E18 Gym Battle Difficulty

[Feng Lei]

After reading the posts, and having done a blitz research...

Spoiler

 

I must conclude that the triple battle strategy, which I always wanted to see him use... is the best. A trick room team with Solrock and Lunatone, especially if they run Baton Pass, would be absolutely lethal. Or just ignore trick room and add a Shuckle in, and ensure Sticky Web. It works in the battle in the Glassworks, so I see no reason it shouldn't be used with Hardy. Or at least most Smogon teams had that particular mon on there.

 

There was also mention of the flinches. I guess I did get extremely lucky with them, because I think my pokemon flinched maybe three or four times throughout my two battles with Hardy. That's it. Apparently this was not everyone else's experience.

 

I would also touch on the fact that Gigalith did quite fine against my Ferrothorn. It's just that the focus was never placed on it. So yes, the battle was hindered by the AI. That really needs fixing. Again, I recall the AI from E16 absolutely destroying me.

 

Also, I haven't gotten much better as a player. Ameria kicked my ass many, many times. The only way I even managed to beat her in another playthrough was changing the field, something I very rarely do.

 

What makes the Trick Room option scarier is that Hardy gets both the hyperoffense-like speed, but the bulky offense team members. Having a Rhyperior, Tyranitar and Gigalith in a Trick Room Rock Slide spamming would be far more menacing than frail speedsters. And as far as speedsters go, I still think Kabutops with a telluric seed is better than one of the Lycanrocks. Some say his team is the best it can be, but I beg to disagree. The items and AI need to be tweaked at the very least.

 

And since my tally to date has left me with at least 4-10 losses with most leaders, bar Adrienn (I don't even know what to say about xeir Steel-boosting field), I feel sort of qualified to say Hardy is weak, and it is not his typing completely at fault. I'm basically an idiot still playing like a kid, with little forethought and planning. I don't even bother with orthodox EV spreads and completely ignore Ivs. My strategizing is not impressive. And again, considering my overall bad track record, and refusal to add Uber tier pokemon like Garchomp... it tells me one thing: Hardy is idiotproof, ie, an idiot like me can beat him no sweat. Then something is just not being done right. So some people got swept. I'm sure it was less than with Amaria. Or at least that's what I was seeing on here. Although I confess I was not very active then... so maybe she was a joke. But it didn't seem like it at the time, and she sure wasn't to me, despite raising a whole darn team to take advantage of her weaknesses.

 

But this is all arbitrary. If the AI is the main problem, as it surely is, then the answer lies with others than with me. Though hopefully Ame does in fact find a tweak that doesn't demand AI overhall that renders my next playthrough against Hardy worth remembering.

 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2018 by Feng Lei

[Sceptilespy]

Spoiler

Well uh...guys. You do realize that this is the rock type we're talking about right? 

 

You really only have yourselves to blame for getting this hyped. 

 

Regardless, if you brought a bunch of steel types to a rock type gym, what exactly did you expect to happen? 

 

[Swampellow]

Spoiler

Personally I find Hardy to be exactly the right amount of difficulty that he should (or could) be. As others have said there is only so much that Rock could do this late in the game. Trick room would be a terrible strategy for him as it would be *way* too simple to just KO the TR setter on the first turn, especially if the rest of his team is also slow. The current strategy that he has is currently the best that the AI could handle for a Rock type leader.

 

As for why so many people find him easy.

 

I see a lot of the people who find him easy fit into one of two camps (mostly).

#1 is people who bring a ton (as in half their team or more) of counters to rock types (Steels specifically, but also fast fighting types and then a lot of Rhyperiors),I've seen a lot of Mega Aggrons, Aegislash's and *especially* Excadrills. These people all have said he was too easy when they specifically brought pokemon that completely destroy rock types (especially Excadrill when he even sets up the sand for you, like really?)

 

#2 is the group of people who bring Pokemon to change and/or abuse the weather and/or his field. As said before, Excadrill completely ruins him with the sand (as do many different Pokemon, especially those with Sand Veil). Many other people are also using something like Rain w/ Swift Swimmers, which once again, would *obviously* ruin his strategy (twofold for this one especially due to general weak spdef for rock types + taking away the sand). Anything that also sets up a different field (electric, misty, etc) also helps neuter him a ton.

