[Challenge] The Monotype Challenge Re:Returns

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Let's talk about Gen 3 Flannery with a Bug run.

Wattson was relatively easy compared to Flannery. Honestly - I had to cheese this one. Getting through all of the trainers wasn't that bad, to be honest. Numel, the few times it came out, went down to a few Signal Beams. Many of the other mons in the Fire Gym were smacked with Stun Spore and then I went on to hit with whatever I could. I tried very much to avoid cheesing it with Dig.

Flannery was a different story. I tried to Stun Spore my way through, but I lost at the end of the first six runs. I was getting frustrated so I tried to Dig my way through it. Really had no luck until I started a run with Stun Spore, switching over to my Ninjask immediately. The next six turns are Double Team. After that, I use Swords Dance for a few turns. Then...it's on to Dig.

One shots for all of her Pokemon. Yay. The big benefit from beating Flannery is that I'm given the goggles the moment I leave...meaning it's finally time to round out my party with Anorith. Yay. But Anorith is only 20 and my others are 30. Time to level that Anorith...then to progress. Thankful for the long weekend.
 
I have made it through Mt Moon in my Pokemon Red Normal Monotype. Here is my current team.

Spoiler:

Note: I gave Jigglypuff Water Gun via TM 12 to deal with rock types in Mt. Moon
 
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I actually thought I was going to have less of a challenge against Norman than I did against Flannery. With Flannery, it was a matter of admitting that I was not going to be able to pull it off without cheesing it through a mix of Stun Spore, Double Team, Swords Dance, and Dig. Norman...just ticked me off. His mons hit so hard. I thought I was going to have at least somewhat of an easier time since I had Anorith, and him being part Rock would be helpful.

I was wrong.

I tried to go through the first mon of his, Spinda, with my Shedinja. Theoretically, the only thing that can hit me is myself with confusion from Teeter Dance. Unfortunately, that's the first thing Spinda does, so it's near impossible to survive. I tried about ten times with this route, giving up after having 0 times when I didn't hit myself. Even with Double Team, I stand no chance.

So I tried Stun Spore again - that sort of works, but I still got confused more than I didn't. In the end, Spinda isn't the hard part: It's Vigaroth and Slaking. Shedinja is no help to me for either of them, as they have Faint Attack. True, I might be able to escape getting him on Slaking with Double Team, but that's debatable as to how smart that is when you only have 1 HP.

The time that I won was basically a combination of dumb luck and a bunch of X items. And Super Potions. I was basically down to my final Pokemon, Anorith, when I made it to his Slaking. Thankfully, Slaking only hits every other turn, so I set up 6 X Defends, threw a Dire Hit in for good measure, an X Attack that I had picked up at some point, and then a bunch of Super Potions in between as needed to keep me alive. I then used Rock Tomb (thank you STAB), and that eventually got me the win. I had tried using a bunch of Metal Claw to up my attack further, but that wasn't really getting me anywhere and STAB Rock Tomb is more powerful.

Linoone basically took a few rocks to the face and was done. 5 badges down.

This probably would have been easier if I had let myself level my Pokemon more - but I'm finding lately that I am trying to keep around the levels of the gym leaders unless I have no choice. Norman's highest was 31, so I tried not to go past that. I have a feeling that will be something I very quickly grow out of as I progress through the remainder of the game.

I'm out of town on my laptop and forgot to bring my excel doc to make the stat picture. So, here's a textual version instead:

Anorith: L30, HP 80, Atk 72, Def 46, SAtk 33, SDef 36, Spd 54
Scratch, Rock Tomb, Metal Claw, Water Gun

Shedinja: L30, HP 1, Atk 62, Def 46, SAtk 31, SDef 26, Spd 33
Cut, Double Team, Leech Life, Fury Cutter

Volbeat: L30, HP 88, Atk 45, Def 39, SAtk 38, SDef 59, Spd 67
Quick Attack, Signal Beam, Double Team, Moonlight

Ninjask: L31, HP 81, Atk 64, Def 47, SAtk 46, SDef 39, Spd 100
Dig, Double Team, Swords Dance, Slash

Beautifly: L30, HP 80, Atk 61, Def 46, SAtk 65, SDef 36, Spd 53
Stun Spore, Mega Drain, Morning Sun, Gust

Then I also have my mudkip HM slave.
 
Hi. Got a little interested in this challenge. Is it normal for ppl to choose the type to run for themselves? If not, can I get recommendations for a type?
 
Goldikarp said:
Hi. Got a little interested in this challenge. Is it normal for ppl to choose the type to run for themselves? If not, can I get recommendations for a type?
Click to expand...

On 2nd thought, I'll do one with my choice and hope someone chooses sth else for me.

I'll try to post status every gym cleared.

Forum User Name: Goldikarp
Game(s): Pokemon Platinum
Pokémon Type: Steel
Single/Ultimate: Single
 
Goldikarp said:
On 2nd thought, I'll do one with my choice and hope someone chooses sth else for me.

I'll try to post status every gym cleared.

