3rd Gen FireRed Team + Abilities: Advice wanted

[cjlambert]

Hi everyone, I played Yellow on GB Pocket when I was a kid. I'm 30 now, and with all the media hype surrounding Pokemon GO, I wanted to play through the game again.

I decided to play FireRed instead of the original games because of the full-colour graphics, and since the layout of the game is essentially the same, it seemed like a no-brainer. Finding out I couldn't obtain the original three starters (Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle) like I did in Yellow was disappointing, so I started a new game and found a Gameshark code that would allow me to start with all three.

29 hours of gameplay later, I've just collected my eighth badge and have gained access to the Pokemon League. Throughout my gameplay, I have conserved every T.M. I've come across, and have not learned any of the 'one-time-teaches' from NPCs. My team ranges from levels 45-50, and the Pokemon I'm using are:

Pikachu (Thunder, Slam, Thunderbolt, Thunderwave)
Venusaur (Sleep Powder, Cut, Leech Seed, Razor Leaf)
Charizard (Flamethrower, Fly, Ember, Strength)
Blastoise (Surf, Bite, Bubble, Water Gun)
Kadabra (Recover, Psychic, Confusion, Psybeam)
Articuno (Have never used at all, so still has default level 50 abilities. Though I believe I will swap out him out for Dragonite).

As you might imagine, I'm tied to the starters + Pikachu, and am fairly convinced Dragonite would be a solid addition to the team. I plan to eventually exchange Kadabra for Mewtwo, but according to an article I read about obtaining Mewtwo, I can't get him until after completing the Elite Four. I attempted the first of the Four and she one-hit K.O.'d all my Pokemon. Obviously I need to level them up to 65-70.

The question I'm here to ask is: what abilities should I teach to which Pokemon for a solid team with the listed lineup. I don't want to waste any of the one-time learn moves on the wrong Pokemon!

Any advice is appreciated!
Thanks much.

 

[Brendino]

I'm not great at coming up with movesets, but something that you might want to try doing is diversifying your Pokemon's moves. For example, you've got a Blastoise with 3 Water type moves, one of which (Bubble) is 4 times less powerful than Surf. And remember to play to the type advantages as well- use Fighting/Fire/Steel/Rock type moves against Ice types, Flying/Psychic against Flying, etc. Giving your Pokemon different types of moves can help you in the long run, and give you more opportunities to have super effective attacks against your opponents.

Levelling up your team will probably help as well. Getting all the way to 65-70 might be a bit much, but the Champion will have one or two Pokemon above level 60, so you should be prepared for that. I wish I could give you more advice on movesets, but hopefully that'll at least guide you in the right direction to try some stuff out on your own!

 

[Elysieum]

If you feel comfortable letting go of your Pikachu, I would replace it with Magneton. It is a great tank and provides more coverage than Pikachu. Or at least evolve it to Raichu to enhance its power. Give it some defensive props with Light Screen. I suggest teaching Ice Beam to Blastoise. Most Water Pokémon have valuable access to Ice moves that counter Grass and Flying opponents. I would replace Kadabra (since it cannot reach full potential as Alakazam) with a non-battling Krabby to carry all the weaker HM moves for you. Venusaur shouldn't have to put up with Cut. Likewise with Charizard's Strength. That Ember is a spot better filled with Dragon Claw.

I would suggest adding weather effects to your team in some way. Have Charizard and Venusaur work together and benefit from Sunny Day and Solarbeam. Blastoise and Dragonite/Articuno can benefit from Rain Dance and strong Water attacks. Even Raichu/Magneton can carry Thunder which lands 100% in the rain.

