Delibird Only - Pokemon Emerald - What's in the present? I think it's pain...

Playthrough Rules:
1. Only my starter in battle
2. No items in battle*
3. No glitches or exploits*
4. No Double-Team TM before level 100*
Other rules:
-- *Pokeballs are allowed in battle when I need to catch an HM user
-- I play the game at 4x game speed (238 frames per second)
-- I allow myself to manipulate my starter (IVs, nature, HP type)
-- Using the bike for movement speed increases is banned (it can be used to obtain items)
-- Saving between league members is allowed
-- If the solo Pokemon faints and I choose to blackout it counts towards my reset counter
-- HM Mules cannot use Pickup (I want to ensure that the comparison between Pokemon is as accurate as possible, this RNG would skew things.)
*Double-Team:
-- Almost every Pokemon can learn Double-Team through TM
-- Using it would centralize the meta
-- Every Pokemon would use it to overcome tough battles at lower levels
-- It raises evasion
-- It triggers the badge boost
-- Banning the TM allows Pokemon who learn it through level up to use it
-- I believe evasion is part of Pokemon and shouldn't be banned entirely
-- I don't want the videos to all be double-team spam though, that's not fun or entertaining
Illustrations
Sarina Vail: / sarinavail
Support me on Patreon
/ scottsthoughts
My Stream
/ scottsthoughtspokemon
~~Connect with me~~
Twitter
/ psychicflying
Email
[e-mail]

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

ERROR: Base Stats - in this video I showed and read Chimecho's base stats because I forgot to update them between filming that video and this one. This error is only in the narration and visuals. I was using a regular Delibird for the playthrough.

[@Jjames763]

Thanks for the clarification!

[@bananaspice1967]

Yeah, thought so lol

[@mamutepeq]

I wish Delibird had Chimecho's bst, then it'd be less awful

[@yeahbrotha3717]

As a guy who is proud to have watched every single one of your videos “damage rounding threshold” has definitely become one of your signature lines lol

[@villagemarauder]

It's like jrose's badge boost glitch but somehow even more obscure, I love it!

[@remydirt3158]

Denis

[@dislexyc]

Same as rival fivel and venomoth's type

[@tylerd1297]

@@villagemarauder or JRose and the TM for Body Slam

[@TheMoogleKing93]

Take a shot every time Scott explains damage rounding, the power of moves in his overlay or says "Alrighty then"

[@crimsoncutz8430]

A Delibird solo is like a family member whose Christmas gift to you is tickets to some event they know you don't care about but that they want to go to, knowing you'll feel guilty if you don't take them.

[@RedYDG]

That was moderately specific.

[@deadpool425fjf8]

Try having that family member who buys a gift that they would personally like, not something that you would want.

[@iantaakalla8180]

And most of the time they disguise it well enough that you think they are considerate but the few faux pas and conversations over the years make it clear they are always getting gifts for themself.

[@MrEnte3000]

Struggle is unaffected by Silk Scarf. It goes by damage type, not actual type (see Hidden Power).

[@r4vendusk]

Not to mention Struggle is also unaffected by STAB and Technician.

[@kylelundgren5133]

@@r4vendusk Up until generation 4 and beyond Struggle was affected by accuracy lowering moves such as Flash and mudslap

[@MatthewIceDragon]

You also take recoil damage from Struggle even if you have the ability Rock Head but Struggle is affected by the King's Rock where holding it can cause the flinch chance. Struggle basically ignores some rules of the game but not all which is very interesting.

[@Bl3Moze]

What a treat, a gift, a nice treat, a nice present if you will. Under Scott’s training, Delibird became like a pseudo-legendary.

[@AnemoneEnemy]

"Miss Roxanne, its that wierd kid with the penguin again."

[@Matt-no7gg]

Small correction: Hustle decreasing accuracy of physical moves by 20% means you multiply the original accuracy by 0.8x, not just subtract 20%. So a 90% accurate move would be 72% with Hustle instead of 70%

[@wheatgrowssweet]

Soo... 0% accuracy then?

