a chance to unironicly use a Pokemon with no EVs. Speaking of, did you notice there weren’t any EVs? That’s the best part! No EVs makes it look even worse but it still has optimal stats without them.

TL;DR: This Shedinja is made to look bad but it’s a massive flex.

The item choices were Safety Goggles for Sandstorm and Hail, Heavy-Duty Boots for entry hazards, or no item for Poltergeist. Needless to say, none was the most tempting because it’d make Shedinja look even worse... at least until I realized a Focus Sash outclasses nothing because it can stop any attack, including Poltergeist, from KOing once with the “downside” of leaving you with no item until you use a heal, which makes it better than literally nothing then literally nothing. It seems good for emergencies or as Zoroark insurance, but Entry Hazards are more common than Poltergeist, Zoroark, and the need for emergency sacrificial Will-O-Wisps. The thing that makes Heavy-Duty Boots the best item by far is the possibility of a team having Entry Hazards and Roar or Circle Throw resulting in unavoidable KOs without them.

Notable "Battles"

It turns out there’s a very niche situation where Shedinja’s offensive stats can matter and it somehow came up during my first Bug run. I switched from Shuckle to Shedinja and the opponent’s Dubwool used Copycat. The last used move was Power Split. That actualy made Dubwool stronger. It has 82 Attack because it has a Bold Nature even though it’s a physical attacker and my Shedinja has 108 Attack at level 50. (98 at their real Level of 45, but 108 is a neat coincidence for the shed soul and a Pokemon on the same team as a Spiritomb.) Even a 0 Atk IV Shedinja can get as low as 95 with a Neutral Nature or 85 if you’d rather go with -Atk instead of -Spe.

I'm not sure if this was in "Battle" 3, but I have a video of a switching to Shedinja on Turn 1 against Wailord. It used Self-Destruct. What I know was in "Battle" 3 was Toxicroak's Poison Touch activating against Shuckle and Buzzwole. Restricted Sparring's Toxicroak is a Special Attacker and the only way it can activate is Struggle. The poison screwed me over in "Battle" 4 against Cloyster and I had to use a heal.


Leg 1: 4 Wins

Not too good, not too bad.


Poison types with Black Sludge are annoying to face because they recover the HP they lose from burns, but Tentacruel could be speed up a little with Buzzwole's Rocky Helmet. The rest of "Battle" 5 was annoying because it had the two Safeguard users that don't KO themselves with Misty Explosion.


"Battle" 6 was tough. Lurantis has Contrary if you're lucky and will prevent status problems with Sunny Day and Leaf Guard if you're unlucky. I got lucky with Lurantis, but unlucky with the next Pokemon being Weavile. Against a lot of my teams, that's game over. Against this one, I can win with Buzzwole's Rocky Helmet. Buzzwole took some heavy damage from Night Slash and Shadow Claw, but Shuckle took 28 Damage from a Critical Shadow Claw. 270 Defense is kind of awesome. I have to admit I got lucky even though Shadow Claw Crit Buzzwole twice in a row. That nearly KOed him, but Taunt instead of a second Shadow Claw wouldn't have let him use Roost. They Crit with Night Slash later and they used Shadow Claw instead of Taunt again, which would've let him use Roost if it wasn't a Crit. Weavile went down to the Rocky Helmet that turn, but why did they have to Crit every time except for one? Even with their Razor Claw making it 50/50 chance, that's stupid!

I wasn't going to take a Leg of 2 so I risked not healing. I don't have any screenshots of "Battle" 7, so I'm guessing it was 3 Pokemon that couldn't tough Shedinja.


Leg 2: 3 Wins.

I can still get 10 wins, but hope for 12 would be nice.


The next few "Battles" was pretty fun. "Battle"
It took me one turn to be sure I’d won the 9th one. The opponent lead with a Slurfpuff that used Misty Explosion immediately. It did nothing because I’d switched to Shedinja. Why wouldn’t I? Their second Pokemon was Oranguru, which meant their last Pokemmon couldn't touch Shedinja because they would've sent them out instead.


"Battle" 10's first Pokemon, Magneton. The only user of Thunder Wave. That protects from Pyukumu’s Toxic and can save some PP. That reminds me, there’s also only one Pokemon with Illusion. I hope this isn’t Zoaroark. It wasn't. Buzzwole had to take on the second Pokemon, Runerigus, and the last Pokemon was one I was even happier to see than Mangeton, Magnezone. You’d think I’d use Will-O-Wisp, but that wouldn’t speed things up. The AI usually doesn’t use Steel Beam when they’re under half health unless they’re out of PP in every other move, but they love using it against Shedinja with any health. I’m guessing they like using it over other attacks because it has higher power and that they’re not programmed to realize that Steel Beam always hurts the user, even if it does nothing because of missing or Wonder Guard. There’s a chance that they spam Steel Beam because they’re programmed to give up against Shedinja though.


"Battle" 11 could've been worse. I tried Confide aginst Swoobat for some reason and they U-Turned to Pelipper on Turn 1. Debuffing that is always good. After the debuff, Pelipper went down easily and Swoobat would be even easier. The last Pokemon was even weaker, but probably the most annoying Pokemon in Restricted Sparring, Salazzle. Immune to Poison and Burn and Corrosive Gas can remove the Rocky Helmet. I was worried about Acrobatics, but Buzzwole was able to take only 30 Damage after a few Power Splits.


"Battle" 12 started with Accelgor and the second Pokemon was another Magnezone. That's always fun. The last Pokemon was a Fairy type and their only Attacks were Fairy and Grass type, so I used Toxic. Comfey used Leech Seed. I usually kick myself when I make stupid mistakes, but that one caught me so off guard that I thought it was funny. Even better, I made another mistake against Comfey. I had Shuckle use Rest at just the wrong time. They fainted right before Shuckle could wake up.

Shedinja wouldn't have helped much against "Battle" 13. Centiskorch's Skitter Smack and Lungh made me with Shuck didn't have Contrary and Rhyperior's Rock Wrecker is nothing to laugh at, even with Buzzwole's Base 107 HP and 139 Defense. Shedinja would've been nice against Quagsire though. Buzzwole had to use Rest after Toxic and Dynamax to endure Aqua Tail. Even then, I think I was saved by an Aqua Tail miss.


Shuckle started "Battle" 15 with 17 PP in Confide and ended with 1 PP. I used the PP of other moves just to save that last PP for an emergency later, so Suckle went from doing good to needing to be careful. Butterfree... never ends well... or quickly... I was hoping they wouldn't use Substitute even though they use it on Turn 1 against almost every Pokemon, but they used Substitute and the first turn's Toxic was wasted. They kept on using Quiver Dance

"Battle" 16 was devistating. Kingler dealt a lot of damage to Buzzwole. Thievul made me switch back to Shuckle but wasn't bad. They'd saved the worst for last though. Pinsir's Stealth Rock meant I couldn't switch a lot and Seismic Toss would 2HKO Buzzwole. If he could switch in without having to take a hit, Roost would let me win. The only way to do that would be sacrificing Shuckle, but it was only a matter of time before the streak ended anyway and I didn't see another way to win


Final "Battle"

The loss was unavoidable. I only had Buzzwole. He was able to survive Beartic by himself, but that'd never happen against Talonflame.

Losing Shedinja early on the last leg makes me think this team can do better, but the leg of 3 makes me unsure if I was lucky. Either way, I’m pretty happy with 16.


After Bug, I wanted to use Shedinja more, so I tried Ghost and... another team I couldn't get more than 12 with... This has to be stupid bad luck.

Ghost Team

Palossand @ Leppa Berry
Water Compaction
Calm 252 HP/28 Def/228 SpD
-Recycle
-Stockpile
-Toxic
-Shore Up

Palossand was an easy choice between the possible Leppa Berry users. Drifblim's Flying Type gives an extra shared weakness to Rock with Shedinja, Trevenant has less bulk and even more shared weaknesses with Shedinja, and Palossand's Rock Resistance makes it the only one that resists a type Shedinja is weak to. Well, Blacephalon technicaly resists Fire, but it's frail enough that I'd only consider it if the only alternative was Heatmor.

Stockpile only lets you get to +3 Defenses, but it's usualy enough. If it's not enough, that's what the rest of the team is for. Water, Ice, and Grass types usually don't have covorage that can

Water Compaction may seem useless because you don't want Pokmemon taking Super Effective attacks, but I went with it because I really don't like using luck and the other Ability is Sand Veil. Water Compaction wasn't that bad. There's a suprising ammount of weak Water attacks that you can survive Crits from. If you have Stockple up against those, enjoy +6 Defense!



Spiritomb @ Leftovers
Pressure
Calm 252 HP/164 Def/68 SpD/20 Spe
-Toxic
-Will-O-Wisp
-Confide
-Rest

For Ghosts not weak to Ghost, the only other option was Sableye. Without Mega Evolution, -38 in both Defenses is not worth Prankster and Recover. With Mega Evolution, it's actually probably worse because there's no Leftovers. Even if Hisuan Zoroark was in SwSh and had usabable bulk and a good movepool, still having a Drak weakness would make Spiritomb the better looking option anyway.

The EVs, like every other spread I use, balance the Defenses while keeping Special Defense 1 or 2 points higher than Defense so Porygon 2/Z's Download boosts Attack. The Speed EVs are for outspeeding Lurantis so I can use Will-O-Wisp or Toxic before it restarts Sunny Day and Leaf Guard stops them from getting burned and Marowak so Spiritomb can use Will-O-Wisp instead of getting 2HKOed.

Pressure doesn't do much on this team and losing to Butterfree was the final straw before thowing in the towel. I'm replacing this Spiritomb with one with Infiltrator.



Shedinja @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Wonder Guard
Sassy - IVs: 30 HP/27 Atk/3 Def/13 SpA/29 SpD/0 Spe
-Toxic
-Will-O-Wisp
-Baton Pass
-String Shot

I'm not Copy/Pasting the wall of text.

Looking at the Pokemon I had transferred to SwSh, Normal was the best looking type I had a team for. Double Regen Water with Recycle and Toxic to speed things up looked more fun, but I'd rather try Swampert over Seismitoad for extra bulk when Water Absorb isn't importaint.



Snorlax @ Leppa Berry
Thick Fat
Bold 252 HP/252 Def/4 SpD
-Recycle
-Stockpile
-Toxic
-Rest

The plan is very simple and very effective. Leppa Berries restore PP and Recycle lets you reuse Leppa Berries. Infinite turns is only good if you can endure that long, so that's what Stockpile and Rest are for. Rest

Stockpile can only boost both Defenses upto 3 times, but 3 is always enough. Toxic is for anything that can boost their stats so that they faint before they can make us faint, but it's also used much more than it has to because it's much faster than stalling to Struggle.

I tried Blissey for my Recycle user at first for the Special Bulk, but the Physical Bulk even with Bold 252 HP/252 Def/4 SpD was barely acceptable and made me feel nervous about any Physical attacker. (Only needing to boost one Defense was cool though.) Snorlax's Special Bulk is only 60% as good as Blissey's, but it's matched by his Physical Bulk and anything that's even close to half as good as Blissey is amazing. Very few things can threaten Snorlax and most of the things that can only can because of Fighting Attacks, Item Removal, or Taunt. Of the things that can threaten it with attacks, only ones that can KO with a Crit are worth worrying about after Stockpile.

Thick Fat gives two resistances and appears to mess with the AI when they have Fire or Ice Attacks. It's also the only useful Ability. Immunity granting an immunity to being Poisoned would be nice if Snorlax learned Slack Off and could use that instead of Rest and Gluttony would probably be annoying instead of useless if affected Leppa Berries.



Audino @ Rocky Helmet
Regenerator
Calm 252 HP/164 Def/92SpD
-Baby-Doll Eyes
-Confide
-Toxic
-Heal Bell

The neat thing about only having to cover one weakness means you can look at pretty much anyone for your last team slot. There were more Pokemon to look at for Fighting "resist" than Normal types with interesting useful things so I chose that team slot last instead, but that's not the point. I could either go with the one Normal type that can learn Will-O-Wisp or only Normal type with Regenerator. That choice alone changed my mind about any Pokemon being worth considering. I went with Audino over Fletchling.

Audino has many choices for Attack lowering moves. Growl has the most PP, Baby-Doll Eyes has priority, Play Nice has as few PP as Charm, and Charm can't be learned for some reason... Why does Audino have all of the moves that just lower Attack 1 Stage as 3 out of its 6 first Level Up Moves but can't learn Charm? I would've gone for Charm if I could, but I went with Baby-Doll Eyes instead because there's no way I'd last long enough to use all the PP and the priority is nice because I really need to lower their stats ASAP if I'm lowing their stats.

Regenerator lets Audino not need a recovery move and my Poison team made me pretty sure I wouldn't want one anyway. I could go with a seconday "offence" but Pain Split feels too much like an attack to me and Sweet Kiss is false hope at best. Something to support the team would be better. I was skeptical about Wish because it's terrible if you need immediate healing and Wish passing hasn't been that good whenever I've tried it in game. It should be much better with Regenerator, but I'd rather use Heal Bell. It only has 8 PP, but doesn't need to be used very often. I think it's better as a life saving support move because it's easier to wake Pokemon up from Rest than it is to heal them with Wish. Heal Bell also lets Audino heal his own status problems which are a problem without Rest.



Oranguru @ Leftovers
Inner Focus
Bold 252 HP/196 Def/60 SpD
-Confide
-Reflect
-Toxic
-Rest

Wyrdeer's bulk with Intimidate would've been too good to be true, but Oranguru isn't much worse. I tried Noctowl at first because it's the bulkiest Normal/Flying type, (or close enough anyway. Braviary's 100/75/75 bulk is about the same as Noctowl's and he dodn't get Feather Dance.) but they're just not bulky enough and using Roost makes them lose the much needed Fighting Neutrality. I would've tried Staraptor for Intimidate if it was added to SwSh, but I'm not sure if that'd be enough. As much as I'd rather use something with Feather Dance or even Growl over Reflect and quicker recovery than Rest, I needed Oranguru's extra bulk.

Even though Reflect wears off after a while, it's long enough to let Audino come in and use Baby-Doll Eyes, which doesn't ware off.

Notable "Battles"

“Battle” 5 ended with Skuntank and I thought it was nice to be done with Corrosive Gas. The next two leads were Salazzle and Vileplume.

To be fair, Vileplume wasn’t as bad because Stockpile had 2 PP. I Gigantamaxed to block corrosive Gas with one PP then make it fail by using the last PP. After that, use Stockpile, get to -6 Offenses, and wait. The Pokemon after Vileplume was annoying though. Scrafty... with Shed Skin. That made me switch, but it wasn't a major problem because Oranguru's Reflect let Audino take hits switching in, use Baby-Doll Eyes, and switch out.


The lead of “Battle” 8 was one I'm never happy to see. Braviary used Bulk Up and Toxic missed. Toxic worked the second time and they used Whirlwind and forced Audino out. That was good because of Baby-Doll Eyes undoing Bulk Up’s buff, but Brave Bird still dealt half. I wasn’t sure if I should switch to heal with Regenerator or expect Whirlwind again, but I figured I could afford to risk not switching because of Baby-Doll Eyes’s priority. The risk paid off and Whirlwind forced out Oranguru. I didn’t want him taking damage and there was a 50/50 chance that Whirlwind would bring out Snorlax if they used it, so I switched to Audino and their Whirlwind brought out Snorlax. There was still one turn left and I was expecting Whirlwind again, but I tried Stockpile incase they attacked instead. They used Whirlwind and I had Oranguru out then they fainted.

