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ghostmartyr · 5 years

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Pokémon Black 2 Randomized Nuzlocke Run [Part 5]

Half the badges means halfway finished, right?

No. No, it never means that.

The squad:

Caspet (Haunter)

Puff (Dratini)

Nessy (Milotic)

Boruto (Ninjask)

Omchomp (Eelektrik)

I’m rooting for you, team.

Hello Pirate Plasma.

One of them has a Watchdog.

Caspet, kill.

Good Caspet.

And so the day is saved! Thanks to... Me and Russell!

Oh, wait, hold off on the exclamation points. Russell is giving the sad backstory talk about how his little sister was given a Purrloin as a gift, then Team Plasma stole it. Cue Russell feeling so sad and helpless, and now he wants to be strong and not helpless, and believes in the power of friendship backing him up.

It’s like Nintendo took every single villain code it could get its hands on and threw it on a good big bro who depends on his buddies.

Aw heck I think I need to have a Rotation Battle with Hearbreaker Charles before the bridge opens up. Also known as that battle type that takes three pokemon. Hoo boy. Okay. Let’s. Let’s try this.

It could and has been worse.

Hey, success. Nice work, Caspet. Sorry Puff gets all the exp from it. He’s smol. He needs it.

Bridge opened up, so that means... new friend time!

Duuuuuuude!

Want.

Hey hey hey hey I caught him!

Now what’re we naming you... Vertex!

Say what you will, Pokemon mook villains are charming as heck with some of their dialogue. You kids would have so much fun larping. Stop bringing real theft into it and have a grand ol’ time.

The Knight Plasma promises to tell me a story about the conflict if I visit their house. I shall do that momentarily. For now, the Pokemon Center calleth.

Okay it’s been a lot of weeks since that last sentence, so I really need to read up a bit and see where I’m at.

Hm.

I’m gonna wander around training stuff. Boruto needs a move that isn’t Leech Life.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT’S WINTER! THE GAME SAYS IT’S WINTER!

SNOW!

SNOW.

Oh, and I guess I should check that I have Poke Balls.

Yeah, okay, good.

Exploring time.

There’s this hotel on this block that I have zero memory of.

Exploration indicates that’s because there’s nothing of value in it.

We ended up fighting Charles again and now Caspet knows Shadow Ball. I might cry. Thank you, Caspet. Thank you for being alive.

Hope. It beckons.

But that means it’s time for Boruto to have the Exp. Share.

Cool, I don’t care.

Oh, in a battle.

Hoo boy. Fingers crossed.

Sure, let’s do this.

Level 27 Herdier. Not too bad, then.

...It knows Crunch.

That takes Caspet down to almost half, so Vertex can start earning his keep against the Swoobat. Good boy, Vertex, you didn’t die. Yay.

Russell appears and sad talks about former Team Plasma folks trying to do right happen. They are sad and Russell is sad and it’s all very sad.

Aw dang it. Rood offers us a Zorua. We don’t get to take it because it isn’t randomized. So much sadness all in this one building. In a weird way I’m sort of happy to see more of Knight Team Plasma. Some of them really were on N’s side, and some of them really did realize that pokemon could be their friends. It’s an oversimplification, but it’s really sweet.

I can’t go south until I have the town badge, which I can’t get because Clay’s off doing Clay things somewhere.

Gimme something that won’t die, game.

My team is going to be nothing but Electric types by the end. Also lol I forgot to heal I am suddenly much happier that this is a Pikachu.

Pikachu’s new name is Rynalds. Bye forever, Rynalds.

Cofagrigus was also an option.

Welp.

There’s also Exploud. And Alakazam.

Cool, I have a Moon Stone now.

...How the heck am I supposed to train my party. Exp. Share and letting the big kids handle it is the surest path to insanity I can come up with, but I seriously need my team to be useful beyond its top two.

Boruto still doesn’t know anything useful.

You know what he does know now?

Swords Dance.

You are a disappointment to Boruto’s Dad, Boruto. Which I guess is me, in this universe.

I’ve reached the dark grass, so let’s see if there are easier training opportunities here.

