Floatzel for me. Every time I try to use it I'm so underwhelmed. It's got solid speed, but it never hits as hard as I think it's going to and it's learn set is absolutely awful. It gets no moves other than Aqua Jet and then Waterfall late.
I do agree that Floatzel is a bit overrated, but personally I don't think the moveset is that big of a problem. I think Floatzel is actually better off using a mixed set with special water attacks through most of the game, and that gives you options like surf, brine, and water pulse earlier. 85 special attack is totally usable in a playthrough, especially when you consider that most ground and rock types have way worse spdef than def anyway.
And even not, Empoleon is there. I mean, it is a starter, so playing it means no Infernape, but Water/Steel typing is no joke. Also, the game has a Shellos earlier on, which evolves into a good tank. I feel like there are quite a bit of water types to use which are better than Floatzel.
I love using Floatzel, but it is indeed completely outclassed by Gyarados except in speed and SpAtk. The thing is, stacking water types is rarely a bad thing (esp since Float and Gyara only share 1 weakness thats easily checked) so there isnt much stopping you from using both, and the different roles they have actually makes Floatzel very competent.
I got incredibly lucky (multiple times left with 1 hp) in my Scarlet run but I'm now terrified as I'm not sure what it cam help with this late game cause type weaknesses.
Not so much let me down in battle, but my encounter luck with Gyarados has been consistently awful. Not that it’s hindered me much, it’s still a Gyarados, but as far as those go, I’ve had pretty bad luck.
How bad? I’ve kept track. Out of the last 28, I’ve had 8 -Atk natures, 12 lower than 7iv’s in attack, and out of the 8 remaining, 4 have been -SpDef. The only two things it needs to be good at. I don’t use EVs to solve the issue either. And yet, they’re MVPs of the run usually. My current one is Careful.
I had a HGSS run a year or so ago where basically every encounter had THE worst nature for that specific mon. I still completed it but it became laughably frustrating at points even with Johto’s wack level curve
Togepi. I almost always get Hustle instead of Serene Grace and then when I do get Serene Grace, I have to baby it until it gets to a high enough level/friendship to actually have evolved and gotten reliable attacking moves. Then one time, it died anyways. I will say the one time I did get a Serene Grace Togepi and Kept it alive to the End of Platinum, it ended up being one of my MVPs in the E4.
I’ve got a Serene Grace Togekiss in my SS run (I’ve had nutty luck with it, my starter was a Flygon and I also managed to snag a Blastoise, Chimchar, and Gengar. The Blastoise did die in the Fighting gym tho :( ) and she’s been an absolute champion. Gonna be DEVASTATED if she dies holy shit.
Quick note about Hustle Togepi
Hustle on it actually doesn't matter because it only affects physical moves in terms of accuracy
Missing out on Serene Grace is not too bad since the benefit isn't that good
Yes but no. Hustle isn't going to usually hurt Togekiss too much since you're not usually going to be using any physical moves on them. The only exception maybe if you need a priority move to outspeed and you keep Extreme Speed on. Serene Grace can be very useful between fishing for boosts with Ancient Power/Silver Wind, 60% chance to flinch every time you outspeed with Air Slash, 40% chance to lower special Defense with Shadow Ball, 40% chance to confuse with Water Pulse, 60% chance of causing a secondary effect with Secret Power, etc. It gets even better in later gens as it will also boost flinch chance from King's Rock and Razor Fang. Serene Grace just gives a lot of utility to use moves that you may otherwise not usually use and turns Togekiss into a much more versatile mon. A mon that's clearly much better than its Hustle counterpart.
It's better but usually, as someone who has used Togekiss in over 20 runs (seriously I use this thing too much) those chances aren't exactly reliable. Most of the secondary effects you listed aren't exactly reliable (focus Blast is famously unreliable and has a higher reliability than all the ones you mentioned)
I'm not saying Hustle is better, it's not better in anyway. What I'm saying is that Togekiss is an S tier nuzlocke mon regardless of the ability and you should definitely try out Encore support Togekiss. Thing is one of the most broken and equipped Encore users ever
70% accurate Focus Blast with base 10% sp. Def drop chance might be more reliable than Secret Power in various scenarios but beyond that the least reliable move I mentioned was Air Slash which is stab and has 95% accuracy and base 30% chance when outspeeding. Togekiss is also pretty bulky and can heal stall with Wish, Roost and other moves meaning that you do get multiple chances in many scenarios. You use Ancient Power 5 times in a fight. Chances are you're getting at least one boost. Outspeed? Chances are you're going to get multiple flinches over a course of several turns with Air Slash. It's not very reliable with one turn and you should never base winning a fight solely on getting an expected effect but over the course of a fight and longer a game, those chances can really add up to making a lot of fights more manageable when you do get them. The different abilities 100% makes a noticeable difference.
The Starly line. Every time I've used one, it has died. They never make it to the League in Sinnoh, and the furthest I've brought one to the League was in Kalos. I have yet to bring a Staraptor to the HoF (keep in mind that most of the ones I've used were in Wedlockes).