Oranguru can take some hits, but not having Snorlax out made me worry that this could be bad... or this could be Cramorant.

Last Pokemon, Mamoswine. I just need to stall a turn, use Rest, and Gigantamax for less damage. Or I could get frozen right before using Rest and not thaw out... At least Gigantamax let Snorlax take less damage?


I’d want to switch against “Battle” 9's lead, Greedent, either way, so that’s a lucky lead. Audino could use Heal Bell and all it cost was the Rocky Helmet. Snorlax was at half health and had to use Rest, so I might have to use it again... Probably will because of Exeggutor...

I switched to Audino to take the Power Herb Solar Beam then use Confide twice. They used Trick Room and started Solar Beam. Snorlax could take it and being slower would make them waste another turn using Trick Room again to end it early. Against a Pokemon at -2 that took multiple turns to pull off their attacks, I felt safe switching to Audino and back just to fully heal him, even if Exeggutor’s power is scary.

Last Pokemon, ****ing Gyrados! ****! So close to 10 and this ****ing happens!
Oh, it used Scald when I used Toxic and Scald again when I used Rest. I felt kind of smug until Future Sight hit. Didn’t deal a ton, but it was annoying. Turn 3, Scald. Are they not going to use... never mind, they used Taunt.
A Critical Hit Scald Brought Audino down to 168/210 and burned him. Bad luck, but laughably weak. Gyrados has one turn left and Snorlax is asleep. Should I switch to heal or try Heal Bell? I tried Heal Bell and they used Taunt. Bummer.


Last time I thought I was getting a streak of 10, Scizor happened. This time, Trevenant. Turn 1, Horn Leech with Snorlax’s previous damage brought him close to half health. Turn 2, just over a quarter HP left. Why’d I risk staying in? Turn 3, Snorlax will endure, but he’s screwed if he doesn’t wake up. I pray it’s a two turn sleep and my prayers are heard. Snorlax wakes up... and goes back to sleep. I love Rest. He’ll able to use Stockpile after Rest and the next Pokemon, Klefkei was a relief after Trevenant, even if Metal Sound meant I’d have to switch. I’d have to wait for the second Steel Beam, which is annoying when they know another attack... Wait, Foul Play makes contact! Rocky Helmet FTW! Still, Foul Play is going to be annoying when Snorlax takes it with his 103 Attack. (This is why I breed for 0 IV in Attack.) Klefkei ended up running our of Foul Plays before getting KOed by the Rocky Helmet, but it was nice to think it could happen and waiting for Steel Beam is still fine.


“Battle” 13 was still part of Leg 1 and I think this is a one leg run because the lead Butterfree always uses Substitute on Turn 1... except for the very few times it doesn’t... It used Quiver Dance instead! I was able to use Stockpile once before Sleep Powder, but Hurricane dealt enough damage to force me to use Rest on Butterfree’s final turn.

Starmie always makes me worry, but I had a Stockpile up, their Life Orb meant I didn’t have to use Toxic, and they seem to like using Ice Beam... That last one is a bit worrying because of the Freeze chance, but Thick Fat makes it mostly laughable.

Pinchurin, lol. That’s easy because I can use Rest and... Oh... Electric Surge... Crap... Rising Voltage brought Snorlax down to just over half HP, Audino down to just over a third, and Oranguru to just over a third. I then Dynamaxed, which I should’ve done earlier in hindsight, for Max Guard and to endure the last attack Oranguru would take.

If Gigantamaxing Snorlax was the right play, he’d be at low enough health that it’d probably be a good idea to heal anyway. After Pinchurin turning out to be one of the few threats to this team, I thought it’d be a good idea to heal. I also wanted to be careful after a Leg of 13!


Leg 1: 13 Wins
Kind of good when I couldn't get more than 10 total.


“Battle” 14 had Malamar lead, which made me very glad I healed because it made them merely annoying without Contrary. Malamar and Braviary both made Snorlax use Rest and have to switch out after and Vileplume was very annoying because Snorlax still has the Berry uneaten. Between Malamar and Braviary, I had to use Audino’s Heal Bell to wake up Snorlax twice. Not a good feeling when there’s only 8 PP, but better than losing.


The annoyance continued with "Battle" 15's Drudiggon. Toxic missed, but they used Endure two turns in a row, so... Taunt then Dragon Tail when I switched to Audio was almost predictable, so I wasn’t surprised when it happened twice.

I wanted to have Oranguru use Toxic against Sanaconda, but I didn’t feel safe because of Skitter Smack and switch to Snorlax instead. They used Coil during the switch and when Snorlax used Toxic, but that wasn’t enough to make Sandaconda very strong. I don’t think it would’ve been that bad even if they had Shed Skin.

Blissey had a high chance of being annoying because of Safeguard and a low chance of being threatening because of Metronome calling OHKO moves. Neither happened. Metronome called two good moves, but they were Shadow Ball and a Hyper Voice blocked by Max Guard.


Can this team get to 20? That’d be amazing for a team that couldn’t beat 10 before this try.


“Battle” 16 started with something unusual, an Abomasnow that didn’t use Ingrain. That’s interesting but not enough to raise questions, but using Ice Shard? Of all the things to be an AI breaker, Thick Fat? Really?

And Volcarona started the 17th with Flame Charge... I thought the Restricted Sparring AI was mostly better than the usual AI, but why did they use Flame Charge so much? At least Beartic was threatening. I Gigantamaxed for safety after Toxic and Rest because of their Turn 1 Sword Dance (I was hoping they’d attack the turn I used Rest, but they didn’t.) and it saved Snorlax. The only “problem” with the last Pokemon is Cramorant knew Surf and Rain Dance was up.


“Battle” 18 was another interesting one. Against Pikachu, I can use Stockpile then Res- Volt Tackle Crit. I have to switch. On the bright side, the recoil brought Pikachu to under half HP and they KOed themselves when I switched to Audino. The opponent practically handed me Full Restores by sending out Dubwool, so Pikachu went from, oh crap to oh that was funny. I still used Baby-Doll Eyes 3 times to be safe because Snorlax was at 41 HP.


I thought I was safe when “Battle” 19's Greedent fainted, then came Marowak... I would’ve been doomed if I hadn’t had the Leppa Berry eaten against the lead Bouffalant. Snorlax wouldn’t have been able to stay in with +3 Defenses against Greedent and Marowak would’ve doomed me. I’m not sure if that’s doomed as is needing a heal or doomed as in streak over. I also got lucky with Outrage’s confusion, which ironically meant they didn’t hurt themselves and Snorlax was able to wake up after Rest.


Losing "Battle" 20 would suck, especially when I still had a heal left. Rotom Volt Switched on Turn 1 while Snorlax used Stockpile. They sent out Steelix and Body Press is disturbingly strong even with 2 Defenses Stockpikes. I Gigantamaxxed during Rest so I’d be able to get the third Stockpile off If I realized Body Press only had 10 PP, I wouldn’t have done that though. It wasn’t a 3HKO, but it was close enough to make me spam Rest.

Rotom came back after that, which means the last Pokemon doesn’t know any Fighting attacks. Am I safe? Nope! Volt Switch to Gallade. Sword Dance and Psycho Cut’s Crit chance are bad enough. Fortunately, it neither used Sword Dance or got Crits.


20 Wins! This is the third type I’ve gotten this far and I still have a heal left! That said, I wouldn’t be annoyed that much if I lost before I could use the heal. The few threats are massive and some of them are almost automatic losses if Snorlax hasn’t used Stockpile. (And sometimes even if Snorlax had used Stockpile...)


Things went wrong in “Battle” 21. The lead Mantine couldn’t do any lasting damage Snorlax, but Golurk hit with Dynamic Punch but Snorlax managed to not hurt himself in confusion and used Toxic... but missed... That’s insulting luck! The second Dynamic Punch missed. Between that not having No Guard and not having Klutz not stopping their Life Orb’s recoil, I can tell they had Iron Fist. Snorlax was able to use Rest, but Dynamic Punch dealt enough to 3HKO, so I Gigantamaxed. Snorlax got hit one time during the Gigantamax. By himself when he woke up and failed to use Max Guard. Golurk finally stopped failing on their final turn with a Critical Hit Dig. To make things even more annoying, the final Pokemon was an Octillery with Moody. Snorlax missed with Toxic and was only able to use Toxic and Recycle before Rest because Moody lowered their Speed. For a final insult to injury, their last turn was a 5 Turn Rock Blast with a Crit! D:<

Snorlax was under half HP and I didn’t want to take risks this far into a run. I used my second heal.


Leg 2: 8 Wins

I can almost never complain about a Leg of 8. Not even paling in comparison to the First Leg’s 13 can make me unhappy about this.


“Battle” 22 was easy, but 23? Not so much... Turtonator made me switch on Turn 1. I have no idea how the AI works with Thick Fat, but I know they’ve used Incinerate against Snorlax before. I switched to Audino and let him use Toxic. One good thing about Turtonator is Shell Trap practically means 5 Turns without taking any hits. 5 Turns of switching.

I made a minor mistake that let Audino lose a third of their HP before Turtonator fainted, but I let him stay in a turn against Luxray to use Baby-Doll Eyes because I figured it’d be easy to find a chance to let him heal. They ****ing KOed with a Critical Wild Charge! WHY CAN’T I GET THIRD LEGS! At least it happened with a streak that’s already good enough that I don’t mind that much if it’s suddenly ended. That doesn’t stop me from getting pissed off and being salty, but it’s a bright side in this maddening abyss of darkness! *Strained unhappy smile*

Never mind... There’s no bright side. ****ing Druddigon!

Oh, and “Battle” 24’s lead Aromatisse almost KO Snorlax because of a Crit! Almost.


The bad mood and mood swings continued with “Battle” 25. Lead Comfey... Son of a- Oh, Flamethrower. It’s Zoaroark! I’ll still have to deal with Leech Seed later though. OR NOT IF THEY GET A****ING CRITICAL NIGHT DA- Oh, 1 HP and Snorlax is using Rest this turn. That’s okay. :D

Orbeetle was second and it isn’t bad unless they Crit after a few Calm Minds... or one Calm Mind can be enough... 44 HP left. I had to switch to Oranguru and he was able to stall them until they fainted.

It’s a miracle that Comfey is weak enough that Snorlax can switch in and use Rest... Unless they Crit, which didn't happen. Still have to deal with Leech Seed though. Oranguru deals with it better with Confide and lower HP. RIP some of the few of Oranguru’s unexpendable PP that I’ll never be able to expend all of.


This team has now done better than Poison... I ****ing hate remembering how Poison went...


It was only a matter of time before I faced a Fighting type and “Battle” 26 brought Poliwrath. It missed with Dynamic Punch while Snorlax used Toxic then I switched to Oranguru because I didn’t want to risk more than one turn. Dynamic Punch dealt about a third, but I switched back to Snorlax for Payback then back to Oranguru for another Dynamic Punch, which missed. I tried Reflect and it let Payback deal not too much and let me have Snorlax out when Poliwrath fainted.

Pikachu came close to KOing Snorlax, but Stockpile was able to save him. There was trouble with PP though. I couldn’t use Toxic because it was down to 1 PP and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to use Recycle before Pikachu KOed itself with Volt Tackle. Annoyingly, Pikachu used Play Rough twice before the final Volt Tackle, so Snorlax was brought to yellow health. I’m dead.


"Battle" 27 gave me a flashback to the first time I ever lost in Restricted Sparring. I would’ve laughed at the thought of Ribonbee being a threat before Restricted Sparring, but that thing taught me to fear early game jank. It nearly took Snorlax from 130 HP to 0. He’d would've been KOed if he used Toxic instead of Stockpile on Turn 1.

I thought I was good when Ribonbee fainted, but the last Pokemon was Drifblim Trick means switching was the only option. Also, Snorlax was asleep, so that’s going to be fun... Wait... Why didn’t I Gigantamax to use Max Guard and wake up?

It turns out not waking up didn’t matter. The final "battle's" Perrserker was game over without Audino. As much as I like trying to survive dire situations, I had to admit Screech made it hopeless so I forfeited.


Leg 3: 4 Wins

I don’t know how I got 4 after losing Audino, but who cares?

My best streak before this was 10, so this was a little better than expected.

Side note: My Game Time was 800:01 after this streak I like something about that number. I think I’d have 999:59 or be close if I didn’t soft reset whenever I don’t get a new record. I don’t know why I do that because I lose the BP earned.


I think I'm going to save good streaks with Grass, Poison, and Ghost for last, even after Fire, because I want to get 10 wins in every type (Preferably 12 to beat my Fighting team, but I'll settle for 5 for Fire and maybe Dark) before SV come out. For my next type, Psychic has an even bulkier Recycle user than Snorlax, but my problem with Psychic is possible back line Pokemon don't take hits better than Cresselia, who's bulkier than god. (Literally. She's bulker than Arceus.) More seriously about Psychic, I really wish Wyrdeer was in SwSh... There's no way Water can't be good, but I think I want to try Steel first. I'll try out a move most of you probably haven't heard of and using an Ability that looks useless.

This doesn't have to do with anything, but with July 4th being so soon I want to share my favorite fun fact about it. On July 4th 1776, the queen of England wrote in her journal, "Nothing of interest happened today." Also, July 1st is Canadian Independence Day, so have fun tomorrow if you're Canadian!

 

[sumwun]

How do people make good Battle Tower teams? What are the most important roles in such a team?

 

[Eisenherz]

Leaderboard updated, my apologies for taking so long on this update!!

Honestly, I find both CuneH8sVappy's and CTNC's Restricted Sparring endeavours inspiring, and in their own ways they both go to show there's still a lot of room left for creativity in this format. I hope a few more people try their hand at it in the upcoming years.

How do people make good Battle Tower teams? What are the most important roles in such a team?

It really depends which format you're talking about. No rules? Our leaderboard Dmax category rules? Our leaderboard classic rules? Singles? Doubles?

With classic rules at least, I would say in general teambuilding isn't too different from what it's been in previous facilities, the biggest thing to keep in mind in this iteration being Leon's Charizard that you must have a solid answer to.
With Dmax rules or no rules... the world is your (cl?)oyster, this tower arguably becomes one of the easiest ever made, so you have a lot of leeway.

 

[sumwun]

With classic rules at least, I would say in general teambuilding isn't too different from what it's been in previous facilities, the biggest thing to keep in mind in this iteration being Leon's Charizard that you must have a solid answer to.

In that case, what are the important/necessary roles in previous facilities?

 

[Coeur7]

In Singles, you want to have 1-3 set-up sweepers supported by 2-3 mons that cripple the opponent by reducing stats or taking away moves (including PP stalling). These roles can overlap, Salamence for example contributes to crippling with Intimidate while being an excellent set-up sweeper.

In Doubles, things aren't as clear-cut because of the variety of possible strategies, but useful roles include:
* Fake Out user
* Tailwind / Trick Room setter
* Tailwind / Trick Room exploiter
* Intimidate user
* fast, hard-hitting attacker (effective 110+ base Speed)
* Focus Sash user
* Tank (Sitrus or Gen7 50% berry, or Poison Heal Gliscor, or Leftovers Leech Seed Celesteela/Ferrothorn...)
* Mat Block user (this means Greninja, but you could be the first person to make Mat Block Throh work in TR or something)
* Tapu
* wincon (CM Fini, Gliscor, Kommo-o...)

