Pokemon HGSS Battle Hall Singles Streak with Slaking: 197 wins
This is a project I've been working on for the past few months. Slaking was actually one of the very first Pokemon I tried out in Hall, back when I commenced my "road to 10000" project, but I left it after reaching 128 and moved on to other things. After playing around with other Pokemon, I decided to revisit Slaking.
Slaking seems like it should be perfectly suited for the Hall. Slaking's stats are frankly amazing, with enormous attack, great bulk, and a solid speed tier for Hall, and it has a fairly versatile move pool, with strong STAB options, plenty of coverage with only a few gaps, priority access, Counter, Slack Off, and numerous boosting and utility options. Truant is obviously really, really awful, but the 1v1 environment of Hall nullifies the downsides of this ability, right?
Well.....yes it does, most of the time, but not all of the time, and there are numerous match-ups where Truant basically makes Slaking one of the worst Pokemon in the game, and having to account for it against specific threats made building sets for Slaking quite interesting and challenging. I wouldn't go so far to say that getting Slaking to 170 was as hard as it was with Smeargle, but the amount of time and effort put into my Slaking streak definitely seemed to rival that of the Smeargle streak. Slaking is not the kind of Pokemon where you can just slap on STAB + coverage with a Choice Band and expect to succeed without extreme luck on your side, as I tried ages ago. It is very important to have good knowledge of what kinds of Pokemon are threats to Slaking and what you can do, if anything, to increase your odds of winning against them. Having an understanding of how Hall levels and IVs work was also very helpful in crafting pre-170 sets: having a significant level and IV advantage early on really opens up your options.
I don't pretend to claim that this run is truly as optimal as possible. I used quite a lot of sets in this run but this is balanced with my time and willingness to go out of my way to obtain suitable sets, and in some cases, the sets I used were simply those I had access to and that I judged to be "probably good enough as long as I'm not unlucky". Note that set building for specific rounds is further complicated by the level scaling that changes with each round, since a set you built to counter, say, Fire in round 3 won't necessarily work as well if you decided to move Fire to round 11 (because the levels will be higher and therefore some key damage ranges might change). In any case, if someone else wanted to give Slaking a go then this could be a starting point for further optimisation, but ultimately this got me what I wanted so this will do for now.
Pre-170 order
Round 1: Fighting 1-10
Round 2: Grass 1-10
Round 3: Poison 1-10
Round 4: Electric 1-10
Round 5: Fire 1-9 (Fire 10 skipped with Argenta1)
Round 6: Water 1-10
Round 7: Psychic 1-10
Round 8: Ghost 1-10
Round 9: Dark 1-10
Round 10: Bug 1-10
Round 11: Normal 1-10
Round 12: Ice 1-10
Round 13: Flying 1-10
Round 14: Rock 1-9, Steel 1
Round 15: Ground 1-10
Round 16: Steel 2-10, Dragon 1
Round 17: Dragon 2-10 (Rock 10 skipped with Argenta2)
Round-by-round details
Round 1 - Fighting
Slaking @ Choice Band
Level: 61
Ability: Truant
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 4HP/184Atk/80Def/60SpD/180Speed
Return
Sucker Punch
Earthquake
Ice Punch
I don't know if doing Fighting first is
really necessary since most Hall Fighting-types are frail enough to just die to Return before they do anything to Slaking, but stuff like Infernape, Poliwrath and Machamp are acceptable enough reasons to get Fighting out of the way.
Only the first 3 moves really matter. You'll be using Return mostly, with Earthquake covering Lucario. Believe it or not, Sucker Punch is used for Infernape.
H444 | Infernape | Adamant | Life Orb | Close Combat | Flare Blitz | Mach Punch | Fake Out | Atk/Spd
Fake Out is the main reason this thing is so annoying for Slaking, since it can stop Slaking attacking on turn 1 and then force a loaf on turn 2, giving Infernape plenty of time to beat Slaking down. However, the nice thing about Fake Out in earlier generations is that it only has 1+ priority, and that means that Sucker Punch will let this Slaking, which can out-speed Infernape, hit it and possibly take it out with a critical hit. If it doesn't, then it still 2HKOes anyway, leaving me in the same position as I would be had I just used Return or Earthquake. My Slaking will usually beat Infernape since it has enough bulk to tank Fake Out and Close Combat without being put in KO range of Mach Punch (which Sucker Punch covers), although if either of those moves crit then I can lose.
