Wow thanks im going to try the mememto team on the BT right now.
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Building a Battle Tower Team!
- Thread starter Calisto
- Start date
I keep bleeding, keep keep bleeding in love
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I bolded places where the spacing needs to be fixed around slashes and instances of Pokemon without the accent on the e.
If at all possible, please remove all of the accents, and just make it Pokemon.
Also, please don't overuse exclamation marks next time >.>
GP 1/2
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Introduction
The 100 wins at the Battle Tower is one of the toughest requirements to satisfy in order to get the 5 stars on your trainer card. The frustration that most of us inevitably feel when tackling this facility is something many of us could do without! In the end, some end up using successful teams made by other people in order to get past 100 wins. The aim of this guide will be to familiarise you with some of the common and effective Battle Tower strategies so that you can design your own original team and get over 100 wins with it!
The AI
If you are reading this guide you are probably an avid Pokémon player and will know that your best shot at winning a battle is knowing as much as you can about your opponent and his team. Although the Battle Tower AI has a horde of teams at its disposal, it does have certain 'tendencies' "tendencies" when it is playing! (replace with period) Being aware of these tendencies will make battling much easier. In addition, how the AI plays will have a significant impact on what kind of team you should make and how to design it. So before going into any strategy, let us go through some of those 'tendencies' "tendencies" because it plays quite differently to real people. Here is an overview of the AI's playing style:
Strengths:
- The AI knows your team and will adapt its own teams accordingly to some extent. (period)
- The AI has significantly more 'luck' (remove apostrophes) than the normal game mechanics suggest. (period)
Weaknesses:
- Very predictable(add periods)
- Limited number of Pokémon and movesets for trainers
- Very rarely switches
What is my Strategy?
Now that you are aware of the AI's playing style you are ready to learn about some of the strategies designed to exploit its weaknesses. The two weaknesses they tend to capitalise on are: predictability and no switching. Not being able to switch is a massive handicap as it allows you to cripple the AI's lead and set up your sweepers!
Selecting a team for the Battle Tower is about choosing Pokémon that work well together to execute a certain strategy effectively. There is no single Pokémon that is 'the best' (replace with quotations) for the Battle Tower because it depends on the context it is used in. Bearing that in mind, here are some viable strategies you could go for:
1) All-Out-Offense
If stat-reducing moves and status inflictions are not your cup of tea, this might be what you are looking for. This is a pretty straightforward strategy and has the advantage of disposing of enemies quickly so you can get through more trainers faster. Unfortunately, (comma) even the best of these teams will succumb to a streak of bad luck at some stage and you shouldn't expect to get far beyond 100 wins with this kind of team.
In order to get the most out of your sweepers consider using moves like Destiny Bond when you have a Pokémon advantage. Using Choice items to get that extra Speed, Attack, (comma) or Special Attack may also be crucial. Obviously you want to go for Pokémon with a lot of Speed and Sp. Att./Att Special Attack / Attack.!
Motto: If the enemy does a lot of damage, we'll just have to do more!
Strengths: Speed and power!
Weaknesses: Focus Sash, Focus Band, Quick Claw, Counter, Metal Burst, Mirror Coat & , and general frailty!
Overall: ***
Example:
Gengar @ Focus Sash
Nature: Timid / Modest
Trait Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Att, 252 Sp, 6 HP 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Sludge Bomb / Shadow Ball
Counter
Destiny Bond
HP Fire
This would be a good example for a Pokémon in a BT team focusing solely on offense. With a staggering 130 Base Sp. Att base Special Attack and a high Speed stat Gengar can put a dent in almost anything! The goal is to kill off as many opponents as you can and take an enemy with you using Destiny Bond when you are going to die anyway. Counter is for physical attackers you can't take out with special attacks your attacks and Pokémon that outspeed you.
2) Trickster
The Trick-team is undoubtedly the most popular strategy currently being used by people at the Battle Tower. The idea is to Trick an enemy a Choice item and then proceed to set up a sweeper while they are stuck using one move!
Trick teams generally consist of one Pokémon that can use Trick and two sweepers that cover all the type weaknesses so that setting up is easier. Common moves to set up a sweeper are: Dragon Dance, Swords Dance, Curse, Nasty Plot, (comma) and Acupressure.
