Pokemon Alola Bonus: Rockium Z

I didn't show the teams, because they're hardly necessary, but let's take a look at the other three Plumeria fights.

Physical sweeping Golbat up against a static-charged sheepy.

It's nice when you don't get two shot by the neutral move and don't get Poisoned. I went for the paralysis instead of the Electroweb, though.

She hit me with Confuse Ray, I hit through. Not sure what K9's issue was.

Me: "Oh, Shiva has Confusion, this is a great idea!"

Me, after staring at this Salandit for five seconds: "WAIT FIRE TYPE ABORT ABORT"

I think the main reason I even tried Shiva was because she's not coming to the Grand Trial, because Rocks.

Salandit used the free switch in to go for Poison.

Yeah, I think Salandit was pretty helpless here. Even Dragon Rage isn't doing enough to get a KO on this turn.

Ridley had things under control.

Noah's turn. Now then... did you want to see Noah's new friend?

Meet Taion. When the going gets tough, he's the first to pack it in, but his opening gambits are a thing to be feared. He's also underlevelled- got him at 15 in Konikoni and even with some level of favouritism, Memorial Hill and Akala Outskirts didn't get him up to the rest of the team.

But you know what they say...

It pays to keep a clear head.

Air Cutter inflicting a mere 25% damage. Not enough to trigger Defeatist.

Try harder next time, batty.

Got a level up, which is nice, but Set Mode on Noah means Taion's gotta have a plan for Salandit.

And unfortunately, while Salandit is not lethally effective on Taion, I am now in Defeatist.

But also Salandit is terrible defensively.

And since not even being in Defeatist can stop me winning, and I'm not confused so I can't even knock myself out, the only thing that can stop me is her.

And her Flame Burst just isn't strong enough.

It was a close match, but you have just witnessed Plumeria be swept by a -4 level Archen.

As for Ray, well...

Boldore (Sun): Its orange crystal is a mass of energy. Just one crystal fragment would provide enough fuel for a hundred dump trucks.

Dump trucks? Candy has evolved from Roggenrola to Boldore, giving it a bunch of stats in everything but Speed. Standard evolution stuff for now, though, still the same old Candy.

Once again, despite Plumeria's efforts to go for the Confuse, the non-K9 members of the four teams manage to land the required hits.

Smack Down good.

Nice Weak Armour boost. And hey, if I'm taking that little in damage and both her moves are resisted...

It's free damage on Salandit.

Sadly, turns out Candy didn't manage quite so well the next turn. I better switch...

Right, your turn, Penny. Show us that Meowth spirit.

Yup, that's Fur Coat in action, proving your defensive value.

And I have no idea what I hoped to accomplish with that Fake Out. It's Inner Focus anyway...

I've been changing my mind a lot about Penny's kit, and right now, she's running Grass Knot. She had Shock Wave at one point, and that would've been fun to click right now.

You see, now I'm stuck in spamming Uproar for the next few turns.

And Salandit gets some free actions.

Actions which Fur Coat doesn't block.

This is the least of my problems, but glad it is no longer one.

I win so long as she clicks Poison Gas or I go first.

Both things that Salandit has already proved aren't going to happen. Penny has not been proving herself worthy of a place on the team, or maybe I'm just using her wrong. Either way... so glad your next appearance is going to have a usable move.

Now here's someone who can counter Salandit.

Sure, you Poison Guardia. That's... considering Guardia needs three, bordering on four, Dragon Rages, probably still the correct call.

But also this is for Penny, tiny fire thing.

Anyway, for the real boss fight.

 

Olivia manages to pull off something cool in USUM. But before we see what she's got, we've gotta look at what we've got.

We've bumped into Nemo and Agnes soaking up EXP from the Totem Lurantis fight, but here's our first time seeing Ailey's other Fossil, Sue. She's a pretty cool typing and has some nifty moves, and although Rock doesn't resist Rock (something Sue is actually counting on), she does know exactly why she's here.

Hawkeye is, thankfully, neutral to Rock, so she is an obvious candidate for our wincon. He sadly doesn't quite outspeed Lycanroc, but she's got the moves for anything Olivia can throw at us.

Chip's the one on outspeeding duties. Shell Bell seems a bit limp, but give it a go...

So, in the long term, I don't think I'm getting a Grass type on team Ailey. There are two choices, one of them Lileep, but the other is particularly late. Crysantha can fake it, but she's not really designed with strengths to blunt Olivia's.

Know who is designed to take Olivia on her home turf? Ridley. High Def and high Sp. Atk is like peak anti-Rock.

