Which Pokemon can beat Emerald's bosses by themselves?

[There Is No Arceus]

Not forgetting the stats this time, here they are. 52% of all mons made it here, so we still have just over half left.

Gen 1	Gen 2	Gen 3
21/52, 40%	13/23, 57%	75/135, 56%

We see the distance between gens 2 and 3 get smaller, with gen 1 still performing far worse for some reason.

Normal	Fighting	Flying	Fire	Dragon	Water	Ice	Grass	Bug	Electric
8/27, 30%	10/11, 91%	8/22, 36%	4/10, 40%	7/10, 70%	32/47, 68%	4/6, 67%	14/21, 66%	3/16, 19%	3/14, 21%
Poison	Ground	Rock	Steel	Dark	Ghost	Psychic
9/17, 53%	14/22, 64%	10/19, 53%	5/12, 42%	5/10, 50%	4/6, 67%	24/31, 77%

The biggest losers here are the Fire, Grass, Ground and Rock types, with Fire sinking below the 50% mark and the other three dropping from the 80s to the 60s. Interestingly, the Water type escaped nearly unscathed, despite being weak to a starter type. Absorb just isn't very good.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

After that easy boss, it's time for another hard one: we're taking on Wattson. For this fight, we will have access to all items obtainable before facing Wattson. Beating Brendan allows us to reach Mauville City, where the Rock Smash Dude gives us HM06 Rock Smash. There is also a guy near the gym who can teach our pokemon Rollout. We gamble our life savings away, which gets us TM29 Psychic, TM35 Flamethrower, TM24 Thunderbolt and TM13 Ice Beam; we now have offensive options. To the north, we beat up the Winstrates and get the Macho Brace. We then head west of town to Verdanturf, where a guy in the pokemon center will teach Fury Cutter. Finally, we head through the eastern part of Rusturf Tunnel, which leads us to a secluded spot where we find the Blackglasses.

We then head back to Mauville and take on the gym. So let's have a look at what we're up against. Wattson leads with his level 20 Voltorb, knowing Rollout, Spark, Selfdestruct and Shock Wave. Not his most dangerous guy, but this might be a pain to set up against because he can go boom at any time. Second is Electrike, also level 20, with the ability Static and the moves Shock Wave, Leer, Quick Attack and Howl. This thing's a dud, but i do need to watch out for paralysis. Much scarier is his level 22 Magneton, knowing Supersonic, Shock Wave, Thunder Wave and Sonicboom. Steel types are tough to remove from the field, and the confusion and paralysis this thing inflicts will make it tough to even do anything. Lastly, there's his ace Manectric at level 24, who has the ability Static and is holding a Sitrus Berry. His moves are Quick Attack, Thunder Wave, Shock Wave and Howl. This thing has some serious special attack, and with a few Howls those Quick Attacks will hurt too.

All in all, this is a very good team, though it lacks diversity. There's very little he can do to pokemon that resist or are immune to Electric.

My expectations for which pokemon would have it easy were immediately crushed; Sceptile could not do it. His only semi-decent STAB is still Bullet Seed, which was enough to kill the NFEs but not enough to kill the others. For Magneton, i had to rely on a combination of Rock Smash, Screech and Swagger to sometimes get past, but even when this worked, i'd reach Manectric either paralyzed, confused, or both. I just didn't have the power to make it through. Sceptile is out. Combusken and Blaziken however did have it easy; they fried everything with Flamethrower. Now for a pokemon for whom this was obviously hopeless: Mudkip. He would use Mud Sport to stop all the supereffective hits, but this would only ever get him past Voltorb. Electrike would still kill him no matter what i did. Mudkip is out. Its evolutions were on the other side of the spectrum; they obviously wiped the floor with Wattson.

Ludicolo has the moveset issues you expect from stone evolutions; nothing good by levelup. He did get Ice Beam from the Game Corner, as well as Rock Smash and Swagger, but nothing to hit Magneton with. In the end, i saw no options but to try for a freeze, but that never happened. Ludicolo is out. Seedot was up next, and he has access to all of Synthesis, Growth and Harden. However, his only special move is Bullet Seed, which even at +6 did next to nothing to Magneton. Turns out good moves are only useful if you have some actual stats to back them. Seedot is out, and joins his evolution Nuzleaf in the void. Shiftry however also gets Thief as a STAB special move, which didn't just do more damage than bullet seed, it also allowed me to steal Manectric's berry for some extra healing.

Next up was Wingull. Wingull is out; that brings us to Pelipper. Pelipper is out, we're on to Kirlia. Kirlia hasCalm Mind; she'd get two of those in on each of the NFEs, giving me +4 into Magneton. Even a not very effective Psychic gets the 2-shot at that point, and Manectric thereafter was a one-shot. Wally's girl Gardevoir also gets Calm Mind, so she could set up 4 of those and OHKO everything. The next pokemon, Shroomish, didn't really have offense vs Magneton, but with Leech Seed, Stun Spore, Swagger and Mega Drain, i could turn it into a stallfest that ultimately went in my favour. Manectric did get scary with howl and quick attack, but Leech Seed combined with Stun Spore and Mega Drain got him down; i got just enough full paralyses. His evolution Breloom didn't go for stall, rather he set up all his Bulk Ups on Electrike and proceeded to Mach Punch Wattson down.

