******************************************************************************* Pokemon Platinum Boss Guide by DarkPersian479. Welcome, and thanks for choosing my guide:) This guide covers the major boss battles in Pokemon Platinum. For each boss, the trainer's Pokemon and levels are noted. Not all moves are noted; the ones that pose a special threat or are otherwise noteworthy are mentioned in the general boss strategy. My team at the time I face each boss is also listed. Let it be known that I am NOTORIOUS for overleveling, so your Pokemon can be several levels lower than mine and still be able to handle the boss. This is NOT a general walkthrough, so the locations of items, Pokemon, etc. are not covered. I also do not cover how to solve the Gym's puzzles or the groupies in the Gym. I cover leader strategy only. However, since most lackeys use the same Pokemon types as their leader, similar underling strategies normally apply. Quick Find: Find the section you want to view. Note the four digit code to the right of it. Press cTRL+F and enter the section's four digit code in the box. Press "Find" button. Contents: Legal Stuff.............................................................. Contact Info............................................................. Version History.......................................................... Sample Listing........................................................... Rival Battle 1........................................................... Rival Battle 2........................................................... Gym Leader Roark......................................................... Team Galactic Commander Mars 1........................................... Gym Leader Gardenia...................................................... Team Galactic Commander Jupiter 1........................................ Gym Leader Fantina....................................................... Rival Battle 3........................................................... Gym Leader Maylene....................................................... Rival Battle 4........................................................... Gym Leader Crasher Wake.................................................. Team Galactic Boss Cyrus 1............................................... Rival Battle 5........................................................... Gym Leader Byron......................................................... Team Galactic Commander Saturn 1......................................... Team Galactic Commander Mars 2........................................... Gym Leader Candice....................................................... Team Galactic Boss Cyrus 2............................................... Team Galactic Commander Saturn 2......................................... Team Galactic Commanders Mars and Jupiter................................ Team Galactic Boss Cyrus 3............................................... Giratina Origin Forme.................................................... Gym Leader Volkner....................................................... Rival Battle 6........................................................... Elite Four Intro......................................................... Aaron............................................................... Bertha.............................................................. Flint............................................................... Lucian.............................................................. Champion Cynthia.................................................... Gym Leader Volkner and Elite Four Flint.................................. Team Galactic Commander Mars 3........................................... Team Galactic Commander Jupiter 2........................................ Team Galactic Commander Charon........................................... FAQ's.................................................................... Credits/Thanks........................................................... ******************************************************************************* Legal Stuff: This document is (c) 2009 DarkPersian479. All other copyrights, trade names, and the like are property of their respective owners, and I do not claim ownership of such trademarks. This document is intended for personal use only. While I do not claim this to be the most superior FAQ available, the fact remains that I have invested much effort into it, and I take pride in my work. Any unauthorized use of this document may be considered plagiarism, and such cases will be aggressively pursued by me. Plagiarism was an issue back in my fan-fiction writing days, and I do not wish to deal with it again. However, I am prepared to pursue legal action if it comes to that. Please don't let it come to that. Websites that are authorized to display and publish this FAQ: GameFAQS: http://www.gamefaqs.com Neoseeker: http://www.neoseeker.com My website: http://eliteoverlordlesabre.webs.com/ If you want to publish this on your web site, contact me (see below) with "Platinum Boss FAQ Web Site Request" or something similar in the subject line. Also, please give me some time to check your site, and keep in mind that I am NOT obligated to accept any request. For the most recent version, check any one of the first two sites listed above. ******************************************************************************* CONTACT INFO: Email: eliteoverlordlesabre (at) yahoo (dot) com Replace " (at) " (including the separating spaces) with "@" and " (dot) " with "." You can also find me as Elite Overlord LeSabre(TM) (use the actual "TM" symbol (Alt+0153)) on PokeCommunity Forums (http://www.pokecommunity.com). Do NOT try to contact me using my old Serebii Forums account. I no longer sign on or visit there. Blame the n00bs. Please, if you are trying to contact me, include "Platinum Boss Guide" in the subject line, so I don't discard it as spam or something. Check the FAQ's first! ******************************************************************************* VERSION HISTORY v1.00: Aug. 4, 2009. First posting. All main story bosses, plus Flint/Volkner, Mars, and Jupiter completed. (78.4 KB) v1.05: Mar. 3, 2011. Wow, it's been forever since I've updated this. Altered contact info and added information on the Battleground trainer rematches (thanks to Alex Dellinger for the info) and a few move changes for the rematch with the Elite Four, thanks to my need to level up additional Pokemon. (92.1 KB) v1.06: Mar. 15, 2011. Added Neoseeker to list of sites approved to post this document. (92.3 KB) ******************************************************************************* SAMPLE BOSS LISTING Below is a description of the format I use to detail each boss: (Brief description/Introduction of the character.) Location of Battle ************************************** *Trainer Name And Title, $Prize Money* ************************************** Pokemon #1, Lv(Level of Pokemon #1) Pokemon #2, Lv(Level of Pokemon #2) Pokemon #3, Lv(Level of Pokemon #3) Pokemon #4, Lv(Level of Pokemon #4) Pokemon #5, Lv(Level of Pokemon #5) Pokemon #6, Lv(Level of Pokemon #6) *------------------------------------------* |My Team: | |My Pokemon #1, Lv(Level of My Pokemon #1) | |My Pokemon #2, Lv(Level of My Pokemon #2) | |My Pokemon #3, Lv(Level of My Pokemon #3) | |My Pokemon #4, Lv(Level of My Pokemon #4) | |My Pokemon #5, Lv(Level of My Pokemon #5) | |My Pokemon #6, Lv(Level of My Pokemon #6) | *------------------------------------------* (In-depth strategy of the strategy of the boss, and what works best against them in battle. Noteworthy moves known by the boss's Pokemon are noted here.) Or, for a sample listing: Deep within the Baxter Village subdivision, Lisa waits for your challenge! Fort Mill, South Carolina ************************* *Picnicker Lisa, $159000* ************************* Persian, Lv100 Jolteon, Lv100 Weezing, Lv100 Walrein, Lv100 Flygon, Lv100 Metagross, Lv100 *-----------------* |My Team: | |Kyogre, Lv100 | |Palkia, Lv100 | |Raikou, Lv100 | |Cresselia, Lv100 | |Mewtwo, Lv100 | |Regirock, Lv100 | *-----------------* You can't win. You can assemble the cheapest team of 00bers and still not win. Because this is a sample listing and not an actual boss in the game. The actual FAQ starts below: ******************************************************************************* After you get your first Pokemon, you'll have this battle with your Rival. If there's anyone who actually *needs* to overdose on Ritalin, it's him. Route 201 **************** *Rival Battle 1* **************** Starter*, Lv5 *------------* |My Team: | |Piplup, Lv5 | *------------* *(If you chose Turtwig, he will have Chimchar) (If you chose Chimchar, he will have Piplup) (If you chose Piplup, he will have Turtwig) You can have no level advantage over your rival. Neither of you have any type specific moves, so hammer away with your physical attack. Piplup owners have it a bit harder. Turtwig will abuse Withdraw, and after a few uses it will be outdamaging you with Tackle. Match his use of Withdraw with Piplup's Growl to prevent this. ******************************************************************************* This was the first showdown with the Rival in Diamond and Pearl. He wants a piece of us. Far be it from us to deny it to him. Route 203 ********************** *Rival Battle 2, $900* ********************** Starly, Lv7 Chimchar/Turtwig/Piplup, Lv9 *-------------* |My Team: | |Piplup, Lv14 | |Starly, Lv3 | |Shinx, Lv4 | |Bidoof, Lv2 | *-------------* Let my overleveing begin, lol! Make sure you have two Pokemon at the minimum. Starly will be first out the gate, and if you're using only your starter at this point, you'll want a filler to switch to if Starly abuses Growl. Your starter's normal attacks will work best against the starter (obviously, since his type trumps yours). At this point, your rival's starter should have its first elemental move, which can be trouble if he decides to use it. That's a big "if," since his Turtwig just used Withdraw and Tackle in the 3-4 turns it took me to beat him. ******************************************************************************* After you get Roark to return to his Gym, follow him there, beat on his lackeys, then get ready for the battle for your first Badge. Water and Grass will dominate; Ground, Fighting, and Steel (if you trade over) will do fairly well also against this miner's Rock-types. Oreburgh City ************************* *Gym Leader Roark, $1680* ************************* Geodude, Lv12 Onix, Lv12 Cranidos, Lv14 *---------------* |My Team: | |Prinplup, Lv22 | |Zubat, Lv18 | |Meowth, Lv1* | |Starly, Lv3 | |Shinx, Lv4 | |Bidoof, Lv2 | *---------------* *(W00t for trading Eggs from Pearl. After Roark, I traded a filler Pokemon with an Exp. Share to raise my new Meowth with little difficulty) If you started with Piplup or Turtwig, and you are within a couple levels of Roark's Pokemon, his first two should be no problem. Onix MIGHT get the jump on you with its decent Speed, but that's about it. Both of them are 4x weak to Water AND Grass. Chimchar starters should either evolve it at Lv14, or catch a Psyduck, Budew, or