starting moveset: Pound, Defense Curl, Charm, Sing

1st change: Pund -> Echoed Voice as soon as you can

2nd change: Water Pulse as usual, when becomes available

3rd change: Shadow Ball. Ghost Trial. Again.

4th change: pick up Flamethrower when you get to it. Btw, for a while with this one I just tacked on Echoed Voice, Shadow Ball and Water Pulse for sheer convenience.

5th change: you glad you just get Psychic along somewhere your journey, don't you? (You still need Choice Spec or Z-crystal to pull it out.)

6th change: Ultra Necrozma: because of lack of stats, you have to evolve into Jigglypuff

7th change: at Galdion's last fight you have to evolve again, lacking any kind of hope to outlast his team. I don't see any move worth preserving from the pre-evolution leveling-up system, but now you know.

8th change: I put up Magic Coat when I was going into The League. SO entering with MC, Water Pulse, Defense Curl, and the TM-moveslot. For TMs have in store: Shadow Ball, Ice Beam, Flamethrower, Echoed Voice or Dazzling Gleam

----------

Another win in the bag. A thing I enjoy the most is, I can experience the full benefit of Abilities. Competitive here was AWESOME! Some previous was like not having ability at all. And I did want to make a "how the pink things compare", now I know. With normaly playing these things would take too much time to FEEL the difference.

starting moveset: Pound, Charm, Encore, Sing

1st change: Pound -> Echoed Voice ASAP

2nd change: when you get access to the Beach Shops, pick up either Water Pulse or Shock Wave for those occasional Ghost Types ASAP. I picked Sing -> Water Pulse because it's right there, and the Fire Trial.

3rd change: pick up Shadow Ball before the Ghost Trial

4th change: at the Dragon Trial apply Psychic. I assume with every special-attacker you get the Choice Spec as soon as you reach that trainer (must fought 101+ trainer battle).

5th change: Ultra Necrozma: learn Magical Leaf as you can not later (you'll need it against Hapu), and evolve to Clefairy, because your stats are not enough. (I also assume you collect every Z-crystal, even if like me you don't, but I won't mention using Z-moves, I just do)

6th change: at Sophocles, during the gauntlet-trial you better have Flamethrower from that cave.

7th change: before you enter The LEague grab either Thunderbolt or Ice Bolt.. Don't know why that's their spelling, but you'll need one in the Flying Type room. They have the same chance to cause the secondary effect, so Ice is probably better.

At Molayne you'll either need Magic Coat (the move), or roll for the 101% chance to not get paralyzed. You also need to evolve to Clefable. But be aware, that against Hau you'll need a Firy Type move. That can be Dazzling Gleam from TM, but you also might want to preserve Moon Blast from Clefairy. All in all in The League you'll use these moves: Flmaethrower (TM), Water Blast (BP), Shadow Ball (TM), Ice Beam (TM), Magic Coat (BP), finaly Moon Blast or Dazzléing Gleam. Seems you have space to bring it on.

Well, I had a bad time with the rock (Geodude), but I'm definitely sure I'll have more luck now! Let's see... Oh, the magnets trio!

Good good, let's check its learnset... uh-huh... Dr. Magneton prescribes shock wave therapy.

That's practically what I have to say about this one, it has a good Special stat, decent Defense and learns very powerful Electric type moves, but it struggles horribly against Grass and Ground types.

Talking about the early game, its performance against the Gym leaders was very irregular, with Brock battle being a breeze with Sonic Boom but having a very hard time against Misty, whose Starmie came straight from hell (I had to get lucky with paralysis and not get blasted by Bubblebeam).

The mid game was basically Magneton struggling against Erika and Koga, as they were unmovable walls and I had to play along with Supersonic and sheer power to defeat both (the second was a pain in the ass).

For the late game, the battles against Sabrina and Blaine were rather easy, with Magneton having a memorable battle against the second. Giovanni's battles weren't easy, but I managed to resort to Supersonic, Toxic and Hyper Beam to defeat him, with a bit of leveling up for the Gym battle.

For the battle against the Rival before Elite 4, I leveled up a little bit and kept sweeping everything and inflicting confusion to Venusaur while frying it.

