12 Things To Know Before Jumping Into Pokémon Champions

Pokémon Champions is the new default stage for competitive Pokémon play, but the battle simulator isn’t just for the sweatiest trainers out there. The Pokémon Company is positioning Champions as an entry point for people who have never played competitively before, and that’s still pretty daunting. If you’ve never played comp before, you probably view it as this overly complicated spin on what is usually a pretty straightforward game of elemental rock-paper-scissors. Champions might not change your mind about that, but it’s one of the easier ways to learn the basics. Here are a few things to know before you take your team online.

Your favorite Pokémon might not be in the game

One of the disheartening things about Champions at launch is that it only features 186 Pokémon. With the exception of Pikachu, this exclusively includes fully evolved forms of some, but not all Pokémon in the Pokedex. More will be added in future updates, but right now a lot of folks are finding the roster a bit lacking. Confusingly enough, some Pokémon who were featured in Champions’ promotion are absent from the game, such as Pawmot, who is literally featured on the game’s main menu. So check out databases like Serebii to see what Pokémon are available out of the gate.

Your starter will determine your first team

In Pokémon Champions’ excruciatingly long tutorial, you’ll have to pick a starter Pokémon, and which one you pick will determine the starting team the game gives you. Once you get through the tutorial you’re free to change up your party, but if you’re looking for specific Pokémon, knowing which ones are attached to different starters is a quick way to circumvent the grind of having to find one normally. You can use this handy-dandy chart as a reference to see the teams that correlate to each starter.

En Pokémon Champions, el Pokémon que se elige en el primer reclutamiento durante el tutorial también determina los otros 5 que se reciben de regalo para formar un equipo completo.

Estas son las 10 opciones disponibles 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/V1GaMivbMn

— WikiDex – La enciclopedia Pokémon (@WikiDexOficial) April 8, 2026

Don’t feel like you have to follow the meta

A big part of what kept me out of competitive play for years was the feeling that you had to pick specific monsters that were deemed the “best” or “most viable” to find any enjoyment in it. However, I’ve recently been using a team that isn’t considered “meta” and been having fun anyway. Having a team of monsters you like is dope when you don’t have some sweaty player in your ear telling you they’re not as good as Incineroar. Feel free to build your team around who you like rather than capitulating to the same team as everyone else.

There are a lot of places to look for build advice

Competitive Pokémon is a decades-long pastime at this point, and there are a ton of resources that can walk you through good movesets and strategies, even if you just want to know what makes a good build for a specific monster. Smogon and Serebii have databases and build guides for hundreds of Pokémon, so if you’re looking to see if you can fit a Pokémon into your team, someone has absolutely written a long breakdown of the niches different Pokémon can fill in battle.

Training Tickets should be your go-to for changing up your team

Training Tickets are one of the most valuable items you can get in Champions. These consumables are unlocked through challenges and progressing through the battle pass, and you can use them instead of the usual VP currency to train your Pokémon. VP is gained through completing online battles, but it’s used for a lot more than just changing your Pokémon’s moves and stat distribution; you can use them to buy cosmetics, held items, and much more in the store. Training Tickets can cover the cost of any training session, regardless of how much or little you change, so if you want to save VP, don’t forget to use them at checkout.

© The Pokémon Company / Kotaku

You’ll accumulate VP quickly, so don’t be afraid to try new things

While saving VP is good, any points you spend will be quickly replenished by taking part in online battles. Yes, it’s a smart idea to save as much as you can with Training Tickets, but you shouldn’t let saving these points make you a hoarder who doesn’t experiment with your team’s builds and makeup. As long as you’re not carelessly spending them without intent, VP is an abundance you can afford to lose if you want to, and you shouldn’t be too cautious about completely changing a Pokémon’s moveset just to try out something new.

Mega Stones might not be the most optimal held item

Mega Stones are held items that make select Pokémon transform into powerful Mega Evolutions. However, you can only use one of these per battle, so it’s worth considering whether or not doing so is in your best strategic interest. I have a Garchomp on my team right now and instead of giving him his Mega Stone so he can Mega Evolve, I’ve given him Leftovers that heal him periodically. This dragon can handle himself in his standard form, but I’ve been very grateful for the occasional HP boost the Leftovers grant every turn and I’ve never regretted Mega Evolving my Starmie instead. So even if you’re using several Pokémon that can Mega Evolve, consider what might be a bigger boon for them in the long run.


© The Pokémon Company / Kotaku

Each Pokémon has their own achievement list

One thing Champions annoyingly hides away in weird menus is that every Pokémon in the game has a separate achievement list. In the Submenu, you’ll find an Achievements section that will give you rewards for playing matches with specific Pokémon in your party, such as profile titles and VP packages. If you’re rocking the same crew for a while, check in here every now and then and see if you’ve unlocked anything new.

There’s a weird bug with the resolution

If you’re playing Champions on your Switch 2, you might have unknowingly encountered a visual glitch that lowers the game’s resolution on the system. Players are reporting that if you start the game with your system docked and plugged up to a monitor, the resolution will be halved. If you undock and redock the system while the game is running, it will be fixed and appear much more clearly on your screen. The difference is definitely noticeable side by side, and I hope for your sake you find out about it before you capture footage and screenshots.

unknowingly wasted 16 hours of pokemon champions footage (left) because ILCA fucked up and force you to undock and dock the Switch to play the game at an acceptable resolution
cool thanks man pic.twitter.com/vRmSsZieV2

— Lewtwo (@Lewchube) April 8, 2026

If you hit a ranked threshold, you can’t lose it

Champions’ competitive battles will have you moving up and down the ranks, gradually progressing the game’s minimal story as you go. However, if you ascend to a higher rank threshold and earn a new title, no amount of losses will make you drop to the previous rank. So don’t stress too hard about your rank depreciating if you have a loss streak.

If you can, use the other Pokémon games to find the monsters you want

Team building in Champions is kind of garbage. You can recruit (either temporarily or permanently) monsters from a rotating roster of Pokémon that changes once a day, but with that, you’re beholden to the whims of whatever gacha roll you land that day. However, if you have Pokémon Home and any of the other Switch Pokémon games, you can capture a monster in the wild and transfer it to Champions through the Home app. Once they’re “visiting” the battle sim, you can use the game’s internal training tools to get them battle-ready fairly quickly, all without having to wait for that monster to randomly show up for you to pick. It’s a few more steps, but it will free you from the uncaring grasp of the Roster Ranch.

Check out the Battle Data menu for some team-building ideas

One of the other useful tools surprisingly buried in Champions is the Battle Data menu. If you’re stuck trying to figure out how to build out a Pokémon for your team, the Battle Data menu includes stats of preferred moves, held items, and double battle partners for every Pokémon in the game. It’s a great internal resource that helps you get an idea for how to raise a Pokémon, and may give you info that helps you see a Pokémon in a whole different light.