Which raids to do?
1. Only using free passes.
2. Rare Candy: 95. Fast TMs: 7. Charged TMs: used up (and failed to get FS on Alakazam).
3. In Singapore, legendary raids were frequent and always had more than enough people (in the first few minutes).
Just acquired a L25 12A/12D/15S Scyther with FC/AA from a successful solo at a blue gym in rain. Will probably evolve it and, if it gets XS, power it up (101 candy and 640k dust). Or should I try for an even better one?
I already have a L28 Lick/HB Snorlax (defender), a L30 WG/IB Lapras (defender), L28 FS/IB Lapras (dragon slayer) and L28 Ember/FB Charizard (former attacker), but none are wonders. Since I am working towards a Living Wonder Dex for Gen 1, is it worth using Charmeleon, Lapras and Snorlax raids to get wonders?
Of course, Tyranitar is crucial, as I need 18 more candy to power up my Bite/Crunch one to L30 and want one with Bite/SE.
A few days before weather was introduced, I tried to solo a Count/DP Machamp with the following team (all fainted at 30s):
L30 12A/15D/14S Espeon with Conf/FS
L30 13A/14D/13S Exeggutor with Conf/Psyc
L29 8A/15D/14S Espeon with Conf/Psyb
L30 15A/13D/15S Exeggutor with Conf/Solar
L30 15A/15D/14S Alakazam with Conf/FB
L30 14A/14D/11S Dragonite with DT/Hur
Worth trying to solo Machamp again in the very near future or no chance with this team? I do have a L20 13A/15D/15S Alakazam with PC/FS that I could power up to L30.
Answers
I say go for a better Scyther. And, sure, why not? Snorlax/Lapras raids are a rarity around my area, so I'll probably try to hit those next. I already have a 91% Snorlax at lvl 40, but I'm hunting for one with perfect IVs, same with Lapras and Tyranitar. So, go for it!
I actually did my very first Omastar raid earlier today, and beat it on my first attempt solo, with about 9-10 seconds left. Close battle, but it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be! You can try for Omastar with that team, if possible.
No good Lugias? That's too bad. Lugia was *made* for destroying machamp. That bird of prey rips the limbs off that Doc Ock inspired brute.
I do Machamp with 4x Conf. Espeon (1 FS, 2 Psy, 1 PB) at 30, 1x ExSA 15A Lugia at 31.5, and some brute force like dnite in case it's needed. No dodging (time is my enemy, not survival) Most of the damage comes from the Lugia, especially vs fighting moveset. The Espeons have to be decent (you have one decent one, and one poor one). Conf/SoB is better than Conf/Psy on Eggy - SoB by sheer brute force overcomes the type advantage of psychic. You gotta fix that 98% zam - such a sad moveset to get on such good material.
I took a break from the game during August to October, so no Lugia, but I do have a L20 14A/14D/10S Ho-Oh with SW/BB. Could spend a Fast TM, 51 Rare Candy and 75k dust, but would it only be good for soloing Machamp and nothing else?
The Alakazam initially had SBall and I wasted all my 5 Charged TMs trying to get FS. Unless I get a 91+% Tyranitar with FiB (or a 96+% Machamp with HS) from a raid, I do not have any better candidates to spend future Charged TMs on.
Soloing Machamp is Ho-oh's most useful niche in my opinion. DPS is more or less equal to Lugia, but less tanky unless against BP/HS, though being second to Lugia isn't a bad thing.
If you power this Ho-oh and it allows you to consistently solo any Machamp, you will get some return on your investment anyway. Only having 1 use just means it takes longer to return it's investment compared to something like a Mewtwo which would be useful in pretty much any raid. That doesn't mean it's not worth powering.
You may not get all your rare candy or 75k dust back any time soon but you'll be catching Machamps and have more chances of getting TMs to make up for it. And it seems like you're more in need of TMs than rare candies, so I'd make that trade.
If you're considering powering the PC/FS Alakazam instead (maybe you have lots of Abra candies), consider keeping it with Psycho Cut. While Confusion does have a faster simulated clear time, you don't have the luxury of sending in 9 Alakazams against a Machamp without dodging, so what matters is the total damage output of that single Alakazam, which is greatly affected by whether you can dodge charge moves or not.
Psycho Cut still gets it done with plenty of time to spare, but it's damage output is much more consistent with it being easier to dodge with - and you shouldn't need the extra DPS of Confusion to win against Machamp. If think you do, that means your success only comes down to luck - how often the boss decides to use it's charge move, and I'd rather be able to consistently do a raid in one try than repeat it until I get lucky with when the boss uses it's charge move.