On to Kadabra; he spammed Psychic and won, avoiding paralysis with his Cheri Berry. I should add that i got a special defense drop on Magneton and a crit on Manectric, but a win's a win. Zam didn't get the special defense drop, so he had to spend a turn doing something other than Psychic; disabling Thunder Wave so i would continue to outspeed and Psychic for the victory. It was now time for our boy Nincada. He made it much further than his evolutions, but every legend comes to an end. He had no Ground moves, and while he was immune to Electric and could use Harden and Sand-Attack with Leech Life for healing, Magneton has Sonicboom. I tried using Swagger and Sand-Attack so he'd kill himself in confusion, but to no avail. Nincada is out, and can now join Ninjask and Shedinja in the great beyond.

With Exploud, i'd set up 2 Howls on Voltorb hoping not to get paralyzed by Spark, then i'd kill Voltorb and Electrike with Pound hoping Static wouldn't trigger. Magneton was a 2-shot with Flamethrower even if Wattson healed, but he could seriously mess me up if i was slower and he got too many hits in. Manectric was a 2-shot with Uproar, but it took until attempt 10 before i arrived non-paralyzed and could 2-shot him before he 2-shot me. As for Makuhita, he had Bulk Up and actually benefited from Paralysis due to Guts, but Magneton could kill him from over half health, and the two NFEs always did enough damage to bring him there. Makuhita is out. Hariyama the came in to avenge his son, setting up a Bulk Up, getting Paralyzed by using Arm Thrust on a Static mon, and then destroying them all with Vital Throw.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

In previous fights, Marill could rely on his Huge Power Rollouts to clear out the enemies, but that obviously wasn't happening here. Nor was there any other road to victory; Marill is out. Azumarill was much in the same boat; he could get a Rollout streak going with enough luck if he Swaggered Voltorb, but while this could get me past Magneton if all enemies cooperated, Manectric then outsped and killed me before i could hit Rollout number 5. I never got that far again; Azumarill is out. Beating Wattson with Defense Curl and Rollout is possible though; i did so with Golem just for shits and giggles. As for Sableye, his main offense was Psychic, but that wouldn't fly vs Magneton so i used Swagger and Night Shade to try and get past him. He never played nice though, and never let me win. Sableye is out. Up next was its fellow Granite Cave mon, Aggron. Aggron had Rock Tomb for damage against most of the enemies, and Mud-Slap for Magneton, but that move is so weak that even at 4x effective, 2 hits only brought Magneton into heal range. Meanwhile he could incapacitate me with paralysis and confusion and deal serious damage with Shock Wave. I tried an alternative strat with Rollout, but while this might have worked given enough attempts, in the attempts i got i'd always get fully paralyzed before i could hit Magneton, o else i'd be so damaged Manectric could finish me. Aggron is out.

Machop could get a Bulk Up in, kill Voltorb, get another Bulk Up in, and then spam Karate Chop. Magneton was even nice enough to paralyze me and give me Guts. His evolutions also won with the same strat. Meditite gets Huge Power in combination with a physical Hidden Power Fighting, so after one Bulk Up she was set to spam Hidden Power, provided no confusion self-hits or full paralysis. Things worked out in attempt 3, and Meditite won. The 'cham of course followed the same strategy as the 'tite, and won first try. Now it's time for a family reunion, but while Electrode could kill his younger brother in a few Thunderbolts, Magneton proved sturdier. I needed swagger to outdamage him with my Sonicbooms, and he tended not to cooperate. In attempt 7 though, he did cooperate, and Swagger also caused Manectric to kill himself in confusion when he would otherwise have been in heal range. On to Gloom, and this was tedium incarnate. Gloom has Sleep Powder but has to rely on Acid and Bullet Seed for offense. Both of the NFEs were 3-shots with Acid, and they could wake up early and make life difficult with Explosion or paralysis. Course, Magneton is unaffected by Acid and resists Bullet Seed, so i had to rely on Swagger and self-hits. Took until attempt 7, but eventually he cooperated and killed himself. Manectric however cooperated immediately as i put him to sleep and Acided him down. Vileplume doesn't get Sleep Powder, but her Electric resistance and Mega Drain healing proved sufficient to outlast Magneton while i waited for him to kill himself in confusion. Her sister Bellossom didn't even have any reliable healing, instead getting Magical Leaf. So i used Swagger and Thunder Wave against Magneton, and it took all the way until attempt 9 before he cooperated. Manectric however folded immediately.

