Seel The Deal

On Intense, Geara's Clefable has a seed that will activate in the sky field, setting 8 turns of Tailwind for the duo. However, on Normal/"Reborn", (at least according to the wiki, I've never played through Normal myself) it simply has a Sitrus Berry. Therefore it's pretty much straight advantageous to change it to a sky field, as it makes a number of their mons lose their neutrality to Rock (rock moves are Rock/Fire on the volcano, so Gyarados, Typhlosion, Dragonite etc. don't care about them). Mantine with Bounce is a good setter and also comes with Wide Guard to protect from Rock Slide, Eruption, etc. One thing I'll say is that you can't rely on one or two "star" teammates for this fight, you'll need to build a full cohesive team, and you can't really "counterteam" them so to speak. Thus it's less about finding specific good mons for the fight, and more about forming a solid strategy (and an adaptable one, thanks to RNG queen Melia) with a diverse team. That being said these were definitely the 3 crucial mons that allowed me to do the Intense mode fight mono-Flying: Toucannon hits a lot of their mons super-effectively off a massive base 120 Attack stat with 125BP Rock Blast/Bullet Seed thanks to Skill Link, leading to a lot of OHKOs especially if Melia double-targets with you. This is especially effective against Dragonite, as Multiscale only protects from the first hit of Rock Blast. Sky field is important for this, not only so Rock Blast actually hits super-effectively, but also since it's slow and greatly appreciates a lengthened Tailwind. Oricorio (electric) is a great choice with Revelation Dance taking down Minior off the bat and keeping Moxie Gyarados from getting out of hand. Hurricane does great neutral damage to anything else. Most Electric types should be good for the same reasons really, but Oricorio gets the advantage of having a super strong secondary attack (its closest competition being Alolan Raichu, who has a weaker secondary STAB move alongside paper-thin defenses that ensure it'll never get off a Nasty Plot). Mantine as previously mentioned is great at discouraging them from spamming Rock Slide (and in Typhlosion's case Eruption), and can also be a strong offensive threat if you can set up rain + sky field, as nearly half of their mons are weak to water. It's also incredibly bulky, to the point where with full HP investment it can live a field-boosted Thunder from Clefable or Silvally.

Head over to the move tutors in the revamped Peridot ward, iirc even before Adrienn you get access to the elemental punches, Metagross could do with either Thunder Punch or Ice Punch.

I think the big thing with Tailwind for me, is not only does it double your team's speed, BUT changing the field removes the 50% special defense boost from the Misty terrain, which makes special attackers, like, actually usable. Even super-effective hits from Pokemon with over 100 base SpAtk would be doing less than half to her bulkier mons like Togekiss and Florges, and don't even bother hitting Granbull at that point since it's at 2.25x after the Assault Vest and also has Intimidate. With mostly physical attackers it's a more manageable field but changing it makes the battle faster and cleaner overall if you go in with a plan. Mind you that's all my preference - there's more than one strategy that works for every leader and everyone's going to prefer something a bit different

If you want a Grass starter, imo Rowlet is the way to go. I used it on my Intense semi-blind playthrough; takes advantage of a lot of the early fields and scales very well into lategame with its bulk and movepool. Popplio also seems like it would be a great starter but I haven't tried it myself. ...actually, now that I think about it, the whole Gen 7 trio is probably the best (or very close) of each type. Huh. Neat.

Set up Tailwind, and get a few Pokemon with Slash. Bisharp and Braviary work wonders as they offset the two Intimidate users with Defiant, both learn Slash, and the latter gets Tailwind. After using Tailwind, you'll be in a Fairy Tale Field (boosts Slash and makes it Steel-type, then boosts Steel moves, so it's disgustingly strong and super effective) and your entire team will have doubled speed, likely for the duration of the battle with how hard you'll be hitting. Bisharp might consider a Focus Sash to avoid getting taken down turn 1 by Gardevoir (your base speed is lower and Reborn uses gen 7 speed mechanics, so there's no way to outpace it turn 1), but Braviary's free to hold a Metronome or Silk Scarf. You could also use Whimsicott for Prankster Tailwind, and though it doesn't have Slash your Mawile's Iron Head should do just fine damage. The previously mentioned Escavalier is also amazing in the Fairy Tale field even with its terrible speed taking no advantage of Tailwind.

