Pokémon: 'Mythical Pokémon Distribution Round-Up, Part 3!'

Looking into strategies for Victini, Keldeo and Volcanion.

☆ NintendObs Weekly – Monday, October 17, 2016 – Sunday, October 23, 2016.

Pokémon

Mythical Pokémon Distribution Round-Up, Part 3!

The Pokémon 20th celebration has given players the opportunity to have some hard-to-get Mythical Pokémon join their teams. The Mythical Pokémon Victini was available to Trainers via Nintendo Network in September 2016. It’s Keldeo’s turn to start adventuring in October, so check out the Pokémon 20th website for more details on how you can add Keldeo to your team. Plus, for a limited time, you’ll be able to team up with the newly discovered Volcanion to commemorate the launch of the Pokémon TCG expansion XY—Steam Siege. Make sure to check out Volcanion on the XY—Steam Siege website for more details about how you can receive Volcanion.

You’ll discover how powerful Mythical Pokémon are as soon as they join your team, but a dedicated Trainer can bring out their hidden potential. Read on to find some tips that will make your adventure with them even more legendary. You can find out more about all of the Mythical Pokémon distribution events at Pokemon.com/20.

But first, here is some important information from our first article about an item that is crucial to help bring out the full power of these Pokémon.

Share Your Heart

The Mythical Pokémon distributed as part of the 20th celebration are so powerful that players aren’t allowed to use them in the Pokémon Video Game Championships or in most Pokémon Global Link tournaments. Mythical Pokémon are quite powerful in battle, and they are a lot of fun to use when you’re battling with your friends or against the in-game opponents you come across during your adventures. Regardless of how you plan to train your new partners, one of the first things you should do is teach them some of your favorite moves.

Each Mythical Pokémon given out during the Pokémon 20th celebration knows the moves they knew the first time they were available to Trainers. They all start at level 100, so they can’t naturally learn the moves they would normally learn by leveling up. Don’t worry—you can still teach them the moves they could have known at any stage of their training. If you find a Heart Scale, you can bring it to the Pokémon Move Maniac in Fallarbor Town in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire, or to Madam Reminder in Dendemille Town in Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, to learn moves these Pokémon could have learned while leveling up. Each of these Pokémon can learn some special moves, so it’s worth the effort to help them remember!

Victory with Victini

The combination of Fire and Psychic types, and its Victory Star Ability, make Victini a unique Pokémon. The Victory Pokémon enjoys the same balanced stats as many other Mythical Pokémon, so it can be strong on both offense and defense. Ordinarily, Trainers seek out Victini that have Jolly, Naive, or Hasty Natures to synergize with the powerful V-create attack, as each of these Natures raises Victini’s Speed without lowering its Attack. But the Victini you may have received as part of the Pokémon 20th celebration can’t learn V-create, so we suggest you seek out a Timid (raises Speed, reduces Attack) or a Modest (raises Special Attack, reduces Attack) Victini this time. Training Victini to further increase its Special Attack and Speed will show off its impressive power, and it can learn a wider variety of special attacks than physical attacks, too.

If you plan to use Victini in a Double Battle, you’ll probably want to visit the Battle Resort in Pokémon Omega Ruby or Pokémon Alpha Sapphire and have a Move Tutor teach Victini the Heat Wave attack. If Single Battles are more your speed, Victini’s signature Searing Shot attack is your best bet. Searing Shot has an impressive 100 Power and 100% accuracy, and an added bonus of a 30% chance to burn the target. You’ll need to use a Heart Scale to have Victini learn the powerful move, but it’s worth the effort. Also, use either Psychic (TM29) or Psyshock (TM03), to take advantage of its types. You can even use TMs to teach Victini Thunderbolt (TM24) or Energy Ball (TM53) to help out against Water-type Pokémon, Shadow Ball (TM30) to help against Ghost-type Pokémon, or Focus Blast (TM52) to help against Dark-type Pokémon.

Both Mythical Pokémon and Psychic-type Pokémon often learn a wide variety of tricky moves, and Victini is no exception. With the help of a Heart Scale, Victini is one of the 16 Pokémon that can learn the move Final Gambit, which deals damage equal to Victini’s current health to the target. This damage comes at a hefty cost—knocking out Victini! Unlike most Pokémon that can learn Final Gambit, Victini can be trained to have quite a large amount of HP. So large, in fact, that Victini can knock out most Pokémon with Final Gambit in a single blow if it’s able to use the powerful move while at full health. It’ll be easiest for Victini to use Final Gambit before taking damage if you give it a Choice Scarf to hold, as you’ll want to attack first before Victini takes any damage. If you want to take Victini in a different direction, you can make further use of Choice Scarf by having a Move Tutor at the Battle Resort in Pokémon Omega Ruby or Pokémon Alpha Sapphire teach your Victini Trick. This gives you the option of swapping Victini’s Choice Scarf onto a Pokémon that will struggle (or, literally, Struggle) when locked into a single move.

If you’d like to train a more supportive Victini, consider using Thunder Wave (TM73) to slow down opponents by paralyzing them, or Trick Room (TM92) to reverse the turn order. For the latter, the Speed-reducing Quiet Nature is probably the one you want your Victini to have. Victini can also learn Will-O-Wisp (TM61) to inflict the burn status condition on foes, dealing gradual damage while reducing their Attack stat.