Note that this Sucker Punch strategy would fail if Infernape used Close Combat on turn 1, but in my experience with Slaking and other Pokemon, Infernape only goes for that if it can OHKO out-right (in which case it's basically a 50/50 as to whether it uses Fake Out or Close Combat/Flare Blitz). On stuff it can't KO right away, it uses Fake Out consistently.
Round 2 - Grass
Slaking @ Expert Belt
Level: 36
Ability: Truant
Nature: Lonely
EVs: 220Atk/4Def/96SpA/8SpD/180Speed
Return
Ice Punch
Flamethrower
Substitute
Note that this Slaking has HP Rock IVs since I planned on using it for Bug as well. The EVs were designed with that in mind so this can be further optimised from what is listed here.
Substitute is used mainly for Venusaur.
H475 | Venusaur | Quiet | Focus Sash | Toxic | Frenzy Plant | Sludge | Protect | Atk/SpA
Protect is bad for Slaking obviously, and Venusaur is one of the few Pokemon that has Protect AND Focus Sash, giving it more opportunities for beat me. The AI is rather random with when it uses Protect so all Protect users can be beaten with a bit of luck. The nice thing about encountering Venusaur this early on though is that it is rather weak. It is so weak, in fact, that it can't even break a Substitute in 2 hits with anything aside from Frenzy Plant, which the AI often avoids using anyway (the AI tends to be random with its usage of recharge moves). This makes Substitute a good option here since it'll punish a Protect or Toxic and keep me safe for a moment, and if it does use Frenzy Plant it'll force a recharge turn on itself anyway.
Other than that, Fire and Ice coverage, supported by Expert Belt, is effective in Grass. Flamethrower is used over Fire Punch specifically because it avoids Meganium's Counter (it holds Focus Sash as well). Flamethrower is also more effective against stuff like Tangrowth and Leafeon.
Round 3 - Poison
Slaking @ Leftovers
Level: 36
Ability: Truant
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252Atk/12Def/244Speed
Return
Earthquake
Faint Attack
Substitute
This set is similar in principle to the Grass set, with Substitute blocking Venusaur. Because I don't really need a boosting-item here, Leftovers is used to improve the odds of being Venusaur further. Faint Attack covers Gengar and Earthquake is for most of the other Poisons. Return works for Crobat.
Round 4 - Electric
Slaking @ Expert Belt
Level: 61
Ability: Truant
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 4HP/184Atk/80Def/60SpD/180Speed
Return
Sucker Punch
Earthquake
Ice Punch
This is the same Slaking I used in round 1, but with Expert Belt instead of Choice Band. Expert Belt's boost is sufficient in this round, and being able to swap moves is crucial for maximum safety against Manectric.
H329 | Manectric | Modest | Focus Sash | Thunder | Flamethrower | Swift | Signal Beam | Spd/SpA
Manectric is a problem set for Slaking since it can't be OHKOed and can paralyse with Thunder. Sucker Punch's priority can help cover that somewhat, although there's nothing I can do about the full paralysis chance unfortunately.
Electric is not the worst typing for Slaking but paralysis can be a streak-ender for anything that isn't Ground-type or otherwise Electric-proof. Doing it early is useful for that reason. Ice Punch is used here for Zapdos. Sucker Punch beats Rotom and everything else is covered by my other moves.
Round 5 - Fire
Slaking @ Choice Band
Level: 61
Ability: Truant
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 4HP/184Atk/80Def/60SpD/180Speed
Return
Sucker Punch
Earthquake
Ice Punch
Same set again, but back to Choice Band. Fire is actually a scary typing for Slaking because of its numerous Protect users.
H395 | Flareon | Mild | Expert Belt | Lava Plume | Quick Attack | Protect | Will-O-Wisp | SpA
H460 | Magmortar | Mild | Lax Incense | Fire Blast | Hyper Beam | SmokeScreen | Protect | Spd/SpA
H476 | Charizard | Quiet | Focus Sash | Will-O-Wisp | Air Slash | Protect | Blast Burn | Atk/SpA
Take note of Charizard especially, since it has Venusaur's Protect-Sash combo, except that you can't just throw Substitute up against it as easily. There isn't really a reliable strategy that Slaking can use to beat it that wouldn't be overly oppressive to its ability to beat other Pokemon, so you just have to...hope that you don't face it, and if you do, hope you get lucky against it. Note that all of this is on top of Infernape being in this pool too. The strategy against Infernape is the same as before.
