I said I would finish this Challenge before Christmas. And I did it!
Let's dive right into Alola. I started the game with Popplio just so I can get through first Trial quickly. There were no problems and my overleveled Popplio easily beat Totem Raticate. Then I was finally able to get first Dragon-type - Noibat. And the endless grind started. Those small dragons are so squishy and weak. So it took me a while to get it to better level and while I was at it, I also got Bagon after about 15 minutes of searching for it.
Battle with Hala was pretty okay. I leveled up Noibat to level 16 prior the battle to get Wing Attack and it was enough to take care of Machop with just one hit and Makuhita with two. I then switched to Bagon to lure our Crabrawler's Z-Move and heal Noibat. All-Out Pummeling beat Bagon, so I could switch Noibat in safely. My Z-Move later and I finished first island.
Akala Island welcomes me with Pokémon Trainer Sina and her Ice-types. Ewww. Not gonna lie, this battle took me more attempts that I'm willing to admit. So let's just say five.
Lana's Trial was also pretty annoying. Noibat had type advantage over Totem Araquanid, but it was so squishy that Araquanid beat it with just two Bubbles. Luckily, I had some Revives, so I could just send out Bagon and revive and heal Noibat. Took me few Revives, but I was able to Totem Pokémon and finish the Trial.
With that I got Fishing Rod and was able to catch another Pokémon on my team - Horsea. And just in time for Kiawe's Trial. Horsea did a lot of damage with its Water-type Z-Move, but since it's also extremally squisky, Totem Marowak beat it with that bone attack I forgot the name of. But I could finally use Bagon effectively. It resisted Marowak's attack and beat it with Bite.
Nothing interesting happened until Olivia. I was able to beat Mallow's Trial with similar strategy as previous Trials. Noibat used Z-Move, then I switched to Bagon, revive/heal and finish it with Noibat again. After that I found out there is Goomy in Lush Jungle, but it's only available between 5-6am, so I decided to skip it. I couldn't even get Tyrunt in this version. Olivia fight was also pretty easy, I once again used Bagon as shield, while Horsea's Bubble Beam. Bagon was such a great shield that it evolved into Shelgon after this battle.
Ula'ula Island started well. Horsea evolved into Seadra and I was this close to Kingdra. Sophocles' Trial was painful. I was once again forced to use Shelgon, since Noibat and Seadra would have type disadvantage. I taught it Brick Break just in case, but it was still pretty hard battle. Especially because of paralyze. No matter what, Totem Togedemaru inflicted this annoying status with each attack. Took me two tries to beat it, since Shelgon was unable to attack all the time. And Dedenne appeared as SOS Pokémon on my first try.
I was really afraid of Acerola's Trial. Not only is Mimikyu immune to Dragon-type attacks, it's also immune to the first attack in battle. I started with Noibat and used Supersonic, then pop Disguise with Wing Attack. After that I beat it with combined strength of Seadra and Shelgon. After that I was able to get more Pokémon in Haina Desert - Trapinch and Gabite. And I finally got Goomy on Route 17. After some more grinding I had strong team of mid-evolution or even fully evolved dragons. Nothing could stop me. I stomped on Nanu, Team Skull, Aether and everyone between.
I was also able to get Dragon Scale for Seadra around the time I got to Poni Island. And there I also got the very first Alola Dragon-type - Alolan Exeggutor. Dragon Trial was pretty easy. Noivern and Kingdra were once again mvps of that battle.
After that I got another Alola Dragon-type - Jangmo-o. Since I wanted to use as many different Dragon-types as I could, I picked up Poipole. I looked through this thread and couldn't find anything about Ultra Beasts. I evolved it as fast as possible.
This update is already getting long, so let's quickly look at the rest of the game. At this point I had strong fully evolved dragons, so there were no problems. Mina's Trial was surprisingly easy. Naganadel helped a lot with Mina herself and Totem Ribombee, Kommo-o helped with Ilma and Nanu, Goodra and Kingdra with Lana, Garchomp with Kiawe. So that went well. Hapu went down to Kingdra.
Even E4 couldn't stop me. But before facing E4, I caught Drampa. At this point I didn't want to waste time grinding, so I just put it in front of my team and level it on my way to E4.
You can see my team for E4 below, so let's just quickly summarize the fights. There were no fights. At this point majority of my Pokémon were on higher level than Hau's starter. Kahili did fight back a little bit, but it was still nothing.
Overall I would say this was great Challenge. I know it took me how long? A year and a half? Yeah, I should have probably finish it earlier, but there were other challenges I focused on. A lot of time dragons were really weak in early game and laughably overpowered in the end game. I think I'll do another type soon. Maybe Poison or one of the elemental types.
Palmak, Adamant Male Exeggutor
lvl 61, Frisk @Rose Incense
- Dragon Hammer
- Leaf Storm
- Psyshock
- Sludge Bomb
Bumbum, Lax Male Kommo-o
lvl 62, Bulletproof @Fightinium Z
- Clanging Scales
- Drain Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Ice Punch
Konak, Timid Female Kingdra
lvl 64, Sniper @Splash Plate
- Dragon Pulse
- Scald
- Focus Energy
- Ice Beam
Kridlak, Rash Male Noivern
lvl 65, Infiltrator @Sharp Beak
- Air Slash
- Tailwind
- Dragon Pulse
- Boomburst
Deda, Lonely Male Drampa
lvl 58, Sap Sipper @Firium Z
- Hyper Voice
- Dragon Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower
Vosa, Docile - Naganadel
lvl 60, Beast Boost @ Draco Plate
- Dragon Pulse
- Sludge Wave
- Dark Pulse
- Heat Wave