Hardest Challenge of the Year 2022! 🔴 Can I Beat Pokemon Emerald with ONLY Poison Moves?

[@MahDryBread]

"Why didn't you just make an army of Dustox?" It took me 3 entire days to get to level 38 just to stand a chance in that fight. Poison sting was still only doing a few points of damage. If I trained up even one extra Dustox, this video would take an entire extra week and not help me in anyway in the end.

[@fletch2772]

Haha Gulpin

[@triplecard9108]

Pickup zigzagoon wouldn't break the rules for rare candies?

[@doig_brainrot]

Bro tbh i would wait for a party of 6 dustox

[@Frederik_Bom]

Dude... SPOILERS!!

[@MahDryBread]

@@triplecard9108 I already use Zigzagoons for rare candies on runs where it's possible

[@thatpachirisuguy5861]

I feel like if you run into another situation like this in the future you should be allowed to use rare candies, saving yourself almost two days of your schedule to just grind up one Pokémon to beat one gym that you’re gonna almost immediately box sounds like a good exception to the ‘no rare candies until grinding for post game bosses’ rule. But that’s just me

[@Timmeh7o7]

Especially because there's no risk involved in grinding like there may be in a nuzlocke challenge. There is literally nothing to be gained grinding normally if you've determined that it can't currently be done; a massive amount of time can be saved by just admitting 'defeat' and using a couple Rare Candies before trying again. This, just like the Blaine team one, is a self-regulated challenge. It's as easy or hard, quick or difficult, as MDB wants it to be. That said, if time constraints are an issue, then *make it faster.* Like, I'm sorry MDB, but when you say that you spent 60 hours working on KZbin, that means it could have been many hours less by not manually grinding Pokemon for footage that won't even be seen. This is equivalent to complaining about your two-hour commute when you choose to walk rather than bike or take a train, and both those options are readily available to you. It's completely understandable if you *want* to do so, but it's self-inflicted. EDIT: He actually basically says this at 33:45 or so. I believe you should decide in the moment. If your level 20 Pokemon takes an hour to level and is clearly not going to manage until 30+, save yourself hours of your life.

[@CantThinkOfaName42]

i agree, also if MDB wants to middle ground, he can institute a max rare candy rule, say only 10 candies on a single mon, that way to help mitigate pointless grinding, but it doesn't "cheapen" the challenge aspect

[@barrybludgeon7448]

I agree but the rule would need to be only use them once the effort values are maxed. This way he isnt cheating to get those pesky special EV's later on which some pokemon need.

[@AussieRider20]

Another middle ground solution may be that he can use rare candies to catch other pokemon up to his strongest pokemons level. That way he still puts the effort in to grind but in multiple pokemon challenge runs he's not wasting hours catching weaker pokemon up. I'd also be fine if he used them once at the elite 4. Maybe a rule where he can raise the level by 1 or after every failed attempt.

[@wesleykushner8028]

Absolutely. As soon as you prove the grind is even possible, skip it

[@jdmorno]

Use the rare candies. You're not nuzlocking, so there's no element of "not paying attention oopsie my mon is dead." The candies will allow you to save time, and time saved means you have time for other things whether they be videos, projects, or more importantly free time for your own leisure.

[@pureedemise8963]

Even with nuzlocking, PChal always says just use candies. The point isn’t the grind, it’s the strategy you use to overcome the obstacles. But I agree MDB just needs to rip the band aid and use rare candies before end game to allow himself more time for other things

[@jcplay3r]

@@pureedemise8963 personally, I feel that’s cheap. yes, you can spend hours grinding on level 2 mons but no one actually does that, and imo it’s more ‘legit’ if you grind on mons on the nearest route as you do have somewhat of a risk of one fainting and thus, losing a mon. adds another layer of difficulty to a nuzlocke which makes it much more interesting imo

[@jdmorno]

@@pureedemise8963 oh no I agree with PChal. I'm just pointing out that mindless grinding death is usually the reason people give to PChal when they disagree with him. I think whoever should do whatever with their own runs. It literally doesn't affect anyone else but the person doing the run.

[@nibblitman]

Stuff like that first grind benefit no one and we all know he is stubborn enough to do the grind so let’s all agree he could sit there and do the grind and just use the candies. I mean we all know he isn’t going to do that anyway but it’s a good point.

[@ONLY_RR7]

THIS

[@mutevampire]

How about this as a compromise on rare candies before the elite 4: Rare candies can be used to bring any pokemon up to the same level as your highest level mon. That would mean some of that grind flavor, but it would release a bunch of extra time, make multiple pokemon challenges substantially more viable, and would mean that the multi mon runs you do take on don't devolve into glorified solo or duo mon runs.

[@NiklasAV]

I agree

[@JadeyCatgirl99]

This is a really good solution. I especially like the point about leveling up weak Pokémon that would otherwise go unused.

[@Vobatho]

Ohh yeah this one is a good idea for team challenges.

[@NegaSyrus5000]

The grind is pointless, especially since we're not involved in it at all. We barely even see it in the video and it would be boring if we did. It would be better if once they make it to the gym leader they can use rare candies to get the pokemon up to the gym leader's max level, and after they give it a real try if it doesn't look like they can win they can go up a few levels. No reason to take literal days to grind.

[@SephonDK]

This is a good solution imo.

[@dsproductions19]

33:24 For extreme grinds like this, especially since no difficulty, rare candies are super understandable. I'd say use them in any multi-pokemon run, as well. And about the last time you asked, at that time, people probably never expected a grind like this (I know I didn't). Just do a few at a time, try the fight a few times, then do a few more candies. That way, you can keep doing the same kind of commentary you have been, and avoid the possible scenario of "oops, I over-leveled and one-shot everything."

[@TruBluLew23]

This would actually be a real fun run in SM/USUM since you can get Salazzle with Corrosion to take on the Steel Types. I'd love to see that since you wouldn't need the extra rule and Salazzle is a fun pokemon to use!

[@Dovah_Slayer]

Yes!

[@strawberryjades]

Corrosion only allows the one with the ability to poison an opponent regardless of typing or ability, so poison moves still wouldn't effect steel types even if Salazzle used them

[@TruBluLew23]

@@strawberryjades yes but at least he'd still have a way to deal with them while using a poison type that he would most likely have on his team anyway was my point

[@Quandry1]

@@strawberryjades Outside of Generation 3 and 4 (the worst generations for poison to be used against steel types). Corrosion would allow them to be poisoned. it would just block damage moves. That's a bit different and does not block all moves. This means things like Toxic or it's like depending on what the different genrations got, and certain items the Pokemon could hold combined with certain other moves or the like all work. In Gen 2 when Steel Types first show up. Twineedle penetrates the protection and will do damage as well as potentially poison (and can flinch if you use a king's rock).

[@spegasparce1389]

It depends on how you use rare candies. Don’t immediately level to 100, and I would recommend setting a level cap at the next gym leader for team attempts so you don’t only use one Pokemon. Unless it’s like impossible to beat it at cap, then bump the cap up by a level each attempt or something so you use a full team

[@noahmejia7859]

Agreed 👍

[@BMeiome13]

I'd say go on the level cap first, if there's absolutely no chance/big RNG needed, then keep trying in intervals of 5 levels or so

[@victorpacheco6702]

This is not a hardcore nuzlocke but a "how easy can beat the game"

[@DarkEinherjar]

Steven, after realizing MDB is not even going to try: "I finally broke him."

[@CatLover-lk9gz]

Pretty sure he never even tried steven once or twice before this. NGL

[@Idiotden]

The Steven fight would be possible if this was G7 and Steven was in alola, since salazzle with corrosive. But other than that it’s impossible. Especially since salazzle is 4x weak to ground and also weak to rock

[@Idiotden]

Or use some type altering move to remove the steel type like soak

[@pulsefel9210]

@@Idiotden knowing steven he would switch it out and remove the effect.

[@DarkEinherjar]

@@Idiotden Muk and Weezing both learn Fire Blast and Seviper learns Flamethrower, so he would've had decent coverage against Skarmory and Metagross, at least. The other four are brick walls, though: Cradily and Armaldo would stall (MDB has to use poison against them) and Aggron and Claydol would murder his team.