Forum User Name: Goldikarp
Game(s): Pokemon Platinum
Pokémon Type: Steel
Single/Ultimate: Single
Click to expand...

Status update:
1st gym cleared

Lv 17 Prinplup (Hasty)
Hp 48
Atk 29
Def 29
Sp.Atk 36
Sp.Def 32
Spd 25

Very easy 1~2 shot sweep with Prinplup.

Potential team members:
Probopass, magnezone, Steelix, Bronzong, Bastiodon
 
Bug/Emerald? Flying type gym? Sure, why not.

I found Anorith to be ridiculously powerful in this gym with just Rock Tomb. I didn't even get AncientPower until I was trying to grind a little. I thought about only going to 35, but then I forgot that I had the Exp Share on it, so it eventually hit 37 and learned AncientPower. While grinding, my Beautifly learned Silver Wind...and with those two I figured I would attempt Winona. I also had done the New Mauville sidequest to get Thunderbolt, and gave that to my Volbeat.

The one thing I'm finding is I'm either going to play completely blind and learn from what trainers do how to adjust my team...or I could actually look up their Pokemon ahead of time and decide the best course of action. I started at the first mindset and got decently far with a combination of Stun Spore and Rock Tomb. Thankfully, Rock Tomb is STAB so I can get at least some benefit from that. Anorith isn't a terribly quick Pokemon, so my concern was that if I didn't start with Rock Tomb and lower the opponent's speed, I wouldn't get a second shot in before their spamming of Aerial Ace knocked me out.

It took me about six tries of getting to Skarmory before I realized Tropius, being a Flying/Grass type...doesn't actually resist Flying type moves. And my Beautifly is Bug/Flying with Gust. Not the most powerful move, but Gust + STAB + Weakness = pretty good damage on Tropius. I had trouble getting through that one before I realized that, and once I did, it was 30 seconds before it was down.

In the end, I only won the time I did because Skarmory missed it's first Steel Wing...then missed it's third Steel Wing. That gave me enough time to Rock Tomb and then spam AncientPower (with a single Super Potion in for good measure). I reached that point where it's a decision between "Do I heal because I'm one hit away from dying" or "Do I just use my 100% Accuracy move and hope it hits". I chose the latter and managed to eek out a victory.

My levels are not close to each other, so I'm thinking I should do some leveling. Tate and Liza are the leaders of the next gym, and I think their levels are low 40s. I'll probably level everyone to 40, which will be good since it means my Anorith will evolve to Armaldo.

Current Team Setup:
Beautifly
L34 / HP 95 / Atk 70 / Def 52 / SAtk 73 / SDef 41 / Spd 60
Stun Spore / Silver Wind / Morning Sun / Gust

Ninjask
L33 / HP 86 / Atk 69 / Def 49 / SAtk 49 / SDef 41 / Spd 108
Dig / Double Team / Swords Dance / Slash

Volbeat
L33 / HP 97 / Atk 51 / Def 43 / SAtk 42 / SDef 64 / Spd 74
Thunderbolt / Signal Beam / Double Team / Moonlight

Anorith
L37 / HP 97 / Atk 89 / Def 57 / SAtk 41 / SDef 45 / Spd 67
Ancientpower / Rock Tomb / Metal Claw / Water Gun

Shedinja
L30 / HP 1 / Atk 62 / Def 46 / SAtk 31 / SDef 26 / Spd 33
Cut / Double Team / Leech Life / Fury Cutter
 
Status update:
2 Badges
Bidoof caught for HM slave.

Lv 27 Prinplup (Hasty)
Hp 72
Atk 44
Def 45
Sp.Atk 55
Sp.Def 49
Spd 38

Lv 18 Bronzor (Relaxed), heatproof
Hp 52
Atk 16
Def 44
Sp.Atk 16
Sp.Def 41
Spd 13

Lv 15 Probopass (Hardy), Sturdy
Hp 43
Atk 24
Def 51
Sp.Atk 32
Sp.Def 53
Spd 18

Grass gym was tougher than expected. Got bronzor and nosepass at Mt.Coronet and immediately lvled nosepass up to evolve it. Since prinplup is weak to grass and the other two were underleveled... I heavily relied on bronzor's confuse ray + hypnosis combo then to finish with prinplup. Due to my team being very slow, I should be building a defensive team to take hits to make through.
 
Pokemon Red Normal Monotype Challenge progress

I have done some grinding in Route 4 to bring my team up to an even level 16
 
So...totally overlooked the Safari Zone as far as what was available. For some reason, I didn't think to find out what bugs are in there (Heracross, Pineco, Shuckle, and Ledyba, I believe). For the time being, I'm going to try and finish the rest of the game with my main team of 4. If I need others, I'll come back and grab them here. I'm avoid using Heracross and Pineco because those versions on my team in Gen 2 were pretty OP, so I'm hoping to try out new things here. But I know I can go back to it if I need assistance.

