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Anyone here NOT like using "HM Slaves"?

Do you use "HM Slaves"?

  • YES, I teach all HM's to 2 Pokemon.

    Votes: 13 16.5%
  • NO, I split HM's up amongst my team.

    Votes: 38 48.1%
  • I keep Pokemon with HM's in the PC until needed.

    Votes: 28 35.4%

  • Total voters
    79

Aquacorde

⟡ dig down, dig down ⟡
12,431
Posts
19
Years
I prefer not to use HM buddies. I try to keep the commonly used HMs within my party and just ditch the rest. I'll use a common Pokémon for Cut and Rock Smash, because I don't usually have a full team when those are necessary and really don't want them stuck on my 'mon till I get to the Move Deleter. Besides Whirlpool, the water HMs are decent and get ditributed around my team- I usually have two water types or a few 'mon that can learn the moves, so none of them get stuck with mostly-HM movesets. Fly I will always have, and Strength depends on the game. But usually I'll just ignore HMs that aren't necessary for game progression. I never need Flash; the only place where it's required for progression is Granite Cave and I can do that easily in the dark. Cut and Rock Smash only get you supplemental items and access to shortcuts after the first part of the game. iirc Whirlpool is only necessary in Johto, and if I care to go I'll just catch something while surfing that I can take with for that.

So yeah. I don't like using HM buddies much. It seems almost unfair to a Pokémon to fill its moveset like that and barely train it. I'M SENTIMENTAL OK

You gave your starter HM?! Such bad trainers make me sick
wow rude. different people have different play styles. you may not appreciate those styles, but they work for others. to say another person makes you sick because of their chosen moveset- that makes me sick.
 

Firox

eepz, come help pwease!
2,585
Posts
11
Years
I don't use "Slaves" I use HM Companions or HM Friends. I only use 2 HM's in my games - Cut, & Surf, I try and give them to a Pokemon that would benefit from them, so its not wasting a move spot for no reason.

Surf (one of my favorite attacks as well - #2 favorite just behind Aqua Tail) to my water Pokemon. Most of the time this goes to my main starter & water type, Oshawott/Dewott/Samurott.

Cut to a Normal type, since the normal types can learn TM's from other types. [most of the time to my Watchog]
 

*Icecold*

Bow down to Queen Meowstic
133
Posts
10
Years
No I set my slaves free. Pokemon like Bibarel have such wasted potential and are only caught just to be forced into slavery. I battle with this guy!

I despise HMs, but some like Surf and Strength aren't actually half bad. I try not to even use Cut and Rock Smash but when I do, I just distribute between the party. I hate wasting a slot, but you know what I hate more? Having to waste an entire Pokemon in my party, and if I deposit it I have to race all the way back to the Pokemon Center to get it. That's a waste of time! D:
 
483
Posts
11
Years
  • Seen Oct 2, 2020
Before Gen V, I prefer to use HM slaves, just because I don't use a set team. There's no way to distribute all the HMs between my team members because my team members constantly change. It's just easier to put all the HM moves on a couple of slaves and keep them on the team all the time, then rotate through the remaining slots.

With Gen V though, that's no longer necessary (and I think it's one of the best changes they've made in the games). Now I just travel with whoever I want and whenever I run into a situation where I need an HM move, I just teach it to whoever I've got with me who can learn it. Then when I get a chance, I go to the Move Deleter, get it taken off, then replace it with a TM move or something from the Move Relearner.
 

SaniOKh

Too old for this stuff
592
Posts
17
Years
There was a time I was using HM slaves, but nowadays I prefer teaching HMs to my main team, one per Pokémon. Besides, Surf and Strength aren't exactly wastes of space, I find them to be OK as combat moves. Also, I think I'm one of the few who actually uses Flash in battle (mostly when I'm catching legendaries, I start by Flashing them until their accuracy goes down to the minimum) .

When I think about it, Gen 2 and 3 made spreading HM among the team quite difficult, having three water HMs and all :) . There are games where I actually have a Water HM slave, but I very rarely use them.
 

Melody

Banned
6,460
Posts
19
Years
Personally I don't like littering my team with HMs.

So I keep HM slaves handy. The only exceptions are Surf and Fly; which almost always go to my water and flying types respectively. I consider any Pokemon with 2 or more HMs to be worthless in battle so yeah, I follow that rule closely. Most HMs aren't really required to move through the overworld if you know where to fly to.

