Pokémon Thread XIV: Return of the Pokémon Thread Strikes Back Harder

[Ryuho Tsugu]

So I have a question.
If I trade someone my Tornadus/Thundurus/Landurus, and they turn them into their Therian forms, can they then trade them back to me and I'll get to keep the Therian form?

Therian forms can't be traded.

[Mando Knight]

If someone has a Dream Radar Landorus, they could trade that to you and let you get your own Reveal Glass (unless you're thinking of doing so in the original Black and White, where the key item and the variant Forms don't exist).

[Foeofthelance]

Does anyone know how exactly the Dojo works in Join Avenue? I paid for a Level 8 Special Attack training, saw no change in stats. Leveled up the pokemon, still no change. What exactly do the levels correspond to, if not EVs?

[boj0]

What was the level of the pokemon.in question? Before level 100 the values don't represent final numbers. Also an increase of only 8 is at best a 2 point increase (again, assuming level 100).

[Foeofthelance]

It was a level 1 Lapras that was freshly hatched. It should have taken the ability from 7 to 9, but it didn't.

[Beacon of Chaos]

Speaking of EV training, thanks to my mass-trading of magnemites (I highly recommend it) I now have the Pokerus on my 'mons. If anyone wants to trade for a pokemon that has it, just let me know.

[Aotrs Commander]

It was a level 1 Lapras that was freshly hatched. It should have taken the ability from 7 to 9, but it didn't.

Ah. You won't, at that level for a small change. Like IVs, the EV gain is proportional to level as I understand it, so at low level you won't see a difference.

[boj0]

It was a level 1 Lapras that was freshly hatched. It should have taken the ability from 7 to 9, but it didn't.

Yeah, like I said the only time the numbers are a perfect 4:1 is level 100; the effect is percentage based. At level 1, you gained a whopping .02 in that stat. You will literally not see a change in the stat until level 50 (which will be a 1 point increase).

[Mando Knight]

Ah. You won't, at that level for a small change. Like IVs, the EV gain is proportional to level as I understand it, so at low level you won't see a difference.

Yep. IVs, EVs, and the Base Stats are all added into the part of the stat equation that's multiplied by level expressed as a fraction of 100... see here:

[Foeofthelance]

Ahhh, that makes much more sense. Ok, as long as that's the case, then I have no problem breeding and then running people through the Ring. Is there a limit to how many times a specific pokemon can be trained, like with the various vitamins, or can they just be hammered through it? I'm not worried about money; I've been farming a Breeder for evolutions.

[Mando Knight]

Ahhh, that makes much more sense. Ok, as long as that's the case, then I have no problem breeding and then running people through the Ring. Is there a limit to how many times a specific pokemon can be trained, like with the various vitamins, or can they just be hammered through it? I'm not worried about money; I've been farming a Breeder for evolutions.

There isn't one as far as I know...

[SaintRidley]

Ahhh, that makes much more sense. Ok, as long as that's the case, then I have no problem breeding and then running people through the Ring. Is there a limit to how many times a specific pokemon can be trained, like with the various vitamins, or can they just be hammered through it? I'm not worried about money; I've been farming a Breeder for evolutions.

I would assume once the EVs are maxed out.



Got my pokedex filled tonight and now have my shiny charm. Time to get hunting.

[Beacon of Chaos]

Is there a limit to how many times a specific pokemon can be trained, like with the various vitamins, or can they just be hammered through it? I'm not worried about money; I've been farming a Breeder for evolutions.

You can only raise a stat up to 100 EVs with vitamins. I'm not sure if there's a limit on training.

Got my pokedex filled tonight and now have my shiny charm. Time to get hunting.

Shiny charm? I've never heard of that before. Does it do what I think it does?

[Foeofthelance]

Aaaaand just like that it all became moot, as my DSi is having battery issues. >.< I'm going to have to pull it apart to see if the battery is just loose, or if it needs to be replaced entirely.

In the mean time, I am using my girlfriend's DS. Since its one of the original ones with the expansion slot, I've decided to nuzlocke my way through all five regions in a row, then breed the strongest survivors and take them through B2. After about an hour and a half, I've got:

Starblazer, Level 12 Charmander
Nibbles, Level 10 Rattata
Jackie Lee, Level 10 Mankey
Caterpie, Level 8 Metapod

I'm still in Viridian, beating up level 3 pidgeys, and expect to be there until Caterpie evolves. Then it's into the forest and on to Brock.

[Mando Knight]

Shiny charm? I've never heard of that before. Does it do what I think it does?

Triples the shiny appearance rate? Yes, yes it does.

[Thormag]

Triples the shiny appearance rate? Yes, yes it does.

Does that mean that with the Masuda Method you have a roughly 0.001 chance of getting a shiny?

That... almost bearable.