[@dislexyc]

@@wheatgrowssweet no that would be focus miss' 70%

[@fahkyew7776]

@Hikari Joga Is that true? And if so, why? 72% is equivalent to 183.6/255, which I could see being rounded down to 183/255, making it 71.76% accurate. I don't know much about how Pokemon calculates odds, but it seems weird that it would round 72% down to 70%.

[@slowdown8at606]

If its not 100% accurate its 0%

[@Matt-no7gg]

@@wheatgrowssweet I mean

[@SquirrelGamingProductions]

Now that I've watched the whole thing, I have tips for you to streamline & optimize 1: you can definitely beat Steven without Double Team. I'd argue it was possible at level 95 semi-consistently but only if you were using Hustle 2: your nature was probably the best choice. Idk if you used calcium but if you did then you literally need the +SpA to guarantee the Blizzard one-shots vs Steven. If you didn't use Calcium and can guarantee the 1-shots without a +SpA nature then you should swap to the +Atk/-SpDf nature to optimize your earlygame Hustle damage even further 3. Run HP Ground instead of HP Electric. It'll should allow you to two-hit Metagross consistently, so you're just waiting for a crit or a missed Meteor Mash. Hustle-boosted Sharp Beak STAB Fly or Silk Scarf Return should solve your bulky water-type problems from Juan until Wallace 4: Get Blizzard & Nevermeltice earlier & use it for the Tate & Liza battle to make that way less level-dependent, since it hits both opponents. Yes that cuts effective power in half but since you're hitting both opponents before they can setup Calm Mind or Light Screen, and the first 2 are weak to it, you'll be able to make it to the Lunatone & Solrock with less damage & the opponents being unable to move as often 5: Speaking of levels, you'll still want to grind to 95 so you may as well hit borderline every single trainer. In fact, when you swap to Hustle you'll be able to move through the earlygame as such a lower level that Pokemon like Wattson's will heavily damage you compared to this playthrough. Keep your same levels roughly as this playthrough and those fights should be consistent 6: Your biggest issue I noticed was you were consistently struggling to get level-appropriate 1-shots & 2-shots. Hustle would've solved that, & you could still use Rest. Sorry, Hustle isn't going to be consistent but it's way better to have a 80% possibility of victory (or 64% if you need a 2-hit) than a 0% possibility. Get comfortable with risk using this type of Pokemon. I'd predict a sub-3-hr time, like 2:50 if you're not incredibly unlucky vs Roxanne & Wattson. Nobody else except Juan, Wallace & Steven have walling potential and you can just outlevel the bulky waters until Fly / Return 1 or 2 hits. You'll need maybe three more damage rounding thresholds entering the league for that 7: don't skip the explanation for damage rounding thresholds. We longtime viewers know it by heart and still appreciate you saying the lines

[@iantaakalla8180]

Good news: he did not use vitamins. Perhaps it’s because the most consistent vitamin part is in Lilycove, far too late to be useful for Delibird unless he uses the EV-reducing berries, which he also will not use. He also cannot get any Calcium in the wild until Route 124 at best. Therefore, Scott will either have to grind for special attacking EVs or waste time with getting and then growing lots of EV-reducing berries, and then grinding for max SpA EVs. Either way, it’s not going to make a significant speed-up except with extreme luck not just garnered by Hustle even if Delibird just struggles to one-hit and two-hit many important Pokémon.

[@shadowtitanx3962]

@@iantaakalla8180 You can get Vitamins as early as Slateport, but good luck getting enough $$ for even 1. Let alone a huge stack.

[@iantaakalla8180]

Well then, if he does this again he is either money grinding or EV grinding but since Delibird is hopeless that would actually be an improvement since it would take constant 24 hours to defeat Steven Stone with Delibird without resets, and Delibird sits at the Pryce tier of being irredeemably slow and useless.

[@maxspecs]

Hail + Blizzard’s also an option if you can survive a hit from Skarmory, that chip damage is no joke and it bypasses accuracy entirely.

[@bp3366]

Bruh

[@tiemen9095]

This was the perfect opportunity to show off your knowledge of the game and obtain Ice Beam before Wattson. It is a challenge to pull off but not impossible!

