Official TVTropes Nuzlocke Thread

Well in that case, it was just a matter of calculating the HP and Defense at each level, the maximum amount of damage a crit Rock Tomb could do, and then comparing it to max HP. Which is a bit complicated, but still doable with just a calculator.

If you want to estimate the odds of actually winning the battle, you'd need to have a full blown simulator, taking into account average damage, speed, accuracy, etc in a multi turn battle.

So it's all theorycrafting by people who haven't actually played the game?

More like by people who aren't purposely trying to play the game at the lowest level possible with no other pokemon at all. Charmander may beat Bulbasaur if you're doing some kind of cheesy playthrough, but if you're playing normally it's a heck of a lot easier and more efficient to just hit 13 and one shot both Brock's mons with Vine Whip than it is to sink half a dozen potions into keeping Charmander going against him. And don't think for a second you're gonna pull off the same trick against Misty with Charmander, because her mons actually do know water moves in Gen I.

You only need potions if for some crazy reason you're trying to fight him at level 7. Charmander wins much more easily at the more typical level 9-10. In fact, it does better than Bulbasaur up to level 12.

And yes, I have beaten Misty with a Charmeleon. Already covered.

Now I haven't beaten Misty with an unevolved Charmander before but that's because I haven't tried. And the thing is that using an unevolved Bulbasaur also requires a lot more grinding, so Charmander still comes out ahead.

edited 3rd Apr '14 3:10:35 PM by storyyeller

And yes, I have beaten Misty with a Charmeleon. Already covered.

What, did she never actually use Bubblebeam in the fight?

I don't remember for sure but I think she used it. I never said that it was easy, just that it's not much harder than the numerous difficult battles that Ivysaur faces (most notably the SS Anne Rival).

Anyway, you complain that I'm considering only narrow circumstances, but I'm having trouble coming up with a reasonable metric where Bulbasaur comes ahead at all. Its large number of type weaknesses and horrible movepool mean that it's a poor contender throughout the game, even in "normal" gameplay.

edited 3rd Apr '14 5:33:37 PM by storyyeller

I swear, if I lose another mon before I start the Elite Four, I'm just throwing my hands up, because I'm still only up to 35 on my Dodrio and I'm already sick to death of grinding.

It's been a while, between powerleveling on the crowd of bikers at the north end of Cycling Road, and having started playing The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. But we're back, and we have news.

Current Team:
Craig, lv47 Blastoise, relaxed
Trina, lv45 Primeape, quiet
Timothy, lv44 Vileplume, quirky
Felicity, lv45 Fearow, jolly
Stan, lv46 Jolteon, naive

Timothy figured out how to do what he calls "the dance of his people", replacing Poison Powder with Petal Dance. I'm not sure about replacing Absorb with Giga Drain, though. Giga Drain only has 5 PP.

Stan and Felicity were an effective tag team at Saffron Gym, with Stan's Bite being super-effective, and Felicity's Drill Peck doing enough damage to one-shot just about anything she comes up against. Especially the Abra line, with their incredibly poor physical defense.

Sabrina's Kadabra and Alakazam both managed to survive a hit and got away with using Calm Mind, and Sabrina kept using Hyper Potion to try and keep them in the running. But Stan was persistent, and just kept gnawing until they dropped.

When I checked my badge case again, I noticed an unexpected space before the Marsh Badge where another one was supposed to go. Was I actually supposed to challenge Koga first before Sabrina?

It's probably just as well, since I don't have any direct counters for Poison types. I just had to break through with brute force, and that meant it was Craig's turn to take center stage.

I mixed it up a bit and let Felicity have a go at some of Koga's pokemon. Muk went down easily enough to Drill Peck, and even Minimize didn't save it. Then it was time for Koffing, with the very dangerous Selfdestruct. I had Felicity take to the skies with Fly, hoping to dodge the potential blast, but Koga started off with Sludge (which missed, of course). He managed to outsmart me, only instructing his Koffing to blow up after Felicity came back down.

She was knocked against the invisible walls, and for a moment I was afraid that I'd lost another bird. But she got up, badly injured, but still standing. Thank goodness.

Craig faced the last pokemon, Weezing, and decided to go with a bit of dramatic flair. He wanted to have a battle in the rain, and opened up with Rain Dance. The Weezing countered with Sludge, but between Craig's protective shell and the cleansing water coming from the sky, the poison didn't do much damage. The giant turtle summoned up a huge wave and Surfed his way to victory.

With Koga defeated, we could now use Surf outside of battles as well, which was good, because our next destination was on a little island somewhere off to the west, and we didn't exactly have a boat to take us there. (You'd think Fly could take you to places you've never been, but the game doesn't allow that. Bleh.)

I'm still grinding away over here. It's taking a long time because I can't really stand to do it for too long at a stretch, but I'm getting there. HedlyLamar is now up to 46, so just nine more levels to go on him. Unfortunately I still have another 5 levels to gain on Miracle and Magentron, 4 for Algun, and 3 for Elsa. Only Hardedge has reached my level 55 goal for all my mons before we make our challenge.

With Koga defeated, we could now use Surf outside of battles as well, which was good, because our next destination was on a little island somewhere off to the west, and we didn't exactly have a boat to take us there. (You'd think Fly could take you to places you've never been, but the game doesn't allow that. Bleh.)

By the way, I'd recommend bypassing Seafoam Islands and going through Diglet Cave over to Viridian and surfing south from Palette Town. Seafoam Islands is really annoying to get through and it's not like you can get Articuno in a Nuzlocke run anyway. Going around saves a lot of time.

Edit: Wait, if you have Fly, you can just fly directly to Palette Town. Even better.

edited 4th Apr '14 9:42:15 PM by storyyeller

Might not be a bad idea to sweep the trainers between Fuchsia and Seafoam to rack up some exp for your jolteon and vileplume, since they aren't gonna be getting as much in the next couple gyms.

