5th Generation Roamers: An RNG Guide

You may have read somewhere that RNGing for the 5th gen roamers — Tornadus and Thundurus — is difficult. I’m here to tell you that it’s not! It will just require a little bit more time. Before reading this guide, you should be familiar with basic RNG terms and know how to RNG for 5th Generation Captures. Follow the next few sections in order to successfully roamer RNG in 5th gen. Make sure to read every section before preparing to RNG the roamer!

Basic Requirements

You must not have previously released the roamer — this is the only way to feasibly RNG the roamer
You must have a Master ball
You’ll also need two Chatots to advance the frame
Have a Pokémon at lv. 40 leading the party with Repels
Have a Pokémon with Fly in your party (preferably a lv. 40 Chatot to satisfy the last three requirements all at once)
The most recent version of RNG Reporter
A Calibrated DS

Note: Synchronizers do not work at all in this RNG. Do not have one in your party!

Step 1: Finding a seed

Open up RNG Reporter

Click on the Time Finder button and click 5th Generation Time Finder

Set the Encounter Type to “Roaming Pokémon”
As is usual in 5th generation capture RNGs, select your desired IV search parameters & natures
Make sure your Min/Max Frame is 1 in both fields (advancing the IV frame is much more trouble than it’s worth)
Also verify that IVs (Standard Seed) is chosen in the Methods field
It is recommended to RNG in the Summer months (February, June, October) since there would be no additional weather that can shift your starting frame (other than the heavy rain that the roamer summons)
Hit Generate and choose a seed that has your desired nature/IV combination

Above, I have found a seed for a Calm 31/2/30/31/31/31 Thundurus with Hidden Power Ice

Step 2: Stopping the Season Change

Complete the preparations at the beginning of the article — make sure to have the Chatots in your party!

Before going after the roamer, we need to take care of the season change. For example, let’s say that it’s May (Spring) and you save your game where you want to soft reset for your roamer. If you change your DS clock to June (Summer), then that season change window will open up when you exit the house on Route 7 and prevent you from getting consistent results when soft resetting
To avoid this, save inside a random house in Mistralton City before going after the roamer.

Change the date on your DS to the time you have found on your Seed
Load your game, exit the house, and the season change window should pop up.
Go to the old woman’s house on Route 7. Listen to her story, save right inside the door, and turn off your game

Step 3: RNG

Change the time on your DS to match the Date\Time on your seed.
Hit the seed. For detailed instructions on how to hit a seed in the 5th Generation of Pokémon games, read the 5th Generation Captures guide.
Do NOT advance the frame with Chatots yet
Immediately exit the house on Route 7 and start mashing the A button
The roamer will zoom in, bringing with it heavy rain. Continue mashing the A button
The second you regain control of your character, pull up the menu and Fly to a random route
Catch the roamer and verify you hit your seed by using a stat calculator — I recommend Serebii’s IV Calculator
Remember, you only need to check whether the roamer has the desired IVs to verify you hit your seed. At this time you don’t need to worry about the nature. If your Tornadus/Thundurus doesn’t the desired IVs, then your Timer0 fluctuated and you will need to repeat the steps in this section until you hit your seed.
If you got your roamer with the desired nature, congratulations, you are one lucky Pokémon trainer!
If (chances are) you hit your seed, but didn’t get your desired nature, repeat this process, with 0 Chatot flips as before
Hit your seed, verify the IVs matched the seed (to make sure you got the right Timer0), and check its nature. If you captured a roamer with the exact same IVs, nature and Hidden Power type as before, then you have just verified that the RNG is consistent
Now, repeat the process, but try 1 Chatot flip
If still unsuccessful, repeat and try two Chatot flips, and keep increasing the Chatot flips by 1 each time until you capture your roamer with the desired nature and IVs. Congratulations! You have just RNG’d a competitive Thundurus or Tornadus!

Conclusion

I hope this article will help you RNG Tornadus and Thundurus easily. RNGing for these roamers takes longer than pretty much any other 5th gen capture, but the most important part — hitting your seed & flipping for your nature — is actually pretty much the exact same process. All you have to do is take a few precautions, have a chunk of time on your hands, hit your seed and be prepared to run outside and inside the Unova checkgates repeatedly until you get your desired roamer!

As always, if you have any questions feel free to ask in our RNG Help Thread on our Forums.

About the Author

Adib 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.