Gym Leader Strategies - Roberto, The Iron Gentleman

[ddrussianinja]

Hey ho, everyone!

Last year, I had a lot of fun reading through the Gym Leader descriptions and trying to guess what Pokemon they had up their sleeves and adjusting my team accordingly.

Considering I made it through to the Championship undefeated (admittedly with a number of close calls) I felt that my preparation served me rather well.

So I figured, why should I keep my strategies to myself? Wouldn't it be more fun if we could all collaborate and try and guess which Pokemon each leader will bring into the fray? Which strategies they might employ? Which Pokemon might be good to counter them? I sure think so, so I decided that (assuming the mods and the leaders don't have a problem with it) I'd create a post for each announced Gym Leader and open a discussion for how we challengers might try to take them down!

Disclaimer: I have absolutely no inside knowledge regarding the PPL and everything I suggest is pure speculation. While last year a number of my guesses turned out to be spot-on, a decent number of them were dead wrong. I assume the same will hold true for this year. I imagine that the Gym Leaders will neither confirm nor deny any of our speculation and they may well decide to change their team lineup just to keep us on our toes. This is purely for fun and to help out newbies who might not know which Pokemon they want to train in preparation for the PPL. Also, with that in mind, let's try to keep the strategies as plain English as possible. Not everyone knows all the crazy terms.

OK, without further ado, let's talk the first announced Gym Leader of PPL East 2014!

[be3f][url=http://paxpokemonleague.net/2014/02/starting-the-gym-leader-line-up-with-something-classy/e3f]Roberto, The Iron Gentleman[/urle3f][/be3f]
[spoilere3f]Enchanted by Lysandre’s message, the young Roberto was eager to sign up to join Team Flare to show the world just how beautiful it could be. As time passed however, he began tonotice that Team Flare and its leader in fact wished to wipe the slate clean. Upon the destruction of their hidden base, and with the team in shambles, Roberto quietly took his leave. Hiding out in Kiloude City, he spent a lot of time wondering what went wrong. One day, while looking out onto the safari, he saw a glimmer of metal: a wild Mawile! Entranced by its glimmer, he wasted no time in capturing it. He vowed then and there that he would show the world the elegance of Steel type Pokémon and do his best to make up for Team Flare’s mistakes. It wasn’t long before he heard of a great convention of Pokémon trainers in Boston. What a perfect opportunity to make his debut and spread his message! Steel yourself and crash his party to earn the Classy Badge![/spoilere3f]

[be3f][ue3f]Initial Impressions[/ue3f][/be3f]
Sounds like Roberto is sticking with Steel types, but trying to only pick those that are elegant and classy. While classiness is generally in the eye of the beholder, there are a few that stand out more than others and we can build our strategy from there.

[be3f][ue3f]Definite Pokemon[/ue3f][/be3f]
[be3f]Mawile[/be3f] - Mawile is mentioned by name in the description. It is unclear whether or not Roberto intends to use Mega-Mawile, but I'll assume that he will.

[be3f][ue3f]Probable Pokemon[/ue3f][/be3f]
[be3f]Empoleon[/be3f] - Nothing says classy and Steel quite like Empoleon. It's wearing a tux, for crying out loud! Also, the Water typing is good for countering Fire and Ground types, which are commonly used to take out Steel Pokemon.
[be3f]Escavalier[/be3f] - A knight! How chivalrous!
[be3f]Aegislash[/be3f] - Speaking of knights, a sword and shield combo also screams class. Not to mention Aegislash is one of the best new Pokemon from this generation and serves as a good counter to Fighting Pokemon with its Ghost typing.

[be3f][ue3f]Possible Pokemon[/ue3f][/be3f]
[be3f]Skarmory[/be3f] - Maybe not the most elegant-looking, but a Flying type would be a great way to avoid Ground and Fighting attacks.
[be3f]Jirachi[/be3f] - Limited but not banned, Jirachi can be pretty unstoppable if allowed to set up properly.

[be3f][ue3f]Strategy[/be3f][/ue3f]
The first obvious thing to note is that if you were planning to have a Dragon Pokemon on your team, you'll probably want to leave it warming the bench for this fight. Not only would it get completely destroyed by Mawile's Fairy moves, but its Dragon moves would be utterly useless against virtually all of Roberto's Pokemon.

