Complete Vladimir guide, made by EUW multiseasonal multiaccount challenger Elite500, every matchup, every build, every playstyle. + AMA
Quintessential Vladimir guide for season 11
Well hello there wonderful people. My name is Calvin and I stream under the name Elite500, as the title suggests, I’ve been challenger for 4 seasons now and ended it since the last 2.
I’ve played vlad throughout every meta, no matter how rough or how much the playstyle has changed, and I’m finally here, bringing to YOU the absolute ULTIMATE, QUINTESSENTIAL, HOLY guide, everything you will ever need for season 11. At the time of writing this guide I’ve played around 500 preseason games and half of them in high challenger.
Why play Vladimir? Doesn’t he actually suck? Isn’t he noobchamp?
Do you want to dehumanise yourself to and not even recognise your fellow teammates as sentient meat lumps? Can you handle the responsibility to take every game post 20 minutes as your responsibility? Of course you do.
Table of contents:
Setups: we’ll go over the main 2 setups including items, runes, summoners, and build
How to choose between the two setups and which play-style suits you best
Early laningphase and how to play matchups
Every matchup in the game including recommended setups for matchups
Unleashing unholy wrath upon your foes in mid to lategame
Combos
Skin choice
Setup one, the way of the gigalord:
Back in season 7 the chad vladimir players received an upgrade from thunderlords decree, electrocute, termed GIGALORDS back then, it’s power has been dormant and ever waiting since the nerfs of 2018.
This path is more optimally suited for those who wish to have devastating all in damage, those who wish to win lane as early as level 3, those who want to annihilate and leave them with .no counterplay 100-0s
This setup is best suited and optimally played against melee champions such as Sylas, Pantheon, Yone, Yasuo, Ekko, Akali, Kata, etc.
Summoner spells:
Ignite and flash are a must take with this setup, allowing you to deliver sudden oneshots with flash and having beyond unholy all in damage with ignite. Ignite also helps us with nimbus cloak and with procing electro.
Runes
Keystone:
Of course you’ll be taking electrocute as your keystone, it allows you to win a lot of trades early into the game, it’s easily proccable early with auto Q auto or auto E Q or even auto ignite Q. The trading is nice although the main reason you take this keystone is for the HEINOUS all in damage it can do, most champions can literally be 100-0 oneshot at level 6 if they’re not innately invulnerable (looking at you galio).
Minor runes, domination:
Taste of blood is absolutely amazing and helps out in every melee matchup, feel free to swap this to sudden impact if you’re deranged and play this setup into ranged opponents. (sudden impact proccable with rocketbelt.
Poro ward is extremely consistent and can be stacked easily to grant you free 4 ap level 3 and 30 ap at around ~ 16 – 18 minutes depending on how actively you ward and where.
Ravenous hunter synergises so well with vlads huge point and click Q damage, easily accumulating 10’000 HP healed in a game. While it doesn’t sound like much, since the rune was changed from spellvamp to omnivamp it now will even heal you slightly on autohits even without stacks helping you outsustain early. Some crazy gamer chinese vlads will take ultimate hunter since their server is perma fighting, it’s also a viable choice but feels worse to me.
Secondary runes, sorcery:
For sure my favourite secondary tree to spec into, although this one is a lot more preference, I think all trees are balanced it’s just more playstyle, you flash like a maniac? Go inspiration cosmic insight with cdr shoes rush and enjoy less than 4 minute flash cooldown etc. Transcendence holy MOLY this rune got such a nice change in season 11, 5 ability haste at level 5? Sign me the hell up. The ability cd refund is also amazing on vladimirs W since it’s basecooldown is like 30 seconds, allowing you sometimes to pool twice in fights.
Nimbus Cloak to make up for the lack of mobility before rocketbelt nimbus cloak helps out so much allowing you to kite and rundown pesky season 10 dashy champs with ease. Optionally gathering storm is also nice but with this rune setup you mostly play for early mid domination and nimbus is also great lategame. My games have been decided 1000x more by having more mobility in clutch scenarios than having 40 extra ap at 30 minutes. For the mini runes always Ability haste, AP, and scaling hp
Build:
You best be prepared to build mejais.
Starting item:
Your starting item should be dark seal refillable every game, the dark seal buff now giving hp and 5 extra ap is absurdly good for vlad, random lucky early kills giving 10 ap is also beyond bonkers. Shaving off 350g on your mejais purchase is also essential.
First mythic:
Hextech Rocketbelt is by far the best mythic you can go in every game currently, amazing active, amazing components, amazing mythic passive, it’s just THAT good. The dash and ms is a great engage tool, hextech alternator synergises perfectly with your ridiculous ignite electro damage, the passive giving you 5 flat pen is amazing since you can get 18 from sorc shoes and another 5 from mejais since it counts as a legendary, the more flat pen you stack the more efficient it gets.
Second item:
Mejais Soulstealer allows you to single-handedly decide whether you wish to win the game or lose it, it’s a must buy and goes hand in hand with this playstyle, one two kills with a mejais, over 10 stacks? Literally the game is a done deal at this stage. Rocket belt mythic passive giving you 5 pen for a 1250g purchase makes it even good to buy at 0 stacks. I have completely 1v9’d too many games to count in the highest of elos because enemies make literally one mistake and die once.
Third item:
Void staff third? WTF what if enemies have no mr elite? Well let me tell you about this stupidly broken item that straight up out damages a god damn DEATHCAP even at 30 mr !? ? ? the item is 131% gold efficient, let alone when you pile up your 28 flat pen that you get from completing it. Remember flat pen reduces enemy MR AFTER the percentage, so let’s say someone has 50 magic resistance when you buy your void, magic resistance WH OMEGALUL? 28|40% stats on 50 mr leaves enemies with a whole 2 mr, 2 mr!!!!!
Unless you’re rocking cosmic insight and want türbo low summoner cd, sorc shoes are the must go 100% of the time. Why would you need damagereduction from tabis if you oneshot enemies, why would you need merctreads tenacity if you can just dodge with your W 4Head. Sorc shoes penetration just perfectly synergises with the rocketbelt mythic passive since the more flat magic pen you stack the more potent it becomes.
What the hell is the last item?
At this stage your power is so strong the final item won’t make a big difference, need dps? Cosmic drive, need a second pool? Zhonyas, need spellshield vs evelyn and zoe? Banshees. The itemshop is your oyster, get whatever you want last, I usually like to top it off with zhonyas. This concludes the way of the gigalords setup and we’ll now proceed to the other setup.
Setup two, consistency king & lategamegod:
This play style was the meta for the longest of time and still remains viable, farm for 30 mins and then fight once and win the game 4Head. This playstyle relies less on your opponents being bad and more so on the inevitable victory that is 300 cs vladimir at the same time it’s also praying that your team doesn’t just perma fight for no reason which kinda happens a lot as well in soloq because people like fighting for no reason.
Summoner spells:
Ever thought how if everyone does just one thing the same way people would become insecure to try anything else but that specific way? That’s my opinion on using ghost > flash.
With this setup I prefer taking ghost over flash and ignite secondary. Why? Now that ghost’s duration gets refreshed on kills or assists and gives tremendous move-speed while only being on a 182 second cd with cosmic insight (163 with lucidity boots) allows you to have it up at literally every possible random teamfight, the mobility is insane for laningphase as well. If you can kill your opponent with flash in a certain scenario ghost will do the job and more, what do you do vs a vladimir that has kill pressure on your and pressed his nitroboost button? Flash away? Jokes on you this shit lasts 10000 years and he’ll just inevitably catch up.
Ignite secondary lets you have some decent kill pressure even with this setup You can of course go whatever you please, struggling with bully mages? Go flash tp, feel like you can’t catchup to that Ezreal in the backline? Flash ghost is the answer, etc, it’s all viable and just needs playing around.
Runes
Keystone:
Phaserush has been Vlad’s most consistent rune since seasons now. It offers a lot of versatility in the sense that it can be used to slide in an extra auto in trades, chase people down, escape ganks easier and of course mainly to slide into the backline like Michael Jackson moonwalking on the rift. Just like electrocute it’s really easily proccable, just three swift strikes and you’re running like yourprincess runs from apologizing to Tuesday Even your initial ult cast counts as one of the strikes, so you could ignite ult q and boom you’re already zooming.
Minor runes, sorcery:
Nimbus cloak is an insanely good rune for vlad since the main thing you lack is mobility, and the more you have the easier it gets to get even more. If you have a reliable way of proccing phaserush such as nimbus cloak ignite all your mobility issues are fixed.
Transcendence just like with the electro page it helps you lane giving you cdr as early as level 5, and if you stack enough ability haste with zhonyas or even legendary double stopwatch you can always do some funky last fight game winning shit like –> pool –> zhonyas –> get asisst so trans ticks in –> stopwatch –> pool again. It’s like 10 seconds of immunity winning you uber clutch games.
Gathering Storm what better rune suited for the lategame king himself. All other options like waterwalking and scorch are completely outclassed by this free stats rune. I’d say Vlad is the most efficient champion in the game when it comes to flat ap considering you have ap to hp conversion, absolutely massive ap scalings with damage and healing (wtF), and an amplification on all abilites with your ult.
Secondary runes, Inspiration:
Free boots are really good at helping you scale up consistently and the 10ms it gives you on top of regular boots means you just zoom that little bit extra.
Cosmic Insight is also amazing at lowering your summonerspells, combined with haste shoes you can get almost 70 seconds off your flash, how insane is that.
Build
If you’ve been shocked by going ghost ignite you’re going to be quite surprised by this.
Starting item:
Just like with electrocute, dark seal refillable is a beyond bonkers good item to start with, however since we get free boots with this setup going dorans ring is a more affordable purchase as well into a more difficult matchup like Orianna or Syndra. My logic is if you back with ~ 350g you’ll be having to choose either between dark seal or boots, but since boots are out of the equation you don’t even need to think about them so dorans ring is a lot more affordable. At the same time this setup focuses mostly on reaching unholy power as fast as possible.
First mythic:
Mythic? Only insecure players build mythic items first. We build DOUBLE FIENDISH CODEX that’s right. Become unstoppable. Vlad turns AP into a hyper efficient stat already with his insane scalings, so what about a 114% gold efficient PURE ap and ability haste stat? Fiendish codex’ passive is no longer unique so you can stack them. From experience I’ve felt that anything more than 2 feels awful and going only 1 is also a viable option, although we want to accelerate ourselves and by this I mean let’s say we just pushed out midlane wave and we have some tempo. Raptor camp is up and your jgler doesn’t need them, you take them in 15 seconds total, because of this, the next time you take them you could afford another item meaning you took them 10 seconds in total, the next time 5 seconds and so on and so fort. Getting pure ap and cdr allows you to do this faster and ultimately accelerating yourself to a point of having 300 cs at 25 minutes and being able to completely devour anyone in sight.
Second item:
Since I’m addicted to Mejais I like to buy it second, however with this setup you can skip it, if you fall behind even slightly mejais won’t get the free 5 penetration that you would’ve gotten with a regular rocketbelt build and it becomes really hard to get back into the game. Just remember if you need the power of GOD to win this game, don’t hesitate to buy the holy bible.
The real Second item:
Now that you have around ~ 100 ap Rabadons deathcap becomes efficient, even in its pathetic nerfed state it’ll still transform you into an onmipotent being. Deathcap is 92% item efficient with just it’s own AP and gets increased by 20% for every 100 ap so making it at MINIMUM 112% gold efficient of RAW pure AP power which Vladimir makes such enthusiastic work with. Now imagine if you had a mejais with some lucky 10 stacks on it, 136% gold efficient pure ap item combined with this? Oh Lord. Full mejais and dc = 357 ap = 500 hp more for FREE due to crimson pact.
Third item:
Most sane enemies when pressing TAB and seeing there is a 200 cs vlad at 16 minutes with a deathcap completed and double codex eagerly wanting to devour their feeble adc souls will attempt to purchase some magic resistance. Falter their plans by buying an early Void Staff, just like the logic we applied earlier with electrocute, void staffs 131% gold efficiency combined with sorcerer shoes allows you to deal near true damage to low mr targets and to those with more than room temperature IQ who’ve built MR? Well you have a voidstaff, what good does it do them.
Fourth item:
Woo! It’s mythic time yayyy!
This is the most satisfying thing ever, building a mythic item when you have 3 legendaries all giving you instant mythic passive. At this stage you can choose pretty much all mythics, need more haste? Go Nightharvester for unrivaled dps, playing against a lot of squishies? Unleash unholy burst with the Rocketbelt, enemies stacked giga nitro mega amounts of mr and you’re having a tough time penetrating through it? Literally buy a Liandry’s, it shreds enemy MR making your voidstaff and sorc shoes deal hyper amounts of damage. Since you have 2 codex Liandry’s is giga cheap at only 2500g and doesn’t eat up another inventory slot.
You can even decide to buy something else if you’re in desperate need for it like a Zhonyas or Morrelo, it’s not essential to have a mythic but I highly recommend it leaving it no later than this.
Last item (if you were a chad mejais buyer)
Just like the other electro setup, you may go whatever your heart desires as final ap item. Enemies have a lot of ad? Zhonyas, need dps? Cosmic Drive, need magic res? Spirit or Banshees. That’s pretty much it to the phaserush build, we’ll be covering when to go these setups next.
How to choose between the two setups
I am of the opinion that you can go either setup 100% of the time every game and not need to switch things up to find success, however there are scenarios where one is better than the other. For beginners I recommend learning just one setup first or your opinion might get clouded by low sample size. I also have a complete matchup spreadsheet with every matchup midlane in the game
If you’re more of the assassin player, wanting to oneshot specific targets and having ridiculously high kill pressure in lane I recommend going electrocute setup.
If you more feel like playing an actual controlmage and maintaining 10cs/min and unleashing unholy wrath lategame with zero counterplay then go phaserush setup.
In a realistic scenario if you’re laning vs melee champions electrocute is much better for lane and the minor runes will have a lot of effect vs them. You can go both setups in both types of matchups and it’s perfectly viable you just have to be aware of your weaknesses and play around them.
Currently I think the meta favours the electrocute setup a tiny bit more since there is a lot of early fighting and lane prio is important to help your jungler. That being said having ghost ignite phaserush means you can join any fight you want since your sums are super low so try both and see which one you like more.
Early laningphase and how to play matchups
Level 1 – 5
With both play-styles you want to play as safe as humanly possible with Vladimir pre 6, try manage the wave so it’s always near your tower so you can’t get ganked and are easily able to lasthit. It is ESSENTIAL to have on point last hitting skills, if you do not, go practice tool right now and get 100cs in 10 mins with only autohits. These early autohits really dictate the pace of the rest of the game, same theory with raptors, how much money you have dictates how much money you’ll be able to generate.
If your lane opponent doesn’t have teleport (mostly melees) you can play a little aggro and sneak in a quicky succ every now and then onto your lane opponent and eventually either deplete their hp so they have to recall or their mana so they become obsolete.
Don’t use your E early much as it mostly hurts yourself more than it hurts anything else, the self damage is always the same percentage so it really feels bad using it early to sprinkle tiny 60 damage blood bolts at the cost of like 100 hp.
You may spam Q on the minions as long as you don’t end up pushing the wave to the enemy, what makes vlad really hard to play in high elo is players will freeze the wave as soon as it starts to push vs them and it’s impossible to unfreeze unless you call your jungler to help.
If you’re playing vs someone with teleport it’s extremely ballsy to trade with them as if you do they’ll empty their mana on you and hp and just recall and come back leaving you with low hp and unable to buy items and locked in lane, going teleport yourself with phaserush of course halfway counters this awful spot to be in.
