Pokemon Sword and Shield Guide Beginner's Guide

This Pokemon Sword and Shield Guide Beginner's Guide is for you if it's your first Pokemon game, or if you haven't played the series in ages! Here you can find everything from EV training and types of flashy hunting tips to advantages and battle stats.
What is Pokemon Sword and Shield? Summary, version differences and more.


  1. Pokémon is an RPG. Pokémon Sword and Shield will probably take 35-45 hours to beat you. Of course, if you spend more time catching Pokémon, training and exploring wild areas, it can easily take you longer.
  2. Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield are mostly the same game but there are some Pokemon, items, and even gym leaders that are exclusive to each version. Look at our version difference page to pick one up for you! You can still get Pokémon that are not in your game by trading (we'll get to that later) but if you love Gallerian Ponta, for example, you want to get Pokémon Shield.
  3. Sword and Shield have 400 Pokémon. Every Pokémon comes in 1 or 2 "types". There are 18 types in total. Every type of type (s) is weak and strong. Battling Pokémon involves knowing your type matchups.
  4. Whereas Pokémon has typed. His moves have their own types. For example, Water Pokémon can be a rock trick. This can affect the moves you choose or the Pokémon you use.
  5. Your goal is to fight and defeat all 8 gym leaders and then win the Geller Championship. Each gym leader has their own specialty. For example, the first gym leader specializes in Grass Pokémon. You can either build a balanced team that is ready for either type or you can change your team to give yourself a lot of advantages.
  6. After defeating the game, many players prefer to complete their Pokédex (this means that you were, at one time, every Pokémon in the game), do post-game, breeding, dazzling hunting, and more. If these words sound intimidating, don't worry! We will break them all down in the Advanced Support section. And you don't need to do any of these to have fun with Pokemon Sword and Shield.


Below, we have divided some of the major pages into sections. But keep in mind that you can always mix them a little and mix them. Just because this is your first Pokémon game does not mean that you cannot breed or hunt for shinies!

Basics pt.1: Do you want to know

Types: Pokemon Sword and Shield have 18 variants. Some of them seem obvious: Ex. Water is strong against fire. Others are more complex: Ex. The dragon has no influence on the fairy. Luckily, when you encounter a Pokémon in a fight, its information gets added to your Pokédex, so the game will tell you some of this information directly, while in combat if you've fought this Pokémon before. But if you want to plan ahead, you have to know these types of benefits or our section will have to work on type benefits! And don't forget: looks can be deceiving! For example, Galleon Ponyta is beautiful as an angel Pokémon but is actually a psychic Pokémon. And Gallerian Weezing looks completely poisonous but is actually an angel Pokémon.

Evolution: Not every Pokémon evolves. Not every Pokémon has 2 evolutions. Most Pokemon can evolve simply by levelling. Some Pokemon have specific types of evolution that require stones, certain items that are being trended, a certain level of friendship, and so on. Some of these evolution methods are slightly "advanced". See our page on all growth and development methods! If you want to complete your Pokédex then it is necessary but even if you do not do so you can get help to locate your team. Evolved Pokémon are much stronger than their unchanged forms, so you'll want to take Villeplum or Blossom in a gym fight on Glom (if you can).

Tips for Catching Pokémon: Generally, Pokémon with low HP are easy to catch healthy. But there are also poke balls and some special tricks that can make them easier. Walk to wild area vendors and see which poke balls they are selling! Quick Balls are great for catching Pokémon if they are selling some stock!

The Wild Area: The Wild Area will open to you over time. Pokémon that are walking outside the grass is stronger than the grass. The level of Pokémon is limited by the badge you hold but you can check this information by opening the menu and looking at your league card. The game only takes 2 times to pass through this area and you can definitely spend time on the routes after the main campaign to defeat the game. However, it is a great place to train, catch Pokémon, Max Rides, and more.

The Basics Pt. 2: take your game to the next level

Many of the items in this section are large parts of Pokémon, but there is no need to understand, use, or do it to defeat the game. But knowing all this will make life a lot easier and, hopefully, will make Pokémon more fun for you.

Trading Pokémon: Trading is a great way to get more Pokémon, especially those not in your game version (ie Sword / Shield Exclusive). And some Pokemon only grow through trading. You can trade on the Internet or locally. Regular trades require both sides to agree on what is being traded, while surprise trades involve both parties putting in any Pokemon they want. You can read about both types of trading in our How to Trade Guide.

