Pokemon Variants

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

A solo run featuring Japan's least favorite Pokemon, initially posted on Smogon:


Pokemon White Solo Simisear Part 1: Unpopular for Good Reason


In a Japanese Pokemon popularity pol from 2016, Simisear the Fire elemental monkey from Unova was dead last. Of course that means I have to do a solo run with it. The male trainer was named HIPSTER to match the theme of the challenge.


To get its first form Pansear, I had to pick Oshawott at the beginning. Bianca, Cheren, and N's first fights in Nuvema Town and Accumula Town were nothing special. Unfortunately, most of the trainer battles on the way to the elemental monkey distributing NPC were unavoidable due to their positioning, so some experience gains were wasted on Oshawott.


Pansear came with a Mild Nature and the "likes to thrash about" characteristic. This was a Special Attack boost and a Defense penalty, and the highest IV was Attack. Pansear's starting moveset was weak, featuring Scratch, Leer, Lick, and Incinerate. Incinerate was such an awful Fire move (30 base power) that Ember would have been an upgrade. Lick was practically useless at this point, since almost all enemies at this point are either immune or resistant to its Ghost type.


Cheren challenged Pansear to a battle in the Trainer School with a level 8 Snivy and a level 8 Purrloin. 2 Incinerates knocked out the Grass starter, but it seemed to be weaker than Scratch while fighting the cat. Purrloin's Assist rolled Vine Whip, an ineffective move against my Fire monkey. Cheren handed out Oran Berries after HIPSTER's victory, which were valuable in an upcoming fight.


Pansear did not have an auspicious beginning in the Gym where he was supposed to be the star. He barely survived Waiter Maxwell's level 11 Lillipup with 3/34 HP, and getting past Waitress Tia's level 10 Patrat required using Leer Defense debuffs to avoid Bide counterattacks.


Cilan was the Gym Leader meant to teach players not to rely too much on their starters, as the Striaton Trio would always pick the elemental monkey super effective against them.


But Pansear had a miserable performance even where he was supposed to have an "easy" victory. Before the fight, Pansear equipped the Oran Berry for a single auto-heal. (This is a no Battle Item in combat playthrough, assuming Simisear is up to the task.) Cilan's level 12 Lillipup took little damage from Incinerate and Scratch, and knocked out Pansear twice with Work Up buffed Bites. In an especially stupid moment in the first attempt, I once forgot Lillipup was immune to Lick and tried to paralyze it with that move.


Death Count: 2


An obscure mechanic made Lillipup difficult: the passive Pickup Ability. Pickup in previous games randomly gave a Pokemon various items after battle, such as Rare Candies or Super Potions. But Pick Up was different in White, since it gave Lillipup an Oran Berry to heal itself in battle.


A combination of multiple Leers and Scratch let Pansear knock out Lillipup, but Incinerate's damage was so terrible against the level 14 Pansage, even with super effective damage, that Pansear was knocked out with a critical Vine Whip. I repeat: Pansear lost to the 1 Pokemon in the game that the programmers meant for him to beat.


Death Count: 3


HIPSTER and Pansear only won due to improbable luck against Lillipup. It never attacked and insisted on buffing its stats with Work Up, although I gave it plenty of chances to do so. When Pansear singed Pansage to death, Incinerate was at 11/15 HP. It took 4 hits from a super effective attack for the enemy to die! With fighting prowess this abysmal, Pansear is going to have some heavy-duty Audino grinding in store for him. There's no way he can make it past Lenora otherwise.


Pansear Stats


Level 13 @ Nothing


HP: 38
Attack: 22
Defense: 16
Special Attack: 22
Special Defense: 18
Speed: 23



Moves


Scratch
Work Up
Fury Swipes
Incinerate

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon White Solo Simisear Part 2: In Which Pansear Faints More Than a Gothic Novel Hero


Cheren's team on the route west of Striaton City was so weak, even a Pansear could beat it. Snivy provided a good opportunity to buff with Work Up. All it did was Leer and sometimes hit with a weak Vine Whip. 2 Incinerates were needed even with +2 Special Attack and super effective damage, to show you how weak that move was. Fury Swipes and an Incinerate defeated Purrloin, which just used Growl once before dying.


Normally, a level 13 Pidove wouldn't be scary, but its combination of Leer and priority Quick Attacks doomed Pansear. If the pigeon didn't kill HIPSTER's solo Pokemon, a level 13 Tympole's Bubblebeam sure did.


Death Count: 5


Preschoolers such as Homer humiliated Pansear too. His level 14 Roggenrola dealt super effective damage with the multi-hit Rock Blast and crushed the Fire monkey.


Death Count: 6


One reason Pansear is the worst elemental monkey is that its typing is inferior in the early game to Panpour and Pansage. The other two don't have to worry about Rock Throws, Rock Blasts, and Bubblebeams from random Timburrs, Roggenrolas, and Tympoles. Roggenrolas in particular were bad for my solo because Sturdy prevents them from being killed in one hit.


