dondon151

Like the four special attacks that Gothitelle runs to take advantage of a special attack increase?

You'll have to elaborate in which order Aya sends out her Pokemon, because the best way to deal with her Gengar is to OHKO it with Blaziken at +1 speed and maybe +1 atk. If she sends out Gengar before Dragalge, then you have to get Blaziken in early; if she sends out Gengar after Dragalge, then you have to try to KO Dragalge before it can attack. No, it's just choosing attacks randomly. I've had PULSE Abra use Dark Pulse against Blaziken and it was a 50-50 tossup whether it'll use Dark Pulse or Hyper Beam.

As of E14, you need to find the House Key from the Railnet in order to access the move relearner.

It does, but Diggersby gets Dig at L37, and Piloswine can't evolve into Mamoswine until after the first Sirius battle now.

The previous episode that I played was E12, so I'm not sure if this was already implemented in E13. Shade now leads with Gengar and has a Doublade and a Gourgeist that I don't remember him having before, and most gym leaders that didn't have a field effect before now have one. I was actually a bit surprised that Serra didn't have an icy field effect.

I wouldn't. Diggersby has higher Atk after factoring in Huge Power (at L100 with optimal stats it's 464 vs. 394; obviously the difference varies with EVs/IVs/level) and Mamoswine doesn't even get good physical Ice STAB without breeding. Diggersby is also in a faster EXP group, gets Swords Dance by level up, and later on when the Toxic Orb becomes available, you can manipulate 140 BP Facade and 150 or 200 BP Flail. Mamoswine is only better defensively and just barely faster.

Is the Toxic Orb implemented currently (or even available, for that matter)?

That's catching too many Pokemon. Also, Blaziken has no trouble against any of Shade's Pokemon except for his Chandelure, which walls Blaziken entirely. Given Shade's new team order, I wonder whether Swoobat is viable at all anymore. Gengar comes out first, so Swoobat can't set up against boosted Shadow Balls or Thunderbolts. If Blaziken OHKOs Gengar, the next Pokemon out is Golett, who has Electric-type Gyro Ball to hit Swoobat's unboosted Def. If Blaziken stays in to OHKO Golett, the next Pokemon out is Chadelure. If Chandelure has a Ghost-type move at all, I think Swoobat can't setup even if it had Amnesia for +4 SpDef. Diggersby is working out super well, though, except for Take Down's accuracy issues. Take Down's recoil actually synergizes with Flail. I think at this point I can strike Lilligant off the list of Blaziken supporters because: - It has to stay unevolved for a long time - It can't really help Blaziken against Corey or Chadelure Basically, if Lilligant were to be a member of the speedrun pair, it would be in the same position as Ralts and Abra; that is, you'd have to get it after Aya and grind it up to a point where it's self-sufficient. Summary: early speedrun partners have to be Pokemon who can at least beat Chandelure 1-on-1. If it can't beat Chandelure, then it's probably not worth getting.

Thanks for your suggestions. A few other notes: 1. Shade is a hard stop to Blaziken because Chandelure always has Flash Fire and Blaziken can't damage it unless it still has Peck. Even if Blaziken had Peck, Shade is hard to setup on because Gengar and Golett both hit Blaziken pretty hard. 2. Corey is pretty difficult for Combusken, especially Skrelp. In the old route I rescued the police officers and grinded out extra battles to evolve Combusken to Blaziken before Corey and then trigger the corrosive mist field to boost Blaze Kick's power. Combusken also had to basically solo Taka and ZEL for extra EXP. 3. The move relearner is no longer accessible until after Strength is obtained, which is a blow for most Pokemon. Blaziken can't get HJK immediately after evolution, but that's not a huge deal. Diggersby can't get Bulldoze or Swords Dance early, which hurts it a lot, but it might still manage. Swoobat can't get a special Psychic STAB until L41, which also hurts it quite a bit.

Thanks for your help, guys. I've added Twistedspoon and Sharp Beak to my question. And can anyone elucidate on the Metronome matter? I'm 99% sure that it doesn't work in 14.1, which is a shame because it's a great in-game hold item.

- Black Belt or Fist Plate - Charcoal or Flame Plate - Soft Sand or Earth Plate - Silk Scarf - Twistedspoon or Mind Plate - Sharp Beak or Sky Plate I'm pretty sure that Charcoal is buyable on 7th Street and that plates are obtained only through mining. What about the other items? Also, does anyone know if the item Metronome works properly? I haven't tested it very much, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't give the incremental 20% boost in power per repeat move usage as advertised. It would be nice if someone could confirm or deny this. EDIT: Charcoal - buyable on 7th Street Silk Scarf - Serra's mansion, 2nd floor Soft Sand - hidden item on Apophyll Beach, north side of Apophyll Academy

When I battled Corey in E12, I remember that he had a corrosive mist field (which was a huge pain in the butt). When I battled Corey in E14, he had a corrosive field instead. In E12 I rescued all the police officers, whereas in E14 I didn't bother with them. Did this get changed between episodes, or does it have to do with whether you rescued the police officers?