Level 1 – 5 early electrocute cheese
This strategy is really really easy to pull off, This video shows exactly how to pull this off, it’s incredibly easy to do with electrocute since you also have taste of blood and ignite if your lane opponent dares to contest this you can just punish them.
Basically you want to create a slowpush early, how do we do this? Try to fish for auto attacks or a Q on your opponent, aggroing the minions onto you, since they will chase you let them be pulled into your wave, while you drag them they will not be attacking your minions meaning the wave will push in opponent direction.
If you pull this off and just gently last hit the next 2 waves and then push in really hard when canon wave comes you’ll have stacked a MASSIVE ally wave under enemy turret while you have tempo to do whatever you like, recall get amp tome / ward for jungler / invade with jungler / anything you desire.
And what about my enemy mid, won’t he follow me and stop me? But how? He’s got 3 waves stacked under his turret trying to last hit them, he can’t just leave that or he’ll instantly lose the game.
This concept is very very important to vladimir players as your all ins are often able to 100-0 opponents, so if we do this strategy of stacking big waves at level 6- 9 and dive the lane opponent and they die they lose like 3 waves worth of cs, this is literally unbearably game losing for them and it’s SO easy to pull off especially in low elo. What on earth do you do vs a vladimir who stacked a wave, has an alternator, electro ult and ignite up and is furiously waiting to oneshot you? Literally no counterplay other than going barrier or buying hp / mr.
How do I get the wave to push into my direction so I can lasthit?
It’s very simple, most people will hit the wave level 1 like the utter troglodytes they are, just match their auto attacks and leave one out every few, once it slowpushes into your direction all you have to do is not kill the minions and let them be near your turret. The wave will ALWAYS freeze if 3 full hp caster minions are left alive and the next wave’s melee minions don’t go under tower.
Like this we can freely scale up to the lategame terror that Vladimir is.
My lane opponent has also read this guide and isn’t hitting the first wave? Wtf? If you can, push push push like your pregnant and try get your minions under enemy tower, if this happens the wave will simply bounce and start pushing towards you. These 2 concepts are the simplest and most essential thing to know when playing Vladimir.
First recall
You’ve got around 1000g? You should start to look to setup a recall so you can either buy a fiendish codex (phaserush setup) or a hextech alternator (electrocute setup)
How do we do this?
We already know how to stack waves and crash them under enemy tower, so we simply preform just that, we push the wave out and once it’s under tower run away quickly and recall, the bigger the wave the better since it traps your lane opponent in lane while you get to recall and only lose 1-2 melees.
If you don’t want to lock your lane opponent in lane or they have tp or just don’t care didn’t ask, just push the wave out before or during cannon wave since cannon minions can tank like 8 or more turret shots meaning you have tonnes of time to walk back to lane without missing anything.
Not missing any cs during your recalls is really essential as Vladimir especially because you can’t afford to fall behind.
Vs mages who like to buy lost chapter it’s extremely important you figure out a way to force a recall before they get that 1300g because if they do somehow get that you’re in for a fun cock and ball torture session, especially with Orianna. That’s why if you can recall with 1000g you can get a fiendish and they’ll just feel awful buying a god damn mana crystal.
Post recall
You’ve just walked back to lane, you’re level 6 and have your 1000g item and haven’t lost more than 1 minions worth of exp. What do you do now?
Since you have some AP you finally get to have more than cannon minion levels of wave-clear
If you’ve got an easy matchup and are not afraid to push out the wave start pushing and looking for things to do on the map. It’s important to ask yourself these questions WHILE pushing so you don’t waste time making a decision when you already have tempo.
Can you kill your lane opponent? Dive him.
Can you help your jungler invade? Go for it, just remember you’re on a tight time limit if things don’t go well and you’ll lose farm mid with no gain.
Can you gank / dive bot/ top? If there is a guaranteed pay off, (know all summs, ults etc) then go for it! Just don’t risk anything, remember if both teams are equal you are likely to win because of vladimirs inevitable lategame scaling.
If you don’t have any options, simply ward or clear wards, going out of enemy vision forces your lane opponent to shit their pants and ping ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? where he go? Which takes focus from other players and makes them play accordingly.
Midgame
It’s VERY important to go to sidelanes IF
Your botlane’s tower died and now enemy adc and sup go mid and try to take yours, since you have fuckall waveclear you can’t hold them away from the tower and end up losing more and more. It’s very important to also not share exp since the support will probably try defend midlane with you, you want to soak up that juicy sololane exp and start exerting pressure in a sidelane.
If you see lots of champs in one spot be ready to move asap because a teamfight might break out, although as Vlad maintaining 10cs/min is above everything, you can’t have any less if you want to carry games so some teamfights are just lost causes and don’t hurt yourself more by trying to get there in time.
You can generally tell when a fight will happen when either:
Herald is up and no dragon
Dragon is up
If ally mid tower is still up and dragon is down and herald is up what do we do?
Of course sidelane top and tell your teleport toplaner to go bot and your adc supp to go mid, it’s very likely that a herald fight will start and you wanna be there.
If dragon spawns and your team wants to contest that? Sidelane botlane and rotate mid at least ~20 seconds before dragon spawn so your adc can walk up reliably.
The only fights you REALLY need to be a part of are for objectives especially dragon, ESPECIALLY ESPECIALLY if you don’t have any dragons at all and enemies are stacking them.
Even the most terrible scaling champions like pantheon will be REALLY obnoxious lategame if they get something like an infernal dragon soul.
Just one or two dragons means enemy team won’t receive the dragon wincondition at like 20 mins which means the game will go on for longer, what happens if the game goes on for super long? Uh oh stinky poo poo lategame vlad arrived and you just take what you please at that stage of the game anyways.
Lategame & Teamfighting
This part of the game is much easier with phaserush and ghost especially with ghost since it also has built in scaling with level, duration and speed.
If you have the potential to reach the backline and kill them then that should be your priority above everything, in 99% of the scenarios this is easily achieved with ghost phaserush, since you literally can’t run away from a ghosted vlad. Not even Ezreal with double flash can run, not even kassadin with 4k mana can blink away in a straight line, and god have mercy if Vlad gets his ghost extended with an asisst or kill.
If you’re playing with electro and your rocketbelt isn’t enough to get you into the backline then try your best to hit as big of an ult as possible and peel for your next strongest member which is usually the adc. A fullbuild vlad demolishes anything that dares approach.
Most fights are extremely obvious when they happen late into the game, they’re either around sieging or around objectives like dragon and baron, you should always be around those when they spawn and farming nearby camps and minions.
Even late into the game you want to be farming farming farming, vlad is a super high resource champion, I’d honestly say the highest resource hog in the entire game, not even kassadin needs this much money, but not even kassadin can just engage 1v5 and demolish everyone.
Ability maxing
You want to max your Q first on both setups, however if you are ahead and are going for the double fiendish codex setup I recommend putting 4 points into Q and then start maxing E out, if you do this your E will oneshot the enemy casterminions extremely early, normally only after lvl 11, with this setup as early as level 9. So Q → E → W and R of course at 6, 11 and 16..
If you’re playing vs a melee champ in lane going W level 2 is definetly viable and can catch people off guard like a talon jumping on you without expecting you to pool. It does decent damage and slows like crazy unexpected, good for making enemies eat towershots when they think they can just weave in and out.
Combos
There aren’t really many “combos” and it’s mostly just generic efficiency and logical thinking, you make up a lot of things on the fly. Here is a link if you are adamant on learning combos. Say we want to proc electrocute or phaserush level 1 Auto Q Auto
There is also a multitude of ways you can combo with quick cast, smart cast, input buffer etc. For the full combo with all sums, what works best for me:
Smartcast all abilities, Q for an empowered Q ready, Charge E –> Flash –> Release E –> Ult –> Q – Ignite
Some people like to ult first as it releases E automatically upon pressing R however I feel like it’s a tiny bit clunky and if you release E manaully it’s literally impossible to react to unless predicted. Super late into the game if you have phaserush you could also if you see enemies clumped up and you know they won’t be for long: Flash –> R –> E W
Since you flash you’ll instantly be able to ult and have nimbus cloak movespeed to make sure your E and W connect with someone, if they do you get phaserush and are able to chase everyone down once you come out of pool, pooling instantly doesn’t matter as much as well since if you hit a fat R it’ll heal you like crazy, this catches enemies off guard a LOT even in high challenger.
Skin Choice
Of course the most important part of the guide. The tierlist goes like this:
Marquis: 9/10, Extremely small model, feels amazing to play with, cheap asf, regular ult is sometimes invis vs bigger targets like cho’gath.
Bloodlord 8.5/10, A timeless classic with absolutely insane taunting game, instantaneous laugh. Absolute badass voiceline, sounds and animations that make you feel allpowerful but at 1850rp? Idk..
Nightbringer: 8/10 Probably my most played, shortish cape, nice sounds and animations, literally invisible ultimate, beyond pay2win, if you’re looking for the most pay2win its probably this one.
Darkwaters: 7.5/10 basically budget nightbringer with a giga big nasty looking cape. Also has an invisible ult, arguably more invis than nightbringer.
Cosmic Devourer: 7/10 I like the stars aesthetic but imagine making a new skin without pay2win ult, what are you doing right??
Academy: 6/10 Kinda slick, not having a cape and being in a weird suit looks good but his hands look literally cancerbig.
Soulstealer: 5/10 wtf are these sounds, legit sound like it’s windy outside and has the most ugliest cape in the game.
Default: 4/10 bloodlord should be default and this should be removed, legit so beyond ugly.
Count: 1/10 Scuffed ass default vlad chroma so bad it should be against the geneva convention.
Vandal: dugu/10 You have to say no homo before using this skin, never touch another man’s skin.
Nosferatu ?/?? Absolute power.. At a price.
General tips
The minute you forget to farm is the minute you’re out of the game, always farm.
Taking jungle camps is really fast after double codex
Don’t be scared to use ignite generously, if it means your opponent runs out of pots they’re FUCKED since you can just trade 50 hp for 300 of yours and you’ll eventually outsustain.
If you want fast results NEVER blame your team, even if they fucked up, what good does it do you to just move on? Try figure out what YOU could’ve done to prevent x from happening
If you’re extremely strong and baron is already up, just tell your team to start it with you, you don’t have to finish it but it’s a for sure way of starting a teamfight and making enemies fight you when you want it. Worst case scenario you keep hitting baron, they steal it, you end their lives, gg.
The period of where you have crimson rush gets extended by E, Zhonyas, and Pool.
For some reason if you have enough cdr and pool as soon as your E ends and start a new channel in pool that E will have no animation and be invisible, not very usable though.
If you have any questions, ask me anything I’m always happy to spread light on things I didn’t elaborate on. I also stream of course on twitch.tv/elite500, if I didn’t cover something feel free to ask :D, preferably on the post instead of on stream so others can see it too, I'm streaming as i post this guide so i'll reply to comments in queue streaming right now again so i'll reply to comments in queue
LEADUP Macarthur have been blending the terrible with the sublime with aplomb throughout their inaugural season, occasionally providing both in one game (hello, vs. WSW). They'll have been buoyed by an easy win over a weirdly terrible Brisbane in which they rested a sheaf of key players, most of whom slot back into the side tonight. They are, however, shorn of their Roses, including Brenton's favourite son, LA. Adelaide's squad is stretched thin and cut to the bone. They only have five on the bench, and I don't even know who Noah Smith is. On their day, they can beat any team in the league, and they'll want to go at the well-rested Macarthur fast, before Macarthur bring on 2014 World Cup starter Tommy Oar and Adelaide bring on... Terence Lynch*? This feels like it might be a first start for Schalke legend Timotheou, but I'm not sure. Should be a good game, because it feels like every time we leave a match thread to MatchThreadder the game is terrible. I've got you covered.
Some sources list his name as 'Fergus'. I do not know what the truth is.