Dodrio could OHKO the NFEs with Tri Attack, but then Manectric came out third for some reason. From here on i needed really good luck with either Swagger or with Tri Attack causing status. I got what i needed in attempt 6; while Manectric could fire off a Thunder Wave, i was holding a Cheri Berry and could thereafter Thief off his Sitrus. Manectric never hit me again, and Magneton only ever hit me with Sonicboom and Supersonic; the berry prevented him from seeing the kill with Shock Wave. Roselia was next, and she would set up a growth on Voltorb, Mega Drain him and set up 2 more growths vs Electrike. I'd then seed Magneton, swagger him and set up the rest of my Growths before killing him and Manectric with Mega Drain. On to Gulpin, and things seemed pretty hopeless at first. He has Ice Beam which is a pretty good move, but not when you're up against Magneton. Fortunately he had Amnesa and Yawn, but he still had to worry about Sonicboom. Things could also go south if Voltorb used Explosion. In attempt 8 though, Magneton hit himself often enough for me to get past him, and while Manectric got me down to just 1 HP, he then hit himself rather than killing me, so i could finish things with Ice Beam. However, because of how extremely luck-dependent this win was, Swalot could not recreate it. I tried strats where i used Sludge to waste a heal against Electrike, and i tried foregoing yawn in favour of just spamming Swagger and then Ice Beam, but nothing worked. Swalot is out. Things also didn't go too swimmingly for Archie's boy Sharpedo. He came just shy of OHKOing Voltorb, and the damage Voltorb did meant Manectric, who came out third, could kill me with Shock Wave despite my Sitrus. I had to rely on Swagger to stop this from happening, but even if he hit himself enough, Magneton would just kill me. Sharpedo is out.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Wailmer was obviously in a rough spot. He could sometimes get past the NFEs by using Swagger, but one hit from them meant Magneton could outspeed and OHKO, and Voltob was guaranteed to get a hit in. I tried with Quick Claw, but to no avail. Wailmer is out. Wailord has way higher stats and could thus consistently kill the NFEs, but he also had no tools versus Magneton, so things always stranded there. I tried with Sitrus Berry, and with Cheri Berry to maybe buy an extra turn as he thunder-waved, but nothing worked. Ice Beam could never freeze Magneton, and he never hit himself enough. Wailord is out. Maxie's boy Camerupt of course did stand a chance; Magnitude cleared out all of Wattson's mons. Flannery's boy Torkoal had Flamethrower to spam, so he won quite easily as well.

For Grimer, things went less well. He gets Flamethrower for some reason, but to use that move to any effect you need a special attack stat. Grimer doesn't have that. Sludge could usually bring me past the NFEs, but i'd have to use Swagger on Magneton to get enough hits in. The few times i got past him, i was so damaged that Manectric would finish me. Grimer is out. Muk's special attack still isn't all that good, but at least he could 2-shot Magneton. He then had the bulk to Thief off Manectric's berry for some extra health, and Sludge him down. Spoink time, but things didn't go too well for him. Psychic was good enough against the NFEs, but Voltorb really liked to explode on me. Because of this, i only reached Magneton about half of the time. The strat there was to hit a Swagger and then spam Psybeam hoping for good ranges. I got the ranges i needed only once, and reached Manectric paralyzed with a sliver of HP left. Spoink is out. Grumpig however had the bulk to tank way more hits, and thus could get the ranges he needed on Magneton. Manectric then died to a crit, earning our favourite forgettable pig the win.

For Sandslash, you'd expect things to go easy. You'd be right. I started with Defense Curl, then i hit Rollout. Unfortunately i got fully paralyzed against Manectric, so i had to use a second Rollout to finish things. After that came everyone's favourite dizzy panda, Spinda. Spinda is a terrible pokemon. It has Hypnosis, but its strongest offense (Psychic) can't even 2HKO Voltorb. I also had nothing for Magneton. I tried Swaggering him and hoping for self-hits, but this did not pay off. Spinda is out. As for its fellow soot route pokemon, Skarmory, things didn't go too well either. Skarmory's only non-not very affective offense, Swift, couldn't one-shot the NFEs, and if i got hit by anything other than Selfdestruct, Manectric would then just outspeed and kill me. I tried with a Sitrus Berry to tank more hits, and with a Quick Claw to try and hit Swagger before Manectric attacked, but neither strat worked out. Skarmory is out.

We go from a hopeless case to a guaranteed victory: Flygon's only Ground move is Sand Tomb, but that proved enough to kill all foes. Its fellow desert mon Cacturne was next, and he had a solid plan. After killing Voltorb, i'd set up Leech Seed on Electrike and get a bunch of Growths in. Eventually, after he had howled a bunch of times, i killed him. I'd then seed and Swagger magneton, get the rest of my Growths in, and go for Bullet Seed. This worked swimmingly, and Manectric was one-rounded after that. Next was Zangoose, and the strat was to kill Voltorb, set up 3 Swords Dances on Electrike, and then Slash away. Swords Dance this early is really OP, so i won. Seviper's toolkit is less OP, but Shed Skin definitely came in handy here. I had Poison Tail for the pure electric types, and Flamethrower for Magneton, in addition to Thief for a second Sitrus Berry. Took 4 attempts, but i got it to work.

Next up were Tate & Liza's boys. Lunatone's winning strategy was to put Voltorb to sleep and then start Rollout; the 5th hit didn't OHKO Magneton, so i used another Hypnosis and spammed Psychic until he was dead. Same thing for Manectric. Solrock doesn't get Hypnosis, but he does get Flamethrower, so Magneton was no issue. I did have to Swagger Manectric, but he cooperated immediately. Barboach was next, and he had to play the Magnitude lottery, getting the ranges he needed on attempt 2. Whiscash then once again showed his superiority, succeeding where so many other Water types had failed and absolutely destroying Wattson with Magnitude. On to another mon who stood zero chance: Corphish. Magneton could outspeed and OHKO from near-full HP, and i needed my Sitrus to even reach him at all. Corphish is out. Crawdaunt was in much the same situation, except that Manectric came out third and OHKOd me. Crawdaunt is out.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Baltoy could set up all his Hardens on Voltorb as he tried to Rollout, then i killed the NFEs with Psychic. Against Magneton i had to spam Mud-Slap, but that was strong enough for me to take him out. Manectric did crit through my Hardens once, but that wasn't enough damage to stop me from killing with Psychic. No reason to change things up with Claydol; he also won. That means we're now on to the fossils. Lileep resists everything and has Ingrain, but she can't hurt Magneton. So i Swaggered him and he killed himself. Manectric would also get dangerous with its Howls, so i swaggered him too and he killed himself too. If Lileep can do it, obviously so can Cradily. Armaldo however had massive problems with Magneton. I would set up a Mud Sport before killing the NFEs, but i had nothing real for Magneton. I tried Swagger, but he always hit enough SonicBooms to kill me anyway. I even tried a hail-mary strat with Struggle, but that didn't work out either. Armaldo is out.

