Sinnoh Written Log The Ancient Art of Throwing Rocks

[Uberle]

Hello everyone
I am Uberle
I have played Legends Arceus
And after 120 hours I did everything I wanted to do in my first playthrough
So I’ve done the logical thing and started a new file to play it again, but with a certain restriction this time

See a long running joke of mine has been referring to any Rock move as “The Ancient Art of Throwing Rocks” because almost every Rock move is throwing rocks of various sizes and numbers
And now with Legends, we are in ancient times
So the most sensible thing to do is to play it only using Rock moves
Now that may be an issue as there are only 8 Rock moves in the game and one of them is a signature move but the power of memes compels me

Just so everyone is aware, these are the Rock moves Legends has
Ancient Power
Head Smash (only Bonsly and Cranidos lines)
Power Gem
Rock Slide
Rollout
Stealth Rock
Stone Axe (only Kleavor)
Stone Edge

Quick rules
Each mon must have a Rock move and can only use that to attack
Non-damaging moves are permitted
I can only use one member of a species
KO’d mons go into the pastures

So join me won’t you?
And maybe I’ll convert some into followers of the Ancient Arts
Now then let us begin

Spoiler: Part 1: Get the Boulder Rolling

Speeding through tutorial stuff, my starter for this will be Cyndaquil, as it proves itself the objective best starter due to being the only one that learns a Rock move

Dash (Cyndaquil)
Sassy nature
Move: Rollout

Dash’s names comes from the reality that I just played with Cyndaquil as my starter and want to try out other mons, so he will get boxed eventually
Also I do need to commit minor blasphemy early on because Dash does need a couple levels before learning Rollout
But this is quickly fixed with our next member obtained in the catching tutorial

Bowl (Bidoof)
Jolly nature
Move: Rollout

Bowl here starts at being so familiar with the ancient art that he himself becomes the rock that’s thrown
A reflection of the holy status I have heard his kind carry
Also the move tutor lady grants him Stealth Rock which is incredibly useful
Really the move tutor is going to be the saving grace of this run and I plan to use her to full advantage

First trainer battle of worry was Mai because her Munchlax is a disciple of the Ancient Arts
Fortunately for me it was still an amature and missed Rollout so Bowl took it out with ease

I get the base camp set up and after playing a flute, the local Noble Wyrdeer gives me a piece of God’s power and allows me to ride on it
An Alpha Kriketune tried to cause problems, but it is still a simple Bug so fell instantly to the Ancient Arts

With a speedy way to travel, the Fieldlands grants me two more soldiers to join this stone crusade

Toss (Geodude)
Adamant nature
Move: Rollout, Stealth Rock, Iron Defense

Yeet (Monferno)
Brave nature
Move: Stealth Rock

Toss is great because you can’t find a better master than an actual rock and have a status move I can use
Yeet was a lovely surprise, I didn’t expect to find her around Deertrack Heights and yet I did. Also she’ll be able to learn Rock Slide eventually so I can use more than two moves

The next task is to meet with the Pearl Clan warden Lian who is wise beyond his years as he recognizes the power held by Kleavor, but knows to fear the Rock’s power and taught his Goomy a water move
But by now Bowl had evolved into Bibarel so Lian’s preparation wasn’t quite enough

Now we figure out the issue with Kleavor and try to figure out what to do
Laventon proves his vast intelligence by taking influence from the ancient arts and comes up with the idea of packing together Kleavor’s favorite foods and throwing them at it
Everyone is rightfully blow away by the sheer genius of this solution and we get to work

While the others work on the balms I go and get two more members to fill out the team

Lob (Munchlax)
Sassy nature
Moves: Rollout, Rest

Hurl (Gastrodon)
Serious nature
Move: Ancient Power

Lob took a bit to find and now I wield the power of a warden
I wasn’t expecting to end up with Hurl, but when I caught him I saw that he had Ancient Power, the very root of the art, so on the team he goes

With all that preparation done it’s time to deal with the first Noble
Right after Irida challenges us to a battle
However unlike her warden, she has yet to understand the power of the Ancient Arts and sends out a Glaceon
A quick education session later, we get to calming the Noble Kleavor by throwing rocks at it

The fight itself went pretty ok as while Kleavor has adopted the Ancient Arts, it was born a Bug and still has the weaknesses of that type
Stealth Rocks are going to be a saving grace for this run
I fought it three times, first with Lob, second with Toss, and then Hurl for the finish

The magic lightning is dispersed and so ends the first leg of the journey
Next time is the Mirelands, should be able to get a bunch more team members there
Bye!

