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Pokemon Sword & Shield - RECENT HAPPENINGS Thread

Flamer

Well-Known Member
Finally got round to completing my first competitive team of Gen 8. Been in the works for a good month or two, so likely already out of date with the current meta. But still going to try it out, hopefully will only require a few tweaks going forward.

Went for a Sand themed team, with Excadrill and Gastrodon as my main leads. Love the synergy between these two, with Storm Drain protecting Excadrill who will Gigamax early and give Gastrodon a nice couple of SpDef boosts with Max Quake. Had some nice early success with that in my first couple of battles last night. Got a Tyranitar with Sand Stream to support Excadrill too when it needs a Spd boost. Went with Gyarados as a secondary attacker, and rounded things out with Togekiss, who seems to be everywhere at the moment. Little undecided on the final member. I've got Dragapult, Duraldon and Darmanitan all trained up, so will see how my initial battles using the team go, then take either one of those, or someone new, to plug the weak spots
 

DarkerShining

Well-Known Member
Pokémon Sword: I began battling my way through the finals at Wyndon. Before the actual Finals themselves started, Bede showed up for a battle. During the finals proper, I fought against Nessa, Bea and Raihan to earn the right to challenge Leon. However, before our battle could begin, Chairman Rose interrupted to let us know that he was trying to use the power of the Darkest Day to solve the future energy crisis. However, something went wrong. Leon went on ahead to Hammerlocke to try to deal with the situation, while Hop and I decided to look into a way to help. We made our way to the Slumbering Weald in search of the sword and shield Pokémon, eventually seeming to find them. Sonia eventually caught up to us, and let us know what she had learned about the Sword and Shield, Zacian and Zamazenta.

Once the fog cleared a bit, we went into the deepest part of the forest, where we found the discarded sword and shield from the legend. I took the sword, while Hop took the shield, however Zacian and Zamazenta were nowhere to be found. Even so, we decided to head to Hammerlocke to see if we could help Leon. Outside the stadium, we met with Raihan and Hop went on ahead into the stadium.

Current team:

Rouge the Cinderace - Level 62
Gene the Obstagoon - Level 58
Ichika the Alcremie - Level 58
Sparky the Boltund - Level 60
Ringo the Flapple - Level 60
Skarv the Cramorant - Level 58

Pokémon Shield: Heading to Wyndon Stadium once more, the finals began. After the Opening Ceremony, Bede showed up and challenged me to a battle. After our battle, the Finals proper began and I had a re-match against Nessa, Allister and Raihan. After winning my battles and earning the right to fight Leon, the Championship Match was about to begin, when it was interrupted by Rose's actions.

Hop and I headed into the Slumbering Weald to look for the sword and shield Pokémon in order to help Leon, who went on ahead to Hammerlocke. We eventually found what appeared to be the two Pokémon, only for them to vanish. Sonia caught up to us, and told us what she'd learned about Zacian and Zamazenta. Hop and I went deeper into the forest, until we found the place where Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield were. I took the shield, while Hop took the sword.

We weren't able to find Zacian and Zamazenta, but we still headed to Hammerlocke to help Leon at the stadium. In front of the stadium, we met with Raihan, before Hop went on ahead inside.

Current team:

Seven the Inteleon - Level 62
Rena the Thievul - Level 60
Rarity the Galarian Rapidash - Level 58
Sparky the Boltund - Level 60
Cinnamon the Appletun - Level 59
Merla the Corviknight - Level 58
 
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Rahus

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ
Finally decided to buy a switch and pokemon shield to get me through lockdown. First day in the wild area and already caught a duraludon which I'm adding to my team. Glad I found him as I'd ruled him out of my initial team because he couldn't be caught until the end of the game.

Then 5 minutes later found a charmander in one of the dens with a few good egg moves.

Is this just incredibly lucky or have most people found rarer pokemon in dens this fast?
Well, theres an event going on right now that makes those two more frequent.
 

Giblie

Dragon Pokemon Fan
I have beat the 6th gym on Sword and I am now on my way to Spikemouth. Got a HA Litten from Wonder Box and bred a few on Shield, gave one a nickname then transferred it to Sword through Home and replaced Cinderace with it before I battled the 5th gym.

Current team is:
Shijobe the Incineroar
Ayako the Leafeon
Hakuna the Copperajah
Gyorai the Barraskewda
Sirfetch'd
Swoobat

Still looking for a replacement for the last two. Thinking Noivern or Kommo-o for one replacement and a Fairy or Psychic for the other. All pokemon are in the 40s.

