Roaming Pokemon - Rangi42/polishedcrystal GitHub Wiki

Raikou and Entei roam over Johto after you free the three Beasts; freeing is mandatory for challenging Morty, as in vanilla.

Basic Mechanics

  • Roamers move to an adjacent route for each map refresh with an adjacent area (e.g. going through a door, moving to an adjacent area)
  • Roamers warp randomly each time you warp (e.g. Fly/Teleport, soft resets).
  • New features in Polished Crystal:
    • Roamers can now enter your last location. Biking back and forth could suffice for hunting.
    • Synchronize is now applicable to roamers.
    • Uncaught, knocked-out roamers will now respawn at a higher level when you beat the Champion.
    • Although Suicune is initially stationary at Tin Tower, it'll respawn as a roamer in the same way if you KO it.
    • Releasing a caught roamer now makes it respawnable, which is practically a re-roll. It's particularly useful to Shiny hunters.
  • Factors that will affect hunting strategies in this game:
    • Wild Pokémon may be at a higher level than in vanilla.
    • As in HG/SS, there's a gate between Violet and Route 36.*
    • As in Gen. IV, when a poisoned Pokémon loses HP on the field due to poison and reaches 1 HP, it doesn't faint but hangs on and gets cured. This disables poison methods.

* The Violet-R36 Gate was introduced in HG/SS, where going through gates wouldn't trigger roamers' transfer.

List of Roamers

  • Raikou, Lv. 40: Roar, Quick Attack, Spark, Reflect
    • Respawn - Lv. 50: Spark, Reflect, Crunch, Wild Charge
  • Entei, Lv. 40: Roar, Fire Spin, Stomp, Flamethrower
    • Respawn - Lv. 50: Stomp, Flamethrower, Swagger, Flame Charge
  • Suicune, only on respawn — Lv. 50: Aurora Beam, Light Screen, Mirror Coat, Air Slash

Preparations

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  • Master Ball(s) at the top of the Bag: two copies available throughout the game, plus the Lucky Number prizes
  • Super Repels
  • A Pokémon with Synchronize
    • Preferably Xatu, with Teleport and Fly
    • Lv. 17–40 for Route 38
    • Lv. 25–40 for Route 42
    • Lv. 35–40 for Route 44
  • For Route 44, a Pokémon with Surf

Notes:

  • Xatu serves best to Teleport or Fly, to work with Repels, and to Synchronize at the same time.
  • Eusine will give you the roamers' Pokédex entries at Celadon (post-E4).
  • For attempts without the Master Ball:
    • Throw a Quick Ball instead.
    • Soundproof Wigglytuff with Mean Look (available only on Modified) will be the best wall against the Roaring roamers, while also dealing damage to them and putting them to sleep.
      • Have the Xatu fainted in the lead, followed by the Wigglytuff.

Methods

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Polished Method

Bike back and forth between two areas without in-between gates.

Vanilla Methods

These vanilla ways may be still handy.

Route 38-based

Doesn't require Pokédex entries or Teleport/Fly

  1. Lead with the Synchronizer.
  2. Save inside the Gate between R38 and Ecruteak.
  3. Soft-reset.
  4. Go west to R38, spend a Super Repel, and bike around the grass until the Repel runs out. Soft-reset if it fails.
    • If Pokédex entries are available, check them before spending the Repel.

Flying Back and Forth

Doesn't require Pokédex entries

  1. Lead with the Xatu.
  2. Fly to Mahogany.
  3. Go west to R42, spend a Super Repel, and run/bike around the grass for 20 seconds.
  4. For refreshes, Fly to Violet and go south to R32 for another 20-second search.
  5. Fly back to Mahogany and try R42 again.
  6. Repeat the refreshes and the searches until you encounter the target.

Obsolete

Flowcharts during the days of the route-blocking system has been archived in Roamer Hunting Methods before Modernizations.