#pokemon moveset analysis

[furrama]

I hate it when you go on Smogon to look up pokemon movesets for older generations and they recommend a move that looks really cool or extremely useful. So you look the move up on Pokemon Database and see that it's not learned on level up. Nor is it an egg move or a TM or a move tutor move, nor is it on a special pokemon from the Stadium games or anything. So you do some digging only to find that the move was released on the pokemon in question as a gift in New York City at a single brick and mortar building - for one week only - right after Christmas 20 some years ago.

[epicspheal]

A Strong and Upstanding Heart! A Lance Analysis

Imagine you're a kid in the 90s playing Pokemon Red and Blue…you’ve gotten all eight badges, made it through Victory Road and bested Lorelei, Bruno and Agatha. Now the only person that you think stands before you and the title of Indigo League Champion is a certain cape loving Dragon Master…

That’s right we’re talking about Lance! Lance is definitely one of those character who has very different interpretations depending on whether or not you’re looking at the anime, games or manga. For the sake of consistency with my other analyses…I’m only sticking to the gameverse and any media that corresponds to it (mainline games, Pokemon Masters EX and Generations). 

Let’s start with his name…in English it’s a weapon. Which is very befitting a dragon master as in many pieces of European Folklore knights wielded lances to slay dragons. But considering in Pokemon Lance doesn’t slay dragon-types but befriends them you could compare him to many of the heroes of dragon-rider fantasy who often had weapons they carried while on the back of their flying reptilians. Lance in the games is very knightly in demeanor and one could very easily imagine him riding on the back of his Dragonite wielding a lance. In French his name is Peter which is actually derived from petard which is another medieval weapon again reinforcing that knightly demeanor. His German name is Siegfried who is a legendary hero who bested the dragon Fafnir, further symbolizing Lance as a proud warrior. 

But then his Japanese is Wataru which has a couple of different meanings. First is “Watatsumi” who is a legendary kami and water deity in Japanese folklore that happened to be a dragon. But also it is derived from “wata” which means “cotton” which his Korean name also is derived from. When we think of the language of flowers we usually think of Roses and Forget-me-Nots. Yet cotton has a lot of symbolism. Cotton is known to mean “fortune, gratitude, cherish, well-being and receiving blessings”. When we think of Lance, he’s had a lot of blessings in his life. He was born into a prestigious dragon clan and was chosen as the heir of said clan before he went to the league. He became an Elite Four member which is an esteemed position many trainers could only dream to have. He even manages to become champion afterwards which as a title bestowed upon very few. So much of his life is very much blessed and Lance recognizes that blessing and cherishes it. 

Now let’s take a look at his team. His team varies throughout the series due to his changing roles from Elite Four to Champion so we’ll be covering both

Starting with his Elite Four team, the first thing that often stands out is that he lacks a lot of diversity on his team with him having 3 Pokemon from the same family and two of them being unevolved. While some people may consider it poor team building (at least from a more competitive mindset) it actually means a lot storywise. We have to remember that Pokemon was originally meant to end at GSC and we know by then Lance has ascended to the rank of champion. So him having two Dragonair actually makes sense in that context as it was foreshadowing his growth in his strength as a trainer. Now let’s take a look at his movesets. One thing that sticks out is that he really loves the move Hyper Beam, Outrage and SafeGuard. Hyper Beam is a very powerful move with the drawback of causing the Pokemon to not be able to move after for one turn after its use. It definitely establishes Lance as a power player with a hint of recklessness since the use of Hyper Beam does leave his Pokemon so vulnerable. However it also shows the trust he has in his Pokemon’s power to have that move consistently in the movesets. Outrage is another high-risk, high reward move that allows him to utilize STAB as it’s a dragon type. Again this further solidifies Lances hyper offensive strategy and his trust in his Pokemon. However this is where the move Safeguard comes into play as the move actually protects against the self-inflicted confusion status. This shows that Lance is strategic with his hyper-offensive strategy

Now let’s look at his team as champion! We can see he now has three full Dragonite which again shows that him having Dragonair in the Kanto games was an intentional choice to foreshadow his eventual ascent up the ranks. And now we also see that all of his Pokemon share the flying type which leads to the joke that Lance should be known as the “flying type champion”. His movesets for his Pokemon have also drastically changed. He has way more variety in types which helps to enable better coverage. He still relies on high-risk, high-reward moves but with more focus on moves that have lower accuracy (Thunder, Blizzard, Fire Blast, Dragon Rush). This change in strategy reflects his growth in the time between the original Kanto events and the Johto events. He’s had to step up to the role of Indigo League champion which warrants a change in tactics. That being said, he still definitely relies on his old faithfuls Outrage, Safeguard and Hyper Beam on his signature Dragon type.

His rematch team in HGSS shows more Dragon types and a shift in strategy to involve more set up (Dragon Dance, Swords Dance and Double Team) as well as some more evasive techniques (Roar to get rid of bad matchups)

I also wanted to bring up his team when pairs up with his cousin Clair. His signature Dragonite in these match-ups knows the move Dragon Meteor- a powerful move that can only be learned by Dragon types that have a high enough trust in their trainer. This shows that he has a strong bond with his dragon types which is something Clair at the time hasn’t quite yet gotten to.

"Ah! I've heard about you, <player>! I lead the Elite Four. You can call me Lance the dragon Trainer. You know that dragons are mythical Pokémon. They're hard to catch and raise, but their powers are superior. They're virtually indestructible. There's no being clever with them. Well, are you ready to lose? Your League challenge ends with me, <player>!"

I really like this introduction quote from Lance as he does a good job selling the power of Dragon type Pokemon to the player. Not only that you can see how much pride he has in being the leader of the Elite Four.

"I still can't believe my dragons lost to you, <player>. You are now the Pokémon League Champion! …Or, you would have been, but you have one more challenge left. There is one more Trainer to face! His name is… <rival>! He beat the Elite Four before you. He is the real Pokémon League Champion."This quote here gives us a look into the mindsight of Lance in Gen 1 where he’s a little overconfident in the powers of his team. Which makes sense because as we know up until Blue and Red no one had managed to make it to the league at all meaning that he’s held the title of the strongest for a long time. So him getting beat by not one, but two 11 year old kids in succession was definitely a shock to the system.

"That red Gyarados wasn't acting right. As I feared, somebody must have forced it to evolve… Did you come here because of the wild tales? You're <player>? I'm Lance, a Trainer like you. I heard some rumblings, so I came to investigate… I saw the way you battled earlier, <player>. I can tell that you're a Trainer with considerable skill. If you don't mind, could you help me investigate?" This is our first conversation with Lance in the Johto and you can actually see a change in his demeanor. He’s not boasting about the superior powers of dragon types or his own skill as a trainer. He’s actually more humble with his approach saying he is a trainer “like you”. Also right now he’s focused on trying to solve the mystery of the Red Gyarados, showing that he is taking the mantle of being the champion of the Indigo League very seriously

"Dragonite, Hyper Beam."I just had to put in his iconic phrase in this analysis. We know what’s coming here- he’s about to blast a poor Team Rocket grunt to kingdom come and give him PTSD (as we know from Pokemon Masters as the grunt he hyper beamed is currently on Pasio). We see here how he has no tolerance for evil-doers

"Sorry, <player>. I saw how well you were doing, so I just hung back. Now all there is left to do is to turn off that odd radio signal."A lot of complaints about champions prior to gen 8 were that they let the protagonist take down the bad guys with little to no assistance. But here we get some reasoning from Lance as to why he took a backseat. He noticed that the player could handle the grunts by themself so there was no need for him to step in. 