Dusknoir! Hey, I had one of you! Flaffy, Bastiodon, Tirtouga, Volcarona

Puff’s going to take the lead and Dragon Rage things to death while I’m next to a healing house. He’s going to need a ton of exp anyway, he might as well contribute to the cause of his friends.

None of you have good moves. Caspet better not die.

...Okay, five minutes into this, do I have any good TMs...?

No. I do not.

We enter the cave for hope of a change in fortune.

And it’s a male Ralts!

...Wait. Do I have a Dawn Stone?

I see this theoretically ending very sadly for me.

Caught, though. His new name is Diego and he will be very loved.

. . . . . . . .

-stumbles through the door several months later-

Ultra Sun possessed all my interest and my Nuzlocke ways got put on hold for flying through wormholes. So it’s been way too long, but since this is done over text that’s not too obvious, right?

Oh, and during my off-time, it wasn’t something I looked up thanks to that being against the rules, but I remembered that it’s Caspet’s Poison typing that’s a problem against Psychic. Yay for that brief mystery concluding.

Now where the heck am I.

Right. Grinding and caves and not quite ready to talk to Bianca.

And it’s Summer now, according to the game’s clock. I wish that were true in the outside world as well. It’s cold.

If I had a Dawn Stone, I think I would add Diego to the squad. Omchomp is beloved and etc., but I won’t claim to be horribly attached, and Ralts’ every evolution has a spot in my heart that Pokemon Go can’t fill because I’m not wasting 100 candy on anything less than 93% perfection.

Only as much as I love Gardevoir, Gallade is so cool and I only get to pick one, aaaand... Yeah, okay, nothing’s being swapped out yet. Back to grinding. Back to hoping that Boruto learns literally any STAB attack.

Why does this keep happening. Ah, and this is not something Puff should be anywhere near. Arguably nothing on my team should be anywhere near it. #grinding_problems.

You know, I’m beginning to remember why I wasn’t in a hurry to pick this run back up.

Boruto learns Slash.

Heck, I’ll take it.

Uh oh.

Oooooooh I am become error.

The logic behind this was that Puff’s been in front against Kyurem constantly before Nessy gets switched in, and all it ever uses is Ancient Power. If it had anti-Dragon stuff, it’d be using it, right?

Hoo boy.

Sorry, Puff.

Like. It’s been a while, so I don’t remember much of you, and I’m kind of relieved I’m not stuck with something that takes so long to gain levels anymore, but ow.

K, Vertex goes in and we are running now.

All the way back to a Pokemon Center.

Really, really sorry, Puff.

What am I going to do without Dragon Rage... the one true grind power.

Rynalds, Frill, or Diego. Those are my choices.

In you go, Diego. I would prefer a Gallade, but that doesn’t much matter at this point.

It could be much, much worse. This run started with way worse. This is fine. It’s fine. Absolutely fine. Does not make me dream of Exp. Share that affects the entire team at all.

These are my happy tears. Obviously.

...

See. I thought to myself, “It probably knows Fire Blast.” Then I thought to myself, “Sure it can learn it, but it’s a low level legendary. Speaking from experience, those things have jack for moves. Boruto will be fine.”

Then Boruto was not fine.

Lava Plume.

Oh, and a critical hit for good measure.

I have nothing to say.

But Omchomp is going in the designated survivor box, and I’m not replacing anyone in the current lineup. I’m just. I’m gonna train these four. And. Make that work somehow. It’s too early to get caught up in everything dying during grinding.

Neat, Diego’s cave has Charizard. And Seviper. Bayleef. Probopass.

Vertex could maybe handle being Diego’s training partner... let’s give that a try instead of bloating Nessy’s level even further.

And the first thing a Charizard does is Dragon Rage the 84 health thing.

This continues to be a very long trial.

Back to Autumn.

My son. You shall be the most beautiful ballerina.

Okay, things starting to feel a bit more positive? A bit more like it might all be okay? Yeah! Let’s go! Grind them feet into the field!

