SDA Knowledge Base - User contributions [en]

Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

2009-09-01T15:13:33Z

UltimateDarius: /* Strategies */

[[Category:Nintendo DS]]
[[Category:Games]]

The original set for the Pokémon Generation IV games. When HeartGold & SoulSilver are released in the contries outside of Japan, move this page (and HeartGold/SoulSilver) to the Generation IV engine page and make it a clickable link to this page.

==Diamond and Pearl==

=== Starters ===
'''Turtwig'''

Pros:

* A Grass type PKMN that knows Earthquake naturally at level 32.

* Nice physical tank (High HP, Attack, Defence)

* It evolves to Torterra at level 32, pretty early compared to most starters.

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* It evolves to Grotle at level 18, pretty late compared to most starters.

* Poor attacking movepool (needs to be Torterra to know Stone Edge/Rock Slide to counter Flying types). It can only learn Normal, Grass and Dark moves by level up.

* Slowest Starter out of all 12 starters in the franchise. Heavy luck manipulation with Quick Claw to make up for it.

Overall:
One the worst types for speedrunning Pokémon thanks to its bad type coverage and its limited offensive movepool.

-------------
'''Piplup'''

Pros:

* Evolves to a Water/Steel type that has incredible defensive typing.

* Can learn a Ice move (Ice Beam/Blizzard) to counter Grass and Ground moves to counter Electic types.

* Knows Surf by HM which is always nice.

* Highest Special Attack stat of all Water Starter types.

Cons:

* It's low base speed makes Torrent sweeping a bit difficult

* Movepool is pretty bad at the early game, especially in DP where s/he learns Bubblebeam at level 22 or 24 (depending if the Pokémon is Piplup or Prinplup).

* Limited Special Movepool (Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon and the occasional Hidden Power [ELEC]).

Overall:

* One of the two useful starters in the run. It's been let down by its limited special movepool and low base speed but it makes up for 10+ resistances & 1 immunity which is useful for X-Item boosting.

-----------------

'''Chimchar'''

Pros:

* One of the 2 Fire Types familes in the Sinnoh Reigon, the other is Ponyta.

* Can evolve pretty early at Level 14 and learn Mach Punch to easily win the first Gym.

* Can learn some powerful fighting types (Mach Punch, Drain Punch, Brick Break, Close Combat) to defeat Normal, Dark, Rock, Ice, & Steel types.

* Learning Fire Types moves can KO Bronzors & Bronzongs without any hassle.

* High Attack, Special Attack and Speed makes it a good mixed sweeper and a fantastic Wall Breaker.

* Knows Grass Knot, Stone Edge, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace and Solarbeam.

* With a varied movepool it has some good advantages against 6 of 8 Gym Leaders (most notably Grass, Steel, Ice).

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* Pretty frail, meaning using an X-Item is pretty risky.

* To know Flamethower by level up, it's only possible as Chimchar and it's level 41. Otherwise you would need to go to Fuego Fireworks and pickup a Flamethrower TM.

* Exposed to Water Types and Ground Types, making Quagsire a good counter.

* Gyrados, Crobat, Garchomp and Milotic are the biggest threats.

Overall:

One of the two impressive starters for speed running. It knows some pretty powerful STABs (Same-Type-Attack-Bonus) and can take down most walls (Bronzong, Blissey & Snorlax) with one attack! You got to have a Lucky egg to have a high level difference from your opponents and using 1 X-Attack or Special attack, it should manage to sweep an entire party (Blaze support should help too but it's limited to Fire attacks). Cyrus's Weavile is OHKO with STAB Mach Punch. If the player was really lucky and the Hidden Power type was Electric (Base Power 60-70) it can take down the almighty Gyarados!

=== Useful Pokémon other than the starters ===

'''Bibarel'''

This Pokémon is one of the easiest to catch and most effective HM slave. It can learn at least 6 HMs including:

* Cut

* Rock Smash

* Strength

* Rock Climb

* Surf

* Waterfall

It's reccommended to have Cut, Surf, Waterfall, (and any other move). You can find a level 18 Bibarel nearby Hearthome city. It's a good secondary Pokémon to weaken Prinplup's Defences by using Rock Smash (if you started off as Chimchar) in Pastoria City ('''Hearthome City in Platinum after Fantina''') the finish off with Monferno/Infernape's physical attacks.

Because of the 4 moves limit, '''Geodude''' is a good subsitute as it can learn:

* Strength

* Rock Smash

* Rock Climb

'''Starly'''

If you can wait and catch a '''Staravia''' it's a good Pokémon to abuse Intimidate to lower the Physical Sweeper's high Attack stat (Gyarados, Weavile, Snorlax, Garchomp are good examples).

It can also learn 2 HMs including:

* Fly

* Defog

Since Flash is now a TM, they use the Fog as the game's new "I can't work my way round" element. The fog also effects Pokémon battles too, all of the Pokémon evasioness are raised by 2 stages. So the attacks are more likely to miss.

'''Abra '''

Pros: It knows teleport but we are not fully confirmed if it saves anytime at all, it might save time for the Pastoria City -> Hearthome City warp for DP and possibly Platinum but it has a pretty good special attack stat making a good teammate Pokémon for Double battles.

'''Abra/Kadabra (In-game trade)'''

There is an in-game trade, a Machop for an Abra, that can be made in Oreburgh City, to replace your starter as your main Pokemon in a segmented run.

Pros:
*Enables a teleport back to Jubilife.

*Ties Infernape for base speed (assuming same level)

*Out Special Attacks Empoleon for base speed (assuming same level)

*Kadabra is available WELL before the final stage evolution of any starter.

*Boosted experience immediately.

*This value later stacks with Lucky Egg for a 225% experience rate

*Faster than all Pokemon except the Rival's Floatzel, and ties the Rival's Buizel earlier in the game.

*Quiet Nature (+ special attack, - speed)

*Decent IVs
**HP: 15
**Attack: 15
**Defense: 15
**Special Attack: 25
**Special Defense: 25
**Speed: 20

*Able to score nearly all OHKOs unassisted (less than 10 that need Critical manipulation or x items), and many are neutral effectiveness.

*Learns Shock Wave (useful in the fog, for type coverage, and for PP conservation)

*Learns Grass Knot (again useful for PP conservation and type coverage)

*Learns Shadow Ball (same as above)

*Learns Charge Beam (70% chance of raising special attack), and capable of scoring OHKOs while raising stats.

Cons:
*Preset IVs

*Hidden Power Ice 34

*DISOBEDIENCE:
# Immediately after trade until 2nd gym
# After obtaining Lucky Egg on Route 209 until 4th gym.
# Against Byron in the 6th gym.

*Weak Defenses (only a very minor inconvenience)

Overall: The sheer level of this Pokemon is ridiculous. Combined with decent IVs and a good nature, already pretty godly stats where it counts, reasonable type coverage, and the useage of Charge Beam manipulation makes Kazza so powerful, that only a single X item is needed the entire run, and no Rare Candies are needed at all. Since there is an X special en route on the ground, the Veilstone Dept. Store can be avoided entirely. The one and basically only problem with this is the obedience issue, or lack thereof. If one is willing to power through it, and maybe segment a bit heavier during certain parts of the earlier game, Kadabra should be a shoe-in as a great segmented choice.

'''Medicham'''

It's best to get this one at Mt.Coronet when you are going to face Team Galactic. If Medicham knows any Psychic moves then it would be handy to take down a couple of Croagunks. But this is not fully confirmed since this is the last important double battle in the speed run before the Real Multi Double battle occurs with your friend Barry.

=== Notable differences between the two, for speed running ===
Most of the basic Pokémon in the original Sinnoh dex are pretty pointless, except the Legendary Titans.

==== Dialga ====

'''Diamond version only!'''

Pros:

* Incredible defensive typing, 10+ Resistances, 1 immunity (Poison), 2 Weaknesses (Fighting & Ground)

* Higher HP & Defence stat compared to Palkia.

Cons:

* Poor offensive movepool (in speed running) it requires TMs and most of the good ones needs detours.

* Poor secondary type for offensive (2 types are weak to Steel attacks, 3 types are resistant to Steel attacks)

* Lower Base speed compared to Palkia.

* Signature move is only useful against the trainer's last Pokémon, it needs to recharge like Hyper Beam.

* Fighting is a very popular attacking type and Lucian's Alakazam knows Focus Blast.

==== Palkia ====

'''Pearl version only!'''

Pros:

* Faster than Dialga by 10 base speed points which could make a difference against Cynthia's Garchomp.

* Only has 1 weakness (Dragon) and only Garchomp is a threat in a speed run.

* Better Signature move (Higher Crit Hit Ratio, no turn loss)

* Knows Surf which is a good secondary type STAB move.

Cons:

* Lower HP & Defence than Dialga

* Doesn't have 10+ resistances... only has 3 resistances (4x resist to Water and Fire, 2x resist to Steel).

* Spacial Rend is less powerful than Roar of Time.

=== Strategies ===

'''Basic order to capturing your Pokémon'''
# Starter (Piplup, Turtwig, Chimchar)
# HM Slave 1 Geodude, level 3 near Oreburgh City (Teach Rock Smash, Strength and then Rock Climb).
# Machop (if using the in-game Abra trade)
# HM Slave 2 Bibarel, level 18 near Hearthome City (Teach Rock Smash (vs Prinplup), Cut, Waterfall and Surf).
# HM Slave 3 Starly/Staravia various levels under 2-20ish (Teach Fly and Defog)
# Teleporter: Abra
# Legendary Monster (Palkia/Dialga): Used as backup or sweeping the Elite Four if your main Starter gets KO'd.

----------

Battle Strategies

# Avoiding Double Battles: If you only have one Pokemon on your team who is not KOed, all of the sets of double trainers will not battle you. This, however, does not apply to two seperate trainers who see you at the same time. The exception to this rule is atop the Pillar right before the Legendary, the two Galactic Grunts will force you away if you do not have a double partner.

More updates later

-----------

Good/Free item pickups

To update later

'''TMs'''

TM 35: Flamethrower - Fuego Fireworks

TM 13: Ice Beam - Route 213 (After using Rock Climb)

TM 46: Thief - Eterna City

TM 80: Rock Slide - Mt.Coronet (Before the Spear Pillar)

TM 59: Dragon Pulse - Victory Road

---------

=== Important Battles ===

=== Glitches ===
A normal, glitchless run is pretty straight forward but there are some glitches that it's possible to skip the Elite 4 and go to the Hall of Fame.

'''Elite Four Surf Glitch'''

This glitch is pretty well known in Japan back in late 2006, it became possible to capture Darkrai, Shaymin, and Giratina, it's even possible to skip the Elite Four. It's so popular that Gamefreak and Nintendo were aware of the exploit and fixed it in both the International release and newer copies in Japan.

Pros:

* Very easy to work out, apparently you use the Surf Glitch and then go down a few steps, then go right for 5->10 steps and then go up for roughly 200->500 steps (I can't really remember) and then go left 5->10 steps and then go up to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene.

* Saves 15->20 minutes for both setup, and battling the Elite 4

Cons:

* It has to be done on a Japanese copy that was out since September 2006

* The viewers would need to watch the entire run in Japanese, a speedrun wouldn't be easy to watch as the Battle Animations are turned off (to speed up the game).

'''Jubilife Void'''

There was a tweaking glitch that created black voids which was discovered a few months after the American release, nearly 1.5 years later, players have managed to workout how to capture Darkrai & Shaymin with this glitch and even the lesser known Giratina. It's also possible to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene skipping nearly 4-5 gyms and the Elite 4. '''Insert video/Youtube Link on how to do it.'''

Pros:

* Can be done on any version.

* Not much battle planning.

Cons:

* Requires the underground kit.

* Likely to cause a black screen after loading the game, meaning you're stuck forever.

* The Tweaking glitch (moving the D-Pad in random directions) can be pretty tough on a DS Lite.

* It might '''not''' work on the DSi due to the extra ram that is stored in the system.

* The Jubilife Void to the Hall of Fame Cutscene takes over 2 hours to get there, meaning you are on the Bike riding & no battles triggered making a very, very, very boring run that people would rather watch Clue or Back to the Future on the NES.

-------------

== Platinum ==

=== Changes from Diamond/Pearl ===

* TM 10 Hidden Power is no longer obtained by the Training School in Jubilife City. It is only obtained by collecting 6000 Coins in the Casino (120k pokeyen).

* Hypnosis is now 60% not 70% which is a bit easier when facing against your oppoents who uses this move.

* There is a battle against Cyrus in Celestic Town and he has Golbat, Murkrow and Sneasel.

* You have a battle against your rival as soon as you get your starter. Your rival will always use a stat dropping move (Growl/Leer) and it's not possible to score a critical hit.

* The Distortion world doesn't have any new battles other than Cyrus before facing Giratina.

* Elite 4 has a updated team, most notably the Pokémon from the updated Sinnoh Dex, Cynthia's party level has reduced slightly.

* The later gym leaders has teams updated such as Magneton in Byron's team and Electivire in Volkner's team.

* Updated level up movepools, most notable example is Piplup now learns Bubblebeam at level 18 now and not 22. Scizor can learn Bullet Punch via Heart Scale and Darkrai can learn Nasty Plot instead of Calm Mind via level up.

=== Giratina ===

* Giratina's Another Forme is designed to be a dual tank. But Giratina's Origin Forme is a mixed sweeper... sort of. The problem is that it's Special attack is 120 compared to Dialga/Palkia's 150. When playing the game normally, Giratina would not have the Griseous Orb so he would only be as Another Forme (dual tank). This makes the Attack/Sp.Attack base stats at 100... very low compared the other two titans. He does make up for having very high HP (up to 500+ at level 100). It's a good 'partner' pokémon if your main starter gets KO'd and using (max) revives to get pass the Elite Four.

Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

2009-08-22T22:33:56Z

UltimateDarius: /* Useful Pokémon other than the starters */

[[Category:Nintendo DS]]
[[Category:Games]]

The original set for the Pokémon Generation IV games. When HeartGold & SoulSilver are released in the contries outside of Japan, move this page (and HeartGold/SoulSilver) to the Generation IV engine page and make it a clickable link to this page.

==Diamond and Pearl==

=== Starters ===
'''Turtwig'''

Pros:

* A Grass type PKMN that knows Earthquake naturally at level 32.

* Nice physical tank (High HP, Attack, Defence)

* It evolves to Torterra at level 32, pretty early compared to most starters.

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* It evolves to Grotle at level 18, pretty late compared to most starters.

* Poor attacking movepool (needs to be Torterra to know Stone Edge/Rock Slide to counter Flying types). It can only learn Normal, Grass and Dark moves by level up.

* Slowest Starter out of all 12 starters in the franchise. Heavy luck manipulation with Quick Claw to make up for it.

Overall:
One the worst types for speedrunning Pokémon thanks to it's bad type coverage and it's limited offensive movepool.

-------------
'''Piplup'''

Pros:

* Evolves to a Water/Steel type that has incredible defensive typing.

* Can learn a Ice move (Ice Beam/Blizzard) to counter Grass and Ground moves to counter Electic types.

* Knows Surf by HM which is always nice.

* Highest Special Attack stat of all Water Starter types.

Cons:

* It's low base speed makes Torrent sweeping a bit difficult

* Movepool is pretty bad at the early game, especially in DP where s/he learns Bubblebeam at level 22 or 24 (depending if the Pokémon is Piplup or Prinplup).

* Limited Special Movepool (Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon and the occasional Hidden Power [ELEC]).

Overall:

* One of the two useful starters in the run. It's been let down by its limited special movepool and low base speed but it makes up for 10+ resistances & 1 immunity which is useful for X-Item boosting.

-----------------

'''Chimchar'''

Pros:

* One of the 2 Fire Types familes in the Sinnoh Reigon, the other is Ponyta.

* Can evolve pretty early at Level 14 and learn Mach Punch to easily win the first Gym.

* Can learn some powerful fighting types (Mach Punch, Drain Punch, Brick Break, Close Combat) to defeat Normal, Dark, Rock, Ice, & Steel types.

* Learning Fire Types moves can KO Bronzors & Bronzongs without any hassle.

* High Attack, Special Attack and Speed makes it a good mixed sweeper and a fantastic Wall Breaker.

* Knows Grass Knot, Stone Edge, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace and Solarbeam.

* With a varied movepool it has some good advantages against 6 of 8 Gym Leaders (most notably Grass, Steel, Ice).

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* Pretty frail, meaning using an X-Item is pretty risky.

* To know Flamethower by level up, it's only possible as Chimchar and it's level 41. Otherwise you would need to go to Fuego Fireworks and pickup a Flamethrower TM.

* Exposed to Water Types and Ground Types, making Quagsire a good counter.

* Gyrados, Crobat, Garchomp and Milotic are the biggest threats.

Overall:

One of the two impressive starters for speed running. It knows some pretty powerful STABs (Same-Type-Attack-Bonus) and can take down most walls (Bronzong, Blissey & Snorlax) with one attack! You got to have a Lucky egg to have a high level difference from your opponents and using 1 X-Attack or Special attack, it should manage to sweep an entire party (Blaze support should help too but it's limited to Fire attacks). Cyrus's Weavile is OHKO with STAB Mach Punch. If the player was really lucky and the Hidden Power type was Electric (Base Power 60-70) it can take down the almighty Gyarados!

=== Useful Pokémon other than the starters ===

'''Bibarel'''

This Pokémon is one of the easiest to catch and most effective HM slave. It can learn at least 6 HMs including:

* Cut

* Rock Smash

* Strength

* Rock Climb

* Surf

* Waterfall

It's reccommended to have Cut, Surf, Waterfall, (and any other move). You can find a level 18 Bibarel nearby Hearthome city. It's a good secondary Pokémon to weaken Prinplup's Defences by using Rock Smash (if you started off as Chimchar) in Pastoria City ('''Hearthome City in Platinum after Fantina''') the finish off with Monferno/Infernape's physical attacks.

Because of the 4 moves limit, '''Geodude''' is a good subsitute as it can learn:

* Strength

* Rock Smash

* Rock Climb

'''Starly'''

If you can wait and catch a '''Staravia''' it's a good Pokémon to abuse Intimidate to lower the Physical Sweeper's high Attack stat (Gyarados, Weavile, Snorlax, Garchomp are good examples).

It can also learn 2 HMs including:

* Fly

* Defog

Since Flash is now a TM, they use the Fog as the game's new "I can't work my way round" element. The fog also effects Pokémon battles too, all of the Pokémon evasioness are raised by 2 stages. So the attacks are more likely to miss.

'''Abra '''

Pros: It knows teleport but we are not fully confirmed if it saves anytime at all, it might save time for the Pastoria City -> Hearthome City warp for DP and possibly Platinum but it has a pretty good special attack stat making a good teammate Pokémon for Double battles.

'''Abra/Kadabra (In-game trade)'''

There is an in-game trade, a Machop for an Abra, that can be made in Oreburgh City, to replace your starter as your main Pokemon in a segmented run.

Pros:
*Enables a teleport back to Jubilife.

*Ties Infernape for base speed (assuming same level)

*Out Special Attacks Empoleon for base speed (assuming same level)

*Kadabra is available WELL before the final stage evolution of any starter.

*Boosted experience immediately.

*This value later stacks with Lucky Egg for a 225% experience rate

*Faster than all Pokemon except the Rival's Floatzel, and ties the Rival's Buizel earlier in the game.

*Quiet Nature (+ special attack, - speed)

*Decent IVs
HP: 15
Attack: 15
Defense: 15
Special Attack: 25
Special Defense: 25
Speed: 20

*Able to score nearly all OHKOs unassisted (less than 10 that need Critical manipulation or x items), and many are neutral effectiveness.

*Learns Shock Wave (useful in the fog, for type coverage, and for PP conservation)

*Learns Grass Knot (again useful for PP conservation and type coverage)

*Learns Shadow Ball (same as above)

*Learns Charge Beam (75% chance of raising special attack), and capable of scoring OHKOs while raising stats.

Cons:
*Preset IVs

*Hidden Power Ice 34

*DISOBEDIENCE:
# Immediately after trade until 2nd gym
# After obtaining Lucky Egg on Route 209 until 4th gym.
# Against Byron in the 6th gym.

*Weak Defenses (only a very minor inconvenience)

Overall: The sheer level of this Pokemon is ridiculous. Combined with decent IVs and a good nature, already pretty godly stats where it counts, reasonable type coverage, and the useage of Charge Beam manipulation makes Kazza so powerful, that only a single X item is needed the entire run, and no Rare Candies are needed at all. Since there is an X special en route on the ground, the Veilstone Dept. Store can be avoided entirely. The one and basically only problem with this is the obedience issue, or lack thereof. If one is willing to power through it, and maybe segment a bit heavier during certain parts of the earlier game, Kadabra should be a shoe-in as a great segmented choice.

'''Medicham'''

It's best to get this one at Mt.Coronet when you are going to face Team Galactic. If Medicham knows any Psychic moves then it would be handy to take down a couple of Croagunks. But this is not fully confirmed since this is the last important double battle in the speed run before the Real Multi Double battle occurs with your friend Barry.

=== Notable differences between the two, for speed running ===
Most of the basic Pokémon in the original Sinnoh dex are pretty pointless, except the Legendary Titans.

==== Dialga ====

'''Diamond version only!'''

Pros:

* Incredible defensive typing, 10+ Resistances, 1 immunity (Poison), 2 Weaknesses (Fighting & Ground)

* Higher HP & Defence stat compared to Palkia.

Cons:

* Poor offensive movepool (in speed running) it requires TMs and most of the good ones needs detours.

* Poor secondary type for offensive (2 types are weak to Steel attacks, 3 types are resistant to Steel attacks)

* Lower Base speed compared to Palkia.

* Signature move is only useful against the trainer's last Pokémon, it needs to recharge like Hyper Beam.

* Fighting is a very popular attacking type and Lucian's Alakazam knows Focus Blast.

==== Palkia ====

'''Pearl version only!'''

Pros:

* Faster than Dialga by 10 base speed points which could make a difference against Cynthia's Garchomp.

* Only has 1 weakness (Dragon) and only Garchomp is a threat in a speed run.

* Better Signature move (Higher Crit Hit Ratio, no turn loss)

* Knows Surf which is a good secondary type STAB move.

Cons:

* Lower HP & Defence than Dialga

* Doesn't have 10+ resistances... only has 3 resistances (4x resist to Water and Fire, 2x resist to Steel).

* Spacial Rend is less powerful than Roar of Time.

=== Strategies ===

'''Basic order to capturing your Pokémon'''
# Starter (Piplup, Turtwig, Chimchar)
# HM Slave 1 Geodude, level 3 near Oreburgh City (Teach Rock Smash, Strength and then Rock Climb).
# Machop (if using the in-game Abra trade) Teach Rock Smash, fight the Gym, then trade)
# HM Slave 2 Bibarel, level 18 near Hearthome City (Teach Rock Smash (vs Prinplup), Cut, Waterfall and Surf).
# HM Slave 3 Starly/Staravia various levels under 2-20ish (Teach Fly and Defog)
# Teleporter: Abra
# Legendary Monster (Palkia/Dialga): Used as backup or sweeping the Elite Four if your main Starter gets KO'd.

----------

Battle Strategies

# Avoiding Double Battles: If you only have one Pokemon on your team who is not KOed, all of the sets of double trainers will not battle you. This, however, does not apply to two seperate trainers who see you at the same time. The exception to this rule is atop the Pillar right before the Legendary, the two Galactic Grunts will force you away if you do not have a double partner.

More updates later

-----------

Good/Free item pickups

To update later

'''TMs'''

TM 35: Flamethrower - Fuego Fireworks

TM 13: Ice Beam - Route 213 (After using Rock Climb)

TM 46: Thief - Eterna City

TM 80: Rock Slide - Mt.Coronet (Before the Spear Pillar)

TM 59: Dragon Pulse - Victory Road

---------

=== Important Battles ===

=== Glitches ===
A normal, glitchless run is pretty straight forward but there are some glitches that it's possible to skip the Elite 4 and go to the Hall of Fame.

'''Elite Four Surf Glitch'''

This glitch is pretty well known in Japan back in late 2006, it became possible to capture Darkrai, Shaymin, and Giratina, it's even possible to skip the Elite Four. It's so popular that Gamefreak and Nintendo were aware of the exploit and fixed it in both the International release and newer copies in Japan.

Pros:

* Very easy to work out, apparently you use the Surf Glitch and then go down a few steps, then go right for 5->10 steps and then go up for roughly 200->500 steps (I can't really remember) and then go left 5->10 steps and then go up to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene.

* Saves 15->20 minutes for both setup, and battling the Elite 4

Cons:

* It has to be done on a Japanese copy that was out since September 2006

* The viewers would need to watch the entire run in Japanese, a speedrun wouldn't be easy to watch as the Battle Animations are turned off (to speed up the game).

'''Jubilife Void'''

There was a tweaking glitch that created black voids which was discovered a few months after the American release, nearly 1.5 years later, players have managed to workout how to capture Darkrai & Shaymin with this glitch and even the lesser known Giratina. It's also possible to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene skipping nearly 4-5 gyms and the Elite 4. '''Insert video/Youtube Link on how to do it.'''

