Old help thread pt 1

[darklogos]

This is Shiney's work. I took out a few sentences here and there and deleted the history of the thread. This place has word count that is less then the previous board. I'm doing this just to get things working. Shiney when you come over we will close out this topic and you can edit and copy your stuff back.



Help Thread - Table of Contents
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0 What's New and How can I find it fast?

1 What is this thread for?

2 Definitions and Acronyms used on this Board

3 Locations for some important items, TMs, HMs, Evolutionary Stones,
REGI info,
Natures and Abilities

4 Pokemon Roles

5 Answers to some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

* How do I display pics and images?
* Where is Feebas?
* Questions about Mirage Island?
* How much do items and weather effects raise attacks?
* What information is on my Trainer Card?
* How can I catch Latios/Latias
* What are Base Stats?
* What are Dynamic or Hidden values (IVs, EVs, Personality)
* How does EV work?
* How can I check if my pokemons EV has been maxed?
* How do I decide where to distribute my EVs?
* What about IVs?
* Where are some Walktroughs to help if I get stuck?
* Eon Ticket Questions
* Action Replay questions
* Breeding Questions
* What about hatching eggs
* What about getting rare berries?
* What about Shiney Pokemon in R/S?
* What about fishing?
* Where is Move Tutor, Move Deleter, Happiness Rater, Name Rater?
* What about Dragon Fang, Dragon Scale, Evolving Seadra?
* What is new in Ruby/Sapphire?
* Which Pokemon are unique to only one version
* What are some of the harder to find Pokemon, and where are they?
* How do I get Lati@s, Shedinja, Snorunt, Glalie, the Fossil Pokemon, Azurill ,Wynuat?

6 Helpful Suggestions - especially if you're New here

* STARTING a NEW TOPIC
* RATE MY TEAM
* Linking IMAGES
* Old Threads

7 More Pokemon Internet Resources

8 Official Guide & Prima Guide: Errors/Misprints

9 Trainer's Checklist with Appendix

10 Battle Tower Strategies (added 11/2/03)

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0 What's New and How do I find things fast?
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You can always see what's new or updated simply by going to the Thread Change History section. To find what you want quickly, use 'control/F'. The entire Help/Reference part of this thread is all on Page One.

1 - What is this thread for?
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This is a Reference Thread to help those who are new here or are relatively inexperienced with Pokemon R/S. Except for Section 3, most of the information is NOT in the official guide, and is mostly stuff I’ve learned from other posters here, especially the vets, and they deserve the credit for all of their help, so I’d like to thank them right up front. Also, I got a lot of good info from the pokefor site and want to give them credit too.

2 - Definitions and Acronyms:
=======================
RMT - Rate My Team
n00b– Derogatory term for Newbie
UU – Under used, (OU = overused)
uber – a super powerful/legendary pokemon
00ber – same as uber
Sticky – a thread kept on the top of Page 1 so everyone can refer to it
BT – Battle Tower
STAB – Same type attack bonus
AR – Action Replay
OHKO – One hit knock out
HP: xxx – Hidden Power where xxx is the attack type.
Example: “HP: Ice” means a Hidden Power Ice attack
EP- Effort Points - points you get when you battle (used to calculate EVs)
EV- Effort Value (see "What are Dynamic or Hidden values?" )
IV – Individual value (see "What are Dynamic or Hidden values?" )
DV- Dynamic Value (see "What are Dynamic or Hidden values?" )
Personality Value (see see "What are Dynamic or Hidden values?")


3 - Locations for some important items, HMs, TMs, Evolutionary Stones
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Locations for a few important Items:

Note: There are many items in the game and all (except Soul Dew) are listed in the Guides. I've decided to list the following ones since there have been repeated questions from posters about where they are. SA

Exp. Shr - Get from Devon Corp President (Rustboro) after making deliveries
Shell Bell - Get from man in Shoal cave (Trade shoal salt and shoal shells)
Leftovers - Get from garbage can on the boat called S.S. Tidal (After beating Elite 4), also a prize in the Battle Tower
Master Ball - Team Aqua/Magma Hideout (northeast of Lilycove), also if you match all of the numbers in the lottery you can win one.
Soul Dew - Not in the game. Only can get from an 'e' card
Blackglasses - Search the ground on the Verdanturf side of the Rusturf Tunnel (Rt 116)
Lax Incense and Sea Incense - Get at Mt. Pyre
Bright Powder - Battle Tower prize
Choice Band - Battle Tower prize
Scope Lens - Battle Tower prize


HM# HM-Name Location
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HM01 Cut RustboroCity
HM02 Fly Rt 119
HM03 Surf Petalburg City
HM04 Strength Rusturf Tunnel
HM05 Flash Granite Cave
HM06 Rock Smash Mauville City
HM07 Waterfall Cave of Origin
HM08 Dive Mossdeep City

TM# TM-Name Location
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TM01: Focus Punch Rt 115
TM02: Dragon Claw Meteor Falls
TM03: Water Pulse Sootopolis City Gym
TM04: Calm Mind Mossdeep City Gym
TM05: Roar Rt 114
TM06: Toxic Fiery Path
TM07: Hail Shoal Cave
TM08: Bulk Up Dewford City Gym
TM09: Bullet Seed Rt 104
TM10: Hidden Power Slateport City/Fortree City
TM11: Sunny Day Scorched Slab
TM12: Taunt Trick House
TM13: Ice Beam Mauville City/Abandoned Ship
TM14: Blizzard Lilycove Dept. Store
TM15: Hyper Beam Lilycove Dept. Store
TM16: Light Screen Lilycove Dept. Store
TM17: Protect Lilycove Dept. Store
TM18: Rain Dance Abandoned Ship
TM19: Giga Drain Rt 123
TM20: Safeguard Lilycove Dept. Store
TM21: Frustration Pacificlog Town
TM22: Solarbeam Safari Zone
TM23: Iron Tail Meteor Falls
TM24: Thunderbolt Mauville City
TM25: Thunder Lilycove Dept. Store
TM26: Earthquake Seafloor Cavern
TM27: Return Fallarbor Town/Pacificlog Town
TM28: Dig Rt 114
TM29: Psychic Mauville City/Victory Road
TM30: Shadow Ball Mt. Pyre
TM31: Brick Break Sootopolis City
TM32: Double Team Mauville City
TM33: Reflect Lilycove Dept. Store
TM34: Shock Wave Mauville City Gym
TM35: Flamethrower Mauville City
TM36: Sludge Bomb Dewford Town
TM37: Sandstorm Rt 111
TM38: Fire Blast Lilycove Dept. Store
TM39: Rock Tomb Rustboro City Gym
TM40: Aerial Ace Fortree City Gym
TM41: Torment Slateport City
TM42: Facade Petalburg City Gym
TM43: Secret Power Slateport City/ Rt 111
TM44: Rest Lilycove City
TM45: Attract Verdanturf Town
TM46: Thief Slateport City
TM47: Steel Wing Granite Cave
TM48: Skill Swap Mt. Pyre
TM49: Snatch S.S. Tidal
TM50: Overheat Lavaridge Town Gym


Evolutionary Stones
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Fire Stone: Fiery path, Rt 124 Red Shard trade (See Note below), Wild Corsola (rare)

Leaf Stone – Rt 119, Rt 124 Green Shard trade, Wild Relicanth (rare)

Moon Stone – Meteor Falls, Wild Lunatone (rare - Sapphire only)

Sun Stone – Mossdeep City, Wild Solrock (rare - Ruby only)

Thunder Stone – New Mauville, Rt 124 Yellow Shard trade, Wild Chinchou (rare)

Water Stone - Abandoned Ship/ Rt 124 Blue Shard trade, Wild Clamperl (rare)

Everstone (prevents evolution) – Granite cave, Wild Geodude/Graveler (rare)

Note: On Rt 124 you can find Shards then trade them to the Diving Treasure Hunter (just west of Mossdeep in the small Island house) and he will give you the corresponding Stone as listed above.

Locating/Catching the REGIs
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There are several steps involved on this side quest. Read all of the instructions BEFORE starting.

From Pacificlog Town, surf west using the southern-most currents until you get to the Diving spot on RT 134. It’s a small patch of darker water. Dive there and swim along the ocean floor. It will lead you to a rock with a message on it in Visual Braille. Dive to go up and you’ll be in the entrance room for the Sealed Chamber where you can use the 10 stone tablets to map out the letters of Visual Braille to the 26 letters in English.

(When you first step on to the cavern floor, you’ll be facing the stone with letters ‘wxyz’. The ‘abc’ stone is all the way in the northwest corner. Start there. All letters go from left to right from there, in order. The characters on the 2 small stones translate into a period and comma.)

After you know how to translate, read the message in the northern wall and you’ll learn how to break thru the wall to get into the inner cavern (you’ll nee DIG). Once inside, you’ll see another message telling you to ‘Put Relicanth in the lead of your party, and Wailord in the last position.’ Time to leave.

