[Challenge] The Hardcore Damageless challenge

[Escoffier]

The hardcore damageless challenge
​

Can you beat Pokémon without ever taking damage? The answer is, as Smallant and many youtubers have shown, yes (in most games at least). However, in most cases this challenge is made trivial by having severly overleveled Pokémon, making sturdy, priority moves and weather the only real obstacles, and problematic battles are sometimes taken care of by simply resetting until the player gets lucky. The question I want to ask is: can you beat Pokémon damageless without overleveling and without pushing your luck?

Here are the rules:
1. You are not allowed to let your Pokémon take any kind of damage (direct hit, weather, recoil, status etc...). If it happens, you have to restart your run.
2. Your Pokémon must respect a level cap: before challenging the next Gym Leader (or an equivalent boss battle), you cannot use a Pokémon in battle that has a level that is higher than the next Gym Leader's Ace. If a Pokémon exceeds the level cap during a battle, it is allowed to finish the battle.
3. Shedinja is banned, as it would otherwise make this challenge boring.
4. A battle whose outcome doesn't matter for story progression (you aren't sent to the pokemon center if you lose) or that is programmed so that you always win doesn't count. This includes the first rival fight in many games, the mega-evolution tutorial battle against Korrina in XY (which is extremely unfair in this challenge), the wild Zigzagoon/Poochyena in Hoenn and Starly in Sinnoh, the post-credit battles in Gen 6, the Eternamax Eternatus raid battle and the fight against Miraidon/Koraidon. This rule prevents impossible/nearly impossible battles from ruining the run.

Optional rules:
1. Mega-evolutions are banned.
2. You may allow or disallow trade evolutions as you want.
3. You can chose to have save points to give yourself a second chance but don't abuse it and try to thoroughly plan things ahead to guarantee your win.
4. For the pokémon league level caps, you can either use the champion's ace, the strongest E4's ace, or have a level cap for each E4 member and use rare candies between battles.
5. You can ignore rule 4 if the game allows it and you want an extra challenge.

Differences with hardcore nuzlocke challenges:
- You may play in "shift" mode.
- You can catch as many Pokémon as you want (without taking damage of course).
- You can carefully chose, train and breed your Pokémon to have optimal stats and egg moves.

Recommended versions:
- Pokémon Fire Red / Leaf Green
- Pokémon Heart Gold / Soul Silver (Metapod is exclusive to HG so SS is a bit more difficult)
- Pokémon Diamond / Pearl (Platinum is painful, wouldn't recommend)
- Pokémon X/Y
- Pokémon Omega Ruby (Alpha Saphirre has Aqua Grunts with Rough Skin Aqua Jet Carvanhas)
- Pokémon Sword/Shield (the gym leaders in Sword are easier).

I have completed this challenge in all the above versions except HG, which I'm about to start, and Sword (I have neither a nintendo switch nor a good enough GPU to run an emulator). I believe the other versions to be impossible with this ruleset but I would gladly be proven wrong!

Spoiler: Useful ressources

Catch rate calculator
Gen 3 Trainer data
Diamond/Pearl Trainer data
Platinum Trainer data
HG/SS Trainer data
Black Trainer data
White 2 Trainer data
X/Y Trainer data
Sun/Moon Trainer data
Ultra Sun/Moon Trainer data
Ultra Sun/Moon Totem data
Sw/Sh Trainer data

Sign up:

Username:
Game:
Optional rules, if any:

Here's my own sign-up:

Username: Escoffier
Game: Heart Gold
Optional rules, if any: I'll ignore rule 4 and avoid using trade evolutions. I have one reset point after clearing Bellsprout tower.

 

[Escoffier]

I was away for quite some time but I'm finally able to progress on this challenge. I'll share my strategies and things to look out for if you're attempting this challenge in any generation.

