FUCKING DARK PATCHES, HOW DO THEY WORK?

[Karkat Vantas]

See title.

I want an Audino but I have no idea how to summon a dark patch.

 

[Eifie]

Run back and forth in front of a patch of grass until something starts shaking.

 

[RespectTheBlade]

Run back and forth in front of a patch of grass until something starts shaking.

Building on what she said, I heard for some people it seems to be really rare, so it might take a while. On the bright side, you can find special pokemon. (for example, a Musharna (the evolved form) in the Dreamyard.)

 

[Blastoise Fortooate]

pokémon you are training + run around in any grass with all of the pokemon at lower levels than yours + repel = easy-to-find audino

easier than pie

 

[surskitty]

No, it's easier to run next to the grass so you don't need to repel.

 

[nastypass]

No, it's easier to run next to the grass so you don't need to repel.

With encounter rates being what they are in B/W, though, Repels still help. You have no idea how many times I've gotten patches/dust clouds only to run into something a tile away.

 

[Zhorken]

Yeah, but you don't need to keep Repel up all the time that way; you can just put it up when a patch starts shaking if need be and thus save Repel.

EDIT: Also shaking grass patches make a shaking noise as if you were running through them, which helps.

 

[Blastoise Fortooate]

Also, the constant repel is useful if you're training in an area that's almost-entirely-covered with grass/are really lazy. Sure, it's wasting some poké but it makes searching a lot less attention-consuming. :/

 

[surskitty]

With encounter rates being what they are in B/W, though, Repels still help. You have no idea how many times I've gotten patches/dust clouds only to run into something a tile away.

Are you running or walking? I can believe that it happens a lot in caves, but that's pretty rare for me in grass ...

 

[Anomaly 54]

I believe you mean rustling grass/swirling dust/small waves. Dark patches are the ones were two 'mons come at you at once.

 

[boss]

man, did anyone else abuse the hell out of audinos? i spent all my money serveral times throughout the game to buy repels.

well...the encounter rate was also ridiculous but that's another story

 

[1. Luftballon]

the encounter rate isn't so bad, and by abusing the 5-square mechanic, it's possible to guarantee that any grass patches you get will be on the border.

 

[Karkat Vantas]

what's the 5-square mechanic

this seems useful

 

[1. Luftballon]

it doesn't matter how many eligible squares are in view, as long as at least one is; it randomly chooses one from the eligible squares.

these eligible squares are I think 9x9 around you. so you can run around four squares from the perimeter of the patch of grass.

 

[Mendatt]

I was rather perplexed when I got a level 18 Unfezant in lostlorn forest from shaking grass.

 

[Karkat Vantas]

btw i saw a weird ripple thing in the lake

is this a variation of a dark patch?

 

[Eifie]

btw i saw a weird ripple thing in the lake

is this a variation of a dark patch?

Yes. There are also dust clouds in caves and shadows on some of the bridges.

(I think the only things you can find in the water ripples are Basculin, though, but with a different stripe colour than usual.)

EDIT: oh, huh! Apparently there are a bunch of other things you can find in rippling water and I just... haven't found them. Basculin are pretty common, though. edit 2: like Audinos, yeah.

 

[Zhorken]

(I think the only things you can find in the water ripples are Basculin, though, but with a different stripe colour than usual.)

I've found some other things in bobbing spots, but I think rarer-colour Basculin are pretty much the water spots' Audinos.

 

[Blastoise Fortooate]

You can fish there, too, and there are dratini at dragonspiral tower at a higher level than usual. I've found Alomololomoloa and Kingdra in places and you can even catch Seadra and Milotic.

 

[Green]

Yeah, if you surf into the bubbles all you'll find are basculin; fishing in them yields some pretty badass stuff though. I've gotten a kingdra, cloyster, octillery, and starmie from them. Still looking for a milotic though!