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hk-treacle-tactics · 4 months

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🔥 Troupe Master Grimm 🔥

The hot dad himself! remember to bow at the start. (just tilt the joystick down to look at the floor.)

Tactics Tool Belt: (link to tactics glossary here) Visual cue, Acrobatics, Walk don't run

Dance Moves

Sky Drill

Grimm: appears in midair in a drill shape, shoots down towards you, then dashes toward you on the ground.

You: big jump, then either 1) go towards where he came from or 2) smack him in the head.

Fire Bats

Grimm: standing straight, opens his cloak at a right angle, and three fire bats fly out! pew, pew pew!

You: big jump, then dash towards him.

If you get too close to him before he fires off all the bats, he’ll teleport behind you, then fire off one more bat.

Cloak Swoosh

Grimm: 1. leans away, then slashes towards you with a big C-shaped downward swipe. 2. makes another C-shaped swipe upwards, then rains fireballs from above.

You: walk away until he swipes upwards, then walk back to where you started.

if you have shade cloak: dash through him, then walk back to where you started. easier to manage the distance that way.

Visual cue: The difference between the start of Fire Bats and Cloak Swoosh can be hard to tell at first! with Fire Bats, he’s standing up tall, and with Cloak Swoosh, he’s leaning away in an S-shaped posture. S for Swoosh.

Ground Spikes

Grimm: appears in an A shape, looking up. twisty spikes appear on the ground.

You: walk just a step or two to get in between two spikes. The spikes don't cause damage until they get tall.

Balloon Time

Grimm: appears in midair in a big balloon shape and starts emitting fireballs in all directions.

You: 1. get in position, then 2. jump in a loop to navigate the fireballs.

Acrobatics: This one’s complicated, i won’t lie! but it’s doable. I’ll explain the process from the left side, but you can do the same on the right side as well.

1. get in position: as soon as the balloon appears, go stand about ¼ of the way from the left wall of the arena. Standing in that spot on the floor, you only need to pay attention to three fireball lanes.

fireballs will come down the lanes in stacks, in one of five possible patterns: 100, 110, 101, 011, 001

2. jump in a loop: as the fireballs come towards you, jump up and slightly to the left. as you reach the top of the jump, go towards the right, so that you jump in a 0-shaped path and land where you started. depending on the fireball pattern, you’ll either do a big jump or a small jump for your loop.

for 011: do a big jump. for 101 and 001 : do a small jump by briefly tapping the jump button (I didn’t even know you could jump just a little until i met Grimm!). for 100 and 110, just stay still.

Grimm will do Balloon Time three times: when his health is at ¾, ½, and ¼ left. it’s a nice way to track how much health he has.

Other actions (nothing you need to do):

Scuttle: Sometimes if you’re too close to him, Grimm will scuttle away before resuming his attack.

Stagger: Grimm will burst into a cloud of black bats, one with big red eyes (that’s him).

Healing Spots

during Ground Spikes.

during Fire Bats: if you have Shape of Unn, you can wiggle under the bats! or if you do a big jump over the first bat, you can heal when you land on the ground- the second and third bats fly over you, aiming for where you were during your jump.

Hitting Spots

during Fire Bats: once you hop over the bats, you can get a couple hits in before he disappears.

during Sky Drill: slash down as he lunges under you.

during Ground Spikes: fire off a spell towards him.

Recommended Charms

Shape of Unn, for healing during Fire Bats

Stalwart Shell, for surviving Balloon Time

Extras

If you bow to him at the start, the grimmkin will clap for you! If you hit him instead, he’ll yell at you and give you an extra Balloon Time for your insolence. if you brought weaverlings, make sure to scoot away so they don’t hit him either.

#hollow knight #hollow knight boss guides #troupe master grimm #hk treacle tactics #grimm #boss guides

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captainderyn · 7 months

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ALSO 22. in a rush of adrenaline for Emeldir/Risha 👀

WHOO Thank you for this one! I am so sorry it took me so long to answer ;--;

They really...really have a complicated relationship at the start. And they really, really have a lotta shit they need to work through. So here's them being not so nice towards each other...*sigh* they're stupid.

