team showcase Team showcase at the end of the E18 and general rant about team's effectiveness throughout the game

[Nordling]

Finally! After 3rd try (first 2 kinda bored me and i wanted to try new mons so i ditched those playthroughs) I managed to beat the game and defeat Rocky. Despite what people here are saying, I used solid 6 mons team throughout the whole game with no rotations in the team (except, of course, changing weaker mon to a stronger one once it was made available) and it did work out quite well. I wanted to share my team and some geenral thoughts regarding their usefullness throughout the game.

 

1.  Gogoat @ Leftovers

Nature: adamant

Ability: Sap sipper

EV spread: 252 HP, 128 sp. def, 128 atk

- Horn Leech

- Earthquake

- Bounce

- Bulk up

 

The real OG. Gogoat has been on the team the longest, ever since finding its egg in Malchos Forest. I really don't undestand the hate Gogoat gets as a very pokemon in general. One of the very few viable pure grass types, it gets all the best moves it needs to function and has 530ish BST (although high sp. atk is a waste).  As it is a tank, which have hard time in Reborn due to ridiculous levels of power achieveable due to fields, sometimes it had hard time finding usability in fights against hyperoffensive teams. The EV spread aimed to further reinforce its specially defensive side while relying on bulk up + horn leech to muscle through physical threats. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it failed as it was switched in to eat up earthquake but then died to super effective coverage move and did not have time to recover HP via horn leech and get the strategy rolling. Sometimes it worked perfectly as I managed to 6:0 Luna with Gogoat after some bulk ups set up vs. Bisharp (I know, Luna is pretty easy, but still) or wall some threat to the death whilev setting up 2-3 bulk ups while regenrating HP via horn leech in the meantime. I would say that you definitely shouldn't cross Gogoat out as it is a really strong grass type which is available pretty early on (although grass type usefullness in early game is questionable...).

 

2. Houndoom @ Houndoomite

Nature: Timid

Ability: Flash fire

EV spread: 252 sp. atk, 252 speed

- Flamethrower

- Dark pulse

- Will-o-wisp / sucker punch

- Nasty plot

 

This  guy is also nuts. Great typing with strong options throughout the game, finding use in many many fights. Reason why Charlotte cries in her room every night (flash fire + nasty plot + flamethrower OHKOed both Ninetales and Delphox, consecutively :) ). Mixed movepool had to be run until Luna as crunch + sucker punch needed to hit hard before acquisition of dark pulse. But what it does with Houndoomite is really nasty. Mega Houndoom lead was the major carry in Glass Workstation gauntlet and the reason it took so few tries. Nothing can outpseed this dude (bar alola-Sandslash on hail, but that thing doesn't carry EQ so after pitiful attempt to strike me down with rock slide, it got charred by flamethrower) in the gauntlet, making it a very effective sweeper. Unfortunately, had to be sacrificed in final fight vs. Solaris to soak up EQ so was rather useless there.  I have not found many opportunities to use nasty plot however, as general frailty of Houndoom favours rather a hit-hard-and-die playstyle. Despite that, it was a major carry after getting mega ring and I highly recommend to use it on your team if you don't have a mega evolution covered yet.

 

3. Lucario @ various times depending on the the fight

Nature: Jollu

Ability: Justified

EV spread: 252 atk, 252 speed

- Drain punch

- Meteor Mash

- Extreme speed

- Swords dance

 

I have been using Medicham since Kiki as this mon's types are super useful in every fight since Kiki up to Charlotte (and Blake). That guy was a monster and didn't think that any fighting type could outmatch it, but Lucario did. Incredbile usability and although drain punch has much less BP than close combat, it regen side proved extra useful to sustain it and keep on hitting. Carried many fights, especially in both gauntlets, Titania and Adrienn (poor Adrienn, that Mega-Mawile never even used a move). Notably, Lucario hard carried fight against Luna in the gauntlet, allowing me to lose only Electivire and be able to fight 5v12 against Radomus and Serra (funniest thing was umbreon trying to do any damage to Lucario with foul play, ending in +2 from justified and leading to OHKO of Gothilette with meteor mash. I felt sorry for that poor black fox, it was just standing there, looking at lucario, then at Luna with "what do yoy expect me to do against that, Woman?" look.) Shame that i couldn't smack Blake with it but oh well. It will be the Mega of choice once we get our hands on Lucarionite, especially considering suspected fairy/psychic/normal types to be fought in Elite Four fights. Probably will be crucial to success in the ending fights. Highly recommended for any team.