You can catch Relicanth on the ocean floor (RT 124 – 126). They are kind of rare. After you get both pokes and put them in the right order, return to the sealed chamber and walk up to the mound in the north of the cavern again. The ground will rumble and you’ll get a message saying something about locks far away opening. What you just did was open the 3 Ruins, so now you can go and try and catch the Regis.

Go to a Ruin. Keep your translated alphabet handy because only the Outer cavern doors to each Ruin have opened. You’ll need to enter the ruin, read and translate the text on the message stone, and perform an action in order to get into each Ruins inner chamber, where one of the REGIs awaits.

In one of the Ruins the message stone says to just stand there and wait. So WAIT! In the other two, you’ll need to have a pokemon that knows Fly or Strength, depending on which ruin you’re in. Once inside the inner chamber you’ll see a REGI, so Save and try to catch it.

Natures and Abilities
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For a list of Abilities, just click on the pokefor link (in the resource section) and you'll see an 'Abilities' link on their site that describes them all.

Here is a list of Natures along with how they affect stats, courtesy of Xero09.

Adamant = +At, -Sp. At
Bashful = Neutral Stats
Bold = +Def, -At
Brave = +At, -Spd
Calm = +Sp. Def, -At
Careful = +Sp. Def, -Sp. At
Docile = Neutral Stats
Gentle = +Sp. Def, -Def
Hardy = Neutral Stats
Hasty = +Spd, -Def
Impish = +Def, -Sp. At
Jolly = +Spd, -Sp. At
Lax = +Def, -Sp. Def
Lonely = +At, -Def
Modest = +Sp. At, -At
Mild = +Sp. At, -Def
Naive = +Spd, -Sp. Def
Naughty = +At, -Sp. Def
Quiet = +Sp. At, -Spd
Quirky = Neutral Stats
Rash = +Sp. At, -Sp. Def
Relaxed = +Def, -Spd
Sassy = +Sp. Def, -Spd
Serious = Neutral Stats
Timid = +Spd, -At

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4 - Roles that a pokemon can play on your team.
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ASSISTANT - A pokemon that uses 'Assist' to randomly grab a move from one of your other pokemon's movesets. Double Team can be used in combo with Assist, especially if the other pokemons moves include OHKO atttacks. In R/S, only Delcatty and Spinda are Assistants. So far this Role has worked on a three pokemon Battle Tower team, where the other two pokemon are Sweepers/Tanks.

Here's the way Assist works: Everytime your Assistant uses Assist, it randomly picks one of the moves from your other pokemon. If you use it 5 times in one battle it could come up potentially with 5 different moves (assuming your two other pokemon have that many). That's why it's important to 'control' the move choices of your Assistant carefully, according to what you are trying to do. In the case of my OHKO teams, I wanted as much OHKO striking power as practical.

Assist uses up its own PP, not those of the pokemon who actually own the move. So even though like Walrein has PP maxed at 8 for Sheer Cold and Fissure, when Delcatty uses Assist and gets Fissure or Sheer Cold it doesn't come off of Walreins PP. He stays fully Powered up at 8 until/unless I actually switch to him and use the move directly. Assist has 20 PP too, and the Assistant can grab the moves of your pokemon even after they have fainted.


HAZER – A pokemon that uses Haze to eliminate status changes caused by your opponent using moves like double team, amnesia, etc. Some Pokemon that can Haze are
Weezing, Altaria, Dodrio, Xatu, Muk, Masquerain, Zubat/Golbat/Crobat.

PSUEDO-HAZER – Any pokemon that uses Roar or Whirlwind to accomplish the same thing Haze does.

BP (or BPer) - Baton Passer. Some Bpers are Gorebyss, Huntail, Plusle, Minum, Mawile, and Girafarig. (There are others that can learn BP though breeding like Skitty Meditite, Volbeat, Illimise and Spinda.)

ANNOYER – A pokemon that has multiple status changing moves (like Confuse Ray and Toxic for example).

The following is Houndooms Revenge (Good Sir HR) post of 7/8/03 from the “What makes a pokemon an annoyer” thread.
Begin Good Sir HR's post:
There are several types.

Super Recovery:
Ludicolo can recover an extrodinary amount of HP and toxic the opponent at the same time, very effective.

Shufflers:
You can have shufflers which inflict a pokemon with a status ailment and then use roar or whirlwind so they can inflict the next with the same ailment. In GSC this was normally paralysis but sense toxic stays toxic in RS toxic is now more likely.

Spiker:
Lays spikes so you get damage everytime you switch. Skarmory is both toxic shuffler and spiker, that is why it is so popular.

PP consumer:
Dusclops is the best in RS, just stall and watch pressure do the rest. Have stalling moves like confuse ray and protect, and a recovery move (rest).

Double Teamer:
Uses double team then recovers damage. After that you sweep. Very annoying if you have no hazer.

Toxic Trappers:
Uses a move that prevents the opponent from switching then toxics them. After that they just stall until the opponent faints. (Crobat, Umbreon)

These all qualify as annoyers, kinda sub-classes
End Good Sir HR's Post:


SWEEPER –I think this is a pokemon that has 3 or 4 powerful attacks and is sometimes used to ‘sweep’ up after weakening the opponent or it can also be used in the lead of your party if it can take out a wide variety of pokemon types.

TANK – A pokemon that has high defensive stats and can last a very long time in battle (if used correctly)

SUPER RECOVERer - A pokemon that has several recovery-type moves, is usually given a recovery Item to hold (like Leftovers/Shell Bell), and can really hang in there.

HEAL BELLERS/Aromatherapist - Pokemon that use Heal Bell or Aromatherapy to heal your entire party. Two Pokemon that learn Heal Bell are Chimecho and Skitty. The only two aromatherapists are Vileplume and Roselia. Heal Bell and Aromatherapy both work exactly the same way, only Heal Bell is a normal type and Aromatherapy is Grass type.

THIEVES – Pokemon that learn either Thief or Covet to steal items from wild pokemon. This is how you can get that second moon stone from a Lunatone in Sapphire, or a dragon scale from a Horsea so you can evolve your Seadra, as well as other items wild pokes hold. Many different pokemon can learn Thief (TM 46 in Slateport) and several learn covet as a level-up; like Slakoth/Slaking Lv 31, Skitty Lv31, and the wonderfully flexible poke-vacuum Zigzagoon Lv 29.

SPIKER – A pokemon that can Spike (like Skarmory). Most of the time I’ve seen this in a moveset with a move that shuffles like Roar. If used with toxic in the moveset it could be called a Toxic Spiker. I guess the combo list could go on for a while!

HM slave – a pokemon that you use mostly or exclusively for Hidden machine moves. Example: Linoone can learn cut, strength, rock smash, and surf

Poison Trappers – A pokemon that poisons an opponent and also prevents escape or switching by use of a trapping move (like Fire spin, Wrap, Mean look, Etc.)

Shufflers – Acts basically as a Pseudo-Hazer but with the addition of a status condition-changing move first. Examples: A Parashuffler uses thunderwave (or other paralyzing move) to paralyze and then will shuffle ( with roar or whirlwind). A ToxicShuffler would poison before it shuffles. Then there is also TSS---Toxic Sandstorm Shuffler---which Skarmory can do).

“Parattraction” - A pokemon that paralyzes in combination with using Attract

“Parafusion” - A pokemon that paralyzes in combination with using a Confusion move

Psuedo-Passer - A pokemon that passes on weather effects and light screen reflect. Claydol is an example.

[R64.0]

5 - Answers to some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
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How do I display pics and images?

To get the tiny 10x10 pixel image that appears next to your user name---under 'account preferences' put in an image url in the 'use personal icon url' space and then check the box.

To get an image to the left of your post go to the 'Edit Profile' section of your control center, next to 'account preferences', and at the top there is a box for 'personal photo'. Put your url there. Don't check 'make private'.

You get images in your sig by doing it in your 'account preferences'. Just look at the topic called 'pictures' since it explains it all there. This thread refuses to die and is used for testing too. You may need to look on older pages for it.


Where is Feebas?

Check the sticky thread for all Feebas-related info

Do you have questions about Mirage Island?

(Courtesy of Marill122)
Is it real or is it only a mirage? That's what you'll wonder when you hear about this mysterious island on RT 130 from a gentleman in Pacifidlog Town. Mirage Island appears when you show the gentleman a Pokemon with all IVs of 0 but the chances of capturing a Pokemon like that are extremely low. (The name given to a Pokemon like this is "Mirage Island-Sensitive", or “Mirage Island-Friendly” Pokemon).

Whenever you're in Pacifidlog Town, talk to the man and see if he can see the island from his window. If he can, Surf to it! There you will find lots of Wynaut and the one and only Liechi Berry. If not, try again later. Bring lots of different Pokemon when talking to the Mirage Island man!

Poster Brigit1 posted that she has a friend that actually got a Mirage Island Sensitive pokemon as a starter! This is a pokemon with IVs of all zero. If you go to the Dude in Pacificlog Town with one in your party, he'll tell you that he can see Mirage Island and you'll get to go there!

Note: It is extremely rare to get to see Mirage Island, so don't make yourself or anyone else crazy over this. To see Mirage Island, you need to have a pokemon with all zero IVs. The odds of this are 1 in 1,073,741,824. SA


How much do items and weather effects raise attacks?

