Pokémon Champions
Pokémon Champions
Every build guide, tier list, and meta breakdown I've published on Pokémon Champions — curated, ranked, and kept current.
Start here — the Champions review
The review, the review roundup, and the biggest complaints the community has with launch.
My Pokémon Champions review: the future of VGC starts here
Forty-two hours on the ladder, 180+ matches logged, and one working thesis: Pokémon Champions is the best competitive Pokémon product Game F
Pokémon Champions reviews are split, here is how I rank them
A 92 from a top strategy-dex write-up, a 7.2 from The Gamer, and six aggregate reviews in between. Edd Saavedra breaks down the Pokémon Cham
The three Pokémon Champions complaints I actually buy
Day-one Champions rage is loud on Reddit and Twitter. Edd Saavedra triages 2,100+ threads into what Game Freak actually deserves, what the c
Pokémon Champions Faces Criticism Over Scope and Performance
The early access period for the free-to-play title Pokémon Champions has drawn a predictable but pointed wave of criticism from the dedicate
Tier lists (Reg M-A, April 2026)
Doubles tier list, 1,025-mon Reg M-A rankings, speed tiers, item tiers.
My Pokémon Champions tier list, April 2026 Regulation M-A, weighted by usage × win rate × judgment
Every tier list on the internet right now is either vibes ('I think Flutter Mane feels S tier') or raw usage with no win-rate control. Edd S
My Pokémon Champions Doubles tier list
Usage, win rate, and top-cut tournament presence weighted into a single ranking. Four mons are genuinely S-tier. Five more are top-cut stapl
My tier list for all 1,025 Pokémon in Reg M-A
The complete tier list for Pokémon Champions Reg M-A singles has a distribution most players do not realize is this extreme.
The five Pokémon Champions mons I put in S tier
Name recognition is not a tier. Edd Saavedra audits the ten most-disputed Champions S-tier calls, keeps five, axes five, and shows the contr
My Pokémon Champions speed tier list
Speed determines turn order, and turn order determines outcomes.
My Pokémon Champions held-item tier list
You can have the right mon and still lose the match to a wrong item. Edd Saavedra tiers the 19 most-used held items in Reg M-A by the matchu
My Pokémon Champions role tier list
Power tier lists tell you who is strong. Role tier lists tell you which slot to fill. Edd Saavedra ranks Reg M-A by the six composition role
The Pokémon Champions meta by the numbers
Tier lists are a story.
Build guides — single-mon breakdowns
Spreads, movesets, EV math, item picks, and the matchups each build wins.
My Gardevoir Trace build for Pokémon Champions
Every Gardevoir guide ranking on Google is still recommending the same Timid Moonblast / Psychic / Focus Blast / Shadow Ball set — the gener
My Incineroar build for Pokémon Champions
I've been climbing Reg M-A with Incineroar on my team since the format dropped, and so has roughly 52 percent of the ladder. The damage is n
My Hydreigon Choice Specs build for Pokémon Champions
Hydreigon is a 125 Special Attack, 98 Speed, 600 BST dragon with Levitate and a Dark/Dragon dual-STAB combination that is resisted by exactl
My Archaludon rain build for Pokémon Champions
Archaludon's 600 BST statline is the hidden gem of Reg M-A, 90/105/130/125/65/85 across a Steel/Dragon defensive typing with exactly two wea
My Pelipper rain build for Pokémon Champions
Pelipper has a 442 BST that looks unplayable on paper and a Drizzle ability that makes her the single most valuable supporter in the Reg M-A
Team comps and climb paths
Full-team strategies — what we're running to Master and why.
My Pokémon Champions S-tier team builds
The team is the unit, not the slot. Edd Saavedra pulls 50+ controlled matches per build and ranks the five S-tier cores of Reg M-A by actual
The 4 replica teams I climbed to Master with
I copied four tournament-proven teams, tuned each for a week, and climbed from Gold to Master at a 61 percent win rate. Here is which ones w
The three singles teams I see winning 86 percent of ladder games
Pokémon Champions singles ladder has three archetypes that account for 86 percent of top-500 teams. Sand Hyper-Offense is the plurality at 3
My Pokémon Champions climb-path build guide
Running a Master team at Bronze costs you matches.
Why I run a Snow hyper-offense team in Champions
Snow in Pokémon Champions replaces the Hail mechanic from previous generations, it does the same thing to Ice-type defense (raises Ice Defen
My Trick Room team that survives Reg M-A
Trick Room has always been the fringe archetype in open-bracket VGC, one bad setup turn and the whole strategy falls apart.
