Part 37: Battle Tower - Level 10

Update 29: Battle Tower - Level 10

Inside Battle Tower



Hello everyone. It's time for the first of the five updates going over the Battle Tower. We've got 3 Pokemon chosen by YOU to take on this facility.



First up is one of our stronger hitters: Gully the Gligar by Kikas. It's a pretty strong physical attacker with some nice coverage and Swagger to keep our opponents from attacking if we're lucky enough.



Next is Quetzal the Dratini by SkyTalon2314. He's a pretty nifty special attacker with the Rain Dance/Thunder combo. Very nice.



Finally, we have Miracle the shiny Sunkern by BlackPersona, which is a Toxic staller. You might think that's crazy, but Gen 2 is all about stall, so be glad I'm doing screenshots. I could put a video in this update, but it's too long and uninteresting to really bother with. Or I'm just that lazy, you decide.



We have all the requirements for the Level 10 challenge, so let's get going.



Standard three on three battles, Final Destination, etc, etc.



There's 21 different Pokemon we can face and here's our first one! A Corsola with Ancientpower, Recover, Surf and Psychic holding a Scope Lens. A full on special attacker, but since Gully has 31 Speed, all we need to do is outspeed it.



Simple enough. But the next Pokemon won't be so easy. There's plenty of strong Pokemon you can get battle ready for level 10, with a bit of luck and patience. Stone, trade and happiness evolutions are the easiest, but there's a lot of strong Basic stage Pokemon that will fuck you up.




Oh god. This Porygon2 has Tri Attack, Hyper Beam, Psychic, Blizzard with Brightpowder and 33 Sp.Atk, the fourth highest in the level bracket.



Now if we get lucky enough, we could potentially stall out this Porygon2, which we might need to, with its 44 HP.



Well this is pretty bad. What's my last Pokemon?



Oh yeah. Whoops.




Well, uh, let's try something different. Don't worry, we'll be seeing Quetzal again. But more offence is needed, so we're going for Tyrone the Tyrogue by Golden Goat. While it can't hit Ghost types, it can be sustainable with RestTalk and there's only one Ghost Pokemon we could face in level 10 anyway.



There's a limited number of opponent names, including some neat easter eggs. This Jolteon has Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, Hyper Beam and Roar with a Miracleberry. While it's a mixed attacker, it only has 25 Attack, but is the second fastest opponent with 37 Speed and has some high Sp.Atk to boot, at 34.



Gully's been a pretty great lead, so that's the first Pokemon down. Only 20 to go!



Goddamn my luck. Umbreon has Shadow Ball, Iron Tail, Psych Up and Toxic, so it's not too bad, but having a Steel type really helps to prevent you being Toxic stalled. Just make sure it doesn't copy your boosts.



Let's see how this goes.



Hmm, not too well. Probably shouldn't keep Gully in for long. But let's see how far we can get.



Tyrone would be pretty useful to break through this Dark type, but Gully is doing fine.



With the Scope Lens, we have a good chance of critting and that's just what happened. Now we have a Girafarig with Psybeam, Shadow Ball, uh, Mud Slap and Agility with a King's Rock. It's stats are all pretty average, so it works as a mixed attacker.



Alright, Tyrone won't do well against this psychic horse thing, so it looks like we need a Miracle.



As a reminder, the Focus Band has a 10% chance of letting you survive an attack with 1HP. This can happen at any time, so it could potentially keep occurring every turn if you're really lucky.




I believe this track is appropriate.



Alright, that's our first trainer down! Good job everyone.

"health."


No retreat, no surrender!



Well isn't this an interesting trainer and Pokemon. Lapras knows Surf, Psychic, Thunderbolt and Ice Beam. Very, very dangerous coverage, but aside from HP, its stats aren't too amazing.



Man, Gully just does not take Ice moves too well.



Oh god no.



Oh god yes.



Oh god no. Aerodactyl knows Hyper Beam, Earthquake, Supersonic and Bite with Leftovers. It's pretty goddamn dangerous being the fastest thing in the challenge and rocking a pretty good 32 Attack.



...I thought that would do a lot more.



I believe in mirac-



N-Never mind.



Alright, let's go for all offense all the time. Quetzal's back, Gully is still great and we have a new guy.



We have Mac the Elekid by Level Seven, with all the elemental punches and Counter to punish Ground types. Let's see how it goes.



First trainer!



Got a Heracross with, uh, Rock Smash, Endure, Reversal and Counter with a Gold Berry. It's definitely interesting, but you're silly if you let it get its tactics off.



Thankfully we're faster than it and got lucky with status to stop its shenanigans.



WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT. Tauros knows Headbutt, Swagger, Tail Whip and Icy Wind with a King's Rock. How convenient it had an Ice move to hit Gully with, the bastard. With 18 Sp.Atk, Icy Wind is only there to hit 4x weaknesses.



While level 10 Electabuzz are not legal, level 10 Elekid are. It's pretty damn fast, so it's a good clean up sweeper, but I think it's a bit fragile to really make use of Counter.



Uh oh. Espeon with Psychic, Psych Up, Mud Slap and Toxic, with Leftovers. It's fast and strong, but really can't do anything against Dark or Steel types.



Well this has become pretty dangerous. Maybe Quetzal can pull this out.




Well, you did your best, but the cat is just too strong.



Alright, I believe there's one Pokemon we haven't tried yet?



Last up is Monarch the Butterfree by Lavender menace. Technically another staller, but with the addition of HP Fire, we don't have to rely on Toxic to kill things, since we also have Swagger. It's definitely interesting.



Alright... third? Fourth time's the charm? Ah whatever.



Alright, good start. But nothing on my team really wants to take that.



Oh man, can Mac do it?



AND IT'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD



But it can only last so long.



And thus the shenanigans begin.



Having the Gold Berry really adds to Monarch's survivability and makes it a hard kill. Man, if only we got Leech Seed...



Alright, we should be pretty good to take this guy down.



OH COME ON



Right. I've shown off all the Pokemon you guys submitted and... well, it hasn't worked out too great. Level 10 is a pretty nasty challenge, so you need to be nasty back. I won't have this problem on the other challenges, hopefully.



So let's fuck the level 10 challenge like it fucked us. These are the cream of the level 10 crop and I put a lot of thought into using three balanced members. Excuse the terrible nicknames, I had a real hard time thinking of any for them. Anyway, we've got a really fast and strong Espeon with STAB, HP Fire, status immunity and Dark coverage.



Next up is our physical wall and physical attacker. No need for Steel STAB as SlideQuake has real good coverage. Curse is necessary if we can't get past something, but I'll probably opt to use Explosion instead. Nothing can survive that, honestly.



Finally, we have our general defensive tank, with different coverage to Espeon as well as Dragon Rage. If you want to easily wreck the Level 10 challenge, Dragon Rage 2HKOs everything. Literally everything. 9 out of the 21 Pokemon are just knocked out outright. The fastest user of the move would be Aerodactyl if you breed it and then trade it back to Gen 1 to teach the TM. This is also how you get Substitute for Eevee.



Okay, let's see if we can finally beat this challenge.



Got Exeggutor with Giga Drain, Confusion... Thief and Hypnosis. I'll be honest, we don't know all the moves the Battle Tower Pokemon use, so Psypoke just puts in joke moves, like Giga Impact in place of Hypnosis. So I'll be going with a more realistic guess. Also funny that it knows Thief yet holds a King's Rock. I think it's just because it has no type coverage.



I'll only be showing off new Pokemon we haven't seen before, cause I'm not gonna go over all seven battles. I do not have time for that bullshit.



First battle was easy enough, so let's move on to number two.



You can guess what Wobbuffet does. Substitute is real useful for this guy, cause I can't knock it out in one shot. It's got Destiny Bond, Mirror Coat, Safeguard and Counter with a Focus Band. This thing could fuck you up if you're not careful, but thankfully it doesn't have Shadow Tag yet. Ugh.



Thankfully we keep our Sub, but Jolteon is too much for us. Hey, let's us use our other team members.



Neato.



Mirror match! But since I'm maxed in Stat Exp, I think I beat them out since I don't think the AI maxes everything. As an aside, I have DVs of 14/12/15/15 to get HP Fire, since all you need to change is your Attack and Defense DVs to change the type of Hidden Power.



Nearly took down this Lapras, but alas, not enough. It's time to mow them down with the Transport (tm).



Oh, you think you'll face against me with this Blissey that has Strength, Rollout, Headbutt and Solarbeam? Uh, actually, I dunno if that moveset is totally right, but I don't care! It also has a Quick Claw.



As you can see, with only 77HP, the tankiest Pokemon of the challenge cannot survive two Dragon Rages.



This is now trainer... four? Yeah, four.



Oh wow, it's the only unevolved Pokemon in the challenge. Everything else either doesn't evolve, or already has through stone, or trade, or happiness. It knows Faint Attack, Solarbeam, Sunny Day and Roar and holds a Gold Berry.



Aaaaand it's gone.



This bulky Snorlax with Headbutt, Surf, Snore and Protect holding a Miracleberry? (wait why does it know Snore but not Rest what the fu-)



Yeah, it ain't surviving shit.



While using Dragon Rage for the rest of the challenge is tempting, let's not. This Sneasel knows Faint Attack, Surf, Blizzard and Quick Attack and has a Gold Berry. That moveset is hilarious with its 19 Sp.Atk compared to its 31 Attack.



Two more trainers in the bag. Onto number six!



Oh great. The Miltank with Hyper Beam, Earthquake, Blizzard and Shadow Ball as well as a Gold Berry. Fun times.



My cat is down, but now it's time for my snake's revenge.



Yep. You can fight an Unown that knows, of course, Hidden Power and even holds a Berry. Careful, it might make a dent with its 26 Sp.Atk! I have no idea if it has a set type for its Hidden Power and I could not give the slightest shit.



At this point in the challenge, I'm taking no chances.



Final trainer! We're gonna make it!



The last new Pokemon we're gonna see is Misdreavus with Shadow Ball, Perish Song, Pain Split and Curse holding a Focus Band. It can be dangerous if you let it... but why would you ever let it?



Had a bit of trouble with an Exeggutor.



But explosions solve a lot of problems.



And that's all she wrote. There were a couple of Pokemon we didn't see, such as a Kangaskhan that knows Hyper Beam, Earthquake, Reversal and Attract, holding a Miracleberry, as well as Mr. Mime with Fire Punch, Headbutt, Psych Up and Toxic, with a Quick Claw. They definitely improve on opponent's movesets in later challenges and indeed in later games... as we'll probably see later on.



: You've beaten all the trainers! For that, you get this great prize!



...



Yeeeeeep, that was it. For beating a Battle Tower challenge, you get five of a random stat drink, which you can admittedly sell for quite a bit of cash, or buff up your newly hatched metagame machines. Unlike later Battle Facilities, there's no reward for beating all, or indeed any of the challenges, aside from the stat boosts, which is why I'm only doing five of the ten level challenges as you don't get any Symbols, or Cups, or anything like that. But we shall tackle Level 30 another day, for next update is when we take on the seventh Gym. Stay frosty!