0:00 – Vs. Agatha: Morty / Karen / Caitlin
2:09 – Vs. Lorelei: Hau / EX Classic Blue / EX Anniversary Lillie
4:06 – Vs. Bruno: EX Barry / Kris / Selene
6:01 – Vs. Lance: EX Cyrus / Event Blue / Spring May
7:57 – Vs. Blue: EX Guzma / Plumeria / Hilda
My hype for new strikers has cooled off a bit in recent months – the last one I deliberately pulled for was Classic Blue, and he has a support element too. It’s a bit hard to find depth in their kits outside of their damage, and they’re the most vulnerable to power creep IMO. I know the sentiment is more against the barrage of Techs we got in the past few months, but I honestly welcome it since their kits are generally more interesting. Not to mention the trend of newer supports also getting some Tech elements into them like SC Lillie and PalBea.
Don’t get me wrong – I still think they can be viable units, especially the Master Pairs. I just don’t find them as interesting as the likes of Anni Raihan or SC Ingo, even if those units are seen as “weaker” than strikers.
All that said, here’s a Champion Stadium clear with 15 Strikers trying to disprove the notion of them being monotonous hahaha. Here’s how each battle went, and the sync grids used:
Vs. Agatha: Morty / Karen / Hilda – https://pokemon-masters-stuff.github.io/#/team-builder/?id1=10062000000&e1=1&o1=738&g1=AAECAwQFBgcKERQVFhgaGycp&s1=5&id2=10148000000&e2=0&o2=750&g2=AAECAwQFBgcJDA8QHyEiJS4v&s2=5&id3=10004000000&e3=0&o3=750&g3=AAECAwQFERQVFhcZHiEjJQ==&s3=5
Karen’s grid is definitely up there among the best early-game examples, and it’s aged very well over time. It was the first to demonstrate multipliers with both Dirty Fighting and Foul Fighting, and it also gave her Tech utility by improving Bite’s flinch chance and letting it induce poison. She uses her Aggravation build here to buy some free turns and let Morty use Phantom Force. Hilda is the tank with her titanic HP pool and defensive buffs from her trainer move, but she definitely needed Karen’s flinches here since she can’t tank the enemy’s Shadow Ball.
Vs. Lorelei: Hau / EX Classic Blue / EX Anniversary Lillie – https://pokemon-masters-stuff.github.io/#/team-builder/?id1=10021800000&e1=0&o1=750&g1=AAECAwQFBgcKDREUFRgfICElKA==&s1=3&id2=10098000000&e2=0&o2=750&g2=AAECAwQFBhQdHyAiIyQoKy4v&s2=5&id3=10118500000&e3=1&o3=738&g3=AAECAwQFERQVFhkaGyUoKi0=&s3=3
The idea here was tank Anni Lillie, since she has a lot of sustain. She also has Danger Damage Guard to tank any attack, but sadly I don’t get to explore much of her utility here since Lorelei decided to use items a lot haha. Classic Blue is the only party-wide crit-buffing striker, which I still don’t get why they decided to do but I appreciate it haha, while Hau is the main damage-dealer.
(It’s funny to me how all three of Blue’s Strike units have some form of niche outside of damage-dealing. Really encapsulates the “Just leave everything to me!” quote.)
Vs. Bruno: EX Barry / Kris / Selene – https://pokemon-masters-stuff.github.io/#/team-builder/?id1=10018000000&e1=1&o1=738&g1=AAECAwQFBgcJERQXHh8gIyQlKCs=&s1=5&id2=10099000000&e2=1&o2=738&g2=AAECAwQFBgcKCwwODxwdICMoKi4=&s2=5&id3=10123000000&e3=1&o3=738&g3=AAECAwQFBgcJCg0OERQcHyAhJCUnKCk=&s3=5
Definitely the most annoying clear to get here. emerfirek brought up the potential of tank Selene so I wanted to try her out here, and Barry seemed like an ideal teammate since he doesn’t require a lot of gauge. I originally had Pryce as the third member for Cakewalk, but even with the right debuffs Onix wasn’t taking enough damage, and Selene was being KOed too soon to get to the second sync. So I switched to a flincher in Kris, who has Endurance and can deal good damage with Mega Kick.
Vs. Lance: EX Cyrus / Event Blue / Spring May – https://pokemon-masters-stuff.github.io/#/team-builder/?id1=10021900000&e1=1&o1=738&g1=AAECAwQFBgcJCg0QERITFBceJScoKw==&s1=5&id2=10194000000&e2=0&o2=760&g2=AAECAwQFBwoMDQ4RFBcaJS4wMTM0NQ==&s2=5&id3=10126400000&e3=8&o3=654&g3=AAECAwQFBgcICQoLERITFBUWHB0eHyUmJyg=&s3=1
Got her from a lucky daily, and she’s a big reason why I went with this theme. I was always so weirded out by Spring May’s kit but she is definitely appreciated in a theme like this haha. Event Blue is here as a debuffer, and for once Overwhelm 2 was being cooperative. Cyrus completed the team with his high-powered moves.
Vs. Blue: EX Guzma / Plumeria / Caitlin – https://pokemon-masters-stuff.github.io/#/team-builder/?id1=10121000000&e1=0&o1=750&g1=AAECAwQFBgcKDREcHR8iJyo=&s1=5&id2=10125000000&e2=1&o2=738&g2=AAECAwQFBgkKCw4QICIjJC4v&s2=5&id3=10095000000&e3=0&o3=750&g3=AAECAwQFBhESFBYXGBkbJyks&s3=5
Of course I was gonna run Guzma and Plumeria together haha. Fall Caitlin would’ve been a great choice here since her accuracy buffs fix both Guzma’s Pin Missile and Plumeria’s Smog, but I’m stuck with base Caitlin because of the theme, who’s still one of the best tanks among the strikers.
#PokemonMasters #PokemonMastersEX #ChampionStadium