There is still room for Doubles innovation even in oldgen facilities so I encourage you to build more; following a "formula" is often less effective than "inspiration" and teams that look good due to filling all the roles might not work at all in practice. There's a reason I gave up writing a Tree guide over just playing.

 

[Aduro]

How do people make good Battle Tower teams? What are the most important roles in such a team?

If you want BP, I would prioritise getting KOs and winning quickly over winning the most consistently. At least in SwSh. Because you don't get rewards for a long winning streak, you're better off winning 90 matches out of a hundred than you are winning ninety-nine in battles that take twice as long. Dynamaxing also slows battles down, so try to avoid it.

For doubles, I'd recommend having speed control on one mon, and a strong fake-out user as your other lead. Maybe make sure one of your leads has screens to be safe, or something like screech or fake tears to guarantee you KO any problematic mons turn one.

Keep two strong wallbreakers in the back that hit things that resist your leads. Also make sure you have something that can OHKO Leon's charizard in the back.

 

[CTNC]

I'm back and with a Month left to SV, I had to finish up the write ups I've been sitting on and start they two types that I still haven't tried. Even though all the teams I'm sharing have gotten to 11, but I'm not happy with all of them and will probably come back to them some time after SV come out. Those teams are in hide tabs but probably worth checking out for fun. Also, sorry about the pics being crooked. I should learn how to move the pics from my Switch to my Laptop instead of just taking pics of the screenshots with a Camera.


At first glance, Steel looks like it should be really good because most of them are bulky and the type resists 2/3 of all types, but I felt like the weaknesses were a much bigger deal than resistances. It doesn’t help when I didn’t use the bulkiest Recycle user. You’d think this streak would be really good and it was, but honestly, it kind of felt like a fluke that this streak was this good after the last 2 legs.


Klinklang @ Leppa Berry
Minus
Calm 252 HP/52 Def/204 SpD
-Recycle
-Magnetic Flux
-Toxic
-Rest

There’s not much to say other than addressing the Copperajah in the room, so let’s start with that. Klinklang’s Hidden Ability is Clear Body, which prevents opponents from lowering your stats. In other words, it does something. I’m using an Ability that not only doesn’t work outside of Doubles but also boosts your Special Attack when you’re using another Pokemon with Plus or Minus. (Those Abilities made more sense before Gen 5 because you needed the opposite Ability instead of two of the same also working together.) I could’ve used an Ability Patch, but no. I wanted Plus or Minus. They actually have a use in Singes because two moves that were, ironically, also made for Doubles. Gear Up can only be learned by Klinklang and Magearna. It boosts the Attack and Special Attack of your Pokemon that have Plus or Minus. Literally useless for Magearna in Singles and it might as well be Work Up for Klinklang if they don’t have an ally that’s affected. Magnetic Flux is a similar move that’s learned by more Pokemon. (and is also useless for half of them, including Zapdos.) You can guess where I’m going with this. Instead of boosting both Attack Stats, it boosts both Defense Stats. It’s Cosmic Power for Klinklang! Having that move work is worth the price of having to use a “useless” Ability.

The plan is one you’ve seen me use way too many times. Boost Defenses until only Crits and absurdly powerful Pokemon can deal noticeable damage, use a Leppa Berry and Recycle to never run out of PP, and Rest to recover HP. The EVs balance the Defense stats while keeping Special Defense slightly higher in case of Porygon 2/Z’s Download.

Toxic lets me not stall until Struggle or not face Pokemon that can boost their stats for long enough for them to become terrifying.

Klinklang, out of all Pokemon, has an odd advantage I haven’t seen anyone else have. Butterfree doesn’t seem to like using Substitute against them.


Heatran @ Leftovers
Flash Fire
Calm 252 HP/172 Def/84 SpD
-Will-O-Wisp
-Toxic
-Confide
-Rest

Flash Fire granting an immunity to a type Steel is week to makes it so it’s practically a rule that you have to use Heatran on any Mono Steel team.

Will-O-Wisp is both a Plan B for Steel and Poison Types and a way to lower Attack when I desperately need to. It’s mostly used as a Plan B though. Confide lowering Special Attack makes it just as good an answer to powerful Special Attackers. Toxic is too good not to use on everyone that can learn it and is needed sometimes for Fire Types. Rest, of course, is for recovery.


Celesteela @ Rocky Helmet
Beast Boost
Calm 252 HP/164 Def/92 SpD
-Leech Seed
-Toxic
-Confide
-Rest

I needed a Pokemon not weak to Fighting or Ground and Flying/Steel is perfect for that. (Either that or Bronzong, who I would’ve used as the Recycle user if I missed that Klinklang learned Magnetic Flux. Bug/Steel also works but looks worse because of the stats of the Bug/Steel Pokmeon and their lack of Ground immunity.)

Skarmory’s Base 140 Defense may look tempting, but the Special Bulk is a deal breaker. Corviknight was tempting because of Pressure and because I have a Shiny one, but he can’t learn Toxic and Celesteela has one move that was more tempting than any Shiny Pokemon, Leech Seed. This team laughs at the type that’s immune to it and the passive healing helps make up for not being able to have a second Leftovers. Celesteela not being able to use Roost looks like a problem, but Roost making you lose the Flying type for the rest of the turn would make it terrible for facing Fighting types. Even if Roost didn’t have that downside, Leech Seed is more than a good enough trade off.

A Big Root would’ve increased how much Leech Seed heals Celesteela, but Fighting types are so terrifying that I had to go with the item that makes them faint quicker. (It’s also the item that makes my definition of pacifism even more questionable and helps make me wonder if bone breaking violence is more ethical.) I wasn’t sold on the idea of using a “Leftovers” that only worked after using a certain move anyway.

Toxic, as I said earlier, is too good not to use and Confide is a life saver against powerful Special Attackers.

Notable "Battles"

I didn’t note when this “Battle” was, but Blissey knows Metronome, which is a problem if the random move an Instant KO. Guess what it used and hit with. Explosion. It dealt 3 Damage even after some Magnetic Fluxes. I’m impressed that it dealt more than 1.


I switched to Celesteela against “Battle” 10’s lead Scrafty and Low Kick brought Celesteela down to 101/204 HP. I thought Scrafty couldn’t 2HKO! 0_o I could have sworn it wasn’t a 2HKO, so I’m thinking it’s probably a range. A leg of 10 is really good, so I’ll risk it. I expect the worst and use Leech Seed. Celesteela went first with Leech Seed and endured another Low Kick at 4/204 HP! After that, Rest was the only option. The rapid drain of Leech Seed, the Rocky Helmet, and Scrafty’s Life Orb made them faint in just those 3 Turns!

Celesteela at 120/204 HP and asleep after Scrafty is okay against the right Pokemon, but Heracross is far from the right Pokemon. I didn’t want to Dynamax because of Bulk Up but I don’t want to use anything other than Leech Seed in case of Guts. I stayed in because Heracross doesn’t know any Fighting Attacks, not that they need any. Bulk Up then Throat Chop brought Celesteela down to the point where Stone Edge would KO. If I switch, someone could take massive damage from Throat Chop, but they may use Stone Edge instead. I guess Throat Chop and am okay with having to use a heal if I’m wrong because I figure it’s likely that I’d have to use a heal after this either way. Heracross used Stone Edge. And missed! The miss let Celesteela survive and use Leech Seed. Dynamaxing lets Leech Seed heal enough to heal with Rest afterward, but they still brought Celesteela’s HP pretty low again before they fainted.

Kangaskhan’s Drain Punch looks like a massive problem and is something I had to worry about. I switched to Klinklang because I had no choice but to stall out Drain Punch’s PP. It was dealing about a third before a Magnetic Flux and was weak enough to spam Rest against after a boost. Heatran used Will-O-Wisp after Drain Punch PP stall and Retaliate dealt less than Leftovers healed. With damage that pathetic, Celesteela could use Rest easily.

How do I not need a heal after that?


“Battle” 11 had something I didn’t expect, Wailord being sent out last. It’s no problem, but I had no idea what to do. They know Self-Destruct and are very happy to use it... I tried Dynamaxing, but they didn’t blow up. I wanted to stay in when they were using Tickle, but Klinklang was really low on PP in everything other than Rest. I used Toxic even though I didn’t think I’d need it and had to switch after a few more turns. They were using Bulldoze some, so I tried switching to Celesteela and they took nothing from a Bulldoze. After that, switch to Heatran to not use any PP, then back to Celesteela in case of Bulldoze. Wailord fainted to poison, which I don’t think I’d seen before. That was interesting...


“Battle” 13’s Golduck lead was easy, but Sandaconda forced me to switch out. The possibility of Shed Skin makes Toxic unreliable, but Leech Seed lets me get around that annoyance. Klinklang would wake up as soon as they tried anything, so I switched to them in case of Skitter Smack then back to Celesteela for Sand Tomb or Scorching Sands

I wasn’t sure what to do against Pincurchin because of Rising Voltage, threatening Celeseela, Brine threatening Heatran, and Klinklang being at half health. I thought I’d need Confide and Heatran had Leftovers, so I switched to him. Pincurchin used Charge 3 times before attacking and Brine was pathetic after 3 Confides. I thought I’d overreacted until I switched Klinklang in and remembered Hex’s power is doubled by sleep.


“Battle” 14 forced me to switch to Heatran immediately against the lead Thievul in case of Knock Off. He took nothing from Burning Jealousy during the switch and was able to use Toxic before they used Parting Shot to bring out Malamar. They’re either not a threat and I can take all the time I want or it has Contrary needs to be burned ASAP. I went for Will-O-Wisp even though they have Super Effective attacks and manage to burn them. It’s safe to stay in when they’re at half Attack so I used Confide to check their Ability and their Special Attack rose. Needless to say, The Superpower they used that turn raised their stats too. I switched to Celestella, taking another Superpower, and used Leech Seed. They used Baton Pass to bring back Thievul. That’s not bad but it could be a waste of a Leech Seed. I switched back to Heatran to take another Burning Jealousy and was easily able to stall until they fainted.

Malamar came back and I switched to Celestella for the Rocky Helmet and Fighting neutrality. They used Baton Pass instead of attacking and summoned their last Pokemon, Scolipede. They’re interesting last Pokemon because they also know Baton Pass so I could use Leech Seed and it’d stay until someone fainted, but I want Scolipede to be the last Pokemon and what if the way they use Baton Pass makes Scolipede stay out more than Malamar and faint first? I switched to Klinklang hoping to set up, but they used Baton Pass. I try Magnetic Flux because Superpower has low PP and a Critical Hit made me regret that. It would’ve been lethal if it weren’t for the burn! They used Baton Pass again to bring out Scolipede while Klinklang used Rest. I’d be able to use Magnetic Flux again when Klinklang wakes up. Turns out, Magnetic Flux was practically useless against the move they spammed. They spammed Baton Pass literally every turn until Malamar went from barely in yellow health to no health. After that, the classic stall to Struggle. Scolipede has so much PP in do nothing Status Moves, but stalling to Struggle saves a PP in Will-O-Wisp or Leech Seed.


“Battle” 18 started in an odd mix of good and bad. Mostly good though. Torkoal looked like a massive threat at first because it has Super Effective moves against Heatran and Celesteela. (Now that I think about it, Lanturn also threatens both, but the difference is Klinklang doesn’t care.) Lava Plume threatens everyone but Heatran, and Scorching Sands threatens everyone but Celesteela. Once I thought about it, Torkoal went from top threat to laughable. I can switch between Heatran and Celesteela to take the hits meant for the other. Their last two moves are Solar Beam and Amnesia, which means not only can Torkoal do next to nothing, but it can also be used for healing Klinklang, which is very nice after the last “battle’s” Clauncher took Klinklang down to 104/167 HP. (That damage was even with 6 Magnetic Fluxes and Dynamax!)

Scorching Sands ran out of PP first and I let Klinklang take Solar Beam because their PP are less valuable. After seeing Solar Beam deal over 20 Damage to Klinklang I tried Confide... which failed because of White Smoke. I’d forgotten about Torkoal’s signature Ability...

Second Pokemon, Sirfetch’d... I think the leg is over. Meteor Assault dealt 62 Damage after 6 Magnetic Fluxes! Dynamaxing would just give a turn of Max Guard, (two in a row if I’m lucky.) The which is... actually worth it because of the Leak giving a 50% Crit rate. Dynamax blocked Defog then Max Guard failed against Meteor Assault and the last Max Guard was wasted by Sirfetch’d being forced to do nothing. Final turn, I use Rest for good HP against the next Pokemon and Meteor Assault Crits! I knew it was coming, but still... Ouch. The only good thing was Sirfetch’d fainting the same turn because of poison.

I sent out Celesteela and the opponent’s final Pokemon was Octillery. Leech Seed didn’t miss and, despite an Accuracy drop from Octazooka, neither did Toxic. That was a nice ending after a Pokemon I had to do a lot to survive against and one where survival was a question of coin flips.


Leg 1: 18 Wins!

wat

My previous best was losing after 7. I want to aim for 30, but honestly, I’d gladly take this even if I lost “Battle” 19.


“Battle” 19 had was another with the opponent switching than usual. Not as much as Baton Pass spam, but still more than usual. Their lead Emolga dealt a tiny bit of damage with Electro Ball then used Baton Pass to summon Golisopod. Yikes. Good thing I was able to use Magnetic Flux twice before facing them. I got to use Toxic then Magnetic Flux then had to use Rest and Dynamax to endure until waking up. After 2 turns, Emergency Exit activates and they don’t send out Emolga... Crap... That means their last Pokemon has something Super Effective.

I’m not sure what Gigalith has, but Max Guard will let me find out. Do they know Earth Power? Nope, they have something worse, Body Press. I was at my laptop so I figure why not check the damage calculator. Body Press is much weaker than expected. Klinklang would actually endure if I used Toxic before Rest. Gigalith was easier than expected and Golisopod used all their Close Combat PP, so they should be much better now.

Golisopod landed a Critical Hit! Thank Arceus that Skitter Smack is laughable! Why didn’t they use Razor Shell until their final turn though?

Emolga’s Baton Pass made stalling until they’re out of attacks so there’s be no HP lost at the beginning of the next “battle” was pretty tempting. I was pretty tired and Magnetic Flux wasn’t anywhere near 1 PP, so I gave into the temptation. After that, a break for the night.


“Battle” 20 started with a bad kitty. Perrserker was a good kitty on the first turn and used Fake Out while I switched to Celesteela then was a bad kitty with a Critical Close Combat. Good thing 2 Crits wouldn’t KO even if Leech Seed missed, which it fortunately didn’t. Another Close Combat after that was better than Screech because it meant Rest would be less risky. Leech Seed’s healing meant Celesteela could endure another Close Combat, so I used Confide instead of Rest. Big mistake. The Rocky Helmet was doing a ton and I miscalculated the number of turns Purrserker had left and I had Celesteela in red health against the next Pokemon.

The mistake wasn’t punished though. Lunatone was next and has Cosmic Power after their attacks run out of PP and Accelgor would’ve been just as good because of their two Poison Attacks and Spikes.


I just had a thought. Has anyone here faced someone with three Pokmeon that could set up different Hazards? Something about it seems like it’d be more likely than seeing a trainer with two Lycanroc but I’ve had that happen twice. (It’s possible because there’s two forms and opponents are allowed to cheat.) The funniest team would be Zoaork sent out first or second and two Lycanroc. I’d love to see that.


