Pokemon Sword: The Rillaboom Solo Run

 

Here comes Galar Grass Starter’s time to shine — and my, did Rillaboom shine indeed. To boast the highest base Attack of all Grass Starters with a whopping 125 is already stellar enough — but wait, there’s more: Rillaboom does actually boast the highest base Attack of all Starters. Like, all Starters since the dawn of the series — let that sink in. My own little Verdure was blessed with a Lonely Nature, which I instantly deemed the best possible stat-altering Nature as far as the Rillaboom line is concerned: Defense being the grass ape’s second-highest stat, it could certainly tolerate a bit of lowering. As you can see below, my Verdure’s Defense was more than decent enough by the end of my run. 

 

Enough about stats already; let’s talk about Moves, shall we? And my, Rillaboom got ‘em Moves indeed. Heck, it has the widest learnset of all three Galar Starters, hands down! I took a screenshot every time I got a new Move, with the idea of posting them; however, there were soon so many of them that I gave up on said idea. They said a picture is worth a thousand worth, but a good ole list is definitely more palatable than half a dozen pictures:

 

Grass Moves: Branch Poke, Razor Leaf, Drum Beating,

Normal Moves: Double Hit, Slam, Boomburst

Fighting Moves: Brick Break, Drain Punch

Dark Moves: Knock Off, Brutal Swing

Bug Move: U-Turn (first time I use the stuff in a solo setting, and it works just fine: with a one-Mon team, your lone ranger just stays put.)

 

Right above, you have my ultimate Move pool, the one I used to wipe the floor with Leon and his team. I’ll admit it: I was seriously afraid of his Charizard — heck, Grass Type and Gigantamaxing weren’t bound to end well, now were they? However, it turned out that I needn’t have worried at all: two neatly placed Drain Punch took care of that most frightening of final ‘Mons, while conveniently refilling my Verdure’s HP bar to boot. If that is not a most satisfying way of wrapping up a solo run, I really don’t know what is.

 

Not only did that run deliver me some mighty fine cruising with a kickass Grass ‘Mon, but it also introduced me to what will be known from thereon as the Great Galar Grinding Galore. If you’ve played S&S already, you know where this is headed: to the Wild Area, folks. The Wild Area, which I roamed for a good hour and a half, plundering Dens like it was going out of fashion. I’ll admit it: I completely lost myself in the grinding and forgot everything — Motostoke, the Gym Challenge, and the very fact that I was playing a Pokemon game. I grinded so hard that by the time I finally emerged from the Wild Area, dazed and sated, my Verdure was boasting an outrageous Lv.49. Sure enough, his EV training was lacking, since those levels were gained solely through the gobbling of Rare and Experience Candies: but my oh my, was that grinding and farming breather insanely good. I think I found myself a new Pokemon kink, and I really cannot promise I won’t make more early stops at the Wild Area in runs to come.

 

Now’s the time to deliver my final thoughts: Rillaboom is the single greatest Grass Starter created since the dawn of the series — yeah, I said it. He boasts the bulkiness of Venusaur with a much faster growth, the offensive oomph of Chesnaught with much better looks, and a learnset that’s the stuff of solo run dreams. Rillaboom is a kickass Starter, a kickass Grass ‘Mon, and a kickass ‘Mon full stop. I’m glad to part with S&S for the time being on such a fulfilling run; I’ll see you soon with more gaming goodness, dear fellow gamers!