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Spotlight period:
From September 1st, 2024 to November 30th, 2024
Are you tired of throwing Surf on that Water type Pokemon of yours? Want to try and escape having a Grass type slap your opponents silly with Vine Whip?
Welcome to the silliest Challenge for a game built around STAB: The "Same Types Are Bad" Challenge, or, "STAB-less"!
The Rules
0. You may use any Pokemon you wish.
1. You may not use a STAB-move on your Pokemon when in battle.
2. For runs where you intend to catch dual-types, you must either choice "Semi-STAB", for where only the primary type is not-usable, or "Pure-STAB", which moves of either type are not usable. This will hold true across all Pokemon you catch (that is, you can't say you exclude both from a Spearow but not from a Pidgey).
3. Status moves may be of any type, but must not deal damage. The status affliction must be the primary action. In short, if it has a Base Power, it's not a status move.
4. If you have a Pokemon that starts with a move that would grant STAB in battle (say, a Krabby with only Bubble), you may use that move until you learn one that isn't STAB. At that point, you must no longer use the STAB move.
5. Because of the restrictions for some HMs (Fly or Surf, for example), you may teach them to Pokemon that have that type. They cannot use the move in battle, though. A good example: A Lapras can learn Surf, but because it is a STAB move, it can have it on the moveset for surfing around, but cannot use it during a battle.
6. If a Pokemon can only learn moves that are STAB, such as a Normal type that can only learn Normal type moves, they are allowed to use those moves. However, only one such Pokemon like this can be on your team at a time.
7. Pokemon that gain new types after evolving but learn moves of that type prior to evolution can use the move until evolving. Then you have a choice: keep the move or evolve and no longer use it. Or, perhaps, you think strategically about when to evolve...
Exemptions:
A. Since Smeargle learns Sketch, if a Normal-type move is sketched as the first move Smeargle learns, it can be used. That is, if a L1 Smeargle used Sketch and it learned Quick Attack, it could use that until Level 11, when it learns Sketch again.
B. Because Metronome is so random, and STAB is uncontrollable, any Pokemon that can learn it is eligible to do so. However, you may have only two Metronome users on your team at any one point (in the hopes of avoiding a Metronome run).
Your Choices
As with many of the other challenges, you can do a Single Challenge of a specific game...or the Ultimate Challenge. Ultimate Challenges must have at least one game completed from each region: Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and Alola. Ultimate Runs may be done in any order and in any main series game.
Note regarding Galar and Paldea (or, in the future, any additional regions):
Spoiler:
If you want to include any of the regions the follow Alola (Galar, Paldea, etc.), you are more than welcome to. Given that the first seven regions can all be played in some way on a 3DS, the others are considered optional for the Ultimate. If you choose to include them, you will not be considered complete for the Ultimate until everything you have listed is complete.
However, if you choose to do the first eight regions, but then, after completing all but Galar, choose to bow out from doing Galar, you will still be eligible for the Ultimate.
In short, for an Ultimate to count, you must satisfy both of the following:
You have completed at least Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and Alola.
Any additional regions you have added to your list are either complete or you have requested to skip.
If you choose to use Rom Hacks such as difficulty or all Pokemon available, those are eligible, but the rules above apply given what was changed. For example, if Charmander was now Fire/Dragon instead of Fire/Flying, Dragon moves are no longer usable but Flying moves are.
If you end up completing a set of Singles in each region using either Semi-STAB or Pure-STAB, you'll qualify for the Ultimate and will be moved there (so no need to claim initially if you aren't sure you'll get around to an Ultimate).
Endpoints
A game is considered beat when the credits start rolling for the first time.
Sign-Up
Please read the above carefully, asking any questions you find necessary for clarification or your own curiosity, and if you choose to attempt the challenge, include the following form in a post:
Code:
User:
STAB Style (Pure or Semi):
Game(s):
Single / Ultimate:
Challengers
Semi-STAB Single:
Spoiler:
N/A
Pure-STAB Single:
Spoiler:
yogo896 - Heartgold
Semi-STAB Ultimate:
Spoiler:
N/A
Pure-STAB Ultimate:
Spoiler:
Duck - Let's Go Pikachu, Heart Gold, Omega Ruby, Diamond, Black 2, X, Sun
Hall of Fame
Semi-STAB Single:
Spoiler:
N/A
Pure-STAB Single:
Spoiler:
StenirRPG: Red
Panda280: R.O.W.E (Open World Emerald)
Devalue - Scarlet
To start us off, I'm going to do a run of Red. Got a few other challenges going, so this will just be a single to start with.
As always, let me know if you run into anything not clear in the rules, and we'll work together to clear it up!
User: StenirRPG
STAB Style (Pure or Semi): Pure
Game(s): Red
Single / Ultimate: Single
Decided to do some preplanning, and this is what I found going through Brock:
- Bulbsaur's evolution line sort of sucks at the beginning for going STAB-less, unless it is the freebie.
- Squirtle's evolution line feels better to me than Charizard's. You get Ice moves in addition to the stuff Charizard gets. So, Squirtle it is. Having some resistance to Misty will be nice, also.
- Rattata is nice due to the TM selection.
- Pidgey and Spearow appear to be only usable as freebies. Both only really learn Normal and Flying moves.
- Weedle is kind of stuck until it evolves all the way to Beedrill, but then I get Fury Attack and a number of decent Normal moves from TMs.
