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| Titles | Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield ポケットモンスター ソード · シールド |
| Platform | Nintendo Switch – Game Card and Nintendo eShop download; also plays on Switch 2 |
| Developer | Game Freak |
| Publisher | The Pokémon Company (Japan) / Nintendo (elsewhere) |
| Director | Shigeru Ohmori |
| Producers | Junichi Masuda, Hitoshi Yamagami, Akira Kinashi, Takanori Sowa, Mikiko Ohashi, Shin Uwai |
| Composers | Go Ichinose and Minako Adachi, with one track by Toby Fox |
| Art | James Turner, Suguru Nakatsui |
| Players | 1; up to 4 together in local wireless or online play (online needs Nintendo Switch Online) |
| Generation | Generation VIII – the Galar region, modelled on Great Britain |
| Pokémon | 81 new species at launch (#810 Grookey to #890 Eternatus) and 8 more with the Expansion Pass (#891–898); 400 in the Galar Pokédex and 584 across all three Pokédexes; 19 Galarian forms; 33 Gigantamax forms |
| Expansion Pass | The Isle of Armor (17 June 2020) and The Crown Tundra (22 October 2020; 23 October in Europe and Japan) |
| Languages | Japanese, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Simplified and Traditional Chinese |
| Predecessor | Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! & Let’s Go, Eevee! |
| Successor | Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl (Nintendo Switch, 2021); the next new generation was Pokémon Scarlet & Violet (2022) |
| Released | 15 November 2019 worldwide – Japan, North America, Europe, Australia and South Korea on the same day |
| Rating | CERO A · ESRB E (Everyone) · PEGI 7 · PG (Australia) |
| Bundles | The Double Pack with both games (15 November 2019); the Nintendo Switch Lite Zacian & Zamazenta Edition (8 November 2019); each game boxed with its Expansion Pass (6 November 2020) |
| Sales | 27.26 million combined (30 June 2026) – more than 6 million in the opening weekend |
Overview
Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield are the eighth generation of core Pokémon RPGs, released worldwide on 15 November 2019 for the Nintendo Switch. Developed by Game Freak and directed by Shigeru Ohmori, they were the first brand-new generation made for a home console, and they take you to Galar, a region modelled on Great Britain, with steam-powered cities, rolling countryside and football-style stadiums.
Your goal is the Gym Challenge, a televised sporting event in which endorsed Trainers battle the Gym Leaders in front of packed stands before a knockout tournament, the Champion Cup, decides who faces the unbeaten Champion Leon. Your neighbour Hop, the proud Bede and Marnie, with her rowdy fan club Team Yell, are rivals along the way, while Chairman Rose’s plans for Galar’s energy future bring back an ancient disaster, the Darkest Day.
Galar’s big idea is Dynamax: in stadiums and Max Raid dens a Pokémon can swell to giant size for three turns, and some take on new Gigantamax forms. The Wild Area at the heart of the region is the series’ first open zone with a free camera, where the weather decides which Pokémon appear and up to four players team up in Max Raid Battles. Galarian forms of older Pokémon, Pokémon Camp and its curry, League Cards and the Rotom Bike round out the changes.
Each version’s cover shows its Legendary wolf: Zacian on Sword and Zamazenta on Shield. They were the first core series games to leave out part of the national roster, a decision fans dubbed “Dexit”, and the first to grow through paid downloadable content, with the Expansion Pass adding The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra in 2020. More than six million copies sold in the opening weekend, and 27.26 million by June 2026 make them among the best-selling games in the series.
Get ready for the next Pokémon adventure in the Pokémon™ Sword and Pokémon™ Shield games. A new generation of Pokémon is coming to the Nintendo Switch™ system. Begin your adventure as a Pokémon Trainer by choosing one of three new partner Pokémon: Grookey, Scorbunny, or Sobble.
— Official description
Quick Answers
The questions people ask most about Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, answered first and explained further down the page.
What is the difference between Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, and which should I buy?
The story and region are identical. Each version has around 30 exclusive species (Sword gets Deino and Galarian Farfetch’d, Shield gets Larvitar and Galarian Ponyta), a different cover Legendary (Zacian or Zamazenta), and two different Gyms: Bea or Allister, and Gordie or Melony. Choose the exclusives you prefer; trading fills the gaps. More →
Do I need the Expansion Pass, and what is in it?
No: the base game has a full story and post-game. The Expansion Pass (£26.99) adds two new areas: The Isle of Armor (June 2020), with the Master Dojo, Kubfu and Urshifu, and The Crown Tundra (October 2020), with Calyrex, the Galarian birds and Dynamax Adventures. Together they bring back over 200 Pokémon. More →
How many Pokémon can you catch, and why isn’t every Pokémon in the game?
The base game’s Galar Pokédex holds 400 species. With the Expansion Pass, the three Pokédexes cover 584, and 664 species in total can be kept in the games via Pokémon HOME. Junichi Masuda said the ever-growing roster, plus the work new features such as Dynamax needed, made including every Pokémon unworkable. More →
How do I catch Zacian, Zamazenta and Eternatus?
Eternatus is caught at the climax of the main story on the Tower summit above Hammerlocke, at Level 60, and it cannot break free of your Poké Ball. In the post-game, Sordward and Shielbert drive your version’s Legendary (Zacian in Sword, Zamazenta in Shield) into a rampage; you battle and catch it at the Tower summit at Level 70. More →
How do Dynamax and Gigantamax work?
In stadiums, Max Raid Battles and certain other battles, a Trainer with a Dynamax Band can make one Pokémon giant for three turns, once per battle. It gains extra HP and its moves become powerful Max Moves. Pokémon with the Gigantamax Factor take on a new look instead and swap one Max Move for a signature G-Max Move. More →
How do I get Gigantamax Pikachu, Eevee and Meowth?
Keep a Let’s Go, Pikachu! or Let’s Go, Eevee! save on your Switch and talk to the right person at the Meetup Spot station in the Wild Area to receive Gigantamax Pikachu or Eevee; neither can evolve. Gigantamax Meowth was a time-limited Mystery Gift. Since The Isle of Armor, Max Soup can add the Gigantamax Factor too. More →
How do the Wild Area and Max Raid Battles work?
The Wild Area is an open zone in the middle of Galar with a free camera and weather that changes daily, altering which Pokémon appear; strong ones can only be caught once you hold enough Badges. Glowing dens hold Max Raid Battles, where four Trainers, online or with computer partners, take on a Dynamax Pokémon and can then catch it. More →
How do I get Kubfu and choose Urshifu’s style?
Kubfu (Level 10) is a gift from Mustard at the Master Dojo on the Isle of Armor after his third trial. Take it to the Towers of Two Fists: clearing the Tower of Darkness evolves it into Single Strike Urshifu (Fighting/Dark), the Tower of Waters into Rapid Strike Urshifu (Fighting/Water). You get one Kubfu per save. More →
Do the online features still work in 2026?
Mostly. With Nintendo Switch Online you can still trade, battle friends and join Max Raid Battles, and Pokémon HOME still connects. But nothing new has been added since 1 November 2022: Wild Area News stopped updating, and there have been no new ranked seasons or online competitions since. More →
Can I play Sword and Shield on Nintendo Switch 2, and what came next?
Yes. Both games run on Nintendo Switch 2 through backward compatibility. The series continued with Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (2021), Legends: Arceus (2022), Scarlet and Violet (2022) and Legends: Z-A (2025). More →
Plot / Story
In the farming village of Postwick, the player and their neighbour Hop wait for Hop’s older brother Leon, Galar’s unbeaten Champion, to come home. Leon offers a choice of Grookey, Scorbunny or Sobble, and soon afterwards the two friends stray into the fog of the Slumbering Weald, where a ghostly wolf-like Pokémon drives them off. In Wedgehurst they meet Sonia and her grandmother, Professor Magnolia, Galar’s leading Dynamax researcher, and with her backing Leon endorses both of them for the Gym Challenge.
Crossing the Wild Area to Motostoke, they join the opening ceremony hosted by Chairman Rose, head of the Galar League and the Macro Cosmos company. Two more rivals appear: Bede, a proud Trainer sponsored by Rose, and Marnie of Spikemuth, whose rowdy fan club, Team Yell, keeps getting in other challengers’ way. The Gyms must be taken in order: Milo in Turffield, Nessa in Hulbury, Kabu back in Motostoke, Bea (Sword) or Allister (Shield) in Stow-on-Side, Opal in Ballonlea, Gordie (Sword) or Melony (Shield) in Circhester, Piers in Spikemuth and Raihan in Hammerlocke. Along the way Sonia pieces together the legend of the Darkest Day, an ancient disaster ended by two heroes bearing a sword and a shield. Bede, gathering Wishing Stars for Rose, damages the historic mural at Stow-on-Side and is thrown out of the Challenge, but Opal takes him on as her heir. In Spikemuth, Piers turns out to be Marnie’s brother and the boss of Team Yell, whose members are really his Gym Trainers.
At Wyndon’s Champion Cup the player beats Marnie and then Hop in the semi-finals. That night Oleana battles them at the top of Rose Tower, where they overhear Rose urging Leon to act at once on Galar’s future energy needs. Next day Bede bursts in as Opal’s successor before the player defeats Nessa, Bea or Allister, and Raihan. Just as the title match is due to start, Rose announces that he has begun the Darkest Day: he has woken Eternatus beneath Hammerlocke to power Galar for a thousand years. The player and Hop fetch the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield from the Slumbering Weald, beat Rose in the Energy Plant and climb to the Tower summit, where Leon has failed to contain the beast. When Eternatus swells into its Eternamax form, Zacian and Zamazenta arrive to fight alongside them, and the player catches it. Rose gives himself up.
The Champion and the post-game
A few days later the player defeats Leon and becomes Champion. Leon takes over as League Chairman and reopens Rose Tower as the Battle Tower, while Hop decides to become a Pokémon Professor and joins Sonia as her assistant. In the post-game, the brothers Sordward and Shielbert, descendants of Galar’s ancient kings, set Dynamaxed Pokémon rampaging through the stadiums, which the player calms with the Gym Leaders’ help. Finally the brothers drive the cover Legendary berserk at the Energy Plant; the player catches it, and Hop wins the other’s trust in the Slumbering Weald.
Seventeen things Sword & Shield does differently
- The first core-series games to get an Expansion Pass of paid story DLC instead of a third version.
- Gyms return to a new region after Sun and Moon’s island trials, rebuilt as football-style stadiums with crowds, kits and a televised Gym Challenge that needs a letter of endorsement to enter.
- The Champion Cup, a knockout tournament in Wyndon, takes the place of the Elite Four.
- Version-exclusive Gym Leaders and Badges for the first time: Bea or Allister in Stow-on-Side, and Gordie or Melony in Circhester.
- The first Dark-type Gym in the series, led by Piers in Spikemuth.
- Dynamax and Gigantamax debut, limited to stadiums, Power Spots and Max Raid Battles.
- The Wild Area is the series’ first open zone with a freely movable camera and daily weather that changes the Pokémon on offer.
- Max Raid Battles bring four-player co-op battles, locally or online.
- Wild Pokémon roam the overworld as visible symbols, as in Let’s Go, as well as hiding in tall grass.
- The Rotom Phone replaces the Rotom Pokédex, and Rotomi machines take over from the PCs in Pokémon Centers.
- Y-Comm puts trading, battling and Surprise Trade on a single button, with no need to visit a Pokémon Center.
- Pokémon Camp lets players play with their team and cook curry anywhere outside towns.
- Galarian forms of older Pokémon, some with brand-new evolutions such as Sirfetch’d and Obstagoon.
- League Cards, Poké Jobs and character customisation are all new.
- The first core-series games to open with an introduction from a character who later turns out to be the villain.
- The first core-series games in which not every earlier Pokémon can be transferred in, because only species in the regional Pokédexes are supported.
- Mints that change a Pokémon’s stat-raising nature effect, and Exp. Candy, are introduced.
Hop, Bede and Marnie
Hop always takes the first partner that is weak to yours; Bede and Marnie are your rivals for the Gym Challenge itself. Every battle with the three of them:
- Hop 1 – Postwick: Wooloo Lv. 3 and the starter weak to yours (Sobble if you chose Grookey, Grookey if you chose Scorbunny, Scorbunny if you chose Sobble) Lv. 5. Optional result.