That said, you'll actually probably want to avoid using most types. The Steel typing has the largest number of resistances in the game. Bug, Dragon, Fairy, Flying, Grass, Ice, Normal, Psychic, Rock, and (ironically) Steel are all next to useless against Steel's might.

So what does that leave us? Fighting, Fire, and Ground. All three of those types will rip through Steel like tissue paper, and the best news is, they aren't really difficult types to find.

However, as I mentioned while I was speculating on which Pokemon Roberto would be bringing in, a decent number of Steel Pokemon exist to work around these weaknesses. Let's talk about them really quick.

[be3f]Skarmory[/be3f] - Skarmory is Steel/Flying, which makes it immune to Ground moves and eliminates its weakness against Fighting moves. Furthermore, if it has the Ability Sturdy, Roberto will be able to switch it in without worrying about it fainting on the switch, since Sturdy guarantees that it can't be taken down in one hit. Skarmory often knows the move Roost, allowing it to recover half of its HP. Skarmory also often knows Whirlwind, which would allow Skarmory to ruin your careful plans by forcing you to switch out your Pokemon and ruining any status boosts you might have built up. If Skarmory also uses Spikes, you'll take damage every time you switch a Pokemon in. Combine that with Whirlwind and you could be in for a world of hurt. Lastly, Skarmory will almost certainly have a powerful Flying move to take down any Fighting Pokemon you might have. Probably Brave Bird since it is the most powerful Flying move in the game and Skarmory can heal the recoil damage with Roost. Drill Peck is another possibility if Roberto doesn't want to deal with recoil damage. It's biggest shortcoming is its Speed. Without the Custap Berry in X/Y, Skarmory has no way to give its moves priority and its base Speed is pretty good, but not THAT good. If you can get a faster Fire Pokemon to go up against it, you stand a pretty good chance to take Skarmory down.
[be3f]Empoleon[/be3f] - Empoleon isn't the best Steel Pokemon in the game, so it might seem like Empoleon is only being chosen for its classy tux, but it is the only Water/Steel type, which gives it an edge against both Ground and Fire Pokemon. A well-placed Hydro Pump or Surf could take down a large number of Roberto's potential enemies, so Empoleon is not to be underestimated. Its most common Ability Torrent gives its Water moves a boost if its HP drops below 50%, so there's a good chance that Empoleon will know the move Substitute, allowing it to drop its HP and make it harder to defeat by giving it a shield. If its going to use Substitute, there's a decent chance it will also know Agility to boost its Speed while stalling for time. Once its HP is below 50% and its Speed is high enough, Empoleon's Surf or Hydro Pump could devastate a good chunk of your team. As for the fourth move, it could choose Stealth Rock, since that entry hazard could deal 25% damage to an unsuspecting Fire Pokemon switching in. It could also choose Toxic to poison its enemies, which is always a good way to make your enemies sweat. It could also choose Roar to force you to switch out that Fighting Pokemon you just switched in to finish off Empoleon. The key to stopping Empoleon is to hit it hard as quickly as possible before it has a chance to use Substitute or to attack. Don't attack it unless you're pretty confident you can defeat it in one hit. And you'd better hope Roberto doesn't give it a Focus Sash.
[be3f]Aegislash[/be3f] - While Skarmory's Flying type removed its weakness to Fighting moves, Aegislash's Ghost type makes it outright immune to Fighting moves. If you haven't fought against an Aegislash yet, I'd recommend that you do because it's all about the rhythm. Aegislash has a unique move called King's Shield, which is like Protect in that it makes Aegislash immune to almost all attacks for that turn, but it has an extra sting. If Aegislash's King's Shield blocks a physical attack, your Attack stat will go down. So like I said, fighting Aegislash is all about the timing and predicting when it will use its King's Shield. It's unlikely that Aegislash will use King's Shield twice in a row since, like Protect, that almost never works. More likely, Aegislash will use King's Shield, then use a different move, then use King's Shield again, then a different move, then back to King's Shield, and so on and so forth. As for other moves, Aegislash doesn't have a lot to choose from, but Shadow Sneak, Shadow Ball, Sacred Sword, and Iron Head are all very possible offensive moves and Swords Dance and Autotomize are possible stat-boosting moves. Honestly, so long as you can accurately predict when Aegislash is going to use King's Shield, you can probably take it down.

So with all that in mind, which Pokemon would be good choices?

