3rd Gen Elite 4 vs. Interviewer Gabby & Ty (Emerald)

The purpose of this article is provide an in-depth look at the benefit of battling Interviewer Gabby & Ty instead of going through the Elite 4. Before we do that, let's break them both down to obtain a clear understanding of what each has to offer.

Elite 4 - Where Champions Are Made

The Elite 4 actually consists of 5 trainers and 26 Pokemon with levels ranging from 48 to 58. The Pokemon are of the following types:

Dark (2)
Grass/Dark (2)
Water/Dark
Ghost (4)
Dark/Ghost
Ice/Water (3)
Ice (2)
Dragon
Dragon/Flying (2)
Ground/Dragon
Water/Dragon
Water (2)
Water/Poison
Water/Grass
Water/Flying
Water/Ground

Every time you successfully defeat the Elite 4, you earn 51564 Exp Points (77346 with Traded or Lucky Egg and 103128 with Traded AND Lucky Egg) and 32400 PokeBucks (64800 with Amulet Coin).

Battling the Pokemon of the Elite 4 will yield the following EV points:

Sidney: 10 Atk, 1 SAtk
Phoebe: 5 Atk, 3 Def, 4 SDef
Glacia: 11 HP
Drake: 5 Atk, 2 Def, 1 SAtk, 3 SDef, 2 Spd
Wallace: 4 HP, 2 Atk, 7 SDef
TOTAL: 15 HP, 22 Atk, 5 Def, 2 SAtk, 14 SDef, 2 Spd

Interviewer Gabby & Ty - Searching For A Scoop

Gabby & Ty is a unique double battle that consists of 2 trainers and 2 Pokemon that begin at Lv17 and end at Lv39. This battle is unique due to them changing routes at the beginning of the game. The first time you encounter them is on Route 111, where their Pokemon are Lv17. You next meet them on Route 118, where their Pokemon have increased to Lv27. The final time you meet them is on Route 120, where their Pokemon have again increased, this time to Lv30. After defeating them here, they will return back to Route 111 and continue this rotation, with their Pokemon peaking at Lv39. Although I haven't been able to determine exactly how many battles it takes, there is a point in the game where they will always remain on Route 111. The Pokemon are of the following types:

Electric/Steel
Normal

Every time you successfully defeat Gabby & Ty, you earn 2880 Exp Points (4320 with Traded or Lucky Egg and 5760 with Traded AND Lucky Egg) and 3744 PokeBucks (7488 with Amulet Coin).

Battling the Pokemon of Gabby & Ty will yield the following EV points:

Gabby: 2 SAtk
Ty: 3 HP
TOTAL: 3 HP, 2 SAtk

Head-To-Head Challenge - Let's Get Ready To Rumble!

In order to determine which of the two options was most effective, it was decided to run through both options as quickly as possible. In order to do that I used a traded Lv100 Rayquaza holding an Amulet Coin with the following moveset - Earthquake, Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt.

Since the Elite 4 would take the longest to complete, it was chosen first and then could be used as a benchmark for the second option. The game was saved prior to entering through the doors of the chamber inside Ever Grand City and the timer started. Despite the fact that Rayquaza was able to easily handle all 26 Pokemon with a OHKO (discounting both the first Dusclops and then Shelgon using Protect their first turn), the intermediate dialogue and especially the ending credits made the whole process of getting back to the chamber take 18:34. The end result was 6480 PokeBucks and if Rayquaza had not been Lv100, it would have earned 77346 Exp Points.

In order to compare between the two, it was determined that the starting point for the second option would be in front of the Pokemon Center in Lavaridge, where the character would bike east to Route 111, and then south to where Gabby & Ty were. Once the battle was completed, the character would bike north and then west to get to Route 112, so when the character returned to Route 111 and face Gabby & Ty they would be willing to battle again.This process would be repeated as many times as possible before reaching 18:32 of game time. As this is a double battle, it was also decided to have Rayquaza use Earthquake and have the second Pokemon be a Flying-type, thereby making it immune to the Ground attack and minimizing the amount of time each turn would take. Aside from the occasional level up of the Flying-type Pokemon that added 6 seconds, each turn took on average 57 seconds to complete, allowing for a total of 18 turns to take place.

Results

Elite 4
1 turn
64800 PokeBucks
77346 Exp Points
18:32 Game Time

Gabby & Ty
18 turns
134784 PokeBucks
77760 Exp Points
19:08 Game Time

Conclusion

As you can clearly see, while the Exp Points earned are quite similar, the amount of money you can earn from Gabby & Ty is over double the amount you get from the Elite 4. The other added benefit of battling Gabby & Ty is that each battle takes under a minute, allowing you the flexibility of stopping the process at any moment, going elsewhere, and then returning to battle again later. Another added benefit is that the only EVs you earn with Gabby & Ty are in HP and SAtk. This is useful for either using them as a resource for either (or both) stat or allowing you the ease of only having to reverse two stats with the EV-reducing berries instead of all 6. The only drawback is that it is a double battle, with the Pokemon splitting the Exp Points. This however can be easily corrected by having one Pokemon use Explosion while the other Pokemon uses Protect. As all the other Pokemon faint, the Pokemon with Protect would receive the full Exp Points.

For a second, I thought you were gonna post them battling each other.


Interesting data, how did you figure it out?

That's a great idea however I think you could drematicaly increase the time taken per battle for gabby and ty by flying this would make it easier to fit more battles in

Rentorar said:

For a second, I thought you were gonna post them battling each other.


Interesting data, how did you figure it out?

Click to expand...

Well, I am into big-time breeding, which requires a lot of cash to purchase the good TMs and to purchase other items (i.e. Repeat Balls for catching Box fulls of Ditto to get flawless IVs), so I decided to find the quickest way to level up and to get cash in a hurry.

The warden said:

That's a great idea however I think you could drematicaly increase the time taken per battle for gabby and ty by flying this would make it easier to fit more battles in

Click to expand...

Actually, it takes much longer to fly back to Lavaridge and bike all the way down. All you have to do is bike north and turn east until you reach the very edge of Route 112, and then you can bike back and battle them again.

As for the quickest way to gain EXP, nothing compares a Secret Base with 6 Lv100 Chansey. Not only is it fast, but it is also much easier to know you have only gained EVs in HP, if you need to remove them, than having to keep track and remove multiple stats. Easier on the berry production too.

Wow. If only Gabby & Ty were in D/P/P..

Then EV training my Vaporeon would be MUCH easier.. But as of the moment I really cba, Being busy with other things, and having no time to train a Competitive team..

Berry berry intresting... xD
No, really (how can he have time for this! =0)

Actually, to be honest, I put that together in about 2 hours, using my own GBA and Metalkid's awesome Pokemon Program. I just thought I would post it again for those that weren't aware of it. I used to travel a lot for my work and when you are stuck in a hotel room away from your family, you find productive things to do with your time. heh

Intresting will this also work on Ruby and Saphire cause my bro has training issues

To be honest, I haven't tried it on RS, so I am not sure if Gabby will stick in one place or not. I would suggest trying it out.

Wow, thanks for that - when I get to the 'Grinding' point in Saphhire, I'll keep this in mind.

Good to know him, thanks for the guide, really profit.
Even if I have not understood something...

Well, let me know what you didn't understand and I will help you out.