Battle Agency

DragonWhale

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What is Battle Agency?

Battle Agency is a battle mode that is accessible by going inside the castle in Festival Plaza. In the Battle Agency, you're allowed to borrow one of the three random Pokemon shown in the monitor behind the receptionist, and recruit two other players in your Festival Plaza to form a team of three Pokemon. You then use the three Pokemon in a Single Battle.

Choosing your Team

First you will be asked to pick from three random Pokemon displayed on the monitor behind the receptionist. You will be able to check each of their stats before making your decision. The three Pokemon available will change after each round and at midnight every day, but you can keep the Pokemon you chose until you rank up.

After choosing your Pokemon, you then need to select two people you want to recruit for your team from your guest and VIP lists. If you are going to work with other people, it is strongly recommended you make them VIPs in your plaza as it allows you to still recruit them even when you're both offline. The Pokemon that you see next to them are the Pokemon that they selected in their game, and the rank next to the players indicate the level that the Pokemon will be. The rank and Pokemon of VIPs get updated when both the player and the VIP are online simultaneously. Every day at midnight or when you rank up, you will be asked to reselect your two partners. VIPs that aren't updated within the past three days are greyed out and become unselectable, so make sure you update each other consistently.

It is important to note that while you are recruiting other players' Pokemon into your team, all three Pokemon will follow your orders and will not be controlled by an AI like Battle Tree Multi Battles

Ranking Up

Every player is assigned a rank, starting at 0, which increases as the player progresses through the Agency. When a player ranks up, the rental Pokemon, as well as all the opponent Pokemon, will have their levels increased by 1. At rank 0 the Pokemon will be at Level 50.

One very important thing to note is that the level increase only applies to the one Pokemon that the player borrows, not the two other Pokemon belonging to the people you recruit. The two other Pokemons' levels are dependent on the rank of the player who rented them. This means if you have a high rank but your friends are still at rank 0, you will be facing higher levelled Pokemon with Level 50 Pokemon in your party, giving you a significant disadvantage. On the other hand, you can have people with higher ranks help you out by giving you Pokemon that are higher levelled than the opponent.

In order to go up a rank, the player needs to complete a certain number of rounds. Each round is three battles, and the round is complete when you win the three battles consecutively. Rank 0-9 requires 1 round, 10-19 requires 2, 20-29 requires 3, and so on.

When you rank up you will be rewarded Rare Candies. If you win against the boss that appears at the very last battle before reaching a rank multiple of 10 (i.e. third battle for rank 9), you will get a Gold Bottle Cap instead. You also get a ton of Festival Coins from participating in the Battle Agency, and the amount you receive incrementally increases as your rank increases.

Special Conditions

Once you reach rank 11, you will be notified of special conditions that are going to occur in your battles. One of these conditions are applied for the entire day and changes at midnight. All special conditions are weather or terrain effects and last for 8 turns from the start of the battle. It is therefore very important to keep these conditions in mind when choosing Pokemon for your team.

Rank 11+: Sun, Rain
Rank 16+: Hail, Sand
Rank 21+: Electric Terrain, Misty Terrain
Rank 31+: Grassy Terrain, Psychic Terrain
Rank 41+: Desolate Land, Primordial Sea, Delta Stream

TIPS!

The Battle Agency will slowly start to become nearly impossible to do on your own. You will eventually be at a high enough rank where only your own Pokemon can hold its own against the opponent, and the other two Level 50 Pokemon are not able to keep up, creating a 3v1 situation. It is strongly recommended to do this with other people. If you are having trouble looking for partners to help you, there are a lot of people that are climbing the Agency rankings in the Smogon Discord so join the fun!

In order for the VIP to update, both the player and VIP need to be online at the same time. If you look at it another way, the VIP will not update if one of you is offline. You can abuse this by going offline if you want to keep strong VIP Pokemon before the VIP changes Pokemon, or going offline before losing your good Pokemon so that your friends who have you as a VIP will be able to keep the strong Pokemon. This is important because there are only a handful of viable sets that consistently win battles, and so using this tactic helps keep the strong Pokemon in your party and ranks you up faster. If you want to share strong Pokemon make sure you don't rank up with them or else you will lose the Pokemon before you can share it. Do note that no matter how strong the base Pokemon is, its level will stay the same so it will slowly start to lose its effectiveness as you rank up.