You might be initially inclined to go for Infernape. With Fire AND Fighting moves, impressive Speed, Attack, and Special Attack stats, and a pretty good pool of moves to choose from, Infernape seems like a logical choice. And honestly, that's probably true. Infernape could use Flare Blitz on Mawile, Escavalier, Aegislash, Skarmory, and Jirachi, and use Close Combat to take down Empoleon. All Super Effective, all with the 50% same-type attack bonus (STAB) since Infernape is Fire/Fighting. So what's the problem? The problem is that Infernape in this situation is what we like to call a glass cannon. It can deal some serious damage, no doubt, but if Roberto gets a hit off, Infernape will have a very hard time staying in the game. Skarmory can take him down with Brave Bird, Jirachi can take him down with Psychic, and Empoleon can take him down with Hydro Pump. Again, all Super Effective, all with STAB. An easy way for Roberto to take down Infernape would be to bring in Skarmory. Infernape will undoubtedly get to move first, but with Sturdy, Infernape will be unable to defeat Skarmory in just one hit, leaving him open to attack. Similarly, if Empoleon has a Focus Sash (which functions more or less in the same way as the Sturdy Ability, leaving it 1 HP if it takes a move that would cause it to faint in one hit from 100% HP), it can pull the same trick. Another trick? Roberto could bring in Empoleon, baiting you to use Close Combat, and then switch in Aegislash, which would be immune to it.

I'm not saying you shouldn't use Infernape, I'm just saying that you should have an exit strategy and a backup plan. If you have Infernape out and Roberto brings in Skarmory or Empoleon, switch it out with an Electric Pokemon. Maybe Electivire. In fact, if you want to give Infernape U-Turn, you can hurt Skarmory or Empoleon just a little bit while also switching it out for Electivire. Electivire should then be able to take down Skarmory or Empoleon without worrying about Sturdy or Focus Sash. After all, Flying and Water Pokemon are both weak against Electric moves. Additionally, Infernape probably shouldn't be your only reliable counter. If you can get a Ninetales with the Drought Hidden Ability, it might be a good opener. It would boost your Fire moves and weaken Empoleon's Water moves. Also Ninetales is also a rather fast Pokemon and could probably out-Speed most (if not all) of Roberto's Pokemon.

I'd probably also recommend Gastrodon to cover your Ground bases without having to worry about the Water weakness. The move Earthquake could probably take down any of Roberto's Pokemon, with the sole exception of Skarmory. If you can get Skarmory out of the way, Gastrodon ought to be able to carry you through the day.

[be3f][ue3f]Mock Battle[/ue3f][/be3f]
This part is a little more nebulous. It's where I try to visualize a possible battle between my predicted Pokemon for Roberto and the Pokemon I recommend fighting with. I make a lot of assumptions, but I do my best to assume that the opponent is smart enough to know what I'm planning and if there's a reasonable chance something might happen in their favor, it usually will. That said, our opponents won't be psychic and while it's safe to assume things like "Ninetales probably has a Fire move", it's not necessarily safe to assume something like "Ninetales has the move Roar".

I'll hide this with a spoiler tag since this post has already gone on long enough.

[spoilere3f]OK, so it's important to remember that this year, there's Team Preview, which means that Roberto will know if you've stacked the deck against him before he picks his leading Pokemon. If I were Roberto and I saw that my opponent was packing a lot of Fire Pokemon, I'd probably open up with Empoleon to get Stealth Rock on the field as quickly as possible. So with that in mind, let's assume we start things off with Ninetales.

Before we even have the first turn, Ninetales' Ability Drought causes the sun to come out, boosting Fire moves and weakening Water moves.

In the first turn, Ninetales will use the move Roar and Empoleon will use Stealth Rock. Ninetales will move first and Empoleon will be switched out with a random Pokemon from Roberto's party before it can use Stealth Rock. Let's assume it switches out with... Jirachi, the only Pokemon in the above lineup that can match Ninetales' Speed. For the sake of simplicity, let's just assume Jirachi is always faster.

In the next turn, Jirachi opens up with Iron Head and luckily causes Ninetales (which was going to use Flamethrower) to flinch. Ninetales is now at 75% HP.

In the next turn, Jirachi uses Iron Head again, but Ninetales doesn't flinch this time, and causes Jirachi to faint using Flamethrower. Ninetales is now down to 50% HP and Roberto brings out Mawile.

