Hardcore GenlockeWhat is a Genlocke?

A Nuzlocke that keeps going. On top of the usual rules:

• One egg move each, chosen.
• The team comes with you. Beat the Elite Four and the same six carry into the next game, restarting at level 5 as their base forms.

Plus the usual Nuzlocke rules:

• A level cap at every gym.
• Only the first Pokémon you meet on each route.
• Faint = dead. Permanently.
• Set mode — no free switch after a KO.
• No items in battle.

Field Manual

Early-mid

2 × TM24 Thunderbolt. Strength HM. Shed Shell if the game has one (Gen 4+).

Mid

TM13 Ice Beam. Surf HM. TM33 Reflect. Two evolutions (one in Gen 3). Begin the TM31 / TM26 hunt — plus TM30 Shadow Ball in Gen 3. Find the Move Deleter.

Mid-late

TM30 Shadow Ball (Gen 4+). Waterfall HM. TM26 Earthquake. Leftovers.

That's the whole list

Fifteen tasks per game (thirteen in Gen 3), and they're the same list every game. Everything else happens by leveling.

Every new town

1. Mart / department store, top floor. Reflect and Light Screen are usually sold here. Sometimes Brick Break.
2. Shed Shell (Gen 4 onward) — the only item that frees a trapped Pokémon in a trainer battle. Find one early in each Gen 4–5 game; it goes on whoever is most exposed to being trapped. A Smoke Ball flees a wild battle only, Gen 3–4. It goes on Lapras, who leads the caves where the Mean Look bats live. Shed Shells go to Snorlax and Magneton, who are the ones trainers trap.
3. Game Corner? If the town has one, the prize counter has TM13 Ice Beam and TM24 Thunderbolt in every game through Gen 4. Buy three Thunderbolts. Gen 5 has no Game Corner — expect BoltBeam late there.
4. Talk to everyone in the Gym after the badge. Leaders hand out a TM. Note the number.
5. Move Reminder. One per game, usually mid-game. Find it; it fixes any declined level-up move for a Heart Scale.
6. Name Rater / friendship checker is usually next door to something useful. Not needed; just a landmark.

Every new HM

• Cut → Venusaur. Surf → Lapras, and only Lapras. Strength → Snorlax, permanently. Waterfall → Gyarados. Fly → nobody; walk.
• Never teach Surf to Gyarados. It is a special move and his Sp. Atk is 60 against 125 Attack — it hits for roughly half what Aqua Tail does — and it permanently occupies one of his four slots. If it is already on him: Move Deleter to remove it, then the Move Reminder and a Heart Scale to get Aqua Tail back. Waterfall replaces it properly later.
• An HM move cannot be forgotten by leveling or by a TM. Only the Move Deleter removes it. Every game has one; find it before you need to rearrange anything. Until then, an HM slot is permanent — plan it that way.
• Anything else (Flash, Rock Smash, Whirlpool, Dive, Rock Climb, Defog): check whether the main path actually requires it. Some games do force one. When forced, it goes on whoever's fourth slot matters least, and the Move Deleter takes it off afterward.

Every new TM found

• TM31 — Snorlax, immediately. TM26 — see the Earthquake rule. TM24 — Magneton, Lapras. TM13 — Lapras. TM33 — Magneton. TM30 — Snorlax in Gen 3, Alakazam from Gen 4. TM44 Rest — Snorlax, if he hasn't leveled into it.
• Gen 5: TMs are infinite. One TM24 covers both.

Every new move tutor

Gen 4 and 5 have them, for a currency. Snorlax's tutor Fighting move is Superpower — the "I found the tutor before TM31" option. Lapras and Alakazam rarely need anything from a tutor.

Every new held item

Leftovers → Snorlax, the day you find one. Every game but Emerald has one before the League — in three of them a wild member of his own line is holding it, so catch it and take it. Emerald has none before the League: there the Chesto Berry is the whole plan. Chesto Berry → Snorlax until then. Soothe Bell → whoever needs friendship. A Focus Sash or Shell Bell is a luxury; don't hunt them.