Did you get three terrible Pokemon as your options? Don’t worry, there is a plaza shop that can help. The Switcheroo shop allows you to reroll the three Pokemon you choose from for 10 FC, a certain number of times a day. Similarly, the three Pokemon will automatically be rerolled at midnight when the player needs to make a new team.

You only need to win three battles consecutively. This is not the Battle Tree where using a 95% accurate move is suicide, nevermind 70%. Don't worry about using slightly riskier moves if you need to. The opponent Pokemon stay the same for that round for the entire day, so if you get haxed you will be able to try again very soon (unless you were insanely lucky to get to that point).

As stated above, the opponents are static until the next day, so you will be able to plan your games accordingly. Did an opponent use an unexpected Z-move that caused you to lose? Switch your strategy for it next time. You can also switch your own Pokemon mid-round by exiting and reselecting a new Pokemon, which allows you to counterpick your opponents to gain a favorable matchup.

The Battle Agency battles are like puzzles; the goal is to figure out a way to flowchart your battles. The AI are very consistent so for the most part you can find a sequence of plays you can do to win consistently unless you're severely underlevelled or have a very bad matchup. If you're able to flowchart your first two battles in the round, you will have plenty of opportunities to hax your way through a difficult third opponent.
 
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DragonWhale

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Battle Agency Recommended Sets

Full list of Agency sets (same as Battle Tree, abilities are random): https://pastebin.com/KTJyiGmE

NOTE: EVs are HP/ATK/DEF/SPE/SPA/SPD

Not all Pokemon are created equal. Likewise, not all sets are created equal. Here's a list of sets that are available in the Battle Tree that you should definitely look out for. If you found and experienced good sets share them in this thread!

S-Rank: If you're able to have one of these consider yourself very lucky. Make sure you share that luck with other people!

Pokemon #904
Species: Salamence
Nature: Jolly
Held Item: Salamencite
Moves: Dragon Rush/Crunch/Earthquake/Double-Edge
EVs: 0/255/0/255/0/0

Pokemon #790
Species: Kangaskhan
Nature: Jolly
Held Item: Kangaskhanite
Moves: Fake Out/Double-Edge/Earthquake/Sucker Punch
EVs: 0/255/0/255/0/0

ONLY WHEN MOODY

Pokemon #590
Species: Glalie
Nature: Timid
Held Item: Leftovers
Moves: Substitute/Sheer Cold/Frost Breath/Protect
EVs: 0/0/255/255/0/0

Pokemon #905
Species: Metagross
Nature: Jolly
Held Item: Metagrossite
Moves: Zen Headbutt/Meteor Mash/Brick Break/Bullet Punch
EVs: 0/255/0/255/0/0


A-Rank: These are good too.
Pokemon #615
Species: Kangaskhan
Nature: Jolly
Held Item: Kangaskhanite
Moves: Fake Out/Facade/Rock Slide/Sucker Punch
EVs: 0/255/0/255/0/0

Pokemon #919
Species: Terrakion
Nature: Jolly
Held Item: Expert Belt
Moves: Close Combat/Earthquake/Stone Edge/Aerial Ace
EVs: 0/255/0/255/0/0


WIP. Let us know some other sets that you enjoyed using in this thread!
 
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Blitz

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Never occurred to me how many awful sets the Battle Tree has...

Here's some more sets that I consider high quality for practical use.

Pokemon #964
Species: Latios
Nature: Timid
Held Item: Choice Specs
Moves: Draco Meteor/Thunder/Psychic/Energy Ball
EVs: 0/0/0/255/255/0


Haven't used it but Draco should net 1-2 kills consistently and the coverage / Psychic plays it pretty safe if you face resists as it is still p strong.

I'd say A.

