Pokemon Lunatic Crystal v1.6 - Team Rocket Petrel (Mahogany Base)

Published 2024-04-10

Another encounter with Team Rocket and an introduction to Petrel, he replaces the unnamed Male Executive in the Mahogany Base.

Petrel is usually associated with only having exploding Koffing and Weezing, but he has a much more diverse team here.

Pinsir, Tentacruel, Weezing, Murkrow, Hypno and Ursaring is the team he uses in the first battle.

Pinsir is the lead and it's holding a Quick Claw. Yes this is a Swords Dance user with Rock Slide, Earthquake and Return as the moves, a solid coverage that can catch unsuspecting Fire types off guard and you're never 100% safe with Quick Claw. Still, a strong Fire Type is the ideal counter here and if the Pinsir doesn't see an OHKO it may try to set up so there's also that.

Tentacruel is a fast Water/Poison type with fantastic Special Defense and decent Special Attack. It has Surf, which is boosted by Mystic Water, as well as Ice Beam and Giga Drain for coverage and Confuse Ray to cause confusion. It has pretty diverse type coverage, but a Pokemon like Tentacruel, Blastoise or Gyarados can take hits pretty well, though you may need a Bitter Berry. The best solution would be a fast Psychic type and especially a fast Ground type.

Weezing is Petrel's most iconic Pokemon. As usual it threatens with Explosion, which is even sacrier with Quick Claw and Sludge Bomb as the Poison STAB. Still it's not as one note as you would expect, it has Fire Blast to catch any Steel types trying to wall it and Thunder for extra coverage. A Rock/Ground type is the ideal counter here, so Golem or Rhydon is a fantastic choice here.

Murkrow is the fast, mixed Attacker of the team with Sky Attack, Shadow Ball and Psychic. It also has Thunder Wave to spread status and distrupt the player's team. It also provides an immunity to Psychic types. Murkrow is pretty fast and strong but it's also very frail, as long as you can take a hit or outspeed it, one super effective move should bring it down.

Hypno is another Pokemon that is immune to Psychic and it serves as a great wall with its' bulk and typing. It has Thunder Wave to paralyze you, Psychic for STAB, Seismic Toss for fixed damage and Leftovers for passive recovery. This Hypno however has another nasty trick, namely DynamicPunch which can destroy Dark types and if you're already paralyzed the guaranteed confusion can be deadly. Make sure to have a strong Bug type or a Bug type move to counter it. Tauros or Seaking are some of the Pokemon that get Megahorn so it's not a bad idea to bring them here.

Ursaring is Petrel's last Pokemon and an all-out attacker with a held Pink Bow and Body Slam, Earthquake, Cut and Crunch as its' moves. Its' massive Attack stat makes it really to switch into and Body Slam and Earthquake provide great coverage. The best choice is a strong fighting type.