Lavaeolus
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Confession: when I first went through most Pokémon games, I didn't use much in the way of "strategy". Blaziken, use Blaze Kick. Enemy resistant to Fire? Blaziken... use Double Kick!
And you know what? It worked!
But now I pay my penance. Pokémon Sword and Shield, I'd say, are overall on the shorter and easier side of things. That's not necessarily a criticism, but I admit to being a bit letdown when I first played Sword. Still, that ease makes it a fun little testing ground: what's Pokémon like when you embrace status moves completely?
The goal is to beat Leon and become Champion of Galar in the most frustrating way he'll ever see: solely using status moves and never directly attacking. Additionally, I'm putting a bit of a soft-block on using moves like Copycat or Metronome to essentially 'replicate' regular attacks.
I never really know when starting a challenge which'll be the most interesting, fun or time-consuming, so I don't really make any promises about definitively getting to the end. I do hope, however, that -- regardless of how far it goes -- the journey proves a fun read. I should note I was originally posting this elsewhere when I thought, hey, I'm a shameless self-promoter; maybe it'll be of interest here as well.
----
Part One: Early Struggles
We begin as any other run does. Run along, get a starter, begin the journey in earnest. Now, in some games the starter would be obvious: in Red and Blue you'd bring along Bulbasaur for Poison Powder and the like. But by my reckoning, none of the Galar starters have much to offer us; if they learn any status-dealing, non-damaging moves, they do so via egg moves, TMs or after I'd already have access to better options.
In essence, then, we're less choosing our own team and more rounding out Hop's and Leon's. Hop, of course, will pick the starter weak to ours. Leon, meanwhile, gets the one strong against us and then someone else to balance his team.
There's probably a tactical decision to made there, but I picked Sobble because I'd picked Scorbunny in my first playthrough... and because Sobble looked kinda sad. Not that you'll see him after this fight, granted, but let's call him an honorary team member.
Of course, unlike most runs we're going to lose our first battle against Hop. Our Growls can only do so much! But it's the last loss we'll have to take. Sorry, James.
Now we start team-building in earnest. You can technically lose the first two fights against Hop, but I figure we may as well start his existential crisis ASAP. But how?
First, we'll need to deal with the trainers on the way to him. I pick up a Wooloo ('Shaggy') and a Purrloin ('Arsène'). Between Shaggy's defense and Arsène's Sand Attack, they can infuriatingly stall each trainer until they Struggle themselves to death.
Poor kid. We could adopt the same strategy with Hop, but with three Pokémon it'd make for a pretty infuriating battle. Instead, we'll pick up a Caterpie. I had bad luck running into the famous bug, but once I did find one she was level 5 (the highest I could've found). Swings and roundabouts.
"What's so great about Caterpie?", you might ask. It'll mean some early grinding, but once we get one to level 12 they'll become a Butterfree with access to Poison, Stun and Sleep Powder.
Reaching that level is easy enough. We'll use our free PokéBalls (plus a 10 Poké Ball purchase from the Poké Mart) to catch Pokémon. Easy XP and we get to start filling out the Pokédex. At this stage in the game Wooloo has a fairly high base XP, but Route 2 Pokémon are a little more consistently higher level.
It doesn't take too long, and once ready it's time to attack. At the start of Hop's second fight, our team stands as:
Still, we clearly out-level Hop, taking a bit of shine out of the victory. In general I don't like to just level-grind as a solution, so we'll try to take on the rest of the challenges we face at levels more in-line with the game's level curve.
But! While the journey's just begun, that might be it for this incarnation of the team. In this post, we had two starter routes to pick a team from. (And just the one fashion shop to pick an outfit!) Next time, we'll be making our first trip to the Wild Area. I'll have to rack my brain on what's best available.
Part Two: Showdown in the Mines
I decided that I wouldn't be doing any raids with internet people. Two reasons for that. First, when doing challenges I like to not lean on others too hard. Second, it probably wouldn't be fair to the other players; imagine joining a raid and one of your teammates is a Butterfree spamming Harden!
That said, it's time to go ghost hunting. Duskull and Gastly are two similar Pokémon with similar movesets, Confuse Ray and Curse being highlights of interest to us. To my mind, Gastly comes online earlier: learning Curse at level 20 means he learns it just in time for the Grass Gym.
