Pokemon Shuffle

[The Warden]

Ugh, this is such bullshit! I fought hard (and spent a funk tonne) to get a better score of 80k which brought me back to tier 2 from tier 4 yesterday, and now I'm right back to tier funking 4 again!

[evilfusion]

Ugh, this is such bullshit! I fought hard (and spent a funk tonne) to get a better score of 80k which brought me back to tier 2 from tier 4 yesterday, and now I'm right back to tier funking 4 again!

 

Understandable frustration.

 

But considering how little investment was needed to do well (only Genesect uses RMLs, and if using Gengar, only 1 Speedup), and how RNG dependent it can be, and how desperately people fight for placement on the last day...definitely sucks, but it's much more accessible a Competition than usual.

[The Warden]

The difference between me and the bottom of the next tier is a measly 300 points. God this pisses me off so much.

 

Anyways, not much this update, except for another money sink Meloetta. Be wary guys, this unfeeling cow has well over 20k HP.

[evilfusion]

Meloetta- P was a jabroni.

 

God, I hate her stage so much. I failed it half a dozen times, sometimes even when using items, and even if I beat the stage, the catch rate sucked, and she ran after 1 Great Ball one time.

 

I beat and caught her eventually, but she cost me way more coins than she had ANY right to (okay, so roughly 8-10k, nothing stupidly high), but I was still mad about it.

 

On a better note, the new Skill Swaps are available. I didn't see anything that seemed like "Oh god yes, this is a must", other than the Hoenn starter final evos all got Swap++ (I think that's what it was), which is better than Hitting Streak (Marshtomp/Blaziken) and TONS better than Vitality drain (Sceptile).

 

Also, they apparently modified a bunch of Mega Evos' evolution times and provided more Speedups to a chunk of Pokemon. I don't know all the details with the changes to the evolution times, but I've given my supply of Speedups to Absol (who went from 3 to 8 Speedups), because Absol's needed a buff for a long time. I already gave him RMLs.

 

Also, some abilities got buffed. Like most of the Type-boosting abilities (Pummel, Pyre, Ground Forces, etc) that used to be 1.2x, are now 1.5x. Tch, way to hate on Sinister Power, which only was "better" because of the bigger damage modifier, but it has inferior activation rates.

[Flame Dragon]

So many changes. Seriously, lots of info to go through. Think I'll just wait for the people over on the reddit to figure out the best uses for Speed Up, RMLs, and Skill Swaps.

 

If memory serves I'll need to put more Speed Ups into MMY, Aerodactyl (still sad I maxed him), and Blaziken if I want them back at max. Don't think I'll do Aero, but I will likely do the other two since I've been sitting on a bunch of speed ups. Really hope Genesects new ability isn't better than Crowd Control. I JUST got it up to level 3.

[evilfusion]

So many changes. Seriously, lots of info to go through. Think I'll just wait for the people over on the reddit to figure out the best uses for Speed Up, RMLs, and Skill Swaps.

 

If memory serves I'll need to put more Speed Ups into MMY, Aerodactyl (still sad I maxed him), and Blaziken if I want them back at max. Don't think I'll do Aero, but I will likely do the other two since I've been sitting on a bunch of speed ups. Really hope Genesects new ability isn't better than Crowd Control. I JUST got it up to level 3.

 

I'm just going to drop this here, then. https://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonShuffle/comments/63k36i/pokemon_shuffle_update_110_compiled_info/

 

Genesect gets 4 Up. Which is a slightly weaker version of Power of 4. Don't even consider swapping. Crowd Control is much better.

 

For the Megas, simplest comprehension is "everything that was affected, when fully candied, will evolve with 10 icons or less (except Banette, which would need 12)". The biggest buff seems to have been from Ampharos, who used to need 24 (15 if max candied), now needs 18 (and 9 when max candied).

[The Warden]

These new mega changes are brilliant. I maxed out MMY, and he's now basically my go-to for anti-fighting and poison combat. He needs like, 9 icons to mega and then go nuts. It's pretty sweet.

[evilfusion]

So sad right now.

 

So, something I've put off for eternity is Survival Mode. I tried it once early after its release and got to Stage 16. Never touched it again.

 

But, after grinding tons of coins and wanting to do something different, I did a run of Survival Mode. And got ALLLLLLL the way up to Stage 50, which is the final stage, I believe. M-Mewtwo Y being the opponent.

 

And...I lost. I happened to look up what the reward was for 50, because I was actually surprised that beating Stage 30 and 40 gave me an RML. Yeah...Stage 50 gives 3 RML. Figures. But those rewards are only once, and give Exp Boosters on repeat runs. I didn't have that hard a time getting to Stage 50, it just was a bit time consuming. I went completely itemless except for Stage 50, where I used a DD, but because my move counter was running low (16 moves) it didn't last long enough, and I lost by about 20% HP.

 

Dunno when I'll get around to taking out the Survival Mode again. But I've FINALLY almost gotten all the captures and S Ranks in the main stages. (527/529 captures), and only short 3 S, two of which are the Pokes that require capture. Whee!

[Flame Dragon]

Curious, what team did you use for the survival run? I have most the Pokemon I'd care about at M level and a little under 90K so don't have much else to do and that would be a good thing to mess around in.

[evilfusion]

Curious, what team did you use for the survival run? I have most the Pokemon I'd care about at M level and a little under 90K so don't have much else to do and that would be a good thing to mess around in.

 

I used M-Beedrill (fully candied), Hoopa-U (SL5), Machamp (Level 19, SL5), and Golurk (Level 15). Golurk was not very useful, honestly, but a Ground type is an absolute necessity, because it's the only thing SE against Electric, and you will have to overcome M-Ampharos at some point.

 

I did have some difficulty with coverage for some stages, but the majority of the stages are randomly selected, with only a couple being guaranteed fights, and those were usually Megas, and my team really didn't have that much difficulty dispatching them. Audino, Kangaskhan, Sableye, Mawile, Glalie were all dispatched fairly easily due to Machamp being a god. Fairy-type stages are a bit of a pain, but Beedrill is good for that.

 

Again, bear in mind that I did it entirely itemless except for Stage 50 (where I lost anyway). Beedrill is a GOD, due to how it blasts a chunk of space, letting you clear really obnoxious disruptions, like barriers and blocks, and its super fast M-Evo time is perfect for stages with the goal of "beat with as few moves as possible".

[The Warden]

Was your Beedrill also level 13?

[evilfusion]

Was your Beedrill also level 13?

 

Oh. Yes, yes it was. Fully candied, fully RMLed.

[The Warden]

I think it goes without saying that I funking HATE this mega stage, and will be very glad to see it funk off.

[Flame Dragon]

Best advice I can think to give that shouldn't be too demanding is use skill swap and get Ash Gren up to SL3. I think I get like 4000 damage with one match of 4, and it was decently reliable at that level. But yea, competitions that ask you to have a bunch of RMLs on hand to power up something means unless you do you're just not going to get into the highest scoring brackets. When I did it I was in the 2 and 2 one.

[evilfusion]

Best advice I can think to give that shouldn't be too demanding is use skill swap and get Ash Gren up to SL3. I think I get like 4000 damage with one match of 4, and it was decently reliable at that level. But yea, competitions that ask you to have a bunch of RMLs on hand to power up something means unless you do you're just not going to get into the highest scoring brackets. When I did it I was in the 2 and 2 one.

 

Ahh, you're all going to despise me.

 

I beat Survival Mode (finally), got 3 RML. Then did the Escalation Battle up to Stage 200, got a total of 3 more RML. Gave them to Ash-Greninja, got him to Level 15...using the Exp Boosters from my Survival Mode attempts. Had already Skill Swapped him, and buffed Unity Power with a bunch of Skill Booster Ms I had accumulated.

 

Took a few tries, but got a score JUST short of Tier 1 (like 97k). Continued to do runs despite recognizing the sheer futility of it, because the expense of MAYBE entering Tier 1 wasn't worth the extra 2 RML and 1 Speedup. So I settled for Tier 2. Last I checked, I was place like 126.

 

The stage is kind of frustrating sometimes, because a lot of factors are random.

[The Warden]

Well, it's a bit late for me now. The comp hemorrhaged me for a lot of coins, but I did swap over to Unity per your advice, and used 4 Skill Booster Ms to jump it to SL4.

[The Warden]

Welp, I caught Vivillon. And I'd just like to say this. *Raises a 100 ft tall middle finger* Fuuuuuucccccckkkkkk YYYYYYYOOOOOOUUUUUUU!!!! You, did not, funking, deserve to have 3 fuckign Great Balls used for you on a 66 funking % chance to capture. You, funking, did not deserve to have 7500 gold wasted on you when 2500 was enough. funk you, you USELESS, funking, bug!

[Flame Dragon]

Welp, I caught Vivillon. And I'd just like to say this. *Raises a 100 ft tall middle finger* Fuuuuuucccccckkkkkk YYYYYYYOOOOOOUUUUUUU!!!! You, did not, funking, deserve to have 3 fuckign Great Balls used for you on a 66 funking % chance to capture. You, funking, did not deserve to have 7500 gold wasted on you when 2500 was enough. funk you, you USELESS, funking, bug!

Well, it is number 666......

 

I actually haven't gone for the new stuff yet. I should fix this.

[The Warden]

Well, I'm not to sure if it was a mistake, but the Hoopa-U competitive stage has already been released. I think this was ahead of schedule, since I'm pretty sure Xerneas' info said it would be next week.

[evilfusion]

By the way, all current content ends after this week. So watch out - the Safari is one week only. My understanding is Alolan Pokemon will be released next week.

 

Vivillon was a pain to find, but I beat the stage in one move, and caught in one Great Ball (82%). Also, I think Vivillon is going to be needed for the Hoopa Competition.

 

I knew the Hoopa Competition was this week, but I was confused that it wasn't available yesterday. I dunno the exact reason, but apparently, if there's ever two Competition stages in a row, the new one shows up on Wednesday instead of Tuesday. *shrugs*

 

And of COURSE Vivillon can use 5 RMLs. I mean...I'm sitting on 9 right now, but I'm really glad I waited to see if the Competition recommended an RML capable Pokemon before dishing them out. The problem is...I don't think Vivillon is that GOOD, even with Flash Mob.

[The Warden]

It's a base 60 mon, so at level 10 it'll be base 80, and the 5 RMLs would jump him to 105 power at level 15. So take it as you will. I just wish I didn't spend my remaining 5 RMLs maxing Machamp when I could have put them into Xerneas.

[evilfusion]

It's a base 60 mon, so at level 10 it'll be base 80, and the 5 RMLs would jump him to 105 power at level 15. So take it as you will. I just wish I didn't spend my remaining 5 RMLs maxing Machamp when I could have put them into Xerneas.

 

Yeah, I went for the plunge. And I gave the other 4 to Heracross, since he's been sitting at Level 11 for a while, and Heracross seems to be the popular Mega choice for the Competition. I don't like having "partial RMLed" Pokes, anyway.

[The Warden]

Yeah, it's an awkward thing to have really. In hindsight I kinda wish I hadn't spent the RMLs topping up mons that are going to take a while to get to 20 anyways (looking at you Mewtwo). Would've helped to save them really to use on other mons that would be useful. It's just annoying how these competitions can be so sudden, so it's difficult to really prepare for them.

[Flame Dragon]

My biggest issue with the competition is the rich get richer nature of them. Those with the most RMLs and Skill Boosters are going to do WAY better than everyone else. This gives them access to even more and it spirals. Like I get maybe its to make people spend money, but I don't even think that would be all that helpful.

[evilfusion]

I am so upset right now.

 

I decided to do a run or two, just to sort of see what I can achieve.

 

One of my runs had some pretty good combo luck. I got a score of just over 97000. I'm currently in 13th place. I probably won't STAY in Tier 1 by the end of the competition, but I'm pretty sure I'll be in Tier 2.

 

Why am I upset?

 

MY STUFF ISN'T MAX LEVELED. Like...at all. Vivillon is Level 7! Heracross is still Level 11! I gave them RMLs, but didn't level them fully yet. Can you imagine what my score might have been if I HAD fully leveled them? And if I didn't need them fully Leveled, I pretty much wasted 9 RMLs. I mean, Flash Mob Vivillon and Heracross are solid enough that it's not a complete waste, but damn...

 

On a random side note, I've completed all the Mission Cards now...except for that bullshit one, where you literally cannot do it without a Jewel (Yveltal's cloud clearing).