Smeargle 101

[catela]

Smeargle 101

Credits: some info is from other guides, some things I found out by myself ~

Smeargle is awesome for utility and breeding. Why?

• Breeding
  

Remember: all possible Egg Moves and Move Tutor Moves from Generations 2-5, and Moves obtained from Leveling, TM/HM Moves from Generation 3 can be inherited!! (Source: Kyu).

Smeargle can learn ALL moves there are without ever seeing TMs or HMs or move tutors or gaining any moves of its own from leveling up. It’s an artist, the only Pokemon that knows “Sketch”. If we look at its egg group we’ll see Field. Lucky for us the field egg group is the largest there is. What does that mean? We can easily breed all species-possible moves on the wanted Pokemon via a male Smeargle, as long as it’s in the same egg group.

Direct method: Pokemon that can directly breed with Smeargle (Male Smeargle+Female see below)

List copied from https://forums.pokemmo.eu/index.php?/topic/25699-official-pokemmo-breeding-guide/

Use Strg+F to search a Pokemon name.

Rattata

Raticate
Sandshrew
Sandslash
Vulpix
Ninetales
Diglett
Dugtrio
Meowth
Persian
Mankey
Primeape
Growlithe
Arcanine
Ponyta
Rapidash
Tauros
Eevee
Vaporeon
Jolteon
Flareon
Cyndaquil
Quilava
Typhlosion
Sentret
Furret
Aipom
Espeon
Umbreon
Girafarig
Dunsparce
Sneasel
Teddiursa
Ursaring
Swinub
Piloswine
Houndour
Houndoom
Phanpy
Donphan
Stantler
Smeargle
Miltank
Torchic
Combusken
Blaziken
Poochyena
Mightyena
Zigzagoon
Linoone
Slakoth
Vigoroth
Slaking
Electrike
Manectric
Numel
Camerupt
Torkoal
Spoink
Grumpig
Zangoose
Kecleon
Absol

In Field and another Egg Group:

Ekans

Arbok
Pikachu
Raichu
Nidoran♀
Nidoran♂
Nidorino
Nidoking
Psyduck
Golduck
Farfetch'd
Seel
Dewgong
Rhyhorn
Rhydon
Mareep
Flaaffy
Ampharos
Wooper
Quagsire
Snubbull
Granbull
Delibird
Seedot
Nuzleaf
Shiftry
Whismur
Loudred
Exploud
Skitty
Delcatty
Mawile
Wailmer
Wailord
Spinda
Seviper
Spheal
Sealeo
Walrein

Indirect Method: chain breeding

https://forums.pokem...-group-bridges/
https://forums.pokem...reeding-chains/

I talked to some friends and team mates and noticed that some breeding knowledge got seriously neglected.

As most of you know it speeds breeding up if we own a, dare I say godly, male Pokémon of an egg group. In the best case it got the most wanted moves - or nowadays we can rely on the females for those egg moves.

In the long run it’s certainly better to afford a godly ditto, but if you can’t better buy a godly male Smeargle. They are pretty cheap, except you want like 6x31.

Smeargle is field egg group and can give its IVs to other egg groups via bridges. Mentioning the most common and direct ones only, and thus most likely to be available with good IVs.

Field-> Fairy: Pikachu, Snubbull
Field-> Water 1: Wooper, Spheal
Field-> Dragon: Ekans
Field-> Monster: Nidoran m, Ryhorn, Mareep
Field-> Flying: Farfetch’d
Field-> Human-like: Spinda
Field-> Water 2: Wailmer (NYI)
Field-> Water 3: Wooper, Spheal-> Kabuto, Omanyte
Field-> Mineral: Pikachu-> Snorunt
Field-> Grass: Seedot (NYI); Nidoran m, Rhyhorn, Mareep-> Bulbasaur or Wooper, Spheal-> Lotad.
Field-> Bug: Wooper, Spheal-> Surskit
Field-> Amorphous: Pikachu -> Castform (NYI)

Example: A godly Shroomish without a great Ditto. Shroomish is fairy egg group, it can be bred with a Pikachu that got its IVs from a godly Smeargle. It’s only necessary to buy a female Shroomish with decent IVs.


I always combine breeding bridges with breeding comps, which means the unneeded natures get a purpose.

FAQ:

Q: The male got weird moves, I’m afraid my pokemon will inherit the wrong ones!
A: If you’re really worried you can collect some mushroom from Paras, go to Island 2 and make the male relearn starter moves like Tail Whip or Tackle.


Q: But how do we get the moves on Smeargle?
There are various methods, but I'll only introduce the most reliable one, NPC Double Battles. First check out the move you want to sketch and which Pokemon has it. Let's say we want Wish. According to Bulbapedia a way would be Natu. It learns Wish at Level 30. You have to own this pokemon with the wanted move.

