My Black 2 Nuzlocke Team!

[0kamii]

Hey, everybody! It's 0kamii, and I just finished my first official Nuzlocke challenge!

Let me start off by saying that I'm kind of underwhelmed. I was certain that my first real Nuzlocke was going to be the mind-bending experience that all my colleagues insisted. That I'd be crying over my DS when I saw that HP bar drop to 0, that I'd curse the day I decided to do a real Nuzlocke. Well, in regards to those things, 1) no 2) not even close and 3) not really. If anything, I found the deaths of my teammates to be really annoying. It meant that I was forced to grind for several hours to get new additions up to par with the other 5 mons. And if I was really unlucky, two of my mons would die in the same battle and I'd have to grind two new teammates. Like I said, underwhelming. I don't think I'll do another one, but apparently since Black 2 and White 2 are considered some of the hardest games to Nuzlocke, I figured I'd share my winning team, as well as my experiences with death in a Pokémon game.

 

My Black 2 Nuzlocke Team!

 
 

 

Above are the six pokémon that carried me through the Unova League and into the Hall of Fame. Of them, my Magnezone (named Kirayu) was the oldest. I found her in Virbank City and she was a staple teammate the entire game. She held many battles on her own, and Thunder Wave + Volt Switch was a very useful tactic for the harder battles. Krookodile was a last minute addition to the team after my previous Ground-Type died. My Krookodile, named Sobek, had the Moxie ability, and this let her sweep through two of the four Elite Four members. Her contribution was quite apparent, and her coverage was intensive. The Unfezant (Soarin') was an early game addition that honestly wasn't added to the team until about halfway through the game when flying became a necessity. But he contributed with Feather Dance and Tailwind support, so he had his uses. Frankly, Absol was mostly dead-weight. His name was 0men, and he couldn't take a hit to save his life. I was paranoid about using him every time I sent him out, and there was a point where I was hoping he'd die so that I could sawp him out for something more reliable. That didn't happened. He snagged a few KOs, but overall he's easily my weakest member. The teammate that surprised me the most however was Virizion, in this case Wyreless (yes, I did that). Wyreless had the most weaknesses of anyone in the party, and with a 4x weakness to Flying-Type I figured her time on the team was momentary. I was soon proven wrong. Having a Fighting-Type on the team was immeasurably useful, and her Grass-Type didn't hurt either. It definitely made the fight with Marlon easier. She also had Swords Dance, so her signature move Scared Sword dealt double the damage. Some people might consider using a Sword of Justice cheating, but nowhere could I find that catching Virizion as my one-time route encounter was cheating. So I went for it. Fight me.  My Starmie, named Damion, was a replacement for my Water-Type slot after my starter died. His coverage was great, but we all know that Starmie can't take a hit very well...speaking of...

Sadly, no Nuzlocke is without it's fatalities. Also sadly, not everyone in the Hall of Fame team lived to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I lost three teammates in the Championship battle against Iris, those being:

 

 

 

Starmie and Magnezone were both done in by Iris' Haxorus. Both by Earthquake too. Krookodile was about to hit the home stretch when Druddigon came in at the last second and hit her with a Focus Blast. It was irksome, but so is the woes of a Nuzlocke. Losing three teammates to Iris was a pain, but as long as I beat her, the Nuzlocke is still a victory! So in your face Iris! We will endure!

