Approved by Nexus.
In light of new info on the shadow boosts of pokemon found in XD:GoD, I've offered to revamp this particular article, since I play the game often enough.
Changes:
Updated examples of testing for HP/Speed when incorporating Shadow Boosts.
Introduction
Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness is the sequel to Pokemon Colosseum, making it the second fully 3D Pokemon adventure on the GameCube. Casual players were dismayed at the lack of gym leaders and the limited availability of wild Pokemon. However, the game offered unique and invaluable features for competitive players that are still relevant in competitive play. Thanks to the ability to transfer Pokemon from your 4th Generation game to Black and White, these unique monsters can still be used today! This is intended to be an exhaustive tutorial on obtaining Pokemon with unique and useful moves. As such, all Pokemon who obtain Refresh or moves they cannot utilize effectively (such as Marowak with Sing) are absent from the list. You will also learn, in great detail, the means by which you can work around frustrating game mechanics, namely Shadow Boosts.
Special Pokemon
From very early on in your adventure, you will start catching and purifying Shadow Pokemon. As they are purified, they will typically learn a few Egg moves, and when purification is complete, an exclusive move. Since Emerald and 4th Generation Move Tutors are able to teach some of these moves to those Pokemon, it is no longer advisable to reset for all of the Shadow Pokemon, especially with the advent of RNG Abuse becoming widespread in those games. Still, there are a great number of Pokemon whose attacks are exclusive to this game, the most notable of which are listed below, along with their minimum and maximum stats for all natures and their Shadow Boosts (more on this later).
[big honking list of pokemon to be added in HTML here, revamped with ALL boosts]
Capture Guide
How to Obtain Perfect Speed IVs
Unlike Emerald and our 4th and 5th Generation RPGs, there is very limited information on the mechanics of the RNG in XD. The method of generation for IVs and PIDs in XD and its predecessor Colosseum have been found, but there is currently no known way to abuse the random number generator on a legitimate Gamecube or Wii. As such, you will have to resort to resetting and recapturing "the old-fashioned way" to obtain Pokemon with decent IVs. Furthermore, Hidden Power type and power are even more difficult to manipulate. Still, with much patience and a few special methods, you will inevitably obtain a unique Pokemon that is competitively viable.
One technique covered in other guides related to obtaining Pokemon with an ideal Speed stat is just as useful in XD as in the cartridge games. The idea is to use a Pokemon that is one Speed point lower than the Pokemon you are trying to catch, otherwise known as the "one under" Speed. If the Pokemon outspeeds your one under Pokemon, it is guaranteed to have a nearly ideal Speed stat, and is worth capturing. As you'll find out, however, this isn't as straightforward as it seems in Pokemon XD.
The Shadow Boost Factor
You may have noticed a + next to the level of the Shadow Pokemon you encounter. The meaning behind this sign refers to a small boost in all of its stats, dubbed the Shadow Boost. Almost every Shadow Pokemon has one of these Shadow Boosts, but they lose it upon capture. However, when doing one-under Speed tests, it is vital to take the Shadow Boost into account.
The exact mechanism behind the Shadow Boosts is a level increase based off of the Pokemon's IVs. It has not yet been discovered what determines how many levels the Pokemon's stats are boosted by, but it has been found that this number only varies between one and three levels, inclusive. Unfortunately, while the Shadow Boosts of numerous Pokemon have been found, the boosts themselves can vary from file to file, so it is still advisable to do some of your own tests. The Shadow Boosts marked in bold in the tables above are only the ones found to be the most common between separate files; if yours turn out different, then it becomes a matter of finding out what the boost actually is. However, if this is not the case, your effective one-under Speed is then:
One-Under Speed = Desired Speed + Shadow Boost - 1
Example: Say you want to capture a Dodrio with a +Spe nature. Take a look at its Speed stat above.
Spe: (65 - 74) / (73 - 83) / (80 - 91) +6 / +7 / +8
Thus, your one-under Speed stat is equal to 91 + 8 - 1 = 98.
How to Obtain Perfect HP IVs
Though Speed is often considered the most important stat in Pokemon, some Pokemon are bulky and are not counted on for their Speed. Duskull is a perfect example of this. It has awesome Defense and Special Defense, but its HP and Speed are very bad; it needs all the HP it can get to make use of those defenses. Thus Duskull is a prime candidate for HP testing.