[@DarkEinherjar]

​It's amazing how Poison Sting's poison chance is supposed to be 30%, but is actually 3% when you use it, and 300% when the AI uses it.

[@lyingcorn]

It's 30%, A.K.A the same chance for focus blast to miss

[@Garbo_trashcan]

same with bite to flinch, for you its 3% while the ai has 300%

[@matthewgallaway3675]

The game be like: Status conditions are for human players

[@robertlupa8273]

@@Garbo_trashcan And yet I've been able to consistently land 5-hit Arm Thrusts, which is 15% in Gen 5. Guess I'm just lucky. ^.^°

[@BennyR92]

@@Garbo_trashcan isn't flinching only possible if you have more Speed or something?

[@justingolds2631]

I feel that if the run is taking multiple days to make progress rare candies can be used to get over the wall as long as the run is still being challenging

[@windstar120025]

rare candies dont change the out come, just remove the senseless grind, we dont watch him do it anyway so his YT vid's lose nothing but the insanity he developes along the way, which is a good thing XD

[@598019001]

I honestly agree. As funny as it can be to watch someone lose their sanity, it ends up feeling like a big waste of time when they have to do something like this. The only difference between grinding like this and rare candies is that one means new content comes out faster. these early game grinds to beat rock gyms feels bad man

[@JuicyJenitals]

This world is rapidly passing away and I hope that you repent and take time to change before all out disaster occurs! Belief in messiah alone is not enough to grant you salvation - Matthew 7:21-23, John 3:3, John 3:36 (ESV is the best translation for John 3:36) if you believed in Messiah you would be following His commands as best as you could. If you are not a follower of Messiah I would highly recommend becoming one. Call on the name of Jesus and pray for Him to intervene in your life - Revelation 3:20. Contemplate how the Roman Empire fulfilled the role of the beast from the sea in Revelation 13 over the course of 1260+ years. Revelation 17 confirms that the beast is in fact Rome. From this we can conclude that A) Jesus is the Son of God and can predict the future or make it happen, B) The world leaders/nations/governments etc have been conspiring together for the last 3000+ years going back to Babylon and before, C) History as we know it is fake. You don't really need to speculate once you start a relationship with God. Can't get a response from God? Fasting can help increase your perception and prayer can help initiate events. God will ignore you if your prayer does not align with His purpose (James 4:3) or if you are approaching Him when "unclean" (Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 59:2, Micah 3:4). Stop eating food sacrificed to idols (McDonald's, Wendy's etc) stop glorifying yourself on social media or making other images of yourself (Second Commandment), stop gossiping about other people, stop watching obscene content etc. Have a blessed day!

[@xstrikefiredragon]

Combining a few suggestions below, setting a minimum "grind time" cap until rare candies can be used sounds good; add in a level cap for rare candies. If the level cap cannot be overcome, then reset the minimum "grind time". Repeat steps as needed. Also, poor dustox doesn't even get in the hall of fame. Maybe it should be in the hall of lame after how long it took to beat Roxanne, but it still contributed to the run victory.

[@MonteScarf]

I agree with both sentiments. If you can't beat a gym with a whole day of grinding, it isn't reasonable at all.

[@JuicyJenitals]

This world is rapidly passing away and I hope that you repent and take time to change before all out disaster occurs! Belief in messiah alone is not enough to grant you salvation - Matthew 7:21-23, John 3:3, John 3:36 (ESV is the best translation for John 3:36) if you believed in Messiah you would be following His commands as best as you could. If you are not a follower of Messiah I would highly recommend becoming one. Call on the name of Jesus and pray for Him to intervene in your life - Revelation 3:20. Contemplate how the Roman Empire fulfilled the role of the beast from the sea in Revelation 13 over the course of 1260+ years. Revelation 17 confirms that the beast is in fact Rome. From this we can conclude that A) Jesus is the Son of God and can predict the future or make it happen, B) The world leaders/nations/governments etc have been conspiring together for the last 3000+ years going back to Babylon and before, C) History as we know it is fake. You don't really need to speculate once you start a relationship with God. Can't get a response from God? Fasting can help increase your perception and prayer can help initiate events. God will ignore you if your prayer does not align with His purpose (James 4:3) or if you are approaching Him when "unclean" (Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 59:2, Micah 3:4). Stop eating food sacrificed to idols (McDonald's, Wendy's etc) stop glorifying yourself on social media or making other images of yourself (Second Commandment), stop gossiping about other people, stop watching obscene content etc. Have a blessed day!

[@Yuni-is-Schrodingers-Fox]

That's too complicated, I say simplify it and just say he can use 1 rare candy for every 2 legitimately grinded levels

[@Knytewish]

Totally use rare candies on grind sessions like this. Spend the day grinding, and whatever r you end at. Use 5 more candies for the next day

[@lechonkvgc8857]

33:55 completely agree about lack of skill aspect, using rare candies would make more consistent content with less strain on you, and i’ve personally seen a lot of different poketubers utilize it in recent videos

[@zacherytaylor3407]

Yeah and you don’t have to cheat to get them if you don’t want too

[@danikirk5774]

@@zacherytaylor3407 exactly, just use Zigzagoon at lvl 21-91. The higher the level the more likely to Pick Up a Rare Candy... not to mention the other super useful items Zigzagoon picks up (like Elixars and Ethers, and PP Ups). Plus Zigzagoon makes a perfect HM slave once he evolves being able to learn Surf, Rock Smash, Cut, (and once its a Linoon) Strength.

[@miscellaneoof]

@@danikirk5774 that takes longer than just grinding tbh

[@danikirk5774]

@@miscellaneoof not really imo, cause you just use EXP Share or switch train to get 1 Zigzagoon to minimum of lvl 21. I'd personally go to lvl 31 or 41 as those teirs give better drops. I think the payout is worth it. Especially if you start getting Elixars & Ethers

[@miscellaneoof]

@@danikirk5774 the rare candy odds are like 1% per pickup use. Considering how you have to go through the menu each time you encounter something to check for an item

[@Ruxin34]

This run is a perfect example of why you should be using Rare Candies. It literally impacted your work/video schedule. However, I will note that your struggle grinding through these grinds DID make the video a bit more entertaining imo. BUT I would not say the extra week of grinding was worth that slightly more interesting video. Either way, great video!

[@emsha6836]

Seeing you in the comments feels like a small cross over of my interests 😂

[@felixkordina9519]

Love your vids ruxin greetings from Austria

[@Ruxin34]

@@felixkordina9519 epic!!

[@tubey84]

The appeal of the videos is that one guy puts himself through the authentic experience. If you hack it, anyone could do it - I'd honestly lose interest. The fact the guy is so mad as to put the effort in is rewarded by the view count.

[@mripwntheworld]

Or at least speed up the game. Like have it run 5 times faster will turn week grind into a day grind. Problem with rare candies is that prevents getting evs.

[@OLC62]

I’d say use the rare candies. You specifically are really good at knowing what levels you want to fight the next major fights at without making them a pushover. AND you know the difference between a fight being RNG versus not being strong enough. The biggest plus would be saving the A button on your controllers 😂

[@ProfJayBee]

Dude! There is a special place in Pokémon-fan heaven for you. That run was the definition of dedicated. I loved every minute of it, sorry that it made you suffer so much, but excellent work.

[@Infernitar]

I would have suggested Lileep/Cradily. You're picking up the Root Fossil anyway, and Lileep gets Acid naturally and Sludge Bomb by TM. It's also one of the few Gen 3 Pokemon that learns a damaging Poison move and isn't weak to Ground or Psychic. Apparently Crawdaunt can learn Sludge Bomb too, but that's not exactly intuitive and would have been a nightmare to EXP Share grind with no natural Poison moves.

[@CyberchaoX]

Yeah, but it's better to use the Sludge Bomb TM on something that'll get STAB from it.

[@DarkEinherjar]

Breloom also learns Sludge Bomb by TM, and I think it's actually stronger than a STAB Sludge Bomb from any Pokémon MDB used in this run thanks to its huge Attack stat... 🤔

[@ShadowtheYouTuber523]

@@DarkEinherjar Muk's STAB Sludge Bomb would be weaker than Breloom's Sludge Bomb?

