How To Get Quick Powder & Metal Powder in Pokémon Platinum

Quick Powder and Metal Powder can both only be found as held items on wild Ditto. And you can only find wild Ditto in Mr. Backlot’s Trophy Garden on Route 212, which is just south of Hearthome City.

Acquiring Quick Powders & Metal Powders

You’ll find both the Quick and Metal Powders on wild Ditto, which are only located in the Trophy Garden behind the Pokémon Mansion on Route 212.

No Hidden Moves are required to reach this area. But you must have visited Pastoria City at least once before this area is open to you.

You will also need to get Mr. Backlot to name Ditto specifically before it will appear (we’ll cover this in the next section).

Ditto’s single location according to the Pokédex.

Where To Find the Pokémon Mansion

Assuming you’ve visited Pastoria City, the quickest way to reach the Pokémon Mansion is to start at the Hearthome City Pokémon Center and head south.

Taking the main street south from the Hearthome City Pokémon Center.

When you reach the white picket fences to the south, head eastward.

Turning east and passing the Poké Mart.

Take the south turn by the fisherman NPC standing in the middle of the street’s intersection, then turn west at the Hearthome City sign.

Turning south at the fisherman NPC, then west at the sign.

Travel westward until you reach the two city gates in the southwest corner of town.

Take the one to the south — this will put you on Route 212.

Leaving Hearthome City via the southwest gate.

Just pass through the gate and continue southward on Route 212.

Exiting the gate and entering Route 212.

Continue moving south, hugging the eastern edge when trees start to break up the path.

Circle around the ponds you encounter along the way but keep going south.

Keeping to the right of Route 212 until the first pond.

Head south when the bushes begin to resemble a sort of hedge maze, and eventually you will see the Pokémon Mansion’s gilded front gates and statues.

Go around the gates and head up through the front gates to reach the mansion.

Heading through the gate of the Pokémon Mansion.

Then you can head inside once you reach the front doors.

Entering the Pokémon Mansion.

Inside the mansion, take a right to enter the eastern corridor.

Taking the right hallway branching off the entrance hall.

Enter the first room to the north, which is Mr. Backlot’s office.

Tip: Save the game before you do anything else.

Entering Backlot’s office to the north.

Finding Wild Ditto

Inside this room you will find Mr. Backlot standing next to his butler.

If you speak to Mr. Backlot, he will go on a long self-congratulating speech about the rare Pokémon he has in the Trophy Garden. Act impressed to keep him talking.

Inflating Mr. Backlot’s ego.

Eventually Mr. Backlot will mention the latest rare Pokémon that he allegedly saw in the Trophy Garden. The Pokémon he mentions is random and changes once every 24 hours.

However, if you soft reset the game and speak to Mr. Backlot again, you can force the specified Pokémon to change to a different one.

Repeat the soft reset process until Backlot mentions Ditto.

Mr. Backlot revealing the Trophy Garden’s Pokémon of the day.

Mr. Backlot’s butler will then inform him that Ditto aren’t actually in the Trophy Garden. After a quick discussion between the two, the butler will leave the room.

Mr. Backlot will then continue lying in an attempt to save face.

Backlot sticking with his lie after the butler leaves.

At this point, the butler will have already snuck out and released wild Ditto into the Trophy Garden under Backlot’s orders.

Leave the room and head westward back into the main hall, then turn north and leave the Pokémon Mansion through the back exit.

Heading out back to the Trophy Garden.

Enter the Trophy Garden and search through the tall grass until you find a wild Ditto.

This may take a while, since each random encounter only has a 5% chance of being the Pokémon Mr. Backlot bragged about.

Searching for wild Ditto in the Trophy Garden.

Farming Ditto for Held Items

Every wild Ditto has a 50% chance of holding a Quick Powder, but only a 5% chance of holding a Metal Powder.

But you can speed up the process of acquiring both Powders by bringing a designated item-farming team with you.

Encountering a wild Ditto in the Trophy Garden.

These special teams use Pokémon with the Abilities Frisk and Compoundeyes to increase the odds of finding items, and to identify any item held by a wild Pokémon.

If you’re using an item-farming team, the Compoundeyes Ability will raise the odds of a Ditto carrying Quick Powders and Metal Powders to 60% and 20%, respectively.

Identifying a wild Ditto’s held item using Frisk.

Once you’ve stolen a held item you can end the battle however you prefer—you will keep the item even if you flee.

Quick/Metal Powder Details and Uses

Quick Powder

The in-game description of the Quick Powder.

When a Ditto holds a Quick Powder, the Ditto’s Speed stat doubles, as long as the Ditto isn’t transformed.

While this might seem like a useless item, it does have a purpose:

A Ditto with doubled Speed is more likely to move first and transform before the opponent can attack.

When the opponent’s attack lands, Ditto will be the same type as the attacker and potentially take less damage as a result (depending on the move used).

Metal Powder

The in-game description of the Metal Powder.

The Metal Powder acts much like the Quick Powder, except it’s Ditto’s Defense stat that gets doubled.

Metal Powder, though the rarer of the two, is arguably less useful than the Quick Powder.

This is because it only lessens the damage from physical attacks. Special attacks will still do the same amount of damage regardless.

BACK TO THE MAIN GAME Pokémon Platinum Full Strategy Guide

Guide Navigation

Pokémon Platinum
- How To Get Quick Powder & Metal Powder in Pokémon Platinum

Chris Haygood

270 articles

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.

View Writer's Posts →