One of the most common HP tests in the hand-held adventures involves a variation of the one-under test, where the move Endeavor is used to find out the target Pokemon's exact HP at full health. This strategy, while effective, is not available until mid to late game in your XD adventure. However, while Endeavor is a very rare move, Night Shade and Seismic Toss can be just as effective.
As you may know, Seismic Toss and Night Shade are Fighting- and Ghost-type attacks, respectively, that take away HP from the target Pokemon equal to the user's level. This can be found by the following formula, where T is the Target HP, S is the Shadow Boost, L is the level of the user, and N is the amount of times we will use the attack:
N * L ≈ T + S - 1
In other words, we must find N and L in order to get as close to T + S - 1 as possible. Let's say we want to capture Duskull with a maximum HP stat of 42. Duskull's HP Shadow Boost is +5 for a 29+ HP IV, so that is what we will use in this example. By the above equation we get:
N * L ≈ 42 + 5 - 1 = 46
As 46 is even, we have the choice of either using a Level 46 Night Shade one time, or two Level 23 Night Shades to get the most accurate result possible. The first option is very impractical, as Duskull is found early in the game, well before any Night Shade user should reach Level 46. But the second options is much more achievable; Level 23 is well within the range of levels your Pokemon should be at at that point in the game.
Do note that you can also use Sonic Boom early on to hit non-Ghost-types, which does a set 20 damage. This is very inefficient for Pokemon with high HP, but if you insist, just substitute 20 for L in the above formula.
How to do Your Own Speed Boost Tests
Many of the Shadow Boosts listed above have been found to be static, but there are a few that vary from file to file. Luckily, the range of these variables has been narrowed to a respectable degree. If, however, you are not satisfied with the ranges given, you can find the exact boost in your file by attempting to Speed tie with your target. Simply use a Pokemon with a Speed stat on or around the mid point between the Pokemon's maximum and minimum stats. If you encounter a Speed tie, subtract your Pokemon's Speed by the new Pokemon's actual Speed stat, and that is your Shadow Boost. For example, take Swellow:
Spe: (100 - 112) / (112 - 125) / (123 - 137) +9 to +11
Your Pokemon's Speed = (137 + 100) ÷ 2 = 118 Captured Pokemon's Speed (after Speed-tie) = 108 Swellow's Shadow Boost = 118 - 108 = +10
Utility Items and Pokemon
Macho Brace: Halves the Speed of the Pokemon that holds it.
The Macho Brace can be obtained very early in your adventure; it only costs 200 Poke Coupons, which you can receive by completing the first round of 10 easy battles in Mt. Battle. This allows you to use stronger Pokemon, such as your starter, to capture Shadow Pokemon while still allowing you to muscle your way through the rest of the game. Simply allow your Pokemon to have double the Shadow Pokemon's target Speed minus 1, attach the Macho Brace, and test away!
Spinarak - Lv. 14 - Night Shade
Max Speed: 17 +3
Spinarak can be found early on, held by Cipher Peon Nexir in Basement 2 of the Cipher Lab. It learns Night Shade at the very early level of 17, and is the first Pokemon you can obtain for HP testing. It is initially very frail, but it evolves into Ariados at level 22.
Pinsir - Lv. 35 - Seismic Toss
Max Speed: 82 +6
Pinsir is found late in the game and takes a while to purify. However, it learns Seismic Toss by the Move Tutor at Mt. Battle, making it a high-level user and also a very powerful Pokemon for your team.
[teddiursa example to be added in HTML here]
The Protected Save Factor
You may have noticed that you are forced to save after snagging Articuno and Zapdos and defeating Greevil. Furthermore, the battle with Greevil starts immediately after the battle with Lugia. The implications of this are, while you can test for Speed and HP numbers in battle, you cannot verify these Pokemon's natures and IVs for their other stats without saving the game; you certainly do not want to play through the entire game just to end up with a Jolly Zapdos with a 0 SpA IV! Furthermore, the save file is protected, meaning that there is no way to duplicate your file to try again. Unfortunately, there is no way to circumvent these issues by traditional methods.
