Can I Beat a Hardcore Emerald Nuzlocke Using Only the WORST Pokemon?

Hoenn is famous for its wide range of Pokemon, but if we boil it down to just the worst of them all, can we still beat it as a Hardcore Nuzlocke? Today we find out!
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@PokemonChallenges
@FlygonHG
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[@alsaiduq4363]

When i saw Crowdaunt i was gonna say "Wait , he good tho ?" , then i remembered Water and Dark are special only 😂

[@keeperplays]

The Gen 3 curse...

[@unknownuser494]

I wished I know this as a kid.

[@thohillesland]

Then you see that he still has a very respectable base 90 special attack, so he isn't actually bad at all in gen 3

[@chefgrizz6284]

Ninjask isn’t F tier simply because he’s based

[@Ry-gt2by]

I really appreciate putting the nicknames of the pokemon next to the pokemon. I always struggle to remember the pokemon by their nicknames when watching these kinds a videos so I appreciate you putting them all right there where I can see them easily

[@keeperplays]

It's also so people might be able to pick up on the theme easier! I like to see if people can guess haha.

[@Ry-gt2by]

@@keeperplays I love that idea! I wonder why more people don't do that 🤔

[@blubudubbel]

What is that Glacia fight? That woman should play the lottery right now

[@keeperplays]

For real, I thought it was over there and then.

[@washingmashine921]

"I NEED DEATHS 😤 I NEED CONTENT 👿" Me when I'm a TMNT villain

[@chahinebourenane6291]

TMNT mean what ?

[@ianpereiradasilva7403]

​@@chahinebourenane6291i believe it means Teenage mutant ninja turtles

[@ChesterRGC]

it warms my heart to see someone using Relicanth 🤗 one of my favourite mons that is so often forgotten

[@Neji-XIV4306]

Tip for those playing RSE: When you walk into May's room at the beginning, just leave out. Two steps from the door, and she'll come in and talk to you anyway. Edit: I was informed that this is emerald exclusive. Thanks jkid1134

[@ShadowFiend777]

Well, this confirms my suspicion that May is more than the players rival.

[@jkid1134]

In Emerald, yeah, but not in Ruby or Sapphire. (Why do I know this)

[@TheRelicStone]

Relincanth is my favorite Pokemon bar none. He is so perfect he has not changed in 10,000 years.

[@ordeaux26]

The only mon I really disagree with is Crawdaunt, sure it's nothing insane but it has decent Defense, good Attack and it's Special Attack is not that bad, and it also has Shell Armor which we all know how good is in nuzlockes.

[@keeperplays]

Love me a good crawfish.

[@videogameman72]

I used Crawdaunt to Brick Break and Crunch my way through almost the entire E4. The only other Pokemon that's nearly solo'd the endgame like that for me has been Mamoswine; I refuse to believe it's F-tier.

[@tesladrew2608]

Mamo takes out garchomp

[@videogameman72]

Mamo takes out a whole heckuva lot with Ice Shard, Earthquake, and Stone Edge. Your only real threats outside of Platinum Flint are Scizor, Whiscash, Bronzong, and Lucario. In DP Flint's only got Infernape to threaten.

[@thohillesland]

uhm, Crawdaunt doesn't get Crunch in gen 3

[@videogameman72]

@@thohillesland sure it does, you just gotta trade it to FRLG at level 50 and give it a rare candy.

[@zaakutv862]

That was the unluckiest Glacia fight ever…. I definitely would’ve needed a mental break after all the confusion rng to TWO SHEER COLDS HITTING…

[@keeperplays]

Jokes on me I had my mental break years ago.

[@richarddill692]

Seviper. I will argue for it every time. It goes hard, with balanced stats and the move pool to make the most of them.

[@hotncold8315]

There are no bad pokemon, only bad trainers

[@keeperplays]

Darn tootin'.

[@joeyteter9383]

The Pokémon on your encounters are all mons that I love 😂 but I already knew that about myself. All of the coolest pokemon (at least for me) are all of the “bad” ones lol

[@keeperplays]

Guilty as charged. Exploud is one of my favorite Pokemon ever and I'm stoked to use it in every RSE Nuzlocke since it's a guaranteed encounter lol.

[@joeyteter9383]

@@keeperplays I love Exploud too, Normal is my third favorite typing and I’ve always loved it and Loudred. 98% of my favorite Pokémon would be eligible in a run like this lol

[@i8choNutz]

Ah I'm the same way. I can't stand charizard lucario gengar etc. Pikachu gets a pass considering it's the mascot

[@artemisdanube4941]

The little Volbeat that could XD

[@Gameboy_Graci]

Holy cow! Those water specialist battles 🤣 Great job and so cool that you used new Pokemon that you haven't used before when you had Pokemon you knew could do well. Congrats to the surviving members and Volbeat for killing it in it's last battle.

