“Keying” in on Rotom’s new forms!

September 30, 2008 | 34 Comments

“Its body is composed of plasma. It is known to infiltrate electronic devices and wreak havoc” – Pokédex

Pokémon Platinum, released in Japan on September 13th, gives new meaning to those faithful words that our pokédex’s once spoke. As many of you may already know Rotom will be getting a whole new bag of tricks when household appliances run aMUK in Shinnoh!

Starting on September 28, 2008 and lasting until November 4, 2008, Nintendo is giving away a secret key to all Pokemon Platinum owners with WIFI access. The secret key unlocks a hidden room in Team Galactic’s hideout in Eterna City and can be downloaded once you have unlocked the mystery gift function.

Obtaining the Secret Key…

To receive the secret key you first have to unlock the mystery gift option. Just like in Diamond & Pearl you simply go to the 3rd floor and tell the news reporter…Everyone / Happy…and then…WI-FI / Connection. This was a little difficult since it’s all in japanese, but I simply checked on my Pearl game to see where the words where located in english and then found them in japanese!

After you have unlocked the mystery gift function, select the Get Via Wireless button and TA-DA!!!

Obtaining Rotom…

Just like in Diamond & Pearl you can only find Rotom inside a TV in the Old Chateau at night. Once you have captured him in platinum or traded him over from Diamond or Pearl you can head to Team Galactic’s hideout.

Taking on new forms…

After you have beaten Team Galactic in Eterna City, go back to the first room. In the upper left hand corner of the room is a hidden entrance that leads to a new room containing 5 household appliances. Simply go up to the wall and press the A button and your secret key will open the hidden entranceway. With Rotom(s) in your party simply stand in front of the appliance that you want Rotom to posses and press the A button. If your Rotom already knows 4 moves then it will ask you if you want to learn a new move depending on which Appliance you pick.

Here is a chart of each of Rotoms’s new forms and the moves it can learn when it posses the appliances…

Additional Facts…

  • Rotom will change back to its original form if you select the spot where the appliance it possessing once sat or if you try and trade Rotom while it is possessing an appliance.
  • Rotom’s base stats get a boost when it posses the various appliances return to his old stats when it reverts back to its original form.

  • All of the Rotom’s transformations are still Electric and Ghost types.

  • If you missed out on the secret key event there is still hope!!! Ask a friend who does have the secret key to share the key with you. They can share the key up to 4 times! All they have to do is do is go to the wonder card share the key. All you have to do is go into your Mystery gift function and select the Get From A Friend option. The only draw back is that this is not over WIFI, you have to be close by.

Posted by Toys4life | Filed Under Tips 

Pokemon Farming: Tyrogue

September 28, 2008 | 35 Comments

Tyrogue

My first offering since being named Gym Leader of the Cobble Gym has to be the ultimate fighter Tyrogue. He may not seem like he is that powerful, but he evolves into three impressive fighters: the kickboxing Hitmonlee, the ultimate boxer Hitmonchan and the break-dancing spinner Hitmontop.
Tyrogue will evolve at level 20 and its evolution depends on its attack and defense stats. If the attack is higher than the defense, it will evolve into Hitmonlee who has the highest base attack and speed of Tyrogue’s evolutions. If attack is lower than the defense, it will evolve into Hitmonchan who can learn several elemental punching moves. Though it will have lower base stats in attack and speed than Hitmonlee it won’t have the dreadful defense that his counterpart has. If the attack and defense stats are the same, Tyrogue will evolve into Hitmontop who has equally good base defense and attack stats. All of Tyrogue’s evolutions have excellent base SpDef, but low HP.
Since attack is the name of the game in the fighting gym, all these Tyrogue’s will be Adamant (+Attack, -SpAttack) so if you are trying for the latter evolutions, then you need to EV train them in defense and with their fighting moves they will make mincemeat out of the Geodudes and Gravelers in the Oreburgh Mine or Iron Island. If after level 20 they aren’t evolving into the form you’d like simply press B to stop the evolution and keep up the EV training. Each of these Tyrogues will be holding a Qualot Berry. After you get the evolution you are looking for, then each Qualot Berry that you feed your poke will reduce its defense EVs by 10 and you can start working on its attack Evs.
Each Tyrogue will have an egg move from each evolution:
Mach Punch (Fighting STAB, Power 40, Acc 100:
A first strike move with a STAB boost.
Rapid Spin (Normal, Power 20, Acc 100):
Although it might not be the best use of its power, fighting pokemon are resistant to Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin removes such hazards along with Toxic Spikes, Spikes, Leech Seed and frees itself from trapping moves like Clamp, Fire Spin, Magma Storm, Whirlpool and Sand Tomb.
Hi Jump Kick (Fighting STAB Power 100, Acc 90):
A powerful move, but if it misses the user will take half the damage that it would have inflicted on the opponent.
Brick Break (Fighting STAB, Power 75, Acc 100):
A solid STAB move that will break defensive barriers such as Light Screen and Reflect.

