Pokemon Go

Aggron will probably be decent versus Kyurem, but Metagross will be better. It isn't factually bad, but GO favors stockpiling on the optimal 'mon.

Ah, the day we get species clause, that one will be fun. Too much of a toxic tryhard attitude in many fronts.

A species clause is a terrible idea for raids. The way raids work means there is always an optimal solution, and a species clause just changes that from "best x6" to "best x1, second best x1 etc.". On top of that it means decreased DPS on all fronts which increases the number of people needed to complete a raid.

Increasing the number of people needed is BAD. The game's rough enough on solo and rural players as it is.

Save it for PvP.

Edited by Anura on Mar 19th 2019 at 4:37:51 PM

The problem with Metagross, though, is that the optimal moveset is a Community Day-only set. And if, for whatever reason, you weren't able to get a squad of six good Meteor Mash Metagross (I only have two; I didn't get that much candy), you're just left hoping that they'll do another round of it at some point in the future. Aggron might not hold a candle to Metagross, just like Rhyperior is always going to be second to either Tyranitar or Groudon (depending on whether we're talking the Smack Down/Stone Edge set or the Mud Slap/Earthquake set), but the fact remains that sometimes, you have to make do with the "almost as good" set that isn't limited by time, and honestly plenty of them are quite workable. Too many people treat the game as "it's either the best or it's garbage."

In terms of future use, yes, next generation, we'll get to use Aggron effectively against Kyurem and Black Kyurem, as well as any White Kyurem that lack Fusion Flare (assuming said move is included in the game, of course), and it arguably will be useful against Terrakion that aren't packing whatever charged Fighting moves they give it (I'm assuming that Stone Edge will be on their list), though I'll almost certainly be using Water and Ground types preferentially against it unless it comes next winter and I fight it during a Steel weather boost. I guess it'll also be a top choice way down the line against Xerneas, but that's cart-before-horse thinking there (and Cobalion will probably knock Aggron down the useful Steel-type charts before then, assuming it can have a Metal Claw/Iron Head set).

Also, in cases where I can solo the raid, if they can't hit Aggron for super effective damage, I find it's great since I typically don't need as many heals after the fact just due to how much it can tank. Sometimes, particularly if I'm going to win no matter what, I want to choose the 'mon that only will need a Super Potion to get back to full instead of the Hyper Potion.

A species clause would also be bad from a fun standpoint, too. Raise your hand if you're really gonna be that person who tells that kid they can't use six of their beloved Pikachu (all in different cool hats!) on their team.

I guess a decent compromise would be to give some kind of bonus damage output to all Mons on the team for fielding one without duplicates. At the top end, that'd still result in the issue Anura brought up, but in the middle of the pack, it would reward people for running with a team of well-trained favourites (to an extent, anyway—I can't imagine anything short of ludicrous multipliers would save a team that's attacking into one or more resistances or that decided to run Shuckle, Smeargle and Shedinja).

Limited Research time again on March 30th, now featuring Lotad. Some things of note:

• The event now lasts from 11am to 8pm; a welcome change since a mere three hours felt a bit stingy and unfair to people who couldn't play the game during the afternoon.
• Weather-condition influenced mons will appear a lot more frequently.
• Castform will be able to learn Weather Ball.
• Shiny Lotad and Shiny (Normal form) Castform!

To be fair, only normal Castform has a shiny form.

Also in news, for those not keeping up, Giratina is going to be back as of Wednesday, and it's going to shift to Origin Forme as of April 2. Altered Form may not be any great shakes, but hey, stock up on candy now for when Origin Forme comes in to rock.

Next weekend looks like a much better event. I got to do maybe five minutes of the Feebas event back then. Also, Lotad are kind of rare here, so it'll be nice to finally load up on those candies.

In terms of things I'm kinda looking forward to, I got another EX raid invitation. On one hand, I enjoy getting those. On the other... eh... Defense Deoxys? This fight is going to be annoying. I should double check to see if I can make another Bite/Crunch Tyranitar, just to be sure I'm loaded for bear.