NPC Double Battles

Double battles can be found in the following locations:

Route 8 - Fly to Saffronia City and then leave from the eastern (right) gate, follow the route until you see those twins.


Route 12 - Fly to Lavendia Town and then go down the bridge path until you find that couple standing close to the water.


Route 14 - Fly to Fuchsia City and then leave from the eastern (right) gate, follow the path until you see those two.


Route 16 - Fly to Celadon City and go to the west (left), follow the path, leave the town, until you see a bush to be cut. Cut it, go on and you will soon see this couple.


And more

route 15 ron & mya

route 19 lia & luc
route 21 lil & ian
isle 1 kindle road mik & kia
isle 3 bond brigde joy & meg
isle 6 water path miu & mia
isle 6 outcast island ava & geb
isle 7 canyon entrance eve & jon
isle 7 sevault canyon lex & nya

Advantages: Total 13 Trainers are available every single day.

Disadvantages: You have to own a Pokemon with the move you want to sketch.

Details: Put your Smeargle with Sketch and the Pokemon with the move you want sketch in the first two slots.
If your Smeargle is slower than your other Pokemon: Use Sketch during first turn.
If Smeargle is faster: Equip Smeargle with a Macho Brace before battle. Or if you sketched another move before use this move. If all else fails (e.g. Smeargle is Lv. 100) you can let it get hurt beforehand and use a potion during first turn.

Sketch your wanted move with Smeargle. If you fail sketching log off if you want to try again at the same NPC. If you succeed defeat the NPC. Get 2 small mushrooms or 1 big one from Mt. Moon.

Here's Mt. Moon.

Enter the cave and follow this red line.

Only Paras will appear there. Use a low level Smeargle (max Lv. 12) with Thief/Covet. Done? Fly to Island 2 and go into the first house on the bottom right. There will be a man who wants mushrooms, in return he’ll re-teach a move to any Pokemon. Show him Smeargle, re-learn Sketch and choose an empty slot. Repeat all those steps until you have the wanted moves on your Smeargle.


The same rules apply for the following moves, but there are still a few differences...

Special move: Baton Pass. (modified ~ thanks londar)
In order to sketch Baton Pass you can use the following trick. Get a pokemon with Baton Pass, in my case it’s my Lv36 Eevee. Add your Smeargle. Only take those 2 Pokemon with you!

Go into a double NPC battle. Use Baton Pass, it will fail.


Special move: Substitute.
In order to sketch Substitute do the following: with your Substitute pokemon enter a random battle against some random pokemon and get its HP down until it can't use Substitute anymore. Enter a double battle (see above) with it and your Smeargle. If you use Substitute now it will fail and Smeargle can sketch without worries.



Special move: Explosion.

• Utility
  

Smeargle has a nice movepool - hehe I mean it has an endless move pool. Thus you can make your perfect pokemon for important things outside of comp play... catching wild pokemon, obtaining money, ... Now that Thief/Covet got nerfed a Lv100 smeargle is virtually useless - at least if it has said moves. But what are the alternatives? Here examples of what people usually let their Smeargle sketch.

Payday ~ use payday on high level pokemon to net $$$ related to the opponent's level. Lv. 12 = 120 $, Level 20 = 200 $, Level 45 = 450 $ ...

Spore ~ the only sleeping status move that has 100% accuracy, go for it!

False Swipe~ ideal for catching any pokemon. Maybe Superfang as an alternative for tough opponents.

Thief/Covet ~ steal items from wild pokemon without catching them. Since the last update the item will be destroyed when the pokemon that holds it is much weaker.

Softboiled ~ I think this would be ideal if you EV train farther away from a poke center and your pokemon tends to get hurt. The super rich probably aren't bothered by the extra item cost, but there will be some who are. Also, EV train your Smeargle for HP heh

Dig~ escape rope

Most often needed HMS (Surf, Fly, Strength, Cut) ~ especially recommended for alt runs.

• Battle
  

Please refer to this guide.

• Useful links
  

https://www.smogon.com/ingame/guides/how_to_sketch


*//END//*

[londark]

 

Details: Put your Smeargle with Sketch and the Pokemon with the move you want sketch in the first two slots.

If your Smeargle is faster than your 2nd Pokemon: Use Sketch during first turn.

If it’s slower: Use an item during first turn. Or if you sketched another move before use this move.

 

 

 

Just a note,

if Smeargle is Faster than your second Poke use Sketch during the second round ( or give macho Brace to Smeargle to lower its Speed )

 

(Round 1

Smeargle does something random ( NO Sketch )

Other Poke uses the move to Sketch

Round 2

Smeargle uses Sketch and get the move used in round 1 by your second Poke)

 

if Smeargle is Slower than your second Poke use Sketch during the first round 

 

(Round 1

Your Second Poke uses the move you want to Sketch

Smeargle uses Sketch and gets the move)

 

Nice guide 

[MashPotatoes]

Nice guide, pretty useful. I always keep missing the chance to get a good smeargle.

