The In-Game Team Advice Thread

[CynthiaLover]

Forgive the double post but now it's my turn to ask about something. I'm doing an Ultra Sun run (it was originally an Egglocke but I gave up after about 23 eggs out of pure exhaustion, thus transformed it into a regular run with extra perks) and I'm currently raising a Pikachu so I can have an Alolan Raichu. Normally I'd wait for certain moves like Thunderbolt but I cheated a bit and taught her some TMs from another version to get a jump-start on her moves. As a result, she knows Thunderbolt, Volt Switch, Thunder Wave, and Grass Knot. She's also Level 22 and we're around Paniola Town (did I get that spelling right?), just past the Hau battle that takes place there. I also know I can get a Thunder Stone from the Nursery after hatching the Eevee egg so I won't have to wait long for the stone. So, my question is this: should I hold off on evolving Pikachu until a certain point or should I use the Thunder Stone I'll get in the Nursery to evolve her right away? Thanks in advance.

 

[Neyo]

Yes, you spelled Paniola Town right.
I would recommend that you evolve the Pikachu after Totem Lurantis, so it isn’t as vulnerable to any bug moves. Also, any Marowak and the Water Trial will be less threatening to it if Pikachu isn’t a Psychic.
Happy gaming!

 

[MaxWhite3790]

What do you guys think about my team for FireRed?

- Bulbasaur as starter.
- Raichu because it's cute.
- Arcanine because it's cute.
- Vaporeon for HM Surf Slave/because it's cute.
- Nidoqueen trading a Male Nidoran with a girl on Underground Path (Kanto Routes 5-6)
- Dragonite for HM Fly Slave.

Movesets suggestions would be awesome! :3

PS: Thanks for your time!

PS 2: When I said that I use certain Pokémon as a HM Slave or because it's cute it's not intended to make him useful only by that.

PS 3: Sorry for bad english btw ;-;

 

[CynthiaLover]

Got a few quick questions regarding a HeartGold run (I'm trying to give it one last chance, though the amount of grinding I've already done is getting to me).

First off, what is a good selection of moves for an in-game Forretress? At the moment he has Headbutt, Rock Tomb, Bug Bite, and Protect, as we as being Level 22.

Secondly, which would be a better flyer: Crobat or Honchkrow? I already have Crobat atm, and I'll hunt for a Murkrow when I get access to the Safari Zone, along with already having access to a Dusk Stone due to a self trade with another Gen 4 game. And what would be a good set of moves for whichever flyer I end up with?

And finally, should I go with Nidoking or Rhyperior as my Ground-type? And, like before, what moves would be good for whichever one I ultimately get?

Oh, also, I'm currently at Goldenrod City with my current team of Quilava, Crobat, Pineco, and Alakazam (and Furret as HM slave/filler for now). Thanks in advance.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Okay, forgive the double post but I've since abandoned my HeartGold run (I just can't feel any fun in that game, as it's such a chore, it really doesn't deserve its "sacred cow" status if you ask me) and have since restarted a Sword run (I wasn't satisfied with it, and it's not like I was far, anyway). Moving on, I need some advice. I managed to catch a female Dreepy in a Max Raid and I want both an idea for moves and nickname. She has a Hasty nature and Infiltrator as her ability. I know that because of how Dragapult's stats are it can swing either physical or special, depending on its needs. And since this will be my first time raising a Dragapult outside of dex data (I'm not fond of the species, especially since Ghost is my least liked type, along with its absurd level it evolves at, but I decided to give it a chance), I don't know if I should go physical, special, or mixed. Thanks in advance.

 

[Neyo]

I would go with mixed. In most playthroughs, a mixed set is generally better due to a wider move range and on the off-chance there is a wall that comes up in the play through, and Dragapult is pretty powerful anyways, so it doesn’t necessarily matter either way.

