Part VIII: The End Is Near

This is the last part. I promise.

Route 45 & Dark Cave Revisited

Recommended Level: 38-41

Elm called. He wants you back at his place. You could just Fly there. Alternatively, you could visit Route 45 and encounter some cool new Pokémon, and also train.

Gold players have access to Gligar and Teddiursa on this route, while Silver players get Phanpy and Skarmory. Gligar is cool, but Gliscor isn’t in this game. He could still fill the Ground slot though. Skarmory is not actually that bad, and is quite effective for the Elite Four. Phanpy is my personal favorite of the bunch, so if you are playing Silver and (somehow) got through the game without a Ground-type, it still isn’t too late to add one (although the type is noticeably less effective from here on out).

Anyway, there are some other things you could do here, but honestly just Fly the rest of the way. And yes, we are skipping the back half of Dark Cave. You probably don’t have a Flash user anyway.

Route 27, Tohjo Falls, & Route 26

Recommended Level: 39-43

Quagsire is Water/Ground and Ponyta is a late-game Fire-type. Neither of these captures are terribly useful at this point though. Doduo is here too, but it is probably outclassed by whatever bird you have already.

Tohjo Falls and Route 26 contain literally nothing of note, except your friendly reminder that you did actually need to grab HM Waterfall back in the Ice Path.

Victory Road

Recommended Level: 40-45

Ryhorn is the only new thing here. It isn’t great. Also there are no trainers to grind off of before this Rival battle.

Speaking of which, the rival battles haven’t changed much. Kadabra is his sixth team member, so use Bite on it or hit with a Physical attack. Everything else just use the same strategies as before. Basically just hit everything Super Effectively as fast as you can.

Elite Four

Recommended Level: 41-46

Let’s talk teams. an Electric-type and a Flying-type are just about mandatory. Having a Psychic-type around would also be a huge help, but unless you have an Alakazam I don’t see that happening. Noctowl can cover both the Flying and Psychic roles if you want. Bring your starter too because why not. An Ice-type would also be a major asset here because there are some more dragons about.

Elite Four Will – Psychic

Not a hard battle if you have a Dark-type (read as: Umbreon). Otherwise, this is one of two battles in the entire game where a Bug-type would actually be useful, and Gengar can hit them Super Effectively before they return Super Effective Psychic attacks. An Electric-type would also be a huge asset here, as three of Will’s Pokémon (Xatu, Slowbro, and Xatu) are weak to Electric. A Fire-type (read as: Typhlosion) can dispose of both the others (Jynx and Exeggutor) quite easily; otherwise try a Flying type for Exeggutor and just hit Jynx with your strongest stuff.

Elite Four Koga – Poison (and a little Bug)

A fast Psychic-type (read as: Alakazam [or Noctowl maybe]) can sweep four of Koga’s Pokémon off the field with ease. Without one of those, you do have to go one by one.

Ariados and Venomoth are both best disposed of with a bird or a Typhlosion. Ground-type moves are best for Muk. Electric-type and Ice-type moves can rid the battle of Crobat.

Foretress is a special case, as its only weakness is Fire and it resists basically everything else. However, it has a poor Special Defense, so attacks like Surf will do fine as well.

Elite Four Bruno – Fighting (plus Onix)

I honestly don’t know why he still has that Onix. Like, at least evolve the thing.

Besides his unevolved Onix, he has Hitmontop, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, and Machamp. Use Psychic-types or Flying-types. Flying-types with Psychic-type attacks (read as: Noctowl) are a plus. Do watch out for counters such as Thunderpunch from the Hitmonchan however.

Elite Four Karen – Dark (plus some Poison)

The Dark type: mysterious, evil, and very, very, VERY punchable. And the Dark-type is entomophobic (weak to Bugs).

For her on-type characters, Karen uses an Umbreon (punch it or Bug it), Murkrow (zap or freeze it), and Houndoom (punch it or spray it with water or rocks or ground). She also uses two Poison-types, Gengar and Vileplume. Ground, Psychic, or Ghost-type attacks hit Gengar well, but it is about as frail as paper so just about anything will do. Beware as it can get off a Hypnosis or Curse however! Vileplume is a Grass-type in Johto (use Flying type attacks).

Champion Lance – Dragon Flying

Right. The champion. Let’s go one-by-one.

Gyarados – Literally just zap it with an Electric attack. Problem solved.

Dragonite(s) – There’s three of them! Ice attacks are the call of the day, and just hope they get KOed before you do. If you don’t have an Ice attack, go with Rock, or neutral attacks. Make use of their recharge times from Hyper Beam.

Aerodactyl – Water is good. Lots of water. More Electric attacks solves this problem as well.

Charizard – Lightning and Water are good, but Rock-type attacks does even more damage.

Once Lance is down, you get to enter the hall of fame. Roll credits!

My work here is done. I’m totally not entirely skipping an entire region. Nope.

Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver are now available on the Nintendo 3DS eShop in some regions and should be in all of them within twelve hours. Pick one of them up. Seriously. They are quite good. Plus, it’s only ~$13.

Feel free to comment to suggest changes or generally voice your opinion on this. Thanks for reading!

Edited by bobandbill and Volpe Artica.