 

As someone who brought a team that was hardly optimized vs him, I found that he was in a good spot. He took more tries than Titania (first try) or Amaria (2nd try but only because I did both singles and doubles for her). And this is even from a team that in theory had counters to rock types, but not the kind that he was using (fast ones that try flinch a lot). The mon that did the most vs him for me was Scrafty, with the rest of my team consisting of Oranguru, Ninetales (which only managed to burn 1 Pokemon and get rid of Sand), Salamence (which only did Intimidate before dying to double rock slides, Lilligant which got 1 kill, and Primarina, who also only got one kill(RIP in poor physical defense).

 

Any leader that you face in Reborn can be challenging, but if you bring a team that not only hard counters their types, but also their strategy, they are probably gonna be easier than you would want.

 

[The Swordsman]

Spoiler

I know I am not of the popular opinion as there are a lot of people who play Reborn for the difficulty (I am of the crowd who play it for the characters and story) but I don't want the difficulty to be ramped up even more as I find it to be just right, very challenging but doable. I fear that if it went up more than you would be forced to use a specific team or not be able to use certain pokemon, when half the fun of Pokemon is using your hand selected pokemon. Especially since Reborn at least at the start encouraged the use of "weaker," not super popular pokemon. IMO one of the reasons Hardy seems easier is if you did some sidequesting you are no longer at a disadvantage of not having a mega or/and a z move like your opponent. You also now have a greater selection of powerful moves, more resources (money and items) and if you use them pusedo legendaires, even Silally. Plus Hardy is a Rock gym leader one of the worst types. I also don't find the use of revives to be cheating, as not only are they used in the main series, they help balance out the difficulty.

 

[DevR]

Spoiler

I'll begin by stating the obvious: the difficulty of any gym depends on what kind of team you bring to it. If you're coming with multiple dedicated counters to Hardy's team, then chances are that you'll find him easy to beat (and vice versa).

 

As someone who's only used a fixed team on my current run of Reborn, there's something I'd like to add to the above discussion. While I won't be complaining if Hardy's battle remains unchanged in the public release, I do feel that the suggestions below are worth mentioning:

 

1. Kabutops instead of Rampardos.   

Reasoning: Not only is Kabutops faster (80 speed vs 58), but it also gets Swift Swim, which allows it to outspeed all relevant Swift-Swimmers except Kingdra with a Timid / Jolly / Naive / Hasty nature. Even outside of rain, it's going to land hits on more Pokemon than Rampardos. It also gets water STAB and Low Kick as coverage, so it's a better matchup against fat steel types. Basically, it fits Hardy's fast offense style while bringing something new to the table.

 

2. More focus on coverage moves, i.e. Heat Wave on Archeops (mixed attacker) and more use of EQ when the ally is flying-type. While EQ gets additional rock-type damage, even a neutral, terrain-boosted hit should do more than a resisted rock STAB (if I'm wrong then please do tell me). 

 

3. Some item swaps, i.e. Life Orb / Lycanium-Z for the lycanrocs and a Telluric Seed for Gigalith instead of the Choice Band (the additional bulk and freedom to switch between Rock Slide and other coverage sounds good in theory).

 

I'm sure there are people who disagree with these specific changes, and I'd be happy to know why (aside from the point about the flinch hax, which I have tried to acknowledge when making these suggestions).

 

[Feng Lei]

Spoiler

DevR, yes, that's my main point. Glad someone else thought of Kabutops. That thing really does have more use than Rampardos, especially if it's holding a Telluric Seed, which will boost its speed right off the bat if it goes for Weak Armor, or maybe just enjoys the evasion boost and keeps Swift Swim as a soft counter to water types.

 

I'm doing a monotype rock run with the slow, heavy rock types and see how I do, but with a twist of adding Shuckle in to help lower enemy speed. I still say that mon could prove invaluable, since it already works well as a Sticky Web user.

