And we wrap this session up with this battle. I could swear I've encountered this José Manuel before, but I've said that with other trainers as well, and I don't really know for sure. I've seen some more eccentric teams under Series 6, and some have come up in this very batch of videos. While there are some on José Manuel's team, none were actually selected. (They also happen to be all male, which means fodder for Galvantula if I were using the Haxorus Team.)
Regardless, if I do encounter the same opponent multiple times, chances are I'm using a different team. That's another reason why I make so many teams. It's to prevent my opponents from getting the drop on me too easily. Unless they follow my videos, at least.
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: José Manuel
Stadium: Wyndon Stadium
Music: In the Fog
My Pokémon: Escavalier, Grapploct, Boltund
Opponent's Pokémon: Toxtricity, Ferrothorn, Talonflame
I mentioned before that Grapploct's real purpose is to fight a particular class of Pokémon. I'll tell you what it is now: They are stalling Pokémon, the ones with high defenses and/or healing moves designed to draw out a match but not much in terms of attack power. Octolock is an anti-stall move, since it decreases Defense and Sp. Defense each turn while preventing them from switching out. What target for Octolock is more ideal than a Pokémon that would ordinarily pass the time away by enduring attacks? Taunt is there to limit their options further. The idea is that the defense drops will increase damage dealt per move until it overtakes what they can heal each turn.
Granted, there are some stallers whom Grapploct can't easily fight, such as Ghost-types, whom Octolock doesn't work on, as well as the ones with Unaware like Quagsire and, yes, Pyukumuku, for whom the defense drops don't mean anything (though the latter will encounter its kryptonite with Taunt, and preventing a switch-out is still very valuable). Theoretically, Grapploct will likely lose to Cresselia due to a simple type disadvantage, but I don't know yet. However, I've tested this out before in matches I didn't show, where Grapploct handily defeated Pokémon like Chansey and Toxapex.
Grapploct's stats are real weird, and its design doesn't really come across as that threatening, which is something I can use to my advantage. It means Grapploct is such a rare encounter that people don't do the smart thing and switch out the moment they see Grapploct staring down their Mandibuzz or Gastrodon before Grapploct uses Octolock and seals the deal.
This Ferrothorn was a somewhat unusual one though in that it appears this one was focused on attacking rather than healing damage. That's why this was a bit more troublesome than normal. I think Grapploct would've still beaten Ferrothorn had Power Whip not miss though.
Oh yeah, and we got Gigantamax Toxtricity using G-Max Stun Shock, which will either inflict Paralysis or Poison on everything on the other side, if possible. This is one of the most fearsome G-Max moves due to the guarantee of inflicting a status condition, though it might not look like that from my perspective.
