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Nuzelockes heavily crank up the difficulty in any Pokemon game, and players are going to need to be strategic if they don’t want to die early.
The hard truth about Nuzlockes is that even though they can be incredibly fun, they are often painful. Many Nuzlocke players know what it's like to have their best Pokemon get knocked out to a critical hit or to have a powerful gym leader wipe out their entire team.
Nuzlockes require players to have patience and deep knowledge of the game being played. In fact, first-time Nuzlockers are advised to start with a game they’ve played several times and have a strong familiarity with. With these tips, however, anyone should be able to survive a Nuzlocke with ease.
Note: This article is subjective and reflects the opinion of the writer.
5 tips for Pokemon trainers to survive a Nuzlocke
#5 - Never run out of Potions
To defeat a Nuzlocke, a player will have to maintain their Pokemon’s health at all times. Once that Pokemon is knocked out, they’re out of the game, so they need frequent healing to survive battles.
Trainers should really use the majority of their money on Super Potions, Hyper Potions, Ultra Balls and Full Heals. If it takes carrying 20 or 25 Hyper Potions in the bag to defeat a Nuzlocke, then so be it.
#4 - Always expect to be crit
Pokemon are guaranteed to be crit in any Nuzlocke. There's no way around it. An intelligent player will always keep a Pokemon at a health where they can take a critical hit without fainting.
It can be very tempting not to heal in favor of using a powerful move. This assumption is usually incorrect. Players should always heal up if a Pokemon is within range of fainting to a crit.
#3 - Prepare for difficult battles
Every game has one or two battles that can end Nuzlockes. Consider Tate and Liza in Pokemon Emerald. Their Solrock knows Flamethrower and Solarbeam, which is troublesome, seeing as Xatu can set up Sunny Day for Solrock. All of their Pokemon are also incredibly bulky, while Xatu and Lunatone can both use Calm Mind. If the player doesn’t have a way to hit Psychic-type Pokemon for super effective damage, they are losing this battle hands down.
A smart Nuzlocker will know beforehand how essential it is to have a strong Dark-type or Psychic-type Pokemon in their party. Sharpedo is a Pokemon that is very valuable in Pokemon Emerald Nuzlockes, simply because it can fire off powerful Shadow Balls and Crunches in this gym battle.
For battles that are difficult like this one, it’s important to know what Pokemon are used and what moves they have before forming a gameplan to deal with them.
#2 - Have good type coverage
It is tempting to add Pokemon to a team simply because a trainer likes it. However, it is always better to add Pokemon that help the type coverage of the team.
If there is a type that a Pokemon team is weak to, they can crumble to any strong Pokemon with that typing. For example, if someone is doing a Nuzlocke of Pokemon Diamond and they choose Puplip, they need a Pokemon to counter Grass-types before Gardenia’s gym. Therefore, it may be better to train up a Starly or a Ponyta than a Shellos, who is also weak to Grass.
#1 - Always grind levels
Going into a battle underleveled, even by a small margin, means the player is at risk of losing that battle. Even if a Pokemon has to be overleveled to be effective, it’s worth it.
Of course, when playing a Nuzlocke with a level cap, players can’t overlevel. However, they should have at least one or two Pokemon that match the level cap. It’s better to have Pokemon at the level where they will survive a gym battle than to lose a Pokemon and be forced to train up a weaker one later in the game.