For Klefki, Aggron would work, but you can also consider a Bisharp: Dark typing makes it immune to Prankster and Steel makes it neutral to Fairy and gives it a STAB, field-boosted Slash that should easily take it down. You also get Low Kick via move tutor which should do excellent damage to her Fighting-weak mons. Could swap it for Absol since Sucker Punch absolutely demolishes Aegislash in Blade Form and her AI should notice you're an easy OHKO and just attack (if not just keep spamming Knock Off/Night Slash with Defiant to offset King's Shield). Empoleon would be a bit more comfortable to take down with a strong Electric type like Mega Ampharos or Rotom-Wash, as they both resist Water and Steel, and the latter also resists Ice and takes only 20BP from Grass Knot (idk if it has that, haven't fought here in a while, but it's irrelevant regardless soooooo). Could replace your own Empoleon since it's not doing anything in this battle. Other than that, seems like you have a strategy pretty well down. If you still can't win consider picking up a Swampert and sweeping with Curse + Leftovers, since Sandslash isn't the strongest attacker and you can constantly boost your Defense and offset the residual Hail damage (or remove it entirely with Rain Dance, since the only attack you need is Earthquake).

The "starter quest" in question can be accessed after completing the restoration project in the Grand Hall. Go downstairs and you can find someone who wants eggs of every starter up to gen 7. I forget at which milestone you get Garchompite, but the final reward is the Shadow Ball TM so it's well worth doing the whole quest regardless. As for a comprehensive guide to Mega Stones/Z Crystals, I'm not aware of such a thing, but the E18 item guide is the closest thing to that. You can Ctrl+F stones you're missing to avoid having to browse every item pickup listed there. If you don't get any results, chances are it's not in the game yet (e.g. Salamencite, Kommonium Z).

Since Typhlosion because noticably weaker with even a slight bit of chip, you'd probably want a backup sweeper. Mega Houndoom is just about the strongest Sun attacker you can get your hands on, spamming Solar Power, Burning Field, Sun-boosted STAB Heat Wave to bust through even bulky resists. Houndoom + Ninetales is one of the few 2-mon combos that reliably beats the entire gauntlet, and that's without even setting terrain. Also keep in mind that you don't need pledges to set the Burning Field. It's probably better to make use of Bloom Doom since that's also a strong attack, coverage against Water and Rock, and nothing's going to be getting a chance to douse the field if you play your sweepers right (same mindset you'd apply to making the Corrosive Mist field really) so you don't desperately need multiple chances. This would let you drop Silvally which doesn't really fit into any form of hyper offense very well. You can also just outright use Grassy Terrain in which case I'd consider Roserade so it can make use of Weather Ball boosted by both Sun and terrain, or Jumpluff since it doesn't take damage from the terrain and has a Ground immunity. If I were to make a whole team around this I'd probably do something along the lines of Roserade/Grassium Z Typhlosion/Houndoom-M/Ninetales, with the last two slots dedicated to essential Doubles support such as Follow Me, Fake Out, and Intimidate users. Sets would look something like this: Roserade@Eject Button (instant switch to sweeper teammate after setting terrain) - 252/252 SpA/Spe Timid - Technician - Energy Ball, Hidden Power Rock, Grassy Terrain, Weather Ball Typhlosion@Grassium Z - 252/252 SpA/Spe Timid - Flash Fire - Solar Beam, Focus Blast/Protect, Eruption, Flamethrower/Heat Wave Houndoom@Houndoominite - 252/252 SpA/Spe Modest - Flash Fire or Early Bird - Hidden Power Grass, Heat Wave, Dark Pulse, Nasty Plot/Protect Ninetales@idk some sort of berry probably - 252/252 SpA/Spe Modest - Drought - Solar Beam, Heat Wave, two of Protect/Nasty Plot/Imprison/Will-O-Wisp Could also run Specs on Ninetales, at that point it's hitting as hard as any other Sun sweeper but you lose the nice utility it brings to the table, as Imprison shuts down any opponent with the same idea as you and Will-O-Wisp helps deal with fast Rock Slide users. Ninetales should be Modest to underspeed Typhlosion's Bloom Doom and create a Burning Field with Heat Wave. Can also lead with Roserade and use a slower Sun+Burning setter like Torkoal (or really just anything with Heat Wave, doesn't even have to be Fire type). Anything you run in the 5th/6th slots should either be immune or resistant to the field damage, so Levitate users and Flying types are top priority. Togekiss is the only Flying/Levitate user of Follow Me, and no such mons with Fake Out exist Delibird doesn't count, so you might have to get a bit creative here in order to avoid stacking 5 Fire types.

