Challenge 4th Generation Battle Facilities Discussion and Records

Decided to go for a 100-win streak in the Battle Tower for the Trainer Card star in HeartGold. On my third attempt, I got 193 wins.

Here's the team:

(*) Starmie @ Life Orb
Timid Nature
Natural Cure
31/0/31/31/31/31
252 SpA / 6 SpD / 252 Spe
Surf
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Psychic

Garchomp (M) @ Focus Sash
Jolly Nature
Sand Veil
31/31/31/31/31/31
6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Outrage
Swords Dance
Earthquake
Fire Fang

Scizor (M) @ Lum Berry
Adamant Nature
Technician
31/31/31/31/31/31
6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Bullet Punch
Swords Dance
Bug Bite
Superpower

Typical Water-Dragon-Steel core. The general strat, as you might expect, was very straightforward - each team member was meant to do as much damage to the enemy team as possible while the other two cleaned up afterwards. Scizor's ability to absorb status came in very handy, and it also helped me pull off a ton of sweeps whenever the enemy led with a Grass-type or a specially bulky mon. I usually held Garchomp in reserve to avoid status moves, Outrage confusion, or getting walled by Outrage resists, though it still pulled off some sweeps. Starmie was also a huge asset to the team with its speed, power, and coverage. Super stoked with how this went, although there were definitely some very scary moments, especially as I was closing in on 100 wins.

Mi última batalla (n.º 194) fue un hax clásico de Battle Tower. Yo lidero con Starmie, el oponente lidera con Rhydon. Turno 1, Quick Claw sale, Rhydon le da OHKO a Starmie con Megahorn. Turno 2, envío a Garchomp y configuro Swords Dance, mientras que Rhydon va por Horn Drill, que golpea, lo que reduce a Chomp a 1 HP. Turno 3, Quick Claw de Rhydon se activa OTRA VEZ, y luego hace KO a Chomp con Earthquake. Turno 4, envío a Scizor y voy por Swords Dance, mientras que Rhydon Stone Edges. Scizor sobrevive y Bullet Punch logra noquear a Rhydon, pero luego sale... Heatran. Me las arreglo para golpearlo con un Superpoder, pero sobrevive con su Sash y luego noquea a Scizor con Earth Power. ROTURA

Aquí está la prueba:

View attachment 395629
[/COTIZAR]
who was your team leader usually?
 
I finally did it. after 500 hours of countless attempts. I beat Battle Factory in soul silver level 50. This was my second encounter with thorthon on 49st battle. Previously I was blessed with Garchomp4, metagross3 and Lickilicky2 and made it to 49st just to be informed that thorton is an ice type specialist. He had dewgong, articuno and regice. I would beat him if he didn't hit metagross with sheer cold ;/.
After that event I couldn't get to him for like 400 hours. Most of them were losses at 21st battle because of shity elevation I got, but there were also tons of my mistakes and hax of course like crits, hypnosis or brightpowder. I gave up on this challenge so many times, but there was always some feeling of unfulfillment inside me. Recently i wasn't playing that much. One attempt a week was max. And last weekend this golden run happen. I don't have elaborate notes on my drafts and battle because i wasn't believing i can make it. I can only write a loose raport:

Round3.
I remember I got Infernape1 and Dewgong1 as elevation. That made me so happy because Fire monkey had ended many of my runs at the 21st battle. With the help of son wu kong rip off i could easily sweep thorton team.

Round4.
I don't remember exactly what elevation i got but those were shitty one as most of the set2 of fully evolved mons. Instead I drafted staryu1, Nidoking1 and Rhydon1(solely because of focus sash). I swap rhydon for something else and proceed to win with starmie.

Round5.
I draft Flygon3, Rapidash3 and something else I quickly swap to magnezone1. rapidash hit like a truck with flare blitz..

Round6.
I remember that I was not pleased with the draft. There are so many good set4 mons that could be nice elevations.

Instead I spotted a synergy between Infernape3 and Victreebel4 to create a pseudo sun team. The last member was ambipom4 because everything else was just worse. I swapped two tails monkey to tranitar2 and then skarmory 2. The sun team idea worked only once so i swapped Victreebel to Milotic3 which is a great pokemon.

Woah, I got to round 7. In my lifetime I have been here maybe 5/10 times and always got shitty drafts (beside the one with garchomp). I was ready to open some of the worst factory sets but then I was surprised.

Round7

The draft blessed me with Latias1 and Blaziken4. I Lead with blaziken because it was faster, take latias and Ursaring4 due to the fact there was nothing else to coverage. Battle 42st got me dreads. I faced Heracross4 and I had no idea how AI use endure. Fortunately AI didn't use endure and i could swap ursaring to Heracross4 for the rest of the round. Endure reversal strategy is excellent and easy to pull it off. Adding great heracross speed+salac berry make this a very good strategy. Battle 48 was an earth specialist. He got quagsire4 and donphan4. I easily beat him, then the announcer told me that Thotrhon is an electric type specialist. I was pondering to swampany of my mon to quag or donphan but they are very slow mon. I decided to stay as it is and proceed to final battle.


Blaziken4 on Claydol. I switch to latias to nullify the earthquake then calculate i need a calm mind to 2hko claydol. Rock slide didn't do much damage to Latias( he even missed the second one) so I could safely 2hko him with a dragon pulse. Next he brought an ampharos. His signal beam reduced my latias hp to exactly half(77/155) but I managed to kill it with 2 psychics. The last pokemon he brought was zapdos. He T-wave mu but luckily Latias was holding lum berry and i took more than a half of his hp with psychic. Drill run didn't put down my exhausted latias either leaving her at 16 hp and letting finish it off with psychic.

I almost cried. I started to play ss battle factory in december 2020. It took me more than one and a half year to beat this facility. I am so happy I finally did it so I can proceed to beat other facilities and fulfil my desire to have all gold prints in my soul silver save file.

But there was one thing to do. I needed to determine what my final score on battle would become.

Round8

There was nothing special to pick. I chose Espeon1, Garchomp3 and something with a razor claw. Battle 53 was announced to be versus a poison specialist. I feel pretty confident with espeon and garchomp still Muk using a quick claw easily killed my espeon shooting it with gunk. I lost the battle and ended on 52 won battle streak.

factory1.jpg
factory2.jpg
 
Open to hear anyone else's thoughts on this though; I'm unlikely to change the rules unless there appears to be a lot of interest in doing so.
I wouldn't mind if there was at least a separate leaderboard for emulators, as long as there's sufficient proof of the run being legit, as in my case (i.e. not just the final result shown, but most/all of the battles). It's okay if people here don't want any new rules yet, but as time goes on it will become even more difficult for people to get physical copies... I still have mine, but I wanted to be able to stream and record the battles. That's one of the major advantages of allowing emulators, actually - much easier to have more proof than just still images.

I finally did it. after 500 hours of countless attempts. I beat Battle Factory in soul silver level 50.
Congrats on finally doing it as well! I'm glad I didn't see this post before I completed my run - as I said in my Factory report, old posts about people taking 300 hours had scared me away from the Factory since 2009. But seeing a 500 hours post might've been enough to stop me from attempting it all... did I just get very lucky in my successful run, or does my history of streaks (included in my recent post) suggest enough consistency based on the average of those streaks? My average streak was 14.8 (excluding the Gold Print streak as it was an outlier), but 18 attempts over 27 hours is quite a small sample size. I'm not sure what's average for players in terms of failed Factory streaks... would be especially interested in the average of those players with very long Factory playtimes, like the 300-500 hour ones. It's a shame most people don't seem to track any stats of their attempts...

Also, I plan to return to the Factory next month to complete Open Level mode this time (i.e. get a 49 streak), and I'm almost certain it will take much longer than 27 hours this time...
 
Last edited:
After continuing on my ongoing streaks in Emerald, it was time to move on to Gen 4. I have several ongoing streaks in the battle facilities in the Sinnoh games, so they will be completed next. I’m going to do them in order, which means that the D/P Tower is first out.

Here’s the results from the first streak I have completed. This is for the Diamond Battle Tower, Double, no tradebacks from Platinum/HG/SS.
I had an ongoing streak of 133, continued on it now. I have been planning to complete this streak for many years, now I finally got around to it. It was also nice with a slight change of pace as Diamond is a slightly more modern game with some different battle mechanics and features compared to Emerald.

As for the team, I have never checked their exact IVs, D/P does not have an in-game IV checker either. Because of that, I have listed their stats in addition to their EVs.

Team:

:dp/bronzong:
Bronzong @ Lum Berry
Ability: Heatproof
Nature: Brave
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Att / 6 Sp.def
Level 50 stats: 173/155/135/87/133/37
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Trick Room

:dp/starly:
Lv1 Starly (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Keen Eye
Nature: Mild
EVs: None
Level 1 stats: 12/6/4/5/5/6
- Protect
- Endeavor
- Rain Dance
- Foresight

:dp/Dusknoir:
Dusknoir (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Sassy
EVs: 252 HP / 58 Def / 200 Sp.def
Level 50 stats: 152/118/159/83/196/46
- Night Shade
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
- Rest

:dp/Exeggutor:
Exeggutor (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
Nature: Quiet
EVs: 190 HP / 100 Att / 220 Sp.att
Level 50 stats: 190/127/101/190/74/58
- Leaf Storm
- Psychic
- Explosion
- Trick Room

Streak: 136

Picture proof:


I did not create this team myself, credit for it goes to Team Rocket Elite. His post about the team can be found here. Though there are newer versions of the team, the newest one (which is also the best) can be found here.
I have shortly explained the backstory for my previous experiences with my team and my journey with it in the D/P Tower in in this post. I obtained the team members through traditional breeding back in 2008, way before I learned RNG abuse on Gen 4. I don’t think the RNG mechanics for Gen 4 were researched back then either, that didn’t happen until early 2009 IIRC.

Not sure how much I need to say about the team and how it works. I can’t really speak for everything about it either as I am not the original creator of the team. I guess that talking about the team will just explain the obvious. Still, I guess I should say some short words about it.

The main purpose is for Bronzong to set TR while Starly is a bait, the opponents will try to hit it on turn 1 but they will fail thanks to Protect. Starly will then be faster than everything under TR, allowing it to use Endeavor to lower the HP of opponents, making them easy to KO for the rest of the team. Bronzong and Exeggutor can also use Explosion to cause heavy damage to the opponents. This strategy is an easy way to get to 105 wins if you want the TC upgrade (which was my goal back in the day). It is by no means perfect as you might still lose due to hax or misplay (though the same can be said for pretty much any team).

Bronzong is the main TR setter and main attacker of the team. Gyro Ball for STAB, it works very well against fast opponents since Bronzong is naturally slow. EQ as an alternative against various Pokémon that are slow and/or resist Steel. Trick Room for obvious Speed control, Explosion as a finisher which deals a ton of damage. A Brave Nature with maxed EVs in HP and Attack to hit as hard as possible and tank hits. A Lum Berry prevents it from being crippled by status when it sets up TR. Heatproof over Levitate because most opponents will avoid using EQ due to Starly being a Flying-type.

Starly might look innocent, but opponents will learn to FEAR this little bird! Protect to shield itself while Bronzong uses TR (or sometimes Explosion). Endeavor to decrease the opponents HP to 12 or 1, putting them in KO range for the rest of the team’s moves. Rain Dance to remove Hail/Sandstorm, Foresight to remove evasion boosts from opponents or to allow Ghost-types to be hit by Explosion. Nature/IVs doesn’t matter and it doesn’t need any EVs. Though now that I look a little closer, having a HP IV of 19 or less would have given Starly 11 HP instead of 12, though I don’t think it makes that much of a difference.

Dusknoir is a bulky tank, it can support the others once Bronzong or Starly goes down. Night Shade as the main means of doing damage, WoW to burn opponents, Protect to shield itself from damage (and potentially PP stall with Pressure) Rest to heal if necessary. It also has Leftovers to heal even further. Being a Ghost-type means it is immune to Explosion, allowing Bronzong or Exeggutor to freely explode when they are on the field alongside Dusknoir. The Nature and EVs are focused on giving it extra special bulk, not sure why TRE went with that but I guess he had his reasons. I went with a Sassy Nature, TRE used Careful but he noted that Sassy would be better (obviously) so I followed his advice.

Exeggutor is the secondary attacker and TR setter. Leaf Storm and Psychic for STAB, the Sp.att drop from Leaf Storm was usually not a big deal from what I can remember since I rarely had to use the move more than once during battles. It can also explode, doesn’t hit as hard as Bronzong but it can still deal respectable damage. In addition, it can set up TR again if the five turns have run out. Life Orb to power up the moves a bit. Quiet Nature to hit hard with the STAB moves, Brave might have been an alternative to power up Explosion though. The EVs give it a mix of offense and bulk, but I wonder if just maxing Attack and Sp.att might be better for full offensive power. Not sure though.

So that’s the team. Why do they not have any nicknames? I guess I thought that not giving them nicknames would make the team look more “professional” or something like that. But now that I look back, I think it just makes the team look more boring. Most of my other Facility teams have nicknames because I think it is fun even if my nicknames can sometimes get random and uncreative.

Next, the strategy. When I battled now (but not in the past), I looked up opposing sets, using Bulbapedia’s list of trainers in the D/P Tower. I also followed the strategy notes TRE had written in his post, I always used them in the past as well. Find them below:
General advice:
-You'll learn to hate BrightPowder even more with this team. Nothing like watching the opponent dodge an Endeavor and two Explosions to get the blood boiling.
-Try not to be too reckless with Exploding Bronzong. Keeping a lead over the opponent is still as important as ever, or at least until you know what their last two Pokemon are.
-It could probably help a lot to pay attention to trainer patterns (eg. many trainers have a Type theme to them), as it can help a lot in predicting the opponent's moveset or what they could bring out on you.

Turn 1:
-Always use Trick Room and Protect. No exceptions. Be sure to pay attention to the opponent's attacks in order to scout out BrightPowder/Quick Claw movesets.

Turn 2:
-Usual Strategy: Endeavor + Gyro Ball
---Target Pokemon with Damp ability (Poliwrath, Politoed, Golduck, Quagsire)
---Next target Steel or Rock Types
---Then target Slow or high defense Pokemon after the previous stated
---Avoid targeting extremely slow Pokemon that resist Gyro Ball (Steelix/Slowbro)
---Avoid targeting Pokemon 4x resistant to steel (Lanturn/Magnezone)
---Avoid targeting Pokemon that hold a Sitrus Berry (Forretress, Blissey, Magmortar)
---Avoid targeting Pokemon holding Brightpowder or Quick Claw
---If one of the Pokemon didn't use a damaging attack on Turn 1, target the one that did
---If one of the Pokémon used a move with increased priority (Quick Attack, Aqua Jet, etc. – not Fake Out), target the one that didn’t
-Alternate Strategy: Endeavor + Earthquake
---Use to answer extremely slow Pokemon that resist Gyro Ball (Steelix/Slowbro), or Pokemon 4x resistant to steel (Lanturn/Magnezone)
---Use if both Pokemon are not immune to Ground and is you believe that you can KO one of them in 2 hits (Most Fires/Electric Types)
---Use if both opponents are Rock/Steel (unless they are flying ones)
---Can be used to deactivate Focus Sashes
-If Sandstorm or Hail was summoned on Turn 1: Gyro Ball on Abomasnow, use Endeavor on the other. If Tyranitar or Hippowdon, use Earthquake instead of Gyro Ball (unless the other Pokemon flies)
---If you are facing a Trainer that benefits greatly from the weather effect (Hikers, Rune Maniacs, Ice Trainer): Rain Dance + Gyro Ball
-If Gyro Ball can OHKO something in play (Aerodactyl, Alakazam, Froslass): Gyro Ball the Pokemon and Endeavor the other
-If there is a Ghost Type (except Froslass): Target the other Pokemon w/ Endeavor + Gyro Ball
-If Bronzong flinched on Turn 1 (by Rock Slide): Trick Room again and switch Starly for Dusknoir
-If Bronzong got nailed by an OHKO: Switch to Exeggutor, Trick Room + Endeavor

Turn 3:
-Usual Strategy: Protect + Explosion
---If you suspect that both opponents will be able to survive the 75% powered explosion: use Endeavor instead on the one more likely to survive
---If the opponent has a ghost or something that has used Double Team use Foresight
---If Bronzong can KO something on the field with Earthquake or Gyro Ball: Use that attack instead of Explosion
--------If using Earthquake, you can Endeavor the other Pokemon to take them both out, it usually does not make a difference in the battle to do this so try not to take any unnecessary risks
-If Starly is still at full HP, repeat the Turn 2 strategy
---If the other opponent used Trick Room, set Trick Room up again
-If after switching to Dusknoir because Bronzong flinched, Bronzong flinched again: Have Dusknoir use Protect and continue trying to use Trick Room until it works.
-If Starly has already fainted after using Rain Dance: Switch in Dusknoir
-3 vs. 4 Scenario: Protect + Leaf Storm on OHKO user (It will be a Lapras/Dewgong/Walrein/Glalie)
---If it is the Glalie, attack the other that was already hit with Endeavor
---If Exeggutor was nailed by an OHKO: You're pretty much screwed, hope that Dusknoir can somehow tank 4 opponents

Usually, by turn 4, you should be well on your way to winning the match, and they should be defeated by the time Trick Room ends. Or rare occasions, you'll have to stall out with Dusknoir, but it usually isn't anything too serious.
The line in blue is my own addition, it was something I noticed and came up with while playing with the team in the past. The line in red is a note from TRE which I did not follow. The reason being that in the past, I once tried to OHKO one of those three Pokémon with Gyro Ball, but it survived. After that, I never tried again.

As for paying attention to trainer patterns and the movesets for the opponents, using Bulbapedia’s list (or another list with the same info) obviously helps a lot with that.

Anyway, that’s the strategy. How did my return to the Tower go? Not very well. I won three more battles, then I lost. I didn’t even win a single round, annoyingly. Can’t save battle videos on D/P so all I have to offer is a battle summary. I don’t remember every single detail but the most important ones at least.

My opponent was Policeman Tavon. He leads with Bastiodon and Bronzong, not very fun. I use TR + Protect, the opposing Bronzong uses Psychic on Starly, Bastiodon uses Blizzard, confirming the special QC set. Since it has a QC, I decide to target the Bronzong instead. Unfortunately, I can’t use EQ since the Bronzong might have Levitate. Endeavor + Gyro Ball on Bronzong, but it survives! Both opponents target Starly and it is KO’d. Not good. I send out Dusknoir. Protect and EQ, Bastiodon takes heavy damage while the Bronzong lives thanks to having Levitate, good thing I didn’t EQ last turn. I then defeat both of them, the backups are Magnezone and Scizor. My TR ends and the Magnezone defeats my Bronzong before it can set up TR again.

I send out Exeggutor, which sets up TR again while the Scizor uses Double Team. Dusknoir defeats Magnezone. From there on, I failed to hit the Scizor a single time. It continued setting up with Double Team and Swords Dance, finally ending the battle by using Steel Wing to take down Exeggutor and Dusknoir.

What went wrong? Many things. I guess I should have targeted the Bastiodon at first despite the fact that it had a QC. I was afraid that I would lose Starly if the QC activated, but since that didn’t happen, I had nothing to fear. After that, I would have been in a 3vs4 scenario, giving me better chances of beating the remaining opponents.

I guess misplay and hax were the real reasons I lost, but I also blame it on the fact that it had been so many years since I last used this team. Maybe it would have been better if I had continued on this streak earlier.

It was really dumb and embarrassing to lose so soon after continuing, but nothing can be done about it. My goal was to complete the streak, nothing more. I have no intention on trying again. Instead, I’m going to add this to my list of completed streaks and move on to the next one.

With this streak over, I consider myself done with the Tower in Diamond. I don’t have an ongoing streak for Single, I have no plans to start a new one either. I have never tried Multi in Diamond and I have no interest in giving it a try. I haven’t tried Wi-Fi either, the real Wi-Fi for the games has closed down but chances are it will work anyway with the Wi-Fi exploit, though I don’t have any intention of trying.
That’s the end of my journey with the Battle Tower in Diamond. Next up is Pearl. I have an ongoing streak there as well… though it will probably take a while before I can continue on it. I have big plans for it. But once it is done, I’ll report back about it here.

Edit: In order to give atsync access to one more post in the beginning of the thread, I deleted my original Factory post. I have quoted it below in order to keep it archived.
Suspicious Derivative said:
Great to see a new thread for the 4th Gen! Though I'm surprised about the lack of replies. Guess I'll be the first then. I'm not sure if I want all of my noteworthy streaks added to the leaderboards, so for now, I'll only submit my Factory records.

Platinum Battle Factory (Single):

Level 50 best streak: 31

Don't remember my team or the loss at all.

Open Level best streak: 40

Here, I remember that my team was Weezing-3, Latias-3 and Froslass-3, and I lost against a lead Metagross-4.
I also have a suggestion (or an idea) for this thread. Not sure if anyone will like it, but it is something I have thought about. It is to make a "Five Prints Hall of Fame" similar to the Five Trophies Hall of Fame in the Maison thread. There could be one for the Silver Prints, and another one for the Gold Prints. Maybe also split it for Platinum and HG/SS, but I'm not sure if that is necessary. That was just an idea I had.

And I have a question too. Are there any plans to make a new Subway thread as well? While the current one is active, the leaderboards are not as Peterko hasn't been online for over 7 years, which means the Subway is the only Battle Facility without an active leaderboard on the forums right now. Though I guess the same goes for the R/S Battle Tower, but that could just be added to the Emerald Frontier thread if there is any interest in that.
 
Last edited:
Can I do a noob question? Where is the battle frontier in Pokémon Diamond?
I was playing this game and don't remeber to see a battle frontier...

Also, what pokémons are illegal? Can I use my Heatran and Arceus there?
 
