Forums · ITT I rate Ranger 2 assists.
With rants... duh.
Ranger 2 is much like the main games, in that each attacking type gives different kinds of opportunities. However, where it vastly differs is that here, you've got moves that put even the Fire and Ice types we know and love to shame, and others that make Normal and Poison look like said Fire and Ice. What's good and bad is even more clear-cut than usual, so it's time for me to do what I do best, give my two cents on the matter.
A note about durations: In most (but not all) cases, assist Duration is the level of the Pokémon's field move multiplied by a multiplier that varies according to assist type (and not Pokémon type). There are six such multipliers: 5 (very short), 7 (short), 8 (average), 10 (long), 15 (very long) and 20 (extremely long). Also, each partner has their own level, which is multiplied by the base duration to get the total duration; however, level 1 partners can charge up power more quickly than level 2, which in turn charge up faster than level 3 in order to compensate for the lower duration.
NORMAL
Effect: Adds 33% to damage done, extends the capture line
Duration: Long
Partner: Munchlax, level 1
Analysis: Well... it's better than nothing, and nothing is exactly what some assists do, so at least it's not going to get a zero. But the bonus to damage is nothing to gloss over, as the Fire assist has the same bonus and a nice status to boot, and Fighting has a much bigger bonus. In all fairness, Normal lasts twice as long as both of them, so... As for the longer line, it's not really needed if you do your sidequests as they come, since the first line upgrade comes very early in the game. Bottom line, a Normal assist is better than an empty slot (or those few assists that are worse), but worse than about everything else.
Rating: 1/10
FIGHTING
Effect: Doubles damage done
Duration: Very short
Partner: Machop, level 2
Analysis: Supposing the same amount of loops per second, 5 seconds of Fighting yields more bonus damage than 10 seconds of Normal, so even with the very short duration Fighting owns it through and through (not to mention you'll have to lift the stylus after a few seconds to let your target attack anyway). Add the possibility of super-effective damage (1.5x damage in this game, same as Mystery Dungeon), and you got a fairly effective assist. Not as good as the more high-end ones, but nice to have nonetheless. As a slight partner-related bonus, as with all assists that require circling to work, you'll have recharged part of your partner's energy bar when the assist is done and over with, making it slightly easier to use over and over.
Rating: 4/10
FLYING
Effect: While looping over the same general area, a tornado is whipped up: after several loops, that tornado shoots out several smaller tornadoes after each loop, which damage the target for the same damage as a loop
Duration: Very long
Partner: Starly, level 1
Analysis: If you loop around the enemy, forget about it: you won't be spawning too many of the small tornadoes barring a miracle. No, the way to use this is by looping away from the enemy: staying in the same general area will spawn a lot of those tornadoes. However, there are problems with it: the accuracy of the tornadoes is iffy, which means you'll need several loops just to nail one hit, and you need to perform several loops just for the big one to start spitting the small ones. It lasts forever for a reason: you need to nail enough hits in that time for it to be any valuable. The big advantage over circling the enemy is the whole "ranged" aspect; however, if you can afford to circle around the enemy, you're better off doing just that. As a side note, the most common Pokémon in the game gives you 45 seconds of this, long enough to actually do something interesting.
Rating: 3/10
GROUND
Effect: Drawing the capture line back and forth triggers an earthquake that does 33% of a loop's damage several times per second and pauses the target
Duration: Very short
Partner: Hippopotas, level 3
Analysis: Pausing is an excellent status to inflict, as while it allows the Pokémon to move around, it's prevented from attacking. Naturally, you can use it to your advantage to pause it constantly. This sounds pretty good, and it is, but the one other assist capable of pausing deals much more damage, lasts twice as long, can hit levitators and is friendlier to use against multiple targets. There's also an array of excellent assists capable of stopping the Pokémon, i.e. they can't even move at all, which relegates the Ground assist to obsoleteness.
Rating: 5/10
ROCK
Effect: Flick the stylus at an enemy to pelt it with rocks that do half of a loop's damage
Duration: Average
Partner: Cranidos, level 2
Analysis: This is the most basic of a line of assists that consist of pelting the opponent with a barrage of projectiles. That family has the advantage of making attacks easier to avoid while still doing damage, and makes hazards on the ground much less of a pain. So right there the Rock assist is fairly attractive. However, it deals less damage and lasts a bit shorter than others of its kind, and doesn't inflict any status. Once again, a decent assist that's made obsolete by superior ones existing.
