Introduction
Hello to everybody ,
If you spend thousand of hours EVing in the EV areas located in the Safari of Kanto, this one is for you.
With the recent changes, you neither can catch any Pokemon nor their shiny form in it anymore. This is actually the perfect opportunity to be proposing some spawn changes and adjustments.
Funny fact, you can still encounter event themed Pokemon but...
Source :
Before digging into the problems, I must say that I'll make it so spawns and adjustements proposition will satisfy as much as possible people who :
- 1v1 each time the Pokemon by not having enough Pokemon to optimize with the multiple-switching strategy or by just not knowing this tip until now.
- Do the multi-switching strategy (explained in the Problems part).
And don't worry ! There will be TL;DR along the way as there is a big quantity of information to support what I'll be saying. Feel free to read entirely or not, this choice is yours to make.
TL;DR
Problems with the actual Safari EV spawns.
To optimize EVs yield and time, people tend to :
1- Fast lvling up, up to 60ish, to get 4 useful moves with a ton of PP, outspeeding current Safari EV spawns while holding a Macho Brace and OHKO them even with resistances without bothering about calcs.
2- Switch as much as possible up to 5 times if you can, to give 6 EVs (3 x 2 thanks to Macho Brace) to your 6 Pokemon in one encounter, saving several minutes for each Pokemon.
However, it's when you start multi-switching instead of 1v1ing that things can get spicy because of some Pokemon traits said below :
Current problematic Pokemon in the EV areas :
Vileplume for SPATK :
Moves : Poison Powder.
Ability : Effect Spore (H.A).
Its capacity to poison many of your Pokemon either by its Move or Ability is greatly discouraging. It's close to impossible to avoid it when multi-switching.
Poliwrath for DEF :
Moves : Hypnosis / Double Slap.
Ability : Water Absorb.
The award for the biggest annoyance goes to Poliwrath. Firstly, the amount of time wasted with its Hypnosis and Double Slap spam either to slower Pokemon than it like Slowpoke needing DEF EVs or when multi-switching will make you jump off your chair ! You probably never attempted to multi-switching for the 2 previous mentionned reasons to keep your sanity. Secondly, Water Absorb, with 159 different Water type Pokemon ranked number 1 including 73 single Water type, there are few weak of those single type that only learn 90% of Water type moves by lvling up and 10% of weak physical/special Coverage. You don't wanna pay egg moves / tms... to have a strong coverage JUST for a lvl 10 Poliwrath. Yes I detest this Pokemon, anything could be better than this twisted tadpole !
Nidoqueen for HP :
Moves : Poison Sting / Double Kick.
Ability : Poison Point.
Same comments made for Vileplume. Plus, Double Kick on Pokemon with Iron Barbs or Rough Skin is a pure waste of time.
Pidgeot for SPD :
Moves : Sand Attack / Quick Attack.
Ability : None.
If you're unlucky, Pidgeot can decide to spam Sand Attack, making you miss few times on the last Pokemon when multi-switching. Why would hax be there when you just want to EVing in peace ? As for Quick Attack, an unavoidable waste of time for Electric type Pokemon as Electric type resists its Flying attack Gust and therefore is forced to use its priority move. For Rock and Steel type I've tested it, it always does Gust.
So the question is, why should we get punished for trying to optimize our gameplay ? Shouldn't it be the opposite ?
The arguing for the current problematic spawns sounds like I dropped too much salt, but think like this. Having the scenarios above repeating themselves again and again, your time wasted for something that now could be avoided. You would get tired of this someday and would like to make a suggestion to change those spawns, especially this c-u-r-s-e-d Poliwrath !
As for ATK and SPDEF current spawn that I didn't talk about above, I'll say the possible improvements if there are any in the Solutions part. Note that they are the least concerned, for the reason that both are already 1v1 and multi-switching friendly.
TL;DR
The current SPDEF spawn location :
On the other hand, I find sad that the SPDEF spawn is in the same area as SPD and ATK.
I'll be proposing solutions now for both cases.
Solutions
For spawn changes :
The plan :
1 : I'm gonna pick on a list the best Pokemon which gives 3 EVs in one stat from Gen 1 to Gen 8 among all catchable Pokemon in PRO.
https://pokemondb.net/ev/all => For exemple, I'll have to click on the HP slot twice for it to show me in priority Pokemon giving 3 HP EVs.
First results would be displayed as followed :
2 : The chosen one for each EV will be selected depending on its :
#1 priority :
Moveset at lvl 10 (no priority, status and multi-hit moves + offensively, the least type interactions + the most immunities, the better it gets).
=> Only regular single-hit, boosting, decreasing moves. Single-hit Normal type moves with no side effect, Accuracy drop or Evasion raise moves being the absolute best. Immunities are useful to avoid annoying moves or forcing the AI to do a weaker one.
=> In #1, since we can't change a Pokemon learnset via lvling up. In addition, you don't want it to start spamming Sand Attack, Poison Powder and such while doing the multi-switching strat.
#2 priority :
Abilities (no Intimidate, Sturdy, Sand Stream, Speed Boost, Water Absorb...)
=> Abilities that are not triggering once entering the field, not triggering at each turn or not granting immunities / survivability are welcome.
=> In #2, Abilities that trigger when entering the field cannot be skipped anymore. So if you unfortunately have only 1 Pokemon which needs EVing, you'll feel the time loss. Also, we don't wanna get punished for doing the multi-switching strat for exemple with a Sand Stream user.
#3 priority :
Type on the defensive side (the least weaknesses / resistances / immunities, the better it gets).
=> No super effective / not super effective / immune extra dialogue upon fainting a Pokemon.
=> The majority of Pokemon naturally learn coverage by lvling up. As a result, extra dialogue are easier to avoid, that's why it's in #3.
#4 priority :
Speed stat at lvl 10 (the lowest speed stat, the better it gets).
=> To not be overlooked for slow defensive / Trick Room oriented Pokemon (hello Ferroseed, Slowpoke, Solosis...) which are slower even at lvl 60 than any current lvl 10 Pokemon in the Safari when holding a Macho Brace. Sometimes, they can still outspeed them with rng. Unlike Munchlax and Shuckle which cannot be helped with their 5 Base Spd (9 Spd at lvl 60 with 1 Spd Iv + a -Spd Nature).
=> Generally, you'll make it so you can bypass the Spd problem by having at least 1 faster Pokemon in need of the same EVs doing the multi-switching strategy and in the end greatly optimize your time. That's why it's in #4.
Speed at lvl 10 with 31 Ivs + a positive Spd Nature :
SPD : Pidgeot => 30 Spd, >60 Spd to 100% outspeed.
HP : Nidoqueen => 25 Spd, >50 Spd to 100% outspeed.
ATK : Victreebel => 24 Spd, >48 Spd to 100% outspeed.
DEF : Poliwrath => 24 Spd, >48 Spd to 100% outspeed.
SPDEF : Dustox => 23 Spd, >46 Spd to 100% outspeed.
SPATK : Vileplume => 19 Spd, >38 Spd to 100% outspeed.
TL;DR
The ideal champion for each EV :
So, with all of that said, what would be the perfect punching ball champion with the priorities mentionned above if we get to be lucky it exists ?
A Normal type Pokemon :
- #1 : Only offensive single-hit Normal type moves with no side effects which mean neutral on everything else it will hit except Ghost / Rock / Steel type, boosting moves excluding evasion raise / decreasing moves except accuracy drop.
- #2 : Abilities that don't trigger in any way or those which only trigger under few circumstances to easily bypass those.
- #3 : 1 Ghost immunity, 1 Fighting weakness. Only 2 type not neutral, making easily avoidable the extra "super effective" "immune" message. An instant 10/10 given for the #3 with 2 type.
- #4 : Small base Spd.
Moreover, in terms of the least affected type, Normal type goes without equal thanks to its traits to be :
- Offensively => Super effective on 0 Pokemon , Ghost immunity, Rock and Steel resistances.
- Defensively => Ghost immunity and Fighting weakness.
In total only 4 type concerned ! It's a blessing !
Before you say why not adding legendaries everywhere ? My answer will be :
- Their Moveset is average and always spoiled because of their Ability.
- 80% of them have an Ability that triggers immediatly and further (Pressure being the most noticable one and an irritating PP waste).
- 30% of them have an insane dual typing giving them too much resistances, some weaknesses and few immunities.
- They are 90% of the time >=90 base Spd.
- Their Bulk is ridiculously good, they would be able to tank a x4 resisted move, even at lvl 10, if a Pokemon wouldn't have other choices.
- You will feel frustration for not being able to catch it, especially if it wasn't released in the game yet.
So, now I selected THE Pokemon for each EV which will meet most of the requirements detailed above and compared them with the actual spawn. In addition, there may have multiple promising champions for each EV in order to replace the actual spawn. Indeed, I had to analyze all of them to tie-break and selecting the best one in my opinion. Also, I won't talk about every Pokemon, you see, by simply looking at their Moveset or Abilities, you can easily tell they're already out of the competition.
TL;DR
Analyses :
Caption in the spoilers :
Excellent
Average
Bad
2 champions for ATK :
TL;DR
2 champions for HP :
TL;DR
3 champions for SPATK :
TL;DR
No champion for SPDEF :
TL;DR
1 champion for SPD :
TL;DR
Ladies and gentlemen, you've been waiting for this moment ! On this day, we'll gonna write PRO's History ! In all seriousness, it's time to take down Poliwrath ! Due to the frustration that it has caused, the importance to choose the best candidate to replace it and the few available Pokemon giving 3 Def EVs, I'll be covering every last of them. Note that promising champions will have a detailed spoiler as usual, as for the few others, I'll only be saying what immediatly dissuaded me to go further with them. This was harder to choose right. I had to make more concessions than usual.
1 champion for DEF :
TL;DR
For the current SPDEF spawn location :
Spawns and Berry trees swap
Npc dialogue adjustements after the swap
How I'll increase the chances of this suggestion to be considered :
I've heard about Devs looking for more ways of money sink, so here we go. 2500 Pokedollars instead of 2000 when having taken the Safari Pass to enter in the EV areas. Let me explain first before yelling ! If the spawns get their upgrade, the price should theoretically be going up as the proposed services will get better, right ? I think people won't mind paying a bit more for an overall better service. If this bothers you, don't hesitate writting about it .
For the scenario, we can say that due to alarming numbers reported to the CEO managing each Safari, he/she decided to upgrade their EV areas in the Safari of Kanto, as there were less and less trainers using those, leading to a small % of profits. They're sure to be taking the right decision of increasing the entry price, as they previously hired analysts who found the best Pokemon to replace the current spawns, meeting most of the trainers' expectations. The expectations we talked about in the "Analyses" part of each EV spawn.
TL;DR
Now that I argued, is this suggestion feasible ?
I feel it will be an easy and fast task for :
- The Spawn Editor for spawn changes and for the swap of SPDEF and SPATK spawns.
- The Content Scripters for dialogue adjustements (due to SPDEF and SPATK spawns swap).
- The Mappers to swap the 2 Berry trees close to SPDEF and SPATK spawns.
- The Devs to introduce the new money sink (from 2000 to 2500 Pokedollars to enter in the EV areas after having bought the Safari Pass).
If this suggestion is accepted of course .
Now that Pokemon at EV areas in the Safari of Kanto are no longer catchable and shiny locked, this suggestion won't cause any trouble to the economy and will only be destined to greatly improve EVing conditions for 1v1 and multi-switching.
As for the community benefits, It will be a GREAT quality of life change.
Going through EVing with LESS pain.
People will surely be willing to EVing more with some positive changes . By doing so, they willl contribute to keep the economy going as there will be more Pokemon in the market waiting to be lvled up and being sold at the end. Everyone gains something out of this suggestion.
Thank you for reading ! If you spot any mistakes, don't hesitate telling those !
If there is something that you didn't understand, share your doubts and I'll try to answer as best as I can.
Kind Regards
Fafouney
Thanks for your feedback G3n. I've looked into Beautifly as you suggested, it turns out to be better than you anticipated ! This is its actual Moveset used on PRO. I had checked its Moveset on PokemonDB and missed it ! This would have spared me to argue about Reuniclus and Samurott . So in short : - Gust as its only move is godlike. - No annoying Abilities. - Ground immunity, this type is mainly used by Physical Pokemon so it's ok. => x4 Fighting resistance - mainly Physical / x4 Grass + x2 Bug resistances - Mixed, this will do. => All weaknesses you've mentionned should indeed help those Pokemon. I'm mainly thinking about Electrike for exemple when you don't wanna pay Hidden Power Ice TM to hit Vileplume if you want to sell it. - Max 23 Spd, it's decent, we unfortunately can't do much for Pokemon like Solosis and Slowpoke that are too slow anyway. With all of that said, I support your idea of choosing Beautifly for SPATK spawn.
