Mono-Flying Run

[jbastian1]

HELLO EVERYONE!

 

So after finally learning that the 18.2 update allows multiple saves, I am finally doing it! I am attempting a mono run with my favorite type, Flying. I feel like this will be a fun yet challenging experience considering the first gym is Electric, theres an Ice Gym in the mid-game, and the final gym at the moment is Rock which should provide me with some hurdles along the way. I started this past weekend and will give you a bit of a runthrough as to how the first little bit has gone!

 

 

My current team:

1. Butterfree (Beefwee)
2. Bond (Dartrix)
3. Hedwig (Noctowl)
4. Clarise (Tranquil)
5. Batman (Swoobat)
6. Lillith (Vivillon) / Stereo (Noibat)
    

I started with Rowlet (nicknamed Bond), being the ONLY flying type starter (Other than Charizard). I didn't choose Charmander because he does not start out as a flying type. The main rule that I set for myself is that I cannot use any non-flying pokemon (even if they evolve into flying types) for main battles- such as story missions, gym battles etc. Now I can train non flying types that will evolve into flying types outside of the story through just straight up grinding. An example of this is Butterfree. Caterpie and Metapod had to be trained in alleys until it evolves into its flying type. Then it can be used. The other rule that I am using is to nickname any mon that ends up on my team- just makes it more personal and fun. 

I swept Victoria's Litten and Cains Nidoran with ease and went out to try and assemble some early pokemon to help with Julia, the first big hurdle. First things first I caught a Woobat (which I named Batman) and a Noibat (named Stereo). I trained them up to level 10 to match my Rowlett and then went to catch Caterpie. Training it into a Butterfree took time but was well worth it which gave me my 4th team member, Beefwee. I then caught my self a Hoothoot named Hedwig, and a Pidgey named Flappy Bird. I beat Fern easily and made it through the power plant relatively fine. Woobat came in clutch with its confusion during the main fight there and then it was on to Julia.

Julia wrecked me... Utterly destroyed my team which was right around level 15. I reset as to not lose any money and decided to train up til my whole team was level 18. Both Batman and Bond evolved at level 17 and Flappy Bird at 18. This, while still tough, was enough to Heart Stamp spam Julia to get those flinches and win the first gym battle. Stereo basically was cannon fodder as I did not train him up to 18. I know Noivern is amazing, but that grind for him is ROUGH. I pretty much kept him to swap into to tank a hit and heal up Batman. I moved on, swapped out Flappy Bird for a Pidove named Clarise after the character from The Silence of the Lambs- I dont know why, but thats what I felt clicked. Fortunately, I caught one with Super Luck and a Serious nature. I was hoping to get a Ducklett egg, but got a Bronzong from the Slums and a Clampearl from the Day Care Couple quest so I boxed them and kept moving to the first Pulse fight.  I STOMPED Tangrowth and moved on to face Florina.

 

Now Florina had given me many headaches in my previous playthroughs. That Cradily always hits hard and heals up so much that it caused many hair-tearing out moments in my life, but let me tell you this was the easiest gym battle ever which I solo swept with one pokemon and didn't even need to heal. I even managed to OHKO the Cradily! All thanks to Beefwee, Goddess of the Butterfrees. It had learned Silver Wind from it's fight with Tangrowth and somehow managed to get the stat boost effect for the first three times using it. First time out it killed Cacnea and then just kept boosting. I didn't take a hit of damage. I have never felt so lucky in this game. It is a shame, because Beefwee's time on the team will be limited because of what I will be training up next. 

