Where To Get Metal Coats in Pokémon FRLG

by J. Cloverfield

There are only two ways to obtain Metal Coats in FireRed/LeafGreen:

A Metal Coat can be found on the ground at Memorial Pillar, an islet to the east of Five Island
A Metal Coat can be obtained at the Trainer Tower, which is located to the north of Seven Island

There is one Metal Coat at Memorial Pillar which can only be obtained once & will not respawn.

Or you can alternatively clear the Trainer Tower’s Knockout Mode within a time limit to receive another Metal Coat.

We’ll cover both methods in this guide.

Inside the Trainer Tower’s lobby

Prerequisites

To get to the two sources of Metal Coats, you will need:

The Rainbow Pass
A Pokémon with HM03 Surf in your party

The Rainbow Pass

Five Island and Seven Island are part of the Sevii Islands, a region that serves as the setting for an optional questline.

You can start exploring the Sevii Islands after beating the Cinnabar Gym. But at that point, you can only explore the One, Two, and Three Islands.

You will need the Rainbow Pass to gain access to the rest of the islands named Four, Five, Six, and Seven.

The Rainbow Pass in the Key Items pocket of the Bag

However, the Rainbow Pass is locked behind the postgame.

This is because Celio will give you the Rainbow Pass once you have the National Pokédex, which can only be unlocked after beating the Pokémon League.

A Pokémon with HM03 Surf

Memorial Pillar and the Trainer Tower are separated from their respective main islands by bodies of water, requiring Surf to cross them.

Source #1: Memorial Pillar on Five Island

Starting from the Five Island port, head to the right through a narrow shore.

Go past the house with a purple roof and with a set of stairs beside it.

Entering Five Isle Meadow

This should lead you to Five Isle Meadow. Walk up the stairs.

Follow the path through the Meadow, which will take you up, right, and then down to another set of stairs.

Traversing Five Isle Meadow

There are some small trees here but you will not need to remove them with Cut to reach the Memorial Pillar.

You will come across a building with a capital R printed on its doors on your left, but do not go inside.

Walking past the building with the letter R on its doors, pictured on the lower left

Continue down the stairs instead.

Face the body of water to the right and use Surf.

Being prompted to Surf on a water path to the right of Five Isle Meadow

Surf to the right. The route transition marker to the upper left of the screen should say you are in the Memorial Pillar area.

The actual island that the Metal Coat is on is still a ways away, though.

Entering the Memorial Pillar area while Surfing

Land on the shore of the islet at the end of the water path, then make your way through it.

It’s a simple route since the islet’s shaped roughly like a mirrored, upside-down L.

Just make your way up the stairs, go right, and then straight south until you see another set of stairs.

Walking through Memorial Pillar’s first islet

At the very end of this islet, you’ll face another body of water to Surf across.

At the southern end of Memorial Pillar’s first islet

Surf downward. This will lead you to the namesake of Memorial Pillar: the towering grave of an Onix named Tectonix.

Obtaining the Metal Coat on Memorial Pillar

The Metal Coat is just to the lower left of Tectonix’s grave.

Source #2: Trainer Tower on Seven Island

If you already know how to get to the Trainer Tower, skip to the second subsection for a rundown on the Trainer Tower’s mechanics.

Getting to the Trainer Tower

Head north of Seven Island, walking up past the Pokémon Center.

Entering the Trainer Tower area, north of the Seven Island Pokémon Center

Before you’ve even leave the main area of Seven Island, the route transition marker will signal that you’ve already entered the Trainer Tower area.

The Trainer Tower itself will have to be Surfed to, however.

The route signpost for the Trainer Tower on the Seven Island mainland

Just continue heading north and Surf upward once your path is blocked by water.

You will soon land on another island where the actual Trainer Tower is erected.

Reading the sign in front of the Trainer Tower

Head inside and you will find yourself in the lobby of the Trainer Tower.

To the left is a PC and Pokémon Center counter. To the right is a PokéMart counter.

Directly across the entrance, the middle counter, is where you can choose to challenge the Trainer Tower’s different modes.

The Trainer Tower’s Mechanics

For each mode, you will have to beat a time limit as you battle your way through 8 floors to reach the top of the Tower.

This time limit is determined by your current record.

If you have not yet made a record for a mode, its target time will be 59 minutes and 59 seconds.

The Trainer Tower’s time board, displaying the player’s records for each mode

The levels of all the Trainers’ Pokémon will match the highest-leveled Pokémon in your party. This can be anywhere from 1 to 100.

