Pokerogue Fresh File% (AUG 2024)

The following is a brief summary of how I was able to conquer the unofficial speedrun category of Fresh File%, where under the Challenge options on a completed file, you enable Fresh File to On, and start with 3 starters with base 10 IVs across each stat.

This run is ridiculously luck based, both in Pokes you encounter that can be caught, and on the enemy trainers and how they counter your own Pokes. Regardless, I had a lot of fun pushing forward through the floors to eventually reach 200 and conquer Eternatus.

There are rules on the speedrun.com leaderboard Fresh Start% for this category. I'm an advocate of people running their games with what they find comfortable, whether it is with a handicap or challenge clause. For instance, I am fine with utilizing Escape, especially when paired with a Poke that has Run Away. On the other end, I don't believe in Save Scumming and Refreshing, in order to redo mistakes. To each their own.

To start off, you can create splits with LiveSplit for every 10 floors and simply split everytime you hear the Healing jingle. Or just let the timer begin at the start of Floor 1 and split for the end at "Magnificent". Browser is going to be faster than Mobile. Heading into the Settings of the game before the run starts, the options to choose are largely self-explanatory for the sake of speed. Switch to 5x boost, turn off animations, skip stat upgrades, and whathaveyou. To allow for some consistency, I do not skip "seen dialogues". Retries are Off, and Battle Style is on Switch (slower technically, but better to switch to a Poke with a type advantage).

A lot of starters are perfectly fine to begin your attempts with, particularly with the recent patch and how everyone gets a Type based move to start at Lv5. Even if you are on Fresh File, the Poke with PKRS will still have it when you begin, which varies day to day. Make that one of your starting 3, and the other 2 being of the two other Types. Be sure your starter is the Fire type, as it has the fastest shot at clearing the first 10 floors.

Fires of preference:

Torchic (learns Flame Charge early)

Chimchar (learn Mach Punch)

Scorbunny (learns Double Kick early)

Fuecoco (Skele is good late game)

Waters of preference:

Mudkip (learns Rock Smash early)

Popplio (Prima is good late game)

Grasses of preference:

Bulbasaur/Chikorita (tanky)

From my perspective, since you'll be looking to catch Pokes with better IVs, you'll eventually be losing all your starters for the endgame (floor 130+). MegaEvos are great and all, but they're so infrequent, they aren't worth building a strategy over.

Fighting moves learned are great for Floors 10-20, since they'll be frequently Normal type Wilds. And the simplest way to stop from dying is to be faster than the opponent, so Moves that boost Speed are handy.

Rarity of the items after each battle will not be in your favor, with only luck D. I recommend prioritizing X items. As for Pokeballs, you won't need more than 10 of each type, with the exception of a Master Ball, which you'd only get 1 if you're lucky, at which point you save it for any possible Legendary that spawns. Rare Items should be grabbed as they come by (Map, Berry Pouch, whatever).

Town = Floors 1-4

Either Normal or Flying, use 2 Embers to kill. the Bug types should die in 1 Ember. Catch at least 1 Poke here. Lookout for those that can have the Ability Run Away (ex Poochyena, Patrat) or Pickup (ex. Zigzagoon, Lillipup), and certainly get Nincada if it appears. Run Away is handy for leaving Double Battles that will deplete your party's HP or a troublesome Boss Poke, with Pickup will allow you to stack Berries on the Poke that will be your Carry. Buy a Potion and use it when your Fire Poke is in red health. It won't get beyond Lv8 for these 10 floors.

Floor 5 -> Trainer

2 Pokes, die to 2 Embers each. If your Fire user dies, buy a Revive and use it after the Trainer is defeated.

Floor 6-7

Same thing as 1-4. Catch another Poke if you don't have a party of at least 5 yet.

Floor 8 -> Rival

Completely random which Type they'll start with, so hope that it's the Grass one so it dies to 2 Embers. If Water, switch to your weak Poke got earlier, let it die, then swap into the Water Poke. Rival will switch to their 2nd Flying Poke. Switch to your second weak Poke, it dies, then to one of your non-Grass starters to defeat the Flying Poke. Rival will bring back out the first, and if it was a Fire, just interchange your Normal moves with it (Scratch/Tackle), and since you have 5 Pokes against their 2, you should win with enough chip damage.

Floor 9

Same as 6-7

Floor 10 - Boss

Can catch this one to make your party an even 6. Boss Pokes tend to have better stats on average. Truthfully, there won't be any detailed plans past this point, as there is so much variance - check the bottom of this guide for some Poke details.

Plains = Floor 11-14 

Lots of Normal Pokes.  Keep fighting with the Fire poke. It won't get beyond Lv16 for these 10 floors. Catch any Pikachu if it appears, as there's a fair chance you'll also get a Light Ball in the item drops post-battle to make it into a power house for the early game.

15 -> Trainer

Double Battle. 2 Bugs are the easiest. 2 Eevee is likely a reset -  they have Adaptability and hit you like a truck.

