Additional Member before Aya

[laggless01]

Since my old save file(s) didn't transfer to my new computer, I had to restart for E16.
So far, things are going...ok . My mystery egg was a Shroomish, but with a Fighting-starter that went nowhere, and instead of Pachirisu I was given the chance for a wingull. Which I rather Freeze-dried, then land a Focus Punch upon.

Now, after I sang Solaris to death (figuratively), I now need a member to soak up exp and complement my remaining team. These are the current ones:

Blaziken (lvl 45), Speed Boost (yeah, yeah.)
Adamant
-Double Kick
-Bulk Up
-Flame Charge
-Blaze Kick
Zel's Glaceon constantly using Mirror Coat while setting up was the weirdest thing I saw an AI do in this run. Obviously a decent powerhouse.

Piloswine (lvl 45), Thick Fat
Jolly
-EQ
-Icicle Crash
-Ice Shard
-Mist
I'm so glad this one and Cubchoo are available so early, even though the final evo of the former comes after the next gym.

Zoroark (lvl 45), Illusion
Timid
-Foul Play
-Extrasensory
-Pursuit
-Night Slash
Yeah, Dark Pulse would've been a better egg move. Psyched out a lot of opponents with Extrasensory, tho, even Kiki.

Crobat (lvl 45), Inner Focus
Jolly
-Acrobatics
-Poison Fang
-Bite
-Confuse Ray
Recent addition, needed something to fight alongside the quaker, and phasing out Garbodor. Not the greatest offensive movepool, however. Bite could find a replacement. Plus I gave up an Adamant Murkrow with good IVs and Brave Bird for one with Perish Song. Will probably get replaced by Archeops in Spinel.

Meowstic(F) (lvl 46), Keen Eye
Lax
-Psyshock
-Psychic
-Signal Beam
-Shadow Ball
Used to run Fake Out on it, but coverage felt more appealing. Pychic gets boosted by some fields, Psyshock not. (but physical damage gives more versatility, so I kept them both.)

Persian (lvl 46), Technician
Impish
-Slash
-Bite
-Fake Out
-Taunt
This guy nails Shade's ace, like, seriously. This guy is a decent mon for the beginning, even though the fella is getting less and less done at this point. Is also a third weakness to fighting.

(In the back:)
Garbodor (lvl 40), Aftermath
Timid
-Acid Spray
-Toxic Spikes
-Toxic
-Sludge Bomb
Really helped me with setting up on some bosses, but at this point everyone seems to have a poison-type to absorb its spikes. The guy is getting overshadowed at this point, so I think it had its run for the game.
-------

I was thinking about Magnezone first, but it gives me another Fighting-weakness, plus speed might be an issue. I don't really know what to add or take away now, so I wonder if I overlooked something.

[Shinoda Yagami]

Im a fan of gardevoir which you get right after aya so make that a part of your first team for sure. As for before the gym battle you might want to get yourself a diggersby because it literally solo's her gym. Its tedious to hunt huge power bunnelbies though so for now even a swords dance sandslash will put in a lot of work against her. Also seismitoad learns mud bomb if Im not wrong, as for your fighting itch it will be scratched soon when based gardevoir arrives. Until then get a ground type it will help a lot against Aya and also charlotte later

[Alistair]

Nidoqueen/king is a very good option to sponge Aya's attacks and makes an excellent candidate for the Sludge Wave TM Aya gives out. It's very useful against Noel too.

You may want to replace Persian with Zangoose, unless you think having a Taunter is more valuable to you than an extra bit of attack.

Blaziken, Piloswine, Crobat and Zoroark are all very good though, I don't really see anything that could replace them at this point.

[enu]

You have a decent coverage against pretty much everything except fire and water. Luckily there are no water bosses in the game so you can skip that. Against fire I'd recommend some water-type. Unfortunately there are not many decent water types available to you at the moment. Seismitoad seems to be a good choice though. It's only weakness is grass type but you already have more than enough anti-grass mons so it doesn't matter.

Meowstic is very good mon for the beginning but will slowly become less and less powerful after Aya. I'd replace her with Gardevoir when available which should be soon.

[AnimeFg]

You could use a diggersby, it's really nice for aya's fight because dig doesn't get weakened by her field.

[laggless01]

For your interest, my plan for Aya was to set up mist, then EQ the everloving poison out of her (Piloswine is Ground/Ice). Not sure if that will go according to plan, though. I'll give the fellow an Amplifield rock, just for hopes.

Thick Fat actually makes Fire-attacks easier to take, although it isn't ideal. (Still bet Cal easily on the first try, it ate a Close Combat. Damn.)

And no, I'm not going to use Pelipper. It was bad enough already that I needed Wingull to breed good IVs on Crobat. Seismitoad is perhaps interesting (I could use a special attacker), although it isn't very strong.

Funny enough, I was deciding between Amoonguss and Crobat for a poison-type, but I desperately needed a decent Flying mon. (Plus no BB on Murkrow) Roserade is just...a lot of hassle (Breed Nuzelaf with just the right IVs, possibly train until Extrasensory, then keep breeding with the best mons, but evolution required fo bredding...did that once before, but now I can't use a bugged version of the game.)

Crobat getting swapped for Archeops would solve some coverage issues I now have, but that'll have to wait.

Taunt was only useful against Shelly (which was quite hard to beat, only had Trubbish left), I just kept it just in case, without any plans. So it isn't crucial (as far as I know...but maybe preventing those Spikes on the Wasteland could give me an edge).

I didn't know Dig isn't affected by the Wasteland, so that might be fun to abuse (if it goes fast enough). I'll consider the bunny.

With all those things, I still need more team balance, so good additional members are welcomed. (Also for the long run, I could really use suggestions on T3RR4, that fight really didn't go well for me. Neither that goddamn Mewtwo.)

[AnimeFg]

By terra, you will have Alakazam and Gardevoir both available to you, and since psychic is kinda insane on that field, those two should be able to sweep the fight up pretty easily, other than that, a few grass types help, so something along the lines of ludicolo is pretty good

[laggless01]

Turns out Aya's team is so slow, I easily set up mist. Piloswine would've swept her flat, if he didn't overlevel midway, didn't attack the next turn and got hit by Aqua Tail and Hydro Pump in the same turn. Diggersby was monstrous, too. Perhaps Ame should put her mons closer to lvl 45 than 40 in an update.

[AnimeFg]

If you think it's too easy, I suggest trying hardcore

[laggless01]

If you think it's too easy, I suggest trying hardcore

Nah, there's Serra next and I don't really have anything against it (she counters Blaziken rather well). I just had much more trouble with Aya in my previous run, hence te surprise. She was the second gym I beat on the first try (Julia was first), which is rather weird.

EDIT: Nvm, setting up mist with Amplifield Rock Mamoswine just beats multiple gyms. Damn. I'll try to do this run first, then I'll see if I have the time for one.

EDIT 2: Now we're past Noel, I'm thinking about substituting Crobat for Archeops.

I am uncertain about a couple things, however.

First: Is it a good idea, or has Crobat better use in certain cases?

Second: If the former is true, how should I raise it? Fully Physical (running Jolly and waiting for EQ (no, I'm not jumping episodes)), or mixed (Naive with Earth Power)?

Third: Should I run another poison-type then? If so, should I get Amoonguss, Roserade...?

Fourth: I think Galvantula would be a good asset, although that might be troubling with Zoroark (since same targets). Should I ditch one of the two (if so, which one), keep both, or look for another option?

Edited November 6, 2016 by laggless01