Onix solo failure
Not complaining this time, though, but I want to share about my soloing Onix experience.
I met an Onix today, I was like, why not? I went in and it had RT/SE.
So I used a team of 3 Venusaurs, 1 BS/SoB Exeggutor, 1 Waterfall/HP Sharpedo and 1 WG/HP Vaporeon in Cloudy weather.
Among the 3 Venusaurs, 1 Solar Beam (level 35) and 2 Frenzy Plant (level 31/30).
Order: level 35 Venusaur, level 30 Exeggutor, level 31 Venusaur, level 30 Venusaur, level 31 Sharpedo, level 31.5 Vaporeon.
I had enough time to take 4 tries to not waste a raid pass, and in my best attempt, I messed up (dodged way too much) and server lag did not register the 4th Solar Beam before the Stone Edge hit (the 3rd attempt, the laggiest one, barely started at 176).
In the last attempt, I was at 1 Hydro Pump from Sharpedo away from victory.
Conclusion:
If you want to use Solar Beam on Venusaur, try to get 4 off. If not enough HP remaining, switch after the 3rd one hits.
Frenzy Plant is frenzy good, but it has a late dodge window, Venusaurs can faint to a Stone Edge right before a Frenzy Plant hits.
The final Vine Whip (probably also Bullet Seed) breakpoint seems to be important, and that was how my Solar Beam Venusaur could get ahead of the clock (the other Pokémon have "low" DPS). Although pokebattler shows it is possible with Venusaur in neutral weather at level 30, it is slightly behind the clock in practice.
Finally, don't dodge/switch too much, like how I messed up my best attempt.
Edit: some minor text fixes.
Answers
> I met a RT/SE one today, I was like, why not?
How did you know before spending a raid pass?
> Frenzy Plant is frenzy good, but it has a late dodge window, Venusaurs can faint to a Stone Edge right before a Frenzy Plant hits.
Isn't it at least better than Solar Beam in that respect, which has an even later time of effect and long energy buildup?
Probably it can be worth trying a Leaf Blade Sceptile. Leaf Blade is also good for attacking cycle DPS thanks to its short active times, and Sceptile has significantly higher attack stats than Venusaur. Also I would throw in a Kyogre.
I had a similar experience yesterday, I looked at it's CP and totally underestimated it.
Started out my first attempt with a vape and a gyara, but couldnt beat the clock then because vaporeon will survive for a long time, but it's DPS was too low, so timed out.
Second I attempted twice with a gyara and my frenzy plant venusaurs (who all have razor leaf as fast attack) and still didn't manage! So I ended up owering up gyara and 1 venusaur past a breakpoint and finally managed to beat it by a hair...
What mattered in the end for me I think was not because waterfall did more damage after powering up, but because gyara pulled off an extra hydro pump before fainting. So might've just been luck...
my winning team:
L33 Gyara WF/HP - 15 att
L34 Venus RL/FP - 15 att
L33 Venus RL/FP - 12 att
Vine whip should make it even better
