Top 10 Best Items In Pokemon Scarlet & Violet For Competitive Play

Pokemon is one of those franchises that’s easy to pick up and hard to master. If you want proof of that, try playing online with the same team you used to conquer the main story.

Just like Abilities and Moves, Items are another slot that differentiates your Pokemon from the enemy’s. In Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Indigo Disc, battling is the name of the game, so naturally this DLC pack is going to be just a little bit harder than what you’ve faced so far in the Teal Mask and main Paldea campaign. To prepare yourself for potential battle scenarios, we’ve made a list of some good items to consider before you get into what Indigo Disc has to offer. Taking our advice might just mean the difference between victory and defeat.

Related: The Top 10 Strongest Competitive Pokemon Of All Time

10. Air Balloon

The Air Balloon may be an item that’s limited in usefulness in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, but don’t take that as a measure to disregard it entirely. It has its place, being a good item for Pokemon weak to Ground-type moves, one that can protect them at least for one turn. Frail Electric-types thrive with this item, giving their speedy strengths some time to shine before things get more complicated. You can find this item at Deliberd Presents in Cascarrafa.

9. Assault Vest

The Assault Vest item grants bonuses to your Pokemon’s Special Defense stat, but restricts the Pokemon to only use attacking moves. This means no move like Confuse Ray or Swords Dance. This item is perfect for a well-balanced Pokemon with Defense stats on its side. It’s meant for a simple Pokemon, one with nothing but attack moves in its roster. With this kind of item, you’ll have a little bit of a boost to your Defenses, one that may help you last to attack for one more turn than usual. If you have a Snorlax or Fighting-type Pokemon that could use this item, look for it between two palm trees at the southern side of Porto Marinada.

Related: Top 10 Pokemon Trainer Classes We Want To Return in Indigo Disk DLC

8. Rocky Helmet

Rocky Helmet is just like it sounds, a helmet with rocks on it that deals damage to the enemy if they may contact with a Physical move. The Rocky Helmet is a valuable item for a specific set of Pokemon, such as those that already do damage from contact already. For example, any Pokemon with Iron Barbs would make wonderful use of this item, dealing damage to the enemy just from one turn of contact. This makes Pokemon like Togedemaru perfect for this item, having a barrage of damage to deal each time the enemy lands a hit. To get yourself a Rocky Helmet, all you need to do is go to Zapapico’s eastmost PokeCenter, hanging southwest until you find the edge of the living space. There you should find a node that you can loot to get the Rocky Helmet. Pretty typical of the area when you think about it, since it is a mining town.

7. King’s Rock

For Pokemon, you want to have an intimidation factor with, consider the King’s Rock. No matter what move you use, the King’s Rock guarantees that there will always be a chance that the enemy Pokemon will flinch. It’s like having Bite, but as a sub-condition for all of your moves. This item works best with Pokemon that are speedy, since flinching only helps you if you strike first. It’s also good to equip with Pokemon that have multi-hit moves like Tail Slap, which each individually counts as a try for King’s Rock’s flinch condition. Potentially, if you hit all five times with a multi-hit move, there’s 5x more of a likelihood that your enemy will flinch. To get yourself a King’s Rock, visit Mesagoza and stop by Delibird Presents to buy yourself one.

Related: Top 10 Shiny Legendary Pokemon Ranked

6. Terrain Extender

Terrain Extender works just as you might think; it extends the terrain moves by a few turns, lasting for 8 turns instead of 5 in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. This can be useful for Fairy-type Terrain, which prevents Poison and other status effects from hurting your team. These kinds of protection benefits can be great for Pokemon like Sylveon, who thrive on being defensive walls, perfect for setting up Terrain without things like Poison to thwart them. This item can really help if you know you’re going against an opponent who uses tactics like Toxic Spikes to make your life more difficult. If you want a Terrain Extender, you can find it at the Cascaffara Deliberd Presents.

5. Choice Specs

Choice Specs is a classic competitive Pokemon item, capable of boosting a Pokemon’s move power, but restricting it to just that move until it switches out. One-trick ponies (or in this case, Pokemon) are best for this kind of setup, ones with the Speed and Special Attack to get 1-HKOs multiple times in a row. Pokemon that come to mind in this instance are powerhouses like Serperior or bulldozers like Ampharos. If you want to get yourself a pair of these Special Attacking shades, visit the Deliberd Presents in Mesagoza.

4. Expert Belt

The Expert Belt is an item designed not only for an expert Pokemon but an expert Trainer. This item boosts a move’s power, but only if that move is super effective. This requires two things from you: that you train your Pokemon to have a wide type coverage, and that you make sure the moves that it does have hit hard. Pokemon like Infernape, Lucario, and even Pawmot can benefit from this item, just as long as you fulfill those two requirements. The extra damage comes in handy, so if you want that kind of extra oomph on your team, stop by the Delibird Presents and get yourself one in Mesagoza.

3. Big Root

Moving away from attacking Pokemon for a little bit, let’s focus on the Defense-heavy side of things. If you have a Venasaur, you’ll likely want to equip them, or any other draining Pokemon you have, with a Big Root. A Big Root in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet increases the amount of HP that the user gains from draining moves. This makes anyone with Giga Drain that much more powerful, especially if they already have a lot of HP to work with. You can get the Big Root at Delibird Presents in Carscarrafa.

Related: Top 10 Shiny Mythical Pokemon Ranked

2. Heavy Duty Boots

Remember what we said about the Terrain Extender helping against moves like Toxic Spikes? Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a move that prevented things like Spikes and Toxic Spikes altogether? Heavy Duty Boots ensures that the Pokemon that switches out into the battlefield isn’t affected by such things. While it doesn’t remove the Spikes, it’s still a great item to have in case your opponent decides to use field traps to plague your whole team. To get your Pokemon some sick new kicks, stop by the Levincia branch of Delibird Presents.

1. Leftovers

Probably one of the best items out there for a wide variety of Pokemon, Leftovers is the perfect item for the defensive, stalwart Pokemon in your team. Anything from a Snorlax to a Quagsire or Clodsire can use it effectively. It restores your Pokemon’s HP little by little every turn, which is especially useful if your Pokemon has enough Defenses to not lose much in the first place. If you want some for your Pokemon, go to Cascarrafa and shop at Delibird Presents.