Ideally, Trick leads Trick-leads will also have some additionaly moves that can reduce the enemy's offensive potential to set up your sweepers more efficiently. In order to be able to reduce your enemy's offense as much as possible, Trick-leads (remove hyphen) usually have high defensive stats too. Some common ones are:
CresseliaaaaaLatiasaaSpiritombaaaUxie
Cresselia Latias Spiritomb Uxie
Motto: Why play 4v4 when 4v1 4 v. 4 when 4 v. 1 is so much easier!
Strengths: Quite reliable, very effective if executed properly!
Weaknesses: Sticky Hold, Fling, U-Turn U-turn, Choice items, high recoil damage, and low PP moves. High Recoil Damage & Low PP moves!
Overall: *****
Example:
Spiritomb @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Bold
Trait Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP 124 Def, 132 Sp. Def 252 HP / 124 Def / 132 SpD
Trick
Grudge
Protect
Taunt
The strategy is simply to Trick your opponent into only using their first move. One option now is to use Grudge next until Spiritomb dies, forcing your opponent to Struggle whilst you set up a sweeper with Swords Dance or Nasty Plot. Protect can be useful to stall the PP of OHKO moves for instance. Taunt is for in case the chance that the enemy is locked into a status move mike like Thunder Wave or Will-o-Wisp Will-O-Wisp and you don't want to risk a status infliction on the switch.
3) Mementors
This will probably be a new strategy to most as it hasn't really been used much yet. Memento is a move that has phenomenal potential and is not used nearly as much as it could be. Sacrificing a Pokémon that may be dying anyway in return for reducing the enemy's offenses is a great trade-off! A further advantage of Memento is that it can act as a free switch. We have all been in a situation where we really don't want to keep the current Pokémon in but fear that a switch could also be dangerous! (replace with period)
Despite its huge potential, it is a strategy that has drawbacks too. The first one is critical hits, which can hit right through the reduced Attack and ruin your strategy! You also need to take care of abilities ignoring Pokemon (accent on e) with abilities that ignore stat reductions like Hyper Cutter and Clear Body. Some of the ways you could work around these drawbacks is to use the moves: Substitute, Lucky Chant, Skills Swap, Destiny Bond and the abilities Batle Armour and Sturdy.Substitute, Lucky Chant, Skill Swamp and Destiny Bond, as well as the abilities Battle Armour and Sturdy.
If you are considering this kind of team, (comma) some useful Pokémon you could look into are:
aDusknoiraaaLatiosaaMismagiusaSpiritombaaUxie
Dusknoir Latios Mismagius Spiritomb Uxie
Motto: You do damage like lvl 5 pokémanz! Ha ha, he's hitting like a level 5 baby!
Strengths: Needs less type coverage, so more versatility in a designing team! (replace with period)
Weaknesses: Clear Body, Psych Up, Hyper Cutter, OHKO moves, and critical hits. and Critical Hits!
Overall: ****
Example:
Drapion @ Black Sludge
Nature: Adamant
TraitAbility: Battle Armour
EVs: 252 Att, 252 HP 6 Sp. Def 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Acupressure
Substitute
Crunch
Rest
Once you have reduced the enemy's offense to shreds using Memento once or twice, (comma) you send in Drapion. With the wonderful Battle Armour ability, (comma) Critical Hits critical hits will be a thing of the past. Acupressure away while the enemy barely scratches Drapion and finish them off with Crunch!
4) Tormentor
The Tormentor is another strategy that hasn't really been attempted thus far. In case you're unfamiliar with the move, Torment forces your opponent to alternate between attacks! (replace with period) Due to the fact that the AI is fairly predictable, combining this with a move like Protect can make a solid combination. If the enemy's second move doesn't do too much damage, (comma) you can more or less do as you please every second turn!
In order to pull off this strategy effectively you need to use Pokémon with a lot of resistances. If your opponent can simply alternate between a 100 Base Power and 90 Base Power move with both neutral damage you haven't gained much. Good types for this sort of thing would be Dragon- and Steel-type Pokémon. Since this is mostly a defence-oriented defense-oriented strategy use Pokémon that are built to take a hit!
Some of the Pokémon that can learn Torment include:
BastiodonaaDusknoiraaHeatranaaMismagiusaTyranitaraaUmbreon
Bastiodon Dusknoir Heatran Mismagius Tyranitar Umbreon
Motto: Prediction is key to secure a victory!
