Important Notes - Pokémon Sword and Shield

Important Notes for Pokémon Sword and Shield

Warnings and Pitfalls

Version Exclusives: Pokémon Sword and Shield each have exclusive Pokémon, Gym Leaders, and even a different Legendary (Zacian in Sword, Zamazenta in Shield). You cannot catch these in the other version. Trade with a friend or use Pokémon HOME to complete the Pokédex.

No National Pokédex at Launch: The base game only includes the Galar Pokédex (400 Pokémon). To get Pokémon from older generations, you need the Expansion Pass. Without it, many popular Pokémon (e.g., Charizard, Mewtwo) are unavailable in the main game.

Wild Area Level Scaling: The Wild Area has fixed-level Pokémon in different weather conditions. A level 60 wild Pokémon can appear early if you enter the wrong area. Be careful—wild Pokémon can wipe your underlevelled team.

Dynamax Adventures (Crown Tundra): If you have the Expansion Pass, Dynamax Adventures are challenging but rewarding. You cannot use your own items; you must use rental Pokémon. Losing means you waste a turn (no penalty but you lose the chance to catch the Legendary). Save before attempting.

Online Raid Battles: When joining a random Max Raid Battle, the host may have a hacked or modified Pokémon. This can cause game corruption or bans if used online. Avoid hosting or joining suspicious raids with impossible stats (e.g., shiny with perfect IVs and a rare Ability).

Irreversible Choices

Starter Pokémon: Your choice of Grookey, Scorbunny, or Sobble is permanent. You cannot get the other two in a single playthrough unless you trade. Choose wisely based on your team preferences.

Fossil Pokémon: The fossil combination puzzles are reversible? Actually, you can create multiple fossils, but the specific two you combine (e.g., Drake + Fish) determine the resulting Pokémon. You can remake them infinitely as long as you have fossil items, but the choice of which fossil to revive first is trivial because you can always revive more. However, note that to get both versions of the fossil Pokémon (e.g., Arctozolt vs. Dracovish), you need multiple fossil items from the Digging Duo. The choices are not truly irreversible because you can keep trying, but you might waste Watts.

Nicknaming: You can only nickname a Pokémon once, when you catch it or at the Name Rater in the Pokémon Center (he allows changes only once per Pokémon? Actually in Sword/Shield, you can rename any Pokémon you caught yourself at any time, but not traded ones. So not a big issue, but for traded Pokémon, it's irreversible.)

Gym Badge Order: You must defeat the 8 Gyms in the prescribed order. Skipping is not allowed, but the game is linear throughout. No branching story decisions.

Legendary Capture: You must catch the box Legendary (Zacian or Zamazenta) in the final battle. Fainting it does not reset permanently; you can re-encounter it after defeating the Champion. However, if you faint it and save, you lose that chance until you re-enter the tower. But you can always re-challenge. The real irreversible choice is the version-specific Legendary.

Eternatus: This is a scripted capture; you cannot fail. No irreversible decision.

Missable Content

Pokédex Completion Rewards After Post-Game: Some Pokémon are only found in specific weather conditions in the Wild Area. If you miss a weather event, you may need to wait for real-time weather cycles (changes every day at midnight and every few hours). Use time skipping tricks (exploit) but beware of penalties.

Gift Pokémon: Missable gift Pokémon include:

Toxel

Type: Null

Eternatus

Battle Bond with Partner Pokémon: The Kanto starter (Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle) given in the expansion is one-time only per save. If you release it, you cannot get another.

Dynamax Crystals (Max Raid Battles): Certain rare Pokémon spawn in specific dens (e.g., Larvitar in Dusty Bowl). After you defeat them, the den resets after a while, but if you miss catching one, you can try again later, though some AI trainers are not available later.

Post-Game Battles: After becoming Champion, you can rematch Gym Leaders in the Battle Tower and also find them in the Wild Area for a one-time battle with their full team. If you lose, you can try again. Not truly missable but you might forget to do them.

