"Notes from Solo Attempts of all 6 Alakazam Movesets (lengthy C/FB writeup inside)"

#PokemonGO: Hi TSR,I have aimed to solo Alakazam ever since it was released - I tried C/FS on the very first day of raids and was promptly destroyed, along with my sole B/FB Tyranitar (at L28 at the time). After optimizing my team so that I could eventually successfully solo both C/FS and C/SB, I made it my mission to do all six of the movesets (with the additional upside that this also made for excellent Mewtwo preparation). I soloed a whole lot of Alakazam raids in search of the final piece of the puzzle - C/FB, which had destroyed me once before in July - and finally encountered it today. Unfortunately, I was thwarted by errors and was unable to beat C/FB, but still found the experience extremely useful and wanted to share my firsthand notes on all the movesets side-by-side. This mostly confirms what we have all been reading about on the Mewtwo charts circulated over the last copule weeks.For all of the following raids, I used iPhone 6S on Verizon. I restarted the app and closed other apps on my phone before almost every attempt. I am a words guy more than I am a numbers guy - so this will be a lot more text and experiential data than math & stats.PSYCHO CUT/FUTURE SIGHTBest clear time: 14 secondsMVP: TyranitarRunner-up: HoundoomT-tar is king here. Dodging Future Sight can drop your DPS enough that you will time out, especially if you're using Stone Edge Tyranitar, so consider just tanking FS as it will build your energy faster anyway. Even Houndoom at L30 can usually tank an undodged Future Sight and get off two Foul Plays. Immunities are real. If you don't have multiples of Tyranitar and Houndoom, Scizor performs pretty well here. Future Sight has an extremely early dodge window, and the animation doesn't always go off properly, so it takes some time to get used to.PSYCHO CUT/SHADOW BALLBest clear time: 8 secondsMVP: TyranitarRunner-up: HoundoomEven without Confusion, this is still pretty tricky due to Shadow Ball being a high-damage 2-bar move, but it's actually got a very obvious dodge window once you get used to it. As with PC/FS, dodging too many charge moves can really cut your DPS, and Ttar and Houndoom both resists SB anyway so the no-dodging style works better here.PSYCHO CUT/FOCUS BLASTBest clear time: 17 secondsMVP: GengarRunner-up: DragoniteSince you do not need to dodge Confusion OR Focus Blast in this matchup, Gengar is the clear winner. Firing off 4+ Shadow Balls isn't unheard of. Hex is fine here too, no need for Shadow Claw. You can probably use 5 L30+ Gengar here if you use one L39 DTO or DBO Dragonite as your anchor. Also, this moveset is definitely going to be the easiest all-around set for Mewtwo. Subpar counters like Bite/Shadow Ball Crobat and Fury Cutter/X-Scissor Scyther (which get destroyed by Confusion due to frailness) are ok here too.CONFUSION/FUTURE SIGHTBest clear time: 10 secondsMVP: TyranitarRunner-up: HoundoomBasically exactly the same as Psycho Cut/Future Sight, except that Confusion will hurt a lot more.CONFUSION/SHADOW BALLBest clear time: 8 secondsMVP: TyranitarRunner-up: HoundoomPlease visit this thread for full notes on Confusion/Shadow Ball.CONFUSION/FOCUS BLASTBest clear time: -5 seconds?MVP: Shadow Claw GengarRunner-up: DragoniteFull notes along with timestamps noted are below.First attempt: 39:30 remains on raid timer.Autoselect picks Gengar and Lugia so I know it's at least Focus Blast (last time i faced PC/FB it suggested Dragonite and Gyarados so now I suspect Confusion). I bring in B/SB Crobat, FC/XC Ccyther, B/C Gyarados, DT/SA Lugia, and various other counters at L30 to test for the moveset, which is indeed C/FB. The "team" gets Alakazam to half at around the 75 second mark, which is wayyy too slow. Once I am sitting there with Lugia tanking FBs I jump out and prepare for the real battle.34:00I start with 3 Tyranitar B/C, Dragonite, Gyarados, and Gengar in the last slot. It takes me a little time to get used to Focus Blast's dodge window even though I've been practicing, so I waste a lot of time dodging. I time out barely into the red on my third Ttar - my team is clearly too bulky and I'm dodging too much.29:00 - 23:00I replace a Tyranitar with a S/FP Houndoom and a Gyarados with Gengar. I need to deal more damage. I am getting more used to the FB dodge window so I get pretty close on my next attempt but still need to deal more damage.22:00 - 13:00I go in with Tyranitar, Dragonite, Gengar, Tyranitar, Gengar, Gengar, in that order. By this time it's clear that I need to be alternating things that can tank FB (mostly just Dragonite) with things that can tank Confusion (ie. Tyranitar). I get through two good attempts where I get Zam down to the wire but I can't deal enough damage in time because the clock stops with 5 seconds remaining on the timer and no visible health in the bar.Now that the raid clock is starting to run down, I'm getting pretty worried.12:30I finally do everything perfectly. Perfect dodging (no spamming) with the Focus Blast; 2 Shadow Balls from the first Gengar after dodging a single Confusion; Tyranitar eats a focus blast right on his last sliver of health. I get the boss down to red as the 53 seconds mark hits and I'm positive that I am going to get this. I am Bite/Crunching away with team member #4 when, at about the 0:35 mark, Tyranitar faints at about 1/3 health. I assume he took a Focus Blast whose animation I didn't see and am ready to jump back in, but for some reason my 6th Gengar (Sludge Bomb) has been selected instead of my 5th (Shadow Ball). Sludge Bomb gets