[Challenge] The Monotype Challenge v8, Tera Edition

[StenirRPG]

Ultimate Ghost Run
Gold / Only Entry / Psywave, Why...Wave?

In this post (i.e., TL;DR)

Spoiler:

-- Gyms 1, 2, and 3
-- Gym 4
-- Gyms 5, 6, and 7
-- Gym 8
-- Elite Four
-- Champion

The full read:

Spoiler:

-- Gyms 1, 2, and 3
The start of the game is quite a challenge. It's not that it's a hard challenge, rather that you have to rely on a few things to get you through. At the start, I take Misdreavus along as my starter so I can also get Gastly and run with both for every gym. Misdreavus, however, only really knows Psywave, while Gastly only really knows Lick. Neither are the greatest of moves, to the point where if it's normal, I have to use Psywave, otherwise, I try to stall out with Lick. This unfortunately means that the first gym is heavily reliant on Psywave. After each of the battles in the gym, I go back and heal just to keep the PP for Psywave up. More often than not, I'm getting low rolls.

The second gym proves to be slightly easier, mainly because I pick up Swift on the way through the cave. This gives Misdreavus an option it didn't have before. The second gym isn't much of a pain as a result, but it's really what happens between the second and third gyms that proves to be a mind-numbing.

I buy the Elemental Punches for when my Gastly eventually turns into a Gengar, and then I take a few stabs at the third gym. I didn't have any real luck until I spent a couple hours at the Game Corner, getting enough to learn Thunder. Even then, I have to luck out and have it hit, but it basically turns the third gym into a simple knockout fest. Anything to avoid Rollout.

-- Gym 4
I have trouble with the Ghost type gym until Misreavus learns Psybeam, at which point Morty becomes one shots all around. I give Shadow Ball to Misdreavus, since I have my Punches planned for Gengar.

-- Gyms 5, 6, and 7
The order I chose here is Pryce -> Chuck -> Jasmine. Apparently, this was a good choice, because look at those times. All three in my lunch hour! Taking care of the first Team Rocket hideout, what started as Gastly has finally made it to Gengar. I keep Hypnosis but swap out the other moves for the Elemental Punches. Pryce goes down to a bunch of Fire Punches. I travel over to Chuck, and he goes down to a bunch of Psybeam. Jasmine goes down to Fire Punches as well.

Most of the Team Rockets are easy knockouts with Psybeam or Shadow Ball. The few that have Steel types require me to swap to Gengar for Fire Punch.

-- Gym 8
Ice Punches left and right, especially after picking up the Nevermeltice on the way into town.

-- Elite Four
--- Will goes down to Shadow Ball usage.
--- Koga gets taken down by Gengar's Fire Punch or Misdreavus's Psybeam, depending on the weakness.
--- Psybeam and Ice Punch as needed for he-who-shall-never-be-named.
--- Karen is the one where I just use whatever Punch has the most PP still, if I can't hit the weakness.

-- Champion
Mostly just Ice Punches. I mean, Elemental Punches for the win, I suppose.

Quite a fast run this Gen. It felt slow at the start (and very slow playing the Game Corner), but once you get the Punches, it's easy street.

Team Stats:

Spoiler:

Johto by Type:

Spoiler:

 

[StenirRPG]

Ultimate Ghost Run
Sapphire / Only Entry / That Was Pain Split

In this post (i.e., TL;DR)

Spoiler:

-- Team Collection
-- Gyms 1 through 8, individually
-- Elite Four
-- Champion

The full read:

Spoiler:

Comparing to the previous run in Gold, it was NOT fast. Okay, so, let's go to it...

-- Team Collection
--- Start with Nincada, because it evolves into Shedinja and I can get one before Gym 1
--- Sableye on Dewford in the cave
--- Shuppet on the way into Lilycove, pre Gym 6 (yes, you can get all the way there)
--- Dusclops in Mt. Pyre, pre Gym 6 (yes, you can get all the way there)

-- Gym 1: Rock Type
Nincada: Scratch / Fury Swipes / Leech Life / Sand-Attack

I tried a few different ways to approach this, but I new I wanted to get it done before evolving to Shedinja, because any Rock moves would end the battle in one shot. At least here, Rock is neutral. I did a mix of Leech Life and Fury Swipes. Leech Life to keep my health up, and Fury Swipes to do multiple points of damage instead of using Scratch. Oh, and a healthy amount of Potions.

-- Gym 2: Fighting Type
Nincada: no changes
Sableye: Scratch / Leer / Astonish / Night Shade

Just like in the Dark run, being Ghost is super nice here - nobody can hit me. I take the experience to get Sableye leveled up. Straight enough.

-- Gym 3: Electric Type
Shedinja: Scratch -> Double Team, Leech Life -> Fury Cutter
Sableye: Leer -> Fury Swipe

Night Shade saved me here, but I needed Sableye to get up to Level 25 to make it easier. Oh, and evolving to Shedinja.

-- Gym 4: Fire Type
Shedinja: Sand-Attack -> Dig
Sableye: Scratch -> Knock Off, Astonish -> Feint Attack

Dig is only worthwhile if I'm faster, but I did a lot of grinding just trying to beat Archie's team on the way up/down the mountain.

-- Gym 5: Normal Type
Shedinja: no changes
Sableye: Knock Off -> Rock Smash

The trainers in the gym aren't that bad, but all of Norman's team knows Feint Attack...which means I can't use Shedinja during the battle. That's why I swapped Knock Off for Rock Smash, so I could do more and more damage with each hit when the effect procs.

-- Gym 6: Flying Type
Shedinja: no changes
Sableye: Astonish -> Shadow Ball
Dusclops: Pursuit, Curse, Shadow Punch, Confuse Ray
Shuppet: Night Shade, Screech, Curse, Spite

Another gym where I can't justify Shedinja. Dusclops is at 37 since that's the evo level. Shadow Punch is decently powerful (had I looked, I really should have swapped in Shadow Ball since it's the only member of my team that doesn't get it by leveling). Shuppet having Night Shade is decent. It's one of those "passable" ones. This took a few tries, but I eventually broke through. I did go to Lilycove and do everything I could up to Gym 7 at this point. It does go a little slow because I have to walk back and forth between Lilycove and Slateport for progression.

-- Gym 7: Psychic Type
Team: No changes to moves

I let Shuppet push through the gym with Night Shade. Gets me a few levels on it, and gets it closer to evolving. I had a little fun with Curse + Potions. One of those "has a use, but very limited in when it's appropriate". Shuppet will evolve between now and the next gym, thanks to the Exp. Share. Gotta get that in them early gens.

-- Gym 8: Water Type
Shedinja: Fury Swipes -> Shadow Ball
Sableye: no changes
Dusclops: no changes
Banette: Spite -> Feint Attack

Yay, Shadow Ball. Shedinja got a little play here. The biggest worry is Luvdisc's Sweet Kiss. Once I get that out of the way, it's pretty smooth sailing. I don't think this is one of the best gens for Shedinja to shine in. Wish the little guy was faster. Would make moves like Dig had a little more tacticality to it. Is that even a word? It is now. ha

-- Elite Four
Okay, skipping about 14 hours later, here I am, finally done with the game. That. Was. Pain (Split).

I got to the Elite four late-40s, but needed at least 10-15 levels on each to finish up the Elite Four. I spent about 8 hours in Victory Road grinding as much as I could, but it's a pain when 3/4 of the mons Roar, Whirlwind, or something else to end the battle. But you aren't here for Victory Road training.

The winning run was a result of some assistance from the discussion thread. I was having some success with Rock Smash and Aerial Ace to get me through Sidney. It was suggested to swap out Rock Smash with Brick Break. I also was using Shock Wave on Banette, and decided that since that wasn't one-shotting Sharpedo, I wanted to upgrade to Thunderbolt. I quickly ran through New Mauville and got the TM, and swapped it out, and now I'm cutting through Sharpedo easily. Brick Break for everything but Sharpedo, Thunderbolt for Sharpedo.

Phoebe is easy enough - Shadow Ball from anyone can knock out anything.

Glacia finally goes down to a continued mix of Brick Break and Thunderbolt.

Drake's Shelgon goes down to Brick Break and then a Shadow Ball. Flygon #1 (the one with Fly) took a few (about 20) tries, but I eventually got all 6 Double Team up and was able to run through the rest of the team with Fury Cutter. I wanted to save as much PP as I could on other moves for Steven...which turned out to not really be needed.

Steven's Skarmory goes down to my last couple of Thunderbolt. In comes Cradily, which I take out with Brick Break. Claydol is next, which needs Shadow Ball. Then Armaldo which is still Shadow Ball. Aggron is the second-to-last, and that requires Brick Break. To end with, it's spam Shadow Ball to end Metagross (though it takes a while because Steven wants to spam Full Restores).

