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kjorteoThis is the third Special Aside entry to introduce the new Pokemon joining the team for our upcoming Kanto journey. It will be the last one until we're ready for our next actual playing session, though there will be one more after next session (since we can't get the fourth recruit we're planning on until we have the National Dex.)
Previously, we met Badgertwo, the fruit of a half-finished and all-unethical project to breed the perfect weapon, now rescued and learning what it means to enjoy life the way "imperfect" Pokemon do. We also met Rock Biter, a shy yet dutiful electronic sentinel searching for meaning beyond its service. While they come from different circumstances, each will need to learn how to forget everything they're "supposed" to be and to play and have fun, like Ethan and his Marill.
Now, prepare to change gears as we meet someone who is all about the fun. Meet a dazzling and flamboyant performer who is well familiar with the partying scene. She's flashy, flirty, and here to have a good time, but lest you underestimate her, she harbors a true and fearsome power behind that playful act.
To prove just how far back this particular plan to recruit this one goes, this is the payoff to when I mentioned before how much I wanted the Safari Zone to open up. I rushed over there as soon as I thought the part I needed was open, because I knew exactly what I wanted to find in there: a Trapinch.
Unfortunately, I misunderstood when and how each part of the Safari Zone opened and which parts I needed; it turned out our target acquisition would require the National Dex. In fact, not only that, but this was one of the more high-end Safari Zone Pokemon, one that would require 1) unlocking the Safari Zone, 2) unlocking the ability to place certain decorative "blocks" in Safari Zone areas to attract more unique species, and 3) unlocking a multiplier so each block is worth more, since one can only place a maximum of 30 blocks per room and Trapinch requires 49 points' worth of decoration to become available. Most of these unlocks are either game-clock-hours-time-based or "log in once a day for X days" time based, meaning we will be here quite a while before this becomes possible. And when it does... well, then we'll still have to catch one under Safari Zone rules.
Is there a better way?
Yes.
Diamond self-trading to the rescue, once again.
In Diamond and Pearl, Trapinches and Vibravae appear in one of the more treacherous routes in the game, one that is part of its postgame content area (but hey, we beat that one a long time ago, so we have access to it.) Both are exclusive to the Poke Radar. While chaining the Magnemite swarm was fairly straightforward, chaining Trapinches/Vibravae is a lot harder because 1) the grass patch is a lot smaller, 2) the encounter rate is a lot lower, and 3) there's a persistent sandstorm on this route, making it almost impossible to see the grass wiggles in the Poke Radar minigame. Don't expect us chaining 40 of the dang things plus a shiny this time, in other words. Still, as far as accessibility and ease of catching, it's better than something from the deep end of the Safari Zone.
We ended up with a level 53 Vibrava. Vibravae are rare, but the pre-evolved Trapinch is an extreme rare spawn even compared to Vibrava. Why is the baby form, with about half the levels and twice the training required to bring it up to speed, so much harder to find than its twice as powerful and already-evolved brethren? Because (much like with Shroomish and Spore) Trapinch can learn Earthquake by level, but only if you teach it to them before evolving them. The Vibravae on this route, unfortunately, are too late for that. However, they can still learn it by TM, and we did get one of those in Victory Road in part 20. Thus, that drawback is... not the end of the world? It would have saved us a TM but ehh, what else were we going to use it on, I guess.
Anyway, the end goal for all of this is to get ourselves the almighty Flygon, which... our Vibrava already qualified for a long time ago, actually; she just needs one more level to trigger the evolution screen again. For all their cool and flashy aesthetics and solid typing, stats, and movepool (anything that can learn Earthquake and has the physical Attack stat to use it is pretty much automatically formidable, let alone once you add Dragon moves and other coverage options,) we've actually never been able to land this line in our party in any other game before. This will be a first, which feels like an oversight somehow. You'd think younger me would have been all over these? But no, I was all about the Brelooms, apparently. (Which, to be fair, I still love those too and Badgertwo was our first Kanto recruit for a reason. But still....)
