Quick Guide:
  • Follow Marlon into the Depths of Cinder Volcano
  • Defeat Vega and the Light of Ruin
  • Survive the Encounter with Primal Groudon
  • Infiltrate Shadow Base
  • Challenge Shadow Boss Zeph

Cinder Volcano Depths – Overview

(Click for full-size)
Cinder Volcano Depths map
Points of Interest
1F
Light of Ruin Grunt
B1F
Agent Vega Double Battle
Shadow Remains Cave
Heat Rock Cave
B2F
Primal Groudon Battle
Exits and Passages
1F
Route 4 West
Ladder Down to B1F
B1F
Ladder Up to 1F
Ladder Down to B2F
B2F
Ladder Up to B1F
Items

Items
1F
X Attack
(hidden)
B1F
TM76 Stealth Rock
Zygarde Cell
Red Shard
(hidden)
Heat Rock
Max Revive
(hidden)
Lava Cookie
B2F
Occa Berry
(hidden)
Dire Hit
(hidden)
Star Piece
Elixir
(hidden)
Ultra Ball
(hidden)
Wild Pokémon (all floors)

Wild Pokémon
(all floors)
Cave
Woobat
Psychic/Flying
Slugma
Fire
Salandit
Poison/Fire
Camerupt
Fire/Ground
Graveler
Rock/Ground
Excadrill
Ground/Steel
Heatmor
Fire
Magmar
Fire
Surfing
Slugma
Fire
Magcargo
Fire/Rock
Rock Smash
Geodude
Rock/Ground
Graveler
Rock/Ground
Shuckle
Bug/Rock

Cinder Volcano Depths – 1F

Entering the depths of Cinder Volcano / Pokémon Unbound
Entering the depths of Cinder Volcano

When you enter the cavern, you’ll see someone in a strange uniform passed out on the floor, presumably put there by Marlon.

The Grunt is recovered enough to fight you / Pokémon Unbound
The Grunt is recovered enough to fight you

However, when you try and walk past him to the ladder, he jumps up and reveals himself as a Grunt of Aklove’s new organization, the Light of Ruin.

Light of Ruin Grunt
Floette
Fairy
(Lv.38)
Ribombee
Bug/Fairy
(Lv.38)
Sylveon
Fairy
(Lv.39)

He’s easily taken care of, but when you do he runs off to tell the rest of the Light of Ruin you’re here. Climb down the ladder after him.

Cinder Volcano Depths – B1F

The Grunt tries to get ahead of you / Pokémon Unbound
The Grunt tries to get ahead of you

When you climb down the ladder, the Grunt is desperate to get to his boss before you do.

Follow him, and you’ll see a confrontation already in progress.

Marlon asks you to team up / Pokémon Unbound
Marlon asks you to team up

Vega, Crater Town Gym Leader and spy for the Shadows, is now apparently a leader of the Light of Ruin, and Marlon wants to take him down.

Time for a Double Battle.

Like the ones with Jax, you need to select three Pokémon to use alongside Marlon’s three – a Krookodile, a Cacturne, and a Dusclops.

Light of Ruin Double Battle
Agent Vega and Light of Ruin Grunt
Liepard
Dark
(Lv.38)
Floette
Fairy
(Lv.38)
Ribombee
Bug/Fairy
(Lv.38)
Sylveon
Fairy
(Lv.39)
Honchkrow
Dark/Flying
(Lv.39)
Absol (Mega)
Dark
(Lv.40)

This battle is straightforward, because Marlon’s Pokémon are quite formidable and make good partners.

You need to go deeper / Pokémon Unbound
You need to go deeper

After winning the battle Vega tries to escape, and Marlon chases after him, deeper into the depths of the volcano.

There are two chambers accessible from this central area – both contain useful items, but it might be worth going into the left chamber first.

Give a Shadow Warrior some peace / Pokémon Unbound
Give a Shadow Warrior some peace

You find the body of a Shadow Warrior. Knowing what you do now about how they are made, you’re given the option to lay it to rest.

