Nuzlocke 101: How to Pivot? - Improve Your Nuzlocke Skills w/ FlygonHG

In this video, I talk about pivoting and why it's so important in Nuzlockes.
What other Nuzlocke Skills videos would you like to see? Let me know in the comments!
New VODS Channel: / @flygonhgvods4344
Join our Discord Server: / discord
Follow me on Twitter: / flygonhg
Follow me on Twitch: / flygonhg
#Pokemon #Gaming #Nuzlockes

[@iananderson7678]

Surface-level intelligence is my bread and butter. Look out, Cynthia!

[@owenaspinall2046]

You're toast (literally)

[@applepopapplerancher3211]

Godspeed, future champion! GODSPEED!

[@isaacwoodman4289]

One pivot combo I love to use is Crobat and Quagsire. They nearly perfectly cover each others weaknesses with Crobats 4x resistance to grass and Quagsire’s immunity to electric and resistance to rock

[@evangibbs7467]

True, I always use Crobat when I do a hoenn run with swampert

[@spindash64]

Crobat is a mainstay for me whenever I pick Piplup in Sinnoh, because it’s immune to ground and resists Fighting and Grass moves so well. Crobat is also a powerhouse for EXACTLY the part of the game that Piplup needs help to survive: Gym 2 to Gym 4 On the flip side, Empoleon has SO many resistances that it can easily switch into most attacks that would be a problem for other team members, and then finish with a strong Surf or pickoff with Aqua Jet. Especially since it tends to resist full SETS of moves rather than just key power moves.

[@williamjewell6247]

In Platinum, the ai can't comprehend the existence of dry skin, making swords dance toxicroak on most water types completely broken

[@mix-n-match834]

Platinum AI is well known for not comprehending a lot of things. Substitute for example completely screws over any Pokemon with status moves because they will try to repeatedly usw them despite of substitute.

[@SnakeEyes11644]

Ugh my pivoting unit test is Monday. Really needed this thank you prof HG

[@rannierunsfast]

Gotta say, you're my favorite Nuzlocker out there cus you never bend your rules to make it easier on yourself. It feels so fullfilling when you complete a challenge and heartbreaking when you don't. Please keep being a masochist, Dr. HG! It's fun to watch :D

[@kohinoorbanerjee4009]

Hey even pokemon challenges does not bend his rules. He beat emerald kaizo after 151 attempts, and never thought once about bending rules.

[@rannierunsfast]

@@kohinoorbanerjee4009 But he's lowkey boring

[@kohinoorbanerjee4009]

@@rannierunsfast that's kinda true. He is way too arrogant too. I mean fine, you did become the best in the world at a challenge in a children's game with made-up rules but that doesn't explain why you hate your viewers, the source of your income.

[@otakotako2601]

@@kohinoorbanerjee4009 that's just his youtube persona, he's generally a decent guy on stream it's true that he's kinda boring to watch though

[@user-mx4is4fx3c]

@@kohinoorbanerjee4009 I don't even understand how he was deemed the best. Was there like a tournament that decided it?

[@marcustulliuscicero5443]

Another tip: Protect and Detect are great for scouting out which move the AI is going for.

[@yellowblobby]

and then they sword dance

[@QuinnTheGM]

For as terrible as Onix is, I used one as a SUPER helpful physical pivot in my recent Platinum hardcore nuzlocke. Loved the video!

[@zyggybaranowski6852]

If you want to smoke commander mars, use an onix. His defense stat plus normal type resistance means purugly is almost useless against him.

[@QuinnTheGM]

@@zyggybaranowski6852 EXACTLY what I did. Tragically I had to sacrifice him to the rival fight after the third gym. :(

[@YOOT_JJ]

@@QuinnTheGM NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO That must’ve been sad.

[@rileyackison4495]

Dwayne

[@Zthewise]

@@rileyackison4495 Dwayne the onix mvp

[@sirensongss]

I think another part of this series could be game specific tips and strategies, encounters to go for, key TM locations that could be missed, cheese strats for trainers. You have a ton of experience with every single one of these games and having those strats in one place would be really helpful. Doing my first nuzlocke in X (first I’ve gotten past the first gym in) right now because of you, having a delightful time.