Credit to: Houndooms Revenge
Weather boosts attacks by 50% or 1.5x.
Almost all elemental hold items (like sharp beak, mystic water, charcoal, etc.) increase corresponding attacks by 10%. But Sea Incense only boosts it by 5%.


What information is on my Trainer Card?

When you click on your ‘game name’, your Trainer’s Card is displayed. There is a front and back (just hit "A" again to see the back)

On the front:
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Your 5-digit Trainer ID is at the top of the card. Underneath this, besides your ‘game name’, you will see the amount of money you currently have, your pokedex number, and your elapsed play time. All of the Gym Badges (if any) that you have earned will also be displayed along the bottom of the card. If you look to the right of your game-name, you may see up to 4 small STARS. You get stars for accomplishing each of the following:
Defeat the Elite 4, complete your Pokedex, win each of the 5 Master-rank contests by a wide enough margin so that paintings of your award-winning pokemon fill up all 5 spots in the Exhibit Hall on the second floor of the Lilycove museum, and win 50 straight in the Battle Tower. There have been rumors of a fifth star, but they remain ONLY rumors.

On the back:
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On the back of your Trainer Card there are 6 lines: the first holds the time when you beat the Elite 4 for the first time and got into the Hall of Fame, the second is for link card battle info, the third shows the number of pokémon trades, the fourth shows pokeblocks with friends, fifth is contests with friends, and the sixth line is your record at the Battle Tower.

How can I catch Latios/Latias?

This section is from FlipsAreCool and was created with the help of LightSneasel, OutOfTouch and Brigit1.

Things to know about Latios/Latias:
1. When you Fly/Turn off your game/Enter a building, they teleport, randomly
2. Latios/Latias will be refered to as Lati@s
3. When you move between routes, Lati@s moves also, sometimes to an adjacent area.

If you have NOT encountered Lati@s;
Strategy #1:
I just figured this out and it worked like a charm, have your friend trade you his/her Lat@s then trade it back right away, they will have their Lati@s and your Lati@s will appear in pokedex, area and all, enjoy! Continue from below!
Strategy #2:
First fly to your base city, (Lilycove was what the Lati@s guide on GameFaqs.com recomended) ride to Route 121 (If using Lilycove). Use Max Repel, get on the Grass, (Making sure to have the Acro Bike) Hop until either Lati@s appears OR your repel wears off. If Lati@s did not appear, then Fly (not walk or ride,) back to Lilycove, repeat from above.

If you have ALREADY encountered Lati@s
Strategy 1 (Stalking Strategy)
This way is not the most effective or best way since it takes time and patience (but it can be fun). Once Lati@s appears you can always see exactly where it is by just going to your pokedex Lati@s entry and clicking on ‘Area’. After you see where it is, go to an adjacent area. As soon as you get there, recheck the pokedex to see if you are in the same location with Lati@s. If not, follow it again and recheck until you're in the same place. I call this stalking.
Once you're in the same exact location, use repel (your lead pokemon needs to be a Level or so less than the Lati@s) and it will almost always appear. It doesn’t matter if you ride or walk or hop. Once it appears you can try and use whatever techniques you are most familiar with to catch it. I usually have a lead pokemon that knows quick attack and will hit it with that. It doesn’t do much damage but after repeated stalking/battles you’ll red-line it nicely and then you can throw ultras at it. Just like the ‘cats’ in G/S/C, Lati@s won’t heal in between battles.

Variation/Strategy #2
Trap him so he can't leave. Wobbuffett, (with Shadow Tag) or Sableye with the Mean Look attack (has to be a high level though.). You can't use Trapincher's Arena Trap,since it is Flying and is resistant to Ground attacks. You then need a Status effector, and a False Swiper, (Get it to 1HP.) then inflict Sleep on him, and use your Ultra/Great Balls, and other Poke-balls like crazy...have fun with that.

Notes:
* When using Max Repel put a Lower-level (Less than Lv 40)pokemon in front or Lati@s will not appear!
* The White Flute is an item that allows you to meet wild pokemon more frequently.
* False swipers: Sceptile (Lv 59) Nincada (Lv 25) Zangoose (Lv55)
* Ability Trappers: Trapinch, Wobuffet


What are Base Stats?

All pokemon of the same species share identical base values for each of their 6 stats. These base values are used in the formulas that calculate a pokemon's stats. For example, all Altaria's have a HP base stat of 75. To see base stats for any species, just go to a good pokedex like the one on upnetwork.net

What are Dynamic or Hidden values?

There are three dynamic (or hidden) values that are used to calculate each main statistic (Like Attack, Defense etc.) as your pokemon grows. These values are not shown to you by the game anywhere, so you might not even know that they exist. That is why they are sometimes called hidden values. These values are dynamic, which means they can and do change (unlike base stats) as your pokemon level up.

For each of the 6 stats, there are 3 kinds of these values: Individual Values (IVs) are like a pokemon’s genes and provide randomness within a species, Effort Values EVs are determined by the Effort Points that your pokemon earns for battles, and Personality Values (a pokemon’s Nature). Each of these hidden values is used in the main formulas to determine your stats. To really be a good trainer, you need to understand each of these in detail. See the Trainer’s Checklist for more information.

How does EV work?

Note: Each time you battle a pokemon it earns Effort Points in certain stats. 4 effort points = 1 effort level. Each effort level results in an increase of 1 stat point (ability point) in your actual stat. You do not see the Effort points, or the effort values, only the increase in stat ability points when your pokemon levels up.

Any one individual stat can be maxed out at 255, but the total for all stats is capped at 510. So only 2 stats can be totally maxed out (if the others are zero). In general, you will reach the cap after around 250 to 300 battles. If you switch with more than one pokemon when battling an opponent, then each of your pokemon who battles get the same amount of effort points just like they would if they battled alone. Two on two battles work the same way. On the pokefor site there is an EV chart that lists the number of effort points that are given for each pokemon. See the Trainer’s Checklist for more information.

How can I check if my pokemons EV has been maxed?

To learn if your EV has reached 510, talk to the lady next to the Energy Guru in Slateport. If your lead pokemons EV is maxed, she will give you an ‘effort ribbon’.

How do I decide where to distribute my EVs?
See Step Seven of the Trainer's Checklist for EV distribution suggestions.

What about IVs?

When you get a pokemon, 6 individual starting values from 0 – 31 are randomly assigned to each of the 6 stats. They are like genes and determine in large part what your pokemon's quality is. These numbers also determine things like rarity (Shiney) and what type of attack Hidden Power will be for that specific pokemon. To really be a good trainer, you need to understand IVs in detail. See the Trainer’s Checklist for more information.

Where are some Walktroughs to help if I get stuck?

One good site that has walktroughs is gamefaqs. Here is a url to take you there:

gamefaqs.com/portable/gba...32745.html


Eon Ticket Questions?

The Eon ticket is an e-card that allows you to catch the opposite Lati@s that your cartridge has in a special location called Southern Island. This makes it possible to catch Latias in Ruby and Latios in Sapphire. The big deal though is when you catch one this way, an item called Soul Dew is attached which increases Lati@s Special attack and Special defense by either 1.5x or by 2x (I've seen both numbers but nothing has actually been proven).

Breeding Questions?

A popular topic and one that has info spread out over many different threads. I haven’t seen a concise summary of Breeding info on any single thread, but I may have just missed it. This is one subject where the guide is very useful since it tells the rules of breeding, which egg group(s) each pokemon belongs to and the Egg moves that can be learned. Breeding chains---where you need to have multiple breeding steps to get a desired move---seem to be the most sought-after information, and here is where looking through the page Topics can help you. The pokefor site also has sections on related topics like Breeding Basics, Egg Moves, and Egg Groups that you may find helpful.

What about hatching eggs?

WHEN eggs hatch is related to the number of steps you take after getting the egg, not elapsed clock time. That’s why the Mach Bike can speed this up. I’m not sure what everyone else does, but the following works good for me. After getting an egg, I ride the Mach bike back and forth in a straight line going from near the water on RT 118, thru Mauville and passed the Day care to the garden fence on Rt 117, then I just turn around and do it in reverse. Keep going back and forth and you’ll burn up steps fast. Each time you pass the Daycare look to see if the dude is standing outside the fence and he’ll give you the next egg. I repeat this until I have 5 eggs. This takes 5 minutes usually since I get an egg every minute.

Once I got 5 eggs I put the parents back in the box and ride the Mach bike repeatedly back and forth again. Usually the first egg takes about 6 or 7 minutes to hatch, but then the others hatch one after the other so that in total it takes about ten minutes to hatch all 5 eggs. I’m sure there are other ways to hatch eggs, and maybe someone will post a more effective way. With this method you’ll get 5 new baby pokemon in about fifteen minutes.


What about getting Rare Berries?

There are 35 berries you can get in R/S. This does not include some berries that are used by Battle Tower opponents (like Salac berry and Ganlon berry, etc). There currently is no way to get those in R/S but they may become available in the future.