 

It's funny, my original hope for Hardy was that he would use triple battle style. But I never imagined combining that with Trick Room. It would still be amazing to see his original playstyle implemented. But if not, I can still use the same strat in my own team. Thus far, I managed already to beat a powerful trainer in the Sandbox mod with over twelve levels of difference with the Trick Room Team. Although that team didn't have much to challenge me save Scizor. But with Trick Room active, that pokemon is not a threat as it could be, especially with A Fire Fanged Aerodactyl and Tyranitar. But we will see how things go. I know the Aerodactyl does not fit on the Trick Room team. But it does on the Shuckle one. If only I could use both, but that is hard because EV allocation goes to different stuff depending on the strategy.

 

[Aerostorm]

Spoiler

The sad part is Hardy can easily be outdone by using Wide-Guard against him, his pokemon can never hit you since they all spam rock slide the entire time.

 

 

[Q-Jei]

1 hour ago, Aerostorm said:

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The sad part is Hardy can easily be outdone by using Wide-Guard against him, his pokemon can never hit you since they all spam rock slide the entire time.

 

 

Spoiler

It already was the case in the past. Wide Guard is the double-strategy-wrecker-move by excellence. Charlotte using Heat Wave can easily be deafeated this way as well as Amaria using Surf during the double battle.

 

[Sceptilespy]

On 8/17/2018 at 9:30 AM, DevR said:

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I'll begin by stating the obvious: the difficulty of any gym depends on what kind of team you bring to it. If you're coming with multiple dedicated counters to Hardy's team, then chances are that you'll find him easy to beat (and vice versa).

 

As someone who's only used a fixed team on my current run of Reborn, there's something I'd like to add to the above discussion. While I won't be complaining if Hardy's battle remains unchanged in the public release, I do feel that the suggestions below are worth mentioning:

 

1. Kabutops instead of Rampardos.   

Reasoning: Not only is Kabutops faster (80 speed vs 58), but it also gets Swift Swim, which allows it to outspeed all relevant Swift-Swimmers except Kingdra with a Timid / Jolly / Naive / Hasty nature. Even outside of rain, it's going to land hits on more Pokemon than Rampardos. It also gets water STAB and Low Kick as coverage, so it's a better matchup against fat steel types. Basically, it fits Hardy's fast offense style while bringing something new to the table.

 

2. More focus on coverage moves, i.e. Heat Wave on Archeops (mixed attacker) and more use of EQ when the ally is flying-type. While EQ gets additional rock-type damage, even a neutral, terrain-boosted hit should do more than a resisted rock STAB (if I'm wrong then please do tell me). 

 

3. Some item swaps, i.e. Life Orb / Lycanium-Z for the lycanrocs and a Telluric Seed for Gigalith instead of the Choice Band (the additional bulk and freedom to switch between Rock Slide and other coverage sounds good in theory).

 

I'm sure there are people who disagree with these specific changes, and I'd be happy to know why (aside from the point about the flinch hax, which I have tried to acknowledge when making these suggestions).

 

Spoiler

For one, Rampardos is scarfed, which actually makes it faster outside of Rain. It also hits way harder. I'm neutral on Rampardos vs. Kabutops though since they both have good perks. 

 

Regarding coverage moves, Hardy's entire strat is that he focuses on rock slide spamming, which has been decently successful all things considering. What does heat wave even do for Archeops. Beat Grass and Steel types? Acrobatics exists for Grass types, but I guess you have a point with steel types? Although it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things when you consider the most popular steel types. Mega Aggron, Metagross, Aegislash, Excadrill, and Lucario. Lucario and Metagross abuse Archeops with Bullet punch. Aegislash should be self explanatory. And Mega aggron just tanks everything. So really, Heat wave doesn't do anything in the end. There are better Pokemon and moves to beat steel types anyway. 

 

Regarding item swamps. I actually agree on everything here except seed swap for Duskroc, which I've seen put in too much work to be removed. Life orb/Lycanium-Z for Dayroc would be okay though, although Lycanroc-midday only weakens it to priority. 

 

 

On 8/17/2018 at 1:03 PM, Feng Lei said:

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DevR, yes, that's my main point. Glad someone else thought of Kabutops. That thing really does have more use than Rampardos, especially if it's holding a Telluric Seed, which will boost its speed right off the bat if it goes for Weak Armor, or maybe just enjoys the evasion boost and keeps Swift Swim as a soft counter to water types.