I just rechecked my route and you're right, Ralts is available immediately after Aya. That's still pretty late, though, because by that time Blaziken was already at L46. Blaziken is always close to the level cap. I have to go through a ton of Common Candies early on to prevent it from breaking the level cap. That's why all of my pro/con evaluations are made in the context of backing up Blaziken. Carvanha is a candidate for a Dive slave because it or Buizel is guaranteed plotwise. I think two huge cons are that it doesn't learn a boosting move by level up and that its offensive options are limited to basically Crunch and Ice Fang.

I think this mindset is usable, but not something to live and die by. Ideally we can grab a Pokemon early on (if we're using Blaziken, before Aya) and use it all the way until the end of the game, whenever that end may be. Catching and bringing a Pokemon up to speed takes precious minutes, and every little segment of the game can be completed in roughly a half hour on the in-game clock. Failing that, we can split the Pokemon into 'sets' of 2 rather than 3 and see if we can make do. 3 'sets' is the tertiary option. Another option is that rather than picking a supporting Pokemon that we can use for a period of time, we instead catch Pokemon as needed for Blaziken's trouble battles. So for example, rather than getting a Swoobat and then training for Aya + onwards, we instead get, like, a Musharna that's immediately useful and good against Aya, then drop it until we need to get another Pokemon for Radomus. I think this option is subpar because without a good supporting Pokemon to keep up with Blaziken, double battles become a lot slower (and Shelly and Serra became double battles in E14, I think?). Since you mentioned Ralts, I'll raise you an: Abra Pros: - Amazing offensive stats - Complements Blaziken's poison and psychic woes - Learns good offensive STABs by level up - Learns Calm Mind by level up - Consistent coverage option in TM30 Shadow Ball - Very powerful without setup - Teleport user Cons: - Obtained late in the game - Low starting level - Time investment is small but notable (find 7 Purple Shards as hidden items) Also, doesn't Ralts require both the Corrupted Pokeball and the Magnet Powder? The Magnet Powder can't be obtained until right before PULSE Muk, which is pretty late in the game. Correct me if I'm wrong on this. If it's really obtainable after Shade, it's by far the best partner option, and Swoobat wouldn't be necessary. EDIT: I used this guy on my first casual playthrough; I don't think he's the best option for speedrunning but I'm tossing the idea out there anyway. Binacle Pros: - Complements Blaziken's poison and flying woes - Decent offensive STABs by level up - Some good coverage options available by level up - Learns Shell Smash by Heart Scale Cons: - Shell Smash is a precarious setup move - Fairly slow without setup - Not terribly strong without setup - It's sooo bad before it learns Razor Shell - Stone Edge, more like Stone Miss

Hi everyone, episode 14's out, I'm on break, and this is a great time to revise the speedrun route that I had posted months previously: http://www.pokemonreborn.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=9358 So most users here probably know more about the game than I do: specifically, when and where Pokemon and items can be obtained and problem spots to watch out for. The previous one was good, but some things have changed and I want to see how much it can be improved. Previously the route featured: Now for support Pokemon, I've thought of better alternatives to the ones I used previously. They are: I'm more concerned about alternatives for the main combat Pokemon. Swoobat is good, but it might encounter big problems later in the game. I've entertained: Another option is to keep Swoobat but swap him out later, but I'm not familiar with lategame Pokemon - that's partially why I'm making this topic! The previous run had a split of 5h 34m after defeating Luna. Anyway, I would just like users to throw out ideas, even if you think they might be bad. There are a lot of qualities good speedrunning Pokemon have, and it's impossible for a single Pokemon to have all of them.

Kricketot is in a house somewhere. That's one amazing earlygame Pokemon.

There already is a super Ditto. It's called El's Arceus.

The marginal benefit of having a 6th viable Pokemon on your team is so little that you might as well buy the Abra from 7th street as a Teleport slave. As for the question in the title itself, Pokemon that naturally learn set-up moves in Reborn are few and far between, so the available Pokemon that learn set-up moves naturally are generally superior to those who don't learn them naturally.

Beau for Amaria's title doesn't make much sense if she's not a guy. Unless she is a guy...

Why? We can already obtain Beldum, and Metagross is much better than many 580-BST legendary Pokemon.

Blaziken can solo most of the gym leaders in this game.

CM is better than Charge Beam because it's more consistent and the increase in bulk can let you get in more boosts and survive against some enemy types to sweep.

Bulk Up > Swords Dance on Blaziken; it gives Blaziken the bulk to set up on some opponents that it normally can't set up on with SD.

Did you go to the Underground Railnet and talk to the escaping kids?

What's on the third floor now? EDIT: I have a question about the Glameow event. I know that you have to talk to the clerk in Salon Glamazonia, get a haircut from the Central Salon, and then return to Salon Glamazonia to retrieve Glameow. Does it work if you get a haircut from the Central Salon first, and then talk to the clerk twice in Salon Glamazonia?