Solo Pansear barely survived Youngster Keita's 3 Tympoles with 2/49 HP because they kept using debuffs instead of going for the kill with Water attacks. Pansear wasn't so fortunate against Battle Girl's level 16 Timburr.


Death Count: 7


Once Pansear was at a higher level, I tried to fight Preschooler Homer to get revenge. It failed when his Roggenrola rolled a high number of hits with Rock Blast.


Death Count: 8


I wasn't kidding when I said Pansear needed to go on an Audino training regimen in the last update. Beating the stuffing out of these Normal types leveled Pansear to 22 and taught him his signature move Elemental monkeys have similar level and TM movesets, except for their signature type. Simipour gets Scald, a base 80 Water special attack with a Burn chance, and can upgrade to Surf later in the game. Simisage can play around with Leech Seed and Seed Bomb, a base 80 physical move. What did Pansear get? Flame Burst, a base 70 special Fire move that. . .can hit both opponents in Double Battles, which are uncommon in the story mode? And here's the kicker: Flamethrower is a postgame TM in the Abundant Shrine. That means Simisear's options are either the mediocre Flame Burst or the inaccurate Fire Blast.



With the extra levels and 3 Work Ups combined with Pidove Yawning itself to sleep, N was a comparative pushover. Flame Burst defeated Pidove and a level 13 Timburr, and Pansear Bit Tympole to death.



Lenora deserves to be feared as much as Misty and Whitney as far as early Gym Leaders go. All Pansear could do was equip a Chesto Berry and hope for the best. It took many tries to succeed. My hope was to set up Work Ups once the level 18 Herdier fell victim to Yawn, and then Flame Burst to victory. But the level 20 Watchog outsped Pansear and often knocked him out in one hit with a double power Retaliate right after Herdier fainted. One one occasion, a critical Take Down from Herdier was enough to end the battle.


Death Count: 14


The RNG must have taken pity on Pansear on the successful attempts. 2 Take Downs from Herdier missed, giving Pansear enough time to set up 2 Work Ups. Herdier whiffed with Hypnosis, then struck with a weakened Retaliate on the next turn. Pansear left the arena with a new badge and 16/64 HP. Sometimes fights come down to luck in solo runs.


Pansear Stats


Level 24 @ Chesto Berry


HP: 64
Attack: 38
Defense: 26
Special Attack: 36
Special Defense: 29
Speed: 39



Moves


Bite
Work Up
Yawn
Flame Burst

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon White Solo Simisear Part 3: Dramatic Improvement


Pinwheel Forest trainers sometimes used Psychic, Grass, and Bug Pokemon, which Pansear could easily kill with Flame Burst or Bite.


In Castelia City, HIPSTER got the Eviolite from the northern building as usual and equipped it on Pansear. He torched the various Bug trainers in the local Gym and then headed north to get experience from NPCs in the desert before fighting Burgh. Unfortunately, a combination of slow Sandstorm damage and Basculin Aqua Jets resulted in a loss to Fisherman Hubert.


Death Count: 15


The obvious way to go from here was to just use the Fire Stone HIPSTER got from the NPC south of the Castelia City entrance. Players using stone evolution Pokemon are supposed to consider the benefits of higher stats earlier vs. learning more moves through level up. I was at first holding out for Acrobatics at level 31, but then I realized that Fire already covered most of the types that a Flying move would be effective against. Besides, Acrobatics could be acquired as a TM from the 6th Gym if I really needed it. (Probably for Marshal of the Elite 4.)


Evolving at level 27 provided instant success. Simisear's Flame Burst destroyed Burgh's level 21 Whirlpede, level 21 Dwebble, and level 23 Leavanny in one hit each without taking damage.


Bianca in the Route 4 gate building had 3 Pokemon that collapsed from Flame Burst heatstroke: a level 18 Herdier, a level 18 Munna, and a level 18 Pansage at the end. With the level 20 Pignite, I used Yawn to put it to sleep and set up with Work Up. 2 Flame Bursts killed it at +1 Special Attack. The only damage Simisear took was from a critical Flame Charge from Pignite.


Cheren in the Route 4 desert was easier than Bianca. Against the level 20 Pidove, Simisear buffed with Work Up, and the bird's only response was Leer. Pidove, a level 20 Liepard, and a level 22 Servine fell to Flame Burst, and one Bite made the level 20 Panpour faint. The only injuries Simisear suffered in this fight were from the 1/16 max HP Sandstorm effect at the end of each round.


Before leaving the desert, I made sure to get the Dig and Rock Tomb TMs. Dig in particular would prove to be good coverage against rival Fire types, Electric types, and Rock Pokemon.