Milotic was next, and went on to show that this fight isn't hopeless for everyone weak to Electric. Ice Beam took out the NFEs, then against Magneton i hit a Swagger before spamming Water Pulse. This would usually get him down, but Manectric could get annoying. I had to Swagger him too, and hope he'd hit himself often enough for me to kill with Ice Beam. This happened in attempt 6; Milotic lives to fight another day. Misty's boy Staryu could ditch his water type right away with Camouflage, which would have been useful if he had any special defense. Magneton could 2-shot me even if i was a normal type. I tried healing up with Recover while he was confused, but that didn't work out. I tried freezing him with Ice Beam, but the one time that happened he defrosted immediately. Staryu is out. Misty's other boy Starmie can't change its type, yet it did a lot better. It could outspeed and one-shot the NFEs, then Manectric came out third. I hit a Swagger as he Thunder-Waved my Cheri Berry, then he hit himself so i could kill him. Against Magneton i had to keep him confused as i spammed not very effective Psychics, and in attempt 7 he finally cooperated and let me win.

Kecleon's Colour Change meant the enemies could only use their good moves every other turn, but that alone wasn't enough for the win. Even having Flamethrower to deal with Magneton and Thief to steal Manectric's berry wasn't enough for the win. You need offensive stats to beat this gym, and while Kecleon has good attack, he has no moves to go with that, and his special attack isn't good enough to kill them all with Flamethrower. I tried with Sitrus and with Cheri, but neither of these items got me the win. Kecleon is out. We're now on to the Mt. Pyre crew. Banette would spam Psychic on the NFEs, then she'd Swagger Magneton and, provided some self-hits, kill with Night Shade. I then Swaggered Manectric too, which was safe cause his only physical move is normal type. Psychic made short work of that foe as well. Duskull had it rougher though; hs best move was Night Shade because of his bad offenses, but that couldn't even 2HKO the NFEs. He had to Swagger everyone and hope they cooperated, which they never did. Duskull is out. Dusclops's Psychic is only stronger than Night Shade against Electrike, but his added bulk meant he could tank more hits while he tried with Swagger and Night Shade. It took all 10 attempts, but eventually my foes hit themselves enough for me to Night Shade my way past. Our honorary Mt. Pyre mon, Tropius, couldn't do it though. I tried getting various amounts of Growths in on both Voltorb and Electrike, but while i could get to a point where i consistently 2-shot Magneton, my bad speed and bulk meant i'd take so much damage in the process that Manectric could always finish me. The one time he didn't, i discovered that 5 Growths isn't enough to OHKO him with Razor Leaf. Tropius is out. Lastly for Mt. Pyre, Chimecho had powerful Psychics, which combined with Swagger on Magneton ripped everything apart.

Time for the Safari Zone crew. For Wobbuffet though, this is the end of the road. If Geodude Selfdestructed, i would not have enough HP left to counter everyone else, and even in the few attempts where he didn't selfdestruct, i had to play a guessing game as to whether i should use counter or mirror coat. I never won said guessing game. Wobbuffet is out. Now we've reached a pokemon weak to Electric that managed to get a first-try victory. Xatu could outspeed and OHKO the NFEs with Psychic, and Manectric came out third. I outsped and got a Special Defense drop with Psychic, thus ensuring the 2-shot without triggering the berry. My foe used Thunder Wave, but due to Synchronize he also got paralyzed and i still outsped the next turn for the kill. I did swagger Magneton, and he cooperated and allowed me to Night Shade him down. Girafarig followed more or less the same strat, with two exceptions: he could not OHKO Voltorb, and he faced Manectric last so he had to use Thief to neutralize the berry. Still worked though; first try. Surprisingly though, Donphan did not win first try, or even second, third or fourth try. Due to extremely bad confusion and paralysis luck, he didn't get past Magneton until attempt 5. The fact that he doesn't have any ground moves didn't help of course. Pinsir was next, and after killing Voltorb he'd set up all 6 Bulk Ups on Electrike. I still needed a confusion self-hit to 2HKO Magneton, and due to some extreme bad luck i didn't get that far until attempt 8. Manectric died without a struggle though. Finally for today, Rhydon doesn't get any ground moves, but he does get Flamethrower, so it was an easy 1st try.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Time for the Shoal Cave crew. Glalie would start a Rollout against the NFEs; with the 5th hit dealing most of Magneton's HP. I then Swaggered him, and a self-hit combined with Ice Beam took him out. I also had to Swagger Manectric, but he kept hitting himself and thus i won. Things went less well for his colleague Spheal. The only way i could get past Voltorb was if he used Selfdestruct turn 1. I could then Encore Electrike into Howl and start an Ice Ball, but Manectric came in third, outsped and OHKOd. There's nothing i could do; Spheal is out. Sealeo could consistently beat Voltorb, but that barely matters when Manectric always outspeeds and kills, and you can't run Quick Claw because you need Sitrus Berry to get there. Sealeo is out. Walrein however won first try; Manectric went for Howl and thus died to the 4th Ice Ball, and Magneton was OHKOd by the 5th.

