Flora Sky Complement Dex FAQ

Flora Sky (Complement Dex) FAQ

Q: What is this game?
A: Pokémon Flora Sky, it's a pretty old Emerald hack that was initially released in June 2009 (!)

Q: Are you playing on emulator?
A: Yes, Bizhawk.

Q: What does "complement dex" mean?
A: There are two versions of Flora Sky - Main and Complement Dex. It's a bit unclear what the exact differences are, but the starters are different in both versions, as well as the encounters and most of the trainer teams.

As a result, the routes of each version are extremely different!

Q: Is this glitchless?
A: Nope. This route (which sets it apart from the Main Version) uses the mail glitch in order to duplicate Rare Candies!

Q: What Pokemon do you use in the run?
A: Quite a few!

I will start with Squirtle - it is only chosen because it gets the three required water HMs. I will not manip it as it's only used for the initial wild battle plus the first rival fight.

I will almost immediately manip a Pidgey (yes, a Pidgey lol) which will be used to beat the first Gym (fighting type) as well as swap train with the next main to level it up. Pidgey has a Lonely nature with decent Attack IV (23). It does a pretty solid job! On the same route I will catch something random (Bidoof, Poochyena, or Gothita) to fill out my party. Bidoof is nice because it gets some HM moves but it's not required. I might create a chain manip for one off the Pidgey, we'll see lol

Next I will manip a Bellsprout - another odd choice. Bellsprout has a Jolly nature which allows it to outspeed a lot of things, and is female which allows it to avoid Cute Charm/Attract in the second Gym. Bellsprout/Weepinbell has very solid Attack and Special Attack, plus it gets Growth (+2 Sp. Atk per use) which is very good. However, the main reason it is used is because it is the quickest mon to acquire the move Knock Off for the mail glitch. Weepinbell learns it at L25 and Bellsprout is caught at L10, so it does a fair amount of battling.

I will next manip a Trubbish (lmao) because it comes with Recycle right away for the mail glitch. This one was tricky to find as Trubbish's second ability is Sticky Hold, which prevents Knock off from knocking off the mail. It's not used at all other than the double battle.

My final team member will be my main after the mail glitch is set up - an old favourite - Drilbur! I manip one with a Lonely nature, 23 Atk IV, and it rips through the game. I will dupe Candies 84 times and it's caught at L15 - yes I immediately bring it to L100.

Going to L100 is faster than Candying to a lower level - while it takes more time to dupe the Candies and Excadrill gains more levels overall, you save 16 or so turns in battle, skip picking up a couple of items, and most critically you don't gain any EXP. Excadrill fights 235 mons in the run, which amounts to about 5 1/2 minutes saved alone. I initially duped only 30 times, but going to L100 saves about a minute, plus makes the run more consistent.

Immediately its moveset will be Earthquake, Metal Claw, Slash, and Rapid Spin. Rapid Spin is highly useful in the first bunch of fights despite its 20 BP - it has high PP, is 100% accurate, doesn't have a high crit chance, and hits most things for neutral damage (overall saving some time in battle). I later replace Slash with Brick Break and then Rapid Spin with Rock Slide (which must be taught via move tutor). No Iron Head sadly, and Iron Tail is too inaccurate to be worth it.

Q: Any hard fights?
A: Some annoying fights with Bellsprout which it can get Sand Attack, and the first Sky fight can be scary for Pidgey if he crits. Funny enough, the first fight for Pidgey is a bit scary as well. Drilbur has next to no issues, unless it misses Rock Slide on the Fire E4's Charizard and Charizard crits.

Q: What is the WR?
A: My old Main version run (which starts with Chimchar and uses it the whole run) which I did 5 years ago got a 4:19:30

Q: Are you going to run back the Main version as well? Any differences in that route?
A: Eventually - unfortunately getting Knock Off and Recycle is not worth it - way too slow, so the route will largely remain the same. One major change will be the first gym - similar to the CD run, I will use a manipped Starly for a bit. Starly is much better as it gets Wing Attack and has better Attack then Pidgey. I'll switch back to Chimchar after the Gym. Shoutouts to HunarPG for coming up with this idea a few years ago.

Q: Goal time?
A: I honestly have no clue how fast the Complement Dex run can be - but I expect it to easily beat my current main version PB/WR. Maybe somewhere in the 4:10-4:12 range - this run has a ton of boring Team Magma/Aqua fights so it is quite long.