Pokemon Shuffle

[evilfusion]

Yeah, stage 200 had like...175k HP. It was SO WEIRD. And 250 had like...280k HP. I actually just did Stage 250 today, and found that level stupidly easy with full items. I beat it in 3 moves. THREE MOVES.

 

Again, full items, but I was using Rayquaza, Articuno, and Silvally (C-1 removing 4th support). Who is still godly good, by the way. Over 300k damage in 3 moves.

[The Warden]

Man, I'm really getting funking tired of the Eevee stage being complete, utter, bullshit. Oh yes, putting blocks and breakables over 50% of the board from the start is totally fair, as is making 5-6 blocks every move I make even though the board is already saturated enough as is. And it's also completely fair that I had 4 chances to use Buzzwole's ability, and it blocked every, single, last, one of them. Yes, it's totally funking fair that the stage accurately sniped every chance I had of beating it by erasing any chances for a 4-match of Buzzwole.

[The Warden]

*Sighs* I tried to get to stage 300 of Zygarde, but the bastard has too much health come 285 and beyond. I'm officially throwing in the towel at 286. I just can't overcome 20k+ health in only 12 moves.

[evilfusion]

*Sighs* I tried to get to stage 300 of Zygarde, but the bastard has too much health come 285 and beyond. I'm officially throwing in the towel at 286. I just can't overcome 20k+ health in only 12 moves.

 

Yeah, it gets rough after that. I was using M-Diancie, Unity Power Goodra, Articuno (SL5), and I Skill Swapped Zygarde Complete to Last Ditch Effort, and even then, I still used Moves + 5 for each stage between 294 and 300.

 

And used full items to beat 300. Not as easy as 250, but still beat it with PLENTY of moves to spare.

[notcleverusername]

I was about to be so happy I finally had a week to recoup coins, and then I noticed Volcanion is an Escalation Battle

I haven't had over 60k coins in so long ;u;

In other news blew all my Level Raises and almost all my Skill Swappers on things I probably won't need, but w/e ain't gonna bother with no optimizations

[The Warden]

I genuinely wish we got a week's break between escalations. Though I'm not too fussed, since I have 35k coins handy.

[The Warden]

GUYS! Sorry for double-posting a day after, but I need to get your attention. Hoopa-U can be Skill Swapped to Typeless Combo. We can get SE Typeless Combo against psychics and ghosts now. If you wanna keep using Silvally though, he's can be RMLed to level 20 now.

 

Also apparently the other boost skills have been increased to x2, with Double Normal being a x4. You wanna check other changes, take a look here.

[Flame Dragon]

Lots of changes. Looked at the reddit thread for skill swap recommendations and Shout Out is now the ability. Not sure how useful it is on main stages, but I can totally see why it would be amazing in the weekly stuff and survival.

[evilfusion]

I did know about Hoopa-U getting Typeless Combo.

 

...and I don't plan to Swap it. My Hoopa-Unbound is SL5 Risk Taker, and very reliable in the role of Burst Damage. And Typeless Combo is best at SL5, and only so-so in anything else. I don't really have 120 Skill Points to give to Hoopa-U, removing it from Burst Damage role, and into combo buff. The other combo skill buffs will probably help cover the area when Typeless Combo would otherwise overlap.

 

Typeless Combo is an amazing skill, but I rather keep Silvally exclusively within that role at this time.

 

That said, I POUNCED on Poliwrath getting Big Wave and RMLs.

[The Warden]

I see why they gave Latias only 200 stages to do, considering how much of a gold drain this mega comp is. RNG-based challenges are all well and good, it just doesn't help that said RNG-based challenge is 14300 per run with all items, which are more or less mandatory anyways.

 

I've also had the worst luck with Latias right now. From 126 to 141 with no tantrums at all, even by getting to 0 hearts 4 times I haven't gotten a tantrum. This is ridiculous.

[evilfusion]

It's fairly common for them to only give Escalations 200 stages, with the occasional ones being higher.

 

And yeah, the Mega Competition was really RNG heavy and pretty much required Mimikyu investment. I actually got Tier 1, but that was because my last run had incredible RNG with both Spookify+ and Shadow Dance, giving me like...960k, beating out my previous score of like...540k.

 

I'm currently grinding coins to tackle Stage 200, but I don't really advise going past 175 (which isn't even a boss stage), because the last stretch is stupid. It's got like 50k HP in the 190s.

 

And whee...another Ultra Beast requiring 20k to go for. Least the rest of the week is going to be laid back.

[The Warden]

Y'know, it's pretty freaking typical of them to bring out an expensive as all hell UB after an expensive as hell mega comp. Also, you got incredible RNG? What a funking shock.

[evilfusion]

Y'know, it's pretty freaking typical of them to bring out an expensive as all hell UB after an expensive as hell mega comp. Also, you got incredible RNG? What a funking shock.

 

It bites me about as often as not. Like those two competitions where I got place x01, so I missed a tier cutoff point. I get terrible runs or luck that costs me a round a LOT, I just usually take it in stride.

 

And really, I mostly just broke even, since I had to invest in Mimikyu. I gave it 10 RMLs (I had a lot to spare, I ran out of "absolutely must give RMLs" options) and burned up my stash of Level Ups that I got in previous Escalation Battles. I mean, Mimikyu is fantastic, so no regrets.

[evilfusion]

So here's something I'm wondering with the current Competition. Almost everyone and their brother is using W-Audino, Arceus, and Ditto. Like...every single person visible on the leaderboard.

 

...I'm in place 139 with a score of 374k. I used S-Gyarados, Ditto, and Silvally, finding that S-Gyarados allowed for longer combos than W-Audino (similar to Rayquaza, W-Audino has the issue of having icons clog and halting combos early), and my SL5 Silvally had a significantly more consistent activation rate, even though Arceus has a 4x multiplier vs 2.5x. My Silvally also has a higher base ATK than Arceus, so on combos without a multiplier in effect, it does more base damage.

 

Plus, W-Audino sucks if you didn't give it any RMLs.

 

...so, am I a genius or a lucky moron?

[Flame Dragon]

So here's something I'm wondering with the current Competition. Almost everyone and their brother is using W-Audino, Arceus, and Ditto. Like...every single person visible on the leaderboard.

 

...I'm in place 139 with a score of 374k. I used S-Gyarados, Ditto, and Silvally, finding that S-Gyarados allowed for longer combos than W-Audino (similar to Rayquaza, W-Audino has the issue of having icons clog and halting combos early), and my SL5 Silvally had a significantly more consistent activation rate, even though Arceus has a 4x multiplier vs 2.5x. My Silvally also has a higher base ATK than Arceus, so on combos without a multiplier in effect, it does more base damage.

 

Plus, W-Audino sucks if you didn't give it any RMLs.

 

...so, am I a genius or a lucky moron?

Why not both? Honestly, the fact I have a fully invest Silvally and only have my Arceus at level 10 and SL 1 has made me consider a different take. I will likely end up using yours since I just need to get my Ditto to level 10 (and I'm willing to burn some resources for the last couple of levels).

[evilfusion]

Why not both? Honestly, the fact I have a fully invest Silvally and only have my Arceus at level 10 and SL 1 has made me consider a different take. I will likely end up using yours since I just need to get my Ditto to level 10 (and I'm willing to burn some resources for the last couple of levels).

 

True, can't deny the lucky part.

 

Yeah, if you don't have anything invested in Arceus, but do have Silvally at SL5, I definitely recommend my version over everyone else's. I had Arceus at SL3 and I preferred Silvally. Besides, since Ditto is disrupted, and almost ALWAYS triggers, most Disrupted combos won't have a multiplier in effect, so I feel that in the second half of the run, having a consistent multiplier and combo generator is just far superior to a less consistent, but more powerful multiplier, but relying on a subpar Mega.

 

It's like...when W-Audino and Arceus works, it REALLY works...but if it doesn't, it REALLY doesn't.

 

And I got the idea for my team because of the last Type-locked Competition. You know, the one with Pory-Z, when Silvally got released, and we all realized Typeless Combo is godly at SL5. The same mindset applies here. Get the buff going, and uber-combo.

[The Warden]

W-Audino is kinda worth the investment since from levels 10 to 15 it gains 30 attack power. And the reason W-Audino works is because in the start of the stage, there is a huge influx of mega icons, so M-W-Audino triggers more often than usual, which results in a huge score when comboed with the 4x from Double Normal. With investment in W-Audino and Arceus my best score has been 365k. So to agree with Flame... you're both.

[Flame Dragon]

W-Audino is kinda worth the investment since from levels 10 to 15 it gains 30 attack power. And the reason W-Audino works is because in the start of the stage, there is a huge influx of mega icons, so M-W-Audino triggers more often than usual, which results in a huge score when comboed with the 4x from Double Normal. With investment in W-Audino and Arceus my best score has been 365k. So to agree with Flame... you're both.

My problem with investing in it is it would only be good in this very narrow competition type. Plus, I don't have the time to invest in it at this point.

[The Warden]

Fair call, but I got tier 2 by investing, so I'll get a refund in the RMLs I used on W-Audino and Arceus. Also, after testing evil's build, I'm now convinced he's far more lucky than genius cause the run I did didn't even crack 100k. And I had invested into S-Gyarados and Silvally. The problem came from the fact that the rock skyfalls in the start murder combo potential, which is what M-S-Gyarados tries to achieve. It only went downhill from there. Sufficed to say evil, your outrageous luck pulled through for you again.

[evilfusion]

Fair call, but I got tier 2 by investing, so I'll get a refund in the RMLs I used on W-Audino and Arceus. Also, after testing evil's build, I'm now convinced he's far more lucky than genius cause the run I did didn't even crack 100k. And I had invested into S-Gyarados and Silvally. The problem came from the fact that the rock skyfalls in the start murder combo potential, which is what M-S-Gyarados tries to achieve. It only went downhill from there. Sufficed to say evil, your outrageous luck pulled through for you again.

 

See, I figured the strategies were relatively even, and was more thinking about how the strategies fare in the second half, rather than the first half, as the rocks made it troublesome no matter what, but Double Normal was unreliable, and felt wasted on a small combo even when it did activate. I figured that there was the chance that S-Gyarados + Typeless Combo would result in a higher score due to combo length, whereas W-Audino and Arceus would score higher if it went off, due to the significantly higher buff, but shorter longevity of it.

 

And W-Audino was base 70 for me, due to no RMLs, and Arceus at 110 (because 5 RMLs are not worth 10 more BP). Compared to S-Gyarados' base 99, and Silvally's more reliable activation rate...there was no doubt to me that W-Audino/Arceus is BETTER, but I also factored in the Ditto disruptions resulting in combo chains with no buff, and the 99 BP + 12X (Silvally wasn't at Level 20 when I did the run) would maybe add up to make up enough of the difference that Double Normal would give on the turns it did proc.

 

The main selling point to me was trying to keep a prolonged, buffed combo, something S-Gyarados does better than W-Audino, as the icons can't clog, to compensate for the buff difference. I could probably do a run with Arceus, but I don't see much point unless I want to shoot for Tier 1...and if I succeed in doing that, I'll still get accused of having outrageous luck. ;D

 

Besides, I already did the "invest in Mimikyu, get refund" thing last Competition.

[The Warden]

Double Normal has a 70% activation rate at SL3 on a 4-match, so it's not all that unreliable. Dickish amounts of fails, but not that unreliable

[evilfusion]

Double Normal has a 70% activation rate at SL3 on a 4-match, so it's not all that unreliable. Dickish amounts of fails, but not that unreliable

 

I did one run with SL4 Arceus (75% on 4 match). I got SLIGHTLY higher than my S-Gyarados run score. Would probably be able to get Tier 1 if I had W-Audino invested. But...not worth it. Tier 2 is good enough.

[Flame Dragon]

So I feel asleep and forgot to do the competition. RIP.

 

Anyway, since we are talking about leveling, they have a new challenge to help us level. Also, something something tie in to Ultra.

[The Warden]

RIP indeed. I got tier 2, so I got paid back the 10 RMLs I used on Arceus and W-Audino.

 

As for the Level MAX Challenge, I do wonder if it'll steepen in difficulty quickly, because otherwise, it's going to be they're offering 5 RMLs, 6 Exp Booster M (1200 exp), 11 Exp Booster L (11000 exp), and 2 Level Ups for essentially free if it's easy.

[evilfusion]

RIP indeed. I got tier 2, so I got paid back the 10 RMLs I used on Arceus and W-Audino.

 

As for the Level MAX Challenge, I do wonder if it'll steepen in difficulty quickly, because otherwise, it's going to be they're offering 5 RMLs, 6 Exp Booster M (1200 exp), 11 Exp Booster L (11000 exp), and 2 Level Ups for essentially free if it's easy.

 

I've only seen one level that was even slightly difficult (Level 20).

 

And I'm pretty sure all this stuff being "free" is intentional. It's not supposed to be hard. It's a Heart sink with incentive even if you've buffed Rayquaza's skills already, because the drops are 100%, and from like...Level 10 on, you get 3 of them.

 

I'm more concerned why they're so eager to give all players a Level 15, SL5 Shot Out Rayquaza. Don't have Rayquaza? Here you go! Don't have a Skill Swapper? Level 1 gives you on. Can't afford the RMLs? Next four Levels gives you them! Hate PSB grinding? Don't worry, 100% drops, and after Level 5, you get 2 or 3 of them, again, 100%! Don't need Shot Out? Keep the Skill Swap. Already RMLed? Keep the RMLs! Don't have time to Level Rayquaza? Here's a sheet ton of Exp Boosters, including a ton of L size ones. Already Leveled it? Keep the Exp Boosters!

 

Already have a SL5 Shot Out Rayquaza? Do the Levels anyway, win all this stuff for other Pokes.