Slaking Only - Pokemon Emerald

Rules:
1. Only my starter in battle
2. No items in battle, except held items
3. No glitches, exploits, save states, or RNG manipulation
4. No evasion moves before level 100*
Rule details:
-- *In gen1, evasion boosting is allowed if the Pokemon does it through means other than learning the move by level up or TM. For example, using Mimic or Mirror Move to boost evasion is allowed. (This exception is to keep ranking consistent with my legacy videos.)
-- I am allowed to manipulate my starter
-- I play the game at 4x game speed
-- For fair comparisons all my Pokemon have perfect (or near perfect) DVs / IVs
-- I am allowed to catch HM users - I can use all field moves
-- All in-battle glitches are allowed in generation 1
-- In generation 1, I'm allowed to skip Marowak with the Poke Doll
-- Surge's trash-can-puzzle is automatically solved
-- The bike is allowed in gen1, banned in gen2, and allowed for bypassing terrain in gen3
-- Saving between league members is allowed
-- If the solo Pokemon faints and I choose to blackout it counts towards my reset counter
-- I can pause the game and timer to take breaks
-- The footage is sped up / slowed down to match the pace of my narration
-- The ability Pickup can only be used if the starter has it
Patreon: / scottsthoughts
KZbin memberships:
/ @scottsthoughtspokemon
Twitter: / psychicflying
Twitch: / scottsthoughtspokemon
Illustrations by / sarinavail
Thumbnail art by / brianlsart
STAB: bulbapedia.bul...
DVs / IVs: bulbapedia.bul...
Damage Calculations: bulbapedia.bul...
Gen1 Stat Calculator: pycosites.com/...
Gen2 Stat Calculator: pycosites.com/...
Gen1 Crit Rates: www.smogon.com...
Learnsets: bulbapedia.bul...
Base Stats: bulbapedia.bul...)

[@davidgardner6677]

I think the reason vigoroth can't learn dig is to prevent Slakings truant from interacting with this move when vigoroth evolves.

[@myggmastaren3365]

Slaking, the greatest user of hyperbeam

[@redshirt8611]

And in Gen 4… Giga Impact

[@SinNun-tx5jp]

Usibg hyper beam is a terrible idea, cus then you can't switch out

[@myggmastaren3365]

@@SinNun-tx5jp when are you going to switch out in a solo run?

[@TheReaperofHades]

NOSE LASER

[@AdamAtYourService]

​@myggmastaren3365 even outside of a solo run, Hyper Beam Slaking was a niche RSE gimmick in the competitive scene. That would be scary in the late game.

[@Chronoflation]

Fun fact, not all sloths are slow. There are some more aggressive ones, that while lazy when relaxing, will move very quick when faced with a threat or annoyance. They're very efficient at eliminating things that distract them from being lazy, lol

[@rafilosofo]

That makes realistic the Truant with high speed

[@PainfulJoy]

Life goals, honestly. Efficiently eliminate anything that gets in the way of your ability to be lazy.

[@ryomaanime4563]

Sloths from the megafauna era were elephants sized monster with giant claws (something bigger than your head) and the ability to stand Just... let them loaf around

[@rafilosofo]

@@ryomaanime4563 here in Brazil we had giant sloths before human occupation. And today there are some caves that are literally carved in rock by this sloths claws. Imagine a big cave that is actually a den.

[@MaddMoke]

I always thought Slaking was supposed to be a Gorilla anyways which are known to laze around alot until its time to fight or scare off predators/other gorillas and that's when they use their amazing physical abilities including speed.

[@shimmianNS]

On the fourteenth day of December, Scott's Thoughts gave to me: The 'King of Emerald loafing A lively mid stage slashing The Johto trio roaming Surge's 'Chu with a competent trainer Classy Cat v Pig Monkey! A moonstone evolution The "Rhydon of gen three" A Pure Power powerhouse Wattson's ace in Hoenn 'Phan v Ursaring! A tiny turtle's bubble The fire starter digging A garden lizard's leech seed And those three weirdo mons punching

[@lazypaladin]

The fact that you even thow in the odd rhymes! _Too much effort. Keep it up._

[@Lucifers-Stepdad]

The ursaring video must have been such a gift.