After way longer than I thought it would take, given the Gym Challenge, I'm finally done. Time to rest up for the next gen.

Team Stats:

Spoiler:

Hoenn by Type:

Spoiler:

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

I started playing Gen 3 Kanto again but without any extra rules (other than SET mode for important battles). I'm not sure when I'll return, but I do have a question here.

I'm looking over the rules, and even though rule 6 suggests using Nincada against Roxanne, one of the game-specific rules for Gen 3 specifically says that Duskull or Banette can be hacked/traded in as the starter. Am I reading this right, @Explorer of Time ? I remember asking you about that rule change because I REALLY did not want to battle Roxanne with a Nincada or [[H E A V E N]] forbid, a Shedinja, but I want to verify one more time because I'm shocked Stenir did it. It absolutely wouldn't be a problem if Nincada could learn Bullet Seed.

 

[Explorer of Time]

I started playing Gen 3 Kanto again but without any extra rules (other than SET mode for important battles). I'm not sure when I'll return, but I do have a question here.

I'm looking over the rules, and even though rule 6 suggests using Nincada against Roxanne, one of the game-specific rules for Gen 3 specifically says that Duskull or Banette can be hacked/traded in as the starter. Am I reading this right, @Explorer of Time ? I remember asking you about that rule change because I REALLY did not want to battle Roxanne with a Nincada or [[H E A V E N]] forbid, a Shedinja, but I want to verify one more time because I'm shocked Stenir did it. It absolutely wouldn't be a problem if Nincada could learn Bullet Seed.

You may trade or hack in a Duskull or Shuppet, but if you want to, you can still use Nincada/Shedinja. It's a game-specific rule for Hoenn.

Don't trade/hack Banette, it's an evolved Pokemon. You also may not trade/hack in Sableye until Granite Cave since it doesn't evolve.

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

I got confused about Banette being the evolved form of Shuppet. Sorry.

 

[StenirRPG]

Nincada learning Sand-Attack at level 9 is very helpful. I try not to give a lot of "here is every action that was taken each turn" because that can be way too much if the first three turns are Sand-Attack for each 'mon that comes out. Keep in mind the times only report the successful run - I could have spent two hours resetting repeatedly if things don't go my way. But yeah, Nincada over Shedinja.

Between Shuppet and Duskull, I don't really see a benefit in picking one over the other to start with for the opening. Duskull is definitely way more bulky, and Shuppet is definitely way more on the offensive side of things. Both get Night Shade (Shuppet at 13, Duskull as a starting moving). You get Curse way sooner with Shuppet (20 versus Duskull's 34), which can be helpful in some circumstances. Keep in mind, Duskull is the only of the four Ghost lines that does not learn Shadow Ball naturally - you have to give it the TM. Shuppet can learn Electric moves (Shock Wave, Thunder, Thundbolt) while Duskull can learn some Ice moves (Blizzard and Ice Beam). If you couldn't get them before Gym 6, I would suggest Duskull just for Ice Beam for that gym, but since you can get both of them by that point, it's really up to you how you want to play it.

I guess, if I were to do the run again, I'd probably pick Duskull just for the extra experience at the start of the game. Looking forward to what you decide to do and the run!

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

Between Shuppet and Duskull, I don't really see a benefit in picking one over the other to start with for the opening. Duskull is definitely way more bulky, and Shuppet is definitely way more on the offensive side of things. Both get Night Shade (Shuppet at 13, Duskull as a starting moving). You get Curse way sooner with Shuppet (20 versus Duskull's 34), which can be helpful in some circumstances. Keep in mind, Duskull is the only of the four Ghost lines that does not learn Shadow Ball naturally - you have to give it the TM. Shuppet can learn Electric moves (Shock Wave, Thunder, Thundbolt) while Duskull can learn some Ice moves (Blizzard and Ice Beam). If you couldn't get them before Gym 6, I would suggest Duskull just for Ice Beam for that gym, but since you can get both of them by that point, it's really up to you how you want to play it.

You're really making me want to pick Shuppet over Duskull. I love my friend-shaped Grim Reaper boy (even though Dusclops is ... kind of weirdly designed for its evolution, and I'm glad in hindsight they made Dusknoir), but I typically prefer an all-out offensive strategy, and I prefer Thunderbolt to Ice Beam (especially since Wattson hands out Shock Wave early and then hands you a Thunderbolt for a quick jog through New Mauville). Oh, dear, what to do in that regard!

I probably will come back to this thread sooner than I had expected. The spark came back as they say. That said, I will probably continue the FRLG mono-Flying challenge because I do not want to stress myself out with Victory Road and the Elite Four in the mono-Fighting challenge this week. (I feel like I shouldn't have to explain what's happening tomorrow, so I won't.) Once I finish up the the mono-Fighting challenge though, I think I'll return to the "No Evolution" thread and finally start the Gen 3 Hoenn journey. Nothing's for sure, but I feel a lot better today.

 

[StenirRPG]

Ultimate Ghost Run
Shining Pearl / Only Entry / That Ending

In this post (i.e., TL;DR)

Spoiler:

-- Team Collection
-- Each Gym
-- Elite Four
-- Champion

The full read:

Spoiler:

-- Team Collection
--- Start with Drifloon
--- Gastly and Misdreavus picked up in Grand Underground as soon as I enter Eterna
--- get Dusk Stone on way to fourth gym
--- trade Haunter at some point (ends up being during the Elite Four attempts)

-- Gym 1: Rock Type
One of the benefits of having Drifloon is that I start with Minimize, which, after a few uses, allows me to get through the first gym fairly easily. Even though it's Rock, I wasn't too worried because I could just Minimize up, use Focus Energy, and then start spamming Gust. Sometimes attacks still get through, but Drifloon is a bit of a tank.

-- Gym 2: Grass Type
Just before going into the Grass gym, I go into the Grand Underground, and all the way at the bottom right of the main area is a single room where I can pick up Gastly and Misdreavus. I didn't bother grinding them up since they were close in level, so I just let Drifloon swap between Shadow Ball and Gust. Easy.

-- Gym 3: Fighting Type
Gastly is now a Haunter, spamming Hex and Night Shade to get some levels here. I also teach it Thunderbolt for some extra power. Misdreavus gets a little action with Psybeam. Another easy gym. Welcome to the start of what I'm starting to call "The Gym Rush", where I move between gyms with less than 90 minutes between them.

-- Gym 4: Water Type
Gym Rush #2. There's a definite balance I'm finding is swapping around to save PP. Thunderbolt is super nice for this gym, with Shadow Ball as a backup. I was thinking about teaching Psychic to Misdreavus, but I ended up deciding to wait until later to do so. I eventually forgot about it, until right before Gym 8. Probably something I need to note down as an "It is okay to do this" action, because even this far in, I'm still forgetting I can use Pickup mons, and it's perfectly okay for me to grab more TMs at the Department Stores and use them.

-- Gym 5: Ghost Type
Got the Dusk Stone and upgraded Misdreavus to Mismagius, knowing I'd probably need it for here. Also, now I have Shadow Ball on Mismagius, which means a lot of damage to Fantina's team. And, well, look at my levels...+5 on everyone since Gym 4. Pretty quick to fight everyone in this gym. There's so much experience to share around. Shadow Ball is from the TM you pick up before meeting Cynthia's grandma, so that was quick and easy. Of course, one bad thing about this gym is that I didn't choose to learn Phantom Force - if I had, would have been easy since I'm slower so would go second.

-- Gym 6: Steel Type
I honestly though this was going to be really painful, but it was Shadow Ball, Shadow Ball, Shadow Ball the whole time. I guess it helps a lot of them have horrible SpDef? No redos or anything.

-- Gym 7: Ice Type
My original plan here was to evolve into Gengar and learn Focus Punch...which I never do. Was gonna trade with my wife, but she went to bed early that night so I just tried to push my way through without needing it. The best thing for me was teaching Fly in the place of Gust for Drifblim. Haunter does get Dark Pulse in place of Sucker Punch, which is a nice upgrade. Minimize tactics again, and then just kinda do the "most powerful move" push to get through.

-- Gym 8: Electric Type
Haunter has upgraded Night Shade to Sludge Bomb (hooray move with STAB), Mismagius now has Dazzling Gleam and Psychic instead of Confuse Ray and Psybeam. Definite upgrade. As this is just a standard gym for me, it's basically just spam Shadow Ball or Sludge Bomb or <insert another move here>. Whatever it takes, really.

-- Elite Four
I evolve into Gengar, grind until about 58 (gotta love Scott's Thoughts and the Damage Rounding Thresholds as way to focus my training) and then I'm ready to take them all on.

Minimize, X Attacks and then Fly to one shot everything in Aaron's team. For once, I didn't have to worry about Heracross, because of it being quadruple weak.

