Pokemon Black/White Draftlocke

[noheartx]

im too late to join this arent i?

[Grace]

Thanks to a trollish Sawk (which I caught, thanks to its goddamn ability to critical at inconvenient times), had to retire Pignite before I hit Lenora's gym.

Sawk's are trollish, really annoying to catch without dying horribly. Avoiding those Lv17 ones is integral.

Thanks to a stray critical from Herdier, Drilbur's out of the challenge.

Ouch. Mind you, that Herdier hits like a truck normally anyway.

I'm in the middle of Pinwheel Forest. Blitzle got trolled by a Sewaddle. AUDINO SOLO FUCK YEAH!

How fun. At least Audino is durable.

So, time for a progress update!

Pinwheel Forest, went and found a Prankster Cottonee (using Servine to scout one), caught it, named it Trollicott (Mostly because Whimsicott w/Cotton Guard can outstall Zekrom at the end of the game, considering Leech Seed and Stun Spore as well) and got back the Dragon Skull. Sawk is kicking stuff into the ground.

So, Castelia City. Went to the Battle Company and got some Exp there. Got the Water Stone for Panpour, and used it on it when it got to Lv22 (for Scald). Picked up the Eviolite, it will come in handy. Beat some Team Plasma Grunts. Go north to clear out some trainers in Route 4. Gym time! Then I look at my team.

Sawk (NVE on Bug)

Servine (Bug SE's, only Tackle is neutral)

Cottonee (Bug SE's)

Simipour (Grass SE's (hello Leavanny))

Crap. So my only recourse is to give Sawk Retaliate, so he has something useful against Whirlipede and Leavanny. Gym goes down pretty easily, considering. X Defend and X Attack on Sawk for Leavanny was necessary, as well as using an Ether on Retaliate. (That's the first time I've used an Ether/Elixir in my 5 playthroughs of this game) GG Burgh, Insect Badge get!

I rush up to the Route 4 Gatehouse without healing and beat Bianca very easily. Then go and beat Cheren as well.

Edit: Added in grinding levels. Sawk smashes Audino's like nothing on Earth. Got the Sun Stone for Cottonee, HM04 and bought TM27. Skipped all of Route 4's remaining trainers for now, as well as Desert Resort.

Stats:

Name       Species  Ability     Lv Nature HP  Atk Def SpA SpD Spe
Snide      Servine  Overgrow    27 Lax    74  40  55  44  43  53
Mookey     Simipour Gluttony    27 Hasty  81  66  36  59  43  74
Karte      Sawk     Inner Focus 31 Docile 96  87  53  30  55  64
Trollicott Cottonee Prankster   27 Quirky 63  26  40  28  40  44

Team Opinion:

Servine: Hasn't been particularly useful lately, but is durable enough to take a hit. Probably will be phased out once Cobalion is caught.

Simipour: Good at killing stuff quickly, but I'm limiting exposure so it doesn't die. Easily my least durable member.

Sawk: MVP, period. Without Sawk, Gyms 2 & 3 would have been hell. Hits like a truck and can take hits.

Cottonee: Hasn't seen serious use yet, but I have major plans for it later.

Edited May 22, 2011 by Mist

[Seven Deadly Sins]

Derp, let's get this underway. Snivy is my starter, since obviously I don't need Tepig. I lay a beatdown on Cheren and Bianca, and Quiet Snivy is pretty sweet. I lost at least once to a CH from Cheren's Tepig, which was kinda gay, but eh. Wander off to Route 1, then roll on through to Accumula Town. Oh, and N is a loser.

Vs. N - Purrloin Lv. 7

I win with 9/24 HP remaining on Snivy. Snivy grows to Level 8.

Slither the Snivy - Lv. 8 - Quiet Nature

Tackle / Tail Whip / Vine Whip

26 HP / 14 Atk / 15 Def / 14 SAtk / 16 SDef / 13 Spe

Route 2. Snivy beats the ever-loving piss out of everything, and is quite overlevelled by now. Bianca shows up and... does stuff. I don't know. Vine Whip destroys her, a CH oneshots Oshawott.

Vs. Bianca - Lillipup Lv. 6, Oshawott Lv. 7.

Slither hit 11 before the battle.

Slither the Snivy - Lv. 11 - Quiet Nature

Tackle / Tail Whip / Vine Whip / Wrap

32 HP / 17 Atk / 19 Def / 18 SAtk / 20 SDef / 17 Spe

Now we're at Striaton City! Swing by the Dreamyard to pick up Panpour, but I probably won't need him. Snivy is too beast. Thus Panpour is named "Disposable". Meanwhile, I go fight Cheren, who is... problematic. Tepig is a jerk, but I pull out the win by Growthing twice and then blowing him up with Tackle. Purrloin is then 2HKOed.

Vs. Cheren - Tepig Lv. 8, Purrloin Lv. 8.

Slither the Snivy - Lv. 11 - Quiet Nature

Tackle / Tail Whip / Vine Whip / Wrap

32 HP / 17 Atk / 19 Def / 18 SAtk / 20 SDef / 17 Spe

Let's go punch a Gym Leader. Chili is apparently a Fire-type leader, but all Pansear knows is Incinerate, which sucks approximately all the dicks. I Growth a bunch of times against the Lillipup, and then just Tackle the fuck out of everything. Bitches successfully slapped. (well, Snivy gets down to 3 HP, but that's just me being cocky)

Vs. Chili - Lillipup Lv. 12, Pansear Lv. 14.