 

[bhelryss]

big respect for your enthusiasm for the eldest of arts

 

[Uberle]

I return
Time for Mirelands
which is the objective best area in the game because it contains Ralts, Turtwig, and Cyndaquil in postgame

Spoiler: reply

@bhelryss I wish to show nothing but absolute dedication to the ancient arts

Spoiler: Part 2: Sacred Rock Wall

Mirelands
So while here I was able to increase my stars and now instead of everyone only being taught Stealth Rock, everyone gets that and Rock Slide
And as hoped I got a fair number of new recruits
A lot of team shuffling had to be done because the next Noble is Lilligant and Grass/Fighting is not a good opponent for a pool of mons that are mostly Rock, Ground and Normal types
Anyway after some moving stuff around this is what I have

Kasta’s name is just Swedish for ‘throw’ named in memory of Hugg, a Toxicroak from another run whose name means ‘stab’

I have 9 other currently usable mons in the box, but all are weak to Lilligant so here I go with this team
I hesitated on adding Sling and Pelt, because I needed to get them to 34 to evolve and I don’t want to be too overleveled, but considering the uphill battle Lilligant would already be I decided to use them
Also Pelt and Fling are evolve when knowing Ancient Power so I feel obligated to add then

Now we being the trials of the Mirelands
First task is to meet with the local Pearl warden Calaba who doesn’t want any help
Volo materializes out of the aether, as he tends to do, and wants to see the power of the Ancient Art for himself
He even brought a Gible to try and counter my rocks, but it was not quite enough
Volo suggests trying to track down the bandits who stole a piece of the stone wall to help out
Obviously I do, for their crimes show they have nothing but disrespect for the Ancient Arts
I find the Misfortune Sisters and have to fight the one with the Toxicroak, which resists Rock
I led with Chuck thinking I could Bulk Up and tank the hits
But then Rock Slide missed twice, Bulk Up ran out, and RNG meant Toxicroak got to attack twice in a row
So first loss there, but I will not let this heresy go freely
I shall remember
And I shall be more ready for Coin

I reclaim the holy rock and return it to Calaba who at long lasts starts to understand what the Ancient Arts are guiding her towards and asks for help calming Ursaluna
And I run into the small issue of having to face a type that resists Rock and is also effective on half the team I have on hand
Fortunately I have Sling with Poison Powder so that helped things move along

More shenanigans as we track down Arezu who wanted to try and solve the Lilligant problem on her own, and even tried to get Ursaluna to help
Calaba stays behind to help Arezu so Adaman will be our guide for this next Totem battle
Also taking Chuck’s place is Pepper, a Grotle

So Lilligant wasn’t that bad
Only one battle which Poison Powder plus Stealth Rocks plus a not insignificant amount of switching got me through

And that’s Mirelands done
As well as this update
Bye!

 

[bhelryss]

nicely done!!! i didn't quite realize how difficult lilligant might be to a team dedicated to the old ways of rock, but you got through it quite well!

also grotle.....a good little dude

 

[Uberle]

Later than planned but we're still making our way through

Spoiler: reply

@bhelryss Yeah not the best of times when most of the mons I can use are Rock, Ground, and Normal types and have to face a Grass/Fighting
But I got through
I absolutely love that I can include my turtle son

Spoiler: Part 3

Coastlands time
Irida decides to meet us there and challenge us, still not having learned to fear the Rocks
After that we learn of the sad tale of the deceased lord of this area, lost to the water the dreaded enemy of the Ancient Arts
We go to meet the Pearl Warden Palina who is also one of immense culture as her Noble was Arcanine and she currently takes care of two Growlites including the child of the departed Noble
Recently there have been shadows appearing around the island that used to house the Arcanine Noble so we need to go search it
First step is to meet with her totally-not-boyfriend Iscan who will summon Basculegion to assist us

