10 Years Already (HeartGold & SoulSilver Thread)

[Momiji]

I dunno, Leafeon and Espeon get some pretty awesome moves.

Leaf Blade + Grasswhistle + Swords Dance + Baton Pass is a great setup, after all, not to mention Leafeon is an offensive and defensive powerhouse, so it'll take a bit to weaken it-- and when that time comes, baton pass off to a pokemon that uses physical attacks and just start sweeping.

If you really want to get creative, pair Leafeon with a Flareon that knows Wish, Baton Pass, and Sunny Day (plus a STAB physical attack like Fire Fang or something). This way, Flareon gets its already massive physical attack (with extremely limited movepool, unfortunately) boosted with Baton Pass for a quick kill, or it can play support for Leafeon by passing back the boosted attack, along with Sunny Day (to activate Leafeon's ability, no status effects in sunlight), and Wish for a 50% health boost.

It doesn't always matter if a Pokemon gets stuck with bad moves, you can still work it to your advantage

[qwertysaur]

Just caught Ho-oh in Heart gold after getting my rising badge. Current party is Meganium, Haunter, Kadabra (need to evolve these two) Dragonair, Ariados and Umbreon. It was adorable when I was in the radio tower fighting team rocket, I talked to Dragonair and it said it was standing watch.

[Sephiroth]

Leaf Blade + Grasswhistle + Swords Dance + Baton Pass

This is almost my Sceptile. I have a physical Sceptile, because I like it to be more physical even though its stats are more for special attacks.

By the way we should start a Pokémon Wifi tournament.

[Chris]

It's been ten years... I can't believe it. I still vividly remember how excited I felt the day before Silver/Gold's release, and how I played for ten hours straight.

I bought SoulSilver a couple of days ago, and history is repeating itself. But it can't be helped. The second generation remains the best.

My current team is: Feraligatr, Arbok, Seaking and Vulpix. They are all level 34, and I just finished the Lake of Rage part.

[Momiji]

Leaf Blade + Grasswhistle + Swords Dance + Baton Pass

This is almost my Sceptile. I have a physical Sceptile, because I like it to be more physical even though its stats are more for special attacks.

By the way we should start a Pokémon Wifi tournament.

Right, but Leafeon's got the lovely advantage of having Baton Pass, which is an extremely useful move.

[Fonzie]

Current party :3

Riolu 27
Spiritomb 24
Croconaw 25
Shiny Golbat 28
Shiny Ponyta 32
Aerodactyl 28

Speed is where it's at!

edit: I'm in the Ice, or Mahogany, Gym.

[Skyblade]

I dunno, Leafeon and Espeon get some pretty awesome moves.

Leaf Blade + Grasswhistle + Swords Dance + Baton Pass is a great setup, after all, not to mention Leafeon is an offensive and defensive powerhouse, so it'll take a bit to weaken it-- and when that time comes, baton pass off to a pokemon that uses physical attacks and just start sweeping.

If you really want to get creative, pair Leafeon with a Flareon that knows Wish, Baton Pass, and Sunny Day (plus a STAB physical attack like Fire Fang or something). This way, Flareon gets its already massive physical attack (with extremely limited movepool, unfortunately) boosted with Baton Pass for a quick kill, or it can play support for Leafeon by passing back the boosted attack, along with Sunny Day (to activate Leafeon's ability, no status effects in sunlight), and Wish for a 50% health boost.

It doesn't always matter if a Pokemon gets stuck with bad moves, you can still work it to your advantage

Oh, agreed. I wouldn't ditch the Eeveelutions for anything.

And, it's true, they make pretty decent supporters (especially Umbreon, who is the King of Double Battle support Pokemon).

But the actual attacking capabilities of each one are essentially limited to two types of moves: Normal and their Evolution type (or Bite if you get it as an Eevee, but Flareon and Umbreon are really the only ones who can do anything with Bite since it turned Physical). Hidden Power is pretty much the only other attack they get, and getting a good Hidden Power can be very difficult.

Now, even with just Normal and Psychic moves, Espeon is a beast, but more type coverage is needed since the Steel type became so dang common in Gen 4. Grass Knot and Shadow Ball are the only decent off-type Special Attacks Espeon can get, and they aren't superb for coverage against Dark or Steel. Ideally, you'd get a Fire-Type Hidden Power (since Espeon can't get Flamethrower or Fire Blast), and Swift for a Normal type move (Swift has been awesome since it turned Special). That gives us Psychic, Swift, Hidden Power Fire, and Morning Sun. That is my preferred setup for Espeon, and it gives Espeon more than enough sweeping capabilities for my team, especially when paired with a Sunny Day teammate (which Leafeon, Flareon, and, to a lesser extent, Umbreon, can also take care of).

And Flareon really needs Flare Blitz. With that beastly Attack Stat, it sucks that most of its attack moves aren't Physical.


Current Party:
Typhlosion
Gengar
Golem
Eevee (who will evolve in a couple minutes next time he levels up)
Sandshrew (kept around for HM use)

I have an Abra and a Dratini with good IVs and Nature, but I haven't started using them yet. I'm not sure what Pokemon I'm going to use for Surf or Fly though. I hate TMs. They completely negate the usefullness of a third of your team.

[Chris]

Current Party:
Typhlosion
Gengar
Golem
Eevee (who will evolve in a couple minutes next time he levels up)
Sandshrew (kept around for HM use)

I have an Abra and a Dratini with good IVs and Nature, but I haven't started using them yet. I'm not sure what Pokemon I'm going to use for Surf or Fly though. I hate TMs. They completely negate the usefullness of a third of your team.

Yeah, it's pretty annoying that you have to switch out your main Pokémons, for the HM slaves. It's a little frustrating that you're not able to keep your main ones at all time.

[Momiji]

@Skyblade: I disagree. I simply see TMs as an extension of a Pokémon's movepool.

[ljkkjlcm9]

I am considering getting this with Best Buy's DS game sale this week. My only problem is I feel Pokemon has gone overboard and become far more complex than it needs to be. I miss the old days were it was rather quite simple. All these hidden stats that determine whether your pokemon is actually any good of not is annoying.

THE JACKEL

[Skyblade]

@Skyblade: I disagree. I simply see TMs as an extension of a Pokémon's movepool.

I meant HMs, sorry.

TMs are awesome, except for the huge number of them that can only be acquired once (which is why I have more than one DS, and I don't bother to keep a permanent file on my Pokemon Pearl, I just use it for collecting single time items).

[Momiji]

I'm pretty sure Effort Values have existed since R/B/Y. There just wasn't a 255 EV point cap on each stat.

You can still play the game and have it be as simple as the original ones, but of course the real beauty of the new generations of the game is its multiplayer playability-- so of course people are going to spend a bunch of time thinking of strategies and breeding the perfect Pokémon-- but you don't have to play like that. I don't understand what the problem is.

EDIT:
@Skyblade: Eh. Fly and Surf are pretty good. Scyther/Scizor can make good use of Cut with Technician, though it isn't optimal. Strength is overall useless, really. Whirlpool is good if you don't want your opponent to switch out, and Waterfall is a pretty good Physical attack, especially if you give it to Poliwrath or Gyarados or something that has a high attack stat and can make use of it, plus the STAB advantage.

[qwertysaur]

Also the pokethlon is pretty fun to play with.

[Skyblade]

I'm pretty sure Effort Values have existed since R/B/Y. There just wasn't a 255 EV point cap on each stat.

You can still play the game and have it be as simple as the original ones, but of course the real beauty of the new generations of the game is its multiplayer playability-- so of course people are going to spend a bunch of time thinking of strategies and breeding the perfect Pokémon-- but you don't have to play like that. I don't understand what the problem is.

EDIT:
@Skyblade: Eh. Fly and Surf are pretty good. Scyther/Scizor can make good use of Cut with Technician, though it isn't optimal. Strength is overall useless, really. Whirlpool is good if you don't want your opponent to switch out, and Waterfall is a pretty good Physical attack, especially if you give it to Poliwrath or Gyarados or something that has a high attack stat and can make use of it, plus the STAB advantage.

Fly is crippled by its two turn duration.

Surf and Waterfall both rock. They are among the most heavily used Water Attacks in the game for good reason. Nevertheless, your Pokemon cannot forget them, and you have to have them both on your travelling team.

Cut and Strength are of minimal utility. Low accuracy and power, and only normal type coverage. Headbutt, which is another Normal type move usable on the field, and has a free, infinite tutor, is far more useful.

Brick Break is a fighting type move, which is good, and has a great secondary effect, but again, low power kills it.

Whirlpool is good for preventing switch outs, yes, but in the main game, when you are forced to carry it around, how useful is that? And it's redundant alongside two extremely superior water moves.

I don't even remember what Rock Climb does in terms of damage, but at least in this generation we're not stuck with one of those awful non-damaging HMs like Defog or Flash.


Personally, I think as long as we have the HM and a Pokemon who can learn the move, we should be able to use the move out of combat whether they have learned it or not.

[Momiji]

Fly may be crippled by its 2-turn duration, but maybe not if you look at it in the aspect of being invulnerable for a turn, which is useful if you've got your opponent badly poisoned.

Also, there is a move deleter that lets you unlearn HM moves. I don't remember where it's at though.