Pokémon UNITE has been quite a ride so far. At the time of writing I’m currently sitting at Master Rank, and achieving it solo was a real struggle. I’d like to think that I’ve learned a lot about the game along the way, so I’ve gathered a list of tips for new players looking for help — some of these tips were really helpful to me as I advanced in the rankings.

Tips & Tricks

1. If you’re the jungler, don’t attack the lane’s Aipom and if you’re in the lane, don’t attack any of the jungle’s spawns! The jungler / center-laner is one of the most important members of the team; as such, they’ll need to level up quickly and run to the top and bottom as needed. If your jungler falls behind, so too will the rest of the team. So don’t steal their experience points by attacking their wild Pokémon!
2. You don’t always have to fight Zapdos. This tip is sort of useless if your team starts fighting it anyway, but remember — Zapdos is very strong. If you’re in the lead, there’s no reason to fight Zapdos except to deny the enemy team from capturing it. If the opposition does decide to fight Zapdos, you can essentially trap them in a six-versus-five scenario.
3. Score early and often — no matter how many points you score, you’ll get healed for the same amount of damage. If you have less than ten points you can score incredibly quickly, and if you’re sitting close to the enemy goal you can disengage for a moment to get a quick heal and then turn their goal against them. Just be sure to start running afterward if the enemy comes back around!
4. Pay attention to your minimap. It’ll show the locations of enemies around you and can let you know if a player is approaching before you would notice them on-screen. Positioning is very important in this game and getting caught off-guard from behind could spell disaster.
5. Turn on advanced auto-attacks. The normal auto-attack setting just uses the A button to target an enemy based on a few priorities; by turning on advanced auto-attacks, you can choose to attack wild Pokémon with the B button or enemy Pokémon with the A button.
6. Always be farming. Experience is the most important aspect of Pokémon UNITE — plus, the match score can swing wildly in the last two minutes. It’s more important to increase your level and experience points!
7. Don’t overextend. If you’re in the enemy’s zone / speed-decrease zone, you’re probably too far away. The respawn timer is incredibly short until the end of the match, so unless you’re playing as a mobile Pokémon then getting that kill will usually result in your own death.
8. Drednaw is super important! The experience it gives to your team is usually enough to level everybody up or at least come close to it.
9. If the worst-case scenario happens and the enemy gets Zapdos, your only option is to try and KO them before they score. When the goals are down, the score timer resets to zero — so if the opponents make it to your goal, you won’t be able to stop them from scoring no matter how fast you jam the attack button. Your best bet is to stand and fight, not run back to your base trying to meet them. You most likely won’t be able to stop your enemies in this case but killing one or two of them means anywhere from 40 to 200 less points for the opposing team.
10. If you get Zapdos, staying to fight isn’t worth it. If you have a dash, use it to disengage from any enemies in the center and heard toward the nearest goal. They don’t stay down for too long, but it’s long enough for you to get in there and smash a goal for 40 to 100 points.

Here’s a bonus tip: this game, in its current state, can be frustrating. This genre of game is known to be very investing and competitive, and it gets disheartening (or even angering) when you’re struggling to get the wins you need for your next rank or class. Remember to turn off the game, take a break, and then come back later with a clear head. If you get upset, you’ll not only start making more mistakes but reinforce the negativity you’re feeling by doing worse. Every match can be a learning experience! Practice makes perfect, but only within reason. There’s nothing wrong with sticking to standard or quick games if you’re not feeling ranked matches.

If you would like to read more guides, please follow this link.

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