But he's also rarer. When I turn up at the Watchtower Ruins it's hailing and he's off-the-table. This isn't a problem; Duskull ('Smiles') will still be useful overall. For now, he has Leer, Disable and Confuse Ray. We'll also pick up a Drifloom ('Drifter'), who'll have to take a backseat for now.
With that, it's on with the plot. Deal with some ruffians in the lobby, then get introduced to the Gym Challenge. The first Team Yell member goes down a treat: their Zigzagoon is poisoned by Blusher, then has their Lick disabled by Smiles. That leaves them -- when they don't hit themselves in confusion -- with Tackle, which Smiles is immune to. With the second Yell's Nickit, there's no need to even Disable any moves.
After a brief team-up with him, I immediately pull the same trick on Hop when we fight, poisoning him then switching to Duskull and rendering his Wooloo useless:
In the next route we pick up two Pokémon: Vulpix ('Ashlyn') and Trubbish ('Gabby'). In truth, I had completely forgotten Trubbish was here -- but she could be a valuable team member! Toxic Spikes is a way to 'badly poison' enemy Pokémon when they switch in, which does gradually more damage than regular poisoning. (For later on, Trubbish is also a natural learner of Toxic, which can immediately apply this condition to opponents.) Vulpix, meanwhile, immediately provides an alternate source of Disable and adds a bit of type variety to our team.
With these two new members, Arsène is boxed, probably for good. We'll remember him. We also catch a Stunky, another Pokémon who can pick up Toxic later, but for now they haven't made the cut to join the team.
I won't bore you with details of every trainer on Route 3, most of whom went down to strategies we already used. There was only one with any complications: Schoolboy Marvin. First, Marvin's Budew is immune to poisoning. But it only knows Absorb; when disabled it's immediately forced into Struggling. Gossifleur, meanwhile, is immune to Poison Powder but not Trubbish's Poison Gas. Thanks, Gabby! Proving your use immediately.
Next, the Galar Mine. Get through here, and the rest of the road to Turffield will be plain sailing. By this point, Gabby knew Toxic Spikes and was leading the team. While a little fragile, she was doing a fine job and the combination of her and Smiles was enough to get through most trainers. The exit to daylight glimmered.
There was just one man in our way: Bede. See, despite our level advantage and that we actually have a full team, Bede specifically counters us. His predilection for Psychic Pokémon stands in direct opposition to our Ghost and Poison heavy team. Worse, his first Pokémon (Solosis) starts with Magic Guard -- it is immune to damage from conditions. And yes, he'll one-shot our Trubbish.
The battle starts with Ashlyn, who baits out a Confusion and disables it. This gives Gabby just enough time to plant two Toxic Spikes then switch to Smiles. But as you might have twigged, the Disable has a double purpose. Solosis knows two moves, Endeavor and Confusion... and the first only has 5 PP.
Smiles keeps Confusion locked, and Solosis struggles itself to death. Bede's Gothita switches in, badly poisoned, setting the stage for our victory. From this point on, it's just a matter of stalling.
Unfortunately, keeping Solosis locked left Smiles with barely any HP. And I say, why sacrifice a team member if you don't have to? I switch him out. First, to Wooloo, then to whoever has enough health to bear another strike.
In the end Drifloom takes the last hit, leaving him at 15 HP and everyone else exhausted... as Bede's final Pokémon runs out of health. No casualties, no items used. Bede, flexed on.
In hindsight, we could've made that a lot easier for ourselves by catching a Roselia back in the Wild Area, since it's a Pokémon with Worry Seed (changes foe ability) and Leech Seed. But that should be the final big obstacle. There are trainers ahead, but none of them should prove much trouble. Next entry, we get our first gym badge.
Team status
Part Three: Battle for the Grass Badge
Like I said, the road ahead was relatively simple. Our only issue was a Galarian Meowth; as a Steel-type, he's immune to our poisons. Fortunately, we had enough luck with Confuse Ray that it wasn't a serious issue.
Still, it was becoming obvious we couldn't just rely on poison for everything. Although they wouldn't be much help in the gym ahead, I picked up a Pumpkaboo ('Leech'): a learner of Leech Seed and Worry Seed. While I might switch them out with another Pokémon later, it'll be good not to get caught with our trousers down when facing Bede, not to mention any Tom, Dick or Harry with a Steel-type.
