Character: Dirk Strider | uber_marionettist Badge/Gym Leader: Blaine (Volcano Badge) Elite/Regular: Elite Team:Here. Mandibuzz, Coalossal, Beedrill (Mega), Rapidash, Machoke, Turtonator... because these longer writeups make his team choices confusing Battle Details: This is it. The sixteenth and final badge. And for once, Dirk leads not with Empedocles, but with... uh. Mandibuzz?
He's leading with Mandibuzz.
There's a reason for this: one of Torkoal's moves is Rapid Spin, a move almost exclusively for its effect of clearing hazards off the field. Salome wastes no time trying to self-buff, though. For one, Torkoal's move Clear Smog could eliminate any of that at any time... and two, its move Eruption does more damage when Torkoal has more health.
So she leads with Bone Rush, a supereffective Ground Type move that only has 90% accuracy but does hit multiple times (2-5x). With any luck, that will take out a good chunk of Torkoal's health. This is pretty much their strategy for Torkoal, honestly. With moves like Curse, Iron Defence, Shell Smash, and Amnesia, Dirk knows that the longer it's on the field, the more of a pain in the ass it is.
Once Torkoal is down and Blaine sends out Camerupt, though Dirk recalls Salome for Mersenne the Beedrill. Or rather, Mersenne the Mega Beedrill.
This is not an intuitive move on his part, and will no doubt make even less sense when he spends the first turn using Endure. Even if it's boosted by a potential Drought thanks to Torkoal, Camerupt's no-doubt Fire-type attack will leave Mersenne with a minimum of one (1) HP. Then he uses U-Turn ahead of Camerupt's next attack, swapping in Empedocles the Coalossal to take the hit.
Two things about this strategy.
One: Mersenne's Ability (Adaptability) means moves with STAB (like U Turn) do 2x damage instead of 1.5x. Camerupt resists Bug type moves, meaning it's back to... 1x damage. So, like... neutral damage instead of garbage damage.
Two: Empedocles' Ability (Steam Powered) instantly raises her Speed to maximum when she's hit with a Water move. This was proved in Dirk's match against Misty. But it does the same thing if she's hit with Fire. This is significantly more useful as a strategy, because Fire's effectiveness is a measly 1/4 of its base (as opposed to Water's 4x its base.) In any case, Empedocles is now as fast as a kaiju made of coal is going to get.
This means that her Stealth Rock comes out way ahead of any Ground type moves Camerupt had prepared, guaranteeing the setup. Nice.
With a double weakness to Ground, though, the odds that Empedocles will be able to do much more than Self Destruct on out are pretty much nil. Which is fine, actually.
Mersenne is back, and again leads with Endure. At this point there's no way he has more than one fucking HP unless Blaine leads with Yawn... but now Blaine knows about U Turn, and obviously Yawn won't take effect in time, right?
Wrong, because this time Mersenne uses Endeavour, bringing Camerupt down to an equally dire one HP before fainting himself.
You might wonder at this point what the fuck Dirk is doing.
Well, now Salome is back and she has Whirlwind. Remember that strategy? He used it against Blue.
And all of Blaine's Pokemon except Camerupt take twice the damage from Stealth Rock.
That's right, Dirk Strider's plan is to be a goddamn pain in Blaine's ass. A few caveats. One, Salome will make damn sure to use Roost when faced with slower opponents like Magcargo (which is extra useful in Magcargo's case because it temporarily removes her weakness to Rock type. Nice!) and not faster ones like Rapidash. The one exception is Houndoom, which knows Thunder Fang... and Roosting temporarily eliminates that weakness, so depending on Salome's health, there's a chance that it will make the blow more survivable next turn when her -1 priority Whirlwind depends on her tanking one more hit of it (this time while weak to it.)
Two, he doesn't expect this to really take out all of Blaine's team (although pour one out for poor Camerupt if it gets dragged back out.) He does expect it to soften Blaine's team up for Acorn, whose typing makes him immune to burns... while Flash Fire makes him immune to Fire type attacks and his Drill Run will leave the remaining Pokemon in tatters (pour one out for poor Magcargo, which has a double weakness to Ground types.) If that still isn't enough, Dirk brought COS, whose Eviolite boosts her Defence and Special Defence, while her GUTS actually boosts her Attack if she's burned. Also, she knows Earthquake? (Pour one out for Magcargo again, because the poor thing is also weak to Fighting and COS lives for the chance to show off her Muscular Theatre skills.)