Slither the Snivy - Lv. 15 - Quiet Nature

Tackle / Growth / Vine Whip / Wrap

40 HP / 22 Atk / 24 Def / 23 SAtk / 26 SDef / 22 Spe

Now a bunch of bullshit happens, basically just me killing time until I can go get my Throh, who will anchor the team until Route 4. Team Plasma sucks really, really hard, and Slither makes mincemeat of them. I'm forced to fudge the rules in the first double battle, since they won't let you go in with less than one Pokemon and I only have my Starter so far, so I fudge it a bit and use my Disposable Monkey. I troll the shit out of Tepig with Accuracy drops from Leaf Tornado, which lets Slither solo Cheren. Thankfully I won't have to do much more of that. Slither evolves into Servine in Wellspring Cave, upgrading him to PROFESSIONAL ass-beater. I finally got my Throh shortly after, and an Impish nature too! Woot. Too bad Throh's got the offense of a wet rag for 5 levels, but I'm looking forward to soloing Lenora with him.

Slither the Servine - Lv. 18 - Quiet Nature - Overgrow

Tackle / Growth / Vine Whip / Leaf Tornado

52 HP / 31 Atk / 36 Def / 33 SAtk / 37 SDef / 33 Spe

Gauntlet the Throh - Lv. 12 - Impish Nature - Guts

Bind / Leer / Bide / Work Up

54 HP / 29 Atk / 31 Def / 13 SAtk / 26 SDef / 19 Spe

Snivy/Servine's the best by far, but I'm thinking Throh is going to come into his own as soon as he learns Vital Throw. We gonna mess some fools UP in here.

P.S.: Props to anyone that gets my naming scheme.

[eclipse]

My poor Pignite died to a level 15 Sawk. I was extremely pissed about Drilbur, because it had a damn good nature (Impish).

Anyway. . .

Right before leaving Castellia City, nabbed the Eviolite and Amulet Coin. Tiptoed to Nimbasa City, watched some events, then immediately ran out the door to fetch me a Gothita. Caught her easily, then went back for the Exp. Share and everything in Desert Resort (Gothita + Eviolite is 2-3HKO'd by Moxie Sandiles using Assurance, depending on my luck). Went on my date with N, whose Scraggy decided that it was a good idea to Swagger Audino. This resulted in Audino punching the living daylights out of everything. After N gave me a parting kiss (why does the game do this?!), went to Elesa's place to refill my wallet (courtesy of Amulet Coin Audino). My battle with Elesa can best be described below.

Elesa: Volt Switch

Audino: Secret Power on whatever came out

Elesa: Volt Swtich

Audino: Secret Power on whatever came out

I kept Audino alive via Lemonade. Emolga is so frail! Got my badge, so I'm happy.

Team so far (after 4th gym)

Audino (Roric, level 35): Tanks hits like no one's business, and Secret Power HURTS. His moveset will be subject to much change, thanks to his ability to learn a huge variety of TMs.

Gothita (Jounetsu, level 31): Doesn't tank quite as well as Audino, but she can withstand what she needs to. I've been using Fake Tears a lot more. She'll evolve when she gets Psychic.

. . .and then I was forced to break the rules, outlined below.

Got into a battle with Cheren. Gothita got trolled hard by Dewott, and fainted. Once Audino rained holy hell on the rest of his team, got stuck in that scene with Alder. I went up against the double Herdier team. Since I couldn't chuck balls or use any non-recovery items, and Gothita was the first Pokemon in my party, I swapped out for Audino. I think I go on with my Audino at level ridiculous. . .but if that wasn't allowed, then bite me. There was no chance to swap the order of my Pokemon before the double battle.

Edited May 22, 2011 by eclipse

[Seven Deadly Sins]

So now that I have Throh, it's time to train his dumb ass up. I hunt a bunch of trainers down to get him to 17, and now he's got Vital Throw. Time to go solo Lenora. Also N is a pansy.

By the way, this gym is stupid. Not Lt. Surge level stupid, but just dumb enough that I am annoyed. Good thing Throh completely emasculates this gym. Vital Throw oneshots everything here, INCLUDING a Herdier after it's given an X-Defend. Oh, and it's immune to Sand-Attack. Fun. As an aside, someone should tell Lenora that Crunch is NVE against Throh.

Vs. Lenora - Herdier Lv. 18, Watchog Lv. 20

Throh totally destroys her.

Name       Species  Ability     Lv Nature  HP  Atk Def SpA SpD Spe  Moves
Slither    Servine  Overgrow    19 Quiet   55  33  37  34  39  35   Tackle / Growth / Vine Whip / Leaf Tornado
Gauntlet   Throh    Guts        19 Impish  79  43  47  18  39  27   Vital Throw / Seismic Toss / Bide / Work Up

Edited May 23, 2011 by Seven Deadly Sins

[Paperblade]

Since the earliest mon I can get is Timburr, it's a Wotter solo up to about the second gym. Not much of interest, really.