- Caterpie wouldn't be bad when it gets Confusion as Butterfree. The benefit of a Psychic move on a Bug/Flying.
- Pikachu doesn't feel worth it.
- Nidorans are decent.
Sounds like my team heading into Pewter will be Squirtle, Rattata, Beedrill, Butterfree, Nidoran M and Nidoran F. Looking forward to working through it!
User: Stardrop
STAB Style (Pure or Semi): Pure
Game(s): Let's Go Pikachu, Heart Gold, Omega Ruby, Diamond, Black 2, X and Sun
Single / Ultimate: Ultimate
I think I can do those games. In case of technical difficulties I'll change that, I suppose. Maybe I'll even add some Gen 8 or 9 even.
Ultimates generally don't include Galar, because while it's relatively easy enough to play the first seven gens, not everyone has a Switch. The challenge in playing one of these shouldn't ever come down to "do I not complete the Ultimate or do I spend over 400 USD to buy a Switch and a Gen 8 game".
Anyone can certain do Galar as optional (which I will adjust the post to outright state Galar is an optional region), but those seven are accessible to everyone with just a 3DS: Kanto and Johto from 3DS VC, Hoenn from ORAS, Sinnoh and Unova are DS games that can be played on the 3DS, and Kalos and Alola are 3DS games.
For someone who plays from Kanto to Alola, I think they've proven they mastered the challenge. If you would like to take on an Ultimate and set yourself the task of seven required regions plus one optional, I would be more than happy to let you make the decision on whether Galar is required for your Ultimate to be complete.
That's what it comes down to: If a user does the first seven and chooses not to do Galar, then that's an Ultimate for them. If you want to do the first seven, but then say it won't count in your mind without Galar, then I will leave you as a Challenger until you've completed all eight.
I mean, if we really wanted to define "Ultimate", one could put forth the suggestion that you must complete "all currently available games in every generation", such that one would have to complete Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal, <insert a bunch more games here>, Scarlet, and Violet. But, at the end of the day, we're looking to make a challenge accessible, and following the lead of others on defining an Ultimate, I believe only requiring (but not limiting solely to) the first seven regions counts.
Update made to the OP regarding Ultimates. Basically, you must complete at least the first seven regions. If you choose to require any other regions of yourself, I will only mark you complete once those are done. If you back out of them, that's fine as long as you've completed the first seven regions.
First attempt against Brock went...both better and worse than expected. On one hand, I got past Geodude. On the other hand, I learned I had to lean on Growl and Leer to even get that far.
After the first attempt, I sit like this:
Squ the L8 Squirtle - Tackle / Tail Whip / {Bubble} /
Rat the L7 Rattata - Tackle / Tail Whip / {Quick Attack} /
Ino the L9 Nidoran M - Tackle / Leer / Horn Attack /
Wee the L8 Kakuna - Poison Sting / String Shot / /
Cat the L7 Metapod - Tackle / String Shot / /
Ina the L9 Nidoran F - Tackle / Growl / Scratch /
{ } denotes a move that cannot be used.
I got past Geodude the first time by using Growl from Ina until I couldn't, but I could never seem to get the defense low enough to really do much to Onix, even with three mons that have Defense lowering moves. However, I recently read up about some level rounding to those that have 0, 3, 5, and 8 as their ones digit, so while I'm thinking having a L8 Rattata and Metapod would be okay, getting them all to L10 would be better. So, that's my focus this evening...and then another attempt.
Finally beat Brock. Squirtle and both Nidoran are level 10 going into the battle, while the others are level 8. Nidoran F was up first, spamming Growl to lower Geodude's damage output. This paves the way for me to bring Squirtle in to spam Tail Whip. Geodude having Defense Curl sort of is a pain, but I do eventually get Geodude to -6 Defense. Then, I don't bother anymore with Tail Whip, even if Geodude uses Defense Curl, and focus solely on Tackle. I only do more damage with -5 and -6 Defense, so no point fighting to keep it that high. Squirtle gets a Potion, but then manages to take Geodude down.
Onix gets slammed with enough Tail Whip to reach -6 Defense, but it's not really doing much. Certainly nothing notable. At this point, I let Squirtle take the knockdown to put Nidoran F back out to continue the Growl onslaught. Then, a switch to Scratch, and one Potion later, and a bunch of Scratch...and Onix goes down. Sweet.
Looking forward to the trainers in Route 3 to get some levels up. I can pick up a Jigglypuff, not really for it's level learnset, but rather for it's TM set. However, this might be an interesting idea: Take Jigglypuff and have it learn Sing, Disable, Defense Curl, and Rest. Then maybe give it Toxic...see where this is going? Turn Jigglypuff into a status powerhouse, since status moves are allowed regardless of type. Something to look into, at least!
Quite a bit to catch up on. Current spot: Making my way down the road to Fuschia right now, but here's a quick summation. The short version? Leveling is key here. I watch a lot of JRose, Mah-Dry Bread, and Scott's Thoughts, and recently there's been more commenting about the level rounding. 0, 3, 5, and 8 are key levels in Gen 1 (maybe Gen 2 also). So, my new tactic is "Didn't work at level 10? Level to 13 and try again. Didn't work there? Try level 15." And so on. Been quite helpful, actually.
