With the new Pokemon Scarlet and Violet games out, many trainers are looking forward to catching ‘em all with their Pokemon teams! But with over 800 unique Pokemon, where do you start? Luckily, we’ve put together this guide to help you get your team up to speed. We recommend you begin your journey by collecting the following badges in order and unlocking the corresponding Titan abilities

Introduction

Pokémon Scarlet Version and Pokémon Violet Version are the newest games in the long-running franchise. The games introduce new features, including a new region called Hoenn, as well as two new types of Pokémon: Fairy-type and Dark-type. With all of these new features, it can be difficult to know where to start. In this blog post we'll share some tips on how you can get your Pokémon party in tip-top shape for challenging the Gyms in these games.

Our recommendations are based on the assumption that you will be playing the game at a difficulty level of Normal or higher. You may need different orders if you're playing at Easy or Hard. 

1) Pick your starter from Professor Birch's lab - Treecko (Grass), Torchic (Fire), Mudkip (Water) 

2) Complete your regional Pokedex by capturing the remaining Pokemon available in the wild and by evolving their pre-evolutions - Feebas, Poochyena, Zigzagoon, Lotad, Makuhita 

3) Earn more money by defeating trainers who offer more money than others - To make Trainer battles more profitable, switch off Field Effects before starting each battle.

The First Three Badges

The next step on the journey is acquiring the Cascade Badge from Lavaridge Town's Gym Leader Flannery. As her name suggests, she specializes in Fire-type Pokémon such as Torkoal and Slugma. Her starter and strongest Pokémon is a Litleo that knows Flamethrower at level 18.

This may take some time to defeat if you're not yet adept at this type of battle strategy. You should probably train up before trying to face her in battle. One good way to train up quickly is to capture wild Pokemon around Route 111 and then use them against each other or fight them against Litleo until they evolve into stronger forms like Pyroar or Chandelure.

If you need an even easier way, visit Mossdeep City's Pokemon Center where Nurse Joy will heal your party after every single victory. Either way, Flannery shouldn't be too difficult of a challenge once you've toughened up. Once defeated, she'll award you the first three badges: the Basic Badge, Cascade Badge and Heat Badge.

The Next Three Badges

First is the Toxic Badge, which is obtained from defeating Roxanne at Rustboro's gym. This gym is a rock-type gym that has two levels, so you'll have to be prepared before entering. Roxanne's pokemon includes Nosepass, Geodude and Onix. Her Nosepass will use Sandstorm and Rock Slide to try to wear you down.

Geodude will use both Rock Throw and Magnitude 8 in an attempt to get lucky enough to hit you twice in one turn - if it does, then it'll knock out about half of your pokemon! To beat this foe, bring out flying or electric type pokemon, as well as powerful water type pokemon like Gyarados or Lapras. If using electric types make sure they're fully charged before challenging her! 

First is the Toxic Badge, which is obtained from defeating Roxanne at Rustboro's gym. This gym is a rock-type gym that has two levels, so you'll have to be prepared before entering. Roxanne's pokemon includes Nosepass, Geodude and Onix. Her Nosepass will use Sandstorm and Rock Slide to try to wear you down.

The Last Badge

It's worth noting that you'll need the following Pokemon to defeat all of the gym leaders in Kanto: (1) Bulbasaur, (2) Ivysaur, or (3) Venusaur; (4) Charmander or Charmeleon; (5) Charizard; (6) Squirtle or Wartortle; (7) Blastoise.

You'll also want to have a non-legendary Pokemon that knows Surf, Strength, Rock Smash, Cut, and Fly if possible. A mix of strong Water-, Fire-, and Grass-types should help too. Your starters should be at least level 30 before taking on Misty and Lt. Surge.

Titan Abilities

As you may know, the Pokemon games are all about battles. As you progress through each game, there will be more opportunities to battle other trainers. You can also battle computer-controlled trainers in the Battle Tower or Battle Mansion.

In order to win these battles, it's important that you have a well-balanced Pokemon team. The first step is choosing which starter Pokemon you want to play as – either Charmander, Bulbasaur, or Squirtle. Once you've picked one of these three starters and named it however you like, the next step is deciding what badges to collect in each region to prove yourself as a strong trainer.