What's Different in Champions (for Mainline Ranked Players)
If you've played mainline ranked battle (BSS or VGC), your battle instincts carry over just fine. Champions is a separate game with a handful of different rules, though. Once you know what's gone and what's changed, you'll adapt right away.
Removed systems
Most of the mainline games' generation-specific gimmicks are gone, leaving only Mega Evolution.
| System | In Champions |
|---|---|
| Terastallizing | Not here. The whole type-switching mind game is gone entirely. |
| Dynamax, Gigantamax | Not here. |
| Z-Moves | Not here. |
| Mega Evolution | Still here. It's the only battle gimmick left, so one Mega per team becomes the centerpiece. |
SP instead of Effort Values (EVs)
Champions uses SP instead of EVs to invest in stats. The feel is different from the mainline games, so this is really the one thing you need to relearn.
| Item | Mainline → Champions |
|---|---|
| Stat investment | 510 total EVs with 252 per stat becomes 66 total SP with 32 per stat. |
| Individual Values (IVs) | What used to vary per individual is now fixed at 31 across the board. You don't need to worry about it. |
| Getting a feel for it | A full 252 investment in one stat from the mainline games is equivalent to that stat's cap of 32 here. The smaller total makes allocation much tighter. |
Some move stats are different
For balance reasons, some moves have different power, accuracy, or PP in Champions than in the mainline games. Learnsets differ too. Numbers you've memorized from muscle memory might not match up anymore, so we recommend checking exact values in the move dex— it's kept in sync with Champions' actual numbers.
The meta is different from the mainline games
Because the roster is limited and Mega-centric, the list of top threats and the tier list look quite different from mainline VGC or BSS. When a new season starts, the first thing to do is check the meta usage rates and top-ranked teams to get a read on the current environment.
New accounts start out gacha-style
You don't catch Pokémon — you recruit them by Scouting. Managing your currency well early on matters a lot, so if you're starting a new account, even just reading the currency section of the account start guide will save you a lot of time.