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

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

I have definitely no free Slot in my party that can be used to carry a different chara's 'Mon, I'm sorry ._. Every of my Pokemon is there for a reason.

My party mentioned here is to 95% set, I made it up when when we arrived in Elanor already and considered it for a while since then. Friendly adive and thoughts are still welcome though, but please don't be offended if I don't end up following them. I might change my mind last minute also, that happens more often than not.

But since it's been asked, I'll bring up some further candidates I considered (no particular order) :

Found here

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Delphox

Pros:

• Blaze Ability, Lucky Chant, Blast Burn, Shadow Ball against Psychic and Ghost Type.
  
• Shiva really likes him, he can keep her warm also.
  
• I like battling and interacting with him.
  

Cons:

• Uh... Weak against Dark and Ghost Type.
  
• He doesn't really need more XP as he's actually fully trained by now.
  

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Nightshade aka Cherrim

Pros:

• Nature Power becomes Ghost Type within the Skull Ruins and ignores any Cover and Shields just like Infiltrator Ability.
  
• Can heal herself with Morning Sun.
  
• Can get rid of foe's Ability with Worry Seed.
  
• Shiva likes her a lot.
  

Cons:

• There's no sunlight down the Ruins that'd enable her to become a dangerous threat, Flash is just light without wamth and won't trigger things.
  

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Helios aka Alakazam

Pros:

• Toxic. Hehehe... And Foul Play.
  
• Ally Switch shenanigans.
  

Cons:

• Shiva has better Psychic Types.
  

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Purrloin

Pros:

• Dangerous wth lethal Slash and Night Slash.
  
• Free Berries.
  
• Assist and Unburden shenanigans.
  
• Yena's  backup.
  

Cons:

• Anything this black cat can do, others can do as well to a degree or even better as Shiva's bad at Brawling.
  

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Lumiere aka Litwick

Pros:

• Shiva's smol ghostly candle.
  
• He can collect life force down the Ruins to aid in his evolution into a Lampent.
  
• Can trap foes with Fire Spin.
  

Cons:

• Yet too weak to be a valid option.
  
• Spira's bringing enough Ghost aready.
  

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Furret

Pros:

• 7*Base HP.
  
• Keen Eye Ability.
  
• Gets STAB on any Normal Types moves.
  
• Foresight, Me First and Follow Me shenanigans.
  

Cons:

• Shiva's not good at Brawl. I'd be fine to loan him to any other chara though who can do better.
  

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Primal Glaceon

Pros:

• Eeveelution! <3
  
• Maybe coming down the Ruins can aid in his further evolution.
  
• Howl, Bite Ancient Power, Icy Wind and Ice Shard, suprisingly bulky with Barrier
  
• More info for Shiva's ongoing report on this 'Mon, she wishes to bond more with him also.
  

Con:

• I couldn't find any obvious ones apart from bringing him could screw my work on him becoming a Primal Espeon next.
  

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Fairies are Shiva's speciality among Grass Type, so it's natural for her to have several members of that Type in her party. They're also there to aid Spira against any Spiritomb possibly lurking there, as agreed in-chara. Oh, and to get rid of any pesky dragons and Sableye preventing me from getting loot into my hands.

Here are reasons why I decided for my current party.

Found here

Set: Whimsicott, Lilith aka Gothitelle, Yena aka winged Mightyena

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Raphael aka Ventus' Togekiss

Pros:

• +1 Fight
  
• After You can be so useful when facing multiple foes.
  
• Very versatile movepool, including Nasty Plot and Serene Grace-boosted Air Slash.
  
• Can heal himself to a degree with Morning Sun.
  
• Shiva's reminder on Ven, comforts her when she's upriled.
  
• I wish to bond more with this archangel.
  

Cons:

• I couldn't find any.
  

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Azu aka Azumarill

Pros:

• One of Shiva's most close and strongest 'Mon.
  
• Can heal herself to a degree with Draining Kiss.
  
• Can trap pesky Psychic Types with Infestation.
  
• Helping Hand to aid those in need.
  

Con:

• I couldn't find any either. >_<
  

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Vaporeon:

• Eeveelution! <3
  
• Suprisingly bulky with Acid Armor and Aqua Ring.
  
• She can be healed by pouring water onto her.
  
• Helping Hand, Quick Attack.
  
• Shiva wishes to bond more with her.
  

Cons:

• Can only properly attack with Water Pulse at the moment, therefor rather predictable.
  

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Looking at it now, my heart yearns to bring Primal Glaceon instead of Vaporeon. Pro is more coverage thanks to his current Ice Type, the only Con I could think up is that I need to train and bond with her elsewhere. That, uh, shouldn't be too much of any issue though?

Thanks for the additional input Phantom.  My turn to respond, then!

More type variety isn't usually a bad thing imo, so swapping Vaporeon for P-Glaceon could definitely be a strong choice.  P-Glaceon can also be just as bulky as Vaporeon thanks to Barrier (and a Leftovers could mimic Aqua Ring), and the more diverse movepool is a big plus over Vaporeon.  Having an Ice type could be very beneficial if we're coming up against Grass (Vines/Tangrowth), Ground (Claydol), and Dragon (possibly deeper down) types.  P-Glaceon could also borrow Nathan's Never Melt Ice for more power.  Definitely more of an offensive than defensive 'mon, though.  Vaporeon is a lot better at defensive support due to Helping Hand access.

Oh, and if you want to get a P-Espeon, you obviously have to bond quite significantly with P-Glaceon, so interacting with them frequently is obviously a must for that goal.

TLDR; Ice type offensive pressure versus Water type defensive support. I'd probably personally go with the former since it's more generally well suited for a variety of situations, but both are decent options.

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Another pokemon I could add to that list is Shiva's Ditto.  Can serve the same purpose as Nathan's, but with much less randomness and a free transformation into Umbreon, so that allows for much more flexibility (including what's essentially immediate access to any of Shiva's pokemon and possibly other group members' as well)

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As for your comments on my mons...well, there are a lot of pokemon I'd like to train with, but there are two that I'd like to squeeze in if possible.

- Emolga: we're looking for Marco now, so that's the main justification for bringing him since that's the big reason he joined Nathan's party in the first place.  Encore and Nuzzle are great moves, so are Acrobatics and Electro Ball if he learns them.  Not worried about Rock types when at least half of Nathan's team has moves SE against them.

- Snivy: the other pokemon who joined to help with Ruins business.  Not as high priority as Emolga since we might not be dealing with the source of the Vines during this trip, though.  Might still be helpful to have in case we encounter the Vines/Tangrowth/Claydol, though.

- And then I'm also considering Solosis since she's basically the only dual screens user in the party atm, and I do want to use her a little more as well.

Windos has offered to take one of Nathan's pokemon on loan, so that means 4 of the filler options can be picked atm.

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Any additional thoughts on any of this?