It's a big world out there, and figuring out where to go first in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet isn't as easy as it might seem. The entirety of Paldea is yours to explore, and while you can wander off into the sunset or stick to the established path, taking the time to explore a few key areas and add certain Paldea Pokémon to your team helps make a strong foundation for the rest of your journey.
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Here are our tips on where you should get your footing first in the Paldea region.
It’s perfectly possible to skip school and set out on your own, but you shouldn’t do this. Initial classes and introductions take about a half hour, but finishing them is the only way to officially start the game’s three main paths.
After you meet the Director of the Academy and get your tasks from them, Arven, and Cassiopeia, you’re left to wander Paldea on your own with only vague objectives to follow. While you can head straight to Cortondo for your first Gym battle, you should spend a bit of time in the wild first.
Take a right at the bridge on the path to Los Platos, and follow the river southeast, toward the beach. Along this path, you’ll find a number of useful Pokémon, including Azurill, Buizel, Wiglett, and — where the river meets the ocean — a near-endless supply of Magikarp. Each of these evolves into a strong Pokémon, but even more important is what you get from battling and capturing them. Buizel Fur and Magikarp Scales let you craft Water Pulse TMs, which is a powerful early-game Water-type move.
Once you reach South Province (Area Two), visit Cortondo to register it as a flying location, and then explore the surrounding fields before tackling the Gym. Cortondo’s Gym leader uses Bug Pokémon, so your best bet for countering is Flying, Fire, or Rock Pokémon.
Fire ‘mon are in short supply at this stage (unless you picked Fuecoco at the start). However, you can find plenty of Starly in Area Two and, if you’re lucky, you might even find a wild Tera Diglett between the watchtower and Cortondo. This kind of Diglett knows Rock Tomb and has Rock as its Tera Type, making it a strong contender in this gym and in later ones such as Levincia’s Electric-type Gym.
If you feel brave and have plenty of restoratives and Poké Balls in hand, take the land bridge over the river and travel south toward South Province (Area Four). Here, you can find an even broader range of Pokémon, including Pikachu, Scyther, Rufflet, Swablu, and even Charcadet. Their levels range from 12 to 20, but if you’re up for some slightly more challenging fights, visiting here is an excellent way to diversify your roster early on.
You may also want to take a short detour to South Province (Area 3). This is where we recommend going after the first Gym to progress the story, but some of the wild Pokémon here just make life generally easier, including Klawf, Charcadet, and Nacli.
Finally, make sure to keep an eye out for Tera Pokémon, either in the wild or in special dens marked on the map. These offer a chance to obtain Pokémon you may not find until later – Gastly in South Province (Area Two), for example – with advantageous typings.
Defeating Gym Leaders is the traditional way forward in Pokémon games, but in Scarlet and Violet, you should mix in Titan battles as often and early as you can. Defeating Titans helps restore Koraidon’s power (or Miraidon’s power in Violet) and unlocks functions such as gliding and swimming. That naturally makes exploration faster and easier, so it’s not something you should leave until later.
We recommended completing Stony Titan and Open Air Titan first, and for good reason. Defeating the Stony Titan in South Province (Area Three) after your first Gym battle unlocks a dash function for your ride-on legendary Pokémon.
Klawf, the Stony Titan, is a level 16 Rock -ype, so bring Water, Grass, Ground, or Fighting moves. That Diglett from Area Two would prove useful again here as well.
The Open Air Titan, a level 20 Bombirdier, calls West Province (Area 1) its home. 20 might seem manageable after your first Gym battle, and it is with the right team. A strong Electric or Rock-type will make short work of the Titan. Just make sure to move quickly and keep an eye on your surroundings while you travel toward it! West Province features a varied mix of powerful and low-level Pokémon, including some at level 30 or higher, but you'll need to have a few Gym Badges under your belt before you can catch some of those!
Defeating Bombirdier lets your mount swim, so you can cross rivers and explore the inlets and bays of Paldea at last.
Scarlet and Violet spoil you for choice as soon as you leave the Poco Path Lighthouse, but if you want to make your journey a little smoother, some Pokémon are a bit more helpful than others.
Pawmi is a bit weak and probably not a solid choice if you only want Pokémon with high stat values. However, during your time in South Province, Pawmi is invaluable, especially when it comes to catching other Pokémon. Aside from having better stats than Pichu, Pawmi learns Nuzzle at level 12, which paralyzes your opponent, making them easier to catch and slower in battle.
Water and Flying types are also common opponents in South Province’s trainer battles, so Pawmi can lend a helping paw there as well.
Look for Pawmi near Los Platos.
Adding Fletchling or Starly to your party is also a wise idea. The first two recommended Gym types are Bug and Grass-type, both of which are weak to Flying. You can find both of these throughout South Province Area Two.
Maschiff won’t perform too well at the Cortondo Gym thanks to being a Dark type. However, the menacing pup is a physical powerhouse and can make short work of most opponents. Maschiff wanders the hills and fields of South Province Areas Two and Three.
Eevee itself may not be the strongest Pokémon, but its evolved forms – Jolteon, Sylveon, and the like – are some of the best in their respective types.
Wild Eevee are rare, but with a bit of patience, you can find them occasionally spawning in the fields just outside Cortondo. You may need to cross into Cortondo and come back out several times to reset the Pokémon spawns, but after a while, you should be able to get at least one or two Eevee for your collection.
