3rd Gen Strategy for Catching the Legendary Dog in FR/LG

[Living_Lich]

I have a somewhat haphazard strategy for this, and after a lot of annoyance, it finally succeeded. I'm wondering if anybody else has tried this, and what their strategies may be.

1. - A Gengar that knows hypnosis. Should be level 50 or below. Good speed, but with Gengar, that should be a given :P
2. - An Umbreon that knows Mean Look and Baton Pass*. Level 50 or below. *Needs* very good speed. It's purpose is to "Mean Look" the Legendary Dog, so you want it to be able to outspeed it.
3. - A Cradily. Ingrain is a must for Cradily, for the steady hitpoints regain, which will be great with it. Confuse ray and Astonish are also nice for slight damage, pinging away it's health, not obliterating it. Considering Suicune can know Ice type attacks, you might want to consider switching Cradily with something else that wouldn't be affected by Roar, such as a Soundproof Elecrode.

* For an Umbreon to know Baton Pass, don't evolve it from an Eevee until it's learned Baton Pass at level 36.



Stock up on Ultra balls and Timer balls. If possible, put the item Leftovers on #3, to help it endure a long fight. Healing items wouldn't hurt. Use repels constantly so running into the dog will be more probable.

Run around Kanto with Gengar in your party lead. *Eventually*, with luck, you'll encounter the Legendary Dog in question. It's type will be super effective against the starter you picked in the beginning of the game.

Use Hypnosis. If it misses, curse like a banshee, and run around some more in Kanto. When you have put it to Sleep, it will run (How it runs while asleep beyond me), switch Umbreon in for your lead Pokemon.

Run around some more. After several more eons have passed, you should encounter the Dog again, Asleep. Use Mean Look, then Baton Pass. Baton Pass to Cradily. Ping hitpoints off the Dog, and when it's comfortably low, throw your Ultra balls and Timer Balls.
Timer Balls increase in effectiveness for every ten turns that have passed in the battle, meaning wait a good while before using them :P
The Legendary Dogs all have the ability Pressure, meaning your Pokemon's moves will use 2 PP instead of 1 each time.
Have fun out there.
Feel free to query/question/curse me with thoughts or ideas.

 

[Muffin™]

Hmm.. I like this. But you don't need ultra balls and timer balls, you can just use that good ol' Master Ball you have :P

 

[Xebelleon]

I just use Pokemon Colosseum dogs in FR-LG for the data then ship to a Hoenn pack or Pal Park them.
Once I have the FRLG data I would just Crobat a Mean Look, Swellow an Endeavor and chuck some Repeat Balls. Simple enough for me.

 

[Silhouette]

Instead of Gengar using a 60% accurate Hypnosis, you could consider using a Breloom traded from RSE for the 100% accuracy Spore. Or if you don't have one, you could always get a Butterfree with Sleep Powder for a 97.5 (I think) accuracy Sleep Powder after Compound Eyes takes effect. I'd say Parasect and Spore, but the speed there is terrible.

But yeah, I used something similar to that technique.

EDIT: I also used a White Flute (increases wild Poke rate) and a level 49 Pokemon first while using a Repel of some sort.

 

[Medli]

I just used a Master Ball. *whistles*

I never use them for Mewtwo/the Birds because it's somewhat fun to try to whittle their health down and catch them. Not that I really try to catch the legendaries. I usually don't bother with them to begin with.

Anyway, what I did was get a Pokemon with a lower level than the dog and a couple of Repels. Then I'd go to the route above Virdian, spray the Repel, run around a bit, and if the dog didn't appear, I'd go north to that rest-stop-area-place-thing. Then just go back down to the grass and rinse and repeat. I find it easier than just running around Kanto.

Other than that, if I didn't have the Master Ball, I'd probably use a Mean Look Crobat. Nice and quick. I prefer Mean Look, because I have bad luck with moves like Hypnosis. Even if it does hit, the Pokemon always wakes up after one or two turns...

 

[Metuas]

Another nice strategy, that requires one Pokemon (in addition to whatever you want to use to wear down the dog): Smeargle.
With the following moves,
Spore
Mean Look
Ingrain
Baton Pass
Smeargle can set up and pass to Scyther/Scizor, for example, and use False Swipe. Especially if it's high level, you can set up on Smeargle, false swipe, and then throw ultra balls until you catch it.

 

[LoneStarAkira]

It seems like the best way to get the legendary beasts caught with little or no hassle is to use a Smeargle with the moveset as the previous poster. You could always use Mean Look from a regular Haunter/Gengar, but then you have the risk of Roaring. But in saying that, that family can also learn Hypnosis, which is a more easier-to-come-by strategy than a Smeargle with that moveset, as you need Emerald to catch Smeargle, and then you have to race around the place getting the moves you need.

Timer Balls are brilliant. You're obviously gonna be in the battle for a long time, so Timer Balls are a must for me (as much as I dislike their design). Ultra Balls so decently if you have a bit of luck, or if worst comes to worst, just Masterball it. o:

 

[Klofkac]

I used masterball. I caught mewtwo with 1st ultraball.

 

[Team Rocket's Raichu]

My strategy for them is Masterball.

 

[Christopher]

I used masterball on Entie only to find that he sucked no offense to anyone who uses him my Party was just way better.