- Hop 2 – Route 2: Wooloo Lv. 6, Rookidee Lv. 5, his starter Lv. 8. Optional result.
- Hop 3 – Motostoke: Wooloo Lv. 11, Rookidee Lv. 12, his starter Lv. 14.
- Hop 4 – Route 5: Wooloo Lv. 18, Corvisquire Lv. 19, Drizzile/Thwackey/Raboot Lv. 21.
- Hop 5 – Stow-on-Side: Cramorant Lv. 29, Toxel Lv. 29, Silicobra Lv. 30, Drizzile/Thwackey/Raboot Lv. 33.
- Hop 6 – Route 7: Trevenant Lv. 34, Heatmor Lv. 34, Snorlax Lv. 35, Boltund Lv. 35, Inteleon/Rillaboom/Cinderace Lv. 37.
- Hop 7 – Circhester: Dubwool Lv. 40, Corviknight Lv. 40, Pincurchin Lv. 39, Snorlax Lv. 39, Inteleon/Rillaboom/Cinderace Lv. 41.
- Hop 8 – Champion Cup semi-final, Wyndon Stadium: Dubwool Lv. 48, Corviknight Lv. 48, Pincurchin Lv. 47, Snorlax Lv. 47, Inteleon/Rillaboom/Cinderace Lv. 49 (Dynamaxes).
- Hop 9 – Slumbering Weald (post-game): Dubwool Lv. 59, Corviknight Lv. 59, Pincurchin Lv. 58, Snorlax Lv. 58, Cramorant Lv. 58, Inteleon/Rillaboom/Cinderace Lv. 60.
- Hop 10 – Slumbering Weald (post-game finale): Dubwool Lv. 69, Snorlax Lv. 68, Pincurchin Lv. 68, Corviknight Lv. 69, Inteleon/Rillaboom/Cinderace Lv. 70, Zamazenta (Sword) or Zacian (Shield) Lv. 70.
- Bede 1 – Galar Mine: Solosis Lv. 13, Gothita Lv. 15, Hatenna Lv. 16.
- Bede 2 – Galar Mine No. 2: Solosis Lv. 21, Gothita Lv. 22, Galarian Ponyta Lv. 22, Hatenna Lv. 23.
- Bede 3 – Stow-on-Side: Duosion Lv. 32, Gothorita Lv. 32, Galarian Ponyta Lv. 33, Hattrem Lv. 35.
- Bede 4 – Champion Cup Finals opener, Wyndon Stadium: Mawile Lv. 51, Gardevoir Lv. 51, Galarian Rapidash Lv. 52, Hatterene Lv. 53 (Gigantamax).
- Marnie 1 – Budew Drop Inn, Motostoke: Croagunk Lv. 24, Scraggy Lv. 24, Morpeko Lv. 26.
- Marnie 2 – Route 9: Liepard Lv. 42, Toxicroak Lv. 43, Scrafty Lv. 43, Morpeko Lv. 44.
- Marnie 3 – Champion Cup semi-final, Wyndon Stadium: Liepard Lv. 47, Toxicroak Lv. 47, Scrafty Lv. 47, Morpeko Lv. 48, Grimmsnarl Lv. 49 (Gigantamax).
Hop, the friendly rival
Hop is the player’s cheerful, endlessly enthusiastic neighbour and Leon’s younger brother, who dreams of becoming Champion so he can follow in his brother’s footsteps. His partner is a Wooloo that grows into a Dubwool, and he always takes the first partner that is weak to the player’s choice. Repeated defeats, especially to Bede and the player, shake his confidence and leave him worried that he is letting Leon down. After helping to stop Eternatus, he finds a new goal: becoming a Pokémon Professor, starting as Sonia’s assistant in Wedgehurst, with Zacian or Zamazenta at his side. In battle he always leads with his Wooloo and finishes with his starter, adding Corviknight, Snorlax and Pincurchin by the time of the Champion Cup. In the post-game he wins the trust of the Legendary your version doesn’t feature – Zamazenta in Sword, Zacian in Shield – and brings it to your final battle in the Slumbering Weald.
Zacian, Zamazenta and the Darkest Day
Galar’s oldest story tells of the Darkest Day, some 3,000 years ago, when a black storm drove Pokémon into giant forms until two young heroes, armed with a sword and a shield, set things right. Those weapons were Zacian, the Fairy-type Hero of Many Battles, and Zamazenta, its Fighting-type counterpart; holding the Rusted Sword or Rusted Shield transforms them into their Crowned forms. Their foe was Eternatus, a Poison/Dragon Pokémon that fell to Earth inside a meteorite 20,000 years ago and whose leaking energy causes the Dynamax phenomenon. Overloaded by Rose, it becomes Eternamax Eternatus, a form with a base stat total of 1,125, the highest of any Pokémon. Neither hero nor Eternatus can Dynamax.
In the anime and movies
A new anime series began in Japan two days after Sword & Shield launched, and Galar became one of its most-visited regions, from the Wild Area to the Darkest Day and a final against Leon himself.
In the anime
Anime seasons and films which tie in with Sword & Shield (Galar, Leon, the Darkest Day and Zarude):
Season 23: Journeys2019–2020Ash and new co-lead Goh travel every region as research fellows, with Galar a regular stop: Leon is crowned Monarch of the World Coronation Series at Wyndon Stadium, and a four-part arc retells the Darkest Day with Rose, Oleana, Eternatus, Zacian and Zamazenta.
Season 24: Master Journeys2020–2021Ash keeps climbing the World Coronation Series rankings towards Leon, and Galar and its Gym Leaders stay at the heart of the tournament.
Season 25: Ultimate Journeys2021–2022The World Coronation Series ends with the Masters Eight Tournament at Wyndon Stadium, where Ash beats Leon in a four-episode final to become Monarch, just as you dethrone Leon in the games.
In the movies
Galar in the anime
The episodes where the games’ story and characters come through most clearly:
- JN005Mind-Boggling Dynamax! – Ash and Goh visit Galar’s Wild Area to study Dynamax, meet a Gigantamax Snorlax blocking a railway, and Goh catches Scorbunny.
- JN012Flash of the Titans! – At Wyndon Stadium, Leon’s Gigantamax Charizard beats Lance’s Dynamaxed Gyarados to make him Monarch, and Eternatus is glimpsed as Ash and Goh fly in.
- JN042Sword and Shield, Slumbering Weald! – Back in Galar to look into Dynamax outbreaks, Ash meets Zacian and Goh meets Zamazenta in the Slumbering Weald, while Leon helps stop a rampaging Gigantamax Centiskorch.
- JN043Sword and Shield: The Darkest Day! – Part two of the four-episode Galar arc, as the Dynamax outbreaks spread and the Darkest Day draws near.
- JN044Sword and Shield: “From Here to Eternatus!” – Goh and Sonia uncover the legend of the two heroes as Rose’s plan unleashes Eternatus, with Ash battling Rose and Goh facing Oleana.
- JN045Sword and Shield… The Legends Awaken! – Eternatus reaches its Eternamax form, Zacian and Zamazenta take up the Rusted Sword and Shield, and Goh catches Eternatus with a Poké Ball he and Ash throw together.
- JN129A Flood of Torrential Gains! – The Masters Eight final between Ash and Leon gets under way at Wyndon Stadium.
- JN132Partners in Time! – Pikachu wins the deciding clash with Leon’s Charizard, making Ash the new Monarch.
In the Trading Card Game
The Trading Card Game’s Sword & Shield Series ran from late 2019 to early 2023, beginning with Galar starter promos in the month the games came out and ending with the special set Crown Zenith in January 2023. It carried the games’ giant battles straight on to the table: Pokémon V are Basic Pokémon worth two Prize cards when Knocked Out, while Pokémon VMAX evolve from them, are worth three and stand for Dynamax, Gigantamax and Eternamax Pokémon. Brilliant Stars added Pokémon VSTAR in 2022.
Galar’s people became Supporter cards too: Hop, Marnie, Bede, Sonia, Leon, Rose and Oleana, Professor Magnolia (on Professor’s Research), every one of the ten Gym Leaders, and from the Expansion Pass Mustard, Klara, Avery, Peony and Peonia.
The Sword & Shield sets
Ten expansions from the Sword & Shield Series with the strongest links to Galar and the Expansion Pass, each with its own page on the site:
Sword & ShieldReleased 7 February 2020The first main set of the series, built from the Japanese Sword and Shield sets released three weeks after the games. It brought in Pokémon V and VMAX, the Galar starters and Zacian V and Zamazenta V, and turned Marnie, Hop, Bede, Professor Magnolia (as Professor’s Research) and a Team Yell Grunt into Supporter cards.
Rebel ClashReleased 1 May 2020Built on the Japanese set Rebellion Crash, it adds Milo, Oleana and Sonia as Supporters, VMAX cards for all three Galar starters, Toxtricity, Dragapult and Copperajah, and Galar newcomers such as Sirfetch’d, Perrserker and Runerigus.
Darkness AblazeReleased 14 August 2020Taken mainly from Japan’s Infinity Zone, it centres on the Darkest Day: Eternatus V and an Eternatus VMAX showing its Eternamax form sit beside a Rose Supporter that only powers up Pokémon VMAX. Kabu and Piers join as Supporters, alongside Charizard VMAX and Centiskorch VMAX.
Champion’s PathReleased 25 September 2020An 80-card special set themed on the Gym Challenge, with Supporters for Hop, Marnie, Bede, Sonia, Milo, Kabu and Piers and pin collections named after the Galar Gyms. Its boosters came only in special products, and a Rainbow Rare Charizard VMAX heads its secret cards.
Vivid VoltageReleased 13 November 2020Leon finally arrives as a Supporter, alongside Gym Leaders Nessa, Bea, Allister and Opal. Pikachu gets a VMAX card, Zarude V links to the film released the same year, and a new Amazing Rare card type spotlights Legendary and Mythical Pokémon.
Shining FatesReleased 19 February 2021A special set based on Japan’s Shiny Star V, whose Shiny Vault of more than 120 cards gives Galar Pokémon, the three starters included, their Shiny colours. Highlights include Shiny Charizard VMAX and Eternatus VMAX.
Battle StylesReleased 19 March 2021Based on The Isle of Armor, it splits cards into Single Strike and Rapid Strike styles after Urshifu’s two forms, with both Urshifu as V and VMAX. Mustard appears in a Supporter for each style, and the post-game troublemakers Sordward and Shielbert share a card of their own.
Chilling ReignReleased 18 June 2021The Crown Tundra set: Ice Rider and Shadow Rider Calyrex as V and VMAX, Galarian Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres V, and Supporters for Peony, Peonia, Honey, the Isle of Armor rivals Klara and Avery, and Gym Leader Melony.
Evolving SkiesReleased 27 August 2021It completes the Gym Leader line-up with Supporters for Raihan and Gordie, gives Raihan’s partner Duraludon a VMAX card in its Gigantamax form, and its Build & Battle Box carried promos of the Galarian legendary birds.
Crown ZenithReleased 20 January 2023The last set of the series, with a 70-card Galarian Gallery subset. Zacian and Zamazenta return as V and VSTAR, and a final parade of Galar Supporters – Bea, Bede, Hop, Leon, Nessa and Raihan, several signed across their artwork – says farewell to the region before the Scarlet & Violet era.Galar on the cards
Nine cards that tie straight back to the games:
LeonCrown Zenith · 134/159The undefeated Champion you face in the Championship Match, on a signed card from the series’ final set. It adds 30 damage to your attacks for the turn.
MarnieSword & Shield · 169/202The Spikemuth rival cheered on by Team Yell, and one of the most-played Supporters of the era.
HopSword & Shield · 165/202Leon’s younger brother and your friendly rival from Postwick, whose card simply draws three cards.
BedeSword & Shield · 157/202Chairman Rose’s hand-picked challenger, later Opal’s heir at the Ballonlea Gym.
RaihanEvolving Skies · 152/203Hammerlocke’s Dragon-type Leader, Leon’s self-declared rival and the last Gym before the Champion Cup. His card helps you hit back after a Knock Out.
Zacian VSword & Shield · 138/202Crowned Sword Zacian, with an Intrepid Sword Ability named after Zacian’s Ability in the games.
Zamazenta VSword & Shield · 139/202Crowned Shield Zamazenta, whose Dauntless Shield Ability, named after its in-game Ability, blocks all damage from Pokémon VMAX.
