Pokemon Legends: Z-A Tips: 16 Things You Need To Know Before You Play

Are you searching for Pokemon Legends: Z-A advice? Well, you have arrived at the correct location. As a novice trainer who has recently reached Lumiose City, you have quite a task ahead, particularly with persistent encounters against Z-A Royale competitors and the imminent danger of Rogue Mega Evolutions. Thankfully, our guide contains all the information to aid you in commencing your adventure successfully.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A beginner’s guide – 16 hints you must know before you start playing

Our guide is overflowing with insights regarding general mechanics, in addition to those pertaining to battles and exploration. We commence, naturally, with the essential gameplay features that you should become accustomed to during the initial hours. We then explore additional elements that you are certain to face as you advance further into the storyline.

As with other titles in the Pokemon franchise, you have the opportunity to select from three starter Pokemon when you begin the Z-A adventure. You possess the following choices for this specific installment:

• Chikorita: Grass
• Totodile: Water
• Tepig: Fire

Since this creature is regarded as your companion, you’re quite likely to rely on them frequently in battles, to the extent that they may become one of the most formidable members of your team later on. Furthermore, there are other creatures you can capture within just a few hours, which should significantly influence your team dynamics. These selections include the Gen 1 Pokemon–namely Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander.

Related guides:

• Best starter Pokemon
• Best early-game Pokemon
• Where to find a Pikachu
• Where to find an Eevee

One of the most crucial Pokemon Legends: Z-A tips to keep in mind is that Lumiose City experiences a definite day-night cycle that influences the accessible activities and even the appearance of Pokemon. Here’s what you should be aware of:

• The majority of Pokemon in Lumiose City should be accessible at any time of day. Nevertheless, there are a few exceptions:
  • Diurnal Pokemon appear solely during daylight.
  • Nocturnal Pokemon are only present at night. They may also spawn in underground areas or interiors that you can visit during your adventure.
• Battle Zones where you compete with other trainers are only operational at night. (We elaborate on this gameplay aspect in detail later in our guide.)
• As dawn approaches, the Battle Zone will close. Any match you’re actively engaged in will conclude abruptly.
• Pokemon that you’ve damaged in any area will recover to full health once a day-to-night or night-to-day transition occurs.
• Pokemon usually respawn if you leave and return to a Wild Zone after a certain duration. They also respawn after each transition of day-night.
• You can manually progress the time of day by resting on a bench.

Related guide:Campaign length and mission list

Numerous spots in Lumiose City are entirely explorative. To accelerate your progress, we recommend marking all varieties of fast travel points, including:

• Pokemon Centers – Here, you can heal all your Pokemon and purchase Poke Balls.
• Cafes and eateries – You can buy beverages and food at these places.
• Notable locations, buildings, and landmarks – These are specifically named sites with various functions, some of which are tied to the story.
• Wild Zones – These regions are inhabited by various Pokemon that you may capture.

Keep in mind that you can navigate streets, alleyways, rooftops, sewers, and other areas while free-roaming or progressing through the campaign. Many of these spots also feature wild Pokemon wandering around.

As with prior titles, you need to remember how Pokemon types and elemental skills correspond against your opponents. For example, Fire is extremely effective against Grass, Ice, Bug, and Steel, but it’s nearly ineffective against Water and Dragon types.

If you have brought a Pokemon into battle, you can press the ZL button to target an adversary. The available moves feature symbols indicating which actions should be taken against your enemy:

• Double circle – Highly effective
• Single circle – Standard damage
• Triangle – Not effective
• X mark – No effect / nullified damage
• Blank / no symbol – Buffs and support abilities that influence your Pokemon

Another vital Pokemon Legends:

A Z-A pointer to remember is that skirmishes occur in real-time. This signifies that your active Pokemon accompanies you as you traverse the battlefield. There are several points to consider:

• Always carry a Pokemon with you at all moments. If you’re entirely by yourself, hostile Pokemon will quickly target your character. If you sustain too much damage, you’ll lose consciousness and awaken at the last Pokemon Center you visited.
• If you suspect an attack is incoming, hit the Y button to dodge.
• Moving around allows your Pokemon to adjust their position as they follow you. This can be advantageous if an adversary is about to execute a frontal strike, allowing you to maneuver behind them.
• Some abilities have a direct effect—i.e., projectiles that travel in a straight line. You can avoid these if your Pokemon is on elevated or lower terrain. Conversely, other abilities might possess area-of-effect (AoE) or direct casts—i.e., projectiles descend directly overhead—making them trickier to evade.
• A handful of abilities prompt your Pokemon to move automatically—i.e., Lunge, Drill Horn, Megahorn, and Fly, among others. These assist you in dodging attacks occurring at that moment.
• You can cast defensive spells like Safeguard, Protect, Light Screen, and others prior to your opponent’s initial move to minimize incoming damage.
• Upon defeating a trainer’s Pokemon, you are not restricted to merely lingering. You can switch to another member of your team before the trainer introduces their next challenger.