Many of the 35 berries are common. The Liechi berry is rarest. It is found only on Mirage Island so almost nobody has that one.

The Aguav berry, Mago berry, and Wiki berry are only given to you on Rt 120 (you’ll get the same berry everyday) from the Rare-Berry Girl. Which berry you get depends on the last digit of your ID.

If your trainer ID ends with 0 or 5 you'll get Figy berry
If your trainer ID ends with 1 or 6 you'll get Wiki berry
If your trainer ID ends with 2 or 7 you'll get Mago berry
If your trainer ID ends with 3 or 8 you'll get Aguav berry
If your trainer ID ends with 4 or 9 you'll get Iapapa berry

There are some berries you can only get from the Berry Master’s Wife by telling her a saying. Not all words are in your vocabulary in the beginning of the game. Words are added as you play. You may need to accomplish a task before a certain word is added. For example, you can’t tell her “Cool Latios” until AFTER you encounter Latios in the wild. Here is the list.

Belue berry – “Super Hustle”
Durin berry – “Cool Latios” (Ruby only)
Pamtree berry – “Challenge Contest”
Spelon berry – “Great Battle”
Watmeal berry – “ Overwhelming Latias” (Sapphire only)
If there are more of these please post and let me know.


What about Shiney Pokemon in R/S?

You can get Shiney pokemon in R/S, but they are rare. One poster gave the odds of encountering a Shiney pokemon at over 8000 to 1. Unlike in previous versions where these pokemon were marked with three small asterisk-like marks, the R/S Shineys do not have these. Instead, their Number appears in Yellow, not white, when you do a Summary on them, and the background color of their Summary image is also lighter in color too. The main way of identifying a Shiney pokemon is still by their different color. The Pokefor site has images of both Normal and Rare (Shiney) pokemon from both the front and the back views.


What about fishing?

Fishing for water pokemon in R/S is a bit different then in earlier versions. When you get the message “Oh! A Bite!”, quickly tap the “A” button ONCE, then wait for the next message. You may need to do this like 5 or 6 times before you finally get the ‘Pokemon is on the hook’ message.

Where is Move Tutor, Move Deleter, Happiness Rater, Name Rater?

The Move Deleter is in Lilycove, next to the Department Store.
The Move Tutor is in Fallarbor Town next to the Contest Hall. He teaches level-up moves your pokemon forgot in return for Heart Scales.
There is no Happiness Rater exactly, but if you go to Verdanturf Town there is a lady in the southwestern-most house who will tell you how the lead Pokemon in your party feels about you.
The Name Rater is where you go to give your pokemon a nickname. He is located in Slateport City across from the Poke Center.


What about Dragon Fang, Dragon Scale, Evolving Seadra?

Dragon Tamer Nicholas in Meteor Falls has the Dragon Fang which is just a hold item that powers up Dragon-type moves. You need to use either covet or thief to steal it off his pokemon.

A Dragon Scale is used to evolve Seadra into Kingdra. You can get a Dragon Scale from a wild Bagon (in Meteor Falls) or a wild Horsea (fish with the super rod on Routes 132 - 134). It may take a while since you probably will have to encounter a bunch of them before you get one that’s holding a Dragon Scale. You do NOT need to catch the wild pokemon to get the item. Just make sure whichever Pokemon you are using to steal the item isn't holding anything already.


What is new in Ruby/Sapphire?

There is a lot that is different than previous versions but some things are very similar. If you have played any of the previous Pokemon versions, some things will be familiar to you. Like you’ll still try and catch all kinds of Pokemon as you explore the new Hoenn Region, battle Gym leaders and eventually the Elite 4, and try to complete your Pokedex.

Some major new additions in R/S are that each Pokemon has one Special Ability that they can use on their own. Each Pokemon also has one of 25 different Natures (kind of like a personality) that really affects how its skills (stats) grow.

Breeding Pokemon has also been modified; each Pokemon belongs to one (or sometimes two) Egg Groups. Only a Male and Female pokemon pair that share a common Egg Group will produce an Egg, and even then it is not 100%. There is no Ditto either. But the good thing is you can sometimes breed over a move that the pokemon would ordinarily not learn any other way.

In R/S there are two-on-two battles. Another new thing is that you can create and decorate your own ‘Secret Base’; kind of like a home away from home. And you can enter your pokemon in various Contests.

Well, that’s not everything by a long shot but it’ll give you some idea of the main things. There are some links to other Pokemon sites on this thread in Section 7. You may want to check out screen shots/walkthrus.


Which Pokemon are unique to only one version?

In ONLY Ruby you can get Groudon, Latios, Solrock, Zangoose, Dusclops, Seedot/Nuzleaf and Mawile. In Ruby, Banette is obtainable only from evolving Shuppet.

In ONLY Sapphire you can get Kyogre,Latias, Lunatone, Seaviper, Banette, Lotad/Lombre and Sableye. In Sapphire, Dusclops is obtainable only from evolving Duskull.


What are some of the harder to find Pokemon, and where are they?

(“Harder to find” is defined as those pokemon that, according to the Official Guide, have a “Pokemon Plentitude” = FEW and are mostly found in only one location. Here they are:

Absol – RT 120
Altaria – Sky Pillar (5f)
Bagon – Meteor Falls (ground floor in the small room – need surf + waterfall)
Chimecho – Mt Pyre (summit)
Dodrio – Safari Zone (Northwest)
Electrode – New Mauville
Golduck - Safari Zone (Northwest –use surf)
Heracross - Safari Zone (Northeast)
Jigglypuff – Rt 115
Magneton - New Mauville
Pikachu - Safari Zone (Southeast and Southwest)
Pinser - Safari Zone (Northwest)
Ralts – Rt 102
Relicanth – Ocean Floor (RTs 124 – 126)
Skarmory – Rt 113
Skitty – Rt 116 (Also, can trade a Pikachu in Fortree City)
Slakoth – Petalburg Woods
Surskit – Rts 102, 111, 114, 117 + 120
Tropius – Rt 119
Wailord – Rt 129
Xatu - Safari Zone (Northeast)


How do I get Lati@s, Shedinja, Snorunt, Glalie, the Fossil Pokemon, Azurill ,Wynuat?

Latios/Latias:
After defeating the E4, you’ll see a TV News Flash about some unidentified (Blue or Red) pokemon being spotted in Hoenn. They are talking about Latios/Latias. As you continue to play the game, *eventually* Lati@s will appear and you’ll have a shot at catching it. Of all the pokemon in R/S, many (including myself) consider this pokemon the hardest to catch. It moves between different locations constantly, and will quickly run away too. Either a master ball or some luck/patience is required. You may not see Lati@s right away after seeing the TV message. I've had it appear on both grass and water.

Shedinja:
To get Shedinja you have to be carrying 1 or more poke balls and have an empty slot in your party (no more than 5 pokemon with you) at the time your Nincada makes it to Lv 20. Shedinja will just appear in your party in the previously empty slot. I know it’s weird, but that’s how it works!

Snorunt:
Is only found in Shoal Cave’s small Ice room, and you can only get to it at Low Tide. The tide changes every six hours or so from High to Low and back again. Glalie evolves from Snorunt and is not found in the wild in R/S.

Fossil Pokemon:
Two Pokemon come from the Fossils in the Desert Ruins (northeast corner). You can only get one per game. Take the fossil to the Devon Corp researcher in Rustboro to be ‘revived’. The root fossil will become Lileep, and the Claw fossil Anorith. When you get them they will be at Lv 20. Cradily evolves from Lileep, and Armaldo from Anorith. Both evolve at Lv 40. Save your game right *before* he gives you the revived fossil pokemon if you want to get a specific gender since you can just reset until you get what you need. It may be that you'll need to reset a dozen times or more to get a female for example, or you may get one on the very first try.

Azurill:
To get Azurill, you’ll need to give either the male or female Marill parent Sea Incense as a hold item in the Day Care. Sea incense is located at Mt Pyre.

Wynuat:
There are a couple ways to get this pokemon. First, you can get an Egg from an Old Lady in Lavaridge town and it will hatch into a Wynuat. Second, if you catch a male and female Wobbuffet at the Safari, you can breed them at the Day Care, but they will only produce a Wynuat if one of the two parents is holding the item called Lax Incense, which is also located at Mt Pyre. Last, if you are ever lucky enough to go to Mirage Island (I don't know anyone who ever has yet!), then supposedly that's where Wynuats are running around in the wild.


6 - Helpful Suggestions for Newbies
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Before STARTING a NEW TOPIC, check pages for a couple minutes to see if it has been asked before. You can go through the pages pretty quickly by just looking at the Topics. For example, if you are interested in “Shiney” pokemon, there are already several threads about them that have the word SHINEY in the topic.

RATE MY TEAM - When posting your team to be rated, don’t use paragraph form. Instead, use the format that everyone prefers. (Look at a couple RMT threads to see the format). Also, be sure to have BOTH the pokemon you want rated Plus their planned movesets or you will most likely need a flame-retardant suit. Refer to the Standard Moveset sticky thread.