The main reason why I do Fire now is that I can use Argenta1's challenge at the end of this round to "skip" the rank 10 Fire battle. Note that all of those Protect users and Infernape can only appear at ranks 9 and 10, and with the rank 10 battle avoided, the odds of having to battle one of them is reduced. In hindsight, it might have been better to do battles 1-9 of Fire in round 1 and then do Fighting here, but whatever.
The other Fire-types are fairly easy to deal with.
In this streak, Argenta1 used Donphan against me.
H417 | Donphan | Adamant | Leftovers | Earthquake | Giga Impact | Protect | Sandstorm | Atk/Def
Another Protect user and one with a bit of bulk on its side, but I won because it set Sandstorm on turn 1 and Protected on the loaf turn.
Round 6 - Water
Slaking @ Silk Scarf
Level: 36
Ability: Truant
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 96Atk/132Def/204SpD/76Speed
Giga Impact
ThunderPunch
Earthquake
Substitute
Another tailor-made set just for this type, this set also uses Substitute to counter a Sash-Protect mon.
H376 | Blastoise | Quiet | Focus Sash | Yawn | Hydro Cannon | Return | Protect | SpA/SpD
Same principle: it can't break Substitute effectively without forcing itself to loaf (132 Def stops Return breaking Substitute in 2 hits), giving Slaking a safeguard.
Giga Impact is strong as hell and lacks most of its usual drawbacks due to Truant and the 1v1 environment of the Hall, but the accuracy still sucks. The main reason it's used is because it OHKOes Poliwrath with a Silk Scarf, and being able to OHKO Poliwrath is crucial (and Choice Band isn't an option because I need to be able to swap moves for Substitute to work). ThunderPunch is a safer move that will KO most of the other Water-types, with the extra power of Earthquake being useful for the Rock-types in this round.
204SpD is used to tank 2 Hydro Pumps from Omastar, which isn't OHKOed by any of my moves. 76 Speed is used to move before the Focus Sash Sharpedo, preventing it from flinching me with Waterfall.
Round 7 - Psychic
Slaking @ Choice Band
Level: 36
Ability: Truant
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252Atk/12Def/244Speed
Giga Impact
Earthquake
Faint Attack
Sucker Punch
The same set I used in Poison but with a change in item and some move tweaks. I use Giga Impact again to OHKO Slowbro. Sucker Punch has a chance to OHKO but it isn't consistent and put Slaking at risk of losing to further hax. Both options are acceptable. Adamant would ensure a OHKO with Sucker Punch for a safe win and might be better here, but I was using this set against Gengar in other types and Jolly is needed to out-speed that.
At this point it might be worth addressing Faint Attack, and why it is being used over the stronger Night Slash/Shadow Claw.
H300 | Jynx | Timid | BrightPowder | Lovely Kiss | Blizzard | Dream Eater | Energy Ball | Spd/SpA
H388 | Starmie | Timid | BrightPowder | Hydro Pump | Psychic | Recover | Double Team | Spd/SpA
H408 | Espeon | Modest | BrightPowder | Psychic | Swift | Double Team | Morning Sun | Spd/SpA
I hate BrightPowder. Have lost numerous streaks to it. Faint Attack doesn't care about BrightPowder/Lax Incense, and given that Faint Attack does sufficient damage to its targets, the extra power of Night Slash really doesn't matter much, so I view Faint Attack as superior more often than not.
Sucker Punch is strong than both and can be used safely against 4-attacks sets (there are quite a few of them in Psychic and Ghost). Importantly, it destroys Alakazam, which has Focus Blast and out-speeds Slaking no matter what nature is used (unless it holds a Scarf of course). Earthquake is mostly for Metagross. Bronzong sucks for this Slaking, but I have Earthquake for Heatproof variants and Sucker Punch mitigates Trick Room. Bronzong also has Protect though so...I just hope to not have to face it basically.
