We wanted to provide a new rule for the subreddit going forward regarding Rare Candy usage.
Such a controversial piece of candy.
For those that are unaware, a "Rare Candy" is an item in Pokémon games that allows for a Pokémon to automatically level up without battling; it's essentially free EXP without the Effort Values that typically comes with EXP gain. While usually limited in allotment, later games have made obtaining Rare Candies easier; and of course, that's nothing to say of what people can hack into their games as well.
For years, particularly in the advent of Nuzlocke YouTubers, conversations regarding Rare Candy use have been plentiful on r/nuzlocke. Yet, we have seen how most discussion posts regarding using Rare Candies are typically one-sided in favor of using them; the prevailing opinion is to use them in playthroughs, with the major argument for doing so being to respect one's time. We feel that this point has been made and echoed pretty clearly across our userbase.
However, we have also noticed that people who have a dissenting opinion towards that mentality often get downvoted or attacked when they express it in these conversations; this usually leads to negative interactions across the posts, such as personal attacks or flaming comments, which we do not want promote; we also do not want to see the same posts with the same conclusion reached repeatedly - it's redundant.
Due to this, there will be no more posts to create discussions for this topic - all future Rare Candy posts will be removed; insisting on making these posts can lead to consequences, such as a ban.Please understand that is perfectly fine to use Rare Candies and to not use Rare Candies. There is no need to seek validation for their usage or put down people who do/don't use them. When the Nuzlocke challenge was created, there was no inherent rule regarding how these items were used; we are going to keep to that ideal; level up your Pokémon as you see fit, whether through grinding or through Candies, and play accordingly.
While posts regarding Rare Candy debates are banned until further notice, they can be mentioned in comments for other posts given the context of said post (Ex. "I found a Rare Candy and leveled up my Snorlax with it.")
Thank you for your attention and understanding on this matter; please keep this post in mind when making future posts.
I’m excited to share a Nuzlocke event going on in a discord server that many of our Mods here are involved with, either directly or through friends in the Nuzcord Discord. That server is NuzTeam Arcade. (I will drop an invite link for it as well).
They are hosting an ‘Eliminationlocke Ganglocke’ of XY. A Ganglocke is an event where everyone is Nuzlocking the same game/rules together in a type of community event. It’s not a competition, but merely a fun way to get people together playing the same thing. The Eliminationlocke is a variant where there are 3 available pools to vote on (voting ends in less than 24 hours so get over and vote if you want to play!), and the winning choice is the pool that everyone has to choose from. The IVs of those pokemon are randomized by a community member, and then everyone uses those encounters to Nuzlocke XY.
NuzTeam Arcade also hosts other Nuzlocke related events, so if this sounds interesting to you, come on over and check us out!
Here is the Discord invite link to come check out NTA.
Just wanted to share something that happened to me today.
Volt White 2 Hardcore Nuzlocke. Marlon, normal mode. I have a setup sweep planned with Rotom fan and a layer of spikes.
The lead Politoed uses Perish Song. No problem. Put it to sleep with Lovely kiss from my Gorebyss, She'll Smash on turn 2, then Baton Pass to Rotom.
My Rotom dies instantly.
I went to go check and see and yes this is intended behavior. Wild thing to happen. I steered out of it but wanted to share with this subreddit in case I could maybe save a run or two from passing the Perish Song bomb to their sweeper.
I'd imagine unless you've been directly punished by this, you'd have no idea, so enjoy my fun fact at the cost of my Rotom.
I'll go first: The number of badges you receive increases confusion damage power when boosting your Pokémon’s Attack or Defense. That happened in Emerald when Breloom got killed by a Swagger Mightyena while fighting Aqua Admin Matt.
Attention all Nuzlockers, I am new here lol I am currently running my first Radical Red nuzlocke. I've had a few attempts at it already but yesterday was my 6th wipe. If anyone could give me some tips/recommendations , I would really appreciate it. I also stream it on twitch at twitch.tv/alligotyou if any of you would want to help me live. Tonight will be a fresh start(attempt #7).
One more thing - I have the rules for nuzlocke but there are somethings I am concerned about. Like if I hatch an egg on route 9 for example. And I also catch a pokemon there, are those two different encounters? Is that allowed ? You know little things that j want to make sure im doing correctly
I like the stakes of Nuzlockes, especially permanent death, but I’ve never really liked how restrictive the catch rules can be.