"It's this machine that's causing all the problems. I don't see a switch on it… We have no choice. We have to make all the Electrode faint. That should stop this machine from transmitting that strange signal. It's no fault of the Electrode, so it makes me feel sad. <Player>, let's split the job.I really like this quote because it complements the “Dragonite, Hyper Beam” quote. Even though he is no-holds barred when it comes to evil, he recognizes that the Electrode are innocent and don’t deserve to suffer even though they have to be fainted in order to help save the Pokemon affected by Radio transmission.

"I've been waiting for you. <Player>! I knew that you, with your skills, would eventually reach me here. There's no need for words now. We will battle to determine who is the stronger of the two of us. As the most powerful Trainer and as the Pokémon League Champion… I, Lance the dragon master, accept your challenge!"Lance’s pre-battle quote before the champion battle is a nice progression from his pre-battle quote when he was an Elite four member. Again he comes to this battle with a more measured, less haughty response than three years prior (although he does kind of borrow Blue’s “I’m the most Powerful Trainer” bit). You can tell how much he’s grown not just in strength, but in attitude.

"…It's over. But it's an odd feeling. I'm not angry that I lost. In fact, I feel happy. Happy that I witnessed the rise of a great new Champion!"

Again we can see more of this growth from the defeat quote as champion versus when he was the leader of the Elite Four. Here we see he’s not in disbelief, nor is he upset that yet another kid bested him. In fact he’s happy to have seen the growth of another champion. 

"I'm glad to be on your team, Silver!"Alright now onto some Pokemon Masters EX quotes. I chose this one of the team ups because I like how we see throughout the game, we see how much Lance looks out for Silver and is proud of him. A far cry from when they first interacted in the Johto games where Lance had to give him some tough love by completely annihilating his team. It all comes full circle for Silver during the Johto Neo Champion arc where he’s finally able to win against Lance, and Lance couldn’t be prouder of him. 

"You all haven't changed one bit, I see! I must admit, I'm looking forward to these battles myself!"I really like this line from the Normal Champion Stadium where the original Indigo Elite Four and Blue team up. It’s nice to see how he interacts with some of his former colleagues 

"(I guess he's right. I was very happy to witness my challengers surpass me.) But maybe that means I'm starting to forget what it feels like to WANT to win.) [...] I still remember how frustrating it was to lose to Red and Blue back in Kanto. Both Dragonite and I need to approach this like challengers, not Champions..."I really like this quote from the Arc-Suit chapter as we see Lance coming towards an important realization. He’s been so focused on being an ideal champion, a trainer who can be a role model to others and mentor as well, that he’s forgotten what made him want to aim for the title of champion in the first place. His drive to win. His joy for the taste of victory. He thinks about his losses to Red and Blue and how he was frustrated he was bested by kids. And now he’s realizing that if he wants to continue to grow stronger, he has to approach battles like he’s not at the pinnacle of what it means to be a trainer.

"It's true that you're strong, Clair. And it's good to have confidence in your own abilities...but there's a limit to what's good and what's not. Too much pride can make you overconfident, and overconfidence can make you vulnerable." 

"You can be a little impulsive sometimes, Clair...but that earnest, straightforward attitude of yours is one of your greatest strengths as well. If you can learn to hone that, the sky is the limit!"I really like the relationship Lance has with his cousin Clair. Even though their personalities clash a bit, we see how much he does care for her even when he is chastising her. He wants her to be the best version of herself that she can

"A long time ago, when I was a member of the Elite Four but not Champion, I was defeated by a Trainer.He claimed to be the greatest of all, and he had the strength and skill to back it up. But eventually, a stronger Trainer came along, and even he was defeated... It was then that I realized something. That title—"the greatest"—can inflate your ego, but it doesn't really mean anything. It's an illusion, there one minute and gone the next...The way I see it, seeking to grow and improve yourself is far more worthwhile than chasing a fleeting illusion of greatness."

This quote here shows the moment where we can see the shift between his Gen 1 and Gen 2 personalities. It was the quick succession between Blue and Red as champion that allowed him to temper himself when it comes to chasing success. Sure he still values the title of champion, but he realizes that just because he obtained it that he can’t rest on his laurels, lest someone else come by and snatch the title away from him

"Leon, I think that capes should be more simple! When you're the Champion and greet new challengers with a swoosh of your cape...I understand that the details of your cape speak volumes about who you are. But for me, the simplicity of my cape helps me stand out more!" The dialogue about capes between Lance, Steven and Leon was a cute little interaction between the three champions regarding capes. We see Lance prefers simple capes compared to Leon’s whose cape is filled with advertisements. We know Lance has a huge fondness for capes even back from the Fame Checker where a woman from the Celadon Department Store mentions he comes by to purchase capes frequently. Even though he disagrees about designs for capes with Leon, we know from further into the conversation that he still greatly respects the symbolism Leon’s cape has showing him to be an open-minded and respectful individual

"I noticed you weren't your usual self right before our match.It was almost as if you were so worked up, you couldn't tell what was happening with your partner. Iris, you must remember that you're no ordinary Pokémon Trainer. You are a role model to others, and you represent Unova as Champion. I hope you can understand that and conduct yourself accordingly."

Ah so this is dialogue from the Iris event that definitely rubbed some people the wrong way. We know from earlier in the event that Iris was struggling with knowing that people seemed to find her an embarrassment as the champion from Unova. And then her Hydreigon goes out of control. We see here Lance actually could tell that something was up, but didn’t know the full context. His words do come off a bit harsh here to someone who knows everything going on with Iris, but you can see that he was trying to help her out. He understands the weight that comes with being champion, and also the weight of being a dragon tamer. 

"It's never too late. You can start with whoever needs you most."I really liked this line from Lance to Diantha once Iris is able to regain confidence in herself. Diantha was lamenting the fact that she didn’t think about mentorship as a champion (as she was kind of removed from the Team Flare plot in the gameverse canon). And we have Lance who's not admonishing her for that but showing there’s room to grow.

"Someday, stories about me will be passed down to future generations of our clan as well. If I think about it that way, it reminds me that I have to be on my best behavior.I'd like to be a good role model for all future dragon masters."This quote from Lance really helps to shine light on why he is so passionate about being a good role model and having a strong and upstanding nature. He realizes that he will forever be immortalized in his clan’s history and in the Hall of Fame. He wants to make sure the legacy he leaves behind is one that makes people feel energized and not ashamed

"This outfit shows off Gyarados's power as a dragon! What's that, you say? Gyarados isn't a Dragon-type Pokémon? Haha, not all dragons are Dragon-type Pokémon!" I remember this quote making rounds on social media as we get to have some in-universe acknowledgement that dragons =/= dragon types! It’s a distinction that you would expect a dragon master like Lance to know!

Lance is an iconic character and he’s a really good case study on how Gamefreak has always cared about their characters even as far back as gen 1. A lot of people deride the first region as being barebones but he’s one of the many characters regions that has had layers woven into him from the beginning as we can see his growth between the events of Kanto and Johto. He grows from the proud (and just a tad cocky) leader of the Elite four to a wise noble Champion and Dragon Master

[crystalelemental]

I feel silly asking you this, but can you do a characterization analysis for Trace? I feel silly asking because A: you haven't played Let's Go, and B: I think I know what you're going to say about most of his team members (Marowak and his starter are obvious, Vileplume and Rapidash are third in line for BST for their types among the original 151 behind Blue and Green's Exeggutor and Victreebel and Arcanine/Ninetales, but I can't quite grasp why Slowbro's there.

Sure. I'll do it. Honestly, let's see if I know anything I'm talking about.

Mercifully, Trace's team is identical between versions. I'm specifically using his rematch, because...prior, he only has three attacks. A Champion only has three attacks per Pokemon. I promise I will take no further shots at Let's Go.

