January 12-14 - 7* Flying Blaziken

[Vinc2612]

Bellibolt@Metronome
Tera Electrik
136 HP, 252+ Def, 120 SpA (nature can be Bold, Relaxed or Lax)
Parabolic Charge
Chilling Water
Acid Spray
Slack Off (unused)

In theory: that spread lets you tank Earthquake, -1 Earthquake, -1 Earthquake so you can do Acid Spray, Chilling Water then Parabolic Charge. You activate the shield just before you're able to Tera.
Still theorically: you can then use a final Chilling Water before spamming Parabolic Charge until the end.

In practice, I had a Sylveon teammate that used Charm turn 1, so I didn't bother with the final Chilling Water, replaced it with a second Acid Spray, and won easily.

Did this again with a Shuca Berry instead, exact same set otherwise.

Blaziken didn't use Earthquake once so it was easier and probably bad-random-allies-proof, even though my spread could be optimized.

I won't do it since I didn't feel threatened once, I'm confident I'll be able to farm Blaziken a couple of weeks without any inconvenience

 

[Vengeance417]

Had a beautiful randoms match last night with this comp:

(me)


Both myself and Arbok Intimidated Blaziken, dropping it to -2 immediately, then Arbok uses Gastro Acid and I Taunt. From there, Arbok and I spam Breaking Swipe and Chilling Water, respectively, followed by the occasional Acid Spray. Blaziken didn't stand a chance.

I assume the set would be something like this:


Arbok @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Gastro Acid
- Breaking Swipe
- Acid Spray
- Filler (Rain Dance, ig)

Investing one point into Speed will let you always outspeed Blaziken, to then use Breaking Swipe before it can do anything. Arbok is neat for being part of the only evo line to have Intimidate + Gastro Acid. However, I'd definitely run this alongside another damage-reducer and Taunt user, and not as the sole support, because even with its traits and def investment, 60/69 bulk is still pretty frail.

 

[Original Dragon Arkvelza]

Leftovers/Shell Bell
Tera Psychic
252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SpA
Bold Nature

Stored Power
Calm Mind
Skill Swap
Lunar Blessing

With Cresselia it's pretty much required you have an ally that can quickly drop Atk since the best she can do to lessen damage is Reflect. Now you could actually run Reflect, but I honestly find it pretty overkill stacked on top of Intimidate and Lunge/Chilling Watter/Breaking Swipe, and by itself it may be effective only for so long, especially if the attackers are really fragile. But if you manage to get the right allies you should be good as gold. While Cresselia is already faster than Blaziken, giving Blaziken Levitate will basically not only mean he gets an ability that gives him absolutely no benefit, Speed Boost will make your Stored Power even stronger. If you use Calm Mind on turn 2 it will be an 80 BP stab with +1 SpA. And it'll keep getting stronger.

Like I said though, you will need something like Intimidate Chilling Water Gyarados as an ally because I'm pretty sure Reflect by itself won't be enough, especially after Swords Dance and Bulk Up.

 

[Arcticblast]

that's a cool duck, I have a dumber bird though


Espathra @ Leftovers
Ability: Speed Boost
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Feather Dance
- Lumina Crash
- Stored Power
- Calm Mind

I'm still working on optimizing this one, but I did get a successful clear! (I did have a Tauros, that helps.) Feather Dance a lot early to keep Blaziken's attacks from doing too much, and hope you get NPCs that can deal enough damage to trigger the reset as soon as possible. Set up with Calm Mind and Lumina Crash, pray you don't get crit, and click Tera Stored Power.

 

[Vengeance417]

My rendition of the Stored Power Psychic:


Mewtwo @ Shell Bell
Ability: Unnerve
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Skill Swap
- Chilling Water
- Nasty Plot
- Stored Power

You absolutely want at least one Intimidater as it'll make set up much easier. Even still, getting crit really sucks. HOWEVER, I still managed to win when my Mewtwo got crit and died so long as I still have Tera, as +6 SpA is still hella strong w/ Stored Power even without Speed Boost. Unnerve should be your ability so you're not up against Pressure.

Skill Swap T1, Chilling Water until you build Tera but don't actually Tera just yet. Nasty Plot at least twice. You don't actually have to be at +6 SpA to do a lot of damage since your Speed is also getting boosted, but if you can get there safely, might as well. Tera when you're ready to use Stored Power.

Mewtwo's Stored Power is nuclear strong when you get enough boosts accumulated, and Nasty Plot I feel is the fastest way to clear this. I tried this with Slowbro, but being slower than Blaziken for the first 2 turns really makes you more crit-prone, and Mewtwo's just so much stronger naturally. Just don't get crit, ez.

Edit: turns out, this is winnable even without Intimidate or Charm, just takes a bit longer. Still Skill Swap t1, but accept you won't be utilizing Speed Boost and just CW until you die (unless you get lucky and have Life Dew Gardevoir, then it might be doable without dying, haven't tried tho). Like I said earlier, +6 Stored Power is still strong, so once you get to that, Tera, then SP until you win.

 

[Chou Toshio]

My rendition of the Stored Power Psychic:


Mewtwo @ Shell Bell
Ability: Unnerve
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Skill Swap
- Chilling Water
- Nasty Plot
- Stored Power

You absolutely want at least one Intimidater as it'll make set up much easier. Even still, getting crit really sucks. HOWEVER, I still managed to win when my Mewtwo got crit and died so long as I still have Tera, as +6 SpA is still hella strong w/ Stored Power even without Speed Boost. Unnerve should be your ability so you're not up against Pressure.

Skill Swap T1, Chilling Water until you build Tera but don't actually Tera just yet. Nasty Plot at least twice. You don't actually have to be at +6 SpA to do a lot of damage since your Speed is also getting boosted, but if you can get there safely, might as well. Tera when you're ready to use Stored Power.

Mewtwo's Stored Power is nuclear strong when you get enough boosts accumulated, and Nasty Plot I feel is the fastest way to clear this. I tried this with Slowbro, but being slower than Blaziken for the first 2 turns really makes you more crit-prone, and Mewtwo's just so much stronger naturally. Just don't get crit, ez.

Edit: turns out, this is winnable even without Intimidate or Charm, just takes a bit longer. Still Skill Swap t1, but accept you won't be utilizing Speed Boost and just CW until you die (unless you get lucky and have Life Dew Gardevoir, then it might be doable without dying, haven't tried tho). Like I said earlier, +6 Stored Power is still strong, so once you get to that, Tera, then SP until you win.

I know I’ve been watching waaaaaay too much Emerald Kaido Nuzlocke-Tube when my brain thought “Wait Crit? Doesn’t Slowbro get Shell Armor? …oh wait.”

 

[Chou Toshio]

Sad thing is that with the new Smeargle duplicate glitch able to give us infinite ability patches (and the resell value) like no real replay value except for the fun of it.

 

[Worldie]

Sad thing is that with the new Smeargle duplicate glitch able to give us infinite ability patches (and the resell value) like no real replay value except for the fun of it.

to be fair the simple existance of the item printer has kinda killed any real need to replay it...

aandd honestly....

It kinda stopped being fun to try these again after the one-off catch for collection due to how absolutely awful both the raid net system and how bad the playerbase is in general.
Needing potentially 15+ mins to even get in a single raid only to have it die within 2 minutes to someone locking level 75 mons or 4x weak to stab ones stopped being fun months ago.

 

[Original Dragon Arkvelza]

Why not just do these solo then? Like, seriously, with the obvious exception of...

HIM

every single 7 star is completely doable solo. And solo has the very big advantage where the npc deaths don't lower the timer.

 

[Arcticblast]

A lot of the fun for me in these is coming up with and testing sets to beat the raids, and trying multiple versions to see what ends up being best. It scratches a similar itch to teambuilding but in a noncompetitive environment. For example, Rotom-W ended up being pretty consistent across my attempts at this raid, and Espathra Kind Of Sucks, but I had fun testing both out. Trying to carry randoms through the raids is a puzzle all its own too, and it's one you occasionally just have to accept you won't win.

I can also continue to farm them to bankroll more Pokemon for my VGC teams, so that's a bonus.

Why not just do these solo then? Like, seriously, with the obvious exception of...

HIM

every single 7 star is completely doable solo. And solo has the very big advantage where the npc deaths don't lower the timer.

We know you're upset that you could not solo the raid that was designed to be impossible to solo. It's okay. It's over. You can let it go.