Their abilities are:
Steadfast: raises speed one stage (50%) if flinched
Its evolutions are:
Hitmonlee – Reckless: Recoil moves get a 20% boost in power making Hi Jump Kick have a 180 power with is STAB and ability boost, but the recoil damage is upped 30% also.
Hitmonchan – Iron Fist: All punching moves get a 20% boost in power
Hitmontop – Technician: All moves with power of 60 or less get a 50% boost in power

Guts: Attack is boosted one stage (50%) if inflicted by a status such as Burn, Paralyze, or Poison.
Its evolutions are:
Hitmonlee – Limber: Cannot be paralyzed. Hitmonlee relies on his speed and can’t afford to be paralyzed.
Hitmonchan – Keen Eye: Accuracy cannot be lowered by opponents moves either directly by Kinesis or Sand Attack or by secondary effects on moves like Muddy Water or Mirror Shot.
Hitmontop – Intimidate: Lowers opponents attack one stage (50%) upon entering the battle

These Tyrogues will all have a 29+ IV in Attack

  • I will be doing two giveaways on Sept 30, 2008 . Giveaway A will be at 8:30 AM Pacific (11:30 AM Eastern, 4:30 PM British Summer Time). Giveaway B will be at 5:30 PM Pacific (8:30 PM Eastern).
  • Comment with your Name and Friend Code and either A or B for which time you can attend
  • Get a pokémon to trade, I’m not looking for anything particular just something you don’t want. Please attach a shard piece or stone to your pokémon.
  • Please, Only 1 pokémon per person.
  • Make yourself available to Trade (invite->Trade) I will come to you when I’m ready.

My info for this event is:
hcnaR 7
FC: 2965 0548 4423

If you are new to our site, your first comment will be moderated. Don’t worry if your post doesn’t show, we will get to it in time, and you will not miss out!

Posted by Deneves | Filed Under Farming 

Looking at Pokemon: Chimchar

September 24, 2008 | 5 Comments

Chimchar

Looking at Chimchar

Chimchar is a Fire Pokemon that is one of the three starter Pokemon from the Diamond and Pearl games. Chimchar sits at spot 390 in the National Pokedex and can evolve into Monferno (Lvl 14) and then Infernape (Lvl 36). Many compare Chimchar to Torchic from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald. More specifically they refer to Infernape as the Pokemon Blaziken always wanted to be.

Chimchar (and his higher evolved forms) are unusual in that they can perform equally well as Physical Attackers or Special Attackers. Their base Attack (58/78/104) and Special Attack (58/78/104) scores are equal through each evolution. Similarly their Defense (44/52/71) and Special Defense (44/52/71) scores are also equal across evolutions. This allows Chimchar to work as either a Physical or Special Attack Pokemon.