The key points between Brock and arriving in Fuschia:
- Mt. Moon was fairly dull. I did pick up a Jigglypuff, and I started my collection of Moon Stones. Gonna need three. I did need to take two attempts at that one trainer with a Raticate.
- I taught Mega Punch to Squirtle, and decided to go up to Bill first before Misty. That allowed me to get Dig, which I also taught to Squirtle. I decided to get everyone to 20 for the battle with Misty, since I was basically already there with most of them. Then I had the bright idea of just doing the S.S. Anne and getting some more TMs from there first - especially Body Slam. I give that to Nidorina. Complete that whole thing and get Cut (which goes on Beedrill).
- By this point, Misty is easy to get through. You've got Mega Punch, Dig, Cut, and Body Slam. Very easy to take her out. Bubblebeam goes on Jigglypuff.
- Back to Surge, who is very easy with Dig. Guess where Thunderbolt goes? Jigglypuff.
- Rock Tunnel, and everyone's level 25. I give Jigglypuff a Moon Stone since, with Bubblebeam, it'll be the move that gets me through Rock Tunnel...as well as Thunderbolt. Between those two moves, I easily make it up to the Self-Destructing Hiker. There, I save, since I'm so near the end, and carefully try to Sing/Bubblebeam my way through it. Sing has such a horrible hit rate, though. I end up spamming Bubblebeam and making it through.
- Lavender...nothing big. Just heading over to Celadon. I do a bunch of TM stuff. First, Moon Stones on Nidos. TM48 Rock Slide on Nidoqueen. TM17 Submission on Nidoking. TM13 Ice Beam on Wartortle. TM02 Razor Wind on Butterfree. Then I grab something to drink and head into Saffron, picking up TM29 Psychic for Wigglytuff.
At that point, right before Erika, here's what my team looked like:
L26 Beedrill (73/54/35/39/53) - Fury Attack / Cut / Rage / Focus Energy
L25 Butterfree (73/36/38/49/44) - Confusion / Tackle / Stun Spore / Razor Wind
L26 Wartortle (71/47/56/45/45) - Mega Punch / Ice Beam / Bite / Dig
L30 Wigglytuff (129/59/45/43/38) - Sing / Bubblebeam / Psychic / Thunderbolt
L28 Nidoqueen (94/57/64/53/60) - Body Slam / Scratch / Rock Slide / Tail Whip
L27 Nidoking (87/61/58//52/60) - Horn Attack / Tackle / Leer / Submission
- Erika turns out to be relatively easy with Butterfree's Confusion. I don't fully make it through just on Butterfree, so I end up having to use Beedrill a bit to finish. Mega Drain goes on Butterfree.
- I go ahead and level everyone up to 30 for the Rocket Game Corner. I'm really stuck on the whole 0/3/5/8 level thing, it seems. Turns out, a full team of level 30 is almost overkill there. Giovanni is like "rawr, I'm a big baddie" and I take him down fairly quickly.
- From there, it's on to the fourth Rival fight, and turns out he's the real wimp here. Mr. "I can't kill your Pokemon but I can at least knock them out" is sent packing after dealing with Wartortle and the rest of my team. On my way up the Tower, I use Butterfree a lot because Confusion is nice against all the ghosts. Gotta love Gen 1 like "Ghost > Psychic, but Psychic > Poison. This works!" I end up learning Psybeam and replacing Confusion with it for some extra power. A couple of floors later, I have a nice new Flute that I use to get rid of the Snorlax south of Lavender, and off I head towards Fuschia. I decide to go this way since there are more trainers and I didn't have to go back over to Celadon.
- While writing this, I've been making my way down towards Fuschia. I'm just now about to turn west on Route 15, the final segment to Fuschia. My team, right now, consists of the following, but I assume I'll be up to level 35 before facing Koga:
Fuschia wasn't too bad - Psychic from Wigglytuff and Psybeam from Butterfree were enough to power through. But before I fought the Gym, I went in to the Safari Zone and got the HMs for Surf and Strength, which I taught to Nidoqueen (replacing Scratch and Tail Whip).
Fighting my way through Silph Co isn't that bad. Since Gen 1 is rather strapped for cash, I fight every trainer but also head back to the Pokemon Center every time more than half my team faints. The Rival was a relative pushover, as was Giovanni.
The fight with Sabrina was a little painful, but half my team is Poison, so I did my best to avoid using them. Took me the first attempt to remember that about my team, and the second attempt to win. But I remembered this for later, because it became the final stall point of the run. Still fought all the trainers.
Blaine...pfft. Surf from Nidoqueen and Dig from Blastoise takes his team out. Still fought all the trainers.
Final Giovanni. Surf, Dig, and Psychic and Psybeam. Between all of that, easy victory.
Now comes the fun part: Final Pre-Elite Four Rival. Urgh. I lost a couple of times to some untimely strings of Crits. Gen 1 and it's Crit mechanics, I tell ya. Took me three attempts before I broke through. It probably didn't help that I was an average level of 43. The Elite Four are going to be just as much of a pain...or so I thought.
