Q: Why a new seed? Wasn't the old one very good?

A: Yes, the old seed was great, but I knew improvements were possible. The old seed (C6031382) in this case is actually very old. It was found by MKDasher back in 2015, back when RNG manips were discovered in Gen 4. The biggest drawback of this seed is the Lake Starly fight, the first battle in the run. Since battle manip is unfeasible in DP, the Starly has random AI and picks between Growl and Tackle. The chance of getting a 2HKO is about 53%, and a 3HKO loses 7 seconds. Since DP runs are short, top runners would often reset for a 2HKO. In such a reset heavy game, that is significant. The Starly has random stats, but a given Chimchar will always battle the same Starly. Knowing this, I looked for seeds where the Starly is -Defense nature. This boosts the chance of a 2HKO from 53% to 86%, a massive improvement that will undoubtedly make the game much more enjoyable to run.

Q: What are the significant differences between the old and new seed?

A: The new seed (or seeds, I have 3 more seeds that look promising) is 67001380. The Chimchar is male and has 20HP, 31ATK, 30DEF, 30SPA, 31SPDEF, 31SPEED, with Hidden Power Grass 69. Attack, Special Attack and Speed are no different from the old seed, so the differences are in the defensive stats. 

HP is 20, down from 29. Truthfully, this doesn't make much of a difference. You get 1 less HP on the level up to level 6, and further 1 less on the level up to level 12. Not great, but the other defensive stats make up for this.

Defense is now 30, up from 24. This means the second Bidoof does 1 instead of 3. Cranidos does 1 less with both its attacks, same for Mars' Purugly Faint Attack and Jupiter's Skuntank Night Slash. There is one defensive downside in Youngster Logan's Shinx, which has Rivalry. Since this Chimchar is male and the old one was Female, you take 1 more damage here if Shinx attacks you (15/16 range, has Tackle/Leer).

SpDef is now 31, up from 15. This means both Abras do 1 less than previously.

Hidden Power is still Grass, but it's now 69 instead of 66 which is Nice. The difference only matters on Rival 2, where -1 Scratch+HP on Piplup is now a 15/16 range, up from 9/16. This is a really good improvement, as using HP x2 is really slow due to Rival dialogue. The old Chimchar would sometimes use Ember, which is slower and can lose extra time due to useless Burn.

Q: Do you have a good Fashion Case manip? How does this manip path compare to the old one?

A: March made a script to simulate the Fashion Case cutscene, so finding a good Fashion Case is trivial now. I have to do 8 reloads afterwards to waste RNG frames, but that's still much better than the old mart manip.

Q: What about Mart Skip?

A: I routed Mart first, since I'm doing a run at ESA Winter 2024 very soon. Mart Skip will be done soon, as it's the superior route.