Iscan will do that but first we need to get a Dusclops which........
Hold on

Alright we’re good

We lace the food with the Ancient Arts and we’re good to go
Iscan and Palina flirt at the beach for a little bit
And then the non-believers arrive
Charm snatches the wrong Growlithe, but it is still a child of the Ancient Arts and we shall not let this act of blasphemy go unchallenged

And should probably show what my team is

I did end up taking this when I was fighting Charm
Anyway

First was Clover who decided to bring a Grass/Ice type to a volcano to fight Rocks
Then the truly heretical sister stands for, Coin
Who almost took out Yeet because Agile Style Mud Bomb
Fortunately Yeet dodged the second one and then Hurl was able to deal with the problem efficiently
Now for Charm whom I’m currently fighting
Yeet was at the front so swapping to Heave
This fight is taking a while because Rhydon has allied with Ground meaning Rocks moves are resisted and Hurl is just a chonker so neither of our attacks are doing much
Unfortunately Heave lost because Rhydon lived on a pixel of health and the just Bulldozed
And then next was Lob
Who died to Charm’s Gengar which used Hypnosis and then Agile Style to use Venoshock twice in a row so that’s just fan-tucking-fastic
A small problem with this run is that since I have to teach a lot of the moves I can’t really utilize the Agile/Strong styles much so I may need to work on getting those Seeds of Mastery at some point
For now I’m down two mons
But to my rescue comes a hero
The child of the lord has swam all the way here to rescue its friend from the heretical sisters and with the power of courage it evolves and absorbs the power of God to chase them away
Of course we now have the problem of needing to get the lightning off of Arcanine and if I am to battle then I need to get a new team
So one moment please


Alright I’ve gotten my replacements
Toss the Graveler and Propel the Rhyhorn
Let’s go

Leading with Toss because she’s got the best defense

Hm

Anyway got there and ended up only fighting the Noble once
With the evil energy expelled we are done here in the Coastland
Next up are the Highlands so see you
Now
Because I got done with the Highlands very quickly

Highlands
Which means Melli
Will be honest
I’m actually glad Melli is included
The game starts by telling us that the Diamond and Pearl clans are at odds and we can’t show support for one over the other in case things escalate
But beyond Irida and Adaman we don’t really see the clan members being hostile with each other
Until Melli who is an embodiment of the clans’ conflict and highlights how absolutely pointless it has become
So thank you Melli for being included just so everyone can see how much you suck

Also we have Ingo, the train station guy from Unova who apparently got yeeted through a wormhole and ended up here with no memory
This is a plot line that’s been going since ORAS with Looker and I don’t know why it keeps popping up
We’re led to believe it’s because of Ultra Wormholes with Gen 7 but now I want to know what keeps causing this and why was Ingo specifically chosen to get yeeted back 3000 years?

Anyway we have various battles against Ingo and Melli
Which are uneventful
And then Electrode
Which is my least favorite Noble battle but I got through it because Thunder kept missing
So that’s where today’s update ends
See you in the Icelands

 

[Leon Yorunaki]

We have a theme song!


Now, seriously , that's some big dedication to the ancient arts.
And I have to tell you, Electrode is my least favorite Noble as well, especially because of his ward. I never hated a character so much in a canon game, not even the villains. They're so obnoxious it hurts. Glad you're doing well though

 

[Uberle]

And we're here to wrap up the main story

Spoiler: reply

@Leon Yorunaki My dedication is complete
I did end up using H-Electrode and had a lot of fun with it before but sadly it has been shunned by the ancient arts here
Yeah, Melli is obnoxious but we need that to remind us how to not be a terrible human being

Spoiler: Part 4

I have done a bit of training since last time

Yes that's a shiny Goodra

Icelands were also done really quickly
Because everything is Ice
And I’m using exclusively Rock moves
Also where I got the Mamoswine
I fight Gaeric and Sabi, gain the ability to glide, and take down the Noble Avalugg with Empoleon
Great fun
I really wish there was more to narrate but there really isn’t for this part
But now we get to the interesting bit where the sky turns red and we are blamed for everything by Kamado
I don’t really blame him because the world is ending and this would cause anyone to panic
Yes there’s a walk of shame but we don’t really lose anything besides access to the hub town for the time being
Volo appears to save us from the game’s somber music and introduces us to Cogita who is probably related to him because they have the same hair style
Cogita says she’s here to help and the first step is to form the red chain by capturing the Lake legendaries
Adaman and Irida show up to offer their help as well, but only one clan will help
And after careful analysis I pick the Pearl Clan
Because all three of their Lords, Kleavor Arcanine and Avalugg, are Rock types
So clearly we know which clan the ancient arts has blessed

