[Meta thread] Iron's PokeRole Adventure: The Skull Ruins

[Dragonstrike]

Not too worried about the loyalty/disobedience ratio of the Trapinch and Yanma (1 difference in favor of disobedience for both), but I think I'll take the advice of not using Scyther, though not sure what I should use in its place

potential candidates

D-Lotad:
Pros:
-Iron Barbs ability is useful
-Shouldn't have any problems with it disobeying Spira (2 Loyalty/1 Disobedience)
-Varied moveset and defensive type combination
Cons:
-only has access to 3 potential STAB moves ATM, all of which are Steel-type

Nubi (Misdreavus)
Pros:
-Levitate
-can easily pull off a Confused/Hex combo (Through Confuse Ray and Psywave)
-Has access to a flinching move (Astonish)
Cons
-Only has four moves ATM

Azazsga (Pumpkaboo)
Pros:
-Trick (10D6 Allure roll, not counting penalties)
-Flinch (Astonish)
-Confuse Ray
Cons
-3 Moves ATM
-7HP


Undersized Azurill
Pros:
-Charm/Tail Whip/Helping Hand
-Sing
-Water Sport
-Thick Fat
- +1DEX as part of its surprise
Cons:
-Splash -.-
- -1HP  giving it 7HP

Hida (Magcargo)
Pros:

-Flame Body
-Able to inflict two different status ailments (Poison/Sleep)
-Recover
- +1HP Surprise
-Can Boost own stats thru Ancient Power
Cons
-Don't think he'd be suited for a stealthy mission
-4x Water weakness


Beedrill
Pros:
-Swarm
-Entry Hazard (Toxic Spikes)
-Rage/Fell Stinger for Strength Boosting
-Multi-Hitting move (Fury Attack)
-Able to increase crits (Focus Energy)
Cons
-1 Loyalty vs 2 Disobedience
-Not able to fully exploit Swarm ATM

D-Lotad:
Might not have any major advantages here if it doesn't know Bubble Beam, as the only tool it has for Steel types atm would be Astonish.  If you can't reliably damage your opponent, there's not much reason to stay in the battle.

Beedrill:
Seems you forgot to account for Beedrill gaining 1 Loyalty to Spira (so long as you don't have him face any more Rock types any time soon).  That solves the Disobedience issue.  But just like with D-Lotad, he may struggle to damage Scimitars if the majority of them are Steel types since all he'd have to get unresisted damage off are Pursuit and Assurance.  Might not be suitable for this mission

Hida:
Easily one of Spira's strongest pokemon, just like Toya.  The Fire typing and access to Earth Power should both be very useful.  Having pokemon more geared towards fighting well isn't necessarily a bad thing in a Stealth mission.  If we get spotted, we might need to defend ourselves.

Nubi:
Psywave doesn't Confuse.  That's Psybeam you're thinking of.  Psywave is the fixed damage move, and it's very good.  The Confuse Ray + Hex combo can be useful, and Psywave can be used to deal damage that ignores Types (except Dark) and Defense.  With 4 Gym Badges, Psywave does a flat 4 D6 of unresisted damage.  Plus, if you don't use Nubi, he won't have any opportunity to learn other moves.

Pumpkaboo and Azurill:
Given that they're small and young, I'd avoid using those two for this mission.




In summary: I'd probably bring Hida if I were picking since he's the strongest of them and brings a little more type variety. Nubi might not be a bad pick either. Bringing your best and most reliable stuff is probably what's going to work the best here, though.