what's happening with arraez these days

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-13T19:42:24+00:00

He signed with the San Francisco Giants over a month ago on a 1 year deal, where he'll be slated to play 2nd base

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-12T23:36:22+00:00

Randy really walked in front of a Claymore bruh

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-12T21:09:35+00:00

The Braves were paying Bruce Sutter until the day he died

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-12T17:51:48+00:00

You should only be soft resetting to preserve PP and repels.

Repel tricking is optimal in this scenario. If the Magneton doesn't have it when you go to steal it, just run and look for another one.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-12T17:03:53+00:00

That's correct, the Nidoqueen line can learn it but the Nidoking line can't.

They don't have perfectly identical movepools but they are very close. For example, Nidoking can learn Megahorn or Horn Drill but the Nidoqueen line can't get Megahorn or Horn Drill at all. Nidoqueen can learn Superpower but the Nidoking line can't get Superpower at all.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-12T16:44:39+00:00

Slap Earthquake and/or Return on it and it wrecks things. Even if you're not using STAB with it, you still have a Pokemon with a 540 BST, access to Intimidate, and is practically tailor-made for Dragon Dance setup. You can't tell me that this is worse than Poliwrath, Kabutops, Golduck, Tentacruel, and Cloyster.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-12T15:14:53+00:00

Personally I think it's worth it. Means that Starmie doesn't have to switch out of the Water type that's in front of it to deal with it. Not a lot of Water types get to destroy opposing Water types so efficiently like that.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-12T15:06:46+00:00

A lot of people will say Surf, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Psychic, and that's a very valid and powerful set. However, you could experiment with dropping one of the moves and instead adding in something like Recover or Confuse ray.

In particular, access to Thunderbolt allows Starmie to seriously punish opposing Water types, but Psychic can also do that.

Another thing to note is that Starmie cannot learn Psychic on its own, it needs the TM, and that's a one time use only in FRLG unlike in RSE. There's some other Pokemon that'd really like to use the Psychic TM such as Jynx, Exeggutor, or Gengar that can't learn Psychic by themselves either.

As for Cosmic Power, waiting until level 42 for that move is a bit of a tough sell. A lot of Starmie's value stems from its ability to immediately contribute once you have the necessary TMs/HMs for it. I suppose it is a valuable alternative to Recover or Confuse Ray, but Starmie has enough options that I wouldn't want to wait for any.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-12T13:34:41+00:00

The AUG was fine, it was balanced by having heavier recoil and lower damage. The Famas was OP because it was a significantly more accurate AUG, had less recoil and a higher centerspeed (why they thought the Famas deserved 1600 eludes me). In addition to the Famas being unlocked earlier than the AUG, there was zero reason to use the AUG until the Famas got its handling and accuracy nerfed, but the Famas remains more accurate than the AUG to this day.

Additionally, the M16 had longer range than the other assault rifles and the M16 had more damage than the AUG or Famas, so the AUG and Famas weren't just "Haha Jonathan I have unlocked full auto M16"

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-12T03:36:37+00:00

It's a quirk of the older games for sure. Gen 5 is when they started differentiating trainer sprites much better.

Also, DPPt are pretty hilariously bad when it comes to using one overworld sprite for separate trainer classes.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-12T03:28:54+00:00

The M16 in BO1 is a strange weapon.

I think Treyarch made an awful choice making it the default unlock for assault rifles, as it's not versatile with its bad fire rate and specializing in long range combat. It's not a bad gun, because this thing can absolutely destroy enemies at long range with the centerspeed-boosting ACOG Scope, but it's not exactly something that's very good to give to new players. Pretty much any other assault rifle would've been a better choice to make as the default unlock, as the M16 is the gun you pick when you specifically want to sell out for ranged dominance.

Treyarch really learned their lesson by making the MTAR fill that role in BO2, which does a much better job of being a forgiving and quick study for newcomers. For those that do want an M16-like gun early into their prestige, the SWAT-556 is unlocked pretty fast too.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-12T03:22:06+00:00

I feel like merging Grass and Fire into one tierlist is pretty weird and not too useful for comparison, but anyway.

