Pokemon Ultra Moon - 0 Exp Part 35: Team Rainbow Rocket Giovanni

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MoogleBoss

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Published on March 4, 2022 3:00:28 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3hXx-xTgPE

Game:

Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (2017)

Duration: 5:33

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The battle that concludes this challenge I started way back in 2017. When you think about how Team Rocket was represented in the series, Giovanni isn't a particularly evil villain, or a great trainer for that matter. Opting to use him as the ultimate bad guy in the Rainbow Rocket episode pays homage to his as the classic team leader from the very first Pokemon games, but that aside he seems to be identical in his role to Garland in the Dissidia games - notable for being the first big bad, but hardly the most impressive one. Though facing Mega Mewtwo Y is quite an event, and likely why you're wondering what this videos shows, Giovanni's team fails to pose much of a threat by and large. It is essentially his original Kanto gym team, with Rhydon's upgraded to the latest evolution stage he's received since then.

As a lead, Dugtrio doesn't really achieve much, with its non-ground coverage limited to Sucker Punch. There is a multitude of ways of handling it, as it can do so little to fliers, but what I'm looking for is a way that prevents it from using Sandstorm or Stealth Rock. Neither is a gamechanger, but a nuisance that I don't want to factor in as an additional variable; otherwise, I would be leading with Pelipper straight away.

Aggron switches in as a mon who can certainly not survive an Earthquake under normal conditions. Sturdy keeps it alive, and with a Choice Band I can OHKO Dugtrio with a Heavy Slam without having to worry about Sandstorm and Stealth Rock being in the game; the former can give Rhyperior extra special defence to go with his Solid Rock tanking (likely not enough to take a Surf under any conditions but still), while the latter can potentially negatively affect the following matchups in a number of ways.

Nidoking is when I bring Pelipper in for glorious Drizzle support, Specs ensuring a OHKO. Giovanni really should've included Thunderbolt, or at least Stone Edge, in its set. Pelipper stays in, easily outspeeding Rhyperior, and taking out with another Surf.

Pelipper is no longer healthy enough to keep taking more punishment, so Whiscash switches in as the best water-type I have that's still of relevant level (I could've caught a Golduck, but I didn't find it necessary when I was strolling around Poni areas and catching stuff). Specs fails to OHKO Nidoqueen, but a Z-move off Surf does the trick under rain.

Giovanni now uses the mega evolved legendary of his region, Mewtwo. It would be interesting to see how I'd deal with this fight in Ultra Sun, where the dual psychic/fighting type Mewtwo Y would be used, but here we have to deal with the specialist Mewtwo Y. Disregarding cheese Endeavour and Mirror Coat strats, I can beat it in 2 turns, either using a single strong Pokemon with a good matchup or two weaker ones, one weakening it for the other to take the kill. The one I found cooler, choosing it for this video, was the former.

Gyarados provokes Mewtwo Y to attack with its strongest move in Psyburst, using its Mega stone to mega evolve, changing its water/flying typing to water/dark. It doesn't OHKO with STAB Crunch, so it can either use it twice, or use Leer first (which I do to show the 2-turn strat even if Crunch should crit). Mega stones aren't overpowered at all when you have access to unlimited choice items in the postgame after beating Red/Blue; I'd say choice items have been the real MVP of the postgame, as most of the time they were the optimal item for each mon utilised.

The alternate strat employs Electrode to Screech Mewtwo Y (needs a Scarf to win in speed), Choice Banded Absol (the same one that did so well during the Elite Four segment) claiming the kill with a Sucker Punch OHKO despite being only level 51. However, I've shown Absol enough in this run, never having showcased the mega type change camouflage gimmick, so I figured I'd demonstrate the former strat instead.

And so nearly 5 years after it was started, I am now completely done with the 0 exp run in Ultra Moon. Though easy at many points, it had a number of battles that I would consider to be as hard as anything I've done in this series (mostly, the champion battle, but there were a number of significant highlights in addition to that).

Can you guess what new challenge will appear on this channel next?

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