Team

Leader: The leader of our choice is Pikachu. He shines in this category especially to his really strong early game thanks to Thunder which is one the most powerful move available to us through WM codes. He will be able to hit a lot harder than most other starters would right out of the box without any setup. That allows for a very self sufficient playstyle crucial for early game split up strats. However, Thunder is also very inaccurate even having the same accuracy as Rollout. Missing it will be very common

Pikachu also learns Thunderbolt, a move that can hit all enemies around him. It is also useful for preserving some PP for Thunder if you don't need it to kill an enemy. However, Thunderbolt has the same accuracy as Thunder with drinks, so this move will not have an accuracy advantage over Thunder. I really like this move mostly because it still hits all your enemies around you even if you are confused which is really useful in dungeons like Nectar Meadow

Partner: The partner of our choice is Chespin. He provides a very versatile and powerful moveset which will enable it to be a very powerful lategame damage dealer and a reliable split up partner.

Chespin in general also synergizes well as partner for Pikachu as Pika can help him setup great Gyro Ball damage with Tail Whip in regular encounters and bosses.

Gyro Ball is a very accurate (95%) close range move that deals twice the damage if Chespin is slower than his opponent. This will almost always be the case so the damage this move deals can become very insane! (Look at this list if you want to know which enemies Gyro Ball is effective against: https://www.speedrun.com/psmd/guide/0oics )

Swordsdance raises your Atk sharply and is mostly used in combination with Gyro Ball to reach a very large amount of damage. Not only is it very useful for Boss Battle setups, your partners AI also makes very good use of this move! It will usually try to get one Sdance each floor when close to an enemy, which gives early game Gyro Ball split ups a very noticable boost

Energy Ball is a special attack coverage and STAB move. It is a good option in cases where Gyro Ball struggles such as: -Def buff stacking enemies (such as Tirtougas Withdraw)

• when you will outspeed enemies (Ancient Burrow or Chesnaught) It is only around a 5-10 second timeloss taking this move but it is entirely skippable.

Rollout hits hard but is also very inaccurate. While being a hero in No WM due to the Defense Curl/Rollout combo, and being able to deal a lot of damage in general especially with Sdance/Tail Whip, it is in general a worse option than Gyro Ball in this category

This move however is still useful when your Chespin becomes a Chesnaught. It will gain a very large speed boost which in return will give Rolloutb noticable accuracy buff. It also replaces Gyro Ball as the speed boost entirely ruins this move

#Split Up

In this game, isolated team members can still uncover parts of the map even if they are not close to the team. This is very useful as you can search for stairs a lot more efficiently since you have at least two people looking for them!

You only have to set the tactic to "Go the other way" for the member you want to split up with. In general, you want to be on the opposite side of the Pokémon you split up with to uncover most parts of the map and to avoid weird situations where your partner goes to places you already have been to

However, isolated team members can't see the client pokemon during a mission (Sylveon) so do not use the split up strategy if you are looking for the client

In general I do not recommend starting with it as it requires a bit of knowledge and awareness to deal with difficulties during said split ups and it in general requiring a slightly different playstyle than you would be used to when you come from other Pokémon Mystery Dungeon speedruns

A few more tips if you are doing splitup:

• As soon as you spawn on a floor, skip a few turns with A+B so you an see where you teammates are going, and go the opposite way

• Don't petrify enemies if you are in the same room as the teammate who is doing the splitup. For some reason, the AI just breaks in that case and waits next to the petrified enemy (the AI wants to defeat enemies in their room but it also doesn't attack petrified enemies thus its impossible to defeat the enemy)

• You want to heal your splitup partner if their HP bar is red, as they will run away instead of fighting the enemy.

• Thats why its great to have Oran Berries in that case, you can either feed them manually if your awareness of your partners is good, or just set it in the options to let your partners feed the Oran Berries instead if you.

• In a lot of dungeons it can become very required to use Orans as the 10 HP buff is incredibly useful in tanking a high amount of damage (for example both Revelation Mountains)

• If you spawn in a room only connected to 1 hallway, do not charge ahead! Instead let your partners take the lead with A+B so they will battle any enemies you would otherwise face offscreen saving you a good amount of time

#Emeras

You always want to check yellow emeras due to Wand Expert, so I'll list all useful ones here:

• Wand Expert (Yellow): Increases the range and does not consume a wand sometimes. Extremely useful with Guiding Wands which save you a lot of time if you get more uses out of it

• Alliance Expert (Yellow): Increases the accuracy of moves used during an alliance

• Power Boost X (Yellow): Increases the damage. Also increases accuracy if you have both X and Y equipped

• Type Bulldozer (Yellow): Prevents damage from being reduced if move is not effective. Very useful for team members who are splitting up alone. A very good although hidden mechanic is that you get the not effective boost like in alliances too!

Purple also holds good emeras:

• Barrage (Purple): Sometimes let you attack an additional time. Effect gets improved depending on the amount of empty slots

• Intimidator (Purple): Sometimes makes the targets move fail

• Distance Dodge (Purple): Makes it easier to dodge ranged moves

Other useful emeras:

• Berry Power (Red): Blocks status ailments and stat reductions

• Guard Boost (Red): Reduces damage received

• Power Boost Y (Light Blue): Increases the damage. Also increases accuracy if you have both X and Y equipped

• Dizzying Stare (Light Blue), Lullaby (Yellow): Inflicts confusion / sleep on the target. Very useful for team members who split up alone, since they are not be able to oneshot opponents most of the time

• Dizzying Payback (Dark Blue), Sleep Payback (Red), Warp Payback(Red): Inflicts confusion / sleep / warp on the attacker (works on ranged attacker too). Good for team members who split up alone

