[Outdated] Time/Darkness Notes (No-Wondermail)

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness

EDIT: Meowth leader and Cyndaquil partner are found to be optimal for any%.
Also, quick note about the difference between Time and Darkness: If you're playing Darkness, you will not be able to get Petrify Orbs, Spurn Orbs, or Foe-Hold Orbs. If you're playing Time, you will not be able to get Violent Seeds.

Do the Aura quiz and name your partner a single letter name.
(Meowth is Sassy Male or Relaxed Female. Either one works.)
http://serebii.net/dungeon2/starter.shtml
http://serebii.net/dungeon2/naturetest.shtml


Chapter 1
-Name yourself a 1 character name
-Open the menu and change the dungeon settings to fast and switch off Leer on Cyndaquil, set your attacking move
-Beat the first dungeon as fast as possible.
-Accept making a Rescue Team.
Chapter 2
(Long Cutscene)
-Name your team a 1 letter name.
-Finish Drenched Bluff (6 floors)
Chapter 3
-Go with Chatot and keep pressing B during the cut scenes, then after you´re in Treasure Town go to the Keckeon Market and buy items if you want, then leave to activate the next cut scene.
-Walk to the guild again to activate another cut scene, and then go talk to Bidoof inside the guild.
-Go to Mt. Bristle and beat it as fast as possible (9f+Drowzee)
-Go with Chatot and complete 3 extra missions.
Chapter 4
-Do 2 missions
-Do sentry duty
Chapter 5
-Complete Waterfall Cave as fast as possible (8 floors).
Chapter 6
-Do 1 mission.
-Conplete Sentry Duty again.
-Do 1 extra mission, or enter a dungeon and use an Escape Orb if you have one (mission is optional on this day).
-Complete Apple Woods (12f).
-Do 1 mission.
-Complete Sentry Duty for the third time.
-Do 1 mission.
-Link your moves (Scratch+Bite, and Ember+Leer+Tackle).
Chapter 7
-Take Craggy Coast (9 floors) and finish it.
-Beat Mt. Horn (14 floors)
Chapter 8
-Head into Foggy Forest (11 floors)
Chapter 9
-Finish Steam Cave (8+7+Groudon)
Chapter 10
-Do 1 mission, or Esc Orb out of a dungeon if possible.
-Go to the Keckleon Market and return to the Guild after the cutscene.
-Do 1 mission, or Esc Orb again if possible.
-Go to Amp Plains (10+9+Summit) 
-Beat Luxray and 8 Luxio (throw a Stun Seed at a Luxio on the first turn for safety.)
Chapter 11
-Beat Northern Desert (15 floors)
-Beat Quicksand Cave (10+10+Mesprit)
Chapter 12
-Go to Crystal Cave (11f)
-After the cut scene change all the crystals to blue color and go to Crystal Crossing.
-Beat Crystal Crossing (13f+ Crystal Lake).
-You actually need to beat Grovyle; the Give Up strat from Sky will cause you to lose your items!
Chapter 13
-Link moves again: Screech+Scratch+Bite and Ember+Tackle+Smokescreen.
-Two days in a row where you can either do one mission, or use an Escape Orb.
Chapter 14
-Walk to the doors in the prison once you gain control.
-Use "Attack" when Grovyle prompts you for what to do.
-Beat Chasm Cave (8f).
-Beat Dark Hill (15f).
-Beat Sealed Ruins (8f+6f+Spiritbomb).
-For Spiritomb, walk up-left one tile on the first turn, so that it doesn't get to spam ranged moves on you)
Chapter 15
-Beat Dusk Forest (8f)
-Beat Deep Dusk Forest (12f)
Chapter 16
-Several long cutscenes with save prompts scattered throughout
-Beat Treeshroud Forest (20f)
Chapter 17
-Go to Waterfall Cave again (8f; the game won't let you go straight to the Hot Spring).
Chapter 18
-Beat Brine Cave (10+5f+Kubotops)
Chapter 19
-Beat Hidden Land-Hidden Highland (15+8+Dusknoir)
-For the Dusknoir fight, throwing a Stun Seed at Dusknoir helps.
Chapter 20
-Beat Temporal Tower (13+10+Dialga)
-Try to throw a Stun Seed at Dialga a.s.a.p., and if you can't then try walking straight foward instead. Hopefully he'll approach gently.

Time stops when the music stops just before the credit roll (camera moves to an ocean view just before).

