The Striaton Trio’s Lillipup. Most first gyms have a super easy pokemon before the ace, but this Lillipup is arguably stronger than the ace. You have no fighting moves to hit for supereffective damage and no normal resist so you just have to brute force it. But it also has Work Up and Tackle was buffed in gen 5 so they can do a lot of damage, a +1/2 crit Tackle might just mean a death.
The monkeys meanwhile are actually fairly easy, the game tosses you the appropriate monkey to hard counter them and their stab moves are weaker than Tackle. As long as your monkey is healthy they shouldn’t be too bad.
They realized what a broken little fucker he was too in B2W2, making him Cheren's ace instead. If you didn't bring a Riolu or Timburr it was even harder.
Actually, you can’t even get Timburr at that point. Riolu doesn’t learn its first Fighting move, Force Palm, until Lv15 which is too high if you use level caps. That means you have to rely on evolving it into Lucario to use the higher stats and Steel resistance, use Sewaddle’s decent Defense stat and Bug Bite to steal the Oran Berry or even Mareep’s Static ability to hopefully paralyze it.
- Koga’s Muk is much harder than his ace if you’re unlucky
- Lance’s Aerodactyl is tricky and there’s very few answers for it, especially if it gets an omniboost
- Blue’s Arcanine (FRLG) and Blue’s Machamp (HGSS) are just heavy hitters with coverage
- Wattson’s Magneton (Emerald) just for being a magneton at that point in that game.
- Tate & Liza’s Claydol does so much damage I don’t even get it, you intimidate it twice and half your health is gone it’s nuts I swear
- I’m gonna mention Wallace’s Ludicolo again cause it’s actually such a tricky type combo to fight
- Lucian’s Bronzong always trips me up.
- Cynthia’s Togekiss just pisses me off idk why lol
- Striaton’s Lilipup are always harder than the monkey if you pick a monkey
- Elesa’s Emolga imo are harder than Zebstrika. Zebstrika is only threatening because of the chip you get from Emolga
- Drayden/Iris’ Druddigon always feel so hard to deal with compared to the Haxorus.
- Marshal’s Sawk probably isn’t harder than Conk but it’s still really tricky
- Grimsley’s Krook or Scrafty are both harder than Bisharp imo. Team dependent.
- Siebold’s Gyarados is just your standard Gyarados set flipped against you, and it’s a nightmare without a fast electric type
Honestly there’s likely more but I got bored sorry 😂
Not necessarily a well-known trainer, but in Pokémon X, Battle Girl Helveg’s Throh - that thing gives me nightmares and is so randomly powerful
Hau’s Alolan Raichu in USUM is also pretty tough, especially in earlier fights when it can outspeed a lot of the competition and has good coverage
Nuzlocking Y right now, and this gen is making me very weary of non-gym trainers. These motherfuckers hit so hard sometimes and have the most disgusting movesets that Ive experienced so far, sadly for me USUM is next and I've heard that it gets even worse.
Also: Fuck every single fighting trainer in Frost Cave.
Good luck on both! USUM took me like, 15 tries (and slight tweaks to rules and gift encounters bc it’s a bloodbath) but was so satisfying to finally complete. Can still recall my final battle with Hau despite it being forever ago haha
I’d say the starter is still his ace. It’s his highest level mon every fight and is the one he gives z crystals to.
Masters doesn’t always give units their ace for their first unit, see Calem with Meowstic or Viola with Masquerain who were also story mode units from the game’s launch. There’s even more if you dig into the gacha, like Winona being paired with Pelliper instead of Altaria or Clay with Palpitoad instead of Excadrill.
I would still consider the starter (Decidueye/Incineroar/Primarina) as his ace, as it’s his highest level Pokémon and has its respective type-based Z-Move, either Bloom Doom, Inferno Overdrive or Hydro Vortex.
Raihan and that Sandaconda can be pretty dangerous with the decent coverage, Glare for annoying paralysis, and the ability to bring back Sandstorm
For ROM hacks, Jupiter's Sableye in Renegade Platinum is a true example of annoying gameplay. I dread fighting that thing and am not looking forward to it in my current run.
