I just got another charge TM from a T5 raid today. Used it on my highest CP Ttar with FB, thankfully it got Crunch. I also powered my (only) SC Gengar once, as it was half a level away from the final SC breakpoint against Alakazam.
Do I need more Gengars for Alakazam? I've being hunting for weather boosted (cloudy) Gengar raids for the past few weeks, but I've only found Machamp (which is still good, but not for these 2 solo raids)... And more often than not it's Scyther or Porygon.
Gengar:
1: Alakazam CP 2639 L34 100% PC/FS
2: Espeon CP 2527 L30 87% 15/12/12 ZH/FS, or Espeon CP 2447 L30 62% 09/05/14 C/FS
3: Gengar CP 2241 L31.5 82% 12/11/14 SC/ShB
4: Ttar CP 3188 L32 82% 14/08/15 B/Cr
5: Ttar CP 3109 L30 89% 15/14/11 B/Cr
6: Ttar CP 2918 L28 96% 14/15/14 B/Cr
Which Espeon should I use?
Alakazam:
1: Gengar CP 2241 L31.5 82% 12/11/14 SC/ShB
2:
3: Ttar CP 3188 L32 82% 14/08/15 B/Cr
4: Ttar CP 3109 L30 89% 15/14/11 B/Cr
5: Ttar CP 2918 L28 96% 14/15/14 B/Cr
6: Ttar CP 3117 L30 91% 15/14/12 B/SE
Are the Banette's IVs too low to be included?
Should I take out the B/SE Ttar, and use L25 B/Cr Ttars instead?
Edit: According to Pokebattler, the Banette can't clear Alakazam within 180s.
I'm going to assume you have a few fast TM's. TM the 87% Espeon to confusion. Confusion is absolutely and undeniably better for raids than ES (Espeon) or PC (Alakazam). You should be good to go against Gengar, though.
Against Alakazam, that lineup will work if you luck into the right boss moveset, i.e. something like PC/FS. Obviously, you'll need something to fill that #2 slot, like a H/SB Gengar, a S/FP Houndoom, or a FC/XS Scizor/Pinsir. You're kind of screwed if it has focus blast, though.
The 87% Espeon is my only ZH Espeon. I want to keep at least one ZH Espeon in case of move rebalance.
As for Alakazam, definitely not. PC has the advantage of better dodging, which is very important for dodging Sludge Bomb, and even more so, Machamps, which all 3 charge moves have very short dodge windows.
Then TM the good one to confusion, and TM the crappy one to ZH. And start acquiring some more Espeons, which isn't difficult.
ZH lags way behind confusion for raids, so you need to decide whether it is more important to you to successfully solo those raids, or to hang onto an inferior moveset because it *might * be better someday.
People like to repeat this blanket mantra that "PC is better for dodging." PC is only better is for dodging quick moves in gym battles, or in the cases where the defender/boss resists psychic but is week to the Zam's charge move, such as focus blast or shadow ball, so you want PC for the energy gain.
Against these raid bosses you're talking about, you generally shouldn't be dodging more than once per attacker. And you can dodge with confusion, it just takes practice. The damage difference between confusion and psycho cut is so huge that PC ZAM needs to launch an extra FS to catch up, and that will rarely happen.
Look at a variety of simulations against Machamp and Gengar, comparing psycho cut Zam with confusion Zam, and then try to tell me with a straight face that PC is better. PC is easier to use, and maybe even more fun, but if the goal is to solo raid bosses, where DPS is key, confusion is just way better.
Gengar raid:
You should be fine.
Zam raid:
You need to invest alot more.
Tyranitars: an army of 100iv lvl 30 tyranitar clocks out at 179s. Basically all tyranitars at lvl 30 will contribute to you timing out, not helping you at all. You'll need to take them up to lvl 35 or higher.
Go to pokebattler. You should aim to have a ''time to win'' time of 175 or lower (technically 180 but start up delay, lag etc makes 175 more realstic bench mark). Any pokemon below 175 will contribute to a DPS-rate that helps you not timing out and any pokemon higher than 175 will have a DPS that is to low, contributing to you timing out.