Pros:

* Can be done on any version.

* Not much battle planning.

Cons:

* Requires the underground kit.

* Likely to cause a black screen after loading the game, meaning you're stuck forever.

* The Tweaking glitch (moving the D-Pad in random directions) can be pretty tough on a DS Lite.

* It might '''not''' work on the DSi due to the extra ram that is stored in the system.

* The Jubilife Void to the Hall of Fame Cutscene takes over 2 hours to get there, meaning you are on the Bike riding & no battles triggered making a very, very, very boring run that people would rather watch Clue or Back to the Future on the NES.

-------------

== Platinum ==

=== Changes from Diamond/Pearl ===

* TM 10 Hidden Power is no longer obtained by the Training School in Jubilife City. It is only obtained by collecting 6000 Coins in the Casino (120k pokeyen).

* Hypnosis is now 60% not 70% which is a bit easier when facing against your oppoents who uses this move.

* There is a battle against Cyrus in Celestic Town and he has Golbat, Murkrow and Sneasel.

* You have a battle against your rival as soon as you get your starter. Your rival will always use a stat dropping move (Growl/Leer) and it's not possible to score a critical hit.

* The Distortion world doesn't have any new battles other than Cyrus before facing Giratina.

* Elite 4 has a updated team, most notably the Pokémon from the updated Sinnoh Dex, Cynthia's party level has reduced slightly.

* The later gym leaders has teams updated such as Magneton in Byron's team and Electivire in Volkner's team.

* Updated level up movepools, most notable example is Piplup now learns Bubblebeam at level 18 now and not 22. Scizor can learn Bullet Punch via Heart Scale and Darkrai can learn Nasty Plot instead of Calm Mind via level up.

=== Giratina ===

* Giratina's Another Forme is designed to be a dual tank. But Giratina's Origin Forme is a mixed sweeper... sort of. The problem is that it's Special attack is 120 compared to Dialga/Palkia's 150. When playing the game normally, Giratina would not have the Griseous Orb so he would only be as Another Forme (dual tank). This makes the Attack/Sp.Attack base stats at 100... very low compared the other two titans. He does make up for having very high HP (up to 500+ at level 100). It's a good 'partner' pokémon if your main starter gets KO'd and using (max) revives to get pass the Elite Four.

Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

2009-08-22T22:27:33Z

UltimateDarius: /* Useful Pokémon other than the starters */

[[Category:Nintendo DS]]
[[Category:Games]]

The original set for the Pokémon Generation IV games. When HeartGold & SoulSilver are released in the contries outside of Japan, move this page (and HeartGold/SoulSilver) to the Generation IV engine page and make it a clickable link to this page.

==Diamond and Pearl==

=== Starters ===
'''Turtwig'''

Pros:

* A Grass type PKMN that knows Earthquake naturally at level 32.

* Nice physical tank (High HP, Attack, Defence)

* It evolves to Torterra at level 32, pretty early compared to most starters.

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* It evolves to Grotle at level 18, pretty late compared to most starters.

* Poor attacking movepool (needs to be Torterra to know Stone Edge/Rock Slide to counter Flying types). It can only learn Normal, Grass and Dark moves by level up.

* Slowest Starter out of all 12 starters in the franchise. Heavy luck manipulation with Quick Claw to make up for it.

Overall:
One the worst types for speedrunning Pokémon thanks to it's bad type coverage and it's limited offensive movepool.

-------------
'''Piplup'''

Pros:

* Evolves to a Water/Steel type that has incredible defensive typing.

* Can learn a Ice move (Ice Beam/Blizzard) to counter Grass and Ground moves to counter Electic types.

* Knows Surf by HM which is always nice.

* Highest Special Attack stat of all Water Starter types.

Cons:

* It's low base speed makes Torrent sweeping a bit difficult

* Movepool is pretty bad at the early game, especially in DP where s/he learns Bubblebeam at level 22 or 24 (depending if the Pokémon is Piplup or Prinplup).

* Limited Special Movepool (Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon and the occasional Hidden Power [ELEC]).

Overall:

* One of the two useful starters in the run. It's been let down by its limited special movepool and low base speed but it makes up for 10+ resistances & 1 immunity which is useful for X-Item boosting.

-----------------

'''Chimchar'''

Pros:

* One of the 2 Fire Types familes in the Sinnoh Reigon, the other is Ponyta.

* Can evolve pretty early at Level 14 and learn Mach Punch to easily win the first Gym.

* Can learn some powerful fighting types (Mach Punch, Drain Punch, Brick Break, Close Combat) to defeat Normal, Dark, Rock, Ice, & Steel types.

* Learning Fire Types moves can KO Bronzors & Bronzongs without any hassle.

* High Attack, Special Attack and Speed makes it a good mixed sweeper and a fantastic Wall Breaker.

* Knows Grass Knot, Stone Edge, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace and Solarbeam.

* With a varied movepool it has some good advantages against 6 of 8 Gym Leaders (most notably Grass, Steel, Ice).

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* Pretty frail, meaning using an X-Item is pretty risky.

* To know Flamethower by level up, it's only possible as Chimchar and it's level 41. Otherwise you would need to go to Fuego Fireworks and pickup a Flamethrower TM.

* Exposed to Water Types and Ground Types, making Quagsire a good counter.

* Gyrados, Crobat, Garchomp and Milotic are the biggest threats.

Overall:

One of the two impressive starters for speed running. It knows some pretty powerful STABs (Same-Type-Attack-Bonus) and can take down most walls (Bronzong, Blissey & Snorlax) with one attack! You got to have a Lucky egg to have a high level difference from your opponents and using 1 X-Attack or Special attack, it should manage to sweep an entire party (Blaze support should help too but it's limited to Fire attacks). Cyrus's Weavile is OHKO with STAB Mach Punch. If the player was really lucky and the Hidden Power type was Electric (Base Power 60-70) it can take down the almighty Gyarados!

=== Useful Pokémon other than the starters ===

'''Bibarel'''

This Pokémon is one of the easiest to catch and most effective HM slave. It can learn at least 6 HMs including:

* Cut

* Rock Smash

* Strength

* Rock Climb

* Surf

* Waterfall

It's reccommended to have Cut, Surf, Waterfall, (and any other move). You can find a level 18 Bibarel nearby Hearthome city. It's a good secondary Pokémon to weaken Prinplup's Defences by using Rock Smash (if you started off as Chimchar) in Pastoria City ('''Hearthome City in Platinum after Fantina''') the finish off with Monferno/Infernape's physical attacks.

Because of the 4 moves limit, '''Geodude''' is a good subsitute as it can learn:

* Strength

* Rock Smash

* Rock Climb

'''Starly'''

If you can wait and catch a '''Staravia''' it's a good Pokémon to abuse Intimidate to lower the Physical Sweeper's high Attack stat (Gyarados, Weavile, Snorlax, Garchomp are good examples).

It can also learn 2 HMs including:

* Fly

* Defog

Since Flash is now a TM, they use the Fog as the game's new "I can't work my way round" element. The fog also effects Pokémon battles too, all of the Pokémon evasioness are raised by 2 stages. So the attacks are more likely to miss.

'''Abra '''

Pros: It knows teleport but we are not fully confirmed if it saves anytime at all, it might save time for the Pastoria City -> Hearthome City warp for DP and possibly Platinum but it has a pretty good special attack stat making a good teammate Pokémon for Double battles.

'''Abra/Kadabra (In-game trade)'''

There is an in-game trade, a Machop for an Abra, that can be made in Oreburgh City, to replace your starter as your main Pokemon in a segmented run.

Pros:
*Enables a teleport back to Jubilife.

*Ties Infernape for base speed (assuming same level)

*Out Special Attacks Empoleon for base speed (assuming same level)

*Kadabra is available WELL before the final stage evolution of any starter.

*Boosted experience immediately.

*This value later stacks with Lucky Egg for a 225% experience rate

*Faster than all but two pokemon the entire run, and ties one of those two.

*Quiet Nature (+ special attack, - speed)

*Decent IVs
HP: 15
Attack: 15
Defense: 15
Special Attack: 25
Special Defense: 25
Speed: 20

*Able to score nearly all OHKOs unassisted, and many are neutral effectiveness.

*Learns Shock Wave (useful in the fog, for type coverage, and for PP conservation)

*Learns Grass Knot (again useful for PP conservation and type coverage)

*Learns Shadow Ball (same as above)

*Learns Charge Beam (75% chance of raising special attack), and capable of scoring OHKOs while raising stats.

Cons:
*Preset IVs

*Hidden Power Ice 34

*DISOBEDIENCE:
# Immediately after trade until 2nd gym
# After obtaining Lucky Egg on Route 209 until 4th gym.
# Against Byron in the 6th gym.

*Weak Defenses (only a very minor inconvenience)

'''Medicham'''

It's best to get this one at Mt.Coronet when you are going to face Team Galactic. If Medicham knows any Psychic moves then it would be handy to take down a couple of Croagunks. But this is not fully confirmed since this is the last important double battle in the speed run before the Real Multi Double battle occurs with your friend Barry.

=== Notable differences between the two, for speed running ===
Most of the basic Pokémon in the original Sinnoh dex are pretty pointless, except the Legendary Titans.

==== Dialga ====

'''Diamond version only!'''

Pros:

* Incredible defensive typing, 10+ Resistances, 1 immunity (Poison), 2 Weaknesses (Fighting & Ground)

* Higher HP & Defence stat compared to Palkia.

Cons:

* Poor offensive movepool (in speed running) it requires TMs and most of the good ones needs detours.

* Poor secondary type for offensive (2 types are weak to Steel attacks, 3 types are resistant to Steel attacks)

* Lower Base speed compared to Palkia.

* Signature move is only useful against the trainer's last Pokémon, it needs to recharge like Hyper Beam.

* Fighting is a very popular attacking type and Lucian's Alakazam knows Focus Blast.

==== Palkia ====

'''Pearl version only!'''

Pros:

* Faster than Dialga by 10 base speed points which could make a difference against Cynthia's Garchomp.

* Only has 1 weakness (Dragon) and only Garchomp is a threat in a speed run.

* Better Signature move (Higher Crit Hit Ratio, no turn loss)

* Knows Surf which is a good secondary type STAB move.

Cons:

* Lower HP & Defence than Dialga

* Doesn't have 10+ resistances... only has 3 resistances (4x resist to Water and Fire, 2x resist to Steel).

* Spacial Rend is less powerful than Roar of Time.

=== Strategies ===

'''Basic order to capturing your Pokémon'''
# Starter (Piplup, Turtwig, Chimchar)
# HM Slave 1 Geodude, level 3 near Oreburgh City (Teach Rock Smash, Strength and then Rock Climb).
# Machop (if using the in-game Abra trade) Teach Rock Smash, fight the Gym, then trade)
# HM Slave 2 Bibarel, level 18 near Hearthome City (Teach Rock Smash (vs Prinplup), Cut, Waterfall and Surf).
# HM Slave 3 Starly/Staravia various levels under 2-20ish (Teach Fly and Defog)
# Teleporter: Abra
# Legendary Monster (Palkia/Dialga): Used as backup or sweeping the Elite Four if your main Starter gets KO'd.

----------

Battle Strategies

# Avoiding Double Battles: If you only have one Pokemon on your team who is not KOed, all of the sets of double trainers will not battle you. This, however, does not apply to two seperate trainers who see you at the same time. The exception to this rule is atop the Pillar right before the Legendary, the two Galactic Grunts will force you away if you do not have a double partner.

More updates later

-----------

Good/Free item pickups

To update later

'''TMs'''

TM 35: Flamethrower - Fuego Fireworks

TM 13: Ice Beam - Route 213 (After using Rock Climb)

TM 46: Thief - Eterna City

TM 80: Rock Slide - Mt.Coronet (Before the Spear Pillar)

TM 59: Dragon Pulse - Victory Road

---------

=== Important Battles ===

=== Glitches ===
A normal, glitchless run is pretty straight forward but there are some glitches that it's possible to skip the Elite 4 and go to the Hall of Fame.

'''Elite Four Surf Glitch'''

This glitch is pretty well known in Japan back in late 2006, it became possible to capture Darkrai, Shaymin, and Giratina, it's even possible to skip the Elite Four. It's so popular that Gamefreak and Nintendo were aware of the exploit and fixed it in both the International release and newer copies in Japan.

Pros:

* Very easy to work out, apparently you use the Surf Glitch and then go down a few steps, then go right for 5->10 steps and then go up for roughly 200->500 steps (I can't really remember) and then go left 5->10 steps and then go up to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene.

* Saves 15->20 minutes for both setup, and battling the Elite 4

Cons:

* It has to be done on a Japanese copy that was out since September 2006

* The viewers would need to watch the entire run in Japanese, a speedrun wouldn't be easy to watch as the Battle Animations are turned off (to speed up the game).

'''Jubilife Void'''

There was a tweaking glitch that created black voids which was discovered a few months after the American release, nearly 1.5 years later, players have managed to workout how to capture Darkrai & Shaymin with this glitch and even the lesser known Giratina. It's also possible to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene skipping nearly 4-5 gyms and the Elite 4. '''Insert video/Youtube Link on how to do it.'''

Pros:

* Can be done on any version.

* Not much battle planning.

Cons:

* Requires the underground kit.

* Likely to cause a black screen after loading the game, meaning you're stuck forever.

* The Tweaking glitch (moving the D-Pad in random directions) can be pretty tough on a DS Lite.

* It might '''not''' work on the DSi due to the extra ram that is stored in the system.

* The Jubilife Void to the Hall of Fame Cutscene takes over 2 hours to get there, meaning you are on the Bike riding & no battles triggered making a very, very, very boring run that people would rather watch Clue or Back to the Future on the NES.

-------------

== Platinum ==

=== Changes from Diamond/Pearl ===

* TM 10 Hidden Power is no longer obtained by the Training School in Jubilife City. It is only obtained by collecting 6000 Coins in the Casino (120k pokeyen).

* Hypnosis is now 60% not 70% which is a bit easier when facing against your oppoents who uses this move.

* There is a battle against Cyrus in Celestic Town and he has Golbat, Murkrow and Sneasel.

* You have a battle against your rival as soon as you get your starter. Your rival will always use a stat dropping move (Growl/Leer) and it's not possible to score a critical hit.

* The Distortion world doesn't have any new battles other than Cyrus before facing Giratina.

* Elite 4 has a updated team, most notably the Pokémon from the updated Sinnoh Dex, Cynthia's party level has reduced slightly.

* The later gym leaders has teams updated such as Magneton in Byron's team and Electivire in Volkner's team.

* Updated level up movepools, most notable example is Piplup now learns Bubblebeam at level 18 now and not 22. Scizor can learn Bullet Punch via Heart Scale and Darkrai can learn Nasty Plot instead of Calm Mind via level up.

=== Giratina ===

* Giratina's Another Forme is designed to be a dual tank. But Giratina's Origin Forme is a mixed sweeper... sort of. The problem is that it's Special attack is 120 compared to Dialga/Palkia's 150. When playing the game normally, Giratina would not have the Griseous Orb so he would only be as Another Forme (dual tank). This makes the Attack/Sp.Attack base stats at 100... very low compared the other two titans. He does make up for having very high HP (up to 500+ at level 100). It's a good 'partner' pokémon if your main starter gets KO'd and using (max) revives to get pass the Elite Four.

Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

2009-08-22T22:26:54Z

UltimateDarius: /* Useful Pokémon other than the starters */

[[Category:Nintendo DS]]
[[Category:Games]]

The original set for the Pokémon Generation IV games. When HeartGold & SoulSilver are released in the contries outside of Japan, move this page (and HeartGold/SoulSilver) to the Generation IV engine page and make it a clickable link to this page.

==Diamond and Pearl==

=== Starters ===
'''Turtwig'''

Pros:

* A Grass type PKMN that knows Earthquake naturally at level 32.

* Nice physical tank (High HP, Attack, Defence)

* It evolves to Torterra at level 32, pretty early compared to most starters.

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* It evolves to Grotle at level 18, pretty late compared to most starters.

* Poor attacking movepool (needs to be Torterra to know Stone Edge/Rock Slide to counter Flying types). It can only learn Normal, Grass and Dark moves by level up.

* Slowest Starter out of all 12 starters in the franchise. Heavy luck manipulation with Quick Claw to make up for it.

Overall:
One the worst types for speedrunning Pokémon thanks to it's bad type coverage and it's limited offensive movepool.

-------------
'''Piplup'''

Pros:

* Evolves to a Water/Steel type that has incredible defensive typing.

* Can learn a Ice move (Ice Beam/Blizzard) to counter Grass and Ground moves to counter Electic types.

* Knows Surf by HM which is always nice.

* Highest Special Attack stat of all Water Starter types.

Cons:

* It's low base speed makes Torrent sweeping a bit difficult

* Movepool is pretty bad at the early game, especially in DP where s/he learns Bubblebeam at level 22 or 24 (depending if the Pokémon is Piplup or Prinplup).

* Limited Special Movepool (Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon and the occasional Hidden Power [ELEC]).

Overall:

* One of the two useful starters in the run. It's been let down by its limited special movepool and low base speed but it makes up for 10+ resistances & 1 immunity which is useful for X-Item boosting.

-----------------

'''Chimchar'''

Pros:

* One of the 2 Fire Types familes in the Sinnoh Reigon, the other is Ponyta.

* Can evolve pretty early at Level 14 and learn Mach Punch to easily win the first Gym.

* Can learn some powerful fighting types (Mach Punch, Drain Punch, Brick Break, Close Combat) to defeat Normal, Dark, Rock, Ice, & Steel types.

* Learning Fire Types moves can KO Bronzors & Bronzongs without any hassle.

* High Attack, Special Attack and Speed makes it a good mixed sweeper and a fantastic Wall Breaker.

* Knows Grass Knot, Stone Edge, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace and Solarbeam.

* With a varied movepool it has some good advantages against 6 of 8 Gym Leaders (most notably Grass, Steel, Ice).

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* Pretty frail, meaning using an X-Item is pretty risky.

* To know Flamethower by level up, it's only possible as Chimchar and it's level 41. Otherwise you would need to go to Fuego Fireworks and pickup a Flamethrower TM.

* Exposed to Water Types and Ground Types, making Quagsire a good counter.

* Gyrados, Crobat, Garchomp and Milotic are the biggest threats.

Overall:

One of the two impressive starters for speed running. It knows some pretty powerful STABs (Same-Type-Attack-Bonus) and can take down most walls (Bronzong, Blissey & Snorlax) with one attack! You got to have a Lucky egg to have a high level difference from your opponents and using 1 X-Attack or Special attack, it should manage to sweep an entire party (Blaze support should help too but it's limited to Fire attacks). Cyrus's Weavile is OHKO with STAB Mach Punch. If the player was really lucky and the Hidden Power type was Electric (Base Power 60-70) it can take down the almighty Gyarados!

=== Useful Pokémon other than the starters ===

'''Bibarel'''

This Pokémon is one of the easiest to catch and most effective HM slave. It can learn at least 6 HMs including:

* Cut

* Rock Smash

* Strength

* Rock Climb

* Surf

* Waterfall

It's reccommended to have Cut, Surf, Waterfall, (and any other move). You can find a level 18 Bibarel nearby Hearthome city. It's a good secondary Pokémon to weaken Prinplup's Defences by using Rock Smash (if you started off as Chimchar) in Pastoria City ('''Hearthome City in Platinum after Fantina''') the finish off with Monferno/Infernape's physical attacks.

Because of the 4 moves limit, '''Geodude''' is a good subsitute as it can learn:

* Strength

* Rock Smash

* Rock Climb

'''Starly'''

If you can wait and catch a '''Staravia''' it's a good Pokémon to abuse Intimidate to lower the Physical Sweeper's high Attack stat (Gyarados, Weavile, Snorlax, Garchomp are good examples).

It can also learn 2 HMs including:

* Fly

* Defog

Since Flash is now a TM, they use the Fog as the game's new "I can't work my way round" element. The fog also effects Pokémon battles too, all of the Pokémon evasioness are raised by 2 stages. So the attacks are more likely to miss.

'''Abra '''

Pros: It knows teleport but we are not fully confirmed if it saves anytime at all, it might save time for the Pastoria City -> Hearthome City warp for DP and possibly Platinum but it has a pretty good special attack stat making a good teammate Pokémon for Double battles.

'''Abra/Kadabra (In-game trade)'''

There is an in-game trade, a Machop for an Abra, that can be made in Oreburgh City, to replace your starter as your main Pokemon in a segmented run.

Pros:
*Enables a teleport back to Jubilife.

*Ties Infernape for base speed (assuming same level)

*Out Special Attacks Empoleon for base speed (assuming same level)

*Kadabra is available WELL before the final stage evolution of any starter.

*Boosted experience immediately.

*This value later stacks with Lucky Egg for a 225% experience rate

*Faster than all but two pokemon the entire run, and ties one of those two.

*Quiet Nature (+ special attack, - speed)

*Decent IVs
*HP: 15
*Attack: 15
*Defense: 15
*Special Attack: 25
*Special Defense: 25
*Speed: 20

*Able to score nearly all OHKOs unassisted, and many are neutral effectiveness.

*Learns Shock Wave (useful in the fog, for type coverage, and for PP conservation)

*Learns Grass Knot (again useful for PP conservation and type coverage)

*Learns Shadow Ball (same as above)

*Learns Charge Beam (75% chance of raising special attack), and capable of scoring OHKOs while raising stats.

Cons:
*Preset IVs

*Hidden Power Ice 34

*DISOBEDIENCE:
# Immediately after trade until 2nd gym
# After obtaining Lucky Egg on Route 209 until 4th gym.
# Against Byron in the 6th gym.

*Weak Defenses (only a very minor inconvenience)

'''Medicham'''

It's best to get this one at Mt.Coronet when you are going to face Team Galactic. If Medicham knows any Psychic moves then it would be handy to take down a couple of Croagunks. But this is not fully confirmed since this is the last important double battle in the speed run before the Real Multi Double battle occurs with your friend Barry.

=== Notable differences between the two, for speed running ===
Most of the basic Pokémon in the original Sinnoh dex are pretty pointless, except the Legendary Titans.

==== Dialga ====

'''Diamond version only!'''

Pros:

* Incredible defensive typing, 10+ Resistances, 1 immunity (Poison), 2 Weaknesses (Fighting & Ground)

* Higher HP & Defence stat compared to Palkia.

Cons:

* Poor offensive movepool (in speed running) it requires TMs and most of the good ones needs detours.

* Poor secondary type for offensive (2 types are weak to Steel attacks, 3 types are resistant to Steel attacks)

* Lower Base speed compared to Palkia.

* Signature move is only useful against the trainer's last Pokémon, it needs to recharge like Hyper Beam.

* Fighting is a very popular attacking type and Lucian's Alakazam knows Focus Blast.

==== Palkia ====

'''Pearl version only!'''

Pros:

* Faster than Dialga by 10 base speed points which could make a difference against Cynthia's Garchomp.

* Only has 1 weakness (Dragon) and only Garchomp is a threat in a speed run.

* Better Signature move (Higher Crit Hit Ratio, no turn loss)

* Knows Surf which is a good secondary type STAB move.

Cons:

* Lower HP & Defence than Dialga

* Doesn't have 10+ resistances... only has 3 resistances (4x resist to Water and Fire, 2x resist to Steel).

* Spacial Rend is less powerful than Roar of Time.

=== Strategies ===

'''Basic order to capturing your Pokémon'''
# Starter (Piplup, Turtwig, Chimchar)
# HM Slave 1 Geodude, level 3 near Oreburgh City (Teach Rock Smash, Strength and then Rock Climb).
# Machop (if using the in-game Abra trade) Teach Rock Smash, fight the Gym, then trade)
# HM Slave 2 Bibarel, level 18 near Hearthome City (Teach Rock Smash (vs Prinplup), Cut, Waterfall and Surf).
# HM Slave 3 Starly/Staravia various levels under 2-20ish (Teach Fly and Defog)
# Teleporter: Abra
# Legendary Monster (Palkia/Dialga): Used as backup or sweeping the Elite Four if your main Starter gets KO'd.

----------

Battle Strategies

# Avoiding Double Battles: If you only have one Pokemon on your team who is not KOed, all of the sets of double trainers will not battle you. This, however, does not apply to two seperate trainers who see you at the same time. The exception to this rule is atop the Pillar right before the Legendary, the two Galactic Grunts will force you away if you do not have a double partner.

More updates later

-----------

Good/Free item pickups

To update later

'''TMs'''

TM 35: Flamethrower - Fuego Fireworks

TM 13: Ice Beam - Route 213 (After using Rock Climb)

TM 46: Thief - Eterna City

TM 80: Rock Slide - Mt.Coronet (Before the Spear Pillar)

TM 59: Dragon Pulse - Victory Road

---------

=== Important Battles ===

=== Glitches ===
A normal, glitchless run is pretty straight forward but there are some glitches that it's possible to skip the Elite 4 and go to the Hall of Fame.