They'd cut it far too close this time.

The Phoenix zipped into hyperspace as it cleared the planet's atmosphere, the hull rattling around them as it picked up speed.

Risha could hear the fussing of sensors coming from deeper within the ship, even as her raging heartbeat threatened to drown it out entirely.

Way too close.

Emeldir was still fetched up against the wall of the airlock where he'd landed after they'd flung themselves inside. He pressed his head back against the metal, mouth moving in a series of what she could only assume were breathless, silent curses.

From the way his chest heaved, it was no surprise any words he spoke were silent.

Her own breath came in short ragged gasps and she swiped away the beading sweat on her forehead with a sharp motion as a sharp spark of anger that flared in her blood. She swore her veins were boiling, even as it reared out of nothing.

"What the hell were you thinking?" She burst out, stalking over towards Emeldir. The young captain jerked to a fully standing position so fast he almost slammed his head into one of the protruding metal struts set into the wall. His eyes blew wide and she knew that startled deer-in-headlights look.

Sometimes it endeared her. Right now it just infuriated her.

"What did I do?" he pushed a hand through his sweaty hair, eyes darting around to everything except her as if the walls and the floors would hold the answers to her ire.

She didn't even have the answers.

He continued, "How was I supposed to know they set off a detonation device for the whole damn sector?"

She jabbed a finger into his chest, glowering up at him, "Exactly, you don't know. You're too young and too inexperienced to be captaining this ship, you're going to get us killed!"

It wasn't fair, not really, he'd proven himself time and time again since getting this ship back that he was capable and he was only a year younger than she was. No one could've known about the hidden trap rigged beneath the sector; she certainly hadn't.

If anyone needed to know better, it was her. And there was nothing she hated more than that oily, tingly feeling of something almost going horribly wrong. Like the pins and needles right after you almost get into a speeder accident.

Control, she needed to rein it back in.

Emeldir was still gaping at her, brows drawing low over his eyes. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but she burst out before he had the chance.

"You like to think your hot shit because you get to ride on the coattails of Captain Rielay Taqq, but you're nothing without her to go crying back to, you know that? I don't know what bullshit confidence she put into you, but it's going to fuck all of us!"

She didn't know if she wanted him to back down or wanted him to fight back. She wasn't sure what she wanted other than the fact that the roiling, boiling something needed somewhere to go.

Any other time he would've looked like a sad, kicked puppy. But something sparked in him too, an uncharacteristic flintiness overtaking his expression.

"Knock it off, Risha." A growling edge to his words. Anger. She hadn't heard that kind of edge before.

She tilted his head, narrowing his eyes. A savage delight fanned the flames of her adrenaline, a thrill from her careless bluster finally being met, "Or what? You gonna go cry to mommy and daddy on Coruscant? Maybe get Rielay to come get you so you can play star ship captain another day?"

He stalked close enough that she had to tilt her head back to glare at him. He wasn't in her space, not like others she'd pissed off.

"I said quit." Though sharp as a knife, his words were quieter. They weren't snarling at each other across the airlock anymore. He'd brought their conversation in.

She was suddenly very, very, aware of the heat radiating off of him, the singed metal and synth leather smell of his jacket. The way a few sweat laden strands of his hair dropped in front of grey eyes that glared down at her. Hard as blaster metal.

Her heart stuttered a beat. She bared her teeth and repeated, drawing out every letter.

"Or what?"

Maybe if she riled him enough she'd finally snap that stupid, infuriating perfect little Golden Boy personality. Maybe if she chipped away enough she'd find the corroded, rotten core every smuggler seemed to hide under a pretty, gilded exterior.

Something in the quirk of his eyebrow, the way she immediately knew he wouldn't rise to the bait, snapped the tension in her.

She grabbed him by the front of his jacket, yanking him down to her. When their height difference closed enough one hand planted on the back of his neck, fingers curling into his grown-out hair, and crashed their lips together.

A muffled sound of surprise escaped him and he went entirely still.

Then control slipped from her fingers again as his hands found her jaw and slipped up, into her hair and tangling in her carefully done up-do. Pins clattered to the floor, pinging off the wall, and her hair half tumbled down around her shoulders.

