Part VII: You can’t get the Cover Legend yet

Frst we have some Rockets to blast off!

Goldenrod City Revisited, Radio Tower

Recommended Level: 32-36

My team advice here is simple: bringing a Ground-type will make it WAY easier. However, feel free to just power through with your normal team.

There is a Rival battle somewhere amidst the Rocket spam. He’s fully evolved his starter, and added a Sneasel to his roster. Punch the Sneasel lightly with a Fighting-type attack and it will fall faster than the average Rocket Grunt. Otherwise, the same strategies as before work just fine.

Okay, you know the drill. Run around the city, beat up Rockets, steal their lunch money. Profit. There are some executives too. One uses a bunch of Koffing and a Weezing, the next a Vileplume, Murkrow, and Arbok, and the final one Houndour, Koffing, and Houndoom. With the exception of ‘Plume and ‘Krow, everything I said above is weak to Ground.

Regardless, once you save the Director, the world is saved and you can resume your quest for greatness. This is done by heading to Blackthorn City via Mahogany Town. I totally didn’t skip anything important. Nope. Nothing at all. I mean come on, that Silver or Rainbow Wing you got from the Director can’t be THAT important, can it?

The route diverges here depending on your game. Something about different legendaries. There are three routes:

1. Gold Players – Go to the Tin Tower in Ecruteak City.
2. Silver Players – Go to the Whirl Islands on Route 41. Come from the Olivine side.
3. People who do not want Legendaries now – skip down to Route 44.

Tin Tower

Recommended Level: 34-38

Oh. My. Arceus. This. Tower. Is. Tall. Whatever. Just stock up on Ultra Balls and Repels (I mean, unless you WANT to be swarmed by a ton of rats), then climb the thing.

There is a Lv40 big rainbow fire bird at the top. Battle it, status it, and throw black-and-white spheres at it until it decides to stay in one. We’re done here. Skip to Route 44.

Whirl Islands

Recommended Level: 34-38

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Route 41? Anyway, you need a Whirlpool user. Gyarados works just fine if you’re out of ideas. Also you need a ton of Ultra Balls. And Repels because Routes 40 and 41 still suck. Oh, and an Escape Rope. Flash also helps.

I couldn’t care less about items, so head to the northeast island. Thankfully the path is relatively linear, though you do go over a ledge. Take the northern route when doing so.

Unlike the Tin Tower, this place actually has new Pokémon, some of which are even good. Specifically, this is Seel (meh) and the Horsea line (yay). If you don’t have a Water-type on your main team yet, Horsea is a very nice filler because dragons make everything better. However, you need to trade to evolve it.

Anyway, there’s a Lugia at the bottom of this mess. As with its fiery cousin, it is Lv40. Catch it through the vile methods of your choosing. E-Rope your way out of here and head back to Mahogany.

Route 44 and Ice Path

Recommended Level: 35-39

Route 44 has Grass-types that you’ve already seen (plus Tangela, who can’t evolve) and Lickitung. Next!

Ice Path has some more bats (we know you love bats), but also Swinub, Delibird (Silver), and Jynx. Swinub is objectively the best Ice-type you’re going to get in Gold and Silver, and I recommend it if you have the team capacity because dragons.

OH BY THE WAY, HM Waterfall is a random item ball in the first room. Kind of important. And before you ask, it is Special in this game, making it just a worse Surf.

For help with the Ice Puzzles, check the General Guide for its upcoming puzzle section.

Blackthorn City

Recommended Level: 37-40

You can delete HM moves here. This is a good idea for after completing the area, because Whirlpool sucks. There is a trade here too, but Dragonair is better than Rhydon so why?

Aaaaaaand that’s about it. Gym time! Oh, but by a ton of Paralysis healing stuff first.

Blackthorn Gym

Recommended Level: 37-40

This battle is very hard. Clair uses a trio of level 37 Dragonair, plus a level 40 Kingdra.

This is one of the few battles where the non-ace Pokémon are a complete nuisance. This is because they all have four moves. Dragon Breath is STAB with a chance to Paralyze, Slam is generic damage, and Thunder Wave is a 100% Paralysis. The issue is really their fourth move slot: the coverage move. One has Surf, one has Thunderbolt, and one has Ice Beam. The problem is that there is no good way to figure out which one is out at the moment. Piloswine can probably tank those coverage hits and 2HKO with the Ice move of your choice though.

Kingdra is one annoying boss. It gets Dragonbreath, which can still Paralyze, Surf, Hyper Beam, and the annoying as hell Smokescreen. The point is: between Paralysis and Accuracy reductions, you aren’t going to be hitting much. As such, you need to make the hits count… But Kindgra is only weak to Dragon-type attacks (odds are you don’t have any), so just spam your strongest attacks that isn’t Fire-type or Water-type. This is actually a gym where Meganium does better than its counterparts! Rain Dance in combination with Thunder could be a huge help as well for getting around the accuracy loss, but it also buffs Kingdra’s Surf. Oh, and Hyper Beam also probably one-shots everything you send out.

Once you finally beat Clair, she refuses to give you your badge and tells you to go to the Dragon’s Den instead.

Seriously, what’s with the Johto leaders and running off crying after losses?

Dragon’s Den

Recommended Level: 38-41

i herd you like 90% Magikarp encounters.

Other than the wild Dratini, there isn’t terribly much to do here. Just surf around the cave and obtain the required item. Clair will finally give you the Rising Badge.