Pokemon Sword & Shield: How to Trade With Friends

pokemon sword & shield, trade with friends

Pokemon Sword & Shield are the two latest releases in Game Freak’s popular monster-catching series. As you fill up your PC boxes with Pokemon, you’ll want to trade them with other players as well, especially if you’re playing different versions of the game. Here’s how to trade with friends in Pokemon Sword & Shield.

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You won’t unlock the online features and trading function until you’ve met the Professor in Route 2 and had your battle with Hop, so you’ll want to keep playing through the story until you reach that point.

After that, simply press the Y button to open the Y-Comm menu, where you can start trading with friends.

Trading With Friends

To trade Pokemon with friends, choose the Link Trade option, then choose Set Link Code. This allows you to set a code that you can then give to your friend so that your games can connect with each other, allowing you to make the exchange.

If you just choose the Start Trading option, your request will be broadcasted to any trainers who happen to be in your vicinity.

Going Online

If your friend isn’t in your vicinity, that’s fine too. Pokemon Sword & Shield will allow you to connect to the internet by pressing the + button from the Y-Comm menu.

From here, you’ll be connected online, and you can choose the Link Trade option as per normal to connect with your friends.

To recap, here’s how to trade with friends in Pokemon Sword & Shield:

  1. Progress through the story till you meet the Professor at Route 2 and complete your battle with Hop.

  2. Press Y to open the Y-Comm menu, and press the + button to connect to the internet if necessary.

  3. Choose the Link Trade option, set a code and share it with your friend to begin.

That’s all you need to know about how to trade with friends in Pokemon Sword & Shield. Be sure to search for Twinfinite for more tips and information on the game.

Here are a few other guides to help get you started:


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Author
Zhiqing Wan
Zhiqing is the Reviews Editor for Twinfinite, and a History graduate from Singapore. She's been in the games media industry for nine years, trawling through showfloors, conferences, and spending a ridiculous amount of time making in-depth spreadsheets for min-max-y RPGs. When she's not singing the praises of Amazon's Kindle as the greatest technological invention of the past two decades, you can probably find her in a FromSoft rabbit hole.