Gengars: 2 more gengar is also necessary (or mewtwo and Benette) in order not to clock out. Your SC should have a solid DPS rate. But a lvl 30 100IV gengar with Hex times out on 174s so you might want to take any hex Gengar past lvl 30.
I would say go with 3 tyranitars and 3 gengars If you are rich on dust.
I usally go with:
3 tyranitars.
2 gengars
1 gengar(28)/pinsir (32,5)/scizor(33).
this team (see picture) has a average timing out rate (s) of
Tyranitar: 174
Gengar: 146
Gengar: 162
Tyranitar: 172
Tyranitar: 174
Pinsir: 184
Scizor: 188
Gengar: 182
As you can see even an army of tyranitars past lvl 35 barely gives you any extra time. You are heavily depended on glass cannons for soloing Zam.
A cheaper Way would to be hunting high CP shuppets during weather bonus and try to built a team around an army of glass cannon benettes with SC. Haven’t run the Numbers but im guessing they should do it.
"Tyranitars: an army of 100iv lvl 30 tyranitar clocks out at 179s"
Averaging against all movesets, yes. Which is irrelevant since Alakazam is such a different beast with different movesets. L30 Tyranitar wins the clock (172s TTW or less) when not dodging against all non-FB movesets. It also works in practice.
You're set against Gengar.
Your Alakazam team is at least close to being able to do PC/SB, PC/FS, PC/FB and C/FS. More L30 B/C Ttars helps and gets you over the treshold of soloing C/SB. Adding more Gengars makes soloing PC/FB easier. For C/FB, you need at least 2 Gengars that can take 3 Confusions before dying and likely higher level Tyranitars too.
Your team is more than enough for soloing Gengar regardless of its movesets
For Alakazam, bring another Gengar with similar level, and your good to battle PC Alakazam. The FocusBlast one maybe give more trouble but still can be done
As for Raid Boss Alakazam with Confusion Fast Move, i dont think that team have enough power...
For Gengar, B/Cr TTar is crucial vs any moveset. I think Sludge Bomb is the hardest. Just make a few dodges and you should be fine.
For Zam, I attached a photo of all my successful solos. As you can see, you are approximately ready for PC/FS if you are either lucky or get your dodges right. PC/FB is easy with what you got if you can make your dodges (ie no lag). The other movesets get a little harder. Your options tend towards powering up many TTars to Lv 30ish or powering up a few to higher levels. Then you can tank through C/FS and PC/SB. For C/SB I just happened to nail all my dodges (and panic up powered a 4th B/C) and really crushed it, so I'm not sure I can give much advice other than nail your dodges (see KaitoNolan's video link at end). I haven't been able to find a C/FB (in the US-in Canada my phone lagged REALLY bad) to try in about 2 months, but I've been traveling.
When to dodge Shadow Ball
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9ZWnZnYuk8
Two other notes...September was lots of failure. Mostly VS C/SB which led to the power ramping of my TTars.
The last two PC/FS & PC/SB were straight tanking. With dodging you could probably clear PC/SB with less casualties. Also, I actually had the kill shot at 9 seconds left, but when I tried to screen shot it, I accidentally closed the app and opened it with 5s and it lagged until 1s.
I’ve done beaten the beast that is confusion and focus blast. It’s not easy and you need a degree of luck. You would be to do a psycho cut future sight alakazam with another high level gengar. Banette wont buy you anytime unless it’s focus blast in my experience. Then it’ll soak up the FB energy and spit it back at 2 spoons! Gengars are the major time savers that eat away at the clock for pretty much all the psycho cut ones. Against Confusion...they will help, but try to spam off a few SB before they faint. You should know straight away when you jump in the lobby what moveset it has. If it has focusblast you’d better dodge like a pro! Forget bug or houndoom to be honest I’ve a maxed out 100%one it’s Tyrannitar, gengar and one good banette that make the difference. Get on pokebattler do some math. Spent your dust wisely and enjoy!