I brain farted and forgot Lilycove was NOT where the 7th gym was, so I spent basically all of yesterday (this week I'm on vacation) training my Pokemon up to 40, deciding Shedinja wasn't worth it, wondering what I was missing and having to look up a walkthrough, smacking myself for all the back and forth I was going to need to do...and then catching a Tropius because it was nearby and could learn Fly. Getting up to level 40 meant the Magma and Aqua areas were fairly quick (maybe like 20-30 minutes each), and I did gain a few levels here and there.

Finally making it to Mossdeep, got healed up and went straight for the gym. Gym wasn't exactly the hardest thing, but those gym leaders gave me a run for my money. It took three tries, so I feel like I'm getting better at understanding how to use my team after seeing what I'm up against.

On the final try, I ended up deciding that from the starting Claydol and Xatu, I'd rather have Claydol out longer. It doesn't hit anywhere near as hard as Xatu. So my plan was to knock Xatu out first, then knock out the Solrock/Lunatone as they come out. Best thing I have for Rock is Metal Claw on Armaldo, so I switched my team around so I had Armaldo and Volbeat out. Armaldo used AncientPower and Volbeat used Thundershock to ensure they'd knock out Xatu. No boost from AncientPower, though. Sad face. Both Solrock and Lunatone had to contend with an onslaught of Signal Beam and Metal Claw. Signal Beam did a decent chunk of damage, but Metal Claw really ensured I'd knock each one out. With Xatu left, though, Armaldo got hit with one two many Psychics and got knocked out. I brought out my Ninjask so it could throw a quick Slash in, and that and one final Signal Beam got me the victory.

I know for a fact being at the level of the gym leaders is a little ahead of where I might be, but I know the game isn't going to let me enjoy that for long.

After all of that, I'm at the following for my main team of 4:

Armaldo L44
HP 142 / Atk 134 / Def 115 / SAtk 75 / SDef 77 / Spd 54
AncientPower / Rock Tomb / Metal Claw / Water Gun

Volbeat L43
HP 129 / Atk 70 / Def 56 / SAtk 59 / SDef 83 / Spd 103
Thunderbolt / Signal Beam / Double Team / Moonlight

Ninjask L42
HP 112 / Atk 91 / Def 66 / SAtk 66 / SDef 53 / Spd 143
Dig / Double Team / Swords Dance / Slash

Beautifly L43
HP 123 / Atk 94 / Def 69 / SAtk 96 / Sdef 54 / Spd 82
Gust / Silver Wind / Giga Drain / Stun Spore

I'd to love to get Earthquake onto Armaldo...and I am thinking I'm going to get Aerial Ace on either my Ninjask or Beautifly. If I put it on Ninjask, I think it'll probably replace Slash. Hmm. Now wondering if STAB is better than higher crit chance. Probably. That'll be the next thing after my ds recharges.
 
Pokemon Platinum Steel type run status:
5 badges.

Lv 47 Empoleon (Hasty), torrent
HP 141
Atk 97
Def 97
Sp.Atk 125
Sp.Def 106
Spd 80

Lv 39 Bronzong (Calm), Levitate
HP 109
Atk 71
Def 109
Sp.Atk 74
Sp.Def 111
Spd 40

Lv 39 Magnezone (Modest), Sturdy
HP 112
Atk 63
Def 104
Sp.Atk 123
Sp.Def 79
Spd 62

Lv 22 Probopass (Hardy), Sturdy
HP 58
Atk 34
Def 73
Sp.Atk 45
Sp.Def 76
Spd 25

HM slaves Bidoof and Pelipper.

Forgot about the update every gym... I'm just before entering the 6th steel gym of the game. After beating the 3rd gym with no difficulty via prinplup I decided to replace bronzor with another one having levitate. 4th gym was a strategic win with bronzor building 3 iron defenses and spamming extrasensory with confuse ray. For the 5th water gym I decided to use the TM for return on Empoleon. My main strategy was to peel mons below half health with return then finish with brine. I'm still undecided whether to look for wild Steelix in Iron island or keep Probopass. I originally thought about raising Riolu but realized that affection poke are not allowed lol. Biggest problem for my team is the lack of physical atk powerhouse... Maybe I should look for Steelix.
 
Goldikarp said:
Pokemon Platinum Steel type run status:
5 badges.

Lv 47 Empoleon (Hasty), torrent
HP 141
Atk 97
Def 97
Sp.Atk 125
Sp.Def 106
Spd 80

Lv 39 Bronzong (Calm), Levitate
HP 109
Atk 71
Def 109
Sp.Atk 74
Sp.Def 111
Spd 40

Lv 39 Magnezone (Modest), Sturdy
HP 112
Atk 63
Def 104
Sp.Atk 123
Sp.Def 79
Spd 62

Lv 22 Probopass (Hardy), Sturdy
HP 58
Atk 34
Def 73
Sp.Atk 45
Sp.Def 76
Spd 25

HM slaves Bidoof and Pelipper.

