How To Get TM21 Mega Drain in Pokémon Yellow

TM21 Mega Drain
#	Location	Repeatable?
1	Celadon City Gym. Acquired after defeating Erika.	No

You’ll receive TM21 Mega Drain from Celadon City Gym Leader Erika after defeating her in the Celadon City Gym.

Note that you’ll need a Pokémon that knows HM01 Cut to chop down a tree blocking the path to the Celadon City Gym. But you can challenge this gym as soon as you reach Celadon City.

Prerequisites

This is what you need to do before you can get TM21:

Obtain the Cascadebadge by defeating Misty in Cerulean City
Obtain HM01 Cut from the ship captain on the S.S. Anne in Vermillion City
Have a Pokémon in your party that knows Cut

Getting TM21 Mega Drain

The Celadon City Gym is fairly straightforward. But there are a couple different paths you can take, depending on which trainers you wish to battle.

Option A: Go Straightforward

If you simply head north, you’ll first have to fight a Lass and a Beauty that can’t be avoided.

Inside the Celadon City Gym.

Afterwards, there’s a tree in the center of the gym that you’ll have to cut down.

Standing in front of a cuttable tree in the center of the Celadon Gym.

Just north of you is a Cooltrainer who you can’t avoid and must fight. But after this fight you can challenge Erika.

Getting noticed by a Cooltrainer in the Celadon City Gym.

Option B: Go Right

You can head northeast around the two trainers at the start and towards the cuttable tree at the right side of the gym.

You can avoid the Jr. Trainer on the right side if you walk close to the left next to the column of trees.

Chop down the tree and walk west.

Standing in front of a cuttable tree at the right side of the Celadon Gym.

There’s a Lass that you can’t avoid and have to fight.

Getting noticed by a Lass in the Celadon City Gym.

Option C: Go Left

You can head northwest around the two trainers at the start and towards the cuttable tree at the left side of the gym.

You can avoid the Beauty on the left side if you walk close to the left against the wall. Then you’ll have to move left as soon as you can, or else the Beauty will notice you.

Chop down the tree and walk east.

Standing in front of a cuttable tree at the left side of the Celadon Gym.

There’s another Beauty that you can’t avoid and have to fight.

Getting noticed by a Beauty in the Celadon City Gym.

Fighting Gym Leader Erika

At the back of the Gym you’ll find Erika. Talk to her to begin your battle.

Talking to Celadon City Gym Leader Erika.

SCROLL

Gym Leader Erika’s Team

Pokémon	Tangela (Lv. 30)	Weepinbell (Lv. 32)	Gloom (Lv. 32)
Type	Grass	Grass/Poison	Grass/Poison
Moves	Constrict Vine Whip Bind Mega Drain	Wrap Stun Spore Sleep Powder Razor Leaf	Acid Sleep Powder Petal Dance Stun Spore

Tips for Fighting Erika

Make use of a Fire and Flying Type Pokémon and attacks. Since all of Erika’s Pokémon are Grass types, they’ll be weak to Fire and Flying type attacks.
Watch out for Sleep Powder and Stun Store. Erika’s Weepinbell and Gloom both have Sleep Powder and Stun Store. These status inflicting moves can really immobilize your team. Be sure to have a few Awakenings and Paralyze Heals on hand for the fight.

Once you defeat Erika she’ll give you TM21 Mega Drain as a reward.

Getting TM21 Mega Drain after defeating Erika.

Mega Drain Details + Uses

Mega Drain Move Details
Type	Grass
Power	40
Accuracy	100%
PP	10 (max. 16)
Effect	Half the damage inflicted by the move is added to the user’s HP.

At 40 base power, Mega Drain is one of the strongest HP draining attacks in the game.

That being said, a move with 40 power still isn’t very strong.

But if used by the right Pokémon, it can deal a significant amount of damage. And as a result it can then recover a significant amount of HP for the user.

If you have a Grass type Pokémon on your team, especially one with a good special stat, then Mega Drain is a good move to teach them.

Venusaur using Mega Drain against a wild Dewgong.

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Andrew Brisbane

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A retro game enthusiast since childhood, Andrew aka Andyb is a freelance writer from Canada. From intense games of Tetris to casual Pokémon playthroughs, he loves a wide variety of different genres. He’s also a very passionate musician.

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