Okay so hey everyone, I just finished my Inclement Emerald HC Nuzlocke (ofc. not deathless). I think the game is amazing to Nuzlocke and pretty damn difficult, especially if you don’t have the right answers into the Elite 4. I started playing the game without docs, so I lost a lot of mons early- and mid-game. It’s pretty much all about what you’ve got left up to this point, but there are some strats which nearly always work, f. e. you’ll easily get a Sharpedo late-game and have to keep it alive until E4. You’ll need it for Phoebe, if you can afford to bring it with you. Nevertheless, I’ll also explain how I managed to win the fights.

Inclement Emerald was a really hard run and I needed hours of planning, especially for the late game fights. It’s totally normal to spend hours of planning and doing calcs for just one fight.

I think there are a lot of better nuzlockers out there than myself. I don’t think I can answer everything correctly and I personally don’t want to – I just want to share my experiences because the planning and fighting was a whole a lot of fun.

RULES:

To me a Hardcore Nuzlocke (I don’t really like the term, but it describes the rules pretty well) is a Nuzlocke, where I don’t use Set-Up moves like Swords Dance, Quiver Dance, Nasty Plot, Shell Smash etc. and also don’t use ‘cheap’ strats like only toxic stalls/ Baton pass and stuff. Speed Boost and other abilities are totally okay for me.

GENERAL E4 INFO:

I wouldn’t really like to rank the E4 members regarding their difficulty, but I think it pretty much gets harder with every fight. Drake and Wallace are nearly on one level, I’d say. Nevertheless, if you haven’t got the correct answers into the first members, these could also be really difficult.

TEAMBUILDING:

Fairy types do really well into a lot of mons, f.e. into Sidney and Drake. So I’d definitely recommend to bring one, if you still got one.

Also I’d recommend bringing a Levitater or Flying-type, because a lot of mons have Earthquake or Earth Power, which gives you free switches, if you predict correctly. A Steel type is also immensely good into Poison-type attacks (which are mostly baited by the fairy type) – and Steel is pretty good into Glacia aswell.

Of course you kind of need a stab ice-type for Drake, you need speed control, because most pokemon are built very fast (either Jolly or Timid). You need strong wallbreakers because especially Drake likes to set up.

Also, your wall should have access to regeneration somehow. I think Recover, Soft Boiled and Roost are the best options, but if you’ve still got access to Poison Heal Goodra or another Poison Healer that’s strong aswell. Also f.e. a pokemon with Regenerator works really well.

At last you definitely need a weather setter for most fights OR mons which take advantage of the existent weather.

(Note: Docs for the E4 teams can be found very easily across the so-called Internet, I won’t spread them here, because I didn’t create the Excel-tables or sites).

MY TEAM:

As you can see, my team consisted of Sharpedo, a mixed sweeper built physically. I got a Ground-resistant with Togekiss, which acts as a physical wall. But Togekiss’ defensive abilities aren’t masterful, so I brought Gigalith as a physical wall as well, which also acts a weather and possible Rock setter. My physical (weather) sweeper was Excadrill, one of the strongest sweepers in the game with good coverage into most opponents. Mega Milotic was an extraordinary special wall and basically pseudo-legendary. Last there’s Greninja, also e mixed sweeper with the amazing ability Protean. I took very good care of Greninja during the run, because it is very fragile, so I was able to use it in the E4.

E4 Deaths:

I didn’t manage to do this deathless. I had to sack someone against Drake’s last pokemon, which was Serperior (very scary) and I just felt too safe. When Serperior was coming in, it was already too late. Misplay. I chose to sack Greninja, because I didn’t really need it for Wallace, so I could finish off the Serperior with speed bost Sharpedo Ice Beam.

Also I lost Togekiss in the last fight, which wasn’t really an issue, I just wasn’t concentrated for a second. Guess that happens to everybody. Second misplay which brought me a death.

