Machamp mops the floor with me
For the first time, I could actually find a machamp raid. They're so rare...
But turns out that my team's not geared too much towards beating fighting types (this one had Heavy Slam) and still low level. I've gained more progress on a Flareon and Jolteon (yellow bar) than on Machamp (couldn't even get him to yellow).
The best I could do is Exeggutor (ES/SoB), Starmie (wg/psy), Mr.Mime (Zh/Psy) or Hypno (C/FS), Clefairy (CB/DG), Kadabra (PC/DG), Typhlosion (E/OH).
I definitely need to find a good eevee to turn into an Espeon. And I'll have to evolve that Kadabra and level Mr Mime or Hypno (and my trainer since she's 29). I wonder if there is some way to beat Machamp without having more than 1 of each species of mon.
Answers
Per my experience, you beat Machamp at your 5th Pokemon. This means that you need 4 good Machamp eaters plus one high DPS attacker.
Espeon and Alakazam are obvious choices. After we get Mewtwo he'll also serve it perfectly, tho giving him Psychic kindda wastes his stats. Then a Hurricane Dragonite filled the 4-th slot. As for the 5th, Confusion Exeggutor will definitely do.
My Machamp solo squad was three Alakazam, one Espeon and a Dragonite (at 5th). 40 sec remaining. Therefore, I think that the team Alakazam, Espeon, Mewtwo, Dragonite and Exeggutor will fulfill your "1 of each species of mon" requirement.
If only the people from my area could arrive on time for raids, getting Mewtwo or even Lugia would have been easy. They call each other to a raid and turns out nobody can get there at the same time. I have a grand total of 0 legendaries because of this.
So assuming that I'd have Alakazam (almost there), Espeon (still looking for a good enough Eevee), Dragonite (almost there), Exeggutor (got a 100% one), what could fill the 5th and 4th slot? Gengar (got a 93% one) from what the above commenter said, and what other mon?
That team is nowhere near good enough. Sorry, but it's the honest truth.
You are using all lower tier budget versions of the pokemon you need to be using to stand a chance (even with the right pokemon it can be tough with lag etc)
And I honestly don't think there's room for a single of of these budget psychic types in the team to solo machamp. Never mind an entire team of them.
To solo Machamp you need everyone in your team to be effective.
You will need Alakazam...Espeons, as many as possible really. And they need future sight ideally. Maybe a dragonite, Exegg with psychic is fairly bulky and does dmg.
I have been able to solo Machamp with my Alakazam, 3 espeons, dnite and Exegg. But it was close..mostly because of how laggy and unreliable the battles are. Dodging the charge moves is essential but it can be tricky to do over and over.
yeah I know, Im just letting you know that you need an entire new team really for it to be possible.
I get you knew it wasn't optimal already,
But the fact is, none of the pokemon in that team are good enough, so what else can I say ? other than you need a new team.
with the sheer dmg these raid bosses do, combined with their tankyness, you seriously need some of the best counters for it to work.
So focus on Alakazam and Espeon. As many as possible like I said. (espeon is the easiest to obtain due to eevee's being common and the guaranteed evo trick)
If Eevees are easy to come by, you don't have to be too picky about IVs on them. If you are already set on Vaporeon/Jolteon/Flareon, the walk any high level Eevee 10 km and make an Espeon. In your situation, if you want to make more progress quickly, then go for any Eevee at level 29 (or 30 when you get there) with IVs above 50% or 60% and high attack. Power up your Exeggutor (if it has Extrasensory with Solar Beam or Psychic). Evolve your Alakazam. The other big thing that's been mentioned is that you need the right moves on your evolutions. I had a lot of trouble with Machamp because I kept evolving Espeons with Psychic and Psybeam and then my tms kept switching between the 2.
I'd say your not that close, but you can make quick progress with the right mons and the right moves.
Sadly they're not. That's exactly why I cannot just evolve any eevee, getting candy is difficult. I'm lucky to even find a nest that's far away from my house and it costs to travel there, so I cannot always go there. I can just hope for an eevee nest to appear closer.
My 100% IV exeggutor is maxed out for my level (29). Waiting for next level to power up.
Kadabra is being buddied at the moment. 39/100 candy. Max attack.