[@ktvx.94]

I think a naughty nature was a mistake, the trainers that gave you the most trouble were special attackers. When it's getting hit so often, having a really low defensive stat is dangerous. Lonely would've been the better choice blind, but in hindsight attack is all you need so Adamant would've been better. Also, I think you should keep Shadow Ball, since more often than not you end up having no moves to hit Claydol with. Brick Break is enough for most of Steven's mons while you can drop EQ for SB.

[@zachsimmons5882]

Adamant would have been the choice, Slaking almost never wants to use a special move

[@alwayskindasleepy69]

I think there is even an argument to be made for a +spdef nature since our physical defense is already great and we need to tank a lot of hits due to truant. The +Atk nature might still be best, but in a lot of cases our damage with 160 base attack is so high already that it overkills most opponents.

[@sergeizinovijev99]

I'm sure you've recorded these ahead of time, but most of your resets can be prevented with substitute. It completely trivializes Sidney's Mighteyena (just deposit your HM users before so it can't roar), Phoebe's lead Dusclops, and Drake's lead Shelgon, and in some cases, Steven's Skarmory, along with stuff like Juan's Luvdisc.

[@thehouseofstark]

This thumbnail concept needs to be used for almost everything I love it so much

[@nicholasperry2302]

Slakings base 100 speed I believe is due to slaking being quite fast when it tries, it just can only use this speed in short bursts before needing to rest. Hence, truant

[@red-eyessolares1817]

I think that for a solo run, Slaking definitely a mon that would need more playthroughs for optimization. The Truant ability is such an important factor to play around. As mentioned with Vigoroth in the previous video, Substitute would really be a great inclusion for Slaking since its massive HP means it will not break and it allows it to avoid status moves from trainers like Pheobe.

[@DharokHardOn]

Be great if you did a run where Slaking has huge power as the ability to see the difference between missing every other turn and the most overpowered of Slakings

[@muff258]

Would love to see that

[@MattShokouhi]

I would also love to see that

[@shadowtitanx3962]

Ah yes. Huge Power Slaking. You are a man of culture.

[@KevinMcGurk-pr1yn]

This is the first video I ever watched of yours. And because of this video I play emerald, gold, and leaf green again. I went back to your first video to watch these in the background whilst I've played all the mainstream games and currently on Sun. Just want to say thank you for reigniting my love of pokemon again.

[@FishdipDeen]

Maybe on your overlay you can add whatever items a trainer has next to their portrait, and held items on their pokemon's portrait.

[@rafilosofo]

In the case of the pokemon maybe only the image of the item would do the work, if the name is taking to much space.

[@AC-xq4hh]

The speed stat isnt always about the pokemons running speed or what not, it kind of represents how fast theyre able to perform an attack whether thats phyiscally throwing a punch or putting out a psychic move without moving at all. Its not always about how fast they can physically move around

[@benjaminmadrigalperez9010]

But also slaking is very, very fast. But he is just that lazy.

[@shadowtitanx3962]

Purugly and Maushold Speed moment.

[@massengill96]

Just imagine if all the Pelipper had smart AI, they could stall Slaking for ages.

[@90shadowlink]

When you do Slaking again give it Hyper Beam. The recharge happens on the same turn as its loafing turn allowing for a high damage attack with ok-ish accuracy.

[@BoopaKing]

There's not really any point in doing that when Return gets the job done in basically every situation anyway. Hyper Beam is just overkill beyond overkill with less PP and accuracy.

[@skeetermania3202]

@@BoopaKingIt could allow a lower level of finish.

[@Sweepout]

So what I’m hearing is you’re really looking forward to Regigigas! Lol 😂

[@balmung1992]

Would be interesting to see this vs Regigigas in gen 4 when you get around to doing platnium runs!

