How To Get Hard Stones in Pokémon Platinum

Hard Stone Locations
#	Method	Repeatable?
1	Rock Peak Ruins—In the middle of the floor if you don’t have a fateful encounter Regigigas in your Party	No
2	The Underground—Possible reward in the mining minigame	Yes
3	Held item (5% chance) found on the following Pokémon: Nosepass (Mt. Coronet) Aron (Fuego Ironworks (Poké Radar only)) Corsola (Route 230 (swarm only))	Yes

The earliest point when you can work on getting a Hard Stone is after you receive the Explorer Kit in Eterna City. At that point you can visit the Underground where you can find Hard Stones as one of many items.

However, a much more surefire way of obtaining a Hard Stone is to wait until you have access to the Rock Peak Ruins on Route 228.

Acquiring Hard Stones

Method 1: Rock Peak Ruins (Step-by-Step)

Platinum’s one finite Hard Stone is located in Rock Peak Ruins. This is a single-chamber cave in a pit on Route 228.

This specific Hard Stone is also only obtainable after receiving the National Pokédex in the post-game section, but it’s the simplest method for getting the item.

Once you have the National Pokédex, head to the Resort Area of the Battle Zone and cross over the bridge to the north of the Pokémon Center.

Heading northward across the Resort Area’s bridge.

On the other side of the pond, continue northward to leave the Resort Area and enter Route 229.

Leaving the Resort Area and heading onto Route 229.

Where the trail splits at the Resort Area/Route 229 sign, head northward through the tall grass, past the two Ace Trainers.

Passing the Ace Trainers on Route 229.

Veer to the northwest and slip through the gap in the trees.

Heading northwest to reach Route 228.

A sandstorm will flare up as Route 229 becomes Route 228.

Hug the eastern wall to maintain your course northward through the narrow canyons.

Heading northward through the sandstorm.

Continue heading north, ignoring muddy slopes and other distractions.

Heading northward through the winding path.

Continue northward past the Ace Trainers.

Passing between the two Ace Trainers.

Head northwest through the tall grass.

Traveling through the northwestern grassland.

Pass by the Ace Trainer guarding the short canyon to the north.

Passing through the short canyon to the northwest.

Slide down the next muddy slope to your right.

It may be hard to see because of the sandstorm, but there is a cave in the cliff face down here. Head through it to enter the cave.

Sliding down the muddy slope and entering Rock Peak Ruins.

The chamber you’ll find yourself in is the Rock Peak Ruins.

If you have a fateful encounter Regigigas in your party, the room will contain a puzzle that allows you to battle Regirock.

Without a fateful encounter Regigigas, the room will be empty except for a Poké Ball item in the middle of the floor.

The Poké Ball item inside Rock Peak Ruins.

Pick this Poké Ball up to obtain the Hard Stone.

Obtaining the Hard Stone in Rock Peak Ruins.

Method 2: The Underground (Repeatable)

You can get Hard Stones much earlier in the game if you commit to searching in the Underground for one.

However, this is a highly unreliable method. And it can take several hours of playing the mining minigame to produce results.

But if you need one earlier in the game, this is the way to go.

To start searching for Hard Stones, dig down to the Underground by using the Explorer Kit, which you will receive from the Underground Man in Eterna City.

Using the Explorer Kit from the Key Items list.

When you have control of your character, head for one of the glittering areas shown on the map below.

Glittering areas showing the existence of treasures.

Tap the touch screen to sense hidden treasures lodged inside building walls.

These spots will sparkle when your sensor passes over them.

Tapping the touch screen to find bulging walls.

Walk up to one of these spots and Press A.

Inspecting the sparkling point.

Digging into bulging walls will begin a minigame.

You’ll want to alternate between your hammer and your pickaxe to dig as many treasures out of the wall as possible before the wall comes crashing down from the repeated banging.

The hammer breaks more rocks and dirt per hit, but causes the minigame to end more quickly
The pickaxe is weaker, but more precise and less damaging to the wall

Starting the mining minigame.

Every time you mine a new spot in the Underground, there is only a 20% chance that a non-sphere item will be hidden beneath the rocks and dirt.

There are close to 50 different non-sphere item types that can be uncovered here.

Because the odds of finding a Hard Stone in a single minigame are pretty low, you can expect to spend a long time searching for one.

Digging a Hard Stone out of the wall.

Remember to send your items above ground by selecting them in the Treasures sub-menu.

Opening the Treasures menu to send found items back up.

Method 3: Held Item on Wild Pokémon (Repeatable)

Yet another way to obtain Hard Stones is by taking them as held items from any of these wild Pokémon:

Nosepass
Aron
Corsola

Nosepass is the easiest to find of the three, so it’s the best Pokémon to farm Hard Stones from.

Aron can only be found using the Poké Radar, and Corsola requires a swarm to be in effect. So for this guide we’ll skip over those two and just farm Nosepass.

You can find wild Nosepass in Mt. Coronet.

Nosepass’s sole habitat according to the Pokédex.

Nosepass is a relatively rare Pokémon to find, having a mere 5% spawn rate per encounter.

And since each wild Nosepass has a 5% chance of carrying a Hard Stone, this method can take a fair amount of time.

Hunting for wild Nosepass on the first floor of Mt. Coronet.

But you can greatly speed up the process by bringing a designated item-farming team with you.

These special teams use Pokémon with the Abilities Frisk and Compoundeyes to both increase the odds of finding items and identify any items being held.

Finding a wild Nosepass in Mt. Coronet.

If you’re using an item-farming team, the Compoundeyes Ability will raise the odds of each Nosepass having a Hard Stone from 5% up to 20%.

Frisk will also alert you to any items the foe is holding, saving you from wasting time on guesswork.

Identifying the wild Nosepass’s held item using the Frisk Ability.

After discovering a Nosepass with a Hard Stone, either use a stealing move (like Thief or Trick) or catch the Nosepass to obtain the item.

Stealing the Hard Stone using Trick.

Then you can end the battle however you prefer—you will keep the Hard Stone even if you flee.

Hard Stone Details and Uses

The in-game description of the Hard Stone.

The Hard Stone is a held item that increases the damage dealt by the holder’s Rock-type moves by 20%.

The Hard Stone will work on the Rock moves of any Pokémon type, but this item is best used by Rock-type Pokémon for the added STAB damage.

Rock-types tend to be heavy physical attackers. So the Hard Stone makes a great item for a Rock Pokémon that knows a strong physical move like Rock Blast, Rock Slide, and Stone Edge.

And here’s a little-known fact about Hard Stones:

They make some of the hardest-hitting items to use with Fling. A flung Hard Stone will have a base power of 100, and it is eclipsed only by the Iron Ball’s devastating base power of 130.

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Chris Haygood

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Chris is an American freelance writer and lifelong gamer. RPGs have been his genre of choice ever since he got Pokémon Blue in 1867, but if he finds a good rhythm game, he will prioritize playing it over both eating and breathing.

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