Rating: 5/10
STEEL
Effect: Flick the stylus at an enemy to pelt it with energy balls that do a loop's damage and pause the target; draw lines before sending the energy ball to double/quadruple damage as well as increase the ball's size and pausing duration
Duration: Long
Partner: Shieldon, level 2
Analysis: There are a few assists that can earn the "top-tier" designation, and this is definitely one of them. While it's possible to charge up the assist, the most effective way to use it is the same way you'd use the Rock assist. Only it does twice the damage, pauses the opponent and lasts longer. It's also the most effective assist to use when up against several targets at once: pause them all, then focus on damaging one target, pausing the others as it becomes necessary, finish off the wanted target with a loop, repeat until you run out of time or everyone's beaten. As a small hint, when fighting Heatran, it's best to keep this assist for the end of the fight rather than starting off with it. Overall, my favorite assist.
Rating: 10/10
GHOST
Effect: A loop away from an enemy summons a spirit which moves around, and if it hits an enemy, it inflicts three loops' worth of damage and tires the target
Duration: Average
Partner: Misdreavus, level 3
Analysis: The one problem with it is that, like its Flying counterpart, it's relatively unreliable - you'll need to loop pretty close to the enemy to increase your chance to hit, but even then it's not a guarantee. The solid damage makes up for that, though, and in the event that a wave of spirits misses completely, the Tired status will at least ensure that the target won't recover. Oh, and unlike Flying's tornadoes, which move too fast for that, an enemy that loves moving around might actively bump into the spirits - sometimes in a whole wave of these, which is often fatal. IMO the best way to inflict Tired status, since as with any other assist that doesn't require circling AROUND the target (I'm looking at you, Fire), you can place yourself in a good position to avoid most attacks. Oh, and it lasts longer than Fire, too.
Rating: 6/10
POISON
Effect: Touching the screen at a given point creates a puddle of poison at that point, which expands the longer the stylus is held down and tires anything that steps on it
Duration: Very short
Partner: Croagunk, level 3
Analysis: Don't. Just... don't. Want something longer? Fine. The puddles do absolutely zilch in terms of damage, it's no guarantee the enemy will even step on it (and it's a guarantee it won't if it's levitating), and it lasts 15 seconds... when the Pokémon's at level 3, as opposed to Flying's 15 seconds with a level 1 Pokémon. One single loop with the Fire assist does more than this, not to mention bumping into a spirit from the Ghost assist. It's almost a surprise you don't get hurt when you send your stylus straight into a puddle you created earlier. Avoid at all costs.
Rating: 0/10
BUG
Effect: Touch the screen, pull the stylus away from the target and lift it to slingshot a ball of goo that damages the target and slows it down; the further it's pulled, the more damage it does and the longer the target is slowed
Duration: Average
Partner: Kricketot, level 2
Analysis: A slight upgrade of the Water assist, this one does basically the same thing, but instead of sending projectiles straight to the target you slingshot them instead. This makes it slightly harder to connect, but it's compensated by the prospect of higher damage. If you barely pull, you'll do half of a loop's damage, the same as the Water assist; if you pull more, which is fairly easy to do, you'll do a loop's damage; and if you pull a LOT, which is more difficult, and nearly impossible if the enemy's at the center of the screen, you'll be doing double damage. And did I mention this looks mighty impressive in rapid fire?
Rating: 8/10
GRASS
Effect: Grass grows wherever you slide the stylus; the target is slowed if it touches the grass
Duration: Average
Partner: Turtwig, level 3
Analysis: Not very good. There's no extra damage at all, and having the target slowed isn't quite as useful as the other statuses. It can be acceptable if you've got nothing else, but otherwise send your Grass Pokémon back in the wild where they belong. Unless you need the field move bad, that goes without saying.
Rating: 1/10
FIRE
Effect: Adds 33% to damage done, tires the target
Duration: Very short
Partner: Chimchar, level 3
Analysis: This is your basic Tired status inflictor. Unlike Ghost, it requires circling around the target, which means you may take damage if you're not careful, but at least it has the edge of reliability Ghost doesn't have. And if there's one thing to remember from competitive battling, we Pokémon fans like reliability. However, the thing that's inherently wrong with the Tired status is that it's made somewhat obsolete by the many assists that allow you to stay on the attack constantly (a family Ghost can be somewhat classified in), therefore allowing you to worry about something else than enemy recovery.
