Pokémon Legends: Arceus is unlike any other game in the series. Catching without battling, visible Pokémon that attack you, battles with a variable action order, new status conditions, on-demand evolution: almost all the familiar rules have been reworked. Here are the mechanics you need to understand to play well, with links to our detailed guides.
Exploring and catching
- All Pokémon are visible in the environment. Some ignore you, others flee, and others attack you directly: if you take too many hits, you are rescued and lose items. Dodge by rolling.
- You catch without battling: just throw a Poké Ball at a wild Pokémon. Throwing it at the Pokémon’s back, without it having noticed you, clearly improves the chances of success. An aggressive Pokémon that targets you cannot be caught directly: you have to stun it with an item or battle it.
- Tall grass no longer triggers encounters: it hides you. Move forward crouching to approach discreetly.
- Battling: throw the Poké Ball of one of your Pokémon on or near the wild Pokémon. If it is hit from behind, it is surprised and does not act in the first turn.
- The Arc Phone, the device given to you at the start of the adventure, displays the map and your tasks and lets you teleport to camps. See the Arc Phone and camps.
Alpha Pokémon and Noble Pokémon
Alpha Pokémon, which are bigger, stronger and have red eyes, are always aggressive; once caught, they lose their battle bonuses but keep their size and red eyes. Noble Pokémon, on the other hand, are a new kind of fight, where you dodge their attacks while throwing balms. See Alpha Pokémon and Noble Pokémon.
Reworked battles
Action order
There are no more turns where everyone acts in turn: each action is a turn in itself, and the order is calculated from Speed and other factors. A fast Pokémon can act several times in a row. The game displays the order of the next six actions: keep an eye on it before choosing.
Agile Style and Strong Style
A mastered move can be used in Strong Style (more power or accuracy, but a slower action) or in Agile Style (less power, but a faster action). In both cases, the move uses 2 PP instead of one. Moves that had priority now speed up the action, while those that required a recharge turn slow it down. See Agile Style and Strong Style.
Status conditions
Freeze and Sleep are gone, replaced by two new status conditions: Frostbite, which deals regular damage and lowers Special Attack, and Drowsy, which sometimes prevents acting and increases the damage taken from direct attacks. Status conditions wear off by themselves after a few turns, and a new status replaces the old one. All the effects: status conditions.
Evolution and on-demand moves
- Evolution is no longer automatic: when a Pokémon meets its condition, it becomes “ready to evolve” and you trigger the evolution whenever you like from the menu.
- Evolution items are all used like stones, including those that had to be held during a trade. The Linking Cord replaces trading for Pokémon that used to evolve that way.
- Moves can be changed at any time outside of battle: a Pokémon remembers all the ones it has learned.
All the conditions: Hisui’s evolutions and our article Hisuian forms.
Effort, friendship and weather
EVs and IVs give way to effort levels, from 0 to 10 per stat, raised by dedicated items (the Effort system). Friendship works differently and is used for certain evolutions (the friendship system). Finally, Hisui has variable weather, which influences both the Pokémon you encounter and certain battles (Hisui’s weather).
Ride Pokémon
The Celestica Flute lets you call five ride Pokémon, entrusted to you by the Wardens over the course of the story: Wyrdeer for running and jumping, Ursaluna for digging up treasure, Basculegion for swimming, Sneasler for climbing and Hisuian Braviary for gliding. They give access to new places in each area. See the Celestica Flute and ride Pokémon.
