#lodge adaman

[crystalelemental]

It's an Eeveelution, even if it sucks I will die for it.  So let's talk Lodge Adaman.

General Overview Let's not mince words: Lodge Adaman isn't particularly great.  His boosting kit is fairly awkward, packing special attack and special defense on one button, but only giving the special defense to himself, and X Def All on the other with Pep Rally available on grid.  Endurance and Protect is also a great combination to keep himself alive.  There are stages which, when properly guarded against, Adaman can last longer than you might expect.

The problem is that for all his bulk, his healing sucks.  First Aid 2 is just unnecessary, being far too little for it to really matter, and Recuperation 1 is cute, but only works out if he has EX (and is also objectively shit thanks to Synchro Healing 1, which is on a lot of common units, so he really should've gotten that).  His Gradual Healing effect can kinda help, but only activates under Rain, which is the biggest hangup.  Adaman wants to work with Rain, but his team compositions do not adequately support that.  May need more crit, Winona needs all crit, etc etc.  He just doesn't line up that well.  To make matters worse, special attack boosting with bulk is something Roxanne and Lodge Dawn do, and they're arguably more effective.  While Roxanne has even less healing, she has much faster-acting buffs where you need them.  While Lodge Dawn doesn't have the Endurance/Protect combo that Adaman packs, she comes in with much more valuable sustain tools in debuffs and actual means of recovery. And also better buffing where it's needed.

It's probably fairest to compare him to Roxanne, whose tools he more closely emulates.  Adaman functions best as a sync pair that tops off special attack, or adds some speed boosting as needed.  Needing full investment in special attack can cause problems in stages where there's no disruption effect.  That said, most of his failures were identical to Roxanne's: repeated hits will break him apart, regardless of Endurance/Protect.  He needs to be backed by enough offensive competence to succeed.

Adaman is perhaps one of the better candidates for EX among the Lodge units because of these traits.  It helps justify Recuperation, which can actually extend his survival pretty well when he takes first sync, and grants much higher sync bonus.  This pop healing is the factor that Roxanne doesn't have, that gives him a role.  The only problem then is what to give up on grid to make it work, and in ideal circumstances, its trainer move.  Special Attack boosting probably shouldn't be entirely on his shoulders, allowing more room for defensive boosting and gauge control.

Vs. Tapu Bulu With Adaman able to buff special attack but not crit, partners that can emphasize crit rate are generally preferred.  In this case, base Blue has the ability to take first sync, and provide his own crit rate  Tapu Bulu is also a great case study on the value of Protect as a move on worse supports.  Shutting down Wood Hammer is incredibly useful.  That said, the disruption would be necessary, as Adaman can get easily run over on this fight.

Vs. Tornadus Eevee Kris is unusual here, because she doesn't actually need special attack, but Adaman needs special defense.  Truth be told, I'm not fond of this comp.  But it gets results.

Vs. Terrakion Giovanni generally loves anyone who can cap special attack.  The main struggle here is that, like many fights, disruption is necessary.  In Terrakion's case, both disruption and field effects, which means Adaman can actually use his Rain stuff.  You can tell from the screenshot, he still did not make it.

Vs. Cobalion What he did survive against is Cobalion.  Cobalion can be a serious pain for a lot of supports, just based on how hard it hits.  Adaman takes hits about as well, which is to say not very, but the Endure/Protect effect lets him block certain shenanigans like Close Combat/Sacred Sword.  That said, with debuffed Attack.  It's not that clean.

Vs. Azelf Adaman has Stalwart, which is...something.  Honestly, boosting both defenses is a good secondary answer to Azelf, when you're not worried about stopping it from hitting sync.  That said, I was, so I still used Persian.  This was a good call because Lusamine.  Also, Adaman still died.

Vs. Uxie Not on the list, because we couldn't do it.  I tried with Shauntal and with Morty, and neither clutched it out for me.  The setup is too slow, and eventually Uxie wears down Adaman and it's all over.  I was hopeful they'd be able to do it, but no such luck.  Uxie's a good example of Adaman's flaws.  Repeated and consistent hits that cannot be slowed down will be the death of him.

Vs. Latias I wanted to see about Ghetsis.  The good news is, technically it works.  The bad news is, Ghetsis is not great for keeping Adaman alive, because sides.  You spend a lot of time early on just denying the Mud Slap, which means sides get a lot of shots in, and they get worse as you go.  So Adaman dropped...relatively early.  Like, early bar 2.  Thankfully, Ghetsis' debuffs to offense and a bit of flinch from Winter Skyla (though not enough) carried the day.

Vs. Entei Barry.  We know how he works.  Explode on sync, just needs the Rain and special attack.  Tech Gyarados/Lodge Adaman once again.  That said, Adaman has On a Roll 4 for Bubblebeam for a 50% chance to debuff speed, which is nice for Barry's Cakewalk in particular.

