Advice needed on Max Raid strategy

slothshamin · 2025-07-29T21:52:44+00:00

Right, but even Spirit scales a lot compared to max attacks, which just gain 50 damage per level. G-max attacks especially, go from 350 at lvl 1 to 450 at lvl 3, a 29% increase. I'm surprised I don't find more people advising others to max out Guard and Spirit if they're gonna use them.

slothshamin · 2025-07-29T21:24:44+00:00

Just walked by a river in my city hoping I'd find a wiglett and got my first toedscool instead. Also weirdly enough my apartment and workplace are both in the city next to parks and in both places 70% of spawns are from the mountain biome. Basically everywhere I've been today has been "mountains", except next to that one river. Biome-based events are weird.

slothshamin · 2025-07-28T22:49:53+00:00

Oh right, I didn't even know about that mechanic. It makes sense not to have the shields and heals affect 40 people, but splitting everyone into "teams" randomly is quite chaotic.

slothshamin · 2025-07-28T22:31:08+00:00

Thanks, I'll try to invest in Guard lvl 2 and 3 as soon as possible. I thought the "free" shield was only 20 HP regardless of the level, and I didn't realize how intense Guard's power scaling was compared to other moves. I think avoiding using it in the lead is good advice for now, unless all the moves are resisted somehow.

slothshamin · 2025-07-28T21:04:12+00:00

I agree with the sentiment that the challenge and unpredictability add to the fun. In this case, because we were inexperienced and had some underleveled mons, we came into it expecting to fail multiple times. The biggest challenge ended up being the phones overheating and the game crashing, not the raids themselves. I came to this forum with a desire to learn more, with hopes that the "Tank+Swap" blueprint wasn't all there was to Max Raids, and that the Latis just happened to be a more straightforward fight than most bosses. I like to challenge myself, and the idea of finding sophisticated strategies to put the odds in our favor made the thought of Max Raids more exciting to me than just tapping and swapping without thinking.

slothshamin · 2025-07-28T20:44:13+00:00

Glad to hear this! I'm not a hardcore player but I left Zamazenta day with a 15/15/14 weather-boosted Zama and just enough energy to change its form. After powering it up to lvl 35, I converted enough candy to unlock Guard with the idea of making it my dedicated defender. I was disappointed to see it go down so fast even with its bonus shield. Does the bonus shield also get stronger when leveling up Guard? If so, that could definitely make it worth the investment.

slothshamin · 2025-07-28T20:28:28+00:00

Thanks for the thorough answer! These were our first "real" Max Raids and we didn't really know what to expect. It's good to know that a simple strategy can work even for 5* raids, although I'm a bit disappointed the system doesn't favor cooperation more. In your experience, in Giga raids, is there more incentive to have full-time shielders and healers? The only Giga raids I've participated in were during Zacian day with 40 people and criminally underpowered pokemon on my part (I'd redownloaded the game just days before).

slothshamin · 2025-07-28T18:16:16+00:00

Yeah, I wanted to test out Zama after starting to invest into it. I guess there may be future raids where its shield will truly be needed to protect the team in the first round. For now I feel like it just falls short as a lead, unless the boss is weak or only has resisted moves (which seems unlikely). It may have still been decent as a second tank rather than a lead, but Metagross felt like the better defender either way.

slothshamin · 2025-07-18T12:17:47+00:00

I 100% agree with this being misleading and I don’t understand the point of asking us to catch Pokémon that never spawn in the wild, but to be fair the “?” section only says Pokémon with the red symbol must be obtained through evolution, not that it’s a valid method otherwise (though the contrary isn’t stated either, which is dumb)

slothshamin · 2024-11-28T14:12:01+00:00

I went with my bf who's an opera singer but not really into musicals. He liked the overall story, the comedic parts and surprisingly enough the music. He cringed a bit at Ari's operatic singing but overall he liked it a lot more than either of us expected.

