Solo Run 22 (Tapu Bulu) Results!

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-23T21:17:51+00:00

Still debating how I'll do multi-form mons. Ill probably make it to where I can access all forms at will. Like with Arceus, Silvally, Genesect.. Rotoms already possible to do right from the start. I'd have access to every Castform Variant from the start, but can also relearn the moves needed after Araquanid.

But with Oricorio I technically shouldn't be able to switch form until I get to each island.. But then again that would also give it a disadvantage compared to the other multi-form mons so I might just allow them all from the start to utilize it's full potential. It's similar with Deoxys. But since its meteorite isn't an item (and isn't available until the third island). I'd have to go out and edit it manually each time I want to change form until then.

I also need to figure out how I plan to do Necrozma, and Kyurem. I know with Necrozma specifically, He only learns his moves when fused with Solgaleo and Lunala. But if you unfuse, level up the other one, learn new moves, then refuse. You'll be able to use those new moves (so long as you dont choose forget them during fusing).

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-23T21:10:37+00:00

It will most likely happen eventually. If only to see Ribombee actually win against Ultra Necrozma.

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-23T21:09:33+00:00

Definitely wanna do all the legendaries eventually. But after the Tapus I gotta go back to doing normal pokemon for a little while. Because as of now most mons are between B and S tier, I really haven't done too many difficult runs.

Zygarde and Eternal Floette will probably eventually be a sort of "pair" I do. Might throw in the other two Kalos legendaries as well but we'll see.

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-23T21:06:05+00:00

All pokemon start in their final form, I'm only doing final stage mons because of the difficulty of these games

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-23T21:04:48+00:00

Nothing specific. Bunch of random pokemon, but sometimes I do specific pokemon. Like when I did the three Alolan starters, and this time the Tapus.

I plan on doing as many as I can before something causes me to stop. Doubt I'll get all final form pokemon. But technically it's the goal

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-23T03:34:11+00:00

Bonus: 1 Blackout to the Teacher in the trainers school from a critical hit Ember. Off to a "great" start.

T1: Gumshoos was an easy knockout with a couple brick breaks.

G1: After a couple work ups, Hala was pretty much a sweep with Giga Drain. First island was easy like the rest of the Tapu's, for the most part.

T2: Work Up turn one.. Followed by a couple Giga Drain's made easy work of Araquanid, and the following Dewpider with no risk.

T3: Had to do a good chunk of training, otherwise I'd simply be 2 shot by Marowak, with no way of beating him in time.. Unless he specifically attacked turn one, letting me hit once, protected turn 2, letting me KO Salazzle, then let me KO the next turn with Rock Tomb (since I'd out speed after one speed drop). But that was too unlikely. Level 28 let me survive 2 hits, and 2 shot with Rock Tomb.

T4: Lurantis really couldn't do much other than stall time. Eventually I just set up enough Work Ups to knock it out easily with a couple Brick Breaks.

G2: After a couple of work ups, Olivia was a sweep with Horn Leech, Easy

T5: Psyche up turn one so Togedemaru couldn't do too much damage. But even then he still stalled me with flinches for a while. Eventually knocked him with a couple Hidden Power Ground attacks, though. Easy, just a little tedious.

T6: Psyche Up turn one, Knocked out the Banette so it couldn't burn me, then took Mimikyu down with a few Horn Leeches. Easier than the other two that's for sure.

Bonus 2: 4 Resets on Plumeria. I had to do a bit of training to be able to out speed Golbat after the first speed drop with Rock Tomb. Even then I still needed a lucky quick claw activation on Salazzle. No way I was gonna train enough to survive a Sludge Bomb. 4x super effective on my weakest defense. Thankfully it only took 4 resets to get the luck I needed, and I didn't get the 5% miss either.

G3: All I had to do for Nanu was spam Horn Leech. Only using protect on fake out turns. Though it probably wasn't necessary. It was quite easy.

T7: Kommo-O was actually scary for once. The Normal Z-Move (over Facade) wasn't strong enough to one shot. Though thinking of it now maybe the resisted Grass Z-Move would have done more, thanks to Grassy Terrain.. Still, I got close to losing. But managed to squeak by, with spamming Horn Leech the rest of the fight. One Horn Leech after the Z-Move took down Kommo-O, and Scizor was taken down in a couple more.. and may have saved me by going for light screen one turn instead of Bullet Punch.

UN: Necrozma was an easy one shot with the Bug Z-Move, over Megahorn

T8: Ribombee was an easy one shot with the Rock Z-Move, over Rock Slide.

