Breeding

Published on November 9th, 2012 | by Adib

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3rd Generation Legendaries: An RNG Guide

Let’s play three questions:

1. Do you need to RNG one of the following Pokémon?

  • Latios
  • Latias
  • Groudon
  • Kyogre
  • Rayquaza
  • Regirock
  • Registeel
  • Regice

2. If yes to one or more of the above Pokémon, did you already RNG’d them in the 4th or 5th gen and simply don’t feel like or don’t have the time to reset your save file?

3. Does the next VGC season allow box cover legendary Pokémon?

If you answered “yes” to at least the first two, then you’ve come to the right place! Here, you can learn how to RNG for nearly-flawless Hoenn legendaries. Note that I said “nearly-flawless”. Because of how Emerald’s RNG works, it is unreasonable to RNG for flawless spreads — you’d have to leave your game on for weeks at a time to do so!

A quick note: unless you’re trying to get a very specific 3rd gen exclusive Pokémon and moveset, it is advisable to RNG in the 4th or 5th gen, as you can more feasibly RNG for flawless spreads. This guide focuses on RNGing the Hoenn legendaries, who are generated via Method 1 in Emerald and are relatively rare as they are only available once in Platinum (legendary golems only via event Regigigas), HGSS (Latios/Latias and weather trio only) and BW2 (Latios/Latias and legendary golems only) save files.

These are the other Pokémon that are generated via Method 1:

  • Voltorb (the ones pretending to be Poke Balls only)
  • Electrode (the ones pretending to be Poke Balls only)
  • Mew (Japanese games only)
  • Johto starters from Prof. Birch
  • Sudowoodo
  • Lugia (event only)
  • Ho-oh (event only)
  • Hoenn starters from Prof. Birch (not recommended as at the beginning of the game, verifying you hit your frame would be very difficult)
  • Lileep
  • Anorith
  • Castform
  • Kecleon (Devon Scope only)
  • Wynaut (egg from Lavaridge Town only)
  • Beldum
  • Deoxys (event only)

Once again, I would not recommend RNGing for the above Pokémon unless you need a very specific 3rd gen exclusive set, as you can RNG all but Mew and Deoxys, who will probably never be allowed in any future VGC competitions in the first place, in the 4th gen or even 5th gen with flawless spreads.

Roamer IV Glitch

Before we start, there is one quirk of the 3rd Gen we should talk about. Pokémon Emerald is the only 3rd generation game free from the Roamer IV glitch, which results in extremely low IVs for roamers in Ruby, Sapphire, FireRed and LeafGreen. In other words, Pokémon Emerald is the only 3rd gen game where you can RNG a competitively viable Latios or Latias.

Let’s move on to how to RNG Method 1 Pokémon!

Requirements

  • Eontimer
  • Latest Version of RNG Reporter
  • Master ball
  • Game Boy Advance/SP or a DS Original/Lite (make sure there is no DS game in the DS). There is a very slight timing difference between the GBA/SP and DS Original/Lite, but EonTimer should take care of it.

Where to Save

A quick note: you must always save your game at the tile right before the activating action takes place, since that’s when the Pokémon’s IV spread, nature, gender and ability are all set. For example, for the legendary golems and Rayquaza, save right in front of them. For Groudon and Kyogre, save one tile away from the spot that triggers the battle. When EonTimer hits 0, press A for the legendary golems and Rayquaza. For Groudon and Kyogre, press the direction button that will put you right in front of them. Fortunately, you can RNG these Pokémon at any point in time after reaching a certain point in the game.

Unfortunately, it’s a different story for Latios and Latias — their spreads are set downstairs at your house right after defeating the Elite Four for the very first time. You’ll want to save right at the entrance to the door of your room (inside your room!) right after defeating the Elite Four. Make sure you have a Master ball, Repels and a level 40 Pokémon ready to use either in your party or ready to be withdrawn from a PC before challenging the Elite Four. You’ll especially want to have saved the Master ball since there is no way to track either dragon until you encounter it for the first time. When you go downstairs, you will be asked which color was on the TV screen — “Red” for Latias, “Blue” for Latios. When you press A at either one of these options, their spreads will be set.

RNG Reporter

Now that you are saved in the proper location, open up the RNG Reporter main window. For the “Method” field, select “Method 1” from the dropdown menu. Also select the nature and ability you want in their respective fields.

