Jess

My next plan is to do a Poison Mono (cause I love Garbodor-I am weird, I know) and then a Grass (because I absolutely adore Sawsbuck). I don't have a hated type, but I find water types especially boring for some reason that I never understood... Always! I dislike them because of how common Mega-sweeps have become. I love how we have no Megas in Reborn currently. Only one I'd ever consider using is Mega Lopunny if I ever did a Normal monorun...

True, I'm glad that many of us try to add difficulty to the challenge, instead of whining about how hard it is/going to the gym leader help section to finish our casual run. I swear, people don't appreciate the joys of accomplishing something difficult nowadays. That's really cool, ZEL's backstory is one of my favs and the E16 last plot twist is quite a cliffhanger. Did you make the sprites yourself?

So, ZEL and Zell both started with Psychic monotypes? Is it fate? Is it the name? Sorry for that, I couldn't help it...

Gallade with Justified can literally annihilate Luna. It has great Sp.Def to tank one Dark Pulse, get a boost in his Attack and the rest is history. But (even though I dislike Gardevoir and love Gallade), in general I agree that Gardevoir will be more useful than Gallade. Edit: Also, don't be so sure about sweeping Shelly with Braixen... She tends to lower your Sp.Atk with Struggle Bug, so in a couple turns you'll be doing much less damage even with fire type attacks... I can't wait to see how you go in these fights!

@Another Retired Shipper, @Zellorea Shelly nearly ended my career in my Bug monorun... Trying to deal with her Anorith/Yanmega's Rock type attacks with only bugs... Not fun, took a dozen of tries and about 4 hours to beat!

@Zellorea Good luck, fellow monorunner! You had a great start I see... Don't forget to get a Bibarel traded for a Munna by a guy in a house in Peridot Ward (I think). Musharna is quite tanky, has good movepool and hits like a truck! Edit: I'm glad to be the first person to increase your reputation!

I agree that we have seen many abilities being absurdly overpowered and that when you make the game more complicated it is gonna be even harder to check for game-breaking things (a lot of balancing issues will arise). That is true! I dislike using Megas in general, so I will not use it, even if I get the opportunity too, but its stats and ability are really crazy. I don't feel Megas were necessary at the first place, and were only implemented for the commercial reasons, not really to help bad pokemon shine again (apart from very few exceptions). For example, why would Mewtwo, a powerhouse get TWO Megas, but Dunsparce gets none? Besides, Pokemon like Latias/Latios/Blaziken etc. were already strong enough, giving them Mega forms was just to satisfy their huge fanbase (utterly ridiculous imho).

This is true. In some cases, double abilities would help in preventing the points where logic is violated. For example, would it make Beedrill OP if it had Levitate and (say) Sniper simultaneously? Even Mega-Beedrill would be ok to have Levitate and Adaptability, provided that I doubt that any sane people would try to check it with ground type attacks... If it would be game-breaking at situations, then a clause could be put in, where (in case of a pokemon that has dual ability (levitate+something)) the second ability is toned down at the 2/3 of its original power (in case of single ability pokemons). There are ways to avoid inconsistencies and make the game more realistic, I'm stunned that nobody has thought of this in 7 generations.

Let's not discuss the criteria about which Gengar (till Gen VI) could not be hit by Earthquake cause of levitate, while it obviously has feet and stands on them, while Dustox/Beedrill are damaged (even neutrally) by Ground, even though they are flying bugs... GameFreak/Nintendo/whoever should really add a category of Pokemon that are immune to ground for obvious reasons (their ability to fly), instead of just force them to waste their ability slot with Levitate. I'd also recommend triple typing for some pokemon, even though this would maybe create triple weaknesses too and a huge pool of STAB moves (perhaps game-breaking for this reason)...

Great job and good luck at your new start! Just one question... You mention that due to Electric Field you can't put Electrode to sleep... Which is true, but then how did you utilize Yawn on Emolga to setup and heal? Shouldn't it be immune to sleep as well? Edit: My mistake, forgot Emolga is not grounded! Great strategy part there!

