24: Sootopolis Gym Leader Battle

24: Sootopolis Gym Leader Battle

Preparing for the Juan Battle

Who is waiting for you mate?  Juan is!  As you step forward and say hello, Juan tells you that it was he that taught Wallace everything that there is to know about Pokemon -- which means in theory he is the master, right?  Well, maybe but then again, maybe he has to beat us first!

First some advice:

Tactics -- plan out your attacks on each of his Pokemon so that you NEVER almost kill them.  Because once they drop below 22% he will use a Max Potion automatically and they will be back at 100% health, essentially negating your progress.  Your best tactic is to take them down to 25% or so using moves you know the damage rate on, and then hit him with your heaviest blow to KO the Pokemon.

Kit -- the last Pokemom that you fight for this Gym Battle is a grief-fight.  It has a nasty combination of moves, and the game is tilted slightly in Juan's favor for this battle -- and because of that, if you are not going in with a strong well-trained well-leveled team, chances are pretty good that you are going to have problems with the last battle.  That being the case, adequate kit is your friend here, because if you have to fight a battle of attrition, you can only win if you can outlast the PP limit.

To do that takes restores and potions, pure and simple.  If you find that you simply cannot take out the last Pokemon directly, what you will need to do is simply survive until he runs out of PP for his offensive move and for Rest.  Once that happens, his Pokemon will literally kill itself -- I have seen this happen, it is ugly, but if it is the only way, it is the only way.  So stock up on pots and restores, make sure you have your flutes, and stay on top of healing and stat issues so you can survive to win.

That is the best advice that I can give you -- and it is really good advice! Remember that sometimes you have to embrace the suck.  Often it is not how you win, but whether you win.   Now enough pop-philosophy mate  -- it is time to battle Juan!

Earning the Eighth Gym Badge

The Sootopolis Gym Leader: Juan

Juan leads with his Level 41 Lucdisc, which is worth 966 XP.  He follows with his Level 41 Whiscash worth 1387 XP, and then his Level 43 Sealeo worth 1179 XP.

Next Juan brings out his Level 43 Crawdaunt which is worth 1483 XP, and finally he pulls out his Level 43 Kingdra, a formidable opponent because it knows the moves Ice Beam, Double-Team and Rest, and has a berry that it can (and will) use to instantly awake after resting.  That combined with the Max Potions that Juan has makes the 2040 XP you earn defeating it a hard-earned victory.

If you are angry or frustrated...

Look mate,  some of the battles in this game are clearly rigged in the favor of the game.  The idea is to make it difficult, stretch out the battle, and give you the feeling that you have accomplished something, but sometimes, as in the case here, the programmer took things too far, mistaking tedious grief code for challenging...  So yeah, a LOT of Trainers get really angry and frustrated when they beat the first four Pokemon and then fail on Kingdra.

The reason you are failing is (A) Double-Team makes him really hard to hit, even when he is sleeping and not moving, (B) Rest pretty much fully heals him regardless of the damage you do, and (C) this particular battle is giiefed.

Just know that Kingdra does not have unlimited PP and eventually you will exhaust its offensive PP and then be able to take it out.

So yeah, it is painful.  Yes, it is not fair.  But remember, you only have to fight this battle one time, and when it is done, and you have won, you have the personal joy of knowing that you took the best that they could dish out and you walked away the winner.  Good on ya mate!

After-Action Notes

You will notice in the video that I made very effective use of the two Flutes that I possess -- the Yellow Flute and the Red Flute, which cure Confusion and Attraction respectively.  The Flutes are obtained from the glass blower near Fallarbor Town -- there is a full set of Flutes and though the Yellow and Red are perhaps the most useful, it would be a good idea to own the full set.  In other words, you should take the time to collect the ash that is required to have him make them for you.

You have defeated Juan!

With Kingdra KO'd he has nothing left, and so he is forced to acknowledge you as the superior Trainer!  Yay you!  Of course he cannot lose without insulting you -- and of all the things he could have used, your age, your Pokemon, your Mom -- he picks your clothing?!  Low blow mate.

As you have won he has no choice but to award you the Rain Badge -- the Eighth and final badge on your quest!  He hands you $4600 and

With the Rain Badge now yours, any Pokemon no matter what its level -- whether you caught it or received it in trade -- will obey your commands!  In addition to that, the Rain Badge means you can now use Waterfall outside of battle -- and that is a good thing because we need that move to access several key areas, but more on that in a bit...

His gift to you is TM03, Water Pulse, which is a useful move as you saw in your battle with him.

Finally he swaps Pokenav codes with you, and the battle is won!  All you need to do now is leave the Gym by falling through the floor behind you and walking out! Well done mate!

As you exit the Gym notice that both Steven and Wallace are now gone -- it appears that they have seen what it was they came here to see -- and now that you have obtained the final badge and taken out the last Gym Leader, they have moved on.

Now that we have the last badge and can use Waterfall outside of battle there are some odds and ends we need to wrap up as well as other unrelated things to be done -- yes we could now go to the final city (Every Grande) now that we can traverse waterfalls, and we will be visiting that city to be sure, but first there are some things we left off earlier because we lacked the ability and access that we can now take care of. 

It would be a disservice to you not to cover these -- and they are things that we should do anyway since we are now pretty much in training mode for our attempt to take on the League and become the greatest Pokemon Trainer in the world woot!