[@redditundco]

A Slaking run with pure power/huge power would be fun lol

[@ucjepkjl7fbne6shltft3mlw8]

So there's probably a billion comments mentioning Hyper Beam already... I don't know if Hyper Beam's extra power would have been that useful, since Slaking's problem wasn't really that its STAB Return wasn't powerful enough. But Hyper Beam's a purchasable TM in Lilycove so it would have provided some extra moveset flexibility in the late-game (notably against the E4), and that flexibility is an interesting "perk" that's kinda unique to Slaking (and Slakoth I guess). Against Steven's team, maybe STAB would be better than Brick Break (unless you're specifically worried about Claydol's Reflect)? A resisted Hyper Beam (or Return, even) does more damage than a neutral Brick Break, so it's just Cradily that Brick Break's stronger against. And while Cradily's not irrelevant it does have the lowest Defense of the bunch, and doesn't resist Earthquake.

[@northdakotagamer]

Gen 3 seems especially experimental with different learnsets for different evolutionary stages. There was obviously stone evolutions before but Vigiroth and Shroomish are regular level up evolutions which you may want to consider waiting to evolve in order to get specific moves, especially with Shroomish's Spore

[@bobosmith101]

Loving this art!

[@KllJ0Y115]

Love these videos and all the data you provide gen 3 is hands down my favorite gen can't wait for next weeks videos

[@KayLoo202]

Slaking would be SO OP if not for Truant Great vid!!

[@ksul0014]

Not sure if you considered it, but for both Vigoroth and Slaking you use Brick Break and Earthquake as your physical moves against Steven, but I wonder if Return and Earthquake would have been a better option, especially on Slaking. With STAB, Return outdamages Brick Break unless there's at least a 4x difference in effectiveness. There are no Pokemon in the league where this true, so STAB return offers slightly more damage against every single Pokemon in the League. The only Pokemon Steven has where it's true are Aggron, who can be handled with Earthquake, and Cradily. The other advantage of Brick Break is getting rid of Claydol's screens, but at +6 it should still be manageable. And with Slaking loafing every other turn, Steven's only getting 3 turns max with screens anyway. So I think it'd be better to muscle through Cradily w/ Earthquake than Claydol with Brick Break, as even though Cradily is more threatening with confusion, you're already set up by the time you get there anyways, so you should be just fine with a neutral Earthquake at +6. Especially w/ 160 base attack.

[@alexkulis7295]

Not only this, but a move like Flamethrower is great against Skarmory due to its frail Special Defense and it would hit Claydol for neutral damage and avoid the Reflect. Metagross also would be hit for super-effective damage against its weaker Special Defense as well.

[@JeanVlogDandamme]

Like a lot of normal types, slaking is first of all meant to be a beast in story mode (look at all the TM unpaid interns, or the ones with Pickup) -You can switch him out after his first attack, and as long as you do that, he works like any other pokémon -He's the only one who doesn't care about hyper beam resting turn...he was gonna rest anyway ! -And most of all, he's just meant for you to use ITEMS. Instead of letting truant trigger, you can use every other turn to heal him with a potion (effectively replacing his slack off, but better cause you can use it any turn), or an items that buffs stats (X Attack for example)...Hence why Norman's gym is based on the use of buff items : Slaking is the best client for these kind of items. Also, I absolutely LOVE that they created a line where it's totally legit to keep the pre-evolution as it is : Vigoroth is my absolute favorite Pokémon because of that. Having a lvl 100 Vigoroth is a statement in itself 😁

[@daviddoyle2143]

Guessing Scott had perfect attendance and never spoke to a truant officer. His “True Aunt” raised him well.

[@petervanvliet6747]

Scott your a mad man thank you for all the content especially the emerald stuff daily december has been better than actual chirstmas so thank you!

[@johnhartjes8669]

Really nice Run! For your own interest, in Generation 3 only, Covet doesn't contact the foe.

[@xSuNkEnHeArTx]

Pokemon with Truant can use Slack Off during their 'loafing around' turn. This is a somewhat hidden mechanic but please check it out, it would completely change this playthrough.

[@edwardnowakowski5990]

Bulbapedia says nothing about this… are you sure?

[@BasilLecher]

I think that’s a hack added buff to truant and slack off. It’s not in the base game.

