Zargerth

Most of your team is weak to Ice, so it's no surprise it gets wrecked. Hariyama with Thick Fat isn't a bad choice, so go get one of those. Iirc Angie leads with Weavile, so if you want to use "cheap" tactics, use Intimidate Mawile. Switch it back and forth with something else like Chesnaught. After that set up with Stockpile and use Baton Pass to move the Defense / Sp. Defense buffs to Hairyama or something. You can use your Golem to set up Stealth Rocks at the beginning of the battle or use it to bring Froslass down with Rock Blast - if you're not going to use Baton Pass, that is. Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan are good alternatives as well. You just might not want to use them against Froslass - Weavile can be defeated with Mach Punch. Fire-types don't do particularly well against Angie. While moves like Lava Plume and iirc Flame Burst can be used to get rid of the ice, there are two major problems: First one is coverage moves. Your options of Fire-types is already limited since you need to use certain moves. However, Angie's team is armed with moves that destroy any Fire-types you try to bring in. Second issue is Cold Truth. This move regenerates the ice if you managed to melt it.

Some of the proposed achievements are something you might get locked out of, and that rubs me the wrong way. Defeating a gym leader on your first try? Well, if they land a critical hit on you you might just fail. If an achievement is tied to a location, that location should be one you can re-visit any time or at least after proceeding further in the game. How would achievements even work? Can you work on them in as many save files as you wish or do you have to unlock them again in every save file? If beating Solaris' Garchomp was in fact, one of the achievements, I would deliberately have to avoid unlocking it should I try to get one of the multiple endings Reborn is said to offer based on the choices you make. You can say you're not supposed to get all the achievements during a single playthrough, which is in my opinion fine as long as the achievements you got during your first playthrough stay unlocked when you start another playthrough.

You could just catch a couple of Sturdy Gravelers or Geodudes in the cave underneath the Grand Stairway since they learn Bulldoze. Sturdy allows you to take any move from Arceus. Two Bulldozes are enough to defeat Arceus since the cave collapses.

Not really. I reset for better IVs if I need to, but don't really bother with optimal EVs (except in Reborn Hardcore) - I dislike grinding. Perfect IVs and optimal EVs make battles easier, but they're not required for you to win.

If you have Focus Sash, you can use Mirror Coat Electrode to deal huge damage and since Electrode is much faster, you can still use Discharge. Or if you don't have Focus Sash, catch Muk while you're there. Muk knows Memento which you can use to weaken Swalot so it's Sludge Wave won't OHKO Electrode. After Electrode is down you can finish off Swalot with another Electric-type. On a side note, I found it funny when I used Dive with my Beartic. It turned out Beartic suffocated in the poisonous water and died before being able to attack. That makes me wonder if you can take the battle underwater with a Poison-type that can learn Dive, like Tentacruel? The PULSE battles on Hardcore are BS because of them having Full Restores, as if making them absurdly over-leveled wasn't enough...I actually used Prankster Murkrow with Perish Song to deal with most PULSES simply because they had healing items.

Narcissa and Angie. Facing Angie without a Fighting-type is hell. As for Narcissa, well, I think I was playing version 4 or 5 when I was playing through Rejuvenation the first time. Back then I tried to beat her several times but failed miserably, so I decided to just proceed further and skip the Goldenleaf gym for the time being. To my surprise, it was actually possible to do that, so I cleared the Blacksteeple Prison (it was Prison back then) and defeated Valarie. The battle with Melia was infuriating because of how underleveled my team was, and the couple of my Pokemon that actually stood a chance exceeded the level cap and thus rarely obeyed me. After I had defeated Valarie I went back to Goldenleaf and challenged Narcissa again and finally got her badge. I probably remember this struggle for the rest of my life.

Gardevoir is definitely one of the most frequently seen Pokemon. In addition to every Psychic- and Fairy-type Gym Leader having one in their team, Gardevoir speaking English is a common phenomenon.

In Reborn (as of episode 16) there's a sudden increase in the amount of Togekiss you encounter: Ciel has a Togekiss, Victoria (for whatever reason) has a Togekiss, Adrienn also has a Togekiss. Flinch-hax got old pretty fast. I do agree about Hydreigon and Garchomp, they've become trademark Pokemon for villains. Don't forget Blake. Literally every Ice-type Gym Leader has a Froslass. Edit: When it comes to Riolu, well, pretty much every Fighting-type Gym Leader + Aelita have Lucario.

And here I thought it usually goes the other way around. In any case, that does make sense.

This is just me, but Pyroar is in my opinion one of the better Fire-types. Pyroar doesn't learn a variety of coverage moves, but it's fast and has respectable Sp. Attack.

I may not be the best person to answer these questions, but from what I understand: a. There's no information on this. Caz has been inactive some time due to having to work two jobs. b. As far as I know, 6th.

Why didn't you search for the missing policemen? You could still do it, but there's little something you missed out on now.

While I don't exactly hate Beartic, it didn't manage to impress me. It's slow, and can't get crucial OHKOs and thus ends up getting K'Od first - if you either miraculously took a hit or managed to outspeed something. It's completely useless against Terra as well, as it's Icicle Crash is Special Attack thanks to Glitch Field. I would like to see the Gen 7 stat buffs implemented, that might help this poor polar bear.

