Attack? Pfft. - A Redux Challenge Run

[AyTales]

I've done a few stupid challenge runs of both Reborn and Memeborn, so I wanted to try my hand at Redux. I enjoy stall playstyles even in single player, because the "set up and sweep" playstyle isn't quite to my taste and I enjoyed when my Pokemon take forever to put down. With that in mind, I added together the Attack and Special Attack of all evolved Pokemon. I was going to take the bottom six and use those to beat Redux which would have been these:

Shuckle

Smeargle

Wishiwashi (Solo Form)

Wobbuffet

Luvdisc

Blissey

 

However, I ignored Wishiwashi during these things because it's a pain in the ass to keep it below 50% through an entire battle. Also not fun. So we get rid of Wishiwashi and add the next weakest. I also noticed a fun addition at 14th place. Aegislash Shield Forme. Essentially, I could include Aegislash if I never gave it any attacking moves once it to go an Aegislash. That sounded fun, so my final team is this:

 

Shuckle

Smeargle

Wobbuffet

Blissey

Pyukumuku

Aegislash (Shield Forme).

 

So, we're off. However, a few rules:

 

* Set mode

* Item Clause is on. No items in battle.

* I will debug in the above six Pokemon at level 1.

* I can use other Pokemon during grinding.

* All gym leaders must be defeated in their Master mode.

* Honedge cannot keep Swords Dance

 

And that's all! Let's see how this goes.

[AyTales]

The beginning took a lot of grinding, and I don't have screenshots for most of it. This run initially started out with a Pyukumuku and Shuckle buddy cop run, but I learned quickly I would not be able to beat Redux this way. I had hopes, though, and figured my best shot was overleveling the two of them and just dealing with the disobedience. To that end, I got a Zigzagoon with Pickup! I trained it to Level 20 and used the one available Rare Candy before Julia.

 

Spoiler

 

And so my Rare Candy hunt could begin. I power leveled 5 Meowths with Pickup to level 20 as well and grinded against Noibats in the Underground Railnet. It took a while.

 

Spoiler

 

After a few hours spread across a week or so, I'd gotten enough Rare Candies to maximize my Rare Candy drops from Pickup. I continued to grind, aiming to get Shuckle to a high enough level to take out Aster and Eclipse. Turns out just Pyuku and Shuckle don't work well against those two. This is where I found out Redux has a second hard level cap. I couldn't go above 23 regardless of how many candies I got. Bummer. So while I did manage to beat Aster and Eclipse with a level 23 Pyuku and Shuckle, I could not beat even Singles Julia. This is where I initially dropped the challenge.

[AyTales]

Circling back to today, I came up with the challenge in my initial post! I debugged in Happiny, Wynaut, Honedge, and Smeargle. I planned out their (admittedly limited) movepool for Julia.

 

Spoiler

 

Smeargle was a treat. I literally only had wild Pokemon and Grand Hall trainers to choose from for Sketch, so I mapped out the attacks the Grand Hall trainers had for each day of the week.

 

Spoiler

 

Turns out there were a few great choices. I ended up going with Minimize, Poison Powder, Night Shade, and Reflect. They all seemed useful for upcoming battles. Night Shade in particular would make Smeargle a surprisingly heavy hitter. Now it was time for Julia.

 

Spoiler

 

It... was not easy. I knew I wanted Smeargle to set up. A +6 Evasion Night Shade spamming nightmare would do well against Julia, but that turned out to be harder than expect. Julia continuously would target Smeargle and would hit surprisingly often. Even at +6, one of her two Pokemon would manage to hit. It was a bit of a nightmare. Here was the winning strategy:

1. Happiny + Smeargle
2. Happiny Sweet Kisses
3. Smeargle Reflects
4. She Sparks Happiny twice, knocking it out
5. Send out Honedge
6. Honedge Shadow Sneaks Electrike
7. Smeargle Minimizes
8. Both of Julia's mons (hopefully) miss Smeargle
9. Honedge Shadow Sneaks Electrike
10. Smeargle Night Shades Electrike
11. Electrike faints
12. Julia's metal Pikachu clone misses with Spark

If all that happened perfectly, I'd be good. Smeargle could get hit three times with Reflect before fainting generally, so I was good there. Eventially Julia starts targetting Honedge and it's a bit of a crapshoot from there. In the end, Wobbuffet came out with Mirror Coat to knock out Electrode.