IMAGES - Don’t link directly to pokemon forever’s site (pokefor) for your images! It is considered stealing. Instead, many of us are getting images from the pokemaster site. You can right-click an image and then click on properties to display the url the image is sourced from.

Shiney Images: If you want a Shiney image they are located at upnetwork. Here is an example (using Altaria):
www.upnetwork.net/multime...ey/122.gif
To get the pokemon you like, just change the "122" to its number. (altaria is #122).

Old Threads - Some of the posters get very upset if you post to an old thread, so you may want to really think twice before you do that or you will most likely need to get out the Flame-retardant suit. In general, Don't revive old threads.


7 - More Pokemon Internet Resources
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

www.pojo.com/pokemon/

www.pokefor.tk/

www.gamefaqs.com

www.upnetwork.net

www.serebii.net

[R64.0]

8 Official Guide & Prima Guide: Errors/Misprints
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
This section refers to "The Official Nintendo Player's Guide".

A - Obtaining items after 5th battle – The guide states you can get several items after the 5th time you battle a specific trainer, but this is wrong. You have to steal the item using either covet or thief. The items are Black Belt on Rt 114 from Blackbelt Nob, Dragon Fang in Meteor Falls from Dragon Tamer Nicolas, and Silver Powder on Rt 120 from Bug Maniac Brandon.

B - In the "Battle Moves" section there is a misprint. Air center should be Air Cutter.

C - The Guide says that a hatched pokemon inherits its Ability from the Female pokemon. While this is true, it can also be misleading---in cases when the female species can have two different abilities. For example, a Roselia can have either poison point or natural cure as an ability. If you hatch an egg, the baby will have one of these abilities, but not necessarily the same one as the female parent.

======================================
This section refers to "Prima's Guide".

+ Milotic's ability is listed as Torrent (supposed to be Marvel Scale).
+ TM 30 is Shadow Punch (supposed to be shadow ball)
+ Anorith has moonlight under egg moves (supposed to be Swords Dance)
+ Seaking listed in the Water 1 Breeding Group (GoldeenSeaking is only Water 2)
+ They don't even list cacturne's egg group. It shows cacnea though and it is in the same egg group.
+ Crawdaunt Should have 3 "points" in the Prima Guide For Special Attack (Credit to GameFReak12345 for this one)
+ In the paragraph about Mirage Island, it called Pacifidlog Town "Pacifidlog City" once. It's not really important but I just wanted to state it.
+ It says you find lots of Kelpsy Berries on Mirage Island which is false. You find the one and only Liechi Berry on Mirage Island.
+ Eruption Description is suppose to be something like "The strength of the attack lessens as your HP dwindle." (Ness)

If you know of any other mistakes in the Official Guide, or Prima's Guide, please post them so that I can edit them in here.

If you have any ideas for additions to this thread, please throw in your two cents. Comments to make this thread more helpful are always welcome.

9 Trainer’s Checklist

What’s in this section and how can it help me?

This section is to show anyone who wants to learn how to train in the most effective way possible. It is NOT intended for everybody who plays the game, especially the casual player. But if you want to create the strongest, meanest, most powerful pokemon ever, then this six-step Trainer’s Checklist is just for you.

CREDITs: It was a bit of work putting this together, and some thanks are in order. This Trainer’s Checklist never would have happened without Marill, FlipsAreCool, GametesterJan , Darklogos and CoolTrainer Josh .

Much of the information came from the Gamefaqs.com site’s “Advanced Trainer’s Guide” and it is highly recommended that you go and check that out as it provides many more details than are in just this short space.

STEP ONE: Pick a pokemon and determine what that specific pokemon is going to do for your team. In other words, what role is it going to play on it? Refer to "Pokemon Roles" on this thread for more information.

STEP TWO: Breed for best IVs. Since you have a higher chance of getting better IVs. Also, whenever you catch a wild pokemon that you might want to train, you should check its Ivs too since you may have lucked out and got one with great genes.

Here is how:

1.Catch Female pokemon,
2. Make sure it's IV's are OK as 1 stat will be passed down and you don't want it to stink. (See 7 below)
3. Catch compatible Male.
4. Check its IV's (See 7 below)
5. Leave at Day-Care.
6. Hatch Eggs and give each a different name or a number as they hatch. (You'll need to keep track of them individually later.)
HINT: For hatching, use the 'Mach Bike technique' on this Help/Reference thread (Refer to the FAQ about how to hatch Eggs) to get 5 baby pokemon in 15 minutes or so.

7 Check each of your baby pokemons IVs, one at a time. Do NOT train it unless you keep track of every single Pokemon your beat. If you don't do this, you won't be able to work out your Pokemon's EPs later on, therefore, you won't be able to work out it's IVs either.

Here’s how to check IVs:

Save your game since you’ll need to reset up to five times. (Your only checking its IVs which aren't affected by the way you level up your Pokemon)

Feed a Lv 5 baby 7 or more Rare Candies to get it up to at least Lv 12 quickly (Checking Ivs on Pokemon before Lv 12 will just give you bogus results). If you have no rare candy you can accompolish the same thing by leaving the pokemon in the Day Care until it reaches at least Lv 12.

Use the IVs Calculator on the Pokefor.com site to calculate your IVs

First: Select the pokemon you want to calculate IVs for from the drop-down menu, and put in its nature and level.

Second: Each row has 12 columns; two for each of the six stats. Each stat has an ability column and one called effort level. Put each of your pokemon’s stats in the ‘Ability’ columns. If your pokemon’s Evs are 0 (you have not battled with it), just leave all six sub-columns called EffortLv blank. Otherwise, if you know your effort values then you can put them in.

Third: To calculate your IVs, just click on “Find IVs”. The higher the level of your pokemon, the more accurate the results are.

Write down the Ivs for that specific baby pokemon next to it’s name/number and turn OFF your game. Repeat this step for EACH of your baby pokemon to find the one with the highest IVs average.

An IV average of 25 out of a possible 31 is 81% and considered ‘pretty good’. The higher the average the better.

Appendix A has the gamefaqs Advanced Trainer’s Guide formulas for calculating STATS and IVs
.
Appendix B contains 2 formulas for Calculating IVs that have been simplified for those who do not understand the math in the main formulas.

STEP THREE: Get a good nature, if you can.
IVs are randomly assigned, as are natures. A pokemon’s IVs affect its abilities much more than its Nature (in the Formulas). So if one of your babies has great IVs and another has a better nature, IVs rule. It really takes a lot of Luck and Patience to get BOTH on the same pokemon, but it can be done. I know this may seen strange after all of the emphasis we have placed on getting the ‘right nature, but IVs affect your pokemon’s abilities much more. Once you have a pokemon that is good enough to train, go to the next step.

There is a list of Pokemon Natures with the stat(s) each affects on gamefaqs.com in the "Advanced Trainer's Guide" in section 2.4.3 - 'Getting The Right Personality'.

NOTE: Whenever you catch a WILD pokemon that you think you might want to train, you should also check its Ivs too since you may have lucked out and got one with great genes and the right nature etc.,

STEP FOUR: FEEDING : Pick the stats you want raised then feed your pokemon Vitamins BEFORE you train it. For example; if you want to raise HP and SP AT, then feed it 10 HP Ups and 10 Calciums to obtain 100 EPs for HP and 100 for Sp. Att. After your pokemon gets 100 Eps in a a stat, it will refuse to eat any more vitamins for that stat, so feed to the max and feed early.
HINT: If you’ve beaten the E4 keep your eyes on the TV for the Energy Guru sale where you can pick up all vitamins for half price.

STEP FIVE: Figuring out where to distribute EVs.

How do you select which stats to raise and subsequently where to distribute EVs? This step provides some help.

The following general EV distribution suggestions are based on what Role a pokemon plays on your team. That’s how the information is organized. Remember that these are only suggestions, and you may need to do something different. In some Roles, I included remarks that may help you see the reason for certain choices. That way, you will see some examples of decent EV distributions, and also get some understanding of the ‘why’ behind the choices.

Some thanks are in order. A lot of this information was provided by two posters: FlipsAreCool and Houndooms Revenge. We have poster Shaun to thank for the summary style format idea. And thanks also go to posters GametesterJan, ElessarionVI, Xero09, darklogos, and aHugfromThug, and mista anda who all helped too.

Before this, as far as I know, we had nothing to help us answer this question. I hope you find it helpful.

=====EV Distribution Suggestions by ROLE===============

Position (Role): Assistant
Example Pokemon: In R/S, only Skitty/Delcatty and Spinda
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 Speed, 252 HP, 6 AT

Position (Role): SWEEPER
Example Pokemon: Blaziken
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 6 Defense
If your sweeper is using Special Attacks, then max out SpAt instead of AT.
If your Sweeper is using both AT and SpAt attacks, split your EVs between them (128/124) Houndoms Revenge has this to say about Slaking: ‘For Slaking, max out attack and special defence/HP because his special defence is his down side.’