Any% No WM Munchlax/Totodile (Optimal Route)

**Munchlax/Totodile Any% No WM**

**Dungeon FAQ by OgreGunner**: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ds/938930-pokemon-mystery-dungeon-explorers-of-darkness/faqs/57222
AND
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ds/955859-pokemon-mystery-dungeon-explorers-of-sky/faqs/58190

**Floor Layouts (mostly quoting the document above)**:
(horizontal x vertical)
**Small**: Small floor (2x3), takes around 1/3 of the map
**Small-Medium**: Fairly small (4x3), takes around half of the map
**Medium-Large**: Large (6x4), can take most of the map

**Outer Square**: 8 rooms in the middle of the floor, surrounded by a long hallway on the outside

**Crossroads**: 3 rooms at the top & bottom of floor and 2 rooms at the left and right side of the floor, all connected together by hallways in the middle

**Line**: 1 horizontal row of about 5 rooms

**Beetle**: A giant room in the middle that connects to a vertical row of 3 rooms on both sides (it is very likely the stairs spawn in the middle so rush there as soon as possible!)


- Munchlax/Totodile is probably the optimal pairing for this speedrun. In comparison to Meowth, Munchlax has more accuracy and very short animations on his moves. However, this Team can't link early in the game and therefore needs to find an early Power Band, which the Meowth route does not struggle with. However, Power Bands are very common in Time

- Also in case it is not clear yet, play Time, don't ever touch Darkness in context of a speedrun

- Keep in mind that this is an intermediate route and it expects you to know how the run roughly works. If you are doing your first runs, I would recommend following Cheez's Guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sSWt_d1V3NtOgnhr2njtxe2J79_hLOEbNE3JlxI5rxA/edit

**Useful Moves**:
Munchlax: Tackle (lvl 1), Lick (lvl 12), Screech (lvl 20)
Totodile: Scratch (lvl 1), Leer (lvl 1), Water Gun (lvl 6), Bite (lvl 13)
- You do not need anything else

**Links**:
(Do not link before Expedition)
After Expedition: Munchlax: Tackle + Lick; Totodile: Water Gun + Bite + Scratch
Before Brine Cave: Munchlax: Screech + Tackle + Lick (optional but recommended Link)

**Required Items**:
5 Escape Orbs (1 before Apple Woods, 2 before Amp Plains, 2 after Crystal Crossing)
1-2 Sleep Seeds for Groudon,
1 Stun Seed for Luxray,
1 Stun & Sleep Seed for Spiritomb
1 Stun Seed for Dusknoir
1 Quick, Stun, Blast and Sleep Seed + ~10 or more Geo Pebbles for Dialga
= 5 Escape Orbs, 4 Stun Seed, 3-4 Sleep Seeds, 1 Quick Seed, 1 Blast Seed, 10 Geo Pebbles

Also pick up as many Pure Seeds (spawns in most dungeons after Expedition), Foe-Hold, Spurn and Petrify Orbs as possible

- If you come from Explorers of Sky, you should keep in mind that in this game you have to equip your Bands everytime you enter a dungeon. It may be hard to get used to but it is very important not to forget to equip them

**Quiz manip to be added soon**

**Beach Cave 5F**:
Small
- Set Tackle on Munchlax and Scratch on Totodile
- Change Settings (Movement Speed: Fast and Far-off Pals: Self)
- Topscreen Setting is preference, press right once for Team Stats
- Very useful to collect a Blast Seed for Drowzee later

Zubat+Koffing:
- Dash Right, Down, DownLeft and Tackle Zubat

- Free Special Band! Very useful for Mt. Bristle later!

**Drenched Bluff F7**:
F1-F2: Small
F3-5 Small Medium #2
F6: Small-Medium #1

- Be careful when Totodile learns Water Gun, since Storm Drain is active in this dungeon. Disable it once he gets into fights
- Guarenteed Big Apple in F3
- Pick up all Pebbles you find in your way, pick them up with your partner so you do not get the very long tutorial text (or if that does not work, swapping it with an item in your bag also does not trigger the tutorial text)

- Once you gain control, check Purple Kecleon First. Only sell Iron and your Aura Band. Look for Escape Orbs or any other useful MH Orbs (Spurn, Foe-Hold, Petrify)
- After the Cutscene check Green Kecleon for a Reviver Seed, and if you have money left over, possible items for deliver missions (for example Cheri Berry, Rawst Berry and Pecha Berry)

**Mt. Bristle 10F**:
Small: F1,F8
Small-Medium: F2-5, F7,F9
Medium-Large: F6

- Equip the Special Band to Totodile immediately, and only enable Water Gun (disable Scratch on Slot 1)
- Drink Protein and give Totodile the Calcium
- Totodile should be able to 0HKO everything with Water Gun
- Once Totodile learns Rage (Slot 4), disable it
- Guarenteed Big Apple in F5
- Escape Orbs start spawning from now on
- You want to check all Orbs throughout this run!

