Pokémon Encounters - Mount Lanakila¶

Mountainside

*** indicates Alolan form.**

Cave area

If you accepted Nanu’s invitation, you’ll be dropped off at the base of Mount Lanakila. Otherwise if you’re coming here yourself, you’ll need to first head to Tapu Village, then follow the path leading north between the Pokemon Centre and the empty plot.

Approach the stair lift to encounter your only real opposition on your way to the Pokemon League.

Pokemon Trainer Gladion¶

Gladion’s been a good boy and evolved his Golbat into Crobat. It has the same weaknesses (Electric, Rock, Ice and Psychic), but vastly improved Speed. Pokemon that resist Poison and Flying, such as Rock-types, are recommended since it has strong attacks.

Weavile is doubly weak to Fighting-types and typically weak to Fire, Rock, Bug and Fairy-types. It has incredible Attack and Speed, so durable Pokemon are recommended. Beware of its Ice Shard, which has increased priority and Metal Claw, the bane of Rock and Fairy-types.

Lucario is a rather popular Pokemon due to its offensive capabilities and good Speed. Pokemon that resist Fighting and Steel are thus useful to bring along. Especially since Lucario is outfitted with Steelium Z, which allows it to unleash a devastating Corkscrew Crash.

Finally, Gladion’s trademark Pokemon has unlocked its true potential. Silvally has the same impressive stats as Null, but is no longer hindered by poor Speed. The biggest thing is that it functions like Arceus and can be any Type, depending on its held item.

In this case, it has the Type that beats your starter Pokemon. With that knowledge, it should be easy to pick a Type to beat it. That said, be careful of its Dark and Bug-type moves when picking a Pokemon. Those moves won’t get STAB, but it will still hurt.

Triumph against Gladion and you’ll get a valuable Max Elixir as encouragement. Afterwards, the stair lift will be free for you to use. Step on the lift and give the machine in the middle a good poke to be launched higher up the mountain.

Here, you won’t run into any Pokemon trainers because the mountain path is simply too new, but the wild Pokemon are challenging enough. Start by following the path north, through the tall grass. Halfway along the first patch of grass, grab the Escape Rope towards the east.

Handy if you need to leave the mountain ASAP, especially if you’re stuck in the caves where Charizard can’t come to rescue you. Past the first patch of grass, you can find a Zygarde Cell (61) huddling below a rock towards the west side, next to the cliff face.

Further north is a second patch of tall grass and, beyond that, a cave leading deep into the mountain. Inside, follow the icy tunnel north and then west after it starts to turn. Soon, the path will branch off towards the north and the west. Head west through the narrow path first.

At the end of this short path is TM13 Ice Beam . Hop down over the ledge and follow the previous path north. Further ahead, the path will branch once more, this time towards the west and the east. It doesn’t really matter which path you follow, but we’ll go east.

After a while, you’ll need to make another choice of which path to follow. Continue east, where the path will bend towards the south. Here, you’ll find a pedestal in the corner that’s holding an Icium Z . Past the pedestal, you can leap over the ledge to return to the previous path.

From here, return east and follow the path leading north-west. Towards the north side, you can pick up a Full Restore sitting above some rocks. Further west, the paths will converge. Here, you’ll stumble upon a peculiar icy rock that should be familiar to older fans.

If you level up Eevee around here, it’ll evolve into the Ice-type Glaceon. Finally, head all the way north from the icy rock to reach the exit of the cave.

Outside, you’ll emerge in a clearing with lots of tall grass and another stair lift at the far end. Despite appearances, no Pokemon trainer (such as the likes of Hau) will try and surprise you here. So relax as you take a good look around.

Actually, there isn’t much to see. Towards the west side, there’s a Max Revive in the small area with no grass. Otherwise, you can comb the tall grass for any Pokemon you haven’t caught or train your party on the wild Pokemon if you think you’re still not ready.

Once you’re all done here, step on the stair lift and use it to ascend all the way up to the summit of the mountain.

At the summit, there’s a Pokemon Centre directly ahead. You probably don’t need to be told what to do next! Inside, make it your priority to restore your Pokemon and stock up on items–you’ve got nothing but tough battles ahead of you.

This PMC also has a very useful guest towards the far east: the Move Reminder . If you have any Heart Scales (you can find these buried in beaches, from wild Luvdisc or after eating at certain restaurants), you can pay the Move Reminder to learn a forgotten move.

Besides remedying those times when you overwrote a move, but later regretted it, certain Pokemon have very useful moves learned at levels long before you caught them. A new feature in Sun and Moon is that you can even learn moves further ahead!

After you’ve made all the required preparations, proceed west from the Pokemon Centre. Just before the slope leading north, check the south-west corner to find a Zygarde Cell (62 ) , the last one on this island. Finally, continue north up the slope to bump into a predictable visitor.

Pokemon Trainer Hau¶

As with previous battles, Hau opens with his Alolan Raichu. Hopefully you predicted this scenario and sent out a Ground, Dark, Ghost or Bug-type Pokemon to counter it. However Dark-types should be cautious of Raichu’s Focus Blast–it’s inaccurate, but packs a wallop.

Komala is Hau’s only new addition. This slumbering koala cannot be inflicted with a status affliction, so don’t bother with those. It’s a plain Normal-type, but has access to Grass, Dark, Ground and Ghost moves. It boasts high Attack, so a bulky Pokemon will go a long way.

Hau still has his Eevee evolution that’s super-effective against your starter Pokemon. By now, you should have more than enough counters. Each has a powerful STAB attack, but that’s about it. So if you’ve got a Pokemon that resists its Type, it should be a piece of cake.

Finally, Hau has evolved his starter Pokemon into its final form. In addition, it’s fitted with the Z-Crystal that matches its primary Type. As before, you can easily defeat his starter Pokemon with your own starter Pokemon. Just be mindful of its secondary Type.

Defeat Hau at his full strength and you’ll receive 3 Max Revives . Your Pokemon will also be healed without you noticing, so you don’t need to return to the Pokemon Centre. But if you ended up using more items than expected, you may want to head back to restock.

Once you’re finally ready, continue north along the long, crystal-lined path. Near the start of the path, there’s a photo spot towards the east if you need to let off some steam. At the end of the path, step into the clearing to catch Kukui’s attention.

Afterwards, you’ll be free to enter the Pokemon League at the far end. As Kukui warned, there’s no going back once you’re inside (unless you lose), so make absolutely sure you’re ready–and that you’ve got a few hours set aside–before entering.