Victory Road to me is just a quick blast through to the Elite Four, and if I need to train, I'll come back. So, here's how the last five battles of the game went:
Lorelei: I started with Wigglytuff and just was spamming Thunderbolt. It wasn't doing a lot, but it was decent damage. And yes, my team is still around Level 43 when I tried this (if only to see how far I'd get). Eventually, Wigglytuff goes down at Jynx and I decide to switch to Nidoking, since it has Fire Blast. The high roll on that is low enough that it will be a 3HKO, but then I remember Jynx has crap defense, so I switch to Horn Attack after the first Fire Blast, and that takes it out. Lapras just wanted to keep confusing me, but I eventually took it down with a couple Rock Slides.
Bruno: Butterfree reigns supreme here. Mega Drain for the non-fighting types, and Psybeam for those that are. We don't talk about Bruno, etc and all that.
Agatha: I started with Butterfree, planning on using Psybeam to cut through her team. No luck, I got put to sleep. And then it fainted. Blastoise ended up being the MVP here, due to Dig. And more Dig. And more Dig. I tried to do other things first to avoid using Blastoise, but with half my team down, I bit the bullet and went ahead with the ground assault.
Lance: Wigglytuff spammed Thunderbolt to take out Gyarados, then I swapped to Nidoking, as it now has Blizzard. I also vaguely remembered something about Poison types and Lance, and how "good AI" helps it. Pretty straightforward.
Champion Rival: Okay, Alakazam sucks. I tried to set up Beedrill with Swords Dance both on Pidgeot and on Alakazam. If I set up on Alakazam, it's too late, cause Barrier goes up. Even if I try to get lucky with Stun Spore causing Paralyze, it's still likely half my team goes down. I lost twice, both to Alakazam and Barrier/Recover/Psychic getting through Paralysis. The final time, I started with Blastoise, using Ice Beam to take out Pidgeot, and then just spammed Mega Punch. Interestingly, Alakazam didn't ever use Barrier this time, though it did Recover once. I got a very lucky crit on Mega Punch to knock out Alakazam. That was the worst Pokemon to get through. A few minutes later, I'm on the final Pokemon, Venusaur, and it's just a couple of Blizzard and Ice Beam to a win...or so I think - but although all my Nidos and Blastoise go down to some crit Grass moves, Beedrill comes out and sets up Swords Dance...and then just has fun using Cut until Venusaur faints. Yay. Run over.
Gen 1 wasn't too much of a pain to do this in, but it did require a lot of research before about whether a certain Pokemon was usable, especially in a Generation where a vast majority of the TMs are only available to the player once. I can see that this is going to open up quite a bit as people progress into later generations, where the gameplay is a little less restrictive and learnsets are better thought out...mostly.
Hi, I'd like to start this challenge on Pokemon R.O.W.E (Open World Emerald). But, can my electric type pokemon use status move like thunder wave or poison type pokemon use status moves like posion gas?
Yes - status moves of any type are allowed, since they don't involve calculations that include STAB. As long as the move is non-damaging, the move can be used. I tried to shorthand it in the rules, but basically, a move that causes a status is okay to use even if it's the same type as your 'mon using it...unless it deals damage directly. Toxic or Poison Gas on a Poison 'mon? Good to go since they aren't any stronger than a Normal type using them. Sludge Bomb deals damage, so a Poison-type couldn't use it, even though it has the chance to deal Poison.
For your examples, those are fine. Feel free to ask any other questions you might have - I'm familiar with ROWE so I don't know what's changed.
User: Panda280
STAB Style (Pure or Semi): Pure
Game(s): R.O.W.E (Open World Emerald)
Single / Ultimate: Single
Start Stab moves are bad challenge
Verdanturf and Wattson
Spoiler:
Pick easy mode, randomly select starter mode and start in verdenturf city. Got rattata, but I put it in pc and catch Whismur (Special) instead. Whismur knows astronish. I caught a Tynamo (Inert). Battle Wattson. He start with togedemarru. Inert has only tackle and Special die to 2 shock wave. It will take forever to get a non stab move, so I went ahead to go catch pokemon knowing ground type move. I found grimer (Wholesome) in fire cave. I went further up and found galarian meowth (Rusty).
I went to battle roxanne gym, but she has a tyrunt, and there was no way I can beat her. I challenged him again. This time my grimer was higer level. I beat togedemarru, and was able to lower joltik accuracy with mud slap. However, when grimer set up defese with harden, he switches out his joltik for manetric. Luckily, it wasn't much as a problem my other pokemon can take a hit from joltik. I beat wattson and got his badge and Shock wave TM.
Flannery
Spoiler:
Almost all my team can learn it, so I made my way to wiona next since she is the flying gym. On the way, I found a goomy (Snail). Since it was easy defeating the trainer, I wanted to leave it a bit later. I made my way around Petalburg, Dewford and slateport to grind some more. I don't want to challenge dad since I want my him to be last and I don't want to challenge Roxanne or Brawley since they are early gym leaders, so I made my way to the other nearest gyms, which is Flannery. She still gives me some trouble, especially her lv 20 torkoal. Lukily, wholesome has mud-slap, so it was always able to lower torkoal accuracy by 2 stage before it fainted. In one attempt, I managed to beat torkoal with Snail's bide, but I lose to her salandit. After a few more tries, I managed to beat her. Special evolves to Loudred.
