Thank you, I really enjoyed that game. I'd love to comment, but I shall wait for Tort's response first. That second game, though... I made far too many mistakes. And that Kecleon was extremely annoying!
PS: Are teams independent from accounts/usernames? I ask because I have Pokémon Showdown on my computer, but if I log in with my account on the internet, my teams aren't there. Also, on my computer, before I log in, the teams I created are still there. So...?
But the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. — Paul the Apostle
Winter is inevitable. Spring will return eventually, and AstralHunter with it.
@Tortwag: I had an idea that I thought of yesterday that I'd like your help with. I want to write a parody of a certain song that would be sung during a battle against Hoopa. The certain song? This: (caution to younger listeners: contains one single word that is considered vulgar)
When someone first showed it to me, I thought it would be great to make some kind of Pokémon parody of it for use in the SB. And I'd like your help to write it, since it would of course be sung while Hoopa and Twinkiel (and possibly the rest of the group) are fighting against Hoopa. It's completely irrelevant to the plot, but I have been wanting to insert some kind of musical number at some point in this SB.
@Robusto Y-You want Twinkiel to fight against Hoopa? But... When? My Flaaffy's not ready AT ALL to fight against him! ...Well if he's alone, that is. Oh... wait. I did mention that Cuthroat Pass was one of Hoopa's favorite place. Hoopa is currently bored. And... Twinkiel's about to launch Bet Battles. ...Huh. This... This could actually happen.
Hahah, well, I did parody Singham's theme and put self-translated (as accurate as possible) lyrics in one of my posts, so I do have one useful experience in the song parody genre. Putting that aside, you want me to write a song for Hoopa? I'll write a song for Hoopa. You beat me to the job, I wanted Hoopa to sing You're Only Second Rate in the Return of Jafaar (yes, Aladdin), but Gentlebot Hell was freakin' amazing, so I'm not at all unhappy. And @AstralHunter? Allow me to double-post in order to comment that.
"Is there a limit to how much living I can live with my life? How will I know if I've gone too far? And why did I spend my life savings on sunglasses for a whale? I shall find the answers... to these questions."
I am double-posting for the sake of keeping up my promise to Astral.
@AstralHunter ...I should be practicing my poor drawing skils right now, but it's the least I can do for your comments. That and friendship is magic.
So, what do we have here... *watches the first battle* Wha... How is this guy so weak? I know, I know, I'm totally patronizing by saying this, but wow. I'm surprised he let himself be swipped by your magnificent Morgana like that. Then again, 5 pokemons in his team were weak to her, so he really didn't had much of a choice, lol. Something I don't understand however is why he used Dazzling Gleam when he pulled out his Haunter - the safer move was Shadow Ball, and you had no safe switch to counter that. Something you may want to fix by adding a steel type, by the way. Boshi's Haunter should've destroyed Morgana. Putting that aside, let's go back to the beginning and follow to the end.
-That Bitterfell entry was perfect, especialy considering that the only poison type that Boshi had to counter the toxic spikes was levitating. Absolutely flawless.
-That switch to Morgana was actually pretty bad, mostly because Haunter is usually the fastest, and you would've been in REAL trouble had he pulled off a Sucker Punch. Luckily, you scared the guy, so he did a bad switch, having nothing against a Shadow Ball as well. Too bad for him. One thing, however: switching to Energy Ball after the first Shadow Ball was also a bad move. The first reason is beause another opponent would've predicted that and switched back to Haunter (you know how that ends). The second reason is because the less information you give on your Pokemons movepool, the better. You can sometimes surprise your opponents by having a move they didn't expect, and some of them can predict your entire moveset just with 2 moves - one's not enough. You may think I'm overthinking this, but... Well... That's unfortunately what Pokemon's all about.
-Yeah that Frogadier had no chance. Using Energy Sphere there was definitely the way to go. Morgana's power is amazing. What's her item, since it's not a Life Orb?
-(already commented that Haunter part) You did well switching off Morgana for a higly physically defensive wall like that Brogan, and you totally nailed the metagame: he expected you to switch to the Plant type you had. I won't call him stupid, as that's actually a good reflex, but honestly, even ingame computers in Black and White know that Electivires usually have Ice Punch. He just made a poor decision, is all.
-Using Toxic was actually clever of him, though Power Punch and Thunder Punch could've get rid of Brogan. Too bad. And of course, your Earthquake plus Toxic Spikes effect was spot on. Bravo, man, you're nailing this.