Single Strike Urshifu VMAXBattle Styles · 086/163Gigantamax Single Strike Style Urshifu from The Isle of Armor, attacking with G-Max One Blow, its G-Max Move in the games.
Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAXChilling Reign · 075/198Calyrex fused with Spectrier, the form you create in The Crown Tundra by planting the Shaderoot Carrot.Promos tied to the games
The SWSH Black Star Promo line began in November 2019, the month the games launched. Highlights with a Galar link:
- SWSH001 Grookey, SWSH002 Scorbunny and SWSH003 Sobble – the first three promos, in the Galar Collections and the Galar First Partner Pack.
- SWSH018 Zacian V and SWSH019 Zamazenta V – Legends of Galar Tins; SWSH033 Zacian and SWSH034 Zamazenta – True Steel Premium Collections.
- SWSH044 Eternatus V and SWSH045 Eternatus VMAX – Eternatus VMAX Premium Collection.
- Champion’s Path Gym promos: SWSH046 Eldegoss (Turffield), SWSH047 Drednaw (Hulbury), SWSH048 Centiskorch (Motostoke), SWSH058 Alcremie (Ballonlea), SWSH059 Galarian Obstagoon (Spikemuth) and SWSH060 Duraludon (Hammerlocke) in the Pin Collections, plus SWSH051 Lapras and SWSH054 Coalossal (Circhester) and SWSH052 Gengar and SWSH053 Machamp (Stow-on-Side) in the Special Pin Collections.
- SWSH056 Morpeko V and SWSH057 Grimmsnarl V – the Marnie Premium Collection.
- SWSH106 Single Strike Urshifu V and SWSH107 Rapid Strike Urshifu V – Urshifu V Boxes; SWSH130 Ice Rider Calyrex V and SWSH131 Shadow Rider Calyrex V – Calyrex V Boxes.
- SWSH123 Galarian Articuno, SWSH124 Galarian Zapdos and SWSH125 Galarian Moltres – Evolving Skies Build & Battle Box.
- SWSH280 Regieleki V and SWSH281 Regidrago V – Crown Zenith Collections; SWSH292 Zacian V and SWSH293 Zamazenta V in Shiny colours – Crown Zenith Premium Figure Collections.
Galar products
Much of the period’s product range was themed on the games:
- Sword & Shield Theme Decks (Rillaboom, Cinderace and Inteleon), the Zacian and Zamazenta Theme Decks and the Sword & Shield Build & Battle Box.
- Galar Collections and the Galar First Partner Pack, carrying the Grookey, Scorbunny and Sobble promos.
- Galar tins: Legends of Galar (Zacian V or Zamazenta V), Galar Partners (Rillaboom V, Cinderace V and Inteleon V) and Galar Challengers (Toxtricity V, Polteageist V and Copperajah V).
- The Champion’s Path range, the only source of its boosters: an Elite Trainer Box, Pin Collections for six of the Galar Gyms, Special Pin Collections for Circhester and Stow-on-Side, and the Marnie Premium Collection.
- Battle Styles tie-ins: Single Strike and Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX League Battle Decks and Urshifu V Boxes.
- Chilling Reign tie-ins: Elite Trainer Boxes in Ice Rider and Shadow Rider Calyrex versions, Calyrex VMAX League Battle Decks, Calyrex V Boxes and the Klara Premium Tournament Collection.
- The Ultra-Premium Collection (Zacian & Zamazenta) and the Crown Zenith Premium Figure Collections for Shiny Zacian and Shiny Zamazenta.
What’s new in Sword & Shield
Sword & Shield keeps the Gyms, the rivals and the eight Badges, but almost everything around them is new. The headline changes first, then the fine print:
Dynamax and Gigantamax
Galar’s battles revolve around Dynamax. Once per battle, a Trainer wearing a Dynamax Band can make one Pokémon enormous for three turns: it gains a big HP boost and its attacks become Max Moves, which also change the weather, set terrain or raise and lower stats. It only works where Galar particles gather – in the stadiums, at the Power Spots of the Wild Area and in a few story battles – so everyday Trainer battles on the routes are played the traditional way. Some Pokémon carry the Gigantamax Factor and change shape completely when they grow, swapping one Max Move for an exclusive G-Max Move: Charizard becomes a fire-winged giant, Corviknight a storm of feathers and Alcremie a towering cake.
The Wild Area and Max Raid Battles
Between Motostoke and Hammerlocke lies the Wild Area, a sprawl of fields, lakes and hills with a camera you can move freely – a first for the series. Each zone has its own weather that changes with the real-world day, and the weather decides which Pokémon appear, so the same lake might offer Water-types one day and Electric-types the next. The strongest wild Pokémon can only be caught once you have enough Badges.
Glowing dens all over the Wild Area hold Max Raid Battles: four Trainers, playing together locally, online or with computer partners, take on a Dynamax or Gigantamax Pokémon and get the chance to catch it afterwards. Raids are where many of the rarer species and most Gigantamax Pokémon are found.
The Gym Challenge
Galar treats Pokémon battling like football. Gym Leaders are celebrities with sponsors and uniform numbers, challengers need a letter of endorsement to enter, and every Gym battle takes place in a stadium in front of a cheering crowd, with the Leader’s ace Dynamaxing for the finale. Each Gym sets a mission first – herding Wooloo, solving a water puzzle, answering a quiz – and the eight must be beaten in order to reach the Champion Cup in Wyndon.
Two Gyms differ between the versions for the first time: Stow-on-Side is led by Bea in Sword and Allister in Shield, and Circhester by Gordie in Sword and Melony in Shield.
Life on the road
The journey itself is friendlier than ever. You can pitch a tent anywhere outside a town and play with your team in Pokémon Camp, cooking curry that restores health and raises friendship; the Rotom Bike speeds you across the Wild Area and later over water; your Rotom Phone handles the map, the Pokédex and Y-Comm, which puts trading and link battles on a single button; and League Cards, Poké Jobs and new clothes from Galar’s boutiques give you plenty to do between Gyms.
In depth: how Sword & Shield works
Each of the new systems, with the fine print.
Team Yell and Macro Cosmos
Team Yell are the noisy, face-painted supporters who trail Marnie across Galar, chanting her name and blocking paths and entrances so that fewer rivals can reach the later Gyms. They are pests rather than villains: Spikemuth reveals that they are the town’s own Gym Trainers and that their captain is Piers, Marnie’s older brother. The real threat comes from the top. Chairman Rose runs both the Galar League and Macro Cosmos, the conglomerate that powers the region, with his secretary and vice-president Oleana handling the dirty work. Convinced that Galar will run out of energy in about a thousand years, Rose gathers Wishing Stars through Bede and then awakens Eternatus under Hammerlocke, deliberately starting a second Darkest Day so its endless power can be harnessed. Dynamax energy floods the region until the player, Hop and the two heroes put Eternatus down.
Chairman Rose
Chairman Rose is the cheerful, generous-seeming head of both the Galar Pokémon League and the Macro Cosmos conglomerate, and a former coal miner who rose to the top. Obsessed with a projected energy crisis about a thousand years away, he decides Galar cannot wait and deliberately wakes Eternatus, starting a second Darkest Day just as the Championship Match is due to begin. Defeated in the Energy Plant with his Gigantamax Copperajah, he turns himself in, leaving Leon to take over as Chairman. Through Macro Cosmos he also owns Galar’s mines and its Energy Plant, and he personally endorses Bede for the Gym Challenge.
Oleana
Oleana is Rose’s devoted secretary and the vice-president of Macro Cosmos, cool and businesslike and fiercely loyal to the Chairman. She strips Bede of his challenger status after the mural incident and tries to stop the player and Hop at the top of Rose Tower with a team led by Gigantamax Garbodor. When Rose’s plan runs out of control, she begs for help to save him.
Every Team Yell, Macro Cosmos and post-game villain battle
Team Yell only ever battle in pairs, as Multi Battles alongside Hop, or as Spikemuth’s Gym Trainers. After the story, the brothers Sordward and Shielbert, who claim descent from Galar’s ancient kings, take over as the troublemakers. In the order you meet them:
- Team YellMulti Battles alongside Hop against pairs of Grunts at the Budew Drop Inn in Motostoke and in Galar Mine No. 2, plus Grunts barring the way through Spikemuth.
- Rose TowerThree back-to-back Multi Battles with Hop against Macro Cosmos staff.
- Oleana, Rose TowerFroslass Lv. 50, Tsareena Lv. 50, Salazzle Lv. 50, Milotic Lv. 51, Garbodor Lv. 52 (Gigantamax).
- Rose, Energy PlantEscavalier Lv. 55, Ferrothorn Lv. 55, Perrserker Lv. 55, Klinklang Lv. 56, Copperajah Lv. 57 (Gigantamax).
- Eternatus, Tower summitLv. 60 single battle (no catching), then Eternamax Eternatus in a scripted Max Raid Battle with Hop, Zacian and Zamazenta, after which it is caught.
- Sordward (Sword), Energy PlantSirfetch’d Lv. 64, Golisopod Lv. 64, Doublade Lv. 64, Bisharp Lv. 64.
- Shielbert (Shield), Energy PlantSirfetch’d Lv. 64, Bronzong Lv. 64, Falinks Lv. 64, Klinklang Lv. 64.
- Rampaging Zacian (Sword) or Zamazenta (Shield), Tower summitLv. 70, catchable after the battle.
The Expansion Pass: The Isle of Armor & The Crown Tundra
Rather than getting a third, enhanced version, Sword and Shield became the first core games to grow through paid downloadable content. The Expansion Pass was revealed in a Pokémon Direct on 9 January 2020 and went on sale that day at £26.99 per version, so owners of both games need two passes. It delivered two waves, The Isle of Armor in June 2020 and The Crown Tundra in October 2020, each switched on by a free update (Versions 1.2.0 and 1.3.0) and played on an existing save from the moment the player reaches the Wild Area. Buyers also got Pikachu and Eevee uniform sets, and boxed bundles of each game with the pass followed on 6 November 2020.
The Isle of Armor (June 2020)
Armed with an Armor Pass, you take the train from Wedgehurst Station to the Isle of Armor, a lush island off Galar’s east coast. There you are mistaken for a new pupil of the Master Dojo, run by Mustard, a former Champion who once trained Leon, and his wife Honey. A fellow student becomes your rival: Klara in Sword or Avery in Shield. Mustard sets three trials: round up three speedy Galarian Slowpoke, gather Max Mushrooms in the Warm-Up Tunnel for Max Soup, and beat your rival in a Dynamax battle at the Battle Court. The reward is Kubfu, a Legendary Pokémon whose trust grows as the two of you tour the island. Climbing one of the Towers of Two Fists decides its future: the Tower of Darkness produces Single Strike Style Urshifu and the Tower of Waters Rapid Strike Style Urshifu. Urshifu can Gigantamax, but it turns its nose up at Max Soup, so you must fetch Max Honey from a Dynamaxed Vespiquen before Mustard signs off with his own Gigantamax Urshifu. Around the island, eight Galarica Twigs make a Galarica Cuff that turns Galarian Slowpoke into Galarian Slowbro, the Cram-o-matic fuses four items into one, and a man in the Fields of Honor rewards you for tracking down the 151 Alolan Diglett hidden across the island.
- Released on 17 June 2020 with Version 1.2.0; the same update let players without the pass obtain the returning Pokémon through trading and Pokémon HOME.
- The Isle of Armor Pokédex lists 211 species.
- Kubfu evolves into Single Strike Style Urshifu after the Tower of Darkness or Rapid Strike Style Urshifu after the Tower of Waters.
- New Gigantamax forms: Venusaur, Blastoise, Rillaboom, Cinderace, Inteleon and both styles of Urshifu.
- Eighteen new moves, one of each type, are taught by tutors at the Master Dojo.
- Eight Galarica Twigs make a Galarica Cuff, which evolves Galarian Slowpoke into Galarian Slowbro.
- The Exp. Charm and Mark Charm debuted here, and Restricted Sparring opens once the story is done.