Rating: 4/10
WATER
Effect: Flick the stylus at an enemy to send bubbles that do half of a loop's damage and slow the target; keeping the stylus on the spot makes the bubble bigger, doubling/quadrupling its damage and increasing the duration the target is slowed
Duration: Long
Partner: Piplup, level 3
Analysis: Basically, an upgrade of the Rock assist, with the possibility of charging up. However, it's just more profitable to use it the same way you would use Rock, as the target will remain slowed for the entire duration of the assist anyway, and you'll do more damage over the same time. One thing Rock has over it is the speed and distance at which the gravel travels; Water forces you to get closer to the enemy. It's just a minor setback, though: overall Water is much better.
Rating: 7/10
ELECTRIC
Effect: Touch the screen to call down a thunderbolt that drops a second later, stunning and inflicting three loops' worth of damage on nearby targets
Duration: Average
Partner: Pachirisu, level 1
Analysis: Common sense would have the best assists starting to become available later in the game... but just like some of the later assists suck, this early one's insanely powerful. The trick to using this one is to call down a thunderbolt then immediately start circling, then when the thunderbolt strikes you call down a second one, circle, repeat until you're out of time. It's not quite as easy to exploit as the cheap-ass Steel assist, but if you do it right you'll have the opponent completely immobile for quite a while. The problem is starting the whole sequence: if the enemy likes moving around it'll be harder to nail a thunderbolt, in which case you'll have to wait until it stops to attack.
Rating: 9/10
ICE
Effect: Flick the stylus at an enemy to pelt it with snowballs that do a half of a loop's damage and freeze the target; draw lines before sending the snowball to double/quadruple damage as well as increase the ball's size and freezing duration
Duration: Long
Partner: Snover, level 3
Analysis: Along with Steel, this is the other gamebreaking assist in this game. However, you don't use it the same way; just pelting the enemy with small snowballs doesn't keep it frozen nearly enough to have it immobilized by the time the next snowball arrives. Fortunately, there's a workaround for that, and it works the same way as Electric: circle around the target (or away from it if it likes to move around) to charge up to max, wait until the enemy stops moving, and BAM! freeze it. Then, you do more circles around it (which, if you're using Snover, will recharge its power), then send it the second snowball before it thaws out, repeat until you're out of time. Its advantages over Electric are that it lasts a bit longer, and that it's slightly easier to start the immobilizing sequence. However, that doesn't mean Electric is bad, oh no... it's just that Ice is that good.
Rating: 10/10
PSYCHIC
Effect: Draw a loop away from the enemy to create a psychic circle: flick the circle at the enemy to stun it and inflict a loop's damage
Duration: Long
Partner: Mime Jr., level 2
Analysis: It's an awful assist that inflicts a godly status. It doesn't come close to being as good as Ice and Electric, but just the stunning makes it better than half of the assists in this game. The worst part is the psychic circle's handling. It's unbearably slow, so if the opponent moves around ever so slightly, you'll be forced to play hockey for a period of time that can go from a few seconds to taking up your whole assist time. Quite a departure from the snowballs, huh? Oh, and for so much trouble, the damage is negligeable - even if you triple it, you're still only on par with Electric's thunderbolts. Thank God for the stunning, else it would've gotten a 1 or even a 0.
Rating: 6/10
DARK
Effect: Loop around a hazard to remove it from the battlefield
Duration: Short
Partner: Sneasel, level 3
Analysis: It sounds cool when I say it like that, especially since hazards become common in the latter part of the game, but this is actually the bottom of the barrel. Why, you ask? Between all the good "flicking" assists and those that prevent the opponent from even attacking, when using those assists you won't care about hazards. Heck, if the enemy's moving close to or on the hazard, just loop around it AND the hazard once in a while so that the HP bar doesn't deplete until the hazard goes away, then start circling again. And for the one battle where hazards don't go away after a while (Heatran), the Dark assist does absolutely nothing! Entirely worthless.
