Getting started

Pick a starter

You begin in Pallet Town and choose one of three. None of them is a wrong answer — type coverage matters more later than the starter does now.

Whichever you take, its type decides which of the first two gyms is easier, not which is possible.

Catch a second Pokemon quickly

Step onto Route 1 and you will meet something within a few steps. Catch it even if it looks unremarkable: a second Pokemon means a second type, and a type your starter cannot handle is exactly what will stop you.

Throw a ball when the target is low on health. Status conditions help — sleep and paralysis both raise the catch rate meaningfully.

Understand the type chart early

The single biggest source of lost battles is attacking into a resistance. The type chart is the whole system on one page, and twenty seconds with it is worth more than ten levels.

Two things to internalise now:

• Effectiveness multiplies for dual types. A Rock move into a Fire/Flying Pokemon is ×4, not ×2.
• Immunities are absolute. No amount of level makes a Normal move hit a Ghost.

Level with intent

Levelling everything evenly is slower than it looks. A team of two or three Pokemon that can each answer a different type will beat a team of six that all lose to the same thing.

Before the first gym

Check the gym's type, then check what beats it. Bring at least one Pokemon that resists what it does and hits back into its weakness.

Heal at the Pokecenter first. It is free, and arriving at a gym on half health is how a winnable fight becomes a loss.