Speak to the NPC receptionist behind the middle counter to pull up the Trainer Tower mode selection menu.

Selecting a Trainer Tower mode from the menu at the central counter

After you’ve chosen a mode, the timer will start.

Note: There is no way to view this timer in-game. You will have to use your own timer or stopwatch if you want to monitor your ongoing run time.

Once the timer has started, you can do anything within the Tower.

You can move between floors, talk to the NPCs, switch out your Pokémon at the PC, and use the Tower’s PokéMart and Pokémon Center.

The Trainer Tower’s PokéMart selection

Just make sure not to leave the Trainer Tower or this will end your challenge.

Tip: Save time by stocking up at the Tower’s PokéMart before starting a challenge. Going back down to the lobby’s Pokémon Center or PokéMart in the middle of a challenge to heal your party or buy items will take you much longer.

You will receive an evolutionary item if you manage to beat your record.

Select Knockout Mode, since this will earn you a Metal Coat.

Knockout Mode

Knockout Mode has you go through 3 consecutive Single Battles per floor. Each battle has you go against a single Pokémon.

Encountering Biker Jordy, starting the set of 3 consecutive Single Battles on 1F

The Trainers, their Pokémon, and the order in which you battle them will always be the same.

See the table below for a list of Knockout Mode’s Trainers and their Pokémon listed in order per floor:

Floor	Trainers	Pokémon
1F	Biker Jordy Biker Ernest Cue Ball Gabriel	Magby Togepi Smoochum
2F	Hiker Mike Crush Girl Rebecca Black Belt Nicolas	Charizard Flareon Poliwrath
3F	Picnicker Camryn Aroma Lady Natalia Cool Trainer Kathleen	Miltank Vileplume Lapras
4F	Sailor Brennan Fisherman Kaden Gentleman Emanuel	Chansey Seaking Vaporeon
5F	Beauty Maura Lass Mikaela Engineer Flint	Nidoran Nidorina Nidoqueen
6F	Rocker Ben Engineer Camden Scientist Zackery	Ampharos Granbull Misdreavus
7F	Tuber Priscilla Lady Charlotte Swimmer Shania	Goldeen Qwilfish Mantine
8F	Pokémon Ranger Chelsea Pokémon Ranger Trenton Cool Trainer Albert	Starmie Arcanine Venusaur

Tip: 6F Scientist Zackery’s Misdreavus will spam Grudge, which will reduce the PP of the move that KOs it to 0. Using PP-restoring items can mitigate this effect. Do note that the Trainer Tower’s PokéMart doesn’t have any PP-restoring items for sale.

Receiving a Metal Coat from the owner of the Trainer Tower after beating Knockout Mode

Once you make it to the top of the Tower, you will meet the Trainer Tower’s owner.

If you’ve succeeded in beating your Knockout Mode record, he will give you a Metal Coat.

Note: contrary to popular belief, receiving the Metal Coat or any other prize here is NOT repeatable. After any other consecutive attempt, the owner will only remark on your improved time. No wild Pokémon hold Metal Coats either.

But since only Steelix and Scizor need Metal Coats to evolve in this gen, you can easily fill up your Pokedex with just the two you can get – at the cost of not having a Metal Coat to use as a held item.

Metal Coat Uses in FRLG

Metal Coats can be used as an evolutionary item or as a held item for battles.

A Metal Coat in the Bag’s Items pocket

A Metal Coat can be used to evolve Onix into Steelix and Scyther into Scizor when they’re traded.

It can also be held by any Pokémon to increase the power of its Steel-type moves by 10%.

Giving a Magneton a Metal Coat to hold

The benefits are greater for Steel-type Pokémon since the 10% boost can be stacked with a same-type attack bonus (STAB for short). STAB is a damage bonus that multiplies a move’s power by 1.5 when the move’s type matches the Pokémon’s type that uses it.

For example, when a Steel-type Pokémon uses a Steel-type move, it will be boosted with STAB.

And giving that Pokémon a Metal Coat as a held item will increase their damage boost even further!

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J. Cloverfield

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She's a social science major and hobbyist illustrator known for her shyness, temper, and love of pink. Her first try at gaming was with a Pokémon Silver bootleg as a preschooler, and by now she's played nearly all of the Pokémon games—spin-offs included. Zero Escape, Ace Attorney, Danganronpa, Shin Megami Tensei, Fire Emblem, and Story of Seasons are some of her other favorite franchises.

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