SOS Battle and Chaining Discussion

[VampirateMace]

As most of you may know SOS battling is when the wild pokemon call for reinforcements, and you can use this calling to chain better pokemon, and even shiny pokemon:

•Defeated Pokémon - 5+ - 1 IV of 31 Guaranteed
•Defeated Pokémon - 10+ - 5% Chance of Hidden Ability
•Defeated Pokémon - 10+ - 2 IVs of 31 Guaranteed
•Defeated Pokémon - 20+ - 10% Chance of Hidden Ability
•Defeated Pokémon - 20+ - 3 IVs of 31 Guaranteed
•Defeated Pokémon - 30+ - 30% Chance of Hidden Ability
•Defeated Pokémon - 30+ - 4 IVs of 31 Guaranteed
•Defeated Pokémon - 70+ - Shiny Pokémon Chance increased by 3 giving a 1 in 1024 chance without Shiny Charm and 1 in 683 chance with Shiny Charm

Things to discuss here:
- Tips and techniques for efficient chaining.
- Good pokemon and moves for fighting against chains.
- What pokemon you're chaining for and why you want it.
- Specific questions directly relating to chaining. No one can help you if you just say you're having trouble chaining, without providing a specific issue.

- Please keep in mind that while it's fine to express frustration or disappointment related to your efforts, please do not turn this into a complain thread.
- Also, keep in mind that this is not the Shiny Hunting Thread, it's okay to mention it, but try to contribute to the general conversation as well.

More Resources:
Serebii ~ SOS Battles
Reddit ~ S/M Chaining Guide

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

For Ditto I bring four specific pokémon:
1) A pokémon that only knows Recycle
2) A pokémon holding a Leppa Berry with Trick or Switcheroo
3) A pokémon knowing False Swipe
4) A pokémon only knowing Memento

What I do is I let the first wild Ditto transform into whatever only knows Recycle (I use a Smeargle for this), then switch to #2 and trick it a Leppa Berry. That Ditto will then use Recycle indefinitely. I then bring its HP down to 1 with False Swipe and activate the Adrenaline Orb. After that I switch to #4. Any Ditto that's called for help transforms into #4 and will kill itself with Memento. I can get to like 30+ calls in less than half an hour this way without even wasting any PP of my own. I use this to get good IV Dittos. Only issue is that if Shiny Ditto appears and you're not paying enough attention to immediately switch it'll transform and then kill itself. If Shiny Imposter Ditto appears there's nothing you can do to catch it even if you pay attention.

 

[Team Volt Grunt]

I'm currently dual hunting for a shiny female Salandit in both Sun and Moon. I'm using male, Cute Charm Sylveon and Wigglytuff to attract the females. They are immune to Dragon Rage and holding Leftovers which makes them heal more damage than Smog and Ember can deal out. Sylveon is protected from burn and poison most of the time thanks to Misty Terrain.

For Ditto I bring four specific pokémon:
1) A pokémon that only knows Recycle
2) A pokémon holding a Leppa Berry with Trick or Switcheroo
3) A pokémon knowing False Swipe
4) A pokémon only knowing Memento

What I do is I let the first wild Ditto transform into whatever only knows Recycle (I use a Smeargle for this), then switch to #2 and trick it a Leppa Berry. That Ditto will then use Recycle indefinitely. I then bring its HP down to 1 with False Swipe and activate the Adrenaline Orb. After that I switch to #4. Any Ditto that's called for help transforms into #4 and will kill itself with Memento. I can get to like 30+ calls in less than half an hour this way without even wasting any PP of my own. I use this to get good IV Dittos. Only issue is that if Shiny Ditto appears and you're not paying enough attention to immediately switch it'll transform and then kill itself. If Shiny Imposter Ditto appears there's nothing you can do to catch it even if you pay attention.

I've seen a strategy that goes one step further using an Alolan Raticate that only knows hidden power (bonus if your Raticate's HP-type is fighting) as the one all the other ditto turn into. The Raticate is able to easily defeat all the ditto that turn into the dark-type Raticate thanks to the fighting type advantage and you are able to tell if a 6IV ditto appears because it's hidden power will be dark and dark is the only type Alolan Raticate is resistant to. Unfortunately it can still have only 4 or 5 perfect IVs, but it's better than just catching random ones after a chain of 30 and hoping for 6.

video here explaining this method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF4F0zRL0Ic&t=13s

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

Isn't 6IV Ditto still only a 1 in 1024 chance after 30+ calls? I'm really not going to bother trying for that, it's insane, even if you can figure out whether or not it's 6IV prior to catching.

 

[Team Volt Grunt]

Isn't 6IV Ditto still only a 1 in 1024 chance after 30+ calls? I'm really not going to bother trying for that, it's insane, even if you can figure out whether or not it's 6IV prior to catching.

still better odds than some things people try to go for.