Ours is a female Vibrava with a Hasty nature which, when mixed with Flygon's sheer just look at that thing aesthetics, is what inspired the characterization we gave her. After having gone through the entirety of Johto with a very noticeable lack of coverage in the Ground type, she's going to fix that problem with a vengeance when we give her Earthquake. Meanwhile, for the Dragon-type STAB, Dragon Claw is the safest option; Draco Meteor is a special attack and Flygon is more of a physical attacker, plus it can only be used once or twice before tanking the user's Special Attack stat. On the other hand, if there's room on the set, we could run Dragon Claw and Draco Meteor, the latter being a once or twice per battle emergency thing and the former running off the completely unaffected physical Attack stat and serving as a reliable fallback once Draco Meteor is exhausted. That's what Falkor is currently doing, too.
Outrage is also an option, being a physical Dragon move pairing with Flygon's physical Attack and boasting an absolutely terrifying move-specific power level of its own, but the "be locked into using Outrage a few turns in a row and then auto-self-confuse" thing is a bit tough to work around.
As far as coverage goes... well, let's see.
Offensively, (in Gen IV anyway) Dragon-type moves deal at least neutral or better damage to every type in the game except Steel, and Steel happens to be weak to Ground. Thus, the combination of those two STABs means Flygon shouldn't have any "oh no I have no way of dealing damage to this particular enemy" situations except for Steel Pokemon that also have Ground immunity--Magnezone, Skarmory, or a Bronzong that has Levitate. For all of those, the correct answer is Fire.
Defensively, Flygon's biggest threat by far is Ice, followed by fellow Dragons (the Dragon type being weak to itself.) So, how to deal with those? Dragon is weak to itself and Ice, meaning the Dragon STAB technically already has this covered. Ice is weak to Fighting, Fire, Rock, and Steel. Thus, our third move should probably be one of those. If it's Fire, then that also covers the cases in the previous paragraph.
Stone Edge and Iron Tail are both as powerful as Earthquake and both would care of Ice types nicely, but both have accuracy issues. Rock Slide and Steel Wing would be compromise solutions but both are obsoleted by Fire Punch (all have comparable power but Fire Punch alone has 100% accuracy, as well as covering more bases.) The catch is that it's harder to learn, since it has to be Move Tutored by one of those Battle Tower BP redemption assholes. Still, that's probably the best option if we can get it, for the safety and the coverage.
And lastly... well, the aforementioned Draco Meteor, else maybe Roost? Some kind of Substitute/Toxic stalling set? ThunderPunch for when the Ice moves are coming from a Water type?
-Earthquake
-Dragon Claw/Outrage
-Fire Punch
-Draco Meteor/ThunderPunch/Roost/(?)
I guess???
Anyway, this charming lady is Priscilla, for she truly is the queen of the desert in which we found her. Also, that was a cheat code in some (not all, but some) versions of SimCity 2000, and I still remember that for some weird reason.
Previously, we met Badgertwo, the fruit of a half-finished and all-unethical project to breed the perfect weapon, now rescued and learning what it means to enjoy life the way "imperfect" Pokemon do. We also met Rock Biter, a shy yet dutiful electronic sentinel searching for meaning beyond its service. While they come from different circumstances, each will need to learn how to forget everything they're "supposed" to be and to play and have fun, like Ethan and his Marill.
Now, prepare to change gears as we meet someone who is all about the fun. Meet a dazzling and flamboyant performer who is well familiar with the partying scene. She's flashy, flirty, and here to have a good time, but lest you underestimate her, she harbors a true and fearsome power behind that playful act.
To prove just how far back this particular plan to recruit this one goes, this is the payoff to when I mentioned before how much I wanted the Safari Zone to open up. I rushed over there as soon as I thought the part I needed was open, because I knew exactly what I wanted to find in there: a Trapinch.
Unfortunately, I misunderstood when and how each part of the Safari Zone opened and which parts I needed; it turned out our target acquisition would require the National Dex. In fact, not only that, but this was one of the more high-end Safari Zone Pokemon, one that would require 1) unlocking the Safari Zone, 2) unlocking the ability to place certain decorative "blocks" in Safari Zone areas to attract more unique species, and 3) unlocking a multiplier so each block is worth more, since one can only place a maximum of 30 blocks per room and Trapinch requires 49 points' worth of decoration to become available. Most of these unlocks are either game-clock-hours-time-based or "log in once a day for X days" time based, meaning we will be here quite a while before this becomes possible. And when it does... well, then we'll still have to catch one under Safari Zone rules.
