Gen III Battle Frontier Discussion and Records

Sad news

My Battlequest has finally come to an end. I was on the last floor of the Ice round, with the exit tile in sight even, when I got into an unexpected double battle. My lineup this round was Tauros, Swampert, and Gengar. My Tauros had been KO’d by an earlier opponent’s Regice and I forgot to revive it.

Opposition led with Rhydon and Salamence, I with Swamper and Gengar. To cut it short it was a Dragon Dance ‘Mence who managed to sweep me; it outsped me so I couldn’t even cheese it with Gar’s D Bond. Before I knew my streak was done for. 1588 floors in total; proof attached as usual. On an authentic cartridge. I don’t think I have it in me to go through all that again just to catch back up with my record. This may well be the last post I make here.

Good night. The Doctor is out.
As the person who, as far as i am aware, has held the longest streak in this facility since sometime last year, even surpassing Cody's number (which was also my main goal after claiming the top spot here), I have to give you my most sincere congratulations for this run.

Mine was cut short due to hardware issues and coincidentally, it also happened during the ice round. Although it hurt a little bit at the time, the joy of having accomplished such a great journey quickly overpowerd it.

So I encourage you to look at your streak with the pride you deserve for having completed that goal, and be glad that the final battle happened now and not hundreds of floors before. I can relate to the feeling of not wanting to start again, for it can easily start to seem tedious after so many hours of exploration.

And thus I pass you the torch of the Battle Pyramid World Record and hope that you enjoy this honorary position while it lasts, and cherish the memories made even after someone else breaks it.
 
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Is RNG manipulation for the Battle Factory draft against the spirit of this thread? Just rolled through the entire Noland2 round with Starmie/Heracross/Swampert in tow and honestly kind of felt guilty for it.
 
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Just curious... A question for everyone here...

What is your favourite Battle Frontier facility? Why? Do you have any reasons for that? Do you have any stories about that facility? And what is your least favourite?

My favourite is the Battle Pike.

As a child, when I had no idea what I was doing, Lucy was the first Frontier Brain I ever encountered and defeated. For the Silver Symbol, of course. Child me, pre-EV training etc. would never be able to win Gold Symbols.

I just love the music. The way the facility looks. The entire vibe. And Lucy is my favourite Frontier Brain, both because of the anime and because of her characterisation and design. And no, I am not into her that way. ;)

And I just love the concept of picking rooms. Deciding whether you take the hint and pick the room mentioned or not.

I know that the Battle Tower is a clear favourite here, which makes total sense on a competitive forum. But nothing beats the awesomeness of the Battle Pike for me.

One and a half years ago, I became #4 on Smogon's Open Level leaderboard with a nice streak of 247 rooms cleared. Latias, Flygon and Milotic did a great job!

A battle against Lucy:

My ranking, from favourite to least favourite:
1. Battle Pike
2. Battle Dome
3. Battle Tower
4. Battle Pyramid
5. Battle Palace
6. Battle Arena
7. Battle Factory

My least favourite? The Battle Fucktory. I hate it. I hate not being able to use my own Pokemon. I hate using rental Pokemon. That just isn't enjoyable for me.
 
How much I "enjoy" any given facility tends to swing wildly depending on whether I'm specifically trying to extend a streak or am just goofing around.

The Factory is great for experimenting with pre-built sets before committing any time or resources into training, and if you've got a good memory then it also has the small perk of serving as research for the CPU movesets that you can use as reference for when you work your way up through the rest of the facilities. I think it's the best facility for anyone who is relatively new to competitive play, as those players are most likely to pick up at least some new information and ideas regarding things like hold item synergy. But there are few things that can deflate your enthusiasm in the Frontier more than a bad opening draft in the middle of any long Factory streak, and the bugged IVs really hurt the incentive to swap, nerfing one of the facility's defining characteristics.

I like the Dome's gimmick but kind of wish that instead of being "bring 3 Pokemon, pick 2" it was "bring 6 Pokemon, pick 3 (or pick 4 in Doubles)." If hell ever freezes over and they bring back the Frontier, then the successor to the Dome should basically be "VGC Tournament Simulator."

