Barely Scathing By - Progressed to Kiki -

[Avery]

Hey everyone, I've run into a bit of a predicament here.  Right now I'm barely making it from battle to battle with this team setup. Most of my victories have come from Emboar just steamrolling everything, but I recognize I can't rely on him to do all of my dirty work? I'd like to ask you guys what your suggestions are for a drastic change in composition, keep in mind that I'm fairly limited in my choices.  I've made it to Apophyll beach and am getting ready to face Leader Kiki. This means that I'm unable to breed for IVs, EV train, or do anything that a trainer with adequate resources is able to. So without wasting any more time, let me pour out all of my thoughts.

 

 

[TL;DR I'm looking to replace four of my Pokémon: Klang, Arbok, Growlithe, Sudowoodo. I would like to keep two: Emboar and Noibat.]

I recognize the glaring ground weakness, but these are the only mons I have trained to level. Ground also hasn't been giving me to much trouble in my quest, but I have the feeling that's about to change really soon.

I feel really good about keeping Noibat. She's a positive (timid) nature, and I've raised her since she was basically a baby back in the Opal Ward. While EXTREMELY weak and under-leveled, I'm waiting until the day she evolves into a Noivern. Though, that doesn't mean I can't box her until I've arrived at a more stable place in the story.

Moving on to the expendable members of my party: Arbok seemed to work really well for me earlier in the game, but is starting to plateau in power. Even though he's reliable, it means nothing when he can barely one for one trade an enemy. The same story is similar with Klang. Klang started out as a gimmick so I could skate by during the gym battle with Shade. It's worked quite well for me until now, as I'm foreseeing another plateau in its future. I'm looking to be rid of Klang as well. Sudowoodo has worked greatly for me in the role of "Defensive Tank"; he takes hits well and is good at dishing them out. The problem with Sudo is that as I progress further and further, he's going to be run over by his common weaknesses. Lastly, Growlithe has been a bit of an oddball for me. She's actually been putting in a ton of work for me recently as a special attacker. Basically, all I'm doing is clicking Heat Wave and watching them drop. Aside from all of that, having two fire types really makes me cringe. Coming as a competitive battler in the "cannon" games, I'm looking for that perfect alignment. The balance between types, attacking strengths, bulk, and speed is paramount to me.

 

To wrap up, I thought a little "too much information" would be helpful as insight into my decision making. I really appreciate any feedback/criticism you have for my lineup, as it would help me immensely.  Thank you!

 

(Also I'm not sure if I correctly uploaded a picture of my team, I've never done something like this before so excuse my greenness around the edges.)

[Combat]

While I can understand wanting to keep Noibat, you might want to box it for a while. I had a similar experience which with a Noibat too, and ended up sticking it in the day care for a majority of the game. I don't remember what the level limit is at this point, but you may want to box it for now.

 

As for the rest of your team, it would be nice if you could evolve Growlithe if you can't find a replacement for it. Do you still have some stone you can mine so you can get a fire stone? I'd also recommend adding a Psychic type to your team for Kiki. The field is practically made to crush Kiki's team with the type advantage, so keep that in mind. Sudowoodo won't be doing any favors for you at the moment, so you may want to consider replacing that with a new psychic type. Out of curiosity, did you do the Espurr event early in game? Meowtic can be a huge asset for this battle, with the female for doing crazy damage and the male form acting as support.

[Peanuts]

On 1/13/2017 at 11:15 PM, Avery said:

I've made it to Apophyll beach and am getting ready to face Leader Kiki. This means that I'm unable to breed for IVs, EV train, or do anything that a trainer with adequate resources is able to. So without wasting any more time, let me pour out all of my thoughts.

 

Just a FYI, you can go back to the main island from the same boat you came from, and as many times as you like. In game they say that the poisonous water will wear away at the boat, but in reality that doesn't happen. So you can do all the IV breeding and EV training you like for this gym.

 

First, battle the gym and make adjustments from there. You may not need to change the team up too much to get the win. And at this point, I think it's fine if you have the Emboar carry; it will just need to be fixed later. And I've found most gym/boss battles are down to the last pokemon in this game, with a couple of exceptions.

 

Team Comments:

For this gym, I'd honestly box noibat and get a simple calm mind woobat from the underground railnet. Even as a flying type, noibat's stats are so low that it's basically useless against Kiki. I don't remember what the level limit is at this point, but if it is 45 then you could level up noibat to 46 and then get 2 rare candies from the sweet kiss candy store to get a noivern, and then level back down again. As Combat Medic said, Meowstic is also a good option. 

