• Hi all. We have had reports of member's signatures being edited to include malicious content. You can rest assured this wasn't done by staff and we can find no indication that the forums themselves have been compromised.

    However, remember to keep your passwords secure. If you use similar logins on multiple sites, people and even bots may be able to access your account.

    We always recommend using unique passwords and enable two-factor authentication if possible. Make sure you are secure.
  • Be sure to join the discussion on our discord at: Discord.gg/serebii
  • If you're still waiting for the e-mail, be sure to check your junk/spam e-mail folders

4th Gen Recent Happenings Thread

The Teller

King of Half-Truths
Use this team! Honestly, been using unorthodox teams as I’m going through each Gen and I’m rather enjoying it. Idk... freshens the game up, in a way.
I'm using this team! Took me awhile to breed up some Pokemon that don't have just the worst possible natures ever. I didn't go for special egg moves or the best natures either. My biggest fear is that Tyrogue's stats will veer wildly out of control and I won't be able to get Hitmontop. His nature is +Sp. Def/-Sp.Atk, and merely glancing at his stats compared to everyone else, I guess I forgot that he is technically considered a baby Pokemon, cuz he is WEAK. He has Mach Punch to take care of all those normal types early in the game, but for all those poison and bug types? Yeesh. I know I have a huge electric weakness in my team, but honestly...it's Pokemon. Electric types are still pretty rare, and I have ways of dealing with them, and I've been playing for over 20 years, so I know how things go.

I'm at Falkner now, deciding who to give all that delicious exp to. I think Aerodactyl is one of those Pokemon that needs more exp to level up, but others might need it more by virtue of being weaker overall.

EDIT: In Ilex Forest. I'm trying to get this Tyrogue to turn into a Hitmontop, but a freak level up caused his defense to be one point higher than his attack and I saved before I realized. Now I'm trying to pit him against Pokemon with Attack EVs, but nothing's working and he's slowly reaching level 20. If he winds up becoming a Hitmonchan and there's nothing I can do about it, then I might just abandon him and go with the Machop the game gives you in Goldenrod, since I've used Hitmonchan plenty of times by now and I want to try something new. I'd try breeding the Hitmonchan with Ditto since I'm already there, but it would take forever to retrain any given Tyrogue back up to 20.
 
Last edited:

SubtleVVeirdoh

Unova Enthusiast
So I’ve caught the Mascots for SS and Platinum. Lugia has a HORRIBLE nature. Giratina is only slightly better....and I mean slightly.

Since I have yet to obtain all my badges in Sinnoh I continued playing more of Platinum, after beating Cyrus I went to the nearest PC. Swapped my Leafeon for the freshly boxed Giratina aka ‘MF Tina’. Talked to Rowan, traded a Medicham for a Haunter, and eventually found myself in Sunnyshore.

Started challenging the gym yesterday. My Mamoswine and Lucario are both underleveled but I’m trying to remedy that by having them take part in these battles.

Keen to take on the E4, today. Whether it be in SS or Platinum. We’ll See.
 

Mega Altaria

☆~Shiny hunter▢~
So I decided to fly over to Solaceon Town and I then went onto Route 210 to try to grind Steelix and Leafeon for a bit. I then flew back to transfer some Pokémon from Sapphire and the best I transferred for Platinum for that time was Lunatone. I also transferred to SoulSilver so I flew over to Fuchsia City there and one of the Pokémon I transferred there was Azumarill.
 

KyogreThunder

Call of Fate
A few days ago, I trained my Ambipom in Mt.Silver Cave in HeartGold. Suddenly, I encountered the second shiny Phanpy in the game, and caught it in a Level Ball. I checked its nature, and it sadly was Bold, which is useless for a Donphan. I still evolved it and taught it Fire Fang, Thunder Fang and Earthquake. I defeated Cal in Viridian City and saved the game.
 

Mega Altaria

☆~Shiny hunter▢~
I transferred some more Pokémon, including a Torkoal and a Beautifly, to Platinum. I then flew over to Eterna City from Pal Park to enter the Old Chateau. With a Sapphire cartridge in the GBA slot, I went into the room with the glaring eyes and I caught a Gengar there after a number of encounters with many Gastly.
 