Chimchar has the ability Blaze (Boosts power of Fire moves 50% when at 1/3 HP or less).

Chimchar can be acquired either as your starter Pokemon or via trading with a friend or over the GTS. Unlike in previous games there is a third trainer you encounter who takes the Pokemon neither you nor your rival took at the beginning of the game. Once you have seen a Chimchar you will be able to get one off of the GTS (provided you have made it far enough into the game to unlock the GTS).

Chimchar has a good mix of moves in its move pool that allow a trainer to easily mold it into the role of Physical or Special Attacker (though its complete move pool sets it up better as a Physical Attacker). Flame Wheel (Lvl 17) is the only Physical Fire move this Pokemon learns while leveling up but it does have access to the moves Fire Punch and Blaze Kick via its pool of Egg moves.

On the Special Attack side Chimchar can learn several Fire moves beginning with Ember (Lvl 7), Fire Spin (Lvl 33) and Flamethrower (Lvl 41). Its Egg move pool only contains Heat Wave for Special Attacks while it’s TM/HM pool contains Flamethrower, Fire Blast and Overheat.

Chimchar in Adventure Mode

Most players will find that Chimchar is a very rewarding Pokemon to pick as a starter. Among the starter selection Chimchar is the one who becomes dual type the fastest (Monferno, Lvl 14, Fire/Fighting). Fire Pokemon are also extremely rare in Sinnoh during the early part of the game. Ponyta is the Fire Pokemon you will first encounter in the wild and it only becomes available after you have defeated the Grass/Poison Gym in Eterna City.

A fresh Chimchar (with no special breeding) will know the moves Scratch and Leer. Not a Fire move on the list but that comes quickly with Ember at level 7.

I realize that most players will want to evolve their Chimchar at the first opportunity but there are those who like to keep their Pokemon from evolving and the rest of this article will be written with that idea in mind.

At Level 9 Chimchar will learn the move Taunt and (assuming you have not used any TMs/HMs on him) all further moves learned beyond this point will require replacing an existing move already known.

It is important to understand that Chimchar’s level up moves put him in a better position to be a Special Attacker than they do a Physical Attacker. I say this because the move Nasty Plot becomes available at level 23 while Swords Dance is only available via a TM. These moves do essentially the same thing though one applies to Attack and the other to Special Attack. If you choose not to learn Nasty Plot you can always regain it by going to the Move Maniacs house in Pastoria City but only as long as your Pokemon remains a Chimchar. Nasty Plot is not in the move pool of his later evolutions.

When it comes to Physical moves your first option is to replace Scratch with Fury Swipes at level 15. After that comes Flame Wheel at level 17 and Facade at level 31. Personally I would opt for Fury Swipes at level 15 and replace Ember with Flame Wheel at level 17. If I have not acquired a better Physical move by level 31 Facade will replace Fury Swipes.

When it comes to Special moves Fire Spin at level 33 and Flamethrower at level 41 are your only options. Fire Spin is low power (15) but it also prevents the opponent’s Pokemon from fleeing for 2-5 turns. Fire Spin is also only 70% accurate. Flamethrower is a power house at 95 with a 100% accuracy. It also has a 10% chance of inflicting a Burn condition on your opponent.

Taking a quick look at the Status moves in Chimchar’s move pool we find Nasty Plot (Lvl 23), Torment (Lvl 25) and Slack Off (Lvl 39). We have already discussed Nasty Plot above but what about these other two? Should we drop Taunt (Lvl 9) or Leer to learn these?

Taunt and Torment are similar moves. While Taunt forces the opponent’s Pokemon to only use Attack moves for the next 2-5 turns Torment prevents them from using the same move two turns in a row. Pulling these two off can really annoy an opponent but is it worth setting up? Slack Off is a healing move and restores up to ½ of your max HPs. If you want to go the annoying way then pick Taunt and Torment. If you want to go a little more all-purpose than stick with Nasty Plot and Slack Off.

