Guide: Everything You Need To Know About Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire's Secret Bases

Secret Bases are a feature from the original games that make a triumphant return in Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, but contrary to what many people believe, they're actually one of the most useful features in the game.

Making A Base

Dotted around Hoenn there are 82 locations where you can create a Secret Base. This is done by teaching your Pokémon the move Secret Power, and then interacting with these objects. You can find a list of all the locations here. Many of these locations require various moves or specific bikes to get to, so some can be a bit out of the way. This game also added a few inside caves to be even more secret. Some of these require specific items which, once made, give you full access to the base.

Kitting Out Your Base

Once you've made your base, you can then decorate it with various items. You get these items in many ways, from gifts from various characters to buying them in Lilycove Department Store. There's a few dozen of these to collect so you can truly customise your base. You can kit it out like a gym, or just fill it with dolls of various Pokémon. The choice is yours.

You can also get the Proclamation item from Aarune which allows you to set the type of battles that go on in your base: Single, Double, Triple, Rotation or Inverse.

Getting Other Bases

Getting other people's bases is a key feature. You have the ability to get these through various means. First is the simple one — you scan the QR Code that someone provides. This adds the base to your game with the trainer, but you're not able to do anything with them until the next day.

The second option is to StreetPass. When you StreetPass other players, it will send the data to other 3DS consoles. Then, you can pick the stuff up in the BuzzNav and receive the Secret Bases. They're then placed in the routes and you can gain the perks straight away.

Finally, just going online or passing by players locally will also send their Secret Base data to you in a similar manner to StreetPassing, but it does so with bases from people who are just connected online — players who you have never met and never will meet. Now, this may seem like an easy way to farm up bases, but there's a catch. It will only bring in data once every 8 hours.

You can only have 30 bases in your game at any one time and you can register up to 15 favourites. These favourite bases will not get overwritten by others when you gain more bases.

Things To Do

Now that you have various bases around the Hoenn region, that's where things get interesting. Each day, you can steal the flag of their base, and you can battle the leaders of the secret base, as well as the grunts. The leaders will have the team the player had in their game, and will battle you in the mode that they set. Each day, the leader will also give you a random decoration for your base.

Battling is an important thing here as many people around the internet have created bases filled with Level 100 Blissey which, teamed with Lucky Egg and EXP. Point Power, will allow for you to level up your Pokémon ridiculously fast.

You can also recruit the leader to join your Secret Base. This gives you a variety of features. First, if they were StreetPassed or Passed By, they will give you the number of flags that particular player has collected in the past day, helping you rank up. You can also get your recruit to perform certain tasks for you. These tasks are very useful and range from collecting items for you, to helping you hatch and egg:

• Massages: One of the special skills is the ability to have your Pokémon massaged
• Egg Nurturing: One of the special skills is the ability to make Eggs hatch quicker
• Do Some Training: Some Secret Pals will raise your Pokémon's level
• Do Some Exercise: Boosts your Pokémon's Effort Values in a selected stat.
• Make some goods: You can receive various decorations from your Secret Pals
• Gather Berries: You can receive ask your Secret Pals to clean up the base, where they find rare items: Cheri Berry, Chesto Berry, Pecha Berry, Rawst Berry, Aspear Berry, Leppa Berry, Persim Berry, Lum Berry, Sitrus Berry, Liechi Berry, Ganlon Berry, Salac Berry, Petaya Berry, Apicot Berry, Kee Berry, Maranga Berry
• Picking Up: You can receive ask your Secret Pals to clean up the base, where they find rare items: Elixir, Escape Rope, Full Restore, Heart Scale, Master Ball, Max Revive, PP Max, PP Up, Rare Candy, Revive, Ultra Ball
• Pick up Stones: You can receive ask your Secret Pals to clean up the base, where they find rare items: Dawn Stone, Dusk Stone, Everstone, Fire Stone, Leaf Stone, Moon Stone, Shiny Stone, Sun Stone, Thunder Stone, Water Stone
• Search for Treasure: You can receive ask your Secret Pals to search for treasure, where they find rare items: Big Nugget, Big Pearl, Comet Shard, Float Stone, Nugget, Pearl, Pearl String, Rare Bone
• Tell your fortune: Gives you a MAX O-Power at random.

These are all very handy things for you to use and worth checking back every day to use. The ones each recruit can do depends on their trainer class and you can find a list here. This makes the Secret Base feature one of the more useful features in the entire game. It's definitely worth kitting out your Secret Base.

Ranking Up

In each base you can find a flag, which you can collect. As you collect more flags, you can speak to Aarune in Fortree City and he'll rank your base up. The higher your base Rank, the more things you unlock. You unlock more decorations in the store, and various things for your Secret Pal to do. It's also the only way to get one of the Mega Stones in the game, the Garchompite.

If you want to read more guides for Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, you can check out the links below:

• Guide: Training The Ultimate Pokémon In Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire
• Guide: Everything You Need To Know About Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire's New DexNav