Okay here's my first update.
- Start
- Got Tropius
Level: 5
Nature: Careful
Item: None
Leer
Gust
-
-
Not the best nature, but I can live with it. Gust should be decent for early game.
- Crit from Torchic's Scratch took 5 HP, so no threat really. Not that I expected her to be.
- Caught 5 Zigzagoons to abuse pickup and trained Tropius in the process
- Tropius learned Growth (Lv7)
- Tropius learned Razor Leaf (Lv11)
- Worked my way through Petalburg Woods and up to Rustboro City
- Beat all available trainers
- Razor Leaf was a 2HKO on Nosepass who Roxanne healed a couple of times. Rock Tomb would've been a 3HKO on Tropius, so she was no trouble really.
Level: 16
Nature: Careful
Item: None
Leer
Gust
Growth
Razor Leaf
Tropius has been OHKOing almost everything it fights with either Gust or Razor Leaf. It never even occured to me to give it an item to hold.
- Got HM01 and taught it to Zigzagoon
- Trained on Route 116
- Tropius learned Stomp (Lv17)
- Didn't quite OHKO Torchic, but it wasted it's turn on Focus Energy.
- Gave the letter to Steven
- Tropius learned Steel Wing (TM47)
- Pretty easy. I just spammed Gust until the match was over, although it didn't quite OHKO Machop or Makuhita, so Tropius took a little bit of damage.
Level: 20
Nature: Careful
Item: Cheri Berry
Stomp
Gust
Steel Wing
Razor Leaf
I gave Tropius a Cheri Berry just because it's better than nothing. I don't know Tropius very well, but Steel Wing might be my only way to deal with Glacia's Glalies.
- Travelled up through Route 109 to 110 and beat all the trainers on the way
- Stopped Tropius from learning Sweet Scent (Lv21)
- Easy. OHKOd all except Combusken, who wasted it's turn on Focus Energy again.
- Beat all available trainers.
- Stopped Tropius from learning Whirlwind (Lv27)
- OHKO'd Ralts with Stomp.
- Tropius learned Magical Leaf (Lv31)
- Tropius learned Rock Smash (HM06)
- I expected this match to be hard. I had to teach Tropius Rock Smash just so I could hit Magneton for decent damage, although I was only a 4HKO and probably a waste of a move space. I was constantly being paralysed and after a while I gave up on healing it, which led to Tropius almost fainting twice against Manectric. If it wasn't for my Zigzagoons picking up Hyper Potions, I would've lost.
Level: 34
Nature: Careful
Item: None
Rock Smash
Gust
Steel Wing
Magical Leaf
I always over-estimate Rock Smash for some reason and unfortunately, I'm stuck with it for a while now.
- Beat all the trainers on Route 111-115
- Gave Tropius the Macho Brace
- Tropius learned Body Slam (Lv37)
- Zigzagoon evolved through doubles matches
- After Intimidate from Mightyena, Body Slam was a 3HKO on both Mightyena and Camerupt and a 2HKO on Zubat, which was quite surprising. Sand Attack from Mightyena made Body Slam miss quite a lot and crits from Camerupt's Ember and Zubat's Wing Attack almost made Tropius faint.
- Neither Camerupt or Torkoal was OHKOd. In fact Torkoal was 3HKOd by Body Slam. Or rather it would've been if it wasn't for Flannery healing it. I actually lost the first time, since Camerupt used Sunny Day and Torkoal used Overheat for a OHKO, although I stupidly forgot to heal the first time. The second time I set up on Slugma with 6 X-Attacks and continued to OHKO all of Flannery's Pokemon with Body Slam.
Level: 40
Nature: Careful
Item: None
Rock Smash
Body Slam
Steel Wing
Magical Leaf
I took Macho Brace off of Tropius so that it wouldn't get outsped against Flannery's Pokemon, although with Sunny Day, Chlorophyll and the big level advantage, Tropius probably would've outsped them anyway. Body Slam is a great move for OHKOing almost anything from a normal trainer.
- Trained in the desert.
- Tropius learned Solarbeam (Lv41)
- Got poisoned by a Sandslash with Sand Veil that I couldn't hit and almost fainted
Amazingly, Spinda did the most damage out of all of Norman's Pokemon, although that was down to bad luck with confusion from Teeter Dance. Had a bit more bad luck when Body Slam paralyzed Vigoroth just as it used Facade. Slaking hit hard with Facade, but wasted most of it's turns so it wasn't a big threat.
Level: 43
Nature: Careful
Item: None
Rock Smash
Body Slam
Steel Wing
Solarbeam
Solarbeam replaced Magical Leaf, because I'm considering a Sunny Day set at the moment. By this point, having Rock Smash on Tropius is getting annoying.
- Beat all trainers on Route 105-109
- Stopped Tropius from learning Synthesis (Lv47)
- Revisited the Trick House
- Went to New Mauville and lost count of the amount of times Tropius was paralysed
- Beat all trainers on Route 118-119
- Didn't quite OHKO Pelipper or Combusken, but Body Slam paralysed Pelipper and gave me a free turn and Combusken wasted its turn on Bulk Up. Lombre hit with Fake Out, which was the only damage Tropius took.