Forgot about the update every gym... I'm just before entering the 6th steel gym of the game. After beating the 3rd gym with no difficulty via prinplup I decided to replace bronzor with another one having levitate. 4th gym was a strategic win with bronzor building 3 iron defenses and spamming extrasensory with confuse ray. For the 5th water gym I decided to use the TM for return on Empoleon. My main strategy was to peel mons below half health with return then finish with brine. I'm still undecided whether to look for wild Steelix in Iron island or keep Probopass. I originally thought about raising Riolu but realized that affection poke are not allowed lol. Biggest problem for my team is the lack of physical atk powerhouse... Maybe I should look for Steelix.
Click to expand...

Status update:
6th badge earned.

Lv 48 Empoleon (Hasty), torrent
HP 144
Atk 99
Def 100
Sp.Atk 127
Sp.Def 109
Spd 82

Lv 39 Bronzong (Calm), Levitate
HP 109
Atk 71
Def 109
Sp.Atk 74
Sp.Def 111
Spd 40

Lv 41 Magnezone (Modest), Sturdy
HP 118
Atk 65
Def 110
Sp.Atk 129
Sp.Def 83
Spd 66

Lv 37 Steelix (Serious), Rock head
HP 103
Atk 72
Def 163
Sp.Atk 48
Sp.Def 53
Spd 29

HM slaves Bidoof and Pelipper.

Used TM Earthquake for steelix and Grass Knot for Empoleon. Steel gym was an easy sweep with Earthquake and Brine. Replaced Probopass with Steelix for higher defense and a ground type that could use Earthquake. Ice gym upcoming but expect it to be a sweep with all my steel types.
 
I made it to Cerulean City in my Normal Type Monotype Challenge of Pokemon Red
I beat all the trainers in the Gym bar Misty herself.
 
Such a boring slog to get to this point. Not because the storyline isn't engaging, but because it's like "okay, go to Seafloor Cavern". So I surf. "Okay, go to Sootopolis". So I surf. "Go to Sky Pillar". So I surf. Surfing is very slow. I sort of skip most of the trainers since I was stupid and didn't buy a bunch of potions until getting ready for the final gym.

I picked up Heracross and trained it up and it's been really helpful. The battles with Maxie (when they try to get the fuel to blow up the volcano) and Archie (in the Seafloor Cavern) were very easy, although Archie's stupid Crobat knocked out my Heracross so I decided the best thing to do to avoid too much damage from his flying movies was to switch in Armaldo. So thankful for the Rock dual-typing here.

The rush to Sootopolis and the Sky Pillar was fairly uneventful. Just running from everything for the moment. I'd fight them, but my Pokemon are about the level of Juan's, so I figured if I just clear out the trainers, I should be okay. Looking at Juan's team, I'm not seeing anything I feel like I should be worried about. Water types left and right. I'm planning on using this opportunity to level my team evenly.

Of course, I stupidly forgot to switch out my Tropius for a 5th bug type...so hopefully that doesn't screw me over. What I get for using a pokemon to fly back instead of just surfing, eh?

So, the mons I have with me at the start of the gym are Heracross (L41), Volbeat (L43), Armaldo (L45), and Beautifly (L43). By the time that I finished defeating all of those trainers, Heracross is now L43 and Volbeat is now L44. Took about 25 minutes (mainly while watching youtube videos about idiots on the road). Time to face Juan.

I've still got Heracross set to go out. Luvdic uses Water Pulse and confuses me. I, of course, hit myself. Another round of the same. Water Pulse and then a confused hit. Water Pulse then does a critical hit on me, bringing me down to only 21/130. However, I snap out of confusion and land a nice Brick Break, 1HKO on Luvdisc. Brings Heracross up to level 44.

Whiscash comes out. I pop a Hyper Potion. Whiscash uses Rain Dance. Next round is Amnesia versus another Brick Break. Brick Break takes Whiscash down to about 30%. I get hit with a Water Pulse, but manage to only be brought down to 61/133 HP. I also avoided get confused, so my another Brick Break to the face and Whiscash is down.

Kingdra is up next. Since Fighting is still 1x effective, time for more Brick Break! Kingdra uses Double Team. Brick Break still hits, though, and brings it down to about 60%. Get another Water Pulse, down to 11/133. I avoid confusion but my Brick Break misses. I decide to pop one more Hyper Potion. For my trouble, I get an Ice Beam to the face and am down to 94/133. Another Ice Beam brings me down to 60/133 and redlines Kingdra. Of course, Juan uses a Hyper Potion. But my Brick Break once again hits. Another round of Double Team/Brick Break. Brick Break does manage to get through the evasion boosts, and Kingdra is even more redline now. Kingdra, however, knows Rest. Of course it does. Brick Break to the face and it's down to about 55%. Water Pulse crits and knocks me out, however.

I decide to go with Beautifly. I start out with a Silver Wind. Ice Beam hits first, being super effective and knocking me out.