[@EndertheDragon0922]

The Greek names you chose for your Pokémon are awesome, that’s such a cool naming convention. Maybe I should do that when I struggle with coming up with names.

[@keeperplays]

To be totally honest my nickname theme for this run was "phobias." But I do suppose the root words would be either Greek or Latin in origin. When I was younger I would nickname my Pokemon using the scientific names of animals they were based on. Had a Breloom in X/Y named Pachycephalo and he was my BOY!

[@EndertheDragon0922]

@@keeperplays I recognized them because of their use in phobia words, but I wasn’t sure if you were going for the phobias or the Greek roots directly so I didn’t want to assume :)

[@OriginaIJoke]

I lost a Nuzlocke to Wallace and all I had to do was use a Volbeat?

[@keeperplays]

This comment is everything.

[@HelloJohnRyan]

You: "Go ahead and tell me why these Pokémon aren't bad in the comments below." Me, immediately: "Dude, you're screwed."

[@velo_GG]

ggwp, 8 gyms and no deaths. ninjask sweep like a beast. i loved using him in NU tier battles as a pivot. your video style is great😁

[@IotKap]

Can't wait to watch this amazing challenge run!

[@oliverorchard6774]

As someone who used an exploud in the remakes, I can say that it is honestly alright, particularly given its insane move pool with tms.

[@keeperplays]

Exploud is certainly good in the remakes! It really benefits from the physical/special split.

[@mattiasandersson8693]

@@keeperplaysits movepool isn’t bad in the originals either, though. STAB strengh, shadow ball, brick break, Tbolt, flamethrower. It does not deserve F tier

[@arrowsty839]

Exploud big tank, also the fact dustox can do some fun shenanigans to the first 2 gyms should make it better than f

[@sxr8688]

Great vid! Sensing this will hit the other people’s recommended soon!

[@bcarter8262]

I love this man’s personality in these vids. Def deserves more subs

[@mattiasandersson8693]

Pro tip for normans slaking in emerald. A use something with a fighting weakness to take out the spinda in the beginning. It always baits the slaking. He’ll then 99% of the time go for counter, seeing the fighting weakness. Switch to dusdox for free.( use the toxic tm on it, found in Fiery path) now you toxic the slaking on the loaf turn, and use protect. Bing bam bom, free kill. (Note, equip a leppa berry to dusdox, to ensure that you don’t run out of protect, no matter how much healing norman spends on keeping the slaking alive). Easiest way to beat the gym bar none, if you play with level caps

[@donlyphans7801]

This was a great video! I'm a sucker for gen 3 content

[@chriskelly6019]

great video dude super high quality, you deserve more recognition

[@keeperplays]

Thank you!

[@citrus5797]

you did NOT just call Ninjask a bad pokemon 💀

[@keeperplays]

No, but since FlygonHG did, it's fair use for me to use!

[@ryanchildress]

Love the content. Keep it up

[@_gdynomite0576]

first vid I have watched, I love that you swear and actually make nuzlocking super funny and entertaining to watch, keep being you!

[@keeperplays]

Haha, thank you!

[@DocDoesGamingYT]

I love Ninjask. Breeding Silverwind onto it is nice, since all other bug-type moves are a little trashy. Swords dance and aerial ace plus either metal claw or dig from Nincada are also nice

[@ZomoryDesigns]

Nice video dude i enjoyed this.

[@dutchwarrior2192]

I think a f tier run of a modern Pokémon would be fun because it has a lot of possible encounters

[@ploryz]

Exploud is not f tier 😭😭 Edit: yall are describing a d tier pokemon. Not f.

[@solanceDarkMOW]

Nowadays, certainly. Back in gen 3? Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, kinda is

[@amethysttvgl1601]

His movepool was super poopy back in gen 3 sadly :(

[@keeperplays]

In our hearts he never will be.

[@ploryz]

@keeperplays can you please do heartgold garbagelocke

[@keeperplays]

@@ploryz HGSS might lend themselves pretty well to this challenge, I'll have to take a look at routing them!

[@chrismiller3548]

Dustox has an advantage against Roxanne. It's shield dust ability prevents the speed drop from rock tomb

[@mondooowada3537]

I think Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon would be a fun game to do this in, since they're already so difficult. Really awesome series!

[@PedroHenrique-vs3mf]

Yo sick run! I knew volbeat would do crazy work. Its bad against humans ofc, but against dumb pokemon ai? Its a beast lol

[@keeperplays]

I was pleasantly surprised! So much bulkier than I would have expected, and with access to Tail Glow? Crazy.