'''Elite Four Surf Glitch'''

This glitch is pretty well known in Japan back in late 2006, it became possible to capture Darkrai, Shaymin, and Giratina, it's even possible to skip the Elite Four. It's so popular that Gamefreak and Nintendo were aware of the exploit and fixed it in both the International release and newer copies in Japan.

Pros:

* Very easy to work out, apparently you use the Surf Glitch and then go down a few steps, then go right for 5->10 steps and then go up for roughly 200->500 steps (I can't really remember) and then go left 5->10 steps and then go up to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene.

* Saves 15->20 minutes for both setup, and battling the Elite 4

Cons:

* It has to be done on a Japanese copy that was out since September 2006

* The viewers would need to watch the entire run in Japanese, a speedrun wouldn't be easy to watch as the Battle Animations are turned off (to speed up the game).

'''Jubilife Void'''

There was a tweaking glitch that created black voids which was discovered a few months after the American release, nearly 1.5 years later, players have managed to workout how to capture Darkrai & Shaymin with this glitch and even the lesser known Giratina. It's also possible to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene skipping nearly 4-5 gyms and the Elite 4. '''Insert video/Youtube Link on how to do it.'''

Pros:

* Can be done on any version.

* Not much battle planning.

Cons:

* Requires the underground kit.

* Likely to cause a black screen after loading the game, meaning you're stuck forever.

* The Tweaking glitch (moving the D-Pad in random directions) can be pretty tough on a DS Lite.

* It might '''not''' work on the DSi due to the extra ram that is stored in the system.

* The Jubilife Void to the Hall of Fame Cutscene takes over 2 hours to get there, meaning you are on the Bike riding & no battles triggered making a very, very, very boring run that people would rather watch Clue or Back to the Future on the NES.

-------------

== Platinum ==

=== Changes from Diamond/Pearl ===

* TM 10 Hidden Power is no longer obtained by the Training School in Jubilife City. It is only obtained by collecting 6000 Coins in the Casino (120k pokeyen).

* Hypnosis is now 60% not 70% which is a bit easier when facing against your oppoents who uses this move.

* There is a battle against Cyrus in Celestic Town and he has Golbat, Murkrow and Sneasel.

* You have a battle against your rival as soon as you get your starter. Your rival will always use a stat dropping move (Growl/Leer) and it's not possible to score a critical hit.

* The Distortion world doesn't have any new battles other than Cyrus before facing Giratina.

* Elite 4 has a updated team, most notably the Pokémon from the updated Sinnoh Dex, Cynthia's party level has reduced slightly.

* The later gym leaders has teams updated such as Magneton in Byron's team and Electivire in Volkner's team.

* Updated level up movepools, most notable example is Piplup now learns Bubblebeam at level 18 now and not 22. Scizor can learn Bullet Punch via Heart Scale and Darkrai can learn Nasty Plot instead of Calm Mind via level up.

=== Giratina ===

* Giratina's Another Forme is designed to be a dual tank. But Giratina's Origin Forme is a mixed sweeper... sort of. The problem is that it's Special attack is 120 compared to Dialga/Palkia's 150. When playing the game normally, Giratina would not have the Griseous Orb so he would only be as Another Forme (dual tank). This makes the Attack/Sp.Attack base stats at 100... very low compared the other two titans. He does make up for having very high HP (up to 500+ at level 100). It's a good 'partner' pokémon if your main starter gets KO'd and using (max) revives to get pass the Elite Four.

Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

2009-08-22T22:25:58Z

UltimateDarius: /* Useful Pokémon other than the starters */

[[Category:Nintendo DS]]
[[Category:Games]]

The original set for the Pokémon Generation IV games. When HeartGold & SoulSilver are released in the contries outside of Japan, move this page (and HeartGold/SoulSilver) to the Generation IV engine page and make it a clickable link to this page.

==Diamond and Pearl==

=== Starters ===
'''Turtwig'''

Pros:

* A Grass type PKMN that knows Earthquake naturally at level 32.

* Nice physical tank (High HP, Attack, Defence)

* It evolves to Torterra at level 32, pretty early compared to most starters.

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* It evolves to Grotle at level 18, pretty late compared to most starters.

* Poor attacking movepool (needs to be Torterra to know Stone Edge/Rock Slide to counter Flying types). It can only learn Normal, Grass and Dark moves by level up.

* Slowest Starter out of all 12 starters in the franchise. Heavy luck manipulation with Quick Claw to make up for it.

Overall:
One the worst types for speedrunning Pokémon thanks to it's bad type coverage and it's limited offensive movepool.

-------------
'''Piplup'''

Pros:

* Evolves to a Water/Steel type that has incredible defensive typing.

* Can learn a Ice move (Ice Beam/Blizzard) to counter Grass and Ground moves to counter Electic types.

* Knows Surf by HM which is always nice.

* Highest Special Attack stat of all Water Starter types.

Cons:

* It's low base speed makes Torrent sweeping a bit difficult

* Movepool is pretty bad at the early game, especially in DP where s/he learns Bubblebeam at level 22 or 24 (depending if the Pokémon is Piplup or Prinplup).

* Limited Special Movepool (Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon and the occasional Hidden Power [ELEC]).

Overall:

* One of the two useful starters in the run. It's been let down by its limited special movepool and low base speed but it makes up for 10+ resistances & 1 immunity which is useful for X-Item boosting.

-----------------

'''Chimchar'''

Pros:

* One of the 2 Fire Types familes in the Sinnoh Reigon, the other is Ponyta.

* Can evolve pretty early at Level 14 and learn Mach Punch to easily win the first Gym.

* Can learn some powerful fighting types (Mach Punch, Drain Punch, Brick Break, Close Combat) to defeat Normal, Dark, Rock, Ice, & Steel types.

* Learning Fire Types moves can KO Bronzors & Bronzongs without any hassle.

* High Attack, Special Attack and Speed makes it a good mixed sweeper and a fantastic Wall Breaker.

* Knows Grass Knot, Stone Edge, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace and Solarbeam.

* With a varied movepool it has some good advantages against 6 of 8 Gym Leaders (most notably Grass, Steel, Ice).

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* Pretty frail, meaning using an X-Item is pretty risky.

* To know Flamethower by level up, it's only possible as Chimchar and it's level 41. Otherwise you would need to go to Fuego Fireworks and pickup a Flamethrower TM.

* Exposed to Water Types and Ground Types, making Quagsire a good counter.

* Gyrados, Crobat, Garchomp and Milotic are the biggest threats.

Overall:

One of the two impressive starters for speed running. It knows some pretty powerful STABs (Same-Type-Attack-Bonus) and can take down most walls (Bronzong, Blissey & Snorlax) with one attack! You got to have a Lucky egg to have a high level difference from your opponents and using 1 X-Attack or Special attack, it should manage to sweep an entire party (Blaze support should help too but it's limited to Fire attacks). Cyrus's Weavile is OHKO with STAB Mach Punch. If the player was really lucky and the Hidden Power type was Electric (Base Power 60-70) it can take down the almighty Gyarados!

=== Useful Pokémon other than the starters ===

'''Bibarel'''

This Pokémon is one of the easiest to catch and most effective HM slave. It can learn at least 6 HMs including:

* Cut

* Rock Smash

* Strength

* Rock Climb

* Surf

* Waterfall

It's reccommended to have Cut, Surf, Waterfall, (and any other move). You can find a level 18 Bibarel nearby Hearthome city. It's a good secondary Pokémon to weaken Prinplup's Defences by using Rock Smash (if you started off as Chimchar) in Pastoria City ('''Hearthome City in Platinum after Fantina''') the finish off with Monferno/Infernape's physical attacks.

Because of the 4 moves limit, '''Geodude''' is a good subsitute as it can learn:

* Strength

* Rock Smash

* Rock Climb

'''Starly'''

If you can wait and catch a '''Staravia''' it's a good Pokémon to abuse Intimidate to lower the Physical Sweeper's high Attack stat (Gyarados, Weavile, Snorlax, Garchomp are good examples).

It can also learn 2 HMs including:

* Fly

* Defog

Since Flash is now a TM, they use the Fog as the game's new "I can't work my way round" element. The fog also effects Pokémon battles too, all of the Pokémon evasioness are raised by 2 stages. So the attacks are more likely to miss.

'''Abra '''

Pros: It knows teleport but we are not fully confirmed if it saves anytime at all, it might save time for the Pastoria City -> Hearthome City warp for DP and possibly Platinum but it has a pretty good special attack stat making a good teammate Pokémon for Double battles.

'''Abra/Kadabra (In-game trade)'''

There is an in-game trade, a Machop for an Abra, that can be made in Oreburgh City, to replace your starter as your main Pokemon in a segmented run.

Pros:
*Enables a teleport back to Jubilife.

*Ties Infernape for base speed (assuming same level)

*Out Special Attacks Empoleon for base speed (assuming same level)

*Kadabra is available WELL before the final stage evolution of any starter.

*Boosted experience immediately.

*This value later stacks with Lucky Egg for a 225% experience rate

*Faster than all but two pokemon the entire run, and ties one of those two.

*Quiet Nature (+ special attack, - speed)

*Decent IVs
-HP: 15
-Attack: 15
-Defense: 15
-Special Attack: 25
-Special Defense: 25
-Speed: 20

*Able to score nearly all OHKOs unassisted, and many are neutral effectiveness.

*Learns Shock Wave (useful in the fog, for type coverage, and for PP conservation)

*Learns Grass Knot (again useful for PP conservation and type coverage)

*Learns Shadow Ball (same as above)

*Learns Charge Beam (75% chance of raising special attack), and capable of scoring OHKOs while raising stats.

Cons:
*Preset IVs

*Hidden Power Ice 34

*DISOBEDIENCE:
# Immediately after trade until 2nd gym
# After obtaining Lucky Egg on Route 209 until 4th gym.
# Against Byron in the 6th gym.

*Weak Defenses (only a very minor inconvenience)

'''Medicham'''

It's best to get this one at Mt.Coronet when you are going to face Team Galactic. If Medicham knows any Psychic moves then it would be handy to take down a couple of Croagunks. But this is not fully confirmed since this is the last important double battle in the speed run before the Real Multi Double battle occurs with your friend Barry.

=== Notable differences between the two, for speed running ===
Most of the basic Pokémon in the original Sinnoh dex are pretty pointless, except the Legendary Titans.

==== Dialga ====

'''Diamond version only!'''

Pros:

* Incredible defensive typing, 10+ Resistances, 1 immunity (Poison), 2 Weaknesses (Fighting & Ground)

* Higher HP & Defence stat compared to Palkia.

Cons:

* Poor offensive movepool (in speed running) it requires TMs and most of the good ones needs detours.

* Poor secondary type for offensive (2 types are weak to Steel attacks, 3 types are resistant to Steel attacks)

* Lower Base speed compared to Palkia.

* Signature move is only useful against the trainer's last Pokémon, it needs to recharge like Hyper Beam.

* Fighting is a very popular attacking type and Lucian's Alakazam knows Focus Blast.

==== Palkia ====

'''Pearl version only!'''

Pros:

* Faster than Dialga by 10 base speed points which could make a difference against Cynthia's Garchomp.

* Only has 1 weakness (Dragon) and only Garchomp is a threat in a speed run.

* Better Signature move (Higher Crit Hit Ratio, no turn loss)

* Knows Surf which is a good secondary type STAB move.

Cons:

* Lower HP & Defence than Dialga

* Doesn't have 10+ resistances... only has 3 resistances (4x resist to Water and Fire, 2x resist to Steel).

* Spacial Rend is less powerful than Roar of Time.

=== Strategies ===

'''Basic order to capturing your Pokémon'''
# Starter (Piplup, Turtwig, Chimchar)
# HM Slave 1 Geodude, level 3 near Oreburgh City (Teach Rock Smash, Strength and then Rock Climb).
# Machop (if using the in-game Abra trade) Teach Rock Smash, fight the Gym, then trade)
# HM Slave 2 Bibarel, level 18 near Hearthome City (Teach Rock Smash (vs Prinplup), Cut, Waterfall and Surf).
# HM Slave 3 Starly/Staravia various levels under 2-20ish (Teach Fly and Defog)
# Teleporter: Abra
# Legendary Monster (Palkia/Dialga): Used as backup or sweeping the Elite Four if your main Starter gets KO'd.

----------

Battle Strategies

# Avoiding Double Battles: If you only have one Pokemon on your team who is not KOed, all of the sets of double trainers will not battle you. This, however, does not apply to two seperate trainers who see you at the same time. The exception to this rule is atop the Pillar right before the Legendary, the two Galactic Grunts will force you away if you do not have a double partner.

More updates later

-----------

Good/Free item pickups

To update later

'''TMs'''

TM 35: Flamethrower - Fuego Fireworks

TM 13: Ice Beam - Route 213 (After using Rock Climb)

TM 46: Thief - Eterna City

TM 80: Rock Slide - Mt.Coronet (Before the Spear Pillar)

TM 59: Dragon Pulse - Victory Road

---------

=== Important Battles ===

=== Glitches ===
A normal, glitchless run is pretty straight forward but there are some glitches that it's possible to skip the Elite 4 and go to the Hall of Fame.

'''Elite Four Surf Glitch'''

This glitch is pretty well known in Japan back in late 2006, it became possible to capture Darkrai, Shaymin, and Giratina, it's even possible to skip the Elite Four. It's so popular that Gamefreak and Nintendo were aware of the exploit and fixed it in both the International release and newer copies in Japan.

Pros:

* Very easy to work out, apparently you use the Surf Glitch and then go down a few steps, then go right for 5->10 steps and then go up for roughly 200->500 steps (I can't really remember) and then go left 5->10 steps and then go up to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene.

* Saves 15->20 minutes for both setup, and battling the Elite 4

Cons:

* It has to be done on a Japanese copy that was out since September 2006

* The viewers would need to watch the entire run in Japanese, a speedrun wouldn't be easy to watch as the Battle Animations are turned off (to speed up the game).

'''Jubilife Void'''

There was a tweaking glitch that created black voids which was discovered a few months after the American release, nearly 1.5 years later, players have managed to workout how to capture Darkrai & Shaymin with this glitch and even the lesser known Giratina. It's also possible to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene skipping nearly 4-5 gyms and the Elite 4. '''Insert video/Youtube Link on how to do it.'''

Pros:

* Can be done on any version.

* Not much battle planning.

Cons:

* Requires the underground kit.

* Likely to cause a black screen after loading the game, meaning you're stuck forever.

* The Tweaking glitch (moving the D-Pad in random directions) can be pretty tough on a DS Lite.

* It might '''not''' work on the DSi due to the extra ram that is stored in the system.

* The Jubilife Void to the Hall of Fame Cutscene takes over 2 hours to get there, meaning you are on the Bike riding & no battles triggered making a very, very, very boring run that people would rather watch Clue or Back to the Future on the NES.

-------------

== Platinum ==

=== Changes from Diamond/Pearl ===

* TM 10 Hidden Power is no longer obtained by the Training School in Jubilife City. It is only obtained by collecting 6000 Coins in the Casino (120k pokeyen).

* Hypnosis is now 60% not 70% which is a bit easier when facing against your oppoents who uses this move.

* There is a battle against Cyrus in Celestic Town and he has Golbat, Murkrow and Sneasel.

* You have a battle against your rival as soon as you get your starter. Your rival will always use a stat dropping move (Growl/Leer) and it's not possible to score a critical hit.

* The Distortion world doesn't have any new battles other than Cyrus before facing Giratina.

* Elite 4 has a updated team, most notably the Pokémon from the updated Sinnoh Dex, Cynthia's party level has reduced slightly.

* The later gym leaders has teams updated such as Magneton in Byron's team and Electivire in Volkner's team.

* Updated level up movepools, most notable example is Piplup now learns Bubblebeam at level 18 now and not 22. Scizor can learn Bullet Punch via Heart Scale and Darkrai can learn Nasty Plot instead of Calm Mind via level up.

=== Giratina ===

* Giratina's Another Forme is designed to be a dual tank. But Giratina's Origin Forme is a mixed sweeper... sort of. The problem is that it's Special attack is 120 compared to Dialga/Palkia's 150. When playing the game normally, Giratina would not have the Griseous Orb so he would only be as Another Forme (dual tank). This makes the Attack/Sp.Attack base stats at 100... very low compared the other two titans. He does make up for having very high HP (up to 500+ at level 100). It's a good 'partner' pokémon if your main starter gets KO'd and using (max) revives to get pass the Elite Four.

Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

2009-08-22T22:25:00Z

UltimateDarius: /* Useful Pokémon other than the starters */

[[Category:Nintendo DS]]
[[Category:Games]]

The original set for the Pokémon Generation IV games. When HeartGold & SoulSilver are released in the contries outside of Japan, move this page (and HeartGold/SoulSilver) to the Generation IV engine page and make it a clickable link to this page.

==Diamond and Pearl==

=== Starters ===
'''Turtwig'''

Pros:

* A Grass type PKMN that knows Earthquake naturally at level 32.

* Nice physical tank (High HP, Attack, Defence)

* It evolves to Torterra at level 32, pretty early compared to most starters.

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* It evolves to Grotle at level 18, pretty late compared to most starters.

* Poor attacking movepool (needs to be Torterra to know Stone Edge/Rock Slide to counter Flying types). It can only learn Normal, Grass and Dark moves by level up.

* Slowest Starter out of all 12 starters in the franchise. Heavy luck manipulation with Quick Claw to make up for it.

Overall:
One the worst types for speedrunning Pokémon thanks to it's bad type coverage and it's limited offensive movepool.

-------------
'''Piplup'''

Pros:

* Evolves to a Water/Steel type that has incredible defensive typing.

* Can learn a Ice move (Ice Beam/Blizzard) to counter Grass and Ground moves to counter Electic types.

* Knows Surf by HM which is always nice.

* Highest Special Attack stat of all Water Starter types.

Cons:

* It's low base speed makes Torrent sweeping a bit difficult

* Movepool is pretty bad at the early game, especially in DP where s/he learns Bubblebeam at level 22 or 24 (depending if the Pokémon is Piplup or Prinplup).

* Limited Special Movepool (Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon and the occasional Hidden Power [ELEC]).

Overall:

* One of the two useful starters in the run. It's been let down by its limited special movepool and low base speed but it makes up for 10+ resistances & 1 immunity which is useful for X-Item boosting.

-----------------

'''Chimchar'''

Pros:

* One of the 2 Fire Types familes in the Sinnoh Reigon, the other is Ponyta.

* Can evolve pretty early at Level 14 and learn Mach Punch to easily win the first Gym.

* Can learn some powerful fighting types (Mach Punch, Drain Punch, Brick Break, Close Combat) to defeat Normal, Dark, Rock, Ice, & Steel types.

* Learning Fire Types moves can KO Bronzors & Bronzongs without any hassle.

* High Attack, Special Attack and Speed makes it a good mixed sweeper and a fantastic Wall Breaker.

* Knows Grass Knot, Stone Edge, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace and Solarbeam.

* With a varied movepool it has some good advantages against 6 of 8 Gym Leaders (most notably Grass, Steel, Ice).

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* Pretty frail, meaning using an X-Item is pretty risky.

* To know Flamethower by level up, it's only possible as Chimchar and it's level 41. Otherwise you would need to go to Fuego Fireworks and pickup a Flamethrower TM.

* Exposed to Water Types and Ground Types, making Quagsire a good counter.

* Gyrados, Crobat, Garchomp and Milotic are the biggest threats.

Overall:

One of the two impressive starters for speed running. It knows some pretty powerful STABs (Same-Type-Attack-Bonus) and can take down most walls (Bronzong, Blissey & Snorlax) with one attack! You got to have a Lucky egg to have a high level difference from your opponents and using 1 X-Attack or Special attack, it should manage to sweep an entire party (Blaze support should help too but it's limited to Fire attacks). Cyrus's Weavile is OHKO with STAB Mach Punch. If the player was really lucky and the Hidden Power type was Electric (Base Power 60-70) it can take down the almighty Gyarados!

=== Useful Pokémon other than the starters ===

'''Bibarel'''

This Pokémon is one of the easiest to catch and most effective HM slave. It can learn at least 6 HMs including:

* Cut

* Rock Smash

* Strength

* Rock Climb

* Surf

* Waterfall

It's reccommended to have Cut, Surf, Waterfall, (and any other move). You can find a level 18 Bibarel nearby Hearthome city. It's a good secondary Pokémon to weaken Prinplup's Defences by using Rock Smash (if you started off as Chimchar) in Pastoria City ('''Hearthome City in Platinum after Fantina''') the finish off with Monferno/Infernape's physical attacks.

Because of the 4 moves limit, '''Geodude''' is a good subsitute as it can learn:

* Strength

* Rock Smash

* Rock Climb

'''Starly'''

If you can wait and catch a '''Staravia''' it's a good Pokémon to abuse Intimidate to lower the Physical Sweeper's high Attack stat (Gyarados, Weavile, Snorlax, Garchomp are good examples).

It can also learn 2 HMs including:

* Fly

* Defog

Since Flash is now a TM, they use the Fog as the game's new "I can't work my way round" element. The fog also effects Pokémon battles too, all of the Pokémon evasioness are raised by 2 stages. So the attacks are more likely to miss.

'''Abra '''

Pros: It knows teleport but we are not fully confirmed if it saves anytime at all, it might save time for the Pastoria City -> Hearthome City warp for DP and possibly Platinum but it has a pretty good special attack stat making a good teammate Pokémon for Double battles.

'''Abra/Kadabra (In-game trade)'''

There is an in-game trade, a Machop for an Abra, that can be made in Oreburgh City, to replace your starter as your main Pokemon in a segmented run.

Pros:
*Enables a teleport back to Jubilife.

*Ties Infernape for base speed (assuming same level)

*Out Special Attacks Empoleon for base speed (assuming same level)

*Kadabra is available WELL before the final stage evolution of any starter.

*Boosted experience immediately.

*This value later stacks with Lucky Egg for a 225% experience rate

*Faster than all but two pokemon the entire run, and ties one of those two.

*Quiet Nature (+ special attack, - speed)

*Decent IVs
HP: 15
Attack: 15
Defense: 15
Special Attack: 25
Special Defense: 25
Speed: 20

*Able to score nearly all OHKOs unassisted, and many are neutral effectiveness.

*Learns Shock Wave (useful in the fog, for type coverage, and for PP conservation)

*Learns Grass Knot (again useful for PP conservation and type coverage)

*Learns Shadow Ball (same as above)

*Learns Charge Beam (75% chance of raising special attack), and capable of scoring OHKOs while raising stats.

Cons:
*Preset IVs

*Hidden Power Ice 34

*DISOBEDIENCE:
1.) Immediately after trade until 2nd gym
2.) After obtaining Lucky Egg on Route 209 until 4th gym.
3.) Against Byron in the 6th gym.

*Weak Defenses (only a very minor inconvenience)

'''Medicham'''

It's best to get this one at Mt.Coronet when you are going to face Team Galactic. If Medicham knows any Psychic moves then it would be handy to take down a couple of Croagunks. But this is not fully confirmed since this is the last important double battle in the speed run before the Real Multi Double battle occurs with your friend Barry.

=== Notable differences between the two, for speed running ===
Most of the basic Pokémon in the original Sinnoh dex are pretty pointless, except the Legendary Titans.

==== Dialga ====

'''Diamond version only!'''

Pros:

* Incredible defensive typing, 10+ Resistances, 1 immunity (Poison), 2 Weaknesses (Fighting & Ground)

* Higher HP & Defence stat compared to Palkia.

Cons:

* Poor offensive movepool (in speed running) it requires TMs and most of the good ones needs detours.

* Poor secondary type for offensive (2 types are weak to Steel attacks, 3 types are resistant to Steel attacks)

* Lower Base speed compared to Palkia.

* Signature move is only useful against the trainer's last Pokémon, it needs to recharge like Hyper Beam.

* Fighting is a very popular attacking type and Lucian's Alakazam knows Focus Blast.

==== Palkia ====

'''Pearl version only!'''

Pros:

* Faster than Dialga by 10 base speed points which could make a difference against Cynthia's Garchomp.

* Only has 1 weakness (Dragon) and only Garchomp is a threat in a speed run.

* Better Signature move (Higher Crit Hit Ratio, no turn loss)

* Knows Surf which is a good secondary type STAB move.

Cons:

* Lower HP & Defence than Dialga

* Doesn't have 10+ resistances... only has 3 resistances (4x resist to Water and Fire, 2x resist to Steel).

* Spacial Rend is less powerful than Roar of Time.

=== Strategies ===

'''Basic order to capturing your Pokémon'''
# Starter (Piplup, Turtwig, Chimchar)
# HM Slave 1 Geodude, level 3 near Oreburgh City (Teach Rock Smash, Strength and then Rock Climb).
# Machop (if using the in-game Abra trade) Teach Rock Smash, fight the Gym, then trade)
# HM Slave 2 Bibarel, level 18 near Hearthome City (Teach Rock Smash (vs Prinplup), Cut, Waterfall and Surf).
# HM Slave 3 Starly/Staravia various levels under 2-20ish (Teach Fly and Defog)
# Teleporter: Abra
# Legendary Monster (Palkia/Dialga): Used as backup or sweeping the Elite Four if your main Starter gets KO'd.