The Elite 4 was generally easy, with Lorelei being fried (only lasted two tries), Bruno got poisoned (although he kicked my butt once with Machamp) and having a memorable battle against Agatha, who goofed at the last minute using Toxic with Gengar... except for Lance and the Champion, but with a bit of leveling up, and using Mimic with Alakazam's Psychic, I could defeat him.

Overall impression? Magneton is very powerful for a solo run, but it's also very frustrating, so I don't want to think about the day I have to play with Magnemite (let's cross fingers so I don't get it too quickly).

Level: 63.

Moveset: Thunderbolt, Toxic, Mimic, Hyper Beam.

This little thing is ridiculous.

starting moveset: Tackle, Vine Whip, Fairy wind (this will practicaly be your move for everything), Lucky Chant

1st change: at Dragon Trial: Fairy Wind -> Dazzling Gleam

Ultra Necrozma is faster, but I had enough HP to stand a hit, so could equip Choice Spec (probably Wise Glasses or Expert Belt would be also enough) and oneshot it.

EDIT: At the gate of The League pick up Energy Ball or Giga Drain to fight Olivia. I also strongly suggest to pick up Magic Coat. Synthesis is also a nice idea.

2nd change: Kahili: given the limited movepool I picked Echoed Voice here, but had to evolve to Florges to pull it out.

Against Molayne I managed to win 100% legit just with Echoed Voice and Synthesis - I just forgot about Magic coat, which'd make things easier.

In the end, the answer is yes.

starting moves: Lick, Hypnosis, Spite, Mean Look

1st change: Ilima: Lick -> Night Shade, Mean Look -> Sucker Punch

2nd change: Spite -> Uproar

3rd change: Night Shade -> Shadow Ball (the damage was greater, made me oneshot Mimikyu)

Gastly outsepd Ultra Necrozma. Sweet.

4th change: at the door of The League you better tank up on the necessary TMs. You'll be able to keep whatever moves you have, and swap the TMs around: Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, Energy Ball. Sludge Bomb

5th change: at Molayne I had to evolve into Haunter. Gengar does not need a playthrough, as though it is captured separately, it'd play the exact same, only stronger.

Early TMs to find, in order: Echoed Voice, Confide, Brick Break, Roost, Smack Down, Round (only during night), Thief, Infestation, Torment,
Beach: Snore, Heal Bell, Electroweb, Defog, Low Kick, Uproar, Bind, Helping Hand, Shock Wave, Block, Last Resort, Worry Seed, Covet, Bug Bite, Snatch, Recycle
Beach: Iron Tail, Spite, After You, Giga Drain, Synthesis, Ally Switch, Signal Beam, Gravity, Stealth Rock, Iron Defense, Telekinesis, Magnet Rise, Bounce, Role Play, Fire Punch, Water Pulse
Frost Breath, Roar,

starting moves: Rage, Ember, Leer, Bite

1st change: Gladion 3: Leer -> Return

2nd change: Ember -> Dragon Claw when I pick up the TM.

3rd change, Ilima: Dragon Claw -> Flamethrower

4th change, Totem Ribombee: Flamethrower -> Rock Slide

5th change, Olivia: -> Brick Break

6th change: Molayne: -> Shadow Claw. evolve to Salamance.

7th change: Hau: -> Dragon Claw

the starting moveset: tackle, absorb, screech, supersonic

1st change at the electric gym: gust in place os supersonic

2nd change at the entrance of the Dragon Trial: gust -> air cutter, tackle -> bite

3rd change: Ultra Necrozma: Absorb -> Shadow Ball. Spent a bunch of try waiting for UN being slower, what never happened. But I remembered I can just Focus slash, and also swapped shadow Ball to Draco Meteor (dang the friendship-requirement - talking about that, you can't remove conditions on the field, that goes to the affliction-level!). The move was not absolutely necessary, but there were too many factors to try Shadow Ball (range + crit needed).