HIPSTER and Simisear battled the trainers on the routes east and west of Nimbasa City before taking on N near the Ferris wheel. N's level 22 Sandile was of the Moxie variety instead of the annoying Intimidate kind. A single Flame Burst sent it back into its Poke Ball. Dig undermined the level 22 Darumaka, Flame Burst roasted the level 22 Scraggy, and Bite tore open the level 22 Sigilyph. Simisear won a flawless victory here.


Simisear made sure to have the Soft Sand equipped before fighting Elesa. He outsped the two level 25 Emolgas and defeated them with one Flame Burst each. Having 101 base Speed is great ingame! A Soft Sand powered Dig slaughtered the level 27 Zebstrika in one hit.


Before turning off my DS, I went back to Castelia City and gave Simisear the name HearNoEvil in memory of SeeNoEvil the Simipour. (If I do a Simisage playthrough, "SpeakNoEvil" will have to be truncated a bit. . .)


The Pansage phase was terrible, but once HearNoEvil evolved, he became a better Pokemon than I was expecting. One mistake from the Simipour playthrough was holding off evolution for too long because I wanted Crunch. Then again, if you're using the non-Fire monkeys, you'll probably want at least Acrobatics for the type coverage Water and Grass doesn't provide.


All elemental monkeys are in the Medium Fast group, so HearNoEvil may not have as many late game woes as the Medium Slow I-BEAM the Gurdurr. Being able to have the Lucky Egg experience boost instead of the Eviolite for important fights later on might help too.




HearNoEvil the Simisear Stats


Level 36 @ Soft Sand


HP: 109
Attack: 90
Defense: 48
Special Attack: 88
Special Defense: 52
Speed: 88



Moves


Flame Burst
Bite
Dig
Work Up

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon White Solo Simisear Part 4: A Second Roserade?


Cheren appeared again west of Nimbasa City and challenged HIPSTER to a fight. The level 24 Liepard got a token Fake Out flinch before a Flame Burst scorched it. The level 24 Panpour used an effective tactic against me: Water Sport, the Fire-weakening field effect that never did PETRA PAN any good. Dig pummeled Panpour. HearNoEvil buffed with 2 Work Ups to compensate for Water Sport, while the level 24 Tranquill struck with Air Cutter and Quick Attack. Both Tranquill and a level 26 Servine begged for mercy after being hit with a boosted Flame Burst. HearNoEvil survived with 68/112 HP.



Cold Storage in Driftveil City was easy for a solo Fire type, as you might expect. Clay, the local Gym Leader, was not. Things seemed to be going well at first when a critical Flame Burst destroyed the level 29 Krokorok. Then a level 29 Palpitoad appeared that was hardy enough to survive a Return and respond with a Speed debuffing Bulldoze. Palpitoad eventually died after Clay tried to delay its defeat with 2 Hyper Potions. -1 Speed slowed down HearNoEvil enough that the level 31 Excadrill mauled him with Bulldoze before he could launch a Flame Burst.


Death Count: 16


Clay's AI was stupid on the 2nd attempt, so I won. Krokorok wasn't a factor at all. A Bite flinch attempt failed, and HearNoEvil had to suffer another Bulldoze. But then it used the weak auto-healing buff Aqua Ring on a turn when I tried Work Up. Another Bite defeated the Water/Ground type. Excadrill was too arrogant to go for the kill right away and opted for a Hone Claws buff instead. Excadrill was part Steel and thus weak to Flame Burst. HearNoEvil got his 5th badge with 79/121 HP.


Bianca in Driftveil was so easy that HearNoEvil got a flawless victory. The level 26 Herdier, level 28 Pignite, and level 26 Pansage fainted when they witnessed either Flame Burst or Dig. A level 26 Musharna was bulky enough to live after being Bitten, so it took a Flame Burst follow-up to win. Musharna's only action was to miss with Hypnosis.


Bianca gave me the Fly HM after the battle, so my HM BIRD Ducklett Flew me back to the Pinwheel Forest area. I had forgotten to pick up the Grass Knot TM, which probably would have helped with Palpitoad in Clay's Gym. Another TM HIPSTER found was Solarbeam. Yes, Simisear can learn that, along with Sunny Day later on. For the final boss fights, solo Simisear is likely going to be a repeat of the solo Roserade playthrough. The weather-extending Heat Rock hold item is also much easier to obtain in White than in Pearl, since all you have to do is talk to an NPC on Route 8 during the day. No random chances from a minigame required.


As soon as HearNoEvil entered Chargestone Cave, he acquired the Lucky Egg and probably started calling it "my precious". Doubling experience gain is essential to White "No Battle Item" solos due to the diminishing return leveling system.


N in Chargestone Cave had a team that was mostly weak to Fire. The level 28 Joltik, level 28 Klink, and level 28 Ferroseed all failed to survive a single Flame Burst. N's level 28 Boldore was more difficult. It buffed itself with Iron Defense while HearNoEvil was Digging underground, and hit for super effective damage with Smack Down. I forgot to check the HP count after the battle, but HearNoEvil wasn't in much danger of dying.


