[Gen 4] You won't believe what this little seed did to Red's Charizard

[Janp]

Janp's Sunkern No Faint Solo in Heart Gold​

Why would you try beating Heart Gold with Sunkern?​

It's time to celebrate new section with this crazy run. If you are not familiar with this series, I basically taky underrated Pokémon and beat the whole game with them without fainting once.

General Rules:

• I can only use Sunkern that I hack in as Starter instead of Chikorita
• If this Sunkern dies, I have to restart the whole game with a clean save and start over
• I can use HM slaves, but they can't battle
• The ultimate goal is to beat Red, but I'll check this run as completed after beating Lance

 

[Janp]

Attempt 1​

Let's talk some strategy first. Sunkern actually has pretty decent moveset. Don't get me wrong, Sunkern has literally no coverage, but it has access to pretty nice strategy right from the start - it can learn Mega Drain, Grass Whistle and Growth really early and this allows it to actually survive against stronger foes.

So, let's start the game. I used randomizer to change Chikorita to Sunkern, so Silver will get Cyndaquil. Now it's time for EV training. I maxed on Speed by beating Pidgey and HP by beating Caterpie. The rest went to ATK, since my end game is to use Seed Bomb and Sword Dance.

But before we start, let's think about nickname for Sunkern. Sunkern is a unloved seed, seeds need water to growth and to be strong. You know who else was just unloved seed before being watered and grew up? Jason Voorhees!

The strategy for early game is simple. Grass Whistle the opponent, use Growth 6 times and beat everything with Absorb/Mega Drain. Some Pokémon like Bellsprout were the worse enemies, since they took so much time to beat. I basically had to return to Poké Center after each battle at Sprout Tower, but after that, I was sure I'm ready for Falkner.

So let's challenge him. Once again, I start with Grass Whistle, which landed, but his Pidgey woke up next turn and was able to send one Sand-Attack my way. Next Grass Whistle landed again, but Pidgey woke up next turn once again. Third Grass Whistle and the same scenario happens. So I have 3 Growths up and 3 Sand-Attacks on me. 4th Grass Whistle was more successful and I was able to set 6 Growths. Pidgey went down quickly after this and Jason ended up with full HP. But Pidgeotto was something else. Sand-Attacks kicked in and I missed few attacks, but still was able to outheal the damage. Final hit was really depending on RNG. Pidgeotto was in red HP, Jason was just in range to die too...

So first obstacle is down. This run is going great so far.

Jason, Jolly Male Sunkern
lvl 16, Chlorophyll
- Mega Drain
- Growth
- GrassWhistle
- Ingrain​

 

[Janp]

Attempt 1 & 2​

After taking down Falkner, I quickly cleared the next Route and Team Rocket without any problems. Zubat were annoying, but nothing I couldn't deal with. Plus Jason learned Leech Seed, so usually first Pokémon went down just to that before I set up Growth.

Then I got to Bugsy, that I knew will be trouble. And the battle ended before it could even start. STAB U-Turn was too much for Jason.

But not everything is lost. I quickly started new game with Pamela, the female Sunkern, did everything the same and beat Falkner. I somehow ended up few levels higher than before, so Pidgeotto was a little bit easier with Leech Seed.

I did some calculations before facing Bugsy again and found out that level 26 Pamela can not only survive non-crit U-Turn, but also should move before Scyther. But even +6 Mega Drain won't do much damage. So my main source of damage will be Leech Seed. My feelings before the battle can be describe pretty easily:

The battle starts and Pamela hit Scyther with GrassWhistle. Great! I was able to set up Leech Seed and 2 Growths before Scyther woke up and used Focus Energy. Another GrassWhistle hits and I decided to use only 1 more Growth before attacking with all I've got. Scyther heals using her Sitrus Berry and then, when she's in red HP, Bugsy fully heals her with Super Potion. She also woke up again and start setting up Leers. GrassWhistle didn't land twice, but Scyther still went on with Leers. Finally, I was able to chip away all of her HP.

Bugsy then sent out Kakuna and Pamelo got poisoned, which made the whole thing a little bit annoying, since I couldn't set up remaining Growths. But I was still able to beat Bugsy.

Pamela, Bold Female Sunkern
lvl 26, Solar Power @Miracle Seed
- Mega Drain
- Growth
- GrassWhistle
- Leech Seed​

 

[Couples-Consoling]

Ha, I like the format here! The idea that you will do this AS MANY TIMES AS IT TAKES is fun! Keep bashing your head against that wall, it'll break eventually!