Anything with a Ground Attack is bad, but at least Celesteela can switch in without taking damage. “Battle” 21 Seaking might be a little worse than most because its other attacks aren’t resisted by Celestella. I wanted to use Leech Seed (because I always do) but Flip Turn makes the more permanent Toxic look better. They used Waterfall until they fainted and I don’t remember what the second Pokemon was. Doesn’t matter though because it was something that let Klinklang set up.

The final Pokemon, Skarmory, didn’t KO with a Critical Hit Body Press, but Klinklang was asleep. 21 HP and Asleep is way too close to KOed to not need a heal afterward and I couldn’t switch to someone else and back because of Spikes so I risked taking a Body Press hoping I’d be able to endure another hit and use Rest but and it KOed...


Leg 2: 3 Wins

>:(
If I hadn’t just had a Leg of 18, I would’ve risked trying for a longer Leg.


“Battle” 22’s first Pokemon, Lunatone. Good! Second Pokemon, Marowak. Son of a-
I used Toxic and Bonemerang is a just short of a 2HKO even after 6 Magnetic Fluxes. I could take another one then Rest, or I could do something other than risk a Crit. I really don’t want to take my chances with a move that hits twice per turn. Celesteela time! Oh, and Leech Seed missed. It didn’t matter other than having to use another PP, but still...

Last Pokemon, Exeggutor. I don’t care if they only have resisted attacks. I’m using Confide! It let Celesteela end up with okay HP, but Klinklang got hit by a Crit after their last Rest. >:(


Thievul lead again in “Battle” 25 and I switched to Heatran again and took nothing from Burning Jealousy. They used Parting Shot before I could Toxic this time and summoned Beartic. So glad Toxic didn’t miss and I got a turn of Beartic doing nothing, but still. Yikes. I switched to Celestella while they used Rain Dance and used Toxic. They outspeed with Swift Swim and dealt enough with Liquidation to make me use Rest, but that was it for Beartic. Toxic, Leech Seed, and the Rocky Helmet added up insanely fast.

Theivul came back and used Parting Shot while I was stitching to Heatran. The last Pokemon was Octillery, so I had to switch back to Celesteela, who took almost half their health from a Rain boosted Critical Octazooka. The only good thing was they didn’t have Moody. I Dynamaxed to endure until waking up then used Rest again. After the Rain ending and using Rest again, I was finally able to use Toxic.

After that trouble, Theivul showed mercy by spamming Parting Shot until they fainted.


“Battle” 26 could only end badly. The lead was a death sentence for someone. Conkeldurr could hit Klinklang and Heatran with overkill Focus Punches and Celesteela was asleep from the last “battle.” I switched to Celesteela and they could 2HKO. I tried to Dynamax to be able to take more hits and use Max Guard when waking up, but Celesteela stayed asleep until they were KOed. The only bright side was the Rocky Helmet taking a third of Conkeldurr’s health.

I sent out Heatran and hoped they don’t have Guts, which they didn’t, and use Will-O-Wisp to try to make it easy to endure, but even with a Burn, no. Their attack forced me to use Rest then Dynamax to survive. They used Bulk Up on the turn I used Rest and Heatran barely survived until Max Guard. The combo of Celesteela’s Rocky Helmet, Heatran’s Will-O-Wisp, and Conkeldurr’s own Life Orb was enough to take Conkeldurr down after that one though.

Heatran was dead if he went second against the second Pokemon. Stoutland outspeed and used... Work Up... I can’t say I’m surprised after this kind of thing happened against Shedinja. I got to use Rest and Klinklang seemed like they’d be able to wake up and do stuff even though they’re at 70 HP. +2 Hyper Beam dealt 55 Damage to Klinklang... That let me use Rest again and use Magnetic Flux easily.

The last Pokemon was Accelgor. Heatran could use Rest after Klinklang stalled Leech Life’s PP and used Toxic. Switching and letting Leftovers heal Heatran would’ve been nice if it weren’t for Spikes forcing Rest instead.


There somehow weren’t many problems in “Battles” 27 and 18, but really I didn’t like how “Battle” 29 started. Braviary isn’t a good sign. Between Bulk Up making it stronger, Whirlwind forcing switches, and its unpredictability, you never know who’s going to be out when Braviary faints or who’s asleep from Rest. In this case, Klinklang needed Rest and Heatran was out.

Runerigus was second and I had Heatran out. Klinklang is asleep, so switching to them would pretty much be a death sentence. Instead I accept my fate and use Confide. They use Earth Power and lower Heatran’s Special Defense. Wow. That’s weak. Why’d they make a Special Moveset for a Physical Attacking counterpart to a Special Attacker? Heatran lost about 120 HP and has about 60 left. Dynamax would buy one turn then he’d get KOed the next... holly crap. The Special Defense Drop mattered. Without a drop, it would’ve been 80 damage, which would’ve let Heatran endure with Dynamax. The only reason Runerigus has a x4 Damage STAB and the only reason they were able to KO Heatran was because of a Special Defense drop!

The last Pokemon was one Klinklang could fully recover against, Rotom. It’s only a matter of time until I lose. It may even be the next “battle” but I try to win even when I’ve accepted that I’ve already lost.


Final “Battle”

I was wondering how the game will chose to end me. Anything even remotely strong with an even remotely powerful STAB Super Effective Attack would work.

The game said, “I chose you, Pikachu!”

Volt Tackle is only neutral, but that works. Volt Switch deals over 100 Damage, leaving Klinklang at about 60 HP. After Magnetic Flux, Volt Tackle deals 2/3 Damage, so about 70, which means Klinklang is barely too frail to be able to use Magnetic Flux then Rest.


Leg 3: 8 Wins

I’m happy with 29. Between a lot of my tries ending early and this run’s last two legs, the Leg of 18 felt like a fluke. It kind of feels right that I couldn’t get 30.

Ground Team

This team got 11 Wins but wasn't able to get a third leg.

Palossand @ Leppa Berry
Water Compaction
Calm 252 HP/28 Def/228 SpD
-Recycle
-Stockpile
-Toxic
-Shore Up

My Ghost Team’s Palossand is back for another team that hasn’t done good enough for me to be happy with! The alternative Recycle user for Ground is Claydol and their bulk are practically identical if you’re balancing Defenses. Palossand has more instant recovery than Rest but Claydol’s Cosmic Power isn’t limited to 3 uses. The only difference between Psychic and Ghost as far as weaknesses goes is Bug, so I looked at resistances instead to chose who to use. Claydol resists Psychic and Fighting and is immune to Ground, but Palossand resists Fighting and is immune to Normal and Fighting. A Ground Immunity sounds nice, but Palossand has a resistance to Bug instead of a weakness. They both have a good matchup against Fighting, but I’ve had enough bad close calls and losses against Fighting to make me pick Palossand for the Immunity.


Steelix @ Leftovers
Sturdy
Calm 252 HP/4 Def/252 SpD
-Toxic
-Confide
-Sandstorm
-Rest

I needed someone that resisted Grass and Nidoqueen was my first choice because she could use Black Sludge. The problem was the last Pokemon had to take every Ice attack and it added up. Their Ability meant they’d be okay without Leftovers, so losing Black Sludge wasn’t a massive loss.

Steelix’s Special Bulk is about the same as the rest of the team’s, so a little above average, but the Physical Bulk is like Steelix resists Physical.

Toxic, Confide, and Rest are the three moves I slap on almost every backup Pokemon so the main thought put into movesets is the fourth move. There’s usually a fourth move worth teaching, but Steelix doesn’t have many other moves worth using. Sandstorm is nearly useless because of how slow it is and how short of time it lasts, but it’s still the least useless filler option. That said, Roar is tempting after using it on my Dark team.

Sturdy is the only Ability that can do anything, but it might as well do nothing because you’re screwed if you’re in a situation where it activates. The odds of it being useful and you not losing are still higher than zero, so it’s still by far the best Ability.


Seismitoad @ Rocky Helmet
Water Absorb
Calm 252 HP/164 Def/92 SpD
-Toxic
-Confide
-Growl
-Rest

Between Water Absorb and not being weak to Ice, Seismitoad is a must have for any Ground team. The typing and Ability alone would be more than good enough, but Seismitoad also learns Growl! Okay, Growl is a just a nice bonus, but Attack lowering moves are much rarer than the universally learned Confide TM and made choosing fourth move much easier.

Someone had to use a Rocky Helmet because I can’t have two Leftovers, so I gave it to the Pokemon that could be healed from attacks.

I don't have much to say about my Flying Team. The Recycle users don't look very good but there's some very nice looking Pokemon for taking on Flying's weaknesses. The Recycle user I went with was better than it looks and I'm pretty sure this team could do better, but it's just good enough for me to be happy with.


Noctowl @ Leppa Berry
Keen Eye
Bold 252 HP/252 Def/4 SpD
-Recycle
-Feather Dance
-Amnesia
-Roost

Good News: There’s a Flying type Recycle user that’s not weak to Ice.
Bad News: It’s Delibird. Between the Ice typing and Base 45 HP, Defense, and Special Defense... To misquote a GDQ Donner, “Every Delibird has a place in the world, right next to the potato on my plate. Kill the Delibird!” (I don’t remember what year it was or if save or kill the animals won that Metroid bid war. :P)

Drifblim can learn Stockpile and Spite but can’t learn Roost and, despite their Base 150 HP, has about the same bulk as Noctowl. (Better Physical, worse Special.) Ghost grants a questionably useful resistance to Poison and immunities to Fighting and Normal. Fighting is a problem for Noctowl with Roost, but the extra weaknesses to Dark and Ghost would be enough of an issue to not be worth it. Will-O-Wisp/Strength Sap/Amnesia/Rest would’ve been fun to mess around with. There’s also the problem of not being able to teach my Shiny Drifblim Recycle in BDSP then be able to move it back to SwSh... I swear Game Freak doesn’t care about BDSP. Prove me wrong! >:(

Base 50 Defense makes Noctowl look pretty frail, but a Base HP and Special Defense of 100 and 96 respective can let Noctowl about as bulky as Braviary’s Base 100/75/75 Defensive stats if he’s using an EV spread that balances Defenses.

Needing to reuse Feather Dance against every Pokemon sounds annoying, but giving -2 Attack per use makes it a pretty reliable way to endure against Physical Attackers that wouldn’t be able to OHKO you with a Crit. If you’re thinking that Feather Dance is useless against Special Attackers, it’s not. Struggle isn’t going to do much even without debuffs though and it’s not like you have any moves that are more useful after 3 Amnesias.


Landorus-T @ Leftovers
Intimidate
Calm 252 HP/4 Def/252 SpD
-Toxic
-Confide
-Sandstorm
-Rest

I’m going to say the obvious thing. I don’t like Landorus’s Stats. The Defensive ones are good, but the Base 145 Attack... I really wanted Gliscor. The typing lets Landorus take two types Flying is weak to, so I don’t see how I couldn’t use him. Intimidate let me max out SpD instead of investing in Def, but there were times I wished I had some Def EVs. I don’t know what I’m doing with Defensive EVs other than balancing the stats or putting 252 in 2 stats. Sandstorm is filler because it was either that or Roar.


Celesteela @ Rocky Helmet
Beast Boost
Calm 252 HP/164 Def/92 SpD
-Leech Seed
-Toxic
-Confide
-Rest

I still needed someone not weak to Ice (unless I wanted a Recycle user that sucked) and I went over why Celestella is the best Steel/Flying in the Steel Team’s description. Celesteela’s Item is still a Rocky Helmet because of Leech Seed making up for the lack of second Leftovers.

Notable "Battles"

I don’t have many notes on the first two legs because I don’t care that much about attempts until I get to 5.

Leg 1 had a Heracross land a Crit in “Battle” 3 deal enough damage to put the team in trouble but I didn’t want to use a heal after that because a first Leg of 3 is disappointing. “Battle” 4 had Pokemon that weren’t major problems by themselves but enough to wear down the team enough that I had to use a heal or lose.


Leg 1: 4 Wins

An okay first leg, I guess.


“Battles” 5 and 6 had no problems, but I immediately switched to Landorus against “Battle” 7’s lead Torkaol. Night Daze was barely not a 2HKO. It’s actually Zoroark, but I thought I was good. Turns out, Foul Play could KO. An Attack lowering Nature and 0 IV doesn’t stop Base 145 Attack from being really high.


Leg 2: 2 Wins

I only need 5 to get to 11, so I guess this could be good enough.


“Battles” 7’s only note was that I switched against Swoobat to get rid of the Skill Swapped Unaware so they couldn’t get it back and 8 had no notes. “Battle” 9 had me mostly use Celesteela because the team was Vanilluxe, Porygon 2, and Minccino then “Battle” 10 made Noctowl spam Roost because of Dedenne’s Super Fang. “Battle” 11 was much more interesting because of Dreadnaw’s Jaw Lock and Dragon Tail only letting me switch when they let me, which wasn’t a problem, and being able to eat the Leppa Berry instantly against Turtonator so Incinerate couldn’t destroy it made me feel smug. Porygon-Z couldn’t deal much to Noctowl, but Tri Attack ended up Paralyzing her.


“Battle” 12 reminded me of why I’m afraid of Fighting types. Sirfetch’d is almost guarantee death without a resist. Needless to say, my reaction was, “SWITCH TO LANDORUS!” Sirfetch’d’s Ability was Scrappy, which I thought was disheartening because it blocked Intimidate but still better than Defiant. I didn’t remember what Sirfetch’d third ability was and was hoping for that, but it turns out Sirfetch’d doesn’t have a third Ability. They used Defog for some reason, which let me use Toxic, but it missed and a Critical Hit Brave Bird forced me to use Rest! I was probably going to Dynamax either way, but they Crit again on the turn I used Rest. The only thing even resembling good news is Brave Bird’s recoil damage will KO them sooner or later. They used Defog in the middle of the Dynamax for some reason and I had to use Rest yet again when Dynamax ended. Sirfetch’d’s Brave Bird wasn’t Critical this time, but it was enough to finish themself off.

Sirfetch’d wasn’t an immediate death sentence, but the next Pokemon was. Taking Mienshao’s High Jump Kick without Intimidate or a resist isn’t happening and you can’t send out your Intimidate Pokemon when he’s already out. I know I’m losing someone and figure Landorus is the best choice to sacrifice because he’s asleep. Before the KO, there was insult to injury with a Critical Hit Fake Out. I sent out Noctowl for Feather Dance and hoped I could endure the second weakened attack and use Roost, but High Jump Kick KOed. Celesteela was barely able to survive two attacks to be able to use Leech Seed and Rest.

Kangaskhan, fortunately for me, is pretty weak without Mega Evolution, so I was able to use Leeh Seed against it and heal to pretty good health with Rest.


The rest of the run is pretty funny if you like hearing about bad luck.


“Battle” 13’s first Pokemon, Sharpedo, dealt a third of Celestella’s HP with Liquidation and my first Leech Seed missed. The second one didn’t miss, but I had to use Rest after another Liquidation. I Dynamaxed because I wasn’t sure if Celestella would be able to survive until waking up without it, especially because of Liquidation’s 30% chance to lower Defense. The first one after Rest lowered Celesteela’s Defense and the combonation of Leech Seed and the Rocky Helmet took down Sharpedo on the second turn of sleep.