The Lead (Pidgeot) What I really enjoy about this is that his mega is his lead. That feels very distinct from others, who would set their mega as their ace, or at least late in the game. Trace leading with the mega implies a sense of just going at everything with all he's got. There is no warmup, no assessment of the opponent's strength, it's just going full throttle out the gate, try to keep up.

That said, without knowing Let's Go's movesets, it's odd that his best STAB attacks are Quick Attack and Air Slash. These are fairly low BP, so despite that immediate presence at the outset...his approach is not particularly offensive. His moves are priority, flinch rate, and obvious coverage for Steel that would block him, with U-Turn to flee as needed. Which is quite defensive.

At least in my estimation, this is someone who is trying to show off, but isn't exactly reckless. He's aiming for a big display to put himself at an early advantage, but he's not leaving himself open to your counterattacks. He's cautious, perhaps even worried, about letting his opponent see past him.

The Ace (Raichu/Jolteon) It's interesting that Jolteon is the Eevee form he chooses. Makes my life easy I suppose. I know it's because he already had a Fire and Water type, but still. It's neat.

The big thing that stands out to me is Thunder. Thunderbolt is the more conservative effort, compared to Thunder, and is what you'd expect for someone leading with such a defensive play. Their coverage also includes a really risky move, in Iron Tail/Pin Missile. Brick Break/Shadow Ball are more standard, with Quick Attack being priority, despite being so naturally fast. ...do his starters have the same boosted stats thing your Eevee/Pikachu do? I guess not because they evolve.

As the finisher, this feels, to me, a bit more like desperation. It's aiming for clean OHKOs but risking everything on that swing missing. It feels more "nothing left to lose" than someone aiming to make a safe comeback. It's a sensible choice when you're down that far. When you're on your last, swing with all you've got, and keep every advantage in your corner you can. Yeah you're super fast, but if you need to get a sudden shot in, Quick Attack will do it.

Offensive (Rapidash/Marowak) Marowak is the more obvious one. Earthquake standard, Fire and Thunder cover the typical Grass, Ice, and Water weaknesses of Ground types, Brick Break is just a lot of super-effective coverage.

Rapidash has Flare Blitz, which is self-sacrificial, but its coverage is super awkward. Drill Run and Poison Jab aren't...intrinsically bad, but they're not necessary for Rapidash, they don't do anything for it. Its weaknesses aren't hit any easier, nor does it hit things that threaten it. And again, there's a Quick Attack in there.

Marowak is your most direct, perfect coverage offense. And it's slow. Rapidash has whatever's biggest, but is super fast. I think, taking all of this together, suggests that Trace is someone who's going to push really hard for an early lead, roll the dice when he's down to the wire, but his core is someone balanced. Rapidash fills in what it can because it's quick and can get first strike, while Marowak considers its matchups and tries to cover what it would need to cover. Offensively, these are about as good as we get, without putting some special attacks on Rapidash and aiming for Sunny Day strats. Which would be better offensive coverage! But the lack of that kind of effect suggests either simplicity, or that he's considering a bigger picture, given his Water type, and his Grass type would be even worse off. Although...

Defensive (Vileplume/Slowbro) Vileplume is an excellent choice, 10/10. Don't know how he got that version exclusive in both games but sure. Its defensive backbone is Reflect, which is a fun means of protecting the team at large from physical attacks. The rest is offense, including Sludge Bomb, Dazzling Gleam coverage, and...Solarbeam. Buddy. You should've run Sunny Day on Rapidash.

Slowbro has Light Screen as its defensive support, alongside Surf, Psychic, and Blizzard. Interesting to note, neither heals. Which is...odd. Boost defense so you can't be beaten down easily, but nothing to sustain yourself. I read this as someone who's not about to keep trying at something that isn't working. There's no point to healing and keeping in if you can't beat them, getting caught in The Loop. Just push your way through. He's willing to play his cards directly and make his move, but he's not going to languish on it.

Fun to note: both use the shield that boosts their worse defensive stat. Vileplume has better Sp Def, while Slowbro has better Def, so they're using the right shield for their weaker defensive stat. And it's here I think we can make an assertion.

I've done a lot of competitive in my day, and one of the hardest things I have to think about sometimes is your team's role. Specifically, I am someone who aims to balance defenses in this way. Sometimes it works. But often, you get more mileage on a defensive backbone by playing to a strength than a covering a weakness. And this feels like what Trace is after here.

Final Thoughts Trace is someone who aims to be balanced, and to make each individual Pokemon as good as it can be. This can come at the cost of overall team cohesion, however, as his consistent offensive Pokemon are slow and have no defensive merit, while his fast Pokemon are wasting coverage on ensuring they can drop priority. He runs highly inaccurate moves at times, sacrificing consistency for risky throws that may not be necessary. He aims to take an early lead, but by lockdown rather than ruthless offense. He aims to stick a finish, but through risky plays that could easily seal his fate. He's almost entirely offensive, only playing defensive for the sake of shields that prevent damage, but won't aim to heal off what he takes or extend the fight in a way he can't win. He's a simple, direct boy whose focus is pushing through and doing his best on an individual basis. I just think...well...

He's a worthy successor to Red. He has really strong picks, he has a generally sane approach, but counterpicking him is pretty easy. It's mostly raw offenses, a couple defensive tools, but ultimately, a lot of inconsistencies as a cohesive unit, in favor of maximum individual potential. The risks he takes are calculated, but man is he bad at math. Which is a little unfair, he is run by AI and AI doesn't switch. So maybe he's making the better call after all.

[ramtracking]

Magical Leaf Victreebel in PvP (Community Day Analysis) | Pokémon GO Hub [ Victreebel ]

Magical Leaf Victreebel in PvP (Community Day Analysis) | Pokémon GO Hub [Highlights] It’s Community Day time again, this time featuring one of the more hated (or perhaps beloved?) Pokémon that literally tears through PvP: THE… Pokémon Go’s Bellsprout Community Day event features the flower Pokémon. Our guide lists out perks and how to find a shiny. Pokemon GO Victreebel’s best moveset and…

[jcogginsa]

I doubt Game Freak is unaware of that. Most Pokemon games storymodes can be beaten with a pure offense moveset, where the total decision making required amounts to “What moves do more damage” and the elemental rock paper scissors. 

The additional options are mostly used by competitivee players, who whom that kind of complex cost-benefit analysis is part of the fun. 

Unpopular opinion: RPGs have a problem with too many choices.

I know, that's filthy rich coming from someone who plays Pokemon. But few things will turn me off from a game more than seeing it boast, "750 unique weapons and over 300 different magic styles for you to mix and match to create your own UNIQUE CHARACTER."

That's too many. That's too many fucking things. I don't have time in my life to deal with that many things. If I play your game, I'm going to wind up picking one of the first handful of things that I come upon in the first hour of play and then that's just going to be what my thing is, because who the fuck has time to analyze the pros and cons of that many things?

...

Hell, I hate to be the one to tell Game Freak this, but that's how a lot of people play Pokemon too.

[pokemon-strategy-dex]

Grimmsnarl

Moves: Darkest Lariat is Grimmsnarl’s strongest Dark stab. Sucker Punch provides some powerful priority, making Grimmsnarl a decent revenge killer and a potent tool against offense. Grimmsnarl’s best fair stab is Play Rough. Dark and Fairy are amazing together coverage-wise, and so additional coverage isn’t really necessary. The last move can either be Substitute or Bulk Up. Bulk Up abuses dynamaxing better, but substitute pressures defensive teams more consistently. I’ve been experimenting with both, but I like Bulk Up more.