 

[Enzo]

Okay, forgive the double post but I've since abandoned my HeartGold run (I just can't feel any fun in that game, as it's such a chore, it really doesn't deserve its "sacred cow" status if you ask me) and have since restarted a Sword run (I wasn't satisfied with it, and it's not like I was far, anyway). Moving on, I need some advice. I managed to catch a female Dreepy in a Max Raid and I want both an idea for moves and nickname. She has a Hasty nature and Infiltrator as her ability. I know that because of how Dragapult's stats are it can swing either physical or special, depending on its needs. And since this will be my first time raising a Dragapult outside of dex data (I'm not fond of the species, especially since Ghost is my least liked type, along with its absurd level it evolves at, but I decided to give it a chance), I don't know if I should go physical, special, or mixed. Thanks in advance.

I would recomend for you to pick a side depending on the other members of you team. Do you have too many Physical attackers? Go Special. Too many Special? Physical. Or you can just go mixed if you want to.

Physical:
-Dragon Darts (Dragon stab)
-Phantom Force (Ghost stab)
-U-Turn (coverage against Dark types and it's excelent as a fast pivot, getting out of tight situations very easily while dealing damage)
-Steel Wing (coverage against Fairy and Ice) OR Dragon Dance (set up, but this mon is a bit too frail for you to have a lot of opportunities imo)

Special:
-Dragon Pulse (Dragon Stab. You can also have Draco Meteor but it's not that reliable in the main story)
-Shadow Ball (Ghost Stab)
-Thunderbolt (coverage. Electric is always a versatile type and always a good extra move. Especially since you will go against Nessa in the endgame.
-Flamethrower/Scald/Tri Attack (extra coverage)

Mixed:
-Dragon Darts
-Phantom Force
-Thunderbolt
-Any other special move. This mon is REALLY rellieable.

No matter what you chose, this mon wouldn't really let you down. It's slow to evolve but it's SO worth it. It's fast, excelent attacking typing, and hit's like a truck.

 

[CynthiaLover]

I would recomend for you to pick a side depending on the other members of you team. Do you have too many Physical attackers? Go Special. Too many Special? Physical. Or you can just go mixed if you want to.

Physical:
-Dragon Darts (Dragon stab)
-Phantom Force (Ghost stab)
-U-Turn (coverage against Dark types and it's excelent as a fast pivot, getting out of tight situations very easily while dealing damage)
-Steel Wing (coverage against Fairy and Ice) OR Dragon Dance (set up, but this mon is a bit too frail for you to have a lot of opportunities imo)

Special:
-Dragon Pulse (Dragon Stab. You can also have Draco Meteor but it's not that reliable in the main story)
-Shadow Ball (Ghost Stab)
-Thunderbolt (coverage. Electric is always a versatile type and always a good extra move. Especially since you will go against Nessa in the endgame.
-Flamethrower/Scald/Tri Attack (extra coverage)

Mixed:
-Dragon Darts
-Phantom Force
-Thunderbolt
-Any other special move. This mon is REALLY rellieable.

No matter what you chose, this mon wouldn't really let you down. It's slow to evolve but it's SO worth it. It's fast, excelent attacking typing, and hit's like a truck.

Thanks for the advice. It was very helpful to me. I've decided to go Special as, judging how the team is turning out, I'll need another Special hitter, since Accelgor is the only other Special Attacker atm (though the 6th slot is up for grabs, so that might change things a bit, depending on what I decide to fill that slot). Thanks again for your help.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Forgive the double post, but I have a new question for my current Sword run. I'm still looking for a 6th party member for my team. Currently, I have Cinderace, Corvisquire, Tsreena, Accelgor, Dreepy, and Lucario. Lucario (which evolved from a Riolu from the current Max Raid event) was mostly filling in until I got to a certain point, as otherwise I'm piling on the Fire weaknesses. I beat Nessa but I'm now lurking around Isle of Armor so I can get Cinderace's G-Max form, though I've only just started. I've been debating what I want to replace Lucario with and I've narrowed it down to four possible candidates: Dracovish, Arctozolt, G-Slowbro, or G-Slowking.

