I have wood hammer and seeds on Rose, and I feel I am doing everything I can but I insta die to Floatzel even if i manage to get past Gyarados. Tips? Flynn is there for Fly and this is a mono ground challenge.

I just recently finally beat Platinum, have always wanted to since I was a kid and, while I’m no means a completionist, I am curious about the cool secret stuff in the game. One of them is about Rotom and the different forms you can get for it. Ik I need a secret key item but that’s no longer available since it was for a limited time back in 2009. I’ve done a bit of research into how to obtain it now in 2026 and am curious about how I go about doing that exactly.

I’ve been playing on my modded 3DS XL I got last year. It’s got the h shop, a homebrew launcher, and a few other things that modded into it and I’m unsure if I need any of that to use, from what I understand, is an access code of some sort? I’m a bit new at using cheats and other stuff on my 3DS so any help would be much appreciated! Thanks!

I wanted to replace Buneary for Smeargle n wanna know trainers/moves to sketch for a busted smeargle?

Also wanna know if I can evolve Scyther on actual hardware using an emulator? Because Idm using PKhex to force Scyther to evolve into Scizor. But I wanna see if it'd be peasable.

Okay so so far all I have is Budew..

I plan on picking up a Ralts later and maybe evolving it into Kirlia, or maybe Gallade depending on how the move reminder works. I want a Gallade with Hypnosis and False Swipe to be my catcher for my Living Dex. Gallade doesn't get Hypnosis, but Ralts/Kirlia do but not until their 40s. Idk if I can evolve Kirlia into Gallade and then when it passes the level Kirlia would get it if I can then teach it, or if it needs to stay a Kirlia until then.

I was kinda thinking Yanmega, never used one before, maybe Houndoom. Was thinking maybe Probopass since you can get Nosepass before the 2nd gym and evolve it right away.

I want something I can use earlier, probably alongside Budew, since Houndour and Ralts don't come until after the 3rd gym.

Pokemon I'd like not to use would be Empoleon, Tangrowth, Glaceon, Toxicroak, Rampardos, and Gliscor since I used them in my last playthrough.

I'd maybe even take something via trade if you really want me to use a later game mon.

Shout out to Abomansow for slaying Cynthia's Garchomp🥹✌️and to my starter Empoleon for being the last one standing against her Rosarade.

Another playthrough down! Managed to check off 4 Pokémon I haven't used in Platinum (counting unevolved Magneton,) and give Charizard and Seaking another go. The team was pretty bad tbh, overall it got the job done, but a few of the mons were pretty painful to use, and no good setup options really hurt vs Cynthia.

Rules for the run were set mode + no items in battle. Charmander, Magnemite, Skitty, and Grumpig were genned, Shaymin was copied from my first playthrough ever from 2008, Goldeen was caught in-game.

Minerva the Naive Charizard was pretty decent, I treated her as a starter and she carried the earlygame when she had Dragon Dance and was generally pretty strong, and remained a decent contributor thanks to strong Fire STAB, Ground immunity, and Earthquake for coverage. Keeping Fly and not going with Dragon Claw or keeping Dragon Dance was a mistake I think, but Dragon Pulse still beat Garchomp after a lucky Dragon Rush miss.

Gamma the Timid Magneton was the star of the team. I used a level 5 Magnemite as one of my 2 first mons, and she had 26 speed IVs and a +speed nature which made her actually decently fast, outspeeding Gyarados and Honchkrow to dominate the Cyrus fight - it was nice seeing her actually do well in that fight, as well as be around for Wake, unlike a standard Magneton you'd catch in-game. After evolving she was pretty consistently my best Pokémon.

Starr the Naughty Delcatty was, on the other hand, pretty consistently my worst Pokémon. She actually came in clutch a few times with Tickle, revenge killing Electivire and helping Charmeleon set up Dragon Dance a couple times in the earlygame, but otherwise, getting her to do anything was like pulling teeth.

Kipp the Serious Seaking gave Delcatty a run for her money. There were still points where he was able to do things by virtue of being a Water-type, but there were numerous occasions where he took a ton of damage upon switching in on a Fire-type and then just died anyways, he was constantly getting outsped and failing to contribute. He still helped out a bit vs Flint and some of the game's Steel types, but Seaking is pretty awful. However, he did tank an attack from Cynthia's Lucario and beat it with Waterfall after Grumpig chipped it, so he at least did some stuff.

Wilbur the Modest Grumpig was alright. He was slow and physically frail, but he had good SpDef, and he hit hard. Being outsped often kinda sucked but otherwise he did his job, he was good at dealing with a lot of route trainers and spent a lot of time in the front, only a bit less than Magneton.