[Utsuki]

Not sure if you want to cover this in your guide, but what moves do people teach to their utility Smeargle, now that Covet was horribly nerfed?

 

It used to be Spore + Covet + Payday + False Swipe for those who wanted to farm money/thief/catch (though i never used Covet), so which move should replace Covet? ;o

[SupremeTruth]

Not sure if you want to cover this in your guide, but what moves do people teach to their utility Smeargle, now that Covet was horribly nerfed?

 

It used to be Spore + Covet + Payday + False Swipe for those who wanted to farm money/thief/catch (though i never used Covet), so which move should replace Covet? ;o

 

thief 

[OldKeith]

Not sure if you want to cover this in your guide, but what moves do people teach to their utility Smeargle, now that Covet was horribly nerfed?

 

It used to be Spore + Covet + Payday + False Swipe for those who wanted to farm money/thief/catch (though i never used Covet), so which move should replace Covet? ;o

trick

[teekey]

trick

From:

https://forums.pokemmo.eu/index.php?/topic/32912-changelog-14102013

Skills

• (PvE/PvP) TRICK will always behave temporarily in PvE/PvP.

 

So its not good replacer

 

Better keep Thief dark is better than normal.

 

 

And to be honest i wouldnt make payday/false swipe smeargle:

If you cant ohko poke with payday you lose another turn for reuse it (plus you lose another PP) so you lose time you could spend on hitting another pokemon for another payday bonus. With 20 Atk base he cant ohko most pokemons that payday persina/fearow could easly. So if you want farm money - and dont lose time its not good option.

Same with Spore+False Swipe. Low Atk make him have to atk several times before you hit 1hp on poke. Sure here time isnt so essential like in Pay day, but wouldnt be great to get there in 1-2 hits? With 130 atk Breloom is perfect for this task. Sure dont get stab, but with 110 Atk different its not a problem. Only thing that Smeargle overtake Breloom in hunting ability is possibility to have Mean Look - but in time no pokemon runs - its pointless.

[AlateaOlwyn]

From:
https://forums.pokemmo.eu/index.php?/topic/32912-changelog-14102013


So its not good replacer

Better keep Thief dark is better than normal.


And to be honest i wouldnt make payday/false swipe smeargle:
If you cant ohko poke with payday you lose another turn for reuse it (plus you lose another PP) so you lose time you could spend on hitting another pokemon for another payday bonus. With 20 Atk base he cant ohko most pokemons that payday persina/fearow could easly. So if you want farm money - and dont lose time its not good option.
Same with Spore+False Swipe. Low Atk make him have to atk several times before you hit 1hp on poke. Sure here time isnt so essential like in Pay day, but wouldnt be great to get there in 1-2 hits? With 130 atk Breloom is perfect for this task. Sure dont get stab, but with 110 Atk different its not a problem. Only thing that Smeargle overtake Breloom in hunting ability is possibility to have Mean Look - but in time no pokemon runs - its pointless.

I have to disagree on a lot you are saying here. First, I would say trick is better than thief. I know it is just temporary, but you only use trick to see if a pokemon holds an item. If a pokemon indeed has one you use false swipe/spore, catch the pokemon and get the item. I think it works better than thief as you don't have to worry about the level and the chance to break the item if your pokemon is overleveled or fainting your pokemon a lot if it's not.

Second for the payday/false swipe I would say it's really useful for breeders. Most pokemon show a lot of their 30-31s at a low level (mostly 5 and 10). In order not to overlevel you need to battle lower level pokemon, which smeargle can easily one hit. Same goes for many of the EVing spots. And let's be honest, we mostly carry a catcher for when we run into a shiny. For most of the locations smeargle will do just fine. More often than not people hunt for the lower level pokemon anyway. I'd agree it isn't a regular paydayer, but that's why I carry my Persian as well. (Both my Smeargle and Persian hold a silk scarf)

Another thing I'd like to say is that my smeargles never failed me during catching contests. Again because most pokemon in most locations still get onhitted. Next to that smeargles just save space as you can teach them any other (utility) move that you still need for your party. That's why main one has fly :)

[teekey]

I have to disagree on a lot you are saying here. First, I would say trick is better than thief. I know it is just temporary, but you only use trick to see if a pokemon holds an item. If a pokemon indeed has one you use false swipe/spore, catch the pokemon and get the item. I think it works better than thief as you don't have to worry about the level and the chance to break the item if your pokemon is overleveled or fainting your pokemon a lot if it's not.

