Pokemon Ruby Team Analysis

[dragonkin95]

This thread contains an analysis of the team that is contained in the save file I shared. I believe that this team captures the old spirit of gen 3 competitive pokemon (pre Emerald) and has won me all the challenges Pokemon Colloseum had to offer. I have not found any video on Youtube where someone got through Pokemon Coloseum with neither Pokemon from later games (eg Snorlax, Gengar) nor legendaries, only using Pokes from the 200 metagame. Sadly I cannot do any recording because my PC is already at its limits when running Dolphin (I have to take breaks between battles due to overheating XD).

The competitive Pokemon included in the save file are:

1.Latios, Timid nature, 6HP/252SPAtk/252Speed, 31/?/31/30/31/31, Psychic, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Hidden Power (Grass), Lum Berry

2.Metagross, Adamant nature, 46/252Atk/212Speed, 31/31/31/?/31/31, Meteor Mash, Sludge Bomb, Shadow Ball, Brick Break, Choice Band

3.Swampert, Brave nature, 100HP/132ATK/30DEF/140SPAtk/108Speed, 31/31/25/31/30/31, Surf, Ice Beam, Earthquake, Protect, Leftovers/Shell Bell

4.Salamnece, Adamant nature, 110HP/252/ATK/148Speed, 31/31/31/?/31/31, Dragon Dance, Earthquake, Brick Break, Aerial Ace, Lum Berry

5.Weezing, Impish nature, 252Hp/84ATK/174DEF, 31/31/31/?/31/31, Shaow Ball, Will-o-wisp, Rest, Explosion, Chesto Berry

6.Ludicolo(Rain Dish), Calm nature, 252HP/36SPATK/222SPDef, 31/?/31/31/31/31, Hydro Pump, Syntesis, Leech Seed, Fake Out, Leftovers

7.Alakazam(Sychornize), Timid nature, 6HP/252SPAtk/252Speed, 31/?/31/31/31/31/31, Psychic, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch, Fire Punch, Lum Berry/Cheri Berry

*? is used to denote an IV that is irrelevant for the Pokemon since the stat its not used

*Pokemon with two held items are so because the Battle Tower and Coloseum formats do not allow two or more Pokemo to have the same items so I have to go for the second best option for a Pokemon (Cheri Berry for Alakazam since getting Parazyed is the most important threat for it and Shell Bell for Swamprert for HP recovery).

The first three Pokemon are used in Battle Tower. This team has managed to get over 150+ wins due to being specifically set up for this format. Metagross is the lead since its safer to swtich into Latios and Swampert due to their Ground and Electric Immunities. Sludge Bomb is used to to deal with grass types and Ludicolo in particular while also providing decent neutral damage against bulky water types like Milotic. Hidden Power Grass is used on Latios to quickly dispatch Swamprts since they dont have Counter in RS as well as covering Golem and Rhydon. This setup greatly capitalzes on switching in and quickly eliminating threats so its different than the one used in Battle Frontier Gold runs. Explosion is also very spammed in the later turns so Metagross and Swampert with protect are much needed for survival.

Its worth metnioning that Latios and Metgross are so powerful that they can carry a third pokmeon through the battle tower. By doing this i was able to get both BT Ribbons on all seven pokemon I have EV trained. So, the team I have built consists of Pokemon that have 4 Ribbons each. Sadly, RS dont have a way of duplicating pokemon so the lvl50 challenges have to be sacrificed when leveling a Pokemon to lvl 100.

Now, its time for the Coloseum team analysis. Weezing is a phycial wall and has good synergy with Salamence and Ludicolo. Allow me to elaborate. In Singles, the AI runs certain teams that rely heavily on Physical Sweepers. The strategy here is to start out with Salamence, decrease their Atack with Intimidate then swtich to Weezing, take the incoming hit and burn with Will O Wisp. Afterwards, switcht to Salamence, decrease their Attack further with Intimidate to safely setup with Dragon Dance. Then proceed to sweep. This stregegy makes quick work of teams that capitalize on physical sweepers and is every effective against the trainer that uses Groudon. Its worth noting that Salamence+1DD outspeeds Chlorophyl boosted Shiftry who can be a big threat otherwise.

