Battle Factory (Generation III) - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokmon encyclopedia

May 2024 · 11 minute read
Battle Factory
バトルファクトリー Battle Factory
Battle Factory E.png
"Seek out the toughest POKéMON!"
Battles per round
7
Participating Pokémon
Single
3
Double
3
Wins to obtain the Knowledge Symbol
Silver
21
Gold
42

The Battle Factory (Japanese: バトルファクトリー Battle Factory) is a facility located within the Hoenn Battle Frontier in Pokémon Emerald.

Challenges

The Battle Factory is more dedicated to research than the other facilities, and the subject of the scientists' research is the abilities of Trainers when using rental Pokémon in battle. Before the player begins a battle, they will be told some information about the opponent's team, and may switch one of the Pokémon they have with them with one of the Pokémon used by the Trainer they just defeated. This is just like the Battle Tent in Slateport City. The pool of possible rental Pokémon is the same as that of possible Pokémon NPC Trainers use in other facilities in the Battle Frontier.

In addition to win streaks, the monitors inside the lobby display the number of times the players swapped their Pokémon during the challenge.

Battle style

A Trainer's battle style is based on the moves that their Pokémon know. Certain moves fall under one of seven different categories, as shown below:

CategoryMoves
1Acid Armor, Agility, Amnesia, Barrier, Belly Drum, Bulk Up, Calm Mind, Charge, Conversion,
Conversion 2, Cosmic Power, Defense Curl, Double Team, Dragon Dance, Focus Energy, Growth,
Harden, Howl, Iron Defense, Meditate, Minimize, Psych Up, Sharpen, Snatch, Swords Dance,
Tail Glow, Withdraw
2Attract, Block, Confuse Ray, Disable, Encore, Flatter, Glare, GrassWhistle, Hypnosis, Imprison,
Leech Seed, Lovely Kiss, Mean Look, Poison Gas, PoisonPowder, Sing, Sleep Powder, Snatch,
Spider Web, Spikes, Spore, Stun Spore, Supersonic, Swagger, Sweet Kiss, Taunt, Teeter Dance,
Thunder Wave, Torment, Toxic, Yawn, Will-O-Wisp
3Aromatherapy, Baton Pass, Detect, Endure, Haze, Heal Bell, Ingrain, Light Screen, Magic Coat,
Milk Drink, Mist, Moonlight, Morning Sun, Mud Sport, Protect, Recover, Reflect, Rest, Safeguard,
Slack Off, Softboiled, Swallow, Synthesis, Recycle, Refresh, Water Sport, Wish
4Bide, Blast Burn, Counter, Destiny Bond, Double-Edge, Explosion, Facade, Fissure, Flail,
Focus Punch, Frenzy Plant, Grudge, Guillotine, Horn Drill, Hydro Cannon, Hyper Beam, Memento,
Mirror Coat, Overheat, Pain Split, Perish Song, Psycho Boost, Reversal, Selfdestruct, Sky Attack,
Volt Tackle
5Charm, Cotton Spore, Fake Tears, FeatherDance, Flash, Growl, Kinesis, Knock Off, Leer,
Metal Sound, Sand-Attack, Scary Face, Screech, SmokeScreen, Spite, String Shot, Sweet Scent,
Tail Whip, Tickle
6Assist, Camouflage, Curse, Follow Me, Metronome, Mimic, Mirror Move, Present, Role Play,
Sketch, Skill Swap, Substitute, Transform, Trick
7Hail, Rain Dance, Sandstorm, Sunny Day, Weather Ball

Depending on how many moves in each category the Trainer's Pokémon know, their battle style will be described differently. A move may be counted more than once if more than one Pokémon has it, and any attack not in any of the categories is not considered.

Each category has a threshold number. For the first three categories, this is three, while for the last four categories, it is two. If the Trainer's Pokémon know enough moves to cross the threshold in exactly one or two categories, then their battle style is described by whichever of those categories is farthest down on the table below. If they do not cross the threshold in any category, though, or if they cross it in more than three categories, then the Trainer's battle style is given a special description.