EVENTS 1' We're underway! Macarthur are wearing black shorts. The kit looks about four times as good for it. Adelaide, by comparison, look like something I'd squeeze onto a democracy sausage. 3'ADL CAUTION: Halloran 3' Justified. He absolutely went through... Susaeta, I think. Beath gave him the caution without even looking at him for maximum style points. 5' Big chance for Macarthur! They resort to Plan A - Susaeta crosses, Derbyshire heads. Delianov's nowhere but, somehow, Elsey sticks out a leg to hook it over the bar! The corner is takine short so someone can cross in, it's cleared out as far as Franjic who shoots into the sky. 6' Juric, Halloran and Meredith get into a tangle. Halloran, sub-wisely, tugs on Meredith's shirt. In the aftermath, Juric is holding his ankle. Being Tomi Juric, that's an easy 18 months out. 7' Meredith does a bunch of step-overs, which is just innately hilarious in a clunking 32-year old defender, before squandering the Macarthur attack. 10' Long ball over the top from Milligan and suddenly Adelaide look hugely exposed, Franjic running on goal, tries to find Derbyshire in support... Smith covers with an excellent covering block. The corner comes to nothing. 11' Speaking personally, Derbyshire hasn't really impressed me. He's not been terrible, and he's probably still who you want to start up front from the squad the Bulls have... but he should have more goals from his routinely excellent service. 12' Adelaide almost do something akin to an attack, as Juric nearly injures himself again trying to keep a ball in play. He passes it to Dukuly, who fires straight into a white shirt. The ball comes to Konstandopoulos, who scoops it into the middle of nowhere. 14' After outwitting Franjic, pure pace gets Dukuly into the box, but he runs out of ideas from there. Still, could that be a fruitful angle of attack going forward? 16' Clever idea from Macarthur, a corner finding Franjic's head arriving late into the box, completely unmarked. But there's too much space, really - it would have to be perfectly into the corners, and the header's an easy save for Delianov. 19' Meredith cleverly plays Puyo through, but Halloran, diligent in tracking back, shepherds the ball out. It's... apparently called offside, but he was nowhere near. 21' Oh, and it's fucking bucketing down. Some techie extremely audibly wipes down a screen of some kind. 22' Always, always pay attention to Macarthur at corners. That said, nothing more than a ball flashing across the face of goal here, I think from Genreau. 24' Five of Adelaide's starting XI are 21 or under. Joe Caletti is their oldest substitute at 22. 28' The game's entered something of a lull. Eventually, Susaeta hits a cross fairly sweetly, but it's well-cleared. Macarthur have apparently attempted 11 crosses. 32' An Adelaide attack breaks down. The ball comes to Hollman, threatening to roll out - the kid nips away with the ball, charges at two defenders, makes it through both of them but just runs out of space, and perhaps because the rest of the front four are in their 30s never gets help. Very impressive from the kid, though. 33' Halloran's seen Susaeta bombard a thousand crosses and decides to give it a go himself. It's cleared, but one of those spicy clearances that once every twenty times becomes a hilarious own goal. The corner's cleared. 34' Puyo goes for it from 30 yards. About a metre high, but it was worth taking on. Macarthur started better but Adelaide are working their way in. You know, literally the exact opposite of what I predicted. 36' Macarthur should score! Perfectly-weighted through-ball from Hollman, Derbyshire rounds Delianov as the young 'keeper rushes in, and passes the ball into the empty net. The net isn't empty. Noah Smith is there, sliding in at the perfect time to deny him! more like derbyshiiiite 37' Macarthur don't have a single starter aged between 22 and 30. 40' A long ball over the top, but Adelaide's quick defence crowd Derbyshire out. He manages to get in a cross to nobody, and Meredith manages to get onto the end of it. Is a chance happening? Nah, fuck it, he'll just kick it into the nearest yellow shirt to win a corner, which is squandered terribly. 43' Adelaide can't properly deal with a cross from Susaeta. The ball falls for Benyat who hammers a sot on goal, but it skims over the top. Might have taken a slight nick off a defender's boot, but it's given a goal-kick. 45' Elsey's feeling generous. A slick passing move forward from Macarthur is foiled by a heavy touch, but then Elsey kindly plays in the next Macarthur attacker anyway before falling over. Delianov produces a very sharp save, easily the best so far (has Franjic even made one?). Beath calls back the corner for two retakes for some reason. HALF-TIME! Hasn't been a bad match, but hardly a classic. Macarthur have had the better of the half, but Adelaide deserve credit for their sharp, if sometimes chaotic defending. Derbyshire really needs to have put that massive chance away, though. Best players on either side thus far: Hollman and Delianov. RESTART! Time is on Macarthur's side - they're better-rested, and can actually use all five substitutes on outfielders. Then again, time is also on Adelaide's side - if the rainfall leads to a delay in the game, then it might be past bedtime for a few members of Macarthur's frankly fucking geriatric squad. 46' Role-reversal! Derbyshire, crowded out by men, crosses to the essentially-free Franjic and Susaeta. The rightback lays it off to the right winger, who can't get off a good shot. Slater's convinced Franjic should've shot first-time, I'm... not so sure, a scruffy cross in the rain when you aren't a forward? 51' Feds easily claims a low cross. It might honestly be his first touch under pressure of the game. 52' Benyat's been weirdly terrible this half. Misplacing passes, overcooking touches... Meredith shrugs at him passive-aggressively. 53' Juric marauds into the box, before letting Dukuly have the ball. He cracks in a shot that's blocked by Milligan - he should've passed across, though. The corner's decent, but headed away with authority. VAR is called for, then quickly dismissed - my best guess is d'Arrigo's shot came somewhere near Hollman's hand, but it would've been an insanely harsh call. 54' Macarthur having one of those Football Manager days. Shot cleared by Delianov, another low shot is blocked by Delianov's feet into Derbyshire, and the ball is headed clear when it's looping in at goal. 56'MFC SUBSTITUTIONS: Puyo and Hollman off, Oar and Susnjar on 56' Susnjar slotting into the back pushes Milligan into midfield and Genreau into attacking midfield. Oar for Hollman's a straight swap. 58'ADL CAUTION: Stefan Mauk 58' Just a bit of general shithousing and cuntery from Mauk, who I quite like. He's kind of a reverse Berisha - everyone hates Berisha but would absolutely love to have him on their team, while I like Mauk but only as a neutral. 60' Milligan is not known for cunting in 30-yard thunderbastard volleys in the pouring rain. This reputation does not change tonight, despite his best efforts. 60'ADL Substitution: Dukuly off, AH Toure on 63' Commentator's cursen't! Right as they're talking about how Susnjar has the approximate pace and turning circle of the Titanic, and Jovanovic the pace and turning circle of the iceberg that sunk it, someone (d'Arrigo?) clips in a deft ball over the top. Mauk's free! It's slightly overhit, and Federici comes out to claim. 65' Massive airswing from Timotheou turns an easy clearance into a corner, but Macarthur's usual chaotic energy from corners hasn't materialised this game. Later on, an excellent long diagonal cross from Benyat is deftly hit across goal by Derbyshire, but there's a good defensive header to stop Genreau bundling it home. 66' GOAL! MFC 1-0 ADL A speculative but vicious effort from Benyat is nodded over. Corner is smacked low, flicked vaguely into danger by Genreau and Derbyshire dives in at the far post to head home. But... 67' The VAR check is taking forever. That's never a good sign. And now he's at the monitor. If they're at the monitor that's almost always siding with VAR. The monitors IMO are fucking pointless. Anyway, Oar is about seventeen metres offside and offers a shrimpy header at the ball, missing, en route to Derbyshire. But does it put the 'keeper off? Beath says no. In my opinion: I'd probably have called it offside, but I don't think it's a clear and obvious error to give the goal. 70' Incidentally, now that Derbyshire's scored, it's now going to be Tommy Oar I dig out for the remaining twenty minutes. So, expect him to make it 2-0 in about fifteen minutes. 73' Juric gives a very tired look towards the cameras as the ball rolls out of play. Like Atlas, he has carried Adelaide's attack on his shoulders today. Unlike Atlas, his sinews are made of those weird string-cheese things. 73' oh for
look at this idiot, look at this fucking moron, anyway 73' GOAL! MFC 2-0 ADL Perfectly-weighted diagonal ball. Derbyshire backs it to make its way through to him, and it does, so he just slides it in at the far post. 75'ADL SUBSTITUTION: Mauk and Halloran off, Caletti and M Toure on 79' I'm no tactical mastermind, but taking off the best midfielder, Mauk, when ceding control of the midfield has already denied you any real share in the game, and replacing him with a young forward is... bold. If the plan's just to go direct and bank on pace, how will that work? Macarthur can sit back now they're ahead. It's too late to bank on the counter. 81' It's really hard for me to remember that Tommy Oar was ever good. He's been very good tonight. He forces a very sharp save from Delianov, cutting onto his right and driving a high, sharp strike on target. The corner's taken short, leading to Susaeta playing Oar in through markers and the Adelaide defence fracturing - that's how you're meant to do a short corner! - and the cutback for Milligan, I think, leads to a low, dangerous shot. Excellent save from Delianov. 83' GOAL! MFC 3-0 ADL Incisive pass from midfield. Derbyshire (I'm so sorry for doubting you, aging English journeyman) holds off his mark just long enough to keep the move going, playing through, of all people, Mark fucking Milligan straight through the middle. It's a fine, nerveless finish, Delianov completely exposed. 85' I take no joy in saying this, but ... badelaide 86'MFC SUBSTITUTION: Benyat off, Martis on 89' GOAL! MFC 4-0 ADL Hell, why even bother marking Derbyshire? Adelaide collectively decide. He heads home. This is a massacre. 89' derbyshire is bad haha -- massive idiot u/pyrrhesia 90+1' Mo Toure's played through deftly byyyyy someone on Adelaide's right, and drags a shot narrowly wide. Realistically, Federici probably had the angle covered regardless. 90+4' The Rams want five, but Oar's shot is blocked. No matter. It's... FULL-TIME! Adelaide held out through brave, desperate defending for about an hour, but once the gates crashed in they were fuuuucked. All younglings, no survivors. Macarthur's depth told, with Oar excellent off the bench - I swear he's been anonymous throughout this entire stint in the A-League - and Derbyshire proving he can be more than a slow Amadi-Holloway by matching guile and craft and finishing to his muscle. From Adelaide's perspective... I think Juric did sort-of okay, others in the thread reckon he was dogshit. Delianov did well, despite everything. Smith had an hour to remember, shame about the other 30 minutes. It could easily have been worse. And all this without LA Rose. 3-2-1s ACCORDING TO ME AND NOT FOX SPORT 3 Matt Derbyshire (fuck me that wasn't hard) 2 Tommy Oar 1 Despite everything, James Delianov
The Great Single Class Thief Compendium: how to be a non-Fighter fighting Thief, why Alchemy is underrated, a list of items to abuse with UAI, and a (complete?) list of Time Trap/Stop and backstab immune enemies. Among other shennanigans!
EDIT: Since I already wrote about it in the comments, I added a section about thieving skills point distribution. EDIT2: added some more thoughts about how much more damage we can do with a Time Trap vs a Spike Trap due to how probability works with the Spike Trap's 20d6 vs our maxed damage strategy for benefitting from Time Trap. First things first, this is the Enhanced Edition. It's what most people are playing and for good reason, so feel free to stop reading if that bothers you. Second, aside from convenience stuff (like tweaks anthology's bottomless bag of holding mod), the only mod I use is SCS with pretty much everything maxed except without the "Tactical Challenges" (cause I just find them tactics-narrowing and, consequently, boring. I like the original SCS philosophy which is to just enhance the game's AI with few actual statistical/ability changes). If you like that option, ok, good for you. I did a few playthroughs with them back in the day, but didn't care for it too much. Third, I just finished a playthrough of Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal (didn't feel like playing BG1/SoD this time around) with a Half-Orc Assassin, so that's what I'm gonna be focusing on, especially cause most people's complaints of single class thieves pertain to Throne of Bhaal. With that said, let's get to it (feel free to skip certain sections, of course, it's a huge post): THIEVING SKILLS POINT DISTRIBUTION (just copy and pasted it from my comment below, I didn't talk about it before cause it's too basic, but maybe some newbies might be reading this) -There are several potions/equipment that increase your thieving skills, so you don't need to max out pickpocket, open locks or find traps. Plus, every point in dexterity increases every thieving skill except detect illusions by 5 points and you can increase dex permanently (eg tome) and temporarily (eg draw upon holy might). -95 is enough to open every lock and find every trap in the trilogy. But if you can reach 25 str temporarily that gets you the equivalent of 85 open lock through bashing. -You don't need much pickpocket unless you wanna steal from shops often, cause otherwise you can just buff it temporarily whenever you need it. -Hide and move silently max out at 200 each, but 100 on one of them is reasonable enough to just hide outside of combat (remember you can use quick load to speed up your hide attempts outside of combat). 100 in both is enough to max out in dark areas (lighter areas and being outside during the day give you penalties). If you wanna run+hide constantly put more into it earlier. Or, if you're playing a shadowdancer you need as much of this as possible right away. -Detect illusions can't be buffed so get it to 100, but you don't need it too much in bg1 cause there aren't many invisible/hidden enemies. -Set traps should be at 100 for convenience, but you can live with a lower number if you only trap outside of combat and don't mind reloading. It's absolutely essential to max out if you wanna trap during combat (by running away first ofc otherwise you can't use it). All in all, I just get some good hide/set traps/detect illusion early in soa and then start to minmax. Bg1 is really kit/strategy dependent but I ignore open lock/find traps for most of it (unlocking/disabling doesn't even get you much xp in bg1, why bother? Just take traps and bash locks unless doing no reload). KITS -Assassin: fantastic kit. Poison is a great buff (especially vs spellcasters, but not just that) with decent duration (5 rounds) that you can reapply a ton of times. That +1 to hit comes in super handy for thieves (who get worse thac0 progression than a cleric) and the +1 to damage actually makes a substantial difference when you consider it factors into backstabs. Every +1 damage (that factors into the backstab formula, so no Strength bonuses) means 7 extra damage on a single backstab or 63 extra damage in a single round of Assassination with 9 Attacks per Round (APR). And, of course, we get that sweet sweet x7 backstab, meaning Assassination can do MONSTROUS damage (easily over ~1000+ in a single round with 9APR). -Bounty Hunter: also great, though it's been a while since I've played a solo one to judge it properly. Being able to throw the special traps and have them explode in a fireball-sized area is great and the Maze traps are underrated (they ignore magic resistance and there's no save!), cause anything with under 18 Intelligence (most enemies, pretty much) and not immune to maze (again, the vast majority of enemies, even dragons/demons are vulnerable) gets caught up for at least 2d4 (probably more) leaving you with a great opportunity to place traps for when they come back. Plus, the smarter folks come back sooner, meaning spellcasters will probably be left alone and take the brunt of the traps (whose damage can pretty much only be stopped by the exact physical/elemental-damage resistance). -Swashbuckler: unnecessarily fighter-like IMO. As we'll see later, thieves can be quite the fighters if geared properly and it's rare that they're lacking either thac0 or AC. But since Swashbucklers get ridiculous amounts of thac0/AC by the end of the game it means you can get a little bit more creative with your gearing and access to Whirlwind is nice, I suppose. Not getting backstabs/access to Assassination is a huge bummer though. Shadowdancer: super fun kit, but they miss out on some of the best parts of thieves: high level abilities (HLAs). Shadow Form (essentially a stronger, but short-lasting Hardiness+Improved Invisibility) is great, Shadow Twin is simply unnecessary (it's a Simulacrum, cool, but there are already two other sources of Simulacrum...) and their Shadow Maze is crappy compared to the Bounty Hunter's maze trap cause it doesn't ignore magic resistance, there's a save (at -4, admittedly) AND it only affects a single opponent, not an area. But the worst part is that they don't get the amazing thief traps and their Assassination is super nerfed with that x4 multiplier. So why are they still good? Because they still get Use Any Item (UAI), shadowstep lets you dispel illusions comfortably in the chaos of battle and give you time for your hide cooldown to reset, but, most importantly, hide-in-plain-sight allows for a cheeky combo: Invisibility (not hiding) -> Backstab -> Insta-cast ability (eg use a wand if you're a single class SD or use a 0 casting time spell if you're a dual SD/Mage or Cleric) -> Hide (that's not on cooldown cause we weren't hidden to begin with, we were invisible before). That means you can constantly do a backstab + use a wand or cast a spell (or a triggesequencer!) and hide before the enemy can do anything. So the more sources of invisibility you have, the more you can do in combat without ever being engaged! If the enemy doesn't just straight up ignore invisibility you can pretty much play without armor if you want (if your hide/move silently are good, ofc). RACES Human: good for dualing, of course. Swashbucklers and Shadowdancers are the best duals IMO, unless you're willing to dual crazy late for the x7 Assassin backstab (you can do it if you're playing solo, but I wouldn't recommend it in a full party with six-way shared XP). Elf: -1 con makes no difference, but the +1 to dex is nice, cause we can easily get to 21 DEX (with 2 out of the 3 sources of +1 dex: BG1 Tome, the Machine of Lum and the Deck of Many Things) for that extra -1 AC and each point in dex gives us +5 to thieving skills (except Detect Illusions), but none of that is necessary cause we can still reach 21 DEX starting with 18 DEX and by the end of the game we'll have all the skills pretty much maxed out anyway. 