Rugged Pokémon from the Rugged Mountain!

With the appearance of a new area in the Pokémon Dream World comes a new group of interesting Pokémon for you to collect and train! Rugged Mountain features plenty of Ground-, Fighting-, and Fire-type Pokémon for you to discover—each with a Hidden Ability that makes that Pokémon different from one you might find during regular gameplay. With these Hidden Abilities, you can create powerful parties ready for all kinds of battles!

Let’s take a look at just a few of the Pokémon you’ll be able to encounter in the Rugged Mountain area, as well as strategies for taking advantage of their Hidden Abilities. Take note, though: you might not encounter all these Pokémon right away. Some require you to earn a certain number of Dream Points before you can meet them!

Spinda

Spinda is one of only a handful of Pokémon that have a Hidden Ability and a unique move when you find it in the Pokémon Dream World. Spinda’s Contrary Hidden Ability is useful for all kinds of moves—it reverses the effects of status conditions, making positive effects become negative, and vice versa. For example, a move that would ordinarily lower Spinda’s Speed stat actually raises it! The Contrary Hidden Ability comes in handy right away with Superpower, a move that Spinda can’t normally learn. Only Spinda found in the Pokémon Dream World know it. Superpower does a lot of damage, but it also lowers Attack and Defense. However, Contrary raises Spinda’s Attack and Defense stats when Superpower is used—making Superpower even more powerful the next time you use it! With the Contrary Hidden Ability and the unique Superpower move, Spinda will become a powerful force in your party.

Rhyhorn

In Rugged Mountain, you can befriend a Rhyhorn that has the Reckless Hidden Ability. As with Spinda’s Contrary, this Hidden Ability really rocks when paired with a move that Rhyhorn can’t normally learn—Double-Edge. Only the Rhyhorn in the Pokémon Dream World know it! Reckless increases the power of moves that also hit the user, which is precisely what Double-Edge does. The only way Rhyhorn’s evolved forms can feature this combo is if you start by befriending the unique Rhyhorn you find in Rugged Mountain. Rhyhorn evolves into Rhydon at Level 42, and then you must complete a Link Trade (while Rhydon is holding a Protector) for it to evolve into Rhyperior. Then, you’ll have a superbly strong Pokémon made even stronger through careful nurturing from its beginnings in the Pokémon Dream World!

Magnemite

Befriend the Magnemite you meet in Rugged Mountain if you want to start developing a Pokémon that possesses great strategic battle skills. Its Analytic Hidden Ability increases the damage of moves if the user’s move occurs last during a turn. Magnemite’s Speed is average, so you won’t always gain a huge advantage from Analytic early on. But as Magnemite first evolves into Magneton at Level 30 and then is leveled up inside Chargestone Cave or Mt. Coronet to evolve it into Magnezone, its power increases while its speed stays rather low. As a result, Analytic becomes a huge advantage to offset Magnezone’s big weakness! If you want to make sure Magnezone uses Analytic to the fullest, have the Pokémon hold a Lagging Tail, which ensures that it is last to act each turn.

Bagon, Shelgon, and Salamence

Unlike Magnemite, the Hidden Ability of the Bagon you find in Rugged Mountain will change as that Pokémon evolves. Bagon begins with the Sheer Force Hidden Ability, which not only strips attacks of secondary effects but also increases the power of moves with those effects. For example, if Bagon uses DragonBreath, it won’t paralyze its target—but it will do much more damage.

When the Bagon found in Rugged Mountain evolves into Shelgon at Level 30, its Hidden Ability changes to Overcoat. Overcoat prevents Bagon from taking damage from weather effects, such as Sandstorm or Hail. Weather effects are a big part of competitive play, so Pokémon that can remain immune to them will have an advantage as battles wear on.

Shelgon evolves into Salamence at Level 50, at which point its Hidden Ability becomes Moxie. This Ability increases a Pokémon’s Attack stat every time that Pokémon knocks another Pokémon out. Salamence already has a pretty high Attack stat, as well as an impressive list of powerful moves, so you can expect it to knock out plenty of Pokémon. The Moxie Hidden Ability will only make Salamence stronger with each enemy it defeats!

Tyrogue, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, and Hitmontop

It has always been tough for Trainers to decide whether to evolve Tyrogue into Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, or Hitmontop. Now Trainers have even more options to weigh, thanks to the Tyrogue you can befriend in Rugged Mountain. Tyrogue has the Vital Spirit Hidden Ability, which prevents it from falling asleep. Hidden Spirit is a nice Ability to have when training your Pokémon for the future, but you’re more likely to evolve Tyrogue than to use it as-is in your next big tournament battle. So, you’ll have a decision to make when Tyrogue tries to evolve at Level 20. (Remember to use Protein to raise Tyrogue’s Attack or Iron to raise its Defense to guide which Pokémon Tyrogue will evolve into.)

If Tyrogue’s Attack is greater than its Defense when it reaches Level 20, it will evolve into Hitmonlee. At this point, its Hidden Ability will change into Unburden, which causes its Speed to double if it loses or consumes its held item. Items can have a lot of value during battle, but greatly increasing the chance that you’ll attack first is a huge advantage. One smart way to take advantage of Unburden is to have Hitmonlee hold a one-time use item, such as a Berry. Once that item is gone, Unburden will start working in the middle of battle. If you have a prized item that you’d really like to keep using, consider evolving Tyrogue into Hitmonchan or Hitmontop instead of Hitmonlee.

Tyrogue will evolve into Hitmonchan if its Defense is greater than its Attack when it reaches Level 20. When it evolves, its Hidden Ability will become Inner Focus, which prevents it from flinching. A number of popular moves (including Fake Out and Waterfall) induce flinching, so removing that effect from your opponent’s arsenal can aid you greatly.

The last evolutionary path for Tyrogue is to evolve into Hitmontop. Again, this occurs at Level 20. In this case, however, it occurs if both its Attack and Defense are equal. Hitmontop has the Steadfast Hidden Ability, which increases its Speed every time it flinches. Not every Trainer has Pokémon with moves that cause flinching, so the effect of this Ability won’t always come into play. But when it does, your opponent will have to think twice about making Hitmontop flinch, knowing that the attack will only make Hitmontop faster in the next round!

These are just a few examples of the many Pokémon you’ll find in Rugged Mountain. And as you can see, how you train and evolve the Pokémon you befriend can have a huge impact on your party. Have fun exploring Rugged Mountain and finding your own winning team of tough Pokémon with great Hidden Abilities and powerful exclusive moves!