Some Help with Saphira Please

[Preesh]

I'm sort of at a loss about how to beat Saphira. It feels in part that the way I've built my team just won't be able to reliably get through this fight and I might just have to move on and start a new save. I figured I should ask if there's something I can do to beat her before I go through with that though. My team line up for the fight is always Mismagius, Gardevoir, Gallade, Roserade, Empoleon, and Dragon Silvally and I don't really have any subs for this fight. For the most part, there's two ways the fight plays out.

 

The first way - Noivern will always outspeed Mismagius and Mismagius will generally die to the boosted flamethrower. If I activate quick claw on Mismagius I can get a Mystical Fire in before it gets two shotted and try to set up Mega Gardevoir. I can stall through the Noivern to set up Calm Mind's on Mega G., but its inconsistent. Sometimes I can get to +6, sometimes she switches to Haxorus and can just outspeed and OHKO with Poison Jab. Even If I can get +4 with a Reflect up, the Focus Sashes on her Salamance and Haxorus eat up all the turns on it in between needing to Full Restore. If I can somehow get through the Haxorus and Salamance on runs like this, eventually the Mega Charizard just sweeps everything besides sometimes Silvally who can sometimes deal with it. If Silvally did deal with it, it's generally because Gallade got a Life Orb Shadow Sneak off. After that, even if I sacrifice something to heal Silvally to deal with Garchomp, it's not guaranteed that Silvally can one shot Garchomp and I mostly just lose if I've gotten that far.

 

The second way - I can lead Empoleon and sometimes he lives the Noivern's Flamethrower. When he does, I can get the Z water move off and change the field from Dragon's Den to Cave. Even then, Silvally just gets OHKO'd by the +1 Dragon Pulse. I have to fish for a Quick Claw activation for the Mystical Fire from Mismagius again, and then I sacrifice Roserade to revive Empoleon. Sometimes I can set up Empoleon with Sword Dance here and he can Rock Slide the Noivern, but he's too slow to outspeed anything else and dies to Garchomp usually. Silvally can sometimes deal with the Garchomp but it's mostly a trade. He gets too low from the Dragon Claw most of the time, and just dies to whatever comes in next. I've tried subbing him out after that to heal him but then whatever came in after the Garchomp usually Dragon Dance's the turn I Full Restore and just sweeps everything I have left.

 

Again, I don't like the idea of just starting a new save but if there's really nothing I can do here to beat her with my current team then I don't really have a choice. Part of getting stuck here feels like a speed issue, since my Ivs and Evs are all over the place (Silvally is my fastest mon with 262 speed), and the other part feels like a typing issue since when I've had coverage problems in the past I can just change Silvally's type.

[earthprisonpanopticon]

terra actually lets you exit the tournament and leave labradorra if you need to, so if you need to swap out for new teammates that shouldn't be an issue. or do you have a self imposed rule of not swapping out mons or something? either way, i'd suggest getting a mega altaria. from my experience, it's a beast in this fight

[Gentleman Jaggi]

Stealth Rocks is your best friend in this fight - Haxorus and Salamence are holding Focus Sashes, Dragonite has Multiscale and Charizard is Fire/Flying so 4/6 of her team gets hurt a lot by them.

Speed issues can be mostly solved with Tailwind. If the mon setting it up is holding an Amplifield Rock and gets KO'd on the same turn it sets up you'll get iirc five turns with doubled Speed so your attackers should be able to outspeed all of her mons except maybe Garchomp since that one is holding a Choice Scarf. Grabbing a PRankster Cottonee off Route 4 should work just fine for this.

Garchomp can be dealt with by switching in a Fairy Type when it's using a Dragon move; on the Dragon's Den it'll do that a lot. Saphira will either switch it out, giving you a free hit on whatever she sends in, or just let you kill it if her AI decides switching isn't worth the risk. From my experience she'll send out Charizard and Haxorus against Gardevoir and give up on Garchomp once those two are out of the picture.

 

If you're open to training new Pokemon then a Mega Sceptile will proper Speed investment will outspeed all of her team except Garchomp and one-shot everything except Dragonite with Dragon Pulse (assuming Stealth Rock broke their Focus Sashes beforehand). A Noivern should perform similarly, but will at best get a Speed tie with Saphira's own Noivern. If you decide to use Mega Sceptile be wary that Garchomp will go for Poison Jab once the AI knows you have a Fairy Type in your team.