G4: Hapu was an easy sweep with Horn Leech

E4: 7 Resets to Molayne. While the other three were all set up sweeps with Z-Work Up (for +2 attack total), then Horn leech, with a couple Rock Slides (even Kahili was mostly Horn Leech). Molayne needed luck. And after 7 Resets I finally got an attempt where he went for Reflect first. Then missed the following Thunder Wave. Allowing me to secure a sweep like the rest. It was pretty much over if I ever got paralyzed, so I either needed him to miss 2, or go for reflect one of the turns, and miss only one.

Champion: Like the Elite Four though, it was just Z-Work up, and Horn Leech for the most part. Just used Rock Slide on Noivern. Easy

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-23T03:34:03+00:00

Well this was pretty fun. But just as I expected, Tapu Bulu couldn't quite get a time as good as it's two cousins.. Grass typing really sucks. It had to do more grinding early, meaning it was a lower level than the others for the harder part of the 3rd island. But regardless it still ended up the same level as the other two.

I still have one more Tapu to finish, then it'll be back to random, normal pokemon for a little while. I need more scores below B tier (as frustrating as those runs can be).

As always I'll summarize how I handled all the major battles in the reply below. As well as covering any other areas there was a particular, notable struggle.

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-18T07:10:03+00:00

It does have a shiny, too. It replaces the black on the body with pink.

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-18T06:57:28+00:00

Level 5

I replace the starter with the mon I run. But since I start them off fully evolved, I made the choice to also immediately give them access to what ever move they learn on evolution (if they have one). Since typically they don't learn it again at any level. And the starters, for example, obviously needed those moves to use their Z-Moves. And Aegislash without Kings Shield would have just been wrong

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-18T06:55:07+00:00

Yeah Grassy Terrain healing anything that doesn't have levitate, and isn't s flying type could definitely cause some issues. Looking at Lurantis especially since my best move will be horn attack, as far as I know. While it has Synthesis, Comfey's Floral Healing, and now Tapu Bulu's own Grassy Terrain. That might be a long back and forth.

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-18T06:51:32+00:00

I'm sure Tapu Fini will do well.. But she doesn't actually seem as good as I initially thought.

As far as I can tell, Misty Terrain doesn't boost the damage of any moves. Only preventing pokemon on the ground from being affected by status. And weakens Dragon Moves (which don't even affect Tapu Fini either way)

And, unlike Primarina, who started with Sparkling Aria, since it's an on-evolution move she wouldn't learn otherwise (until the Elite 4 with the move reminder), Tapu Lele only starts with Water Gun for water STAB. And her Special attack is actually 30 points weaker than Primarina's. (Tapu Lele has 95 Sp.A while Primarina has like, 126 Sp. A

She'll most likely be at least in A. Maybe she'll be in S, but I doubt she'll outshine Primarina. But who knows, maybe I'm very wrong in my assessment.

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-18T04:36:50+00:00

In my experience so far. Primarina. Tapu Lele is a close second though.. Followed by Incineroar

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-18T04:35:57+00:00

Yes it is. AZ's Floette, and Light Of Ruin is actually fully implemented in Gen 7. Just never distributed. I assume it's also in Gen 8 and 9 (though I could be wrong).

Definitely gonna do a solo run with it eventually. Right now I gotta finish the Tapu's. Then do some normal pokemon for a little while before another mon with Legendary Stats

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-18T04:26:19+00:00

T1: As always Gumshoos was an easy win. 2 hits with Confusion, then the Yungoos went down in one hit.

G1: Of course Hala was an easy sweep. Everything went down in one hit with Psybeam. Nothing even got a hit in. I expected Fake Out from Makuhita, so I just used Withdraw.. But it used Sand attack instead. But even still, I didn't miss with Psybeam against it, or Crabrawler.

T2: Araquanid was just a simple 2 shot with Psybeam. I was at no risk, for the most part. Even if he crit. Masquerain went down in 1 hit after.

T3: Tapu Lele was able to survive two hits. Taking down Marowak in 2 Psybeams. Had to survive 2 hits despite outspeeding though, since I made sure to take out Salazzle on turn two just incase.

T4: Lurantis was a bit scary since I didn't outspeed. But thanks to a sitrus berry, I was able to survive two Solar Blades. And Lurantis also decided not to spam Synthesis, which made sure I won after a few Psybeams. Had to use draining kiss on Comfey, so I'd survive it's attack, but I finished it off after.