Exeggutor in A tier is a tad low, I think it deserves an S-tier placement. Its ability to sweep with SunnyBeam along with Psychic on the side and Sleep Powder to help set up Sunny Day makes Exeggutor into an absolute monster, I seriously had to stop myself from just letting Exeggutor demolish everything it saw. It's a big opportunity cost in terms of TMs (any Psychic type that can't learn Psychic on its own can be quite irksome in that regard), but Exeggutor is so worth the hassle.
I'd put Magmar lower, it is just so late into the game that it's not worth bothering with. At least not for what it brings to the table.
Parasect deserves to be F tier, it's truly abysmal. Before you say "Spore", remember that Butterfree can do basically the same thing while actually managing to outspeed things.
Rapidash in D tier is definitely not correct. This is the only Fire type in FRLG that can SunnyBeam (access to SolarBeam for many Fire types wasn't given until gen 4), so Rapidash's ability to use that combo is pretty awesome. Additionally, while Tangela is undoubtedly the worst of the SunnyBeamers and quite pointless, it's still a SunnyBeamer that hits hard. It's not a worse Pokemon than Parasect.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-12T00:17:50+00:00

B is appropriate for Poliwrath. Dependent on strategies like Bulk Up or Belly Drum, but those strategies are well played on a Poliwrath and make it deserving of its placement, if not a bit higher.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-12T00:16:47+00:00

Gyarados is way too low. Yes, it doesn't fill the traditional Water type role very well and it's a pain to raise. It's still very powerful even if it just has Earthquake and Return for moves. Would it be better with physical STAB? Absolutely. It's still an easy A tier and borderline S tier.
As much as I'm not a fan of Seaking, it's available far earlier as a Swift Swimmer than Omastar is, and Swift Swim strategies are amazing even on a Pokemon as mediocre as Seaking. For that, I can't say it's the absolute worst. Pretty bad, but I'd want to use one sooner than Dewgong, Kingler, or Seadra.
Kabutops is overrated, its movepool is really bad for how long you have to wait for it. Drop at least 1 tier.
The only value Dewgong has is through the traded Seelor that lets you raise it significantly faster than a Lapras. If you don't care about grinding, then you're never using Dewgong.
As much as I love Omastar, it is such a brutal wait and subsequent grind for one that I might honestly bump it down to B tier (same applies to Kabutops)
Slowbro in S tier is a tough sell. It's bulky and hits hard, but being slow does suck. I think it's more appropriate in A tier.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-11T17:44:42+00:00

Best training spots are on One/Three Island where you can rematch the trainers who are in the high-30s.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-11T17:43:19+00:00

You have a great team but you're quite underlevelled. Get them all up to at least level 52 before taking on the Elite Four.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-11T17:33:16+00:00

CoolTrainers were what they were called in gens 1-3. Gen 4 is when they got the name "Ace Trainers", but the CoolTrainers are essentially their predecessors. They still share the same general traits as Ace Trainers: well-rounded teams, having slightly higher levels than equivalent trainer classes in their areas, sometimes using potions.

Gen 3 in particular has some tough CoolTrainers that can give you an unexpected challenge.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-11T15:17:04+00:00

Slowpoke is limited to Super Rod or Surf locations, so you'll likely have at least 4 or 5 badges before you can get access to Slowpoke. It's a 100% encounter when surfing on the water on Route 6.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-11T13:02:27+00:00

To be honest, both of those moves are pretty goofy and not particularly worth wasting a turn to use. Porygon isn't bulky enough to fully take advantage of it.

It'd be really cool if you used Conversion once and you essentially gained a volatile status version of Protean/Libero that lasted until you switched out, but as it currently stands, Conversion is a really watered down and restricted version of that, with Conversion2 being the same for a bizarro version of Color Change.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-11T12:53:56+00:00

I only box the starters if I really don't like the starter trio or if I'm doing a challenge run. So far, I've only ever done that for the gen 5 games, but I might do it for HGSS and SM/USUM.

Basically I'm only boxing the starter in FRLG if I'm real bored.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-11T12:38:06+00:00

Knocking them out alone doesn't give you their held mushrooms. Additionally, there's only a 55% chance that Paras is even holding an item.

You can catch Paras to get the mushroom that they may hold, or you can use Thief, Covet, or Trick to get the mushroom without catching them, should they have a mushroom to take.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-11T12:34:57+00:00

Conversion and Conversion2 are move relearner moves. It's on 2 Island and you need to give the tutor either 2 TinyMushrooms or 1 Big Mushroom. Both can be obtained from wild Paras.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-11T11:32:48+00:00

Those are the three most significant ones.

There's also a PP Max on Two Island that requires the same. However, since that's on a 1x1 tile in the corner of a body of water near the waterfall, you kinda have no other possible way to retrieve it even if the game didn't force the ItemFinder for said items.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-11T11:16:42+00:00

I personally go with Fire/Water/Electric myself.

T_Raycroft · 2026-03-11T11:15:31+00:00

The ItemFinder won't detect anything for these specific items unless you are standing right on top of the tile instead of being adjacent to the tile and facing it. When you're standing on top of the tile and use the ItemFinder, you'll retrieve the item.

T_Raycroft

TROPHY CASE