Strengths: Very reliable and allows you to switch around! (replace with period)
Weaknesses: 4x and super effective moves and heavy hitters! (replace with period)
Overall: ***
Example:
Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Nature: Impish
Trait Ability: Sandstream
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Dragon Dance
Substitute
Protect
Crunch
Although Tyranitar does not have a whole bunch of resistances, its huge base stats make Torment extremely useful for him! to it. After using Torment Tyranitar just switches around between Protect, Substitute, (comma) and Dragon Dance until he Tyranitar has sufficient boosts to attempt a sweep. If you can get your Torment lead to add in a T-Wave Thunder Wave and some Flashes this will be even easier!
5) Sleeper
Another possibility is to try and get put your opponents to sleep. They may not be asleep for very long so you will need to act quick, relying on moves like Swords Dance and Nasty plot to set up fast!
Unfortunately, (comma) the best Sleep-move (remove hyphen) is Spore and only 3 Pokémon can learn it: Breloom, Parasect, (comma) and Smeargle. None of these have particularly good speed or defensive stats. The only reliable alternative is Yawn, which has the drawback that it needs 2 turns to kick in.
Nonetheless, some promising ones you could look into are:
HippowdonaSmeargle aSnorlaxaaaUmbreonaaaUxie
Hippowdon Smeargle Snorlax Umbreon Uxie
Motto: Sweat dreams, suckers!
Strengths: Renders enemy completely harmless for 2-3 turns!
Weaknesses: Lum Berry, Chesto Berry, Early Bird, Insomnia, and the need to act fast. & need to act fast!
Overall: **
Example:
Umbreon @ Leftovers
Trait: Synchronise
Nature: Bold
Nature: Bold
Ability: Synchronise
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def, 6 Sp. Def 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Torment
Protect
Flash
Yawn
Yawn is used because it is reliable in getting your opponent to sleep. Protect has quite a few uses here: HP recovery, Trick+Torment, Yawn stall, OHKO move PP stall, (comma) and scouting for moves. Flash is there in case you want to dick around with enemy the enemy's accuracy. After Yawn kicks in, switch and set up!
Strategies summary
This was an overview of some of the various strategies you could use in the Battle Tower. The more of these you can combine into one team, the more you spread the risk and the more effective your team can be. The latter Umbreon was a good example of this. The Sleeper Umbreon combined both the Sleeper and Tormentor strategies!
Designing an actual team!
Now that we have gone through some of the theory behind designing a team, it is time to design one from scratch! Trick and All-Out-Offense teams have been done ad infinitum so lets, so let's not go for one of those. Other people have done Yawn teams, so here goes the first ever attempt at a Memento chain team!
Strategy: Memento + Memento to cripple enemy offense and set up deadly sweeper. (period)
Potential problems: Clear Body, Critical Hits, Hyper Cutter, Psych Up, & OHKO moves! (replace with period)
Clear Body / Hyper Cutter: This is going to be one of the biggest threats to this team so let us address it first. Skill Swap seems like the best way to go about this, as it lets will let us use Memento afterwards! Since it will get awkward to start switching around when we actually already have a problem we will want to have Skill Swap on our lead Pokémon! (replace with period) The Pokémon we could consider that learn both Memento and Skill Swap are:
DrifblimaaaaGalladeaaGardevoiraMismagiusaaaUxie
Drifblim Gallade Gardevoir Mismagius Uxie
Since we would rather not waste an entire Pokémon on Skill Swapping, getting a Pokémon with good defences defenses could be good here. Alternatively, (comma) a fast Pokémon with Focus Sash could also be able to pull of Skill Swap + Memento. Yet the latter is more vulnerable to Hail/Sandstorm hail / sandstorm, Quick Claw, high speed opponents, and priority moves. A further advantage of a high defence defense Pokémon is that we could also do some pesky weakening moves to our opponent if they have poor offenses! For this reason, lets let's go for the bulkiest on the list: Uxie!
Uxie @ Leftovers
Skills Swap
Memento
Filler
Filler
Further problems? You One scenario is that you have used Memento with your first two Pokémon, (comma) and you face an opponent that can outspeed your final sweeper with pure Speed or Quick Claw. All you need to lose now is a OHKO move or an untimely Critical Hit! that can cause you to lose now are OHKO moves or an untimely critical hit.
Solution: As long as we can ensure we have a Speed advantage over our opponents, Substitute can take care of this problem! Uxie's two filler moves can be Thunder Wave and Knock off Off, that way we take care of opponents with high speed Speed and Quick Claw! Now all we need is a sweeper with good speed Speed and Substitute! (replace with period) We also really need one that can completely ravage opponents once set up, (comma) so lets go for Garchomp! so let's go with Garchomp. What we have so far is:
(The above two paragraphs are still going to need a bunch of prose work. Right now the first paragraph especially sounds super clunky. I'm not even sure what it's trying to get across...)