Random trainers on Route 7 north of Mistralton City were easy experience, though Boldores were a bit concerning. Several Rock types in White are guaranteed to survive at least one round with Sturdy, such as the Roggenrola, Tirtouga, and Dwebble families. Since Simisear is weak to that type, he may have a rough time later on.


I saved the game in Celestic Tower and ended the session.


HearNoEvil the Simisear Stats


Level 48 @ Lucky Egg


HP: 144
Attack: 125
Defense: 65
Special Attack: 116
Special Defense: 67
Speed: 122



Moves


Flame Burst
Bite
Dig
Work Up

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon White Solo Simisear Part 5: Easy Gyms and Easier Team Plasma Battles


For Skyla's Flying Gym battle in Mistralton City, HearNoEvil used some of PETRA PAN the Roserade's tactics. The level 33 Swoobat proved to be good setup bait for Sunny Day, and all it could do is flail at Simisear with a weak Acrobatics. A solar powered Flame Burst charred Swoobat.


The level 35 Swanna couldn't be killed this way because it was Water/Flying, but that's why Simisear had Solarbeam. HearNoEvil had a subpar Special Attack IV, so Swanna barely survived the Grass attack. The swan set up an Aqua Ring buff, which was redundant because Skyla fed it a Hyper Potion on the next turn anyway. Another Solarbeam shot down the bird, proving that the previous Solarbeam got an awful damage roll. One last Flame Burst cooked the level 33 Unfezant, and HearNoEvil got his 5th badge with 122/156 HP.


Cheren fought HearNoEvil again at the south entrance of Twist Mountain. He probably thought he had an advantage due to the Rain effect in the area, but he didn't account for Sunny Day manual weather. The level 33 Unfezant attacked with Air Slash from its lesser Special Attack stat on its free turn. Flame Bursts murdered Unfezant, the level 35 Servine, and the level 33 Liepard, while a Solarbeam blasted the level 33 Simipour. HearNoEvil defeated the rival with 109/159 HP.


Once Alder gave HIPSTER the Surf HM after the Cheren battle, I backtracked to the sea routes near the starting town and beat up the trainers for experience. HIPSTER also made sure to pick up as many Rare Candies as possible for the endgame with the help of HM Mules and the Dowsing Machine.


Brycen's place in Icirrus City was as anticlimactic as you might expect an Ice Gym to be for a Fire Pokemon. Some of the trainers had Cubchoos so underleveled, Simisear could beat them with Bite to save PP for Flame Burst. Brycen's level 37 Vanillish, level 39 Beartic, and level 37 Cryogonal all melted when HearNoEvil attacked with his signature move.


Team Plasma in both Dragonspiral Tower and Relic Castle was so weak, that the only thing to say about them was that Simisear often used Dig to save Flame Burst PP. This may not be a speedrun, but I'm trying to get through the game quickly now that I know it better.


HIPSTER received a Heat Rock from an umbrella girl east of Icirrus City. If you talk to her in the morning or night instead of the day, you'll get a Rain-extending Damp Rock or a Hail-extending Icy Rock instead. Keep this in mind for any weather-based playthroughs! Extra turns of Sun will probably be necessary for the Elite 4, N, and Ghetsis.


Bianca's final battle east of Icirrus City was more of a threat than the past few Gym Leaders. Her level 38 Stoutland had Intimidate, and the area had the Rain effect. This meant HearNoEvil had to spend a turn casting Sunny Day. Bianca was too nice and had Stoutland buff with Work Up instead of attacking. Flame Burst killed Stoutland, but the level 40 Emboar took more time to defeat than I would have liked. With -1 Attack, Dig failed to KO the Fire/Fighting starter. Emboar attacked with the obscure Dark attack Assurance, and a Take Down later on. Bianca healed Emboar twice with Full Restores, stalling out the Sun. Simisear set up another Sunny Day and then just attacked with Flame Burst until the Fire pig died.



A level 38 Musharna lived when Simisear shot a solar powered Flame Burst, but whiffed with Hypnosis. Another Flame burst defeated the Psychic type, and a final Flame Burst baked the level 38 Simisage. HearNoEvil emerged victorious with 134/191 HP.


I saved the game and turned it off after going through a few cutscenes in Opelucid City. Dig was swapped out for Return to defeat the Dragons in the last Gym. One nice quirk of solo runs starting in the 5th generation games is that you can often switch TM moves depending on the situation instead of hoarding them.


