This stage feels harder than EX Marshal and Hau, but still not much more challenging than EX Clair, and nowhere near the level of our old EX stages. Oddly enough, you’d think Ethan would be good here, but I find it annoying that you can’t really keep up max health to make Eruption strong due to the constant enemy AoE spam.

• Janine’s Ariados is the main boss, but it doesn’t really attack much, as the sides will usually be the ones attacking for most of the fight. The sides each have Maraenie and Scolipede. Maraenie is weak to psychic, while everything else is weak to fire.
• Unlike past EX stages, it doesn’t seem to be too big of a deal whether you eliminate sides first or middle first. Attacks don’t hurt too much even after enemy sync (usually only around 200-300 for single target attacks, and 150ish for AoE attacks).
• Janine’s biggest asset is her use of both X Speed All and Move Gauge Speed Up (same as Delibird’s All the Presents buff), enabling her team to use attacks fairly quickly. She is certainly not a slow boss. Luckily, most of her team’s attacks are fairly weak, as noted above.
• Ariados is vulnerable to Trapped status and can be burned. Burn doesn’t do too much damage (about 300ish), but Ariados has no resistance to Trapped status, so it does a massive 1.3k dmg per tic. Unfortunately, Ariados rarely attacks until after the side Pokemon are eliminated, so you’ll need to do that first before you can reap the benefits of the DoT. Ariados is immune to poison, which is not surprising.
• Janine’s unique trainer skill Secret Ninja Technique grants her team Move Gauge Up, sharply raises her team’s attack and special attack, and grants her team the Endure status, which means they will survive a lethal attack with 1 HP remaining, although Sync moves and Solgaleo’s Sunsteel Strike will ignore it.
• Even though Ariados uses Venoshock,, it’s not really worth setting up status immunity with Arcanine, because Sludge Wave’s poison effect chance is really low.

Enemy AI Behavior:

• Turn 1: Maraenie uses Sludge Wave
• Turn 2: Janine uses X Speed All
• Turn 3: Maraenie uses Sludge Wave, or Scolipede uses Struggle Bug
• Turn 4: Maraenie uses Sludge Wave, or Scolipede uses Struggle Bug
• Turn 5: Ariados uses Venoshock
• Turn 6: Janine uses Secret Ninja Technique! (Grants team 2 attack, 2 special attack, Endure, and Move Gauge Speed Up)
• After enemy sync move, Maraenie uses Poison Jab, or Scolipede uses Earthquake
• If sides are eliminated, Ariados will use Absorb and Poison Jab
• 1 turn before next sync move, Janine will use Secret Ninja Technique again
• After 2nd sync move, Ariados will spam Struggle Bug

Recommend Sync Pairs:

• The usual top tier strikers: Lycanroc, Mewtwo, Solgaleo, etc. Mewtwo has type advantage vs Maraenie and can easily 2HKO. Solgaleo can pierce enemy Endure status. Lycanroc rush is still strong enough to kill Ariados before sync on VH, and can easily survive the weak Sludge Waves early on even despite Hard as Diamonds debuffing special def. Sceptile may not be worth using here, though, due to poison weakness.
• Torchic: Because it can support pretty much anyone regardless of what they bring. Plus, fire type!
• Fire strikers: Emboar is probably the best choice, due to immunity to poison. Typhlosion is still not terrible, but can be hard to keep Eruption at max power due to AoE attacks hitting every turn. Infernape is still a fine F2P option (new sync grid upgrades let you increase Fire Blast’s accuracy!).
• Blaine and Ponyta: Sunny Day is greatly appreciated by fire strikers, especially Ethan and Typhlosion. But that’s not all: you can also use Fire Spin on Ariados for a massive 1.3k dmg per tic of Trapped status! Just be sure to eliminate sides first, because otherwise Ariados won’t really attack often enough to trigger that damage.
• Will and Xatu: Using Our Power is Unlimited after Janine uses Secret Ninja Technique will give you 4 speed, attack, and special attack, which is enough for ~700 dmg Stored Powers. Ariados also has no resistance to confusion. And if Maraenie is still around, you even have type advantage against it. This is not a sync pair you should start with, but it is a good choice for a backup pair in case something goes wrong with your lead.