Can I do a noob question? Where is the battle frontier in Pokémon Diamond?
I was playing this game and don't remeber to see a battle frontier...

Also, what pokémons are illegal? Can I use my Heatran and Arceus there?
There is only a battle tower in Diamond, the complete frontier is exclusive to Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver. These are both in that island on the top right corner of the map called the Battle Zone.

The full list of banned pokemon for the frontier is: Mewtwo, Mew, Ho-Oh, Lugia, Celebi, Groudon, Kyogre, Rayquaza, Jirachi, Deoxys, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Phione, Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin, and Arceus. All other mons are fair game.
 
I finally did it. after 500 hours of countless attempts. I beat Battle Factory in soul silver level 50. This was my second encounter with thorthon on 49st battle. Previously I was blessed with Garchomp4, metagross3 and Lickilicky2 and made it to 49st just to be informed that thorton is an ice type specialist. He had dewgong, articuno and regice. I would beat him if he didn't hit metagross with sheer cold ;/.
After that event I couldn't get to him for like 400 hours. Most of them were losses at 21st battle because of shity elevation I got, but there were also tons of my mistakes and hax of course like crits, hypnosis or brightpowder. I gave up on this challenge so many times, but there was always some feeling of unfulfillment inside me. Recently i wasn't playing that much. One attempt a week was max. And last weekend this golden run happen. I don't have elaborate notes on my drafts and battle because i wasn't believing i can make it. I can only write a loose raport:

Round3.
I remember I got Infernape1 and Dewgong1 as elevation. That made me so happy because Fire monkey had ended many of my runs at the 21st battle. With the help of son wu kong rip off i could easily sweep thorton team.

Round4.
I don't remember exactly what elevation i got but those were shitty one as most of the set2 of fully evolved mons. Instead I drafted staryu1, Nidoking1 and Rhydon1(solely because of focus sash). I swap rhydon for something else and proceed to win with starmie.

Round5.
I draft Flygon3, Rapidash3 and something else I quickly swap to magnezone1. rapidash hit like a truck with flare blitz..

Round6.
I remember that I was not pleased with the draft. There are so many good set4 mons that could be nice elevations.

Instead I spotted a synergy between Infernape3 and Victreebel4 to create a pseudo sun team. The last member was ambipom4 because everything else was just worse. I swapped two tails monkey to tranitar2 and then skarmory 2. The sun team idea worked only once so i swapped Victreebel to Milotic3 which is a great pokemon.

Woah, I got to round 7. In my lifetime I have been here maybe 5/10 times and always got shitty drafts (beside the one with garchomp). I was ready to open some of the worst factory sets but then I was surprised.

Round7

The draft blessed me with Latias1 and Blaziken4. I Lead with blaziken because it was faster, take latias and Ursaring4 due to the fact there was nothing else to coverage. Battle 42st got me dreads. I faced Heracross4 and I had no idea how AI use endure. Fortunately AI didn't use endure and i could swap ursaring to Heracross4 for the rest of the round. Endure reversal strategy is excellent and easy to pull it off. Adding great heracross speed+salac berry make this a very good strategy. Battle 48 was an earth specialist. He got quagsire4 and donphan4. I easily beat him, then the announcer told me that Thotrhon is an electric type specialist. I was pondering to swampany of my mon to quag or donphan but they are very slow mon. I decided to stay as it is and proceed to final battle.


Blaziken4 on Claydol. I switch to latias to nullify the earthquake then calculate i need a calm mind to 2hko claydol. Rock slide didn't do much damage to Latias( he even missed the second one) so I could safely 2hko him with a dragon pulse. Next he brought an ampharos. His signal beam reduced my latias hp to exactly half(77/155) but I managed to kill it with 2 psychics. The last pokemon he brought was zapdos. He T-wave mu but luckily Latias was holding lum berry and i took more than a half of his hp with psychic. Drill run didn't put down my exhausted latias either leaving her at 16 hp and letting finish it off with psychic.

I almost cried. I started to play ss battle factory in december 2020. It took me more than one and a half year to beat this facility. I am so happy I finally did it so I can proceed to beat other facilities and fulfil my desire to have all gold prints in my soul silver save file.

But there was one thing to do. I needed to determine what my final score on battle would become.

Round8

There was nothing special to pick. I chose Espeon1, Garchomp3 and something with a razor claw. Battle 53 was announced to be versus a poison specialist. I feel pretty confident with espeon and garchomp still Muk using a quick claw easily killed my espeon shooting it with gunk. I lost the battle and ended on 52 won battle streak.

View attachment 447117View attachment 447118
Amazing job! I also tried to beat the Factory first and then the rest, but later I got so tired of losing that I went for the other facilities instead and left the Factory for last hehe.

Good luck for the other ones, you must have thousands of BP for teambuilding right now.

I'm not sure what's average for players in terms of failed Factory streaks... would be especially interested in the average of those players with very long Factory playtimes, like the 300-500 hour ones.
I've been attempting the Factory for real around mid 2020. Usually doing attempts 1-2 hours a day, then ragequitting dropping it for a while after losing a few times, and then picking the game up again to keep doing attempts after some weeks or months. Most of the time I lost during Round 5-7, or sometimes Silver Thorton. And that was the routine until this January, where I got the symbol, so that took me around a year and a half.

My displayed play time goes past 200 hours, but most of the times I lost the battle I also resetted to save time (instead of having to wait for all the dialogues after losing), so that's a portion of play time not recorded.
 
Last edited:
Hello, everyone. This is my first post, so please bear with me.

I just managed to get a 270 streak in the Battle Hall. I only used one Pokémon, the shiny Winter 2011 Raikou with Aura Sphere.

Raikou @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
IVs: 31/30/30/31/31/31
EVs: 252 S.Atk / 4 S.Def / 252 Speed
Rash nature (+S.Atk, -S.Def)
- Thunderbolt
- Aura Sphere
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]

I don't quite remember the order of the types until battle 170, but from then on, I fought them in this order, with a few whimsical tweaks if I felt like it:

Flying, grass, ice, dragon, ghost, poison, electric, rock, fire, dark, bug, steel, psychic, fighting, water, ground, normal.

That backwards would be a good order to go for 170, but it's far from fully optimized.

Comments on the reasoning of that order:

Normal is first because of Snorlax and Blissey. Snorlax offs you with Giga Impact and Blissey can use Soft Boiled and hit you with Fire Blast.
Ground is next because obvious reasons, but I only found Water/Ground types problematic. (Whiscash ended my streak.) Water next, then.
Fighting and Psychic are there for Gallade, which was my closest call in the streak. I'll provide explanation later.
Steel and Bug are there for Scizor, but he has to crit to win.
Dark is for all the focus sashes and night slashes, which can take a hit, crit, and win.
Fire is for Camerupt, which can't really kill you without a crit.
Rock is next for quick claws and similar hax.
Electric is next because I lost the previous run to Argenta's Ampharos, with light screen+rest+snore+crits.
Poison is next because of that silly double teaming Crobat. Annoying.
From then on, the dangers that I'm aware of are Gengar putting you to sleep and Weavile.

Why Raikou?

Because I had it, it's beautiful, it has one weakness and the coverage is insane. With 115 base speed, you outspeed any base 100 speed Pokémon, though it hardly matters because the only Pokémon at level 100 are those of Argenta, the rest are at 96. Furthermore, you can save yourself from a lot of hax thanks to Aura Sphere.

Close calls and defeat:

The closest call was against Gallade. I hit him with Shadow Ball, he used Swords Dance and procced Salac Berry. I was doomed there, but for some reason he used PsychoCut, I lived and KOed him.

I lost against Whiscash, which is a ~80/20% probability for him to win. He kills you with in two turns with Earth Power, and you have a 10.9% probability of killing him with Aura Sphere before that, plus the probability of a critical hit in one of those turns. Well, it's been fun.

Final thoughts and proof:

I think this Raikou is top tier for this challenge, and should be used more. I didn't get out of any awful situation with luck, it was more like bad luck didn't happen until battle 270. I think this challenge is more based on luck than anything else, but it was quite fun nonetheless.
 

Attachments

atsync

Where the "intelligence" of TRAINERS is put to the test!
is a Pokemon Researcheris a Contributor to Smogon
Hello, everyone. This is my first post, so please bear with me.

I just managed to get a 270 streak in the Battle Hall. I only used one Pokémon, the shiny Winter 2011 Raikou with Aura Sphere.

Raikou @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
IVs: 31/30/30/31/31/31
EVs: 252 S.Atk / 4 S.Def / 252 Speed
Rash nature (+S.Atk, -S.Def)
- Thunderbolt
- Aura Sphere
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]

I don't quite remember the order of the types until battle 170, but from then on, I fought them in this order, with a few whimsical tweaks if I felt like it:

Flying, grass, ice, dragon, ghost, poison, electric, rock, fire, dark, bug, steel, psychic, fighting, water, ground, normal.

That backwards would be a good order to go for 170, but it's far from fully optimized.

Comments on the reasoning of that order:

Normal is first because of Snorlax and Blissey. Snorlax offs you with Giga Impact and Blissey can use Soft Boiled and hit you with Fire Blast.
Ground is next because obvious reasons, but I only found Water/Ground types problematic. (Whiscash ended my streak.) Water next, then.
Fighting and Psychic are there for Gallade, which was my closest call in the streak. I'll provide explanation later.
Steel and Bug are there for Scizor, but he has to crit to win.
Dark is for all the focus sashes and night slashes, which can take a hit, crit, and win.
Fire is for Camerupt, which can't really kill you without a crit.
Rock is next for quick claws and similar hax.
Electric is next because I lost the previous run to Argenta's Ampharos, with light screen+rest+snore+crits.
Poison is next because of that silly double teaming Crobat. Annoying.
From then on, the dangers that I'm aware of are Gengar putting you to sleep and Weavile.

Why Raikou?

Because I had it, it's beautiful, it has one weakness and the coverage is insane. With 115 base speed, you outspeed any base 100 speed Pokémon, though it hardly matters because the only Pokémon at level 100 are those of Argenta, the rest are at 96. Furthermore, you can save yourself from a lot of hax thanks to Aura Sphere.

Close calls and defeat:

The closest call was against Gallade. I hit him with Shadow Ball, he used Swords Dance and procced Salac Berry. I was doomed there, but for some reason he used PsychoCut, I lived and KOed him.

I lost against Whiscash, which is a ~80/20% probability for him to win. He kills you with in two turns with Earth Power, and you have a 10.9% probability of killing him with Aura Sphere before that, plus the probability of a critical hit in one of those turns. Well, it's been fun.

Final thoughts and proof:

I think this Raikou is top tier for this challenge, and should be used more. I didn't get out of any awful situation with luck, it was more like bad luck didn't happen until battle 270. I think this challenge is more based on luck than anything else, but it was quite fun nonetheless.
Added.

The Whiscash/Gastrodon match-up is one of the match-ups I mentioned earlier in this thread when atem posted their 270+ streak (using the exact same set you're using) and yeah unfortunately it's a poor match-up for Raikou. The "solution" would be to run HP Grass I guess but then you can't use HP Ice so you're just gaining other bad match-ups. Perhaps Raikou would benefit from having an alt non-Specs set to try and cover all the Ground-types, but I imagine it would be tricky to build since its anti-Ground coverage is so limited - I guess Magnet Rise could be used as an option to remove the Ground weakness and then you try to beat them from there? A bulkier Pressure-stalling set similar to the Entei/Articuno sets from earlier in this thread might also be interesting to explore.

Other thoughts:
  • Investing 252 Speed EVs is unnecessary in the post-170 phase. Neutral-nature Raikou reaches 329 Speed, but the fastest Pokemon that Rash Raikou is able to out-speed are level 96/26 IV Lopunny and Scyther who sit at 321. 224 EVs puts Raikou at 322 Speed.
    • Having said that, there may be some situations pre-170 where going max Speeds helps that I haven't considered, and of course Argenta uses flawless level 100 Pokemon.
  • Hall Camerupt is a funny Pokemon. In my experience it......really, REALLY loves to use SolarBeam over its other moves on turn 1 even if it has a stronger option. I suspect that holding Power Herb compels it to use SolarBeam as soon as possible, but it's not something I fully understand and I imagine other factors such as type effectiveness or the presence of OHKO rolls may influence its selections as well. In any case, Camerupt has a small OHKO chance with Earth Power on Rash Raikou which can be avoided by investing 32 EVs into SpD. It just so happens that this is the exact amount of EVs that would be left over if you ran 224 Speed EVs as above, so a spread of 252SpA/32SpD/224Spe might be a viable optimization for post-170.
  • I wouldn't be overly concerned with the Snorlax match-up, in my experience Snorlax almost never uses Giga Impact on turn 1 regardless of its damage output/OHKO ability, presumably because of the recharge effect (it would be more likely if it had lower remaining HP but by then it's already locked itself into another move). Snorlax would be more likely to try Crunch or Zen Headbutt on Raikou, in which case Specs Raikou usually wins by 2HKOing with Aura Sphere (although a crit + high-rolling Crunch/Zen Headbutt from level 96 Snorlax can OHKO so it isn't a guaranteed win).
  • I feel like Raikou would be able to go toe-to-toe against Blissey. Aura Sphere ignores Minimize, and while Aura Sphere only does 35% max to level 96 Blissey, Softboiled only has 10PP while Aura Sphere has 32PP when maxed so it isn't going to be able to stall it forever. Blissey's Fire Blast also can't even 4HKO Rash Raikou and only has 3 effective PP due to Pressure, and Return does laughable damage. Crits or burns from Fire Blast are an issue I guess? (Blissey can have Serene Grace as well.)
    • With this in mind, I think Normal could be done later during the pre-170 phase.
  • Gallade used Psycho Cut because it had a OHKO chance after Swords Dance (about 19%, ignoring the crit chance), and while this is obviously lower than the guaranteed chance Close Combat had, the AI is stupid and doesn't really consider that when deciding which of its OHKO options to use. If the AI has one move with a 100% chance to KO and another move with a 1% chance to KO, it is equally likely to pick either move. In your case, you just got lucky because Gallade picked the worse move and paid the price for it. Unfortunately, your set doesn't have a way to avoid the Salac Berry danger completely since Shadow Ball and Thunderbolt can both fail to OHKO with a low roll and trigger the berry, and Hidden Power and Aura Sphere fail to 2HKO. Shadow Ball OHKOes just under 70% of the time though and is your set's best option against it.
 
This took a while, but I am finally back to report another streak. This time, it is for the Pearl Battle Tower, Double, with tradebacks from Platinum/HG/SS.
On Pearl, I had an ongoing streak of 105. For those 105 battles, I had used the team consisting of Bronzong/Starly/Exeggutor/Dusknoir which I talked about in my previous post. When I continued now, I decided to use a somewhat different team that was built around the same concept and strategy. Basically, an upgrade over the previous team.

Just like last time, I looked up trainers using Bulbapedia’s list. I have listed the IVs for the team this time around since I have RNGed them, meaning I know their exact IVs. Except for one of them where the IVs doesn’t matter and I didn’t bother RNGing its IVs. I have listed their exact stats as well just for the sake of completeness.

Team:

1664645407946.png

Bronzong @ Lum Berry ** Steelclash
Ability: Heatproof
Nature: Brave
IVs: 31/31/31/6/31/0
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Att / 6 Sp.def
Level 50 stats: 174/155/136/87/137/34
- Iron Head
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Trick Room

1664645391862.png

Lv2 Togetic (M) @ Focus Sash ** Dwarf Star
Ability: Serene Grace
Nature: Quiet
EVs: None
Level 2 stats: 14/6/8/8/9/5
- Protect
- Endeavor
- Follow Me
- Foresight

1664645423394.png

Camerupt (M) @ Life Orb ** Eyelashes
Ability: Solid Rock
Nature: Brave
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/0
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Att / 252 Sp.att
Level 50 stats: 146/167/90/57/95/40
- Eruption
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Protect

1664645438097.png

Dusknoir (F) @ Iron Ball ** Soulflay
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Sassy
IVs: 31/31/31/26/31/0
EVs: 252 HP / 190 Def / 68 Sp.def
Level 50 stats: 152/120/179/83/180/45
- Night Shade
- Sucker Punch
- Gravity
- Protect

Streak: 105

Picture proof:


That’s right, I didn’t win a single battle with the team. I lost immediately. So I suppose that technically, I won with the old team, then lost with this one.

Once again, the main credit for the team and the concept goes to Team Rocket Elite, his team was the main inspiration. I then got the idea of using Camerupt from this team by Chinese Dood.
As said, this is basically an upgrade over the team I used in the past. It feels wrong to talk about how it works since I didn’t win a single battle with it, but I guess I can talk about how it is supposed to work.

Bronzong is rebred to have flawless IVs, it also has Iron Head over Gyro Ball. Otherwise, it is unchanged. Iron Head allows it to deal consistent damage compared to Gyro Ball. It is not shiny because I think regular Bronzong looks better.

Togetic replaces Starly. Why not Togekiss? TRE used Togekiss and I was planning to use it as well, but then I was wondering if Togetic might actually be better. There are no real advantages when it comes to using Togekiss over Togetic (apart from Togekiss obviously being much cooler), so I decided to let it stay as a Togetic. I think Togetic might actually be somewhat better as it has slightly lower HP than Togekiss (14 as opposed to 15-16) and slightly lower Speed as well (5-7 as opposed to 7-8). The differences are pretty minor though, and while the HP might make a minor difference in some cases, I don’t think the lower Speed matters at all.

I didn’t bother going for any specific IVs for Togetic as they won’t matter. Neither of its Abilities are useful for this set, but I don’t know if Hustle will affect Endeavor so I went with Serene Grace just to be on the safe side. Quiet was the chosen Nature since it lowers Speed but raises Sp.att. The biggest change compared to Starly is obviously Follow Me. This allows Togetic to protect Bronzong from OHKO moves on turn 1 and gives me a near-guaranteed chance of setting Trick Room, which is great. It means that Togetic is at a very high risk of fainting though, but in the worst case, it will leave me in a 3-4 situation with Trick Room up, so it isn’t all bad. Togetic doesn’t have Rain Dance, but you can’t have everything and Rain Dance always felt extremely situational on Starly, I don’t think I used it very much.

Camerupt replaces Exeggutor. TRE used Snorlax and that is probably a better option, but I didn’t go with it. As for why, there are a few reasons. The first one is that in order to get a Snorlax with Selfdestruct, I would either have to obtain it on Gen 3 or find a Munchlax with Selfdestruct through the Pokéwalker. I have never learned RNG abuse on Gen 3 and I have no interest in learning it right now. Selfdestruct is also MT Move only available through Pokémon XD, which means I would have to dig up my old Wii and hope I have the Selfdestruct MT left on at least one of my three XD files. If not, I would have needed to replay XD again. I haven’t learned to RNG through the Pokéwalker either (I have heard that it is possible, but I have never looked into the details for it). In the end, I’m just too lazy to do either of this. I suppose I could have obtained a Snorlax through traditional breeding on Gen 3 with 1-3 Flawless IVs in important stats (notably Attack and HP) but I didn’t do that either. Either way, those are the reasons as for why I didn’t go with Snorlax.

At first, I was thinking of going with Exeggutor again, but then I realized that the reason TRE used it was probably because it learned both Trick Room and Explosion. Since I would now have Follow Me in order to prevent Bronzong from getting nailed by OHKOs, I felt that having a second TR setter wasn’t necessary. And TRE had done just fine without a second TR setter. So I started looking for other Pokémon that learned Explosion and had the right stats (high Attack and low Speed). Golem seemed like a potentially good alternative and I almost went with it. But I considered Camerupt as well. I also decided to check the leaderboards and there, I saw that Chinese Dood had successfully used a Camerupt on a TR team, so that settled it for me. I took the set straight from his team.

Eruption and Earthquake are the obvious STAB move, Eruption hits hard when Camerupt is at full HP. It might not be optimal together with Life Orb, but it should have worked well enough, I didn’t expect to use it more than once a battle. Explosion and Protect are the obvious final moves. For the EVs, max Attack and Sp.att to hit as hard as possible. Solid Rock might allow Camerupt to survive some Ground-moves, it will probably not help against any Water-type moves though. But it feels like a better option than Magma Armor. Camerupt is a mixed attacker which means it can hit both physical and special walls, it can also use its STABs to nail Rock- and Steel-types which resist Explosion. Ghost-types can be hit with Eruption/EQ as well.

Dusknoir now has Sucker Punch and Gravity over Will-O-Wisp and Rest. Sucker Punch for priority, Gravity to increase the accuracy of Bronzong’s and Camerupt’s attacks if necessary, notably against opponents with a Brightpowder/Lax Incense or ones that have used Double Team. It holds an Iron Ball instead of Leftovers in order to be faster than Bronzong and Camerupt during Trick Room. As for the EVs, it has maxed HP and about even defenses. The EVs give it one more point in Sp.def in order to screw over opposing Porygon with Download. Not sure if this is an optimal spread though.

As for playing with the team, the main strategy is generally the same as for the old team, the difference being that I now use Trick Room + Follow Me on turn 1 if any of the opposing Pokémon can have an OHKO move.

So that’s the team. Next, I want to talk a little about their journey!

They were first bred (RNGed) on HeartGold, where they also got nicknamed, taught some moves through TM and given PP Ups for some of their moves.
Then they were sent to Platinum where they were EV-trained, trained to level 50 (or 2 for Togetic), fully evolved (except for Dusknoir) and completed their movesets.
Finally, they were sent to Pearl where Dusknoir got fully evolved, they were given PP Ups for their remaining moves (except Explosion) and got their hold items. Now, they were ready for battle!

I should mention that I don’t always give PP Ups to the Pokémon I use (don’t think I have done it for any other Pokémon I have trained for battle facilities on Gen 4, not sure though). But I did it here in case of stall battles… I will never forget the Cradily battle I experienced on Diamond back in 2008. If I had used PP Ups back then, it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as scary.

