Official Gym Leader Help Thread

[SicknTwisted94]

I see. I can see why the more, shall we say, professional battlers go for EV training. That takes a lot of patience and dedication to work with. I do remember years ago, before gen4 I think, electrode was know for having the best base speed stat. I do have Arcanine but I haven't done much with him cause I figured type advantage with dark would work better. Most of my issue with Shade is the field boosts his pokemon get. The field boosts definitely add a rather frustrating level of difficulty where type advantage and powering through would've been enough. I even tried going to the abandoned academy in Jasper(?) to try to learn more about the factory and (broken) factory fields. That's why I taught minun charge beam to try to counter it. Pangoro has a chance because his Scrappy ability allows him to hit ghost types and he has decent defense, but he's still out after two boosted hits.The strongest pokemon I have at hand are either psychic or ghost, which is a severe type disadvantage. I had hoped my dark types would be advantageous due to their type advantage against ghost types but as soon as Rotom comes out to play its game over because at that point even my ace Kai is out.

Edited October 2, 2015 by SicknTwisted94

[TimTim]

I see. I can see why the more, shall we say, professional battlers go for EV training. That takes a lot of patience and dedication to work with. Most of my issue with Shade is the field boosts his pokemon get. Pangoro has a chance because his Scrappy ability allows him to hit ghost types and he has decent defense, but he's still out after two boosted hits.The strongest pokemon I have at hand are either psychic or ghost, which is a severe type disadvantage. I had hoped my dark types would be advantageous due to their type advantage against ghost types but as soon as Rotom comes out to play its game over because at that point even my ace Kai is out.

Yeah, your Zoruoark will definitely come in handy in this situation, train it in speed and attack, rotom is vulnerable in term of physical defense, not its special~

[SicknTwisted94]

Ok, so Zoroark will be helpful. Some people advised I get rid of either Houndoom or Mightyena because its not necessary for too many dark types. I'm not too sure what to do with Whiscash. I train him in the grass by Corey's gym, but even using electric attacks against flying types his attack is pitiful. I had trained barboach initially because he had magnitude which I thought might be helpful. Leveled up i'm sure Pangoro can be really helpful because its pretty resistant to ghost attacks even at lv30. What i'm most concerned about is Kai. He is by far my most powerful pokemon, but his psychic typing is a severe weakness. Munna, my second strongest at lv37, I usually try to use hypnosis then nightmare cause it deals a lot of damage. However, the psychic typing makes for an immediate and devastating flaw.

[TimTim]

Ok, so Zoroark will be helpful. Some people advised I get rid of either Houndoom or Mightyena because its not necessary for too many dark types. I'm not too sure what to do with Whiscash. I train him in the grass by Corey's gym, but even using electric attacks against flying types his attack is pitiful. I had trained barboach initially because he had magnitude which I thought might be helpful. Leveled up i'm sure Pangoro can be really helpful because its pretty resistant to ghost attacks even at lv30. What i'm most concerned about is Kai. He is by far my most powerful pokemon, but his psychic typing is a severe weakness. Munna, my second strongest at lv37, I usually try to use hypnosis then nightmare cause it deals a lot of damage. However, the psychic typing makes for an immediate and devastating flaw.

I think soon enough your Whishcash will learn EQ or higher level?Anyhow if that's the case aqua tail and EQ will be your best bet, and i dont know your Whishcash's nature, if its a hindering nature for attack like timid or modest etc, it will not do enough damage for sure, and Kai's role is to set up light screen as a lead(it will protect you for five turns in special defense, with exception of Trevenant, i forgot about exact lineup of shade's team) and then try to switch out to your best physical attack sweeper~Magnitude is an unreliable move plus it doesnt break Shade's field~So i checked, Wishcash learnt EQ by lvl 34 and aqua tail in lvl 28~

Edited October 2, 2015 by TimTim

[SicknTwisted94]

Whiscash has a mild nature and anticipation is his ability. How can I get Kai to relearn Light Screen? And should I keep Mightyena + Houndoom or would Houndoom work better with its fire typing? Zorua has a Careful nature and his ability is Illusion, though I'm not sure how that works against NPCs.