 

These are optional for this gym:

For a far better steel type with the same type coverage as Klang, I'd get a magnemite from Shade's gym and train it up. Sturdy magneton/magnezone has gotten me out of quite a few sticky situations just by getting an attack off. You can also get a skorupi from the railnet to replace the arbok you have as well. Honestly not sure what you would use to replace sudowoodo at this point, but to match with the ones previously listed I'd suggest grabbing a ground type - maybe a huge power bunnelby from the forest in jasper? I personally think growlithe is ok at this point, but replacing it is up to you. Tbh there aren't that many good water types/grass types to replace it with at this point to cover your ground weakness.

 

TL;DR: Battle the gym first, adjust from there. Probably should drop noibat or evolve it if you can. Maybe get a magneton, drapion, and bunnelby. Growlithe should be ok for now. 

 

Hope this isn't too late and hope it helps!

 

 

Edited January 14, 2017 by Mint3kool

[Avery]

Oh my gosh thank you so much guys for the help!  Also, 45 is indeed the level limit for this gym. 

 

16 hours ago, Combat Medic said:

As for the rest of your team, it would be nice if you could evolve Growlithe if you can't find a replacement for it. Do you still have some stone you can mine so you can get a fire stone? I'd also recommend adding a Psychic type to your team for Kiki. The field is practically made to crush Kiki's team with the type advantage, so keep that in mind. Sudowoodo won't be doing any favors for you at the moment, so you may want to consider replacing that with a new psychic type. Out of curiosity, did you do the Espurr event early in game? Meowtic can be a huge asset for this battle, with the female for doing crazy damage and the male form acting as support.

Evolving Growlithe is actually a great idea. I don't know why, but I'm always a little paranoid about evolving mons with stones because I'm afraid I will end up losing certain moves. Which is totally dumb because I can just lookup the learnsets. I'll level her up once more so that she learns outrage and then I'll pop that stone.  I'm always open to boxing the Woodo (wow I'm kind of cold?). I don't think I did an Espurr event, though I have a couple I just randomly caught sitting in boxes. Thank you so much!

 

16 hours ago, Mint3kool said:

Just a FYI, you can go back to the main island from the same boat you came from, and as many times as you like. In game they say that the poisonous water will wear away at the boat, but in reality that doesn't happen. So you can do all the IV breeding and EV training you like for this gym.

 

First, battle the gym and make adjustments from there. You may not need to change the team up too much to get the win. And at this point, I think it's fine if you have the Emboar carry; it will just need to be fixed later. And I've found most gym/boss battles are down to the last pokemon in this game, with a couple of exceptions.

 

Team Comments:

For this gym, I'd honestly box noibat and get a simple calm mind woobat from the underground railnet. Even as a flying type, noibat's stats are so low that it's basically useless against Kiki. I don't remember what the level limit is at this point, but if it is 45 then you could level up noibat to 46 and then get 2 rare candies from the sweet kiss candy store to get a noivern, and then level back down again. 

 

These are optional for this gym:

For a far better steel type with the same type coverage as Klang, I'd get a magnemite from Shade's gym and train it up. Sturdy magneton/magnezone has gotten me out of quite a few sticky situations just by getting an attack off. You can also get a skorupi from the railnet to replace the arbok you have as well. Honestly not sure what you would use to replace sudowoodo at this point, but to match with the ones previously listed I'd suggest grabbing a ground type - maybe a huge power bunnelby from the forest in jasper? I personally think growlithe is ok at this point, but replacing it is up to you. Tbh there aren't that many good water types/grass types to replace it with at this point to cover your ground weakness.

Awesome, thanks for letting me know! I'll definitely by hopping back on that boat. I actually have a shiny *gasp* level 25~ Woobat in a box. I may bring it out for this battle? Either that or I'll just straight grind through leveling Noibat up. I'm honestly not sure what would be less work at this point? Training up that Woobat from scratch, or putting in the effort and tears to push Noibat over the hump. For sure though, I will be getting that Magnemite. Klang has been underwhelming outside of field effects. I'll also grab that Bunnelby, it's just a shame that it gets all gross after level 20.  I have to admit that I probably won't pick up a Skorupi, since Drapion is technically the "Ogre Scorpion" Pokémon. Just, nope nope nope nope.

 

Thank you guys so much again! Once I've trained up the edits (and possibly taken more suggestions if more kind folks offer them) I'll post my results, and another team screenshot of the finished piece!

 

-UPDATE-

I just completed the gym battle, and while a little hectic, it was over in a flash! I also can't stress enough how much of a help Meowstic was in that battle. I didn't know that pure focus applied to psychic as well? Thank you again to both of you for all the help! Below should be a picture of my new current team.

Edited January 14, 2017 by Avery
Updated post-battle with my results, plus another thank you.