🕯️ An Ultra Moon Lampent Challenge 🕯️
Part 2
We've finally finished the tutorial island, so Akala Island is our Cloyster now! Well, sort of. Only about half of Heahea City is available right now, but there's still a lot to do. Case in point:
Jokes aside, the first non-story related thing I did is hunt for Totem Stickers. I haven't mentioned these yet, but there are 100 stickers spread out throughout Alola, and every 20 found will get me a special Totem Pokémon to use. I haven't been using a guide for these or anything, but I've generally gone out of my way to look for these and other optional things, and here is where I finally hit 20. This is part of why I never caught a Ratata on Melemele Island - the Totem Raticate I get here should be stronger. I believe it gets 3 perfect IVs and it also comes at level 20, which is perfect for where I'm at now. It's also really big. Say hello to Nubbs the Raticate.
Onward to Route 4 and Paniola Ranch, where I pick up a Mareep (which is a good enough name that I didn't nickname it) and Sophie the Miltank. These are level 14 and 15, so Mareep is just about to evolve, but these levels are pretty low compared to what I dropped on arrival here. At this point Lampent has siphoned away my whole starting team, and wild levels haven't quite grown to adapt. I got really excited when Wyst, my Sableye, stole a Leftovers from a trainer, but then I remembered that you don't get to keep items from trainers : (
Hau and Gladion are super easy fights at this point anyways, so I push onward. Totem Araquanid is coming up, and I've noticed that there aren't too many wild encounters around that are all that great against it. Flaaffy at least gets a super effective Thundershock but doesn't resist any of Araquanid's attacks. In fact, I don't have any resists to Araquanid's Bubble at all. It is just Bubble, but rain + Water Bubble + STAB makes even Bubble hit hard. As I approach Brooklet Hill for the trial, here's how my team looks.
Sophie the Miltank - Level 19 - Quick Claw
Wyst the Sableye - Level 22
Flaaffy the... Flaaffy - Level 21 - Magnet
Flutter the Butterfree - Level 21 - Flyinium-Z
Lucio the Mawile - Level 22
Nubbs the Raticate - Level 22
My game plan is to lead with Flaaffy to set up Thunder Wave and Light Screen, then let Lucio use Intimidate and Confide, and at last send in Sophie to go for the kill with the Defense Curl + Rollout combo it just got at 19. Things immediately divert from the plan though when I accidentally lead with Sophie, though... I swap out to Wyst, figuring it was the mon I was most willing to sack off to Araquanid. Wyst actually did manage to Thief a Wacan Berry from Araquanid, though, which let Flaaffy get a good hit in when it finally came in and finished its setup. Thanks to a few lucky full paralysis turns, Sophie was able to obliterate Araquanid after a couple Rollouts, securing me a win. This could've been much trickier if I hadn't gotten so lucky with paralysis, but I also didn't even need to bring in Lucio, so ultimately this went great.
At this point Lampent is almost finished with Wyst and Lucio, but with Lapras and the fishing rod we have lots of options for replacements. I start off with some fishing on Brooklet Hill, where this happens.
I've never used a Milotic in-game, mostly due to its horrid capture methods in gens 3 and 4, but this should be a great chance for us. The Prism Scale used to evolve it is actually available right now, albeit with a lot of Lapras backtracking in Melemele. I was planning to do this anyways, so I'm all for this. Welcome to the team, Mona.
Before setting off, I make a brief detour to Wela Volcano Park where I abuse SOS mechanics to catch Marley the Magmar: mostly for a side quest but it should be a fun team member too, even if I am too lazy to Thief hunt for a Magmarizer to evolve it. Diglett Tunnel is also accessible at this point, albeit mostly blocked off, so I catch Greg the Diglett at an awesome level 23.
Most of my Lapras backtracking is pretty uneventful, mostly just a couple nice items or okay TMs, but the big winner is Seaward Cave and the Kala'e bay that it pours into. In addition to a Prism Scale, I get a TM for Frost Breath, a Nevermelt Ice, and Arnold the Shellder at a cool level 21. I might even be able to get a Water Stone before I lose it, but these aren't easily renewable so I'll have to decide whether it's worthwhile. Also:
It seems emulator compatibility with gen 7 games is pretty shoddy, to say the least. I don't have access to my 3DS at the moment, though, and fast forward is a godsend in a game with as many unskippable cutscenes as this. Freezes and graphical glitches happen somewhat often - as a PSA, the best way I've found to fix them is to make save state, close the emulator, load that state, and then save in-game ASAP. Reloading this save usually fixes things for a while.
With all that out of the way, I'm finally ready to ascend Wela Volcano and fight Totem Marowak. Here's my team at this point:
Marley the Magmar - Level 21
Nubbs the Raticate - Level 25
Arnold the Shellder - Level 21 - Nevermelt Ice
Mona the Milotic - Level 21 - Waterium Z
Greg the Diglett - Level 24 - Soft Sand
Sophie the Miltank - Level 24 - Quick Claw
On paper this should be way easier than Araquanid, since I actually have strong resists and super-effective hits. I lead with Marley so that I can attempt to steal its Thick Club with Thief and then Clear Smog away its speed boost. Marowak starts with a cheeky Detect to stall for time until it can bring in its partner Salazzle. Thankfully, Marley just manages to live through that onslaught to steal the Thick Club, though it dies before Clear Smog. That's okay - this should be easy now. I bring in Mona to Hydro Vortex Marowak into oblivion... and it blocks it perfectly with Detect!!! Fortunately, Mona is super tanky and neither Marowak nor Salazzle can do much to it, so I just spam Water Pulse until they faint. Despite the minor hiccups, this was definitely the easiest Totem so far. With how much water stuff is available between Brooklet Hill and this, it'd be hard not to have a good counter to Marowak.
This post is already pretty long, so I think I'll be saving the next trial for next time. I'm still having a blast with this, especially since it gives me a shot at using Milotic. Til next time ~ ~ ~