 

Second for the payday/false swipe I would say it's really useful for breeders. Most pokemon show a lot of their 30-31s at a low level (mostly 5 and 10). In order not to overlevel you need to battle lower level pokemon, which smeargle can easily one hit. Same goes for many of the EVing spots. And let's be honest, we mostly carry a catcher for when we run into a shiny. For most of the locations smeargle will do just fine. More often than not people hunt for the lower level pokemon anyway. I'd agree it isn't a regular paydayer, but that's why I carry my Persian as well. (Both my Smeargle and Persian hold a silk scarf)

 

Another thing I'd like to say is that my smeargles never failed me during catching contests. Again because most pokemon in most locations still get onhitted. Next to that smeargles just save space as you can teach them any other (utility) move that you still need for your party. That's why main one has fly :)

 

Ok. Trick+catch is nice strategy. But thief, spore, teleport smeargle can shine too. With one of highest non-eve speed he can move 1st even if he is underlvl (speed EV is nice add) within thief range. If you approach poke you dont want catch - use tele, if it can have item - spore, thief and than tele. Its harder way for sure - but doable.

 

 

 

All about rest. Only reason to make smeargle payday/false swipe/spore is that you dont have spot in your party for persian and breloom. But after some point you can run with 2 pokemons, doing fine, and have plenty of space for extras - my current running team is 3 persians + breloom + smeargle HM slave + spot for egg.

 

Simple as that - smeargle can do all that work, but there are pokemons that can do it better - so why stick to it?:

Low lvl exping with payday - both smeargle/persian can do that,

EV training with payday- both can do that (although its stupidly - direct poke + macho without payday is way faster, and saved time you can spend on lvl 50+ pokes and get in 10 fights more money than from whole EV training unless you EV training lowbies),

Effective paydaying for money (lvl 45+ pokes) - only persian can do that.

 

Catch that dont have normal resist/huge def ? - both smeargle/breloom can do that

Catch that have normal resist/huge def ? - both smeargle/breloom can do that, but smeargle takes ages.

 

I cant disagree that Smeargle is unique poke that have huuuuge possibilities (like perfect thief), but later its better to replace him with specialists at their job.

 

 

 

[AlateaOlwyn]

I'm sticking with smeargle for the reasons I mentioned above. I never said I use payday smeargle to EV, I never do that unless I have to exp.share a pokemon. I just meant that the EV spot pokemon are easily one hitted in case you run into a shiny there, then just switch to smeargle. Next to that smeargle can have any other utility move to save space.

Foremost reason I use smeargle is that I'm in low level areas a lot and I don't have to switch to another pokemon if I decide to catch something or just use it to level breeds. The only times I'm paydaying anyway is when I level pokemon or wait for eggs to hatch. Besides, catching pokemon doesn't happen that much anymore. I basically only catch when I'm participating in events and again, those pokemon can mostly easily be onehitted by smeargle.

My team consists out of a Persian (pay day/return/shadow ball/dig), Smeargle (pay day/false swipe/spore/fly), Furret (surf/cut/strenght/rock smash), a pokemon to train and/or level, an egg and a free spot to help people evolve. I never feel the need for anything else as it works perfectly.

Not saying breloom shouldn't be used as catcher, but it wouldn't work for me like smeargle does as for me it's just an insurance in case I ever encounter a shiny (as if). And it's better if it has more use than just be in my party to basically never be used.

[catela]

I come back to PokeMMO and what do I hear? Breeding got killed :(

 

Depending on the outcome of the breeding update I'll decide whether to continue playing or not. Glad this guide was helpful to some of you though.

Edited January 4, 2015 by catela

[Vaeldras]

Another way to get moves in double battles would be (very risky though):

 

Send out something that can put to sleep both your foes, then switch to smeargle and the poke with the move you want to pass.

Cross your fingers and try.

Also focus band.

[Oluthon]

 

Smeargle can learn ALL moves there are without ever seeing TMs or HMs or move tutors or gaining any moves of its own from leveling up.

Actually, he cannot learn Struggle (nor Chatter, but that is almost a moot point). Just thought I would say that so people do not get confused. source

 

 

Another way to get moves in double battles would be (very risky though):

 

Send out something that can put to sleep both your foes, then switch to smeargle and the poke with the move you want to pass.

Cross your fingers and try.

Also focus band.

I did this with Murkrow and Smeargle. It isn't so bad if you can do it in a double battle the first time you fight a duo, since their Pokemon won't be as strong.

 

P.S.- Great guide, I love how much you praise Smeargle. I will be featuring this on my Team Page's Helpful Links section.

 

EDIT: By the way, catela, you may want to look into putting Odor Sleuth in the Utility Section for Smeargle. This move allows him to hit Ghost Pokemon with False Swipe, Pay Day etc.

Edited January 31, 2015 by Oluthon