Making the right choices early on:
- Choosing the right version: it's important to look at the version exclusives and figure out which version is more advantageous. I picked Heart Gold to have access to Metapod on route 30 and 31. This was important as it allowed me to catch a Rattata using Butterfree's 97,5% accurate Sleep powder. However, I noticed later Beedrill was the only mon available early on to have a guaranteed OHKO on the rival's Bayleef in Azalea Town, and that the SoulSilver exclusive Meowth line was also quite good for Technician Fake Out. If I were to start again, I think I would pick SoulSilver and just get lucky on the Rattata catch.

- I picked Totodile as my starter. Cyndaquil is more useful for this challenge but I want to give my rival in Azalea Town a Bayleef. There are no strong electric and grass moves available at that point and Quilava knows Quick Attack, whereas bugsy conviniently gives you U-Turn to beat Bayleef.

Getting started with a run:
There are two key things to make a run viable with this ruleset:
1 - Find a way to safely gain exp right after you've got your starter. Typical ways of doing that would be to use bug types with no attacking moves like Metapod, Silcoon or Kricketot or to use a fire type starter with Ember to OHKO other bugs like Grubbin or Wurmple.
2 - Find a way to safely catch other Pokémon to expand your team. To do this, either you look for mons like Abra and Magikarp that have no attacking moves, you make use of Sleep Powder/Spore, you find very strong balls early on (like Dusk Ball in Oreburgh City) or you make use of immunities or you abuse the aforementioned first route's 100% catch rate mechanic in gen6.

The comes the problem of the first rival fight, which is usually very difficult as you only have your starter available and few to no options to train it. You have to decide wether you'll apply rule 4 on that battle or if you're gonna go through the pain of resetting until you get lucky.

In my case I used the Metapods on route 30 to level up my Adamant Totodile with 31 Atk IVs until it was able to beat the wild Spinaraks to gain some EVs in Atk and OHKO my rival's Chikorita with Bite. Then I used Butterfree with its 97,5% accurate Sleep Powder (thanks to Compound Eyes) to have a good chance to catch a wild Rattata, which I used not only to counter Joungster Joey's Quick Attack Rattata with my own, but also to safely catch a Gastly in Bellsprout Tower, which in return allows me to safely catch any Pokémon that only has Normal, Fighting or Ground type moves. With that I can catch Geodude and Mareep that only know Tackle, and defeat the sage on top of Bellsprout Tower with Thundershock from Mareep and Confusion from Butterfree.

The first gyms are the most difficult ones
In this challenge, as you make more progress on your adventure, you gain access to more Pokémon, more moves and more items, making the challenge easier. The fights where you have to risk ranges or misses are usually at the beginning, where your options are limited. In this case Falkner is a demon. His Pidgeotto is fast, decently bulky and at a low level so I can't even use evolved mons outside of Butterfree/Beedrill. My only hope is to catch a super fast Geodude (at least 26 IVs in Speed) and EV train it to 232-252 speed and 124-248 attack (depending on your IVs) and then hit two Hard Stone boosted Rock Throws in a row, with the first one bringing it to level 14, to beat his pigeon team. Thankfully, I got it on my first try.
However we are not out of the woods yet, as Bugsy's Scyther is even worse than the Pidgeotto. It's faster, meaning that the only way our friend Geodude outspeeds is with a Choice Scarf. Surprisingly enough, we can get one from our mon after saving huge amounts of money, which I aquired by smashing rocks and selling items in the Ruins of Alph. Quick Attack is not a problem, as Bugsy has smart AI meaning he goes for his strongest move, U-Turn, or for a boost/drop with Focus Energy or Leer. Geodude clutched again, and his other two bugs are taken care of by Butterfree with Gust. I then teach Bugsy's U-Turn TM to my Butterfree trained to always OHKO my rival's Bayleef if he has a nature that drops or doesn't impact defense, with a 68% chance to OHKO if it's got a +def nature. My trainer data google sheet only includes stats for Croconaw, so I don't know wether I got lucky and hit the range, or if it was a guranteed OHKO. This could've been avoided had I picked the SoulSilver version with Beedrill.

