Utility Steelix for the Battle Frontier (Pokemon Gen 3)

I am still on a quest to win the Gold Medals in Pokemon Emerald! After MANY months of studying and training Pokemon, I have crafted a team which uses some of my favorite Pokemo and has a strategy to win. The last Pokemon I needed to train was a Steelix. I already trained a Steelix previously, however that one was trained to be a physical attacker. This new Steelix is more strategic and defensive which allows me to gather information. In this article, I want to break down the purpose of this Steelix and how it has been performing so far.

If you haven’t already, check out the video!

I trained this Steelix to be BEEFY. I was able to breed one with perfect IVs in Defense and Special Defense. I was also hoping for HP however I did not want to spend too much time breeding. I also just finished training two Tyranitars so I was eager to get back into the Battle Frontier.

Steelix is so cool… look at it!

I was targeting a Calm or Careful nature since both increase Special Defense and decrease an attack stat. Steelix naturally has a weak Special Defense base stat and an excellent Defense stat. To make Steelix as tanky as possible, I prioritized Special Defense when possible so it can survive against water moves.

Steelix naturally has a lot of resistances, is immune to poison moves, and on top of that, cannot be 1-hit KOed! Sturdy is an excellent ability since some members of the Battle Frontier use those 1-hit KO moves.

Steelix was EV trained with 252 in HP, 252 in Special Defense, and 4 in Speed. I did not see a reason to train any EVs in Defense due to Steelix’s high base stat.

Steelix’s max Special Defense stat it can achieve at level 100 is 251 (Source). It is always rewarding to achieve a maximum stat after a long grind! Steelix can have a max HP stat of 354 and I was able to get 334. I knew the HP IV was not perfect however it does appear to be somewhat low. I ran an IV checker online and it said this Steelix has 11 IVs in HP (31 is the max). I wish it was a little higher but I won’t complain! The IV checker also said this Steelix has 0 IVs in attack! Good thing that doesn’t matter at all for this Pokemon.

I need to use more PP Ups on Steelix. I keep forgetting.

Torment is an incredible move that I never considered before in my entire Pokemon adventure. I never had a reason to think about using it! This moves makes it so the opposing Pokemon cannot use the same move it used last. This works well with protect and allowing for other Pokemon to set up since you know what move they cannot use next! I cannot stress how impressed I am with this move in strategizing.

Protect is quite obvious to have on a defensive Pokemon. It allows for information gathering on which moves the opposing Pokemon has but most importantly, it synergizes with Torment.

Rest allows Steelix to recover HP quickly and stay in the game. I run a Chesto berry to allow Steelix to wake up ASAP. I save the leftovers for Dusclops who is on the team as well. Dusclops is more capable to stall the game since it has the ability pressure. I figured having leftovers is more useful on Dusclops.

Roar is used to switch the opponent’s Pokemon and understand what is on their team. This allows us to plan ahead on how we want to set up Tyranitar and execute the match. Roar also switches out Pokemon that attempt to set up with moves such as Minimize, Double Team, or Swords Dance.

I still have a lot to learn on how to use the team and that will be for a separate post however, I want to share how Steelix has been performing on the team so far.

Top level view of the team:

• Steelix: Gathers info. Set up Torment.

• Tyranitar: Use Dragon Dance and set up to sweep.

• Dusclops: Deals with things TTar can’t. Stalls. Has Toxic/Seismic Toss.

For specifically the Battle Tower, I have been leading with Steelix. I typically use Roar a few times to see what the opposing team has. If there is a Pokemon I think Tyranitar can set up against, I will use Torment and find an ideal time to switch into Tyranitar. I then will try to set up multiple Dragon Dances with Tyranitar. Then if things go as planned, the sweep should be easy. This obviously isn’t always the case. Sometimes it makes sense to Torment then switch into Dusclops. Dusclops will use Toxic and protect to stall most Pokemon.

Water moves still are LETHAL against my team. These Pokemon pose the largest threat. Dusclops must take care of these Pokemon.

More to come in the near future so stay tuned! I think we can get a Gold Medal in the Battle Tower. I just need to be patient, get a little lucky, and have faith in the team!