Lilycove City

Your friendly guide to Lilycove City in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire! Get tips on Pokémon encounters, Mega Evolution, and defeating your rival.

Alright, welcome to Lilycove City! First things first, as always, head into the Pokémon Center to get your team fully healed up. While you're there, if you happen to have an Altaria in your party – you know, the evolved form of Swablu you can find on Route 114 and train up to level 35 – you'll want to swap it in.

Now, make your way east from the Pokémon Center and chat with the guy hanging out by the house. Show him your Altaria, and he'll give you some Altarianite! This is super important because it lets Altaria Mega Evolve, which is a game-changer.

If you peek into that house nearby, you'll find it's a fan club for Pokémon Contests. If you've been racking up wins, they'll definitely notice!

The Contest Hall is just south of the Pokémon Center, but there's nothing new to see there right now. Head into the house west of the Pokémon Center, and you'll see four kids playing on their 3DS systems. They're using a special Pikachu Yellow variant, which is pretty neat.

But the main event is north of the Pokémon Center. Your rival is waiting for you by the stairs. Yep, you know what that means – it's time for a battle!

BOSS: Pokémon Trainer Brendan/May

Your rival's team for this fight is:

• Swellow Lv. 37 (Normal/Flying)
• Breloom Lv. 37 (Grass/Fighting)
• Magcargo Lv. 37 (Fire)
• Wailord Lv. 37 (Water)
• Sceptile Lv. 39 (Grass)
• Swampert Lv. 39 (Water/Ground)
• Blaziken Lv. 39 (Fire/Fighting)

Let's break down how to handle each of their Pokémon:

• Swellow is the only guaranteed Pokémon in their party. Thankfully, it's pretty straightforward. Your Pikachu will do great here, or any other Electric-type Pokémon like Magnemite. Rock-types are also a solid choice.
• If you've got Latios or Latias, you can use Charge Beam (from a TM) to boost its Special Attack. It'll make short work of the rest of the team. Honestly, Latios/Latias can pretty much sweep this whole battle with ease.
• Breloom can be a bit tricky if it uses Spore to put your Pokémon to sleep. Sleep is obviously bad news, so you'll want to take care of Breloom quickly. Latios/Latias can hit it hard with Psychic or Luster Purge. A Flying-type like Swellow works too, or Blaziken with Blaze Kick or Brave Bird if that was your starter. Breloom is quite frail, so it can often be OHKO'd.
• Magcargo? Just use Surf. It's an easy One-Hit KO, and you should have Surf by now. Your Lati can learn it, or you can use Swampert or Blaziken with their strong attacks.
• Wailord relies on its bulk. If you have Grass Knot, Pikachu with a Light Ball can OHKO it due to how heavy Wailord is. Thunderbolt is also effective. Other Electric-types, Grass-types, or even Swampert (who resists Water and can hit with Ground moves) are good options.
• Sceptile is fast and hits hard with Special Attack. You'll want to outspeed it, which usually happens around Level 42. If you have Vulpix/Ninetales from Mt. Pyre, they're great here. Bug or Flying-types resist Sceptile's Grass attacks. Skarmory is especially good with a double resistance. Latios/Latias can also resist its attacks while dishing out super-effective damage.
• Swampert is tough because it has few weaknesses, only Grass. If you have Grass Knot, it's effective here too, even on Pikachu. Generic Grass-types like Breloom or Gloom can usually OHKO it due to the double weakness. Latios/Latias is also a safe bet, resisting its attacks.

With your rival defeated, you can now explore the northern part of Lilycove City, including the big Department Store!