Challenge Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness Draft / Challenge

Which of these rules would you rather see in place of Rule #2 under "In-Game Rules"?

  • Make Teddiursa free to use for the entire game

    Votes: 2 33.3%
  • Make Ledyba free to use for the entire game

    Votes: 2 33.3%
  • Have no other Pokemon (other than Eevee) be free (though you may have to battle 1v2)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Keep it as it is

    Votes: 2 33.3%

  • Total voters
    6
  • Poll closed .

DHR-107

Robot from the Future
is a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Pokemon Researcheris a Smogon Media Contributor
Orange Islands
DHR-107 -


Just fighting the 6 Justy's and trying to get into Phenac Stadium. Ran into 3 Woopers before I got an Aron... Make of that what you will! Unfortunately the Aron I ran into was just Level 11... So I had to grind him a little bit Had to fight the Peon Admin EXOL twice, because he's actually pretty strong and I completely messed up the first time and he sweeped me while I tried to catch his Shadow Mawile. No other trainers have knocked me for 6 so far, nearly got caught out in the Mayor's house in Phenac with two tough matches one after the other. Just now infiltrating the Pregym and thought it was a decent place to stop and update as I have a few new mons!

Lv 20
Brave - Sturdy
- Headbutt
- Mud Slap
- Iron Defence
- Metal Claw
Honestly, Aron is pretty bad at the moment. Gets hit Super Effectively a lot and doesn't learn any Rock type attacks until I can get hold of Rock Tomb (which might be post game idr). Has super weak moves available (Headbutt and Metal Claw just don't really cut it). Maybe I would have been better off grinding for a higher level one.

Lv 20 (Shadow)
???? - Inner Focus
- Shadow Wave
- Shadow Shed
- Bite
- ???
Snorunt is not awful, but I can't wait to get it Purified and evolved into Glalie where it gets an enormous stat boost.

Lv 26
Bold - Volt Absorb
- Thundershock
- Bite
- Sand Attack
- Thunder Wave

Lv 27
Timid - Sticky Hold
- Shock Wave
- Sludge
- Body Slam
- Toxic

Lv 27
Bold - Levitate
- Psybeam
- Mud-Slap
- Ancient Power
- Rock Tomb

Been Purifying as much as I can as I have been moving forwards (23 Captured, 19 Purified), at one point I ran out of mons to Purify... Got a few more now and haven't missed any yet. I believe both Shellder and Lunatone are up next on my catching list, and then I might have to do some rotating to get the team working how I want it too.
 

HotFuzzBall

fuzzy-chan \(ㆁヮㆁ✿)
is an Artist
Update #3

So I made it to Phenac City and just explored to collect items (around the hotel for example) and headed up to ONBS station only to be told to explore the Poke Spots. Met up with Duking so he could give me free stuff... Onto the real important stuff, I found Mirror B. located inside the Cave Pokespot and of course, battled him. The battle wasn't as difficult as I thought (considering I had 2 water-types, with Carvanha having nonexistent defenses), but the Lombres loved to spam Water Gun onto Flaaffy so that was cool I guess. Also only 1 of the Lombres had a Grass-type move (Mega Drain) which it used on Flaaffy so, that battle was easy but, time consuming since my strongest attacks were Bite and Thundershock from Flaaffy and Carvanha respectively.

After battling Mirror B, I caught myself my 4th team member, Hoppip who was luckily Level 17 (but it was Adamant and I was too impatient to find another Hoppip so, I'm going to make it work). Anyways, after finding out ONBS station was robbed/ambushed and what not I catch the 5th team member being Vulpix and I'm quite excited to use it considering it gets Heat Wave upon purification, which is fantastic. So I decided to take a hiatus on saving ONBS by going to Mt. Battle to try to get Vulpix's heart gauge down (or up, idk what the exact term is) and to get the Water Pulse TM by completing Area 2. Though I gotta admit, even with a Charcoal, Vulpix's Heat Wave doesn't do much damage, even against super-effective targets which was kinda a let down honestly. Though things will get better once I get the coveted Fire Stone. Carvanha also learned Crunch at this point which was such a huge power spike combined with the boost from Black Glasses.

Fast forward to the battle with Axol (not a boss battle technically but, the power spike in this battle is extremely noticeable). The battle was honestly very difficult, Girafarig and Loudred's Stomp spam basically did so much work against my team that I usually had to spend time healing, also the fact that Skiploom kept missing Sleep Powder (4 in total) did not help whatsoever. Raichu wasn't a challenge as I orignally thought since it kept targeting Skiploom with Shock Wave rather than Vaporeon so, that was very lucky for me. So yeah, onto Phenac City during my next play through!