[@jonahbreen8512]

For TM locations, you can look them up most of the time

[@sirensongss]

@@jonahbreen8512 yea but having them in one place, knowing which are worth going out of the way for, could be helpful.

[@jonahbreen8512]

@@sirensongss all tms really depend on your team, so most of the time it would be easier to use the internet

[@denebzhang156]

loving this nuzlocke 101 series

[@zach1171]

Thanks, I need to get my PhD in nuzlocking aswell.

[@elliotw.888]

funny cos this man literally has a phd

[@zach1171]

@@elliotw.888 yea that was why i said it lol

[@abhijithis9424]

He also has a degree in heart gold. look at his initials

[@idkwhy21]

I love these videos you've been making because it makes these kinds of challenges more accessible to any pokemon fan, or even to people who have never played before. I think it has been really cool to see how quickly you gained the respect of the community here especially from bigger channels; videos like this show exactly why you gained that respect so quickly. Not only are you incredibly knowledgeable and thorough, you're also kind and clearly want everyone to be able to enjoy the games the way you do.

[@treehugger0241]

It's no exaggeration that at least one or two Pokemon on my team owe their lives to this tactic in my Shining Pearl Nuzlocke. Bulbapedia hasn't updated the Eterna City Galactic Building page with Commander Jupiter's Skuntank's new moveset, so I was completely caught off guard when it used friggin _Flamethrower_ on my Buneary, which was a big problem because my main tank and my main DPS were both weak to fire (Grotle and Kricketune). After Poison Gas landed, I anticipated the Flamethrower and switched to the one Pokemon I had that could resist it--Buizel. Unfortunately it got the burn. I gambled that it would use whatever offensive move it had that wasn't Flamethrower and switched in Luxio, who tanked a Snarl and managed to get a Crit Spark which also Paralyzed. Two Sparks, a Poison Gas, and a Flamethrower later, however, it became clear that Luxio was gonna die first. Time for another pivot. I probably risked a crit Flamethrower by doing this but I sent Buizel back out and she tanked the Flamethrower. I then made the executive call to send in Kricketune on the Snarl (I could have sacked Buizel, but it was my only real Fire counter at the time), knowing that she was probably gonna die to Flamethrower if Bug Bite didn't kill (the reason I chose her over Grotle was because Grotle wouldn't hit as hard and one of my houserules is that the run is over if the starter dies). Between the Paralysis letting her outspeed and the Insect Plate I picked up in the Underground, one Bug Bite did the job. If I didn't have Buizel to tank those Flamethrowers, someone probably would have died there.

[@JJames666male]

Thanks to you and Jan from Pokémon challenges I demolished my first nuzlocke, complete with level cap and banning x items (but healing in battle). Already started one for Emerald, it's such a fun way to give new life to games that I played over and over (I'm old)

[@JolteOnWisconsin]

You earned my like with the “Pivot!” reference

[@PaPaSea]

next can you teach me why she left me on read

[@InfernalAkuma]

How does this not have a single comment?! It's Papa-fricken-Sea , people have no class these days

[@BlazingEmbit]

Bro was not seen. 💀

[@Reapergator]

Because you didn’t blow her back out😂

[@RibamarGamer]

😭

[@superlombax1561]

During my current playthrough of Platinum, I thought about doing a pivoting strategy for Fantina, specifically to take out her Mismagius quickly. I had the right Pokemon for it, but I thought another strategy I had would've worked just fine. It didn't.

[@theschachter9816]

This is such great info and it's so well presented! I'm a little bit proud to say over the course of my last few nuzlockes (and through watching your videos a lot haha) I've largely been able to learn and apply all of this stuff, though I still have a lot to learn in terms of executing the theory properly; pivoting mistakes tend to hurt a lot. I'm definitely going to share this with some other people, though, this is a fantastic resource.

[@victorysmasher3481]

I am literally leaning to nuzlocke from you. You are just amazing and really one of my inspiration and thats why i got inspired and started a nuzlocke i will be posting it soon😊🤘

[@andyoctapus1]

I really appreciate your content, and I think this series (albeit only having 2 episodes) is great. You do such a good job of breaking down important skills for Nuzlocking, and you pushing yourself to do harder challenges pushes me to do the same. Thank you!

