Route 5, also known as Versant Road. This route is known for its challenging rails and skate park, making it a favorite hangout for roller skaters. There is no shortage of trainers and new Pokémon, and you can even encounter Pokémon in hordes here.
An unexpected encounter[edit]
As soon as you enter Route 5, you will suddenly be approached by a Lucario. Its trainer will appear soon after, saying that the Lucario seems to like you. She will introduce herself as Korrina, the gym leader of Shalour City. You will eventually have to battle her, but she is not the next gym leader you will face.
Skating tricks[edit]
With the roller skates, you can not only move faster, but also grind on rails. This usually lets you reach areas that are otherwise inaccessible to you. Simply move toward a rail to jump on it and grind. Note that some rails have dents on them, and you will fall off at these dents unless you hopped on to the rail at a high enough speed.
East Versant[edit]
As you go past the first flight of stairs, you will be challenged by two twin sisters. If you didn't check out Restaurant Le Nah back in Lumiose City, this will be your first double battle! Double battles are mostly similar to single battles, but obviously with two Pokémon on each side instead of just one. Some moves can hit both opponents at once, while some can even affect your own Pokémon.
- Twins Faith and Joy
- Plusle (Lv. 11)
- Minun (Lv. 11)
352
After the battle against the twins, continue along the route to find Trevor and Tierno. Tierno wants you to show him your Pokémon's moves in a battle!
- Pokémon Trainer Tierno
- Corphish (Lv. 12)
- 1200
Tierno is not much of a challenge, since he only has a single Pokémon. He will mostly use Corphish's Vice Grip against you, which can be decently damaging due to Corphish's good Attack stat, but it still won't be too threatening if you have a Pokémon with fairly good defenses.
After the battle, Trevor will give you some Honey. Honey is used to attract Pokémon hordes, which will start a special type of wild Pokémon battle known as Horde Battles. In a horde battle, one of your Pokémon will face five significantly lower-leveled wild Pokémon. While you can take each one down one by one, it is much more effective to use attacks that hit multiple Pokémon at once.
Continuing on, you will face one other trainer:
- Rising Star Hamish
- Kadabra (Lv. 13)
- 780
After that is a slope that will take you up and toward the western half of Versant Road, where purple flowers thrive with different concentrations of wild Pokémon within. If you go south soon after climbing up the slope, you can find a rail that takes you down to a berry tree. Berry trees in Kalos are extremely tall, so you can only obtain berries by checking berry trees periodically. There are other methods to get berries, but you can't do them yet.
West Versant[edit]
As you reach the western part of Versant, go north and fight two roller skaters.
- Roller Skater Winnie
- Bunnelby (Lv. 9)
- Skiddo (Lv. 11)
- 352
- Roller Skater Florin
- Doduo (Lv. 12)
- 384
North of Roller Skater Florin is one of the dented rails mentioned before. You need to build up speed to fully grind across it, otherwise you will just fall into the dense bush of purple flowers below. After getting past the first rail, grind across the second rail to reach a small area containing TM01 Hone Claws! This move raises your Pokémon's Attack and Accuracy, good for a strong physical attacker to learn if you can spare a turn for it to use it.
You will have to fight some more trainers as you travel toward Camphrier Town. There are also some items that you can get along the way, one that requires you to have Cut. Make a mental note of its location so you can obtain it later.
- Rising Star Tyson
- Bidoof (Lv. 12)
- Oddish (Lv. 10)
- 600
- Backpacker Heike
- Sentret (Lv. 12)
- 480
- Youngster Keita
- Pansage (Lv. 12)
- 288
- Youngster Anthony
- Carvanha {Lv. 10)
- Pancham (Lv. 10)
- 240
Pokémon found[edit]
Note that while Minun cannot be found on its own in X, and Plusle in Y, they can be caught in a Horde Battle. There will be 1 Minun among the Plusle horde in X, and vice versa in Y.
| X | Y | |
|---|---|---|
| Tall grass | ||
| Bunnelby | 30% | 30% |
| Furfrou | 20% | 20% |
| Doduo | 10% | 10% |
| Gulpin | 10% | 10% |
| Skiddo | 10% | 10% |
| Pancham | 10% | 10% |
| Abra | 5% | 5% |
| Plusle | 5% | N/A |
| Minun | N/A | 5% |
| Purple flowers | ||
| Skiddo | 30% | 30% |
| Pancham | 20% | 20% |
| Doduo | 10% | 10% |
| Gulpin | 10% | 10% |
| Bunnelby | 10% | 10% |
| Furfrou | 10% | 10% |
| Abra | 5% | 5% |
| Plusle | 5% | N/A |
| Minun | N/A | 5% |
| Horde battle | ||
| Gulpin | 60% | 60% |
| Scraggy | 35% | 35% |
| Plusle | 5% | 5% |
| Minun | 5% | 5% |
| #063 Abra | #084 Doduo |
|---|---|
| While not the first Psychic type you've seen, Abra is by far the strongest of them all. It is quite difficult to catch since all it knows is using Teleport to flee battle on the very first turn. To catch it, you'll need to outspeed it on the very first turn and keep it from using moves, preferably with Sleep status. Once you catch Abra, you'll have a very strong special attacker on your hands. Abra evolves into Kadabra fairly early and gains top notch Special Attack and Speed, and it'll get even better if you trade it to evolve into Alakazam. It learns Psychic naturally to take advantage of its powerful Special Attack, as well as plenty of support moves like Reflect, Recover and Calm Mind. It can also learn Shadow Ball and Focus Blast via TMs to let it handle nearly any opponent. Abra and its evolutions are the very definition of a glass cannon, so you must avoid letting it take hits, especially from the physical side. | Despite clearly being grounded, Doduo is still a Normal/Flying type. Compared to Pidgey, it battle more aggressively, with great speed and better attack, but poor defenses. It starts out with the Flying-type Peck and Quick Attack, and proceeds to learn a bunch of unique moves like Rage, Fury Attack, Pursuit and the dangerous Thrash. However, its safest and strongest attack is Drill Peck. It can also learn Agiity to double its speed, while it has access to Steel Wing to strike Rock-types and bizarrely, Fly, through TMs and HMs. Like Abra, Doduo is frail despite its speed and power, but it is strong enough to keep as a Flying-type attacker on your team. |