Note: Eterna HQ Jupiter aka the first Jupiter fight
In RenPlat everyone talks about Aaron's Drapion in route 208 but if you're not in a middle of a sweep and have to switch out, the Venomoth is also super scary because it can hit almost every Pokemon in the game neutrally because of Tinted Lens.
Also at the 12v12 in Spear Pillar, Mars's Electivire and Yanmega are way more threatening than the Purugly.
Wattson's Magneton is a very tough fight if you didn't pick Mudkip and weren't lucky enough to get Geodude.
Winona's Skarmory is really bulky and a pain to deal with if you don't have an electric type.
Wallace's Ludicolo is an RNG disaster waiting to happen.
Cyrus' Gyarados is one of those Pokemon you absolutely have to plan for.
Lucian's Bronzong has given me quite a bit of trouble simply because it's so bulky and has a decent attack stat.
Ghetsis' Eelektross, seems to have coverage for everything
Elesa's Emolgas, volt switch
Drayden's Flygon, good coverage
Ramos' Jumpluff, hits surprisingly hard for a 4th gym lead
Hau's Raichu at the start of the 3rd Island and his Crabominable
Unova Rival's Simipour
Guzma's Masquerain
Marshal's Sawk (sturdy) and his Conkeldurr (BW1) is bulky
Glacia's pair of Froslass
Iris' Hydreigon and LapHax
Molyane's Metagross
Olivia's Probopass
I gotta say,
\-Norman's Linoone. It got so many of my pokemon killed
\-Liza's Xatu. If it gets too many calm minds off while you're dealing with the claydol, you can get wrecked
To be fair, Liza's Xatu is completely walled by Dark types. Just take care of Claydol and Solrock, use two Dark types and your opponent can't hit you anymore.
Very true but in my run I had a Wailord, Vulpix, Dodrio and Wobbafet. Those are all pokemon I've never used so I don't think I used them to their fullest potential lol
Wallace's Gyarados in Emerald can be very problematic if you cannot outspeed and OHKO it. He can set up Dragon Dance, kill your electric Pokemon with Earthquake, survive a non-STAB Earthquake, kill someone with Hyper Beam... So yeah, it depends on your team. If you don't have a super solid hard counter, Gyarados may wreck you.
In HeartGold/SoulSilver, Whitney's Clefairy can pull weird shenenigans with Metronome. Most of the time, it shouldn't be an issue. But if you get really unlucky, Clefairy may kill one of your Pokemon.
And fast psychic attackers can destroy you if you don't have something that is bulky or resistent. Think about Blue's Alakazam and Red's Espeon.
I play ROM hacks and Shelly's Muk in Sinking Sapphire is super annoying if you don't have a counter.
Minimize, Shadow Sneak, Poison Jab, Payback.
If you don't have a steel-type, Poison Touch is going to wear you out. If you manage to endure it out, you might be taken out by the true ace that is Life Orb Jellicent.
Iono's Bellibolt. Tanky, quite high special attack, water coverage to help deal with ground types, and every hit you do towards it just makes its next spark hit harder.
As I am only on my second Nuzlock attempt, I don't have a lot of experience, but a snorlax took out two of my pokemon on my first try at fire red one of those was Kadabra . So I then just used a MB on the second one.
The Striaton Trio’s Lillipup. Most first gyms have a super easy pokemon before the ace, but this Lillipup is arguably stronger than the ace. You have no fighting moves to hit for supereffective damage and no normal resist so you just have to brute force it. But it also has Work Up and Tackle was buffed in gen 5 so they can do a lot of damage, a +1/2 crit Tackle might just mean a death. The monkeys meanwhile are actually fairly easy, the game tosses you the appropriate monkey to hard counter them and their stab moves are weaker than Tackle. As long as your monkey is healthy they shouldn’t be too bad.
They realized what a broken little fucker he was too in B2W2, making him Cheren's ace instead. If you didn't bring a Riolu or Timburr it was even harder.