I can't use Gengar in the Bertha fight, so I stick with Drifblim, and this time Minimize and focus on X Sp Atk, then spam Shadow Ball. Really loving BDSP doing the +2 for X Items.

Flint is honestly what I would consider the hardest of the Elite Four, but I spammed a bunch of Sludge Bomb after some X Sp Atk. When Infernape comes out, I do switch to Mismagius and use Psychic. Easy enough, but in hindsight, the trainer that could mess you up if you aren't paying attention.

Lucien is easy enough. A couple of X Sp Atk, a couple of Minimize, and then Shadow Ball.

Rinse and repeat for Cynthia. Three Minimize, three X Sp Atk, Shadow Ball on everything, win the game. And that's why I said Flint was the biggest pain point.

Definitely know where near as bad as Gen 3. Was actually fun. I'm finding that I really like 3-4 for a good team. 6 feels like it's way too many to train up (though Gen 6+ is not as much of a problem since Exp Share is a key item that's always on). I did enjoy Drifblim's somewhat being a tank. Mismagius was just like "enjoy the fun".

Off to Unova...but let's be honest, I've posted in the discussion thread, and if you haven't read, my first attempt was starting with Yamask, which is the earliest you can get...but after 6 1/2 hours, still hadn't been the first gym...and it was pain. Don't do it. Please. Stay sane.

So...get ready for a Litwick start instead!

Team Stats:

Spoiler:

Sinnoh by Type: (gotta love how levels work...that just makes no sense, but still fun to try and put a trendline anyways)

Spoiler:

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

I'm not sure if I should be posting this so quickly, but I think I've reached a decision tonight regarding the YouTube series I wanted to start. In 2025, I would like to start the "Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire Monotype Mastery" series anew. I don't want to just watch the footage I recorded months or even a year or two ago in order to script the video. It's made the process tedious, and I think it shows in the quality of the script. After I finish up the current Fighting monotype challenge for Ruby and the current Flying type challenge for Fire Red, I will probably redo the existing challenges for Ground, Flying, Psychic, Ice, and Fighting. I'd like to start scripting the series in a few weeks and start recording audio in the new year. However, since these videos would only be monthly, it means that I won't be making progress here until (probably) next summer. There's a distinct possibility that the scripts will catch up sooner than expected, but I don't want to bank on that, especially since I might have to rework scripts based on how video 1 turns out. Sadly this does mean I have to redo the Wattson fight with Flying-types and the Roxanne fight with Ralts using Struggle (because of the Poochyena before and after). I'm sorry that this came out of nowhere. I just wanted to go ahead and get this out of the way.

 

[StenirRPG]

Honest question: Why do you have to do Roxanne with Struggle when using Ralts?

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

There's a mandatory fight against a Poochyena before and after Roxanne. There's an exception in the rules that acknowledges a way around this because no one wants to grind until Ralts can use Struggle (especially since the Poochyena is about level 12 from memory). However, I wanted to do it by the books as much as I could. In future runs I might avoid cheating in casino "coins" for TMs for this same reason.

 

[MachoPony]

Pokemon Ultra Moon Ground Monotype Run Part 1

Spoiler:

Started game, picked Litten because Hau is stupid and picks the starter weak to yours and I wanted him to have Rowlet for more of a challenge.
After the Tapu Koko events I realized I don't get a pokemon for a while, so instead of using Litten till then. I decided to edit in Alolan Diglett which is the first viable encounter anyway.

At the festival
VS Hau
The one disadvantage of only having one pokemon is that a stupid Pichu can spam charm and tail whip to make you so weak you can't even hope to beat Rowlet, especially if static paralyzes you.
So yeah I lost this one but the story progressed anwyay.


Made it to the trainer's school and managed to Beat all the trainers with Diglett

VS Teacher Emily
This was nuts. So after grinding a little on Grimer for some HP EVs, I was able to take even the highest roll Water gun. with mud slap, an oran berry and potions I could lower Popplio's accuracy to -6
then throw Metal Claws fishing for an atk boost i never got till it fainted. If i got hit by a single water gun when it was in Torrent range i was done.

After exploring Hau'oli city i faced Lima

VS Captain Lima
I hate relying on accuracy. Even at -6 he kept hitting me over and over, i had to use like 4 potions. I managed to set up 6 work ups and finish yungoos before one shotting smeargle with a +6 metal claw.

After clearing the trainers out of route 2 and making it to Verdant Cavern i took out team skull and the wild pokemon before facing the challenge

VS Totem Raticate
So i used work up and it used scary face. next turn it outsped with bite but i healed with an oran berry, still outsped rattatta and hit a Magnitude 6 for solid damage on Raticate and a one shot on rattata.
The bite triggered diglett's tangling hair so it was slowed enough that diglett outsped with a Critical hit magnitude 7 for the KO.

After heading further and battling the ultra recon squad in the meadow i fought Hau again

VS Hau
Rowlet could have been a threat if it did more than astonish but it didn't so after a work up, metal claw was a 3 hit KO after his oran berry. Metal Claw one shot noibat and magnitude one shot pikachu.

Returning to Iki town
VS Hala
Diglett used mud slap, Machop used Revenge, one hit KO. what can i do here? There's no encounters until the 2nd island, this is not fair.

Round (I lost count)
So after going away, training atk and HP as much as possible, resetting countless times i finally got the perfect run. Mud slap made machop miss, hit twice more, used 2 x defend, then 1 x attack
magnitude finished machop. got a low roll on crabrawler but at +4 def diglett survived All out pummeling on 1 HP, healed up, 2nd magnitude finished it. Makuhita used fake out, then magnitude did half, sand attack lowered my accuracy and magnitude won the fight.

Surfed to Akala island, lost to Sina and her freaking Glaceon (Why won't the game let me go to route 4 yet?) but the story progressed anyway

FINALLY made it to route 4, FINALLY able to catch a 2nd team member...or i would have if it didn't summon a 2nd mudbray which took out Diglett with a bulldoze

Attempt 2 i caught Big Mac the Mudbray

Lost to Hau in painola town because surprise! A Diglett and a mudbray can't beat a dartrix with razor leaf. but the game continues anyway.

After training a little I headed north to the ranch and beyond facing...

VS Gladion
Finally a fight i have a fair chance at. with Stamina Mudbray was tanking everything he threw, stomped zubat, it was actually zorua, double kick finished it. stomped down the real Zubat and after a bulldoze and some double kicks, finished type Null

I couldn't even beat the water trial never mind the totem mon....but then i discovered something incredible. you can Island Scan for Onix on Tuesdays in Ten Carat Hill. and with the thief TM from Verdant cavern and Magnemite available outside the trainer's school.....

Welcome Snek the Steelix to once again save my run.

VS Totem Araquanid
I don't like using X-Items but i kinda had to.
So Steelix uses Torment to prevent Araquanid from hitting bubble twice after taking a bubble low and healing with a figy berry. it calls Dewpider and an x-special def makes it take Araquanid's bite and dewpider's bubble.
I healed, used another one and then was able to 2 shot dewpider with rock tomb. Healed again and started chipping with rock tomb. It called Masquerain which I one shot with rock tomb.
One more super potion and 2 more rock tombs took out Araquanid to win the fight.

With Lana's trial beaten I get the fishing rod and return to painola town to catch Grandma the Barboach


VS Ultra Recon Squad
So i figured Poipole couldn't hurt Steelix much and I was right, but after she healed it with a super potion and used charm, i said meh funk it swapped into Mudbray and one shot with bulldoze.

Through Wela Volcano park I trained Barboach

VS Totem Marowak
FINALLY a major battle where i'm not at a disadvantage. Well Barboach got kod by brick break because it was weakened from the previous marowak and hiker. But then Mudbray got poisoned by salazzle.
Marowak used detect so Bulldoze only KOd Salazzle, a hex and a bulldoze did a ton of damage before flame wheel finished off Mudbray. Diglett hit magnitude 7 hard and got KOd by flame wheel.
Finally Steelix took a flame wheel and rock tomb finished off Marowak.

After hau forcibly dragged me off to multiplayer BS i have no intention of ever doing. I cursed his name and healed my pokemon at the nearby pokemon center on route 8


I was worried about Mallow's trial but i didn't need to be. Steelix is a monster. It took out 2 fomantis and i managed to pick the right big root without triggering Sudowoodo so i went straight to the fight.

VS Totem Lurantis
So steelix set up a couple of curses and took solar blades well, but then kecleon used screech, twice, Steelix took it out but i had to swap to Mudbray who immediately fainted. Kecelon also set Sun so Lurantis didn't need to charge Solar Blade
I sent out Diglett to heal Steelix, then after 3 more curses Steelix one shot Lurantis with a gyro ball.