Machop. Whatever you do, be sure to beat Geodude before it sets up Stealth Rock, unless you plan on using only one Pokemon to sweep Roark. This is Roark's signature move, and it damages all incoming Pokemon with damage based on type matchup to Rock. This means switching in Starly, Kricketot, and Chimchar will cause them massive damage before they even get a chance to strike. Cranidos is pure Rock, so it only has regular weakness to Water and Grass. You might not OHKO it, and if you don't, its VERY high Attack power combined with Headbutt will HURT. Roark wields two Potions to be used as he sees fit, so try not to knock Cranidos into the red. You don't need it using Headbutt any more than necessary. Roark gives you the Coal Badge and TM76 Stealth Rock when you beat him. Stealth Rock is much better as a competitive move than as an in-game move, so save it. ******************************************************************************* Get in the Valley Windworks after getting the key in Floaroma Town. Battle through the smattering of Galactic Grunts to reach their red-haired Commander. Mars won't budge unless you beat her. It's go time. For some reason, I like Mars. Might be the hoop miniskirt. I dunno. She's my personal favorite out of the Commanders. Valley Windworks ************************************* *Team Galactic Commander Mars, $1360* ************************************* Zubat, Lv15 Purugly, Lv17 *---------------* |My Team: | |Prinplup, Lv24 | |Golbat, Lv21 | |Meowth, Lv13 | |Starly, Lv3 | |Shinx, Lv4 | |Bidoof, Lv2 | *---------------* Zubat might be a weak Pokemon, but Mars' version at least has some deadly moves that can mess you up. Bite is a fairly strong attack, and Toxic's poison will sap more life as the battle continues. I fought it with a Golbat of my own, which also came in handy for her second Pokemon. Mars must have got her hands on some "Illegal Evolution Poke-Wheaties," 'cause she's packing a Lv17 Purugly (which usually doesn't evolve till Lv38!) This fat cat can be a terror, with high Attack power. It will often (read: almost always) lead with Fake Out, which does STAB damage, always goes first, and causes you to flinch. Except with my Golbat, since it had the Inner Focus ability. It'll still hurt, though. Scratch usually wouldn't be a threat, but with Purugly's attack and STAB, it's stronger than you might think, so watch out! It also comes armed with Faint Attack, a 60-power Dark move that never misses, that also runs off its strong Attack. Purugly has Thick Fat, so don't use Fire (or Ice, if you imported Pokemon from D/P). It's durable and will take a few hits, and holds an Oran Berry to make it last just a little longer. ******************************************************************************* The "Flower Puzzle" is little more than a "beat all the trainers" thing, so do exactly that, then get ready for the boss here. There's one fewer trainer in here than in D/P. Blah. Come with Fire, Flying, Poison, (or Ice if you have traded.) Gardenia will unleash leafy Grass-type fury at you if you give her an opening. Eterna City **************************** *Gym Leader Gardenia, $2640* **************************** Turtwig, Lv20 Cherrim, Lv20 Roserade, Lv22 *---------------* |My Team: | |Prinplup, Lv27 | |Golbat, Lv25 | |Meowth, Lv21 | |Starly, Lv3 | |Shinx, Lv4 | |Buneary, Lv11 | *---------------* Flying and Fire will clean Gardenia's flower clock (pun intended), but if you're using Flying (like I am), finish Turtwig quickly and DO NOT let it set up Reflect. It will half your physical attack power, and users of Peck and Wing Attack do not need that. Turtwig will also cast Sunny Day. Its moves won't benefit from the weather change, but Gardenia's next Pokemon will. It's almost as if she's expecting Turtwig to die quickly. Anyway, Turtwig also comes armed with the 55-power Grass-type Razor Leaf (criticals often) and Gardenia's trademark attack, Grass Knot. This move does more damage the heavier your own Pokemon is. At this point, your Pokemon are likely not heavyweights, so Razor Leaf is what to watch out for. Cherrim is the Pokemon that benefits from Turtwig's Sunny Day. This jacks up both of Cherrim's Special Stats... but also jacks up the power of Fire-type moves. If Sunny Day is in play, just char-broil her team, BK Whopper style, and be done with it. Switch out if Cherrim hits you with Leech Seed - you don't need it hurting you and healing her. Last up is Roserade, a third stage Pokemon with good Special Attack. Magical Leaf will hurt because of this. It might also have Poison Point, so be ready for that as well. Other than that and the occasional Stun Spore, Roserade doesn't have that much to throw at you. Topple it, and Gardenia gives you TM86 Grass Knot and the Forest Badge. ******************************************************************************* Infiltrate the Galactic Eterna Building once you get Cut, battle through Grunts and a single Scientist, then meet this purple haired lady to deal another blow to the spacemen. Galactic Eterna Building **************************************** *Team Galactic Commander Jupiter, $1840* **************************************** Zubat, Lv21 Skuntank, Lv23 *---------------* |My Team: | |Prinplup, Lv28 | |Golbat, Lv27 | |Meowth, Lv24 | |Starly, Lv3 | |Rotom, Lv20 | |Buneary, Lv11 | *---------------* More illegal-evolution Poke-Wheaties in play here (Skuntank is normally obtainable at Lv34). Where does Team Galactic get the stuff, and can I get some, too? Anyway, Jupiter also has a better-than standard Zubat. No Toxic, but Giga Drain can mess up your Rock-types and Wing Attack is a fairly potent STAB move. Watch out for Skuntank. It's quite durable and comes with Night Slash, a 70 power move that Criticals often and gets STAB on Skuntank. It hurts, especially if it uses Screech first. Its other moves are minor annoynce moves (Poison Gas and SmokeScreen). Its only weakness is to Ground-type attacks. Use Geodude's Magnitude if you've got it. Skuntank's got a fairly potent healing item in the Sitrus Berry, as well. ******************************************************************************* Back in the old days, you'd face her fifth, and go against a simple math "puzzle" that doesn't involve calculus or even trigonometry. Now it's some weird flashlight/symbol matching thing, and the Camper and Picknicker that used to be in here are gone. Reach Fantina, then lay the smackdown and send her back to the Contest Hall, where you'll lay the smackdown on her again later, Contest style. Her Ghost-type team is vulnerable to Dark and Ghost, though Normals with Ghost and Dark moves are the best for immunity to her most powerful strikes. Hearthome City *************************** *Gym Leader Fantina, $3120* *************************** Duskull, Lv24 Haunter, Lv24 Mismagius, Lv26 *---------------* |My Team: | |Prinplup, Lv31 | |Golbat, Lv31 | |Persian, Lv30 | |Rotom, Lv20 | |Jolteon, Lv22 | |Buneary, Lv11 | *---------------* More trading goodness with a Thunderstone and TM24 for Eevee:) Duskull's Shadow Sneak will go first, but is weak. Will-o-Wisp will burn you. Otherwise, Duskull is cake. Haunter has very potent Special Attack. Why Fantina gave it physical attacks (Shadow Claw, her specialty, and Sucker Punch) is beyond me. The latter will go first if you launch an offensive attack against Haunter, but its crappy Attack renders the move little more than a nuisance. But Haunter does wield two very crippling annoyance moves, Confuse Ray and Hypnosis, so take it out fast or come packing Full Heals. Mismagius poses the major threat here. It's got the excellent Shadow Ball attack in its arsenal, combining with STAB and high Special Attack to become a devastating move. Field a Normal-type to avoid Shadow Ball annihilation. My Persian, with Bite and Faint Attack, worked beautifully, with Mismagius resorting to Psybeam (which will still do decent damage) and Confuse Ray, which is an annoyance you have to deal with. A Sitrus Berry and two Super Potions help it stay in battle, unless you can avoid triggering the use of either item (or force Fantina to use the Super Potions on her lesser Pokemon). Fantina forks over the Relic Badge and TM65 Shadow Claw after losing. ******************************************************************************* Ambushing you as you try to leave Hearthome, Rival's still as hyper as ever. Time to smack this jabroni around. Hearthome City ********************************* *Rival (Chimchar starter), $2700* ********************************* Staravia, Lv25 Prinplup, Lv27 Roselia, Lv23 Ponyta, Lv23 ******************************** *Rival (Turtwig starter), $2700* ******************************** Staravia, Lv25 Monferno, Lv27 Buizel, Lv23 Roselia, Lv23 ******************************* *Rival (Piplup starter), $2700* ******************************* Staravia, Lv25 Grotle, Lv27 Buizel, Lv23 Ponyta, Lv23 *---------------* |My Team: | |Prinplup, Lv31 | |Golbat, Lv31 | |Persian, Lv31 | |Rotom, Lv20 | |Jolteon, Lv22 | |Buneary, Lv11 | *---------------* Don't lead with a physical attacker, as Staravia starts the show and will smite you with Intimidate. Also watch out for its Endeavor if you can't defeat it in one hit. As long as you have a decently-leveled counter for his starter, you'll clean house pretty easily. Rival still sucks at this point. ******************************************************************************* Another redesigned puzzle, but at least no trainers were removed this time. Maylene specializes in Fighting-type Pokemon, but Psychics won't be as useful as you might think. Bring a Flyer, along with Fire, Ground, or even a Fighting type of your own. Veilstone City *************************** *Gym Leader Maylene, $3840* *************************** Meditite, Lv28 Machoke, Lv29 Lucario, Lv32 *---------------* |My Team: | |Empoleon, Lv36 | |Crobat, Lv37 | |Persian, Lv36 | |Trapinch, Lv29 | |Jolteon, Lv32 | |Duskull, Lv25 | *---------------* Meditite has Fake Out, so expect it to use it on the first turn for the flinch. It also has Drain Punch, Maylene's signature move. It's a physical Fighting element version of Giga Drain, including its 60 power, self-healing... and 5 PP. It's frail, though, so it shouldn't take much to KO it. Machoke is the only member of this Fighting crew that's weak to Psychic. It'll use the Focus Energy + Karate Chop combo, but a fast, powerful Pokemon can shut it down after it uses Focus Energy. Her first two Pokemon use Rock Tomb to lower Speed and cover their Flying weakness. Lucario is her trump card, and its Steel-typing gives it resistance to the usual Fighting-type counters. Lucario has Force Palm (STAB move, can paralyze) as well as Drain Punch, but its moves aren't too much of a threat otherwise. Just watch out for Bone Rush if you're playing your Fire-type. If you're not like me and are using Staraptor, it can pwn each of these guys. Aerial Ace/Wing Attack against the first two, then Close Combat Lucario. Of course, it must be in its final form, at Lv34, to pull off this sweepage. Unlike her Gym Leader bretheren, Maylene doesn't heal her team. Beat her to get TM60 Drain Punch and the Cobble Badge. ******************************************************************************* Feel