No matter how you train your Victini, its Victory Star Ability is sure to help out. Victory Star increases the accuracy of all moves used by Victini—and its allies. Moves with imperfect accuracy such as Will-O-Wisp, Fire Blast, and Heat Wave will be more likely to lead to victories with the Victory Star Ability in play. And if you use Victini in a Double Battle, teammates with inaccurate attacks might be thanking their lucky stars when their attacks connect more frequently, too. One popular Pokémon in particular might come to mind for Trainers when thinking of moves that could use a little boost in accuracy…

Make Friends with Keldeo

Keldeo’s above-average Speed, spectacular Special Attack, and great types would have made it one of the best Pokémon in the 2015 Video Game Championships—if it wasn’t prohibited due to its status as a Mythical Pokémon. You’ll probably find it’s one of the most effective Pokémon you can use in battles against your friends—as long as the more powerful Legendary Pokémon such as Groudon and Rayquaza aren’t available. We’d suggest you try to team up with a Keldeo that has a Timid Nature (raises Speed, reduces Attack), which allows it to gallop ahead of even the speediest Mega Kangaskhan if you train Keldeo’s Speed. You’ll probably want to train Keldeo’s Special Attack as high as you can as well, which will enhance Keldeo’s ability to dish out big hits.

One of Keldeo’s most important moves is Secret Sword (a different move than the similar-sounding Sacred Sword). With 85 Power and 100% accuracy, Secret Sword is one of the most reliable Fighting-type special attacks in the world of Pokémon. As you might expect from an attack called Secret Sword, you won’t be able to teach Keldeo Secret Sword through normal methods. We’ll let you in on the secret: look for a special Move Tutor in Mauville City if you’re playing Pokémon Omega Ruby or Pokémon Alpha Sapphire, or in Snowbelle City in Pokémon X and Pokémon Y.

In addition to being a Fighting-type Pokémon, Keldeo is also a Water-type Pokémon, so it makes sense to teach it a Water-type attack. Scald (TM55) offers reliable damage and the chance to burn its target, while Hydro Pump deals much more damage at the cost of only having 80% accuracy. Keldeo can’t learn many other great attacks, but one decent option is to teach it Hidden Power (TM10) if your Keldeo’s Hidden Power is a useful type, such as Electric. Protect (TM17), Helping Hand (Move Tutor), Icy Wind (Move Tutor), and Quick Guard (Heart Scale) are always useful in Double Battles. Try combining the support moves Substitute (TM90) and Calm Mind (TM04) with the held item Leftovers in Single Battles. In other formats, Life Orb, Choice Specs, or even Choice Scarf are great items for Keldeo to hold.

Blow Off Steam with Volcanion

Volcanion is the first Water- and Fire-type Pokémon, making it an alluring option for your team. Many Trainers like to include Pokémon representing each of the popular Grass, Fire, and Water types on their team, and Volcanion is powerful against each of them. Volcanion can burn down Grass-type Pokémon with its Fire-type attacks and wash away Fire-type Pokémon with its Water-type attacks. Plus, Volcanion restores 25% of its HP when hit by Water-type attacks instead of taking damage, thanks to its Water Absorb Ability, so Water-type Pokémon struggle to take on Volcanion, too. As long as you keep Volcanion away from battles involving the powerful Legendary Pokémon, you’ll find it’s one of the most powerful Pokémon on your team.

Volcanion’s strongest stats are Special Attack, Defense, and Attack. It’d be difficult to train your Volcanion to accentuate all of these stats at once, so we suggest focusing on Special Attack because of its higher stat growth and the moves Volcanion is able to learn. Try to find a Volcanion with a Modest Nature (raises Special Attack, reduces Attack) or a Timid nature (raises Speed, reduces Attack) if you’re able to. Volcanion’s ability to dispatch its foes will be enhanced if you train your Volcanion to maximize its Special Attack and Speed. But if you have a Pokémon that knows Trick Room on your team and want to employ a strategy around it, you could also try training your Volcanion’s HP instead of its Speed, and you might even want a Volcanion with a Quiet Nature (raises Special Attack, reduces Speed) instead.

Volcanion will know its trademark Steam Eruption attack as soon as it joins your team, and it’ll probably blow you away along with Volcanion’s target. Scald is already one of the strongest attacks in the game, and Steam Eruption is kind of like its evolution. Like Scald, Steam Eruption is a Water-type special attack with a 30% chance to burn the target, but it also has a whopping 110 Power and 95% accuracy. Steam Eruption starts with only 5 PP, so it’s a good idea to give it a boost with some PP Ups, but Steam Eruption’s combination of excellent power and accuracy is well worth the effort.

Volcanion should know at least one Fire-type attack, and it’ll already have the reliable Flamethrower as soon as it joins your team. If you’re feeling lucky, you could try teaching it Fire Blast (TM38), giving up some accuracy in exchange for added power, but Flamethrower’s higher PP might make it a better complement to Steam Eruption in Single Battles. Heat Wave is tough to ignore in Double Battles, so head down to the Battle Resort in Pokémon Omega Ruby or Pokémon Alpha Sapphire if you intend to use Volcanion in this format. You may want to teach Volcanion Earth Power while you’re there, as well, but Sludge Bomb (TM36) is normally your best bet for a third attack because it hits Fairy-type Pokémon for super effective damage. The Assault Vest Volcanion comes with is a solid held item, but Life Orb and Choice Specs are also great choices.

Check back next month for our final Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire Mythical Pokémon distribution strategy article. We hope you’re enjoying this opportunity to team up with some of the rarest known Pokémon! Remember to check back to Pokemon.com/Strategy during the breaks in your adventure for more Pokémon video game tips and tournament analysis.

Source: Pokémon.