The Crown Tundra (October 2020)
The second wave opens up the Crown Tundra, a frozen expanse of snowfields, ruins and lakes. Waiting there are Peony, the boisterous younger brother of Chairman Rose and a former Steel-type Gym Leader, and his long-suffering daughter Peonia. After a battle and a first plunge into the Max Lair, Peony makes you chief of his expedition and hands out a series of “adven-tours”. The first chases the legend of Calyrex: restoring a crumbling statue draws out Calyrex itself, and you then plant a carrot seed to call its steed, the Shaderoot Carrot for Spectrier or the Iceroot Carrot for Glastrier. The choice is yours, not the version’s, and once the steed is tamed Calyrex can be caught and fused with it into its Shadow Rider or Ice Rider form. The second tour sends you after Regirock, Regice and Registeel before the Split-Decision Ruins offer the new Regieleki or Regidrago, and the third scatters Galarian Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres across Galar. The centrepiece is the Dynamax Adventure: teams of four take rental Pokémon through a series of Max Raid Battles in the Max Lair before facing a Legendary, and keep one catch per run. A Galarica Wreath turns Galarian Slowpoke into Galarian Slowking, footprints lead to the Swords of Justice and Keldeo, and Leon’s Galarian Star Tournament of Multi Battles at Wyndon Stadium closes the expansion.
- Released alongside Version 1.3.0 on 22 October 2020 in North America and 23 October 2020 elsewhere.
- The Crown Tundra Pokédex lists 210 species.
- Whether Calyrex teams up with Glastrier or Spectrier depends on which carrot the player plants, not on the game version.
- Galarian Articuno roams the Crown Tundra, Galarian Zapdos the Wild Area and Galarian Moltres the Isle of Armor.
- Every Pokémon met in a Dynamax Adventure has a 1 in 300 chance of being Shiny, or 1 in 100 with the Shiny Charm.
- An Endless Dynamax Adventure mode, unlocked during the Ultra Beast tour, keeps going until the team is wiped out and pays out extra Dynite Ore, but nothing caught can be kept.
- Eight new signature moves arrived, among them Thunder Cage and Glacial Lance.
- Catching Cobalion, Terrakion and Virizion by following their footprints and showing them to Sonia unlocks Keldeo at Ballimere Lake.
- Dynamax Adventures offer almost every Legendary Pokémon from earlier generations and the Ultra Beasts, with pairs such as Ho-Oh and Lugia, Groudon and Kyogre, and Dialga and Palkia split between Sword and Shield.
New Pokémon in the Expansion Pass
Eight new species arrived during the Expansion Pass era, along with new Galarian and Gigantamax forms:
- Kubfu (#891) – The Isle of Armor
- Urshifu (#892) – Single Strike Style and Rapid Strike Style, both with Gigantamax forms – The Isle of Armor
- Zarude (#893) – Mythical, added to the game data in Version 1.2.0 but distributed only through events, including the Dada Zarude form
- Regieleki (#894) – The Crown Tundra
- Regidrago (#895) – The Crown Tundra
- Glastrier (#896) – The Crown Tundra
- Spectrier (#897) – The Crown Tundra
- Calyrex (#898) – The Crown Tundra, plus its Ice Rider and Shadow Rider forms
- Galarian Slowbro – The Isle of Armor (Galarian Slowpoke itself arrived in Version 1.1.0)
- Galarian Slowking – The Crown Tundra
- Galarian Articuno, Galarian Zapdos and Galarian Moltres – The Crown Tundra
- Gigantamax Venusaur, Blastoise, Rillaboom, Cinderace and Inteleon – The Isle of Armor
Galar
Galar is modelled on Great Britain, from the farmland of Postwick and Wedgehurst to the brick and steam of Motostoke, the castle walls of Hammerlocke and the capital, Wyndon, in the far north. Most of its towns are built around a stadium, and the Wild Area fills the middle of the region, linking the cities of the Gym Challenge. The Expansion Pass added two areas beyond the mainland: the Isle of Armor off the east coast and the snowbound Crown Tundra.
Where the journey takes you
Sixteen places that define Sword & Shield, in roughly the order you reach them.
Postwick
Postwick is a tiny farming village tucked into a valley at Galar’s southern edge, close to the misty Slumbering Weald. Its people and Pokémon live and work together on the land, and it is home both to the player and to Hop and his famous brother Leon. Leon hands out the first partner Pokémon here, and Hop challenges the player to a first friendly battle in the village. After the story ends, a Charmander waits at Leon’s family home as a gift, an echo of the Champion’s own Charizard.
Pokémon of note: Grookey, Scorbunny, Sobble, Wooloo, Charmander (post-game gift).
Wedgehurst
Wedgehurst is a quiet borough in the south of Galar and the first stop on your journey. It is home to the Pokémon Research Lab, run by Sonia, granddaughter of Professor Magnolia, and its railway station links the countryside with the Wild Area and Motostoke; it is from here that you and Hop first set off by train for the Gym Challenge, and later for the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra. After the story, Hop can be found at the lab, working as Sonia’s assistant.
Pokémon of note: Yamper (Sonia’s partner), Skwovet, Rookidee, Wooloo.
Slumbering Weald
A thick, fog-bound forest in the valley beside Postwick, the Slumbering Weald is officially out of bounds. When the player and Hop sneak in early on, a shadowy wolf-like Pokémon looms out of the mist and drives them back. Deep inside lie the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield, which the pair retrieve when the Darkest Day returns. The weald is where Zacian and Zamazenta slept as statues after the first Darkest Day, and where Hop’s final post-game battle and his bond with the second Legendary take place.
Pokémon of note: Zacian, Zamazenta. Items: Rusted Sword, Rusted Shield.
Wild Area
The Wild Area fills the middle of Galar with rolling hills and lakes, split into a southern and a northern section. Zones include Rolling Fields, Dappled Grove, Watchtower Ruins, East and West Lake Axewell, Axew’s Eye, the Giant’s Seat, South and North Lake Miloch, Motostoke Riverbank, Bridge Field, Stony Wilderness, Dusty Bowl, the Giant’s Mirror, Hammerlocke Hills, the Giant’s Cap and the Lake of Outrage. Each zone’s weather shifts daily, glowing dens host Max Raid Battles, and the Meetup Spot station hands out the Let’s Go gift Pokémon.
Pokémon of note: Axew, Onix, Gyarados, Lapras, Gigantamax Pokémon in Max Raid dens. Items: Watts, Wishing Piece, Exp. Candy (Max Raid rewards), Turbo Boost upgrades for the Rotom Bike.
Motostoke
Motostoke is a booming industrial city of brick, cogs and steam, built on the engineering of Galar’s industrial age. The Gym Challenge opening ceremony is held at its stadium, and the city’s Budew Drop Inn is where you first run into Marnie and Team Yell. Challengers return here for their third Badge against Kabu, after earning two elsewhere, and in the post-game the stadium is one of those hit by Dynamax rampages.
Pokémon of note: Centiskorch (Kabu), Arcanine (Kabu), Ninetales (Kabu), Skwovet ‘Cheekers’ (in-game trade). Items: TM38 Will-O-Wisp, Fire Badge.
Turffield
Turffield sits in a bowl of terraced farmland, and its stadium is the first proper Gym of the Challenge. Milo, a gentle farmer’s son, is its Leader, and challengers must herd his Wooloo before they can face him. On the hill above town lies an ancient geoglyph, a giant figure cut into the hillside, which Sonia studies as part of her research into the Darkest Day. In the post-game, Turffield Stadium is one of the arenas where Sordward and Shielbert spark Dynamax rampages.
Pokémon of note: Eldegoss (Milo), Gossifleur (Milo), Wooloo, Kantonian Meowth ‘Cash’ (in-game trade). Items: TM10 Magical Leaf, Grass Badge.
Hulbury
Hulbury is a busy fishing port on Galar’s east coast, full of market stalls. Its stadium belongs to Nessa, the Water-type Leader who doubles as a successful model and who grew up here as the daughter of a fisher and a market worker. Challengers usually arrive through Galar Mine No. 2, and after the story the stadium is caught up in the post-game Dynamax rampages. A trader in town swaps a Cottonee for a Minccino.
Pokémon of note: Drednaw (Nessa), Arrokuda (Nessa), Goldeen (Nessa), Cottonee ‘Candyfloss’ (in-game trade). Items: TM36 Whirlpool, Water Badge.
Galar Mine & Galar Mine No. 2
Two working mines owned by Macro Cosmos cut through the hills on the way to the early Gyms. The first Galar Mine links Route 3 with Route 4 on the road to Turffield and is where Bede first battles you. Galar Mine No. 2, on the way to Hulbury, has Team Yell lurking in its tunnels, and it is the scene of a Multi Battle alongside Hop and a second clash with Bede.
Pokémon of note: Hatenna (Bede), Gothita (Bede), Solosis (Bede), Galarian Ponyta (Bede).
Stow-on-Side
Stow-on-Side grew up around a vast ancient mural carved into the mountainside, beside a bazaar of market stalls. Here Bede, chasing Wishing Stars for Rose, uses a borrowed Copperajah to damage the mural, exposing a hidden older picture tied to the Darkest Day legend, and Rose disqualifies him on the spot. Hop and Bede both battle you here, and the stadium is home to the first pair of version-exclusive Leaders: Bea in Sword, Allister in Shield.
Pokémon of note: Machamp (Bea), Gengar (Allister), Sirfetch’d (Bea), Cursola (Allister), Hatenna or Impidimp (in-game trade). Items: TM42 Revenge (Sword), TM77 Hex (Shield), Fighting Badge or Ghost Badge.
Ballonlea & Glimwood Tangle
Ballonlea is a fairytale town of lantern-like mushrooms built among towering trees in north-west Galar, reached only through the glowing, gloomy Glimwood Tangle, where Pokémon such as Impidimp and Hatenna lurk among the fungi. Its stadium belongs to Opal, the region’s oldest Leader, who has spent 70 years in the role and uses her quiz-based mission to search for a successor. She finds one in the disgraced Bede, who becomes Ballonlea’s Leader after the story. Someone at the Gym will trade you a Unovan Yamask for a Galarian one.
Pokémon of note: Alcremie (Opal), Galarian Weezing (Opal), Togekiss (Opal), Galarian Ponyta (Shield), Impidimp. Items: TM87 Draining Kiss, Fairy Badge.
Circhester
Circhester is a historic town in the snowy north, built around a steaming hot spring and full of old stone buildings. Its stadium is the second with version-exclusive Leaders: Gordie in Sword and his mother Melony in Shield, whose falling-out over Gordie’s choice of Rock types split the town. Hop battles the player in town after the Gym, Marnie is met again on Route 9 beyond it, and on that route a Doctor upgrades the Rotom Bike with Water Mode. A resident swaps a Vanillish for Throh in Sword or Sawk in Shield.
Pokémon of note: Coalossal (Gordie), Lapras (Melony), Galarian Darmanitan (Melony), Eiscue (Melony), Stonjourner (Gordie). Items: TM48 Rock Tomb (Sword), TM27 Icy Wind (Shield), Rock Badge or Ice Badge.
Spikemuth
Spikemuth is a run-down, punk-styled town of crowded, shabby shops and neon signs. It has no stadium, because it is the only Gym town not built on a Power Spot, so Piers battles challengers in the open without Dynamax. Team Yell’s Grunts, who turn out to be its Gym Trainers, bar the main entrance and guard the streets. After the Champion Cup, Piers steps down and his sister Marnie takes over as Leader.
Pokémon of note: Obstagoon (Piers), Malamar (Piers), Skuntank (Piers), Morpeko (Marnie), Kantonian Mr. Mime (in-game trade). Items: TM85 Snarl, Dark Badge.
Hammerlocke
Hammerlocke is an old walled city in the heart of Galar, its castle-like ramparts looking out over the Wild Area. Raihan’s Dragon-type stadium, the final Gym of the Challenge, is here, and the city’s vault holds a tapestry that sheds light on the legend. Beneath the stadium lies the Energy Plant, where Macro Cosmos turns Galar particles into electricity and where Rose wakes Eternatus. Above it is the Tower summit, scene of both the Eternatus battle and the post-game showdown with the rampaging Legendary.
Pokémon of note: Duraludon (Raihan), Flygon (Raihan), Gigalith (Raihan), Sandaconda (Raihan), Eternatus (Tower summit). Items: TM99 Breaking Swipe, Dragon Badge.