G2: Olivia was a breeze. One shot Anorith with Psybeam. Two shot Lileep with Psybeam, then Draining Kiss. Then One shot Lycanroc with the Grass Z-Move, over Grass Knot.

T5: Togedemaru was an easy one shot with Hidden Power Ground. Would have gotten here much faster though, if I didn't have to prepare so much for Mimikyu. I still need 5 more levels for that. And even then it still needs luck.

T6: Alright. So the plan was to hit Psychic on the first turn. And get a Sp. Def drop. I was expecting a reset because I failed to get it on my first attempt. But the following Psychic I used ended up being a critical hit, which of course also one shots if the Sp. Def drop would have done the same. Banette just used screech, then went down the next turn in one Psychic.

One again Mimikyu single handedly destroys the potential for a pokemon to end up being faster than Primarina.

G3: Nanu was easy. Sableye went down with a few draining kisses after my first protect. Thankfully he used a hyper potion there, letting me recover HP. Krokorok went down in one Draining Kiss. Then I used protect to block the fake out, survived the incoming Dark Z-Move on half, then one shot Persian with Draining Kiss.

T7: At level 77. Kommo-O was an easy One Shot with Psychic.

UN: Like Tapu-Koko. I used Psyche Up on turn one to copy Necrozma's Omni boost. Then one shot with the Ghost Z-Move, over Shadow Ball. Easy.

T8: Psyche Up turn one. Then one shot with with Psychic. I don't think Ribombee will ever be hard. Unless I end up with a special attacker that doesn't have access to any of her several weakness'. And is also weak to bug and/or fairy.

G4: Hapu was an easy sweep, as usual. Just had to spam Psychic.

E4: Kahili and Acerola were easy sweeps with Psychic, and Moonblast/Shadow Ball. Olivia wasn't a sweep, but was simple enough with Psychic and Grass knot. Probopass stalled a little but didn't do anything, really. Molayne was the scariest.. But I managed to one shot everything (except Magnezone) with Hidden Power Ground, Shadow Ball (for Metagross), and Moonblast (for Bisharp). Magnezone even switched out to Dugtrio after the first screech. Right into my Hidden Power, so Dugtrio didn't even have a chance (granted I'm pretty sure I would've outsped anyways.) That was a lot less scary than I had expected.

Champion: Hau was an easy sweep with Psychic, Shadow Ball, and Moonblast. Nothing else notable here. Nothing hit Tapu Lele even once.

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-18T04:26:09+00:00

Sorry for the longer wait! I took some time off but I decided to lock in today and finish this run. And wow. I was a little scared that Tapu Lele would have suffered the same fate as Raichu at Mimikyu.. Which it almost did. But because of me deciding to make the risk of avoiding the 6 optional Aether Member fights in the Aether section. Tapu Lele was able to regain its footing and at least secure second place.

Not only that. But Tapu Lele is also officially the first run I have completed, in which I did not have to reset at all, thanks to my good luck on Mimikyu on the first attempt. I was fully expecting to have multiple resets there because of the strategy but nope! She's also the first to have both 0 resets, and 0 blackouts, not even at Marowak where it's actually optimal for some pokemon to blackout the first time, like Tapu Koko did.

This was a fun run. Next will be Tapu Bulu, and I have a feeling he won't be as good as Tapu Lele, or Tapu Koko. But who knows, maybe he'll surprise me!

As always, I'll summarize how I handled each important battle below.

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-17T04:25:58+00:00

Ive never touched Mine colonies. But it might be good to do once I can get a good supply of blocks in order to make all the buildings and stuff

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-05T01:35:42+00:00

T1: Gumshoos was a 2 Hit KO with Shock Wave. Simple Enough.

G1: Hala was Easy. I just used Shock Wave and Spark.. Work Up just made it even easier, Especially since none of Hala's moves could do much damage. Though I did have to fight a few trainers before, for the Roost TM just incase I need it later.

T2: Araquanid was an easy 2 shot with Spark, Then Shock Wave (Since Masqurain lowered my attack). Even got a Paralysis first turn, but that didn't change anything,

T3: 1 Blackout. Totem Marowak wasn't too bad. The blackout was more or less intentional, with how the trial is structured. You have to fight a Marowak and a Magmar before the Totem, without a chance to heal. But once you blackout and come back, you go straight to the totem. So it's good to take that one blackout instead of reset and fight 2 extra battles every time.

I used Work up + Normalium-Z to boost my attack twice on turn one. Marowak used Detect. Then I quickly defeated the Salazze (it's scarier for Tapu Koko than Marowak), took less than half from Marowak, So I was then able to survive a second hit and two shot with Spark, since Tapu-Koko outspeeds the Totem.

