Pokemon Sword & Shield Isle of Armour & Crown Tundra discussion

After my deplorable experience failing to capture Articuno, I decided to come prepared when catching Calyrex. (Except I didn't care about Synchronize for some reason...)

All Max HP/SpD Lv 100
Seaking Soak / Flip Turn
Helioptile @ Zoom Lens: Eerie Impulse / Thunder Wave / Light Screen / U-Turn
Drapion w/ Battle Armor: False Swipe (didn't use Snarl / Acupressure / etc.)

I recall a page somewhere on smogon that described ideal mons to help you capture Catch Rate 3 legends. That inspired me to make a team that would make capturing more tolerable.

Anybody else using optimized sets for capture? Or did y'all already swoop up all these mons without it?
There isn't that much variety when it comes to maximizing capture chances. For Calyrex, depending on the form, after False Swiping and paralyzing, one can use either a Level 100 Azumarill, Bouffalant, or Goodra (with Sap Sipper, of course) to wall it non-stop and block its Giga Drain so that you don't have to False Swipe again.
 
My "optimized sets" is 6 random level 100 legendaries one of which being my Leftovers Mew with Twave/False Swipe/Thief/Sub

Far too lazy for anything else. There's mints to fix natures anyway, and realistically since i'm not a competitive player I'm never going to use 90% of the catches so overdoing it for Natures is pointless for me.
 
Oddly specific question here, I brought over my Shiny Zygarde to Home a while ago, but I didn't notice I never got it to have Power Construct.

Is there a way to get it Power Construct in SwSh?
 
Oddly specific question here, I brought over my Shiny Zygarde to Home a while ago, but I didn't notice I never got it to have Power Construct.

Is there a way to get it Power Construct in SwSh?
You can get the Cube on Stow-on-Side, though I never tried to use it.
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

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So recently I just wrapped up both doing CT on my main original save and I just did a fresh playthrough of Shield intertwining both IoA and CT on an alt account. So with that in mind, especially doing IoA and CT on a fresh playthrough, let me post my thoughts...on BOTH! (Since I never talked about Isle of Armor really).

First things first, let's talk about the Wild Area concept, which is one of the big draws of the expansion pass. I love the concept of the Wild Area: frankly, the idea of a vast area to explore filled with Wild Pokemon is great! And a place where you can just explore, find Pokemon, and feel like you're exploring a new world is a really fun concept. But the original Wild Area just really disappoints on that front. First of all, there's a lack of diversity in biomes. There's really not much to explore here, and it's not really interesting: it's largely grassy fields and a few lakes/rivers and the Pokemon living here based on weather doesn't feel that natural. There's also no big secrets to find, no legendaries to find here, nothing really special. There was so much that could have been done with such a concept, but the original Wild Area...just doesn't deliver well enough on that front.

This is why the Wild Area concept is one of the biggest things I like about the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra. They really take the concept of the Wild Area, and they do so much more with it. The Isle of Armor is an incredibly fun place to explore, with a wide diversity of habitats and biomes to explore: a beach, a forest, wetlands, a desert, caves, a mountainous area, a bunch of seas, and even some miniature islands to explore! There's a lot of biome diversity, and the lands are all interconnected so it doesn't feel linear at all. And the Pokemon distributed across them feel like Pokemon you would naturally see in each biome: Wooper, Goomy, and Croagunk in the wetlands, Venipede and Foongus in the forests, sea Pokemon in the islands, Sandile, Jangmo-o, and such in the desert, and vice versa, and it feels like one big island where a bunch of wild Pokemon are living in their natural habitats. It really feels like a place worth exploring. Crown Tundra takes it a step further, and you find snowy landscapes, more caves, a cold arctic sea, a cemetery, a big lake with a Tree in the middle, and some fields. But more importantly, the big draw of Crown Tundra: Legendary Pokemon, is done super nicely here. The exploration theme of Crown Tundra is done really well, and you find ancient ruins containing the Regis, a tree dedicated to the Galarian Birds, a shrine where Calyrex once lived, vice versa. It's what helps makes CT even more interesting and worth exploring. These areas really nail the Wild Area concept and are so much more interesting to explore than the original Wild Area.

Story-wise, the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra have pretty nice campaigns. The Isle of Armor is kind of clunky and awkward to do if you do it on a post-game file, which is probably one of my few complaints with it, but when you intertwine it with the main game on a clear save, it's actually nice and a lot more interesting. I like the idea of a martial arts Dojo, where you sign up as a student and train to become stronger, which is the IoA's theme (growth), and it works well early in the journey alongside the main one: sign up for the Gym Challenge and do the gyms, all the while doing Mustard's trials along the way and exploring the IoA. Doing it was fun and added to the main game experience nicely in its own right. Avery was also a very interesting rival...he's a jerk rival who also has some pretty entertaining quirks (mainly his Psychic puns). Mustard is also a really fun and lovable guy who's also a really tough Trainer so I love him for that (Cheesed to meet you).