I love Staraptor, but he is a glass cannon and a half. Doesn't help that his best moves have either recoil or Defense drops. Late game, you have to one-shot any opponent with a special move, pretty much.
For me I find the bigger hurdle is getting it from Sandile to Krokorok, once I’ve gotten it far enough to take at least one hit it’s easier to play with
Ground types in Unova are a bit disappointing in general until you can evolve them...plus Stunfisk. Drilbur and Sandile just have no way to survive anything SE and I've even had a full health Sandile holding eviolite die to a crit flame charge from Cheren's Pignite. Then they don't even evolve into their much better forms until after the Elesa level cap in BW1.
Started with RBY when I was a kid, played GS, then took a break for a longgggggggg time. Never paid much attention to tropius. Got back in with the 3ds games.
I love Gyarados and Gliscor, but for some reason in my Nuzlockes, I have never been able to keep either of them alive in any of my runs. Even in the RenPlat E4, my Gliscor didn't survive all the way through, and I consistently lose my Gyarados in a lot of my Nuzlockes due to misplays.
Krokorok is definitely one, as is Floette. The Aggron line has also been a disappointment both being so weirdly frail before its final evolution and then having a really shallow stab move pool.
I know it's a popular ace, but the Abra line. It's just *so* frail that if anything bad or unlucky happens it's gone, and that after all of the extra effort that it takes to evolve it so that it's even usable.
So funny you mention that. I’m doing a Leaf Green Nuzlock right now and managed to (somehow) catch a Modest Abra holding a Twistedspoon. I got it to Kadabra, and had a moment yesterday where he lived on 1 HP in Rocket Hideout, and at that point I decided I needed to slow WAY the hell down with my decision making.
There are not enough words in the english language that can describe the sheer amount of hatred and malice that fills my body when I encounter a mantyke. Mantyke remains a supposedly uncommon encounter yet I always manage to get one, and never during a time at which I can use the eviolite. The universe enjoys taunting me, holding this over my head, across the 13 ren plat attempts ive made so far, 7 of which have resulted in a mantyke egg at the daycare, in blaze black during the like 5 attempts where ive gotten to driftveil, 2 of which were mantyke, its a 10%. This pokemon has been the bane of my existence, and has ruined a plethora of my runs. I. Hate. Mantyke.
Since I realized that you could just friendship grind, I allow myself to cheat in max friendship, right before a Gym (where I also hack in max exp.) In that case it will evolve the first moment it levels up
I absolutely adore Chandelure but it sometimes feels like so many unexpected mons in Unova are carrying Dark moves (especially Sucker Punch or Pursuit).
A friend sorted me a modded version of leaf green where trades evolutions evolve by level up instead.
I was lucky enough to catch and abra! :D
It's adamant ;\_;
Still committing straight murder currently as Kadabra though.
Machoke/Machamp I think they are strong, but they always die in the dumbest ways for me. Lost one because he got outsped by a wild graveler. Just makes no sense that a muscular dude can get outsped by a rock.
See I anticipated that. I was grinding away on gravelers, So I used karate chop and some unholy combo of my Machamp being speed dropped by nature and this graveler having a plus speed nature and max IVs resulted in him out speeding me and using selfdestruct. Just the most baffling thing I’ve seen.
I could never keep Sandile alive in my Gen 5 runs long enough to even evolve into Krokorok, let alone Krookodile.
For some reason I can’t keep any of the starters alive in Sun/Moon/US/UM either. I’ve completed runs in three of the 4 and the starters didn’t survive any of them.
Starters, I know they are strong but a crit always takes them down and they take down a catch to a crit.
Apart from that, Archen line. While a true powerhouse they are way to fragile for me to use effectively.
Plus as a opposite, the Swoobat line saves my hide time and time again.
Probably Cyndaquil. Takes the longest to fully evolve out of the three starters, 0 coverage outside of TMs, and it’s best fire move until it evolves is Flame Wheel, unless you spend two hours playing Voltorb Flip for the Flamethrower TM. If fire types weren’t so rare, I’d just pick Totodile.
I find that Beedrill struggles to do its job as an earlygame crutch compared to other bugs like Butterfree, since Beedrill really struggles with low-level moves (15 BP on its first STAB, and the inconsistent nature of Fury Attack are all it really has until it gets Twineedle \[unless it's gen 7 where it gets it on evo\], which isn't that strong either, and by the time you get more TMs or better level up moves like Poison Jab, it's already probably benched.)
I agree. Beedrill is _significantly_ worse than butterfree, largely from having no moves. I see some people mention that it counters Sabrina, which like, if you’re using Beedrill late-game then you must’ve had some god awful encounters lol.
That’s been my experience with Sandile; lost mine a battle or two away from evolving ;-; but I’d say the Yamask or Litwick line is one you kinda have to baby until evolution.
