BlissyMKW
Rawr
- 1,152
- Posts
- 14
- Years
- Age 29
- The Shadow Realm
- Seen Jan 2, 2025
Well, the Ground weakness is solved, but not only will I not be catching this thing anytime soon, the only way in White 2 to catch my new team member is via Surf since the Super Rod is locked behind postgame. Also 5% encounter rate. Should be fun bashing my head against the wall trying to get this one. Either way, at the very least, it's a Pokemon I haven't used before, so it should be interesting.
Current Restictions: Steel - No items in battle from the bag. Clay took full advantage of this, and at the rate things are going, the Elite Four will too. If this isn't removed, I will sell my X items that I've been picking up.
Electric - When switching out in battle, I must choose the next Pokemon in the list in order. Starting to become a bit more intimidating now that the team is growing.
Fire - No non-Fire status moves. Basically no setup moves, but Water pretty much has the exact same restriction, except it's party wide.
Ground - This Pokemon's moveset behaves similar to a wild Pokemon, with it's oldest move being replaced by it's newest one. One TM/HM, tutor move, or Move Relearner move must be on at a time and isn't affected by this rule. Currently, Dig is that move, but it will be changed out with Earthquake when Shades eventually learns it.
Water - No moves allowed that guarantee boost your stats, like Work Up or Flame Charge. Because I can't catch the Pokemon tied to this restriction until Undella Town, I'm safe...for now.
Welcome back to the tale of "local idiot who got swept by a Sandslash three times." Today, we are still insanely weak to Ground and have to do one of my favorite side activities in the entire series, the PWT. Back in the day, this thing was a huge deal, especially in postgame. Being able to fight gym leaders and even champions from past games was an amazing concept. It's a shame they never did something like this again, but the less I say about modern Game Freak and go off on a tangent, the better. This is also the first time we're fighting Hugh since all the way back at the ranch, which is pretty wild to think about.
As a game plan, I opted to bring in Amphy, Shades, and Anubis in that order. Amphy is slow, but Static can paralyze things and give me free turns to click Electro Ball. Shades in the middle is primarily for Colress since both him and Anubis can blast through his team, plus Intimidate is always useful. Anubis is last because...I don't know, but it'll hopefully work. There aren't any Ground types here as far as I'm aware. Amphy swept Hugh, and it was at this moment I remembered you don't get any experience from these fights. I had also forgotten these mons are...lower leveled than even the gym trainers I just got smacked around by...whenever my last update was. Anyway, this tournament is fixed so Cheren is always the second opponent. Once again, the strategy of Confuse Ray + Thunder Wave gave Amphy another sweep. Of course, I can't do that to Colress, so that one will require a bit more actual thought than my current strategy.
...Never mind, because I swept Colress too. Not with Amphy, but I got the Quick Claw to work and confused Magneton before sending in Shades to blow up everything. This is Gen 5, so Steel still resists Ghost and Dark, but that doesn't matter here because Dig exists. With that done, it's time for a wild plot to appear! Our first visit to the Plasma Frigate is met with battles against grunts, a nice chat with Zinzolin, and "escorted" off the boat by the Shadow Triad. Shofu got some levels, so it was worth the trip. Route 6 was also sort of worth it to grab the Surf HM, but I did have to backtrack to grab the Ducklett I caught before, considering this is the only way I can use Surf right now. As for Chargestone Cave, aside from being blindsided by that Ace Trainer with the triple battle, not much to talk about aside from another N cameo. Onward to Route 7 and the Lucky Egg. On the way, Shofu finally evolved, so we no longer need to deal with the Hustle problem, and with the Lucky Egg, leveling up will be much easier. As for the gym, it was the Amphy show. He also got Discharge right before the battle with Skyla. I missed Rock Tomb twice in a row on Skyla's Swoobat with Anubis, but otherwise the battle was hardly eventful since Amphy blew up everything else.
A nice plane ride later and we're off to Lentimas Town, but considering the events between here and the next town aren't very relevant, let's skip over to the elephant in the room, and that's catching the next member of the squad, which is a Remoraid...who can only be caught in two routes in the entire game. Even worse, it only has a 5% encounter rate through Surfing, and since the rod is locked behind postgame, this is the only way to get Remoraid or Octillery in the main story barring trade, which isn't possible anyway. Anyway, I had expected this to take me an hour or so because of said low encounter rate, but it only took me five encounters to find one. I got Hustle, which feels like a curse at this point since that becomes the worthless Suction Cups on evolution, but at least Remoraid learns Ice Beam at only Level 34. Lucky for me, my Remoraid was Level 33, so welcome Ursula to the team. She will need a lot of catching up to get caught up, especially since she'll be doing the bulk of the heavy lifting against Drayden's gym.