Finally, how did everyone make out on Treecko Day?

Got one shiny. Had to work, so didn't get to do much else. I'm a collector more than a fighter, so I'm happy with it.

Altered Giratina is somewhat useful, basically being a huge troll in PvP, but not terribly useful for PvE.

Lotad's super rare here, too. From what I've heard, it only ever spawns in the rain and we have a big problem where even during the rare cases where it doesn't rain, Go will, 90% of the time, fail to acknowledge that that is the weather. This is compounded by us having 5-7 months of the year where snow completely overwrites any rain. As such, they're rarer than most legendaries for us. TLDR, this event will be a gold mine for my community.

Heh, at least someone is excited for Deoxys. I'm collecting him for the sake of collecting, but at this point, it's just, "Ugh, another Deoxys I'm not going to use."

As far as Treecko Day went, the highlight of the day was managing to snag a level 34 100%. Someone posted it in one of the chats, causing a huge mob of people to congregate around the area... kinda surprised campus security didn't get antsy about it. Aside from that, trades got me a lucky 93% weather-boosted and then I just evolved my highest shiny plus my four other highest-level weather boosts. This gives me a full team of level 34+ Frenzy Plant Sceptiles in case I want to attempt that Rhydon solo sometime down the line.

I thought Treecko Day was Sunday when it was actually Saturday.

Derp.

I caught two shiny Treeckos, one of which was shockingly good stat-wise and was weather-boosted to an almost full arch. I evolved him the first chance I got.

My only shiny had an almost-empty arch.

It was still double-digit CP as a Sceptile.

Is it level 1? If you can find a level 1 collector in your area, they'd probably trade an arm and a leg for a level 1 shiny. Could probably get a higher level shiny Sceptile and a handful of other things out of the deal.

Well, A) I fed it a few candies so it's not level 1 anymore and B) there is nobody in my area.

Nobody.

I believed so as well, but cue the 1000 person Telegram group complex.

Yeah, it is a bit of a challenge finding one of those people. Just saying on the off-chance that you do know one, since there's a couple floating around my chat groups and one of them offered some pretty hefty stuff for what she wanted. Unfortunately for me, her list of wants is very specific, 90% comprised of rare shinies.

So, back from the Deoxys-D raid. I know I'm not going to surprise anyone with my revelations, but the short of it is, it's every bit as annoying as we all anticipated.

I went into the raid with 19, almost all of us 30 and above (and at least half of us at level 40). I admittedly didn't optimize for DPS, figuring that the room ensured that even the default recommendation (which, to be fair, wasn't bad - my best Community Day Metagross and then a parade of Tyranitars, so solid DPS even for the neutral-attack Metagross and the dual-Rock T-tars in the lineup) would result in an eventual victory. That said, the raid still took about 110 seconds for a near-full raid group of heavy-hitting players. Sure, it's not like we were taking a bunch of damage (and that Metagross tanked tons of Psycho Boosts), but man did it take time to whittle down. I dread to think of what would happen if you went in with a group of 10 or less where less than half were level 40 players.

On the bright side, healing afterwards was fairly cheap (one full revive for Metagross and a regular Potion for the T-tar that came in for mop-up at the end). Also, maybe it's me, but it seems that Deoxys in general is a fairly easy catch - once again, large target, didn't go into dodge or attack animation much, and I got it on the second throw.

So, as expected, not a hard or resource-intensive fight, but also not a fast one. I'm going to miss that 5-man, under-a-minute Deoxys-A raid, though. Guess we have something to anticipate for when Deoxys-S takes a turn.

Deoxys-D can be theoretically done with as few as three, though I wouldn't be comfortable trying it with less than five.

Also, Bagon.