Sweeping through the mid-game
The game starts to open up with the access to the daycare, the game corner and the department store. I use my Gastly to safely catch a level 4 Heracross that only knows Normal-type moves and save some more money to get a Muscle Band from my mom to beat Whitney's Miltank with a single Brick Break from my Heracross. Morty is, as always, a piece of cake as it can't do anything to my Taunt Raticate with Sucker Punch.
With my new gained access to Surf, I quickly head to the Lake of Rage to get a pair of Choice Specs which allows my Kadabra to tear through Chuck's fighting types. After healing the Ampharos, Kadabra passes its glasses to my freshly evolved Feraligatr for a clean OHKO with Surf on Jasmine's Steelix (note that I stayed under Pryce's level cap of 34).

Dealing with priority
Heading back to Mahogany with Fly, I have to deal with Team Rocket and all the Rattatas and Raticate with Quick Attack/Sucker Punch. Particularly annoying is Petrel with his level 24 Raticate that knows Sucker Punch and Crunch, meaning PP stalling Sucker Punch with a Ghost type is not an option. I don't know wether he has smart AI or not so using Heracross to bait Hyper Fang is not safe. I utimately decide to change my mind on the "no trade evolutions rule" and use Scizor's Bullet Punch to take care of it. If I played on SoulSilver, I would use Technician Fake Out Persian. Then, I have to face Ariana and a Grunt in a Multi Battle with Peter. Usually, Peter is a really useful partner but here he's useless, as he spams Fly leaving my vulnerable to damage, so I have to win by myself. For that matter I use a Choice Specs Magmar with Lava Plume.
Now, the most knowledgeable among you might have noticed that I caught two mons with a very low catch rate of 45, in a challenge where missing a catch can be very punishing. This would indeed be very risky, if not for a special trick that I used. I used Togetic with Encore and Protect, looked for a wild Scyther/Magmar and scouted its first move with Protect until it used a status move, then used Encore to continually lock it into that move, and safely catch it with Yawn and a bunch of Poké Balls. I then bred both of them with a Ditto, so that Scyther learned Vacuum Wave at level 1 and then evolved into Scizor and learned Bullet Punch and Magby learned Lava Plume at level 34 before it evolved.
Mahogany Gym also has a bunch of priority users. In the third room, there are two trainers with an Ice Shard Dewgong, which I found no way of defeating without taking damage, thankfully I can clear the puzzle in such a way that I only have to face the trainer with Shellder, Seel and Cloyster. Cloyster gets OHKO'd by Technician Boosted Vacuum Wave, and Seel by a Quick Attack. I actually used two Scizors for this fight, one with a Quiet nature and wearing Choice Specs, the other trained in attack and holding a Silk Scarf. Pryce's own Ice Shard Dewgong is not an issue though, as he always sees Aurora Beam as the strongest move on my Heracross, which is able to OHKO it with Brick Break. His Piloswine is easily disposed by Specs Magmar.

So to beat opposing priority, either use Ghosts, faster and strong priority users or make it so that the AI won't chose the priority move.

That's it for now, I'll make another post when I have some other cool strats to share.

 

[Escoffier]

I defeated the Pokémon League!

This would look like a regular playthrough team to the naked eye, but each member has a very specific purpose:
Haunter is there to sweep Will, be immuned to all of Bruno's Hitmontop's attacks (his other attacking moves being Dig and Triple Kick, I wasn't sure what Bruno would use in front of Kadabra) and OHKO Lance's Gyarados with Thunderbolt. It also faced off against Karen's Gengar.
Kadabra destroys both Koga and Bruno, except for Koga's Forretress, which was taken care of by Ho-oh (could've been Magmar or any mon with Flamethrower, but Ho-oh is cooler). Both also OHKO Karen's Vileplume.
Scizor allows me to OHKO Karen's very bulky Umbreon and her not so bulky Murkrow with X-Scissor, while also baiting Pluck instead of Sucker Punch from Murkrow. It's also strong enough to K.O. Lance's extremely fast Aerodactyl with Bullet Punch.
Feraligatr was brought for the nostalgia and for the epic starter vs starter battle against Charizard, as well as Karen's Houndoom.
Finally, my Feraligatr being Adamant, its Ice Beam is not strong enough to beat Lance's illegal level 49 and 50 Dragonites, so I brought my legal level 50 Dragonair with Outrage and Persim Berry to finish the job.