Tauros’s starting Lash Out was blocked by Max Guard from the final turn of Dynamax and their Toxic Orb activated. Their Facade dealt enough damage that I’d have to use Rest next turn and Celestella’s Leech Seed missed... That’d be so much more annoying if it weren’t for the Toxic Orb and Rocky Helmet. They forced me to use Rest yet again and dealt over

Surviving against Octillery was easy because they didn’t have Moody. Keeping sane is much harder. Leech Seed missed and I had to use Rest the next turn. The Leech Seed used after waking up missed too... and so did the next one. Leech Seed missed 6 Times! (Even with Octazooka’s Accuracy Drops, I’m calling BS.) The seventh one was the one that finally worked. I had 8 PP before Octillery and ended up with 1 PP afterward. The only even remotely good thing was their Rock Blast missed 3 times while I was trying to use Leech Seed.


I had hope at the beginning of “Battle” 14. Misty Explosion was a good start. Especially because Slurpuff using Wish let me use Confide before the boom. I couldn’t use another because a desert blob outspeed my rocket ship. I didn’t know Slurpuff has Base 84 Speed! Meh. Barely did anything, so who cares?

I used my final PP in Leech Seed and the sounds that came out of my mouth when it ****ing missed were interesting. They used Payback while I was making those interesting noises and they hit with Dynamic punch after I used and didn’t miss with Toxic. I wasted a Confide on the next turn then had to use Rest after that. One more Dynamic Punch landed before they went down, but Celesteela was already confused from the first one, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

The last Pokemon, Seismitoad, could deal about 1/4 Damage with Surf and Celesteela was a little over 1/2, so I’d be able to wake up after taking two hits and use Rest again, but through the power of BS luck, Celesteela hurt themself in confusion instead.

Leg 3: 7 Wins


13 Wins is just enough to be happy with. Electric isn’t untied for the second worst streak I’m happy with any more.

Water Team

Here's how things went with this team when I got past 5 wins. Leg of 10 then a Crit KO after "Battle" 11. I rage quit because I wouldn't be happy with that streak. Next Leg of 10, Crit KO in "Battle" 14... With how long this team takes and how little time is left until SV, I'll just rage quit and take that I got more than Fighting's 11.


Slowking @ Leppa Berry
Regenerator
Bold 252 HP/196 Def/60 SpD
-Recycle
-Growl
-Confide
-Slack Off

Water gave me a choice between two Regenerator Pokemon or a Recycle user. I chose both. Confide and Growl are used instead of Iron Defense and Amnesia because of using two Regenerator Pokemon, but I may be better off with staying in and buffing Slowking instead of weakening the opponent.

I considered Unaware Pyukumuku until I realized it didn’t learn Stockpile. Not being able to boost its Special Defense was the deal breaker. Light Screen isn’t good enough.


Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Regenerator
Calm 252 HP/148 Def/104 SpD
-Toxic
-Confide
-Haze
-Recover

Toxapex is like one half of a Pokemon that can never die. It's not as good as when it was with Amoonguss though. I missed the Rocky Helmet when I tried Black Sludge and didn't feel like Black Sludge wasn't helping much because of Regenerator, so I, for once, didn't use the second Leftovers when I could've.


Lanturn @ Leftovers
Volt Absorb
Calm 220 HP/252 Def/36 SpD
-Toxic
-Eerie Impulse
-Heal Bell
-Rest

Immunities to type your type is weak to on Monotype teams is always amazing and Water has some perfect ways to deal with Electric and, amazingly, almost every Electric immunity has almost identical bulk with Balanced Defense EV spreads and all but one are all worth talking about a little.

Electric Immunities

You’re usually best off with Seismitoad or Swampert. Seismitoad and Swampert both have Growl but Gastrodon can use Recover instead of Rest. Seismitoad has Water Absorb and Gastrodon has Storm Drain, but the Water immunity is way more useful on Ground teams than Water and Swampert has 10% more bulk and Damp lets his use Leftovers and switching to heal against anyone with Misty Explosion. (Those Pokemon suck a ton because it’s their only attack.)

Quagsire is a little less bulky but has niches in learning Haze, Eerie Impulse, and having either Unaware or being able to have Seismitoad’s Water Absorb and Gastrodon’s Recover. (As an added bonus, you don’t need to transfer if from Gen 7 for Toxic and Eerie Impulse is better than Confide!)

Whiscash is the easiest to dismiss Water/Ground type because it’s mostly a worse Swampert, but it still has about the same bulk as Seismitoad and Gastrodon. Tickle weakens Body Press and doesn’t decrease damage from the confusion after Outrage when that matters and Oblivious gives an immunity to Taunt. Gyrados and Weavile are bad enough that a Taunt immunity is worth considering. Then again, you may be better off with a Water Immunity Ability because Whirlpool not letting you switch is the real problem with Gyrados.

Lightning Rod Seaking exists. Unless you want to say Horn Drill doesn’t cause Damage because it only causes KOs, no. Even then, Gastrodon has Fissure. If Seaking has any advantage, it’s the bragging rights if you have success with it. Hmm... Maybe I should’ve used Seaking...

I’ve always loved that Lanturn is a Water type that’s healed by a type Water is weak to and it has some nice looking advantages. A Flying resist, Eerie Impulse, Heal Bell, and Volt Absorb makes Electric attacks heal them. The down side? A Ground weakness. I wasn’t too sure about Lanturn at first because Toxapex is also weak to Ground and Marowak becomes an instant loss, but I still tried it after trying Swampert for a good amount of time. Considering they both come in for their Electric immunity, there’s not much difference. I stuck with Lanturn because Slowbro can beat most Ground Pokemon and Lanturn being able to survive a Grass attack when Toxapex needs to switch out in an emergency, like against Flapple, is way more likely to be useful than not instantly losing to Marowak. I don’t think Marowak was beatable with Swampert anyway, so...

Heal Bell looks very good because of Slowking not being able to heal its Status Problems, but I just let him get Burned and stay Burned. It’s not enough of a problem to be worth using one of the 8 PP on, especially because Burns are common enough to make the PP run out quickly.

Lanturn’s HP is high enough putting more EVs in the Defenses is more effective than putting 252 in HP. For 16 EVs, I can give Lanturn 2 HP or 1 Def and 1SpD. HP is almost always better, but there’s diminishing returns. Here’s an example for what I mean: 100+2=102, which is +2% but 200+2=202 is only +1%. With high enough HP, you get more bulk from putting EVs into Defenses than HP. I like the coincidence that Lanturn still has 252 EVs in a stat. If Lanturn needed even 1 more point in Def, I’d have to use a Bold Nature instead.

Dark was an interesting looking type because it has some really bulky Pokemon but nothing I'd instantly put on my team. No Regenerator Pokemon and the only Recycle user, Alolan Muk, can’t be transferred to any Gen 8 game, even the one Original Muk can be moved to. (I have so many problems with BDSP...) A good place to start is with resistances. Poison resists everything Dark is weak to and gets Black Sludge, so that’s needed for sure. One Pokemon down and I’ve already got all the weaknesses covered... Now what?


Incineroar @ Rocky Helmet
Intimidate
Calm 252 HP/4 Def/252 SpD
-Will-O-Wisp
-Toxic
-Parting Shot
-Rest

I could go with any Dark Type I wanted and I hadn’t gotten to use Parting Shot yet. Will-O-Wisp is also hard to turn down for when you really need something for Poison or Steel types.

Incineroar is the lead to get off Intimidate and switch out without taking Damage on the first turn. There’s no way that can go wrong!

Screenshot of Nothing Going Wrong

I knew that would happen sooner or later, but not on my first try. I’d say that’s the easiest choice on if I should start over for a better “Battle” 1, but I’ve had plenty of instant restarts.

I only get one Leftovers, (two if you count Black Sludge) so I gave a Rocky Helmet to Incineroar because you can’t get Leftovers recovery on the turn you use Parting Shot.

Pokemon usually grow on me when I use them. Drapion, and Noctowl, and especially Appletun are good examples of this. So far, there’s two exceptions. Duarludon sucks. I seriously looked at Guzzlord as an alternative hoping its bulk would be enough to make up for still being weak to Ice, but no. Duraludon still takes only 3/4 what Guzzlord does from Ice Attacks. The other exception, Incineroar. It’s good. It’s really good and I had no problem in Gen 7, but Gen 8 lets me see the details better. The tail tip looks ugly to me and the hands have really long fingers that look wrong. It’d look so much better with paws instead of hands... I still like him more than Duraludon though. Incineroar is irreplaceable because of more than his Typing!


Drapion @ Black Sludge
Battle Armor
Calm 252 HP/28 Def/228 SpD
-Toxic
-Confide
-Venom Drench
-Rest

This is the same Shiny Drapion from my Poison Team. (Poison is my only team where everyone is on other teams too.) Turns out Poison/Dark is the perfect typing for Mono Dark and Mono Poison. (Also Mono Bug, which she should be allowed with along with Flygon.) The Psychic Immunity is much less useful than it was for Poison, but still nice against Pokemon that only know a Psychic Attack and either another Attack that is resisted, or three Status Moves. (lol) As I said earlier, Poison resists everything Dark is weak to. Drapion’s only weakness is also the very easily played around Ground type. She’s invaluable for both teams but it’s much more obvious on the team where she’s sent out against more than just Psychic types.

Battle Armor is a combo of two things I really don’t like. Preventing Critical Hits means it sometimes do nothing because Crits wouldn’t have happened either way, and it’s an “invisible” effect because you’re not told when Crits are blocked. That said, I love Battle Armor. It’s a luck based Ability that removes bad luck and the invisible effect still feels good because I’m paranoid about Crits, which can end and legs or even streaks that haven’t gotten to the third leg. I take enough hits that they will Crits aren’t luck, they’re practically statistically guarantee to happen in dire situations.

Venom Drench feels way more useful on this team than it did on Poison. I guess it’s because of Fighting types and stuff getting poisoned more often, which is ironic when the other team is Poison.


Hydreigon @ Leftovers
Levitate
Calm 252 HP/172 Def/84 SpD
-Toxic
-Confide
-Roar
-Roost

The only thing better than a Ground “Resist” is a Ground Immunity. Mandibuzz is the obvious choice for a Ground Immune Bulky Dark type, but I didn’t like the resistance and weaknesses of Flying. You lose Bug and Fighting weaknesses, but a second Rock weakness would be a serious problem. There’s also the problem where you lose the Flying Type when you use Roost.

Hydreigon’s resistances to Electric and Water are very nice and the weakness to Bug and x4 Weakness to Fairy are manageable with two Pokemon that aren’t weak to it. Going with a second Fighting resistance isn’t as bad as Rock because of Incineroar’s Intimidate weakening Fighting Types. That said, Fighting is still usually terrifying the ones with Defiant beg to differ about that Intimidate helping me though.

I taught Roar because it’s a transfer only move and thought I’d replace it with Rest. I had low confidence because I thought of it as a version of Haze that only delays the setup instead of stopping it. Turns out, Roar has a niche. You can chose what the last Pokemon you face is. It’s a problem when the last Pokemon isn’t one you can get back to full health against. If the opponent has a Psychic type lead or something else that’s easy to do nothing against, you can use Roar to make that their last Pokemon instead. It doesn’t always mean you get to finish at full health, but being able to go from massive damage to full HP from Leftovers and Black Sludge is always fun. I don’t use Roar much though and not having Rest means I have to worry about Status Problems.

Notable "Battles"

My first good looking run got to 8 Wins with Legs of 3 and 5. On the second leg, I survived Weavile and Gyrados, but lost to Steelix because Incineroar was asleep.


There weren’t many problems until “Battle” 7. The toughest was Clawitzer because of Water Pulse being a 4HKO on Drapion after one Venom Drench and the 20% Confusion chance. The first four turns were switch to Drapion then using Toxic, Venom Drench, and Rest. I think Drapion got confused but didn’t hurt herself. Galvantula was also pretty annoying because of fear of Thunder’s Paralysis not letting me send in Hydreigon, but Intimidate and a ton of PP in Sticky Web made it easy enough to recover against. Meowstic dealt impressive damage for once because I forgot their 40 Power Attack is x4 effective against Hydreigon. Still wasn’t enough for a 2HKO though.


“Battle” 7 didn’t start too bad. Solrock burned Drapion with Flare Blitz so I had to use Rest after Toxic. The second Pokemon though, Conkeldurr is praticaly a sign of the leg ending, if not the streak. Drapion was at about 2/3 HP after Solrock and I’m worried that their Ability may be Guts, but not using Toxic may be worse even if they have Guts. Drapion poisons Conkeldurr and Focus Punch KOs. I’m not thankful for their Life Orb making them more powerful, but I am thankful that it gives them less HP turns.

I sent out Incineroar and used Parting Shot. I expected an attack, but they used Bulk Up instead. I switched back to Incineroar and they attack OHKO with Focus Punch OHKO even though they’re at -2 Attack! I don’t know if they have Guts or if they’re just stupidly strong. Either way, I’m going to need to use a heal if I endure this. It’s down to Hydreigon and it’s Dynamax or die. Their Low Kick not working against Dynamax makes Max Guard feel wasted even though it’s the only move that can be used after Dynamax and Dynamaxing is what let Hydreigon not be affected by Low Kick. I expect Focus Punch, but Stone Edge? Okay. It dealt 32 Damage. In hindsight, I don’t think they have Guts. They “just” have Base 140 Attack, a Life Orb, and a 150 Power Nuclear Punch.

The last Pokemon was another one I call brutally strong, but everyone on this team has a very good matchup against Exeggutor. Funny how I used a type that doesn’t resist Grass and I ended up with a team where everyone resists Grass.


Leg 1: 7 Wins

This is a really good team! Some of my other teams might have been better off without Recycle... Legs haven’t lasted long enough to use all the PP when I’m trying not to use PP. Then again, maybe it has to do with the team’s synergy. There’s only so much synergy you can get with Ice, so resorting to Amnesia/Iron Defense Mr. Rime to “brute force” with one Defensive Pokemon may be the better option, even with a lot of weaknesses. Either way, I’d rather not second guess myself. I’m pretty happy with how my teams have done.


I should have used Roar against 8th “Battle’s” lead because Gourgeist only knows Ghost Attacks, but I forgot about it until after the “Battle” because I’m hadn’t gotten used to the idea of using Roar for that yet.

The second Pokemon was Miltank and I let Drapion take it even though Hydreigon resists both of their attacks because I didn’t want to risk Thunderbolt Paralyzing her. Good call because Drapion was Paralyzed after the “How is this game Rated E?” Cow fainted.

I always feel confident about the last Pokemon after an easy second one because I know it won’t have as good a matchup against whoever they were sent out against, but that was false hope. Drapion was out and I had to use Toxic. Fortunately, Paralysis didn’t stop her. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure if Drapion would’ve endured a second Razor Shell. I switched to Hydreigon while they used Shell Smash. I switched between Incineroar to take Icicle Spear and Hydregon to take Razor Shell until Toxic finish the “Battle.”

Even a resisted Icicle Spear from Cloyster is disturbingly strong, so Incineroar finished at 38/202 HP and Drapion was at 78/117 and Paralyzed. I’m not comfortable about the team’s health, but I’m not taking a leg of 1.