[@taylorsimon9342]

@@ShadowtheKZbinr523 Muk’s Sludge Bomb is slightly stronger. In Gen 3, Poison is physical. Breloom’s base attack is 130 but Muk’s base attack is 105. STAB (1.5x) makes Muk’s sludge bomb stronger.

[@ShadowtheYouTuber523]

@@taylorsimon9342 ok and I know about the entirely physical and entirely special types before gen 4.

[@sherifelorabi1297]

I'm definitely on team use rare candies whenever you feel you need to. Especially with super long grinds that can delay videos and cut into time you need to be spending on other things. At this point grinding is just a test of patience which you've more than proven you can handle.

[@7Game0ver7]

Your grind is the reason I still watch your videos, because the grind is kind of like your thing

[@PhilFromSchool]

I want to add that Seviper and Swalot are both in the "fluctuating" EXP group, so they're among the Pokemon that take the longest to level up

[@taylorsimon9342]

These “Only __ moves” runs are cool. I would like to request Gen 2 with only Dark moves. Johto has 2 gyms that are super effective to dark types (Bugsy and Chuck)

[@corhydrae3238]

It's not like he'd be using any dark types for Chuck and Bugsy anyway. All except for Umbreon (and Sneasel in Crystal) are only after the elite four.

[@purpleheartneptune6267]

Basically bite and feint attack

[@silverrey7379]

@@purpleheartneptune6267 Pursuit for the win

[@Samsungor]

You dont even get a dark pokemon before bugsy, and 3/5 of the dark types in johto resist bug so if he started with one it still wouldnt then, also I think only steel (maybe fighting) resist dark

[@alexcox9400]

Totadile with bite and crunch

[@dustinguidroz6040]

For times when the grind seems like it will be pushing back your timing of the video, I am fine if you use rare candies and fight the gym every few levels. Better to remain on schedule then lose your mind.

[@DarkEinherjar]

The biggest irony about this run is that the Pokémon that RESISTED Poison were more of a challenge than the Steel-types, since he had to stick to the rules against them.

[@VampiricFox37]

I was thinking this during one of the Golbat battles.

[@DarkEinherjar]

@@VampiricFox37 Roxanne made this obvious. Even if MDB had had access to more Poison users at the beginning of the game, he would've still been brickwalled just as hard.

[@VampiricFox37]

I wasn't saying anything about Roxanne, it was during a fight with a bat that I thought about him fighting a poison with poison moves, where he had other options for steel types. I confess some of the video was background noise so I'm not sure if he made sure to use normal moves which are resisted, giving him an experience similar to fighting types that resist.

[@JuicyJenitals]

Repent and follow Jesus my friend! Repenting doesn't mean confessing your sins to others, but to stop doing them altogether. Belief in Messiah alone is not enough to get you into heaven - Matthew 7:21-23, John 3:3, John 3:36 (ESV is the best translation for John 3:36). Contemplate how the Roman empire fulfilled the role of the beast from the sea in Revelation 13. Revelation 17 confirms that it is in fact Rome. From this we can conclude that A) Jesus is the Son of God and can predict the future or make it happen, B) The world leaders/nations/governments etc have been conspiring together for the last 3000+ years to accomplish the religion of the Israelites C) History as we know it is fake. You don't really need to speculate though because you can start a relationship with God and have proof. Call on the name of Jesus and pray for Him to intervene in your life. - Revelation 3:20 Revelation 6 1st Seal: White horse = Roman Empire conquering nations under Trajan 98-117 AD & Gospel spreading rapidly. 2nd Seal: Red horse, bloody civil wars with 32 different Emperors, most killed by the sword. 185-284 AD 3rd Seal: Black horse, economic despair from high taxes to pay for wars, farmers stopped growing. 200-250 AD 4th Seal: Pale horse, 1/4th of Romans died from famine, pestilence; at one point 5,000 dying per day. 250-300 AD 5th Seal: Diocletian persecuted Smyrna church era saints for ten years, blood crying out for vengeance. 303-312 AD 6th Seal: Political upheaval in the declining Roman Empire while the leaders battled each other. 313-395 AD Revelation 7 Sealing of 144,000, the saints, before trumpet war judgments, which led to the fall of the Roman Empire. Revelation 8 1st Trumpet: Alaric and the Goths attacked from the north, the path of hail, and set it on fire. 400-410 AD 2nd Trumpet: Genseric and the Vandals attacked the seas and coastlands, the blood of sailors in water. 425-470 AD 3rd Trumpet: Attila and the Huns scourged the Danube, Rhine & Po rivers area, dead bodies made water bitter. 451 AD 4th Trumpet: Odoacer and the Heruli caused the last Western Emperor (sun), Senate (moon) to lose power. 476 AD With the Western Roman Emperor (restrainer of 2 Thes. 2) removed; the son of perdition Popes took power. Revelation 9 Two woe judgments against the central 1/3rd and eastern 1/3rd of the Roman Empire. 612-1453 AD 5th Trumpet: Locust & scorpions point to Arabia, the rise of the Muslim army. Islam hides Gospel from Arabs. 612-762 AD 6th Trumpet: Turks released to attack Constantinople with large cannons (fire, smoke, brimstone). 1062-1453 AD Revelation 10 The little book is the printed Bible, which was needed after the Dark Ages when Scriptures were banned by Popes. Revelation 11 7th Trumpet: Martin Luther measured Roman Church; found that it’s an apostate church, not part of true temple. The two witnesses are the Scriptures and saints who proclaim the pure Gospel and testify against the antichrist Popes. Papal Church pronounced Christendom dead in 1514 AD. Silence for 3.5 years. Then Luther posted his 95 Thesis, which sparked the Protestant Reformation and brought the witnesses back to life. Millions of Catholics were saved. Revelation 12 Satan used the Roman Empire to try to wipe out the early Church, Satan was cast down as the Empire collapsed. Revelation 13 The antichrist beast Popes reigned in power 1,260 years, 538-1798, is the little horn of Daniel 7, son of perdition. The false prophet Jesuit Superior General rose to power from land (earth) of Vatican and has created many deceptions. Revelation 14 Points to great harvest during the Protestant Reformation & wrath on Catholic countries who obey antichrist Pope. Revelation 15 Overcoming saints victorious over the beast. Prelude to 7 vials and judgment on those who support Papal Rome. Revelation 16 1st Vial: The foul sore of atheism was poured out on Catholic France, leaving them with no hope, led to revolution. 2nd Vial: The French Revolution started in 1793, killed 250,000, as France had obeyed the Pope and killed saints. 3rd Vial: The French Revolution spread to rural areas of France, where Protestants had been killed in river areas. 4th Vial: The bloody Napoleonic wars shed the blood of countries who had revered and obeyed the antichrist Pope. 5th Vial: Judgment on the seat of the beast. Papal States invaded in 1798, Pope imprisoned, removed from power. 6th Vial: The Turks vast domain dried up, they were only left with Turkey. They lost control of Palestine in 1917 AD, Israel became a nation again in 1948

[@ChallockStudios]

Idk if this would be fun for everyone but I’d love to see a Gen 1 run with all your favorite Pokémon. So Onix, Drowzee, Koffing and whichever ones I missed lol

[@RenameJames]

Yes! I second this! A give MDB something to enjoy run. Though to make it a "challenge" he could add in some form of stipulation like all Pokemon have to level equally, or no super effective moves, or some such shenanigans. That way he gets to use Pokemon he really likes, and those people who like to see difficulty are satisfied. Win-win.

