Level 1 Dungeon Guide

Level 1 Dungeon guide



Red/Blue Rescue Team

There are three level 1 dungeons in Red and Blue:

Wish Cave, where you go to recruit Jirachi, and make wishes (only before recruiting Jirachi, recruitment will make Jirachi not grant any more wishes)

Joyous Tower, where the main thing of note is the multitude of pokemon ONLY found here, like Ponyta, Chansey, and many starters

Purity Forest, the games "Ultimate" dungeon. You must enter alone, with no items or money.



Every one of these dungeons is 99 floors long, and you can bring items, partners, and recruit pokemon in Wish Cave and Joyous Tower. Purity Forest, you must go in completely alone with nothing.



Wish Cave

This is the first Level 1 dungeon you'll come across. You can bring friends with here, as well as items and money. Some evolution items are only found here, very rarely in shops. This is the only way to get a Leaf Stone or King's Rock. You can find an extra Wish Stone somewhere around floor 50 or so, but I can't remember exactly where. The main reward here is the Jirachi OR the wishes they can grant. The first visit cannot go past floor 20, because you need to do a rescue on that floor. After that then you can go the full 99 floors.


Joyous Tower

There's no huge reward at the end of this dungeon, but you have a ton of starters and exclusive pokemon to recruit here. If you want them all, you'll be making many trips in, recruiting 3 pokemon, and Escaping with an orb. Bring a Friend Bow, since your level won't help recruit at all.


Purity Forest

Hopefully you're used to Level 1 dungeons by now, because this will put you to the test. The reward is Celebi, but the RNG is out to get you. Tips are listed below




WISH CAVE GUIDE: (This assumes a team of Kecleon/Charizard/Wooper)


Floor 1-17: Just fully explore the floor with your Tight Belt on, nothing here can kill Kecleon, unless Togepi magically randoms Dragon Rage. Use your default attack on a lot of stuff to conserve PP. Grab up all the money and items you can. Switch Exclusive Move User on for all members.

Floor 18-19: The Skarmory Floors. Using a linked move on these nets you 498 Exp, FAR more than anything else. Beware of Machop, it knows Leer, and after a bunch of uses, Skarmory becomes dangerous. Try to sit near a Wonder Tile. Swinub is a nonissue. Just farm exp here as long as possible, leaving only after the wind blows twice. You'll need to switch Item Master off on Wooper to make it use its linked move, but be sure that Charizard/Wooper are set to only use their linked move. After they attack, switch places and finish the bird off with Gravelerocks or your default attack. Don't worry about the moves delinking from lack of PP, linked moves aren't important for those 2 anymore. At floor 20, i can usually get my team to level 16 Kecleon, level 14 Charizard, and level 17 Wooper.

Floor 21-45: Nothing here is a major threat. Abra gives decent Exp, but it warps away at the drop of a hat, and has high stats. It doesn't have actual attacks though. If you see thorns and spikes laying around, grab them. Sticks, let Wooper pick up. Buy up all the Max Elixers you can and use them, and maybe buy a Reviver Seed or 2 if you can. Get all items on floor here.

Floor 46-50: Kadabra spawns here, the first huge threat. Gives fantastic exp, but is a very high level, can deal a lot of damage from far away. Generally spawn asleep, so watch out. Take them out with Gravelerocks. Floor 50 has the Wish Stone, but only if you don't have one on hand or in storage, good to know if you lost it somehow.

Floor 50-55: Dugtrio and Electrode are the threats here. Dugtrio has Magnitude, and Electrode has Screech, which is deadly if you run into Hitmonlee, and Sonicboom, a heavily damaging attack. If you're feeling gutsy, you can use linked moves to knock out Electrode. This nets you 696 EXP, more than anything in the dungeon.

