HM slave: Difference between revisions

An '''HM slave''', sometimes referred to as an '''HM mule''' (known in the Japanese fandom as '''{{tt|秘伝要員|ひでんよういん}}''' ''Secret Agent''), is a Pokémon which is in the party not to be used in {{pkmn|battle}}, but to provide the use of [[HM]] moves or other {{cat|moves usable outside of battle}} that typically are not suitable for a powerful team. An HM slave itself is usually considered to be a Pokémon that can have all four of its moves taken up by HMs, and occasionally by any move usable outside of battle.

Most HM slaves are common Pokémon, typically those which can be captured on the first [[route]]s of a given game. A majority of them are {{type|Normal}}, which is fitting, considering that this type is shared with several HMs, and {{m|Rock Smash}}, though it is {{t|Fighting}}, is also usually available to them as well. {{type|Water}} Pokémon are also common, as they also have three HM moves which share their type, and many are also able to use at least one or two of the other five. Because of these two tendencies, as well as its typing, {{p|Bibarel}} is often regarded as the ideal HM slave.  

Due to both {{m|Fly}} and {{m|Defog}} sharing the {{type|Flying}}, Pokémon of this type are also considered to be good HM slaves in Generation IV, especially considering Defog's effect does nothing to harm the opponent directly at all (while Flash lowered the opponent's accuracy, causing moves to sometimes miss, Defog merely lowers their evasiveness). HM slaves like {{p|Tropius}} and {{p|Pelipper}} are ideal for these roles since they are capable of using other HM moves along with Fly and Defog.

Because of the fact that many HM slaves are not well-versed in both normal and water HM moves as well as the four-move limit, most choose to have a pair of HM slaves, typically one for the more common tasks such as Rock Smash, {{m|Cut}}, etc. and another for less commonly-needed HMs such as {{m|Waterfall}} or {{m|Flash}}. The latter are often set in anticipation of a cave or other obstacle that requires several uncommon HMs. Some moves, however (typically Fly and {{m|Surf}}) are needed so frequently and are powerful enough that some Trainers choose to simply add them to their team's moveset rather than have a slave for them.

Typically, [[legendary Pokémon]] like {{p|Lugia}}, {{p|Mewtwo}}, and especially {{p|Mew}} and {{p|Arceus}} can learn many HM moves. {{p|Smeargle}}, Mew and Arceus are the only Pokémon that can learn all HM moves, and {{p|Dragonite}} can learn all HM moves in [[Generation V]].