• Effect Boost (Dark Blue): Increases the chance of triggering additional effects. Good but very situational for Pikachu

• Sleep/Confusion Guard (Green): Prevents sleep/confusion (other Guards are also useful depending on the dungeon, they are mostly green)

• Big Ears (Green): Displays enemies on your map. Always equip it on Pikachu

• Trap Proof (Green): Nullifies the effects of traps

• Burn Guard (Green): Prevents burn. Good for Chespin in the Magmortar battle where he would usually have to sacrifice damage because of the burn from Flame Body. This is useful in case you do not have an atk looplet

If you can't make use of a specific Emera, consider eating them instead for 2 extra points of an stat for the rest of the dungeon:

Purple boosts Speed Yellow boosts Attack Light Blue boosts Special Attack Dark Blue boosts Special Def Red boosts Def Green boosts HP

In short: Check Yellow for Wand Expert (always!), Yellow and Light Blue and maybe Purple for Damage (Power Boost), Green for Protection Effects and Red for Berry Power. The stares and paybacks are mixed in with Red, Dark & Light Blue, Yellow.

#Looplets

Looplets not only provide slots for emeras, they also give you useful effects depending on the looplet you have. Some of them are very useful in a speedrun.

Main Looplets:

• Attack Looplet: Increases your Attack by 10 points (Chespin)
• Special Attack Looplet: Increases your Special Attack by 10 points (Pikachu)
• Speed Looplet: Increases your Speed by 20 points (Speed increases accuracy)
  • Don't give it to Chespin, it will ruin his Gyro Ball
  • Its really useful for Pikachu due to his Thunder having bad accuracy

Very useful split up Looplets:

• Persim Looplet: Prevents confusion
  • Very useful for split ups
  • Useful in Nectar Meadow and Revelation Mountain 1
  • Also very useful in Cave of the Deep, Reverse Mountain, Primeval Forest, Tree of Life Roots and Trunks
• Wakeful Looplet: Prevents sleep
  • Good for split ups
  • Really useful to get early for Poliwrath River to deal with Drowzees more easily
  • Also useful for: Cave of the Deep, Reverse Mountain

Other useful "better than nothing" Looplets:

• Def Looplet: Increases your Defense by 15 points
• Special Def Looplet: Increases your Special Defense by 15 points
• Weather Looplet: The one you get in the Story has more slots than usual

#Items

Important things to mention when it comes to items:

Blast Seeds deal 100 Damage in this game so they are useful in certain boss battles

- 4 Blast Seeds are required in this run (1 for Gabite, 1 for Giratina, 2 for Entei), they are available in dungeons and in shops. 
- You get one Blast Seed for free in F1 in Foreboding Forest
- Three of them are not very hard to find in general
- They are not too important though so do not waste too much time just looking for them

• Pounce Wands are useful in general to dodge battles you otherwise would have to deal with. However, be very careful using them as they are not that common and you need a few for boss battles (7 in total)

• Its also possible to use Pounce Wands on a Water/Lava/... tile to use a Warp Scarf like effect for the whole team! (warping the whole team to the same random room)

• Having at least 1 Rollcall Orb in your inventory is never a bad idea if you do split up, so you can summon your teammate if hes in a bad situation he can not get out of without wasting a lot of time (you may know the situation when your teammate is locked in para and fighting against 3 enemies...)

• Slow and Slumber Wands are useful in the Dark Matter battle, you should save them!

  • Also make sure to always have at least one Slow Wand for Dark Matter Phase 2, more are really useful though
  • You get 5 free Slow Wands from Goomy

• Tunnel Wands are very useful for building a path for you, they are a lot better than they sound like in the description!

• Quick Orbs save a lot of time in Dark Matter phase 2, it can be in the shop and sometimes can be found in dungeons too!

• You need a Petrify Orb for the Magmortar battle, but you get that one for free in Foreboding Forest

  • In general they don't work very well for boss battles except of Magmortar
  • Additional ones however are still pretty nice to deal with many enemies in a room (especially useful in Showdown Mountain and Mystical Forest where Vibravas and Lilligants have to be dealt with as soon as possible)

In shop checks, you usually look for:

• Good Looplets (Atk, Sp.Atk, Speed, Persim/Wakeful)
• Tiny Reviver Seeds
• Oran Berries
• Blast Seeds
• Good Orbs (Luminious, Quick, Petrify,...)
• Good Wands (Guiding, Petrify, Slow, Slumber, Stayaway, Warp, Tunnel,...)

(Looplets start spawning in shop after Glittering Mountain, so it may not be worth it to check shop before that)

• You have a lot of possible shop checks in the run, but it can add up very quickly so I would recommend only checking shop until you have all your important items (which is your Atk Looplet + Quick Orb)

My standard bag looks like this:

• 2-3 Looplets (depending on your teamsize)

• 1-2 Apples

• 2-3 Oran Berries (you can add more of these, really useful with split up)

• 2 (Max-)Elixiers

• 5 Tiny Reviver Seeds (its never a bad idea to have a lot of them with split up)

• 2-3 Reviver Seeds (to fill up PP again)

• 1 Rollcall Orb

• [1-2 Petrify > Slumber > Totter] to deal with large enemy rooms

• 1 Stack of Petrify Wands

• 1 Stack of Guiding Wands

• Additional useful Wands (Stayaway,Warp,Tunnel,Slumber,...)

• You can select several items at once with R to save a bit of time but you have to pick up he same amount of all of them. I like to do that with Oran Berries + Elixiers + Reviver Seed and picking up the max amount of every Wand

#Guiding Wand Route

There are always 45 Guiding Wands available that can be used throughout the run to easily locate the stairs on the floor. 13 of them are pretty much required to be used in Sheer Mountain Range due to the very large and slow layouts and 19 should also be used in Submerged Cave and Prehistoric Ruins due to them being very difficult and risky in that point of the run.

