The Pokemon Company recently updated the official website for Pokemon Sword and Shield with info on the Battle Stadium, which is this generation’s version of the online battle hub. As you might expect, using the Battle Stadium will require a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
Ranked Battles
Ranked Battles will have you using your own trained team of Pokemon in battles where your rank is on the line. By winning, you gain points that may bump you up to a higher tier, where you’ll face even tougher opponents of your own caliber.
Ranks are separated into Tiers, which are named after the various standard Poke Balls. At the end of each season, your rank will go down a certain amount, but will mostly be carried over. You can check out your current Rank and Tier with the Pokemon Home smartphone app.
Casual Battles
The non-ranked version of online battles that allow you to use Legendary and Mythical Pokemon as well. In Casual (and Ranked) Battles, you can choose to play in Single Battles or Double Battles. (From the website’s wording, triple battles and rotation battles are likely not included this time as well.)
Casual Battles are split into Official Competitions and Friendly Competitions.
Official Competitions
Official Competitions have players participating in special battles using a variety of rules and restrictions.
Friendly Competitions
You can host your own competition and join other players’ competitions, with the host deciding on the rules.
Rental Teams
By inputting Team IDs, you are able to rent Pokemon teams from other players online for battle. You can also share your own Rental Teams with other people.
Pokemon Sword and Shield will come to the Nintendo Switch on November 15, 2019. You can check out new abilities, held items, and moves in our previous report here.
