Pokémon Omega Ruby Elite 4 Round 2 F.A.Q.

Q: What are you trying to do?
A: I am trying to complete the second round of the Elite 4 in Pokémon Omega Ruby as fast as possible

Q: Are there any glitches in this speedrun?
A: There are no glitches that would aid in the speedrun, so there is no "Glitchless" category.  If/when glitches are found that drive the time down, it may be split into multiple categories

Q: What is your best time?
A: My best time is 3:24:26

Q: What is the World Record?
A: The World Record time is 3:23:03 by wartab

Q: What are you playing this on?
A: I am playing this on a 3DS with a capture board installed

Q: Where can you save time?
A: All over the place! We've not had a real grind for this category yet, and every run I've done has been basically a No Reset style run. Once I start a real grind and have a run I'm proud of, I'll be able to update this

Q: What Pokémon do you use in the run?
A: I will be using a Mudkip until we are gifted a Latios, Latios until we catch a Groudon, Groudon until we get Rayquaza, and then dual maining Groudon/Rayquaza until the end.  For HMs, Mudkip will learn Rock Smash, Strength, Surf and Dive.  Latios will learn Fly and Waterfall

Q: Why did you choose the girl?
A: Your rival has different Pokémon, and those Pokémon have different Nature's depending on what gender they are. The boy rival has more favorable natures on Rival 2

Q: Can you do this run on Pokémon Alpha Sapphire?
A: Yes, however I am using Omega Ruby since, in my opinion, the run is a lot safer than Alpha Sapphire. For this category in particular, Alpha Sapphire is likely faster, however it is a lot more miserable to run

Q: Why do you name yourself a 1 character name?
A: We set our options to have a Text Speed of Fast, however text still scrolls onto the screen.  By naming the characters a 1 character name, we can save some time over the course of the run on text, with the cost of a second or two by bringing up the naming screen. I do not name any Pokémon since it does not save time

Q: What are IVs?
A: IVs are the number, 0-31, given to a stat to determine the stat growth.  The higher the number, the better the stat

Q: What are the hardest fights in this run?
A: There are actually quite a lot of hard fights. Here are my least favorite fights in order of appearance (not order of difficulty):
- Team Magma Grunt (Petalburg Woods): With bad speed, the Poochyena is a speedtie. He also has Sand Attack. Best case, this is a 3 turn fight, but it usually goes to 4 with typical stats. You can see where this is going
- Black Belt Hideki: The second trainer in Brawly's gym. If he wants you dead, you're dead here. Machop can 2 or 3 shot you if he uses his damaging move, and you require 3 turns (4 if you miss the range with bad Sp. Atk) to defeat him
- Leader Brawly: Another case of "if he wants you dead, you're dead". Normally, this fight isn't too dangerous but there's always a chance you get spammed with attacking moves
- Rival 2 (Route 110): Only dangerous if you have bad Sp. Atk, or if you get burned during setup. If you give Grovyle a turn, there's a chance you get OHKO'ed by Mega Drain, no matter your Sp. Def
- Tabitha 1 (True Double in Meteor Falls): Very hard to actually die here (as "true doubles" continue if your partner has Pokemon left), but it's really easy to lose a lot of time here
- Team Magma Grunt (Mt. Chimney): Koffing is a 2 shot with Strength, or 3 shot with Rock Tomb. Koffing has Smokescreen
- Maxie 1 (Mt. Chimney): This fight sucks. Easy run killer. Bad attack requires extra setup or risking silly ranges. Bad speed requires an extra X Speed. Oh, and if Mightyena doesn't Swagger turn 1, you just wasted 3 or 4 turns. Have fun
- Ace Trainer Mary: The first fight in Norman's gym. Attract, Sing, Double Slap
- Leader Norman: Only dangerous if you get crit, but there are many chances for him to do so with your whopping 6-8 X Items to use
- Every Mightyena from Latios to Groudon: These guys all have Swagger, Scary Face, Assurance and Embargo. Pray for Embargo
- Rival 4 (Lilycove City): Swellow's double team is trolly, but not the reason I put this here. Grovyle is lethal with Dual Chop after an Arial Ace or two from Swellow

Q: Why did you not check stats on Mudkip when you received him?
A: Checking stats at Level 5 would cause about 26% of Mudkips to be reset with my new stat requirements, which isn't a whole lot. Waiting until the level up at Level 6 saves about 5 seconds and considering the majority of runs make it to Level 6, that's just a waste of time

Q: Why did you reset after Rival 1?
A: I checked the Mudkip's stats on the level up and it wasn't good enough. At Level 6, I need 14 Attack, 10 Defense, 10 Special Attack and 9 Speed. This is about 49.7% of Mudkips

Q: Why did you reset after Youngster Calvin?
A: I checked the Mudkip's stats again on the level up and it wasn't good enough. At Level 7, I need 11 Speed. Combined with the Level 6 stats, this is about 31.5% of Mudkips

Q: You got the Speed you needed at Level 7! Why did you reset anyway!?
A: If I get an encounter before Youngster Calvin and I got 15 Attack at Level 7, I will reset. Not getting that encounter encounter (which isn't common) offsets the less-than-stellar Attack stat, but if we get both, that's just too much of a handicap. Combined with the Level 6 stats, about 22.3% of Mudkips satisfy this requirement

Q: That sounds super complicated! Do all of those stats matter?
A: Yes!
- Attack is the main stat needed throughout the run as the vast majoring of fights require a decent attack stat. For Attack, I'm requiring a Neutral (10-31 IV or 18-31 IV) or Plus (0-31 IV) Attack nature
- Defense is more important than you might think, with some fights like Hideki or Norman not being possible with a bad Defense. I'm requiring a Minus (17-31 IV), Neutral (0-31 IV) or Plus (0-31 IV) Defense nature
- Special Attack is not as important as you might think, with it only being used on a handful of fights. The only fights where a good vs bad Special Attack is apparent is on Hideki, Brawly, Rival 2, and Flannery. I'm requiring a Minus (17-31 IV), Neutral (0-31 IV) or Plus (0-31 IV) Special Attack nature
- Speed is crucial, but there are mitigation strategies for bad Speed. Unfortunately, those mitigations require an extra turn or two in either Norman or Maxie 1 (and others if I took worse Speed). I'm requiring a Neutral (6-31 IV) or Plus (0-31 IV) Speed nature

Q: Do you reset for stats on Latios or Groudon?
A: I do not. The route is made to work with all Latios and Groudons we can get. The route is definitely easier if we have a good pair of Legendaries however. Since Legendaries have at least 3 31 IV stats, we're usually okay. Ideally, we have 92 Special Attack and 80 Speed on our Latios at level 30 (31 IVs in both), and 153 Attack and 99 Speed on Groudon at level 45 (31 IVs in both)

Q: What is your goal time?
A: My goal time is 4:19:59.  I think that's definitely doable with my skillset and the route I have.  If I make it down to that, I'll probably be so sick of this game I'll never want to play it again