Spread: Max out the attack EVs to dish out as much damage as possible. I like to put some EVs into HP, giving Grimmsnarl a little more bulk. I’m going with 92 right now, but I’ve been experimenting. The rest of the EVs should go into speed to make sure we’re outpacing the opponent's defensive Pokemon. Prankster is Grimmsnarl’s best ability, giving it priority on Bulk Up. As far as items go, I’m favoring Aguav Berry right now. It gives Grimmsnarl some needed recovery and can catch the opponents off guard. 

Team Support/Usage: Grimmsnarl is a great breaker thanks to its decent attack and stupidly good stab coverage. It's also a decent revenge killer against offense. As far as team members go, Grimmsnarl’s low speed necessitates team members who can take care of the many offensive threats who will pressure Grimmsnarl. You will also want pivots who can bring Grimmsnarl in to deal out some large damage. Lastly, hazard support is always appreciated. 

-PSDex

(Credits go to Serebii for the 3D model crop)

[iliketrainmen]

*gently slides AU based on Emmet messing with the various funky glitchmons and unusual happenings in the OG Gen 1 games*

------

Summary: Emmet angy bc Ingo got isekaied to middle of nowhere Nevada. Emmet seek out MissingNo, the ever mysterious reality distortionist responsible for multiple cases of psychosis in trainers and the reason as to why Kanto's champion abandoned his region for years on end. Emmet find the MissingNo and catch it. Turns out it's just a regular pokemon thats a little fucked up but really likes Sitrus berries. Somehow that leads into him becoming some sort of babysitter for the funky fellas in "Glitch city".

Aka, the AU where Emmet becomes a crazy cat lady but with world-ending Glitchmons instead of sneasels. Help him.

Obviously a very brief and missing the point-ish explanation but if I go any further this is gonna turn into a 6000+ word analysis

---

Poorly drawn bonus comic as to why he wears gloves when handling them. (Specifically .4 bc its starting moveset includes Super Glitch)

(Btw, the names for the glitch pokemon are

•Pink evil beetle guy: .4

•The three legged spider that sucker punched (kicked?) Emmet in the balls: Japanese Symbol

•The Yellow off brand MissingNo: 94h

•The eldtrich being that Emmet somehow made friends with: the actual MissingNo

•Magnemite: O. Yes, that's an actual glitch pokemon. It has 7 different evolutions and none of them are of the magnemite evo line.

(I'm a little nervous to post this pls be gentle when letting me know how dumb this idea is)

[g0dtier]

I feel like it also heavily depends on what chara you running for elden ring. Like I'm going full int noodle arms and I basically tri shot most bossed, sometimes they just bug and give up and state at me un movingly while I spam the only 1 usable sorcery in the game.

Some bosses yea are just continuous spam of attack and u just go guess I'll die. Or fucking crucible knights type enemies that just keep their shit shield up forever then stab you real quick before putting the shield back up and I'm here like 8D

Btw yea the death debuff doesn't curse you just... Insta kills you like ds3.

anon this is gonna be a LONG response cause you just gave me a valid reason to ramble for 50 paragraphs so i will

i currently work with a str/fai build and will probably make at least 1 more character with a dex/int build. i had no idea full int builds were so stronk but im thinking of trying one out at some point.

Srs analysis below:

Honestly I'm just a little sad with the state of enemy encounters in the game. Limgrave, weeping peninsula & liurnia largely have the same enemy encounters in the open world with very little variation, and a Lot of the mobs I've encountered up till now rely on being in a group or homing attacks.

Find a soldier in the wild? He blows his horn and gets his buddies. Find a dog or rat? It barks to alert everyone around, which I'm honestly less likely to care about because while theyve been around since demons souls. Those misbegotten cunts see you and blow their horn and every single one of them comes running. That room in Godricks castle with that one exile soldier who blows his horn and then all the sleepy dudes stand up. The courtyard where theyre all heaped up Even the fucking bears in those woods Walk around in liurnia only for some weird bent over dude to appear and spawn 10 more and they all use homing missiles as well The cartwheeling frogs Those dudes in the academy courtyard where its like oh theres one blue guy just kidding theres 15 now

And now I've entered Caelid and theres these amazingly cool looking big dog enemies and all they do is fucking bark and alert the rest again oh and also theres soldiers again I guess. And the frustrating thing is that, aside from the runebears, pretty much all of the above enemies are complete pushovers on their own. I don't feel like I'm fighting enemies with interesting attack patterns or who pose a serious threat, I feel like I'm in that one room in pokemon gold/silver/crystal where every line you cross spawns 3 incredibly weak rocket trainers.

I get that this is necessary when you include spirit summons in the game but I'd rather they just balanced it a little bit? The mechanics arent bad on their own it's just that I really don't like how many of the fights seem to rely on it. It's like almost every fight relies on everything but making the enemies interesting to fight in order to make them hard.

Rather than making the casters have more health & more interesting moves, just sticking 5 of them in a small hallway so you get to avoid 5 missiles at once should make them hard. Boss fight being 2 enemies that die way too quickly? Add dragon rot to the floor! The dog and bird enemies twice your size die in 4 hits? Just make them alert the rest! Stick a big knight with the same moveset as all the other ones in a small corridor to make him hard!

Maybe it's because they made the more interesting enemies all field bosses but to me it just feels like their actual non-field boss enemy pool is super boring because of that. The erdtree avatar doesn't need to be a field boss. The bell bearing hunter doesn't need to be either, though he does need to be tuned down. Grafted Scion? Seriously? Why are some of the pumpkin heads bosses? The mariner guys, too.

Siofria was the first New new area i encountered I feel and its like. theres a million rock men and you're like "oh shit I wonder what these do" and the answer is jack shit. Theyre only hard because theres 20 of them on one staircase. Then you go out and those snipers 2 shot you from a million miles away with their homing arrows that are literally impossible to dodge.

I'm only at caelid but it feels like there's no difficulty progression in the enemies. Everything is either a pushover or two taps you, there is no inbetween. I'm sure the other big non-optional bosses are gonna be good. Godrick was amazing but following it up with rennala after all I listed above just left a sour taste in my mouth cause her boss fight is just...unfun imo

[havetheavengersdoneanythingwrong]

An Aside — The Professor’s Report

[It seems someone has contacted me. I couldn’t verify their location — but even if I could, I don’t think I can move from this house roof without getting myself stuck in a wall.]

[I suppose the appearance of ♀ . where it shouldn’t belong is worrying enough to begin an analysis. It has evolved to modern times, as the others have.]

[Dear Donator B, I have outlined how to care for this being you have found — and what it can do. I hope you may find use in this.]

—

♀ ., the 4 h Pokemon, is a resident of what I’ve lovingly nicknamed the Dokokashira Region.

It’s more than a little difficult to get your hands on for a variety of reasons, the least of which being that encountering one in Kanto tends to mean your demise. Reality appears to dislike this one more than most — unlike MissingNo, it lacks the ability to ‘maintain’ itself naturally, and thus must take prey with which to validate its existence by cementing itself in the victim’s mind.

In Dokokashira, however, it is far more open to regular human contact. Furthermore, so long as you are in an area of this region where its [deverification] moves are rendered moot, it is perfectly safe to understand and learn of.

I have discovered that it functions as a bit of a mixed bruiser. It carries decent physical strength, as well as decent physical bulk, likely due to its immense size and weight. It is more weak to magical or Special attacks, however.

Its ability is one that most Dokokashira natives share — that being Rule Breaker. This Ability is omnipresent, and due to this, no other Abilities exist for this creature — however, it serves as the only explanation I have for this being’s effects.

Rule Breaker can generally be one of three things.

>Level: The weakest type of the three. It simply breaks the level cap, allowing a unit with it to grow stronger than even the strongest ‘real’ beings out there.

>Power: The middle type. Alongside the strength cap being broken, it also appears to have a special ability unique to itself, whether helpful or harmful. They can often impact fights, steering a battle hard in a certain direction.