Now we're on to the deep seas; this'll be a massacre. First on the chopping block is Clamperl; bad movepool, weakness to Electric and its only decent stat is Defense which doesn't matter here. Clamperl is out. Gorebyss, now the sole representative of the Clamperl clan, came in with a vengeance. She also has a bad movepool, but at least she has an actual STAB move in Water Pulse. It took 4 attempts before things went my way, but eventually Voltorb exploded turn 1. I then brought Electrike into heal range with Water Pulse as he howled, set up Agility on the heal turn and then killed with the slightly stronger Ice Beam. Magneton and Manectric were both swaggered, and hit themselves at just the right times to go down to Water Pulse without the second heal or Manectric's berry ever triggering. Not all deep-sea pokemon fold to electricity, and i'm sure Clamperl and Huntail are looking down proudly from the heavens. Relicanth however didn't have any family members in the great beyond who could send him good luck, and it showed. The only way he'd get past Voltorb with enough HP to tank something from Manectric was if Voltorb exploded, and even then, Manectric easily 2-shot me. Swagger didn't help; Relicanth is out.

Corsola may have Recover, but that's not gonna save you if you take about half damage from the NFEs. Bad speed also didn't help; there was nothing i could do to prevent all of them from hitting me at least once. Corsola is out. Volt absorb meant that our next pokemon, Chinchou, wasn't as bothered by electricity as its fellow deep-sea mons, but unfortunately Wattson would realise that the moment Voltorb hit a Spark, and wouldn't use those moves thereafter. I tried Swaggering Magneton and getting him to kill himself, but the one time that worked, Manectric just finished me off. Chinchou is out. With Lanturn however, Voltorb went for Rollout turn 1, so when i reached Magneton he healed me a bit. This extra bulk allowed me to Swagger and Ice Beam through Magneton, and then my Ice Beam froze Manectric and allowed me to batter him down.

Next was a pokemon with a reputation for being absolutely awful: Luvdisc. I don't think i even have to describe how poorly this went. Luvdisc is out. As for Seadra, he's yet another water type with Ice Beam and little else. No anti-Magneton tools, while Magneton definitely had anti-Seadra tools. Swagger and Water Gun got me past Magneton once, but my HP was in the red so Manectric just used Quick Attack for the kill. Seadra is out. Lastly for today, Kingdra gets the same movepool, but better stats and no water weakness definitely makes this fight easier. Freezing Manectric also didn't hurt.

 

[virtualpet2001]

Wattson is about the massacre I expected, though im wondering how the survivors will fare against norman now

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Wattson is about the massacre I expected, though im wondering how the survivors will fare against norman now

Norman will be tough, but Flannery's the more immediate threat i'd say. Those Overheats are gonna sting. Course, i'll be facing Maxie before i face her, but i doubt he'll put up much of a fight

 

[There Is No Arceus]

We're on to the pseudos, though things didn't start well for them. Bagon may resist Electric, but with no bulk, the NFEs often still got me down to my berry. They also liked to paralyze me, which meant Magneton didn't spend a turn doing that and i didn't have the time to Flamethrower him down. Even in the attempts where everything seemingly went to plan and i got past Magneton, Manectric took way too little from my Headbutts, so he killed me in a few Shock Waves. Bagon is out. Shelgon has better bulk but no better moves; he could get past Magneton rather easily, but he needed Swagger luck vs Manectric to secure the win. It took all 10 attempts, but eventually Manectric cooperated and hit himself when it counted. Salamence didn't resist Electric, but he could outspeed and OHKO Magneton; i still had to Swagger Manectric to get him to cooperate, but eventually i won. Things didn't go well for the other pseudo line though. Metang has nothing for Magneton. I'd need good Swagger luck against both him and the Manectric that followed, which never happened. Metang is out. Metagross also needed good Swagger luck vs Magneton, which happened in attempt 6, but at least Manectric was a 2-shot with good Psychic ranges (first low, then high so as to avoid the berry).

Legendary time. Latias took out the non-steels with Psychic, but against Magneton i once again had the displeasure of having to use Psywave. Worked out first try though. Up next was yet another pure Water type, but somehow Kyogre outperformed its brethren. Rain-boosted Water Pulses either one-shot or two-shot everything. Groudon also didn't have all that many problems here, and Rayquaza had Dragon Claw for the non-Steels and Flamethrower for Magneton. As for Jirachi, he didn't have great anti-Magneton tools, but he did have Rest to out-stall Magneton and wait for him to hit himself enough. Manectric went down to Psychic thereafter. Last of the Hoenn dex, Deoxys had Night Shade for Magneton and Psychic for the rest.

Time for our FRLG champs to take the field. Snorlax gets Amnesia, Defense Curl and for some reason also Flamethrower, so he was able to make himself near-invincible and deal supereffective damage to the one mon that could circumvent that. Suicune however had more trouble. Even if i set up rain, Bubblebeam was a range to kill Voltorb. I'd always end up paralyzed at some point, maning they could bombard me with supereffective Shock Waves. I wasn't guaranteed to even make it past Magneton, and i needed some real good swagger luck if i were to have any hope of beating Manectric. It took all 10 attempts, but eventually Suicune pulled through and beat the Electric gym. Mewtwo won by being Mewtwo, and finally, Mew got in all his Bulk Ups and then killed them with Mega Punch and Rock Smash, though the crit vs Magneton may have mattered.