Dragalge being “Battle” 9’s lead was perfect. Inciniroar outspeeds and could use Rest to tank Draco Meteors until he could wake up and use Will-O-Wisp before I switched to Drapion, who could now take a Draco Meteor and use Rest. Toxic Spikes wasn’t even a problem because of Hydreigon’s Levitate granting an immunity and Drapion absorbing them for Incineroar when she’s summoned. I’m not sure if you figured this out by now, but I switch a few times per “Battle.” Their love of Toxic Spikes Spam didn’t let them use Flip Turn.

Hydreigon was out when Dragalge fainted. Crustle was sent out. Yikes. The only good news is they like using Sandstorm if it’s not up, so that’s a free turn to use Toxic. I switched to Drapion the next turn and she had to use Rest after two Body Presses then Dynamax until they fainted.

After a Pokemon I didn’t want to face again, the opponent sends out Toxapex. That lets the team heal easily. Dragalge still remaincomes out again and it’s no problem because they’re out of Draco Meteors. Flip Turn brings out Toxapex.


“Battle” 10 was laughable at first. Stoutland spammed Work Up, letting Incineroar use Toxic and Parting Shot then letting Drapion spam Venom Drench. The speed drop was useful for once because going first let me put them to unboosted Special Attack when they finaly attacked with Hyper Beam on their second to last turn. I switched to Hydreigon to not waste PP on the recharge turn.

Volcarona made me regret switching. I switched to Incineroar to not die to Bug Buzz and it dealt about a third. Should I try Toxic? No. I need to weaken this monstrous moth. A Devistating Critical Hit lands before Incineroar uses Parting Shot. He endured with low health, but the important thing is he’s still alive. I sent out Drapion, who was down about 50 HP, and she took another 50 from Heat Wave while she used Toxic. Another Heat Wave brings her to her knees, but Rest recovers it all and Dynamax weakens the next two waves and Max Guard blocked the third when she woke up. There was still one turn left though, but the final Heat Wave missed!

Despite Rhyperior’s Base 140 Attack, I don’t feel like it’s that threatening because of its movepool. I used Toxic and Venom Drench then thought I’d be good with Rest because she’d wake up right before the “battle” finished. Turns out, Base 140 Attack shouldn’t be underestimated. They used Sandstorm on their first turn, I didn’t care what happened the second turn because of Rest, but two Breaking Swipes and Rock Wrecker brought Drapion down to 4 HP during a Sandstorm! I accepted her fate, but the storm ended on the perfect turn. She lived. She had to use Rest on the final turn though.


No one fainted, but Incineroar is at 37/202 HP and Drapion is Asleep. Do I want to risk getting a Leg more than 3? I’m okay with Incineroar at low HP because he’s mostly for Intimidate, but Drapion may not be able to wake up in time if I’m desperate for her...


Leg 2: 3 Wins

It’s hard to be happy about short legs, (My standards have gone way up since Fighting.) but I’m pretty happy that I got 10 Wins in 2 Legs.


“Battle” 11’s lead Lanturn was going to get Roared after it used all its PP for Attacks. It wasn’t a free win though. Lanturn dealt more than what Black Sludge could heal and Thunderbolt can Paralyze. It happened to Drapion but that’s amusing because of Rest and Paralysis also grants an immunity to being Paralyzed. That’s the worst way to be immune, but it’s still a thought I think about until I can use Rest. Hydreigon though, not so amusing. I thought going for a second Confide would be worth it because they were still dealing more than I liked, even after Leftovers, and Hydreigon’s Confide PP were less valuable, so I had her use Confide and... Called it! One good thing about paranoia, you can always say you called it when the worst things happen! My optimism is weird...

Roar sends out another Rhyperior... I switched to Incineroar because I was sure they’d use Breaking Swipe or Sandstorm and they did use Sandstorm. After that, switch to Drapion, who had to use Rest on the Rhyperior’s final turn.

The last Pokemon (other than the free healing opportunity called Lanturn) was Skuntank. Incineroar’s Rocky Helmet doesn’t heal him, so I let him take the Corrosive Gas I expect. Instead, Memento. Cool! Drapion and Hydeigon could be healed by Leftovers and Black Sludge by switching between them against the PP Stalled Lanturn and Incineroar can use Rest then Toxic when he wakes up.


“Battle” 12’s lead Bouffalant has just the right movepool to be annoying for this team. They know Earthquake and Revenge, so there’s a chance of taking a Super Effective Attack no matter who I switch to. I switched to Hydreigon guessing Earthquake because it’s stronger, and Hydreigon takes no damage on the switch. After that, switching between Drapion for whatever’s aimed at Hydreigon and back to Hydreigon for Earthquake. Instead of Revenge, they always used the more powerful Head Charge or Giga Impact. Intimidate let Drapion’s damage be a manageable loss of HP instead of something to worry about.

Obstagoon’s Defiant isn’t worth caring about when Lash Out only has 5 PP, so they’re a perfect last Pokemon. They even make sure they’re last with Parting Shot! I wondered how bad the last Pokemon is if Obstagoon was second.

Parting Shot brought out Gallade. That’s not a bad Pokemon! Hyderigon was out and had to use Toxic, which worked, then I had to switch to Drapion in case of Sword Dance. They attacked with Aerial Ace twice instead, which forced me to use Rest and Dynamax. I wasn’t entirely sure if I needed Dynamax, but I wouldn’t need it against Obstagoon. They used Sword Dance on the turn Drapion used Rest and the buff more than canceling out Venom Drench made it so Aerial Ace would have KOed without Dynamax.


“Battle” 13 was easy, but I faced Gyarados. Taunt and Whirlpool make it instant death against many teams, but against this one? No. Drapion outspeed and poisoned with Toxic. Gyarados likes using Icy Wind against faster Pokemon and it missed. I thought I might be able spam Venom Drench to lower their speed (and Special Attack) until they fainted, but they used Taunt after their second Icy Wind hit. They launched a pitiful Scald while I switched to Hydreigon and I knew I was good. They have two turns, which is enough for the worst case scenario of Whirlpool then Taunt, which didn’t happen, but Whirlpool ends when Gyarados faints. Even then, I would’ve Dynamaxed to block Taunt. The damage was pathetic, but I still healed it against Lopunny.


The 14th opponent lead with Golurk. If they use Dynamic Punch, I want Drapion out. If they use Dig, it’s a two turn move so switching to Drapion is still safe. They went for Dynamic Punch but missed. They don’t have No Guard. Drapion’s Base 95 Speed (How is she that fast?) lets her outspeed and use Toxic before they started Dig. I switched to Hydreigon to take nothing then back to Drapion for Dynamic Punch, which hit this time and dealt close to half. I don’t want to stay in, but I don’t want to switch to Hydreigon because she’d have to use a PP to be in on Dig’s second turn. Oh, it’s safe to send in Incineroar and get an Intimidate! I switched to Hydreaigon again then back to Drapion and Dynamic Punch brought her to a little under half.

The second Pokemon is one I said I didn’t want to see again, Crustle. To make things worse, Drapion hit herself in confusion when she tried to use Toxic. Fortunately, they used Sandstorm and I was able to use Toxic on the second try. Body Press forced Drapion to use Rest then I Dynamaxed to endure while asleep and for Max Guard waking up. I still had to use Rest again.

After that, I was really hoping for an easy last Pokemon to heal against and I got Alakazam.


There’s not much to say about “Battle” 15’s threats, but the lead was interesting. Vileplume’s recovery and Corrosive Gas always makes it a problem because you’re probably losing two items. I let Incineroar use Will-O-Wisp, which missed while they dissolved his Rocky Helmet. After that I had Incineroar spam Parting Shot to weaken their Giga Drains for saving Rest PP and kept switching back to Incineroar immediately. I used Will-O-Wisp later and Vileplume somehow fainted to the burn before running out of PP in everything but Corrosive Gas.

Poliwrath was a much bigger problem because of Dynamic Punch, which hit when I switched to Drapion, but I got lucky with Confusion and was able to use Toxic and Rest then Dynamax and not hurt myself again when trying Max Guard.

Pelipper is a mix of fear from 300 Power Spit Ups and a good finish. Enough Confides weakens it a ton, but a Crit are still a OHKO. Drapion doesn’t care though.


“Battles” 16 and 17 were two not completly easy Pokemon and one easy last one. Well, 17’s Musharna was technically first, but Roar made it last. 16’s Appletun made Drapion stay in because of Dragon Pulse and Incineroar’s lack of Leftovers and their Sitrus Berry and Recover made Drapion use more than 6 moves that lowered their Special Attack before they fell to Toxic.


I started “Battle” 19 with a little damage after the last “Battle” but a lead Pyukumuku lets that get healed before Roar. Porygon-Z was sent out and I used Toxic then Confide. I tried Roost after their Recycle recovered their Normal Gem, but they used Conversion instead of Tri Attack. It’d be a waste of a Roost PP if I was able to use it, but Paralysis stooped Hydreigon from using it. That’s... not a big deal actually... Roost still has 14 PP.

When Porygon-Z fainted, Pyukumuku came back out. Okay. I get to heal what Porygon-Z did. The last Pokemon should be easy if Pyukumuku was sent back out unless the AI sent them out because they thought Counter was good because it’s a Fighting Attack. The last Pokemon can’t be that ba- Cinccino is bad. I switched to Incineroar and they used Tail Slap instead of Triple Axel for some reason and it hits twice. Good News: No Skill Link. Bad News: Still painful. Not painful enough for a possible KO though. Maybe I overreacted out of habit. It’s not bad with the Rocky Helmet and Intimidate.

I had Incineroar use Rest against Pyukumuku, switch out then back in in case of Spite, and use Will-O-Wisp after waking up. They spammed Counter (lol) and Will-O-Wisp missed. That’s one good thing and one slightly longer stall. Stalling out a Burn vs Stalling to Struggle... isn’t a big deal. Oh, they’re low on PP. I can tell because they used Toxic when my Paralyzed Hydreigon was out and I was switching to Incineroar because I thought it’d be no risk free Intimidates, but they’d run out of PP in their more useful moves. Rest then Parting Shot and stall to Struggle. It was either Parting Shot or Max Guard at the cost of a Parting Shot PP..


“Battle” 20 started good. Heh heh. Alcremie’s going to KO itself with Misty Explosion. Lol. They used all their other moves first though. Baby Doll Eyes, Safeguard, Fake Tears. Pathetic.

Second was Azumarill. That’s a mix of, “Oh crap!” and “Toxic then 3 Turns. Lol” I use Toxic because it’s that or death after Belly Drum and... Oh, right. Safeguard. OH ****!

I switched to Hydreigon hoping they could endure and they were dealt a little over half from Body Slam, so I had to switch to Incineroar. They used Aqua Jet... Why?! Incineroar lived, but why? I think about the situation and it sucks Anyone I switch to would get 2HKOed and I need Toxic, so... I let Incineroar take another hit and he goes down. Drapion uses Toxic then Dynamaxed for Max Guard. After Belly Drum and the Rocky Helmet, that’s all that’s needed.

Drapion could heal against the last Pokemon, Dusknoir, but Ice Punch meant Hydreigon couldn’t. With that brutality over I have to say I can’t believe a Misty Explosion Pokemon was devastating. That’s a first.


I wished I had Incineroar for “Battle” 21’s lead Greedent because they were going to use Thief Sooner or later. I had Drapion use Confide until they used Thief because giving them the Black Sludge would help.

I use Roar and the opponent summons Pikachu. Of all the things for an awesome hydra to get OHKOed by, why does it have to be Pikachu’s Play Rough. Switching isn’t an option because Drapion would be 2HKOed before being able to do anything. I can hope for the 10% chance for Play Rough to miss, but I figure it’s not happening. It didn’t miss.

I can either try Toxic or try Volt Tackle Recoil. I use Rest and a ~110 Damage tells me that was the right choice. I Dynamax to endure until waking up and Pikachu KOs itself with two more Volt Tackles.

Toxic has 3 PP left. Greedent is as good as down because of the Black Sludge they stole, so 1 PP would be saved but after the last Pokemon, getting 22 wins would mean enduring 3 Pokemon with 2 Toxics. That’s not happening. Still going to try though! The final Pokemon of my (probably) final win was Lanturn. The same Pokemon that Paralyzed Hyderigon at the beginning of this leg. Aqua Ring and Leftovers is an annoying loss of PP, not that it matters at this point. The bigger problem was Drapion ended at 69/177 HP (Please don’t make a “nice” joke unless you can explain why it’s nice without getting your post deleted. Good luck.) and the biggest problem was the Toxic PP.

Screenshot of Opponent 22

The loss shouldn’t be called a battle even with quotation marks. It’s not even worth trying 1v1 against Taunt.

Leg 3: 11 Wins

And I thought the Leg of 7 was almost crazy!

I'm going with Fire before Psychic because Psychic gives me a feeling of no idea of how to support the Recycle user. Ironicly, Fire sucking makes me more confident.

 

[MattC (Banned)]

So I need a feasible gen 8 battle tower team. No, its not restricted sparring - its just the battle tower. Also, it must be in the original Galar dex. This way, I can feasibly obtain it in-game (and items).
In the meantime, ill make myself a paste of all sets possible

 

[SilverstarStream]

Boo! Spooky ghosts have started haunting the students of the Master Dojo, and just in time for Halloween! They're powerful ghosts too, harnessing the spectral power of Max Phantasm, or unnaturally phasing through attacks with intangibility. Each of the students blame three specific ghost species, and they all swear they're being haunted on the Battle Court!

I'm reporting a streak of 133 wins for Ghost-type Restricted Sparring with Blacephalon / Mimikyu / Shedinja.

The Team​

Blacephalon @ Shell Bell
Timid Nature
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Flamethrower [24 PP]
- Ember [40 PP]
- Solar Beam [16 PP]
- Shadow Ball [24 PP]

Mimikyu @ Leftovers
Jolly Nature
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Swords Dance [32 PP]
- Shadow Claw [24 PP]
- Wood Hammer [24 PP]
- Play Rough [16 PP]

Shedinja @ Focus Sash
Brave Nature
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 SpD*
IVs: 0 Spe*
- Agility [48 PP]
- Hone Claws [24 PP]
- Baton Pass [64 PP]
- Shadow Sneak [48 PP]
* It simply needs to have maximum Atk and minimum Spe, also more SpD than Def for Download to raise Atk.

After getting a feel for the team, I almost wanted to run a level 49 Shedinja so that it underspeeds Exploud at +2. But that would require breeding for Atk and Spe in Gen 4 instead of just Spe. It's a fairly minor optimization anyways.
This doesn't work. Unfortunately all Pokemon become level 50 in Restricted Sparring.

Final Stats

Blacephalon
Level 50: 129 / X / 73 / 203 / 99 / 174
Level 100: 248 / X / 142 / 401 / 194 / 344

Mimikyu
Level 50: 131 / 142 / 100 / X / 125 / 162

Shedinja
Level 50: 1 / 156 / X / X / X / 40
Level 100: 1 / 306 / X / X / X / 76
(SpD should be greater than Def)

​

This team should look pretty familiar at least by its members, but I did go through a small teambuilding process to arrive at it.
I think Mimikyu and Shedinja are far too good to pass up, which just leaves the last slot to fill. From my time trying RS Fire, I saw that Blacephalon has incredible potential as a lead and can go very far in a leg. However, running Blacephalon as a lead with Leftovers means its potential usually goes to waste because it can't survive long enough. I wanted to try lead Blacephalon in Ghost since this team structure can afford the Shell Bell to Blacephalon, and Shedinja provides pivot options that save Blacephalon and allow Mimikyu to deal with most things that Blacephalon can't.