Thank you very much! As soon as I was able to get the power items I started training. Underground railnet and Woobat/Noibat for Speed, and garden of elder Seacrest (Caterpie/Wurmple/Hoothoot) for HP. Also, rooftop garden in Onyx Ward for Attack (Bellsprout/Pidove/Tranquil). But in general, my method was: Let's say I want to train Vespiquen (full EVs at HP, then half at Sp.Def and half at Def.). Start at Seacrest Garden and fully invest in HP (252). Then give the Sp.Def. power item and keep slaying Caterpie/Wurmple/Hoothoot, till you get the desired number of EV. Then switch to Defence and do same for the remaining of EVs. This link also helps!

He is a youtuber that made a "Let's play" of pokemon reborn, boosting its popularity greatly. He started when Episode 7 was the most recent release I think, and he played through all of it with just 6/7 pokemon, 2 of which were Gardevoir and Magnezone. Check him out btw, especially when he started playing the latest updates that had field effects, he raged soooooo much! xD I know, Magnezone is great. When it comes to Gardevoir, I'd pick Gallade over Gardevoir anytime. Plus the fact that Gardevoir might be male is stupid, ever seen a man in a gown and thought "wow, he looks good"?

I don't think they are THAT popular... It's mostly just because shofu used them, so everyone keeps thinking that since he used them, they must be awesome. But I think that suggesting them all the time strangles the creativity... They are good pokemon, undoubtedly, but not irreplaceable. They are not necessary 100% for a team to work. Anyways, I apologise for over-reacting.

@DangoDoom It is a very good team with good coverage. Since you lack priority and your team isn't the fastest team ever, consider Extremespeed on Arcanine and Aqua Jet on Empoleon (I know it is a special attacker, but it could come in handy). Also, maybe Flamethrower is better than Heat Wave (not better for Double Battles though). Finally, maybe get Giga Drain over Petal Dance on Roserade, just to avoid getting locked on a move and then confused. Confusion can be countered with a berry, but being locked on a move can be catastrophic and cause you to lose your Roserade... Finally... STOP BEING OBSESSED ABOUT MAGNEZONE AND GARDEVOIR, JEEZ... They are good pokemon, but consider giving some actually serious suggestions to some guy who asks for it, instead of saying the same in every.single.topic.

@Neco Welcome aboard the monotype train! Hope it fills you with more fun than despair (because let's be honest, pokemon Reborn inevitably despairs us sometimes)! Feel free to message me for anything you might need (help/suggestions/trading possibly), since I am currently doing a monobug run! Have fun! PS Good job on winning your first badge And thank you for not using the abominable serpent Serperior!

CHAPTER 8: Straightjacket jam and ghastly encounters So, Cain flees to Shelly's Gym while chasing down Heather, I follow and find them all in the middle of a conversation/argue/fight that hurts my brain cells incredibly badly. Heather is being a bitch kid that thinks of herself as a self-sustainable adult, Cain tries in vain to convince her of the obvious, so she insults everyone, including some amazing bullying towards her best friend, Shelly, and runs away, to be chased, again, by Cain, Shelly and me. We find her captured by Dr. Sigmund, who takes her to his asylum/clinic/light bulb testing place (?) and apparently proceeds to change Heather's fuses, while she screams. We decide to rescue her, so we storm the Dr's funhouse (not). Anna lets us in, because she saw us glowing through the keyhole apparently! Have I mentioned how much I like Anna? She immediately boosts the self-esteem of Shelly, and, with the assistance of Cain, Charlotte and Noel, we storm through this place, tearing down orderlies (thanks to Larvesta melting down a lot, I mean A LOT of Magnemites), opening cages and reclaiming Heather after Charlotte burns Dr. Sigmund with her cigarette (bonus points for Charlotte). We all flee, as the police is now chasing us. Have I also mentioned how useless the police is in pokemon games? Well, they cannot even tell who is the bad guys, even after I have saved their asses in Beryl/Jasper. Probably my (mute) character should've mentioned this to my co-fugitives though. Anyways, we head to the Underground Railnet, and we see a cutscene of Dr. Sigmund Connal knowing where Charlotte would go... He then gets approached by Sirius, another Meteor administrator, who suggests that they cooperate to achieve their goals... In the railnet, I use Rock Smash to open up the passage, but then we are stuck in front of a Big metal door. Shelly/Anna say that I have to go up to Beryl, beat Shade, the Ghost type leader at his Abandoned Power Plant/Gym, get my fourth badge and ask him to re-activate the power, hence opening the door... Of course, I accept. a) Because I want another badge, Because I love Anna and c) Because Heather has to speak again, instead of trying to steal the role of mute from me. I AM THE ONLY MUTE HERE, B****. So, I cross Beryl Bridge, enter the Abandoned Power Plant, enable the PCs in there, watch the cringy cutscenes, which involve Corey commiting suicide, Amaria jumping (or being pushed by a redhead?) down a cliff(?), a green haired woman exploding like an Electrode and a Garchomp decapitating a pink-haired woman. Then, I proceed to the middle room, meeting with Shade, the shade entity, who smiles, creeping me out and fights me! The team I used was: Valor, the Forretress (Male) Careful/Sturdy Protect Bug Bite Payback Spikes Royalty, the Vespiquen (Female) Bold/Pressure Heal Order Air Slash Toxic Power Gem Braveheart, the Butterfree (Male) Timid/Tinted Lens Psybeam Silver Wind Tailwind Gust Happiness, the Ariados (Female) Hardy/Sniper Sucker Punch Spider Web Night Shade Shadow Sneak Kindness, the Masquerain (Male) Naive/Intimidate Air Slash Silver Wind Stun Spore Hydro Pump Generosity, the Venomoth (Male) Hardy/Shield Dust Giga Drain Signal Beam Sleep Powder Psybeam VS SHADE So Shade starts with Corey Gengar and I start with Forretress. He starts using Thunderbolts on me, but I lay down two layers of Spikes, healing myself with an Ultra Potion in the meantime. Ultra Potions have been a generous gift by our sponsor, Linoone, who has Pickup and has saved my ass with his items God knows how many times! Gengar keeps hitting me, but I start replying with Payback, which takes out a bit more than Gengar's half HP, since it gets its power doubled (a Forretress can never outspeed a Gengar), and Forretress is holding a Dread Plate. Eventually Gengar goes down, but Forretress is at the brink of fainting too, so I switch in my Vespiquen to take care of the Banette, Shade's second pokemon. Banette uses a Shadow Claw, which takes out a bit less than Vespiquen's half HP. Turns out that the EV training in HP and Def./Sp.Def. actually helped a lot here! In the same turn Vespiquen Toxic's the Banette. In the next turns Banette tries to murder me with Shadow Claws and Knock Offs, while Vespiquen only uses Heal Order and prays that Chadow Claw doesn't crit. Luckily, it doesn't (this time, you can't believe it is my first attempt to beat Shade, can you) and Banette goes down to poison. Shade now has no healing items either, which is great. Doublade comes in, and knowing that it is slow as hell and has Gyro Ball, I send in my Ariados, who is also slow and has priority moves. Three Sucker Punches are enough to take Doublade down, leaving my Ariados in red HP as well. Shade sends in Rotom, and I send in my Venomoth. Venomoth barely survives a Discharge, which turns on the lights, but fails to Paralyze and puts Rotom to sleep with Sleep Powder. To my (great) luck, it remains asleep for 2 turns, gets taken to a third of its HP with two Giga Drains, but then it wakes up and murders my Venomoth with Shadow Ball. At least it didn't use Pain Split. My Ariados is sent in and finishes the job with another Sucker Punch. Rotom is down! Shade sends in his Trevenant and I reply with my Butterfree. Silver Wind deals about 45% of Trevenant's HP, but grants me a boost in all my stats! The lights are on, but Shadow Claw still hurts, dealing slightly less than of my HP. I have to thank my Silver Wind boosts for that. I use Tailwind, thinking that my Masquerain is much slower than Shade's Chandelure, which is his ace. Trevenant uses Leech Seed on my Butterfree to try to stall me out and recovers some of its HP, but it doesn't matter, because in the next turn a second Silver Wind takes down the Trevenant! Shade sends in his Chandelure, and I keep my Butterfree in to take advantage of its stat boosts for as much as possible. I use a Psybeam that only deals a fifth of Chandelure's HP, then Butterfree dies to a Flame Burst. For the last turn of Tailwind, I send in my Masquerain. My Hydro Pump connects, leaving Chandelure in red HP, but my Masquerain faints to another Flame Burst. Finally, I send in my Ariados, who again, for the third time in this fight, comes in clutch with its 5th (and last) Sucker Punch, granting me the much wanted win and my fourth Gym Badge (together with a raise in level cap to 45 and with the TM for Shadow Claw)! Shade activates the power, but we watch in his big screen that our friends are captured by Meteors led by Sirius. Only Cain escapes, by Earthquaking with Nidoking, preventing the Meteors from capturing him, by the chasms opened on the ground. I guess we will head there... We must not let our friends suffer to the poison in vain... Till next time, enjoy everyone!

Speaking of which, how is your monodark run going? I was enjoying reading it a month ago, but it seems abandoned... Is it a WIP?

On top of that, they abuse field effects against you. You can say it is nearly unfair, if you try to win via brute force. This is where you have to be reminded that they are still AIs, and you can come up with a strategy to beat them. But training your pokemon properly or breeding to get better IVs helps a lot. Especially in challenge runs.

Shiny Swanna in my shiny run... I swear to God, Hurricane never missed and confused half of the time... She was truly worthy of the nickname Duckess! Absolute ace.

I checked and it is in my inventory. I am 100% sure i found it on a platform at the far right of some room in Water treatment centre. It isn't visible during surfing, so check all platforms. It is easy to miss.

@Zargerth LOL, yes, I got Rhyhorn too... But asked in online play section and someone traded me a Larvesta egg! 3 runs I've done, 2 Rhyhorns I've got... I am not sure whether this is true about Rock Tomb. I think you find both this and Sandstorm in WTC now, just in different spots (Rock Tomb somewhere far right on a platform and Sandstorm at the spot that an underground gate to meteor site existed in previous episodes). Am I correct?

@Zargerth I share your feelings about Ciel. Check how I defeated her in my Bug-monorun... Took god knows how many tries to come up with a proper strategy. She is literally hella difficult if you don't have counters to her every ace.

I've played Reborn three times (one unfinished run) so far and I've been wondering... Does anyone know whether leaders in reborn have EV trained pokemon or not? (Particularly wondering about Cal at Pyrous mountain, but question is general). Also, they have perfect IV pokemon or random? Thank you all!

Definitely NOT Magnezone with your current team. You have Lucario and Metagross, so two Steel types already. You'll have a huge weakness to Fire/Ground if you add Magnezone. Electivire with Elemental Punches would be a good addition. Consider also a Grass type. A typical Water/Ground (say Swampert for example) could check your team relatively easily now. As for Milotic, Icy Wind, Toxic and Recover instead of Waterfall, Rain Dance and Surf have worked wonders for me. Stalling/sustain is more important than raw damage on Milotic.

Only Ice destroys it... I am doing a bug mono and the only Ice type attack I could get was Icy Wind (weak AF) only on my Masquerain. Which is slow as hell and frail as hell. You can see why I hate this thing.