 

I'm doing a monotype rock run with the slow, heavy rock types and see how I do, but with a twist of adding Shuckle in to help lower enemy speed. I still say that mon could prove invaluable, since it already works well as a Sticky Web user.

 

It's funny, my original hope for Hardy was that he would use triple battle style. But I never imagined combining that with Trick Room. It would still be amazing to see his original playstyle implemented. But if not, I can still use the same strat in my own team. Thus far, I managed already to beat a powerful trainer in the Sandbox mod with over twelve levels of difference with the Trick Room Team. Although that team didn't have much to challenge me save Scizor. But with Trick Room active, that pokemon is not a threat as it could be, especially with A Fire Fanged Aerodactyl and Tyranitar. But we will see how things go. I know the Aerodactyl does not fit on the Trick Room team. But it does on the Shuckle one. If only I could use both, but that is hard because EV allocation goes to different stuff depending on the strategy.

 

Spoiler

Marcello has confirmed Triple battles will never be in the game because of how incredibly tedious, long, and overall boring it is to code. It also sucks ass for Hardy, considering Earthquake is boosted. Triples strat would just make Wide guard even stronger against him. Overall just not good in practice. 

 

Anyway, Telluric seed doesn't boost speed. It boosts defense and evasion. If it boosted speed, Rampardos would've had it instead of choice scarf. Also, regarding Trick Room. It's incredibly hard to pull off this late in the game. Also take into account the incredible amount of slow grounds, steels, and fighting. 

 

The big thing here is that, at the end of the day, you're dealing with the rock type, a type that's near impossible to make hard this late in the game. At the end of the day, even if you theoretically gave Hardy the perfect team here, he'd still be easy, and there's just nothing we can do about that. 

 

[DevR]

3 hours ago, Sceptilespy said:

For one, Rampardos is scarfed, which actually makes it faster outside of Rain. It also hits way harder. I'm neutral on Rampardos vs. Kabutops though since they both have good perks. 

 

Regarding coverage moves, Hardy's entire strat is that he focuses on rock slide spamming, which has been decently successful all things considering. What does heat wave even do for Archeops. Beat Grass and Steel types? Acrobatics exists for Grass types, but I guess you have a point with steel types? Although it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things when you consider the most popular steel types. Mega Aggron, Metagross, Aegislash, Excadrill, and Lucario. Lucario and Metagross abuse Archeops with Bullet punch. Aegislash should be self explanatory. And Mega aggron just tanks everything. So really, Heat wave doesn't do anything in the end. There are better Pokemon and moves to beat steel types anyway. 

Spoiler

I didn't realise that Rampardos was scarfed, my bad. Although both of them are good 'mons, I guess Kabutops differentiates itself by being able to target the 'would-be' counters to Hardy's Rock Slide spam, which should make it easier for the rest of his team.

 

As for Archeops, the reason Heat Wave was suggested is because almost all of the steel types you mentioned have lower Sp.Def, which means they don't appreciate taking a super-effective hit from Archeops' respectable Sp.Atk. Others, such as Ferrothorn and Scizor, take even more from it. Fwiw, 84 SpA Archeops Heat Wave vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Filter Aggron-Mega: 147-174 (42.8 - 50.7%) -- 2% chance to 2HKO. Even 252 HP / 0 SpD Aegislash takes ~40% from that.

 

While Steel-type priority does indeed make Archeops deadweight, Heat Wave would still do more to those steel types than Rock Slide. The whole reason for it to exist is to support Rock Slide spam by the rest of the 'mons and Archeops itself (if it isn't facing fat steels). 

 

 

[Feng Lei]

Spoiler

 

Just fought Hardy on my Zeckrom Path game. Again, the real issue is the AI. I would have lost my second attempt, but the AI just doesn't seem to use a single potion. Just one, and I would have been beat, as the fight went down to the wire between Rampardos and my Rotom Wash, which had gotten revived. If only the AI could be made to heal Aerodactyl from Paralysis, and to use Rock Smash when it needs to... then the match would be pretty harsh for me, who does not use Wide Guard or have any mons that learn it, nor do I use fighting types, since I don't appreciate most of their designs. Rock Smash, for instance, does quite nice against all defensive pokemon that I have, particularly steel types. It just isn't used enough in the right situation.