[@skylercroghan6933]

Hell yeah subbed another nuslocker to watch

[@highwaystar4518]

23 seconds in and im already in love with your personality ❤

[@antlerman7644]

I think this is my favourite nuzlocke series :)

[@briannacarmenita1698]

You got a sub from me for how funny you are lmfao “scuse me, scuse me, scuse me” has me rolling 💀

[@keeperplays]

When faced with waring gods, the least I can do is be polite.

[@justinmaitland7335]

The whismer line is the original bidoof.

[@lunch7213]

Nincada vs nosepass fight “Leech Life deals decent damage” *Literally does 2 dmg outside of a lucky crit*

[@keeperplays]

I did also say "all things considered" and, considering it was resisted and against +6 defense, I will absolutely take the 2 damage!

[@majicks.musick]

Master ball on Relicanth = flex

[@jmb594]

Great video like the others! Glacia was so unforgiving.

[@keeperplays]

Guess you could say she needs to... Cool down.

[@jonathanbrilliansugiarto4954]

This video is great quality! can't believe you don't have more subscribers

[@keeperplays]

Thank you!

[@beanceline]

ninjask is my favorite pokemon! i love bug types! theyre an acquired taste though, not easy to find merch of. 😅

[@keeperplays]

Bug types are my favorite too! Durant has been a personal fave of mine since Gen 5 released. What I wouldn't give for an army of Durant plushies...

[@johnsgoodboy]

> kanaya fan > likes bug type mons yup that tracks lol

[@EnderBoy_9]

This is the best Pokémon video I’ve ever seen

[@ALEXNHERO]

Now you gotta take them to the battle frontier and try to win some 😂

[@keeperplays]

I DON'T HAVE ANY TEAM LEFT, ALEX. WE'VE LOST SO MUCH.

[@aappaapp6627]

Nice video!

[@BasketOfPuppies642]

I keep wanting to use an Exploud in my Emerald nuzlockes, but they keep dying to the dumbest shit before hitting that final evo.

[@keeperplays]

Loudred is a funky monkey and keeping him alive is some kind of twisted game.

[@JJRedy]

Seviper is s tier in my heart.

[@Jizzjunkyard]

YAYYY LOVE THESE

[@tycoonraptor7052]

I knew Nincada was gonna dominate Nosepass as soon as I saw it because I've used it to do the same on a normal run 💀

[@keeperplays]

I don't know if it "dominated," but coming out on top against a rock in a race against time certainly has to have some kind of positive merit to it.

[@AnyThingWorx]

Crawdaunt being here is bit of a stretch imo. Its stat distribution is obviously not the greatest but it still has a good special attack stat and decent bulk. Just my thoughts.

[@keeperplays]

Lack of speed and special bulk is what holds him back the most, especially in this gen. I think that would have been most obvious in the Elite 4 but... Well y'know.

[@AnyThingWorx]

That's fair, but it's still a good Pokemon in its own right and calling it an F tier encounter is strange imo@@keeperplays

[@yaboyrobin]

Pokemon X/Y would be very interesting to see you try- using things like Aromatisse or like Vivillion while banning megas and such would be pretty fun to watch.

[@keeperplays]

I like this idea! I haven't played X/Y in so long...

[@cooperhebert4816]

I would very much appreciate a original GEN one or GEN two Playthru of F teir Pokémon from red blue, yellow gold, silver or crystal

[@joeyteter9383]

I know I’m new here but I’m enjoying my time so far. But I’d also love to see you do an F-tier nuzlocke in Alola or Kalos. I love those games

[@keeperplays]

I'm so glad to hear it! I've had a lot of requests for a gen 7 game. They tend to be really tedious to nuzlocke even normally, but I might have to consider it!

[@joeyteter9383]

@@keeperplays that would be cool! But yea I can understand that, there are quite a bit of cut scenes. I enjoy them for the challenge and the change up with the trials. Plus I really enjoy the Pokémon that were added in that generation

[@keeperplays]

@@joeyteter9383 Palossand and Toucannon are two of my favorites, so I'm a big gen 7 advocate myself haha.

[@joeyteter9383]

@@keeperplays haha love me some Palossand and Toucannon! Komala, Dhelmise and Palossand were my favorites to come out of Alola

[@keeperplays]

@@joeyteter9383 I love Dhelmise too! Unique Ghost-types are always the coolest.