HearNoEvil the Simisear Stats


Level 65 @ Lucky Egg


HP: 194
Attack: 175
Defense: 89
Special Attack: 158
Special Defense: 91
Speed: 174



Moves


Flame Burst
Bite
Return
Sunny Day

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon White Solo Simisear Final Part: Reused Solo Run Content


Return made hash out of most of the Dragons in Opelucid City's Gym. Sunny Day wasn't going to do much good against a Gym Leader that resisted both Fire and Grass, so HearNoEvil temporarily replaced it with Work Up. One turn of Work Up against Iris's level 41 Fraxure resulted in a clean sweep of the entire team, including the level 41 Druddigon and level 43 Haxorus. The only move Iris could make in the whole battle was a Dragon Dance on turn 1.


I forgot to teach Simisear Solarbeam again, so it made the final Cheren fight near Victory Road slightly harder. Cheren's level 43 Unfezant charged up a Razor Wind (now that's an obscure move) on the first turn, leaving it open to a Sunny Day setup. Flame Burst and Return made Unfezant, a level 43 Simipour, a level 45 Serperior, and a level 43 Liepard topple like dominoes.


Victory Road's trainers were more difficult than I was expecting. A level 43 Conkeldurr owned by Black Belt Tyrone crushed Simisear with a Rock Slide, and Veteran Martell's level 45 Sturdy Gigalith impaled him with Stone Edge. On the second try, HearNoEvil barely survived Martell with 7/211 HP. (!)


Death Count: 18


HearNoEvil chugged Rare Candies just before fighting Marshal of the Elite 4, raising his level from 71 to 78. Despite the different experience groups, HearNoEvil was the same level as I-BEAM the Gurdurr at the same time before Rare Candies.


Replacing Dig with no held item Acrobatics allowed Simisear to beat Marshal on the first try. Acrobatics defeated the level 48 Throh, level 48 Conkeldurr, and level 48 Mienshao with one hit each. Sawk's combination of Sturdy and Full Restores made me waste a lot of Acrobatics PP when it was the second opponent. Sawk also knew Stone Edge, which it used on the turn Sturdy activated. Flame Burst drained the last PP to save some Acrobatics uses. In the end, HearNoEvil succeeded with 121/231 HP.


Caitlin was second, and I had to equip the Heat Rock. Bad damage rolls from Sunny Day powered Flame Bursts let the level 50 Gothitelle and level 48 Musharna barely hang on. An unlucky Psychic Special Defense debuff was another case of bad luck, and HearNoEvil finally died when the level 48 Sigilyph cast Psychic.


Death Count: 19


The RNG seemed to pity HearNoEvil in Caitlin Round 2. Flame Burst defeated every Pokemon in one hit after a Sunny Day, and the critical hit against Musharna probably came in handy.



Grimsley was easier compared to the 2 previous Elite 4 fights. The level 48 Scrafty chomped on Simisear with Crunch as he was summoning sunshine. Flame Burst and Solarbeam overheated Scrafty, a level 48 Krookodile, a level 48 Liepard (post Fake Out), and a level 50 Bisharp. HearNoEvil came out of that battle with 175/231 HP.


For Shauntal, HearNoEvil relearned Dig and forgot Acrobatics. The coffin shut on the level 48 Cofagrigus after it cast one Shadow Ball before facing a Sunny Day Flame Burst. Solarbeam put the level 48 Golurk and level 48 Jellicent to rest. Dig was there for the level 50 Chandelure that resisted all of Simisear's other current moves. HearNoEvil conquered the Elite 4 with 186/234 HP, and it was also nice to not have to use PP restoring items.


One final Rare Candy in N's Castle boosted Simisear to level 80. I probably needed it. N was as deadly for Simisear as he was for I-BEAM the Gurdurr. At least one loss was inevitable because of having to switch out of Zekrom, but the body count looked more like this:


Death Count: 23


Admittedly, one of those was because I forgot to save before resetting and thus had to go through the Zekrom sequence again. The main danger was the level 50 Carracosta that had Sturdy and Stone Edge. Sturdy Unova Pokemon were annoying in most situations, but lethal for a solo that was weak to Rock. A bad damage roll on Dig against the level 52 Reshiram tended to result in being struck with Hyper Beams or Fusion Flares.


HearNoEvil lucked out once and avoided a Stone Edge from Carracosta while he used Flame Burst to get past the "survive at 1 HP" Ability. A Solarbeam made turtle soup out of Carracosta. I used 2 Flame Bursts to kill Archeops for some stupid reason, although Solarbeam would have done more damage in retrospect. Fortunately, a Stone Edge from the fossil bird missed too. Sunny Day expired against the level 50 Zoroark, who capitalized on its free turn with a critical Night Slash. The return of boosted Flame Bursts knocked out Zoroark and the final level 50 Vanilluxe. HearNoEvil triumphed over the rival hero with 66/237 HP.


The first try against Ghetsis was likely going to be a defeat anyway because Simisear's moveset wasn't good for the situation. His level 54 Hydreigon ironically killed HearNoEvil with a Sunny Day boosted Fire Blast. On the second attempt, a level 52 Cofagrigus used Toxic instead of Protect, and that would have been a loss no matter what.