>World: The top type. These beings appear to directly alter the world around them, having a ‘Power’ far stronger than even others of their kin. Their strengths don’t just impact the immediate fight — but they also impact everything around them, as well, resulting in catastrophic damage. Generally, there is no way to control one of these — in fact, even seeing one may often result in one’s demise.

♀ .’s variant of Rule Breaker involves its voice — and it’s been ruled by myself as a ‘Power’ variant. It appears, at the start of battle, it inflicts a Medusa-esque ‘lock’ on its opponents with its rampant screams and song — so far as I know, done with the intent to verify its existence in reality before a fight begins. It also does appear to alter the world around it temporarily, turning one’s surroundings pitch black — however, this doesn’t appear to be permanent.

In terms of its moveset, it tends to learn mostly normal attacks — with the exception of two that need to be discussed.

Called the ‘Cooltrainer’ move due to how computers have difficulty reading its name, it’s believed to be the ‘lack’ of a move given form. It appears to be a weak physical attack, but witnessing the attack itself tends to inflict irreversible mental trauma on the witness without preparations taken beforehand. Furthermore, comprehending its name is extremely dangerous in certain scenarios.

The second, referred to by previous researchers as ‘Super Glitch,’ is best described as ‘undescribable.’ Its abilities vary drastically, and it doesn’t appear to have a solid ‘effect.’ Merely thinking about using it can do incredible amounts of mental damage to anyone nearby — however, the effects appear to vary based on your location.

It is often weaponized by wild Dokokashiran fauna alongside careless trainers to guarantee a victory, due to a curiously consistent effect upon its opponent if you check up on a ‘real’ creature before comprehending the move — it tends to freeze and burn your target opponent simultaneously, resulting in your opponent’s demise. However, this will almost assuredly shatter one’s mind as well on use.

Neutralizing these effects requires a bush to be northeast of your location — within eyeshot. The further northeast it is, the less the effect will occur. Once you’ve done this, you will be able to handle ♀ .’s abilities and skills with no harm done to yourself. Furthermore, its song does not appear to effect its Trainer.

Having a ♀ . as your starter is a… curious decision, Donator B. However, regardless of where you are, you will be safe so long as the proper precautions are taken to ensure your safety.

With the brunt of this report finished, I will now go over their raw abilities as my computer dictates them.

—

♀ . (Level 100)

Normal/Normal

Ability: Rule Breaker <Power> (If fought outside of Dokokashira, has a high chance of preventing the opponent from fighting when it lets out its cry, until it has finished. This could go anywhere from 10 minutes to whenever ♀ . is withdrawn.) Cannot hold an item, or be affected by buffs from other Pokémon (Baton Pass, Decorate, etc.).

BST

HP- 134

ATK- 139

DEF- 132

Sp.A - 80

Sp.D - 80

SPE - 145

Moveset <Lv. 100, assuming ‘derealization’ moves intact>

- — (13 PP, ‘cooltrainer’ move)

- [Super Glitch]

- [TM50]

- [TM02]

Nature: [N/A]

[darksilvania]

"On May XXst, 20XX, a ship was launched from the Blackfall Spatial Center, the ship was the newest shuttle developed by the center, small enough to be piloted by a single person yet with enough resources to make a trip to the moon, sustain life for a full lunar cycle and come back to earth without any shortage of rations or energy. After many test trips, the ship and its pilot finally had a mission: To take a robot to the moon. It wasnt exactly a robot, but the latest form of exploration rover depeloped, a fully automated drone that could cross any terrain and had the single objective of preparing the field for the future construction of a Lunar Base by cleaning and building its fundations. But before this delivery the ship had to make a stop midway, in one of the centers satellite orbiting the earth, to install a piece of equipment that would work as a signal amplifier, allowing the space center to monitor the drone's progress in real time. Everything was planned up to the most minimal detail, every precaution had been take, every piece of data had been analized over and over again, there should be no fail, everything was covered, but then again, not everything. The launching was a success, the ship and its pilot, with the drone on board sailed and arrived to the midpoint of the trip with ease, the ship was secured to the satellite and its pilot came out to make the amplifier instalation when something came out of the dark, the monitors on the center coulnt pick it up until it was to late, they tought it to be a meteorite, a piece of debree, but acording to the pilot if was something else, it looked...organic, and when the object crashed with the ship, everything disapeared, comms went dark, the mission had failed. Subsequent ships where sent to investigate the zone but nothing was ever found, no trace of the pilot, the ship, not even the rover or the satellite, as if whatever had hit them took them away, after months of research, they were declared lost in space. After years of the Incident, the Lunar base was finally buit, it was named after the missing Pilot. On August XXst, 20XX, the Blackfall Spatial Center caught something in their radars, something travelling to earth, entering its atmosphere and falling on one of the many islands on the cost of Blackfall city that form the Andromeda Achipelago, called this way for the large amount of 'stars' that fall in them. This mysterious object was first beleived to be a piece of debree, or a specially large meteorite due to its form and size, but then something was discovered, whatever it was that had fallen, it had the same readings as the 'organic object' that had hit the missing shuttle so long ago. A large group of investigators was sent to the crash site for further analysis but what they found on the site was not what they were expecting..." 386-ASTRONOIR [Astronaut-Noir] -Dark -The Space Entity pokemon -Ability: Adaptability -Dex: "After being exposed to the substances know as 'DEOMEGA's Blood', once a mere human, it was mutated into becoming a dark entinty, fusing its organic body with its space suit, creating a single living organism. After its mutation, this entity asimilated the technology around it, allowing it to change forms in order to more effectively move across different enviroments." -Moveset:    -Sig. Move: Cosmic Phaser "The user fires a powerful laser from its hand than has a 30% chance of leaving the foe Paralized  "    Type: Dark    PP: 10 (max 16)    Power: 90    Accuracy: 100%    -Moonblast    -Dark Pulse    -Gravity {To change ASTRONOIR into its alternate forms you must travel to the Blackfall Spatial Center, in the main loby you will find an open exhibition showcasing the models of the shuttle, the rover and the satellite, as well as a complete space suit, ASTRONOIR will change its form after tapping on each model's infobox, when it changes form, its signature move will be changed automaticaly} SHUTTLE FORM -Dark/Flyng -Ability: Adaptability -Moveset:    -Sig. Move: Warp-Speed Rush "The user shoots itself at blinding speed against its foe, this move can bypass any protection and hit pokemons in a semi-invulnerable state flying in the air  "    Type: Dark    PP: 10 (max 16)    Power: 100    Accuracy: 100%    -Extreme Speed    -Flame Charge    -Aqua Jet SATELLITE FORM -Dark/Electric -Ability: Adaptability -Moveset:    -Sig. Move: Satellital Cannon "The user shoots a poweful laser of concentrated dark energy, but must cool down for a full recharge, if used consecutively the attack does half the damage"    Type: Dark    PP: 5 (max 8)    Power: 130    Accuracy: 85%    -Flash Cannon    -Parabolic Charge    -Laser Focus EXPLORER FORM -Dark/Ground -Ability: Adaptability -Moveset:     -Sig. Move: All-Terrain Rumble "The user charges itself with the energy from its enviroment and then runs over its foe at full speed. This move's type and effect changes depending on the terrain "    Type: Dark    PP: 10 (max 16)    Power: --    Accuracy: --%     -Sig. Move: Terraforming "The user unleashes is cosmic power to alter the properties of its enviroment, this move transform the arena into a different Terrain randomly"    Type: Ground    PP: 15(max 24)    Power: --    Accuracy: --%    -Moonlight    -Cosmic Power

[animefighter1717]

My honest thoughts on Byleth+an analysis of Fire emblem in Smash and community reception

Hello tumblr, it’s me animefighter with a new original post. I know it’s late but I though I’d give an objective look at the inclusion of the new DLC Byleth from fire emblem 3 houses. As many of you guys know, this character hasn’t gotten the warmest welcome; especially compared to the other DLC characters, (Even Hero and Piranha Plant got warmer welcomes) I’ll even admit that I was let down by their reveal and I’m a fan for the fire emblem series.  I can’t speak for other people but for me, I wasn’t necessarily “MAD” about Byleth more disappointed and burnt out from the amount of FE reps. Maybe it’s a similar case for other people, they’re not angry nor do they hate the FE series they’re just burnt out and are expressing it in the wrong way in the heat of the moment. At least that’s how I feel. I personally would have been less disappointed if they were released either around the same time as Piranha Plant or started the second Fighter pass. 