It is also useful to spend 1 Pure Seed + 1 Guiding Wand in F9 and F12 in Revelation Mountain II since those floors are guarenteed to have hail while 2 Guiding Wands should be used in F8 and F9 in Reverse Mountain due to guarenteed sandstorm.

The remaining 10 and any additional Wands you may have left can be used more freely in those dungeons:

• Poliwrath River (9)
• Gentle Slope Cave (8)
• Revelation Mountain I (7)
• Revelation Mountain II (13)
• Abyssal Badlands (7)
• Road to Primeval Forest (9)
• Tree of Life (7 + 7)

The most common Route is to use them in Gentle Slope Cave and Abyssal Badlands as splitting up is out of the question there entirely. If Revelation Mountain I is a bit too dangerous for you its also possible to use them here. Poliwrath River is where Secureaccount uses his Guiding Wands as this dungeon likes to slow you down a lot sometimes if you use split ups, so that dungeon becomes a lot more consistent.

In my opinion should you find additional Wands they should be used in Tree of Life as that is the only late game dungeon where you should not do split up strats in most cases. Its also possible to use them in Rev Mountain II if you are having trouble but its probably not optimal to do so as splitting up with Archen is very good in that dungeon.

Also, you should also have Guiding Wands in your bag in every dungeon just in case you find a Wand Expert (yellow) emera that lets you sometimes not consume your use which is the most optimal way of using Guiding Wands.

In short:

Poliwrath River (9) / Gentle Slope Cave (8) -> Sheer Mountain Range (13) -> {Abyssal Badlands (7)} -> Submerged Cave (10) -> Prehistoric Ruins (9) -> {Tree of Life (14)}

*{} indicate that you should use additional Guidings Wands you have found

#General Tips

• Alliances have the extra effect of increasing a moves damage significantly (even slightly more than effective moves) if they are not effective against the enemy. Type Bulldozer has the same effect!

• Its more optimal to do movement with the slide pad instead of the d-pad since the slide pad buffers your inputs and it allows you to do diagional movement without holding R. Both cause movement to be significantly easier!

• Checkpoints/Middlepoints in dungeons refresh PP, Belly, HP and revive your teammates

• Understanding the enemy AI is very important in this game. Inside Rooms it usually favors ranged moves (and it also tries it best to move in the correct range for the ranged move) which is why you shouldn't rely on the enemy approaching you as you would in other PMD games (though if you wait long enough it may approach you regardless)

• However, in Hallways they only have a vision of 1 tile around them, which is why they never use ranged moves and walk in a straight line. Use this to your advantage by either letting them approach you or, if they are not walking in your direction, wait with A+B until they are out of your way

• If you are about to face an enemy in a room, it is possible to walk back to the Hallway to abuse the reduced vision and to let them approach you

Start

Answers for the Personality Quiz:

• 2221113
• Always gets you Pikachu Leader and Chespin Partner

#Chapter 1: Those who live...

Open Pass 3F:

Change Settings as soon as you gain control:

• Speed: Fast

• Top Screen Map: Yes

• Camera Effect: Off

• (Recovery Items: Off. Its ON by default. Preference. if on, teammates ask you whether to use an Oran Berry if someone on your team is low on HP, and it consumes the teammate's turn instead)

• Change Bottom Screen to display Text (so you have a clear view of the map on the Top Screen)

• Let Nuzleaf kill all the enemies (swapping spaces does not cost a turn for teammates)

• Its optimal to go through the middle room on 2F

Lush Forest 5F:

• Avoid the middle room again on 2F and let Nuzleaf kill enemies
• Floor 3 and 4 are random

Pre Dungeon:

• Say yes (up) to Nuzleaf to stay in his house

#Chapter 2: Meeting Chespin

• Its possible to save+quit to input WM codes either in the house or in the plaza

• Look at the WM code section and input all of the codes now: https://www.speedrun.com/psmd/guide/jvgzm

• Immediately sell all fresh Apples you have!

  • Put all your items into the storage, and fill your bag with as many apples as possible
  • Go to the Shop and choose "Sell All"
  • Repeat this until you have sold all your fresh apples

• Buy anything you need from the Shop

• Pick up Sitrus Berrys, Life Seeds, Drinks, TMs, and Blast Wands from your storage

Foreboding Forest 5F:

• Eat all your Situs Berries

• Teach Thunder over Fake Out (the top move is the default one for alliances, so you save a bit of time having Thunder at the top)

• Teach Thunderbolt over Growl

• Use Thunder once, and use all PP-Up and Accuracy Drinks you have on Thunder

• Kill everything with Blast Wands

  • The exception being the two Furfrous at the first floor, you can oneshot them with Thunderbolt

#Chapter 3: On a Large Hill where a Large Tree Stands

Pre-Dungeon:

• Press yes (up) to go to the special place
• Pick "Go to the Plaza" to get a shorter cutscene

Drilbur Coal Mine 8F, Checkpoint 5F:

• Feed Chespin your Life Seeds
• Teach Chespin the new moves:
  • Gyro Ball over Pin Missile
  • Swordsdance over Vine Whip
  • Energy Ball over Tackle
• Disable all moves but Gyro Ball
• Kill everything with Blast Wands one more time (make sure you have a few left for boss battles later)
• Use your Power Drinks as soon as Gyro Ball is used once

Gabite (~148HP):

• Walk down
• Blast Wand / Gyro Ball
• Blast Seed

#Chapter 4: Field Trip

School Forest 9F:

• You get a school bag during this dungeon with the following items:

  • Apple x3
  • Max Elixier
  • Oran Berry x3
  • Tiny Reviver Seed x3
  • Rollcall Orb
  • Slumber Orb x2
  • Stayaway Wand x5
  • Slumber Wand x5

• Try to save the Slumber Wands for Dark Matter

• Also try to save one Slumber Orb in case you want to do the Slow Orb -> Slumber Orb strat in Yvetal

• Disable Absorb on Goomy (it has a very long animation even offscreen)

• Have only Gyro Ball and Swordsdance enabled on Chespin

  • Use Energy Ball only to deal with Tirtougas who raised their Defense with Withdraw

• Set Tactics on the entire Team to "Go the other Way"

• If Goomy dies, don't bother with reviving him

• If Chespin learns Rollout, teach it over Defense Curl

Pre Dungeon:

• Tell Chespin he is annoying (press a)

Glittering Mountain 10F:

• You get a school bag during this dungeon with the following items:

  • Looplet x3
  • Apple x3
  • Max Elixier
  • Oran Berry x3
  • Tiny Reviver Seed x3
  • Rollcall Orb
  • Totter Orb x2
  • Progress Device
  • Pounce Wand x5

• Equip a looplet to everyone except Deerling

• Walk up-right in the second room to set Power Boost X on Pikachu

• Walk down-right in the fourth room to set Power Boost Y on Pikachu

• You can set the Toughness to Pikachu too

  • Don't set this on your teammates, having them be alive at red hp is really bad since the AI runs away from enemies at low health, its faster to revive them instead

• In the second floor, set the strategy for the entire team to "Go the other way"

• Don't bother reviving Deerling when she dies, you are fine with splitting up with Espurr alone

• Put all good Emeras on Espurr, since Pikachu should go through this dungeon very smoothly already with X and Y

#Chapter 5: Harmony Scarves

Pre Dungeon:

• From now on, looplets will appear in the shop. Make sure to check shop often to get one of the good ones!
• The shop will reset its inventory after every school session. So make sure to check before and after you go to school
• If you have a Persim Looplet you can give it to Chespin so he won't get any status ailments in Nectar Meadow

Alliance Tutorial:

• Its optimal to use Tackle (left) -> Pursuit (down) -> Scratch (up) (found by Colequil)

• Its also possible to skip it if you use a glitch (put your items and money in the storage before though, very important!):

Quoted from SecureAccounts No WM guide:

"It is possible to glitch out of the tutorial to save a few seconds. When the game tells you to select a move, press a direction and A at the same time. If you successfully do this for 2 out of the 3 moves, press the bottom screen to activate the alliance and mash A through the text. The tutorial will not continue after you perform the alliance, so you can open the menu and give up. For whatever reason, you need to hold a direction for X to work. clips.twitch.tv/RelievedTentativeChickpeaPicoMause-4ZsKMgEHBv-txmKc "

• MAKE SURE TO HAVE AT LEAST 5 BLAST WANDS AND 1 POUNCE WAND FOR THE BOSS IN THE NEXT DUNGEON!
• Its very useful to have a Persim Looplet for Chespin in Nectar Meadow

Nectar Meadow 10F, Checkpoint 5F:

• Split Up with Chespin:

  • Disable Energy Ball, have Gyro Ball and Swordsdance enabled (it outdamages Energy Ball)

    • Gyro Ball is especially useful because of its high accuracy with so many things being able to use Double Team or Sand Attack

  • Growls are not a big issue, the AI uses an additional Swordsdance if it gets hit by one

  • However, the Durants are hard to kill with Iron Defense. You wanna switch to Energy Ball if Chespin is stuck with one

  • Chespin is immune to Spore moves, so he shouldn't have much issues with status ailments

    • There's only Venonant that can use Supersonic which is annoying
      • Can be negated if you find Confusion Guard (Green) or Berry Power (Red)
      • Remember, Pikachu can hit the enemy with Thunderbolt even with confusion!

  • Other than that, the dungeon should be fairly straigthforward

• Its a good idea to put aggressive Emeras on Pikachu to make him be able to kill enemies in one turn as Chespin should do fine

  • The ailment inflicting Emeras should still be on Chespin

• Teach Rollout over Defense Curl

  • Have Rollout disabled, enable it only when Gyro Ball gets disabled by Venonant
  • Enable Swordsdance again. For some reason it gets disabled when you learn a new move

Boss: Combee x3 (49 HP); Beedrill x2 (49 HP) strat by secureaccount:

• Set Tactics to "Follow Me"
• Pounce Wand down
• Walk one step left
• Spam Blast Wands at the enemy

Pre-Dungeon:

• Become Chespins friend (Up -> Yes)

#Chapter 6: A Jr. Expedition Society Member is Born

• Talk to Kecleon when you get out of school

As already mentioned earlier on, you can choose to either split up here in Poliwrath River or use Guiding Wands to go through here safely. I myself prefer to use Guidings Wands here but decide to split up instead if I find a way to deal with annoying things in this dungeon such as sleep resistance (sleep guard, wakeful looplet) for Drowzee or in general a good emera setup.