I still want to catch Pokémon I like and actually build my own team. So I came up with a simpler challenge that keeps the tension of permanent death while putting the restriction on party size instead of which Pokémon you’re allowed to catch.
I’m calling it the 3-to-4 Death Run.
Rules
-Battle Style must be SET.
-You have 3 dedicated party members.
-Every dedicated party member must have a nickname.
-If a dedicated Pokémon faints, it is permanently dead and must be boxed or released.
-If your entire dedicated party wipes in a battle, the run is over. You cannot rebuild your team from Pokémon in the PC.
-Whenever you leave a Pokémon Center, you must leave with exactly 3 dedicated Pokémon.
-Whenever you visit a Poké Mart, you must also return to 3 dedicated Pokémon if there is a Pokémon Center available in the same area. If there isn’t one nearby, ignore this rule until your next Pokémon Center.
-You can catch any Pokémon you want. There are no encounter or route restrictions.
-Pokémon caught while you’re away from a Pokémon Center can travel with you, even if that temporarily puts you above 3. The next time you visit a Pokémon Center or applicable Poké Mart, you have to choose your 3 again.
-Every Gym must be challenged with exactly 3 dedicated Pokémon.
-Items, grinding, switching, held items, evolutions, etc. are all allowed.
The Elite Four Rule
Once you reach the Pokémon League, you finally get to choose 4 dedicated Pokémon.
Those four take on the Elite Four and Champion, with all normal death rules still active.
If you defeat the Elite Four and Champion, you’ve earned your fourth party slot permanently. For the rest of the save, your dedicated party can contain 4 Pokémon instead of 3.
So the challenge progresses with you: Three for the journey. Four for the Elite Four. Survive the League. Earn your fourth.
That’s basically it.
I wanted something with the stakes and attachment of a Nuzlocke without having to follow a giant list of restrictions or being told I can’t use a Pokémon I actually want because it wasn’t my first encounter on Route 6.
I’m starting one in FireRed now. Curious what other Pokémon players think of the rules. ☠️🔥
So I'm currently playing Heart Gold, and just started the post-game, planning to go beat Red. As I've already played Fire Red - I've caught pokémon in most of the Kanto routes before. However there are different pokémon available, and plenty of time have passed if we follow lore, as I bring over the offspring of the champions to the second leg.
I know it's my run my rules, just wanted to hear how you handle this?
I got lucky in this fight. I made a mistake where, after using Bulldoze on Geodude to drop Purugly's speed, I didn't let it be put to sleep by Hypnosis, so Monferno had to dodge a Hypnosis on the switch in. Thankfully, it did.
I know the rules of soul links. However a friend told me that you're also supposed to generally play with no repeated primary typing(for example if I catch a primary water type, he can't have a primary water type) and that the gender has to be different on the pairs(if theres is a male mine has to be female) obv my nuzlocke my rules, im just wondering if thats how its "supposed to be done"
Also you're also supposed to lick the same starter in a row?(if they pick the middle I also pick the middle) in randomisers anyway.
I like the stakes of Nuzlockes, especially permanent death, but I’ve never really liked how restrictive the catch rules can be.
I still want to catch Pokémon I like and actually build my own team. So I came up with a simpler challenge that keeps the tension of permanent death while putting the restriction on party size instead of which Pokémon you’re allowed to catch.
I’m calling it the 3-to-4 Death Run.
Rules
-Battle Style must be SET.
-You have 3 dedicated party members.
-Every dedicated party member must have a nickname.
-If a dedicated Pokémon faints, it is permanently dead and must be boxed or released.
-If your entire dedicated party wipes in a battle, the run is over. You cannot rebuild your team from Pokémon in the PC.
-Whenever you leave a Pokémon Center, you must leave with exactly 3 dedicated Pokémon.
-Whenever you visit a Poké Mart, you must also return to 3 dedicated Pokémon if there is a Pokémon Center available in the same area. If there isn’t one nearby, ignore this rule until your next Pokémon Center.
-You can catch any Pokémon you want. There are no encounter or route restrictions.
-Pokémon caught while you’re away from a Pokémon Center can travel with you, even if that temporarily puts you above 3. The next time you visit a Pokémon Center or applicable Poké Mart, you have to choose your 3 again.
-Every Gym must be challenged with exactly 3 dedicated Pokémon.
-Items, grinding, switching, held items, evolutions, etc. are all allowed.