Usagi wound up getting picked, and her Fighting move has a unique gimmick. It is a move with 100 BP and 90% accuracy, and if it misses, the user keeps going, hits a wall, and suffers crash damage equal to half their maximum HP. As such, she's packing the Fightingium Z in order to allow her to use the always-accurate All-Out Pummeling instead.

Nothing new in the preamble, so let's discuss Olivia's rather significant and rather potent change.

The lady who's selling Fossils in her store for the sake of encouraging people to look into Fossils now actually uses Fossils on her team! Her lead, Anorith, has a flat 30 IVs, 252 EVs invested in Atk and Spd, and a Careful Nature. The Nature's a bit weird (it goes from mixed bulk to slightly Specially tanky, but only by 4 points), but that Speed investment means business- she's running 70 Speed, and Usagi doesn't beat that (although Hawkeye does). Her Ability is Battle Armour, and her moves are Bug Bite, Smack Down and Metal Claw- a fairly standard dual-STAB, and a move Anorith starts with that counters one of its weaknesses and has a 10% chance of raising its Atk if it lands. Do be careful of Bug Bite if you're planning on using Berries, by the way.

Anorith is the Rock/Bug type, and Bug is resistant to Grass, Fighting and Ground, while Rock covers Fire and Flying- so it can be hard to remember what Anorith is weak to. The answer is Rock, Steel and Water.

Sue has taken the lead, and rather than Bulldoze, it's really Rock Tomb that it was planning on clicking.

And Anorith enjoys both benefits of her coverage move. Things you do not want to see- I thought Tyrunt would have a bit more defensive power than that.

At least Anorith got as good as it gave.

Anorith has 69 HP, so this is pretty close to a full heal in most instances. It looks like I outdamaged it by a hair, though.

Also, if you want an idea of how Anorith and Sue's Speed stats compare- if Olivia didn't heal and tried to hit me again, she would have moved first. The Speed score difference was only 4 points, but Pokemon Speed calcs don't care about close.

The second -1 Spd from the second Rock Tomb was enough to give Sue the Speed lead, though.

And Bulldoze has 100% accuracy, so no Rock Tomb miss.

And Olivia has packed the other Hoenn Fossil, Lileep. Lileep has 30 IVs and 252 EVs in Def and Sp. Def, alongside an Impish Nature. You might notice these are the same Natures as Nosepass and Boldore, despite the different team roles of Anorith and Lileep, and this time it has done actual damage to Lileep's plan- she's a Special Attacker. It has equalised her slightly disparate bulk stats, though. Lileep's Ability is Suction Cups, and she carries the moves Giga Drain, Ancient Power and Brine. A self-healing move, a move with a 10% chance of omniboost, and a move that hurts harder if you're already at half health- she may be running a -Sp. Atk for some reason, but those are great moves to complement Lileep's plan.

Much like Rock/Bug, Rock/Grass counters Water and Ground and also some of Grass's more common weaknesses too. This puts Lileep in a similar position to Anorith, so I will say its weaknesses are Fighting, Bug, Steel and Ice.

It also seems like a good option for Hawkeye to deal with- weak to Fighting, and Hawkeye resists Giga Drain.

Even with Hawkeye's power, Lileep is still taking only so much damage.

I love how Ancient Power is just kind of "throw a bunch of Fossils at the opponent". I see an ammonite and a criniod, but I don't think those other two match up to Pokemon Fossils- maybe if you considered the shell to be Tirtouga's, but also I can't really make out that fourth one.

Yeah, neutral damage and -Sp. Atk, Hawkeye was only scared of an omniboost.

And even then, I think it had that covered.

Lycanroc is mostly the same between games- it has exchanged its old IV set for the same flat 30s as its teammates and also gained one level, but it has the same EVs, Nature, Ability, and moveset. That extra level has changed the numbers on its Atk and Spd to 104 and 76, but otherwise anything I said about Lycanroc when it was Bethany's problem is still something Ailey is dealing with.

I would say that the extra level isn't that big an issue, but Hawkeye could have outsped the SM Lycanroc, but can't outspeed this one.

Instead, Ridley drew leading duties. No resists, but if I was bringing Usagi, I was clearly bereft of them. Maybe I should've brought Shade- I think she might be the only thing Ailey has that does resist Rock.

Now that's not something you want to see... I really needed damage now.

Hm... that's a reasonable number, but I think I smell Continental Crush.

Nope, lucked out.

In more ways than one! It was a 70% chance, but Pokemon fans and those odds don't see eye to eye.