After meeting Olivia i headed towards the Ruins of Life

VS Plumeria
Oh dear I forgot this was here.
So Golbat confused Dugtrio which hit metal claw twice before tangling hair slowed Golbat, so she swapped to Salandit which lived Metal Claw and outsped with Flame burst
Mudbray took a flame burst and annihilated it with High Horsepower before Steelix finished off Golbat with gyro ball.

So then I was ready for Olivia....I thought.
VS Olivia
Good lord even with the type advantage this was rough. Anorith hit bug bite on Barboach who chunked it with water pulse before falling. it then outsped and bug bited Dugtrio and stole the Mago berry i had on it.
Thankfully Metal Claw still one shot. Metal claw did a lot of damage to lileep but giga drain healed it up, then again. Mudbray almost got one shot by giga drain but knocked it relatively low.
Steelix had to come in after it fell and curse followed by 2 gyro balls (taking a giga drain, ancientpower and a brine in the process) took it out. after a bite, Gyro ball one shot Lycanroc for the win.

Current Team

Spoiler:

Grandma(Barboach)
LV25
Mud Slap
Magnitude
Rest
Water Pulse

Fabulous(Dugtrio)
LV26
Mud Slap
Sucker Punch
Magnitude
Metal Claw

Big Mac(Mudbray)
LV26
High Horsepower
Stomp
Mud Slap
Double Kick

Snek(Steelix)
LV28
Rock Tomb
Curse
Gyro Ball
Torment

Side note: why does Steelix not have a gen 7 sprite on pokemon DB? It's available in game through Island Scanning onix and evolving it. which is how i got it.

 

[MachoPony]

Pokemon Ultra Moon Ground Monotype Finale.

Spoiler:

After going back to Heahea and to the grand resort i was finally able to pick up a new team member. Sandy the Sandygast. I met with Faba and sailed to the Aether Paradise where i faced.

VS ??? (Nihilego)
Rock/Poison vs 5 ground types, 2 of which are steel. Lmao.
It crit barboach with a venoshock before taking a solid magnitude to i swapped to Dugtrio who was immune to venoshock then hit a more powerful Magnitude to finish it.

On Ula Ula island
VS Hau
Datrix brought Steelix low before one final rock tomb finished it. Dugtrio hit a massive magnitude 10 on Vaporeon before fainting then vaporeon outsped and one shot the rest of my slow ass team.
At least i don't have to beat Hau every time...or seemingly ever.

After getting destroyed by a single Octillery on Route 10 i decided i need to train. So i went back to malie garden to do just that. Coming out with Mudsdale and Whiscash

Heading up to the Observatory i did Sophocles trial and faced

VS Totem Togedemaru
This was annoying more than difficult. Even with the defence boost Whiscash's magnitude was hurting hard...except it dodged every other turn with bounce and called an ally skarmory with tailwind and torment.
So eventually Whiscash fell. Then Dugtrio came in....and it started stalling with spiky shield ultimately making Dugtrio faint too. Mudsdale finished it off and after a few turns did the same to Skarmory.


After returning to Malie Garden
VS Guzma
This game is not kind to Ground types is it?
So Steelix set up some curses, and after a hyper potion or two knocked Golisopod low with Rock tomb. Masquerain came in after emergency exit and Finished steelix. Mudsdale took a hit and rock tombed Masquerain almost one shotting it.
Masquerain finished Mudsdale letting Dugtrio finish it with metal claw. Whiscash finished off Golisopod with a couple of rock tomb, taking a sucker punch in the process.


Following on to Aether house i met Acerola again and started her Trial

VS Totem Mimikyu
Finally an easy trial. Steelix took a shadow claw and used curse, after another plus a feint attack from banette, payback one shot banette. another and payback broke mimikyu's disguise. one final shadow claw and gyro ball one shot Mimikyu.

Back at Aether house

VS Plumeria
Mudsdale took some hits from Golbat and 3 shot with Rock Tomb while Whiscash took a hard Dragon Pulse from Salazzle and one shot with her new Earthquake.

Following the road to Po town i stopped by the ruins to get the Psyshock TM before making it to Po Town. Through the grunts i made it to the mansion to face.

VS Guzma
This time with forewarning i led Whiscash who took a first impression, hit rock tomb then outsped for a 2nd, letting dugtrio knock golisopod low enough to force it out.
Pinsir one shot Dugtrio but steelix set up a couple of curse and 2 shot with Rock tomb, after healing, golisopod missed razor shell, took a 2nd and finished with rock slide before taking bug buzz from Masquerain and finishing it with rock slide.

At Aether house i did not expect another round with Gladion but here we are.

VS Gladion
Whiscash took an acrobatics, hit rock tomb, then again, then ousped with aqua tail but didn't quite KO leaving golbat to finish it. Dugtrio finished Golbat.
Type Null outsped and hit a hard snarl on dugtrio...oh right it's Zoroark, which was revealed after a heavy dig. it finished dugtrio and Mudsdale took a hyper voice to finish with high horsepower.
the real Type Null missed Crush Claw and high horsepower hit it, another crush claw hit and lowered Mudsdale's def but it was nullified by Stamina so after a 2nd high horsepower, another crush claw hit and a final high horsepower finished the fight.

At the Ferry Terminal in Malie City

VS Nanu
Why do boss battles jump like 5 levels compared to trainers around? sigh.
After a hard fight Sableye took out Whiscash and Mudsdale blowing his hyper potion, Dugtrio finished it. Dugtrio and Steelix took down Krokorok before a black hole eclipse decimated Steelix.
Revived and healed up Mudsdale vs Persian and after a back and forth, a few hyper potions and one final critical hit high horsepower, mudsdale won.

At Aether paradise i fought Faba and easily beat his single hypno with Mudsdale, 2 shot with payback

VS Faba + Aether Employee
Ledian set Light Screen as Faba used an X-defend on claydol. between Raichu and Whiscash we KOd ledian, the following turn Raichu went down to an earth power but the other side's Pupitar went down to Aqua tail leaving it 2v1
Grass Knot hit Whiscash hard but aqua tail and Spirit shackle took it low then another spirit shackle from Hau's decidueye ended Claydol.
After a hard psychic on whiscash Decidueye one shot Hypno.
Aqua Jet from Bruxish hit Mudsdale hard as i swapped it in but another Spirit shackle from decidueye one shot it.

After the battle Sandygast evolved into Palossand

VS Guzma
why is this guy the hardest fight for me?
so Steelix got a curse off but then barely took a razor shell before rock sliding and fainting. Whiscash got Golisopod to swap out into Vikavolt. After dugtrio weakened vikavolt I used an X-SpD on Mudsdale and stamina raised its def while it took out Vikavolt
with Stamina and some potions it outlasted Golispood, 2 shot Masquerain with rock tomb and did a good chunk to Pinsir before falling leaving Palossand to finish it with Shadow Ball after a throat chop.

VS Soleira
So this was a lot easier. she used an X-SpD giving Steelix time to curse, she then used nasty plot on poipole as Steelix used dig, a missed fell stinger followed by a +1 dig one shot ended it.

VS Lusamine
Oh damn this was hard. So first Steelix takes a hit, curses, takes another and almost one shots Clefable...except she switches to milotic after that so the 2nd gyro ball chunks it. it took down Whiscash and after a couple of lucky misses Dugtrio finished it with dig.
then comes Lilligant and game over, i healed steelix but petal dance finished dugtrio after an iron head, steelix hit gyro ball but was knocked to sturdy then KOd after i healed it....except it used stun spore on mudsdale instead of petal dance so rock tomb finished it.
Then with Stamina, mudsdale took down Lopunny with 2 high horsepower, chunked a bit of bewear before Palossand took a zen headbutt, psychiced it, then dual chop before a 2nd psychic won the fight...ok she threw that one.

At this point I realize i'm an idiot and could have gone to the dessert after clearing the ghost trial.


So i went back for Cleaner the Krokorok and Buzzy the Trapinch (yes i know i could have got Gabite but it was more trouble than it was worth and besides I don't want to use too many ridiculous pokemon)

Unfortunately this does mean goodbye for now to Grandma the Whiscash

After some training Trapinch evolved into Vibrava and Krokorok into Krookodile

I saw Hapu become Kahuna, got the Moon flute and beat up a bunch of team skull grunts who still have Stage 1 pokemon in the mid 40s. why?

Since Buzzy was so close, I levelled him one more time to evolve into Flygon my final team member.

In vast Poni canyon...
VS Soleira
So uh, Krookodile didn't one shot with dig, but took a crit fell stinger, and somehow got hit with toxic while underground but KOd with a 2nd dig anyway.

At the end of the canyon
VS Totem Komoo-o
Ok, i toxiced it with Palossand then stalled with palossand and mudsdale till it fainted before finishing off the allied Noivern with Steelix. I tried everything else.