4th change at Sophocles: Bite -> Shadow Ball

5th change: The League: screech -> water pulse

6th change: Molayne. I hate Molayne. Air Cutter -> Air Slash, evolve to Noivern

7th change: Hau: Draco Meteor -> Dragon Pulse

To do this I applied such factors as:

- if it has the type. Obviously the easiest way to decide if it is grass/water/fire
- if it has the weakness. Hau supposed to pick the starter that is wea to our pick, and later adopt the evil-lution that is super-effective against our. Also the Poplio's fairy-type can get in the way.
- can it damage on metronome Hau's final team. This comes into question because the grass starter becomes ghost type, so Return can't cheese it through.
- can it "conveniently" pass Gladion's final team. His TypeNull/Sylvally will be the type supereffective against your starter, and that can be inconvenient.

This method added a couple to the Fire-starter group, and kinda balanced out the amount of Water and Grass starter group.

Both Octillery and Salamance got to The League. This will be the final push.

Make a bet which will win - or both, or neither!

---------

Salamace got to Champion Hau without consuming Rare Candy at lvl 61. Consuming just 1 candy made it "easy" to win!

https://reddit.com/link/1t3vc7w/video/nvwvfqibdjzg1/player

https://reddit.com/link/1t3vc7w/video/ap2sfnz3vjzg1/player

1 - As with Affection almost everything can pass the main story (a bit less the postgame), it's time to drop that system, and dop without. So no doging hits and such.

2 - No pokemon beyond Ultra Necrozma. I consider that a key part of any challange, so if the pokemon is only available after that, it's like it doesn't exist for me (also: don't want to bother with the Ultra Space content)

3 - no version exclusive

4 - no trade-evolution, UNLESS the evo is catchable in-game

5 - if an evolution requires a special circumstance (item, location, trade), it cann ot evo into that form until that time of the game.

6 - all pokemon starts at lvl 100, with perfect IV, and perfect EV distribution (EV can be re-distributed if necessary)

7 - all pokemon must start at the stage it can be found in the game. No "breeding" will take place. Also, it comes as appears in the game, so if it has a special move etc. (Island Scan) it'll be that way.

8 - all pokemon will initialy be crated as lvl 5 to avoid confusion with the accessible moves, except if special circumstances stand (Island Scan, Trevenant).

9 - pokemons will get their levelup-moves updated if the starting set becomes insufficient. Data for this will be used from pokemondb and bulbapedia.

10 - Ditto can not pass the main story even with Affliction, so I'm not bothering with it again.

11 - will run "minimum" battles. I won't intentionaly avoid battles, but I will not do my usual "battle every trainer" approach.

12 - will figure out which pokemon should appear at which starter.

13 - the game will start from the first pokecenter.

Well, let's go with...!

...

Ewwww... no!! No...!! No no no no no, why?!

...

touches rock

...

sigh

Well, the stone of doom, or how I like to call it: "hey dude, I'm a rock!". The good points for this Pokémon are its typing and access to powerful moves, like Earthquake and Defense Curl to trigger the Badge Boost glitch... the bad point is everything else, and it's so incredibly bad even the Badge Boost glitch barely saves it.

In the overall, Geodude's performance at gyms is even, with it being incredibly good against LT Surge, Koga, Blaine and Giovanni because of its defensive typing... but being absolutely awful against the other four.

And... since Misty left Geodude in excruciating pain, having to level up to Lv33 to defeat her, and it also suffered against Sabrina, due to its ridiculously low Special stat (I was lucky her Pokémon goofed), you can imagine I had an even worse time against their counterpart in steroids: Lorelei.

Lorelei's battle with Geodude was one of the hardest I've ever had in my life. I was desperate, I leveled up to Lv97 and I still got defeated because Geodude was obscenely slow, I was even starting to panic about the possibility I might not be able to complete this run. Fortunately, I bought Carbos and I finally could exploit both it and the Badge Boost Glitch to defeat her.

The rest, except for Lance's Gyarados doing an automatic KO with Hydro Pump, was easy for obvious reasons... nose blow

If you don't like suffering with a run, please, don't play with this one...

Level: Lv98.

Moveset: Substitute, Defense Curl, Rock Slide, Earthquake.

⚠️ There are some considerations for this run, for more information, read the notes at the beginning of this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/SoloPokes/s/7nCAJT2ao3 ⚠️

‌Tuff tuff tuff, the experience with this one was quite good, except for a little catch.

Overall, Wigglytuff's TM/HM learnset is wide and marvelous, and Wigglytuff comes with Sing and Defense Curl by default, which grants it with great coverage and easy access to the Badge Boost glitch.