CategoryBattle Style
(None)"appears to be free-spirited and unrestrained"
1"appears to be one based on total preparation"
2"appears to be slow and steady"
3"appears to be one of endurance"
4"appears to be high risk, high return"
5"appears to be weakening the foe to start"
6"appears to be impossible to predict"
7"appears to depend on the battle's flow"
(3 or more
categories)
"appears to be flexibly adaptable to the situation"

Available Pokémon

Opponents are prevented from generating with the same species of Pokémon that are already on the player's team, to ensure that no trade the player can possibly make after the battle will cause the resulting team to violate Species Clause. However, the initial rentals in a round may not respect those clauses if they include a selection of stronger Pokémon, in which case players are prevented from selecting combinations from those initial six picks that would do so.

Where the lists of Pokémon below show one that knows Return, that move is programmatically replaced with Frustration in all cases where it shows up in Battle Factory, and the Pokémon receive minimum friendship to be able to use that move with its maximum power.

Lvl. 50

The enemy Pokémon and initial rental Pokémon encountered come from these lists:

Round 1:

List of Battle Frontier Pokémon in Generation III/Group 1 Unown will never be used.

Round 2-3:

List of Battle Frontier Pokémon in Generation III/Group 2 In round 2, first of the two listed variants for each Pokémon will be encountered, in round 3, the second.

Round 4 onwards:

List of Battle Frontier Pokémon in Generation III/Group 3 In round 4, the player will encounter the first variant; in round 5, the second; in round 6, the third; and in round 7, the fourth variant of any given Pokémon. From round 8 onwards, any variant of any Pokémon from group 3 may appear, except for Dragonite, Tyranitar, and the last two variants of Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Raikou, Entei, and Suicune, none of which will ever appear at Lvl. 50. Legendary Pokémon also do not appear before round 8 (except for as strong Pokémon; see below).

Open Level

The enemy Pokémon and initial rental Pokémon come from this list:

List of Battle Frontier Pokémon in Generation III/Group 3

In round 1, the player will encounter the first variant; in round 2, the second; in round 3 the third; and in round 4, the fourth variant of any given Pokémon. From round 5 onwards, any variant of any Pokémon from group 3 may appear. Dragonite, Tyranitar, and Legendary Pokémon also do not appear before round 5 (except for as strong Pokémon; see below).

Stat calculation

The Pokémon that are offered to the player at the beginning of the round are generated with uniform IVs in each stat. The IVs that the Pokémon get are based on the length of the player's win streak:

Current RoundFixed IV
13
26
39
412
515
621
7 or later31

Due to a glitch, the initial rental Pokémon on round 9 will have random IVs instead of the expected 31. If the player has enough swaps (see below), one or more Pokémon might have "round 10 strength" and have the expected 31 IVs. However, this means that one or more Pokémon on round 8 might get the "random IVs" issue instead.


The last trainer in each round (with the exception of Noland) uses a different table of IVs:

Current RoundFixed IV
16
29
312
415
518
6 or later31

However, depending on the number of times the player has rented or swapped Pokémon (i.e. the initial rental counts as one), some of the generated Pokémon will be stronger. These Pokémon have IVs and movesets corresponding to the following round. The number of rentals required is shown below:

Rent/Swaps# of stronger Pokémon offered
Less than 150
15 to 211
22 to 282
29 to 353
36 to 424
43 or greater5

The Pokémon used by Trainers in the Battle Factory are also generated with fixed IVs in each stat. The first six Trainers in each round have Pokémon with uniform IVs corresponding to the current round (using the lookup table above), while the last Trainer's Pokémon have IVs corresponding to the following round. However, due to a glitch, the "current round" used for the Trainers' Pokémon is the player's current win streak in the Battle Tower, not the Battle Factory. This means, for instance, that if the player currently has a 10-round win streak in the Battle Tower, and starts round 1 of the Battle Factory, the player's Pokémon will have IVs of 3, while the opponent Pokémon will all have IVs of 31.

The only exception to this IV calculation is Factory Head Noland. His Pokémon always have IVs corresponding to two rounds after the current win streak in the Battle Factory (not the Tower). This means that during the Silver Symbol battle, his Pokémon will have IVs of 15, and during the Gold Symbol battle, they will have IVs of 31.

Battle Points

BP per round12345678910111213141516171819202122232425
Single Battle3314451566177818992010112112122313142415
Double Battle44556677889910101111121213131414151515

In Single Battles, Factory Head Noland appears every three rounds, which results in 10 more BP being awarded in those rounds. Factory Head Noland does not challenge the player in Double Battles.