With the team done, I was hoping to continue on my streak and hopefully get far. But it didn’t happen.
As said earlier, I lost in the very first battle after resuming my streak. I was hoping that unlike how it went on Diamond, I would win not only one round, but also get a pretty good streak. Instead, I didn’t even win a single battle. How’s that for a failure? I couldn’t save a battle video since this is D/P, so just like last time, all I have is a summary of the battle.

My opponent was Fisherman Bryon. A Water-type user with potential OHKO users, not exactly what I was hoping would be my first opponent. He leads with Dewgong and Slowking. Three possible sets for each. The Dewgong might have Sheer Cold and Horn Drill, so I use Follow Me + Protect. The Dewgong uses Sheer Cold and hits Togetic, which means I made the correct decision. Slowking KO’s Togetic with Brine, Bronzong sets Trick Room. I send out Dusknoir. The opposing sets are now confirmed, they have no hax items which is great. I use Night Shade on Slowking and let Bronzong use Explosion, both of the opponents faint.

I send out Camerupt, Bryon sends out Poliwrath and Tentacruel. Hopefully another Night Shade + Explosion will take care of them, so I go for that. The Poliwrath might have a Quick Claw, and the Tentacruel might have a Focus Sash. I use Night Shade on the Tentacruel, Camerupt uses Explosion… and it fails because of Poliwrath’s Damp. I had forgotten about that. Idiotic mistake. They use Strength and Surf to KO Camerupt, Dusknoir takes damage. Next turn, I use Night Shade on the Tentacruel, Poliwrath uses EQ which defeats the Tentacruel and gets a crit on Dusknoir, bringing it to slightly below 50%. Worth noting is that EQ is the only move the Poliwrath has that can damage Dusknoir, so maybe I can win this after all if I stall it out of PP? The answer is no since it gets another Crit after I have used Protect, leaving Dusknoir at very low HP. Trick Room ends, Dusknoir eventually falls to another EQ, and I lose.

This was one of the sourest losses I have ever experienced. What could I have done differently? Not used Explosion with Camerupt, obviously. I blame it on getting into such a bad situation immediately which made me stressed. I did not consult the how-to-play guide either. I should have used EQ instead, that would have damaged the Tentacruel enough to put it at 1 HP (since it was the Sash set after all) or at least put it low enough to be KO’d by Dusknoir’s Night Shade (or the Poliwrath’s EQ). Using EQ should also have dealt heavy damage to the Poliwrath, giving me better chances of winning. Still, there was a bit of hax from my opponent as well (Sheer Cold hit, 2 EQ Crits from Poli). But even so, misplay was the big reason I lost.

I was really angry after this loss. I had been training this team for a few weeks and yet I did not win a single battle win it. I thought it was going to be amazing, but instead, I let it down by losing immediately. Feels like I did all of this for nothing. I was almost considering starting a new streak on Pearl, but I am not that crazy. My main goal was to complete my ongoing streaks, and while I am planning to start new streaks on some of the games I am revisiting during this project (like I did at the Pike in Emerald a while ago), I have no interest in doing that in the D/P Tower.

But I have not trained this team all for nothing. I have decided to give this team another try at the Platinum Tower in the future. It will be a while until that happens though. For now, I traded it over to Platinum so that I have it ready to go there.

Before leaving the Pearl Tower, there was one more thing I wanted to do. I had an ongoing streak for Single as well, standing at 35 wins in a row. I decided to complete it as well before leaving the D/P Tower for good. I entered with my “classic” team of Starmie/Garchomp/Togekiss, the team I originally used when I first beat Gold Palmer on Pearl back in 2007… which was 15 years ago. Time flies. The team worked quite well back then and IIRC I used it to beat Gold Palmer multiple times. Unfortunately, it didn’t go very well this time. I won 4 more battles, then I lost in the fifth battle against an EndRev Lucario which swept me completely, leaving me at a final streak of 39 wins in a row. Since this streak isn’t eligible for the leaderboards, I’m not going to say anything more about it.

On Pearl, I also have an ongoing streak of 14 for Multi with an AI partner, but I’m not going to continue on it. Just like on Diamond, I have never tried Link Multi or Wi-Fi on Pearl, and I have no intention of trying them here either.
With this, I consider myself done with the D/P Tower once and for all. My return to it was a complete and utter failure in every possible way since I didn’t win a single set of 7 battles in any of the three ongoing streaks I continued on. Despite that, I still think the D/P Tower is okay. I didn’t have very fun with it now, but it was quite fun to battle at it in the past. I like it better than the Towers in Crystal, R/S and Emerald, but I think the Subway/Maison/Tree are way better when it comes to standard battle facilities. With my streaks complete, I have no reason to ever return to the D/P Tower. I had already completed my goals for it in the past (beaten Gold Palmer and won 100 battles in a row for the TC upgrade – on both games). Now that I no longer have any notable ongoing streaks left, I’m leaving it for good.

However, my battle facility project will continue. I am done with D/P, but there is more to be done on Gen 4. Next up is obviously Platinum. I have unfinished business in all 5 facilities there and I will get started on the first of them soon.
 
Hello everyone,

I've been working on how to convert all the AI's Battle Frontier Pokemon information into something importable into damage calculator.

All PtHGSS Battle Frontier Pokemon

This can be imported into the "Import/Export" box at the bottom of damage calc. Now there's no need to guesstimate how much your moves and your opponents moves will do!

Please note that the abilities are not correct, I set them all to be Cloud Nine due to many Pokemon having multiple abilities. The importer can also save only up to about 20-30 sets at a time, so please don't upload all 900+ sets all at once. I hope this helps!
 
Signing it at 49 wins for the Battle Factory, after 490 in game hours, and approximately 515ish irl hours, I finally beat this cursed cursed facility.


20221005_094954.jpg


If you want to see the full run, I recorded it with a loopy capture card and the video is here:
And the loss at battle 50 is here:

I got tremendously lucky in some of this run, particularly in the final 7 battles with my draft, an incident where an opponent missed 3 consecutive focus blasts as well as when i hit almost every fire blast I used including one through +2 evasion.

But yeh overall I'm glad this is over, I've been playing since January 2020 on and off, only ramping up this year where I played 300ish hours. I couldn't even find it in me to be mad about losing at battle 50, it was a nice final fuck you from the factory to me.
 
After D/P, it was time to move on to Platinum. I have ongoing streaks in four of the facilities here, and I have yet to get the Gold Print from the fifth one. I also want to try Double in all of the Platinum Facilities since I have never done that before. So there’s a lot to be done here.

Like I did on Emerald earlier this year, I decided to start with the two facilities I care about the least. Below are the results from them.
First out was the Battle Hall. While it isn’t among my favorite facilities, I still think it is a quite fun and unique challenge. I like how the battles here are usually very fast since everything is just 1vs1. Though it still takes a while to complete it since you need to win 170 battles in a row to get the Gold Print.

For Single, I had an ongoing streak of 170. I had stopped right after beating Gold Argenta. Continued on that streak now. The Pokémon I had used to get this streak was Garchomp. I only used one single Garchomp, here’s the set:

1667744281027.png

Garchomp (M) @ Focus Sash ** Land Shark
Ability: Sand Veil
IVs: 31/31/31/0/31/31
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spd
Level 50 stats: 184/182/115/76/105/169
Nature: Jolly
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Swords Dance

Streak: 203

Picture proof:


Credit for this set goes to Nickm65, his post about it can be found here.

I won the first 170 battles in 2014. Back then, my only goal was to get the Gold Print and I wanted to get it as quickly as possible, so I looked at the leaderboards here on Smogon for inspiration. This set seemed like it was good enough and since it only required one Garchomp, that settled it for me. It still took me a few tries to get the Gold Print though. More info about that can be found in this post. I only trained my Garchomp to level 50 since I was too lazy to train it any further, and I had forgotten how levels worked in the Hall since it had been so long since I last battled at it. Training it to another level might be better, but this worked.

This Garchomp is pretty standard. Outrage and EQ for powerful STAB moves, Fire Fang for coverage, SD to boost. Sash prevents it from being OHKO’d. Jolly Nature and maxed Att/Spd since it needs to be fast and hit hard. This set isn’t perfect though, it has some bad matchups in the Hall. The most notable one is Weavile which pretty much auto-wins against this Garchomp set. But as long as you avoid running into Weavile, you should be fine… mostly.

Looking at the leaderboards now, Garchomp seems to be a very popular choice for Hall Singles. I’m not surprised, and I can confirm that it works very well.

Anyway, I continued on my streak now. In order to get a high streak, I went with the same post-170 order as Nickm65. It is this: Electric, Fire, Poison, Dragon, Steel, Rock, Psychic, Flying, Bug, Ghost, Fighting, Normal, Grass, Ground, Dark, Water, Ice.

I learned now that when battling post-170, you can’t select the same type multiple times in a row, you must pick a different type every time. But when you have battled all 17 types, the board will reset, allowing you to pick any type you want again. While battling now, I looked up opposing sets and ran damage calcs using turskain’s damage calculator.

I decided to write short battle logs for how it went, find them below:

171. Electric. Raikou. Reflect, EQ, Quick Attack, EQ KO.
172. Fire. Infernape. Fake Out, Chomp flinched, then EQ for an OHKO.
173. Poison. Toxicroak. EQ OHKO.
174. Dragon. Dragonite. Outrage OHKO.
175. Steel. Probopass. EQ OHKO.
176. Rock. Aerodactyl. It uses Fly, I use SD. Next it hits me with Fly, Outrage OHKO.
177. Psychic. Gardevoir. Outrage OHKO.
178. Flying. Ninjask. X-Scissor, SD, Slash, Outrage OHKO.
179. Bug. Forgot to write the opponent here, but I think it was Armaldo? Outrage, X-Scissor, Outrage KO.
180. Ghost. Dusknoir. Outrage, Shadow Punch, Outrage KO.

181. Fighting. Heracross. SD, CC, Outrage OHKO.
182. Normal. Lickilicky. Outrage, Ice Punch (Chomp lived with Sash), Outrage KO.
183. Grass. Leafeon. Outrage, Leaf Blade, Outrage KO.
184. Ground. Steelix. SD, Curse, EQ, Gyro Ball, EQ KO.
185. Dark. Shiftry. Outrage OHKO.
186. Water. Kingdra. Outrage OHKO.
187. Ice. Jynx. Outrage OHKO.
188. Electric. Electabuzz. EQ OHKO.
189. Fire. Charizard. Protect, SD, Fire Fang, WoW, Chomp Burned, Zard Protect, Outrage fail, then Outrage KO.
190. Poison. Roserade. Outrage OHKO.

191. Dragon. Altaria. Outrage OHKO.
192. Steel. Bastiodon. Earthquake OHKO.
193. Rock. Lunatone. Outrage OHKO.
194. Psychic. Alakazam. Psychic, Outrage OHKO.
195. Flying. Charizard. SD, WoW, Chomp Burned, Fire Fang, Zard Flinched, SD, Air Slash, Outrage KO. This was very close.
196. Bug. Ninjask. It uses Dig, I SD. It then hits me with Dig, I use Outrage for an OHKO.
197. Ghost. Gengar. Hypnosis miss, Outrage OHKO.
198. Fighting. Infernape. Fake Out, Chomp Flinched, then EQ OHKO.
199. Normal. Zangoose. Outrage OHKO.
200. Grass. Exeggutor. SD, Wood Hammer, Outrage OHKO.

201. Ground. Piloswine. SD, Ice Fang, survived with Sash, Outrage MISS, it uses Dig, EQ OHKO. Scary.
202. Dark. Shiftry. Outrage OHKO.
203. Water. Starmie. Double Team, Outrage, Hydro Pump Crit, lived with Sash, Outrage KO.

I then lost in battle 204. Below is the battle log:

204. Ice. Glalie. Outrage, Ice Beam, lived with Sash, Chomp gets Frozen. It doesn’t thaw and the Glalie KO’s with Signal Beam.

You don’t need a video for that, but here’s one anyway:


I would have won if I hadn’t gotten frozen, but nothing can be done about that. I’m still happy about the streak. It went way better than my failed streaks at the D/P Tower.

With this, I am done with Hall Single. I have seen some people on the Discord channel who are trying to get a streak that’s as high as possible with every Pokémon that can be used in the Hall, and that’s honestly a really cool idea. But I have no intention of doing that myself. My goals were to get the Gold Print and then complete my streak, which is done now.

However, there was one more thing I wanted to do at the Hall. I wanted to try Double as well before leaving. Hall Double is a very interesting format as it doesn’t have either a species clause nor an item clause. The latter allows you to run the same item on both of your Pokémon, which is cool. And since opposing Pokémon in the Hall only has one set for every species, both opponents will always be running the exact same set.

I haven’t trained that many Pokémon for the Platinum Frontier (especially not compared to Emerald), so I didn’t have a lot of different options to choose from here. But there were a few at least. From the Pokémon on Platinum I have that are properly trained or close enough, I have at least two of the following: Blissey, Garchomp, Gengar, Latias and Salamence. I decided to go with Salamence because I have two that are both RNGed and properly trained, so it felt like the safest choice.

My goal here was not to get a high streak but just to have some fun, so I decided to play this a bit more casually. I did not look up sets as I played. I did not play through the types in any specific order, I mixed them up a bit. Though I tried to focus on taking down the easiest types first, while saving the hardest ones for last. Probably a bad strategy in the long run, but it doesn’t matter here.

I made it to 169 wins in a row, which is much longer than expected. Though there were several tough battles along the way, including some that I only won through luck rather than skill. As for the loss, I had saved Ice Rank 5-10 for the last since it was the type I expected to have the most trouble against. For Ice Rank 10, my final opponents were a Weavile duo. They were faster than both of my Salamence and defeated them with Ice Punch before I had a chance to defeat them. It was a bit sour to lose right at the “end”, but that’s okay. My goal was to just try Hall Double and have a bit of fun. While my Salamence sets are far from optimal for the Hall, they worked surprisingly well. But with proper sets, Salamence can definitely get to 170 or higher. Jumpman proved that with his streak of 225 in the past.

Afterwards, I thought about trying Multi at the Hall as well. I was initially not interested in doing it, but then I started to wonder how it works if you play with an AI partner. Logically, they should be using the default set for the species you choose. So I was about to give it a try, but upon entering, I learned that you can’t do Multi with an AI partner at the Hall. I guess the same goes for every other facility in Platinum apart from the Tower. So that question quickly got answered. I did not want to try Multi with two games, so I left the Hall instead.

With this, I am done with the Battle Hall. It was pretty fun in the end. I remember that when I went back to Platinum in order to get the Gold Prints in 2014, I was scared of the Hall and I thought it would be almost as hard as the Factory. Thankfully, that turned out to be wrong. It isn’t among my favorite facilities, but I still like it. However, I don’t think I’ll ever return to it. Instead, I consider myself done with it. On to the next facility!
After the Hall, I went to the Arcade. It is probably my least favorite facility in Platinum, the game board makes it very luck-based which I’m not really a fan of.

I had an ongoing streak of 49 on Single, I had stopped right after beating Gold Dahlia. Continued on it now. While I battled here now, I looked up opposing trainers and their sets using Bulbapedia’s list. I used the same team as I used to get the Gold Print back in 2014, below are the details for it.

Team:

1667744323958.png

Salamence (M) ** Salamander
Ability: Intimidate
IVs: 31/31/31/25/31/31
EVs: 252 Att / 6 Sp.def / 252 Spd
Level 50 stats: 170/187/100/114/101/167
Nature: Jolly
- Outrage
- Aerial Ace
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide

1667744430907.png

Milotic (F) ** Mirage
Ability: Marvel Scale
IVs: 31/0/31/31/31/31
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 Spd
Level 50 stats: 202/58/144/120/145/102
Nature: Bold
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Recover

1667744598217.png

Blissey (F)
Ability: Natural Cure
IVs: 31/4/31/31/31/31
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 Spd
Level 50 stats: 362/15/68/95/155/76
Nature: Bold
- Seismic Toss
- Flamethrower
- Aromatherapy
- Softboiled

Streak: 56

Picture proof:


Credit for this team goes to Bozo, his post about it can be found here. It was originally created for the Battle Castle. So why am I using it for the Arcade? The reason is that when I battled at the Platinum Frontier in 2014, I used this team for the Battle Castle and got the Gold Print there. When I continued to the Arcade afterwards, I decided to use this team there as well since I had no better ideas. It might not be optimal for the Arcade, but it worked well enough to get me the Gold Print there as well.

Before this gets added to the leaderboards, I need to talk about the Blissey I am using here. I did not obtain this Blissey on my own. Instead, I obtained it through Pokécheck, a now defunct site which allowed you to upload and download Pokémon. People who were active in the fandom back during the Gen 5 days might remember Pokécheck. I have many good memories from the site… but this is not the right place to talk about that. The reason I got this Blissey from Pokécheck and not on my own was because I needed a Blissey with Seismic Toss. I wanted one with perfect IVs, and as I couldn’t RNG in Gen 3 (and I still can’t, never bothered trying to learn it), I had to look for other alternatives. I also wanted to get the Gold Prints as quickly as possible so I could move on to my next project afterwards. I suppose I could have bred an imperfect Blissey on Emerald and transferred it to Platinum, but after learning RNG on Gen 4, I had become too much of a perfectionist to use any Pokémon with imperfect IVs. So I got this Blissey from Pokécheck instead. A bit more in-depth explanation about the whole thing can be found here (under “Battle Castle”).

What I want to say is that this Blissey is legal but not necessarily legit. I remember that it passed the legality check on Pokécheck (but that does not guarantee that it is legit). I think it is RNGed by Kaphotics, but I’m not sure. I should note that it does not have the ribbon it would have gotten if downloaded directly from Pokécheck since I downloaded it through PokéGTS, another now defunct site to where you could upload and download Pokémon in the form of files. Though maybe the fact that I got it through Pokécheck and PokéGTS is enough to make it ineligible for the leaderboards. atsync, I’ll leave it to you to decide on this. If this team and the streak isn’t eligible for the leaderboards because of the origins of my Blissey, then that’s okay. The leaderboards aren’t my main goal anyway.

While we’re at it, I should mention that this Blissey is the only Pokémon I have used for the Platinum Frontier which I have not bred/caught/RNGed on my own. Everything else that I use apart from this Blissey are Pokémon that I have obtained on my own and are 100% legit.

Enough about Blissey. I guess I should say some short words about the team on the whole as well. Salamence is a physical attacker (originally a Choice Bander for the Castle) which hits hard with good coverage. Milotic and Blissey are bulky backups which can tank hits and slowly wear down the opposing team, Blissey can also use Aromatherapy to cure status. Not sure how much I actually need to say, their sets should be pretty obvious.

My strategy for the Arcade has always been to try to hit something good on the board and then hope for the best regarding the battle. I like how you get a preview of the opposing team before battle starts since the game displays which Pokémon the opponent uses. Another notable thing about the Arcade is that no Pokémon will naturally hold any items since items are only given from the board. This is good in a way since it means that no opposing sets will be holding any hax items (unless you can get hax items from the board? Don’t know if that is possible though). I don’t know if their teams still follow the “rules” in other facilities either. Maybe it is possible to see two opposing Pokémon on the same team which would usually hold the same item in any other facility, like Vaporeon-1 and Espeon-2. But I don’t know, this is just speculation.

I also noticed that if you get any hold items from the board, you will keep them for the remainder of the round (unless they get changed to different items). When I played now, my whole team were given Leftovers before the first battle in round 8, which was nice. This also means you will override the item clause just like you can do in the Hall and the Castle, which is cool.

Another thing I noted now is that the board was way faster than I remembered. I was wondering if it got faster the further you get on your streak, and after trying Double later on (where I started from 0), I can confirm that this is the case. Though I don’t know if it speeds up after every round, or even after every battle, or how much it increases from time to time. But it gets faster the further you get, that’s for sure.

Now, how did my attempt at the Arcade go? I won one round, then lost in the first battle of the second round.

Here’s the video of the loss:


Battle Summary:
My opponent is PI River. The team preview showed that he has a team of Shiftry/Hippowdon/Rapidash, it didn’t look too hard. Before the battle, the board had landed on no event, so this was basically a standard battle (but without any hold items on either side). River usually has a lot of hax items on his Pokémon, but even without them, he still has some annoying movesets. It looks like every Pokémon he can have carries either Explosion or an OHKO move, which isn’t very fun.

He sends out Shiftry, I send out Salamence. I 2HKO with Aerial Ace, he hits me with Aerial Ace and Sucker Punch, Salamence is at slightly above 50%. Next is Hippowdon. It knows Ice Fang, so I switch to Milotic. I tank an Ice Fang and use Surf, but doesn’t KO. The Hippo uses Fissure… and hits. Milotic down. I send out Salamence again. I don’t want to get locked into Outrage, and since the Hippowdon doesn’t have that much HP left, I go for EQ. Unfortunately, it isn’t enough. It lives and KO’s Salamence with Ice Fang. Not good at all.

Out with Blissey. Seismic Toss for the KO. Now, he only has Rapidash left… but I only have Blissey left. The horse is faster, it uses Horn Drill and hits (it takes 11 seconds for the HP bar to reach 0, thanks slowness of Gen 4). I lose.

What could I have done differently? I should have used Outrage with Salamence against the Hippowdon, that should have been a sure KO. Chances are that the Rapidash would have survived another Outrage afterwards, but it would still have given me a better chance of winning. Otherwise, there’s not much I could have done. This was a quite haxy loss since I got hit by both Fissure and Horn Drill. But it doesn’t matter since I wasn’t expecting to get super far, and I did at least win one round before I lost. With this streak over, I am done with Arcade Singles.

