During my summer vacation, I decided to take the ultimate trainer challenge in Ruby/Sapphire and fight my way for the 100 wins in a row in the Battle Tower. I had tried to keep going after the 50 battles twice already but the opponents’ teams were really tough and luck wasn’t on my side. That last time, I took the following Level 100 team with me:
- Latias
- Ice Beam, Psychic, Thunderbolt, Surf @Sould Dew
- 319, 173, 217, 313, 293, 255, Gentle
- Latios
- Ice Beam, Psychic, Thunderbolt, Surf @Lum
- 302, 229, 193, 293, 229, 232, Lax
- Metagross
- Meteor Mash, Earthquake, Shadow Ball, Brick Break @Leftovers
- 329, 369, 269, 232, 217, 174, Rash
Latios and Latias with the classic elemental moveset are excellent for the Battle Tower (or the Cattle Tower as I like to call it) since they have high stats (so that they can survive Ice and Dragon attacks) and their attacks can counter most Pokémon in the tower. Metagross is there to counter the foes that proved to be a threat against Latios/Latias. Generally Pokémon that can avoid Ground moves are fine too (there are a lot of Earthquakers).
Luck is a really important factor, for example around the 90th battle, an enemy Latias with full HP knocked out Latios and Metagross (super effective hits…) and my own Latias was down to 50 HP; it was my turn to attack and my Ice Beam causes Freeze condition, so it was pure luck that helped me win this battle. But luck won’t be always at your side: during battle number 125 I was facing a case similar to one above, but this time my Pokémon was the one that was frozen solid.
However, without any skill luck is not enough. There are a lot of times that you have to predict your opponent’s next move for example: once you see a Milotic, don’t Thunderbolt it, use Earthquake instead. Why you might ask? The answer is simple: Mirror Coat, which can serve you with a nice one-hit K.O. if your attack was strong. Another thing you should be aware of, is the Explosioners, once you see an Electrode, Regirock or Regice (or sometimes Weezing) quickly switch to a Pokémon with high Defence, Metagross in my case. And don’t be afraid to counter a foe that your Pokémon has a weakness to, just be the first to hit and cause a lot of damage, the rest of your team will finish the job. Finaly one last thing: if your Pokémon is Burned or Poisoned don’t bother to switch (unless badly Poisoned), just unleash your power and inflict as much damage as you can, because Battle Tower is no place for mistakes.