Rating: 0/10
DRAGON
Effect: Touch the screen to summon a meteor that falls to the spot you touched several seconds afterwards, dealing twice a loop's damage and tiring the target; keep the stylus on the screen longer to make the meteor bigger, dealing up to ten times a loop's damage and tiring the target longer
Duration: Extremely long
Partner: Gible, level 3
Analysis: If Diablo 2 taught us anything, it's that nothing's more fun than to drop meteors on your enemies' heads (even when indoors or in caves). Unfortunately, here there's no act 2 mercenary to keep your target from moving, which makes the meteors go from most devastating force ever to nearly useless. There's a reason why it lasts so long: there HAS to be something positive to say about it, because it's nearly impossible to get even the small meteors to connect. In that regard, twice a loop's damage is absolutely dismal. And now, imagine having to charge up the meteor for a while. If you nail something with that, you definitely should go buy a lottery ticket. Or not, if you're the kind of person who thinks you wasted all your good luck for the day on nailing that meteor. And just like Ghost, the Tired status is solely there to make sure the enemy doesn't recover by the time you nail that next meteor. I'll pass, thank you very much.
Rating: 2/10
RECHARGE
Effect: Levels 1 through 5 heal 5, 10, 20, 30 and 50 HP respectively
Duration: Does not apply
Partner: Does not apply
Analysis: What can I say? It's healing. Healing is always good in games. It's not as godly as the very high-end assists, but still incommensurably useful. There's one thing, though: Pichu and Magnemite/Chinchou are nice for on-the-spot healing when you're far away from a Ranger base, but they heal too little for you to take them with you in fights. It's only when Pikachu starts popping up that the healing gets decent enough to bring along, and Raichu/Lanturn and Magneton conveniently start appearing when the previous one starts falling behind. Unless your team is stacked with Steels, Ices and Electric, it's always a good idea to bring a Recharge Pokémon along.
Rating: 8/10
A note about durations: In most (but not all) cases, assist Duration is the level of the Pokémon's field move multiplied by a multiplier that varies according to assist type (and not Pokémon type). There are six such multipliers: 5 (very short), 7 (short), 8 (average), 10 (long), 15 (very long) and 20 (extremely long). Also, each partner has their own level, which is multiplied by the base duration to get the total duration; however, level 1 partners can charge up power more quickly than level 2, which in turn charge up faster than level 3 in order to compensate for the lower duration.
NORMAL
Effect: Adds 33% to damage done, extends the capture line
Duration: Long
Partner: Munchlax, level 1
Analysis: Well... it's better than nothing, and nothing is exactly what some assists do, so at least it's not going to get a zero. But the bonus to damage is nothing to gloss over, as the Fire assist has the same bonus and a nice status to boot, and Fighting has a much bigger bonus. In all fairness, Normal lasts twice as long as both of them, so... As for the longer line, it's not really needed if you do your sidequests as they come, since the first line upgrade comes very early in the game. Bottom line, a Normal assist is better than an empty slot (or those few assists that are worse), but worse than about everything else.
Rating: 1/10
FIGHTING
Effect: Doubles damage done
Duration: Very short
Partner: Machop, level 2
Analysis: Supposing the same amount of loops per second, 5 seconds of Fighting yields more bonus damage than 10 seconds of Normal, so even with the very short duration Fighting owns it through and through (not to mention you'll have to lift the stylus after a few seconds to let your target attack anyway). Add the possibility of super-effective damage (1.5x damage in this game, same as Mystery Dungeon), and you got a fairly effective assist. Not as good as the more high-end ones, but nice to have nonetheless. As a slight partner-related bonus, as with all assists that require circling to work, you'll have recharged part of your partner's energy bar when the assist is done and over with, making it slightly easier to use over and over.
Rating: 4/10
FLYING
Effect: While looping over the same general area, a tornado is whipped up: after several loops, that tornado shoots out several smaller tornadoes after each loop, which damage the target for the same damage as a loop
Duration: Very long
Partner: Starly, level 1
Analysis: If you loop around the enemy, forget about it: you won't be spawning too many of the small tornadoes barring a miracle. No, the way to use this is by looping away from the enemy: staying in the same general area will spawn a lot of those tornadoes. However, there are problems with it: the accuracy of the tornadoes is iffy, which means you'll need several loops just to nail one hit, and you need to perform several loops just for the big one to start spitting the small ones. It lasts forever for a reason: you need to nail enough hits in that time for it to be any valuable. The big advantage over circling the enemy is the whole "ranged" aspect; however, if you can afford to circle around the enemy, you're better off doing just that. As a side note, the most common Pokémon in the game gives you 45 seconds of this, long enough to actually do something interesting.
