The technical machine situation in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl is an odd one. This time around – and unlike in Sword & Shield – TMs are single-use. Despite that, there are several points in the game where you’re given multiple of a single TM. This is frustrating, given how many TMs are required for competitive players; fortunately, there are ways to farm for large amounts of them! If you’re looking to nab some powerful TMs for your Pokémon, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s get started!
The Grand Underground
Given that TMs are single-use, there’s little point in scouring the overworld to find every single one. Instead, the absolute best way of finding powerful TMs is by searching for them in the Grand Underground. Scattered throughout are hikers that have a chance of stocking TMs, and you can trade them spheres in exchange. PokéJungle actually has a really helpful map detailing the locations of these hikers, so be sure to check that out when you get a chance!
If you’re looking for TMs, you can actually multitask in a very productive way. Connect to the Grand Underground online, and when the other players connect enough Diglett, you’ll enjoy an increased chance of finding a Shiny Pokémon for five minutes. When that chance isn’t active (you can tell in the top-left corner), you can dig for spheres and treasures to pass the time. Then, when all you collect all 40 Diglett, you can enter the dungeon rooms and catch a bunch of Pokémon to fill up your Pokédex!
As you can tell, this accomplishes several goals at once — shiny hunting, Pokédex completion, treasure hunting, and saving up spheres for TMs! Messing around in the Grand Underground is a great way to check things off your to-do list, so it comes highly recommended.
Purchasing TMs
There are two areas in the overworld where you can buy TMs. The first is the department store in Veilstone City! Some of the helpful TMs sold there include U-turn, False Swipe, Protect, Substitute, Swords Dance, Fire Blast, Thunder, Blizzard, Focus Blast, Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Psychic, and Dazzling Gleam. These are all solid moves, and all you need is some money to buy them!
The second method: the Battle Tower, which takes considerably more time. That being said, the TMs sold here are completely different than the ones found in Veilstone City. Some of the moves you’ll find here include Calm Mind, Toxic, Bulk Up, Earthquake, Shadow Ball, Sludge Bomb, Dragon Pulse, Will-O-Wisp, Stone Edge, Thunder Wave, and Cut. Furthermore, all of the former HMs (Cut, Fly, Surf, Strength, Defog, Rock Smash, Waterfall, and Rock Climb) are sold here too.
As you can see, there are several ways of farming TMs! It is a bit inconvenient that they’re single-use, but players who sink lots of time into Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl shouldn’t have much trouble finding what they need.
Hidden Move Locations
In Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, HMs can now be accessed from the Pokétch. This means you don’t have to teach them to any of your Pokémon! In case you do want to do that, though, you’ll obtain five single-use TMs of each move in addition to the Pokétch option. Here’s a list of each and every hidden move:
- Rock Smash is the first HM you’ll obtain, and it’s given to you by a hiker in the cave west of Oreburgh City.
- Cynthia gives you the Cut HM on your first visit to Eterna City.
- You can find Strength on the top floor of the Lost Tower on Route 209.
- You can find Fly in Team Galactic’s warehouse in Veilstone City.
- An NPC in the Great Marsh gives you Defog.
- Cynthia’s grandmother gives you Surf after you defeat Team Galactic in Celestic City.
- You can find Rock Climb in the snow near a house on Route 217. If you try to return it to the hiker inside the house, he’ll let you keep it and give you an Icicle Plate in addition!
- Jasmine gives you Waterfall in Sunyshore City after defeating Volkner.
The only moves you’ll really want to teach your Pokémon here are Surf and maybe Fly or Waterfall. Most of these locations are straightforward, though it is quite easy to accidentally miss Strength if you forget to explore the Lost Tower.
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