The Ability Factor
If you know anything about the mechanics of the generation of a Pokemon, you will know that a Pokemon's ability is generated from a 1-bit number in its PID. Several Pokemon in Generation III that had only one ability gained a new ability upon the advent of Generation IV. Since the ability itself is stored separately from the PID, a Pokemon's ability will not immediately change upon transferring it to a Generation IV game. However, the ability is recalculated on certain events, such as evolution, so the Pokemon may have a different ability than originally intended. This is particularly of concern to Togepi, whose ability may change upon evolution to Togekiss to the unpopular Hustle instead of keeping its rare and incredibly useful Serene Grace ability. Unfortunately, without access to Togepi's PID, there is no way to predict whether or not the ability will change. Finally, it is worth noting that any Pokemon you defeat will retain its IVs when you snag it from Miror B later on, but its ability can just as easily change.
Move Tutor
Another noteworthy feature of Pokemon XD is the move tutor. This is the only way you can obtain a Mewtwo with Selfdestruct. Only three moves are exclusive to this game, as others can be taught in the cartridge games. Aside from these three moves, there are 6 moves exclusive to Mew, but only 3 moves can be taught exclusively from this Move Tutor.
NightmareThis move is much too situational and is pretty much worthless. For the sake of completion, here are some relatively bulky Pokemon who might benefit from it. Examples: Celebi, Clefable, Deoxys-D, Hypno, Dusknoir, Jirachi, Lickilicky, Lugia, Mr. Mime, Lapras, Porygon2, Shedinja, Slowbro, Slowking, Umbreon Sky AttackAll Pokemon that can make use of this powerful move, such as Aerodactyl and Swellow, learn it by easier methods.SelfdestructMany Pokemon who learn Selfdestruct also learn Explosion through level up or the Generation IV TM 64, so only a few Pokemon really benefit from this move tutor. Game Freak blessed Snorlax and Mewtwo with deadly suicide moves, and as a tasteless joke, made Wailord an exploding whale. It is worth noting, however, that a Munchlax with Selfdestruct can be captured on the Pokéwalker with flawless IVs thanks to RNG abuse. Examples: Mewtwo, Snorlax, Wailord Mew Move TutorMew learns 6 moves through this Move Tutor, but only 3 are unique to XD, listed here. Examples: Fake Out, Night Shade, Zap Cannon
Conclusion
Now that you have a firm grasp on the multitude of special Pokemon you can find in XD, get out there and capture them! They offer several oft-unseen options for your Wi-Fi team, and make your trade thread stand out from the rest!
In light of new info on the shadow boosts of pokemon found in XD:GoD, I've offered to revamp this particular article, since I play the game often enough.
Changes:
Updated examples of testing for HP/Speed when incorporating Shadow Boosts.
Introduction
Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness is the sequel to Pokemon Colosseum, making it the second fully 3D Pokemon adventure on the GameCube. Casual players were dismayed at the lack of gym leaders and the limited availability of wild Pokemon. However, the game offered unique and invaluable features for competitive players that are still relevant in competitive play. Thanks to the ability to transfer Pokemon from your 4th Generation game to Black and White, these unique monsters can still be used today! This is intended to be an exhaustive tutorial on obtaining Pokemon with unique and useful moves. As such, all Pokemon who obtain Refresh or moves they cannot utilize effectively (such as Marowak with Sing) are absent from the list. You will also learn, in great detail, the means by which you can work around frustrating game mechanics, namely Shadow Boosts.
Special Pokemon
From very early on in your adventure, you will start catching and purifying Shadow Pokemon. As they are purified, they will typically learn a few Egg moves, and when purification is complete, an exclusive move. Since Emerald and 4th Generation Move Tutors are able to teach some of these moves to those Pokemon, it is no longer advisable to reset for all of the Shadow Pokemon, especially with the advent of RNG Abuse becoming widespread in those games. Still, there are a great number of Pokemon whose attacks are exclusive to this game, the most notable of which are listed below, along with their minimum and maximum stats for all natures and their Shadow Boosts (more on this later).
[big honking list of pokemon to be added in HTML here, revamped with ALL boosts]
Capture Guide
How to Obtain Perfect Speed IVs
Unlike Emerald and our 4th and 5th Generation RPGs, there is very limited information on the mechanics of the RNG in XD. The method of generation for IVs and PIDs in XD and its predecessor Colosseum have been found, but there is currently no known way to abuse the random number generator on a legitimate Gamecube or Wii. As such, you will have to resort to resetting and recapturing "the old-fashioned way" to obtain Pokemon with decent IVs. Furthermore, Hidden Power type and power are even more difficult to manipulate. Still, with much patience and a few special methods, you will inevitably obtain a unique Pokemon that is competitively viable.