Okay, fine. Volbeat gets out and uses Thunderbolt, and I'm faster. Kingdra uses Rest, however, so I can start using Signal Beam. First one hit, second one missed, and third one hit and confuses. Fourth one hits and it uses Rest again. Okay, Thunderbolt spam for paralysis? Nope. Three rounds of missing. Well...if he can do Double Team, so can I. He's still confused, so the round I use Double Team, he smacks himself. Next use of Double Team sees him out of confusion and his Ice Beam hits. I was down to 59/132 so I used Moonlight as he Double Teams. Two can play this game. Double Team #3 is met with Ice Beam and I'm down to 86/132. Fourth is met with a missed Water Pulse. I use Thunderbolt, which hits, and am met with another missed Water Pulse. I hit a Thunderbolt, and he hits a Water Pulse. Moonlight time. Just as Kingdra rests.

And this keeps happening until I lose that mon...and of course Armaldo isn't going to last, being part Rock type.

Okay...so I have to re-evaluate a little here.

Heracross can't really help here against this Kingdra. Based on calculations, his speed can be anywhere from 74-106. Restarting to before the battle to better plan (or at least attempt a few more times before deciding to grind), only my Volbeat is fast enough (106, although Heracross is at 100). So, my thought is that if I start with Volbeat, set up a few uses of Double Team while Luvdisc is out, I might be able to get through Kingdra.

Will fill everyone in later.
 
Continued my Poison Monotype on Y, from the old thread. Last update is here:
https://www.pokecommunity.com/posts/9990859

Update on Ultimate Poison Monotype Challenge:

Update #3 on Y.
  • Moved on from Laverre City and made my way to Dendemille Town.
  • Beat all the trainers on Route 15 & 16, then entered the Frost Cavern.
  • While exploring the cave, Draken evolved into Drapion!
  • Saved the Abomasnow, then rode Mamoswine through Route 17 to Anistar City.
  • Defeated Calem in front of the gum, then battled my way to Olympia.
  • Draken did most of the work against her with his Dark-typing, and I won easily.
  • Lysandre announced his evil plan, and I went to his hideout in Lumiose City.
  • Defeated him, then cleared out the rest of the hideout.
  • Chased Team Flare to Geosenge Town, where I defeated Lysandre again prior to him activating the weapon.
  • Continued to explore the depths of the hideout, and Seaweed finally evolved into Dragalge!
  • Caught Yvetal with a Master Ball, then defeated Lysandre once and for all.
  • Saved after entering Route 18.
Screens:
Spoiler:


Team Toxi:
[PokeCommunity.com] The Monotype Challenge Re:Returns

Countess the Serious Crobat, ♀ - L50 @ Amulet Coin
Ability: Inner Focus
Moves: Cross Poison, Fly, Bite, Confuse Ray
[PokeCommunity.com] The Monotype Challenge Re:Returns

Thorn the Modest Roserade, ♂ - L50 @ Big Root
Ability: Natural Cure
Moves: Giga Drain, Petal Dance, Venoshock, Dazzling Gleam
[PokeCommunity.com] The Monotype Challenge Re:Returns

Draken the Adamant Drapion, ♂ - L49 @ BlackGlasses
Ability: Sniper
Moves: Bug Bite, Crunch, Poison Jab, Strength
[PokeCommunity.com] The Monotype Challenge Re:Returns

Rex the Naive Nidoking, ♂ - L50 @ Expert Belt
Ability: Sheer Force
Moves: Poison Jab, Thunderbolt, Earth Power, Megahorn
[PokeCommunity.com] The Monotype Challenge Re:Returns

Seaweed the Bold Dragalge, ♀ - L50 @ Poison Barb
Ability: Poison Point
Moves: Sludge Bomb, Dragon Pulse, Surf, Hydro Pump
[PokeCommunity.com] The Monotype Challenge Re:Returns

Phibia the Lonely Toxicroak, ♀ - L50 @ Black Belt
Ability: Dry Skin
Moves: Poison Jab, Bulldoze, Low Sweep, Sucker Punch

Boxed:
[PokeCommunity.com] The Monotype Challenge Re:Returns

Buzz the Hardy Beedrill, ♀ - L20
Ability: Swarm
Moves: Poison Sting, Thief, Twineedle, False Swipe
​
 
It only took a second attempt at Juan to win. It was another battle of Double Team. I managed to actually do enough damage to knock out Kingdra this time, even despite the +6 Evasion. Then again, I also had +6 Evasion.

I spent some time preparing, though, by going all around Hoenn and trying to get as many Leppa Berries ready as possible. Then it was just a matter of outlasting Kingdra. Signal Beam and Confusion helped me edge out and win. All of the rest of Juan's Pokemon are relatively tame compared to that roadblock. It took about 30 minutes to get through Juan thanks to repeated misses on both sides. Was kinda boring. I thought about teaching Shock Wave so I had another electric attack to throw at him.

About an hour ago, I went ahead and started my way through Victory Road, only stopping to pick up Psychic. I'm going to give the Elite Four a try just to level-set my expectations.

