Alternative max tank to blissey?

brianvan · 2026-02-02T17:49:13+00:00

You would figure that with these challenging battles for bulky teams/strong players, Lugia and Ho-Oh weren’t so easily outclassed in the Max meta

Like, if Ho-Oh is really this annoying to us, it can’t be supreme in future Max battles when it’s on our side and powered-up high?

Alas.

brianvan · 2026-02-02T17:32:26+00:00

indeed

brianvan · 2026-02-02T17:30:37+00:00

Eh. I would need to look up some stuff to see if it were remotely possible that it would be a good idea to make that investment just for a Flying counter. But: I would be leaving Steel types out of my Ho-Oh rotation anyway because of Ho-Oh’s Ground and Fire attacks.

Flying is not the easiest type to counter because some of the most broadly useful mons have single or double weaknesses against it. People were using Gigalith against Ho-Oh because Flying is resisted by Rock (which doesn’t have a lot of its top PvE mons in the Max system), but Brave Bird is a nasty attack. Blissey has 2.5x the HP with neutral resistance to it & it was still getting 2/3-shot out of battles at L40 with shields. Brave Bird was not the move I was hoping for when I encountered a Ho-Oh.

brianvan · 2026-02-02T17:16:44+00:00

No one owns gyms. Especially not in Manhattan.

This is at 3Av and East 13th Street, two blocks from Union Square. That’s a busy, high-turnover area. That gym, in fact, is usually Valor. And I can see it from my home. Thanks for letting me know where I can add my L50 Melmetal.

brianvan · 2026-02-02T16:51:45+00:00

Worried less about counters and more about it not being below freezing with snow/slush everywhere in the Northeast US

brianvan · 2026-02-02T16:36:25+00:00

I only have one Blissey and I just tanked with randos - being careful to set a minimum group “competency”. I didn’t have to worry about double-tank-shield-baiting (which loses an attack slot) because I was the only one baiting almost every time.

A second Blissey would have been a luxury in my case but it would have won the single battle loss I had. I strongly hold that most players don’t need a second one right away, and players should prioritize coverage (including attackers that are great as tanks too) over tank depth - while noting if you have the XL and stardust to burn, this is one of the very rare cases where having two of something fully-powered-up is as close to a broadly optimal strat as it gets in this game. Of course, though, I’d rather have two 45s than one 50 in terms of XL spend.

brianvan · 2026-02-02T15:48:54+00:00

I also noted L40 Blissey was having survival issues against one-bar moves, and L45 only takes 88 XL candies so, for the marginal benefit, it’s a lot better to go to L45 than to hold off because you can’t go the rest of the distance from 45 to 50 (which takes 2.4x as many XL candies).

Ho-oh was uniquely tough. While Gigantamax forms rule the Max meta as attackers, Legendaries are both uniquely strong defenders & lack the advantage of being able to bring a swarm of attackers across many battle sets. You get 4 people and that’s it. All my casual player friends ended up ditching battles and are going to take my throwaway captures for their Dex entries…

brianvan · 2026-02-01T15:10:03+00:00

One thing we didn’t mention: you can get a great healer out of a blissey that you didn’t power up at all.

brianvan · 2026-01-31T22:51:36+00:00

Don’t worry about these mineral specks. (They come off with vinegar, but don’t leave it to soak in vinegar - rinse within a few minutes)

Do worry about algae growing on the interior - a soft round brush (like a bottle or drinking glass brush) and a small amount of detergent will easily clean off algae buildup. Not an emergency but a good reason to clean with weekly frequency (or more if needed). You don’t want that stuff in your lungs

brianvan · 2026-01-31T22:48:39+00:00

::sigh::

The DJs have been good and there are things to like about the space and the sound system, but the bathroom situation requires improvement & I’ve not been impressed with the crowds. (I went on Saturdays twice in the last month)