90% charm immunity is nice though, I guess. Half-Orc: my preferred choice. Why? Thieves need more thac0, especially against late-late game bosses that are immune to Time Traps/Time Stop (meaning we can't just auto-hit them) and having more thac0 when you're a class with poor thac0 progression is always nice. Plus, you get more damage. In BG1 alone it's a huge difference cause jumping from 18 to 19 STR means -2 bonus to thac0 and +7 to damage. By the end of the game we can have natural 23 Strength, which is more than any girdle can give us. Other races: shorties are cool for saving throws, but thieves already get enough with all the saving throw-enhancing gear that UAI lets them use and with Greater Evasion that lowers them by a further 3 points. And we miss out on, again, what we need the most: thac0! The difference between maxing out at 22 and 23 is another extra point! GEAR Use Any Item is one of the main strengths of thieves, so, yes, talking about items is also talking about thieves. You can't ignore this. -Weapons: "easy, you're an assassin, just get the Celestial Fury or the Staff of the Ram for great backstab damage!" Sure, if all you want to do a single powerful backstab to one-shot a single powerful enemy that's fine, go for those. But after getting HLAs what you want is Assassination potential and those weapons, surprisingly, aren't the best for that. Plus, you probably want a thief that can actually fight well in battles even after backstabbing and without needing to go away to hide again or whatever (though that's an option, of course). So what's the big bad weapon combo? How do we turn out non-Fighter Thief into a fighting Thief? We need more APR. Belm+Kundane then? That'll get 1 base attack, 1 offhand attack, plus 2 main hand attacks. Double that if you're Improved Hasted, so 8 APR. Cool, but we can do a lot better than that. Both Belm and Kundane are +2 weapons, meaning a bunch of powerful enemies will be immune to them. +3 is the real deal (only Demiliches, the Lesser Demon Lord from the eggs main quest, the Ravager, the Fallen Solar at the final battle and Watcher's Keep's Aurumach Rilmani are immune to +3 weapons). Besides, Kundane only has 1d6 base damage, meaning it weakens our Assassination potential. The answer? Throwing daggers, motherf****! That's right! Throwing daggers ain't just for throwing!! Both the Boomerang Dagger +2 (which you can easily pickpocket right at the start of SoA) and the Firetooth +3 (available in Ust Nasha) give you an extra attack! It's just that you can't use them in the offhand, but that doesn't matter cause they're both great! Both do a respectable 2d4 damage (better than a long sword's 1d8!) and the Firetooh is a +3, plus it does 1d2 extra fire damage for some convenient troll killing and stoneskin harassing! So you use either of those in the main hand and Belm in the offhand, but if the enemy is immune to backstabs or immune to +2 weapons you switch Belm out to the Scarlet Ninja-to +3 (available in Joluv's shop at the Copper Coronet and useable by thieves with UAI!). Dope! 8 APR with a great +3 main hand weapon! As for the 9 APR... Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization, which you can use after getting UAI. That's an extra 1/2 APR normally, but a full 1 extra APR with Improved Haste. Other great weapons you should keep in mind are the usual (Mace of Disruption/Daystar against undead, that one staff that instakills golems you get in Ust Nasha... But there's more that people don't often talk about, like: -The Blackmist Halberd you get from giving the eggs to the Lesser Demon Lord in Ust Nasha, which is great in a secondary weapon slot cause it lets us cast area blindness (blindness is one of the best spells in the game) once per day. -The Sling of Arvoreen that stuns in an area for 3 rounds (auto-hits for our 9APR thief!). -The Darkfire Bow available in ToB for its long-lasting (23 rounds) improved haste cast. -The Answerer in ToB if you really want to worse the enemy's AC (I didn't need to resort to it once in my playthrough, but you can use it if you want). EDIT: as mentioned by semiticgod, "The Staff of the Magi can royally screw with Sendai in ToB. Unlike some other ToB enemies, the drow cannot see through invisibility, though SCS Sendai and company will use divination spells (the Cloak of Non Detection can preserve the staff's invisibility despite those spells)". I totally forgot to fight the Twisted Rune before going to ToB, so I screwed myself there. -+4 weapons for the few +3 immune enemies (which I only used to finish off the Aurumach Rilmani in Watcher's Keep and kill Demiliches, I'll talk about how to handle the Ravager later). ArmoAccessories: -Wands, you know them, you love them, you can backstab (or just attack) and then immediately cast them. I barely used them in my playthrough, but they're excellent, of course, especially the wands of paralyzation and spell striking. -Invisibility stuff. Obvious use. -Like I said before, Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization (SoA) to get to 9APR. -Headband of the Devout (ToB): blesses you (-1 thac0 and +1 backstab-effective damage!) and lets you cast Righteous Magic (+3 Strength and MAXED OUT DAMAGE) once per day lasting 1 turn aka 10 rounds!!! GET THIS!! Normally only monks can use it and it's available in Rasaad's quest, along with two other nice items (a cloak that gets you -2 stackable AC and Protection from Magical Energy and Boots with 3x/day Shadow Door). -Improved Haste (IH) gear: a) (SoA) Early on you can use the Ring of Gaxx to get 1 round of undispellable (hardly necessary, but I just thought I'd let people know about this if they didn't) IH 3x/day, it technically amounts to 5 rounds, not 3, cause each of the 3 casts lasts for 10 secs (a round is 6 secs), so you might end up doing more than 1 round's worth of attacks (it's hard to tell). b) (SoA) Bracers of Blinding Strike in the Underdark for 20 secs (a little over 3 rounds) of IH. You can equip it, cast it and equip something else. c) (SoA) Scrolls of Improved Haste, if you really want to have a longer lasting IH in SoA. There are quite a few and you won't need them in ToB, so use them freely. If you want, you can even waste a scroll of wish for it... d) (modded SoA or ToB) If you're using the mod (was it Tweaks Anthology?) that lets Cromwell forge the ToB recipes that you can already get in SoA then you can get the Improved Cloak of Protection +2 for those sweet 23 rounds of IH. e) (ToB) Amulet of Cheetah Speed, also 23 rounds of IH. -Cloak of Unerring Strikes (SoA) and later Montolio's Cloak (ToB) for extra offhand thac0 and, in Montolio's case also -1 save and AC bonus. -White Dragon Scale (SoA): best base AC out of any armor in game, available early in SoA, doesn't interfere with thieving skills, lets you cast Cone of Cold, protects from Cold (great for Melissan battle along with the Boots of the North)... The only problem is that it won't let you use the Improved Cloak of Protection +2, so when you get it switch to the Robe of the Apprenti (AC3) until you get another source of long-lasting IH. Or switch it out to cast IH with the cloak before battle and then put it back on. -Thieves' Hood (SoA): you're a thief, backstabs can hurt a lot in ToB, this makes you immune. Poison immunity is great too, but you got the Ring of Gaxx (which I'll cover with other regen gear) for that. -Paws of the Cheetah (SoA): along with (improved) haste this lets you run and hide or, better yet, run and place a Time Trap or Spike Trap! Essential!! -Helm of Balduran: we need that thac0 early on, boys and girls. Some HP and AC is nice too. -The Visage (SoA, from Dorn's quest): -1 bonus to saves and thac0, protects against crits (I just noticed this lol), can dominate once and has an acid breath attack and a big ol' list of immunities (fear, charm, feeblemind, confusion). What's not to love? It just takes a while to get cause you gotta finish Dorn's quest. It's dope, but after your saves get really low (naturally protecting you against those status as well) you get better stuff. -Book of Infinite Spells (SoA): Spell Turning! Underrated item and spell. You don't get a lot of spell protections as a non-spellcaster, especially the rechargeable kind, so this is one of the best. -Vhailor's Helm: more traps! More Assassinations! I actually forgot about using this until the literal final battle lol, but it's great. -Heart of the Mountain (SoA): available in Spellhold and normally only useable by Shamans, this gets you -2 AC and stacks with enchanted armorings! Excellent before ToB. -Amulet of the Master Harper (ToB): -3 bonus to AC, even better! Silence immunity and thieving skill bonuses aren't bad either. -Blessed Bracers (modded SoA Cromwell or ToB): resurrection heals you completely (at least until 2.6 comes! Though the text says it fully heals, so maybe it'll still after 2.6?) and there's some Cure Wounds too if you want. You're better off using a Rod of Resurrection cause it casts faster, but sometimes you just don't feel like using non-rechargeable item charges. Put it on, use it and switch out. -Nymph Cloak: cheesyyyyy, so cheeeeesy, but it's the kind of cheese I love. I tried not using it too much though, I just used it against a few Rakshasa early on and against Aesgareth's party. -Regen gear (I'll explain why this is great for thieves next): Ring of Regeneration, Ring of Gaxx (-2 AC and poison/disease immunity is great too ofc), Wong Fei's Ioun Stone (which also nets you some HP and -1 AC). REGENERATION "What? Why are you talking about regeneration? What does that have to do with thieves?" Alchemy = unlimited Potions of Regeneration that stack with all of the regen geaspells (all sources of regen stack INCLUDING DRINKING MULTIPLE POTIONS OF REGENERATION and I just discovered this last part after finishing the game). And Potions of Regeneration heal 2HP/round and last for 3 turns aka 30 rounds! Although Potions of Regen aren't super rare, they're also not available in ample supply, especially if you don't know where to find them all to begin with. But high level thieves can spam them freely cause they can always get more with Alchemy. So, if you're not a believe in regeneration like I am, let's explain how good it can be (this is the calculation without abusing potion of regen stacking, so only using one): -Ring of Regen 1HP/round (aka 1HP/6 seconds) -Ring of Gaxx 2/round -Wong Fei's Ioun Stone 1HP/Round -Potion of Regeneration 2HP/round = 6HP/round (aka 1HP/sec) x2 (cause Haste doubles it) 12HP/round (aka 2HP/sec) That's already pretty damn nice and it "reduces damage" a lot better than AC in ToB where some enemies still tear through -20 AC (plus, you can easily get to the AC cap and still wear all of those items and you've still got a cloak slot to spare and it doesn't force you into using regen weapons) But if you want some more quick regen as you run around you can use the Cloak of the Sewers' troll form to get you an extra 1HP/sec or 2 with haste, netting you 4HP/sec or 24HP/round which is almost a free Potion of Extra Healing (heals 27HP) every round. Hexxat makes this even better cause she's got "natural" (it's actually from her amulet) 1HP/round regen. And, of course, that's all without abusing the Potion of Regeneration stacking that can up as much as you can (though, again, you don't need it and I didn't use it cause I only discovered it now, after finishing the game), as long as you can be bothered to produce a ton of potions with Alchemy and resting (though they're temporary, so as you're drinking more you're wasting the duration of the previous ones, but it CAN get pretty ridiculous quickly and, hey, mages get crazy 8HP/sec WITHOUT HASTE regen from Shapechange -> Greater Wolfwere, so it's fair!). TRAPS Regular Traps: they eventually do 3d8+5 missile damage and 20 Poison damage with no save, Slays target if a Save vs. Death with a +4 bonus is failed. Pretty neat, especially if you stack a bunch, but not world-shattering. Spike Traps: everybody knows how good Spike Traps are, so I won't waste much time on them. They do 20d6 magic damage, so 20-120 (average 70). Magic damage is rarely (and I mean rarely) resisted, which makes them top tier and they can crush even Demogorgon and the final boss easily. I generally get 7 of them so I have the max stackable (was this a thing in vanilla or is this limit SCS-only? I don't remember) whenever I want without simulacrums etc.. Time Traps: bonkers. Amazing. Insanely underrated. Let's do some ToB-stage calculations (this is just the damage I was doing at some point in ToB with IH+Righteous Magic, it's not 100% minmax'd): Righteous Magic (max damage and 25 STR)+Improved Haste (9APR)+Time Trap (auto-hit) without backstabs/Assassination: Firetooth +3 -> 29 * 7 attacks (main hand) = 203 damage Belm +2 -> 28 * 2 attacks (offhand) = 56 damage = 1 trap spent, 1 round = 259 non-variable (without taking into account potential resistances to pierce/slash) damage. Plus, this is damage you can divide among multiple enemies. Same thing, but with Assassination: Firetooth +3 -> 147 * 7 attacks (main hand) = 1029 damage Belm +2 -> 112 * 2 attacks (offhand) = 224 damage = 1 trap spent, 1 round = 1253 non-variable (without taking into account potential resistances to pierce/slash) damage. Plus, this is damage you can divide among multiple enemies (eg backstabs for everyone aaaaand fall) and you can still do a lot of damage without Time Traps, it's just that auto-hit is great to make sure every attack hits. All in all, Time Traps often (not always, ofc) provide more value per use than Spike Traps, especially cause you can divide the damage among several enemies. With a properly geared Assassin, in most fights even without Righteous Magic IH+Assasination+Time Trap = 9 dead enemies in 1 round, so you can start doing this in SoA easily. EDIT: also, when you think about probabilities, even though Spike Trap does 20d6 and technically that's 20-120 damage, in reality there's a ~83% chance to roll in the 60-80 range or ~53% to roll in the 65-75 range, so their damage is largely inferior to what it may seem at first, meanwhile, out Time Trap strategy rolls max damage always due to Righteous Magic! And, supposedly, another trap exists... Hmmm... Don't bother, folks. OTHER HIGH-LEVEL ABILITIES Greater Evasion: dope! -6 bonus to AC, -3 bonus to saving throws, movement rate +2 and immunity to normal missiles. Lasts 5 rounds. I get 2 just in case, but it's rarely needed tbh. You got access to a lot of AC reducing gear with a thief (this is without Greater Evasion or any buffs and I could still get -2 if I used the Ring of Earth Control and the Cloak of the Dark Moon, but I'd rather keep my regen and thac0 stuff). Scribe Scrolls: unfortunately pointless. The only half-decent spells you can easily get from other items (wands, White Dragon Scale etc.). Do not invest! Avoid Death: -5 bonus to Save vs. Death, immunity to instant death effects, and +20 Hit Points. Lasts 5 rounds. It's aight. I get 2 later in the game just in case, but I rarely use it (good against Planetars so you don't get vorpal'd, would be good against Balors' vorpal effect too, but you can just Assassinate them). THE GREAT LIST OF BACKSTAB-IMMUNE ENEMIES! OH, THE DESPAIR! "Thieves are useless, there are too many backstab immune enemies!". Is that really the case? I mean, I know it's subjective (what you think are "too many", I mean), but too me the list is pretty short. The only thing that bothers me is ToB bosses being immune to it, but you can still handily deal with them as I'll show later. I think people think a lot of enemies are immune to backstab just cause they see past invisibility (like Demons do), but Assassination still works on them. So... Here's the list: SoA/ToB backstab-immune enemies: General enemy types: -Barbarians (fun fact: there are almost no Barbarians in SoA/ToB and the majority of them are specific measly Orcs/Orogs/Minotaurs) -Beholders (all types) <- Trap, even regular traps do it most of the time. -Demiliches (NOT Liches in general) <- Use Spell Immunity from a scroll or Protection from Undead if you're low level. -Devas/Planetars <-You should kill mage/clerics before they can summon them, but if you can't just Time Trap or Spike Trap. -Dragons <- Time Trap handles them easily or just use a scroll of disintegration. -Golems -Slimes/Oozes -A lot of mists/wraiths (I can't tell whether it's all of them or not, so I listed them below) Specific enemies: -3 out of the 6 enemies in the Heart Key fight in Watcher's Keep Final Seal level (The Huntress, the Hive Mother and Ameralis are immune, so Nalmissra, Xei Win Toh and even Y'Tossi are vulnerable) -Aesgareth and his party -Bone fiends (Bone Golem-looking demons) -Specific demons in fight 2-5 of the Black Pits II (for some reason... Even the Lesser Demon Lord in the Underdark is vulnerable, so why make these ones invulnerable?) -Garock/Rock (the two minotaurs at the Machine of Lum level of Watcher's Keep) -Guardian spirit (don't even remember who this is) -Kiser (dude causing some mischief in Saradush) -Liches, only two of them (Azamantes, the Spike Trap-able, along with his flaming skulls and Vongoethe in Amkethran) -Mists/Wraiths: Mist/Swamp/Wandering Horrors, Vampiric Wraiths/Mists, Spellhaunts, Slave Wraiths and Demon Wraith (Watcher's Keep maze level) -Velithuu (the ice salamander-looking demons in the Watcher's Keep Maze level) Bosses (ie enemies you have to fight finish the game, plus Demogorgon cause he's the "boss" of Watcher's Keep): -The Bhaalspawns (Balthazar, Gromnir, Illasera, Sendai, Yaga-Shura and his Lieutenants) -Demogorgon -Melissan -Nyalee (technically a boss lol) -Ravager and its Bone Blades Everything else can be backstabbed! Including: -Bodhi -Irenicus -The Slayer -Pretty much every Demon (even the Lesser Demon Lord in the Underdark) -Almost every Lich (even Kangaxx and Shangalar) -Greater Werewolves/Wolfweres -Mind Flayers (even their Master Brain) -The Watcher's Keep statues -Rakshasa -Fire Giants -Drow and so on (what else worries people?) If they see past invisibility, just pop that assassination, brother! And for those that can't be backstabbed we always have Time Traps! 