Uxie @ Leftovers
Skills Swap
Memento
Thunder Wave
Knock Off
Garchomp @ Lum Berry
Swords Dance
Substitute
Outrage
Earthquake
In order to complete the Memento chain we will need one more Pokémon with Memento. There are a couple of Pokémon to choose from and we'd like to get one that covers any weaknesses our current duo may have. So far one really annoying thing is if the enemy is using a move with a high critical hit rate and lands a couple of them on Garchomp! (replace with period) Since we don't want to leave anything to chance in the Battle Tower!) (replace with comma) Lucky Chant would be a good move for our last Pokémon! (replace with period) The Pokémon that can learn both Memento and Lucky Chant are: Gallade, Mismagius, (comma) and Gardevoir. None of these the above have good defences defenses, so we are probably best off using Focus Sash on them to make sure we can use both Memento and Lucky Chant before they die! (replace with period) Since Mismagius has the most speed, he will be the most reliable so lets go for him! Speed, she will probably be the most reliable, so let's go for her!
Mismagius @ Focus Sash
Lucky Chant
Memento
Thief
Taunt
In addition to Lucky Chant and Memento, (comma) Mismagius has two move slots left! (replace with period) Thief can be useful to use on Pokémon that have a Quick Claw but if you didn't have enough time to remove it with Uxie (eg. Metagross). Taunt can help you deal with annoying moves like Taunt or Perish Song which Garchomp doesn't like.
So this is our final Memento Chain Team:
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Uxie @ Leftovers aaaaaaaaMismagius @ Focus Sashaaaaaaaa Garchomp @ Lum Berry
Trait: Levitate aaaaaaaaaaaTrait: Levitate aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaTrait: Sand Veil
Nature: Bold aaaaaaaaaaaaNature: Jolly aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaNature: Jolly
EVs: 252 HP 252 DefaaaaaEVs: 252 Sp 252 Def aaaaaaaaaaaaEVs: 252 Att 252 Sp, 6 Def
- Skill Swap aaaaaaaaaaaaa- Thief aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa- Swords Dance
- Thunder Wave aaaaaaaaa- Taunt aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa- Substitute
- Knock Off aaaaaaaaaaaaa- Lucky Chant aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa- Earthquake
- Memento aaaaaaaaaaaaa- Memento aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa- Outrage
OK, so obviously the a's were used as a spacing mechanism throughout the article, but they'll have to be taken out somehow. Also, be sure to change the EV spreads to HP / Def / SpD format, and Trait should be Ability.
10 Closing Tips:
1) Use Substitute on your sweepers to guard against items and moves like: Focus Sash, Quick Claw, priority moves, Brightpowder, (comma) and such more from ruining your strategy! (replace with period) It is usually more important to have a Substitute up than get your 6th Dragon Dance or 3rd Swords Dance!
2) Choose Pokémon with the highest base stats unless you have a specific purpose in mind.
3) Select types with a lot of resistances to give you room to switch around and cover weaknesses. Good example types are Steel- and Dragon-type Pokémon.
4) If possible, combine as many strategies as possible so that if one fails, you have a back-up plan!
5) Do NOT leave anything to chance! Even if you can kill 99% of all Pokémon that can come next with 5/6 Dragon Dances, get the last Dragon Dance as long as you have a Substitute up and it is safe to do so!
6) Play it safe and make sure you can handle a Critical Hit critical hit at any time! (replace with period) Don't hope that you won't get one at a specific time if you have an alternative because Critical Hits critical hits WILL happen when they are most inconvenient!
7) Try to avoid moves on your Pokémon that do not have 100% accuracy, chances are you would regret it very soon!
8) Choose your natures and EV spreads carefully, taking into account specific threats on the list of Pokémon at the Battle Tower!
9) Make use of this search tool to look for the Pokemon you can find at the Battle Tower (Diamond/Pearl/Platinum/HG/SS only)
10) It can be useful to find out what Pokémon each trainer you face can have. Check out this Pokémon trainer list and all the Pokémon they have!
Have Fun and Good luck!
The 100 wins at the Battle Tower is one of the toughest requirements to satisfy in order to get the 5 stars on your trainer card. The frustration that most of us inevitably feel when tackling this facility is something many of us could do without! In the end, some end up using successful teams made by other people in order to get past 100 wins. The aim of this guide will be to familiarise you with some of the common and effective Battle Tower strategies so that you can design your own original team and get over 100 wins with it!