Some positive things I can say is that the female alt, just like with Robin and Corrin is pretty cute. and their moveset is interesting and refreshing compared to half the FE reps playing nearly identical to one another. I like the variety for weapons they use for their moves and they look like they’re going to be a long range but slow powerhouse character probably on the mid-heavy side in terms of weight. The low mobility is going to be an issue for me though. Also, a lot of their moves look like they’re going to be very easily telegraphed and punishable if whiffed. I might be able to talk about them more when they come out next week and I lab with them for a bit; but I digress. 

Now let’s take a look down the rabbit hole of history of FE characters in Smash  over the years and the reception that these characters and the franchise got from this community.

Circa 2001/2002 Melee launches and fans rush to buy it and try to unlock all the characters. we get more Nintendo all stars from past and present (at the time) including old school reps like Ice climbers and Mr. Game and watch. Among the other unlockable characters we were introduced to Marth from the OG fire emblem and Roy from Binding Blade. At that point, the series was not known outside of japan at all or at least had a small niche fanbase but as far as I knew, the community more than welcomed these two with Open arms and they were widely used by many players world wide and sparked some interest in this lesser known series. ( Believe it or not, FE was not always one of Nintendo’s major players in america) But regardless, Marth and Roy were very well received in the game and the idea of more sword fighters in Smash was encouraged. (The fact that Marth in particular was  a competitively viable character also helped)

Fast forward to Brawl’s release 7 years after Melee’s and Marth Returned to the fray with a new FE rep, Ike from Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. Roy, was unfortunately scrapped from Brawl leaving many smash fans, myself included feeling bummed out. Ike played vastly differently from Marth sporting a slower but harder hitting play style and a recovery that meant glory or death if you used it.  Also, being the first of the characters to speak English and have the most quotable taunts and win quotes won Ike his share of fans and again, swodies in smash was something that people actually wanted more of believe it or not. People also wanted more FE reps. I know, it sounds crazy nowadays, right? But that was the case. There was also a system of belief that if one character was added another would be cut. Such was the theory buzzing around during Smash 4′s development.

Now let’s look at the years 2013 and 2014 when smash 4 was announced and FE awakening was out and doing pretty well. Marth was confirmed to return and so was IKe and people were happy. next, later, FE awakening’s Robin and Lucina were comfirmed instead of the games progatonist, Chrom. This I believe is where the division of how many reps and who from this series should be in smash began to start. Many were elated about Robin’s inclusion and playstyle as well as having a female alt, Lucina’s inclusion was a divisive one at best. Some were happy about having another rep and a girl on the roster, but others were put off about her being a clone of Marth just with no tipper hitbox. nonetheless, the 2manyswords argument wasn’t wasn’t that rampant yet and people were still happy with the franchises inclusion in smash for the time being.  Still Chrom not being included hurt many FE fans and Roy being given the ax a second time was an even bigger blow that contributed to the division in both fandoms. That seemed to be alleviated when  Roy returned as DLC. the 2 many swords argument was happening but it wasn’t as bad and was more of a running gag at the time. As far as how many FE characters in smash was, 5 was a good number for the lot of the community. Things took a dive however when Corrin was announced as dlc. That’s when I feel the burnout started.  Corrin’s inclusion solidified 6 FE characters in smash and added fuel to he flame war on sword characters.

Then Ultimate was announced. Everyone is here! everyone is happy!  Right? well, yes for a little while. the clone problem was somewhat fixed with echo fighters meaning Lucina was now an echo of Marth somewhat sharing a roster spot with him. (THough the competitive side of the fanbase will say otherwise) Chrom is finally included as an echo or Roy and his reception was at most lukewarm. No real hate just an “oh, ok.” feeling. The amount of sword fighters in smash was an even bigger issue now especially since the majority of them were in deed form Fire Emblem. Dlc is one again announced and we got Joker, Hero from DQ Banjo and Kazooie, Terry Bogard and here we are today with the latest addition, Byleth aka the real fallout of the franchise in smash.

It’s true that some fans are indeed against FE as a whole and it’s saturation in the roster;with 8 reps, FE is now the 3rd most represented Franchise in smash just behind Mario with 9 (11 if you include Yoshi and Wario, 11.5 if you include DK) and Pokemon having 10 if you include the Pokemon trainers pokemon as 3 seperate characters. it’s even more of a concern when factoring nintendos other known franchises such as Kirby, Metroid Star FOx and even zelda to a degree havent gotten any new fighters from those series or other games not being given a celebration of gaming treatment like golden sun or F-zero, an arguably dead franchise at this point. and while I pesonally agree with the people who say that FE is saturating the roster, I will never justify or defend anyone who harasses Sakurai on twitter or says that he should be fired or that god forbid something bad should happen to him just because they’re feeling some type of way about a character. at the end of the day, Nintendo and the dev team made the choices they made and you’re free to be salty just don’t be an asshole. Hate them or love them, Byleth is here.

[epicspheal]

Hi! Congrats on making it through your first year of med school, I know that's hard to do so make sure to take some time for yourself 💜

I wanted to know if you could write something for Gordie? I'll take anything, but please take your time before doing this.

Hi there anon! Thank you so much for the kind words. Medical school has been an interesting challenge to say the least I also have to apologize for the delay in getting to this ask! When I first got this I was like "Oh Great, I'm actually working on a Gordie fic right now and I'll let them see this" Only school and writer's block got in the way So I'm going to bend my own rules for this an actually just do a character analysis for Gordie instead. So here we go... GORDIE NEEDS MORE LOVE FROM THE FANDOM Admittedly, I didn't know much of Gordie because I first played Shield. But since I loved SwSh so much I decided to go back and get Sword and there I actually fell in love with his character. He breaks the mold in a number of ways. Let's start off with his name. In Japanese his name is Makuwa which is the name of fruit called muskmelon (or just melon) which is very similar to Melony's name which is also derived from melon. So that's an easy tie between the two's familial connection. But Melons have interesting symbolism of their own as they represent prosperity, good fortune, and abundance in many cultures. And despite the rift between him and his mom, Gordie has abundance, prosperity and good fortune.

He's a major gym leader in one of the strongest gym circuits to date (minor gym leader if we're talking Shield but that's still huge), he has plenty of adoring fans, and his league card talks about how he's highly suspected of becoming a champion one day. Which is something that I don't see talked about much even in SwSh circles that absolutely should be. One for any trainer to be strong enough to considered a future champion is huge as there's only a handful of trainers who can even attain that rank. Even moreso as a type specialist. As we can see in the list of established champions in the series, the vast majority are multitype trainers with only a handful specializing in one type. And of those who specialize in one type only two of them (Wallace and Peony) that solely use Pokemon of their specialty while the others have at least one Pokemon not of their actual type. Gordie is a rock type specialist where all of his Pokemon are at least partially rock. And let's not forget that of the type specialist champions all of them are either Water, Dragon or Steel (yes Alder could count as a Bug type specialist but he's currently listed as a multitype champion). Rock however is often the specialty of the first or second gym leader on a gym circuit with so far only one trainer (Olivia) being representative of the type in the Elite Four. So for Gordie to be a rock type trainer who is strong enough to be considered a future champion is a huge accomplishment that I think bears mentioning.