Here's where I was going into Sidney. I figured I'd grab everything out of my boxes to get a full 6.
Heracross L45 / 136 HP / 163 Atk / 85 Def / 49 SAtk / 100 SDef / 105 Spd
Horn Attack / Strength / Earthquake / Brick Break

Beautifly L46 / 130 HP / 101 Atk / 74 Def / 104 SAtk / 57 SDef / 87 Spd
Aerial Ace / Silver Wind / Giga Drain / Psychic

Volbeat L46 / 138 HP / 75 Atk / 60 Def / 63 SAtk / 93 SDef / 111 Spd
Thunderbolt / Signal Beam / Double Team / Moonlight

Armaldo L 47 / 151 HP / 143 Atk / 123 Def / 80 SAtk / 81 SDef / 58 Spd
Ancient Power / Rock Tomb / Metal Claw / Fury Cutter

Ninjask L42 / 112 HP / 91 Atk / 66 Def / 66 SAtk / 54 SDef / 143 Spd
Dig / Double Team / Swords Dance / Slash

Shedinja L39 / 1 HP / 83 Atk / 61 Def / 42 SAtk / 35 SDef / 46 Spd
Cut / Double Team / Shadow Ball / Fury Cutter


Here we go.

Sidney is up first and out comes Mightyena and Heracross. Brick Break nearly one-shots. Like 99.9% HP gone. Second Brick Break does the same thing, but I'm able to follow up with a Horn Attack and knock it out. That also levels Harry to 46 (+2,+4,+1,+1,+2,+3). Shiftry is up next, I used Strength to offset Shiftry's HP enough that Brick Break should knock it out on turn 2. Interestingly, all Shiftry can do is hit me with Torment. This oughta be fun. Absol is out, so I throw another Strength, but he takes the rest of my health. Wasn't really paying attention as to what he hit me with. I pull out Volbeat and hit Signal Beam. I get a Rock Slide for my trouble. I'm down to 16 HP, but I get to hit another Signal Beam and knock it out. Cacturne is next, and I repeat Signal Beam, 1HKO. Finally, Crawdaunt. I continue to throw Signal Beam. Takes it down to about 15% HP, but I get knocked out in return. I decide to go ahead and use Beautifly, accidentally hitting Psychic and then on-purpose hitting myself on the forehead for the goof. I use Silver Wind and he drops to 45% health, but uses Swords Dance...because he can? Another Silver Wind and that's one down.

Okay...Phoebe's gonna be a challenge, I think. I'm going in with Beautifly first to do as much damage as I can with Aerial Ace. First, I got Protect blocked...the second Aerial Ace hits...but it only does about 20% damage. I get Confused, but the next one goes through and Dusclops is down to 50%. I get Shadow Punched in return. Another turn confused but I still hit Aerial Ace, and a crit Shadow Punch hits me back, knocking me out. I bring out Armaldo and use Ancient Power, knocking out Dusclops. Next Dusclops out, and I start spamming Ancient Power. Then I switch to Rock Tomb. But I get knocked out before I can finish knocking out that second Dusclops. Unfortunately, I was in Full Restore territory. I start a Double Team build on Volbeat, but am forced to eat a Rock Slide. Takes me a few turns, but I manage to get all +6 Evasion going. I start using Thunderbolt in the hopes of paralysis. I don't get lucky, but I do manage to take it down. Banette comes out, and despite not being weak to it at all, I start spamming Signal Beam. It triggers confusion and 2/3 turns Banette hits itself. I use my last Signal Beam and knock it out. I heal up, both via Hyper Potion and a Leppa Berry...and then start the Signal Beam onslaught against Sableye. Two Signal Beams later, a nice crit happens and I take out Sableye. It's just outlasting the final Banette now. First shot of Thunderbolt paralyzes. Second shot crits and puts it to a sliver of health. Final thunderbolt and I'm through.

I always feel like Double Team/Moonlight and Signal Beam are cheap, but it works. Finishing this battle pushes my Volbeat up to 48.

Next up is Glacia. I'm worried about when she'll pull out the Walrein, so I start with Heracross instead of Armaldo. Brick Break crits and knocks out Sealeo. Glalie comes out and I hit Brick Break again. Another 1HKO. Sealeo again, but this one hangs on. I go for another Break Break and it takes another one past that to knock it out. Brick Break knocks out the final Glalie. It's down to just me and Walrein now. The moves Walrein know (Surf, Body Slam, Ice Beam, and Sheer Cold) are not super-effective against Shedinja, so I might bring that off for a laugh. Brick Break on Walrein takes it down to about 25% health. I get knocked out. Yay. Just for giggles, I bring out Shedinja. I do indeed avoid the damage from Sheer Cold with Wonder Guard. Now it's just hilarity as I spam Fury Cutter. Final hit crits and I win.

That was funny. Heracross to 47. Shedinja to 40.

RL Time to put kid to sleep, but then I'll be back for the final rounds.
 
I had to grind quite a bit. Everyone, except Shedinja and Ninjask, were around 50 when I did my last attempt. Teaching Earthquake to Heracross (it has higher attack then my Armaldo) helped a lot to get through Phoebe on this run, and Drake kept giving me trouble. Bugs versus Dragon is just not helping. I had to cheese it horribly by doing a bad: I had enough AncientPower uses activate the side effect that my Armaldo could survive Kingdra's Surf. So...I just spammed Hyper Potions until he ran out of Surf and then I kept using Metal Claw to up my attack more...then it was just spamming Ancient Power and Rock Tomb to get through Drake.