Wyndon & Rose Tower
Galar’s capital is a glittering metropolis of grand hotels and the region’s biggest stadium, Wyndon Stadium, which is modelled on London’s Wembley Stadium and its arch. The stadium hosts the Champion Cup and, in The Crown Tundra, the Galarian Star Tournament, and it is here that Rose’s broadcast announcing the Darkest Day halts the tournament. Towering over the city is Rose Tower, the headquarters of Macro Cosmos, where Oleana challenges you; after the story Leon reopens it as the Battle Tower. A resident offers a Duraludon in exchange for a Frosmoth.
Pokémon of note: Charizard (Leon), Dragapult (Leon), Type: Null (Battle Tower gift), Duraludon (in-game trade). Items: Battle Points from the Battle Tower, Mints and Ability Capsules (traded for Battle Points).
Isle of Armor
Added by the first part of the Expansion Pass, the Isle of Armor is an island off Galar’s east coast inspired by the Isle of Man, with beaches, forests, caves and the Master Dojo at its heart. Former Champion Mustard trains students there, setting the trials that earn the Legendary Kubfu, which evolves into Urshifu after a climb up one of the Towers of Two Fists. The island is also home to wild Galarian Slowpoke and to the 151 Alolan Diglett hidden for the Diglett-hunting Trainer.
Pokémon of note: Kubfu, Urshifu, Galarian Slowpoke, Alolan Diglett, Bulbasaur or Squirtle (gift). Items: Max Mushrooms (for Max Soup), Armorite Ore, Galarica Cuff.
Crown Tundra
The second part of the Expansion Pass opens up the Crown Tundra, a snowy expanse inspired by Scotland and cut off from the rest of Galar by mountains. Its main settlement is the village of Freezington, and its landmarks include the Dyna Tree and the Max Lair, home of the Dynamax Adventures. Explorer Peony leads you in search of Calyrex, the King of Bountiful Harvests, and its steed, and the Max Lair offers almost every past Legendary Pokémon.
Pokémon of note: Calyrex, Glastrier, Spectrier, Galarian Articuno, Regieleki, Regidrago. Items: Dynite Ore, Ability Patch, Reins of Unity, Galarica Wreath.
Beyond the mainland
Four sights from the Expansion Pass areas:
Can I catch them all?
Sword & Shield’s Galar Pokédex holds 400 species, and the Expansion Pass’s two new Pokédexes take the total to 584; counting Legendaries and gifts that sit outside those lists, 664 species can be kept in the games. For the first time, though, that isn’t everything: Pokémon outside those 664 can’t be caught or transferred in, and stay in Pokémon HOME.
Version exclusives
Version exclusives: each version has around 30 species the other can’t catch in the main game, including several Galarian forms and its cover Legendary. Trading, or Pokémon HOME, fills the gaps.
Exclusive to Pokémon Sword
Galarian Farfetch’d#083
Seedot#273
Nuzleaf#274
Shiftry#275
Mawile#303
Solrock#338
Red-Striped Basculin#550
Galarian Darumaka#554
Galarian Darmanitan#555
Scraggy#559
Scrafty#560
Gothita#574
Gothorita#575
Gothitelle#576
Rufflet#627
Braviary#628
Deino#633
Zweilous#634
Hydreigon#635
Swirlix#684
Passimian#766
Turtonator#776
Jangmo-o#782
Hakamo-o#783
Kommo-o#784
Flapple#841
Sirfetch’d#865
Stonjourner#874
Zacian#888
Your cover Legendary is Zacian. Stow-on-Side’s Gym is led by Bea (Fighting) and Circhester’s by Gordie (Rock), and it is Sordward you battle at the Energy Plant in the post-game.
Exclusive to Pokémon Shield
Galarian Ponyta#077
Galarian Rapidash#078
Galarian Corsola#222
Larvitar#246
Pupitar#247
Tyranitar#248
Lotad#270
Lombre#271
Ludicolo#272
Sableye#302
Lunatone#337
Croagunk#453
Toxicroak#454- Blue-Striped Basculin#550
Solosis#577
Duosion#578
Reuniclus#579
Vullaby#629
Mandibuzz#630
Spritzee#682
Goomy#704
Sliggoo#705
Goodra#706
Oranguru#765
Drampa#780
Appletun#842
Cursola#864
Eiscue#875
Zamazenta#889
Your cover Legendary is Zamazenta. Allister (Ghost) leads the Stow-on-Side Gym and Melony (Ice) the Circhester Gym, and it is Shielbert you battle at the Energy Plant in the post-game.
Sawk is wild only in Sword and Throh only in Shield, but a Circhester resident trades you the other, so neither is a true exclusive. The Expansion Pass adds a further three exclusives per version on the Isle of Armor and more than a dozen in the Crown Tundra, among them Ho-Oh, Groudon and Dialga in Sword and Lugia, Kyogre and Palkia in Shield.
The Galar Pokédex and “Dexit”
The Galar Pokédex lists 400 species, and at launch only Pokémon in it could be caught or transferred in, the first time a core-series game had left existing species out. Junichi Masuda explained that the sheer size of the roster, combined with the work needed for new features such as Dynamax and higher-quality models, made including everyone unworkable, and he issued a formal statement to fans on 28 June 2019. The decision prompted the ‘Dexit’ backlash and the #BringBackNationalDex campaign. The Expansion Pass restored over 200 species through the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra Pokédexes, taking the three lists to 584 species, and Pokémon HOME lets 664 species in total be moved in and out of Sword and Shield.
Every Gigantamax Pokémon
There are 33 Gigantamax forms across 32 species. The 26 from launch mostly turn up in Max Raid Battles; the seven marked Isle of Armor arrived with the first wave of the Expansion Pass.
- Venusaur (G-Max Vine Lash; Isle of Armor)
- Charizard (G-Max Wildfire)
- Blastoise (G-Max Cannonade; Isle of Armor)
- Butterfree (G-Max Befuddle)
- Pikachu (G-Max Volt Crash)
- Meowth (G-Max Gold Rush)
- Machamp (G-Max Chi Strike; raids Sword only)
- Gengar (G-Max Terror; raids Shield only)
- Kingler (G-Max Foam Burst)
- Lapras (G-Max Resonance; raids Shield only)
- Eevee (G-Max Cuddle)
- Snorlax (G-Max Replenish)
- Garbodor (G-Max Malodor)
- Melmetal (G-Max Meltdown; via Pokémon HOME only)
- Rillaboom (G-Max Drum Solo; Isle of Armor)
- Cinderace (G-Max Fireball; Isle of Armor)
- Inteleon (G-Max Hydrosnipe; Isle of Armor)
- Corviknight (G-Max Wind Rage)
- Orbeetle (G-Max Gravitas)
- Drednaw (G-Max Stonesurge)
- Coalossal (G-Max Volcalith; raids Sword only)
- Flapple (G-Max Tartness; raids Sword only)
- Appletun (G-Max Sweetness; raids Shield only)
- Sandaconda (G-Max Sandblast)
- Toxtricity (G-Max Stun Shock; one form for both styles)
- Centiskorch (G-Max Centiferno)
- Hatterene (G-Max Smite)
- Grimmsnarl (G-Max Snooze)
- Alcremie (G-Max Finale; one form for every flavour)
- Copperajah (G-Max Steelsurge)
- Duraludon (G-Max Depletion)
- Urshifu Single Strike Style (G-Max One Blow; Isle of Armor)
- Urshifu Rapid Strike Style (G-Max Rapid Flow; Isle of Armor)
Galarian forms
Nineteen familiar Pokémon adapted to Galar with new types and looks. Thirteen were in the game at launch, Galarian Slowpoke arrived with version 1.1.0, Galarian Slowbro with The Isle of Armor, and the Galarian birds and Galarian Slowking with The Crown Tundra. Six of them have evolutions found nowhere else: Perrserker, Sirfetch’d, Obstagoon, Cursola, Mr. Rime and Runerigus.
- Galarian Meowth (Steel) – Found in the wild in both versions; evolves into Perrserker at Level 28.
- Galarian Ponyta (Psychic) – Shield only, in the wild in Glimwood Tangle; evolves into Galarian Rapidash at Level 40.
- Galarian Rapidash (Psychic/Fairy) – Shield only; evolve Galarian Ponyta at Level 40.
- Galarian Farfetch’d (Fighting) – Sword only, in the wild; evolves into Sirfetch’d after landing three critical hits in one battle.
- Galarian Weezing (Poison/Fairy) – Evolve Koffing at Level 35 in Sword and Shield, where it always becomes the Galarian form.
- Galarian Mr. Mime (Ice/Psychic) – In the wild in snowy northern Galar, or level up Mime Jr. while it knows Mimic; evolves into Mr. Rime at Level 42.
- Galarian Corsola (Ghost) – Shield only, in the wild; evolves into Cursola at Level 38.
- Galarian Zigzagoon (Dark/Normal) – Common on early routes; evolves into Galarian Linoone at Level 20.
- Galarian Linoone (Dark/Normal) – Evolve Galarian Zigzagoon at Level 20; it becomes Obstagoon from Level 35 at night.
- Galarian Darumaka (Ice) – Sword only, in the wild in the snowy north; evolves into Galarian Darmanitan with an Ice Stone.
- Galarian Darmanitan (Ice; Ice/Fire in Zen Mode) – Evolve Galarian Darumaka with an Ice Stone; Zen Mode is its Hidden Ability.
- Galarian Yamask (Ground/Ghost) – In the wild near Stow-on-Side; evolves into Runerigus after taking at least 49 damage in one battle without fainting and then passing under the stone arch in the Dusty Bowl.
- Galarian Stunfisk (Ground/Steel) – Found in the wild in both versions; it does not evolve.
- Galarian Slowpoke (Psychic) – Added with version 1.1.0 and common in the wild on the Isle of Armor; a Galarica Cuff evolves it into Galarian Slowbro, a Galarica Wreath into Galarian Slowking.
- Galarian Slowbro (Poison/Psychic) – Isle of Armor: use a Galarica Cuff on Galarian Slowpoke.
- Galarian Slowking (Poison/Psychic) – Crown Tundra: use a Galarica Wreath on Galarian Slowpoke.
- Galarian Articuno (Psychic/Flying) – Crown Tundra: roams the Crown Tundra after the Dyna Tree event.
- Galarian Zapdos (Fighting/Flying) – Crown Tundra: races around the Wild Area after the Dyna Tree event.
- Galarian Moltres (Dark/Flying) – Crown Tundra: flies to the Isle of Armor after the Dyna Tree event.
Fossils
Cara Liss on Route 6 restores fossils, but each of Galar’s Fossil Pokémon needs two halves, a head and a body, and the result is a mismatched chimera. Fossilized Bird plus Fossilized Drake makes Dracozolt; Bird plus Dino makes Arctozolt; Fish plus Drake makes Dracovish; and Fish plus Dino makes Arctovish. Restored Pokémon start at Level 10.
What Sword & Shield adds
- 81 new species – From Grookey (#810) to Eternatus (#890), with eight more (#891–898) in the Expansion Pass era.
- Galarian forms – 19 regional forms of older Pokémon, six of them with brand-new evolutions such as Sirfetch’d and Obstagoon.
- Gigantamax forms – 33 of them, each with its own G-Max Move.
- Fossil chimeras – Dracozolt, Arctozolt, Dracovish and Arctovish, each restored from two mismatched fossil halves.
Starter Pokémon
Leon offers the three Galar starters in Postwick, and Hop always takes the one that is weak to your choice:
- Grookey: Grass-type; evolves into Thwackey at Lv. 16, then Rillaboom at Lv. 35. A drum-loving chimp; Rillaboom gained a Gigantamax form (G-Max Drum Solo) with The Isle of Armor. Leon answers it with Cinderace.
- Scorbunny: Fire-type; evolves into Raboot at Lv. 16, then Cinderace at Lv. 35. A football-mad rabbit; Cinderace gained a Gigantamax form (G-Max Fireball) with The Isle of Armor. Leon answers it with Inteleon.
- Sobble: Water-type; evolves into Drizzile at Lv. 16, then Inteleon at Lv. 35. A timid, tearful lizard; Inteleon gained a Gigantamax form (G-Max Hydrosnipe) with The Isle of Armor. Leon answers it with Rillaboom.
Starters from older regions join later: a Charmander from Leon’s home in Postwick once you are Champion, Bulbasaur or Squirtle at the Master Dojo on the Isle of Armor, and Rowlet, Litten or Popplio for the Diglett hunt – and the Kanto ones can Gigantamax once fully evolved.