Rating: 3/10
GROUND
Effect: Drawing the capture line back and forth triggers an earthquake that does 33% of a loop's damage several times per second and pauses the target
Duration: Very short
Partner: Hippopotas, level 3
Analysis: Pausing is an excellent status to inflict, as while it allows the Pokémon to move around, it's prevented from attacking. Naturally, you can use it to your advantage to pause it constantly. This sounds pretty good, and it is, but the one other assist capable of pausing deals much more damage, lasts twice as long, can hit levitators and is friendlier to use against multiple targets. There's also an array of excellent assists capable of stopping the Pokémon, i.e. they can't even move at all, which relegates the Ground assist to obsoleteness.
Rating: 5/10
ROCK
Effect: Flick the stylus at an enemy to pelt it with rocks that do half of a loop's damage
Duration: Average
Partner: Cranidos, level 2
Analysis: This is the most basic of a line of assists that consist of pelting the opponent with a barrage of projectiles. That family has the advantage of making attacks easier to avoid while still doing damage, and makes hazards on the ground much less of a pain. So right there the Rock assist is fairly attractive. However, it deals less damage and lasts a bit shorter than others of its kind, and doesn't inflict any status. Once again, a decent assist that's made obsolete by superior ones existing.
Rating: 5/10
STEEL
Effect: Flick the stylus at an enemy to pelt it with energy balls that do a loop's damage and pause the target; draw lines before sending the energy ball to double/quadruple damage as well as increase the ball's size and pausing duration
Duration: Long
Partner: Shieldon, level 2
Analysis: There are a few assists that can earn the "top-tier" designation, and this is definitely one of them. While it's possible to charge up the assist, the most effective way to use it is the same way you'd use the Rock assist. Only it does twice the damage, pauses the opponent and lasts longer. It's also the most effective assist to use when up against several targets at once: pause them all, then focus on damaging one target, pausing the others as it becomes necessary, finish off the wanted target with a loop, repeat until you run out of time or everyone's beaten. As a small hint, when fighting Heatran, it's best to keep this assist for the end of the fight rather than starting off with it. Overall, my favorite assist.
Rating: 10/10
GHOST
Effect: A loop away from an enemy summons a spirit which moves around, and if it hits an enemy, it inflicts three loops' worth of damage and tires the target
Duration: Average
Partner: Misdreavus, level 3
Analysis: The one problem with it is that, like its Flying counterpart, it's relatively unreliable - you'll need to loop pretty close to the enemy to increase your chance to hit, but even then it's not a guarantee. The solid damage makes up for that, though, and in the event that a wave of spirits misses completely, the Tired status will at least ensure that the target won't recover. Oh, and unlike Flying's tornadoes, which move too fast for that, an enemy that loves moving around might actively bump into the spirits - sometimes in a whole wave of these, which is often fatal. IMO the best way to inflict Tired status, since as with any other assist that doesn't require circling AROUND the target (I'm looking at you, Fire), you can place yourself in a good position to avoid most attacks. Oh, and it lasts longer than Fire, too.
Rating: 6/10
POISON
Effect: Touching the screen at a given point creates a puddle of poison at that point, which expands the longer the stylus is held down and tires anything that steps on it
Duration: Very short
Partner: Croagunk, level 3
Analysis: Don't. Just... don't. Want something longer? Fine. The puddles do absolutely zilch in terms of damage, it's no guarantee the enemy will even step on it (and it's a guarantee it won't if it's levitating), and it lasts 15 seconds... when the Pokémon's at level 3, as opposed to Flying's 15 seconds with a level 1 Pokémon. One single loop with the Fire assist does more than this, not to mention bumping into a spirit from the Ghost assist. It's almost a surprise you don't get hurt when you send your stylus straight into a puddle you created earlier. Avoid at all costs.
Rating: 0/10
BUG
Effect: Touch the screen, pull the stylus away from the target and lift it to slingshot a ball of goo that damages the target and slows it down; the further it's pulled, the more damage it does and the longer the target is slowed
Duration: Average
Partner: Kricketot, level 2
Analysis: A slight upgrade of the Water assist, this one does basically the same thing, but instead of sending projectiles straight to the target you slingshot them instead. This makes it slightly harder to connect, but it's compensated by the prospect of higher damage. If you barely pull, you'll do half of a loop's damage, the same as the Water assist; if you pull more, which is fairly easy to do, you'll do a loop's damage; and if you pull a LOT, which is more difficult, and nearly impossible if the enemy's at the center of the screen, you'll be doing double damage. And did I mention this looks mighty impressive in rapid fire?