----------

Battle Strategies

# Avoiding Double Battles: If you only have one Pokemon on your team who is not KOed, all of the sets of double trainers will not battle you. This, however, does not apply to two seperate trainers who see you at the same time. The exception to this rule is atop the Pillar right before the Legendary, the two Galactic Grunts will force you away if you do not have a double partner.

More updates later

-----------

Good/Free item pickups

To update later

'''TMs'''

TM 35: Flamethrower - Fuego Fireworks

TM 13: Ice Beam - Route 213 (After using Rock Climb)

TM 46: Thief - Eterna City

TM 80: Rock Slide - Mt.Coronet (Before the Spear Pillar)

TM 59: Dragon Pulse - Victory Road

---------

=== Important Battles ===

=== Glitches ===
A normal, glitchless run is pretty straight forward but there are some glitches that it's possible to skip the Elite 4 and go to the Hall of Fame.

'''Elite Four Surf Glitch'''

This glitch is pretty well known in Japan back in late 2006, it became possible to capture Darkrai, Shaymin, and Giratina, it's even possible to skip the Elite Four. It's so popular that Gamefreak and Nintendo were aware of the exploit and fixed it in both the International release and newer copies in Japan.

Pros:

* Very easy to work out, apparently you use the Surf Glitch and then go down a few steps, then go right for 5->10 steps and then go up for roughly 200->500 steps (I can't really remember) and then go left 5->10 steps and then go up to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene.

* Saves 15->20 minutes for both setup, and battling the Elite 4

Cons:

* It has to be done on a Japanese copy that was out since September 2006

* The viewers would need to watch the entire run in Japanese, a speedrun wouldn't be easy to watch as the Battle Animations are turned off (to speed up the game).

'''Jubilife Void'''

There was a tweaking glitch that created black voids which was discovered a few months after the American release, nearly 1.5 years later, players have managed to workout how to capture Darkrai & Shaymin with this glitch and even the lesser known Giratina. It's also possible to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene skipping nearly 4-5 gyms and the Elite 4. '''Insert video/Youtube Link on how to do it.'''

Pros:

* Can be done on any version.

* Not much battle planning.

Cons:

* Requires the underground kit.

* Likely to cause a black screen after loading the game, meaning you're stuck forever.

* The Tweaking glitch (moving the D-Pad in random directions) can be pretty tough on a DS Lite.

* It might '''not''' work on the DSi due to the extra ram that is stored in the system.

* The Jubilife Void to the Hall of Fame Cutscene takes over 2 hours to get there, meaning you are on the Bike riding & no battles triggered making a very, very, very boring run that people would rather watch Clue or Back to the Future on the NES.

-------------

== Platinum ==

=== Changes from Diamond/Pearl ===

* TM 10 Hidden Power is no longer obtained by the Training School in Jubilife City. It is only obtained by collecting 6000 Coins in the Casino (120k pokeyen).

* Hypnosis is now 60% not 70% which is a bit easier when facing against your oppoents who uses this move.

* There is a battle against Cyrus in Celestic Town and he has Golbat, Murkrow and Sneasel.

* You have a battle against your rival as soon as you get your starter. Your rival will always use a stat dropping move (Growl/Leer) and it's not possible to score a critical hit.

* The Distortion world doesn't have any new battles other than Cyrus before facing Giratina.

* Elite 4 has a updated team, most notably the Pokémon from the updated Sinnoh Dex, Cynthia's party level has reduced slightly.

* The later gym leaders has teams updated such as Magneton in Byron's team and Electivire in Volkner's team.

* Updated level up movepools, most notable example is Piplup now learns Bubblebeam at level 18 now and not 22. Scizor can learn Bullet Punch via Heart Scale and Darkrai can learn Nasty Plot instead of Calm Mind via level up.

=== Giratina ===

* Giratina's Another Forme is designed to be a dual tank. But Giratina's Origin Forme is a mixed sweeper... sort of. The problem is that it's Special attack is 120 compared to Dialga/Palkia's 150. When playing the game normally, Giratina would not have the Griseous Orb so he would only be as Another Forme (dual tank). This makes the Attack/Sp.Attack base stats at 100... very low compared the other two titans. He does make up for having very high HP (up to 500+ at level 100). It's a good 'partner' pokémon if your main starter gets KO'd and using (max) revives to get pass the Elite Four.

Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

2009-08-22T22:23:58Z

UltimateDarius: /* Useful Pokémon other than the starters */

[[Category:Nintendo DS]]
[[Category:Games]]

The original set for the Pokémon Generation IV games. When HeartGold & SoulSilver are released in the contries outside of Japan, move this page (and HeartGold/SoulSilver) to the Generation IV engine page and make it a clickable link to this page.

==Diamond and Pearl==

=== Starters ===
'''Turtwig'''

Pros:

* A Grass type PKMN that knows Earthquake naturally at level 32.

* Nice physical tank (High HP, Attack, Defence)

* It evolves to Torterra at level 32, pretty early compared to most starters.

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* It evolves to Grotle at level 18, pretty late compared to most starters.

* Poor attacking movepool (needs to be Torterra to know Stone Edge/Rock Slide to counter Flying types). It can only learn Normal, Grass and Dark moves by level up.

* Slowest Starter out of all 12 starters in the franchise. Heavy luck manipulation with Quick Claw to make up for it.

Overall:
One the worst types for speedrunning Pokémon thanks to it's bad type coverage and it's limited offensive movepool.

-------------
'''Piplup'''

Pros:

* Evolves to a Water/Steel type that has incredible defensive typing.

* Can learn a Ice move (Ice Beam/Blizzard) to counter Grass and Ground moves to counter Electic types.

* Knows Surf by HM which is always nice.

* Highest Special Attack stat of all Water Starter types.

Cons:

* It's low base speed makes Torrent sweeping a bit difficult

* Movepool is pretty bad at the early game, especially in DP where s/he learns Bubblebeam at level 22 or 24 (depending if the Pokémon is Piplup or Prinplup).

* Limited Special Movepool (Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon and the occasional Hidden Power [ELEC]).

Overall:

* One of the two useful starters in the run. It's been let down by its limited special movepool and low base speed but it makes up for 10+ resistances & 1 immunity which is useful for X-Item boosting.

-----------------

'''Chimchar'''

Pros:

* One of the 2 Fire Types familes in the Sinnoh Reigon, the other is Ponyta.

* Can evolve pretty early at Level 14 and learn Mach Punch to easily win the first Gym.

* Can learn some powerful fighting types (Mach Punch, Drain Punch, Brick Break, Close Combat) to defeat Normal, Dark, Rock, Ice, & Steel types.

* Learning Fire Types moves can KO Bronzors & Bronzongs without any hassle.

* High Attack, Special Attack and Speed makes it a good mixed sweeper and a fantastic Wall Breaker.

* Knows Grass Knot, Stone Edge, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace and Solarbeam.

* With a varied movepool it has some good advantages against 6 of 8 Gym Leaders (most notably Grass, Steel, Ice).

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* Pretty frail, meaning using an X-Item is pretty risky.

* To know Flamethower by level up, it's only possible as Chimchar and it's level 41. Otherwise you would need to go to Fuego Fireworks and pickup a Flamethrower TM.

* Exposed to Water Types and Ground Types, making Quagsire a good counter.

* Gyrados, Crobat, Garchomp and Milotic are the biggest threats.

Overall:

One of the two impressive starters for speed running. It knows some pretty powerful STABs (Same-Type-Attack-Bonus) and can take down most walls (Bronzong, Blissey & Snorlax) with one attack! You got to have a Lucky egg to have a high level difference from your opponents and using 1 X-Attack or Special attack, it should manage to sweep an entire party (Blaze support should help too but it's limited to Fire attacks). Cyrus's Weavile is OHKO with STAB Mach Punch. If the player was really lucky and the Hidden Power type was Electric (Base Power 60-70) it can take down the almighty Gyarados!

=== Useful Pokémon other than the starters ===

'''Bibarel'''

This Pokémon is one of the easiest to catch and most effective HM slave. It can learn at least 6 HMs including:

* Cut

* Rock Smash

* Strength

* Rock Climb

* Surf

* Waterfall

It's reccommended to have Cut, Surf, Waterfall, (and any other move). You can find a level 18 Bibarel nearby Hearthome city. It's a good secondary Pokémon to weaken Prinplup's Defences by using Rock Smash (if you started off as Chimchar) in Pastoria City ('''Hearthome City in Platinum after Fantina''') the finish off with Monferno/Infernape's physical attacks.

Because of the 4 moves limit, '''Geodude''' is a good subsitute as it can learn:

* Strength

* Rock Smash

* Rock Climb

'''Starly'''

If you can wait and catch a '''Staravia''' it's a good Pokémon to abuse Intimidate to lower the Physical Sweeper's high Attack stat (Gyarados, Weavile, Snorlax, Garchomp are good examples).

It can also learn 2 HMs including:

* Fly

* Defog

Since Flash is now a TM, they use the Fog as the game's new "I can't work my way round" element. The fog also effects Pokémon battles too, all of the Pokémon evasioness are raised by 2 stages. So the attacks are more likely to miss.

'''Abra '''

Pros: It knows teleport but we are not fully confirmed if it saves anytime at all, it might save time for the Pastoria City -> Hearthome City warp for DP and possibly Platinum but it has a pretty good special attack stat making a good teammate Pokémon for Double battles.

'''Abra/Kadabra (In-game trade)'''

There is an in-game trade, a Machop for an Abra, that can be made in Oreburgh City, to replace your starter as your main Pokemon in a segmented run.

Pros:
*Enables a teleport back to Jubilife.

*Ties Infernape for base speed (assuming same level)

*Out Special Attacks Empoleon for base speed (assuming same level)

*Kadabra is available WELL before the final stage evolution of any starter.

*Boosted experience immediately.

*This value later stacks with Lucky Egg for a 225% experience rate

*Faster than all but two pokemon the entire run, and ties one of those two.

*Quiet Nature (+ special attack, - speed)

*Decent IVs
HP: 15
Attack: 15
Defense: 15
Special Attack: 25
Special Defense: 25
Speed: 20

*Able to score nearly all OHKOs unassisted, and many are neutral effectiveness.

*Learns Shock Wave (useful in the fog, for type coverage, and for PP conservation)

*Learns Grass Knot (again useful for PP conservation and type coverage)

*Learns Shadow Ball (same as above)

*Learns Charge Beam (75% chance of raising special attack), and capable of scoring OHKOs while raising stats.

Cons:
*Preset IVs

*Hidden Power Ice 34

*DISOBEDIENCE: 1.) Immediately after trade until 2nd gym
2.) After obtaining Lucky Egg on Route 209 until 4th gym.
3.) Against Byron in the 6th gym.

*Weak Defenses (only a very minor inconvenience)

'''Medicham'''

It's best to get this one at Mt.Coronet when you are going to face Team Galactic. If Medicham knows any Psychic moves then it would be handy to take down a couple of Croagunks. But this is not fully confirmed since this is the last important double battle in the speed run before the Real Multi Double battle occurs with your friend Barry.

=== Notable differences between the two, for speed running ===
Most of the basic Pokémon in the original Sinnoh dex are pretty pointless, except the Legendary Titans.

==== Dialga ====

'''Diamond version only!'''

Pros:

* Incredible defensive typing, 10+ Resistances, 1 immunity (Poison), 2 Weaknesses (Fighting & Ground)

* Higher HP & Defence stat compared to Palkia.

Cons:

* Poor offensive movepool (in speed running) it requires TMs and most of the good ones needs detours.

* Poor secondary type for offensive (2 types are weak to Steel attacks, 3 types are resistant to Steel attacks)

* Lower Base speed compared to Palkia.

* Signature move is only useful against the trainer's last Pokémon, it needs to recharge like Hyper Beam.

* Fighting is a very popular attacking type and Lucian's Alakazam knows Focus Blast.

==== Palkia ====

'''Pearl version only!'''

Pros:

* Faster than Dialga by 10 base speed points which could make a difference against Cynthia's Garchomp.

* Only has 1 weakness (Dragon) and only Garchomp is a threat in a speed run.

* Better Signature move (Higher Crit Hit Ratio, no turn loss)

* Knows Surf which is a good secondary type STAB move.

Cons:

* Lower HP & Defence than Dialga

* Doesn't have 10+ resistances... only has 3 resistances (4x resist to Water and Fire, 2x resist to Steel).

* Spacial Rend is less powerful than Roar of Time.

=== Strategies ===

'''Basic order to capturing your Pokémon'''
# Starter (Piplup, Turtwig, Chimchar)
# HM Slave 1 Geodude, level 3 near Oreburgh City (Teach Rock Smash, Strength and then Rock Climb).
# Machop (if using the in-game Abra trade) Teach Rock Smash, fight the Gym, then trade)
# HM Slave 2 Bibarel, level 18 near Hearthome City (Teach Rock Smash (vs Prinplup), Cut, Waterfall and Surf).
# HM Slave 3 Starly/Staravia various levels under 2-20ish (Teach Fly and Defog)
# Teleporter: Abra
# Legendary Monster (Palkia/Dialga): Used as backup or sweeping the Elite Four if your main Starter gets KO'd.

----------

Battle Strategies

# Avoiding Double Battles: If you only have one Pokemon on your team who is not KOed, all of the sets of double trainers will not battle you. This, however, does not apply to two seperate trainers who see you at the same time. The exception to this rule is atop the Pillar right before the Legendary, the two Galactic Grunts will force you away if you do not have a double partner.

More updates later

-----------

Good/Free item pickups

To update later

'''TMs'''

TM 35: Flamethrower - Fuego Fireworks

TM 13: Ice Beam - Route 213 (After using Rock Climb)

TM 46: Thief - Eterna City

TM 80: Rock Slide - Mt.Coronet (Before the Spear Pillar)

TM 59: Dragon Pulse - Victory Road

---------

=== Important Battles ===

=== Glitches ===
A normal, glitchless run is pretty straight forward but there are some glitches that it's possible to skip the Elite 4 and go to the Hall of Fame.

'''Elite Four Surf Glitch'''

This glitch is pretty well known in Japan back in late 2006, it became possible to capture Darkrai, Shaymin, and Giratina, it's even possible to skip the Elite Four. It's so popular that Gamefreak and Nintendo were aware of the exploit and fixed it in both the International release and newer copies in Japan.

Pros:

* Very easy to work out, apparently you use the Surf Glitch and then go down a few steps, then go right for 5->10 steps and then go up for roughly 200->500 steps (I can't really remember) and then go left 5->10 steps and then go up to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene.

* Saves 15->20 minutes for both setup, and battling the Elite 4

Cons:

* It has to be done on a Japanese copy that was out since September 2006

* The viewers would need to watch the entire run in Japanese, a speedrun wouldn't be easy to watch as the Battle Animations are turned off (to speed up the game).

'''Jubilife Void'''

There was a tweaking glitch that created black voids which was discovered a few months after the American release, nearly 1.5 years later, players have managed to workout how to capture Darkrai & Shaymin with this glitch and even the lesser known Giratina. It's also possible to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene skipping nearly 4-5 gyms and the Elite 4. '''Insert video/Youtube Link on how to do it.'''

Pros:

* Can be done on any version.

* Not much battle planning.

Cons:

* Requires the underground kit.

* Likely to cause a black screen after loading the game, meaning you're stuck forever.

* The Tweaking glitch (moving the D-Pad in random directions) can be pretty tough on a DS Lite.

* It might '''not''' work on the DSi due to the extra ram that is stored in the system.

* The Jubilife Void to the Hall of Fame Cutscene takes over 2 hours to get there, meaning you are on the Bike riding & no battles triggered making a very, very, very boring run that people would rather watch Clue or Back to the Future on the NES.

-------------

== Platinum ==

=== Changes from Diamond/Pearl ===

* TM 10 Hidden Power is no longer obtained by the Training School in Jubilife City. It is only obtained by collecting 6000 Coins in the Casino (120k pokeyen).

* Hypnosis is now 60% not 70% which is a bit easier when facing against your oppoents who uses this move.

* There is a battle against Cyrus in Celestic Town and he has Golbat, Murkrow and Sneasel.

* You have a battle against your rival as soon as you get your starter. Your rival will always use a stat dropping move (Growl/Leer) and it's not possible to score a critical hit.

* The Distortion world doesn't have any new battles other than Cyrus before facing Giratina.

* Elite 4 has a updated team, most notably the Pokémon from the updated Sinnoh Dex, Cynthia's party level has reduced slightly.

* The later gym leaders has teams updated such as Magneton in Byron's team and Electivire in Volkner's team.

* Updated level up movepools, most notable example is Piplup now learns Bubblebeam at level 18 now and not 22. Scizor can learn Bullet Punch via Heart Scale and Darkrai can learn Nasty Plot instead of Calm Mind via level up.

=== Giratina ===

* Giratina's Another Forme is designed to be a dual tank. But Giratina's Origin Forme is a mixed sweeper... sort of. The problem is that it's Special attack is 120 compared to Dialga/Palkia's 150. When playing the game normally, Giratina would not have the Griseous Orb so he would only be as Another Forme (dual tank). This makes the Attack/Sp.Attack base stats at 100... very low compared the other two titans. He does make up for having very high HP (up to 500+ at level 100). It's a good 'partner' pokémon if your main starter gets KO'd and using (max) revives to get pass the Elite Four.

Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

2009-08-22T22:22:16Z

UltimateDarius: /* Useful Pokémon other than the starters */

[[Category:Nintendo DS]]
[[Category:Games]]

The original set for the Pokémon Generation IV games. When HeartGold & SoulSilver are released in the contries outside of Japan, move this page (and HeartGold/SoulSilver) to the Generation IV engine page and make it a clickable link to this page.

==Diamond and Pearl==

=== Starters ===
'''Turtwig'''

Pros:

* A Grass type PKMN that knows Earthquake naturally at level 32.

* Nice physical tank (High HP, Attack, Defence)

* It evolves to Torterra at level 32, pretty early compared to most starters.

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* It evolves to Grotle at level 18, pretty late compared to most starters.

* Poor attacking movepool (needs to be Torterra to know Stone Edge/Rock Slide to counter Flying types). It can only learn Normal, Grass and Dark moves by level up.

* Slowest Starter out of all 12 starters in the franchise. Heavy luck manipulation with Quick Claw to make up for it.

Overall:
One the worst types for speedrunning Pokémon thanks to it's bad type coverage and it's limited offensive movepool.

-------------
'''Piplup'''

Pros:

* Evolves to a Water/Steel type that has incredible defensive typing.

* Can learn a Ice move (Ice Beam/Blizzard) to counter Grass and Ground moves to counter Electic types.

* Knows Surf by HM which is always nice.

* Highest Special Attack stat of all Water Starter types.

Cons:

* It's low base speed makes Torrent sweeping a bit difficult

* Movepool is pretty bad at the early game, especially in DP where s/he learns Bubblebeam at level 22 or 24 (depending if the Pokémon is Piplup or Prinplup).

* Limited Special Movepool (Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon and the occasional Hidden Power [ELEC]).

Overall:

* One of the two useful starters in the run. It's been let down by its limited special movepool and low base speed but it makes up for 10+ resistances & 1 immunity which is useful for X-Item boosting.

-----------------

'''Chimchar'''

Pros:

* One of the 2 Fire Types familes in the Sinnoh Reigon, the other is Ponyta.

* Can evolve pretty early at Level 14 and learn Mach Punch to easily win the first Gym.

* Can learn some powerful fighting types (Mach Punch, Drain Punch, Brick Break, Close Combat) to defeat Normal, Dark, Rock, Ice, & Steel types.

* Learning Fire Types moves can KO Bronzors & Bronzongs without any hassle.

* High Attack, Special Attack and Speed makes it a good mixed sweeper and a fantastic Wall Breaker.

* Knows Grass Knot, Stone Edge, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace and Solarbeam.

* With a varied movepool it has some good advantages against 6 of 8 Gym Leaders (most notably Grass, Steel, Ice).

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* Pretty frail, meaning using an X-Item is pretty risky.

* To know Flamethower by level up, it's only possible as Chimchar and it's level 41. Otherwise you would need to go to Fuego Fireworks and pickup a Flamethrower TM.

* Exposed to Water Types and Ground Types, making Quagsire a good counter.

* Gyrados, Crobat, Garchomp and Milotic are the biggest threats.

Overall:

One of the two impressive starters for speed running. It knows some pretty powerful STABs (Same-Type-Attack-Bonus) and can take down most walls (Bronzong, Blissey & Snorlax) with one attack! You got to have a Lucky egg to have a high level difference from your opponents and using 1 X-Attack or Special attack, it should manage to sweep an entire party (Blaze support should help too but it's limited to Fire attacks). Cyrus's Weavile is OHKO with STAB Mach Punch. If the player was really lucky and the Hidden Power type was Electric (Base Power 60-70) it can take down the almighty Gyarados!

=== Useful Pokémon other than the starters ===

'''Bibarel'''

This Pokémon is one of the easiest to catch and most effective HM slave. It can learn at least 6 HMs including:

* Cut

* Rock Smash

* Strength

* Rock Climb

* Surf

* Waterfall

It's reccommended to have Cut, Surf, Waterfall, (and any other move). You can find a level 18 Bibarel nearby Hearthome city. It's a good secondary Pokémon to weaken Prinplup's Defences by using Rock Smash (if you started off as Chimchar) in Pastoria City ('''Hearthome City in Platinum after Fantina''') the finish off with Monferno/Infernape's physical attacks.

Because of the 4 moves limit, '''Geodude''' is a good subsitute as it can learn:

* Strength

* Rock Smash

* Rock Climb

'''Starly'''

If you can wait and catch a '''Staravia''' it's a good Pokémon to abuse Intimidate to lower the Physical Sweeper's high Attack stat (Gyarados, Weavile, Snorlax, Garchomp are good examples).

It can also learn 2 HMs including:

* Fly

* Defog

Since Flash is now a TM, they use the Fog as the game's new "I can't work my way round" element. The fog also effects Pokémon battles too, all of the Pokémon evasioness are raised by 2 stages. So the attacks are more likely to miss.

'''Abra '''

Pros: It knows teleport but we are not fully confirmed if it saves anytime at all, it might save time for the Pastoria City -> Hearthome City warp for DP and possibly Platinum but it has a pretty good special attack stat making a good teammate Pokémon for Double battles.

'''Abra/Kadabra (In-game trade)'''

There is an in-game trade, a Machop for an Abra, that can be made in Oreburgh City, to replace your starter as your main Pokemon in a segmented run.

Pros:
*Enables a teleport back to Jubilife.

*Ties Infernape for base speed (assuming same level)

*Out Special Attacks Empoleon for base speed (assuming same level)

*Kadabra is available WELL before the final stage evolution of any starter.

*Boosted experience immediately.

*This value later stacks with Lucky Egg for a 225% experience rate

*Faster than all but two pokemon the entire run, and ties one of those two.

*Quiet Nature (+ special attack, - speed)

*Decent IVs
HP: 15
Attack: 15
Defense: 15
Special Attack: 25
Special Defense: 25
Speed: 20

*Able to score nearly all OHKOs unassisted, and many are neutral effectiveness.

*Learns Charge Beam (75% chance of raising special attack), and OHKO while raising stats.

*Learns Shock Wave (useful in the fog, for type coverage, and for PP conservation)

*Learns Grass Knot (again useful for PP conservation and type coverage)

*Learns Shadow Ball (same as above)

Cons:
*Preset IVs

*Hidden Power Ice 34

*DISOBEDIENCE: 1.) Immediately after trade until 2nd gym
2.) After obtaining Lucky Egg on Route 209 until 4th gym.
3.) Against Byron in the 6th gym.

*Weak Defenses (only a very minor inconvenience)

'''Medicham'''

It's best to get this one at Mt.Coronet when you are going to face Team Galactic. If Medicham knows any Psychic moves then it would be handy to take down a couple of Croagunks. But this is not fully confirmed since this is the last important double battle in the speed run before the Real Multi Double battle occurs with your friend Barry.

=== Notable differences between the two, for speed running ===
Most of the basic Pokémon in the original Sinnoh dex are pretty pointless, except the Legendary Titans.

==== Dialga ====

'''Diamond version only!'''

Pros:

* Incredible defensive typing, 10+ Resistances, 1 immunity (Poison), 2 Weaknesses (Fighting & Ground)

* Higher HP & Defence stat compared to Palkia.

Cons:

* Poor offensive movepool (in speed running) it requires TMs and most of the good ones needs detours.

* Poor secondary type for offensive (2 types are weak to Steel attacks, 3 types are resistant to Steel attacks)

* Lower Base speed compared to Palkia.