[@ChallockStudios]

@@RenameJames this might be too ambitious but what if there were also fan animated segments? He could also use nuzlocke rules or nuzlocke like rules

[@JuicyJenitals]

This world is rapidly passing away and I hope that you repent and take time to change before all out disaster occurs! Belief in messiah alone is not enough to grant you salvation - Matthew 7:21-23, John 3:3, John 3:36 (ESV is the best translation for John 3:36) if you believed in Messiah you would be following His commands as best as you could. If you are not a follower of Messiah I would highly recommend becoming one. Call on the name of Jesus and pray for Him to intervene in your life - Revelation 3:20. Contemplate how the Roman Empire fulfilled the role of the beast from the sea in Revelation 13 over the course of 1260+ years. Revelation 17 confirms that the beast is in fact Rome. From this we can conclude that A) Jesus is the Son of God and can predict the future or make it happen, B) The world leaders/nations/governments etc have been conspiring together for the last 3000+ years going back to Babylon and before, C) History as we know it is fake. You don't really need to speculate once you start a relationship with God. Can't get a response from God? Fasting can help increase your perception and prayer can help initiate events. God will ignore you if your prayer does not align with His purpose (James 4:3) or if you are approaching Him when "unclean" (Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 59:2, Micah 3:4). Stop eating food sacrificed to idols (McDonald's, Wendy's etc) stop glorifying yourself on social media or making other images of yourself (Second Commandment), stop gossiping about other people, stop watching obscene content etc. Have a blessed day!

[@landschaftslord]

Yo MDB! I've been watching your videos for a long time now and I always wanted to show appreciation. You made some miserable day enjoyable and some enjoyable days even better with your content. Thank you for everything and try to find time for yourself! In my opinion candy cheats would have been fine! Stay as you are. Yours sincerely and best wishes from Germany, Hannes

[@pokemata1035]

Chad for donating to the mans video MDB is the best and if I made enough money I would donate $100s to him thank you so much for doing what I want to best wishes from Virginia. Yes I do know this comment is from a year ago.

[@rockno]

Was wondering why would mdb do this, then I remembered he's also the type of dude who actually beat pokemon FireRed with Magikarp, one of the weakest pokemon in the game.

[@giacomobongrazio]

Mate, thank you so much for these challenges, are a lot of fun to watch for us, and I really didn't imagine this was going to be that hard. Regarding the rare candies, in my opinion are fair game, you just save a lot of time and pain. Grinding is not nice and doesn't add anything, neither for you nor for us.

[@nascromt]

I like the May's team idea, I always was curious about what the rival catches and where.

[@christopherrock1982]

Enjoy all the stuff you do so regularly and is always content I look forward too each week. Keep it up!

[@RamblinDude135]

I, honest to God, thought Poison Fang originated in Gen IV. I had NO idea it started in Gen III. Love your videos MDB. Hope you have fun in making these interesting challenges.

[@DillonWhitcomb]

Well we all know the battle with Steven isn’t happening.

[@xeno_phobik]

He made a rule exception to use non-poison moves against steel. So just grab a Kyogre after the Elite Four and get to Steven. Loopholes 😎

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

@@xeno_phobik dwhitcomb is correct. As/is the episode was long enough, and Steven Stone uses pretty much all steel types

[@DarkEinherjar]

@@adventureoflinkmk2 Even without the Steel-types, the other half of his team resists poison (except for Cradily), so it's going to be hell either way.

[@davidpowell7889]

@@DarkEinherjar most of his pokemon has ground moves, and one has a psychic move along with it, crit luck wouldn't be enough to win

[@DefinitelyNotAFerret]

He should do it in that game that has Salazzle 😂 no excuse

[@tomdoherty1170]

There is zero issues with using rare candies! Save yourself the pain and cut your working hours down. The stratergy is 99% of the reason we're here, the grind just pain.

[@AlldaylongRock]

Yeah. Knowing what strategy and level work is what matters most.. Use RCs instead of grinding this much. Although grinding means EVs/StatExp. Would be good to EV train grind, and then do rare candies.

[@JuicyJenitals]

Repent and follow Jesus my friend! Repenting doesn't mean confessing your sins to others, but to stop doing them altogether. Belief in Messiah alone is not enough to get you into heaven - Matthew 7:21-23, John 3:3, John 3:36 (ESV is the best translation for John 3:36). Contemplate how the Roman empire fulfilled the role of the beast from the sea in Revelation 13. Revelation 17 confirms that it is in fact Rome. From this we can conclude that A) Jesus is the Son of God and can predict the future or make it happen, B) The world leaders/nations/governments etc have been conspiring together for the last 3000+ years to accomplish the religion of the Israelites C) History as we know it is fake. You don't really need to speculate though because you can start a relationship with God and have proof. Call on the name of Jesus and pray for Him to intervene in your life. - Revelation 3:20 Revelation has been unfolding since Jesus died. The Popes have claimed to be equal to God and set themselves in Jesus' place (antichrist(s)). Vatican City (Which is its own nation BTW) have risen up to fulfill the role of the false prophet Regarding the man of lawlessness or antichrist, 2 Thessalonians 2:4 says “Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” The restrainer that the Apostle Paul was referring to in 2 Thessalonians was the Western Roman Emperor, who held back the Popes from taking power. Once the last Western Roman Emperor was removed from power in 476 AD, the Pope was given civil and ecclesiastic authority over Rome; healing the deadly head wound of the beast in Revelation 13, as they took the Emperors title of Pontifex Maximus, leader of the church and state. “We may according to the fullness of our power, dispose of the law and dispense above the law. Those whom the Pope of Rome doth separate, it is not a man that separates them but God. For the Pope holdeth place on earth, not simply of a man but of the true God.” (Source: “Decretals of Gregory IX,” Book 1, chapter 3.) Pope Pius V blasphemed, “The Pope and God are the same, so he has all power in Heaven and earth.” (Source: Pope Pius V, quoted in Barclay, Cities Petrus Bertanous Chapter XXVII: 218.) Pope Leo XIII declared, “We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty.” (Source: Pope Leo XIII Encyclical Letter, June 20, 1894) The antichrist sea beast of Revelation points to the office of the papacy, the Popes of Rome, who controlled the Roman beast for 1,260 years, from 538-1798 AD. Daniel 7:25 says “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” The Popes of Rome spoke against Elohim and proclaimed to be God. They reigned for 1,260 years, from 538-1798 AD. during which they caused tens of millions of saints to be killed. The Pope’s title is Vicar of Christ, which in Latin is ‘Vicarius Filii Dei’, and equates numerically to the number 666

[@trnupp9182]

Neat little fact about the Gen 3 AI, they will always prioritize using moves to make you slower but after they are faster they will generally avoid using such moves. So shield dust actually bit you in the butt a little bit vs Roxanne because you would have been hit by a lot fewer rock tombs if you were able to end up slower than her mons.

[@theorycrafting.pokemon]

I never used a Seviper either... until recently. And I discovered he's kind of a beast with 100 base Attack and Special Attack. You don't expect that Flamethrower damage from a snake xD

[@destinygalearies7382]

Pro tip: Once you get to the elite 4, the fastest way to grind is to just put an exp share on your pokemon and fight the lower/easier members of the elite 4 over and over again. you get way more experience than grinding wild pokemon since they're trainer pokemon. Also sometimes you can win the game by accident if you're lucky enough.

[@h.a.c.k.3803]

Can we allow him to use rare candies for runs that’ll take long like this one

[@wildstorm3486]

I’m totally fine with using RC’s for runs like this.

[@SamFrei]

Fully agree

[@Garbo_trashcan]

most of us are fine with it, grinding isn't fun or challenging unfortunately MDB is stubborness personified

[@lurkingone7079]

Wouldn't mind that either. For those types of runs. Where grinding is just horrible.

[@zanewinter777]

I'm thinking RCs or a few lucky eggs to increase the exp per battle

[@TrueBlueThew]

I was wondering why you didn’t throw in a Tentacruel or a Crobat to use more poison type moves, but I don’t think you needed an extra Pokémon to grind up and possibly delay the video another week. Good job on completing a very difficult run, and I loved it when you forgot about Wally’s Magneton! I was excited for you to come across it when you thought Skarmory was the last Steel type!

[@Archimo]

I feel like either of these 2 rules would work depending on the challenge: Rare candies allowed 1 per failed attempt on a gym leader/elite 4 until it's beatable but only after you're at the level of the gym leaders/elite 4's ace or you can rare candy level up to the gym leader's ace's level if it's an easier challenge where you won't need to grind a lot. Honestly I am fine with just leaving rare candies to your own choice when you feel like you need them but I think a lot of people can accept if either of the 2 above is mentioned in the rules at the start.

