In Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, it’s likely that you might find yourself under-leveled at certain points throughout the game. The non-linear design makes it very easy to miss certain pieces of content or end up in high level zones before you’re ready.
Luckily, leveling up your Pokemon fast is as easy as it has ever been in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. It is all about finding the ‘right’ things to do at the perfect time.
There are also easy strategies you can follow if you are ever leveling up a Pokemon who is way below your current level.
In this guide, we will show you how to rank up & level up fast in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. Whether it is through battling, Tera raids, or playing online, we have it all covered.
Finding the Right Area to Level Up Pokemon
The right strategy is always going for quality over quantity. This means that you want to fight Pokemon near your level range, but at the same time, you want to clear them as fast as possible.
If you are going for story completion and leveling, you might as well do both things together. This strategy is arguably the main way to play the game.
But since the game is an open-world title now, you have a lot of other options than just going through a linear path catching Pokemons and earning badges.
If you want to follow the story without hitting any hiccups concerning your Pokemon levels, follow the story path shown below.
- 1st Gym – Bug
- Path of Legends – Stony Cliff Titan
- 2nd Gym – Grass
- Path of Legends – Open Sky Titan
- Starfall Street – Dark Crew
- 3rd Gym – Electric
- Starfall Street – Fire Crew
- Path of Legends – Lurking Steel Titan
- 4th Gym – Water
- Starfall Street – Poison Crew
- 5th Gym – Normal
- 6th Gym – Ghost
- Path of Legends – Quaking Earth Titan
- 7th Gym – Psychic
- 8th Gym – Ice
- Starfall Street – Fairy Crew
- Path of Legends – False Dragon Titan
- Starfall Street – Fighting Crew
- Elite Four – Victory Road
- All Final Battles
Just by looking at this long list and the map, you will notice that you are actually going back and forth in the Paldea region.
It might not seem efficient, but this is the correct story order based on the Pokemon level. You have options to skip through a few things, but it isn’t that hard to go around the region because of the fast travel feature anyway.
When you get past the 6th gym, the level difference between the other objectives is minimal. Most of these will just require you to have the right Pokemon type to beat them easily.
Now that we have the correct story path down, here are some tips you should follow if you want to become more efficient in leveling. Some of these strategies could probably be considered a ‘cheese’ strategy just because of how easy leveling becomes.
Farming Rare Candies or XP Candies
This strategy is the best strategy out there when it comes to leveling Pokemon as fast as possible.
You can stock up on XP candies by doing Tera raid battles and use them on your Pokemon to level them up. XP candies can range from XS (extra small) to XL (extra large).
These are different from Rare Candies because they provide experience points. Rare Candies instantly levels up a Pokemon by 1 when used.
So, how do you get a ton of XP candies? The amount of candies given is random, but the higher the difficulty rating, the more candy you will get. These raid difficulties range from one-star to five-star raids, but there are higher star ratings for special events.
If you are playing Tera raids for XP, finish the highest difficulty you can find at all times. You will receive a big chunk of XP.
To capitalize more on this strategy, you can use online play and form a group. Tera raids found in the Paldea region are all connected to each player in the group.
However, access can be separate. You will see some crystals that say, “This is X’s crystal,” which means that only a specific person can see the Tera raid and activate it.
This is because each crystal will vary depending on the player’s personal progress. If you have a friend who is way ahead in the story, they will encounter higher star encounters in their Tera raid battles.
They can still invite you to the Tera raid battles, but if you are way under-leveled, it might get difficult. However, your friend can still carry you by beating the raid. You will still get the appropriate rewards for the encounter.
For example, if a player hosts a 3-star Tera raid (which is around level 35+) and a player whose strongest Pokemon is just about level 15, all the players involved will still get XP candies that match the difficulty of the 3-star Tera raid.
Even doing one or two of these raids can jump that level 15 Pokemon to well over level 25. That player will get an insane boost to their story progression.
For another tip, you can beat some of the Titans first in the story path above. They unlock abilities for your mount to surf on water, jump higher, run faster, glide, and make other useful quality-of-life improvements.
Classic Battle Chansey’s for More XP
Every time you encounter a Chansey, battle them immediately if you are looking for XP. They give a big chunk of experience compared to any other Pokemon out there.
Move Pokemon to Your Default Lineup
If you are leveling a specific Pokemon, you can use it as the first Pokemon in your lineup and switch it out for another Pokemon immediately. Battle Pokemon that you can easily finish off with another Pokemon in your lineup.
Having your chosen Pokemon in your first slot will ensure that it gets a big chunk of experience.
It will be shared with the Pokemon who is beating the Pokemon for you, but it will be significantly more experience points than what an idle Pokemon in your lineup receives.
Just make sure that if you change your Pokemon, the one swapping in can handle taking a free hit.
You can catch a Jigglypuff and lull the Pokemon to sleep if you want to be safe.