Five tactics I used to rank up fast in Champions
Climbing the Pokémon Champions ranked ladder is a tempo problem, not a skill problem.
Meta, usage, and scene reporting
The numbers behind who's winning — and who's running what.
Why Incineroar sits on 52 percent of teams
Incineroar is on 52 percent of top-level Pokémon Champions Reg M-A teams. That usage share is 25 percentage points higher than the #2 pick.
This week in Pokémon Champions: five beats that moved
Day 14 after launch. The ladder has 2.1 million players, flutter Mane is on 41% of teams, worlds 2026 locked its field, a Switch 1 patch lea
Play Pokémon moves the whole tournament circuit to Champions
April 28 is the last Scarlet and Violet regional. May 1 is Reg M-A opens. Three regionals get dropped, the prize pool doubles to $2.4 millio
Mega Stones, Affinity, and how things actually work
Practical how-to guides for the mechanics the game never explains.
Pokemon Champions: All Mega Stones, Complete List and How to Get Each
Mega Evolution transforms battles in Pokemon Champions by dramatically boosting a Pokemon power and sometimes changing its typing. Here is e
Pokemon Champions: How to Equip Mega Stones, Step-by-Step Guide
Equipping Mega Stones in Pokemon Champions is straightforward once you know the menu flow. This guide walks through every step from finding
Pokemon Champions Affinity Tickets: What They Are and How to Get Them
Affinity Tickets are one of the most valuable currencies in Pokemon Champions and many players do not realize how quickly they can accumulat
Pokemon Champions: How to Get Aggronite, Every Available Method
Aggronite is one of the more elusive Mega Stones in Pokemon Champions but it has three separate acquisition paths. Knowing all of them ensur
Pokemon Champions: How to Get Delphoxite, Step-by-Step Guide
Delphoxite is a seasonal event exclusive that many players missed on its first run. These are all the current ways to obtain it in Pokemon C
Pokemon Champions: How to Link to Pokemon Home, Transfer Guide
Linking Pokemon Champions to Pokemon Home lets you bring in Pokemon trained in previous games, but the process has specific steps and limita
Pokemon Champions Mystery Gifts: How to Get Them and All Active Codes
Mystery Gifts in Pokemon Champions distribute free Pokemon, Mega Stones, and rare items through redeemable codes shared at events and on off
Pokemon Champions: 15 Things the Game Never Tells You
Pokemon Champions has layers of depth that casual play never surfaces. These fifteen hidden mechanics, items, and features dramatically impr
How damage actually works in Pokémon Champions
The damage formula in Pokémon Champions is a deterministic five-step calculation. Step one computes a base damage number from level, attacke
The best starter in Pokémon Champions is not a coin flip
Every starter-selection guide frames the pick as a personal preference decision, which type do you like, which aesthetic appeals to you, whi
Bugs, pricing, mobile, and launch coverage
The rough edges — and what Game Freak is doing about them.
Pokémon Champions launched broken, and Switch 2 players have to manually dock and undock to fix it
The flagship competitive Pokemon launch has a workaround list on day one, and one of the fixes is physical.
Pokemon Champions Transfer Bug Wipes EVs on Home Imports, Patch Expected
A significant bug affecting Pokemon Champions players was confirmed this week: Pokemon imported from Pokemon Home through the Home Sync feat
Pokémon Champions Pricing Details Signal Major Shift in Franchise Monetization
Details regarding the monetization model for Pokémon Champions have surfaced, outlining a highly structured and tiered approach to content a
Pokemon Champions Mobile Release Date Confirmed for May 2026 on iOS and Android
Pokemon Champions has been console-only since launch but that changes on May 14, 2026. Here is the complete breakdown of what the mobile ver
My Pokémon Champions coming to mobile? What I found
Players keep searching 'Champions mobile release date' and keep finding nothing.
April 8 was the right launch date, April 8 on Switch 1 wasn't. My two-week postmortem
Dual-release strategies are marketing-friendly and engineering-hostile. Fourteen days after Champions landed on Switch and Switch 2, Edd Saa
Pokemon Champions Season 9 Battle Pass Leaked: New Cosmetics and Rewards Revealed
Data miners cracked open the latest Pokemon Champions update overnight and found the Season 9 Battle Pass tucked inside. Here is everything
Pokemon Champions Season 8 Final Rank Reward Revealed: Master Ball Cosmetic Bundle
The Season 8 final rank reward has been confirmed and the deadline to earn it is March 31. Here is what Master Ball rank players receive and
What the official Pokémon Champions site leaves out
pokemon.com/champions is the most revealing marketing document Game Freak has shipped in a decade. I read it line by line, what is front and