Round 8 - Ghost
Slaking @ Choice Band
Level: 36
Ability: Truant
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252Atk/12Def/244Speed
Giga Impact
Earthquake
Faint Attack
Sucker Punch
Same set as in Psychic. The moves outside of Faint Attack and Sucker Punch literally don't matter. Froslass has BrightPowder, but I have Faint Attack. Sucker Punch is great for the 4-attacks Quick Claw Dusclops. Dusknoir is a bit annoying but often just KOes itself with a turn 1 Curse. Overall, Ghost tends to be rather easy compared to other types.
Round 9 - Dark
Slaking @ Choice Band
Level: 61
Ability: Truant
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 4HP/184Atk/80Def/60SpD/180Speed
Return
Sucker Punch
Earthquake
Hammer Arm
This is the set I've used for Fighting/Electric/Fire, but with a move set tweak. Hammer Arm's accuracy makes it a bit risky to go for and it isn't actually needed for many things since Return is sufficient for most Darks, and Earthquake OHKOes Tyranitar in this round. What Hammer Arm DOES do is OHKO Umbreon out-right before it can try to hit me with Confuse Ray. Umbreon is one of the most common high-ranking Dark-types in my experience, so I view the risk to be worth it. Giga Impact can do the same if preferred.
Round 10 - Bug
Slaking @ Expert Belt
Level: 36
Ability: Truant
Nature: Naive
EVs: 76HP/44Atk/172SpA/216Speed
Flamethrower
Hidden Power [Rock]
Aerial Ace
Slack Off
As I mentioned briefly before in Grass, I intended to use that set for Bug as well, but after losing to Scyther (partially due to Lonely's Defense drop), I decided it would be worth using a dedicated set here. The set that I produced is rather strange and STAB-free but overall I was pretty happy with how it turned out.
To address Scyther...I needed to run a Speed-boosting nature, and since I needed to not reduce my attacking stats for other things, I decided that Naive was the suitable nature since the SpD drop wasn't especially important here, whereas physical bulk is crucial for Scyther and a few other things. So yeah, the Speed and HP investment let me out-speed Scyther and survive 2+ Swarm X-Scissor with enough HP left to avoid being piut in range of Quick Attack. I lose if it crits but otherwise I beat it.
The 44Atk EVs let me OHKO Venomoth with Aerial Ace, which also covers Heracross. Flamethrower OHKOes Pinsir and covers Scizor without risking a Counter, which would be a streak-ender no matter what. HP Rock KOes stuff like Vespiquen, but most importantly it 2HKOes Armaldo, who is a kind of a nuisance for Slaking. Armaldo can still beat Slaking if it crits at least once with Scope Lens Stone Edge but I usually win.
That brings me to Slack Off, which exists here pretty much only because of Shuckle.
H412 | Shuckle | Careful | Smooth Rock | Bug Bite | Rollout | Sandstorm | Protect | HP/SpD
Shuckle is very resilient and can Protect on attacking turns while wearing Slaking down with Sandstorm damage, but because it can't do a great deal of damage right away, Slack Off seems to be a pretty good option against it to recover the residual damage quickly. Given that Protect only has 10PP and Shuckle itself has not recovery at all, it is actually possible for Slaking to just stall it out. I suppose some high damage Rollouts could be annoying but the odds of being in a situation where that happens seems to be low. Bug Bite is more likely to be used first since it does more immediate damage.
Round 11 - Normal
Slaking @ Choice Band
Level: 61
Ability: Truant
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 4HP/184Atk/80Def/60SpD/180Speed
Return
Sucker Punch
Counter
Hammer Arm
This set makes its 5th and final appearance in this streak, with one more move change. Counter is used for Granbull and Staraptor, both of which have Close Combat and Intimidate. Intimidate prevents a OHKO while Close Combat 2HKOes back. Counter lets me OHKO, as long as they don't crit with Close Combat. Return is generally sufficient for most things, but the extra power of Hammer Arm is occasionally useful. A good example would be Snorlax, who has enough bulk to sometimes tank a Return and has a chance to 2HKO back with Choice Band Brick Break, but is OHKOed by Hammer Arm (note that Snorlax's high HP makes Counter inconsistent as an answer here). Hammer Arm also has a chance to OHKO Regigigas although it's not guaranteed. Sucker Punch isn't used here so you could maybe run Giga Impact over that for the boosted power over Hammer Arm (or just run that over Hammer Arm itself). It's an expensive TM so I didn't want to at the time, but I've since learned how to RNG Voltorb Flip to get coins easily so maybe I would do that differently next time. Low Kick is also an option if you are willing to spend for it and would probably be better for Snorlax than Hammer Arm.