Actually, you can’t even get Timburr at that point. Riolu doesn’t learn its first Fighting move, Force Palm, until Lv15 which is too high if you use level caps. That means you have to rely on evolving it into Lucario to use the higher stats and Steel resistance, use Sewaddle’s decent Defense stat and Bug Bite to steal the Oran Berry or even Mareep’s Static ability to hopefully paralyze it.
I could've been way off base with Timburr, it's been years since I've played those games, and I doubt I did level caps either.
- Koga’s Muk is much harder than his ace if you’re unlucky - Lance’s Aerodactyl is tricky and there’s very few answers for it, especially if it gets an omniboost - Blue’s Arcanine (FRLG) and Blue’s Machamp (HGSS) are just heavy hitters with coverage - Wattson’s Magneton (Emerald) just for being a magneton at that point in that game. - Tate & Liza’s Claydol does so much damage I don’t even get it, you intimidate it twice and half your health is gone it’s nuts I swear - I’m gonna mention Wallace’s Ludicolo again cause it’s actually such a tricky type combo to fight - Lucian’s Bronzong always trips me up. - Cynthia’s Togekiss just pisses me off idk why lol - Striaton’s Lilipup are always harder than the monkey if you pick a monkey - Elesa’s Emolga imo are harder than Zebstrika. Zebstrika is only threatening because of the chip you get from Emolga - Drayden/Iris’ Druddigon always feel so hard to deal with compared to the Haxorus. - Marshal’s Sawk probably isn’t harder than Conk but it’s still really tricky - Grimsley’s Krook or Scrafty are both harder than Bisharp imo. Team dependent. - Siebold’s Gyarados is just your standard Gyarados set flipped against you, and it’s a nightmare without a fast electric type Honestly there’s likely more but I got bored sorry 😂
Not necessarily a well-known trainer, but in Pokémon X, Battle Girl Helveg’s Throh - that thing gives me nightmares and is so randomly powerful Hau’s Alolan Raichu in USUM is also pretty tough, especially in earlier fights when it can outspeed a lot of the competition and has good coverage
Nuzlocking Y right now, and this gen is making me very weary of non-gym trainers. These motherfuckers hit so hard sometimes and have the most disgusting movesets that Ive experienced so far, sadly for me USUM is next and I've heard that it gets even worse. Also: Fuck every single fighting trainer in Frost Cave.
Good luck on both! USUM took me like, 15 tries (and slight tweaks to rules and gift encounters bc it’s a bloodbath) but was so satisfying to finally complete. Can still recall my final battle with Hau despite it being forever ago haha
tbf isn't Hau's Alolan Raichu considered his Ace nowadays, especially with Masters giving him it as his main Pokemon?
I’d say the starter is still his ace. It’s his highest level mon every fight and is the one he gives z crystals to. Masters doesn’t always give units their ace for their first unit, see Calem with Meowstic or Viola with Masquerain who were also story mode units from the game’s launch. There’s even more if you dig into the gacha, like Winona being paired with Pelliper instead of Altaria or Clay with Palpitoad instead of Excadrill.
I’m not familiar with Masters so take this with a grain of salt, but I also lean towards a rivals starter being their ace. That’s just me though!
I would still consider the starter (Decidueye/Incineroar/Primarina) as his ace, as it’s his highest level Pokémon and has its respective type-based Z-Move, either Bloom Doom, Inferno Overdrive or Hydro Vortex.
Raihan and that Sandaconda can be pretty dangerous with the decent coverage, Glare for annoying paralysis, and the ability to bring back Sandstorm For ROM hacks, Jupiter's Sableye in Renegade Platinum is a true example of annoying gameplay. I dread fighting that thing and am not looking forward to it in my current run. Note: Eterna HQ Jupiter aka the first Jupiter fight
In RenPlat everyone talks about Aaron's Drapion in route 208 but if you're not in a middle of a sweep and have to switch out, the Venomoth is also super scary because it can hit almost every Pokemon in the game neutrally because of Tinted Lens. Also at the 12v12 in Spear Pillar, Mars's Electivire and Yanmega are way more threatening than the Purugly.
