Pokémon Champions beginner's guide - Six tips for putting you on the road to becoming a Pokémon Master

Competitive Pokémon battles are a tricky business. A lot of the creatures are cute and cuddly and that affable appearance hides a surprising amount of depth. If you've only ever rattled through the main series' campaigns, chances are you've never delved that deep into it.

Truthfully, it would take an age to explain the finer details of these turn-based battles. Heck, even some of the greatest players are still uncovering new strategies. However, I can help you get started, which is why I've created this Pokémon Champions beginner's guide. It'll make sure you're not wasting your precious in-game currency or heading into battle ill-prepared. 

Tip #1 – Pick the right starter Pokémon

Much like the main series, Pokémon Champions makes you choose a starter. The key difference here is that rather than picking one monster, you're actually getting six. It just neglects to tell you who else is coming along for the ride. Below, you'll find a table that shows the teams you get with two of the starters. To save you time, I've not included the other teams as they're not as stacked as these two:

Starter	Pokémon 1	Pokémon 2	Pokémon 3	Pokémon 4	Pokémon 5
Absol	Froslass	Corviknight	Garchomp	Arcanine	Whimsicott
Pikachu	Kingambit	Garchomp	Azumarill	Gyarados	Gengar

For Absol’s team, we're mostly concerned about Garchomp, Whimsicott and Corviknight. Garchomp is, and always has been, a solid physical attacker while Whimsicott provides some field control with Tailwind, which doubles your team's speed for five turns. Corviknight, meanwhile, is a tanky avian that can do some damage with Body Press. Arcanine can make a good stopgap until you get Incineroar, and Froslass' Mega is great in a Snow team. Don't use Absol.

With Pikachu's squad, the highlights are Kingambit, Garchomp, Gyarados, and Gengar. Kingambit is a bulky Pokémon with high attack, meaning it's hard to get rid of and packs quite the punch. Gyarados has Intimidate, which lowers your opponent's attack, and also has an immunity to Ground, which makes it a great partner for Garchomp, who loves to use Earthquake. Finally, Gengar can... Well, it’s quite versatile. Historically, though, it's known for its high Special Attack and Speed, letting it handle many threats. Don't use Pikachu.

Tip #2 – Complete all of the tutorials

Once you've waded through the initial set-up, you'll want to swing by the tutorials, and not just for the knowledge. Tap Train, then select Battle Tutorials to get started and work through each topic. Although they're far from extensive, they will teach you a few things or refresh any fading memories. That aside, the main reason to do this is all the free goodies, including VP, some Mega Stones, and tickets. Apart from the Mega Stones, the other rewards all allow us to recruit more Pokémon from the gacha in some way. 

Tip #3 – Pokémon Home is your friend

If you're happy moving Pokémon around in other games, then connecting Champions to Pokémon Home is a great move. It'll save you a ton of VP since you can transfer Pokémon over without having to spend any, which frees that up for training instead. The only thing to remember is that once transferred from Home, they still take up space there and in Champions, rather than moving over completely. 

Tip #4 – Try to recruit some of the more meta Pokémon

There are some Pokémon that are just better than others. That might be because of their stats, or they simply have an Ability that's just incredibly useful. It's a good idea, then, to try to get a few of these before you start trying to climb the Ranked ladder. You don't have to use a full meta team, of course. I managed to get to Master Ball with a Chandelure weighing down my otherwise meta team. Even so, having a couple will certainly make your climb easier. Here are some to look out for:

• Sneasler
• Basculegion
• Aerodactyl
• Sylveon
• Garchomp
• Kingambit
• Whimsicott
• Gengar
• Charizard (Mega Charizard Y, specifically)
• Pelipper
• Incineroar
• Eternal Flower Floette (Mega Floette)

Of those Pokémon, they're all recruitable within Champions except for Floette, who you have to transfer from Legends Z-A via Pokémon Home. It's obtained by completing the post-game mission Infinite Z-A Royale. This is a bit of a grind, particularly since Pokémon Legends Z-A isn't that fun. However, if you want to be hyper meta, then it's pretty much essential to have Floette since its signature move Light of Ruin is obnoxiously powerful. 

Tip #5 - Spend some VP training your Pokémon and give them a held item

That's right, we're heading back into the Train menu. This time, we're hitting Pokémon Training. Here, you can change a Pokémon's moves, its Ability, stat alignment and stat points. Stat alignment you might remember as Natures and essentially raises one stat and lowers another. As a general rule, you want to raise the most important stat and lower the type of attack (Special or Physical) that your Pokémon doesn't use. 

Meanwhile, stat points allow you to give certain stats a boost. In total, you have 66 of these but can only assign 32 to a single stat. How you distribute them is up to you. Mostly, you'll want to accentuate your Pokémon's strengths rather than try to cover for its weaknesses. If its defence is already low, raising it won't help much. Of course, there are exceptions, with these nuances being learned over time. We just want to get you started for now. 

Finally, make sure your Pokémon is heading into battle with a Held Item. If you want to use a Mega, then you'll need that particular stone. Beyond that, there's plenty of choice, though you'll want to pick something that suits your Pokémon's role. If it's a tank, then Leftovers is usually a good option, and Life Orb is a popular choice on attackers. 

With these tips, you're ready to step into competitive Pokémon battling. There's a lot to learn on the way, but it's one of those situations where it's better to learn from doing. Good luck out there! I'm sure you'll become a Pokémon Master in no time.