Pick up Pansear to beat the first gym, and he's able to just trade blows at base level to win. I forgot to get stats here so... yeah.

Anyway, things are pretty uneventful til I get to Timburr since Wotter just oneshots everything. Timburr is oddly kind of weak, but I guess I shouldn't expect much from my 4th pick (or maybe it's just Low Kick sucking vs. Tympole). Anyway, I beat up the trainers I can then head over to the gym.

2nd Gym: Timburr sweeps the trainers pretty handily, but I swap Wotter in for the Watchog because Retaliate is a bitch and tends to OHKO folks.

AND THEN PLASMA SHOWS UP. More on that later.

POKEMON NATURE LV  HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe ABILITY     MOVES
Timburr Naive  20  60  42  31  16  21  25 Sheer Force Rock Throw, Wake-Up Slap, Low Kick, Focus Energy
Dewott  Bold   21  68  36  36  46  34  33 Torrent     Retaliate, Razor Shell, Water Gun, Fury Cutter

[Seven Deadly Sins]

Oh, some shit goes down in Pinwheel Forest. I destroy faces, Plasma is a series of pushovers, etc. I largely ignore Castelia City to jet through and pick up Magmus the Darumaka and Gladiator the Scraggy. I level the hell out of them in the Battle Company, getting them both to 21. More Team Plasma bullshit, then it's time for Darumaka to hyper face punch the hell out of Burgh.

Vs. Burgh - Whirlipede Lv. 21, Dwebble Lv. 21, Leavanny Lv. 23

Fire Punch OHKOs Whirlipede and Leavanny, and Dwebble gets destroyed by Gauntlet. Completely owned. Oh, and Bianca is a gigantic pushover.

Name       Species   Ability     Lv  Nature  HP  Atk Def SpA SpD Spe  Moves
Slither    Servine   Overgrow    22  Quiet   62  37  43  38  44  39   Leech Seed / Growth / Vine Whip / Leaf Tornado
Gauntlet   Throh     Guts        23  Impish  94  52  56  22  46  32   Vital Throw / Seismic Toss / Retaliate / Work Up
Magmus     Darumaka  Hustle      24  Brave   68  58  29  16  30  28   Fire Punch / Fire Fang / Headbutt / Facade
Gladiator  Scraggy   Shed Skin   21  Sassy   52  41  37  19  38  27   Brick Break / Faint Attack / Headbutt / Rest

Edited May 23, 2011 by Seven Deadly Sins

[General Spoon]

im too late to join this arent i?

Feel free to grab six that haven't been drafted already and go with those. These are the mons that have been drafted.

Final Teams

Mist: Sawk, Joltik, Litwick, Cottonee, Panpour, Cobalion

eclipse: Drilbur, Audino, Ferroseed, Gothita, Blitzle, Mienfoo

RedNeck Holsety: Pidove, Tympole, Pansage, Roggenrola, Karrablast, Solosis

General Spoon: Lillipup, Archen, Munna, Venipede, Yamask, Patrat

Seven Deadly Sins: Darumaka, Throh, Scraggy, Axew, Minccino, Terrakion

Ardan: Virizion, Basculin, Woobat, Durant, Dwebble, Sewaddle

Paperblade: Sandile, Sigilyph, Deerling, Timburr, Druddigon, Pawniard

[General Spoon]

Okay, I start the game and pick Snivy as my starter. After the the usual stuff I find out his nature is Careful (this works) and I nickname him "Harman". Capture a Patrat (Brave) and name it "Garcian", and capture a Lillipup (Lonely) and name it "Dan". I do some leveling on Route 1, before realizing that no I will not be able to get all three of these mons to level 10, settling for Lv10 on Snivy and Lv8 on the other two. In Accumula Town N's Purrloin's attacks bounce off of Snivy; it was 8HKOing with Scratch or something ridiculous like that.

Clear out Route 2 and other places, and do some more leveling. Level 15 as a target level for the first gym is a terrible target because of the lack of Audinos; I was only able to endure to Lv13, and I didn't even level the Panpour who I didn't bother to name. Not that it mattered, as base Panpour was able to beat the leader's Pansear after Patrat had destroyed his Lillipup.

Name      Species   Ability     Lv  Nature  HP  Atk Def SpA SpD Spe  Moves
Harman    Snivy     Overgrow    13  Careful 35  19  22  14  23  23   Tackle / Leer / Vine Whip / Growth
Garcian   Patrat    Keen Eye    14  Brave   38  27  16  18  19  17   Tackle / Leer / Bite / Detect
Dan       Lillipup  Pickup      13  Lonely  35  24  18  14  17  20   Tackle / Leer / Helping Hand / Bite

[eclipse]

Yay, more update.

The fifth gym worried me greatly, because screw Fissure. Fortunately, the computer never used it. It was mostly Grass Knot in here, with some Secret Power/Pound to finish things. Once I hit Clay, I introduced two of his critters to Grass Knot, then used Secret Power on Excalidrill until it was paralyzed, then used Grass Knot to finish it.

Bianca is officially a pain. Leaf Tornado and Leech Seed can go to hell.