Sorry if i'm aggravating you and sounding like a noob. Admittedly the most strategical i've ever really gotten in Pokemon was the trainer school in Pokemon Stadium 2. Besides that I tend to rely on OP type advantage.

[TimTim]

Whiscash has a mild nature and anticipation is his ability. How can I get Kai to relearn Light Screen? And should I keep Mightyena + Houndoom or would Houndoom work better with its fire typing? Zorua has a Careful nature and his ability is Illusion, though I'm not sure how that works against NPCs.

For the purpose of defeating Shade(which is what makes you stuck), i suggest keeping the two for the moment until this shenanigans of shade is over~There is a move relearner in Onyx ward(i dont know if at this point the quest that looks for the key to open her house is completed by you, but she is the one who is locked outside her home), mine a heart scale and give it to her for relearning any moves that you missed or learn by lvl one in evolved form~ and field effect manual has some guide about field enhancing certain moves, try to see if there is any move that you can use in your party that could be work in your favors~Fire type Houndoom may help check Trevenant while Aqua Tail hits Rotom with Rotom cannot hit Wishcash with its electric attack(unless it pack HP grass that i forgot of)~Dont worry, its okay, everyone was a beginner at some point~So, what i try to say about field boosted moves are the ones like Night Slash, Dark Pulse increased power by 1.3 in Shade's short circuit field, stop Rotom before it discharge(or better yet, Wishcash switch in as it is immune to electric, will not trigger transformation of the field to factory field, factory field buffs up its electric type attack ) and transform the field~Also, Wishcash's muddy water gets boosted, that's what i read on the manual, so, another moveset is Muddy Water then~

Edited October 2, 2015 by TimTim

[SicknTwisted94]

I have talked to the girl that's locked out of her house but I haven't found the key. I saw a video that shows its in a hole in the wall that you have to use rock smash to get into, I just don't know where it is. I thought I found it when I picked up a dull key, but that just opened the locked part of the slums and the killer Pangoro mafia down there (had a try at one of them, got demolished because of their high level and Kai's weakness to both their fighting and dark moves) Luckily i've done some mining so I have a few heart scales in reserve. Is whiscash's mild nature an attack dampener? If so, I'm not sure how to go about boosting it beyond just leveling (cause if its dampened then its basically a penalty to level boosts) there's X(Spec)Attack, but that's only good for one use I think, and protein is too rare (not even available in shop to me) I'm trying to figure out what route I should go to avoid taking such heavy damage from Gengar and Banette because they wipe out half my team before I even get to Rotom.

[TimTim]

I have talked to the girl that's locked out of her house but I haven't found the key. I saw a video that shows its in a hole in the wall that you have to use rock smash to get into, I just don't know where it is. I thought I found it when I picked up a dull key, but that just opened the locked part of the slums and the killer Pangoro mafia down there (had a try at one of them, got demolished because of their high level and Kai's weakness to both their fighting and dark moves) Luckily i've done some mining so I have a few heart scales in reserve. Is whiscash's mild nature an attack dampener? If so, I'm not sure how to go about boosting it beyond just leveling (cause if its dampened then its basically a penalty to level boosts) there's X(Spec)Attack, but that's only good for one use I think, and protein is too rare (not even available in shop to me) I'm trying to figure out what route I should go to avoid taking such heavy damage from Gengar and Banette because they wipe out half my team before I even get to Rotom.

You can go to bulbapedia for knowledge regarding nature, Mild nature boosts special attack(which is good for muddy water in your case) while lowers your physical defense.not necessarily bad as ghost type mainly specialize in special attack(except Golurk, Trevenant and Banette), see the stat menu screen on your pokemons, the blue font stat(?) is the one being hindered, while red is the one being increased, otherwise it's neutral(Quirky nature for instance is all neutral)~Judging from your progress, move relearner is temporary out of the question, so bench Kai for now, take it out afterwards when move relearner is available~Make your team up consisting of Houndoom, Mightyena, Zoroark, Wishcash, Pangoro and Banette(priority moves), Pangoro checks Banette while Zoroark with night slash checks Gengar~

Edited October 2, 2015 by TimTim

[SicknTwisted94]

Night Slash is definitely a worthwhile move within my level limitations, at least until Shade gives me Ghost Claw (everyone says its one of the most useful TMs) i'm not sure what you mean by priority moves though. Moves that go first? If so, vital and circle throw are terrible. They boost accuracy to 100 in exchange for going last (that might just be circle throw) Is there any hold items or something that can help whiscash defend against physic attacks? Also, I do have rock smash, but I think I need strength to get to the key hole. I have the grip claw, would that help with Houndoom's Beat Up or does it only apply to Bind and stuff?