Floors 16-19

Same as 11-14.

20 -> Boss/Leader

Sometimes you get another Boss Poke (easy), sometimes it's a Leader (type-dependant difficulty). This alternates at the next 10th floor. If you fight a Water Gym Leader, that's likely a Game Over too, as Basculin is fast and hits hard with Adaptability. But Cilan is a push over, and any Normal type will be dying to Fighting moves easily.

If you have a Map now, you can choose which Biome you will witness. Lake is best to approach, as long as you either have been also training your Grass starter in the background, or caught a Pikachu. Tall Grass let's you keep grinding with your Fire starter to beef it up. As long as you can find Nincada before Lv 20, grab it. Shedinja can help in a whole bunch of situations in late-game.

Floor 25 -> Rival

Rival always starts with the Starter you saw on Floor 8, though this time it's in it's 2nd Evo, at Lv 18. The Flying type would be evolved too, and it has a third Poke now of varying challenge.

30 -> Leader/Boss

40/50 -> B/L

Floor 55/95/145/195 -> Rival

Floor 62/64/66 -> Evil Team

Floor 125/165 -> Team Boss

Floor 182/184/186/188/190 -> E4 + Champion

Floor 191-194/196-199 -> Uncatchables

Do reroll at 199 for any final X item if you have extra Pokedollars, like SpDef boost.

Floor 200 -> Endboss

Moves like Flamethrower, Eternabeam, Sludgbomb, and Cosmic Power.

It's a battle of attrition. You want to get the boss Leech Seeded/Cursed/SaltCured, depending on how much of these assets you carried this far. Paralyze/Burn is handy too. If you have Pokes that can Heal (Synthesis) and throw out Light Screen, let them hang out and bide their time.

Pokes of interest:

Bulbasaur - gets Leech Seed before Lv 10, and can handle a few hits. Lots of status inducing moves. Let it learn LS/Synthesis/SleepPower/other.

Chikorita - can take a punch too. LS/Synthesis/Reflect/LightScreen

Torchic - learns Flame Charge by Lv10 i think, and Double Kick for lv16's Combusken, Blaziken is alright but lacks move coverage

Mudkip - Rock Smash by lv10, but Earthquake is not learned without a Memory Mushroom from Swampert

Fennekin - also learns Flame Charge, and having a Psychic type has some niche appeal for midgame

Fuecoco - bulky, and Torch Song goes brrr

Scorbunny - my favorite for early/midgame, as it learns Double Kick for lv 12 and starts eradicating the wild Pokes

Popplio - learns Aqua Jet early, and a fine Water/Fairy type once fully evolved. 

Feel free to catch the wild version of these should you encounter them, with the chance of better IVs.

Actual Pokes of interest:

Magikarp - becomes the god, Gyarados. Fast and strong. Movepool will be Dragon Dance / Waterfall / Thrash / Ice Fang (Memory Mushroom)

Drillbur - naturally learns Swords Dance and Earthquake, and when included with Rock Slide, it melts many enemies. It won't learn any better Steel move than Metal Claw, but you could get lucky with a TM to teach it Iron Head/Smart Strike

Nincada - pseudo-invincible Shedinja. Be sure to have at least 1 Pokeball in your item list, and an empty Party slot when you evolve the bug to Lv 20. The Ninjask can be discarded. If by some miracle you get a DNA Splicer from the item drop, you can fix it's Bug/Ghost typing to something more advantageous. Alternatively, if the rare TeraOrb drop is in your grasp, you can alter it's Type for 10 battles too.

Any legendary - with their naturally high Base Stat Total, it's a no-brainer to catch one. Note, you'll likely lose all your Balls trying, and will have to smite it for EXP at the end of it all. Not dependable or consistent to think a run can only be completed with it.

A Steal Rock user (ex. Crustle/Garganacl) - as Trainers really enjoy switching out their Pokes for Type advantage, you instead can take advantage and deal regular chip damage to them, by swapping out after they did, to force another swap and more chip damage. 

Spikes typically wouldn't deal enough damage to worry about setting it up. Same goes for other weather like Hail/Sandstorm. Poison Spikes are alright but rare.

Any Steel type - Steel is a great defensive type. Aegislash/Tinkaton/Gholendgo are in the top tier, so catch those if they're found.

A Leech Seeder - if you gave up your Grass stater, you'll still want one of these to wait-out your opponent. Shroomish can be found early game, and with a Memory Mushroom, can even learn Spore, a 100% move to put the enemy to Sleep.

A Curser - any Ghost type to learn this. Though it is very limited in application aside from the final boss.

The Runner/Picker - Linoone keeps Pickup, but other Pokes lose the Run Away ability when levelling up, so you may want to ditch both of these Pokes for the Endgame, as you'll want max versatility on all 6 Pokes to handle any challenge the endgame may have for you.

tbc

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