Pokémon Quest 12-9 Speedrun: Machop, Bulbasaur, and Starmie Team

To speedrun Happenstance Island 12-9 in Pokémon Quest in roughly one minute, run an unevolved Bulk Up Machop as a dedicated support buffer alongside two offensive attackers: an unevolved Vine Whip Bulbasaur and a Hydro Pump Starmie. This lineup pairs Machop’s continuously stacked team buffs with complementary close-range and long-range multi-hit burst damage, burning through waves and legendary bosses before they can execute lethal attacks.

Why Combine Bulbasaur and Starmie

Chamber 12-9 features multi-wave boss encounters with the legendary birds (Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres) and ends with Mew or Mewtwo. Pairing Vine Whip with Hydro Pump avoids the positional weaknesses of running a single damage type:

• Hydro Pump (Starmie): Fires multiple delayed water pillars from range. It excels at knocking back swarms and chunking large stationary targets, but pillars can overshoot fast-moving or teleporting bosses.
• Vine Whip (Bulbasaur): Strikes immediately across a wide frontal arc. Bulbasaur steps into mid-range to finish bosses between Hydro Pump waves, preventing encounters from stalling.

Unevolved Machop Setup

Machop serves exclusively to maintain the maximum party-wide Attack and Defense buffs. Give Machop an Everstone to prevent evolution. Evolving into Machoke or Machamp degrades its Fighting-Type Moves Wait reduction Bingo Bonuses.

Machop can achieve up to a -45% Fighting-Type Moves Wait reduction across its three Bingo slots (-5%, -20%, and -20%). Because Bulk Up buffs stack, this reduced cooldown lets Machop recast the move fast enough to reach and sustain the party stat cap continuously.

Bulbasaur Setup

Bulbasaur is kept unevolved because its Bingo Bonuses for Grass-type move cooldown and damage worsen upon evolving into Ivysaur and Venusaur.

Vine Whip hits twice quickly and scales heavily with Attack. Broadburst Stones widen the move's hit area to wipe grouped wave spawns, while Wait Less Stones keep attack cycles constant.

• Move: Vine Whip (Single move slot)
• Move Stones: 2 Broadburst Stones and 1 Wait Less Stone (or 1 Broadburst and 2 Wait Less)
• Bingo Bonuses: Grass-Type Moves Wait reduction and Grass-Type Moves ATK increase
• Power Sockets: 6 to 7 Attack sockets and 2 to 3 HP sockets

Starmie Setup

Starmie provides high base Attack and long-range Hydro Pump artillery. Evolve Starmie from Staryu and roll for a single move slot.

Hydro Pump summons four pillars that track the target. Broadburst Stones expand these pillars, creating overlapping hitboxes that deal severe damage to large-model bosses like Mewtwo, Snorlax, and the legendary birds.

Power Stone Secondary Stats and Combat Execution

High Attack and HP values are insufficient on their own to survive 12-9. Prioritize the following secondary stats on your Power Stones across the entire squad:

1. Hit Healing (10% Cap): Maximize Hit Healing on all three Pokémon. Bulbasaur and Starmie run fragile glass-cannon builds and rely on refilling their health bars instantly whenever Vine Whip or Hydro Pump hits. Machop requires 10% Hit Healing to sustain itself while absorbing melee attacks.
2. Resist Status Conditions (100% Cap): Prevents run-ending Freezes, Burns, and Paralyze debuffs.
3. Critical Hit Rate and Critical Hit Damage: Prioritize on Bulbasaur and Starmie to accelerate boss phase clears.

During the run, avoid using the manual scatter button unless avoiding an instant-kill area attack, such as Mewtwo's psychic blast. Scattering interrupts attack animations and lowers overall team damage. Allow Machop to take the lead and pin targets against the edge of the stage while Bulbasaur and Starmie cycle their moves to lock bosses into hit-stun until the expedition clears.