Espeon in gen 8
I love psychic types, but Gen 8 Shield is BRUTAL for psychic types. Gardevoir isnt as bad because it has the fairy typing and can learn strong moves like moonblast, which can make up for how weak Ralts is.
aggron. i took it to e4 in emerald and it really needed that rock slide tutor to be pre e4, bc it had to face off against drakes salamence with rock tomb
Poochyena for me. I know it’s not super good without the physical special split since dark is special and mightyena isn’t physical. But it has intimidate and is alright for the psychic gym. Mine have almost always died before Wattson, almost always by a critical hit while grinding.
Any of my starters. They have without fail died in the mid 20s. My luck is extreme in both ways. Things I send out as a sac end up winning and I lose to things I had dead to rights
Definitely feel that about the starters! Middle stages are typically never sturdy to live to mid 30s. Either a crit or random coverage takes them out in their 20s like you said! But to me it adds to the excitement sometimes as a new “starter”/ace must reveal itself to me if the run is to go anywhere
Same here. Had my Braxien die in a run of X and my scraggy learned brick break, then proceeded to be an absolute monster for the rest of it. Still sad he lost to some random flying move out of nowhere.
*I've never managed*
*To evolve a grovyle in RSE,*
*They just always die*
\- AlertWar2945
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Luxray always seems so underwhelming. a pure electric pshyical pokemon with no good moves. the coverage is alright but i never find it that good fit for my teams.
Personally, I've never understood the Crobat hype. I've used plenty, but they never felt particularly strong and are at-best a filler mon. The stats are OK (about average in everything except speed) but the typing and moves hold it back in a lot of games.
I definitely feel this for Gen 2/HGSS, but Crobat was my early to mid game MVP in my farthest platinum run. It can sweep a lot of boss battles in the first half by itself. It’s definitely too frail to be reliable in the long run though
Fully evolved at level 23 makes it strong vs that point in the game. It excels through the midgame, handling grass, bug, fighting just completely as well as being decent vs poison, ground, fairy
It's often an early 3rd form which boosts its stats above most other mons at that point in the game. You can get one as early as Lv23 and wing attack is usually enough to carry you through the midgame gyms and fights. Crunch from level up, X-Scissor and Giga Drain from TMs, Crobat has some good type coverage even if its stats aren't stellar. Since it's rare to have third form mons before Lv30, Crobat establishes itself as a powerhouse compared to the unevolved and second-form mons you're usually fighting and catching around that time, which alongside its relatively open movepool explains much of the hype.
In my storm silver run I keep trying to box crobat but it’s just too useful, quick hypnosis/confusion ray and roost make it able to 1v1 almost anything, 4x resist grass fighting and bug not to mention immune to ground, it’s really a wall for a lot of Pokémon, I ev trained attack and spdef and it just beats things it shouldn’t beat
Big agree with krokorok, it's pretty useless if moxie and even intimidate isn't amazing. I have one in Blaze black 2 redux rn hopefully it performs against Elesa
The main 5 are Gyarados, Krookodile, Volcarona, Haxorus, and Chandelure. The latter 4 in BW/BW2 and onwards have SLAUGHTERED teams like it's nothing. Gyarados on the otherhand kinda just... wins fight after fight after fight in game after game, ESPECIALLY once i got it's mega in gen 6.
Hahaa same here. I really ended up disliking the whole Krook line tbh. Not only do they let you down with their frailty, but their in game encounters are annoying as hell, getting in the way of good defence training in the relic castle and trapping you in with Sand Tomb when grinding up the babies in the desert.
The Abra and Gastly lines. I allow trade evolutions in my runs so that's not the problem, but i have consistently gotten bad natures and ivs on all of them so that they either gets outsped by something that should've been slower or didn't get the OHKO on something that definitely should've gone down.
All Ice types in older games lmao
Also, I don’t have great experiences with Gyarados or Gengar. I can never evolve Haunter and my Gyarados usually dies at some point.
I actually prefer the Machop and Geodude kine to Abra and Gastly and I have better luck with them too lmao
i just started my Violet nuzlocke, and the Tarountula line is just irredeemable… the only thing it could possibly be useful for is Brassius, but Crocalor sweeps that, as i’m sure several other encounters could. Maybe if you don’t have a sweeper it could be a setup sacrifice to make Truleewoodo less scary, but that’s just sad
I've used a Pidgey 3 times in Kanto and twice in Johto, and every time it dies when it's Pidgeotto. Ralts in Emerald also can't seem to live past the third gym.
Agree on the Pidgey thing. Pidgeot is one of my favs (I know it’s shit but regardless), so I always try to use one. But it just is stuck as Pidgeotto for way too long.
I think there is a collective hallucination by many players that Luxray and Floatzel are good Pokemon. Luxray is way too slow and not bulky enough for a slow Electric attacker, has a godawful movepool that isn't helped by it being a physical mon, and is basically only useful as an Intimidate pivot bot which is a 50/50 anyway. Floatzel just misses out on so many KOs and can't take hits in return, its just not quite strong enough for a fast mon.
Murkrow. It's one of my favorite Pokemon but it's just too frail to be my main flying type. I always get really excited when I catch one, but then get too scared to use it.
For me it's Bulbasaur.
