It’s been about a month since I started playing Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and since I asked (okay, threatened) you all for your tips to help me play the game and create a beginner’s guide for other baby Switch players too.
So, without further ado, here is this week’s Baby’s First Switch, your ultimate beginner’s guide to getting started in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Beginner’s guide to Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Pick up absolutely everything
This tip reminds me of what I told you back in Animal Crossing, but the open-world concept seems to reward those who can find every item scattered around.
Like Animal Crossing and other Pokémon games, you only have limited satchel space which might deter you from wanting to pick everything up that you don’t deem necessary.
That’s the first mistake I made. After that, I tried to be very selective in what I picked up, so I didn’t run out of space. I then realised that you could drop things off in storage if you travelled to a camp.
That meant I missed out on some really useful items because I was being picky. Don’t be me.
As they say in life, it’s better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. You never know when you’ll need a Medicinal Leek or a few spare Poké Balls.
You also get XP for your Pokémon when you collect berries or ore, so it’s always wise to pick up everything you run past.
In saying that, you should only really keep the essentials in your satchel.
Good things to keep on you at all times are Poké Balls (seriously, carry a lot of these) and healing items. The rest you can pop away in storage.
Use type matchups to your advantage
Learning how to use type matchups in battles to your advantage is probably one of the most important tips I can give you on this Pokémon Legends: Arceus beginner’s guide.
I touched on this in my beginner’s guide for Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, which translates into this game, too (with all of them, really).
The only difference is that you don’t battle trainers as much as you would in the other Pokémon games.
In saying that, though, it’s still wise to use the weaknesses of the Pokémon and trainers you will encounter.
Snatch other satchels
A very random quirk I found rather funny was that you could actually pick up (borrow, steal, snatch whichever you prefer) other players’ satchels.
You’ll notice that there will be strange icons on your map which pop up at random times if you’re connected to online play.
These icons are actually markers of when another player ‘perished’ (grim) while Pokémon hunting.
If you follow the icon, you can pick up that player’s satchel, which you’ll be rewarded for doing. You’ll receive the items you dropped back and get Merit Points that you can use to purchase goods in town.
Beginner’s guide from the Kotaku Australia community:
As always, I like to highlight what tips and tricks I get some the Kotaku Australia community, and I’m not going to lie; you have all been lacking in that department lately.
But I do have one hero because Louie came in absolute clutch with the beginner’s tips for Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Right now they are my favourite Kotaku Australia community member. If you want to change that, please give me tips next time I ask.
(Editor’s note: Ky was actually so thrilled IRL with Louie’s suggestion, cheers Louie, you’re a legend. – David)
Anyways, here is Louie’s beginner’s guide to Pokémon Legends: Arceus:
Catching Pokémon:
“You can catch more than one Pokémon at a time so long as you stay in stealth and they aren’t alerted to you. This means you can chain catch ‘Mons as fast as you can throw the balls to level your team quickly.”
“Almost every action you do from catching, gathering and battling, gives you XP. Catching is by far the fastest way to level. Throwing from behind Pokémon will let you land a critical catch which makes it far more likely to succeed. Baiting and throwing from behind will let you chain catch more readily.”
“If a Pokémon sparkles, makes a weird noise and is a weird colour, that’s a shiny and you should prioritise catching it. They’re very rare.”
Gathering items:
“Items and gathering are important because you will need lots and lots of materials to make Pokéballs and Potions.”
“You will unlock upgraded forms of these to craft as you progress the story. Sit on as many materials as you can manage in the meantime. Once you cap your inventory, you can offload those less important mats you don’t need at your storage chest.”
“You will also unlock an NPC in the base who will let you upgrade your inventory slots. Dump as much money as you can into him.”
Finding money:
“Catching a pile of Pokémon gives you the most money. Money lets you buy items, teach moves and upgrade your inventory and you will need a lot of it for the latter.”
“Fill out your ‘Dex objectives and your quests with specific Pokemon requirements and then you can release the Pokémon you don’t need for the Grit that’ll help you buff your stats. More Pokémon caught + Alphas = lots of money.”
Special movesets:
“Alpha Pokémon hit like a truck and come with special movesets. Those special movesets give them a counter to most types of Pokémon and, unless you’re careful, they will smash you to pieces if you take them head on even while over levelled (Fire types have it rough early on due to Rollout).”
“You can feed Alpha Pokémon snacks to make them catchable without having to fight them. Above a certain level, they won’t follow commands until your story progress catches up, but it’s still nice to have them for their movesets even if it does take a longer time to use them reliably. Be aware that Alpha Pokémon lose their stat OPness after you catch them.”
Pokémon battles:
“Get an Alpha Snorlax as fast as humanly possible. There’s one near the very start of the game that’s a pain to catch but that big boy will carry you through rain, hail or shine.”
“The Pokémon with strong Defence stats make the game a lot more bearable when you do have to battle because they can take a hit more readily than the fragile speedster types.”
“Even Pokémon at a decent level below you will still decently hurt Pokémon above them in level, which means you should always err on the side of caution. If multiple Pokémon enter into a battle with you, you could have up to four Pokémon vs your Pokémon and that usually ends badly for the player.”
Avoid water:
“Be careful around water. It’ll nuke your health if you fall into it on accident and mess you up for a while afterwards until you get Surf.”
Final advice:
“When those pocket bubble space-time distortions show up, be sure to grab as many items as you can because they’re the source of your items used for evolving certain Pokémon.”
“They have rare Pokémon and evolved Pokémon as well. They’ll usually roam in gangs so be careful to lose aggro and hide in the grass so you can sneak up on what you need more easily.”
I really, could not have said any of that better myself. Louie may as well take my job at this point.
Should we name this Louie’s First Switch?
If you want to give me some other gaming suggestions or tips, give us a shout on Twitter (@kystewart_) or chuck us an email.
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