Some interesting strategies I used:
- To defeat all 5 Kimono Girls in a row, I needed a Pokémon that's both strong enough to OHKO Umbreon and Vaporeon, and fast enough to outspeed Jolteon, with a level cap of 42 (Will). For that purpose I brought my Heracross to burned tower, K.O'd some wild Magmar until one of them activates Flame Body. Since each Kimono Girl battle is over before even the end of turn 1 with Black Belt + Guts boosted Close Combat, my Heracross took no damage from its burn.
- In my preparation against Clair, I figured out that I needed a strong dragon move to K.O. Kingdra, however Draco Meteor can miss, and Dratini doesn't learn Outrage until level 51. However, the level cap only prevents me from using overleveled Pokémon in battle, but nothing prevents me from having overleveled Pokémon in the daycare. So I put two Dratini I got from the game corner in the daycare, let them both reach level 51, to have a level 1 Dratini with Outrage. This allowed me to use a level 41 Dragonair with Outrage without breaking the rules.

 

[Escoffier]

After quickly sweeping through Kanto and defeating Red, I completed the challenge !


The Kanto gym leaders were pretty easy: Surge and Blaine both got swept by Choice Scarf Heracross with Earthquake, Sabrina by Scarf Scizor, Janine by Kadabra, Brock by Heracross, Erika by Wide Lens Ho-oh and Misty was a team effort from Haunter and and Heracross. Blue was a bit more tricky as he has an Arcanine with Extreme Speed and Intimidate, which I beat with Specs Dragonite using Surf, as it baited Dragon Pulse and not Extreme Speed. Against the rest of his team most of my E4 came in to get a K.O.

Red was the real challenge, as I decided not to take advantage of the easter egg that allows to get rid of the hail during the battle (read more about it here). Using exclusively ice types in this battle was not an option, as they struggle too much against Lapras and Snorlax's bulk. Instead, with a Tyranitar I caught along the way in Mount Silver, I replaced the hailstorm with a sandstorm.
I quickly ran into a problem, as I could not find any Sandstorm-immuned Pokémon that could also safely OHKO Snorlax outside of Lucario, which you have to wait 70 days for to get it in the Safari Zone. I then realised that as long as I could get Snorlax to be sent last, I could just use Heracross, as the battle would end before it would take Sandstorm damage (similar to the Kimono Girl fights with the burn), and the "Trainer Red is about to send in Snorlax. Will you switch your Pokémon?" option appears after Sandstorm does its effect, so Heracross doesn't take any damage upon switch-in either.
I lead with Choice Scarf Tyranitar which outsped and OHKO'd Pikachu with Earthquake. He sent out Blastoise, so I switched to my Specs Magneton, which OHKO'd it with Thunderbolt. He then sent in Charizard, as it has a super effective Flare Blitz against my Magneton, but it also dies to Thunderbolt. Now, Red doesn't see any other super effective moves against Magneton, so the AI calculates which move is the strongest against my Magneton using Charizard's offensive stats. With Charizard's Special being higher than its Attack, and Magneton's Defense being higher than its Special Defense, it sees Venusaur's Frenzy Plant as the strongest move and not Snorlax's Giga Impact. I switch into my Wide Lens Aerodactyl and OHKO Venusaur with a 104% Accurate Fly. Then, he sees that both Snorlax and Lapras have a super effective move in Blizzard to target my Aerodactyl, but he prefers Lapras as it is Water/Ice which is stronger against Aero's Rock/Flying than Snorlax's Normal type. I switch back into Magneton, which also OHKO's Lapras with Thunderbolt, and finally I am able to just switch into my Heracross to end it with a Close Combat as Snorlax's 379 health points slowly go down.

I hope sharing my adventure and my strategies made it look worth while and less daunting of a challenge and would gladly help out anybody who wants to try this ruleset out on any of the games I completed.