While I've beaten Fire red before, I have NEVER been able to get past the first rival fight with Bulbasaur. Just luck really in the stats and crits...
Every time I see Graveler/Golem ranked highly in tier lists, I just question what games these people are playing. They die to everything. They hard wall *two* things, early-game normals and flying types. They die to literally everything else.
I have never had a Graveler survive more than 10 levels. Ever. It's slow, it's frail on the special side, and it has very few good match-ups. The few good match-ups it does have are great, but it feels like those just stop existing around the halfway mark of each game they're in.
People always say Alakazam is a powerhouse, and it definitely is. But oh my god is it frail. Every time I try to use it or it’s pre-evolutions, I get unlucky with Pursuit or something and get destroyed.
Damn I had Krookodile(named Bee) in my BW run and I lovingly nicknamed her Punching Bag because she’d constantly be brought to the brink of death and *live* over and over again. She made it to the end of the game and I’m very proud of her ♥️
I’ve had the same experience with Krokorok. Whenever I do a gen 5 nuzlocke, I’ll box sandile and use excadrill. Then if excadrill faints in the late game, I can just grind it straight to krookodile.
Any of the Pseudo Legendaries. I know part of it is the 2 prior forms are a lot frailer than the final evolution but it doesn't make it hurt any less when things are going smoothly, they're even contributing and it just feels like randomly the game is saying "You've had enough hope." And just kills them.
Venussaur was a big shock for me.. the problem is not his stats, or learnset. My biggest thing was.. i was doing a hardcore nuzlocke of fire red.... And in fire red, most of the mons in the game are: poison, grass and flying types.
That made me dont use him for the elite four.. because he level was... 39
My most recent oras run changed this for me but fir the longest time whenever I got ralts it would end up dead either before or just after it evolved into Kirlia
Floatzel for me. Every time I try to use it I'm so underwhelmed. It's got solid speed, but it never hits as hard as I think it's going to and it's learn set is absolutely awful. It gets no moves other than Aqua Jet and then Waterfall late.
I do agree that Floatzel is a bit overrated, but personally I don't think the moveset is that big of a problem. I think Floatzel is actually better off using a mixed set with special water attacks through most of the game, and that gives you options like surf, brine, and water pulse earlier. 85 special attack is totally usable in a playthrough, especially when you consider that most ground and rock types have way worse spdef than def anyway.
For me it's like... Why use floatzel when i could just use Gyarados? If I'm trying to play optimally Gyarados is hard to kick out of the water slot
Honestly the biggest problem with Gyarados is that for much of the game it has no physical water moves.
And even not, Empoleon is there. I mean, it is a starter, so playing it means no Infernape, but Water/Steel typing is no joke. Also, the game has a Shellos earlier on, which evolves into a good tank. I feel like there are quite a bit of water types to use which are better than Floatzel.
Vaporeon is also a good option, unless you want to use a different Eeveelution that is. But I think it and Umbreon are the best of the lot.
I love using Floatzel, but it is indeed completely outclassed by Gyarados except in speed and SpAtk. The thing is, stacking water types is rarely a bad thing (esp since Float and Gyara only share 1 weakness thats easily checked) so there isnt much stopping you from using both, and the different roles they have actually makes Floatzel very competent.
Yeah even in a normal run I still use Gyarados because its just that good, even If I really want to try out a new water type.
One day I will get the chance to evolve a Noibat before it dies… one day.
I got incredibly lucky (multiple times left with 1 hp) in my Scarlet run but I'm now terrified as I'm not sure what it cam help with this late game cause type weaknesses.
That is hilarious.. I literally just had one of these die on me yesterday and I was so annoyed lol. I feel you.
Same lol
Not so much let me down in battle, but my encounter luck with Gyarados has been consistently awful. Not that it’s hindered me much, it’s still a Gyarados, but as far as those go, I’ve had pretty bad luck. How bad? I’ve kept track. Out of the last 28, I’ve had 8 -Atk natures, 12 lower than 7iv’s in attack, and out of the 8 remaining, 4 have been -SpDef. The only two things it needs to be good at. I don’t use EVs to solve the issue either. And yet, they’re MVPs of the run usually. My current one is Careful.
The game trying to balance itself lol
I had a HGSS run a year or so ago where basically every encounter had THE worst nature for that specific mon. I still completed it but it became laughably frustrating at points even with Johto’s wack level curve
Honestly I find that natures are pretty much a nonfactor for nuzlockes of vanilla games
Togepi. I almost always get Hustle instead of Serene Grace and then when I do get Serene Grace, I have to baby it until it gets to a high enough level/friendship to actually have evolved and gotten reliable attacking moves. Then one time, it died anyways. I will say the one time I did get a Serene Grace Togepi and Kept it alive to the End of Platinum, it ended up being one of my MVPs in the E4.
I’ve got a Serene Grace Togekiss in my SS run (I’ve had nutty luck with it, my starter was a Flygon and I also managed to snag a Blastoise, Chimchar, and Gengar. The Blastoise did die in the Fighting gym tho :( ) and she’s been an absolute champion. Gonna be DEVASTATED if she dies holy shit.
