ChineseSkyCandy

In case anybody wants the new lord of walls:

In my Mono-bug runthrough, the main way of winning major battles has been Sticky Web Galvantula + Moxie Heracross and Shell Smash Crustle, depending on the matchup; otherwise, the MVP is Escavalier, which will usually be your go-to when you need to tank a hit. I'd go as far as to say that these four are pretty much mandatory and I have never rotated them out since picking them up. In terms of other options, Vivillon is probably the best Quiver Dancer with Venomoth not far behind, Leavanny can be extremely useful in certain battles with Nature Power (for example, mine swept Kiki using Nature Power --> Meditate, which boosts Attack 3 stages on her field), Yanmega and Scolipede's Speed Boost can be a lifesaver in some situations as well. In the early game, don't sleep on some more lesser-used bugs either; my Wormadam-G proved invaluable in certain battles as it is the only Bug at that point with access to an offensive Rock-type move (Crustle arrives quite late), which I needed to take on people like Cal (who is incidentally probably Bug Mono's greatest enemy due to lack of options). Forretress helps immensely vs. Aya, with Spikes + field effect wearing down her team. Bug Monotype is great fun! Hope you have as much fun as I have doing it!

Post above me outlines Leo x Felicia and Camilla x Niles, both are excellent for the reasons he gives. Forrest becomes the ultimate anti-magic unit and can get double auras with Gentihomme and Inspiration (any aura skills are brilliant in my book, particularly when little details matter like in Lunatic). Camilla x Niles is kinda lacklustre in terms of Pair-Up bonuses but Nina turns out brilliant; the versatility of being able to attack with Silver or Shining Bows is brilliant, Savage Blow and Trample are both great skills, not to mention Nina is arguably the most important kid on Lunatic for the Pass/Rescue combo to cheese the Endgame. Xander x Charlotte is by far the optimal pairing for the former, giving him even more Str and a much needed Speed boost. I'd like to add the following: Best pairing in Conquest is Arthur x Effie by a mile. Arthur as a frontline unit is kinda chancy given his horrid hit rates and tendency to get crit at the most inopportune times, but he gives superb bonuses (+5 Str as a FIghter and +7 Str as a Berserker). Give him to Effie, and combined with her godly Str and her personal skill Puissance, she OHKOs pretty much everything on Conquest, even on Lunatic, with the right weapon. Percy turns out great as well from this arrangement, pass him Luna from Effie and you're set. They come really early too so you can get them to S-support by Chapter 11-12ish. Keaton x Mozu. Personally I think this is the way to go for these two. Archer/Sniper Mozu loves a bit of extra power sometimes for killing units in one shot rather than one round to protect her from unnecessary damage, and Keaton's bonuses are brilliant. Velouria with Aptitude gains HP/Str/Spd/Def almost every level and becomes an absolute killing machine (just keep her away from mages). Odin x Elise. If you get a few decent level-ups with Odin he's quite useable on Conquest. Elise is hands down the best partner because Ophelia is the only child she won't butcher with her dreadful Str and Def growths, and she'll turn into a formidable offensive magical unit. I say pass down Demoiselle (or Insipiration if you have it), because more auras is better. I did struggle to build this support though given Elise's position as a healer at the back of the army so take it or leave it I guess. Silas x Selena. This pair is pretty complimentary bonus-wise, Silas needs a touch more Speed and Selena needs a touch more power. They provide what the other needs which is what you want in a good pairing. Sophie turns out nice too; she likes Sol, and if you decide to go Sky Knight on Selena she can even pass down Darting Blow or Warding Blow for great Player Phase offense.

Honestly I believe Chapter 8 on Lunatic is not quite as tough as everybody believes. In my experience getting the three villages is a fairly simple matter, just rush all of your units towards the western villages. Niles ORKOs the most dangerous enemies (Dark Mages), although you'll need a bit of luck with his shaky hit rates. As long as your Effie is well trained (she should be from Chapter 7 and Paralogue 1) she can easily OHKO Dark Mages with Attack Stance/Silas Pair Up/Str Tonic etc, and Arthur or Mozu can do their bit as well if they got some Spd. Avatar can tank all axe users with ease (I usually opt for +Def) with help from adjacent Elise for Lily's Poise. In order to get the 3rd village, just make sure that Elise is in a position to Freeze the westernmost Lancer before he can get there, then pursue with Silas. Yeah a lot of these are pretty accurate, but I actually love chapter 17 and think it's one of the easiest and most lucrative training chapters in the game. The reason is that you get Xander (the colossal pile of Def) from the previous chapter. Give him a Def Tonic and a +Def Pair up (I like Peri) and his Def becomes so high that not even the Master Ninjas can scratch him. The best part is that even though they don't attack, most of the enemies will mindlessly rush you anyway, which means all you need to do is plonk Xander into a chokepoint and you can kill all the ninjas, one at a time, with 2-range weapons from behind Xander on Player Phase, using Azura to dance them out of harm's way once you're done. Plonk Camilla/Elise adjacent for damage bonuses. In my Lunatic run I got enough experience killing ninjas in this fashion to get 4 tier 1 units to tier 2 in this chapter, it's beautiful. If you position your unused units in the long hallway to the north of your starting position, you can stop Saizo running away to steal your kills as well (can't save the Speedwing in the end sadly; RIP). Once you've cleared all the rushing enemies it's a very easy cleanup. Fuck Chapter 20.

