So how did our friends do?
Neo is as we saw her back against Raticate, but this time she's actually useful- she has a neat double resist to Fighting, like Razzly. Confusion should be doing about the same damage as Fairy Wind, so it's not that she's stronger, but Tickle and Barrier do give her different options.
You know exactly why Basilissa is here: Intimidate, survive a few resisted hits, leave, Intimidate some more. Intimidate is good enough to justify her appearance.
Crysantha really doesn't have much to sell herself on. She's not got good odds of sticking around, but in the fights she'd be useful, it'd be nice to have her.
Callie's problem is more or less the same as it was against Raticate: Foul Play is going up against a Resist. By the time this stops being an issue, Foul Play will have a normal amount of power, won't it...
Hawkeye is sorta like the best of both Sam and Dottie for this team- Sam's power, plus Dottie's resist. Add some actual speed, and Hawkeye is my problem solver.
Note that now he has Mold Breaker, and not when Furfrou existed.
Unfortunately, Shiva does not yet know Confusion, and does not have a Fighting resist because of her Ice typing. When you factor in her low Defence score, she is going to drop in one hit, and hopefully her hit goes first.
Hala still has three Pokemon, as he did in SM, but he's exchanged his lead. He's also exchanged his IV spreads for 3x31/3x15 for flat 30s.
Instead of Mankey, USUM Hala leads with Machop. Machop has the same EV spread as Mankey, building for HP and Spd, but this strategy does cost him somewhat- Mankey is a naturally fast Pokemon, meaning it likes to go first. Machop is a naturally slow Pokemon, so the extra Speed doesn't really favour it, especially for its set. It has Focus Energy and Karate Chop, like Mankey, but switches Pursuit for Revenge. Revenge is a 60 BP Fighting Physical move that has -4 priority, meaning it is guaranteed to move after normal moves, but in exchange, it doubles in power if the user was damaged during the turn.
An excellent move for a bulkier Pokemon like Machop, but not exactly the move you want to run with high Spd EVs.
Crysantha lead gives me a chance to show something very funny, rather than useful.
Lucky Chant is a Normal type status move that applies a field effect to the user's side for five turns, similarly to a screen. It is a hilarious one to have for this fight:
It blocks crits. It doesn't see much use in normal play, because crits are so relatively rare that spending a turn just to negate their effects wastes important time, but when you know your opponent will depend on the Focus Energy strategy, it can be nice to have in your pocket.
Neo is the real lead, with the extra protection from crits in hand.
Machop went for Revenge on the second attack. Fortunately, it's only the 60 BP version, since Neo hasn't attempted an attack on this turn.
...Wow, Neo. I know Makuhita had Sp. Def investment, so Razzly is coming off in this comparison badly because of that, but still.
Sadly, the confusion status did not cause Machop to hit itself. That is a lot of pain, but Neo can take a second hit. Probably should've set up Barriers, though.
Hala, man. I understand you noticed that I had inflicted a status condition on your Machop and thus wanted to cure it.
Did you not notice my second Confusion would have KOed? Also, a Karate Chop would've outsped- Machop doesn't really benefit from the Speed, but that extra Speed does make it go from being outsped by half my team to doing the outspeeding.
For Makuhita, I had Basilissa sent out. Since your first turn is always wasted, it's best to do something that isn't a Pokemon action with it. Switching is a common choice.
Callie is wanted for Makuhita.
Good to track. Not sure when or if Crystantha is replacing that.
Reflect time.
At this point, I got an idea. This guy is stupid enough to Sand Attack me to lower my accuracy, despite the fact I have Contrary and this is not a valid strategy. How long will it take him to notice his mistake?
Peck and Foul Play, respectively. I think Foul Play is better? It's only by a nose.
Hala really was that dumb. He burned his Super Potion, though.
Really, I just wanted to renew my Reflect before I left the field, after those two attempted attacks.
Neo just kinda... clowned that idea.
Aw man. I was hoping for the 2 hit, to still have Reflect up for Crabrawler.
At least Neo is brushing the damage off.
The lengths I go for Reflect.
And why not, Callie can take the win.
Crysantha draws "taking the Pummeling". Her Defence isn't great, but maybe Reflect will help.
It did.
Not bad for a Fairy Wind.
Power-Up Punches are starting. Don't want that getting to be a problem.
...I can point to three planning errors in this one fight, Hala. Are you going easy on me?