Weezing and Ludicolo are the fundamental combo to beat the very last fight of Orre Doubleat lvl100. Weezing's explosion is strong enough to take out Kyogre and Latios even take out Groudon on a high roll. However, for Weezing to even be able to explode, Ludicolo has to be able to use Fake out on Latios/Latias who will imidiately target Weezing with Psychic. I belive weezing can also survive a RD Boosted Surf from Kyogre in doubles. Ludicolo is sacrificed in the process but its the only way this team can get through the final round. Then, Swampert and Metagross should be able to finish the fight UNLESS the AI choose Heracross which is GG.

The main strategy for Doubles is using Salamence in conjuction with Ludicolo. Ludicolo will neutralize the opponents' Pokemon that has Ice Beam with Fake Out so that Slamanece can setup DD. Of course, this strategy will not always payoff due to the AI potentially sending out 2 Pokemon with Ice Beam or a bulky water type like Walrein that can survive a boosted Brick Break and retaliate with Ice Beam. I would say this method works for like half of the rounds or so at least in the harder cups. Also, Aerial Ace is preferred over HP Flying due to the presence of enemy Pokemon that hold brightpowder and lax incense.

Ludicolo is a great Pokemon on its own since its the perfect counter to Rain Dance teams. With Rain Dish, it gets double recovery along with Leftovers in rain and using its resistance to water type moves, Leech Seed can slowly burn the opponent's Pokemon. Ludicolo together with Swampert are essential in taking out Kyogre. By switching between the two, Kyogre's Thunder PP get depleted and afterwards Ludicolo can safely beat it with Leech Seed. Ludicolo would be much more effective in singles using Toxic over Fake out but, as i mentioned earlier, inability to clone forces the player to stick to one moveset as Fake out cannot be relearnt with Heart Scale.

The AI in this game isnt dumb either. I have tried PP stalling Kyogre till its only move would be Rest so that i could then setup Salamence with DD BUT, when Kyogre runs out of offensive moves its not gonna spam Rest forever, the AI will switch it out. This costed me one Continue and i had to resort to slowly burning Kyogre and the rest of the team using Ludicolo's excellent defense during Rain enviroment.

Alakazam is pretty straighforward. It uses Phychic for stabe which can pretty much one shot anything week to it due to Zam's enormous special attack. The elemental punches are used for maximum coverage, with Ice Punch one shotting Salamence, Flygon and even Rayquaza, Thunderpuch dealing with Gyarados while Fire Punch is used for Shednija and Metagross. Alakazam doesnt survive too long in Doubles and its a one-for-one which isnt very good in this setting but its one of the best special sweepers available in the 200 format.

I know this team isnt the best for Double battles even with the restrictions i have imposed on myself but you have to consider that these Pokemon are also used for the single setting as well so I have tried to optimize the team as much as i could in order to be able to work in both scenarios. Hence why Ludicolo runs Fake Out , this moves enables it to synergize with Salamence and Weezing who need to be protected for a turn to get their strats running. Its also much much more interesting to go trhough these chalenges without Pokemon from FR/LG and legendaries since these greaty lower the difficulty. Pokemon like Gengar and Blissey are really strong here to the point that Blissey can take on two special sweepers by itself in Doubles!

If you want to use this team for sinlges (I believe there is some Online Battling for Coloseum and RSE), i highly recommend swaping Ludicolo's Fake out for Toxic and Weezing's Shadow Ball for Sludge Bomb. Ludicolo is much more benefited from Toxic than Fake Out in singles though there is a very small niche use that Fake Out finds itself filling in Singles. It could be used in order to get rid of Salac+Endure Pokemon like Heracross who are 1HP away from fainting. But, as I have said, this is a small niche and Heracross can be checked with Salamence since it lacks Rock Slide in RS though Blaziken is a threat.

Edited July 16 by dragonkin95