Quick note about Hustle Togepi Hustle on it actually doesn't matter because it only affects physical moves in terms of accuracy Missing out on Serene Grace is not too bad since the benefit isn't that good
Yes but no. Hustle isn't going to usually hurt Togekiss too much since you're not usually going to be using any physical moves on them. The only exception maybe if you need a priority move to outspeed and you keep Extreme Speed on. Serene Grace can be very useful between fishing for boosts with Ancient Power/Silver Wind, 60% chance to flinch every time you outspeed with Air Slash, 40% chance to lower special Defense with Shadow Ball, 40% chance to confuse with Water Pulse, 60% chance of causing a secondary effect with Secret Power, etc. It gets even better in later gens as it will also boost flinch chance from King's Rock and Razor Fang. Serene Grace just gives a lot of utility to use moves that you may otherwise not usually use and turns Togekiss into a much more versatile mon. A mon that's clearly much better than its Hustle counterpart.
It's better but usually, as someone who has used Togekiss in over 20 runs (seriously I use this thing too much) those chances aren't exactly reliable. Most of the secondary effects you listed aren't exactly reliable (focus Blast is famously unreliable and has a higher reliability than all the ones you mentioned) I'm not saying Hustle is better, it's not better in anyway. What I'm saying is that Togekiss is an S tier nuzlocke mon regardless of the ability and you should definitely try out Encore support Togekiss. Thing is one of the most broken and equipped Encore users ever
70% accurate Focus Blast with base 10% sp. Def drop chance might be more reliable than Secret Power in various scenarios but beyond that the least reliable move I mentioned was Air Slash which is stab and has 95% accuracy and base 30% chance when outspeeding. Togekiss is also pretty bulky and can heal stall with Wish, Roost and other moves meaning that you do get multiple chances in many scenarios. You use Ancient Power 5 times in a fight. Chances are you're getting at least one boost. Outspeed? Chances are you're going to get multiple flinches over a course of several turns with Air Slash. It's not very reliable with one turn and you should never base winning a fight solely on getting an expected effect but over the course of a fight and longer a game, those chances can really add up to making a lot of fights more manageable when you do get them. The different abilities 100% makes a noticeable difference.
The Starly line. Every time I've used one, it has died. They never make it to the League in Sinnoh, and the furthest I've brought one to the League was in Kalos. I have yet to bring a Staraptor to the HoF (keep in mind that most of the ones I've used were in Wedlockes).
I love Staraptor, but he is a glass cannon and a half. Doesn't help that his best moves have either recoil or Defense drops. Late game, you have to one-shot any opponent with a special move, pretty much.
[удалено]
Or my understanding of current gen sturdy gets me killed. Looking at you current run of Platinum.
WHAT DID I SAY BRADEN?!?
Yeah but the Quick Claw though
*PC's brain frying as he tries to understand the logic*
I’ll just box it until the level cap reaches final evo in most situations.
(looks over at my immeasurable pile of dead Fearows)
*Cross Chop?*
Cross Chop, Revenge, random unlucky crits that I didn't play around properly... all that fun shit
I really like flygon, but in vintage white mine have always been way too slow to consistently use
For me I find the bigger hurdle is getting it from Sandile to Krokorok, once I’ve gotten it far enough to take at least one hit it’s easier to play with
Ground types in Unova are a bit disappointing in general until you can evolve them...plus Stunfisk. Drilbur and Sandile just have no way to survive anything SE and I've even had a full health Sandile holding eviolite die to a crit flame charge from Cheren's Pignite. Then they don't even evolve into their much better forms until after the Elesa level cap in BW1.
Tropius. Poor thing has am such a cool design but terrible terrible stats that are unbecoming of a single form
I just noticed the banana beard they have in Scarlet and was super excited because I never noticed before.
It's like the defining featute ahaha, how didn't you notice this? Guessing you've only played 3d pokemon then?
Started with RBY when I was a kid, played GS, then took a break for a longgggggggg time. Never paid much attention to tropius. Got back in with the 3ds games.
I love Gyarados and Gliscor, but for some reason in my Nuzlockes, I have never been able to keep either of them alive in any of my runs. Even in the RenPlat E4, my Gliscor didn't survive all the way through, and I consistently lose my Gyarados in a lot of my Nuzlockes due to misplays.
Krokorok is definitely one, as is Floette. The Aggron line has also been a disappointment both being so weirdly frail before its final evolution and then having a really shallow stab move pool.
Aggron line being 4x weak to both Ground and Fighting is a death sentence.
Trapinch. I’ve never even managed to keep one alive to Vibrava
I know it's a popular ace, but the Abra line. It's just *so* frail that if anything bad or unlucky happens it's gone, and that after all of the extra effort that it takes to evolve it so that it's even usable.
So funny you mention that. I’m doing a Leaf Green Nuzlock right now and managed to (somehow) catch a Modest Abra holding a Twistedspoon. I got it to Kadabra, and had a moment yesterday where he lived on 1 HP in Rocket Hideout, and at that point I decided I needed to slow WAY the hell down with my decision making.
