Kalos introduced two brand-new battle formats: the Sky Battle, fought only between Pokémon that can fly, and the Inverse Battle, where the whole type chart is flipped upside down. Add the hordes of five wild Pokémon, and you get the most varied generation when it comes to battles.

🦅Sky Battles

On cliff tops and in secluded spots, Sky Trainers in winged suits challenge you to battles in the air. Only these Pokémon can take part:

  • Pokémon of the Flying type;
  • Pokémon with the Levitate ability;
  • a few Pokémon that float in the air without being Flying type or having Levitate.

Some moves do not work in the air, such as Earthquake or Dig. If you lose while you still have other Pokémon on the ground, you are not knocked out of the game, but you do lose money.

You can find them on Routes 8, 9, 11, 16, 17, 18 and 19, in Azure Bay and near Frost Cavern.

🐾Horde Encounters

In tall grass, five wild Pokémon sometimes burst out at the same time. You can only catch one of them once the other four have been defeated. A move that hits every opponent, such as Surf, Earthquake or Flare Blitz, earns a lot of experience in one go. The details are in our Hordes and encounters guide.

🔄The Inverse Battle

In the only house on Route 18, Jeremiah offers you an Inverse Battle once a day. Type effectiveness is reversed: a super effective move becomes not very effective, a not very effective move becomes super effective, and a move with no effect becomes super effective. For example, Grass becomes weak to Water.

  • He uses three Pokémon chosen at random, between levels 55 and 65.
  • Each super effective move earns you a point: the more you score, the rarer the reward can be.
  • If none of your Pokémon is knocked out, the reward is tripled.

⚔️The other formats

  • Double: two against two, against certain Trainers and at the Battle Maison.
  • Triple and Rotation: inherited from Black and White, they return in the restaurants of Lumiose City and at the Battle Maison.
  • Multi: you and a partner against two opponents, such as with your rival against Team Flare.