 

Still think that Dusk Lycanrock is just not as viable as something else could be. Dunno. It just... never accomplishes anything when I fight it. His Rampardos this time around almost beat me, and so far every other mon he throws at me actually accomplishes something for the team. Except the Dusk Lycanrock. I only just now even realized it is level 97.

 

Whelp, onto my Rock monotype run. Even now I question just what the heck I will do against Amaria. That is not a fight I am looking forward to...

 

On the other hand, that glorious Erza no Theme music is perfect for fighting Hardy. I like Rockstar fine, but that particular theme is just golden for the fight. So fast paced and triumphant, and the base even blends in with the sound of rock slide. I do suggest people get the alternate music mod. I don't actually put the alternate music in the game, but instead just switch off the in-game music and use video player for whatever track I want. More flexibility that way.

 

Edited August 19, 2018 by Feng Lei

[Radon]

Spoiler

I feel like he didnt need an extra Lycanroc. He was ok with just one Dawn Lycanroc. He could have at least an Aurorus or Tyrantrum. lol

 

Tyrantrum wouldve been fine to ward off Water Types or even Carracoasta.

 

 

Edited August 19, 2018 by Radon

[the red guy]

Spoiler

How do you guys think he would have done with a Dragon Dance , head smash tyrantrum?

 

[Commandant Luna]

[spoiler] okay. so I just beat this gym, after reading about the Ferrothorn idea. Thanks for that, btw. Now, I am not the best player. My teams are honestly usually like Harvy's, hit hard and fast and be done. The main issue I had with this gym, and others in the past, is the amount of RNG the Field Effects bring into battle. Normally they're not too bad once you learn how to destroy or change them up, but this one cannot be changed, and has actual damaging RNG events (hitting rocks). I wouldn't mind the rocks and sand making accuracy go to hell or boost rock/ground moves, but the extra damage you can't predict off an attack seems just a bit much. But like I said, maybe I'm just bad lol. Loved the chapter, nonetheless!! [/spoiler]

[Feng Lei]

I feel like maybe the field should do something more with sandstorm. It lowering accuracy would help with its telluric seed. Or maybe something that assists rock moves in some way, granting them extra abilities. Since, well, most of them are rather straight forward. Perhaps turn Rock Polish into a move that boosts both speed and attack? That would be down Hardy's alley.

[Sceptilespy]

On 8/19/2018 at 9:50 AM, DevR said:

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I didn't realise that Rampardos was scarfed, my bad. Although both of them are good 'mons, I guess Kabutops differentiates itself by being able to target the 'would-be' counters to Hardy's Rock Slide spam, which should make it easier for the rest of his team.

 

As for Archeops, the reason Heat Wave was suggested is because almost all of the steel types you mentioned have lower Sp.Def, which means they don't appreciate taking a super-effective hit from Archeops' respectable Sp.Atk. Others, such as Ferrothorn and Scizor, take even more from it. Fwiw, 84 SpA Archeops Heat Wave vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Filter Aggron-Mega: 147-174 (42.8 - 50.7%) -- 2% chance to 2HKO. Even 252 HP / 0 SpD Aegislash takes ~40% from that.

 

While Steel-type priority does indeed make Archeops deadweight, Heat Wave would still do more to those steel types than Rock Slide. The whole reason for it to exist is to support Rock Slide spam by the rest of the 'mons and Archeops itself (if it isn't facing fat steels). 

 

 

Spoiler

I guess I can respect those calcs, if...I knew where you got them from. Even taking levels into account, this calc doesn't change much. I only really need to do this one to reach some conclusion that your calcs are exaggerated (probably not on purpose), but still. You also don't take into account that this is doubles format, so that damage is split, which tbh, even makes the calc I provided exaggerated. 

84 SpA Archeops Heat Wave vs. 248 HP / 0+ SpD Filter Aggron-Mega: 135-159 (39.3 - 46.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

 

Regarding Scizor and Ferro (Which i forgot to mention for some reason), Archeops is completely irrelevant with Sciz on the field, but you have a point with Ferrothorn. 

