Pokemon Sword and Shield: Best tips and tricks to complete the Pokedex

Completing the full Pokedex for Pokemon Sword and Shield can be very difficult for players. This is due to the games not being supported anymore, leading to a decline in online players. On top of this, there is also the fact that the DLC is required for an optimal experience. Despite all these issues, there are a few ways for players to acquire the monsters they need to complete the game's Pokedex.

Utilizing various spin-off games and tools given to the playerbase, the Pokedex for these games can be filled up fairly quickly or can be done passively over time. Here are some helpful tips players should know if they want to take on this daunting task.

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Using Pokemon Home to complete Pokemon Sword and Shield's Pokedex

Pokemon Home is a helpful tool for transferring creatures across various Pokemon titles (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Pokemon Home is a free application released in February 2020 for mobile devices and Nintendo Switch consoles. This app comes with a free box of storage which players can use for transferring lower quantities of Pokemon between titles. Most notably, it can be used for bringing creatures from Pokemon GO to the home console.

Additionally, if players have Pokemon Brilliant Diamond or Shining Pearl, they can send their creatures from these remakes to Sword and Shield, furthering their Pokedex progress. Pokemon Home is one of the most important tools players can use, as obtaining required monsters through online trades is highly unlikely in Sword and Shield due to low player counts.

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How to make use of Pokemon GO to complete Pokemon Sword and Shield's Pokedex

Pokemon GO can be used to receive trade evolution Pokemon without the need for another player (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Pokemon GO is another valuable tool players can use for completing the Pokedex in any mainline Pokemon game. This is thanks to GO not requiring players to trade creatures with another player to obtain trade evolutions like Porygon-Z, Rhyperior, Accelgor, and Excavalier.

Pokemon GO also gives frequent opportunities for players to find Shiny Pokemon, which can be helpful for players wanting to add these usually rare varieties of monsters to their collection. Monthly Community Day events give the best chance to receive these Shiny Pokemon, and players can usually find them in large quantities.

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Pokemon Sword and Shield's DLC has close to every available Pokemon

Pokemon Sword and Shield feature two DLC areas to explore (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Before resorting to grinding out Pokemon GO for remaining encounters, or purchasing an entirely new side-game to play through, players should do a sweep-through of both the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra DLC. Most of the creatures in both DLC Pokedexes can be found in the wild on these maps.

Even some trade evolutions like Gengar and Alakazam can be found in the wild, and with the different weather effects that can happen in Pokemon Sword and Shield, different creatures can almost always be found. Alolan variants of creatures can also be obtained by completing an Alolan Diglett collection quest.