Weather: Weather effects can affect fighting! And some tricks (such as rain day (rain)) and abilities (such as the Pupper's drezel (rain)) can cause a weather effect. Check our weather guide for details. Some Pokémon appear only in certain weather conditions. To view this information, you can hover over the Pokémon's name in your Pokédex and press "X" to see their habitat. For example, the habitat of Corsola is limited to an area of ​​the forested area when it is overcast/cloudy.

Base stats and Battle stats: Pokémon have base stats like HP, Attack, Defense, Sp. Attack, Sp. Defence, and Speed. But they also have Battle Stats such as Accuracy and Envision. By paying attention to these stats, you can train your Pokémon to excel in one area over another. You can change statistics by EV training, read our guide for more information. Speed ​​may be one of the most important statistics because it determines which Pokémon attack first.

Natures: Each of the 25, with the exception of five, will increase one base state by 10%, while the other will decrease the base state by 10%. You can replace a Pokemon navar with mints. For more information, see our Natures Guide.

Different Moves and How to Relates to Stats (ie Special Moves, Physical Moves, Status Moves, Max Moves): All physical attacks use the attack state to deal with the damage, while the defence state is used to counter that damage. is done. In the same way, all special attacks use the Special Attack State to deal damage, while the Special Defense State is used to counter that damage. There may be selective moves that break the figures, but they are rare. Titus' attacks are moves that modify the stats or increase the status quo on other Pokémon. Types cannot play a role when using these types of attacks. Sand-attack (a ground-type move) can hit flying-type Pokémon, but Thunder Wave (an electric-type move) cannot hit ground-type Pokémon. For everything, you need to know about the trick, see our move dex.

Pokers: When a Pokémon has a poker, it will double EV points by any method - whether during a fight or a Poke Job. This desirable virus is extremely rare. Your best chance of achieving this is through trading. Visit that part of our EV training guide for more.
Utilities: These abilities can provide various powers, such as a type of boost when a Pokémon's HP is low, or Automatic Rain. Some special Pokémon may have hidden abilities that can only be obtained from Event Pokémon or from Pokémon caught during Max Red Battle. See the new capabilities added to Pokemon Sword and Shield.

TM vs TRS: Both of these items teach your Pokémon to move. TMS and TRS cannot be used on just any Pokemon (there are type restrictions) but it is always clear that you can use them when selecting items. Unlike TR (a technical record), TM can be reused repeatedly. All TM locations are here. TRs are one-time used objects. There is no sure way to find or get a particular one, but there are things you can do in the forested area to find them. Here is a list of TRs.

Friendship: Friendship is a hidden Pokémon state that needs some Pokémon to evolve. Friendship has other benefits. For example, Pokémon with high friendliness towards you are more likely to faint (keeping at least 1 HP to ensure what the final blow will be so that you don't "get sad"). Friendly Pokémon can also give you items while you are camping! But just because friendship is "hidden" does not mean that it is impossible for you to find out. A friendship checker is an NPC that allows you to determine the friendliness level of your Pokémon. Friendships can be enhanced through feeding them some berries, feeding them curries, playing with them and more. For all the ways to increase friendship and everything else you need to know about this state: Check out our Friendship Guide.

Cooking Curry: You can cook curry while camping. Feeding your Pokemon curry can restore their HP, fix the status quo, and make them friendly to you! And completing your CurryDex allows you to award additional content and more toys to play with your Pokémon at Poke Camp. Everything you need to know about curry can be found on our Curry Tips, Curry Ingredients Places list and the Complete Curry Decks page.

Poke Jobs: In the Galer region, it's normal for people and Pokémon to work together, where you can send Pokémon to jobs to earn XP. You can send any Pokemon to a job, but you want to send it to the job with the preferred type. This will often be clearly labelled on the job listings. However, sometimes the job does not reveal what type is required but for those, we have covered in your comprehensive Proc Jobs Guide.

Max Rides: Max Rides come on foot to a dense area in a wooded area. They are a great way to get extra rewards, Pokémon with good stats, and sometimes Pokemon that can do Gigantamax (aside from Dynamaxing). For more information, see our Max Raid Battle Guide.
Advanced Help: Being One the Best Like No One Ever Was

While some of these topics have been discussed above, you can dig up all the details by jumping to the following pages:

  1. Personal value and effort value
  2. Breeding
  3. Shinies
  4. Battle tower