Final Death Count: 25


HearNoEvil rolled another 6 when Cofagrigus used Protect on the first turn on another attempt. A Sunny Day Flame Burst defeated it. For the level 52 Bouffalant and Hydreigon, Simisear had a secret weapon: Brick Break. Simisear's stats tended to come up short, but I couldn't fault him for his move selection. Solarbeam zapped the level 52 Seismitoad, and Flame Burst melted the level 52 Bisharp and final Eelektross. The only damage HearNoEvil sustained was from a turn when I misclicked and used Flame Burst against the Hydreigon, which retaliated with Dragon Pulse. HearNoEvil won Pokemon White with 153/240 HP. I'll probably include a postscript here like for some other solos.



HearNoEvil the Simisear Final Stats


Level 81 @ Heat Rock


HP: 240
Attack: 218
Defense: 110
Special Attack: 195
Special Defense: 112
Speed: 215



Moves


Flame Burst
Brick Break
Solarbeam
Sunny Day

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon White Solo Simisear Postscript


Pansear is criticized for good reason. It can easily fail to defeat the Gym Leader whose gimmick revolves around using an elemental monkey instead of your starter. Lenora's Watchog comes down to luck as well, and you can't evolve Pansear until one city later. (Granted, most Pokemon probably have a hard time in that fight. . .)


When Pansear becomes Simisear, performance improves quickly. You still have to worry about bad defenses, which hurts when you have to fight Sturdy Pokemon like Carracosta, Sawk, and Gigalith that require 2 hits to kill. Sturdy Pokemon are often Rock type, a weakness for Fire Pokemon.


Simisear is stuck with a base 70 Fire move for the whole game, unless you want to risk using the 85% accuracy Fire Blast. Sometimes, you'll miss out on one hit kills even with solo run overleveling and Sunny Day's Fire buff. Simipour is much more fortunate because it gets a base 80 Scald by level and a base 95 Surf via HM. Even Simisage gets a base 80 Seed Bomb.


Playing as Simisear felt like a mix of the Gurdurr and Roserade playthroughs. Reliance on Dig, Brick Break, and a physical Normal attack reminded me of the former. Late in the game, Sunny Day, a special Fire attack, and Solarbeam made Simisear act like the latter.


One day, I may do a Simisage playthrough, but the overlapping movesets between the other elemental monkeys would probably make it too similar to be interesting to me right now.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Etrian Odyssey requires more time to get into than I have right now.  Have a quick Pokemon solo for now instead!


Pokemon Moon Solo Magneton Part 1: Attack of the Unskippable Cutscenes


I wanted to try a "No Battle Items" solo for Moon, and there were few good candidates. Totem Pokemon tend to be stronger than Gym Leaders in the other games. Moon's extreme linearity means you can't traipse around the region beating up lower level trainers like OG PUFF did in Fire Red. The Unova diminishing returns experience curve comes back in Moon without the free Lucky Egg to compensate for it. I could have chosen a starter, but probably everyone has done a Primarina, Incineroar, or Decidueye solo by now.


Pelipper and Magneton were the two finalists. Pelipper has Drizzle in Moon, and can take advantage of this passive Rain summoning Ability to unleash stronger Water moves and perfectly accurate Hurricanes. Magneton has Sturdy, allowing it to survive a mortal blow from full health. Magneton also has a wonderful Electric/Steel defensive typing as well as the Magnet Rise move to dodge its critical Ground weakness.


I picked the female trainer and named her SOLEDAD. To even get her first Pokemon, SOLEDAD had to endure almost 15 minutes of cutscenes. SOLEDAD picked Popplio the Water type and defeated Hau both times without dying. This was mildly impressive because Hau had a level 6 Pichu with a super effective Thunder Shock in the second fight.


The Chosen One turned out to be a Modest Magnemite in the grass at the Trainers' School in Honolulu Hau'oli City. SOLEDAD picked up the Quick Claw inside the building. Its random priority moves would come in handy because Magnemite was slow. Most of the trainers in the area were easy with 95 base Special Attack and Thunder Shock, except for Teacher Emily. Her lineup was cruel for an enemy trainer this early on, since she had a rival level 8 Magnemite. My attempts to confuse it with the inaccurate Supersonic tended to fail, giving the enemy Magnemite more opportunities to cast Thunder Shock. If Magnemite didn't kill my solo Pokemon, Alolan Meowth and its Bite flinches did.


Death Count: 4


No, that number of Game Overs isn't a typo. My Magnemite only managed to win at level 11 by paralyzing Alolan Meowth with Thunder Wave. Apparently in the Ultra Moon version, Teacher Emily is toned down and only has the starter that's super effective against yours.