I'm not dead set on beating Machamp at the moment (heck I already hatched a 96%IV Machop max atk max hp that now is a C/DP Machamp), but I want to see just how below the standard can a team be to beat him. As such, the challenge will be to get 1 of each species of mon, with as high IVs as possible, and preferably maxed out for the level.
I see. It's a shame about the Eevees. I trip over them every day here. I think if your wondering about a sub-optimal team, then you need some luck. In my experience, Heavy Slam is the hardest moveset to go against. Also, you really need pokemon with high attack so no Mr. Mime and no Hypno. You'd be better served with your Exeggutor for sure, and your Gengar. Even Flareon and Jolteon they would probably be better, but still not good enough. Check the pokemon list on this page and sort by attack and see what you have the best of on that list. Bonus points if they resist fighting.
I've made a mistake some time ago and evolved an eevee that was around 91-93% into a Flareon... it now sits there at 213 CP. Yeah, I wanted it as a dex entry.
Might or might not power it up, depending on dust/nest availability. Currently I'm focused on powering up my top mons first: Rhydon, Exeggutor, Typhlosion, Cloyster, Gengar, Gyarados, Machamp, Kingler, Kabutops (this one served me when I least expected it against some mons I'd have no chance against otherwise), and Jolteon. Anything else gets what's left while I am still on the current level.
Psychic and Psybeam are not optimal but on an espeon they are still better than nearly all other psychic attacks except Future Sight.
I was able to solo a DP Machamp with 3 Espeons with the following movesets: C/FS, ZH/P, C/PsyB, so it is possible.
The rest of the team was 2 Dragons (DT/Hu, DT/O), Eggy (E/P), and a Xatu-autoselected 7th (AS/FS). All between Lv29-31.
Granted I have TM'ed those 2 other Espeons since Psychic --> FS & Psybeam--->Psychic. Looking for a raid to try them out on.
The only way I can imagine a Lev. 29 only team with only 1 of each species to be successful would be:
Gengar SC(H)/ShB
Alakzam C/FS
Espeon C/FS
Exeggutor C(E)/P
Dragonite DT/Hu
Can't come up with a clear #6 with options being(probably in this order):
Charizard AS/O
Jynx C/PsyS
Lugia E/SA
I'm not very confident this team can do it, but if it could you'd probably have to go up against C/CC and get lucky with dodging when worth it, having a timely over-death when needed, and blessed that lag/network issues are not an problem.
TL;DR I think it would be a miracle to accomplish this at Lv29 and only 1 of each species. When MewTwo comes out it'll jump to the top of the list and then you'll likely have a winning team. But there is a HUUUUUUUGE gap between MewTwo and Charizard.
Well, probably won't manage to beat him at this level anyway. Seems most of the stuff I've powered up is more geared toward beating fire or water stuff. I've yet to have beaten Arcanine though, tried to fight it when I was lvl 27 but still no progress further than half its hp.
As for Mr Mime and Hypno, I'm still keeping them around and I'd use dust on them when I've got no other stuff to power up and only if they're 100%. May not be useful as attackers vs raids but are useful when I just can't be arsed to revive while taking gyms over.
Still, I'll try other raids to see what can be beaten with the current team. Raids I've done so far:
All level 1 raids
All level 2 raids except Weezing (almost did it but that damn Rock Smash on Rhydon man... maybe now I could solo it with higher level Rhydon, but I need a fast TM) and didn't try Electabuzz yet but probably could take it on too.
No level 3 raid yet (tried and failed with only half hp or so remaining - Jolteon, Flareon, Arcanine, Machamp)
Not even going for lvl 4 raids because nobody shows up.
Tested level 5 for the heck of it while waiting for people to show up, did about a quarter damage to Articuno. Nobody showed up in 1 hour, so I left.
Inspired me to try to solo an Alakazam (there will be double species attacking!)...1hr40 on clock and it is right next door. I have no answer for Confusion/Focus Blast. I think I can at least get into the red with almost every other combo. Huge raid hangover on Discord in my bigger city, may as well be ICQ or whatever AOL called its chat
At least when Mewtwo appears with Confusion/FB I'll know how to time my exiting and reentering (with 20 pokemon fainting). Cleared up some bag space, too. I almost got to the red with 3 Gyarados and 3 Dragonite, then reentering with what the computer put in there. Lugia seems like a legit surviving option for that one combo C/FB