However, if you are moving through the overworld, the maps seem to obnoxiously require them. So I consider having HM (Slaves/Buddies/Friends) an absolute must, and littering your entire party with 1 HM is just suicide because it slashes your effective movesets to 3, which may not be an issue early on, but will be later. Nothing sucks worse than being stuck in battle with only an HM to fight with.
 
50,218
Posts
13
Years
I don't mind using an HM slave, currently using a Bidoof in Platinum for that purpose. I used to often slap HMs on my main team members in my early playing days, but I did learn my lesson for having terrible movesets back then and now I like to assign all the "bad" HMs to an HM slave. The only exceptions are ones like Surf, Fly and Waterfall because they actually have usable purposes in battle.
 

T!M

Four Category MoTY (VG) Winner
1,422
Posts
15
Years
I have never had a designated Pokémon for Hidden Machines. I've always hated having a Pokémon I'm not intending to use for battling purposes on my team. Even when I'm trying to fill my PokéDex and I'm miles away from a PC, it irks me. I usually just teach them to my story team.
 
181
Posts
16
Years
I don't like using a "HM Slave" I usually make my pokemon forget hm moves whenever I can so I can teach them other moves :D
 
105
Posts
10
Years
I hate Hms.. The fact that most of them are useless in battle when your Pokemon get stronger, and that you need to use some of them later on but don't want to ruin your perfect pokemon move set.. And the fact that you can't just forget it to learn a new move unless you go to the move deleter.. I've had cases when I learnt a awesome new move, but didn't want to get rid of my other awesome moves and had something like 'Rock Smash' in the way.. Eh. Things like Rock Smash, Flash, Waterfall, etc, I had having my pokemon being stuck with them. The only moves I like are surf (One of the best water attacks imo) and strength. The rest, I have HM slaves for, because I don't want them wasting up my pokemon move space.

Plus, things like flash, rock smash and dive, are hardly used really, and it wont kill you just to back track a little bit to swap Pokemon.
 

Sableye~

Back to PC~
4,016
Posts
11
Years
  • Seen Jan 4, 2018
I use HM slaves during playthroughs, except for Surf and Fly. I've taken a liking to Flying types, so I usually end up with the early Flying/Normal 'mon in my team.
 

franko94

Master Trainer
35
Posts
14
Years
  • Age 30
  • Seen Oct 21, 2013
I don't use HM slaves, I distribute evenly, until they are no longer needed. Then I keep the strong ones and use the move deleter to remove cut, flash, whirlpool, defog etc.
 

Miau

If I fits...
812
Posts
11
Years
  • Age 33
  • Seen Oct 31, 2022
I don't actually; but only before beating the game. I don't even teach my Pokemon some HMs, like Flash. Cut gets deleted soon enough, and I can do just fine without Fly if I don't have a Flying type. Surf and Waterfall and even Strength work well in battle, so I tend to use those anyway.

Post-game though, only half of my team is used in battle, and I have a couple Pokemon that specifically carry either HM moves, or stuff like False Swipe and Sing. For example, right now in Black 2, I can't go anywhere without Azul the Wailord, who knows Strength, Surf, Waterfall and Dive, and Loony the Drifblim, who knows Cut, Fly, Flash and another move that changes according to needs.

I do want to note that I don't refer to them as HM slaves, they're as important as any other Pokemon in my team, even though they don't participate in battle, though Azul is quite bulky and Loony has also saved the day battling Normal types.
 
760
Posts
14
Years
  • Seen Dec 16, 2016
Yeah i dont use hm slaves either. I am fine with having hm s on the pokemon at hand , and strngths and surf and fly are alright, and for the others, i dont use dive in this gen and rocksmash isnt used much either here so i am fine.
 
12,284
Posts
11
Years
  • Seen Oct 22, 2023
I usually take out the most important HMs (such as Fly, Surf, Rock Smash, etc.) and spread them out throughout my team evenly, because I don't like wasting a slot in my team just for having an HM Pokémon. The only time that I've ever used an HM slave was in my first run of Pokémon Diamond. I caught a Bibarel, and I later found out that it was compatible with most of the HMs I needed. I felt kind of bad about it, though, because Pokémon are actually supposed to be your friends. They're not supposed to be the ones to work for you. D:
 
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