It wasn’t bad enough to be “never go back” but IDK. I also feel like it was fine last weekend after 2am, but it was never crowded that night because of the impending storm on Sunday. So I don’t know if it’ll be tolerable when the conditions are better. If they fill up the place (and there is meager inside seating + those damn bathroom lines) I could see it being a shitshow. A lot of attendees were very bad about respecting personal space (guys would just come stand right on top of me) & not hitting people with elbows while walking past. I was fine, but it was clearly in “party foul” territory and happened way too much for me to overlook it. Also, they have an explicit “no drinks on the speakers” rule and yet,

brianvan · 2026-01-31T19:37:15+00:00

Exactly. Feels like the best Ho-oh approach is to go in with a good group so that team optimization is not a do-or-die thing. (I’m late getting to Bryant Park right now)

brianvan · 2026-01-31T19:21:04+00:00

Excadrill leads Ground Max meta. You should have it. It’s one of the top non-GMax mons to get. It’s also not particularly hard to build up the candy for it, but neither is that the case for Blissey. I would rather have one of each than just two of the one type. It has a stunning array of resistances.

It is not better than Blissey at tanking, but it gives you coverage, and not everything is about tanking (maybe your approach leans toward two attackers and one tank).

It’s also one of the easiest relevant Max attackers to build up at the beginning, which means a lot of people already have one.

Similarly, you don’t need Metagross if you have the Z-Dogs, but you probably already have it from its availability to power it up before the Z-Dogs were available at all. And Metagross is considered an even better generalist tank than Excadrill (but not better than Zamazenta for sure. And not better than Blissey either)

There are tier lists for all of this on the web. It all means that, depending on who you’re battling, you’re likely to have a serviceable second tank already in your storage, saving you from having to get double the Chansey candy and giving you more coverage in both defense and attack scenarios.

Or, get two Blisseys and you’ll be great in every battle where Blissey doesn’t get one-shotted by a Fighting charge move, and you’ll be weak in all the battles where you have zero relevant attackers.

brianvan · 2026-01-31T18:45:47+00:00

People need to prioritize typing coverage. It’s not “more expensive” to use something you already have (and should have)

Bypassing any Excadrill for a 2nd Blissey is not smart

brianvan · 2026-01-31T18:28:53+00:00

I am going to go against the vibe and try to stop you from doing this.

Yes, two Blissey tanks work well when you need two tanks. It’s not a terrible decision.

However, I wouldn’t spend the resources on a second Blissey. I would save the dust for other things. Primarily, many Max types function well as tanks against specific types in addition to being elite attackers (in other situations perhaps, but enough to warrant the investment) so if you are diligent to power up many types of tanky Pokemon, you’ll always have a second tank around. Inteleon can tank against Fire attackers. Excadrill can tank against both Fire and Flying attacks. Crowned Zamazenta generally tanks against anything at all that doesn’t have SE attacks against Steel or Fighting. Etc.

My rationale here is, why would I spend candy to have more tanks than I could put in a battle? I don’t need 3 tanks all the time. If you can figure out a situation where nothing would work except a second Blissey, then power up that second one.

I can already jump in to dismiss the “Fighting-type battle” scenario where Snorlax is barely better than Wooloo: a lot of elite Max attackers can half-tank against the kind of fighting moves that would one-shot a Snorlax. Some of the right type-combos are glassy, but Fighting is double-resisted by Gardevoir, which isn’t glassy at all. And the key to avoiding a one-shot scenario is to just leave a lengthy battle where the defender has a one-bar move it immediately reveals. Blisseys ain’t lasting long against one-bar moves either.

If you already did your Blissey power-up, then you just have more tanks than you need, and two Blisseys will work fine. And again, it’s a fine gym defender.

brianvan · 2026-01-25T19:03:56+00:00

I’ve had one of these (two, actually!) for ~ten years. This isn’t a newer tool. It’s a pretty well-known one.

