Tips and Tricks: Catching Pokémon (Recommended Moves and Pokémon) [Pokémon Sun and Moon]

Detailed Information for Pokémon Sun and Moon regarding tips and tricks on how to successfully capture a Pokémon, including a list of recommended Balls to use.

Tips on how to capture a Pokémon

In order to successfully catch a Pokemon you are recommended to use these strategies:

• The Pokemon’s remaining HP should be Low

• The Pokemon should be affected with some kind of a Status Condition

When these conditions have been met it becomes easier to catch the Pokemon.

• As the remaining HP of the Target Pokemon decreases, the capture rate will increase.
• You should remember that despite afflicting the Target Pokemon with a Status Condition, it is recommended that you should use a move that causes Sleep and Frozen as these status conditions have the highest Capture Rate.

To summarize, a Target Pokemon with a remaining HP of 1, or that which is Frozen or Asleep will have the highest Capture Rate as opposed to those which have a remaining HP of 2, or that which is Paralyzed respectively.

Featured Move

• False Swipe

Using False Swipe will not knock-out the Pokemon but instead will leave the Target Pokemon with only 1 HP remaining.
This is one of the best moves to use when trying to catch a Legendary Pokemon.
The only drawback when using False Swipe is that since it is a Normal-Type Move, it has no effect against Ghost-type Pokemon.

• Spore

As mentioned above, sleep is one of the two status conditions highly recommended to be used when catching a Pokemon.
Spore is a move that puts the target to sleep.
Bear in mind however that this move does not affect Pokemon with the ability Insomnia, Overcoat, Sweet Veil, Vital Spirit, and other Grass-type Pokemon.
Other recommended moves that can put the Pokemon to sleep are Hypnosis or Yawn.

• Soak

Soak is a Water-Type Move that changes the target’s type to Water. This is mainly to change a Ghost-type Pokemon into Water-type so that False Swipe will be effective against it.

• Mean Look

This move is effective against the Pokemon that flee during battle. An example of these are Roaming Pokemon which run away and change locations the moment the first turn begins.

Recommended Pokémon

◆ Breloom

Breloom learns Spore and False Swipe which make it highly recommended for capturing the Pokemon.

◆ Gallade

The recommended moves to teach Gallade are Hypnosis and False Swipe.
In spite of Hypnosis’ shaky Accuracy rate, this can be boosted by equipping Gallade with Wide Lens.

Other important moves that Gallade can learn are Taunt, which can stop the Pokemon from using Stat-boosting moves; and Thunder Wave which slows down opponents and makes them easier to catch.

◆ Smeargle

Smeargle learns Sketch, a move that copies the move last used by the Opponent permanently.

After Smeargle copies a move, it will be able to use it permanently. This makes it possible for Smeargle to acquire the best move combinations for catching Pokemon such as: False Swipe, Spore, and Soak and another move.

◆ Octillery

Octillery learns Soak and False Swipe, which makes it efficient in catching Ghost-types which are immune to False Swipe.

You can also replace the target’s ability with a move called Entrainment. Therefore you will not have to worry about abilities such as Pressure.

◆ Mega-Pinsir

Mega-Pinsir’s ability Aerilate changes Normal-Type Moves to Flying-Type therefore False Swipe will be effective against Ghost-type Pokemons.

▼ Other recommended Party Pokemon when catching the Pokemon

After getting used to catching Pokemons, or when you want to catch the desired individual it is recommended to use the following Pokemon:

However if you are just starting, you may skip this part.

◆ Ralts · Kirlia · Gardevoir

The Ralts evolutionary line has the ability Synchronize When a Pokemon with Synchronize is leading the party, any encountered Pokemon has a 50% chance of having the nature as the Pokemon with this ability.

This is highly recommended when looking for a Specific Nature for a particular Pokemon.

◆ Ninjask

If you make Ninjask’s maximum HP 1 point less than the Wild Pokemon’s (Desired Maximum HP Stat of the Pokemon – 1), this makes it easier to catch the Pokemon with the desired HP Individual Values (IV) when the move Final Gambit is used.

Since Final Gambit deals a fixed amount of Damage depending on the remaining HP of the Pokemon that used it, when the Pokemon does not faint, this indicates that the Pokemon has the desired Individual Values (Maximum of 31 IVs).

However, the drawback is that since Final Gambit is a Fighting-Type Move, it does not affect Ghost-Types. To alleviate this, you need to use Foresight first.

Additionally, since the opponent that received damage from Final Gambit does not factor in type weakness this makes it suitable for catching Normal-Types as well.

◆ Sableye

The Following are the recommended moves when using Sableye to catch Pokemon:

• Same HP (Desired Maximum HP Stat of the Pokemon)
• Speed IVs should be (Desired Maximum Speed Stat of the Pokémon -1)
• Ability: Prankster

With this set-up you can obtain the desired Maximum HP IV and Maximum Speed IV using Pain Split.

Pain Split is a Move that combines the Total HP of the Pokémon that used it and the Pokemon’s and halves the total.

This is why the ability Prankster is recommended when using Pain Split because the ability will increase Pain Split’s priority level.

As soon as the battle starts, unless the target strikes before this Pokémon which has Pain Split, you can tell if the target has a desired HP IV or not. Check if Sableye’s HP is the same after it has used Pain Split, if it goes down then the Pokémon’s HP is not the desired HP IV.

By the second turn, you should use a non Status Move, and if the Pokémon moves first, that Pokemon has the desired Speed IV.

List of Poké Balls

Pokemon Sun and Moon Recommended Article List

This article is about Pokemon Sun and Moon. For information about Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon, click below.