 

[tokyodrift]

I do remember seeing a Sunkern run on YouTube sometime ago. I think he omitted Red because he thought it would have been impossible. I'd like to see you prove him wrong!

 

[Janp]

Ha, I like the format here! The idea that you will do this AS MANY TIMES AS IT TAKES is fun! Keep bashing your head against that wall, it'll break eventually!

Thanks! I just hope I won't die on the very last trainer on the Victory Road, since that already happened when did Rattata run on Fire Red.

I do remember seeing a Sunkern run on YouTube sometime ago. I think he omitted Red because he thought it would have been impossible. I'd like to see you prove him wrong!

I've run some calculations before even attempting this and it should be possible to beat Red with the help of X items. But it really depends on GrassWhistle hitting his Pokémon.

 

[Janp]

Attempt 2 & 3​

Right after beating Bugsy, I was challenged by rival named Scyther and his Gastly was able to put a Curse on Pamela. But even through that I was able to set up Growths and beat him.

Getting to Goldenrod City went without any problems and I finally unlocked my secret weapon against E4 and Red - X items:

But even without them, I was able to beat Whitney. Her Clefairy let Pamela set all Growths and even tanked Brave Bird that came out of Metronome. Miltank was able to land a Stomp, but it did next to nothing and this usually nightmarish Pokémon went down in 2 turns.

I think it was around this time that Pamela learned Razor Leaf and I spent some time in Game Corner getting Swords Dance, which makes the whole process of powering up faster. Next Rival battle was even easier than the last one, since no Curse was set up this time.

I was kinda afraid of Morty's Gengar being faster and putting Pamela to sleep, but his Hypnosis missed and my GrassWhistle hit him. Even with already set up Swords Dances, my attacks didn't do that much damage and so the battle was pretty long. Luckily all attempts at Hypnosis failed and I won.

After beating his Gengar, the rest of Morty's team didn't stand a chance.

At this point I was sure that the only remaining problematic part can be E4. But oh boy, was I proved to be wrong. Chunk's team is something else. His Primeape stops Pamela from setting up, because of his Ability and forces me to attack, otherwise he'll use Focus Punch. I somehow got through Primeape, but his Poliwrath had bigger luck. My GrassWhistle missed and his Hypnosis landed. I used Awakening next turn, but it was pointless, since Poliwrath had free turn to use Focus Punch.

So I quickly restarted the game and this run was over before it could even start. I got to Falkner and his Pidgeotto landed critical hit, that obliterated Jason II. Sadly I don't have a screen for that.

I all I did for now was to start again with Jason III. Let's see how far I can get this time.

Pamela, Bold Female Sunkern
lvl 38, Solar Power @Miracle Seed
- Razor Leaf
- Swords Dance
- GrassWhistle
- Leech Seed

Jason II, Lonely Male Sunkern
lvl 17, Solar Power
- Mega Drain
- Growth
- GrassWhistle
- Leech Seed

Jason III, Hasty Male Sunkern
lvl 5, Solar Power
- Mega Drain
- Growth
- Absorb​

 

[Janp]

Attempt 4 & 5​

I took a break for few days, since Jason III died to Bugsy's Scyther. It was sadly faster and took down Jason III with critical U-Turn.

Few days after that I start up the game again and picked my new Sunkern - Pamela II. I'll try to make this update short, so here's boring part you already read about in previous updates

Spoiler:

I was prepared for Chuck this time. I've used exactly the same strategy like last time, because I couldn't really think of anything better and this time my GrassWhistle hit Poliwrath and I was able to beat it with Razor Leaf.

And I went straight to battle Jasmine, but that was a big mistake. Her very first Magnemite hit me with Thuder Wave and Supersonic before I could even set up or put it to sleep, so I was sure this is the end of this attempt. But! But Pamela somehow put Magnemite to sleep even with confusion and I was able to somehow set up 3 Swords Dances. But I had to heal a lot. And since I was paralyzed, I decided to finally use Battle Items and use 6 X Speeds. Jasmine's Steelix was faster even with those boosts. But Pamela II survived first Iron Tail and beat Steelix with Razor Leaf. Her last Magnemite was able to land one Sonicboom, that left Pamela II with 5 HP, before fainting. And so I beat the hardest Gym so far.

By the way, if you weren't sure if Sunkern can beat Red Gyarados, here's something for you.