-I'm not exactly sure why you got scared off by Samu- oh, the Toxic and expected Swords Dance. Never mind. Plus, Samurotts usually like to set up, so switching to Gabriella was the right thing to do. You go, Astral! Gabriella finishing off everyone else was spot on. Nice battle there, buddy. On to the next one.
*Watches* ...D: What a massacre... Oh gosh. Complete opposite of what happened before. Let's analyze this and see why you lost. -First of all, allow me to question the effectiveness of Gunk Shot, a physical poison move, when you can use Acid Spray (that decreases by 2 stages the special defense of the target) comboed with Sluge Bomb/Wave to deal with walls like Torkoal. He used Rapid Spin (that's something you need to expect), that was the perfect time to set up an Acid Spray. ...ooooh, snap. You should've used Tosic Spikes again and switch the very second he used that Yawn, because he'd have been obligated to use Rapid Spin again.
-STOOOOOOOOP. Stop stop stop stop. No, no, no, NO. This one is personal. Samurott... ANY shelled Pokemon, for that matter, but Samurott... Is one of my favorite pokemons ever, and your Belismus just lost miserably against a Kecleon. He had SUCH an opportunity, and it was wasted. Darn. To his credit, the Kecleon's strategy was spot on, and I don't blame you for being swept by it, but the fact is, Belismus should've been the one doing the sweep. Allow me to teach you why, and most importantly, how, Astral. Been training Samurott for a while, so I hope that'll help you. Read the following spoiler: it's an introduction to ShellSpada, my very own Samurott.
Spoiler! :
Welcome to this little Tutorial Session, Astral. Or more like, an introduction to the Blade Path, something that doesn't belong to me at all and that's usually quite commonly used by Samurotts these days. I just named it 'cause I found it on my own and THEN learned that it was something common. Lol. Anyway, so as much as I'm concerned, it seems like Beliasmus is a follower of the Spread Path, using Hydro Pump as its main STAB move in order to effectively wipe out his opponents. And as you've seen, the main problem of this path is that should the STAB move fail, your Samurott would find himself in big, big, BIG trouble, especially against Set up Pokemons like that Kecleon. If you still decide to stay loyal to this path, young Samurott Tamer, then you must add Superpower to your moveset: for your mighty nemesis the Ferrothorn would use any trick up its nasty sleeve to tear your noble friend to shreds. Now, allow me to introduce to you to the Blade Path: Samurott users of Swords Dance, Aqua Jet and Waterfall, with Mega Horn as a piercing backup. Now, why is this such a big deal? After all, the Spread Path, with Ice Beam/Blizzard, and eventually moves such as Superpower or Grass Knot would provide useful coverage for any Samurott, right? Well yes, that's true. Unless you decided to rely on the sheer power boost offered by Sword Dance, as mentioned above. With it, All of your Physical attacks would get an immense boost, and moves such as Waterfall (that has 100% accuracy by the way) would become as powerful - if not more - as moves such as Hydro Pump, would hit with more precision, and would become EVEN STRONGER with a Torrent effect activated. Furthermore, an Aqua Jet would allow you to quickly dispose of Sucker Punch users, faster pokemons and Setups, and Mega Horn provides you with the coverage you need against dreaded Plant types. With a good Sword Dance setup, you can even 2HKO Samurott's most hated Nemesis, the deadly Ferrothorn. Follow the Blade Path, young Samurott Tamer. It shall lead you and your Belismus to Might and Victory.
Done. Carrying on.
-I assume you were distracted or stressed or something, because otherwise, I doubt you would've switched to Morgana - with Shadow Ball as its main STAB - in front of a Normal Type who just KOed a Samurott with Shadow Sneak. You know, Shadow Sneak. Morgana's weakness. Used by a Kecleon who JUST empowered his physical attack and holds a Life Orb. Yeah.
-From this moment you were pretty much screwed, so there's nothing else to add. Had Beliasmus been a follower of the Blade Path, he would've been able to sweep the entire team. Beause Seth has nothing to truly counter it. Though to be fair, Astral, you were unlucky with a double Hydro Pump miss, it's not really your fault. That and you could've been able to do some good damage after Hydro Pumping that Kecleon. It's a shame, really.