But even if I had lost here, I was not done with the Arcade quite yet. Just like at the Hall, I wanted to try Double. I had never tried this format before, so I had no ongoing streak. For battles 1-21, I entered with a team of Garchomp/Gengar/Metagross. I played these battles very casually, without looking up sets. For battle 22 and on, I changed team to Bronzong/Togetic/Dusknoir while also looking up sets as I played. I didn’t get very far though, my streak ended at 24 wins. My opponent had a team of Milotic/Shuckle/Lickilicky, and the main reason I lost was misplay. No need to say anything more here since it isn’t eligible for the leaderboards. I have no interest in making another try either.

I haven’t tried Multi at the Arcade and I have no intention of trying it. Instead, I’m leaving the Arcade forever.

In the end, the Arcade is my least favorite facility in Platinum. I think the concept with the board is pretty cool, but it is too luck-based for my tastes. I generally prefer facilities that allow you to rely on strategy and skill rather than luck.
And so, I am done with the first two facilities on Platinum. I’m quite happy about my streaks here, they went way better than any of my failed streaks at the D/P Tower. But I am nowhere near done with the Platinum Frontier yet. Three facilities still remain. The Tower, Castle and Factory. I will get started on one of them soon. However, I have thought about taking a break from this project. Or maybe I’ll just slow down the pace a bit… though it has been rather slow lately as it is, so it won’t make much of a difference. In addition to that, ScaVio will be released soon. I’m planning to get Violet, but it will not be on the release date. Because of all this, it might be a while until I am back with another post here. But I am definitely going to continue with the rest of this project until it is done.
 
Last edited:

Eisenherz

επέκεινα της ουσίας
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnus
Moderator
Submitting a streak of 709 in HGSS Battle Tower Doubles!

I've been working on this streak on and off for more than 2 years, but the majority of these battles were played in 3 dedicated stretches, the most recent one featuring around 400 battles in the past few weeks. I was slowly starting to be hopeful I could reach 1000, but I also desperately wanted to be done with the streak before the release of SV, so I guess it worked out.

Climbing in Gen IV is SLOW. Everyone in this thread is surely used to it, but as I usually play Gens 7 and 8, I found it particularly hard not to lose focus and not to cut corners while battling to speed things up.

IMG_3730.png

Forgive the dead pixels... this DS has been through a lot over the years, including a near-fatal playthrough of Pokémon Ranger...

The team has a somewhat convoluted history. It started as a Battle Tree randos team of Clefairy / M-Scizor / Heatran / Primarina, which to this day remains one of the most solid teams I've been able to roll in randos. I tried making a full streak out of it and made various changes; I remember that the Primarina slot became a Latias at some point, and I Clefairy became a semi-offensive Clefable set (still keeping Follow Me obviously). The results were promising, but I moved on to other ideas before long.

Later, I decided to give a shot at teambuilding a Gen IV Tower team since I had never done it, and that team came back to mind as I was looking at teams I had created with only Pokémon from Gen IV and before. Togekiss stuck out to me as I was looking for Follow Me support options, because it can double as a Tailwind setter, which both Scizor and Heatran heavily appreciate.

–––––––
T E A M
–––––––

:dp/togekiss: @

Timid | Serene Grace
IVs: 31/7/31/31/31/31
EVs: 68 HP / 4 Def / 188 SpA / 12 SpD / 236 Spe
Tri Attack / Air Slash / Follow Me / Tailwind
First, thanks to Xen who RNGd this Togekiss in XD – the only way for it to have Tri Attack. I don't think Togekiss would have worked out this well without Tri Attack, so your help was a big part of this success!

Togekiss on this team was a true Swiss Army knife. It's tanky enough to provide good support, yet also has a strong offensive presence. Tri Attack is the main, reliable STAB that gets spammed with no drawback. It 2HKOs most things at neutral, and spamming it constantly gets rewarded with helpful status (which is obviously unreliable and can't be part of any gameplan other than a desperate one, but the help it provides overall is undeniable).

Unlike other members of the team, Togekiss' defensive synergy isn't too well-covered. Where's the Rock switch-in...? Where's the Ice swich-in...? Heatran? To get frozen on the switch? No thanks. Where's the Electric switch-in, Latios? To get paralyzed on the switch? No thanks. You get the idea, 95% of the time, Togekiss was the lead and stuck in its spot until it went down. Sometimes, that's turn 1 (there's nothing to be done on a Zapdos/Raikou lead...), sometimes it's very late into the battle. In front of resists, Steel or Rock types for example, I ended up just chipping with Tri Attack (though Follow Me is often better if Scizor isn't fully safe). And once my fishing succeeds and everything is already statused? Then I might as well spam Air Slash and really make the AI's life miserable. Again, completely unreliable, but in such situation, it's a gamble with no drawback that ends up winning a lot!

Air Slash, unlike Tri Attack, is a bit iffy to click because of that terrifying 95%. Unfortunately, the team tends to have a bit of a rough time with Fighting types (until a free switch into Latios happens, anyway), and Air Slash is my upfront answer to them. I hate to rely on it, but I did click it quite a lot... all these Blaziken, Medicham, Infernape, etc. leads. I need them gone, ASAP, and Air Slash does just that. I can usually get a 2nd or 3rd chance if I miss the first, but it gives one of the AI's Pokémon free turns and can sometimes go punished. All in all, I would say my Air Slash luck (as far as hitting) in this streak has been phenomenal. The worst I've had was missing 3 in a row, but I was able to switch/protect stall in the Scizor slot enough to let Latios take over and win. Other than that, most misses were inconsequential ones.

So offensively, Togekiss' double-STAB is really solid and ends up supporting the team in random ways. But it also offers reliable support. Follow Me is mostly used to ensure Scizor Swords Dances safely, though it's particularly helpful against things like Fissure. While the main idea was originally to use Togekiss as Follow Me bot, I quickly realized this wasted its better-than-anticipated offensive prowess, and by the end, I attacked more than I used Follow Me. However, it remained a reliable safety net, especially against nearly-guaranteed Fire moves, when I have good reasons to want to keep Scizor in (if it's running through the Fire attacker's partners, for example).

And finally, we have Tailwind. At first, I thought I was just really bad at counting. But after a few battles, I realized something had to be up... could Tailwind really be only 3 turns in Gen IV...? YUP!! :notlikeduck:
There is no doubt this makes Tailwind much worse than in later gens. But worse doesn't mean useless. It means I can't just constantly set it up against a frontline and sweep from there; I have to either set it up in the mid-game to reliably run through the backline, or be fine with finishing things off without Tailwind (thanks Latios). Tailwind remains a no-drawback move in scenarios where you're outsped, you just get a lot less mileage out of it than you would with one more turn. Overall, this did make me use Tailwind less than I would otherwise have, but it was a great tool to have at hand.
236+ speed outspeeds all Lucario sets, which are an absolute pain to the team. Air Slash 2HKOs, though if you flinch it, Steadfast will often activate... worth a free 50% of damage regardless, and puts it in range of +2 Bullet Punch if need be.
The bare minimum of speed is 164+ to outspeed Blaziken134 and Medicham34, which is not that far off, so might as well.

Defensive EVs:
252+ SpA Jolteon Thunderbolt vs. 68 HP / 12 SpD Togekiss: 140-168 (82.8 - 99.4%)
252+ Atk Electivire Thunder Punch vs. 68 HP / 4 Def Togekiss: 140-168 (82.8 - 99.4%)
252 SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. 68 HP / 12 SpD Togekiss: 140-168 (82.8 - 99.4%)
252+ SpA Raikou Thunderbolt vs. 68 HP / 12 SpD Togekiss: 144-170 (85.2 - 100.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Glaceon Ice Beam vs. 68 HP / 12 SpD Togekiss: 144-170 (85.2 - 100.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Milotic Ice Beam vs. 68 HP / 12 SpD Togekiss: 88-104 (52 - 61.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery
252+ SpA Wise Glasses Articuno Ice Beam vs. 68 HP / 12 SpD Togekiss: 138-164 (81.6 - 97%)

Offensive EVs:
188 SpA Togekiss Air Slash vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Blaziken: 156-186 (100.6 - 120%) -- guaranteed OHKO
188 SpA Togekiss Air Slash vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Infernape: 152-182 (100.6 - 120.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
188 SpA Togekiss Air Slash vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Medicham: 146-174 (108.1 - 128.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
There's more, but those are the ones that truly matter.


:dp/scizor: @

Adamant | Technician
IVs: 31/31/31/13/31/31
EVs: 92 HP / 236 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 164 Spe
Bullet Punch / Bug Bite / Swords Dance / Protect
Since the frontline strategy centers around it, Scizor ends up being the one doing the most work. Any occasion to get a free +2 puts the team in a commanding position. But boosting is a luxury; attacking at neutral is often good enough, and the most common pattern of play is to simply double-up on immediate threats with Scizor and Togekiss (making Togekiss' speed all the more important).

Bullet Punch is a given on any Scizor set, but there's something to be said about the incredibly high value of priority as one of the main attacking STABs in Tower. Quick Claw is very common, so it provides a reliable way to get around that. It also means Tailwind isn't as essential to get value out of a Swords Dance, and can equally shine in Trick Room.

Bug Bite is just a strong, reliable STAB. Definitely the most clicked move on the set, it gets a ton of neutral OHKOs at +2 (and even some with no +2...), most notably on Waters and Electrics. It also makes most fights against Psychic trainers trivial, and plays a big role in preventing Trick Room. Eating berries is a nice side-effect, but it's not as consequential as I expected it to be. A few Sitrus and Salac have come in handy, but most of the time the consumed berries are not helpful.

Much like speed control, if your action will require 2 turns anyway, you might as well get more value out of it. On all natural 2HKOs, it's usually preferable to just Swords Dance and get that OHKO (this of course depends on how threatening the opponent is), since its value will remain. I've also used it quite a bit to counteract Intimidate (while I'd usually prefer switching out to reset it, it's not always possible to safely do it). At +2, Scizor will also be able contribute meaningful damage against resistances.

Finally, not much needs to be said about Protect, but its value is obviously extra high on anything with a 4x weakness for those baits. I found HGSS AI to be particularly reliable at clicking their Fire move in front of Scizor no matter what (except Heat Wave for some reason). Protect provides free turns to the partner and allows to manage the endgame in more difficult battles.

I initially added the Lum Berry because Togekiss draws in Blizzards, and getting frozen tends to be fatal. But I think the most common status was by far paralysis, and in a way that's almost as bad as a freeze. With how prominent status is in this Tower, Lum ends up being a no-brainer, and I kind of wish both of my leads could've had one.
164 Spe outspeeds Electrode23 in Tailwind.
Outspeeds Cresselia1234, Suicune134 and Gardevoir123 without Tailwind.

Offensive EVs:
236+ Atk Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Aerodactyl: 158-188 (101.9 - 121.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO (very important calc)
236+ Atk Technician Scizor Bug Bite vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Slowking: 204-240 (100.9 - 118.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
236+ Atk Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Froslass: 152-180 (104.8 - 124.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
236+ Atk Technician Scizor Bug Bite vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Abomasnow: 212-252 (107.6 - 127.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
236+ Atk Technician Scizor Bug Bite vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Milotic: 102-121 (50.4 - 59.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Defensive EVS:
252+ Atk Hypno Fire Punch vs. 92 HP / 4 Def Scizor: 132-156 (84 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Feraligatr Waterfall vs. 92 HP / 4 Def Scizor: 66-78 (42 - 49.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 92 HP / 4 Def Scizor: 64-76 (40.7 - 48.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Steelix Fire Fang vs. 92 HP / 4 Def Scizor: 124-148 (78.9 - 94.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO


:dp/heatran: @

Modest | Flash Fire
IVs: 31/2/31/31/31/31
EVs: 4 HP / 4 Def / 236 SpA / 12 SpD / 252 Spe
Flamethrower / Earth Power / Substitute / Protect
While Scizor was the flashy upfront star of the team, scoring KOs left and right, Heatran was the backbone that kept it together. In dire times where the AI got all imaginable hax, Heatran was the one to carry the team.

First, the "bread-and-butter": Heatran switches in on Fire moves aimed at Scizor, as Togekiss sets Tailwind if need be, and then it has Flash Fire-boosted Flamethrower at hand. Very power, much hurt.

Earth Power just rounds up its coverage nicely, and allows Heatran to handle opposing Fires and the ever-threatening Electrics.

In my first run, I went with a more standard 3 attacks route and had either Flash Cannon or Ancient Power (can't remember), but it wasn't getting clicked much. I lost to OHKO users, and then also to a Blissey. This how the idea of Substitute came about... the move isn't novelty for Heatran, it's been a standard in some VGC metas. Here, it seemed like it would solve a lot of issues at once... and it sure did! Not only OHKO users, but also evasion spammers, status abusers, or even stuff like Suicune3 or Milotic3 have gotten the Substall treatment. It also allows Heatran to stall additional turns when it's threatened by something like an Earthquake and it takes the partner a few turns to get through it, or put it in range of Heatran.
I cannot express how impactful Substitute was to the team's success, I think I probably would've struggled to pass 200 had I never added it.

Protect is the obvious compliment to Substitute, since it provides free Leftovers while stalling 1 more of the opponent's PP when that needs to be done. It's also useful for all the usual Protect reasons, so it's a no-brainer.
188 Spe is needed to outspeed Tentacruel23, and since it was not a lot more, I found it worth going 252 to also creep Absol4, Hitmonlee2 and Scizor3. Outspeeding as many things as possible is important for Heatran because of Substitute.

Offensive EVs:
236+ SpA Heatran Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Torterra: 204-240 (100.9 - 118.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
236+ SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Golem: 158-188 (101.9 - 121.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Flash Fire Heatran Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Electivire: 153-180 (102 - 120%) -- guaranteed OHKO (TW + switch to Heatran on Fire Punch turn 1 makes this happen quite a lot)
236+ SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Toxicroak: 158-188 (100 - 118.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
236+ SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Bastiodon: 172-204 (102.9 - 122.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Defensive EVS:
Heatran tends to be resist-switched in a lot, and also subs a lot, so those calcs don't often come into effect.
252+ Atk Bronzong Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 4 Def Heatran: 136-164 (81.4 - 98.2%)
252+ SpA Wise Glasses Salamence Hydro Pump vs. 4 HP / 12 SpD Heatran: 138-164 (82.6 - 98.2%)
252 Atk Regirock Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 4 Def Heatran: 136-164 (81.4 - 98.2%)
252 Atk Tauros Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 4 Def Heatran: 136-164 (81.4 - 98.2%)


:dp/latios: @

Timid | Levitate
IVs: 31/7/31/31/31/31
EVs: 12 HP / 4 Def / 236 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Dragon Pulse / Psychic / Thunderbolt / Toxic
On my first version of the team, I had Tailwind on Latios as well, and it was the one with the Sitrus Berry. I was constantly missing out on OHKOs by like 10-15%, and while its special bulk should be quite decent, it just felt like an absolute glass cannon who could tank no more than one hit. I could never use it as a late-game Tailwind setter, because I needed it to set the Tailwind, then make use of it afterward, and somehow survive all those turns (that's unsustainable). It also constantly got crippled by paralysis from a lot of the threats it wasn't able to OHKO. In short, it didn't work well.

The Specs instantly solved my damage output issues, and solved a lot of the other issues at the same time, since getting OHKOs prevents a plethora of shenanigans. Togekiss ended up benefitting from the Sitrus Berry too, so things really fell into place.

Outside of having higher BP than I'm used to, Dragon Pulse is especially nice for how spammable it is when Fairy types are not a thing! A very safe move to be locked into for neutral damage was welcome since that's the major drawback of the Specs. Psychic still has a lot of use, if only because the team struggles with Fighting types, and that's the only reliable answer to them on the team. Thankfully, outside of Lucario, it's probably as solid of an answer as you can have.

Thunderbolt is not generally coverage I would consider as a top option for Latios, but Waters were particularly annoying (Suicune, Empoleon and Milotic at the forefront), as well as Moltres. I only discovered after that fact that it's 95 BP in Gen IV?? Whoa! The difference (from what I'm used to) was very noticeable, and even at neutral, Specs T-bolt was doing very acceptable damage.

As mentioned in the Heatran section, one of my early attempts lost to a Blissey, and I realized that with my team of special attackers, Scizor going down instantly meant trouble with Blissey, so I added Toxic. It doubled up as an answer to evasion spammers and such; with Heatran subbing on the side, landing a single Toxic can win. You'd think this is a throwaway moveslot that never gets clicked, but nope! I used it quite a bit... I don't think it was always necessary (Heatran could've won on its own by PP stalling), but it was nice to get things over with much quicker. I also remember switching in Latios a few times on annoying, passive opponents to Toxic them, and then switch back to lock into something else later.
This is a simple optimized level 50 version of a 252/252 spread.

Latios is not often in while Tailwind is up, so it really needs 252+ to do its job at cleaning.
Infernape14 is also enough of a reason to go max speed.
The small bit of bulk gives a better roll vs. Walrein4:
252+ SpA Walrein Ice Beam vs. 12 HP / 4 SpD Latios: 134-158 (85.3 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Walrein Ice Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Latios: 134-158 (85.8 - 101.2%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO

–––––––––––––
T H R E A T S
–––––––––––––

With the different changes made during the first couple of runs with the team, the number of threats has greatly diminished. I still view Infernape and Blaziken as big threats, but in truth, they haven't been an issue in the past several hundred battles.

  • Guitarists Iggy and Roget have a ton of Electrics, and that often means losing Togekiss turn 1, as well as ending up with some paralysis, which can no doubt end the run. Scizor and Latios usually shine there, but there's no doubt they could hax their way through.
  • The trainers with all legends (I haven't noted all of them, but Sawyer and Rioha gave me trouble) routinely have :zapdos: and :raikou:... their pool is somewhat diluted, so the team is usually not stacked with threats, but something like :zapdos: + :regirock: can be really difficult to maneuver around, or :raikou: paired with a troll :regigigas: trying to hax me...
  • While Sub Heatran resolves a lot of the concerns with hax, the Tower is clearly designed to hax the hell out of you, and I'm not sure I can think of a team that wouldn't mind it at all. Heatran sometimes cannot avoid a para from a faster Thunder Wave user, or just secondary paralysis from a Thunderbolt. Quick Claw is not something that can always be played around safely. Focus Band can activate indefinitely (Toxic can at least help there).
    • Most importantly, I would mention those nasty crits. Going back makes me so, so happy they were nerfed to 1.5x. Double damage is extremely impactful, especially for Scizor and Heatran, whose tankiness plays an important part in the team. 2x crits alone are a strong argument to not go back to these old gens for me.
  • :rhyperior: is pretty scary as a lead. I usually just chip it until I can bring in Latios for the finishing blow, but if sand is up, getting it into range isn't always easy, and the fact I really can't ignore it until it's in range gives its partner a lot of leeway. I figured a Rhyperior would probably be involved in my loss (wrong!).
  • :lucario: is also a constant pain. I have several ways to 2HKO it, but none to OHKO outside Heatran, and that requires a positioning that's not easily achieved (Heatran in, for free, with Tailwind, not threatened by Lucario's partner...). I usually either 2HKO with Togekiss or do 50% with Togekiss and finish it off with Latios or Scizor.

–––––––––––––
T H E L O S S
–––––––––––––

I had an idea of the way this team would most likely end up losing given the close battles I had along the way. But the actual loss took me aback. It was swift and decisive, against Pokémon that really hadn't been a massive issue in the past, leaving me in disbelief of what just happened. It was a very quick battle, and I didn't realize the predicament I was in until it was too late. I got used to having a bit of leeway to try and squeeze out a win when things didn't go well, but I didn't get the opportunity here.

Turn 1: :togekiss: :scizor: vs. :steelix: :empoleon:
A lead I cannot damage too much, but on which I can also not safely switch anything in. I didn't foresee Tailwind being necessary in this battle, so I started chipping Empoleon and fished for status; I ignored Steelix, because that's an OHKO for Heatran as soon as it gets in, and Empoleon is the threat to Heatran, so that's what I want gone. SD with Scizor because if it's gonna do good damage against these 2, it needs it the boost.
Stone Edge into Togekiss, not too surprising.
Waterfall into Scizor does way too much... ah, of course, it's a crit. Well, that's unfortunate, but it doesn't seem too bad. Doubling into Empoleon should get it out of the way, and then Steelix can claim a KO and make way for Heatran.

Turn 2: :togekiss: :scizor: vs. :steelix: :empoleon:
It seems I didn't estimate the damage quite right; Tri Attack + Bug Bite leaves Empoleon at 1 HP, and rather than 1 KO, the AI gets to score both. Crap... well I don't think it's necessarily so bad, I'll be able to get a double KO without losing any HP, and Latios+Heatran are great at cleaning up.
Wait, what...? Stone Edge left Togekiss on 1? I didn't see that coming... well, that's fine too, I can just go Heatran to get my double KO and then I don't have to commit to a lock on Latios yet!

Turn 3: :togekiss: :heatran: vs. :steelix: :empoleon:
At this point, I should have been concerned and checked the lookup. For some reason, it didn't seem particularly dire to me. I knew there was a Quick Claw Steelix, I'd encountered it a ton, but it didn't cross my mind in that moment...
And as soon as QC went off and Togekiss fell before attacking, I realized the predicament I was in. I was counting on that Tri Attack... In a way, it would've been better if Togekiss did go down and Latios came in, because even with QC I would likely have gotten my double KO. If I had actually been smarter about it, I would've protected Heatran or targeted Empoleon with it just in case.
Alas, I was banking on that double KO, and I simply Flamethrowered Steelix. Empoleon lived, still at 1HP, and got to Waterfall Heatran. I thought it'd still survive barring a crit, because physical Empoleon is not that strong. When Heatran went down, I thought it crit again... but it didn't. You brought it down to Torrent, dummy!!
I came back from some tough spots with this team, but I knew that it would be a veeeery difficult hill to climb for Latios now...

