Video

[smallshot]

[It's Gabi again. The girl who was confused by Magikarp... Or she's probably more remembered for taking part in the recent tournament and being completely swept. She wasn't here to talk about that though.

No, she was here to show off her shiny badge and her 'new pokemon', her recently evolved Graveler. Look at him, her boy has gotten so big and he's grown so many arms. He can punch so much now.]

Are all evolutions like this? This guy made the gym a piece of cake.

[She has type advantage, she has STRONK mons, she's ready.

Though she turned to look at her Graveler. Mumbling.]

I wonder why he evolved before my first pokemon...

Comments

[smallshot]

[Funny thing, two of her rock types knew rock smash.]

Hm... My quickest rock-type is a Rockruff. He really likes to run around, even when we're training

[paladinlost]

Excellent. He'll need that speed to strike before her Pokémon use Attract. What sorts of moves does he know?

[Rock-type moves, surely. Perhaps also a bite attack or two?]

[smallshot]

Uhh... [There was a lot.] I think his strongest ones are crunch, rock slide and rock tomb.

[paladinlost]

All physical moves, then. That'll be good against her Clefable, but less useful against her Miltank.

[And of course, the Miltank is the most annoying of the three.]

Crunch will deal great damage against her Girafarig, but that's the easiest of her three. Rock Slide is more likely to end the other matchups quickly if it hits, but it's also the least accurate among those moves. I don't suppose he knows Hone Claws, by any chance?

[smallshot]

[Huh, so Clefable, Miltank and Girafarig. She'd have to look up what those were. She'd didn't know what hone claws was, but she could guess based on the name.]

No, but he knows howl.

[paladinlost]

No raised accuracy with that one, if I remember correctly, but a raised attack never hurts.

[That'll have to do, with no better options.]

And if you've no other options, you can always buy an X Accuracy and use it during the battle. That would compensate nicely for Rock Slide's issues.

[smallshot]

[Oh..she'd not thought about accuracy. Not that she knew why hone claws would make an attack more accurate, but moves didn't make sense most of the time.]

I've never used items in battle before.

[It was hard to time when the pokemon were moving around.]

[paladinlost]

[A very understandable problem, especially with younger Pokémon.]

You may want to practice it once or twice beforehand, then. Teach your Pokémon a signal that means 'come closer and stand still for a moment'. The further you progress in the Gym circuit, the more useful they'll become.

[smallshot]

But isn't it cheating?

[Sure it was allowed. But it didn't seem right.]

[paladinlost]

Not at all! No more than using a TM to teach your Pokémon a stronger move, or a Potion to withstand more attacks. Unless the rules of a match specifically limit item use, knowing when to use them is merely another form of strategy.

[smallshot]

Oh... I don't have many items. They're expensive. [And she didn't know budgeting.]

[paladinlost]

And of course, while earning a badge fixes that issue, it only does so temporarily.

[Spending all her Violet and Azalea money on items to win in Goldenrod would be silly, really.]

I don't suppose you've heard about Meowth's talent for generating money out of thin air, by any chance? A few species also have a gift for finding loose items wherever they go.