How To Get the Macho Brace in Pokémon Platinum

The only Macho Brace in Pokémon Platinum is in Pastoria City. You will receive it as a reward for showing a male and female Combee to a boy in the house to the north of the Poké Mart.

This can be fairly simple, but the following guide is split into two steps:

Step 1 details how to catch wild Combee
Step 2 explains where to take them after you’ve caught them

Acquiring the Macho Brace (Step-by-Step)

Step 1: Catching Wild Combee

You’ll need both a male and female Combee in order to receive the Macho Brace.

This is a little more complicated than it sounds:

Combee are only found in Honey Trees, which are highly inefficient ways of getting Pokémon.

Not only that, but female Combees are several times rarer than males. This can turn obtaining both genders of Combee into something of a chore.

Combee’s habitats, according to the Pokédex.

Honey Tree Locations
Routes 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 218, 221, 222 Eterna Forest Floaroma Meadow Fuego Ironworks Valley Windworks

To catch wild Combee, head for a Honey Tree and interact with it. If you have Honey in your Bag, you will be prompted to slather it on the bark.

Do so, and then leave the area for a while.

Tip: Each Honey Tree encounter has only a 32% chance of spawning a Combee, and only 12.5% of Combees are female. It’s recommended that you put honey onto several Honey Trees at a time to maximize your odds of encountering both genders.

Slathering Honey on the Honey Tree to attract Combee.

If you return to the same tree after six hours have passed, you will likely see it rustling.

You can then interact with the tree to start a wild Pokémon battle.

Encountering a rare female Combee at a Honey Tree.

Capturing Combee is just like catching any other normal Pokémon. Be extra careful not to knock out any female Combee in particular, if you don’t want to add hours to this process.

But either way, you’ll just repeat this process until you have both a male and a female.

Having both a male and a female Combee into the Party.

Step 2: Finding the NPC in Pastoria City

Now it’s time to visit the house of the Bug Catcher kid, who wants nothing more than to see a male and female Combee at the same time.

To reach the residence, start by going to the Pastoria City Pokémon Center and head south.

Heading southward from Pastoria City’s Pokémon Center.

Then enter the house that’s directly north of the Poké Mart.

Entering the Bug Catcher boy’s house above the Poké Mart.

Inside, speak to the boy at the table wearing a hat.

The boy who requests to see a male and female Combee.

Having both a male and female Combee in your team will make him ecstatic.

Showing the boy the two Combee.

As a reward, the boy will give you a Macho Brace.

Note: This is the only Macho Brace you can get in Pokémon Platinum.

Receiving the Macho Brace as a reward.

Macho Brace Details and Uses

The in-game description of the Macho Brace.

The Macho Brace is a held item that doubles the amount of EVs gained in battle, but it also cuts the holder’s Speed stat in half.

EVs (or Effort Values) are a huge determining factor of a Pokémon’s strengths and weaknesses, contributing points to Pokémon’s individual stats. EVs are typically earned through training, and the type & number of EVs gained depends on the species of the Pokémon you defeat in each battle.

For instance:

Defeating a Raticate will provide 2 EVs in Speed.

As your Pokémon levels up from battling, those EVs will translate into extra stat points.

Then at level 100, your Pokémon will have one extra stat point for every 4 EVs earned in that stat.

But certain items, like the Macho Brace and the Power items, can also affect EV yield.

Macho Brace vs. Power Items

Where the Macho Brace differs from the Power items is that the Macho Brace multiplies the default type of EVs received from each battle, whereas the Power items only give specific types of EVs depending on which item you have equipped.

The Macho Brace is a must-have item if you’re planning on crafting the strongest team possible in the shortest amount of time.

If stacked with the Pokérus, your Pokémon can potentially earn up to 12 EVs in a stat per wild Pokémon battle.

BACK TO THE MAIN GAME Pokémon Platinum Full Strategy Guide

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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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