Scyther Solo
Hey everyone, this thread has been real helpful from all my lurking so thanks for any help in advance.
I am looking to beat scyther, the published solo guide on this site says that it is very doable even at lower levels. I’m currently level 31 and have a variety of counters but I am hesitant to power them up since I don’t know which ones are optimal. Also I haven’t got a good idea what CP they should be at before I attempt.
I have zapdos and entai both around 2200 cp but no means of powering them up. No omastar unfortunately for double rock damage. Also 2 jolteon, 1 ampharos, 2 Flareon, and a Dragonite with hurricane for flying damage. All have optimal or workable movesets.
I’ve hoarded stardust but don’t know which of the group to invest in before I attempt.
Answers
What levels are those pokemon currently?
Dragonite is probably worth powering up in any case. The only reason not to would probably be that you have a Dratini with better IVs waiting for evolution.
For Flareon and Jolteon, you should try to catch high level Eevees rather than power up, unless you have great IVs. Flareon is better out of the two of them.
Ampharos isn't a good attacker, don't power it up for that.
With a team of L30 Hurricane Dragonite, L30 eeveelutions and the Zapdos or Entei in last spot you should easily be able to do the raid.
Also, if you can catch a high level Sudowoodo in the wild with rock moves, that would be a solid addition to the lineup at no stardust cost.
Everyone is between level 26-30 currently. I can get them into the low thirties.
With Dragonite, flare and 2 jolt and enti and zap rounding out sounds like the way to go, I’ll keep eye for sudowoodo.
Is there a level at which Pokémon do considerably more damage once they reach the threshold? I can’t recall where I saw something to that extent
They're fine at L30, would not power up past it for Scyther since it's an easy boss and that team should beat it very reliably.
What you're talking about is called breakpoints and is a result of the rounding function in the POGO damage formula. Breakpoints depend on the matchup and IVs, for example Jolteon has a breakpoint for Thunder Shock at L24 for 15 attack. The next one is at L38.5. You can google breakpoint calculators to check them yourselves, but I would not worry about them for this purpose. Scyther is an easy raid and optimizing for breakpoints is not necessary for it.
I used the calculator to find out specific levels, I’ve got a bit more farming to get them up at thirty.
Dragonite - 28.5
Jolteon - 29
Jolteon - 28.5
Flareon - 27
Is it better to use a more neutral damage but stronger attacker to round out team than a weak Zapdos/entai? I’ve got Mewtwo PC/SB at 2891 CP with near perfect IV and gyarados Bite/Crunch at level 28.5. Mewtwo would be glass cannon vs fury cutter but both of them seem like they could be more valuable than the above filler.
Thanks for the awesome answers
Second (or third, not counting) the rec for Golem. I have a trio, all RT/SE, levels 35, 33, and 33. They fight the Scyther, and by the time the third one goes down, just past halfway on the clock, Scyther is in the red. After that, I finish with Ttar for Night Slash, Entei for X-Scizzors or Aerial Ace (I'd use Raikou for Aerial Ace if I had one). Easy solo at level 35, should be very manageable at level 30, albeit a little tighter.
Other thing to note is that if you're against Fury Cutter, that does next to no damage, and attacks once every 2 seconds (gym defense AI) instead of every 0.4 sec (regular). Air Slash is much tougher to fight than Fury Cutter - factor that into your post mortems.
The other great thing about Golem is that he's (or she's) easy to get candy for, at 1 per km. Do a raid or find a Geodude in the wild, and jack it up. Best solution is to find a strong or best Geodude at level 28-30, evolve it, and then with a tiny stardust investment you get a great attacker. RT/SE is best, RT/RB is all right, and the other viable option is MS/EQ, but not really Golem's strength. Mixed ones should be TM'd to all rock moves.
I understood that you have at least one Golem with MS and a Rock charge move. I suggest Fast TM'ing your Golem(s). Even one double Rock Golem at a decent level would allow you to solo Scyther reliably.
I'd say that after you have a double rock Golem and that Dragonite at level 30 you're good to go (I'm really jealous for that Hurricane by the way ;p ). Try to get to a Scyther raid early so you can get multiple attempts if needed. You can also power up your Pokémon between tries.
I can do solo Scythers comfortably, my best workhorses being Golem (RT/RB), Dragonite (DT/O) and Arcanine (FF/FB) all at level 30. On top of that I use a level 27 Zapdos and a level 29 Flareon. If I ever get to the 6th I think it could be anything and I'd be just fine.
Best of luck to you and let us know when you go for it! Even in worst case you lose just one raid pass. Finally I'll say this again: get a double rock Golem and you should succeed easily! :)