Tate and Liza, Jaun, Wionna, Brawly
Spoiler:
After this, I just went around to different places, so I can teleport back later, and also to grind, so Inert can use other move besides tackle. Inert evolves and learn crunch, and rusty also evolve to perrserker. I challenged Tate and Liza. Despite being quite overleveled, they knocked down all my team until inert came in and used crunch. I also beat juan. Then, I went back to Wionna. She beat me one because she switches her sigilyph out with murkrow to take swagger from rusty. Then, her murkrow just use assurance and knocks everyone on my team. Another attempt, and I beat her. Snail evolves to sliggo and goodra after. Inert evolved to its middle evolution, and its final evolution (Thunder stone).
I beat Brawly. Special and Wholesome evolves to their final evolutions. So far, Snail has been really good. It has access to aqua tail, which is so handy. Outside of Snail, my other Pokemon are not doing so well, but I hope the elite 4 is not too hard.
Roxanne, Norman
Spoiler:
I decided that I want my next member to be a psychic type because I want them to learn shadow ball, energy ball, dazzling gleam. I found a elegym which I evolved to beeheeyam. Then, I challenged roxanne. Beeheeyam was not very good at that fight, so I looked for other pokemon. I went looking in the safari a couple time. I found a girafatig, but I didn't catch it. I went in again, but this time I found a drampa (Coolswan), so I caught that instead. After grinding for a bit, I challenged my video game dad. Norman's girafarig sweeps my team with boomburst. I went back to grind a bit more. Special learns syncronize, which is going to be useful agaist Norman. I went back and beat Norman. That's all for the gym leader.
Wally
Spoiler:
I made to evergrande city. I kept forgeting about the wally fight at the begining. Although I was overleveled, Wally destroyed me. His gallade and garchop kept knocking out my team. Did I mention, It's a double battle as well? After a few tries, mostly due to hyper potions and revival herbs, I won. Seriously, I think to make any pokemon battles harder is to make them a double battle.
Elite 4
Spoiler:
I made past victory road and battled the elite 4. Despite on easy mode, the elite 4 still hit hard. They are around 60-70. I don't have anything much to say except they are hard! Almost all the matches requires me to use mutiple revives. I was always left with only 2 members standing at the end of the battle. Well, at least glacia wasn't as hard as in normal. I lose againsts drake, so I decided to grind more to get more exp and money. Then, it was smooth sailing (The elite 4 still hits super hard). The only thing worth mentioning was drake has a shiny flygon, for some reason. Finally, I battled Wallace. Wallace will activate rain weather throughout the match. This is not good for him because I have thunder on slime. Still, his mega swampert is immune to this atrack. However, wholesome took it out with toxic. Then, Wallace sends in a shiny Miolotic. I'm not sure if this was set or not, but I don't remmeber them being shiny last time. However, with revives and slime's thunder, I beat Wallace. And, with that I completed this STAB-less challenge!
Final Team
Special - Exploud (Normal) Lv 77
Overheat
Shock Wave
Shadow Ball
Synchronoise
User: Devalue
STAB Style (Pure or Semi): Pure
Game(s): Scarlet
Single / Ultimate: Single
Calls it a silly challenge in the first post. Feels tempted to do a few silly things, or at least personally unusual strategies. Will see how it goes. Makes good use of some Paldean Pokemon.
User: Femz
STAB Style (Pure or Semi): Pure
Game(s): R.O.W.E.
Single / Ultimate: Single
Spoiler: My Start and First Gym
I am playing Pokemon R.O.W.E., on easy mode, with a random starter in a random location.
I only plan to catch one Pokemon before each gym, where my first encounter on a route near the gym is a must-catch (exceptions: if I get duplicates, I catch a second wild Pokemon on the same route).
When I first spawned, I found myself in Slateport City with an Axew - not a bad choice, as it knew both Bite and Assurance.
I went for a swim at Slateport Beach in the direction of Dewford Town. There I had my first encounter with a Shell Armor Krabby, which I immediately caught.
I used the "relearn move" function in the Pokecentre to trade Axew's Dragon Rage for Scratch - meh, the challenge finally starts.
My Krabby is only level 10, it only had water moves like Bubble and Water Cannon that deal damage, so I use them for now.
I stopped by the abandoned ship to pick up some items and do some training, when one of the trainers had a shiny Volbeat... Hopefully I will be as lucky and catch one on my run. (New exception: Shinies can be caught and added to my team if I ever come across one :) )
On the Abandoned Ship I found an Ice Beam and a Rain Dance TM, and finally my Krabby got a rather solid move to unlearn Vise Grip.
Even though my Axew, my current carry, was poisoned, I managed to make it through Routes 108 and 107 safely and reach Dewford Town for the first time.
It could be a tough first gym, as the trainers and leaders are stacked with fighting type Pokemon.
I was wiped out in a Double Battle, but I will try to defeat the Trainers with a Leer + Scratch combo on my Axew.
My godlike Krabby managed to defeat a trainer by freezing two Mons with Icebeam - and using a Potion.
A devilish Arm Thrust Pancham that whipped my Axew in 2 turns and a Machop both fainted and my Krabby leveled up to Lv16 where it learned both Mud Shot and Metal Claw.
Krabby now has 3 damage moves plus Leer.
Brawly was easily swept. His Chimchar was twice hit by Axews Assurance.
On Makuhita, I had a lucky switch to my Krabby, which resulted in a low-damage Fake Out.
Krabby then swept his Makuhita and Croagunk with Metal Claw.
For the winning price I got a Bulk Up TM, which will come in handy later on - at least I hope so.