The following part is probably my least favourite from the game and it was even worse with so many Poison-types on Team Rocket's side. Thankfully I could get TM Return in Goldenrod and this made beating all this Poison varmint easier.

Let's skip to Pryce. This battle was pretty trivial at this point. Not only I had Seed Bomb and this point, which means my whole set is complete, but I also had type advantage. For the first time in the run. The only dangerous move was Ice Shards.

Another boring Team Rocket part later, I got to the last Gym Leader in Johto. In an attempt to end all future attempts, I run more calculations and found out I should be able to win, but I'll have to tank at least one of Kingdra's attacks. Gyarados started with Bite that flinched me so many times I had to heal with Hyper Potion twice before being able to put her to sleep. Few Swords Dances and X Speeds later I was able to take her down. Clair then sent out Kingdra and for some reason used Hydro Pump, which basically meant one free attack on my end. Kingdra's Dragon Pulse almost ended the run, but Pamela II survived with 28 HP. And so I was able to finish her off with another Seed Bomb. Her 2 Dragonairs then had no chance.

And so I beat all 8 Gyms in Johto so far. I have a good feeling about this run. I usually run a calculation through Smogon's damage calculator before attempting a battle that could cost me a run, so I'm always prepared. I'll also try to find optimal level to not be overleveled, but still be able to beat E4 now.

Pamela II, Brave Female Sunkern
lvl 54, Chlorophyll @Miracle Seed
- Seed Bomb
- Swords Dance
- GrassWhistle
- Return
​

 

[Janp]

Attempt 5​

Before we dive in the Elite Four, let's talk some strategy. I run some more calculations and found out few things - level 65 Pamela II is faster than most of the Elite Four Pokémon except for Crobat and Gengar, who are biggest threats in this Elite Four battles. So I'll probably be using X items for each battle. But otherwise I think it should be possible to set up on the first Pokémon of each Elite Four member and then sweep the rest.

VS Will
I was able to put his Xatu to sleep and set up Swords Dances pretty easily. I did a small misscalculation and though I should be faster than the rest of Will's team. And I was wrong. His Jynx hit Pamela with Ice punch that took down about half of Pamela's HP and then his second Xatu hit with Aerial Ace and left Pamela on 1 HP! Will and I had both the same reaction to this battle.

VS Koga
Koga is next and I can't set up completely on Ariados, since it has Insomnia. But I had plan. I used Swords Dance on my first turn and successfully predicted Ariados using Spider Web. One Return later and Koga sent out Venomoth. This is a much better match up. GrassWhistle unfortunately missed twice and Venomoth was able to put Toxic on me. After healing I decided to set up last two Swords Dance and take three X Speed and one X Defense, just to be sure, before being forced to take down Venomoth, since it was slowly lowering my Sp Defense and inflicting more and more damage and swept the rest of his team with Return. His Crobat survived one Return, but thanks to Pamela's boosted defense, she was able to take it. His Forretress also took more Returns that I would love to. Because of that I'm now on 7 PP remaining for Return and will be forced to use Either soon.

VS Bruno
This battle was pretty easy. Hitmontop didn't really hit hard and preferred to use Counter, so I was able to easily set up both Swords Dances and X Speeds. And the rest is history.

VS dead meme
Karen's Umbreon was annoying. It kept using Double Team, so I had hard time hitting it. I tried to counter her with X Accuracy and it was pretty successful. I'm not sure if max Accuracy negates max Evasion, but 1st Seed Bomb hit it and KO'd it. I beat her Murkrow, Vileplume and Houndoom pretty easily with Returns, but her Gengar survived 1st Seed Bomb with few HP's remaining and was able to land Focus Blast that put Pamela in red. Karen used Full Restore and my next Seed Bomb hit Gengar even harder, but still didn't beat it. I swear it must have survived with 1 HP. This happened once again, but after that, it finally fell down.

VS Lance
At this point I was running out of PPs on all of my moves. Thank god for Max Elixir. Anyway, the battle started with Gyarados. I was able to put it to sleep with GrassWhistle and set up Swords Dances and even one X Speed. Gyarados then woke up and used Ice Fang, which took down about half of Pamela's HP. Luckily next GrassWhistle landed again and I was able to set up more X Speeds. I also set up some X Defenses and Special Defenses, because according to my calculations, I won't be able to 1HKO any of his Pokémon. And I was right. Thankfully, because of boosted defense, I was able to tank hits from this Flying-type master and put his Pokémon to sleep. GrassWhistle never missed in this battle. That was epic! And so after taking Outrage from his strongest Dragonite, Pamela beat every Dragonite Lance had at his disposal.

