Can't I just club Azelf upside its head and shove it in a bag?

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Roke Tanuki

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I know this is probably a frequently asked question, and that I should probably just check Gamefaqs. But I thought I'd ask for advice here.

I know legendary pokemon aren't supposed to be easy to catch. I get that. But when its HP is a single stack of red pixels and its got paralysis. I'm feeling a bit defeated after it ate 30 Ultra Balls and 6 Timer Balls. (at which point I was distracted and didn't realize I'd accidentally told my level 34 Chansey to slap it instead of healing itself.

Is there some magic formula for catching them? Some magical skill that can be pull't-out-the-ass? Can I just walk up and crack Azelf across the back of the skull then shove it in a backpack?

My current team is a Golbat to Haze it to clear away its overpowered Nasty Plot buffed Psychic attacks

34 Chansey (Softboiled / Double Slap / Sing / Minimize)
54 Torterra (Crunch / Razor Leaf / Leech Seed / Earthquake)
46 Golbat (Haze / Air Cutter / Mean Look / Poison Fang)
48 Staraptor (Fly / Aerial Ace / Close Combat / Endevor)
30 Floatzel (Surf / Waterfall / Ice Fang / Swift)
29 Raichu (Quick Attack / Thunderwave / Thunderbolt / Tail Whip)

I also grabbed Palkia earlier (51, Dragon Claw, Spacial Rend, Ancient Power, Water Pulse) so I might try using it to tank instead.

I know the Chansey isn't high enough to tank yet. But I decided to just attempt it anyway. Once she reaches 50 I'll probably go for another attempt.

Alternatively, I'm considering using my Vespiquen (39, Attack Order, Defend Order, Heal Order, Power Gem) to tank instead of Chansey, after I get another 11 levels with her.

Can you sleep a character that's already suffering Paralysis? Some advice and strategies would be wonderful.

Tanks ahead of time for the advice. =)
 
Roke Tanuki said:
I know legendary pokemon aren't supposed to be easy to catch. I get that. But when its HP is a single stack of red pixels and its got paralysis. I'm feeling a bit defeated after it ate 30 Ultra Balls and 6 Timer Balls. (at which point I was distracted and didn't realize I'd accidentally told my level 34 Chansey to slap it instead of healing itself.
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Wait 'til you start trying to catch the legendary runners, who'll flee just like Abra without Mean Look, Arena Trap, or something similar to prevent them! ;-)

Note the parts I put in bold from your quote. My advice is to put them to Sleep whenever possible, since Paralysis is only 75% as effective as Sleep in terms of how much it helps you catch stuff. Also, use Dusk Balls (since you're in a cave), which are twice as effective as Ultra Balls. This literally doubles your catch rate.

Roke Tanuki said:
Is there some magic formula for catching them? Some magical skill that can be pull't-out-the-ass? Can I just walk up and crack Azelf across the back of the skull then shove it in a backpack?
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There's a formula, but it's not magic; it's Satanic. Here it is on Bulbapedia.

I've done the math, and your percentage chance to catch a sleeping Azelf with 1 HP left, using a Dusk Ball, is ~9%. A paralyzed Azelf, using Ultra Balls, probably has about a 3% catch rate by comparison. See, every Poke has a base "catch rate". In the case of Azelf, Mesprit, and almost all legendaries, the catch rate is... 3. That's compared to Starly, for example, which has a catch rate of 255. ...Yeah, it's like that. Their remaining HP, max HP, status abnormalities, and the type of ball you're using all modify this basic catch rate.

The key is to stock up on balls and keep using them over and over. And, if you use a whole lot of them, start tossing your Timer Balls, too.

It took me ~40 Dusk Balls (4x catch rate) to catch Azelf with 1 HP while it was sleeping. OTOH, I caught Zapdos on the third toss in FireRed with an Ultra Ball.

Rone Tanuki said:
Can you sleep a character that's already suffering Paralysis? Some advice and strategies would be wonderful.

Tanks ahead of time for the advice. =)
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No, a Poke can only have one status abnormality at a time (except for confusion and stat reductions). Basically, only one of any stat abnormality that puts an icon on their status bar.

You're welcome!

EDIT: And I have some more to add. Basically, it's this: I, too, got frustrated when I first started catching legendaries again. The key, though, is to be aware of how to maximize your catch rate, and accept the fact that: 1.) You might get lucky and catch it quickly, or 2.) It might take quite a bit of patience. You may even have to restart and try again (although you can't do that with runners, obviously).

With Azelf, I can tell you that if you get its HP down to 1 (False Swipe), put it to sleep, and throw a Dusk Ball, you will have ~9% chance to catch it. This doesn't mean you'll catch it within eleven tosses, though. It could be on the first toss, or it could take twenty-five or thirty (or, if you're very unlucky, forty) tosses. But statistics will win you victory eventually, almost always sooner rather than later.

