Incineroar @ Incinium Z
Ability: Blaze
Nature: Lax
- Flare Blitz
- Darkest Lariat
- Brick Break
- Flamethrower
Starter, Fire-type and first member of the team. Since I picked Popplio in Moon and Rowlet in Sun, this was the obvious choice for a starter. I heard that there was a glitch in version 1.0 of the games that could cause the game to freeze after you had picked Litten, thankfully that didn't happen to me. Anyway, this cat worked quite well. Flare Blitz was the main STAB move, it hits like a truck but at the cost of causing heavy recoil. I had to go with Fire Fang for quite a long while before it learned Flare Blitz though, and Fire Fang was quite weak in the later parts of the game before it learned Flare Blitz. Darkest Lariat for secondary STAB, a great signature move which gets powered up into an even greater signature Z-move. Brick Break for coverage, it was helpful against Normal- and Dark-types. Flamethrower in the last slot because I couldn't think of anything else, and many good moves were only available after beating the main story. Base 80 Sp.att isn't too bad, it could be useful if Incineroar's attack had been lowered or against Pokemon with high Defense. Overall, Incineroar worked pretty well. The only negative thing about it is that it was quite slow but it was usually not that bad, and the other starters are in a similar situation either way.
Alakazam @ Psychium Z
Ability: Inner Focus
Nature: Naive
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Energy Ball
Alakazam is my favorite Kanto Pokemon. Early on in the game, I thought I should have at least two team members before the first trial. But I realized after catching Abra that it wouldn't be very useful against the first Trial since the Totem Pokemon is a Raticate, a Dark-type, and at that point my Kadabra only knew Confusion as its only attacking move. Thankfully I didn't need to use it during that battle at all as my Torracat took care of it all by itself.
Even if Alakazam is my favorite from the first generation, I have rarely ever used it before on in-game teams. The fact that you need to trade to evolve it usually prevents me from using it during the first game of a generation, and I have had a lot of other Pokemon I have been wanting to use instead on previous games and generations. So I decided to give it a try here. I also thought it could be great to have a Pokemon that could Mega Evolve since during the pre-release period for the games, it seemed that Mega Evolution could potentially be used during the main story this time around. Sadly that wasn't quite the case, but you still get the Alakazite from Dexio during the post-game which allowed me to Mega Evolve it in the end.Before reaching the Battle Tree, which is at least something.
Catching it wasn't very hard as I caught the first Abra I met in my first Ultra Ball, so that was neat. Synchronize might have been a better ability but I just took what I got. Training it as an Abra was a bit of a pain since it couldn't beat anything by itself and I had almost no TMs at that point, but once it evolved into Kadabra, it went better. I then evolved it into Alakazam quickly afterwards. It was very strong in the early parts of the game, but as time went on, it felt like it lacked the strength to do what it needed to. Great Sp.att and Speed is good, but its defensive stats are lacking. At the later parts of the game, if it couldn't OHKO the opponent, it was very likely to be KO'd back or at least take heavy damage. Psychic was the main STAB move, Shadow Ball was for coverage against Ghost-types and opposing Psychic-types. Dazzling Gleam was mainly against Dark-types, it has less power than Focus Blast but at least it always hits. I went with Energy Ball in the last slot for extra coverage against Water-, Ground- and Rock-types. Used to have Recover there for quite a long while but it got less and less useful the further I got in the game due to Alakazam's frailty, so I scrapped it. Overall quite good but it didn't quite feel like the ace I have heard it can be in other games.
Lilligant @ Grassium Z
Ability: Own Tempo
Nature: Hardy
- Petal Dance
- Giga Drain
- Quiver Dance
- Sleep Powder
My grass-type for this team. Lilligant is one of the cutest Pokemon ever. That is not an opinion, it is an objective fact. It is also one of my favorite Unova Pokemon and one of my favorite Grass-types. Despite that, I have never used it for an in-game run before. The only other time I have used it is on my post-game team in White. And since I didn't know when I might get to use it again, I decided to go with it here. Catching it was somewhat of a pain due to the moves it knew at that time (Absorb/Growth/Leech Seed/Sleep Powder), but I got one eventually. Own Tempo was the Ability I wanted in order to abuse together with Petal Dance later on.
I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but as the game went on, I realized that Lilligant was probably the best member of my team. It took care of many situations where the others couldn't do much. For instance, it managed to take care of Olivia (the Kahuna battle), Lusamine and Acerola. I traded over a Sun Stone to evolve it after learning Giga Drain as a Petilil, but before learning Quiver Dance as a Lilligant. Even so, it was still surprisingly good as a Petilil, it managed to solo Hala which I hadn't expected at all. As for the moveset, Petal Dance was the main move, it hits like a truck and doesn't cause confusion afterwards thanks to Own Tempo. It took a while for it to learn the move though, so I had Grass Knot in the first slot for a while. Giga Drain was the second move, it deals less damage but recovers HP which is never bad. Quiver Dance as a set-up move, it raises Sp.att, Sp.def and Speed, which is amazing. Sleep Powder to shut down opponents while I either attack them or set up on them, it was also useful for catching Pokemon throughout the game.