like you're being watched? Someone hasn't learned his lesson, and wants to rumble yet again. If only the Pokemon world had restraining orders. Pastoria City ********************************* *Rival (Chimchar starter), $3600* ********************************* Staravia, Lv34 Prinplup, Lv36 Roselia, Lv32 Ponyta, Lv32 ******************************** *Rival (Turtwig starter), $3600* ******************************** Staravia, Lv34 Monferno, Lv36 Buizel, Lv32 Roselia, Lv32 ******************************* *Rival (Piplup starter), $3600* ******************************* Staravia, Lv34 Grotle, Lv36 Buizel, Lv32 Ponyta, Lv32 *---------------* |My Team: | |Empoleon, Lv40 | |Crobat, Lv40 | |Persian, Lv40 | |Vibrava, Lv35 | |Jolteon, Lv40 | |Duskull, Lv35 | *---------------* Sigh... The ever-annoying stalker Rival is carrying the usual suspects. Except for the level increase, these are the exact same guys you pwned in Hearthome. Beat him around again using those same tactics, remembering to lead off with a Special Attacker to render Staravia's Intimidate useless. Man, I hate Intimidate... ******************************************************************************* This Gym is the same as you remember it. Crasher Wake, who's probably seen too much Nacho Libre, waits to strike you down with Water types. Because of the secondary types of two of his Pokemon, you'll want both Electric and Grass moves for an easy time here. A joke in my circle of friends is that Crasher Wake was named after Wake Forest University, lol. Pastoria City ********************************** *Gym Leader (Crasher) Wake, $4440* ********************************** Gyarados, Lv33 Quagsire, Lv34 Floatzel, Lv37 *---------------* |My Team: | |Empoleon, Lv41 | |Crobat, Lv41 | |Persian, Lv41 | |Vibrava, Lv37 | |Jolteon, Lv41 | |Dusclops, Lv37 | *---------------* Crasher Wake leads with Gyarados, another Dale Earnhardt (Sr.) wannabe, so run a Special attacker to start this wrasslin' match. As for STAB, Gyarados has two - Brine is Crasher Wake's specialty, a 65-power Special based move that doubles in power if your HP is below half; and the 80-power physical Waterfall. Considering Gyarados has impressive Attack and sucky Special Attack, guess what attack you need to fear more. Grass is neutral against it. Electric will fry it, 4x-weak style. If you don't have electricity (since the Electric-types you've seen so far are kinda sucky and you might not have a Thunderstone for Eevee), beat it down with physical power hits *after* Intimidate passes - Gyarados' physical defenses are weaker than its special defenses. Quagsire is 4x weak to Grass. Watch for its Yawn if you don't get the OHKO (only if you don't have a decent Grass-type assault), or it's sleepy time at the end of your next turn. Other than that, it has 50-60 power attacks and no grass counters (not that they'd work anyway), so it isn't too threatening. Floatzel is Crasher Wake's pride and joy. Brine is back, as well as the strike-first Aqua Jet. It has Ice Fang to deal with Grassers, and has fairly high Speed. Watch out for surprise first strike KO's, especially with Aqua Jet. Floatzel holds a Sitrus Berry and Crasher Wake wields a Hyper Potion (even though Moomoo Milk is STILL a better buy at this point). Pin him down to get TM55 Brine and the Fen Badge. ******************************************************************************* After talking about obscure matters for awhile now, mystery man Cyrus finally reveals that he's the ringleader of the clowns in spacesuits that you've been dealing with all game long. Join him... or pwn his Pokemon! Whatever floats your boat. Well, except for the first option. Like the Rocket on Nugget Bridge in FR/LG, and Gonzap/Lovrina/Miror B. in XD Gale of Darkness, you can't accept the bad guy's offer to join their cause, no matter how much you might want to. Celestic Town **************************** *Galactic Boss Cyrus, $6480* **************************** Golbat, Lv34 Sneasel, Lv34 Murkrow, Lv36 *---------------* |My Team: | |Empoleon, Lv43 | |Crobat, Lv43 | |Persian, Lv43 | |Vibrava, Lv41 | |Jolteon, Lv43 | |Dusclops, Lv41 | *---------------* Cyrus (and you won't see any Hannah Montana or Achy Breaky Heart puns from me. Promise.) isn't too big of a threat... THIS time. His Golbat, unlike the Zubats Mars and Jupiter wielded, has no special moves - just the same standard Golbat everyone and their grandma seems to use. Sneasel is fast and comes with Ice Punch for strong physical STAB damage, but it's also delicate - and comes with a peachy-keen 4x Fighting weakness. Fire and Steel also work. Infernape can have a field day with Sneasel, and it doesn't even have to worry about outrunning it. Murkrow might have STAB Drill Peck and Faint Attack, but it's still too weak to pose a threat. Flying type counters such as Electric and Ice will work wonders here. Note that you can use Rock attacks to cream everybody here, as well. ******************************************************************************* This guy's been talking a big game for a while now. About time he actually lived up to his tough talk. He still shouldn't be any match for you, though. Canalave City ********************************* *Rival (Chimchar starter), $3800* ********************************* Staraptor, Lv36 Empoleon, Lv38 Roserade, Lv35 Rapidash, Lv35 Heracross, Lv37 ******************************** *Rival (Turtwig starter), $3800* ******************************** Staraptor, Lv36 Infernape, Lv38 Floatzel, Lv35 Roserade, Lv35 Heracross, Lv37 ******************************* *Rival (Piplup starter), $3800* ******************************* Staraptor, Lv36 Torterra, Lv38 Floatzel, Lv35 Rapidash, Lv35 Heracross, Lv37 *---------------* |My Team: | |Empoleon, Lv45 | |Crobat, Lv45 | |Persian, Lv45 | |Flygon, Lv45 | |Jolteon, Lv45 | |Dusknoir, Lv45 | *---------------* His attitude is still as annoying as ever, but now he has the goods to back up his trash talk... Or he would have, if his levels were a bit higher. All of his Pokemon are evolved, and Heracross has joined the fun. Intimidate will still screw over your physical attackers. Don't dawdle with Roserade. Toxic Spikes are NOT fun, especially since you'll constantly need to swap Pokemon to trump him. Infernape is easily the deadliest of the three starters. The other two can hit hard, but unlike Infernape, they're rather slow. ******************************************************************************* Byron, who is (SPOILER) Roark's father, plays the most defensive type in the game: Steel. One of his Pokemon is also capable of attacking fairly well, though. Ground and Fighting will serve you best, along with a Special-based Water attacker. The dual types of two of his Pokemon make Fire-types a bit less useful here. As a side note, I kinda like Byron's stubble. Canalave City ************************* *Gym Leader Byron, $4920* ************************* Magneton, Lv37 Steelix, Lv38 Bastiodon, Lv41 *---------------* |My Team: | |Empoleon, Lv46 | |Crobat, Lv45 | |Persian, Lv45 | |Flygon, Lv46 | |Jolteon, Lv46 | |Dusknoir, Lv45 | *---------------* Use Ground attacks on Magneton quickly. It has high Special Attack and two strong STAB moves - Electric-type Thunderbolt and Steel-type Flash Cannon (his signature move). Do you resist both of them? Tri Attack takes care of that, as well as possibly inflicting a status condition. Metal Sound makes the other three attacks that much more potent. How ironic that his toughest-looking Pokemon, Steelix, poses the least threat. STAB Earthquake is the only thing to fear, as Flash Cannon on Steelix is a joke, Try not to let it cast Sandstorm, though. The next Pokemon might be tougher with jacked-up Special Defense. Here is where your Water-type gets to dominate. Bastiodon has incredible defenses, and a combo to take advantage of it. Taunt prevents you from lowering those defenses, and Metal Burst will knock the damage you cause to it back... and then some. Beware - even picking on its 4x weakness to Fighting and Ground might not OHKO it - it's that tough. At least its Attack isn't that great - otherwise I'd be more afraid of STAB Stone Edge. As if Bastiodon wasn't tough enough, it holds... surprise! A Sitrus Berry. Byron uses a Full Restore (Collossal. Waste. Of. Money.) as well. Byron coughs up TM91 Flash Cannon and the Mine Badge once you finish him. ******************************************************************************* Meh, It's Saturn. Like the car company, he's nothing special. Valor Cave ********************************** *Galactic Commander Saturn, $3200* ********************************** Golbat, Lv38 Bronzor, Lv38 Toxicroak, Lv40 *---------------* |My Team: | |Empoleon, Lv47 | |Crobat, Lv46 | |Persian, Lv46 | |Flygon, Lv47 | |Jolteon, Lv46 | |Dusknoir, Lv46 | *---------------* Only thing of note on Golbat is Toxic. Use your standard Golbat-defeating operating procedure. Saturn is an idiot. Look at his Bronzor for proof. Gyro Ball dishes out more damage the higher your Speed is. Rock Tomb lowers your Speed. See the problem here? Torch it and be done. It seems all trained Bronzor have Levitate. Toxicroak can be a handful, but it also has a 4x Psychic weakness to pick on. It holds a Sitrus Berry and some decent moves like STAB Revenge and Poison Jab, but can be dispatched fairly easily. ******************************************************************************* Fwee. More Mars love. This time, she talks to herself once you defeat her, which you kinda have to take pity on her for doing. She thinks you and Rowan's assistant are an item. How cute. We still have to cream her, though, so let's get it done. Verity Lakefront ******************************** *Galactic Commander Mars, $3200* ******************************** Golbat, Lv38 Bronzor, Lv38 Purugly, Lv40 *---------------* |My Team: | |Empoleon, Lv47 | |Crobat, Lv47 | |Persian, Lv47 | |Flygon, Lv47 | |Jolteon, Lv47 | |Dusknoir, Lv47 | *---------------* Golbat is identical to Saturn's. Also identical should be your tactics for crushing it. Give Mars credit. Unlike her blue-haired partner in crime, she's smart enough not to try and pull a Gyro Ball/Rock Tomb combo of epic fail with her Bronzor. Extrasensory gets STAB and Confuse Ray is annoying as ever. Roast it like Saturn's. Purugly is less of a threat now, but it can still be troublesome. Fake Out and Hypnosis are annoyers, and good ones at that, especially with Fake Out's STAB. Slash also gets STAB, and it's a fairly strong move coupled with a high critical rate. Faint Attack hits otherwise immune Ghosts. And guess what Berry it holds? Begins with "S" and ends with "itrus". ******************************************************************************* After the time-consuming task of destroying the snowballs in here, step up and face Candice, who IMO is the most attractive Gym Leader you'll face in a Gym Battle (but not necessarily the most attractive one you'll see or face in general). Candice wears a miniskirt in this freezing climate, which I really have to admire her for being able to pull off. She'll try to chill you out with Ice-type moves. Counter with Fire, Steel, and Fighting for best results. If you can, pack a sturdy Water-type and a fast Pokemon with Faint