Captain Ilima in Hau'oli City was easy in comparison, but still a close call. His level 9 Normal type Yungoos attacked with Pursuit, and was healed once with a Potion. Repeated Thunder Shocks electrocuted the mongoose. The level 10 Smeargle got an unlucky critical Tackle, but the Quick Claw activated just in time for Magnemite to finish it off with Thunder Shock.


The trainers in Hau'oli Cemetery and Route 2 were easy, even Office Worker Jeremy and his Alolan Diglett. Magnemite's bad Attack triumphed over Alolan Diglett's worse Defense with Magnet Bomb, and my opponent didn't seem to have any Ground moves at all.



Totem Alolan Raticate would normally be the first major challenge of any Moon solo run. But Magnemite was capable enough to win without eating the Sitrus Berry I had given to it. Thunder Wave paralyzed the boss on the first turn, causing it to lose about 2 turns. The Rattata lackey wasted its turns on either Tail Whip debuffs or Focus Energy buffs. The only notable action Alolan Raticate took was to debuff Magnemite's Speed with Scary Face.


SOLEDAD got the useless (for Magnemite) Normal type Z Crystal, and then I ended the session. Affection seems to build up faster in Moon than in X, since Magnemite was already at stage 4 out of 5 by the first Totem battle. The main concern will probably be the Totem Salazzle battle if Magnemite hasn't evolved by then. Magnemite's move selection is quite poor in the early game too.



Magnemite Stats


Level 15 @ Quick Claw

HP: 33
Attack: 15
Defense: 30
Special Attack: 39
Special Defense: 22
Speed: 20


Moves

Thunder Wave
Light Screen
Thunder Shock
Magnet Bomb

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Moon Solo Magnemite Part 2: Turning to the Dark Side


Remember how I said I wanted a "No Battle Item" solo challenge for Moon? This was the session where I realized that was unrealistic.


Magnemite fumbled its way through several trainer battles that it had no right to win thanks to Quick Claw occasionally ignoring Speed. One example was Rising Star Joshua and his level 13 Growlithe that attacked with a super effective Ember.


Hau's AI was stupid in his 3rd battle on Route 3. His level 13 Pikachu wasted its turns striking with half damage Quick Attacks and trying to debuff Magnemite's Attack with Growl, but then there wasn't much it could do after I set up a Light Screen anyway. But Light Screen's Special Defense buff ran out right before the level 14 Litten appeared. The Fire cat could easily have finished off Magnemite with two Embers, but for some reason it tried Lick instead. This was especially weird because Magnemite was immune to its paralysis chance due to being an Electric type. A Quick Claw Thunder Wave and repeated Thunder Shocks gave Magnemite a victory it didn't deserve.


Perhaps Hau should have paid more attention to his grandfather Hala. He was the Kahuna who destroyed any hopes of Magnemite winning without Potion healing. Hala was a Fighting specialist with a level 14 Mankey, a level 15 Crabrawler, and a level 14 Makuhita. None of them could be killed in one hit at my level, even with a critical Thunder Shock. The odds against dodging all their attacks with Affection probably required scientific notation. A few rounds with Mankey's Karate Chop and Crabrawler's Z Move All-Out Pummeling ended like this:


Death Count: 11


Magnemite was in a pickle. There was no leveling exploit like Audinos in White, so it would have taken many hours to grind. Even if I did that for Hala, it risked making the rest of the game too easy. So I had to make a compromise. For otherwise unwinnable fights, Magnemite was allowed to use artificial healing items like Super Potions. Sturdy was a reusable Ability, so every item that healed Magnemite to max HP meant another guaranteed survival with 1 HP.


Even with many Super Potions and Potions, Hala's Kahuna battle was drawn out. Thunder Wave paralysis and Affection dodges were needed to have free turns to attack with Thunder Shock. By the time Magnemite won, it was at level 19.


Other solo Pokemon would have benefited from Melemele Island's TMs and Z Crystals much more than Magnemite. Brick Break could be acquired in the Verdant Cavern shortly before the Totem Raticate battle. The Acrobatics TM was in Ten Carat Hill, but this area was blocked off by rocks until Tauros the Ride Pokemon was acquired after the Hala battle. The Z Moves Breakneck Blitz and All-Out Pummeling would give some Pokemon a high base power attack with 100 accuracy once per battle.


When Magnemite landed on Akala Island, it was named RETCON in honor of it acquiring a Steel type for no justifiable story reason in the Johto games. Sina from Pokemon X challenged RETCON to a battle shortly afterwards. Her level 15 Ice/Flying Delibird's Present move had no effect. Glaceon's extremely high Special Attack combined with Icy Wind was painful even with Steel's resistance to Ice. It took Thunder Wave paralysis to win against Sina.