Now let's take a look at his team. You can see while he does specialize in Rock types, only one of his Pokemon is pure rock while the others are dual type. The typings not only on the Pokemon but the moves he has are quite diverse allowing him to hit multiple types super effectively and cover 3 out of the 5 rock weaknesses. His team and movesets show he prefers an offensive approach prioritizing speed with Shell Smash, Tar Shot, Sticky Web and Coalossal's Steam Engine. In fact one of his in-game quotes alludes to the fact he prefers quick battles "I'll be bringing my matches to an end in a heartbeat—you'll see. No one who sees them will ever forget me."

He also heavily prioritizes breaking through physical defenses with Body Press and Wonder Room, as well as weather and entry hazards like Stealth Rock, Sticky Web, G-max Volcalith and Tyranitar's Sand Stream. It's a very solid set up that shows why in Sword he's the 6th gym leader challengers face and it shows how this team is very well designed to defeat Melony's.

As I've played through Sword at this point more than Shield (as I've decided for the purposes of cactusverse the Sword line up are canon) as I've gone through his gym, I really appreciate how encouraging he is to the player as they try to avoid the pitfalls in his gym. It's a nice touch to have him do that shows despite the fact he is a strict trainer he does have a soft side.

We know he does get frustrated after losing and unfortunately some people take that to mean he's a sore loser but he's not. Yeah he sulks in his locker and openly talks about his pride being bruised but there have been far better examples of actual sore losers in the franchise and he's not one of them. His fans honestly find his sulking sessions endearing and he even apologizes whenever he loses his cool.

"Sorry to lose my cool... I'll be sure to challenge you again."

And let's talk about the fact that he canonically is very popular and has a large fanbase. As a chubby character that's huge because unfortunately fatphobia exists and chubby characters are rarely portrayed as being popular, desired and highly skilled like Gordie is. Oh and he does backflips too showing his size doesn't mean he is unathletic? There are just so many positive subversions here and it's wonderful to see.

And Gordie cares a lot about his fans. He's stated to take the time to do autographs and meet and greets. He's seen in Twilight Wings opening fan mail in his hotel room. And a lot of what he discusses in Pokemon Masters EX involved him talking about how to best please his fans. It's obvious he cares so much for those who support him and it's heartwarming to see.

Now to get to the main talking point about Gordie...his strained relationship with his mom. I've seen people say that Gordie hates his mom but that's simply just not true! He's frustrated with her for trying to push her training style and preferred typing onto him. He wants to show he can succeed without her methods. But that frustration doesn't mean he hates her and quite frankly it's tiring to see how fandom portrays frustration as hate with Gordie and others. You can be frustrated without hating and I wish people would learn to use that nuance when talking about characters with strained relationships because usually when a narrative wants to display feelings of hatred...it will be very obvious.

In fact when Gordie does talk about Melony it's actually very tame. He mentions wanting to surpass her and how on Pasio the cold nights remind him of her. But nothing that signifies hatred. Sure they aren't on speaking terms but families sometimes go through rough patches. I'm sure at some point they'll begin to mend the rift. But yes, Gordie's a wonderful character that shows how even little details can signify so much. And once again I must say...Gordie deserves more love from the fandom!

[crystalelemental]

I've finally had the time to read through your Pokemon Team characterization! Gen 5 was when I realized that, maybe the Pokemon team and the arrangement actually had something to tell about the characters, but reading through your characterization made me realize that perhaps that already happened a lot sooner than I thought! Thank you for writing all of those, I had fun reading them.

Steven was the trainer that made me want to add Skarmory to my team. Raising it was rough since it's purely defensive, but I had a good experience having it. The Claydol setting the screens...I still remember my Emerald team almost getting defeated because my 10-years old brain didn't understand why his Metagross took less damage from my Blaziken. But yeah, Steven's Emerald battle was so much fun, and I agree his ORAS fight is kind of a downgrade.

I also like your analysis of Cynthia's team, and I very much agree with them. No matter what team she's using, she'll always be a challenge and difficult to defeat...that Double Team-spamming Spiritomb, I hate it. And the fact that I had to raise my own Garchomp just to counter hers in my Shining Pearl playthrough said a lot about how strong her ace is.

And your Hop team analysis...I love it so much! I think the story and characterization behind his team composition are more apparent than the others, especially because he takes center stage in Gen 8. That doesn't mean it's a bad thing, I like it. He's one of my most favorite rivals alongside N and Hau, so I am very happy when you did a post of him.

I read through Whitney and the Poison specialists too, they're all great! This makes me want to request some as well, but feel free to take your time and do it whenever you want to. I was going to request N's BW final fight team and B2W2 seasonal teams but realized that'd be way too much to work on, so...Morty and Zinnia! For Morty, you can do his GSC or HGSS, or B2W2 version, your choice.

I'm honestly interested to see what your characterization analysis of their team will tell about them, especially Morty (other than the fact that Johto doesn't have that much Ghost Pokemon selection he resorted to the Gengar line).

There's a lot, so I'll respond fully under the cut.

In completely fairness, I'm making up a lot. None of this is confirmed, but the idea is to showcase that you can make stuff up, and that's the basis of developing a character back in those times. Gen 5 was the first character-centric game where they really had a lot to work with, and Gen 7, oddly enough, really emphasized character moments to the point you have a pretty effective idea. But before that, you just cobbled together, and I really wanted to see more of that than just the Red and Blue favoritism stuff, so I decided to try my hand at this. I'm glad it seems to be at least somewhat popular, given how some of them got a decent response outside of my immediate sphere.

I was kinda surprised that his first ORAS fight is exactly the same. Like, it's almost the same movesets. Which is kinda funny, the way things change just by mechanics and movepools. But yeah, I really love the Emerald team, definitely my current favorite fight.

Cynthia's generally tough. I haven't done the BW or BW2 fights in a long time, so I don't remember them too well, but I can't imagine it's any easier. And...yeah, my opinion on BDSP is low, but I think as a good example of "Cynthia is always really weak to setup," Cresselia swept both of her big rematches in my game. Cresselia is stupid good as a Calm Mind setter.

Hop's felt slightly like cheating because we know so much about him, but it seemed to go over well with Hop fans, so I'll take the win.

Whitney's...might have been my favorite so far? Because there's so little to go off of. Well...okay, no, Geeta's was my favorite because I have an ulterior motivation (being contrary), but Whitney felt the most cobbled together from stuff we don't know. Which I think was more fun.

I can do all three. No promises on turnaround time, but I'll give each a try. And hey, great news! Morty's in a similar bracket to Whitney, and I don't actually know much about Zinnia! So this will be cobbling together nonsense real good.

[tonymacaroni5678]

Making a Monotype Spikemuth Cup Team Every day until S/V drop part 4: Water

Fire type was more challenging than I thought it would be. Water, however, has a great archetype within it, namely rain. I knew I had to use some Swift Swimmers in this team, Kingdra is the fastest, and Ludicolo has Fake Out, so those are my choices. I needed a rain setter, so the choice between Pelliper and Politoed. I went with Politoed initially, I think the support options are better there, and it's not 4x weak to electric attacks. Golisopod is an excellent Rillaboom answer, and doesn't mind Incineroar either with Emergency Exit actually helping against it. Urshifu-Rapid-Strike is such an offensive powerhouse, especially with choice scarf and in rain, so that set was kind of a no-brainer. For my final mon there were sooo many choices, but having had so much success with Iron Defense/Body Press on my mono steel team, I went with Slowbro. It's really quite bulky, but I feel like this is the weak link in the team, just from a crafting standpoint.