[@wideright7567]

how do you do it?

[@nihildwo4874]

@@wideright7567 game corner gambling lol

[@tiemen9095]

@@nihildwo4874 you don't need to gamble. You can buy it for ¥80,000. Look up all hidden item locations and sell as much as possible. Fight all trainers. Sell TMs you receive and don't need. This can get you to as high as 65000. Lastly is important that in the early game, you do not fight the trainer Class "Lady" just before the forest and "Rich Boy" just after the forest, nor after the cut bush west of Verdanturf tunnel. Their Zigzagoons are holding Nuggets, so by fighting them after you learn Thief (the 1 to you don't sell) you can get another ¥20000. So you have 5000 to spare, for things you don't sell. The last thing you can do is grind Thief against wild Gulpin as they can hold Big Pearls (3750 each). But they have Sticky Hold 50% of the time so that's a slow grind. Note that with a fainted Nincada in the lead of your party, you can increase the odds from 5% to hold the item to 20%.

[@mr.wardensworkshop1579]

The amount of visual information you are able to convey clearly is amazing. Your videos are top tier quality.

[@MortimerFolchert]

The software for this is called "Gamehook". He has a Link to it in the description. :D

[@YargyTheLandPirate]

Think those Delibird base stats at the beginning were off. Love this holiday content!

[@RaycrowX]

Agreed, the bird’s stats are actually quite a bit worse than that, 65 SpA for example

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Pinned comment

[@InciniumVGC]

Personally I would have gone with Hustle, you add more resets due to some inconsistency in the first part of the game, but once you get Aerial Ace, you can bypass some of the drawbacks of Hustle and use a STAB move that doesn't miss and hits decently hard thanks to Hustle. IIRC Aerial Ace is Winona's TM? So yeah later game, but still, at least you can use Rest if you need it or use a special attack.

[@weaselrider]

What a hell of a run. I expected you to throw in the towel so many times with how painful that run was. Thanks for all the extra content, Scott! Happy holidays.

[@glennvandierendonck3771]

gonna be a cakewalk after roxanne, because hidden power Edit: didnt know HP was locked behind Watson, expected HP ground.

[@ScottE-2]

To answer your question regarding Focus Punch: only if the user is interrupted with damage from the foe before it can finish its move will the move stop. So if you say used a move like Present that has a chance to heal, it will land that focus punch because the game will treat that heal like it would a healing item activation. Thus you get decked with a focus punch. To answer your question regarding struggle being influenced by the Silk Scarf... not quite. HOWEVER the Silk Scarf WILL boost confusion damage to the user by 10% through gens 2 and 3 and 20% in gen 4. However this gets removed in gen 5 onward since it doesn't make sense that'd happened. It does not influence the power of struggle since it is programmed to function similarly to the move Curse. Because if it were a proper normal type move, the move Electrify would cause it to deal electric type damage but does not. However, items like the Choice Band and Life Orb or any stat buffs will influence its strength. And while not covered in gen 4, in gen 5 onward technician DOES boost it to be a little bit stronger never missing. Hope that answers your curiousity.

[@ScottE-2]

What a rough run with it being the first to force the use of Double Team.

[@TheMoogleKing93]

Hustle + Aerial Ace is such a good combo late game, I'd probably have gone with it. Your average damage is 20% higher than normal even factoring in the misses.

[@retloclive9118]

Spoilers: Pokemon that force you to fall back on Double Team at level 100 should automatically be shoved to the bottom of the rankings list.

[@tylamcgilverson3923]

No way. It's a legit strategy. Just because it's bother some doesn't mean their are counters.

[@owlflame]

@@tylamcgilverson3923 I can’t tell if you’re serious.

[@brendancrowley3085]

It's a redundant statement regardless. Pokémon that need to rely on it would already have accumulated enough time to force them at the bottom regardless, and the bottom rankings would naturally fall into "who can make it the furthest with DT"

[@MattGOG666]

@@tylamcgilverson3923 very L take

[@rjthepoet500]

I’m not going to like this post because… nice

[@Mr.Not.Perfect]

Thanks for all the content this month, it was great! Happy holidays!