[@dafsvad5517]

This is gonna be paaaainful! I’m excited

[@VinnyB77]

Slaking is my favorite Pokemon of all time. It's the one and only Pokemon that I've ever made sure to perfect EV train

[@realperson69]

The “a” in “truant” is a schwa. It’s a weak “uh” sound, like “n’t” in “doesn’t” or “didn’t”.

[@MaddMoke]

Seeing a Slaking run without the ability would be interesting. Even if it isnt an official tiered pokemon, having context for *how* detrimental Truant is would be interesting.

[@AronFigaro]

Slaking was a fun pokemon to use in our gym leader event, when I repped Norman. It even saw some play in the ladder challenge of the event, where I reached 3100 on the Japanese ladder, though TBH that was mostly people falling for Kangaskhan stupidity over and over. Still, in 3v3 having the ability to UTTERLY OBLITERATE something with a banded slaking giga impact (yes I ran the meme move) was amazing. Nobody expected that shit to OHKO skarmory and ferrothorn.

[@AD34534]

I've waited so long for this play through and now it's finally here :)

[@skeetermania3202]

On another note, Substitute would make Phoebe practically free. No longer would Confuse Ray and Curse affect you. Once again, Scott’s over reliance on Rest over other strats in Emerald runs is likely going to cost him.

[@rafilosofo]

That's a good advice for a follow up run in the future

[@Xeraser2]

It would be very interesting to see how Slaking does without Truant as a fun side-challenge, giving it an ability that does nothing in battle in the context of a solo run (eg run away, all the exp would be going to Slaking anyway and it'd definitely always run away regardless) would be ideal.

[@Shenaldrac]

What I really want to see now is a playthrough where you start with a Slakoth and allow it to evolve, because that way you can have a Vigoroth with Slack Off.

[@iss2075]

Imagine Slaking in Gen I. No ability, SLASH, AMNESIA! I think in Gen II it would be equally amazing, it's a much superior version of Snorlax who is already incredible. Is it possible it could be the fastest Pokemon of all times in those games? Mewtwo in Gen I could be hard to beat, but maybe in Gen II it could be done. Also, they used to always like to make a very strong Normal and Water type in the early generations. In Gen I they had Gyarados + Snorlax, Gen II had Kingdra + Blissey and Gen III had Milotic + Slaking (all of them had 540 BST, except for Slaking but I think spiritually it plays the same role, just they wanted to balance out its bad ability). They kind of discontinued this pattern in Gen IV where they had Electivire and Magmortar instead.

[@marlysalt]

Yup, the rawst berry. Also, there are icy and burnt berries in gsc, along with a mystery berry that works like a leppa.

[@davidwagner3710]

for held items maybe you could use a small jpeg image of the item in the corner of the portrait of the pokemon on the right

[@MasterofInterspace]

2:30 "Man, slack off is such a bad choice when your ability is truant. Imagine having to wait several turns after healing. Anyway, this guy doesn't have vital spirit, so at least he can learn rest!"

[@evilvitamin]

You seem to really undervalue Shadow Ball vs Steven Stone. That move is often the best coverage possible for that Mon.

[@SmashMath151]

Truant hinders it more than it's legendary tier stats help it, unfortunately. Kinda cool gimmick in theory though! Surprised you didn't consider Hyper Beam since it's recharge turn is the loafing turn. I guess raw damage was rarely the issue and HB only has base PP.

[@poketrainerjames7246]

Btw, Sloths aren’t that slow, they can actually move very, very quickly, they just don’t like to move that much to conserve energy. When threatened they move incredibly fast. Another random sloth fact: they are one of I think 3 mammals that don’t have 7 neck vertebrae

[@Neville133]

The way you say 'Truant' triggers tf out of me. You earned this engagement

[@soupstoreclothing]

reminds me of jrose. i actually had to stop watching him because of the way he says arcanine and lorelei. i still like his videos where he doesn't say those words but i've watched almost all of his first gen solo runs and hearing him say arcanine and lorelei wrong so many times has actually triggered my fight or flight and i can't fight him so i have to go

[@tigeryumyums9407]

My favorite pokemon! Thanks for the upload Scott!