And that's everyone. Of the 109 pokemon that made it to Mauville, 71 were able to defeat Wattson, while 38 faltered. This is only the third gym and we've already lost over half our challengers; Hoenn is proving a lot tougher than Kanto or Johto. Anyway, the remaining 71 will now go on to face Maxie at Mt. Chimney.

Here's the table showing how many mons beat each boss:

Start	After Roxanne	After Brawly	After Route 110 Rival	After Wattson
210	140	121	109	71

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Time for the stats. 34% of all pokemon made it this far, which is honestly way lower than i thought. A category that scores above that is doing well, while a category that scores below is performing poorly.

Gen 1	Gen 2	Gen 3
18/52, 35%	7/23, 30%	46/135, 34%

Looks like these percentages have evened out a bit, with gen 1 slightly overperforming and gen 2 underperforming. Gen 3 probably did poorly here compared to gen 1 because of the amount of water types the gen introduced, but i don't really have an explanation for why gen 2 sank below gen 1.

Normal	Fighting	Flying	Fire	Dragon	Water	Ice	Grass	Bug	Electric
5/27, 19%	9/11, 82%	4/22, 18%	4/10, 40%	6/10, 60%	11/47, 23%	2/6, 33%	10/21, 48%	1/16, 6%	2/14, 14%
Poison	Ground	Rock	Steel	Dark	Ghost	Psychic
6/17, 35%	13/22, 59%	6/19, 32%	2/12, 17%	2/10, 20%	2/6, 33%	21/31, 68%

Looks like the Bug type is already down to its last member; only Pinsir remains to represent the type. Almost all types sustained losses here, with Water of course being dealt the heaviest blow; it fell from 68% all the way to 23%. Not even the Ground type managed to all stay alive against the Electric gym; we lost Nincada. Surprisingly though, we didn't lose any Fire types; guess being able to deal with Magneton was that valuable. We also saw Ice, Grass, Poison, Rock, Dark and Ghost fall below the 50% mark here, and Normal, Flying, Electric and Steel fell below the 20% mark.

 

[Greninjaman]

Wow. A massacre and we haven't even gotten to Norman.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

come to think of it, i'm actually not sure Norman will be such a big deal. At that point, i have access to Hidden Power which everyone can learn, and with my chosen IV spread it's always a max power Fighting move.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Maxie time. For this fight, we have access to all items that are obtainable before facing Mt. Chimney Maxie. For beating Wattson, we get TM34 Shock Wave, as well as the ability to use Rock Smash outside of battle. We head north to Route 111, pass through Route 112 and the Fiery Path, then we head back to Route 111 where we receive TM43 Secret Power. We pass through Route 113 to Fallarbor Town, where a guy will teach our pokemon Metronome. On to Route 114, where we get TM28 Dig from the Fossil Maniac's little brother, and TM05 Roar from some guy. We press on into Meteor Falls where we witness a confrontation between Team Aqua and Team Magma; they're heading for Mt. Chimney. We pass through Route 115 to Rustboro, where we take a small detour south to get the White Herb from the Pretty Petal Flower Shop. We then head through Rusturf Tunnel; opening that up gets us HM04 Strength. Once we've reached Mauville, we take a detour south to Slateport, where a guy at the market now sells TM10 Hidden Power.

With all those goodies in hand, it's time to head up Mt. Chimney. So let's have a look at what we're up against. Maxie leads with a level 24 Mightyena with the ability Intimidate and the moves Sand-Attack, Bite, Odor Sleuth and Roar. Odor Sleuth without any normal or fighting moves is definitely a choice, and Roar is a dud, but sand-attack means i cannot safely set up on him. Intimidate is also a massive pain for physical attackers. Second is his level 24 Zubat, with Supersonic, Astonish, Bite and Wing Attack. This is a pretty decent moveset at this point in the game, but it's on a Zubat so i'm not really worried; only Confusion is troublesome. Lastly, there's his ace, Camerupt. It is level 25 and knows Tackle, Ember, Magnitude and Focus Energy. The only real threat here is Magnitude, and that's a luck-based move so with enough attempts most mons will be able to beat the odds.

All in all, while not a complete pushover, i don't think this Maxie fight is going into the history books as a bloodbath.

First up was Combusken. A White Herb took care of intimidate, so i could Double Kick down the Mightyena. I then set up some Bulk Ups on Camerupt before Double-Kicking him down too, and Zubat was one-shot by Flamethrower. Blaziken did the same thing, so next was Marshtomp. Mightyena put up a bit of a fight but eventually went down to Dig, and the other two were both one-shots with Rock Tomb and Water Gun. Swampert used the same strat and also won, but next was Shiftry. After i killed Mightyena with Hidden Power, i used Dig against Camerupt, hoping he'd spam Ember rather than Magnitude. This worked out, and Zubat was outsped and one-shot with Rock Tomb. This win streak couldn't last forever though; Kirlia could not do it. She needed to get a calm mind off to even two-shot Mightyena, and he liked to spam Sand-Attack while i did so. This caused me to miss everything while he used Bite to kill me. Course, he sometimes just killed me outright without spamming Sand-Attack first. Kirlia is out. Gardevoir on the other hand could just power through with Thunderbolt and Psychic.