Position (Role): HAZER
All Hazing Pokemon: Weezing, Altaria, Dodrio, Xatu, Muk, Masquerain, Zubat/Golbat/Crobat.
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 Speed, 252 Sp Def/Def, 6 Attack/Sp Attack

Position (Role): PSUEDO-HAZER
Example Pokemon: Skarmory
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 DF/SpDf, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Houndooms Revenge notes that Psuedo-hazers have to be able to take a hit but should also have good Speed to either paralyze or toxic first (and in Skarmory’s case also spike) The pokemon should have one (or few) weakness to be an effective Pseudo-Hazer.

Position (Role): Baton Passer
All Baton Passing Pokemon: Gorebyss, Huntail, Plusle, Minum, Mawile, and Girafarig, Skitty Meditite, Volbeat, Illimise and Spinda.
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 Def/Sp Def, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Houndoom Revenges notes that Gorebyss can pass a full 3 iron defence's and a full 3 amnesia's and is his top choice here.

Position (Role): TANK
Example Pokemon: Torkoal, Registeel
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 HP, 252 DF 6 SP
If you want to raise SpDF then 252 HP 252 SpDf 6 SP
If you want to raise BOTH DF and SpDF then 252 HP,252 SpDf/DF 6 SP
OR 252 in both Def and Sp Def, 6 in HP

Position (Role): Heal bellers
Only two Pokemon: Chimecho, Skitty/Delcatty
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 AT/Sp Attack, 252 HP, 6 Speed
Alternative: 252 DF, 252 SpDf, 6 Speed
Houndooms revenge notes that Heal Bellers should have good defense and have at least one attack, and feels Chimecho is the best because it can use walls to stop attacks then heal bell and attack. It can also rest. He feels that Delcatty is not a good Heal Beller.

Position (Role): Aromatherapist
Only two Pokemon: Roselia, Vileplume
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 SP Def, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Houndooms Revenge commented that Vileplume is very useable since it can learn (solar beam, synthesis, and sunny day, as well as aromatherapy. It can heal fully in one turn from synthesis but the down side is if they have a fire type you are dead. Roselia makes a great Spiker/Toxicer/Aromatherapist combo but doesn't last long enough to use it effectively.

Position (Role): THIEVES
Example Pokemon: Slakoth/Slaking, Skitty/Delcatty, Zigzagoon/Linoone, many others
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 Speed, 252 Def/Sp Def
If you are only using the pokemon to steal, you don’t need to EV train it. If you plan on using it for more than just stealing, EV train it according to the other role it will play. Houndooms Revenge also added the following about Thieves: “Don't use thieves for link battles. Taking an item doesn't change the course of battle much. If you want to screw with items use trick to switch over a choice band (Alakazam, Spinda and Grumpig can learn trick).”

Position (Role): HM Slave
Example Pokemon: Zigzagoon/Linoone, Tropius, Marill, Wailord, many others
Suggested General EV Distribution: NONE!!!

Position (Role): Parattraction
Example Pokemon: Raichu, (also Plusle/Minun)
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 Speed, 252 Def/Sp Def, 6 HP

Position (Role): Parafusion
Example Pokemon: Lanturn, Raichu
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 speed, 252, Def/Sp Def, 6 AT/Sp AT
Houndooms Revenge offered this info: A pokemon good at parafusion doesn't necessarily have to have great defence. It should be fast and have the ability to hit hard once the opponent is subdued. The best parafuser should also have attract. This would end up with paralysis+confusion+attraction for a total of a 12.5% chance of them hitting you (lanturn). For a just a parafuser Raichu is very good. For a paratractor you can use many pokemon.

Position (Role): Psuedo-Passer
Example Pokemon: Claydol, Chimecho
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 Speed, 252 Df/Sp Def, 6 HP
Houndooms Revenge posted: “If you can put up walls and have high defense you are very much so a tank before you pass. If you choose not to pass he could still fight successfully by himself. Chimecho can also do this well.”



ANNOYERs (sub-classes as defined by Houndooms Revenge)

Position (Role): Super Recoverer
Example Pokemon:Ludicolo
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 HP, 252 DFor 252 SpDf, 6 SP
Houndooms Revenge also noted the following: For super-recovery pokemon you must raise HP. All super-recovers have leftovers and the more HP you have the more you get back. You should also raise the defense that it has the most elemental weaknesses to. Ludicolo for example (and the main super-recovery pokemon) has weaknesses to poison, flying, and bug so you should raise it’s defense. Have a +defense -(whatever attack you are not using) personality or -speed if you use both types of attacks.

Position (Role): Spiker
Example Pokemon: Skarmory
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 Speed, 252 Sp Def, 6 HP

Position (Role): PP Consumer
Example Pokemon: Dusclops, Absol
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 Def, 252 Sp Def, 6 HP

Position (Role): Double Teamer
Example Pokemon: Dusclops, Kingdra
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 Speed, 252 DF/SpDf, 6 HP
A good example for a double teamer is anyone with great defences that can take some hits while DT (dusclops) or pokemon with one weakness that can take hits because they are resistant or normal damage (kingdra).

Position (Role): Toxic Trappers
Example Pokemon: Crobat, Dusclops
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 Speed, 252 DF or 252 SpDfSp Attack, 6 HP
Houndooms Revenge writes: “For Toxic-trappers Speed is very important. But it should also be able to take a hit, after all it has to survive until the opponent dies of toxic. It should have the defense boosted in the area that it has more weaknesses in.”

Shufflers:

Position (Role): Parashuffler
Example Pokemon: Manectric
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 Speed, 252 Def/Sp Def, 6 HP

Position (Role): ToxicShuffler
Example Pokemon: Skarmory
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 Speed, 252 Def/Sp Def, 6 HP

Position (Role): TSS (Toxic Sandstorm Shuffler)
Example Pokemon: Skarmory
Suggested General EV Distribution: 252 Speed, 252 Def/Sp Def, 6 HP

========End of EV Distribution Section===============

STEP SIX: Helpful things to know when EV training
You'll need to understand how certain things/items can really help you with your training. They are the Macho Brace, EXP.SHR, and PokeRus.

What is a Macho Brace?
The Macho Brace is a hold item you give to a pokemon that raises Effort points received (by x2) when battling. This reduces the number of battles you’ll have to fight before your pokemon reaches the maximum effort cap. You can get the Macho Brace after you defeat the Winstrate family at their house located just north of Mauville City.
Remember to battle only those pokemon that give you effort points in the stats you want raised. While the item is held, there is a reduction in your pokemon’s speed as calculated in the stat formula, but it is only temporary.

What is EXP SHR?
Exp.Shr is a hold item that splits the total experience gained from a battle and gives half of it to the Pokémon holding it, even if it didn’t fight. The Pokémon holding the item will also get the full amount of Effort Points gained from the battle. You can get this item in Rustboro City from the President of Devon Corp after you deliver Stephen’s letter and take the Devon goods to Slateport.

What is PokeRus and how can it help me?
Pokerus is a virus that is actually helpful because it doubles your Effort points. You get it randomly. If you heal at the Poke Center and are told your pokemon has things crawling on it, or it has a virus, then pokerus is what they are talking about. Be happy!

Here are some helpful pokerus-related training hints, courtesy of GameTesterJan.

* A pokemon with pokerus can spread it to other pokemon in your party.
* When a pokemon is infected, the effect of pokerus will last for about 4 days.
* A pokemon who had pokerus cannot become re-infected.
* Always keep a freshly infected pokemon in a box so you can keep infecting others
* When training, do not spread pokerus to a mass number of pokemon because the pokerus timer continues even when gba is turned off. So before swiching it off, leave your infected pokemon in a box to pause the pokerus timer.

Are there things to avoid doing when EV training?
Don't use rare candy or the Day Care to level up your pokemon if they have not yet received their effort ribbon (reached the cap).

What about Effort Points and traded pokemon?

I have tested this and found that the traded pokemon gains EVs at the normal rate. Specifically, I traded over my Flygon from Ruby to Sapphire, infected it with PokeRus, and trained it simultaneously with an infected Dusclops from the Sapphire cart (not traded). I gave the Dusclops the Exp. Shr to hold. Both Pokemon gained Effort Points at the same rate (double) and got their Effort Ribbons at the same time.

Here’s marill’s example of EV training (Distributing Effort for a Horsea holding a Macho Brace):

EV training Example
I would recommend battling Numel for Sp. Att EPs and I would battle Whismur for HP EPs) Only battle 78 Numel and Whismur since the Macho Brace doubles the number of EPs you get. (They both give 1 EP in one Stat so divide the remaining EPs you need by 2. 155/2=77.5 so you would battle 78 of each Pokemon. You need to obtain 155 EPs for the Stat since you gave your Pokemon 100 EPs from the vitamins.) In other words, feed Horsea 10 HP Ups and 10 Calciums and battle 78 Whismur and battle 78 Numel to reach the 510 EP Cap.

