Aneres11

So I went ahead with my first competitive battle (double battle) after spending an age getting a team together! I won! And then proceeded to lose the next one due to a really annoying team of a Corsola and Corviknight which kept using roost whilst the Corsola lowered my attack and healed itself with some move of some sort. I knocked out its Ferrorthorn which it Dynamaxed with my Malamar, but as soon as it got into its healing and status lowering it was game over. I didn't have a Pokémon with a super effective move sadly so I had no chance. Still, live and learn an all that!

I want to evolve my electric helicopter pokemon thing, but dont seem to have the sun stone. It also isn't in the Dusty Bowl where it appears in-game so I have no idea what i've done with it when I originally picked it up. There's no other way to get one - crossing the lake of outrage for them to spawn around the stones doesn't seem to bring up Sun Stones, everything but... will it appear eventually do you think? Can you trade items? I have been agonising over a team for about 2 weeks now and as soon as I decide this Pokemon will be the last in my party, I can't bloody get it!

I managed to get one in the end. Hooray! Although I still don't know what I'm doing. Haha. I haven't attempted battle yet, but my team is all over the shop. Haven't settled on who I want and what purpose they serve or anything!! I guess it'll be a trial and error thing.

Why is it so difficult to get a Pokemon with the ability you want!! I have been trying to breed a Ditto and Barbaracle all morning to give me a Binacle with 'Tough Claws' and I just keep getting 'Sniper'. This is the 10th Binacle I've hatched now with it!! EDIT - I do not have the ability capsule as I do not have 50 BP. Or anywhere close to.

I was not... Sorry. Ha look at Slurpuff all fat now it's evolved. Thanks again Ike!

It's just searching again and not connecting. So annoying. I've set a code - 0245. Do you wanna try it that way?

"Searching"

Ah great stuff - yeah can do. Thank you Ike! Do you want to do the code goodness?

Would anyone be so kind to help me evolve my Swirlix? I need to trade it whilst holding Whipped Dream and then trade it back. I have the Whipped Dream just need someone to help trade if poss? Thanks in advance!

So just on this Glen-i, Water Absorb is Seismitoad’s hidden ability, but how come you haven’t managed to get one with it? This is where I get confused... when does a hidden ability activate and become useable or is it that they don’t? Sorry for the stupid question, I’m trying to learn about all of this having paid not much attention to it in the past and some of it blows my mind.

Great news for you @S.C.G! And huge thanks to @Ashley for the work in the site over the years. Can’t imagine how much hard work has gone into it, so massive hats off! This is the only place I come to talk gaming and get advice on why my Switch isn’t working etc and to read the weekly arguments which always provide a chuckle. Here is to the future of N-E!

That was difficult! Thanks Ike - very much appreciated!

Yeah

I've put the code in but it's been searching ages now?

What the hell do I do? It's never simple is it! Link Trade just keeps connecting me to a random?

Ok cool gimme a min

Sorry just seen. I’m free from now if you are?

Yeah I got Jolteon the same way last night but Sylveon just wasn’t showing. I’ll try again when I get in and see if it works.

Thanks Ike. Just tried changing the time to June and wandering around Lake of Outrage but Sylveon didn’t show up. Read of others having similar issue. Tried catching an Eevee on route 4 but only 1% chance of showing on Sword and had no joy after 30 mins. I’ll be around about 7:30 but no problem if you’re not free it’s not mega urgent.

Anyone got a Sylveon or Eevee they want to trade?

This is a really useful guide. Thanks for putting together. I have played Pokemon since the start yet have never done competitive battling. One thing I’ve found in Sword and Shield battling (not from personal experience, just watching YouTube) is that people seem to favour Pokemon who have interesting abilities. There’s lots of Pokemon who need to know protect, light screen, baton pass, trick room - all the moves I don’t think twice about replacing or not letting my Pokemon learn. For the main game, they’re generally not needed, but I’m learning more about why they are beneficial in competitive battling. The EV / IV stats have always been confusing to me, but they make more sense now after reading the attached. Im going to spend some time breeding (caught a Ditto last night) to get some Pokemon with moves that can only be learned this way. I also want to breed to gain abilities - but is this possible? If I am breeding a Pokemon with a certain ability with a Ditto, will the child have the same ability or could it gain the Pokemon’s other ability? If that makes sense. So if I want Whimsicott to have Prankster but the one I’m breeding has Infiltrator, will the child naturally be born with Infiltrator, or is it assigned one of those abilities at random? I am quite excited to give it a go!

I got to the same stage as you and haven’t been back. I loved the game (one of my favourites this year), but the last bit was an absolute swine and I have no inclination to return to it currently. Id happily play the main levels all again though.

Oh man. I read that it was wise to not attempt him unless your Pokemon are approaching level 70, so I aimed for that. They're all at 75 ish now after beating some of the gym leaders before the champion match again, and then that greasy looking guy who uses Steel pokemon. Ah well, shouldn't be too difficult then!

Another day, another problem. Today's Switch issue is games will not load. These are downloaded games by the way. Tried Mario Tennis and Pokemon Sword. Both give me an error message that says 'Could not start the software. Please try again from the HOME menu'. I have never had any problems with my Switch, or Switch Lite, until this last week where everything that could possibly stop working, is no longer working. Anyone seen this one and got any ideas? Google seems to think you need to just try it again until it works, but having none of it. EDIT After restarting it now seems to think the SD card has been removed. Which is absolutely has not. Time for a call to Nintendo.

Picked up a One X today as had Christmas money burning a hole and have had my eye on picking one up again to play Forza, Quantum Break, State of Decay 2, Ori and the sequel coming in March, RE 2 again, Gears 5 and Halo. With nothing but TLOU 2 on the horizon for PS4 that interests me, and the Switch looking even bleaker, seemed like a good time. 3 months of Game Pass Ultimate for £1 is crazy. Considering you get Gold too! Avatar creator is brilliant - come along way since the last time I created one. Managed to sign up to be an Insider and have just been prompted with the new update for the new dashboard. Heard good things about it. Supposedly meant to be amended with users feedback in mind, so more friendly to navigate rather than the mess it was before. It's updating now so will see how it treats me.