Shroomish's moveset really only allows for one strategy; trying to stall them out with Leech Seed, Swagger, Mega Drain and if posible some Headbutt flinches. Unfortunately this strat doesn't work too well when 2 of the 3 enemies can 2-shot you. They never cooperated, Shroomish is out. Breloom on the other hand gets Bulk Up, and needed only one of those plus the White Herb to either OHKO or 2HKO everything with Hidden Power and Headbutt. As for Kadabra, he could Disable Bite and thus not get killed while killing Mightyena with Shock Wave and the others with Psychic. Zam missed all his Disables for some reason, but he still won.

With a White Herb and two Howls, Exploud Strengthed his way through. Hariyama meanwhile used Guts-boosted Hidden Power and Strength to kill them all. Golem was next, and he had a supereffective move for everyone; Hidden Power, Magnitude and Rock Throw got the job done. We finish today off with the Machop clan. For Machop himself however, i found no strat that led to the win. I tried Guts, i tried Bulk Up, i tried combinations thereof, i tried White Herb and i tried Sitrus Berry, but nothing worked. Machop is out. Machoke and Machamp however found success with Guts + White Herb.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Meditite and Medicham needed just one Bulk Up, plus of course the White Herb, to kill everything with Hidden Power and Rock Tomb. Electrode however had problems; he has bad Attack and all his special moves are Electric. Nothing for Camerupt. In the end, i used a strat where i'd Thunderbolt Mightyena down and then start a Rollout vs Zubat; i didn't fear Supersonic cause Soundproof. Once Camerupt came in, i crit the 4th Rollout hit and took him out. Next up though was Gloom. Gloom has Sleep Powder, which is good, but she didn't really have anything to hit them with as they slept. Hidden Power could kill Mightyena if i carried a White Herb, but i never could deal enough to Camerupt to take him out before he Embered me down. Gloom is out. Vileplume didn't heven have Sleep Powder, so he had to swagger Camerupt and hope he'd cooperate. He finally did in attempt 10, and Zubat died to two Secret Powers. Bellossom gets Magical Leaf; having a good special move let her run Sitrus rather than White Herb, and that extra survivability allowed her to beat down her enemies attempt 3.

Dodrio had no issues, killing them with Hidden Power and Tri Attack. Roselia would then go on to deploy the same strat as Bellossom, winning in attempt 2. Now it's time for our boy Gulpin to prove how much further he can get than his dad Swalot. His strat was to Yawn Mightyena and then start a Rollout; this only ended up working because hit 4 crit, so that i could kill Mightyena with hit 5. I then yawned Zubat hoping for at least one low roll on Wing Attack, which i got; i was at 1 HP when he went to sleep, and Rollout did the rest. Now it's time for the mirror match. My Camerupt has Flamethrower though, so i didn't have to run White Herb and could run Sitrus. I Flamethrowered Mightyena down just fine, but against the enemy Camerupt i had to copy its game plan and spam Magnitude. Course, this game of chance was heavily in my favour since i only have to win once, while Maxie has to win 10 times in a row to beat me. I beat my foe on attempt 3, and Zubat died t Flamethrower. After that came Flannery's boy Torkoal; between Curse, Body Slam and White Smoke blocking both Intimidate and Sand-Attack, she had a pretty easy time.

With Muk, the strategy was to use Sludge on Mightyena, and then Dig on Camerupt hoping Maxie would be stupid and not spam Magnitude. In attempt 2, he was stupid, and Zubat fell to Rock Tomb. After that came Grumpig; Confuse Ray and Shock Wave took out Mightyena, then i spammed Psychic for the others. Took until attempt 5 before Camerupt didn't kill me with a high Magnitude, but a win's a win. Sandslash would then kill Mightyena and Zubat with Hidden Power and Strength, and go for Dig vs Camerupt hoping for Ember; worked out in attempt 3. This strategy was repeated by Flygon, except he didn't have to worry about Magnitude because he levitates above the ground even while digging through the ground. Don't ask me for the physics behind that. His fellow desert mon Cacturne would set up Ingrain and then kill Mightyena with Hidden Power. I had to Swagger Camerupt, but he cooperated immediately and hit himself every turn, allowing me to use Secret Power to kill him and Zubat.

Zangoose has Swords Dance; got 1 in on Mightyena, killed with Hidden Power, got the rest in on Zubat, spammed Strength for the win. Seviper's tools are way less crazy though, and Camerupt really liked to Magnitude as i used Dig, so i ended up Swaggering him hoping for Confusion hits while i was underground. This worked out and got me the win.

 

[Nicolas721]

Poor Brendan's Marsthomp, was Swaggered like 20 times lol

The Pokemon weak to Rock probably laughered at all those Water-types who perished...

 

[There Is No Arceus]

The Pokemon weak to Rock probably laughered at all those Water-types who perished...