Team so far (after the 5th gym)

Audino (Roric, level 41): Still tanking, though his offense isn't quite as ZOMGAMAZING as before. This will change once I hit Mistralton, I think.

Edited May 23, 2011 by eclipse

[Ardan]

I am THE master at failing this challenge

[Grace]

The fifth gym worried me greatly, because screw Fissure.

Why? Assuming Roric was greater than level 31, Fissure can't affect it at all. No exceptions. That why I blasted straight through with my Lv32+ team without worrying.

I am THE master at failing this challenge

Depends, how so?

Must be update time.

So, casually went and smashed Route 4 and Desert Resort. Also, N and the 4th Gym. No contest. Bolt Badge get! Blah, blah, beat 5th Gym. Quake Badge get! Seriously, it was that much of a clobbering. Parked outside Chargestone Cave.

Name       Species  Ability     Lv Nature HP  Atk Def SpA SpD Spe
Snide      Servine  Overgrow    32 Lax    87  47  64  51  50  63
Mookey     Simipour Gluttony    33 Hasty  97  82  43  71  51  92
Karte      Sawk     Inner Focus 35 Docile 108 100 59  34  61  75
Trollicott Cottonee Prankster   33 Quirky 76  34  48  34  48  55

Team Opinion:

Servine: Still being mediocre. Not dying, but not killing things doesn't help.

Simipour: I gave Simipour more exposure, and it smashed stuff into the ground. Prolly second best on the team.

Sawk: Sole smasher of Gym 4 and Excadrill. #winning

Cottonee: Literally has had the Exp. Share glued to it. Has not seen battle for a while. Still waiting for Cotton Guard.

Edited May 23, 2011 by Mist

[eclipse]

I remember Fissure royally screwing over my previous team, and it sucked. I'm also the same person who lost her entire team to bad luck.

Which reminds me, just got Ferroseed. I'm gonna do everything in my power to keep it alive until the E4, because it trolls the eighth gym hard.

[Seven Deadly Sins]

Time to boogey out of Castelia City. I head over and lay a beatdown on Cheren. Gauntlet is an unstoppable beast, taking out Pidove and Pignite without even blinking an eye. Magmus eats Pansage, and Gladiator drops Liepard with ease. Gladiator gets the Eviolite, making him damn near unkillable (though not as much as Throh). Time to roam in the desert for items and stuff.

Oh also: fuck the desert. Perma-sandstorm is annoying as shit, and it's hard to figure out just where the hell you are because of the generally awful visibility. At least you get some pretty neat stuff.

Throh lerans Strength, which gives him a decent neutral coverage move and makes him my strengthbitch for a while. That said, 80 BP is nothing to sneeze at. I go beat the pants off of N, and then finish up the city. Time to knock Elesa the hell out.

Vs. Elesa - Emolga Lv. 25, Emolga Lv. 25, Zebstrika Lv. 27

Turns out Volt Switch isn't a huge deal when Magmus kills shit in the face with Fire Punch. Gauntlet handles the second Emolga (Guts Strength 2HKOs, huzzah.), and then Gladiator deals with the Zebstrika. Thank you Shed Skin, for healing off bullshit parahax from Spark. A couple close calls from that Zebstrika, who CHes Gladiator TWICE with Spark, but I still manage to pull it off. A harrowing experience, to say the least.

Name       Species   Ability     Lv  Nature  HP   Atk Def SpA SpD Spe  Moves
Slither    Servine   Overgrow    26  Quiet   77   44  50  45  52  46   Leech Seed / Growth / Vine Whip / Leaf Tornado
Gauntlet   Throh     Guts        27  Impish  109  61  64  26  53  38   Vital Throw / Seismic Toss / Strength / Work Up
Magmus     Darumaka  Hustle      28  Brave   78   67  33  18  35  34   Fire Punch / Fire Fang / Work Up / Facade
Gladiator  Scraggy   Shed Skin   28  Sassy   66   54  48  24  58  36   Brick Break / Faint Attack / Payback / Rest

Magmus is now the MVP of the team, doing ridiculous damage (even if he misses once in a while.

Gauntlet is still incredible, now that he has Storm Throw and Strength. Definitely looking forward to his future, though I'm not sure if I'm going to use Circle Throw.

Gladiator is gonna come into his own eventually, though there's the off hand chance I might drop him for Terrakion once he comes around.

Slither is... well, I'm not going to say he's amazing. Grass is a shitty offensive type even in-game, but he's still solid. I'm looking forward to evolution, definitely, but eh...

P.S.: THROH IS A DAPPER GENTLEMAN

Edited May 23, 2011 by Seven Deadly Sins

[Seven Deadly Sins]

Another Cheren battle. He's just as bad as usual here. I beat some fools up, and then pick myself up a Jolly Technician Minccino, which I dub Moon Queen. Gonna rock some faces with them multi-hit moves... just as soon as I can hit 31 and get Wake-Up Slap. Which... might take a while.

Driftveil time, and I go hit Cold Storage. Oh, and that triple battle gives Minccino an absurd amount of EXP because of the EXP share on it. At the end of Cold Storage, Minccino is level 30, and I Rare Candy it to 31, which gives it Wake-up Slap. This means I'm ready to evolve it in Route 6, and then use 2 of the Heart Scales I've picked up to teach it Bullet Seed and Rock Blast.