[mde2001]

Honestly, I've been fine with unbred, not ev trained pokemon. The advantages are there but with the time it takes I'm not sure if it is worth your time.

Which pokemon is/are giving you the biggest trouble out of Shade's team? If you let us know we might be able to come up with direct counters to their team.

There are berries that lower psychic damage but I don't think you can get them.

You can't get to the area where the key is for the move relearner as you do need strength.

Edited October 2, 2015 by mde2001

[TimTim]

Night Slash is definitely a worthwhile move within my level limitations, at least until Shade gives me Ghost Claw (everyone says its one of the most useful TMs) i'm not sure what you mean by priority moves though. Moves that go first? If so, vital and circle throw are terrible. They boost accuracy to 100 in exchange for going last (that might just be circle throw) Is there any hold items or something that can help whiscash defend against physic attacks? Also, I do have rock smash, but I think I need strength to get to the key hole. I have the grip claw, would that help with Houndoom's Beat Up or does it only apply to Bind and stuff?

Yes, the moves that always go first is priority moves, sucker punch(only if your opponent is using an attacking move and not status move), shadow sneak, bullet punch etc are all priority moves(actually priorities have degree, check bulbapedia for each move priority level), which may make up for those who have low speed but good attack~grip claw adds bind to 8 times, beat up will always match your party member number which will not be added by grip claw(beat up max is 6 times, since you can only carry six pokemons at a time)~Houndoom dark moves are aided by blackglasses or dread plates(i dont know if you have those)

[Luna]

well you do not really need to have perfect IV or even Ev train to complete this game well besides Pre Nerf Charlotte oh my she was hell forced me to Ev train tanky mons but now she is manageable . if you want to learn more bout IV/ breeding head to this thread Here.

Now as i said u can train at the underground railnet those black spot which woobats spawn endlessly is an awesome spot to train dark types as those woobats are just lvl 20 and can be OHKOed with dark type moves. if you do not know where these woobats spawn just see the spoiler below.

I would train up a mareep as it is an awesome electric type early and late game. yes you should replace houndoom and Mightyena. water type like whishcash/ludicolo would be good. A better psychic type other than munna would be Meowstic M/Meowstick F/woobat with calm mind and simple ability.

You cant get the move tutor house key until you get the HM strength for the later episodes but you do not need the house key in the earlier episodes. you can find some copies of the older/earlier episode in the forums just use the search you should be able to find old links. but yeah i rather not do that cause it is risky to go back to older episodes. so you will have to wait until after you get HM strength to re learn light screen.

[SicknTwisted94]

<mde2001> Specifically Banette is his wall at the moment. From the start I can take out Gengar with Delphox but not without taking major damage. Even if I switch him out to heal Banette gets a OHKO because of field boosts. Minun can change the field but it isn't fast enough to do it before Gengar OHKOs it. I can get lucky against Banette using Pangoro cause he has good defense, but once rotom comes out he'll start making the field change back and forth and use both fields to boost his moves and sweep my team. Also I tried using my shiny Glameow because its a Normal type that knows Dark moves. I thought Ghost couldn't hit Normal types and vice-versa? If so, how is Gengar managing to hit it with Ghost Ball and stuff?

Edited October 2, 2015 by SicknTwisted94

[TimTim]

<mde2001> Specifically Banette is his wall at the moment. From the start I can take out Gengar with Delphox but not without taking major damage. Even if I switch him out to heal Banette gets a OHKO because of field boosts. Minun can change the field but it isn't fast enough to do it before Gengar OHKOs it. I can get lucky against Banette using Pangoro cause he has good defense, but once rotom comes out he'll start making the field change back and forth and use both fields to boost his moves and sweep my team. Also I tried using my shiny Glameow because its a Normal type that knows Dark moves. I thought Ghost couldn't hit Normal types and vice-versa? If so, how is Gengar managing to hit it with Ghost Ball and stuff?

