Make friends and influence Pokemon.
A Pokémon with maximum friendship can be extremely valuable in Pokémon Shining Diamond and Shining Sword. With enough friendship, your Pokemon will land critical hits and get rid of paralysis as if nothing had happened. Some Pokemon, like Togepi, will only evolve once you really become friends with your Pokemon. Too bad there's no Pokemon park to pet your Pokemon after every battle. There are fewer methods to spark friendship in this remake, at least compared to newer games in the series. If you want your Pokemon to love you as soon as possible, here are the methods I use.
Friendship is a tricky stat in Pokemon Brilliand Diamond and Shining Sword. There are NPCs who can check for you, and there's an app you can use on the Poketch to judge your Pokemon's general friendliness. But, the game really doesn't explain what increases friendship and what decreases it. Your primary Pokemon is most likely to be your friendliest, simply because you'll be leveling it up, fighting in gym battles, and doing a lot of walking. Walking with your Pokemon is the real key to maximizing friendship, but first you'll need a handy item.
More Pokemon Sparkle Diamond & Sparkle Pearl guides:
How To Catch All Legendary Pokemon | How to get Mew, Jirachi and Manaphy | How To Get A Useful Pokémon Catcher | Where To Find Evolution Stones | All ground movements | Early Mystery Gifts | Great underground capture easier | How To Catch Rotom And Change Forms | All Pokemon Gifts and Fossils | Ultimate Move Locations | Shiny Pokémon Hunting Guide | Easy cash farming method | How To Catch Feebas, The Rarest Pokemon | Ditto Breeding Guide | Best XP Grinding Method | How To Expand The Secret Base | How to Catch Mesprit
How To Increase Friendship Faster | Max Friendship Tips
Why increase friendship? At higher Friendship, your Pokemon will score critical hits, heal themselves from status effects, and even survive hits that would normally down them. Increasing Friendship is also necessary to evolve certain Pokémon. If you want to check your current friendship level, visit the friendship checker in city of the heart, in the Pokemon Fan Club. She'll tell you how friendly you are to your Pokemon.
The easiest way to increase friendship is to walk around with your Pokemon. Select the Pokemon you want to make more friendly to walk around and give that Pokemon a appease bell.
- How to Get a Soothing Bell: A Soothe Bell can be found on Route 212 and in the Pokemon Mansion. While holding the Soothing Bell, a Pokémon will gain more Friendship through all activities that increase Friendship.
The Soothe Bell is just the start. If you equip a Soothing Bell Pokémon, you will need to walk approximately 20 steps to maximize friendship. It's not the only way. Here are all the methods to increase friendship, ranked from greatest to least.
- Give your Pokemon a massage: Go to the Ribbon Syndicate in the Battle Zone resort area. There is a masseuse who will massage your Pokemon once a day. Depending on your current friendship, you can earn a huge +30 Friendship early. As your friendship increases, the gains will be a little less.
- A second masseur is located in Veilstone City. She gives slightly lesser massages, but will also do it once a day.
- Feeding Your Pokemon Berries: Kelpsy, Grepa, Hondrew, Qualot, Pomeg and Tamato Berries work best. These types of berries all increase friendship.
- Walk with your Pokemon: Select your Buddy Pokemon to walk outside with you. You will earn friendship every 128 stages. As you walk with your Pokemon, you'll also want to battle, level up, eat vitamins, and more.
If you do fight, make sure you don't let your Pokemon get knocked out, and don't use items that lower your total friendship. If your Pokemon is poisoned, be sure to heal it immediately.
To increase friendship effectively, equip the soothing bell, go for walks, get daily massages, feed your Pokemon berries, and try revenge in the gym. Battles in Gyms earn you more Friendship. If you can do all of these, it's possible to max out the friendship within hours.