After going and blowing up any trainers I could to get Ursula some levels, a wild Hugh appears as I try to leave town to the north. I had thought he had more Pokemon, but to my surprise, he still only has 3. Ursula, at Level 38, instakilled his lead with Ice Beam. It also instakilled Emboar, but it used Take Down on the first turn. Surprisingly, the Simipour was the greatest threat. It did a ton to Anubis when I switched her in, also got burned, and nearly one shot Shofu. It's still a Simipour, though, therefore it is easy to beat. This is the fourth rival battle, and this is all he has? Keep in mind we don't fight this guy again until the final time at Victory Road, and this is the best he can do at this point? By now, Cheren has a solid team, but we've also fought him a good four times or so by the 6th gym. Anyway, it's onward to the next town, blasting aside trainers in the way to score more experience, because I'm sure going to need it. This team is...pretty lacking in defenses, so the strategy is slowly evolving into "blow up everything with my glass cannons featuring an octopus."
After getting critted and instakilled in two different instances, I arrive at Lacunosa Town, where it's plot dump time about Kyurem. After that, near the exit, we get Zinzolin's monologue about why he's still with Team Plasma and battle him. After smashing their faces in with Shofu, it's off to Opelucid City, cutting out the part where I scour routes for items and trainers. After taking out any trainers I could find, it's time for the Ursula Show, also known as Opelucid City gym. While Ursula couldn't even one shot a Fraxure at first, after a level, she could handle them. Druddigon, however, she still couldn't one shot. Anyway, onto Drayden. Expecting something Ursula can't deal with in one hit as a lead, I chose to lead with Shades for Intimidate on whatever Drayden's lead is, which turned out to be Druddigion, which was what I was predicting. I just spammed Crunch and managed to get a Defense drop. Drayden wasted his Hyper Potion, and more Crunches took Druddigon out. As for Flygon, this is the Ursula show now. It is a Flygon in the face of an Ice move, so we all know where this was going. Haxorus, however, had the potential to be scary. On it's first turn, it went for Dragon Dance, but my Ice Beam froze it on the first shot. 10%, by the way. With that, it was a free victory for the squad.
So, next time is the finale. Team Plasma, Marlon, more Team Plasma, the Ghetsis Episode, and Elite Four await. I don't know how this ragtag group will handle it, but we'll have to wait and see.
Current thoughts: Well, the Ground weakness issue is...less of an issue, but now we have a new one: glass cannons. Sure, a lot of my team blows up stuff, but they can't take hits well. Combine that with the inability to heal in battle, and now the Electric restriction's true power is starting to show itself. If I didn't have to take a sixth team member, I'd say I could probably beat Kyurem White and Ghetsis with just this team, but as per the rules, I must have a full party. So, shuffler of mystery, if you're planning on swapping someone out, now's the time. Let's hope I don't slack off and finish the run before the deadline.
Current Restictions: Steel - No items in battle from the bag. Clay took full advantage of this, and at the rate things are going, the Elite Four will too. If this isn't removed, I will sell my X items that I've been picking up.
Electric - When switching out in battle, I must choose the next Pokemon in the list in order. Starting to become a bit more intimidating now that the team is growing.
Fire - No non-Fire status moves. Basically no setup moves, but Water pretty much has the exact same restriction, except it's party wide.
Ground - This Pokemon's moveset behaves similar to a wild Pokemon, with it's oldest move being replaced by it's newest one. One TM/HM, tutor move, or Move Relearner move must be on at a time and isn't affected by this rule. Currently, Dig is that move, but it will be changed out with Earthquake when Shades eventually learns it.
Water - No moves allowed that guarantee boost your stats, like Work Up or Flame Charge. Because I can't catch the Pokemon tied to this restriction until Undella Town, I'm safe...for now.
Welcome back to the tale of "local idiot who got swept by a Sandslash three times." Today, we are still insanely weak to Ground and have to do one of my favorite side activities in the entire series, the PWT. Back in the day, this thing was a huge deal, especially in postgame. Being able to fight gym leaders and even champions from past games was an amazing concept. It's a shame they never did something like this again, but the less I say about modern Game Freak and go off on a tangent, the better. This is also the first time we're fighting Hugh since all the way back at the ranch, which is pretty wild to think about.