To the gym! I'll let you in on a secret: only the first of three Gym Trainers needs to be fought. Why's this important? While I'm loath to give up on XP, it's because the second two have Oddish -- a Grass/Poison Pokémon immune to both Leech Seed and the Poison condition. It's not insurmoutable, but it is a pain and I was keen to get on with the main attraction.
Speaking of, for the fight against Milo I boxed all but two Pokémon. Poor Milo, a veritable gym leader mind you, only has two Pokémon and that'd give us a tremendous advantage. Nerts to that. We enter with a team similar to his:
The fight begins with Gabby using Poison Cloud and then two Toxic Spikes. Stall time!
We switch to Smiles, get hit by a Magical Leaf, and disable it. Gossifleur is stuck using useless Normal-type moves as it succumbs to the poison.
We won't get so lucky with Eldegoss, who knows two Grass moves. And of course, it's time for our first Dynamax foe...
Eldegoss spams Max Overgrowth, but my giant Duskull spams Max Guard. Smiles protects on the first turn, fails on the second, and protects again on the third -- meaning he takes one Overgrowth to the face. But then everyone shrinks back to normal.
Eldegoss gets the benefit of Overgrowth's healing for a few more turns, but that's the nice thing about the 'badly poisoned' condition -- it increases over time. The second nice thing: while Duskull levitates, Eldegoss's Grass field heals Gabby as well. Once switched back in, Gabby starts using Amnesia, and in a couple of turns...
We're victorious. Sorry, Milo.
And that marks the first badge. They won't all be so easy, but we'll take them as they come.
And you know what? It worked!
But now I pay my penance. Pokémon Sword and Shield, I'd say, are overall on the shorter and easier side of things. That's not necessarily a criticism, but I admit to being a bit letdown when I first played Sword. Still, that ease makes it a fun little testing ground: what's Pokémon like when you embrace status moves completely?
The goal is to beat Leon and become Champion of Galar in the most frustrating way he'll ever see: solely using status moves and never directly attacking. Additionally, I'm putting a bit of a soft-block on using moves like Copycat or Metronome to essentially 'replicate' regular attacks.
I never really know when starting a challenge which'll be the most interesting, fun or time-consuming, so I don't really make any promises about definitively getting to the end. I do hope, however, that -- regardless of how far it goes -- the journey proves a fun read. I should note I was originally posting this elsewhere when I thought, hey, I'm a shameless self-promoter; maybe it'll be of interest here as well.
----
Part One: Early Struggles
We begin as any other run does. Run along, get a starter, begin the journey in earnest. Now, in some games the starter would be obvious: in Red and Blue you'd bring along Bulbasaur for Poison Powder and the like. But by my reckoning, none of the Galar starters have much to offer us; if they learn any status-dealing, non-damaging moves, they do so via egg moves, TMs or after I'd already have access to better options.
In essence, then, we're less choosing our own team and more rounding out Hop's and Leon's. Hop, of course, will pick the starter weak to ours. Leon, meanwhile, gets the one strong against us and then someone else to balance his team.
There's probably a tactical decision to made there, but I picked Sobble because I'd picked Scorbunny in my first playthrough... and because Sobble looked kinda sad. Not that you'll see him after this fight, granted, but let's call him an honorary team member.
Of course, unlike most runs we're going to lose our first battle against Hop. Our Growls can only do so much! But it's the last loss we'll have to take. Sorry, James.
Now we start team-building in earnest. You can technically lose the first two fights against Hop, but I figure we may as well start his existential crisis ASAP. But how?
First, we'll need to deal with the trainers on the way to him. I pick up a Wooloo ('Shaggy') and a Purrloin ('Arsène'). Between Shaggy's defense and Arsène's Sand Attack, they can infuriatingly stall each trainer until they Struggle themselves to death.
Poor kid. We could adopt the same strategy with Hop, but with three Pokémon it'd make for a pretty infuriating battle. Instead, we'll pick up a Caterpie. I had bad luck running into the famous bug, but once I did find one she was level 5 (the highest I could've found). Swings and roundabouts.
"What's so great about Caterpie?", you might ask. It'll mean some early grinding, but once we get one to level 12 they'll become a Butterfree with access to Poison, Stun and Sleep Powder.