Every new Pokémon Center

Heal. Save. Look at the summary of any new species you caught — see Unknowns. That's the whole recon loop.

1 · Guess the type from the body

Fire looks like fire. Rock and Steel look heavy and angular. Grass has leaves. Bug has antennae or a shell. Ghost floats. Fighting has fists. Get it roughly right and the Coverage table tells you who goes in. Confirm it the first time a move hits for "super effective."

2 · Watch for the ability announcement

Intimidate, Levitate, Arena Trap, Shadow Tag, Magnet Pull, Sturdy and Static all announce themselves or show up on contact. The moment you see a trap ability, that species goes on your list for the rest of the run.

3 · Assume the worst move for its shape

Round and mineral: Self-Destruct. Dark-typed: Pursuit. Big and slow with horns or drills: an OHKO move. Water/Ground: Earthquake. Psychic: Psychic. You'll be wrong sometimes, and being wrong in that direction costs a turn, not a Pokémon.

4 · Catch it, then read it

The summary screen shows the real ability and moves. Every new species you catch gets read once. That's how a blind run stops being blind — one species at a time, on your own terms.

Before the door

1. The town told you the type. Gym design, the trainers on the way in, the badge case. Open the Coverage row for that type and pick the two answers.
2. Level everyone to the cap the hack gives you. Below cap is a death you chose.
3. Full HP, full PP, Reflect ready on Magneton if the type is physical. Chesto on Snorlax.
4. Decide the lead now. Not in the fight.

Turn one

1. If you know the type, lead the answer and hit first. Open the Coverage table for that type, take the "who takes it safely" column, and swing. Scouting a type you already know just hands the boss a free turn.
2. Only if the type is unknown or mixed: scout, don't swing. Snorlax goes first — he is the one that survives being wrong — and you read one move before committing. Alakazam never scouts — he dies to being wrong.
3. Sleep Powder if it lands legally. A sleeping boss Pokémon is a free setup.
4. Read the first move. That's the AI showing its hand: the boss's ace usually has its best move in slot one.

The setup decision

Curse on Snorlax only when the opponent can't: crit through it reliably, force a switch, hit special hard, or Explode. If any of those is true, don't set up — trade hits with the type-advantaged mon and pivot. Leech Seed first from Venusaur makes any setup safer.

The retreat rule

If the mon in front can be KO'd from its current HP by a move you've already seen, it switches this turn. Not next turn. Two exceptions: Alakazam stays against the specific Dark types that carry Pursuit (the STUCK IF IN rows on the Hard Counters page — not the type as a whole); and against a priority move the retreat is already too late — you never got the turn you were counting on.

The ace

Every boss saves the strongest for last. When five are down and one remains: full-HP answer in, Thunder Wave or Sleep if you can, then the super-effective hit. Never let the ace get a free turn on a damaged Pokémon.

After

Talk to the leader for the TM. Check its number against the recon list. Heal. Save. Write down what the ace was — you'll see its line again in the next region.

Bombs

• Explosion and Self-Destruct are Normal — Magneton takes half; nobody is immune.
• Lapras is the answer. Shell Armor: she cannot be critically hit.
• Gens 3–4 halve your Defence too, so a critical bomb kills everyone else from full.
• The survival line is 50%, not 100%.
• Alakazam kills the Poison bombers first; he is never the body. Snorlax never.
• Disable cannot pre-empt a bomb — it only blocks a move already used.

Pursuit

• Double damage on the switch, 2× on Alakazam, and it cannot miss.
• He stays in only against species that actually learn it.
• Against every other Dark type he leaves.

Shed Shell, not Smoke Ball

• Bag items are banned, so escaping a trap is a held-item problem.
• Shed Shell (Gen 4+): switch out through any trap, wild or trainer.
• Smoke Ball: flees a wild battle only. Inert against trainers.
• Gen 3 has neither — there the lead rules are the whole defence.

Shadow Tag

• It can only hurt you if you hit it. Counter and Mirror Coat return your damage.
• Venusaur: Sleep Powder + Leech Seed, then never attack — passive damage triggers nothing.
• Safeguard blocks sleep and burn, not Seed or Curse.

