How the Battle System Works in Pokémon Legends: Arceus

While battling Pokemon in Pokemon Legends Arceus, the first thing you’ll notice is the iconic intro when encountering wild Pokémon or starting a battle doesn’t play anymore. Instead, once a Pokémon aggros you and you get into battle, the battle UI will become visible on screen and the battle start immediately. This might seem like a bad thing at first because we’re so used to having an intro to each battle but this will allow for better immersion and less time spamming the ‘A’ button. You can see an example of this in the trailer video below when a trainer throws a Pokeball with a Pokemon in it at a Hisuian Growlithe. The wild Growlithe aggros the player and immediately a battle begins.

Battle Styles (Strong vs Agile)

Each Pokémon’s moves and stats play a big role in battles. This has always been the case but in Pokémon Legends: Arceus they’re changing how moves affect battles. More specifically, they’re adding a new kind of move called battle styles. In this trailer we also see two styles being displayed, Strong Style and Agile Style. these styles can only be used after mastering a move. Strong style does more damage but you risk your opponent moving sooner and possibly attacking you multiple times. Agile style will allow you to move quicker so you may be able to move sooner or more than once before your opponent moves. Wild Pokémon can also use these styles. This is also a parallel to the Rapid Strike and Single Strike battle styles cards we see in the Pokemon TCG.

Trainers Can Be Attacked

This is another huge change being introduced in Legends Arceus. In previous Pokemon games, trainers would never get hurt or even have a health bar. In this new game, you’ll be vulnerable to wild and Alpha Pokemon attacking you directly. If you get hit enough, you’ll likely faint and wake up back at camp. To prevent this from happening you’ll need to stay out of harms way by dodging attacks and fighting back using your own Pokemon.