Good day, everyone! Mr. Bojinngles here bringing you a brand new follow up article to the recently ended Gym leaders: Untamed! series. What series of articles, you might ask? Well the only logical step is to discuss an overview of the Elite Four! I’ll be providing an overview of Pokemon Black and White’s own Elite Four members. Much like the previous installment, I’ll be covering preparations and strategies for each member. We’ll also discuss the post-game fights, as they present a far greater challenge! First up is Shauntal, the ghost type user!
[spoiler]I do rather like her name; much like “Shantil”, but with the added -u makes it sound like “haunt”, indicating her ghost type teammates. Her library set up is rather interesting, too! I think that her book-worm type personality fits the mysterious ghost type. Brings me back to the days of the very first three ghosts in RBY 🙂 Ohh, nostalgia! What you’ll need to prep for in this fight are plenty of Lemonades and Full Restores. If the Full Restore item is a tad too pricy, stock up on a few Burn Heals just in case. Since it’s an Elite 4 fight, it’s always necessary to pack your bag full of Revives and Max Revives.
As for Shauntal’s line up, she’ll use three level 48’s: Cofagrigus (ghost), Jellicent (water/ghost), and Golurk (ground/ghost). Lastly she’ll use a level 50 Chandelure (ghost/fire). Generation V provided us with quite a few useful dark and ghost types that can counter her quite well. I wouldn’t suggest using a fellow ghost type as you will risk of it being killed by a faster Shadow Ball or Shadow Punch. One of our main goals is to end the fight with the fewest possible casualties, right? We’ve gotta save those healing items or the final battle! With that said, I would suggest using one of many dark types that Game Freak has blessed us with. I would suggest using Scrafty, Krookodile or Hydreigon for this fight. If you have patience, level up your Hydreigon as it will resist not only the ghost type attacks, but also many secondary types that Shauntal uses. However, if you’re like me and didn’t want to spend so much time leveling up, you should fare just fine with the prior two. My personal favorite is Krookodile because of his “Moxie” ability, which will raise its attack power for each foe he K.Os. Krookodile already has an above average attack stat of 117, so this ability makes him even more threatening in the battlefield. Coupled with a solid speed stat and you’ve got a true monster. The only thing keeping this sand crocodile from shining is his below average defenses. Jellicent is your one true threat here as she comes with Brine, Surf and Energy Ball, all of which will more than likely take Krookodile out in a single shot.
You’ll start with the Confagrigus who will probably try to burn you with Wil-o-Wisp. This is Krookodile’s worst nightmare as it will severely lower its attack stat and do some periodic damage. Note the usage of this attack as well as Grass Knot, a special grass move that will do damage based off of the opponent’s weight. Also, the ability “Mummy” can render Moxie (and any other useful ability) useless as any physical hit landing on a Pokemon with Mummy will have its ability altered into it. These attacks can surprise you if caught off guard, so make sure to have those Lemonades and Burn Heals ready! I fought using Krookodile, so after two Crunch attacks I was able to take out the ghost mummy and obtain an attack boost. After Confagrigus, the rest of the fight was a joke. Jellicent was taken out in a single hit, and of course offered more attack. Golurk and Chandelure quickly followed suit.
For those of you not wiping the floor with Krookodile, you’ll face the Jellicent next. Jellicent is a fantastic Pokemon; it sports two very useful types and a great utility move pool with some solid offensive attacks. It provides a wonderful array of resistances and can hold its own against many other types and can also be a great switch in to an anticipated move. Grass and electric types fare quite well against this particular Jellicent due to her primary type. If you pack a heavy offensive punch, her Jellicent isn’t much of a threat.
Golurk is the next ghost type that she throws out. I was never a fan of this particular Pokemon mostly due to its odd typing and stat distribution. Many other Ghost types are superior to this Pokemon, thus making him a rare find in any competitive battle. Shauntal’s Golurk comes with Shadow Punch, a 100% accurate physical ghost attack, and Brick Break, a moderately strong fighting move, but neither are very threatening. Earthquake, however, is a different story. Not only is it one of the best and most used attacks in the game, but it’s combined with Golurk’s high attack stat and powerful STAB, which can dent most of anything it contends against. I would suggest going with an damaging move first just in case it uses Curse, in which case I would immediately switch to another Pokemon after taking it down due to the horrific periodic damage that is sure to follow. Ground has plenty of common weaknesses, though; K.O it with a Surf or Grass Knot to end the battle quickly.
Shauntal’s final opponent is the fearsome Chandelure. This ghost chandelier sports the highest non-legendary special attack stat in the game, breaking records at 145. She also comes with two powerful STAB attacks; Fire Blast and Shadow Ball. Both of which are incredibly threatening even to teammates who resist them. Chandelure can tear holes through any team caught off guard. While ridiculously powerful, she does come with some common weaknesses. Rock, ground and water types will be sure to take out Chandelure quickly, especially since her HP stat is quite low. Lead with something quick and powerful to do her in. Don’t fret if you have to lose a teammate to her as it’s bound to happen to everyone at some point. Her Fire Blast is just way too strong to survive; even teammates who are neutral to the damage can get killed in a single hit. Scrafty is a true blessing in this fight because, unlike Krookodile, it comes with some serious bulk power that can take a few hits from any beast like Chandelure.
[hozbreak]
Shauntal’s second fight adds two new Pokemon to the mix and a few move changes with some super high levels Each of her teammates are boosted to level 71 with the exception of her level 73 Chandelure. Jellicent now knows the powerful Hydro Pump in place of Surf, Sludge Wave instead of Brine and Psychic instead of Energy Ball. I personally found her first set up to be more threatening as it provided more type coverage. Golurk knows Hammer Arm in lieu of Brick Break, which probably makes his fight easier since Hammer Arm will reduce his already lacking speed stat.
Shauntal comes with two new teammates; Froslass (Ice/Ghost) and Driftblim (Ghost/Flying). Her Froslass comes with a full out offensive move pool; Blizzard, Shadow Ball, Psychic and Ice Shard. What’s perfect about her is that she’s completely walled by the likes of Scrafty, who resists every single attack that she’ll throw out. Bisharp will also do the trick and will probably 1HKO Froslass with a single steel or dark attack. Next up we have Driftblim, the ghost and flying type. She comes with Shadow Ball, Psychic, Thunder and Acrobatics. Again, tossing out Bisharp or Scrafty should do the trick quite well. If using Scrafty, just be careful of Acrobatics as it will do double the damage. It already has increased attack power since Driftblim isn’t holding an item, so it can be quite dangerous.[/spoiler]
Phew! What an article! I anticipate the Elite 4 series will be a tad longer seeing as they have a variety of teammates and they change during the post-game events. I hope you enjoyed this lengthy bit 🙂 Did you have a hard time with Shauntal and her ghost types? Which teammate did you use to battle her? Share your strategies in the comments!
P.S Well, the whole gay thing really set off some people, huh? Well the next tid bit of information about myself is far less controversial. I graduated college about a year ago and majored in Elementary Education. I’m currently teaching English in Seoul, South Korea! Most of you probably knew this already. However, what you don’t know is that I plan on starting school for my graduate degree in October. I’ll be studying ESL (English as a Second Language) education! Woo hoo!
P.S.S Total word count: 1470. O_o