Rating: 8/10
GRASS
Effect: Grass grows wherever you slide the stylus; the target is slowed if it touches the grass
Duration: Average
Partner: Turtwig, level 3
Analysis: Not very good. There's no extra damage at all, and having the target slowed isn't quite as useful as the other statuses. It can be acceptable if you've got nothing else, but otherwise send your Grass Pokémon back in the wild where they belong. Unless you need the field move bad, that goes without saying.
Rating: 1/10
FIRE
Effect: Adds 33% to damage done, tires the target
Duration: Very short
Partner: Chimchar, level 3
Analysis: This is your basic Tired status inflictor. Unlike Ghost, it requires circling around the target, which means you may take damage if you're not careful, but at least it has the edge of reliability Ghost doesn't have. And if there's one thing to remember from competitive battling, we Pokémon fans like reliability. However, the thing that's inherently wrong with the Tired status is that it's made somewhat obsolete by the many assists that allow you to stay on the attack constantly (a family Ghost can be somewhat classified in), therefore allowing you to worry about something else than enemy recovery.
Rating: 4/10
WATER
Effect: Flick the stylus at an enemy to send bubbles that do half of a loop's damage and slow the target; keeping the stylus on the spot makes the bubble bigger, doubling/quadrupling its damage and increasing the duration the target is slowed
Duration: Long
Partner: Piplup, level 3
Analysis: Basically, an upgrade of the Rock assist, with the possibility of charging up. However, it's just more profitable to use it the same way you would use Rock, as the target will remain slowed for the entire duration of the assist anyway, and you'll do more damage over the same time. One thing Rock has over it is the speed and distance at which the gravel travels; Water forces you to get closer to the enemy. It's just a minor setback, though: overall Water is much better.
Rating: 7/10
ELECTRIC
Effect: Touch the screen to call down a thunderbolt that drops a second later, stunning and inflicting three loops' worth of damage on nearby targets
Duration: Average
Partner: Pachirisu, level 1
Analysis: Common sense would have the best assists starting to become available later in the game... but just like some of the later assists suck, this early one's insanely powerful. The trick to using this one is to call down a thunderbolt then immediately start circling, then when the thunderbolt strikes you call down a second one, circle, repeat until you're out of time. It's not quite as easy to exploit as the cheap-ass Steel assist, but if you do it right you'll have the opponent completely immobile for quite a while. The problem is starting the whole sequence: if the enemy likes moving around it'll be harder to nail a thunderbolt, in which case you'll have to wait until it stops to attack.
Rating: 9/10
ICE
Effect: Flick the stylus at an enemy to pelt it with snowballs that do a half of a loop's damage and freeze the target; draw lines before sending the snowball to double/quadruple damage as well as increase the ball's size and freezing duration
Duration: Long
Partner: Snover, level 3
Analysis: Along with Steel, this is the other gamebreaking assist in this game. However, you don't use it the same way; just pelting the enemy with small snowballs doesn't keep it frozen nearly enough to have it immobilized by the time the next snowball arrives. Fortunately, there's a workaround for that, and it works the same way as Electric: circle around the target (or away from it if it likes to move around) to charge up to max, wait until the enemy stops moving, and BAM! freeze it. Then, you do more circles around it (which, if you're using Snover, will recharge its power), then send it the second snowball before it thaws out, repeat until you're out of time. Its advantages over Electric are that it lasts a bit longer, and that it's slightly easier to start the immobilizing sequence. However, that doesn't mean Electric is bad, oh no... it's just that Ice is that good.
Rating: 10/10
PSYCHIC
Effect: Draw a loop away from the enemy to create a psychic circle: flick the circle at the enemy to stun it and inflict a loop's damage
Duration: Long
Partner: Mime Jr., level 2
Analysis: It's an awful assist that inflicts a godly status. It doesn't come close to being as good as Ice and Electric, but just the stunning makes it better than half of the assists in this game. The worst part is the psychic circle's handling. It's unbearably slow, so if the opponent moves around ever so slightly, you'll be forced to play hockey for a period of time that can go from a few seconds to taking up your whole assist time. Quite a departure from the snowballs, huh? Oh, and for so much trouble, the damage is negligeable - even if you triple it, you're still only on par with Electric's thunderbolts. Thank God for the stunning, else it would've gotten a 1 or even a 0.
