Trainer Tower Guide

[Theonlymomo]

A short Info, there is a trainer tower in every Region. They are located in:

• Route 14 in Kanto
• Route 40 in Johto
• Route 111 in Hoehn
• Route218 in Sinnoh

Afaik there is no difference how they work, but if you need to trade with an region locked character or you want to save cash by not changing Regions it may help you.

[Momot]

Hey,

 

Since some time has passed, I want to revive this guide to give my opinion on different things that popped up during using Trainer Tower and to encourage you to give your opinion on it, too.

 

I use 2 non ideal Moxie-Gyaradoses (one LV 69 with adamant but >10 IV in Attack and one LV 39 with no good speed IV) with Gyaradossite.

Recently I also trained an pretty ideal offensive Intimidate-Gyarados.

If my Pokemon is > LV 20 I give it the Exp.Share and defeat a trainer to get it to LV 20-30.

Most times I train 5 Poke at once,

Here are the topics I want to share my experience:

 

First of, regarding all further points: Since you can access floors, for which your offensive Pokemon is over-leveled, on these floors you are in the privileged position, to not care about most of them. So just fight the trainers from on side to the other.
When your attacking Pokemon is around the same Level as the Trainers, these points become relevant, but often times small mistakes don't have big consequences (often they just result in using healing items, like a berry, more often).
Finally, when your Pokemon is definitely weaker than the Enemy Pokemon, acting optimized becomes a necessary.

 

Order of Fighting:
Since you level with each fight (duh), your Pokemon have higher levels and are thus stronger for the later fights (again, duh.)
Therefor, for small optimization, I avoid Dragon/Electric and Fighting at First. 
If I need optimized fights I start with Fire --> Ghost/Psychic/Ice -->Rock/Ground/Ice/Fairy --> Normal/Water/Dark/Poison/Bug --> Dragon/Fighting/Electric/Grass.
If you use Ice Fang instead of Iron Head swap Dragon with Fairy.

 

Movepool of Gyarados: 
Ice Fang vs. Iron Head: I use Iron Head on my main Pokemon, and when I'm unlucky I'm cursing myself for not having Ice Fang. I'll probably have to experiment here. Something I learned it that Iron Head can cause Flinches which has helped me save heals a few times.
My Intimidate-Gyarados used Ice Fang. I can't put my finger on numbers, especially since the loss of Moxie greatly reduces the Sweeper-potential. But for me, even thought it has only 95% Acc, so it sometimes missed, Ice Fang felt smoother in the Tower.  
So here's the first call for others: Share your experience with me and the others, which move you use and how it felt (or even back it up with data, I'd love that one.

Best time to Megaevolve (if Moxie-Gyarados): 
The more Pokemon you defeat before Mega-evolving, the higher your Atk-boost will get(duh), but you will lose the advantage of better Stats on the Mega.
On an Intimidate Gyarados you want to Megaevolve directly except if a factor says to better never megaevolve in that fight. 
There are also additional Factors to this:

Size of the enemy team:
Lover floors (3 enemy Pokemon), you normally wait one or two Pokemon
Middle floors (4 enemy Pokemon),  you normally wait two Pokemon
Higher floors (6 enemy Pokemon), you normally wait three to four Pokemon
On point to keep in mind: In the tower the Level of the Pokemon is not dependent on it's position in the enemy team(unlike most other trainer battles), so don't expect to have the weaker enemies at the start to savely get your Moxie-boosts. That can also lead to frustration by having defeated some hard Pokemon while taking damage only to then run over Pokemon that you could have oneshoted from the start.

 

Enemy Type
Against Fighting/Grass Trainers you normally never Mega Evolve (unless you need speed boost or want to ensure kill with STAB Crunch)
Against Psychic/Ghost Trainers you sometimes want to Megaevolve earlier to ensure a oneshot with stab crunch 
Against Water/Dragon Trainers you also sometimes want to ensure Oneshot by geting STAB on Crunch.
Against Electric (and to a lesser extend Rock/Ice) Trainers you want to megaevolve early if you can't assure a oneshot since without Flying Type you can tank a hit better.
Be aware of these type-rules when facing problematic Pokemon.

 

Problem Pokemon:
Quacksire (Ground and Water Trainer): It is tanky an at higher Lv it often uses Toxic, which puts you on a timer. If heath allows it, use a berry or try to megaevolve and kill the enemy before your Pokemon dies. In some cases switch out your Pokemon to another, that can tank 2/3 attacks and heal your Gyarados/offensive Pokemon.
A variation of this are Pokemon that give status when hit (e.g.Paras and Litwick). If possible use Earthquake, or pray to the rng-goods.
Sturdy-Pokemon: If they come in early, I usually let my Pokemon tank a hit. In the later parts, I usually Megaevolve for Mold Breaker, especially if I expect an super effective counter attack.
Murkrow(Dark and Flying trainer): Uses Sucker Punch. Tank if possible. If in the middle of the team, consider Mega Evolving Gyarados to get resistance
Fast Pokemon (Crobat, Jumpluf, Whimsicott Togetic, etc): Often you'll have to take a punch. If the Pokemon can flinch you (Crobat and Togetic)  it can cause problem. Consider Mega-Evolving (thought if you are underleveled it can still be faster and against Gras/Fighing you lose Resistance) or take the hit.
OHKO: Some Pokemon use these Moves. You can (and will) get unlucky and have your offensive Pokemon fainted. Ice and Fighting are the trainers to look out for. (Especially Vanilin-Line and Gilgar are the Pokemon to look out for. )

 

Notable Pokemon(Not Problematic sometimes they can even be beneficial)
Avalug: Most of the times it uses Skull Bash (Takes a turn to charge but Raises Deff). You'll do less damage the second turn, so be careful if you just reduced it's health by around 50%.
A variation are other tanky Pokemon (eg. Snorlax). Here you will also often have to take the hit and heal after the fight. But in these cases you have the advantage of dealing the same amount of damage the second turn.
Hitmontomp: Often uses Endevour. If you don't oneshot it can troll your health.

Dragalge (Dragon or Poison): Normally a free kill with earthquake, prolong Mega Evolution for the next Pokemon.
Giga Impact/Hyper Beam(eg. Fraxure): On the second turn the Pokemon needs to recharge. Consider using the "free" extra attack by  switching to a less effective move to preserve PP of your "better" moves. (or to set up for an more effective use of the pp-berry)

 

 

So far my addition, feel free to add your own info/opinions and @Bhimoso: Feel fee to add any useful information from my post to the og guide.

 

Edit: Fixed some wording and corrected mistakes

Edited December 29, 2025 by Momot