If you've only ever played the mainline Pokémon games, booting up Champions for the first time throws up a wall before you even get to battle: how do you actually get Pokémon? In Champions you don't catch them — you scout them in, and scouting costs currency. Get your first-day order right, and you can build a usable team fast without wasting a single resource.

How is this different from the mainline games?

There's no story mode, and no catching Pokémon in the wild. You recruit Pokémon by scouting them from the Roster Ranch, and instead of EVs (effort values) you tune stats with SP. There's no Dynamax or Terastallization at all — only Mega Evolutionexists. If you've spent a lot of time in mainline ranked, Mainline vs. Champions differences is worth reading first — it'll save you a lot of time.

First things first: choose your starter wisely

When you start the game, you'll pick one of 10 starter lineups, and you receive all 6 Pokémon from that lineup as your starting team. This decides your entire early-game power level, so don't just breeze through it.

Cutting to the chase: the Pikachu lineup is the safest pick. It gives you Pikachu, Garchomp, Gyarados, Bisharp, Gengar, and Marill, and of those, Garchomp (currently the #1 most-used Pokémon this season), Gyarados, Bisharp, and Gengar are all top-tier picks you can run right away in the current meta. Four out of six being tournament-ready makes this the best starter option.

Your first day, step by step

1. 1
   Finish every tutorial

   Make sure to do the Double Battle tutorial and the Mega Evolution tutorial in particular. They give a big VP reward plus several Mega Stones for free. Skip them now and you'll have to buy those Mega Stones with VP later.
2. 2
   Play one ranked match with your starter

   This match is what unlocks Scouting and your first currency. It doesn't matter if you win or lose. The goal is just to play one match.
3. 3
   Redeem gift codes first

   Grab Fast Coupons and VP with any active serial codes. We keep a running list of currently active codes in the gift code roundup.
4. 4
   Skim through your mission list

   Most of your early currency comes from Daily, Weekly, and Starter missions. Just work through the easy ones first.

Only three currencies you need to know

How to spend Scouting wisely

The Scout list refreshes every 22 hours with 10 Pokémoneach time. Since VP is tight early on, don't just scout something the moment you like it — try this approach instead.

1. 1
   Try it out with a Trial first

   Use the free Trial that comes every 22 hours to actually play with a Pokémon you're interested in for a week, and only scout it for real once it feels right. Spending 2,500 VP on something you haven't gotten a feel for yet is the most wasteful mistake you can make.
2. 2
   Finish your main Pokémon first

   Rather than raising all 6 Pokémon shallowly, properly building one or two aces is far stronger early on.
3. 3
   If you don't know what to pick, check usage rates

   Pokémon that see heavy use are popular for a reason. Check the meta usage rates and tier list to get a sense of direction.

What should you scout first?

The best early picks are Pokémon that are strong right out of the box without needing setup, and can still pull their weight even when your team isn't fully built. Garchomp, Hippowdon, Greninja, and Archaludon are good examples of easy, reliable picks.

Early on, it's fine to just copy training builds

Once you've scouted a Pokémon, you can adjust its SP, moves, and nature, but you don't need to nail the perfect build from day one. Copying popular builds from the in-game battle data or the Pokédex's popular builds works just fine in real matches. Fine-tuning can wait until you've gotten a feel for things.

Common beginner mistakes