VS Ultra Necrozma
I hate this. Steelix took a photon geyser, toxic and then it one shot all my team down to flygon before Poison finished it.

After the cutscenes i returned to Mina's home to face her
VS Captain Mina
Steelix set up a couple of curses then one shot Mawile, Granbull and Ribombee easily.

After being sick of underperforming. I swapped Dugtrio for a Baltoy i caught in Haina Desert, I trained it up and evolved it to Claydol

For Mina's trial i had to go beat the other captains so here we go, quickfire battle time.

VS Lima
Steelix set up curses and did a chunk with dig taking some hits in the process before gyro ball finished Gumshoos. Didn't expect flamethrower on smeargle so it finished steelix before Flygon one shot with earthquake
an earthquake followed by a wood hammer from komala hurt then one last earthquake won the battle.

VS Lana
I was expecting to fight Mallow here but ok. Flygon was outsped by Lanturn (stupid minus speed nature) and hydro pump hit hard, earthquake missed the KO so a 2nd finished it. Claydol took a hit and finished with psychic (in hindsight Krookodile would have probably outsped)
Palossand hit shadow ball as Cloyster set up spikes, a 2nd layer and Palossand hit a higher damage roll to finish Cloyster. Araquanid annihlated Palossand with Hydro Vortex before Steelix got a toxic off, revived Flygon to hit a hard dragon claw and then Krookodile finished it with Crunch.

VS Kiawe
Arcanine hit flare blitz and burned flygon so after intimidate earthquake did very little. Healed up and somehow outsped to take it out with earthquake after a couple more flare blitz.
Talonflame's brave bird hurt Mudsdale but it survived and rock tomb KOd Talonflame, a shadow bone did a chunk from Marowak before high horsepower one shot it.
Hiker David wanted a fight immediately after but Flygon outsped and one shot his Magmar with Earthquake.

VS Nanu
Krookodile outsped and hit sableye for about half, took a dark pulse and then finished it. Then came Persian which was a 2 shot from dig....he tried to use his Z-move while I was underground....no i didn't outspeed him and dodge it, persian was faster. I swear this AI sometimes...
Anyway a +2 dig one shot Absol after a night slash.


VS Totem Ribombee
With psych up Steelix was able to copy Ribombee's totem boost plus it went for Quiver Dance turn 1 leaving Steelix at +3 Spa, SpD and Speed and +2 everything else. Gyro ball 2 shot Ribombee after quiver dance and a dazzling gleam.
Pelipper spent a while stockipiling before 2 shotting Steelix with scald. Flygon couldn't do much but chipped a little off, palossand poisoned it and finally it spat up all its boosts on Claydol who hit a heavy psychic and poison finished the fight.


VS Hapu
Palossand hit Shadow Ball on Golurk as it used stealth rock, a shadow punch hurt but a 2nd shadow ball finished it. Mudsdale hit Gastrodon hard, dodged a muddy water but then she switched to flygon. I swapped to Claydol dodging the earthquake before going back and forth dragonbreath vs dazzling gleam.
Claydol won and she brought back Gastrodon, Flygon earthquaked it low, dodged a muddy water she used a hyper potion to heal which barely took it above half so 2 more earthquakes knocked it out.
Last was Mudsdale. Palossand baited the Z-move which Flygon was immune to, 2 earthquakes and 2 paybacks knocked out Flygon leaving Palossand to hit 2 shadow balls taking an earthquake in the process to win the fight.

After the events i headed to Mt Lanikala
VS Gladion
So first Palossand took an acrobatics, hit psychic then a 2nd round finished off Crobat. I knew lucario was actually Zoroark but i didn't have much i could do so i used mudsdale to take a grass knot and hammer it hard, it fainted and Krookodile took a hyper voice before finishing Zoroark.
Silvally outsped with x-scissor for the KO leaving Steelix to set up some curses and 2 shot with dig. Lucario finished Steelix with aura sphere so Claydol took a metal claw, used earth power then did it again for the KO and the win.

Elite 4 Time
VS Molayne
So Flygon used Dragon Dance as Klefki set up reflect. I used earthquake, took a flash cannon, used another D-dance to stall a turn and KOd with Earthquake. Metagross took an Earthquake and KOd Flygon then reflect wore off so Mudsdale could finish it with high horsepower.
After an earthquake high horsepower one shot dugtrio, then did a big chunk to bisharp, then again as he healed. I switched to Krookodile to finish with crunch. Crunch followed by Earthquake finished Magnezone.

VS Olivia
Steelix set up curses in front of Armaldo spamming X-scissor and one shot with gyro ball. probopass used sandstorm, ate a rock slide then used power gem and Dig finished it. dig cleanly one shot lycanroc, then 2 shot gigalith before gyro ball one shot cradily.

VS Acerola
Banette used Screech, Krookodile one shot with Crunch. Froslass missed blizzard, crunch. dhelmise, crunch, palossand, crunch, drifblim, crunch. GG.

VS Kahili
Steelix set Curses in front of Braviary and then one shot with rock slide, took a flying press from hawlucha and one shot with gyro ball, 2 shot Mandibuzz with rock slide and one shot Toucannon. THEN she sends out Oricorio which has a fire type revelation dance so idk why she didn't do that earlier.
Anyway Flygon breaks through confusion and rock slides to finish it.


VS Hau

So Palossand takes a psychic, earth powers raichu and he heals, then again before he swaps to decidueye which eats a shadow ball on the switch. Steelix took a bloom doom, cursed up and finished with gyro ball.
Palossand took another psychic and shadow balled Raichu for the win. Vaporeon annhilated it with Hydro Pump. it hit flygon who dragon danced, then earthquake did over half, it took out half my team before running out of hydro pumps.
I revived Palossand and he hard switched to Crabominable which ate an earth power crit and one shot palossand. Krookodile finished it. Steelix cursed up in front of Tauros and gyro ball one shot followed by Krookodile hitting Stone Edge then Dragon Claw to finish Noivern.
Vaporeon just spammed charm and baby doll eyes occassionally going for quick attack but the fight was over and after many earthquakes, crunches and 2 freaking full restores from Hau, Krookodile won the battle.

The credits rolled and I continued to the postgame.

Palossand took out the Stakataka with Earth Power easily. In the festival plaza the facility spat me out a Terrakion which annihilated the rocket grunt.

At the Rainbow Rocket HQ
VS Faba + Aether Employee
after swapping Flygon for Steelix, curse and 2 gyro balls took out Granbull. Mudsdale finished Shiinotic with heavy slam and Krookodile eventually took out Scrafty and Clefairy with Earthquake
Unfortunately that's all Lillie had so it was just me vs Faba now. Flygon set up a couple of dragon dances and took out a weakened Claydol before one shotting Hypno and Bruxish with an earthquake each.

So first I headed left and took out the grunts before facing Archie

VS Archie
Mudsdale took some ice fangs with stamina boosting it's def and a few high horsepower took out Mightyena, sharpedo's liquidation hurt but it survived and a crit Superpower one shot Sharpedo.
Muk finished it with Ice punch leaving Steelix to use curse twice then dig for the KO. Flygon set up dragon dances against Crobat, i healed once and then rock slide one shot it. +6 earthquake one shot Kyogre.

VS Maxie
After swapping Krookodile for Steelix, a couple of curses and gyro balls took out Mightyena. Flygon set up dragon dances and one shot Camerupt and Crobat before chunking Weezing and fainting. Claydol took it out.
Claydol took a solarbeam, hit earth power and fainted to Groudon. same with Mudsdale and high horsepower. palossand took a hit too and earth powered him. Groudon then charged solarbeam but with no sun it didn't fire immediately so another earth power from palossand ended it.

VS Lysandre
So a switch to Palossand made Mienshao miss High Jump Kick and hurt itself, it missed dual chop as Psychic took it out. Against Honchkrow Flygon set up dragon dances, i healed and a couple more let it one shot Honchkrow with rock slide, mega gyarados and pyroar with earthquake.
Yveltal took a rock slide and flinched, Lysandre healed him so 2 dragon claws finished Yveltal.

VS Cyrus
Flygon got up 2 dragon dances then one shot Houndoom with earthquake, Weavile, Honchkrow and Crobat with Rock Slide and Palkia with Devestating Drake

VS Ghetsis
So after Cofagrigus annoyed Krookodile with power split, he hard swapped to Bisharp after 2 crunches...ok. So i swapped to Steelix, curse, dig....he swapped to hydreigon...wat.
So after losing Steelix, Claydol took a dark pulse and hit dazzling gleam, then mudsdale finished with heavy slam after a surf. I healed mudsdale and his bouffalant couldn't KO because of stamina boosts. So it fell.
Cofagrigus came back and a high roll High Horsepower finished it, a high horsepower one shot Bisharp and then reshiram fell to Flygon's devastating drake.

and finally
VS Giovanni
So this was the easiest fight of them all. why? Dugtrio couldn't touch Flygon. Sandstorm, dragon dance, another one, stealth rock, another one, sucker punch. at +6 i used one extra dance to waste his last sucker punch PP and gg.
He swapped to rhyperior which fell to earthquake, so did nidoking, nidoqueen, dugtrio and mega mewtwo y.