- Checked Tropius' Hidden Power type (Ice)
- I expected Winona to be hard, but she was more manageable than I expected. Tropius has nothing to hit Skarmory with, which is why it was my biggest concern, but Body Slam paralysis and Hyper Potions kept it from being a threat. The rest of her team went down pretty easily and dealt almost no damage.
Level: 53
Nature: Careful
Item: None
Rock Smash
Body Slam
Steel Wing
Solarbeam
I really, really, really don't want Rock Smash on Tropius any more. It's a completely useless move. I decided to check Tropius Hidden Power type, which was Ice, although I wanted Fire to run a Sunny Day set, so I didn't keep it. Solarbeam needing two turns means I almost never use it, which is annoying because it effectively leaves Tropius without a STAB move.
- Rushed to Lilycove City avoiding all the trainers
- Tropius forgot Rock Smash
- Tropius learned Fly (HM02)
- Went back through Route 120-121 to beat all the trainers
- Went to Mt. Pyre and Tropius fainted to a Wobbuffet Counter, so Linoone had to finish it off, because there was no way I could technically lose
- Tried to faint to a wild Shuppet, which couldn't hit my Zigzagoons and I couldn't run, so I had to wait until it ran out of PP
- Beat all available trainers
- Almost died to a Loudred due to the absolute worst Para-Fusion-Flinch hax ever
- Three of her Pokemon are weak to Fly, so this was really easy. I didn't quite OHKO her Pelipper though. Why is it that I can never OHKO Pelippers?
- Went to Team Magma's Hideout
- Released Groudon
- His Pokemon took a few hits, but weren't really that threatening.
- Went to Team Aqua's Hideout
- Beat all trainers I could find on the boring water routes
- Revisited the Trick House
- Caught a Tentacool
- They both constantly targetted my HM slaves, while Tropius was OHKOing everything. Tropius took 1 Psychic from Xatu, which crit'd and still barely did anything.
Level: 68
Nature: Careful
Item: None
Body Slam
Steel Wing
Solarbeam
Fly
Apart from running out of PP a few times, this set is working well for OHKOing almost everything. I tested Steel Wing against Liza & Tate's Solrock to see if it'd be enough to OHKO both of Glacia's Glalies, but it crit'd and OHKO'd so I'm not really sure, but I think it should be enough.
- Beat Team Magma at the Mossdeep Space Center
- Swagger and Scary Face spam from both Mightyena's took Tropius' HP down to about 1/4. Apart from that I don't think Tropius took a hit, because they just kept targetting Steven's Pokemon. Kind of an annoying battle.
- Got Dive and taught it to Tentacool
- Went to Seafloor Cavern
- Crobat's Confuse Ray and Air Cutter took a lot of HP from Tropius, but the other 2 Pokemon were pretty easy.
- Went to Cave of Origin and then to Sky Pillar
- Got Waterfall and taught it to Tentacool
- Kingdra was hard to take down, due to Double Team and Rest. On top of that it had Ice Beam, which did a lot of damage. Got some para-hax with Body Slam, which was rested off, but eventually fainted it with Solarbeam. The rest were easy OHKOs with Solarbeam.
Level: 71
Nature: Careful
Item: None
Body Slam
Steel Wing
Solarbeam
Fly
No change other than the level. Still haven't found an item worth giving to Tropius.
- Went to Victory Road
- Not too hard. OHKO'd a few and 2HKO'd the rest.
- Got through Victory Road with great difficulty
- Grinded Tropius for 1 level and gave it 11 Rare Candies
- Deposited everything except Tropius
- Sold most of my items and got some Full Restores, Full Heals and Hyper Potions
- Made Tropius hold Persim Berry
- Easy. OHKOd everything and didn't take a hit. I thought he'd use Swagger so I gave Tropius a Sitrus Berry, but he didn't.
- Didn't think Tropius could OHKO Dusclops, so I used 2 X-Attacks, while Dusclops used Protect twice. OHKO'd everything with Fly and didn't take a hit again.
- I ended up not even using Steel Wing, even though I kept it on Tropius throughout the whole run simply for this battle. I predicted Hail on the first turn and used an X-Attack and swept with Body Slam and Fly. I didn't quite OHKO Walrein and was almost OHKO'd back by Ice Beam.
- Healed Tropius with Elixir and Hyper Potions
- Tropius learned Earthquake (TM26)
- Tropius learned Return (TM27)
- Made Tropius hold Cheri Berry
- Wow. That was way harder than I expected. Shelgon's Rock Tomb lowered my speed enough to be out-sped by all of Drake's Pokemon. Salamence's Intimidate made it hard to faint and it was constantly nailing Tropius with Rock Slides and Flamethrowers, forcing me to use a few Full Restores. Kingdra's Body Slam paralysed, but was healed by Cheri Berry. Definately the hardest battle in the game.
- Almost fainted to Milotic's Ice Beam, because I forgot to heal before the battle. Quite a few of his Pokemon had Ice Beam, which I thought would do more damage. Overall, not very hard. I managed to OHKO everything.
Level: 88
Nature: Careful
Item: None
Return
Earthquake
Solarbeam
Fly
Decided to get rid of the rather useless Steel Wing for Earthquake, which I'm sure will help a lot against Steven. Also traded in Body Slam's paralysis for extra power on Return. This set is working quite well, but I still have nothing to hit Steven's Skarmory with.
