Warning: Spoilers for Pokemon Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon
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Before we begin, I’ll mention that I am simply recalling the story to the best of my ability, I don’t remember every exact detail of the battle.
So to start off, I should go over the background for the battle. If you haven’t played Pokemon USUM (Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon), Ultra Necrozma is a boss you fight towards the end of the game, and is an extremely powerful Pokemon. With blisteringly high base 162 Attack and Special Attack Stats, a great base 129 Speed Stat, and decent Defenses, it is a force to be reckoned with. It’s also level 60, which I remember being well above my team’s average level. It has a typing of Psychic-Dragon, which gives it 6 weaknesses but also 6 resistances, and it has powerful STAB moves to go along with that, being Photon Geyser and Dragon Pulse. Just to top it all off, too, Ultra Necrozma has an Aura that multiplies its already ridiculous Stats by 1.5x each!
Now then, let’s go over my team:
Chaze the Alolan Persian, with the Technician ability. Moveset included Fake Out, Icy Wind, and Dark Pulse (Power Gem or Hidden power as last move I think? it doesn’t really matter.). He was also my fastest team member.
Jovan the Magnezone, with the Sturdy ability. Moveset included Discharge, Flash Cannon(?), and Thunder Wave. he was also my toughest Pokemon defensively.
Starch Billy the Garchomp (who was a pain in the neck to catch, by the way. I was looking for a Golett but settled with what I found.), with the Sand Veil ability. Moveset was Dragon Claw, Dig, Rock Slide, and Brick Break. Easily my strongest Physical Attack ‘mon.
Fernando the Ribombee, with the Shield Dust ability. Moveset was Dazzling Gleam, Pollen Puff, Psychic, and Hidden Power (Ground). My strongest Special Attacker.
My last two teammates were Savage the Seaking and Taylor the Dartrix (Decidueye is overrated), but neither played a role in the battle, so I won’t go into detail.
Alright, now that that’s out of the way, here’s the story.
I concocted an extremely dumb strategy on how to beat Necrozma, but it was the only one that worked. I also lost about 5 times before I perfected it, and one Critical Hit could’ve ended me, so luck was on my side it seems.
To start, I led with Persian. Persian narrowly outsped Necrozma, even after the Aura surprisingly (might’ve had a Timid nature or good EVs / IVs or something idk), but even still I went for Fake Out first for chip damage. Then I went for Icy Wind, which didn’t deal much damage, but did negate the speed boost Necrozma received from its Aura. Necrozma then demolished Persian with Dragon Pulse.
Out came Magnezone. It actually managed to live one attack thanks to its natural bulk and Steel typing, but even if it didn’t, the Sturdy Ability would keep it alive just barely. Rather than just attacking, I went for Thunder Wave. Once Paralyzed, Necrozma was finally slower than the rest of my team, and I could finally deal decent damage to it. Once Magnezone was finished, I sent out Garchomp.
This was the main component of the plan: Nuke Necrozma with my strongest Z-Move, being a Devastating Drake from Starch Billy. However, Necrozma outsped Billy even after having its Speed cut once, and one-shots him with Dragon Pulse, which is why both the Icy Wind and Thunder Wave were necessary. So, now that Necrozma had been sufficiently slowed, Billy was able to use Devastating Drake and…
It only took like 60% of Necrozma’s HP away…
Why? The Aura boosted Necrozma’s defense, combined with its superior level giving it heightened stats. Necrozma lived, and now Starch Billy was dead. But I wasn’t worried.
Luckily, Ribombee was also able to outspeed Necrozma, and had a super-effective Dazzling Gleam or Pollen Puff to smack it with. Not to mention the chip damage dealt by Persian in the beginning, so it was at pretty low health currently. I even had my extra 2 teammates in the back in case things went downhill, so I was actually in pretty good shape.
So yeah, this was the story of the very dumb yet very necessary strategy I used to defeat Ultra Necrozma, who was easily the hardest boss in the game (except maybe Giovanni, who I had to use a similar strategy on because of Mega Mewtwo). My only other option for the fight was to evolve Dartrix, which would give it better stats, the Ghost type, and a pretty strong move in Spirit Shackle, so why didn’t I just do that? Well, to put it simply, I like Dartrix more than Decidueye, and I never planned on evolving it, so I didn’t.
Now I end with a question for the readers: do you have any stories like this where you used an unusual strategy to progress in a video game? I’d love to hear some of your experiences, so feel free to share some in the comments!
See you next time!
Cyan Crocomire 