[@ashura-sama3593]

Just discovered your channel, binge watched 3 vids in a row already! Very high quality, entertaining and helpful content, keep up the great work man!

[@Jones117LoL]

Thanks, Mr. HG! I love the little details in your videos. They are far from unnoticed, but very much appreciated. Keep it up man!

[@emilysmith2965]

Loved this video! The harder your rulesets get, the more vital and noticeable the impact of pivoting becomes. Slow VoltTurners are the best (with Flip Turn added recently)! Don’t forget about pseudo-VoltTurn moves like Parting Shot, and Protect for scouting!

[@OhJuicy]

Really useful vid! I'd love to see a vid explaining set up moves (when to use them, when to not use them, the best and worst moves, what ±1 to a stat does, etc)!

[@ismetcehic5581]

I remember my first HC Nuzlocke I did of Fire Red. I had a great pivot combo with Butterfree and Nidoqueen (yes I got a 1% encounter Nidoran female in Fire Red on route 3), still my favourite playthrough, thinking of doing another one

[@kelseyspolejourney5417]

I already know this is going to go way over my head but we support Dr. Flyon and watch all of his videos in this household!

[@almightyonion]

2:01 Love that little detail in the showdown chat

[@coriseoris]

Strategies like this helped me beat Ghetsis in my white 2 nuzlocke with volt switching against Cofagrigus with Jolteon into Magneton to bait toxic Lost to iris in it yesterday

[@AlbRomano]

Iris is quite hard mate, that focus sash Haxorus is a menace. What I did when a beat her on a hard mode nuzlocke I did is open with toxic spikes, that helps a ton for focus sash and sturdy. Garbodor and Zoroark make a mockery of the E4 if that helps

[@coriseoris]

@@AlbRomano it wasn’t really the iris battle it was that half my team was already dead from the elite four, I had a plan with taking out Hydreigon with bug Gem boosted signal beam then volt switch against whoever’s next and go on from there

[@AshenDust_]

How the turn goes in my head: 3:38 How the turn actually goes: Golem used Rock Slide! It’s Super Effective!

[@tentacletestified3257]

I've been nuzlocking ever since 2016, and I had never really had taken the idea of "pivots" in mind when I do my nuzlockes. This info is really useful I'm gonna start applying it in my own hardcore nuzlockes!

[@snorlaxie]

I love watching nuzlockes so these videos that explain the logic behind common strategies is really enlightening to me!

[@luccasteger3443]

THIS IS SO HELPFUL! I am a beginning nuzlocker and find these videos super helpful! (Am struggling against Nessa in a Sword psychic type nuzlocke.)

[@pokadotplot]

Ooh, such a good idea for an additional series!

[@Lmjacks]

Awesome video Flygon! Would love more of this series if you have more ideas

[@mytylp2589]

These were amazing edits!

[@spegasparce1389]

This is easily the best Nuzlocke information video on KZbin. This is the content I’ve been looking to send people

[@jackloud2904]

haven't watched yet but God i love your creative helpful and funny style. quickly becoming my favorite creator and I hope you bring nuzlocking to more people than anyone before you!

[@victoriavvc]

I recently started my first hardcore nuzlocke a couple of weeks ago. ORAS, which I know is an easier game, but I'm planning to nuzlocke BDSP so I wanted some practice. I already knew about pivoting from all of the videos I binged from you and Jan, but you mentioned some pokemon that I've obvs been sleeping on so this was really helpful!

[@kitschofield5307]

This series deserves to appear in the feed of anyone who likes nuzlockes.. great content

[@9Destra]

What kind of sacrificial rituals do you use? I personally prefer the blood of an innocent Inteleon and EV train my Pokémon in their luck stat

[@LMC_Jarred]

I know a common Nuzlocke rule is that a white-out counts as a game-over and you can't continue with remaining Pokémon in the box; however, there are some _insane_ rituals you can perform if you let an entire team wipe and pick the pace back up. You, uh... didn't hear it from me, though.

[@mix-n-match834]

I think that it's also worth noting the concept of using moves like Explosion, Memento etc to score a safe switch. It's rather costly strategy and I'm not sure if it counts as Pivoting, but I feel like it's kind of move that one should consider. Bonus points that usually this kind od maneuver also nets player some damage or a positive effect.