[@34autobot]

Hi Scott! Your friendly neighborhood English graduate here. You mentioned in a video earlier this month you’re trying to improve your vocabulary and grammar, so I figured I’d offer some small bits of feedback that you didn’t ask for (lol). Truant is actually pronounced like “tru-ent”, not “tru-aunt.” Something I’ve noticed in many of your videos is your use of “less” when discussing levels or items. When discussing an amount of something that can be measured (like levels, items, hit points, etc) you would use “fewer” instead of “Less.” So for example, you would say, “I gained fewer levels,” or “This Pokemon has fewer resets.” The word less is used for things can’t technically be measured, like health or speed. Those terms are broad, so you would say “less health” or “less speed.” Anyways, I hope this unprompted feedback helps, and I hope you don’t take this as major criticism! When you study the English language for most of your life you can’t help but notice these things. I’m loving daily December!

[@Otael]

It might be a fun idea in the future to play Slaking again, but going again with a neutral do-nothing ability like Run Away just to see how it would do based purely on its stats and movepool.

[@SourceOfBeing]

Slaking is probably the only pokemon where Hyper Beam is better than Return. Available in the Lilycove Department Store, Hyper Beam has an effective BP of 225, whereas Return has a max effective BP of only 153. In both cases, Slaking would be able to do anything the turn after using it, so may as well just use Hyper Beam instead.

[@sw33t.angela]

I think there's a few improvements you could make to Slaking: 1: Slacking can learn Hyper Beam, and get this: both the loafing around AND recharge take the *same* turn. With STAB it's 225, upped to 247 with Silk Scarf. This is better than return by a mile. It's in the Lilycove Department store for 7500. The only problem is... this move is 90% accurate. Ugh. May work better if a Pokemon is just living on a sliver through returns, I don't know. 2: Naughty nature probably isn't your best bet. Slaking has no problem with speed especially with opponents having no EVs, and you're bound to be hit by something while loafing. So why not take the Brave nature for maximum attack?

[@Frenchguyal]

This video has made me verh anxious about when you finally try Slakoth...

[@eligrabenhorst3016]

Given Gen 1 doesn't have abilities, slacking would probably be hilarious as a backport. Tauros but better.

[@A.Radwick]

I cant believe you didnt even try hyper beam for this beast. Its gonna be slow regardless, but STAB hyper beam crushes everything while also ignoring Truant. No-brainer.

[@alwayskindasleepy69]

That -spdef nature with truant was really painful, i'd even consider a +spdef nature, but adamant is probably better

[@Glidus]

Scott you HAVE to do a Slaking playthrough without Truant, just for funsies.

[@fozlrof]

It would be interesting to see how fast Slaking could beat the game without Truant, I wonder just how much the ability holds it back in a solo run. Imagine a pure power Slaking.

[@prof.bomanisamir]

In Generation III there is the TM48 Skill Swap, it's supposed to exchanges the Abilities of the user and the target. Maybe you can try that next time?

[@calebjohnson9740]

Slaking can’t learn that :/

[@mattiamerlo2688]

In double battles slaking becomes extremely fun in gen 3

[@hitmanx200]

IMO you should box your cheerleaders before going into the elite 4 to prevent the AI from using whirlwind/roar on you

[@umbreth2240]

I'm like 90% sure slack off doesn't cause your pokemon to loaf around a second turn and if you didn't test it on your own, I would recommend doing so. I could be mistaken but I'm pretty confident

[@MrMovees87]

(Commenting again to help the algorithm) I’d be very curious to see a play through with Slaking if it didn’t have Truant, just to see how much faster it’d be. That also makes me wonder what would be a good substitute ability for it/one that would make the most sense for it to have.