Pokemon #858
Species: Gardevoir
Nature: Modest
Held Item: Gardevoirite
Moves: Psychic/Hyper Beam/Shadow Ball/Focus Blast
EVs: 255/0/0/0/255/0


Pokemon #626
Species: Altaria
Nature: Jolly
Held Item: Altarianite
Moves: Dragon Dance/Dragon Rush/Giga Impact/Earthquake
EVs: 0/255/0/255/0/0


These two are pretty similar: Strong STAB nuke that at the very least trades. Gardevoir is consistent and can use other moves besides Hyper Beam and Altaria can set up to sweep or get an extra kill.

These should also be A.

Pokemon #735
Species: Charizard
Nature: Jolly
Held Item: Charizardite X
Moves: Dragon Rush/Flare Blitz/Dragon Dance/Rock Slide
EVs: 0/255/0/255/0/0

Haven't used this but it seems pretty reliable, Flare Blitz is all it needs to dent shit and has useful resists that can fuck up the AI as you Mega.

A.
Pokemon #560
Species: Charizard
Nature: Timid
Held Item: Charizardite Y
Moves: Heat Wave/Solar Beam/Air Slash/Focus Blast
EVs: 0/0/0/255/255/0


Also used this and it's a really strong pick - the moveset is self explanatory. Unfortunately suffers if you encounter Primordial Sea or Delta Stream conditions, but other than that it just blows holes in teams pretty reliably.

Also A.

Pokemon #827
Species: Pinsir
Nature: Jolly
Held Item: Choice Scarf
Moves: X-Scissor/Earthquake/Close Combat/Guillotine
EVs: 0/255/0/255/0/0


This is really clutch as you can afford to bank on Guillotine hitting or not - streak resets in the Agency are only 3 battles long after all. It can reliably cheese its way through a lot of would-be issues for a team. It's p mediocre outside of abusing a fast OHKO tho and, as a teammate, will be useless the moment the level cap is above it.

Good niche B.

Pokemon #926
Species: Cresselia
Nature: Bold
Held Item: Chesto Berry
Moves: Calm Mind/Psychic/Shadow Ball/Rest
EVs: 255/0/255/0/0/0


So I faced this and I realized how potent it could be in the hands of the player. It's probably one of the best setup sweepers the game has to offer and can reliably outstall shit on its own and then win games. It's slow to set up and as most set up sweepers it is prone to be critted / frozen / whatever.

Solid B, maybe A.

Pokemon #727
Species: Dragonite
Nature: Adamant
Held Item: Choice Band
Moves: Outrage/Earthquake/Giga Impact/Stone Edge
EVs: 0/255/0/0/0/255


Similar to Latios, it just punches holes in teams. Its main drawbacks are being locked into Outrage against a potential Fairy/Steel-type and you hoping it rolls Multiscale, but other than that it's straightforward.

Probably A.

Pokemon #751
Species: Medicham
Nature: Adamant
Held Item: Medichamite
Moves: High Jump Kick/Psycho Cut/Fake Out/Detect
EVs: 0/255/0/255/0/0


Very balanced Pokemon -

You can borrow this from a teammate reliably because it will just OHKO whatever is in front of it with High Jump Kick.

A.
____

Aside from those, STAB Z-Move users (Flynium Z Hurricane Tornadus, Firium Z Burn Up Moltres), general set up sweepers (Physically Bulky Calm Mind Latios, SD Dual STAB Talonflame), and Focus Sash abusers (Mienshao, Infernape) are also pretty reliable and carry teams far.
 

Psynergy

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Hit Grade 41 and lost access to Blitzamirin's Mega Salamence so having overleveled teammates aren't just stomping everything for me anymore, but that also makes it easier to judge some of the sets I've been using. I think specific daily weather/terrain can make or break certain sets, yesterday I had Grassy Terrain and basically every Steel-type I saw was absurdly good with it. Two standout sets I got were Ferrothorn4 and Mawile4, natural Grassy Terrain let them basically solo teams, the latter notably coming in rounds that threw lots of Ground-types at me.