I move on to Jasper and Beryl Ward and catch myself a Scatterbug to quickly evolve into Vivillon which I nicknamed Lilith. She is a BEAST in the latter of the game, so I swapped out beloved Beefwee. I make my way through saving all the officers, beat Taka easily, picked up the egg, and continue onward to the next Ward to Double Battle with zEL and Taka and hit a wall. Glaceon kept slowing me down and Chatot is a b*tch. I realized however that Lilith is probly not the best for this fight and the Goddess of Butterfrees herself comes to save the day. I Hypnosis Glaceon with Hedwig and one-shot exeggcute with Beefwee's Silver Wind getting my stats boosted. I then Hypnosis Chatot and Silver Wind Glaceon getting my stats boosted again. Then I silver winded Umbreon and Espeon killing both with ease while I chipped away at Chatot. It woke up during my battle with Umbreon but Beefwee's defenses were too high and it barely scratched its health. Once it was just down to Taka, I killed off Chatot and then the two took down the Tangrowth for the final time. I am currently at Corey's Gym trying to hatch the third egg I found in the forest- but I have a feeling it wont be another flyer . If not though I'll be using both Beefwee and Lilith til something new comes along- I do plan on keeping both in rotation, training alongside eachother throughout the game because how valuable they both can and have been (Vivillon in other playthroughs has been astounding). 

 

My main team plan is listed below:

 

1. Aerodactyl (with Aerodactylite)
2. Braviary
3. Togekiss
4. Hawlucha
5. Vivillon
6. Swanna/Pelipper/Gyardos/Dragonite/Skarmory

 

My 6th slot will pretty much be whatever I can use most effectively. I feel like Swanna or Pelipper may be better for the Special Attack as I'll only have Vivillon and Togekiss for that. I usually like to keep an even balance of 3 Physical Attackers and 3 Special Attackers. That being said, the Tanks of Dragonite and Skarmory could be pretty dang useful too, especially for Hardy. 

Please feel free to post your favorite Flying Type recommendations and why you think they'd be valuable for my playthough! I'll probably end up using A LOT as I go along with a healthy sized rotation. I'll also try to give updates on how the mono run is going and would also love to hear about your own mono run experiences too.

 

Hope to hear from you all soon!

 

 

[Gentleman Jaggi]

Flying is a pretty cool Monotype; since almost all Flying Types are dual Typed you get a pretty wide variety of Type combinations to choose from.

My favorite combinations were Jumpluff's Grassy Field + Charizard's Heat Wave and Archeops' Rockslide + something with Mirror Move.

 

Poor Decidueye tho, just gettinng dumped like that. How could you.

[jbastian1]

11 minutes ago, Gentleman Jaggi said:

Flying is a pretty cool Monotype; since almost all Flying Types are dual Typed you get a pretty wide variety of Type combinations to choose from.

My favorite combinations were Jumpluff's Grassy Field + Charizard's Heat Wave and Archeops' Rockslide + something with Mirror Move.

 

Poor Decidueye tho, just gettinng dumped like that. How could you.

Hahah yeah, the plan is to just not let it evolve until I can find something to replace Datrix. Personally I adore Decidueye but I think it should have stayed Grass/Flying. I love that typing but the few we have are not that great. When I found out Decidueye was ghost I was a little disappointed. I agree Archeops is awesome, but I much prefer Aerodactyl. Aerodactyl is actaully my favorite Pokemon and its Mega Evolution makes it shred through everything. I might get myself a Jumpluff at some point. I am planning on picking up a Fletchinder before Corey's gym for the Fire Flying type (gonna make that toxic mist go boom) and if I can find one, a Drifloon because I want that Destiny Bond.

[Gentleman Jaggi]

I like Decidueye being Ghost, it makes it stand out among the Starters; they honestly need more unusual Type combinations to make them more distinct from each other.

Archeops actually used to be available much earlier than it is now which made it a great alternative to Aerodactyl. Now it's moved back to I think the same point that Aerodactyl is available which makes it a lot less interesting unfortunately. It actually has a higher Atk than even Mega Aerodactyl but that one having Tough Claws means it still hits harder while also being ridiculously fast.

[jbastian1]

40 minutes ago, Gentleman Jaggi said:

I like Decidueye being Ghost, it makes it stand out among the Starters; they honestly need more unusual Type combinations to make them more distinct from each other.