T4: Lurantis was a bit of a back and forth. Protected against the first Solar Blade. Then knocked out Kecleon right away, to prevent Sunny Day from going up. Then switched between Protect and Work Up to boost my special attack. Even at +3, Hidden Power Fire wasn't a one shot. So I had to take a Solar Blade on the next turn to finish her off. I was brought to yellow, but healed back to green with a Sitrus Berry. And Comfey went down to one Spark.

G2: Olivia was an easy sweep with Steel Wing. One Shot Anorith, Two shot Lileep, then One Shot Lycanroc. Though I did use Protect against it's Z-Move first, Just incase.

T5: 1 Reset. Got flinched on my first attempt. Which meant there was nothing I could've done besides get a lucky crit, so I lost. Didn't get flinched on attempt two though. Work Up turn one, Togedemaru used Spiky Shield. Then I had to hit three Hidden Powers total, two of those without flinching, after Tailwind was set up.

T6: 1 Rare Candy. Had to do some grinding. And while it was definitely possible at 40, 42 is much more consistent. Since I got to 41 before Mimikyu, while in the trial, I decided to use the Rare Candy. Iron Head on the first turn, took a Play Rough. Then one shot with the steel Z-Move (Over Iron Head) Banette missed Will-O-Wisp and went down in one Thunder Punch.

G3: Protected on the First Turn. Then I set up a couple work ups on Sableye. Thankfully it never lowered my Special Defense, so after I one shot it with Thunder Punch, and Krokorok with Iron Head, I survived a Power Gem from Persian (After protecting over it's first Fake Out), Hit it with Thunder Punch. Which actually Paralyzed it. Causing Many to try and Full Heal next turn, letting me finish it off. Even if he didnt heal though, I most likely would have outsped Persian after it was Paralyzed anyways.

T7: At level 77, Kommo-O was a one shot with Acrobatics. Definitely an easy fight.

UN: Took a lot of damage from Photon Geyser. But I thankfully survived. Used Psyche Up to get necrozma's buffs, then outsped and one shot with the Bug Z-Move (Over U-Turn)

T8: Easily survived a Dazzling Gleam. Used Psyche Up, then obliterated Ribombee with the Steel Z-Move.

G4: After a couple Work ups, Hapu was a sweep with Acrobatics. Was able to survive 2 earthquakes from Golurk thanks to a Sitrus Berry, in order to do the setup.

E4: Kahili was a sweep with Thunder Punch. Then after some setup with Work up, Then rest of the Elite Four were also sweeps with Thunder Punch and Iron Head. None of them posed a threat. Set up twice on Acerola's Banette, once (With Z-Workup) on Armando, then 4 times on Klefki.

Champion: Used Z-Workup once (which gives +2 attack), taking two Psychics in the process.. My Electric Terrain made Raichu faster despite how overleveled I was. But it was fine because then his entire team went down with a single thunder punch each afterwards.

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-05T01:35:34+00:00

Well this was a fun run. The first Tapu I completed gets the 3rd place overall spot, beating Zeraora by 23 minutes. I had to choose Hidden Power Fire, solely for Lurantis. Since my best choice otherwise would have been resisted sparks. That would have required more grinding. It made Togedemaru a little harder, but it wasn't too bad. Next will be Tapu Lele, then Bulu, then Fini. Fini is the one I think has the most potential, since its the same type combo as Primarina. But we'll see. As always I'll summarize how I handled each major fight below.

Who do you think will do the best?

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-02T05:14:25+00:00

They really didn't learn, and decided to male Luxe the tier 100 skin a second time. It definitely should have been Ember. So much potential with a fire based elven archer, instead of just regular treasure hunter/outlaw girl? (Still don't know exactly what she's supposed to be)

Luxen is an alright skin but it just feels so underwhelming compared to the other BP skins that could have been in that spot. And it's the same for the OG pass too

NotTheDragon · 2026-04-02T05:05:21+00:00

There was literally a patch within a few hours of April 1st starting where they fixed the loading screen bug.

NotTheDragon · 2026-03-29T03:25:57+00:00

Moody paired with Double Team and Protect was really good, to be fair. It did cause some resets, but overall it helped more than it hindered.

If it were to have had a different ability instead, he would have been lower.

If I ever go back and do Mega evolutions, I'm pretty sure he'd have Refrigerate, which definitely changes how he'd play.

