SoulGold postgame guide: Title Defense, rematches, innates, and what to do after Lance

What opens the moment you beat Lance

Beat Lance and the level cap is gone. That’s your road to the Lv 75, 85 and 95 innates. The EV cap also goes to the full 510.

These turn on right away:

• Elm calls to say the Battle Tower on Route 40, near Olivine, is open. He also upgrades your Pokédex so L shows the opponent’s abilities in battle.
• Gym leaders move to their rematch spots.
• The Elite Four switch to Lv 85 doubles teams, and the Champion’s room becomes Title Defense.
• The Rocket Arcade in Goldenrod starts paying money, and the burglar inside starts the Magearna quest.
• The Battle Café on Route 50 opens, and Vajra Desert East opens for the Lati duo.
• The Vajra Pyramid opens once you trade a Tinkaton to the scientist in Rinto Village.

New legendaries show up too. Meloetta is at the Ecruteak Dance Theater, Cobalion at the Route 33 exit of Railway Cave 3F, Terrakion in Dark Cave North, and Genesect in the back room of the Abandoned Rocket Warehouse. Steven moves into the Kitakami house, and beating him unlocks Rayquaza at the Embedded Tower.

Do it in this order:

1. Fight your rival on Mt. Silver (Lv 75 on Hard). Its levels were smoothed out so you can go straight there after the League. It also starts the rival’s house questline for Cresselia, Darkrai and HM Dive.
2. Beat the eight gym rematches at Lv 75 to 82, for Victini and the levels.
3. Beat Steven and the Director, both around Lv 80 to 85 on Hard.
4. Do the Elite Four rematches and Title Defense at Lv 85, once your team is past 85 with two innates each.
5. Then the facilities, the Café legendaries and the dex.

I went to Mt. Silver the same evening I beat Lance, and I’d do it that way again.

Title Defense: who you face and how the pool works

Title Defense replaces the Lance rematch. Each time you run the League, a random challenger is waiting in the Champion’s room.

• Your first five defenses draw from Falkner, Bugsy, Whitney, Morty, Chuck, Jasmine, Pryce and Clair, all at Lv 85.
• After five wins, Lance, Steven, Elder Li, the Director and Leaf join the pool.
• You never get the same challenger twice in a row.
• Your round number shows on the Hall of Fame screen.
• On Hard, every challenger is a doubles battle with full EVs.

Challenger	In the pool from	What the Hard team leans on
Falkner	Defense 1	Mega Pidgeot, Landorus (Therian), Gliscor with Toxic Orb, Corviknight Tailwind
Bugsy	Defense 1	Mega Scizor, Choice Scarf Genesect, Quiver Dance Volcarona, Sticky Web Ribombee
Whitney	Defense 1	Trick Room Porygon-Z with Regigigas and Ursaluna behind it, Mega Drampa
Morty	Defense 1	Giratina, Mega Gengar, Scarf Dragapult, Aegislash with Wide Guard
Chuck	Defense 1	Galarian Zapdos, Mega Hawlucha Tailwind, Annihilape, Scarf Pawmot
Jasmine	Defense 1	Dialga, Mega Lucario, Choice Band Metagross, Scarf Archaludon
Pryce	Defense 1	Aurora Veil Alolan Ninetales, Articuno Tailwind, Mega Lapras, Shell Smash Cloyster, Baxcalibur
Clair	Defense 1	Rayquaza, Mega Charizard X, Specs Goodra, Band Haxorus
Lance	Defense 6 onward	Mega Dragonite Tailwind, Scarf Dragapult, Specs Archaludon, Baxcalibur
Steven	Defense 6 onward	Nasty Plot Gholdengo, Mega Metagross, Focus Sash Excadrill, Archeops Tailwind
Elder Li	Defense 6 onward	Xatu dual screens, Follow Me Clefable, Scarf Noctowl, Hisuian Lilligant, Mega Victreebel
Director	Defense 6 onward	Tornadus (Therian) Tailwind, Imposter Ditto, Rotom-Wash, Ferrothorn, Mega Scizor
Leaf	Defense 6 onward	Rage Powder Volcarona, Specs Dragapult, Thundurus (Therian), Tapu Fini, Mega Venusaur

I lost to Lance, Clair and Steven on Hard, so those are the teams below. Lance and Leaf are the highest level, averaging just under Lv 86.

Lance runs Tailwind, and a special Mega Dragonite sets it. It’s Modest with Draco Meteor and Hurricane, not the physical set from your first fight, and Multiscale halves your first hit. I lost twice before I led with a Fairy and an Ice attacker side by side. Five of the six are weak to one or the other. Only Archaludon’s Steel typing covers both.