* Signature move is only useful against the trainer's last Pokémon, it needs to recharge like Hyper Beam.

* Fighting is a very popular attacking type and Lucian's Alakazam knows Focus Blast.

==== Palkia ====

'''Pearl version only!'''

Pros:

* Faster than Dialga by 10 base speed points which could make a difference against Cynthia's Garchomp.

* Only has 1 weakness (Dragon) and only Garchomp is a threat in a speed run.

* Better Signature move (Higher Crit Hit Ratio, no turn loss)

* Knows Surf which is a good secondary type STAB move.

Cons:

* Lower HP & Defence than Dialga

* Doesn't have 10+ resistances... only has 3 resistances (4x resist to Water and Fire, 2x resist to Steel).

* Spacial Rend is less powerful than Roar of Time.

=== Strategies ===

'''Basic order to capturing your Pokémon'''
# Starter (Piplup, Turtwig, Chimchar)
# HM Slave 1 Geodude, level 3 near Oreburgh City (Teach Rock Smash, Strength and then Rock Climb).
# Machop (if using the in-game Abra trade) Teach Rock Smash, fight the Gym, then trade)
# HM Slave 2 Bibarel, level 18 near Hearthome City (Teach Rock Smash (vs Prinplup), Cut, Waterfall and Surf).
# HM Slave 3 Starly/Staravia various levels under 2-20ish (Teach Fly and Defog)
# Teleporter: Abra
# Legendary Monster (Palkia/Dialga): Used as backup or sweeping the Elite Four if your main Starter gets KO'd.

----------

Battle Strategies

# Avoiding Double Battles: If you only have one Pokemon on your team who is not KOed, all of the sets of double trainers will not battle you. This, however, does not apply to two seperate trainers who see you at the same time. The exception to this rule is atop the Pillar right before the Legendary, the two Galactic Grunts will force you away if you do not have a double partner.

More updates later

-----------

Good/Free item pickups

To update later

'''TMs'''

TM 35: Flamethrower - Fuego Fireworks

TM 13: Ice Beam - Route 213 (After using Rock Climb)

TM 46: Thief - Eterna City

TM 80: Rock Slide - Mt.Coronet (Before the Spear Pillar)

TM 59: Dragon Pulse - Victory Road

---------

=== Important Battles ===

=== Glitches ===
A normal, glitchless run is pretty straight forward but there are some glitches that it's possible to skip the Elite 4 and go to the Hall of Fame.

'''Elite Four Surf Glitch'''

This glitch is pretty well known in Japan back in late 2006, it became possible to capture Darkrai, Shaymin, and Giratina, it's even possible to skip the Elite Four. It's so popular that Gamefreak and Nintendo were aware of the exploit and fixed it in both the International release and newer copies in Japan.

Pros:

* Very easy to work out, apparently you use the Surf Glitch and then go down a few steps, then go right for 5->10 steps and then go up for roughly 200->500 steps (I can't really remember) and then go left 5->10 steps and then go up to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene.

* Saves 15->20 minutes for both setup, and battling the Elite 4

Cons:

* It has to be done on a Japanese copy that was out since September 2006

* The viewers would need to watch the entire run in Japanese, a speedrun wouldn't be easy to watch as the Battle Animations are turned off (to speed up the game).

'''Jubilife Void'''

There was a tweaking glitch that created black voids which was discovered a few months after the American release, nearly 1.5 years later, players have managed to workout how to capture Darkrai & Shaymin with this glitch and even the lesser known Giratina. It's also possible to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene skipping nearly 4-5 gyms and the Elite 4. '''Insert video/Youtube Link on how to do it.'''

Pros:

* Can be done on any version.

* Not much battle planning.

Cons:

* Requires the underground kit.

* Likely to cause a black screen after loading the game, meaning you're stuck forever.

* The Tweaking glitch (moving the D-Pad in random directions) can be pretty tough on a DS Lite.

* It might '''not''' work on the DSi due to the extra ram that is stored in the system.

* The Jubilife Void to the Hall of Fame Cutscene takes over 2 hours to get there, meaning you are on the Bike riding & no battles triggered making a very, very, very boring run that people would rather watch Clue or Back to the Future on the NES.

-------------

== Platinum ==

=== Changes from Diamond/Pearl ===

* TM 10 Hidden Power is no longer obtained by the Training School in Jubilife City. It is only obtained by collecting 6000 Coins in the Casino (120k pokeyen).

* Hypnosis is now 60% not 70% which is a bit easier when facing against your oppoents who uses this move.

* There is a battle against Cyrus in Celestic Town and he has Golbat, Murkrow and Sneasel.

* You have a battle against your rival as soon as you get your starter. Your rival will always use a stat dropping move (Growl/Leer) and it's not possible to score a critical hit.

* The Distortion world doesn't have any new battles other than Cyrus before facing Giratina.

* Elite 4 has a updated team, most notably the Pokémon from the updated Sinnoh Dex, Cynthia's party level has reduced slightly.

* The later gym leaders has teams updated such as Magneton in Byron's team and Electivire in Volkner's team.

* Updated level up movepools, most notable example is Piplup now learns Bubblebeam at level 18 now and not 22. Scizor can learn Bullet Punch via Heart Scale and Darkrai can learn Nasty Plot instead of Calm Mind via level up.

=== Giratina ===

* Giratina's Another Forme is designed to be a dual tank. But Giratina's Origin Forme is a mixed sweeper... sort of. The problem is that it's Special attack is 120 compared to Dialga/Palkia's 150. When playing the game normally, Giratina would not have the Griseous Orb so he would only be as Another Forme (dual tank). This makes the Attack/Sp.Attack base stats at 100... very low compared the other two titans. He does make up for having very high HP (up to 500+ at level 100). It's a good 'partner' pokémon if your main starter gets KO'd and using (max) revives to get pass the Elite Four.

Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

2009-08-22T22:19:51Z

UltimateDarius: /* Useful Pokémon other than the starters */

[[Category:Nintendo DS]]
[[Category:Games]]

The original set for the Pokémon Generation IV games. When HeartGold & SoulSilver are released in the contries outside of Japan, move this page (and HeartGold/SoulSilver) to the Generation IV engine page and make it a clickable link to this page.

==Diamond and Pearl==

=== Starters ===
'''Turtwig'''

Pros:

* A Grass type PKMN that knows Earthquake naturally at level 32.

* Nice physical tank (High HP, Attack, Defence)

* It evolves to Torterra at level 32, pretty early compared to most starters.

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* It evolves to Grotle at level 18, pretty late compared to most starters.

* Poor attacking movepool (needs to be Torterra to know Stone Edge/Rock Slide to counter Flying types). It can only learn Normal, Grass and Dark moves by level up.

* Slowest Starter out of all 12 starters in the franchise. Heavy luck manipulation with Quick Claw to make up for it.

Overall:
One the worst types for speedrunning Pokémon thanks to it's bad type coverage and it's limited offensive movepool.

-------------
'''Piplup'''

Pros:

* Evolves to a Water/Steel type that has incredible defensive typing.

* Can learn a Ice move (Ice Beam/Blizzard) to counter Grass and Ground moves to counter Electic types.

* Knows Surf by HM which is always nice.

* Highest Special Attack stat of all Water Starter types.

Cons:

* It's low base speed makes Torrent sweeping a bit difficult

* Movepool is pretty bad at the early game, especially in DP where s/he learns Bubblebeam at level 22 or 24 (depending if the Pokémon is Piplup or Prinplup).

* Limited Special Movepool (Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon and the occasional Hidden Power [ELEC]).

Overall:

* One of the two useful starters in the run. It's been let down by its limited special movepool and low base speed but it makes up for 10+ resistances & 1 immunity which is useful for X-Item boosting.

-----------------

'''Chimchar'''

Pros:

* One of the 2 Fire Types familes in the Sinnoh Reigon, the other is Ponyta.

* Can evolve pretty early at Level 14 and learn Mach Punch to easily win the first Gym.

* Can learn some powerful fighting types (Mach Punch, Drain Punch, Brick Break, Close Combat) to defeat Normal, Dark, Rock, Ice, & Steel types.

* Learning Fire Types moves can KO Bronzors & Bronzongs without any hassle.

* High Attack, Special Attack and Speed makes it a good mixed sweeper and a fantastic Wall Breaker.

* Knows Grass Knot, Stone Edge, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace and Solarbeam.

* With a varied movepool it has some good advantages against 6 of 8 Gym Leaders (most notably Grass, Steel, Ice).

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* Pretty frail, meaning using an X-Item is pretty risky.

* To know Flamethower by level up, it's only possible as Chimchar and it's level 41. Otherwise you would need to go to Fuego Fireworks and pickup a Flamethrower TM.

* Exposed to Water Types and Ground Types, making Quagsire a good counter.

* Gyrados, Crobat, Garchomp and Milotic are the biggest threats.

Overall:

One of the two impressive starters for speed running. It knows some pretty powerful STABs (Same-Type-Attack-Bonus) and can take down most walls (Bronzong, Blissey & Snorlax) with one attack! You got to have a Lucky egg to have a high level difference from your opponents and using 1 X-Attack or Special attack, it should manage to sweep an entire party (Blaze support should help too but it's limited to Fire attacks). Cyrus's Weavile is OHKO with STAB Mach Punch. If the player was really lucky and the Hidden Power type was Electric (Base Power 60-70) it can take down the almighty Gyarados!

=== Useful Pokémon other than the starters ===

'''Bibarel'''

This Pokémon is one of the easiest to catch and most effective HM slave. It can learn at least 6 HMs including:

* Cut

* Rock Smash

* Strength

* Rock Climb

* Surf

* Waterfall

It's reccommended to have Cut, Surf, Waterfall, (and any other move). You can find a level 18 Bibarel nearby Hearthome city. It's a good secondary Pokémon to weaken Prinplup's Defences by using Rock Smash (if you started off as Chimchar) in Pastoria City ('''Hearthome City in Platinum after Fantina''') the finish off with Monferno/Infernape's physical attacks.

Because of the 4 moves limit, '''Geodude''' is a good subsitute as it can learn:

* Strength

* Rock Smash

* Rock Climb

'''Starly'''

If you can wait and catch a '''Staravia''' it's a good Pokémon to abuse Intimidate to lower the Physical Sweeper's high Attack stat (Gyarados, Weavile, Snorlax, Garchomp are good examples).

It can also learn 2 HMs including:

* Fly

* Defog

Since Flash is now a TM, they use the Fog as the game's new "I can't work my way round" element. The fog also effects Pokémon battles too, all of the Pokémon evasioness are raised by 2 stages. So the attacks are more likely to miss.

'''Abra '''

Pros: It knows teleport but we are not fully confirmed if it saves anytime at all, it might save time for the Pastoria City -> Hearthome City warp for DP and possibly Platinum but it has a pretty good special attack stat making a good teammate Pokémon for Double battles.

'''Abra/Kadabra (In-game trade)'''

There is an in-game trade, a Machop for an Abra, that can be made in Oreburgh City, to replace your starter as your main Pokemon in a segmented run.

Pros:
*Enables a teleport back to Jubilife.

*Ties Infernape for base speed (assuming same level)

*Out Special Attacks Empoleon for base speed (assuming same level)

*Kadabra is available WELL before the final stage evolution of any starter.

*Boosted experience immediately.

*This value later stacks with Lucky Egg for a 225% experience rate

*Faster than all but two pokemon the entire run, and ties one of those two.

*Quiet Nature (+ special attack, - speed)

*Decent IVs
HP: 15
Attack: 15
Defense: 15
Special Attack: 25
Special Defense: 25
Speed: 20

*Able to score nearly all OHKOs unassisted, and many are neutral effectiveness.

*Learns Charge Beam (75% chance of raising special attack), and OHKO while raising stats.

*Learns Shock Wave (useful in the fog, for type coverage, and for PP conservation)

*Learns Grass Knot (again useful for PP conservation and type coverage)

*Learns Shadow Ball (same as above)

Cons:
*Preset IVs

*Hidden Power Ice 34

*DISOBEDIENCE: 1.) Immediately after trade until 2nd gym
2.) After obtaining Lucky Egg on Route 209 until 4th gym.
3.) Against Byron in the 6th gym.

*Weak Defenses (only a very minor inconvenience)

'''Medicham'''

It's best to get this one at Mt.Coronet when you are going to face Team Galactic. If Medicham knows any Psychic moves then it would be handy to take down a couple of Croagunks. But this is not fully confirmed since this is the last important double battle in the speed run before the Real Multi Double battle occurs with your friend Barry.

=== Notable differences between the two, for speed running ===
Most of the basic Pokémon in the original Sinnoh dex are pretty pointless, except the Legendary Titans.

==== Dialga ====

'''Diamond version only!'''

Pros:

* Incredible defensive typing, 10+ Resistances, 1 immunity (Poison), 2 Weaknesses (Fighting & Ground)

* Higher HP & Defence stat compared to Palkia.

Cons:

* Poor offensive movepool (in speed running) it requires TMs and most of the good ones needs detours.

* Poor secondary type for offensive (2 types are weak to Steel attacks, 3 types are resistant to Steel attacks)

* Lower Base speed compared to Palkia.

* Signature move is only useful against the trainer's last Pokémon, it needs to recharge like Hyper Beam.

* Fighting is a very popular attacking type and Lucian's Alakazam knows Focus Blast.

==== Palkia ====

'''Pearl version only!'''

Pros:

* Faster than Dialga by 10 base speed points which could make a difference against Cynthia's Garchomp.

* Only has 1 weakness (Dragon) and only Garchomp is a threat in a speed run.

* Better Signature move (Higher Crit Hit Ratio, no turn loss)

* Knows Surf which is a good secondary type STAB move.

Cons:

* Lower HP & Defence than Dialga

* Doesn't have 10+ resistances... only has 3 resistances (4x resist to Water and Fire, 2x resist to Steel).

* Spacial Rend is less powerful than Roar of Time.

=== Strategies ===

'''Basic order to capturing your Pokémon'''
# Starter (Piplup, Turtwig, Chimchar)
# HM Slave 1 Geodude, level 3 near Oreburgh City (Teach Rock Smash, Strength and then Rock Climb).
# Machop (if using the in-game Abra trade) Teach Rock Smash, fight the Gym, then trade)
# HM Slave 2 Bibarel, level 18 near Hearthome City (Teach Rock Smash (vs Prinplup), Cut, Waterfall and Surf).
# HM Slave 3 Starly/Staravia various levels under 2-20ish (Teach Fly and Defog)
# Teleporter: Abra
# Legendary Monster (Palkia/Dialga): Used as backup or sweeping the Elite Four if your main Starter gets KO'd.

----------

Battle Strategies

# Avoiding Double Battles: If you only have one Pokemon on your team who is not KOed, all of the sets of double trainers will not battle you. This, however, does not apply to two seperate trainers who see you at the same time. The exception to this rule is atop the Pillar right before the Legendary, the two Galactic Grunts will force you away if you do not have a double partner.

More updates later

-----------

Good/Free item pickups

To update later

'''TMs'''

TM 35: Flamethrower - Fuego Fireworks

TM 13: Ice Beam - Route 213 (After using Rock Climb)

TM 46: Thief - Eterna City

TM 80: Rock Slide - Mt.Coronet (Before the Spear Pillar)

TM 59: Dragon Pulse - Victory Road

---------

=== Important Battles ===

=== Glitches ===
A normal, glitchless run is pretty straight forward but there are some glitches that it's possible to skip the Elite 4 and go to the Hall of Fame.

'''Elite Four Surf Glitch'''

This glitch is pretty well known in Japan back in late 2006, it became possible to capture Darkrai, Shaymin, and Giratina, it's even possible to skip the Elite Four. It's so popular that Gamefreak and Nintendo were aware of the exploit and fixed it in both the International release and newer copies in Japan.

Pros:

* Very easy to work out, apparently you use the Surf Glitch and then go down a few steps, then go right for 5->10 steps and then go up for roughly 200->500 steps (I can't really remember) and then go left 5->10 steps and then go up to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene.

* Saves 15->20 minutes for both setup, and battling the Elite 4

Cons:

* It has to be done on a Japanese copy that was out since September 2006

* The viewers would need to watch the entire run in Japanese, a speedrun wouldn't be easy to watch as the Battle Animations are turned off (to speed up the game).

'''Jubilife Void'''

There was a tweaking glitch that created black voids which was discovered a few months after the American release, nearly 1.5 years later, players have managed to workout how to capture Darkrai & Shaymin with this glitch and even the lesser known Giratina. It's also possible to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene skipping nearly 4-5 gyms and the Elite 4. '''Insert video/Youtube Link on how to do it.'''

Pros:

* Can be done on any version.

* Not much battle planning.

Cons:

* Requires the underground kit.

* Likely to cause a black screen after loading the game, meaning you're stuck forever.

* The Tweaking glitch (moving the D-Pad in random directions) can be pretty tough on a DS Lite.

* It might '''not''' work on the DSi due to the extra ram that is stored in the system.

* The Jubilife Void to the Hall of Fame Cutscene takes over 2 hours to get there, meaning you are on the Bike riding & no battles triggered making a very, very, very boring run that people would rather watch Clue or Back to the Future on the NES.

-------------

== Platinum ==

=== Changes from Diamond/Pearl ===

* TM 10 Hidden Power is no longer obtained by the Training School in Jubilife City. It is only obtained by collecting 6000 Coins in the Casino (120k pokeyen).

* Hypnosis is now 60% not 70% which is a bit easier when facing against your oppoents who uses this move.

* There is a battle against Cyrus in Celestic Town and he has Golbat, Murkrow and Sneasel.

* You have a battle against your rival as soon as you get your starter. Your rival will always use a stat dropping move (Growl/Leer) and it's not possible to score a critical hit.

* The Distortion world doesn't have any new battles other than Cyrus before facing Giratina.

* Elite 4 has a updated team, most notably the Pokémon from the updated Sinnoh Dex, Cynthia's party level has reduced slightly.

* The later gym leaders has teams updated such as Magneton in Byron's team and Electivire in Volkner's team.

* Updated level up movepools, most notable example is Piplup now learns Bubblebeam at level 18 now and not 22. Scizor can learn Bullet Punch via Heart Scale and Darkrai can learn Nasty Plot instead of Calm Mind via level up.

=== Giratina ===

* Giratina's Another Forme is designed to be a dual tank. But Giratina's Origin Forme is a mixed sweeper... sort of. The problem is that it's Special attack is 120 compared to Dialga/Palkia's 150. When playing the game normally, Giratina would not have the Griseous Orb so he would only be as Another Forme (dual tank). This makes the Attack/Sp.Attack base stats at 100... very low compared the other two titans. He does make up for having very high HP (up to 500+ at level 100). It's a good 'partner' pokémon if your main starter gets KO'd and using (max) revives to get pass the Elite Four.

Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

2009-08-22T22:18:19Z

UltimateDarius: /* Starters */

[[Category:Nintendo DS]]
[[Category:Games]]

The original set for the Pokémon Generation IV games. When HeartGold & SoulSilver are released in the contries outside of Japan, move this page (and HeartGold/SoulSilver) to the Generation IV engine page and make it a clickable link to this page.

==Diamond and Pearl==

=== Starters ===
'''Turtwig'''

Pros:

* A Grass type PKMN that knows Earthquake naturally at level 32.

* Nice physical tank (High HP, Attack, Defence)

* It evolves to Torterra at level 32, pretty early compared to most starters.

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* It evolves to Grotle at level 18, pretty late compared to most starters.

* Poor attacking movepool (needs to be Torterra to know Stone Edge/Rock Slide to counter Flying types). It can only learn Normal, Grass and Dark moves by level up.

* Slowest Starter out of all 12 starters in the franchise. Heavy luck manipulation with Quick Claw to make up for it.

Overall:
One the worst types for speedrunning Pokémon thanks to it's bad type coverage and it's limited offensive movepool.

-------------
'''Piplup'''

Pros:

* Evolves to a Water/Steel type that has incredible defensive typing.

* Can learn a Ice move (Ice Beam/Blizzard) to counter Grass and Ground moves to counter Electic types.

* Knows Surf by HM which is always nice.

* Highest Special Attack stat of all Water Starter types.

Cons:

* It's low base speed makes Torrent sweeping a bit difficult

* Movepool is pretty bad at the early game, especially in DP where s/he learns Bubblebeam at level 22 or 24 (depending if the Pokémon is Piplup or Prinplup).

* Limited Special Movepool (Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon and the occasional Hidden Power [ELEC]).

Overall:

* One of the two useful starters in the run. It's been let down by its limited special movepool and low base speed but it makes up for 10+ resistances & 1 immunity which is useful for X-Item boosting.

-----------------

'''Chimchar'''

Pros:

* One of the 2 Fire Types familes in the Sinnoh Reigon, the other is Ponyta.

* Can evolve pretty early at Level 14 and learn Mach Punch to easily win the first Gym.

* Can learn some powerful fighting types (Mach Punch, Drain Punch, Brick Break, Close Combat) to defeat Normal, Dark, Rock, Ice, & Steel types.

* Learning Fire Types moves can KO Bronzors & Bronzongs without any hassle.

* High Attack, Special Attack and Speed makes it a good mixed sweeper and a fantastic Wall Breaker.

* Knows Grass Knot, Stone Edge, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace and Solarbeam.

* With a varied movepool it has some good advantages against 6 of 8 Gym Leaders (most notably Grass, Steel, Ice).

* Can double as an HM whore with the below Abra/Kadabra strategy, as it learns Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Strength, and Cut.

Cons:

* Pretty frail, meaning using an X-Item is pretty risky.

* To know Flamethower by level up, it's only possible as Chimchar and it's level 41. Otherwise you would need to go to Fuego Fireworks and pickup a Flamethrower TM.

* Exposed to Water Types and Ground Types, making Quagsire a good counter.

* Gyrados, Crobat, Garchomp and Milotic are the biggest threats.

Overall:

One of the two impressive starters for speed running. It knows some pretty powerful STABs (Same-Type-Attack-Bonus) and can take down most walls (Bronzong, Blissey & Snorlax) with one attack! You got to have a Lucky egg to have a high level difference from your opponents and using 1 X-Attack or Special attack, it should manage to sweep an entire party (Blaze support should help too but it's limited to Fire attacks). Cyrus's Weavile is OHKO with STAB Mach Punch. If the player was really lucky and the Hidden Power type was Electric (Base Power 60-70) it can take down the almighty Gyarados!

=== Useful Pokémon other than the starters ===

'''Bibarel'''

This Pokémon is one of the easiest to catch and most effective HM slave. It can learn at least 6 HMs including:

* Cut

* Rock Smash

* Strength

* Rock Climb

* Surf

* Waterfall

It's reccommended to have Cut, Surf, Waterfall, (and any other move). You can find a level 18 Bibarel nearby Hearthome city. It's a good secondary Pokémon to weaken Prinplup's Defences by using Rock Smash (if you started off as Chimchar) in Pastoria City ('''Hearthome City in Platinum after Fantina''') the finish off with Monferno/Infernape's physical attacks.

Because of the 4 moves limit, '''Geodude''' is a good subsitute as it can learn:

* Strength

* Rock Smash

* Rock Climb

'''Starly'''

If you can wait and catch a '''Staravia''' it's a good Pokémon to abuse Intimidate to lower the Physical Sweeper's high Attack stat (Gyarados, Weavile, Snorlax, Garchomp are good examples).

It can also learn 2 HMs including:

* Fly

* Defog

Since Flash is now a TM, they use the Fog as the game's new "I can't work my way round" element. The fog also effects Pokémon battles too, all of the Pokémon evasioness are raised by 2 stages. So the attacks are more likely to miss.

'''Abra '''

Pros: It knows teleport but we are not fully confirmed if it saves anytime at all, it might save time for the Pastoria City -> Hearthome City warp for DP and possibly Platinum but it has a pretty good special attack stat making a good teammate Pokémon for Double battles.

'''Abra/Kadabra (In-game trade)'''

There is an in-game trade, a Machop for an Abra, that can be made in Oreburgh City, to replace your starter as your main Pokemon in a segmented run.

Pros:
*Enables a teleport back to Jubilife.
*Ties Infernape for base speed (assuming same level)
*Out Special Attacks Empoleon for base speed (assuming same level)
*Kadabra is available WELL before the final stage evolution of any starter.
*Boosted experience immediately.
*This value later stacks with Lucky Egg for a 225% experience rate
*Faster than all but two pokemon the entire run, and ties one of those two.
*Quiet Nature (+ special attack, - speed)
*Decent IVs
HP: 15
Attack: 15
Defense: 15
Special Attack: 25
Special Defense: 25
Speed: 20
*Able to score nearly all OHKOs unassisted, and many are neutral effectiveness.
*Learns Charge Beam (75% chance of raising special attack), and OHKO while raising stats.
*Learns Shock Wave (useful in the fog, for type coverage, and for PP conservation)
*Learns Grass Knot (again useful for PP conservation and type coverage)
*Learns Shadow Ball (same as above)

Cons:
*Preset IVs
*Hidden Power Ice 34
*DISOBEDIENCE: 1.) Immediately after trade until 2nd gym
2.) After obtaining Lucky Egg on Route 209 until 4th gym.
3.) Against Byron in the 6th gym.
*Weak Defenses (only a very minor inconvenience)

'''Medicham'''

It's best to get this one at Mt.Coronet when you are going to face Team Galactic. If Medicham knows any Psychic moves then it would be handy to take down a couple of Croagunks. But this is not fully confirmed since this is the last important double battle in the speed run before the Real Multi Double battle occurs with your friend Barry.