Final Team:

Spoiler:

Buzzy(Flygon) LV68
Earthquake
Dragon Claw
Rock Slide
Dragon Dance

Snek(Steelix) LV67
Curse
Gyro Ball
Rock Slide
Dig

Big Mac(Mudsdale) LV67
High Horsepower
Rock Slide
Superpower
Heavy Slam

Sandy(Palossand) LV67
Shadow Ball
Psychic
Shore Up
Earth Power

Speen(Claydol) LV65
Earth Power
Psychic
Dazzling Gleam
Explosion

Cleaner(Krookodile) LV67
Crunch
Earthquake
Stone Edge
Outrage

Thoughts on the run: pain
please for your own sanity if you ever do this run remember these things that i didn't. 1. you can get marshtomp through island scan 2. you have access to the desert after you beat the ghost trial 3. Just fill your team with krookodile, garchomp, swampert, flygon and steelix. Alola's ground types are terrible.

Really though most of it was a pain, I was lucky some fights were optional to win. But the earlygame beating Hala with just a diglett was a pain in the rear. Even towards the end of the game i had very little to answer fire, water or grass types.

MVP: Steelix
This run would not have been possible without Steelix. Physical bulk, decent atk, Curse. They all added up. It was the only reason i beat the water trial and it swept Kahili and Olivia both in the Elite 4.

LVP: All the Alola Ground types.
Dugtrio is too slow to outspeed stuff but still quite frail and not strong enough to one shot nearly anything.
Palossand is slow as heck and never one shots anything, it's also surprisingly frail
Mudsdale did some work occassionally with Stamina, respectable physical bulk and a powerful STAB in high horsepower before anyone else had it but it was still slow as molasses and got shredded on the special side.

 

[StenirRPG]

Ultimate Ghost Run
Black / Only Entry / The Dirt Team

In this post (i.e., TL;DR)

Spoiler:

-- Team Collection
-- Each Gym
-- Elite Four
-- Champion

The full read:

Spoiler:

-- Team Collection
--- Start with Yamask
--- Fail miserably at the first gym for hours
--- Discuss with the community
--- Switch to starting with Litwick
--- pick up Yamask between Gym 3 and 4
--- pick up Frillish right after Gym 6
--- pick up Golett after Gym 7
--- after the final gym, pick up Dusk Stone on Route 10
--- profit?

-- Gym 1
As stated at the end of the previous run, I tried to start this with Yamask, but it doesn't learn any non-Ghost move that deals damage until Will-O-Wisp, and that's early 20s. I was at level 15 after 6 1/2 hours, barely getting through all the battles. Not fun when the only thing you can truly fight are low level Purrloin. Imagine how long it would take, especially when they aren't a 100% appearance rate.

So, after some talking, restarted with a Litwick. How to win with a Litwick? Minimize. That's the bread and butter of this run. When I can, I set up using it on mons that don't have Bite (or later, Crunch), which lessens the chance that I don't get through. The slight pain point here is that Lillipup is first, which does have Bite. I went ahead and used Minimize and some Potions. Ember to knock out Lillipup, Night Shade to take down Panpour.

-- Gym 2
This is sort of an extension of the first Gym. Flame Burst (a nice upgrade from Ember) everything - any trainers that will have Bite/Crunch, use Minimize if possible, then back to Flame Burst. I went back and got a heal up before taking on the leader, and did the same thing as I did with the first badge battle. Minimize when Herdier is out, because it has Bite. I'd rather do it now as opposed to when Watchog comes out with Crunch. I don't worry about Intimidate due to Litwick being a Specialist.

-- Gym 3
I'll keep this one simple - Flame Burst everything.

I do pick up the Exp Share on the way through Castelia, because I need it for when I pick up Yamask heading up Route 4 (in the Relic Castle).

-- Gym 4
I kinda just bully my way through the fourth gym with Flame Burst. I do have Hex, so there are a few times where I started experimenting with the Will-O-Wisp/Hex combo. Pretty nice when Will-O-Wisp decides to hit.

-- Gym 5
On the way across the bridge, I pick up a Ducklett. Will need that for Fly and Surf later.

I used Cofagrigus more here than Litwick (who takes forever to evolve), though I don't know which is the bigger reason (one being evolved or the other being a Fire type...maybe both?). Will-O-Wisp/Hex gets me through nicely. It's a very nice combo.

-- Gym 6
I ensure that I get Litwick to evolve to a Lampent before completing the Celestial Tower. It's a good place to level up for Ghost types. Cofagrigus gets Shadow Ball, which is a nice upgrade. Lampent gets Inferno to replace Smog. I use these to blow through the sixth gym. Nothing really to report here - Inferno/Flame Burst when a normal type, and when not, Shadow Ball.

After this, I get Surf from Adler, give that and Fly to Ducklett, head back to Castelia, head just into Route 4, and pick up a Frillish. Enjoy the Exp Share, new team member.

-- Gym 7
As an Ice Gym, Flame Burst is key here. Hilariously, the Cryogonal survived barely, got burned, and KO'd to the burn damage, so that was a hilarious round. I know that thing's bulky, but...Anyways, I got a lot of good levels on Frillish (went from L5 to L33 just going through the mountain and gym).

Heading north into Dragonspiral Tower, I pick up Golett, and my team has been collected, but isn't complete. Frillish still needs to evolve at 40, Golett has to wait until 43 (jeesh), and I will need the Dusk Stone from Route 10 to get to Chandelure. I get some nice exp doing Relic Castle portion of the Team Storyline.

-- Gym 8
I just had to push through this gym - it's one of those "I don't really have anything I want to go out of my way for". Frillish is now a Jellicent, and does have Brine, so a mix of Water Pulse and Brine can get me through a couple of the trainers. There are a few Dragon/Dark in there, which isn't nice for my Ghosts, but I can take down the Dragons with a couple 2HKO or 3HKO. Minimize still being nice, of course.

On Route 10, I get the Dusk Stone and evolve Lampent into Chandelure, and my team, at this point, is now complete.

-- Elite Four
Ghost in the Unova Elite Four is a weird one. I'm somewhat resistant to Marshal's Fighting, I'm strong and weak to Shauntal's Ghost, I'm strong (sorta) to Caitlin's Physic, and I'm weak to Grimsley's Dark. The order I decide to take them on is: Caitlin -> Marshal -> Shauntal -> Grimsley.

Caitlin can be a little bit of a pain if the damage rolls don't exactly go my way. All but her Reuniclus have Shadow Ball, which can easily tear through my team. My team is, generally, faster, at least the ones I start with, so it's possible for me to hit real hard, putting the opposing mon into Full Restore range, use a different move to take the health down a bit, then sweep with Shadow Ball.

Marshal is Minimize to lessen change of Stone Edge, then Shadow Ball. If I get into a patten like with Caitlin where I know the next turn is a Full Restore, it becomes Flame Burst -> Shadow Ball.

Shauntal is just a matter of spam Ghost moves to win. The goal here is to keep Cofagrigus out to get through the opposing Cofagrigus and Jellicent, aiming for my own Jellicent to be out when Golurk appears. That way, I can overlap my own Golurk against Chandelure (assuming, of course, Jellicent isn't still out).

Grimsley...well, I just cheese this with Minimize + Flame Burst. I felt bad, but that's what they get for giving me Minimize.

The Battle with N...Zekrom goes down to a couple Magnitudes. Vanilluxe comes up next, so I swap to Chandelure for Flame Burst. Carracosta is next, so I swap over to Jellicent to use my new Hydro Pump once to get down to low health, and then swap to Brine (I'd rather the higher accuracy for obvious reasons). Archeops is next, which also goes down to Hydro Pump. The actual Klinklang comes out, which goes down to the new Earthquake, and then Zoroark is just spam whatever I want, the win is mine at this point.

The Final Battle with Ghetsis...Cofagrigus goes down to my own Cofagrigus. Eelektross is next, which goes down to Will-O-Wisp/Hex (surprised that still works this late in the game). Seismitoad is next, which does take out my Cofagrigus, so I use Jellicent to deal some damage to it (thanks for the Rain Dance by the way). Bouffalant is next, and that thing is bulky. It eventually takes down everything but my Chandelure. I use the Max Revives Bianca gives me to get my whole team back up, sacrificing Chandelure in the process, then finish off Bouffalant with Brine. Bisharp comes out and I swap to Golurk for an EQ, then with Hydreigon being last, it's just some last minute move spam to secure the victory.