Hau fantasized about having a Wild West duel in Paniola Town, and fought Magnemite once again. 2 fixed 20 damage Sonic Booms sliced his level 16 Pikachu to pieces while it attacked ineffectually with Quick Attacks. Litten became a level 17 Torracat. If Hau had been intelligent at all, Torracat could have beaten Magnemite with 2 Fire attacks. Instead, he ordered Torracat to strike with Lick and Scratch. Once, Torracat tried Fire Fang, but Magnemite flew out of the way with an Affection dodge.


Another example of Pokemon Moon's questionable AI happened in a fight with Pokemon Breeder Glenn's Mudbray. Instead of finishing off Magnemite with a second Bulldoze, Mudbray used. . .Mud Sport. A Ground type Pokemon used a move that weakened attacks from a type it was already immune to.


Gladion, a mysterious mercenary affiliated with Team Skull, attacked north of Paniola Town. His level 17 Zubat was fast enough to inflict damage with Bite before Thunder Shock sent it crashing to the ground. Gladion's level 18 Type: Null was much hardier. Magnemite tried both Thunder Shock and Sonic Boom before I realized the latter was stronger here. Thunder Wave paralysis helped as well. I couldn't get the exact HP count, but Magnemite had a red health bar at the end.


Fisherman Ernest at Brooklet Hill was a strange case of good luck. RETCON survived both a Barboach Mud Bomb and a Goldeen Horn Attack with 1 HP due to Affection bonuses.


The next Game Over in this playthrough came at a time I didn't expect: Totem Wishiwashi. RETCON defeated the level 20 boss of Brooklet Hill with 3 Thunder Shocks, then fell to its minion's Brine.


Death Count: 12


On the 2nd attempt, Totem Wishiwashi must have rolled the "stupid AI" routine. On turn 1, it tried to change RETCON into a Water type with Soak, only to fail when Magnemite dodged with Affection. On turn 2, it cast the weak healing buff Aqua Ring. This gave RETCON safe turns to go for the kill with Thunder Shock. The lackey's Brine didn't do much damage this time, even with the automatic Rain boost, because Magnemite was above half HP. RETCON conquered the second Totem trial with 34/49 HP.



I realized when I saved my game that I would have been halfway through a White solo run by the amount of time it took to get past the Totem Wishiwashi battle. Moon loves its cutscenes too much. So far, I haven't needed any X item buffs, although the NPCS clearly wanted me to use Dire Hits against bosses.



RETCON the Magnemite Stats

Level 24 @ Quick Claw

HP: 49
Attack: 22
Defense: 46
Special Attack: 60
Special Defense: 33
Speed: 30

Moves

Thunder Wave
Sonic Boom
Thunder Shock
Mirror Shot

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokemon Moon Solo Magneton Part 3: Return of the Super Potions


Most of the trainer battles were easy, even with odd Ground types like Cubone and Fire types like Magmar. In the Battle Royale tutorial, Gladion, Hau, and RETCON all ganged up on the "Masked Royal" and his Rockruff. Magnemite had the honor of finishing it off with a super effective Mirror Shot.


But RETCON the Magnemite's next hurdle was Totem Salazzle. And what an obstacle it was! Salazzle was a level 22 Poison/Fire type with 117 base Speed, which might as well have been faster than light by Alola standards. Its Totem aura gave it a Special Defense buff too, unlike Wishiwashi and Raticate's Defense auras. Salazzle could summon male Salandits to deal additional Scratch damage or disable non-attacking moves with Taunt. Even Sturdy couldn't save RETCON if it took 2 attacks per round. The fights went so badly, the Game Over counter looked like this:


Death Count: 20


For a while, I considered getting all the Rare Candies I could to evolve Magnemite into Magneton. This was a more plausible strategy than in earlier Pokemon games because the Pokemon Center cafes sometimes gave out Rare Candies as prizes for giving RETCON Poke Beans. (Which I already did to raise its Affection.)


But Magnemite survived the Trial with luck and an obscure debuff: Confide. Confide lowers the enemy's Special Attack by one stage, and is normally the sort of move that makes you question why GameFreak thought it was good enough for a TM. Decreasing Totem Salazzle's Special Attack to -1 allowed RETCON to survive a Flame Burst as long as it wasn't a critical hit. For most of the fight, RETCON chugged Super Potions and waited for either an Affection dodge or a "fully paralyzed" turn from Thunder Wave. Sonic Boom was the preferred attacking move until Salazzle was defeated. Two Thunder Shocks killed off the Salandit minion and ended the Trial.


Chances are the worst parts of the playthrough are over. Electric/Steel's main weaknesses apart from Ground come early in the game, as you can see from the Hala and Totem Salazzle battles. Ground types won't be as scary if Flash Cannon can take them out, and for the late game, RETCON will have Magnet Rise to dodge moves like Earthquake altogether.



RETCON the Magnemite Stats

Level 27 @ Quick Claw

HP: 54
Attack: 25
Defense: 51
Special Attack: 68
Special Defense: 37
Speed: 34


Moves

Thunder Wave
Sonic Boom
Thunder Shock
Confide