Does my team need grinding?

Question

I beat the 7th gym leader and Maxie.

my current team:

Manectric Lv34
Hariyama Lv35
Crobat Lv34
Gardevoir Lv34
Swampert Lv37
Cacturne Lv36

Do I need to grind them up?

Comments

I haven't played that Gen (Whichever it is), but with all my experience (Which is not much), if you're on the 8th gym, the 30s is a low level to be at that time, I think you need grinding.

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I recommend putting Crobat (very few opponents are weak to poison or flying), Manectric (because it has only one good move), and Cacturne (it's slow and has a lot of weaknesses) in your PC, so it's easier to level up your other Pokemon.

Answer 1

Gardevoir and Hariyama are the only 2 Pokemon on your team that learn an attack-raising move, so the easiest way to defeat Juan definitely involves using one of them.

+6 Lvl 38 0 SpA Gardevoir Psychic vs. Lvl 46 0 HP / 0 SpD Kingdra: 148-175 (106.4 - 125.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+6 Lvl 43 0 Atk Hariyama Vital Throw vs. Lvl 46 0 HP / 0 Def Kingdra: 140-165 (100.7 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

source
(both calculations assume you have no IVs or EVs, so you can almost certainly OHKO his Kingdra at a lower level)
Assuming none of your Pokemon gained experience since they last leveled up, Gardevoir needs 19460 experience to reach level 38, and Hariyama needs 42260 to reach level 43.
source
So the easiest way to defeat Juan involves teaching Gardevoir calm mind and psychic (and thunderbolt for Crawdaunt), setting up on his Luvdisc, attacking until either you win or Gardevoir faints, and repeating this process until Gardevoir gains enough experience to win. You are guaranteed to win before Gardevoir reaches level 39, unless Juan gets 6 critical hits in a row or something like that.

After defeating Juan, I recommend putting Crobat (very few opponents are weak to poison or flying), Manectric (it has maybe 2 good moves), and Cacturne (it's slow and has a lot of weaknesses) in your PC, so it's easier to level up your other useful Pokemon like Gardevoir. When your team has only 3 battlers, you can defeat all the trainers between Mossdeep and Pacifidlog and the ones inside Victory Road, and then you should be ready to challenge the Elite 4.

Comments

I guess they wouldn't have time to get their stats to get +6. But still they can manage to defeat Kingdra.

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Why not? Do you think Juan's Luvdisc can threaten a level 38 Gardevoir?

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Why do I have to put Crobat, Manectric and Cacturne in a PC box? Since they can take down Sidney's Shiftry, Cacturne and Crawdaunt, Pheobe's whole team, Glacia's Sealeos and Walrein and Wallace's whole team.
Edit: My Swampert learns Ice Beam. Don't judge me.

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Swampert, Gardevoir, and Hariyama can do all those things using less experience. A Pokemon with a super effective move isn't always better than a Pokemon without a super effective move, especially if the other Pokemon has less weaknesses or an attack-raising move.

Answer 2

Your team definitely needs some grinding to beat Juan. Your 2 mains that I would use for this Gym, Cacturne and Manetric, 7-12 Levels below Juan's Pokemon which range from 41 to 46. This is reason enough. I would focus on these 2 mons to level up to deal with his team except for Kingdra. I would level them up to at least Level 45 to deal with his team. Especially Level up Cacturn to get Needle Arm at Level 41, or Giga Drain as a TM. Level up your entire team for the Elite 4 though.

Comments

Based on my experience, his Kingdra is more problematic than his 4 other Pokemon combined. How would you deal with Kingdra?

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Needle Arm has 30% to flinch also Leech Seed and Giga Drain is useful to recover HP. So it can deal with Kingdra easily.

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If I remember correctly, Juan's Kingdra knows Ice Beam.

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It does know Ice Beam, but a combination of Manetric and their other Pokemon should easily take care of Kingdra, just set up Leech Seed to deal with that Double Team factor.

Answer 3

Your team certainly need grinding. All mons around lvl 34 - 37 are just too less to face the 8th gym. You would wish to use Manectric and Gardevoir to face Juan. Gardevoir can do what Manectric can't. Gardevoir has Calm Mind, and Kingdra has all Special moves, no Physical, so you can defeat it with one Calm Mind and Psychics. So you have bring the two to atleast lvl 45 and the rest to lvl 42 or so to make the gym easier. And you need to grind them too hard. Else it is too difficult to face E4. You have to level up all of them to atleast lvl 50.

I wouldn't recommend to use Cacturne here, its job is only for defeating Phoebe with its not-so-good feint attack.

For Grinding,

• You can go to Shoal Cave to level up until everyone becomes lvl 40.
• Go to Ocean Currents in the West of Pacifidlog town. You would meet more trainers there.
• Look for Trainers' rematch. It could also help you to grind your Pokémons.
• I guess you would meet Wally in the Victory Road. He would be easier to beat if all of your mons are around lvl 45.

Hope this helps :)

Comments

Why would you recommend using Cacturne against Juan when his strongest Pokemon knows ice beam and is weak to none of Cacturne's moves?

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Sorry I forgot to mention Kingdra.

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Based on my experience, his Kingdra is more problematic than his 4 other Pokemon combined. How would you face Kingdra?

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In the game I recently played, my Gardevoir and Ludicolo was enough to sweep the whole team, and both were lvl 45. Gardevoir's Calm Mind and Psychics handled Kingdra.

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Why would the Blaziken person need Manectric or Cacturne when a Gardevoir can sweep the whole team?

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Basically I feel that we need teamwork, and if he level up all of his mons, it would be easier to face E4. I wouldn't argue with you, but I'm also mentioning about E4.

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Compared to Gardevoir, Cacturne is not very useful against the Elite 4.

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Yeah you're right. Basically I wouldn't advice to use Cacturne, but the asker has determined to use it. So I mentioned it.