| #316 Gulpin | #559 Scraggy |
| As the first pure Poison-type you encounter, Gulpin has the stats to complement its defensive typing. While Gulpin can learn moves such as Sludge Bomb and Gunk Shot, it is much suited at beefing itself up and outlasting its foes, learning Amnesia and Toxic naturally as well as the Stockpile, Spit Up and Swallow combo. It can also learn Bulldoze and Earthquake via TM to fight Steel-types that don't fear its toxic tactics. Being a defensive Pokemon Gulpin will often be outsped, even after evolving into Swalot, but its defenses and typing ensures it can beat its foes in a battle of attrition. | Scraggy is a slow and steady attacker, with good Attack and very strong defenses. Its Dark/Fighting combination doesn't offer it a lot of important resistances, but does give it good type coverage. It can learn some brutal attacks by leveling-up, such as High Jump Kick, Crunch and Head Smash, while it also knows some dirty status moves like Sand Attack and Swagger. It can also make use of a great amount of TMs, from Dragon Claw to Stone Edge to Poison Jab. Unfortunately, Scraggy is held back by its poor Speed, and a double weakness to Fairy-types nullifies its usually strong defense. |
| #672 Skiddo | #674 Pancham |
| Skiddo is a really well-rounded Grass-type Pokemon with high HP and Attack. It can learn a variety of physical Grass-type moves including Horn Leech, the physical equivalent of Giga Drain, while also receiving status moves like Synthesis, Leech Seed, Milk Drink and Bulk Up to keep itself healthy and strong. It also learns Bulldoze and Earthquake, and curiously Aerial Ace, from level-up, while it has Rock Slide and Wild Charge to strike Pokemon it is otherwise weak against. Being able to learn Dig, Rock Smash, Surf, Strength and Milk Drink also makes Skiddo a good choice for a field Pokemon. While this Pokemon has many talents, its poor Speed and Defense leaves it vulnerable to physical attackers. | Pancham has a unique evolution method. While it is a pure Fighting-type, it gains a Dark-type upon evolving when leveling up past 32 with a Dark-type in your party. The combination of Fighting and Dark type moves as Pangoro gives it awesome type coverage, and it has the moves to use this offensive typing, with Crunch, Sky Uppercut and Hammer Arm being some of its strongest level-up moves. It also has access to Parting Shot, which lets it switch out safely while weakening the target it is currently fighting. Unfortunately, this type combination is completely countered by Fairy-types, both offensively and defensively. While Pancham and Pangoro can learn Poison Jab through TMs, their poor speed and defenses means they're unlikely to get the chance to strike back. Nevertheless, Pancham is still a solid pick for a Fighting-type attacker, as long as you keep it far away from any Fairy-types. |
| #676 Furfrou | |
| Furfrou is not a Pokemon you want to use for battles. Like most Normal-types, its usage is molded primarily by TMs and HMs, but Furfrou's movepool is rather lackluster. Its stats suggest that it is designed to be a speedy defensive Pokemon, as it has the Fur Coat ability that halves physical damage, and can even learn the rare defense-raising Cotton Guard. Unfortunately, its support moveset is rather mediocre compared to other defensive Pokemon, not to mention its Normal typing doesn't offer any resistances outside of an immnuity to Ghost. If anything, Furfour is used more for its looks, as you can trim its fur into one of 9 designs by visiting Friseur Furfrou in Lumiose City. It's a nice cosmetic feature, but Furfrou doesn't have any other traits that make it worth using. | |
| #311 Plusle and #312 Minun | |
| Plusle and Minun are two Pokemon that bears a heavy resemblence with Pikachu and each other. Plusle hits harder while Minun has better defenses. While their individual stats are pretty terrible outside of speed, their true power is revealed in double battles. Plusle has the Plus ability while Minun has the Minus ability, and used together in a double battle, their Special Attack will be boosted 1.5 times. To put that into perspective, this allows Plusle's special attacks to rival that of Alakazam's! The duo also boasts a ton of status moves like Helping Hand, Encore, Agility, Nasty Plot and Baton Pass. Unfortunately, double battles are pretty scarce in your adventure, and even then Plusle and Minun can easily fall to a single Earthquake. As solo fighters, they are mediocre, and even as supporters you can find plenty of better Pokemon to fit that role. This electrifying duo has some interesting tricks, but their real strength is only usable in very specific situations. | |
Items[edit]
- Paralyze Heal: Hidden at the center of the pit in the skate park.
- Super Potions (x3): Reached via grind rail at the right end of the skate park, reached via grind rail north of Rising Star Hamish, hidden in the rock to the left of previously mentioned grind rail.
- Great Ball: At the southeastern end of the grass patch below Twins Faith and Joy, down a narrow path.
- Honey (x3): Given to you by Trevor
- Oran Berry: Drops from the berry tree that can be reached via the grind rail down the incline.
- TM01 Hone Claws: Reached via dented grind rail at the northwest portion of the route.
- X Attack: At the bottom left corner of the patch of purple flowers south of Rising Star Tyson.
- Sharp Beak: At the end of the upper path that is blocked by prickly thorns. Requires Cut to reach.