Spoiler: 2nd / 3rd Gym
I picked up a silk scarf in Dewford, which I should have done earlier, and am now exploring the granite cave.
I will leave the town and head for Petalburg City or Rustboro. I will try to have my next encounter at the Meteor Falls.
I managed to get through the Meteor Falls safely using a couple of Repels, with a short stop in Petalburg Pokecentre.
My encounter was a Drilbur with Rapid Spin as its strongest non-ground type move - just wow :)
Finally gets back around to this. Started at the end of September. Got sidetracked by the Infernal Parade and Archipelago stuff. Generally dislikes interrupting games, especially for that long. Did not get too far along, at least. Likely forgot a few planned moves.
Signed up for Pure STAB Style. Cannot use STAB for either type. Self-imposed more rules on top of that:
Terastallizing: No
Set mode (done manually)
DLC: Yes
No in-battle items (except Pokeballs, of course).
Limit 1 Leftovers
Friendship: No sandwiches or picnic stuff with main party members. Allows it with an unused Pokemon.
Soft level caps (do your best):
Gym Leader Katy: 15
Titan Klawf: 16
Gym Leader Brassius: 17
Titan Bombirdier: 20
Team Star Giacomo: 21
Gym Leader Iono: 24
Team Star Mela: 27
Titan Orthworm: 29
Gym Leader Kofu: 30
Team Star Atticus: 33
Gym Leader Larry: 36
Gym Leader Ryme: 42
Gym Leader Tulip: 45
Great Tusk: 45
Gym Leader Grusha: 48
Team Star Ortega: 51
Titan Tatsugiri: 56
Team Star Eri: 56
Champion Geeta: 62
Arven: 63
Penny: 63
Nemona: 66
Randomed into a male character for a change. Rolled the appearance settings too. Got ash blond Short Crop hair. Repeated the process for most of the other settings. Vetoed a couple for looking weird.
Named them Monk. Plans to name all the Pokemon after blunt(ish) weapons (see: non-stabbing weapons). Should be able to wield all or most of these in Dungeons and Dragons.
Picked Fuecoco. Named it "Club". Probably sings in a club, so sure. (Although, given no Torch Song this run, maybe not.) Decided on this Pokemon last among all team members. Mainly picked it for its typing. Covers some of the team's weaknesses. Has a Brave nature, which is okay-ish. Looks to have 29 Speed IVs and poor Hitpoint IVs.
Catches the next Pokemon immediately: Lechonk. Caught four. Only cared about the ones with Aroma Veil. Axed #3 from consideration immediately.
Stats:
Lechonk 1: 16/7/7/7/8/7. Nature: Bold. High Special Defense.
Lechonk 2: 14/7/5/6/7/6. Nature: Hasty. High Special Defense.
Lechonk 4: 16/7/6/7/8/7. Nature: Hasty. Max 22 IVs across the board.
Not #4. Hates to tank Attack or Defense. Might go Yawn + Curse...maybe? Will go with #1, from the forced Lechonk battle. Named it "Baton". Does not learn Baton Pass. May be passing to someone else, in time.
Learned Round on Club. Should be a decent move. Certainly works a lot better than the Disarming Voice that Baton is forced into. Why does it learn that now?
Picked a fight with a wild Flamigo 2 levels lower than Baton. Hoped it knew nothing good. Noooope. Probably would have taken out Baton in a single Double Kick. (Hit for 14 of 28 hitpoints on the first Double Kick hit.) Needed at least five Disarming Voices to bring it down, despite being super-effective. Chooses that thing for speedruns for a reason, though.
Lost the battle against Nemona with the Terastallized Pawmi. Was not surprised. Hits pretty hard, on top of having to rely on trash moves. Probably would have won by giving an Oran Berry to Baton, though. Progresses the story without winning, at any rate.
Grew tired of Baton being useless. Went on a quest for some decent TMs. Could not get up the slope for the closest Seed Bomb TM, even with Skyrim climbing powers. Settled for Bullet Seed, which was still a trek to the desert. Also found this along the way.
Was not too high level. Caught it in one ball.
Rode the bus to Kitakami. The very first Pokemon there:
Needed to weaken and catch this one in the second ball.
Fought Carmine. Fainted Baton on a +2 critical Bite from Poochyena. How bad is Lechonk? (Base 245 stats, same as Togepi and Zubat. So, bad.) Managed to clutch out a win with Club. Stood no chance versus Kieran's Yanma, however. Knew Air Cutter and Struggle Bug at level 12.
Already hit 15 on Club. Candied Baton up to 15. Tackled Katy next. Comes in at a Pokemon disadvantage and no good moves, but oh well.
Led with Club because of Double Kick on Nymble. Beat it, but at the cost of half its health and -1 Special Attack. Switched to Baton to clear the stat drop. Barely beat Tarountula. Did not even bring it to half health with 5 hits and a crit on Bullet Seed with Miracle Seed (not very effective, of course). Had nothing left for Teddiursa. Hit for 9 of 46 hitpoints on a not very effective first hit of Fury Cutter. Dented it for, at most, 20% of its health with Round. Was never going to happen.
Okay, plan B. Could use those two shinies. Feels a little tempted on Yanma. Will stick with the planned team. Headed over to Blueberry Academy. Died horribly to Lacey's level 70s.