Team Plasma: still a joke, by the way.

Time for Slither to earn his keep. Clay's whole gym should get throttled by Servine hard.

Vs. Clay - Krokorok Lv. 29, Palpitoad Lv. 29, Excadrill Lv. 31

Slither completely rapes both Krokorok and Palpitoad, and Gauntlet Storm Throws the shit out of Excadrill. The Quake Badge is mine.

Name        Species   Ability     Lv  Nature  HP   Atk Def SpA SpD Spe  Moves
Slither     Servine   Overgrow    32  Quiet   77   54  61  55  62  57   Leech Seed / Growth / Leaf Blade / Leaf Tornado
Gauntlet    Throh     Guts        29  Impish  117  66  69  27  57  41   Vital Throw / Seismic Toss / Strength / Body Slam
Magmus      Darumaka  Hustle      29  Brave   80   69  35  19  36  35   Fire Punch / Fire Fang / Work Up / Facade
Gladiator   Scraggy   Shed Skin   29  Sassy   68   56  49  25  51  37   Brick Break / Faint Attack / Payback / Rest
Moon Queen  Minccino  Technician  31  Jolly   84   41  38  30  35  59   Doubleslap / Wake-up Slap / Tail Slap / Charm

Next up: Evolution Time! (hopefully)

Edited May 24, 2011 by Seven Deadly Sins

[eclipse]

I'm outside of Twist Mountain!

Got seriously lost in Chargestone Cave (again), but Ferroseed didn't mind. Lucky Egg meant that she caught up in record time. N was yet another speed bump, and I'm sure he didn't mind having three ladies on him at once. Picked up Charge Beam before heading to Celestial Tower, and then Super Repel'd my way up to the top because screw Litwick. Ferroseed beat up quite a few Psychics, and I learned the hard way that Stoutland knows Fire Fang (luckily, she survived). Did a FREEDOM DIVE off the top of Celestial Tower, then went to gym. Ferroseed turned into Ferrothorn on the first gym trainer. After that, it was the Charge Beam Show, hosted by Audino.

Wound up automatically entering a Rotation Battle because I caught a Tranquill to FREEDOM DIVE off of Celestial Tower. Since everyone was at full health, I said "shove it", and Audino murdered his entire team. Tranquill will have some experience, but it did nothing but sit there.

Anyway. . .team time~!

Team so far (after the 6th gym)

Audino (Roric, level 47): He might not OHKO everything in sight, but he takes so little damage it doesn't matter. Yet.

Ferrothorn (I need to get around to nicknaming her Ena, level 41): I got a Hasty one. Her Sp. Def is higher than her Def., and that's troublesome. Looks like she'll be the second dual tank. I hope Mienfoo's good at keeping itself alive, or I'm dead when I hit Marshal!

[Seven Deadly Sins]

Hooray, Route 6. I get the Shiny Stone from the kid in the house, evolving Minccino into Cinccino, my first fully evolved Pokemon! Now all I need is to visit the move relearner. Moon Queen the Cinccino is a very classy individual, and also one that does NOT mess around. Time for Chargestone Cave. Clay gives me yet another TM I'll never use, and N does... whatever the fuck he does. Weirdo.

I get the Lucky Egg, and now have to figure out exactly who I want to train. I'm thinking Magmus, since he's the only solid Pokemon I have right now that's not weak to Flying. As such, about halfway through Chargestone Cave, Magmus hits Level 35, and evolves into Darmanitan. I'm most happy about the fact that I don't have to put up with stupid goddamn Hustle any more. Time to train Gladiator up the same way.

End of the cave. N is a pussy, as always. Gladiator just destroys his whole team, since most of them are weak to Fighting, and Joltik dies instantly to Payback.

Stats after Chargestone Cave:

Name        Species     Ability     Lv  Nature  HP  Atk Def SpA SpD Spe  Moves
Slither     Servine     Overgrow    32  Quiet   86  54  61  55  62  57   Leech Seed / Growth / Leaf Blade / Leaf Tornado
Gauntlet    Throh       Guts        30  Impish  120 68  72  28  59  42   Vital Throw / Seismic Toss / Strength / Body Slam
Magmus      Darmanitan  Hustle      35  Brave   119 123 48  32  49  71   Fire Punch / Flare Blitz / Work Up / Hammer Arm
Gladiator   Scraggy     Shed Skin   36  Sassy   83  69  61  31  62  46   Brick Break / Faint Attack / Payback / Hi Jump Kick
Moon Queen  Cinccino    Technician  31  Jolly   96  69  51  45  48  86   Tail Slap / Wake-up Slap / Bullet Seed / Rock Blast

Moon Queen is "complete", as all she needs is levels. Having 3 moves with 75-187.5 BP as well as perfect coverage and a 90 BP Wake-up Slap is incredible, and even if her stats aren't amazing, she's got more than enough muscle to put a beatdown on stuff.

Gauntlet is probably better than I'm giving him credit for, but the fact that all he has is Fighting and Normal attacks is kinda obnoxious. At least Scraggy has secondary STAB.