It wasn't until her back bumped the wall of the airlock, Emeldir's weight firm against her, his warm all around her, that she realized one hand kept careful guard of the back of her head, keeping her from hitting the metal.

She gripped the front of his jacket harder, chasing the kiss as he pulled back, their foreheads resting together as they shared ragged, sharp breaths.

When she blinked her eyes open, his were searching her face from beneath the hair falling in front of his eyes.

"What do you want from me?" he panted.

Nothing.

Everything.

A reaction. A validation to everything she expected from him.

For him to be nothing like the others.

She shoved away whatever possessed her to kiss him, the intense desire to do it again. The gravitational pull that kept yanking her back into his orbit.

She ducked beneath his arm, refusing to look back at him. Whatever she would see there wasn't worth the trouble.

"For you to get your shit together and not get us killed." she snapped.

Hoping desperately that he wouldn't see the flush rising in her cheeks, or the way she couldn't quite catch her breath.

It didn't matter. He was a smuggler.

It would never work.

#captainderyn answers #swtor #swtor fanfic #swtor smuggler #risha drayen #smuggler/risha #ah yes Risha once again avoiding acknowledging any sort of feelings towards Emeldir #and lashing out because she doesn't know what to do with them #Nok doesnt seem like the type of dad to teach some good ol healthy regulating tactics #eventually they come around to each other. Risha starts letting her guard down #oc: Emeldir #otp: the stars guided me to you

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verityblack · 11 months

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One day I will sit down and actually watch all of the Star Wars movies.

Not today though, today I’m reading about Head Engineer Luke Skywalker working on Darth Vaders warship and charming the heck outta everyone while being generally badass and forcefully adopting Vader with love, kindness and compassion (without knowing their actual familial connection).

#732503 words of awesomeness #I haven’t finished it yet but I’m getting close #the series is on ao3 btw #civil wars whistleblower tactics schematic drafting and the finer points of sith adoption:#the essential how-to guide for the engineering Jedi by Jackdaw_Kraai #damn the titles so long it doesn’t fit in a single tag lol #Star Wars #it’s a fan fic of a fan fic that went way further that the one shot it’s based on #incredibly so #luke skywalker #darth vader #ao3 #fanfic #fanfiction #fic reccomendations #Star Wars fandom

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thinkpink212 · 9 months

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Not to sound like my grandmother; but Hell’s foot soldiers have being working overtime these few days to really shake me and mines, but they’ll be out of employment when they find out I’m not the one or the two -go play with someone else 🙏🏾

#when I tell you the d*vil himself is sending these messages because no WAY this lady (my boss) has lost it so much that she’s resulting to—#these weirdo tactics! it must be divine otherwise imma need her to back up and just let me go because I don’t wanna be dragged into her—-#karmic loop just because she’s unquipped to deal with her own issues so everybody around gotta be yanked down YIKES #holding off to tell my mom cuz she will involve the ancestors and I don’t even want my ppl in this muddy muddy mess #I’m protected & guided so ILL BE SO GOOD — it’s just very strange because I see her doing what she’s doing and she looks like a cartoon —#character sneaking off with a bad plan that’ll blow up in her face 💀 GROWN ADULTS YALL!#thinkpink personal #very very perosnal lol #I won’t even aménager because I don’t entertain demons GOODBYE

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missmitchieg · 4 months

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I Wrote A Book and It’s Not What You’d Expect It To Be..(Physical copy and Kindle e-book dropping January 19!)

#youtube #jessica vill #jbunzie #how to survive #survival guide #survival tactics #cook book #first aid guide #honestly bless our unmedicated ADHD queen haha

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cartipdf · 6 months

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The Game of Chess

Chess (the “Game of Kings”) is a board game for two players, which requires 32 chesspieces (or chessmen) and a board demarcated by 64 squares. Gameplay does not involve random luck; consisting solely of strategy, (see also tactics, and theory). Chess is one of humanity’s more popular games; it is has been described not only as a game, but also as both art and science. Chess is sometimes seen as…

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#chess #chess rules #chess strategy #chess tactics #game #guide of chess #Nicolae Sfetcu

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baeshijima · 4 months

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uuuuuhhhhhhhhhh.......