Legendary, Mythical and event Pokémon
EternatusTower summit- ZacianSword
- ZamazentaShield
Type: NullBattle Tower
KubfuIsle of Armor
UrshifuIsle of Armor
ZarudeEvent only
RegielekiCrown Tundra
RegidragoCrown Tundra
GlastrierCrown Tundra
SpectrierCrown Tundra
CalyrexCrown Tundra
Galarian ArticunoCrown Tundra
Galarian ZapdosWild Area
Galarian MoltresIsle of Armor
RegirockCrown Tundra
RegiceCrown Tundra
RegisteelCrown Tundra
RegigigasCrown Tundra
CosmogCrown Tundra
PoipoleMax Lair
Eternatus – Lv. 60, Tower summit, above Hammerlocke Stadium. Story climax: beat it once (no catching), then defeat Eternamax Eternatus in a Max Raid Battle with Hop, Zacian and Zamazenta; any Poké Ball catches it without fail.
Zacian – Lv. 70, Tower summit (Pokémon Sword). Post-game: after Sordward’s scheme sends it berserk, battle and catch it; it becomes Crowned Sword Zacian when holding the Rusted Sword. Shield players need to trade.
Zamazenta – Lv. 70, Tower summit (Pokémon Shield). Post-game: after Shielbert’s scheme sends it berserk, battle and catch it; it becomes Crowned Shield Zamazenta when holding the Rusted Shield. Sword players need to trade.
Type: Null – Lv. 50, Battle Tower, Wyndon (post-game). Gift from a League Staff member, together with all 17 memory discs for Silvally (#773), which it evolves into with high friendship.
Kubfu – Lv. 10, Master Dojo, Isle of Armor (Expansion Pass). Gift from Mustard after his third trial; one per save.
Urshifu – Towers of Two Fists, Isle of Armor. Kubfu evolves into Single Strike Style (Fighting/Dark) after the Tower of Darkness or Rapid Strike Style (Fighting/Water) after the Tower of Waters; both styles can Gigantamax.
Zarude – Event only. Mythical Pokémon distributed in tie-in with Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle; it is listed in the Isle of Armor Pokédex but not needed to complete it.
Regieleki – Split-Decision Ruins, Crown Tundra. Choose Regieleki or Regidrago by solving the ruins’ puzzle; only one per save.
Regidrago – Split-Decision Ruins, Crown Tundra. The alternative to Regieleki in the same ruins; only one per save.
Glastrier – Crown Tundra. Lure it by planting the Iceroot Carrot during Calyrex’s quest; choosing it rules out Spectrier on that save. Calyrex can merge with it to form Ice Rider Calyrex.
Spectrier – Crown Tundra. Lure it by planting the Shaderoot Carrot instead; Calyrex can merge with it to form Shadow Rider Calyrex.
Calyrex – Crown Shrine, Crown Tundra. Caught at the end of its quest after reuniting it with its steed; the Reins of Unity fuse or separate them.
Galarian Articuno – Crown Tundra. After the Dyna Tree event in The Crown Tundra the three birds scatter across Galar; Galarian Articuno stays in the Crown Tundra.
Galarian Zapdos – Wild Area. After the Dyna Tree event it runs around the Wild Area on foot and has to be chased down.
Galarian Moltres – Isle of Armor. After the Dyna Tree event it flies off to the Isle of Armor.
Regirock – Crown Tundra. One of the Legendary giants on Peony’s second adven-tour, each unlocked in its own ruin.
Regice – Crown Tundra. One of the Legendary giants on Peony’s second adven-tour, each unlocked in its own ruin.
Registeel – Crown Tundra. One of the Legendary giants on Peony’s second adven-tour, each unlocked in its own ruin.
Regigigas – Crown Tundra. Waits at the end of Peony’s Legendary giants adven-tour.
Cosmog – Lv. 5, Freezington, Crown Tundra. Gift from an elderly woman once the Glastrier or Spectrier battle is over; it evolves via Cosmoem into Solgaleo in Sword or Lunala in Shield.
Poipole – Lv. 20, Max Lair, Crown Tundra. Gift from the Dynamax Adventure attendant after catching five Ultra Beasts in Dynamax Adventures.
What one copy can’t give you
Besides the other version’s exclusives, these can’t be caught in either version and come only from events or Pokémon HOME:
- Zarude#893
Meltan#808
Melmetal#809
On one copy you can complete about 370 of the 400 Galar Pokédex entries. Each version lacks roughly 30 species, counting whole evolution lines such as Deino’s or Larvitar’s, plus evolutions that depend on them (Aromatisse can’t be made in Sword without Shield’s Spritzee) and one of Escavalier or Accelgor, which appear only in the other version’s Max Raids. Throh and Sawk are covered by the Circhester trade, and most trade evolutions can be caught in Max Raids.
Gift Pokémon and in-game trades
Pokémon you are simply handed:
- Grookey, Scorbunny or Sobble (Lv. 5) – Postwick. First partner from Leon.
- Pikachu or Eevee (Lv. 10, Gigantamax Factor) – Meetup Spot station, Wild Area. Needs a save from Let’s Go, Pikachu! or Let’s Go, Eevee! on the same console; neither can evolve.
- Toxel (Lv. 1) – Pokémon Nursery, Route 5. Given by a Pokémon Breeder, in a Luxury Ball.
- Dracozolt, Arctozolt, Dracovish or Arctovish (Lv. 10) – Route 6. Restored by Cara Liss from two fossil halves.
- Charmander (Lv. 5) – Leon’s home, Postwick. After becoming Champion; it can Gigantamax once evolved into Charizard.
- Type: Null (Lv. 50) – Battle Tower, Wyndon. From a League Staff member, with all 17 memory discs.
- Bulbasaur or Squirtle (Lv. 5, Gigantamax Factor) – Master Dojo, Isle of Armor. From Honey after Mustard’s first trial.
- Kubfu (Lv. 10) – Master Dojo, Isle of Armor. From Mustard after his third trial.
- Porygon (Lv. 25, Hidden Ability) – Master Dojo, Isle of Armor. From Hyde after beating Mustard at the Battle Court.
- Rowlet, Litten or Popplio (Lv. 5) – Fields of Honor, Isle of Armor. From the same Trainer after finding 100 Alolan Diglett; which one depends on your first partner.
- Cosmog (Lv. 5) – Freezington, Crown Tundra. From an elderly woman once the Glastrier or Spectrier battle is over.
- Poipole (Lv. 20) – Max Lair, Crown Tundra. After catching five Ultra Beasts in Dynamax Adventures.
In-game trades: several of these hand over Pokémon your version can’t otherwise catch:
| You give | You get | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Bunnelby | Skwovet (nicknamed Cheekers) | Motostoke Pokémon Center |
| Galarian Meowth | Kantonian Meowth (nicknamed Cash) | Turffield, in the Gym lobby |
| Minccino | Cottonee (nicknamed Candyfloss) | Hulbury, near the market |
| Toxel | Togepi | Hammerlocke |
| Maractus | Hatenna (Sword) or Impidimp (Shield) | Stow-on-Side |
| Galarian Yamask | Unovan Yamask | Ballonlea Gym |
| Vanillish | Throh (Sword) or Sawk (Shield) | Circhester |
| Obstagoon | Kantonian Mr. Mime | Spikemuth |
| Frosmoth | Duraludon (Dynamax Level 3) | Wyndon |
Connectivity
There is no direct link to the 3DS games: older Pokémon travel in through Pokémon HOME, and only species that Sword & Shield supports can make the trip.
Local wireless play is free, while online trading, battles, Max Raid Battles and camp visits need a Nintendo Switch Online membership. Y-Comm puts Link Trade, Link Battle and Surprise Trade on one button and shows invitations to join others’ raids, and up to four players can tackle a Max Raid together. The Battle Stadium ran monthly ranked seasons and online competitions until 1 November 2022, when Wild Area News also stopped updating; casual and friend battles, trading and raids still work. Pokémon HOME, launched in February 2020, moves Pokémon in and out of the games, and its link with Pokémon GO rewards a Melmetal that can Gigantamax. A Let’s Go, Pikachu! or Let’s Go, Eevee! save unlocks Gigantamax Pikachu or Eevee, and both games run on Nintendo Switch 2 through backward compatibility.
Characters
Galar’s leading lights, from the unbeaten Champion to the Expansion Pass’s new faces. Hop is covered with the story above, and Rose and Oleana with Macro Cosmos.
Victor
Victor is the boy you can play as, a young Trainer from Postwick whose name comes from official material rather than the game, where you choose your own. Endorsed by Leon alongside his best friend Hop, he takes on the Gym Challenge, gets caught up in the Darkest Day and ends it by catching Eternatus with the help of Zacian and Zamazenta. His clothes and hair can be changed in boutiques and salons across Galar, and he is Leon’s opponent in the Championship Match shown in the web series Pokémon Evolutions.
Gloria
Gloria is the girl you can play as. She shares Victor’s story – Leon’s endorsement, the Gym Challenge, the Darkest Day and finally victory over Leon to become Galar’s new Champion – and like him she can be dressed in clothes from boutiques across Galar, with a choice of hairstyles from the salons. She also appears in Pokémon Evolutions.
Leon
Leon is Galar’s undefeated Champion, a showman in a cape and cap covered in sponsors’ logos whose catchphrase is “Let’s have a champion time!” Hop’s older brother and the man who hands the player their first partner, he is a national hero with a famously hopeless sense of direction. During the Darkest Day he holds Eternatus back at the Tower summit and is hurt when it breaks free of his Poké Ball. After losing his title to the player, he replaces Rose as League Chairman, turns Rose Tower into the Battle Tower and founds the Galarian Star Tournament.
Marnie
Marnie is a cool, quietly spoken Trainer from Spikemuth whose partner Morpeko, a gift from her older brother Piers, follows her everywhere. Team Yell are her boisterous fan club, forever trying to clear her path by obstructing other challengers. She reaches the Champion Cup semi-finals with a Gigantamax Grimmsnarl. After the player becomes Champion, she accepts Piers’s offer and takes over as Spikemuth’s Gym Leader.
Bede
Bede is an arrogant, gifted Psychic-type Trainer who grew up in an orphanage and was given a Pokémon, and later his endorsement, by Chairman Rose. Desperate to repay him, he hunts Wishing Stars for Rose’s plan and damages the Stow-on-Side mural, getting himself disqualified. Opal then takes him on as her successor; he crashes the Champion Cup Finals with a Fairy-type team and Gigantamax Hatterene, and later becomes Ballonlea’s Gym Leader.
Sonia & Professor Magnolia
Professor Magnolia is Galar’s foremost expert on Dynamax and a wise, kindly mentor who lives near Wedgehurst. Her granddaughter Sonia is Leon’s childhood friend and a former Gym challenger, now finding her own path as a researcher with her Yamper. Throughout the story Sonia investigates the legend of the Darkest Day, uncovering the truth about the two heroes, and by the end she earns the title of Professor, with Hop joining her as an assistant.
Mustard
Mustard is a jolly, eccentric former Champion who runs the Master Dojo on the Isle of Armor with his wife, Honey. He once taught Leon, sets the trials that Dojo students must pass, and rewards the player with the Legendary Kubfu before guiding them to the Towers of Two Fists. His other students include Klara in Sword and Avery in Shield.
Peony
Peony is a boisterous, big-hearted explorer and Chairman Rose’s younger brother, who grew up in Rose’s shadow and once served as a Steel-type Gym Leader. Now working his way through the Crown Tundra with his daughter Peonia, he recruits the player on expeditions to find Calyrex, the Galarian legendary birds and the Legendary giants.
Klara
Klara is your rival at the Master Dojo in Sword: a former idol turned Poison-type specialist, desperate to win Mustard’s approval and not above underhand tricks to get it. Beating her in a Dynamax battle at the Battle Court is Mustard’s third trial, which earns you Kubfu. She later became a Supporter card in the Trading Card Game’s Chilling Reign set.
Avery
Avery is your rival at the Master Dojo in Shield, a haughty Psychic-type specialist from a distinguished family who takes every defeat as a personal insult. He is the Shield counterpart of Klara, setting you the same trials and the same Battle Court showdown, and he too became a Supporter card in the Chilling Reign set.