And that's it. Just like that. One little brave Sunkern was able to single handedly beat every single trainer in Johto without fainting once.

Now, let's go to Kanto and take care of Red.

Pamela II, Brave Female Sunkern
lvl 68, Chlorophyll @Miracle Seed
- Seed Bomb
- Swords Dance
- GrassWhistle
- Return
​

 

[tokyodrift]

we stan pamela II. i'm so curious as to how red will turn out.

 

[noa]

What a good thread i'm so proud of you
I'm also looking forward to seeing you fight Red... :eyes:

 

[Janp]

What a good thread i'm so proud of you
I'm also looking forward to seeing you fight Red... :eyes:

we stan pamela II. i'm so curious as to how red will turn out.

Thanks for cheering Pamela up! Let's see how it went down...

Attempt 5​

Let's finish the run. Kanto Gym Leaders were actually pretty easy, I just had to level up after struggling a little bit against Lt. Surge and some of Sabrina's trainers. But otherwise they were pretty standard battles.

I actually had to adapt new strategy for Blaine, since trainers in his gym came really close to ending the run. Especially Arcanine with Extremespeed. Magcargo on the other hand was perfect for setting up. It's Overheat hit really hard, but also lowered its special attack. That in combination with boosted defenses through X Items made setting up super easy. I even used the same strategy against Blue and his Exeggutor with Leaf Storm, where I had to stall a little bit because his Exeggutor also had Psychic. It even came to Exeggutor struggling to death.

Here are some screens from defeated Gym Leaders

Spoiler:

But let's go to the main event of the day

VS Red
Red starts off with Pikachu and after taking an Iron Tail that took down about half of Pamela's HP, Pamela is able to put it to sleep. I then used 2 X Defenses and Special Defenses before Pikachu woke up. Its attacks now did a lot less damage and I was able to max my defenses and use 3 X Speeds. Then Pikachu decided to kill itself with Volt Tackle and Red sent out Charizard. That's the match I was really afraid of, but thought I would be already set up to deal with it. But I didn't even used 1 Swords Dance yet. Thankfully, Charizard's Flare Blitz did next to no damage. His Blast Burn on the other hand took down good 85% of Pamela's HP. Pamela was able to hit it with GrassWhistle and while I healed next turn, Charizard woke up and killed itself with Flare Blitz. I'm beginning to see a pattern here. Red's next Pokémon was Lapras and it was able to freeze Pamela with first Blizzard. At this point I had +4 in attack, +6 in both defenses, +6 in speed and Dire Hit on, so I decided not to boost anymore, used Full Restore and took down Lapras with one Seed Bomb. Red's next Pokémon was Venusaur and it didn't even had a chance to attack. Pamela took it down with Return. Red's next Pokémon was Snorlax and it was able to tank one Seed Bomb and froze Pamela with Blizzard. But few healing on both sides later, Pamela won. Red's last Pokémon was Blastoise and it had nothing to say before being hit with a giant seed in the head.

And so 3rd run in my No Faint Solo series is done and I beat the game with Pokémon, whose BST was the lowest until Wishiwashi appeared. So where to move on from that? I'm thinking about sticking with Spring team and doing Cherubi run in Sinnoh or maybe I will do something completely different. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this run as much as I did.

Pamela II, Brave Female Sunkern
lvl 100, Chlorophyll @Miracle Seed
- Seed Bomb
- Swords Dance
- GrassWhistle
- Return
​

 

[Nah]

ngl I'm surprised that you beat the entirety of HG/SS with a lone Sunkern, even if it took more than one try, I didn't think that was possible

Pamela II must be a goddess or something

 

[Janp]

ngl I'm surprised that you beat the entirety of HG/SS with a lone Sunkern, even if it took more than one try, I didn't think that was possible

Pamela II must be a goddess or something

To be honest, I was sure I won't make it past Bugsy, but I was pretty lucky with GrassWhistle. I thought it wouldn't even hit half of the time it did. X items were also a lot helpful, sometimes really boosting Sunkern so much it was basically invincible.

I checked Pamela II's stats and she had pretty high HP IV and moderate Speed HP, which was good with them being boosted by EV training. But she also had awful Defense and Special Defense IVs.