Oh well! I'm still glad to see that you're not half-bad. Not bad at all, even. Sure, you've got a lot to learn, but frankly, so do I, so we just need to advance at our own pace. Get some EXP from those victories, learn from your defeats, and whenever you feel ready to cross blades, bring your teams and I'll battle them
"Is there a limit to how much living I can live with my life? How will I know if I've gone too far? And why did I spend my life savings on sunglasses for a whale? I shall find the answers... to these questions."
Thank you for your commentary, @Tortwag. It will prove to be invaluable advice. Anyway, here is my response:
♦ I am delighted. Yes, those Toxic Spikes were indeed useful. However, I am also glad that using Bitterfell as a starting Pokémon was a good idea. ♦ Now that I think about it, switching to Morgana was a mistake, but it is one I shan't repeat in future. And Sucker Punch is definitely a concern. Fortunately, he didn't predict that I would use Energy Ball. But honestly, I don't know why he switched to Sandslash. Sandslash is obviously his Rapid Spinner, but Mismagius is a Ghost type, so it wouldn't have worked anyway. But yes, that move reveal is noted. ♦ Here I used the move anyway, but that should have been the first time, yes, seeing as a Shadow Ball would also have KOed the Sandslash. Morgana's item is a Colbur Berry - she has it precisely for moves like Sucker Punch. ♦ Bringing back the Haunter was a good idea, but I think that user is still new, since using Dazzling Gleam against Morgana was a horrific mistake. ♦ I understand why Elecivire knows Ice Punch, since it super effectively hits both Ground, its sole weakness, and Grass, but why is Grass the natural choice? I'm afraid you may give me too much credit, since I switched to Brogan because he had Earthquake... (Although, I am aware that he is a wall/tank.) And yes, I was very glad I had used Toxic Spikes earlier. ♦ Ah, once again, you give me too much credit. I wasn't even aware that Samurott would use Swords Dance - I simply swapped to Gabriella because Grass beats Water and she has Petal Dance.
And now, for the massacre, as you accurately described it: ♦ The moment Torkoal appeared, I should have realised he was a Rapid Spinner and swapped to Belismus. Aqua Jet would easily have taken her out, and even if he switched to Exeggutor, I have another move that would have taken care of it too. Instead, I used Toxic Spikes - twice. That was shameful. Also, I selected Bitterfell's EVs because I initially wanted him to be an Offensive Spiker, but then I changed him to a Defensive Spiker and forgot to change them too. Worse still, Bitterfell knows a move that could have damaged Torkoal super effectively, yet I continued using Gunk Shot. <_< Do you suggest that he learn Acid Spray and Sludge Bomb? ♦ I did not do Belismus justice, that much is certain. What frustrated me most was that his Hydro Pump missed twice. Ugh. X_X But ooh, a training session from a friend who also happens to be a superior Trainer. O.o
Spoiler! :
I viewed Smogon's move recommendations, and I think your Blade Path is the Swords Dance one they suggested.
Yes, I have come to realise why that is a problem. Add Superpower? Not a problem - I'll see what I should remove. However, the other moves I have are indeed Aqua Jet, Ice Shard and Grass Knot. However, when you describe it like that, I can see why the Blade Path is so powerful - and why all the Samurott's I have encountered are so fond of it. And since Belismus has Torrent as his Ability, Waterfall does seem like the way to go.
Very well, I shall take your advice to heart. I just have one question: If an Electric shows up, what do I do? Switch to Brogan again?
Thank you for the lesson, wise Shell Master!
♦ Honestly, I sent in Morgana because Kecleon's type had changed to Ghost, so I thought Shadow Ball would be a good idea. However, I had not taken into account that Shadow Sneak usually goes first. *facepalm* ♦ Yeah, watching that battle is painful. I hope I don''t suffer a slaughtering like that anytime soon, if ever again.
I look forward to battling you in future. Of course, I still have a long way to go until then.
But the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. — Paul the Apostle
Winter is inevitable. Spring will return eventually, and AstralHunter with it.
@AstralHunter You're welcome! 'Twas the least I could do, as I said.