 

[dementeddurian]

I have a question. Does chaining require defeating the Pokémon on the same side of the field again and again? Or do I have to switch sides when I defeat Pokémon? I'm still figuring out many of the nuances of this mechanic.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

I have a question. Does chaining require defeating the Pokémon on the same side of the field again and again? Or do I have to switch sides when I defeat Pokémon? I'm still figuring out many of the nuances of this mechanic.

Doesn't matter for chaining. In a lot of cases it's preferable to switch after a while to prevent the wild pokémon from running out of PP and killing themselves in Struggle recoil.

 

[VampirateMace]

But make sure the pokemon you leave is from the same family, or the SOS chain will end.

 

[Team Volt Grunt]

the pokemon call for help more often if their health is really low. It's usually most effective to false swipe one and keep it out there for a while and just keep fainting the new ones it calls in. You can look up what attacks the pokemon has and see how much PP they can use until they struggle. If you keep track of how many turns you take, you can switch to a new one before they struggle and break your chain.

 

[Zyst]

I am noticing that some Pokemon seem to not call as often as others of the same species.

I used to chain Abra by switching between them with Mean Look, False Swipe, Recycle, and Faint Sttack smeargle. Some Abras I krpt for callers would call nearly every turn, others would call every third turn, and even some of the infrewuent callers wouldn't get help. And this is at 1 HP.

Has anyone figured out the % likelihood to call for an individual Pokrmon? I know Abra has a call rate of 9 - whatever that really means, knowing the next highest, and maximum, value is 15. Do higher levels call more often? Do they cann more often because they lost more absolute HP (lv 5 abra with HP 1/17 calling less than a level 8 abra with 1/25 HP)? How about per nature?

Also, I'm aware critical hits are supposed to make mons more likely to call. So I do use Dire Hit, and am considering thieving Razor Claw from Kommo-o to make crits 50%. And I'll reteach my Smeargle Sketch and replace Faint Attack with a high crit move, which should make it guaranteed. (Or that at +3 is 50%... Rither way max for SM)

 

[CrimsonAce777]

I am noticing that some Pokemon seem to not call as often as others of the same species.

I used to chain Abra by switching between them with Mean Look, False Swipe, Recycle, and Faint Sttack smeargle. Some Abras I krpt for callers would call nearly every turn, others would call every third turn, and even some of the infrewuent callers wouldn't get help. And this is at 1 HP.

Has anyone figured out the % likelihood to call for an individual Pokrmon? I know Abra has a call rate of 9 - whatever that really means, knowing the next highest, and maximum, value is 15. Do higher levels call more often? Do they cann more often because they lost more absolute HP (lv 5 abra with HP 1/17 calling less than a level 8 abra with 1/25 HP)? How about per nature?

Also, I'm aware critical hits are supposed to make mons more likely to call. So I do use Dire Hit, and am considering thieving Razor Claw from Kommo-o to make crits 50%. And I'll reteach my Smeargle Sketch and replace Faint Attack with a high crit move, which should make it guaranteed. (Or that at +3 is 50%... Rither way max for SM)

Not sure about how frequently they call for help, I do know that every other call will fail (i'm not sure if this is guarunteed, just my experience.)

Pokemon with the abilities: pressure, unnerve, and intimidate make help calls more frequent (thank you Bulbapedia for that info.) and it stacks with a adreline orb. Typically I end up using salamence in first slot, intimidate, first turn I use an adreneline orb, then next turn switch to false swiper since salamance can't learn it for some reason, (weavile has pressure, and CAN learn false swipe, so take that for what it's worth ) usually, With this method, I can get the mon I'm chaining down to low Hp, and they call for help almost every turn, though sometimes it's every like 3ish. Once they do manage to get the help, swap back to sala and start killing the helpers until I get what I'm looking for. The proceed to kill the original caller and catch what I wanted.

I figured all this out trying to complete the dex (still need a 2nd dusk stone... thanks for not giving me one poke pelago stone hunt....)

Once I get that shiny charm for dex completion, I'm going to start shiny hunting for a.... I cannot for the life of me remember its name, kommo-o? Whatever the first form of that line is anyway. So I'd appreciate any tips on chaining him. Moves used/ best area in poni canyon to look, etc.

 

[Zyst]

Yep, I'm aware on those abilities. I have some unnerves and pressure false swipers. (The issue on pressure is the chance of my caller running out of PP).

So the Pokemon you're looking for is Jangmo-o. I've been working on a guide for all S&M chaining and particular strats to employ for a particular hunt.

Bring in a Fairy type, it's only offensive move is Dragon Claw. Tapu Koko, Tapu Bele, and Mawile are the fairies with False Swipe.

