The player can do a lot of things in the main story of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, such as defeating the massive new Titan Pokemon, battling all the Gym Leaders in the Paldea region, facing the mysterious Team Star, participating in the Pokemon League to attempt to become a Champion and be the very best like no one ever was, and capturing every Pokemon in the region because, y’know, gotta catch ’em all!

Even after completing all these, players can still participate in post-game missions, such as facing the Pokemon Gym Leaders and former Team Star squads in a rematch immediately after the final mission and the credits roll. The Academy Ace Tournament is one of these special events/missions in which players can participate.

This guide will teach us to defeat Miriam in the Academy Ace Tournament!

The Academy Ace Tournament

Nemona and the Pokemon League organized the Academy Ace Tournament to recognize the player’s accomplishment of becoming a Champion in the Paldea region. The player must first help Top Champion Geeta by engaging in a rematch against each Pokemon Gym Leader in Paldea to unlock the Academy Ace Tournament and allow Top Champion Geeta to compete in the event. Once every Gym Leader in the area has been defeated in a rematch, access to the Academy Ace Tournament will become available.

The Academy Ace Tournament pits the player against four consecutive Pokemon Trainers who are academy faculty, staff, or other students. The player must defeat all four trainers to win the grand prize and be named the academy’s ace.

To participate in the Academy Ace Tournament, go to the Academy in Mesagoza, enter the Entrance Hall, and talk to the staff member in the blue shirt standing next to a Gengar at the front desk.

The player’s first attempt at the Academy Ace Tournament will pit them against a predetermined group of four Pokemon Trainers: Arven, Jacq, Dendra, and Top Champion Geeta. On subsequent attempts, the player will face four random Trainers, chosen from Arven, Jacq, Dendra, Hassel, Tyme, Miriam, Raifort, Saguaro, Salvatore, Penny, Director Clavell, or Nemona.

After every round/battle of the tournament, the player cannot change the Pokemon in their party. On the other hand, following each battle, the player’s Pokemon will have their HP restored, and the player’s Tera Orb will be recharged.

Rewards

Being the first Academy Ace Tournament winner unlocks the Sporty Cap (Pokemon League) and 6-Star Tera Raids (if the player has completed at least ten 4-Star Tera Raid battles) in addition to money and EXP points.

These are the rewards that the player may randomly obtain the player’s subsequent victories of the entire tournament: up to 10 Rare Candies, a maximum of three Nuggets, one Big Nugget, a maximum of 3 PP Ups, a PP Max, three random Vitamins, three random Tera Shards, a rare Apriball (a Beast Ball, a Dream Ball, a Fast Ball, a Friend Ball, a Level Ball, a Lure Ball, or a Moon Ball), a Mint with a random nature, a Bottle Cap, a Gold Bottle Cap, or a very rare Ability Patch.

Miriam

If the player attempts the Academy Ace Tournament again after already becoming the academy’s ace the first time, the player may face Miriam, the academy’s nurse!

Miriam does not have a type specialty and will use these six Pokemon: a Level 65 Hypno, a Level 65 Pincurchin, a Level 65 Sawsbuck, a Level 65 Glalie, a Level 65 Eelektross, and a Level 66 Toxapex with a Rock Tera Type.

With that in mind, it is essential to mention that Hypno is a Psychic-type Pokemon which means that it has a weakness to the Bug-type, Dark-type, and Ghost-type moves (super effective) and resistance to Fighting type and Psychic-type moves (not very effective).

Miriam’s Hypno will use the following moves:

• Hypnosis is a Psychic-type status move with 60 Accuracy that will put the target Pokemon to sleep.
• Zen Headbutt is a physical Psychic-type move with 80 Power and 90 Accuracy that inflicts damage and has a 20% chance of causing the opposing Pokemon to flinch.
• Drain Punch is a physical Fighting-type move with 75 Power and 100 Accuracy that will make the Pokemon recover HP by half of the damage dealt.
• Reflect is a Psychic-type status move that will lessen the damage taken on the Pokemon using the move’s side of the battle from physical attacks by 50% in Single Battles and 33% in Double Battles for five turns.

Additionally, Miriam’s Hypno also has an Ability called Insomnia which will make the Pokemon with the Ability immune to falling asleep.

Pincurchin is an Electric-type Pokemon, which means it is weak (super effective) to Ground-type moves and resistant (not very effective) to Electric-type, Flying-type, and Steel-type moves.

Miriam’s Pincurchin will use the following moves:

• Zing Zap is a physical Electric-type move with 80 Power and 100 Accuracy that deals damage and has a 30% chance of making the opposing Pokemon flinch.
• Poison Jab is a physical Poison-type move with 80 Power and 100 Accuracy. Aside from inflicting damage, it also has a 30% chance of inflicting the status condition Poison on the target Pokemon.
• Toxic Spikes is a Poison-type status move that will set toxic spikes to the opposing team’s side of the battle and inflict Poison on the opposing Pokemon sent out in the battle. The amount of damage the Poison will inflict depends on how many layers of Toxic Spikes have been placed. Opposing Pokemon that are poisoned will take a fixed amount of damage for each turn, but opposing Pokemon that is badly poisoned, on the other hand, will take an increasing amount of damage for each turn.
• Spikes is a Ground-type status move that will set spikes to the opposing team’s side of the battle and damage the opposing Pokemon that will be sent out. The amount of damage dealt depends on how many layers of Spikes have been placed (one layer will deal damage that is 12.5% of the Pokemon’s max HP, two layers will deal damage that is 16% of the Pokemon’s max HP, and three or more layers will deal damage that is 25% of the Pokemon’s max HP). This move will not affect Flying-type Pokemon or Pokemon with the Levitate Ability.