The Teller

King of Half-Truths
Coming back to HeartGold and, aw yeah, finagled my way to a Hitmontop! Had to spend all my money on a Protein, but it was worth it. Had no trouble whatsoever with Whitney. In fact, I've never had trouble with Whitney, even way back when, so I never did understand what people were having so much trouble with. I remember getting annihilated by Bugsy back in SS. Gonna wipe out everybody in the National Park before catching a Stantler and heading up to Ecruteak, just because I can.
 

Mega Altaria

☆~Shiny hunter▢~
I flew out of Eterna City to the Pal Park to have more Pokémon transferred to it but I was unable to transfer any to Platinum due to the 24 hour lockout. Instead, I transferred a whole bunch to SoulSilver. There, I obtained a high score of 3010 and I received a Mago Berry as a result of it. I think I also received a Wiki Berry at some point.
 

DLeck6211

Furniture of law enforcement
Slowly leveling up my old Soul Silver team that I transferred to Platinum and trying to get though the Battle Factory. I almost got into the third round of the Battle factory but my cartridge wasn't in right so I lost the progress.

On the Soul Silver side of things, I'm training my team to take on the Elite Four. I did a test run (I saved before entering because I'm cheap like that) and I made it to Karen.

EDIT: oh, and I also got Pokerus for the first time in my Soul Silver run. Fun times.
 
Last edited:

SubtleVVeirdoh

Unova Enthusiast
Some time ago I actually restarted both my Platinum and SS teams. This was due to my mons being like 10/12 levels below the champions’, also most of them didn’t have decent moves.

So I going to try again. Saving the good TMs till the E4. And hopefully I’ll stick with my planned teams, unlike these last playthroughs.

All my mons will be named after Scooby Doo characters. Because October/Halloween.
 

Mega Altaria

☆~Shiny hunter▢~
I transferred the last batch of Pokémon from Sapphire to Platinum and SoulSilver. I got records in both games mostly because I transferred rare and Legendary Pokémon. After that, I flew over to Mt. Silver and I levelled up Nidoking to Lv 41 and Charmeleon to Lv 33.
 

Evanibble

Well-Known Member
After owning the game since it came out, I am finally doing the Battle Frontier in Platinum. I didn't have a lot of patience when I first bought it to actually challenge the facilities, but i'm doing it now and actually really enjoy it. Got the silver print from Battle Castle and am trying the Battle Arcade now.
 

SubtleVVeirdoh

Unova Enthusiast
Current teams:

SS: GatorGhoul (Croconaw), 10KV Ghost (Rotom), Char Gar (Gligar)

Platinum: Soy Sauce (Monferno), Anthos (Exeggcute), Big Wig (Slowpoke), Mrs. Cutlr (Flaffy).

Currently in Goldenrod, leveling up before I take down Whitney (which has never been a problem for me, ever).

In Platinum I caught Gligar and traded it over. Been hitting the Underground to stock up on Heart Scales, in case I need them for SS (or just need them in general).

Edit: removed Gligar since I found an Amber Fossil, named the resulting Aerodactyl ‘Drgn Beast’. Evolved BigWig into a Slowking.

Caught Lapras and Drifloon yesterday, though, I added Lapras to SS. It’ll probably get a nickname like S.S. Ness or something. In SS I’ve made it to and beaten Morty.

Hoping to make it to Veilstone, at the least today.
 
Last edited:

SubtleVVeirdoh

Unova Enthusiast
Finishing off the last two Team Rocket “Boss” battles.

Final team that I’ll be using through the rest of Johto/e4:
  • Kangaskhan
  • Rotom
  • Lapras
  • Feraligatr
  • Aerodactyl
  • Rhyhorn
Might snag a Murkrow for Platinum. Pretty excited to finish the game with this team and to get Rotom into an appliance.....eventually; With Ferali as an exception, I’ve never used these Pokémon in Gen 1/2 or their remakes.

Edit: Entered the E4, half-heartedly, to my surprise I swept Will with Specs-Rotom, and Koga will Aerodactyl. Bruno might be a little harder than them, we’ll see after work.
 
Last edited:

The Teller

King of Half-Truths
So it appears that my faulty HG cartridge DOES work on my 3DS, just not my DS, so the race is back on! When we last left off, I was in Ecruteak City. Now I'm in Cianwood City. The team is still Croconaw, Misdreavus, Aerodactyl, Hitmontop, Yanma, and Sneasel. Everybody's level 30, so I'm pretty much set until Claire.
 

SubtleVVeirdoh

Unova Enthusiast
Wasn’t able to defeat Lance, not unless I’d brought a heaping amount of Full Restores and Revives. Team was severely underwhelming.