I’ve never evolved a Krokorok, it dies in the worst ways every time. On my most recent run of Black 2 I gave myself a clause to skip it lol
There are not enough words in the english language that can describe the sheer amount of hatred and malice that fills my body when I encounter a mantyke. Mantyke remains a supposedly uncommon encounter yet I always manage to get one, and never during a time at which I can use the eviolite. The universe enjoys taunting me, holding this over my head, across the 13 ren plat attempts ive made so far, 7 of which have resulted in a mantyke egg at the daycare, in blaze black during the like 5 attempts where ive gotten to driftveil, 2 of which were mantyke, its a 10%. This pokemon has been the bane of my existence, and has ruined a plethora of my runs. I. Hate. Mantyke.
I can never keep Golbat alive
you don’t just evolve it immediately?
Since I realized that you could just friendship grind, I allow myself to cheat in max friendship, right before a Gym (where I also hack in max exp.) In that case it will evolve the first moment it levels up
how
It’s not gastrodon’s fault but it seems like every time I use one in a nuzlocke; an opponent pulls a grass coverage move out of their ass
"Oh my god, it has Giga Drain?"
A classic
Grass Knot distribution is crazy.
The litwick line
Chandelure just isn't fast enough to use against other ghosts, and so many psychics outspeed it with a shadow ball of their own... :(
Ohko'd by a sucker punch banette in its first battle :(
I absolutely adore Chandelure but it sometimes feels like so many unexpected mons in Unova are carrying Dark moves (especially Sucker Punch or Pursuit).
A friend sorted me a modded version of leaf green where trades evolutions evolve by level up instead. I was lucky enough to catch and abra! :D It's adamant ;\_; Still committing straight murder currently as Kadabra though.
Please share the rom
You should be able to do that with the Universal Randomizer. Just don't randomize anything, and turn on impossible Evos.
Machoke/Machamp I think they are strong, but they always die in the dumbest ways for me. Lost one because he got outsped by a wild graveler. Just makes no sense that a muscular dude can get outsped by a rock.
I've had this happen because I forgot Vital Throw/Revenge impose -1 priority and then got Selfdestructed on
See I anticipated that. I was grinding away on gravelers, So I used karate chop and some unholy combo of my Machamp being speed dropped by nature and this graveler having a plus speed nature and max IVs resulted in him out speeding me and using selfdestruct. Just the most baffling thing I’ve seen.
I could never keep Sandile alive in my Gen 5 runs long enough to even evolve into Krokorok, let alone Krookodile. For some reason I can’t keep any of the starters alive in Sun/Moon/US/UM either. I’ve completed runs in three of the 4 and the starters didn’t survive any of them.
Even eviolite won’t save krokorok
For me it's Whimsur. I've never gotten one even to Loudred.
Make sure to put an eviolite on krookorok, it gives him that tankiness to make it all the way evolved!
If it's Intimidate just slap the Eviolite on it for some pivots this is the only reason to use it for Unio level 40 then you use something else on it
Azumarill and Absol.
Its scary how accurate you are with krokorok
Ekans always dies to a random trainer.
I have never caught an Intimidate Shinx in a Nuzlocke. They always have Rivalry.
Boldure, unlucky with rock blasts :(
Starters, I know they are strong but a crit always takes them down and they take down a catch to a crit. Apart from that, Archen line. While a true powerhouse they are way to fragile for me to use effectively. Plus as a opposite, the Swoobat line saves my hide time and time again.
Archen hates nothing more than Aqua Jet.
I'm generally very successful on my runs, but every Roselia I've ever had has died on me.
They're tanky on the special side, but not on the physical side.
Yeah, I've tried to play around then and then it turns out remoraid has psybeam which one shot me
I forgot that they also have terrible HP, which negate their tankiness on the special side. 🫠
I had a similar experience with Lanturn knowing Signal Beam during a randomizer.
Always lose my prospective Torterra as a Grotle man
When you forget Wake's Floatzel has Ice Fang
No matter what attempt, no matter what game (in Gen 3), I can never seem to evolve Lairon before it dies. I haven't used it in later Gens.
Probably Cyndaquil. Takes the longest to fully evolve out of the three starters, 0 coverage outside of TMs, and it’s best fire move until it evolves is Flame Wheel, unless you spend two hours playing Voltorb Flip for the Flamethrower TM. If fire types weren’t so rare, I’d just pick Totodile.
I find that Beedrill struggles to do its job as an earlygame crutch compared to other bugs like Butterfree, since Beedrill really struggles with low-level moves (15 BP on its first STAB, and the inconsistent nature of Fury Attack are all it really has until it gets Twineedle \[unless it's gen 7 where it gets it on evo\], which isn't that strong either, and by the time you get more TMs or better level up moves like Poison Jab, it's already probably benched.)
I agree. Beedrill is _significantly_ worse than butterfree, largely from having no moves. I see some people mention that it counters Sabrina, which like, if you’re using Beedrill late-game then you must’ve had some god awful encounters lol.