[@maxgoldstein8778]

I think if you ever attempt a challenge like this again, what might make it more interesting is to allow status moves (leer, growl, swords dance, recover, etc). That way there’s some element of strategy while still ensuring that damage is coming from the appropriate type

[@Ryu_D]

Dang dude. That's a really harsh amount of grinding. I've definitely changed my mind about the rare candy thing. After this, I think it's safe to say that you've grinded enough for the entire rest of this series (or the rest of eternity, really). Maybe make a rule that if you can grind one full level in an area (which helps to have footage for the video, and proves that you can do it), then you can use rare candies to level up as much as you need, while not just jumping straight to 100. As long as you show that it's possible to get a level through standard grinding (no special circumstances or rare candies used during that one level grind), and you aren't abusing the privilege, I'd say that's enough. I've changed my mind on this, and I don't think it's unreasonable to say that watching this video may change other people's minds as well, or at least show that you've done enough for us to give you a break on this. I'd recommend setting up another poll at some point, and see if people's minds have changed since the last poll. Oh, and as usual, I'd love to see a Blastoise, Golem, and Octillery run. Alternatively, how about a run using only Flint's original team and moves? He always gets mocked for being a fire type elite four member who only had two fire type Pokemon in the original diamond and pearl, so why not put it to the test, and see how bad his team actually was? Gotta say, when looking at the move selection, it's not Blaine bad, not even close really, but it's still pretty bad.

[@Kev.in1997]

Why where you against rare candies anyway? We barely see the grind It doesn't matter If he maxes out his Evs he has no reason to grind anymore against wild pokémon It just saves time and he can produce content way faster and its not a pain in the ass Win win

[@Ryu_D]

@@Kev.in1997 Yeah, I agree. I was onboard for the postgame rare candies, and I'm honestly not sure why it took me as long as it did to acknowledge the obvious fact that, as long as it's shown to be possible to repeatedly grind ANY experience, it's possible to max out your level, it's just a matter of how long it takes. Maybe it was something about having gone through the grind in my own playthroughs without cheating, or even just the idea that it is "cheating", that made me hesitant, or even stubborn. As it happens, I had a gameshark as a kid, and it took me far too long to realize that just instantly maxing out my levels, while good for a quick power trip, really ruins the game overall, just because there's no challenge. Of course, I was just a dumb kid at the time, so complex concepts like that were beyond me back then, and as such I ended up just using cheats more and more to chase the power fantasy, despite it ruining a bunch of games for me (at least until I replayed them later as a teen/adult), and the backlash from that experience may have caused me to value the grind more than I should have, and it didn't really sink in that the effort MDB goes through to make these videos really is so much more than we have any indication of. I really do admire his work ethic, but after getting a better idea of how much work it is, there's really no denying that we've been asking him to go through a ton of pointlessly repetitive grinding, for reasons that only exist in our heads. Sorry for the massive comment. That ended up being a lot longer than I intended.

[@windstar120025]

maybe grind 1 full level for EV's then yeah,

[@JuicyJenitals]

Repent and follow Jesus my friend! Repenting doesn't mean confessing your sins to others, but to stop doing them altogether. Belief in Messiah alone is not enough to get you into heaven - Matthew 7:21-23, John 3:3, John 3:36 (ESV is the best translation for John 3:36). Contemplate how the Roman empire fulfilled the role of the beast from the sea in Revelation 13. Revelation 17 confirms that it is in fact Rome. From this we can conclude that A) Jesus is the Son of God and can predict the future or make it happen, B) The world leaders/nations/governments etc have been conspiring together for the last 3000+ years to accomplish the religion of the Israelites C) History as we know it is fake. You don't really need to speculate though because you can start a relationship with God and have proof. Call on the name of Jesus and pray for Him to intervene in your life. - Revelation 3:20 Revelation 6 1st Seal: White horse = Roman Empire conquering nations under Trajan 98-117 AD & Gospel spreading rapidly. 2nd Seal: Red horse, bloody civil wars with 32 different Emperors, most killed by the sword. 185-284 AD 3rd Seal: Black horse, economic despair from high taxes to pay for wars, farmers stopped growing. 200-250 AD 4th Seal: Pale horse, 1/4th of Romans died from famine, pestilence; at one point 5,000 dying per day. 250-300 AD 5th Seal: Diocletian persecuted Smyrna church era saints for ten years, blood crying out for vengeance. 303-312 AD 6th Seal: Political upheaval in the declining Roman Empire while the leaders battled each other. 313-395 AD Revelation 7 Sealing of 144,000, the saints, before trumpet war judgments, which led to the fall of the Roman Empire. Revelation 8 1st Trumpet: Alaric and the Goths attacked from the north, the path of hail, and set it on fire. 400-410 AD 2nd Trumpet: Genseric and the Vandals attacked the seas and coastlands, the blood of sailors in water. 425-470 AD 3rd Trumpet: Attila and the Huns scourged the Danube, Rhine & Po rivers area, dead bodies made water bitter. 451 AD 4th Trumpet: Odoacer and the Heruli caused the last Western Emperor (sun), Senate (moon) to lose power. 476 AD With the Western Roman Emperor (restrainer of 2 Thes. 2) removed; the son of perdition Popes took power. Revelation 9 Two woe judgments against the central 1/3rd and eastern 1/3rd of the Roman Empire. 612-1453 AD 5th Trumpet: Locust & scorpions point to Arabia, the rise of the Muslim army. Islam hides Gospel from Arabs. 612-762 AD 6th Trumpet: Turks released to attack Constantinople with large cannons (fire, smoke, brimstone). 1062-1453 AD Revelation 10 The little book is the printed Bible, which was needed after the Dark Ages when Scriptures were banned by Popes. Revelation 11 7th Trumpet: Martin Luther measured Roman Church; found that it’s an apostate church, not part of true temple. The two witnesses are the Scriptures and saints who proclaim the pure Gospel and testify against the antichrist Popes. Papal Church pronounced Christendom dead in 1514 AD. Silence for 3.5 years. Then Luther posted his 95 Thesis, which sparked the Protestant Reformation and brought the witnesses back to life. Millions of Catholics were saved. Revelation 12 Satan used the Roman Empire to try to wipe out the early Church, Satan was cast down as the Empire collapsed. Revelation 13 The antichrist beast Popes reigned in power 1,260 years, 538-1798, is the little horn of Daniel 7, son of perdition. The false prophet Jesuit Superior General rose to power from land (earth) of Vatican and has created many deceptions. Revelation 14 Points to great harvest during the Protestant Reformation & wrath on Catholic countries who obey antichrist Pope. Revelation 15 Overcoming saints victorious over the beast. Prelude to 7 vials and judgment on those who support Papal Rome. Revelation 16 1st Vial: The foul sore of atheism was poured out on Catholic France, leaving them with no hope, led to revolution. 2nd Vial: The French Revolution started in 1793, killed 250,000, as France had obeyed the Pope and killed saints. 3rd Vial: The French Revolution spread to rural areas of France, where Protestants had been killed in river areas. 4th Vial: The bloody Napoleonic wars shed the blood of countries who had revered and obeyed the antichrist Pope. 5th Vial: Judgment on the seat of the beast. Papal States invaded in 1798, Pope imprisoned, removed from power. 6th Vial: The Turks vast domain dried up, they were only left with Turkey. They lost control of Palestine in 1917 AD, Israel became a nation again in 1948

[@Serenade0mega]

My dude, I love these runs and have been watching since nearly the beginning but you got guff for that first grind. I left to clean up my kitchen post dinner and when I got back you were STILL fighting Roxanne. You're a legend.

[@zachsmith2349]

You could theoretically beat this challenge without the steel-type exception. Catch a Slugma with the Flame Body ability that knows the moves Smog, that it learns naturally. Let the steel-types attack you until they get burned and let the burn damage whittle them to death. It would be very annoying but it's theoretically possible.

[@jacobettobi6916]

I mean theoretically but like he can’t heal that would be torture 😂😭

[@ZorotheGallade]

​@@jacobettobi6916 You could also use Spikes and then spam phasing moves so that the steel types take damage repeatedly. Wouldn't work with Skarmory though and it might count as damaging them with a non-poison move anyway:( You could also catch two Sharpedo and constantly switch between them to wear the steel types down with Rough Skin recoil, but that would also take a ton of time.

