Maylene + Veilstone Gym Puzzle (Pokémon Platinum)

Pokémon Platinum’s fourth Gym Leader is Veilstone City’s Maylene. Her team is composed of three Fighting-type Pokémon that are all around level 30.

Her first two Pokémon can be defeated by exploiting the standard Fighting-type weaknesses.

But her most powerful Pokémon, Lucario, would be better dealt with using a Fire-, Fighting-, or Ground-type Pokémon.

Quick Strategy

Maylene uses Fighting-type Pokémon, which are generally much simpler to fight than the Ghost types of the previous Gym.

That isn’t to say Leader Maylene is easy to defeat. Every one of her Pokémon has at least one trick that can surprise the unprepared. Specific pointers to keep in mind:

• Bring Pokémon that are around level 30.
• Have a Psychic- or Flying-type Pokémon in your party. Fighting-type Pokémon are weak against both of these types. However, two of Maylene’s Pokémon have a Rock-type move that can do massive damage to Flying-types, so be sure your flyers can handle a Rock attack or two.
• Bring a Fire-, Fighting-, or Ground-type Pokémon as well. Maylene’s most powerful Pokémon, Lucario, is part Steel, so it won’t be weak to the typical Fighting weaknesses.
• Double-check your items. Since you have three badges, Revives are available in Poké Marts now. A couple of those and some Super Potions can be very handy when dealing with Lucario.

Before Entering Veilstone Gym

Unlike the Ghost-type Pokémon of Hearthome City’s Gym, Veilstone Gym’s Fighting types are more susceptible to type weaknesses.

A single level 30 Flying- or Psychic-type Pokémon can easily take down all the Gym’s trainers by itself, and then do significant damage to Leader Maylene’s team.

A few things should be noted, however:

• Maylene’s first two Pokémon, Meditite and Machoke, know the move Rock Tomb. Although both Pokémon are weak against Flying types, Flying types are weak against Rock-type moves.
• Maylene’s third Pokémon is Lucario, a Fighting/Steel dual-type. The Steel-type half of Lucario cancels out its Fighting-type weaknesses, so Flying- and Psychic-type moves will only do regular damage.

Because of these defenses, it is best to be prepared with at least two level 30 Pokémon that can counter them:

1. A strong Psychic-type (or a Flying-type that can take a strong Rock-type attack)
2. And a Fire-, Ground-, or Fighting-type

Note: If you’re lacking Pokémon of the aforementioned types, you can find wild Kadabra (Psychic), Staravia (Flying), and Ponyta (Fire), all up to level 22, west of Veilstone City on Route 215. On Route 214, to the south of Veilstone, you can catch wild Ponyta and Houndour (both Fire) up to level 24.

Visit the Poké Mart and stock up on Revives and Super Potions, as well. Maylene’s Pokémon aren’t likely to cause you any status moves, so there’s no real need to purchase status items for this fight, but you might bring a Paralyze Heal, just in case.

When you’re ready, head south from the Veilstone City Pokémon Center, keeping to the east road after descending the staircase.

When the road curves to the west, change direction with it.

Take the road all the way to the western edge of the city, then turn north, ascending the westernmost stairs.

Continue heading north, and Veilstone Gym will be right in front of you.

Inside Veilstone Gym

Veilstone’s Pokémon Gym doubles as an actual gym, where human trainers work out alongside their Pokémon.

Because of this, it has a fighting- and exercise-themed puzzle to solve, as well as four black belt trainers—the Karate Quads—to battle.

Note: Battling most of the trainers in this Gym is optional, but it is recommended that you fight them anyway for the easy EXP.

Veilstone Gym Puzzle Guide

This puzzle is far more complex than any of the others so far.

It involves destroying tire stack barriers by knocking punching bags into them; the punching bags are suspended from overhead rails, and by facing the bags, you can step forward and slide them toward the stacks of tires to topple them.

To start, stand to the left of the bag closest to the entrance.

Press Right on the directional pad to shove the bag along the rail and into the stack of tires at the end.

Step through the newly-opened gap, then stand to the south of the next bag you encounter. Press Up to move this bag forward.

This rail has two “stops” on it (indicated by the little red shapes on top), so shove the same bag forward again to move it along further.

While you are on the right side of the screen, go ahead and take care of the Karate Quad trainers in the lower-right and upper-right boxing rings.

