Battle Arena Team help! (Emerald)

Sceptile0111 said:

Hi everyone,

Lately I've been experimenting with a few different teams in an attempt to earn a Gold Symbol in the Battle Arena. I've found the toughest part of this facility is the "no switching" rule, meaning there is a huge importance on team order. Right now the team I'm using is the following:

Starmie @ Shell Bell
Natural Cure
252 SpA/252 Spe/4 HP
Modest
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Psychic

Flygon @ Focus Band
Levitate
252 Atk/252 Spe/4 HP
Adamant
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Double Team (placeholder for a better move)
- Dragon Claw

Typhlosion @ Quick Claw
Blaze
252 SpA/252 Spe/4 HP
Quirky
- Double Team (placeholder for a better move)
- Toxic
- Flamethrower
- Thunderpunch

I'm having some trouble figuring out what, if any, move to put in place of the DT's on Flygon and Typhlosion. The darn lack of a physical/special split makes it really hard to find a good physical move for Flygon and special move for Typhlosion to put in that slot, so any suggestions are appreciated. I also have these Pokemon EV trained that I've tried switching in and out:

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Sturdy
252 HP/252 SpD/4 DEF
Impish
- Double Team
- Toxic
- Aerial Ace
- Steel Wing

Regice @ Chesto Berry
Clear Body
252 HP/252 DEF/4 SpD
Bold
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Rest
- Double Team

Any suggestions for what order to put these Pokemon in, movesets to alter, or new Pokemon to train are very much appreciated. This facility is driving me crazy. Thank you all!

:t254: Sceptile0111 :t254:

Click to expand...

hi!

I can sympathize with the Battle Arena, while I enjoyed it next to the hell incarnate that was the Battle Palace I always felt the judges were a bit harsh sometimes v.v Your focus should be on straight up attacking and moves that help your overall damage output, as toxic is only really helpful for Shedinja (which your team can handle fine) and last pokemon Snorlax. Likewise, double team is a bit risky here; you're losing points in all at least 2 categories for a chance at an opponent's miss, and we all know how the RNG loves to play with your heart. I'll be suggesting a few items/TMs, but with the Emerald Cloning Glitch that shouldn't be a problem ;)

I would try Leftovers or Petaya Berry (if you have it!) instead of Shell Bell on Starmie: your damage output may not be consistent enough to get enough health back overall in the long run when you face more bulkymons like Umbreon and Swampert. Leftovers guarantees a steady stream of healing that you can depend on, while Petaya Berry turns your already fierce Starmie into a nuke should you get put in a desperate situation.

Now, Flygon and Typhlosion aren't the best of teammates for Starmie. I can see from your team that you'll have huge problems with Moonlight Umbreon and Swampert for that matter, but Umbreon moreso because Greta will be guaranteed to have one. You need a bit more firepower, so I'm going to suggest 2 pokemon that worked out well for me in the past:

Salamence @ Leftovers
Intimidate
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spd
Nature: Adamant
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
- Rock Slide
- Aerial Ace

Slaking @ Choice Band
Truant
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spd
Nature: Adamant
- Return
- Earthquake
- Shadow Ball
- Aerial Ace/Focus Punch

Salamence is, quite honestly, a better Flygon. Intimidate will come in useful more times than you can imagine, and if used on the right opponent will let you get your Dragon Dance off and score some major damage. Electric types aren't such a big deal as they're mostly all weak anyway :) CB Slaking's Return is the strongest move in the game, next to a CB Snorlax Selfdestruct, and with stats that resemble Kyogre's you should take the chance to abuse it at any chance possible. Truant looks like a big setback, but having 2 turns to spam Return will do the trick in most cases. Just keep him in the back! Focus Punch is slashed in because of Umbreon, having a move guaranteed to OHKO it is always useful.

If you still want to keep and use Typhlosion, consider Sunny Day > Double Team. You're boosting your Flamethrower as well as weakening any water attacks that come your way, so it has both offensive and defensive uses. Then depending on how your team fares in general, see if it's worth putting Solarbeam > Toxic for annoying Swampert and friends.

Good luck!

No problem, glad I could help out in some way! You're right about Hyper Beam, for the Arena it's probably better than Return since you can't swap anyway and the raw damage may come in handy:

Choice Band Slaking Return vs. Umbreon: 232-273 (62.1 - 73.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Choice Band Slaking Hyper Beam vs. Umbreon: 340-400 (91.1 - 107.2%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO

I'm just used to Return Slaking because I used him for other facilities (Palace and Tower) too and I didn't feel like reteaching him moves every other round, haha. For some reason I thought Typlosion could learn Solarbeam in 3rd Gen, but he only got it from 4th Gen???? Alright nintendo :/ In that case, just stick with toxic I guess. His other moves would really be filler, bar Focus Punch but with your EV spread it won't be doing that much