Kubfu isn't really a Pokemon that I cared about at first (other than that it's cute imho), but it's a fun Pokemon to get around early-mid game, and raising it was quite a nice journey. The game tries to sell you on the idea of you taking this timid little Kubfu and bonding with it, helping it grow into a confident Urshifu and going on a journey of discovery with it. This unfortunately lacks a lot of impact if you do it post-game, but in my recent playthrough I tried to use it on my main team alongside the rest, and this made the IoA experience even more fun in my eyes. Urshifu is fantastic in-game, throughout the fourth gym onwards I used the Single Strike form and its nigh unresisted STAB Coverage (and Wicked Blow guaranteeing crits) made it a force to be reckoned with. It's much cooler if you use Urshifu in an in-game playthrough and then wrap it off post-game with the final showdown with Mustard. Also getting to Gigantamax your starter is great to show it off against other G-Max Pokemon in gyms. It was...interesting seeing G-Max Inteleon literally snipe things from the high platform, especially Leon's Charizard.

Crown Tundra in and of itself is a really neat addition. As I said, I loved the idea of exploring and looking for Legendary Pokemon, and this is something that hasn't really been a thing since BW2. It was nice seeing the Regis being found in ancient ruins and needing puzzles (albeit somewhat simple ones) which made for a fun experience. The birds became roaming Pokemon, and this time they actually made the roaming concept interesting. Actually having to chase the birds in the overworld, and in each of the different wild areas, was a much more interesting concept than what we got before, and it's actually kind of fun to hunt these guys down. Calyrex also had a good story arc, and is a lot more likable than I had initially imagined it would be. It having a speaking role was a pleasant surprise, and taking possession of Peony's body to talk was pretty funny. I thoroughly enjoyed this segment. Peony himself is a lot more fun and likable in that he's clueless in all the best ways.

The Dynamax Adventures is a surprisingly fun side activity too. It's a neat and challenging adventure that is extremely fun and actually forces you to strategize and think with what you get from rentals, which makes it much, much more interesting than Max Raids. It's actually one of my favorite side activities in a Pokemon game besides Contests. The Galarian Star Tournament was pretty funny, and a good post-game "League Battle" format that involves Double Battles, which I always appreciate since Doubles is an underrepresented format. It's a good way to end off the story campaign and it's fun to do repeatedly simply for character banter between the SwSh characters, which is something I live for. Isle of Armor happens to have Restricted Sparring as a post-game option, and while I haven't done *too* much of it so far, I've enjoyed what little of it I played. Between all of this, this helps give Sword and Shield a thoroughly fun and engaging post-game, something the base game sorely lacked. And it brought back some new features like strong post-game bosses (Mustard, whole Galarian Star Tournament), some legendaries to look for (and some actual exploring to do, which hasn't been a thing in a looong time), and some fun battle facility formats (restricted sparring, Dynamax Adventures), stuff that hasn't been in Pokemon in a while. This is really the most fun I've had with Pokemon in a long, long time. Sword and Shield with the Expansion Pass added to it is just really fun, and I haven't actually enjoyed Pokemon to this extent since Gen 5, so I'm really happy with it. Gens 6-7 haven't really had something like this at all.

Overall, I really liked what the DLC brought to Sword and Shield. A lot of good things about both IoA and CT that they brought to the table, and doing it on a fresh playthrough it really feels like the experience I would get from a third version, all without having to buy a totally new game. The only main problem I have with the DLC is the approach of it: while old third versions are less consumer friendly, they tweaked things here and there in the base game's content. Like Emerald and Platinum would tweak the base locations and add some new things or change things up, or even add some new slice-of-life features. DLC doesn't really do this: it adds to the experience, which while brings it close to the third version experience, doesn't manage to totally replicate it. It also means the newly added/returning mons don't get acknowledged much in the main game. There were times where I thought "Man, wouldn't it be cool if Piers used Krookodile or Absol on his team?" or something like that. Even so, combined with the base experience of Sword and Shield, it really ups the experience of the game, and more than anything it really shows that Game Freak has still got it. I hope they can continue to implement some of these great ideas in future games like the potential DP remakes and Gen 9, because the Sword and Shield DLC is frankly a step in the right direction, and these ideas could definitely use some further refining in future games.
 
