Battle Tree Discussion and Records

[Anna says hi]

So me, SadisticMystic, and Meleeace1478 messed around with Agency earlier today. We discovered some things:
-"Streaks" are just 3 battles long, and you have to switch Pokemon after every "streak".
-Which mon others can rent from you is determined randomly out of the three mons you can rent for yourself.
-Losing will NOT reset you to grade 0, making a leaderboard moot.
-You can only rent from trainers that are online.
-The level of Pokemon you can rent is equal to 50 + your grade, as is the level of the Pokemon you face.
-You get FC from losing.
-You get a lot of FC from winning.
-If you draw a Pokemon with a mega stone before you get the Mega Ring, it will be itemless, and same goes for other people that rent that Pokemon from you.

 

[Meleeace1478]

So me, SadisticMystic, and Meleeace1478 messed around with Agency earlier today. We discovered some things:
-"Streaks" are just 3 battles long, and you have to switch Pokemon after every "streak".
-Which mon others can rent from you is determined randomly out of the three mons you can rent for yourself.
-Losing will NOT reset you to grade 0, making a leaderboard moot.
-You can only rent from trainers that are online.
-The level of Pokemon you can rent is equal to 50 + your grade, as is the level of the Pokemon you face.
-You get FC from losing.
-You get a lot of FC from winning.
-If you draw a Pokemon with a mega stone before you get the Mega Ring, it will be itemless, and same goes for other people that rent that Pokemon from you.

Maybe it was just me but after I lost the next group of 3 were identical mons to the group of 3 where I lost.

 

[NZtechfreak]

Maybe it was just me but after I lost the next group of 3 were identical mons to the group of 3 where I lost.

I think it's always this way, happened to me a several times (against Giovanni I faced him a few times as I just kept getting terrible mons to go against his team composition, which always remained the same).

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

Good to know that grades do not recede, though this apparent stagnation following losses isn't. I'll see what happens for me.

Does the AI ever improve to the standards of the tree, where they'll pay more attention to type effectiveness instead of unloading 4x resists time and again? (not that I mind free wins for the sake of plaza growth, it sure beats the monotony of Inverted Type Matchup and hunting for fortune teller tents.)

 

[NZtechfreak]

Good to know that grades do not recede, though this apparent stagnation following losses isn't. I'll see what happens for me.

Does the AI ever improve to the standards of the tree, where they'll pay more attention to type effectiveness instead of unloading 4x resists time and again? (not that I mind free wins for the sake of plaza growth, it sure beats the monotony of Inverted Type Matchup and hunting for fortune teller tents.)

Not sure, I've got a couple of sets of 3 battles further in and not noticed much difference, I've not put in much more time as currently dexing for shiny charm (gotta get some shiny legendaries and UB) and catching some legendaries.

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

I made it to rank 10 but probably won't continue until I manage to VIP some other board users for their higher grades. It's getting extremely inconvenient with nothing but lv50 pokes fighting with an ever increasing disadvantage, since now it takes two wins to advance a grade. Around grade 8 or 9 I stopped feeling like the AI intentionally threw every match, also.

I haven't read anywhere that people with higher grades can't be recruited, but for all I know they'll force a level cap if that's the case to avoid letting you cheese it too much.

 

[NZtechfreak]

I made it to rank 10 but probably won't continue until I manage to VIP some other board users for their higher grades. It's getting extremely inconvenient with nothing but lv50 pokes fighting with an ever increasing disadvantage, since now it takes two wins to advance a grade. Around grade 8 or 9 I stopped feeling like the AI intentionally threw every match, also.

I haven't read anywhere that people with higher grades can't be recruited, but for all I know they'll force a level cap if that's the case to avoid letting you cheese it too much.

I've stopped for pretty much the same reason, I have once seen a grade 1 mon to recruit, but that's it so far, and level 50 mons aren't really cutting it when I'm facing level 63 mons.

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

Recently added a guy with Grade 21 Terrakion, and it's mercilessly steamrolling this lv60 shit. Sadly that will end soon enough, but I'm hoping I can get some updates from this guy from time to time. I'll PM you with my FC, since you and I could do well helping each other out.