And still working on Pokedex for Shield. Currently 366 caught out of 386 seen. And thinking of doing the masuda method for Shiny Dreepy, Galarian Ponyta, Litten, or Charmander since I had got Japanese ones from Pokemon Home Wonder Box.
 

nel3

Crimson Dragon
I decided to do an MM run on arrowkuda. No special IV bred before hand. I got a square shiny within 60 to 80 eggs in. It's a good result given I KO 'D the first random arrowkuda a while back.
 

DarkerShining

Well-Known Member
Pokémon Sword: Heading into Hammerlocke Stadium, I met with Oleana, who told me that Rose had awakened Eternatus. Heading through the elevator, I came across Hop before confronting Rose. After a battle against Rose, I went to the top of the tower to find Leon, who tried to catch Eternatus, only to fail. Had a battle against Eternatus, but as I tried to weaken it, it suddenly took on a more powerful form. Hop and I attempted to fight it together, but neither of us could attack. We then remembered the Rusted Sword and Shield, and tried bringing them up. This summoned Zacian and Zamazenta to our side, who helped us take down Eternatus. Caught Eternatus, and things returned to normal.

A skip in time to three days later, the Championship Match could finally take place, and I had my battle with Leon. After finally defeating him, I became Galar's new Champion.

Current team:

Rouge the Cinderace - Level 64
Gene the Obstagoon - Level 60
Ichika the Alcremie - Level 60
Sparky the Boltund - Level 62
Ringo the Flapple - Level 62
Skarv the Cramorant - Level 60

Pokémon Shield: Heading into Hammerlocke Stadium, Oleana explained how Rose had awakened Eternatus. Went into the elevator leading to the underground energy plant where Rose was. Had a battle against him, before going to find Leon, who was up against Eternatus. After Leon failed to catch Eternatus, I tried to fight it myself. After weakening it, it changed into its Eternamax form, and Hop and I were unable to have our Pokémon attack it. With Hop remembering the Rusted Sword, and me bringing out the Shield, we summoned Zacian and Zamazenta. With them by our side, we were able to fight off Eternatus, and I managed to catch it.

After the time skip to three days later, I finally had my battle against Leon, and became Galar's new champion after defeating him.

Current team:

Seven the Inteleon - Level 64
Rena the Thievul - Level 62
Rarity the Galarian Rapidash - Level 60
Sparky the Boltund - Level 62
Cinnamon the Appletun - Level 61
Merla the Corviknight - Level 60
 
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Mr.Munchlax

Great Ball Rank Trainer
Just started a new game in Shield & this time I decided to exploit Pokémon Home and the fact that I already beat my Sword game. Once I got to the Wild Area, I transferred several of my pokémon from my older games to use as reserves once I get enough badges for them, along with two HA Sirfetch'd I caught during the regional exclusive event so I could breed them and got an egg (though it hasn't hatched yet). Then, I did a few max raid battles using the Y-comm in my Sword game to get a few EV boosting items before the baby event ended. However,thinking I wouldn't get any of these since I only have pokéballs, I managed to catch a 5 star Gigantamax Copperajah in Shield & added it to my main team. Tomorrow I'm going to explore the Wild Area more by doing a few more raids, as well as collecting berries & curry ingredients.

Current Shield Team:
  • Wart (Sobble)- Lv. 11
  • Atticus (Yamper)- Lv. 10
  • Hathi (Copperajah)- Lv. 20
  • Egg
 

neophenx

Pokemon Strategist
I played in the International Challenge April this past weekend with a fairly unique team that borrowed concepts from my gen 7 Shuckle team.
Shuckle (Power Split+Contrary ability to run an offensive set), Tyrannitar, Excadrill, Gastrodon, Corsola, and Raichu (with Speed Swap to make fast Shuckle on occasion)
The matches started off really good in my favor, but as the days carried on I hit more losing streaks than winning streaks and ended up with a pretty low rating, probably under 1500.
 

Mr.Munchlax

Great Ball Rank Trainer
Sword:
I’ve been playing in the April ranked battles lately & I managed to get my rank up to six. The best victory I’ve had so far is that I beat a Dracovish by pairing my bulky Skuntank with my sweeper Centiskorch. Skuntank’s multiple Sucker Punches were able to chip away at Dracovish while it was able to tank its Ice Beams & Fishious Rends, while Centiskorch was able to outspend it & finish it off with a Max Overgrowth.