Did I know there was Alakazam in the normal grass outside Chargestone? Because there is. And I have a Gardevoir in need of tutelage. Well great, at least now I know where I’m grinding.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I DID THE RANDOMIZER SETTINGS RIGHT!

GENGAR GET!

No more Eviolite for Caspet, which. Well, sure, it stresses me out to only have as much Defense as Caspet really has, but maybe I’ll pick something up along the line that helps with that. You never know.

Back to the grind.

...With the stray thought that this is much less necessary with the four I have. I’d like Vertex over 30, but realistically, Caspet and Nessy are enough to deal with a lot, and Diego’s getting there.

I’ll get Vertex over 30 and hit go on the plot button.

Oh wait. Diego’s only offensive move is Magical Leaf.

Aaaaah, ghosts of Boruto’s past...

Eh, let’s just talk to Bianca.

She says nothing of interest to those who already know you can push Chargestone Cave’s rocks around.

So, I’ve just realized that I can fight Clay now, probably, and because I’m largely making myself sad doing non-plot activities, I’m going to give that a go. Nessy is overleveled and suited for it. I’ll give her a Mystic Water. Vertex can carry the Exp. Share for a bit.

And down we go.

I have no memory of this place. It is dark.

Better, but I think I like the previous games’ setup of this gym more. Aesthetically. I hated moving around it, but it was all very pretty. This has too much dark to roll with the pretty much.

Okay, first fight! Let’s see if I should actually be trying this.

First and only pokemon is a level 31 Baltoy. I think we’re good.

Geez. There are too many platforms here. Gym, I am disappoint.

Nessy.

Carry.

First out is a level 31 Krokorok. One Water Pulse downs it. Following that up is a level 31 Sandslash, and in the spirit of optimism and needing exp, Diego’s going to try to Magical Leaf it into submission. One isn’t enough, and Clay uses a Hyper Potion on his next turn. Next Magical Leaf after undoing that does the trick, and I think we’re bringing out Nessy next to contend with the Excadrill.

The level 33 Excadrill.

Nessy’s 38, if I haven’t mentioned it this post.

...Wow. One Water Pulse later, and we’re done with Clay.

Yaaaaay.

#Pokemon #Nuzlocke Challenge #Nuzlocke

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artpharos · 6 years

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Arty’s VGC 2018 SG Open Team- 2nd Place Finisher

Anyway I figure since I FINALLY LEGIT PLACED WELL AT A REGIONALS-LEVEL EVENT even if it was just a 38-man regional sobs I’m just gonna write a summary of a team I’m proud of even if they’re technically not that good oops

Put under cut because it’s long haha I put a lot of thought on my pokemon vgc teams weeps

So I haven’t had a lot of success in VGC 18. Not since the actual VGC 18 format, anyway. I’ve struggled to find a team composition I feel comfortable with, and I’ve had a lot of trouble relearning all my forgotten skills and regaining confidence in myself, especially since I was Out of Action for like... 2 years. But then after watching Brazil Internationals, I realized a lot of the standard ‘meta’ teams had this really gaping weakness to Bisharp and... I really missed Bisharp a lot. So then, I popped onto Showdown, placed Bisharp onto a team I was working on which was then Kangaskhan/Zapdos/Tapu Fini/Snorlax/Gothitelle/Landorus-T and then realized if I replaced Goth with Bisharp I needed another setup sweeper. I remembered back in VGC 13 that Volcarona was a good partner for Bisharp (or vice versa tbh) and I played a few games and then a month later I was in the top 100 on Showdown. And after staring at the team for a while I realized it had a strange resemblance to my 2015 team (Kangaskhan/Talonflame/Sylveon/Bisharp/Landorus-T/Rotom-Wash), which would explain why I was strangely comfortable with it. So then I ran it in a few tournaments, top cut a few MSSes, had a friend talk me over my mental blocks, and got 2nd at Singapore Open. Anyway, a breakdown of the team: Potato Kangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite Ability: Scrappy Level: 50 EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD Adamant Nature - Fake Out - Double-Edge - Low Kick - Ice Punch