 

[p53oscar]

I want to try a new core for doubles, but i'm quite lost about the set, cause i hadnt seen anywhere, so maybe is a weak core. I think about Tapu Bulu and Alolan Muk. Any further ideas?

 

[Worldie]

I want to try a new core for doubles, but i'm quite lost about the set, cause i hadnt seen anywhere, so maybe is a weak core. I think about Tapu Bulu and Alolan Muk. Any further ideas?

I would summon our Tapu bulu expert turskain to give you some better ideas.

I personally would recommend speed control seeing Tapu Bulu bad speed tier and its typing being vulnerable to a lot of fast threats omnipresent on later stages (aka flying fire and poison)

 

[turskain]

I want to try a new core for doubles, but i'm quite lost about the set, cause i hadnt seen anywhere, so maybe is a weak core. I think about Tapu Bulu and Alolan Muk. Any further ideas?

Benefiting from Grassy Terrain is difficult, even for halving damage from Earthquake since it doesn't reduce damage from Earth Power (Landorus2 @ Scarf). When you've got Bulu on your team, the match-up against foes with a Ground-STAB is generally fine already with Bulu's STAB moves, with some exceptions such as Excadrill34. Even if Earthquake dealt normal damage, there's little to fear when you have Bulu for a Ground resist and good damage against its users already.

Alolan Muk, or anything Ground-weak I've not found to be particularly synergistic with Bulu's terrain as a result. I had trouble getting much anything out of Bulu defensively, and found Scarf Wood Hammer was the tool to build around adding fast offense to complement it.

 

[Worldie]

Theorymon call:

What is the strongest Earthquake that can be shot in tree? I'm trying to see if there's a way to gear Stakataka in order to be able to swap into EQs.

Obviously Garchomp Mega comes to mind
252+ Atk Sand Force Garchomp-Mega Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Stakataka in Sand: 232-276 (138 - 164.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Sand Force Garchomp-Mega Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Stakataka in Sand: 184-220 (109.5 - 130.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
But this is absolutely not realistical to survive even in the very best scenario. Even without sand there's a 25% chance for OHKO

Scarfchomp otherwise never OHKOs even without defense investment
252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Stakataka: 132-160 (78.5 - 95.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
But even with investment it never turns into a 3HKO
252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Stakataka: 108-132 (64.2 - 78.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Lando-4 does not 1HKO with investment but does without, though a minimum investment would be enough to survive
252+ Atk Landorus Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Stakataka: 136-168 (80.9 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Landorus Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Stakataka: 112-136 (66.6 - 80.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Tyranitar Mega never 1HKO
252+ Atk Tyranitar-Mega Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Stakataka: 116-140 (69 - 83.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Are there any other big offenders you can think of?

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

Steelix4 mirrors Lando4 in damage but will be more likely to get Sand Force activated, especially against Relaxed. At which point max investment grants only 43.8% to OHKO.

Excadrill4 on the other hand outpowers them both. Like Lando, can't activate its Sand Force by itself.
168+ Atk Life Orb Excadrill Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Stakataka: 177-218 (105.3 - 129.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
168+ Atk Life Orb Excadrill Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Stakataka: 146-177 (86.9 - 105.3%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
168+ Atk Life Orb Sand Force Excadrill Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Stakataka in Sand: 192-234 (114.2 - 139.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

He and Mega Garchomp are easily the strongest EQ users there are and can be used as the worst case scenario.

 

[Worldie]

So it's essentially impossible to survive Exca-4 and Garchomp-4 EQs but everything else can be survived with investment.

Could work for my plans.

 

[Meleeace1478]

Yeah the AI gets the killer instinct after rank 8 or so. I am level 10 right now if someone wants to trade FC.

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

If I didn't know any better, I'd say legends were programmed to have 4IVs instead of three. This fucker has 4 31s more often than not, maddening considering one of them is usually speed, the most undesireable one.