=== Notable differences between the two, for speed running ===
Most of the basic Pokémon in the original Sinnoh dex are pretty pointless, except the Legendary Titans.

==== Dialga ====

'''Diamond version only!'''

Pros:

* Incredible defensive typing, 10+ Resistances, 1 immunity (Poison), 2 Weaknesses (Fighting & Ground)

* Higher HP & Defence stat compared to Palkia.

Cons:

* Poor offensive movepool (in speed running) it requires TMs and most of the good ones needs detours.

* Poor secondary type for offensive (2 types are weak to Steel attacks, 3 types are resistant to Steel attacks)

* Lower Base speed compared to Palkia.

* Signature move is only useful against the trainer's last Pokémon, it needs to recharge like Hyper Beam.

* Fighting is a very popular attacking type and Lucian's Alakazam knows Focus Blast.

==== Palkia ====

'''Pearl version only!'''

Pros:

* Faster than Dialga by 10 base speed points which could make a difference against Cynthia's Garchomp.

* Only has 1 weakness (Dragon) and only Garchomp is a threat in a speed run.

* Better Signature move (Higher Crit Hit Ratio, no turn loss)

* Knows Surf which is a good secondary type STAB move.

Cons:

* Lower HP & Defence than Dialga

* Doesn't have 10+ resistances... only has 3 resistances (4x resist to Water and Fire, 2x resist to Steel).

* Spacial Rend is less powerful than Roar of Time.

=== Strategies ===

'''Basic order to capturing your Pokémon'''
# Starter (Piplup, Turtwig, Chimchar)
# HM Slave 1 Geodude, level 3 near Oreburgh City (Teach Rock Smash, Strength and then Rock Climb).
# Machop (if using the in-game Abra trade) Teach Rock Smash, fight the Gym, then trade)
# HM Slave 2 Bibarel, level 18 near Hearthome City (Teach Rock Smash (vs Prinplup), Cut, Waterfall and Surf).
# HM Slave 3 Starly/Staravia various levels under 2-20ish (Teach Fly and Defog)
# Teleporter: Abra
# Legendary Monster (Palkia/Dialga): Used as backup or sweeping the Elite Four if your main Starter gets KO'd.

----------

Battle Strategies

# Avoiding Double Battles: If you only have one Pokemon on your team who is not KOed, all of the sets of double trainers will not battle you. This, however, does not apply to two seperate trainers who see you at the same time. The exception to this rule is atop the Pillar right before the Legendary, the two Galactic Grunts will force you away if you do not have a double partner.

More updates later

-----------

Good/Free item pickups

To update later

'''TMs'''

TM 35: Flamethrower - Fuego Fireworks

TM 13: Ice Beam - Route 213 (After using Rock Climb)

TM 46: Thief - Eterna City

TM 80: Rock Slide - Mt.Coronet (Before the Spear Pillar)

TM 59: Dragon Pulse - Victory Road

---------

=== Important Battles ===

=== Glitches ===
A normal, glitchless run is pretty straight forward but there are some glitches that it's possible to skip the Elite 4 and go to the Hall of Fame.

'''Elite Four Surf Glitch'''

This glitch is pretty well known in Japan back in late 2006, it became possible to capture Darkrai, Shaymin, and Giratina, it's even possible to skip the Elite Four. It's so popular that Gamefreak and Nintendo were aware of the exploit and fixed it in both the International release and newer copies in Japan.

Pros:

* Very easy to work out, apparently you use the Surf Glitch and then go down a few steps, then go right for 5->10 steps and then go up for roughly 200->500 steps (I can't really remember) and then go left 5->10 steps and then go up to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene.

* Saves 15->20 minutes for both setup, and battling the Elite 4

Cons:

* It has to be done on a Japanese copy that was out since September 2006

* The viewers would need to watch the entire run in Japanese, a speedrun wouldn't be easy to watch as the Battle Animations are turned off (to speed up the game).

'''Jubilife Void'''

There was a tweaking glitch that created black voids which was discovered a few months after the American release, nearly 1.5 years later, players have managed to workout how to capture Darkrai & Shaymin with this glitch and even the lesser known Giratina. It's also possible to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene skipping nearly 4-5 gyms and the Elite 4. '''Insert video/Youtube Link on how to do it.'''

Pros:

* Can be done on any version.

* Not much battle planning.

Cons:

* Requires the underground kit.

* Likely to cause a black screen after loading the game, meaning you're stuck forever.

* The Tweaking glitch (moving the D-Pad in random directions) can be pretty tough on a DS Lite.

* It might '''not''' work on the DSi due to the extra ram that is stored in the system.

* The Jubilife Void to the Hall of Fame Cutscene takes over 2 hours to get there, meaning you are on the Bike riding & no battles triggered making a very, very, very boring run that people would rather watch Clue or Back to the Future on the NES.

-------------

== Platinum ==

=== Changes from Diamond/Pearl ===

* TM 10 Hidden Power is no longer obtained by the Training School in Jubilife City. It is only obtained by collecting 6000 Coins in the Casino (120k pokeyen).

* Hypnosis is now 60% not 70% which is a bit easier when facing against your oppoents who uses this move.

* There is a battle against Cyrus in Celestic Town and he has Golbat, Murkrow and Sneasel.

* You have a battle against your rival as soon as you get your starter. Your rival will always use a stat dropping move (Growl/Leer) and it's not possible to score a critical hit.

* The Distortion world doesn't have any new battles other than Cyrus before facing Giratina.

* Elite 4 has a updated team, most notably the Pokémon from the updated Sinnoh Dex, Cynthia's party level has reduced slightly.

* The later gym leaders has teams updated such as Magneton in Byron's team and Electivire in Volkner's team.

* Updated level up movepools, most notable example is Piplup now learns Bubblebeam at level 18 now and not 22. Scizor can learn Bullet Punch via Heart Scale and Darkrai can learn Nasty Plot instead of Calm Mind via level up.

=== Giratina ===

* Giratina's Another Forme is designed to be a dual tank. But Giratina's Origin Forme is a mixed sweeper... sort of. The problem is that it's Special attack is 120 compared to Dialga/Palkia's 150. When playing the game normally, Giratina would not have the Griseous Orb so he would only be as Another Forme (dual tank). This makes the Attack/Sp.Attack base stats at 100... very low compared the other two titans. He does make up for having very high HP (up to 500+ at level 100). It's a good 'partner' pokémon if your main starter gets KO'd and using (max) revives to get pass the Elite Four.

Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

2009-08-22T22:14:26Z

UltimateDarius: /* Strategies */

[[Category:Nintendo DS]]
[[Category:Games]]

The original set for the Pokémon Generation IV games. When HeartGold & SoulSilver are released in the contries outside of Japan, move this page (and HeartGold/SoulSilver) to the Generation IV engine page and make it a clickable link to this page.

==Diamond and Pearl==

=== Starters ===
'''Turtwig'''

Pros:

* A Grass type PKMN that knows Earthquake naturally at level 32.

* Nice physical tank (High HP, Attack, Defence)

* It evolves to Torterra at level 32, pretty early compared to most starters.

Cons:

* It evolves to Grotle at level 18, pretty late compared to most starters.

* Poor attacking movepool (needs to be Torterra to know Stone Edge/Rock Slide to counter Flying types). It can only learn Normal, Grass and Dark moves by level up.

* Slowest Starter out of all 12 starters in the franchise. Heavy luck manipulation with Quick Claw to make up for it.

Overall:
One the worst types for speedrunning Pokémon thanks to it's bad type coverage and it's limited offensive movepool.

-------------
'''Piplup'''

Pros:

* Evolves to a Water/Steel type that has incredible defensive typing.

* Can learn a Ice move (Ice Beam/Blizzard) to counter Grass and Ground moves to counter Electic types.

* Knows Surf by HM which is always nice.

* Highest Special Attack stat of all Water Starter types.

Cons:

* It's low base speed makes Torrent sweeping a bit difficult

* Movepool is pretty bad at the early game, especially in DP where s/he learns Bubblebeam at level 22 or 24 (depending if the Pokémon is Piplup or Prinplup).

* Limited Special Movepool (Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon and the occasional Hidden Power [ELEC]).

Overall:

* One of the two useful starters in the run. It's been let down by its limited special movepool and low base speed but it makes up for 10+ resistances & 1 immunity which is useful for X-Item boosting.

-----------------

'''Chimchar'''

Pros:

* One of the 2 Fire Types familes in the Sinnoh Reigon, the other is Ponyta.

* Can evolve pretty early at Level 14 and learn Mach Punch to easily win the first Gym.

* Can learn some powerful fighting types (Mach Punch, Drain Punch, Brick Break, Close Combat) to defeat Normal, Dark, Rock, Ice, & Steel types.

* Learning Fire Types moves can KO Bronzors & Bronzongs without any hassle.

* High Attack, Special Attack and Speed makes it a good mixed sweeper and a fantastic Wall Breaker.

* Knows Grass Knot, Stone Edge, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace and Solarbeam.

* With a varied movepool it has some good advantages against 6 of 8 Gym Leaders (most notably Grass, Steel, Ice).

Cons:

* Pretty frail, meaning using an X-Item is pretty risky.

* To know Flamethower by level up, it's only possible as Chimchar and it's level 41. Otherwise you would need to go to Fuego Fireworks and pickup a Flamethrower TM.

* Exposed to Water Types and Ground Types, making Quagsire a good counter.

* Gyrados, Crobat, Garchomp and Milotic are the biggest threats.

Overall:

One of the two impressive starters for speed running. It knows some pretty powerful STABs (Same-Type-Attack-Bonus) and can take down most walls (Bronzong, Blissey & Snorlax) with one attack! You got to have a Lucky egg to have a high level difference from your opponents and using 1 X-Attack or Special attack, it should manage to sweep an entire party (Blaze support should help too but it's limited to Fire attacks). Cyrus's Weavile is OHKO with STAB Mach Punch. If the player was really lucky and the Hidden Power type was Electric (Base Power 60-70) it can take down the almighty Gyarados!

=== Useful Pokémon other than the starters ===

'''Bibarel'''

This Pokémon is one of the easiest to catch and most effective HM slave. It can learn at least 6 HMs including:

* Cut

* Rock Smash

* Strength

* Rock Climb

* Surf

* Waterfall

It's reccommended to have Cut, Surf, Waterfall, (and any other move). You can find a level 18 Bibarel nearby Hearthome city. It's a good secondary Pokémon to weaken Prinplup's Defences by using Rock Smash (if you started off as Chimchar) in Pastoria City ('''Hearthome City in Platinum after Fantina''') the finish off with Monferno/Infernape's physical attacks.

Because of the 4 moves limit, '''Geodude''' is a good subsitute as it can learn:

* Strength

* Rock Smash

* Rock Climb

'''Starly'''

If you can wait and catch a '''Staravia''' it's a good Pokémon to abuse Intimidate to lower the Physical Sweeper's high Attack stat (Gyarados, Weavile, Snorlax, Garchomp are good examples).

It can also learn 2 HMs including:

* Fly

* Defog

Since Flash is now a TM, they use the Fog as the game's new "I can't work my way round" element. The fog also effects Pokémon battles too, all of the Pokémon evasioness are raised by 2 stages. So the attacks are more likely to miss.

'''Abra '''

Pros: It knows teleport but we are not fully confirmed if it saves anytime at all, it might save time for the Pastoria City -> Hearthome City warp for DP and possibly Platinum but it has a pretty good special attack stat making a good teammate Pokémon for Double battles.

'''Abra/Kadabra (In-game trade)'''

There is an in-game trade, a Machop for an Abra, that can be made in Oreburgh City, to replace your starter as your main Pokemon in a segmented run.

Pros:
*Enables a teleport back to Jubilife.
*Ties Infernape for base speed (assuming same level)
*Out Special Attacks Empoleon for base speed (assuming same level)
*Kadabra is available WELL before the final stage evolution of any starter.
*Boosted experience immediately.
*This value later stacks with Lucky Egg for a 225% experience rate
*Faster than all but two pokemon the entire run, and ties one of those two.
*Quiet Nature (+ special attack, - speed)
*Decent IVs
HP: 15
Attack: 15
Defense: 15
Special Attack: 25
Special Defense: 25
Speed: 20
*Able to score nearly all OHKOs unassisted, and many are neutral effectiveness.
*Learns Charge Beam (75% chance of raising special attack), and OHKO while raising stats.
*Learns Shock Wave (useful in the fog, for type coverage, and for PP conservation)
*Learns Grass Knot (again useful for PP conservation and type coverage)
*Learns Shadow Ball (same as above)

Cons:
*Preset IVs
*Hidden Power Ice 34
*DISOBEDIENCE: 1.) Immediately after trade until 2nd gym
2.) After obtaining Lucky Egg on Route 209 until 4th gym.
3.) Against Byron in the 6th gym.
*Weak Defenses (only a very minor inconvenience)

'''Medicham'''

It's best to get this one at Mt.Coronet when you are going to face Team Galactic. If Medicham knows any Psychic moves then it would be handy to take down a couple of Croagunks. But this is not fully confirmed since this is the last important double battle in the speed run before the Real Multi Double battle occurs with your friend Barry.

=== Notable differences between the two, for speed running ===
Most of the basic Pokémon in the original Sinnoh dex are pretty pointless, except the Legendary Titans.

==== Dialga ====

'''Diamond version only!'''

Pros:

* Incredible defensive typing, 10+ Resistances, 1 immunity (Poison), 2 Weaknesses (Fighting & Ground)

* Higher HP & Defence stat compared to Palkia.

Cons:

* Poor offensive movepool (in speed running) it requires TMs and most of the good ones needs detours.

* Poor secondary type for offensive (2 types are weak to Steel attacks, 3 types are resistant to Steel attacks)

* Lower Base speed compared to Palkia.

* Signature move is only useful against the trainer's last Pokémon, it needs to recharge like Hyper Beam.

* Fighting is a very popular attacking type and Lucian's Alakazam knows Focus Blast.

==== Palkia ====

'''Pearl version only!'''

Pros:

* Faster than Dialga by 10 base speed points which could make a difference against Cynthia's Garchomp.

* Only has 1 weakness (Dragon) and only Garchomp is a threat in a speed run.

* Better Signature move (Higher Crit Hit Ratio, no turn loss)

* Knows Surf which is a good secondary type STAB move.

Cons:

* Lower HP & Defence than Dialga

* Doesn't have 10+ resistances... only has 3 resistances (4x resist to Water and Fire, 2x resist to Steel).

* Spacial Rend is less powerful than Roar of Time.

=== Strategies ===

'''Basic order to capturing your Pokémon'''
# Starter (Piplup, Turtwig, Chimchar)
# HM Slave 1 Geodude, level 3 near Oreburgh City (Teach Rock Smash, Strength and then Rock Climb).
# Machop (if using the in-game Abra trade) Teach Rock Smash, fight the Gym, then trade)
# HM Slave 2 Bibarel, level 18 near Hearthome City (Teach Rock Smash (vs Prinplup), Cut, Waterfall and Surf).
# HM Slave 3 Starly/Staravia various levels under 2-20ish (Teach Fly and Defog)
# Teleporter: Abra
# Legendary Monster (Palkia/Dialga): Used as backup or sweeping the Elite Four if your main Starter gets KO'd.

----------

Battle Strategies

# Avoiding Double Battles: If you only have one Pokemon on your team who is not KOed, all of the sets of double trainers will not battle you. This, however, does not apply to two seperate trainers who see you at the same time. The exception to this rule is atop the Pillar right before the Legendary, the two Galactic Grunts will force you away if you do not have a double partner.

More updates later

-----------

Good/Free item pickups

To update later

'''TMs'''

TM 35: Flamethrower - Fuego Fireworks

TM 13: Ice Beam - Route 213 (After using Rock Climb)

TM 46: Thief - Eterna City

TM 80: Rock Slide - Mt.Coronet (Before the Spear Pillar)

TM 59: Dragon Pulse - Victory Road

---------

=== Important Battles ===

=== Glitches ===
A normal, glitchless run is pretty straight forward but there are some glitches that it's possible to skip the Elite 4 and go to the Hall of Fame.

'''Elite Four Surf Glitch'''

This glitch is pretty well known in Japan back in late 2006, it became possible to capture Darkrai, Shaymin, and Giratina, it's even possible to skip the Elite Four. It's so popular that Gamefreak and Nintendo were aware of the exploit and fixed it in both the International release and newer copies in Japan.

Pros:

* Very easy to work out, apparently you use the Surf Glitch and then go down a few steps, then go right for 5->10 steps and then go up for roughly 200->500 steps (I can't really remember) and then go left 5->10 steps and then go up to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene.

* Saves 15->20 minutes for both setup, and battling the Elite 4

Cons:

* It has to be done on a Japanese copy that was out since September 2006

* The viewers would need to watch the entire run in Japanese, a speedrun wouldn't be easy to watch as the Battle Animations are turned off (to speed up the game).

'''Jubilife Void'''

There was a tweaking glitch that created black voids which was discovered a few months after the American release, nearly 1.5 years later, players have managed to workout how to capture Darkrai & Shaymin with this glitch and even the lesser known Giratina. It's also possible to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene skipping nearly 4-5 gyms and the Elite 4. '''Insert video/Youtube Link on how to do it.'''

Pros:

* Can be done on any version.

* Not much battle planning.

Cons:

* Requires the underground kit.

* Likely to cause a black screen after loading the game, meaning you're stuck forever.

* The Tweaking glitch (moving the D-Pad in random directions) can be pretty tough on a DS Lite.

* It might '''not''' work on the DSi due to the extra ram that is stored in the system.

* The Jubilife Void to the Hall of Fame Cutscene takes over 2 hours to get there, meaning you are on the Bike riding & no battles triggered making a very, very, very boring run that people would rather watch Clue or Back to the Future on the NES.

-------------

== Platinum ==

=== Changes from Diamond/Pearl ===

* TM 10 Hidden Power is no longer obtained by the Training School in Jubilife City. It is only obtained by collecting 6000 Coins in the Casino (120k pokeyen).

* Hypnosis is now 60% not 70% which is a bit easier when facing against your oppoents who uses this move.

* There is a battle against Cyrus in Celestic Town and he has Golbat, Murkrow and Sneasel.

* You have a battle against your rival as soon as you get your starter. Your rival will always use a stat dropping move (Growl/Leer) and it's not possible to score a critical hit.

* The Distortion world doesn't have any new battles other than Cyrus before facing Giratina.

* Elite 4 has a updated team, most notably the Pokémon from the updated Sinnoh Dex, Cynthia's party level has reduced slightly.

* The later gym leaders has teams updated such as Magneton in Byron's team and Electivire in Volkner's team.

* Updated level up movepools, most notable example is Piplup now learns Bubblebeam at level 18 now and not 22. Scizor can learn Bullet Punch via Heart Scale and Darkrai can learn Nasty Plot instead of Calm Mind via level up.

=== Giratina ===

* Giratina's Another Forme is designed to be a dual tank. But Giratina's Origin Forme is a mixed sweeper... sort of. The problem is that it's Special attack is 120 compared to Dialga/Palkia's 150. When playing the game normally, Giratina would not have the Griseous Orb so he would only be as Another Forme (dual tank). This makes the Attack/Sp.Attack base stats at 100... very low compared the other two titans. He does make up for having very high HP (up to 500+ at level 100). It's a good 'partner' pokémon if your main starter gets KO'd and using (max) revives to get pass the Elite Four.

Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

2009-08-22T22:12:58Z

UltimateDarius: /* Useful Pokémon other than the starters */

[[Category:Nintendo DS]]
[[Category:Games]]

The original set for the Pokémon Generation IV games. When HeartGold & SoulSilver are released in the contries outside of Japan, move this page (and HeartGold/SoulSilver) to the Generation IV engine page and make it a clickable link to this page.

==Diamond and Pearl==

=== Starters ===
'''Turtwig'''

Pros:

* A Grass type PKMN that knows Earthquake naturally at level 32.

* Nice physical tank (High HP, Attack, Defence)

* It evolves to Torterra at level 32, pretty early compared to most starters.

Cons:

* It evolves to Grotle at level 18, pretty late compared to most starters.

* Poor attacking movepool (needs to be Torterra to know Stone Edge/Rock Slide to counter Flying types). It can only learn Normal, Grass and Dark moves by level up.

* Slowest Starter out of all 12 starters in the franchise. Heavy luck manipulation with Quick Claw to make up for it.

Overall:
One the worst types for speedrunning Pokémon thanks to it's bad type coverage and it's limited offensive movepool.

-------------
'''Piplup'''

Pros:

* Evolves to a Water/Steel type that has incredible defensive typing.

* Can learn a Ice move (Ice Beam/Blizzard) to counter Grass and Ground moves to counter Electic types.

* Knows Surf by HM which is always nice.

* Highest Special Attack stat of all Water Starter types.

Cons:

* It's low base speed makes Torrent sweeping a bit difficult

* Movepool is pretty bad at the early game, especially in DP where s/he learns Bubblebeam at level 22 or 24 (depending if the Pokémon is Piplup or Prinplup).

* Limited Special Movepool (Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon and the occasional Hidden Power [ELEC]).

Overall:

* One of the two useful starters in the run. It's been let down by its limited special movepool and low base speed but it makes up for 10+ resistances & 1 immunity which is useful for X-Item boosting.

-----------------

'''Chimchar'''

Pros:

* One of the 2 Fire Types familes in the Sinnoh Reigon, the other is Ponyta.

* Can evolve pretty early at Level 14 and learn Mach Punch to easily win the first Gym.

* Can learn some powerful fighting types (Mach Punch, Drain Punch, Brick Break, Close Combat) to defeat Normal, Dark, Rock, Ice, & Steel types.

* Learning Fire Types moves can KO Bronzors & Bronzongs without any hassle.

* High Attack, Special Attack and Speed makes it a good mixed sweeper and a fantastic Wall Breaker.

* Knows Grass Knot, Stone Edge, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace and Solarbeam.

* With a varied movepool it has some good advantages against 6 of 8 Gym Leaders (most notably Grass, Steel, Ice).

Cons:

* Pretty frail, meaning using an X-Item is pretty risky.

* To know Flamethower by level up, it's only possible as Chimchar and it's level 41. Otherwise you would need to go to Fuego Fireworks and pickup a Flamethrower TM.

* Exposed to Water Types and Ground Types, making Quagsire a good counter.

* Gyrados, Crobat, Garchomp and Milotic are the biggest threats.

Overall:

One of the two impressive starters for speed running. It knows some pretty powerful STABs (Same-Type-Attack-Bonus) and can take down most walls (Bronzong, Blissey & Snorlax) with one attack! You got to have a Lucky egg to have a high level difference from your opponents and using 1 X-Attack or Special attack, it should manage to sweep an entire party (Blaze support should help too but it's limited to Fire attacks). Cyrus's Weavile is OHKO with STAB Mach Punch. If the player was really lucky and the Hidden Power type was Electric (Base Power 60-70) it can take down the almighty Gyarados!

=== Useful Pokémon other than the starters ===

'''Bibarel'''

This Pokémon is one of the easiest to catch and most effective HM slave. It can learn at least 6 HMs including:

* Cut

* Rock Smash

* Strength

* Rock Climb

* Surf

* Waterfall

It's reccommended to have Cut, Surf, Waterfall, (and any other move). You can find a level 18 Bibarel nearby Hearthome city. It's a good secondary Pokémon to weaken Prinplup's Defences by using Rock Smash (if you started off as Chimchar) in Pastoria City ('''Hearthome City in Platinum after Fantina''') the finish off with Monferno/Infernape's physical attacks.

Because of the 4 moves limit, '''Geodude''' is a good subsitute as it can learn:

* Strength

* Rock Smash

* Rock Climb

'''Starly'''

If you can wait and catch a '''Staravia''' it's a good Pokémon to abuse Intimidate to lower the Physical Sweeper's high Attack stat (Gyarados, Weavile, Snorlax, Garchomp are good examples).

It can also learn 2 HMs including:

* Fly

* Defog

Since Flash is now a TM, they use the Fog as the game's new "I can't work my way round" element. The fog also effects Pokémon battles too, all of the Pokémon evasioness are raised by 2 stages. So the attacks are more likely to miss.

'''Abra '''

Pros: It knows teleport but we are not fully confirmed if it saves anytime at all, it might save time for the Pastoria City -> Hearthome City warp for DP and possibly Platinum but it has a pretty good special attack stat making a good teammate Pokémon for Double battles.

'''Abra/Kadabra (In-game trade)'''

There is an in-game trade, a Machop for an Abra, that can be made in Oreburgh City, to replace your starter as your main Pokemon in a segmented run.

