28A: Victory Road Part I

28A: Victory Road Part I

The entrance does not look like much, but this is the first serious test of your abilities as a Trainer in the game -- and it is one of the last spots for you to take advantage of Trainer Battles to level up your team.  Having your team at anywhere between 50 and 53 is ideal at this point.  Or rather having your lowest team member be at those Levels is ideal -- you can have team members who are higher, no worries, but if you do you want to use the lower level ones to battle here, as the idea is to get their levels as close to 60 as we can manage in the few short battles ahead.

To simplify this section I will be listing the Trainers you battle, and the order that you battle them in, along with their team and levels.  As for XP and money, that is fluid to a certain extent and depends on whether or not you are using a traded or native Pokemon as to the amounts.  What you need to know is the Pokemon and their Level so you can put the best Pokemon on your team in the lead position to start off the battle.  A word about that...

Leading with the Right Member

As you certainly know by now, each Pokemon has a type (or types for some) and they are both strong and weak against other types.  Knowing what those strengths and weaknesses are is a very important part of being a good trainer.  Ideally before you enter a battle, if you already know the types/Pokemon you will be facing, it is important that you have the right type in the lead position, so that you can go in fighting and not have to swap them out first while in battle, which can get you avoidable damage.

There are two issues you need to pay special attention to -- the weakness and the immunity types.  If you know the weakness you know which of your team to put up against your opponent for each battle, and knowing the immunity tells you what Pokemon should never be used.  In case you are rusty on the table, here it is for your reference:

TYPE -- WEAKNESS (IMMUNE)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Bug -- Fire / Flying / Rock (None)
Dark -- Bug / Fighting (Psychic)
Dragon -- Dragon / Ice (None)
Electric -- Ground (None)
Fighting -- Psychic / Flying (None)
Fire -- Ground / Rock / Water (Burn Attacks)
Flying -- Electric / Ice / Rock (Ground)
Ghost -- Dark / Ghost (Normal)
Grass -- Bug / Fire / Flying / Ice / Poison (None)
Ground -- Grass / Ice / Water (Electric)
Ice -- Fighting / Fire / Rock / Steel (None)
Normal -- Fighting (Ghost)
Poison -- Ground / Psychic (Poison Attacks)
Psychic -- Bug / Dark / Ghost (None)
Rock -- Fighting / Grass / Ground / Steel / Water (None)
Steel -- Fighting / Fire / Ground (Poison)
Water -- Electric / Grass (None)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

-- Victory Road Proper --

With that out of the way, it is time to head on in and begin the process of using the Victory Road Trainers to level up your party and get it ready to face the Elite Four!  So step in and let us get this show on the road, shall we?

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Victory Road  Pokemon Report

-- #304 Aron (U)
-- #074 Geodude
-- #042 Golbat (C)
-- #075 Graveler (U)
-- #297 Hariyama
-- #305 Lairon (C)
-- #294 Loudred (U)
-- #296 Makuhita (U)
-- #303 Mawile (R)
-- #302 Sableye (R)
-- #293 Whismur (R)
-- #041 Zubat (U)

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Capturing a Pokemon is simply Luck

There are a few we do not have here, so it would be an idea to grab them.  I do not remember if I encountered a Makuhita in the game previous to trading the one I use on my team in, so if not, then this would be a good place to grab one!  Obviously the rarest is the Mawile, which while it is not much of a Pokemon to look at, can be a good utility Pokemon if it is trained right, so the extra effort in grabbing one may be worth it for you.

After playing these games for fifteen years it is natural that a Trainer forms some opinions -- and I have one that is rather controversial with respect to capturing Pokemon.  The majority of trainers believe that in order to catch one you HAVE to whittle its health down, and they also think that giving it a stat ailment like Sleep will also help...  My opinion?  Hogwash! 

Captures are simply a matter of luck -- you do not have to do ANYTHING except throw a Pokeball.  Look at the video above if you do not believe it -- I never bother weakening the Pokemon I capture, and I capture a lot of them.  As far as I can tell it makes no difference what its condition is -- you will use however many balls it takes -- in this case, two.

The only caveat that I should mention is that any Pokemon marked Rare in the report may take a LOT of balls to capture, weakened or not.  They just seem to have  a better resistance to Poke Balls, so you should always have an adequate supply (50 or more) of the highest-level ball you can use with you, right mate?

Note: Wild encounters here often pay off well in XP so they should not be avoided.

There are multiple routes you can take through this section and we want to cover them all, so start by heading straight in under the bridge and then left and back down (making a sort of wide U-turn) and around to the stairs up.  Cross the bridge here then go down the stairs and north to your first battle!

-- Trainer 01: Cooltrainer Albert
T1: Level 43 Magneton
T2: Level 43 Muk

Continue north under the bridge then west to the stairs on the north face, heading up and then all the way to the east over two bridges and down the stairs.  Waiting for you is a treasure ball with a Max Elixir in it -- Nice!

You can jump the ledge here or retrace your steps -- retrace is more efficient as we want to head where we were anyway.  Back at the stairs leading up, head down and west then south and under the next bridge -- turn east immediately and go up the nearby stairs to the north, heading west and then north at which point you will see Wally come running up and stop you!

-- Wally Battle --

As with all of the friend battles you do not have a choice here -- you have to battle him so you may as well win, right?  He is now "Pokemon Trainer Wally" -- not a kid anymore!  His team consists of:

T1: Level 44 Altaria
T2: Level 43 Delcatty
T3: Level 41 Magneton
T4: :eve; 45 Gardevoir
T5: Level 44 Roselia

That is actually not a bad team he has put together!  Of course you beat him easily, right?  Wally is determined to beat us one day and vows that he will -- and that pretty much wraps up this friend battle!