This is the one with Rayquaza, running Tailwind and Life Orb Dragon Ascent. Goodra has Drizzle at Lv 85, so Kingdra’s Swift Swim is on the moment Goodra comes out. Kill Goodra first, or Kingdra outspeeds your whole team.

On Hard, Steven swaps Skarmory for a Nasty Plot Gholdengo, and Good as Gold blocks any status move you open with. Fighting and Ground hit five of the six. Watch Metagross. Its Iron Fist Bullet Punch under Tailwind hurts.

Every defense also resets some stuff:

• Sudowoodo respawns on Route 36.
• The Lugia spawn resets, so you can do Shadow Lugia with the Dark Crystal after catching the regular one.
• The Paradox “legendaries” on Meteor Island respawn.

The trophies are Title Defender at 1, Long Term Career at 5 and Undefeated Champion at 10.

Elite Four and gym leader rematches

The Elite Four rematches are Lv 85 doubles, and each member has two teams, so you might see a different Bruno each run. One Bruno runs Hitmontop, Mega Staraptor, Scarf Gallade, Lucario, Kommo-o and Annihilape. The other is a sand team built on Tyranitar and Excadrill with Mega Steelix. All eight teams are in the gym leaders and bosses guide.

The gym rematches are where you get your levels and Victini. Each leader waits at a fixed spot with a full team, Lv 75 to 80 on Normal and Lv 77 to 82 on Hard:

Leader	Where	Hard average level
Falkner	Violet City Trainer School	78
Bugsy	National Park	77
Whitney	Goldenrod Dept. Store 6F	77.5
Morty	Bellchime Trail	77.7
Chuck	Route 47 bridge	78
Jasmine	Olivine City café	78.5
Pryce	Lake of Rage	80
Clair	Dragon’s Den cave	82.5

Clair’s Hard rematch is Specs Goodra, Specs Kingdra, Band Haxorus, Noivern, Kommo-o and a Lv 84 Mega Charizard X. It’s her Title Defense team without Rayquaza. Beat all eight, then talk to the old woman in the Kitakami Border house for a Lv 50 Victini. The rematch circuit was my favorite stretch of the whole postgame.

Innates: what unlocks at 75, 85 and 95

Innates are why you keep leveling. Every species gets up to three extra abilities on top of its regular one, at Lv 75, Lv 85 and Lv 95. Most ‘mons stop learning moves around 60, so this is what you chase after that.

You can change that in Elm’s lab:

• The Artifact of Chaos, behind the starter table, turns every innate on from Lv 1. It’s unbalanced and untested, so I’d skip it on a first run.
• The Artifact of Order, on the right-side bookcase, turns them all off.
• You can flip both any time. Battle facilities have their own innate toggle in the facility settings.

Every postgame trainer at Lv 85 and up has innates on, so scout their abilities, not just their species. Press L in battle to check. Which innates are worth building around is in the innate abilities guide.

Steven, the Director, Green and the other big fights

These one-off trainers either unlock something or are just hard. Know them before you walk in.

• Steven, Kitakami house. Lv 80 to 82 on Normal, Lv 84 to 86 on Hard, where Gholdengo replaces Skarmory. Beat him to unlock Rayquaza at the Embedded Tower.
• The Director, Radio Tower 5F. Lv 77 to 80 on Normal, 80 to 83 on Hard. He runs Rotom-Wash, Garchomp, an Imposter Ditto, Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor. Beat him for the Wing you didn’t pick during the Rocket takeover. That opens the other of Lugia and Ho-Oh as a four-bar Lv 80 boss.
• Green, Nameless Cave B2F, Lv 85 to 87. Eviolite Chansey, Volcarona, Thundurus (Therian), Tapu Fini, Specs Dragapult and Mega Venusaur. On Hard this was my hardest fight outside the League. Rage Powder Volcarona protects Venusaur while it sets up Leech Seed.
• Maddie, top floor of the Goldenrod Apartment, Lv 85. You reach her through the Magearna quest (25 Rocket Arcade wins). She has Porygon2, Porygon-Z, Magnezone, Yanmega and Iron Thorns. The Lv 75 four-bar Magearna boss is on the same floor.
• Elder Li is back at Sprout Tower 3F once you have 8 badges (Lv 60 to 61, Mega Victreebel). Blaine is at the Olivine port at Lv 60 to 62, with Mega Emboar on Hard. They’re late main-game fights, but you’ll probably meet them after the League.
• Vajra Desert East and Route 50 are full of Lv 70 to 75 trainers on the way to the Café and the Lati temple.
• The Battle Café regulars (Athena, Bai, Doves, Drac, Elton, Nem, Simpli, Tylarie) are Lv 90 on Normal and Lv 100 on Hard. Beat all eight once and the owner gives you Diancie. On Hard those eight ate a whole weekend of mine.

