Right, we're going into this one for Ultra Moon. What are we looking at this time?
Basilissa is racking up far too many jobs for an Ekans to handle. I will be lucky if she manages one.
Chip's Hydro Vortex can hit hard, especially with the Adaptability bonus. Specialisation over coverage, in a way.
I think the fact Callie is holding an Expert Belt when her only offensive move is Dark type should tell you loads about what I expect her to be fighting. Foul Play should be very nice here...
I gave Gorg a shot, but the downsides of Larvitar aren't worth the final result. Which is a bit of a shame, because Ailey is going to want Ground-type Pokemon in the time between now and after the sixth Trial (when she finally gets a different one). Still, though, early Larvitar, might as well.
Chip and Ridley feel very redundant to have, and considering Ailey's team has the most rotating members right now, I'm no doubt going to feel the pressure to commit to one or the other at some point, but I think I like what they each respectively offer.
Can you tell I want to Thief something here? The fact Anna is in the final teamslot says plenty here. In hindsight, I really should have put Anna higher up and added someone like Neo in the last slot to try and benefit from Illusion. At the time, I didn't think it'd be much help: the types we're facing and how they are employed would likely have meant none of my team could bait the correct move.
No changes here. The Trial takes the same form: three "Spot the Difference" dances, with minimal difficulty, and the actual challenge comes with the removal of access to the Bag and Party menu. They did shake up two of the actual dances, at least.
It was not this one.
I want Basilissa as my lead, so the actual fighting is going to have to be switchouts no matter what.
Fortunately, Marowak went for the Growl.
Free real estate.
Callie also picked this up, and Swagger was just not something I wanted enough that I took the extra coverage. Also, this will probably wind up replaced with Psycho Cut when that comes up, but it's still good enough now.
The second dance was changed slightly- the photo-bomb was always there, but now the difference has changed to require a closer look.
It manages to remain obvious, but the question itself is relatively subtle. They tugged back on how "ridiculously easy" the Trial was, but they kept it on the simple side.
You forget sometimes that the adorable, uh... snipe eel, pipefish, chimaera is high on Defence. It did evolve from a clam.
If that sentence starts making sense to you, that's not on me.
It took me two tries to make it past the Totem, which meant I had to redo this fight a few times. As a result, I'll leave the ultimate outcome of the fight on the successful attempt.
The Totem's appearance. They've kept the aesthetics of the scene, but it's kinda missing something with not having Totem Salazzle just make a goofy pose in the background. I feel like they're going for the spooky "T-Pose to assert dominance" (just not in a T-Pose), but that particular pose doesn't really work so great.
"Cheery", huh? Not what I'd call it.
Although I will say the dramatic pose has you covered. Marowak does look like it's smiling when it's doing that initial twirl, although it's hard to look at its expression in its default state.
Anyway, as a boss, Totem Marowak takes Salazzle, throws its whole gimmick out the window, and decides "you know what? Fire Trial kicks your ass now." It has an IV spread of 31 flat except for Sp. Atk and Spd (in which it has 1), its EVs are set 252 HP, 106 Def and 152 Def, it has been assigned a Careful Nature (+Sp. Def, -Sp. Atk- you're not getting lucky with the Nature drops on important stuff anymore), and its moves make Totem Salazzle look like a wild Pokemon. Before I tap into them, a side note on stat numbers, for those who care: It has 79 HP (so still two-shot by Dragon Rage), its Def and Sp. Def are 65 and 60 respectively (so, mostly mixed bulk), and 25 Spd at neutral (boosted to 50 with its Totem Aura).
- Flame Wheel is its Fire move of choice. 60 BP Physical Fire, it has a 10% chance of Burn and will thaw it out if it happens to be Frozen, but neither of those are important right now. What Marowak cares about is high power, and if you can't slow it down, it will walk right over you.
- Hex is its Ghost move, and it's the dud in its kit. 65 BP Special Ghost, it will double in power if you are inflicted with any status ailment. Statuses still have a role to play in this battle, but Marowak doesn't have any way of inflicting them directly on you, and it's still dumping its Special Attack pretty badly. If you can, try and be hit with Hex.
- Brick Break for coverage, and oh boy do a lot of my strategies smoulder because of this. 75 BP Physical Fighting, and it clears screens. Reflect just isn't the nice option you want it to be. It's SE on Rocks, and also Normals and Darks, and is a nice way for it to at least manage neutral on a lot of things you might have even not considering Hex- Fire/Fighting may be overdone, but it's good. Best way to avoid it is probably Water/Flying- Mantine or Gyarados.
- Detect is its final move, and it basically exists to get anyone who thought Hydro Vortex was a good idea to think twice. Detect is a Fighting Status move that protects the user from any direct attack, and many direct status ailments, too. Yes, it is a copy of the move Protect, and no, I'm not sure what the point of two different moves is, especially since there's special code to prevent "use Protect > Detect > Protect > Detect" from working. If you chose to use Hydro Vortex on a turn in which Marowak uses Detect (and trust me, it reads you have a Z-Crystal and prepares accordingly), it will deal 1/4 of the damage otherwise entitled.
- Its hold item slot is Thick Club, a unique item with a very interesting function. When held by a Marowak (and only by Marowak), it doubles your Atk passively. If you want to use a Marowak of your own, it's in your interest to steal it from either this or a 5% Cubone. But also, if you don't somehow separate Marowak from that Thick Club, it's going to slaughter you with its physical moves. It's practically got a +2 Atk Aura that it's hiding from the player.
- Its Ability slot is Cursed Body, disabling whatever move you hit it with 30% of the time. It can only Disable one move at a time, and it's usually not great, but sometimes, it can be just the worst, and that's usually at the least convenient times. Somehow, I kinda feel like this is its replacement for Salazzle's Torment- and it's somehow doing that job better.
That is a big number, and I want it to go down.
And on that note, I'm actually pulling a tricky gambit and not setting up Basilissa turn 1. I'm going to switch her out so she can Intimidate again and bring that Atk score down to something approaching reasonable.
Chip took a NVE hit, which is nice- only 14/64 damage.
Well, they found a good excuse to bring her back after all. Salazzle is Totem Marowak's backup, and has the kit Poison Gas, Venoshock, Flame Burst and Torment. Aside from wasting its time with Torment again, this is basically a net improvement on Totem Salazzle from SM. The fact Salazzle got demoted to sub-boss is hilarious, and reduces your options further on how to resist the STABs being thrown your way- my guess shifts to Tentacool, but Tentacool isn't leaping off the page to prove effectiveness for taking hits yet. Its IV spread is 15/1/31/15/31/1, it has no EVs, and it has the Calm Nature (+Sp. Def, -Atk).
The one fortunate thing is that Marowak can only summon one Salazzle. As icing on the cake, it doesn't have a second summon at all- either they thought the practical "fighting two bosses at once" was enough, or the way the Totem data was set up makes it difficult for them to change "boss that summons one ally repeatedly" to "boss that can summon two different allies".
Totem Marowak: "Yeah, you can't fool me, I know a Hydro Vortex when I see one."
Chip: "Yeah, well, I outsmarted you! I'm getting rid of Salazzle!"
On the list of "things I did not want to see", this is up there. Flame Wheel was chip, but that Venoshock hurt, and Chip is, quite frankly, not lasting a second turn.
At those numbers, probably should've used Aqua Jet both times, but I was hoping I could land a Hydro Vortex on Marowak still. Considering Salazzle outsped, this was probably not going to end in my favour.
Bye bye Chip. And the worst part is, I still gotta deal with that Salazzle.
Now was not the time to try for Basilissa. I think I was scared of sending something else at the Thick Club and completely overlooked the fact that Salazzle is not allowing Basilissa to get on with it.
Not the least when Marowak also knows it can use Detect to get out of losing its Club. This, right here, is the reason Protect is a better move in Doubles than Singles.
This fight has not "gone downhill". It's already there.
Callie, you got Psybeam, now is the time to make use of it.
Marowak, the hell do you think you're protecting yourself from? Foul Play allows me to steal your Atk penalties, but not your Thick Club- basically the opposite of what I want.
If Callie had not survived that, this fight was probably going to be a loss. As is, I am not pleased that I am not going to get that Thick Club, but better I win without than lose with. Ailey doesn't need one for personal use.
She'd already taken plenty of damage from Salazzle, this was just finishing the paint job.
Now seems like the time to deploy Ridley. Sure, it still has that Club, but the fact is, even with the +Spd, it's too fast for Anna to steal from, and it's begging for a Brick Break back.
As it is, this was also only 14 damage. Ridley's Def is, amazingly, good enough for purpose here.
The reflection as I realise... Gorebyss is slightly cheating (I could've got one from SOS Clamperl, it's not a true Trade evo), but it's totally a hard counter to Marowak.
Surprisingly, missed the twoshot. Must've been an ugly range. This sort of thing is why those Atk items are useful.
Now you're just prolonging the inevitable. I have Leftovers.
Also, Detect has 5 PP. I think he's out of those now.
This has been Ridley speaking, and Gorebyss is good, actually. She just needs to... you know... exist. Aside from their debut games of RSE (where you got a Clamperl and its Deep Sea items after the seventh Badge), it was also an option in XY, but the Fishing Rod mechanic meant you'd need to beat the sixth Badge there, too, if you wanted a Gorebyss without trading.
Huntail... well, I won't say it's bad, but it's harder to use.
It is also way too flat to pull off this victory pose work.
That was way too close. Hopefully the boys aren't dragging behind too badly this time.
Mio is the closest thing Noah has to Kasplashle. It has no designs on oneshotting Salazzle, but it hopes it can manage a good "most of it".
Daj is here to get the extra money from David, nothing else.
"Oh, by the way, did I mention the sole reason I'm on the team is to slap Salazzle in the face?" Yeah, Gonzales's high HP/Sp. Def bulk and Atk is exactly the Pokemon begging to counter Salazzle. I wanted Thick Fat for continued benefits across the entire game, but had I wanted, a Snorlax with Immunity stops Salandit's dreams of a stronger Venoshock cold. It was still on the table, with Ability Capsules, but I wasn't planning on such blatant cheating.
Melia is plan B, and she should be fast and tough enough to finish off whatever it is Gonzales didn't. And if Gonzales fails so badly Melia can't handle it, we need a new plan.
I have dreams of stealing that Petaya Berry. Of the cool items you can steal from Totems, Petaya is probably the hardest of the bunch, and it turns out Ethel was not the way to get it.
That's Hidden Power Rock. It's the only thing Arsena has that will be nice to have here. It is at least something.
Mio sweeps Marowaks just as well as Kasplashle. That was never the issue.
Daj taking a bit too much damage from Magmar, though. At least I don't need him.
If I was playing with the original glitched system, this would be when Melia learned her first attack. Instead, it's a polite buff for Melia's Psychic move of choice, going from 40 to 65 BP and nothing else. I think the only other difference between Confusion and Psybeam is distribution.
Now then... your turn.
Immediately switching Mio out for Ethel. If I want to steal that Berry, I've gotta do it before Mio lands her Scald and causes her to eat it.
Thank goodness for that random affinity for Torment giving me a free turn for this.
Because that Flame Burst hurt. I'm not sure why Salandit thought Taunt was a good strategy, though- Zubat has, like, Supersonic.
The only thing that would've been more appropriate was if Daj did it. Mine mine mine mine mine mine!
Did you know: If you're already at the HP threshold required to eat a Petaya Berry, you will automatically consume it on coming into possession of one? I was hoping this would be like a different Ability and require you to be knocked into that range to get the benefit. I guess this is, strictly speaking, the preferable expression of this mechanic, but still. Good luck stealing this and getting out without losing the HP required to trigger it.
Gonzales, the Immovable! It would honestly be kinda better if Snorlax was still not yet on his feet, like in the classic games, but he spent 17 years getting up, he's not about to go back down in a hurry.
...Even with all that bulk, he's still taking a fair amount there.
Are either of the two of you planning on actually inflicting Poison, or do you not bother because I might have Immunity? It's kinda amazing, how the AI will fail to capitalise on its moveset opportunities. This Salazzle, above all else, is the number one argument for "take out moves and force them to spam their good ones".
This seems like a good time to shore up my Sp. Def. Every point of HP I get back is that much harder for them to take back.
...Looks like the last one. Glad I'm not using Rest.
Me, forgetting this doesn't help.
That was not productive.
Finally, someone's using Poison!
...Do you really have Toxic there, Salazzle?
If you want an idea of how much power Gonzales's Leftovers and Amnesia is pulling, look how much HP Gonzales still has.
Even Venoshock only does so much.
After Rock Tomb finished the job Chip Away started, Gonzales could totally take another Venoshock. Give this boy Rest and things get really disgusting.
Just need to clean up that mess we made a few turns ago...
Gonzales: "Got any seconds?"
Right, who'll be the power player for team Ray?
...Well, definitely not you. Why do you even have the Silk Scarf? Remember, as cool as Tauros is, x1.1 on 0 is still 0. Horn Attack is doing nothing to Marowak, and Wiingo's job is to fire Intimidate, Scary Face, Tail Whip, and anything else he can land. And, as the Horn Attack is probably for, hopefully dent Salazzle for somebody.
Sirehound is embracing his role as team support, hoping to use Baby-Doll and Encore together to force the AI into spamming its worst attacks into situations it hates. Whether this works out depends on whether the Speed is going in its favour.
Guardia is what we're really relying on. Higher Mag, higher HP. Not so much Defence, but still with Baby-Doll Eyes. Only time will tell how Guardia and the Sirehound win out, but I have hopes for the chance for some team diversity.
Now then, I mentioned Ray having designs on being the Marowak user of this band, and I maintain that, which means Paul has one objective: Acquire the Thick Club, through hell or high water.
Anyone else think Dawn looks a little strange on this screen? No? Just me? Oh well, we know Dawn's job. And we also know I'm bad at using TMs as I get them because of the cycling party thing: Dawn, you're uh, forgetting Rock Tomb there.
Candy drew the Magmar card. Honestly, Weak Armour's downside matters more here, especially when Marowak has coverage against her.
Our battle with Marowak, of course, starts back here.
Guardia took a Bone Club on switch in, and look how Leftovers has almost completely neutralised it. I see promising plays in Vaporeon's future.
Pity about the second hit.
Candy taking a few more hits on Magmar. Better Magmar than Marowak, though.
That was a relief.
Oh come on, did you have to learn that now? Sucker Punch is a 70 BP Physical Dark move with +1 Priority, that only works if the opponent has decided to use an offensive move. It's a very powerful attack to have in your kit, and one I absolutely want Paul to keep... but man, you need Thief. Oh well, I can overwrite Thief after this with Rock Tomb or something.
Time for Marowak Round 2.
It's the one thing the giant... uh... whatever fears, it's a bull of roughly the same size. Pay no attention to the fact that Marowak is completely immune to Wiingo's best moves.
There goes Marowak's Totem Aura. Not that anyone told the visual effects team.
Right. You. I'm fast, I think I can land a good hit in...
Yep. That is a satisfactory "big hit". And if I'm lucky, I might even have-
Yeah, Marowak wasn't using Detect or Hex, it was smart enough to know neither move would be useful to it.
The boy has been deployed. Now all that remains...
Is yoink.
I may only have chipped the paint on his skull, but this Thick Club has reduced the power of Brick Break for the rest of the team, and secured a Plan A for three different future Totems. Maybe four. Guardia may win this battle, but we all know Paul was the MVP.
With her last breath, she says Marowak could stand to be slower. A hero to the end.
Things that do not make "Paul was the most important person here" easier- Marowak's "you have a Z-Crystal" radar has gone off, and it thinks Detect is a good idea on Sirehound, preventing it from doing its thing.
Now may be a good time to finish off that Salazzle, by the way...
No? Clearly my past self had forgotten that Marowak doesn't have a harem of these. Just played Noah's fight, no doubt.
An opportunity knocked, but Sirehound was unable to capitalise this time: Salazzle got there first. Very well.
Dawn, you take point.
Uh, sure. Well, I do resist Venoshock...
Donk donk.
...You took that Brick Break like a champ, Dawn.
Decided to take a bolder strategy and keep Dawn in. Yeah, going down to Brick Break, but I preferred the idea of Guardia getting a free switch in.
Things that just scream "Yeah, you made the wrong call and this is us telling you that to your face."
Should've just done this from the start. He has Leftovers.
And all these pathetic attempts to stall are only making Guardia grow more powerful.
30% my rear end. OK, yes, it didn't trigger on Ailey's turn, but still.
It says a lot about where Marowak is without his Thick Club that Guardia is still sitting so pretty after a crit. All those Baby-Dolls should have been ignored.
I have Baby-Doll Eyed it so much that Marowak realised there was no point in continuing, and switched its strategy to Hex. Because as much as it has dumped its Sp. Atk, Hex will still do more damage at this point.
Literally speaking, the only reason Marowak is still standing is because I genuinely didn't have faith in Signal Beam or Aurora Beam to finish the chip. Guardia's not that powerful, and both moves are running on resists (a double resist for Signal Beam).
Please stop that.
...I'm kinda amazed Vaporeon doesn't have an animation for winning a Totem battle. You're an Eeveelution, isn't special treatment supposed to be your thing?
Look at all those cool Waters that could deal with that Trial. And with that said, it was Noah, of all people, who fought his Fire Totem with a cool non-Water type. Noah, who had two Water types from Day 1. Oh well. At least Grass has so many weaknesses that we'll be seeing a variety of ways to handle Mallow next time.
Next time: Oh, by the way, we just quietly unlocked the best feature in the game.
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