Pokémon Sword

Take your time exploring the Wild Area after each gym, complete Max Raid battles for useful items, and save rare candies and Dynamax Adventures for post-game challenges.

Visit a hair salon in Motostoke, Hammerlocke, Circhester, or Wyndon after the first gym to change hair style/color, eyebrows, eye color, and makeup. Clothing boutique nearby handles outfits.

Yes—set a personal level cap for gym leaders and avoid over-grinding in the Wild Area to maintain challenge and pacing.

Yes—after getting into the Crown Tundra expansion, you can use Dynamax Adventures with rental teams to capture legends early, even before finishing the main story.

Very deep—you can change hair, makeup, outfits, and eye color anytime post‑game; salons and boutiques across Galar let you tweak your look frequently.

Pokémon Sword features exclusive Pokémon, different gym leaders, and Legendary Pokémon compared to Shield. Sword has a more offense-themed focus, while Shield leans into defense-themed mechanics and characters.

Exclusive Pokémon include Deino (and Hydreigon), Jangmo-o (and Kommo-o), Sirfetch’d, Stonjourner, and the fossil combo Arctozolt. You’ll need to trade with Shield players for their version exclusives.

Yes, Sword features Bea, a Fighting-type leader, and Gordie, a Rock-type leader. These two are replaced in Shield by Allister and Melony, respectively.

Dynamaxing makes Pokémon grow giant during battles, boosting their stats and moves. Some Pokémon have Gigantamax forms, which change their appearance and give them unique G-Max moves—like Gigantamax Charizard or G-Max Pikachu.

The game takes place in the Galar region, which is inspired by the United Kingdom and features industrial cities, countryside, and massive stadium-style gyms.