Reaching that level is easy enough. We'll use our free PokéBalls (plus a 10 Poké Ball purchase from the Poké Mart) to catch Pokémon. Easy XP and we get to start filling out the Pokédex. At this stage in the game Wooloo has a fairly high base XP, but Route 2 Pokémon are a little more consistently higher level.
It doesn't take too long, and once ready it's time to attack. At the start of Hop's second fight, our team stands as:
- Blusher the Butterfree, level 12. For now, Blusher is primarily our source of the Poison condition, though she also knows the ever-powerful move Harden. For this battle, she'll just apply Poison then get out.
- Shaggy the Wooloo, level 8. With Defense Curl, Growl and the Fluffy ability, Shaggy acts as a sort of tank, able to stay in place while the enemy runs out of moves or Blusher's Poison Powder works its magic.
- Arsène the Purrloin, level 8. Growl and Sand Attack place Arsène as a sort of debuffer. Here he'll be primarily useful against our rival's Scorbunny, after Shaggy's been worn down by others.
Still, we clearly out-level Hop, taking a bit of shine out of the victory. In general I don't like to just level-grind as a solution, so we'll try to take on the rest of the challenges we face at levels more in-line with the game's level curve.
But! While the journey's just begun, that might be it for this incarnation of the team. In this post, we had two starter routes to pick a team from. (And just the one fashion shop to pick an outfit!) Next time, we'll be making our first trip to the Wild Area. I'll have to rack my brain on what's best available.
Part Two: Showdown in the Mines
I decided that I wouldn't be doing any raids with internet people. Two reasons for that. First, when doing challenges I like to not lean on others too hard. Second, it probably wouldn't be fair to the other players; imagine joining a raid and one of your teammates is a Butterfree spamming Harden!
That said, it's time to go ghost hunting. Duskull and Gastly are two similar Pokémon with similar movesets, Confuse Ray and Curse being highlights of interest to us. To my mind, Gastly comes online earlier: learning Curse at level 20 means he learns it just in time for the Grass Gym.
But he's also rarer. When I turn up at the Watchtower Ruins it's hailing and he's off-the-table. This isn't a problem; Duskull ('Smiles') will still be useful overall. For now, he has Leer, Disable and Confuse Ray. We'll also pick up a Drifloom ('Drifter'), who'll have to take a backseat for now.
With that, it's on with the plot. Deal with some ruffians in the lobby, then get introduced to the Gym Challenge. The first Team Yell member goes down a treat: their Zigzagoon is poisoned by Blusher, then has their Lick disabled by Smiles. That leaves them -- when they don't hit themselves in confusion -- with Tackle, which Smiles is immune to. With the second Yell's Nickit, there's no need to even Disable any moves.
After a brief team-up with him, I immediately pull the same trick on Hop when we fight, poisoning him then switching to Duskull and rendering his Wooloo useless:
In the next route we pick up two Pokémon: Vulpix ('Ashlyn') and Trubbish ('Gabby'). In truth, I had completely forgotten Trubbish was here -- but she could be a valuable team member! Toxic Spikes is a way to 'badly poison' enemy Pokémon when they switch in, which does gradually more damage than regular poisoning. (For later on, Trubbish is also a natural learner of Toxic, which can immediately apply this condition to opponents.) Vulpix, meanwhile, immediately provides an alternate source of Disable and adds a bit of type variety to our team.
With these two new members, Arsène is boxed, probably for good. We'll remember him. We also catch a Stunky, another Pokémon who can pick up Toxic later, but for now they haven't made the cut to join the team.
I won't bore you with details of every trainer on Route 3, most of whom went down to strategies we already used. There was only one with any complications: Schoolboy Marvin. First, Marvin's Budew is immune to poisoning. But it only knows Absorb; when disabled it's immediately forced into Struggling. Gossifleur, meanwhile, is immune to Poison Powder but not Trubbish's Poison Gas. Thanks, Gabby! Proving your use immediately.
Next, the Galar Mine. Get through here, and the rest of the road to Turffield will be plain sailing. By this point, Gabby knew Toxic Spikes and was leading the team. While a little fragile, she was doing a fine job and the combination of her and Smiles was enough to get through most trainers. The exit to daylight glimmered.
