Capturing Pokemon and Forming a Team

Learn how to capture Pokémon in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, including tips on using status conditions and Poké Balls, and how to form an effective team.

You can hold up to 6 Pokémon at a time. If you capture a wild Pokémon, it'll be sent to Lanette's PC. Pokémon can be caught in wild grass, by fishing, surfing, walking in caves, or using Rock Smash. Also, there are Pokémon that can only be caught once, and if you knock them out, you cannot capture them again and you can only get them by loading up your previous saved game.

Tips on capturing Pokémon:

1. The higher their level, the more difficult they will be to capture. Battle the wild Pokémon with your own, but don't hurt them enough to knock them out. Once you get their health bar (or Hit Points) in the low orange or red, you have a higher chance of catching it than you would if it had full health.
2. Inflicting them with status conditions such as putting them to sleep, paralyzing them, or freezing them will increase your chances of capturing greatly. Poisoning and burning them will reduce their health each turn, so remember to capture it before they faint from poisoning/burning.
3. As you progress through the game, you'll have the chance to buy better balls rather than Poké Balls. Great Balls and Ultra Balls have a much better chance at capturing Pokémon and at any time, you'll always want to be loaded with at least 15 or 20 Great/Ultra Balls. There are special balls like Timer and Nest Balls, and knowing how to use them correctly will help you capture Pokémon easier than before.

Now, the other part you need to know is learning how to form a team. No Pokémon is the best. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses to other types of Pokémon. You'll need to know which types have an advantage on others and when to send them out for battle. Having 6 Pokémon is great, but 6 bad Pokémon is even worse. For example, a team composed entirely of Dragon/Flying types like Rayquaza, Dragonite, Flygon, Altaria, Salamance, and Kingdra would be easily defeated by strong Ice-type Pokémon. A more effective team composition, such as Sceptile (Grass), Magneton (Electric/Steel), Gardevoir (Psychic), Kingdra (Dragon/Water), Swellow (Normal/Flying), and Hariyama (Fighting), provides a strong advantage over many trainers due to type diversity. Additionally, choosing the right moveset is crucial. For instance, a Kingdra with only Water-type moves would be limited, whereas a moveset including Surf, Ice Beam, Rain Dance, and Toxic offers better type coverage and utility.

Also, at some point in time, you'll need to ditch Pokémon in your team because their usefulness decreases as you progress through the game. Most Pokémon you will find become useful HM slaves (which are Pokémon which have nothing but HM moves on their moveset), mostly because you don't want useless moves like Cut, Rock Smash, and Flash on your Pokémon's moves. Note that when forming a team, you can get some Pokémon early, but you'll have to get pretty late in the game to get Pokémon you'll really want.