Pokémon Legends: Z-A shakes up a lot of habits: no turn-based battles, no routes, no Gyms, and a single city to explore from top to bottom. Here are our fifteen tips to find your feet quickly and avoid rookie mistakes.

Exploring Lumiose City

  1. Look up. The rooftops form a second network of streets, reached by ladders, drainpipes and fire escapes. They are full of items, Mega Crystals and shortcuts.
  2. Break every Mega Crystal. These purple crystals give Mega Shards, the currency for Mega Stones at Quasartico Inc. You will need hundreds.
  3. Use the benches. Sitting on a bench lets you skip straight to the start of day or night. Handy for starting a Z-A Royale session or respawning wild Pokémon.
  4. Fast travel. From the map, you can instantly travel to fast travel points you’ve already discovered, like Pokémon Centers. No need to cross the city on foot for every mission.
  5. Day and night matter. A full cycle lasts about 48 minutes. Some Pokémon only appear during the day (Meditite, Altaria, Hippopotas, Drampa…), others only at night (Clefairy, Starmie, Scyther, Shuppet…).
The rooftops, a playground in their own right
The streets of Lumiose teem with life… and Pokémon

Capturing Efficiently

  1. Approach crouching and from behind. A Pokémon that hasn’t spotted you is far easier to capture, and a surprise Ball throw is the fastest way to fill the Pokédex.
  2. Beware of Alpha Pokémon. These giant, red-eyed specimens are stronger than the others and attack on sight. Their cry can even rally nearby Pokémon. Captured or defeated, they often drop Exp. Candies and Mastery Seeds.
  3. Follow Mable’s research. It rewards captures, battles and observations, and leads to the Shiny Charm at research level 50.
  4. Replay the zones. Once a Wild Zone has been studied, “surprise” Alpha Pokémon can appear among the ordinary Pokémon. Come back often.

Battling

  1. Strike first. In the Z-A Royale as against wild Pokémon, a surprise attack launched before you’re spotted gives a huge advantage.
  2. Move between attacks. Your Pokémon dodges better if it isn’t planted in the middle of the arena, and you can get hurt too: when the edge of the screen turns red, move away.
  3. Diversify your team. There are no Abilities in Legends Z-A, but types matter just as much: cover as many weaknesses as possible.

Managing Your Money and Items

  1. Do the side missions early. The first ones earn money, healing items, TMs and even rare Pokémon like Chespin, Fennekin and Froakie. The list: 203 side missions.
  2. Collect medals. At the end of each Royale night, your medals are converted into Poké Dollars, with a multiplier based on the number of victories. The Golden Narica plushie increases this gain even further.
  3. Make the most of the cafés. Lumiose City has seventeen cafés. Ordering a drink heals your whole team and raises the friendship of the Pokémon accompanying you: an alternative to the Pokémon Center, with a photo session thrown in.

Narica Plushies

After your victory against Narica, you discover the Narica plushies, dolls in her likeness that grant passive bonuses when equipped. They come in several colors and can be upgraded up to level 3:

Green

More Endurance

Increases your hero’s HP: from 100 to 150, 200, then 250 points.

Golden

More Money

Multiplies the money earned at the end of a Z-A Royale night (×1.15, ×1.3, then ×1.5).

Other Colors

And More…

Other Narica plushies grant other bonuses, for example more Mega Shards from breaking Mega Crystals.

Which Starter Should You Choose?

Our comparison of the three starter Pokémon and their Mega Evolutions.

Read the guide →