Current Team

Vaporeon (Shigure)
Level 24
Ability: Water Absorb
Hasty Nature
- Water Pulse
- Bite
- Icy Wind
- Sand Attack


Flaaffy (Abel) @ Magnet
Level 24
Ability: Static
Adamant Nature
- Thundershock
- Body Slam
- Thunder Wave
- Heal Bell


Carvanha (Klein) @ Black Glasses
Level 22
Ability: Rough Skin
Jolly Nature
- Crunch
- Water Pulse
- Refresh
- Scary Face


Skiploom (Genny)
Level 22
Ability: Chlorophyll
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Leech Seed
- Sleep Powder
- Stun Spore


Vulpix (Kaden) @ Charcoal
Level 22
Ability: Flash Fire
Docile Nature
- Heat Wave
- Dig
- Confuse Ray
- Charm

Shadow Pokemon Caught
 
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Inspirited

There is usually higher ground.
is a Contributor Alumnus
I have finally obtained all of the Pokemon I drafted!

Architect Lv 35 w/ Sharp Beak
Relaxed; Early Bird
HP: 88 / At: 38 / De: 49 / SA: 48 / SD: 91 / Sp: 63
Aerial Ace / Comet Punch / Reflect / Light Screen


Sunshine lv 36 w/ Silk Scarf
Gentle; Keen Eye
HP: 116 / At: 67 / De: 54 / SA: 66 / SD: 64 / Sp: 79
Double-Edge / Wing Attack / Featherdance / Refresh


Helen Lv 36 w/ Charcoal
Bold; Magma Armor
HP: 100 / At: 74 / De: 64 / SA: 89 / SD: 73 / Sp: 39
Flamethrower / Earthquake / Dig / Rock Slide


Medicham Lv 39 w/ Leftovers
Adamant; Pure Power
HP: 97 / At: 61 (122 after PP) / De: 69 / SA: 56 / SD: 76 / Sp: 75
Brick Break / Shadow Ball / Confusion / Detect


Snowball Lv 37 w/ Nevermeltice
Bashful; Thick Fat
HP: 119 / At: 54 / De: 67 / SA: 69 / SD: 66 / Sp: 42
Ice Beam / Icy Wind / Body Slam / Water Gun


Jolteon Lv 37 w/ Magnet
Hasty; Volt Absorb
HP: 109 / At: 59 / De: 55 / SA: 101 / SD: 90 / Sp: 122
Thunderbolt / Thunder Wave / Sand Attack / Bite

Shelly Lv 34
Serious; Early Bird
HP: 110 / At: 84 / De: 54 / SA: 79 / SD: 53 / Sp: 64
Faint Attack / Giga Drain / Secret Power / Refresh


Hanford Lv 28
Lax; Stench
HP: 84 / At: 57 / De: 39 / SA: 35 / SD: 35 / Sp: 27
Sludge Bomb / Shadow Punch / Helping Hand / Screech


Orbit Lv 29
Hasty; Static
HP: I'm positive wrote this down wrong / At: 24 / De: 30 / SA: 45 / SD: 41 / Sp: 71
Spark / Self-Destruct / Swift / Refresh


I found a Trapinch a little while back (finally) and ended up replacing Grimer with Meditite as a result. This Meditite just happened to be Adamant, had Shadow Ball equipped already, and is the first (and only) Pokemon in my draft that is male. Shiftry and Ledian ended up carrying against Miror B. "Nosepass edition" and Zook before you get the Snag Machine back. I went a little crazy with Meditite, Numel, and Spheal (especially Meditite though) in the Snagem Hideout and some of the Key Lair trying to get them to evolve as soon as possible, but I don't think the rest of the team fell too far behind. Gonzap was surprisingly easy this time around with Reflect from Ledian and the newly evolved Camerupt's Flamethrower (from SS Libra TM) being the MVPs. Moving through the Key Lair wasn't as easy as the other areas, but it was still rather smooth sailing. I snagged Pidgeotto there and while it was useless until it regained Featherdance, it did make short work of the pregym afterwards. I replaced Shiftry with Pidgeotto just because I have used it before and I doubt I will use Pidgeotto in the future. I got a lucky early snag on Gorigan's Hypno which made Primeape much easier to snag due to Featherdance and screens. I see Featherdance being very useful on Citidark with how dangerous Shadow Break and Shadow End are. Right now I am sitting right before the point where you go through Kamiko's basement and am looking forward to Citidark.
 
