Despite a bumpy start, I’ve really enjoyed playing Pokemon Champions, even as someone new to competitive battling. The game, a free-to-play Pokemon battle simulator, shares many of the same problems as recent Pokemon Switch games: simple graphics, slow performance, a limited selection of Pokemon, and not much to do. It also includes the frustrating practice of requiring in-app purchases. While experienced competitive players are disappointed by the limited options, Pokemon Champions is surprisingly good for casual fans who are curious about trying competitive battles. It’s a great way to get started!
I’ve played Pokemon for years and understand the basics – type advantages, stats, and even what to watch out for in opponents. However, my competitive experience is limited; I spent a lot of time training a shiny Vivillon a long time ago. It’s not that I don’t understand ranked battles, it’s just that preparing a team takes a lot of effort. Thankfully, the new “Train” feature in Champions makes team building much easier. I can quickly update my old Pokemon teams to fit the current trends, or even use pre-built teams provided by the game. It’s faster and more convenient than ever before, and I really appreciate it.
EV Training Used to Go at a Shuckle’s Pace
Although Pokemon is mainly for kids, its competitive multiplayer aspects can be surprisingly complex. Competitive battling really appeals more to adult fans, as it requires a lot of strategy, calculation, and good fortune. Four key elements – Effort Values, Individual Values, natures, and abilities – often kept players, both children and adults, from getting involved in competitive play.
Explaining Effort Values (EVs) to new Pokémon players can be tricky. In recent games like Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, EVs act like hidden growth boosts that determine a Pokémon’s stats when it reaches level 100. Pokémon earn EVs by battling other Pokémon or using Vitamins. What stats get boosted, and by how much, depends on the Pokémon you defeat.
Ugh, I remember the days of constantly knocking out Orthworm, over and over, just to boost my Pokémon’s Defense! Thankfully, the games have gotten a lot better about making that process easier. Now we have Vitamins that give a quick 10 EV boost, and items you can equip to multiply the EVs you earn. But even with those, EVs felt manageable. If a Pokémon had a bad Nature, Ability, or those pesky IVs, you were pretty much stuck breeding for hours until you got one that was actually good – seriously, that could take forever.
Champions simplifies the process of customizing your Pokémon’s stats. Instead of painstakingly leveling up, you can immediately redistribute 66 Effort Values (EVs) to focus on the stats that matter most. While it costs in-game currency (Victory Points), you start with plenty, and you can even earn Training Tickets to bypass the cost altogether. This means I can finally build my dream Empoleon with a focus on Special Attack in just a few minutes.
Good Riddance to Individual Values
Individual Values (IVs) are often the most challenging aspect for new players in competitive Pokémon. Unlike Effort Values, which can be improved through training, IVs are naturally occurring stats that vary from Pokémon to Pokémon. This means two Pokémon of the same species and level can have different stats, even if raised identically. Before Hyper Training was introduced, players had to repeatedly breed Pokémon, hoping to get one with the ideal IVs for competitive battling.
Hyper Training made it much faster to get Pokémon with perfect stats, which was a big help for many players. But competitive battling still sometimes required Pokémon with low stats in certain areas, meaning breeding Pokémon didn’t become completely obsolete. Plus, for players who get emotionally attached to their Pokémon, like me, it was hard to just replace a team member simply because they weren’t strong enough for competitive play.
Individual Values (IVs) took a lot of effort and relied heavily on chance. The concept of each Pokémon having unique “genes” was a nice touch for the game’s world, and it did create more diverse stats within the same Pokémon species. However, many players were excited when Champions removed IVs completely (we’ll remember Trick Room teams that used 0 Speed IVs fondly!).
Changing Natures and Abilities on a Dime
One of the things that makes Champions so appealing is how you can customize Pokémon with different traits and skills. When a wild Pokémon appears, it gets randomly assigned a ‘nature,’ similar to how it gets individual values (IVs). This nature then influences which of its core strengths—like Speed or Attack—are boosted, and which are lowered. For instance, a Pokémon with a ‘Jolly’ nature will be faster, but its Special Attack stat will be weaker.
It’s frustrating when you find a rare Pokémon like Mareep, hoping to evolve it into a powerful Ampharos, only to discover it has a nature that hurts its best stat – Special Attack – while boosting Speed, which isn’t very useful for that Pokémon. While Nature Mints, added in Pokémon Sword and Shield, could fix this, they weren’t available until late in the game, meaning players had to wait before they could correct these issues.
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I really like that the new game lets you change a Pokémon’s ability without a lot of difficult grinding. I once played through Pokémon X with a Diggersby that had the wrong ability, and it was frustrating. In the past, I had lots of Pokémon from older games that I wanted to use, but they had undesirable traits. Now, thanks to the ability to transfer Pokémon to Champions, they can be useful again.
Similar to how EVs work, the “Train” feature in Champions allows you to quickly change a Pokémon’s nature or ability using in-game money. This is incredibly helpful and satisfying – it finally lets me use all my favorite Pokémon and compete effectively.
Pokemon Champions is a Good Start for Newbies, and a Disappointment for Veterans
While the recent quality-of-life improvements are nice, Champions still has some issues that even I, as a casual player, find confusing. I’m wondering why important items like the Life Orb aren’t included, and why we can’t transfer most powerful Legendaries and Mythicals yet. Plus, it’s concerning that players who don’t buy the Premium Battle Pass might fall behind. If these things bother me, I imagine competitive players are even more frustrated.
Despite its current limited features, Champions is actually a good entry point for new players. It’s true the game should have launched with more content, but learning a few Pokémon is much easier than trying to master strategies for over 1,000! This makes getting into competitive play less daunting. Ultimately, it’s still a Pokémon game – and a free one – so the refined battle system keeps things enjoyable. While Pokémon Champions feels incomplete, even as a long-time fan, I’ve had some fun with it. I wouldn’t recommend spending money on it until it’s more fully developed, though.
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2026-04-10 21:07