some Shadow Claws in but then he dies and stays dead, trapped in the death loop. Thinking that my 5th-slot Gengar had fainted following receiving a bugged Focus Blast, I jump out with around 20 seconds remaining to try to get another attempt.3rd to last attempt: 8:00I am getting on edge due to the timer running short and I get hit by the first Focus Blast, even though I spam dodge. I jump out to try again.2nd to last attempt: 4:30I get hit by the first FB again; this time it's definitely the bug. i keep plowing through this time but it's clear by the 60 second mark that i haven't dealt enough damage and I jump out to try again before the timer expires.Final attempt: 0:42My first Ttar, L30 this time rather than risking the L39, dies for the third time in a row due to missed/bugged dodge. I keep going since it's my last attempt. After performing reasonably well with the rest of the team, my 4th slot Ttar dies, and my 6th slot Gengar again comes in instead of the L39 5th slot Gengar, which is when I swipe up to look at my team and realize how the "rollover" bug has screwed me up - my 5th slot L39 Gengar who mysteriously disappeared in the previous battle never died, she just got skipped for some reason, probably due to the Tyranitar in front of it getting dodge bugged. Either way, at least was able to save one revive and one hyper potion by not using her :(My final team, and the one I will bring immediately to any future C/FB encounters:PokemonCPLevelIVMovesetTyranitar35583914/14/13Bite/CrunchDragonite35083914/14/15Dragon Tail/OutrageGengar22103212/10/9Shadow Claw/Shadow BallTyranitar31163015/15/11Bite/CrunchGengar25723915/15/14Shadow Claw/Shadow BallGengar21503010/13/10Shadow Claw/Sludge BombTakeaways from the C/FB match:I wish Niantic would bring back the 2-hour timers, even if they continue to hatch out of eggs. If I had encountered this moveset last week I believe I would have had enough attempts within the 2-hour period to successfully fight through the errors and beat the boss.In its latest iteration, which has been happening to me since the latest update, the dodge bug has been actually "rolling over" charged moves onto subsequent mons. The mons that are most immediately subject to the classic dodge glitch usually are not fainted when I go to revive them after a battle; they have as much HP as they did when they were bugged. This is not a problem for gym battles of course but this relatively new development makes challenges like this nearly impossible.Minor QOL fix: Raids should display the moveset on them or at least type icons much like type icons are currently displayed on gyms. It's silly that you have to waste a raid pass in order to tell. The people who care about the set will just wait through the lobby to check it out anyway, and the people who don't can at least know to not bring their Golem for Hydro Pump Lugia if a water-type icon is displayed. I guess this will reduce income for Niantic so will never be implemented, but it's been pretty annoying sifting through all these PC/FS Alakazam just to find one C/FB.This matchup becomes extremely difficult without Shadow Claw Gengar, as Gengar is the highest source of DPS possible and Hex is pretty slow wrt dodging Confusion. Sucker Punch/Shadow Ball might work; I don't have one powered to try and haven't plugged it into the Pokebattler sims.There is no single mon in the Gen I-II cast that resists both Fighting and Psychic moves. C/FB thus is very much a game of knowing when to dodge as Gengar can't get hit by Confusion and Tyranitar can't take Focus Blast, but you need to be maximizing DPS to beat the timer, so the only way to compromise is with a couple of each.Tyranitar might not even be usable AT ALL in the C/FB Mewtwo matchup. Every large group raid i've been in has had unavoidable dodge bugs. Given that the boss's energy bars are always full, Tyranitar is unlikely to get off more than one Crunch before Focus Blast one-shots it, dodged or not. However, there is much more rng involved in a large group raid than in the Alakazam solo matchup since you can predict when Focus Blast is going to fire in the latter. I am likely going to stick with a full lineup of Dragonite and Gyarados for C/FB Mewtwo as Gengar and Tyranitar are both very risky. I would go as far to say that I would never use B/SE Tyranitar against C/FB Mewtwo due to the unlikeliness of it actually getting off a SE.I have a 98% Scizor at L39 with FC/XS and I almost never used or needed it in any of these matchups. Its Psychic resistance is weaker than the immunity-tier resistance of Ttar or Houndoom, and it isn't bulky enough to take a full Focus Blast even though it's neutral damage. It's worse than the dark types in all possible matchups. Scizor is obviously the premier Eggy counter and will be king if we have Celebi raids, but I can't see it being worth the dust and candy over Houndoom, which is easier on the resources and a very common biome spawn in some areas (whereas Scyther is usually uncommon at best even in the biomes in which it does appear regularly).Overall, I'm pretty frustrated that I was robbed twice (once by the timer ending well before it hit zero and once by the dodge/ordering bug described above), but am glad that it is at least possible and proud that I got this close to winning! Someone with 2-3 fully maxed Bite/Crunch Tyranitar and 1-2 fully maxed SC/SB Gengar would probably have an easier time than I did. Mewtwo's attack stat is 29 points higher than that of Alakazam, so I am well and truly scared.Thanks for reading! via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2eORLER