[@gabr.7878]

I do absolutely adore delibird, I never have got the chance to use it, but the design is just so festive and cute!

[@ndb3rt]

Merry Christmas Scott! Thank you for all of the content, hope you get some relaxing days off!

[@blazedehart2748]

This was absolutely excruciating to watch. You’re such a trooper man! Congrats!

[@neuchatelxanax]

Was expecting more something like Aerial Ace, Focus Punch, Substitute, Protect/ Ice Beam/ Rest/ Double Team

[@kingcygnus]

Merry Christmas, Scott! Can I just say that the Emerald gym leader animation screens are SO FREAKING GOOD. I particularly love the sleepy Numel and my absolute favorite is when the Wailord falls out of the sky.

[@Deez-Master]

Thanks for such a great round of vids to close out the year :)

[@jayeraine]

I like the use of the term "HM Friend". Much cuter/ friendlier than "HM Mule" or "HM Slave".

[@gambleralex5083]

Merry Christmas Scott thanks for December's amazing month of content

[@Offbreed309]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, Scott. Thanks for all your content this year!

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

You're welcome!

[@zeroyon4562]

Merry Christmas Scott! Thanks for the videos!

[@grahamcoombe5461]

That was one heck of a run, very interesting to watch!

[@AdamMura]

Been watching all your videos for a year or so now and never commented, just wanted to say keep up the great work and really appreciate the consistent videos in December! Especially since Christmas is my least favourite time of year I love that you can distract me for an hour a day

[@TJF588]

Do you, too, endure the blitzkriengle of retail employment?

[@AdamMura]

@@TJF588 fortunately that part of my soul has not been stolen quite yet haha

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

The holidays can be rough. I totally get it. Thanks for commenting and sharing some positivity with me! I hope my videos did the same for you :)

[@joostvanweerden5143]

Thanks for the loads of content dude!

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

Yes. Between Scott with all his Thoughts and J with all his Roses (all 11 of them) and the dude that only challenges RBY as well as the occasional appearances from Andrew Davis and a rather squidgy fellow and the Matt that leads gyms, this has been an exciting and fun last month or so

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

Speaking of which. Both Andrew and Scott are using Delibirds today and both came up today... Although it's 2G vs 3G, coincidence?

[@BobbyBoy1866]

Legit. I’m dying over the title lol Merry Christmas!!

[@turbotortoise7336]

Thanks for presenting us with this run. It was well delivered.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Nice comment!

[@dyneeoh]

Thanks for these videos Scott, I’ve loved your content from the first video I saw, so happy in December to get a new one every day! You’re the man!

[@nightfan1983]

Delibird certainly delivered a lot of pain, unfortunately more to Scott than its opponents. All the more, Merry Christmas, Scott and Fiancé 🎄

[@martinprince8253]

Congrats on 50k!

[@brandonroyal1255]

Merry Christmas Scott love the videos man hope you and the future wifey are doing well!

[@icedcovfefe6580]

Love the video! Definitely subscribing. One thing I'll mention though is that I indeed don't know what level rounding is. This is the first video I ever saw of yours, so I know you've said it in past videos, but I'm a new viewer and I'm not going to stop this one just to go back and find it!

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Yeah, I’ve explained it a lot. Can’t do it in every video since it’s quite complicated. Essentially, while damage always increases between levels it gets bigger boosts at certain levels.

[@Noman69420]

Damn Scott doing some man shit on Christmas Eve, delibird what a bad pokemon. Thanks for the ridiculous amount of work you've done to entertain us. You the real deal CHAD!

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

You’re welcome! One more video tomorrow! Then it’s time for a break.