[@2230yt]

Or just use a Pokémon with corrosion

[@ZorotheGallade]

@@2230yt That ability was only added in gen 7 though, and by then you could get some cheesy stuff like Rocky Helmet Ferroseed/ferrothorn or using Soak to remove the steel type.

[@andreescalona8902]

@@ZorotheGallade spikes is a ground type move, and phasing moves are usually normal, so it goes against the challenge

[@Thatawesomeguy14th]

When it comes to long grinds, theres really no point in taking all that time out of your day to grind. Rare candy cheats for super long grinds and whatnot is acceptable. I dont think it takes away any less from the challenge since the gym leaders and elite four members are the bosses, so just dont evelbup to level 100 and I think using rare candies will make things a lot easier and more flexible for future challenges

[@bboy3964]

I feel like one middle ground option for grinding would be to allow speed up on grinding. That would be slightly less cheating than rare candies, but would still speed up your process and not effect the challenge at all.

[@SLEEP-STUDY-RELAX-FOCUS]

I love that you put the hard work in and played the game exactly how anyone with a copy of the game can. It reminds me of 2 friends racing sapphire and ruby one having Dustox and the other Beautifly both struggled hard with the 1st gym. Either way I love that you do put that hard work in, it makes me appreciate you that much more to make these amazing videos. Love that I found your channel 3 years ago

[@harmonia4399]

The amount of effort you put into your videos always astounds me MDB. PS. My thoughts on rare candy it doesnt seem unfair if you need to BRUTALLY grind as the huge grinds tend to be what slow down the challenges, just do it a level at a time. But if only minor grinds are required then grinding makes it still feel authentic.

[@kingkazm]

I loved the video and how challenging and brutal it was. I just wonder how you feel about it. When you beat these challenging runs, that take forever to do, how do you feel in the aftermath? Do you feel great and stoked you overcame the challenge or do you feel drained and burned out afterwards? Im genuinely curious to know how you feel after all is said and done!

[@TheWinterPhoenix]

So the whole time I was watching this I was wondering why you aren't using a Crobat and Tenatcruel because both are usually really good but then I looked up their move pool and realized the only poison moves they learn by level up are really weak with the exception of Crobat but it only learns one poison move which is poison fang and it's not till level 49. So I was like "oh that's why"

[@brandonp4941]

I’m definitely pro-rare candy. If it saves your sanity even a little bit I think it just makes sense to use them. The challenge isn’t the grind it’s the creative solutions

[@Rubhen925]

use the rare candy cheat please. The grind is a bit much. Lessen the stress on yourself if you can.

[@brag363]

In the future, it’s slightly faster grinding at the whismur cave as that give more XP

[@caseysimonetta9896]

And it's even faster to use rare candies

[@adamstadick2044]

It actually isn’t faster due to the increased time required to get there and the face that uproar on the whismer will actually deal good damage and take you out before running out of poison stings. They also tend to live more hits (also I’m fairly certain grass encounter rates are higher than in caves).

[@JuicyJenitals]

This world is rapidly passing away and I hope that you repent and take time to change before all out disaster occurs! Belief in messiah alone is not enough to grant you salvation - Matthew 7:21-23, John 3:3, John 3:36 (ESV is the best translation for John 3:36) if you believed in Messiah you would be following His commands as best as you could. If you are not a follower of Messiah I would highly recommend becoming one. Call on the name of Jesus and pray for Him to intervene in your life - Revelation 3:20. Contemplate how the Roman Empire fulfilled the role of the beast from the sea in Revelation 13 over the course of 1260+ years. Revelation 17 confirms that the beast is in fact Rome. From this we can conclude that A) Jesus is the Son of God and can predict the future or make it happen, B) The world leaders/nations/governments etc have been conspiring together for the last 3000+ years going back to Babylon and before, C) History as we know it is fake. You don't really need to speculate once you start a relationship with God. Can't get a response from God? Fasting can help increase your perception and prayer can help initiate events. God will ignore you if your prayer does not align with His purpose (James 4:3) or if you are approaching Him when "unclean" (Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 59:2, Micah 3:4). Stop eating food sacrificed to idols (McDonald's, Wendy's etc) stop glorifying yourself on social media or making other images of yourself (Second Commandment), stop gossiping about other people, stop watching obscene content etc. Have a blessed day!

[@GameBreaker1055]

The moment I read "Poison Moves" I knew Roxanne would be annoying. Here is the thing about the grinding. The videos are called "Can I beat" and I think teh patience and determination to do these grinds is a part of that. Not I would scream about the use of candies, but it would put a damper on the challenge itself if you ask me.

[@Nosferatu62820]

In my opinion, what makes these challenges interesting for the player is the strategy involved to complete the game with a weak pokemon or with specific conditions. The routing, the way to deal with specific pokemons, the choice of moves when you are limited to four attacks. Farming isn't challenging, it's just painfully slow and boring, especially when you are playing at regular speed like MDB. That's why most of his team challenges are usually one overleveled pokemon and others being there just because the challenge asks for them to be present, because he can't be bothered to make the weakest one catch up to his starter. It is even worse for a guy like him who works on a tight schedule and who can't get anything of value out of this, as he mostly avoid showing the farming session (Out of numerous hours of grinding, we usually see what, 30 seconds of sped up footage, maybe a bit more on longer videos like this one?). It's a waste of time he could use for himself or to work on something else. I definitely believe he should allow himself to either use the speed boost from his emulator to make it faster (which would still be "brutal") or use rare candies without abusing them (one candy every x attempts maybe?).

[@GameBreaker1055]

@@Nosferatu62820 His time limit is the only thing that makes the challenge. The grind is part of the "Can I beat" for me. The grind itself is not challenging, but getting it done in time can be. The grind is what nails down the point of how difficult the battles are

[@JuicyJenitals]

This world is rapidly passing away and I hope that you repent and take time to change before all out disaster occurs! Belief in messiah alone is not enough to grant you salvation - Matthew 7:21-23, John 3:3, John 3:36 (ESV is the best translation for John 3:36) if you believed in Messiah you would be following His commands as best as you could. If you are not a follower of Messiah I would highly recommend becoming one. Call on the name of Jesus and pray for Him to intervene in your life - Revelation 3:20. Contemplate how the Roman Empire fulfilled the role of the beast from the sea in Revelation 13 over the course of 1260+ years. Revelation 17 confirms that the beast is in fact Rome. From this we can conclude that A) Jesus is the Son of God and can predict the future or make it happen, B) The world leaders/nations/governments etc have been conspiring together for the last 3000+ years going back to Babylon and before, C) History as we know it is fake. You don't really need to speculate once you start a relationship with God. Can't get a response from God? Fasting can help increase your perception and prayer can help initiate events. God will ignore you if your prayer does not align with His purpose (James 4:3) or if you are approaching Him when "unclean" (Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 59:2, Micah 3:4). Stop eating food sacrificed to idols (McDonald's, Wendy's etc) stop glorifying yourself on social media or making other images of yourself (Second Commandment), stop gossiping about other people, stop watching obscene content etc. Have a blessed day!

[@rinagee4192]

Hello, new to your channel and I'm loving the Pokemon challenges, but checking on the playlist, you haven't done any 3DS games challenges like X Y and Sun and Moon. Will you ever make a challenge about them?(again I'm new so I may have missed an 'anoucement' or something)

[@RenameJames]

Part of the reason for him not doing challenges in the newer games is how the experience mechanic works in them. In gen 5, experience went from a flat rate to dynamic. In earlier generations, you always get X experience from beating Y Pokemon at Z level. In the newer games you get bonus experience for defeating higher level Pokemon and less experience for defeating Pokemon below your level. This makes challenges exceptionally tedious.

[@SeaBee937]

Can I just say I'm SO glad that you use rare candies now? Grinding isn't fun for anyone and while this is a very cool challenge, it didn't need to take you as long as it did. Can't believe this was two years ago! Thanks for all the good times.

[@TrixWithStrix]

If it’s “hey guess I’ll have to grind for twenty hours because of a harsh grind” vs “hey let’s feed my Pokémon a rare candy because this is bullshit.” You’ve been doing this for years man, your content is amazing. If it helps it helps.