As a game plan, I opted to bring in Amphy, Shades, and Anubis in that order. Amphy is slow, but Static can paralyze things and give me free turns to click Electro Ball. Shades in the middle is primarily for Colress since both him and Anubis can blast through his team, plus Intimidate is always useful. Anubis is last because...I don't know, but it'll hopefully work. There aren't any Ground types here as far as I'm aware. Amphy swept Hugh, and it was at this moment I remembered you don't get any experience from these fights. I had also forgotten these mons are...lower leveled than even the gym trainers I just got smacked around by...whenever my last update was. Anyway, this tournament is fixed so Cheren is always the second opponent. Once again, the strategy of Confuse Ray + Thunder Wave gave Amphy another sweep. Of course, I can't do that to Colress, so that one will require a bit more actual thought than my current strategy.
...Never mind, because I swept Colress too. Not with Amphy, but I got the Quick Claw to work and confused Magneton before sending in Shades to blow up everything. This is Gen 5, so Steel still resists Ghost and Dark, but that doesn't matter here because Dig exists. With that done, it's time for a wild plot to appear! Our first visit to the Plasma Frigate is met with battles against grunts, a nice chat with Zinzolin, and "escorted" off the boat by the Shadow Triad. Shofu got some levels, so it was worth the trip. Route 6 was also sort of worth it to grab the Surf HM, but I did have to backtrack to grab the Ducklett I caught before, considering this is the only way I can use Surf right now. As for Chargestone Cave, aside from being blindsided by that Ace Trainer with the triple battle, not much to talk about aside from another N cameo. Onward to Route 7 and the Lucky Egg. On the way, Shofu finally evolved, so we no longer need to deal with the Hustle problem, and with the Lucky Egg, leveling up will be much easier. As for the gym, it was the Amphy show. He also got Discharge right before the battle with Skyla. I missed Rock Tomb twice in a row on Skyla's Swoobat with Anubis, but otherwise the battle was hardly eventful since Amphy blew up everything else.
A nice plane ride later and we're off to Lentimas Town, but considering the events between here and the next town aren't very relevant, let's skip over to the elephant in the room, and that's catching the next member of the squad, which is a Remoraid...who can only be caught in two routes in the entire game. Even worse, it only has a 5% encounter rate through Surfing, and since the rod is locked behind postgame, this is the only way to get Remoraid or Octillery in the main story barring trade, which isn't possible anyway. Anyway, I had expected this to take me an hour or so because of said low encounter rate, but it only took me five encounters to find one. I got Hustle, which feels like a curse at this point since that becomes the worthless Suction Cups on evolution, but at least Remoraid learns Ice Beam at only Level 34. Lucky for me, my Remoraid was Level 33, so welcome Ursula to the team. She will need a lot of catching up to get caught up, especially since she'll be doing the bulk of the heavy lifting against Drayden's gym.
After going and blowing up any trainers I could to get Ursula some levels, a wild Hugh appears as I try to leave town to the north. I had thought he had more Pokemon, but to my surprise, he still only has 3. Ursula, at Level 38, instakilled his lead with Ice Beam. It also instakilled Emboar, but it used Take Down on the first turn. Surprisingly, the Simipour was the greatest threat. It did a ton to Anubis when I switched her in, also got burned, and nearly one shot Shofu. It's still a Simipour, though, therefore it is easy to beat. This is the fourth rival battle, and this is all he has? Keep in mind we don't fight this guy again until the final time at Victory Road, and this is the best he can do at this point? By now, Cheren has a solid team, but we've also fought him a good four times or so by the 6th gym. Anyway, it's onward to the next town, blasting aside trainers in the way to score more experience, because I'm sure going to need it. This team is...pretty lacking in defenses, so the strategy is slowly evolving into "blow up everything with my glass cannons featuring an octopus."