Adventures in event flag setting:
-The mayor, despite visibly not being in front of his house, only moves to the Giant Bed crop beds once you try to approach his house and be told he's there
-Calyrex realizing carrtots are needed only happens when you've read all the book,s not just the steed & carrot books
-The fly point to the snowy slope only activates if you talk to the watt trader
-If you bring the Regi over from another save file they will NOT open the Split Decision Ruins


Just you know some...hypothetical speed running for the other horse & regi tips to consider
 
Adventures in event flag setting:
-The mayor, despite visibly not being in front of his house, only moves to the Giant Bed crop beds once you try to approach his house and be told he's there
-Calyrex realizing carrtots are needed only happens when you've read all the book,s not just the steed & carrot books
-The fly point to the snowy slope only activates if you talk to the watt trader
-If you bring the Regi over from another save file they will NOT open the Split Decision Ruins


Just you know some...hypothetical speed running for the other horse & regi tips to consider
I only read the carrot book and it worked fine
Regis from other save files WILL open split decision, BUT you need to catch the other regis first anyway. I think it's a safeguard against releasing the regis.
 
Yeah, I only read the carrot book and the only difference is that that was the only option when Calyrex asks you for an answer.
 
I only read the carrot book and it worked fine
Ah good to know, I must have read the wrong book while mashing through menus
Regis from other save files WILL open split decision, BUT you need to catch the other regis first anyway. I think it's a safeguard against releasing the regis.
Was just coming back to post this, too, since I grabbed the wrong regi after catching the others. Guessing the real flag is like necrozma, just making sure you captured them from the ruins.



Also from the galaxy brain that brought you "tricking safety goggles onto pokemon to capture them safely in the hail" comes "focus sash inteleon to soak regieleki so i can paralyze it"
 
I have the carrot seeds for the King of Bountiful Harvests quest, but how do I plant them? Clicking a on the field in Snowside Slope does nothing, nor does selecting them from the inventory.
 
Hey guys, I'm new here! I was wondering, what level are the Pokémon in the new wild areas? If it's only accessible post-game I'm not interested in this expansion...
 
Hey guys, I'm new here! I was wondering, what level are the Pokémon in the new wild areas? If it's only accessible post-game I'm not interested in this expansion...
In Isle it’s similar to the Wild Area — lot of different ones before the league, all 60 post-champ. Tundra are all mid 60s.
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

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Hey guys, I'm new here! I was wondering, what level are the Pokémon in the new wild areas? If it's only accessible post-game I'm not interested in this expansion...
Isle of Armor is generally around 10-15 for most areas pre-Champion Cup, some of the later areas go into Level 20-25. The water areas of the IoA are all Level 40-45. Generally this area is designed to intertwine with your main game experience.

Crown Tundra is Level 60+. Both areas are actually technically accessible as soon as you enter the Wild Area for the first time in-game, and you are not locked from doing them, but going to the Crown Tundra before post-game is generally not a good idea unless you are feeling extremely brave.

Isle of Armor on the other hand is best enjoyed alongside the main game and is designed to be slotted into your main game experience, with the idea being that you do the campaign along the way and gradually explore the whole Isle over the course of the main story. It has quite a lot of bonuses that can help for a main story playthrough like easier G-Maxes, Kubfu, and Bulbasaur/Squirtle.
 
I think the Raids in Crown Tundra are the same level that in the Wild Areas, so you can do the raids from Crown Tundra as soon as you go into the Wild Areas. Just escape from Tall grass Pokemon and Wanderers !
 
I think the Raids in Crown Tundra are the same level that in the Wild Areas, so you can do the raids from Crown Tundra as soon as you go into the Wild Areas. Just escape from Tall grass Pokemon and Wanderers !
Not only that, but hilariously, due to it being rental Pokémon you use there is absolutely nothing stopping you doing a Max Raid Adventure and catching a level 70 Legendary to stomp the game with.
 
Yes but it kills the main interest of the game, and the legendary will not obey to you all the time ...
Don't forget, you will have to lose against Peony but it's not a bad thing :D
 
Does anyone know all the location of the In-Game trade NPC in Island of Armor? I need to obtain Kantonian Weezing since you can't evolve one in Galar.

Also, Serebii listed Weezing twice because it can be either the normal or the hidden ability, is this true?
I don't know the spots, but she moves around seemingly randomly and has different pokemon for trade each time (They're not linked to a location unless I'm really inattentive). I don't know when she respawns.
 

DHR-107

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Orange Islands
I'm pretty sure she can also be in multiple places at once. I've ridden around IoA a few times and she appears in various places in the same session.
 

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