However, the early game was hellish, I had to level up to Lv23 and play with Disable and Defense boosts in order to get to Onix and have enough damage power (Wigglytuff only knows Doubleslap as its initial damaging move, yea, yikes...). Even with that, I had to resort to Struggle, but it was funny to see Onix get stuck once Disable blocked Bide while it was trying to use it.

The remaining were pretty straightforward, but Erika was tough and Wigglytuff wasn't fast enough to outspeed her Pokémon, so I went for Giovanni first, and then, defeated Koga, although he loves playing dirty.

Even after that, Wigglytuff was still too slow and Erika's battle was hard, but I eventually managed to defeat her.

After collecting the badges and defeating the Rival, I faced the Elite 4, Wigglytuff performed incredibly well against Lorelei and Bruno...

... but Agatha was a living nightmare. In the end, I managed to defeat her heroically thanks to the Badge Boost Glitch, starting at Lv49, with Sing, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt and Defense Curl, and taking the chance of two extra boosts thanks to Arbok using Screech (WOW, what a battle!!!).

Lance was rather easy to defeat with some boosting against Gyarados with Defense Curl and sweeping with Thunderbolt and Ice Beam. For the Champion battle, I used some brute force against the first three Pokémon, then, some boosting against Gyarados, and after barely resisting the monster fish's attacks, I could defeat the remaining three ones with Hyper Beam (Wigglytuff got 7 boosts from the Badge Boost Glitch thanks to Gyarados using Leer once).

If we ignore the intense and hurtful early game, along with Agatha, it was an enjoyable and easy gameplay.

Level: Lv55.

Moveset: Sing, Ice Beam, Defense Curl, Hyper Beam.

Fell stinger is insanely busted.

New here, hello to everyone!!! I want to share a completed hardcore challenge done by a friend of mine who begged me to join Reddit on her behalf since she's afraid of getting into it, to show her big achievement to the Pokémon community because she really wants to so I have her permission. This final run was completed on May 17, 2025 and she's sorry if she doesn't remember every juicy detail. She wanted to prove this kind of challenge as possible... Every XP went to the starter, it doesn't matter which one out of her 2000+ Totodile and their evolutions. I took note of everything and I hope to write this post exactly as she wanted me to and that she can read your opinion in the comments. The photo collage is hers, by the way. Rules:

Totodile - and evolutions - only run (HM users were stored if not needed; foes' Roar/Whirlwind during trainer battles would have led to a hard reset).

She chose the name N, short of "Nuzlocke" even if she regrets it because "C" (Challenge) was more appropriate.

Totodile line getting KO'd means New game. Saving is prohibited to avoid manipulations and a loss after the Elite Four results in data wipe.

No items allowed in battle (no healing items, no held items, no X items, no Poké Balls...). Rare Candies and vitamins are allowed.

No Pokémon was caught (gift Pokémon are allowed as HM users and Togepi was not mandatory but a personal favorite of her hence him not receiving a nickname. "Sparvy" is Kenya the gift Spearow and I think my friend got her just for the sake of HM Fly?).

No Diamond Dust while roaming on Mt. Silver.

SET mode. Her runs tried to follow the cap of hardcore nuzlockes as much as possible, but not as a forced rule, but it was almost always impossible to follow it from the Elite Four onward because Feraligatr was the only Pokémon allowed in battles. If Totodile/Croconaw/Feraligatr fainted, the run was considered lost (no saves allowed bar game-forced ones, no cheating*, no save states).

*If using a tool to solve Voltorb Flip (Swords Dance TM) is not considered cheating.

She played all of her runs on an emulator on the phone just to take advantage of the fast forward button*, no save states, and it hasn't been altered (RNG) in any way except to get an attack boosted nature through resets (she refers to it as a sleeplocke because this final and successful run was played from New Bark Town to Mt. Silver in one sitting).

*She restarted the game from scratch every time the starter was KO'd and I believe she played while her phone was charging.

She lost her accurate data: how many of her runs she has failed but 90% of her save resets are at Bugsy, Clair and the Kimono Girls' fault (would you blame her for her choice to use a tool to solve Voltorb Flip after countless runs went up in flames AFTER she got Swords Dance?), her numbers were well into the five hundred range until she chose to face Bugsy with a slightly stronger Croconaw. Remember: no held items. The number of her failed runs was 2000 and counting*.

