Need some advice in countering Blissey, Slaking and Snorlax in gyms.
I'm trying to do find some potion-efficient counters against Blissey, Slaking and Snorlax. My 3231 MM Metagross can handle all 3 but not at the same time.
I tried using my 2425 Blaziken w/ Counter & Focus Blast, but I usually need a potion after the first fight against most 2400+ CP Blissey.
Both my 2454 Machamp and 2434 Hariyama lose the majority of their health to 2800+ CP Snorlax in the first fight. (I don't use them against Blissey or Slaking due to fairy moves doing too much dmg even after dodging)
I've tried using my 2449 Mewtwo w/ Focus Blast but it isn't much better than my Blaziken. Even my 3144 Dragonite (Hurricane) and 3093 Tyranitar (Stone Edge) can't handle 3 fights without potions.
(All these fights involve me dodging 99.9% of charged attacks.)
Am I missing any pokemon or strategies that I can use so that my pokemon only require 1 potion per fight? My Metagross is at that level, so I usually use him against Slaking, but sometimes I need him for other pokemon, e.g. Togekiss.
I'm lvl 31 and most of my pokemon are lvl 29 - 30. Are my pokemon simply too low level and do I just wait to power them up? Am I stuck with using 2 potions per pokemon for each knockout or is there another way?
Answers
The best counter for all those three is machamp. The next best counter and more potion efficient than machamp would be Hariyama. The most potion efficient would be metagross.
You may be missing dodging as strategy?
A max level Machamp still takes a huge amount of damage from blissey, but even a low level machamp should handle snorlax and slaking with no problem. Now, if you don't dodge at all, you'll need a lot of potions no matter the counter you are using.
Level 30 pokemon are fine for gym battles (except for max blisseys). If you don't get back as many potions as you use, you may have to reduce the daily number of battles. Try to take open slots in gyms rather than taking them down yourself.
Thanks for replying; I make sure to attempt to dodge all charged attacks (sometimes I can't due to lag but that's not common), so that's not it.
I think you're right about the daily frequency of battles. In an effort to get coins, I can take on about 2-6 gyms in a day, which even after 20 gifts is depleting my potion numbers. So yeah I might need to reduce the number of battles per day.
I was just hoping that may be I can get better pokemon to use less potions.
2-6 gyms in a day? Look no further, that's the reason your potions go away. Except if you live in a very, very competitive area where gyms switch color every hour, this is overkill. Theoretically, one per day is enough to reach the 50 coins cap. Having two helps covering the occasional situation where your pokémon get knocked out before 8 hours. Ok, go up to three if you get the chance to do it easily. Above that, the potions you use to take down gyms are usually lost for nothing, the return on investment is 0. With 2 gyms in a day, occasionally 3 maximum, there are very few situations where you won't get 50 coins a day. And losing 5 coins one day a week may be worth the 10-20 potions you'll be saving every day.
That is true in a medium density area like mine. If your area is very competitive, at least focus on spinning gyms more than pokéstops, gyms give more healing items.
Maybe try Lugia as a counter.
It's impossible to beat a high level full motivation Blissey with less than 2 potions used (The most potion-efficient attacker is Metagross, which gets 1.9 potions average with perfect dodging at level 40 vs level 40). Higher level pokemon would generally help, but choosing the right pokemon is also important.
For example, Blaziken is not a good choice. You should use Pokebattler.com's pokedex to check each individual defender and then rank the attackers by potion efficiency. Like so: https://www.pokebattler.com/pokemon/names/BLISSEY/levels/30/opponents/levels/35/strategies/DODGE_SPECIALS/DEFENSE_RANDOM_MC?sort=POTIONS&weatherCondition=NO_WEATHER&view=GROUPED&dodgeStrategy=DODGE_REACTION_TIME2&seed=1533014049000
Generally, you should use steel types (Metagross, Heatran, Aggron, Registeel) against Blissey, Snorlax and Slaking if you want potion efficiency. Lugia is great as well.
Another solution would be to try get more potions. If your area has low stop density, it's important to get enough friends that you can open 20 gifts every day.