-- Ending Thoughts
All in all, a fun run. Ghost felt very bulky in this generation. Part of me wonders what the time would have been if I had stayed going with Yamask, but let's just ignore that and head off to Kalos, okay?

Team Stats: (Yes, their names spell out D I R T...hence the Dirt Team because they are ghosts and are taking dirt naps...okay, I need to come up with better names)

Spoiler:

Unova by Type:

Spoiler:

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

Pokémon Ruby Fighting Monotype Update: I did all the grinding I need to do (aside from using 14 Rare Candies which will mostly go to my LV 38 Heracross), so I hope to beat the Elite Four and Champion tomorrow. I don't think I have the mental energy to do it tonight, but I'll be happy to have this run finally done after all the delays.

As for the FRLG Flying Monotype, I genuinely don't know if I'll continue that. I'm not feeling it right now. With the Fighting run, I was already very close to finishing it anyway, so I figured I might as well go through Victory Road again and grind it out, but the Flying monotype run of FRLG just feels different since I'm only up to Misty (maybe not even done with Cerulean City). I don't want this run removed from the "Challengers" list just yet cuz nothing's for sure, but I'm not feeling it. I'd rather do a "No Evolution Challenge" for Sapphire in the appropriate thread soon.

 

[StenirRPG]

Very close to Megahorn! Looking forward to hearing about taking down the E4! I know the feeling about wanting to switch things up. Part of the reason I started the STABless thread. Burnout can be real the further we go!

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

Spoiler: Party Members: Nickname, Species, Level, Moves, Held Item, Ability, and Nature.

Ernie/Blaziken Lv 53: Return, Flamethrower, Aerial Ace, Brick Break. Charcoal. Blaze ability. Gentle nature.

Rolf/Breloom Lv 52: Sky Uppercut, Hidden Power Ice 68 with 18 PP, Sludge Bomb with 12 PP, Giga Drain. Miracle Seed. Effect Spore. Gentle nature.

Otis/Hariyama Lv 51: Hidden Power Fighting 70, Secret Power, Surf, Belly Drum. Quick Claw. Thick Fat. Docile nature.

Carl ATHF/Machamp Lv 51: Return, Revenge, Earthquake, Bulk Up. Amulet Coin. Guts. Adamant nature.

BlingBling/Medicham Lv 52: Psychic 12 PP, Thunder Punch 18 PP, Ice Punch 24 PP, Calm Mind. Magnet (1st three League members) / Nevermeltice (Drake). Pure Power. Brave Nature.

HeartVirus/Heracross Lv 50: Brick Break, Take Down, Toxic, Secret Power. King's Rock. Guts. Bashful nature.

I don't feel like going play-by-play for all Elite Four members, but I will give a summary of each one before I discuss the Champion battle. In case it's not clear, I used "Shift" mode. I think at one point I suggested using "Set" mode, but I wasn't feeling it this month.

Elite Four Sydney's team went down like it was made out of cardboard. I don't even remember which Pokemon I used other than the fact that I led with my Lv 53 Blaziken "Ernie" the Giant Chicken.

Elite Four Phoebe was only a little annoying due to the ability "Pressure" which makes you use 2 PP instead of 1 PP for each move. "Carl ATHF" the Machamp's Earthquake was very useful here, so he ended up the MVP for this battle.

Elite Four Glacia starts with Glalie, so I sent out "BlingBling" the Medicham. I set up about 3 Calm Minds before using Psychic on both her Glalie, and Thunder Punch on both her Sealeo and Walrein. I swept her!

Elite Four Drake gets his own "Spoiler Tag for long posts" section.

Spoiler: Elite Four Drake

Setup: I forgot to give "BlingBling" the Medicham the Nevermeltice to replace the Magnet for this fight. That would've been very useful.

Shelgon wasn't too much of an issue for "Otis" the Hariyama. I paralyzed the foe with Secret Power, and it could really only use Rock Tomb against me.

I thankfully predicted that he'd send out the Flygon with Sandstorm first, so I sent out "Rolf" the Breloom. Flygon used Sandstorm, and Rolf the Breloom used Hidden Power Ice. Flygon used Dragonbreath, which didn't do much, and Rolf finished the Flygon off with another Hidden Power Ice.

The next Flygon had flamethrower, so I switched into BlingBling the Medicham. The sandstorm dealt chip damage to Medicham (as well as Breloom earlier, but that wasn't a big deal). I selected Calm Mind. The opposing Flygon used Sand Attack, and Medicham used Calm Mind. The opposing Flygon used Flamethrower, and Medicham used "Ice Punch" (again, without the Nevermeltice). Oh, this poor Flygon! It went down with one punch.

"Elite Four Drake is about to send out Salamence"

CJ from Grand Theft Auto: "Ah, @#%* ! Here we go again!"

Salamence's Intimidate lowered Medicham's attack, not that Medicham even had any physical attacking moves. The sandstorm was still in effect at the start of this battle, so both our Pokemon took chip damage. No big deal. I'll use Ice Punch. "Salamence flew up high." Ah, @#$% ! Let's hope I can tank this-- Oh... Oh, no. It begins. Allright, Breloom use Hidden Powe-- "Salamence used Flamethrower and one-shoted Breloom." Blaziken, I command you to hit him with Return! "Ernie used Return." Okay, we're almost halfway there (thanks to the one or two turns of Sandstorm damage earlier.) "Salamence used Fly" Why me? Okay, Blaziken is at full health, so I'll use one of my two Max Revives on "BlingBling" the Medicham. "Salamence one-shoted Ernie with Fly." Dude!

Salamence flew up high. Medicham used Calm Mind. Salamence's attack missed. [Squidward laughing his butt off with a fork in his mouth] Medicham used Calm Mind. Salamence flew up high. [Squidward choking on the fork from earlier] "Salamance used Fly and one-shoted Medicham."

Okay, "HeartVirus" the Heracross let's use Toxic on... "Salamence flew up high." I'm getting swept, aren't I?

Otis the Hariyama, use Belly Drum. "Salamence flew up high. Hariyama use its own HP to maximize attack." I probably don't need to heal. Hariyama's bulky. "Hariyama's Hidden Power missed, and Salamence knocked out Hariyama." (Okay, so in hindsight, this doesn't really matter, but the Quick Claw kicked in here, but it was kind of shocking in the moment.)

All right, Carl, let me think about which Pokemon to use this Max Revive on. "Breloom was revived. Salamence used Dragon Claw?" Oh. [Selects Revenge] "Salamence flew up high." Oh... [Selects Revenge again] "Carl ATHF fainted." Okay, Breloom, he's gotta be low on Fly PP, so use Hidden Power. "Salamence used Fly first." Oh...

Medicham, please tank this and use Ice Punch. "Salamance uses Dragon Claw and knocks Medicham down to 7 HP." Okay, great! Oh, wait, he's gonna heal, and ... "Salamence fainted." Oh! Oh, thank goodness! Oh, my gosh!

"Eltie Four Drake sent out Altaria." Another Flying-type... If there's ever a time for a Max Potion, it's now. [Heals] "Altaria used Take Down. Altaria used Dragon Dance. Negligible recoil damage was dealt to Altaria. Medicham used Ice Punch." All right here we-- "Altaria is on low health." He's gonna heal... Okay, all right, let me use a revive on Blaziken to be safe. [Full Restore on Altaria] Medicham, use Calm Mind. "Altaria used Dragon Dance. Medicham used Calm Mind. Altaria used Take Down. Medicham used Ice Punch. Altaria fainted."

Down for the count! ["BlingBling is now Level 54"] Dude, just give me the victory dialogue!

I did it! I won! Whew, that was hard!

Then there was Steven. (I was super nervous about this after Drake, especially since Steven has that Metagross, and a recent post about Steven's Metagross being one of the hardest things to taken down in a Champion fight didn't help my confidence.)

Spoiler: Champion Steven Battle!

Blaziken one-shot Skarmory with Flamethrower before it could use Toxic. Blaziken one-shot Aggron with Brick Break. Blaziken grew to Level 54 (tied for the highest level with Medicham now). Blaziken ... actually one-shot Steven's Metagross? What the Hell?

I switched into Medicham for Armaldo. I used Calm Mind, and Armaldo used Aerial Ace. This again...? Okay, it only dealt half. Oh, dear. Medicham, use Psychic. "Armaldo is still just over half health." Oh, no... "Armaldo used Aerial Ace." Medicham goes down!

Otis [Hariyama], use Hidden Power fighting and please finish this. "Armaldo survives" Oh, now he's gonna heal. "Armaldo used Aerial Ace and knocked Hariyama to 130/230 HP." Okay, Belly Drum, let's go!