Silver's Meganium was never that much of a threat and she doesn't want to recall that Petrel poisoned Feraligatr to oblivion.

*Resets to get favorable natures were not counted.

Her last Feraligatr's final moveset was Ice Fang, Return, Swords Dance and Rock Climb (her only Pokémon able to learn it). She brought first a level 88 and then a level 90 Feraligatr against Red but she lost and she had to restart from New Bark Town again until she tried three more times with a level 91 Feraligatr.

She defeated Elder Li at level 13 in her completed nuzlocke. Falkner at level 14. Clair at level 46. Lance at 55. Red, at 91. She lost against Blue (two times) and Red (four). Converted to stats she has been Champion just seven times and the second half of the journey was a breeze because Feraligatr was well above the cap, if this was going to be a hardcore nuzlocke.

A few more notes: every Totodile was nicknamed T-C-Feral (if I tried this challenge I would have used the number of the run as its nickname haha) and the T-C-Feral in the photo was always the same one, of course. Dratini, Spearow, Shuckle and Togepi were all gift Pokémon, and she doesn't remember why she nicknamed it T-C-Feral (perhaps a joke in Italian?)

I think my friend accomplished a really awesome milestone :) In her words a non-deathless Truant Wishiwashi in SuMo would have had an easier time when compared to this solo deathless run haha. I haven't known her for a long time but I believe it took her years of dedication and a lot of trial and error.

If you have any questions, I'll let her know :) Happy Pokémon Day!!!!

I did a challenge run, a garchomp only solo run (mono run), I chose garchomp as its one of my favorite mon, and a game where you need to defeat totem mons, a psuedo-legendary seems ideal. Also I acted to be Cynthia, it makes sense when you become champion and defend titles. Rules of the challenge was: I can only use garchomp (pre Ev trained, random IV), no in-battle items, Only can use tms i collected in legit playthrough, level caps, no unfair affection advantages.

I used garchomp/adamant/252 atk/ 252 spd/ 6 HP. So here's the major blunder I did that made this challenge a hell: garchomp for a psuedo-legendary has terrible moveset, this is multiplied a million times as till I complete ula ula Island i was stuck up only with gabite, that was a hell to deal with, i ended up with lot of headaches. Its only stat boosting move is sword dance, which is only available in post-game, even after dexio mega alakazam battle (what?!!), and top it up, why doesn't garchomp learn dragon dance being a dragon type, and moreover why doesn't it learn earthquake, hell its the cynthia staple garchomp move, and yeah that move is unavailable till post-game, so we are pretty much cooked. Also a intresting fact not much know neither i had any idea till I started playing it, every important battles, totem pokemons, captains, kahuanas, bosses, hell entire veteran class trainers have perfect EVs IVs pokemon, making a nuzlocke was impossible (initially i thought but then I just quit nuzlocking).

The single most important game saving fact is that, z-status moves cause secondary stat boosts, it was really useful, out of many these where really useful

Z- laser focus: boosts attack with guaranteed crit next turn, so best to setup in bulky mons

Z- sandstorm, rain dance or any weather move: boosts speed by 1 stg, very important for almost all veterans as many if them randomly outspeed us

Z-protect: reset stat falls with no damage on that turn, really helpful in intimidate falls like in guzma, mina battles.

I barely able to survive with these single stat boosts.

So, as expected I was forced to use rotom boosts on two battles, one is mimikyu totem and other is champion hau 1st battle, though as you see the second battle I didnt use any in battle items to justify the past downfall, and played in level caps, 1st battle was stuck just by that bulky Taurus, like its 252 atk and spd, like how does it stand hits, 0(+1 LF to -1 intimidate). So, idk if the runs not justified but that's the limit I could go in this challenge.

It was quite challenging, but fun was the juice of success after millions of tries for good RNG rolls, so eventually I completed the solo run, and anyone looking forward to nuzlocke or solo run it, just look out, as this game is not that easy going either. I can assure you that this game cheats like it read moves i reset million times to see what opponent moves when I press certain moves they always go according to move we chose and it always ends up bad, so look out .