Species: Ferrothorn
Nature: Sassy
Held Item: Leftovers
Moves: Curse/Seed Bomb/Gyro Ball/Ingrain
EVs: 255/0/0/0/0/255


I wasn't sure about this mon until I started using it, but as long as there's no Fire-types this thing wins games on its own. Ingrain, Leftovers and Grassy Terrain make it a silly setup mon against the AI, just be wary of what you're up against. I'd say it's a solid B mon since Fire-type moves shut this down and without Grassy Terrain it's not an insane mon, but it's a very respectable choice if you see it.

Species: Mawile
Nature: Adamant
Held Item: Mawilite
Moves: Sucker Punch/Play Rough/Fire Fang/Stone Edge
EVs: 255/255/0/0/0/0


Likewise this thing is a monster with Grassy Terrain up, the coverage is amazing and it kills almost anything it touches. Low Speed is an issue and its bulk is slightly subpar if lacks Intimidate pre-Mega but it does not disappoint. Good A tier mon, on par with S mons if you got Grassy Terrain.

Species: Mawile
Nature: Adamant
Held Item: Mawilite
Moves: Play Rough/Iron Head/Sucker Punch/Swords Dance
EVs: 255/255/0/0/0/0


I didn't get this mon but I may as well mention it alongside Mawile4, the difference is Iron Head and SD over Fire Fang and Stone Edge which is situationally better, but I'd say the coverage from Mawile4 is generally better. Either way I'd say this is also an A tier mon.


Other notable sets I've had are Bouffalant3 (SD Sitrus), Feraligatr2 (DD Aqua Tail), Porygon4 (Normalium Z) and Latias2 (White Herb), none were amazing but all were respectable choices. Primarina4 was also an super reliable Z-Move user, being slow and not very bulky sucks but definitely a respectable set.
 
I just found out, the earnings from Battle Agency is affected by fortune telling by these Tents. Yes, on little decent luck, a win could mean a lot of coins in instant.

Just that for now. Well, as of today thankfully I found someone passing by with rank 22 while I'm still barely passing 10. Instantly enlist him to VIP. His Tortera gave long but mostly sure win. It is the other teammate which is now making me concerned....
 
How high in rank can one expect to reach with 0 online connectivity? Is it still possible to farm Gold Bottle Caps with patience?
 
You get the first gold bottle cap at rank 10, so to reach the end of that, you'll be facing 3 battles with your team leveled 59-50-50 against 59-59-59. That's about the point where inferior levels really start to be noticeable, so unless you pull some of the really good sets from your Festival Fans, you might be in for a bunch of retries, especially since you don't even get to choose which sets those fans have.

I'm not that far yet, but evidently once you reach rank 50 (and thus your own and the enemy Pokemon are maxed out at L100), you just keep playing reprises of rank 50, and every fifth set at that point is another gold bottle cap. Getting by on 100-50-50 is pretty much undoable unless you grab some of the FEAR sets like Staraptor1 for your partners, or unless the opponents have an insatiable desire to spam harmless sets like Florges2.
 
So a 0 online player would basically be stuck with 1-2 Gold Bottle Caps maximum out of the Battle Agency, permanently? Assuming that a 59/50/50 vs 59/59/59 level disadvantage is doable, 69/50/50 vs 69/69/69 is about the limit of luck, and 79/50/50 vs 79/79/79 is vanishingly impossible. I'm guessing that there's no way to reduce your own rank, and the game will just give you generic Lv50 allies forever.
 
There is always the possibility that you draw such a strong set that it's capable of soloing the entire 3 battles without help from the level 50s, and once you make it through that third battle, you have a foothold with no way to lose that progress. Rank 0 sets other than stuff like FEAR or weather setting abilities are pretty much worthless by the time you yourself get to rank 20, but your own Pokemon will always be at level parity with the opponents, and riding something like Mega Gyarados to victory remains an option at all ranks. It's just that you have to conquer 150 sets one at a time to reach rank 50, and you won't always have such an all-star to pick from. You're limited to the one automatic reroll per day, plus whatever discretionary rerolls you pay for from Switcheroo shops, in search of your next feasible sweeper.
 