Throughout the season, people have been telling me since Jan 1 2018 that Kangaskhan Is Bad. And after a whole season and 38 teams of Kangaskhan, I can finally come to the conclusion that yes, on paper, Kangaskhan is a Bad Mon. Kangaskhan, as a mon, just isn’t as good as in 2015, when she was the overwhelming force of the metagame. The Parental Bond nerf has seriously hurt her damage, and Psychic Terrain makes it difficult for Kang’s primary support option (Fake Out) to be completely useful. The loss of Power-Up Punch, and the general increase of offensiveness in the metagame, and Kanga’s neutral matchup towards Intimidate Incineroar have all been factors in why Kangaskhan, in theory, does not work.

But to be completely honest, whenever I used another Mega I’d just run straight into the stuff they’re automatically weak against and the thing is: Unlike the other Megas, Kangaskhan has technically no matchup that she automatically loses. It just feels a lot easier to put Kangaskhan into a position where she can do work, and I can accept the shift of her role from Primary Attacker to Offensive Support, relying on her to deal constant damage for the team and providing Fake Out support.

So a breakdown on Potato. I’ve tried all sorts of Kangaskhan, and for the longest time I was convinced that Jolly was the only way to go because without the max speed investment, you’d be unable to outspeed stuff like Tapu Lele and Charizard. However, Jolly Kang always ran into the problem of being outsped ANYWAY since Tapu Koko, Kartana, Mega Metagross and other random fast pokemon exist, and without any investment in her HP she can’t take hits that well. So after trying out my friend’s team, I finally decided on the Super Bulky Kangaskhan with 0 speed investment. I’m still not content with the bulk-speed ratio on Potato, but with the way that the metagame is so matchup dependent, I feel like it’s safer to be bulky than not. In fact, after recent battles, I think if I had to improve Kangaskhan, it’d be to actually drop her attack (since you’re still going to get intimidated to Kingdom Come anyway) and invest in her bulk some more.

Anyway, on to the moves. Fake Out because Kangaskhan is still, in my opinion, the best Fake Outer in the game, especially with Scrappy to hit ghost types (Hi Mimikyu!) and the ability to outspeed the other premier Fake Outer (Incineroar). Double-Edge for the consistently painful damage that OHKOs stuff like Tapu Koko and Charizard Y, Low Kick to deal 70% to Snorlax/almost OHKO Stakataka/random heavy things like Tyranitar and 4hp Heatran, and Ice Punch to still OHKO 4hp Landorus-T even after Intimidate. Potato functioned more as cleanup, or to clear certain threats that my main sweepers didn’t want to fight.

Cernunos Landorus-Therian @ Groundium Z Ability: Intimidate Level: 50 EVs: 20 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 228 Spe Jolly Nature IVs: 0 SpA - Earthquake - Rock Slide - Protect - Knock Off

Landorus-Therian is, arguably, the best mon in all of VGC. In fact, in VGC 2018, it’s only matched for utility with Incineroar, who’s also another Intimidating Cat. It’s also been constantly placing at the top (or near to the top) of all the usage stats, and it’s been said that the Best Way to check a Landorus-Therian is to use your own Landorus-Therian. In fact, it’s gone so far that some Landorus-Therian have switched the special scarfed Hidden Power Ice variants I also really liked the scarf Landorus-T variants since that would have helped my matchup vs Metagross+Tapu Lele/Charizard Y and random fast mons like Gengar a lot. However, given that I only have one other Ground-immune (Zapdos), I opted for the Groundium-Z variant, WHICH OHKOS INCINEROAR AFTER AN INTIMIDATE HAH TAKE THAT YOU STUPID CAT and does a bunch of other neat stuff like being a really powerful nuke, being a single-target ground attack (even if only for one turn), and has the ability to P R O T E C T. Being base 91 speed has its drawbacks, sure, but I hoped to mitigate that somewhat with Tailwind, and once you get an unintimidated Landorus-T on the field with the ability to switch moves+a nuke+x2 speed, it’s definitely a huge boon on your side.

