Topic: Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl

I was progressing with capturing the legendary trio and I caught Mesprit with 1 Quick Ball on the first turn. I don't know whether it was very good luck or a solid strategy though.

@Grumblevolcano Thats funny because I was catching the rigs when I threw my first quick ball at it, and well, I caught it LMAO, I wonder if your luck rubbed off on me or somthin.

I had excellent luck catching Mesprit by cycling between Solaceon Town and the Route immediately south. I whittled down its health, put it to sleep (PSA: it still runs away when it’s “asleep”) and it probably took me only two more encounters throwing Quick Balls after that.

Imagine it running away asleep, all the trees and buildings it’ll hit.

@Silly_G Thats what I did and I got it quickly.

@Eel Imagine breaking out of a poke ball asleep.

Got passed the elite 4 with a decent amount of trouble. Cynthia was way too hard and it just became a management game at that point. For my team, any time my move set would say effective or super effective, it wouldn't do much damage. My team is ranged from 61 to 69. So I feel like I'm at a decent spot level wise. Any advice or tips would be great so I can hopefully finish this game.

@NintendoByNature What pokemon are you using? Because I used a level 59 garchomp as my MVP, But I would suggest Some stat changing moves, and a pokemon that knows swords dance, because it will get rid of a lot of the pokemon if you power it up about twice, also don't forget to save in front of each Member when your done battling them, So just in case you mess up you can try again without going through them all.

My advice Might suck ass as i'm not a pokemon master or anything, so if anyone else can say this much better (And will) then I can, please go for it.

But pokemon I strongly suggest is a Garchomp, that knows dig or earthquake, (Mines knew dig) And swords dance and dragon claw, your going to want to use about two swords dances if your pokemon can tank a few hits that the said pokemon uses, After that just use dragon claw to sweep the team, Even if the move isn't really effective, if you have enough swords dances it will still do good damage.

One more pokemon I suggest in lucario, That knows nasty plot and aura sphere. and a least one pokemon that as a strong stat downgrade move, like charm (For attack) or [Enter move here] (That lowers SPA)

But this is my team and this is all my opinion, but for the most part, use move that can rise attack, Hit chance, and so on, Because just attack moves (At least for me) isn't going to cut it.

But maybe other people can suggest there teams.

@Snatcher I cant tell you the exact names as I changed the names of mine to something else. All have evolved as much as they can. But, I have the evolved chimchar, the starbird(forgot name), the electric dog looking one, bidoof, gastradon, and krickett bug one. All with different elemental moves. Some of which you stated already.

I tried again for a couple hours this morning with no luck. I figured I'd let my Pokémon faint and go buy more supplies, get some old moves back, maybe find a fairy type, etc. But then I realized you'd have to go thru the Elite 4 again and I'm not about to do that. I struggled enough with them as it was.

I guess my question is, am I pretty much screwed now since I don't have specific Pokémon and moves that you may need to finish off the champion? I've made it this far, and the last thing I'm about to do is go hunt down multiple new Pokémon, level them up like crazy, find new moves and come back in 10+ hours.

The only time I've struggled in this game has been with the elite four and the champion. So the difficulty spike is pretty frustrating. I've had the same team this entire time and sometimes I've changed my moveset. Is there an easier way to finish off the champion rather than going back to town and getting all new Pokémon with moves like dragon claw, swords dance, or earthquake?

I really don't want to shelve the game since I've gotten this far, but I'm not about to put multiple hours in just to beat the last boss.

@NintendoByNature You might want to go underground and find some pokemon to catch, as they will have high levels at this point, Because i'm not saying some of those are bad pokemon, its just, there defense, mixed with there attack, is going to get you nowhere.

You can try training against the elite four, the experience will stay there even if you lose, or simply using items as a stall tactic.

@Snatcher @Eel yea maybe ill passively go back in time and check out the underground/train against the elite 4 to get back to the champion. It'll be a grind, so I won't do it all right away and I'll start a new game in the meantime.

@NintendoByNature Like a new save? or a new game, like a different game? Because For this elite for you going to have to put the work in, you can't just mindlessly Press buttons and hope to get past them, you can do what Eel said and maybe stall out some of the moves, I did that for Garchomp.

@Snatcher oops, I meant different game. I'm going to start xenoblade chronicles 2.

@NintendoByNature Oh ok, Have fun!

What's this Flame Orb strategy about? I saw both Cynthia and some gym rematches have Pokemon burned by a held Flame Orb.

@Grumblevolcano if the Pokémon has the Guts ability, then having a status condition increases their attack, even burning, which would normally half it, the ability overrides it.

Has anyone managed to find a Moon Stone in the Grand Underground yet? I must've spent at least 10 hours in the Grand Underground at this point (I'm in the postgame with the National Dex), and I'm yet to find a single one.

Completing the dex isn't looking possible at this rate...

I have one.

The Cleffa if caught in Mt Coronet had it.

@Buizel

@Buizel I too have one, I wish I would stop finding them TBH.

@Snatcher you find them frequently then? I must've found at least 20 thunder stones at this point (and almost as many fire stones), but I don't seem to have as much luck with the other stones. Weird.

@Eel I'm thinking this might be my approach actually. Would still take ages to encounter enough to evolve everyone needed for the dex however.