The AI
If you are reading this guide you are probably an avid Pokémon player and will know that your best shot at winning a battle is knowing as much as you can about your opponent and his team. Although the Battle Tower AI has a horde of teams at its disposal, it does have certain 'tendencies' "tendencies" when it is playing! (replace with period) Being aware of these tendencies will make battling much easier. In addition, how the AI plays will have a significant impact on what kind of team you should make and how to design it. So before going into any strategy, let us go through some of those 'tendencies' "tendencies" because it plays quite differently to real people. Here is an overview of the AI's playing style:
Strengths:
- The AI knows your team and will adapt its own teams accordingly to some extent. (period)
- The AI has significantly more 'luck' (remove apostrophes) than the normal game mechanics suggest. (period)
Weaknesses:
- Very predictable(add periods)
- Limited number of Pokémon and movesets for trainers
- Very rarely switches
What is my Strategy?
Now that you are aware of the AI's playing style you are ready to learn about some of the strategies designed to exploit its weaknesses. The two weaknesses they tend to capitalise on are: predictability and no switching. Not being able to switch is a massive handicap as it allows you to cripple the AI's lead and set up your sweepers!
Selecting a team for the Battle Tower is about choosing Pokémon that work well together to execute a certain strategy effectively. There is no single Pokémon that is 'the best' (replace with quotations) for the Battle Tower because it depends on the context it is used in. Bearing that in mind, here are some viable strategies you could go for:
1) All-Out-Offense
If stat-reducing moves and status inflictions are not your cup of tea, this might be what you are looking for. This is a pretty straightforward strategy and has the advantage of disposing of enemies quickly so you can get through more trainers faster. Unfortunately, (comma) even the best of these teams will succumb to a streak of bad luck at some stage and you shouldn't expect to get far beyond 100 wins with this kind of team.
In order to get the most out of your sweepers consider using moves like Destiny Bond when you have a Pokémon advantage. Using Choice items to get that extra Speed, Attack, (comma) or Special Attack may also be crucial. Obviously you want to go for Pokémon with a lot of Speed and Sp. Att./Att Special Attack / Attack.!
Motto: If the enemy does a lot of damage, we'll just have to do more!
Strengths: Speed and power!
Weaknesses: Focus Sash, Focus Band, Quick Claw, Counter, Metal Burst, Mirror Coat & , and general frailty!
Overall: ***
Example:
Gengar @ Focus Sash
Nature: Timid / Modest
Trait Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Att, 252 Sp, 6 HP 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Sludge Bomb / Shadow Ball
Counter
Destiny Bond
HP Fire
This would be a good example for a Pokémon in a BT team focusing solely on offense. With a staggering 130 Base Sp. Att base Special Attack and a high Speed stat Gengar can put a dent in almost anything! The goal is to kill off as many opponents as you can and take an enemy with you using Destiny Bond when you are going to die anyway. Counter is for physical attackers you can't take out with special attacks your attacks and Pokémon that outspeed you.
2) Trickster
The Trick-team is undoubtedly the most popular strategy currently being used by people at the Battle Tower. The idea is to Trick an enemy a Choice item and then proceed to set up a sweeper while they are stuck using one move!
Trick teams generally consist of one Pokémon that can use Trick and two sweepers that cover all the type weaknesses so that setting up is easier. Common moves to set up a sweeper are: Dragon Dance, Swords Dance, Curse, Nasty Plot, (comma) and Acupressure.
Ideally, Trick leads Trick-leads will also have some additionaly moves that can reduce the enemy's offensive potential to set up your sweepers more efficiently. In order to be able to reduce your enemy's offense as much as possible, Trick-leads (remove hyphen) usually have high defensive stats too. Some common ones are:
CresseliaaaaaLatiasaaSpiritombaaaUxie
Cresselia Latias Spiritomb Uxie
Motto: Why play 4v4 when 4v1 4 v. 4 when 4 v. 1 is so much easier!
Strengths: Quite reliable, very effective if executed properly!
Weaknesses: Sticky Hold, Fling, U-Turn U-turn, Choice items, high recoil damage, and low PP moves. High Recoil Damage & Low PP moves!