I return to hsr are like, I'm not even sure, weeks?? And I'll be totally honest, all my free time went in playing genshin hehe, but anyways,

So like, I heard the news that we'll be during the next upcoming update, all hsr players receiving a 5* like FOR FREE?? Lmao he smacks people with a book (he be giving major Alhaitham vibes because of that)

And yes I instantly reopened hsr after hearing that news because, don't blame me, that was very surprising to hear and I just remembered about me leaving in the middle of a quest hehe

So yeah, and apparently I had a bunch of mail sitting unclaimed and holy muffins did I get loads of stellar jade from there

Aaaaand I went straight to spending said stellar jade.... and, what the f— uh, french fries

What is argenti doing on my screen (he's pretty hehehehehehe)

BUT IT WAS 26 FREAKING PITY?!?!?!?! Oh god I'm so confused how is this happening over and over again, and like if this is some "returner" 's luck or something or if hsr simply trying to win me over....

– The new-ish hsr player

NO BC THE FREE DR RATIO IS THE ONLY THING KEEPING ME SANE GOING INTO 2024 😭 my lil nerdy pookie snookums who may or may not have attitude but that just ups his charm infinitely 😩

the best feeling is coming back to a game to a bunch of in game currency fr !! the instant dopamine hit it gives u is smth else i swear 😭 AND CONGRATS ON UR ARGENTI????? ur hsr gacha luck never ceases to amaze me .....

#omg a convo !?#hsr player nonnie !!#this is hsrs tactic to keep bringing u back 😭 they dont want u to go so they hit u with the amazing gacha luck KJH #may the stars guide you <3

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dizzyhslightlyvoided · 5 months

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"If you took a couple of Roll Casketts and stuck one of the Roll Casketts on top of the other Roll Caskett, then attached another Roll Caskett to the end of each of the arms of the upper of the first two Roll Casketts and wrapped the whole business up in a red scifi military uniform with a short skirt, you would have something which didn't exactly look like Sphere Seiben From Touhou Project Side Story ~ Hoshi no Kioku, but which those who knew her would find hauntingly familiar."

-- the novelization Touhou Project Side Story: So Long And Thanks For All The Rabbits, probably

#shenanigans #touhou #touhou project side story #touhou project side story: memory of stars #mega man legends #roll caskett #douglas adams #hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy #so long and thanks for all the fish #fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak memes stronger #sphere sieben #hauntingly familiar #night blogging

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elbiotipo · 5 months

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INDEED

#PARA QUE MIERDA JUGAS SINO #the fun thing is that I disagree with the rest of the guide and think it's terrible advice #but I support the tactical waifu spot #and Red #cosas mias #el biotipo plays arknights

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seekslight · 4 months

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other ✧.* tag dump part two

v : everywhere i go the light follows { canon } v : burning brighter { star guardian } v : burning bright { star guardian — modern } v : hey! who are you calling a lady? { modern } v : for demacia { odyssey } v : oooh i've never been here before! { space groove } v : a beacon in battle { porcelain } v : the superior tactic is to never give up { anima squad } v : finish the fight! { soul fighter } v : into battle with hearts aglow! { battle academia } v : { arcane }

she's like a grenade to the face; she's beauty she's grace : { shimmershots } i hope you will one day let the light guide you : { apostisms } are we supposed to be... dating? we haven't even talked... { deadn30n }

#v : everywhere i go the light follows { canon }#v : burning brighter { star guardian }#v : burning bright { star guardian — modern }#v : hey! who are you calling a lady? { modern }#v : for demacia { odyssey }#v : oooh i've never been here before! { space groove }#v : a beacon in battle { porcelain }#v : the superior tactic is to never give up { anima squad }#v : finish the fight! { soul fighter }#v : into battle with hearts aglow! { battle academia }#v : { arcane }#she's like a grenade to the face; she's beauty she's grace : { shimmershots }#i hope you will one day let the light guide you : { apostisms }#are we supposed to be... dating or something? we haven't even talked... : { deadn30n }