Round 12 - Ice
Slaking @ Choice Band
Level: 100
Ability: Truant
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 176Atk/184SpD/148Speed
Double-Edge
Giga Impact
Low Kick
Faint Attack
So I got a bit lazy here and decided to use an older set from my first Slaking runs from a while ago. This Slaking was born in gen 3 for Double-Edge, and after doing a bit of theorymon with it and changing a few moves, I decided that it was sufficient for Ice, although not perfectly optimised. For example, Adamant would be better here since Jolly doesn't let you out-speed anything extra whereas the extra power of Adamant would let you OHKO Articuno with Double-Edge.
In any case, Low Kick OHKOes Cloyster, Giga Impact OHKOes Articuno, Faint Attack OHKOes Froslass and Jynx without risking a miss, and Double-Edge works against pretty much everything else.
Round 13 - Flying
Slaking @ Choice Band
Level: 55
Ability: Truant
Nature: Naive
EVs: 8HP/144Atk/144SpA/212Spe
Ice Punch
Thunderbolt
Rock Slide
Aerial Ace
Another weird STAB-less set (there's more of those to come still). Flying can often be a tricky type for build for due to the diversity in secondary typings present in the pool, although luckily most Flying-types are rather frail and slow and therefore not a threat.
The bulk and Speed is for Scyther. Ice Punch is my primary move here. Thunderbolt is used mainly because it OHKOes Staraptor consistently which is important because of Close Combat 2HKOing back. Thunderbolt still covers Gyarados and Mantine just fine and it works against Skarmory well too.
Rock Slide is another risky option but is the best option I could come up with for Articuno. The risk is worth it for a niche match-up when Ice Punch and Thunderbolt cover the other things just fine. Aerial Ace is a filler option but is useful for Jumpluff to avoid missing from BrightPowder. Strangely enough, Aerial Ace can also be used against Crobat since it'll always 2HKO with assistance from Brave Bird recoil while avoid its Double Team/BrightPowder shenanigans. There's a minor risk here of losing to Toxic and a Brave Bird crit though, so you could also just use Ice Punch and hope that it hits.
Round 14 - Rock
Slaking @ Choice Band
Level: 100
Ability: Truant
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 152HP/252Atk/104Def
Earthquake
Low Kick
Fling
Slack Off
Rock isn't a great type for Slaking despite the numerous super-effective moves it has to pick from. The pool of Rocks is more diverse than you might expect and it's hard to cover everything, but I managed to come up with something that seemed to work ok.
Note that I only did battles 1-9 of Rock here. I decided to use Argenta2's challenge to skip rank 10 Rock. This made life a little easier when building this set since I could optimise for the lower level/IV opponents of rank 9. I did Steel Rank 1 for the last battle (I believe it was Aron).
So the nice thing about Rock is that Speed investment is mostly useless here. Aerodactyl can't be out-sped without a Scarf no matter what and the next fastest things (Solrock/Lunatone) are slower even with no investment as long as you have a neutral-nature. This gives Slaking a ton of EVs to improve its bulk and maximise its power. The given defensive EVs basically prevent Armaldo from 2HKOing unless it crits twice in a row, while also granting an efficient HP to play with in Shuckle's sand.
Earthquake and Low Kick together do a good job at covering stuff when supported with a Choice Band. Unfortunately Aerodactyl can survive a Low Kick sometimes and I though about Hammer Arm to more assuredly KO it, but Hammer Arm is a little worse against other fighting targets like Cradily so it's just a matter of preference.
One of the trickiest opponents to cover here was Shuckle. I already tried Slack Off against it in Bug but since I needed Choice Band's power, I at first thought it wouldn't be an option here. That lead me to one of my more brilliant ideas: Fling! Fling lets me shed the Choice Band on turn 1 (this apparently works even if Fling goes into Protect) and then I'm free to use Slack Off as much as I want for that specific match-up.