Relevant if you choose to split up:

• Make sure to get Stayaway or Warp or at least Blast Wands for Pikachu to be able to deal with Barboachs
• If you have a Wakeful Looplet, equip it to Chespin in this dungeon so he can easily deal with Drowzee
  • You may want to use Wands with Pikachu too if you don't want to challenge his sleep
• Other than that there's Joltik with Thunderwave in this dungeon so both Paralysis Guard (Green) and Sleep Guard (Green) are good Emeras for Chespin (or just Berry Power (Red))

Poliwrath River 10F, Checkpoint 6F:

If you choose to split up here:

• Set Tactics back to "Go the Other Way"
• Use Swordsdance and Gyro Ball in this dungeon once again for split up with Chespin
• Energy Ball is awful in this dungeon thanks to Luxio and Helio being able to raise their Sp. Def
• The same goes for Pikachu, you may want to use wands to deal with them if they use Charge

If you don't split up, you should use Guiding Wands. In that case, this dungeon shouldn't be much of an issue with Thunder / Gyro alliances

• Don't forget to put all aggressive Emeras on Pikachu for a potential quicker boss battle

Boss: 3 Poliwraths (81 HP), 1 Poliwag (76 HP):

Here are two possible strats you can do:

If you have a good damage increasing emera setup (Barrage,Power Boost X & Y,...):

• Walk up-left then up
• You are now in the middle of all 3 Poliwraths, simply spam Thunderbolt -> Gyro Ball alliances. This may be able to oneshot all of them with good emeras

More consistent option:

• Walk up-right
• Spam Thunder -> Gyro Ball alliances on each Poliwrath

You now have a bigger bag! (24 -> 32)

Pre-Dungeon:

• The Sylveon mission can be a random floor from 2F to 7F (myths say 8F is possible too)
• Save the game before leaving the school in case you want to reset because of bad RNG

Sylveon:

• Split up and have only Gyro / SD enabled on Chespin
• Set Tactics to "Follow me" on Sylveon floor, as the partner will not display Sylveon on the map if he finds her so split up will not be useful

Now you would be able to do missions whenever you want to during filler times. Sadly, this is a speedrun so we will just skip all of the mission days by giving up in the dungeon. You just have to deposit all your items and money before you do the give up.

• In the first give up, you need to put Sylveon in your party
• In the second one, you need to remove Sylveon from your party with Y
• For the rest of the give ups, you do not have any of these restrictions and can go directly to the dungeon

Give Up x 3

#Chapter 7: Summer Vacation

Give Up x 4

#Chapter 8: Prove your Mettle

• Stick with Chespin (Up -> Yes)
• Exit out of the window
• You can item manage when you enter the dungeon
  • Don't forget to get one Blast Seed for Giratina!

Ancient Burrow 12F, Checkpoint 8F:

• Put Espurr in your team

• Equip looplets on everyone

• Manage your bag (don't forget at least 6 Blast Wands for the boss and for killing Deerling!)

• Kill Deerling with 2 of your Blast Wands, kill her again after the Checkpoint

  • (2 people between you and your partner would block alliances and Goomy is more useful than Deerling)

• Set "Follow Me" for Chespin, set "Go the Other Way" for Espurr

• Use alliances most of the time with Chespin (Thunder -> Energy Ball / Rollout)

  • Gyro Ball is bad since most enemies are slower than Chespin

• You should be fine on your own in this dungeon, give good Emeras to Espurr

  • Its also more useful if she has the good Emeras for the boss battle

If your Chespin is lvl 10 or lower

• He will be able to deal a lot of damage with Gyro Ball, but once he reaches level 11 he will get enough speed to not be slower anymore than a lot of the enemies
• If you use Guiding Wands in Poliwrath River there's a chance Chespin will not reach level 11 in this dungeon

There's 2 possible strats in this dungeon:

• You split up with Chespin and Espurr, in this case you do not anyone kill with Blast Wands. You also may need to rely on Goomys ranged moves and Blast Wands to be able to defeat enemies
• You use the default strat of only splitting up with Espurr, then you can easily kill most things with Gyro Ball / Thunder alliances

Boss: Giratina (~179HP), Litwick x4 (~51HP): Strat by secureaccount:

• Set Tactics to "Let's go Together"
• Disable Swordsdance on Chespin (and have Energy Ball enabled)
• Pounce Wand down left
• Defeat the Litwick with Thunder (without alliance)
• Defeat the Litwick at the top right with 2 Blast Wands
• [If there are any Litwicks left, defeat them too either with Blast Wands or alliances (Thunder -> Gyro -> Psybeam)]
• Pounce Wand to Giratina if you are not near him
• Use a Blast Seed on him
• [If he is not dead yet, defeat him with alliances (Thunder -> Energy Ball / Rollout (yes, Giratina is slower) -> Psybeam)]

#Chapter 9: The village's sacred spot

Choose a Partner:

Pancham: Geo Pebble x10 Goomy: Slow Wand x5 <------- Shelmet: Silve Spike x5 Deerling: Whirlwind Wand x5 Espurr: Silver Spike x5

• Pick Goomy (second option)
• Give up x2 (do not forget to put your Slow Wands in storage after the first day)

Pre-Dungeon:

• Make sure to bring more Orans and Elixiers as usual
  • Some enemies can deal high damage
  • Mismagius can use Spite, which will set your PP of the last used move to 0. Use Elixiers for that case
  • Prepare for the worst

Revelation Mountain 8F:

• Only have Gyro Ball and Swordsdance enabled
• Scraggy, Bagon, Deino (who was Dragon Rage) are slower than Chespin, it may take a bit longer for him to defeat them
• Also be careful whether a Mismagius used Spite on Chespin
• Again, put all good Emeras on Chespin as he needs the extra power, with Nuzleaf's Razor Leaf you can already defeat everything with one hit
• Confusion Guard (Green) or Berry Power(Red) is good on Chespin since Noibat can use Supersonic

#Chapter 10: A Journey beginns

• Give Up

Next day:

Talk to everyone thats not a shopkeeper:

• Goomy

• Deerling

• Farfetchd

• Pancham

• Shelmet

• Lombre

• Raticate

• Magnezone

• Give Up

Press yes (up) to leave the village with Chespin

Next night:

• Sneak out of the window
• Go to the hill
• Leave the village

#Chapter 11: Over the mountains

Sheer Mountain Range 14F:

• Use Guiding Wands. Use all of your Luminious Orb here, these layouts can be really awful
• Mostly use alliances with Thunder -> Gyro Ball
  • If you go against Makuhita, Timburr or Bergmite use Thunder -> Rollout instead (unless you have enough exta damage to kill with Gyro Ball)
• Swablus can cure their status ailments so don't try to petrify them

Gentle Slope Cave 9F:

• If you haven't used Guiding Wands in Poliwrath River or if you found any additional ones, you can use them here!
• In this dungeon there's Larvitars with Sandstorm, Yamasks with Disable and Shuppets with Spite. So be careful!
• With Thunder -> Gyro Ball alliances there shouldn't be too many issues

After the dungeon:

• Put all your stuff in the storage for the upcoming Jirachi "battle"
• If you are level 11, remember moves for Pikachu at Hawlucha:
  • Tail Whip over Electro Ball
• Also, if you got any Gold Bars, you can trade them for either Reviver Seeds (only if necessary) or Proteins for Chespin

#Chapter 12: Life at the Expedition Society

• Give Up x4

#Chapter 13: Across the Sea

Mystical Forest 10F:

• Set Archen to "Follow Me" and Chespin to "Go the other Way"

• Have only Gyro Ball and Swordsdance enabled on Chespin

• The main party should stick with Thunder -> Wing Attack alliances

• Chespin is immune to all powder based status ailments, so Tangrowth and Hoppip are not scary at all for him!

  • Still be careful of Exeggutor's Hypnosis, Aromatisses Sweet Kiss and Grimers Stench
  • Also be careful of Grimers disable, enable Rollout if that happens (and disable it back if you eat a Revive)

After the dungeon:

• Give up x2

#Chapter 14: A Fun Outing

• Talk to Dedenne
• You can do menuing before the dungeon
• Make sure to get at least 2 BLAST SEEDS and 1 PETRIFY ORB AT THE CHECKPOINT for the Magmortar battle
  • Pansear and Darumaka can use Incinerate, which burns a random berry or seed from your bag
• Its a good idea to get some Rawst Berries to heal Chespins burn (or you find Burn Guard (Green) / Berry Power (Red)) but not necessary in case Chespin has an Atk Looplet

Fire Island Volcano 11F:

• Set Buizel to "Go the other Way"
• Also, make sure to put the good Emeras on Chespin for Magmortar
• Everything but Shuckle and Torkoal can be dealt with Tail Whip + Gyro Ball instead of Thunder + Gyro Ball

Boss: Magmortar (~215HP), Magby x4 (~165HP)

• Set Tactics to "Let go Together" (to make Chespin use Swordsdance)
• Use Petrify Orb
• Walk up to the Magmortar
• Alliance (Thunder -> Swordsdance -> Water Gun)
• Alliance spam (Tail Whip -> Gyro Ball -> Water Gun/Aqua Jet) (Use Aqua Jet if Thunder missed)
• Kill the Magmars with (Tail Whip -> Gyro Ball -> Aqua Jet)
• This strat is burn resistant with an Atk Looplet on Chespin as long as Aqua Jet hits. Without one you may need to cure one of the two burns with a Rawst Berry. With his strat you don't need to Gamble for Thunder hits anymore and still 0HKO
• If you do not have an atk looplet, you can also kill the Magmars with (Thunder -> Gyro Ball -> Water Gun)

Secureaccount found some small movement strat for the Entei battles that makes it very save. It will put you into a position where Roar will only push you into the partner or a wall.

Entei Phase 1 (192HP):

• Set Chespin back to "Follow Me" and disable Swordsdance
• Walk one step down, then up
• Eat 2 Blast Seeds

Entei Phase 2 (446HP):

• Note: Everytime you evolve tactics and moves will reset to default settings

• Enable Swordsdance on Chesnaught and disable Energy Ball

• Walk one step right, then down-right

• Alliance (Tail Whip -> Swordsdance) once, then spam (Thunder -> Gyro Ball)

After the dungeon:

• Give up x4

#Chapter 15: A New Warning

Showdown Mountain 12F:

• Set Chespin to "Follow Me" and Mawile to "Go the other Way"

• Vibravas can be really dangerous with Earth Power. If there is one in the room, use an Orb or Wand

  • It may be useful to have a Rollcall Orb if Mawile should be in the same situation, since she is not getting out of that without wasting a lot of revives. Giving her a Sp. Def Looplet may also be very helpful

After the Dungeon:

• Give Up

• Item manage as soon as you leave the guild, you will go immediately into the dungeon when you leave Lively Town

• Make sure to bring extra Orans and Revives into this dungeon

  • Having 1 page of Reviver Seeds in this dungeon is very reasonable

• Its also a good idea to bring extra Petrify Orbs you found into this dungeon to deal with Drifblims or Noctowls in a large room

  • Just make sure you are not on a hail floor when using one

Revelation Mountain 2 14F:

• Set Chespin to "Follow Me" and Archen to "Go the other Way"

• Only have Acrobatics enabled on Archen

  • Don't equip any items on Archen!
  • Be careful of Archens HP bar, if it is below 50% his damage will be reduced. Try to heal him with Orans if you don't want to waste revives
  • Its very fortunate that his Acrobatics does like 130 dmg so it will still be a lot

• Archeops with Pluck, Drifblims with Ominous Wind and Unburden (two moves in one turn), Noctowls with Sky Attack..., this dungeon is a lot of fun

• If you are having a very hard time at this dungeon, I would just recommend to use Guiding Wands to avoid a death

• Don't forget to use 1 Pure Seed and 1 Guiding Wand on 9F and 12F for the hail floors!