**Drowzee**:

- Eat as many Blast Seeds as you have, let Totodile deal a lot of dmg with Water Gun
- (spam Tackle once you run out of Blast Seeds)
- Fight should be pretty free most of the time

**Mission Day #1 (3 Missions)**:

- Check the Left Board for missions, it should be quite common to get 3 Beach Cave missions on it. Be prepared to have the item on hand if it says "Deliver [item]"

- If there are only 2 Beach Cave Missions on the Left Board, it is very likely there is one on the Outlaw Board
- In that case, it is worth accepting it over a Drenched Bluff mission unless you do not want to reset in case you die. You should be able to melt through the Outlaw very quickly if you do not get a Shellos spawn in the floor and Totodile is allowed to play the game

- If for some reason you still are not capable of doing 3 Beach Cave missions, you can still do 3 Drenched Bluff ones but that is not only very annoying but can also cost a lot of time

**Sentry Duty #1**:

- You want to get "Adequate" for a short cutscene and a free Protein
- You need to get the first 3 Pokemon right, lose 1 chance in Pkmn 4,5 and get Pkmn 6 wrong which just barely puts you under the threshold
- If you do a mistake in any of these steps you should get 2 Pkmn wrong instead which is a guarenteed "Adequate"

**Mission Day #2 (2 Missions)**:

- Do 2 Beach Cave Missions
(Check for more Beach Missions before heading to Waterfall Cave)

**Waterfall Cave 9F**:
Medium-Large

- Look for a Power Band (50% chance for a Band to be a Power Band)
- Only enable Scratch on Totodile
- Should you find a Power Band early it will be a huge boost in Power for Munchlax and make this dungeon and Apple Woods pretty free
- In this game it is also not a bad idea to find a second Power Band for Totodile. He does not need it, but it is quite nice to have since you can freely choose between a Power Band and a Special Band for him in each dungeon without losing any time

- Mission Day (1 Mission)
- Sentry Duty #2 (get all Pkmn correct)
Mission Day (0 Mission):
- Use an Escape Orb if you have one, else either do a 2F Mission or just run through the whole Beach Cave without completing a Mission

**Apple Woods 13F**:
Small-Medium:F1-2, F9-10
Medium-Large: F3-6, F11-12
Outer Square: F7
Crossroads: F8

- Same strategy as in Waterfall Cave, but you really want to find a Power Band at this point

- Mission Day (1 Mission)
- Mission Day (1 Mission)

**Craggy Coast 10F**:
Medium-Large
- Only enable Scratch on Totodile (Gastrodon has Storm Drain here) and set Tactics to "Wait There"
- Be careful to not let Bidoof near an enemy within 2 tiles since he loves to ruin your day with Growling at them, also in general he should not fight at all
- Munchlax will learn Lick at some point, learn it over anything thats not Tackle

- Item Manage before entering Mt. Horn, get all Reviver Seeds and Protein from Storage

**Mt. Horn 15F**:

- Give Munchlax the Protein
- only enable Water Gun on Totodile and equip Special Band
- Read the Text Messages, Parasect has Water Absorb so if Totodile does not OHKO something he may fight against one. In that case only enable Scratch and switch back after the fight
- You could also just only enable Scratch but I do not recommend it unless you have a 2nd Power Band
- Totodile should learn Bite in this dungeon, teach it over Rage & disable it

**Foggy Forest 12F**:
Medium-Large

Steam Cave 8F & Upper Steam Cave 7F:
Small-Medium

**Groudon**:
- Walk left
- Only enable Leer on Totodile, let him use it 3 times. Switch to Bite after that
- Throw a Sleep Seed on Groudon, spam Tackle, if he wakes up early throw another one

**Mission Day**:
-Escape Orb

- Link Moves: Munchlax: Tackle + Lick; Totodile: Water Gun + Bite + Scratch
- Visit Kecleon Shop for a cutscene

**Mission Day**:
- Escape Orb

**Amp Plains 11F**:
Small-Medium: F1-F9
Medium-Large: F9-10

- Pure Seeds can spawn from now on, keep checking every seed!
- Save them up for Deep Dusk