Me when I saw the damage: "Couldn't have made it further than that, Ridley?"
Me when I saw the crit: "...OK, now I'm much more worried."

That was around the point I knew Continental Crush was coming, so I switched in Usagi. Of my defensive options, probably the best one I brought...

But in the end, it was the wrong one.

Really should've brought Shade.

Chip does as Chip does best. Aqua Jet is such an amazing thing to have in your back pocket.

Bunch of moves from that KO, too. Chip picked up Double Edge (120 BP Physical Normal move with recoil, not bad compared to Bounce), while Sue has little need of a Specially offensive Rock move.

There's Ailey's prize. Before we get onto the boys, I want to shine more of a spotlight of just how good Olivia using Fossils is. In addition to the narrative theming, the fact that the Hoenn Fossils are using type combinations that many fans haven't memorised quite as well as the easy combos means that just because Rock has a lot of weaknesses doesn't mean you've got the right ones out, even once the fight starts. On top of this, no Trainer to this point uses either one- so unless you resurrected the Fossils, you can't use the game's type effectiveness indicator to refresh yourself. And even then, the fact she's using version-exclusive Fossils means that, without good luck in Pelago, you'll only know one of their weaknesses, and that's when the battle starts, not before it. And as one final point of good design here, the only type both Anorith and Lileep are weak to is Steel- the TM Kukui gave us before sending us to Konikoni was Steel-type. Compare that to the dime-a-dozen bulky Rock types with Sturdy she has in SM- both of which are pure Rock, so all the types you expect to be good are in fact good.

If we kept the Hoenn Fossils out of SM, I would consider the Unova Fossils to be a good alternative here. Archen and Tirtouga counter Rock's more famous weaknesses in immediately obvious ways, share no common weaknesses themselves other than Electric (which isn't a weakness of Rock type), and Tirtouga can still use Sturdy to show off that strategy. You would also need to change Tyrone's Archen to Cranidos to prevent Sun players from having an information advantage, but otherwise the fight would be an easier version of the USUM fight that shares all the same cool details I gushed about. Well, unless they gave Archen Speed investment and Acrobatics. Then she might actually be harder than Lurantis...

Anyway, Noah.

Yeah, no surprises what Mio's plan is. She'll be up against Nosepass, so the Cheri Berry is so she can ignore paralysis. With Scald, she won't really need an item past it.

Nimue would be great here, although unfortunately, my plan of attack doesn't quite work here. There's a bit of a key issue I forgot to be worried about until it happened.

Pelipper (Ultra Sun): Its spacious beak is large enough for a small child to fit right inside.

More than a few evolutions have been going on behind the scenes here- say hi to Daj's evolved form Pelipper. With its new evolution comes a change in its Ability, from Hydration to Drizzle. Drizzle is awesome. When a Pokemon with Drizzle is sent out, it automatically changes the weather to Rain. These weather-setting Abilities turn weathers from a niche boon to a powerful weapon that shatters the competitive scene. They were originally designed to be Groudon and Kyogre's signature Abilities, but they started appearing on non-Legendaries in Gen 5 and the literal floodgates opened...

Anyway, Daj is here to set Rain, click Scald, and probably run away in fear from any Rock type that can still attack back.

Kailey claims to be a Fighting type, although the fact she's actually a Bug type makes her a poor choice to switch in. Part of the problem here is that Pinsir's ability to secretly be a Fighting type only really bait-and-switches Dark types- which Bug itself counters. Still, if it lands a hit, it lands a hit.

Steel type with T-Wave, can you say "solution to Lycanroc"? When PRNDL is the solution to a problem, it's a damn good one.

That's Hidden Power Fighting, but it's really the only reason Eunie is here. Even then, Bite on Lycanroc is not exactly something she wants to be thinking about.

That "Fine!" feels off, but Olivia is more than happy to let you wander off and do your final preps.

This even gives you comments with Lillie and Rotom you wouldn't otherwise get. Lillie's is nice, and makes her watching Hau's seem less weird, while Rotom is just Rotom.

We knew that from Kukui, thankfully (I was getting worried, after Rotom's line, that they forgot to mention that in the plot), but this is too late to act on that information.

Let's get started.

No surprises- this is exactly why Mio is here.

...I was expecting things to be cut a little closer. Power of that Sp. Def investment, I guess.

Berries are so hilarious when you time them right. On our side, at least.

That's Nosepass done.

Can't forget, Noah's playing on Set. That'll complicate things a bit.

On the other hand, Mio can totally just keep clicking Scald. Shame about no Burn, though- Scald landing Burn is a good way to break Sturdy.