You can easily adjust your Pokemon’s moves via the “Boxes” menu:

• Abilities possess a type/element and an internal cooldown duration. Offensive abilities include a power meter that indicates their damage output.
• Ideally, maintaining two or more offensive moves is beneficial due to cooldown periods. Otherwise, you could find yourself waiting several seconds just to reuse the same attack.
• Buffs and defensive moves can be prepared before starting a conflict. Trainers often do this to neutralize your hardest-hitting strike early in battle, so you might as well do the same.
• To review the available Technical Machines or TMs, hit the ZR button.

Capturing creatures in Pokemon Legends: Z-A is relatively simple, though there are a few points to keep in mind:

• You can press the left thumbstick to stealthily navigate an area. When a Pokemon is sufficiently close, hold the ZL button and press the ZR button to throw a Poke Ball. You may also utilize the d-pad to pick from different options.
• Most Wild Pokemon won’t be captured on the initial attempt. If this happens, you must defeat them in battle. Reducing your target’s HP causes them to become incapacitated, which makes capturing them easier. However, if you choose not to catch them, they will vanish.
• Don’t be concerned if you’re unable to catch your target after a few attempts. They will respawn after a day-night cycle transition.

Additionally, you can buy various types of Poke Balls from shops, and some are even given out for free. These typically have different functions when trying to capture creatures throughout Lumiose City.

Pokemon Centers:

• Poke Ball – Low-level Pokemon.
• Great Ball – Low-to-mid-level Pokemon.
• Ultra Ball – Mid-to-high-level Pokemon.
• Premier Ball – Purchase 10 of the same type of any Poke Ball.
• Master Ball – Guarantees a 100% capture rate.

Poke Ball Boutiques:

• Heal Ball – Restores HP and removes status conditions of a creature that you capture.
• Net Ball – More effective at catching Water and Bug types.
• Nest Ball – More effective at capturing low-level variants compared to your own level.
• Dive Ball – More effective at catching Pokemon in aquatic environments.
• Dusk Ball – More effective at capturing Pokemon during nighttime.
• Timer Ball – More effective at capturing a target that has performed many actions in battle.
• Quick Ball – More effective at capturing Pokemon if utilized before they notice you.
• Repeat Ball – More effective at capturing Pokemon of a species you’ve already captured.
• Luxury Ball – Makes wild Pokemon more friendly after being captured.

The Battle Zone is an essential aspect of the gameplay, thus we should examine various Pokemon Legends: Z-A tips related to this activity:

• A significant portion of the campaign focuses on acquiring event tickets, allowing you to battle your next opponent in the Z-A Royale. These Z-A tickets are obtained through victories against generic/no-name trainers in the Battle Zone.
• The Battle Zone only manifests at night in Lumiose City, as previously noted. Each evening, a new sector of the city is randomly selected. Consequently, you’re more likely to spend your evenings engaged in skirmishes within the Battle Zone, rather than exploring Wild Zones or completing side quests.
• You can collect items and Prize Money (which appear as coins) while wandering around a Battle Zone.
• Various Bonus Cards are also available that offer extra points and prize money if you successfully complete their requirements. Examples include defeating an adversary in a single hit, landing multiple hits using a specific element, or defeating trainers of a higher rank.
• You can hold up to three Bonus Cards at any one time. Additionally, you may substitute a Bonus Card that isn’t useful with something more attainable.

It’s also essential to do your utmost when sneaking up on rival trainers. This is accomplished by pressing the left thumbstick to crouch and moving slowly toward an NPC while their back is turned:

• If a trainer is looking at you, an indicator at the top of the screen signals if you are close to being detected.
• Barriers, tall grass, and even height differences can obstruct line of sight.
• You can remain hidden and direct your Pokemon toward an enemy creature. If they succeed in landing a surprise strike, you’ll gain an upper hand.
• It’s wise to unleash your most powerful ability as your initial strike. Since you possess an advantage, you can recast this ability without waiting for its cooldown.