Venusaur might not be that helpful against the Rock-type leader as one would think. It's reasonable to assume Hardy uses the Dragon's Lair (or whatever it was called) field which buffs the power of Fire-and Dragon-type moves, as well as makes Rock-type moves Rock+Fire -type. This means he can hit Venusaur super-effectively with something like Stone Edge. You might want to use Ground-types and maybe your own Dragon-types. Even though you have three Psychic-types, you most likely will be just fine. I can't see there being that many Bug-types, chances are Titania owns some Steel/Bug-types but Delphox is able to burn all of them. There might not be that many Ghost-type moves that you should be aware of either. That leaves Dark-type (coverage) moves to watch out - namely, Knock Off and perhaps Sucker Punch. In short, if the opponent has super-effective moves against your Psychic-types, I'm sure your other team members can remove those threats.

Meganium. Despite having a rather shallow movepool, it can still do very well in many battles. Nature Power is a very versatile move, as it most of the time allows you to benefit from the field effect. Meganium is also pretty bulky and has access to moves like Synthesis and Reflect. Another one would be Klinklang. It's quite similar to Meganium; has a shallow movepool, but can still do a very good job. Two set-up moves in Magnetic Flux and Shift Gear can make Klinklang completely unstoppable. Gear Grind hits most types either neutrally or super-effectively and since it's a multi-hit -move, Sturdy or Focus Sashes won't screw you over. Last but not least, Barbaracle. Why everyone thinks it's ugly is beyond me First of all, it learns all the moves it needs via level-up (and heart scales): Stone Edge, Razor Shell, Cross Chop and Shell Smash just to name a few. Second, it has good abilities like Tough Claws and Sniper that complement the moves Barbaracle learns - many of them either make contact, have high critical hit- ratio or both. Last, Shell Smash in itself is a game-changer. You could just buy some White Herbs if you really need to get rid of the Def/Sp.Def drops.

Disclaimer, I guess: I don't mean to discredit the effort put into field effects, I'm merely wondering if field effects can be taken a step further. I was talking with my brother about Reborn (which I every now and then do) and while he's more of a competitive player than the sort to play for the story, he told me one of the reasons he has not started playing Reborn (or any fangame for that matter) yet is that although he finds field effects a refreshing addition, they are unfinished. There are field effects that seem to serve one purpose only: making the boss or Gym Leader battle unfair by definition. This means all the field effect does is buff the Gym Leader's Pokemon in one or more ways, while offering the player no means of using the field to their advantage and instead acts as huge disadvantage. This doesn't promote strategic play, it promotes pure counterpicking and cheesing. Luckily there aren't many fields like this in Reborn. Another point of view we discussed was the versatility of field usage. There are several fields the player can use to their advantage and interact with; one of the reasons I like the battle with Shade is that it promotes smart use of the field, and yet Shade can manipulate it just as easily. However, in his opinion there are fields that are like switches; they are either on or off. For instance, while Corey's corrosive mist field can be interacted with, Corey has no means to counter your counter as far as I know. What I mean is that once the corrosive mist is removed from battle with Fire-type moves, Corey can no longer create the mist again (I'm not sure if Flying-type moves remove the mist just temporarily or completely). Another example would be Serra's mirror field. Heck, breaking it causes you to lose relationship points, so if you're not willing to do that you're at the mercy of evasion hax. What makes the battle with Noel so great is that he is not having an unfair advantage over you right from the start, and there are several winning strategies depending on how you use the field. What Noel seems to lack, however, is the means of using your usage of the field against you - outside of Hidden Power, that is. The plethora of genius ways one can use fields shifts battling from just clicking super-effective / highest BP moves towards a more strategic battle where the circumstances are prone to change. While these "interactable" fields tend to be what you might call a "double-edged sword", additional means to use the field is what prevents them from being too one-sided or one-dimensional. It's just that the Gym Leaders or bosses need counters to your counters. What are your thoughts on this subject; do you prefer stabile or linear / straightforward fields or fields that tend to change during the battle -depending on how the battle is played- and thus at the very least have a chance of shifting momentum?

I found only the TM for Sandstorm, from the spot where Rock Tomb used to be. Maybe I need to go back and see if I really missed Rock Tomb.

That's really impressive, considering the disadvantage you're in. Shell Smash is godsend in that battle. Did you get Larvesta from the Mystery Egg? All I ever got form it was Rhyhorn, lol. I wonder why Rock Tomb was replaced with Sandstorm in Episode 16. This is, in my opinion, unnecessary indirect buff to Ciel. Now that one of the few coverage moves you can get against her is either axed or moved, you need to rely (even) more on counterpicks, namely Steel- and Rock-types for the most part.

Interesting, the opponent switching is something I've seen happen just a few times, and even then they have switched like once during the battle. Are you going to stick to your current team for the whole game or will there be rotations later on?

Welcome, and happy birthday!

Ducklett da MVP. Is it just me, or does Fly mess up the AI somehow? I'm referring to your battle with Fern. Also, I didn't even know Florinia's field weakens Electric- and Water-type moves, even though I have played through the current release several times.

Dugtrio is extremely frail and revenge killing (which Dugtrio is mainly used for in competitive play) isn't exactly a thing in Reborn.

Well, that indeed sounds like it's a glitch. But hey, if it works, it works. If you ask me, I'd choose either Donphan or Krookodile. Both are good, really. I'm not sure if Knock Off was already available in the game; Donphan, however, learns it via level up. Combine that with Sturdy and you can cripple threats like Choice Band or Scarf mons. Krookodile, on the other hand, can weaken the opponent(s) with Intimidate. While Moxie is great, I don't think Krookodile can sweep due to lack of Speed and priority. It's not slow by any means, but there are Steel- and Dragon-types that do outspeed it. Then there are the Swift Swimmers that have their Speed boosted on Water fields (both of which I assume Amaria uses).

I was about to tell you how to find that particular room, then I realized you have to be in that room since that screenshot is from there.

Aron. You need to Headbutt metal bars. Edit: actually now that I think about it, you already know where that room is...