[@AmberLB93]

i don't think exploud is that bad, it just grows really slow and requires grinding to keep up to level. it's an okay normal type and hits hard with strength through most of the game. also has some nice special coverage. i usually use an exploud in hoenn playthroughs for its versatility. its pre evolutions are F tier though

[@keeperplays]

It really suffers from the lack of physical/special split in generation 3, but I otherwise agree.

[@CBATOTHINKOFANAME1]

Well put together video for someone with so few subs man, got mine now 👍

[@keeperplays]

Thank you!

[@dpaulsen2]

Havoc is not wrecked, it is wrought. You wreak havoc. Good vid tho

[@keeperplays]

Why I wroughta...

[@Keydicken]

It makes me sad to see how bad Dustox is since from my own experience, it's an early game carry (by early game I mean basically until the 6th gym)

[@keeperplays]

Dustox genuinely isn't that bad! It has a great tanky movepool and lots of disruptive options. Really fun pokemon.

[@nickpkmntalos614]

We need the Steven fight

[@babycinnam0n]

f tier for YOU, my baby corsola will always be s tier

[@ItsFireTiger]

I'm surprised you didn't play the Emerald Trashlocke game. Its basically this but the starters are replaced with Sunkern, Sligma, Goldeen. All encounters are basically the same but a bit more expanded as if its the National Dex.

[@keeperplays]

Emerald Trashlocke and Garbage Green will both eventually make their way onto the channel! But I'd want to do them without encounter restrictions, since they're already built with that in mind, in a way.

[@Xanderqwerty123]

Im embarrassed to say that it took me until castform to get the name scheme

[@keeperplays]

Don't be scared...

[@King-Faithymns]

You should have fought Steven too

[@keeperplays]

Hmm, bonus video maybe?

[@HaisaySasaki]

Even in RSE I think crawdaunt was decently good

[@prespres5059]

Ninjask ???? He's perfect

[@thohillesland]

holy, i remember seeing FlygonHG's Emerald tier list, that thing is so wack.

[@keeperplays]

He had a personal vendetta against Exploud, absolutely hilarious.

[@thohillesland]

@@keeperplays "Its completely screwed by the Physical/Special split" What do you mean?????? It has base 91 in both its attacking stats, what are you even talking about? Then he proceeds to put Spinda in C tier, which has both a worse movepool, and is also worse than Exploud in every single stat. I would even argue that Spinda is a worse pokemon than Loudred....

[@goodish9765]

How is Dustox F but Beautifly isn’t💀

[@keeperplays]

Absorb certainly would have made that first gym a lot easier.

[@goodish9765]

@@keeperplays Sure, but Dustox gets protect, moonlight, and toxic which are all usefull mid and even late game. It's useful against Watson, walls Norman with protect, and can put in work against Juan, all things Beautifly cannot do.

[@keeperplays]

@@goodish9765 Oh totally agreed, Dustox is nasty. Not a clue why pChal ranked it so low. But as I said in the video, not complaining when there's so few other options!

[@washingmashine921]

Also day one of knowing there's that secret area north of Roxxanes gym town

[@keeperplays]

Right??

[@Siniquitous]

You could try to do a baby pokemon run, those are usually considered to be pretty bad pokemon

[@keeperplays]

Availability is the most limiting thing for baby pokemon, I think. You could probably do this in Platinum, maybe HGSS? But they're harder to make a full team out of in most games.

[@VaellinTheBard]

My darling Nincada is S tier to me. But hey if it gets a nincad in the run Ill take it

[@sketchydude8431]

Honestly Beautifly and Dustox arent that bad Theyre not good, god no, but theyre decent for a playthrough. Beautifly's power is decent (especially after the physical special split with moves like Bug Buzz, Giga Drain and Hurricane) And Dustox's special and physical bulk is decent, especially with its defensive typing.

[@christopherholladay1015]

ALL HAIL KING PHOTO 👑 🪲

[@arowosayetomilola6101]

Ok 1st of all Craudaunt is not a bad Pokemon so is Exploud because not only is their design cool but their power is also incredible 👌👌 I've used both of them before and they were very dominant but the rest of them are trash 😂😂😂

[@darthymir951]

Exploud is awesome 👌

[@mackowens7234]

Yu should re do this challenge but only use first evolutions of 3 line evolution pokemon.

[@keeperplays]

Little cup run!

[@papashook]

I have to say this…. Obviously an F Tier list Nuzlocke is going to work, because you’re using a whole party. FlygonHG and Scott only use the one Pokémon in all battles, that’s why they ranked them F. If they ranked say Dustox as an F, that’s because they only used Dustox for the whole play through and it was bad.

[@keeperplays]

I think it's more to do with, given the encounters available on that route, this is considered the worst one you could get. Like Crawdaunt isn't bad, but compared to the other encounters you could be using over it, or other pokemon that fill its same role, it's simply outclassed. It's a fun restrictive nuzlocke challenge that isn't necessarily supposed to follow a garbage encounter table.

