Pokemon Platinum Leveling Guide
Introduction
Preparation
Lucky Egg
Getting the Lucky Egg
Rare Candy
Amulet Coin
Items in Inventory
Experience Boost
Trading
Exp. Share
Starting Up (1-20)
Levels 20-50
Levels 50-70
Levels 70-100
Introduction:
Leveling Pokemon is the corner stone of the game. Leveling up the Pokemon increases their strength, gives them new moves and in a fair number of cases, leads to evolution. At a point though, it takes practice and some experience to maintain a steady level gain, typically in the higher levels. Using the right areas and items, it remains relatively easy to level Pokemon, sometimes into the late 70’s or early 80’s. Taking advantage of 1 feature of the game, this could make leveling even easier.
I strongly recommend that leveling and Effort Value (EV) training are best done separately as level gain is simplest when indiscriminate while EV training is very specific for optimal results. The guide is divided into recommended segments, considering for EV training.
Preparation:
Lucky Egg – This item is essential to maintaining a good leveling pace. With the proper manipulation, this could become one of the keys to keeping a good, steady experience gain. What this hold-item does is double experience gains. Chansey carry them, so its easiest to get one by getting Chansey to appear in the Trophy Garden. Save your game before talking to Mr. Backlot, and if he doesn’t say he saw a Chansey in the lot, reset your game. It can take a while (~30-40 minutes) but the pay off is worth it.
Getting the Lucky Egg – You want to have a level 18 Pokemon with Compound Eyes in the lead and a Pokemon that knows Trick, Thief or other item stealing moves (I used an Alakazam with Trick, but a Kadabra works as well). Use a Max Repel as you enter the Trophy Garden itself to keep most of the other Pokemon away. When you do encounter a Chansey, switch to your Trick or Thief user, grab the item. Be sure each time to take the item after the battle! It’s a good way to get multiples as well, but as always, it will take some time.
Rare Candies – An item that simply gives levels, does it get any better? Only when you are done with EV training or you are just tired of leveling the Pokemon up. These though are much harder to get a hold of. As there are only so many one can pick-up and there is only the Battle Frontier that sells them for BP. The more time-consuming option, but it blends well with the level, is to have Pokemon with the ability Pick-up. Ideally, these Pokemon will be level 100 themselves, but 51 is the minimum I would recommend. Having 2 Pick-up Pokemon is a good start, but more can only help. Just have Poketch app #05, Pokemon List, up while battling and watch your Pokemon with Pickup for any items that they will grab. Even with 3-4, it takes a bit of time to get a rare candy, much less multiples. This preparation helps immensely for the 90-100 stretch.
Amulet Coin – You get this early on, but when you need to buy a lot of items, Poke is hard to hold onto. If you are running the Elite Four regularly to level a Pokemon, have the higher level Pokemon hold this to insure a good supply of Poke.
Items in Inventory:
Revives, Hyper Potions, Full Restores – These can be found in a lot of PokeMarts in the latter portion of the game. Full Restores are a little trickier, but the shop in the Elite Four Building has everything.
Leppa Berries – These berries are very easy to grow, having short 4 hour portions. Using the growth mulch, this drops down to 2 hours. Watering regularly, considering for mulch if you are using it, you can easily get crops of 20 Leppa Berries for your time.
Experience Boosting
Trading – It does not have to be a friend here, just borrow a DS and trade the Pokemon you are raising to a different cartridge. If possible, make sure they have a Lucky Egg. Why? Experience points x4! Just like the Lucky Egg, trading a Pokemon to a different game doubles their experience gain. This is not always an option for everyone, but it is useful if you can.
Experience Share (Exp. Share) – This is an old Pokemon item, going all the way back to the first generation. What this item does is give the Pokemon holding it Experience as though it had been in the fight without it actually having to battle. This is great for low-level Pokemon who cannot battle in an area, but need experience points. It also can be manipulated IF the Pokemon holding it actually participates, it gets a great share of the experience. This is the best option if one does not have a Lucky Egg.
Switching In/Out of Battle – Used with the Exp. Share is a great way to boost the overall amount of experience gained. By default, the amount of experience gained from a fight is split equally among all Pokemon who participated.
Starting Up: Raising the Pokemon from Level 1 – 20
1) The Daycare Center to Level 20. While not real leveling up, it is a great way to prepare a Pokemon for EV training. It cost Poke, so it does not make for one of the greatest options, but it certainly is a fast one. After the Pokemon reaches Level 20, it is a good time to do EV training.
2) Use the Exp. Share – This isn’t as recommended if you are planning to do EV training, as they will get the appropriate EVs for participating in the fight. If just going for levels though, this is another great way, especially if the Pokemon holding Exp. Share is in the lead. This is most effective in high-level areas (like Routes 225-230).
Levels 20 – 50
1) Exp. Share on Routes 225-230 – These are high level wild Pokemon. Using the Exp. Share here may give less experience, but the Pokemon-in-training will be able to lead into battle sooner, as your team will more likely be able to take a hit switching in.
1a) I recommend a Level 60+ Pokemon to have the Pokemon-in-training lead holding a Lucky Egg
2) Exp. Share the Elite Four (revised) – The Elite Four get notably stronger after you beat them the first time. It takes time to get Pokemon that can solo the Elite Four, so initially just keep the Pokemon in training out of the battle, letting the Exp. Share do the work.
2a) I recommend having a Level 85+ Pokemon to have the Pokemon-in-training lead holding the Lucky Egg.
Levels 50 – 70
Lucky Egg on Routes 225-230 – The Pokemon you are training should be able to fight in this area now on its own. Grind to level 70 and get ready for the real challenge.
Levels 70 – 90
Trade/Lucky Egg Elite Four (revised) – This is going to start challenging, so have a lot of Revives, Full Restores and Leppa Berries in your bag. I recommend trading to Platinum to boost the experience from the Lucky Egg further, capping it at x4. After 5-10 levels it gets a lot easier as the Pokemon-in-training begins to overpower the Elite Four.
Levels 90 – 100
1) Trade/Lucky Egg Elite Four (revised) – This part is tedious, but it works decently well. If the Pokemon is traded with a Lucky Egg, it will not be as tedious as it will be getting x4 experience.
2) Rare Candies – Use 10 Rare Candies on the Pokemon-in-training. These are the longest levels in terms of experience gain. If your Pokemon with Pickup have collected enough Rare Candies, this is the time to use them. It only takes a few minutes then to complete the 90 – 100 segment.
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