After you do that, go back to the main chamber and go south.

The ladder to the heart of the volcano / Pokémon Unbound
The ladder to the heart of the volcano

Make sure your Pokémon are fully healed before climbing down the ladder, because the fight ahead is extremely tough.

Cinder Volcano Depths – B2F

Vega summons the guardian of the volcano / Pokémon Unbound
Vega summons the guardian of the volcano

Marlon thinks he has Vega cornered, but Vega has one card up his sleeve – an artifact that summons a Primal Groudon from the heart of the volcano!

An unusual format for a battle / Pokémon Unbound
An unusual format for a battle

Vega flees, and you and Marlon are left to deal with the legendary Pokémon. However, you’re cut off from your Pokeballs by a rockfall.

Marlon offers to battle the Groudon commanding your Pokémon, which is highly unusual but your only option.

Legendary Battle
Primal Groudon
Primal Groudon
Ground/Fire
(level scales)

This is one of the toughest battles in the game.

The Groudon level scales, so you can’t really be too prepared for it. In addition, you’re only allowed to tell Marlon to switch Pokémon or to use items – you cannot select the move he tells the Pokémon to use.

It’s very hit and miss because the move he selects may not be the most effective or the most powerful one.

The way forward is clear / Pokémon Unbound
The way forward is clear

But if you manage to beat Primal Groudon, the rockfall is cleared and you and Marlon are free to chase after Zeph.

Marlon explicitly tells you not to follow him to the Shadow Base. But going by the updated mission objective, you plan on ignoring that.

Getting to Shadow Base

Fly to Frozen Heights / Pokémon Unbound
Fly to Frozen Heights

The Shadow Base is in the same place as it was in the very beginning of the game – just outside of your hometown, Frozen Heights.

The entrance is now open / Pokémon Unbound
The entrance is now open

When you left the last time, it was sealed behind you – but now it appears to have been unsealed, presumably by Marlon.

Head on inside.

Shadow Base – 1F

(Click for full-size)
Shadow Base 1F map
Points of Interest
Marlon’s Uniform
Level 1 Key Card
Exits and Passages
Frozen Heights
Level 2 Key Card Access
Shadow Base Elevator
Items

Items
Hyper Potion
Metagrossite
or
Tyranitarite
or
Garchompite
The first level of the base / Pokémon Unbound
The first level of the base

When you enter, you’ll have the choice of going left or right.

Left leads to the area you escaped from previously, and right leads to where you need to go now.

Time to play dress up / Pokémon Unbound
Time to play dress up

Apparently Marlon decided to take off his uniform after breaking through the front door, and left it lying there for you to pick up and put on.

Marlon? / Pokémon Unbound
Marlon?

As ‘Marlon’, you will be able to move around the Shadow Base pretty freely.

Head west and you’ll see a room with a scientist in it.

Prepare before heading up the ladder / Pokémon Unbound
Prepare before heading up the ladder

Just north of him is an item you will need – the Level 1 Key Card.

There are all sorts of locked doors in this base, and this will help you get through some of them.

The base elevator / Pokémon Unbound
The base elevator

There’s only one way to get up and down floors in the base, and that’s the elevator.

The attendant asks you which floor / Pokémon Unbound
The attendant asks you which floor

It even comes with its own elevator attendant.

First, head to B1F.

Shadow Base – B1F

(Click for full-size)
Shadow Base B1F map
Points of Interest
Level 2 Key Card
Shadow Grunt
Exits and Passages
Shadow Base Elevator
Level 1 Key Card Access
Level 2 Key Card Access
Level 3 Key Card Access
Items

Items
Pearl
(hidden)
Calcium
(hidden)
Dusk Ball
(hidden)
Reaper Cloth
Zygarde Cell
Protein
Dusk Ball
The first door is easy to get through / Pokémon Unbound
The first door is easy to get through

Luckily you picked up that keycard on the floor above, because the way forward is locked with Level 1 access.