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crystalelemental · 1 year

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12.5K Master Mode - A Guide To Stall

Pokemon Masters is releasing its new 12.5k Master Mode, alongside a new, limited mode that focuses entirely on one type weakness. Given these adjustments, with the "free" condition giving 300 points being a massive damage reduction to off-type, many players may be looking at this and bemoaning the fact that now, you'll be expected to have more than one competent damage dealer in each type. In fact, you'll be asked to have up to five. This is a daunting prospect for many, I imagine, as several types barely even have five damage dealers, let alone competent ones. Types like Ground are almost entirely limited too, which raises a significant concern about clearing stages if you didn't pull for them. It can be daunting, and some may be wondering if there's a way to work around this.

I have good news, friends. Parameter updates as they are, an ancient technique long forgotten has made its resurgence. Stall is making a comeback.

Stall in Pokemon Masters Around December 2021, Pokemon Masters underwent a major meta shift, with the introduction of Legendary Gauntlet as the fresh new game mode, and Champion Stadium updating to the 10k Master Mode setting. This meta shift did not introduce new parameters, however, and as a result, certain playstyles thrived or suffered accordingly. And they suffered so badly that, I imagine, new players since that time probably don't even know what I'm talking about.

Stall died that day. Not in a strict sense, but in a functional one. Gauntlet thrives on resetting status or becoming immune to status, so the only real utility to such skills is for multipliers. The 10k Master Mode meta forced choices regarding improved Strength, which meant stall was dealing with higher offensive power than before. In addition to modern CS like Sinnoh and Hoenn coming in with significant multipliers they actually set up, Stall fell from reasonable viability, and DeNA does not seem keen on the idea of providing premium stall tech for us anymore. So for the last year and a half, roughly, no one's talked about Stall. But the new parameters added have, somehow, made it easier for Stall to succeed in the 12.5k meta than the 10k meta. Stall has a place again, and with the threat of needing five striker types at once for the new limited CS, I think it's going to be really beneficial for newer players to learn about what used to be one the most powerful strategies the game had to offer.

The Essence of Cheese There are four key components of a good Stall team:

Passive Damage

Consistent Healing

Offense Debuffing

Defense Buffing

We'll go over each of these components here, listing out sync pairs that are effective in each particular role. Once we've looked at these traits, we'll discuss team compositions, aiming for five teams that utilize these tactics to success.

Passive Damage Stall does not concern itself with dealing damage directly. Your attacks exist solely to apply conditions that will deal damage over time for you. The primary conditions for this are Toxic and Trap, though other conditions now exist.

Toxic is your big effect. Unlike regular Poison, Toxic builds over time, dealing successively greater damage over time, and it's this growing damage that's significant. Toxic is a fairly rare trait, with most Pokemon applying regular Poison. That said, the F2P meta has the majority of options, with BP Erika, Lucy, Koga, BP Janine, SS Leaf, and Tech Golbat being the main users. Emma can also apply.

Trap generally deals less, though depending on foe's resistance to it, Trap can outperform Toxic. Trap is significant additional damage, but it requires monitoring, as it wears off after a few actions. Your trap user wants to be careful to re-apply it on center the moment they are freed. Usually, this is about two actions after first sync, for a functional explanation of timing. Trap, like Toxic, is a relatively rare trait, though not as rare as Toxic. Applicators include BP Erika, Lucy, Wallace, Bertha, Serena, Viola, Blaine, Lodge Lillie, Tech Sandslash, Tech Lickitung, Tech Cloyster, and Tech Venomoth. There's also Anni Raihan, and SS Lyra.

Ancillary effects include passive damage from weather like Sandstorm, Hail, or Damage Fields. Sandstorm and Hail can deal reasonable damage, but generally don't last too long. Bertha is the only relevant abuser of Sandstorm passive damage, due to everything else she's stacking. Damage Fields deal so little due to every stage having DF Resistance 9 on center anyway, so they're good for maybe 33 damage per action. It's so negligible as to be laughable. Toxic and Trap are your only real concerns.