[Alabenson]

Well I finally got around to beating the elite 4 in White, so I'm moving on to my next major undertaking; breeding an adamant drilbur with perfect 31 IVs.

Step 1: catch a whole lot of mienfoo...

[Beacon of Chaos]

Well I finally got around to beating the elite 4 in White, so I'm moving on to my next major undertaking; breeding an adamant drilbur with perfect 31 IVs.

Step 1: catch a whole lot of mienfoo...

Forgive my ignorance, but why Mienfoo?

[SaintRidley]

Has to be for an egg move. What move, I don't know.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Has to be for an egg move. What move, I don't know.

Don't think so, according to bulbapedia there isn't any egg-move that Mienfoo passes to Drillbur.

On another note, earlier today I was researching for a Sun team and for some reason I was sure that Sceptile got Chlorofyl as a Dream World ability, which they don't get; but that got me thinking. Would it jump to higher tier if they had it? Are there other pokemon that could potentially jump with better abilities or if they lost bad abilities (Truant or Slow Start for example)?

[Agent_0042]

Given that Venusaur's usage skyrocketed, I think Chloro Sceptile would make the OU cut.

[Thormag]

Given that Venusaur's usage skyrocketed, I think Chloro Sceptile would make the OU cut.

Are you talking about a "what if" situation? Because Sceptile does not get Chlorophyll.

If it is a "what if" consider that Venusaur has a Fighting resistance and Bug neutrality, can absorb Toxic Spikes, is more bulky, has Sleep Powder (which is more reliable than Grasswhistle) and arguably, one of the best moves for a mixed sweeper: Growth (in the sun).

[Dusk Eclipse]

Hypotheticaly I think it would work better as a revange killer, normally has an awesome speed (120 IIRC) a usable special attack and a pretty good. I think it could make the cut.

[Thormag]

Only two Pokemon in OU are faster than Sceptile (Jolteon and Tornadus-T), two tie (Alakazam and Dugtrio) and the rest are slower without a Scarf. Sceptile also gets Unburden (and Acrobatics!), so he can get faster if he wants to without a Scarf.

I think the problem with Sceptile and the main reason he's not OU is that 105 SpA is good, but not awesome. He has no real moves to increase his power besides going Specs. Besides he has some movepool problems, his STAB Grass is good, but not awesome and the rest of his coverage moves are Focus Blast (which can be pretty unreliable) and Hidden Power (which lacks "power").

He can also go Physical since he gets Swords Dance and has a pretty good physical movepool, but has an underwhelming 80 base Atk, so that's an issue.

I think Sceptile would require something else besides Chlorophyll to make the cut.

[dgnslyr]

Maybe Chlorophyll and the ability to learn Growth? If it has trouble boosting its offenses, then sun-boosted Growth might fix that problem.

[Alabenson]

Forgive my ignorance, but why Mienfoo?

I have a few reasons.
First off, mienfoo are fairly easy to catch in a location that provides me with a large number of Atk EV pokemon, which means I can provide some basic EV training to a few of my other pokemon while I hunt down specimens that meet my standards.
Furthermore, I happen to have an adamant pawniard with 31 SPD, and I intend to use mienfoo (which belongs to both the humanshape and field egg groups) to pass on both of those traits to the drilbur in question, meaning I'm bound by the RNG that much less.

[Thormag]

I have a few reasons.
First off, mienfoo are fairly easy to catch in a location that provides me with a large number of Atk EV pokemon, which means I can provide some basic EV training to a few of my other pokemon while I hunt down specimens that meet my standards.
Furthermore, I happen to have an adamant pawniard with 31 SPD, and I intend to use mienfoo (which belongs to both the humanshape and field egg groups) to pass on both of those traits to the drilbur in question, meaning I'm bound by the RNG that much less.

Wouldn't it be easier just using a Ditto?

[NineThePuma]

Ditto can't be bred, so you have to get -really- lucky on the catching of them to get good stats.

[Alabenson]

Wouldn't it be easier just using a Ditto?

While breeding a Ditto with perfect IV's would make this exercise much easier, catching the 50+ Dittos I would need to breed said pokemon would be a living nightmare.
And that still wouldn't give me any guarantee of getting the nature that I want.

Edit:
I'm just curious, is there a substantial difference between having a 31 IV and a 30 IV in a stat?

[Agent_0042]

Catching breeding Dittos is not that bad. It's not that uncommon to catch one with a 31 in some stat. If you have HG/SS, there's a patch of grass on the route to the safari zone with a high (30%ish) Ditto encounter rate. It took me a couple of hours, about three boxes, but you only have to do it once.

I'm just curious, is there a substantial difference between having a 31 IV and a 30 IV in a stat?

It's a one point difference at level 100. For speed, it can be the difference between tieing and going first/last; for HP, it only matters if you need to hit a leftovers/substitute number. For all other purposes, you'll never notice.