My last two segments (well, eleventh and twelwth) were two Hall of Fame runs! Two runs where I was MASSIVELY underleveled and was either blessed by the AI or narrowly avoided knock out hits by some sort of crazy stat coincidences.
⚪⚪⚪ First Hall of Fame, StarstruckFlora's Pearl!
After a lot of meddling around, grinding, and going through the Victory Road, I assembled a team consisting of the starter Empoleon, Bronzong, Abomasnow, Luxray, Mesprit, and Steelix. Yes, the demon known as Mesprit was caught in a Master Ball - multiple times actually - until I was lucky enough to find a Quiet one. That's a nature that decreases Speed, so I could use that Mesprit despite its base 80 Speed.
Mesprit and Luxray decimated the local fishermen population and gained quite a lot of levels fighting off Gyarados, the rest of the team gained some levels with the Exp. Share but not enough to be up there with that pair. I entered the league quite underleveled and made my way through with item spam and such, but I had some pretty nice moments, such as Abomasnow sweeping Cynthia near the end, a Psychic mirror match where Mesprit handled most of Lucian's Pokémon, and... yeah. Garchomp throwing the game instead of attacking my Pokémon with strong moves.
Team:
- Mesprit, lv. 59, Extrasensory, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Toxic
- Luxray, lv. 57, Spark, Discharge, Crunch, Roar
- Bronzong, lv. 51, Gyro Ball, Extrasensory, Trick Room, Rain Dance
- Empoleon, lv. 54, Surf, Flash Cannon, Ice Beam, Grass Knot
- Abomasnow, lv. 54, Blizzard, Wood Hammer, Ice Shard, Ingrain
- Steelix, lv. 48, Fire Fang, Earthquake, Crunch, Rock Slide
🔥🔥🔥 Second Hall of Fame, my own White2 save!
I ended up changing every member of the team in this case, some right away, some a bit later. I added Emboar in the team straight away and despite the level disadvantage, it was very helpful even in the beginning of the segment, when I was still dealing with the Plasma Frigate and the Seaside Cave. By the time I reached the Giant Chasm, however, I was able to change the team quite a lot already. It felt well balanced, Victory Road was not that much of a struggle even if by this point playing so much Pokémon with slow Pokémon was starting to wear me down... but then I realized one specific problem.
Shauntal's Chandelure hit every Pokémon of my team for super effective damage... and that's a Pokémon you're meant to prepare for. I was only able to get past this Chandelure by making sure it would get sent out under a previously set Rain Dance, sending in Metagross, and nailing at least one Bulldoze to lower its Speed. Yes, I did get a Metagross in the Giant Chasm by the way - it's not the first time I pick one up during a challenge (see my very first iteration of the Lampent challenge when it was done in event form all the way in 2020) and I knew how strong it could be.
The other Elite 4 were easily dealt with... at least in comparison. Marshal was a Metagross sweep, Caitlin was basically a Bisharp sweep (another Pokémon from my challenge history) and Grimsley was a bit more complicated but... Emboar did well enough.
Now Iris... she was a big problem too. So many things could go wrong and set up a team sweep from her. This, to be fair, already happened with Colress before the Kyurem fight (I eventually handled that with Emboar and Metagross) and with Ghetsis (but that was a bit more manageable as well; Kyurem-white was dealt with by Metagross once again, with some help from other team members).
In the end, Tangrowth proved to be invaluable. I only brought Tangrowth along for being a Grass-type to complete a fire-water-grass core and add some defense, and defend it did, by taking an X-scissor from Iris's boosted Haxorus and surviving with 8 HP... just to get off a Bulldoze, because it was that important. Overall, Emboar deserves some praise too for handling Hydreigon and Aggron... but Metagross finished the battle off once again by dealing with Archeops and Lapras.
Jellicent was my rain setter and it did an alright job, especially considering its level. But the only real disappointment was Vanilluxe. Almost a worse Klinklang: no good moves except Ice Beam, well rounded stats but not good enough, no specific role to add to a team. At the very least, Vanilluxe was useful against some of Iris's Dragons, but... that was it. At least, I have to assume that keeping that Pokémon in the team for longer, getting some good levels and some good EVs on it, and finding some TM moves for it, would make it an alright choice. And that's the story of the challenge anyways, isn't it? Changing teams to adapt to different rules and working out ways to play together has been difficult, but also a lot of fun. Despite all of the issues, I am stubbornly proud of reaching the Hall of Fame with some of these Pokémon.
Team:
- Emboar, lv. 56, Flame Charge, Heat Crash, Head Smash, Hammer Arm
- Metagross, lv. 56, Thunder Punch, Meteor Mash, Zen Headbutt, Bulldoze
- Jellicent, lv. 52, Rain Dance, Surf, Hex, Will-o-wisp
- Vanilluxe, lv. 51, Ice Beam, Toxic, Acid Armor, Light Screen
- Bisharp, lv. 56, Night Slash, Iron Head, Rock Tomb, Metal Sound
- Tangrowth, lv. 52, Giga Drain, Energy Ball, Toxic, Bulldoze
And here's some pics :)
⚪⚪⚪ First Hall of Fame, StarstruckFlora's Pearl!