You may notice, some units repeat on those lists. BP Erika and Lucy apply both Toxic and Trap in one unit. This kind of role compression is significant, and will be pointed out where relevant, for the purposes of constructing teams.

Consistent Healing Healing sources are a significant part of stall tactics. If your team doesn't have the ability to heal, then eventually your foe will overrun your defenses, guaranteed. Remember, each sync buff is a 50% damage bonus, and your foes mostly have Lessen Poison/Trap 9. Taking 2-3 sync moves isn't unreasonable. You need to be prepared. There are two general approaches to survival. Potion is the general pop heal, that's incredibly useful for your center mon. Double MPR on grid is naturally the best outcome, and can potentially bring you from your last use back to full if both activate in tandem. There are other means of pop healing as well, but generally speaking, the more powerful and the more uses, the better. Useful Potion users include Skyla, Misty, Cheryl, Leaf, SS Leaf, Dawn, BP Morty, Hop, and Sonia. Other options include Swimsuit Misty, NY!Sabrina, Lance, Spring May, and C!Red, among others. Note SS Leaf for Toxic.

Synchro Healing and Recuperation are the other means. If you have the ability to consistently heal the team through sync use, then let that unit use every sync. Not like it will deal damage. Synchro Healing is useful to heal the whole team for AoE heavy stages, while Recuperation is a bigger pop heal on whoever used it, and is good for stages that mostly target the tank. Useful Synchro Healers include MU Torchic, MU Mesprit, BP Clemont, Lodge Lillie, Lodge Morty, BP Morty, BP Surge, Lillie, MU Cobalion, MU Regirock, and Evelyn. Others include Halloween Caitlin, and probably others but a lot of these are on grid. Note Lodge Lillie for trap.

Recuperation users include Jasmine, Leaf, Lodge Elesa, BP Janine, and probably others but it's a rare skill. Shoutouts to Wallace for having it though. NY!Sabrina and C!Bede also have Recuperation 2, of all things. Note BP Janine for Toxic, and Wallace for Trap.

Offense Debuffing A critical facet of survival is debuffing your opponent's offenses. The lower their offenses, the better your tank takes hits. This is often something that has to go hand in hand with maximizing your defenses, though some stages can get away with one or the other. Additionally, most stages require you to debuff both. Some are strictly physical, often the Fighting types, while some are mostly special.

Mixed offense debuffers include Janine, Ghetsis, Lodge Lillie, and Tech Nidoqueen. Anni Raihan and Anni Skyla are worth noting for Disarm, C!Iris for her double drop AoE debuffs, and Anni N for debuffing both AoE, but also for ignoring passives that reduce damage. Note Lodge Lillie now participates in three of the critical roles.

Relevant attack debuffers include Dawn, Bertha, and NY!Dawn.

Relevant special Attack debuffers include Viola. That's it, really, but she applies Trap too.

Defense Buffing Defense buffing is the other critical stat focus. The higher your defenses, the less damage you take. This is pretty much all in the hands of your support unit, with ideal supports carrying this and probably your healing game. Like debuffs, the ideal is mixed buffing, though sometimes you can get away with one or the other.

Mixed defense buffers include BP Morty, BP Clemont, Leaf (kinda), Aaron, Evelyn, and Lodge Dawn (skews Sp Def). Others include Swimsuit Misty, SS Morty, Summer Hilda, . Special mention to MU Mesprit and Melony, not for buffing defenses, but having Reflect and Light Screen at the same time.

Relevant defense buffers include Jasmine, Dawn, Skyla, Hop, Sonia, MU Regirock, and MU Cobalion. Note all of them carry some form of significant healing, with Dawn having attack debuffing as well.

Relevant special defense buffers include Lodge Elesa, and SC Jasmine. There's fewer of these, I feel.

