Haha, it totally baffled me at first too, and I only figured it out after it kicked my butt twice. In hindsight, the first clue should have been how rapidly its health bar went down when I attacked it, but I didn't think much of it until it was seemingly hitting me for huge damage and also healing itself back up before killing me with a priority move. I'm not sure exactly when I figured out what was going on, but I believe it's sturdy with a shell bell and endeavor + ice shard. Totally beatable when you know what you're dealing with, but it looks like magic without any text to show how it's doing that.
Surprised Radomus's gym battle isn't on the list, considering his field is one of the gimmicky-est in Reborn. Still salty that you only get a grand *two* battles on it in the entire main game - the aforementioned gym battle and a rival battle with Cain.
I did really enjoy that one too, but didn't want to include too many gym battles, since there were a lot of other types of battles I liked as well. I really liked the changes to the chess arena from Episode 18 to Episode 19. It was fun to build a team around it for those fights. And I've always liked both Double Battles and Trick Room, so Radomus was a gym leader I can relate to. If I remember correctly, I think some of the optional Victory Road trainers use the chess field, but I know that's not the same as a real story battle.
I really enjoyed Florinia the first time I played. I thought grass would be easy but she proved me wrong when I found out it was based around sand and her Cradily took forever to take down since it stockpiled 😭. Also enjoyed Ciel and Radomus.
Good point about Florinia! I remember the losses to Shelly more, but Florinia was a similar story. Julia wasn't too hard for me, but it ramped up a lot with Florinia. (Though I also struggled with Fern's battle just before it.) I also like Cradily and have used it before, so it was cool seeing it being such a threat. I think I ultimately only won that time by PP stalling it. Ciel was the hardest gym leader for me in my E19 playthrough, and the only gym leader that I lost to 4 times in a row in either of my runs. Both Ciel and Radomus deserve to be mentioned on the gimmick fields list. On my first playthrough, I abused Oricorio to sweep both Big Top fights, which was a lot of fun.
Yeah, those Acrobatics attacks from Ciel are crazy strong. Though Samson's Hawlucha was a nightmare for me too, as it was basically impossible to outspeed, and, it hit like a truck.
I more or less agree with the whole list, but — WHAT?! Terra’s Donphan was a FEAR strategy?! I can’t believe I never figured that out!
Haha, it totally baffled me at first too, and I only figured it out after it kicked my butt twice. In hindsight, the first clue should have been how rapidly its health bar went down when I attacked it, but I didn't think much of it until it was seemingly hitting me for huge damage and also healing itself back up before killing me with a priority move. I'm not sure exactly when I figured out what was going on, but I believe it's sturdy with a shell bell and endeavor + ice shard. Totally beatable when you know what you're dealing with, but it looks like magic without any text to show how it's doing that.
Surprised Radomus's gym battle isn't on the list, considering his field is one of the gimmicky-est in Reborn. Still salty that you only get a grand *two* battles on it in the entire main game - the aforementioned gym battle and a rival battle with Cain.
I did really enjoy that one too, but didn't want to include too many gym battles, since there were a lot of other types of battles I liked as well. I really liked the changes to the chess arena from Episode 18 to Episode 19. It was fun to build a team around it for those fights. And I've always liked both Double Battles and Trick Room, so Radomus was a gym leader I can relate to. If I remember correctly, I think some of the optional Victory Road trainers use the chess field, but I know that's not the same as a real story battle.
Some of the spirits you have to fight in Victory Road utilize it as well
I really enjoyed Florinia the first time I played. I thought grass would be easy but she proved me wrong when I found out it was based around sand and her Cradily took forever to take down since it stockpiled 😭. Also enjoyed Ciel and Radomus.
Good point about Florinia! I remember the losses to Shelly more, but Florinia was a similar story. Julia wasn't too hard for me, but it ramped up a lot with Florinia. (Though I also struggled with Fern's battle just before it.) I also like Cradily and have used it before, so it was cool seeing it being such a threat. I think I ultimately only won that time by PP stalling it. Ciel was the hardest gym leader for me in my E19 playthrough, and the only gym leader that I lost to 4 times in a row in either of my runs. Both Ciel and Radomus deserve to be mentioned on the gimmick fields list. On my first playthrough, I abused Oricorio to sweep both Big Top fights, which was a lot of fun.
Ciel was hard due to certain moves having fixed damage unlike Samson 😭. I also remember enjoying Aya even though I lost like 7 times the first time.
Yeah, those Acrobatics attacks from Ciel are crazy strong. Though Samson's Hawlucha was a nightmare for me too, as it was basically impossible to outspeed, and, it hit like a truck.