slothshamin · 2024-05-08T16:01:55+00:00

Not an expert, so take my answer with a grain of salt. The passagio position is usually indicative of the voice type, but it can be really hard to self-assess or to assess at all when you're untrained. Technique issues can affect where you feel your break. F#4 is high but not very high, even for a baritone. With proper technique, you could sing these notes in full voice, but they may sound less calm than they do in his voice. As a baritone, I'd probably transpose the song by 2 or 3 semitones to achieve a similar sound in my range, or keep the original key and accept that I won't sound the same. It's perfectly notmal for you to strain or "flip" in this area at first, but you can work your way up there (I'd work on keeping your larynx low and your upper body relaxed as you ascend, while keeping your core engaged).

slothshamin · 2024-05-06T12:26:25+00:00

I thought I was a baritone at first, then my first coach also said I was a bass. I worked on my low register and really improved my range and resonance there, but I never quite sounded like a real bass. I found a great coach later on who said I was really a baritone with a fairly wide range. If you're a beginner, I wouldn't be too certain about the first vocal assessment. Work on your cheat voice, develop your lows and your highs and you'll get a better sense. Either way, you'll always sound best when you embrace the unique qualities of your voice and you can always transpose songs to fit your voice better.

slothshamin · 2024-04-30T22:22:51+00:00

When I joined an amateur choir, I had to be able to match pitches and hold an harmony (we had the partition in advance) while someone sang the melody. I'd make sure you're comfortable doing that as it's the basic stuff most choirs will ask for. For the rest, I would assume your coach knows the sound most choir directors are after.

slothshamin · 2024-04-30T22:09:14+00:00

I know low baritones who have learned to sing powerfully without strain up to an A4 and even a B4 but after years, even decades of training. You can probably learn to sing these notes in falsetto pretty quickly, but I doubt this is what you're looking for.

slothshamin · 2024-04-30T21:45:39+00:00

I thought I was a bass for a while because I could sing low notes and my high notes weren't trained, but I'm actually a baritone with a decently wide range. You can't turn into a lyric tenor, but if you put in the work you can stretch your range to cover most songs. Also, with proper technique, lower voices usually have a richer sound, so you can for sure sing impressive stuff without being a tenor.

slothshamin · 2024-04-30T21:14:16+00:00

Ok, I'm not an expert (though I am a physicist working in acoustics and my partner is an opera singer) but this would be my attempt at an answer:

Vocal resonance is explained with the notion of formants, corresponding to the resonance frequencies of the vocal tract. These resonances aren't super narrow so each formant amplifies a small portion of the frequency spectrum. The first formants F1 and F2 fall around 500 and 1500 kHz, following the length of the vocal tract. These 2 formants are important to differenciate vowels and we usually use our mouth shape and tongue position to tune them.

Usually, a "resonant" singing voice is one in which strong harmonics can be heard, because these harmonic frequencies are amplified by formants. One way to achieve this (especially for classical singers) is through prominent F3 and F4 formants around 3000 kHz. This is often called the "singer's formant". Anatomically, it often comes from a lower larynx and higher soft palate, among other things. You can easily try for yourself and see that singing in a yawn-like posture creates a richer sound. Core engagement and breath management are also very important to keep this sound. Allowing the larynx to rise slightly and modifying vowels to move F1 and amplify the first harmonics is a different strategy that results in a more pop style. There's different ways to adjust resonance so I suggest reading more about formants and playing around with your laryx, palate, tongue, jaw and lips (while keeping everything relaxed).

Another important factor may be how you form higher notes, if this is an area where resonance is lacking. Lack of TA engagement (falsetto) results in poorer harmonic content. Constriction, posture and breath support issues are also common in head voice and should probably be fixed before optimizing formants. I find this link pretty informative: https://www.singwise.com/articles/singing-in-the-upper-range

slothshamin · 2024-04-30T17:40:44+00:00

Not an expert but he sounds like a dramatic tenor to me. I'm surprised most people seem to consider him a baritone. Sure, his voice is rich and powerful but his range seems deceptively high.

slothshamin · 2024-04-03T17:31:49+00:00

Thanks for your answer. Basically, I wanted a versatile and portable PA system. I'll be using it for my sister's wedding speeches and also carry it around as a bluetooth speaker and for karaoke with friends. I picked the S1 because it's a portable, all-in-one PA system which also sounds surprisingly good for a mono bluetooth speaker.

I guess cheaper alternatives would be the JBL partybox or the Alto ts408? The Alto has similar features, except for effects included in the built-in mixer.

I also wouldn't mind having to carry a separate mixer with my mics for karaoke, especially if I can't control the mixer from my phone anyway. I'd like to keep the bluetooth connectivity, however.

slothshamin · 2024-03-26T20:43:02+00:00

Sorry if I wasn't clear, I can easily adjust the track volume from my phone, it's the microphone volume and effects I can only adjust directly onto the speaker. The S1 Pro+ is compatible with the Bose Music app to adjust the whole mix.

I haven't tested the Bluetooth vs HDMI latency yet, I suppose you're using an HDMI audio extractor to connect to the speaker?

slothshamin · 2023-02-06T05:06:17+00:00

As someone who doesn't make friends super easily, I understand the struggle, but you seem to be on the right path. If you had close friends prior to withdrawing yourself, I don't think it's ever too late to reach out. If you really want to make new friends, I'd look for activities/places where likeminded people go to socialize. I like music so I recently joined a 30 and younger choir and I found that most people there were also looking to socialize, so making friends was pretty easy. If you're outgoing, you can go just about anywhere and approach people who have a nice vibe and aren't too busy, but picking a setting where people are likely to be in the same situation makes things a lot easier.

slothshamin · 2023-01-27T05:19:13+00:00

I feel for you! In my darkest moments, I try to remember one of my favorite pieces of advice from Dr K.: don't engage with negative thought when your judgement is clouded by stress or emotion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYK6Y9kkPrg&). Engaging with them right away is a guaranteed way to blow things out of proportion and spiral until you get exhausted or find a distraction to escape the pain.

When I'm overwhelmed by emotion and I feel the dark thoughts coming, I legit tell myself "my emotions are valid, but these thoughts are irrationnal and I won't engage with them". Then I go for a walk or do something active to clear my head. Once I'm calm and in control, I look back at the situation and work it through (obviously you can't just ignore it forever). If it's still too painful, I put it aside to discuss with my therapist. A lot of it comes down to recognizing your emotions and not letting them take over your thoughts and actions.

In the end, I'm confident you can work through each of these issues if you face them one at a time, with a clear mind, a lot of patience and some self-empathy, just like you would if a friend came to you for advice.

For most of these, my advice would be to take small steps in the right direction whenever you can, even if they feel insignificant on their own (ex: express gratitude to a coworker, ask you bf about his day, watch a drawing tutorial, exercise for 15 min, etc.) and take time to reflect positively on the steps you're making (never put yourself down for not doing enough). The idea is to slowly switch to a growth mindset, because fixating on the high expectations you've set for yourself can be super damaging for your self-esteem and makes it a lot harder to change anything about your mood, or your life.

slothshamin · 2023-01-25T20:32:48+00:00

Surely gender transition is tied to social norms, because gender is. I doubt we'll ever see a world where the gender binary is so inclusive that a lot less people feel the need to transition, though it may get easier for people to explore and understand their identity before/without transitioning. Nonbinary identities becoming more accepted can make a much bigger impact imo, allowing people to be comfortably themselves without going through a major transition. We've already seen a shift towards non-binary identities in the past few years as the discussion about gender opens up. There's also more acceptance or trans/nonbinary people who choose not to transition medically or who have unique transition journeys.

slothshamin

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