Attack as well. If you have a Pokemon that can change the weather, bring it along too. Snowpoint City *************************** *Gym Leader Candice, $5280* *************************** Sneasel, Lv40 Abomasnow, Lv42 Piloswine, Lv40 Froslass, Lv44 *---------------* |My Team: | |Empoleon, Lv50 | |Crobat, Lv50 | |Persian, Lv50 | |Flygon, Lv50 | |Jolteon, Lv50 | |Dusknoir, Lv50 | *---------------* You've dealt with Sneasel before. Worst thing it can do is get in a quick STAB hit with Ice Shard or Faint Attack before succumbing to weak defenses. Abomasnow will start up a hailstorm that lingers until the battle ends or until you change it. Make that change if at all possible. This one's strong. Wood Hammer is a massively powerful Grass type recoil move, and with STAB it's deadly. Avalanche, Candice's trademark attack, is physical in nature and hurts more if the user's already received damage. But you can pick on its many weaknesses for the OHKO. Fighting, Steel, Bug, and especially Fire (4x weak) are the best choices for super effective damage without fielding a type weakness. Piloswine also wields Avalanche, as well as Earthquake for a potent STAB move. Use Water or Fighting for best results. Note that Water also resists Avalanche. Using super-effective Grass or Fire subjects you to possible type weaknesses of your own. Her big mama, Froslass, has two very potent combos that come into play if it's still Hailing. This is why you would want to change the weather. Blizzard is insanely powerful and notoriously inaccurate - except when hailing, when it'll ALWAYS hit. Froslass also has the Snow Cloak ability, which ups Evasion in a hailstorm. Double Team only adds to the annoyance factor (which is nearing 11 by now). So you've got a fast Pokemon blasting you with sure-hit, 120 power STAB moves running off high Special Attack. While dodging your attacks. With Hail continuing to chip away at your HP. Not fun. Resistance to Ice? Shadow Ball will also hit you up for tons of STAB damage. A fast Pokemon with Faint Attack is your friend, since Froslass' Achilles Heel is its fragile defenses. If you can outrun it with Faint Attack, you can neutralize it in short order. My Persian worked wonderfully for this. Froslass has a surprise (not really) Sitrus Berry, though it's not too useful here because of the crappy defenses. Candice is armed and dangerous with a Full Restore AND Hyper Potion as well. TM72 Avalanche and Icicle Badge are the swag you'll take away when you win. ******************************************************************************* Me: We meet again, Mr. Cyrus... *massages Persian's head* Fresh from a pep rally not unlike those in high school, Cyrus is relaxing comfortably in his private office when you bust in. He's torn between annoyed and impressed. Regardless, you are a hindrance to his grand scheme, and he can't let that go unpunished! Galactic Veilstone Building **************************** *Galactic Boss Cyrus, $8280* **************************** Sneasel, Lv44 Crobat, Lv44 Honchkrow, Lv46 *---------------* |My Team: | |Empoleon, Lv52 | |Crobat, Lv52 | |Persian, Lv52 | |Flygon, Lv52 | |Jolteon, Lv52 | |Dusknoir, Lv52 | *---------------* A bit better this time... Sneasel should be a common face. Ice Punch can do some damage, and Screech can set Cyrus' other Pokemon up for sweepage, so finish it off fast. Crobat is evolved from Golbat (and shows Cyrus *does* care for his Pokemon). Now it's faster, stronger, but not much more defensive. Poison Fang is pretty strong and may infict Toxic-style Poison. Not much else to note here. Honchkrow is the evolved form of Murkrow, and a vastly superior Pokemon. STAB Drill Peck and Faint Attack run off a good Attack score to bring the hurt. Once again, hit on its weakness. Electric, Ice, and Rock will all do a number on it. Honchkrow has the old standby Sitrus Berry, and Cyrus himself will use a Hyper Potion if necessary. You'll get the Master Ball afterwards. Yay! ******************************************************************************* Of the Commanders, Saturn seems to know the fewest details about the grand scheme of things as far as Cyrus and Team Galactic are concerned. He also seems to be doubting things more than his female compatriots. Heck, the rest of them left him and Charon behind when they headed up Mt. Coronet. Regardless, you humiliated him before, and he seeks to redeem his good name. Let's get it on! Galactic Veilstone Building ********************************** *Galactic Commander Saturn, $3520* ********************************** Golbat, Lv42 Bronzor, Lv42 Toxicroak, Lv44 *---------------* |My Team: | |Empoleon, Lv53 | |Crobat, Lv52 | |Persian, Lv52 | |Flygon, Lv52 | |Jolteon, Lv53 | |Dusknoir, Lv52 | *---------------* New moves, same old Pokemon. Toxicroak has Faint Attack, but that shouldn't deter you from using Psychic types for 4x damage. It'll also render Sitrus Berry useless. Flame Bronzor as usual and use your preferred Golbat counter. Honestly, you've dealt with enough of these things already... Yawn... LET'S PLAY GALACTIC CELEBRITY JEOPARDY! Saturn: So, what's your answer? Me: *--------------------------* | | | I'M SORRY SATURN | | | | | | | | | | | *--------------------------* Saturn: Really? You do feel sorry for me? *sniff* I never knew... Well, let's see your wager... Me: *--------------------------* | | | I'M SORRY SATURN | | | | | | | | IS FULL OF EPIC FAIL | | | *--------------------------* Saturn: I should've known... Me: BWAHAHAHAHAHA! ******************************************************************************* Mars and Jupiter are here to make sure Cyrus remains undisturbed while he puts the finishing touches on his plans. Your rival barrels into the fray. Funny, everyone here but you is out for revenge. Rival wants to get back at Jupiter for spanking him at Lake Acuity, and both Mars and Jupiter want a piece of you after you humiliated them before. Spear Pillar ********************************************* *Galactic Commanders Mars and Jupiter, $7360* ********************************************* MARS JUPITER ________________ _______________ Bronzor, Lv44 Bronzor, Lv44 Golbat, Lv44 Golbat, Lv44 Purugly, Lv46 Skuntank, Lv46 *---------------* |My Team: | |Empoleon, Lv54 | |Crobat, Lv54 | |Persian, Lv54 | |Flygon, Lv54 | |Jolteon, Lv54 | |Dusknoir, Lv54 | *---------------* You team up with your Rival for this one. He'll lead with Munchlax, though it's fairly useless. If you want Rival to be of some semblance of help here, KO Munchlax and force him to use one of his other Pokemon. You'll need it, becuase Mars and Jupiter are itching for revenge and have stepped up their game. On the battle screen, Mars' Pokemon are on the right, Jupiter's are on the left. Remember this since both Commanders lead with Bronzor, and you don't know who's who until they make their move. You need to tell them apart because Mars' has Light Screen and Jupiter's has Reflect. The wall will be the first move. Depending on whether you plan on striking with physical or special attacks, focus your efforts on one of the Bronzor to KO it before it sets up the wall that hinders your strategy. Fire as usual is best for these things. Their Golbats also have different movesets, but the same weakness to a variety of moves. Plus, since everyone and their dog has used 'em, you know how to deal with them. Purugly now has Aerial Ace to strike at Fighting-types. Faint Attack has been replaced by the somewhat more potent Shadow Claw. Slash and Hypnosis are still here, but Fake Out has been dumped. It still has Thick Fat to resist Fire and Ice. Fighting-type moves work best, but look out for Aerial Ace. Skuntank packs Flamethrower as a surprise move, as well as the expected STAB Night Slash and Poison Jab. Smokescreen is an annoyer, but not as crippling as Hypnosis. Ground works best, and Jupiter really can't counter them. Not surprisingly, both Skuntank and Purugly hold Sitrus Berries. ******************************************************************************* Cyrus still thinks he can create his ideal world, even within the depths of Giratina's domain. He thought he'd might have to teach you a lesson, so he's brought his heaviest hitters. Here comes the pain! Distortion World **************************** *Galactic Boss Cyrus, $8640* **************************** Houndoom, Lv 45 Weavile, Lv48 Crobat, Lv46 Honchkrow, Lv46 Gyarados, Lv46 *---------------* |My Team: | |Empoleon, Lv54 | |Crobat, Lv54 | |Persian, Lv54 | |Flygon, Lv55 | |Jolteon, Lv55 | |Dusknoir, Lv54 | *---------------* This is Cyrus' last stand, so he's pulling out all the stops. These guys have the toughest movesets you've seen to date, with lots of good type coverage and several counters to weaknesses. Houndoom is first, and it can nail you hard with STAB Flamethrower and Dark Pulse, combined with strong Special Attack. Thunder Fang is for your Water types. Use Ground-types, or even Water - Thunder Fang ain't that strong. Weavile comes with Fake Out - don't plan on hitting back that turn unless you have Inner Focus. It'll follow up with quick, powerful Ice Punch and Night Slash attacks as its main ways of delivering the pain. It also has X-Scissor if you should play something that's weak to Bug. Take it out fast. It's still weak defensively. And it still has that 4x Fighting weakness. Oh, it has a Sitrus Berry too. Crobat now has a pretty potent moveset. Confuse Ray and Toxic are annoyers you should be accustomed to. Cross Poison, like several of Cyrus' other moves, can Critical often. Cross Poison may also inflict its related status affliction. Air Slash's high flinch rate combined with Crobat's quick speed can annoy, but the damage itself isn't too bad. Take care of it using the same methods you've employed countless times before. Honchkrow got some mighty impressive improvements. Drill Peck is still there, but it's a nice, strong attack to begin with. Night Slash is for STAB as well as a high critical hit rate. Heat Wave and Psychic round out this vastly improved set, with the former designed to torch your Steel-type wall and counter Ice-types. Electric-types are your best bet, as well as Rock. Got an Electric-type (attack)? Zap Gyarados for 4x damage and be done with it. For everyone else, it could be trouble. Waterfall, Ice Fang, and Earthquake provide good coverage, and Giga Impact just plain hurts anything not Steel, Rock, or Ghost, and it can use one of its alternate moves in that case. If it does use Giga Impact, take advantage of the recharge move afterward. Swap in physical attackers after it uses Intimidate, and beat it down. You will have a chance to save your game after you beat Cyrus and before you have your next battle. SAVE YOUR GAME! I cannot stress this enough. ******************************************************************************* SAVE YOUR GAME AFTER DEFEATING CYRUS! ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* Giratina (Origin Forme), Lv47 (GHO/DRG) Ability: Levitate Ancientpower Shadow Force Ominous Wind Dragon Claw Giratina means business. It hits hard, and won't go with you easily (capture rate is 3, which is *extremely* low). Two of its moves can boost each of its stats, so it has a total of ten shots to get the boost. If it gets the boost, it's a bad thing. More than one, and it could sweep you. A Normal type cuts this number back down to 5, and renders its most deadly attack useless. Beware, as Dragon Claw can still tear you apart. A Steel-type will resist all four of its moves (I used Empoleon to great effect here). Stall it, whittle down its HP, then break out the Ultra or Dusk Balls (but NOT during the "disappearing" turn of Shadow Force.) Switch to Timer Balls after 25-30 turns. I also used a first turn Thunder Wave from Jolteon before sending Empoleon to wall. ******************************************************************************* Your final battle is against the somewhat emo leader with a German name, Volkner! His Electric-types will bow before a Ground-type assault, and there's little Volkner can do to counter them. Sunyshore City *************************** *Gym Leader Volkner, $6000* *************************** Jolteon, Lv46 Raichu, Lv46 Luxray, Lv48 Electivire, Lv50 *---------------* |My Team: | |Empoleon, Lv57 | |Crobat, Lv57 | |Persian, Lv58 | |Flygon, Lv58 | |Jolteon, Lv57 | |Dusknoir, Lv57 | *---------------* If you use Electric type attacks against Volkner, then you are a moron. Not only are they ineffective, but they won't damage and actually power up two of his Pokemon. If you are trying to wall with an Electric type, make sure you have other attack types to throw at the opposition. Or you can just make life easier on yourself and use this one word strategy: Earthquake. You see, only one of his Pokemon has a Ground-type counter, and that one (Luxray) isn't too quick. Flygon had a grand 'ol time here:P Jolteon is fast. Hella fast. Jeff Gordon fast. And I should know. It uses Volkner's signature Charge Beam, with such a high chance of boosting Special Attack (70%) I don't know why they didn't just go ahead and make it 100%. Thunder Wave can paralyze, and its other two tactics run off its ridiculously pathetic Attack stat. Quick Attack is particularly useless with its high Speed. Maybe Volkner fears you'll use an Endure/Reversal/Salac combo on him. I dunno. Take advantage of Jolteon's equally poor Defense stat. Raichu is a bit slower and a bit more durable than Jolteon, though it's hardly a tank. Its Special Attack is lower as well, but at least it takes advantage of the stat, unlike Jolteon. Aside from STAB Charge Beam, it boasts Signal Beam and Focus Blast for some type coverage, though as I said, nothing a Ground type has to be especially fearful of. Quick Attack again as well... Maybe Volkner got pwned in the Battle Frontier by someone with an EndRevSalac combo... Luxray is a physical attacker, and has Ice Fang to counter your Grounds, as well as STAB Thunder Fang. Fire Fang and Crunch are for additional coverage. It's male with Rivalry ability, which means it'll strike your male Pokemon harder and your female Pokemon not as badly. Last up is Electivire, his strongest Pokemon. Surprisingly, there's no Ice Punch but there is *yet another* Quick Attack. It's a physical attacker as well, with ThunderPunch, Fire Punch, and the hard hitting Giga Impact. Seriously? Just Earthquake him. TM57 Charge Beam and the Beacon Badge are yours once you claim victory. ******************************************************************************* Heal before you approach the Elite Four's entry door. Rival wants to rumble yet again. It's been awhile, but the parasite's back. You see, he's regained his confidence ever since you... er, "he" beat down Mars and Jupiter (even if he did run off like a scared little chicken afterward). Anyway, he's fixin' to take on the Elite Four himself, and wants to use you as a punching bag. Let's reverse the roles here, shall we? Pokemon League Lobby ********************************* *Rival (Chimchar starter), $5100* ********************************* Staraptor, Lv48 Empoleon, Lv51 Roserade, Lv47 Rapidash, Lv47 Heracross, Lv48 Snorlax, Lv49 ******************************** *Rival (Turtwig starter), $5100* ******************************** Staraptor, Lv48 Infernape, Lv51 Floatzel, Lv47 Roserade, Lv47 Heracross, Lv48 Snorlax, Lv49 ******************************* *Rival (Piplup starter), $5100* ******************************* Staraptor, Lv48 Torterra, Lv51 Floatzel, Lv47 Rapidash, Lv47 Heracross, Lv48 Snorlax, Lv49 *---------------* |My Team: | |Empoleon, Lv62 | |Crobat, Lv62 | |Persian, Lv62 | |Flygon, Lv62 | |Jolteon, Lv62 | |Dusknoir, Lv62 | *---------------* Note: Rival's highest level isn't even as high as the FIRST Elite Four member's highest Pokemon, so if Rival thinks he's gonna rip through the Elites, he's delusional. That said, if he poses a big problem for you, chances are you won't rip through 'em either. In that case, additional training would do you a world of good. Abuse that Vs. Seeker! Staraptor is his lead as usual, and Intimidate can mess you up if your first Pokemon is a physical attacker. Close Combat can just plain mess you up. Oh, by the way: Remember the joke Munchlax he used to "help" you defeat Mars and Jupiter? It's since evolved into the Lv49 Snorlax you see, and as such, is a joke no longer. Unless you have Close Combat or something similar. Otherwise, keep in mind that its Special Defense is higher than its Defense. ******************************************************************************* Now that you've taken out the trash, the path to the Elite Four is open. Talk to the dude to get your badges verified (but really, you need all 8 badges to get use of the HM moves you need to even get here, so why the badge check at all, for anything other than "ceremonial" reasons?) You will want your Pokemon around the Lv58-60 range if you want a *fairly* easy time here. You can be lower and still come out on top, but then you'll be even more reliant on healing items and the like. Here, the levels of your foes range from 49-62, and unlike some Elite Fours of games past, these guys aren't fooling around when it comes to moves. Blow as much money as you can on healing items. Save and then enter. The Elite Four have two Full Restores each. The Champion has four. The strongest Pokemon on each team holds a Sitrus Berry. ******************************************************************************* First up to bat is Aaron, a Bug Pokemon expert. Unike in D/P, he doesn't have joke Pokemon Beautifly and Dustox anymore (and unlike G/S/C Bug Pokemon expert Bugsy, he doesn't have uber-joke Pokemon Metapod and Kakuna). Bring Fire, Rock, and Flying Pokemon, as well as a Ground-type for the one Pokemon that doesn't fit the theme here. ************************* *Elite Four Aaron, $6360* ************************* Yanmega, Lv49 Scizor, Lv49 Vespiquen, Lv50 Heracross, Lv51 Drapion, Lv53 Yanmega must be dealt with quickly. It has the Speed Boost ability, which means that after a few turns, it can outrun even your Jolteon and Alakazam and hit you with devastating moves like Bug Buzz and Air Slash (with the latter's Flinch potential becoming especially annoying). Adding to the annoyance factor is the cheap-as-heck Double Team. Aaron will sometimes inexpliciably use U-Turn, which allows Yanmega to do 70-power STAB damage, then switch out. This is actually more good than bad, since Yanmega will lose all of its Speed Boost and Double Team changes when it does this. The stats do not get passed on. Why does Aaron do this? Who knows... The good part is that it's fairly easy to take Yanmega out quickly, since it has perhaps the worst typing in the game. Ice, Electric, Flying, Fire... Rock gets special mention because of 4x weakness. Even my Persian's crappy Power Gem got a OHKO. Scizor has far superior typing, as Fire is its only weakness (though it is of the 4x variety). It's set up to take advantage of STAB with Iron Head and X-Scissor, which will both leave a mark. Night Slash hits hard, has a high Critical rate, and provides additional type coverage. Quick Attack, from Volkner fame, picks off any Pokemon that are in the red, so don't be shy about healing. Vespiquen looks awesome, and would be a decent tank if not for the same horrendous typing as Yanmega. Still, don't waste time. She has three moves exclusive to her. Two of them - Defend Order (increases both Defense stats) and Heal Order (heals half of her max HP) can combine with her Pressure ability to really waste your PP's. Attack Order is a nice, 90 power Bug attack that lands criticals often (the best overall Bug attack, IMHO). Power Gem is there as well - I guess it's a Fire/Flying type counter, but it's hardly good at doing that. It's slow and has lots of type weaknesses, so take her out fast, using the same move you used for Yanmega. Heracross has deadly 120-power STAB moves in Megahorn and Close Combat. The former should be of major concern to your Psychic types. Night Slash does pretty much the same thing, though it's really not necessary unless Aaron runs through all of its Megahorns. Stone Edge is a counter for Fire and Flying, and works much better than Vespiquen's Power Gem. It is 4x weak to Flying and pretty slow at that - Crobat had no problem OHKOing it with Wing Attack, and I imagine Staraptor would have an equally easy time. Alakazam can also outrun it easily and pick on a Psychic weakness. Drapion is the odd one out (well, its previous form was part-Bug), and is the reason for you to bring a Ground-type. Its typing is the same as Jupiter's Skuntank, which means Ground is the only super-effective type. Cross Poison is its main method of attack, and its most potent move. Ice Fang is a Ground-type counter. Its other two attacks - Aerial Ace and X-Scissor - hardly deserve mentioning, and Aaron will bust them out only if he can't hit you hard with Cross Poison. ******************************************************************************* Bertha, who looks like a more kindly version of the somewhat sinister-looking Agatha from the color generations, is the first trainer since Giovanni (also from the color generations) to specialize in Ground-types. Like the deposed Rocket boss however, this preference leads to a number of major weaknesses. Bring in Grass, Water, and Ice attacks to cruise to victory. ************************** *Elite Four Bertha, $6600* ************************** Whiscash, Lv50 Hippowdon, Lv52 Golem, Lv52 Gliscor, Lv53 Rhyperior, Lv55 Just Grass Whiscash to death. If you don't have Grass, remember that Whiscash *doesn't* have Water Absorb, so you can still Surf the thing and finish it off in two or three hits. Aqua Tail and Earth Power are for STAB, but are split between Special and physical. Zen Headbutt... why? It'll counter against Grass/ Poison types like Roserade, but the likes of Torterra will laugh at it. More often than not, however, it'll waste a turn setting up Sandstorm. Hippowdon will create an everlasting Sandstorm when it comes out. Besides the minor HP reduction, it's nothing to worry about. It's not like Candice and her Froslass with Hail. Just leave the weather as is and finish it. It's tougher physically, so stick with Surf/Ice Beam/Energy Ball instead of Waterfall/Ice Punch/Razor Leaf. It has Earthquake for STAB, Crunch and Stone Edge for physical attacks, and Yawn to send you to dreamland. It's painfully slow, so just Surf it to avoid all these problems. Golem has Fire