One technique covered in other guides related to obtaining Pokemon with an ideal Speed stat is just as useful in XD as in the cartridge games. The idea is to use a Pokemon that is one Speed point lower than the Pokemon you are trying to catch, otherwise known as the "one under" Speed. If the Pokemon outspeeds your one under Pokemon, it is guaranteed to have a nearly ideal Speed stat, and is worth capturing. As you'll find out, however, this isn't as straightforward as it seems in Pokemon XD.
The Shadow Boost Factor
You may have noticed a + next to the level of the Shadow Pokemon you encounter. The meaning behind this sign refers to a small boost in all of its stats, dubbed the Shadow Boost. Almost every Shadow Pokemon has one of these Shadow Boosts, but they lose it upon capture. However, when doing one-under Speed tests, it is vital to take the Shadow Boost into account.
The exact mechanism behind the Shadow Boosts is a level increase based off of the Pokemon's IVs. It has not yet been discovered what determines how many levels the Pokemon's stats are boosted by, but it has been found that this number only varies between one and three levels, inclusive. Unfortunately, while the Shadow Boosts of numerous Pokemon have been found, the boosts themselves can vary from file to file, so it is still advisable to do some of your own tests. The Shadow Boosts marked in bold in the tables above are only the ones found to be the most common between separate files; if yours turn out different, then it becomes a matter of finding out what the boost actually is. However, if this is not the case, your effective one-under Speed is then:
One-Under Speed = Desired Speed + Shadow Boost - 1
Example: Say you want to capture a Dodrio with a +Spe nature. Take a look at its Speed stat above.
Spe: (65 - 74) / (73 - 83) / (80 - 91) +6 / +7 / +8
Thus, your one-under Speed stat is equal to 91 + 8 - 1 = 98.
How to Obtain Perfect HP IVs
Though Speed is often considered the most important stat in Pokemon, some Pokemon are bulky and are not counted on for their Speed. Duskull is a perfect example of this. It has awesome Defense and Special Defense, but its HP and Speed are very bad; it needs all the HP it can get to make use of those defenses. Thus Duskull is a prime candidate for HP testing.
One of the most common HP tests in the hand-held adventures involves a variation of the one-under test, where the move Endeavor is used to find out the target Pokemon's exact HP at full health. This strategy, while effective, is not available until mid to late game in your XD adventure. However, while Endeavor is a very rare move, Night Shade and Seismic Toss can be just as effective.
As you may know, Seismic Toss and Night Shade are Fighting- and Ghost-type attacks, respectively, that take away HP from the target Pokemon equal to the user's level. This can be found by the following formula, where T is the Target HP, S is the Shadow Boost, L is the level of the user, and N is the amount of times we will use the attack:
N * L ≈ T + S - 1
In other words, we must find N and L in order to get as close to T + S - 1 as possible. Let's say we want to capture Duskull with a maximum HP stat of 42. Duskull's HP Shadow Boost is +5 for a 29+ HP IV, so that is what we will use in this example. By the above equation we get:
N * L ≈ 42 + 5 - 1 = 46
As 46 is even, we have the choice of either using a Level 46 Night Shade one time, or two Level 23 Night Shades to get the most accurate result possible. The first option is very impractical, as Duskull is found early in the game, well before any Night Shade user should reach Level 46. But the second options is much more achievable; Level 23 is well within the range of levels your Pokemon should be at at that point in the game.
Do note that you can also use Sonic Boom early on to hit non-Ghost-types, which does a set 20 damage. This is very inefficient for Pokemon with high HP, but if you insist, just substitute 20 for L in the above formula.
How to do Your Own Speed Boost Tests
Many of the Shadow Boosts listed above have been found to be static, but there are a few that vary from file to file. Luckily, the range of these variables has been narrowed to a respectable degree. If, however, you are not satisfied with the ranges given, you can find the exact boost in your file by attempting to Speed tie with your target. Simply use a Pokemon with a Speed stat on or around the mid point between the Pokemon's maximum and minimum stats. If you encounter a Speed tie, subtract your Pokemon's Speed by the new Pokemon's actual Speed stat, and that is your Shadow Boost. For example, take Swellow:
Spe: (100 - 112) / (112 - 125) / (123 - 137) +9 to +11
Your Pokemon's Speed = (137 + 100) ÷ 2 = 118 Captured Pokemon's Speed (after Speed-tie) = 108 Swellow's Shadow Boost = 118 - 108 = +10
Utility Items and Pokemon
Macho Brace: Halves the Speed of the Pokemon that holds it.