There was just one man in our way: Bede. See, despite our level advantage and that we actually have a full team, Bede specifically counters us. His predilection for Psychic Pokémon stands in direct opposition to our Ghost and Poison heavy team. Worse, his first Pokémon (Solosis) starts with Magic Guard -- it is immune to damage from conditions. And yes, he'll one-shot our Trubbish.
The battle starts with Ashlyn, who baits out a Confusion and disables it. This gives Gabby just enough time to plant two Toxic Spikes then switch to Smiles. But as you might have twigged, the Disable has a double purpose. Solosis knows two moves, Endeavor and Confusion... and the first only has 5 PP.
Smiles keeps Confusion locked, and Solosis struggles itself to death. Bede's Gothita switches in, badly poisoned, setting the stage for our victory. From this point on, it's just a matter of stalling.
Unfortunately, keeping Solosis locked left Smiles with barely any HP. And I say, why sacrifice a team member if you don't have to? I switch him out. First, to Wooloo, then to whoever has enough health to bear another strike.
In the end Drifloom takes the last hit, leaving him at 15 HP and everyone else exhausted... as Bede's final Pokémon runs out of health. No casualties, no items used. Bede, flexed on.
In hindsight, we could've made that a lot easier for ourselves by catching a Roselia back in the Wild Area, since it's a Pokémon with Worry Seed (changes foe ability) and Leech Seed. But that should be the final big obstacle. There are trainers ahead, but none of them should prove much trouble. Next entry, we get our first gym badge.
Team status
- Ashlyn, lv. 14 Vulpix. Hasty nature.
- Shaggy, lv. 15 Wooloo. Hardy, with the Fluffy ability.
- Blusher, lv. 17 Butterfree. Quiet.
- Smiles, lv. 18 Duskull. Relaxed.
- Drifter, lv. 18 Driftloon. Impish, with Unburden.
- Gabby, lv. 16 Trubbish. Jolly, with Stench.
Part Three: Battle for the Grass Badge
Like I said, the road ahead was relatively simple. Our only issue was a Galarian Meowth; as a Steel-type, he's immune to our poisons. Fortunately, we had enough luck with Confuse Ray that it wasn't a serious issue.
Still, it was becoming obvious we couldn't just rely on poison for everything. Although they wouldn't be much help in the gym ahead, I picked up a Pumpkaboo ('Leech'): a learner of Leech Seed and Worry Seed. While I might switch them out with another Pokémon later, it'll be good not to get caught with our trousers down when facing Bede, not to mention any Tom, Dick or Harry with a Steel-type.
To the gym! I'll let you in on a secret: only the first of three Gym Trainers needs to be fought. Why's this important? While I'm loath to give up on XP, it's because the second two have Oddish -- a Grass/Poison Pokémon immune to both Leech Seed and the Poison condition. It's not insurmoutable, but it is a pain and I was keen to get on with the main attraction.
Speaking of, for the fight against Milo I boxed all but two Pokémon. Poor Milo, a veritable gym leader mind you, only has two Pokémon and that'd give us a tremendous advantage. Nerts to that. We enter with a team similar to his:
- Gabby. At level 18, Gabby is actually slightly under Milo's lv. 19 Gossifleur.
- Smiles. Meanwhile, Smiles is a lv. 20 match for Milo's Eldegoss. Of course, he's also a Ghost...
The fight begins with Gabby using Poison Cloud and then two Toxic Spikes. Stall time!
We switch to Smiles, get hit by a Magical Leaf, and disable it. Gossifleur is stuck using useless Normal-type moves as it succumbs to the poison.
We won't get so lucky with Eldegoss, who knows two Grass moves. And of course, it's time for our first Dynamax foe...
Eldegoss spams Max Overgrowth, but my giant Duskull spams Max Guard. Smiles protects on the first turn, fails on the second, and protects again on the third -- meaning he takes one Overgrowth to the face. But then everyone shrinks back to normal.
Eldegoss gets the benefit of Overgrowth's healing for a few more turns, but that's the nice thing about the 'badly poisoned' condition -- it increases over time. The second nice thing: while Duskull levitates, Eldegoss's Grass field heals Gabby as well. Once switched back in, Gabby starts using Amnesia, and in a couple of turns...
We're victorious. Sorry, Milo.
And that marks the first badge. They won't all be so easy, but we'll take them as they come.
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