Punch and ThunderPunch to deal with 4x effective Grass and Water Pokemon, but it's so painfully slow that it should be already be dead to Energy Ball or Surf by the time you finish reading this. For those curious, it also has Earthquake and Sandstorm, because apparently Bertha has Alzheimer's and forgot that her Hippowdon has Sand Stream. Ice Beam Gliscor and be done with it. It has Earthquake and the three elemental fangs, which are only a problem if you're slower than it or aren't using Ice Beam for some dumb reason. At the very least you should have your Water-type equipped with Ice Beam. Big, ugly Rhyperior has deadly moves Earthquake, Rock Wrecker, and Megahorn, as well as Grass "counter" Avalanche. It's 4x weak to Grass and Water, as well as painfully slow (just like its good buddy Golem) so by now it should already be Energy Ball'd or Surf'd to death. ******************************************************************************* If the first two of the Elite Four were a joke, then Flint, despite his goofy Ronald McDonald inspired 'do (Miror B.'s afro pwns Flint's any day), leads off the more challenging part of this stretch of battles. If Aaron and especially Bertha were tough, then all I have to say is... good luck... Bring Water and Ground, but ESPECIALLY Water. ************************* *Elite Four Flint, $6840* ************************* Houndoom, Lv52 Rapidash, Lv53 Infernape, Lv55 Flareon, Lv55 Magmortar, Lv57 Houndoom is first, just like with Cyrus in the Distortion World. And just like Cyrus, Flint has Flamethrower and Dark Pulse to nail you with potent STAB damage. However, unlike Cyrus (who at least had a good idea with Thunder Fang), Flint stupidly has Sludge Bomb, which has little purpose considering his other two attacks. Sunny Day will be the crux of his entire team, and Houndoom will more often than not cast it before doing anything else. Sunny Day will weaken your Water attacks, but you should still keep your Water-types out to soften the blow of Sunny-Day boosted Fire attacks the rest of the team throws at you. If Houndoom didn't cast Sunny Day, Rapidash can do it, too. If it's already sunny, it'll blast your Water, Rock, and Ground types with SolarBeam (so switch 'em out), and use Flare Blitz to annihilate just about anything else in its path in short order (due to its high Speed and Attack). A Fire-type of your own will resist both moves, and he'll have to resort to Bounce (which can still hurt as well as paralyze). But like many fast, strong Pokemon, its defenses leave something to be desired. Take advantage of that fact. Infernape is a beast. Quick on its feet and powerful to boot, it's like Rapidash, only better (or worse for you). Flare Blitz will, as usual, hurt. So will Earthquake, which makes the Fire-type wall that worked against Rapidash rather ineffective here. Thunderpunch is for your Water-types, though it's not as potent as Rapidash's SolarBeam. It'll also do a number on Flying-types you switch in to take advantage of its Fighting-type. Infernape doesn't have a super-effective answer to Ground or Psychic types, but chances are Flare Blitz will do more than enough damage to 'em. Infernape also has Mach Punch to knock your weakened Pokemon down to zero before you can strike back, so keep your Pokemon healthy at all times. Compared to the rest of the team, Flareon is like a calm during the storm. It has the powerful Overheat, but it's running off Flareon's mediocre Special Attack stat. Not only that, it loses much of its potency after the first use. After that, the only other thing you have to watch for is Giga Impact, which runs off Flareon's massive Attack (which begs the question: Why not Flare Blitz here, as well? Oh yeah, for some dumb reason it can't even LEARN it). The rest is nothing. Quick Attack is rather blah (then again, he and Volkner *are* pals) and Will-o-Wisp seems redundant with all the fire these guys are throwing around. Quick Attack *might* be slightly more useful here with Flareon's high Attack and low Speed, but, still... blah... Magmortar is the highest leveled Pokemon here, though Infernape might still be the more destructive of the two. Magmortar is Special-based, and, as such, has the versatile and strong Flamethrower as its main means of attack. Thunderbolt is for Water-types, though it seems redundant since SolarBeam is still here. In addition to almost always using it against your Rock and Ground types, sometimes Flint will even try it against your Water-types *after* Sunny Day fades. This of course gives you a free turn to waste Magmortar or swap in some resistance. Rounding out this set is Hyper Beam. It also hurts, but Flint has to take a turn to recharge afterwards. ******************************************************************************* I like Lucian. He's my second favorite Elite Four member, after Kanto's Lorelei. With Girafarig now gone, it's actually a bit easier to type match his Pokemon this time around. His most annoying one is still here, though thankfully it's been knocked down a few levels. He uses Psychic-types. In addition to the usual Dark, Ghost, and Bug counters, you'll find Flying and especially Fire helpful here. ************************** *Elite Four Lucian, $7080* ************************** Mr. Mime, Lv53 Bronzong, Lv54 Espeon, Lv55 Alakazam, Lv56 Gallade, Lv59 Mr. Mime is first. It's armed with Reflect and Light Screen, so take it down fast. Fortunately, with bad defenses, that isn't too hard. It can attack with Psychic and Thunderbolt. Mr. Mime's the weak link in this team, and things get MUCH harder from here on out. It's weird that, for all the Heatproof Bronzor and Bronzong you've perhaps seen in the wild in Mt. Coronet, everyone and their deadbeat uncle uses Levitate ones. Still, with its level down 9(!) from 63 to 54, and with a larger stock of Fire-type Pokemon, and with Fire Punch now available if you *still* don't like the selection of Fire Pokemon (like me, for example), Bronzong this time around isn't half the threat it used to be. Flygon finished it off in three hits from Fire Punch while it stupidly used Calm Mind. Anyway, Bronzong does have Calm Mind, and it'll use it to beef up not only its somewhat average Special Attack, but its nice Special Defense could go through the roof. Then it's free to spank you with Psychic. Users of Flare Blitz and Fire Punch don't have to be mindful of Calm Mind until Bronzong goes on the offensive, but Flamethrower and Fire Blast users should keep in mind the reduced power of their attacks. STAB Gyro Ball lashes out against fast Pokemon (it did a number against even my type-resistant Jolteon). Earthquake is his Fire-type counter, and even with Bronzong's mediocre Attack (which it *can't* boost), watch out for it. Espeon's moveset is weird. Aside from the expected STAB Psychic, it has *both* Shadow Ball and Signal Beam. Both do super-effective damage against fellow Psychics. The only difference is, Shadow Ball's base attack is 5 higher and hits up Ghosts for super effective damage, while Signal Beam counters Dark types. Espeon's fast and has excellent Special Attack and sucky physical attack, just like Volkner's Jolteon. And Espeon's Quick Attack is just as useless as Jolteon's, for those very same reasons. Take advantage of its shaky defenses and use strong Physical attacks, especially ones like Crunch and Shadow Claw, to end it. Alakazam is like a jacked-up Espeon with a better moveset, even if it's even more frail. It's blindingly fast and will rip a new hole in most non-resistant Pokemon with STAB Psychic running off its massive Special Attack. Focus Blast is for Dark-types, and will also obliterate Normals who have moves like Shadow Claw and Faint Attack *coughcoughPersianPuruglyUrsaringSnorlaxcoughcough*. Energy Ball is a good, strong Special utility attack, and the standard Recover is here too, though for whatever reason Lucian does NOT like to use it. If you have a Pokemon that can take its hits and strike back hard (Bronzong, perhaps?) you can make quick work of it because it's so delicate. Gallade is a physical attacking Psychic/Fighting type, and it's quite good at what it does. Drain Punch, of Maylene fame, takes advantage of STAB and heals half of what it takes from you. And considering Gallade's high Attack, it could very well take a LOT from you. Psycho Cut is a potent physical Psychic strike that likes to critical, and it still hurts even without the critical hit. Stone Edge strikes back at Gallade's Flying weakness, and also criticals often. So does Leaf Blade, which doesn't counter weakness, but is a good, strong attack for additional coverage. With three Critical-likely attacks, thank Arceus that Lucian doesn't have Scope Lens on this thing. Gallade isn't all that quick and its defenses leave something to be desired, so you can take it out before it causes too much damage. It really doesn't have an answer for Ghosts and Stone Edge, while it does massacre Flying-types, misses more often than you might think. Those two types are best. ******************************************************************************* About time we got a female Champion*, eh? Though I would have rather have a Champion with a cute floral dress with ribbons and a cute FR/LG girl style hat (preferably named Lisa), Cynthia will do for now. For the first time since the color games*, we have a Champion with a type-diverse team. Four of these guys are also popular as top-tier competitive play Pokemon, so you've got your work cut out for you. Like Special Agent Bob and Secret Agent Steve, you'll need all the amazing cunning and stealth you can muster to win. *Diamond/Pearl excepted. Cue absolutely pwnsome Champion battle music! ************************** *Champion Cynthia, $12400* ************************** Spiritomb, Lv58 Roserade, Lv58 Milotic, Lv58 Lucario, Lv60 Togekiss, Lv60 Garchomp, Lv62 Spiritomb is first. Like R/S/E's Sableye, it has Dark/Ghost typing, so it has NO weaknesses unless you use Foresight - and that's usually a waste of time, anyway. Unlike Sableye, Spiritomb has fairly good stats. Spiritomb has two STAB attacks in Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball (though they're mostly redundant since Ghost and Dark are supereffective against the same two types). Psychic takes care of Fighting-types that resist Dark Pulse, and Silver Wind can be used to increase all of its stats. It'll take a few hits to send it packing, but this is the second-least of your worries. Roserade is probably the least of your worries in Cynthia's lineup. It has good Special Attack and STAB Energy Ball and Sludge Bomb to take advantage of it, as well as Extrasensory to ruin Poisons who might try to wall against it, but Grass and Poison is just as bad as Aaron's Flying/Bug in terms of type vulnerabilities, so anything Ice, Flying, Psychic, Fire, etc. should do well. Toxic is here too, but that's why you bought Full Heals. Now, we're getting into the competitive-level Pokemon, and things only get tougher. Cynthia's flavor of Milotic has Mirror Coat, but, thankfully, no Recover. It has the expected STAB Surf and versatile Ice Beam, but for some reason it also has Dragon Pulse. I'm not sure why, since Ice Beam murders Dragons and Dragon Pulse doesn't