Dialga and the Hidden Land

Hidden Land

• Dragonite - these have massive HP, but aren't overly bothersome damagewise.
• Garchomp - they can cause quite a bit of damage with their Dragon Claw, but should be taken down by a couple of attacks if you gang up on them.
• Magmortar - these things are dangerous to everyone except Water types. They posess Confuse Ray, which of course is always a bother, and some very strong Fire attacks. One Dig should take them down though.
• Purugly - they have Flamethrower, be warned about that if you're a Grass type. They also take several hits to take down. One of the most annoying Pokémon in the dungeon.
• Bastiodon - obviously they have good defence, even Grass attacks don't often 2HKO them [at lv 35, at least].
• Abomasnow - cause an annoying threat of Hail throughout the dungeon - if it starts Hailing, you know one of these is on the floor. However they are extremely weak to Fire, one little Fire hit will knock them out.
• Rampardos - note that stats are fairly bizarre in Mystery Dungeon, and Rampardos does not often fall to a single Grass hit like you'd expect. They can do a lot of damage to you though, be careful.
• Tropius - fairly weak. They shouldn't cause you a lot of bother.
• Manectric - same as Tropius, they're easy EXP - unless of course you're a Water type.

You don't even have to do a lot yourself - if you get into bother, step back and let Grovyle handle things. He's lv 46 and very strong, take advantage of him while you have him.

Another thing to watch out for are Monster Houses. Be sure to take a couple of Totter, Slumber, Foe-Fear or Petrify Orbs with you for just in case. Protect TMs can be found in this dungeon - be sure to pick one or two up. Protect is insanely useful in Mystery Dungeon because it lasts 2-5 turns, making you pretty much invulnerable until it wears off, and all the starters learn it.

Basically, don't stress out about this dungeon. Pack a fair few of Max Elixirs - your regular attack will be next to useless here - and a couple of Reviver Seeds and you should be okay. There's a save point after the 15 floors, and while scary things lie after that, this part of the dungeon is a good place to train. If you're struggling with it, however, you are nowhere near ready for what lies ahead.

Old Ruins

If you think you're ready to take on the next step, enter the deeper part of the dungeon. It has 8 floors of exactly the same Pokémon as before, so no worries there. However, once you reach 9F, you arrive at the Old Ruins. There's a pretty wall painting to admire of Mew, Kyogre and Groudon, and Dialga and Palkia. Grovyle leads you up some steps, there is a bit of discussion in which you learn about the Rainbow Stoneship, but just before you activate it, a voice calls out to you. It's Dusknoir and his band of Sableye, and they've been lying in wait for you. Dusknoir wants to take you back to the future and have you eliminated as planned. They drag you towards a dimensional hole but at the last moment, Grovyle strikes out and the Sableye step back. Dusknoir decides the only way to settle this is a battle, here and now.

Oh yes, you have to fight Dusknoir and all six Sableye at once.

The easiest way to do this is to put Dusknoir out of the picture until the Sableye are dealt with - chuck a Sleep Seed at him for the moment. Have your partner use Protect or a move that can hit the Sableye two paces in front of it if possible. The Sableye are fairly weak defensively, and should be taken down by two hits, however they do know Fury Swipes. That move which is so pathetic in the main RPG series will have you tearing your hair in frustration out here if it keeps hitting. Be prepared with Reviver Seeds and slug away at those Sableye. If Dusknoir wakes up, keep throwing Sleep Seeds at him to put him back to sleep. After you've gotten rid of the Sableye, go all-out on the offence on Dusknoir and you should be able to take him down.

After the battle, everyone you just defeated gets up almost straight away, which is exceedingly annoying but worry not, you don't have to face them again. Parts of this cutscene are truly touching, and I refuse to spoil them for you. Watch it for yourself. I cried.

Afterwards you board the Rainbow Stoneship and head for Temporal Tower. You will no longer have Grovyle's help from here onwards, so you'd better be ready. If you are not lv 40 yet - higher if you became Skitty, Munchlax or Meowth - I suggest you climb straight back on the Stoneship and head back for more training. You will not have to face Dusknoir and the Sableye again.

Temporal Tower

• Porygon - they know Discharge and so can hit your entire team, but other than that they're pretty harmless.
• Solrock - watch out for Psywave, it's a long-distance move.
• Lunatone - see Solrock.
• Bronzor - these things are a total pain because they take several hits to take down. Avoid them, they're a waste of PP.

