Eiyoko
05-09-2007, 12:40 AM
Thought I'd voice my opinion on a way I've utilized to catch numerous legendaries. I hope someone finds it useful. Anything in italics means I'm either skeptical about or it needs more testing...both reasons basically saying the same thing. Anyway, on with this.
Note: This is the guide for those of you whom don't clone Master Balls. That being said, do not contact me asking about that!
~*~*~
First of all, you want to save your game before you pick on your target legendary. Sometimes when the odds are in your favor it's for the worse (i.e. You critical hit and faint the legendary), and then there's always that full-party wipe that some people tend to get. You know who you are.
Have you saved your game? Good! Now, on to more important stuff.
You can't catch a pokemon without using a pokeball, no matter how hard you try. No, none of Team Rocket's methods will work, so don't ask. ^^;
Here's a list of pokeballs that come in handy when hunting those (usually) elusive legendaries. All capture rates are assumed to be default unless otherwise stated. I'm listing any and all possible options, just to be safe.
Dive Ball
-Heightened rate of success when surfing.
Dusk Ball
-Heightened rate of success in caves and at night. A favorite for catching Uxie and Azelf in particular. If you're hunting legendaries at 11:45pm, make sure you have plenty of these. ^.~
Master Ball
-Captures any wild pokemon without fail. Use only as a last resort. Even then, it's usually wise to be stingy with using this thing, including on runners if you want to be that stingy.
Nest Ball
-The lower the wild pokemon's level is compared to your currently released pokemon, the higher the catch rate goes. If it is above, it resumes the normal catch rate. If you're hunting Dialga at level 100 for some very peculiar reason, these might help (but then again, who's facing Dialga at level 100 at THIS point in time???).
Net Ball
-Higher catch rate against bug- and water-type pokemon.
Pokeball
-When all else fails...
Quick Ball
-If you can somehow manage to put a legendary into low HP within the first few turns, this pokeball will be of some use to you. For the best effect, use within the first five turns.
Timer Ball
-I'd like to call this a "second-to-last resort". The longer the battle is taking, the higher the catch rate goes. If the battle has gone on for a very long time and it's down to your timers and your masters, timers just might save you.
Ultra Ball
-A very popular choice for all-round legend hunting. Doesn't have as high a success rate as "environmental" pokeballs (when in respective environments).
Aside from pokeballs, you will also want to get plenty of medicine, a fit and able team of (preferably equipped) pokemon, and knowledge of what you're about to get yourself into.
Note: If you have a pokemon with the move "False Swipe", you're going to have an easier time at this than if you go without it.
Got all that? Great! Time to do the actual catching.
STRATEGIES
Good stuff to do:
Lower accuracy
Lower attack
Lower special attack
Lower evasion
Lower speed
Paralysis
Sleep
Charm
Mean Look (a godsend for those annoying runners!)
BAD stuff to do:
Lower defense (unless it's ridiculously high)
Lower special defense (again, unless it's way too high)
Poison
Burn
Freeze
Confuse
Fire Spin/Wrap/Leech Seed, etc
And any other damage-over-time ability!
The Basic Strategy
The goal here isn't really about the tactics. Just focus on getting the legendary to as low count of HP that you can manage without fainting it; in the meantime keeping your own team from fainting. Then chuck pokeballs at it nonstop. Very common strategy, nothing really special about it.
PP Burn
This strategy may cause your wallet to spontaneously combust, but as far as I can see it works. Wild pokemon have PP too, and they use it the same way your own pokemon do. (Ever look at the pp usage on a freshly-caught pokemon at the beginning of the game?) The tactic is to have the legendary use up all the PP on its good moves (i.e. Dialga's Roar of Time) by simply sitting by and taking the beating like some old punching bag. You may end up fainting alot depending on your level, though. Once the legendary has used up its omfglolawesomez move, you'll have a bit more freedom to punch him around. If you find yourself in a position where there's nothing to heal, status effects and changes are good to have around (lowering accuracy is a splendid idea in this tactic).
---I used this when catching Dialga while underleveled a bit. It saved me alot of stress and worked well for me.
When all else fails...