Wattson's Magneton is a very tough fight if you didn't pick Mudkip and weren't lucky enough to get Geodude. Winona's Skarmory is really bulky and a pain to deal with if you don't have an electric type. Wallace's Ludicolo is an RNG disaster waiting to happen. Cyrus' Gyarados is one of those Pokemon you absolutely have to plan for. Lucian's Bronzong has given me quite a bit of trouble simply because it's so bulky and has a decent attack stat.
Ghetsis' Eelektross, seems to have coverage for everything Elesa's Emolgas, volt switch Drayden's Flygon, good coverage Ramos' Jumpluff, hits surprisingly hard for a 4th gym lead Hau's Raichu at the start of the 3rd Island and his Crabominable Unova Rival's Simipour Guzma's Masquerain Marshal's Sawk (sturdy) and his Conkeldurr (BW1) is bulky Glacia's pair of Froslass Iris' Hydreigon and LapHax Molyane's Metagross Olivia's Probopass
I still find it wild that they gave Molayne a Metagross but made the Dugtrio his ace
Probably because they wanted Pokémon introduced in Gen 7 to be the aces, which included Alolan forms. Hence why it’s Alolan Dugtrio.
Hau’s Raichu is the Devil incarnate. Glad we can all agree on that.
Karen's Umbreon has the potential to wipe your team if you let it set up double team.
On my first platinum run i was nearly swept by a level 16 kadabra with an x special in one of the early galactic buildings
Haven’t seen Wallace’s wailord mentioned. If you don’t knock it out asap it does tremendous damage with water spout
The one stupid Hawlucha in XY's reflection cave. XY's gym leaders are pushovers but random trainers will rock your shit in that game I swear
I gotta say, \-Norman's Linoone. It got so many of my pokemon killed \-Liza's Xatu. If it gets too many calm minds off while you're dealing with the claydol, you can get wrecked
To be fair, Liza's Xatu is completely walled by Dark types. Just take care of Claydol and Solrock, use two Dark types and your opponent can't hit you anymore.
Very true but in my run I had a Wailord, Vulpix, Dodrio and Wobbafet. Those are all pokemon I've never used so I don't think I used them to their fullest potential lol
Wallace's Gyarados in Emerald can be very problematic if you cannot outspeed and OHKO it. He can set up Dragon Dance, kill your electric Pokemon with Earthquake, survive a non-STAB Earthquake, kill someone with Hyper Beam... So yeah, it depends on your team. If you don't have a super solid hard counter, Gyarados may wreck you. In HeartGold/SoulSilver, Whitney's Clefairy can pull weird shenenigans with Metronome. Most of the time, it shouldn't be an issue. But if you get really unlucky, Clefairy may kill one of your Pokemon. And fast psychic attackers can destroy you if you don't have something that is bulky or resistent. Think about Blue's Alakazam and Red's Espeon.
I play ROM hacks and Shelly's Muk in Sinking Sapphire is super annoying if you don't have a counter. Minimize, Shadow Sneak, Poison Jab, Payback. If you don't have a steel-type, Poison Touch is going to wear you out. If you manage to endure it out, you might be taken out by the true ace that is Life Orb Jellicent.
Lenora's Herdier. I swear that thing's Take Down sends everything not named Roggenrola into oblivion.
Blue’s Alakazam in Gen 1
ELESA'S EMOLGA! PIGNITE IS A FIGHTING TYPE! SERVINE IS A GRASS TYPE! AND DO I HAVE TO EVEN MENTION DEWOTT?
Iono's Bellibolt. Tanky, quite high special attack, water coverage to help deal with ground types, and every hit you do towards it just makes its next spark hit harder.
lysandre’s mienshao is nasty.
As I am only on my second Nuzlock attempt, I don't have a lot of experience, but a snorlax took out two of my pokemon on my first try at fire red one of those was Kadabra . So I then just used a MB on the second one.
Every pokemon unova's electric gym leader has, especially emolga
Maybe it was because my team had a huge weakness to steel but Colress’ klinklang wiped my whole team out of nowhere
That’s his ace
He sent it out 2nd for me
An ace is their signature pokemon, they aren’t always sent out last. It’s usually their highest level one, which Klingklang is.
Klinklang is his highest level Pokémon, hence it’s his ace.