I’ve also been training/testing out a few of my other pokémon in the Battle Tower to figure out new strategies & how they synergies with each other. The biggest shocker was when my Kantonian Rapidash was able to heat Leon’s Charizard.


Shield:
I just made it to Motostoke & registered for the Galar League. My egg finally hatched into a Farfetch’d but it took me multiple tries to get one that had Scrappy AND an attack boosting nature but I finally got one.

I managed to grab a bunch of EV bands from the baby event so I’m using them on my main team right now. I also caved and preordered the DLC so I can compare and contrast to see the differences between my Shield game, which I just started, and my Sword game, which I already beat.

Current team:
  • Wart (Sobble)- level 13
  • Atticus (Yamper)- level 12
  • Hathi (G-Max Copperajah)- level 20
  • Zanbato (Galarian Farfetch’d)- level 1
 
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Pikachu111213

Traveler
Pretty great day today. Reached Ultra Ball tier in singles today on ranked battles, caught a shiny Boldore, shiny Applin, and shiny Durant. All from joining Y-comm raids!
 

SubtleVVeirdoh

Unova Enthusiast
On Shield I’m currently breeding Rattled Cubchoo, did a few ‘mons early this month. Will probably post a thread for trading Wednesday/Thursday but besides I haven’t done much. Lost my UM copy that had 95% of my competitive stuff on there, so I’m basically starting from scratch.

Purchased Sword, chose Scorbunny again though I’ll be boxing it shortly. At the moment I’m searching for a decent Chewtle, which will serve as the first member of my team.
 

neophenx

Pokemon Strategist
I finished a first build of a "Topsy Turvy" team build this week, featuring both Malamar and Grapploct with the dreaded move. Paired with Leaf Storm Eldegoss, Draco Meteor Noivern and Overheat Rotom... I'm hoping to mess some people up something fierce.
 

Crobat_Curse

Well-Known Member
Figured I'd give Shield another runthrough during lockdown and actually force myself to use the new Pokemon this time around -- I think my last run had only Thievul representing gen 8 (saying that, I immediately ditched my starter for Nickit once again because I find all three abhorrent, oops). I haven't progressed particularly far since I've spent the bulk of my time breeding for early access to a few mons and completing raids to obtain some TRs. I've currently reached Turffield and am preparing to take on the first gym.

Team (in rotation):

827.png
[Ingrid] ♀ - 17: Snarl, Swift,Thief, Hone Claws
821.png
[Ike] - 16: Pluck, Hone Claws, Roost, Rock Smash
222-g.png
[Styx] - 16: Shadow Ball, Spite, Tackle, Disable
083-g.png
[Sylv] - 17: Fury Cutter, Rock Smash, Night Slash, Quick Attack
223.png
[Bess] - 15: Rock Blast, Aurora Beam, Water Pulse, Seed Bomb
755.png
[Celeste] - 15: Dazzling Gleam, Mega Drain, Sleep Powder, Leech Seed
562-g.png
[Astrid] - 15: Brutial Swing, Night Shade, Disable, Zen Headbutt

 

SubtleVVeirdoh

Unova Enthusiast
Didn’t have time to set up any trades for my breedjects on my one day off, but I did continue with Sword.

I mostly rushed my way to Turffield, using a random Stunky I caught along the way I bested the gym mission and Leader, Milo. After various trades on Pokémon Home I got the Pokémon I needed for my team and proceeded to breed em.

Besides that I haven’t progressed much in the story. Most of my time has been spent collecting berries and making curry, raiding dens, training my newly hatched babies, buying clothes, and trying to figure out an outfit.

Team:

big byte/Chewtle
Cap’n Conda/Silicobra
KursedKenya/Corsola
Hanzō Steel/Duraludon
Frostbite/Frosmoth
Major MaliCe/Impidimp
 

PrinceOfFacade

Ghost-Type Master
So in my Shield playthrough with Isabel, Isabel has just caught herself a Galarian Slowpoke said to have stumbled onto the train from the Isle of Armor. Having never heard of this place, Isabel is determined to go there, but neither the conductor, the station vendor, nor the mysterious Avery will tell her how. Furious, she stomps around the Wedgehurst train station, refusing to leave until someone tells her how to get an Armor Pass. Since she had no intention on meeting up with Hop anyway, she decided she's right where she ought to be. She will get that Armor Pass.

1. Dust Bunny (Scorbunny) - Lv. 11
2. Charmin (Wooloo) - Lv. 9
3. Lucky (Magikarp) - Lv. 7
4. Thundercünt (Slowpoke) - Lv. 12
 

Playful Latios

@Soul Dew
I was up 5-3 in a wifi battle and out of nowhere the server goes down for maintenance. The person I was battling doesn't want to admit they were at a big disadvantage despite all the evidence I gave them.
 