Related guide:All Z-A Royale trainers and how to defeat them

Apart from a select few quests and missions, your reward currency–i.e. gold/cash–only originates from Battle Zones. Thus, it is crucial that you optimize your profits with each attempt:

• You can engage in Battle Zone activities even if you’ve reached your maximum points for Z-A Royale tickets. Consider these sessions as cash-gathering expeditions.
• Gather the coins you encounter and fulfill the objectives from Bonus Cards.
• Eliminate as many trainers as feasible before dawn. Keep in mind that the count of trainers you defeat awards multiplier bonuses.

Midway through the campaign, you’ll encounter tougher versions of Pokemon referred to as Rogue Mega Evolutions. These are, in essence, extended boss battles against formidable adversaries.

• While some Pokemon maintain their element/type upon undergoing a Mega Evolution, others transform entirely. This alteration means their strengths and vulnerabilities shift as well.
• When a Mega Evolution boss begins to flash, it indicates they will unleash their ultimate move. These are typically AoE assaults that can inflict significant harm to your own Pokemon. Therefore, it is wise to withdraw them into their Poke Ball to evade the detrimental blow. This can be done by pressing down on the D-pad.
• You acquire Mega Evolution stones from these boss encounters, as well as from a handful of shops in Lumiose City. Subsequently, these enable you to trigger your own Pokemon Mega Evolutions.

Related guide:All Mega Evolutions and how to unlock them

While exploring Lumiose City, you’re likely to come across intriguing objects and impediments. Your Pokemon can actually interact with these by executing specific elemental abilities. Here are several instances:

• Large boulders can be shattered using Rock and Fighting-type techniques.
• Purple goo and sludge can be washed away with Water skills.
• Thorny vines can be incinerated with Fire abilities. You can also apply Fire moves to frozen ice objects to create platforms.
• Ice, conversely, can be utilized on a few fountains to access the sewers.

Note: Later in the campaign, you will acquire a device known as the Roto-Glide. If you press and hold the A button while plummeting from a significant height, you’ll receive an upward boost. This enables you to reach elevated ledges.

Speaking of employing Pokemon skills on objects, you must definitely shatter any Mega Crystals that you encounter. These pink crystalline nodes appear in clusters all over the city. Any kind of attack can destroy them, which consequently awards you Mega Shards.

Mega Shards are a resource utilized to purchase additional Mega Evolution stones from the Quasartico, Inc. building. Even better, the crystal nodes regenerate after a few moments pass in-game, allowing you to accumulate as many of the resource as you desire.

An essential tip for Pokemon Legends: Z-A to remember is that Lumiose City has even more treasures for you to discover. Thus, keep a lookout for glowing items, especially those situated on rooftops and scaffolding:

• Red items – These usually include various types of Poke Balls, consumables, or upgrades.
• Purple items – These are Colorful Screws. You can swap these at the Racine Construction building in the southeastern area of the map. Doing so awards you Canari Plushies that provide permanent boosts while they remain in your inventory.
• Gold items – These are Technical Machines (TMs) facilitating your Pokemon to learn new moves.

Related guides:

• All TM locations
• All Colorful Screw locations and Canari Plush rewards

Moreover, while wandering through the city, you’re sure to encounter numerous NPCs. Some require your assistance, while others provide rewards based on your efforts:

• NPCs displaying a golden dialogue box frequently hand out complimentary items, including Poke Balls, consumables, prize money, and, in certain instances, TMs.
• Don’t worry if you tossed a bunch of Poke Balls without catching anything. If you engage with NPCs wearing blue jackets–i.e. the ones near Pokemon Centers–they will refund your lost Poke Balls.
• You should certainly handle side quests as they arise. Some offer fantastic rewards, including specific Pokemon and a few cosmetic items.

Related guide:How to complete The Many Flowers of Flabebe side quest

Pokemon games often revolve around creating memories during your adventure, and what better method to achieve this than using the Photo Mode feature. This can be activated by pressing the “-” (i.e. select) button. You can then explore additional functions, such as:

• Y button – Switch from first-person POV to a free camera that allows you to view your character.
• X button – Choose from various stances and facial expressions.
• ZL and ZR – Toggle between different music themes, which also initiate Pokemon animations.
• Left and right on the D-pad – Select from various kinds of filters.

You may also wish to demonstrate your sense of style. Boutiques can be found in the northern, southern, and southwestern sections of the city. These establishments offer numerous shops selling outfits and cosmetic embellishments. You can even change your hairstyle and hair color at salons.

That concludes our Pokemon Legends: Z-A beginners guide. We trust these tips assist you as you embark on your journey in Lumiose City.

You don’t need to confront the challenges in Lumiose City alone. We have a Pokemon Legends: Z-A guides hub to support your ascent from the bottom to the pinnacle of the rankings.