How To Get a Black Belt in Pokémon ORAS

In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, you can obtain Black Belts by stealing or capturing wild Makuhita, Throh, or Sawk. They will each have a 5% chance of holding a Black Belt, and this is the only way to obtain a Black Belt in these games.

You can find wild Makuhita inside Granite Cave by simply walking around.
In contrast, you can only find wild Throh or Sawk on Route 112 by using your DexNav.

Since they all have the same odds of holding an item, it’s much easier to find a Black Belt from wild Makuhita.

Getting Black Belts

Using Thief against a wild Makuhita

Some wild Pokémon hold obtainable items by catching or stealing them by using the move Thief. Makuhita, Throh, and Sawk all have a 5% chance of holding a Black Belt in the wild.

Makuhita can be encountered in both versions of ORAS.

However, Throh is an Omega Ruby exclusive, while Sawk is an Alpha Sapphire exclusive.

You can only encounter Throh or Sawk by using the DexNav function after obtaining the National Pokédex.

Makuhita Locations

Inside Granite Cave

Makuhita are commonly found anywhere inside Granite Cave, located northwest of Dewford Town. They are much more common if you don’t go underground.

You can also find Makuhita as a possible Horde Encounter, but it’s difficult to figure out which one is holding an item.

Makuhita Locations
Location	Method	Rarity
Granite Cave	Walking / Horde	40%
Granite Cave (Underground)	Walking	20%

Throh/Sawk Locations

Route 112

You can find Throh or Sawk using the DexNav function on Route 112, a route divided into two sections by Mt. Chimney.

You can find either Pokémon regardless of which section of Route 112 you’re currently in.

Route 112 (North & South)
Pokemon	Method	Version
Throh	DexNav	Omega Ruby
Sawk	DexNav	Alpha Sapphire

After encountering any of them, use the move Thief to steal that Pokémon’s item if it’s holding one. You can also choose to catch them if you don’t have a Pokémon with Thief.

Tip: Leading your team with a Pokémon with Compound Eyes boosts the chance of wild Pokémon holding an item from 5% up to 20%. And using a Pokémon with Frisk lets you to see if the opponent has a held item upon entering battle. You can use these two abilities to make it easier to find a Black Belt.

How Black Belts Work

The Black Belt boosts the power of Fighting-type moves by 20%. Despite its simple effect, Black Belt is actually a decent item. Unlike Life Orb and Choice items, its power boost has no drawback, which can be worth sacrificing more power over.

Items like Black Belt exist for other types as well. They all provide a 20% boost to their corresponding type. Arceus’ Plates also function in the same way.

One advantage these types of items have is that your opponent won’t know what item you’re actually holding.

They will have to keep guessing, not realizing moves you’re using are, in reality, being boosted by Black Belt.

While it’s not common to see Black Belt being run competitively, it can still be worth considering.

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StormSwampert

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Though he spends most of his time playing a wide variety of games, Pokémon has always been his favorite. When he’s not playing games or writing guides, you can find him watching anime and collecting trading cards.

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