Head on through when you open them.

The heart of the base / Pokémon Unbound
The heart of the base

First, go to the northeast room to pick up something useful.

It’s the Level 2 Key Card, sitting on a desk a Grunt is working at.

The Level 2 Key Card / Pokémon Unbound
The Level 2 Key Card

With this in hand, you can go back to the area you woke up at in the beginning of the game and open the locked door there to get a Mega Stone for your starter Pokémon – a Metagrossite, Garchompite, or a Tyranitarite.

The Shadow Grunt wants to spar with you / Pokémon Unbound
The Shadow Grunt wants to spar with you

Past another Level 1 door is a Grunt who wants to battle you – as a friendly spar session, of course.

You can fight him again and again if you need some training.

Shadow Grunt
Scrafty
Dark/Fighting
(Lv.40)
Malamar
Dark/Psychic
(Lv.41)

After you’ve got everything of value from this floor, head back to the elevator and select B2F.

Shadow Base – B2F

(Click for full-size)
Shadow Base B2F map
Points of Interest
Shadow Scientist
Level 3 Key Card
Exits and Passages
Shadow Base Elevator
Shadow Warrior Lab Entry/Exit
Level 3 Key Card Access
Items

Items
Zygarde Cell
Up-Grade
TM41 Torment
Black Glasses
Another floor of the base / Pokémon Unbound
Another floor of the base

As soon as you arrive on this floor, you’ll need to open another security door with your keycard.

The rest of the base awaits / Pokémon Unbound
The rest of the base awaits

Head east and then south until you bump into someone along that corridor.

The Shadow Scientist / Pokémon Unbound
The Shadow Scientist

Just like the Shadow Grunt upstairs, this Scientist offers herself as a training partner.

Shadow Scientist
Mawile
Steel/Fairy
(Lv.40)
Vikavolt
Bug/Electric
(Lv.40)
Bronzong
Steel/Psychic
(Lv.41)
The Shadow Warrior lab is open to you / Pokémon Unbound
The Shadow Warrior lab is open to you

In the south part of this floor is the entrance to the lab where the Shadow Warriors are made.

The grunt guarding it thinks you’re Marlon, so he lets you in.

The final keycard / Pokémon Unbound
The final keycard

This is the location of the final item you need – the Level 3 Key Card.

With this, you can head back to the elevator and go straight to B3F, where Zeph has his office.

Shadow Base – B3F

The final floor / Pokémon Unbound
The final floor

B3F is the final floor of the base, and Marlon is already here ahead of you.

Items
Houndoomite
Unlock this door with the Level 3 Key Card / Pokémon Unbound
Unlock this door with the Level 3 Key Card

A man with scruffy red hair walks through a security door – this must be Marlon when he’s out of uniform.

Now that you have the Level 3 card you can follow him.

Another level up / Pokémon Unbound
Another level up

Zeph is in the middle of explaining himself to Marlon when you barge through the door.

He accuses you of being a spy, so it’s time to battle Zeph one more time.

Shadow Base Battle – Boss Zeph
Mightyena
Dark
(Lv.41)
Exploud
Normal
(Lv.40)
Decidueye
Grass/Ghost
(Lv.42)
Gengar (Mega)
Ghost/Poison
(Lv.41)
A chat full of revelations / Pokémon Unbound
A chat full of revelations

After you beat him, Zeph soon comes to his senses when Marlon tells him your father is Aros.

Zeph explains why he developed the method of making Shadow Warriors, and how he was manipulated by Fey, the leader of the Science Society, all along.

The most interesting piece of info you get though is that Marlon and Ivory are none other than your Rival’s parents!

Your next destination / Pokémon Unbound
Your next destination

The Light of Ruin has been detected in Vivill Town, which is across the Great Desert east of Dehara City.

However you’ll need to beat the Gym first, so that’s where you’re going next.

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