Funnily enough, the same thing that happened to Beth happened to Ailey: In order to evolve, Mime Jr. must level up while knowing the move Mimic. Fortunately, the level it learns Mimic counts- Neo has just met her evolution trigger.
I'll take your word for it.
Mr. Mime (Ultra Moon): Its pantomime skills are wonderful. You may become enraptured while watching it, but next thing you know, Mr. Mime has made a real wall.
Mr. Mime is a Pokemon from RBY. As for its name... even the translators knew they were walking face-first into an invisible pie in the face when they decided to include the pronoun "Mr." in its name, despite the fact it has a standard 50:50 gender ratio. Its Japanese name "Barrierd" does not contain any gendered terminology.
As for the Pokemon itself, well... I can't tell if they're leaning in to how creepy it can be with its 3D animation or not. Honestly, it's kinda cute, in an awkward sort of way, in its pixel art appearances. Still, Mr. Mime can see quite effective use, and Neo is going to remain for some time, in spite of the fact I think it is going to crawl out of my console.
Psywave does a randomly determined amount of damage, set at a number between 0.5x and 1.5x[User's level]. It is not what one would call a reliable move.
One down, two to go.
Mio is as Popplio does- Disarming Voice and Baby-Doll Eyes make excellent choices in this fight. Pity about the no resists, but when you have priority -Atk, you can make do.
Honestly, Daj's Defence is a bit of a sticking point. That, and not having a Special Flying move. What kinda lets Wingull down is Wingull- it's a lot better evolved.
Ethel makes loads better of a Flying type, and that's not just because of the double resist (although that does help).
Nimue is a one-trick pony: This will be her set for most of the game, with Quiver Dance and Giga Drain/Petal Dance substituted into the top two slots when they appear. How good her trick is depends on whether her opponent resists Grass (Hala doesn't) and whether she gets the chance to work her magic.
(Unfortunately, I mistimed the shot of Nimue's stats- I'm just as surprised as you that my screenshotting strategy has a timing issue, since this is a stat screen. Take my word for it that her stats would likely have been 37/14/20/26/20/17 at this stage of the game).
Eunie is really not getting much out of her early set. However, she is a Ghost type, so she is immune to Makuhita and All-Out Pummeling.
Melia evolved! And she even managed to source the Confusion move, too. Kadabra has the same offensive stats as Anna's evolution, and if I ever have a problem, the answer is "apply Melia directly to problem".
Let us begin.
I really should've paid more thought to the matter of Mankey's 100% crit rate. Oh well, if they didn't, I'm not either.
Disarming Voice works just as well.
And better Mio than some of the backup.
...OK, this too, I suppose. Burns the Super Potion early.
Daj switches in to take point.
It could have gone better.
Poor Daj. Its day will come.
Oh, this was not a good choice. I think I just forgot I'm playing on Set here, the correct play was to switch in Ethel and prepare for Makuhita.
All this got me was an injured Nimue.
Ugh, Popplio's Aqua Jet... at this level, Rowlet learns Razor Leaf (a direct upgrade over Leafage) and Litten learns Fire Fang (a direct upgrade over Ember, and uses Litten's better offensive stat). Aqua Jet is the same power as Water Gun, and uses Popplio's weaker offensive stat... but it's a priority move, and right now, its usual set has just enough good options that a priority move is tempting, but not strictly speaking important. I wound up spending quite a bit of time considering it for both Mio and Sirehound. I don't feel like you can go wrong with any choicess you make with this one. Except maybe dropping Disarming Voice.
Since Ethel is not already out against Makuhita, Inner Focus doesn't save me the Fake Out turn.
Switching her in is honestly kind of a waste with that in mind. My Set gameplay could use some work.
At least Ethel was the right woman for the job.
Right. Now to handle All-Out Pummeling.
Look at Ethel. That is the power of a double resist right there.
Well, so much for escaping with that friendship intact. Oh well, free hit for the next guy.
...This fight could have been so much better thought out.
Eunie has to face Pursuit from Crabrawler. It would really have rathered not having the Atk up...
Oh well, we can try to make this work in our favour with Confuse Ray.
Ooh, Eunie is going to feel this one...
Psywave or Astonish... honestly, since Crabrawler has Defence investment, this might've been the better call? Really shows the worst of both worlds, though.
Hala has really torn a hole in this team. And I think it had more to do with planning than it did with competency. Admittedly, yes, Melia probably would have swept him already, but...
And there goes Eunie.
...Mio survived? I guess she doesn't have any -Def stages yet...
If Mio had lost to Crabrawler, Melia would have been my only option. I scraped victory from the jaws of defeat there without the team member I never planned, but I think I really need to think smarter if I want this team to cut it next time.
Nevertheless, Noah has his Fightingium Z. Now then... Ray.
Sam might not have gone so well, but this Spearow ought to help. He's supposed to be a team member, I seem to have forgotten to name him yet. Dang. Anyway, he's picked up his HA Sniper, to increase the power of his critical hits, and his goal is to hit hard and fast. No resist sucks, but as long as he's already dealt his hit, that's what counts.
Veeka has the resist, but none of these moves really help. Mud Slap can trivialise someone and Vice Grip is at least unresisted, but otherwise the pace of the fight slows to a crawl when Veeka is out.
Fist Jr.'ll hit hard and be hard as hard in return. What comes next? Depends on when he's sent out.
Oh man, this is so not Penny's fight. Penny'll get chip with Fake Out and probably one more attack, maybe two if she's lucky, but that'll be a big ask.
The thing that divides Mio and Sirehound is Icy Wind. Each of the starters got a new coverage move at level 16 for USUM, and by far the best of the three was Popplio's Icy Wind. Icy Wind is a 55 BP, 95% accurate Special Ice move that hits both opponents and lowers the Speed of anybody it hits. This is a fantastic utility option for Totems, and S.O.S. battles in general, and the standard rarity of Ice types means this also serves as a great source of Ice coverage. There's a reason Sirehound's dropped Aqua Jet.
Oh, screenshotting Paul's bottom screen got irritating... anyway, Paul's weak to Fighting, it's not got the moves to make an impact in this fight, and it's underlevelled. Proceed to forget Paul's here.
The Sirehound leads for Ray, just as Mio did for Noah.
Rather than go for Disarming Voice right away, Sirehound uses Baby-Doll Eyes. While Mankey's strat is crit-heavy, Machop preferring Revenge means Atk downs work out better for it.
Although Machop using Focus Energy once means Atk drops still only work some of the time.
Like so. Revenge can wear you down, especially since Machop still has the bulk to live a few hits.
Oh come on... At least it wasn't a full heal.
Sirehound did not survive to finish Machop. Unfortunate, but she did do plenty to wear Machop- and Hala's Bag- for the rest of the team.
Oh, there's that nickname! One Angry Bird launches one mighty Aerial Ace to chop Machop into slices. Aerial Ace is 60 BP Physical Flying, making it by far the most powerful SE option lying around the early game.
Now is the perfect time to switch out Angry Bird for something that matters less to take the Fake Out.
Sure, Veeka will do. I think this might've been the perfect time to deploy Penny, but that depends on Fake Out working as I believe it does.
Veeka and Makuhita get into a literal mud-slinging contest.
...Now we're going for Penny? Lucky the accuracy will protect me!
Penny is not worth it. It'd take a lot of accuracy down to make Penny survive long enough on the field.
12 damage a hit on Arm Thrust. It says a lot more about Arm Thrust as a primary cause of damage that Penny has a chance of living this hit. OK, granted, Penny is higher levelled than Makuhita.
Ultimately, the real issue with deploying Penny is that I don't want her fainting, because she's a friendship evolution.
That's quite a bit of damage off one Arm Thrust, but it was a 4 hit.
At least Fist Jr. is giving as good as he gets.
All right, Fist Jr. versus Slappie. This is a fight that won't end well.
Better Fist Jr. than anyone else in my party. Except maybe Paul, but he wants EXP.
Since Hala has no way to deal with it, Mud Slap seems like a really good idea right now.
Accuracy drops are kinda cheap, but sometimes you really have to use what you get.
Look at what qualifies as an attack here.
Veeka goes down to a lucky Pursuit.
Free time for Angry Bird. Here's hoping I get two Aerial Aces.
I did, and I needed both. Had I deployed Angry Bird sooner, odds were good it would have gone down first, and I'd be pulling teeth to finish the last of Crabrawler's health. While Noah's narrow win was because of misuse of good tools, I think Ray just didn't have good tools to make a clean win either way.
But still, a win's a win, and a win we shall take.
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