After a lot of meddling around, grinding, and going through the Victory Road, I assembled a team consisting of the starter Empoleon, Bronzong, Abomasnow, Luxray, Mesprit, and Steelix. Yes, the demon known as Mesprit was caught in a Master Ball - multiple times actually - until I was lucky enough to find a Quiet one. That's a nature that decreases Speed, so I could use that Mesprit despite its base 80 Speed.
Mesprit and Luxray decimated the local fishermen population and gained quite a lot of levels fighting off Gyarados, the rest of the team gained some levels with the Exp. Share but not enough to be up there with that pair. I entered the league quite underleveled and made my way through with item spam and such, but I had some pretty nice moments, such as Abomasnow sweeping Cynthia near the end, a Psychic mirror match where Mesprit handled most of Lucian's Pokémon, and... yeah. Garchomp throwing the game instead of attacking my Pokémon with strong moves.
Team:
- Mesprit, lv. 59, Extrasensory, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Toxic
- Luxray, lv. 57, Spark, Discharge, Crunch, Roar
- Bronzong, lv. 51, Gyro Ball, Extrasensory, Trick Room, Rain Dance
- Empoleon, lv. 54, Surf, Flash Cannon, Ice Beam, Grass Knot
- Abomasnow, lv. 54, Blizzard, Wood Hammer, Ice Shard, Ingrain
- Steelix, lv. 48, Fire Fang, Earthquake, Crunch, Rock Slide
🔥🔥🔥 Second Hall of Fame, my own White2 save!
I ended up changing every member of the team in this case, some right away, some a bit later. I added Emboar in the team straight away and despite the level disadvantage, it was very helpful even in the beginning of the segment, when I was still dealing with the Plasma Frigate and the Seaside Cave. By the time I reached the Giant Chasm, however, I was able to change the team quite a lot already. It felt well balanced, Victory Road was not that much of a struggle even if by this point playing so much Pokémon with slow Pokémon was starting to wear me down... but then I realized one specific problem.
Shauntal's Chandelure hit every Pokémon of my team for super effective damage... and that's a Pokémon you're meant to prepare for. I was only able to get past this Chandelure by making sure it would get sent out under a previously set Rain Dance, sending in Metagross, and nailing at least one Bulldoze to lower its Speed. Yes, I did get a Metagross in the Giant Chasm by the way - it's not the first time I pick one up during a challenge (see my very first iteration of the Lampent challenge when it was done in event form all the way in 2020) and I knew how strong it could be.
The other Elite 4 were easily dealt with... at least in comparison. Marshal was a Metagross sweep, Caitlin was basically a Bisharp sweep (another Pokémon from my challenge history) and Grimsley was a bit more complicated but... Emboar did well enough.
Now Iris... she was a big problem too. So many things could go wrong and set up a team sweep from her. This, to be fair, already happened with Colress before the Kyurem fight (I eventually handled that with Emboar and Metagross) and with Ghetsis (but that was a bit more manageable as well; Kyurem-white was dealt with by Metagross once again, with some help from other team members).
In the end, Tangrowth proved to be invaluable. I only brought Tangrowth along for being a Grass-type to complete a fire-water-grass core and add some defense, and defend it did, by taking an X-scissor from Iris's boosted Haxorus and surviving with 8 HP... just to get off a Bulldoze, because it was that important. Overall, Emboar deserves some praise too for handling Hydreigon and Aggron... but Metagross finished the battle off once again by dealing with Archeops and Lapras.
Jellicent was my rain setter and it did an alright job, especially considering its level. But the only real disappointment was Vanilluxe. Almost a worse Klinklang: no good moves except Ice Beam, well rounded stats but not good enough, no specific role to add to a team. At the very least, Vanilluxe was useful against some of Iris's Dragons, but... that was it. At least, I have to assume that keeping that Pokémon in the team for longer, getting some good levels and some good EVs on it, and finding some TM moves for it, would make it an alright choice. And that's the story of the challenge anyways, isn't it? Changing teams to adapt to different rules and working out ways to play together has been difficult, but also a lot of fun. Despite all of the issues, I am stubbornly proud of reaching the Hall of Fame with some of these Pokémon.
Team:
- Emboar, lv. 56, Flame Charge, Heat Crash, Head Smash, Hammer Arm
- Metagross, lv. 56, Thunder Punch, Meteor Mash, Zen Headbutt, Bulldoze
- Jellicent, lv. 52, Rain Dance, Surf, Hex, Will-o-wisp
- Vanilluxe, lv. 51, Ice Beam, Toxic, Acid Armor, Light Screen
- Bisharp, lv. 56, Night Slash, Iron Head, Rock Tomb, Metal Sound
- Tangrowth, lv. 52, Giga Drain, Energy Ball, Toxic, Bulldoze
And here's some pics :)