The field(Short Circuit field) renders the Ghost type to hit Normal type i suppose~I handled Gengar with a ParaHex on my first run, Gengar is a glass cannon with high speed and special attack, once you nullify either of the stats, it is useless, if you manage to paralyze it with T-wave(use Ampharos or Emolga over Minun, for Amphy, special defense is better, while for Emolga is faster than Minun and outspeed Gengar), the speed drop will allow your other decent speed mons to take him out of the picture~Your Mightyena with Intimidate and Dark typing should be able to wall Banette, use it to check Banette~ or since your Mightyena packed swagger, Rotom doesnt have physical moves, so swagger it to buff up its physical attack, use its boosted attack against itself in confused stat~

Edited October 3, 2015 by TimTim

[mde2001]

<mde2001> Specifically Banette is his wall at the moment. From the start I can take out Gengar with Delphox but not without taking major damage. Even if I switch him out to heal Banette gets a OHKO because of field boosts. Minun can change the field but it isn't fast enough to do it before Gengar OHKOs it. I can get lucky against Banette using Pangoro cause he has good defense, but once rotom comes out he'll start making the field change back and forth and use both fields to boost his moves and sweep my team. Also I tried using my shiny Glameow because its a Normal type that knows Dark moves. I thought Ghost couldn't hit Normal types and vice-versa? If so, how is Gengar managing to hit it with Ghost Ball and stuff?

Okay, so Banette is causing you the most issues. Banette, for some reason isn't carrying an item so you can't use that to your advantage.

It has Shadow Claw, Knock Off, Shadow Sneak and Destiny Bond and has an adamant nature to boost its physical attack power.

It will destroy anything that isn't physically defensive so you don't want Delphox to come in against it. Shadow sneak is priority so it will do guaranteed first damage to a frail pokemon.

I think Knock Off deals more damage to targets holding an item so you want to make sure no-one is holding anything unless if they really need it.

Other than that you'll just need to get some physicaly bulky pokemon to take some hits.

[SicknTwisted94]

Awesome. Im using trainers in the grand hall to level at the moment and i've decided to add in Esper (as Meowstic M) an Mareep (as Ampharos). A leveled Whiscash and Pangoro will also be kept in, as well as Mightyena. Still not sure whether to bench Delphox or keep him on due to his sheer level because despite being disobedient a higher level means a higher attack and defense.

Mareep (just evolved to Flaafy, I declined Charge and Take Down) currently has a Relaxed nature with the Static ability. Moves are:

1) Thunder Wave

2) Thunder Shock

3) Cotton Spore

4) Electric Terrain

Esper is male, Lv28 (about to evolve to Meowstick) with a Hasty nature and Keen Eye ability. Moves are:

1) Psybeam

2) Fake Out

3) Disarming Voice

4) Psyshock

[TimTim]

Awesome. Im using trainers in the grand hall to level at the moment and i've decided to add in Esper (as Meowstic M) an Mareep (as Ampharos). A leveled Whiscash and Pangoro will also be kept in, as well as Mightyena. Still not sure whether to bench Delphox or keep him on due to his sheer level because despite being disobedient a higher level means a higher attack and defense.

Mareep (just evolved to Flaafy, I declined Charge and Take Down) currently has a Relaxed nature with the Static ability. Moves are:

1) Thunder Wave

2) Thunder Shock

3) Cotton Spore

4) Electric Terrain

Esper is male, Lv28 (about to evolve to Meowstick) with a Hasty nature and Keen Eye ability. Moves are:

1) Psybeam

2) Fake Out

3) Disarming Voice

4) Psyshock

Nice addition of Mareep, T-wave is gonna be crippling to Gengar etc, but i dont know about Meowstic M tho, 'cause its base special attack is 80 ish, not enough to one shot fully evolved mons, meowstic M is best use for support, may be you should give it lightscreen as a precaution~ If i am not mistaken,Hasty nature juices up speed at the expense of defense, which is good to outspeed Gengar and Rotom hopefully since it's not Prankster Meowstic~Keen Eye ability is not necessarily bad but own tempo is better as it evolves into prankster male meowstic(each first, second and hidden ability are corresponding with its evolved form, so keen eye Meowstic M will evlove into Keen Eye Meowstic while own tempo into prankster)~Prankster allows you to set up status moves regardless of speed~

Edited October 3, 2015 by TimTim

[mde2001]

An ampharos would do you well. It has a fair bit of bulk and can probably take a hit from Banette.