[@friedrichritter1978]

enormous respect for the man who endures the pain of doing a Delibird run for Christmas

[@djkates1916]

My best guess on some of the AI's weirder move choices, which is combining a little bit of conjecture with info I've gleaned from other comments about the Gen 3 AI. Basically, the AI "role-plays" each of its damaging attacks once in the process of choosing a move. Makes sense, but the thing is that during these role-plays, it rolls the RNG for crits, misses, and damage ranges the same way it would if it were actually using the move. This can lead to skewed results if the AI happens to roll a miss, a crit, or a damage range that is unusually high or unusually low. In the case of the Flannery fight, the AI probably rolled a miss on Overheat in the "role-play" portion of the move selection process.

[@codypaul7136]

I love that you been doing gen 3 can't wait for fire red left green🥰

[@Superius777]

Delibird is cute, but I never use him. it's surprising that his paradox form is so amazing though

[@woolum123456789]

Woo woke up to this awesome Christmas present !!!

[@raulnatokapa]

Merry Xmas Scotty! I love you!

[@danclaydon6588]

Merry Christmas Scott!! ❤️

[@TB64967]

Love seeing these back sprites of these underused pokemon

[@jakebarton8897]

Scott! You uploaded today too?! I have so many videos to go back and find Denis on :) happy holidays and thanks so much for all the content! You da real mvp

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

You’re welcome ;)

[@wideright7567]

Deliberd might only learn presents but it certainly also apparently knows nightmare and curse. Great video

[@rainbowfish420]

Nice video man ,Holy talk about hard and frustrating hahahahaha keep up the good work

[@Camurgladius]

Genuine props to Wattson for the tactical withdrawal so the Manectric could be in the back to priority hax another W.

[@SpiritofFive]

Merry Christmas, Scott and friends!

[@resonae17]

nice to see the double team clause finally coming in to play

[@myggmastaren3365]

Haven't seen the video yet, but I just know that the first gymleader (Roxanne) will be hell with the 4x rock attacks

[@kevinsips3658]

Butterfree in the Christmas hat looks so cute! A+ video from the first second lol

[@manuelcheeser8935]

Merry Christmas Scott!

[@andersonantunesdeleu8591]

Wow Scott, Delibird struggled really a lot in this run! Thank you for the 🎁! I really enjoyed this run, you know what I like Delibird in spite of its low stats. It has such a cool design! I guess you find that too, at least you seem to like Delibird too! Hey dude, please could you play with Kyogre? It's gonna be amazing! Hey let me tell you just one more thing, I love the game soundtrack you play alongside your challenge, it's a cheerful music! I thank God for all the fun you bring us all! I'm really glad you are getting better and better in producing this content! You can be proud of yourself!😉

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

I've got Kyogre planned for late-2023!

[@someguy4252]

nicely done scott, sorry it seems all that was in the present was bombs... but i hope your next run does better, i swear it seemed like you would reset enough to fill out a pokedex but you managed to win despite a 4x weakness some real underdog stuff there also the little animations were nice too esp the wailord falling on that one gym leaders team...

[@CG-ni1qq]

Wow, you really went the distance with this challenge.

[@drachenklaue07]

Merry Christmas Scott ❤

[@anxiouspatsfan4050]

Thanks for the bday gift. Have a great holidays

[@peterrealar2.067]

When you listed all the gym leaders that kick your Delibird's ass after Roxanne was what I needed after a very depressing night. Thank you. I laughed.

[@iantaakalla8180]

And the only two that don’t are Winona and Juan and Juan was a function of overleveling and luck.

[@dalanwanbdiska6542]

Rip deacon john wanbdiska. Love you brother. Go in peace. Ill see you again. Merry xmas and happy newyears.

[@shimauta1941]

Great video man.

[@germannightcoremelody8492]

Great Video, would love to see a Versus of the 3 Kanto startes in Jotho

[@michaelabrown7226]

Always keep that style u use showing old-school and homemade art right before gyms or elite 4 and other boss battles u show art of your enemys its my favorite been watching u since your first video ill watch till your last

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

[@jman12g73]

Happy holidays. Lord looking up struggle was interesting it didn’t mention silk scarf but mentioned it isn’t affected by normal gem, but that’s gen 5.

[@ShotofCyanide1]

I love this video. Thank you for your suffering. ❤️

[@mimiccave]

Present is the gift that keeps on giving

[@TheDanishGuyReviews]

Santa Birdy, hurry down the chimney tonight ...