Archeops actually used to be available much earlier than it is now which made it a great alternative to Aerodactyl. Now it's moved back to I think the same point that Aerodactyl is available which makes it a lot less interesting unfortunately. It actually has a higher Atk than even Mega Aerodactyl but that one having Tough Claws means it still hits harder while also being ridiculously fast.

Yeah not much can outspeed a Mega Aerodactyl. And even though Archeops is certainly very strong , if it does get weakened enough for Defeatist to trip, its useless. I do agree though that its a great mon and were it obtainable earlier I would totally get one to tide me over til I got Aerodactyl. Tbh though, even when its not a mega, I still prefer Aerodactyl. Its speed outclasses the Archeops and it still has a fantastic attack so it can pretty much take out whatever Archeops can, but faster. In a head to head fight between the two, it would fall to whoever hits first, which would be Aerodactyl. Plus I love my OG Dino-bird. As someone who works for a Natural History Museum its even more fitting to be my favorite pokemon!

[jbastian1]

More updates to my journey are coming once I beat Shade. I am a little stuck on him at the moment (which is new for me, I usually never struggle on him), he's just been getting SOOOOO lucky landing crit after crit after crit and somehow outspeeding when he shouldn't be. I know how to beat him, its just he's been so random. Sometime his attack does like 20 damage, the next time itll OHKO me. I'm figuring it out!

[jbastian1]

So I know I haven't updated this in a MINUTE so here we go. 

 

I beat Shade eventually, I am not sure why it took me so long because when I beat him, I beat him bad, I exorcised his ghosts bad. But anyway I moved on to bigger and better things. I opened the doors and watched the kids get kidnapped and had to go shrek Kiki to get strength but no badge.. RIP... and then did the faceoff with Garchomp. I somehow managed to outspeed with Jumpluff and him to sleep and Leech Seeded him. Then I just revived til it died, took me a few tries but did it eventually. Found Cain and went to AYA. She was so easy. TBH I just used Calm Mind on my Swoobat a few times (Its simple) then one shot everything with Psychic for the most part. I finally followed to Yureyu to help out. I made my way through and faced off with Sigmund because why not. Guess who got their ass kicked considering I was using a mono flying team and he uses electric typing? Not me, I beat the living shit out of him. Moving on, we fled to the Lake house and I had to go assault the team meteor base and face Serra, but caught a Ducklett beforehand and swapped out Drifblim. Another case of the Bill Cosby sleepies from Jumpluff made everything a breeze. Oh yeah, I also caught an Oricorio named Cha Cha and I also got Toucan Sam the Toucannon. Barely used them though. I did the side quest though at the museum and got an Archen so that I could use Archeops in lieu of not having my Aerodactyl yet... but soon.... I continued onward to Radomus but danged Luna got kidnapped so I had to deal with that whole sidequest. FORTUNATELY, I caught myself a Swablu and evolved it to Altaria. One quick claw later and I perish songed the Arceus Ditto and moved on with my life after catching a Sigilyph and Natu. Completely THWOPPED Radomus and I am currently making my way to the Dark Gym. I am ready though to unleash hell with my Vivillon as it has come sin handy being able to Sleep Powder and Quiver Dance. Then I Hurricane Katrina her enemies out of existence. Although for Luna I'll probly Bug Buzz most of her team. My current team is:

 

Vivillon

Archeops

Talonflame

Jumpluff

Swanna

Rotating- Altaria, Swoobat, Xatu, Sigilyph

 

After I head to Agate I will be getting a Braviary and a Hawlucha which I am very excited for. 

 

[FriarTruck]

You could say that you're flying through your mono run.

I did a flying mono run and am kinda miffed I didn't use Jumpluff or Vivillon as they seem to work out really great for you with sleep powder, leech seed, quiver dance etc. I loved that there are so many options for an all flying team.

Who's your MVP so far? And which fight are you dreading?

[Suzuki]

I'm kinda surprised you didn't consider Gliscor for your planned team. Seems like it would help with a lot of battles.
it protec
it attac
but most importantly it batt