trump any other type (NOTE: If you're raising a competitive Milotic, like one of my good friends is currently doing, stick Recover in Dragon Pulse's place on this moveset). Because of Mirror Coat and Milotic's high Special Defense, my Jolteon was screwed. This is one of the few times (another would be Mirror Coating Suicune and Special Defense monster Kyogre) where physical Electric-types like Luxray and Electivire actually come in handy (In Pearl, I had Luxray Spark Milotic twice, while it did Mirror Coat for zero damage. I laughed). This time around, I had Dusknoir land a few ThunderPunches for the win. Fortunately, it was able to take Surf's damage. Grass-types have Ice Beam to worry about, so use Electric. Lucario isn't messing around. All of its attacks dish out 80 damage or more, and it has great coverage to boot. Aura Sphere is its main method of attack. It's got STAB and Swift accuracy. ExtremeSpeed is like Quick Attack on steroids. If you're at 1/3 HP or less, heal or ExtremeSpeed could land a surprise KO. If you try to take advantage of its Fire weakness, be wary of Stone Edge. Unlike other users of this move you may have seen before. Lucario might be fast enough to outrun and massacre your Pokemon. Shadow Ball is also present, though it's used less frequently. Take solace in the fact that for a Steel-type, Lucario's defenses aren't that hot. Also take advantage of its lack of a Ground-type or a Fighting-type counterattack. Togekiss is weak to Electric, Rock, and Ice, but it has counters for all but the first. Aura Sphere, which is also on Lucario, destroys Ice and Rock-types, and Water Pulse can also wipe out Rocks. It also has Air Slash for STAB and the flinch, as well as... Shock Wave for some reason. It's fairly durable and fairly quick, though not impressively so - a few strong hits should finish it. I hate Garchomp. It's ugly and it's strong. My Empoleon was too slow to get the jump with Ice Beam and was smited by Earthquake; Flygon couldn't get the OHKO with Dragon Claw and was on the receiving end of Dragon Rush. I eventually had to send in Dusknoir, stall with Hyper Potions until Dragon Rush missed, then finish it off with Ice Punch. Anyway, my personal woes aside, Garchomp is Cynthia's strongest team member. It has a 4x weakness to Ice, so any decent Ice Beam will finish it. But you'll need to either survive a hit, hope that it misses, or *somehow* be faster than Garchomp to beat it. Dragon Rush is a lethal STAB physical move (Garchomp's got exceptional Attack) that can cause flinching. Fortunately, it isn't the most accurate attack. Expect Cynthia to use up this move's PP fast. Earthquake is a strong STAB move as well. No secondary effects, but 100% accuracy. Giga Impact will also leave a mark, but Flamethrower less so, since it's a Special move. Defeat Cynthia, and you are the new League Champion! Now, puny mortals all over Sinnoh will bow before you! ******************************************************************************* Pushy as ever, Rival drags you into a doubles battle with Flint and Volkner. For the record, Volkner doesn't want to be there either. I feel his pain. Anyway, put someone who knows Earthquake in your first slot. Battle Zone ************************************************* *Gym Leader Volkner and Elite Four Flint, $13920* ************************************************* VOLKNER FLINT ________________ _______________ Luxray, Lv56 Houndoom, Lv56 Jolteon, Lv56 Flareon, Lv56 Electivire, Lv58 Magmortar, Lv58 *---------------* |My Team: | |Empoleon, Lv64 | |Crobat, Lv64 | |Persian, Lv64 | |Flygon, Lv64 | |Jolteon, Lv64 | |Dusknoir, Lv64 | *---------------* Just use Earthquake. Don't worry about what Pokemon Rival sent out. Like Particle Man's personality, "it's not important." In fact, for my battle, he led with Staraptor, who took 0 damage from my Earthquakes. If, by some weird chance, your Earthquake doesn't finish off both foes, his Close Combat will. ******************************************************************************* Like a pair of puppies who are lost without their master, Mars and Jupiter are looking for their Master Cyrus. They think you know the answer. So they intend to beat it out of you - in a Pokemon battle! You'll battle the ladies back to back, but it shouldn't be a problem. Let's go! NOTE: Your levels at this point may vary. I completed all of 225, 226, 228, 229, and 230 (the Island Loop as I call it) before coming here, but spent some of the time evolving Pokemon using the Exp. Share. Stark Mountain ******************************** *Galactic Commander Mars, $4800* ******************************** Bronzong, Lv58 Golbat, Lv58 Purugly, Lv60 *---------------* |My Team: | |Empoleon, Lv74 | |Crobat, Lv74 | |Persian, Lv74 | |Flygon, Lv74 | |Jolteon, Lv74 | |Dusknoir, Lv74 | *---------------* For all the Poke-Wheaties Mars and Jupiter were stuffing down Purugly's and Skuntank's throat at the beginning, you have to wonder why it took this long to evolve their Bronzor. And why Golbat *still* isn't evolved. Are they *that* abusive to them? Bah, Cynthia had higher levels than these, and you've had all of Routes 225, 226, and 227 (if not 228, 229, and 230 as well) and the battle with Volkner and Flint since then to level up, so this should be cake. I still like Mars as a person, though. ******************************************************************************* Jupiter will mock Mars for being weak (meh, unlike Mars, I don't care for Jupiter too much, though she's still better than Saturn) and challenge you. Let us see if she fares any better. Stark Mountain *********************************** *Galactic Commander Jupiter, $4800* *********************************** Bronzong, Lv58 Golbat, Lv58 Skuntank, Lv60 And the answer is, no (are you surprised?) After this mostly pointless battle, they'll bicker some more, then quit Team Galactic (seemingly the team's lost its charm after Cyrus left and Charon isn't as good a boss) and go their separate ways. Mars says something about going to the Distortion World in search of Cyrus. Too bad you can't actually run into her there. I miss Mars. ******************************************************************************* Stark Mountain ******************************* *Galactic Commander Charon, $0* ******************************* Yeah, I was disappointed when I found out new Commander Charon never battled you, too. ******************************************************************************* (Thanks to Alex Dellinger for the information about the Battleground) Battleground: After your final encounter with Looker and Charon, you can return to the Survival Area and enter the locked "Members Only" house. This is the Battleground, where you'll have the opportunity to battle the eight Gym Leaders as well as the five trainers you partnered up with through the course of the game. Up to four will appear at a time, you can battle them once a day, and they change daily. Their levels are in the low to mid 60's. Everyone has new teams and different movesets. The highest leveled member of each team holds the dreaded Sitrus Berry, and all trainers have two Full Restores. You'll probably find your former companions to be tougher to beat because they have varied teams. For the Gym Leaders, simple type matching will handle most if not all of their Pokemon. ********************* *Leader Roark, $7800* ********************* Aerodactyl, Lv62 Probopass, Lv61 Rampardos, Lv63 Golem, Lv61 Tyranitar, Lv65 All of Roark's Pokemon have offensive attacks in all four moveslots, with one exception. Aerodactyl will be his lead, and is the only Pokemon on this squad that will likely outrun you. Probopass is the only one with a non-direct damaging move (Stealth Rock), and you might not want to let it set it up. Then again, any decent Surf can mow through the entire team, with Probopass's Discharge being the closest thing to a counter that Roark has. Tyranitar's Sand Stream can help shield the entire team, though. Don't give Rampardos a chance to rip through your Pokemon with its massive Attack - finish it quickly. ************************ *Leader Gardenia, $7800* ************************ Jumpluff, Lv61 Cherrim, Lv62 Torterra, Lv63 Bellossom, Lv61 Roserade, Lv65 Three of Gardenia's Pokemon can set up Sunny Day. If she does, incinerate them all - Torterra's Earthquake and Stone Edge are really her only Fire counters, and it's so painfully slow it should be no problem to outrun and OHKO it. Ice also works wonders - Stone Edge is the only counterstrike you *may* need to worry about (Bellossom has Drain Punch, but it's laughable). Even more laughable is her attempt to use lead Pokemon Jumpluff as an attacker. *********************** *Leader Fantina, $7800* *********************** Banette, Lv61 Drifblim, Lv61 Mismagius, Lv63 Dusknoir, Lv62 Gengar, Lv65 Watch for Drifblim's combo play - if it gets a boost from either Silver Wind or Ominous Wind, it can then Baton Pass the changes to other team members. And Mismagius and Gengar already have high enough Special Attack. You definitely don't want those two to become even more powerful and dangerous. Both sport a wide array of strong Special moves for excellent type coverage. They're also quick but frail - take them out quickly before they get too many powerful hits in. Dusknoir is a PP waster - high Defenses combined with Pressure, Protect, and Double Team can drain your strongest moves. Best counter: Faint Attack. Ghost is weak against itself, so stick with Dark, which is only weak to Drifblim's Silver Wind. And like the Gym battle, a Normal-type with Dark or Ghost attacks can render her best moves useless. *********************** *Leader Maylene, $7800* *********************** Hitmontop, Lv62 Machamp, Lv64 Medicham, Lv63 Breloom, Lv62 Lucario, Lv66 Nobody knows why Maylene is the only one of these trainers whose levels top out at 66, but it really doesn't matter. Lead Pokemon Hitmontop will smite you with Intimidate (are you sick of it yet?) Flying and Psychic will tear through everyone but Lucario. She can't counter Psychic-types at all. Stone Edge is the preferred Flying counter (Breloom and Machamp both have it), but Medicham's packing ThunderPunch and Ice Punch. Lucario can hit hard with Close Combat and take down weakened Pokemon with ExtremeSpeed so keep your HP up. Earthquake or Flamethrower it, or use a Close Combat of your own to send it packing. Bone Rush against Fire is its only super effective counter. ****************************** *Leader (Crasher) Wake, $7800* ****************************** Sharpedo, Lv61 Gyarados, Lv62 Floatzel, Lv63 Quagsire, Lv61 Ludicolo, Lv65 Except for Ludicolo, each of these guys either has horrible Defense or a pronounced 4x weakness to pick on. Grass murders Quagsire, while Electric fries Gyarados. Either works against Sharpedo and Floatzel, though both are fast and both have Aqua Jet. Floatzel can counter Grass-types with Ice Fang but Quagsire's the only one with Electric counter Earthquake, and you shouldn't be using your Electric-types against it anyway. Ludicolo is tougher to take down, and it has a good selection of moves. If you happen to have Bug, Flying, or Poison, use them against it. Just watch out for Ice Beam if you play