Canadian Pokemon champion offers tips to turn newbies into top trainers

TORONTO – The success of “Pokemon Go” turned casual gamers on to the monster hunting craze, and some may be interested in making the jump to the big time. With the recent release of “Pokemon Sun” and “Pokemon Moon” on the Nintendo 3DS, Calgary native and 2015 North American champion Bennett Piercy has some tips to turn newbies into top trainers.

KNOW YOUR ENEMY

Sure, your Torracat may have burned his way through the opposition, but throw him out against a water-breathing Wartortle and you are just asking for trouble. It’s imperative to know what type of Pokemon you are fighting and counter it accordingly. Some strategies are obvious, like sending a water-based critter against a fire-based opponent, but some strategies might surprise you.

“Some of the strategies are obscure, like a psychic type is good against a poison type,” Piercy said. “You probably wouldn’t have guessed that.”

STATS MATTER

When your Pokemon is victorious, it gains some of the attributes for a defeated Pokemon. If you pay attention to what kind of stats you gain after downing a certain foe, you can figure out who to fight to build the Pokemon you want.

GET ON THE NET

Making friends with other Pokemon enthusiasts has benefits beyond arguing whether Mewtwo is cooler than Arceus. Piercy says playing head-to-head online against friends is a great way to practise and experiment with your roster. And for those interested in competitive play, registering with the Pokemon Trainer Club will give you access to an event locator that shows you where tournaments are taking place around the world.

MOVE MASTER

Each Pokemon comes equipped with an impressive array of abilities, but you can teach them new moves as you progress through the game. Some moves will become available as a Pokemon levels, but you can also find new abilities while exploring.

“Sometimes the moves they have when you catch them at first aren’t as good as the moves you can teach them,” Piercy says.

VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF TRAINING

With about 800 known Pokemon to date, the number of options for building a winning roster might seem overwhelming. Piercy says it’s important to practice with ones you like, and build a varied team.

“Catch a whole bunch of Pokemon, see which ones are interesting and which ones have different types so you have a lot of variety,” Piercy says. “That will help you beat a lot of Pokemon.”

For the record, Piercy says his favourite Pokemon is Nidoqueen, a ground- and poison-based Pokemon that helped him down his foes en route to the North American championship.