So Cernny’s set is actually something Coach gave me. Jolly to abuse as much of that fast speed as necessary, attack to maximise the damage output, and the rest in split defenses for some ‘bulky’. His moveset was Earthquake (of course), Rock Slide (for the flinchy flinchy and Charizard Y/Zapdos), Protect and Knock Off because I hate Snorlax and any other mon that uses one of the Super Healing Berries, as compared to the lack of Steel/Normal type mons that you’d usually run Superpower for (and let’s be real, Superpower doesn’t OHKO anything of worth anymore, and without a scarf it didn’t really make sense to run Superpower).

Castor Bisharp @ Life Orb Ability: Defiant Level: 50 EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Adamant Nature - Iron Head - Knock Off - Sucker Punch - Protect

I’ll be honest, Bisharp is pretty much the glue holding the team together. The ability to gain attack boosts from any status drop, and the ability to pull out a powerful priority attack with those boosts can utterly cut through teams that are unprepared for him. All it takes is an Icy Wind or an accuracy drop from Muddy Water, and Castor can go to town. Especially since most teams rely on Intimidate to control opposing physical attackers, Defiant/Competitive users like Bisharp and Milotic can do a lot of work in the right conditions. Moreover, dark is an extremely good attacking type, even now, and with the ability to hit Fairies super effectively with Iron Head, Bisharp has almost perfect neutral coverage for most of the metagame (with the exceptions being idk Blaziken and Lucario).

I was running Adamant Nature with max speed and Life Orb because that was the damage calculation/spread I was used to since 2015. Bisharp’s moveset is Iron Head for comfortable STAB, Knock Off to take out berries and also potentially KO weakened Cresses/other bulky mons/stop Snorlax before their berries trigger. Sucker Punch is priority, which helps me pin and maneuver around faster mons, and Protect is Protect lol. At max speed, Bisharp outspeeds most spreads of Tapu Bulu/Tapu Fini, Heatran, and also my own Kangaskhan, which allows me to make some silly plays like Knock Offing a Porygon 2′s Eviolite before Double-Edging into them, destroying fairy redirectors like Togekiss, or limiting Cresselia’s Ally Switch utility by taking out the supporters before Kang attacks.

Curry Volcarona @ Firium Z Ability: Flame Body Level: 50 EVs: 4 HP / 92 Def / 192 SpA / 220 Spe Modest Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Quiver Dance - Heat Wave - Giga Drain - Protect

I admit I named Volcarona Curry for certain very blatant biases BUT ANYWAY. I haven’t actually used Volcarona that well in VGC at all, dabbling in it only at the start of 2018 with a Salamence/Azumarill team that Did Not Work because I always felt that Volcarona was better off setting up Quiver Dance and sweeping than playing Rage Powder. Remembering that VGC 13 had a Volcarona+Bisharp team working super well for my brother, I decided to try it in VGC 18 because why not. Volcarona had 135 SAtk and with a Quiver Dance, I bet Inferno Overdrive would be extremely spicy. The other item choice that has been recommended to me time and time again is a Super Healing Berry, but to be completely honest I’m perfectly happy with having a secondary nuke in case I can’t land Tectonic Rage for whatever reason.

Volcarona pairs well with Bisharp, Kangaskhan, and Tapu Fini, being able to clear steel/grass types as well as luring in stuff like Landorus-T into the battle (which its teammates can then take out before Volcarona starts quiver dancing). Volcarona is not a ‘good’ mon; it has far too many weaknesses and requires a lot of ifs to set up properly, and even then it’s main stab is Heat Wave and its defenses are, to put it mildly, shit. However, with most of the metagame being physically defensive, being able to set up a powerful special attacker that gets boosts in speed/special defense/special attack can seriously nuke a lot of teams to oblivion.

So, Volcarona ran Quiver Dance, Heat Wave, and Protect. Modest 192 SAtk was to maximize my Special Attack as much as possible, but I do know that at +1, in the Sun, Volcarona’s Inferno Overdrive has been able to net OHKOs on Charizard Y of all things. 220 Speed was to outspeed modest Tapu Lele, 4HP/92Def was to survive a -1 Spread Landorus-T Rock Slide. Giga Drain was run to have a better way to deal with Tapu Fini and Milotic, but even at +1 Volcarona will still die to Hydro Vortex so that’s something to keep an eye out for.