About the EV distribution, you should max out a stat by obtaining 252 EPs. (252/4=63 Ability Points) Obtaining 255 EPs for two stats is a waste. You get the 63 Ability Point increase in a stat either way you go but if you go with 252, then there is 6 EPs left which can be used to increase one more stat by 1 Ability Point. (6/4=1.5 In other words, 1 Ability Point increase in another stat. It's not much but it is something

STEP SEVEN: Battling Pokemon for maximum EPs. You need to gain effort points only in stats you want raised. This depends on the specific pokemon you battle (each pokemon gives you effort points to different stats. Certain locations are best to train in because they contain a high percentage of these pokemon.

Here is a list of specific pokemon/locations (by version) for training depending on which stat you want raised.

Ruby
====
HP: Whismer (Rusterf Tunnel) Marill (Petalburg)
AT: Nuzleaf/Zangoose (Route 114)
DF: Clamperl (Rts 124 - 126 Ocean FLoor)
Sp. AT: Numel (Rt 112)
Sp. DF: Tentacool and Tentacruel. (Inside the Abandond Ship) SURF ONLY.
SP: Zigzagoon/Linoone (Route 120) Remember Linoone gives 2 EVs to speed while Ziggy gives 1. Also, if you want to train at a place where you can nap on the job Sootopolis City has only Magikarp, no need to fish, just surf around and you'll run into them.

Saphire
======
HP: Whismer (Rusterf Tunnel) Marill (Petalburg)
AT: Shuppet (Mt. Pryre floors 1,2,3)
DF: Clamperl (Rts 124 - 126 Ocean FLoor)
Sp. AT. Numel (Rt 112)
Sp. DF. Tentacool and Tentacruel. (Inside the Abandond Ship) SURF ONLY
SP Zigzagoon/Linoone (Route 120) (See RUBY above)

Helpful links that have this kind of information are the pokefor.com site and the upnetwork.net site (which some consider the best source for this data). Also, it's been stated by some posters that although the great gamefaqs site also has this info, it's not as good a source as the other two sites mentioned for this specific info only.

Congratulations on reading this all. Here is a reward, courtesy of Houndoom's Revenge:

TRAINER TIP:After you max out the EV's of your pokemon you can put those pokemon in the day care without harmful side effects (see warning below). When you do this get a ACRO bike and go to a slippery slope. Now tape down/rubber band the up button and leave the gameboy on all night. Make sure you have an AC plug so you won't run out of batteries. The next day the pokemon should be at least 20 levels higher, depending on the starting level of the pokemon. The slippery slopes are the mud slide things that you can only go up with the mach bike. One is found on the north wall of the desert.

WARNING: Pokemon in Day Care can and do learn level-up moves. Be careful when leaving your pokeomn in the Day Care that they don't forget important moves that you want. One way to make sure you keep the moves you need is to either make room for expected learned moves (by visiting the move deleter in Lilycove) or just wait until your pokemon has reached a level where it won't be learning any more moves.


That's it! After you’ve completed the steps above you can verify that your effort points have reached the 510 cap by just going to the Lady next to the Energy Guru in Slateport with the pokemon you trained up in lead. If she tells you to work harder, you didn’t max out yet. IF she gives you the “Effort Ribbon”, you are done with the serious part of training. If you still need to level that pokemon up more, it is now ok to give it as many rare candies as you need without any harmful effects on your stats. Same thing goes using the Day Care center, using the Trainer Tip above.

==============================================

Appendix A: Formulas used for calculating STATS and IVs

CREDIT: The source for these formulas is gamefaqs.com Advanced Trainer’s Guide. Refer to Section 2.3.3 for the Main Statistic Formula, and Section 2.3.4 for the HP Statistic Formula. Refer to section 2.4.1 “Calculating IVs” for examples and more detailed information on using the two IVs formulas.


The first formula is the generic one used for Attack, Defense,
Sp. Attack, Sp. Defense and Speed. To get the most accurate results, you need to round-down in two places. The Math.Floor() function just takes any value and rounds it down. Here are some examples:

Math.Floor( 0 ) = 0
Math.Floor( 5.1 ) = 5
Math.Floor( 5.5 ) = 5
Math.Floor( 5.9 ) = 5

Likewise, the Math.Ceiling() function should always round a value up.
Math.Ceiling( 0 ) = 0
Math.Ceiling( 5.1 ) = 6
Math.Ceiling( 5.5 ) = 6
Math.Ceiling( 5.9 ) = 6

When you do any of these calculations yourself, you must remember to round-down or round-up accordingly or your values may turn out incorrect. Now to use this formula, you need to look up the base statistic and substitute for "BaseStat". Next, you need to substitute IV, EV, Level and P (Personality).

Main Statistic Formula:
Stat = Math.Floor(
(( BaseStat * 2 + IV + Math.Floor( EV/4 ) ) * Level/100 + 5 ) * P )

HP Statistic Formula:
HP uses a slightly different formula. To calculate your Pokémon's HP at any given time, use this formula:

HP =( BaseStat * 2 + IV + Math.Floor( EV/4 )) * Level/100 + 10 + Level)

IVs Formula for AT, DF, SpDf, SpAt, SP
Here is the formula for calculating your IV given the base stat, the actual value of the statistic, the effort value and the personality value (for non-HP stats). All you have to do is plug in the values.

IV =(( Math.Ceiling( Stat/P ) - 5 ) * 100/Level ) - 2 * BaseStat - EV/4


IVs Formula HP
Here is the formula for calculating the HP IV.

IV = (( Stat - Level - 10 ) * 100/Level ) - 2 * BaseStat - EV/4

==============================================

Appendix B: Easier ‘modified’ versions of both IV formulas.

Note: the following formulas are ones I made up myself, based on the gamefaqs ones above. I did this because if you don’t understand the formulas above, but know how to add/multiply/divide/subtract, then you still can manually calculate your IVs.

These two ‘easier’ formulas ONLY work for pokemon that you have NOT battled with (like if you just hatched them and used only rare candy or day care to level them up as described in Step 2 of the Trainer’s Checklist). The results should match what you would get if you had used the more advanced formulas, provided you follow the instructions.

The example uses a Skitty that I hatched and then fed 7 rare candies to. Skitty’s is Lv 12. Her HP BaseStat = 50, and her actual stat is 37.

Here is the first ‘easier’ formula used for HP IV.

HP-IV = ((HP - Level - TEN ) * 100/Level ) – (2 * BaseStat)

a; HP minus level minus TEN (37-12-10=15) a=15
b; Multiply ‘a’ times 100 (15*100=1500) b=1500
c; Divide ‘b’ by Level (1500/12=125) c=125
d; Multiply Basestat by 2 (2*50=100) d=100
e; Subtract ‘d’ from ‘c’ (125-100=25) e=25

Skitty’s HP IV = 25

Here is the second ‘easier’ formula, used to calculate IVs for the remaining stats. It has 2 additional steps as it uses the pokemon’s nature (personality) and we need to round up in the formula.

IV =(( Math.Ceiling( Stat/P) - FIVE) * 100/Level ) – (2 * BaseStat)

Just as in the main formulas, it is critical that you round-up "Stat/P" or you will get bogus results. Round the same way as described earlier for the main formulas. Nature ( the letter “P” in the formula) substitutes one of 3 numbers: use 1 for neutral natures, 1.1 for a raised stat, and .9 for a lowered stat. Lets check Skitty’s IVs for Sp Df now.

This time let’s calculate our Lv12 Skitty’s Sp Df. Her base Sp DF = 35, her actual Sp DF = 14, and her Nature=1 (neutral).

IV =(( Math.Ceiling( Stat/P) - FIVE) * 100/Level ) – (2 * BaseStat)

A; Stat divided by P (14/1=14) a=14
b; Round up ‘a’ (14 = 14.0) b=14
c; Subtract Five from ’a’ (14–5=9) c=9
d; Multiply c by 100 (100*9=900) d=900
e; divide ‘d’ by level (900/12=75) e=75
f; Multiply Basestat * 2 (35*2=70) f=70
g; Subtract ‘f’ from ‘e’ (75-70=5)

Skitty’s IV for Sp Df = 5

=============================================

11 Battle Tower Strategies
========================

Introduction

This section of the Help Thread was mostly put together by poster darklogos, and he deserves credit for it. The whole point of this section is to outline some important considerations regarding your Battle Tower challenges. There is very, very little in the official guide about the Battle Tower, and so I hope you find the info useful.

There are 2 different options when challenging the Battle Tower: use rotation or don't use rotation. Each option has a different goal.

Note: I am using the term rotation as in rotating the pokemon on your team, not just switching between the same three. In other words, you will have more than just three pokemon from which you choose the three to battle the next trainer group.

Don't use rotation option:
===================
The goal is to win as many as possible without any rotation. This is done mostly just for fun and to test your skills and your team. Without rotation, you expect to be beaten at some point but want to see how well you can do before losing. You're not heart-broken when you lose. For example, you may want to have a OHKO team, or a team of all water types, just to see how far you can get. You push your team and yourself as far as you can for as many straight wins as possible.

Use rotation option:
===============
This is the more serious challenge. The goal is to win and keep winning, getting a Silver or Gold Shield (and a star on your trainer's card as a result) and just keep going to set the highest record you can, using rotation and every skill you and your pokemon possess. Some very knowledgeable players are able to do really great with only minimal rotation, but it takes time and patience to get to that point.