I mean, I guess if you had 3 level 40s with 6 maxed out Shadow Ball Mewtwos or Gengar, I could see it (actually, given the damage it was doing, you might be able to skate by with 4 or 5), but yeah, at bare minimum, I'd want a team of 5 level 40 players leaning hard on the Dark/Ghost DPS.

Finally, Bagon Day, and I... (looks at date), aw, dammit, I'm going to be at a family function and absolutely cannot play at all then. That sucks so hard. I've been waiting for this... why couldn't it have been one week later?

Five players at level 30 with at least decent counters can do it. Gengar and Mewtwo yes (and Giratina-O, since that'll get Shadow Ball), but also Weavile, Pinsir, Tyranitar, Banette, Absol, Honchkrow, Houndoom, Yanmega... there's lots that can work.

Edited by Anura on Mar 27th 2019 at 6:10:15 PM

The recommended teams are always the ones that will last the longest, not the ones that will deal damage. If you got a Metagross and Tyranitars, it means that Deoxys had Psychic moves, so you'd optimally throw everything Dark, plus your SB Mewtwos if anything.

Also there's a Bug event coming.

I figured that we all know our type charts at this point and didn't need me running through the whole list of effective counters. But yes, the ones listed will also work, although I do have doubts as to whether some of those would really cut it at level 30 for a five-person raid team (Pinsir in particular... Bug Bite/X-Scissor is not the most impressive offensive spread, even with its good attack). Consequently, given how many of its possible counters are partly Bug, Flying, and/or Ice, I would not be looking forward to dealing with Rock Slide Deoxys-D. Seems kinda funny that a STAB charge move wouldn't be the most annoying set, but that's Deoxys for you.

Also, yes, I'm fully aware that the recommendations are more indicative of defensive effectiveness than anything (you'll note that I even allude to that). I will fully admit to being a bit lazy about team composition when in a full raid group, as I've repeatedly found that you can be on the suboptimum build and still clear the raid in such a circumstance relatively easy. Plus, in this instance, since it was already suggesting that I put several top attackers (while I did have Smack Down/Stone Edge T-tars in my lineup, the Bite/Crunch ones were first, and I figured it was a moot point with Deoxys' pitiful attack), I figured that it was mostly set dressing. About the only thing that might matter is the question of bonus balls due to damage dealt, but in a 19-person raid group, I figured I was going to only net one regardless (and I was right).

Giratina-O will be nice in the near future when we get it, of course. Wouldn't surprise me to see it rocket to the top of the charts for countering Deoxys.

For that Bug event... Maybe I'll finally get the candy I need to build that uber Shuckle that I've been planning to troll gyms with.

Pinsir does just as much DPS as Mewtwo, though the TDO is lower. Having a fast move that isn't NVE makes a huge difference.

Edited by Anura on Mar 27th 2019 at 9:38:31 AM

I'm admittedly discounting Pinsir a bunch in part because its defenses are on the flimsy side and in part because you've got a one-in-three chance that you're going to deal with Rock Slide. If you're going to be throwing in a Glass Cannon with a 1-in-3 chance of eating a super-effective charge move, may as well go for Gengar, who is more common and more powerful all around.

Which reminds me, I got a shiny max attack Gastly from research the other day, and I should really spend the candy and dust (and possibly TMs, depending on luck) to get that into fighting trim. I even have the resources to make the "second charge move" debate a legit question. For raiding, it wouldn't be worth it (the only one where it might be a possible question coming up would be a Hex/Shadow Ball/Sludge Wave set for possible use against Virizion next gen, and maybe Grass and Fairy Arceus if they decide to have every Arceus type a possible encounter, and Xerneas way down the line). But for gym assault, it might be nice to deal with Grass and Fairy defenders that pop up in local gyms (the former are fairly solid defenders locally, given the plentiful Water types).

Guess I should probably take stock of my best attackers against Grass and Fairy and make a decision based on that.

Unless you missed both Community Days for each, you should probably have a Blast Burn Charizard and Meteor Mash Metagross that would shred each of those.