 

On 8/19/2018 at 11:58 AM, Radon said:

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I feel like he didnt need an extra Lycanroc. He was ok with just one Dawn Lycanroc. He could have at least an Aurorus or Tyrantrum. lol

 

Tyrantrum wouldve been fine to ward off Water Types or even Carracoasta.

 

 

Spoiler

Dusk Lycanroc is his ace. It makes sense seeing as...well..."rock". "Roc". "Rockstar". All themes that Hardy has, and it even fits his color scheme a bit, as well as the field background. It also abuses the hell out of Accelrock in the battle. There are probably better options, but his Lycanroc is Sand rush to abuse Gigalith's sandstorm. It's also Choice banded so tbh, it's not all that bad. 

 

On 8/19/2018 at 4:12 PM, the red guy said:

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How do you guys think he would have done with a Dragon Dance , head smash tyrantrum?

 

 

On 8/19/2018 at 11:58 AM, Radon said:

  Hide contents

I feel like he didnt need an extra Lycanroc. He was ok with just one Dawn Lycanroc. He could have at least an Aurorus or Tyrantrum. lol

 

Tyrantrum wouldve been fine to ward off Water Types or even Carracoasta.

 

 

Spoiler

Carracosta is honestly just not good. Kabutops would compliment his style and battle better if that's what you're going for. As for what the red guy said, Tyrantrum with a seed maybe could've worked well in the battle. It's physical bulk would be nice for the amounts of physical steel and fighting moves and Pokemon that people are bringing. Maybe even Strong jaw crunch for aegislash. 

Overall, the fight is not perfect, but it's decent. I've seen some p good suggestions and I'm kind of on the Kabutops wave myself. 

[Autumn Zephyr]

On 8/17/2018 at 9:30 AM, DevR said:

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3. Some item swaps, i.e. Life Orb / Lycanium-Z for the lycanrocs and a Telluric Seed for Gigalith instead of the Choice Band (the additional bulk and freedom to switch between Rock Slide and other coverage sounds good in theory).

 

Spoiler

 

Actually, giving Hardy a Lycanium-Z may be an absolutely horrendous idea. Assuming Splintered Stormshards acts like it does in the main series (where it completely negates the current Field Effect), it'd negate what is probably his greatest asset in the fight. Removing the field is already considered to be one of the most effective ways of countering Gym Leaders in this game, so having one do it to himself just seems pretty dang silly! 

 

The Telluric Seed is probably on-point, though. Gigalith already serves as the boulder that parts the river, so to speak, so giving it a greater ability to serve that role should go a fair ways. Freeing up its moveslots is an added bonus for sure, especially since gigalith's base Attack stat is pretty dang dangerous as it is. And since it resists Rock damage anyway, the Seed's drawback really won't mean much to it in the majority of fights. 

 

 

[The Swordsman]

2 minutes ago, Autumn Zephyr said:

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Actually, giving Hardy a Lycanium-Z may be an absolutely horrendous idea. Assuming Splintered Stormshards acts like it does in the main series (where it completely negates the current Field Effect), it'd negate what is probably his greatest asset in the fight. Removing the field is already considered to be one of the most effective ways of countering Gym Leaders in this game, so having one do it to himself just seems pretty dang silly! 

 

The Telluric Seed is probably on-point, though. Gigalith already serves as the boulder that parts the river, so to speak, so giving it a greater ability to serve that role should go a fair ways. Freeing up its moveslots is an added bonus for sure, especially since gigalith's base Attack stat is pretty dang dangerous as it is. And since it resists Rock damage anyway, the Seed's drawback really won't mean much to it in the majority of fights. 

 

 

Spoiler

As a Dusk Lycanroc user myself I can confirm that his Z move gets rid of the field. Though I think these suggestions should not be used for the main game, they are good suggestions for the Reborn Hardcore Mode mod. (if that is still a thing)

 

[DevR]

10 hours ago, Sceptilespy said:

I guess I can respect those calcs, if...I knew where you got them from. Even taking levels into account, this calc doesn't change much. I only really need to do this one to reach some conclusion that your calcs are exaggerated (probably not on purpose), but still. You also don't take into account that this is doubles format, so that damage is split, which tbh, even makes the calc I provided exaggerated. 