Species: Serperior
Nature: Modest
Held Item: Choice Specs
Moves: Leaf Storm
EVs: 0/0/0/255/0/255

Rank 25 here. I've had good experiences with this set from a teammate, though if you get it without Contrary it can't pull off any setup sweeps. Just got the S-rank Glalie + Moody as well.

Some notes:
You get both the Gold Bottle Cap reward from beating a boss and Rare Candies from ranking up! You seem to get more Rare Candies starting from Rank 20.

Having a Ground-type for Sophocles bosses (available before Rainbow Rocket) is very helpful. Giovanni has more varied sets, so countering him isn't as consistent. Overleveled mons should work either way.

You can't use Megas from your own pool before getting the Mega Ring, the sets just have no item.

Agency likes to roll weather team trainers when the preferred weather is already active.
 
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Hi, I am new here and this is my first post, so sorry if I do stuff wrong. I am only rank 17 atm but I had a couple pokemon that were able to sweep whole rounds by themselves sometimes:

  1. Species: Malamar
  2. Nature: Jolly
  3. Held Item: Darkinium Z
  4. Moves: Superpower/Psycho Cut/Foul Play/Destiny Bond
  5. EVs: 0/255/0/255/0/0 (but according to david0895 thats actually atk and spd?)

Mine had Contrary and while he's not super fast, he is pretty bulky and between Foul Play, the Dark Z-Crystal and Superpower buffing his own atk and def, he was very powerful. Psycho cut for coverage and i never needed to destiny bond.

  1. Species: Heracross
  2. Nature: Adamant
  3. Held Item: Heracronite
  4. Moves: Pin Missile/Rock Blast/Bullet Seed/Close Combat
  5. EVs: 255/255/0/0/0/0

mega heracross, skill link with 3 different type 5-hit moves

I also had a technician scizor and some other decent ones. With my switcheroo I was able to get a Aurora Veil Glaceon during the hail ranks and a friend had a Snow Cloak Lax Incense Mamoswine that avoided a few attacks and did work.
 
I had a weird occurrence yesterday. I started at grade 39 and my special condition was Misty Terrain. Once I hit grade 41 (the point at which the next group of conditions is unlocked), my condition immediately updated to No Condition for the rest of the day. Today it became Sunlight, the next one on the list. This shouldn't affect anything and it may not come up much, but I just wanted to document it.
 
I had a weird occurrence yesterday. I started at grade 39 and my special condition was Misty Terrain. Once I hit grade 41 (the point at which the next group of conditions is unlocked), my condition immediately updated to No Condition for the rest of the day. Today it became Sunlight, the next one on the list. This shouldn't affect anything and it may not come up much, but I just wanted to document it.
I've also experienced conditions changing when ranking up sometimes, around the same points the condition pool changes too.

Also, some observations: Finishing a set of 5 challenges at Rank 50 gives you a gold bottle cap and 1 Rare Candy. Getting to Rank 50 gives you 5 Rare Candies, and every rank up after 20 or so gives you 2 rare candies.
 
I just found out, the earnings from Battle Agency is affected by fortune telling by these Tents. Yes, on little decent luck, a win could mean a lot of coins in instant.
Which fortune is good for Battle Agency? Does the fortune teller say you'll have good luck at the "Battle Agency" specifically? Or is it for "Missions" or is it for "in the Festival Plaza"?
 
Which fortune is good for Battle Agency? Does the fortune teller say you'll have good luck at the "Battle Agency" specifically? Or is it for "Missions" or is it for "in the Festival Plaza"?
There's no Agency fortune, it's just the "luck in Festival Plaza" one. You can get x2, 3, or 4 applied to all winnings.
 
Gotta say that I'm enjoying this especially the putting random mons together for a team as I'm learning a fair bit from it. I've actually reached the point of wanting to battle rather than ignore it like I usually do with Battle Tree/Mansion etc.

Best mon and the most fun so far has been Hippowdon w/ Slack Off, Yawn, EQ & Crunch.

Anyway, I was wondering if there was a ranking list for recommended combinations at all? Atm I'm relying on random passerby levels plus trial & error, which is fine but I'd like to know what I'm thinking is good actually is from more experienced battlers.
 

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