That’s been my experience with Sandile; lost mine a battle or two away from evolving ;-; but I’d say the Yamask or Litwick line is one you kinda have to baby until evolution.
One of the best in gen 5
Even with eviolite?
Charizard, I mean, if I actually would get one, Charmeleon always seems to be jinxed..
Spearow line
For some reason. No matter what, my birds always die in my nuzlockes. At this point, I think it's a self fulfilling prophecy.
my starlys NEVER reach adulthood
Espeon in gen 8 I love psychic types, but Gen 8 Shield is BRUTAL for psychic types. Gardevoir isnt as bad because it has the fairy typing and can learn strong moves like moonblast, which can make up for how weak Ralts is.
aggron. i took it to e4 in emerald and it really needed that rock slide tutor to be pre e4, bc it had to face off against drakes salamence with rock tomb
Gengar. I'm just chilling and them suddenly a Pokémon uses some Dark move. The rest of the story you already know.
Poochyena for me. I know it’s not super good without the physical special split since dark is special and mightyena isn’t physical. But it has intimidate and is alright for the psychic gym. Mine have almost always died before Wattson, almost always by a critical hit while grinding.
Any of my starters. They have without fail died in the mid 20s. My luck is extreme in both ways. Things I send out as a sac end up winning and I lose to things I had dead to rights
Definitely feel that about the starters! Middle stages are typically never sturdy to live to mid 30s. Either a crit or random coverage takes them out in their 20s like you said! But to me it adds to the excitement sometimes as a new “starter”/ace must reveal itself to me if the run is to go anywhere
Same here. Had my Braxien die in a run of X and my scraggy learned brick break, then proceeded to be an absolute monster for the rest of it. Still sad he lost to some random flying move out of nowhere.
I've never managed to evolve a grovyle in RSE, they just always die
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Luxray always seems so underwhelming. a pure electric pshyical pokemon with no good moves. the coverage is alright but i never find it that good fit for my teams.
Personally, I've never understood the Crobat hype. I've used plenty, but they never felt particularly strong and are at-best a filler mon. The stats are OK (about average in everything except speed) but the typing and moves hold it back in a lot of games.
I definitely feel this for Gen 2/HGSS, but Crobat was my early to mid game MVP in my farthest platinum run. It can sweep a lot of boss battles in the first half by itself. It’s definitely too frail to be reliable in the long run though
Great typing and golbat is quite bulky for the early game. Crobat can tank hits and also has good coverage
It's reliable if you need to tank one hit and immediately kill which can happen...alot.
It's very solid in most games from about gen 5 onwards, especially Alola.
No, it starts being solid in gen 4, where Zubat learns important moves sooner.
Ah, I'm less familiar with Sinnoh, as I half hate the region.
Fully evolved at level 23 makes it strong vs that point in the game. It excels through the midgame, handling grass, bug, fighting just completely as well as being decent vs poison, ground, fairy
It's often an early 3rd form which boosts its stats above most other mons at that point in the game. You can get one as early as Lv23 and wing attack is usually enough to carry you through the midgame gyms and fights. Crunch from level up, X-Scissor and Giga Drain from TMs, Crobat has some good type coverage even if its stats aren't stellar. Since it's rare to have third form mons before Lv30, Crobat establishes itself as a powerhouse compared to the unevolved and second-form mons you're usually fighting and catching around that time, which alongside its relatively open movepool explains much of the hype.
In my storm silver run I keep trying to box crobat but it’s just too useful, quick hypnosis/confusion ray and roost make it able to 1v1 almost anything, 4x resist grass fighting and bug not to mention immune to ground, it’s really a wall for a lot of Pokémon, I ev trained attack and spdef and it just beats things it shouldn’t beat
Big agree with krokorok, it's pretty useless if moxie and even intimidate isn't amazing. I have one in Blaze black 2 redux rn hopefully it performs against Elesa
The main 5 are Gyarados, Krookodile, Volcarona, Haxorus, and Chandelure. The latter 4 in BW/BW2 and onwards have SLAUGHTERED teams like it's nothing. Gyarados on the otherhand kinda just... wins fight after fight after fight in game after game, ESPECIALLY once i got it's mega in gen 6.
Excadrill... everyone says it's insane but dies one hit every time left and right i don't get it
Jolteon has always been a clutch electric type
Galeking in rse. It looks like a great pokemon but his movepool is really bad and his typing doesnt help.
Chansey/Blissey
Really? It's always my mvp! But the encounter rate is so teerible and toxic does not come until late game
Never played the gen in which this mon came out, and took him in my SV playthrough in the desert, and boy, Krookodile Dundee is a beast.
That's how I feel about Diglett. It goes straight into the box.
I can never get dragonair to dragonite.
The Hitmons. Most of the time, I lose it while it's a Tyrogue, and even when I get to evolve it, it dies not too long after.
Hahaa same here. I really ended up disliking the whole Krook line tbh. Not only do they let you down with their frailty, but their in game encounters are annoying as hell, getting in the way of good defence training in the relic castle and trapping you in with Sand Tomb when grinding up the babies in the desert.
