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

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

Fair enough argument, but I rather hold onto mine slim hopes that Foul Play can be meaningful in PD situations than it not at all, as otherwise those battles turn right back into crapshoot and guess fests beyond 'Use SE Damage!' and now 'Use Da Swordo!'

Practically speaking, The Sword true effect will most likely only be really applicable to Nathan's Pokemon, as he is the one using it, and would probably prioritize either keeping his own partners ahead of the game or his father's. But with this new info in mind.....well, I could substitute Lovely in place of one of my Mons if they got Sword buffed, as they could take a couple of hits due to their Bulk since it would make their Water Gun SE (And ergo they could maybe fire it off 2 - 3 times, if Priority/Luck don't run afoul of him), and Melly's Discharge pretty much becomes a Meltdown Spell under the Sword (Every Pokemon is screwed), though if she's only sent out at first and has Shiva Shielding her from PD Damage she could conceivably end up soloing a entire swarm of those galactic germs. Tommy also becomes a slightly better choice than Seismitoad too if Sword Powered, as a SP Fake Out is more likely to flinch regardless of Crits, and his Fury Swipes would be ludicrously powerful (Not so much as Grid's SP Fury Cutter, which if all of them hit would end up doing 10 PD Damage to Deoxys, cripes), but then again the poisonous toad also has Bubble, which would act like a Spread PD Move under the Sword's Power, and he still has Shadow Claw even if he isn't buffed.

Edmundi could also become rather potent regardless of Sword Power up, as Metal Burst would likely work against Deoxys and it's Sturdy would keep it in the game potentially regardless, and Inari (Diggersby) has Bulldoze, Double Slap, AND Super Fang that all could be boosted by Sword Power to be utterly nutterly terrifying (And Bulldoze can be more easily dodged than a PD Discharge). Finally, we have Anubi, who if powered up by the Sword gets access to Priority PD Bullet Punches or PD ROCK SMASH and FINAL GAMBIT, the former bypassing any Initiative advantages and the later Move being turbo charged into utter brokenness but most likely being blunted due to Deoxys' Legendary Psychic Typing. They also have Copycat, but I doubt it would work against Deoxys, since power copying Legends in any manner so far has been utterly ineffective except in the 'using their image for Intimidation/Bluffing' department.

However, I have to assume that none of my Pokemon will be getting a Sword Boost, since I can't guarantee I'll get it when I need it most, so I'll need to design my team around that fact. I could still bring along Spread and AoE Move Users and have Terra focus solely on keeping the clones/Non-Legendary threats at bay/draw the aggro to him, but that would mean he'd be less useful in helping out against DEOXYS - which might not be such a bad thing, if they could potentially mind whammy Terra if he engages them directly. Hmm.....

So....based on the new info I added, what Pokemon do you think should be on my team, and should Terra shape his team to be either generalist, DEOXYS Focused, or Clone/Non-DEOXYS Insurgent Focused (If he should come along to the fight in the first place, again). I know for a dang fact that Nathan is DEFINITELY going to be DEOXYS Focused and likely will be trying to burn down it ASAP will SE PD Multi-Hit Moves and/or Spread Damage, so I and the rest of the group can afford to specialize in other areas to better support you/each other.

I respectfully disagree about the Sword only being applicable to Nathan's pokemon.  All four artifacts have one thing in common: they can each only affect two targets at a time: their wielder, and one other character of the wielder's choice.  The Artifacts were made to combat the threat of Deoxys as one complete set.  Individually, they are strong.  Together, they are almost unstoppable.

It doesn't hurt to plan for the possibility that some of your pokemon might receive some of the buffs from the Artifacts.  However, as they can only affect 2 creatures each, it also wouldn't hurt to plan around not receiving the benefits of them, yes.  The point, however, is that we need to work together to determine who benefits the most from each Artifact's effects (though Cosh also said something about the Hauberk helping with coordinating the other Artifacts, and I'm not sure how much bearing that will have on things...)

If we can pinpoint some of Deoxys's weaknesses without the Sword, then that's additional firepower we can use against the Legendary alongside a pokemon buffed with the Sword that wouldn't normally be able to harm Deoxys on their own.

A team based around eliminating Deoxys clones quickly might also serve well as one that can burn down the actual Deoxys quickly, depending on how susceptible both are to SE PD damage.  Nathan has several Bug types and Calam, all of which should be capable of smashing their way through weaker Psychic types with relative ease.

For now, I'm operating under the assumption that PDing a move ignores the move's original damaging method entirely (since it turns Fissure into a non-OHKO), and thus would stymie the effectiveness of Super Fang, Final Gambit, and similar moves that have unusual damage pools purely on that principle alone.

Having access to Spread moves is probably a good idea in case we encounter a large group of Deoxys clones.

Honestly, I don't really have any concrete opinions as of right now on which exact pokemon you should bring.  I do think you should come, though.  Don't want ya missing out on the finale...and if it backfires on us, we'll deal with it appropriately.

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You're not wrong about my plans for Nathan's team being focused on dealing as much damage to Deoxys and its clones as quickly as I can.  Grid (Electroweb and Fury Cutter), Princess (Fury Cutter and Fell Stinger.  If she accumulates enough exp on the way to Deoxys, she could possibly use souped up Order moves, too), and Calam (large initiative bonus, Dark type) are gonna be monster damage dealers against Psychic types.  Gallade's going to be present as well, of course.  I'm still trying to decide on the last two, tbh.  I've got a lot of choices. 

I'm kinda leaning towards Ditto and Zippy, tbh, but Charizard/Swiftfire have their own appealing traits as well, and Porygon-Z could be useful too.  Juliet could also be REALLY useful if she evolves.