LogFAQs > #961160138

Forget the Elite Four, I can't even get past the Rival's first two Pokemon. His lead Staraptor weakens Kricketune with Intimidate, outspeeds Kricketune, cleanly 2-hit KO's Kricketune with Pluck (and Pluck means I can't even use a healing berry to make the 2-hit KO a 3-hit KO), and doesn't die to a Night Slash or Brick Break even with a critical hit or a Swords Dance boost. 15 attempts in, and the only times I've made it past Staraptor are when the AI randomly decides to use other moves instead of Pluck. Then, in the couple times I've managed to make it past Staraptor, the rival's Heracross comes in, outspeeds Kricketune as well, and immediately annihilates it with Rock Slide. Time to regroup.

With the Mars/Jupiter and Cyrus battles earlier, I was able to beat those battles with a good strategy and some good RNG without resorting to spamming X-Items. I haven't needed to resort to X-Items yet during this run, but I think I'm going to need them just to make this battle (and probably the Elite Four and Champion too) possible at all without a ton of grinding or some astronomically unlikely RNG help.