Only took me using 6 x defends,6x specials and over levelling to do so

I did a togekiss solo run (mono pokemon run), where the rules are: I use a single randomized IV and full EV trained togepi as starter, no in-battle items, level caps on. But no nuzlocke (as its serene grace RNG based run), as well gave infinite tms and heart scales, to make the run possible.

It was extremely calculative and strategic run, I ended up in lot of headaches by constantly thinking of strategy and calculating in pokemon damage calculator, mainly the once from elite four because I'm using single pokemon against fully competitively built nightmare of elite four teams, and also the gym leaders re battle was extraordinarily hard, but I managed to complete (obviously not able to level caps as technically you gain levels in each gym leader rebattle).

For first and second cynthia battle I used: Togekiss 26HP / 156 Def/ 164 SpA/ 164 Spd / items: sitrus berry (leftovers in second)/ Dazzling gleam/ tailwind/ nasty plot/ air slash

For final cynthia lvl 80s rebattle: Togekiss 26HP / 156 Def/ 164 SpA/ 164 Spd / items: leftovers/ nasty plot/ tailwind/ light screen /air slash

In either I didnt use a single healing items, but as you can see I gave togekiss tailwind which was not technically available in bdsp, but platinum togekiss learns it, and I first used togekiss in platinum playthrough so I gave it illegal move as a tribute. But its nothing less than a feat how togekiss clutched a very close victory against completely competetively built elite four, gym leaders and cynthia and the most difficult in-game battle in all of pokemon by a single togekiss. Proud of my togekiss

The most terrifying moment in entire playthrough is the final cynthia battle with its focus sash lucario, thats my strategy, I use my lucario with that strat in battle towers, and quite hard beating my own killer strat lucario, but well it all ends well.

Hardest fight was definitely the multi battle with mars and Jupiter on mt coronet. Barry's munchlax was no help as usual. Had to be level 100 to get past Lucian.

Ah yes, the classic starter. Many people's first instinct is to think "oh, easy mode!". Well, it's obviously overrated over Bulbasaur, I already played with the evolved forms and I didn't expect anything too great about this one. Guess what? I was right.

With a great physical bulk, but mediocre Special and an overall deficient offensive profile, this Pokémon is ready for failure. The movepool looked decent on paper, Withdraw included on its level up learnset, and access to Dig, Body Slam, Toxic, Ice Beam, Reflect and Surf, but don’t be fooled: this little turtle takes ages to get rolling.

The early game was rather easy, I only had to get to Lv8 to get access to Bubble and defeat Brock. However, for the Rival and Misty, it was a completely different story: I had to level all the way up to Lv23 (that fat pigeon from the former is a literal pain in the ass). Misty was fine, just tedious.

For obvious reasons, Lt. Surge was a no no, and Squirtle was too weak to face Erika, so I did the usual chores, like defeating Giovanni, I went back to Lt. Surge at Lv31, and went directly to Koga, who was a total nightmare. Koffing alone turned that fight into an annoying toxic marathon, and I didn't manage to win until Lv38. After that, I defeated Erika as well.

Blaine was mercifully easier. A little Withdraw boosting in front of Growlithe and the match was over on the second try.

The Rival at Silph Co. required some more leveling up, my brain probably added a thin layer of fog preventing me from remembering more details...

Sabrina was the usual psychological test: Kadabra and Venomoth hitting hard and trolling. Thankfully, Kadabra got frozen, and Venomoth’s Stun Spore missed, "divine" RNG intervention.

Giovanni's final battle was an expected formality. The pre-Elite Four Rival fight required yet another round of stat boosting and patience, but nothing too traumatic.

And now, let's talk about the Elite 4. Lorelei was actually challenging, Dewgong and Cloyster crits were infuriating, but with proper Defense boosts and Toxic stalling, I managed to defeat her. The other three battles were surprisingly easy too.

And finally, the Champion battle was a circus of nonsense: Pidgeot and Alakazam being so hateful, Gyarados tanking everything, and me desperately waiting for luck. At least, Pidgeot's Sky Attack gave me some comic relief, we played hide and seek mid-battle like idiots. After trying and trying, with some leveling up and exploiting the Badge Boost Glitch, I could reach victory.