 

[72485rahul]

As said above, Either evolve Pikachu or use Magneton.
Raichu:
- Thunderbolt
- Thunderwave
- Light Screen
- Focus Punch/Brick Break

Magneton:
- Thunderbolt
- Thunderwave/Toxic
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

You dont need Cut now.
Venusaur:
- Razor Leaf/Solarbeam
- Leech Seed
- Toxic/Sleep Powder
- Sludge Bomb/Earthquake

Blastoise doesn't needs 3 water type Moves
Blastoise:
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Brick Break/Focus Punch

Charizard:
- Flamethrower
- Fly
- Dragon Claw
- Overheat/Sunny Day

Kadabra is really not worthy.
Kadabra:
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Shock Wave

Dragonite:
- Dragon Claw/Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Surf/Thunderbolt/Ice Beam

Articuno:
- Ice Beam
- Water Pulse
- Rest
- Sleep Talk/Toxic

 

[gehringgame]

There are some good suggestions above for diversifying and maximizing your movesets, so I won't repeat those, but I will make one note about Pikachu:

True, Pikachu isn't the strongest base-stat wise. Evolving into a Raichu or swapping for Magneton is one option, but since you are pretty attached to Pikachu, you do have another option to keep it more relevant in high-level battles: give it a Light Ball. The Light Ball doubles Pikachu's Sp. Attack stat when held which makes Thunderbolt and Thunder way more deadly.

Now I can't seem to confirm this online, but if it's like R/S/E, one in twenty wild Pikachus will be holding a light ball. It's a bit grindy to get one (use Thief to make it easier) but it's worth it if you want to keep Pikachu around in the late game.

 

[cjlambert]

Thank you all for the fabulous input! And a special thanks to 72485rahul, for giving me pretty much exactly what I needed. I am not a theory-crafter by any means, and developing a moveset to coordinate an entire team is just not within my capabilities.

I've now trained all my Pokemon up to level 50, and will continue VS Seeker battles until Dragonair reaches 55 and evolves into Dragonite, at which point I will be able to teach him Earthquake, a move Dragonair is incapable of learning. I will then be attempting the Elite Four again.

As it stands, my moveset is currently:

Pikachu (Thunderbolt, Focus Punch, Light Screen, Thunder Wave)
Venusaur (Razor Leaf, Solarbeam, Leech Seed, Sleep Powder)
Charizard (Flamethrower, Overheat, Fly, Strength)
Blastoise (Surf, Brick Break, Ice Beam, Bite)
Dragonair (Fire Blast, Slam, Dragon Rage, Twister)
Kadabra (Psychic, Psybeam, Confusion, Recover)

I am tied to Pikachu. <3 I will not evolve him, nor will I swap him for a different Pokemon. If it means I need to take him to max level to make him effective, then that's what I'll do. I did some research, and sadly it seems as though you can only get a 'Light Ball' in FireRed by trading from a prior generation of game.

Venusaur's 'Razor Leaf' will be swapped for 'Sludge Bomb' after I beat the Elite Four, and can travel to Island Five to get the T.M from the Team Rocket HQ.

In regards to Charizard's 'Strength', I am considering the suggestion of swapping it out for 'Dragon Claw,' as suggested, however both moves have the same PP/Power/Accuracy ratings, and since 'Strength' has out-of-battle uses, I figure it's safer to keep the H.M., since I'd like to avoid having to pull out an 'H.M. slave' every time I need to use one.

As for Blastoise, I kept 'Bite' for now, because 'Toxic' just doesn't feel right. It seems like a move more suited for Venusaur, who's 'Sleep Powder' I may replace with 'Toxic' in the future, because of its lacking reliability, both in accuracy and random length of affect. While 'Bite' is not that great a move, I currently have a limited supply of items to hold, so he currently wears Blackglasses, which compliments 'Bite.' In the future, I will probably replace 'Bite' with either 'Rain Dance', 'Blizzard', or 'Hail'. If I choose 'Rain Dance,' I will likely replace Pikachu's 'Thunderbolt' with 'Thunder.'

Kadabra is just a temporary member of my team, who will eventually be replaced with Mewtwo, so I won't be wasting any T.M.s on him.

And finally, Dragonite (currently Dragonair) will be learning 'Earthquake', 'Thunderbolt' and 'Outrage' to replace 'Slam', 'Dragon Rage' and 'Twister.'

Once again, thank you all for your help, and obviously, feel free to comment!

I'll be back to let you know how my battles with the Elite Four turn out :)

Cheers!

 

[cjlambert]

Success! Beat them all on the first try!
Thanks again, everyone! I couldn't have done it without you! :chu:

 

[gehringgame]

Congrats!! :happy: :happy: That's one classic team right there. Really takes me back.

 

[cjlambert]

Hi again, everyone.