Crobat_Curse

Well-Known Member
Sword

Figured I'd boot up Sword again for the first time this year and partake in a few Max Raid battles (I somehow managed to forget how torturous 5 star ones are with only the AI as allies) and overall get my playthrough team up to scratch and competitively viable for use in the Battle Tower. My first task was to actually add a 6th member since I completed the campaign with only 5 mons; I ultimately opted for Runerigus since it's awesome and I was sorely lacking in gen 8 representation. I also reset the team's EVs using the EV-reducing berries, which was stupidly tedious, and then re-trained using Pokejobs + clock spoofing. Next was the IVs: I had already amassed a tonne of bottle caps from the digging duo, so first order was to elevate them all to level 100 with the copious number of EXP candies I had obtained from Max Raids, before Hyper Training all the stats that weren't already maxxed out. A few moveset changes courtesy of TRs completed the teams 'transformation'. Given that my selection criteria for this playthrough was solely my favourites with no regard for actual team composition (I've only just now clocked that I don't have a Water-type, oops), I've had a bizarre amount of success at the Battle Tower. Thievul in particular surprised me; the combo of Throat Spray/Snarl/Unburden/Nasty Plot or even Max Mind Storm/Psychic Seed/Unburden is quite potent and so much fun to play around with. Ditto Beartic with its ability to set its own Hail and activate Slush Rush.

Final team:

RU9zTje.png
[Mortimer] - 100: Snarl, Nasty Plot, Dark Pulse, Psychic
763.png
[Poison] - 100: Power Whip, High Jump Kick, Play Rough, Knock Off
614.png
[Bjorn] - 100: Icicle Crash, Swords Dance, Superpower, Liquidation
715.png
[Decibel] - 100: Draco Meteor, Hurricane, Flamethrower, Roost
579.png
[Flubber] - 100: Trick Room, Psychic, Focus Blast, Shadow Ball
867.png
[Ragnar] - 100: Earthquake, Body Press, Trick Room, Shadow Claw

Shield

Since my last update, I've managed to beat the first two gym leaders. I'm trying to enhance the difficulty as much as possible by foregoing dynamax, prohibiting healing in battles, playing on Set mode, and generally avoiding fainting at all costs (I'm essentially treating it how I normally would a Nuzlocke). Even with those stipulations, the combination of Farfetch'd with Fury Cutter and Rookidee with his Flying STAB made quick work of Milo's team. Rookidee evolved following the battle, as did Nickit. I further shook up my roster a little by removing Yamask from my rotation (since I'm now using it in Sword), adding a newly caught Sizzlipede, and in my quest to try out mons I don't typically opt for, I've replaced Remoraid with a Shellos (who is admittedly infinitely less useful so far, but eh). I also participated in a few more Max Raid battles for some TRs, namely Leech Life for Sizzlipede. Lastly, I took on Nessa, who was a little more challenging than Milo and demanded some switching to waste the dynamax turns, but her team ultimately fell to a combination of Morelull, Thievul and Farfetch'd to net me the Water badge.

Team:

828.png
[Ingrid] ♀ 22: Snarl, Swift,Thief, Hone Claws
822.png
[Ike] - 22: Pluck, Hone Claws, Roost, Rock Smash
222-g.png
[Styx] - 22: Shadow Ball, Spite, Ancient Power, Disable
083-g.png
[Sylv] - 22: Fury Cutter, Rock Smash, Night Slash, Focus Energy
755.png
[Celeste] - 22: Dazzling Gleam, Mega Drain, Sleep Powder, Leech Seed
850.png
[Anshe] - 20: Leech Life, Bite, Flame Wheel, Bug Bite
422-e.png
[Mera] - 20: Water Pulse, Recover, Ancient Power, Mud-Slap


 

nel3

Crimson Dragon
Nothing big recently, the MM run still has no luck for the ponyta, 900 eggs in so far. Fijally able to get a Dawn/Hikari with the blue hair style, the fighting t shirt is deceng but nothing exact is available...

Damn, I finally got Pukey hatched ie galar ponyta :):). 904 eggs only needed this time.
 
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TheWanderingMist

Paladin of the Snow Queen
Caught a GMAX Garbodor in someone else's 5-Star raid despite accidentally having come in with my level 36 Cinderace rsther than my level 87 one.
 
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