 

Spoiler

 

And so Julia is down and I'm on to the Scraggy gang, Tangrowth, and Florinia. No major changes to movesets are planned. Here's what I plan to have by level 25 for everyone.

 

 

I'll keep you all informed on how it goes!

[AyTales]

Welp. Florinia masters looks impossible.

 

Spoiler

 

I might believe that Smeargle could solo by getting lucky with misses, but Roserade has Magical Leaf so that's bust. Florinia master starts out with Gogoat and Cradily. Gogoat uses Grassy Terrain and then spams Energy Ball. Cradily spams Rock Slide.

If I knock out one of the two, she sends out either Cherrim or Roserade. Cherrim sets up sun and Solar Beam spams while Roserade has been seen only once and Magial Leaf'd Smeargle. I'm kinda back to the drawing board on this one, and I'm not sure where to go. Maybe substitute? I'm not sure how well it would really help, though. I'll think it through.

[AyTales]

First rule break of the run: 

 

* Hacking in an Oval Stone to evolve Happiny

 

I don't think I can beat Florinia Master with my current team.

[AyTales]

So, I didn't need to hack in an Oval Stone. Turns out you can bypass the level limit through the daycare which is within my current rules. I did so to get Shuckle and Pyukumuku to levels where I can get their final movesets. I initially then battled Florinia with a lvl 45 Pyuku and a lvl 44 Shuckle and won, but that seems cheap as hell so reset and common candied them back down to lvl 25 to keep the challenge. We'll see where this takes me:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Trying my hand at Florinia with this team now, since Pyuku and Shuckle are no longer gutted by a lack of moveset. We'll see how it goes.

[AyTales]

Let's fucking go!

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Florinia has historically always been the most difficult gym leader for me. She consistently fucks me up in challenge runs, and this masters fight was no exception. Shuckle, again, clutches it out and outstalled Commander's well-designed stall team.

 

Here's the well-thought-out and trial and errored early game plan:

1. Start Happiny and Smeargle
2. She starts Gogoat and Smearlge
3. Happiny uses Sweet Kiss on Cradily
4. Smeargle uses Minimize
5. Gogoat uses Grassy Terrain
6. Cradily uses Rock Slide. Misses Smeargle.
7. Happiny uses anything.
8. Smeargle uses Minimize.
9. Gogoat uses Energy Ball to KO Happiny
10. Cradily uses Rock Slide and misses Smeargle
11. Send out Wobbuffet 
12. Smeargle uses final Minimize
13. Wobbuffet uses Mirror Coat
14. Gogoat uses Energy Ball on Wobbuffet
15. Cradily uses Rock Slide and either hits itself in its confusion or misses Wobbuffet
16. Gogoat is KO'd by Mirror Coat
17. Florinia sends out Cherrim
18. Cherrim uses Sunny Day
19. Cradily uses Rock Slide
20. Wobbuffet uses Destiny Bond
21. Smeargle uses Toxic on Cradily
22. Wobbuffet uses any move
23. Smeargle uses any move
24. Cradily uses Rock Slide and hits / doesn't hit / hits itself. 
25. Cherrim uses Solar Beam and KO's Wobbuffet, taking itself out in the process
26. Send out Shuckle
27. Florinia sends out Roserade (It gets tricky here, and idk how consistent the AI is)
28. Shuckle uses Power Split on Roserade
29. Smeargle uses Night Shade on Roserade
30. Roserade uses Magical Leaf on Smeargle and KO's him
31. Cradily uses Rock Slide, probably hits
32. Send out Honedge
33. Shuckle uses Shell Smash
34. Honedge uses Aerial Ace on Roserade
35. Roserade uses Magical Leaf on Honedge
36. Cradily uses Giga Drain on Honedge
37. Honedge barely survives bceause of the Power Split
38. Honedge uses Shadow Sneak on Roserade
39. Shuckle uses Shell Smash
40. Roserade uses Magical Leaf and KO's Honedge
41. Cradily uses Rock Slide, hitting likely
42. Send out Pyukumuku
43. Cry because this looks like another failed attempt
44. Use Soak on Cradily because its ability means you can't Soak Roserade
45. Shuckle uses Shell Smash in a greed play. Rest if not greedy. I think used Rest in my final attempt.
46. Roserade uses Magical Leaf on Pyuku
47. Cradily uses Giga Drain on Pyuku
48. Realize you wasted a turn with Pyuku
49. Shuckle uses Rest (or sleeps)
50. Pyuku uses Recover, knowing its over
51. Roserade uses Magical Leaf on Pyuku
52. Cradily uses Giga Drain
53. Pyuku survives with 1 HP! Oran berry activates and he recovers 50% HP.
54. Shuckle sleeps
55. Pyuku attempts Recover again
56. Roserade crits Magical Leaf. Crying ensues.
57. Cradily rock slides and faints from poison
58. Florinia sends out Abomasnow
59. Shuckle wakes and uses Wrap on Abomasnow
60. Roserade uses Magical Leaf
61. Aboma uses Blizzard
62. Play by play gets boring here. I use Power Split on Abomasnow just in case since it was mostly physically attacking and the earlier Power Split only boosted its special attack.

