3/5 EX Summer Steven & Sandslash solo Entei – Pokemon Masters EX

Lucky Skill: Flameproof
Grid: 4:35 / https://ng-pomatools.web.app/pairs/9040/2801?s=5&l=150&r=6&p=0&a=17010201&g=AAECAwQFBgcJDA0PHiEjJA

This run has always been possible with 3/5, it would’ve just required insane luck. The 5/5 solo worked because the increased damage was enough of a difference to barely make it by the end. 3* Ice Gear (and a level 150) completely changes that. You now have more damage without needing 5/5, more defences so you take hits better and more speed which leaves you less likely to be a sitting duck praying for MGRs (it can still happen like in this run but it’s lesser).

The main strategy is simple: freeze! Summer Steven has both of Entei’s biggest counters with the con that they’re both a 30% chance to provoke. Cold Snap 2 occurs more often thanks to Ice Spear being a multi-hit move aaand Icicle Crash Consumes 3-bars which makes it less useful (it also doesn’t get Aggravation).

For bar 1 we reset for the turn 1 freeze and rush to get out Sync in so we can max out crit. Seems simple, but we also need to reset for X Attack MPR and have to hope Entei stays frozen for a long time. Did I mention Entei’s freeze length is RNG? No? Well sometimes Entei will freeze out early while others times it can stay frozen for an entire cycle, why this is the case I’m not exactly sure. Once you get +3 crit you need to keep whaling on Entei. You can allow Entei to get 2 moves off before half bar, and Eruption isn’t the worst unless both previous attacks dropped your Sp Def.

Bar 2 often wants to start off with a freeze as well. It’s the same strategy throughout. If the entrance Eruption crits it’s somehow weaker then the bar 1 version with the sure crit. Fire Fang can be annoying if it flinches as that run is effectively dead. Once Entei crosses half bar here every attack it performs will be a crit, this is the reason you’d otherwise want Vigilance. If you fail to kill Entei after Double Edge the run might as well be over

Bar 3 starts with a brutal Heat Wave which burns you. This burn is what made all 3/5 Summer Steven solos before 3* Ice Gear so difficult. You’re on a ticking clock and if you didn’t freeze or flinch Entei on enterance the run might be close or done for. Entei also starts whipping out it’s 3-bar spam which does a lot of hurt especially if you didn’t pack Vigilance like me. I however chose Flameproof so I couldn’t get burned if I didn’t freeze or flinch on entry and it also turned out to be nice against the Sacred Fire that did hit me. Another thing I did in bar 3 was that I used my Sync to damage into the half bar range. This previously wasn’t very practical but the increased damage allows you to take away Entei’s Sun Boosted attacks. By the time Entei is at half bar here you really need to make a quick choice: hope for more freezes or unleash Icicle Crashes. It’s almost always a close finish.