[@princesspid9471]

So does that mean Illumise isn't in F-Tier? Since you encountered one and that apparently didn't count as your first encounter for that respective route.

[@keeperplays]

In the lists I referenced, Illumise was not considered F-Tier. Likely because of its better support movepool, Encore and Wish most importantly, followed by stuff like Moonlight, Charm, and Flatter. The only Pokemon on that route in my viable encounters was Volbeat, which is why, even as a 1% chance, he was my guaranteed encounter. Funny how that works out, haha.

[@nill1584]

Seviper is one of my favs but god is it trash LOL

[@pikminman13]

mr. craw is not f tier because he is mr. craw and so he is mr. craw tier. at least he gets better in later gens, some of those mons dont get that lucky.

[@lk-pheo962]

Exploud is bad? I never really considered it a bad Pokémon.

[@keeperplays]

No good ability, lackluster typing, middling stats, and in gen 3 is really hurt by the lack of physical/special split. It's a fine pokemon for in-game runs in modern games, but it's pretty outclassed otherwise. Until we get our Normal/Dragon regional variant! One day...

[@CyberchaoX]

Nah, it makes sense. Make the strong Pokémon easy to get, and the rare Pokémon just trophies.

[@keeperplays]

I get the idea, but I guess I'm not entirely on board with the idea of trophy Pokemon. In a game about battling, where else would you get the chance to show them off if they're not good in battle?

[@originalgaige5619]

Exploud has a place in my heart because he was part of the OG team my first playthrough of Emerald. That was almost 20 years ago.

[@Horatio786]

Wait, is Exploud F-tier? I guess without Boomburst it's outclassed by others, but still. It's on my usual Hoenn team (albeit the weakest link).

[@keeperplays]

With all Normal moves being Physical in Gen 3, not having any STAB really hurts him. He's a lot better in the remakes!

[@Horatio786]

@@keeperplays But its base Attack and base Special Attack are the same? I thought it was meant to be a mixed attacker, like how I use Nidoking.

[@keeperplays]

Both his offensive stats are equal, but his movepool definitely leans towards Special. And since neither offensive stat is amazing (91 isn't bad, but so many offensive Pokemon have 100+), and he doesn't have any decent ability to back it up (Nidoking having Sheer Force is a huge reason why his Special movepool is so good, even if his Attack stat of 102 is higher), on top of not really having the bulk or typing to take a lot of hits, nor the Speed to make up for it... I love Exploud, don't get me wrong! And he was awesome in this playthrough! But he definitely got the short end of the stick when it comes to the genepool of Pokemon, haha.

[@kylekeich8460]

yup

[@firebeetlethestagbeetle3901]

Why does dustox, exploud, cradawnt, volbeat, ninjask, magcargo, castform and relicanth in f tier!?

[@keeperplays]

It's all a conspiracy so that this run could happen shhh.

[@firebeetlethestagbeetle3901]

@@keeperplays conspiracy?... wdym?

[@lucaspereira9722]

Ninjask and Exploud cannot be F tier 😮

[@Minshifu_911]

Can you make a gen 2 one?

[@keeperplays]

I love gen 2! I've had some requests for HGSS too, not sure I'd do both, but it all depends on what Pokemon are ultimately available.

[@darianclark3980]

Whoa Whoa! Ninjask isn't F Tier!! Plus Golbat can evolve so it shouldn't have been counted. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[@keeperplays]

And yet they were in the lists I referenced, so count them I did!

[@cooperhebert4816]

Why does bro have S tier humor, but F teir amount of subs, that’s not right Bro is way funnier than silph and so far has played a lot better than the more popular Nuzlockers! You keep watering the plant bro it’ll be a mighty bean stock one day!

[@keeperplays]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@mattiasandersson8693]

Golbat line can learn fly in gen 3, what do u mean??!!!

[@keeperplays]

Crobat does, but not Golbat!

[@codyevans6032]

Exploud is great

[@Madadader]

PokeTuber learns Ninjask rules

[@keeperplays]

PokeTuber confused why another PokeTuber doesn't already know that.

[@peterboyland5172]

I think the best member of the team was Tacho; baton passing boosts is just not F-tier worthy.

[@keeperplays]

Speedy Ninja Bug goes brrrrrrr

[@zyairejones1820]

These pokemon mat seem bad to some Poeple but it depends on how you use them.

[@zyairejones1820]

Your trying to get insert pokemon killed. After the battle they help you won.

[@keeperplays]

Always use the tools you're given!