Up Your Pokémon Smarts with the Move Tutors!

The process of Pokémon learning new moves is pretty straightforward: most will learn moves as they level up, or can be taught moves using TMs and HMs. By relying on these methods, you should be able to get through the Elite Four, climb to the top of Stark Mountain, and earn first place in Contests. However, when it comes to making your Pokémon as strong as possible for, say, Organized Play competitions, you may need to put in a little extra effort.

Fortunately, there are people in Sinnoh just waiting to teach your Pokémon new moves! They’re called Move Tutors, and they can teach your Pokémon attacks they wouldn’t otherwise be able to learn. These moves range across all types, are pretty powerful, and you can often teach a Pokémon a move of a type that it wouldn’t ordinarily know. For example, Wingull is a Water- and Flying-type Pokémon, meaning it’s vulnerable to Electric-type attacks (which are, obviously, most frequently used by Electric-type Pokémon). A Move Tutor can teach Wingull the move Mud-Slap, which is the only Ground-type attack that it can learn, and it’s a super-effective attack against Electric-type Pokémon! Move Tutors can not only give your Pokémon stronger moves, they can also add extra protection against their weak spots.

There are Move Tutors throughout Sinnoh. The Move Tutors that offer the most moves trade in the currency of colored Shards: give them the right number of colored Shards and they’ll teach your Pokémon a special move (as long as your Pokémon can learn it). You’ll find these Move Tutors in houses along Route 212, in Snowpoint City, and in the Survival Area. There are others, however, including the Move Tutor in Pastoria City who will teach your Pokémon moves they have previously forgotten in exchange for Heart Scales.

The Shards that Move Tutors accept come in four colors: red, blue, yellow, and green. What’s more, you can dig up as many of them as you want in the Underground—meaning you can always collect more Shards as you need them. (As long as you have the patience!) You’ll also find Shards lying around Sinnoh, so be sure to use the Pokétch Dowsing Machine App frequently to discover hidden items on the ground. The same goes for Heart Scales: go spelunking in the Underground for an endless supply of these valuable items.

Move Tutors usually require an assortment of Shards to teach a certain move. Continuing with the Wingull example, to teach it Mud-Slap you need four Red Shards and four Blue Shards. Some moves, such as the Bug-type attack Signal Beam, need a sampling from all four colors of Shards to teach the move! If you have the right number of each, the Move Tutor will teach it. But, if you don’t have the right number of Shards, the Move Tutor won’t budge!

When you visit a Move Tutor, you’ll be able to see which moves a Pokémon can learn. Just talk to the Move Tutor and he will show you what the Pokémon can be taught. Each Move Tutor teaches a different set of moves, so visit them all to find out what moves each Pokémon can learn!

By learning moves that can only be taught via Move Tutors, your Pokémon will become more versatile and powerful than ever before! Teach various combinations of moves to learn the best combination of attacks for your team.