How To Get TM85 Dream Eater in Pokémon ORAS

You can get TM85 Dream Eater by visiting the Safari Zone building on Route 121 and talking to a Street Thug inside near the entrance. You will not need to go into the Safari Zone itself to get this particular TM, so you can get it as soon as you have access to Route 121.

As for the move itself:

Dream Eater is a move that only damages sleeping targets, restoring 50% of the damage dealt to the user’s HP. However, its usefulness can be hit or miss due to relying on the opponent being asleep and not knowing when they’ll wake up.

TM85 Dream Eater Location (Step-by-Step)

The Safari Zone is situated on Route 121, which is just a bit west from Lilycove City.

So while you can pick up this TM fairly easily, there are some prerequisites. Here’s what you’ll need to do before you can first access the Safari Zone building:

Obtain the sixth Gym Badge from Winona, the Gym Leader from Fortree City
Have access to Route 121
Have a Pokémon that can use HM01 Cut (Optional)

And just in case you haven’t been to the Safari Zone yet, here’s a step-by-step on how to get there & how to get your TM.

Step 1: Start from the Route 121 signpost and follow the path to the east.

Route 121 going east

Step 2: Keep going east past the two trainers.

Walking past the trainers

Step 3: Using HM01 Cut, cut down the prickly tree you’ll run into just above a pine tree. Then enter the building on the right – this building leads to the Safari Zone.

If you don’t have Cut then you can go down & wrap around the tree by following the path to the south.

Outside the Safari Zone

Step 4: Once you’re inside the building, talk to the Street Thug NPC to your right and he’ll give you the TM for Dream Eater.

The location of TM85 Dream Eater

TM85 Dream Eater Details + Uses

In-game details for TM85 Dream Eater

Dream Eater Move Details
Type	Psychic
Category	Special
Power	100
Accuracy	100%
PP	15 (max. 24)

Dream Eater is a Special Psychic-type move that only works only when the target is asleep. It deals damage and restores 50% of that damage to the user’s HP. If the target is awake or wakes up during the turn before you get the chance to use Dream Eater, the move fails and does nothing.

Note: When a Pokémon using Dream Eater is holding a Big Root, the amount of HP restored gets increased by 30% (restoring 65% of the damage dealt as HP), but the damage dealt to your opponent won’t be increased.

There are also a couple other interesting effects related to other abilities:

If your opponent has the ability Liquid Ooze, the Dream Eater user will lose the HP it would have gained
If the user is under Heal Block’s effect, it won’t be able to use Dream Eater

Using Dream Eater in battle

Since Dream Eater only works when the opponent is asleep, its usefulness is generally limited despite its high base power, perfect accuracy, and useful secondary effect.

It has three major flaws that make it a less-than-ideal move.

It requires you to use a move that puts your opponent to sleep, which are often inaccurate, except for Spore. However, none of the Pokémon that can learn Spore can also learn Dream Eater (except for Smeargle).
The unpredictability of when a Pokémon wakes up from sleep might cause Dream Eater to fail, making the move inconsistent.
Dream Eater can be easily countered in competitive battles, since opponents often just switch out their sleeping Pokémon. This often means you’d be wasting Dream Eater on a target that isn’t even asleep.

However, during a single-player playthrough of ORAS, Dream Eater can be quite useful. Because NPC opponents rarely switch out their Pokémon so it’s much easier to get this move to land.

Additionally, Dream Eater’s healing is useful for when you want to save up on your healing items.

How the Sleep Status Condition Works

The opposing Shuppet is fast asleep

The Sleep status condition prevents Pokémon from making a move for 1-3 turns. A sleeping Pokémon’s sleep counter is not reset when it’s switched out.

And there are plenty of moves and Abilities that put opponents to sleep. Moves like Spore and Yawn are very popular in competitive battles. Some moves and Abilities directly interact with the Sleep status condition.

Abilities the Interact with Sleep

Ability Name	Type	Description
Bad Dreams	Ability	As long as the opposing Pokémon is asleep, they will lose 12.5% of their max HP at the end of each turn. (Darkrai’s signature Ability)
Early Bird	Ability	Wakes up twice as fast from sleep
Insomnia	Ability	Pokémon with this Ability cannot fall asleep
Sweet Veil	Ability	This Pokémon and its allies cannot fall asleep
Vital Spirit	Ability	Pokémon with this Ability cannot fall asleep

Moves that Interact with Sleep

Move Name	Move Type	Description
Dream Eater	Psychic	If the target is asleep, this move deals damage and heals the user for 50% of the damage dealt.
Nightmare	Ghost	As long as the opposing Pokémon is asleep, they will lose 25% of their max HP at the end of each turn.
Sleep Talk	Normal	While the user is asleep, the user randomly uses one of its other moves.
Snore	Normal	While the user is asleep, this move deals damage. This can make the target flinch.
Uproar	Normal	Deals damage and locks the user into using this move for 3 turns. No Pokémon can fall asleep during this time.
Wake-Up Slap	Fighting	Deals double damage against sleeping targets. This also wakes up the target.
Worry Seed	Grass	Changes the target’s Ability to Insomnia, preventing them from falling asleep.

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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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