[@flutter5373]

I never thought I'd see the day that Rest couldn't bail you out

[@Kaiji...]

I can already feel the pain before even watching.

[@n64_kfp]

When the TM32 rule was originally explained, I wondered to myself which Pokemon would be the first to use the TM. Today, this was answered.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Yup

[@teledox9476]

I'd recommend picking up some Zigzagoons for pickup strats so you'd have infinite potions and would be able to build up money as well which would be nice so you'd be able to buy Ice beam right away

[@wpeniche]

And rare candies too!

[@shockolatechip7844]

Also a decent amount of hms learning

[@teledox9476]

@@wpeniche In emerald you wouldn't be able to get rare candies till your Zigzagoons are level 20 or higher

[@ScottE-2]

@@teledox9476 The reason he doesn't tend to use pick up is because it would be considered an exploit and cheapens the challenge unless stated otherwise in which it is permitted. He also cannot use any of his other Pokémon, the only way he'd reach this is if he caught a bunch of Linoone that can range between 23-25.

[@Gibstack]

@@ScottE-2 To me if he uses pokemon like Abra to speed up the game (using teleport to go back to the PC) then using Pickup is a valid strategy to go faster. The only exception is obviously HM users because they are always required to beat the game; ideally you would not need to catch any other pokemon to be able to do the challenge.

[@Raine618]

Fun fact! Some very early trainers before the between Norman and Roxanne have pokemon that are holding gold nuggets (the ones right before and after the forest if i recall correctly) , should you ever want a little extra money for vitamins or whatever you can skip them and come back when you have thief

[@emilydonegan3208]

Santa Bird! Delibird has it rough lol. It had one of my favorite mini games in Pokémon Stadium 2 though! And it’s very cute! It’s sprite in this game is weird though lol. Also, I always get thrown off by how the boy character starts in the other house in this game, always gets me!

[@nintai6656]

I can’t wait for you to do a run with a Pokémon that learns the move extrasensory. You will have a new favorite attack for sure.

[@Harry-mf6rq]

Unless that Pokémon also learns psychic then extrasensory is kind of redundant

[@nintai6656]

@@Harry-mf6rq not really, extrasensory has a wide variety of advantages over psychic but only 10 less base power. In runs like this there is a clear winner and it isn’t psychic. For competitive battling psychic is absolutely better but not here.

[@RezeedTheDataspirit]

This is actually one of the few runs I could possibly ever ask for.😄 That said, you could have gotten an ice move from the game corner as soon as you could reach Mauville the first time. Granted, it might have taken a bit to get ice beam that way. It might have ironically trimmed your time quite of a bit. That and maybe a different hidden power element could have beneficial.

[@cerberyn]

so... another attempt then? :)

[@jordanthejq12]

You can't afford it. Match Call doesn't unlock until beating Norman and there is nowhere near enough cash available to that point for 4,000 coins. You have to gamble for it. Now, would hitting the roulette tables be less time-consuming than grinding to level 45? Honestly, probably.

[@letsmakeit110]

@@jordanthejq12 youd also have to factor in the time spent grinding somewhere else anyway for e4 etc... Honestly this sounds like a nightmare to "optimize" how do you even decide on a level for present just simulate a million battles?

[@RezeedTheDataspirit]

@@jordanthejq12 That latter part is actually where I was getting at. Gambling the coins needed would probably be less time consuming than grinding.

[@skeetermania3202]

@@jordanthejq12 Is that account for Nuggets you can get from rich trainers?

[@vanochristian7639]

This is a great reason why iron bundle exists.

[@Badger_666]

Did you modify your Delibird to get these stats? It’s special attack is only 65 iirc

[@ShadowtheYouTuber523]

It is but attack is 55.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Pinned comment

[@najxoslamp2963]

"Damage rounding threshold" is like one of your catchphrases now

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

It is

[@passtheyaoi]

this is a micro-optimization, but if you have supereffective move and a neutral damage move and both are 1 shots, the neutral damage move is better because it skips the "It's Super Effective!" text. i hear pkmn speedrunners mention it and ur winona fight reminded me of that

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

I love this comment. Thank you so much for saying this. When I mention this in the future, just know, you're the person that put it in my brain.