[@lewiscarter5575]

Scott my guy, we need to talk about natures and damage types. You seem to put way too much focus on coverage/super effective damage rather than actual damage output. Play to the strengths of your 'mons, there's a lot of examples of this but the Medicham and Slackoth lines are recent ones. I know the overlay may draw your attention to effective power a lot but the offensive stat is still an important part of the equation. The other thing is Nature in gen 3 which I think you have trouble with because of the above problem. I understand you didn't want to be Adamant because you didn't want to commit to physical moves. But your base Atk is 160, now is the time to commit! Maybe it's easier to see because I'm used to VGC and knowing your calcs is more important there but playing around in a damage calc tool with different natures can be very helpful. Don't want this to sound like a negative comment, I love the content and thanks for providing it. I hope you find the best way to whoop gen 3's ass!

[@AnaglyphicHacker]

I wish Truant got some sort of minor buff, like giving +1 stage of sp.def or healing 1/12th hp every turn it activates. I like the concept and theme, but it just needs that one little push to let Slaking be an awesome pokemon

[@fartface8918]

Aye, healing a small on the slacking turns would be nice even if it a small amount it would help things feel a lot better even if it so small a hyper-competitive time traveling supercomputer doesn't get any win rate increase out of it

[@ericwolf9664]

You say you can't think of a mon that would struggle with late brawley but slakoth is literally goofing off right in the corner. Honestly slackoth has the potential to be even better than tyrogue for inducing headaches.

[@mr.number9279]

It's... interesting. I mean, it hits with the force of a truck, but it's just not very good. Truant really does balance it I guess. Great run.

[@pommyadam]

feel that this would be an interesting thing to optimise would be an interesting comparison with something like Delcatty (half base stats, but can move every turn?) also... Tate&Liza might be brutal

[@thebigbean8783]

This thing could crush this game or be a nightmare. The slow growth rate is probably gonna tank its results and nullify any potential it has

[@SubIfYouFounMyComment]

21:21 when both Xatu and Lunatone setup Calm Minds, Lunatone’s stats increase in the side bar. But Xatu’s doesn’t…Just felt like mentioning it

[@garryfischer3679]

i lold at the slaking vs slaking fight. good run Scott

[@calebjohnson9740]

Interesting going for a Naughty nature when the champion is water type and Slaking is inevitably going to be taking hits… I went for a neutral nature in my Slaking solo (beat Wallace at 63 and Steven at 78) because I thought all my stats would be pretty important. If anything I would’ve gone for a speed lowering nature since nothing in the E4 is particularly fast anyway Also, for future runs, Slaking needs Encore for Tate & Liza and Substitute for Phoebe :)

[@wesleynewcomb]

Vigoroth joining Gen 1 Poliwhirl in the category of middle stages stomping their evolved forms. (Mostly assuming Poliwhirl will be dominant due to access to Amnesia)

[@dearieusfluellen286]

Slaking has legendary stats and is better than pseudo legendary Pokémon. When I play slaking on games I use 2 or 3. That way I never trigger truant because he really is a legendary Pokémon that’s being hindered with ability. So my best advice is use multiply slakings with different move sets since he can learn so many abilities from being a normal type. He literally is a king.

[@lazypaladin]

Infinite Fusion has spoilt me. _My favourite _*_Tag Team Pokemon_*_ for the amount of ways you can switch/change Slakings Ability and... _*_WEEEEEEELLL!_*

[@magicalgirllaurie]

It’s funny; when this episode started I was wondering when you’d do Metagross; I assumed you’d do a versus with Salamence at some point. Then you said that Metagross is next week and Salamence is next.

[@aarongeorge8175]

I think it's so fast because it starts moving on the previous turn when it's loafing! So it acts first when it does move because it took all of last turn to get ready!

[@D3sdinova]

Slaking would be insanely good in yellow. It loses its ability, starts with recover instead of slack off i guess, and maybe spore or sing instead of yawn. Learns amnesia early on, body slam, ice beam, earthquake.

[@Willingmess]

Oh man, Slaking definitely seems like a mon that wishes the leftovers were available before the postgame.

[@somegal3836]

Can't wait for the Metagross and Salamence Playthroughs.

[@findout2655]

that 100 base speed is what makes choice scarf slaking viable in his tier...

[@Matthias.Abaddon]

Scott i want you to promise one of your first videos if you ever get to generation 5 will be eviolite vigoroth. Its so good

[@StevenDaniels81]

That may be the best thumbnail you've done.

