Pokemon X and Y: Friend Safari Basics/Tips Guide

One of the interesting, and possibly misunderstood, additions to Pokemon X and Y is the highly social Friend Safari. The successor to Safari Zone is inherently social, but in a completely different way from smartphone games like Candy Crush Saga. The quantity of your Pokemon playing friends is not as important as their quality, or to better put it, their skill level. An early heads up, you have to finish the main game before trying this out.

After you defeat the Elite Four, you can go to Lumiose’s train station, where Professor Sycamore is waiting with a Rail Ticket to Kiloude City. At the left of the city is a house with a red roof, also pictured below. This is Friend Safari.

In Friend Safari, you can visit safaris your fellow Pokemon playing friends have made and registered. You will be able to catch three Pokemon there. Two of them are Level 30 Pokemon, and are frequently console exclusive. The third Pokemon is one of those only available in Friend Safari.

Awesome, right? But to make use of Friend Safari, you’ll need to have friends in real life, who have also finished Pokemon X and Y I mean.

Let me lay out the steps to ensure you can get a 3^rd Pokemon:

1.     When you find a fellow Pokemon player who will work with you, enter their Friend Code into your Friends List, from the 3DS Home screen. Your Friendship status should  change from Provisional to either Online or Offline.

2.     Next, you both need to have beat the Elite Four and received access to the Friend Safari.

3.     Finally, make sure your wireless is on and turn on Internet in game. If everything has gone without a hitch, you will be able to get 3 Pokemon from the Friend Safari.

Now, here are some tips to make the most out of Friend Safari:

·         Use a Pokemon with Trace as the leader. This way, you can check if the Pokemon you come across already has their Primary Ability, Secondary Ability, or Hidden Ability.

·         Give your leader the Smoke Ball, so that it can easily escape from hairy situations.

·         If you’re looking for Dittos for breeding, use Pokemon with Sturdy Ability as leaders. Sturdy will bring Dittos  down to as much as 1 HP. These Pokemon should not have any damage dealing moves. Bergmite is ideal. When the Ditto transforms it, you can easily swap it out and hit the Ditto hard. To improve your chances of catching it, try paralyzing or putting it to sleep as well.

Got any tips you’d like to share? We’ve been making Pokemon X and Y guides for a while now, feel free to share your knowledge with us below.

Source: 1, 2