Vs. Moltres I decided to end this off with the missing piece of Irida's sweep: Moltres.  I hate this bird.  Fortunately, Irida answers it pretty well.  Granted, same problem as every other Tech nuker who serves as the weather captain: you need the flinches to land right away on phase transitions.  Which is never fun.  Adaman is worth noting here, because you can actually see the effects of Gradual Healing in action, and because his kit complements Irida's very well.  It's just that this isn't rain. Like so many of the comps where he would be pretty good, it's just not a Rain comp. His best partners were Winona and Tech Gyarados; supportive options that have disruption and Rain, leaving the third slot to clean up. But many Gauntlet gimmicks don't support that, so it's...fairly difficult to get Adaman working with all his possible tools. He's just really awkward for very little reason.

[freelance-pokemon-ecologist]

*wheeze*

[firecodex]

Official artwork of Trainers featured in the Trainer Lodge for Trainer Lodge Week

Art by MaP

[wildflowercryptid]

i think the funniest thing to come out of the new pokemas event is that out of the few mutuals i've seen talk about it, i think i've only seen them get excited for dahlia or tierno and not even mention adaman or irida's new alts. glad to see we're all on the same page here.

[pkmtrainercards]

Adaman - Trainer Lodge Cards - Pokemon Masters EX

[beepborpdoodledorp]

adaman…and irida…my loves…

[vulpiximisa]

I didn’t need her because Courtney exists but I’m tired of them adding exclusive units to the Trainer Lodge 🙄

[smashwolfen]

I FINALLY GOT THEM BOTH, THE GRIND PAID OFF!!!

But I think I hit whatever the pity is for Masters? I rolled and got like nothing new, and then all of a sudden it was like "you hit max scout points" or something, then I went to this screen to just, outright pick??

If that's the pity system then I'm okay with it!! I grinded since I started about a week and a half ago to get both Adaman and Irida, and I'm just glad I got then both in the end, even if Irida was actually from pity XD

Adaman I got on my 3rd 11x Scout thing after I did the tutorial and had like over 20k gems XD

[rockheadcd]

“If you can’t catch a ‘mon in five minutes of seeing it, then that’s just what the kids these day call a skill issue.” He has a personal grudge against timer balls.

[leluxiboi]

fellas does anyone know if Adaman will ever become available in Pokemon Masters Ex for pulling again anytime soon?

Just currently despairing about the fact I didn't get him the first time he became available.

[papersak]

Who tf is playing Pokemon Masters and NOT finishing the Trainer Lodge

what else are you even playing for???

[crystalelemental]

Unit Teambuilding - Lodge Adaman

Adaman is also the Lodge unit this month, signaling the beginning of Master Fairs as Lodge units.  Most Master Fairs are alts, but this does open the door for Leon.  And...him.  But I prefer not to think about that.  I prefer to think about cool shit, like Adaman having another Eeveelution as part of Lodge.  Unfortunately, it's a Support, and you know how free supports go

General Overview Bad.  They go bad.

Lodge Adaman is an odd case.  Statistically, he's about on par with anyone else in the F2P support bin.  Mid-200s defenses and low to mid 600s HP.  Decent, not exceptional.  For clarity, he's about at Lodge Dawn's bulk level, maybe a bit above.  He's also a buff bot, who has X Def All with the possibility of Pep Rally depending on grid, and a trainer move that gives +2 special attack to the team, and +2 special defense only to himself.  It also applies Gradual Healing under Rain.  And thus begins the Tragedy of Adaman.

Vaporeon has Rain utility, and this sounds like it could be neat, but is functionally nightmarish given his charge.  Among the Rain setters - Winona, May, Eevee Lyra - all of them need more than Adaman provides.  Specifically, they really needed crit rate.  Which he doesn't boost at all.  Instead, he's a defensive support, who's a little selfish about it given no team Gradual Healing or special defense buffing, and is still reliant on Rain in a way that means either double support, or taking the non-offensive Rain setters like eggmons on as allies.  Which is a dangerous proposition, because he is a free unit, and thus has shit for bulk.  Oh sure, Rain Gear 2, but that's not exactly saving you.

To compound Adaman's woes, he is flanked by three major competitors.  On the one side, we have Roxanne, who also buffs four stats, but buffs all of them for the team, and compressed Sp Atk/Speed into one, which is way more valuable.  On the other, we have BP Morty, whose bulk buffing is far more reliable, and backed by Potions, making him an obscenely sturdy wall that Adaman cannot measure up to.  And on the final side, we have Lodge competition itself with the F2P God-Queen, Lodge Dawn, who can quite literally do everything Adaman does, but better, for less.