Legendary hunting after the League

Most box legendaries are postgame bosses with several health bars, and they’re a guaranteed catch once you beat them. Being Champion unlocks:

• Rayquaza, after you beat Steven
• Latias and Latios in the Vajra Desert East temple
• Hoopa in the Vajra Pyramid depths, after three spirit trainers
• Magearna, through the Arcade
• Zeraora outside the Battle Tower, after a lifetime 30-win streak
• Regigigas in the Mt. Silver back room, once you have the three Regis
• Cresselia, Darkrai and Kyogre, through the rival’s house questline

The Café sells the Galarian birds, the Forces of Nature and the Tapus for 5 points each, and Koraidon or Miraidon for 25. Latias and Latios were the pair I was most excited to catch.

Save before every boss. If you lose or run, you can try again, since the overworld sprite only goes away when you catch it. Routes, bar counts and puzzles are in the legendary locations guide.

The battle facilities

• Battle Tower (Route 40): sells the postgame stat items. Bottle Caps, Gold Bottle Caps, Exp Candy XL, EX vitamins that max a stat in one use, the Choice items and Heavy-Duty Boots.
• Rocket Arcade: pays money instead of BP.
• Vajra Pyramid: bring a team around 77 to 80. Trophies at 3, 6 and 10 rounds.
• Battle Café: trade Café Points for legendaries.

Keep using the Battle Factory shop too. Feathers, Ability Capsules, Patches and Beckoning Bells are how you fix your legendaries’ IVs and abilities. I never stopped spending BP there, even at the very end. Strategy for all of these is in the Battle Factory guide.

Candy Jar, Do Jo and other EXP routes

Getting six Pokémon from 70 to 95 is the real postgame grind. The Candy Jar is your shortcut. It’s been banking 90% of every fainted foe’s EXP since the first gym, on top of what your team got, up to 99,999,999. Each use pays out Exp Candy L, M, S and XS, biggest first, up to 999 of each, and the rest stays banked. Cash it in after the League, not before. Opening mine felt like finding a savings account I forgot I had.

For active grinding:

• Do Jo, the Kitakami dojo trainer, runs six Lv 55 Audino and Blissey with Toxic Orbs and only Healing Wish. It costs 10,000 a fight.
• The VS Seeker from the Radio Tower quiz recharges every 200 steps and resets route trainers.
• Exp Candy XL is in the Battle Tower BP shop.
• Trainer scaling in Options keeps route rematches just behind your party average, so they’re still worth fighting.

Shiny hunting in the postgame

Base odds are 1/256, and you can set 1/512 or 1/1024 in Options. There are no shiny locks anywhere, NPC trades included.

• DexNav chaining raises your odds, with bonuses at 50 and 100.
• Shiny grotto Pokémon show it on the map.
• Shiny eggs have blue dots, and the Day Care man tells you an egg is special before you take it.
• Shiny parents raise your egg odds since v1.2.
• Shiny encounters get their own battle frame, so you’ll know right away.

For legendaries, save before the boss and soft reset. That doesn’t work on roamers. Raikou, Entei and Suicune roll shiny once, when they’re released. Use the Shiny Genome on them instead. It turns any Pokémon you own shiny. You get one at 15 trophies and can buy more at the Rocket Arcade and the Battle Café. I spent my first Genome on Suicune and have zero regrets.

Trophies and the Arceus requirement

There are 121 trophies. The gentleman in the Route 40 house pays out at:

• 15: Shiny Genome
• 30: Ash-Greninja
• 45: Poipole
• 60: Eternal Flower Floette
• 75: Zarude
• 100: Original Color Magearna

The Trainer Card stars are the Hall of Fame, a 50-win streak in the Tower or Factory, 80 trophies and a complete dex. Every trophy and what it needs is in the trophies guide.

Arceus is the dex reward. Catch all 608 non-legendary, non-mythical Pokémon out of the 702 in the dex, then talk to Oak on Radio Tower 2F for the egg. You don’t need the Paradox Pokémon. All 608 are obtainable in this version, so it’s just time. The breeding lines ate more of my evenings than anything else in the dex. Most of the work is in the 11 breeding-only lines and the 173 evolution-only entries, so start there.