Took a break from Gen 7 and started another save file on SS. It’s shaping up to be a good run though.

Chose the FC and picked Totodile, first try, had a Naughty Nature. Mained Toto (Nicknamed: eaux) for the opening part and first gym. Acquired a Dome Fossil after beating Falkner. Egg hatched, a Quiet Togepi came out. Named it Chosen 1.

Traded some things over from Platinum including a Light Ball and a Naive Pikachu.

Currently roaming through the Whirl Islands, on my way to Cianwood.

Happy about this team, hopefully I won’t feel compelled to change members (always a problem for me).

Team: Croconaw, Pikachu, Togetic, Gliscor, Eevee.
 

SubtleVVeirdoh

Unova Enthusiast
I started another Platinum file a few days ago. Chose Chimchar (Chipotle) as I’ve been known to go with Empoleon. So far, I’ve made it to Veilstone and its surrounding areas.

Team: Sycther, Infernape, Lapras, Nidorina; last two should be Mismagius and Togekiss.

On SS, I’ve beaten Jasmine recently and made it to Mahogany Town. Baoba just called last night for me to do my second test.

Team: Feraligatr, Pikachu, Togetic, Gliscor; last two should be Honchkrow and Gallade, switching a Magmar for Togetic at some point.


Made it to Canalave today, atm I’m backtracking to the rest of the routes I’ve yet to Surf. Having fun with this team, though, Platinum feels like it’s dragging compared to how quickly I’ve progressed in SS. Made the trades and my current team is now:

Sycther, Infernape, Lapras, Nidoqueen, Togetic and Misdreavus.

Hopefully after some PUBG with the gf I’ll resume and acquire both the Metal Coat and Shiny Stone, when I visit Iron Island.
 
Last edited:

KyogreThunder

Call of Fate
Today,in Platinum, I used Surf in Mt.Coronet and started battling against the wild Zubat in order to EV train my Donphan in Speed. Suddenly, a shiny Zubat showed up. I decided to avoid weakening it and threw two Dusk Balls, but it broke free. I then used a Luxury Ball and caught the critter. Its nature was Jolly. I nicknamed it Alucard and taught it Fly, also giving it the Soothe Bell. Then, I saved.
 

Shiny Venusaur

Internet Relic
So its' been a minute but earlier this month, I completed my Battle Tower streak of 100+ and finally got my Black Card on my original Diamond file. What a relief it is to be done with it. At some point I'll continue the streak just to see how high I can get it, but at the moment, it stands at 105 straight wins in the single battle room. Since some people may be curious, or may be trying this, I'll provide some notes below. I should also note up front that this is a Platinum team (i.e. move tutors) sent back to Diamond, and only possible because of the recently discovered GenIV and GenV server authentication thing that put past events back online (I say this because while at one time I did have these events, my Platinum file was reset at some point). Anyways, let's go on.

I started my battle tower streak with little to no research on how to actually 'beat' battle tower. I knew enough through my decade of play that key things like boosting moves and substitute were important. My first team, which was Garchomp, Starmie, Blissey went with the mentality that I could just muscle my way through. After I beat Palmer the second time (battle 49) it became apparent to me that this team would not cut it. All the time I had spent breeding this team was only going to get me so far and I was probably playing on borrowed time. Keeping my streak alive by just not playing BT, I started planning how I could go about this. My efforts lead me to an old Smogon thread made for the sole purpose of tackling these in game challenges like Battle Tower and the Battle Frontier. After reading through some people's reports of how they got to 300+, a strategy and team outline became apparent. Abuse the lead, set up, sweep. Most of these teams relied on move tutors from Platinum, specifically the move Trick. Additionally, they almost all followed the build of double dragon and a steel type; most commonly, Latias, Salamance, Registeel (which was often subbed for Scizor if one valued more power for less bulk).

I went to work grinding BP in my Soul Silver game, as paying for tutors with BP was easier than shard. My original team worked well for this, as it never struggled in battles 1-21, netting a good amount of BP at a reasonable rate. I got lucky and discovered that I never actually caught my Latias in Soul Silver from the original Enigma Stone event. I spent a few days SRing to get one that had IV's I was going to be comfortable with, since I only had 1 of these to work with. Having a box of synchronize'd natures and excess Master Balls from other play-through's really came in clutch as I could easily catch and had my nature coming up at a high rate. I then use the now posted Wifi mystery gift events to get the Regi tombs open in Platinum. I could have done this in Emerald and Pal Parked up but I was looking for ease and convince. To beat Emerald, save the Master Ball, get the Regi's active, and then SR wasn't overly appealing. Traded over a spare Master Ball, a Synchro and then went to work on Registeel as well, which took less than an hour. I got lucky with Salamence. On my original Diamond, I had a bunch of breeding rejects of Bagon from back in the day. I was even more lucky to find one that was perfectly usable, and the only reason it was a reject was because at that time, I was breeding for a special Salamence, so an Adamant one with Hydro Pump didn't do to much for me.

