How to get Milotic with Only Oran Berries (Ruby/Sapphire)
Note: This guide assumes that (A) you have Ruby or Sapphire with a dead internal battery, and (B) that you've already used all your Kelpsey or Hondew Berries. If you still have some of these berries left, check out this guide from Pamtre Berry instead. Actually you might want to do that anyway, it has a better explanation of how Pokeblocks work and is generally very good. However, it does not go over this method to get a Milotic if you've already used those berries. Also, the information for this guide comes from Bulbapedia and my own experience in Ruby.
If you have an authentic Pokemon Ruby or Sapphire game, you probably get this message when you start it up:
"The internal battery has run dry. The game can be played. However, clock-based events will no longer occur."
Among other things, this makes it so your berries won't grow, which if you've already used your good Contest Berries makes it hard to raise your Feebas's Beauty stat high enough for it to evolve. It's still possible to get a Milotic, but you have to make your Pokeblocks just right. That's what this guide is for.
Step 1: Catch a Feebas with the right Nature
Catching a Feebas works the same with or without a working battery, so I won't go into detail here. Basically you want to fish once or twice in every water tile on Route 119 using the Old Rod (any rod will work, but the Old Rod is easiest) until you find one. You'll want to catch a lot of Feebas once you find a spot, so you can make sure you get one with a Beauty-boosting nature. If you don't get any you can always come bac or breed for one later.
Natures that work for this guide are Modest, Quiet, or Rash; A Feebas with this nature will have its Beauty stat grow more easily, without disliking the Sour flavor (which will be present in some of the Berries you blend in the later steps).
Step 2: Get Trick, Covet, or Thief
Berries won't grow with a dead internal battery, so you'll need to steal them from wild Pokemon instead. To do this, you need a Pokemon with the move Trick, Covet, or Thief. If you still have your Thief TM, or the Pokemon you used it on, this part is easy. If not, you can use a Heart Scale on a Kecleon to have it re-learn Thief, or level up a Zigzagoon to level 29 to have it learn Covet (if you have a Linoone, it learns the move at level 35 instead). You can also catch the Pokemon instead of using Thief on them, but there's no Quick Ball in this generation so Thief is a lot faster.
Step 3: Steal Some Oran Berries
Once you have a Pokemon with Thief or Covet, you can start gathering Berries! You'll need at least 14 Oran Berries to do this, and it may be helpful to get more in case the berry blending doesn't go well. The best places to get Oran Berries are Route 119 and Route 120; You can find Linoone on these routes with a 30% encounter rate, and they have a 50% chance of holding an Oran Berry.
Step 4: Make some Pokeblocks
Even though you only need Oran Berries to get a Milotic, you'll need to blend them at different locations to get different Pokeblocks. Specifically, you'll need the following Pokeblocks to get a Milotic:
- 6 Indigo Pokeblocks with Level 10/Feel 19, blended at Lilycove City
- 8 Blue Pokeblocks with Level 12/Feel 20, blended at Verdanturf Town
Make sure you either bring extra Oran Berries to blend or save before each Pokeblock, in case the Level isn't as high as you need.
Step 5: Evolve Your Feebas!
Once you have all your Pokeblocks, you can feed them to your Feebas and level it up to evolve it! Make sure you choose a Feebas with a Modest, Quiet, or Rash nature, and that all the Pokeblocks you feed it have the right Level and Feel. When you're ready, feed Feebas the 6 Indigo Pokeblocks, then the 8 blue ones. If it has the right Nature, your Feebas will be shown eating the Pokeblocks "happily". Then level it up in battle or using a Rare Candy, and it will evolve into Milotic!
How It Works (The Math)
Feebas needs to have a beauty stat of at least 170 to evolve, and it can't eat any more Pokeblocks once its Fullness is 255 or higher. When a Pokemon eats a Pokeblock, its contest stats are increased depending on the level and color of the Pokeblock (blue and indigo Pokeblocks primarily boost Beauty), and its fullness is increased by the Pokeblock's Feel. Normally, you can't get a Beauty condition of 170 from the Pokeblocks in this guide, or any other Pokeblocks that can be made from the Berries you can get from wild Pokemon. But, if a Pokemon has a Beauty-boosting nature, its Beauty gain from Pokeblocks is increased by 10% as long as Dry (the Beauty flavor) is the main flavor in the Pokeblock, and it doesn't dislike the other flavors. A Feebas with the Mild nature will not get the boost from the Indigo Pokeblocks, because they also have a strong Sour flavor and Mild Pokemon dislike Sour Pokeblocks, but the other Beauty-boosting natures (Modest, Quiet, and Rash) can benefit from this. This means the Pokeblocks you're feeding your Feebas act like they have levels 11 and 13 instead of 10 and 12. From here, we can get it up to exactly 170 Beauty, as shown:
6 Indigo Pokeblocks x Level 11, Feel 19 --> 66 Beauty, 114 Fullness
7 Blue Pokeblocks x Level 13, Feel 20 --> 91 Beauty, 140 Fullness
Adding these together, you get 157 Beauty and 254 Fullness. Now Feebas is just hungry enough for one more Blue Pokeblock, which gets its Beauty up to 170. This is why you have to feed it the Indigo Pokeblocks first - if you feed it the eighth Blue Pokeblock before the last Indigo Pokeblock, it will have Fullness 255 instead of 254 and it won't be able to eat any more Pokeblocks.
I hope this guide was helpful! I'll be posting more Pokemon resources soon, so stay tuned!