Aside from that, Miriam’s Pincurchin has the Ability called Lightning Rod, where the Pokemon with the Ability will draw in all Electric-type moves, and the Pokemon with the Ability will become immune to Electric-type moves and, instead of dealing damage, will raise its Special Attack stat by one stage.

Sawsbuck is a Normal and Grass-type Pokemon which means it is weak (super effective) to Bug-type, Fighting-type, Fire-type, Flying-type, Ice-type, and Poison-type moves, resistant (not very effective) to Electric-type, Grass-type, Ground-type, and Water-type moves, and immunity (no effect) to Ghost-type moves.

Miriam’s Sawsbuck will use the following moves:

• Horn Leech is a physical Grass-type move with 75 Power and 100 Accuracy that, aside from inflicting damage, will recover the HP of the Pokemon using the move by half of the damage inflicted.
• Megahorn is a physical Bug-type move with 120 Power and 85 Accuracy.
• Zen Headbutt is a physical Psychic-type attack with 80 Power and 90 Accuracy that deals damage and has a 20% chance of causing the target Pokemon to flinch.
• Play Rough is a physical Fairy-type move with 90 Power and 90 Accuracy that, in addition to causing damage, also has a 10% chance of decreasing the Attack stat of the target Pokemon by one stage.

Also, Miriam’s Sawsbuck has the Ability called Sap Sipper, which will make the Pokemon with the Ability immune to Grass-type moves and increase its Attack stat by one stage if it is hit with a Grass-type attack.

Glalie is an Ice-type Pokemon, which means it is weak (super effective) in Fighting-type, Fire-type, Rock-type, and Steel-type moves and resistant (not very effective) to Ice-type moves.

Miriam’s Glalie will use the following moves:

• Ice Shard is a physical Ice-type move with 40 Power and 100 Accuracy that, in addition to causing damage, also has an increased Speed priority of 1 which may make it move first before most moves.
• Crunch is a physical Dark-type attack with 80 Power and 100 Accuracy that inflicts damage and also has a 20% chance of decreasing the Defense stat of the target Pokemon by one stage.
• Freeze-Dry is a special Ice-type move with 70 power and 100 Accuracy; it will effectively damage Water-type Pokemon.
• Iron Head is a physical Steel-type move with 80 Power and 100 Accuracy that, in addition to dealing damage, also has a 30% chance of making the enemy Pokemon flinch.

Aside from its moves, Miriam’s Glalie has the Ability called Inner Focus which makes the Pokemon deeply focused and prevents itself from flinching.

Eelektross is an Electric-type Pokemon, which means it is weak to Ground-type moves (super effective) and resistant (not very effective) to Electric-type, Flying-type, and Steel-type moves.

Miriam’s Eelektross will use the following moves:

• Thunder Punch is a physical Electric-type attack with 75 Power and 100 Accuracy that not only inflicts damage but also has a 10% chance of paralyzing the target Pokemon.
• Drain Punch is a physical Fighting-type attack with 75 Power and 100 Accuracy that will recover the Pokemon using the move’s HP by half of the damage dealt.
• Liquidation is a physical Water-type move with 85 Power and 100 Accuracy that deals damage and has a 20% chance of decreasing the opposing Pokemon’s Defense stage by one stage.
• Coil is a Poison-type status move that will increase the Attack, Defense, and Accuracy stat of the Pokemon using the move by one stage.

Additionally, Miriam’s Eelektross also has an Ability called Levitate which will make the Pokemon with the Ability immune to Spike Ground-type moves, so Eelektross now does not have a weakness.

Toxapex is a Water and Poison-type Pokemon, but as Miriam will Terastallize her Toxapex, it will become a pure Poison-type because of its Tera-Type. Hence, it is now weak (super effective) to Ground-type and Psychic-type moves and resistant (not very effective) to the Bug-type, Fairy-type, Fighting-type, Grass-type, and Poison-type.

Miriam’s Toxapex will use the following moves:

• Toxic is a Poison-type status moves with 100 Accuracy that will poison the opposing Pokemon and will still hit the target Pokemon even if they are in the middle of a move like Fly or Dig but cannot break through moves like Protect or Detect.
• Venoshock is a special Poison-type attack with 65 Power and 100 Accuracy that will double damage if the target Pokemon is poisoned.
• Liquidation is a physical Water-type move with 85 Power and 100 Accuracy that deals damage and has a 20% chance of decreasing the opposing Pokemon’s Defense stage by one stage.
• Recover is a Normal-type status move that will recover the Pokemon using the move’s HP by half of its max HP.

Aside from that, Miriam’s Toxapex has an Ability called Merciless which will make the Pokemon with the Ability’s attacks become critical hits if the Pokemon with the Ability is poisoned.

Tips

As Miriam’s Pokemon are Level 65 and 66, it is recommended that the player’s Pokemon are Level 67 and higher with Bug-type, Ground-type, and Fire-type moves.

This is because Bug-type moves will deal super effective damage to Miriam’s Hypno and Sawsbuck, Ground-type moves will deal super effective damage to Miriam’s Pincurchin and Terastallized Toxapex, and Fire-type moves will deal super effective damage to Miriam’s Glalie and, again, Sawsbuck.

As for Miriam’s Eelektross, which has no weakness, it is advised to use Grass-type or Dragon-type Pokemon as they resist two of Eelektross’ moves.

A good Pokemon to use against Miriam’s Eelektross is Clodsire with the Water Absorb Ability as it is immune to Eelektross’ Electric-type move (Thunder Punch), resistant to Eelektross’ Fighting-type move (Drain Punch), and, even though it is weak to Water-type moves, Clodsire’s Water Absorb Ability will restore its health instead of taking damage if it is hit with Eelektross’ Water-type move (Liquidation).

Follow the recommendations above, and the player can defeat Miriam, the academy’s nurse, in no time and move on to the next round!