Next, we want to find a good IV spread. A good rule of thumb to filtering out IV spreads is to filter out the IVs you care about by using >=20 in the IV fields in the RNG Reporter window. This will make RNG Reporter search only for spreads that have IV values greater than 20 in the specific fields you chose.

Hit Generate and you should come up with a small list of spreads. Look through this list to find the best spread you can. Note: make sure to adjust your EV spread accordingly to account for the imperfect IVs!

The photo above shows how I setup the main window of RNG Reporter to RNG the Latias I used in the Autumn 2012 Wifi Friendly. I wanted a 31/X/31/31/31/31 IV spread with a Modest nature but since this is Pokémon Emerald, that’s not happening. The highlighted spread in the picture above is the spread I chose to RNG for.

EonTimer

Now that we have our desired spread, open up EonTimer and select tab 3 for 3rd gen. Input your frame from RNG Reporter into the Target Frame field of EonTimer, but leave the Mode (make sure it’s set to Standard), Pre-timer (make sure it’s at 5000 aka 5 seconds), Factor and Lag fields alone.

Also notice that you have a 1st timer (called “Pre-timer”) of 5 seconds. This gives you time to prepare to soft reset the game by pressing A+B+Start+Select simultaneously when the first timer hits 0, synchronizing your game with EonTimer

Calibration

Alright, so here we go. Now that you’ve got your spread from RNG Reporter and EonTimer is ready to go, we’re ready to capture a Pokémon. Continuing on with the Latias example, load the game. You should have just defeated the Elite Four and be back in your room. Save the game at the tile right before exiting your room. Now, hold down Start+Select+B with your right hand and keep a fourth finger hovering over the A button. Position your other hand to start EonTimer.

Start EonTimer. This will activate the Pre-Timer. Once the first timer of 5 seconds hits 0, press A on your game to soft reset the game. Mash A quickly to get through the animations. As the second timer runs

Back in the game, walk downstairs. A cutscene will activate and you’ll be asked “Red” or “Blue”. Choosing “Red” will let Latias roam and choosing “Blue” will let Latios roam. Do NOT choose either option yet, but instead hover over the option you want. Since we are RNGing a Latias in this example, have the arrow hover over ‘Red”. We’ll be waiting for the second EonTimer to hit 0 before finally selecting either “Red” or “Blue”. Be patient because this may take some time. Press A once the 2nd timer hits 0.

Afterwards, go and catch Latias. Verify the IVs through an online stat calculator — I recommend Serebii’s IV calculator since all you really need is a range. If your IVs are off from what you desired, you’ll have to do some troubleshooting.

Next, pull up the RNG Reporter window you had open earlier. Choose a starting frame about 100 frames (if you want to be extra careful go for 300) or so below your target frame. Search for a frame that matches the IV spread range and nature you got. Input that frame into the “Frame Hit” field on EonTimer and hit Update to update your timer. You’ll now have a new second timer which will, hopefully, get you the correct spread. Reset the game if the roamer does not have the desired IVs or nature, and repeat this process until you get your roamer with the desired IVs and nature.

Other Method 1 Pokémon

Remember that this process is exactly the same for the other Method 1 Pokémon (legendary or not) listed earlier in this article. The only difference is that you don’t have to spend time hunting them down across the Hoenn region. All you have to do is either save right in front of them or save a tile away (discussed earlier in this article). You can also RNG them any time you want after they become available for capture.

Conclusion

Once again, the downside to RNGing in Pokémon Emerald is that you will rarely ever get flawless spreads for your desired Pokémon, and you can almost always get the flawless Pokémon (including the Hoenn legendaries listed in this article) you want in 4th and 5th gen games. However, in the craziness of VGC, you may occasionally find that you have no choice but to RNG one of the rare Hoenn legendaries back in Pokémon Emerald, Latios and Latias in particular. I know I certainly did. If you have some time, an Emerald save file and have already released the twin dragons, I would reset the game and play all the way up to right before the Elite Four so that you can RNG those popular dragons whenever you want. If nothing else, it’s a surreal experience to battle competitively with a legendary Pokémon RNG’d from a game that came out way back in 2005! If you have any questions, feel free to ask on our forums.


About the Author

started playing competitive Pokemon in the VGC 2012 season. He finished 2nd place at 2014 US Nationals, 10th place at 2013 US Nationals, 7th place at the Fall 2013 Ft. Wayne regionals, and 7th at APEX 2014.



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