Speaking of Gladiator, his start was pretty rough, but he's pretty great now. Now that he's got Hi Jump Kick, he just does a ridiculous amount of damage, and once he evolves, I'm sure he's gonna be a top member of my team.

Slither has been lagging behind a bit, but he's only 4 levels away from evolving, and after that, he gets Giga Drain, which helps him never die even more. Or I can go the physical route with Coil and Leaf Blade, which works as well.

MAGMUS. What a complete beast. That huge HP gives him more than enough drability, and that even bigger Attack stat means that there's basically nothing he doesn't instantly vaporize. For the rare stuff that Charcoal-boosted Sheer Force Fire Punch doesn't OHKO, he's got Hammer Arm and Flare Blitz. Yeah, there aint much that can stand up to his manliness.

[Paperblade]

Chase Plasma around, beat the crap out of them in Pinwheel Forest.

And then do it again!

Third Gym: Rock Throw is awesome. Razor Shell is also awesome. The gym battle was actually pretty close, both of my Mons had 4HP (fuk Leavanny). Timburr evolves postcombat. Heal up and shop, and then...

Dammit Bianca. Gurdurr makes short work of Herdier. Dewott Fury Cutters the crap out of Munna, letting it build up to OHKO Pansage, before finally Razor Shelling Pignite.

Anyway, two new dudes in the next route: Sandile and Sigilyph. We'll get Sandile and then head o--DAMMIT CHEREN NOT YOU TOO.

Anyway, Gurdurr one shots Pidove, trades hits with Servine and barely comes out ahead, and then Dewott Fury Cutters Panpour to death, allowing him to OHKO Liepard.

POKEMON NATURE LV  HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe ABILITY     MOVES
Sandile Lonely 17  47  36  15  19  18  27 Moxie       Bite, Sand-Attack, Assurance, Sand Tomb
Dewott  Bold   25  79  43  42  54  40  39 Torrent     Retaliate, Razor Shell, Water Gun, Fury Cutter
Gurdurr Naive  26  80  67  55  27  33  35 Sheer Force Rock Throw, Wake-Up Slap, Low Kick, Chip Away

I'll finish Route 4 later.

[General Spoon]

So I go to the Dreamyard again and Cut the tree and deal with Team Plasma. I then capture a Munna and name it "KAEDE". Its nature it bold, which is great. I level some, then grab the Balm Mushroom on my way out of town. Beat Cheren, save thing from Plasma, and level more. Level in the area around Pinwheel Forest, and hit the gym when I'm at a comfortable level. Herdier eliminates Lenora's Herdier with Rock Smash, then I send in Watchog to block her Watchog's Retaliate with Detect. Watchog then Rock Smashes its way to glorious victory.

Thoughts

Servine: Takes hits like a champ.

Watchog: Earlygame monster.

Herdier: Pretty much the same as Watchog.

Munna: Is evolving the moment I get the Moon Stone.

Name      Species   Ability     Lv  Nature  HP  Atk Def SpA SpD Spe  Moves
Harman    Servine   Overgrow    20  Careful 56  34  40  26  41  42   Tackle / Leaf Tornado / Leech Seed / Growth
Garcian   Watchog   Keen Eye    21  Brave   59  52  35  35  38  36   Rock Smash / Cut / Crunch / Detect
Dan       Herdier   Sand Rush   22  Lonely  61  48  35  25  34  34   Tackle / Rock Smash / Work Up / Bite
KAEDE     Munna     Synchronize 20  Bold    62  18  29  34  29  17   Psybeam / Defense Curl / Lucky Chant / Hypnosis

[General Spoon]

Captured a Venipede in the Pinwheel Forest (Brave nature) and named it "Kevin". Beat Plasma, evolved Muuna, and did some leveling before I went to the gym in Castelia City. Whirlipede was able to solo Burgh easily enough; Iron Defense allowed it to take his Dwebble's Smack Down with no problem.

Thoughts

Servine: Wasn't really used in this leg of the game.

Watchog: Still a monster at this point in the game. I feel its a shame to drop him for another member while he's still doing well, but I will.

Herdier: Performing well.

Musharna: Tank. Can also hit really hard. Wasn't really used in this leg of the game.

Whirlipede: Takes hits well.

Name      Species    Ability     Lv  Nature  HP  Atk Def SpA SpD Spe  Moves
Harman    Servine    Overgrow    25  Careful 68  41  49  31  50  52   Tackle / Leaf Tornado / Leech Seed / Growth
Garcian   Watchog    Keen Eye    25  Brave   69  62  41  41  45  44   Rock Smash / Cut / Crunch / Super Fang
Dan       Herdier    Sand Rush   25  Lonely  69  55  40  28  38  38   Tackle / Rock Smash / Work Up / Crunch
KAEDE     Musharna   Synchronize 25  Bold    96  36  57  62  55  23   Psybeam / Defense Curl / Lucky Chant / Hypnosis
Kevin     Whirlipede Swarm       27  Brave   65  44  61  28  51  32   Poison Tail / Rock Smash / Bug Bite / Iron Defense

[RedNeck Holsety]

I rushed through Castelia City so this is going to be brief.

Pidove evolved in Pinwheel Forest.