Mold Breaker

• Gen 4+. Turboblaze and Teravolt are the same thing in Gen 5.
• The game announces it on entry. From that moment, play the type chart only.
• Thick Fat stops halving. Shell Armor stops blocking crits.
• Three of your six lean on an ability.

Destiny Bond and Sturdy

• Enemy used Destiny Bond this turn? Do not KO it this turn — status or switch.
• Gen 5 Sturdy: an enemy at full HP survives one hit. Chip first.
• Gen 5: a sleeping enemy's counter resets when it switches out.

Double battles

• Party slots 1 and 2 are your pair. Set the order before the door.
• Default: the zone’s lead plus Snorlax.
• Best general pair: Gyarados + Snorlax — Intimidate drops both foes at once, and Earthquake passes under a Flying partner.
• Your own spread moves hit your partner. Lapras never Surfs; Snorlax never quakes beside Magneton.
• Alakazam is the worst pick here — two attackers focus the frail one.

Fighting

• Alakazam ½, and he outspeeds every Fighting type. Venusaur ½ (Poison resists it; Grass does not). Gyarados ½.
• Three resists and one killer — still not a wall. Snorlax, Magneton and Lapras all take it 2×.
• Rock coverage is 2× on Gyarados; Dark, Bug or Ghost coverage takes Alakazam out.

Fighting vs Ground coverage

• Fighting hits Steel, Ice, Normal, Rock, Dark. Ground hits Steel, Electric, Fire, Poison, Rock.
• Ground answers things this team already resists.
• Fighting answers Normal and Dark, which nothing else touches. Snorlax takes Fighting.

Steel before TM31

• Most Steel bodies are Steel/Ground or Steel/Rock — 4× from Surf or Waterfall.
• Until Brick Break arrives, Snorlax runs Strength or Shadow Ball.
• Frail pure Steel dies to Snorlax's Normal STAB.
• Never Magneton.

The seven TM numbers

• TM13 Ice Beam · TM24 Thunderbolt · TM26 Earthquake · TM31 Brick Break
• TM30 Shadow Ball · TM33 Reflect · TM44 Rest
• Same numbers Gen 3 through Gen 5. Hunt these by number, everything else by name — Giga Drain stops being a TM in Gen 5.

Early leads must win, not flee

• Early wilds outspeed you, so running is a coin flip until the Smoke Ball is on.
• The lead is whoever survives being trapped and wins: Lapras, open or underground.
• Abra and Magikarp are switch-ins, never leads, before 20.

Game Corner

• TM24 Thunderbolt and TM13 Ice Beam are prizes in every game through Gen 4.
• Gen 5 has no Game Corner and BoltBeam comes late — but every TM there is infinite.

Rest and evolution

• Rest is TM44 in every generation. Snorlax has no evolution deadline.
• Munchlax needs Friendship 220 on a level-up — set 255 in the editor and he evolves next level.

Three things this table will do to you

• Caps are not always rising. In one game the seventh checkpoint is a level lower than the sixth. If you level to the sixth cap you are over the seventh before you start. Read the next number, never the last one.
• Two jumps are brutal. In the first game the cap goes 29 → 43 in one step, and in the third it goes 33 → 42. Those are grinds, and the team that walks in under-levelled is the team that loses somebody.
• The League has no shops between fights. Every number in the second table is reached in one sitting, so the cap you arrive at is the cap you finish on.

After the credits

• The second game has a whole second region afterwards: eight more gyms sitting between 50 and 60, and they are not in ascending order — check each one before you walk in. Its final optional fight caps at 88.
• The third game hides an optional fight at 78.
• The fifth game's post-game rematches jump to 73–77.
• None of that is required. The run ends when the credits roll unless you say otherwise.

Where these came from

Nuzlocke University's hardcore level-cap tables, read September 2026. Checkpoint names, towns and characters are deliberately stripped — this half of the guide stays blind. The numbers are the highest-level Pokémon each boss fields.