9APR of auto-hit max damage is no joke. And takes us to... ENEMIES IMMUNE TO TIME TRAP/STOP They are just a few: -Demogorgon -Melissan -Ravager -Abazigal -Aurumach/Ferrumach Rilmani -Balthazar (only while in Lunar Stance) -Guardian Spirit (who???) Not that many and, really, the only ones who are a big deal in the non-tactical challenge SCS Insane game are Melissan and Ravager (which I'll cover later). Aurumach is also immune to +3 weapons and under, but he's too squishy to be a bother and can partially be hurt by normal traps (he's immune to magical damage, so Spike Traps don't work and the poison part of normal traps also doesn't work). ENEMIES THAT REQUIRE +4 WEAPONS Also not too many: Ravager Aurumach Rilmani <- mentioned it before, too squishy to be a bother. Fallen Solar (NOT Fallen Planetar, it's the one from the Melissan battle) <- lure and 2-3 spike traps handles it Demiliches <- usual cheese Lesser Demon Lord <- vulnerable to Time Trap and backstabs SO HOW DO WE DEAL WITH THEM TOB BOSSES? Demogorgon: Spike Traps. Bye. Yaga-Shura: Time Trap, hit him. Then deal with Lieutenants until you find him and then Time Trap him again. Sendai:actually one of the most annoying fights in the game for single class solo thieves, because there are sooooo many enemies to handle it's a big bother. The important part is to Spike Trap her clones that cast magic before they spawn and to put a Time Trap at the left of the arena before killing that last clone (who's pretty weak, thankfully, so you can take your time to set things up), that way the reinforcements will trigger the Time Trap along with the real Sendai spawning and you can just hit her until she dies and she can't do anything. Remember that you have a million different sources of Improved Haste at this point, so you can re-buff. EDIT: Read about the Staff of the Magi on the weapons section. I fucked up and didn't have it cause I forgot to get it before moving on to ToB. Abazigal: pre-fight 1 Time Trap to kill his human form in 1 round, 6 Spike Traps somewhere else -> Dragon (Time Trap immune), get him to trigger the 6 Spike Traps, then run and Spike Trap one or two times more. Dead. In vanilla it would be way easier cause dragons don't get the x3 SCS buff to HP. Balthazar: one Time Trap. Done. Yeaaaah, he's too easy for pretty much every party, I should re-install the improved version of his fight at least. Ravager: Time Trap AND backstab immunity! What a meanie! Besides the usual buffs (improved haste+righteous magic) and prioritizing thac0 boosting equipment, I used Black Blade of Disaster + 3 scrolls of Protection from Magical Weapons + 1 of Absolute Immunity. Harder to think of what to do than to actually do it. You gotta get a little lucky so that PfMW doesn't run out as he hits you and does the stun (sleep?) stuff on you or that you don't get dispelled too soon. Not too bad once you know what to do. Melissan: again Time Trap and backstab immunity. The first phase is the whole fight, pretty much. Usual buffs (improved haste+righteous magic) + BBD + Spell Immunity: Abjuration (to prevent dispel) can end it fast before it gets outta control. After that it's just a matter of abusing Spike Trap (4 traps for each phase) by using Simulacrums (scrolls or Vhailor's), Project Images and/or Rest Wishes (stop hoarding scrolls, it's the final fight!). RANDOM STATS Total scrolls I used in the whole playthrough: -3 Disintegrations for dragons (Firkraag/Thaxll'ssillyia/Saladrex). I coulda Time Trapped and hit them for a few times but this is easier. -2 Black Blades of Disaster (Ravager + Melissan's first phase). -2 Simulacrums (Melissan trap shennanigans). -3 Protection from Magical Weapons (Ravager). -1 Absolute Immunity, which coulda been another PfMW (Ravager). -1 Protection from Undead (to kill Kangaxx's Demilich form early on). Basically, feel free to use more scrolls than I did, cause you rarely need them. Wands I used: -1 charge of a wand of spellstriking to Breach Melissan at the start of her first phase. -3 charges of a wand of cloudkill on random enemies after getting UAI, then I forgot about it. Coulda used a lot more wands (especially spellstriking, but with regen and stuff I just waited til PfMWs ran out on some mages and so on), but I was too busy having fun with Time Trap Assassinations trying to kill as many enemies before they fell to the ground. How many times I used the super cheesy Nymph Cloak that I love but avoided using to focus on thief-related strats: -A few times against Rakshasa very early in the game (Watcher's Keep rakshasa can destroy a good deal of the second level on its own). -Once to charm the mage in the Aesgareth fight very early in the game to rush the +1 STR (Machine of Lum) and +2 DEX (Lum + Deck of Many Things). FINAL VERDICT Tons of fun. It's actually been a while since I last bothered to really finish Throne of Bhaal all the way through, but I was having so much fun with my Assassin that I did it. And it's boooooooooooooooooooooooooooonkers to think that some people think they're underpowered. Bonkers! They're almost fightemage/thieves on their own. And even if you don't like positioning for backstabs... You barely need it. I pretty much only did that before I got Assassination (and even then I didn't need to rely on it too much cause I already had 8APR and so on), afterwards it's Assassination-a-palooza. Too bad you only get 1 so you have to rest a bunch though, but you can still do plenty of damage with just Time Traps if you don't wanna abuse resting.
Hello! In this patch, we have seen an abundance of 1-cost chosens take the spotlight for being strong mid and even into the late game. While it feels harder to play rush 8 in this patch compared to previous ones, it is still a viable consistency-focused playstyle that is meant to survive through meta changes - great for people who want to improve on TFT in the long-term. Here are 8 key tips that will help you have an easier time climbing by adding an extra placement or two to your games: 1.Based on your early game board, by stage 2-2 at the latest, you should determine if your goal is to win streak or lose streak towards krugs. The early game is the MOST important aspect of the game - as a combination of midrolling and ping-ponging wins and losses means that your gold will likely be under 30 at krugs, creating a chain reaction where if you level at 6 on 3-2 you will be left at 10g -> you are likely to bot 4 late game. The good news is that almost all 1-cost chosens and all 2-cost chosens can be taken under the strongest board principle for stage 2. Thus, it is important to focus on early positioning to streak. The only real exceptions to not "taking the first chosen you see" are only a select few units - i.e. a dragonfire brand or mage TF chosen without any other mages, which you plan to 5 lose streak to krugs above 70hp if you do not get a 2-2 chosen - this way, you will be 40-50g at krugs and have a good chance of stabilizing by rolling 3-2 for board and chosen. -> As well, I have included a list of all 1-cost chosens as well as their usability and sell timings in this table linked here: https://gyazo.com/d202a5ade3d9aa06cce22c8c25760534
Zzrot portal is an underrated, slammable early item, often providing even more value than aura items like zekes and chalice! Not enough people in diamond-low masters slam this! Not only it provides a frontline stall, but there are two additional advantages that also extends into the late game:
-> Zzrot also provides an impact into the late game by stalling for carries to deal damage the longer the fight gets, such as in comps involving 6 or 9 Elderwood, Kayle/Executioner (Zzrot transferred from 1-2 cost tank to Sejuani), and 7 Mages (Zzrot on Annie). -> Zzrot also great for using crowd control to your advantage - because Zzrot has a taunt - it causes the enemy frontline to clump - can lead to situations like a Sejuani stun on most of their units or an easier time for Aatrox to pull the enemy backline carry.
The most amount of components you should be invested in slam items is 4 out of 12 (if there are no lucky lantern items). This is because the concept of 'near-BIS items' is important in a meta where all the rerollers are likely to get perfect items by carousel priority. In addition, most of the slam items have 1 'good' offensive component you are sacrificing (i.e. bow, bf sword, rod). You do not want to find out you lose every fight in stage 5 and go 5th-7th because you failed to find 2 or more of a combination of rfc, guinsoo, HOJ, rabadon, JG, or GA for kayle.
When win streaking 4+ in a row, analyze whether you should level 6 at 3-1 or 7 at 3-5 to continue streaking. If you are highrolling, you should be able to control the pace of the lobby. Win streaks give you an extra 3 gold for 5+ streak and at the same time preserves you HP. Thus, if you can ensure that you are the STRONGEST person in the lobby while being above 20g at 3-1/3-5, look to level before meta curve. Breaking win streaks when you are high-rolling can make what used to be guaranteed top 2 dicey and potentially knock you into a 3rd-6th one-round late-game matchmaking lottery.
If you are under 30hp in stage 5, don't hesitate to take a zephyr or shroud-of-stillness from the carousel if you have an itemized carry! Often times I see that these round-impacting items are overlooked and NOT the first two items taken out of the carousel - and this shouldn't happen. When you have either 1 or 2 lives, this is the point where playing for top4 is important, especially in many close games where 3-5 people are at 1 life. The zephyr and shroud-of-stillness can be cheesed at the start of the round - eliminating a great portion of guessing who you will fight next and making it very likely you will squeeze a top 4 from a potential 7th even if your board is weak - provided you sweat with this item.
If you are high rolling (i.e. early 2* 4 cost and 60+ hp) to the point where you guaranteed top 4 by HP and streak, you can improve your chances of a 1st by analyzing the opponent's win conditions and look to deny them after you have secured your board strength. An example of this is someone playing uncontested 7 mages, where they are 3 off Auerlion Sol 3*, or 2 off Annie 3*. This is why scouting is so important, as you taking Aurelion Sols off the pool makes it harder for someone to get a win condition by 4 starring a 3 cost (and if 4 Asols are taken off the pool, it is then impossible for the opponent to 3*, as there is a maximum of 12 copies of a 4 cost in the pool).
-> For #6, it is important to note that you are midrolling/do NOT have your 2* 4 cost upgraded, DO NOT SACRIFICE ECON BREAKPOINTS TO GRIEF OTHERS. A round with 1 less gold accumulated adds up over time - I have seen too often someone rolling to 0 at 5-1 trying to 2* their 4 cost and fail to just because they do not want someone to reach their powerspike when they face each other.
Do not get baited by 4 cost chosens that do not match your items! This is by far the most common mistake, even in low masters - for instance, they only have a 1 cost kayle with no pairs in a 4 divine 3 executioner comp, equipped with a dcap, HOJ, and guinsoo. They see a 4 cost chosen slayer olaf 2* and take it and throw all the kayle items on olaf despite not having the 3 or 6 slayer buff. The effect of this is that you will likely lose every fight stage 5 and beyond, and fail to top 4 - because of how item dependent 4* carries are in order to produce damage.
Look for the opportunity to produce multiple carries on your team. A common question I've seen in this patch is that people think they have a 'complete' comp, but they start to lose fights in stages 4, 5, 6 and do not know why. A solution to prevent this from happening is to have a secondary or tertiary carry. When your team has mixed sources of damage, it makes it difficult for the opponents to directly counter your build with a single item or trait, and it also prevents you from taking a chunk of damage in the case you incorrectly guess your positioning against the 3 possible opponents out of 8. For example, take stage 4-5 on a 3 slayer 3 dragonsoul 2 spirit transition build, where you have BIS items on Olaf against rerollers (GS, GA, Deathblade) and a Deathcap + Blue Buff item on Darius. Compare this to an Olaf with the same BIS items but with double Zekes invested. If the Olaf gets zephyred, cc'ed before ult cast, or shrouded - you are risking 12+ hp damage from that single round while if you had a secondary carry, worst case scenario you will lose by 1-3 units at most as Darius's ult spam can execute multiple mid-low health units with those items.
So, in the past few months I've been exclusively playing the Gen III Battle Factory, personally my favorite feature in any Pokémon game bar the Gen VI PSS. This was also the first time playing the Factory in a decade, with my longest streak in Singles being 30 wins (twice) after years of playing. This time, however, I was able to get the Gold Symbol (42 wins) in only 4 tries, and then I did it again in another 4 tries. While my knowledge of battling mechanics is much better now compared to 10 years ago, anyone who has played the Battle Factory would know that winning the Gold Symbol in the Factory requires a great deal of luck. It is quite common to lose a game to hax with the number of inaccurate moves, Bright Powders, Double Teams, Quick Claws, and Focus Bands in the Factory. While hax is inevitable, there is one important way to turn the odds in your favor, and that is by picking and swapping the best available Pokémon. This post will mostly be about what I think the best Pokémon in the Factory are and will also have some tips for anyone who is struggling to get to the top. Furthermore, I will give an overview on what to expect for each round. The format chosen was Open Level Singles, the most fun format (though Round 3 Level 50 is fun too).
General Tips:
If you’re not familiar with Gen III mechanics, then I heavily recommend learning them. Remember the physical/special split was done in Gen IV so a move is Physical or Special based on its Type, meaning some otherwise optimal sets (like Gengar2) are not as good.
IVs: It is best to take on the Battle Factory before you get a high streak in the Battle Tower because of how the game programmed the opposing Trainer’s IVs. The opposing Pokémon’s IVs on a given round are as follows:
Round
IVs
1
3
2
6
3
9
4
12
5
15
6
21
7+
31
The initial 6 Pokémon you must choose in the beginning of each round will all have the IVs based on what round you're on. However, the trainers you battle will all have IVs dependent on your current round in the Battle Tower, not the Battle Factory. This means if your winning streak at the Tower is zero, then every Pokémon you'll battle in the Factory will have Pokémon with all its IVs set to 3 except for Factory Head Noland's, which have the best possible IVs dependent on round. Thus, the initial 6 Pokémon you get in the Factory will have a significant advantage in the later rounds. When you swap, you will be swapping for a Pokémon with IVs of 3, so swapping is therefore not as beneficial in the later rounds. You do get rewarded for swapping a bunch; if you swap at least 15 Pokémon, you will get a Pokémon that would otherwise only be accessible a round after your current round. I recommend having at least 15 swaps before Round 6 so you can have 1 Pokémon with perfect IVs to take on Noland for the Gold as he will have all perfect IV Pokémon. You can go for more swaps to have a chance at getting more higher round Pokémon, but it's risky.
STUDY THE SPREADSHEET! The Battle Factory puts your KNOWLEDGE to the test, specifically knowing all the sets in the facility. In the first 4 rounds, every Pokémon can only have one possible set, so take advantage of that with the spreadsheet to avoid making unnecessary risks with speed tiers or unexpected moves.
Understand the quotes that the scientist says to you before each battle. When the scientist says, "The TRAINER is apparently skilled in the handling of the X type," it means that they have at least 2 Pokémon of that type, so prepare accordingly. It is nice when you see that quote in Battle 7 because you can potentially overload with Pokémon with an advantage against that type without worrying about type synergy. The battle style quotes aren’t as important, but it is still nice to know their meanings. Here’s a chart with loose definitions:
Battle Style
Meaning
"appears to be free-spirited and unrestrained"
Nothing special. Should be straightforward hopefully.
"appears to be one based on total preparation"
Setup moves. The most common setup move by far is Double Team so plan accordingly.
"appears to be slow and steady"
Has moves that inflict status (Ex: Spore, T-Wave, Wisp, Toxic, Confuse Ray, Attract.) Personally, I think Confuse Ray is the worst one of them all.
"appears to be one of endurance"
RECOVERY, but also look out for Endure + Salac Berry Pokémon. Some are dangerous.
"appears to be high risk, high return"
The broken moves. OHKO moves, Counter, Mirror Coat, Double-Edge, and Explosion are the most common ones. Commonly seen in the later rounds.
"appears to be weakening the foe to start"
Commonly seen in Rounds 1-2 of Level 50 and sometimes seen in Round 1 of Open Level. Uses garbage status moves like Scary Face and Smokescreen.
"appears to be impossible to predict"
Uncommon to see outside of Round 3. The moves to look out here are just Substitute and Curse really, though look out for Alakazam3 and Mr. Mime3 who both have CB Trick. If you see this quote in Round 1, you will 100% face a Clefable.
"appears to depend on the battle's flow"
Weather moves. A decent amount of Round 1 Pokémon has weather moves.
"appears to be flexibly adaptable to the situation"
Rare quote seen when the trainer's Pokémon has moves that fit 3 or more of the above besides the "free-spirited and unrestrained" one. Be ready for anything if you weren't already.