 84 SpA Archeops Heat Wave vs. 248 HP / 0+ SpD Filter Aggron-Mega: 135-159 (39.3 - 46.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

 

Regarding Scizor and Ferro (Which i forgot to mention for some reason), Archeops is completely irrelevant with Sciz on the field, but you have a point with Ferrothorn. 

Spoiler

I did forget to click on the 'doubles' tab, so thanks for pointing that out! The actual calcs. for a Lv.92 Archeops vs Lv.90 opponents in doubles are:

84 SpA Archeops Heat Wave vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Filter Aggron-Mega: 102-120 (32.9 - 38.7%) -- 99% chance to 3HKO

84 SpA Archeops Heat Wave vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Aegislash-Shield: 78-94 (26.7 - 32.1%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
84 SpA Archeops Heat Wave vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Metagross: 124-146 (45.7 - 53.8%) -- 38.7% chance to 2HKO

84 SpA Archeops Heat Wave vs. 252 HP / 208+ SpD Ferrothorn: 152-180 (47.9 - 56.7%) -- 81.3% chance to 2HKO
84 SpA Archeops Heat Wave vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Excadrill: 160-190 (49.2 - 58.4%) -- 97.7% chance to 2HKO

 

Also, since the above calcs uses Pokemon at the level cap with proper EV investment, they're more-or-less the worst-case scenario for that Archeops. Scizor and Metagross (with Bullet Punch) do invalidate Archeops though. It could also hold an Expert Belt to boost that damage, but idk if it's worth losing Acrobatics.

 

8 hours ago, Autumn Zephyr said:

Actually, giving Hardy a Lycanium-Z may be an absolutely horrendous idea. Assuming Splintered Stormshards acts like it does in the main series (where it completely negates the current Field Effect), it'd negate what is probably his greatest asset in the fight. Removing the field is already considered to be one of the most effective ways of countering Gym Leaders in this game, so having one do it to himself just seems pretty dang silly! 

 

Spoiler

Welp, I forgot about the terrain-removing bit, sorry! In that case, Rockium-Z or a Life Orb would still be better options than Telluric Seed imo.

 

[Commander]

11 hours ago, The Swordsman said:

  Reveal hidden contents

As a Dusk Lycanroc user myself I can confirm that his Z move gets rid of the field. Though I think these suggestions should not be used for the main game, they are good suggestions for the Reborn Hardcore Mode mod. (if that is still a thing)

 

I don't take fan suggestions often as all it does is give more opportunities for people to complain. Sounds bad but you'd understand on my side. But...

 

Spoiler

I'm not going to fix what isn't broken for the main fight so I just tweaked it a little bit so he could handle steel types a lot better.

 

[DemICE]

Spoiler

Charlotte is potentially easier than Hardy but noone complains about her.

 

[Feng Lei]

Because Charlotte was harder in the past? I just fought her with my mono-rock run of a slow version of Hardy's team, kinda. She was easy, but I am surprised she didn't have a Blaziken.

 

As to said rock run... Kabutops. That thing saves the team again and again. It's how I managed to sweep Samson. But boy, is it frail. Not that I didn't know that before...

[rayyan]

Spoiler

Hardy probably needs a regirock. It would fill his rockstar theme better than lycanroc. In all seriousness kabutops can easily overpower swift swimmers so placing it on his team would be better. But don't forget that it has double weakness to grass so idk 

 

[The Swordsman]

8 hours ago, Commander said:

I don't take fan suggestions often as all it does is give more opportunities for people to complain. Sounds bad but you'd understand on my side. But...

 

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I'm not going to fix what isn't broken for the main fight so I just tweaked it a little bit so he could handle steel types a lot better.

 

Sorry, I really should of considered that.

[Commander]

On the topic of a certain Pokemon:

 

Spoiler

I get what people are saying about Kabutops but you are ignoring a very big BUT. But what if someone doesn't use Rain Dance strategy given how limited it is. Now you have a slowish rock type just waiting to be slaughtered. Kabutops is not that fast, frail, and only has an okay damage output. It's just a worse Lycanroc at that point. You can throw arguments left and right but it adds nothing to the table and just adds the same role as Lycanroc but worse.