Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl: Where to find the Move Tutors, Reminder, Deleter, and Name Rater
One of the staples of any good Pokemon game is a slew of helpful special NPCs to bump into over the course of your grand journey. We're talking about those Poke-whispers who can remove and resurrect moves on a whim. About those pals who somehow possess exclusive access to some of the most devastating attacks in the known world — and are willing to teach your Pokemon those moves just because.
That guy whose purpose in life is, allegedly, to rate people's nicknames, but we all know he's just there to let you rename your Bidoof "OneTrueKing". If you've played one of these games before, you probably know what we're going on about here. They're all back in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, of course.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Special NPCs - move tutors, deleter, reminder, and name rater
In Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, there are several special NPCs - Move Tutors, a Move Deleter, a Move Reminder, and a Name Rater. There's also a handful of NPCs who hand over free Gift Pokemon or trade Pokemon with you, which we've compiled on a BDSP Gift Pokemon guide.
The point is, we've combed the surface (and subsurface) of the vast Sinnoh region so you can set a course for free stuff, which will be most handy in your quest to beat all of the Sinnoh region's Gym Leaders, unlock all of the Hidden Moves, and become champion. On this page, we deal with the Name Rater, Move Deleter, Move Reminder, and all of the Move Tutors. Simple:
Name Rater Location in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl
The Name Rater is located on the ground floor of Eterna Condominiums in Eterna City. The old chap can be contacted at any time to help you rename almost every Pokemon.
What's the exception, then? Any Pokemon you've received in a trade from other players cannot have their names changed under any circumstances.
The in-game "lore" for this is that the original name (even if it's just the species name) illustrates the former trainer's "love for the Pokemon," but we'll conveniently ignore the fact that anybody who has ever engaged in the Wonder Trade system knows just how creatively vulgar some people can get.
Move Deleter Location
In the original Diamond & Pearl games, the Move Deleter was a godsend. Chatting him up in Canalave City was the only way to remove those pesky HMs from your poor Pokemon when you no longer needed to cut trees or smash rocks.
Now that there aren't any moves that get stuck to a Pokemon like spider webs, the Move Deleter's fated to live his days in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl as an underappreciated genius. But if you still require his services, his house is just south of Canalave City proper.
Move Reminder
Okay, so he's technically a Move Tutor, and he says so himself, but we prefer to differentiate this fellow from the type of tutor we'll talk about in the next part.
The Move Reminder, or whatever you want to call him, has a house in Pastoria City. The thing that separates this guy from the other tutors is that, rather than teaching your Pokemon a special move, he instead drums up a list of every move your Pokemon has learned via level-up, and lets you teach these in exchange for one Heart Scale per transaction.
Before we get into Heart Scales, let's talk about why this is important. Pokemon have Egg Moves, and they're oftentimes rather desirable. But they're technically "learned" at birth, which means level 1. This, in turn, means there's a slim chance a wild Pokemon will still know their Egg Moves when you catch them — they're simply at too advanced an experience level already.
Now that we've explained the appeal, here's a quick primer on where you can find those Heart Scales:
- There's a Heart Scale on Route 212, which is southwest of Pastoria City. Cross those dreadful tar pits, taking care not to scream at your television in the process, and in the northwestern corner of the final pit rests a hidden Heart Scale.
- Route 214, which is situated south of Veilstone City, also harbors a Heart Scale. A series of fences creates what can only be described as a maze here. At one point during your trip to this strange little place, you'll find an incomplete oval's worth of grass surrounding a small vertical series of fence posts. The oval-shaped grass is incomplete because it's missing a single patch midway up its western side. Check the bare spot for your prize.
- Other than these two Heart Scales, you'll need to get digging down in the Grand Underground. Search for those shiny points on the walls (you can see them by looking at your map in the top-left corner of the screen). Some treasures are tough to come by, but Heart Scales are... well, they're not quite common, but they're hardly ultra-rare. A few dig sessions ought to do the trick.
Pokemon BDSP Move Tutors
Perhaps most useful of all in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, as is the norm, are the move tutors. These special NPCs can teach you a variety of powerful moves - all you'll need is a Pokemon capable of learning the move, and then you can accept each Move Tutor's generosity. Here's the moves you can learn:
Frenzy Plant, Blast Burn, and Hydro Cannon Move Tutor
Along the dusty trail that is Route 228, there's a gent who dwells in his house toward the bottom of the area. There's really just the one way to reach the southern stretch of this zone, so keep banking south whenever you can and you'll soon find this Move Tutor.
He can teach Frenzy Plant, Blast Burn, and Hydro Cannon to your starter Pokemon of the Grass, Fire, and Water types, respectively. The need to recharge for a turn (in the vein of the Hyper Beam attack) can make these techniques tricky to pull off in the competitive scene, but for in-game purposes, any attack with 150 base power warrants serious consideration.
Draco Meteor Move Tutor
There's another Move Tutor, and he'll teach certain Pokemon the powerful Draco Meteor attack. Pretty much any Dragon-type Pokemon you can think of is eligible. It has a base power of 130 but lowers your Pokemon's Special Attack stat by two stages, so time it wisely.