Wallace was actually easier than Drake. Mainly because the first Pokemon went down to my Heracross...and leveled to 53 and learned Megahorn. Hey, look...new move to spam. Somehow, I managed to have my Heracross wipe out his Wailord, then Whiscash, then Tentacruel, and barely Ludicolo (Double Team tactic sucks on the receiving end). I did about 1/2 damage to Gyarados, so then it was just a matter of Thunderbolt from Volbeat to knock it out...and then whatever powerful moves I could to manage to live. Milotic sort of sucks - I ended up realizing my remaining members didn't have the firepower to win. So, I used them to allow me a use of Max Revive to bring back Heracross and one final use of Megahorn...and I beat Wallace. It did take a few tries, though.

I do have to train quite a bit before I can fight Steven. I'm not going to even attempt it until everyone is 70. That should be a riot. The end is in sight, though! Only one more battle and it'll be time to move on.
 
Sorry for the triple post - I very much went overboard. I was able to train most of my Pokemon on the Solrock and Golbat in the area surrounding Steven fairly easily. Within the first hour, I had my Volbeat to 65, and figured I would try it at 65 for everyone. Slowly, I got everyone up to 65ish. Then, I tried Steven. And then I tried him again. And I learned a little and tried again.

The worst thing about Steven? You can't just keep hitting his Pokemon and hope they go down. You have to be able to do enough damage to manage to skip the red health area (or, for that matter, just above it - there's some part of yellow that will still trigger it). Otherwise, full health for that Pokemon.

After the first 4 or 5 attempts, I realized I wasn't going to be able to push through without some tactics, so I started trying everyone Pokemon order I could. After about 60 attempts of continually resetting in my rather stupid quest to pull this off at L65...this is what happened on the final time.

I realized I would need Volbeat to be able to take down both Skarmory and Claydol, or at least nearly take down Claydol. Skarmory is a 3HKO at 65 with Thunderbolt. It likes to use Spikes and Toxic, so I throw a berry on to at least make a turn of Toxic a waste of time. So, in my final run, I use Thunderbolt, get paralysis to land (something that only happened 3 times the whole series of attempts, so I wasn't counting on it at all), Spikes from Skarmory. Next turn, I throw Double Team up, and he uses Toxic. It hits, berry clears it. I use Double Team again (in preparation for Claydol). I use Thunderbolt again, and thankfully the 3HKO is a sure thing for Skarmory. I'm not in danger of actually triggering a Full Restore here. Skarmory goes for another Toxic and misses. Final Thunderbolt and Skarmory is down. Out comes Claydol. Time to spam Signal Beam. It never triggers confusion, but I do get down to just under 1/2 health on Claydol before Volbeat goes down.

Now, something interesting happens here. I swap in Ninjask...and the entire time Ninjask is out, I manage to get +6 Evasion from Double Team, +6 Attack from Swords Dance, and +6 Speed from my ability. How? Claydol never once attempts AncientPower. I don't understand why. But anyways, after all of that, two Slashes go off (no critical), and out comes Cradily. I basically spam Dig and manage to knock it out without taking any further damage.

At this point, Armaldo comes out, and while I hit it once with Dig, it manages to get an AncientPower through and knock me out. I bring my own Armaldo out and we got into this war of AncientPower. I manage to get a couple uses of AncientPower off (with both triggering the boosts), and I'm on a relatively small sliver of health when Metagross comes out. I know I'm basically going to lose, right? Well...Meteor Mash decided to miss twice in a row here - the first time I was healing up, and the second time was Rock Blast). I tried spamming Rock Blast to get as close as I could, but ended up getting my Armaldo knocked out. So, here comes Heracross to hopefully win.

I hit Earthquake and down goes Metagross. In the end, I was about to spam Earthquake to take out Aggron. So...I won. It was a set of tactics that wasn't completely luck based, but at this level, they were. I think it would have worked better to truly be 70 or 75. I may come back later and do more leveling and see what it would have looked like at 70 or even 75. But suffice it to say, I beat Steven...but only barely.

This completes Gen 3 for me.

Things I've learned after the first three Gens:
- Gen 1 was blind for me.
- Gen 2 wasn't blind - I went in with a plan for each Pokemon, but ended up changing it up slightly to breed for a move.
- Gen 3 was basically done the same way as Gen 2, but at the end I picked up a Heracross late and EV train and it did a lot for me.