[@amazingspidermew]

May’s Team and Moves sounds fun! Heck, you could even do it as your first ORAS challenge (which would be great since I’m about halfway through whatageek and MDB’s ORAS randomizer)

[@forgiveman]

The hardest challenge is here ladies and gentlemen. I want to see how you "bend" the rules a little having into account that Steel is immune to Poison.

[@RaynmanPlays]

I've got some bad news for that "bending the rules" thing.

[@forgiveman]

@@RaynmanPlays I have just watched the video and MDB maintains the spirit of the challenge. Not having a specialized Pokémon for Steel types, but using what he had at his disposal at the moment.

[@PrimeEnLightenedShadow]

I was honestly expecting his exception to be using struggle, but I have no problems with what he did. There was certainly more strategy to it than struggle.

[@hexbug101]

Should’ve done it in gen 7 solely because of salandit

[@victory8928]

@@hexbug101 Yeah although there is stab fire so there is that tempting option.

[@TrickRoomFan]

Use the rare candies as you see fit MDB. I love this content, so if using candies a bit here and there means your life is easier and we potentially get more videos, I’m all for it. Thanks for all you do

[@georgiosvavliaras1066]

My man you have nothing to prove, you're a legend in this community, please go ahead and use rare candies, for everyone's, but most importantly, your own sake

[@zorimanar2247]

On the rare candy issue, I personally appreciate the grind, since it gives more information on how bad the Pokemon/moves are. Telling us you had to use candies means less than telling us how long the grind was. That said, if the grind is likely to disrupt your schedule, like this one did, then it becomes a matter of practicality and I would say you should use them. Either way, I am enjoying the show. Thanks for making it for us 🙂

[@JadeyCatgirl99]

I saw the pinned comment, but instead of Dustox, why not stock up on Wurmple? You could have 5 Wurmple on your team that all know Poison Sting, and set up for Dustox. Then box the weakest Wurmple to make room for Gulpin. Keep replacing one at a time from there. Having a weak Pokémon is always better than nothing since it can at least absorb one hit.

[@nicholastricarico2957]

Because that would involve even MORE grinding.

[@JadeyCatgirl99]

@@nicholastricarico2957 Wurmple learns Poison Sting at level 5, and can be caught at that level in Petalburg Woods.

[@JuicyJenitals]

This world is rapidly passing away and I hope that you repent and take time to change before all out disaster occurs! Belief in messiah alone is not enough to grant you salvation - Matthew 7:21-23, John 3:3, John 3:36 (ESV is the best translation for John 3:36) if you believed in Messiah you would be following His commands as best as you could. If you are not a follower of Messiah I would highly recommend becoming one. Call on the name of Jesus and pray for Him to intervene in your life - Revelation 3:20. Contemplate how the Roman Empire fulfilled the role of the beast from the sea in Revelation 13 over the course of 1260+ years. Revelation 17 confirms that the beast is in fact Rome. From this we can conclude that A) Jesus is the Son of God and can predict the future or make it happen, B) The world leaders/nations/governments etc have been conspiring together for the last 3000+ years going back to Babylon and before, C) History as we know it is fake. You don't really need to speculate once you start a relationship with God. Can't get a response from God? Fasting can help increase your perception and prayer can help initiate events. God will ignore you if your prayer does not align with His purpose (James 4:3) or if you are approaching Him when "unclean" (Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 59:2, Micah 3:4). Stop eating food sacrificed to idols (McDonald's, Wendy's etc) stop glorifying yourself on social media or making other images of yourself (Second Commandment), stop gossiping about other people, stop watching obscene content etc. Have a blessed day!

[@TheSorrowfulAngel]

On the topic of rare candy cheats: I feel like those might become a crutch. Instead of trying more/thinking of a new strategy at the current level, you just level up with rare candies. Leveling up, while often the only way, can be quite boring in terms of strategy and the grind incentivizes you to think about the strategy. In a multi pokemon run, it is always a bit sad if some or most of the mons don't get used and using some rare candies to ease the giant grind multi pokemon runs can have would probably lead to a "better" product. And of course.. having more videos out(or more of the interesting/hard ones) is great and rare candies help a ton with that. I'd say it should be your call. Don't overuse them or use them every run, but just when you feel it is somehow justified. Like, in a multi pokemon run, leveling your newly caught mon whatever to about where your others are with rare candies sounds like a good idea, for example. Or lessening the giant time investment of those big grinds like Dustox in this video, so you can get it out earlier... just dont abuse it.

[@haunter5271]

I’ve had a rough week and finally have some time to sit down and watch something. Nice run MDB 👍

[@andrewhockenbroch6365]

I know I'm a bit late to the party, but regarding rare candy, maybe you could preserve the spirit of the challenge while saving some time by restricting them something like you must manually earn a FULL level at a grinding spot proving the grind is viable, then either a hard limit (4 rare candies then you need to manually grind another level) or just still try to move on at the lowest level you can.

[@starryfae]

i know i’m not the only one to say this, but may as well boost interaction for your efforts: you have so much patience, grinding for like 3 days, but please, please please please, if you do any other multi pokémon or long horrible runs like this, don’t be afraid to use rare candies between attempts. no one will hold it against you because no one will do this challenge except you, especially in a nuzlocke format where people would be all high minded about it. please take care of yourself!! you’re amazing!

[@ManOfUnknownWorth]

This is a case where having Salazzle in an earlier generation to deal with Steel Types with her Corrosion Ability would have been nice.

[@WulfBytez]

For something as brutal as this, you should really use rare candies before post game. Battling all those wild pokemon when you're 20+ levels higher than said wild pokemon is such a waste of time.

[@WulfBytez]

So yeah I am all for you using rare candies before post game!

[@mallyxtheunyielding7212]

The entire point of these runs is to answer the question in the title, whether MDB wastes days grinding or just uses a few rare candies is irrelevant to that question I'd argue.

[@JuicyJenitals]

This world is rapidly passing away and I hope that you repent and take time to change before all out disaster occurs! Belief in messiah alone is not enough to grant you salvation - Matthew 7:21-23, John 3:3, John 3:36 (ESV is the best translation for John 3:36) if you believed in Messiah you would be following His commands as best as you could. If you are not a follower of Messiah I would highly recommend becoming one. Call on the name of Jesus and pray for Him to intervene in your life - Revelation 3:20. Contemplate how the Roman Empire fulfilled the role of the beast from the sea in Revelation 13 over the course of 1260+ years. Revelation 17 confirms that the beast is in fact Rome. From this we can conclude that A) Jesus is the Son of God and can predict the future or make it happen, B) The world leaders/nations/governments etc have been conspiring together for the last 3000+ years going back to Babylon and before, C) History as we know it is fake. You don't really need to speculate once you start a relationship with God. Can't get a response from God? Fasting can help increase your perception and prayer can help initiate events. God will ignore you if your prayer does not align with His purpose (James 4:3) or if you are approaching Him when "unclean" (Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 59:2, Micah 3:4). Stop eating food sacrificed to idols (McDonald's, Wendy's etc) stop glorifying yourself on social media or making other images of yourself (Second Commandment), stop gossiping about other people, stop watching obscene content etc. Have a blessed day!

[@MoonyRanalie]

For team runs, I think you should just use the rare candies. Being encouraged to only grind up 1-2 strong pokemon kills the team diversity in team runs, defeating the point of them. Maybe level up to gym leader level caps similar to how hardcore nuzlockes have level caps for gym leaders and E4.

[@donjuan6776]

You should use rare candies. It doesn't affect the challenge at all and just cuts down on the mind-numbing grinding while allowing you to branch out and use more mons

[@benanderson2115]

I am all for rare candy usage, but if you don't want to fully commit here are some other options you could run by your community: Rare candy up to Gym leader's strongest. In team challenges, you can use rare candies to bring weaker Pokémon up to your strongest. You still grind, but you can also still use a wider variety of Pokémon without the tedium.

[@zawh.4749]

I appreciate your effort into these exquisite pokemon gameplays

[@lydiazap7243]

I think you should start using rare candy cheats throughout entire runs. The interesting parts of these videos are the strategies and whether or not beating the game with weird rules is theoretically possible, not how many hours and entire DAYS you spent grinding. Just my opinion!

