Optimal Held Item Farming Team for Pokémon ORAS (Complete Guide)

Inside Meteor Falls in Pokémon Alpha Sapphire

The most efficient way to farm held items in ORAS is by building a Pokémon team that primarily uses the Abilities Compound Eyes and Frisk, along with the stealing move Thief.

Generally speaking, there is only a 5% chance that certain wild Pokémon will be carrying any rare items like Sticky Barbs and Soft Sand. For common items such as Potions and Revives, there’s a 50% chance.

So without an effective farming strategy, collecting rare held items can be tiresome and take a significant amount of time.

In this guide we’ll cover which Abilities and moves you’ll need and what they do, and we’ll provide you with lists of Pokémon you can add to your very own held item farming team!

Farming Held Items (Quick Overview)

Here’s how to efficiently farm held items in ORAS:

  1. Place a fainted Pokémon with the Ability Compound Eyes in the first slot of your party to increase the chances of finding wild Pokémon with a held item.
  2. Have a Pokémon with the Ability Frisk placed in the second slot of your party to see if the opposing Pokémon is holding an item at the start of each encounter.
  3. If the enemy Pokémon has an item, use Thief to steal it. Ideally, your second Pokémon (with Frisk) should know this move so you can use it immediately.

And that’s it!

You’ll only need 2-3 Pokémon to do this. And with this team, you’ll have a higher chance of encountering a Pokémon that’s holding a rare item, and at most, each encounter will only last for one turn – you won’t ever need to switch out.

A Banette steals a wild Trapinch’s Soft Sand using this held item farming method. / Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
A Banette steals a wild Trapinch’s Soft Sand using this held item farming method.

Compound Eyes (Ability)

How It Works

Encountering a wild Nincada on Route 116. / Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
Encountering a wild Nincada on Route 116.

Outside of battle, if a Pokémon with the Ability Compound Eyes is leading the party, the chances of encountering a wild Pokémon holding an item increases from:

  • 5% to 20% for rare items
  • 50% to 60% for common items

This stays in effect even when the Pokémon with Compound Eyes faints – as long as it occupies the first slot in your party.

List of Pokémon with Compound Eyes

In the table below, you’ll find a list of Pokémon you can catch in ORAS with Compound Eyes and where to find them.

Note: You can only obtain Pokémon with Hidden Abilities in the wild by using the DexNav.

Pokémon Location
Dustox (Hidden Ability) Evolve Cascoon (found in Petalburg Woods)
Nincada Route 116
Joltik Route 116 (using DexNav; post-National Dex)
Galvantula Evolve Joltik (found on Route 116)

Frisk (Ability)

How it Works

Banette identifies Cacnea’s held item with Frisk. / Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
Banette identifies Cacnea’s held item with Frisk.

A Pokémon with the Frisk Ability identifies the opposing Pokémon’s held item – if it’s holding any item, the name of that item is revealed.

This ability activates as you enter a battle, which is why it’s important to have your first Pokémon (with Compound Eyes) to be fainted.

With this strategy, both Abilities take effect at the same time without needing to switch between other Pokémon.

List of Pokémon with Frisk

Here is a list of Pokémon with Frisk in ORAS and where to find them in the Hoenn region.

Pokémon Location
Wigglytuff (Hidden Ability)
  • Evolve Jigglypuff (found on Route 115)
Shuppet
  • Route 121
  • Route 123
  • Mt. Pyre
Banette
  • Evolve Shuppet (found on Routes 121, 123, & Mt. Pyre)
Duskull (Hidden Ability)
  • Mt. Pyre
Dusclops (Hidden Ability)
  • Evolve Duskull (found on Mt. Pyre)
Dusknoir (Hidden Ability)
  • Evolve Dusclops
Gothita
  • Route 102 (using DexNav; post-National Dex)
Gothorita
  • Evolve Gothita (found on Route 102)
Gothitelle
  • Evolve Gothorita
Phantump
  • Petalburg Woods (using DexNav; post-National Dex)
Trevenant
  • Evolve Phantump (Petalburg Woods)
Stantler
  • Mirage Mountain

Thief (Move)

Banette uses Thief against a wild Cacnea. / Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
Banette uses Thief against a wild Cacnea.
Thief Move Details
Type Dark
Category Physical
Power 60
Accuracy 100%
PP 25 (max. 40)

Thief is a Dark-type move that damages its target and steals its held item (if it has one).