Anything somehow left will be Body Slammed flat and Dragon Pulsed out of the game by Gamehameha the Turtonator.
no subject
Badge/Gym Leader: Blaine (Volcano Badge)
Elite/Regular: Elite
Team: Here. Mandibuzz, Coalossal, Beedrill (Mega), Rapidash, Machoke, Turtonator... because these longer writeups make his team choices confusing
Battle Details: This is it. The sixteenth and final badge. And for once, Dirk leads not with Empedocles, but with... uh. Mandibuzz?
He's leading with Mandibuzz.
There's a reason for this: one of Torkoal's moves is Rapid Spin, a move almost exclusively for its effect of clearing hazards off the field. Salome wastes no time trying to self-buff, though. For one, Torkoal's move Clear Smog could eliminate any of that at any time... and two, its move Eruption does more damage when Torkoal has more health.
So she leads with Bone Rush, a supereffective Ground Type move that only has 90% accuracy but does hit multiple times (2-5x). With any luck, that will take out a good chunk of Torkoal's health. This is pretty much their strategy for Torkoal, honestly. With moves like Curse, Iron Defence, Shell Smash, and Amnesia, Dirk knows that the longer it's on the field, the more of a pain in the ass it is.
Once Torkoal is down and Blaine sends out Camerupt, though Dirk recalls Salome for Mersenne the Beedrill. Or rather, Mersenne the Mega Beedrill.
This is not an intuitive move on his part, and will no doubt make even less sense when he spends the first turn using Endure. Even if it's boosted by a potential Drought thanks to Torkoal, Camerupt's no-doubt Fire-type attack will leave Mersenne with a minimum of one (1) HP. Then he uses U-Turn ahead of Camerupt's next attack, swapping in Empedocles the Coalossal to take the hit.
Two things about this strategy.
One: Mersenne's Ability (Adaptability) means moves with STAB (like U Turn) do 2x damage instead of 1.5x. Camerupt resists Bug type moves, meaning it's back to... 1x damage. So, like... neutral damage instead of garbage damage.
Two: Empedocles' Ability (Steam Powered) instantly raises her Speed to maximum when she's hit with a Water move. This was proved in Dirk's match against Misty. But it does the same thing if she's hit with Fire. This is significantly more useful as a strategy, because Fire's effectiveness is a measly 1/4 of its base (as opposed to Water's 4x its base.) In any case, Empedocles is now as fast as a kaiju made of coal is going to get.
This means that her Stealth Rock comes out way ahead of any Ground type moves Camerupt had prepared, guaranteeing the setup. Nice.
With a double weakness to Ground, though, the odds that Empedocles will be able to do much more than Self Destruct on out are pretty much nil. Which is fine, actually.
Mersenne is back, and again leads with Endure. At this point there's no way he has more than one fucking HP unless Blaine leads with Yawn... but now Blaine knows about U Turn, and obviously Yawn won't take effect in time, right?
Wrong, because this time Mersenne uses Endeavour, bringing Camerupt down to an equally dire one HP before fainting himself.
You might wonder at this point what the fuck Dirk is doing.
Well, now Salome is back and she has Whirlwind. Remember that strategy? He used it against Blue.
And all of Blaine's Pokemon except Camerupt take twice the damage from Stealth Rock.
That's right, Dirk Strider's plan is to be a goddamn pain in Blaine's ass. A few caveats. One, Salome will make damn sure to use Roost when faced with slower opponents like Magcargo (which is extra useful in Magcargo's case because it temporarily removes her weakness to Rock type. Nice!) and not faster ones like Rapidash. The one exception is Houndoom, which knows Thunder Fang... and Roosting temporarily eliminates that weakness, so depending on Salome's health, there's a chance that it will make the blow more survivable next turn when her -1 priority Whirlwind depends on her tanking one more hit of it (this time while weak to it.)
Two, he doesn't expect this to really take out all of Blaine's team (although pour one out for poor Camerupt if it gets dragged back out.) He does expect it to soften Blaine's team up for Acorn, whose typing makes him immune to burns... while Flash Fire makes him immune to Fire type attacks and his Drill Run will leave the remaining Pokemon in tatters (pour one out for poor Magcargo, which has a double weakness to Ground types.) If that still isn't enough, Dirk brought COS, whose Eviolite boosts her Defence and Special Defence, while her GUTS actually boosts her Attack if she's burned. Also, she knows Earthquake? (Pour one out for Magcargo again, because the poor thing is also weak to Fighting and COS lives for the chance to show off her Muscular Theatre skills.)
Anything somehow left will be Body Slammed flat and Dragon Pulsed out of the game by Gamehameha the Turtonator.