Turn 4: :latios: vs. :tyranitar: :empoleon:
Well... obviously, when I saw Tyranitar come out, I realized it was very much sealed. And just like that, in 4 turns! It's such a weird feeling when for hours and hours you get used to either easy battles, or drawn out battles. Those latter ones are where I would use the lookup, and load up the calc, and plan. But this loss just completely caught me off-guard. The team fell apart swiftly.

In hindsight, Empoleon is probably a bigger threat than I was giving it credit for. I knew it was a bit of a pain to power through it, but it had never threatened the team much offensively, so I felt relatively safe. Obviously, not accounting for the Quick Claw is a big L on my end. Considering Tyranitar was in the back, winning would have been difficult, but probably not impossible.
Since Tyranitar goes down to Dragon Pulse + Earth Power + Earth Power, I would've DPulsed and subbed; if Ttar KOd Latios, my sub ensured 2 EPs on the following turns, and if it EQd (very likely next to Skarmory), I get another free DPulse on the next turn which seals it. It then comes down to the Skarmory set, which I'll never know. Skarmory4 does enough to break sub and that would've been an issue, but I think I was safe against the other 3 sets.

 
welcome, to our ongoing streak of 21 in heartgold battle tower link.

my battle partner and i have been eyeing this hellhole for quite a month and a half. our schedules rarely align so this run may not go anywhere mightily impressive, but i think with the team we made the potential is definitely there for new records.

speaking of which, here's the team:


:dp/metagross: @ :occa berry:
adamant | clear body
ivs: 31/31/31/x/31/31
evs: 108 hp / 212 atk / 124 def / 4 spdef / 60 speed
bullet punch / explosion / iron head / earthquake

:dp/gengar: @ :life orb:
timid | levitate
ivs: 31/x/31/31/31/31
evs: 28 hp / 4 def / 164 spatk / 60 spdef / 252 speed
shadow ball / thunderbolt / sludge bomb / curse

:dp/roserade: @ :black sludge:
timid | poison point
ivs: 31/x/31/31/31/31
evs: 28 hp / 4 def / 220 spatk / 12 spdef / 244 speed
worry seed / aromatherapy / extrasensory / grass knot

:dp/regigigas: @ :leftovers:
adamant | slow start
ivs: 31/31/31/x/31/31
evs: 112 hp / 156 atk / 80 def / 36 spdef / 124 speed
frustration / fire punch / earthquake / ice punch
cgi_battle_tower_streak.jpeg
will update if the run continues and i am not too tired.
thankee for reading, it was a pleasure to finally witness the many hours spent workshopping the logistics of this project come to fruition.
-cgi
 
Last edited:
What's up dudes, I'm super happy to see the love for the best Pokémon gen is still going strong. I didn't see any Battle Hall runs with the original fire monkey and my personal favorite Pokémon, so I'll submit 183 with Infernape.



@ Focus Sash
IVs: 29/31/27/31/16/31
EVs: 0/4/0/252/0/252
Nature: Naive
Lv. 58
Moves:
  • Overheat
  • Fake Out
  • Nasty Plot
  • Vacuum Wave / Earthquake / Grass Knot / Close Combat
Infernape's got 2 excellent offensive types with decent defensive synergy, a great speed tier, good mixed offensive stats, and a rather wide movepool, giving it a lot of options for the various types in the Hall. Its bulk is nothing to write home about, so Focus Sash is the preferred item. I've not done any sort of RNG manipulation or the like, so the defensive IVs aren't perfect, but I bred until I got the desired 3 offensive IVs as well as an "outstanding potential" rating from the IV judge. With the other 3 stats being 31, this means that the 3 remaining stats must sum to 58 or higher, almost certainly preventing any 0 IVs. The EVs and nature are to max out Special Attack and Speed without completely nerfing the damage of Fake Out, Earthquake, and Close Combat (Hasty is another perfectly acceptable option).

I went the special attacking route in order to take advantage of Blaze, an often overlooked ability. With this being 1v1 and running Focus Sash, Infernape will be under 33% health quite often, and is able to hit back with its great speed. Overheat is the best option to use this, with phenomenal power (although I have seriously considered Blast Burn for certain cases). While it does have 90% accuracy and you'll most certainly lose some streaks due to untimely misses, Fire Blast is worse in both power and accuracy, and Flamethrower is quite frankly a joke, you'll never get the requisite KO's. For example, at +2 with Blaze activated, Flamethrower has a mere 6.3% chance to OHKO Gyarados, while Overheat has a guaranteed OHKO. This thing simply nukes things you'd never expect it to.

Fake Out, the only egg move that you'll need to breed on, is fantastic. It breaks opposing sashes, gets some much-needed chip damage and buys you an extra turn. I won't list them here, but there are quite a few KO's that wouldn't be possible without Fake Out's damage. You will need to look out for opponents with Inner Focus, notably Dragonite and Crobat.

Infernape has access to a whopping 4 boosting moves that give a total boost of +2, being Swords Dance, Bulk Up, Nasty Plot, and Calm Mind. With the special attacking focus of Overheat and Vacuum Wave, Nasty Plot is the preferred option. A boosting move is important to break through several annoyingly bulky Pokémon like Shuckle, and Nasty Plot fills that role well. It's also a pre-evo move from Chimchar, so you can't get it back if you forget it, just like Fake Out.

For the final slot, Vacuum Wave is the default option, being STAB as well as the only special priority move in the game. It's super helpful against many Rock and Steel types since they tend to have low Special Defense. Earthquake is used on Poison in order to take out Tentacruel, while Grass Knot is used for Hippowdon in Ground. Close Combat, being the crown jewel of Fighting-type moves, of course make its way onto a moveslot. Chansey, Snorlax, and Blissey are all disposed of by CC in Normal, as well as Empoleon and Heatran in Steel and Tyranitar in Dark. I also used it in Ice for a bit of an easier time on things like Dewgong, Walrein, and Lapras.

My order pre-170 was Dragon->Water->Psychic->Rock->Fighting->Flying->Poison->Normal->Fire->Ground->Steel->Dark->Ice->Ghost->Bug->Grass->Electric
The Argenta silver print battle was Shuckle, which is super easy, just boost to +6 and fire away. The gold print battle was Magnezone, which was also easily beatable by using Overheat.
Post-170, the order was Electric (Raichu), Grass (Exeggutor), Bug (Yanmega), Ghost (Banette), Ice (Weavile), Normal (Porygon-Z), Fire (Heatran), Flying (Charizard), Ground (Steelix), Dark (Tyranitar), then Steel (Probopass), Rock (Lunatone), Poison (Roserade), and finally lost to Poliwrath in Fighting. The run easily could've ended on Heatran and Ttar, running Vacuum Wave means you need to boost to +2 to 2HKO Heatran, and you also can't OHKO Ttar. This means that I needed Magma Storm to miss once (it missed the second time) and Stone Edge to miss (sand damage will finish you off).

It's totally possible to do better here (for example, 57 is the lowest level where you have a permanent advantage, but I accidentally leveled up to 58) and I plan on attempting some more, hopefully without the luck of running into a brick wall like Poliwrath. I think I'll likely only level up to 70 or 85, which are the other two levels where you get a larger advantage, and I want to have the ability to adjust EVs which you can't at 100. However, I've compiled a rather comprehensive list of major and minor threats, which I'll list in spoilers below. It should cover most Pokémon that have the potential to outspeed, but I don't mention Gyarados and Alakazam, which can also do so (Gyarados after a Dragon Dance, Alakazam from the start).

View attachment 467401

These range from "Challenging, requires right counterplay" to "Pray for a crit"

  • This is why you do Dragon first. The only thing that doubly resists Fire while also not being weak to Fighting like Omastar or Relicanth. I fully expect to see Kingdra every time I do Dragon, the only rank 10 Pokemon I might've seen more often is Dragonite (which frequently shows up at rank 9). Hydro Pump really doesn't miss that often, and it'll swap to Brine after so you don't have the possibility of it missing on the second attack. Even as the first type you do, it's still approximately a coin flip to beat it, it tends to have just a sliver of health remaining at which point it uses Brine and kills you.
  • I've never seen this thing past rank 8, but it's still a possibility. Early in the streak it can't 2HKO with Air Cutter, but post-170 it can. Air Cutter is also unlikely to activate Blaze (although it is possible), and that means +2 Overheat can't KO.
  • The more offensive Lati twin, Latios resists both STABs so you have to resort to pure power if you're special focused. I haven't actually run into Latios at all, and Latias is beatable with the typical strategy so you should be able to beat it if you do it early, but post-170 it's a monster.
  • This one also seems to appear rarely, I've only ran into it 3 times so far. If you take it on early, you can beat it even after a Special Attack drop from Mist Ball, which is impressive considering Latias's special bulk, but it's also not something you want to see later on.

  • Again, you want to avoid this thing as much as possible. With the greater amount of rank 10 Pokemon in Water, it's less likely you run into Kingdra here, so you can afford to do Water second instead of first.
  • While maybe not QUITE on the level of something like Kingdra or Latios, Blastoise can be super annoying with Protect and Yawn. Blaze Overheat at +2 is pretty favorable to OHKO after Fake Out damage but not guaranteed, and definitely will not without Fake Out damage. With there being a ton of Water types, I haven't run into Blastoise yet, but I would predict that it just goes for Hydro Cannon since it can OHKO you (the AI doesn't know your item) and won't bother with Yawn, so just going NP->Overheat->VW should do the trick.
  • The specially defensive Slowtwin can definitely screw you over with its bulk. It'll always use Psychic since its other moves don't have a chance to OHKO, and if you face it post-170 then you only have 1/8th chance to KO with +2 Blaze Overheat, and that's after a max roll Fake Out.
  • Our first priority user, Golduck also has EV investment in Special Defense to make it even MORE irritating to take down! You basically have to hope Hydro Pump misses. Overheat at +2 is a guaranteed KO after Fake Out even without Blaze, but if Hydro Pump hits, then you won't be able to get Overheat off because of Aqua Jet, and Blaze Overheat without a boost still fails to KO after Fake Out. Vacuum Wave is unfortunately too weak to do the job even at +2.
  • Fuck this thing, honestly. While it has Zoom Lens to hit Focus Blast and Hypnosis more often, it's inconsequential since it'll just use Surf then Vacuum Wave every time to cleanly 2HKO you. Again, +2 Blaze Overheat OHKO's, but you'll never get the chance. You can try going FO->Overheat->VW and hope for a crit, but even with a pre-170 level advantage it's pretty hopeless. You can see why I lost my streak to Poliwrath.
  • Also not much better than a coinflip, Tentacruel can 2HKO with Dive or Waterfall, and +2 Blaze Overheat doesn't get a guaranteed KO after Fake Out. You're also probably screwed if it uses Toxic first, since Overheat won't take it out at all and it can use Dive to avoid getting hit again, then take you out after poison damage has brought your HP down. I've only run into it a couple times, but it seemed to prefer to just rely on Dive, as that will still do a lot of damage and gets it away from any incoming attacks. That's actually good for you since you can just boost while it's under and fire away with what should be +4 Blaze Overheat.
  • The first time I got to the gold print Argenta battle, this bitch whips out a Vaporeon, ending my streak at 169. Bulky as shit, with a move that would reliably OHKO you, and a priority move to follow it up. Even if you could get it off, +2 Blaze Overheat is only a 1/8th chance to KO after a MAX ROLL Fake Out, that's how bulky this thing is. Expert Belt is just the icing on top.
  • Just roll over and die tbh. The Sitrus Berry means that you really have no chance. You COULD have it miss Hydro Pump/set up Reflect/use Mirror Coat on a turn you use NP, then use +2 Blaze Overheat to bring it down, but that won't KO even after Fake Out. Even if you max roll both your first 2 attacks and Suicune doesn't KO after using +2 Blaze Overheat, you still only have a 7/8th chance to KO with another Blaze Overheat.
  • With two 85% accurate moves, Swampert could be worse in terms of guaranteeing a win, but both moves have a 30% chance to reduce accuracy, AND it has BrightPowder. In addition, +2 Blaze Overheat also has a 50-62.5% chance of KO'ing after Fake Out, depending on FO's damage roll, so it's not guaranteed (although it is slightly favorable). Ideally you should go FO->NP first, and if it uses Substitute that turn, then Vacuum Wave will do enough to break the sub at +2 (which then makes Overheat a guaranteed win since it'll likely attack after making a sub).
  • Another Pokémon that won't bother with a sleep move and will just go big damage->priority. Facing it this early in the streak shouldn't be a huge problem since FO->Overheat->VW is a near-guaranteed KO, but it's a big problem later on since the same combo won't get the KO post-170.
  • Shell Bell and Rock Head make Relicanth frustrating to deal with. +2 VW has a little better chance to beat it than two separate VW's and Overheat won't work at all. I'm not sure if the AI takes Rock Head into account when picking a possible recoil move, so it might pick Head Smash without it, which would be huge, but otherwise this matchup favors the fish.

  • Already covered why we don't want to see this guy very often, a major contributing factor to completing Psychic so early.
  • Same deal as her brother, just so powerful and bulky. Salac Berry on the both of them doesn't help either.
  • Four 100% accurate attacks, EVs in Special Defense, and Leftovers to top it off, +2 Blaze Overheat is guaranteed to be a 2HKO after Fake Out, and it'll just whack you with Psychic again.

  • You already can't reliably get the 2HKO from Vacuum Wave, and it'll heal back up with Shell Bell, giving very little chance of KO'ing it after healing. Relicanth might use Head Smash over Aqua Tail because of the AI's weird decisions about KOs, but it also has the possibility of having Rock Head, eliminating any help from recoil damage.
  • If you face this post-170 while you are any level below 70, it'll outspeed you, but you'll have the advantage otherwise. If it leads with Sandstorm, you're in trouble (I even considered running Will-O-Wisp for this situation) since it can OHKO with Fly. However, I've never seen one do that, instead they all go for the kill with Fly. This allows you to boost while it's in the air and nuke it once it touches down again. With my IVs I don't have to worry about Aerial Ace since it doesn't have a chance of OHKO'ing, but you may want to check the damage calc if they're lower.
  • OU's perpetual king, Ttar is annoying mainly due to sand and Stone Edge's high crit rate. With my physical bulk IVs (which are honestly quite good), Ttar can only kill on a max Stone Edge roll, and I survive even that at 1 HP after sand at level 70+. If your IVs aren't as good, Ttar becomes a lot more threatening. Unboosted VW has a 90+% chance of 2HKO'ing in return (oddly, it's actually the lowest at level 70, 99+% at 85, and guaranteed at both 57 and 100).

  • This Hariyama is guaranteed to have Thick Fat, which makes it a lot tougher. The problem is that Vital Throw almost certainly 2HKO's (91.8% chance even with perfect IVs), but the first hit won't do enough to activate Blaze. If it was active then there'd be no problem, but without Blaze it's a guaranteed 2HKO at +2. If by chance it doesn't KO with the second Vital Throw, then Vacuum Wave should finish it off.
  • I do Fighting 5th so I can try to avoid Poliwrath with the silver print Argenta battle, that's how frustrating this thing is.

  • Our first Inner Focus user! Unlike Aerodactyl, Crobat will always be faster than you, and it also carries BrightPowder. Just click Overheat and hope for the best, even without Blaze you'd OHKO Crobat after recoil damage from Brave Bird.
  • I still wouldn't put stock in seeing Altaria post-170, but it's still something to think about. You actually WANT Air Cutter to crit so you have Blaze activated.
  • Has the possibility to hurt with Air Slash and Speed Boost, so just go with Overheat and follow up with VW if it used Endure. I debated putting this in minor threats, but if you can't hit it with Overheat then you're kinda screwed if it has Speed Boost.
  • Another BrightPowder user, Thunder Wave can cause some serious paraflinch problems with Air Slash. Granted, it'll likely just go with said Air Slash since it OHKO's, and +2 Overheat OHKO's even without Blaze.

  • Back again to be annoying in Poison, I'd prefer not to lose to accuracy hax so I do Poison next.
  • The first Pokémon to warrant a move change, I swap out VW for Earthquake specifically to deal with Tentacruel here. Also makes a couple other Pokémon in Poison easier like Muk.

  • The main reason to bring Close Combat over Vacuum Wave to Normal, Snorlax's special bulk is excellent, even with its EVs invested into physical Defense. It also has Thick Fat to make Overheat useless. Zen Headbutt will be its move of choice, a guaranteed OHKO without the downside of Giga Impact, but two uses of Close Combat is more than enough to take it down.
  • You won't have VW to reduce the effect of any paraflinch shenanigans, but CC cleanly 2HKO's and has 100 base accuracy so it won't be quite as affected by BrightPowder.

  • The glue of Gen 4 OU, Heatran's Flash Fire causes a few problems here, and you'll need to keep Vacuum Wave to deal with a couple other Pokémon in Fire, but unfortunately VW only 2HKO's Heatran at +2. Fortunately, Magma Storm has pretty low accuracy and you only need it to miss once in order to beat Heatran, which should have about a 51% chance of happening if my math is right.

  • Another sand bringer, Hippowdon was a huge annoyance when I tried beating Bertha back in the day. Here, its EQ will OHKO you, but thankfully it has no EVs invested in HP or Special Defense. This means that bringing Grass Knot is the right move, as FO->GK is a guaranteed win at level 57 and 100, and 87.5% or higher at 70 and 85. I'm skipping Swampert because Grass Knot trivializes that battle.

  • A lot easier this time around, Heatran goes down to CC, and there's no need for VW in Steel
  • Also easier due to bringing CC over VW, so you don't have to worry about Aqua Jet. If you didn't bring CC, then both of these Pokémon will give you issues, especially with them now being higher levels than before, particularly Empoleon.

  • With the level increase as your streak goes on, Tyranitar will now likely be able to take you out with Stone Edge and its sand, so CC deals with it effectively, and Infernape has no trouble with Weavile so there's no need for priority outside of Fake Out.

  • Yes we're skipping to Electric since Ice, Bug, Grass, and Ghost have no major threats (okay I guess Yanmega but that barely made it into this category as is). Raikou is faster than you if you're any level under 70, and it can beat you with Thunder->Quick Attack. Going FO->Overheat->VW should beat it, but it has a chance of paralyzing you with Thunder. It's not the worst to beat, but I save Electric for last to avoid it just to cut down on the chance of hax ending a run.

Mainly stuff that requires the right selection of moves, but should be very favorable or guaranteed if you make the right choices

  • Dragonite has Inner Focus so lead with NP. It'll most frequently lead with DD, but Aerial Ace happens too. Earlier on it'll be slower even after +1, but +2 Overheat has a good chance of a OHKO, and you can follow up with VW if it doesn't. If you face Dragonite later, then the activation of Blaze will get the OHKO if you're at least level 70, and it's still a 75% chance if you're at level 57.

  • The first of 3 Pokemon to rely on evasion hax, Starmie has BrightPowder and Double Team, but with its Hydro Pump and Psychic able to OHKO you, seeing Double Team is unlikely. +2 Overheat has an 81.3% chance to OHKO even if you miss Fake Out, and adding Blaze makes it a massively guaranteed OHKO, so things are quite favorable, but it can still be a little frustrating. It's also another Pokemon that requires you to be at least level 70 to outspeed.
  • Lord Helix doubly resisting Fire means that Vacuum Wave is the way to go, but otherwise it's not a problem.
  • Same deal as Omastar, just pick VW instead of Overheat.
  • Water Pulse can't OHKO you so it may set up Rain Dance, but don't worry because +2 Blaze Overheat still OHKO's in rain. If it's not Swift Swim, just use Overheat twice to take it out, it's still powerful enough even in rain and with Rain Dish.
  • Lax Incense makes this frustrating. Again, being at level 70+ seems to be ideal as you get the guaranteed win with FO->NP->Overheat, assuming all your attacks hit.
  • Same deal as Whiscash as Gastro also has Lax Incense.
  • Really only threatening because of Endure with Salac Berry. Just make sure to go with Vacuum Wave next if that happens.
  • Water Spout hits hard, and it also has BrightPowder so you really need your attacks to hit.
  • Thick Fat is back to make things harder than they should be. Things end up being pretty much a coin flip, maybe slightly unfavorable, and since Brine has a (small) chance to OHKO, Walrein will likely just use that move.

  • Nobody likes losing a run to evasion hax, and Starmie can make it super frustrating.
  • Another evasion spammer like Starmie, Espeon also has BrightPowder and Double Team, but it'll likely just go for its main attack, also like Starmie. Unlike Starmie, Espeon's bulk is poor enough that you don't need any boosts to take it down, just FO->Overheat.
  • Awful bulk and the possibility of having Inner Focus makes Alakazam "Just Click Overheat!" to win.
  • Protect, Trick, and Sticky Barb make Gardevoir somewhat challenging, but it'll favor Psychic, and while FO->Overheat isn't enough to KO, it is after Sticky Barb damage.
  • This Bronzong has Heatproof over Levitate and will make things annoying with Trick Room and Protect. Overheat cleanly 2HKO's even after the Special Attack drop so just go with that instead of worrying over Fake Out or setting up.
  • Gallade has Steadfast which makes it faster if you lead with Fake Out. However, that's still the optimal play, since it'll follow with Psycho Cut or Close Combat, both of which activate Blaze, and Blaze Overheat OHKO's. Gallade also has Vacuum Wave so you can't rely on priority to finish it off (and your own Vacuum Wave wouldn't be powerful enough anyways).
  • Uxie can't OHKO with any move, so it'll either go with Yawn or Extrasensory. Yawn still allows you the extra turn to boost and hit it with Overheat, and while Extrasensory might not activate Blaze, it doesn't matter since you won't need it to finish off Uxie. Focus Band could definitely be annoying though.
  • Azelf holds a Flame Orb and will try to use Trick to get rid of it, so go with Fake Out first just to ensure it doesn't. Overheat OHKO's without a boost, so Fake Out is just so it won't have your Focus Sash after the first turn.