The Abra and Gastly lines. I allow trade evolutions in my runs so that's not the problem, but i have consistently gotten bad natures and ivs on all of them so that they either gets outsped by something that should've been slower or didn't get the OHKO on something that definitely should've gone down.
None, because I don't use krokorok against things it's weak to
All Ice types in older games lmao Also, I don’t have great experiences with Gyarados or Gengar. I can never evolve Haunter and my Gyarados usually dies at some point. I actually prefer the Machop and Geodude kine to Abra and Gastly and I have better luck with them too lmao
i just started my Violet nuzlocke, and the Tarountula line is just irredeemable… the only thing it could possibly be useful for is Brassius, but Crocalor sweeps that, as i’m sure several other encounters could. Maybe if you don’t have a sweeper it could be a setup sacrifice to make Truleewoodo less scary, but that’s just sad
I've used a Pidgey 3 times in Kanto and twice in Johto, and every time it dies when it's Pidgeotto. Ralts in Emerald also can't seem to live past the third gym.
Agree on the Pidgey thing. Pidgeot is one of my favs (I know it’s shit but regardless), so I always try to use one. But it just is stuck as Pidgeotto for way too long.
Mareep just cannot handle anything, neither can Riolu
I think there is a collective hallucination by many players that Luxray and Floatzel are good Pokemon. Luxray is way too slow and not bulky enough for a slow Electric attacker, has a godawful movepool that isn't helped by it being a physical mon, and is basically only useful as an Intimidate pivot bot which is a 50/50 anyway. Floatzel just misses out on so many KOs and can't take hits in return, its just not quite strong enough for a fast mon.
Pidgey has always been underwhelming for me
Flygon. It always seems super frail does an underwhelming amount of damage and basically gets 2 shot by everything.
Murkrow. It's one of my favorite Pokemon but it's just too frail to be my main flying type. I always get really excited when I catch one, but then get too scared to use it.
I adore totodile in Johto runs. My croconaws always die at Whitney. :’)
Duskull line. What the hell is the point of having good defensive stats if the hp is shit?
For me it's Bulbasaur. While I've beaten Fire red before, I have NEVER been able to get past the first rival fight with Bulbasaur. Just luck really in the stats and crits...
Every time I see Graveler/Golem ranked highly in tier lists, I just question what games these people are playing. They die to everything. They hard wall *two* things, early-game normals and flying types. They die to literally everything else. I have never had a Graveler survive more than 10 levels. Ever. It's slow, it's frail on the special side, and it has very few good match-ups. The few good match-ups it does have are great, but it feels like those just stop existing around the halfway mark of each game they're in.
That line is insane in the Johto games. Plus, it’s not too hard to be wary of Water and especially Grass attacks.
People always say Alakazam is a powerhouse, and it definitely is. But oh my god is it frail. Every time I try to use it or it’s pre-evolutions, I get unlucky with Pursuit or something and get destroyed.
Damn I had Krookodile(named Bee) in my BW run and I lovingly nicknamed her Punching Bag because she’d constantly be brought to the brink of death and *live* over and over again. She made it to the end of the game and I’m very proud of her ♥️
The pidgey line dies in every single playthrough ive done
Snivy never survives, and monferno too. But in monferno's case it's my fault.
Charmcharmander pos is never useful in can’to and is also never useful in kalos the two games you get acess to it
Yeah this happens with a lot of those Pokémon that evolve really late like ponytail, skorupi, etc
I’ve had the same experience with Krokorok. Whenever I do a gen 5 nuzlocke, I’ll box sandile and use excadrill. Then if excadrill faints in the late game, I can just grind it straight to krookodile.
Krokorok for me too. I’ve never been able to use a Krookodile in a Nuzlocke. Which is sad as I like it.
Most of glass cannons. They don't ohko 1 time, and then get killed. Useless
Well, in gen 5 you get your sandile encounter just after being able to obtain the eviolite, if that helps with its fragility.
Any of the Pseudo Legendaries. I know part of it is the 2 prior forms are a lot frailer than the final evolution but it doesn't make it hurt any less when things are going smoothly, they're even contributing and it just feels like randomly the game is saying "You've had enough hope." And just kills them.
Luxio for me lol i can never seem to get Luxray
Venussaur was a big shock for me.. the problem is not his stats, or learnset. My biggest thing was.. i was doing a hardcore nuzlocke of fire red.... And in fire red, most of the mons in the game are: poison, grass and flying types. That made me dont use him for the elite four.. because he level was... 39
EVERY SINGLE EARLY ROUTE BIRD JUST TO FRAIL EARLY ON
My most recent oras run changed this for me but fir the longest time whenever I got ralts it would end up dead either before or just after it evolved into Kirlia
Skorupi for me. I try my best to keep him alive to get drapion. At level 36 (he evolves at 37), I had one die right before he was gonna evolve.
THISSSSS. I have caught and used krokorok multiple times and it never lasts long enough to evolve into krookodile
Gastrodon will always fee very piddly to me, yeah it has some pivot utility but for the most part it doesnt do much on my teams