Round 15 - Ground
Slaking @ Choice Specs
Level: 100
Ability: Truant
Nature: Modest
EVs: 72HP/244SpA/192Spe
Ice Beam
Flamethrower
Hidden Power [Grass]
Water Pulse
The very last Slaking I made for this run, Special Slaking with the given spread, item and moves OHKOes every Ground-type if it lands the hit. The issue is whether it'll actually hit or not. Ground has a whopping SIX rank 10 BrightPowder/Lax Incense holders in its pool, and there's also the Protect Donphan.
In this run, I encountered 2 of the 6 in Sandslash and Piloswine, both of which have the ability to be especially heinous because of Sandstorm/Hail and Dig. I managed to hit both before they could set anything up. I also has some funny lower rank battles: one was against Quagsire that used Endure on turn 1 but didn't managed to hax me after that, and the other was against Dugtrio out-speeding and setting up Sandstorm (I OHKOed it so I don't know if it had Sand Veil or not). I don't tend to think about Quagsire and Dugtrio much since they don't ever appear at rank 10, but that would have been a surprising way to lose!
Round 16 - Steel
Slaking @ Choice Band
Level: 100
Ability: Truant
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 152HP/252Atk/104Def
Earthquake
Low Kick
Fling
Flamethrower
I got lazy again and brought back the Rock set with Flamethrower over Slack Off. I had a set in mind when looking through the Steel pool that I was somewhat happy with, but at this point I was tired of breeding and training Slaking after Slaking, and I figured that this would be very likely to succeed anyway as long as I avoided the bad Steels.
I replaced Slack Off with Flamethrower to hit the Bugs and Skarmory (which was my rank 10 this time). Even with non-ideal nature and IVs, Flamethrower is good enough for its role. Choice Band Earthquake OHKOes most other Steels, most notably Metagross and Registeel. Low Kick is reserved for Steelix which has a 50% of being OHKOed by it. I don't have great options for Bronzong unfortunately, but I didn't encounter it here.
The round was mostly uneventful. Since I already did Steel 1 at the end of round 14, I used the last battle on Dragon 1, against a Bagon.
Round 17 - Dragon
Slaking @ Choice Band
Level: 100
Ability: Truant
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252Atk/8Def/20SpD/228Spe
Double-Edge
Earthquake
Fire Punch
Ice Punch
Dragon is a pretty easy type for Slaking, possibly the easiest one. Nothing can stand up to Ice Punch and Double-Edge and there are no sources of hax that could possibly stop Slaking from winning.
The question of what set to use came down to being as prepared for Argenta's randomness as possible. This set, like the other set I used for my very early Slaking attempts ages ago, was ready to go and I figured that STAB and Ice Punch with Earthquake and Fire Punch for most Steels would be reasonably equipped for the challenge. There are no anti-Ghost moves but I figured that this was acceptable because the only Ghosts that Argenta2 can possibly use are Gengar and Dusknoir, and the chances of me seeing one of those among the large pool of Pokemon in her pool was fairly low.
The round was uneventful. Argenta2 used Arcanine.
H379 | Arcanine | Adamant | Razor Claw | ExtremeSpeed | Flare Blitz | Facade | Will-O-Wisp | Atk/Spd
It didn't have Intimidate so I won easily, and even if it did, the odds of losing were very low since it would need me to roll low with Earthquake and then crit AND roll high with Flare Blitz (or maybe Will-O-Wisp and crit after that) to cause a loss. It was a nice relief to have an easy battle against her here.
Post-170 sets
In the post-170 phase, you have to beat all rank 10s of all types over and over. You can pick the order but you have to challenge every type once every 17 battles. This effectively gives you 2 sets to work with, one for 10 of the types and the other for the remaining 7.
For this run, I didn't go to the trouble of theorymoning new sets, and instead used the older sets with Double-Edge from before.
Set 1
Slaking @ Choice Band
Level: 100
Ability: Truant
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252Atk/8Def/20SpD/228Spe
Double-Edge
Earthquake
Fire Punch
Ice Punch
Used for: Dragon, Grass, Rock, Flying, Ice, Normal, Bug, Steel, Ground, Fire
The same set I used for Argenta2. Double-Edge is just an amazing move for Slaking. It's not the most convenient move to obtain since it requires access to gen 3 games but it's so worth the extra power over Return if you are willing to go to the trouble, gaining additional KOes and easing the pressure on coverage selection a bit. Earthquake and Fire Punch cover most Steels with Ice Punch covering particular Pokemon for extra damage or to avoid recoil (Aerodactyl is a good example in Flying and Rock).