I like how the Arena sort of emphasizes 1v1 match-ups, but I think that the 4th generation's Battle Hall took that concept to its natural conclusion. Team-building specifically for the Arena doesn't strike me as particularly interesting.

The Palace is sort of fascinating just as a thought experiment but torture to attempt any legitimately long streak.

The only knock I have against the Pyramid is that a single run often takes a lot of time in comparison to other facilities, but it might actually be my favorite just because it happens to be the only facility that still incorporates the RPG quest structure into the experience instead of just being a differently flavored PvP simulator like the rest of them. This is basically the one place in franchise history where I can remember Softboiled actually having incredibly useful utility as a field move.

The Pike just sort of feels like Pyramid-lite, at best. I don't think the pick-a-path choice structure is strategically interesting.
 
Sad news

My Battlequest has finally come to an end. I was on the last floor of the Ice round, with the exit tile in sight even, when I got into an unexpected double battle. My lineup this round was Tauros, Swampert, and Gengar. My Tauros had been KO’d by an earlier opponent’s Regice and I forgot to revive it.

Opposition led with Rhydon and Salamence, I with Swamper and Gengar. To cut it short it was a Dragon Dance ‘Mence who managed to sweep me; it outsped me so I couldn’t even cheese it with Gar’s D Bond. Before I knew my streak was done for. 1588 floors in total; proof attached as usual. On an authentic cartridge. I don’t think I have it in me to go through all that again just to catch back up with my record. This may well be the last post I make here.

Good night. The Doctor is out.
Late reply, but congrats on your amazing streak! I have followed your journey and I am really impressed by how far you have climbed. I really like your strategy of using Perish Song in the Pyramid, that is genius and something I have never even considered. It shows that there are still a lot of potential new and undiscovered strategies for the Pyramid.

I'm also very sorry about your loss. Unexpected Multi battles are always annoying and can cause really bad situations. But I think you should be happy about your streak, you will be #1 on the Pyramid leaderboards once Kommo-o adds your streak!
What is your favourite Battle Frontier facility? Why? Do you have any reasons for that? Do you have any stories about that facility? And what is your least favourite?
I sort of posted about this in my Battle Frontier review last year, but I figured I might as well repost it with some changes and additions. I'll rank all seven facilities, from favorite to least favorite.


1. Pyramid. My favorite. I love the exploration aspect of it. Battling wild Pokémon, avoiding trainers (or sometimes battling them), picking up items and looking for the exit. I like how there are 20 different themes for the wild Pokémon. When I played, I adapted my team for every different round, trying a different strategy. This was fun as it allowed me to use more Pokémon than usual! I also love the feeling when I finally reach the top and get to watch the world below from the summit, with the sun in the background. There are only two real negatives with the Pyramid, the first one is that going through a round usually takes a long time, which makes it feel like a test of patience rather than skill. But I think it handles that in a good way, so I don't really mind. The second is that the Pyramid is quite easy. But I don’t have a problem with this either, this is one of the situations where I’d definitely take having fun over a challenge.

I have some stories from the Pyramid that I want to share. The Pyramid was the first facility where I got the Gold Symbol, which was a big moment for me. Before this, I had been unsure if I would be able to get just one Gold Symbol (not to mention all of them), but the Pyramid proved that I could do it! Another thing is that the Pyramid was the facility that made me raise serious teams in order to try and beat the whole Frontier once and for all. It happened because I experienced a sour loss here in the early rounds. I was trying to farm BP for a Move Tutor move, using a team of really bad Pokémon (probably from my in-game team). After the loss, I realized that I needed better teams in order to win. I raised new Pokémon, and my goal eventually shifted from farming BP for MTs to getting all Gold Symbols. Looking back now, the Pyramid is technically the whole reason I started battling in Battle Facilities in the first place. The Pyramid is also the only facility in Emerald where I still have an ongoing streak, and it is my longest streak in the game. I might go back and continue on it in the future, but I don't think I will ever continue to the point that I get further than Doctor_Rob and Carloss97.