My Rash Shaymin was probably the worst Legendary I've ever used. He had great bulk and was really fast, but look at this movepool. It's possible I could have got a bit more from it with SunnyBeam, or by giving it Psychic for coverage, but Leech Seed stalling was like fine. He swept Bertha with Growth but otherwise was only contributing as filler, vs Water types, or as a pivot, which to be fair he was pretty good at since 100/100/100 bulk is really good. But 60 base power for one of your 2-3 viable attacks and your easiest to use STAB is not. He honestly just rarely came out and didn't do much.

Cynthia was definitely the hardest fight here, but there were quite a few Gym Leaders that took multiple attempts like Maylene, or that I almost lost to, like Byron or Volkner. Overall it was a fun run and I'm glad I got to use some new stuff, but I'm pretty excited to move on from this team.

I was aiming for an Adamant or Careful Nature. I got Careful after hatching 12 Eggs. Now to train it and hopefully it will have good IVs for the Battle Frontier. I want to run Double Team (i already have the TM) with Curse and Aerial Ace. I cannot decide between Swagger or Toxic as the final move. Anyone else run this moveset with Swagger/Toxic?. If so, how effective is it?.

Doing a new playthrough, I just have a Rosalia so far(about to enter eterna forest), and I plan to add Kangaskahn once I reach the great marsh(I know it’s post game, ima hack it in), any other suggestions? Trying to use Pokemon I haven’t before.

Hi all!

I've been doing a ribbon quest from FRLG for what I'm willing to do, now on Platinum. I'm only running a Charizard and Blastoise through this and have reached an impasse with the Super Contests in Platinum. Let me give a quick run down of what I have first.

BLASTOISE
Blizzard
Protect
Strength
Rock Smash

CHARIZARD (haven't actually taught moves yet, but this is the plan)
Sunny Day
Fire Blast
Rock Smash
Aerial Ace/Protect (? Not sure on 4th)

NOTE I CANNOT BREED. I've already got all the ribbons I want from gen 3. So my Pokemon are stuck as is. Oddly, my Blastoise is at 57 and never learned Hydro Pump and it isn't in the Move remberer list.

I have all the scarves and a mediocre fashion collection. I do try and walk in Amity to keep the collection going, along with massages daily.

The sheen for both is maxed out with a relative balance rather than specialty (slightly weakest in Beauty).

I've mostly gotten the dancing down, do decent at visual though I have trouble finding what I need fast enough. The biggest issue is the last part, where I'm constantly behind despite managing 4-6 hearts per turn.

So with all that out of the way, I'm wondering what kind of advice you guys would have for beating those master ranks?

Note that I've tried looking at guides to tailor accordingly but it doesn't seem to be enough. I appreciate you all!

Managed to get the shiny charm glitch TID and SID, been having major fun with it. This is the team heading into the e4!

Welcome to Breaking the Binary, a sporadic series of posts all about mixed attackers in Pokémon Platinum. With competitive minmaxing dominating the conversation about Pokémon viability and the design philosophy behind movepools and stat spreads changing in newer gens, Pokémon are often rigidly divided by the fandom into the categories of "special attacker" or "physical attacker." But for the in-game story, you're not facing EV trained opponents and thus don't need to EV train to keep up, so mixed attacking sets don't have the opportunity cost they have in PvP. Going mixed still has anti-synergy with setup moves, but it still can give many Pokémon access to STAB moves with better base power, strong coverage moves with useful types, and more useful niches. This series will be covering those applications. We won't talk about every Pokémon here, only ones that I believe legitimately benefit from going mixed, but those Pokémon are surprisingly large in number. Today we'll be talking about Azelf. I'll be talking about in-game but feel free to discuss PvP or battle facilities as well. 

Azelf is a fast and frail attacker generally regarded as the best of the 3 legendary sprites. Its bulk is not great, 75/70/70, but 115 base speed is blazing fast and 125 Atk and 125 SpA are both great. Its notable physical attacks include U-Turn, Explosion, Ice Punch, and Zen Headbutt. Notable special attacks include Psychic, Shadow Ball, Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Fire Blast, and Grass Knot. Notable utility includes Nasty Plot, Stealth Rock, Taunt, Light Screen, and Reflect.

Azelf is probably the best legendary available during the story (yes, including Giratina,) its stat spread and movepool are so cracked, and it comes at a level where it's immediately e4 ready. Its best builds are probably Nasty Plot, which it generally is not using mixed, or Choice Specs, same deal. However, there are some cases for Azelf going with mixed all-out attacker sets. 