The worst ones to catch are the ones who run through the grass, appear randomly, can escape if you don't trap them, and can use Struggle or a similar move to commit suicide. Azelf, by comparison, is a piece of cake.
 
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Thanks much.

You said that you got it down to 1HP. Did you do this using a combination of Endure (user cannot be reduced below 1 HP) and Endevor (reduce enemy pokemon's HP to match user's) ?

OR do you have another strategy for getting the HP down?
 
Roke Tanuki said:
Thanks much.

You said that you got it down to 1HP. Did you do this using a combination of Endure (user cannot be reduced below 1 HP) and Endevor (reduce enemy pokemon's HP to match user's) ?

OR do you have another strategy for getting the HP down?
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False Swipe is a weak attack, and always leaves the foe with at least 1 HP. It is perhaps the most useful tool for catching not only low-level Pokes, but also maximizing your chance to catch a legendary Poke by False Swiping it until you know it only has 1 HP left.

So, that's how I know: False Swipe.

Of course, if the enemy uses a move that has recoil damage, it will faint, which means everyone loses. BUT! If you destroy the legendary's accuracy (by using Flash or some such a bunch of times), and then dramatically raise your own Poke's evasiveness (by using Double Team or something similar a bunch of times), the enemy will have an extremely low chance to hit you, meaning they don't get the recoil and won't faint on you.

I'm not quite sure how Struggle works, though. I don't think it automatically damages the Poke that's using it unless the move hits, but maybe it does... not sure.

Also, keep this in mind: When using Mean Look (or the equivalent), you must not switch that Poke out at all (nor let it faint), or the effect will be broken. I tested this out on wild Abras today, although I already suspected that was the case.
 
False Swipe sounds astoundingly useful in this situation. Unfortunately due to my lack of Wi-Fi and prevous pokemon titles, and having not beaten the Elite Four yet. I'm limited to the 150 basic Sinnoh types. None of which seem to naturally learn this move.

Ah well. =), the advice is still very much appriciated. The last Pokemon game I got this far in was Blue on the GB. I toyed around with Emerald on my PSP (GA emulator) and, though catching a Pokemon movie Marathon on Cartoon Network got back into the series.

Of course that's a large tangent. I've switched up my strategy a bit. Since Bronzong knows Confusion, Imprison and Hypnosis, and since it takes 1/4x damage from psychic and 1/2 damage from normal, I'm hoping it can serve as a good tank.

EDIT: In hindsight, I probably won't use Imprison, since Azelf's only other offensive move is Uproar, and that negates sleep which also would negate Hypnosis XD;;
 
Roke Tanuki said:
False Swipe sounds astoundingly useful in this situation. Unfortunately due to my lack of Wi-Fi and prevous pokemon titles, and having not beaten the Elite Four yet. I'm limited to the 150 basic Sinnoh types. None of which seem to naturally learn this move.
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You can buy it in the department store. However, not very many Pokes can actually learn it (Kricketune is the most common one that can).

There are Pokes who do learn it by leveling up, but I don't think any of them are native to Sinnoh. It doesn't matter, though, because you can buy the TM! Here is a list of all Pokes who can learn False Swipe, either by leveling up, breeding, or use of a TM.
 
Ugh... Why are some ledgendary pokemon so hard to catch!?

I caught mespirit with ease, but I can't catch that darn uxie....
And I caught Giratina with the third ball I threw. I did the same with dailga.
Hetran is now giving me major problems.
 
Because everything else is so easy to catch =)

I mean if you think about it, so long as your using the appopriate level ball (Poke under level 15, great under level 30, Ultra for most others) Then really its just a matter of having one of your pokemon crack the wild pokemon over the skull enough times that it becomes concussed, at which time you just lazily toss 2-3 Pokeballs and capture them.

Besides, think of it this way:

If Legendaries were easy to catch, then some other (NPC) trainer would've caught them all long ago. And you'd be left with your greatest accomplishment being capturing a level 100 Magikarp that can Divide by Zero. AKA: The Canadia Region's legendary poke.
 
It may not be much consequence, but I caught Dialga with the first Ultra Ball I threw at it after having my Torterra weaken it with first an Earthquake attack that brought it down to about 1/3 health and then a Wood Hammer that got Dialga's health into the red range. The legendaries that gave me trouble in my Diamond game were Uxie, Regigigas, and Heatran. I KO'd them each six or seven times before I was able to actually catch them. I eventually got Uxie with little hastle, but I got fed up with the other two and used the Master Ball I got during the Diamond story to get Regigigas and imported one that I had left over from Emerald version via Pal Park and my Latios from the game holding the item into Diamond so I could use it on Heatran. Other than those ones, the rest of the in-game Legendaries were pretty easy. I got Mesprit and Cresselia in only a few encounters and Azelf I got after like five or six turns. Guess the difficulty of these things varies by the game.
 