I can trade over the necessary items for G-Slowpoke, so that's not an issue, but I'm not sure which one to go with. The latter three I haven't used even once while I've used Dracovish sporadically. While I'm tempted to use Arctozolt because of it being a mixed hitter, I realize that'll be tacking on an extra Fire weakness to the team, and I have (or will have) three Mons that are weak to Fire ( soon-to-be Corviknight, Tsreena, and Accelgor), so I'm leery of that. Especially since Leon is the "final boss" and uses a Charizard as his ace. As a result I'm leaning more toward Dracovish, and the G-Slow Twins. My question is this: which one of those four Mons should I choose for this run? Or should I use a different Mon? And either way, what moves would be good on them? Thanks in advance.

 

[Enzo]

Forgive the double post, but I have a new question for my current Sword run. I'm still looking for a 6th party member for my team. Currently, I have Cinderace, Corvisquire, Tsreena, Accelgor, Dreepy, and Lucario. Lucario (which evolved from a Riolu from the current Max Raid event) was mostly filling in until I got to a certain point, as otherwise I'm piling on the Fire weaknesses. I beat Nessa but I'm now lurking around Isle of Armor so I can get Cinderace's G-Max form, though I've only just started. I've been debating what I want to replace Lucario with and I've narrowed it down to four possible candidates: Dracovish, Arctozolt, G-Slowbro, or G-Slowking.

I can trade over the necessary items for G-Slowpoke, so that's not an issue, but I'm not sure which one to go with. The latter three I haven't used even once while I've used Dracovish sporadically. While I'm tempted to use Arctozolt because of it being a mixed hitter, I realize that'll be tacking on an extra Fire weakness to the team, and I have (or will have) three Mons that are weak to Fire ( soon-to-be Corviknight, Tsreena, and Accelgor), so I'm leery of that. Especially since Leon is the "final boss" and uses a Charizard as his ace. As a result I'm leaning more toward Dracovish, and the G-Slow Twins. My question is this: which one of those four Mons should I choose for this run? Or should I use a different Mon? And either way, what moves would be good on them? Thanks in advance.

Okay, so here's the deal: Dracovish is pretty good, but you will have another thing weak against Fairy, and keep in mind you will need to take on both Opal AND Bede in the endgame. And Raihan twice. Dracovish is pretty good against him, but he can hit you back with super-effective Dragon moves. It's only extra weakness to be completely honest. Besides it being another physical attacker, which doesn't seems that wise with this team composition. It CAN work as a sepecial one, but it's SO much better as a physical variant.

The Slow Twins are excelent. Slow (duh), but can tank hits and dish out a lot of damage. Good attacking types and a super WIDE movepool. Including Water moves for your Fire weakness. They are both really similar, but I do think G-Slowking is better. It has slightly more power (110 Sp. Att instead of 100 Sp. Att of it's brother), and has better Sp. Def (110 in comparision to 80 it's counterpart has), since while you do have a good pyshical tank in Corviknight, you don't seem to be that well in the Special side of things.

G-Slowking:
- Psychic (Psychic STAB)
- Sludge Bomb (Poison STAB)
- Scald/Surf (Water coverage for the Fire types, and the Ground weakness)
- Anything extra: Calm Mind or Nasty plot as a setup to steamroll, Toxic to wear down thougher Pokémon, or some other coverage move like Shadow Ball, Tri Attack or Power Gem (the last one is NASTY against Charizard)

If you want another option, Gastrodon is available as a Shellos in Galar Mine No. 2, just before reaching Kabu. You can find it ranging from level 20-24. It's actually really good against the rest of the game too. Especially since it's biggest concern is Grass, and Milo was already taken down by that point. It's also slow and it's Sp. Att. and Sp. Def are slightly lower than the Slow Brothers, but it shoudn't be too much of a hassle and it does it's job nonetheless. Besides having a Ground move is always good.