Note: The Thief user can’t steal if it already has a held item, so be sure to remove any current items before farming for more.

You can get TM46 Thief from a Team Magma/Aqua Grunt, whom you can find inside the Oceanic Museum in Slateport City.

Outside the Oceanic Museum in Slateport City. / Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
Outside the Oceanic Museum in Slateport City.

Preferably, you’d want to teach this move to your second Pokémon with Frisk. Then once you’ve identified if the opposing Pokémon is holding an item, you can use Thief as your first move in battle to steal the item right away.

Fortunately, all Pokémon listed in the Frisk section above can learn TM46 Thief!

Tip: Another item-stealing move you can use is Covet, which works similarly to Thief. However, there is no TM for this move. In ORAS, Wigglytuff is the only Pokémon with the Frisk Ability that can also learn Covet as an Egg Move.

Setting Up Your Team

Now it’s time to build your complete team for wild Pokémon held item farming.

You’ll only need 2-3 Pokémon in your party for this purpose, so the rest of your party slots can be filled with whichever Pokémon you prefer.

Note that you can build your team depending on your preference so long as they meet the requirements of this strategy.

But since some of the Pokémon listed in this guide only show up later in the game, these Pokémon are by far the easiest to catch for early held item farming:

1. Nincada (Compound Eyes) – For your first Pokémon, you’d want Nincada leading your party. You can encounter it anywhere on Route 116 by walking, and it’s guaranteed to have Compound Eyes.

This Pokémon should be fainted so you don’t have to worry about switching out while farming wild Pokémon for held items.

A fainted Nincada with Compound Eyes. / Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
A fainted Nincada with Compound Eyes.

2. Banette (Frisk & Thief) – Next, you’d want Banette positioned second in your party.

While Shuppet can have the Ability Frisk and learn the move Thief, remember that your second Pokémon will always front your party, since Nincada would be in a fainted state. So it’s better to evolve it to Banette first so it’ll have better stats.

A Banette with the Frisk Ability and knows the move Thief. / Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
A Banette with the Frisk Ability and knows the move Thief.

3. Optional: Mightyena (Thief) – You can use another Pokémon that also knows the move Thief in the third slot of your party as a backup, just in case Banette faints or is forcibly switched out by moves like Dragon Tail and Roar.

And if you want suggestions then Mightyena works great here. It evolves from Poochyena at level 18, and you can easily find a Poochyena on Routes 101, 102, & 103.

A Mightyena that knows the move Thief. / Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
A Mightyena that knows the move Thief.

For the rest of your team, it’s up to you.

You can bring an HM slave like Linoone or Sharpedo so you can move between areas with ease. Or you could just bring regular Pokémon from your team that happen to know some handy HMs like Surf and Fly.

Besides that, you’re free to fill the rest of your party as you like!

A sample held item farming team setup. / Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
A sample held item farming team setup.

Final Notes

Once you’ve created your team, you should be ready to begin farming held items from wild Pokémon encounters.

But for extra advice, keep these tips in mind to make the process as efficient as possible:

  • Keep your first Pokémon with Compound Eyes fainted. Compound Eyes will work whether the Pokémon is healthy or fainted – as long as it occupies the first slot of your party. Doing this saves you time from having to switch to your second Pokémon.
  • Use TM46 Thief on your second Pokémon with Frisk. There’s no need to have a separate Pokémon to steal held items since most Pokémon can learn Thief by TM. This way, as soon as a held item is identified, you can steal it on the first turn – if not, you can flee immediately and try again.
  • Make sure your Pokémon with the move Thief isn’t carrying an item. Thief only works if the user isn’t holding any item. If you’ve just stolen an item from a Pokémon, be sure to transfer it to your Bag first before you resume farming.

Jon Soluna

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Jon is a game development student pursuing a career in video game writing. When he’s not working on his thesis, you could often find him playing open-world games, reading classic novels, rewatching Game of Thrones, or on occasion, playing Pokémon Alpha Sapphire on his old 3DS.

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