 

Other Casualties

   

 

My starter Samurott, Mizuki - killed by Ghetsis' Eelektross
Barbara the Zubat - killed by an Audino while levelling
Himena the Watchog - cause of death: unknown (very useful for route captures)
Mana the Flareon - cause of death: unknown
Khmet the Yamask - killed by an Audino while levelling
Flicker the Lampent - killed by an Audino while levelling
Kyoko the Leavanny - killed on Route 14 by a rogue Gust attack
Perces the Excadrill - killed by a critical hit on Victory Road by an Eelektross with Flamethrower

Like any Nuzlocke however, I had some pokémon lingering in the PC the whole playthrough. I call these guys my reservists. I had 19 of them from my time in Unova, and each one of them is as followed:

 

Bonsoir the Liepard
Alister the Golduck
Audino (Unnamed)
Tox-Zyn the Muk
Craig the Boldore
Pimpa the Clefairy
Chicchilla the Minccino
Ibeji the Sandshrew
Beecause the Combee
V01+4G3 the Zebstrika
N's Zorua
Diver the Ducklett
Joltik (Unnamed)
Cnidaria the Frillish
Weaselbane the Seviper
Oops the Spoink
Marionetta the Banette
Soleil the Solrock
Xiaolong the Mienfoo

 

If someone doesn't have a nickname, it's probably because I clicked through the screen too fast and then never got around to bringing them to the Name Rater. If there's anything I'd like to say about my reservists, it's probably that I would have liked to use Soleil at some point, and Xiaolong too. As a Hoenn baby, I have a soft-spot for Solrock. But at the same time, I've never used a Mienshao, and I would've loved to have tried one in this context. Everyone else, especially the likes of Beecause and Oops, can just sit in the PC with their dunce caps. I think I got lucky with never having to use them. Beecause was a male Combee...

My Thoughts on the Nuzlocke as a Whole:

I'm feeling rather conflicted about the Nuzlocke experience as a whole. I stand by my claim earlier that I was underwhelmed, but as for the challenge in its entirety, it wasn't all that bad. To be truthful, I wasn't planning on doing a Nuzlocke for this game at all. The only reason I did it was because I wanted to get a legitimate Shieldon with its HA Soundproof. While contemplating the playthrough, I figured I'd try the Nuzlocke approach since my colleague @LittleFoxS is such an advocate of the Nuzlocke experience. The challenge was fun, the battles were tense, but the amount of attachment I had to my mons wasn't really any higher than usual. Even with death being a factor, I'm just not good at self-imposed rules. I like to play a game as intended, and pretending my pokémon were dead just felt silly to me when I knew in the back of my head that I could run to the PC at any time and revive them. In conclusion though, I'll say this: if you want to run a Nuzlocke, do it and have fun. But I don't see myself doing this again soon...if ever. It just didn't do anything for me.

That's all for Monday's post everyone! I'm glad to be back to my regular posting schedule, so you can all expect me back on Wednesday. I have my partner doing more wonderful fanart for you all, and my guild and I are preparing to do our next BR pokémon giveaway! Stay tuned for all of that, and I am thrilled to be back!

Read you all soon, everyone! Battle onwards, friends!

- 0kamii

P.S. And a big round of applause for the three survivors of my first, and likely only Nuzlocke challenge! 0men, Wyreless, and Soarin'! Woot woot! 

 

 

[Reis]

I used my first nuzlocke on X, because I wanted it for shiny hunting and I suck at main story games.

I had won with a Raichu, Vivilon and Pidgeot. 
I killed off the other 3 because I am sick and twisted because it made the game more interesting
I considered the Raichu to be my starter, at lease she was the highest level, being level 75 for some reason? 

The whole battle was RNG, the hawlucha had to get hit by a max damage roll Thunderbolt, Then go to Aurorus and I use brick break. If Tyrantrum comes out, I use attract + nuzzle and kill it with Brick Break.

Then the last 3 come out, Gourgeist was a pain, because it ended up being a Fly + phantom force war. Goodra had such a high special defence it was absurd, and gardevoir was actually easy lol.

With goodra, I manage 2 crits with fly in a row, then Gourgeist comes out. I had attract on my Pidgeot, so that helped a lot. It went down after 10 cataclysmic meteors hit the sun.
Gardevoir went down with a sleep powder and bug buzz combo from Vivilon.

As for nicknames, they are kids in my class, so I assume they would prefer not having their names in public

[Kris]

Craig the Boldore My favourite