Floor 56-81: A lot of enemies can poison you here. Outside that, it's not too bad. If an enemy wants to join, let them, but turn Item Master off for them, and set them to only use attacking moves. Beware of Porygon2 at floor 70 to 84, it has Psybeam

Floors 81-90: Shuppet appears in the walls from 81-84f. Beware of all red spots on your map, these guys can use Spite. By this point, you should have a spare Link Box found on the floor, and Kecleon should be hitting level 24, getting Screech. Delete Thief for Screech, and link it with fury Swipes. This destroys EVERYTHING in the dungeon

Floors 91:98. The home stretch, just beware of Dusclops, it'll lower your PP with Pressure, and Scizor, who knows Agility

Floor 99: Piece of cake. Screech+Fury Swipes=win. Wish for something good, but make sure you have all Unown and max rank if you want to be guaranteed to get a new recruit.


If you want a more sure way of doing it, there's a way to manipulate the dungeon layout itself! Look here! https://pastebin.com/3JGKaDbw






General strategies and tips:

Two pokemon stand above all else here. Alakazam AND Kecleon. Alakazam's high level 1 stats will carry you through the first half of the dungeon, but due to slow level gain and very poor learnset, running away becomes your only option. Kecleon has a much greater learnset, but cannot Teleport. Despite this, it levels FAST, at about twice the speed of Alakazam AND gets Fury Swipes and Psybeam. You can actually fight back with Kecleon. The downside? At best, you have a 1/1000 recruit rate for Kecleon, whereas Alakazam only needs a Solar Cave Abra, much easier to get than a Kecleon.


Alakazam gives faster, more dangerous runs. Kecleon gives slower, but safer runs.


For Wish Cave and Joyous Tower, bring a Frustration TM. This deals a flat 45 damage for every hit. It'll be your best attack if you take Alakazam. Also, be sure to bring 99 Gravelrocks, 20 damage really adds up per throw in these dungeons.


For Wish Cave and Joyous Tower, bring a Warp Scarf and Pass Scarf. Equip the Warp Scarf at the beginning of every floor, and hold A+B until you warp to the room with the stairs. Once you get to the room, equip the Pass Scarf, you don't want to warp AWAY from the stairs. It drains your hunger when you get attacked, but it's a small price to pay for saving your life. For Purity Forest, pray you find a Warp Scarf.


For Wish Cave/Joyous Tower, if an enemy wants to join, let them, but turn Item Master OFF for them and turn ON Exclusive Move User, and set them to only use attack moves. You can use these pokemon as meat shields, saving you HP and PP. If you come across a Link Box, you can even link their attacks, netting you bonus Exp and increasing your chances.


For Wish Cave, hang around on the Skarmory floors as long as you can, floors 18 and 19. These give far greater EXP than anything else in the whole dungeon. If you can get ahold of a Link Box, and get an ally to fight with a linked move on this mon, you can get nearly 500 EXP from one KO. You can get a few extra levels this way! Skarmory is bulky though, so bring a Huge Apple and some Max Elixers from outside the dungeon to stay on these floors as long as you can!


If you get cornered and your Warp Scarf hasn't warped you, don't hesitate to Teleport away, assuming you use Alakazam.


Don't bother using Ginsengs in Purity Forest, you'll never be able to beat pokemon later on in a fair fight using Alakazam, and if you're going to lose anyways, it's probably best to try and bring one out of the dungeon when you get KO'd.


Around Floor 40 or so, you'll be dealing so little damage that even your moves will hit for about 1-2 damage, if you use Alakazam. When this happens, you know it's time to run. Get used to it, you'll be running for the rest of the dungeon. If you take Kecleon, it should be another story entirely.


BEWARE OF PARASECT! This cannot be stated enough. Found in Purity Forest from floor 80 to the end, this is the mon that'll end your run if you get near it, or even in the same room. If you Teleport next to it, accept your fate, because you're pretty much dead. Its Spore will put you to sleep from across the room, and its Leech Life will 1-2 shot you, assuming Alakazam. I have yet to see how good Kecleon is in Purity Forest, so I do not know how well it survives Parasect.


Expect Monster Houses, and plan accordingly. Use Petrify and Warp Orbs, and if you don't have these, Teleport out and keep running until you get to the stairs. If the House was in the stairs room, run away to draw the enemies away and try Teleporting back into it. If you use Kecleon, make sure to hang onto some Warp Seeds, so you can warp away.


