Pokemon Champions completely changes how training works compared to traditional Pokemon games. Instead of grinding battles for EVs or hunting for specific Nature mints, you can now customize everything about your Pokemon through a streamlined training menu. Here's how the new training system works and what it costs.
How to Train Pokemon in Champions
Training happens through a single menu where you adjust your Pokemon's stats, moves, abilities, and nature all at once. Every change costs Victory Points (VP), which you earn by battling.
Choose your Pokemon's stat points
The new Stat Point system replaces traditional EV training. Instead of defeating specific Pokemon or using vitamins to build EVs, you simply allocate stat points directly through the training menu. You can distribute points across HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed however you want. This gives you complete control over your Pokemon's stat spread without grinding battles or buying consumables.
The system works just like EVs from previous games. You have a limited pool of points to distribute, and you can maximize certain stats while leaving others at base values. The difference is you're doing it through a menu instead of through gameplay.
- Cost: Approximately 5 VP per stat to modify. Maxing out a single stat or creating a full competitive spread will cost several hundred VP total. (TBC)
Select Stat Alignment (nature)
Stat Alignment is Pokemon Champions' version of Natures. It determines which stat gets a boost and which gets a reduction. The training menu displays all available alignments in a chart format, making it easy to see which stats increase and decrease for each option. This is much clearer than memorizing nature charts from previous games.
You can choose any alignment regardless of your Pokemon's original nature. This means you don't need to hunt for specific natures when recruiting Pokemon.
- Cost: Approximately 500 VP to change your Pokemon's stat alignment.
Choose Moves
The move selection screen lets you pick any four moves from your Pokemon's complete moveset. You're not limited by what moves your Pokemon currently knows. If a move exists in that Pokemon's learnset, you can teach it through training.
- Cost: Approximately 250 VP per move change.
Choose Ability
You can select any of your Pokemon's abilities, including hidden abilities, through the training menu. In previous games, getting a Pokemon with its hidden ability required special methods like Max Raids, hidden grottos, or Ability Patches. Now you just pay VP and select it from a menu. This also means you can switch between regular abilities and hidden abilities freely. If your strategy changes, you can adapt your Pokemon's ability to match.
- Cost: Approximately 500 VP to change abilities.
Once you've made all your changes, you pay the total VP cost to apply them. The more modifications you make, the higher the total cost. However, if you recruit a Pokemon that already has the right nature and ability, you only pay for stat points and moves, cutting costs significantly.
Important Training Restrictions
- Trial recruitment Pokemon cannot be trained. When you use the free daily recruitment to test a Pokemon for 7 days, you can't modify it through training. You must permanently recruit it with VP or a Teammate Ticket before training becomes available.
- Training doesn't transfer through HOME. If you bring a Pokemon from another game via HOME, train it in Champions, then send it back to HOME, the training changes won't carry over to other games. However, if that same Pokemon returns to Champions later, its Champions training is saved and will be restored.
- Form changes reset training. If a Pokemon changes form, any training it received is lost, and you'll need to train it again.
