Q: Why are you running this? A: Because I want to. Q: What are you running next? A: Stop asking that question. Q: What’s your PB? A: 3:41:18 Q: What’s WR? A: 3:38:41 Q: What’s your goal time? A: Sub 3:40 Q: What console are you playing on? A: Original 3DS with a capture card installed by Delfino Customs Q: Why no facecam? A: It was awkward to get it to fit the layout. Q: What is the route? A: We use Chespin for 3 fights, then trade a wild Bunnelby for a lvl 10 Farfetch’d (Quacklin) before the first gym and use that for a bit since trade exp and Swords Dance boosted stab Aerial Ace is very strong in the early game. Quacklin has no chance of beating Grant, so when we arrive in Cyllage City, we encounter and catch a wild Hawlucha and use that until the 4th gym. Then we switch to the gift Lucario and use that for the rest of the game, which is NO LONGER equipped with the Lucky Egg for boosted exp. Q: That sounds so inefficient, surely I can come up with something better! A: You can’t, trust me. Q: No but what about- A: Seriously, this is the best route. Q: Wait you're not getting the Lucky Egg anymore? A: Getting the lucky egg was thought to be necessary in order for Lucario to have a reasonable end game. However, all the stuff we have to do to raise Hawlucha's friendship actually ends up losing more time than Lucario loses in the end game without the Lucky Egg. Headbob and I (mostly Headbob) routed the fights for Lucario without lucky egg and it all works out. On top of being faster, this route allows us to catch Hawlucha with a Dusk Ball instead of a Luxury Ball, yielding much higher catch chances. Q: How do you make up for the significantly less experience from no lucky egg? A: We swap between the Lucarionite, the Black Belt (+20% to fighting moves) and the Metronome (stacking 20% boost every time you use the same move in a row) to get the damage we need at lower levels. We try to use Mega Evolution as little as possible since there is an animation associated with it, but sometimes Mega Evolution is the best option. Q: How long is the Mega Evolution cutscene? A: About 8 seconds for a standard Mega Evolution, a little over 14 seconds on Lysandre 3 and Diantha Q: Why are you running around in the early game grass? A: We need to catch a Bunnelby here to trade for Quacklin. Bunnelby is a 20% encounter. Q: Why didn’t you weaken the Bunnelby before catching? A: The grass on the first route is hard coded to guarantee catch every Pokémon. Q: What stats are you looking for on Quacklin? A: Quacklin will always have 31 IV speed and a Jolly nature. The only stat that really matters is attack, but having higher defenses can matter for some fights. Q: What stats are you looking for on Hawlucha? A: As long as it’s not a -attack or -speed nature it should be fine. The higher the attack the better. High speed minus nature is good enough, but low speed causes problems. Very bad defense can be a problem on Grant. Q: What are Lucario’s stats? A: Lucario is always the same, 6/25/16/25/19/31 with Hasty nature. Q: Why do you set the date and time before runs? A: We need it to be night time when we catch Hawlucha to take advantage of Dusk Balls. We also want to avoid wind in the Badlands before and after power plant. The wind starts and stops on 10 minute cycles, but there are some date and time combinations that don't give wind when they should (we think it's related to time based weather events). I set the date and time to 2001-12-19 21:00, which gives me enough time for 5 bunny resets while still getting no wind in Badlands. Q: Roller Skates? A: Using the Circle pad to move uses roller skates which is quite a bit faster than regular running. If you quickly move the circle pad from neutral to a side, you will get a “boost” for a few seconds, so optimal roller skates movement involves repeatedly resetting the circle pad to neutral to get this boost. Q: Why Chespin? A: Since we only use the starter for 3 fights, any of the starters would get us through until we get Quacklin. We pick Chespin so that our rivals Calem and Shauna don’t have the Chespin line, as Chesnaught is a pain in the ass to deal with. Coincidentally, Chespin also has the highest top end for the early game since it’s high attack can two shot Pikachu and sometimes two shot Zigzagoon. Unfortunately, Chespin is also the most volatile as everything has Growl, Pikachu has Static, and Chespin’s low speed can sometimes cause it to fail to run from wild encounters (the other two starters use special moves and have higher speed so generally don’t have these problems). Q: Why Farfetch’d? A: Trade exp and Swords Dance boosted Aerial Ace is very strong up until Grant. The alternative is Chespin main up to Grant, which loses time due to being a lower level than Quacklin (Chespin is lvl 8 when we get lvl 10 Quacklin) and no trade exp, as well as having to spam Rollout which is not consistent enough. The level curve for required fights in the early game is very weird and Quacklin deals with it the best. Q: Why Hawlucha? A: Grant’s gym is basically a hard wall for every other obtainable Pokémon in the game at this point. His team consists of 2 lvl 25 Pokémon (Quacklin, which is over leveled when you get it and gets boosted trade exp, is only lvl 18 at this point). First is an Amaura with Thunder Wave, Aurora Beam, Rock Tomb, and (ice type due to Refrigerate ability) Take Down. This moveset OHKOs basically everything in the game here besides a trade Steelix, and if it doesn’t OHKO then you just get paralyzed. Second is a Tyrunt with Rock Tomb, (strong jaw boosted) Bite, and Stomp. Hawlucha is basically the only Pokémon in the game with a winning fight against this team except for a trade Steelix, which is much slower to get. Hawlucha’s moveset of Flying and Fighting type moves is also perfect for the next section of the game. Unfortunately Hawalucha is only an 18% encounter, but it's the best option we got. Q: 18% is so BAD! What about- A: I promise you we've thought of everything else, this is by far the best option. Q: Why Lucario? A: Mixed attacker with great stats, Swords Dance, and a solid learn set. Hawlucha falls off hard after the fourth gym so Lucario is the obvious choice. Q: Why X over Y? A: The only relevant difference is in Hawlucha grass, X has a Houndour which is less lethal than Y which has Electrike. Q: Why do you choose the girl? A: Calem has a male Meowstic which is easier to deal with than Serena’s female Meowstic. Q: Why don’t you use O-Powers? A: O-Powers are currently banned in Any%. However, even if they were allowed, using an O-Power causes lag that persists for the rest of the run, adding up to several minutes of time loss, so it wouldn’t be worth it. Q: Where can I find your notes? A: I haven't made my notes public yet since there are still errors I haven't gotten around to fixing and certain fights are constantly changing. Headbob's notes are public in the 3DS discord though.