From that point on, it's just "Use Wrap whenever its effect runs out and use Rest when the next set of attacks would drop you below 25% health. Pray you don't get crit at the worst time." Noteable, though, is that Hippodown is a clearly inferior stall here. It uses Smack Down on Shuckle and does no damage at all, and Sand Tomb does more damage to it than Wrap ever could. 

 

Roserade uses Synthesis often during this part of the stall, but runs out of PP for it and eventually stalls itself out.

[AyTales]

Oh, I realize I haven't shown these were masters fights. Tada!

 

[AyTales]

So I didn't take screenshots of either Tangrowth battle since they were both very easy, and Shuckle / Pyuku alone really carried them. Soak + Toxic is such a great combination. I did lose once with Zel + Taka by PP stalling myself out, but most of that came from parahax and confusion bad luck.

 

I did learn that Redux has an insanity mode, so I turned that on.

 

Spoiler

 

Insanity increases the level of all enemy Pokemon by 10% +1, so that'll be good.

 

Corey was well-designed, but I ended up turning his advantage against him because of this little fucker and the highlighted move.

 

Spoiler

Changing Corey's Pokemon to Water type causes the poison mist field to poision all of his Pokemon, and many take extra damage due to one reason or another. I essentially put Pyuku in the field, Soak'd them, Recovered, and swapped in another mon to stall the time. Pyuku's recover couldn't last forever, and Zangoose ended up knocking him out. Shuckle carried at the end, though. Singles format just does a lot for this type of stall team. Note: I did use Rare Candies on Honedge to get him to Level 35 to evolve him, but it didn't really change anything.

Spoiler

 

 

 

And with Corey down, I now have 2 badges and 3 medals!

 

[Nicocchi]

Recently my appreciation for stally gameplay has increased, as opposed to the unga bunga-style I've employed for a while. Really creative challenge, IMO - looking forward to seeing the rest of it completed!

And I also tend to struggle with Florinia... was definitely where I was stuck the longest (so far, only 13 gyms in) in my Monofairy run, even on normal Reborn. 

[AyTales]

I haven't picked this up in about week because I kinda hate Smeargle and planning for him means I either become super OP or he stays useless. Similarly, Aegislash (Shield Forme), while cool in theory, really isn't great.

 

I'm thinking of replacing one or both of them with Carbink and/or Bastiodon. Decisions, decisions.

[AyTales]

Going to replace Smeargle with Carbink. Let's go.

[AyTales]

 

Team for Shelly. For the record, she's kicking my ass with just her first two mons. This is going to be rough.

