While Empoleon is built for special offense, I doubted the good old Water-type complement of Surf and Ice Beam would lead to a swift finish. A lack of ways to boost Special Attack and Speed would leave me at the mercy of endgame speedsters like Infernape and Garchomp, even with some overleveling. As such, I tapped into Empoleon’s good-enough physical options, which includes Swords Dance at level 11 (for some reason), Earthquake, Drill Peck, and the crucial Aqua Jet. 40 base power that goes first is infinitely better than going second.
Early- and midgame are a cakewalk for a Swords Dance Steel-type. The first major problem was Cyrus 3; I couldn’t expect to freely set up on Will-O-Wisp Houndoom, and the Intimidate Earthquake Gyarados right after was only 3HKOed by Drill Peck. I couldn’t just squeak by, either, given the Fake Out Weavile. I ultimately had to teach Return over Drill Peck to 2HKO Gyarados. I’ll need to plan for this fight more carefully, since there’s no backtracking from the Distortion World and it’s tripped me up several times now.
Volkner wasn’t a problem, as the lead Jolteon just messes around with Charge Beam. Cynthia’s Garchomp was the only thing to read its head, taking even +6 Aqua Jet and KOing back. Spiritomb was free setup, though, so I got Empoleon into Torrent to OHKO Garchomp with what might have been a roll. Teaching Stealth Rock or getting the Mystic Water would have prevented that.
Empoleon was a straightforward run thanks to setup, though having to manage Aqua Jet’s low initial power and being in a voice call with friends spiced it up. I’m ready for the earlier game to be more interesting, and it looks like I’ll get that wish with the next few Pokemon.