Overall: *****
Example:
Spiritomb @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Bold
Trait Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP 124 Def, 132 Sp. Def 252 HP / 124 Def / 132 SpD
Trick
Grudge
Protect
Taunt
The strategy is simply to Trick your opponent into only using their first move. One option now is to use Grudge next until Spiritomb dies, forcing your opponent to Struggle whilst you set up a sweeper with Swords Dance or Nasty Plot. Protect can be useful to stall the PP of OHKO moves for instance. Taunt is for in case the chance that the enemy is locked into a status move mike like Thunder Wave or Will-o-Wisp Will-O-Wisp and you don't want to risk a status infliction on the switch.
3) Mementors
This will probably be a new strategy to most as it hasn't really been used much yet. Memento is a move that has phenomenal potential and is not used nearly as much as it could be. Sacrificing a Pokémon that may be dying anyway in return for reducing the enemy's offenses is a great trade-off! A further advantage of Memento is that it can act as a free switch. We have all been in a situation where we really don't want to keep the current Pokémon in but fear that a switch could also be dangerous! (replace with period)
Despite its huge potential, it is a strategy that has drawbacks too. The first one is critical hits, which can hit right through the reduced Attack and ruin your strategy! You also need to take care of abilities ignoring Pokemon (accent on e) with abilities that ignore stat reductions like Hyper Cutter and Clear Body. Some of the ways you could work around these drawbacks is to use the moves: Substitute, Lucky Chant, Skills Swap, Destiny Bond and the abilities Batle Armour and Sturdy.Substitute, Lucky Chant, Skill Swamp and Destiny Bond, as well as the abilities Battle Armour and Sturdy.
If you are considering this kind of team, (comma) some useful Pokémon you could look into are:
aDusknoiraaaLatiosaaMismagiusaSpiritombaaUxie
Dusknoir Latios Mismagius Spiritomb Uxie
Motto: You do damage like lvl 5 pokémanz! Ha ha, he's hitting like a level 5 baby!
Strengths: Needs less type coverage, so more versatility in a designing team! (replace with period)
Weaknesses: Clear Body, Psych Up, Hyper Cutter, OHKO moves, and critical hits. and Critical Hits!
Overall: ****
Example:
Drapion @ Black Sludge
Nature: Adamant
TraitAbility: Battle Armour
EVs: 252 Att, 252 HP 6 Sp. Def 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Acupressure
Substitute
Crunch
Rest
Once you have reduced the enemy's offense to shreds using Memento once or twice, (comma) you send in Drapion. With the wonderful Battle Armour ability, (comma) Critical Hits critical hits will be a thing of the past. Acupressure away while the enemy barely scratches Drapion and finish them off with Crunch!
4) Tormentor
The Tormentor is another strategy that hasn't really been attempted thus far. In case you're unfamiliar with the move, Torment forces your opponent to alternate between attacks! (replace with period) Due to the fact that the AI is fairly predictable, combining this with a move like Protect can make a solid combination. If the enemy's second move doesn't do too much damage, (comma) you can more or less do as you please every second turn!
In order to pull off this strategy effectively you need to use Pokémon with a lot of resistances. If your opponent can simply alternate between a 100 Base Power and 90 Base Power move with both neutral damage you haven't gained much. Good types for this sort of thing would be Dragon- and Steel-type Pokémon. Since this is mostly a defence-oriented defense-oriented strategy use Pokémon that are built to take a hit!
Some of the Pokémon that can learn Torment include:
BastiodonaaDusknoiraaHeatranaaMismagiusaTyranitaraaUmbreon
Bastiodon Dusknoir Heatran Mismagius Tyranitar Umbreon
Motto: Prediction is key to secure a victory!
Strengths: Very reliable and allows you to switch around! (replace with period)
Weaknesses: 4x and super effective moves and heavy hitters! (replace with period)
Overall: ***
Example:
Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Nature: Impish
Trait Ability: Sandstream
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Dragon Dance
Substitute
Protect
Crunch
Although Tyranitar does not have a whole bunch of resistances, its huge base stats make Torment extremely useful for him! to it. After using Torment Tyranitar just switches around between Protect, Substitute, (comma) and Dragon Dance until he Tyranitar has sufficient boosts to attempt a sweep. If you can get your Torment lead to add in a T-Wave Thunder Wave and some Flashes this will be even easier!
5) Sleeper
Another possibility is to try and get put your opponents to sleep. They may not be asleep for very long so you will need to act quick, relying on moves like Swords Dance and Nasty plot to set up fast!
