Tips and Tricks: Speed

Speed plays an important role in any battle. Learning how to use speed is one of the most important things you do to become the victor.

There are three main ways to manipulate speed:

#1: Attacks that always go first
This is one rule that I almost always follow. Having a move like quick attack or extreme speed can save your Pokemon from a faint. For example, my Empoleon doesn't have very good speed. Lets say that both battlers are low on HP. Since my Empoleon knows Aqua Jet, it will attack first and live to battle another day.

#2: Low speed can be good!
Some attacks require you to attack second for maximum damage. For example, my Umbreon knows Payback. I WANT it to attack second so Payback will do 100 base damage instead of 50 base damage. Wonder room is very useful for slow Pokemon as well. It inverts speed so that the slower Pokemon get to attack first!

#3: Speed altering moves
Moves that increase your Pokemon's speed ARE NOT BAD! Agility is very important. However, you have to be careful. Moves like Automize are not necessarily the best choice in battle. For Example: Automize will lessen your Pokemon's weight, making moves like Heavy Slam weaker and cause your Pokemon to take less damage from moves like grass knot.

Hope this helps you win more battles!

Shiny Pokemon are in the Air! (Or the tall grass)

I'm sure most of you know what a shiny Pokemon is. For those who don't know, they are Pokemon with a different colour scheme than they are supposed to have. Shiny Pokemon are extreamly rare, happening about only once in every 8191 Pokemon encounters. After 6 years of playing Pokemon, I caught my first shiny!

My first shiny was a Swablu!

A Swablu is hard enough to come by, making this one of my favourite catches of all time! I used the chaining method, where you battle the same Pokemon in a row using the Pokeradar (Only in gen. IV).

I found this like useful for learning the basics of chaining: http://www.pokezam.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5179

By the way, there is a Deoxys event going on in Black and White 2. Be sure to pick one up before May 31st!

Platinum: Moving Foward

Been playing a good amount of Pokemon over the last few days, and I've made a lot of progress. First off, I defeated Cyrus in the distortion world without much of a problem (Jolteon took out majority of Cyrus's Pokemon). After making Cyrus look like a fool, I moved on to Giratina, who I didn't really feel like battling (you get a master ball for a reason). After that whole mess, I was able to move on to Sunyshore. Volkner proved to be a challenge, reason being that I had no one in my team that was good against electric types. Still managed to beat him and move on to Victory Road... the place where Rhydon come to die. I decided to go into the Elite Four strong, so I used no repels. The results were great. Everyone (Except Jolteon, I had to leave him behind so I could take my HM slave) leveled up to around level 50. But of corse, after my Pokemon were tired and beat up, my rival is in impeccable health and demands I fight him (Can't even go to the Pokemon Centre). Still managed to take him out, although it was close. About to enter the league! Wish me luck!

Trainer Tips #1

Today I want to talk about moves that counteract super efective types. For instance, my Slowking has a weakness to dark types. To counteract this weakness, I taught Slowking focus blast, a fighting move (Fighting is super effective towards dark types) and a special move. The fact that focus blast is a special move takes advantage of Slowking's high sp. attack, so that focus blast can take out any dark-type that poses a serious threat to him. These kinds of move match-ups are critical in your quest to become a Pokemon master. Other examples in my team are Umbreon knowing psychic (counters dark and ghost types), Empoleon knowing drill peck (counters grass types), Arcanine knowing thunder fang (counters water) Etc  It is also important that you teach your Pokemon moves that are super effective against types that none of your other moves are good against. Example: My Shelgon had no moves that were good against steel types, teaching him a fire type move allowed Shelgon to hit hard on types that were normally hard for him to damage. A wide variety of move types in your move pool will help you gain an advantage on your opponents.

One more thing that I want to stress, moves that increase stats in-battle ARE NOT BAD. When I first started playing Pokemon, I always got rid of stat-altering moves. However, moves like nasty plot or swords dance can turn an attack that would take away 1/4 of the health bar to a 1-hit KO. Moves like cotton guard and iron defense can turn a sweeper into a tank. Do not underestimate stat-altering moves.

Those are my tips for today.
Red_ out.

Platinum: Catching Up

I know I haven't uploaded much on this topic, so here is where I am. Im at the 4th/5th badge (Wake). So far, the game hase proven easy. Roark was no match for my prinplup. Gardenia proved to be a challenge, considering I had nothing that was good against her Pokemon. Team Galactic is a joke (Lv. 19 zubat? c'mon). Decided to evolve my Eevee that I got from Bebe into a Jolteon, one of my better decisions in the game. Jolteon has an awesome speed and sp. attack stat, he is a great sweeper (considering that most of my current team are tanks and walls, I needed a good sweeper). Handled the entire 3rd gym with Jolteon alone. Took out the forth gym with my Slowking. Moving on to the 5th gym, with Crasher Wake. I don't foresee and trouble, considering that everyone on my team handles water pretty well. This run, I decided not to hatch my Togepi (Already have enough Pokemon in my team). I plan on catching some Pikachu to breed for a Pichu, as it will fill up my Pokedex (Plus, volt tackle is just awesome).

Current Team:

Prinplup Lv. 30
Shelgon Lv. 30 (Migrated him from leaf green to diamond to platinum)
Porygon Lv. 29
Jolteon Lv. 28
Slowking Lv. 31
Bidoof (Hm slave)

Vote on Empoleon

I am planning to get rid of hydro cannon.
What should I replace it with?

Leave your answer in the comments!

Red's Hall of Fame #1: Empoleon (Token)

Token was my first Pokemon ever. He is originally from my diamond game, and I am preparing to send him to white 2.  I won the elite four for the first time only because of him. He is my favourite Pokemon and will always be in my party :D

 Stats (Lv. 100):

Attack: 191
Defense: 219
Sp. Attack: 282
Sp. Defense: 244
Speed: 184

Timid Nature

Moves:

Hydro Cannon
Surf
Flash Cannon
Ice Beam