#Chapter 17: The Voidlands

Abyssal Badlands 8F:

• Use Guiding Wands here

Cave of The Deep 8F:

• Pick Mawile (give her a Wakeful or Persim Looplet if you have any)
• Set Mawile to "Go the other Way"
• This dungeon is quite annoying:
  • Jynx can use Perish Song, make sure to use a Wand if she is in the room
  • Munna can use Hypnosis and is not a 0HKO
  • Lickitung can use Supersonic and is not a 0HKO either

#Chapter 18: Hope

Calm Craggy 8F, Checkpoint 5F:

• Pick Archen (Do not give him any held items)
• Have only Acrobatics enabled for Archen and set him to "Go the Other way"

Boss: Void Shadows x4 (101 HP) Another strat by secureaccount:

• Shadows have the chance to split up when being hit

• The idea is to let Archen and Mawile defeat the Shadows to minimize the chance of them splitting up due to both having high damage

• Disable all moves on Chespin

• Push Archen one step to the left and let him start defeating the shadows

• Walk up, enable Quick Attack on Archen, then trade places with him when he defeats both Shadows

  • Pushing him up right to the other 2 Shadows in case they split up

• Let Mawile (and maybe Archen) finish the other Shadows

Don't forget to enable Gyro Ball and Swordsdance again when you get the chance

Reverse Mountain 10F, Checkpoint 7F:

- Set Mawile to "Go the Other Way"
- Confusion and Sleep should be the only ailments in this dungeon, give Mawile a Persim Looplet or Wakeful Looplet if you have one
- Spiritomb also has Spite, so it may be possible Mawile will run out of PP so try to be aware of that!
- Aegislash is also a very dangerous enemy with his high damage in attack form

• Don't forget to use Guiding Wands on F8 and F9 for the sandstorm floors!

Boss Tyranitar (369 HP), Gengar x2 (246 HP), Shadows x2 (211 HP): And another strat by Secureaccount:

• Enable Misty Terrain on Mawile and set Tactics to "Follow Me"

• Walk left-down

• Pounce Wand down

• Hold A+B until once of the Gengar is exactly two tiles away of anyone in your team (to avoid shadow tag) (two tiles away means there is a gap of one tile between your team member on the front and the gengar)

• Swap with your partner if he is in the front row, otherwise swap with everyone who is not Raikou

• Use Thunder on the Gengars

• Use a Stayaway Wand or a Warp Wand on Ttar

• Hold A+B if only Shadows are alive and leave them to the dogs (they deal more damage than you and you don't want to risk any splits)

• If all enemies have been defeated, go to Ttar and defeat him with Alliances [Tail Whip -> Gyro Ball -> Iron Head]

After the dungeon:

• As soon as you enter the guild, put all your stuff into the storage and die to the Beheeyem

#Chapter 19: The Planet is already...

• Cutscenes

#Chapter 20: The Prehistoric Ruins to the East

• Get a decent amount of Reviver Seeds for Submerged Cave

Submerged Cave 11F:

• Use Guiding Wands here
• The water types can be easily dealt with Tail Whip + Gyro Ball instead of Thunder + Gyro Ball
• A lot of stuff have ranged water moves that deal a lot of damage
  • Thats why I recommend to spam wands at a distance to deal with enemies

Prehistoric Ruins 10F:

• Use Guiding Wands

#Chapter 21: Dark Matter

• I'd save Guiding Wands for Tree of Life if you still have some since its a more difficult dungeon, but you can use them here if you have that many left

Primeval Forest 10F, Checkpoint 6F:

• Pick Ampharos

If you don't use Guiding Wands:

- Set Ampharo to "Go the Other way" and only have Electro Ball enabled

If you do: - Use Guiding Wands

• Lilligant can use Teeter Dance, which confuses everyone in the room. Use Wands or Orbs on her if possible!
  • Ampharos would probably appreciate a Persim Looplet

Boss: Yvetal (486 HP), Nuzleaf (273 HP), Beheeyem x2 (174 HP)

• From now on, Gyro Ball will do no damage since Chesnaught is faster than all enemies

• Have only Swordsdance enabled on Chesnaught

• Pounce Wand to Yvetal

• Defeat everything by spamming Thunderbolt -> Rollout -> Electro Ball

[Slow Orb + Slumber Orb is a possible strat, however, quite inconsistant so not viable should you get a good Yvetal. Still a good possible backup strat]

#Chapter 22: Battle in the Stratosphere

• Use as many Guiding Wands as possible in both dungeons

Tree of Life - Roots 8F:

• Set Tactics to "Follow Me"

• Spam Thunder -> Rollout alliances

• Phantump and Yanmega can cause Confusion

• Maractus can use Cotton Guard, so I'd recommend to switch to Energy Ball here

• Ledian can use Light Screen, so Raichu can struggle if you don't use Wands

Tree of Life - Trunks 8F, Checkpoint 4F:

• Set Tactics to "Follow Me" (tactics and moves reset here)

• Spam Thunder -> Energy Ball

• Gardevoir can use Calm Mind to increase her Special Def, switch to Rollout here

• Seismitoad can use Supersonic

Dark Matter 1 (1285 HP):

• Have only Swordsdance and Rollout enabled on Chesnaught
• Set Tactics to "Go after enemies" (so you don't need to take a step forward and Chesnaught goes after him by himself)
• Stunlock him with Slow Wands and Slumber Wands (if you don't have a Quick Orb make sure to save a few Slow Wands and Slumber Wands for Dark Matter 2 in case you need to stunlock him)

for your free turns:

• use Tail Whip twice, then just keep spamming Thunder

Dark Matter 2 (~385HP each):

Phase 1:

• Set Tactics to "Wait there"

If you have a Quick Orb:

• Use Quick Orb
• Go one step up (Chespin should use Sdance)
• Use Slow Wand
• Alliance spam [Tail Whip -> Swordsdance] x2 then spam [Thunder -> Gyro Ball] (one additional sDance without atk looplet)

If you don't have a Quick Orb:

There are two possible strats: First: You can gamble that you are be able to do your alliances on a safe tile during the charge. In this case you can proceed as you normally would do with a Quick Orb without losing much time, however you are not be able to setup the Sdance if you do not land on a safe tile:

• Use Slow Wand
• Make sure the alliances will be on a safe tile
• Alliance spam [Tail Whip -> Swordsdance] x2 (one additional one if you don't have an atk looplet) then [Thunder - > Gyro Ball]
• You may not be able to kill him during the charge, so Slow+Slumber spam him after the charge and let Chespin finish him off with Gyro.

Second: You stunlock him immediately but you skip the charge by doing so. This is the much safer but slower method:

• Do Slow Wand + Slumber Wand stunlock
• everytime you get a free turn due to the stunlock: alliance [Tail Whip -> Swordsdance] x2 (one additional one if you don't have an atk looplet) then [Thunder + Gyro Ball]

After Phase 1:

• Pounce to Dark Matter (Chespin will use Gyro Ball)
• Use Alliance [Tail Whip -> Gyro Ball] (use another one if he is still alive) Note:
• Its very unlikely but you can still die here if you don't get an not effective boost AND he finishes his charge tun 2. If that happens, you should Slow + Slumber spam and either get your sDance charges back up or just kill him with Gyro Ball

Note: It is possible to get an extra turn before a charge starts when transitioning between the phase 2 forms with a method found by SecureAccount. You can simply let Chespin deal the finishing blow while you hold B+A. This is only useful when you are sure Chespin will get the kill otherwise you can risk a lot by missing the kill that turrn

• Timing ends on fade to black after Pikachu crying. Congrats!!

#TODO

Tail Whip + Gyro Ball

Its possible to defeat a lot of normal enemies in dungeons with Tail Whip + Gyro Ball alliances instead of Thunder + Gyro Ball which increases consistency by a lot since you avoid dealing damage with the very inaccurate Thunder. However, it is not well tested at the moment since my practice file is one or two level higher as you would be in a very good run, which is important since the strats felt a bit inconsistant when I did my PB. So use those strats at your own risk!

Its not tested well enough in good runs to be put in the main guide, but I do not want to hide these potential strats!

• 1 very important thing: A lot of times you need a SD boost on Chespin. Its hard to get in rooms as it seems that Chespin can only be 1 tile away from the enemy at max to trigger the SD. Its very easy to get in hallways though when you walk up / let the enemy walk to you so you face the enemy, and push Chespin back by 1 Tile

• Make sure to learn Tail Whip after Revelation Mountain 1 instead of Lively Town if you want to use Tail Whip strats!

• Power Boost X & Y can make it a lot more consistant!

Sheer Mountain Range: w/ SD: Everything except Makuhita, Timburr, Bergmite. Can also work with just an atk looplet but a bit inconsistant

Gentle Slope Cave: Either SD or Atk Looplet: Possibly a damage range on Bouffalent, Yamask, Onyx everything else should work

Mystical Forest: Archen needs a lot of extra damage to make Tail Whip + Wing Attack consistant

Revelation Mountain 2: SD + Atk Looplet: Everything should work

Abyssal Badlands: SD + Atk Looplet: Should work on everything if Defense Curl / Withdraw is not used

Cave of the Deep: SD + Atk Looplet: Everything but Bouffalent

Submerged Cave: SD + Atk Looplet: Everything (but probably not worth it since water types can be 0HKO regardless and the not water types can just be dealt with wands)

Prehistoric Ruins: SD + Atk Looplet: Everything except Staravia

#Alternative Partner: Tepig (Credit to Halqery)

Tepig is a viable option for this run too. The advantages he has over Chespin is a slightly higher base Atk, Heavy Slam for good Dark Matter 1 damage and Flamethrower instead of Energy Ball (which is an optional TM) by default.

However, he is unable to learn Swordsdance which is why Chespin still has the edge in highest Gyro Ball damage.

The changes to the route are very minor. If you prefer this option, I will include the changes for the route from Halqery compared to my one here:

Quiz answers

• 1211113
• Gets you Pikachu Leader and Chespin Partner, you simply need to say no to Chespin and move left 2x

Drillbur Coal Mine learning moves

• Gyro Ball over Tackle
• PP Up drinks for Flamethrower (use it once then drink)
• Power drinks for Gyro Ball (use it once then drink)

Tepig Split up Moveset

• have only Flamethrower + Gyro Ball enabled instead of Gyro Ball + Swordsdance

Mystical Forest

• Split up with Archen (have only Wing Attack enabled!) instead of Tepig

Magmortar

• Use Petrify Orb
• Walk up to the Magmortar
• Alliance (Thunder -> Gyro Ball -> Water Gun) on every enemy
• Using this combination of moves, no one can possibly be burned by Flame Body.

Entei 2

• Walk one step right, then down-right
• Alliance (Tail Whip -> Gyro Ball) once, then spam (Thunder -> Gyro Ball)

Yvetal and Tree of Life

• Use Gyro Ball in Alliances instead of Rollout or Energy Ball

Dark Matter 1 & 2

• Replace Gyro Ball and Swordsdance from my Chespin strat with Heavy Slam and it should work