Also, money. I kind of blew all my savings on drugsvitamins.

Does the VS Seeker still work while you're in the water?

Never tried, but I don't see why it wouldn't.

I just noticed that Lapras can learn Horn Drill. It might be possible to beat the Elite Four at a much lower level than I expected. Of course, Agatha is still a problem as is getting enough turns to boost speed and accuracy.

Okay, time for an update on my Platinum Nuzlocke.

Progress has been slow the past few days because I've been working. But, I managed to beat the Eterna gym, along with team Galactic at the Eterna building, without much trouble. Next, I went to the bicycling road and through Mt. Coronet to Hearthome city. I met Bebe and obtained an Eevee from her, which I have named Evan, and now I'm trying to dig up a thunderstone in the underground, which is why progress has been slow. Nicole has evolved into a Luxray. Nothing else to report.

FINALLY DONE WITH GRINDING, THANK GOD.

We're ready to take on the Elite Four. The team is:

• HedlyLamar, level 55 male Dodrio with Run Away
  • Drill Peck, Fly, Hyper Beam, Tri Attack
  • 146 HP, 164 Atk, 106 Def, 86 SpA, 82 SpD, 141 Spd
• Hardedge, level 55 male Kabutops with Swift Swim
  • Slash, Blizzard, Surf, Rock Slide
  • 140 HP, 150 Atk, 145 Def, 82 SpA, 85 SpD, 138 Spd
• Magnetron, level 55 Magneton with Sturdy
  • Thunderbolt, Supersonic, Tri Attack, Thunder Wave
  • 137 HP, 80 Atk, 105 Def, 165 SpA, 105 SpD, 117 Spd
• Miracle, level 55 female Alakazam with Synchronize
  • Psybeam, Psychic, Recover, Calm Mind
  • 148 HP, 94 Atk, 79 Def, 163 SpA, 105 SpD, 165 Spd
• Elsa, level 55 female Nidoqueen with Poison Point
  • Brick Break, Ice Beam, Earthquake, Shadow Ball
  • 178 HP, 123 Atk, 127 Def, 99 SpA, 109 SpD, 129 Spd
• Algun, level 55 male Venusaur with Overgrow
  • Razor Leaf, Frenzy Plant, Leech Seed, Sleep Powder
  • 167 HP, 113 Atk, 134 Def, 129 SpA, 139 SpD, 96 Spd

If you white out, can you start over with PC pokemon?

If I ever got my whole team destroyed, I would probably lose my will to livecontinue, and just start over. Or give up.

edited 8th Apr '14 6:34:19 PM by KylerThatch

I swear grinding is the worst part of a Nuzlocke.

I swear grinding is the worst part of a Nuzlocke.

If you use my strategy, you don't have to grind at all.

What's the strategy? I'm willing to try anything to lower the time spent grinding.

edited 8th Apr '14 7:01:59 PM by Megashade15

^ Use a single mon for the entire game.

Usually I would do something like that but in this case I think having different Pokes well help finish the last gym/beat Elite Four.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

Use a single mon for the entire game.

Technically I use two, but same idea.

Anyway, in the earlier games you don't really need a "balanced" team at all. I soloed the Elite Four in Blue with a level 53 Lapras, and I could probably do it at a much lower level with better planning and item support. Not sure how much the E4 improved in later generations.

Single mon is maybe a little extreme, but a smaller team probably is easier to level.

ALRIGHT, LET'S DO THIS.

BATTLE 1: CLOCKE VS LORELEI

• ROUND 1: MAGNETRON VS DEWGONG
  • Magnetron uses Thunderbolt! It's a OHKO!
• ROUND 2: MAGNETRON VS CLOYSTER
  • Magnetron uses Thunderbolt! OHKO!
• ROUND 3: MAGNETRON VS SLOWBRO
  • Magnetron uses Thunderbolt! OHKO!
• ROUND 4: MAGNETRON VS LAPRAS
  • Magnetron uses Thunderbolt! Lapras holds on at critical health.
  • Lapras uses Confuse Ray! Magnetron is confused.
  • Lapras restores health with a berry, bringing it into the yellow.
  • Clocke uses the Yellow Flute to cure Magnetron's confusion.
  • Lapras uses Surf! It's not very effective.
  • Magnetron's held Leftovers restore health to 94/137.
  • Magnetron uses Thunderbolt! Lapras faints!
• ROUND 5: MAGNETRON VS JYNX
  • Magnetron's Leftovers restore health to 102/137.
  • Magnetron uses Thunder Wave! Jynx is paralyzed.
  • Jynx is paralyzed!
  • Magnetron's Leftovers restore health to 110/137.
  • Magnetron uses Tri Attack! Jynx loses about 2/5ths health.
  • Jynx uses Ice Punch! It's not very effective, and Magentron's Leftovers restore health to 88/137.
  • Magnetron uses Tri Attack! Critical hit! Jynx faints!
  • Magnetron levels up to 56!

BATTLE 2: CLOCKE VS BRUNO

• ROUND 1: ALGUN VS ONIX
  • Algun uses Razor Leaf! OHKO!
• ROUND 2: MIRACLE VS HITMONCHAN
  • Miracle uses Psychic! OHKO!
• ROUND 3: MIRACLE VS HITMONLEE
  • Miracle uses Psychic! OHKO!
• ROUND 4: ALGUN VS ONIX
  • Algun uses Razor Leaf! OHKO!
• ROUND 5: MIRACLE VS MACHAMP
  • Miracle uses Psychic! OHKO!

Well, we're past the easy battles. Now things get serious.

edited 8th Apr '14 7:25:25 PM by Wryte