Understanding the battling mechanics, spreadsheet, and intricacies of the Battle Factory is important because all that knowledge will help you play well in battle. Even with the best team possible, it is all for naught if you make 1 or 2 misplays in a battle that costs you the game. Never take any hit point for granted, and always try to put your Pokémon in the best position to win. There's a reason why the only times we usually lose in the battle facilities are because of hax. The AI is flawed on purpose, especially in the first 3-4 rounds; take advantage of that.
Building the Best Team in the Battle Factory
The money-maker. The key to making it far in the Factory. The Pokémon in the Battle Factory are randomized in a certain way. For the first 4 rounds, every Pokémon accessible will have one possible set dependent on round. The Round 1 sets tend to be rather bad with only 1-2 good moves per set, but the sets generally get better the higher you go. There are some exceptions like CB Aerodactyl, one of the most feared late game cleaners, being accessible in Round 2 (?). In Rounds 5 and later, every Pokémon can have 1 of 4 possible sets with some even having 8 possible sets. In addition, battle facility legendaries (6 possible sets besides the Latis who have 8), Dragonite (10 possible sets), and Tyranitar (10 possible sets) are now free to roam the Factory. How can you make a consistent team every round if every Pokémon is random? When deciding on the best 3 Pokémon, I basically have rules I follow to determine the best choices. The most important 1st rule is what I like to call the Hard Hitter Rule.
Between the 6 initial Pokémon, any Pokémon that fits the category of "hard hitter" should be considered on your team. The most ideal hard hitter has 1) invested STAB, 2) good defensive typing, and 3) adequate coverage. Bulky set up sweepers with recovery are also some of the best Pokémon to use. Choose the best Pokémon that fits as many of those thresholds as possible.
Between your options of hard hitters, choose the 3 Pokémon with the best 1) viability and 2) defensive synergy. Also, always have at least 1 physical attacker as an all-special team will auto lose versus Snorlax/Blissey.
If there are only 2 good hard hitters, but there is 1 decent to good wall (Dusclops2, Umbreon4, Ludicolo4, Blissey), picking the wall isn't a bad idea. The wall needs to be good enough to 1v1 at least 1 Pokémon effectively to be worthwhile.
If you are lacking in the number of good hard hitters, choose the next best thing and hope for the best with swaps. This shouldn't be a problem in Rounds 1-4, but it can and will be a problem in Rounds 5 and later.
After picking your 3, choose a lead. Ideally, best lead for me either hits fast and hard while having few weaknesses (ex: Tauros) OR a hard hitter who has a weakness that I can easily pivot out of (ex: Electric lead + Ground immune in the back). Also, I would ideally want a Pokémon that is immune to Earthquake since the move is so common, but if I don’t have that, I tend to lead with a Pokémon that can threaten out common Earthquake users which are usually Water-types.
Now I want to go into more detail about the hard hitters in the Battle Factory.
Hard Hitters
Regardless of the 3 Pokémon you go with in the Factory, you want Pokémon that can do lots of damage. Consistently strong hits are key to overcoming the inevitable Double Team users. A fast hard hitter is a good lead. For the slower hard hitters, make sure they have a less than exploitable defensive typing so they can trade hits efficiently. In fact, you can forgo worrying about defensive synergy at times if you have 3 hard hitters with good offensive synergy. Try to have at least 1 good physical attacker and 1 good special attacker as you risk being walled otherwise. All physical is less risky, but fully special will definitely struggle against Pokémon like Snorlax and Blissey. Use pure walls only as a last resort; there are few good ones. And even then, never have more than one pure wall because it'll put you at a massive risk of losing to Double Team or even an endless Struggle war (Struggle recoil is based off damage dealt in Gen III). The Factory has a good number of hard hitters, so it's all about choosing the right ones. Ideally you want 3 hard hitters that attack from both sides of the spectrum and have good defensive synergy. The neat thing about Gen III Battle Factory compared to Gen IV Factory is the lack of a physical/special split. I consider this a good thing because the majority of the same type Pokémon will have the same role: most Water-types are special attackers while most Normal-types are physical attackers for example. So, despite certain Pokémon being better than others, if you have a Pokémon with the same type as the most ideal Pokémon, it will be a passable substitute and can replicate that ideal Pokémon a decent amount of the time. Because of this, I now want to list some of the top Pokémon in the Factory categorized by their Type. The following list has the Pokémon that are the most consistent and have the highest ceiling. The most consistent Pokémon has the lowest variance of good and bad sets in my opinion. The Pokémon with the highest ceiling is the Pokémon that has the most dangerous single set. Let’s begin!
Water
Water Pokémon are among the most reliable types in the entire Battle Factory. They have few weaknesses, and most of them have invested Surf and Ice Beam which is as good as it gets for special attacks. While some Water Pokémon are objectively better than others, any Water Pokémon that has special attack invested Surf + Ice Beam should always be considered for your team. There are of course flaws in the Water-type; they will obviously struggle vs Electric- and Grass-types, but at times they will struggle vs other Water-types because many of them lack coverage outside of Water + Ice. There’s also the issue of picking any Water-type that lacks both the Water and Ice coverage, making them less reliable. Most consistent: Suicune, Milotic Suicune is arguably the best Pokémon in the entire Factory while Milotic has zero bad sets. The only time these two will struggle are against opposing Water-types that can set up on them. Otherwise, just hax. If you're fortunate to get either Pokémon, make them the focal point of the team and build around it. Highest ceiling: Suicune6, Starmie3
Suicune6 is in my opinion THE scariest Pokémon in the entire Battle Factory. It's all hands-on deck if you face this set and it's obvious why. If you do beat it, you get what is essentially a "get out of Round 5+ free" card. Starmie3, or "GOD Starmie" as I like to call it, is very notable because it is imo the only good Starmie set out of the 8. It is exceedingly rare to see it in Rounds 5+, but it is the Starmie set you see in the pivotal Round 3, so it is something you must always think about when getting through that round. The coverage, speed, and item choice are incredible. Honorable mentions: Slowking4 and Vaporeon as a whole. Slowking4 has excellent coverage between its dual STAB and Ice Beam. All Vaporeons have Surf + Ice Beam except Vaporeon1, but Vaporeon1 is one of the best Round 1 Pokémon to use.
Normal
Normal is probably the most consistent physical type. Many of them have high Attack, high base power STABs like Double-Edge or Mega Kick, and access to solid coverage moves like Earthquake and Shadow Ball. The lack of weaknesses is helpful since they can often trade with opposing Pokémon efficiently 1v1. Most consistent: Snorlax Snorlax is a top Pokémon in the battle Factory because it is a hard stop to every special attacker. It along with Blissey are the biggest reasons on why it is never recommended to bring all special attackers in a battle. There may be more threatening offensive Normals like Tauros, but Snorlax's special bulk and lack of terrible sets give it an edge. Highest ceiling: Snorlax8
This set is surprisingly good in the Factory. You can Belly Drum on a special attacker, Rest up, and easily sweep with your +6 attacks. It's also one of the very few Pokémon in the Open Level Factory with STAB Frustration. Honorable mention: Tauros2. Good speed, invested STAB Double-Edge + Earthquake, and Intimidate make Tauros my favorite lead in all the Factory.
Psychic
Psychic-types are understandably strong due to most of them having high special attack. There are few Steel-types and Dark-types, so invested STAB Psychic can OHKO or 2HKO most of the Factory. The top Psychic-types do tend to be frail, however, so if they don't KO the opposing Pokémon, they risk taking a big hit in return. Most consistent: Espeon Espeon is one of the better overall picks in the Battle Factory since it lacks awful sets. While sets 1 and 2 do not have the most optimal EV spreads, it at least has STAB Psychic which is all Espeon needs. It is a particularly good lead where it is fast and strong enough to outspeed and OHKO or 2HKO most of the Factory with Psychic. Highest ceiling: Espeon3, Espeon4, Latios1, Latias1
Since I talked about Espeon already, I’ll talk about the Latis here. Latios and Latias are two of the most sought-after Pokémon in the Factory, but they both have several sets that are rather poor. Latios1 and Latias1 are the best you can get for the Latis as they’re the only ones with BoltBeam coverage + Psychic. Note that they are not max Speed unlike Espeon.
Steel
The main appeal of Steel-types is handling the dangerous Psychic-types and to a lesser degree Normal types defensively. Most Steel-types struggle offensively due to lack of a good STAB, but there is one Pokémon that stands out from the pack with a good Steel STAB: Metagross. Most consistent: Metagross Metagross, if it has both Meteor Mash and Earthquake, is the best overall physical attacker in the Battle Factory. Its monstrous Attack and good bulk allow it to trade very efficiently vs other Pokémon. It is a near must-pick when you see one, especially if it has Earthquake. Highest ceiling: Registeel1, Metagross8
While Metagross is by far the best Steel, the strongest overall set from a Steel Pokémon must go to Registeel1 running a double dance Resto Chesto set. To the untrained eye, this set looks bad, but Registeel1, like Calm Mind Suicune, can comfortably set up vs much of the Factory and easily sweep. Metagross8 is the best Metagross out of the 8 because it is the only one with the holy trifecta of Meteor Mash, Earthquake, AND Explosion.
Electric
Electric-types overall are solid in the Factory. All of them except Ampharos have high speed, allowing them to at worst get a good hit off with STAB Thunderbolt. Electric-type Pokémon naturally threaten the ever-abundant Water Pokémon and have good neutral coverage overall. However, Electric-types have an obvious major flaw: next to none of them can touch Ground-type Pokémon. One must always have Ground counterplay when running an Electric Pokémon because of this. Most consistent: Jolteon Jolteon gets the nod for most consistent as it’s the only one that runs Thunderbolt on all its sets. Every other Electric has one set that runs the riskier Thunder + Rain Dance combination. Jolteon is also neat because it can check other Electrics thanks to Volt Absorb. While Jolteon gets the edge over the other Electrics for consistency, Electric-types in general are very consistent overall since almost every set will have Thunderbolt. Highest ceiling: Electabuzz3
You read that right. Electabuzz3 is the best overall Electric because it’s the only one with good coverage. It can pick off a weakened Ground Pokémon with Ice Punch. All Salamences are outsped and OHKOed to Ice Punch. Tyranitar drops to Cross Chop. It's a solid all-out attacker. Honorable mention: Raikou1 and Raikou6. Both sets are Calm Mind + RestoChesto which can set up vs a decent amount in the Factory. With Pressure, you can even stall out Earthquake and beat Ground-types 1v1! Not recommended though.
Ground
Ground-type Pokémon are potent physical attackers with their invested STAB Earthquake. If they also have Rock Slide, then coverage wise they will only be walled by Flygon and Claydol. The biggest benefit of running Ground-types is fully stopping the potentially dangerous Electric-type Pokémon. Of course, you must have an answer for Water-types and Grass-types when you use a Ground-type Pokémon. Most consistent: Marowak It is weird to write, but yes, Marowak is the most consistent Ground Pokémon. A Pokémon known to be NU or below in multiple generations is a good pick on many occasions for many reasons. For one, every Marowak set has the critical Thick Club, which doubles Marowak’s attack. In terms of raw initial power, Marowak is probably the strongest Pokémon in the Factory. Secondly, every Marowak set has a 100 base power Ground move (Bonemerang for Round 1, Earthquake for Rounds 2-4). Rounds 2-4 Marowak even have Swords Dance! Thirdly, its pure Ground typing isn’t as exploitable as Golem and Rhydon who have two additional weaknesses. If you see a Marowak, always consider it. Highest ceiling: Claydol4, Swampert3, Swampert4
Claydol4 has the most utility out of any Pokémon in the Factory in my opinion. It has STAB invested Earthquake, immunity to Earthquake, immunity to Electric attacks, and Explosion! One of my favorites. Swampert3 and Swampert4 are obviously reliable picks. Good ol’ Team Player.
Grass
The most important role for Grass-type Pokémon is to handle the abundant Water-types that roam the Factory. They pair nicely with your own Water-type Pokémon since they can also check Electric-types very well. Most of the Grass-types are Grass/Poison which can be handy in some situations vs more specially defensive Pokémon. Plus, STAB Sludge Bomb will be stronger on more occasions than Giga Drain. I would avoid any Grass-types that are running Sunny Day + Solar Beam as you can’t take a turn for granted by trying to set up. Most consistent: Sceptile Grass-type Pokémon in general aren’t problematic, but Sceptile is easily the scariest of the Grass-types due to its speed tier and an actually strong Grass move in Leaf Blade. The number of sets that are faster than Sceptile excluding Sceptile3 can be counted on one hand, so it will certainly get a good hit off. It is especially dangerous if it drops to Overgrow range as now those Leaf Blades are doing big damage with its high critical hit rate to worry about as well. Be incredibly careful when facing this Pokémon as it can ruin a streak in surprising fashion. Highest ceiling: Sceptile2, Sceptile4
The only move that matters is Leaf Blade. Thunder Punch is decent coverage though since it hits Flying-types. Overgrow Sceptile is a threat; don’t underestimate it.
Flying
Flying Pokémon have one especially important role: pivoting into Earthquake. Despite Flying being one of the best offensive types, Flying attacks in this generation lack high base power moves. The best Flying move is Drill Peck which is only learnt by the almighty FEAROW…well, and one other Pokémon. Most consistent: Dodrio Dodrio is a top Pokémon in the Battle Factory. Every set has dual STAB with max Attack and max Speed. It's basically a kill or be killed Pokémon; it can OHKO a decent amount of Pokémon with Double-Edge. It is one of the best leads and one of my favorites overall. Highest ceiling: Dodrio4
Big danger set. This is technically the best Dodrio set since you can Endure to Salac range so you can outpace everyone and OHKO Pokémon with 200 base power STAB Flail. Dodrio2 and Dodrio3 are great as well.
Ice
Ice -types aren’t great, but they are definitely annoying. Lapras, Dewgong, and Walrein not only have multiple sets with OHKO moves, but they have a set with 2 OHKO moves on the same moveset! Jynx can be dangerous with its high speed and Lovely Kiss. Finally, the rarely seen Regice can stop your run cold if you don't have a proficient physical attacker. Highest ceiling: Regice1, Regice6, Lapras4
Both Regices are pretty much the same set and are fairly good since they are hard hitters that easily tank opposing special attacks. Lapras4 is easily the best Lapras out of the 8 with STAB Surf + Ice Beam and Thunderbolt to beat opposing Waters.
Fighting
Fighting Pokémon are certainly not lacking in power, but many of them fall short in consistency. Many Fighting-types are slow with a less than useful defensive typing. Also, their Fighting attack options are unfortunate in this generation: you either have a move that is lacking in base power a lot of the time with Brick Break, or you have higher but riskier options with Cross Chop, Focus Punch, and Reversal. Nevertheless, Fighting Pokémon can pull their weight, especially in handling those powerful Normal types. While most Fighting-types are mediocre, one in particular is super-threat in the Factory. Most consistent: Heracross Heracross is one of the best physical attackers in the game. Every Heracross has STAB Megahorn plus a strong coverage move that hits Bug resists. It's also easily the fastest out of the Fighting-types. Heracross is unique as there is no other Bug- nor Fighting-type that can replicate its threat level, meaning its weaknesses rarely meshes with weaknesses of other common Pokémon. Because of this, Heracross will always be a frustration in battle. Highest ceiling: Heracross4
If Dodrio4 is a danger set, then Heracross4 is the ULTIMATE danger set. I've seen Heracross OHKO resists with full power Reversal. If you see this set Round 4, pray that the AI doesn't get the Endure play right. Otherwise, game over. Honorable mention: Breloom2-4. Breloom is probably the Pokémon I give the least amount of credit for. I like to say that it's a risky pick with Spore + Focus Punch, but it has yet to let me down when I use it. I tend to use it for 3 or so battles, then swap it out. But yeah Spore + Focus Punch Breloom is good, just don't rely on it too much.