[@craigyeah1052]

Honestly for a run like this, with the Dustox especially, I feel like rare candies are pretty reasonable. That said, I normally would be against it.... but that's totally different in the case of speed up. If speed up is an option, I'd say go for it personally.

[@sturm9087]

Why against it? Grinding for hours doesn’t make the challenge harder, just more tedious for the creator.

[@craigyeah1052]

@@sturm9087 It makes for a better narrative imo, with the frustrations of the pokemon not being able to do it when you hoped, and encourages trying multiple times at a level because it's easier than going back and grinding. Additionally it's a more 'true' interpretation of the pokemon trying to beat the game without a gameshark, because EVs.

[@watsonwrote]

I was certainly not expecting it to be so brutal in the beginning. What an interesting challenge!

[@karadinx]

I know you don't plan out your grind spots based on EVs you can get, but they are a bonus that you get for actually going out of your way to manually level as opposed to just using rare candies each time you hit a wall. I also think that the need to grind also allows you to balance the effort of leveling vs finding a better move set, while just pumping a mon with candies until you can face tank the opponent can lead to sticking to a worse strat.

[@wildstorm3486]

I’d say in challenges like this. Using rare candies is totally fine. This could not have been healthy for your fingers or your sanity. Plus it just slows down content creation. And I don’t know about other people but I like more content over less content. Sure I want it to have quality. But using a bunch of RC’s to skip literal days of grinding seems reasonable to me.

[@boazplays7239]

I propose a rare candy compromise: You can use a candy every other level when on these huge grinds. The grind is still part of the run, because you're more likely to investigate other ideas if you don't want to spend time grinding. Pokemon as a whole can be completely solved by outleveling the difficulty curve. Its was one of the big issues with BDSP for example.

[@randombatman6419]

Technically, this was possible with only poison moves, even for steel types. Magneton could be PP stalled with double Shedinja swapping strats and Skarmory could have been worn down by something like Flame Body on Slugma activating. All things considered though, great run!

[@therealdanny3874]

Bro chill hahaha too competitive

[@randombatman6419]

@@therealdanny3874 You do be right tho LOL

[@ZATCHBELL2007]

For me the answer to the question was no, because of steel types. But the point is to finish the game, with the rule of steel types, or the use of abilities, or stalling for them to run out of PP like you said, that's not poison moves, that's why I think there is no change, if he do it in the way you propose.

[@therealdanny3874]

@@randombatman6419 all good i feel the spirit hahaha

[@therealdanny3874]

@@ZATCHBELL2007 truee

[@sigmastylin8394]

I liked this run a lot, I'm also a big fan of poison types! I'd love to see you try this type of challenge in later generations like gen 4 or 5. Also another really fun poison type run I'd love to see would be using only first form poison types like how you did the first form bug challenge in gen 5.

[@alastryona]

About the rare candy cheats, if you're on the fence about using them, then take a middle ground: Do the first part of the grind to whatever level you feel might be adequate, give the fight another shot, and if you still lose, then go for the rare candies to another designated level. Provided the initial grind step isn't /the/ problem, it could be a way to work around that.

[@fwgigan7848]

This will be a really hard run

[@dariustubilda5053]

Since the challenge is "moves" not a monotype, I would have used a mightyena with poison fang. Just breed a male seviper to pass down the egg move, a dark type for the psychic gym is always grand

[@adamstadick2044]

That honestly requires more work than grinding. Especially considering it’s only useful for that one gym.

[@Jari_Kir]

I'd say the reason why the grind is important is that it motivates the player to get through it at the lowest level possible, sincd you really don't want to do it. Bit it can become ridiculous. Here's my suggestion: in each challenge, you are allowed to use 10 rare candies (or whatever amount seems balanced) on each pokemon. It can save you tons of time, but it's a finite ressource, so if you use it too early, there i a threat of a horrible grind later. I think it would be a good solution.

[@paulthompson382]

I think something that may help with challenges like this is having someone to bounce ideas off with. I know grinding can basically just fry your brain and make it seem just never ending, so having someone who can think of alternate strategies and do all of the brain work might make it easier. Just for things like "okay, we can't grind up a full team of Dustox, but we could have our main Dustox and then 5 lv5 Wurmples to sub in as soon as the Geodude is poisoned to absorb some attacks", or look up some ridiculous move combinations that Pokemon you'd never think of might learn

[@settratheimperishable7800]

I would personally love to see a “Can I beat” with another trainer’s team like maybe a basic grunts or your rivals it seems fun!

[@garylikesgames]

Wow this run looked rough. As far as the Rare Candies go, I do feel like they take away from the spirit of the challenge but wouldn't be bothered if you did use them. I can see how they would have been nice for that Roxanne grind.

[@Nacholordd]

Maybe you'd find it cheating but you can catch Tentacool after the 5th gym, making the Skarmory fight quite easy by using Surf. Love the runs though! I like watching the creative ways you come up with to beat the challenges :D

[@GhulamMustafa-cr4go]

I think you should be allowed to use rare candy and speed up when doing these kinds of impossible challenges

[@mariepartridge3965]

Got about 11 minutes in and had to comment to help the algorithm out of respect of the time you're sinking into this one. Just the first gym is taking sooo many lvls gained against such low lvl pokemon.

[@DarkState2]

I completely agree that rare candies sould be a replacement for grinding. Time is important for multiple reasons and NO ONE likes wasting time grinding especially when grinding takes days. The only thing you'd miss out on are some EV's but you could make those up as you see fit. Not everyone will be ok with it but they're not doing these challenges. They get to consume days of work in about an hour and then move on. I really enjoy you and your content and is hate to see you get burned or sooner rather than later over how long these can take just for leveling up.

[@royal9743]

Bro just take the rare candy pill

[@bongchoof]

Dude, just use Rare Candies. You are constantly complaining about the grinding, and it would give you so much more free time. As long as you have some self-control there is no reason it has to be a problem. Just follow a set of simple rules. Fight most of the trainers on the way to the next gym. If you fail, fight all the trainers. If you fail, use a Candy. From there, make however many attempts per level you feel is appropriate until you reach the level you just barely beat the gym. This is a very simple solution that doesn't have to mess anything up. Give it a try.

[@FrostFoxChick]

I do kinda wonder whether it would have been possible to beat steel types without breaking the rules….. Magcargo has the ability flame body & learns smog by level up. Maybe you could waste turns with smog until the opponent succumbs to a burn? Sharpedo’s rough skin may have been another option? Either way, great video! Your challenges are a lot of fun.

[@stonehermo6531]

Just make it so every x hours of pure grind, you get to use a single free rare candy. That way, you still are manually grinding for every level you get. It just increases the rate of leveling up and flattens the drop-off of xp to make rough grinds a bit less rough. Should make both camps happy!😊

[@dmcmahondm]

I think rare candies for especially tedious grinds are fair, but I would argue that for a happy medium, you can use 1 rare candy for every level you get legitimately. that way you're still doing the grind but the process speeds up a bit

[@pengie-gw2lu]

Fun Fact: Roxanne only uses Rock Tomb when your pokemon is faster than hers. So Dustox not getting its speed dropped actually made things harder for you, not easier.

[@crazychristopher1989]

Try Generation 2 with Grass moves. It's resisted by most of the gym leaders as Falkner has Flying types, Bugsy uses Bug types, Morty has the Gengar line (which is secondary Poison typed), Jasmine has Magnemite and Claire is a Dragon trainer. Plus Rival Denial (a.k.a. Silver) will have the type advantage with a Typhlosion, Haunter and Crobat, which all resist Grass.

[@jakesnow7464]

Seeing swalot so much made me think of how neat an emerald run with only stockpile etc. could be. Could run swalot, cradily, peliper

[@foxfire719]

I vote against rare candy. Part of why I love these is because you do the hard work and grinding. Makes it special.

[@foxfire719]

Outside of the ones you gain from the ZZgoon strat.

[@austinlee4156]

This was really cool I always wondered what it'd be like to do a playthrough as a poison trainer in any gen. It deff takes patience. Also love the channel!!!