I Need Help!

[Cxjenious]

Okay, I finally got my bud to let me borrow pokemon Ruby. I have no idea what kind of pokemon I'm battling, or what kind of pokemon the gym leaders have, nor do I have anywhere near a complete team, in my opinion (I've caught a good number of different types of pokemon, but I want to se what else the game has to offer) I don't want to look at a walkthrough guide cause then I'll end up reading the whole thing. Now, my question is, what is the best type of team to have for the elite four? By type I mean like, water, fire, fighting, rock, etc. Please help...

Also, is Swinblu's evolution anygood, or am I wasting my time?

[Silent Dragonfly]

The gyms are in this order:
Roxanne: Rock Type
Brawly: Fighting
Wattson: Electric
Flannery: Fire
Norman: Normal
Winona: Flying
Liza and Tate: Psychic (2vs2)
Wallace: Water

At the start of the game you should mainly focus on raising your starter. Having a Zigzagoon on your team can help greatly as it picks up items sometimes after battle and can learn most of the HMs.

Try to build a team that can cancel out each others weaknesses.

I dont know what you mean by Swinblu, either it's the japanese name for a pokemon or you've already gotten far enough to catch a Swablu. If it is Swablu then yes, it's evolution Altaria is very good.

[Cxjenious]

that's it! Swablu...I think I need to get glasses...or better lighting...thanks!

[andyizcool]

I dont know what you mean by Swinblu, either it's the japanese name for a pokemon or you've already gotten far enough to catch a Swablu. If it is Swablu then yes, it's evolution Altaria is very good.

Altaria is bad because it needs a good Hidden Power to make use of its Attack power and decent Hidden Powers are hard to get. If you made it a Special Sweeper it would need all its power from a Sunny Day and powerful Special Attacks like Fire Blast and Solarbeam. Salamence would make a much better Pokemon than Altaria. Salamence is Over Used and Altaria is Under Used. You'll see why if you train both of them to Level 100 and check their Stats.

[Silent Dragonfly]

But you cant get salamence until very late in the game, you cant even get to it's first form, Bagon until you've beaten the last gym, so that you can use Waterfall, and Shellgon (evolution of Bagon) doesnt evolve to Salamence until L50

[phaedrus]

who likes OU anyways?

altaria
fly
sing/rest
fireblast
haze/rest

that's an ok set

altaria
dragondance
fly/aerialace
earthquake
hp-rock/fighting

phys.sweeper

of course salamence is better. but, i personally hate it because it's OU and you have to breed to get decent moves onto it, like dragondance, whereas altaria actually learns it by itself. =P

[Cxjenious]

Is Trapinch's evolution anygood?

[Poryhedron]

Well, I like it. It actually evolves into a Dragon-type...just like Swablu does. Funny that. Anyway, As a Ground/Dragon-type with Levitate, Vibrava has the rare condition of being immune to both Thunderbolt/Thunder and Earthquake. That's valuable in itself. It also learns Dig (though only if you keep it a Trapinch for long enough,) so you get a pokémon who can Dig without worrying about Earthquake. Yes, I've tested it and Flying-types or pokémon with Levitate are immune to Earthquake even while Digging. It completely and utterly rapes the Champion's Aggron; it really shouldn't, because that Aggron has Dragon Claw, but for some bizarre reason that Aggron doesn't like using Dragon Claw.

[rinku]

But you cant get salamence until very late in the game, you cant even get to it's first form, Bagon until you've beaten the last gym, so that you can use Waterfall, and Shellgon (evolution of Bagon) doesnt evolve to Salamence until L50

That in itself is not too much problem. You're catching Bagon at L25-35. Should only take a few days of training if you don't want to breed on moves.

In terms of Elite 4, it's an option.