[@LetsRot40]

20:42 Marill the HM friend... That's how you know he's a real pokemon trainer 👌😌

[@dunbrevur8185]

You raided my twitch stream the other day when I was streaming Pokémon emerald. Thanks for the love!

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Were you done right when I raided? I felt really bad haha

[@dunbrevur8185]

@@ScottsThoughtsPokemon yeah lol. All good man!

[@1stclasswarior]

It's me! "Leaves-long-comments-on-Emerald-videos-guy!" You did good this time, especially remembering how early you can pick up Ice Beam. Your uses of Thief in the early game were really smart too. Good job. I have a few pieces of advice for you. I think for sue you should have gone for Hustle. It doesn't effect your special moves so Ice Beam and Hidden Power would still be equally effective. Meanwhile, you would have significantly more effective uses of Present and most importantly - Struggle - which you used a lot early on. You could have taken Roxanne out at a much lower level if Delibird were a an effective +1 ATK. In addition you could have used Aerial Ace and gotten the ATK boost, but with no drawback. This is because of how Hustle works. It raises your ATK *stat*, but doesn't modify the base power of your moves, while also modifying the accuracy of your moves. This means that moves like Aerial Ace which ignore the accuracy check use your boosted ATK stat in damage calulation, but still ignore the accuracy check stage of calculation. This would have been far better than Fly as it's much more damage efficient on a per-turn basis (60 BP x 1.5 x 2 uses over 2 turns) vs (70 BP x 1.5 x 1 use over 2 turns). This would have made a big difference. Second, when training for Roxanne, you could have started in the Rusturf Tunnel. This is because of gen 3 mechanics. This is the generation that brings in the 510 EV / 252 in a stat system. Therefore, you need to think about where your EVs are going because you **will** hit the 510 cap over the course of your playthrough much quicker than you think. By training in the Rusturf Tunnel, which has a 100% encounter rate on Whismur, you will gain 1 HP EV per battle. This has a few benefits; the first is that you can be sure your EVs are at least half-way going into a stat that will always be useful to you for difficult battles, when your level and badge boosts are enough to overpower the majority of fights in the game. The second is that Delibird is using Struggle a lot early on, which costs HP to use in the form of recoil. With a higher HP stat, you can use it more effectively as you lose a lower % of your max HP when you attack. You'd have also survived hits against Roxanne and Wattson with more HP, too, Maybe that one time he switched out his 1HP Manectric, if you had 252 HP EVs, you'd have had enough HP to live his Quick Attack? Other people have left other constructive advice that I could also repeat, but I see no reason to do that.. I'm looking forward to your next run! This one was really good, it also required a lot of nuanced understanding that you're building towards.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Thank you so much for leaving such a detailed comment! I’ll work hard to incorporate these into future runs. Especially the advice around a the EV system. My thinking is really adapted to the stat experience system so it’s taking some time for me to become acquainted with how I need train in gen3.

[@1stclasswarior]

@Scott's Thoughts that's okay ,I guessed it might be the case. Regardless of being used to the other system, you've improved a lot since your earliest Emerald videos and this is just another part of that journey. Delibird is a difficult run, in part because of the deep understanding of the game mechanics it requires. There are tiny nuances like Struggle being physical and therefore boosted by Hustle that apply to Delibird but not other runs. You're doing great, Scott.

[@DanBottiglieri]

Shoulda gone for Hustle: Vital Spirit is only better if you are already consistently OHKOing, which you aren't. It also has great synergy with Arial Ace. For instance, at Lv28, you always 2HKO'd the Geodudes with Struggle, whereas you had an 80% chance to OHKO them with Hustle (and a 64% to 2HKO Nosepass).

[@iantaakalla8180]

But given Hustle, it basically will take the same amount of time, in-game time, level, and the usage of Double Team. Hustle will not help; lack of power will be traded for lack of accuracy.