Adventure Mode Move Breakdown:

Move 1: Scratch -> Fury Swipes -> Facade
Move 2: Leer -> Torment
Move 3: Ember -> Flame Wheel -> Flamethrower
Move 4: Taunt

You might be wondering why I have not bothered to learn Nasty Plot in the above breakdown of moves and why I have instead gone with the Taunt/Torment option. The simple reason is that Nasty Plot is not really useful until you learn Flamethrower. With the low power (15) of Fire Spin it’s simply not worth having Nasty Plot taking up a slot. You could keep Ember until you learn Flamethrower but Flame Wheel has 20 more points of power behind it before boosting with a Nasty Plot/Swords Dance.

Remember, the above breakdown assumes no TM/HM usage during game play.

Competitive Battling Chimchar

As an un-evolved Pokemon Chimchar is not a major player in the competitive battling scene. His fully evolved form Infernape is a major player and it sits in the OU (Over Used) tier. It is at this point that you are likely wondering why anyone would want to field a Chimchar in competitive play.

There are occasions where you will find yourself in a tournament or league with special rules in place. That is where you will find yourself battling with a Chimchar. The un-evolved three stage Pokemon tournament is where you will find Chimchar in use. If the tournament rules allow for non-evolving Pokemon don’t use Chimchar. Pokemon who do not evolve are almost always stronger than un-evolved three stage Pokemon.

All-Purpose Chimchar

This Chimchar does a little bit of everything. It makes good use of its Blaze ability and has a few tricks up its sleeves.

IV: Atk: 252 / SpA: 252 / Spd: 8
Nature: Lonely (Atk+/Def-), Naughty (Atk+/SpD-), Mild (SpA+/Def-), Rash (SpA+/SpD-), Hasty (Spd+/Def-), Naive (Spd+/SpD-)

Move Pool:

Move 1: Heat Wave (Fire 100/90 Egg move)
Move 2: Fire Punch (Fire 75/100 Egg move)
Move 3: Hidden Power (Ice TM10)
Move 4: Thunder Punch (Electric 75/100 Egg move)

Yes, this variant requires proper breading to create but it covers all but one of Chimchar’s weaknesses, Rock. You can swap Brick Break (TM31) in place of Hidden Power (TM10) but then you will still find yourself weak against Ground types and you will no longer have the 50/50 split among Special and Physical moves.

Even though Chimchar has access to Grass Knot (TM86) most Pokemon in his class will be light, thus negating the effectiveness of Grass Knot.

Special Attack Chimchar

This Chimchar focuses entirely on Special Attack and Speed. He hits hard and he hits fast!

IV: HP: 8 / SpA: 252 / Spd: 252
Nature: Modest (SpA+/Atk-), Timid (Spd+/Atk-)

Move Pool:

Move 1: Nasty Plot (Dark Status Lvl 23)
Move 2: Fire Blast (Fire 120/85 TM 3 / Flamethrower (Fire 95/100 Lvl 41/TM 35)
Move 3: Hidden Power (Ice TM 10)
Move 4: Torment (Dark Status Lvl 25)

The option to use Fire Blast or Flamethrower is based on personal preference and risk taking. While Fire Blast is more powerful it is also less accurate. If you have a hold item that increases your Pokemon’s accuracy than feel free to go with Fire Blast. If you find yourself getting “burned” by attacks that miss you can go with flamethrower.

Hidden Power Ice should help take out those pesky Ground types while Torment lets you annoy those Pokemon who only have one attack that can hurt you.

Attack Chimchar

This Chimchar focuses entirely on Attack and Speed. He hits hard and he hits fast!