You need evolution stones as well, but the process of getting evolution stones in Scarlet and Violet is a bit different.
Nacli is Scarlet and Violet’s top defender in the early game, a pure Rock type with high attack and even higher defense. You’ll need to venture into South Province (Area 3) to find it, but if you’re struggling against the first Gym or any NPC trainers, Nacli makes an excellent addition to your team.
Charcadet is a new Scarlet and Violet’s Pokémon with version-exclusive evolutions, but whichever version you have, it and its evolved form are generally top-notch. The evolutions boast high attack, moderate defense, and unique movesets in their evolved forms that make them more than worth investing in early on. Charcadet wander the wilds of South Province (Area Three) and (Area Four).
You can find TMs in the wild if you look in the right places, but, with the right ingredients, you can also craft a fair few to begin with, including moves that normally take longer to learn, such as Psybeam.
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Once you've acquired these TMs, as long as you have the materials, you can craft them.
The best Pokemon team to use for the story of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet (SV) has a wide type coverage, is well-balanced, and takes into account the important battles in the game. Read on for our guide on the best story team for each starter Pokemon and other great candidates to add to your party!
More so than anything, having a team that is easy to use with your starter is very important. Take, for example, if you choose the Fire-type Fuecoco as your starter, it would be wise to capture an Electric-type, such as Pikachu to help deal with the Water Pokemon Fuecoco is weak to.
Best Starter Pokemon: Which Starter To Choose
Regardless of your decision, it is best to have a team that allows you to clear the main storyline with little hassle, paying particular note to Pokemon that will prove effective when challenging Gym Leaders.
Story Walkthrough
We recommend having a Fire Type Pokemon in the early game, as the first two Gym Leaders use Pokemon that are weak to fire moves. Gym Leaders that use that Steel and Ice Pokemon will appear later in the game as well, making Fire a very helpful type to have on your party at all times.
List of All Fire Type Pokemon
Charcadet is the pre-evolution to Armarouge and Ceruledge, and one of the Fire Type Pokemon that you can catch in the early game. Since it takes a while to evolve, it will start a little weak defensively, but will be a valuable ally once fully evolved.
Both Growlithe and Flectchling can be caught in the early game, making them great choices to add to your team. Although Fletching does not have Fire typing until it evolves, its' Flying typing still lets it provide support during the early gym battles.
Best Fire Type Pokemon
Wattrel can caught be along the shoreline and beaches, and proves to be a very useful Electric type for you party, as its additional Flying-type not only increases the amount of Pokemon it is strong against, but also gives it an immunity to Ground moves.
Shinx's ability to learn a variety of fang-based moves makes it a versatile attacker, while Pawmo's secondary Fighting typing also lets it fulfill many roles. Regardless of which electric type you choose, their ability to inflict the paralysis status will prove useful against the large numbers of Flying-type Pokemon you will encounter in the early game.
Note that those who purchased their copy of the game early can receive a Flying Tera Type Pikachu through the Mystery Gift feature. Not only does it know Fly, but its Flying Tera Type makes it immune to Ground type moves when it Trerestallizes.
Best Electric-Type Pokemon
Although Magikarp takes a while to evolve, Gyarados will prove to be incredibly helpful on your team. You can catch a Magikarp at the beach area in the Southern Province (Area 1), so make sure to do so as early as possible.
Choose Wiglett if you want to focus on speed, or Marill if you prefer a strong attacker. If you choose to evolve Marill from Azurill that you caught at the Southern Province (Area One), make it hold a Soothe Bell you can purchase at Mesagoza to speed up the process.
While Tatsugiri is a Pokemon that you cannot catch until the late game, is part Dragon-typing and great stats make it good choice for those who are still undecided on which Water type they should use.
Best Water Type Pokemon
While we recommend using these Pokemon during the early part of the game, there is a variety of Pokemon available to choose from early on. More so than anything, make sure to choose a type that suits your team's needs.
The amount of helpful Pokemon tha tyou can catch start from mid game is quite large, so make sure to take care advantage of the wide variety of Pokemon, particularyl the Dragon type pokemon that are now available to catch.
Throughout your travels, you will find trainers that will want to trade their Pokemon with you. We recommend doing so if you since as these Pokemon are not only fairly powerful, but they are easier to level up, sinc etraded Pokemon gain EXP at a fastrer rate.
All In-Game Trades
Best Tera Types: Best Pokemon to Terastallize
By entering the Geat Crater of Paldea (Area Zero), you can battle and capture Paradox Pokemon. These Pokemon have very powerful stats and abilities, and will be a great addition to your party should you decide to battle the Gym Leaders again.
Paradox Pokemon (Scarlet-Exclusive) Great Tusk Scream Tail Brute Bonnet Flutter Mane Slither Wing Sandy Shocks Roaring Moon - Paradox Pokemon (Violet-Exclusive) Iron Treads Iron Moth Iron Hands Iron Jugulis Iron Thorns Iron Bundle Iron Valiant -After beating the game you can use the Legendary Pokemon Koraidon and Miraidon in battle. In addition to being useful both in and out of battle, you will be able to catch aother one, allowing you to trade with your friends.
Beginner's Tips and Tricks
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