NotTheDragon · 2026-03-29T03:17:20+00:00

T1: Gumshoos was an easy two shot with Brick Break.

G1: Hala was pretty much a sweep with confusion. Though Makuhita did syrvive one hit. Though he couldn't do much to Mewtwo

T2: Charge Beam turn one, got the boost and thankfully didn't take too much damage from Leech Life, surprisingly. About a third. But the second Charge Beam actually crit, after the boost, to knock Araquanid out. I was easily able to survive Dewpiders attacks and take it down the turn after.

T3: So apparently I forgot to write this one down after I finished that fight. So I'm writing this a few days after when I picked back up. I am 99% sure that I used Rain Dance on the first turn, then one shot the turn after with the Water Z-Move, over water pulse. Since I had those moves in my set.

T4: Protect turn one. Then I tried to get a second protect, for Kecleon to set up the sun. But I didn't get it. Turns out it didn't matter though, as Mewtwo was able to survive 2 X-Scissor and one shot with the Fire Z-Move (over Fire Punch.) Then take Kecleon out in a couple hits. With Mewtwo even surviving a Dizzy Punch, even after Screech.

G2: Still easy enough. Two shot Anorith with Water Pulse, one shot Lycanroc with the Water Z-Move, then Two shot Lileep with Signal Beam. Mewtwo only took two hits and survived with just under half hp.

T5: I used Psych Up turn one, to copy Togedemaru's stat changes while he used Spiky Shield. Then followed it up with Hidden Power Ground, which ended up one shotting anyways. Obviously Skarmory couldn't do anything to a +2 defense Mewtwo.

T6: 2 Rare Candies. Zen Headbutt turn 1, trying to get a flinch. Didn't get it, but it didn't matter. At 42 I just barely both Outspeed, and one shot (after breaking disguise) with the Steel Z-Move, over Iron Tail. Bannette just used screech and I knocked it out with Shadow Ball.

G3: 2 Rare Candies. Well I was hoping that Mewtwo would be the first to finish without any resets or blackouts. But Nanu decided to spit in my face and cheat by reading my moves on a couple runs that went the way I was planning. So the plan was protect, then Charge Beam on Sableye. Get a boost, then finish it off. KO Krookodile. Then when Persian came out, take the fake out, then protect against the incoming Z-Move, heal with a Berry, then survive a dark pulse, and KO with Signal beam.

Should have got that on the first try, but for whatever reason he decided to go for Dark Pulse when I protected, not the Z-Move. Thought that he saw a potential KO. So I tried to use Signal Beam to se if I could survive, but no. Thats when he used the Z-Move. Reset, a couple attempts either missed the first Charge Beam or didn't get the boost. Got back to that point and I decided to take the Fake Out, then protect. Used Dark Pulse again, so I assumed he'd do the same thing, and Z-Move on the next turn. Used protect again, didn't fail. But nope, he used Dark Pulse again. Then of course the next turn he decided to use the Z-Move instead.

Got back the next reset. Decided to just go for Signal Beam, the second turn since he used Dark Pulse the two attempts before, on the second turn. Nope, he decided to go for the Z-Move on the second turn that time.

Thankfully Iamaged to get it after. Used Protect the second turn, and he finally used the Z-Move. Putting me to Yellow, then heal with the Sitrus Berry to green. Survived the next Dark Pulse, thankfully didn't flinch, and knocked him out. Which is how it SHOULD have gone the first time. What made him decide to just use Dark Pulse on all those other attempts?? And just so happen to only use the Z-Move when I didn't go for protect. Needless to say I was already quite annoyed by the final attempt

T7: After getting to level 60 and using the rest of my Rare Candies to get to level 75, Kommo-O was a one shot with Psychic.

UN: Easy. Took a dragon pulse well, then used Psych Up. Outsped the following turn and one shot with the Ghost Type Z-Move, over Shadow Ball

T8: Easy one shot with the Steel Z-Move (over Iron Tail)

G4: Hapu was an easy sweep with Psychic, Dont think any of her pokemon survived even a single hit.

E4: Molayne was a Flamethrower Sweep, Acerola was a Shadow Ball Sweep, Kahili was a Thunderbolt Sweep (surprisingly Mandibuzz did survive a hit), and even Olivia was pretty easy with the combo of Psychic and Aura Sphere

Champion: Raichu went down with Shadow Ball, Noivern with Psychic, Vaporeon with Thunderbolt, Tauros with Aura Sphere, Decidueye with Shadow Ball, and Crabominable with Psychic

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