The Secret Base Training Guide
IntroductionYou find the perfect location for your Secret Base, collect all of the Dolls, furniture, and other knickknacks that you can possibly find, and stuff your Base full of them... but then what? Secret Bases have long been seen as frivolous additions to the in-game experience of RSE, though this assumption is extremely misguided. Secret Bases, when used correctly, can become extremely important locations in EV training or EXP building. The BasicsWhat is a Secret Base?Secret Bases are customizable areas located throughout Hoenn. The Bases themselves can only be made by Pokémon who know the move Secret Power (TM43), and only in certain bushes, trees, or wall indentations. Players can also share their Secret Bases with friends by mixing records. Why Mix Records?Mixing records allows you to not only enter your friend's Secret Base, but also enables you to battle them after you beat the Elite Four (note that records can be mixed prior to beating the Elite Four; however, battling will not be enabled). The Pokémon your opponent uses to battle you are the same Pokémon your friend had in their party at the time of the mix. After mixing records, Secret Base trainers can only be challenged once per day. Secret Bases refresh after mixing records again, making it possible to battle them more than once a day if you create a cycle of mixing records, battling, and repeating; however, mixing records only refreshes the Secret Base of that one friend, not all Secret Base locations throughout the game. What's the Use?By carefully selecting your friend's Pokémon, you can abuse this trainer battle to earn experience points or EVs much more quickly and accurately than through wild or in-game trainer battles. By mixing records with multiple friends, a single player can host Secret Bases whose trainers focus on a single type of EV or experience points. Getting StartedThere are a few things prior to battling that can help aid in the growth of your Pokémon. Such things include:
To make training as easy as possible for the player, your friend must build a team that focuses on one aspect of training and is easy to defeat. Naturally, a Pokémon can only give a maximum of three EVs in any given stat with evolutions typically rewarding the most EVs. Therefore, finding Pokémon who evolve quickly and can be found easily are the best candidates for a Secret Base training team. Also, teaching these Pokémon moves that cause no damage to the opponent is a great idea so that low-level Pokémon can live through the battle long enough to glean the EVs. By using the Move Deleter in Lilycove City, you or your friend can create a moveset consisting of only one non-attacking move—the perfect moveset for a training Pokémon! To create extremely weak Pokémon or give Pokémon certain useless or helpful moves, breeding may be implemented. By abusing the RNG of the games, you can easily breed Pokémon with inherited low IVs in every stat and a hindering nature, lowering the amount of damage that Pokémon can take by leaps and bounds. Thanks to the Emerald cloning glitch, only one Pokémon must be trained to create a team; the other five members can be clones of the very same Pokémon. This not only saves time, but also keeps the weaknesses of the entire team identical, making sweeping a Secret Base training team nothing more than a simple button-mashing sequence. Battle RewardsBy defeating foes a Pokémon can gain battle rewards, namely experience points (EXP) and EVs. While both are intertwined, it is typically easier to focus solely on EXP or a specific EV when training, since EVs are set in stone and EXP tends to fluctuate. Experience TrainingWhen a Pokémon is KOed during a battle, all teammates who fought against it receive EXP, the total of which depends on multiple factors. The level of the KOed Pokémon is an extremely strong influence on the amount of EXP gained for defeating it; the higher the level, the higher the amount of EXP for defeating it. A Pokémon's species, as well, determines the amount of EXP gained for KOing it, with Chansey and Blissey tying for the highest awarded EXP based solely on species. Whenever you send out more than one Pokémon to defeat a foe, the total amount of EXP is divided by the number of battlers and distributed equally. Finally, a traded Pokémon will gain experience 1.5x faster than a trainer's own Pokémon. Therefore, playing a single traded Pokémon against six level 100 Chansey or Blissey will yield the greatest amount of EXP any one battle can grant, something only available via Secret Base training. Since level 100 Pokémon typically have high stats, breeding for low IVs is recommended, as it gives low-level Pokémon a better chance at defeating them. Each Pokémon has a weakness that can be exploited, as well. Take our Chansey team, for example; though Chansey's HP and Special Defense stats are huge, its Defense is a measly base five. Common sense says breeding Chansey with both low HP and Defense IVs and a Defense-hindering nature will make them extremely easy to defeat. In addition to lowering a Pokémon's IVs, teaching them self-KOing moves like Memento, Selfdestruct, and Explosion is useful, since they eliminate the training Pokémon in one swift move. In the case of Selfdestruct and Explosion, though, either teach your Pokémon Protect or train Ghost-type Pokémon only against them, so you're not risking an OHKO every turn. The following is a non-exhaustive list of Pokémon complete with the base EXP for defeating them, how to easily get them, and moves they can learn that keep them from harming you.
EV TrainingEVs are more concrete than EXP in the fact that they are not dependent on the level of the foe or whether the Pokémon being trained was caught or traded for. EVs, however, do depend on the species of Pokémon, which is why building EV training teams is typically easier than creating high-leveled EXP building teams. Pokémon award EVs in one or more of the six stats: HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed. Depending on the species of Pokémon, one to three EVs per stat can be awarded. When training against a team of Pokémon who all grant three EVs in the same stat with a Pokémon infected with Pokérus and holding a Macho Brace, the total number of EVs received total 72. Though many Pokémon award EVs in multiple stats, it is not in your best interest to choose Pokémon that do so, mainly because keeping track of EVs is labor-intensive and cannot be kept track of in-game; if you mess up, you have to start all over again. On the bright side, though, no matter what level the foe is they will always grant the same amount of EVs. That means no time wasted boosting levels and more time EV training your own Pokémon. Below are lists of Pokémon (all of whom award three EVs in a single stat) categorized by the stat their EVs influence, the lowest level they are available at, where to easily catch them, and helpful moves they learn.
Secret Base PlacementThe last thing you want to do is place your training Secret Bases in remote locations. The best way to keep track of your Secret Bases is by grouping them together and/or placing them close to towns. Also, the less time you have to spend running from wild Pokémon, the quicker you can get down to business, so avoid tall grass and Surfing whenever possible. The following Route maps contain numerous Secret Base locations that are close to towns and clustered close together. Although few of these places offer enough Secret Base locations to host all seven trainers, having to place your Secret Bases in two routes isn't a horrible predicament, since they are all just a short Fly away from one another.
Closing RemarksAs you can plainly see, Secret Bases aren't just about looking pretty. By applying the techniques discussed in this guide you'll soon have yourself scores of high-leveled and EV trained Pokémon to tear through the game with. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start training! |
