7. Pre E4 training and the final team

Well, here I am. My core team has been reduced to Murphey, Brisbane, and Stena (who has only been with the team a handful of levels, but my standard for “core” is at an all time low right now) and they are all sitting right around level 50. My rivals’ teams were in the low to mid 50’s, so I’m expecting the elite 4 to be even higher than that. Time for a REAL training montage. I opt to train up Sherpa (mid 40’s) Andre the Exeggutor (low 40’s) and Lulabell (low 20’s) for my team. 20+ levels of grinding will be a pain for Lulabell, but without her I will have no special attackers and I’d be more disadvantaged than I already am. Sherpa’s training goes smoothly and soon he’s a level 50 battle-ready Glalie. I think I would have preferred a Frosslass but Sherpa is a dude so we’ll work with what we have. Andre’s training didn’t go as smoothly. I taught him flamethrower to mow down the hordes of Snowrunt in this damn cave and for a while it was going swimmingly. About a level and a half into training (ie, 4000 snowrunts) one of them survived with what must have been about 8 hp and responded with a 4x effective blizzard that wrecked poor Andre. I didn’t even know they learned blizzard. Sherpa doesn’t know blizzard. Wtf.

RIP Andre, lvl 42-43

  Too much time later Lulabell is a level 50 badass starmie. That was mind numbingly boring but I know it's going to be worth it. My last spot is still open due to Andre's abrupt end and I fill it with Astro the level 42 gastrodon. At this point I need to just move on, I can’t bring myself to train another 8 levels on Snowrunts and Golbats. It’s like when you give up studying at 2 in the morning before a final. At this point you’ll either pass or you won’t. Unfortunately for Astro, that means his official position on the team will be “meatshield”.

Here is the team going into the elite 4.

Imma brick.... hooorse

Murphey

Level:51

Ability: Stamina

Moves: Earthquake, double kick, heavy slam, stomp

Item: leftovers

Notes: Literally and figuratively carries the team around on his back. Is a wonderful mix of tank and offensive bombshell. At this point is my longest standing team member and I’m pretty sure has seen more death than any other past or present.

Toxic is love, toxic is life

Brisbane

Level:51

Ability: Sturdy

Moves: steel wing, fly, toxic, slash

Item: leftovers

Notes: Brisbane is known for pulling miracles out of his butt from the moment I added him to the team. Like Murphey, he has a very patient battle style and isn’t too proud to let the poison do the work when we really need a win.

These boots are made
for stomping

Stena

Level:52

Ability: Leaf guard

Moves: Trop Kick, High jump kick, stomp, toxic

Item: grass z crystal

Notes: Despite being added on the last island, Stena finds herself as the 3rd most senior member of my team. She hasn’t really been put through her paces yet, but she kicks really hard. Looking forward to having her russian dance on some elite faces.

Glalie doesn't have a
lot of "epic" poses

Sherpa

Level:51

Ability: Ice body

Moves: Toxic, ice beam, protect, rest

Item: chesto berry

Notes:I’ve never used a glalie before and I wasn’t really sure what to do with him. His base stats are literally 80 all the way across, so I could do pretty much whatever I wanted with him. I opted for what seems like the safest route, another toxic staller. We can always use more of those, right?

Whoops wrong picture

Lulabell

Level:50

Ability: Illumination

Moves: Scald, Psychic, grass knot, Ice beam

Item: water z crystal

Notes: Man I love this move set.  Lulabell is ready for all comers, provided she never gets hit. She is the definition of glass cannon. Usually not what you want in a Nuzlocke (RIP Sloan) but desperate times, right?

Pls don't have grass moves pls don't
have grass moves

Astro

Level:42

Ability: Sticky hold

Moves: Earthquake, body slam, toxic, protect

Item: sitrus berry

Notes: The red shirt of the party. Astro is here to give me switching options when things get tough and a chance to heal up the rest of the team. Hopefully it never comes to it but can be sacrificed for the good of the team.

Tune in next time, as I either achieve Nuzlocke victory or crash and burn.

Deaths: 14