Pokemon Emerald - Monotype Bug Part 6: Gym Leader Winona
33What a weird battle this was.
Another gym where we're at a complete type disadvantage. Everything here packs Aerial Ace and hits us super-effectively, there's no usage for Shedinja either.
I had specific plans for this gym, but the battle I got in the end was hardly what I had been predicting. I blame all the criticals.
I caught Heracross in the safari prior to this, as he definitely makes facing some of Winona's Pokemon easier, even though it does have a 4x weakness to flying-type moves. It can learn Bulk Up, Rock Tomb and already comes with Brick Break, and Rock Tomb hits everything effectively here, except for Skarm. Using Bulk Up once is enough to withstand an Aerial Ace from nearly everything - use it a few more times, and we can survive two of Skarmory's attacks.
In the Emerald version, Swablu replaces Swellow as the lead, which is really welcome seeing how Swellow was probably her most dangerous Pokemon in R/S, unless you lack means to deal any decent damage to Skarm.
It might sounds like Swablu is the perfect Pokemon to set up on, but really, it's not. It likes using Perish Song, and if you're trying to set up with Bulk Up Heracross, you'll just be forced to switch out.
I attempt to set up on Tropius, waiting patiently until it kills Beautifly (who needs to be healthy upon knocking out Swablu as it's 2HKO'd by Tropius's AA), so that I can switch Heracross in at full health and proceed to use Bulk Up, but it dies to a Gust crit.
In fact, everything just dies to crits here, and when I've already set up my Heracross, it dies to Skarm's crit itself.
Volbeat was kinda useful here, since Thunderbolt is the best non-powered up move for Skarm (still only a 3HKO I believe), and it's also 4x effective against Pelipper. I don't think Pelipper is OHKO'd by T-bolt either, but it was a crit.... again... Can't complain though.