In the next turn, Mawile transforms into Mega-Mawile and uses Sucker Punch, a priority move which will do enough damage to cause Ninetales to faint. However, we're clever enough to predict this and opt instead to switch out to Infernape. Since we're switching, Sucker Punch fails (Sucker Punch only works if the opponent also uses a damage-dealing move).

In the next turn, Roberto opts to sacrifice Mega-Mawile, which is easily defeated by Infernape's Flare Blitz. Infernape takes 33% recoil damage, leaving it at 66% HP. Roberto switches in Empoleon.

In the next turn, Empoleon finally gets to use Stealth Rock while Infernape uses U-Turn to switch out with Electivire. Empoleon is down to 90% HP. Since Infernape moved first, Electivire was not hurt by the Stealth Rock. Also, the Drought is now over.

In the next turn, Empoleon tries to use Substitute while Electivire uses Wild Charge. Electivire is faster and causes Empoleon to faint, taking about 30% in recoil damage, leaving it at 70% HP. Roberto brings in Escavalier.

In the next turn, Escavalier uses Mega Horn, which would cause Electivire to faint. So we're going to want to switch back to Ninetales, which causes another Drought before taking just enough damage to finally faint. We'll then switch back to Infernape, which is then hurt by the Stealth Rock, taking 25% damage, bringing it down to 41% HP.

In the next turn, Infernape destroys Escavalier with Flare Blitz, taking about 36% recoil damage, leaving it at 5% HP. Roberto brings in Skarmory.

Now, I know we said we should switch out Infernape in situations like this, but Infernape simply couldn't survive another Stealth Rock, so we might as well let him fight it out. In the next turn, Skarmory uses Whirlwind while Infernape uses ThunderPunch. We use ThunderPunch on the off-chance that Skarmory will instead opt to use Spikes, allowing Infernape one more victory before he's finished. Sadly, that is not to be. Infernape deals about 40% damage to Skarmory and Infernape is switched out with... let's say Electivire. Electivire takes 12.5% damage from Stealth Rock, bringing him down to 57.5% HP.

In the next turn, Electivire uses Wild Charge and finishes off Skarmory, taking about 16% recoil damage, but because I'm getting sick of these numbers, let's call it 17.5%, bringing Electivire down to 40% HP. Roberto brings in Aegislash.

In the next turn, we're going to predict that Roberto will start off with King's Shield and we're going to be wrong. Even so, based on our prediction, we switch out to Gastrodon (which takes 6% damage from Stealth Rock) and Aegislash uses Sacred Sword, dealing 30% damage, bringing Gastrodon down to 64% HP.

In the next turn, Gastrodon uses Recover while Aegislash uses King's Shield. We have accurately predicted and avoided King's Shield and Gastrodon is back to full HP.

In the next turn, Aegislash uses Sacred Sword, again dealing 30% damage to Gastrodon, but Gastrodon uses Earth Power and bring Aegislash down to 5% HP.

In the next turn, Aegislash uses Sacred Sword again, knowing that we'll predict that he'll use King's Shield again (which we do). We use Recover, but not before taking another 30% damage, leaving us at 90% HP.

In the next turn, Aegislash uses King's Shield while we use Earth Power. Thankfully, Earth Power is a Special Attack, and so we don't get a stat decrease. However, Aegislash lives to fight another day.

In the final turn, Aegislash uses King's Shield one more time as a last-ditch effort, but it fails and Earth Power hits this time, causing Aegislash to finally faint. Roberto has lost the match.[/spoilere3f]

[be3f][ue3f]Conclusion[/ue3f][/be3f]
It would appear that Roberto is, in all likelihood, one of the more difficult Gym Leaders this year, and while it might be tempting to just throw an Infernape at the problem and hope for the best, Steel should never be underestimated.

[Aurethious]

I haven't read this whole post yet, and I will come back to it. But let me say that I love this idea and am very interested to see how close to the Gym Leader teams are guessed and the insight the Challengers have.

[Volaro]

This is surreal to look at. Can't say I ever imagined I would see a guide / discussion about how to fight me. I dig it greatly. <thumbs up>

[Aurethious]

Slight nitpick in the mock battle, but Roar would force Ninetales to move second, allowing the Stealth Rock out.

[ddrussianinja]

[Propriety]

I am a big fan of this. It's very cool to see what the Trainer perspective is on the limited info we give you about the leaders!