2. Dome. Second favorite. I love how it has a high focus on strategy. The way the tourney works, getting to see the opposing team before the battle and picking two of my own Pokémon against two of the opponent's. I also love how fast it goes to complete a round here since every round only features four battles, and all of them are 2vs2. Destroying Gold Tucker with Shedinja is just some extra icing on the cake. Like with the Pyramid, the Dome is pretty easy, but I don’t think that is something negative. Once again, I'll gladly take fun over a challenge in this case.

As for a story, I had a weird experience with the Dome since it took me many tries to reach Gold Tucker for the first time, but once I beat him, I managed to continue on my streak and win a lot more afterwards, getting my second highest streak (in terms of battles) at the Emerald Frontier. I used Shedinja to destroy Tucker in every rematch, which was super fun.


3. Pike. Third favorite. This is a very fun facility, featuring a nice mix of exploration and battles. The theme of this facility is luck, but in reality, there's a lot of strategy and skill involved. You don't know what awaits behind the next door, but you always have a choice. Do you go for the door the maid gave you info about, or one of the other two? And even if you go for the door you were told about, there's still 2 possible options as for what lies behind it. The Pike also requires you to manage your resources since healing is limited and partly luck-based. In addition, there's a lot of variety regarding what you might encounter. Wild Pokémon, Single trainer battles, Multi trainer battles, tough trainer battles, healing, random status, or nothing at all! It contains many surprises, and that's one thing that makes it really fun. I think the Pike combines luck and strategy in a great way. I also love the atmosphere here, it feels creepy and the music just makes it better. When I first tried it back in 2005, the place creeped me out to the point that I didn't even complete the round! But later on, I gathered enough courage to go back and make it through many rounds. Going through a round here usually goes very fast, which is neat. Overall, a very good facility.

As for a story to share from the Pike... it is the only Facility where I have made it to the Gold boss without losing first. Two times, even! I first made it up to Gold Lucy on Level 50, then I cancelled my original streak so I could farm BP easily against Silver Lucy. Much later, made a new serious try and reached Gold Lucy without losing first once more. I also beat Gold Lucy on Open Level, but I am pretty sure I had lost at least once before reaching her there.


4. Tower. It’s okay. The standard facility, no special rules or regulations that affect anything, just regular battles. So why is it not more than okay? The reason is that I find it a bit boring compared to the other facilities in Emerald since it isn’t really “special” in any way. Having to go through 70 battles just to reach Gold Anabel is also a lot. In addition, I find it very primitive compared to the Subway/Maison/Tree. Those facilities did some massive improvements to the standard facility in terms of raw gameplay and QoL. When I battle at the Emerald Tower, I can’t help but compare it to the newer facilities. Since it lacks a lot of the things that make the modern facilities great, it feels a bit aged. That said, I don’t think it is downright bad, it just isn’t super great either.

My most memorable story from the Tower is that it is the only facility where I have lost against the Gold Boss. The first time I made it to Gold Anabel, I misplayed against her and got haxed, leading to a very sour loss. But I made it up to her again on the very next try, and managed to beat her!


5. Arena. Another facility that’s okay. I like how it puts some restrictions on your team and playstyle since you can’t switch and you only have three turns to move before it gets down to judging. However, this makes it very matchup-dependent, which means that you are at the risk of auto-losing if you get into a bad matchup. The judging categories are also a bit odd since they make you very susceptible to hax. Not a bad facility, but not one of my favorites either.

A story worth telling from the Arena is that this is where Gardevoir became my least favorite Pokémon. When I tried to get the Gold Symbol, I initially used a team of Heracross/Gardevoir/Salamence, but I kept losing. I then changed Heracross' hold item and switched Gardevoir for Starmie, and with this new team, I got to Gold Greta on the first try! And beat her, of course. Since then, Gardevoir has been my least favorite Pokémon... but ironically, it won me the Gold Symbol in the next facility.