**Far Amp Plains 10F**:
Small-Medium

**Luxray**:

- A+B once
- Throw a Stun Seed at Luxray
- Spam Tackle + Lick

- Once you are in Treasure Town, immediately go back to the Guild

**Northern Desert 16F**:
Small: F1-4
Small-Medium: F5-15

**Quicksand Cave 11F**:
Small-Medium

**Quicksand Pit 11F**:
Small-Medium

**Mesprit**:

- Spam linked moves
- If it uses Detect, either use a Stun Seed or disable moves on Totodile and move diagonally until it wears off (of course enable the moves on Totodile again)

**Crystal Cave 12F**:
Medium-Large

**Crystal Crossing 14F**:
Small-Medium: F1,F4-5,F7-8,F11,F13
Medium-Large: F2-3,F6,F9-10,F12

**Grovyle**:

- DO NOT give up here, this only works in Explorers of Sky!
- Spam linked moves
- If you need extra safety, you can throw a Sleep Seed at him

**2 more Filler Days**:
- Escape Orb or beat Beach Cave

**Chasm Cave 9F**:
Line: F1,F4,F7
Crossroads: F2-3,F5-6,F8

- Sadly no Luminious Orbs in this version so you have to play this dungeon (it is still possible to find Mobile Orbs!)
- Be very careful of Onix, it can use Sandstorm which would turn the current floor into hell

**Dark Hill 16F**:
Small: F1-2,7F,F10,F12
Small-Medium: F3-5,F8-9,F13-15
Beetle: F6,F11

- A lot of Ghosts in this dungeon, do not let Totodile stand next to a wall
- If Totodile happens to fight a Ghost in a wall despite that advice, change Tactice to "Get Away" and switch it back to "Wait There" after a few turns

**Sealed Ruin 9F**:
Small: F1,F5
Small-Medium: F2-4,F7-8
Beetle: F6

- Do not let Totodile stand next to a wall

**Deep Sealed Ruin 7F**:
Small: F1,F5
Small-Medium: F2-4,F6

- Do not let Totodile stand next to a wall

**Spiritomb**:

- Move Right
- Throw a Stun Seed at Spiritomb
- Dash as far down as possible
- Unstun Spiritomb with a Sleep Seed
- keep holding A+B

**Dusk Forest 9F**:
Small-Medium: F1-3
Medium-Large: F4-8

- Do not let Totodile stand next to a wall

**Deep Dusk Forest 13F**:
Small-Medium: F1-5
Medium-Large: F6-12

- Use all your Pure Seeds on the large floors with Sandstorms!
- If you still have a few of them remaining after this dungeon, save them up for Hidden Lands Hail floors

**Treeshroud Forest 21F**:
Small-Medium: F1-3,F6-8,F11-13,F16-18
Medium-Large: F4-5,F9-10,F14-15,F19-20

- Waterfall Cave 2

- Link moves for Munchlax: Screech + Tackle + Lick
- You can check Green Kecleon here, they can offer Pure Seeds in addition to Reviver Seeds!
- Go to Sharpedo Cliffs
- Go to the Beach

**Brine Cave 10F**:
Small-Medium: F1-F7
Medium-Large: F8-F9

**Lower Brine Cave 6F**:
Medium-Large

**Omastar & Kabutops**:
- Spam linked moves
- Focus the Omastars first, they should be 0HKO

**Hidden Land 16F**:
Small-Medium: F1-F8
Medium-Large: F9-F15

- Use any remaining Pure Seeds on Hail floors in this dungeon and Hidden Highlands

**Hidden Highland 9F**:
Medium-Large

**Dusknoir**:
- Throw a Stun Seed at Dusknoir
- Defeat the Sableyes, prioritize the ones adjacent to Grovyle
- move up-right, swap places with Totodile, dash down, move left
- Throw a Sleep Seed at Dusknoir
- Hold A+B

**Temporal Tower 14F**:
Small: F1-F2,F6-F7,F11-F12
Small-Medium: F3-F4,F8-F9,F13
Medium-Large: F5,F10

**Temporal Spire 11F**:
Small: F3-F4, F8-F9
Small-Medium: F1,F5-F6,F10-F11
Medium-Large: F2,F7


**Dialga**:
- (eat a Quick Seed), move left
- Throw a Stun Seed at Dialga
- (if Dialga did not move, move Totodile one Tile up)
- Place Geo Pebbles above Totodile
- Move right, dash as far down as possible and throw a Blast Seed at Dialga
- Hold A+B and hope you survive this

If you want to play safe you can also do this fight onscreen, in that case place the Pebbles above you before unstunning Dialga with a Blast Seed

This strat works because Dialga has the IQ Skill "Item Master" which lets it use the item carries. We can easily abuse this by letting it pick up the Geo Pebbles we place so it has a high chance of using them instead of actual moves. That allows us to complete this fight offscreen reliably, saving ~30-40 seconds over the old strat.