We go to each lake and deal with an Alpha mon that I can simply catch and then do a minigame because not even the end of the world will get these legends to help me
Red Chain obtained, we get to actual trainer battles

First is Beni
I will be honest, this twist caught me completely off guard and I love it
Friendly potato mochi man is a god damn ninja who is implied to have murdered a non-zero number of people or at least done something not great
It’s amazing
Also Wally’s ancestor given his hair and ace

Anyway to the fight
Which I may have forgotten to write as it was happening so will write what I can recall

Mismagius vs Pepper
Sleep Power and Stone Edge work quite well

Yeet vs Sneasler
Nevermind Beni called back to Gallade
Swap to Iactare

Iactare vs Gallade
Stealth Rock and Stone Edge with a couple cheeky heals
Gallade was the main thing I was worried about and it kept using Drain Punch, but I have enough healing

Gardevoir vs Catapult
Rocks were thrown

Yeet vs Sneasler round 2
ROCKS


Now onto Kamado whom I will actually write as I fight

Yeet vs Braviary
Ha ha nope
Swap to Iactare and Stone Edge

Iactare vs Snorlax
Giga Impact hurts quite a bit
Fortunately the new turn order mechanic gave me enough chances to make two moves in a row so I could attack then heal efficiently

Iactare vs Golem
It has Double Edge which doesn’t hurt as much but high defense plus resist keeps me from hurting it
Whittled down with Stealth Rock and that fun moving twice in a row stuff

Iactare vs Clefairy
Tensed at the sight of the Fairy but looks like I’m given a chance to swap first
So going to Cast
Stealth Rock of course
It Calm Minds so I Baby Doll Eyes
Then um
Just kept throwing rocks
And done

Kamado comes to his senses and bows before the ancient arts
Now it is time to face Palkia
I make it drowsy then throw an Ultra Ball at it
And I have obtained the god of space
Dialga joins the party and Kamado informs me that I am too tired to fight it so we run

Palkia lets Irida know that the best answer to this problem is to craft a Pokeball out of a special rock
Irida gets local man of immeasurable culture Lian who leads us to where the magic rocks created by god are
Then the heretics arrive to halt the crusade
Their leader decides to fight me herself and we see how deep her depravity goes when she sends a Rhydon, trying to wield the ancient arts as though she is worthy
Then she uses Gengar which Iactare smacks easily

Lian collects some Origin Ore and we have ourselves an Origin Ball
Back in Jubilife Cogita shows up to chat a bit and we head back to Coronet to face Dialga
Also Palkia is on the team
Thankfully it already knows Power Gem and Ancient Power by level up and learned Rock Slide and Bulk Up via tutor so it seamlessly fits in place
Calling it Displace

Dialga transforms, turning Spear Pillar into what we remember it being in the Gen 4 games, and then we fight it
By throwing balms
And no fighting it with our Pokemon
.........
Why did we have to bring Palkia again?

The sky turns back to normal, now the rift completely sealed
Kamado gives a speech like he did something to help
And that’s all folks

“Seek out all Pokemon”
No I don’t think I will
But there is more to the story
See you next time for that

 

[TheTRUEgge]

This is a great premise for a run, and I’m impressed by how well it’s been going for you!

I also don’t understand why we needed Palkia for that fight… there were never times to throw out Pokémon I think??? weird stuff

 

[bhelryss]

YEAAAAH GAME OVER!!!

but theres more? oh hell yeah

 

[KitkatKK2]

hmmm
rocks
sounds fun

 

[Uberle]

As with every rock throw, it must eventually hit the ground
So today we end our journey
And throw a rock at Poke-Satan

Spoiler: replies

@TheTRUEgge Same, honestly
I did not think that things would've gone this smoothly

@bhelryss Just a little bit more, hope you enjoy

@KitkatKK2 It very much it

Spoiler: Part 5: Throw a Rock At Not God

So time for the postgame story
I’m not going to complete the dex again to fight God
But I am willing to get legendaries to deal with Satan
So away we go