Pignite/Tympole/Roggenrola solo'd all the trainers in the city.

Pignite solo'd the gym, easily.

There have been no real problems so far. I had to stall abit against Cheren's Dewott with Tympole because Pansage died, hopefully Solosis can help out against him.

Anyway I caught Solosis, level 19, quiet nature, and the drug reference in its nickname is TBD.

Pignite 25 Nitro Charge Ember Arm Thrust Rollout. MVP still and shit on the 3rd gym.

Roggenrola 23 close to evolving which is great otherwise it was on the sidelines.

Tympole 23 Tympole was holding the exp share this whole time to catch up. It got an important win against the rivals here and there at least.

Tranquil 22: It has return now so it can take advantage of it's adamant nature more.

Solosis 19: Need to find out what type of hidden power it has, which is its only offense at the moment.

[Seven Deadly Sins]

Time for yet another bullshit chore before I can fight the Gym. On Route 7, Gladiator hits 39, letting me evolve him into Scrafty! Badass. Now it's time to try and get Slither evolved. Moon Queen's going to have PLENTY of time to get evolved while she's Rock Blasting everything to death in the gym.

Time for Celestial Tower. As an aside, fuck Emolga. They are the most annoying thing that I have to face on a regular basis, as most of my team is weak to Flying-type attacks. On the upside, Slither evolves into Serperior here. This'll probably patch up some of his issues, as he had been lagging behind a bit recently. I'd LIKE to train up Gauntlet here, but this place isn't super conducive to his training.

I'd like to take this time out to say how ridiculous Moon Queen is. Technician boosting ALL of her moves makes her an absolute monster, and she can 2HKO most everything with a bad roll and OHKO nearly anything with a good roll. Sure, she's a bit annoying to train, but her high Speed, Attack, and BP is pretty damn impressive.

Gym time! Moon Queen and Magmus are going to be my standbys here, because all my other Pokemon are weak to Flying.

Vs. Skyla - Swoobat Lv. 35, Swanna Lv. 35, Unfezant Lv. 37

Magmus OHKOs Swoobat and Unfezant (the latter with Flare Blitz, get owned), and Moon Queen OHKOs Swanna. Easy mode gym battle. Jet Badge get!

Name        Species     Ability     Lv  Nature  HP  Atk Def SpA SpD Spe  Moves
Slither     Serperior   Overgrow    36  Quiet   107 72  82  73  84  85   Leech Seed / Coil / Leaf Blade / Leaf Tornado
Gauntlet    Throh       Guts        33  Impish  131 75  79  30  64  46   Bulk Up / Storm Throw / Strength / Body Slam
Magmus      Darmanitan  Hustle      38  Brave   129 133 52  35  53  77   Fire Punch / Flare Blitz / Work Up / Hammer Arm
Gladiator   Scrafty     Shed Skin   39  Sassy   101 86  100 41  106 58   Brick Break / Crunch / Payback / Hi Jump Kick
Moon Queen  Cinccino    Technician  40  Jolly   122 89  65  56  60  112  Tail Slap / Wake-up Slap / Bullet Seed / Rock Blast

I kinda feel bad about dropping Gauntlet, but now that Gladiator has evolved, it's just kinda outclassing Gauntlet hardcore. It's got the defensive edge, and Shed Skin >>> Guts. Dual STAB is great too, and it eats Ghost-types for breakfast.

Moon Queen is a fucking superstar. Read my paragraph on her above for more details on her domination.

I'm kinda split on Serperior. He hits plenty hard, but only having Grass-type moves is kinda stupid, and Leech Seed isn't that great when I could just be killing everything in the face instead of messing around with Leech Seed.

Magmus: Still a hero. 133 Attack, STAB Flare Blitz, Charcoal, and Sheer Force makes its attacks completely ridiculous. It has Hammer Arm, but I rarely if ever need to use it simply because Fighting weak Pokemon are so rare and Fire Punch does plenty of damage. Also, even though it has a Brave nature, it's plenty fast. I would have preferred Adamant, but at least it's not something stupid like Rash.

Next up: Getting Surf, Axew, and Mistralton Cave!

Edited May 24, 2011 by Seven Deadly Sins

[Seven Deadly Sins]

Blargh, another fight with Cheren. How dull.

Vs. Cheren - Unfezant Lv. 33, Pignite LV. 35, Simisage Lv. 33, Liepard Lv. 33

I eat his whole team, aint no thing.

Anyway, off to Mistralton Cave. I get the first "useful" TM in a long time here- Rock Slide, which goes on Gladiator, Magmus, and probably eventually Predator, my newly minted Quirky Axew. With this, all I have left to grab is Terrakion, which will be a ways off. I'm also a heartless jerk, and I KO Cobalion with Magmus for EXP.

I fly back to Castelia because it's Tuesday and I want some damn ice cream.

To continue with the sidequesty nature of this update, I'm off to Nuvema Town to do the surf-related sidequest there- Routes 17 and 18, along with the P2 Lab. Along the way, Predator evolves into Fraxure! This makes him officially team badass, as the second highest Attack on the team and the only member with a boosting move worth a damn (Dragon Dance).

