In the final week’s Challenges in Raising Great Pokémon article, we will be looking at the various types of difficulties a trainer could face if they were to raise a Pokémon to have the right conditions for battling.
For more information on this subject, please read on.
Hidden Ability
Examples: Amoonguss, Blaziken, Diggersby, Politoed
Introduced in Generation 5, Hidden Abilities are very useful in making a Pokémon useful. Hidden Abilities are somewhat more troublesome to achieve, though, and there’s no guarantee you would get the Pokémon you want in the Dream World. In Generation 6, it’s about finding the right people to get the Pokémon you want through the Friend Safari. When it comes to breeding, having a Pokémon with three possible abilities is a concern, which is why Everstones are great if you can give it to a parent.
High-Level Move
Examples: Breloom (Spore as Shroomish), Zygarde (Coil), Klinklang (Shift Gear)
Some moves require a high level before you could learn it. That’s where the best moves likely are. Because of this, the experience required is high. While certain Pokémon are fortunate to be able to learn a move through a Heart Scale, some must learn a move by levelling up all the way. This also applies to Pokémon that must learn this move before evolving, because that’s the only time they learn this move, such as Shroomish (Spore) and Surskit (Sticky Web). Interestingly, many major moves on fully-evolved Pokémon are accessible through relearning, rendering this difficulty moot for a lot of them (which is why it was a challenge for me to find examples).
Chain-bred Move
Examples: Aegislash (Wide Guard), Chimecho (Cosmic Power), Tentacruel (Rapid Spin)
This is mainly a concern for Pokémon that could breed. Egg Moves are a great way to expand the choice of moves a Pokémon could learn. There are some moves that are only obtained through chain-breeding, since the Pokémon’s relatives in their Egg Group cannot learn that move except through breeding. It’s troublesome, true, but some moves are worth the trouble. Pokémon that are in the Field Egg Group could skip the trouble and have a male Smeargle learn that move before breeding.
Past-Generation Move
Examples: Clefable (Soft-Boiled), Latias (Defog), Zapdos (Baton Pass)
A move only obtained through a past Generation means you have to migrate that Pokémon over several Generations if you want that move. Some moves are found on TMs, HMs or Move Tutors that are only found in past Generations, making them attractive if those moves are good. There are some that are only give through gifts, making them even harder to get.
Event-only Move
Examples: Chansey (Wish), Genesect (Blaze Kick, Extreme Speed, Shift Gear), Victini (Blue Flare, Bolt Strike, V-Create)
Certain moves are only found on a Pokémon through event, since they couldn’t learn that move otherwise. That would make that specific move(s) exclusive, which means that deleting that move is not recommended, since they are almost always useful to have. This also means that if an event is over, they would be sought after, especially one with the best possible nature. If there is such a Pokémon that learns a move they can’t normally learn, then don’t waste the chance and nab them. They might be useful one day.
Perfect IVs and Compatible Nature
Examples: All Pokémon
Who could forget that to make a great Pokémon, you need to pay attention to the hidden values of a Pokémon? There are various means to make the process easier in Generation 6, such as Legendaries and non-breedable Pokémon having 3 perfect IVs, but it still requires effort and good timing to get the perfect Pokémon if you want to edge out in battle.
And that is all for this series of articles Challenges in Raising Great Pokémon. I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I have writing it.
Thanks for reading.