  • Vacuum Wave twice. That way you'll beat out the incoming Earth Power on turn 1 if Quick Claw activates and a possible Quick Claw Sucker Punch on turn 2 since SP only has +1 priority in gen 4.
  • Most Rock types have poor Special Defense, and Omastar is no exception, so use Vacuum Wave.
  • Man I miss having part Rock-type fossils. Anyways, Kabutops is even less threatening than Omastar.
  • Metal Burst is the only attack that threatens you. Bastiodon actually has quite high Special Defense, so use Nasty Plot before Vacuum Wave to ensure the OHKO and avoid a Metal Burst->Quick Claw activation.
  • Now this can be a little annoying. Regirock carries Thunder Wave which is never fun, and it may actually use it considering none of its attacks can OHKO. Also, while its attacks can 2HKO, they may not do enough on the first hit to activate Blaze, and +2 VW has a 25% chance to KO after Fake Out. +2 Overheat definitely won't KO without Blaze either, so while Regirock is beatable, it can definitely be a run- ender.
  • Same deal as Bastiodon, boost then VW. It has Substitute and Sandstorm so try to avoid having those go up, and be aware that it has a Focus Band.

  • Technician Triple Kick is scary since it'll break your Sash, but it's Salac Berry won't make it faster than you (speed tie below level 70).
  • I once ran into all 3 Hitmons in a row during a streak. Anyways, Hitmonlee's Salac Berry WILL make it faster, but it doesn't carry a priority move. You also don't need to use Nasty Plot, just go FO->Overheat.
  • Revenge has a chance to OHKO, so you shouldn't have a problem with Dynamic Punch confusion. FO->Overheat->VW is a guaranteed win as long as Focus Band doesn't activate.
  • Sky Uppercut and Focus Blast can both 2HKO, and even with my IVs, Focus Blast->Quick Attack can KO with max rolls. However, it's more likely than not for Focus Blast to either miss putting you in Quick Attack KO range or just miss entirely, and +2 Overheat KO's without Blaze.
  • The mirror matchup, the Battle Hall set is Adamant so it definitely won't come close to a speed tie. FO->Overheat->VW deals with this, as the opponent's Life Orb damage and Special Defense drop from Close Combat is enough that -2 VW can finish it off.
  • Thankfully it's Mega Gallade that gets Inner Focus, or this would be a major threat. If you're facing this early enough that the Steadfast boost doesn't make it faster, it's probably low-leveled enough to not worry about it surviving your attacks.

  • Oddly enough, Farfetch'd can be quite threatening if you mistakenly use Fake Out, as it can have Inner Focus. It also has Swagger to confuse you, and Aerial Ace is a 2HKO without any confusion damage. Blast it away with Overheat on turn 1.
  • Another low-rank Pokémon, Staravia's Brave Bird hits like a truck, and it has Quick Attack to follow it up. You have two options to deal with it: Overheat OHKO's on turn 1, and Fake Out->NP->VW takes it out after Brave Bird recoil. The latter is a little safer since it avoids the chance of missing that Overheat has.
  • Like its pre-evo, Staraptor has Brave Bird and Quick Attack, so just follow the same strategy.
  • You can only hit it with Overheat, which is a 2HKO without any boosts, and all of its attacks have a chance to 2HKO back before its Petaya Berry activates, so Overheat really needs to not miss.
  • Another familiar face, Dragonite requires some thinking about the right move choices, but isn't terrifying.
  • Like the other Kanto starters, Charizard has the ultimate move Blast Burn, Protect, a Focus Sash, along with another STAB attack and a status move. Air Slash OHKO's you, so that's likely to be the move choice, and +2 Blaze Overheat does more than enough damage to OHKO back.

  • With Poison Point as a possible ability, you'll want to skip Fake Out. Other than that, Nidoking is pretty easy, and since it'll likely use Dig, you have an extra turn. Overheat has a 50+% chance to OHKO, and if that doesn't hit then you can use Nasty Plot while it's underground and get the guaranteed OHKO. Earthquake is also a guaranteed 2HKO, especially if Nidoking goes underground. Don't forget about Attract if you have a female Infernape.
  • Nidoqueen is a bit more threatening than her male counterpart. Again, avoid using Fake Out because of the possibility of being poisoned, especially when Nidoqueen has a guaranteed OHKO with Earth Power. As my Infernape is male, I also have to worry about Attract. Using Overheat twice in a row is enough to deal with it, but Attract makes things a little stressful. Earthquake has less than a 50% chance to 2HKO, so it's not worth using here.
  • Hypnosis is always a bitch, but Gengar's pitiful bulk means you only need to hit it once.
  • Muk is unfortunately not easily dealt with by using Earthquake because of its Black Sludge. With Gunk Shot having terrible accuracy and not being a OHKO, Muk may opt for Toxic first. If it does, it still can't KO in the next turn with these IVs, but it may if yours are very low. +2 Overheat is unlikely to OHKO, but between Gunk Shot's low accuracy and Toxic's build-up of poison damage, you should still be able to beat it.

  • Again, try to OHKO with Overheat instead of tempting fate with Fake Out.
  • Since you'll have Close Combat over Vacuum Wave, don't use Nasty Plot. Instead, go with Fake Out->CC. While CC has a very low chance to KO after FO, Staravia's Brave Bird recoil will do the rest, and this avoids the problem of missing with Overheat.
  • Unfortunately, Staraptor's higher bulk means that the previous strategy won't work, so you'll have to use Overheat.
  • Not really offensively threatening, but it has Soft-Boiled and Minimize, which can stall you for a while. Going FO->CC prevents any of that from happening.
  • More offensive than Blissey but a LOT weaker defensively. Just poke it with CC and move on. Snorlax and these two pink blobs necessitate CC over VW (Snorlax especially).
  • Lopunny aims to rack up Sticky Barb damage with Switcheroo, Bounce, and Protect, so just beat the shit out of it before it can.
  • Slaking has Counter and Encore, and you don't want to get trapped in Nasty Plot for too long. Overheat actually 2HKO's, but going for FO->CC->CC is safer.

  • We just ran into this guy, and he still has the potential to cause problems with Air Slash.
  • Having a White Herb means that it can 2HKO with Overheat, and it probably won't activate your Blaze. +2 Overheat from Infernape has a 50% chance to KO at worst after Fake Out though, so this favors Infernape.
  • Remember when everyone complained about getting Fire/Fighting starters 3 gens in a row? Good times. If Focus Miss does its thing, then you're almost certainly going to win, but otherwise you might need some RNG luck, although I'd still bet on Infernape.
  • Yeah every Fire starter has the potential to mess up your day if you don't play around them right. Shouldn't be too difficult, just don't mindlessly go FO->NP->Overheat.
  • Really only dangerous because it might have Flash Fire, and I wouldn't test it. FO->NP->VW is probably the best option, as Rapidash's recoil might do enough damage to put it in KO range. Flare Blitz can't 2HKO with these IVs, and you can go a good bit lower before it can, so if the first VW doesn't KO then you should be able to live another hit and finish the job.
  • Less stressful than Rapidash because Arcanine's other ability is Intimidate, so you'll know which one it has. If it's Intimidate, +2 Overheat KO's after Flare Blitz recoil, and +2 VW 2HKO's after FO and recoil. You also don't have to worry about Extremespeed since it doesn't get +2 priority until later gens.
  • Ninetales only has Flash Fire as an ability, so avoid Overheat. FO->NP->VW->VW is your best bet, but Ninetales has about a 1/3rd chance to 2HKO with White Herb Overheat.
  • The last of the major evasion hax Pokémon, Magmortar is probably the worst since it'll actually use Smokescreen instead of attacks. I had the misfortune of missing FO, getting hit with Smokescreen, then missing my 2 Overheats, which is a <0.5% chance. Fire Blast is a 2HKO, and +2 Overheat still may not KO after FO. Granted, Magmortar's own moves aren't the most accurate, but it's still a Pokémon that you'll want to avoid.

  • Since Grass Knot is used here over Earthquake, you'll have to resort to using Overheat. If you aren't worried about the chance of missing, then FO->Overheat is a guaranteed win, but otherwise it may be a better idea to not risk losing your Sash to poison.
  • Same deal as before since Earthquake wasn't able to do the trick then, and Grass Knot definitely can't.
  • This thing is FAST. Unboosted Overheat easily OHKO's, just be aware that you won't get a second chance. FO->GK also works.
  • Since we have Grass Knot in this case, use that, it's 240% damage at minimum.
  • +2 Grass Knot is an easy OHKO, you just have to make sure you hit the damn thing.
  • Grass Knot is weaker on Whiscash than Gastrodon, so make sure to use Fake Out first.

  • Again, be wary of Focus Band and Metal Burst, but otherwise easy.
  • Same as Probopass except swap out Focus Band for Quick Claw.
  • You should be able to just muscle your way past Bronzong, it's just annoying.

  • Confusion and healing make Umbreon a major annoyance. I'd say just boost to +4 and OHKO with Overheat. You can OHKO at +2, but it's a pretty small chance.
  • One of the edgiest Pokémon ever, Absol also carries a Focus Sash, so make sure to use Fake Out first before blasting away with Overheat since it can 2HKO you with Psycho Cut.

  • Glalie also has Inner Focus as a possible ability, so ignore Fake Out and fire away with Overheat.
  • If you've got Close Combat, Walrein becomes a lot easier, being a guaranteed 2HKO instead of having to play around with Overheat's and Brine's RNG BS.
  • BrightPowder makes this harder than it needs to be since you can only hit with Overheat while Froslass can 2HKO with Psychic, but not having to deal with Sashed Destiny Bond is a relief, and you only need to hit once.

  • Hey look its Froslass again! Bye!
  • Goes down to one Overheat, but can do major damage with Hypnosis if you miss.
  • Even with Curse, it's moves don't do enough to be threatening. Overheat is a 2HKO, so using Nasty Plot before attacking is safer.
  • Thankfully this thing doesn't have BrightPowder so you actually stand a chance of hitting both times.
  • Pretty similar to Drifblim except with better offenses and worse defenses.

  • Another where you don't have the speed advantage if you aren't level 70+, Discharge->Quick Attack can't KO with decent IVs, and FO->Overheat is a definite KO. Be a little wary of Thunder Wave and Double Team.
  • Because of Static, I'd go straight for Overheat, which already is over a 2/3rds chance to OHKO.
  • This will always be faster than you, and also has Static as an ability, while Thunderbolt 2HKO's, AND it has a King's Rock. Better hope Overheat doesn't miss.
  • Yet another Static mon, Manectric also has a Focus Sash, and its Thunder can OHKO and paralyze. Overheat->VW is your best bet, but as long as you don't get paralyzed it should be fine.
  • My god that's a lot of Pokémon with Static. Same deal as Manectric with its Thunder, and while it doesn't have a Sash, Overheat can't OHKO. Don't use Vacuum Wave, just Overheat twice.
IMG_5964.jpg
 
Last edited:
Subbing!!!!! I just restarted my SoulSilver a couple of weeks ago & got through the main story and everything, now currently building my Battle Frontier team! Until they make more past Pkm available in Scarlet and Violet, here is where I stay. Good to meet you all.

Now, question: what are some good teammates for Adamant Choice Band Rhyperior?
 

atsync

Where the "intelligence" of TRAINERS is put to the test!
is a Pokemon Researcheris a Contributor to Smogon
I updated the thread last weekend.

Announcement: with these new streaks that have been posted since my last update, I have felt the need to reconsider some of the rules in place for streaks to be eligible for listing in the first post. I have tentatively decided to relax the rule banning streaks that utilize "legal" hacks. If the Pokemon you are using has a completely legal move set, it meets the criteria to be listed here - the origin of said Pokemon need no longer be a concern.

Note that I am still not allowing streaks completed on emulators at this time.

For the sake of clarity, things that are eligible include:
  • Hacked Pokemon with completely legal move sets (Pkhex, etc.)
    • Note that this includes legal PID/IV combinations. For those unaware, due to the way that the RNG works in 3rd and 4th gen, there are certain combinations of natures/genders/abilities/etc. and IVs that can never be generated in-game on wild Pokemon. This is irrelevant for breed-able Pokemon, but for Pokemon that can only be caught in the wild (e.g. legendaries), there are certain PID/IV combinations that they are unable to use. It is ultimately your responsibility to ensure that your Pokemon have legal PID/IV combos when submitting streaks.
  • Pokemon sourced from emulators and transferred to your cartridge
  • Pokemon historically sourced from the now defunct Pokecheck
  • Pokemon sourced from Wi-Fi events that are "officially" closed but are now re-accessible from Alt Wi-Fi, etc. (e.g. shiny roamers, Eruption Heatran)
  • Pokemon obtained with glitches, or with move sets constructed with glitches (e.g. 4th gen Rage glitch, Glitzer Popping)
The ONLY exception I have to this at the moment is regarding the 3rd gen Wish Egg event that gave players access to Wish Chansey, Farfetch'd, Drowzee, Exeggcute, Lickitung and Kangaskhan. The main purpose of this rule change is to subvert the tediousness of obtaining things that are realistically obtainable within the games. The Wish Egg event was an obscure event that ran for a few weeks in 2005 - flawless and "optimally-natured" variants of these Pokemon don't exist as far as I know, so I don't think allowing hacked variants of these things is appropriate given that they are literally only obtainable through illegitimate means, even if they are technically "legal". This might seem a bit arbitrary but I don't think it's all that big of a deal since it only affect access to a small group of Pokemon that I doubt would be tearing up facility play anyway.

In terms of legality, I only really care about battle-based things - I'm not going to scrutinize dumb stuff like place of capture or whatever. Otherwise, it is your responsibility to ensure that the Pokemon you use have completely legal move sets, and I reserve the right to reject streaks on this basis.

Finally, I want to make it clear that this should not be taken as an invitation to ask for help with hacking. Under no circumstances should you be using this thread for asking for links to hacking tools, ROMs, emulators, etc.

I will be posting an update of my own activities momentarily. Otherwise, carry on!
 

atsync

Where the "intelligence" of TRAINERS is put to the test!
is a Pokemon Researcheris a Contributor to Smogon
An update on my own streaks:

Battle Hall

Battle Hall has been my main focus recently. I have tried out a few things as part of my road to 10k (and beyond?) project and have achieved a total of 6774 wins in singles across all the species I've tried so far.

Specific streak lengths:

:Abomasnow:: 182
:Abra:: 154
:Absol:: 169
:Alakazam:: 218
:Blissey:: 219
:Bulbasaur:: 47
:Claydol:: 88
:Combee:: 24
:Dragonite:: 174
:Drowzee:: 42
:Eevee:: 135
:Electivire:: 169
:Empoleon:: 178
:Exploud:: 59
:Flareon:: 109
:Flygon:: 139
:Garchomp:: 220
:Gengar:: 167
:Gyarados:: 158
:Haunter:: 88
:Hypno:: 77
:Infernape:: 179
:Ivysaur:: 87
:Jolteon:: 200
:Kadabra:: 172
:Kingdra:: 175
:Latios:: 30
:Lucario:: 174
:Mamoswine:: 97
:Mime Jr.:: 88
:Paras:: 43
:Pidgeot:: 86
:Pidgeotto:: 54
:Pidgey:: 66
:Pikachu:: 145
:Porygon:: 91
:Porygon-Z:: 119
:Porygon2:: 97
:Qwilfish:: 148
:Raikou:: 178
:Salamence:: 182
:Sandslash:: 90
:Slaking:: 197
:Slakoth:: 40
:Smeargle:: 172
:Snover:: 63
:Swampert:: 185
:Teddiursa:: 71
:Trapinch:: 49
:Ursaring:: 127
:Vaporeon:: 174
:Venusaur:: 64
:Vibrava:: 112
:Vigoroth:: 114
:Zangoose:: 89

A LOT of these are improvable and in some cases it was me just testing some mechanics or similar rather than a legitimate streak attempt. At the moment I have taken to going through the PokeDex alphabetically (alongside their pre-evolutions) and trying to optimize a route to 170 wins for as many things as possible. Have only gotten up to Absol at the moment - that one can absolutely reach 170 but I've lost to Argenta2 twice now and have put that project on hold. Next would be Aerodactyl and I have a few ideas for that, but I'm taking a break from Hall to do some stuff in the Tower so that will be a project for another day.

For now I'll just share my best streak with a Pokemon that isn't represented on the list at the moment.

PtHGSS Battle Hall Singles streak with Alakazam: 218 wins

20221211_173644.jpg


1670741149466.png


Level 31 Alakazam1 @ Choice Specs/Focus Sash

Modest
EVs: 4/0/48/252/36/160
Synchronize
Female

Psychic / Signal Beam / Grass Knot
Hidden Power [Fire]
Focus Blast / Grass Knot / Shadow Ball
Trick / Counter

1670741155413.png


Level 31 Alakazam2 @ Choice Specs/Focus Sash

Modest
EVs: 4/0/0/252/0/252
Synchronize
Female

Psychic
Hidden Power [Ice] / Energy Ball / Grass Knot
Shock Wave / Energy Ball / Signal Beam / Counter
Trick / Grass Knot / Focus Blast

1670741158760.png


Level 31 Alakazam3 @ Choice Specs/Focus Sash

Mild
EVs: 4/0/0/252/132/116
Synchronize
Male

Psychic
Focus Punch / Hidden Power [Ground]
Substitute / Energy Ball
Taunt / Counter

Specific sets for each type in order (because the slashitis makes even my head spin -_-):

1. Dark - Choice Specs Alakazam1 with Signal Beam/HP Fire/Focus Blast/Trick
2. Steel - Choice Specs Alakazam1 with Grass Knot/HP Fire/Focus Blast/Trick
3. Normal - Focus Sash Alakazam3 with Psychic/Focus Punch/Substitute/Taunt
4. Flying - Choice Specs Alakazam2 with Psychic/HP Ice/Shock Wave/Trick
5. Bug - Choice Specs Alakazam1 with Psychic/HP Fire/Grass Knot/Trick
6. Ice - Choice Specs Alakazam1 with Psychic/HP Fire/Grass Knot/Trick
7. Electric - Choice Specs Alakazam3 with Psychic/HP Ground/Energy Ball/Counter
8. Ghost - Choice Specs Alakazam1 with HP Fire/Signal Beam/Shadow Ball/Trick
9. Rock - Focus Sash Alakazam2 with Psychic/Focus Blast/Grass Knot/Counter
10. Fire - Choice Specs Alakazam3 with Psychic/HP Ground/Energy Ball/Counter
11. Water - Choice Specs Alakazam2 with Psychic/Energy Ball/Shock Wave/Trick
12. Grass - Choice Specs Alakazam2 with Psychic/Signal Beam/HP Ice/Focus Blast
13. Dragon - Choice Specs Alakazam2 with Psychic/HP Ice/Shock Wave/Trick*
14. Ground - Focus Sash Alakazam2 with Psychic/HP Ice/Grass Knot/Energy Ball*
15. Poison - Focus Sash Alakazam3 with Psychic/HP Ground/Energy Ball/Counter*
16. Psychic - Choice Specs Alakazam1 with Signal Beam/HP Fire/Shadow Ball/Trick*
17. Fighting - Focus Sash Alakazam1 with Psychic/Focus Blast/HP Fire/Counter*

*I didn't document the specific order of the last 5 but it isn't too important because the rank 10s are all level 31. These can be mixed and matched based on preference.

Just note that not all the moves listed are necessarily relevant - they're just the moves that the sets had going into the rounds (e.g. Counter is useless in Fire but I use that set for Poison as well where Counter is useful).

Alakazam is an absolute monster in low level Hall play. Due to the way the damage formula works, lower level Pokemon tend to deal more damage to stuff in earlier rounds (i.e. a level 30 Pokemon does more damage to a round 1 rank 10 (level 24) opponent than a level 100 Pokemon does to the same opponent (level 88) despite the raw level difference being higher in the latter case). A lot of stuff just dies to a Pokemon with 135 SpA and 120 Speed running the appropriate coverage for the type, especially with Choice Specs thrown on top of that. I would argue that this has the potential to be as straight-forward as something like Garchomp at getting the symbol (this 218 streak was my sole attempt), although it obviously requires more time and effort to construct due to the number of sets used. I personally just bred 3 Alakazam in Emerald with the appropriate IVs and nature/gender/ability, and then cloned them until I had all the sets I needed. There were 12 sets all up in the end. Just way more convenient to do it this way, and also far less expensive when it came time to access the HGSS move tutors.

Alakazam's coverage is a bit underwhelming but it has just enough moves to answer the Hall pool in pre-170 play. It also has a few interesting utility options that can allow it to overcome specific things that would otherwise beat a standard attacking Alakazam. Important things to note:
  • Trick Specs is extremely important because it is the most realistic way that Alakazam has to overcome of holy trinity of death by Focus Sash priority: Scyther, Scizor and Weavile. All 3 hold Focus Sash and are able to check-mate Alakazam by surviving the blow, smacking it with their super-effective STAB and then picking it off with priority if Alakazam was holding a Focus Sash itself. But Trick Specs is an excellent way to beat them. The idea is that you Trick the Choice Specs onto them immediately, which removes their Focus Sash protection and locks them into X-Scissor/Night Slash and out of their priority moves. Meanwhile, that Sash it just stole lets Alakazam survive the turn that it Tricks, and after that it's just a matter of OHKOing them. Fortunately, Alakazam is able to do this to all 3 with just HP Fire assuming the types are challenged as above.
    • This strategy can also be applied to other frail Psychics, although it may not work if said Psychic is too weak to OHKO them, and some might need multiple moves/sets to pull it off.
  • Counter is just a nice 3rd-gen exclusive move that improves many things that can access it, so much so that I'm sure even memes like Delibird and Spinda could have their streak lengths improved by using it. Not much else to say about it.
  • Speaking of memes, the Normal set is probably the wackiest one here and requires explanation. Taunt/Substitute/Focus Punch is used mostly for a safer match-up against Blissey. The idea is that you Taunt it to stop it from using Minimize. After that, you set up a Substitute and start battering it with Focus Punches. At the given level and with the listed EVs, Blissey can't break Substitutes in one hit so Alakazam can fire off Focus Punch safely.
Otherwise, the moves were picked according to what coverage I needed, sometimes forgoing Psychic if it wasn't useful (e.g. in Dark).