Step one in Volo’s not evil plan is to collect the rest of the plates which as we quickly learn are in possession of various legendaries scattered all over the region
The game recognizes that none are worthy to hold the Stone Plate so just throws it at us right at the beginning

Anyway gonna use my King Crimson button I have leftover from my Pokemon Star run
So it’s time to fight Volo who has allied with Giratina
And so with the freshly caught Legendaries I go to the remains of the temple

.....
Ok so this is as I'm posting the update, but I meant to get a screenshot of my team but never got around to it
....
Sorry
Moving on


Plays Metal Gear Rising Revengeance boss music

Specifically “The Only Thing I Know For Real”
Which actually synced perfectly with Volo revealing his Arceus cosplay
If Pokemon Masters doesn’t make a Sygna Suit Volo with Arceus I will be sad

Anyway fight time

Hurtle (Dialga) vs Spritomb
I Bulk Up while Spiritomb lands Hypnosis
Drowsy the first time, but manage to get Power Gem off the first time
Volo uses up his Full Restore and I almost KO the Spiritomb but Volo swaps

Pepper vs Garchomp

Fortunately I was able to get Hurtle out before Garchomp could attack and sent in Pepper and used Sleep Powder
Stealth Rock was next and Stone Edge was kind enough to crit which sped things up quite a bit

Displace vs Arcanine

Pepper tanked Raging Fury so I was able to swap
Similar to Barrage I used Bulk Up then Power Gem
Arcanine missed Rock Slide so Displace is doing fine and OHKO

Displace vs Togekiss

It used Moonblast, but Displaced tanked it and OHKO

Displace and Pepper vs Lucario

I Power Gem while the Bulk Up boost lasts
Then the Lucario Bulks Up in turn
So I healed up Pepper and thankfully Displace ate the Close Combat as well
Swap to Pepper and I got to Sleep Powder right away
Stealth Rock to slowly chip away and problem solved

Pepper and Displace vs Roserade

So a bit more complicated here
It Agile Style Spikes then gets focused on Petal Dance and I take a while healing up Displace and Pepper
Eventually I got the opening and Displace could move twice in a row so Bulk Up and Power Gem that and the Spiritomb who was surviving on a single pixel width of red health

Alright now jump forward to “Collective Consciousness”
Time for Poke-Satan to arrive

Vs Giratina (Altered)

Starting Displace and with Bulk Up
Giratina Agile Styles to use Dragon Claw twice, but live so healed back up
Power Gemed but then Bulk up ran out
Agile then Strong Dragon Claws and Displace falls

Pepper’s turn and he gets to go twice in a row which I won’t complain about
Sleep Powder and Stealth Rocks
Giratina uses Shadow Force which is quite strong now
Slowly I whittled it down and now

Vs Giratina (Origin)

Alright now it’s time for “It Has To Be This Way”
Which started up just now funnily enough
Not even joking

So Sleep Powder keeps missing and Shadow Force isn’t getting any weaker
Ok landed #3 and got a drowsy right off the bat
Now it’s time to throw the biggest rocks I can with Stone Edge which does like ¼ its HP and likes to miss a lot
Fortunately I brought 30 Max Potions and Full Restores so I’m fine
Slowly, very very slowly, I chip away at its health and finally Giratina falls
I will be honest
I had a really hard time with this fight in my first playthrough, thought it’d be a bit more difficult but Pepper had the bulk to just tank everything Giratina had
And that is why Turtwig is the best Sinnoh starter
I hope everyone has learned this valuable lesson

And that’s everything
I will admit that I’m tempted to try and get to Arceus but I think that this is where I will end this run
Mainly because I think the work needed to summon Arceus is not worth that boss fight
It took me several tries last time and I feel that the actual Pokemon battling bit would be a bit anticlimactic
So that’s everything
Not a very long run, but one I had fun with
Bye!

 

[bhelryss]

that was very fun!!!! im glad you shared your journey to teach satan the joy and freedom of the ancient art of throwing rocks

 

[TheTRUEgge]

Eyyy nice going!! What a delightful journey of throwing rocks. What were your team’s final levels? Speaking as someone who was in the 60s for Volo, I had a hell of a time with that boss fight. Went 10 levels higher and it got much easier