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pokemon sword and shield, tms and trs, what's the difference

Pokemon Sword & Shield TMs & TRs: What’s the Difference?

This article is over 5 years old and may contain outdated information

Every Pokemon in Sword and Shield can learn up to four different moves which is no different from any other mainline Pokemon game but if you want to teach Pokemon moves that they usually would not learn from leveling up, you have to use TMs and TRs. Are you wondering what the difference is between the two? Here’s what you need to know about that.

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What’s the Difference Between TMs and TRs in Pokemon Sword & Shield?

TMs and TRs are technical moves that can be taught to specific Pokemon by going into the main menu, going inside the bag, and then going over to the TMs tab. Here, you will find TMs and TRs and then you can assign them to a Pokemon by hitting the A button and then choosing the Pokemon that you want to teach the move to.

TMs stand for technical machines and can be used as many times as you want and TRs stand for technical records and can only be used a single time before it breaks and goes away forever.

TRs are typically harder to find compared to TMs and the moves are stronger. Some examples of TMs are moves such as Swift and Helping Hand and some examples of TRs are Flamethrower and Hydro Pump.

How Do You Get TMs and TRs?

Technical Machines (TMs) are usually found by talking to NPCs throughout the game or by partaking in some battles at the Battle Tower. If you’re trying to look for them all, we recommend talking to everyone and anyone that you can find in the towns/cities.

Technical Records (TRs) are a bit rarer and are found by trading Watts with a Watt Trader in the Wild Areas or by completing Max Raid Battles.

And that’s pretty much all you need to know about TMs and TRs and the differences between the two in Pokemon Sword and Shield. For more on the game, make sure to check out our extensive Guide Wiki.

Here are a few guides to get you started:

What’s the difference between TMs and TRs in Sword and Shield?

TMs stand for technical machines and can be used as many times as you want once you acquire one. TRs are technical records and work the same as TMs but can only be used once and are typically more powerful moves.


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Image of Greysun Morales
Greysun Morales
Greysun was formerly the Features Editor at Twinfinite and wrote for the site from 2017 to 2020. He eats ramen 12 times a week and will never get tired of it. Playing Games Since: 1993, Favorite Genres: Action-Adventure, JRPG, Platformers, and Anything With Ramen