Great Marsh Encounters & Items in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

AntMag.NET

The Great Marsh is a large swampy area located in Pastoria City, where the safari game is held. For 500 Poké Dollars, trainers are allowed to roam around for 300 steps and they’re given 30 Safari Balls to catch any Pokémon they encounter. The marsh itself is divided into 6 seamless areas, each with a slightly different assortment of wild Pokémon. You can travel between these areas on foot or by riding a tram along the central tram line that stretches from north to south.

When you begin the safari game, there’s a female Ace Trainer to the right of the entrance. Speak to her and you’ll receive a bunch of TM97 Defog, plus HM Defog for your Hidden Moves app. You’ll need Defog to clear away fog later.

Inside the Great Marsh, you can randomly encounter Pokémon by moving through the swampy grass. Unlike regular wild Pokémon encounters, you do not send out your Pokémon to battle and weaken the wild Pokémon. Instead, you can choose from four actions:

Ball: Throw a Safari Ball.
Bait: Throw food at the wild Pokémon, which makes them easier to catch, but more likely to run.
Mud: Chuck mud at the wild Pokémon, which makes them less likely to run, but harder to catch.
Run: Escape from the wild Pokémon.

After choosing one of the first three actions (and if the Pokémon wasn’t caught), there’s a chance the Pokémon will run away. Some Pokémon are more likely to run than others. If the Pokémon doesn’t run, you’ll get another turn to perform an action.

Available Pokémon

To mix things up, the majority of the Pokémon you can encounter are fixed and never change. However, each day, for each of the six areas, one random Pokémon will be selected to appear in that area. It’s possible for the same Pokémon to appear in multiple areas. After obtaining the National Pokédex, the variety of random Pokémon will increase. You can check which random Pokémon are present in the Great Marsh by paying 100 Poké Dollars to use the binoculars on the top floor, before entering the safari game. Each time you use the binoculars, you’ll be shown a random selection of 5 Pokémon from all the possible areas. These may include Pokémon that are always present, so you may have to use the binoculars multiple times to determine the random ones.

Wild Pokémon - Tall Grass (Fixed)

Pokémon	Type	Encounter Rate
Azurill		5% (Area 5), 1% (other areas)
Bibarel		20%
Bidoof		5% (Area 5), 1% (other areas)
Budew		10% (Morning/Day)
Hoothoot		10% (Night; Area 1 and 2), 20% (Night; other Areas)
Marill		15%
Noctowl		10% (Night; Area 1 and 2 only)
Psyduck		8% (except Area 5)
Quagsire		15%
Starly		10% (Morning/Day)
Wooper		20%

Wild Pokémon - Surfing

Pokémon	Type	Encounter Rate
Marill		30%
Psyduck		5%
Quagsire		5%
Wooper		60%

Wild Pokémon - Fishing

Pokémon	Type	Encounter Rate
Barboach		40% (Good Rod)
Carvanha		45% (Super Rod)
Gyarados		15% (Super Rod), 5% (Good Rod)
Magikarp		100% (Old Rod), 55% (Good Rod)
Whiscash		40% (Super Rod)

Wild Pokémon - Tall Grass (Random)

The lists below include all the random Pokémon that can appear in any area. As outlined above, you won’t encounter all of them at once.

Before National Pokédex obtained

Pokémon	Type	Encounter Rate
Carnivine		10%
Croagunk		10%
Golduck		10%
Roselia		10%
Skorupi		10%
Staravia		10%

Before National Pokédex obtained

Pokémon	Type	Encounter Rate
Azurill		10%
Bibarel		10%
Bidoof		10%
Marill		10%
Quagsire		10%
Wooper		10%

After National Pokédex obtained

Pokémon	Type	Encounter Rate
Drapion		10%
Exeggcute		10%
Gulpin		10%
Kangaskhan		10%
Paras		10%
Shroomish		10%
Toxicroak		10%
Yanma		10%

Item Locations

Area 1

Item	Location
Potion	Above ledge south-west from tram stop
Super Repel	North-west from tram stop, across the trees.
Rare Candy	North-west corner, hidden among the swampy grass.