10 Cool Things You Can Do in Pokemon Sword & Shield

Explore the Wild Area

One of the best places to explore in Pokemon Sword and Shield is the Wild Area. The Wild Area is the open world section of the game that you can visit throughout your journey.

There are a lot of fun things you can do in the Wild area, such as participate in Max Raid Battles and catch rare Pokemon.

When you first visit the Wild Area, you’ll only be able to catch Pokemon that are level 20 and under, but you can try to fight higher level Pokemon to gain a lot of experience. The Pokemon you can find in the Wild Area will change depending on the time of day and the weather.

There are many hidden items and new Pokemon to find in the Wild Area, and it is quite large, so you might find yourself spending hours exploring and training instead of going to get the next gym badge.

Max Raid Battle With a Friend

If you enjoy participating in Pokemon Go’s Raids, you will be glad to know that a similar feature exists in Sword and Shield. These are called Max Raid Battles and they are the only way to catch certain Pokemon in the Galar region.

In the Wild Area, you can tell if there is an active Max Raid Battle ready if you see a pink or purple beacon of light coming out of a den. You can choose to battle with NPCs, but it’s a lot more exciting to battle with friends.

If you choose to invite others, the people from your Switch’s friend list will be able to join you through Y-Comm. It’s fun to coordinate with friends on the best strategies, such as who will Dynamax their Pokemon.

Visit a Friend’s Camp

If you need a break from battling, you can set up camp or visit someone else’s camp. To visit a camp, simply walk around the Wild Area when connected to the internet and find a tent. People from your Switch friend list will also show up.

It’s a delight to see what Pokemon your friend has caught, and you can play with them. One camp I visited even had a Pokemon that I had never seen before, which inspired me to try to find one for myself.

You can also team up with your friend at his or her camp to cook curry. One person picks the main ingredient while the other adds berries. You fan the flames and stir together, and you both get the benefit of the meal.

Customize Your Appearance

Customizing your character existed in previous Pokemon games, but there are more options than ever in Sword and Shield.

At the beginning of the game, there are a few premade characters to select from, but you can customize your appearance even more by the time you get to the first town.

There are several clothing boutiques where you can buy clothes and accessories. A hair salon where you can change your hairstyle and makeup appears in the first major city.

Each time you defeat a gym, you get a wearable uniform based on that gym’s type. Additionally, you have the option to change your Rotom Bike uniform by talking to Watt traders in the Wild Area.

Once you’ve taken advantage of all of the customization options the game has to offer, you can feel confident that your trainer is truly one of a kind.

Update Your League Card

After you’ve customized your character’s appearance to your liking, it would be a great time to update your League Card.

These are cards that you can collect and share throughout the game with main characters from the game as well as with friends online. You can design the front of the card to your liking, and the back has stats such as how many Pokemon you’ve caught and how many curries you’ve cooked.

At first, there are only a few options to pick when it comes to backgrounds, effects, frames, and poses. As you progress through the game, you get more choices in each of these categories.

The League Card is one of the coolest ways to show off how you’re doing as a Pokemon trainer, so don’t forget to update yours from time to time.

Play the Loto-ID Each Day

The Loto-ID from previous Pokemon games is back, and now it is even easier to play. Each day, you can visit the Rotomi in a Pokemon Center to see if the daily number matches any of your Pokemon’s ID number.

It’s mostly luck, but you can increase your odds of winning by having a greater number of Pokemon. Trade with others and you’ll have more chances of matching the daily numbers.

Right now it is unclear what prizes you can win, but in past games, you could win rare items. In the past, you could even win a Master Ball for matching all of the digits, so that may also be a Loto-ID prize in Sword and Shield. Only time will tell once somebody gets lucky enough.

Register Your Birthday

Soon after starting your journey, you’ll visit the town of Wedgehurst. There is a woman standing in front of the Pokemon Center that you’ll definitely want to talk to.

She’ll tell you that she will read your horoscope if you give her your birthday. Go ahead and put in the numerical month and date of your birthday.

The horoscope itself isn’t anything special, but that’s not the real reason why you’re doing this. The game is using this to register your birthday so that you can be recognized on your special day.

We won’t spoil exactly what happens, but be sure to visit any Pokemon Center on your birthday after you’ve registered the date for a cute surprise.

Get Special Poke Balls from the Ball Guy

This guy might just be the weirdest character in any Pokemon game.

And that’s why we love him.

You’ll find the Ball Guy hanging around in every gym you visit on your journey. Talk with him, and he’ll dance happily and give you a special Poke Ball, such as a Friend Ball or a Lure Ball.

The first time you see the Ball Guy, you might be thrown off since he stands out from the crowd, but trust us—you’ll begin to look forward to seeing him throughout the game.

Spin Around and Strike a Pose

At any point in the game, you can spin your left analog stick in a circle as fast as you can, and your character will twirl and strike a pose.

Who knew Pokemon trainers had such cool and stylish moves?

While fun, this might just seem like a useless trick, but if you do it under certain conditions, something exciting might happen…

Send Your Pokemon out on a Poke Job

Once you get to Motostoke, the first big city in the game, you can use the Rotomi in Pokemon Centers to send your Pokemon out to do a job.

Poke Jobs are a fantastic way for you to passively level up the Pokemon that aren’t active members of your team. Sending them out to do jobs will allow them to gain experience in real-time over the course of several hours.

It’s fun to read the descriptions for each of the Poke Jobs and decide which of your Pokemon would be best suited for each task. For example, a job called Rondo Floral requests Ground-type Pokemon to help them create fertilizer.

As you earn more badges, your Pokemon will be able to do more jobs and even attend seminars to increase their stats. Poke Jobs are a great way to train Pokemon if you don’t have a ton of time on your hands.

That’s our list of 10 cool things you can do in Pokemon Sword and Shield. Be sure to check out our Sword and Shield Guide Wiki for plenty of tips and tricks to help you throughout the game.