A) Reset and try again
B) Use your Master Ball x.x
~*~*~
INDIVIDUAL STRATEGIES
For those whom are otherwise stuck
Dialga, the Ruler of Time
Requirements: N/A, part of the main plot in Pokemon: Diamond
Level 47
Type: Dragon/Steel
Abilities: Pressure
Attacks:
Metal Claw (Steel): 35
Dragon Claw(Dragon): 15
AncientPower(Rock): 5
Roar of Time(Dragon): 5 (Requires recharge after use)
Dialga is a part of the plot in Pokemon Diamond, fought at the peak of Mount Coronet (I believe it's called the Spear Pillar or something). From what I hear he isn't too terribly difficult to catch, but since he's part of the plot you may walk in on him underleveled, and that means a very sore rear if you don't know what you're up against.
Be sure to have some pokemon that he's not weak against; in the plot you're coming from a previous boss fight that's about as tough if you came unprepared, and you're not allowed to leave the area when given time to prepare for the Dialga fight. Sorry, no PC runs for you.
The fight itself isn't too rough so long as you keep your wits about you. If you can, try to PP Burn Roar of Time so it doesn't get in your way too much. It has only five uses and requires a recharge after use, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it seriously hurts. Be sure to keep your pokemon healthy long enough to wear out the deity of time, then he's all yours for the taking.
Azelf, the Being of Willpower
Requirements: Defeat/capture Dialga
Level 50
Type: Psychic
Abilities: Levitate
Attacks:
Confusion (Psychic): 25
Uproar (Normal): 10
Future Sight (Psychic): 15
Nasty Plot (Dark): 20
Azelf is the more offensive one of the pixie trio. Keep some weak pokemon with you, as her defense isn't very high. She also tends to have the highest speed. Bring along plenty of dusk balls - in my experience, Azelf tends to be stubborn about being caught - and you'll definitely need a way to lower her Sp.Attack stat, even if you plan to PP Burn her; Nasty Plot is a dangerous move that sharply raises that stat. Lowering her speed is also a good idea.
Uproar negates any form of sleep, so don't bother with trying it; use Paralysis or similar moves instead. Confusion can and will hurt if you're not careful, and it also causes Confusion. Azelf also likes to use Future Sight, which causes a decent amount of psychic damage two turns after use. This basically means that she can hand you a two-for-the-price-of-one deal, so be sure to have plenty of medicine. Once her HP is low...well, you know what to do.
Uxie, the Being of Knowledge
Requirements: Capture/Defeat Dialga
Level 50
Type: Psychic
Ability: Levitate
Attacks:
Confusion (Psychic): 25
Yawn (Normal): 10
Future Sight (Psychic): 15
Amnesia (Psychic): 20
Uxie is the defensive one of the three pixies, and because of that she can be downright annoying. While tending to have the lowest speed, Uxie can use Confusion and Future Sight like her sisters. Uxie can be slept, but she can do the same to your own pokemon with Yawn, which sleeps the target on the next turn after use.
One main thing to look out for, strangely enough, is Amnesia, which raises her Sp.Defense. Let it get out of hand and she'll be the one PP Burning you. Ouch.
In my humble opinion, Uxie is the easier to catch of the trio. The key is to be patient and slowly whittle her HP down while not letting her defenses get too high.
Mesprit, the Being of Emotion
Requirements: Capture/Defeat Dialga
Level 50
Type: Psychic
Ability: Levitate
Attacks: (Not relevant)
Mesprit is a runner. That being said, you can't just waltz up to her and chuck ultra balls at her when her HP is low. She'll be running around the world, trying to play tag with you. Oh, how nice.
No, not really.
Have a bunch of Ultra Balls, Dusk Balls (if it's nighttime), Dive Balls (if she decides to go surfing) and Quick Balls on hand. Run back and forth between two routes until she appears in your vincity. Then run around in some tall grass (or surf if that be the case) and she should appear shortly.
Mean Look and Block are godsends. Make sure the pokemon you're using has higher speed than Mesprit, otherwise she will flee before you get a chance to act.
Heatran
Requirements: National Pokedex
Level 70
Girtana
Requirements: National Pokedex
Level 70
Type: Ghost/Dragon
Ability: Pressure
Attacks:
~*~*~
Hope someone finds this useful. If anyone else has strategies or whatnot, lemme know; I'll credit you if you'd like.