Other things:
  • I opted for a female Alakazam on the first 2 sets to avoid Captivate from Latias. Latios also has Captivate but is frailer. This isn't too important if you want to try this but don't feel like breeding for gender on a 75% male species. The gender of the third set doesn't matter.
  • Set 1 has 160 EVs to out-speed Jynx and Espeon in Psychic, and Gengar in Ghost. The defensive EVs avoid KO ranges from Dusclops' Shadow Punch and Spiritomb's Dark Pulse in Ghost.
  • Set 2 only needs 236 Speed EVs to out-speed Aerodactyl in Rock, but I just went with 252 since investing extra EVs in bulk didn't seem to affect anything. The 4 HP EVs do avoid a 2HKO from Togekiss' Air Slash in Flying though.
  • Set 3 uses enough Speed for the Scarf Houndoom in Fire. The SpD investment is mainly to stop Blissey's Fire Blast from breaking Substitute in Normal as above (I don't recall if it needs this much to do it and I may have just dumped excess EVs in there due to not having anywhere else to put them).
  • Synchronize is better than Inner Focus - Alakazam is generally fast enough to not have to worry about flinching in general. Synchronize is especially nice to have against paralysis because it lets Alakazam maintain its speed advantage if it gets paralyzed.
I don't recall what I faced against Argenta1. Going into the 170th battle against Argenta2, I opted for a Psychic/HP Fire/Focus Blast/Counter set with Focus Sash since I figured the coverage would give me a reasonable chance of besting her, and CounterSash is a great win condition if she picks the right thing. She used Aerodactyl which was Countered.

Alakazam requires a bit of luck to get further than 170 since it runs into a bad case of 4 move slot syndrome. I ultimately decided that trying to counter the holy trinity with TrickSpecs was not worth it since it was difficult to cover all of them without compromising other match-ups. Instead I opted for dual Focus Sash sets:

1670748390300.png


Level 31 Alakazam1 @ Focus Sash

Modest
EVs: 4/0/48/252/36/160
Synchronize
Female

Psychic
Hidden Power [Fire]
Focus Blast
Counter

Types and order: Fighting > Poison > Steel > Normal > Fire > Ice > Grass > Electric > Bug > Dark

1670748392955.png


Level 31 Alakazam2 @ Focus Sash

Modest
EVs: 4/0/0/252/0/252
Synchronize
Female

Psychic
Hidden Power [Ice]
Energy Ball
Shadow Ball

Types and order: Dragon > Ground > Water > Flying > Psychic > Ghost > Rock

The first set was the same one I used for Argenta2. The second one was the 252/252 set with an assortment of coverage moves. I just used the level 31 sets out of convenience. Obviously I could have trained more Alakazam for level 100 play to get the biggest power advantage but frankly I was not expecting to go far with this and was only playing to wrap the streak up after hitting my 170 goal. It just so happens that I landed on a good set of opponents and ended up with one of my best streaks.

Opponents:

171: Fighting - Breloom
172: Poison - Swalot
173: Steel - Steelix
174: Normal - Noctowl
175: Fire - Camerupt
176: Ice - Walrein
177: Grass - Bellossom
178: Raikou - Electric
179: Bug - Vespiquen
180: Dark - Shiftry

181: Dragon - Garchomp
182: Ground - Torterra
183: Water - Ludicolo
184: Flying - Salamence
185: Psychic - Latias
186: Ghost - Dusknoir
187: Rock - Rhyperior
188: Dragon - Altaria
189: Ground - Sandslash
190: Water - Huntail

191: Fighting - Infernape
192: Poison - Gengar
193: Steel - Forretress
194: Normal - Snorlax
195: Fire - Magmar
196: Ice - Glalie
197: Grass - Torterra
198: Electric - Manectric
199: Bug - Ninjask
200: Dark - Shiftry

201: Flying - Salamence
202: Psychic - Slowbro
203: Ghost - Banette
204: Rock - Golem
205: Dragon - Dragonite
206: Ground - Piloswine
207: Water - Vaporeon
208: Flying - Honchkrow
209: Psychic - Gallade
210: Ghost - Dusknoir

211: Fighting - Toxicroak
212: Poison - Tentacruel
213: Steel - Forretress
214: Normal - Lopunny
215: Fire - Magmar
216: Ice - Abomasnow
217: Grass - Meganium
218: Electric - Manectric
219: Bug - Scizor

I ultimately lost to the thing I knew all along to be among the biggest threats to Alakazam. Scizor tanks the HP Fire with Focus Sash, X-Scissors and picks Alakazam off with Bullet Punch the next turn.

------

Other facilities

No official results to declare here, just a summary of other stuff I've done in the rest of the Frontier.

In Factory, my best streak is 51 wins (39 swaps) in level 50 singles. This was a while ago so I don't remember much about this streak, but it's still short of the Platinum streak I did a lifetime ago. I suspect that I'll never surpass that streak, mostly because I just don't have any interest in pursuing it, but occasionally I throw myself into Factory if I want to play something without having to team build, so maybe I'll get some flukey run again one day...

I got a streak of 204 in Castle singles using a team of Starmie/Garchomp/Skarmory that was extremely similar to this one. Just a Water/Steel/Dragon core that appreciates being able to scout and skip annoying match-ups (these teams are often annoying to pilot against tri-punch/beam/fang mons for example). Lost to a set 4 trainer with Granbull/Gastrodon/Charizard that I riskily leveled up, misplayed against and watched helplessly as it nailed me with consecutive crits and a freeze.

I have a streak of 81 in Arcade singles using a lead 4 attacks Latios, a 3 attacks + Recover Milotic, and a 4 attacks Metagross with Explosion. I remember getting a 160+ streak once with this team on a long-lost Platinum save file for the Orange League back when that was a thing too, so this is "improvable" but in the end this facility often ends up being a case of waiting until you land on a bad square and lose.

I used the same Arcade team to get the symbols in the Tower recently, which I had been putting off for a while. I have them all on this save file now, but the team ended up losing to a Psychic at 50 wins. This team is great for speeding through the early rounds, but has issues beyond that that make it less optimal at reach 100+ wins.

I'm currently working on some projects for the Tower revolving around optimizing Trick-based strategies, and once I'm done with that I'll probably head back to the Hall.
 
Last edited:

atsync

Where the "intelligence" of TRAINERS is put to the test!
is a Pokemon Researcheris a Contributor to Smogon
Subbing!!!!! I just restarted my SoulSilver a couple of weeks ago & got through the main story and everything, now currently building my Battle Frontier team! Until they make more past Pkm available in Scarlet and Violet, here is where I stay. Good to meet you all.

Now, question: what are some good teammates for Adamant Choice Band Rhyperior?
Welcome.

I have never attempted to build a team with Rhyperior on it, let alone used it, but in singles I imagine it would be a difficult Pokemon to use and probably something I would not recommend. Rhyperior obviously packs a ton of potential power, but it has several awful weaknesses that are easily exploited given how slow it is, and it would be hard to cover all of them with just 2 team mates. But if you want to try it, perhaps something like Suicune would be a reasonable choice as a team mate since it can go toe-to-toe with most Water-types? Rhyperior can switch in on Electric moves aimed at Suicune as well. Salamence could be ok as a third to cover Rhyperior's weaknesses to Grass/Fighting/Ground while also providing Intimidate support to help Suicune set up Calm Minds. Salamence/Suicune/Rhyperior isn't the greatest thing ever due to the shared weaknesses (Rhyperior shares an Ice weakness with Salamence, and a Grass weakness with Suicune) and clearly Rhyperior is the weak link on that team, but it's probably good enough for a symbol run.

Rhyperior would perhaps be better suited for doubles, in particular on a Trick Room team, but even then I doubt it would be the best choice for most teams. Indeed, Rhyperior isn't even listed once on our leaderboards right now.
 
Subbing!!!!! I just restarted my SoulSilver a couple of weeks ago & got through the main story and everything, now currently building my Battle Frontier team! Until they make more past Pkm available in Scarlet and Violet, here is where I stay. Good to meet you all.

Now, question: what are some good teammates for Adamant Choice Band Rhyperior?
Well as atsync said I can't really recommend Rhyperior, but I have halfassedly tried it, albeit with an incomplete team. I didn't see Trick Room as viable with Rhy due to its many weaknesses and that other 'mons would do the job there better, and in the event Rhyperior can attack the opponent first I would prefer not to be movelocked by a Choice item when with Life Orb it not only gets a boost but makes full use of it's wide physical movepool, or Focus Sash lets it live a Water or Grass hit. Solid Rock simply doesn't matter when so many Water and Grass moves will just OHKO anyway so Rhyperior basically has to get the first strike if it wants to deal with these threats, so I ended up going with the Ninjask below as a lead. I didn't yet have a proper third member for the team at this point, so I wasn't able to really give this a fair shot.

Ninjask @ Liechi Berry
Bold
Speed Boost
EVs: 252 HP/84 Def/172 SpDef
-Protect
-Substitute
-Swords Dance
-Baton Pass

While it doesn't want to be taking any STAB supereffective hits, and it certainly isn't going to stand up to Outrages from Garchomp or Draco Meteors from Latios this Ninjask does manage to Swords Dance in the face of pretty much anything else, including many non-STAB SE unboosted hits while being able to stack the Speed Boosts that Rhyperior desperately needs. It has no way to inflict damage itself, but common Psychic support leads used by players here have the same 'problem' and this has potential to be about as devastating, although without the convenience of a Trick Choicelocked opponent. The key difference is using Ninjask makes the games go a fair bit quicker: you either win or lose very quickly. Protect first to scout the opponent's set, then decide if you want to play it safe and stall a few turns with Sub+Protect to get the guaranteed Speed Boosts and the eventual Liechi, or spam SD if you think the opponent is unable to threaten you. Pass a Sub to Rhyperior if possible and you should be set to annihilate the enemy. Rhyperior needs little in the way of Attack boosts to sweep which makes this much easier.

The key problem is all the weaknesses of Rhyperior. All this boosting is great, but with so many weaknesses it's fairly common even in very early parts of a streak for Rhyperior to come in and be OHKO'd immediately. I of course tried with a very greedy Life Orb attached, it would be a much better idea to use Focus Sash instead so Rhy can Baton Pass in boosted, live a hit and only have to worry about being hit by Priority or Hail.

Now, pretty much any physical or mixed 'mon could use this better, but if you really want to use Rhyperior (I did) this could potentially be your best bet.
 
Playing HG on an emulator (with Universal Randomizer with trade evolutions), so won't be posting my streak, but nevertheless wanted to share my Battle Tower team that got Gold as I don't see this particular comp on the leaderboard.

Don't know the IVs for these pokemon but can tell you that they wouldn't be ideal, as they weren't bred but just caught from the wild. Machamp and Garchomp both have the "Often lost in thought" descriptor, which would mean Special Attack IVs for them are high. Tyranitar has the "Often dozes off" line, which is for HP IVs.

Meat Squad:

Udon; Machamp (Adamant, No Guard, Choice Scarf)
Max Attack and Speed
- Dynamic Punch
- Stone Edge
- Ice Punch
- Fire Punch

Chives; Tyranitar (Adamant, Sand Stream, Choice Band)
Max HP and Attack
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch (swapped this in for Stone Edge, which I was finding unreliable, and for more Dragon coverage)
- Thunder Punch

Katsu; Garchomp (Jolly, Sand Veil, Lum Berry)
Max Attack and Speed
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Crunch (Fire Fang would have been preferred, but don't have the patience to keep smashing rocks and haven't gotten the Luvdisc swarm yet for the Heart Scales)
- Swords Dance

The team and the game plan is fairly simple. Machamp leads and in 80% of fights pre-Rounds 5, beats everything to death with Dynamic Punch. If the opponent sends in a flying or a psychic type, I instantly switch to Tyranitar, who is a great pivot for the Champ. Tyranitar then generally fights until she goes down, giving me a free switch back into either Machamp or Garchomp.

Garchomp loves fighting in the sandstorm for obvious reasons. I was tossing between Lum Berry or Focus Sash for him, but settled on Lum Berry as it gives me the option of using two consecutive Outrages and clearing confusion if the need arises.

Machamp was easily the MVP of this run. She just eats through every single large bulky Pokemon that the Battle Tower loves to throw at you, and her No Guard was ideal for any slippery Double Teamers (or enemy Garchomps in my own sandstorm). Also, the enemy pokemon dying to both confusion self-damage and sandstorm damage will never not be funny to me.


Funny Palmer Story:

Palmer leads with Cressila. I switch to Tyranitar who laughs at the Psychic, then takes her out with two Choice Band Crunches.
Palmer sends in Heatran who takes out Tyranitar with a Flash Cannon.
I send back out Machamp who Dynamic Punches Heatran down to his Focus Sash. Heatran then dies to confusion damage (xd).
Palmer sends out Regigas who gets taken down to a slither from Dynamic Punch.
Regigas then gets confused, hits himself, then dies to Sandstorm. Lmao.


How I lost:

Lost the run to a Gallade and two other pokemon that I forget - but essentially I misplayed. Thought Gallade would be hitting Machamp with a Zen Headbutt or Psycho Cut so switched into Tyranitar to set up the Sandstorm (with the intention of then switching into Garchomp who would have Sandstorm protection). Instead, it was the Drain Punch Gallade version who promptly OHKO'd Tyranitar.

At this point I switched off my brain and still sent in Garchomp who Outraged, missed due to Brightpowder I assume, and got OHKO'd by Ice Punch. Don't know why I thought sending my Garchomp into an Ice Punch meatgrinder would be a good idea, especially as I could have instead just sent out my Machamp again, having confirmed through the Drain Punch that this Gallade is not carrying a Psycho Cut/Zen Headbutt. Machamp then came out, brawled and took out the Gallade, but was taken out by the other pokemon on the enemy team.


Also my Battle Hall Pokemon:

Parsley; Dragonite (Adamant, Inner Focus, Focus Sash) [from Dragon's Den]
Max Attack and Speed
Outrage
Earthquake
Fire Punch
Extreme Speed

Outrage 85% of the time. My thought for if I ran into a Focus Sash Weaville was that I'd Fire Punch, then Extreme Speed to out-priority his Ice Shard. Naturally, I never ran into a Weaville at all (whereas I would run into him all the time when I was trying to beat the Hall with Garchomp - go figure).


Edit: Forgot to add EVs
 
Last edited:
atsync

Mind sharing your Hall run with Abomasnow? If you don't remember it that's fine, but it's one of my favorites (being on my own G4 frontier team I'm setting up) and I'm curious how you got so far with it. It has so many weaknesses and so few attacking options outside STAB that you simply can't deal with everything that can crush it in the opening rounds.

Thanks in advance!
 

atsync

Where the "intelligence" of TRAINERS is put to the test!
is a Pokemon Researcheris a Contributor to Smogon
atsync

Mind sharing your Hall run with Abomasnow? If you don't remember it that's fine, but it's one of my favorites (being on my own G4 frontier team I'm setting up) and I'm curious how you got so far with it. It has so many weaknesses and so few attacking options outside STAB that you simply can't deal with everything that can crush it in the opening rounds.

Thanks in advance!
These are the 14 (!) sets I used to get to 170 (technically 15 but that was just because of a single move change on one set):

Level 40 | Lonely | Focus Sash | Blizzard | Earthquake | Protect | Outrage | 252Atk/132SpD/76Spe (Fire/Dragon)
Level 40 | Rash | Focus Sash | Earthquake | HP Fire | Protect | Ice Shard | 244Atk/244 SpA/20Spe (Steel)
Level 40 | Quiet, Speed IV = 27 | Focus Sash | Blizzard | Grass Knot | Earthquake | Protect | 4HP/252Atk/252SpA (Fighting/Rock)
Level 40 | Rash | Focus Sash | Blizzard | Energy Ball | Brick Break | Substitute | 24HP/200Atk/8Def/140 SpA/136Spe (Dark)
Level 40 | Rash, Female | Focus Sash | Blizzard | Grass Knot | Earthquake | Ice Shard | 136HP/96Def/220SpA/56Spe (Psychic)
Level 40 | Rash | Focus Sash | Blizzard | Earthquake | Protect | Ice Shard | 12Atk/108Def/192SpA/196Spe (Poison)
Level 45 | Mild | Focus Sash | Blizzard | HP Electric | Ice Shard | Wood Hammer | 4HP/40Atk/248SpA/216Spe (Flying)
Level 40 | Mild | Focus Sash | Blizzard | Shadow Ball | Ice Shard | Hail | 4HP/180Atk/252SpA/72Spe (Ghost)
Level 45 | Mild | Focus Sash | Blizzard | Focus Blast | Brick Break | Protect | 12HP/172Atk/100SpA/224Spe (Normal)
Level 40 | Adamant | Choice Scarf | Wood Hammer | Rock Slide | Brick Break | Focus Punch | 16HP/252Atk/16Def/8SpD/216Spe (Ice)
Level 40 | Rash | Focus Sash | Blizzard | HP Fire | Ice Shard | Hail | 252Atk/252SpA/4Spe (Bug)
Level 55 | Mild | Focus Sash | Energy Ball | Earthquake | HP Electric | Protect | 248Atk/228SpA/32Spe (Water)
Level 45 | Mild | Focus Sash | Blizzard | Earthquake | Ice Shard | Protect | 4HP/92Atk/252SpA/160SpD (Electric)
Level 40 | Mild | Focus Sash | Blizzard | Energy Ball | Grass Knot | Ice Shard | 16HP/220SpA/176SpD/96Spe (Ground)
Level 40 | Mild | Focus Sash | Blizzard | Protect | Ice Shard | Hail | 4HP/180Atk/252SpA/72Spe (Grass)

Order: Steel > Fire > Dark > Fighting > Psychic > Poison > Flying > Ghost > Normal > Ice > Bug > Water > Electric > Ground > Dragon > Grass > Rock


And to explain the specifics of the sets, these are the exact notes I made when I was planning these sets and the run:

Round 1/2: Fire

Earthquake is necessary

Will need enough investment to OHKO Intimidate Arcanine after Flare Blitz recoil (112n or 20+), need 180n/92+ for Typhlosion

Moltres likely requires Blizzard, might need enough Speed to out-pace (76n or 16+) but could also beat it with sufficient SpA and either Ice Shard or Protect, the latter is absolutely needed for Infernape anyway

Charizard can also be 2HKOed by Blizzard, investing enough Speed for Moltres catches Charizard also

Entei can also be handled using Protect, with max Attack investment Earthquake + 2 rounds of Hail will OHKO, alternatively can use Ice Shard here but would need Protect for this to work anyway

Abomasnow @ Focus Sash

Level 40
Lonely: 252Atk/132SpD/76Spe (some leftover)

Earthquake
Blizzard
Protect
Outrage


Round 1/2: Steel

Earthquake and HP Fire are mandatory

Skarmory can be beaten with Blizzard, need to either invest enough speed to move first (160n or 92+) or enough SpA to OHKO with Blizzard (96n or 4+), HP Fire will also work fine using the speed method but doesn’t consistently OHKO even with maximum SpA investment

Need investment to OHKO Bastiodon also, 164n or 76+, increasing to 184n/96+ gets the 2HKO on Registeel and the OHKO on Empoleon

Bronzong and Metagross are the biggest threats in Steel, Metagross is beatable with maxed HP Fire + Ice Shard + Hail damage but it relies on a roll, there is perhaps an argument for using Protect to get additional Hail damage and land the 2HKO, Hail Protect also means that HP Fire can be used to deal with Skarmory consistently without having to out-speed it

Bronzong should be beatable by using HP Fire on the turn it sets Trick Room and then attacking in accordance with its ability, with maxed SpA and 196n investment HP Fire + Earthquake will 2HKO Heatproof variants while 2xHP Fire beats Levitate ones

Abomasnow @ Focus Sash

Level 40
Mild/Rash: 196Atk/252SpA (60 leftover)

Earthquake
HP Fire
Protect
Ice Shard


Round 3/4: Fighting

Blizzard from Modest/etc Abomasnow OHKOes rank 10 (level 34) Primeape after hail

Hitmonlee can be OHKOed with 180+ investment after 2 rounds of Hail, achievable with Protect (and it might suffer recoil by using Hi Jump Kick into Protect), Hitmonchan and Hitmontop are the same except without the recoil possibility, Protect is necessary for Infernape and Hariyama anyway so worth going for

Thick Fat makes Hariyama hard to deal with using Ice moves, Grass Knot could be a strong choice for dealing with it since it 2HKOes, use Protect to block Fake Out, Grass Knot also OHKOes Poliwrath with 180+ investment

252+ investment lets Blizzard OHKO after 2 turns of Hail, Protect into Blizzard should be a win condition, against Heracross Protect > Blizzard > Protect should work

Infernape and Blaziken can be dealt with using Earthquake, as can Lucario

Gallade should be manageable, Close Combat drops SpD so Blizzard OHKOes

Abomasnow @ Focus Sash

Level 40
Quiet/Mild: 252Atk/252SpA
Speed IV: ≤9 (if Mild) OR 13-27 (if Quiet)

Blizzard
Grass Knot
Earthquake
Protect


Round 3/4: Dark

Sharpedo can be beaten with Energy Ball

Ideally need 12+ investment to ensure a KO on Skuntank after Hail, 80+ would KO outright and avoid the Flamethrower risk

Tyranitar can be OHKOed by Brick Break with 200n investment, 136n Speed and 140+ let’s Abomasnow out-speed and OHKO Drapion with Blizzard

