Pokemon Brilliant Diamond - 0 Exp Part 2: Roark
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Sinnoh, being the fourth Pokemon region in the series, was the third to have the rock-type gym as the first one before the player's path, seemingly stressing theme that the player must understand the hard way what type advantages are. In 0 exp runs, those rock-type gym leaders have been, virtually without exception, hard to face, requiring strategies such as poison sting procs and accuracy falls.
Originally, Roark and all of his rock-types were incapable of doing anything about Geodude and Onix, who could both sit indefinitely and attack with Rock Smash until their targets would succumb to defence falls and the chip damage, but now Geodude is a vicious setup attacker having been given the Defence Curl + Rollout combo, and Cranidos, threatening as it is with its huge attack stat, especially for a NFE mon, has received Bulldoze to strike said ground-types super-effectively while also having something for fire-types like Chimchar, who in his evolved form would resist vanilla Cranidos' Pursuit (his alternative to Headbutt). Both Geodude and Onix remain users of Stealth Rock, still the gym's specialty TM.
The scarcity of variety in wild Pokemon and their low level are more apparent at this point than during any other time in the game. The Pokemon found in the wild are missing key STAB moves (Geodude, still with his SwSh learnset, no longers learns Magnitude early - or indeed at all), and their levels leave a lot to be desired, too - take Psyduck and Budew for instance.
Geodude, Roark's lead, is high-levelled enough to withstand a Water Gun from a lv. 5 Psyduck, making him the perfect whipping boy to empty Roark's stock of potions for the rest of the fight. He may attack Psyduck once, which won't be fatal since Rollout takes a turn to really get going, or set Stealth Rock (more likely). Psyduck's purpose is to deny potion use to Cranidos as Roark's biggest offensive threat.
Onix, coming in next, may be physically bulky but is a sitting duck trying to attack with Rock Throw and Bind. The latter may prove to be problematic if we should find ourselves unable to inflict any real damage, like if we tried to use Budew and drain back lost HP to stay alive. A much faster counter is a Low Kick Machop with Guts (you can say this is my number one strategy when doing a no exp run, still working splendidly since its first implementation in RSE and FR/LG). The crit I got was unnecessary in the grand scheme when going for the 2HKO on the sturdy Onix.
Cranidos is exactly as dangerous as you'd think, and I require the assistance of several of my Pokemon to put him in his place. Intimidate Shinx is sent it twice to weaken its attack for Machop to safely connect a Low Kick later, Shinx first being swapped with Onix, who easily takes a Headbutt. Cranidos seems to use Leer at least twice before it goes for the OHKO with Bulldoze. The Onix doesn't have Sturdy, as, much like it was the case in the Platinum 0 exp run I did, it is stupidly time-consuming to encounter the wild Pokemon of the highest level sometimes, making catching ones with the right ability harder still. That's with unlimited Repels sold in the shops - I have just one before the first badge.
The Intimidates allow Machop to switch in and provoke Cranidos to use Leer instead of attacking due to being unable to outright KO, which is complicated by the fact Machop faces Onix beforehand, inevitably leading to damage being taken. I ensure Machop eats an Oran Berry during the confrontation against Onix, taking it to sufficient health to deal with Roark's most prized Pokemon.
The mighty Cranidos falls, and I am able to advance the story, leading to me accessing some potentially gamebreaking things like Honey Trees.
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