There are nearly no Reviver Seeds in Purity Forest, so don't count on them. They have a very tiny chance of spawning in Kecleon Shops before floor 90 (1% chance!) so you should always approach floors with extreme caution.


Floors 91-98 in Purity Forest have very good items, but they're extremely difficult to get, especially with Parasects running around.


An okay tactic is to bring TWO Frustration TM's into Wish Cave, use them both, and a Link Box as well to link them together. With this setup, you deal 90 damage in one turn AND get bonus exp. The only downside is you need to eat more, but Apples seem really plentiful in these dungeons.


One tactic when your partners are low on PP in Wish Cave AND you have many Reviver Seeds, is to KILL THEM with Sticks, forcing them to revive with full PP. This is useful when you find a Reviver Seed on the floor with a full inventory, because all you lose are a few throwing items. Just be SURE Item Master is checked for them, or you kill them and lose a party member.


Wish Cave has Huge Apples EVERYWHERE. You can forego bringing a Huge Apple into the dungeon because of this, to make room for a more useful item. You'll end up with a max of 200 hunger fast.


NEVER GIVE UP! You might get a couple unlucky runs before you get an amazing run.




Questions

Q: Help! Where do I find Alakazam?
A: You must recruit an Abra from the Solar Cave. Bring Xray Specs and a Friend bow. Abra only spawns asleep, so don't bother chasing moving red dots. Abra joins at level 16, the perfect level to evolve it at. You can find a Link Cable where you'd find an HM later in the dungeon, provided you have that HM in storage.

Q: What does "Something good!" mean from wishing with Jirachi?
A: It can up your Rescue Rank, which does pretty much nothing but give you a Lucario statue at max rank, or recruit a random non legendary pokemon, barring Kecleon. If you're going to use this method to get some of the later Joyous Tower pokemon, BE SURE TO RECRUIT ALL UNOWN BEFORE THIS. I went through all 99 floors, wished for "Something Good", and an Unown joined my team. Don't do what I did, RECRUIT ALL THE UNOWN.

Q: I can't beat Jirachi! Any tips?
A: Bring a Frustration TM, and use only that move against it. Bring Reviver Seeds as well, Doom Desire makes Jirachi hit hard. And be sure it doesn't KO itself with Double-Edge.

Q: What items can I find in Purity Forest?
A: Pretty much everything that isn't Reviver Seeds and HM's.

Q: Is it possible to beat the pokemon later on in a fair fight without Frustration?
A: Using Alakazam? Nope. Zam levels so slowly and gets so little in stat increases that by floor 40 or so, you're screwed. If you use Kecleon? You can absolutely fight back, Kecleon levels so much faster, and gets so much more in the way of moves and stats.

Q: Jirachi keeps giving me unevolved pokemon. Can you even recruit fully evolved mons like this?
A: You can get pokemon that will otherwise never join outside evolution like this, like Rapidash. The game prioritizes unevolved pokemon though.







Explorers of Sky


This game has 4 Level 1 dungeons. Alakazam is nowhere as good anymore, don't even think of trying them. Recruitment is not allowed in any of these dungeons.


Zero Isle East
The easiest of the Level 1 dungeons. 40 floors, you can bring 4 teammates in, and you can bring 16 items in. There are 3 locked doors, on floors 15, 20, and 40. Bring some Keys.

Zero Isle West
Like East, but no items allowed. There are many locked doors here, you'll have to try finding keys.

Zero Isle South
This is like Purity Forest, with a few differences. You still enter all alone at level 1 with no items or money, but there are locked rooms, and Kecleon Shops from floors 90-98 sell the rarest items in the game. You'll have to steal them, as you'll almost never have enough money, unless you found like 5 Gold Ribbons to sell. 99 floors here, but you can find Reviver Seeds in here. Overall easier than Purity Forest, in my opinion.