"Otis used Belly Drum. Otis cut its HP to maximize it's attack. Otis used Hidden Power. Armaldo fainted." All right. Let's keep the momentum going with Secret Power against Claydol. "Claydol used Earthquake." Oh. No sweat. I'll just use "Rolf" the Breloom's HIdden Power Ice. "The health bar went down to 4/5." Hoo boy... "Claydol used Light Screen." Okay, so much for that strategy. ... Oh, yeah, I forgot my Breloom doesn't have Brick Break. Uhhhhh... "Breloom used Sludge Bomb. It's not very effective." Oh, right, Psychic-type. "Claydol's HP is now about 2/3. Claydol used Reflect." That's enough! Ernie, go, and ... "Claydol used Earthquake." ... Damn! "28/176 HP remaining. Ernie used Brick Break! The wall shattered. Claydol has about 2/5 helath left. Claydol used Earthquake."

"Go for it, HeartVirus!"

All right, Heracorss, use uhhh. Brick Break I guess. (Did I just use another Not Very Effective move?)" HeartVirus after Earthquake: 124/157 HP. Claydol after Brick Break: in the red. Steven used a Full Restore." Ughhhhh! "HeartVirus used Toxic. [SICK animation plays] Claydol was badly poisoned." Finally, I successfully used Toxic against something today! "Claydol lost 1/16 of its max HP to poison." All right, let's revive Ernie. "Foe Claydol used Earthquake, knocking Heracross down to 89/157 HP. Claydol lost 1/8 of its HP." Full restore on Ernie. "Foe Claydol used Earthquake. Critical hit! 28/157 HP left. Claydol lost 3/16 of its max HP. Claydol has 5/8 of its HP remaining." Let's use Take Down. "Claydol used Earthquake." Ugh! "Do it! Ernie! Claydol lost 1/4 of its max HP to poison. 3/8 of its HP remains. Erinie used Return. Claydol barely survives." Ugh! "Claydol used Earthquake, bumping Ernie to 29/176 HP." Wait! "Claydol fainted due to poisoning!" Yes! Okay, five down, one to go!

"Champion Steven Stone sent out Cradily." Uhhh, are none of my moves super effective? [Thinks it over] "Full Restore restored Ernie's HP. Cardily used Sluge Bomb. Ernie's HP: 78/176. Critical hit! Ernie was poisoned." Uhhhhh... "Full Restore healed Ernie." Let's try this again! "Cradily use Ancient Power." Please no omni-boost. "..." Oh, thank goodness. "Ernie used Brick Break. Cradily is in the yellow about 1/3 or 2/5." Yes! "Foe Cradily used Confuse Ray" No, no, no, no, no! "Full Restore was used on Ernie. Cradily used Ancient Power again." No omni-boost again. Good. Ernie's HP: 80/176. "Ernie used Brick Break. Cradily fainted."

Yes, I did it! I win! Kaio is the Pokemon Champion! Hello, Rival May. How are you?

Professor Birch: "You have seen like 150 Pokemon, but you only have 39 owned. I think you should..."

Yeah, ahuh, sorry, can't hear you with all this victory!"

Steven: "This is the Hall of Fame where we register the Champion's Pokém--"

Out of the way! [Heals team, looks at my Hall of Famers, and celebrates!]

All I do is win, win, win, no matter what!"

[Credits roll]

Whew! Some parts were easy, but some parts were super tough! I think the Claydol might actually be Steven's most powerful Pokémon in hindsight. ... Like, wow!

MVP would be Blaziken, but Machamp was suprisingly useful too.

LVP would be Heracross, but I feel like that's obvious, so... Hariyama is kind of subpar until it learns Belly Drum, ngl. Also, I realized drafting this that I gave Heracross the King's Rock which would've been really useful on Hariyama. I also totally forgot to get the Soft Sand for Machamp's Earthquake, and I realized it after walking into Sidney's room. Whoops!

Also, I might update this post with the stats for each mon, but I don't think it's necessary, so I'm going to leave it for now because I typed 1,700+ words. Also, no, I am not spell checking this post.

 

[StenirRPG]

Ultimate Ghost Run
X / Only Entry / Am I Ghost Or Am I A Muppet

In this post (i.e., TL;DR)

Spoiler:

-- Team Collection
-- Each Gym
-- Elite Four
-- Champion

The full read:

Spoiler:

-- Team Collection
--- Start with Honedge
--- Pick up Drifloon and Golett before Gym 2
--- Pick up Sableye before Gym 3
--- Pick up Phantump and Litwick before Gym 7


-- Gym 1
I brought in a Level 1 Honedge from Bank. It's nice that I start with Swords Dance, and mix that with Fury Cutter, and the first gym goes very smoothly. I wasn't too high levelled when I entered the Gym. I originally thought about getting some levels, but I got to about level 5 and then said "I'm part Steel, what am I doing" and went through the gym.

-- Gym 2
At this point, I've picked up a Drifloon on Route 8 and a Golett on Route 10. Golett knowing Magnitude is what got me the win in this gym, though it took a few tries, because I was getting hit by Bites. Using Iron Defense was key to starting the battle, and then hoping. I'd exhausted all the trainers by this point, so take your pick - either grind the XP or grind attempts/resets. I chose the latter here since I knew it was possible, just a matter of not having to worry about crits.

-- Gym 3
Sableye took front and center. Fake Out + Shadow Sneak for two turns and then Shadow Claw to continue dealing damage. It's one of those "boring" gyms that you just "press A to win" and continue doing the same move(s) over and over.

-- Gym 4
Pretty much let Drifblim take this one. I wish the Drifblim line got a better special Flying move than just Gust.

-- Gym 5
Golett's turn...and hilarious, I won the gym with nothing but Magnitude...but didn't evolve. Was one level off.

-- Gym 6
Golurk taking the lead again with Heavy Slams for all. Fairly straightforward.

-- Gym 7
Lampent and Trevenant got a little allowance to go crazy and do some battles, but when going up against Olympia, I went ahead and let Doublade get some extra levels.

-- Gym 8
Before Gym 8, I struggled a little with getting Dusk Stones. I'm left handed, so it's not exactly the best thing to do try and get them from the Level 6 Secret Training. Had to hold the 3DS upside down so my right hand could move the circle pad around. That was painful trying to get them. Did get the two I needed, which is nice to keep in mind that I can do to get extra stones if needed. But got my Lampent and Doublade to evolve, so can't really complain.

The 8th gym was basically just letting Chandelure using Flame Burst repeatedly and everything went down in one or two hits. Easy.

-- Elite Four
- Steel type was easy enough for Golurk and Chandelure.
- Dragon type was fairly enough to just Aegislash or Golurk my way through.
- Fire was a little more trouble because of Malva's Chandelure, because it's too powerful and can easily one shot. It took until Golurk was level 66 to survive a Shadow Ball and be able to get EQ off.
- Water...I started with Drifblim, used Minimize a few times, then Charge Beam, then when that ran out, switched to Shadow Ball. Got +4 Sp. Atk out of it, so can't really complain. But that Gyarados can be a pain since it also knows EQ.

-- Champion
- Hawlucha was met with Drifblim-Minimize/Charge Beam.
- Tyrantrum was met mostly with a Shadow Ball, but when it hit back with Head Smash, Aftermath kicked it and took it out.
- I brought Aegislash out for Iron Head on Aurorus.
- Gourgeist goes down to a Flame Burst from Chandelure.
- Goodra was just a few Shadow Balls from Chandelure.
- From there, it's just spam Shadow Ball on Chandelure, and then swap over to Aegislash to use Iron Head for the final KO and completion of the run (other than AZ, which was super meh of a battle, as it always is).

-- Ending Thoughts
Aegislash is awesome. Golurk is awesome. Sableye was honestly a waste of space. I don't think I ever really used it other than the Fighting gym. A far cry from blowing through Brawly's gym back in Hoenn.

And then, one final gen to be done with Ghost and the first half of the types!

Team Stats:

Spoiler:

Kalos by Type:

Spoiler:

 

[Explorer of Time]

Before Gym 8, I struggled a little with getting Dusk Stones. I'm left handed, so it's not exactly the best thing to do try and get them from the Level 6 Secret Training. Had to hold the 3DS upside down so my right hand could move the circle pad around. That was painful trying to get them. Did get the two I needed, which is nice to keep in mind that I can do to get extra stones if needed. But got my Lampent and Doublade to evolve, so can't really complain.

I'll add in a game-specific rule for Gen 6 to make things easier on you, and anyone else who has trouble with Super Training due to being left-handed.

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

I'm actually curious what's going to happen when Stenir completes all 18 Ultimate Run Monotype challenges. Will he be added to each "Game Mastery" Hall of Fame as well? I kind of wanted to be the first person in this thread to do the "Game Mastery" challenge for Ruby/Sapphire, but I've since accepted that I won't be. (I hope this doesn't get misconstrued as me wanting a pity party. I've 100% made peace with it.)