Vegetable Zapdos @ Iapapa Berry Ability: Pressure Level: 50 EVs: 28 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 220 Spe Timid Nature - Thunderbolt - Heat Wave - Tailwind - Sky Drop

Zapdos has been something I’ve slowly grown accustomed to over the season. Without Talonflame, I’ve been searching for another Tailwinder that provided the sort of support/pairing ability with Landorus-T that I just couldn’t find elsewhere. While I am more used to the Misty Seed/Roost version, I just felt that it was far too passive and didn’t really feel like it could help contribute to the team with a low speed stat that the Misty Seed variants run (ie, set up Tailwind before dying to a Charizard Y Overheat). In the end, I decided to try something slightly different- not the Gigavolt Havoc Zapdos, but the fast speedy Tailwind support with Iapapa Berry. While it worked somewhat well, I realized that my team had issues with Azu+Redirector support, so I decided to toss Sky Drop onto Zapdos (something I learned from playing Hawlucha earlier in the metagame).

Sky Drop easily opens a lot of doors for my team, being able to stall out Trick Room, Tailwind, deal with redirectors, and force mons into not being able to Protect the next turn when they’re dropped. While my Zapdos spread meant that it was actually exceedingly frail for a Zapdos, it’s also an extremely good utility mon, if used properly (Hint: I still haven’t completely figured it out yet).

Thunderbolt for obligatory STAB. Tailwind helped support my team a lot, since the majority of them were slow and would greatly appreciate the speed advantage. Heat Wave was chosen over HP Ice because of the great Kartana weakness I seemed to have, as well as being able to threaten the 3hko on Mega Metagross. And Sky Drop is... Sky Drop. (Fun fact: I still haven’t completely understood all of Sky Drop’s mechanics yet, isn’t it fun?)

Ultimately, Vegetable started off as a mon I didn’t really like, but it is incredibly necessary for this team to work. If there is one thing I would change, I would drop its Satk and try to figure out a bulkier spread and go max speed Timid simply because I am tired of not having the ability to speed tie Charizard Y.

Melusine Tapu Fini @ Mago Berry Ability: Misty Surge Level: 50 EVs: 236 HP / 4 Def / 196 SpA / 12 SpD / 60 Spe Calm Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Scald - Moonblast - Calm Mind - Protect

So finally, the Tapu of my team. Tapu Fini easily loses out to ALL THE OTHER TAPUS of the metagame, but it also has one of the best terrain abilities. Immunity to status? Yes Please. Also, being the slowest Tapu (barring some really slow Leles/Bulus), it is almost guaranteed Terrain Control on turn 1.

I opted for the Calm Mind variant of Tapu Fini because I Like Setting Up, and also Fini just doesn’t do enough damage otherwise. Calm Mind also helps shore up its special defense, giving it a chance versus Tapu Lele and occasionally Tapu Koko/Charizard Y/MGengar/other random powerful special attacking mons. I’m using the standard CM Tapu Fini EV spread, which allows it to outspeed slow Bulu while dealing some really nice damage with its STABS.

While most Tapu Fini opt for Muddy Water, I’ve lost far too many games from Muddy Water missing, so I decided to go for the more reliable and slightly more powerful single-target Scald. Thus far, I have not regretted that decision. Moonblast for fairy STAB because you need Fairy STAB somewhere on your team to deal with Kommo-O, and Protect because this should be totally standard by now.

AND I HAVE SPENT 2 HOURS WRITING A LONG DRAWN SUMMARY OF MY TEAM. I’M EXTREMELY PROUD OF HOW WELL THEY DID, OF SOME OF THE BATTLES I’VE MANAGED TO PLAY WITH THEM, and while I’m not certain if I want to bring them to Worlds, I’m glad that this is the team that finally helped me overcome my own weaknesses and gave me my confidence back to play.

Tl;dr: I really love pokemon vgc and I really love this team

#arty's vgc 18 ramblings #pokemon vgc

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