Is there a better way?
Yes.
Diamond self-trading to the rescue, once again.
In Diamond and Pearl, Trapinches and Vibravae appear in one of the more treacherous routes in the game, one that is part of its postgame content area (but hey, we beat that one a long time ago, so we have access to it.) Both are exclusive to the Poke Radar. While chaining the Magnemite swarm was fairly straightforward, chaining Trapinches/Vibravae is a lot harder because 1) the grass patch is a lot smaller, 2) the encounter rate is a lot lower, and 3) there's a persistent sandstorm on this route, making it almost impossible to see the grass wiggles in the Poke Radar minigame. Don't expect us chaining 40 of the dang things plus a shiny this time, in other words. Still, as far as accessibility and ease of catching, it's better than something from the deep end of the Safari Zone.
We ended up with a level 53 Vibrava. Vibravae are rare, but the pre-evolved Trapinch is an extreme rare spawn even compared to Vibrava. Why is the baby form, with about half the levels and twice the training required to bring it up to speed, so much harder to find than its twice as powerful and already-evolved brethren? Because (much like with Shroomish and Spore) Trapinch can learn Earthquake by level, but only if you teach it to them before evolving them. The Vibravae on this route, unfortunately, are too late for that. However, they can still learn it by TM, and we did get one of those in Victory Road in part 20. Thus, that drawback is... not the end of the world? It would have saved us a TM but ehh, what else were we going to use it on, I guess.
Anyway, the end goal for all of this is to get ourselves the almighty Flygon, which... our Vibrava already qualified for a long time ago, actually; she just needs one more level to trigger the evolution screen again. For all their cool and flashy aesthetics and solid typing, stats, and movepool (anything that can learn Earthquake and has the physical Attack stat to use it is pretty much automatically formidable, let alone once you add Dragon moves and other coverage options,) we've actually never been able to land this line in our party in any other game before. This will be a first, which feels like an oversight somehow. You'd think younger me would have been all over these? But no, I was all about the Brelooms, apparently. (Which, to be fair, I still love those too and Badgertwo was our first Kanto recruit for a reason. But still....)
Ours is a female Vibrava with a Hasty nature which, when mixed with Flygon's sheer just look at that thing aesthetics, is what inspired the characterization we gave her. After having gone through the entirety of Johto with a very noticeable lack of coverage in the Ground type, she's going to fix that problem with a vengeance when we give her Earthquake. Meanwhile, for the Dragon-type STAB, Dragon Claw is the safest option; Draco Meteor is a special attack and Flygon is more of a physical attacker, plus it can only be used once or twice before tanking the user's Special Attack stat. On the other hand, if there's room on the set, we could run Dragon Claw and Draco Meteor, the latter being a once or twice per battle emergency thing and the former running off the completely unaffected physical Attack stat and serving as a reliable fallback once Draco Meteor is exhausted. That's what Falkor is currently doing, too.
Outrage is also an option, being a physical Dragon move pairing with Flygon's physical Attack and boasting an absolutely terrifying move-specific power level of its own, but the "be locked into using Outrage a few turns in a row and then auto-self-confuse" thing is a bit tough to work around.
As far as coverage goes... well, let's see.
Offensively, (in Gen IV anyway) Dragon-type moves deal at least neutral or better damage to every type in the game except Steel, and Steel happens to be weak to Ground. Thus, the combination of those two STABs means Flygon shouldn't have any "oh no I have no way of dealing damage to this particular enemy" situations except for Steel Pokemon that also have Ground immunity--Magnezone, Skarmory, or a Bronzong that has Levitate. For all of those, the correct answer is Fire.
Defensively, Flygon's biggest threat by far is Ice, followed by fellow Dragons (the Dragon type being weak to itself.) So, how to deal with those? Dragon is weak to itself and Ice, meaning the Dragon STAB technically already has this covered. Ice is weak to Fighting, Fire, Rock, and Steel. Thus, our third move should probably be one of those. If it's Fire, then that also covers the cases in the previous paragraph.