Gastrodon:
- Scald/Surf (Water STAB)
- Earth Power (Ground STAB)
- Sludge Bomb (coverage againt Grass and againt Bede and Opal)
- Ice Beam (coverage against Grass again but also against Raihan)

 

[CynthiaLover]

Okay, so here's the deal: Dracovish is pretty good, but you will have another thing weak against Fairy, and keep in mind you will need to take on both Opal AND Bede in the endgame. And Raihan twice. Dracovish is pretty good against him, but he can hit you back with super-effective Dragon moves. It's only extra weakness to be completely honest. Besides it being another physical attacker, which doesn't seems that wise with this team composition. It CAN work as a sepecial one, but it's SO much better as a physical variant.

The Slow Twins are excelent. Slow (duh), but can tank hits and dish out a lot of damage. Good attacking types and a super WIDE movepool. Including Water moves for your Fire weakness. They are both really similar, but I do think G-Slowking is better. It has slightly more power (110 Sp. Att instead of 100 Sp. Att of it's brother), and has better Sp. Def (110 in comparision to 80 it's counterpart has), since while you do have a good pyshical tank in Corviknight, you don't seem to be that well in the Special side of things.

G-Slowking:
- Psychic (Psychic STAB)
- Sludge Bomb (Poison STAB)
- Scald/Surf (Water coverage for the Fire types, and the Ground weakness)
- Anything extra: Calm Mind or Nasty plot as a setup to steamroll, Toxic to wear down thougher Pokémon, or some other coverage move like Shadow Ball, Tri Attack or Power Gem (the last one is NASTY against Charizard)

If you want another option, Gastrodon is available as a Shellos in Galar Mine No. 2, just before reaching Kabu. You can find it ranging from level 20-24. It's actually really good against the rest of the game too. Especially since it's biggest concern is Grass, and Milo was already taken down by that point. It's also slow and it's Sp. Att. and Sp. Def are slightly lower than the Slow Brothers, but it shoudn't be too much of a hassle and it does it's job nonetheless. Besides having a Ground move is always good.

Gastrodon:
- Scald/Surf (Water STAB)
- Earth Power (Ground STAB)
- Sludge Bomb (coverage againt Grass and againt Bede and Opal)
- Ice Beam (coverage against Grass again but also against Raihan)

Thanks again, I really appreciate it. I'll go with G-Slowking, since it seems like it'll have the best time dealing damage and soaking up hits with its bulk. Plus, I've never used a Slowking before, period, as I always found the Slow Twins odd (I didn't like Psychic types back then), so I might as well give its regional form a spin. That'll balance out the Physical/Special Mons 50/50. And, given the fact I'll be dealing with Klara very shortly it would help absorb her Toxic Spikes. Thanks again for all your help.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Forgive the double post, but it's been a while since last time, so I assume it's safe to do so. Anyway, as I was not very satisfied with one of my Sword playthroughs I decided to restart it and do a new one. Now, I'm looking for a Fighting-type, as not only are they useful, but by the endgame characters like Hop tend to have a fair few Mons with Fighting weaknesses (Snorlax, Dubwool, and Zamazenta, for example). I'm debating between Scrafty and Poliwrath. The abilities I've decided on in those two are Intimidate and Water Absorb, respectively, as I'm going to breed them. Now, which one would be better? Scrafty has better defenses and some good moves but a 4x weakness to Fairy, which has at least two major battles with a Fairy user, while Poliwrath is a bit more well-rounded and can do double-duty as a Water Mon but has an okay movepool. Which one would be better? And what kind of moves would be good for the "winner"? Thanks in advance.

 

[WyndonCalling]

Hmm. Defensively you'd struggle to get a sheet of paper between them given both have great typings for the job, and though Scrafty does indeed have a wider movepool it's still relatively weak.

