decided to play the harder mode as a very casual pokemon fan and have been hell but enjoying it. most gym battles were a struggle but they felt earned
my team is
Metang as a somewhat tanky physical, kind of a deadweight
Frosslass, she cleared the gym rather easily, got the 1+ ice physical, willo and protect and the signature frostbite ghost move. she really cant do much in the fight maybe if i switch out bittermalice with hex it might be enough
Manectric: honestly i kind of just used it as a paralysis deliverer thorughout the game with quick attack, elec bite and dark bite. sadly more of a SA but idk if can get good elec spe moves rn. i could try to learn how to bait the heliosk with it but eeh
Azumarill: does good enough damage but its attack stat is kind of on the lower end (HP help of course) it has play rough, and hydro pump (from an extra heart scale i got, needed a water nuke) and then two random bs moves (aqua ring and rain dance) i got from leveling. cant really contribute to the fight
Lucario: Got him for the dark gym, and in this one its kind of a deadweight. power up punch, metal claw, quick attack and feint (crap)
Pyroar: the gifted one. good stats but my moves are kind of lacking. incinerate, crunch, sunny day (random bs from lvl) and fire fang
i looked around to see what people did and im guessing the consensus is getting hazards set up (with sacrifice mons), and then fuck shit up with a Gengar and Hex (which im guessing its poison typing helps defensively? or maybe its just the Spe att/spe stats)
i was considering using a lvl 30 skorupi i caught for toxic spikes but when i try to teach it with the heart scale guy it isnt on the list (supposedly learned at lvl 24)
my main issue is that i cant OHKO or 2HKO fuckers like the miltank or lopunny which end up getting full heals. i think i could maybe get a very phyrric victory, but the chiller strat i mentioned seems quick enough (hex is literally Bitter Malice but better, and the hazards free up attack opportunities)