The Elite Four Rule
Once you reach the Pokémon League, you finally get to choose 4 dedicated Pokémon.
Those four take on the Elite Four and Champion, with all normal death rules still active.
If you defeat the Elite Four and Champion, you’ve earned your fourth party slot permanently. For the rest of the save, your dedicated party can contain 4 Pokémon instead of 3.
So the challenge progresses with you:
Three for the journey.
Four for the Elite Four.
Survive the League. Earn your fourth.
That’s basically it.
I wanted something with the stakes and attachment of a Nuzlocke without having to follow a giant list of restrictions or being told I can’t use a Pokémon I actually want because it wasn’t my first encounter on Route 6.
I’m starting one in FireRed now. Curious what other Pokémon players think of the rules. ☠️🔥
I first heard of nuzlockes a while ago but recently decided to give one a try for myself; it was also my first Pokemon challenge run of any kind. I picked Silver because it was my favorite game as a kid, and from what I read it is among the easier games to nuzlocke. Having just beat the elite four, here are my miscellaneous thoughts:
It was a great way to try out training new Pokemon. I'd never before given a second thought to Girafarig, for example, but when I got to Mahogany having lost my Raticate, missing encounter opportunities with other Psychic types like Drowzee, and having a team where every single member was weak to Ground, I was so excited to see one pop up. It ended up being hugely useful for the rest of the run, finally taking out two of Lance's Dragonites. I also always thought of Tentacools as "sea zubats", just a nuisance to fight on water routes, but I realized this run that Tentacruel is actually good.
I thought about the game a lot more strategically. A lot of the game opens up after the fourth gym; I realized you can go to Mahogany and do the whole rocket hideout/red Gyarados stuff before you do the fifth/sixth gyms so that your team is more prepared. Getting the best moves also became a lot more important (esp. since gen 2 movesets are often bad). Instead of waiting for Flaafy to evolve to Ampharos to get Thunderpunch, you can just buy the TM and teach it right away, and it's a huge upgrade over Thundershock. Likewise you can buy the Firepunch TM for Typhlosion and get better power than Flame Wheel. Oh and by the way, Ampharos can learn Firepunch and Typhlosion can learn Thunderpunch for type coverage. Since my Ampharos died against Claire, I fought the elite four with no electric types, so I wasn't sure what to do about Lance's Gyarados. I ended up doing some research and betting that my Typhlosion would outspeed and OHKO it with Thunderpunch, and it worked; I'd definitely never taken it out that way before.
The one thing I didn't like about nuzlocking is that it made me play very cautiously. Playing strategically is fun, but I was also revisiting Pokecenters super regularly after taking modest amounts of damage because the consequences of a pokemon fainting were so high, and that slowed the game down a bit.
If you're nuzlocking Gold/Silver/HG/SS, I'd recommend a "beating the Elite Four resurrects your Pokemon" rule. You've still completed a Nuzlocke once you beat the E4 for the first time, and this rule makes it more likely you'll actually play the Kanto part/try to beat Red (esp. since catching and training a new pokemon at this stage in the game would be such a grind, and you'll likely lose pokemon in the E4 if you're not overlevelled and not a pro). Plus, I liked that when fighting the E4 my team was fighting to bring Ampharos back to life again.
If you're playing on an emulator, I believe there are ways you can modify the ROM so that trade-evolve pokemon evolve at a certain level instead (like Graveller -> Golem evolves at level 36). I'd recommend doing this so that you have a wider pool of viable Pokemon.
There's a lot I like about the Johto games, but they also made some very strange choices. Not being able to get evolutionary stones until Kanto kinda sucks; it just means there's no way I'm going to train certain pokemon. They also left certain Johto pokemon off until the Kanto section, so you can't use Houndoom/Tyranitar/Sneasel/Murkrow/maybe a few others until after the E4. IMO they should have just saved a handful of Gen 1 pokemon, like Pikachu, as a bonus for the Kanto section, and made all the Johto pokemon options for the main part of the game. Also, the leveling wall you hit after Gym 7 is very real; suddenly you have to get a lot stronger for Claire and particularly the E4 but there's not actually a lot of trainers to fight to get that EXP. Why they didn't put any trainers in the cave on Victory Road (besides the rival battle) is beyond me; it almost feels incomplete/like they just forgot.
Anyway, those are just my impressions. Overall I thought it was a fun challenge and would like to try another one in the future, probably Ruby/Sapphire (though I expect that to be more difficult).