Battle Tower Wonders

(As a heads-up, this won’t be about breeding. I use items gained from the Battle Tower to train Pokemon more quickly, so imagine this as a useful side trip.)

I don’t know how much my fellow contributors have played in Battle Tower, but it’s a source of Battle Points (BP). The BP gain feels like a trickle, compared to what you want, but there are some quick ways to get points. The Battle Tower shows up during post-game, located in the Fight Area on the map.

Why would you go there?
There are some good TMs and items you want, that can be most easily gained with the expenditure of BP. The most important items that you spend BP on the EV-training items – they’re only available in the Battle Tower. (16 BP per item, 6 different items)

How do you get points?
The best way I’ve found is playing Single Battle, 3 Pokemon. You get BP for being undefeated, every 7 matches. First 7, 3 BP. Second 7 (14 defeated in a row), 4 BP. Thid group of 7 (21 defeated in a row!) you receive -20- BP. The subsequent rounds will have slight increase in BP (5, 6, etc) until you get to your 49th match for another 20 BP.

How hard is it?
The first 20 matches don’t break you too much. The earlier battles feature unevolved Pokemon, slowly climbing in power. Match 21 against the Tower Tycoon (Palmer, your rival’s father) is tough – after this match you get 20 BP, so it’s worth winning. His three Pokemon are Rhyperior, Dragonite, and Milotic – all with solid move selections and good stats.

The matches after Palmer get tougher – the furthest I think I’ve gotten is 50. If you’re just focusing on getting BP quickly, lose the match after Palmer, battle 1-20 to reach Palmer again.

What kind of team should be used?
I don’t feel like I’m an expert here – I’ve played around with different level 50’s, and still feel like I’m learning. The team I’ve had the most success with:

Garchomp (starts) – Outrage, Shadow Claw, Earthquake, Rockslide. Held item: Lum Berry.
Milotic – Surf, Ice Beam, Recover, Toxic. Held item: Leftovers.
Metagross – Thunderpunch, Earthquake, Meteor Mash, Bullet Punch. Held item: Metal Coat.

Garchomp is a favorite of mine from the start of Diamond/Pearl. I was happy to find out that it was fast and powerful – I trained it more in both Speed and Attack. It takes x4 damage from Ice-type attacks, which is what it really fears. If I see an Ice- or Water-type Pokemon come in, I switch out immediately. Both Milotic and Metagross take ½ damage from Ice, which makes it a good switch.

Milotic is amazing. At level 50, it has 138 for Special Attack, Defense, and Special Defense. Ice Beam KO’s most Dragon-type Pokemon, and Toxic/Recover+Leftovers has won more matches than I could have ever imagined.

Metagross is my third that I switch out of the team sometimes. It’s got good defenses and a powerful attack stat, but I never feel like the held item is good enough, or that it does enough damage. Bullet Punch is a recent change, which has added to Metagross’s power – I mainly wanted a Steel-type to wipe out those pesky Ice-types.

I’ve liked using Gyarados*, I’ve tried out Dusknoir, Registeel, Salamence, Rotom, Hippowdon, Sharpedo, and most recently – Hitmonchan. I’m keep returning to my original team of 3, but always looking for suggestions.

* I want to give a special thank-you/shoutout to my former coworker A., who traded me her Magikarp (named Fishy) at some point. I had never raised a Gyarados before, but when someone recommended that I at least play one for a little bit, I used a traded Magikarp for the faster experience gain. Fishy helped me get BP for the training items used for the others. And I recommend a pet Gyarados for every trainer starting out – just watch out for those Lightning-type attacks!