Unfortunately, (comma) the best Sleep-move (remove hyphen) is Spore and only 3 Pokémon can learn it: Breloom, Parasect, (comma) and Smeargle. None of these have particularly good speed or defensive stats. The only reliable alternative is Yawn, which has the drawback that it needs 2 turns to kick in.
Nonetheless, some promising ones you could look into are:
HippowdonaSmeargle aSnorlaxaaaUmbreonaaaUxie
Hippowdon Smeargle Snorlax Umbreon Uxie
Motto: Sweat dreams, suckers!
Strengths: Renders enemy completely harmless for 2-3 turns!
Weaknesses: Lum Berry, Chesto Berry, Early Bird, Insomnia, and the need to act fast. & need to act fast!
Overall: **
Example:
Umbreon @ Leftovers
Trait: Synchronise
Nature: Bold
Nature: Bold
Ability: Synchronise
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def, 6 Sp. Def 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Torment
Protect
Flash
Yawn
Yawn is used because it is reliable in getting your opponent to sleep. Protect has quite a few uses here: HP recovery, Trick+Torment, Yawn stall, OHKO move PP stall, (comma) and scouting for moves. Flash is there in case you want to dick around with enemy the enemy's accuracy. After Yawn kicks in, switch and set up!
Strategies summary
This was an overview of some of the various strategies you could use in the Battle Tower. The more of these you can combine into one team, the more you spread the risk and the more effective your team can be. The latter Umbreon was a good example of this. The Sleeper Umbreon combined both the Sleeper and Tormentor strategies!
Designing an actual team!
Now that we have gone through some of the theory behind designing a team, it is time to design one from scratch! Trick and All-Out-Offense teams have been done ad infinitum so lets, so let's not go for one of those. Other people have done Yawn teams, so here goes the first ever attempt at a Memento chain team!
Strategy: Memento + Memento to cripple enemy offense and set up deadly sweeper. (period)
Potential problems: Clear Body, Critical Hits, Hyper Cutter, Psych Up, & OHKO moves! (replace with period)
Clear Body / Hyper Cutter: This is going to be one of the biggest threats to this team so let us address it first. Skill Swap seems like the best way to go about this, as it lets will let us use Memento afterwards! Since it will get awkward to start switching around when we actually already have a problem we will want to have Skill Swap on our lead Pokémon! (replace with period) The Pokémon we could consider that learn both Memento and Skill Swap are:
DrifblimaaaaGalladeaaGardevoiraMismagiusaaaUxie
Drifblim Gallade Gardevoir Mismagius Uxie
Since we would rather not waste an entire Pokémon on Skill Swapping, getting a Pokémon with good defences defenses could be good here. Alternatively, (comma) a fast Pokémon with Focus Sash could also be able to pull of Skill Swap + Memento. Yet the latter is more vulnerable to Hail/Sandstorm hail / sandstorm, Quick Claw, high speed opponents, and priority moves. A further advantage of a high defence defense Pokémon is that we could also do some pesky weakening moves to our opponent if they have poor offenses! For this reason, lets let's go for the bulkiest on the list: Uxie!
Uxie @ Leftovers
Skills Swap
Memento
Filler
Filler
Further problems? You One scenario is that you have used Memento with your first two Pokémon, (comma) and you face an opponent that can outspeed your final sweeper with pure Speed or Quick Claw. All you need to lose now is a OHKO move or an untimely Critical Hit! that can cause you to lose now are OHKO moves or an untimely critical hit.
Solution: As long as we can ensure we have a Speed advantage over our opponents, Substitute can take care of this problem! Uxie's two filler moves can be Thunder Wave and Knock off Off, that way we take care of opponents with high speed Speed and Quick Claw! Now all we need is a sweeper with good speed Speed and Substitute! (replace with period) We also really need one that can completely ravage opponents once set up, (comma) so lets go for Garchomp! so let's go with Garchomp. What we have so far is:
(The above two paragraphs are still going to need a bunch of prose work. Right now the first paragraph especially sounds super clunky. I'm not even sure what it's trying to get across...)
