Pokemon Lunatic Crystal v1.6 - Boss Giovanni and Team Rocket Archer

This is the final battle of Radio Tower and one of the toughest challenges in the entire game. Not only do you have to defeat Archer who's pretty formidable on his own, but you also have to beat Giovanni. If you lose to either of them you have to start all over again from Archer.

You do get healed between fights, but you will not get back any berries you use up on Archer and you cannot change the order of the team for Giovanni. Selecting the right lead is crucial here.

Archer's team is Porygon2, Sneasel, Alakazam, Heracross, Gyarados and Houndoom, while Giovanni has Nidoking, Gengar, Exeggutor, Arcanine, Kanghaskan and Tyranitar.

All of those are powerful Pokemon and their teams have a mix of bulk, speed and power.

Leading with a Water type is a very good idea as you will also have it lead off against Nidoking, Porygon2 can Poison you with Toxic, hit you with Ice Beam and Tri Attack. Tri Attack carries a risk of getting burned, paralyzed or frozen, but the much bigger threat is Nidoking. Nidoking is holding a Quick Claw, has STAB Earthquake, Rock Slide and Megahorn, as well as Thunderbolt for Water types. If you lead with the wrong Pokemon against Archer and are forced to switch things can get really out of control.

Archer's Sneasel has incredible coverage thanks to Surf and Submission. Fire, Rock and Steel types can't simply wall it and it has STAB Ice Beam and Crunch, not to mention a fantastic speed stat.

Alakazam's set consists of Psychic, Reflect, Thunder Wave and Fire Punch, you're always at a risk of getting paralyzed and Alakazam has incredible speed and Special Attack to take advantage of his offensive options and easily set up Reflect.

Heracross is a very dangerous Quick Claw user with Megahorn, Submission, Rock Slide and Earthquake, there aren't many things that can resist all of the attacks Heracross can throw at them, so this can be a massive problem if you're unlucky.

Gyarados has Hidden Power Flying for physical STAB, Hydro Pump for special STAB, Earthquake and Thunderbolt. It won't deal the most damage with special moves, but taking either Hydro Pump or Thunderbolt for super effective damage is not a nice experience. It also has Focus Band to withstand hits that could knock it out.

Houndoom is Archer's Ace and it has a set of Sunny Day, Solarbeam, Flamethrower and Crunch. Simply walling it with a Water or a Rock type won't work here and it has Charcoal to boost the damage of Flamethrower. If it manages to set up the sun the damage output will be nasty.

Giovanni's second Pokemon is Gengar and with Focus Band it can be a massive problem. Not only is it a fast special attacker with Thunderbolt and Ice Punch, but it can also put you to sleep with Hypnosis. It also has Shadow Ball as a STAB option.

Exeggutor is perhaps the least overwhelming Pokemon of Giovanni's but by no means should you take it lightly, it can paralyze you with Stun Spore, recover quite a bit of HP with a combination of Giga Drain and Leftovers, hit hard with STAB Psychic and it even has a nasty surprise for flying types in the form of Hidden Power Electric.

Arcanine is an all out attacker with Flamethrower, boosted by Charcoal, Solarbeam, Outrage and Extremespeed. Flamethrower hits hard, Solarbeam and Outrage provides much needed coverage against Water, Rock and Dragon types and Extremespeed can easily pick apart tired teams.

Kangaskhan is Giovanni's second strongest Pokemon and it can be a massive pain to deal with. High HP, good speed and attack and well-rounded DEF and SpD with only one weakness. It has a Pink Bow boosted Body Slam which hits hard and can paralyze, Submission to deal with Rock and Steel types and to punish bulky Normal types, Rock Slide for extra coverage and it has Swagger to confuse your Pokemon. If you don't have a Fighting type or something that can hit hard or status it that outspeeds, Kangaskhan can be a nightmare and the hardest Pokemon to deal with.

Tyranitar is Giovanni's last and by far strongest Pokemon. As a pseudo Legendary Tyranitar has it all, monstrous Attack, good Special Attack and fantastic bulk. With a Quick Claw to potentially negate its' poor speed it can be deadly, especially with a devestating Rock Slide, STAB Crunch and coverage options with Surf to destroy Ground types and Thunderbolt to deal with Water types.

Both of their teams have quite a bit of Pokemon weak to Fighting moves, a Fighting type is needed here, especially to deal with the Tyranitar. Bulky status spreaders are also a must to deal with the fast sweepers that both Archer and Giovanni have, make sure to have both paralysis and sleep inducing moves. Giovanni is also quite weak to Water and Ground moves, so having Pokemon of these types would be a great help.