[@AzureFlute]

I originally thought Slaking was cool when I was a kid because it was a monstrously strong and bulky Normal type, but that ability, even kid me couldn't get past it. It wasn't the Gen III Snorlax I was hoping it was

[@dylandarling5321]

This is the best card art so far!

[@tyler5271]

It's unfortunate with your move set because slaking faces the same draw back as Nidoking in gen 1 *items* where Nidoking can use items to one shot everything with X-acuraccy slacking can use items on his truant turn to bypass it meaning you aren't stuck doing nothing. You could boost him or heal using potions on down turns. But it doesn't fix any of his problems. Just a neat tidbit he can do

[@davidhannum9017]

so based entirely on performance Vigoroth is the gen 3 equivalent to Poliwhirl of gen 1. because Poliwhirk had access to amnesia and how badge boosting works in gen 1 it completely outperforms its evolution. Vigoroth not having truant as an ability definitely helped it but not by a huge margin it seems, only like 10-15 minutes which is still a significant lead. truant is just a horrible ability to have in general. kinda like slow start on regigigas

[@frostedbyte0759]

Great video dude!

[@antiadam666]

It's mad because without truant slakoth would be a beast. Probably up there in the high S tier. It's a massive detriment to it

[@Tenchi212]

Imagine if Simple Beam was in Gen 3 and Norman was the Double Battle Gym Leader, so he could have a Linoone and/or Delcatty with that move. I want Pokemon games to be harder, but even i think that setup might be a tad unfair, especially since Norman's Slaking is a lower level than when it is supposed to evolve xD

[@nelsondaily]

The thumbnail is awesome!

[@typhoon008]

Scott, I think you missed one of the most synergyzing moves with Slaking ability, hyper beam. During each turn slaking loathes, the move counts the do not attack turn. Even with 90% accuracy, hitting like an absolute beast (225BP) means 1HKO everything, even single resistances 🙂I swear to you I have 2HKO some aggrons with that strategy, and 1HKO some cradilies and armaldos for a champion Steven in RS. Why a single attack each couple turns while you can do a double attack in the turns you are allowed to attack? ;-) Also, I think the best strat for phoebe first dusclops is using always shadow ball. It's a pretty scary opponent, and it does not always protect turn 1 🙂

[@danielfernandes957]

Looking forward for your episode 3 of this series: Slakoth 😅

[@claudiomonteverdi847]

Cant wait to see if Poliwhirl will perform better than poliwrath in newer gens too, xD

[@paleoscinkus542]

That thumbnail goes hard

[@kevinkirkwood8844]

Yeah slaking just isn't built for a speedrun. It is still a pretty interesting idea they had giving a Pokémon insane stats offset by a really bad ability

[@eternalnos2179]

Okay.. that thumbnail! 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

Brian did a great job!

[@auralistank]

Ohhhhh Vigoroth having dig makes sense to me now - they didn't want any possibility of a Slaking with dig because it's awkward to have 2 turn moves with the loafing mechanic. Now I am curious on if Slaking loafs around underground for a turn if you hack the move in.

[@auralistank]

Also, reminder (seeing as you mentioned it in Vigoroth): brick break super effective is slightly less base power than stab return unless return is resisted. There aren't any normal resists in the E4 so it's really not useful until Steven on normal types.

[@Blinxzy_]

Slaking! The beast!

[@Jaxza_Rip]

I love Slaking a lot, it would be great if pokemon would create an item that removes the holder’s ability. I get that in gen 3 Slaking without truant would’ve been too strong but as of gen 9 we have far worse thing than a op sloth gorilla

[@davidwagner3710]

a skolth playthrough is going to be painful

[@BasilLecher]

Could facade and a burn have helped slaking? I don’t actually understand how the half damage from burn combines with facade’s double damage. Or guts. But I wonder if Facade could have helped in some of these fights. Even being poisoned with a shell bell or leftovers might be better than the paralysis chance.

[@hitmanx200]

Guts makes status double your attack, even for burns instead of halving it. Facade just doubles its power if you have a status condition so burn still halves your attack.