Mega Dragonite's Mega stone: The Dragonitenite?

Got it. Thank you both for your lightning-fast replies!

I did search that cave, but I couldn't find it. Granted, I don't have Flash, so I easily could have missed it. I'll check again. Can anybody else confirm?

It was previously found in the mountain in front of Shade's gym with the Strength glitch, but I've just checked there using EP15 and it's been replaced by, of all things, the TM for Double Team. I've searched and can't find any posts which have found it elsewhere. I could go catch a female Nidoran but ideally I'd like something I can very easily soft reset for good IVs. Does anybody know where it's been moved?

For my Bug monotype, half the team carried the weight (being Escavalier, Galvantula, and Crustle), and the other half floundered about and ended up being dead weight, sadly (Heracross, Leavanny, Yanmega). Galvantula's Sticky Web made the 3 double battles manageable (cleared on the first try, surprisingly), and its T-wave helped beat the PULSE and Ciel's Altaria. Crustle blasted through half of Ciel's team and virtually swept Blake/Fern with Shell Smash. Escavalier 2HKOed the PULSE with +6 Drill Run, tanked just about everything from Blake/Fern, and KOed Togekiss and MegaAlt. The other three were basically death fodder :-/

That part in Ametrine's abandoned house where Shelly says, "It's not like reading other people's diaries has got anyone into trouble before, right?" :,-)

Oh ye of little faith. I found a way round Charlotte, I'll find a way around Ciel's Flying types as well with bad AI and loads of hax But anyways, your argument doesn't really make sense. In what situation would my Crustle be down to 1 HP vs a Talonflame, and at the same time the AI is able to switch out? I mean, I'm not switching it directly into Talonflame, that would be dumb (breaks Sturdy). So the only logical position is to assume I've brought in Crustle after I sac something. From there, only one of the two conditions that you set (AI switches out, Crustle at 1HP) can occur. So I don't really understand your point. Also, you really think Talonflame can even come close to bringing Crustle down to Sturdy with a non-SE move? Smh... Crustle has 125 base defense, in case you forgot. But cheers for everybody's suggestions. Looking back on it, Powder would have been hilarious...

Ok people, thankfully it wasn't impossible. By exploiting some godawful decisions by the AI, I actually managed to beat Charlotte. And it only took something like 30+ resets. In the end, it turned out that Typhlosion actually outsped +2 Crustle anyways (much to my dismay the first time I managed to get a Shell Smash up, using the flinch strategy outlined earlier). So I decided I needed a bit of help from poor AI. Finally I got it, as Typhlosion failed to OHKO Galvantula with HP Rock and Darmanitan U-turned into Yanmega's Detect, allowing me not only to T-Wave Typhlosion but also get up a crucial Sticky Web the following turn. Through more questionable plays, Charlotte randomly decides to switch Delphox into a Drill Run from my death fodder Escavalier, which brings it into the red and forces her to waste turns healing it (crucial, as it has Heat Wave). Escavalier eventually goes down, but with Delphox in the red it's easy pickings for my Moxie Heracross, who proceeds to outspeed Darmanitan thanks to Sticky Web and OHKOes it with a Close Combat before going down to Rotom. So it's now 3v3, I still have Crustle, Yanmega, and Leavanny. Charlotte has Rotom, Ninetales and Volcarona. It looks pretty bad as Volc and Tales hit the field, but thankfully Ninetales goes for Nasty Plot rather than an attack, giving Crustle a chance to Shell Smash for the game as Yanmega flinches Volcarona. From there Rock Slide spam won the game. A bit of an ordeal, and required huge luck and poor plays from the AI, but it has been done!

Ugh, I knew I should have soft reset for a Claw fossil... Anyways, I have an idea, but I need a Heart Scale to reteach Detect to Yanmega. Are there any mining rocks or hidden scales in the region that anybody knows of? The plan is to lead with Yanmega + Death fodder, Detect with Yanmega and let Typhlosion/Darm kill off the other lead. Yanmega gets its Speed Boost. Then bring in Crustle, hope for a flinch on Typhlosion with Air Slash, and that Darm takes aim at Yanmega. With this hopefully free turn, Crustle can get the crucial Shell Smash. ... Desperate I know, but at the moment it's the only plan I have.

So yeah, I've finally reached the battle that I've been dreading during this whole playthrough, and sure enough, Charlotte steamrollers me every single time. Every single team member (bar Crustle with Sturdy) is outsped and OHKOed by Typhlosion alone, and Crustle will go down to the burning field at the end of the turn anyway. Or it would, if Darmanitan didn't finish the job first. I'm fresh out of ideas for getting past this one. Anybody got a genius plan for me...? (For reference, I've included my Pokemon resources here. Bear in mind I cannot return to Reborn City):