[@Zthewise]

having a ghost type against rocket grunts and ninja boys, or other trainers that have Pokémon with self destruct. watching the ai blow itself up and not taking damage is very satisfying

[@willboese980]

this is the quality content we have come to expect from flygonhg, keep it coming brother

[@qwop4025]

As someone thats going to do their first nuzlocke, this is very helpful thanks for making this guide

[@konstantinschuster7825]

That was an amazing and well explained video. Thank you very much!

[@clipclop7641]

Every one of the ideas on that list feels worthwhile

[@benjaminmartinez3477]

dude, i'd love to see more nuzlocke tips, please consider on doing more. Love ur content

[@benjaminmartinez3477]

if posible do a tutorial to make damage calculation please

[@danielhale1]

You might enjoy the challenge of a Pokemon FireRed or LeafGreen bugs only run. Your choices are Butterfree, Beedrill, Parasect, Venomoth, and Scyther/Pinsir, and you get access to bugs very early in the run. In addition to the limited roster, there's a lot of serious type weaknesses to fear, but also some versatility to be explored with normally ignored pokemon like butterfree and venomoth. And beedrill, scyther, and pinsir can be setup monsters too.

[@makrusnormendez357]

Dude, good vid. Have failed more times than id like to admit. Hopefully pivoting helps get me across the line. Liked and sub👌

[@andrewb5347]

Thank you for the lesson Professor FlygonHG. You inspire me in all of my nuzlockes. 👍👍

[@rakshitnair9795]

i hope this series continous

[@jakubnowak649]

Great series, great video

[@sheulybhadra7710]

The final words were perfect for this video.

[@thunder7433]

7:29 lmaoo “ups attack when suffering”

[@virat5819]

You make awesome videos,I became a big fan of you with just 1 video,I like all your videos,please keep up this

[@jaygerideau9725]

Keep this coming, definitely want to learn how to up my game to take this knowledge into Rank

[@philyk.illagan3161]

Pivoting is cool. It's how my Sableye defeated Diantha's Gardevoir at the cost of my Victreebel's life. However, pivoting can go wrong when your move isn't 100% accurate. I tricked Drasna's Dragalge into Surfing on Azumarill, but then Play Rough missed and rendered the pivoting pointless. I don't know about the main game, but I'm pretty sure the Battle Maison predicted one of my switches. I had an Aegislash against a Scrafty, so I switched to Togekiss. The AI switched to Slowbro that same turn.

[@jipj1]

Very helpfull video pls make more of these im learning a lot

[@streamer_niaTTV]

thanks so muh!! amazing vie!! helped me out a tonne! :D

[@subhojitkhatua4520]

This is so much helpful👍

[@Stwinky]

Thank you Dr. Flygon

[@riken1829]

Great series. I would love to see the Video on avoiding grinding deaths. I am currently doing a Black Nuzlocke and allmost all my deaths were during grinding (like I have only lost 3 out of my 10 deaths to other trainers)

[@user-mx4is4fx3c]

Hey man, great video and very illuminating. I know you've been only doing strategic tutorials so far but I wonder if you'd be up for doing a tutorial on how you create your layouts and edit your videos

[@arty_mc_artist]

Ooh have you covered different stalling methods, like poison stall? I'd love to see that in the future!

[@brunorosaortega1326]

Great vid doctor HG

[@LucasGomes-kf8us]

Videos like these help us, nz begginers, a LOT! Do the others themes plzzzz Awesome work 💜

[@turtlejake6095]

great vid!

[@atsukana1704]

I used this a couple of times on my enemy suicide only run, very informative

[@ventosa_unofficial]

Thanks for doing this type of videos, i'm doing a hg and an Emerald nuzlocke and i'm at the point to cry. Saluti (hello) from Italy

[@GCKuss23]

A cool pivoting strat I discovered is against Lucian in Platinum. All you need is a U-turn Crobat and a dark type. U turn does good damage into most of Lucians team. Crobat baits a psychic type move. When you switch into the dark type, the attack becomes useless. The dark type then baits a fighting type move, which a lot of Lucians pokes have. You then switch back to Crobat, take the fighting move and just repeat this. Takes care of almost his entire team

[@Tantei7]

Now THIS is a series of videos I need! Been really wanting to get into nuzlockes, I've never done one though and I'm kinda scared I'll hate it cause of my lack of experience and making tons of mistakes... Do you have any general recommendations for nuzlocke beginners aside from the 101s?