Pokémon League Tournament: After defeating Leon, you can re-enter the tournament. Not missable.

Difficulty Spikes

Nessa (Water Gym): Her Drednaw can be tough if you have no Grass or Electric moves. Her Cramorant also hits hard with Dive. Recommended to catch a Grass-type like Yamper (no, Yamper is Electric) or get a Rotom from the Wild Area (post-game only). Actually, early game, you can catch a Rookidee (Flying) or Gossifleur (Grass) on Route 2/3. Use Super Effective moves.

Kabu (Fire Gym): His Ninetales with Will-O-Wisp can cripple physical attackers. His Centiskorch has Swords Dance and can sweep. Use Rock, Ground, or Water types. Get a Palpitoad in the Wild Area (required Surf? Actually you can get it after the second badge? But Kabu is the third gym). Alternatively, use a Gyarados if you can catch a Magikarp early.

Champion Leon: His team is highly competitive with a Charizard that can Mega Evolve (Mega Charizard Y). Have a strong Rock-type (e.g., Coalossal) or a Water/Rock type. He also has a Dragapult (Ghost/Dragon) that is fast. Use Dark, Ice, or Dragon moves. Level up to at least 65-70.

Post-Game Battle Tower: The AI uses competitive sets. You need a well-trained team with IVs, EVs, and proper moves. Difficulty jump from story.

Dynamax Adventures (Crown Tundra): The rental Pokémon are random and often low-level. You must rely on strategy and luck. This is the hardest content in the game.

Grinding Traps

Wild Area Level Inflation: Grinding in the Wild Area can lead to overleveling too fast, making the main story trivial. But if you need to catch a specific Pokémon, you might waste hours searching in wrong weather. Use Rotom Bike dash to speed up.

EXP Candy Overuse: Max Raid Battles drop EXP Candies. Using them excessively will overlevel your Pokémon, reducing the challenge and preventing them from obeying you (if traded) before having enough badges. Badge limit: Pokémon up to level 20 obey with 1 badge, 30 with 2, 40 with 3, etc. So if you feed a level 50 Pokémon to a team with only 2 badges, it may disobey.

EV Training Without Knowing: Maxing out Effort Values (EVs) requires items like Power items or vitamins. Grinding wild Pokémon for EXP also gives EVs, which can mess up your intended EV spread. Use EV-reducing berries (e.g., Pomeg Berry) to fix.

BP Grinding: Battle Points are earned slowly in Battle Tower (1 BP per win in single battles). Do not waste BP on items you can get elsewhere (like evolution stones). Save BP for ability capsules or mint items.

Digging Duo Watts Sink: The Digging Duo in the Wild Area (Bridge Field) can give rare items like fossil pieces, but also takes many Watts. It's a gamble. Do not spend all your Watts early; save them for the Max Lotto ID.

Online Etiquette and Anti-Cheat Notes

Hacked Pokémon Detection: The game has a basic hack check, but many hacked Pokémon (like shiny with perfect IVs) pass through if they have legal move sets. Using these online can result in a temporary or permanent ban from Ranked Battles. Never use suspicious Pokémon in official competitions.

Max Raid Hosting: Be polite—don't start a raid without letting others join (the timer is short). If you host, set a time limit. In random raids, use appropriate Pokémon. Don't use underlevelled or weak Pokémon that cause the raid to fail.

Trading Etiquette: When trading version exclusives, ask for the equivalent exclusive. Don't solicit shiny or rare Pokémon without fair offers. Use Surprise Trade for random kindness.

Exploits and Glitches: The game has known exploits like the Pokémon Den Reroll (date skipping) to force rare spawns. While not bannable (since it's a single-player exploit), using it to generate illegal Pokémon (like shiny locked ones) may get you flagged if you trade them. Also, time-skipping can cause game bugs like weather not updating.