6. Factory. I have a love-hate relation to this place. I love how it is so challenging and difficult to beat. But I also hate how it is so challenging and difficult to beat. Honestly, I think I would have enjoyed the Frontier a lot more if the Factory hadn’t existed since it was always a big obelisk which stood in my way of getting all Gold Symbols. At the same time, I think I would have enjoyed the Frontier less if the Factory hadn’t existed since that would have made the whole place a lot less challenging. I like the concept of having to battle with rental Pokémon, but I think the execution makes it very luck-based and unnecessarily difficult. A bad draft or a bad matchup can make you auto-lose, which is never fun. I think the Battle Agency in US/UM did it better, but still far from perfect. In the end, I think the negatives outweigh the positives for the Factory, so it is one of my least favorites.

The best Factory story I have to share would be when I finally beat it and got the Gold Symbol, which happened last year. Read about it here. It was the last Gold Symbol I needed, getting it meant that I had finally completed the Frontier... apart from winning 100 battles in a row at the Tower, but that's just a bonus challenge which I might get around to at some point in the future... or not.


7. Palace. My least favorite. It just isn’t that fun to play. I appreciate the concept of it. Your Pokémon are supposed to battle for you based on their Natures, which is cool in practice, but I think the execution is a bit lacking. I will admit that I have never tried using an optimized team for the Palace (such as the common and popular “Hasty” strategy), but playing it with standard sets isn’t all that enjoyable. In many battles, there were several turns where nothing really happened, making the battles very slow-paced and sluggish. In the end, I just don’t enjoy the Palace very much. I don't have a story to share from it, can't think of anything that's worth talking about.

Those are my thoughts on the Emerald Facilities. Thanks for reading!
 
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The Doctor is back in, but with some bittersweet update. I decided to go for another "record" in the Battle Pyramid. It was kinda fun to start from scratch although it made me rethink what 'Mons I used through each round. I made it to 185 floors before I finally lost again. And get this, it was on the Ice round AGAIN lol. Long story short I lost to a Curse/Rest Snorlax. That thing is friggin broken ugh. This was my team on the last round I lost...

376.gif

"Mech"
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Adamant
Item: Leftovers
252 Attack / 184 HP / 72 Speed
Meteor Mash, Earthquake, Shadow Ball, Aerial Ace

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"Mora"
Ability: Marvel Scale
Nature: Bold
Item: Leftovers
252 HP / 252 Defense / 4 Sp. Attack
Surf, Ice Beam, Mirror Coat, Recover

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"Doc"
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Bold
Item: Leftovers
252 HP / 252 Defense / 4 Sp. Defense
-Seismic Toss, Toxic, Softboiled, Heal Bell
 
Battle Factory Singles. Win streak 50. Open Level. Retail.

Overall, I swapped most battles in the first 4 rounds, relying on just hard hitters taking advantage of poor AI. I really do not like to swap in later rounds because of the IV's. Shoutout LRXC for tips.


Started with Jolteon4, Nidoqueen2, and Blastoise4, switched Blastoise for Suicune5 who carried a bit. Was very surprised at Nidoqueen, she was way better here than I thought and I didn't want to swap her cause of the strong IV's, I even got a kill with poison point here. When need be I also had the option to icy wind with Suicune to drop the opponent to a point where Nidoqueen could outspeed. Between all the movesets I could hit pretty much everything pretty hard.

I started with Starmie2, Salamence3, and Walrein2 but swapped Walrein for Ttar1. I don't love Starmie2 but with the speed + strong IV's I kept them around, though was very tempted at Heracross2. Nolan wasn't too bad, he had Slowbro4 which couldn't really touch starmie and I got to be cheeky with recover, Amparos1, and finally Machamp7. I think most Machamps would have beaten me here but a Salamance double edge + Ttar sand chip was enough. Glad ice punch was not an option due to item clause. Big relief to get through Gold Nolan. Onto the next round.

I started with Raikou6, Salamence4, Snorlax6. A pretty amazing draft imo. The AI seems to really struggle with dealing with substitute, often spamming status moves into it. On multiple occasions I was able to get 6 calm minds off with Raikou. Substitute also is great against some of my least favorite pokemon to play in factory like Jynx. A bit of a sticky moment with a double team claydol but I got a couple lucky shadowballs off. Honestly this round was super easy, I think I used Salamence only once or twice. Snorlax is also great just so you don't have to fight other Snorlax's.

Only had 28 swaps to this point, so only 2 random IV mons in the draft. Unfortunately that included a Metagross4 and Tauros1 with a 1 and 0 attack IV respectively. I ended up with Metagross, Snorlax6 again, and Misdreavus4. Metagross actually easily dispatched the first 4 mons they faced but in the second battle a Heracross4 barely lived a psychic. Then Misdreavus took a crit from megahorn and just like that the streak was done.
 
Hello everyone! Long time lurker who finally signed up here.

I have achieved a streak of 177 wins on a retail cart in lv. 50 battle tower singles.
Long post ahead!


I started playing ou/uu ladder somewhere between 2008-2009 on shoddy battle, back when the current gen was gen 4. I then played some gen 5 before eventually moving on from pokemon. However, the recent surge of pokemon content on my social media feeds enticed me to get back into this beautiful world and poketubers like papa jefe and imablisy inspired me to buy an authentic emerald cart and learn how to rng stuff. With the tools and knowledge to finally create legit competitive critters and support from awesome people from the discord, I am finally able to properly tackle the battle frontier once and for all!

Salamence (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 21 SpA
- Earthquake
- Aerial Ace
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance

Swampert (F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Torrent
Level: 50
EVs: 64 HP / 236 Atk / 208 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 30 Def / 30 SpD / 30 Spe
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Rock]
- Return
- Counter

Regice @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Def / 60 SpA / 36 SpD / 164 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 17 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Substitute
- Rest

My goal was to create a goodstuff team that could reach gold or maybe a 3-digit streak while employing at least a pokemon that isn't too common. My choice for said pokemon was Regice. Yes, I'm aware Blissey mostly outclasses it but the regi brother does have its own perks to stand out, specifically an immunity to freeze (invaluable considering all the Ice beams Salamence makes it switch into), clear body making sure that moves like crunch, psychic and luster purge never overwhelm it and stab on ice beam (arguably the best special attack in the game). A pure ice typing makes it somewhat difficult to use, but with Salamence and Swampert as teammates it fits in perfectly.


How this team plays depends on what I'm facing but the general idea is to try and sweep with Salamence while having the teammates cover what it can't beat. Thanks to a lum berry+substitute lead, a ground type and an ice type that employs substitute+rest this team is very resilient to status. With great natural bulk, intimidate, DDance and substitute Salamence can easily set upon and beat most grass types, fire types, weak annoyers and passive pokemon in general. Many usually troublesome double team spammers (e.g. Miltank 4) also end up becoming setup fodder thanks to aerial ace ignoring evasion boosts. If a special attacker that Salamence can't beat shows up, Regice switches in and then proceeds to beat it via toxic stall or with its naturally strong ice beam (actually the second strongest in the game after Jynx, who knew?), often winning with a substitute up to improve the next matchup. Swampert perfectly glues this team together by providing a switch into rock, steel, poison and electric type attacks (as well as doubling on fire types, but watch out for burns) while having his grass weakness easily covered by its teammates.

Salamence
The set itself is pretty self-explanatory. Aerial ace is preferred over HP flying to better deal the various forms of evasion hax that the tower uses, with the power drop not mattering too much thanks to dragon dance. AA and EQ provide great neutral coverage together.
I have tried different ev spreads and was initially convinced that I didn't need to run max speed at all, but I was wrong.
Max speed is necessary to outspeed things like Houndoom 4 (who can just otherwise ohko with a crit crunch) as well as set 8 of the lati twins which actually runs speed. Even things like Pinsir 2 become a problem if you don't outspeed them. I have also tried other moves in the third slot (mainly brick break to help with Snorlax) but once I tried substitute, I never looked back. Outside of its more obvious uses like blocking status, this move ended up being incredibly useful to scout what set I'm facing so I can answer properly. For instance, I can open with substitute against dewgong and if it happens to be set 3 (rest-sleep talk-sheer cold-horn drill) instead of risking losing Regice on the switch, I can set up on it right there and then and sweep the entire team (due to a quirk, Dewgong won't be able to break the last substitute with ohkos). That's just one of the many cases substitute ends up being crucial in. Despite substitute already blocking status, lum berry is still the best item so I can pivot into things more safely.

Regice
This thing easily beats the majority of non-fire special attackers, with only some sets here and there being potentially troublesome.
Its ev spread is the one I spent the most time tinkering with, but I'm happy with the final result. 164 evs in speed look weird, but they let Regice, in conjunction with toxic, substitute and rest, beat base 70 speed and lower mons that carry ohko attacks like Dewgong, Walrein, Wailord and Lapras. A bold nature, 4 def and 36 sp.def evs ensure that Walrein-4 (the ohko user with the strongest coverage attacks) can't break the subs with EQ and only has a 1-in-16 chance with surf. 60 sp.atk evs guarantee the 2hko on all Alakazam, the ohko on Marowak 2-3-4, and the ohko on Rhydon 3-4, rest goes into bulk.

Swampert
I really have to thank Actaeon for suggesting CBpert. This thing hits HARD. Here are some calcs:
236+ Atk Choice Band Swampert Earthquake vs. 170 HP / 0 Def Metagross: 200-236 (113.6 - 134.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
236+ Atk Choice Band Swampert Earthquake vs. 255 HP / 0 Def Rhydon: 214-252 (100.9 - 118.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
236+ Atk Choice Band Swampert Hidden Power Rock vs. 170 HP / 0 Def Aerodactyl: 164-194 (93.2 - 110.2%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
236+ Atk Choice Band Swampert Earthquake vs. 170 HP / 170 Def Suicune: 96-114 (49 - 58.2%) -- 98% chance to 2HKO
208 speed evs put Swampert at 106 speed, enough to outspeed uninvested base 85 like some Suicune, Nidoking (another dangeous ohko user) and Kingdra, rest into bulk. It should be noted that this pert doesn't take hits as well as other sets, but it more than makes up with its raw power.
Return is very rarely clicked, but it occasionally helps against things like Weezing, Claydol, the latis, Flygon...
Counter provides a (shaky) aswer to things like Heracross if Salamence is not around, who otherwise just sweeps my team. I think roar could fit in somewhere too.

This team lacks a clear gameplan against bulky normals, expecially those with strong double edges. Intimidate helps, but they still do a lot of damage, some can avoid 2hkos from unboosted mence and neither Regice nor Swampert switches in gladly. if they score a crit someone falls. Critical hits in general are the one form of hax this team doesnt do well against. Although in many cases I can just get the revenge kill back and even the score, if something the fallen pokemon was supposed to check shows up, i'm in trouble. Slowking 4 with a strong flamethrower, ice beam and quick claw can be hard to deal with if it shows up at the wrong time. Set5 of the latis (calm mind-dragon claw-thunderwave-recover) is always scary to face, they can break through regice. Gengar and Gardevoir sets that carry fire punch and/or destiny bond can potentially bring down regice, as can strong water types if they get crits at the wrong time, expecially under rain.
The loss was kinda preventable. I didn't time a Lapras's death with toxic correctly with Regice, went into last pokemon Ursaring 7/8 (probably 8) without a sub up and lost to a quick claw activation when we both were in KO range.

Despite the probably preventable defeat, I'm satisfied. It has taken a lot of irl time and trial and error before the team clicked, but I didn't expect to make it so far past the gold to be honest. It was a fun journey!
Many thanks to Actaeon for helping with the sets and to the discord server in general for being helpful and kind!

IMG_20240327_214302.jpg
 
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