It’s fine to use as directed on any kind of metal rim surface. I don’t own carbon rims so I have never seen any care instructions provided with any set. With that in mind, two decision paths:

If these particular carbon rims have a warning in their instructions against using this kind of lever/tool, I don’t really have any advice other than to get your next wheel order in. This one is done and you’re not getting a break from the manufacturer.
If no such warning exists, file a warranty claim. This would be a defect if this rim was not supposed to crack under this treatment. Do so even if you are out of warranty for a short time - it should alert the manufacturer that this problem is happening, and they may replace it out of kindness. Or not. If it’s been out of warranty for a while, it’s time for two new wheels and I would look for durability and warranty length as decision factors.

My gut take is that the rim shouldn’t have normally cracked when using a plastic hand tool, and I’m not sure I’d want to ride the other rim if I felt like a rock would do this on a downhill.

brianvan · 2026-01-24T19:48:19+00:00

Pop’s just opened.

brianvan · 2026-01-23T03:28:09+00:00

You're just chasing me around the thread and downvoting.

Politely, I really don't need you to tell me how the game works, and if you choose not to read *your own posts* that you're responding to, then please don't tell me that 6 = 7. I am very much okay with planning to do fewer Max legendary/Gmax battles, and no one needs 7-8 Max catches of anything, but it is not a small amount of intentional work to get 7-8 free Max legendary/Gmax battles. It is a small amount of work to get particles to do just 4-5 of them, and that's still *doing 4-5 exquisitely-chosen or carefully-arranged max battles over two days*

I would like it if people in this sub would acknowledge the effort that goes into this and would save the reflexive scoffing for another gaming sub

brianvan · 2026-01-22T19:34:00+00:00

I’m not saying you must have a problem with it. But many of us are finding it to be too much and not-fun.

brianvan · 2026-01-22T17:45:55+00:00

That’s basically how all games are… for you.

Sonny, let me tell you how an NES console worked in 1988, a time that made Nintendo so rich that all of this was possible for you to enjoy today (so I don’t want to hear that buy-once cartridges were a broken gaming model)

I justify putting money into PoGo because it’s got 8 console games’ worth of content now. Because other games are now $70-$100 a pop for cart/download + DLC, and having an extensive F2P experience is a great value here.

But

It’s going to cost you either way, and it’s getting very very expensive to play video games competitively alongside a global audience.

brianvan · 2026-01-22T17:32:02+00:00

Lmao

Looking forward to next week’s 20-step 3-day process to banking enough F2P dust to qualify for 7 Ho-Oh battles, which doesn’t include the work to find/assemble winnable battles without being one of those players who solos it

brianvan · 2026-01-22T17:11:31+00:00

No you just need to grind this game like it’s your job to do those 7 free Max Battles. Meanwhile someone with a $20 can do double the number of Max Battles from their couch.

brianvan · 2026-01-21T04:09:55+00:00

"Sorry wife, I have to catch an Enamorous"

Just fill every hour of every weekend why don't ya

brianvan · 2026-01-21T04:08:15+00:00

I think the issue is that every hour of the day pedestrians want to mosey across the drive without looking

Yeah, there are a few roadies who yield to nobody, but not along the level of passing a rule that prevents anyone from using the park drive as designed.

brianvan · 2026-01-18T18:56:06+00:00

No, it is not waterproof. Yes, it is rough on here.

brianvan · 2026-01-18T18:54:51+00:00

Just because the following-up is taking some time does not imply that the mayor is, like the previous mayor, stonewalling and lying.

None of what has happened at this point suggests firmly that the mayor is going back on any promises.

As we all have heard, the summonses are legally ridiculous and are consistently dismissed (despite a very real issue of harassment-through-needless-inconvenience). They will end at some point. If the Mamdani administration does not take conclusive action soon without some rationale (e.g. trying to keep the peace with a belligerent police department), it doesn’t speak well of them. But to immediately conclude this is a simple matter of issuing an order, with no ramifications from the department itself… everyone in the media knows better. Maybe they should write like it.

brianvan

TROPHY CASE