-Something I forgot to tell you: depending on your opponent, you might want to switch Toxic Spikes to Spikes. Because many poison types will destroy that strategy. Happened to me several times. -Maybe he had Shadow Claw and planned to use it, which would've frankly would've been rubbish, but yeah, he was obvliously a newbie to PvP. -Perfect. Though if you want her to rely on her sheer power, you could switch toa Life Orb. But that Colbur berry is perfect nonetheless. -Grass is the natural choice because that Electivire would've destroyed Morgana witha Thunder Punch, so most newbies tend to switch to a plant type, because resistance + revenge STAB gets rid of the threat. ...Ah. It's still a good reflex you had, so it's fine. -...Ah. Welp, that is bad, but at least now you know this. Most Samurotts come in against walls in order to set up a Swords Dance, because Blade Path can become OP really quickly. That and... Dude, one of the natural attacks of Samurott is MEGA HORN. It's specifically to deal against Plant types. Remember that to avoid surprises.
Noooooooow, the massacre.
-Remember that all turtle shaped pokemons can potentially be rapid spinners. It's really important that you keep that in mind. -I totally suggest that. It's more effective than anything else, plus, it's STAB and is assured to drop special defense by 2 stages. - Unfortunately, Astral, that's to be expected when you have Hydro Pumped equipped. Shellspada lost several times ot Alder's Volcarona because of that. *feels important* Hope that'll help
Spoiler! :
Yes, that's what I realized when I viewed it as well. I had started using that built much before checking that, though, so I kept the name for funzies.
Ice Beam should've replaced Ice Shard, because it's not going to kill anything, unfortunately - no STAB, and 40 damage is not enough. GRass Knot was defiintely a good choice, though. Yup. The strengths of the Blade Path are definitely not to be ignored, especially when used with the right timing. That's why most Samurotts have it.
Well, Samurott can outspeed quite a few electric types, including Electrivire, so if you have already set up a Swords Dance, attempt a Waterfall against slower electric types only. If you have torrent activated + one Swords Dance AT LEAST, you can use an Aqua Jet. But if you really find yourself against a faster electric type, then yes, either switch to Brogan or Gabriella, your main safe switch agaisnt Electric types.
You are most welcome, Young Samurott Tamer! Good luck in your journey to Might and Victory.
-Yes, but Shadow Sneak, man. He had the priority, AND the Power-Punch stat boost, as you've now noticed.
-...Actually, don't hope that. Do not fight with such a mindset in any circumstances. This is really important.
The reason for that is because there are always strategies that you cannot necessarily predict, opportunities that YOU WILL miss, and of course, the dreaded, absolutely hated luck factor, that's both your best friend and your worse nightmare. And consering that you'll have to keep on training to get better, you must get used to the idea that someone, somewhere, has the ability to utterly destroy your best team, and that there's nothing you can do about it. ...Until you actually lose, study what happened, then modify your team accordingly, only to laugh at your previous defeat once you win. THAT is what you should hope for. That one day, you'd have study so much about your defeats that you'll be doing the sweeps without stopping. I may be dramatizing again, but trust me, it helps psychologically.
Especially when you face situations such as these: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-252941484 I swore that this massacre would never happen again - though I must say, I was actually laughing at how much of a ridiculous beating I was taking after winning 10 victories in a row XD. But now that my SethMinion has Extreme Speed (as well as a few other changes to my other 'Mons), I know it won't. I've also adopted that Croagunk strategy, of course. With my own twist... *chuckle* And once I'm ready, I'll track down Ladian and fight Crokaine once again. But this time, I'll DESTROY IT.
"Is there a limit to how much living I can live with my life? How will I know if I've gone too far? And why did I spend my life savings on sunglasses for a whale? I shall find the answers... to these questions."
EDIT: I posted this after I realised you had posted, Tort.
EDIT 2: The third link is broken... :/
But the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. — Paul the Apostle
Winter is inevitable. Spring will return eventually, and AstralHunter with it.
This Pokémon Showdown has piqued my interest. Perhaps I shall look into it...
@Tortwag: The Hoopa battle doesn't have to happen anytime soon. The musical number could be used at any point. And an Aladdin song vs Gentlebot hell... tough choice.
I might have submitted my post by now if YWS hadn't been down yesterday and if my computer hadn't been giving me problems, but I shall definitely try to submit it soon.
But the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. — Paul the Apostle
Winter is inevitable. Spring will return eventually, and AstralHunter with it.
I couldn't access it from approximately 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM, so it was down for most of my day. (← I should have added that.) You live in America, so it was probably back online at about 1:00 PM at the latest.
But the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. — Paul the Apostle
Winter is inevitable. Spring will return eventually, and AstralHunter with it.
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