Successful Alakazam Solo!
I was successful at my first attempt at Alakazam, although it took me several tries before I was able to (barely) beat him. Moveset was Confusion/Future Sight, Partly Cloudy weather; winning team was:
1) Gengar: CP 2350, level 34, 15A/10D/14S, SC/SB
2) Tyranitar: CP 2900, level 28, 13/15/13, B/C
3) Tyranitar: CP 3390, level 35.5, 14/14/12, B/C
4) Tyranitar: CP 3103, level 30, 15A 87%, B/C
5) Tyranitar: CP 3089, level 30, 15/10/12, B/C
6) Dragonite: CP 3517, level 39, 15/14/14, DT/O (didn't use)
Some notes from the fight:
1) I should have read the T3 solo guide beforehand, as there were some helpful tips that I didn't use. This was kind of spontaneous decision and I wasn't entirely prepared for the fight. For one, I could only get one SB off using Gengar even after pumping him up from level 30 to 34 (also didn't exactly know where the SC breakpoint was, but was pretty sure it was around 32). I still think hitting that breakpoint pushed me over the edge, because I was literally a couple seconds away from clearing on several tries before succeeding. If I were to try again, I would definitely put Gengar elsewhere in the lineup, because Confusion hits so damn hard.
2) Crunch was better than Stone Edge, even though Stone Edge was weather-boosted. I TMed a couple of my Ttars to Crunch for the fight and that helped as well. This may seem kind of self-evident to a lot of people here, but I've talked with others who have really ragged on Crunch for having a monstrous cooldown, so I was skeptical of its superiority, even with Alakazam being weak to it. No doubt Crunch is better in this fight, although I think the performance in a vacuum is quite similar.
3) I mostly didn't dodge. Future Sight isn't a threat to Tyranitar and Gengar died before Alakazam ever fired one off. Having a 3-bar charge move means that there's very little wasted energy, too.
4) Against an army of Tyranitar, which is what I have, Future Sight is definitely the easiest charge move and was the reason why I decided to try to solo it in the first place. I doubt I would have succeeded with my team and level of preparation against Focus Blast, and probably not against Shadow Ball either. Goals for the future! Unfortunately I only have the one legacy Gengar and I'm not sure if Hex is worthwhile (I have a 15/15/14 H/SB Gengar that's not powered up at the moment).
All in all, this was one of the most fun experiences I've had in Go for a while. Confusion Alakazam is definitely a challenge, and challenge is something the game is in dire need of. The 15/15/14 'Zam I caught after completing the raid with only a few minutes left definitely sweetened the experience as well :-).
Answers
Nice work! That was the first Alakazam moveset I successfully soloed as well, having tried and failed against various movesets several times before. Since then, I have also succeeded against all of the PC movesets, leaving just C/FB and C/SB as my remaining 'Zam challenges.
Funny you mention that the Gengar could only get off one SB. I was having the same problem, with a lineup that also included two B/C T-tars (lvl 32 & 30), and two B/SE T-tars (both lvl 30), and a Scizor in the last slot that went unused.
After three failed attempts, I was convinced that one more SB would be enough to finish off the 'Zam, so I swapped out my CP 2358 SC/SB Gengar for a CP 2350 H/SB Gengar, hoping that the faster energy gain of hex would allow me to launch another SB. I was indeed able to get off two SB's with the hex Gengar (almost three), and I'm convinced that was the difference that allowed me to knock out the 'Zam boss. SC/SB Gengar is a great mon, and it is usually better than H/SB, but not always.
This was my winning team. The only change from the preceding failed attempt was putting in the H/SB Gengar in slot two, in place of the SC/SB Gengar.
Your second Gengar is still worthwhile for this - particularly against a Focus Blast Alakazam. Houndoom with Snarl and Foul Play is good as well.
Confusion / Focus Blast Alakazam is the hardest one. Even though they won't be auto selected for it, still use a couple of Crunch Tyranitars and dodge only the Focus Blast. I can do this, but not consistantly. I do have two extra factors that help though - a Shadow Ball Mewtwo and one of my Shadow Claw Gengars is 13 HP and 15 Attack & Defense (which at level 40 means it takes 5 Confusion hits to take it out, rather than the standard 4). I did catch a 91% Level 32 Haunter wild which became a Hex/Shadow ball Gengar and that was helpful too. The Gengars really help against the clock.
Soloing Alakazam is definitely a fun challenge. Over the last several months I've powered up things so that the Psycho Cut / Future Sight is now easy, but the rest, in varying degrees, are all challenges and I have to be on my game - and I think it also helps if the Alakazam just happens to delay his charge move. I didn't take down a Confusion/Focus Blast Alakazam until 2 weeks ago - and it took 6 tries - but only 1 raid pass :)
Your Tyranitar army should let you solo Shadow Ball movesets with relative ease because they still tank like champions. You might need to dodge a few charges if the fast move is Confusion. Against PC/FB just go with as many Gengars as you have, 6 Gengars lasts through the fight easily. Against C/FB I've found 4 Tyranitars and 2 Gengar that can tank 3 Confusions to be a good team. It's hard to pull off with L30 Tyranitars but it's possible.
Never put your Gengar first against Confusion movesets as the opening double fast move will wreck it. Hex Gengar still deals much better DPS than anything except SC Gengar or Mewtwo so certainly worthwhile if you feel like powering it up. (even SP Gengar has much better DPS than Tyranitar or Houndoom) Personally I use one SC Gengar and one Hex Gengar and plan to add another Hex Gengar to the team to get a better clear time.
Congrats on your achievement! Building up the team to take all movesets is definitely a lot of fun, good luck.