Destiny Tower
The most hellish thing in Pokemon, bar none. You enter all alone at level 1 without items or money, 99 floors, no Reviver Seeds, and even if you found any, all your IQ skills are useless, meaning you couldn't even use them. Using your default attack on traps won't reveal them, Grudge Traps warp EVERYTHING on the floor to you, and if you use a move to KO them, you lose all of that move's PP. All TM's are in Kecleon Shops, meaning you must rely on your learnset, don't count on getting a TM. To top all of this off, you cannot ask for a rescue. Pray you find a Warp Scarf.




Grinding in ZIS:

One rough bit of ZIS is there isn't a set of floors that jump out as great grinding floors like Wish Cave in RT and the Skarmory Floors. So below are a list of high exp pokemon that have a low threat level.

Seadra: Only the early floors, but worth many times more exp than other pokemon on those floors. Killing some of these is a good way to start off runs.
Marill: Low hp, and not too threatening. There are pokemon on Marill's floors worth more exp, but those are much more dangerous pokemon
Volbeat: Worth about as much as Marill, but a bit more annoying with Flash/Double Team. If you want to farm them, be sure you're near a Wonder Tile
Sunflora: 220 exp if KO'd with a move, and low hp. Not a big threat, although the Drifloon on those floors are.
Meganium: Found in the upper 20's, it's worth 299 exp, but can use Poisonpowder. A good grind choice if you're immune to that.
Manectric: Floors 36-3X, worth 352-365 exp. Beware of Spark, however
Magnezone: Floors 36-3X, although that typing may be an issue for non ground types
Tauros: Floors 36-3X, 266 exp
Poliwrath: Floors 38- 414 exp. Great exp, but has Hypnosis, so you may want an insomniscope



General Tips


Levels do more than increase stats. A level 10 pokemon with 30 Attack will hit for less damage than a level 15 pokemon with 30 Attack. Even if you feel your levelups are awful, they're still worth working for! Most people don't know level itself can affect your damage instead of only your stats. This makes pokemon that level quickly even more usable.


Some of the best Pokemon for these dungeons? Smoochum is one of them. It gets Powder Snow, one of the best room attacks in the game, Sweet Kiss to incapacitate enemies so you can run, a decent STAB in Confusion, and Lick for Ghosts. This is the ideal moveset, I've found. Enemies later on have Nonsleeper, so Sing is nearly pointless. On top of this, Smoochum has Forewarn, which helps it dodge moves, even sure hit ones like Swift. I've found out lately that Drifblim is even better though. Unburden lets you attack twice using 1PP, doubling your move usage and offense. You don't even need a hold item, and it's far and away the deadliest pokemon in the whole game, in every situation.


If you get trapped, or can't seem to get past a dangerous enemy in a room, don't panic. Look carefully at your moves and items, and see what you can do before you try fighting. Normally bad items like the Pounce Orb are perfect for escaping.


Some runs are just doomed due to lack of necessary items. Don't lose heart, and keep trying!


For Zero Isle East and West, bring along a Weezing, Octillery, and Mew. Weezing has high stats for level 1, Octillery has many ranged attacks, and Mew learns every TM. Mew is also a good choice for these dungeons, excluding Destiny Tower.


Think you're going to be cool and bring Kecleon in, who has absurd stats outside these dungeons? Think again. This pokemon has 1 in EVERY stat, even HP, needs 10k+ for one level, and gets only +1 HP every level until around level 30. Beating any dungeon like that is likely impossible.


Try to save Joy Seeds until you're around level 15-18, and chow down to maximize the gain from them. It's better to eat them later when levels are 4k+ as opposed to when they're 1k.


Don't hesitate to eat any vitamins and Life Seeds you find.


Rest is a good move to fill up a free moveslot with. It recovers all HP, and acts like a free Heal Seed, even unsealing moves sealed by traps.


Save Stun/X-Eye/Warp/Pure seeds for emergencies. They just might mean the difference between a success and getting crit killed by a Scizor on a late floor. Such emergencies involve hitting a Grudge Trap, or walking into a Monster House without a good Orb.


Keep an Invisify Orb and Vanish Seed on hand if possible. These make you invisible, and enemies will not attack you if invisible. This can save your life in a Monster House.


If you find a Ginseng, use it on Powder Snow assuming you're using Smoochum, but be sure to shift that move to the top of the list first.