Parameters to Set With these traits in mind, it's time to get started on conquering stages. First order of business is identifying the parameters you'll need to achieve a full 2.5k clear. Below is a list of recommended traits to activate, in order to properly stall a stage:

Physical Dmg Reduction (50)

Special Dmg Reduction (50)

Def & Sp Def Up 1 (50)

Def & Sp Def Up 3 (100)

Max HP Up 2 (100)

Physical Damage Reduction (100)

Special Damage Reduction (100)

Critical-Hit Defense (150)

No Change to Weather, Terrain, or Zone (150)

Def & Sp Def Up 5 (150)

HP Up 4 (200)

Ally Move Gauge -2 (300)

Max HP Up 6 (300)

Standard Damage Reduction (300)

Max HP Up 8 (400)

These parameters total 2500 points, without boosting enemy offensive stats at all. It maintains the ability to debuff your foe, heal for full potential, and start with maximum HP to permit Endurance options. While you could theoretically make adjustments if needed, there is very little reason to shift any of these parameters off when using stall.

Watch For Counterplay As powerful as stall is, you have to be able to recognize what traits are going to sink a run. There aren't a ton, but when they exist, it hurts.

Sync Cure is the single most devastating trait a foe can have. This removes status from the opponent on sync. Because you cannot stop your opponent's sync, this is guaranteed to go off. When it does, Toxic is removed, which resets the counter. Unless your team has incredible healing potential, this skill is a sure loss.

Gradual Healing is also significantly painful. It lasts through 8 actions, and your opponent will be healing about what you deal in passive damage, significantly slowing down your progress through the stage, and near-guaranteeing they receive an extra sync. Again, good healing potential is necessary here.

Impervious, or any ability to block offense debuffs, can seriously mess with you. Bruno's Machamp in I believe Johto has this skill, and with his high BP moves, this stage is a serious threat to stall tactics. Defense buffing and healing potential are integral here.

Stat boosts post-sync are rare, and easier to handle if you know they're coming, but some offensive threats like Phoebe's Banette will boost offensive stats on sync. It's something to be aware of, and ready to respond to.

High BP moves are also a problem. Some stages dish out repeated powerful hits, throwing out Flare Blitz, Close Combat, Mega Kick, Hyper Beam in some cases. These are inherently dangerous even at base offenses, and stages geared toward this aggressive playstyle tend to require pop healing over sync healing, and likely need MPRs to activate.

I don't think I've seen it, but if a stage is ever full-on immune to Toxic or Trap, just...give up there.

Teambuilding Now it's time to teambuild. Our goal is five teams that all work with reasonable consistency, applying Toxic, Trap, healing, debuffing, and buffing. Some may miss one of the traits, and generally if you need to drop one, it's the buffing or the debuffing. Our goal is to align these as F2P as possible, so all five teams will be constructed using general pool tools, or tools you can pick up freely. It should also go without saying, but to be clear: everything on these teams should be running Vigilance as a lucky skill, unless it's already baked in. Nothing will tank a run faster than oops, your foe crit on sync and now your side is dead.

Team 1: BP Erika, BP Morty, Tech Nidoqueen BP Erika is one of the best stall bots in the game. For the low price of one regular BP Voucher at 100 BP (two days of clearing the region rotation or like three missions in a modern event), you can take BP Erika and have Toxic/Trap ready. BP Morty is another BP unit with fantastic value, offering defense buffing, Potion, and Synchro Healing on grid. Tech Nidoqueen supplies the last condition with Venom Drench, debuffing the foe's offenses while they're afflicted with Toxic. Morty takes every sync, Erika applies her Trap repeatedly to center, Nidoqueen debuffs until all foes are at -6. Avoid using Astonish on center. Flinches are the death of stall, because sides will just push center toward sync. You want center to wear itself down fast. That said, Morty's additional Confuse is potentially hilarious.

Team 2: Lucy, BP Clemont, Janine Lucy is BP Erika, but in the general pool, with her own Gradual Healing trainer move to boot. BP Clemont buffs both defenses, has Endurance, and has Synchro Healing. Let him take every sync, and your team will consistently heal. Janine is the better Tech Nidoqueen, offering the same debuffing, but also better speed for gauges, and most critically, evasion to cheese out some attacks as the secondary defensive option.