Dragon
The dangerous and coveted Dragon Pokémon are uncommon, but they carry enormous potential. They have the highest ceilings in all the Factory, but they are also near the bottom in terms of consistency. Salamence, Dragonite, Latios, and Latias have a multitude of sets that will become accessible at Rounds 5+, but the latter 3 have many sub-optimal sets. It is pivotal that you scout the moves of any Dragon Pokémon you're interested in; a blind swap into a bad Dragon Pokémon can potentially end your run in immediate fashion. Even the lesser Dragons (Altaria, Flygon, Kingdra) have far too many bad sets to be trusted. Be careful when picking the Dragon-type. Highest ceiling: Salamence4
Since I already mentioned Latios1 and Latias1, I'll mention Salamence4. It is the most lethal Dragon Dancer in the Factory thanks to its invested bulk, power, and Intimidate. Double-Edge + Earthquake is great coverage, while STAB Aerial Ace is useful versus those nasty Double Team users.
Other types
The only other Bug worth mentioning besides Heracross is Scizor4. Scizor4 is very good as it runs a specially defensive Swords Dance + Agility set. While it only has one attack in Silver Wind, it can Baton Pass its boosts to a partner Pokémon. When I won the Gold Symbol for the first time, Scizor4 KOed 17 of the first 18 Pokémon by itself. It's that good. There's only three Ghost Pokémon in Open Level: Gengar, Misdreavus, and Dusclops. Gengar is exceptionally good and honestly every set between the 8 besides Gengar1 is usable. The best Gengar sets are the ones with Destiny Bond. Speaking of Destiny Bond, Misdreavus4 is good for that very reason. Dusclops is a wall, but Dusclops1 and Dusclops2 are passable emergency options. There is one other good Poison Pokémon other than Gengar, Weezing. Every Weezing set is fully invested Adamant with STAB Sludge Bomb. Furthermore, every Weezing set except Weezing1 has a move that can be used to double-down an opposing Pokémon: Weezing2 has Destiny Bond while Rounds 3-4 Weezing have Explosion. These qualities plus Weezing's Ground immunity make it a great pick in the Factory. Tyranitar, the king of ADV and the face of Rock-type Pokémon, is actually not that good in the Factory in my opinion. I had bad luck using it every time outside of the special set. Rock Pokémon don't like Surf and Earthquake being everywhere in the Factory, but there are some good ones. The best Rock Pokémon is Aerodactyl2 which is Choice Banded. Most Regirock sets are strong which is surprising. If you can avoid Water Pokémon, Armaldo3 and Armaldo4 are good too. Dark Pokémon are rarely seen and not that great. The only one I'll mention is Umbreon due to its unique properties as a wall. Physical attackers will struggle versus Umbreon since most are Bold, but its Dark typing allows it to handle some of the top special attackers who tend to be Psychic Pokémon. Umbreon4 is especially nasty as it has Double Team + Toxic. Fire Pokémon are the worst type in the Factory; I hate them. There's a lot of them and almost all of them are bad. Just like Rock, they don't like Surf and Earthquake running the Factory. They lack sufficient offensive moves other than their STAB. A redeeming aspect for Fire-types are their speed tier which allow them to at least get a hit off. At times they can be anti-meta since they can easily beat top Factory Pokémon such as Metagross and Heracross, but otherwise, you want to avoid them if possible or swap them as soon as you can. If I had to choose one Pokémon to mention, it would be Houndoom because it is a hard offensive stop to some of the top Psychic Pokémon. A core of Espeon + Metagross for example can defeat a lot of the Factory with ease, but Houndoom out of all Pokémon shuts them down by itself.
Battle Factory Round Overview
Round 1 (Battles 1-7)
The Pokémon in Round 1 tend to have only 1 or 2 passable moves with sub-optimal sets overall. In addition, the AI tends to choose their moves randomly. As such, when you get familiar with the Pokémon in this round, you’ll learn that this cycle is rather easy. Just get the Pokémon that have invested STAB attacks, and for the most part there should be little trouble. Also, don’t switch in key Pokémon recklessly attempting to predict the AI since it will be picking moves randomly. During this round, I highly recommend swapping in-between EVERY battle in this round to take advantage of the low difficulty. Increasing your swaps will come in handy as you attempt to climb up for the Gold Symbol. If you have at least 15 swaps, you’ll get a perfect IV Pokémon in Round 6.
Feraligatr is surprisingly my favorite Pokémon in this round. I tend to have the smoothest run with this Pokémon as a lead. While the set is not optimal, it has two ways of boosting its Surf to powerful levels with Rain Dance and Torrent. The run killers: Blissey and Salamence
Blissey (F) @ Bright Powder EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpD - Toxic - Double Team - Soft-Boiled - Sing Salamence @ King's Rock Ability: Intimidate EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe Hardy Nature - Aerial Ace - Dragon Claw - Rock Slide - Headbutt
Anyone who is familiar with the Battle Factory should remember this demonic Blissey set. It can put you to sleep with Sing to set up Double Teams for free, then it can Toxic stall the entire team. It’s an incredibly scary set for inexperienced players to face. Salamence gets a mention here because for some reason it has unexpectedly ended my young streak on multiple occasions. It’s not the best set out there, but it is dual STAB and max Speed. Giving credit where credit is due.
Round 2 (Battles 8-14)
The difficulty amps up here in Round 2. The AI will still go for random moves, but the Pokémon overall does get better. A lot of them are still bad in general, but there are a few gems. If you can obtain one of those gem Pokémon, the run will be significantly easier, but otherwise this round can be tough at times. I also try to swap as many times as possible here; a good swapping technique is swapping a Pokémon with another Pokémon with the same type since they will have the same role (swapping an Electric with Thunderbolt for another Thunderbolt Electric). I tend to swap around 5-6 times in this round. Follow the Hard Hitter Rule and continue the climb. Gem Pokémon: TAUROS, Metagross, Aerodactyl, Dodrio, any Water Pokémon with Surf + Ice Beam
Round 3 (Battles 15-21)
Round 3 Open Level is the most critical round in all the Battle Factory. Factory Head Noland will be waiting for you in Battle 21 unless you’ve already beaten him without getting the Gold Symbol. While his Pokémon selection is randomized like ours, he will have good IVs and play fully optimally as an AI. The AI will be a little better than the first 2 rounds, but not fully optimal. From here on out, there is no need to swap Pokémon for the sake of swapping; pick the best Pokémon that are available to you. The sets overall are much better in comparison to Round 1. Beware though, there is a Pokémon though that easily stands out above the others and is one that must always be thinking of when climbing through this round: GOD Starmie.
As mentioned in the highest ceiling for Water Pokémon section, Starmie3 has a massive frustration to handle with its crazy speed, power, and coverage. Inconveniences such as Sceptile3 being the only Sceptile with zero Speed and Milotic3 lacking Mirror Coat make GOD Starmie even harder to handle than it should be. If you face it, hope for the best and snag it up if you win.
Round 4 (Battles 22-28)
I consider this round easier than Rounds 2 and 3. This is because Round 4 has the lowest variance of good and bad Pokémon sets. Most of the Pokémon here have solid sets overall at this point, so roughly every Pokémon is usable to a degree. Prioritize type synergy more than normally along with the Hard Hitter Rule to continue the climb. The AI here will still not choose the most optimal move all the time, so take advantage of that.
Rounds 5+ (Battles 29-???)
We’ve reached no man’s land. As discussed earlier, in Rounds 5+ every Pokémon can have 1 of 4 possible sets with some even having 8 possible sets. In addition, battle facility legendaries (6 possible sets besides the Latis who have 8), Dragonite (10 possible sets), and Tyranitar (10 possible sets) are now unlocked. Another thing that is unlocked is the AI, who will finally play optimally. If they have the super-effective move, they will go for it near guaranteed. If not, they will go for their strongest possible attack or most applicable status move. This is good and bad news; the good news is that we can take the predictability of the AI to our advantage and repeatedly switch and forth between Pokémon to PP stall key attacks. I highly recommend counting the PP of the opponent’s moves as it can come into play in some situations. The bad news is that we will no longer get bailed out of bad matchups by the AI choosing the wrong move. Following the Hard Hitter Rule is especially important here because you will unfortunately be at the mercy of the Battle Factory RNG gods. A streak can end in an instant if the scientist gives you a bunch of Round 1 Pokémon and you end up facing a strong Round 4 or legendary Pokémon. Despite this, the ultimate goal is to win the Gold Symbol, so you only need to endure 2 rounds of no man’s land in order to reach that target. Factory Head Noland will have perfect IVs in the Gold battle, but if you have at least 15 swaps by Round 6, you will be rewarded with a perfect IV Pokémon, good or bad. Take advantage of any good Pokémon that is available to you, and complete the climb to the top of the Factory!
Experiences in the Battle Factory (and Conclusion)
My record in Open Level Singles ended at 58 wins and 38 swaps months ago. I know for sure that I’ll never beat the swap record; I ended up swapping 4-5 times per round even in the later rounds due to having poor Pokémon at the start. The streak ended because I didn’t get any good physical attackers to pair with my great special attackers in Starmie4 and Latias1. In Battle 59, I faced Blissey2 as the first Pokémon which was terrible. I had Rhydon3 but it lost to Blissey because it fell asleep to Sing and stayed asleep for the maximum 4 turns. I was able to cheese through Blissey still thanks to freeze and Recover from Starmie. I thought I was home free because I know I didn’t have to face a Snorlax since the scientist didn’t say that the trainer specialized in Normal types. However, the trainer’s second Pokémon was another special wall that I completely forgot about: Regice. Regice had BoltBeam to easily dispose my Starmie and Latias, ending my personal record streak. When I began writing this months ago, I didn’t play Level 50, but now I am. Today I was able to beat my previous Level 50 record of 53 wins by getting out of Round 8 with 56 wins and counting. Level 50 is probably easier than Open Level after escaping the boring first 2 rounds. Round 3 Level 50 is fun because you’re using weaker Pokémon with good sets. After that, Level 50 follows the pattern of Open Level. Wow, this was a long one. Battle Factory is more fun than I remembered; I’m enjoying it way more than OU right now lol. What was everyone else’s experiences with the Emerald Battle Factory? I would love to hear it. If anyone has any questions about the Factory, whether you are looking for advice or if a certain Pokémon is good or bad, feel free to ask here; I’ll be happy to answer! Huge props to anyone who read all of this, have a good one!
When Draevin woke in the morning he was initially disoriented until he remembered he’d slept in the human camp last night. Rather than the cloud of living cotton he’d grown accustomed to he was back to sleeping on a regular bed. It was a downgrade, but not as much of one as he’d assumed the humans would provide. It seemed his new friends had come into some serious money recently and had outfitted their camp accordingly. Draevin didn’t know too much about the finer points of high-class bedding, but even he could tell that the linens wrapped around him were comparable to those at the Fardew Inn. They were just as smooth, just as soft. The only other thing in the tent with him was a bag of his personal effects that one of the humans had fetched from his room at the Whispering Willow. His eyes slowly adjusted to the tint of green light coming through the Treen silk that made up the walls of the tent. He still couldn’t get over the extravagance of using airship material to make tents. It seemed the humans were so keen to show off their wealth they were spending it frivolously. Okay, he thought to himself, time to practice. It had been ages since he’d used Astral Projection, but if he was going to stand a chance against Gro’shak’s astramancy assault he’d need to brush up. He didn’t bother getting out of bed, as it was the perfect place to hold his limp body while his soul went elsewhere. The air in the camp was still painfully devoid of mana, but Draevin had been sure to take extra food last night so his mana pool was still brimming. “Phasma iter et tuor,” Draevin intoned while moving through the strange wavy hand signs astramancy used. He felt a slight hitch when he tried to sit up, but he pushed an extra surge of mana to stabilize the spell and that worked. It may not have been in his specialty, but Astral Projection had been in the required coursework to graduate university. It had its uses, mostly involving reconnaissance and long distance communication. Draevin pulled out of his body and stood on the ground. In this non-physical form he didn’t actually need the ground, but he found walking like he normally did helped him cope with the strangeness of not having a physical body. He looked back at his sleeping form and checked his tether. A solid rope of glowing energy stretched from his current form’s navel to his original body. It was thick and reassuring and through it he could feel the sensations of the soft mattress under him in a detached sort of way. Last night a second idea to combat Gro’shak’s strategy had occurred to him. The first plan was still to just overwhelm him in the opening moments of the match. It was sort of exactly the same plan he’d had to counter Anise though, and that hadn’t worked out nearly the way he’d hoped so this morning he was trying to develop a backup plan. And he knew just the way to test it too… With wispy steps, Draevin oozed his form through the tent wall and made his way to the center of camp. His target was sitting at a table reading a book and sipping a mug of tea: Peter. Sylnya was standing behind him with her eyes closed soaking in the morning rays. Draevin could hear them talking casually, though the sound felt distant and echoey. “…didn’t think he was the type to sleep in this long,” Peter said. “He’s not,” Sylnya replied. “He might just be hiding out from anymore greyskin poison. You should have seen his face when Tael pointed out the drop that got on his shoulder. He ripped his robe off so fast!” Peter chuckled and took a sip of his tea. “He does seem to have a phobia, but considering it can kill him on contact I can’t say I blame him.” Sylnya stopped laughing. “Well it is what killed Aelaniss, so it makes sense.” Peter’s revelry evaporated as well when he heard that. Draevin recognized the name in a distant, hazy sort of way. His mind flinched away from the memory and his thoughts were suddenly filled with the vivid imagery of a brick wall. He tried not to think about it too much. Peter adjusted his glasses. “Perhaps one of us should go check on him.” Sylnya opened her eyes. “I’ll go,” she volunteered. “I’ve had enough breakfast already.” “Just remember to bring a knife,” Peter told her as she stepped away. She paused and raised an eyebrow at him. “For the tent,” he explained. “They’re Treen silk so there’s no door. You just cut it open and it heals after.” Sylnya nodded thoughtfully. “Just so you know this whole camp is a bit sacrilegious.” Peter frowned. “Image a camp full of tents made from living human flesh and you had to open the door by stabbing it. I’m probably on some kind of Setsyan list now just for being here.” Peter gave a hum of understanding. “Well, when you put it like that…” Sylnya just laughed to herself and continued in the direction Draevin had just floated from. She actually passed right through him. She flinched momentarily and muttered something he didn’t quite catch under her breath when it happened but seemed otherwise unaffected. Now was Draevin’s chance. Peter had returned to his book and left his tea unattended next to him. Let him see what he thought when it was suddenly frozen solid! Draevin waved his arms and focused on a Subzero Freeze. He made sure to push more mana in it than usual to compensate for the Feeder. Nothing happened. Not good. Not. Good. If Draevin couldn’t cast spells in astral form he’d be completely at Gro’shak’s mercy if he got trapped outside of his body. There was some theory about this though. There had to be. Draevin specifically remembered needing to cast a spell in astral form to get a passing grade. Either he was rustier than he realized or the Feeder was having more of an effect on this kind of spell casting than he could compensate for. He raised his arms to try again when he felt a stinging pain on his nose. He waved a hand around his face to see what was causing it before he remembered his astral form couldn’t feel sensations of any kind, let alone pain. It was coming from his body! Quick as thought, he followed the chord of his tether back to his bed and snapped his eyes awake. “—AAAAEEEEVVVVIIIIINNNNNN!” Sylnya was yelling in his face. She had two rough fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. Draevin swatted her hand away. “Get off me!” She took a step back. “Just making sure you’re up. You’ve got a match today.” Draevin rose from bed and cast a quick cantrip to clean himself up for the morning. “Yes, I’m well aware. I was in the middle of practicing.” “Studying the back of your eyelids doesn’t count as practicing, Drae.” Draevin scoffed and took off out the jagged hole Sylnya had slashed in the side of the tent. “It does when I’m astral-projecting,” he said over his shoulder. “What’s this?” Sylnya asked when she caught up to him. “I didn’t think you knew any non-cryomancy spells. Last I checked you can’t clobber someone over the head with astramancy.” “You can’t stab them with it either,” Draevin said dryly. “What did that little goblin call you? ‘Green stabby girl?’ He’s more insightful than he seems.” “Touché,” Sylnya conceded. When they reached the center of camp the smells of cooking overwhelmed Draevin’s senses. Breakfast was ready. He followed his nose to the outdoor kitchen where the large lady that handled all the meals was busy working. She had a large skillet burning over a fire and she ladled a white liquid onto the center. “What do you want on yours?” she asked when she saw Draevin. “My what?” Both of the lady’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “What? Have you never had crepes before?” “I guess not.” Draevin watched the liquid solidify into a sheet of breading. “Looks a lot like a pancake to me.” “They’re entirely different,” she insisted. “I’ll load it up for you and you’ll see what I mean. You’re the one Peter says is always eating sausages, right?” Draevin perked up. “Crepes come with sausages in them?” “They can. Yours will.” She gave him a wink. “Just watch.” She had an assortment of plates with different toppings on them. She grabbed a handful of sausage, some cheese, mushrooms, diced onion and followed that up with a dash of salt. “You like your food spicy, right?” “Very.” She grabbed a pinch of red powder from a small dish and sprinkled it over, then folded the crepe in half. She dropped the bulging half-moon of pillowy breading onto a plate for him and handed it over. “Enjoy your first crepe.” “Thanks, I will.” The morning wasn’t turning out so bad after all. The Whispering Willow didn’t include breakfast! Draevin found a seat at a nearby table and had barely tucked into the first couple bites of savory spicy goodness when another plate dropped on the seat next to him. Peter sat down. A moment later Grrbraa took a seat across the table, then Sylnya slowly wandered over and sat down with a glass of water. “We need to talk about our plan for the day,” Peter announced. “Good morning to you, too.” Draevin wasn’t willing to divert his attention from his crepes just yet. He looked over at Peter’s and saw fruit bulging out. “You can get them with fruit?” “What? Of course you can. They’re crepes.” He said that like it was some kind of explanation, but it only left Draevin with more questions. “You can get yours with meat?” Grrbraa asked in surprise. He was studying Draevin’s crepe with an intentness that would likely frighten it were it a small animal. Patters of drool dropped from his jowls to the table below him. Peter snapped his fingers to get their attention. “This is serious guys,” he said. “I need your undivided attention. I can’t have you getting yourselves killed.” Draevin cut off another triangle of crepe and slid his fork under it. The novelty of the new food was too interesting to eat at his usual pace. “Why do I get the feeling my death would just be inconvenient for you?” He shoved the piece into his mouth. “Oh couse eh wou be incon’enient fuh me,” Peter said around a mouthful of food. “Mother-Oleno says it is impolite to talk while eating food,” Grrbraa commented from across the table. Draevin had to admit, Grrbraa was eating much more slowly and carefully than he had been expecting. In fact, aside from the drool, Grrbraa seemed to have the best table manners of the group. Peter swallowed and gave Grrbraa a smile of apology. “When was the last time a contestant died outside the arena?” he asked Draevin, punctuating his question with a stab of his fork. Draevin took a second to think about his answer while he finished chewing his bite. It certainly wasn’t a common occurrence. “There was a duel that went wrong a few years back with an eldrin,” Draevin said. “I knew the guy who did it. He’s still banned from the tournament.” Peter scoffed. “And was that eldrin still competing when the duel happened or had he been eliminated already?” “Eliminated,” Draevin confirmed. “Think real hard now,” Peter told him. “When was the last time someone died while they were still scheduled to compete?” “I don’t know the exact date,” Draevin said, “but I can only remember it happening once in my lifetime. I seem to recall the judges making a big stink about it at the time.” Peter forced a big bite of food down his throat so he could keep talking. “That was in 1032,” he said. “Do you remember what they did about it?” “Like I said: the judges made a big stink. There was an investigation; they found the assassin who did it, the guy who hired him and an accomplice who helped out. They were all publicly executed.” “And?” Peter said, twirling his fork to move the conversation along. “And they didn’t let the champion that year make his wish. Said they wanted to make sure everyone knew how unacceptable that behavior was.” “That’s the official line.” Peter leaned forward and spoke in a softer, conspiratorial manner. “It was just a cover—an illusion of control. The truth is they didn’t have a say in the matter.” “What do you mean? Is this another conspiracy theory? Are you going to tell me someone is pulling the judges’ strings? I happen to know they are elected representatives from ev—” “No, no,” Peter cut him off. “I’m talking about the arena itself. There are ancient laws that can’t be broken. All this,” and here Peter waved his fork around, gesturing at everything around them, “it’s all for show. This arena was here arranging tournaments long before the Wizard’s Guild installed themselves and started pretending they were really the ones in charge.” “And you’re such an expert on ancient history? Seen so much in your twenty six years of life?” Listening to Peter sometimes made Draevin feel like he was a bird taking flying lessons from a frog. “I’ve certainly read more about it than you,” Peter countered. He made it a statement. “And I had access to one of the oldest libraries on the whole continent.” “And you’re saying you read about some secret laws of the arena?” Peter nodded. “They’re pretty simple laws, but when I looked through the history books I realized that none of them have ever been broken. I don’t think they can be broken.” “Okay, consider me intrigued,” Draevin pretended. He was sure to remind himself that this story might be another of Peter’s tricks: it seemed like he had a new one cooking every day and most involved getting Draevin to believe something that wasn’t true. Peter leaned in close. His eyes scanned the perimeter and the ambient noise of the camp faded into silence. “One of the laws states that only once everyone else has been defeated can the champion gain access to the Conflux. So my theory is that since contestants killed outside the circle don’t get a chance to be ‘defeated’ properly, doing so invalidates the tournament. If the champion doesn’t defeat everyone he can’t really be the champion, can he? And no champion, no Conflux. No Conflux…” “No wish,” Draevin finished. Trick or not, he had to admit Peter’s theory sounded intriguing. “So you’re saying that anytime someone registers for the tournament and doesn’t get eliminated in a proper match there won’t be a wish?” “That’s exactly what I’m saying!” Grrbraa rumbled thoughtfully. “The orc who dropped out in round one,” he said. Draevin was surprised he’d been following the conversation. “Gro’shak’s bodyguard,” Sylnya called out from beside the table to demonstrate that she too was paying attention. Peter waved a hand dismissively. “It’s all for show, remember? The registration doesn’t mean anything. The arena only recognizes someone as being entered into the tournament when they step into the circle with the intent to fight. Why do you think demons have to be eliminated separately?” Draevin’s mind immediately went back to the moment right after Tenna died. He had gathered all that magic and when he tried to confront Unit-17 Maeve had intervened—stopped him from stepping foot in the circle. If Peter was right then she’d done so to stop him from activating the arena and triggering another round of combat. Peter was almost making sense. “You can check the history books,” Peter said. “I looked as far back as the Purge and didn’t find one mention of a case that violated that law. Anytime there was a death, or someone ran away after fighting at least once, the Conflux locked up tight and nobody got a wish that year.” “Wait a second!” Draevin exclaimed as he put the pieces together. “You’re saying my death would be inconvenient because you wouldn’t be able to make a wish! You actually think there’s a world where I die and you win the whole tournament but don’t get to make your stupid wish?” The sounds of the camp came rushing back all at once. “Of course I think there’s a chance I might win,” Peter said. “Why do you think I’m here in the first place?” “Caelnaste,” Sylnya said. Just the one word. Everyone looked over at her and she open one lazy eye from her sunbathing to regard them. “We all agree she’s been trying to have Draevin killed. Prevent him from winning.” “Yeah,” Draevin agreed. “It’s that stupid foresight of hers.” “No. That’s not what I was getting at,” Sylnya said. “If what Peter is saying is right then if she was trying to stop Draevin from winning the tournament, wouldn’t it be a whole lot easier to kill someone else? Any other contestant? That would invalidate the tournament according to this ‘theory’ of Peter’s.” The way she said theory made it clear she wasn’t convinced. “That’s easy to explain,” Peter said without missing a beat. “First of all, she didn’t know she was going to fail the first few times she tried. I don’t think she knows about the rule personally, but even if she did it would have been a last resort. One that is probably too late to implement. The remaining contestants are all very strong and would be difficult to assassinate successfully. Plus now that Draevin’s made public accusations against her she’ll be a prime suspect if anything happens.” Peter adjusted his glasses and looked over at Sylnya. “But that’s all irrelevant anyway since we don’t actually know that’s the reason she wants to kill Draevin.” “What other reason could she have?” Draevin asked. He was the target in question and he couldn’t think of any. “There’s one very obvious one I realized might explain her behavior after the embassy break in,” Peter said. He leaned in. “I think Draevin is going to kill her some time in the future.” Draevin blinked. “Well of course I am if I get the chance, but only because of this stupid vendetta of hers. You’re saying you think she might be motivated by self-preservation?” Peter nodded. Trying to piece together the implications of that particular theory just made Draevin’s head hurt. Was she really so dumb she’d try to kill him to stop him from killing her back after trying to kill him? “That… doesn’t make any sense.” “Yeah,” Sylnya agreed. “I think she just thought she could stop him winning the tournament and fucked up.” Draevin finished the last of his crepe. “A fine idea and all, but I think it’s time we head to the arena. The first match is going to be starting soon.” He stood up. “Were you paying attention?” Peter asked. “Caelnaste is trying to kill you! The Feeder in this camp is the only thing keeping you insulated from her plans. You can’t leave its range!” Draevin puffed up. “Since when were you giving orders to me?” He asked, jabbing a finger into Peter’s shoulder. “I can’t just hunker down for the rest of the tournament in this camp. I need to see how my potential opponents are fighting. Don’t you see? If we hang out here and miss all the matches then Caelnaste already wins. I’ve got to see that demon try its luck against Unit-17 and I still haven’t seen everything Dwyra is capable of.” “Yeah we really can’t be missing the matches,” Sylnya agreed. “That’s a rookie mistake if I ever saw one.” Peter pushed his glasses up his nose again and paused for a moment with his eyes closed, head down, fingers holding his glasses in place. He let out a weary sigh. “I’m pretty sure she only wins when she kills you, but fine, I will try to work within these constraints.” Peter began to stare intensely at a spot of air in front of his face. Draevin looked over to get Grrbraa’s take on the matter. Grrbraa was still eating his crepes. Wait. He could have sworn he’d had fruit, not meat earlier. It looked like he’d somehow snuck off for seconds without anyone noticing. After a few seconds of silence Draevin opened his mouth to say something but Peter merely held up a finger to silence him. “Okay,” he finally said. “I have a plan.” He turned to Grrbraa. “Grrbraa, this is what I need you to do.” Grrbraa perked up at the sound of his name. Draevin could hear his tail wagging from under the table. “I need you to follow Draevin around everywhere he goes. Use those senses of yours to keep track of Caelnaste’s position while you watch him. If Draevin gets attacked, don’t try to defend him.” “Wait, don’t defend me?” “No, that would just risk Grrbraa getting caught up in whatever kills you.” “Right,” Draevin said sarcastically, “what are guards for but running away when someone tries to kill you? You know, if you don’t want me leaving the camp you can just say so.” “No, you’re missing the point of Grrbraa. He’s not going to actually be doing anything. I’m just trying to limit Caelnaste’s options.” “But friend-Peter, you told me to attack Caelnaste if—” Peter shushed Grrbraa with a gesture. “I wasn’t finished explaining your role, Grrbraa. At the first sign of anything happening to Draevin—whether he gets hit by a stray spell, jumped by assassins or just chokes on a sausage—you run straight for Caelnaste as fast as you can. Burn as much blood as your healing allows, or more even, and cut through everyone in your way. And when you get to her you’re to kill her as fast as you can.” “That is a dangerous plan friend-Peter,” Grrbraa said seriously. “There will be many witnesses and many guards.” In a smaller voice he added, “And I don’t like killing,” like it was something he was embarrassed to admit. “That’s not the point,” Peter said. “If things go right you won’t actually need to do anything, but Caelnaste won’t be able to take any course of action that results in her immediate death and I doubt there are enough guards in the world to stop an intelligent rampaging werebeast from killing one person before they stop him.” “That isn’t a bad plan,” Draevin admitted. “If killing me means she dies I don’t think she’ll try anything.” “I will do my best friend-Peter. Your plan to want to do something but not actually do it is...” The werebeast scratched his head. “I will do my best.” “Well I feel safer,” Draevin said. “Grrbraa? You ready to go?” He stood up from the table and Grrbraa mirrored his move. “Yes,” the werebeast answered simply. “Oh Draevin, before you go,” Peter added. “I was just wondering what they do if a contestant is late for their match.” “Well a few minutes ago I would have told you they wait a minute then disqualify that contestant, but now I’m not so sure.” He thought about it. “It’s pretty rare outside the first round. Every time I can remember they pushed back the schedule and made an exception. Now I’m thinking it wasn’t an exception after all.” Peter nodded, a smirk tugging the corner of his mouth. “That’s what I thought.” Index | Next| Patreon | Discord
You win this round cheese actually that is a rectangle cheese – popular memes on the site ifunny.co You could make your own cheese dip, but no one would blame you if you just wanted to take it easy and crack open a jar purchased at the grocery store. (The molten appetizer has seen many iterations since its conception in a 19th-century San Antonio Mexican restaurant, but it’s always been made with processed cheese.) You win this round cheese. Tags: funny, round, cheese. Likes: 2322 Like Collect. Prev Next Report. BB Code: Web/Blog: More Photos Tags: funny, round, cheese. More Pictures. Prev Next Slideshow (You can use your keyboard arrow keys ) Follow @MemeGuy1. Top Photos. A NEW cheese - produced at the home of the Glastonbury Festival - is hitting the shelves this month. Worthy Farm, in Pilton, the award-winning dairy farm operated by festival founder Michael Eavis, is launching its first ever Reserve Cheddar cheese in Co-op stores across the nation. If you’ve been missing your Philadelphia hit then this is going to make you very happy, indeed. This cream cheese style vegan cheese is to die for! Grab a bagel and then slather some on or you know, make sandwiches with it, or use it as the foundational ingredient for the most awesome vegan cheesecake that you’ve ever made. 90.2k members in the Cheese community. Press J to jump to the feed. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Log In Sign Up. User account menu ... Crossposted by just now. You win this round cheese ... 2.4k votes, 583 comments. 33.7m members in the funny community. Welcome to r/Funny, Reddit's largest humour depository. Every year, during Spring, the South West England Gloucester region hosts the annual cheese-rolling event where people from far and wide travel to watch competitors launch themselves down a hill in pursuit of a round of cheese. Sound a bit strange? Let us explain to you how the sport came about and what exactly it entails. If you're down material, and you know you have no chance of getting a checkmate with what you have left, it's time to push for the draw. In competitive chess, you need to realize when you've lost the chance to win (you're down to a King, a pawn, and maybe 1-2 other pieces, they have you on the run, etc.) and should instead go for a tie.
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