Set Details

Blacephalon
A very model lead for RS. It possesses: an incredible offensive stat, which is bolstered by Beast Boost, great speed, nice offensive typing, and comfortably high PP with Ember.
In terms of flaws, it does have to eschew coverage to run both Flamethrower and Ember. Though more importantly, Blacephalon is frail. It can't take hits well, and any decently strong crit probably KOs. It only lives hits because of the double HP from Dynamax.
Otherwise there's nothing special to this set. It ends up being the same set as AlphaClement's. It's also just a better Chandelure.

Mimikyu
A standard RS Mimikyu set, aside from the Leftovers. There isn’t much thought behind the EVs, especially since it's not the primary lead. Mimikyu so rarely has to take damage that she can very comfortably run Leftovers and slowly heal any damage, helped some by Grassy Terrain. There are even some opponents that Mimikyu and Shedinja can constantly switch around to heal back to full, if needed.
While attempting this streak, I noticed that the AI seems to have a behavior to use a random attacking move or possibly prefer a move with an additional effect (like Thunderbolt) to take out Disguise. Eisenherz elaborates about that behavior in his RS Fairy writeup. Mimikyu coming in from Shedinja means this can be somewhat avoided, but it also puts more strain on Hone Claws' PP, when I'd rather that strain be placed more on Swords Dance.
One more thing, it's nice to get to use my shiny Spooky Cup Mimikyu. Especially since it appears that the competition began four years ago today as of posting this.

Bad Pun

Mimikyu is a blessing in Disguise.

Shedinja
I believe that Hone Claws and Baton Pass are nigh obligatory on RS Shedinja. Agility is hard to pass up since both Mimikyu and Blacephalon get good use out of it. Unfortunately, that leaves just one move slot. I chose Shadow Sneak so that Shedinja can damage down opponents, break Sturdy, and even KO specific foes. In theory this saves some PP since Shedinja can occasionally come in to finish off the third Pokemon, but in practice this only saves a handful of PP per leg. It's a nice idea, but nothing streak-defining.
As noted by AlphaClement and Eisenherz, Shedinja is wonderful as a paralysis sponge, even benefitting from having the status.
I have to acknowledge AlphaClement for using False Swipe of all moves. It's delightful seeing a format and a player creative enough to make False Swipe an optimal move. Shadow Sneak does have a drawback though; it can't hit Normals, which False Swipe obviously can.
This set runs Focus Sash, informed by AlphaClement's comment on his streak, namely to survive Zoroark. But despite its type advantage over Ghost, Zoroark typically isn't a problem. +0 Max Phantasm is Blacephalon's only Max move that fails to OHKO it. +1 or any other Max move gets the KO. Zoroark doesn't appear often, and the couple of times it did during this streak it was harmless.
Aside from Zoroark, situations can come up where it's useful to have Sash; this very streak would have greatly benefitted from doing that. Anyway, Shedinja barely gets any utility out of its held item. It almost doesn't matter what it holds.

Additional Thoughts​

While playing this team, I got the sense that it breaks from the double lead structure slightly, even though this is categorically a double lead team. Instead of the first lead eventually fainting to bring in the second lead, Shedinja and Mimikyu are leveraged to keep Blacephalon alive as long as possible. Really, a leg tends to reach its conclusion once Blacephalon is out of PP since Mimikyu doesn't last long on just Leftovers and Grassy Terrain. I anticipated playing it so that Blacephalon would faint then Mimikyu would take over, but that's not how it turned out.

And my final note, this is a fairly unstable team. It's inconsistent since it relies on a sizeable amount of opponent luck, going by the threat list.
As much as I can praise Blacephalon's potential, and Ghost is a great environment for it, its defenses are still so low. There's a lot that can go wrong, especially damage-wise on Blacephalon. And because of Shedinja, once Blacephalon or Mimikyu faint pivot options are removed. This took a good number of attempts to even land a streak of this quality. There's a lot that has to go right to get a successful leg, let alone a successful streak. About 140 battles is a reasonable upper limit of this team, which is around 3 times its average successful leg length.

Streak Details​

Here is an overview of what happened during the the streak along with some comments.

Streak Details

First Leg (Battles 1-50)
The first leg was smooth and straightforward, to a strange degree. Though some of that can be expected in the first leg of a submitted streak.
Blacephalon ran out of PP in battle 50, and I decided to heal after 50.
Mimikyu had [4 Shadow Claw / 3 Wood Hammer / 3 Play Rough] and Blacephalon had [0 / 0 / 0 / 1 Shadow Ball].

Second Leg (Battles 51-92)
Shedinja was paralyzed by Magneton at battle 66.
Around battle 75, I started getting nervous about Blacephalon's PP. A Pyukumuku around battle 52 Spite'd Solar Beam, and Solar Beam and Shadow Ball were draining much faster than the Fire moves. Mimikyu also barely had any chances to come out; I only brought her out a couple of times. Thankfully Blacephalon's PP started leveling out over the rest of the leg.
Blacephalon went down at battle 90 with [3 Flamethrower / 0 / 0 / 1 Shadow Ball].
I healed after 92 due to concerns about Mimikyu's HP.
Mimikyu had [12 Shadow Claw / 10 Wood Hammer / 11 Play Rough].

Third Leg (Battles 93-133)
Mimikyu fainted at 121 due to having low health and a poorly timed Sharpedo. This was my roughest misplay. I could have sacrificed Shed's sash instead to bring in someone, but it was a bad situation since both Mimikyu and Blacephalon were sitting around half HP. This Sharpedo would have ended the streak if it had Speed Boost, regardless.
I had to sacrifice Shedinja at 124 to a Flapple.
Despite the compromised team, Blacephalon managed to finish out the leg admirably and ran out of PP in battle 134.

Threat List​

Here is the threat list, with threats roughly sorted from most threatening to least threatening.

Threat List

• Weavile
  Weavile is the biggest threat to this team. Weavile outspeeds and has a flat 50/50 to crit and OHKO Dynamaxed Blacephalon. There's no out, it's just unforgiving Facility RNG whenever it's encountered. If it's not the lead, the AI doesn't see a Night Slash KO so it can sometimes go for Taunt or Shadow Claw instead, thankfully. And all this only applies to full health Blacephalon; an injured Blacephalon is almost always a dead streak. Weavile is one of the biggest reasons for making sure that Blacephalon and Mimikyu get Agility passes whenever possible.
  
  
• Boltund
  It can't be a surprise to see Boltund on a threat list. Crunch with +1 from Cell Battery is very dangerous for Blacephalon, it's a 13/16 chance to OHKO. +1 Blacephalon doesn't even have a range to KO if Electrify is used. On a good note, if Boltund leads it sees an OHKO with Crunch which is avoided once Blacephalon Dynamaxes, so that means instead of dying, Blacephalon just takes a bunch of damage. Or it dies to a crit anyways.
  
  
• Gigalith
  If Gigalith has Sturdy, or lead Gigalith has Sand Stream, Blacephalon can't OHKO Gigalith and is in immediate danger. Its instant +1 Meteor Beam has a 50% chance to OHKO a Dynamaxed Blacephalon. Shedinja could sacrifice its Sash to bring in Mimikyu, but it's a bit of a tricky play. It also doesn't work in Sand.
  
  
• Mantine
  Mantine has maximum HP and SpD aside from Nature, which translates to Blacephalon never having a KO on it. Even at +2, Max Phantasm only has a 25% chance to OHKO. Switching to Mimikyu is the play, but it's not favorable since the AI can simply double Hydro Pump depending on its whims. It can't KO Mimikyu from a high health, but it's still a lot of damage. It also sets up rain which can make Blacephalon's situation against the third Pokemon tricky.
  
  
• Jellicent
  +0 Blacephalon has a 9/16 chance to OHKO Jellicent with Max Phantasm. Very not favorable. Poltergeist also deals a lot of damage, and there's no pivot option, so Blacephalon always just has to go for it and if it fails to KO it will take a chunk of damage.
  
  
• Cinccino
  Unfortunately Cinccino speed ties with Blacephalon, and Rock Blast can do a lot of damage. Cinccino can't easily get the KO if Blacephalon is full health, but if it isn't Blacephalon is probably dead. This Pokemon is another reason that Blacephalon and Mimikyu want Agility passes.
  
  
• Pyukumuku
  The classic RS enemy. If Shedinja is paralyzed, it has a stall option and Pyukumuku is no threat. Otherwise, Blacephalon or Mimikyu have to go for the Max Overgrowth KO. Blacephalon has a 9/16 to KO a lead or Unaware Pyukumuku. If there is Grassy Terrain or Blacephalon has +1 and it's Innards Out, Blacephalon has the OHKO. Mimikyu only has a 9/16 KO on Unaware Mimikyu if Grassy Terrain is up, or it has the OHKO if it's Innards Out. And obviously Innards Out stings, but Dynamaxed Blacephalon can usually take the hit and heal it back later.
  
  
• Lycanroc (Midday)
  Blacephalon is afraid of very fast rocks, it turns out. Accelerock is a guaranteed OHKO on un-Dynamaxed Blacephalon, so the AI really likes to go for it if it leads Lycanroc. Once Blacephalon Dynamaxes, it takes a little over 50% damage. It's the priority of Accelerock that makes Lycanroc so dangerous, since it can finish off a lower health Blacephalon. The AI tends to not use Accelerock if Lycanroc comes in on a high health Dynamaxed Blacephalon since it doesn't see the KO, which is helpful.
  
  
• Thievul
  Thievul is only threatening if it leads. Blacephalon has a 1/16 chance to OHKO Thievul with +0 Max Flamethrower, so very often it will live and use Knock Off, damaging Blacephalon for quite a bit, and wasting a precious Dynamax turn. To rub salt in the wound, Blacephalon won't be healing any damage that battle since Shell Bell isn't there.

Summary​

This is my first submission for Restricted Sparring. I'm looking forward to attempting and posting solid RS streaks in the future. Hopefully those streaks will display more creative teambuilding, and hopefully some of them will take the top spots of their types.

It's quite fun for me to get to post a Ghost streak right before Halloween.

Thank you for reading.

 

[MattC (Banned)]

Hi. I got an idea

Restricted Sparring seems so focused on PP. So why not use Cofagrigus? It has Spite, Knock Off, Iron Defense and more. Its bulk is excellent, and it has Nasty Plot as a setup move. Its speed is somewhat a bad thing but it has Trick Room if you wanna use it. Tbf, Ghost isn't a defensive type of... type. And Cofagrigus gets crippled by not having Leftovers. But this isn't much of a big deal. While I don't play Restricted Sparring, I like to have counterintuitive shit. So keep note of this: stall and shell bell / leftovers reign supreme. And until next time, goodbye

 

[MattC (Banned)]

Back at it with a team I made for the Battle Tower despite SV around the corner. Also, its Galardex no legendaries cuz I'm built different. Note that this is for singles and not recommended for doubles

Pyukumuku@Leftovers
- Toxic [16PP]
- Block [8PP]
- Spite [16PP]
- Rest [16PP]

Ok ye this is a thing. Pyukumuku can stall out 96+ turns if it gets off a Block, Spite and Rest chain. Wow. Just use it against smth that fails to deal reasonable damage to it and you can just stall out a lot - including Poison and Steel types


Darmanitan-Galar@Choice Scarf/Band
- U-Turn [32PP]
- Ice Punch [24PP]
- Earthquake [16PP]
- Fire Punch [24PP]

Dear lawd. This thing is monstrously powerful. Dracovish ain't got nothing on something that outspeeds it and has a built in Choice Band. Flare Blitz exists, but you'd want to probably not kill this Pokemon ye? Icicle Crash also is a thing a, but this thing is just so strong you don't need power with a drawback. Also dual Choice Band is crazy high damage


Aegislash@???
- King's Shield [16PP]
- Shadow Ball [24PP]
- Flash Cannon [16PP]
- Sacred Sword [24PP]/Metal Sound [64PP]

Ok: Darmanitan goes down and you need a special attacker. What do you do? Use Aegislash of course. It got perfect coverage in Ghost/Steel/Fighting and the item can vary heavily. Maybe you can do Expert Belt - or weakness policy. Or Blunder Policy + Metal Sound as a risk reward. Whatever the case this thing is great. Its got bulk and power and versatility with a limited movepool.

Lemme know what teams for the Battle Tower you use. And with that being said, goodbye

 

[S0UTHPAWKLAW]

Hey Smogon! Hope this is the right place for this and sorry for the wall of text, but TL;DR - New Endless Dynamax Lair World Record - 38 Floors:

As we enter the month of Scarlet and Violet’s release, we have our own tribute to Generation 8 - a new world record for Endless Dynamax Adventure. As of May 21, 2022, my brother and I finally overcame one of the greatest challenges of our gaming careers: going deeper into the endless dynamax lair than anyone ever had before. Each of us manning two nintendo switches, this 38-floor run clocked in at over 13 hours of non-stop critical decision making. We even saw the sun come up outside as the run was nearing its end. This was not a fluke, but the result of months of attempts. We probably went through a total of ~300 floors, spent countless hours in the Lair, and had loads of fun the entire time.

Once we noticed the (now former) world record was 32 floors (see here:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1327129337708089346

) we were determined to surpass it.

We started our journey by playing with two other random people online, but unfortunately disconnections or quit-outs were quite common when we were gunning for long runs. So what did we do? We copied ourselves ourselves by getting two other Nintendo Switch systems to play together as 4 players, each of us on two switches. We also set up a battle station with various tools to help us along the way. We printed out a sheet that listed all the Dynamax Legendaries of each type so we could narrow down what was left. On a tablet, we had a map that we could quickly write what things we saw on the floor within the 15 seconds alotted so we could discuss our path further. We had all four switches plugged in at all times to avoid shutoffs, kept a PC nearby for base stat lookups or damage calcs, and pre-cooked food ready to go for us to stay top notch at our battlestation for entire weekends. These methods were paramount to the success of our final run.

This post provides an overview of the Endless Dynamax Lair game mode and why it is so compelling, the components of a great team in the Lair, and an analysis of some of the unexpectedly great pokemon that we found along the way.

THE LAIR - CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED

Endless Dynamax Lair mode is a rental pokemon mini-game mode found at the very end of Sword and Shield. Not only is it a lot of fun to play with friends, but it is also the most reliable method of collecting Dynite Ore. With Dynite Ore, you can essentially get whatever you need in the game to train your Pokemon up to competitive standard. (i.e. Ability Patches/Capsules, Vitamin Drinks, and other very useful items). That was the reason we started playing Endless Dynamax Adventures… until we realized that it is also the greatest rental pokemon game of all time.

Each run starts with the draft. You get to choose four pokemon from a set of 6 - the movesets, abilities, and natures of the four pokemon are entirely not up to you, and you have to work with what you get.

After choosing your initial draft, you are presented with a floor of Pokemon in a series of decisions - left or right? At each point there is a pokemon you and your three buddies battle in its Dynamaxed form, and all you know about them is their type and a silhouette. Quite literally “Who’s that Pokemon?” but the stakes are high and it is often very difficult to figure out who it is. When you defeat one of these pokemon, you can choose to switch out one of your current teammates with that new pokemon. You will need to switch strategically and often, as you only have 4 stocks and your pokemon do not replenish their pp.

At the end of the floor is the legendary Pokemon which will only show its type but not its shape. These legendary battles are incredibly difficult - we had never felt this level of fear in a pokemon game before. When (or if) you defeat the legendary, you gain a stock and go to the next floor.