Team 3: Koga, BP Janine/Lodge Dawn, Lodge Lillie Koga supplies Toxic, and Lillie provides Trap. Lillie debuffs attack with every move, while Satisfied Snarl 4 can debuff special attack, with some inconsistency. The decision from there is up to preference. BP Janine is another shot at Toxic, since Koga's is only a 50/50, and you want to work quick to apply it, but she has no defensive backbone. She does have evasion, but that's less consistent. The alternative is Lodge Dawn, who is more consistent about special attack debuffs and has defensive buffing and Gradual Healing access, but has far less in defense boosting. Lodge Lillie should take every sync for Synchro Healing. Her healing matches Janine's, so there's no reason to use Janine. However, if your HP is fine, Dawn could take first sync for Evasive Rush 3, and get just as much evasion as Janine's likely to get, with better defenses.

Team 4: Tech Golbat, Leaf, Ghetsis/Viola/Bertha Tech Golbat has Poison Fang, but little else. Leaf is arguably the best stall support in the game. Each sync not only gives her Recuperation, but +2 to all stats, building up defenses. With double Potion MPR, Leaf sustains like crazy. Ghetsis debuffs both offenses, and while this lacks added Trap damage, the team can be bulky and sustain-oriented enough that Leaf still wins. Though if you'd like trap, Viola has special attack debuffs for stages that skew toward that, while Bertha can debuff attack under Sandstorm. Both Viola and Bertha have solid passive healing, conserving Leaf's Potions.

Team 5: SS Leaf, Jasmine, Wallace If you didn't pull SS Leaf, don't worry too much about it. Realistically, you only need four teams that can clear CS, since just about every pair now has at least one competent F2P striker to clear a stage. For those who correctly pulled her at 1/5, this team rules. SS Leaf has AoE toxic, while Wallace provides Trap. The reason this team is so effective is because Leaf and Wallace both have significant bonus damage on their passive effects. Leaf also provides a metric ton of healing, including Potion with the higher MPR3 and Gradual Healing. Jasmine packs Recuperation 2, which is 40% healing every sync she takes, and buffs defenses sky high. The team is weaker against special stages, but I've used it to clear 2500 point Master Mode way before the current parameter update, so they'll get the job done. I do want to note that 5/5 Leaf has Noxious Hit to debuff offenses, but really want to stress that this isn't necessary. 2/5 Leaf has Potion and MPR on trainer move if desired, while 3/5 gets Master Healer, but I'd wager they can do it at 1/5 too.

Rotation Order In order to properly execute stall, some consideration must be given to the rotation of your actions. Notably, who is applying what. Turn order for opponents is Center-Right-Center-Left-Center spam until death. For teams where your Toxic and Trap users are separated out, apply center, apply right, apply left, done. For BP Erika and Lucy, the rotation is as follows: Toxic Center -> Toxic Right -> Trap Center -> Toxic Left -> Trap Left or Right -> Trap the other -> in 2 turns, spam Trap on Center until it is re-applied. This will maximize the damage dealt over time.

Final Notes Toxic Stall is a beautiful thing that I have missed dearly. It technically still worked in 2k Master Mode, but was heavily reliant on your MPR game on Potion most of the time. Some stages are still going to be like that, or potentially be impossible to properly stall. Modern CS has issues like oops it's Sun forever, while even old CS stages could overwhelm with significant firepower or obnoxious status. And of course, counterplay exists, and will likely be leveraged against us in the limited CS event. But I'd say about 90% of CS stages are fully cheesable on an F2P budget. It can require a few 5* tools to get consistent with it, and brand new players might take a bit to get their BP units to 3/5 for Synchro Healing, or get a Lodge unit, but I'd argue this is likely a lot faster than building up five damage dealers of the same type, for a lot cheaper.

If you've never tried stall, the first Kanto CS on the 3rd is a good time to try. Kanto is an old one, so the power level is a lot lower and a lot more forgiving. And if Electric-weak Lorelei is there...listen, I didn't know. That's not my fault, okay?

#pokemon masters #guide to stall #stall #stall tactics #this is technically a remake but I couldn't find the tag for the original #so I gave up #anyway please enjoy the new CS stall meta #I for one will be having a great time

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