Before starting this run, I thought about running Flamethrower over Fire Punch since it covers Scizor without the danger of being Countered on turn 1, and the extra power of the physical Fire Punch isn't especially important. It would make the Bronzong match-up even worse than it already is though, so I think it would just come down more to preference than one being better than the other.
The 228+ Speed investment beats level 96/26IV Scyther and Lopunny, which are the fastest things a level 100 base 100 Speed Pokemon can outpace (the next fastest thing is Weavile at 330, Slaking hits 328 max). 8 Defense avoids a 2HKO from Relicanth's Head Smash. Attack is maximised and the rest go to SpD.
Slaking @ Choice Band
Level: 100
Ability: Truant
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 176Atk/184SpD/148Speed
Double-Edge
Earthquake
ThunderPunch
Faint Attack
Used for: Ghost, Psychic, Water, Electric, Fighting, Poison, Dark
The set I used in Ice but with its original move set restored. Earthquake covers many Normal-resistant Pokemon like Tyranitar in Dark and the Water-type Rocks. ThunderPunch is mainly used for certain Waters for more damage or for recoil avoidance. Faint Attack covers Ghosts and Psychics.
This set is slower and weaker than the other one but has more bulk. The bulk basically makes it so that Focus Sash Manectric can't 2HKO with Thunder, improving my chances of winning against it (can't do much about paralysis though sadly). The Speed lets me out-speed Jynx to avoid Lovely Kiss and the rest goes into Attack.
I chose Faint Attack as my Dark move but Sucker Punch is also a viable option here. Faint Attack is nice because it gets around BrightPowder from the likes of Espeon, Jynx, Starmie and Froslass, while still be strong enough to KO most of its targets reliably. It also doesn't fail on stuff like Dusknoir's Curse. On the other hand, Sucker Punch can let Slaking beat Alakazam safely before it uses Focus Blast, and Sucker Punch would also help against Manectric by nullifying the speed drop from paralysis (but it would also increase the odds of being paralysed in the first place due to Static). Note that Alakazam can't OHKO with Focus Blast with the given EVs so Sucker Punch isn't essential for beating it but it would still ensure a win. I prefer Faint Attack myself but can see Sucker Punch being a good option anyway.
The run
I now present the battles I had in this run, commenting on anything interesting or important on the way.
Set 1
171: Dragon - Dragonite
172: Grass - Vileplume
173: Rock - Regirock
H438 | Regirock | Brave | Sitrus Berry | Stone Edge | AncientPower | Giga Impact | Thunder Wave | Atk/SpA
A bit scary since it can survive a hit and paralyse. However, this time it used Stone Edge and then Giga Impact and I survived long enough to 2HKO.
174: Flying - Vespiquen
H357 | Vespiquen | Brave | BrightPowder | Power Gem | Attack Order | Ominous Wind | Air Cutter | Atk/SpA
Another minor threat because it can dodge but it isn't that powerful either. I DID lose my Dragonite streak to this dodging twice in a row though.
175: Ice - Abomasnow
176: Normal - Zangoose
177: Bug - Yanmega
H462 | Yanmega | Rash | Petaya Berry | Bug Buzz | Air Slash | Endure | Reversal | Def/SpA
I consider Yanmega to be a bit of a sleeper threat to many physical mons in Hall because its EV spread lets it survive things unexpectedly, and if it has Speed Boost it can spiral out of control very quickly if you don't have priority to stop it. Slaking CAN OHKO it unless it decides to use Endure. However, I've never seen Yanmega use Endure on turn 1 or when it's at high HP so I don't find it to be particularly dangerous to Slaking.
178: Steel - Skarmory
179: Ground - Garchomp
180: Fire - Magmar
Set 2
181: Ghost - Banette
182: Psychic - Exeggutor
183: Water - Lanturn
184: Electric - Electabuzz
185: Fighting - Heracross
186: Poison - Venusaur
H475 | Venusaur | Quiet | Focus Sash | Toxic | Frenzy Plant | Sludge | Protect | Atk/SpA
Already spoken about this, but yeah, it's a major threat. I have no counter-measures for this so winning just comes down to luck. The main thing is to not use Double-Edge since the recoil just makes it harder to win and the extra power is worthless. Use Earthquake instead. In this battle it used Toxic on turn 1 and then Protected on turn 2 as I loafed. I KOed it after that.