The Gym Challenge
Galar’s eight major-league Gyms are stadiums, and they must be beaten in a fixed order. Stow-on-Side and Circhester have a different Leader in each version, so ten Leaders share the eight places: Bea and Gordie in Sword, Allister and Melony in Shield. Every Gym sets a mission before you face its Leader, and every Leader but Piers Dynamaxes their ace.
The Gym route – every Gym in order, with the Leader’s ace, a team level to aim for and the TM you win:
- Grass BadgeMilo · TurffieldGrass · ace Eldegoss Lv. 20Aim for Lv. 20–23 · TM10 Magical Leaf
- Water BadgeNessa · HulburyWater · ace Drednaw Lv. 24Aim for Lv. 24–27 · TM36 Whirlpool
- Fire BadgeKabu · MotostokeFire · ace Centiskorch Lv. 27Aim for Lv. 27–30 · TM38 Will-O-Wisp
- Fighting BadgeBea (Sword) · Stow-on-SideFighting · ace Machamp Lv. 36Aim for Lv. 36–39 · TM42 Revenge
- Ghost BadgeAllister (Shield) · Stow-on-SideGhost · ace Gengar Lv. 36Aim for Lv. 36–39 · TM77 Hex
- Fairy BadgeOpal · BallonleaFairy · ace Alcremie Lv. 38Aim for Lv. 38–41 · TM87 Draining Kiss
- Rock BadgeGordie (Sword) · CirchesterRock · ace Coalossal Lv. 42Aim for Lv. 42–45 · TM48 Rock Tomb
- Ice BadgeMelony (Shield) · CirchesterIce · ace Lapras Lv. 42Aim for Lv. 42–45 · TM27 Icy Wind
- Dark BadgePiers · SpikemuthDark · ace Obstagoon Lv. 46Aim for Lv. 46–49 · TM85 Snarl
- Dragon BadgeRaihan · HammerlockeDragon · ace Duraludon Lv. 48Aim for Lv. 48–51 · TM99 Breaking Swipe
The Gym Leaders
Turffield Stadium: Milo
Milo is the big, easy-going son of Turffield farmers, who built his strength working the fields alongside his Pokémon from childhood. He is the first Gym Leader most challengers face and the gentlest: he finds it hard to go all out against weaker opponents and cares more about everyone enjoying the battle than about the result. Nessa counts him as a rival, but Milo insists the only rival he has is himself. He wears his uniform number 831.
Team: Gossifleur Lv. 19, Eldegoss Lv. 20 (Dynamax)
Mission: Herd the Wooloo through the field into the goal while dodging Gym Trainers. Reward: TM10 Magical Leaf.
Hulbury Stadium: Nessa
Nessa is Hulbury’s calm, confident Water-type Leader and a successful fashion model, the daughter of a fisher and a market worker who grew up playing with Water Pokémon. Behind her composed exterior lies a fierce competitive streak, and fans argue over whether her Gym Leader and model personas are the same person. She met Sonia during their own Gym Challenge, and the two remain close friends.
Team: Goldeen Lv. 22, Arrokuda Lv. 23, Drednaw Lv. 24 (Gigantamax)
Mission: Flip switches to change the flow of water and reach the end of the Gym. She is the player’s first-round opponent in the Champion Cup Finals: Golisopod Lv. 51, Pelipper Lv. 51, Barraskewda Lv. 52, Seaking Lv. 52, Gigantamax Drednaw Lv. 53. Reward: TM36 Whirlpool.
Motostoke Stadium: Kabu
Kabu is a disciplined veteran from Hoenn who moved to Galar as a Trainer. He came close to the Championship several times but never won it, and an all-out aggressive style even saw him drop into the minor division for a time. A battle with Leon restored his drive, and he returned to the major division with renewed focus. For many challengers he is the first real wall of the Gym Challenge.
Team: Ninetales Lv. 25, Arcanine Lv. 25, Centiskorch Lv. 27 (Gigantamax)
Mission: Score points by catching or defeating Pokémon before the Gym Trainers do. Reward: TM38 Will-O-Wisp.
Stow-on-Side Stadium (Sword): Bea
Bea is a karate prodigy who inherited centuries-old techniques from her strict parents and has trained rigorously with her Pokémon since early childhood. Stoic and serious, she keeps fighting at full strength even when defeat looks certain, and many assume she has no feelings at all, though she simply hates to show weakness. She opens up to her Pokémon, and has a secret sweet tooth that her fans have recently discovered.
Team: Hitmontop Lv. 34, Pangoro Lv. 34, Sirfetch’d Lv. 35, Machamp Lv. 36 (Gigantamax)
Mission: Ride the spinning roulette panels, battling the Gym Trainers where they stop. In Sword she is the Finals round-two opponent: Hawlucha Lv. 52, Grapploct Lv. 52, Sirfetch’d Lv. 53, Falinks Lv. 53, Gigantamax Machamp Lv. 54. Reward: TM42 Revenge.
Stow-on-Side Stadium (Shield): Allister
Allister is a shy, mysterious boy who became a Gym Leader at a remarkably young age. He hides behind a mask that he never removes in public, keeping around a hundred spares in case one slips, and prefers lonely ruins and graveyards to crowds. He says he has been able to see departed Ghost-type Pokémon ever since an accident when he was four, though nobody knows if it is true.
Team: Galarian Yamask Lv. 34, Mimikyu Lv. 34, Cursola Lv. 35, Gengar Lv. 36 (Gigantamax)
Mission: Ride the spinning roulette panels, battling the Gym Trainers where they stop. In Shield he is the Finals round-two opponent: Dusknoir Lv. 52, Chandelure Lv. 52, Cursola Lv. 53, Polteageist Lv. 53, Gigantamax Gengar Lv. 54. Reward: TM77 Hex.
Ballonlea Stadium: Opal
Opal is Galar’s oldest Gym Leader at 88, having taken over Ballonlea’s Gym from her mother at 18 and held it for 70 years. Nicknamed the ‘wizard’ for her knack of reading opponents’ moves, she sets deliberately tricky quizzes because she believes people show their true colours under pressure. Her mission doubles as an audition for a successor, and she settles on the disgraced Bede, though she still visits the Gym every day to meddle.
Team: Galarian Weezing Lv. 36, Mawile Lv. 36, Togekiss Lv. 37, Alcremie Lv. 38 (Gigantamax)
Mission: Answer Opal’s quiz questions mid-battle; right answers boost your Pokémon, wrong ones weaken it. She is obsessed with the colour pink, and Bede takes over her Gym after the story. Reward: TM87 Draining Kiss.
Circhester Stadium (Sword): Gordie
Gordie is a rising star tipped by many to become Champion one day, hugely popular thanks to his autographs, fan events and sunglasses-wearing swagger. He learned to battle from his mother Melony, the Ice-type Leader, but chose Rock types because he admired them and wanted to make his own name. The heated battle that followed split Circhester and left the two barely speaking, and he still sulks in the locker room after defeats.
Team: Barbaracle Lv. 40, Shuckle Lv. 40, Stonjourner Lv. 41, Coalossal Lv. 42 (Gigantamax)
Mission: Cross a floor full of hidden pitfalls; falling through means a battle with a Gym Trainer. He leads Circhester’s Gym in Sword; in Shield his mother Melony takes his place. Reward: TM48 Rock Tomb.
Circhester Stadium (Shield): Melony
Melony is a warm, generous mother off the field and a cold, ruthless strategist on it, targeting her opponents’ weak points without mercy. She has led the Circhester Gym since her twenties and hoped her son Gordie would inherit her Ice types, but he chose Rock instead, and their battle over it split the town. Fans believe the rift hardened her battle style, yet she is said to have been the first member of Gordie’s fan club.
Team: Frosmoth Lv. 40, Galarian Darmanitan Lv. 40, Eiscue Lv. 41, Lapras Lv. 42 (Gigantamax)
Mission: Cross a floor full of hidden pitfalls; falling through means a battle with a Gym Trainer. She leads Circhester’s Gym in Shield in place of her son Gordie; her ace, Gigantamax Lapras, is also a Shield-only raid boss. Reward: TM27 Icy Wind.
Spikemuth: Piers
Piers is a gaunt, melancholy singer-songwriter, Marnie’s older brother and secretly the leader of Team Yell. He feels responsible for letting Spikemuth slide into neglect and hopes to see both his town and his sister thrive. Because Spikemuth sits off any Power Spot, he battles without Dynamax, and he has a habit of revealing his strategy early yet still winning. After the Champion Cup he retires and hands the Gym to Marnie.
Team: Scrafty Lv. 44, Malamar Lv. 45, Skuntank Lv. 45, Obstagoon Lv. 46 (no Dynamax)
Mission: Fight your way through Team Yell’s Grunts in the streets of Spikemuth to reach Piers. The first Dark-type Gym Leader in the series. Reward: TM85 Snarl.
Hammerlocke Stadium: Raihan
Raihan is widely seen as Galar’s strongest Gym Leader and Leon’s self-declared rival, a tall, laid-back Dragon specialist who leans on weather such as sandstorms and harsh sunlight from other types to power his team. He has lost all ten of his battles against Leon, yet has knocked out more of the Champion’s Pokémon than anyone. He is never far from his Rotom Phone, taking selfies, a habit that began as a reminder of a defeat.
Team: Double Battle: Gigalith Lv. 46, Flygon Lv. 47, Sandaconda Lv. 46, Duraludon Lv. 48 (Gigantamax)
Mission: Win Double Battles against the Gym Trainers. He is the last opponent before Leon in the Champion Cup: Torkoal Lv. 53, Goodra Lv. 54, Turtonator Lv. 54, Flygon Lv. 54, Gigantamax Duraludon Lv. 55. Reward: TM99 Breaking Swipe.
The Champion Cup
Galar has no Elite Four. Instead, the challengers who collect all eight Badges meet in the Champion Cup at Wyndon Stadium: a semi-final round against the other challengers, then the Finals against the strongest Gym Leaders, with the winner earning the Championship Match against Leon.
After you become Champion, Champion Cup rematches at Wyndon Stadium bring back Gym Leaders and rivals in a random line-up, with Leon waiting in the final.
The Champion Cup, round by round
| Round | Opponent | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Semi-final | Marnie | Liepard Lv. 47, Toxicroak Lv. 47, Scrafty Lv. 47, Morpeko Lv. 48, Grimmsnarl Lv. 49 (Gigantamax) |
| Semi-final | Hop | Dubwool Lv. 48, Corviknight Lv. 48, Pincurchin Lv. 47, Snorlax Lv. 47, Inteleon/Rillaboom/Cinderace Lv. 49 (Dynamax; depends on the player’s starter) |
| Finals – opening challenge | Bede | Mawile Lv. 51, Gardevoir Lv. 51, Galarian Rapidash Lv. 52, Hatterene Lv. 53 (Gigantamax) |
| Finals – first round | Nessa | Golisopod Lv. 51, Pelipper Lv. 51, Barraskewda Lv. 52, Seaking Lv. 52, Drednaw Lv. 53 (Gigantamax) |
| Finals – second round | Bea (Sword) / Allister (Shield) | Bea: Hawlucha Lv. 52, Grapploct Lv. 52, Sirfetch’d Lv. 53, Falinks Lv. 53, Machamp Lv. 54 (Gigantamax). Allister: Dusknoir Lv. 52, Chandelure Lv. 52, Cursola Lv. 53, Polteageist Lv. 53, Gengar Lv. 54 (Gigantamax) |
| Finals – third round | Raihan | Torkoal Lv. 53, Goodra Lv. 54, Turtonator Lv. 54, Flygon Lv. 54, Duraludon Lv. 55 (Gigantamax) |
Champion Leon
Leon, Champion
Leon has never lost an official battle as Champion and is idolised across Galar, playing up to the crowds with his trademark pose and cape. Off the pitch he is warm and protective of Hop, but famously hopeless with directions. His ace is a Gigantamax Charizard, and his team is built to cover whichever starter you chose.
Team: Aegislash Lv. 62, Dragapult Lv. 62, Haxorus Lv. 63, Charizard Lv. 65 (Gigantamax), plus two Pokémon that depend on the player’s starter: Seismitoad Lv. 64 and Cinderace Lv. 64 (if you chose Grookey), Mr. Rime Lv. 64 and Inteleon Lv. 64 (Scorbunny), or Rhyperior Lv. 64 and Rillaboom Lv. 64 (Sobble)
Rematch: In post-game Champion Cup rematches at Wyndon Stadium he fields the same line-up at higher levels.