Honorable mentions to a whole lot of pokemon: Milotic, Dracovish, Barraskewda, Tapu Fini, Azumarill (sap sipper is soooo tempting in this specific instance), Gyarados, Rotom-Wash, Seismitoad, Suicune, Gastrodon, and Araquanid. Water does not have the problem fire has where I was struggling to find a balanced fifth and sixth mons for the team, in fact I could probably make a decent team out of mons I didn't include in this one!

Alright on to the battles!

Analysis after battle 1: Ludicolo was not the answer to Rillaboom that I thought it might be. Likely having a faster Fake Out is great, but alongside the mandatory Politoed there really isn't much I'm doing but delaying the inevitable for one turn. Also, Calm Mind Sylveon is an absolute monster. Had I brought Slowbrow in the back, I may have stood a chance, but even that is doubtful. After TR got set up, it was game over for me.

Once again, Rillaboom and Sylveon cause massive problems for the team. This one was a little closer, knowing Aqua Jet in rain does a lot more damage than First Impression when it comes down to Sylveon vs. Golisopod is helpful, definitely a learning point. I also dealt better with the Rillaboom this time, First Impression is seriously excellent for this team but getting the positioning right for it was more of an error on my opponent's side than strategy on mine. Golisopod is such a beast, it took out Rillaboom, Dragapult, and almost Sylveon too. Ludicolo put in more work this time against that Suicune, but I wish I had the chance to KO it earlier in the match, those Helping Hand boosted Grassy Glides did a lot for my opponent. HH Grassy Glide OHKO's Kingdra, which I did not expect.

Okay... so putting detect on a Choice Scarf mon again... my teambuilding suffers lol. Had I chosen Surging Strikes, it may have gone differently. I also missed SEVERAL Muddy Waters; this is unfortunate but it is peak Pokemon, so I can't really complain there. That opposing Spectrier really put in so much work for my opponent, and picking up the Grim Neigh boost on Snarl #1 million put it over the top. This was close, but not as close as it looked. I was pleased with Ludicolo and Kingdra's performance, and Damp Rock was justified; though if I had a shorter window for rain and was able to switch out Politoed to set it back up, that last turn would have been more in my favor.

It's my post, I can do more battles if I want to lol. I feel like Golisopod works so well, and I changed the moveset on Urshifu here to include Drain Punch instead of Detect so that I don't make that mistake again. I finally got a win here; but it was rough. I learned from last battle, switched out Politoed at the right time to bring rain back and clicked Surging Strikes with Urshifu. Golisopod carried this one, even after getting hit with a Thunder Wave, almost all of its moves are priority; and it's so slow naturally that Leech Life was always going to go last. Speaking of, Leech Life came in so clutch, even with burn it took my opponent several turns to KO it. It was interesting to see that burn damage triggers Emergency Exit, good to know for the future.

So version 2 of the team is here

I switched out Slowbro (who never came out to play) for Tapu Fini. Fairy STAB is nice to have, and Misty Terrain helps with any attempts to manage Kingdra/Ludicolo with paralysis. Below is a match where I won handily with version 2 of the team, maintaining weather control by frequently switching Politoed and maintaining good positioning. As always, feel free to borrow the team and hope you enjoy!

[qtrust]

Pokemon compare pokemon

If basing your decision HP alone doesn't settle it for you, look at the species' base stats on the link I provided above. Given Lapras' inherent tankiness, Lapras is a better choice than Cloyster. In the case where both know Hyper Beam, though, they are equally valid choices, since with STAB, Hyper Beam is the most powerful move in the game.įor another example, I'll compare Lapras and Cloyster, both Ice/Water types.Ī level 9.5 Cloyster with 500 CP (roughly mid-range) can have between 41 and 47 HP.Ī level 6.5 Lapras with 500 CP (roughly mid-range) can have between 87 and 92 HP. IVs aside, this low level Snorlax will most definitely tank more hits than the Raticate with equal CP. I did a calculation via the Silph Road IV Rater to show this:Ī level 13.5 Raticate with CP 500 (roughly in the middle) can have between 53 and 61 HP.Ī level 6.0 Snorlax with CP 500 (on the high end) can have between 102 and 107 HP. For example, a Snorlax will typically last longer than a Raticate due to its very high HP and Defense. However, Pokemon with exceptional values in some stats may outperform other species. Two Pokemon with the same CP tend to perform roughly the same, ignoring movesets and typing. To see which one is objectively better, use the Silph Road research page. Is there a way to use this spreadsheet so that it can do this kind of comparison? Or is there other spreadsheet/tool/website where I can do this comparison? D&D clerics are the servants of powerful gods, leveraging vastly different powers depending on the domains their god has sway over.In the world of Pokémon, Arceus is widely regarded as being among the most powerful of the several creatures that could be considered gods. Thus, I would need to compare #2 and #3, which are different levels, but the same CP. To get maximum prestige, I would want to use Pokémon that has around 550 CP. The spreadsheet enables me to compare #1 and #3, so even without understanding what all these ratings exactly mean, I can easily see that Snorlax is far superior to Raticate both defensively and offensively, which is something I would guess just after seeing their CP (1250 vs 550).īut assume, I need to train a gym with Pokémon around 1100 CP in it. Raticate (Bite, Hyper Beam), level 15, CP 550.Snorlax (Lick, Hyper Beam), level 7, CP 550.Snorlax (Lick, Hyper Beam), level 15, CP 1250.Let's assume, I have following three Pokémon: Let me give an example (to simplify things, let's ignore IV or attack types for now): But for the sake of efficient gym training, I would need to compare different Pokémon with the same CP. I am familiar with the Pokémon GO Species/Moveset Analysis Tool spreadsheet, which is very helpful, when one wants to compare movesets of one Pokémon or to compare different Pokémon on the same level.

[pokemon-strategy-dex]

Hawlucha

Moves: High Jump Kick and Acrobatics make up a fantastic dual stab combination, hitting the vast majority of Pokemon for at least neutral damage. Acrobatics gets boosted once Hawlucha burns whichever terrain seed it’s running. Swords Dance boosts Hawlucha’s already decent attack stat by two stages, helping it perform consistent sweeps. Roost makes it easier to set-up Swords Dances and deal with priority moves. It also helps you take on Pokemon who might try to stall you out. Since Hawlucha’s dual stab is already so great, it really doesn’t need any coverage moves. 

Spread: Max attack with an Adamant nature help Hawlucha hit as hard as possible. 124 Speed EVs helps Hawlucha outspeed Jolly Excadrill, effectively making it the fastest Pokemon in OU with the Unburden boost. Put the rest of the EVs into HP, since the other stats don’t really matter and it will help with setting-up a Swords Dance. Unburden is a fantastic ability, doubling Hawlucha’s speed when Hawlucha burns its item. To go with this, Hawlucha should run one of the Terrain Seeds (Electric Seed, Grassy Seed, Psychic Seed) which boosts one of its defensive stats when its corresponding terrain is active. 

Team Support/Usage: Hawlucha is a terrific sweeper, capable of clearing out entire teams once its checks have been weakened. Utilize hazards and wallbreakers to weaken the opponents, and then lure in a Pokemon which Hawlucha can set-up on while the terrain is active. Usually, if a Hawlucha can set-up an SD or two and get the Unburden boost you’ll win that game. I’m personally a big fan of setting up on Lando-T, as it’s usually the opponents main physical check on offense. As such, Hawlucha needs to be partnered with one of the Tapus to set up their Terrain. Additionally, Hawlucha greatly appreciates hazard support for wearing down the opponents team. Lastly, I am quite a fan of putting Hawlucha on rain teams because of the natural  synergy Mega Swampert and Hawlucha have. 

-PSDex