Note: This is the guide for those of you whom don't clone Master Balls. That being said, do not contact me asking about that!
~*~*~
First of all, you want to save your game before you pick on your target legendary. Sometimes when the odds are in your favor it's for the worse (i.e. You critical hit and faint the legendary), and then there's always that full-party wipe that some people tend to get. You know who you are.
Have you saved your game? Good! Now, on to more important stuff.
You can't catch a pokemon without using a pokeball, no matter how hard you try. No, none of Team Rocket's methods will work, so don't ask. ^^;
Here's a list of pokeballs that come in handy when hunting those (usually) elusive legendaries. All capture rates are assumed to be default unless otherwise stated. I'm listing any and all possible options, just to be safe.
Dive Ball
-Heightened rate of success when surfing.
Dusk Ball
-Heightened rate of success in caves and at night. A favorite for catching Uxie and Azelf in particular. If you're hunting legendaries at 11:45pm, make sure you have plenty of these. ^.~
Master Ball
-Captures any wild pokemon without fail. Use only as a last resort. Even then, it's usually wise to be stingy with using this thing, including on runners if you want to be that stingy.
Nest Ball
-The lower the wild pokemon's level is compared to your currently released pokemon, the higher the catch rate goes. If it is above, it resumes the normal catch rate. If you're hunting Dialga at level 100 for some very peculiar reason, these might help (but then again, who's facing Dialga at level 100 at THIS point in time???).
Net Ball
-Higher catch rate against bug- and water-type pokemon.
Pokeball
-When all else fails...
Quick Ball
-If you can somehow manage to put a legendary into low HP within the first few turns, this pokeball will be of some use to you. For the best effect, use within the first five turns.
Timer Ball
-I'd like to call this a "second-to-last resort". The longer the battle is taking, the higher the catch rate goes. If the battle has gone on for a very long time and it's down to your timers and your masters, timers just might save you.
Ultra Ball
-A very popular choice for all-round legend hunting. Doesn't have as high a success rate as "environmental" pokeballs (when in respective environments).
Aside from pokeballs, you will also want to get plenty of medicine, a fit and able team of (preferably equipped) pokemon, and knowledge of what you're about to get yourself into.
Note: If you have a pokemon with the move "False Swipe", you're going to have an easier time at this than if you go without it.
Got all that? Great! Time to do the actual catching.
STRATEGIES
Good stuff to do:
Lower accuracy
Lower attack
Lower special attack
Lower evasion
Lower speed
Paralysis
Sleep
Charm
Mean Look (a godsend for those annoying runners!)
BAD stuff to do:
Lower defense (unless it's ridiculously high)
Lower special defense (again, unless it's way too high)
Poison
Burn
Freeze
Confuse
Fire Spin/Wrap/Leech Seed, etc
And any other damage-over-time ability!
The Basic Strategy
The goal here isn't really about the tactics. Just focus on getting the legendary to as low count of HP that you can manage without fainting it; in the meantime keeping your own team from fainting. Then chuck pokeballs at it nonstop. Very common strategy, nothing really special about it.
PP Burn
This strategy may cause your wallet to spontaneously combust, but as far as I can see it works. Wild pokemon have PP too, and they use it the same way your own pokemon do. (Ever look at the pp usage on a freshly-caught pokemon at the beginning of the game?) The tactic is to have the legendary use up all the PP on its good moves (i.e. Dialga's Roar of Time) by simply sitting by and taking the beating like some old punching bag. You may end up fainting alot depending on your level, though. Once the legendary has used up its omfglolawesomez move, you'll have a bit more freedom to punch him around. If you find yourself in a position where there's nothing to heal, status effects and changes are good to have around (lowering accuracy is a splendid idea in this tactic).
---I used this when catching Dialga while underleveled a bit. It saved me alot of stress and worked well for me.
When all else fails...