Section numbers 1 and 2 below are useful with or without rotation, whereas section numbers 3 - 5 are specific to using rotation.

1. Cover the weakness of as many types as possible with your 3 pokemon's attacks.

Look at your team's attacks and see how many moves will be super effective or not. If your pokemons moves don't collectively KO over half the types of pokemon out there then you should re-think your line up. The higher you go up, the more likely you are to face a stat-up Registeel or Latios and Latias. You have to have super effective moves for every strong pokemon out there, because you don't see any Shuppet or Roselia in the 80's or 90's. They all are lengendary or close to it. So having a good selection of moves is required. It is also good to have pokemon that cover each other's weaknesses. If you have a dragon type or grass type on your team it would be good to have a fire type. Try to avoid double or even triple weaknesses. If two pokemon on your team are weak to flamethrower, icebeam, or thunderbolt then reselect your line-up.

2. Balance your recovery techniques and items

It becomes more imperative the higher up you go that you have good recovery items balanced out through your team. What happens is that people say that shell bell sucks and it’s not as good as leftovers which is true but it still can help your get back HP. If you have a pokemon that knows rest, recover, ingrain, or any other prominent recovery moves don't give that pokemon leftovers unless you're going to bet everything on them taking out 2 or 3 pokemon. Give your protect/toxicers or double team toxicers leftovers and your heaviest hitters shell bell. I know it seems like common sense but most battle tower teams don't do this.

Everyone's pokes focus on 1 or 2 hit KO pokes with powerful moves. Powerful moves don't always work out. ie hyperbeam missing when it needs to hit. Having the right recovery item eases the amount of damage you receive while keeping you in the game longer. Berries also can help in recovery. There are berries that recover health and will cause confusion if it's not the right type of pokemon. These berries help if you have pokemon that know flail or reversal. Yes it does take off a little from your attack, but you don’t have to be afraid of hail or sandstorm. If you have 2 pokemon that know rest give one lum berry and the other chesto. Lum berry is good for starting pokemon so that it takes two tries for them to be poisioned /frozen/burned/confused.

3. Rotation is key

The reason why rotation is key is because the computer picks up on your team's plan after the first 4 or so Trainer groups, and starts making counter teams to beat your team. For example I used the following pokemon:

Medicham@bright powder
=calm mind
=psych up
=fire punch
=batton pass

Milotic@chesto or leftovers
=surf
=rain dance
=mirror coat
=recover

Regirock@???
=rock throw
=curse
=explosion
=Return

I used calm mind once to see if they did a stat-up move. The next turn I would fire punch and see if they did the stat-up move again. If so, I fire punched them again until they where almost dead, then psych-up calm mind once or twice, then baton pass. What happened is that the third time in a row I entered the battle tower competition with that team I faced nothing but hazers, mirror coaters, and confusers. The computer made a counter team to my pokes. When I tried using a physical team I was KOed by a double team/toxicer Ludicolo. But I reached the 100 mark by rotating my pokes.


4. Start with weak pokemon

By starting with weak pokemon I mean pokemon that don't have really high base stats. The first 27 battles are against lightweight pokemon with weak stats and possibly are a level lower then they should be, especially in the Lv 50 battle tower. For example, here's a sample combination for the first 14 battles:

Flygon@shell bell
=crunch
=flamethrower
=fly
=screech(really helps when you have high defense and special defense pokemon.)

Claydol@silk scarf
=hyper beam
=light screen
=reflect
=psychic
Claydol operates as a pseudo passer

Cradilly@leftovers
=gigadrain
=recover
=rockslide
=ingrain
Good Sir Houndooms Revenge prefers earthquake over ingrain but to each his own.
(Probably because with Ingrain, you cannot switch out)

This is not the best team to put in there. They have all-right base stats but can be overpowered by a Regi or Salemence. Just remember that you don't see pokemon like that early on, so you can afford to put in your favorite pokemon even if they might not be that strong.


5. Have about 3-4 rotating strategies.

Just like I had my baton pass plan, you need multiple plans to win 100 straight in the Battle Tower. They need to be put in order so that your current strategy can defeat the computer's previous counter strategy. For example, if you have a team based on brute strength, follow up with a hazing and accuracy team next. What will happen is to beat brute strength the computer sends in double team toxicers and mega stat defense up pokemon. To stop this it would be wise to have Weezing with haze and explosion or destiny bond. Or use a poke with Aerial ace or Swift (these attacks always hit the foe). Only use shockwave pokes if you have no other options. After you use a hazing accuracy plan the computer will respond with either annoyers or brute force pokemon. That's when you must come in and have a balanced stat-up team. A good starting pokemon for that type of team is Ludicolo. Look at this moveset and you'll see why:

Ludicolo@leftovers
double team/protect
leech seed/rain dance
toxic
dive

Protect and dive increases the time for toxic and leech seed to work. With double team in effect it is least likely that a strong move will hit you and even if it does you will recover half of the hit points back if rain dance and leech seed are both in play combined with leftovers.

Specific Strategies:
==============

a) Baton Passers: Start with a pokemon that can baton pass a stat change like double team, bulk up, or calm mind. You should pass to a pokemon that can recover HP to maximize the benefit of the stat increase. Make sure that the stat change can benefit the other two pokemon on your team. It would be bad for a Medicham to baton pass calm mind to a Regirock with no special attacks.

b) Haze/Accuracy: To counter the Baton Pass and Double Team/Toxic strategies you should have a good hazer on your team. By hazing off there stat increase and hitting them with 100% accurate moves your opponents pokemon’s hp will gradually disappear.

c) Brute Force: Bring forth your Metagross and Slakings, that they ravage the battlefield. Seriously, brute force strategy is depending on just attacks. Moves like toxic and double team are never really used. Your goal is to slug out as many of your opponents pokemon as possible while keeping the ratio of your pokemon to his in your favor. Beware of pokemon that use major defense up moves or this plan will fail.

d) Major Defense Up: Of all the plans this one requires time and patience but if done right will lead to victory. Moves like Iron Defense, amnesia, acid armor, and agility are major defensive moves. When balanced with a solid attacker these moves draw out hazers and pseudo hazers. You then quickly dispose of them and defense up. If they bring out a Brute Force pokemon, then you just defense up and do a recovery move. Eventually your opponent’s attacks will do very little and they will be forced to struggle. By forcing your opponent’s pokemon to struggle you have almost guaranteed your victory. The only flaw in this plan is if your pokemon has offensive moves will very little PP.

e) Double team Toxicers: This plan of attack is great if you can pull it off. But most of the pokemon that do this effectively don’t have the best defense stats all except Ludicolo and Skarmory. To do this plan you must have the following moves on one pokemon. Those moves are toxic, double team, and preferably a recovery move. The best item to have with a double teamer is leftovers. It only adds to your survival rate. First toxic your opponent then start double teaming. Some people prefer protect over double team but the reason I use double team is that it is possible for the opponent to miss for 2 or 3 turns in a row not just every other turn. Now it is possible to have protect, toxic, and double team on the same pokemon but that’s a bit overkill and you leave yourself open to steel pokemon. The flaw of this plan are poekmon that are steel type and pokemon that have 100% accurate moves like swift. That is why I would recommend that you have focus punch on your double team toxicer to deal with steel pokemon that don’t know 100% accurate moves.

f) Annoyers: This plan is the most complicated of all and should only be done by pros. It involves putting in movesets that prevent the opponent from attacking or attacking themselves. Common annoyer moves are torment , thunder wave, confuse ray, attraction, disable, and spite. By combining moves like this in various ways you will stop the opponents offense dead in their tracks. While they are suffering you can hit them with whatever attacks you deem fit. Look at the following moveset and strategy:

Manectric@leftovers
=attract
=thunder wave
=bite
=thunderbolt.

If we look closely you can start with either attract or thunder wave. It would best to start with thunder wave and move on to attract. But lets look at all the things that can happen in one turn. The opponent won’t attack due to paralysis, or won’t attack due to attraction, or won’t attack due to flinching; that's 3 obstacles they have to overcome before attacking. That’s a lot. Just imagine if you could confuse them. The only weakness in this plan is that the pokemon that can really pull it of have weak stats. Next if an opponent gets off a strong attack that turns into a critical hit you are in trouble.

6. Houndoom Revenge's Strategy

I refer to this as the "Split Strategy". The following was posted for this section by Good Sir HR:

"When you make a team you could also focus on three separate strategies, one for each pokemon. Have an annoyer, a tank, and a sweeper, that way it takes more battles for the computer to find a good counter team. This is risky as dividing the team strategy could make it easier for the computer as well if it gets the perfect counter team. You need be careful and look at all the possible pokemon AND their movesets. They don't necissarily have to have SE moves agaisnt you but if their type is right they could be resistant against two or all of your pokemon which is very bad. It is possible to get more than 100 wins without rotating but it is harder and requires some luck. There is no way to get more than 100 wins without some luck, so if you fail just try again."

Well, that's it. As darklogos says: "Be smart. Be courageous. Battle well."