Factory Head

At the 21st and 42nd battle in a streak, three and six runs through the Battle Factory, Noland will challenge the player to a battle. Like all other Trainers in the facility, including the player, his Pokémon are completely random, and so cannot be known until he is encountered. If he is defeated, he awards the Knowledge Symbol.

Noland's team is drawn from the same pool of Pokémon as a normal Trainer in the round in which he appears, but with fixed IVs of 15 and 31 for the Silver and Gold Symbol fights, respectively.

Layout

Battle Factory interior E.pngBattle Factory preparation room E.pngBattle Factory arena E.png
Inside the Battle FactoryRoom with rental PokémonBefore battle in the Battle Factory

In the spin-off games

Pokémon Masters EX

Artwork depicting Hoenn's Battle Factory is seen in Noland's mindscape.

In the anime

The Battle Factory in the anime The Battle Factory's battlefield in the anime

The Battle Factory appeared in Numero Uno Articuno and The Symbol Life. In the anime, it is located near Cerulean City and was the first Battle Frontier facility challenged by Ash. The group discovered its location in The Right Place and the Right Mime. It is run by Noland and the battles are refereed by Sergio.

In the Battle Factory, Noland allows his challengers to choose which one of his Pokémon they want to face in a one-on-one battle. The battlefield's rooftop can be opened to allow Flying-type Pokémon take full advantage of their abilities.

Ash had trouble choosing which Pokémon he wanted to face, but when he learned that Noland had befriended a wild Articuno, he decided to choose it as his opponent, recalling his Charizard from Charicific Valley for the match. Despite Charizard having the type advantage, it still had a tough time against the powers of a Legendary Pokémon. Eventually, however, Charizard was able to emerge victorious with its signature finisher move, Seismic Toss, earning Ash the Knowledge Symbol, his first Frontier Symbol.

Pokémon used in the Battle Factory

The following is a list of Pokémon used in the Battle Factory:

Noland's ArticunoArticuno
Main article: Noland's Articuno

While on their way to the Battle Factory, Ash and his friends spotted Articuno flying through the night sky, accompanied by a biplane. After meeting up with Noland, he explains that he'd been cruising with Articuno the previous night. Max was impressed on how Noland caught such a powerful Pokémon, but Noland further explains that Articuno is wild, and a friend of his.

Noland revealed that on his biplane's maiden voyage, Noland was surprised to find an Articuno flying beside him and it had trouble flying due to an injured wing. The Factory Head got the Pokémon to land on top of his plane and brought it down. Noland helped it to heal, and ever since then Articuno had been regularly visiting him.

DebutNumero Uno Articuno
Voice actors
JapaneseKatsuyuki Konishi
EnglishKatsuyuki Konishi

In the manga

Ash & Pikachu

The Battle Factory appeared in Off To The Battle Frontier!!, where Ash, like in the anime, took on and defeated Noland.

Pokémon Adventures

Emerald arc

The Battle Factory first appeared in Interesting Interactions Involving Illumise, where Emerald challenged it as his first Battle Frontier challenge during the Battle Frontier's seven-day opening ceremony. Due to each of his battles taking at least 15 minutes, it took him about 15 hours to win the 41 battles required to reach Noland.

The battle between Emerald and Noland commenced in Pinsir Me, I Must Be Dreaming, eventually coming down to a clash between Emerald's Sceptile and Noland's Glalie. Noland intended to first force Sceptile into using Detect repeatedly and then finish it off with the one-hit knockout move Sheer Cold. Although his plan seemed to work, Sceptile was inexplicably able to survive a direct hit from Sheer Cold, allowing it to defeat Glalie with a combination of Leech Seed and Iron Tail, earning Emerald the Knowledge Symbol.

Emerald later revealed that Sceptile was on a higher level than the other rental Pokémon, explaining how it had managed to survive being hit by Sheer Cold. It had also made him realize that Sceptile wasn't a rental Pokémon to begin with, but had been snuck into the facility someone, prompting him to take it with him.

In Just My Luck...Shuckle, Noland was attacked by Guile Hideout, who stole every single rental Pokémon from the Battle Factory to be used against those in his way while searching for the Mythical Wish Pokémon, Jirachi.

In other languages

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