Roaming Pokemon

Raikou and Entei roam over Johto after you free the three Beasts, which is mandatory for challenging Morty, as in vanilla.

Basic Mechanics

• The basic mechanics of roaming are much like vanilla's. See Chamale's vanilla hunting guide for details.
• New features in Polished Crystal:
  • Uncaught, knocked-out roamers will now respawn at a higher level when you beat the Champion.
  • Although Suicune is initially stationary at Tin Tower, it'll respawn as a roamer in the same way if you KO it.
  • Releasing a caught roamer now makes it respawnable, which is practically a re-roll. It's particularly useful to Shiny hunters.
• Factors that will affect hunting strategies in this game:
  • Wild Pokémon may be at a higher level than in vanilla.
  • As in HG/SS, there's a gate between Violet and Route 36.
  • As in Gen. IV, when a poisoned Pokémon loses HP on the field due to poison and reaches 1 HP, it doesn't faint but hangs on and gets cured. This disables poison methods.

This means you'll have to modify vanilla strategies such as Chamale's, Ritchie's (2020) and Ritchie & Hangar's (2022).

Notice: The route-blocking mechanics will be removed in the next major update, which will revamp hunting strategies.

List of Roamers

• Raikou, Lv. 40: Roar, Quick Attack, Spark, Reflect
  • Respawn - Lv. 50: Spark, Reflect, Crunch, Wild Charge
• Entei, Lv. 40: Roar, Fire Spin, Stomp, Flamethrower
  • Respawn - Lv. 50: Stomp, Flamethrower, Swagger, Flame Charge
• Suicune, only on respawn — Lv. 50: Aurora Beam, Light Screen, Mirror Coat, Air Slash

Preparations and Methods

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• Master Ball(s) at the top of the Bag: two copies available throughout the game, plus the Lucky Number prizes
• Super Repels
• A Pokémon with Synchronize
  • Preferably Xatu, with Teleport and Fly
  • Lv. 17–40 for Route 38
  • Lv. 25–40 for Route 42
  • Lv. 35–40 for Route 44
• For Route 44, a Pokémon with Surf

Notes:

• Xatu serves best to Teleport or Fly, to work with Repels, and to Synchronize (now effective on roamers) at the same time.
• Eusine will give you the roamers' Pokédex entries at Celadon (post-E4).
• For attempts without the Master Ball:
  • Throw a Quick Ball instead.
  • There's a known issue where Soundproof doesn't properly block Roar, unfortunately.
    • Workaround: defeat the roamers and enter the Hall of Fame to make them respawn without Roar.
    • Once it's fixed, Soundproof Wigglytuff with Mean Look (available only on Modified) will be the best wall against the Roaring roamers, while also dealing damage to them and putting them to sleep. Have the Xatu fainted in the lead, followed by the Wigglytuff.

Route 38-based

Doesn't require Pokédex entries or Teleport/Fly

1. Lead with the Synchronizer.
2. Save inside the Gate between R38 and Ecruteak.
3. Soft-reset.
4. Go west to R38, spend a Super Repel, and bike around the grass until the Repel runs out. Soft-reset if it fails.
   • If Pokédex entries are available, check them before spending the Repel.

Flying Back and Forth

Doesn't require Pokédex entries

1. Lead with the Xatu.
2. Fly to Mahogany.
3. Go west to R42, spend a Super Repel, and run/bike around the grass for 20 seconds.
4. For refreshes, Fly to Violet and go south to R32 for another 20-second search.
5. Fly back to Mahogany and try R42 again.
6. Repeat the refreshes and the searches until you encounter the target.

Route 46-based

May require Surf

graph TD
  lead[Lead with the Xatu]
  -->base[Save inside the Gate between R46 and R29]
  -->sr[Soft-reset]
  -->dex1{"Where's your target?"}
  dex1--"R29/45"-->r46[Go to R46]-->dex1a{Hit?}
  dex1a--"Yes"-->Hit
  dex1a--"No"-->fly
  dex1--"R30/46"-->r29[Go to R29]-->dex1b{Hit?}--"Yes"-->Hit
  dex1--"Otherwise"-->block
  dex1b--"No"-->block
  block[Go to R46]
  -->fly[Fly to Mahogany]
  -->dex46{"Where's your target?"}
  dex46--"Have flown to Mahogany three times but still miss"-->sr
  dex46--"Must refresh the route blocking"-->inout
  dex46--"R29/36/39"-->inout
  dex46--"R37/38/43/44"-->r42
  dex46--"R42/45"-->r44
  inout[Enter and exit the Pokémon Center]-->dex46
  r42[Bike to R42]
  -->dex42{"Hit?"}
  dex42--"R43/44"-->r44
  dex42--"R37/38"-->maho[Bike back to Mahogany]
  r44[Bike to R44]
  -->dex44{"Hit?"}
  dex44--R43-->r42
  dex44--"R37/38/42/45"-->maho
  maho-->dex46
  dex42--"Yes"-->Hit
  dex44--"Yes"-->Hit
  dex46--"Otherwise"-->fly2[Fly to Mahogany again]-->dex46
  subgraph Hit[Hit!]
    catch[Spend a Super Repel and catch it]
  end

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Violet City-based

graph TD
  lead[Lead with the Xatu]
  -->violet[Enter the Violet City Pokémon Center]
  -->outside[Exit the Pokémon Center]
  -->dex1{"Where's your target?"}
  dex1--"R29/31/32/35"-->r31[Bike to R31]
    -->dex31{Hit?}--"Yes"-->Hit
    dex31--"R29"-->r30[Bike to R30]
    -->dex2{Hit?}--"Yes"-->Hit
  dex1--"R30/32/34/36/38/42"-->r36[Bike to R36]
    -->dex36{Hit?}--"Yes"-->Hit
    dex36--"R38/42"-->r37[Bike to R37]-->dex2
  dex1--"R33"-->r32[Bike to R32]-->dex2
  dex1--"Otherwise"-->fly[Use Teleport]-->dex1
  dex2--"No"-->fly2[Use Teleport]-->violet
  dex31--"No"-->fly2
  dex36--"No"-->fly2
  subgraph Hit[Hit!]
    catch[Spend a Super Repel and catch it]
  end

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Trivia

• The Violet-R36 Gate was introduced in HG/SS alongside the new roaming mechanics where Gates weren't impactful.