[@Savariable]

My favorite pivot pair is water flying water ground. They both handle each other's quad weaknesses very well. Trust me if ai was better and could swap out and predict switches (it should probably remember what pokemon you have and moved you use, as well as predict youd probably have a stab move and factor things in from there to pivot around and predict switches). Though 95% of the time that means a gyrados on the team.

[@luitjenapol2815]

Thanks, this video was very helpful. I have a suggestion for a hardcore nuzlocke. You could make this a series and do it for every generation, but I was thinking specifically gen 5. You should try to do a hardcore nuzlocke with Ash Ketchum's unova team. Pikachu isn't in the black and white games, so he's excluded, and you can only pick one of the starters, so that leaves you with six pokemon: A starter, Scraggy, Palpitoad, Leavanny, Boldore and Krookodile. It's your choice is you're allowed to evolve the pokemon, when Ash's didn't like Scraggy, but I would suggest you don't. I would also suggest Snivy for your starter, as its my favourite and probably the worst one, so it'll make it harder, but you can choose yourself. I don't know if you take suggestions from the comments, but anyways keep up the good work. Love your nuzlockes.

[@felipox17]

Thank you Fly! I'm trying normal type hardcore nuzlocke in shield today

[@Thelordofhate]

Another thing useful for pivoting is intimidate to make physical atackers as threatening as a light breeze then switch to your shell or battle armor pokemon then set up and sweep

[@levibonboulash5058]

I love you man! -have a nice day :)

[@lucarioblaziken123]

thx for the help I always lose pokemon and make bad descisions when pivoting this video was great

[@TheSkillz105]

The video has been out for 7 minutes and it's a 21 minute video lool

[@aniketdhumal2692]

Love this

[@frozenfeet4534]

hey hg - what id like the most is a list of the best online resources for nuzlockers. for example damage calcs are great but whats the most consistent and accurate list of trainers and their exact stats for any given locke? how consistent even are trainer stats? what about lists of what items and TMs you can make use of for a given obstacle, i.e. maybe listed in more or less chronological order? resources like these are often shockingly hard to find, even in romhacks where intricate, dev-supplied documentation of what the new toys and tools are is part of the appeal. a sort of encyclopedia or library of these things would be both cool and epic

[@kevinwingo9947]

Short-answer memorize the type chart and know the coverage moves, and switch unless you could outspeed and kill it and thx for the guide, dr. flygon.

[@MrBjort]

One thing that is adjacent to pivoting is also stuff like Fake out. Leading with a weak mon to fake out with and do chip damage does also require switching to something safe after

[@Samochan]

I managed to catch ribombee on sns nuzlocke run and I'm using it as a fast lead to setup screens and draining kiss to stall opponents if I don't want to swap, but dual screens makes many types of pivoting a breeze.

[@fenrir9350]

im doing my first nuzlocke ever as this video came out. too bad my thwackey already died to a helioptile

[@kaiser776_]

We need more FlygonHG PHD Nuzlocke lesson videos

[@drifloonsupremacyassociation]

1:19 OUR BOI IS ON THE VIDEO. HE IS HERE

[@Giga-lemesh]

“Ace trainer Ross” 😂😂😂

[@britishotter5881]

I forget this man is a literal doctor

[@lukesimoni9432]

I know its not your typical thing, but a tier list of your favorite base games to nuzlocke would be sick af

[@JohnSmith-en8xf]

I’d love to see the one about the damage calculation because I’ve been trying to use it but I don’t know how to do everything on there

[@xzeroxman]

16:35 teleport is a free pivot that doesn't matter about speed since it's -6 priority

[@ange729]

Thanks you !