Stone Edge and Iron Tail are both as powerful as Earthquake and both would care of Ice types nicely, but both have accuracy issues. Rock Slide and Steel Wing would be compromise solutions but both are obsoleted by Fire Punch (all have comparable power but Fire Punch alone has 100% accuracy, as well as covering more bases.) The catch is that it's harder to learn, since it has to be Move Tutored by one of those Battle Tower BP redemption assholes. Still, that's probably the best option if we can get it, for the safety and the coverage.
And lastly... well, the aforementioned Draco Meteor, else maybe Roost? Some kind of Substitute/Toxic stalling set? ThunderPunch for when the Ice moves are coming from a Water type?
-Earthquake
-Dragon Claw/Outrage
-Fire Punch
-Draco Meteor/ThunderPunch/Roost/(?)
I guess???
Anyway, this charming lady is Priscilla, for she truly is the queen of the desert in which we found her. Also, that was a cheat code in some (not all, but some) versions of SimCity 2000, and I still remember that for some weird reason.
no subject
Date: 2022-05-10 09:55 am (UTC)Outrage is cool and all, but you've also got to remember that it traps you in it for three(?) turns, which can be annoying.
You know for once I'm actually going to go "Smogon may be on to something here" because honestly their moveset for good old DP OU Flygon also pretty solidly covers the bases for PvE. Outrage v Dragon Claw is still a debate, but U-Turn and Toxic both make for extremely versatile utility moves suited to Flygon's strengths. This is a girl who, if she runs into something she's weak to, should probably GTFO sharpish and U-Turn can do that while simultaneously just being a fairly good move. The coverage option of Thunder Claw really isn't that necessary PvE as it is in competitive meta, but then, I guess it depends how much use you'll get out of Toxic stalling something bulky to death compared to Flygon being able to dish out physical electric damage. On the other hand, there's also a few options like Sunny Day and Sandstorm that could equally be useful.
Wow that just... turned into a big old wall of text there didn't it sorry Priscilla.
shame she can't go invisible and Lifesteal you
On a less :eng101: note, I freaking love Flygon. It's based on an antlion, which is neat, it's a weird pseudo-legendary that shows up unexpectedly midway through the Hoenn regional pokedex, which is neat, and it's got built-in sand goggles. Which are cooltastic. Here's a neat little essay someone did on Bulbapedia about Flygon. God I love those nerds.
no subject
Date: 2022-05-11 05:04 am (UTC)And yeah, Outrage has significantly more power than Dragon Claw but it also has a pretty significant drawback, to the point that Dragon Claw is probably the safer bet, if the significantly less exciting one.
Toxic... mm. I feel like a Toxic stalling setup would also want Substitute and/or Roost for extra staying power, yeah? It's not a bad idea but it's not quite its full potential just by itself and we don't really have room in the rest of the set for the other parts.
U-Turn could be a good option, though. I guess you're right in that we don't really want Priscilla to stand her ground in "what if this Vaporeon knows Aurora Beam but is still technically a Water type so Fire won't work" situations, huh. Like, even if she did have an Electric move, she'd probably rather just nope out of that one and let Rock Biter handle it.
As far as weather moves, the as-yet-unrevealed (but you can probably guess just from the context and clues we've dropped so far) fourth new recruit--the one we'll be getting after the next session (because we need the National Dex for the unlock,) will most likely be running Sunny Day in their build. Thus, Priscilla having it might be redundant, and having Sandstorm might be counterproductive to what others on the team are trying to do.
Anyway, just about every woodling loves Flygon a lot, too, which is part of why I'm honestly surprised I hadn't run one before. Just like Magnezone, I honestly could have sworn, and even loaded up my Diamond team just to check, mostly for "I don't want to just reuse the same team again on this run" purposes. Apparently not, though? Apparently this will be our first time with both of them? So that's going to be neat. (Not that that was a super ironclad rule anyway, though, as unethically enhanced Badger clone Badgertwo can attest.) Flygon has a lovely look that makes them just about one of the classiest yet sassiest-looking Pokemon out there until they invented the Adult Woman/Entrepreneur dual-type. And thank you for that link; this entire series looks awesome.
no subject
Date: 2022-05-11 06:43 am (UTC)