Today I'm taking a stab at creating the most effective moveset for my Mewtwo, since the movesets for the rest of my team were pretty much handed to me.

I've done my best searching through bulbapedia's learnsets and pokemondb's type-chart to try and come up with the best moveset. Here's what I've got.

Seems to me that with Mewtwo's high Special Attack stat, I should be using:

Psychic 90acc/100pwr/10pp
Thunderbolt 95acc/100pwr/15pp
Flamethrower 95acc/100pwr/15pp
Ice Beam 95acc/100pwr/10pp

The problem lies in the fact that I want him to have 'Recover.'

'Psychic' seems like a no-brainer, as he is of the Psychic-type, and the only one on my team.

So I need to eliminate either 'Thunderbolt', 'Flamethrower' or 'Ice Beam' (all of which are conveniently available for re-purchase at the Celadon Game Corner... Lucky me!)

My Pikachu and Dragonite both already know 'Thunderbolt'.
My Charizard already knows 'Flamethrower', and my Dragonite knows 'Fire Blast'.
My Blastoise already knows 'Ice Beam', which is my team's only Ice-type attack.

Considering this, it seems to me that my third choice should be 'Ice Beam'.

This now leaves me to choose between 'Flamethrower' and 'Thunderbolt', both of which have the same accuracy/power/pp.

Fire attacks are super effective against four types: Grass, Ice, Bug and Steel, and are weak against four types: Fire, Water, Rock and Dragon.

Electric attacks are super effective against only two types: Water and Flying, and are weak against three types: Electric Grass and Dragon, and have zero affect on Ground.

This leads me to believe that the most effective moveset for my Mewtwo would be:

Psychic
Ice Beam
Flamethrower
Recover

Does this sound right? Have I overlooked anything?
Suggestions and comments are very much appreciated!

 

[72485rahul]

First of all, Congrats.
Those kind of teams wants me to play the Game Again.
For Mewtwo, if you are not worried about Weezing & Gengar, you probably want to have
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Recover

it hits everything, bar Lanturn for Neutral or super-effective damage.
But if you want to hit Weezing & Gengar, your set is perfect.
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower
- Recover

EDIT: As you used cheat to get the other two starters, you can get the Light Ball too.

 

[gehringgame]

I've never used Mewtwo so I'm not sure how movesets for this guy usually look. What you've got right now is a good jack-of-all-trades moveset that will allow Mewtwo to go up against pretty much anybody. But if you want something different...

If it was me (and our play styles might be totally different so take this with a grain of salt), I don't like duplicating moves from other members of my team. Since you already have good Ice, Fire, and Electric moves in your squad, an alternative for Mewtwo might look like this:

Psychic (STAB, a no-brainer)
Hyper Beam (for attempting OHKOs with that high Sp. Atk.)
Shadow Ball (type coverage against Ghost)
Recover

Or, if you want to go crazy and turn him into a tank:

Psychic
Barrier (++Def.)
Amnesia (++ Sp. Def.)
Recover (Heal while raising stats, become invincible)

 

[cjlambert]

72485rahul: Thank you :) I've chosen to keep 'Psychic', just to play it safe with the ghosts in the Elite Four.

In regards to using a cheat to get the Light Ball, the cheat code I found for the starters seems to be the only one that works for me... (?)

I tried other cheats to get the starters, ones that let you select a specific Pokemon for your next encounter in tall grass, but none of them worked for me. I think my emulator is selective about which types of cheat codes work.

Maybe I'll give it another shot.

gehringgame: I don't particularly like to have duplicate moves either, however in this case, with the attacks available for Mewtwo, I think it's for the best. 'Hyper Beam' I won't touch with a ten foot pool. I really don't like the 2-turn attacks. In fact, I just replaced my Venusaur's 'Solar Beam' with Sludge Bomb for that reason, and I am also looking for a move to replace my Pikachu's 'Focus Punch'. I'm considering going back to 'Thunder', and replacing 'Light Screen' with 'Rain Dance'. Or maybe I'll just use 'Brick Break' and keep 'Light Screen'.

Also, thank you for the 'Congrats' as well! :)

 

[gehringgame]

That's totally valid, I have an on-off relationship with those moves too. Best of luck!