And then I just manage to get a 0 speed and bloody 18 defense, just a little shy of the mark :/

I was able to get Landorus in maybe 200 SRs? My burden to bear, like I said, I mostly have the patience for this shit

 

[Potatauros]

Yea, the odds are worse than a pre gen six shiny if you want the exact 15 and 0. I ended up wasting an entire day of my life to RNG abuse it instead, I probabaly still saved time in the long run >.<


Can't wait to try him out though, I hope he has some sort of potential in the tree.

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

Oh, the whole 15-0 is honestly merely the optimal outcome. I'm willing to settle, namely so long as the speed IV is 7 or below (which outspeeds all Shuckle under TR) and the Defense is between 10-15.

I've hit that range a number of times, but Synchronize hasn't cooperated. There's also been the problem of getting 31s in four stats, which is annoyingly common. Whenever I open that summary and see HP below 161, I already feel the disappointment :P

And I think he'll have excellent potential in the tree, though with a narrow long-term fanbase. It could not have gotten a better support movepool, and for all of the moaning and groaning that it was just another Rock/Steel with a one-sided stat spread, GF at least designed that thing to play to its strengths. Unlike a lot of fully devoted support pokes its leftover BST was dumped into attack, giving it extremely painful univested STAB. I mentioned earlier that its Gyro Ball is stronger than Ferrothorn's even with no investment.

If its SpA were the same as its Speed, 13, and those leftover 40 points were dumped into HP? Worldie and I would still be losing our minds over it. So retardedly bulky... it's too bad heh. I cannot wait to unleash this behemoth on triples, where I can run two setters on opposite sides and choose my poison.

 

[Worldie]

Currently attempting a literal wall build for the Eruption team (Lefties, Relaxed, 252 def 252 hp, Wide Guard Protect Earthquake Stomping Tantrum).

I've thought of Skill swap over ST, it has a few useful possibilities in this comp (get drougt from Chari to reapply Sun, get Intimidate from Lando, give BB to Entei or Lando as well), and also the potential to simply swap away a Flash Fire or other annoying abilities. Otherwise, also contemplating simply using Role Play instead to fill the 2nd purpose better without replacing the other poke's ability in order to get a useful abi from the enemy (levitate for example) without throwing Beast Boost to a potential sweeper.
But however I am scared that that way with just Iron Head (not running Gyro Ball right now as with only one attacking move, the 5 PP as I don't have PP max would feel... risky) the wall would get... walled by things that resist steel.


Not yet committed to TR. Missing several key items so farming BPs with bruteforce.

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

I traded most of my desireable items over from Moon using a second 3DS and have several dupes, so I don't mind helping you out if you're tired of monotony or impatient to actually use your new team.

 

[Worldie]

I have some reserve of Stakatakas, mostly i'm still drained of caps in USUM so I can't hypertrain all of them.

Eventually.

 

[NZtechfreak]

I traded most of my desireable items over from Moon using a second 3DS and have several dupes, so I don't mind helping you out if you're tired of monotony or impatient to actually use your new team.

Having a second 3ds is so beneficial. Very useful in ultraspace for trading the right sync mon into your party, even apart from general usefulness with item trading.

 

[Anna says hi]

Team Rocket Elite the names of the US/UM tree trainers seem to be identical to SuMo, so you can simply merge the old list with the new trainers (188 appears to be Kukui, 208 is Grunt, 190 is Giovanni, and 186 is Sophocles).

 

[Meleeace1478]

More info on Agency.

AI still uses bad Set 1 and 2 mons even at rank 20.
Leeching off other people's high rank mons is pretty much mandatory after rank 10 or so. Rank 0s are nearly worthless then. You can also find someone way higher rank than you and ride their coattails to victory!
Switcheroo building that lets you switch your mon choice is very nice.
Every day changes the mons you have available, the next set of three battles, and the weather effect that appears after rank 10.

If you need multiple battles to rank up, you can use your mon for multiple runs until you rank up, just do not choose a new pokemon from the new set of three after you win. For example, you need to win twice to get rank 13. First set of battles has Mega Luke. Once you win, just head straight to challenge to use him again. Once you rank up to 13 though you are forced to choose a new one.

 

[Potatauros]

I don't really like how the levels go up to be honest, there's no real reason to do it and it makes getting a good team super annoying.