After getting critted and instakilled in two different instances, I arrive at Lacunosa Town, where it's plot dump time about Kyurem. After that, near the exit, we get Zinzolin's monologue about why he's still with Team Plasma and battle him. After smashing their faces in with Shofu, it's off to Opelucid City, cutting out the part where I scour routes for items and trainers. After taking out any trainers I could find, it's time for the Ursula Show, also known as Opelucid City gym. While Ursula couldn't even one shot a Fraxure at first, after a level, she could handle them. Druddigon, however, she still couldn't one shot. Anyway, onto Drayden. Expecting something Ursula can't deal with in one hit as a lead, I chose to lead with Shades for Intimidate on whatever Drayden's lead is, which turned out to be Druddigion, which was what I was predicting. I just spammed Crunch and managed to get a Defense drop. Drayden wasted his Hyper Potion, and more Crunches took Druddigon out. As for Flygon, this is the Ursula show now. It is a Flygon in the face of an Ice move, so we all know where this was going. Haxorus, however, had the potential to be scary. On it's first turn, it went for Dragon Dance, but my Ice Beam froze it on the first shot. 10%, by the way. With that, it was a free victory for the squad.
So, next time is the finale. Team Plasma, Marlon, more Team Plasma, the Ghetsis Episode, and Elite Four await. I don't know how this ragtag group will handle it, but we'll have to wait and see.
The Squad
Anubis (Lucario) Lv. 46
Nature: Lax
Ability: Inner Focus
Moves: Return, Bone Rush, Force Palm, Shadow Claw
Amphy (Ampharos) Lv. 45
Nature: Brave
Ability: Static
Moves: Confuse Ray, Discharge, Thunder Wave, Power Gem
Shofu (Darmanitan) Lv. 46
Nature: Calm
Ability: Sheer Force
Moves: Fire Punch, Facade, Fire Fang, Hammer Arm
Shades (Krookodile) Lv. 46
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Intimidate
Moves: Scary Face, Foul Play, Crunch, Dig
Ursula (Octillery) Lv. 49
Nature: Lax
Ability: Suction Cups
Moves: Surf, Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Signal Beam
![[PokeCommunity.com] ♥ Wind of Change - Valentine's day 2023 Challenge Event ♥ [PokeCommunity.com] ♥ Wind of Change - Valentine's day 2023 Challenge Event ♥](https://img.pokemondb.net/sprites/black-white/anim/normal/lucario.gif)
Anubis (Lucario) Lv. 46
Nature: Lax
Ability: Inner Focus
Moves: Return, Bone Rush, Force Palm, Shadow Claw
![[PokeCommunity.com] ♥ Wind of Change - Valentine's day 2023 Challenge Event ♥ [PokeCommunity.com] ♥ Wind of Change - Valentine's day 2023 Challenge Event ♥](https://img.pokemondb.net/sprites/black-white/anim/normal/ampharos.gif)
Amphy (Ampharos) Lv. 45
Nature: Brave
Ability: Static
Moves: Confuse Ray, Discharge, Thunder Wave, Power Gem
![[PokeCommunity.com] ♥ Wind of Change - Valentine's day 2023 Challenge Event ♥ [PokeCommunity.com] ♥ Wind of Change - Valentine's day 2023 Challenge Event ♥](https://img.pokemondb.net/sprites/black-white/anim/normal/darmanitan.gif)
Shofu (Darmanitan) Lv. 46
Nature: Calm
Ability: Sheer Force
Moves: Fire Punch, Facade, Fire Fang, Hammer Arm
![[PokeCommunity.com] ♥ Wind of Change - Valentine's day 2023 Challenge Event ♥ [PokeCommunity.com] ♥ Wind of Change - Valentine's day 2023 Challenge Event ♥](https://img.pokemondb.net/sprites/black-white/anim/normal/krookodile.gif)
Shades (Krookodile) Lv. 46
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Intimidate
Moves: Scary Face, Foul Play, Crunch, Dig
![[PokeCommunity.com] ♥ Wind of Change - Valentine's day 2023 Challenge Event ♥ [PokeCommunity.com] ♥ Wind of Change - Valentine's day 2023 Challenge Event ♥](https://img.pokemondb.net/sprites/black-white/anim/normal/octillery.gif)
Ursula (Octillery) Lv. 49
Nature: Lax
Ability: Suction Cups
Moves: Surf, Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Signal Beam
Current thoughts: Well, the Ground weakness issue is...less of an issue, but now we have a new one: glass cannons. Sure, a lot of my team blows up stuff, but they can't take hits well. Combine that with the inability to heal in battle, and now the Electric restriction's true power is starting to show itself. If I didn't have to take a sixth team member, I'd say I could probably beat Kyurem White and Ghetsis with just this team, but as per the rules, I must have a full party. So, shuffler of mystery, if you're planning on swapping someone out, now's the time. Let's hope I don't slack off and finish the run before the deadline.