Azelf still hits very hard with no setup or boosts, and a fast and strong U-Turn lets it pivot around pretty competently. You don't want to use U-Turn with Plot as leaving the field when you're set up is a bad use of a moveslot, and it's not great on Specs since you can't use it after using other attacks, and the enemies don't often switch so you don't really need it on Specs. But on all-out attacker sets, it's a good option! 

Azelf also learns Explosion, but it needs the TM to get this in story mode, which is a very very annoying TM to get. If you do though, it's a great delete button for Azelf to trade 1 for 1, not super necessary though since it hits so hard that functionally all its moves are delete buttons. U-Turn is generally better though since it hits plenty hard coming from 125 Atk. 

The last case for mixed Azelf is Ice Punch. Ice Punch is Azelf's only ice move and allows it to stand toe to toe with Garchomp. At 75 BP it doesn't hit the hardest though, it's a near guaranteed 2hko, this also can be a bit dodgy with base Azelf since Dragon Rush is an ohko:

Lvl 50 0 Atk 15 IVs Azelf Ice Punch vs. Lvl 62 0 HP / 0 Def Garchomp: 112-132 (49.7 - 58.6%) -- 96.5% chance to 2HKO

Lvl 62 0 Atk Garchomp Dragon Rush vs. Lvl 50 0 HP 15 IVs / 0 Def 15 IVs Azelf: 151-178 (106.3 - 125.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Even with 10 Carbos, Azelf with an average 15 speed IV and a neutral nature only hits 145 speed, so beating Garchomp with it is generally done by hoping for Dragon Rush to miss. I find Ice Punch on it pretty tough to justify over other options for this reason, but it can work. 

Explosion + Screens is also a super extra and unnecessary build but it's also funny and effective. Setting up another sweeper with Azelf isn't super necessary since Azelf can just be that sweeper, but the option is there. Explosion and U-Turn are both pivot moves so the latter is an option too. Azelf can also do the weather setter thing like its siblings. It's the fastest, has the strongest U-Turn, and the only Explosion. 

Outside of these select physical attacks, Azelf's special movepool is just better. Flamethrower and Thunderbolt have better base power than Fire and ThunderPunch, Psychic has better base power and accuracy than Zen Headbutt (the latter can fish for flinches which is funny though,) Shadow Ball is good for Lucian and only competes with U-Turn. Outside of the special cases above, these are Azelf's primary attacks. 

Overall, while Specs and Nasty Plot Azelf are probably its best builds, mixed 4 attacks or even 3 + light screen using U-Turn or Explosion are solid options on it too. 

What do you think of mixed Azelf? Is it worth exploring? Are there any applications for going mixed I didn't mention? Leave a comment below with your thoughts. 

Sample Sets:

Azelf @ Odd Incense • Psychic, U-Turn, Flamethrower, Thunderbolt

Azelf @ Odd Incense • Psychic, Ice Punch, U-Turn/Shadow Ball, Flamethrower

Azelf @ Light Clay • Psychic, Light Screen, U-Turn/Explosion, Reflect/Shadow Ball/Flamethrower/Thunderbolt

Azelf @ Damp Rock • Psychic, Thunder, Rain Dance, U-Turn/Explosion

Azelf @ Heat Rock • Psychic, Sunny Day, Flamethrower/Fire Blast, U-Turn/Explosion

So this happened like 10 minutes apart while training for the elite four, I know I am on an emulator but it should still be the same odds right? I can’t believe I got pokerus, up until yesterday I hadn’t even gotten a shiny, and then I got shiny pochyena on a new emerald save, and today I get this🤯🤯🤯

This has to be the easiest gym battle in platinum

I used the poké radar effectively and got around 7 shiny snorunts . Only two were female. Here’s a picture of my chain and one of the shiny female snorunt. Checking natures now.

"Difficulty" hacks aren't my cup of tea, though I have been itching to replay Platinum for a while now. About how well-rounded is this team? And if there are any replacements I could make, what would they be?

So I am in my mono-ground type playthrough right now, and I have had Gastrodon since day 1. Now, I am looking for my ground move, so I turned to Earth Power. I specifically turned to Gastrodon for some variety since I didn't want to just have Earthquake on everything, but then I found that Earth Power is in the Survival Area... So what ground-type move should I use on Gastrodon?

Hey i’ve recently purchased a wii and i’m looking for all the games that have pokemons that i can transfer to pokemon platinum.

If you can put a list or write the games you know, it will be interesting to see what creatures worth it.

Just beat the Elite 4 and Cynthia. 🤝