I thought the lack of coverage would be a problem, but that wasn't really the case. After a few Quiver Dances, not much can survive a Petal Dance from Lilligant. Unless an opponent was 4x resistant to Grass or had very high Sp.def, they would go down. There aren't a whole lot of coverage options either. Dream Eater could possibly be used in combination with Sleep Powder, but I dislike combo moves like that since they can be unreliable. Hidden Power exists too, my Lilligant has HP Dragon which isn't completely useless, but not quite the best either. Then there's Hyper Beam too, I suppose. But I went with just Grass-moves and it worked very well in the end. Overall, it was the best member of the team and I'd say I like it even more now than I did before this playthrough.
Stoutland @ Normalium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Nature: Lonely
- Return
- Crunch
- Rock Tomb
- Giga Impact
I used Stoutland because it is in a similar situation to Lilligant. I had never used it before, and if I didn't use it now, when would I get another chance? I don't know. I'm not a huge fan of dogs but Lillipup is adorable and Stoutland looks like a good dog, so it gets a pass in my book. Intimidate was the preferred Ability since Sand Rush didn't feel very reliable. Lowering the opponent's attack is never bad, especially since my Stoutland has a Lonely nature so it needed the extra buff that Intimidate could give. Scrappy would probably have been an even better alternative but I really couldn't be bothered to find a HA Lillipup... guess that's rather self-explanatory.
Return was the main STAB move, though it took a while to get the TM so I had to use Take Down for a long while. Which wasn't very fun since it is rather weak, causes recoil and has imperfect accuracy. I also used Facade for a while, it was not as powerful as Take Down but more reliable and without recoil, it also gives a heavy bonus when Stoutland was afflicted by status. Though it would often cure itself thanks to Pokemon Refresh bonuses which meant the Facade bonus became obsolete. Crunch was the main coverage move to hit Ghost-types. Rock Tomb ended up being the next move. I just taught it to the dog at first since it needed coverage and I happened to have the TM, but it became surprisingly useful. Stoutland has 80 base speed which isn't all too bad, but it still got outrun by many opponents at various times. Lowering their Speed with Rock Tomb was very helpful to let me be faster and hit them first on the next turn. Rock Tomb is also the move that saved me against Ultra Necrozma. I know there are some other alternatives like Wild Charge and Play Rough, but I ended up keeping Rock Tomb all the way throughout the game. Giga Impact was the final move, mainly in order to have the most powerful Breakneck Blitz, but it could also be useful on its own as a finisher move. Stoutland worked quite well overall, not the best but it often managed to do what I wanted it to.
Mantine @ Waterium Z
Ability: Water Absorb
Nature: Bold
- Surf
- Air Slash
- Ice Beam
- Roost
My Water-type. Also the only Pokemon from the team that wasn't available in the Alola Dex in S/M. Mantyke is really adorable, and Mantine looks so jolly, which I like a lot. Thankfully my Mantine had a Bold Nature which is much better for it. The last time I used Mantine was on a kind of post-game team in LeafGreen, which was many years ago. Decided to give it another try here. Had to backtrack a bit to Melemele after getting the ability to Surf on Lapras since I wanted to get it before the Fire trial, but it wasn't a problem. Water Absorb was the preferred Ability to gain one extra immunity and recover HP when hit by Water-type moves... which happened occasionally, the AI in the games isn't always the smartest. Its main STAB move varied throughout the game. I had to run Bubble Beam for a really long while which was annoying as it is a rather weak move. Then I got Scald on Poni Island, and finally Surf after beating the main game. Air Slash was secondary STAB, then Ice Beam for extra coverage. Though that TM was also available very late, I had Round for a long while before finally obtaining it. Roost in the last slot to recover HP. Mantine is quite bulky, it can often tank hits and then restore HP afterwards. These battles might take a bit longer to get done but it works. Its Sp.def is quite amazing, it tanked a +4 Dazzling Gleam from Totem Ribombee and laughed in its face afterwards. Sadly, it's offensive capabilities are not quite that good since its moves often didn't do a lot of damage, most opponents were 2-3HKO'd at best unless they were weak to one of its moves. It was also quite slow and would often get attacked before it had the chance to make a move. Not the best member of the team, unfortunately. But it could still do some things the others couldn't, most notably tanking special moves.
Mimkyu @ Mimikium Z
Ability: Disguise
Nature: Naive
- Shadow Claw
- Play Rough
- Leech Life
- Swords Dance
Final member of the team. Fairy and Ghost are my two favorite types, and I really wanted to give Mimikyu a try here since I didn't use it on my in-game teams in S/M. I thought it might take a while to find one but thankfully I managed to find a wild one on my third encounter at the abandoned megamart. Shadow Claw and Play Rough were its main moves, both getting STAB and having amazing coverage together. Unfortunately, Shadow Claw felt a bit weak most of the time. Play Rough was better, but it was inaccurate and had a tendency to miss at the worst possible moments. Leech Life was for coverage and to regain HP. I checked what TMs Mimikyu could learn after catching it and this was one of them, I couldn't think of anything better later on in the game so I ended up keeping it. Swords Dance in the last slot to boost its attack, though the TM was only available after beating the game so I had Hone Claws there instead for a while. Boosting both Attack and Accuracy is never bad, it helped with letting Play Rough hit more often too. Disguise is also an amazing Ability. As for the item, I let it hold Ghostium Z first, then Fairium Z after I had obtained that. Not sure when the Mimikium Z first becomes available but I only learned where and how to find it after I had beaten the game. Unfortunately, Mimikyu wasn't quite as good as I had hoped. It often felt rather weak and frail, needing to set up in order to do enough damage and it was at high risk at being defeated in the process of doing so. I still love it though.