The one standing in the lower-right ring is Black Belt Colby:

The Karate Quad standing in the upper-right ring is Black Belt Darren:

You can also take a left between the two rings and fight Black Belt Rafael, since you’ll need to fight him at some point anyway.

When you’re done with him, head back to the last punching bag you moved way over on the right.

Then push the bag directly next to it, and push that bag northward, knocking another stack of tires to form a new path.

North of the upper-right boxing ring, running east and west, is a long rail that contains two intermediate stops.

Knock its punching bag to the stack of tires on the right if you’d like some extra room, although it’s not required to proceed.

Then push the bag to the left, back to its original position.

Push it left once more to knock over the tire stack on the other side.

Now you can pass through to the lower-left boxing ring, where you will find a punching bag suspended from a rectangular network of conjoined rails.

Because of a tire stack, you won’t be able to access the lower-left bag yet.

So while you’re at the lower-left ring, push the right-side bag up northward.

Then, push this same bag to the left.

Placing the bag in this position will give it the momentum it needs to knock the southern tire stack over. So push the bag southward and knock over those tires.

Now you can access the other punching bag to the left of the ring.

Place yourself at the south end of that bag, and shove it forward.

Follow the rail, and push that same punching bag to the right, knocking over another tire stack.

Now you can deal with the last of the Karate Quads, Black Belt Jeffery:

After the battle, stand on the northern side of the punching bag located next to Jeffery. Then move that bag down going south.

Once it stops moving, go push it to the right to knock over the tires.

Now you’ve removed all the tire stack barriers that were preventing you from reaching Maylene.

Head through the clearing you made, and push the next punching bag to the right to get it out of the way.

After that, push it once more to the right. This will remove the tires at the far end, so you can exit more quickly after the battle.

Make sure all of your Pokémon are healed, then head up the staircase and speak to Maylene to initiate the battle.

Battling Maylene

Maylene’s Meditite

Move List:

• Drain Punch
• Confusion
• Fake Out
• Rock Tomb

Meditite is a Fighting/Psychic dual-type Pokémon, so it won’t be weak to Psychic-type moves. It is weak to Flying-type attacks, but bear in mind that Maylene’s Meditite knows the move Rock Tomb, which can cause your Flying-type Pokémon a ton of damage and lower its Speed, which you definitely want to avoid in this battle.

Its Fake Out move is also one to watch out for. Fake Out has a +1 priority rating, so it’s likely to go first in a turn, and if used successfully, it will cause your Pokémon to flinch.

Use a good Flying-type attack to defeat this Meditite, and plan on healing if your Pokémon gets caught by one of its more troublesome moves.

Maylene’s Machoke

Move List:

• Karate Chop
• Strength
• Focus Energy
• Rock Tom

Machoke is weak to Psychic- and Flying-type Pokémon. Like her Meditite, Maylene’s Machoke knows Rock Tomb, so a Psychic-type Pokémon is a better choice here than a Flying type. It also has quite a bit of HP, so it might take a couple of attacks to take Machoke out of the battle.

A strong Psychic-type Pokémon like Kadabra, using a move like Psybeam, will likely knock Machoke out in one hit. But you will probably be fine with a Flying type, especially if you’re carrying Super Potions.

Maylene’s Lucario

Move List:

• Drain Punch
• Metal Claw
• Bone Rush
• Force Palm

As a combination Fighting-/Steel-type, Lucario is something of an anomaly, since Flying- and Psychic-type attacks will only do normal damage to it.

Lucario’s high Attack and Speed stats, in conjunction with its powerful moves, can put you on the defensive very easily if you’re not prepared.

The best Pokémon types to use against Lucario are Ground, Fire, and Fighting. Bear in mind that while Fire-type attacks will do super-effective damage to Lucario, a Fire-type Pokémon will be vulnerable to Lucario’s Bone Rush move.

While Lucario’s attacks can be vicious, it relies primarily on brute force as a strategy.

All of its attacks are physical, and the only status effect to watch out for is a 30% chance of paralysis from its Force Palm move. Pay attention to type effectiveness and HP and you really shouldn’t have much of a problem.

After Winning

Once Maylene has fallen in battle, she will reward you with the Cobble Badge.

With this Badge, all traded Pokémon up to level 50 will obey your instructions. It will also allow you to use Fly outside of battle, which you will probably use more than any other HM in the game.

Maylene will also give you TM60 Drain Punch, a Fighting-type physical attack that inflicts damage on the target, and then heals the user for an HP amount equal to 50% of the damage dealt.

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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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