IV: HP: 8 / Atk: 252 / Spd: 252
Nature: Adamant (Atk+/SpA-), Jolly (Spd+/SpA-)

Move Pool:

Move 1: Swords Dance (Normal Status TM 75)
Move 2: Fire Punch (Fire 75/100 Egg move)
Move 3: Thunder Punch (Electric 75/100 Egg move)
Move 4: Focus Punch (Fighting 150/100 TM 1)

This Chimchar is very similar to the Special Attack Chimchar except he is a little bit better. By starting off with a Swords Dance you set in motion a nearly unbeatable Chimchar. With his high speed Focus Punch is practically guaranteed to result in a series of OHKOs in battle. The only thing this Chimchar can not defend against is a Ground type who is faster than he is.

Other Chimchar:

There are many options for Chimchar and being in the un-evolved tier most competitive battlers are not familiar with it. Some may consider him to be a smaller version of Infernape but that would be a mistake. Many of the power moves associated with Infernape are not in Chimchar’s move pool.

Posted by HMTKSteve | Filed Under Tips 

Pickup

September 20, 2008 | 3 Comments

When Ruby and Sapphire hit the Pokemon scene a new ability came with them. This ability is known as Pickup.

Diamond and Pearl also allow for the Pickup ability and the following Pokemon can have this ability: Aipom, Ambipom, Linoone, Meowth, Munchlax, Pachirusu, Phanpy, Teddiursa and Zigzagoon.

Most players of Ruby and Sapphire made it a point to use their Zigzagoon/Linoone as an HM machine as well as an item finder. Even know I keep a Linoone in my party when training so that I can collect rare stones used for evolution.

If you keep a Pokemon with the Pickup ability in your party there is a 10% chance he will “pick something up” at the end of each battle.

Lv. 30% 10% 4%

 2%
1 – 10
11 – 20
21 – 30
31 – 40
41 – 50
51 – 60
61 – 70
71 – 80
81 – 90
91 – 100

Be aware that some of the rare items only appear if a Pokemon is within a certain level range. For example TM01 Focus Punch can only be found if your Pokemon is between levels 71 and 90. Once your Pokemon turns level 91 he can no longer Pickup a Focus Punch TM.

Posted by HMTKSteve | Filed Under Tips 

Pokemon Farming: Charmander!

September 13, 2008 | 50 Comments


The “Bellyzard” is the staple of Charizards all over the competitive battling scene. These Charmander will be traded to you knowing the following moves: Belly Drum, a move that halves your HP as a cost to maximize your Pokémon’s Atk, with the move Substitute, that brings your Pokémon’s HP down to ¼ health, The Pokémon’s ability, Blaze, is activated giving you a massive STAB Blaze max attack fire fang, capable of OHKO, and the last move, Dragon Claw, provides coverage for those nasty dragons that resist fire type moves and will cause decent damage on all other types of Pokémon.

Substitute: The user makes a copy of itself using some of its HP. The copy serves as the user’s decoy.

Belly Drum: The user maximizes its Attack stat in exchange for HP equal to half its max HP.

Fire Fang: The user bites with flame-cloaked fangs. It may also make the foe flinch or sustain a burn.

Dragon Claw: The user slashes the foe with huge, sharp claws.

These Charmander have the ability:

Blaze: Raises the power of the Pokemon with Blaze’s Fire-type attacks by 1.5x when the Pokemon has less than 34% of its max HP.

All Charmander will hold:

Salac Berry: Raises Speed one stage when HP falls to 25% or less. One-time use.

Rules:
Post your name and FC (even if we’ve traded before I will need it again)
Only 1 Pokémon per person
This is on a first come first serve basis.
I only have 35.
Please do not trade me eggs
Be in the Wi-Fi zone at 4:30pm PST, on September 17th
Make yourself available to Trade (Invite–>Trade) I will come to you when I’m ready.
Items(heart scales and rare candies) are very appreciated but not required.
If you are new to our site, your first comment will be moderated. Don’t worry if your post doesn’t show, we will get to it in time, and you will not miss out!
Voice Chat must be turned off to receive one (press x)

James
1934 0172 6005

Posted by Babael | Filed Under Farming