Since you fainted in the Machamp raid, powering up another Alakazam does not help you succeed. You need to have more successful dodges or add more tankiness to your team. Another Dragonite would be be a great help and Lugia even better.
Your team handles Close Combat moveset easily and wins against DP and HS if you dodge enough. My initial Machamp team was worse and was still able to win any moveset, it just required dodging.
Scyther: Unless you need a Scizor now, save it - you might be able to catch a better one (maybe not even as a raid boss!) before Scyther is removed as a Raid Boss.
Regarding doing raids to get the high IV mons you mentioned (Lapras and Snorlax in particular), those can be bothersome - they aren't nearly as popular among players as they were a year ago, so getting enough people to do the raid might be a problem. If you CAN get people on the raid, go for it. Otherwise, it might be more worthwhile to try to do an extra 5km of walking a day (not EASY, I know) and when you're at 8 eggs or less, try to wait to spin until you get to a gym you have a Gold badge on. (I don't know if it's confirmed that Gold Badge gyms get more 10km eggs than anywhere else, but I seem to regularly get 10km eggs from my Gold Badge Gyms)
Your team against Machamp probably isn't going to cut it unless you can take it in Windy weather AND you've TM'ed a few to have more Psychic moves (particularly the Alakazam with Focus Blast.). If they were all Level 32+ with Psychic or Flying moves, you'd have a better chance. Powering up that Alakazam to Level 30 is a good idea anyway to replace your Esperon with Attack 8, but even doing that you'll need to power things up a bit more OR to get lucky on the raid in Windy weather.
Right now the L20 Alakazam should replace the FB Alakazam, not the Espeon. It won't solve the problem of fainting out since Alakazam is even squishier than Espeon, but it does up the performance. He still needs to learn to dodge with that team though, they would have to be leveled up very high to take on DP Machamp without dodging.
Unfortunately, windy weather is almost unheard of in Singapore. I can only hope for clear skies to boost that SoB.
What I plan to do (and I suspect many Singaporean regular raiders would do) is to use SGPokeMap to find level 4 eggs, reach the gym a few minutes before the raid starts, then enter the raid lobby once there are enough people or (if the boss turns out to be something like Nidoqueen or Victreebel) travel to the next nearest level 4 egg.
How many level 30+ players with strong (even if not optimal) teams would be needed for Lapras and Snorlax?
Lowest I've done a Snorlax with is 5 players, 4 of which were pretty powerful. (Level 32+ Fighting Type groups) We barely beat it, so I'd recommend no lower than 5 players for a Snorlax. Not sure about Lapras - no one on my Discord wants them. They're as much a joke to them as the Nido's, so I've never been able to try one.
I would assume it would be similar to Snorlax, though - all the Level 4 raids I've done (except Absol) have been quite tough. Haven't beaten a Golem, and we had a team of 4 strong, 1 weak player. (If we had 10 more seconds... well.) So I'd imagine that 5 is the min for just about any Level 4 Raid Boss.
REMOVE:
L30 13A/14D/13S Exeggutor with Conf/Psyc
L30 15A/13D/15S Exeggutor with Conf/Solar
L29 8A/15D/14S Espeon with Conf/Psyb (will never hit its final break point)
POWER UP:
L20 13A/15D/15S Alakazam with PC/FS To Lvl 34.5(PC Breakpoint)
L30 15A/15D/14S Alakazam with Conf/FB to lvl 34 (C 29 dmg, final breakpoint at lvl 38.5 30 dmg)
L30 14A/14D/11S Dragonite with DT/Hur to lvl 38 (you need to be doing 16 dmg each with DT for it to be useful, maybe best to leave Dnite out)
L30 12A/15D/14S Espeon with Conf/FS to lvl 30.5 for 27 C dmg break point next breakpoint at lvl 35 for 28 dmg and final break point for 29 dmg at lvl 40.
LINEUP:
1. Alakazam C/FS (get 2 FS off before faint)
2. Alakazam PC/FS (Easier to dodge the coming charge attacks to get 2 future sights off before faint)
3. Espeon C/FS (has a little more bulk than kazam for charge attacks)
4. try to find another kazam or espeon to fit here since you don't have Lugia or Mewtwo. maybe power up Exeggutor with Con/SoB to lvl 37.5 for 26 C dmg.
5. Dragonite DT/Hur
6. Consider Charizard with Air Slash and Overheat here or another bulky type mon you did most of the damage early on now you just have to finish it out.