After losing his title he becomes League Chairman, reopens Rose Tower as the Battle Tower and hosts the Galarian Star Tournament.
Glitches, exploits and oddities
Sword & Shield were patched regularly until 2021, and most of their notable glitches were fixed along the way; two still work in the final version.
Curry cloning glitch
Present in every version, this exploit happens in Pokémon Camp after cooking curry. Occasionally a wild-looking Pokémon appears near the camp and asks to join the team; with the right species, it arrives as a copy of a Pokémon the player already owns. The copy’s origin details are rewritten to match the player and it carries the Curry Connoisseur mark, and if the original is holding an item, that item is duplicated too unless it is removed first. Pokémon with long hitboxes and floating idle animations are the ones that trigger it.
Hacked Max Raid exploit
From version 1.0.0 to 1.2.1, the games did not check whether raid data shared by other players was legitimate. That meant a player who joined a cheater’s Max Raid Battle could end up catching an illegal glitch Pokémon, which could then be combined with the Pokémon Nursery and the PC Boxes to clone Pokémon and their held items. Because raids are shared through Y-Comm, ordinary players could stumble into these dens without realising. Version 1.2.1 closed the loophole by checking incoming raid data properly.
Menu evolution glitch
Up to version 1.2.1, moving the cursor in the single frame before an Exp. Candy or an evolution took effect could transfer that sequence to a different Pokémon in the party. This let players evolve Pokémon below their usual level or force evolutions onto the wrong species; when the species did not match, the game could throw an error and crash. Because it relied on single-frame timing it was hard to pull off by accident, and it appears to have been fixed in version 1.2.1.
Fairy Lock crash
Version 1.1.0 introduced a bug in which using the move Fairy Lock with battle animations switched on crashed the game outright. In a link battle, the crash hit both players’ consoles, abruptly ending the match for both sides. Because no Pokémon in the game could learn Fairy Lock normally, the only legitimate way to trigger it was through Metronome, and switching animations off avoided the problem. Game Freak fixed the bug in version 1.1.1, so it only affects copies still running version 1.1.0.
Dynite Ore Wild Area News crash
Between 30 June and 31 July 2020, a Wild Area News event listed Dynite Ore among its Max Raid rewards, an item that did not yet exist in the game. Viewing the event’s reward list crashed the game. The Pokémon Company repaired the event in two stages, finally swapping the missing item for Armorite Ore, the Isle of Armor’s currency. Dynite Ore itself arrived later with The Crown Tundra, where it is earned in the Max Lair and traded for items such as the Ability Patch.
Route 3 out-of-bounds glitch
Still working in the final version, this glitch uses the Berry tree on Route 3. By shaking the tree just as an online ranked battle begins, or by starting to shake it near midnight and then saving, the player can clip into the rock beside the tree and walk outside the map. Once out of bounds, the game can lose track of where the player actually is. A related trick lets players walk through walls by shaking Berry trees from behind.
Battle bugs fixed in version 1.3.1
Two battle-engine bugs survived until version 1.3.1. In the Rollout bug, the move’s power bonus was not reset after it hit a Mimikyu with an intact Disguise or an Eiscue in Ice Face, so the boost carried over to a later move. In the Toxic bug, any move used after Toxic in the same turn was guaranteed to hit, even a target that was underground or in the sky during a two-turn move. Both were patched in version 1.3.1, the update that followed The Crown Tundra’s launch.
What no longer works
Several of these tricks were closed by updates: hacked raid data and the menu evolution glitch were fixed in version 1.2.1, the Fairy Lock crash in 1.1.1, and the Rollout and Toxic battle bugs in 1.3.1. The Dynite Ore crash belonged to a single news event. Bigger changes are online: since 1 November 2022 Wild Area News no longer updates, so event-only raid Pokémon such as certain Gigantamax species stopped rotating, and there have been no new ranked Battle Stadium seasons or online competitions. The curry cloning and Route 3 glitches still work.
Videos & media
The reveal broadcasts and trailers for Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield and their Expansion Pass.
The Pokémon Day 2019 broadcast that revealed Sword, Shield, Galar and the three first partners.
The pre-E3 Direct that set the release date and introduced Dynamax, the Wild Area, Max Raids, Zacian and Zamazenta.
Nintendo UK’s trailer welcoming players to the Galar region.
The Expansion Pass reveal trailer from January 2020.
Trailer for the first expansion, The Isle of Armor.
UK trailer for the second expansion, The Crown Tundra.
Trivia & facts
- Sword and Shield are the first core-series games to receive an Expansion Pass, adding new areas as paid DLC rather than releasing a third version.
- They are the first core-series games to have version-exclusive Gym Leaders and Gym Badges: Bea or Allister, and Gordie or Melony.
- Piers runs the series’ first Dark-type Gym, and he is the only Galar Gym Leader who never Dynamaxes, because Spikemuth is the only Gym town not built over a Power Spot.
- Wyndon Stadium is modelled on London’s Wembley Stadium, right down to its arch.
- Undertale creator Toby Fox composed one track for the games.
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Eternamax Eternatus. Eternamax Eternatus has a base stat total of 1,125, the highest of any Pokémon and the only four-digit total; its Defense and Sp. Def of 250 are also unmatched.
Further trivia
- Eternatus was the first Legendary Pokémon that could be caught with any Poké Ball with no chance of it breaking free.
- According to his League Card, Raihan has lost all ten of his battles against Leon, yet has knocked out more of Leon’s Pokémon than anyone else.
- At 88, Opal is Galar’s oldest Gym Leader; she took over the Ballonlea Gym from her mother at 18 and held it for 70 years.
- The games were revealed on Pokémon Day, 27 February 2019 – 23 years to the day after Pokémon Red and Green went on sale in Japan.
Legacy
What came after
- Reveal in a Pokémon Direct – 27 February 2019. Announced on Pokémon Day by Tsunekazu Ishihara, Junichi Masuda and Shigeru Ohmori.
- Pokémon Direct naming Zacian and Zamazenta – 5 June 2019. Showed the Legendary Pokémon, Dynamax and the Wild Area ahead of E3.
- E3 2019 Nintendo Treehouse Live showing – 11 June 2019. Extended gameplay at E3; around the same time Masuda confirmed that not every species would be in the games.
- Worldwide launch – 15 November 2019. Released as separate versions and as a Double Pack.
- Version 1.1.0 and Expansion Pass reveal – 9 January 2020. The Expansion Pass was announced in a Pokémon Direct and went on sale the same day; the update added Galarian Slowpoke.
- Pokémon HOME launch – 12 February 2020. Two-way transfers with Sword and Shield from the start.
- Version 1.1.1 – 17 March 2020. Fixed a Surprise Trade exploit that could crash the Y-Comm and a Fairy Lock crash.
The Isle of Armor (Version 1.2.0) – 17 June 2020. First Expansion Pass wave; the update also lengthened Link Codes to eight digits.
The Crown Tundra (Version 1.3.0) – 22 October 2020 (23 October in Europe and Japan). Second wave, including Dynamax Adventures and the Galarian Star Tournament.- Physical Expansion Pass bundles – 6 November 2020. Each game boxed with its Expansion Pass.
- Pokémon HOME links with Pokémon GO – 11 November 2020. One-way transfers from GO; the first transfer rewards a Melmetal that can Gigantamax.
- Versions 1.3.1 and 1.3.2 – 21 December 2020 and 11 May 2021. Final bug-fix releases.
- Dada Zarude and Shiny Celebi codes – October 2021. Emailed to Pokémon Trainer Club newsletter subscribers for Secrets of the Jungle’s Netflix release.
- Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl – 19 November 2021. The next core release on Switch.
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus – 28 January 2022. Switch game set in Sinnoh’s distant past.
- Pokémon HOME 2.0.0 – 18 May 2022. Linked Brilliant Diamond, Shining Pearl and Legends: Arceus, so Pokémon from those games can move into Sword and Shield where the species is supported.
- The last online update – 1 November 2022. Wild Area News stopped updating, leaving its last event in place, and no new ranked seasons or online competitions followed.
- Pokémon Scarlet and Violet – 18 November 2022. Generation IX takes over as the active competitive game.
- Pokémon HOME 3.0.0 – 30 May 2023. Connected Scarlet and Violet.
- Nintendo Switch 2 launch – 5 June 2025. Sword and Shield play on the new console through backward compatibility.
- Pokémon Legends: Z-A – 16 October 2025. Released for Switch and Switch 2.
Where to play Sword & Shield today
Sword and Shield are Nintendo Switch games that also run on Nintendo Switch 2 through backward compatibility. Online play still needs Nintendo Switch Online; Max Raid Battles, trading and link battles all work, though nothing new has been added since the final update of 1 November 2022. Pokémon HOME still moves Pokémon in and out of both versions and on to later games such as Scarlet and Violet.
How Sword & Shield was made
Sword and Shield were directed by Shigeru Ohmori, who had led Sun and Moon, with Junichi Masuda among the producers and Kazumasa Iwao, director of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, as planning director. Concept work began once Sun and Moon wrapped in 2016, and full production started in September 2017. As the first core games made for a home console, they needed every Pokémon model rebuilt at higher fidelity, and the team’s earliest idea, giant Pokémon that would make the most of a television screen, grew into Dynamax; Ohmori proposed the sword-and-shield theme that named the games. Galar is modelled on the United Kingdom, with nods to Bath and York, Victorian and industrial architecture and snowy northern peaks. Masuda later said the sheer number of species, the extra work that features such as Dynamax demanded and the goal of balanced, polished battles made a complete Pokédex impossible without a much longer schedule, a cut fans nicknamed “Dexit”. Rather than a third version, The Pokémon Company chose expansions so that players could carry on with the Pokémon they had already raised. The score is mainly by Gō Ichinose and Minako Adachi, with one track by Toby Fox.
Sword & Shield in other media
The English and Japanese title screens:
Sales & reviews
Sales figures
Sword & Shield sold more than six million copies worldwide in their opening weekend (15–17 November 2019), making them the fastest-selling Nintendo Switch games up to then, ahead of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In Japan, Famitsu counted 1,364,544 retail copies in the first three days, Double Packs included; in the US more than two million copies went in the opening weekend; and in the UK Pokémon Sword entered the physical chart at No. 1 and Pokémon Shield at No. 3, with the Double Pack at No. 7.
By the end of March 2020 the games had sold 17.37 million copies, and Nintendo’s count reached 27.26 million by 30 June 2026, seventh on its list of best-selling Switch games. Scarlet & Violet later beat their launch records.
- 27.26mworldwide, June 2026
- 6m+worldwide in the opening weekend
- 1.36mJapan, first three days
- No. 1UK chart debut (Sword)
Review scores
Critics were impressed by the stadium Gym battles, Dynamax and the Wild Area, with the thin story, dated visuals and the Pokédex cut the main complaints. Some of the verdicts:
- Kallie Plagge of GameSpot gave it 9/10: “That makes for an incredibly strong showing for the series’ proper debut on Switch.”
- Casey DeFreitas of IGN scored it 9.3/10.
- Alex Olney of Nintendo Life (8/10) called the games “a solid start to the HD generation of Pokémon games”.
- Nintendo World Report’s Daan Koopman (8/10): “Overall, Pokémon Sword and Shield is yet another entertaining Pokémon game.”
- Chris Tapsell of Eurogamer was less convinced, and his review stopped short of a recommendation.
- The Expansion Pass was received more modestly: OpenCritic’s averages are 67 for The Isle of Armor and 74 for The Crown Tundra.
Most critics enjoyed Sword and Shield, with Metacritic settling at 80 for both versions and Famitsu awarding 38 out of 40. Reviewers singled out the stadium-based Gym battles and their crowds, the spectacle of Dynamax, the cooperative Max Raid Battles and a raft of quality-of-life changes that made catching and training far less of a grind, alongside an appealing British-flavoured region and a strong new line-up of Pokémon. The criticism was just as consistent. Many found the story thin and the route to the Champion Cup short and linear, the Wild Area impressive in scope but rough in its visuals, and the graphics in general dated for a home console, with blurry textures and sparse scenery; detractors also accused Game Freak of reusing older models, which the studio denied. Above all, the decision to cut the National Pokédex divided opinion, and user scores fell far below critics’ marks.
Awards and honours:
Media & artwork
Further reading
Other Sword & Shield links on the site, plus the games and series around it: