Pokemon White Nuzlocke Pt 10 Notes - Endgame

[swordianmaster]

So. The grinding is done. Instead of an endpost synopsis, I'll lay it out right here, right now. Stats are presented in the order they're given, which means HP/Atk/Def/SAtk/SDef/Spd.


Pinchy, L52 Escavalier (Swarm)
Held Item: Quick Claw
145/159/136/85/110/35
Iron Head/X-Scissor/Aerial Ace/Swords Dance

149/136/110 is an incredibly good defensive spread, especially for something that's only weak to Fire. As long as I keep Pinchy away from the burny moves, she's gonna tank, soak up a few hits (and pull off a couple of sword dances) and then just beat face in with super-effectives, depending on the situation. Basically meant to completely stonewall 3/4ths of the Elite 4, as well as stall for time while I heal other pokes.

Yurei, L50 Jellicent (Cursed Body)
Held Item: BrightPowder
174/73/91/98/120/76
Toxic/Surf/Recover/Blizzard

Yurei admittedly has one purpose and one purpose alone: tank the FUCK out of Ghetsis's Hydreigon. Anything else she might do in that time is fluff. Toxic/Recover leads to Toxistalling, and Blizzard is for super-effective hits. Surf is there for a STAB move, and in case I need some extra support against a ground or fire type.

RM Steel, L50 Gigalith (Sturdy)
Held Item: Scope Lens
149/164/155/81/79/42
Stone Edge/Iron Defense/Stealth Rock/Bulldoze

Boasting the highest Defense in my team, RM Steel will be serving facepunch duties for a lot of N's physical-based mons. She's also going to be my lead for N and Ghetsis, as she can take a lot of abuse after an Iron Defense, and set up Stealth Rocks. Rock/Ground covers a lot of area, effectiveness-wise, but I don't expect Bulldoze to see much use.

Derpfish, L50 Stunfisk (Static)
Held Item: Rocky Helmet
181/76/99/94/114/44
Sludge Bomb/Surf/Mud Bomb/Thunderbolt

I'd say that Derpfish is in the same boat as Yurei, meant to tank a single one of Ghetsis's mons, but that's not ENTIRELY true. She's meant to be a general tank and staller, as 181/99/114 is a surprisingly sturdy layout. I just have to be careful to keep her away from any super-effectives.

Rerun, L50 Stoutland (Sand Rush)
Held Item: Expert Belt
166/129/107/59/103/86
Return/Ice Fang/Fire Fang/Thunder Wave

Look at that stat spread - Rerun is Mario. She's better than my other mons in a lot of things, but never the best -- except in speed. Gen 5's speed creep is really blatant, all things considered, and a faster 'mon (y helo thar zoroark) will run rings around even her. Return is for Earthquake-levels of STAB, Ice and Fire grant a pretty good spread of types, and Thunder Wave is meant to make life easier on me all around.

iPants, L50 Scrafty
(Moxie)

Held Item: Shell Bell
135/109/133/52/145/69
Brick Break/Crunch/Dragon Claw/Hi Jump Kick

And now, the unknown factor. Coming onto the scene by bashing another mon's face in on a route I forgot to check, iPants is my S.Def wall and psychic-killer...though admittedly, having a weakness to both Fighting and Flying hurts, a lot... as dos that 135 HP. You'd never think it, but even with a good defensive spread, low HP still means you die a LOT faster.

• I have now spent all of my money on Full Restores and Full Heals. Just to be safe. I have 164P in my wallet, but also 52 Full Restores. I'm as confident as I could ever be. LET'S DO THIS.
  
• Might as well get the most worrisome out of the way first: Marshal. Believe it or not, Marsh, "Kiai" is not actually a kiai.
  
  I lead with Pinchy, he leads with Throh. This is the diciest part of the fight but also the easiest - all I need to do is avoid Storm Throw. One Swords Dance and an Aerial Ace leads him to start wasting his Full Restores, and he uses nothing but Stone Edge on me. Now that the Throh is down and I don't have to fear being swapped out... it's time to sweep. A Full Restore of my own, two more Swords Dances, and another Full Restore, and I'm good to go. Marshal can't seem to look past Pinchy's Bug typing, and is wasting all of his turns on Rock-type moves instead of his STAB. You aren't gonna hear me complain. Even with neutral typing and high defenses, Conkeldurr's Hammer Arm does a good 50% damage on Pinchy, causing me to worry about the Jump Kick I know is coming from his last 'mon. Thankfully, Conkeldurr falls over in a single hit to the Pinchy Killdozer. I heal up on Mienshao's first turn and eat a Jump Kick in the face - as expected, it drops me to about 51%. This is gonna be close, real close. A second Jump Kick drops Pinchy to 15 HP, but it doesn't matter; that's all she wrote.
  
  
• Second most worrisome is definitely Caitlin, so she's next.
  
  Reuniculus vs Escavalier is an odd matchup - both are slower than molasses in January, but we've basically got the two premier tanks of the game staring each other down. The difference: Pinchy has Swords Dance. On the other hand, Reuniculus has Focus Blast, which...thankfully only hits for about 45%.I'm left with 23 HP and +4 attack levels. Guess which one of those a hyper potion cures? :V Reuniculus gets one-shotted, Pinchy is back down to critical. Next comes his Gothitelle, who starts lobbing Thunderbolts to a much lesser effect than the psychofetus. It tries to set up a Calm Mind, but it eats X-Scissor. Sigilyph, on the other hand, is a little dicier - the speed doesn't bother me (everything outspeeds Pinchy anyway), the flinchhax of Air Slash does. Thankfully, Quick Claw kicks in and makes it a non-issue. Musharna might as well put me to sleep, as Pinchy hits L54.
  
  
• Next comes Twilight Sparkle Shauntal.
  
  She leads with Cofagrigus, I lead with iPants. Unfortunately, I can't avoid getting a face full of Mummy, so a Moxie sweep is out of the question. Not wanting to risk a Shadow Punch to my clutch-hitter, I keep out iPants as Golurk is tossed out.. and he proceeds to Curse. It makes killing him easy, but it means I have to switch out iPants, no questions asked. Luckily, Chandelure means I can send out Yurei in... relative safety - or so I think. She gets one-shotted by Shadow Ball. FUCK. Derpfish comes out to do the job better, though he has to eat through Shauntal's Full Restores to get there. Hell, even he takes more than 50% from Fire Blast. Luckily, I can stall him out of Fire Blasts, at which point he switches to Shadow Ball and finally dies, not soon enough. I don't want to risk Derpfish against Jellicent's three super-effectives, so I switch out for Rerun for Thunder Wave, using the time to heal up iPants before sending her out on Crunch duty.
  
  
• LOST Yurei to Shauntal's Chandelure. Carelessness, pure and simple - I underestimated Chandelure's speed AND power. WILLOW, I BLAME YOU FOR THIS.
  
  
• "I'm really sorry you had a bad experience because of me!" It's like she KNOWS she just made my ghost melt into a puddle of jellyfish ectoplasm.
  
• Finally, Grimsley.
  
  Scrafty versus Scrafty! Brick Break vs Brick Break! Insert cross-counter anime still of your choice here. Grimsley's is faster, but iPants has a Shell Bell and more HP. It leaves iPants at 18 HP (20 after the level up) but the worst of the fight is done. He sends out his Liepard, and expecting a Fake Out, I heal. I take an Aerial Ace to the face, instead. It criticals, leaving me glad I DIDN'T try to attack. Luckily, Liepard is made of tissue paper. Even Brick Break is a OHKO. Bisharp, likewise, dies in a single Brick Break, since Dark/Steel is INCREDIBLY weak to punchy. By that point, I just coast on through solely on iPants's momentum, earning another level for iPants while I'm at it. Krookodile looks so goofy with his wannabe-Kamina face.
  
  
• On to the champion! Whoever that may be.
  
• ...this staircase makes me want to hum Eye of the Tiger to myself.
  
• And N sweeps the Elite 4 with a Legendary. SCRUUUUB.
  
• And the Team Plasma castle just rises out of the ground RIGHT THERE. How long have these idiots been working on this and HOW WERE THEY NEVER NOTICED.
  
• Six of the Seven Sages, all spouting philisophical garbage at me. None of it has any relevance.
  
• NOT-TEXAN GYM LEADER TO THE RESCUE. As well as the other Gym leaders - plus Drayden, minus the elemental waiters. Man, it takes EIGHT of you to take on
• SIX old men. Why are Gym Leaders so fail.
  
• AUGH SUDDEN MOLESTNINJA.
  
• ..So... Ghetsis is a sleaze and you all have been Team Rocket under a cultish hat. Good job, assholes.
  
• So N is an emotionally stunted manchild. That's about par for the course for JRPG villains.
  
• I love that. Galactic and Rocket were thwarted by "drawing too much attention to themselves". HERE'S AN IDEA. LET'S DRESS LIKE REN FAIRE REJECTS AND PARADE AROUND TALKING ABOUT POKEMON EQUALITY, THAT WON'T DRAW ATTENTION AT ALL.
  
• oh hi, goatse. Gonna have your evil monologue yet?
  
• Time for Pokemon: Can I Really Be The Hero? :V
  
• y helo thar, zekrom. GET IN MAH MASTERBALL. "Bazzazzazzash!". Wow, I thought pokemon 'cries' couldn't get more retarded.
  
• No, seriously, get in my Master Ball. I don't wanna deal with catching you.
  
• CAUGHT L50 Zekrom in N's Castle, nicknamed "Idealism".
  
• 
  IDEALISM VS TRUTH. Reshiram's problem? He forgot to keep Dragon Breath, so he doesn't have a steady way of damaging Zekrom. GOOD JOB, N.
  
  N wastes his Full Restores on Reshiram - a practice I can't say is UNwise - while Zekrom just keeps breathing on it. Extrasensory procs flinch, meaning I have to waste a heal on Zekrom, too. However, Reshiram wastes a turn on Hyper Beam, meaning I can smack him down at my leisure. With the other dragon down, Zekrom gets switched out of the party.
  
  N predictably swaps out for Vanilluxe, who I counter with iPants. A Hi Jump Kick ruins the ice cream cone's day. Then comes Klinklang... which could be one of two pokes. Either way, I send out a Brick Break - and get a Focus Blast to the face for my troubles. Hi, Zoroark. Also, Bye, Zoroark. Sadly, that Focus Blast basically wiped iPants out, so I have to burn a turn on healing while the REAL Klinklang comes out. This time, I get a hyper beam to the face... that only does 37 damage. Hahaha wow, really? The gearhead gets another HJK for his troubles, and iPants has built up quite a head of steam, attack-wise. On the other hand, I know an unfair typing when I see one, and when that Archeops comes out, it's time to swap to Derpfish. Thunderbolt OHKOs it with the Rocky Helmet's help. Afterwards comes Carracosta. Once more fearing a bad type matchup, iPants comes back out to kick a turtle in the face. It holds on with Sturdy, sadly, but that only lasts long enough for him to get a cheap shot in. Battle over, hero = very not N.
  
  
• Ah, HERE'S the villainous rant. N proves himself to be not that bad of a guy, and in comes Goatcheese to ruin the party.
  
• Oh, hey there, Alder and Cheren. Come share the VILLAIN MOMENT with me.
  
• At least N - or SOMEBODY, I dunno who - restored my pokes' health.
  
• Creepy final boss music go!
  
  Like Shauntal, Ghetsis leads with a Cofagrigus. I keep Idealism out for now, and make the ghost type eat a face full of Fusion Bolt, though it comes after a turn of LOL PROTECT. Surprisingly, it doesn't do much at all - unlike other trainers, Ghetsis's Cofagrigus is surprisingly beefy. A second Fusion Bolt and a Dragon Breath wrap up Zekrom's time in lead of the party. Pinchy comes out to deal with Ghetsis's BOuffalant, starting to store up Swords Dances. One Iron Head seals the deal, after all the recoil damage it's been taking. Next comes Hydreigon... who is who I've been dreading. It's not safe to keep any of my pokemon out since I lost Yurei.. so I adapt some unorthodox tactics, pulling out RM Steel and the Hyper Potions.
  
  RM Steel burns the first turn laying down Stealth Rock, then I start shoving Hyper Potions down his throat to keep Sturdy going as Hydreigon burns his PP in futility. Given that Surf has 15 PP, Dragon Pulse has 10, and the other two have 5 a piece, that comes down to 35 turns I have to survive. I have more Hyper Potions, Max Potions and Full Restores than that, to be certain. Eventually, Focus Blast misses, allowing me to get a Stone Edge in. This doesn't do much in the long run - in retrospect I really wish I'd put the BrightPowder on RM Steel - but at least this makes the time enduring Struggle spam shorter. Goatcheese uses a Full Restore after the first Struggle, but by that point, I can safely build up 3 Iron Defenses and take next to nothing from the move. Sadly, Defense won't help against Seismitoad, who brings out Pinchy once more. I still have 49 Full Restores at this point, I'm confident. Next comes the Eelektross, which is what Derpfish is HERE for. Derpfish uses the boost from the Seismitoad's Rain Dance to toss out a couple of Surfs, basically making the zapsnake his bitch. Finally comes Bisharp... who dies in a single, anticlimactic Hi Jump Kick from iPants. Good job, Goatcheese, but I HAVE DRUGS TO BEAT YOUR HAX DRAGON. :V
  
  
• ANGSTY INTROSPECTION FROM N. He was shocked to hear my first pokemon say it liked me... and wanted to be with me. That pokemon later took a critical Tackle from a Patrat. Like... five minutes later. A shame, that N gets inspired by the Tepig redshirt.
  
• Aaaand... credits.

Saved at 45:19. 2 Pokemon Lost: Java (Minccino -> Cinccino, L31-L46, in update 9.5) and Yurei (Frillish -> Jellicent, L8-L50)

Final thoughts: Black/White is BRUTAL for a Nuzlocke run. In between a schitzophrenic level curve that expects you to consistently be underlevelled until Castelia, expects you to steamroller through, and then expects you to be underlevelled at endgame (and we won't GET into postgame), a speed creep that basically means you'll be outpaced at all steps unless you're INCREDIBLY lucky, and a lack of quality TMs in the main game, it's hard to get up the momentum you need to deal with what the game throws at you.

It's not unexpected for the final 'boss' (since it's not the Champion this time) to have a hax'd mon, but the problem lies in just how broad Hydreigon's coverage is - I probably would have lost one or more 'mon at that point if I hadn't abused Sturdy, if not been totally wiped. And considering that Hydreigon is one of the faster mons in 5th Gen, well... you see where I'm going with that.