187: Dark - Umbreon
H409 | Umbreon | Relaxed | Leftovers | Facade | Sucker Punch | Confuse Ray | Moonlight | Def/SpD
Umbreon is among the most common Dark-types in my experience, and it's one of the most annoying for Slaking (and most things without Own Tempo or Substitute). It can't be OHKOed by Double-Edge and if it decides to use Confuse Ray on turn 1 it can be very hard to take down. In addition, it'll get a free turn to use Moonlight no matter what because of Truant, and that combined with 2 turns of Leftovers can let it survive another Double-Edge if Slaking gets bad rolls. The saving grace is that sometimes Umbreon will use Sucker Punch or Facade on turn 1 instead (the usage of Sucker Punch in gen 4 is rather random - the AI isn't really all that good at using it). In this battle it used Facade. In addition, Umbreon will tend to use Moonlight if its HP drops to about 60% or less, which grants another turn free of confusion if you got lucky on turn 1. After it used Moonlight on turn 2, I was able to finish it off with Double-Edge after that.
188: Dark - Shiftry
This battle wasn't interesting. The main thing to address here is why I picked Dark again. After I beat Umbreon, all types were unlocked again, and the nice thing about the Hall is that there seems to be a system in place that makes it so you can't encounter the same Pokemon twice in the same round (unless there aren't any other options, but that isn't going to happen in the post-170 game). This means that Umbreon couldn't appear here again, and since most of the other Dark types are mostly tame, I figured this would give me a likely win. In addition, it would also mean not having to do Dark at all in the next round where I use this set since I would have 4 more types to burn through at the start of the round, then another 6 once the types were all unlocked again.
189: Psychic - Gardevoir
190: Water - Whiscash
H341 | Whiscash | Quiet | Lax Incense | Earth Power | Water Pulse | Future Sight | Blizzard | SpA/SpD
Another dodger, and one I've had many disappointments with when using Garchomp. It didn't dodge here though.
Set 1
191: Dragon - Dragonite
192: Grass - Ludicolo
193: Rock - Rhydon
H294 | Rhydon | Adamant | Sitrus Berry | Dig | Stone Edge | Rock Slide | Megahorn | HP/Atk
This set only has a 25% chance of being OHKOed by Earthquake, but it also can't 2HKO back unless it gets a crit. I consider it a minor threat overall. In this battle I missed the KO range but it missed its first Stone Edge, removing any chance of a loss.
194: Flying - Noctowl
195: Ice - Glalie
196: Normal - Ursaring
H414 | Ursaring | Adamant | Focus Band | Frustration | Rest | Sleep Talk | ThunderPunch | Atk/Def
Usually not a big deal, but it's potentially one Focus Band proc away from causing a loss. It might still be able to win if it prefers to use Rest after Frustration but with the recoil and the damage from Frustration probably putting Slaking into KO range it would likely just attack again on the loaf turn.
197: Bug - Scyther
H389 | Scyther | Jolly | Focus Sash | X-Scissor | Aerial Ace | Swords Dance | Quick Attack | Atk/Spd
One of my most hated sets. I usually win though, so it just comes down to whether it gets a crit after it uses Swords Dance on turn 1. Obviously just don't use Double-Edge on it since the recoil would cause a loss.
198: Steel - Bronzong
H449 | Bronzong | Quiet | Leftovers | Extrasensory | Flash Cannon | Trick Room | Protect | Def/SpA
My losing battle. This match-up basically comes down to luck with Protect usage and ability. It generally uses Trick Room on turn 1 so you'll get that turn for free, but since Choice Band makes using Earthquake too risky, Fire Punch is the only option. Unfortunately, I got stuck with a Heatproof one and did <50% as it set Trick Room, so the match from there came down to how much Bronzong chose to Protect on my loaf turns.
This Bronzong didn't use Protect once. It 4HKOes with its moves, but Truant effectively makes this a 2HKO and I can't 2HKO Heatproof Bronzong back with Fire Punch without a crit. I DID get a Burn on turn 3 but it made no difference.
Shame not to reach 200 but this is still something I'm happy with and I don't intend on re-attempting this for now. Currently I have 4777 total wins in Hall and will be working on new stuff/re-visiting other things.