Fourth move is a choice between Substitute and Ice Shard, Substitute is useful for stopping Umbreon’s Confuse Ray, Ice Shard let’s Abomasnow KO Weavile after it survives Brick Break, both are beatable without the respective move, Umbreon is more common though so more inclined to use that

Abomasnow @ Focus Sash

Level 40
Mild/Rash: 200Atk/140SpA/136Spe

Blizzard
Energy Ball
Brick Break
Substitute


Round 5: Psychic

Psychic is hard for Abomasnow because of the variable secondary typings and gaps in coverage that Abomasnow has, may be better to do this in round 5 when it can skip rank 10 with Argenta

Rank 9 Slowbro is OHKOed by Grass Knot with 220+ investment

Jynx out-speeds and has a 2HKO roll, ideally need a physical move and perhaps Ice Shard, Earthquake + Ice Shard 2HKOes uninvested with a neutral nature

Grumpig needs to be out-speed, required 28n investment, 56n also gets Cresselia although that would need consecutive crits to cause a loss

Metagross is virtually impossible to counter without compromising against a lot of other Psychics BUT could run Rash with 196n investment to remove the OHKO chance and possibly encourage the use of Light Screen (136HP/96Def achieves this and reduces the 2HKO chance from Jynx), uninvested Earthquake would do enough to KO with Hail and possibly Ice Shard

Bronzong would have to be Heatproof to be able to beat, Levitate variants are unbeatable

Abomasnow would be better if female to avoid Captivate from Latias, Latios’ Captivate isn’t as important because -2 Blizzard + Ice Shard would still KO it

Abomasnow @ Focus Sash

Level 40
Rash: 136HP/96Def/220SpA/56Spe
FEMALE

Blizzard
Grass Knot
Earthquake
Ice Shard


Round 6: Poison

Weezing is 2HKOed by Blizzard and can’t OHKO Abomasnow unless it crits and burns in the same turn, it may use Toxic anyway, Swalot is similar but does more damage with Fire Punch, can invest 108n in defense to remove the OHKO roll it has with Fire Punch which might compel it to use Toxic instead

Earthquake is needed for Tentacruel, 2HKOes without investment or OHKOes with 12n investment instead (with Protect), can out-speed with 196n investment

Earthquake also 2HKOes Muk with the above investment, Muk can’t OHKO with Gunk Shot (assumes Rash) although it could poison/crit

With above investment, Blizzard OHKOes Gengar after Hail, using Rash grants Sludge Bomb a OHKO chance which might compel it to not use Hypnosis

Protect + Blizzard will KO Drapion but it out-speeds and has Acupressure, can increase Speed to 156n and SpA to 140+ to out-speed and KO after 1 turn of Protect which should usually result in a win, speed also beats Nidos before they can use Attract and SpA beats Venomoth

Abomasnow @ Focus Sash

Level 40
Rash: 12Atk/108Def/192SpA/196Spe

Blizzard
Earthquake
Protect


Round 7: Flying

Ice Shard would OHKO Jumpluff, helpful since it out-speeds and 2HKOes with Bounce

Mantine is 2HKOed by uninvested Blizzard, it can also be OHKOed by HP Electric with 204+ investment (technically less with Hail damage: 124+), can out-speed with 176n investment which is useful to avoid Signal Beam hax

Articuno is 2HKOed by Blizzard, Rock Slide can OHKO but only if using an attack-boosting nature

Could potentially do this round later, would need to adjust EVs:

  • Round 6 (level 35 rank 10s) – 208n beats Mantine, 236+ investment to OHKO
  • Round 7 – If Abomasnow is level 45, HP Electric OHKOes Mantine with 248+ investment and 216n out-speeds
Abomasnow @ Focus Sash

Level 45
Mild: 4HP/40Atk/248SpA/216Spe

Blizzard
HP Electric
Ice Shard


Round 8: Ghost (CAN BE MOVED LATER IF DESPERATE)

12+ OHKOes Banette after Hail

Dusclops is annoying with Quick Claw Fire Punch, not possible to KO outright consistently even with Hail and Ice Shard, Blizzard 2HKOes though

Mismagius is 2HKOed by Blizzard and can’t 2HKO back without a crit, Blizzard into Ice Shard KOes anyway

Froslass is annoying because of evasion but Shadow Ball + Ice Shard 2HKOes with 72n/220+ investment, Mild would be preferable to Rash in this match-up to avoid a 2HKO from Froslass’ Blizzard (Rash isn’t needed to ensure a OHKO from Gengar’s Sludge Bomb for Hypnosis discouragement, unlike in Poison)

The Froslass match-up is “doable” in a later round at level 40, would be worse since Shadow Ball + Ice Shard isn’t an assured KO even with maxed EVs in both stats

Abomasnow @ Focus Sash

Level 40
Mild: 180Atk/252SpA/72Spe

Blizzard
Shadow Ball/Protect
Ice Shard
Hail


Round 9: Normal

Level 45 is slightly better here for EV efficiency reasons, Normal is not a great typing to do this late but hard to move this earlier at the moment

A physical move would be needed for Chansey and Blissey, especially the latter, Blissey is 2HKOed by Brick Break with 172n investment after Hail

224n Speed beats Miltank, 100+ investment lets Grass Knot 2HKO consistently (Thick Fat can stop Blizzard doing the same)

The rest can probably go into HP to reduce the risk of dying to Clefable if it burns

Blizzard + Ice Shard should KO Lopunny after Hail so no danger from Bounce

Purugly is a threat, Thick Fat can let it survive Blizzard, it out-speeds and 2HKOes with Iron Tail

Snorlax is VERY dangerous, can’t 2HKO while it easily 2HKOes back with Choice Band Brick Break, may have to accept this risk since it’s hard to cover everything here

An alternative would be to replace Grass Knot with Focus Blast, Grass Knot is mostly used for Miltank and MAYBE Regigigas, Focus Blast would serve the same purpose albeit in a less reliable way while also giving me a chance against Snorlax, OHKOes Purugly also, Ice Shard may also be replaceable but probably not a good idea

Amendment: change Ice Shard to Protect, Protect > Focus Blast > Protect > Brick Break has a good chance to KO Snorlax and avoids having to risk Focus Blast twice, Ice Shard is probably not needed for Lopunny after all since Protect can block Bounce

Abomasnow
@ Focus Sash

Level 45
Mild: 172Atk/100SpA/224Spe

Blizzard
Focus Blast
Brick Break
Ice Shard

NOTE: could use the Flying set here, just have to change the moves, all TMs are replaceable


Round 10: Ice

Dewgong is OHKOes by Grass Knot with 112+ investment, 16n/96- Speed makes Abomasnow faster

Jynx is tricky, 248n SpD avoids a 2HKO from Blizzard, Seed Bomb + Ice Shard KOes without investment, 220n investment lets Seed Bomb KO outright but can’t do bulk and power at the same time

Weavile is also tricky, uninvested Seed Bomb 2HKOes and 96-/8n investment in defense avoids a 2HKO from Ice Punch

Glalie is faster and not OHKOed but Signal Beam only 3HKOes inconsistently (<50% using 28HP/248SpD

Froslass can’t 2HKO without a crit, Seed Bomb 2HKOes if using 32n investment, Shadow Ball also 2HKOes but might be hard to fit

Articuno requires special treatment, a rock move of some kind is the obvious choice but nothing Abomasnow gets can actually OHKO it, Rock Slide is a 2HKO but gets stopped by Reflect, Hidden Power can get around that but triggers Apicot Berry instead and would lead to a Roost loop, Rock Tomb would lower speed but is inaccurate and weak and Reflect still goes up

Articuno would be easier to deal with if it was outsped, perhaps Rock Slide could replace Seed Bomb, a bit risky but would spare EVs for Speed…

Another option: drop special moves completely and go all physical, losing Grass Knot is inconvenient against Dewgong and Piloswine maybe but both of those are still easily beatable most of the time with just Seed Bomb, the other Grass-weak things can’t do much damage to Abomasnow

If using Seed Bomb as primary STAB, 120+ investment allows for a OHKO on Jynx, 248n in SpDef to avoid the 2HKO from Blizzard, might be able to run Lum Berry in Ice since very few things can OHKO, the berry would also stop Thunder Wave from Regice

128n speed moves before Articuno, Rock Slide can 2HKO through Reflect as long as no misses occur

Glaceon is still a problem, out-speeds Abomasnow and 2HKOes with Blizzard while being too bulky to OHKO, might be able to lower its speed with Icy Wind or Rock Tomb but the only thing that would KO after Rock Tomb is Iron Tail or Focus Blast (both inaccurate, especially against Snow Cloak), nothing KOes after Icy Wind, would have to give by Ice Shard but this is only useful for Weavile and not necessary to beat it anyway

Another option: Choice Scarf, 216n with Scarf out-speeds Weavile, resolves the Glaceon match-up somewhat by allowing a faster 2HKO (Blizzard can’t do enough to put Abomasnow into Ice Shard range either), this makes investing in SpD less important, can potentially run Wood Hammer for the extra power, 252+ happens to OHKO Froslass and all the Water/Ground mons, Rock Slide covers Articuno, a back-up option like Brick Break may be useful for Glalie since Wood Hammer doesn’t OHKO consistently and the recoil would be dangerous

Regice remains a slight problem, Iron Tail 2HKOes while Brick Break does so about 74% of the time, Brick Break is actually more likely to result in a win because of accuracy, could also try Focus Punch which OHKOes and would work through Thunder Wave, this would technically be more likely to work than Brick Break but assumes Regice will always use Thunder Wave

Abomasnow @ Choice Scarf

Level 40
Adamant: 252Atk/216Spe

Wood Hammer
Brick Break
Rock Slide
Focus Punch


Round 11: Bug

Venomoth isn’t consistently OHKOed by 252+ Blizzard but can be KOed by Ice Shard after if it lives, it can cause a loss if it uses Sludge Bomb and poisons

HP Fire will be necessary for Forretress and Scizor, need Ice Shard for the latter also

Heracross is an issue since it can’t be OHKOed, but with 184n investment in attack, Ice Shard will always KO after Blizzard and 1 turn of Hail (it might just use Close Combat anyway

Shuckle can remove weather and become very bulky but is not strong and unlikely to cause a loss, can maybe run Hail as a filler option to restart Hail and restore Abomasnow’s accurate Blizzards

Could this be done later?
  • Round 12: can secure the Heracross KO using a level 51 Abomasnow vs. level 48 Heracross, using 180n/252+ investment, without compromising any other match-ups
  • Round 13: can secure the Heracross KO using a level 85 Abomasnow vs. level 80 Heracross, using 216n/252+ investment, without compromising any other match-ups
  • Beyond that point, won’t be able to get the KO unless I use Protect over Hail, this might be OK if it means being able to do other types earlier
Consider these options if other types become troublesome

Abomasnow @ Focus Sash

Level 40
Rash: 184Atk/252SpA

Blizzard
HP Fire
Ice Shard
Hail


Round 12: Water

Kingler has Focus Sash and Superpower, need to run a Focus Sash of my own or at least 176n investment in defense to survive, won’t need to out-speed since Hail will pick it off after Grass Knot/Energy Ball

Slowbro is 2HKOed by Energy Ball/Grass Knot with 12n investment or just a positive nature, Flamethrower burning is a problem

Lanturn can be dealt with using Earthquake or a Grass move, Empoleon is best handled with Earthquake also, can win against Empoleon with Hail damage by using Protect + Earthquake + Protect (needs 132+ investment to work), this covers the Lanturn match-up by extension, 8n investment out-speeds Lanturn

Gyarados is kind of dangerous, much faster and KOes with Bounce, using Protect would remove this danger

Mantine would require the use of HP Electric, doesn’t OHKO, Mantine can’t be out-sped with a neutral nature and 2HKOes with Signal Beam, 208n in SpD removes this chance but still annoying to face because of crits and confusion

Protect + Energy Ball + Protect will work against Seaking if using 64n investment

116n in SpA 2HKOes Slowking, not absolutely necessary to win though

Ludicolo is irritating but can’t do much damage to Abomasnow, 36n investment would be helpful against Rain Dish variants, probably winnable by spamming Energy Ball

Poliwrath is annoying because of Hypnosis, Protect + Energy Ball + Protect can KO with decent rolls and this would still work if it hits Hypnosis but it only has a sub-20% chance of KOing

What if I go with a level 55 Abomasnow against level 52 opponents, with some rejigging and a nature change…

Using Mild with 248 Atk and 208 SpA investment, the Protect/attack/Protect strategy will work consistently against Empoleon, Mantine AND Poliwrath, 32 Spe still outspeeds Ludicolo and the extra SpA will allow for stronger damage against it, Lanturn is still covered (Energy Ball does slightly more now), almost nothing is changed against other opponents

Bumping SpA up to 228+ can grant a OHKO chance on Dewgong but requires a high roll…EVs aren’t being used anywhere else though so may as well…

Seaking is now OHKOed by Energy Ball so won’t need to Protect against it

Kingdra SHOULD be beatable with Protect + Energy Ball, can’t do enough damage to be a threat and the Hail damage ensures a 2HKO with Energy Ball, need 224+ investment for this to work consistently, could still lose to Yawn though

Suicune is a tricky opponent because of Mirror Coat, best strategy seems to be to use Energy Ball on turn 1 in the hope of it using Reflect, if that works then alternate between Protect and Energy Ball to rack up Hail damage, it may even be worth using Earthquake to avoid Mirror Coat until Energy Ball is in range to KO, Suicune can’t even 4HKO with its other moves anyway

Abomasnow @ Focus Sash

Level 55
Mild: 248Atk/228SpA/32Spe

Energy Ball
Earthquake
HP Electric
Protect


Round 13: Electric

Assuming round 12/level 40, 80n lets Abomasnow 2HKO Lanturn with Earthquake after Hail

0+ Blizzard + Ice Shard KOes Rotom, could consider investing remaining bulk into SpD to help sponge Signal Beam and confusion damage a bit

Jolteon can be handled by Blizzard since it ignores evasion in Hail

With 192n/180+ investment, Blizzard + Ice Shard will KO Zapdos through Light Screen

Should just use Blizzard on Raikou because of Reflect, 252n/240+ Abomasnow will KO Raikou with Hail + Blizzard + Ice Shard unless it rolls minimum twice, I’ll have a free move slot to use Protect anyway so don’t need all this investment

Could Electric be done later?

  • Round 13: at level 45, assuming Protect is used, 40n/252+ investment gets the Raikou KO, 40n 2HKOes Lanturn after double Hail, double Protect and 92n/252+ lets Abomasnow 2HKO Zapdos with Blizzard and Ice Shard through Light Screen
  • Round 14: 192n/252+ still works for Zapdos at level 51, 200n needed for Raikou (200n/252+)
  • Round 15: can’t quite get the guaranteed KO on Raikou at level 57, chance maximised with 216n/252+ investment
  • BUT, at level 70 vs. 67, Zapdos range is hit with 252n/252+, this also hits the Raikou range
  • Round 16: Unable to reach the Zapdos range
Will use level 13 for now, level 45

Focus Sash or Lum Berry may be useful here, Focus Sash would still protect against a Magnezone Flash Cannon or a Manectric Flamethrower

Abomasnow @ Focus Sash

Level 45
Mild: 4HP/92Atk/252SpA/160SpD

Blizzard
Earthquake
Ice Shard
Protect


Round 14: Ground

Sandslash dies to Blizzard but is faster and can set Sandstorm up to start dodging, perhaps running Scarf would be acceptable here, but this might cause problems with Hippowdon…

Running Scarf also leaves Abomasnow vulnerable to Quick Claw Golem

Sandslash can be OHKOed by a grass move so this may be an acceptable alternative that allows for Focus Sash against Golem

Energy Ball OHKOes uninvested assuming Modest/etc, Grass Knot requires 220+ investment (assuming 31 IVs, might need to adjust for a HP?)

Nidos have Attract, a work-around would be to run a male Abomasnow that out-speeds Nidoqueen, Nidoking would be faster but Attract fails, requires 96n investment with 31 IVs

Camerupt can just be 2HKOed by Blizzard safely so no need to run a move for it specifically, Steelix is more or less the same

Energy Ball is flat-out superior for Whiscash, OHKOes with the 220+ investment as above whereas Grass Knot does not, Gastrodon is KOed by either, Grass Knot is better against Hippowdon (Blizzard is less safe because of Sandstream), there may be space to run both moves

Flygon is faster and can remove Hail, running Ice Shard or even Ice Beam might be a way around this, Garchomp is similar but worse because of Sand Veil, running Mild can grant a OHKO chance from Outrage which could discourage the use of Sandstorm from Garchomp

Abomasnow @ Focus Sash

Level 40
Mild: 16HP/220SpA/176SpD/96Spe
MALE

Blizzard
Energy Ball
Grass Knot
Ice Beam/Ice Shard


Round 15-17: Dragon

Can easily do this later, Blizzard and Hail will defeat most Dragons, Outrage will cover Lati@s and Kingdra

In a level 40 vs. level 40 scenario, Kingdra can technically survive 2 rounds of Hail and 1 Outrage if Outrage rolls minimum, this won’t matter if it uses Yawn but it would be helpful to invest in at least 108n SpD to avoid the 2HKO chance from Dragon Pulse

Probably don’t want to do Dragon last just to avoid having to use Outrage against Argenta2, it is mostly useless outside of Dragon

USE FIRE SET


Round 15-17: Grass

Investment Modest Blizzard OHKOes Bellossom with Hail, it could use Drain Punch to survive but then it will be KOed next turn anyway, if it uses Stun Spore it dies

Could use Ice Shard to OHKO Jumpluff, it’ll likely use Bounce so it’ll receive 2 rounds of Hail damage, only needs 80n investment, could also run Protect to block it

Blizzard can 2HKO Ludicolo with enough investment but it’ll probably use Rain Dance to make Blizzard less accurate and gain Leftovers (and maybe Rain Dish) recovery, will want at least 68n investment in Speed to move first on turn 1 (could have Swift Swim to out-speed after that), running Hail might be useful to remove Rain on turn 2, should be able to 2HKO, Ludicolo can’t do much damage and can’t freeze with Ice Beam either

Cherrim is faster and can remove Hail with Sunny Day, it can’t do much damage to Abomasnow though, could probably just spam Ice Shard into it to win (180n investment 2HKOes but not necessary)

USE GHOST SET WITH PROTECT


Round 15-17: Rock

Bastiodon requires 132n investment for Earthquake to OHKO after 2 turns of Hail (better than trying for 3 turns because of the burn risk)

Tyranitar is a problem because of Sandstream, Grass Knot doesn’t OHKO consistently in sand, one way to manage this would be to run Quiet with a Speed IV of 4 or less to ensure this Abomasnow underspeeds rank 10 Tyranitar, this ensures Snow Warning overrides Sandstream and grants the OHKO with Grass Knot, speed doesn’t seem all that necessary in Fighting or Rock anyway

Rock might be doable in a later round…

40 vs. 40:

Tyranitar can be undersped with neutral nature + IV≤9 OR Quiet + IV≤27, but ALSO need to make sure Abomasnow is fast enough to out-speed Armaldo (IV≥13 if Quiet, otherwise always out-speeds)

Bastiodon is more dangerous at higher levels since Earthquake is only a 2HKO, Abomasnow would still win most of the time but could die to burn or Quick Claw, Level 36 is the lowest level at which this KO can be assured after 1 Protect, risk may be worth it if it allows for “harder” types to be done sooner

USE FIGHTING SET


Apologies if that's a bit rough to follow!

I beat Argenta2's Gallade (the defense drops from Close Combat allow a KO with Blizzard and an extra turn of hail gained from a turn 1 Protect), For post-170, I decided, correctly, that Abomasnow probably didn't have realistic prospects of going too far, and so much like with Alakazam, I decided to just use 2 of the pre-170 sets at their current levels with move set tweaks instead of going to the trouble of breeding new ones. I don't recall which of the sets I used exactly but according to my Discord logs, I had one set with Blizzard/Energy Ball/Earthquake/Ice Shard, and another with Blizzard/Earthquake/HP Fire/Protect (if I had to guess, the first set was probably the Psychic one, and the second set was the Steel set).

The opponent's I faced as per Discord logs:

(Blizzard/Energy Ball/Earthquake/Ice Shard)

171: rock - rhyperior
172: ground - garchomp
173: dragon - dragonite
174: grass - meganium
175: water - slowbro
176: poison - weezing
177: dark - shiftry
178 : ghost - gengar
179: ice - weavile
180: normal - noctowl

(Blizzard/Earthquake/HP Fire/Protect)

181: bug - yanmega
182: flying - gliscor
183 psychic - metagross (the loss)

Abomasnow has a lot of prominant flaws (namely: mediocre stats and a ghastly defensive typing), but its typing is actually quite good offensively and it has just enough tools in its move pool to help it get past certain threats as long as the types are picked appropriately. The main thing that salvages Abomasnow though is Snow Warning, not just because of the powerful, evasion-ignoring Blizzards it provides, but also because the residual damage from auto-Hail can actually allow Abomasnow to hit damage ranges it wouldn't be able to otherwise and win. This can be particularly effective when paired with options like Focus Sash and Protect, and then sometimes you can throw Ice Shard on top of that as well and pick off the opponent before they land the finishing blow.

This run was obviously very effortful so I wouldn't really recommend using Abomasnow for Hall if you goal is to get the symbol, but it's capable of getting there if you want to have a bit of fun with something different. Its prospects of going far beyond 170 are hindered by its general mediocrity but with a bit of match-up luck you might be able get further than me. Abomasnow actually has quite a few types where it's highly favoured to win just on its typing alone (Dragon, Rock, Ground, etc.) so you can get through those usually and then you might get lucky and avoid a terrible match-up in the bad types (like getting something like Exeggutor instead of Metagross in Psychic lol).
 
Last edited:

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 1)

Top