The Pass and Warp Scarf are run savers. Find these, and you're pretty much golden. Pokemon that couldn't make it to the end normally can get to the end with these. Explore every floor thoroughly until about floor 30-40, the items you find here will help you progress. Even past that, you may want to search around more, extra levels from Joy Seeds go a long way


Damp is a helpful ability to have, try to bring one to East/West.


Fire types take less damage from explosions.


Despite IQ bring more or less useless, if you find Gummis, only in Monster Houses, eat them, they could boost a stat. The fact they're only in Monster Houses means if you see an enemy has grabbed a Gummi, you'll know the House is around


If you use Drifblim, use Minimize at least three times per floor later on, more if needed. Due to Unburden, this equals out to +6 Evasion of up to +10, upping your chances greatly.


This is a tip that works for EVERY game, even Super Mystery Dungeon. Always keep Gravelrocks on hand. These dungeons have poor visability in hallways, and an enemy can easily get the jump on you in them. On deeper floors, if there's a long stretch of hallway, throw a Gravelrock down it. If there's an enemy within 10 steps in front of you, it'll fly in an arc and hit them, giving their location away to you. If there isn't, it'll fall on the floor a couple tiles in front of you. This is a great way to detect if an enemy is coming your way in dark halls!




List of Pokemon to BEWARE of
-Seadra: Found on the very first floors, if you started with a pokemon low in stats, this pokemon will be basically unkillable without Gravelrocks. Run into one of these with those mons, and try to run or reset and hope you can level up off other mons. Poison Point's pretty bad too.

-Chinchou: Illuminate and Supersonic are the main danger on the early floors. It's not uncommon to get trapped between one and another enemy in a hall, being forced to wait until confusion runs out. You could use one of these to help grind exp if you're feeling gutsy.

-Glameow: Fake Out can and will end runs prematurely. One of the heavy hitters on early floors.

-Ninjask: You don't want to hang around them very long. Bug Bite can eat your Reviver or Joy Seeds on you!

-Drifloon and Drifblim: Floors 2X-25/ Unburden means they attack twice every turn, hitting twice as hard as anything else on the floor. They also have a chance to blow up when KO'd.

-Skorupi and Drapion: Pin Missile and Bite, these things can end a run prematurely. Steer clear.

-Stunky and Skuntank: Exploding skunks halve your health and destroy nearby items. Take these out from afar with room attacks or throwing items. Worth good exp but you should keep away anyways

-Cacnea: Pin Missile. Weak to Powder Snow, so not as bad as the rest of the list.
-Probopass: Has a sure hit attack in Magnet Bomb and a very good typing. Try to take them out before they can use it.

-Bronzor and Bronzong: No weaknesses, utterly ABSURD HP (Bronzor has about 80+ HP on floor 18!), and Hypnosis/Imprison/Confuse Ray. Avoid, or find a way around these.

-Masquerain: OMINOUS WIND. On the floors these are on, I'd use Powder Snow or another room attack if possible if you can't see what enemy a red dot is in a large room.

-Ledian: SILVER WIND. Found around floors 85 to 90 or Destiny Tower

-Scizor: Technician Bullet Punch? And on top of that they can hit you before you see them in a hallway? This is a horrible combo for you to fight, unless your pokemon resists Steel. Floors 85-90 of Destiny Tower.

-Solrock and Lunatone: Both have Rock Polish and Rock Throw, Solrock has Fire attacks. Pass Scarf can protect you from rocks.

-All ghosts that go through walls: Found on later floors, they can really put a dent in you. Duskull has Shadow Sneak, Shuppet has Spite, and Mismagius as well. Try to plan accordingly, moves like Thunderbolt will hit them in walls.

-Porygon-Z and Porygon2: Porygon-Z has absurd HP for being around floor 15 and has Trick Room and Adaptability Tackle, and Porygon2 is found at the end, but has Agility. This can undo an entire Monster House's Petrify status should one walk in

-Piloswine and Mamoswine: Not as bad as the rest, but Mud Bomb can lower your accuracy, which can spell doom.

NEVER GIVE UP!