It's worth emphasizing that every time you have to make a decision on the floor, you have literally only fifteen seconds to decide. 15 seconds to analyze the Pokemon presented on the floor and make a judgment call of which path you want to take with your partners. In just 15 seconds you need to react to what the Legendary’s type is, which legendary pokemon you are most worried about based on your current team, what kind of Pokemon are on the floor that you need on your team to deal with those possible legendaries, and what Pokemon your team can take on. And that goes on for hours. The Lair is more than just a pokemon game, it’s a test of mental stamina.

One thing we love about this mode is that a lot of Pokemon that were not competitively viable ended up being very good in this mode. Pokemon like Lilligant, Luxray, Togetic, and Comfey were absolute staples. Gamefreak balanced pokemon in this mode similar to Pokemon Stadium in that they would balance them via movesets. For example, back in Pokemon Stadium you may prefer to use Voltorb due to its extremely versatile moveset (Mirror Coat, Thunder, Rain Dance, Explosion) as opposed to an Alakazam who would only be given Confusion for its STAB move.

All of this makes for an incredibly deep, difficult, and compelling rental pokemon game.

Key to Success: “The Four H Pillars”

In the early stages of our experience in the Dynamax Lair, we honed in on specific star Pokemon that we thought had fantastic qualities. Unfortunately, we kept running into at least one issue. For instance, we would move through a floor picking up Galarian Mime, Ditto, and Comfey, which were star players for any team, only to find that it made the team too passive and we’d be stalled out by a Dialga. Or, the other way around, we have a team full of pokemon with only attacking moves but no one that could help withstand hits or heal. Eventually, we started to understand that if you wanted to make the dream team consistently, you may need to sacrifice some really good Pokemon for certain attributes you needed, such as healing or a super effective move. The whole team needed to round each other out.

Enter the first three H’s. You need Pokemon who can “hedge”, “heal”, and “hit”. “Hedging” for us meant the difference between getting smacked by a Max Steelspike to death and holding onto that stock. So things like Follow Me/Rage Powder redirection moves, Coaching to boost defense, Light Screen/Reflect, etc. would prevent unpredictable deaths. On top of that, you need “Healing” to be able to keep your good Pokemon healthy. Otherwise, you would need to constantly swap your Pokemon out or be stuck to going for berries and easy fights. Finally, you need a Pokemon who was “Hitting” the Pokemon in the front. That hitter either needed raw neutral damage output such as Guts Luxray Facade, Thunder Galvantula, or Shadow Punch Golurk, or it needed to hit the upcoming legendary super effectively for significant damage.

At the time, we thought two hitters were usually required to make something happen. That wasn’t until we discovered how insanely important the last H Pillar was: “Halvers”. In singles, Swords Dance is preferred over Screech as it is 100% accurate and the boost will stay on the Pokemon attempting to sweep. In the Dynamax Lair, however, Screech effectively gives a Swords Dance to all four of your partner Pokemon. Therefore, a “Halver” was one who could significantly increase the speed of the match and reduce the time the opponent had to hurt the team. Things like Acid Spray, Fake Tears, and Screech would sometimes outright kill the Legendary before it could be desperate and double attack. Speed control, such as Rock Tomb on Piloswine, can also give your team leverage to defeat the legendary before it can use its double move, nullify your stat boosts, or use a max move.

Therefore, we finally concluded that a great Dynamax Lair team had all four of these H pillars present in some way. A decent enough team would have three of the pillars with two of them needing to be Hitter and Healer. If we weren’t meeting either of these rules at any given moment, we would prioritize filling the gap as soon as possible.

Analysis of the S-Tier Pokemon
The Dynamax Lair Queen: Lilligant + Shell Bell/Leftovers (S+ tier)

Lilligant is undeniably the best Pokemon in the Dynamax Lair bar none. Nine times out of ten when you see this Pokemon on screen, you go for it. Every move in Lilligant’s set takes key assets from every H pillar all in one Pokemon. She has access to arguably the best stat boosting move in the game, Quiver Dance, which provides her speed control and extra bulk while also boosting her two deadly moves. Quiver Dance is practically a 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner for Lilligant, providing her both “halving” and “hedging” qualities in only one turn. With the speed boost, you can react to whatever you want her to.

With Quiver Dance, if one of her partners gets hit hard, the next turn she will outspeed any unboosted Pokemon and get off a reaction healing move in Pollen Puff. Pollen Puff is a 90 base special bug move that calculates damage normally on opposing Pokemon but calculates as a Heal Pulse when targeted on allies. Therefore, the Quiver Dance enhances her ability to reliably heal her allies. On the flip side, she also has access to the deadly Petal Dance + Own Tempo combo. Petal Dance is a 120 BP STAB special move for Lilligant which hits absurdly hard after one Quiver Dance, letting Lilligant function as a hitter. With Own Tempo, she can avoid the downside of being stuck with confusion status infliction after the dance ends. Finally, the last thing that makes Petal Dance so good is that when she is locked into the move, she doesn’t expend PP in her subsequent locked-in turns. This is HUGE for her longevity.

With these three moves in her moveset alone – Quiver Dance, Petal Dance, and Pollen Puff – she effectively has all four H pillars put into one Pokemon. The layers to her thesis in this game mode are astronomical and it almost seems as if Gamefreak specifically tailored her set to be perfect for the Dynamax Lair. At this point, her last move being Light Screen is just the cherry on top for her hedging capabilities. Light Screen a lot of times can mean saving a stock to keep your star players. Regardless of being unquestionably the queen of the dynamax lair, she does come with her flaws. Pollen Puff/Petal Dance is not very good offensive coverage, getting completely walled by a lot of types like Fire, Steel, Poison, and Flying. Typically, if this occurs, she can stay relegated to providing screens and healing any way, but she definitely prefers partnering with ground type hitters. She also requires Leftovers or Shell Bell since Pollen Puff can’t heal herself. Regardless of her two flaws, if you come across Lilligant, expect her to be a constant threat and carry the team on her back the whole way.

The Best “Hedger”: Togetic + Eviolite (S+ tier)

Next on our list is a Pokemon you probably wouldn’t expect: Togetic. With a very respectable 85 Def / 105 SpDef, having the ability to equip Eviolite which simultaneously boosts both her defensive stats by 1.5 makes her extremely bulky. She has excellent typing as a Fairy/Flying with two immunities in ground and dragon types. The primary key to her game is Follow Me. You can consider a lot of matchups a guaranteed win with this Pokemon, especially Dragon type legendaries and the floor’s ground type Pokemon. Worried about your partner dying to a crazy strong High Horsepower/Max Quake? No problem, Togetic can just spam Follow Me and guarantee you make it out safely.

On top of this, she has access to Life Dew, which effectively heals all Pokemon on her side of the field, including herself, by ¼ of their HP. This is a significant enough amount of HP when considering that your partner Pokemon will most likely be equipped with extra recovery in Leftovers, Shell Bell, or Grassy Terrain. This also helps Togetic when she is getting worn down from the Follow Me’s to stay in the fight. Finally, if you’re worried about not being able to redirect spread moves like Earthquake, Life Dew fits perfectly to just constantly heal after taking spread move damage.

Her other two moves are Mystical Fire and Play Rough. Mystical Fire can really assist her with her Steel type problem as a Max Flare under sun can still do a significant amount of damage. Her fire coverage has consistently gotten my brother and I out of numerous tricky situations. Mystical Fire also has the 100% effect of lowering Sp. Atk of the opposing Pokemon which always helps as a hedge. The STAB Max Starfall from Play Rough is decent simply because Fairy is good offensively and can hit things like Guzzlord pretty well.

Obviously, Togetic comes with her flaws. Eviolite is essential to her success as otherwise, she may be able to do two Follow Me’s at best before she’s forced to do Life Dews for herself. And although Life Dew is a great move to have, some Pokemon like Clefairy with Friend Guard are better with it since it only heals ¼ HP and a lot of times you would prefer Pollen Puff/Floral Healing for ½ HP reaction healings. Other than that, truly with Togetic what also makes her Follow Me capabilities good is how well she pairs with other top tier healers like Lilligant/Comfey. If your team just spams Follow Me + Pollen Puff on Togetic every turn, it’s practically game over for any Pokemon that can’t do super effective damage. Togetic is the king of comebacks. Her set up can make you go from one stock back to four with ridiculous ease.

The Best “Hitter”: Luxray with Burn Status + Shell Bell (S tier)

Without a doubt, Luxray is the most versatile hitter in the Dynamax Lair metagame. It has access to the deadly Guts Façade off of 120 base attack. Luxray’s main drawback in singles is its mediocre Speed stat, but this drawback turns out to be in its favor for the Dynamax Lair. Hitters enjoy being much slower due to their moves being enhanced by partner’s with “halving” moves like Screech or Fake Tears. After one Screech, a boosted Façade is guaranteed to make insane progress on the opponent’s health bar. This in conjunction with Shell Bell can keep Luxray around for a really long time. Façade also has 20 PP, making it a reliable way to fire off Max Strikes for speed control and keep Façade in the game.

If Façade gets walled by Rock/Steel/Ghost types, it’s also can use the Electric Terrain + Rising Voltage combo. Rising Voltage is also 20 PP, making it stick around for a long time. Furthermore, Electric Terrain acts as Nasty Plot 2x boost and a 1.3x terrain boost in one turn due to how Rising Voltage works. This makes Luxray function as a mixed attacker giving it lots of versatility. To add the cherry on top similar to Lilligant, it’s final move is Light Screen, which is an extra hedge to add to the team.

Luxray’s best partners are Drifblim and Screechers like Golduck. Drifblim has access to Will-O-Wisp which can tee up Luxray for the rest of the time you have it. Also, Drifblim can use Tailwind to ensure that Luxray gets multiple hits off before the legendary while also still being outsped by its Screeching partners. Finally, Drifblim can use a Max Lightning before Luxray goes in with a Rising Voltage to punish Pokemon weak to electric very quickly. Screechers can make the trusty Façade do its work and move you out of most situations. Luxray’s drawbacks are that although Electric / Normal hits most things with at least neutral damage, some Pokemon such as Giratina outright wall this combo, which leaves Luxray forced to be a very passive screen/terrain setter. Either way, Luxray is a key piece for the team in making fast progress on an opposing Pokemon’s health bar and it is arguably the best hitter in the game.

The Best “Healer” of the Dynamax Lair: Comfey + Leftovers (S tier)

If you’ve already read the excerpt of how good Lilligant’s ability to reaction heal with Pollen Puff, then you already know what makes Comfey such a big deal: Triage. With its ability Triage, it won’t even require a Tailwind or Quiver Dance to do reaction-healing at any given point. Comfey gives you access to reaction healing turn 1 and the rest of the game until it runs out of PP and you need to go hunting for Leppa Berries. Comfey is the best healer in the game, with the ability to heal both herself and any partner on the field with Triage priority via Floral Healing and Draining Kiss.

Her other two moves can prove to be useful in adding to her thesis as well. After You with her respectable base 100 speed can help with either getting Halvers to fire off a Screech/Fake Tears before the Hitter hits, or allowing the Hitter to hit an opposing Legendary for the kill first to avoid taking damage. After You, therefore, provides an odd but reliable way of being a “Halver” with speed control properties. Her final move is Energy Ball, which is always nice to have since grass coverage is good on common Dynamax Lair Water-Ground Pokemon.

Comfey does get walled by fire/steel Pokemon which is always a downside even though that is not her primary purpose. Another drawback is that her healing move is only 10 PP versus the 15 PP that some healing moves like Pollen Puff offer. So often we would have to search for a Leppa Berry to keep Comfey around if she still had plenty of PP in her other moves. Other than these two drawbacks, it is safe to say that Comfey is always uses up all of her PP for a reason. She is the S tier for Healers.

The X Factor of the Dynamax Lair: Impostor Ditto on the Big Screen + Leftovers (S- Tier)

The next Pokemon that has made it to the S tier list is a bit of an oddball. Ditto, with the Impostor ability, can transform into the opposing Pokemon the moment it enters the field. This ability is a huge benefit for the team as it can give key insight into the moveset of the opposing Pokemon and what to look out for. Ditto is also the only Pokemon that you can theoretically keep for an entire run if you so desired, since its PP will always be at 5 PP per move each battle.

Ditto technically doesn’t fall into any particular H pillar. It’s best fit is “Hedging” since the insight on a Pokemon’s moveset is the safe play to ensure we don’t forget a threatening super effective move like Poison Jab Hawlucha for example. Ditto could also be placed on all four H pillars, since it can steal a Healer or Hitter’s great traits the moment it enters the field. Another huge advantage to Ditto is that you will be guaranteed to have a Legendary Pokemon on your team for the boss who could even be an Uber legendary.

“Ditto on the Big Screen” was coined specifically for our local gameplay. We both agreed that Ditto was A tier in most situations. But for our setup with a big projector always docked with our host Switch console, having the host take the Ditto was super helpful long-term. Although the movesets in the game are all the same, it’s really easy to forget one move. Whenever Ditto was on the big screen, we got into a great rhythm of opening the opposing Pokemon’s moveset before we started discussing decisions. Having control of your time in the Dynamax Lair is essential to a successful run. Putting the moveset up on the big screen avoided the unnecessary time it took to try and remember movesets which gave us more time to focus on our long-term decisions.

Unfortunately, Ditto’s biggest drawback is the four-slot syndrome. If your other three Pokemon were really good and you didn’t want to pass up a great Pokemon choice on a floor, that usually meant Ditto needed to go. This was the hardest lesson for my brother and I to learn since we usually wanted to just keep it the whole game. There usually comes to a point where the team can get too passive with Ditto and it becomes in desperate need for a reliable Hitter. Ditto is an odd one to rank, but it has certainly got us back to four stocks in plenty of different runs.

Conclusion
This run means a lot to us not just because of how many countless tries we took to achieve it, but because it marked probably the greatest year of our lives as brothers. When we were young, we had a long history of getting into fights with each other until we parted ways when our parents divorced, but we treated each other as rivals in the Pokemon games. This was one of the few ways we got along and bonded. Now, as adults we get along great, and we are back to the same old stuff we used to do. We got Pokemon Sword/Shield originally because it was very easy to build competitive teams and we particularly enjoyed the new metagame a lot. Eventually, near the end of this game, we discovered the Endless Dynamax Lair mode – and from there the rest was history. Little did we know it would be the beginning of countless weekends of grinding for the record.

Big thank you to Gamefreak and The Pokemon Company for Endless Dynamax Lair, the best and most difficult rental pokemon minigame that has ever been created. The constant barrage of high-stakes decision making, the mental stamina required for continuing to make good decisions over a long run, the teamwork that is required with a whole host of interesting pokemon and movesets, the incredibly difficult legendary battles at the end of each floor, and the incredibly useful reward of dynite ore provides an endless amount of entertainment for the hardcore pokemon fan. Even after beating the previous world record of 32 floors with our own 13-hour, 38 floor run, we still play this game on the regular and have a ton of fun doing it.

 

[Eisenherz]

Leaderboard update! A special shout out to this incredible report / guide on Dynamax Adventures by S0UTHPAWKLAW, an impressive achievement and a delightful read!

Also, as announced in the BDSP thread, the battle facilities damage calculator now has a mass calc mode thanks to SilverstarStream. This should come in handy for any remaining RS players!