Rating: 6/10
DARK
Effect: Loop around a hazard to remove it from the battlefield
Duration: Short
Partner: Sneasel, level 3
Analysis: It sounds cool when I say it like that, especially since hazards become common in the latter part of the game, but this is actually the bottom of the barrel. Why, you ask? Between all the good "flicking" assists and those that prevent the opponent from even attacking, when using those assists you won't care about hazards. Heck, if the enemy's moving close to or on the hazard, just loop around it AND the hazard once in a while so that the HP bar doesn't deplete until the hazard goes away, then start circling again. And for the one battle where hazards don't go away after a while (Heatran), the Dark assist does absolutely nothing! Entirely worthless.
Rating: 0/10
DRAGON
Effect: Touch the screen to summon a meteor that falls to the spot you touched several seconds afterwards, dealing twice a loop's damage and tiring the target; keep the stylus on the screen longer to make the meteor bigger, dealing up to ten times a loop's damage and tiring the target longer
Duration: Extremely long
Partner: Gible, level 3
Analysis: If Diablo 2 taught us anything, it's that nothing's more fun than to drop meteors on your enemies' heads (even when indoors or in caves). Unfortunately, here there's no act 2 mercenary to keep your target from moving, which makes the meteors go from most devastating force ever to nearly useless. There's a reason why it lasts so long: there HAS to be something positive to say about it, because it's nearly impossible to get even the small meteors to connect. In that regard, twice a loop's damage is absolutely dismal. And now, imagine having to charge up the meteor for a while. If you nail something with that, you definitely should go buy a lottery ticket. Or not, if you're the kind of person who thinks you wasted all your good luck for the day on nailing that meteor. And just like Ghost, the Tired status is solely there to make sure the enemy doesn't recover by the time you nail that next meteor. I'll pass, thank you very much.
Rating: 2/10
RECHARGE
Effect: Levels 1 through 5 heal 5, 10, 20, 30 and 50 HP respectively
Duration: Does not apply
Partner: Does not apply
Analysis: What can I say? It's healing. Healing is always good in games. It's not as godly as the very high-end assists, but still incommensurably useful. There's one thing, though: Pichu and Magnemite/Chinchou are nice for on-the-spot healing when you're far away from a Ranger base, but they heal too little for you to take them with you in fights. It's only when Pikachu starts popping up that the healing gets decent enough to bring along, and Raichu/Lanturn and Magneton conveniently start appearing when the previous one starts falling behind. Unless your team is stacked with Steels, Ices and Electric, it's always a good idea to bring a Recharge Pokémon along.
Rating: 8/10
[QUOTE]GHOST
Effect: A loop away from an enemy summons a spirit which moves around, and if it hits an enemy, it inflicts three loops' worth of damage and tires the target[/QUOTE]
I haven't picked up Ranger 2 (And I probably won't), but it sounds like they nerfed the hell out of Ghost. It was the BEST assist before.
Effect: A loop away from an enemy summons a spirit which moves around, and if it hits an enemy, it inflicts three loops' worth of damage and tires the target[/QUOTE]
I haven't picked up Ranger 2 (And I probably won't), but it sounds like they nerfed the hell out of Ghost. It was the BEST assist before.
Well I haven't read much into 2, so I don't really know how much the capture system has changed.
But anyway, Ghost.
A loop would create a black spirit/ghost that would latch onto a Pokemon and pretty much trap it - couldnt move for a while. But seeing as the ghost was spawned int he middle of the loop, you could just massively circle a pokemon and it wouldn't be able to move Ever. It was best assist because Gengar gave you 40s of it so it killed Every boss.
From your text it says it only gets created if you make a loop away from pokemons so thats the nerf.
But anyway, Ghost.
A loop would create a black spirit/ghost that would latch onto a Pokemon and pretty much trap it - couldnt move for a while. But seeing as the ghost was spawned int he middle of the loop, you could just massively circle a pokemon and it wouldn't be able to move Ever. It was best assist because Gengar gave you 40s of it so it killed Every boss.
From your text it says it only gets created if you make a loop away from pokemons so thats the nerf.
The new capture system makes it so that a continuous loop is not necessary. The game is a lot easier than the first. As for the normal and fighting assist, they become essentially useless when you become a top ranger. I also disagree about the Flying assist. Circling a Pokemon will cut the time it takes to capture it by a lot, especially if you can get the tornado to hover over the Pokemon. But of course, we are entitled to our own opinions.