Name        Species     Ability     Lv  Nature  HP  Atk Def SpA SpD Spe  Moves
Slither     Serperior   Overgrow     39  Quiet   115 78  89  80  91  91   Grass Knot / Coil / Leaf Blade / Leaf Tornado
Magmus      Darmanitan  Hustle       40  Brave   135 140 55  37  56  81   Fire Punch / Flare Blitz / Rock Slide / Hammer Arm
Gladiator   Scrafty     Shed Skin    39  Sassy   101 86  100 41  106 58   Brick Break / Crunch / Rock Slide / Hi Jump Kick
Moon Queen  Cinccino    Technician   40  Jolly   122 89  65  56  60  112  Tail Slap / Wake-up Slap / Bullet Seed / Rock Blast
Predator    Fraxure     Mold Breaker 40  Quirky  115 102 67  38  46  73   Dragon Dance / Dragon Claw / X-Scissor / Shadow Claw

I've officially dropped Throh. I don't have any real need for him with Scrafty around.

[eclipse]

Can I have Throh? No? WAAAH!!! He was one of my favorites in the first draft!

Anyway. . .

Twist Mountain was LOLMountain, with Ferrothorn's Iron Head and Audino's Grass Knot. Once I got through, I grabbed Blizzard and Thunder (I need a little more money for Fire Blast), and had Ferrothorn singlehandedly plow through Brycen's gym, thanks to Iron Head.

Team so far (after the 7th gym)

Audino (Roric, level 51): Still tanks hits like no one's business. Is now a little more useful thanks to Surf and the stronger elemental TM attacks at my disposal.

Ferrothorn (Ena, level 50): She's now a true dual tank, but her moves have very limited PP. I replaced her Lucky Egg with Rocky Helmet for extra lulz.

Ran off into Dragonspiral Tower long enough to catch Mienfoo (who will be named Stella), and to realize that I'm missing Strength. BRB.

[Seven Deadly Sins]

Twist Mountain is no problem at all. I jet through it, concentrating all the EXP on Predator. I'm really hoping to get it evolved in time for the next Gym, mainly because if I can get it evolved, it's way more capable of dealing with that gym than anything else I have. I'm kinda worried about Slither's future on my team though, simply because these two gyms are pretty baddingtons for him.

Speaking of gyms, the Ice Gym is a goddamn joke. Gladiator and Magmus completely tear it to shreds, and if I was still using Gauntlet, he'd be destroying it too.

Vs. Brycen - Vanillish Lv. 37, Cryogonal Lv. 37, Beartic Lv. 39.

Brick Break x 3. Welcome to the battle. The Freeze Badge is now mine.

Time to clean up the silliness that is Team Plasma. I roll through Dragonspiral Tower with ease, and then demolish the scrubs infesting Relic Castle. Well, almost. In trying to train up Slither, I get a little cocky, and get critted by a wayward Sludge Bomb from Trubbish. My first dead team member... =/

It's not all bad, though. With the help of a Rare Candy, Predator hits 48, evolving into Haxorus, and becoming the strongest member of my party by far. Sure, Magmus has slightly better attack as well as Flare Blitz and Sheer Force, but Predator brings that vicious Dragon Dance as well as some actual bulk and speed. When the time comes, I'm pretty sure Predator's going to be the one that DDs up and destroys the Elite Four. The rest of my EXP goes toward getting Moon Queen back up to snuff.

Off into the Icirrus Moor, because I need all the EXP that I can get. I'm concentrating on Magmus and Gladiator, because Moon Queen and Predator are going to get huge piles of EXP from the 8th gym. Bianca shows up, and I bust her team up but good as well. Also, the Department Store in this game sucks. :<

Anyway, now I'm in Opelucid, the first place that actually lets me just straight up challenge the Gym! Thank goodness. This match is all about Predator just raping the shit out of everything. Well, let's get to it!

As an aside, I hate these convoluted puzzles.

Vs. Iris- Fraxure Lv. 41, Druddigon Lv. 41, Haxorus Lv. 43

Predator. Dragon Claw. GG. Legend Badge get. Also Master Ball get, which makes catching Zekrom way less of a pain in the ass.

Well, that's all 8 badges! Next up: Victory Road, capturing Terrakion, and Elite 4 Prep!

Name        Species     Ability      Lv  Nature  HP  Atk Def SpA SpD Spe  Moves
Magmus      Darmanitan  Hustle       48  Brave   160 171 65  44  66  101  Fire Punch / Flare Blitz / Rock Slide / Superpower
Gladiator   Scrafty     Shed Skin    48  Sassy   123 107 124 51  130 72   Brick Break / Crunch / Rock Slide / Hi Jump Kick
Moon Queen  Cinccino    Technician   46  Jolly   138 103 74  65  69  130  Tail Slap / Wake-up Slap / Bullet Seed / Rock Blast
Predator    Haxorus     Mold Breaker 51  Quirky  155 168 104 68  77  123  Dragon Dance / Dragon Claw / X-Scissor / Brick Break

Look at that Haxorus. It doesn't get much more badass than that. (Darmanitan is also pretty badass, and Scrafty and Cinccino are no slouches either)

Edited May 26, 2011 by Seven Deadly Sins