[AyTales]

Holy shit Shelly was tough. Shuckle again coming in clutch. After action results:

 

Spoiler

 

I needed to bring everyone to the Rare Candy hard limit for levels this time around, because Shelly just packs way too strong of a punch. I also bit the bullet and EV-trained the team. I spent a lot of early planning trying to weaken her Victreebell and Vivillion so I could set up against them, but it turned out the best strategy was to go offense before defense. The first half of the battle was planned. The moment after Wobuffet (I just swapped the icons. I like the way Wynaut looks. It's still Wobuffet) hit Mirror Coat, all bets were off. Everything after that was improvised, and I got super lucky with Destiny Bond taking out Scizor.

 

This time, I have a video!

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ytzSll1ZoHD9h6fzenjK00bg6PzcOY95

 

Enjoy! I can now finally get a Blissey.

[Nicocchi]

Got scared when that Rock Slide near the end made both your Pokes flinch but Fuckle OP!

Chansey/Blissey should be a nice unlock. Could we be looking forward to some Minimize + Psych Up shenanigans in future doubles?

[AyTales]

On 8/28/2019 at 10:00 PM, Nicocchi said:

Got scared when that Rock Slide near the end made both your Pokes flinch but Fuckle OP!

Chansey/Blissey should be a nice unlock. Could we be looking forward to some Minimize + Psych Up shenanigans in future doubles?

I'm actually not sure when you get the TM for Psych Up. In past runs with similar teams, I never ended up using Psych Up but it would be absolutely perfect to use on Shuckle, so I'll use it once I get the TM, for sure.

[Nicocchi]

@Aegisth Assuming it's the same in Redux (haven't played it) you get it in the dark room after escaping the cage room with Ditto in Blacksteam Factory, so like right after you beat Shade.

[AyTales]

11 hours ago, Nicocchi said:

@Aegisth Assuming it's the same in Redux (haven't played it) you get it in the dark room after escaping the cage room with Ditto in Blacksteam Factory, so like right after you beat Shade.

Welp. Once I get Eviolite and breed another Chansey, she's going to be the hardest to hit tank.

 

The biggest problem with that set up, actually, is Chansey/Blissey is at a real risk of being PP Stalled out depending on the Pokemon. Once I get Seismic Toss, it's not as much of an issue, but I can't PP Stall the opponent because they just miss every time and never use PP. In some fights, like Noel's Clefable, it becomes an actual problem to watch out for.

[Nicocchi]

@Aegisth Missing does use up PP. Since you're actually using the move but not hitting the target, as opposed to not being able to move due to flinching or being paralyzed. Unless it's different in Redux. But yes, certainly an issue to keep in mind.

And you should be able to get Seismic Toss right now! You can find Mawile in the 'middle' room of Underground Railnet, although it's quite rare.

[AyTales]

1 hour ago, Nicocchi said:

@Aegisth Missing does use up PP. Since you're actually using the move but not hitting the target, as opposed to not being able to move due to flinching or being paralyzed. Unless it's different in Redux. But yes, certainly an issue to keep in mind.

And you should be able to get Seismic Toss right now! You can find Mawile in the 'middle' room of Underground Railnet, although it's quite rare.

I can't reach the Underground Railnet yet. That's post Shade since we have to open the door where the kids get kidnapped, no?

 

Good point about missing. I'm not sure why I was under the impression that missing does not cost PP.

[Nicocchi]

@Aegisth You can find Mawile in the room with the door. Wasn't sure what to call it. The area just past the Rock Smash rocks. It's a 5% encounter rate IIRC.

[AyTales]

3 hours ago, Nicocchi said:

@Aegisth You can find Mawile in the room with the door. Wasn't sure what to call it. The area just past the Rock Smash rocks. It's a 5% encounter rate IIRC.

Oh. You'd think I would have known that, considering I built the E18 Pokemon Locations Spreadsheet. Thanks for the info.

[AyTales]

Cain and the orphanage were easy. I have a video for Cain that I'll link that shows why singles is so strong for this team, but the real point of the post is to say this:

 

Shade is whooping my ass as bad as Shelly was, and I have Blissey this time around.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VGy96Lw0lf-bWmboD-Ujml5WGOotPNIT