Oh, so from what you say, Ghost immobilized Pokémon back then... now it just tires it. Only Psychic, Ice and Electric immobilize in this game.
Also, I have tried countless times to circle around the target with Flying, and I couldn't do any damage with the large tornado, ever.
Also, I have tried countless times to circle around the target with Flying, and I couldn't do any damage with the large tornado, ever.
[QUOTE USER="rose" TIME="1228287355"][QUOTE USER="majesticstar" TIME="1228286343"]The new capture system makes it so that a continuous loop is not necessary. The game is a lot easier than the first.[/QUOTE]
Seriously? So no more BS like Charizard?
[/QUOTE]
You mean no more BS like Steelix, right? That just completely ruined my Ranger experience.
Seriously? So no more BS like Charizard?
[/QUOTE]
You mean no more BS like Steelix, right? That just completely ruined my Ranger experience.
[QUOTE USER="shadianvise" TIME="1228339425"][QUOTE USER="rose" TIME="1228287355"][QUOTE USER="majesticstar" TIME="1228286343"]The new capture system makes it so that a continuous loop is not necessary. The game is a lot easier than the first.[/QUOTE]
Seriously? So no more BS like Charizard?
[/QUOTE]
You mean no more BS like Steelix, right? That just completely ruined my Ranger experience.
[/QUOTE]
No. I didn't find any boss remotely difficult, except the first Charizard which i wasn't prepared for. Steelix and Salamence which the Ranger board used to whine about were not that hard.
Seriously? So no more BS like Charizard?
[/QUOTE]
You mean no more BS like Steelix, right? That just completely ruined my Ranger experience.
[/QUOTE]
No. I didn't find any boss remotely difficult, except the first Charizard which i wasn't prepared for. Steelix and Salamence which the Ranger board used to whine about were not that hard.
Can't speak for the original, but I didn't find Ranger 2 very hard, since my team was stacked with Steels, Ices and Electrics most of the time. Regigigas damaging you (and not just 3 or 4 HP, but 18!) just by touching it was mighty annoying, though (and I assume it running into your line does the same thing... I can't imagine beating it without the aforementioned big three.
From what you've said Slow, Ranger 2 doesn't sound hard at all because the loops don't have to be continuous.
The big three of Ranger 1 were difficult for different reasons >_>
Charizard - Creates lava you can't touch or loop breaks, needs 12 loops.
Salamence - theres a break in it's attacks where you need to loop 22 times before it starts it's attack pattern again.
Steelix - 12 loops and you cant touch it.
Most of Ranger 1 was defeated by Discharge, Water or Ghost assists. Discharge you started with and Water being incredibly easy to get before boss fights. Whichever one levitated was pretty good too (Psychic?).
No I played through the whole of Ranger 1 and it wasn't challenging anywhere, the only time I lost was early on against 3 Geodudes. Those Geodudes were the hardest fight I've ever had to do.
The big three of Ranger 1 were difficult for different reasons >_>
Charizard - Creates lava you can't touch or loop breaks, needs 12 loops.
Salamence - theres a break in it's attacks where you need to loop 22 times before it starts it's attack pattern again.
Steelix - 12 loops and you cant touch it.
Most of Ranger 1 was defeated by Discharge, Water or Ghost assists. Discharge you started with and Water being incredibly easy to get before boss fights. Whichever one levitated was pretty good too (Psychic?).
No I played through the whole of Ranger 1 and it wasn't challenging anywhere, the only time I lost was early on against 3 Geodudes. Those Geodudes were the hardest fight I've ever had to do.
The loops don't have to be continuous, but you've got to do outrageous amounts of them on the later Pokémon, and they recover their HP... err, friendship gauge after a while of doing nothing, so Pokémon that spawn energy fields and teleport around and stuff can be tedious as all hell if you give them the time to recover... which WILL happen when taking on multiple tough Pokés at the same time. (Well, that's why the big three exists, but Ranger 1 had the even more abusive Ghost, so...)
My facorite assist in ranger 1 was psychic, it made the enemy float in the air totally unable to move (for a very long time for the later psychics) and my toughest fight was the one facing the larvitar, pupitar, and tyranitar at the same time. I just barely beat the steelix on the first try by using a sneasel's dark assist (which drained hp but doubled the size of the capture line)