I went a bit crazy with the grinding because I remembered that XD gives you much more Pokecoupons than Colosseum did.

So after my previous update I went to slap up Snattle, but instead he almost slapped me up since he immediately fights you after you beat his minion and since I'm doing no items in battle, I couldn't heal up. I also didn't want to cheese it so if I actually wiped, I would have reset from the previous save. It all funny enough came down to my Surskit which took Metang's Thunderpunch so that Espeon could safely 2 shot it with bite. I'm sorry I talked smack about you Surskit, but not really, you're still pretty bad .
At least my team is currently fully evolved now

After Snattle I went to the Boat to get my Snag machine stolen and after that to Pyrite and the first 5 areas of Mt. Battle to do some serious grinding, and now my team is overleveled lmao. I still need to kick Gonzap in the biceps to get my machine back.
Waiting for the Togepi to purify also didn't do me any favors.
So about my team
Once Kirlia learned Psychic, he started to finally put in work and as of right now is even outshining Espeon thanks to its early Psychic coupled with Calm Mind. Due to Gardevoir's high special defense it can easily come in on any special attacker and set up.
Hariyama is still doing what it does best, though I wish I caught one with thick fat for a bit more defensive switch ins, but guts is still g8. EZ fake outs are EZ
Espeon started to slow down a bit when Confusion succumb to the level/evolution creep. Its a pretty big difference when at the same point in Colosseum you're still fighting many underleveled Littlemons but Espeon is still Espeon. Still one of the best and picked itself back up when it got Psybeam. I could even teach it Psychic due to the crazy pokecoupon grinding i did but Espeon sadly isn't sticking around much longer.
Pineco is okay, but its heavily reliant on Pin Missile since its purification, and I want to save Body Slam tutor for Arcanine when I get around to catching it. Evolving gave it that much needed steel typing and stat boost so it doesn't crumble to any special attack now. At least its Hidden Power is Rock, but I'm not sure what the base power of it is.
Surskit is Surksit, who is now a Masquerain. Even had to delay evolving it for three levels until it got Bubblebeam, but at least he can learn Blizzard. There's a lot of rock coverage in this game I'm noticing so Masquerain tends to die pretty often, but getting it caught up in levels is fairly quick due to its quick exp curve.
Teddiursa, now an Ursaring just destroys with the combination of Return/Hyper Beam. Pretty self explanatory.


Gardevoir lv. 35 [Amulet Coin]
Psychic
Calm Mind
Sing
Shock Wave


Hariyama lv. 37 [Focus Band]
Brick Break
Refresh
Fake Out
Rock Tomb


Espeon lv. 36 [Blackglasses]
Psybeam
Bite
Reflect
Light Screen


Masquerain lv. 35
Blizzard
Bubblebeam
Sweet Scent
Water Sport


Foretress lv 33 [Macho Brace]
Pin Missile
Counter
Spikes
Refresh


Ursaring lv 36 [Leftovers]
Return
Fake Tears
Hyper Beam
Metal Claw


I'm thinking of exchanging Dodrio for Banette. I really like Dodrio, it's my favorite normal/flying bird of Gen 1, but I've also used Dodrio multiple times across many Pokemon games, where as I've actually never used a Banette before but I'm not 100% decided on it. I guess I'll have to reach Citaldark Isle first to see if I even feel like training more Pokemon at that point. But I'm also thinking of saving Banette for my shitmon playthrough of USUM (if its even part of the expanded dex). Decision decisions, oh gosh.
 
Last edited:

DHR-107

Robot from the Future
is a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Pokemon Researcheris a Smogon Media Contributor
Orange Islands
DHR-107 -


Pushed on and just beat Gonzap. Going to post an update now as I did not think I could win this match. I accidentally ended up in Gonzap's room and had to fight Wakim and Gonzap with a severely hurt team (I was trying to make it back to the healing machine). Either way, Wakin decided to leave my 2hp Snorunt alone to batter his Gloom's with Icy Wind. Grumpig and Forretress nearly derailed me here and I had to play around the damage they could deal (and tank). Managed to squeak through with the help of Swalot.

By now I only had Jolteon/Swalot/Lunatone/Lairon left. Gonzap would be a challenge... I managed to Paralyze Electode T1 as he is almost useless in this fight. I left it there as it fired off Sonic Booms while I brought in Lunatone to set up as many Cosmic Powers as I could (I got up to 4 before I started launching off Psychics). Swalot just sat there being fat as all hell and allowed me to heal Lunatone when it need too while it healed itself with Leftovers. I never expect Nuzleaf to be packing Hyper Beam and in the end Swalot nearly OHKO'd Skarmory with Shock Wave. Was an interesting match for sure without my usual speed control shenanigans with Snorunt.

Lv 32
Brave - Sturdy
- Headbutt
- Mud Slap
- Iron Tail
- Metal Claw

Lv 31
Hasty - Inner Focus @ Nevermeltice
- Icy Wind
- Water Pulse
- Crunch
- Sing
Still trying to make it to the super high evo Level for Glalie. However, Snorunt has become the king of speed control with Icy Wind hitting both opponents and lowering speed.

Lv 30
Bold - Volt Absorb @ Magnet
- Thundershock
- Bite
- Sand Attack
- Thunder Wave
Thundershock is starting to feel weak, but I am hoping I can get a replacement soon, either that or I'll have to go grinding to see if I can get Thunder/Thunderbolt to get some power upgrades.

Lv 31
Timid - Sticky Hold @ Leftovers
- Shock Wave
- Sludge
- Body Slam
- Toxic
Swalot is rapidly turning into MVP. Not hugely powerful in terms of offence, but it just doesn't die ever. Sits there throwing around Sludges and Body Slams and being annoying.

Lv 30
Bold - Levitate @ TwistedSpoon
- Psybeam
- Mud-Slap
- Ancient Power
- Rock Tomb
Baltoy is starting to fall off in terms of power now, Lunatone has replaced it for a powerful Psychic type, however I am keeping it around until my next Pokemon shows up.


Lv 32
Bold - Levitate @ Hard Stone
- Psychic
- Cosmic Power
- Rain Dance
- Rock Tomb
Lunatone is ridiculous. Even before purification it hit hard, now with STAB Psychic it is just melting opponents left and right.
 

HotFuzzBall

fuzzy-chan \(ㆁヮㆁ✿)
is an Artist
Update #4

Literally just noticed that I called Pyrite Town Phenac City in the previous Update lol... Anyways, now I officially made it to the Cipher-overtaken Phenac City but, it sure doesn't look like it. Some lady in the main gates directed me to Realglam Tower which I wanted to anyways since I wanted to get the TMs for Light Screen and Reflect for Flaaffy and the later obtained team member, Natu.

Made it back to Phenac City and obtained the music disc for the receptionist at the mayor's house (this is actually my first playthrough of XD where I realized that you can use the music disc house's bed to rest). Turns out, Cipher grunts have disguised themselves as the citizens of Phenac. Fast forward more with the Justy impostors and etc. I finally caught Natu from one of the grunts inside the Pre-Gym, which at first I was kinda dreading. So after battling all the trainers (grunts) in the area to try and increase/decrease Natu's heart gauge, I took a detour to purify Natu who evolved into Xatu right away (which was a plus) and Mt. Battle to get the TM Shock Wave for Flaaffy.

Fast forward more to the battle with Snattle. Skiploom actually evolved after the battle with Gerog (the guy with Shadow Seel) so it became a Jumpluff during the battle with Snattle. Anyways, the battle was much easier this time around due to Jumpluff (who I would say is the MVP of this update). Jumpluff managed to take out Quagsire from the get-go with Bullet Seed while being able to subdue Lanturn (for Vaporeon) and Lunatone (to prevent Shadow Sky at first, it still woke up early which kinda sucks) helped tremendously. Jumpluff then subdued Castform to prevent any Shadow Weather Balls and Metang so Vaporeon could avoid Thunder Punch while taking it out slowly. Overall, the battle was pretty easy which was quite unexpected considering how much I have struggled against Snattle. So I saved Phenac and got a bunch of praise, blah blah blah, and now we head to the desert because Justy said so.

So far, the team has been working out pretty well. Natu was surprisingly easy to train, considering how much I thought it would be a pain to grind up. Carvanha though has been a pain to train due to its nonexistent bulk (screens haven't been helping much tbh) since it can only take a maximum of 1-2 hits the majority of the time. Carvanha's damage output is pretty great but, that bulk is making it a lot harder to use, especially with opponents using stronger Pokemon with actual stats. Vulpix still does no damage with Charcoal boosted Heat Wave but, the SS Libra is coming up so I'll be able to evolve it soon! Also, I have 5 males and 1 female on my team so far in case anyone was wondering.

Current Team

Vaporeon (Shigure) @ Mystic Water
Level 28
Ability: Water Absorb
Hasty Nature
- Water Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Icy Wind
- Bite


Flaaffy (Abel) @ Magnet
Level 27
Ability: Static
Adamant Nature
- Shock Wave
- Thunder Wave
- Light Screen
- Heal Bell


Carvanha (Klein) @ Black Glasses
Level 26
Ability: Rough Skin
Jolly Nature
- Crunch
- Water Pulse
- Refresh
- Scary Face


Jumpluff (Genny)
Level 27
Ability: Chlorophyll
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Leech Seed
- Sleep Powder
- Stun Spore


Vulpix (Kaden) @ Charcoal
Level 26
Ability: Flash Fire
Docile Nature
- Heat Wave
- Dig
- Confuse Ray
- Charm


Xatu (Soren) @ Sharp Beak
Level 27
Ability: Synchronize
Lax Nature
- Aerial Ace
- Future Sight
- Light Screen
- Reflect

Shadow Pokemon Caught
 

HotFuzzBall

fuzzy-chan \(ㆁヮㆁ✿)
is an Artist
Update #5

I'm double posting because...YOLO (though I just played XD for like an hour or so I decided to do a quick update)

Anyways, I left Phenac City to go into the desert but I couldn't because my scooter sucks soooo... I run a bunch of errands in order to get a scooter. I still don't understand how Chobin managed to evolve his Sunkern and obtain 2 other Pokemon in a matter of minutes (unless there was a convenient Sun Stone and 2 other mons in that Robo Groudon) but, the battle was really easy with Flaaffy + Vulpix. So I got the scooter upgrade and headed into the desert.

Made it SS Libra and I finally got to evolve my Vulpix into a Ninetales! So that was pretty exciting (the block puzzle wasn't actually too hard to figure out which was a bonus imo). Snag Machine got stolen and now I have to run even more errands to get it back. Fast forward to the battle against Thug Zook, this battle was a lot more difficult than I imagined it to be. My entire team struggled mainly due to the fact that it took me a while to take down Zangoose, so it was able to fire off very strong Shadow Rushes even though I had Reflect. Seviper was also pretty obnoxious since it managed to poison my Vaporeon and Xatu with Poison Tail which made the battle a lot more difficult. So Anyways, after the battle I had a fainted Carvanha (this mon is literally the hardest thing to train ever) and red/orange health mons.

Fast forward to the Mirror B. battle at Outskirt Stand... This battle was honestly just a pushover considering Xatu could OHKO Lombre/Ludicolo with Aerial Ace and then Flaaffy just chipped with Shock Wave. Fast forward even more to the battle with Gonzap. I have to say that Xatu is a pretty amazing Pokemon (pretty much the MVP of this update). The battle against Gonzap was pretty manageable since Reflect helped weaken the Hyper Beam spam while Jumpluff was able to subdue his mons. I led with Ninetales/Xatu but, Ninetales kept getting para-haxed (Electrode manage to paralyze both Xatu and Ninetales with Spark) so it didn't do anything lol... Regardless, it was still pretty manageable with Xatu and Jumpluff.

So yeah, now time to catch that dreaded Nosepass and enter Cipher Key Lair! Also my entire team is fully evolved! That's pretty exciting right?

Current Team

Vaporeon (Shigure) @ Mystic Water
Level 30
Ability: Water Absorb
Hasty Nature
- Water Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Icy Wind
- Bite


Ampharos (Abel) @ Magnet
Level 30
Ability: Static
Adamant Nature
- Thunder Punch
- Thunder Wave
- Light Screen
- Heal Bell


Sharpedo (Klein) @ Black Glasses
Level 30
Ability: Rough Skin
Jolly Nature
- Crunch
- Water Pulse
- Refresh
- Scary Face


Jumpluff (Genny) @ Leftovers
Level 30
Ability: Chlorophyll
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Leech Seed
- Sleep Powder
- Stun Spore


Ninetales (Kaden) @ Charcoal
Level 31
Ability: Flash Fire
Docile Nature
- Heat Wave
- Flamethrower
- Confuse Ray
- Charm


Xatu (Soren) @ Twisted Spoon
Level 31
Ability: Synchronize
Lax Nature
- Psychic
- Aerial Ace
- Light Screen
- Reflect

Shadow Pokemon Caught
 

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