Lodge Adaman is a sync pair without a cause.  Until May gets a grid expansion and hopefully eases her self-setup, Adaman exists in the bizarre space of potentially being a decent wall by virtue of slightly higher stats, damage reduction, and Gradual Healing.  But the Rain reliance for two of those things, combined with not having anything to support most Rain options, is really rough.  It doesn't help that we now have THREE Rain setting supports, and they're all special offense buffers.  At least Mina had Team Sharp Entry.  Oh god, that's why he doesn't.  Goddammit Mina.

EX and Move Level? It’s a Lodge support with very little it supports, so can’t really recommend EX.  Move Level only if you have the 4* support candy for it, but I wouldn’t prioritize him over Dawn or Morty.  Or like.  Any of them.

Team 1: Lodge Adaman, Winona, Siebold/Barry/Lodge May Adaman works with allies who can cap their own crit.  Given this, Barry and Siebold are the obvious solutions to his dilemma, with Winona as an optimal third.  Adaman is particularly nice for Barry in a Gauntlet context, since Barry's Cakewalk can be challenging to set up, and Adaman has access to On a Roll 4 Bubblebeam.

Team 2: Lodge Adaman, Archie, Tech Blastoise/MU Pikachu If you needed to partner Roxanne with someone else, and feel confident in Adaman’s ability to keep Archie alive, this is probably his best use.  Extended Rain does wonders for his otherwise terrible bulk and survival skills, and Archie does appreciate the special attack boosting, even if it’s not a Hoenn partner.  Tech Blastoise is a Rain setter for longer matches, and covers the All Water thing that might be relevant next month, while MU Pikachu offers two critically important Gauntlet traits: paralysis in Thundershock, and Potion for Adaman’s survival.

Team 3: Lodge Adaman, Koga, Janine An alternate approach, outside of Rain.  Janine helps set up Poison and debuffing for Adaman to survive, while Koga’s able to cap his own crit rate.  Really anyone who caps crit and needs special attack theoretically uses his skills okay.

Team 4: Lodge Adaman, Irida, Ghetsis/MU Pikachu This one’s for all the Adaman/Irida shippers out there.  Their base forms may be at odds, but his Lodge form works decently well with Irida, supplying the missing +2 special attack she needs, and even providing defensive buffs.  Irida also provides the Gradual Healing he would otherwise miss out on.  Irida...might legitimately be a better tank than him, even while offensive, by the way.  Just throwing it out there.  As needed, you can go dual striker with Irida and Ghetsis, or you can bring in someone with healing potential to keep Adaman (or Irida) going.  I couldn’t think of a great Potion user, so I went with MU Pikachu so I could argue that the paralysis makes this a Gauntlet team.

Team 5: Lodge Adaman, Caitlin/Ghetsis, SS May/Irida/P!Dawn As an alternate approach, Adaman can forego the need for special attack buffing entirely, and focus almost exclusively on X Defense All and the inclusion of Pep Rally.  Adaman provides decent gauge control and physical bulk in the same move, which is almost as good as Skyla.  Almost.  The ability to give one boost to special attack, however, means he can top off options like Caitlin and Ghetsis, who are typically just short of maximum.  In the case of Caitlin, SS May is ideal, since she can cap her own crit rate, and potentially even take over the X Sp Atk concerns.  Otherwise, Bianca is fine if you’re not worried about it, or aiming for the Gradual Healing Bianca has easier access to.  Irida supports Ghetsis perfectly, and gives Gradual Healing to the party as well to keep Adaman running.  In absence of a field effect support, P!Dawn can function as a good debuffer for damage in special attack, or to attack to keep Adaman alive.

Final Thoughts I really want to impress that the last team structure should not be used to fool you into thinking Adaman has a niche.  Replace him with Lodge Dawn, and you’ve got a better comp.  Adaman is just so wildly bad it’s kinda funny.  I would love to know what they were thinking on this one.  Maybe it’s the consolation prize so Master Fairs don’t feel like they have to be pulled for a good extra free unit?  Maybe they just really hate Vaporeon given SS Misty’s kinda bad?  Maybe Water types are the Lodge designers’ least favorite type?  No one knows.  But this is...pretty not great and it makes me sad.

[chien-pao]

finally pulled this mf :D now i can focus on ss morty and ss silver…. but i can’t choose who to prioritize

[firecodex]

Transcript

Adaman: You've always helped me, so this is a little thank-you.

Transcript

Adaman: I want to build a good relationship with you…through mutual exchange.

Adaman: If you need help with anything, let me know!

[pokemonruby]

adaman is the quintessential babygirl character to me. extremely handsome. nice guy swag. can cook. the slutty little slit in his eyebrow. the avatar of a time god (sort of.) he likes cats 

[re-thatrandomdude]

I GOT HIM