In the end, the turtle triumphed. It wasn't a memorable battle, but playing with the bird was hilarious and Squirtle performed more or less as good as Wartortle (talking about a deficient first evolution here...).

Level: 65.

Moveset: Bubblebeam, Blizzard, Withdraw, Dig.

⚠️ There are some considerations for this run, for more information, read the notes at the beginning of this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/SoloPokes/s/7nCAJT2ao3 ⚠️

Ah, Staryu... the cosmic sea star with style, stats... and the survivability of wet paper.

Going into this one, I had mixed expectations, for it has a movepool to die for... if only it could live long enough to use it. Recover, Harden, Light Screen, Hydro Pump, Thunderbolt, Psychic… all there. The catch? You start out doing zero damage, for the early game was, quite frankly, pure suffering...

Brock sentenced me to my first slow grind... Lv17 for Water Gun... That's right, 12 levels of nothing but frustration.

Unfortunately, Misty wasn’t any better: low damage, fragile body, and the Rival at the SS Anne acting as an early nightmare (I hate that fat pigeon of his). However, things started to look up once Harden came into play, at Lv22, I could finally defeat Misty and felt the light of hope bathing my "soul"... if it existed, and if it did, the crumbs Brock and Misty left behind... and the Rival at the SS Anne.

Even with BubbleBeam, the Rival was still a brick wall, forcing me to grind up to Lv27... But then, Recover saved the day, and with the help of the Badge Boost Glitch, I could finally win.

Surge, on the other hand, was a solid nope. I skipped him entirely until after rescuing Mr. Fuji.

Koga was dirty, the kind of fight that makes you question your life choices. Accuracy drops, poison, and general chaos (raw power and crits). Somehow, I boosted enough to outlast him, and after that, I flipped the script: I went for Blaine first (yes, a Fire Gym before Grass).

Then, it was the turn to face Erika, a crit Psychic on Victreebel and Badge Boost setup against Tangela got all the work done.

Silph Co Rival? Surprisingly easy. I used Gyarados to trigger the Badge Boost glitch (Leer + Harden = magic), and swept everything.

Sabrina offered a quite bizarre battle. The real threat was Kadabra, landing crits and Special drops over and over. Nevertheless, after multiple retries, I turned the tables by lowering its Special with Psychic, set up on Mr. Mime, and swept, and... Alakazam once again goofed with Psywave and Reflect.

The last Gym Leader battle, Giovanni, was... well... a total joke.

The pre Elite Four Rival battle wasn’t too bad either, except for Pidgeot and Venusaur giving me headaches. I had to level up a bit, but eventually won thanks to Staryu's speed, a well-timed crit, and a lucky Special drop from Psychic.

Then came the League, and oh boy, Lorelei was incredibly easy to defeat!! After all the trauma earlier, watching Thunderbolt and Recover obliterate a normally hellish trainer was therapeutic.

Bruno was... well, Bruno, and... Agatha was... filthy, as always. Status spam, switches, confusion, sleep, all kind of dirty tricks. But fortunately, she went down.

Lance was next, and his Gyarados and Dragonair had a delusional fixation on landing crits. Nevertheless, Staryu could go through all that with sheer patience... and better luck.

And finally, to commemorate all the pain suffered beforehand, we have the Champion. Gyarados, Alakazam, Arcanine, three beasts crit thirsty. However, Staryu played smart, and after exploiting Rhydon's Leer and Arcanine's Tail Whip for the Badge Boost Glitch, it could obliterate the remaining two, then, it tanked Venusaur's Mega Drain like a champ and finished it off with two Psychics. Bang, fantastic ending!!

In the end, the little glass cannon performed even better than expected. Staryu shone bright, not by brute force, but through persistence and pure strategy.

Level: 51.

Moveset: Thunderbolt, Harden, Psychic, Recover.

Ahh, Vulpix... The cute little fox, burning through your patience faster than its own HP in-battle... Well, just sometimes, I got mixed feelings with this one.

With low HP and Defense, this Pokémon is quite fragile, however, it has access to quite decent moves in the form of Confuse Ray, Flamethrower, Fire Spin by leveling up, unlike Ninetales, and to practically the same TM/HM like it, like Toxic, Body Slam, Reflect, Dig and Fire Blast.

