Topic: Pokemon Shuffle

@maceng It's just that Magmortar took me from 34 000 coins to 20 000 coins. I had three tries on it too, first one being itemless and thus a total disaster. For the second one I used DD, MS, and Attack up. I didn't catch it and after the first great ball it ran away (that's so cheap). I did escape to HOME menu at that point though. For the third try I went with the same items and this time was able to catch it in the great ball.

But still I find it really unfair that the game doesn't tell you you can't beat a level without items when said level is behind a paywall. It would be a different thing if it was just the regenerating hearts you'd lose.

Well, the stage info box does say that you might need a power+ to beat it.

I usually take that as "you'll need items in this one, so save up".

Imagine how new/recent players feel.

I would definitely not be playing the game right now if I hadn't been sucked in at launch. Even after regular daily plays since its release, a "veteran" player like myself is still falling behind (I've only just S-ranked the 350th stage, and I'm yet to touch any of the new 50 stages). The only Pokémon I've missed so far is Jirachi, which GS is yet to repeat, and I have all of the competition stones to date (and yet I'm still struggling… and I repeat… imagine how a new player without any of those advantages is feeling while playing this monstrosity).

Even with as many Max level Pokémon as I have now, I'm still finding it next to impossible to beat a lot of stages without items (particularly special stages), and it would be literally impossible for new players to beat these stages without using items and jewels. Totally unfair.

After pouring in as many days/hours as I have, I intend to see this to the end, but I've promised myself not to get sucked into any more F2P crap again.

Magmortar wasn't too bad. I used M-Garchomp, Landorus (for Power), Tyranitar (for Eject) and Gigalith (for Block Smash+) with Mega Start and Attack Power. I wasn't even doing particularly well (combo-wise) but I ended with around 8 moves remaining. I caught it with a Great Ball at around 60%. Everyone except Gigalith were max levelled (Gigalith was Level 5).

I wouldn't recommend a Complexity -1 for those wanting to get it over with quickly as the catch rate is far too low to justify its use (it has the same base catch rate as Electivire: 10%). Eject wasn't terribly useful, but you'll definitely want a Block Smash+ Pokémon (or two, if you also have Golurk). Use an Attack Power at the very least as you will want that catch rate to be as high as possible.

@Nego Sorry to be such an @ss but I beat it itemless. I always do a first run no matter what and managed to beat it with 3 moves left. Caught it without using a Super Ball, also.

My team was M-Aero (with 3 candies), Garchomp, Groudon (level 13) and Landorus-T (maxed).

Electivire couldn't beat it on the first try; then, used MS and Attack up with the same team. A-ranked.

I always refer to Pak Adi Yak's videos: if he can beat it itemless, then so can you (or with at most an Attack up).

@Rikaria I feel that M-Aero wasn't that helpful: after the initial disruptions, I didn't use him that much. I think that M-Garchomp could be even more useful, along with Groudon, Gliscor/Flygon and a fully leveled up Gigalith.

In any case, as sillyghost stated, the catchability rate is so low, that, unless you are truly lucky, an Attack up and MS are required.

How have anyone been doing with Kyogre's stage? Are boosters harder to come by or easier? How about's Ash-Greninja?

@maceng kyogre is decent, about the same as groudon, i recommend a grass team, but imho is not as useful as groudon...
ash greninja is horrible, ive only beaten it 1 of 5 or 6 tries, no candies have even shown up. im not great at timed stages but my team is maxed and i usually finish around 5000th in competitions, so its just awful. i might try for level 2 if i have a lot of coins this weekend

@Rikaria I think that the issue is that Pak does the stages like 5-10 times, IMHO. In the last 50 stages, I beat like 25 itemless, but others (like Watchog, Xatu and Zweilous) were too hard to beat itemless, even though he managed to do it.

@8Darky: I just skilled Kyogre to skill 3 (Groudon is at 4, doing it no more). Ash Greninja..., better not talk about it. I read that a fully maxed and skilled Kyogre delivers 440 HP any time it smashes a rock (in the sam eleague as Garchomp's Dragon Talon).

Okay, that's my bad then. I didn't notice it.

Don't get me wrong, I do read them, but I usually do it just after waking up so it's possible I miss some stuff.

I haven't stopped playing the game by the way. I'm back to grinding meowth.

I really need to grind meowth/ do expert stages, but I have more fun grinding ampharos. :/ (mainly because I get 15 minutes of fun istead of 5) Should I just go for the grind and catch up on S ranks/ expert stages, or should I focus on the main stages first?

I have been trying to complete the safari for the last week... No lives left for meowth grinding or other stages.

I've been grinding Meowth/leveling up for the past few days (just after I caught Magmortar). Usually spend the day in the former and the night in the latter. Currently with 92k coins and with 89 Pokemons at max level, including levels 15 for Charizard and, finally, Groudon.

The next couple of days gonna level up some Pokemons with Victini and Ampharos, and get my coins stash down to 70k, just before taking on Sunday Meowth (just on case I do wonderfully). So, it looks like I'm gonna use the 1.5Exp item a lot while also trying to catch Yanmega and Ludicolo (need to S-rank 6 more levels).

No more plays for Kygore (sitting at just 3), nor Groudon (at 4, it took a lot).

@maceng same here with those 2 specials, have you tried ashgreninja? any tips or team suggestions, i cant even consistently beat it with +10s

been using maxed mray 12/20 candy, and all maxed zekrom magnezone virizion, but still only beat it 1 of 3... saw a gift once but i lost >.>

maybe a normal arceus team w mray? idk D=

@8Darky
Sorry for the tardiness in replying.

No, I haven't found a suitable team to tackle Ash-Greninja: used a Grass team to no avail, since I had a experience mirroring Rikaria's.

Also, I think they nerfed Groudon: I can't get a single gift after playing more than 10 times, using the same team as before: Chesnaught, Sharmin, Roserade/Virizion and Sceptile, al maxed now.

There is a theory that gifts are dropped based on a probability per hit. So many small hits are better than a few big ones. It seems yo explain why I got many gifts during a combo with Sceptile. In reddit you can find the whole discussion.

@maceng no worries, i ended up using attack+ on ashninja, took about 25k to get him to level 2 :/
i may try to go to level 3 if theres nothing new next week

really hoping for some more speedups so i can finally max out mray... i wasted 7 speedups on mawile that ive been regretting for awhile now, it helped me a few times but mray is so much better

@Darky
WOW. Just WOW. Never ocurred to me using attack +. It could prove just to expensive getting it to level 3.

Did you check Reddit? About the gains using skill boosters on PO+4 Pokes? I think is worth it and I might try your method tomorrow (sitting atop a mountain of coins).

@maceng i dont check the reddit pages, i do use pakadiyak tho, he can be helpful to see the stages ahead of time and team suggestions, thanks for that link btw =D

yes ashninja is expensive using an attack+, but its the only consistent way i can beat it unfortunately, and probably take over 60k to get to level 3 D=, i was even thinking of max leveling venasaur but decided against it because itd still probably be inconsistent w a +10s

I'm currently using DD and time +10 and beating it with 10-15sec left. However, it took me about 30k coins.

Using M-Sceptile, Chesnaught, Shaymin and Virizion, all maxed.