Not a difficult dungeon but a draining one, because you'll still need to be using moves instead of regular attacks, especially if you come across a lot of Bronzor. Bring an Escape Orb for if things go horribly wrong. Bullet Seed was immensely helpful to me in this dungeon because it can take out a whole row of foes in one go if it keeps hitting, especially if they were Solrock or Lunatones and you are holding a Scope Lens. However, read on before you set off into this dungeon - you'll need to prepare for the tougher stuff.

After the save point, things get ridiculously tough. The next 10 floors contain:

• Porygon2 - the easiest thing to deal with, not especially strong.
• Porygon-Z - again, not a huge threat. Just watch out for Discharge again if you or your partner is a Water type.
• Salamence - they take several hits to take down and pack a fair punch.
• Bronzong - just as annoying as they are in any other game, they take simply ages to get rid of.
• Metagross - similar to Bronzong, except Ground and Fire attacks will do a decent amount of damage to them due to a lack of Heatproof or Levitate. On the downside, they hit harder.

To be honest, the easiest way to tackle this dungeon is to arm yourself with 10 Pure Seeds and just avoid combat entirely. It's not worth the bother. Hidden Land is a better training ground, and this place will just eat into your Reviver Seeds, which you need for Dialga.

Primal Dialga

The best thing to do first turn is to have both you and your partner use Protect if possible, because he will most likely use Roar of Time straight away. However there is always the risk of your partner not noticing the big scary monster in front of him/her and simply walking towards you. If you started as Turtwig, Chikorita, Squirtle, Totodile or Munchlax, it's a good idea to have raised your IQ to one star so that you learn Bodyguard - if your partner is low on HP, any damage done to it will instead be done to you as long as you're stood next to it. Of course if you have Protect up, this damage does nothing to either of you.

Once Dialga is recharging, eat a Violent Seed and preferably be holding a Scope Lens [have it be held before leaving the main dungeon, otherwise you'll waste a turn against Dialga equipping it]. Then chuck a Sleep / X-Eye / Stun Seed at him. Make sure to set your partner's IQ to Exclusive Move User and deselect all attacks except the one you want it to use.

I put together a suggested moveset for each starter.

Bulbasaur
Protect
Bullet Seed
Synthesis

Charmander
Protect
Dig
Flamethrower
Smokescreen

Squirtle
Protect
Dig
Water Gun

Pikachu
Protect
Discharge
Thunder Wave
Dig

Meowth
Protect
Dig
Water Pulse

Chikorita
Protect
Bullet Seed
Synthesis

Cyndaquil
Protect
Dig
Flamethrower
Smokescreen

Totodile
Protect
Dig
Water Gun

Treecko
Protect
Bullet Seed
Dig

Torchic
Mirror Move
Dig
Flamethrower

Mudkip
Protect
Endeavor
Dig
Ice Beam

Skitty
Protect
Dig
Ice Beam

Turtwig
Protect
Bullet Seed
Leech Seed

Chimchar
Protect
Dig
Flamethrower
Slack Off

Piplup
Protect
Dig
Ice Beam

Munchlax
Protect
Brick Break
Ice Beam

Basically always Protect [except in Torchic's case; Mirror Move has the same effect but rebounds the damage], Dig and a long-distance move. Brick Break can replace Dig in most situations, it does marginally more damage but doesn't give you the capacity to dodge Roar of Time like Dig does. Focus Punch is also an option in a lot of cases, but can only be used when Dialga is recharging or asleep - does a lot of damage though. For Turtwig, Chikorita and Bulbasaur, none of these are options, but Bullet Seed is pretty powerful and you should be fine. Endeavor on Mudkip is amazing - get rid of all that excess HP Dialga has. Smokescreen is useful, as are Thunder Wave and the various HP restorations I suggested. Most of them only have three moves because there are no other useful additions - choose the last move as you wish.

Remember that you can't use Orbs in a boss battle - don't waste that precious turn - and that, thankfully, you are completely healed before the battle begins. Dialga has Pressure, so the longer the battle draws out the less likely you are to win [another advantage of multi-hit moves]. And bring a couple of spare Sleep Seeds for in case he wakes up before you defeat him.

And for goodness' sake bring plenty of Reviver Seeds! At least 5.

If all goes wrong, just reset. If you think it was bad luck, try again. If you think you need more time to train, re-enter the main dungeon and use an Escape Orb to return to the entrance, where you can take the Stoneship back to Hidden Land and return to Treasure Town.

It may take you several tries, but you'll get there in the end!

Page written by Dragonpika.

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