Strutting the Catwalk: Tips and Tricks to Gen 4’s Battle Hall

Aaronboyer

Something Worth Fighting For
is a Contributor to Smogon
Introduction
Prior to Generation 5 and the introduction of reusable TMs, most competitive Pokemon were dependent on single-use TMs to diversify their learnset. Calm Mind by level up, for instance, saw an extremely limited distribution to a total of about 15 Pokemon; but as TM04 in Generation 4, its distribution increased more than fivefold. Multiple copies of Calm Mind, as well as a plethora of TMs and held items integral to competitive Gen 4 Pokemon, are gatekept behind Pokemon Platinum's, Heartgold's, and Soulsilver's Battle Frontier, where Battle Points or BP for short can be exchanged for these prizes. The Battle Frontier is split into five different facilities and each awards BP for progressively longer win streaks. Four of these facilities, the Battle Tower, the Battle Factory, the Battle Arcade, and the Battle Castle, awards BP every 7 matches and commemorative silver and gold prints at 21 and 49 wins, respectively. However, the fifth facility, the Battle Hall, awards BP every 10 matches and commemorative silver and gold prints at 50 and 170 wins, respectively, seemingly making the Battle Hall far inferior.

What Makes The Battle Hall So Unique?
But the Battle Hall differs from the other four facilities because of one key aspect. Battle Hall matches are 1v1 whereas all the other facilities are 3v3. Matches are heavily determined by quick one-hit knockouts and avoiding longer, drawn out games in which critical hits, freezes, and all the other typical Battle Frontier shenanigans tend to occur. Battle Hall matches differ in several ways from the competitive DPP 1v1 metagame. Not only are huge threats such as Garchomp, Togekiss, and Porygon-Z all legal in this format, but so is Focus Sash which can be reutilized despite otherwise being a one-time use held item in-between different matches.

Some Tips And Tricks
  • The longer your Battle Hall streak is, the higher level Pokemon you'll face per rank. the most optimal streaks start with types your Pokemon struggle with the most, and fully completing all ten ranks of that type in the same 10 match BP cycle. Going from hardest to easiest types also relieves some of the pressure of having to restart deep into your win streak as often.
  • While streaks are maintained by winning sets of 10 matches utilizing the same Pokemon species, using multiple different sets and EV spreads for each type, particularly the ones your Pokemon struggles with the most is both optimal and encouraged.
  • Focus Sash's legality makes it a far superior held item for hyper offensive Pokemon than Choice Band and Specs in most cases, improves matchups versus opposing Focus Sash users, and circumvents the AI getting a timely critical hit and prematurely ending your streak.
  • List of opposing Focus Sash users

Some Of The Best Pokemon

:dp/garchomp:
Garchomp @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Swords Dance

Garchomp holds no prisoners with an absurdly strong STAB combination of Outrage and Earthquake that only a select handful of Pokemon such as Skarmory, Bronzong, and Shedinja can withstand. Fire Fang capably deals with said threats while Swords Dance allows Garchomp to muscle through fatter Pokemon such as Cresselia, Tangrowth, and Slaking without fear of Outrage confusion damage. Boosting up and attacking only once also helps Garchomp against Bright Powder users.

Because of its sheer strength and superb offensive typing, Garchomp fares well against 90% of the Pokemon it faces. Garchomp does risk getting frozen when facing specific bulky attackers such as Walrein, Slowbro, Articuno, or Lickilicky it cannot outright KO with Ice attacks. Glaceon can stomach a non-critical Outrage from Garchomp, land Blizzard and then revenge kill with Ice Shard. Focus Sash Sharpedo is manageable so long as you don't get frozen by Ice Fang and remember to attack with Earthquake to avoid Rough Skin. Garchomp has the opportunity to potentially beat all of these Pokemon; however, its greatest adversary, Focus Sash Weavile, is a matchup Garchomp is destined to lose. Because Garchomp streaks automatically reset when Weavile is encountered, it's highly recommended to start your streaks with the Ice- and Dark-types first before moving onto other types.

  • Salamence
  • Togekiss

Conclusion
 
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