Pokémon Selection Strategy for Emerald

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Pokémon Selection Strategy for Emerald
Posted On: May 29, 2023

I've gotten about midway into Pokémon Emerald -- completed the third badge (electric badge), and starting to get quite an assortment of Pokémon.


The problem is, I can't figure out which ones to keep and raise experience for, and which ones to leave rotting in the PC. My old strategy used to be "pick the most interesting-looking ones and always power up the weakest" -- this lead to some surprising strengths (like the mushroom one with Mega Drain).


What strategy should I use? How do I know which Pokémon to select and train, and when I capture new ones, how do I decide to add them to my party (and drop a different one) or leave them in the box?


Also, I have the "Exp Share" item, so I can easily power up weak Pokémon in a low-risk fashion. w00t!.


Question from user ashes999 at gaming.stackexchange.com.


Answer:

Well, it comes down to personal preference, really. Aside from the very high level legendaries you can catch, there's no magic group of pokemon that will get you through the game with minimal effort. There are two good guidelines though.


1) A good balance of types.


2) Leveling, leveling, leveling.


Getting a balance of types is pretty easy. You just want to get 6 pokemon, such that you won't end up in a situation where one poke type counters half your team. For example, my old gold team was.


Kadabra (Psychic).


Typhlosion (Fire).


Suicune (Water).


Graveler (Rock/Ground).


Weepinbell (Grass).


and one more I can't remember right now. (Oh well, you get the point.).


The other thing you need to do is level. Not just what you'd get from fighting every trainer, and leveling a team of 6 pokemon from that, I mean running around in the grass for hours to level. A good baseline would be lvl 10 for the first gym, and another 5 levels for every gym leader after that. If you do that, your party should be about on par with most of the trainers you come across.


Sadly, that won't be enough for the elite 4. IIRC, some of the champion's pokemon are in the 60's level wise, and although you can abuse type advantage, that won't make up for a 15 level difference. You have two choices at this point.


1) Spend more hours leveling up until you can beat them.


2) Catch Rayquaza, and curb stomp them with a level 70 legendary.


I picked the latter. MUCH faster. 


Answer from user Nicholas1024 at gaming.stackexchange.com.



[BACK]
Pokémon Selection Strategy for Emerald
Posted On: May 29, 2023

I've gotten about midway into Pokémon Emerald -- completed the third badge (electric badge), and starting to get quite an assortment of Pokémon.


The problem is, I can't figure out which ones to keep and raise experience for, and which ones to leave rotting in the PC. My old strategy used to be "pick the most interesting-looking ones and always power up the weakest" -- this lead to some surprising strengths (like the mushroom one with Mega Drain).


What strategy should I use? How do I know which Pokémon to select and train, and when I capture new ones, how do I decide to add them to my party (and drop a different one) or leave them in the box?


Also, I have the "Exp Share" item, so I can easily power up weak Pokémon in a low-risk fashion. w00t!.


Question from user ashes999 at gaming.stackexchange.com.


Answer:

Well, it comes down to personal preference, really. Aside from the very high level legendaries you can catch, there's no magic group of pokemon that will get you through the game with minimal effort. There are two good guidelines though.


1) A good balance of types.


2) Leveling, leveling, leveling.


Getting a balance of types is pretty easy. You just want to get 6 pokemon, such that you won't end up in a situation where one poke type counters half your team. For example, my old gold team was.


Kadabra (Psychic).


Typhlosion (Fire).


Suicune (Water).


Graveler (Rock/Ground).


Weepinbell (Grass).


and one more I can't remember right now. (Oh well, you get the point.).


The other thing you need to do is level. Not just what you'd get from fighting every trainer, and leveling a team of 6 pokemon from that, I mean running around in the grass for hours to level. A good baseline would be lvl 10 for the first gym, and another 5 levels for every gym leader after that. If you do that, your party should be about on par with most of the trainers you come across.


Sadly, that won't be enough for the elite 4. IIRC, some of the champion's pokemon are in the 60's level wise, and although you can abuse type advantage, that won't make up for a 15 level difference. You have two choices at this point.


1) Spend more hours leveling up until you can beat them.


2) Catch Rayquaza, and curb stomp them with a level 70 legendary.


I picked the latter. MUCH faster. 


Answer from user Nicholas1024 at gaming.stackexchange.com.



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