...Hm. Wonder why you didn't go for Rock Blast, or even Mud Slap. Oh well.

Since it's not a full heal, this doesn't end well.

Well, OK, I used Aqua Jet first, but still. No idea why I bothered.

It went down quick all the same.

Right, you.

Mio would rather stuff the power of Continental Crush than go on the offensive and lose the Speed matchup.

Dangit.

Right, time for Nimue to do the Petilil combo.

...Ah. When I don't use Sleep for anything else, Vital Spirit and Insomnia don't strike me as Abilities that do things. Especially Vital Spirit, which doesn't make it obvious what it does do.

Oh well. It had promise, especially if I did the setting up on Boldore. I probably would've gone for it on Nosepass if it wasn't for paralysis.

Time to do what PRNDL was sent to do.

Apparently, dodge Rock Throw.

OK, I'm not sure that was necessary, especially since it's already used Continental Crush...

...I guess I just really wanted Daj out. Someone remind past me Mirror Shot is SE on Rocks. Probably thought it was still Magnet Bomb...

Caw!

Ooh, that's nice. Free switch in.

Although that does also mean Lycanroc just outspeeds anyway. Such is life.

Things that are overkill: This.

Rock Throw also did a fairly respectable amount of damage, there. Compliments to Daj, I was expecting more.

Ohohoho... that's nice. That's the last move Nimue wanted before she evolved. Now all I need is a Sun Stone...

Ah well. Good enough here. Ray's turn.

Wiingo is more or less the only thing we can get at this point in the game (...or in general, honestly) that really likes Smart Strike. In some ways, the fact Wiingo has Smart Strike is the reason he got picked over Stoutland and Kangaskhan. He's come prepared for this fight, and it'll be good to have in his pocket for the later fight, but it'll probably wind up outclassed by endgame.

Guardia continues to just be Guardia and do perfectly fine for himself.

Sirehound, meanwhile... I don't see him lasting past the next Trial. Even if I brought Water Pledge, it just isn't something that really helps it stand out compared to Guardia. An Encore bot isn't something you need to have on hand.

Paul double-resists Rock, and both its STABs hit right back- including it having STAB Steel. Yeah, he was meant to be here.

Another obvious pick, Fist Jr. will charge up and knock down with his Fighting moves. In theory.

Another Pokemon I picked up in Lush Jungle on a backup file, there's something to mention about Steenee that I didn't actually know, despite the fact you could see it from this screen: Its Atk sucks. That's base 40, with a BST total of 290. I knew Bounsweet was a bit of a joke until it evolved, but looking at these numbers, how does the game expect you to defeat Wishiwashi with the IGT of this? It will justify itself when it evolves at level 29, but oh boy if that isn't happening right now.

Still, for Olivia at least, Ray has more than enough even without Alena.

Such as this.

Huh, Anorith outspeeds Tauros. I never thought it was that fast...

Part of the reason Smart Strike's theme isn't immediately obvious in English is also because of its animation not really betraying it. The name and the appearance of a targeting reticle in its animation hints it's something to be used by particularly cunning Pokemon, not a literal bull.

Does the damage you'd expect of a rampaging bull, though.

Another case where I think trying the same attack would land the KO.

In this case, it was a bit smarter to go for Bulldoze- it wasn't a surefire thing, especially if damage ranges are involved, and if I'm wrong, it gets to go first next turn. This solves both problems.

Smart Strike showcased.

And now for a Grass type. Time to bring in my own Grass resist...

I think you can see where this is going.

Yeah, I only took 24% damage...

But they took far less.

Not actually something I needed. It only had 25.

...Ugh, this isn't happening, it's using Ancient Power...

You try.

Yeah. That'll do...

...And that's why I wanted the Grass resist. I outspeed, at least, but that does kinda bite.

Can't use Fist Jr. for Lycanroc like this.

Paul comes out right away to begin the process of knocking Lycanroc down to manageable sizes.

...Also, Paul totally needed that to get the outspeed.

About as much as I expected...

Not the Continental Crush I was hoping for, but at least I got a third -1 Spd. With that said, it happens that only one Pokemon occupies that speed bracket.

Coincidentally, it was the one I chose to risk the Continental Crush!

Hehehe. Bubbles!

And Ray didn't even see Continental Crush. And it wasn't because I did something like Hydro Vortex Scald out of Kasplashle.

Incidentally, the post Olivia dialogue has an edit, although it's not that substantive. Mostly because the original was already doing what the new dialogue needs it to do.

Next time: The Captains have something for us.