Pokémon Legends Arceus beginner’s guide, tips, and tricks

Exploring the Hisui region in Pokémon Legends: Arceus is unlike any Pokémon game we’ve had before, making it a potentially confusing journey to those unfamiliar with open-world games. Don’t worry: We have your back with a handful of tips that we wish we knew going in. Our Pokémon Legends: Arceus beginner’s guide will provide you with some tips to help you start your journey in Hisui.

Pick up everything

Though an obvious tip for open-world veterans, new players may want to be mindful of their limited satchel space. Regardless, you should pick up everything you run across, whether it’s Medicinal Leeks or special stones you get from throwing your Pokémon out at ore. You’ll need these items to craft medicine, Poké Balls, and other useful items for your journey. If your bag fills up, you can always fast travel to a camp to deposit things in storage.

It’s always better to have too many crafting supplies in your storage, rather than too little. Your Pokémon also get EXP for collecting ore from deposits, berries from trees, and the like, so it’s worth tossing them out quickly just to grab some materials.

Use type advantages to win in battle

As with all Pokémon games, you’ll want to use type advantages to win your battles. Though in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, you won’t be battling trainers as often as you do in mainline games, you’ll still want to exploit weaknesses against the boss Nobel Pokémon and the other small trainer encounters you have.

Utilize Wyrdeer as a jumping mount more than a running mount

Soon after starting the game, you’ll get Wyrdeer, a mount Pokémon that sprints and jumps, making navigating the region a breeze. Though it may seem like Wyrdeer is useful for its speed, it can jump. Though your character can dodge roll, they can’t actually jump up ledges or cliffs. Wyrdeer can, so make sure to take advantage of its leaping abilities to get to new areas.

Target with ZL to scope out wild Pokémon levels

While you’re aiming at nearby Pokémon, you can press and hold ZL to target them. Not only does this lock on to make aiming easier, but it’ll tell you the Pokémon’s level in the bottom left corner. This is perfect for making sure you’re in the right level range.

Only keep the necessities on you, everything else goes in storage

Though you can expand your satchel storage, avoid carrying around too many items. You should keep a plethora of Poké Balls and healing items on you, but leftover materials and the like should go into storage. Using a crafting table pulls materials from your storage anyway, so you won’t need to keep much on you.

Image: Game Freak/The Pokémon Company via Polygon

Catch at least one of everything you see

While this might seem like an obvious Pokédex completion tip, catching a Pokémon does not complete its entry in your Pokédex. You’ll need to see the Pokémon use specific moves, catch a certain amount of them, or even battle them a ton in order to flesh out their entries. Having a Pokémon makes this easier, as you can spam battles and required moves directly, rather than waiting on wild Pokémon.

Side quests are important for unlocking more items, hairstyles, and clothing

The main shopkeepers in Jubilife Village will offer sidequests as you progress more through the game. These sidequests are integral to unlocking more shop content, like hairstyles and items, so you should definitely do those as you go.