Mega Altaria has surprise immunity the turn it mega evolves which can also be used to deal with Garchomp but it would need Tailwind support for the rest.

 

Dragonite can be a lot easier to deal with if you freeze the Dragon's Den to remove the buff to Multiscale, but the x2 Field buff to Dragon moves is very useful for dealing with the rest of her team. Personally I'd recommend just leaving the Field alone and hitting it with whatever your hardest hitting move is once it's around half health. Probably either a Dragon move or a Z-move.

[Dreamy]

Gigalith's an excellent lead by being able to set stealth rocks and then custap explosion or stealth rock to take out noivern before it can defog or anything. Icium/Waterium-Z takes away her dragon boosts and doubles your rocks damage, and then something like slush rush alolan sandslash can pretty much run through her entire team, as one example

[Loner]

Lots of good suggestions here, consider these options OP.

 

On my part, I'd say EV training is a good idea regardless of your situation, as it can turn a Pokémon from dead weight to a powerhouse, since the difference between attacking at all due to outspeeding or surviving a hit and not being able to do so is significant. So, I'd encourage you to do it.

You also gotta be mindful of IVs. If your team has lots of 10- IVs on used stats (think defenses, HP or speed), you're gonna suffer. A good moveset and typing can only do so much. 

 

Other than that, your team seems kinda frail on the physical side, so you may want to look at something that can take a hit on that side. Gigalith, as mentioned above, is a very good option.

Silvally Dragon is a bit of a double-edged sword, as it's supereffective and boosted by terrain, but also weak and very vulnerable to the opponents' stab Dragon type attacks (which are also boosted). If it doesn't outspeed consistently enough, that's not very useful. I'd use that in a different form - even without a Memory Silvally's pretty good - to set up things that would help your team. Tailwind and Thunder Wave are two notable options, as well as Parting Shot. 

 

Status may help. Thunder Wave, if you can take a hit, can cripple her Noivern significantly, allowing regular outspeeds on your side if your team has something fast enough. And Will-o-Wisp cripples a significant part of her team - Garchomp and Dragonite both suffer pretty badly if burnt, and the damage over time can possibly tip the balance in your favor in other cases too. Keep in mind Garchomp is choiced, if I remember right (but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, please!), so if you can get it to face something that can sport an immunity or resistance to it after it picked a move, you may get a turn or two to regroup and prepare to counterattack.

 

An idea, since you can't seem to be faster, is to look at speed in a different way. Trick Room would ensure you attack first for a few turns judging from your description of the situation, though setting it up requires something to survive at least a hit consistently, better if two, and your team doesn't seem particularly slow. Otherwise, Tailwind is a good alternative.

 

If you can find something that can consistently take a few hits, dropping the opponent's accuracy or raising your elusion can also be an idea. A bit exploity, since the AI generally doesn't deal well with it (the AI tends not to swap after setup even at -6 Accuracy, in my experience) but hey, it's an option. My Togekiss with Flash was surprisingly useful throughout the game. Never thought I'd say that Flash was useful, but here we are.

 

Best of luck on your next attempt.

[Nagnesar]

For me it was one of the easier gyms.

1. Hydro wortex

2. Stealth rocks

3. Rock types good

My best help was mega agron, it probably would help you with garchomp and haxorus, since it has insane def and ability which lowers dmg from super efective moves. They wont do much dmg and you can use cave boosted rock moves or steel moves.

Once you set stealth rocks in the cave, Charizard doesnt exist anymore, so Its basically 6v5.

[RebornFan7]

14 hours ago, earthprisonpanopticon said:

terra actually lets you exit the tournament and leave labradorra if you need to, so if you need to swap out for new teammates that shouldn't be an issue. or do you have a self imposed rule of not swapping out mons or something? either way, i'd suggest getting a mega altaria. from my experience, it's a beast in this fight

A single Altaria with a moveset of Return, DD, Roost and Cotton Guard is enough for this fight. Kill the Noivern (which will go for the dragon move), and then set up cotton guards and dragon dances on the physical mon she sends out (I think it was druddigon?). Then sweep. Her focus sashes mean nothing when you have +6 defense. Only thing you have to worry about are crits. 

[Blontary]

Another quick suggestion: it seems speed is your main issue, so don't forget the "x" items! If you can get gardevoir to +6 then just use an x speed or 2 and you'll outspeed and one shot everything (stealth rocks would be mandatory though)