He just beat Crawli. Give Mr. Mime a try, if you haven't. Fast dual screens and Technician Icy Wind give it a cool niche in a lot of tough battles (especially doubles); for example I led with one alongside Incineroar against Angie to set up screens and slow her leads for a safe Noivern and Lycanroc sweep. Oricorio's been a beast so far on my mono-Flying run (just past Rift Carnivine). Electric/Flying is just so damn good for so many battles, and that's just one of its possible typings. Later on you can even get a crest for it so its stats don't fall off too hard.

I don't think Blizzard removes the Burning field, just Superheated. You could use something with Fake Out (or Powder, if you have a Vivillon) to guarantee Typhlosion can't get off Eruption turn 1, or a fast Rain Dance user as that prevents the Burning Field from being created (Crobat outpaces Typhlosion, and depending on IVs might even do it uninvested; Meowstic-M with Prankster works too and can also use Misty Terrain AND it gets Fake Out).

There should be a vendor with Common Candy at the circus (probably either the Cotton Candy guy or the general goods guy). Worst comes to worst, most of your current team is less than ideal for Terra anyway (4 ground weaknesses and only Empoleon makes good use of the field) so you'd need to make some swaps regardless.

Well, training up near or to the cap would be a nice start. Lycanroc should outspeed and OHKO Typhlosion at that point (or weaken it to the point where Eruption is negligible) and do a good chunk to Darmanitan. Bronzong would have a lot less trouble getting off Rain Dance + TR and Empoleon wouldn't die to literally everything. Walrein is a good catch for this battle. Blizzard gets rid of the Superheated field and Thick Fat ensures it lives long enough to get it off, even without EVs. It has hard-hitting Surfs especially under Rain, so it's not dead weight after that either. Gigalith is also a good option, though I'm not sure where you might find Roggenrola in Agate. Sand Stream gives it an immediate 50% SpDef boost and it has some of the strongest Rock Slides you have access to at this point, just behind Rhyperior and Archeops (the latter of which solos this battle when properly EV'd). You can also fight fire with fire. Eruption Typhlosion and Heat Wave Arcanine are great choices, backed up by Sun from the Vulpix trade back at the circus. Have Lycanroc support by taking out anything faster and you're golden. EDIT: You could teach Fire Pledge to Infernape, and pair it with Empoleon for a Rainbow Field. From there you can spam strong special Dragon and Normal attacks (Noivern's Boomburst/Dragon Pulse works well). You can also get Rainbow Field + Rain with Ninetales/Infernape + Bronzong.

Use the upper Peridot alleyway (levels average around 11-12) to beef Kricketune up to the level cap. Would be surprised if at level 20 it still can't survive Oricorio Air Cutter + Electrode Charge Beam given the relatively low levels of Julia's team. This should just clean sweep if it lives those hits. (Can also avoid damage from Oricorio with really lucky Sing hit + good sleep turns) Volt Absorb Pachirisu puts in hella work in this fight, don't underestimate it. It doesn't do much damage but there's next to nothing any of Julia's team can do to it and you can switch in from another of your 'mons to heal it for free. Also very good on a lot of the trainers leading up to the 2nd leader. Level it to 16 or 17 at least. Could grab a Trubbish over Stunky to set Toxic Spikes, don't need to level it up much, as you really only need 1 layer for this fight.

If you've beaten the game as of E18, just do rebattleable trainers in the Grand Hall either by switch training or using the Exp. Share. They should all be around level 85-90 and level you up from 1 to 50 in just a couple battles. There's a particular double battle there on some days that includes a Chansey, I believe, and totals 6 mons, which is absolutely amazing for experience - the old man with Braviary, Goodra and Mega Garchomp is very good too. If for some reason you really don't want to use the Grand Hall, train somewhere outside of Reborn City, or in an area unaffected by renovations: the spot in Pyrous Mountain I mentioned, the area of the Grand Stairway cave with all the Unown (where you first meet Solaris), and Byxbysion Wasteland are all fine for relatively lower levels (though in Pichu's case in particular it will need to evolve first to fight, like, literally anything, that's just a Pichu thing and it really doesn't matter where you grind, you'll still have that issue).

General guideline I've been following when doing my Nuzlocke attempts (so these are all "safe" bets) is: Seacrest's garden in Peridot ward from to level 3-8, upper Peridot alleyway from 10-17, onyx ward rooftop from 14-20 (unless I'm grinding for Florinia, since it's the best place to get to 25, but usually trainer's school gives enough exp), beryl cemetary from 20-30 (very safe with Electric or Rock types so you might go to 35 there instead of under the grand stairway), grand stairway from 25-35, and from then on it's more effective to use the rebattleable Grand Hall trainers. If said trainers are a bit too tough for your mon the next "good" place to grind is all the way in Pyrous Mountain, on the Magcargo static encounters left of the entrance, since every area you gain access to between Shelly and PULSE Muk gives terrible overall exp gains and carries a moderate-to-high risk.

If you're at the point where you have access to Trick Room, you should be at or close to the point where Pangoro can be replaced by Machamp, no? Stronger, much bulkier, better abilities, though unfortunately it loses the amazing STAB combo. Could also consider Scrafty if you want something of the same typing, with 68/115/115 bulk and Intimidate nothing neutral is going to even come close to 2HKO'ing it without a huge field boost. Camerupt, you might just want to put on the backburner until you have the mega stone, and Mawile is generally better in a rotation.

I can't necessarily speak for Roserade directly, but in my experience on Intense the Grass/Poison typing never would have worked without Venusaur's bulk. A lot of the things you want to use it against OHKO and outspeed Roserade comfortably (lots of fast physical attackers in the late game, and some Water Surface/Underwater fights where Ice Beam can't OHKO 252/0 Venusaur), or are slower than an uninvested Venusaur anyway (and thus would fare better against Roserade's inferior bulk). Also worth noting that Venusaur has far better physical bulk even without HP investment, and only has 10 less base Speed and access to Chlorophyll. Roserade is a good (Toxic) Spikes setter though because of its faster Sleep Powder, and Strength Sap is some neat tech Rejuvenation gives it that might let it run a fast support set that weakens physical attackers and sets up on special attackers. It also has some use in Rain as opposed to what Venusaur does in Sun, since it gets Weather Ball which lets it hit Fire types as well as the many Ground/Steel and Rock/Steel types (Venusaur uses Stomping Tantrum/Earthquake for those but Roserade doesn't get any Ground moves).

Not gonna answer for my main file since I used waaaaaay too many 'mons there, but for my shiny-hunting file so far Medicham has been an absolute beast. Even when it was Modest before I got to 7th Street, it was still one-shotting just about everything that didn't resist both its STABs, and even then Ice Punch was usually a clean 2-shot. Absolutely dunked on Serra and Luna, did over 75% to finish off Farceus after Noivern set tailwind, and worked with Darmanitan to 2HKO the giant Steelix. Currently in the low 60s with a better attack stat than most invested level 100s. Also shoutouts to Pangoro in an ongoing Nuzlocke, clutched a really bad Shade fight after everything went to hell, though I still had to sack 3 'mons and another died earlier in the fight. Karate Chop crits also helped with the war of attrition against Florinia's Cradily.

Munna can be found in the early morning in the Bysbyxion wasteland, though yeah it's probably easier to take the trade.

There aren't a whole lot of 'mons that can be missed permanently. The only ones off the top of my head are Pancham and Scraggy in the Obsidia Slums, although despite the Pokedex claiming Sigilyph is available later in the game I've never had any luck encountering it outside of the Citae Arc D'Astrae which you can't revisit after entering the Agate City checkpoint, so you might want to grab that one just in case. There are also a few 'mons that get more luck-based to obtain, mostly event 'mons in Reborn City like Emolga and Murkrow, and some you'll have to breed to get their pre-evolutions. EDIT: You can miss Skrelp as well, I believe. Good Rod in the poisoned lake. Not available after the Agate checkpoint.

Let's see... - In a challenge run I never finished, I solo'd Julia with Mightyena, Florinia with Kricketune, and Corey with Ambipom; the planned strategy for the Glass Gauntlet in this run beat it in 18 turns with 3 'mons if nothing missed - Charlotte can be solo'd with an Archeops (not sure if it needs a certain item, I'd imagine a Metronome is ideal) - I personally nearly solo'd Titania with Curse + Leftovers Swampert, though Krookodile had to finish off Aegislash - Hardy can do absolutely nothing to Steelix, as I found out on my main file - I've cheesed Ciel pretty hard with Sub + Double Team Crobat

First off, enter with lower level 'mons so they don't disobey in the later fights - 88 should be fine for most things, 87 if you want to be safe with 'mons that level fast or don't have you as their OT. As for strategy, Fire is incredibly good in these fights. Set up sun, send out Charizard and Mega Houndoom, and watch the fireworks; extra points if you set up Grassy Terrain -> Burning Field too. You can also abuse the factory field with Flash Cannon and Gyro Ball users like Magnezone and Bronzong, or turn off the lights and spam Shadow Ball to your heart's content (Cain only has one Ghost resist, and there's none in the final fight - just bring a few strong Fighting/Bug types for the 2nd fight). Your current team would need some reworks to win as it is, I'd think: - Charizard could do with coverage (e.g. Solar Beam, Focus Blast) or Sunny Day over Flare Blitz - Manectric desperately needs Flamethrower, Crunch hits like a wet noodle off its attack stat so you're effectively running mono-Electric coverage right now - Scrafty needs High Jump Kick and would greatly appreciate Dragon Dance and Drain Punch; alternatively, forgo setup and run 4 attacks with an Assault Vest - Sharpedo definitely doesn't need to run 3 water moves (hot tip: you can just keep swapping Waterfall/Surf/Dive in one slot when exploring, and you can do the same for Rock Smash/Rock Climb/Strength on Scrafty) and can make room for two of Psychic Fangs, Ice Fang, Destiny Bond and Protect - Gardevoir needs a replacement for Charge Beam, it's way too weak at this point and you have Calm Mind already, Focus Blast or Shadow Ball is probably your best bet - Metagross is fine as is but Rock Polish/Agility or a 4th attack (Ice Punch or Bullet Punch, in this case) is probably more ideal than Iron Defense Also make sure all your abilities are right - Sharpedo obviously should run Speed Boost, Charizard is best used with Solar Power and sun support, Manectric can get boosts from Minus in the factory field or use Lightning Rod to redirect Electric moves used on teammates, Gardevoir gets Telepathy to ignore teammates' area attacks (e.g. Discharge) but your team has none of those so Trace is the better choice, Metagross gets no benefit from Light Metal (Low Kick still hits it for 120BP) so it should run Clear Body instead, and Scrafty is very bulky with Intimidate which pairs especially well with an Assault Vest, or you can run Moxie and snowball with Dragon Dance.

Fairy is very fun, once you're past the initial nightmare that is Julia (Brionne and Jigglypuff for an electric leader...) but definitely is far from the hardest. Normal is arguably the easiest type but lets you explore a good few 'mons you would absolutely never use, even in Reborn. I could see Fighting, Psychic and Flying being super fun, too, but I haven't messed with those types.

You can also forgo said items entirely in favor of abilities like Prankster and Sturdy, or even just Intimidate. Air Balloon + Dragon resist works wonders too, and I've personally experienced Aromatisse tanking an Earthquake outright. That being said, there's a Focus Sash under the Grand Staircase and in the Bysbyxion secret tunnel, and a Quick Claw in the Onyx Ward.

Light Ball Pikachu hits stupid hard, especially with Volt Tackle, but it's always had the problem of being too frail, and, frankly, too slow (90 base speed hasn't been impressive since Gen 4). Both forms of Raichu perform much more consistently and effectively against almost everything. It is, however, very satisfying to OHKO even resists with Volt Tackle on a NFE 'mon.