How To Cheese Bosses With Destiny Bond Post-Disable Nerf

[Gthang]

With the Christmas 2021 update, NPCs' Pokemon will no longer spam the same move after being disabled by Cursed Body or Disable, giving you 3-4 free turns of attacks. This means the popular strategy of Protect/Substitute + Disable can no longer steamroll teams. 

 

But this doesn't mean you need to sell your Gengars and Mega Banettes for Baton Pass mons!! Destiny Bond teams are just as cheesy and effective as ever, it just requires slightly more knowledge of the opposing Boss's sets. 

 

Updated Destiny Bond Strats

 

EZ PZ Strat #1:

5x Destiny Bond users 

1x Donphan (low level, i.e. 25-50)

@Lum Berry with Sturdy & Endeavor + Ice Shard 

 

Pretty Self-Explanatory, but for anyone unfamiliar with the concept:

•Lead with a Destiny Bond user.

•Murder-suicide all 5 Destiny Bond mons. 

•Use Endeavor. The Boss's last mon will hit you, proc'ing Sturdy, and Endeavor will set the opponent's HP to 1.

•Ice Shard to clean up the KO. 

 

Note: For Destiny Bond to be used successfully, the user needs to move first or be able to survive a hit.

Recommended Destiny Bond users:

Mega Banette

Mimikyu

Sharpedo with Speed Boost

Carvanha with Speed Boost

Gengar

Froslass

Wobbuffet

 

WARNING: This strategy is faster and easier but more limited than the 2nd strat in this guide.

 

Will not work if any of the following are true:

•Opposing Boss uses Entry Hazards at any point during the battle.

•Opposing Boss generates Hail with their 5th or 6th mon.

•Opposing Boss's 6th mon has any of the following:

-Ghost-type.

-Leftovers or passive recovery like Toxic Orb Gliscor.

-Substitute.

-Rocky Helmet, Rough Skin, or Iron Barbs

-Move of choice is an attack that can flinch like Waterfall.

-Move of choice is an attack with positive priority like Aqua Jet.

-Move of choice is an attack with negative priority like Dragon Tail or Avalanche.

-Move of choice inflicts status, deals flat damage, or otherwise will not OHKO a low level Donphan, such as Seismic Toss and Toxic.

 

if i was a good guide-maker I would list every boss that this applies to, but i'm not

 

Slightly Less EZ Strat #2:

4 Destiny Bond users (1 being Mimikyu preferably)

1 Thicc Wall, Stronk Attacker, or 5th Destiny Bond user, depending on the Boss

Donphan (same set as #1)

 

This strat requires a small amount of planning. The goal here is to have 1 of your mons KO 2 of the opposing Boss's mons, and for the rest of your team to 1-for-1 trade until you have the last mon standing. 

 

There are multiple ways to achieve this:

 

1. Your Mimikyu can solo KO an opposing mon with an attack without breaking Disguise, or outspeeds the next mon the Boss promotes.

•Mimikyu KOs the first mon.

•Mimikyu uses Destiny Bond on the next mon.

 

2. There's a mon on the opposing Boss's team that only has 1 attack that can hit your MBanette/ Gengar/ Froslass, either by nature of only having 1 attacking move in their set, or due to your mon's immunity to Fighting Normal, and Poison status (Gengar).

•Use Protect, then Disable on their only viable attack.

•KO them over the next 4 turns with an attacking move.

•Outspeed or use priority (MBanette) to Destiny Bond the next mon the Boss promotes.

 

3. There is a mon on the opposing Boss's team that your Wall can switch into and solo KO. The best Wall for this is probably Chansey or Blissey, but many can work depending on the Boss.

•Use your Donphan to Endeavor + Ice Shard KO an opposing mon.

•Switch out 1HP Donphan for your Wall.

•KO the opposing mon using passive damage like Toxic/Leech Seed, or an attack between Recovery moves

•Wall dies and your Destiny Bond users proceed to 1-for-1 trade with the rest of the enemy team, leaving your 1HP Donphan as the last mon alive.

 

4. There are 2 mons on the opposing Boss's team that your Stronk Attacker can solo KO in successive order. The attacker here just really depends on the boss. Usually it will be a mon with a super-effective STAB move vs a Boss that uses a monotype team.

•Trade your Donphan and Destiny Bond users until the Boss promotes the mon your Stronk Attacker can solo KO. 

•Stronk Attacker KOs that mon and the next mon the Boss promotes by itself.

•Stronk Attacker dies and your Destiny Bond users proceed to 1-for-1 trade with the rest of the enemy team.

 

once again if this was a high effort guide i would have a list of bosses that meet the aforementioned criteria, but

 

I typed this up on mobile so if any mod wants to add formatting to make it less ugly, go for it. 

 

I mostly wanted to make this as a PSA to all the people crying about the changes. No you cannot 6-0 end-game PvE content with Protect Disable any longer, but the most popular PvE team your Protect Disable mons get slotted into is still fully functional and can beat every boss in the game. 

Edited December 1, 2021 by GThang
clarification