Chose Scarlet for two reasons: wanting to kick the tires more and Hitmonchan. Never really gets to use Hitmonchan in a useful capacity. Was not keen on a Sword Fighting monotype. (Brings little to the table in that challenge.) Learns tons of great non-STAB moves. Seemed perfect for this challenge. Lucked out and found a 1-star Tyrogue Tera Raid in about...five dens? Had the wrong ability, unfortunately. (Turns into Keen Eye instead of Iron Fist.)
Strolled around Blueberry Academy for a good while. Reached the highest point in the Terarium with zero powers for Koraidon.
Picked up some good TMs (Scorching Sands, Energy Ball, Earthquake, Hyper Voice), but not many of them useful. Happened upon some nature mints and probably enough cash to bankroll the rest of the run.
Failed to get a Tyrogue with the right ability through Tera Raids. Fell back on Plan B2: Catch a Ditto and breed. Surprisingly managed to catch one without much issue, despite probably suffering a catching penalty for being such high level. Also used the Ditto to breed with a high-level Vigoroth due to not finding Slakoth anywhere. Allowed it to be a reasonable level for Katy. Did not write down stats. Chose a Relaxed nature (+Defense / -Speed) for Tyrogue and named it Knuckle. Selected a nice Adamant Slakoth and named it Scepter.
Attempt 2. Enters with two Pokemon once again. Left Club and Baton off the team, being level 16. Equipped Knuckle and Scepter with Body Slam and Fire Punch to make up for it. Led with Knuckle. Dispatched Nymble and Tarountula with the help of a paralysis on the first Body Slam on both. Went downhill from there, however. Outsped Knuckle and fainted it with Fury Swipes. Two-shot Scepter with Fury Cutter (the first one a critical). Why does that hit so hard? (Looking) Ohhh. Just used the 10 power version in Diamond. Bumped it up to 40 since then.
Attempt 3. Brought in Club and Baton. Hoped to do it without them. Treats this as a soft level cap for a reason, though. Runs into these kind of problems with this many restrictions. Canceled Club's evolution to keep it more fair.
Decided to rain this attempt, annoyingly. Went considerably worse for Knuckle this time out. Never paralyzed anything, leading to using up the Sitrus Berry and ending at 7 health. Still beat both Pokemon again. Yawned with Scepter this time, then handed it over to Club with Hyper Voice. Only slept for one turn, unfortunately. Also learned the Fury Cutter power bonus stuck around during sleep. Compounded that bad news further with Teddiursa's Pickup grabbing Knuckle's spent Sitrus Berry. Absolutely annhilated the rest of the team from there. (Stopped raining during the fight, as a sidenote.)
Attempt 4. Shopped for a Metronome for Knuckle and a Silk Scarf for Club's Hyper Voice. Missed defeating Tarountula with Knuckle this time. (Kept Body Slamming, causing an extra Double Kick from Nymble.) Apparently neglected to save after teaching Hyper Voice to Club last time. Whoops. Left Teddiursa a little above half before fainting. Built up two Fury Cutters on Club as well. One-shot Scepter with a critical Fury Cutter, which was incredibly mean. Basically ended the fight there.
Attempt 5. Never realized how wrong this fight could go. Mixed it up by starting with Club. Bailed after taking a Struggle Bug. Sent in Baton. Actually managed to beat Tarountula, thanks to some excellent Bullet Seed luck (5 hit +1 crit and a killing 4 hit...at -2 Defense). Carried that luck a little further by squeezing in a Tail Whip after a Fury Cutter miss. Brought Teddiursa into the red with one Fire Punch. Finished it with a Fake Out from Knuckle. Whew. +1 badge.
Finally moves on. Next up: Titan Klawf. Describes the first round as iffy. Two-shot Baton with Rock Smash. Pulled through with some paralysis. Won more convincingly on the second phase, between Knuckle's Fake Out + paralysis and Arven's Shellder's Water Gun.
Headed to Artazon for the next badge. Ended up at 18 on Club, but again, oh well. Blames the Experience Share and on having really weak Pokemon right now.
The Brassius fight: Led with Club. Screamed at the first two plants. Swapped to Knuckle to take Sudowoodo's Rock move...which ended up being Trailblaze. Swears on Pokemon trainers having AIs that go for super-effective moves. Basically doomed Knuckle. Only dealt 20% against Sudowoodo with Scepter's Fire Punch too. Yawned it with Club. Thankfully missed with Rock Throw. Should have screamed at it from the start, though. Hit for pretty good damage. +1 badge.
Experienced some breathing room on levels for the first time in a bit. Picked a fight with the wroooong trainer. Knew it was a tougher one. Was not expecting a level 20 Oinkologne (2 levels above the party and 5 above a nearby trainer) with Iron Head and Play Rough, plus a Luxio afterward. Left Club off the team to not drain experience too. Beat the Oinkologne, but not Luxio.
Leveled everyone to 20 for Titan Bombirdier. Evolved Knuckle into Hitmonchan, Baton into Oinkologne, and Scepter into Vigoroth. Strategy: Uh...do not die. Plans to use Baton's Lingering Aroma to disable Rocky Payload for Club's benefit.
Surprisingly managed a Phase 1 victory for Knuckle. Lost 75% of its hitpoints to a Pluck. Continued thriving thanks to Bombirdier being dumb and going for Rock Throw. Landed a Bullet Punch to barely push the phase. Yawned it with Scepter on Phase 2 to guarantee the victory, which was completely unnecessary. Could have just Play Rough'd it.