Mawile would be preferred with its Intimidate. Of note, all Jangmo-o come with Work Up (30 PP), Screech (40 PP), Iron Defense (15 PP), and Dragon Claw (15 PP). Hakamo-o can be called, and they can carry Headbutt, so you may want to try to keep Jangmo-o as callers. Otherwise Hakamo-o at level 43 and 44 don't have Headbutt. (Even if Mawile resists Headbutt, taking Screeches while they Work Up will lead to hefty damage.)

 

[Unova Yorker]

After getting the shiny charm, I've been trying for a shiny pink Crobat (I'll name Batgirl.)

I'm using a Synchronize Adament Kadabra with 40 Confusions, Thunder Wave, and Kinesis. I have another stronger Pokemon with False Swipes that I switch in when I want to restore PP on Kadabra, at which time I kill the one Zubat, switching to the other to prevent Struggling. I use the amount of PP to keep track of what number Zubat I'm on.

I spent the entire day yesterday trying for this goal and not getting any luck, killing well over 400 Zubats. I'm well aware of the range of 70 to 255 for best odds. Am I just unlucky? Does anyone have similar horror stories or am I just expecting too much and not being persistent enough. If this was more realistic, I'd be surrounded by a mountain of fainted Zubat corpses.

EDIT: OF COURSE Right after I write this, 10 Zubats later I get one. It's a girl too! Used my Friend Ball. =) Never give up!


!!! I have a new question though, I thought if a Pokemon has Synchronize, the wild pokemon that appears has the same nature. I guess that not the case for SOS huh?

 

[Jaxero]

I think I'm doing something wrong guys... Yesterday I tried to get a decent Cutiefly, I killed around 45 and when I finally caught the 46th one... It had awful stats... Am I doing something wrong?

 

[Team Volt Grunt]

!!! I have a new question though, I thought if a Pokemon has Synchronize, the wild pokemon that appears has the same nature. I guess that not the case for SOS huh?

Synchronize only gives you about a 50% chance of having the same nature, and the Synchronizer has to be in battle when the wild pokemon is called in.

I think I'm doing something wrong guys... Yesterday I tried to get a decent Cutiefly, I killed around 45 and when I finally caught the 46th one... It had awful stats... Am I doing something wrong?

did you check it's IVs on the PC?

 

[VampirateMace]

I think I'm doing something wrong guys... Yesterday I tried to get a decent Cutiefly, I killed around 45 and when I finally caught the 46th one... It had awful stats... Am I doing something wrong?

You should have got 4 stats. It would help if you gave some details on what you did and maybe a screenshot. All 46 pokes were from the same battle, right?

 

[Jaxero]

Synchronize only gives you about a 50% chance of having the same nature, and the Synchronizer has to be in battle when the wild pokemon is called in.



did you check it's IVs on the PC?

You should have got 4 stats. It would help if you gave some details on what you did and maybe a screenshot. All 46 pokes were from the same battle, right?

Of course, but I only checked its Iv's on the Pokémon menu, not in PC... Could that be a reason why its stats sucked? xD

 

[windwakemeup]

Of course, but I only checked its Iv's on the Pokémon menu, not in PC... Could that be a reason why its stats sucked? xD

That shouldn't be happening. Have you gotten the IV checker from the guy outside the Battle Tree? If so, then go to the PC and click the "Judge" button on the bottom screen.

 

[poisonfrog13]

all right i have been wanting to post this question for weeks. I have been sos chaining for a 4 or 5 iv ditto and have had no luck. Here goes the list I use munchlax with recycle, dhelmise with switcheroo, and weavile with false swipe. i run the chain for 35 and am still getting dittos with no perfect ivs. none. I dont know what i am doing wrong. I have now played through pokemon blue and gotten to rt 23 to collect dittos and then poke transfer them i collected 8 and no ivs any where near 31. I am looking to get this finished this week i want to be breeding competitive pokemon by the time ultras comes out. any help any questions will be highly appreciated. Thanks again. I am checking them in the computer.


nm I have just answered my own question with youtube. I didnt get to the battle tree and have my computer reset for judging pokemon. and that is now multiple months chasing my tail.

 

[Team Volt Grunt]

I was going to say, you have to be doing something wrong when checking your IVs. It's not possible to get an SOS chain that high and not have perfect IVs and I'm pretty sure all Pokémon transferred from RBY have 3+ perfect IVs.

Good luck finding a good Ditto! There is a unique YouTube video that expands on the Ditto SOS chaining by using an Alolan Raticate with Hidden Power to know when you've found a Ditto with a dark HP, meaning it has a chance at 6 IVs. You may want to give it a watch and see if you find it worthwhile to try it out.