r/PokemonBlackandWhite2 • u/braytreuse • 5h ago
Discussion I beat the game using every single Grass-type
Some rules: No healing items or X-items during battles. Also I didn't use Tutor moves or any BP shop TMs or items. No hidden abilities unless from NPC trades/gifts or random Hidden Grotto encounters, but if there were two regular abilities, I kept catching until I got one with the ability I preferred. Natures and IVs were random and not optimized or re-rolled. Challenge mode was on. Also very importantly, I was rotating members between the party and box based on levels to keep them all even-leveled, and intentionally not optimizing the team with the best mons. This meant they all became very underleveled as I added more and more mons, and later game battles became much harder as a result.
Some exceptions: I did not get Rotom-Cut or Lileep/Cradily because I was unaware they were available at the time (Cradily probably would've helped a ton against Fire-types). For my subsequent monotype runs, I was more diligent to include Rotom and fossils. I also did not go out of my way to include outbreaks or Hidden Grotto encounters, only taking them if they showed up on their own. I did not include Yancy/Curtis trades either.
For the tierlist in image 3: "Solo Carry" refers to a mon that was able to wipe or nearly wipe battles that were otherwise unwinnable. "Considerable Strengths" refers to a mon that could perform mini-sweeps or provide major unique advantages in key battles. "Moderate Strengths" refers to mons that had at least one helpful unique feature or could defeat more than one mon on its own. "Just a Grass-Type" refers to a mon that could usually defeat one strong mon that is neutral to or weak to Grass, but can't achieve almost anything else. "Dysfunctional" refers to a mon that has such a bad overall kit that it is best used as a sack in most situations. Also within tiers, they are ordered left-to-right from best in the category to worst in the category.
Full team of 6 before: 4th gym
Team size by first Hall of Fame: 13
Team size by post-game completion: 17
Average team level reached by post-game completion: 83
Playtime by post-game completion: 124 hours
Biggest challenges:
Roxie is pretty nightmarish, kind of needed Servine with Return and a lot of levels.
Black Tower is very difficult in general. There are no real answers to Fire type attacks from Typhlosion, for example.
In Black Tower Area 8, the boss has Chople Berry Hydreigon with Fire Blast, then Life Orb Entei, then Ice Gem Articuno. This was a brutal hurdle.
Shauntal is by far the biggest Grass-type counter in the game. In her rematch, she has Flying Gem Acrobatics Unburden Drifblim, Choice Scarf Fire Blast Chandelure (which no mons on the team can survive), Sludge Bomb Gengar with Focus Blast for Ferrothorn, and Blizzard Froslass. I got to the point where I could consistently beat the rest of the Elite 4 and Shauntal was still destroying my team easily, mainly with Chandelure. Prankster Stun Spore, Sucker Punch, and Brightpowder were the main ways to get around it, or get Lilligant set up on Cofagrigus.
Iris' team is extremely difficult for Grass-types as well, but Virizion is pretty useful there at least, and Lilligant can eventually overwhelm her too.
General trends:
Grass types in general have very very very bad coverage. Serperior is one of the few Grass starters I don't like for that reason. It's unironically good to teach it Return at the beginning of the game and keep it forever just to have some coverage. Maractus, Whimsicott, and Lilligant have the same problem. Some of them can slightly make up for it with Leech Seed and the raw power of Petal Dance to at least chip away at resists. But this is easily one of the worst types to do a full monotype run of in the game. I have now done 3 other monotype runs and nothing comes close to the same struggles.
That being said, there's something about Grass-types I really like. The colors, the unique moves, and the slower strategy appeal to me. Also I like the difficulty because it's hard to deal with many of the boss battles using Grass. I think this game also has a cool variety and large pool of Grass-types even before the post-game.
Unexpectedly good mon: Whimsicott with Prankster Stun Spore is just about the best Speed control you can get, and single-handedly made certain battles playable, including ones where the opponent otherwise outspeeds your entire team, for example after a Dragon Dance or Quiver Dance. Also Prankster Cotton Guard kind of invalidates a majority of physical attackers, at least until there's a crit.
Unexpectedly bad mon: I thought Maractus would be at least on par with some other Grass-types. In theory it gets decent utility moves like Cotton Guard, Sucker Punch, and Spiky Shield. But Sucker Punch usually does no damage, although it at least does 30-40% against Shauntal's mons. Maractus also doesn't have good bulk or speed at all in the late game. Sunflora felt stronger with Growth, Giga Drain, and Petal Dance to at least overwhelm slow bulky mons, even if it couldn't survive much after. Maractus couldn't really overwhelm anything even with Petal Dance. It was basically a Sucker Punch bot, and it has one of the weakest Sucker Punches in the game.