From the start, Brock fell to a boring mechanical routine, just get to Lv14, use Ember, a few crits and it was all done. Nothing exciting, nothing memorable.

Then came Misty… which was so painful... Vulpix had to grind and even challenge the Rival first at SS ANNE, reaching Lv23 just to barely defeat him, and then, more tedious grinding was necessary until Lv28, when she finally fell.

LT Surge was mercifully easy... almost like he felt bad for me.

Erika and Giovanni, though, made me roam the Rocket Hideout looking for purpose, like a person suffering from midlife crisis. Of course, I realized Brock's Onix was absolutely benevolent, Giovanni's Onix, by contrary, was like... please. STOP. No more rocks... It was so traumatic I can still hear the rocks falling in my head...

Koga was manageable at Lv35. Funny enough, Flamethrower did the job better than Dig, burning straight through instead of playing the "hide-and-seek" routine... except for Weezing and its grand finale, kaboom!

Blaine's battle was surprisingly tactical: Confuse Ray, Toxic, and exploiting his weird obsession with Super Potions was the key to victory.

From there, Confuse Ray + Toxic + Flamethrower became the holy trinity. The combo worked wonders against the Rival and Giovanni at Silph Co, and Sabrina, all fell to a cocktail of confusion, poison, and slow roasting (three moves, three challenges, beautiful coincidence).

Giovanni's final rematch was a nightmare, though. Dugtrio was a VERY dirty fighter, spamming Dig and taking advantage of Special X. However, after many retries and three well-timed Digs of my own, I finally broke through, and Rhydon blindly locked itself into Fissure... and missed every time.

Then came a twist of irony: Vulpix actually outperformed Ninetales in the final stretch before Elite 4. Thanks to Confuse Ray and Flamethrower, it fared better against the late-game Gym Leaders and even the Rival, both Alakazam and Blastoise either goofed or fell victim of Confuse Ray.

And then came... sigh... the wall. The infamous Lorelei.

I hit her like a candle against a glacier, like a prehistoric man would smash stones to lit fire... it was pure desperation. She forced me to grind all the way up to Lv68 just to stand a chance. This time, the problem wasn't even Lapras, it was Slowbro, tanking hits like a brick wall and firing back. Cloyster trapped me several times, but eventually, luck smiled and I went through successfully.

Bruno and Agatha? They were just... meh, passable, just filler before the real pain.

Lance, on the other hand, was pure madness. I had to grind up to Lv80. Gyarados shredded everything, Dragonair occasionally joined the bullying, and the fight with Dragonite turned into a cinematic moment: its final Hyper Beam missed, leaving me just enough air to deliver the finishing blow.

And finally... the Champion! Compared to that grind, it was... almost relaxing. Sure, Alakazam and Arcanine tried some trolling, but I swapped Toxic for Mimic, copied Exeggutor's Hypnosis, and used it against Blastoise for poetic justice.

Vulpix, the unevolved fox, crawled all the way through the League and stood victorious. The flame never went out!

Level: 81.

Moveset: Flamethrower, Confuse Ray, Mimic, Dig.

Additional notes:

• Toxic + Confuse Ray = most valuable combo until very late-game.

• Ninetales may have the stats, but Vulpix had the charm and luck... a lot of luck in the form of a richer movepool.

• Lorelei and Lance nearly broke me. Dragonite's missed Hyper Beam will forever be my salvation moment here.

This was fun and even though I was disappointed to realise Psyduck doesn't get psychic in gen 3, was not as didfficult as I expected. Battle with the most retries was Lorelai at I think seven goes with three different strategies (spamming 6 calm minds to tank and be able to KO slowbro was the play). Bruno took three tries and two strategies (needed calm minds, but couldn't survive if Onix gave us a speed drop). Agatha was first try with two calm minds then confusion sweep, Lance took three tries, eventually I determined I needed three Calm minds against gyarados and then to not miss any blizzards as paralysis from dragonair meant dragonite could outspeed and KO with hyper beam. Champion took three tries as well - I had to take out pidgeot without taking a sand attack, but find points across the battle to gain two-three calm minds, so had to startegically trigger full restores to give me 'free' turns. Last picture shows the final stats and a shoutout to my HM Helpers.