Pros:
*Enables a teleport back to Jubilife.
*Ties Infernape for base speed (assuming same level)
*Out Special Attacks Empoleon for base speed (assuming same level)
*Kadabra is available WELL before the final stage evolution of any starter.
*Boosted experience immediately.
*This value later stacks with Lucky Egg for a 225% experience rate
*Faster than all but two pokemon the entire run, and ties one of those two.
*Quiet Nature (+ special attack, - speed)
*Decent IVs
HP: 15
Attack: 15
Defense: 15
Special Attack: 25
Special Defense: 25
Speed: 20
*Able to score nearly all OHKOs unassisted, and many are neutral effectiveness.
*Learns Charge Beam (75% chance of raising special attack), and OHKO while raising stats.
*Learns Shock Wave (useful in the fog, for type coverage, and for PP conservation)
*Learns Grass Knot (again useful for PP conservation and type coverage)
*Learns Shadow Ball (same as above)

Cons:
*Preset IVs
*Hidden Power Ice 34
*DISOBEDIENCE: 1.) Immediately after trade until 2nd gym
2.) After obtaining Lucky Egg on Route 209 until 4th gym.
3.) Against Byron in the 6th gym.
*Weak Defenses (only a very minor inconvenience)

'''Medicham'''

It's best to get this one at Mt.Coronet when you are going to face Team Galactic. If Medicham knows any Psychic moves then it would be handy to take down a couple of Croagunks. But this is not fully confirmed since this is the last important double battle in the speed run before the Real Multi Double battle occurs with your friend Barry.

=== Notable differences between the two, for speed running ===
Most of the basic Pokémon in the original Sinnoh dex are pretty pointless, except the Legendary Titans.

==== Dialga ====

'''Diamond version only!'''

Pros:

* Incredible defensive typing, 10+ Resistances, 1 immunity (Poison), 2 Weaknesses (Fighting & Ground)

* Higher HP & Defence stat compared to Palkia.

Cons:

* Poor offensive movepool (in speed running) it requires TMs and most of the good ones needs detours.

* Poor secondary type for offensive (2 types are weak to Steel attacks, 3 types are resistant to Steel attacks)

* Lower Base speed compared to Palkia.

* Signature move is only useful against the trainer's last Pokémon, it needs to recharge like Hyper Beam.

* Fighting is a very popular attacking type and Lucian's Alakazam knows Focus Blast.

==== Palkia ====

'''Pearl version only!'''

Pros:

* Faster than Dialga by 10 base speed points which could make a difference against Cynthia's Garchomp.

* Only has 1 weakness (Dragon) and only Garchomp is a threat in a speed run.

* Better Signature move (Higher Crit Hit Ratio, no turn loss)

* Knows Surf which is a good secondary type STAB move.

Cons:

* Lower HP & Defence than Dialga

* Doesn't have 10+ resistances... only has 3 resistances (4x resist to Water and Fire, 2x resist to Steel).

* Spacial Rend is less powerful than Roar of Time.

=== Strategies ===

'''Basic order to capturing your Pokémon'''
# Starter (Piplup, Turtwig, Chimchar)
# HM Slave 1 Geodude, level 3 near Oreburgh City (Teach Rock Smash, Strength and then Rock Climb).
# HM Slave 2 Bibarel, level 18 near Hearthome City (Teach Rock Smash (vs Prinplup), Cut, Waterfall and Surf).
# HM Slave 3 Starly/Staravia various levels under 2-20ish (Teach Fly and Defog)
# Teleporter: Abra
# Legendary Monster (Palkia/Dialga): Used as backup or sweeping the Elite Four if your main Starter gets KO'd.

----------

Battle Strategies

# Avoiding Double Battles: If you only have one Pokemon on your team who is not KOed, all of the sets of double trainers will not battle you. This, however, does not apply to two seperate trainers who see you at the same time. The exception to this rule is atop the Pillar right before the Legendary, the two Galactic Grunts will force you away if you do not have a double partner.

More updates later

-----------

Good/Free item pickups

To update later

'''TMs'''

TM 35: Flamethrower - Fuego Fireworks

TM 13: Ice Beam - Route 213 (After using Rock Climb)

TM 46: Thief - Eterna City

TM 80: Rock Slide - Mt.Coronet (Before the Spear Pillar)

TM 59: Dragon Pulse - Victory Road

---------

=== Important Battles ===

=== Glitches ===
A normal, glitchless run is pretty straight forward but there are some glitches that it's possible to skip the Elite 4 and go to the Hall of Fame.

'''Elite Four Surf Glitch'''

This glitch is pretty well known in Japan back in late 2006, it became possible to capture Darkrai, Shaymin, and Giratina, it's even possible to skip the Elite Four. It's so popular that Gamefreak and Nintendo were aware of the exploit and fixed it in both the International release and newer copies in Japan.

Pros:

* Very easy to work out, apparently you use the Surf Glitch and then go down a few steps, then go right for 5->10 steps and then go up for roughly 200->500 steps (I can't really remember) and then go left 5->10 steps and then go up to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene.

* Saves 15->20 minutes for both setup, and battling the Elite 4

Cons:

* It has to be done on a Japanese copy that was out since September 2006

* The viewers would need to watch the entire run in Japanese, a speedrun wouldn't be easy to watch as the Battle Animations are turned off (to speed up the game).

'''Jubilife Void'''

There was a tweaking glitch that created black voids which was discovered a few months after the American release, nearly 1.5 years later, players have managed to workout how to capture Darkrai & Shaymin with this glitch and even the lesser known Giratina. It's also possible to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene skipping nearly 4-5 gyms and the Elite 4. '''Insert video/Youtube Link on how to do it.'''

Pros:

* Can be done on any version.

* Not much battle planning.

Cons:

* Requires the underground kit.

* Likely to cause a black screen after loading the game, meaning you're stuck forever.

* The Tweaking glitch (moving the D-Pad in random directions) can be pretty tough on a DS Lite.

* It might '''not''' work on the DSi due to the extra ram that is stored in the system.

* The Jubilife Void to the Hall of Fame Cutscene takes over 2 hours to get there, meaning you are on the Bike riding & no battles triggered making a very, very, very boring run that people would rather watch Clue or Back to the Future on the NES.

-------------

== Platinum ==

=== Changes from Diamond/Pearl ===

* TM 10 Hidden Power is no longer obtained by the Training School in Jubilife City. It is only obtained by collecting 6000 Coins in the Casino (120k pokeyen).

* Hypnosis is now 60% not 70% which is a bit easier when facing against your oppoents who uses this move.

* There is a battle against Cyrus in Celestic Town and he has Golbat, Murkrow and Sneasel.

* You have a battle against your rival as soon as you get your starter. Your rival will always use a stat dropping move (Growl/Leer) and it's not possible to score a critical hit.

* The Distortion world doesn't have any new battles other than Cyrus before facing Giratina.

* Elite 4 has a updated team, most notably the Pokémon from the updated Sinnoh Dex, Cynthia's party level has reduced slightly.

* The later gym leaders has teams updated such as Magneton in Byron's team and Electivire in Volkner's team.

* Updated level up movepools, most notable example is Piplup now learns Bubblebeam at level 18 now and not 22. Scizor can learn Bullet Punch via Heart Scale and Darkrai can learn Nasty Plot instead of Calm Mind via level up.

=== Giratina ===

* Giratina's Another Forme is designed to be a dual tank. But Giratina's Origin Forme is a mixed sweeper... sort of. The problem is that it's Special attack is 120 compared to Dialga/Palkia's 150. When playing the game normally, Giratina would not have the Griseous Orb so he would only be as Another Forme (dual tank). This makes the Attack/Sp.Attack base stats at 100... very low compared the other two titans. He does make up for having very high HP (up to 500+ at level 100). It's a good 'partner' pokémon if your main starter gets KO'd and using (max) revives to get pass the Elite Four.

Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

2009-08-22T22:11:29Z

UltimateDarius: /* Useful Pokémon other than the starters */

[[Category:Nintendo DS]]
[[Category:Games]]

The original set for the Pokémon Generation IV games. When HeartGold & SoulSilver are released in the contries outside of Japan, move this page (and HeartGold/SoulSilver) to the Generation IV engine page and make it a clickable link to this page.

==Diamond and Pearl==

=== Starters ===
'''Turtwig'''

Pros:

* A Grass type PKMN that knows Earthquake naturally at level 32.

* Nice physical tank (High HP, Attack, Defence)

* It evolves to Torterra at level 32, pretty early compared to most starters.

Cons:

* It evolves to Grotle at level 18, pretty late compared to most starters.

* Poor attacking movepool (needs to be Torterra to know Stone Edge/Rock Slide to counter Flying types). It can only learn Normal, Grass and Dark moves by level up.

* Slowest Starter out of all 12 starters in the franchise. Heavy luck manipulation with Quick Claw to make up for it.

Overall:
One the worst types for speedrunning Pokémon thanks to it's bad type coverage and it's limited offensive movepool.

-------------
'''Piplup'''

Pros:

* Evolves to a Water/Steel type that has incredible defensive typing.

* Can learn a Ice move (Ice Beam/Blizzard) to counter Grass and Ground moves to counter Electic types.

* Knows Surf by HM which is always nice.

* Highest Special Attack stat of all Water Starter types.

Cons:

* It's low base speed makes Torrent sweeping a bit difficult

* Movepool is pretty bad at the early game, especially in DP where s/he learns Bubblebeam at level 22 or 24 (depending if the Pokémon is Piplup or Prinplup).

* Limited Special Movepool (Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon and the occasional Hidden Power [ELEC]).

Overall:

* One of the two useful starters in the run. It's been let down by its limited special movepool and low base speed but it makes up for 10+ resistances & 1 immunity which is useful for X-Item boosting.

-----------------

'''Chimchar'''

Pros:

* One of the 2 Fire Types familes in the Sinnoh Reigon, the other is Ponyta.

* Can evolve pretty early at Level 14 and learn Mach Punch to easily win the first Gym.

* Can learn some powerful fighting types (Mach Punch, Drain Punch, Brick Break, Close Combat) to defeat Normal, Dark, Rock, Ice, & Steel types.

* Learning Fire Types moves can KO Bronzors & Bronzongs without any hassle.

* High Attack, Special Attack and Speed makes it a good mixed sweeper and a fantastic Wall Breaker.

* Knows Grass Knot, Stone Edge, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace and Solarbeam.

* With a varied movepool it has some good advantages against 6 of 8 Gym Leaders (most notably Grass, Steel, Ice).

Cons:

* Pretty frail, meaning using an X-Item is pretty risky.

* To know Flamethower by level up, it's only possible as Chimchar and it's level 41. Otherwise you would need to go to Fuego Fireworks and pickup a Flamethrower TM.

* Exposed to Water Types and Ground Types, making Quagsire a good counter.

* Gyrados, Crobat, Garchomp and Milotic are the biggest threats.

Overall:

One of the two impressive starters for speed running. It knows some pretty powerful STABs (Same-Type-Attack-Bonus) and can take down most walls (Bronzong, Blissey & Snorlax) with one attack! You got to have a Lucky egg to have a high level difference from your opponents and using 1 X-Attack or Special attack, it should manage to sweep an entire party (Blaze support should help too but it's limited to Fire attacks). Cyrus's Weavile is OHKO with STAB Mach Punch. If the player was really lucky and the Hidden Power type was Electric (Base Power 60-70) it can take down the almighty Gyarados!

=== Useful Pokémon other than the starters ===

'''Bibarel'''

This Pokémon is one of the easiest to catch and most effective HM slave. It can learn at least 6 HMs including:

* Cut

* Rock Smash

* Strength

* Rock Climb

* Surf

* Waterfall

It's reccommended to have Cut, Surf, Waterfall, (and any other move). You can find a level 18 Bibarel nearby Hearthome city. It's a good secondary Pokémon to weaken Prinplup's Defences by using Rock Smash (if you started off as Chimchar) in Pastoria City ('''Hearthome City in Platinum after Fantina''') the finish off with Monferno/Infernape's physical attacks.

Because of the 4 moves limit, '''Geodude''' is a good subsitute as it can learn:

* Strength

* Rock Smash

* Rock Climb

'''Starly'''

If you can wait and catch a '''Staravia''' it's a good Pokémon to abuse Intimidate to lower the Physical Sweeper's high Attack stat (Gyarados, Weavile, Snorlax, Garchomp are good examples).

It can also learn 2 HMs including:

* Fly

* Defog

Since Flash is now a TM, they use the Fog as the game's new "I can't work my way round" element. The fog also effects Pokémon battles too, all of the Pokémon evasioness are raised by 2 stages. So the attacks are more likely to miss.

'''Abra '''

Pros: It knows teleport but we are not fully confirmed if it saves anytime at all, it might save time for the Pastoria City -> Hearthome City warp for DP and possibly Platinum but it has a pretty good special attack stat making a good teammate Pokémon for Double battles.

'''Abra/Kadabra (In-game trade)'''

There is an in-game trade, a Machop for an Abra, that can be made in Oreburgh City, to replace your starter as your main Pokemon in a segmented run.

Pros:
-Enables a teleport back to Jubilife.
-Ties Infernape for base speed (assuming same level)
-Out Special Attacks Empoleon for base speed (assuming same level)
-Kadabra is available WELL before the final stage evolution of any starter.
-Boosted experience immediately.
-This value later stacks with Lucky Egg for a 225% experience rate
-Faster than all but two pokemon the entire run, and ties one of those two.
-Quiet Nature (+ special attack, - speed)
-Decent IVs
HP: 15
Attack: 15
Defense: 15
Special Attack: 25
Special Defense: 25
Speed: 20
-Able to score nearly all OHKOs unassisted, and many are neutral effectiveness.
-Learns Charge Beam (75% chance of raising special attack), and OHKO while raising stats.
-Learns Shock Wave (useful in the fog, for type coverage, and for PP conservation)
-Learns Grass Knot (again useful for PP conservation and type coverage)
-Learns Shadow Ball (same as above)

Cons:
-Preset IVs
-Hidden Power Ice 34
-DISOBEDIENCE: 1.) Immediately after trade until 2nd gym
2.) After obtaining Lucky Egg on Route 209 until 4th gym.
3.) Against Byron in the 6th gym.
-Weak Defenses (only a very minor inconvenience)

'''Medicham'''

It's best to get this one at Mt.Coronet when you are going to face Team Galactic. If Medicham knows any Psychic moves then it would be handy to take down a couple of Croagunks. But this is not fully confirmed since this is the last important double battle in the speed run before the Real Multi Double battle occurs with your friend Barry.

=== Notable differences between the two, for speed running ===
Most of the basic Pokémon in the original Sinnoh dex are pretty pointless, except the Legendary Titans.

==== Dialga ====

'''Diamond version only!'''

Pros:

* Incredible defensive typing, 10+ Resistances, 1 immunity (Poison), 2 Weaknesses (Fighting & Ground)

* Higher HP & Defence stat compared to Palkia.

Cons:

* Poor offensive movepool (in speed running) it requires TMs and most of the good ones needs detours.

* Poor secondary type for offensive (2 types are weak to Steel attacks, 3 types are resistant to Steel attacks)

* Lower Base speed compared to Palkia.

* Signature move is only useful against the trainer's last Pokémon, it needs to recharge like Hyper Beam.

* Fighting is a very popular attacking type and Lucian's Alakazam knows Focus Blast.

==== Palkia ====

'''Pearl version only!'''

Pros:

* Faster than Dialga by 10 base speed points which could make a difference against Cynthia's Garchomp.

* Only has 1 weakness (Dragon) and only Garchomp is a threat in a speed run.

* Better Signature move (Higher Crit Hit Ratio, no turn loss)

* Knows Surf which is a good secondary type STAB move.

Cons:

* Lower HP & Defence than Dialga

* Doesn't have 10+ resistances... only has 3 resistances (4x resist to Water and Fire, 2x resist to Steel).

* Spacial Rend is less powerful than Roar of Time.

=== Strategies ===

'''Basic order to capturing your Pokémon'''
# Starter (Piplup, Turtwig, Chimchar)
# HM Slave 1 Geodude, level 3 near Oreburgh City (Teach Rock Smash, Strength and then Rock Climb).
# HM Slave 2 Bibarel, level 18 near Hearthome City (Teach Rock Smash (vs Prinplup), Cut, Waterfall and Surf).
# HM Slave 3 Starly/Staravia various levels under 2-20ish (Teach Fly and Defog)
# Teleporter: Abra
# Legendary Monster (Palkia/Dialga): Used as backup or sweeping the Elite Four if your main Starter gets KO'd.

----------

Battle Strategies

# Avoiding Double Battles: If you only have one Pokemon on your team who is not KOed, all of the sets of double trainers will not battle you. This, however, does not apply to two seperate trainers who see you at the same time. The exception to this rule is atop the Pillar right before the Legendary, the two Galactic Grunts will force you away if you do not have a double partner.

More updates later

-----------

Good/Free item pickups

To update later

'''TMs'''

TM 35: Flamethrower - Fuego Fireworks

TM 13: Ice Beam - Route 213 (After using Rock Climb)

TM 46: Thief - Eterna City

TM 80: Rock Slide - Mt.Coronet (Before the Spear Pillar)

TM 59: Dragon Pulse - Victory Road

---------

=== Important Battles ===

=== Glitches ===
A normal, glitchless run is pretty straight forward but there are some glitches that it's possible to skip the Elite 4 and go to the Hall of Fame.

'''Elite Four Surf Glitch'''

This glitch is pretty well known in Japan back in late 2006, it became possible to capture Darkrai, Shaymin, and Giratina, it's even possible to skip the Elite Four. It's so popular that Gamefreak and Nintendo were aware of the exploit and fixed it in both the International release and newer copies in Japan.

Pros:

* Very easy to work out, apparently you use the Surf Glitch and then go down a few steps, then go right for 5->10 steps and then go up for roughly 200->500 steps (I can't really remember) and then go left 5->10 steps and then go up to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene.

* Saves 15->20 minutes for both setup, and battling the Elite 4

Cons:

* It has to be done on a Japanese copy that was out since September 2006

* The viewers would need to watch the entire run in Japanese, a speedrun wouldn't be easy to watch as the Battle Animations are turned off (to speed up the game).

'''Jubilife Void'''

There was a tweaking glitch that created black voids which was discovered a few months after the American release, nearly 1.5 years later, players have managed to workout how to capture Darkrai & Shaymin with this glitch and even the lesser known Giratina. It's also possible to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene skipping nearly 4-5 gyms and the Elite 4. '''Insert video/Youtube Link on how to do it.'''

Pros:

* Can be done on any version.

* Not much battle planning.

Cons:

* Requires the underground kit.

* Likely to cause a black screen after loading the game, meaning you're stuck forever.

* The Tweaking glitch (moving the D-Pad in random directions) can be pretty tough on a DS Lite.

* It might '''not''' work on the DSi due to the extra ram that is stored in the system.

* The Jubilife Void to the Hall of Fame Cutscene takes over 2 hours to get there, meaning you are on the Bike riding & no battles triggered making a very, very, very boring run that people would rather watch Clue or Back to the Future on the NES.

-------------

== Platinum ==

=== Changes from Diamond/Pearl ===

* TM 10 Hidden Power is no longer obtained by the Training School in Jubilife City. It is only obtained by collecting 6000 Coins in the Casino (120k pokeyen).

* Hypnosis is now 60% not 70% which is a bit easier when facing against your oppoents who uses this move.

* There is a battle against Cyrus in Celestic Town and he has Golbat, Murkrow and Sneasel.

* You have a battle against your rival as soon as you get your starter. Your rival will always use a stat dropping move (Growl/Leer) and it's not possible to score a critical hit.

* The Distortion world doesn't have any new battles other than Cyrus before facing Giratina.

* Elite 4 has a updated team, most notably the Pokémon from the updated Sinnoh Dex, Cynthia's party level has reduced slightly.

* The later gym leaders has teams updated such as Magneton in Byron's team and Electivire in Volkner's team.

* Updated level up movepools, most notable example is Piplup now learns Bubblebeam at level 18 now and not 22. Scizor can learn Bullet Punch via Heart Scale and Darkrai can learn Nasty Plot instead of Calm Mind via level up.

=== Giratina ===

* Giratina's Another Forme is designed to be a dual tank. But Giratina's Origin Forme is a mixed sweeper... sort of. The problem is that it's Special attack is 120 compared to Dialga/Palkia's 150. When playing the game normally, Giratina would not have the Griseous Orb so he would only be as Another Forme (dual tank). This makes the Attack/Sp.Attack base stats at 100... very low compared the other two titans. He does make up for having very high HP (up to 500+ at level 100). It's a good 'partner' pokémon if your main starter gets KO'd and using (max) revives to get pass the Elite Four.

Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

2009-08-21T03:24:15Z

UltimateDarius: /* Strategies */

[[Category:Nintendo DS]]
[[Category:Games]]

The original set for the Pokémon Generation IV games. When HeartGold & SoulSilver are released in the contries outside of Japan, move this page (and HeartGold/SoulSilver) to the Generation IV engine page and make it a clickable link to this page.

==Diamond and Pearl==

=== Starters ===
'''Turtwig'''

Pros:

* A Grass type PKMN that knows Earthquake naturally at level 32.

* Nice physical tank (High HP, Attack, Defence)

* It evolves to Torterra at level 32, pretty early compared to most starters.

Cons:

* It evolves to Grotle at level 18, pretty late compared to most starters.

* Poor attacking movepool (needs to be Torterra to know Stone Edge/Rock Slide to counter Flying types). It can only learn Normal, Grass and Dark moves by level up.

* Slowest Starter out of all 12 starters in the franchise. Heavy luck manipulation with Quick Claw to make up for it.

Overall:
One the worst types for speedrunning Pokémon thanks to it's bad type coverage and it's limited offensive movepool.

-------------
'''Piplup'''

Pros:

* Evolves to a Water/Steel type that has incredible defensive typing.

* Can learn a Ice move (Ice Beam/Blizzard) to counter Grass and Ground moves to counter Electic types.

* Knows Surf by HM which is always nice.

* Highest Special Attack stat of all Water Starter types.

Cons:

* It's low base speed makes Torrent sweeping a bit difficult

* Movepool is pretty bad at the early game, especially in DP where s/he learns Bubblebeam at level 22 or 24 (depending if the Pokémon is Piplup or Prinplup).

* Limited Special Movepool (Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon and the occasional Hidden Power [ELEC]).

Overall:

* One of the two useful starters in the run. It's been let down by its limited special movepool and low base speed but it makes up for 10+ resistances & 1 immunity which is useful for X-Item boosting.

-----------------

'''Chimchar'''

Pros:

* One of the 2 Fire Types familes in the Sinnoh Reigon, the other is Ponyta.

* Can evolve pretty early at Level 14 and learn Mach Punch to easily win the first Gym.

* Can learn some powerful fighting types (Mach Punch, Drain Punch, Brick Break, Close Combat) to defeat Normal, Dark, Rock, Ice, & Steel types.

* Learning Fire Types moves can KO Bronzors & Bronzongs without any hassle.

* High Attack, Special Attack and Speed makes it a good mixed sweeper and a fantastic Wall Breaker.

* Knows Grass Knot, Stone Edge, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace and Solarbeam.

* With a varied movepool it has some good advantages against 6 of 8 Gym Leaders (most notably Grass, Steel, Ice).

Cons:

* Pretty frail, meaning using an X-Item is pretty risky.

* To know Flamethower by level up, it's only possible as Chimchar and it's level 41. Otherwise you would need to go to Fuego Fireworks and pickup a Flamethrower TM.

* Exposed to Water Types and Ground Types, making Quagsire a good counter.

* Gyrados, Crobat, Garchomp and Milotic are the biggest threats.

Overall:

One of the two impressive starters for speed running. It knows some pretty powerful STABs (Same-Type-Attack-Bonus) and can take down most walls (Bronzong, Blissey & Snorlax) with one attack! You got to have a Lucky egg to have a high level difference from your opponents and using 1 X-Attack or Special attack, it should manage to sweep an entire party (Blaze support should help too but it's limited to Fire attacks). Cyrus's Weavile is OHKO with STAB Mach Punch. If the player was really lucky and the Hidden Power type was Electric (Base Power 60-70) it can take down the almighty Gyarados!

=== Useful Pokémon other than the starters ===

'''Bibarel'''

This Pokémon is one of the easiest to catch and most effective HM slave. It can learn at least 6 HMs including:

* Cut

* Rock Smash

* Strength

* Rock Climb

* Surf

* Waterfall

It's reccommended to have Cut, Surf, Waterfall, (and any other move). You can find a level 18 Bibarel nearby Hearthome city. It's a good secondary Pokémon to weaken Prinplup's Defences by using Rock Smash (if you started off as Chimchar) in Pastoria City ('''Hearthome City in Platinum after Fantina''') the finish off with Monferno/Infernape's physical attacks.