If you took a lot of hurt from him, being as we are so close to the entrance there is no point using kit to heal the damage -- just head back to the Poke Center, heal and save, and then come back here to continue...

As you walk past Wally to the north you will find your next Trainer battle awaiting you!

-- Trainer 02: Cooltrainer Hope
T1: Level 45 Roselia

After the battle go down the nearby ladder to the level below and you will notice that it got dark all of a sudden!  Here is the perfect place to use your HM -- Flash -- to lighten things up a bit!  With that done -- almost makes me feel like Harry bloody Potter that -- you will notice that this is a bit of a puzzle area!  There are boulders you need to move around here and there to progress.

This does not need to be complicated, simply do the following:

(1) Move east a few steps and then down and west to the boulder, and push it west so it fits into that nicely shaped opening in the wall;

(2) Head down and east to the next boulder, pushing it east into another conveniently shaped opening;

(3) Head down and follow the path, ignoring the first breakable rock on the right and heading north to a pair of breakable rocks that block access to a pair of boulders -- break both rocks;

(4) Push the west boulder down into the opening in the south wall;

(5) Push the east boulder up into the opening in the north wall (got to love those openings);

With the route now open continue east and then south to find the next Trainer standing in the middle of the path waiting for you!

-- Trainer 03: Cooltrainer Shannon
T1: Level 45 Claydol

I don't know about you but I thought she fought her Claydol very well -- used the best combination of moves she could have under the circumstances...  But she still lost.

After the battle ends continue along the path a bit south then east and north up the stairs, where you will cross a bridge and end up at the next ladder to the south.  You should be gaining decent levels from both the Trainers and the wild encounters...

-- A note on Leveling: I know we have touched upon this earlier, but I thought I would mention the strategy that I use...  Rather than swap each Pokemon out when they gain a level, I set target goals.  For example when they were mostly at Level 50, I took each to Level 54 before switching them out.  Four levels is about right for Victory Road, though you can get more if you farm encounters.

At the top of the ladder you will see that you are now on the ledge that runs along the bottom edge of the area -- and nearby blocking the path is a treasure ball that contains a PP Up!  Now, I know that you have a Pokemon with a move you would like to increase the PP on, so go ahead, use it!

That is it for this part of the path, head back down the ladder now and when you get to the bottom, jump off of the ledge to the west.  Head north now to reach your next Trainer Battle.

-- Trainer 04: Cooltrainer Samuel
T1: Level 42 Swellow
T2: Level 42 Mawile
T3: Level 42 Kadabra

After you finish him off follow the path north and you will see some boulders -- push the one spot north and then walk around it and push it to the west, then push the second one west.  Now break the rock above and grab the Full Restore from the treasure ball.

Head back south and go past Samuel to the south, where you will find a ladder down.  Take it and you end up at a branch in the paths on the next level down -- and your next Trainer battle!

-- Trainer 05: Cooltrainer Julie
T1: Level 42 Sandslash
T2: Level 42 Tropius
T3: Level 42 Ninetales

The stairs to the east of her lead to the wrong side of a ledge so you cannot proceed there -- to the north is a lake in the middle of the cave -- how about that?!  So head north and then Surf into the lake.

There are two ways you can go -- directly north is a set of stairs, while there is a waterfall to the west.  I say take the waterfall first.  At the top of the falls there hop back on to the ground to the west and here is our next Trainer battle.

-- Trainer 06: Cooltrainer Vito
T1: Level 42 Dodrio
T2: Level 42 Kadabra
T3: Level 42 Electrode
T4: Level 42 Shiftry

After the battle grab the Full Heal from the nearby treasure ball then Surf back to the east to that small area on the east edge of the water.  Hop out on it, stand on the south-end facing north and hit the Action Button to find an Elixir -- put that in your bag, then Surf again.

Here you are just going to have to trust me, mate...  Instead of continuing east, head back south to the bottom of the falls, then east and north to the stairs from earlier.  Hop out of the river and go up the stairs here, and follow that path north, then east until it splits north and south.  To the north is a ladder, to the south the path.

Head north up the ladder and you will find yourself in a small area with a treasure ball that contains TM29, Psychic.  After you grab that, go back down the ladder and then south along the path to our next Trainer battle!

Trainer 07: Cooltrainer Owen
T1: Level 42 Kecleon
T2: Level 42 Graveler
T3: Level 42 Wailord

The Opportunity for a Rare Doubles Battle

South along the path here leads to that area from earlier where we were on the wrong side of a ledge (just so you know where we are now), while to the west here is a bridge that leads to our next Trainer battle -- a double battle if you want it to be!

Trainer 08: Cooltrainer Dianne
T1: Level 43 Claydol
T2: Level 43 Lanturn

Trainer 09: Cooltrainer Felix
T1: Level 43 Medicham
T2: Level 43 Claydol

After the battle you head west across a long bridge for our next Trainer battle.

Trainer 10: Cooltrainer Caroline
T1: Level 43 Skarmory
T2: Level 43 Sableye

The path continues north here dead-ending at the river and waterfall -- you know, the river we were on before?  Yes, we are about to come full-circle... Sort of.  Or rather, we would if we continued east, but that is not what we need to do here -- instead we need to head south down the waterfall on this side, as that is the way to the next area!

So Surf down the falls and head east, where you will see a small beach with a ladder going up.  That is where we want to go!