 

4. Garchomp @ wide lens

Nature: Jolly

Ability: Rough skin and occasionally sand veil (on sand fields, vs. Solaris and Hrdy)

EV spread: 252 atk, 252 speed

- Dragon rush

- Stomp tantrum

- Stone edge

- Poison jab

 

I don't think wthere's a need to introduce this beast. Absolutely amazing stats with perfect coverage moves. Wide lens are preferred as locking myself in outrage was not something I wanted to do. This monster OHKOed so many mons since its acquistion that it's not even funny. Absolue beast in Glass workstation, against Solaris and especially against Hardy (seed + sand veil + 90% accurate rock slide, you get what I'm saying). I have been using Flygon up until the desert and was having hard time decidindg which dragon should I use once Garchomp becomes available. Decided to go with Garchomp and it paid well. I am still a bit concerned if lack of DD will be a defining factor in fight against Saphira as +2/+2 DD on Flygon could just sweep her team. We will see.

 

5. Mimikyu @ Mimikium-Z

Nature: jolly

Ability: Disguise

EV spread: 252 atk, 252 speed

- Play rough

- Shadow claw

- will-o-wisp

- T-wave / Pain split / other status move depending on situation

 

I was very lucky to get Gastly as mystery egg and have been using Gengar up until the desert. Very good mon, however I found its usefullness diminishing as the game progressed with strong decline after Samson. Was kind of worried that I'm losing my sole fairy-resistant mon on the team and we will see how it will affect suspected matchups against fairies in Elite Four. Nevertheless, mimikyu as support is brilliant. My advice: never try to use Mimkyu as a hard hitter. With all 3 available status moves (toxic, will-o-wisp, t-wave) and its disguise ability Mimikyu makes for a perfect lead, capable of shutting down lead threats or setting up favourable conditions for a fight. Amplified rock + trick room made Amaria significantly easier, as my mons were slower on the field, allowing them to OHKO before being hit by her water types. Very useful strategy against Amaria. Moreover, it shut down Hardy's gigalith with will-o-wisp, promptiing him to switch giglatih with ace-Lycanroc. As giglatih has already been targetted by tantrum from Garchomp, you understand what happened. Also, Z-powered play rough staright up OHKOed solaris Mega Garchomp before it could say "what is this poor excuse of a rag gonna do against such a OP dragon monster as myself". I suspect further strong play vs. Saphira and Elite four with z-play rough from behind Disguise to kill any OP dragons that might be thrown in our faces. Incredibly useful mon and one of best support mons available, even despite low BST.

 

6. Aerodatyl @ Choice band?

Nature: adamant

Ability: Pressure

EV spread: 252 atk, 252 speed

- Fly

- rock slide / stone edge

- aqua tail

- ice fang

 

Most recent addition to the team and has not seen much action. I have been using an electric every since start of the playthrough with Zebstrika being first, then swapped to Elektross and finally changed to Electivire in Calcenon. I really need something against flyings as we will be facing flying-type Heather. Electivire has been really good and helped secure important fights throughout his usage, however I found him to be most sacrifice-able in tough fights before I could switch-in something stronger freely. electivire has not been very useful in last stretches of the game and I feel like Aerodactyl will be a better choice, rounding up team's coverage with flying, rock and water-type attacks.  Moreover, I am swapping ground weakness to ground immunity, which I hope to find useful as I already have 2 mons weak to this type of attacks. I am not complety sold on Aerodactyl, though, so any recommendations for final team slot are welcome.

 

Noteworthy, I have been playing the whole game on 'set" option, not allowing myself to change mons between new pokemon sent by other trainers. I highly recommend  everyone to play on this setting as it feels like cheating otherwise.

 

I really don't like grinding as the game is supposed to be fun and not a chore so i tried to set my team in such a way that a single 6 mons team can take on anything the world might throw at you. I am very happy to see that come to fruition, but it did cost me some hard thinking and changing many moves between major fights to prepare for what I will be facing. Having said that, seeing surprised Amaria scraping swampert of the wall after trick-room boosted, snowball-boosted and bulked up gogoat's horn leech was really satisfying. I was screaming something along those lines to the screen - "how do you like that, you manipulative, field-abusing psycho?"

 

The challenge of the game is amazing, and I have been devising crazy strategies to overcome certain mons or fights with OP fields. Certainly one of my favourite games of all time. Have to also say, the dialogues and narrative in glass workstation was brilliant. When we found out that the guantlet was us fighting against our friends while being hypntoised was really surprising and very well written. My favourite moment of the game so far. It was a hell of a ride to the end of E18. Kudos to you, Reborn Team! 

 

Just wanted to share my general thoughts on the game, my playthrough, and hopefully create some sort of a little discussion :) 

[Des Teto]

20 minutes ago, Nordling said:

 

Noteworthy, I have been playing the whole game on 'set" option, not allowing myself to change mons between new pokemon sent by other trainers. I highly recommend  everyone to play on this setting as it feels like cheating otherwise.

I can only second that. The game takes a whole new dimension when you switch this simple option. The rest of your post was entertaining :) I like how you managed to work with your Pokemon as you made progress in your playthrough. 

 

Concerning your last slot... Since you play on Set Mode, I think a Pokemon with Volt-Turn would bring momentum control. I see that you lack a special attacker so maybe a Choice Spec Voltali with Volt Switch when it's available, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball and something else could work. Other options are Manectric who needs to be mega so it's a no, Heliolisk who is weaker but has more options, Motisma who has the godsent Ground-Immunity...

[Nordling]

30 minutes ago, Des Teto said:

Concerning your last slot... Since you play on Set Mode, I think a Pokemon with Volt-Turn would bring momentum control. I see that you lack a special attacker so maybe a Choice Spec Voltali with Volt Switch when it's available, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball and something else could work. Other options are Manectric who needs to be mega so it's a no, Heliolisk who is weaker but has more options, Motisma who has the godsent Ground-Immunity...

 

Hmmm, Heliolisk is kind of redundant as I already have strong water counter,  Jolteon/Rotom-fan could be something to consider though.

Aerodactyl has the advantage of potential tailwind which will probably be super useful vs. Heather and Bennett/Laura duo. I can only imagine bug/grass team facing tailiwind-boosted mega-houndoom's heat waves :)))

[Bennylava]

Quote

 recommendations for final team slot are welcome.

•  

  Noteworthy, I have been playing the whole game on 'set" option, not allowing myself to change mons between new pokemon sent by other trainers. I highly recommend  everyone to play on this setting as it feels like cheating otherwise.

   

  I really don't like grinding as the game is supposed to be fun and not a chore so i tried to set my team in such a way that a single 6 mons team can take on anything the world might throw at you. I am very happy to see that come to fruition, but it did cost me some hard thinking and changing many moves between major fights to prepare for what I will be facing.

I whole-heartedly agree. That, to me, is what Pokemon is mostly about. My most recent playthrough I randomized 5 Pokemon and then as my 6th I used the mystery egg. I wound up with Lopunny(non-mega), Poliwrath, Midnight Lycanroc, Rotom (no form), Gengar and from mystery egg I got Rockruff lol, so I did Dusk Lycan. Going through the game start to finish with 6 mons is really cool and gives you a pretty close relationship with your team and having the devise strategies and odd ways to use your mons made it a lot of fun.

 

Also play on Set-mode as well as not allowing myself any Items during battles. It's just more fun that way.

 

Great job on completing the game, congrats.

 

I'll have a think about that last spot. Aerodactyl to me seems out of place if you're not using it's Mega. I don't feel non-mega Aerodactyl is worth it in my opinion.

 

Off the top of my head like you mentioned yourself, a Rotom. Though, I think I would go for Wash, not Fan. Gives you access to Water-type attacks and it'll be great when Volt Switch finally becomes available. Also Defog and access to Screens.