Because of the 4 moves limit, '''Geodude''' is a good subsitute as it can learn:

* Strength

* Rock Smash

* Rock Climb

'''Starly'''

If you can wait and catch a '''Staravia''' it's a good Pokémon to abuse Intimidate to lower the Physical Sweeper's high Attack stat (Gyarados, Weavile, Snorlax, Garchomp are good examples).

It can also learn 2 HMs including:

* Fly

* Defog

Since Flash is now a TM, they use the Fog as the game's new "I can't work my way round" element. The fog also effects Pokémon battles too, all of the Pokémon evasioness are raised by 2 stages. So the attacks are more likely to miss.

'''Abra'''

It knows teleport but we are not fully confirmed if it saves anytime at all, it might save time for the Pastoria City -> Hearthome City warp for DP and possibly Platinum but it has a pretty good special attack stat making a good teammate Pokémon for Double battles.

'''Medicham'''

It's best to get this one at Mt.Coronet when you are going to face Team Galactic. If Medicham knows any Psychic moves then it would be handy to take down a couple of Croagunks. But this is not fully confirmed since this is the last important double battle in the speed run before the Real Multi Double battle occurs with your friend Barry.

=== Notable differences between the two, for speed running ===
Most of the basic Pokémon in the original Sinnoh dex are pretty pointless, except the Legendary Titans.

==== Dialga ====

'''Diamond version only!'''

Pros:

* Incredible defensive typing, 10+ Resistances, 1 immunity (Poison), 2 Weaknesses (Fighting & Ground)

* Higher HP & Defence stat compared to Palkia.

Cons:

* Poor offensive movepool (in speed running) it requires TMs and most of the good ones needs detours.

* Poor secondary type for offensive (2 types are weak to Steel attacks, 3 types are resistant to Steel attacks)

* Lower Base speed compared to Palkia.

* Signature move is only useful against the trainer's last Pokémon, it needs to recharge like Hyper Beam.

* Fighting is a very popular attacking type and Lucian's Alakazam knows Focus Blast.

==== Palkia ====

'''Pearl version only!'''

Pros:

* Faster than Dialga by 10 base speed points which could make a difference against Cynthia's Garchomp.

* Only has 1 weakness (Dragon) and only Garchomp is a threat in a speed run.

* Better Signature move (Higher Crit Hit Ratio, no turn loss)

* Knows Surf which is a good secondary type STAB move.

Cons:

* Lower HP & Defence than Dialga

* Doesn't have 10+ resistances... only has 3 resistances (4x resist to Water and Fire, 2x resist to Steel).

* Spacial Rend is less powerful than Roar of Time.

=== Strategies ===

'''Basic order to capturing your Pokémon'''
# Starter (Piplup, Turtwig, Chimchar)
# HM Slave 1 Geodude, level 3 near Oreburgh City (Teach Rock Smash, Strength and then Rock Climb).
# HM Slave 2 Bibarel, level 18 near Hearthome City (Teach Rock Smash (vs Prinplup), Cut, Waterfall and Surf).
# HM Slave 3 Starly/Staravia various levels under 2-20ish (Teach Fly and Defog)
# Teleporter: Abra
# Legendary Monster (Palkia/Dialga): Used as backup or sweeping the Elite Four if your main Starter gets KO'd.

----------

Battle Strategies

# Avoiding Double Battles: If you only have one Pokemon on your team who is not KOed, all of the sets of double trainers will not battle you. This, however, does not apply to two seperate trainers who see you at the same time. The exception to this rule is atop the Pillar right before the Legendary, the two Galactic Grunts will force you away if you do not have a double partner.

More updates later

-----------

Good/Free item pickups

To update later

'''TMs'''

TM 35: Flamethrower - Fuego Fireworks

TM 13: Ice Beam - Route 213 (After using Rock Climb)

TM 46: Thief - Eterna City

TM 80: Rock Slide - Mt.Coronet (Before the Spear Pillar)

TM 59: Dragon Pulse - Victory Road

---------

=== Important Battles ===

=== Glitches ===
A normal, glitchless run is pretty straight forward but there are some glitches that it's possible to skip the Elite 4 and go to the Hall of Fame.

'''Elite Four Surf Glitch'''

This glitch is pretty well known in Japan back in late 2006, it became possible to capture Darkrai, Shaymin, and Giratina, it's even possible to skip the Elite Four. It's so popular that Gamefreak and Nintendo were aware of the exploit and fixed it in both the International release and newer copies in Japan.

Pros:

* Very easy to work out, apparently you use the Surf Glitch and then go down a few steps, then go right for 5->10 steps and then go up for roughly 200->500 steps (I can't really remember) and then go left 5->10 steps and then go up to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene.

* Saves 15->20 minutes for both setup, and battling the Elite 4

Cons:

* It has to be done on a Japanese copy that was out since September 2006

* The viewers would need to watch the entire run in Japanese, a speedrun wouldn't be easy to watch as the Battle Animations are turned off (to speed up the game).

'''Jubilife Void'''

There was a tweaking glitch that created black voids which was discovered a few months after the American release, nearly 1.5 years later, players have managed to workout how to capture Darkrai & Shaymin with this glitch and even the lesser known Giratina. It's also possible to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene skipping nearly 4-5 gyms and the Elite 4. '''Insert video/Youtube Link on how to do it.'''

Pros:

* Can be done on any version.

* Not much battle planning.

Cons:

* Requires the underground kit.

* Likely to cause a black screen after loading the game, meaning you're stuck forever.

* The Tweaking glitch (moving the D-Pad in random directions) can be pretty tough on a DS Lite.

* It might '''not''' work on the DSi due to the extra ram that is stored in the system.

* The Jubilife Void to the Hall of Fame Cutscene takes over 2 hours to get there, meaning you are on the Bike riding & no battles triggered making a very, very, very boring run that people would rather watch Clue or Back to the Future on the NES.

-------------

== Platinum ==

=== Changes from Diamond/Pearl ===

* TM 10 Hidden Power is no longer obtained by the Training School in Jubilife City. It is only obtained by collecting 6000 Coins in the Casino (120k pokeyen).

* Hypnosis is now 60% not 70% which is a bit easier when facing against your oppoents who uses this move.

* There is a battle against Cyrus in Celestic Town and he has Golbat, Murkrow and Sneasel.

* You have a battle against your rival as soon as you get your starter. Your rival will always use a stat dropping move (Growl/Leer) and it's not possible to score a critical hit.

* The Distortion world doesn't have any new battles other than Cyrus before facing Giratina.

* Elite 4 has a updated team, most notably the Pokémon from the updated Sinnoh Dex, Cynthia's party level has reduced slightly.

* The later gym leaders has teams updated such as Magneton in Byron's team and Electivire in Volkner's team.

* Updated level up movepools, most notable example is Piplup now learns Bubblebeam at level 18 now and not 22. Scizor can learn Bullet Punch via Heart Scale and Darkrai can learn Nasty Plot instead of Calm Mind via level up.

=== Giratina ===

* Giratina's Another Forme is designed to be a dual tank. But Giratina's Origin Forme is a mixed sweeper... sort of. The problem is that it's Special attack is 120 compared to Dialga/Palkia's 150. When playing the game normally, Giratina would not have the Griseous Orb so he would only be as Another Forme (dual tank). This makes the Attack/Sp.Attack base stats at 100... very low compared the other two titans. He does make up for having very high HP (up to 500+ at level 100). It's a good 'partner' pokémon if your main starter gets KO'd and using (max) revives to get pass the Elite Four.

Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

2009-08-21T03:19:08Z

UltimateDarius: /* Strategies */

[[Category:Nintendo DS]]
[[Category:Games]]

The original set for the Pokémon Generation IV games. When HeartGold & SoulSilver are released in the contries outside of Japan, move this page (and HeartGold/SoulSilver) to the Generation IV engine page and make it a clickable link to this page.

==Diamond and Pearl==

=== Starters ===
'''Turtwig'''

Pros:

* A Grass type PKMN that knows Earthquake naturally at level 32.

* Nice physical tank (High HP, Attack, Defence)

* It evolves to Torterra at level 32, pretty early compared to most starters.

Cons:

* It evolves to Grotle at level 18, pretty late compared to most starters.

* Poor attacking movepool (needs to be Torterra to know Stone Edge/Rock Slide to counter Flying types). It can only learn Normal, Grass and Dark moves by level up.

* Slowest Starter out of all 12 starters in the franchise. Heavy luck manipulation with Quick Claw to make up for it.

Overall:
One the worst types for speedrunning Pokémon thanks to it's bad type coverage and it's limited offensive movepool.

-------------
'''Piplup'''

Pros:

* Evolves to a Water/Steel type that has incredible defensive typing.

* Can learn a Ice move (Ice Beam/Blizzard) to counter Grass and Ground moves to counter Electic types.

* Knows Surf by HM which is always nice.

* Highest Special Attack stat of all Water Starter types.

Cons:

* It's low base speed makes Torrent sweeping a bit difficult

* Movepool is pretty bad at the early game, especially in DP where s/he learns Bubblebeam at level 22 or 24 (depending if the Pokémon is Piplup or Prinplup).

* Limited Special Movepool (Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon and the occasional Hidden Power [ELEC]).

Overall:

* One of the two useful starters in the run. It's been let down by its limited special movepool and low base speed but it makes up for 10+ resistances & 1 immunity which is useful for X-Item boosting.

-----------------

'''Chimchar'''

Pros:

* One of the 2 Fire Types familes in the Sinnoh Reigon, the other is Ponyta.

* Can evolve pretty early at Level 14 and learn Mach Punch to easily win the first Gym.

* Can learn some powerful fighting types (Mach Punch, Drain Punch, Brick Break, Close Combat) to defeat Normal, Dark, Rock, Ice, & Steel types.

* Learning Fire Types moves can KO Bronzors & Bronzongs without any hassle.

* High Attack, Special Attack and Speed makes it a good mixed sweeper and a fantastic Wall Breaker.

* Knows Grass Knot, Stone Edge, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace and Solarbeam.

* With a varied movepool it has some good advantages against 6 of 8 Gym Leaders (most notably Grass, Steel, Ice).

Cons:

* Pretty frail, meaning using an X-Item is pretty risky.

* To know Flamethower by level up, it's only possible as Chimchar and it's level 41. Otherwise you would need to go to Fuego Fireworks and pickup a Flamethrower TM.

* Exposed to Water Types and Ground Types, making Quagsire a good counter.

* Gyrados, Crobat, Garchomp and Milotic are the biggest threats.

Overall:

One of the two impressive starters for speed running. It knows some pretty powerful STABs (Same-Type-Attack-Bonus) and can take down most walls (Bronzong, Blissey & Snorlax) with one attack! You got to have a Lucky egg to have a high level difference from your opponents and using 1 X-Attack or Special attack, it should manage to sweep an entire party (Blaze support should help too but it's limited to Fire attacks). Cyrus's Weavile is OHKO with STAB Mach Punch. If the player was really lucky and the Hidden Power type was Electric (Base Power 60-70) it can take down the almighty Gyarados!

=== Useful Pokémon other than the starters ===

'''Bibarel'''

This Pokémon is one of the easiest to catch and most effective HM slave. It can learn at least 6 HMs including:

* Cut

* Rock Smash

* Strength

* Rock Climb

* Surf

* Waterfall

It's reccommended to have Cut, Surf, Waterfall, (and any other move). You can find a level 18 Bibarel nearby Hearthome city. It's a good secondary Pokémon to weaken Prinplup's Defences by using Rock Smash (if you started off as Chimchar) in Pastoria City ('''Hearthome City in Platinum after Fantina''') the finish off with Monferno/Infernape's physical attacks.

Because of the 4 moves limit, '''Geodude''' is a good subsitute as it can learn:

* Strength

* Rock Smash

* Rock Climb

'''Starly'''

If you can wait and catch a '''Staravia''' it's a good Pokémon to abuse Intimidate to lower the Physical Sweeper's high Attack stat (Gyarados, Weavile, Snorlax, Garchomp are good examples).

It can also learn 2 HMs including:

* Fly

* Defog

Since Flash is now a TM, they use the Fog as the game's new "I can't work my way round" element. The fog also effects Pokémon battles too, all of the Pokémon evasioness are raised by 2 stages. So the attacks are more likely to miss.

'''Abra'''

It knows teleport but we are not fully confirmed if it saves anytime at all, it might save time for the Pastoria City -> Hearthome City warp for DP and possibly Platinum but it has a pretty good special attack stat making a good teammate Pokémon for Double battles.

'''Medicham'''

It's best to get this one at Mt.Coronet when you are going to face Team Galactic. If Medicham knows any Psychic moves then it would be handy to take down a couple of Croagunks. But this is not fully confirmed since this is the last important double battle in the speed run before the Real Multi Double battle occurs with your friend Barry.

=== Notable differences between the two, for speed running ===
Most of the basic Pokémon in the original Sinnoh dex are pretty pointless, except the Legendary Titans.

==== Dialga ====

'''Diamond version only!'''

Pros:

* Incredible defensive typing, 10+ Resistances, 1 immunity (Poison), 2 Weaknesses (Fighting & Ground)

* Higher HP & Defence stat compared to Palkia.

Cons:

* Poor offensive movepool (in speed running) it requires TMs and most of the good ones needs detours.

* Poor secondary type for offensive (2 types are weak to Steel attacks, 3 types are resistant to Steel attacks)

* Lower Base speed compared to Palkia.

* Signature move is only useful against the trainer's last Pokémon, it needs to recharge like Hyper Beam.

* Fighting is a very popular attacking type and Lucian's Alakazam knows Focus Blast.

==== Palkia ====

'''Pearl version only!'''

Pros:

* Faster than Dialga by 10 base speed points which could make a difference against Cynthia's Garchomp.

* Only has 1 weakness (Dragon) and only Garchomp is a threat in a speed run.

* Better Signature move (Higher Crit Hit Ratio, no turn loss)

* Knows Surf which is a good secondary type STAB move.

Cons:

* Lower HP & Defence than Dialga

* Doesn't have 10+ resistances... only has 3 resistances (4x resist to Water and Fire, 2x resist to Steel).

* Spacial Rend is less powerful than Roar of Time.

=== Strategies ===

'''Basic order to capturing your Pokémon'''
# Starter (Piplup, Turtwig, Chimchar)
# HM Slave 1 Geodude, level 3 near Oreburgh City (Teach Rock Smash, Strength and then Rock Climb).
# HM Slave 2 Bibarel, level 18 near Hearthome City (Teach Rock Smash (vs Prinplup), Cut, Waterfall and Surf).
# HM Slave 3 Starly/Staravia various levels under 2-20ish (Teach Fly and Defog)
# Teleporter: Abra
# Avoiding Double Battles: If you only have one Pokemon on your team who is not KOed, all of the sets of double trainers will not battle you. This, however, does not apply to two seperate trainers who see you at the same time. The exception to this rule is atop the Pillar right before the Legendary, the two Galactic Grunts will force you away if you do not have a double partner.
# Legendary Monster (Palkia/Dialga): Used as backup or sweeping the Elite Four if your main Starter gets KO'd.

----------

Battle Strategies

To update later

-----------

Good/Free item pickups

To update later

'''TMs'''

TM 35: Flamethrower - Fuego Fireworks

TM 13: Ice Beam - Route 213 (After using Rock Climb)

TM 46: Thief - Eterna City

TM 80: Rock Slide - Mt.Coronet (Before the Spear Pillar)

TM 59: Dragon Pulse - Victory Road

---------

=== Important Battles ===

=== Glitches ===
A normal, glitchless run is pretty straight forward but there are some glitches that it's possible to skip the Elite 4 and go to the Hall of Fame.

'''Elite Four Surf Glitch'''

This glitch is pretty well known in Japan back in late 2006, it became possible to capture Darkrai, Shaymin, and Giratina, it's even possible to skip the Elite Four. It's so popular that Gamefreak and Nintendo were aware of the exploit and fixed it in both the International release and newer copies in Japan.

Pros:

* Very easy to work out, apparently you use the Surf Glitch and then go down a few steps, then go right for 5->10 steps and then go up for roughly 200->500 steps (I can't really remember) and then go left 5->10 steps and then go up to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene.

* Saves 15->20 minutes for both setup, and battling the Elite 4

Cons:

* It has to be done on a Japanese copy that was out since September 2006

* The viewers would need to watch the entire run in Japanese, a speedrun wouldn't be easy to watch as the Battle Animations are turned off (to speed up the game).

'''Jubilife Void'''

There was a tweaking glitch that created black voids which was discovered a few months after the American release, nearly 1.5 years later, players have managed to workout how to capture Darkrai & Shaymin with this glitch and even the lesser known Giratina. It's also possible to trigger the Hall of Fame cutscene skipping nearly 4-5 gyms and the Elite 4. '''Insert video/Youtube Link on how to do it.'''

Pros:

* Can be done on any version.

* Not much battle planning.

Cons:

* Requires the underground kit.

* Likely to cause a black screen after loading the game, meaning you're stuck forever.

* The Tweaking glitch (moving the D-Pad in random directions) can be pretty tough on a DS Lite.

* It might '''not''' work on the DSi due to the extra ram that is stored in the system.

* The Jubilife Void to the Hall of Fame Cutscene takes over 2 hours to get there, meaning you are on the Bike riding & no battles triggered making a very, very, very boring run that people would rather watch Clue or Back to the Future on the NES.

-------------

== Platinum ==

=== Changes from Diamond/Pearl ===

* TM 10 Hidden Power is no longer obtained by the Training School in Jubilife City. It is only obtained by collecting 6000 Coins in the Casino (120k pokeyen).

* Hypnosis is now 60% not 70% which is a bit easier when facing against your oppoents who uses this move.

* There is a battle against Cyrus in Celestic Town and he has Golbat, Murkrow and Sneasel.

* You have a battle against your rival as soon as you get your starter. Your rival will always use a stat dropping move (Growl/Leer) and it's not possible to score a critical hit.

* The Distortion world doesn't have any new battles other than Cyrus before facing Giratina.

* Elite 4 has a updated team, most notably the Pokémon from the updated Sinnoh Dex, Cynthia's party level has reduced slightly.

* The later gym leaders has teams updated such as Magneton in Byron's team and Electivire in Volkner's team.

* Updated level up movepools, most notable example is Piplup now learns Bubblebeam at level 18 now and not 22. Scizor can learn Bullet Punch via Heart Scale and Darkrai can learn Nasty Plot instead of Calm Mind via level up.

=== Giratina ===

* Giratina's Another Forme is designed to be a dual tank. But Giratina's Origin Forme is a mixed sweeper... sort of. The problem is that it's Special attack is 120 compared to Dialga/Palkia's 150. When playing the game normally, Giratina would not have the Griseous Orb so he would only be as Another Forme (dual tank). This makes the Attack/Sp.Attack base stats at 100... very low compared the other two titans. He does make up for having very high HP (up to 500+ at level 100). It's a good 'partner' pokémon if your main starter gets KO'd and using (max) revives to get pass the Elite Four.

Pokémon LeafGreen/FireRed

2009-08-09T04:30:05Z

UltimateDarius: New page: The Blastoise would ideally be a female with a mild nature (gains special attack at the sacrifice of defense), however I settled for a rash nature (gains special attack at the sacrifice of...

The Blastoise would ideally be a female with a mild nature (gains special attack at the sacrifice of defense), however I settled for a rash nature (gains special attack at the sacrifice of special defense). This is potentially only problematic fighting Surge's Raichu, the rival's starter, and the occasional trainer's bellsprout early in the run. Surge was offset in the SS run by postponing him until after entering Celedon City, at a total expense of around 30 seconds lost. The final moveset was Brick Break, Blizzard, Surf, and Bite.

Torrent Sweep: Squirtle's pokemon ability is "Torrent," which boosts water moves by 1.5 when HP is at or below 1/3. By purposely keeping Squirtle's HP as low as possible, utilizing torrent to KO enemies in less turns than usual. A good example of this are the pokes on the way to Mt Moon, where I OHKOed the bugs instead of taking 2 hits each.

Pallet, Viridian, Pallet, Viridian. Get free potion from random clerk here first time, catch Pidgey and Ratatta for Fly and Cut the 2nd time.

Forest-Fight bug catcher at the end only. SS run, collect 2 antidote and potion

Pewter (Segmented Run: Torrent Sweep Brock)
Shopping stop: repels, potions, recovery items)

(On the way to and thru Mt Moon, Torrent Sweep)
Mt. Moon
Fight Bug catcher near Rare Candy 1, collect candy. (SS get revive)
Do NOT skip first rocket.

Learn Mega Punch AND Mega Kick upon exit. Heal.

Cerulean: Get Rare Candy 2 behind house. Fight Misty. Learn Bite after defeating Staryu

Heal before rival, purposely put yourself in Torrent Sweep Mode while fighting Rival, and Sweep to Bill's house

Vermillion and SS Anne. Get Rare Candy 3 outside of town. Get bike voucher. First healing spot in the room on the boat. (SS get berries in trash cans.) Fight Rival only. Death abuse back to Cerulean and claim bicycle. Cycle to rock tunnel, getting the hidden Rare Candy 4 along the way

Rock Tunnel: Get thru it. (SS get revive if other one used up)

Celedon: Brick Break and X-item shopping (lots of X-attack, special, and accuracy, few guard spec.) Segmented may want to count these out, I have not done so. Collect PP up for Blizzard later. Get Rare Candy 5 inside of and finish Rocket Hideout for the Silph Scope, get fly, get tea, and dash thru Saffron back to Vermillion.

Vermillion: Fight Surge. Fly to Lavender

Lavender: Buy Revives (SS only) Get Rare Candy 6 in tower. Get Flute. Fly to Celedon.

Celedon: Wake up and brick break Snorlax. Cycling road down to fuschia. Get Rare Candy 7 and max elixer along the way.

Fuschia: Safari Zone, get surf and teeth. Torrent sweep the gym, add and X-special when fighting Koga himself. Fly to Pallet.

Pallet Town: Heal at home, surf to Cinnibar.

Cinnibar: Get Blizzard, Rare Candy 8 and Secret Key in mansion. (SS only) Get vitamins to offset potentially poor IVs. Torrent Sweep Blaine. Fly to Saffron.

Saffron: Beat Silph Co. Get Lapras and Rare Candy 9, and (SS only) collect 2 sets of vitamins, both out in the open and hidden to offset potentially poor IVs. Beat Sabrina. Fly to Fuschia and give teeth to warden. Get Rare Candy 10. Fly to Viridian

Viridian: Giovanni's gym. Use the 10 rare candies before fighting Rival. Go thru Victory Road, avoiding all trainers. Collect Rare Candy 11

Indigo Plateau: Spend all money on Full Restores. (SS also buy revives, if needed). Fight E4. 3 X-attack Loreli. Guard Spec, X-special, Torrent Sweep Brock. X-special Torrent sweep Agatha. X-accuracy Blizzard lance's dragons, and if done properly, you can torrent sweep his aerodactyl. Use your 11th Rare Candy after Lance. (This should put you at level 64-65) Guard spec, X-special, X-speed, X-accuracy on Rival, then use your moveset as needed. All of them should be OHKO

SDA Strategy Wiki

2009-08-09T03:27:25Z

UltimateDarius: /* Games */

Welcome to the [http://speeddemosarchive.com SDA] Strategy Wiki, where you can find or contribute information about tricks, routes, boss strategies, and planning in general. If a game you're trying to find isn't here, then feel free to make a page for it. Find games in the list below or search by [[:Category:Systems|system]].

== How to add a game ==

To add a game to this list, click the edit button at the top of the screen, then type double brackets like this <nowiki>[[Name of game here]]</nowiki> in the appropriate spot on the game list (make sure you keep the list in alphabetical order). After you click the save page button, a link for the game will appear in red. Click the link to edit the page.

= Games =

This section is for games and series. If you're writing about a series of games, then add (series) to the right of the game name. Writing for series of games only works if the games share similar engines such as Metal Slug and Mega Man X 1-3 (or 4-6).

* [[Crackdown]]
* [[Donkey Kong 64]]
* [[Final Fantasy]]
* [[Final Fantasy IX]]
* [[Mega Man X]] (AKA Rock Man X)
* [[Metal Gear Solid 2]]
* [[Metal Slug (series)]]
* [[New Super Mario Bros.]]
* [[Pokemon: Leaf Green/Fire Red]]
* [[Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear]]
* [[Seiken Densetsu 3]] (AKA Secret of Mana 2)
* [[Sonic the Hedgehog 2]]
* [[Super Mario 64]]
* [[Super Mario 64 DS]]
* [[Super Mario Galaxy]]
* [[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past]]
* [[Wrecking Crew]]

= Engine/Series =

This section is for games sharing a similar engine (Unreal, Infinity).

If you're confused about what this means, Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale fall into this category because they both share the same engine, the Infinity engine; despite being different games, they both use the same engine, and therefore many similar tricks can be exploited. However, Mario games do not fall into this category. Even though games such as SMB 1-3 are all in the same series and for NES, the engine is different in each game, and thus tricks in one game cannot be applied to another.

* [[Infinity Engine]] (Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment)