Gymkiller Squad #4: The Lawnmowers
And I came right back out about 5 minutes later after earning it...huh...that was WAY too easy...
I feel that this time around, the game-designers forgot how to make decent gym challenges, and the proof of this can be found in Ramos' pokemon selection. His squad lacked focus and coherence--and failed to capitalize on any of the strengths of a Grass-Typed Pokemon.
Ramos' problems all stemmed from him using Grass types to try overpower me rather than outsmart me. You see, the grass type is not a pure might type. Ground, Rock, and Steel Types are the physical defensive types, the Psychic type is typically made up of strong special attackers, Fighting pokemon are generally strong physical attackers, but the Grass and Poison types are mostly meant to be tricky stalling or support pokemon. For evidence, just look at all the grass pokemon out there--the only pokemon that are straight-up attackers that I can think of off the top of my head are Sceptile, Roserade, and Torterra. Oh, and Breloom, but I am STILL trying to forget about Breloom...too many nightmares...Even among these we see a lot of chicanery coming in--Breloom is only really threatening with leech seed and spore, which are moves meant to harass you, not beat you outright.
Ramos was running a Jumpluff that kept attacking with Acrobatics, a Weepinbell who used Acid (heh, heh), and a Gogoat who kept trying to use Take-Down. This made the fight easy since these grass types are known for neither their strength nor their resilience.
On the other hand, I recall Erika from Pokemon Red--now that fight was DAMN annoying. Case and Point: Victreebel with Sleep powder and Wrap ("Victreebel's attack continues...Victreebel's attack continues!" I still have nightmares about this).
You can't run a successful grass gym that ignores all the strengths of the grass type: status effects, Growth, health recovery, and other chicanery.
So, I will now adjust Ramos' team to be a REAL grass gym.
Have him lead with Jumpluff as before, but have that Jumpluff run Leech Seed, Poisonpowder, Sleep Powder, and Mega Drain. This makes it a good harassing lead--status effects, health re-absorption, and all going off Jumpluff's admirable speed stat. Plus, it is not overpowered since, well, since it's Jumpluff and the only thing Jumpluff fears more than fire is a soft breeze or a Ratatta's Tail Whip or really anything in the world at all.
Next, keep Weepinbell...actually, evolve it into Victreebel...Erika was the fourth gym too and if she
can have a Victreebel, so can Ramos. Have Victreebel focus less on attacking and more on harassing--give it Stun Spore, Stockpile, Grass Knot, and Acid (if you're so damn attached to the Acid anyways).
Finally, Gogoat is dumb--I know we want to include one of the new guys, but I think someone like Roserade or Leafeon (if you're feeling spicy) would fit best here. The last one on the Grass Team is the cleaner: while the previous two pokemon are meant to wear teams down, this guy is supposed to finish-off the job. A gymleader is meant to yield to a trainer of sufficient skill--but only if they possess the skills necessary to move on. After battling Ramos I didn't really feel that I had learned anything new since Korrina, I just felt disappointed...and a little bit hungry.
Current Squad:
IVYSAUR/Ivy/lvl.28
FLAERON/Hotfoot/lvl.28
FLOETTE/Pixie/lvl.26
SCRAGGY/Scrappy/lvl.28
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.29
On Rotation: Kirlia, Hippopotas, Pikachu, Lucario
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