If I was playing some kind of restrictive playthrough, such as a Nuzlocke, I'd be inclined to get Intimidate for the switching shenanigans you can get up to in order to debuff a scary opponent into the ground. However, if Dynamax is on the cards, a Swift Swim Poliwrath can do a very scary job of it - Max Geyser into two Max Knuckles results in a fast and powerful nightmare. Such a set would have Close Combat, Liquidation, likely Ice Punch and one other (largely irrelevant) move.

 

[Enzo]

Forgive the double post, but it's been a while since last time, so I assume it's safe to do so. Anyway, as I was not very satisfied with one of my Sword playthroughs I decided to restart it and do a new one. Now, I'm looking for a Fighting-type, as not only are they useful, but by the endgame characters like Hop tend to have a fair few Mons with Fighting weaknesses (Snorlax, Dubwool, and Zamazenta, for example). I'm debating between Scrafty and Poliwrath. The abilities I've decided on in those two are Intimidate and Water Absorb, respectively, as I'm going to breed them. Now, which one would be better? Scrafty has better defenses and some good moves but a 4x weakness to Fairy, which has at least two major battles with a Fairy user, while Poliwrath is a bit more well-rounded and can do double-duty as a Water Mon but has an okay movepool. Which one would be better? And what kind of moves would be good for the "winner"? Thanks in advance.

Okay, so I think it would also depend on your team. Scrafty is really good with Intimidate, but Moxie is also another good one for yout consideration. And Swift Swim is also excelent on Poliwrath, but it forces you have Rain Dance on any of your mons.

Scrafty: Better defenses, and Intimidate makes it even bulkier in the physical side. Moxie is another option to boost your Attack passively. Solid typing, only truly needing to watch out for the fairies. The thing tho, is that since you are playing Sword, it loses one of it's strenghts, which would be against Allister, and ends up gaining an weakness, in this case, against Bea's fighting types, which you have to fight twice. But honestly, if you have an answer to both Fighting and Fairy (Salazzle is excelent in this game), you should be fine, specially since Scrafty's weakness can be better covered:

-Drain Punch (Fighting STAB, recovery)
-Crunch/Throat Chop (Dark STAB)
-Ice Punch (Flying and Dragon coverage)
-Poison Jab (Fairies and Grass)

Poliwrath: Excelent attacking type, and this combo makes a DENT in this game. You may have a somewhat rough start with Milo and Nessa, but from Kabu and beyond, you win against Kabu, Gordie, Piers (watch out for Malamar), Raihan, Hop, and Marnie, goes even with Bea and only truly loses againt Opal and Bede. But, Water and Fighting is a surprisingly frail combo. It covers a lot even for neutrality, but you have 5 weakness (opposing to Scrafty's 3 weakness), and while Poliwrath does has acess to moves to cover them (High Horsepower, Throat Chop, Ice Punch, Poison Jab), you can't cover for everything tho. Fortunately, you don't have to fight against Psychic, or Flying, or Electric, or Bug a lot in this game, so you should be safe with the following:

-Liquidation (Water STAB)
-Drain Punch (recovery) OR Close Combat (More raw power, less pp, makes you vulnerable)
-Ice Punch (Grass, Flying, and Dragon)
-Poison Jab (Grass again and Fairy)

In all honesty tho, if you have other Pokemon that cover those weakness and an well-rounded team, you shouldn't find too much issue with neither.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Okay, so I think it would also depend on your team. Scrafty is really good with Intimidate, but Moxie is also another good one for yout consideration. And Swift Swim is also excelent on Poliwrath, but it forces you have Rain Dance on any of your mons.

Scrafty: Better defenses, and Intimidate makes it even bulkier in the physical side. Moxie is another option to boost your Attack passively. Solid typing, only truly needing to watch out for the fairies. The thing tho, is that since you are playing Sword, it loses one of it's strenghts, which would be against Allister, and ends up gaining an weakness, in this case, against Bea's fighting types, which you have to fight twice. But honestly, if you have an answer to both Fighting and Fairy (Salazzle is excelent in this game), you should be fine, specially since Scrafty's weakness can be better covered:

-Drain Punch (Fighting STAB, recovery)
-Crunch/Throat Chop (Dark STAB)
-Ice Punch (Flying and Dragon coverage)
-Poison Jab (Fairies and Grass)

Poliwrath: Excelent attacking type, and this combo makes a DENT in this game. You may have a somewhat rough start with Milo and Nessa, but from Kabu and beyond, you win against Kabu, Gordie, Piers (watch out for Malamar), Raihan, Hop, and Marnie, goes even with Bea and only truly loses againt Opal and Bede. But, Water and Fighting is a surprisingly frail combo. It covers a lot even for neutrality, but you have 5 weakness (opposing to Scrafty's 3 weakness), and while Poliwrath does has acess to moves to cover them (High Horsepower, Throat Chop, Ice Punch, Poison Jab), you can't cover for everything tho. Fortunately, you don't have to fight against Psychic, or Flying, or Electric, or Bug a lot in this game, so you should be safe with the following:

-Liquidation (Water STAB)
-Drain Punch (recovery) OR Close Combat (More raw power, less pp, makes you vulnerable)
-Ice Punch (Grass, Flying, and Dragon)
-Poison Jab (Grass again and Fairy)

In all honesty tho, if you have other Pokemon that cover those weakness and an well-rounded team, you shouldn't find too much issue with neither.

Yeah, I actually meant to mention some of the planned team in my first post: Cinderace, Corviknight, and G-Slowking (your suggestion on it in the past was extremely helpful). I'm still ironing out the last two slots, though they'll obviously be Special hitters in order to balance out the attacking range. But those three are definite. Hope that helps and thanks, as always.

 

[Enzo]

Yeah, I actually meant to mention some of the planned team in my first post: Cinderace, Corviknight, and G-Slowking (your suggestion on it in the past was extremely helpful). I'm still ironing out the last two slots, though they'll obviously be Special hitters in order to balance out the attacking range. But those three are definite. Hope that helps and thanks, as always.

Well, based on your team, I think Poliwrath may be the best here. It covers for the lack of answer to Fire, and also covers for the Dark weakness. Besides being immune to water (since you wanna go with Water Absorb).

 

[CynthiaLover]

Well, based on your team, I think Poliwrath may be the best here. It covers for the lack of answer to Fire, and also covers for the Dark weakness. Besides being immune to water (since you wanna go with Water Absorb).

Poliwrath it is. Thanks so much. You always seem to have good ideas. Thanks again and take care.

 

[Enzo]

Poliwrath it is. Thanks so much. You always seem to have good ideas. Thanks again and take care.

You welcome!!! Please, do take care too!!

 

[Puddle]

I'm doing a playthrough of all the Pokemon games for the year (I started last november and beat Y and Moon, I'm trying to beat as many as I can in a year).
I'm going Y, Moon, Ultra Moon, White, White 2, Platinum, Emerald, Crystal, Yellow, Leaf Green, Soul SIlver, and Alpha Sapphire. Maybe I'll beat Shield again (I beat it about a year ago so I don't really feel like it), and I don't have Let's Go Eevee at the moment.
Anyways, now I'm on the Elite 4 of Ultra Moon, and need to grind my team. Any tips? Should I change up my team/items?
Here's my team:

Spoiler

View attachment 144341View attachment 144342View attachment 144343View attachment 144344View attachment 144345View attachment 144346

I always advise people to use whatever Pokemon they like best during the main story. As long as you use Pokemon that are fully-evolved, train them to a high enough level, and have plenty of healing items in your bag, you shouldn't have too many problems, especially not with Necrozma in your party (fusing it with Lunala will give you some extra firepower). The strongest opponent you'll encounter in the Pokemon League is level 60.

 

[Phosphene]

Thanks for the advice!
I...never was able to catch Lunala somehow. Do I need to go back to the Altar of the Moone again?

No, if I remember correctly you can get Lunala by going back to that bridge from the very beginning of the game, the one where you save Nebby from the Spearow.

Edit: Wait that might be post-game only.