Flying. ********************* *Leader Byron, $7800* ********************* Skarmory, Lv61 Steelix, Lv61 Bastiodon, Lv63 Magnezone, Lv62 Aggron, Lv65 There are really two heavy hitters on this team: Aggron and Magnezone. Steelix still has an odd set of Special moves, which means the Sandstorm Special Defense boost for partners Bastiodon and Aggron is really its biggest threat. Bastiodon no longer has Taunt, so if you can use Screech, you can lower its defenses, try for a super-effectve OHKO, and avoid Metal Burst. Watch out for Magnezone's STAB Special attacks and Thunder Wave, and Aggron's assortment of powerful physical attacks. Earthquake kills three of these guys, and either Flamethrower or a combination of Surf and Thunderbolt handles Steelix and Skarmory. *********************** *Leader Candice, $7800* *********************** Weavile, Lv62 Mamoswine, Lv61 Froslass, Lv63 Abomasnow, Lv61 Glaceon, Lv65 It's weird, but nobody here has Ice Beam. Three have Avalanche, and two have Blizzard. Fighting destroys everyone but Froslass and there's no super effective counter moves. Fire torches everyone, but watch for Earthquake on Mamoswine (Glaceon also has Water Pulse, but it should be of little concern). Abomasnow's Snow Warning will activate Snow Cloak on both Glaceon and Froslass (at least neither has Double Team), and both of the above have Blizzard which will hit all the time until you change the weather. But keep in mind Froslass can use Hail if you do change it beforehand. *********************** *Leader Volkner, $7800* *********************** Jolteon, Lv61 Luxray, Lv62 Lanturn, Lv63 Raichu, Lv61 Electivire, Lv65 This may sound familiar, but it's weird that nobody here has Thunderbolt. Lanturn may be a threat to Ground-types with Surf, Ice Beam, and high HP, but take it out and all Volkner has left to counter you is Luxray's Ice Fang, and it should be easier than Lanturn to take out. Jolteon still has a stupid moveset that consists of Charge Beam and three moves that run off its weak Attack stat. But its Charge Beam is the most powerful attack on this squad, so I guess that counts for something... As for your former companions, you'll see that they specialize in Pokemon who excel in a specific stat, instead of a specific type. ********************* *Trainer Buck, $7800* ********************* Shuckle, Lv61 Torkoal, Lv61 Dusknoir, Lv63 Umbreon, Lv62 Claydol, Lv65 Buck's specialty is high Defense Pokemon. Three of them are weak to Water, and since Shuckle is the only one of those three to also have good Special Defense, Surf is the way to go. Against Shuckle, you'll find set damage moves like Seismic Toss and Night Shade to be most effective because of pitiful HP. As for Umbreon, both its defense stats are high. Moves like Focus Blast, Close Combat, and Megahorn are best. Dusknoir is similar, though its HP is much lower. Use Shadow Ball or Dark Pulse. ********************** *Trainer Riley, $7800* ********************** Absol, Lv61 Ursaring, Lv61 Salamence, Lv63 Metagross, Lv62 Lucario, Lv65 Riley comes at you with high Attack Pokemon and the strong physical moves to take full advantage. Fighting works against three of them, but watch for Absol's Psycho Cut and Ursaring's Aerial Ace. Fire roasts Lucario and Metagross, but look out for the former's Bone Rush. Earthquake also works against both, and there's no super effective Ground counter on either to worry about. And Ice freezes out Salamence, but strike first to avoid Fire Fang. And beware of the STAB moves on each of them, particularly Meteor Mash on Metagross and Close Combat on Lucario. *********************** *Trainer Cheryl, $7800* *********************** Wobbuffet, Lv61 Hariyama, Lv62 Wailord, Lv63 Drifblim, Lv61 Blissey, Lv65 Cheryl might be the hardest of the Battleground trainers. Her Pokemon all have high HP, and that group includes two of the most annoying in existence - her lead, Wobbuffet, and her highest leveled Pokemon, Blissey. To beat the first, try to put it to sleep before it can do Safeguard, then pound it while it's snoozing. Poison isn't recommended because of that Full Restore, unless you can hammer it at just the right time. Alternately, use Taunt then nail it with a powerful strike. Rinse and repeat. As a third option, use a Dark-type and Special moves, or a Ghost-type with physical strikes. Blissey will not go so easily. It laughs at Special attacks, and it has so much HP even strong Physical attacks might not OHKO it. Then it'll Counter and kill you, Sitrus Berry will kick in, and it'll use Softboiled. Kiss all that damage goodbye. If you have a Ghost-type that can use non-Ghost physical attacks, use that. Taunt also works here. Hammer Wailord with a fast, powerful Electric or Grass attack to lower Water Spout's power. Drifblim uses a technique that Ein used to use back in Colosseum with his Crobat - Poison you with Toxic, then use Protect and Fly to dodge your attacks until you die. Cheryl, of course, has the extra advantage of high HP. Hariyama just has a diverse selection of powerful attacks and it will likely get a few of them in before it succumbs. ********************* *Trainer Mira, $7800* ********************* Porygon-Z, Lv61 Magnezone, Lv62 Togekiss, Lv63 Gengar, Lv61 Alakazam, Lv65 Mira is no pushover. She's armed and dangerous with powerful Special Attackers and each is set up to take advantage of STAB, with a wide range of secondary attacks. Gengar and Alakazam are fast to boot, while the rest are better at taking hits. If you're playing weaknesses, keep in mind the following: Focus Blast on Alakazam wrecks Dark types. Shadow Ball on Gengar obliterates fellow Ghosts. Aura Sphere on Togekiss wipes out both Ice and Rock. And Psychic on Porygon-Z takes care of Fighting-types (in fact, everyone but Magnezone has Psychic). So, use Electric on Togekiss, Ghost on Alakazam, Dark on Gengar, and Ground on Magnezone. As for Porygon-Z... you can't exploit weakness without making yourself vulnerable. Use something with high Special Defense that isn't weak to any of Psychic, Dark, and Electric, and try to outdamage your foe. *********************** *Trainer Marley, $7800* *********************** Ninjask, Lv62 Crobat, Lv62 Weavile, Lv63 Electrode, Lv61 Arcanine, Lv65 With Marley, battles usually go like this: You'll take a hit from her Pokemon first, then you'll most likely finish them off. That's because the majority of her army possess high Speed but low defenses. Ninjask leads and has both Speed Boost and Swords Dance. Thank your PokeGod of choice that Baton Pass isn't here, but it can still sweep. Crobat and Electrode abuse Double Team. Her Arcanine is a bit of an exception to the rule: it's not so fast but it's not so frail either. But it will use ExtremeSpeed in keeping with her overall theme. And recoil from Flare Blitz could very well soften it up for a quick KO. ******************************************************************************* Oh, yeah, there's the Rival too. On weekdays he spouts his usual drivel, but on weekends, he'll challenge you. His levels will increase as you progress through the post-game scenario and eventually, his levels will top even Cynthia's. Too bad he's still annoying, but at least now he poses a genuine challenge - even to some Lv100 teams. Survival Area ************************** *Rival (Chimchar starter)* ************************** Staraptor, Lv61----->Lv71----->Lv81 Empoleon, Lv65----->Lv75----->Lv85 Roserade, Lv59----->Lv69----->Lv79 Rapidash, Lv59----->Lv69----->Lv79 Heracross, Lv62----->Lv72----->Lv82 Snorlax, Lv63----->Lv73----->Lv83 ************************* *Rival (Turtwig starter)* ************************* Staraptor, Lv61----->Lv71----->Lv81 Infernape, Lv65----->Lv75----->Lv85 Floatzel, Lv59----->Lv69----->Lv79 Roserade, Lv59----->Lv69----->Lv79 Heracross, Lv62----->Lv72----->Lv82 Snorlax, Lv63----->Lv73----->Lv83 ************************ *Rival (Piplup starter)* ************************ Staraptor, Lv61----->Lv71----->Lv81 Torterra, Lv65----->Lv75----->Lv85 Floatzel, Lv59----->Lv69----->Lv79 Rapidash, Lv59----->Lv69----->Lv79 Heracross, Lv62----->Lv72----->Lv82 Snorlax, Lv63----->Lv73----->Lv83 ******************************************************************************* well, after all that, you should be ready to take on the new and improved Elite Four. Well, okay. Except for a healthy level gain, they don't really have anything new to throw at you. Their rosters remain the same, with minor changes in movesets - I haven't had a chance to thoroughly test them, but I have battled them repeatedly to get my in-game team to Lv100, and I've seen the following changes: *Lucario now has Psychic. *Garchomp now has Brick Break. *Milotic now has Aqua Ring. I'm not sure what moves have been replaced; however Garchomp still has Earthquake and Milotic still has Mirror coat. Levels now range from Lv65 to Lv78. As long as you're around Lv73-Lv75, you should be in good shape. ******************************************************************************* FAQ'S: Q: WHAT'S WITH ALL THE RIVAL HATE? A: He's ugly, I find his hyper personality to be annoying, and he runs his mouth too much, and it's mostly nonsense. And he keeps ramming into you. Really, if he likes ramming people so much, he should join the Highway Patrol and perform PIT Maneuvers on people. Except he'd probably PIT innocent grandmas in their 1975 Buick Electras. Q: WHEN YOU NOTE THE PRIZE MONEY, WHY DO YOU USE "$"? IT'S POKEDOLLARS! A: Show me where the "Pokedollars" sign is on my keyboard, and I'll be happy to change it. Q:"STAB"? STAB WHAT? STAB THE OPPONENT? STAB THE DS TOUCH SCREEN? A: STAB: Same Type Attack Bonus: If a Pokemon's elemental type matches the type of the move it uses, that move is 1.5x more powerful. And please do not stab the DS touch screen. Nintendo's warranty won't cover that. Q: YOU MENTION THAT CANDICE IS THE MOST ATTRACTIVE GYM LEADER YOU FACE IN A GYM BATTLE. WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THIS? A: Jasmine is the most attractive Gym Leader hands-down, and you can face off against her in Platinum - in a Contest. I did. Q: SPECIAL AGENT BOB? SECRET AGENT STEVE? WHO ARE THEY? A: They're the stars of G4's old X-Play skit, "Splinter Cell Co-Op Theater". It's Splinter Cell if it were played by two bumbling, inept, but hilarious, idiots. Watch the episodes sometime:) Q: PARTICLE MAN? "IT'S NOT IMPORTANT"? WTF? A: In the They Might Be Giants song, "Particle Man," it opens up like this: "Particle Man, Particle Man, doing the things a particle can. What's he like? It's not important." Q: WHO IS "LISA?" A: My fan character trainer, who is featured in a few fan fictions I have written. "Lisa" is also my usual in-game name that I use for Pokemon games. (More to be added... maybe...) ******************************************************************************* THANKS, CREDITS, ETC. Me: Hey, I wrote it:P You: Hey, you're reading it:P Alex Dellinger: For information on the Battleground trainers and their movesets and strategies. Jeff (CJayC) of GameFAQS: For giving us all a place to post our FAQs. Nintendo/The Pokemon Company. For keeping us entertained. (c)2009 DarkPersian479. END OF DOCUMENT *******************************************************************************