Recruitment is a mechanic in most Mystery Dungeon games. It is the act of inducting Pokémon into a rescue team or an exploration team, and is the primary way teams can gain new Pokémon for rescues or explorations. The main method of recruiting a Pokémon is by defeating it in dungeons; in this manner, one may earn the defeated Pokémon's respect, and it will offer to join the team. Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky introduced alternatives with missions with the job reward defined as ???, in which the client Pokémon may be inspired to join the exploration team or may give the team an egg, which is cared for by Chansey's Day Care Service, and, in Sky only, through random drinks at the Spinda's Cafe.
Prerequisites[]
In order to be able to recruit Pokémon, one must first meet these requirements:
- Be introduced to Friend Areas (Rescue Team) OR have access to Chimecho Assembly (Explorers).
- Have available space in the current team (no more than 6 stars for the team size and no more than three in the team) (Rescue Team only)
- The leader must be the one to deliver the ending blow.
- The leader must be adjacent to the enemy when the enemy is defeated to recruit them if they are not recruited in a cutscene.
Certain Pokémon are entirely impossible to recruit naturally, such as all but nine fully evolved Pokémon in Rescue Team.
Recruitment Rates[]
The chance of a Pokémon joining your team is expressed as a percentage, which can be modified in certain ways. In Rescue Team, the absolute max one can increase their chances for recruiting a Pokémon is +34%, and this is attained through the team leader being level 90-100 (+24%) and holding the Friend Bow (+10%). In Explorers, the max amount one can increase their recruitment chances is +50.1%, and this is achieved when the leader is level 99-100(+25%, 1% more than Rescue Team), holds the Golden Mask(+20.1%), and has the IQ Skill Fast Friend(+5%), exclusive to IQ groups B and H.
It should be noted that Kecleon has a recruitment rate that is essentially the bare minimum for Rescue Team and Explorers, with a -33.9% chance and a 49.5% chance of joining the team in the respective games.
Ways to Increase Recruitment Chances[]
The following factors increase the chances of recruiting Pokémon defeated in dungeons to a team:
Items[]
- Friend Bow: +10%
- Any of the Seven Treasures: +20% for specific type
- Amber Tear +15%
- Golden Mask: +20.1%
Leader Traits[]
Level:
- 30-39; +5%
- 40-49; +7.5%
- 50-59; +10%
- 60-69; +12.5%
- 70-79; +15%
- 80-89; +17.5%
- 90-100; +24% for Rescue Team, +25% for Explorers
Fast Friend IQ Skill: +5%
Note that only the Friend Bow and Level Rates were factors in Rescue Team; everything else was introduced in Explorers.
Other Recruitment Methods[]
There are other methods of recruiting Pokémon, all of which were introduced in Explorers. These methods all share one thing; all Pokémon recruited are at level 1, regardless of circumstances. Pokémon that were hatched from eggs, however, will have certain egg moves. The Pokémon one can recruit through missions will usually be a Pokémon one has already encountered; in this manner, one can recruit Pokémon otherwise unavailable to them.