Leads to the next party member: Bombirdier. Specifically, the Titan Bombirdier. Has its hidden ability, Rocky Payload, which essentially grants STAB on Rock moves without technically being STAB. Named it Nightstick.
Normally picks a Pokemon like Bombirdier for Feather Dance. Wants to give entry hazards a real try for once. Realizes it to not be the best hazard setter, but oh well. Completely revamped its moveset with TMs for Stealth Rock, Rock Slide (after a hard jump, pre-Orthworm), Drill Run, and Feather Dance. Thought about Whirlwind to phase out Pokemon constantly. Cannot really justify it with Nightstick's middling defenses and iffy typing.
Struggled somewhat versus Giacomo, mostly due to not remembering the smaller things (Defiant on Pawniard until after hitting Feather Dance, no status on the Revavroom). Still won without anyone fainting.
Leveled everyone up to 24. Enjoyed disabling an Azumarill's Huge Power and a Tynamo's Levitate with Baton's Lingering Aroma. Ended up facing Iono with some at 25 between Nemona and the gym challenge. Oh well. Strategy for Iono: Lead with Nightstick for Rock Slide on Wattrel. Switches to Baton with Dig after that. Will not be able to disable Mismagius's Levitate with Lingering Aroma, sadly.
The fight: Flattened Wattrel with one Rock Slide. Switched to Baton and got paralyzed immediately. Broke through paralysis at the right times to Dig its way past Bellibolt. Tossed Nightstick back for Luxio, despite the bad matchup. One-shot with Drill Run. Let it stay for one Rock Slide, which was met with Confuse Ray instead of a killing Charge Beam. Switched Knuckle into a Charge Beam the following turn (which triggered the boost). Whittled Mismagius down a little with Fake Out. Froze it on a later Ice Punch. Did not matter, however, as a Bullet Punch finished Mismagius off before a chance to thaw.
Stops at level 27 for the Mela battle. Opens the door for the final Pokemon: Glimmet. Found some in the 25-27 range at the Crystal Pool in Kitakami.
#4. Named it "Sap". Handles some of the other entry hazards for the team. Acts as a Special Attacker as well. Is quite limited as just Glimmet, though. Chooses between Mud Shot, Tera Blast, and Sand Tomb through TMs. (Cannot get Dazzling Gleam for a long time.)
Committed to EV training with the whole team assembled. Manages it easily enough without taking too long, thanks to cheap Power items available early. Trained everyone in the following:
Nightstick: Attack / Speed
Scepter: Attack / Speed
Baton: Hitpoints / Attack
Knuckle: Hitpoints / Attack
Club: Hitpoints / Special Attack
Sap: Hitpoints / Special Attack
Gave Sap an extra 27 hitpoints. Mentions also spotting (and catching) this golden Pokemon while training:
Defeated Mela with Sap and a combination of the others. Fared pretty well with Mud Shot. Cleared up the sun with Sandstorm for fun too.
Latched onto a plan for Baton to wipe away Titan Orthworm's Earth Eater with Lingering Aroma, then use Dig. Failed because of Orthworm not attacking Baton before falling asleep. Fire Punched it instead. Zero damage on both phases of Titan Orthworm.
Leveled to 30 for Kofu next. Grew confident enough to try a heavier entry hazard setup, more for fun than effectiveness. Proved to be a no-go, even with Veluza at -4 Attack, due to a critical Aqua Cutter on Sap. (Hit pretty hard without the critical too. Would have forced it out a turn or two later.) Still got off Stealth Rocks + x2 Toxic Spikes between the two. Cleaned up the rest with Knuckle. Closed out two straight gym battles with a not-very-effective Bullet Punch.
Prepared everyone for Atticus next. Leaves that for the next update, however.
Spoiler: Team
Club the Crocalor
Level: 33
Ability: Blaze
Nature: Brave
Moves: Hyper Voice, Snarl, Yawn, Leer
![[PokeCommunity.com] Same Types Are Bad (STAB) Challenge](https://data.pokecommunity.com/attachments/82/82147-5fb814537e366d84ff8a2762782bdc14.jpg "[PokeCommunity.com] Same Types Are Bad (STAB) Challenge")
![[PokeCommunity.com] Same Types Are Bad (STAB) Challenge](https://data.pokecommunity.com/attachments/82/82149-988d2daaf85d9738f1466db479d680b5.jpg "[PokeCommunity.com] Same Types Are Bad (STAB) Challenge")
![[PokeCommunity.com] Same Types Are Bad (STAB) Challenge](https://data.pokecommunity.com/attachments/82/82150-2d658c6d0c834bc2dd8d0438cef2b4fa.jpg "[PokeCommunity.com] Same Types Are Bad (STAB) Challenge")
![[PokeCommunity.com] Same Types Are Bad (STAB) Challenge](https://data.pokecommunity.com/attachments/82/82151-b5d60f4c938a195030b00bcd04a47012.jpg "[PokeCommunity.com] Same Types Are Bad (STAB) Challenge")
![[PokeCommunity.com] Same Types Are Bad (STAB) Challenge](https://data.pokecommunity.com/attachments/82/82148-2d9ebcfee8f920fe592f3dcc7e825432.jpg "[PokeCommunity.com] Same Types Are Bad (STAB) Challenge")