Ranked Battle Penalties: Disconnecting intentionally from a match (e.g., to avoid loss) results in a penalty: you lose points and may be suspended for repeated offenses. Always finish your battles.

Save Management Advice

Single Save File: Pokémon Sword and Shield only allow one save file per user profile. You cannot have multiple playthroughs on the same profile. To start a new game, you must either delete your save (hold Up + X + B on the title screen) or create a new Nintendo Switch profile on the same console.

Cloud Saves Not Supported: Nintendo Switch Online cloud backup is not available for Pokémon games to prevent duplication of Pokémon. Your save data is only stored locally. If your Switch is lost or damaged, you lose all progress. Consider using the Pokémon HOME service to back up your Pokémon (though not the save itself).

Manual Backup: You can manually copy save data to another Switch using the System Settings > Data Management > Transfer Your Save Data feature. This is useful for migrating to a new console.

Save Often: The autosave feature (enabled by default) saves after major events like catching a Pokémon or finishing a battle. But it may overwrite a mistake quickly. If you anticipate a risky action (like attempting a legendary catch), consider disabling autosave temporarily and making a manual save before. To disable autosave: Go to Options > Autosave > Off. Then save manually via the menu.

Event Pokémon: If you receive a Mystery Gift, the Pokémon is saved. If you lose it (release or trade), you cannot get another event Pokémon on that save unless you restart. So be careful.

Things Players Commonly Regret Not Knowing Earlier

You can skip the tutorial cutscenes by pressing the X button (or +?) Actually, you can skip some dialogue by pressing B, but not all. For story cutscenes, you can hold down the A button to speed up text.

The Wild Area is accessible very early (right after the first Gym). Most players don't realize they can explore it immediately, gaining access to higher-level Pokémon and items. But be careful not to face high-level wild Pokémon.

Rotom Bike can be upgraded to travel on water. You must obtain the Water Bike upgrade from the Motostoke gym challenge? Actually, you need to defeat the Fire-type Gym in Motostoke to get the Rotom Bike upgrade that allows water travel. Without it, you cannot access certain areas.

The digging duo (one near the bridge) can be used to farm fossil items and other rare items. Many players ignore them. Also, the guy near the daycare can check your Pokémon's IVs (Judge function) after you beat the Champion. That's essential for competitive breeding.

Nature Mints are available after post-game in the Battle Tower. You can change a Pokémon's nature for 50 BP. Many players release Pokémon with bad natures, not knowing this.

Ability Capsules can change between a Pokémon's two standard abilities, but not Hidden Abilities. You need Ability Patches (from Crown Tundra) for Hidden Abilities.

Pokémon Camp and Curry can heal your entire party, but also provides EXP and friendship boosts. Use it frequently to keep your team healthy without returning to a Pokémon Center.

The PC box has a `Sort by ...` option that can automatically arrange Pokémon by criteria. Don't manually sort early; use the features.

You can press the `ZL` button to lock onto a wild Pokémon in the Wild Area to avoid accidentally aggroing a stronger one.

The Mystery Gift function requires an internet connection. You can receive gifts like the special Gigantamax Meowth (if you bought the game early) or other distributions. Check the game's news often.

TMs are reusable in Sword/Shield (unlike older games). Also, TRs (Technical Records) are single-use. So use TMs freely, but be careful with TRs.

The DLC (Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra) is post-game content, but you can access it early (after reaching the Wild Area) to catch some new Pokémon. However, the Isle of Armor's first trial has level-scaled battles (around level 60), so it's not advisable to go there underleveled.

Conclusion

Pokémon Sword and Shield are generous games but full of hidden traps. Be mindful of version exclusives, save file limitations, and the dangers of overusing EXP Candies. Plan your team early, respect online rules, and always keep a backup of your favorite Pokémon via Pokémon HOME. With these notes, you can avoid common regrets and enjoy Galar to its fullest.