Canersia said:
It may not be much consequence, but I caught Dialga with the first Ultra Ball I threw at it after having my Torterra weaken it with first an Earthquake attack that brought it down to about 1/3 health and then a Wood Hammer that got Dialga's health into the red range. The legendaries that gave me trouble in my Diamond game were Uxie, Regigigas, and Heatran. I KO'd them each six or seven times before I was able to actually catch them. I eventually got Uxie with little hastle, but I got fed up with the other two and used the Master Ball I got during the Diamond story to get Regigigas and imported one that I had left over from Emerald version via Pal Park and my Latios from the game holding the item into Diamond so I could use it on Heatran. Other than those ones, the rest of the in-game Legendaries were pretty easy. I got Mesprit and Cresselia in only a few encounters and Azelf I got after like five or six turns. Guess the difficulty of these things varies by the game.
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Regigas is easy until its slow start is over.
 
Canersia said:
It may not be much consequence, but I caught Dialga with the first Ultra Ball I threw at it after having my Torterra weaken it with first an Earthquake attack that brought it down to about 1/3 health and then a Wood Hammer that got Dialga's health into the red range. The legendaries that gave me trouble in my Diamond game were Uxie, Regigigas, and Heatran. I KO'd them each six or seven times before I was able to actually catch them. I eventually got Uxie with little hastle, but I got fed up with the other two and used the Master Ball I got during the Diamond story to get Regigigas and imported one that I had left over from Emerald version via Pal Park and my Latios from the game holding the item into Diamond so I could use it on Heatran. Other than those ones, the rest of the in-game Legendaries were pretty easy. I got Mesprit and Cresselia in only a few encounters and Azelf I got after like five or six turns. Guess the difficulty of these things varies by the game.
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Well, catching a particular Pokémon (one that's hard to catch; I don't mean Bidoof) can be quick, or it can be a long and frustrating process. Your chance to catch any Pokémon depends on these four things:

[1] The Pokémon's current HP as compared to its total HP (the lower the better);
[2] The bonus multiplier for the Ball you're using (the higher the better);
[3] Any status effects you inflict on the Pokémon (Sleep and Freeze give you the highest bonus for this; everything else is only 75% as effective as those two);
[4] The "catch rate" numerical value for the Pokémon you're trying to catch (lower numbers mean it's harder to catch; e.g., Azelf = 3, Bidoof = 255.)

That's it. That determines your chance to catch absolutely any Pokémon in Generation III or IV.

However, luck also plays a chance. That's why you'll sometimes catch an Uxie with low HP with one or two Ultra Balls, while it may take you 30+ tries to catch an Azelf that is Sleeping, with only 1 HP left, using Dusk Balls.

Of course, Pokes with annoying abilities (self-damaging moves, fleeing and Roar for runners, etc.) are harder to catch above and beyond their catch rate simply due to the fact that they're harder to control, but it doesn't factor into the formula.
 
Also if the battle wages on long enough, the pokemon can waste its moves and use the dreaded STRUGGLE attack!!! Disasterous if it's hp is low.
 
Hubologist: Yeah, I know this stuff, but even with all these things considered, the bigger factor is still chance.

Typhlosion In Repose: Struggle was basically the thing that got me while fighting against both Regigigas and Heatran. I drew the battles out long like that and they KO'd themselves.

Regardless, I got all the in-game legendaries that you can get in Diamond, but thanks for running this stuff by me anyways.
 
Typhlosion In Repose said:
Also if the battle wages on long enough, the pokemon can waste its moves and use the dreaded STRUGGLE attack!!! Disasterous if it's hp is low.
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Oh, is that what lets them use Struggle? I wasn't aware of that. I've never really been sure if wild Pokes had finite or unlimited PP, because I've never fought any of them long enough to find out.

Hmmm, I guess Switcheroo + Leppa Berry could come in handy for certain fights (waiting for the Timer Ball to become more and more effective if you're unlucky, for example).
 
Well, something that worked for me might work for you is you throw a quick ball at it on the first turn. I caught it on my first time :-D
 
I know your pain...Heatran is giving me absolute FITS. And I stupidly thought that I wouldn't want it, so I used my Master Ball on (ironic) Azelf. I've been lobbing Quick, Dusk, Timer, and Ultra Balls at the thing like no tomorrow, but it STILL won't be caught! Or if I do manage to take it down, it's got a really crappy nature :'(

Yeah, I feel your pain about Struggle, too. Kyogre and Groudon in my Emerald game won't be caught because of it (I got Rayquaza, though! I haven't run into Latias yet...). Total pain in the you-know-where.
 
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