Things I'll be putting into play in Gen 4:
- EV planning and training.
- Determining breeding for moves, if needed.
- Ensuring I know the route for the game (I got lost at the end of Emerald with all the back and forth)

The team that I ended up beating Steven with:
Volbeat L66 / 194 HP / 106 Atk / 84 Def / 89 SAtk / 130 SDef / 157 Spd / Thunderbolt - Signal Beam - Double Team - Moonlight
Armaldo L64 / 202 HP / 193 Atk / 166 Def / 108 SAtk / 110 SDef / 77 Spd / AncientPower - Rock Blast - Iron Tail - Fury Cutter
Heracross L65 / 192 HP / 220 Atk / 120 Def / 69 SAtk / 143 SDef / 150 Spd / Megahorn - Strength - Earthquake - Brick Break
Beautifly L64 / 178 HP / 138 Atk / 101 Def / 143 SAtk / 78 SDef / 120 Spd / Aerial Ace - Silver Wind - Giga Drain - Psychic
Ninjask L65 / 169 HP / 138 Atk / 105 Def / 100 SAtk / 81 SDef / 221 Spd / DIg - Double Team - Swords Dance - Slash

Looking at those numbers, I'm definitely going to grind to 75 and see if I just lucked out or if my tactics were sound and I was just too low level for it to be consistent.

Gen 3 done. Gen 4 starting soon!
 
Goldikarp said:
Status update:
6th badge earned.

Lv 48 Empoleon (Hasty), torrent
HP 144
Atk 99
Def 100
Sp.Atk 127
Sp.Def 109
Spd 82

Lv 39 Bronzong (Calm), Levitate
HP 109
Atk 71
Def 109
Sp.Atk 74
Sp.Def 111
Spd 40

Lv 41 Magnezone (Modest), Sturdy
HP 118
Atk 65
Def 110
Sp.Atk 129
Sp.Def 83
Spd 66

Lv 37 Steelix (Serious), Rock head
HP 103
Atk 72
Def 163
Sp.Atk 48
Sp.Def 53
Spd 29

HM slaves Bidoof and Pelipper.

Used TM Earthquake for steelix and Grass Knot for Empoleon. Steel gym was an easy sweep with Earthquake and Brine. Replaced Probopass with Steelix for higher defense and a ground type that could use Earthquake. Ice gym upcoming but expect it to be a sweep with all my steel types.
Click to expand...

Pokemon Platinum Steel type challenge
Status: Giratina defeated. 7 badges.

About half a week stop on pokemon stuff I came back to the challenge. My main goal was to learn moves for better coverage, so I tried to find every usable TM I could get after the 6th gym. The 7th Ice gym was a piece of cake due to my typing. The real threat during this part of the challenge was the final Cyrus fight. Empoleon took care of Houndoom but was burned and at low hp. I overlooked Gyarados' speed and its Earthquake, letting my Magnezone be OHKO'd. I tried to stall with Bronzong and healed Empoleon meanwhile. Grass knot was really helpful with taking gyarados down. Rest of Cyrus' team was dealth with Steelix, my physical tank. Here's the stats and movesets for my team; Bibarel was newly caught for HM slave, so Bibarel and Pelipper for HM slaves.

Lv 52 Empoleon (Hasty), torrent
HP 156
Atk 108
Def 109
Sp.Atk 139
Sp.Def 117
Spd 91

Drill Peck, Flash Cannon, Brine, Grass Knot

Lv 44 Bronzong (Calm), Levitate
HP 122
Atk 81
Def 123
Sp.Atk 84
Sp.Def 125
Spd 47

Extrasensory, Iron Defense, Confuse Ray, Shadow Ball

Lv 46 Magnezone (Modest), Sturdy
HP 131
Atk 74
Def 124
Sp.Atk 145
Sp.Def 92
Spd 77

Screech, Thunder wave, Thunderbolt, Mirror Shot

Lv 47 Steelix (Serious), Rock head
HP 128
Atk 92
Def 207
Sp.Atk 61
Sp.Def 66
Spd 41

Crunch, Earthquake, Rock slide, Iron tail

P.S. I checked the typing of Hidden Power for Bronzong, and it had Ice! Screw you Garchomp!
 
Pokemon Platinum Steel type run
Status: Final Badge earned

Lv 52 Empoleon (Hasty), torrent
HP 156
Atk 108
Def 109
Sp.Atk 139
Sp.Def 117
Spd 91

Drill Peck, Flash Cannon, Brine, Grass Knot

Lv 45 Bronzong (Calm), Levitate
HP 125
Atk 82
Def 126
Sp.Atk 86
Sp.Def 128
Spd 49

Extrasensory, Iron Defense, Confuse Ray, Shadow Ball

Lv 46 Magnezone (Modest), Sturdy
HP 131
Atk 74
Def 124
Sp.Atk 145
Sp.Def 92
Spd 77

Screech, Thunder wave, Thunderbolt, Mirror Shot

Lv 50 Steelix (Serious), Rock head
HP 136
Atk 99
Def 220
Sp.Atk 66
Sp.Def 70
Spd 46

Fire fang, Earthquake, Rock slide, Iron tail

The electric gym was a smooth sweep with Steelix... I need to find more type coverage, I'm still considering whether hidden power ice should be on Bronzong. If I have sth else to replace iron defense, I'll be sticking to Ice Beam for Empoleon. Next update will be the HOF.
 
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