- Timing ends on fade to black before Credits

Any% No Wondermail - Meowth/Totodile Strats (1/17/19)

Very much like the Any% No Wondermail guide for Sky, just minor edits to account for version differences.

Google Doc:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sSWt_d1V3NtOgnhr2njtxe2J79_hLOEbNE3JlxI5rxA/edit?usp=drivesdk&ouid=101046001463225845048

Any% With Wondermail - Safe Route (7/6/2019)

NOTE: This guide is out-dated; using Prospect missions and Natural Gift on Meowth, it may be possible to have a route that is both safe and optimal. A guide including these new strats is in development.

No Mobile Scarf Guide (Safe Route):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TAn1_DwhaWE74xjkbq319i23uy_V5eOPtI7owm36bxE/edit?usp=sharing

Mobile Scarf Guide not finished yet; basically just replace a Gold Seed with the Mobile Scarf, and move very well with that if you want to shoot for optimal runs.

If you want to use Cyndaquil partner instead of Totodile, the moveset is pretty much entirely up to personal preference (I recommend using lots of corner-cutting attacks and Smokescreen).

Beat Darkrai No Wondermail - Skitty/Totodile Strats

The strats differ so much between Time and Darkness, that there is a separate route for each of them.
Time is the recommended version to play.

Explorers of Time route:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mCLjvb7UqGoMrwRn82Y2qJ2Lo-DxKz6l6DpO1VDrTBA/edit?usp=sharing

Explorers of Darkness route (not recommended):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1id-G5X9K-oqqnytgdFrvhrTKlm4j0UAfNoyW_u1f6G8/edit?usp=sharing

Beat Darkrai With Wondermail - Crrool's safe route (3/13/19)

This route provides the safest and easiest way to complete the category using Wondermail codes. It is primarily intended for Explorers of Time specifically, and it only saves a little time over the No Wondermail route. 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rVG_-rXmmOjdrxTKjC6Fpv8ELAu9dBlVW33PuGdr79s/edit?usp=sharing

Guide written by Crrool.

Recruit 'em All Minimum Wondermail - Meowth/Chikorita/Lanturn strats (3/15/19)

NOTE:
This is a significantly out-dated guide. A better one is slowly being developed, but you could still get through a run with this one.

Still needs a full list of what exactly can be recruited where, and still needs a better Kecleon strat for Explorers of Darkness, but otherwise, a complete guide for this massive run:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GOMsL2xnFsLJDDpjtOVyz6EowUsrvt3gW_7JOIhH84k/edit?usp=sharing

Recruit 'em All With Wondermail - Chikorita/Chimchar/Lanturn (10/22/19)

Full list of obtainable Pokémon in each dungeon is still incomplete, but otherwise a very useable route for both Time and Darkness:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15edALkcd3pwUozMlhPPUwe2EKEzpAB3ZkK8THC3wnsY/edit?usp=sharing

Time/Darkness Quiz

Follow the link cause it looks messy in here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18GG0c2BTr8p1TlebQC48LIESoFHDO2E6nLcDTwAFoNA/edit?usp=sharing

Name	Autor
[Outdated] Time/Darkness Notes (No-Wondermail)	Darkalber 5 years ago
Any% No WM Munchlax/Totodile (Optimal Route)	Kobral 1 year ago
Any% No Wondermail - Meowth/Totodile Strats (1/17/19)	MozzarellaCheez 5 years ago
Any% With Wondermail - Safe Route (7/6/2019)	MozzarellaCheez 4 years ago
Beat Darkrai No Wondermail - Skitty/Totodile Strats	MozzarellaCheez 4 years ago
Beat Darkrai With Wondermail - Crrool's safe route (3/13/19)	MozzarellaCheez 5 years ago
Recruit 'em All Minimum Wondermail - Meowth/Chikorita/Lanturn strats (3/15/19)	MozzarellaCheez 4 years ago
Recruit 'em All With Wondermail - Chikorita/Chimchar/Lanturn (10/22/19)	MozzarellaCheez 4 years ago
Time/Darkness Quiz	Darkalber 8 years ago