They would, but most of them are dead from the Roxanne fight so i'm not sure how much laughing they're doing.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

We start today off with Tate & Liza's boys. Lunatone would use Hypnosis to put Mightyena to sleep, then he'd spam Hidden Power for the kill. The other two went down to Psychic. Solrock didn't get Hypnosis, but he could 3-shot with Flamethrower so all was still good, especially since Maxie doesn't understand Levitate. Next was Barboach who is garbage, but lady luck allowed him to live through this fight. On attempt 8, he managed to get Mightyena to hit himself twice, and thus he beat that foe with Hidden Power. Rock Tomb then crit Zubat for the one-shot, and Camerupt was a 2-shot with Water Gun. Whiscash then showed us once again why he's the single best pokemon ever created, killing them with Hidden Power, Rock Tomb and Water Gun. We're now back to the desert with Baltoy; he was 2-shot by Mightyena, but once Swagger took care of that, i could one-shot Zubat with Psychic, and i could freely spam Dig vs Camerupt thanks to Levitate. As for Claydol, something about winning horses.

Lileep has Ingrain, but tat alone's not gonna win you the match. Lileep has no good STAB moves, not even learning Rock Tomb, and even if it did have good moves, it has no stats to use them. I had to rely on Swagger for damage, meaning Mightyena had a ton of time to Sand-Attack me. I could usually get past him, but then Zubat or Camerupt would finish me off while i was flailing about trying to hit them. Lileep is out. As for its evolution Cradily, it gets Rock Tomb as well as atually decent stats, so i'm convinced he could do it if he ever got good or even neutral luck with things like accuracy and flinches. However, every time things seemed like they were going my way, Camerupt would just crit a high Magnitude and take me out. I'm sure this is possible, but it didn't happen within 10 tries. Cradily is out. Wallace's boy Milotic was next though, and a combination of Water Pulse and Ice Beam made short work of Maxie.

Starmie had Ice Beam to deal with the first two mons and Water Gun for Camerupt, so we're now on to what's left of the Mt. Pyre crew. Banette was another of those pokemon that had to rely on Swagger, but Camerupt killed himself as early as attempt 2; the other two died to Thunderbolt. Dusclops was mostly in the same boat, except that his more defensive nature meant i had to endure more of Mightyena's Sand-Attacks; things didn't work out until attempt 4. Last for this crew was Chimecho, who would Yawn Mightyena to sleep and then Shock Wave him to death. Zubat of course died to Psychic, and surprisingly Camerupt was a 2-shot as well.

Time for the Safari Zone crew. Xatu killed Mightyena with 2 Hidden Powers, and the others died to Psychic. With Girafarig i decided to run Situs and kill Mightyena with Thunderbolt, but this turned out to be a mistake and i killed the hound with 1 HP remaining. Fortunately i one-shot the bat, and the camel cooperated by hitting himself in confusion twice, so i still won. Donphan then won with Defense Curl-Rollout, and Pinsir surprisingly won in one try by setting up 2 Bulk Ups on Mightyena, and then killing them with Hidden Power, Dig and Strength. Lastly for today, Rhydon used Rollout to roll all over Maxie.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

On to the seas! Glalie spammed Ice Beam and won, while his Shoal Cave colleague Walrein combined that move with Water Gun for Camerupt. For Gorebyss Water Pulse proved sufficient, and Lanturn had Thunderbolt and Water Gun. Lastly for the seas, Clair's boy Kingdra deployed Ice Beam and Water Gun. Pseudo time; Shelgon needed the White Herb to kill Mightyena with Hidden Power, then he had to swagger Camerupt and hope he cooperated. He did in attempt 7; Shelgon won. Salamence didn't need confusion and just spammed Strength against the camel. Metagross followed this up by killing Mightyena with Hidden Power and the other two with Psychic.

Legendary time. Latias used Thunderbolt on Mightyena and Psychic on the others, and Kyogre didn't have any difficulties either. Groudon then killed them with Hidden Power, AncientPower and Mud Shot, while Rayquaza spammed Dragon Claw for the win. Jirachi killed them with Hidden Power and Psychic, and finally for this dex, Deoxys followed suit. Only our HGSS champs remain; Snorlax set up a Belly Drum and then killed everything with Hidden Power and Strength, Suicune spammed Bubblebeam and won, Mewtwo won by being Mewtwo and Mew used Hidden Power and Psychic.

And that's everyone. Of the 71 pokemon that made it here, 65 could beat Maxie, while only 6 went down in defeat. Next up, these 65 will be taking on the region's newest gym leader, Flannery.

Here's the table showing how many pokemon beat each boss:

Start	After Roxanne	After Brawly	After Route 110 Rival	After Wattson	After Mt. Chimney Maxie
210	140	121	109	71	65

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Now it's time for some stats, even though little has changed. 31% of mons have made it here in total.

Gen 1	Gen 2	Gen 3
16/52, 31%	7/23, 30%	42/135, 31%

Looks like every gen's performing about the same now.

Normal	Fighting	Flying	Fire	Dragon	Water	Ice	Grass	Bug	Electric
5/27, 19%	8/11, 72%	4/22, 18%	4/10, 40%	6/10, 60%	11/47, 23%	2/6, 33%	6/21, 29%	1/16, 6%	2/14, 14%
Poison	Ground	Rock	Steel	Dark	Ghost	Psychic
5/17, 29%	13/22, 59%	4/19, 21%	2/12, 17%	2/10, 20%	2/6, 33%	20/31, 65%

Fighting sustained a loss, but is still doing the best. Grass did suffer some heavy losses, but other than that there's little to note.

 

[Greninjaman]

I foresee that all remaining grass and bug types will fall to Flannery.