Especially if you get reflect on Meowstic to raise your whole team's defense.

[SicknTwisted94]

Yeah, that's what i'm hoping. Still not sure if I should keep Delphox in, and if not, what to replace him with. I feel that Meowstic can be pretty helpful, but one pokemon i'm worried about is Chandelure. Its another of my favorite Y team, and I know its a pretty hard hitter. Water types aren't good with the electrical field so I'm not sure how else to counter his fire type moves besides Houndoom since its both fire and dark.

[TimTim]

Well, since Meowstic light screen cut every special attacks(Chandelure only excels in its special attack) into half, so best if you get to Chandelure before light screen fades away(which is five turns unless you equip light clay to meowstic m which extends Light Screen and Reflect into 8 turns), that allows Houndoom to take a few hits( a different story if your Houndoom has Flash Fire, means no fire move from Chandelure only ghost moves can touch you yet not very effective plus light screen protection)

Edited October 3, 2015 by TimTim

[SicknTwisted94]

Could using an ability capsule switch Houndoom to Flash Fire or will it just change it to Unnerve? I have no idea where I could find light clay since i've mined pretty much all of those stones accessible to me and I can only get to 3rd floor of the department store. Pangoro has Circle Throw, which has a 1/6 chance of forcing Chandelure into battle, but it comes at the cost of going last. Actually, Pangoro can help me with Chandelure because Fight is x2 attack on Fire types and his defense is pretty strong (not sure if thats for phys or spec) What should I do with Delphox? It may not listen to me much, but at higher levels it can take heavier hits and deal heavier damage. Should I keep it as support or replace it (with what, idk)

[TimTim]

Could using an ability capsule switch Houndoom to Flash Fire or will it just change it to Unnerve? I have no idea where I could find light clay since i've mined pretty much all of those stones accessible to me and I can only get to 3rd floor of the department store. Pangoro has Circle Throw, which has a 1/6 chance of forcing Chandelure into battle, but it comes at the cost of going last. Actually, Pangoro can help me with Chandelure because Fight is x2 attack on Fire types and his defense is pretty strong (not sure if thats for phys or spec) What should I do with Delphox? It may not listen to me much, but at higher levels it can take heavier hits and deal heavier damage. Should I keep it as support or replace it (with what, idk)

Fighting doesnt do SE damage on fire, its neutral, since you have meowstic as support, Delphox will have to sit in box for a while(dont worry, you will still need him afterwards, keep it in rotation, many of us keep more than 6 mons, 18 type gyms are just too much for only 6 mons to handle), you save the game before you use the Ability Capsule(we call soft reset) and then if it's not your desirable ability, dont save, and start up the game again and use Ability Capsule, repeat until ability you want surface~Chandelure is best handled by Houndoom then if Flash Fire is in~Pangoro deals with Trevenant(does pangoro have crunch, its dark move and is STAB for Pangoro since it is part Dark type)

Edited October 3, 2015 by TimTim

[SicknTwisted94]

Can a dark/fight type work with ghost/grass? And any suggestions on where I can find more ability capsules? (I had used the 2 I had) And I thought fighting is SE against fire? (it even says so on bulbapedia and serebii)

[TimTim]

Nope, Rock deals SE damage on Fire, not Fighting, and dark type is SE against ghost type, so yeah to your first question, ability capsule hunt can be found in the on the hunt guide, i forgot about those places that yield A.Capsule, but next time before you use A.Capsule, save first to allow soft reset, money and items are so precious in Reborn ~http://www.serebii.net/xy/typechart.shtml type chart, fighting vs fire box, there is no symbol there, so it means neutral damage~

Edited October 3, 2015 by TimTim

[SicknTwisted94]

Oh, ok. Thanks. I just thought it was cause I was checking Houndoom's abilities on serebii (x/y dex) and it said fight is x2 against it