[@DanBottiglieri]

@@iantaakalla8180 That isn't true due to the way average damage works; it's a bigger buff to damage than it nerfs accuracy. It turns 2HKOs into 1HKOs and 3HKOs into 2HKOs 80% and 64% of the time respectively: it has a much smaller chance to turn 1HKOs into 2HKOs (20%) and 2HKOs into 3HKOs (4%-20%). Yeah there are scenarios where it's a nerf: for example, when you would have 1HKO anyway or you're doing 51-65% damage (or other ranges) where the extra power isn't helping. But with Ice Beam and Aerial Ace eventually as your most powerful options, you can easily skirt around the accuracy problem.

[@iantaakalla8180]

That is correct. However, Delibird is frail. It will be more likely to get kills on Pokémon it feels expected to kill, but a miss means the Pokémon will kill it back and until it gets Aerial Ace and Ice Beam that does not change anything. At least Wallace and Steven become slightly easier. And 20% is not minimal when Delibird is already a frail Pokémon that needs to try plenty of times, like against Roxanne and Wattson.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

I did not consider the synergy with Aerial Ace!

[@iantaakalla8180]

Also, Aerial Ace is not early meaning it won’t help against Roxanne or Wattson (and even then Aerial Ace don’t do great against either). The save would be against Wallace and Steven Stone, and by that point not by much.

[@NChase459]

Great video! BTW you can get ice beam from the game corner before you fight Watson. It is not resisted by any of his Pokémon.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

You just need way more money than you have at that point in the game

[@pokemontrainerharryghost]

Err... Those Delibird base stats are wrong. 😅 Other than that, great video man. It's always fun seeing Gen 3 content. ✨

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

They are Chimecho's (which I filmed before this haha)

[@TheEutrophic]

Not gonna lie, for basically all of my childhood I thought that jaun and Wallace were the same person, because I didn't pay attention to their dialogs. It's only until I started watching all your play throughs I figured it out.

[@dogcatmousecow533]

I would love to see some egg move gimmick pokemon runs. I know there's a lot of interesting egg move sets in Gen 2 and 3, those were the ones I played the most of.

[@pbentle1990]

I love present for its quirkiness. It’s like “hey here’s a gift, it’ll mostly likely hurt, but it also couldn’t hurt at all. Teehee”

[@Speedrunner0218]

My theory on the silk scarf and struggle. Even though struggle is categorized as a normal move I don't think struggle boosts its power, since for example hidden power is categorized as a normal type move but the type of damage deals depends on your IVs and the held items can boost that type of hidden power, so in the short term, my answer is that silk scarf does not lose struggle since it deals typeless damage

[@devinmiracle7680]

Man, what a terrible run. You did awesome, but man oh man, that was brutal. Delibird is definitely in a tier of its own in my book. What’s below Bruno tier…? 😂 Great job Scott!

[@lmr4403]

It would be cool to see “future delibird” modded in Emerald as comparison 🦸🏼‍♂🎅🏻

[@Chefvonbreezy]

Aw man this is gonna be a brutal beginning 😂 lv 30 Roxanne split maybe? Came back to edit and I’d like to say I was pretty close.

[@loulou3676]

I love Delibird!

[@Anditeshordo]

This is definitely a pokemon to try again with either bred and / or event moves to start with.

[@iantaakalla8180]

And it still would not do much better.

[@ShukakuTheCrazy1]

Hustle Arial Ace, with special coverage. Win. Boom

[@Zoroarkarceus123]

While it's true that Delibird and Iron Bundle are the only Pokémon who can learn Present via level up, there are many Pokémon who get it via egg move! These Pokémon, according to Bulbapedia, are: Chansey, Pichu, Cleffa, Igglybuff, Togepi, Marill, Snubbull, Miltank, Azurill, Happiny, and Togedemaru. By event, the following Pokémon were given Present: Togekiss, Audino, Pikachu, Chansey, and Happiny Just a fun fact for the holiday season!

[@fildgebucket]

Thanks, now I need to watch Nancy Drew for the 20th time! 🤣