I didn't read any spoilers so I was completely blank for the whole game and the league, I didn't know what it was. As so I didn't know what the new pokémon were or if they would evolve or not, unless I could conclude it from ingame info.
As I planned I trained most of the new pokémon at some time or another, which gave me a lot to chose from.
The team I beat the league was
Carbink@Leftovers
Clear Body
- Sharpen
- Rock Tomb
- Reflect
- Toxic
I love defensive pokémon and for guys like me this thing is absolutely awesome. I basically reserved leftovers all for him through the game and he delivers.
Toxic and Reflect both kill stuff through stall and help the team.
The attack of this thing was surprisingly good, unboosted Rock Tombs were generally 3HKOs or so. With Sharpen I prevented setupers to get free lunch and I prefered Rock Tomb as it would help the team too with the slow effects.
Hawlucha@nothing
Limber
- High Jump Kick
- Acrobatics
- Roost
- Swords Dance
When I caught Hawlucha, my opinions were mixed I absolutely hated the exibitionist style he had but the typing was awesome.
I was this close to leave him in the late 30s, but thank God I didn't as I really needed it. I suspected he wouldn't evolve and that power creep from others' evos would render him useless, but that surprisingly didn't happen. I needed a lot something to kill dark pokémon that my team had problems with. His typing and movepool saved him to being neglected.
He was always very fast and hits like a truck. His movepool is also very good, I was sad to let go Encore but I thought I would need Swords Dance to setup and sweep.
The biggest surprise I had, he was one of the best of my team. He could 2HKO everything neutral and had the defenses to kill them all. I really didn't expect him to keep his momentum with no evo but he did.
Dragalge@Black Sludge
Poison Point
- Toxic
- Venoshock
- Surf
- Dragon Pulse
I wanted to use a dragon and his poison typing made me love him. He was a bit slow and didn't hit very hard but his defenses and typing (I feared fairies!) made me chose him over Noivern and Goodra.
Was ok, nothing special but did the job I expected him to do.
Chesnaught@Rocky Helmet
Overgrow
- Spiky Shield
- Hammer Arm
- Seed Bomb
- Leech Seed
Both my leech seeder for stall war and something to kill dark types - I liked Pumpkaboo more but this and the fact that I couldn't make him evolve made me chose Chesnaught. His typing also made me chose him over Gogoat. He is good at what he is expected to do, but don't expect something else. Didn't use him much in the league because he wasn't needed.
Delphox@Charcoal
Blaze
- Psyshock
- Will-o-Wisp
- Mystical Fire
- Flamethrower
One of my favourite team members, Delphox was always very reliable. It has the defenses to hold up and the special attack to hit very hard, and is fast.
The fact that he can screw both Special Attackers and Physical Attackers was one of my favourite things. I'm very conservative and play safe so countless times I ended up Mystical Firing even resisting stuff just to keep it safe and nerf it. WoW was also very important numerous times.
Was my starter, my favourite of the 3 first stages, but the most hated of the 2nd ones. Then it evolved and recovered his favourite status.
Malamar@Quick Claw
Contrary
- Superpower
- Night Slash
- Psycho Cut
- Topsy Turvy
The meh member of my team. His stats are underwhelming but Gamfreak loves him and gave him an insane movepool and ability.
I was hoping it to setup with Superpower and sweep, but that was never possible, many times I felt short of power to KO at +1 or +2.
Topsy Turvy was also a play safe move I wanted, sort of pseudo Focus Sash in case of dangerous setups :D
I trained most of the new pokémon at some point, in the end I also had available to go to the league:
Noivern (I feared he would hit too softly)
Goodra (underwhelming, Dragalge at least kills fairies)
Pumpkaboo (I knew it would evolve but I didn't know how - like him but for balance issues with the team had to ditch it)
Doublade (couldn't make it evolve, didn't know how, balance issues with dark and ghost types)
Kefki (feared it would be underwhelming)
Aurorus (horrible typing)
Avalugg (bad typing, horrible special fraility + super slow)
Pokémon I left in the 40s:
Greninja (I was training Skrelp)
Gogoat (Chesnaught was very similar)
Barbaracle (bad typing and slow)
Pyroar (Delphox was better)
Clawitzer (I prefered Skrelp)
Talonflame (Too frail, Delphox/Hawlucha were better)
Pokémon I left in the 30s:
Pancham (because I didn't need him and I didn't like him nor its evo)
Helioptile (because I discovered he evolved with Sun Stone and I don't want to waste stones)
Dunsparce (I had hoped he had an evo, but by then I lost hope :D)
Floette (same discovered it was a stone evolution)
Meowstick (male) (Delphox was a better psychic, I feared with more levels he would become worse and worse)
