Balancing stages with Norman (Kanto Champion Stadium, Legendary Arenas) [Pokemon Masters EX]

0:00 – Vs. Bruno: Norman / EX Sonia / Tech Kangaskhan
2:49 – Vs. Entei: Norman / Whitney / Tech Lickitung
7:04 – Vs. Tornadus: Norman / EX SS Brendan / Support Koffing
12:12 – Vs. Cobalion: Norman / SS May / Support Onix
15:55 – Vs. Uxie: Norman / EX SS Wally / Support Wigglytuff

I gotta practice using Normal-type strikers for the next week or so hahaha.

Norman is actually quite relevant to the above sentiment as he is also a Normal-type striker with heavy recoil. Sadly his grid doesn’t really do much to address this – Standfast 5 + Standfast 3 is nowhere near enough to mitigate the recoil of Double-Edge. It’s not as obnoxious as Recoil Removal 4 but it still makes Double-Edge pretty useless.

Thankfully his grid does improve the rest of his kit. Hostile Environment 2 gives Body Slam a pretty solid paralysis proc rate – I think it’s almost but not quite guaranteed? – and he also has Static Shock 5 and Paralysis Synergy 5 to take advantage of it. MPR and Master Healer on his trainer move also makes him a slightly better pseudo-tank, which is how I’ve been using him in the previous Gauntlets.

Ran him mostly on LAs since that’s where I see him have a lot more value. Here’s how each battle went, and the sync grids used:

Vs. Bruno: Norman / EX Sonia / Tech Kangaskhan – https://ng-pomatools.web.app/team?v0=025900083500&s0=5&l0=140&r0=5&p0=0&a0=15010301&t0=44141&g0=AAECAwQFBggLDRETFhkmKSssLQ&v1=000900028900&s1=5&l1=140&r1=3&p1=0&a1=21010101&t1=44111&g1=AAECAwQFBgkKDA0OERQnKSwtLi8&v2=011540&s2=1&l2=140&r2=1&p2=0&a2=21010101&t2=44&n2=1&f2=0

This is honestly the hardest clear to get among these five runs. Lorelei is more vulnerable to paralysis but I didn’t want to deal with the evasion buffs. With Norman and Tech Kangaskhan weak to FIghting and Sonia weak to Ground, I relied a lot on MomMom’s flinches for this. I had a streak of pretty lucky occurrences at the latter part of this run that made me want to go with it hahaha.

Vs. Entei: Norman / Whitney / Tech Lickitung – https://ng-pomatools.web.app/team?v0=002600024100&s0=5&l0=140&r0=4&p0=0&a0=21010101&t0=41111&g0=AAECAwQFHSAiIyUnKiwtLg&v1=000900028900&s1=5&l1=140&r1=3&p1=0&a1=21010101&t1=44111&g1=AAECAwQFBgcICw0PERITHyIoKis&v2=010840&s2=1&l2=140&r2=1&p2=0&a2=21010101&t2=44&n2=1&f2=0

Pseudo-tank Norman got a stronger self-heal now so he can be more effective at it. Since he has Quick Cure I brought him to Entei. I paired him with fellow Normal-type gym leader Whitney as he also sets up her innate Static Shock multiplier. Tech Lickitung completes the team for her Interference Sync multiplier as well as the Defense debuffs.

If you listen closely, you can hear my panic at that Stomp not finishing Bar 2 like I expected lmao.

Vs. Tornadus: Norman / EX SS Brendan / Support Koffing – https://ng-pomatools.web.app/team?v0=001901038100&s0=3&l0=140&r0=5&p0=0&a0=21010101&t0=44444&g0=AAECAwQFBggLDRATFBcaHB4hJQ&v1=000900028900&s1=5&l1=140&r1=3&p1=0&a1=21010101&t1=44111&g1=AAECAwQFBgkKDA0OERQnKSwtLi8&v2=011020&s2=1&l2=140&r2=1&p2=0&a2=21010101&t2=14&n2=1&f2=0

Since he’s a paralysis inducer, I brought Norman to the three LAs where paralysis is the main counterplay. And he obviously had to bring the SS Hoenn trio along since all three of them have unique team-up voicelines with him.

First up is the father-and-son duo, though SS Brendan doesn’t tank at first here since Support Koffing has Antitoxin. This is a bit redundant for Gauntlet since there’s two reliable paralysis inducers in one team, but I wanted to run it anyway since finding a team where Norman and base Brendan work together was annoying haha.

Vs. Cobalion: Norman / SS May / Support Onix – https://ng-pomatools.web.app/team?v0=012603025700&s0=1&l0=140&r0=5&p0=0&a0=13010602&t0=44444&g0=AAECAwQFBgcICQoMERITFRocHSMkJSYnKA&v1=000900028900&s1=5&l1=140&r1=3&p1=0&a1=21010101&t1=44111&g1=AAECAwQFBgcICw0PERITHyIoKis&v2=009520&s2=1&l2=140&r2=1&p2=0&a2=17041601&t2=41&n2=1&f2=0

If I had SS May at a higher move level (and maybe EXed) I could probably get away with a duo because of her ridiculous damage, but since I only have her at 1/5, I brought Support Onix along to tank like a champ. StoneStone even has Natural Remedy for that annoying Poison Jab.

Vs. Uxie: Norman / EX SS Wally / Support Wigglytuff – https://ng-pomatools.web.app/team?v0=012801028202&s0=4&l0=140&r0=5&p0=0&a0=21010101&t0=44444&g0=AAECAwQFGx4fKSsvMDIz&v1=000900028900&s1=5&l1=140&r1=3&p1=0&a1=21010101&t1=44111&g1=AAECAwQFBgcICw0PERITHyIoKis&v2=004020&s2=1&l2=140&r2=1&p2=0&a2=21010101&t2=41&n2=1&f2=0

Someone talk to me about how SS Wally missed ALL of his sync crits here haha. Soften Up 1 as a lucky skill when DeNA? Thankfully even with the syncs being uncooperative Wally does enough damage here. Support Wigglytuff did a pretty good job tanking, and if the syncs actually critted BounceBounce could’ve probably tanked the whole stage.

#PokemonMasters #PokemonMastersEX #ChampionStadium #LegendaryArena