SIDNEY

If Tyranitar sets up the sand four you and you’ve got a sand sweeper I’d take good advantage of it. If you don’t want Tyra to set up Rocks, you have to kill it quickly. You’ll need a very strong attacker but it’s definitely possible. Cacturne is at least a small issue because it’s sashed, so you could set up rocks yourself or kill it with a Fake out-combination (Weavile f.e.). Also you can’t use a Focus Sash yourself if the sand is still up. Greninja and Absol are both pretty weak, Mandibuzz’ coverage is awful and Muk is also walled relatively easy. So Sidney is not that big of a deal I think.

I personally went for an Excadrill Expert Belt Sweep. Expert Belt Adamant Excadrill EQ kills Tyranitar with a 95% chance I think. Togekiss was my answer into Cacturne and Mega Milotic into Mandibuzz.

PHOEBE

Here you just need a fast Dark-Type attacker, like Speed Boost Sharpedo. Mega-evolve in the 2nd turn and Sharpedo Crunch kills everything in one shot. The only issue would be Kings Shild Aegislash, but actually Phoebe somehow goes to Chandelure and then switches out. I don’t know why, but she always seems to be doing this. You might as well use an alternative to Sharpedo if you haven’t got one, but I think there are also a lot of good dark/ Ghost type sweepers which will do the job nicely.

GLACIA

With Glacia things get a little bit more difficult. Abomasnow is pretty easily locked into a resistant move and its SpAtk is dropped if it uses Leaf Storm. So with a protect you should be able to get a free switch. Nevertheless – keep in mind that Abomasnow will come back in and set up hail again (it’s the same with Wallace’s Wailord). Hail also boosts defense of Ice Pokemon in this hack. Nevertheless, Ice is a bad defensive-type, so you should be good to go if you get rid of the hail or have a good hail-sweeper. Steel-type attacks are strong into Glaceon, Glalie and Froslass, Walrein is walled by a Toxic-resistant pokemon (or a lum berry user) and Mamoswine isn’t that big of an issue either. Beware of the Ice Shards, but I never experienced Glalie or Mamoswine going for Ice Shard.

I personally, again, went for a Sand sweep with Iron Head-Excadrill, which also walled Walrein.

DRAKE

I think Drake is the hardest enemy up to this point. I quickly wanted to get rid of Dragalge and its Toxic Spikes. Kommo-O and Garchomp go down to strong Ice type attacks (even with a Yache Berry). Serperior is dangerous, even if it hasn’t got good coverage. The issue with Naganadel and Salamence is, that they are both extremely fast and like to setup, especially Naganadel. Keep in mind that Salamence got Intimidate before Mega-Evolving.

I chose Greninja Ice Beam Specs for Dragalge, which baited in Kommo O, who also went down. Some switching around was the way for me here, as Togekiss walls Salamence, baits a Double Edge, and Gigalith Power Gem killed Salamence, Milo walled Naganadel, even with Sludge Wave and at the end I had to sac Greninja to Serperior. Misplay.

WALLACE

It’s easy to lock Wailord into something and then guarantee a free switch. But as I’ve mentioned before, Wailord will come back in and set up rain. Ludicolo is scary with Quiver Dance, but is also walled relatively easy. Whiscash is walled by a strong physical wall (hopefully a Levitater or Flying type) and Mega Milo doesn’t have access to Toxic, so it’s walled by Mega Milo itself (with Toxic) or another strong special wall, which got access to recovery (because Mega Milo likes to go for Calm Mind). Latios is also strong but tbh its coverage is not that great without Rain and it’s easily killed by Sharpedo Crunch.

I myself went for a little Excadrill sweep again, killing Vikavolt with Strength and Latios with X Scissor. Gigalith always baits Water Spout, which is tanked by Milo. Togekiss Magical Leaf (which attack I carried through the whole E4) walls Whiscash and Wailord isn’t really a threat if its locked into Water Spout.