Uxie @ Leftovers
Skills Swap
Memento
Thunder Wave
Knock Off
Garchomp @ Lum Berry
Swords Dance
Substitute
Outrage
Earthquake
In order to complete the Memento chain we will need one more Pokémon with Memento. There are a couple of Pokémon to choose from and we'd like to get one that covers any weaknesses our current duo may have. So far one really annoying thing is if the enemy is using a move with a high critical hit rate and lands a couple of them on Garchomp! (replace with period) Since we don't want to leave anything to chance in the Battle Tower!) (replace with comma) Lucky Chant would be a good move for our last Pokémon! (replace with period) The Pokémon that can learn both Memento and Lucky Chant are: Gallade, Mismagius, (comma) and Gardevoir. None of these the above have good defences defenses, so we are probably best off using Focus Sash on them to make sure we can use both Memento and Lucky Chant before they die! (replace with period) Since Mismagius has the most speed, he will be the most reliable so lets go for him! Speed, she will probably be the most reliable, so let's go for her!
Mismagius @ Focus Sash
Lucky Chant
Memento
Thief
Taunt
In addition to Lucky Chant and Memento, (comma) Mismagius has two move slots left! (replace with period) Thief can be useful to use on Pokémon that have a Quick Claw but if you didn't have enough time to remove it with Uxie (eg. Metagross). Taunt can help you deal with annoying moves like Taunt or Perish Song which Garchomp doesn't like.
So this is our final Memento Chain Team:
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Uxie @ Leftovers aaaaaaaaMismagius @ Focus Sashaaaaaaaa Garchomp @ Lum Berry
Trait: Levitate aaaaaaaaaaaTrait: Levitate aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaTrait: Sand Veil
Nature: Bold aaaaaaaaaaaaNature: Jolly aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaNature: Jolly
EVs: 252 HP 252 DefaaaaaEVs: 252 Sp 252 Def aaaaaaaaaaaaEVs: 252 Att 252 Sp, 6 Def
- Skill Swap aaaaaaaaaaaaa- Thief aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa- Swords Dance
- Thunder Wave aaaaaaaaa- Taunt aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa- Substitute
- Knock Off aaaaaaaaaaaaa- Lucky Chant aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa- Earthquake
- Memento aaaaaaaaaaaaa- Memento aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa- Outrage
OK, so obviously the a's were used as a spacing mechanism throughout the article, but they'll have to be taken out somehow. Also, be sure to change the EV spreads to HP / Def / SpD format, and Trait should be Ability.
10 Closing Tips:
1) Use Substitute on your sweepers to guard against items and moves like: Focus Sash, Quick Claw, priority moves, Brightpowder, (comma) and such more from ruining your strategy! (replace with period) It is usually more important to have a Substitute up than get your 6th Dragon Dance or 3rd Swords Dance!
2) Choose Pokémon with the highest base stats unless you have a specific purpose in mind.
3) Select types with a lot of resistances to give you room to switch around and cover weaknesses. Good example types are Steel- and Dragon-type Pokémon.
4) If possible, combine as many strategies as possible so that if one fails, you have a back-up plan!
5) Do NOT leave anything to chance! Even if you can kill 99% of all Pokémon that can come next with 5/6 Dragon Dances, get the last Dragon Dance as long as you have a Substitute up and it is safe to do so!
6) Play it safe and make sure you can handle a Critical Hit critical hit at any time! (replace with period) Don't hope that you won't get one at a specific time if you have an alternative because Critical Hits critical hits WILL happen when they are most inconvenient!
7) Try to avoid moves on your Pokémon that do not have 100% accuracy, chances are you would regret it very soon!
8) Choose your natures and EV spreads carefully, taking into account specific threats on the list of Pokémon at the Battle Tower!
9) Make use of this search tool to look for the Pokemon you can find at the Battle Tower (Diamond/Pearl/Platinum/HG/SS only)
10) It can be useful to find out what Pokémon each trainer you face can have. Check out this Pokémon trainer list and all the Pokémon they have!
Have Fun and Good luck!
I bolded places where the spacing needs to be fixed around slashes and instances of Pokemon without the accent on the e.
If at all possible, please remove all of the accents, and just make it Pokemon.
Also, please don't overuse exclamation marks next time >.>
GP 1/2
I appreciate the effort you made for the GP check Oglemi, all the changes you recommended have been made! I have rewritten some sections which were unclear and/or chunky! Also added in a video of a sexy Spiritomb and Scizor in action (which I thought I had already done last time round)! If any further changes need to be made please send me a pm, I don't check this thread very often! Some of the spacing is inconsisent both within and between paragraphs because it automatically gets messed up every time I edit! Thanks again!
PS: I didn't realise how many exclamation marks I had in the guide but the ones in this post were on purpose ^^
PS: I didn't realise how many exclamation marks I had in the guide but the ones in this post were on purpose ^^