A) Reset and try again
B) Use your Master Ball x.x
~*~*~
INDIVIDUAL STRATEGIES
For those whom are otherwise stuck
Dialga, the Ruler of Time
Requirements: N/A, part of the main plot in Pokemon: Diamond
Level 47
Type: Dragon/Steel
Abilities: Pressure
Attacks:
Metal Claw (Steel): 35
Dragon Claw(Dragon): 15
AncientPower(Rock): 5
Roar of Time(Dragon): 5 (Requires recharge after use)
Dialga is a part of the plot in Pokemon Diamond, fought at the peak of Mount Coronet (I believe it's called the Spear Pillar or something). From what I hear he isn't too terribly difficult to catch, but since he's part of the plot you may walk in on him underleveled, and that means a very sore rear if you don't know what you're up against.
Be sure to have some pokemon that he's not weak against; in the plot you're coming from a previous boss fight that's about as tough if you came unprepared, and you're not allowed to leave the area when given time to prepare for the Dialga fight. Sorry, no PC runs for you.
The fight itself isn't too rough so long as you keep your wits about you. If you can, try to PP Burn Roar of Time so it doesn't get in your way too much. It has only five uses and requires a recharge after use, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it seriously hurts. Be sure to keep your pokemon healthy long enough to wear out the deity of time, then he's all yours for the taking.
Azelf, the Being of Willpower
Requirements: Defeat/capture Dialga
Level 50
Type: Psychic
Abilities: Levitate
Attacks:
Confusion (Psychic): 25
Uproar (Normal): 10
Future Sight (Psychic): 15
Nasty Plot (Dark): 20
Azelf is the more offensive one of the pixie trio. Keep some weak pokemon with you, as her defense isn't very high. She also tends to have the highest speed. Bring along plenty of dusk balls - in my experience, Azelf tends to be stubborn about being caught - and you'll definitely need a way to lower her Sp.Attack stat, even if you plan to PP Burn her; Nasty Plot is a dangerous move that sharply raises that stat. Lowering her speed is also a good idea.
Uproar negates any form of sleep, so don't bother with trying it; use Paralysis or similar moves instead. Confusion can and will hurt if you're not careful, and it also causes Confusion. Azelf also likes to use Future Sight, which causes a decent amount of psychic damage two turns after use. This basically means that she can hand you a two-for-the-price-of-one deal, so be sure to have plenty of medicine. Once her HP is low...well, you know what to do.
Uxie, the Being of Knowledge
Requirements: Capture/Defeat Dialga
Level 50
Type: Psychic
Ability: Levitate
Attacks:
Confusion (Psychic): 25
Yawn (Normal): 10
Future Sight (Psychic): 15
Amnesia (Psychic): 20
Uxie is the defensive one of the three pixies, and because of that she can be downright annoying. While tending to have the lowest speed, Uxie can use Confusion and Future Sight like her sisters. Uxie can be slept, but she can do the same to your own pokemon with Yawn, which sleeps the target on the next turn after use.
One main thing to look out for, strangely enough, is Amnesia, which raises her Sp.Defense. Let it get out of hand and she'll be the one PP Burning you. Ouch.
In my humble opinion, Uxie is the easier to catch of the trio. The key is to be patient and slowly whittle her HP down while not letting her defenses get too high.
Mesprit, the Being of Emotion
Requirements: Capture/Defeat Dialga
Level 50
Type: Psychic
Ability: Levitate
Attacks: (Not relevant)
Mesprit is a runner. That being said, you can't just waltz up to her and chuck ultra balls at her when her HP is low. She'll be running around the world, trying to play tag with you. Oh, how nice.
No, not really.
Have a bunch of Ultra Balls, Dusk Balls (if it's nighttime), Dive Balls (if she decides to go surfing) and Quick Balls on hand. Run back and forth between two routes until she appears in your vincity. Then run around in some tall grass (or surf if that be the case) and she should appear shortly.
Mean Look and Block are godsends. Make sure the pokemon you're using has higher speed than Mesprit, otherwise she will flee before you get a chance to act.
Heatran
Requirements: National Pokedex
Level 70
Girtana
Requirements: National Pokedex
Level 70
Type: Ghost/Dragon
Ability: Pressure
Attacks:
~*~*~
Hope someone finds this useful. If anyone else has strategies or whatnot, lemme know; I'll credit you if you'd like.