Once I got the team prepared, I wanted to get comfortable with it, so I traded it over to Platinum and did a test run. This run ended at 38, and to some of the most absurd hax I've ever experienced in battle tower. However, by this point I was comfortable in how the team handled and new that it took a lot, and I mean A LOT of hax to actively stop this team. I was set. I traded the team over to Diamond, waited for a day where I had nothing going on and said I would just go till I got to 100 or I lost. The big thing for me was never looking at my current record. I didn't want the nerves of knowing I was close, since I already knew that every battle meant so much to begin with. It took a few hours but I got from battle 50 to 105 without really breaking a sweat. There were some scary moments here and there, but for the most part, I cruised.

Team 1:

Garchomp @ Yache berry (lead)
Adamant: 4/252/252 HP/Attack/Speed
187/198/113/84/92/156
Swords Dance
Substitute
Earthquake
Dragon Claw

Starmie @ Life Orb
Timid: 4/252/252 HP/Sp.Atk/Speed
132/86/107/164/108/201
Psychic
Ice Beam
Surf
Thunderbolt

Blissey @ Leftovers
Bold 252/252/4 HP/Defense/Sp.Atk
350/18/66/88/152/68
Flamethrower
Icebeam
Toxic
Softboiled

Team 2:

Latias @ Choice Scarf (lead)
Timid: 252/182/76 HP/Defense/Speed
204/83/135/138/163/160
Trick
Recover
Charm
Thunderwave

Registeel @ Leftovers
Careful: 252/100/146/12 HP/Attack/Defense/Sp.Defense
168/98/183/75/185/69
Substitute
Iron Head
Curse
Amnesia

Salamence @ Lum Berry
Adamant: 252/252/6 Attack/Speed/Sp.Defense
171/212/102/114/99/153
Substitute
Dragon Dance
Outrage
Earthquake


What Team 2 is designed to do is take advantage of the opponents Lead. Latias' only job is to get off a trick, anything else is icing on the cake. Due to the AI almost never switching, you can lock the opponent into a move that's favorable to you setting up. It is much easier to get Registeel set up and going than it is Salamence, however, a Salamence sweep is much more fun.

You ALWAYS want to max unless you absolutely cant. This is an endurance test, not a sprint. Hax pops up whenever it wants, do not take unnecessarily risks. If you think you don't need to max, you're wrong. If you don't think you need a substitute up, you're wrong. Low PP moves on the opponents lead are the hardest to maneuver around. The goal again, is to set up and have a sub and if you do it right, they'll either start to struggle to death while you finish your set up, or they wont be able to touch you at all. Low PP moves like Stone Edge cause them to struggle much faster, giving you less of a set up and really having to prioritize how you set up while also keeping a Substitute up.

HP is important so like I said, Registeel is always the safer bet to get going than Salamence, even if it's longer and more boring to do. Remember, Battle Tower doesn't care about style points. Trick room is something you'll run into occasionally, and if done correctly, they'll be locked into the move. This is a false safe move for Salamence to come in on since Trick room has odd PP, thus leaving you set up with Speed under trick room. I also learned that Psych Up goes through Substitute, so watch out for that. I came a crossed it on both Magnezone and Golduck, which is scary when something suddenly has +6 +6 +6 (and if Magnezone, trapping in Registeel). Camper Leland posed the biggest threat to my streak on two occasions, leading off with Choice Scarf Guillotine Pinsir. This ruins the Trick Strategy and because you lead with a Psychic type, they'll go for Guillotine. You'll have to risk the switch and hope that turn the attack misses. Once a Substitute is up, you'll be fine, just that first turn or two is scary.

Proof:
272e04e468.jpg
c6eec561f1.jpg
b204776770.jpg
f6a851a736.jpg


If anyone has any questions on how to tackle Battle Tower, I'd be happy to answer them!
 
Last edited:
Top