The Macho Brace can be obtained very early in your adventure; it only costs 200 Poke Coupons, which you can receive by completing the first round of 10 easy battles in Mt. Battle. This allows you to use stronger Pokemon, such as your starter, to capture Shadow Pokemon while still allowing you to muscle your way through the rest of the game. Simply allow your Pokemon to have double the Shadow Pokemon's target Speed minus 1, attach the Macho Brace, and test away!
Spinarak - Lv. 14 - Night Shade
Max Speed: 17 +3
Spinarak can be found early on, held by Cipher Peon Nexir in Basement 2 of the Cipher Lab. It learns Night Shade at the very early level of 17, and is the first Pokemon you can obtain for HP testing. It is initially very frail, but it evolves into Ariados at level 22.
Pinsir - Lv. 35 - Seismic Toss
Max Speed: 82 +6
Pinsir is found late in the game and takes a while to purify. However, it learns Seismic Toss by the Move Tutor at Mt. Battle, making it a high-level user and also a very powerful Pokemon for your team.
[teddiursa example to be added in HTML here]
The Protected Save Factor
You may have noticed that you are forced to save after snagging Articuno and Zapdos and defeating Greevil. Furthermore, the battle with Greevil starts immediately after the battle with Lugia. The implications of this are, while you can test for Speed and HP numbers in battle, you cannot verify these Pokemon's natures and IVs for their other stats without saving the game; you certainly do not want to play through the entire game just to end up with a Jolly Zapdos with a 0 SpA IV! Furthermore, the save file is protected, meaning that there is no way to duplicate your file to try again. Unfortunately, there is no way to circumvent these issues by traditional methods.
The Ability Factor
If you know anything about the mechanics of the generation of a Pokemon, you will know that a Pokemon's ability is generated from a 1-bit number in its PID. Several Pokemon in Generation III that had only one ability gained a new ability upon the advent of Generation IV. Since the ability itself is stored separately from the PID, a Pokemon's ability will not immediately change upon transferring it to a Generation IV game. However, the ability is recalculated on certain events, such as evolution, so the Pokemon may have a different ability than originally intended. This is particularly of concern to Togepi, whose ability may change upon evolution to Togekiss to the unpopular Hustle instead of keeping its rare and incredibly useful Serene Grace ability. Unfortunately, without access to Togepi's PID, there is no way to predict whether or not the ability will change. Finally, it is worth noting that any Pokemon you defeat will retain its IVs when you snag it from Miror B later on, but its ability can just as easily change.
Move Tutor
Another noteworthy feature of Pokemon XD is the move tutor. This is the only way you can obtain a Mewtwo with Selfdestruct. Only three moves are exclusive to this game, as others can be taught in the cartridge games. Aside from these three moves, there are 6 moves exclusive to Mew, but only 3 moves can be taught exclusively from this Move Tutor.
NightmareThis move is much too situational and is pretty much worthless. For the sake of completion, here are some relatively bulky Pokemon who might benefit from it. Examples: Celebi, Clefable, Deoxys-D, Hypno, Dusknoir, Jirachi, Lickilicky, Lugia, Mr. Mime, Lapras, Porygon2, Shedinja, Slowbro, Slowking, Umbreon Sky AttackAll Pokemon that can make use of this powerful move, such as Aerodactyl and Swellow, learn it by easier methods.SelfdestructMany Pokemon who learn Selfdestruct also learn Explosion through level up or the Generation IV TM 64, so only a few Pokemon really benefit from this move tutor. Game Freak blessed Snorlax and Mewtwo with deadly suicide moves, and as a tasteless joke, made Wailord an exploding whale. It is worth noting, however, that a Munchlax with Selfdestruct can be captured on the Pokéwalker with flawless IVs thanks to RNG abuse. Examples: Mewtwo, Snorlax, Wailord Mew Move TutorMew learns 6 moves through this Move Tutor, but only 3 are unique to XD, listed here. Examples: Fake Out, Night Shade, Zap Cannon
Conclusion
Now that you have a firm grasp on the multitude of special Pokemon you can find in XD, get out there and capture them! They offer several oft-unseen options for your Wi-Fi team, and make your trade thread stand out from the rest!