[@danw8373]

Wonderful video, i gotta say that Ross would be a ruin maniac not an ace trainer though 🤣

[@Raezioo]

0:33 - 0:57 With the amount of 'pivoting' you said in that short time, I was gonna go mad if you didn't make the Friends reference

[@ulrichbrodowsky5016]

One pitfall I missed: Bugs! I know of one in pokemon emerald: When your first type gives you an immunity and your second type is not neutral to that same type, the AI forgets about the immunity. Example: If you send in your Flygon (which is ground and dragon) against an Pikachu, you'd think you can savely send in your Gyarados, but the AI thinks it only resists electric moves and doesn't have an immunity. It would prefer thunderbolt (95 damage plus Stab makes 132.5 damage) over slam (80 damage) if it's at minus 1 attack. (So you can't reduce it's attack to minus 6 by pivoting between those two pokemon)

[@Gibstack]

Very good video!! I do have one thing - it seems like "always" isn't a safe word for every game. (This isn't just based on "most" damage, as I watched later into the video) It may just be for romhacks (but I don't think it would be - this being something Dray added/changed about AI seems unlikely); I remember in Blaze Black 2, the AI seems to sometimes go for random moves, even at full health, even if (for example) the AI should "always" go for Thunder Punch in that initial Showdown scenario. (This makes it feel literally impossible to consistently pivot in these games)

[@Gibstack]

Yeah I agree, pokemon AI is generally pretty unknown, so trying to get into it here would probably be too complicated and "guesswork". I think gen 5 are the only games where even major trainers don't always seem to follow the general pivot-reliable AI. I didn't even consider that many non-major trainers *do* go by random AI, which can be potentially more dangerous.

[@kheireddineattala1281]

I love how trolly the PHD thing looks, though it is not

[@lukesymonds1887]

Fun fact: in ORAS, the final battle with Wally, he predicts your moves. I had my Gyarados out against his Gallade, I mega evolved expecting a psycho cut, which wouldn't have worked, but instead he used Close Combat and ohko'd my Gyarados. There's no way he should have used CC in turn 1, since normal Gyra is flying and resists fighting.

[@swampy725]

Side note for the point about switching moves Teleport only works that way in gen 8

[@FredrIQ]

I work on a romhack personally, and this is a strategy I've always wanted to figure out how to mitigate (and no, making the AI flat-out know what you're doing is not a "solution" I'd take). While some may consider it an advanced strategy, I've never liked blatant AI abuse like this. Not throwing shade at you or anyone else using the strategy, I'd use it myself, but I've always wanted to see more competent Pokémon AI. One solution for it that I had in mind was the AI trying to track incidents where it was clearly outplayed, and try to "predict" it happening in the future with a random increasing factor. It wouldn't prevent all pivoting but would prevent the more egregious PP stall cases.

[@jesseyu69420]

Pivoting help me win against Lt. Surge in my Let’s Go Pikachu Nuzlocke as my team was underleveled for it. Very helpful strategy.

[@Theguyman2011]

Here Are The Nuzlocke Names Of Every Clip That Is Shown! 1:30-3:11 Pokèmon Y Spooky (Spoopy If Your FF/Family Friendly.) Mons Only. (The Battle Against The 5th Gym Leader Clemont, Plus The Battle Against The Second Gym Leader Grant.). 1:34 HGSS (HeartGold And SoulSilver.) Nocturnal Mons Only. (The Champion Fight Against Lance.). 1:51-16:22 The First PlayTrough In Ultra Moon As A Nuzlocke. (The Final Fight Against Hau. And The Fight Against The Totem Mimikyu.). (Plus This Nuzlocke Is An Example Later But For Anyone Whos New To This Channel,I Will Say The Clips That FlygonHG Dosen't Talk About.). 3:18-8:34-9:07-16:34 The BabyMons Only Platinum Nuzlocke. (The Team Galactic Commander Mars Fight, The 3rd Gym Leader Maylene The First Offical Fight Against Barry/OldMcdee. And The Fight Against The Elite Four Member Aaron.). 4:03 The First Randomizer In Platinum As A Nuzlocke. (The Fight Against The Team Galactic Leader,Cyrus.). 16:01 The Fairy MonoType Challenge In Pokèmon X. (Of Course,It's The Fight Against The 5th Gym Leader Clemont.) 16:38 The Fire Type Only Run In Pokèmon Diamond. (The Fight Against The 4th Gym Leader Crasher Wake.) (Yes, I Know That He Is The 5th Gym Leader In Platinum.)