How Pokémon Champions works

Champions is the franchise's battle simulator, made by The Pokémon Works (The Pokémon Company with ILCA). It came out on April 8, 2026 on Switch and Switch 2 and on June 17, 2026 on iOS and Android, with shared progress across platforms.

It's free to start and online-only: even the tutorial and private battles need a connection. Whether Switch requires Nintendo Switch Online to battle, check in-game. There's no story and no catching. The whole game revolves around building teams and battling.

Since launch, Champions has been the platform for official VGC: the 2026 World Championships, in San Francisco, were already played on it. By July 2026 the game had passed 10 million downloads.

Before each match comes team preview: you see your opponent's 6 (not the ones they picked) and have 90 seconds to decide who you bring. After that, it's 45 seconds per turn and 7 minutes of clock per player. At official events, each game is capped at 20 minutes.

• Ranked: climb the tiers and earn Victory Points (VP).
• Casual: no-pressure matches, no VP.
• Private: custom rules and spectators. It's the one community tournaments use.
• Competition Mode: official tournaments, with your team locked at registration.

The game has its own roster, smaller than the Pokédex. Only fully evolved Pokémon make it in (Pikachu is the exception) and there are no legendaries, mythicals, Ultra Beasts or Paradox Pokémon. In Regulation M-C the roster reaches about 230 species.

There are two ways to get Pokémon. The Roster Ranch shows a selection of 10 random Pokémon every 22 hours: you can try one for free for 7 days (without training it) or recruit it for good for 2,500 VP. The other way is transferring from Pokémon HOME, which is free.

Want to know who's strong right now? The Reg M-C tier list shows the most-used Pokémon in tournaments.

Training is all done through menus and paid for with VP. EVs became Stat Points (SP): 66 per Pokémon, at most 32 per stat. IVs are fixed at 31. Natures became Stat Alignment, with 21 options. The details are in the Stat Points guide.

There are no TMs, tutors or breeding. Every move the species learns (by level, former TM or egg move) goes into a single pool, and each new move costs 250 VP. Champions also rebalances mechanics: paralysis only stops you 12.5% of the time, sleep lasts 2 to 3 turns and PP were standardized at 8, 12, 16 or 20.

The only gimmick is Mega Evolution: 1 per battle for each player. There's no Terastal, Dynamax or Z-Moves. See how it works in the Mega guide.

The rules change by regulation, which sets the roster, the Megas and the allowed items. The M in the name comes from the Mega era.

Full rules and what's new in the Regulation M-C guide.

Ranked has 6 tiers: Beginner, Poké Ball, Great Ball, Ultra Ball, Master Ball and Champion. Each Ball tier has 4 ranks, and each win fills a quarter of the meter (a loss takes a quarter away). Seasons last about a month, progress resets every season, and singles and doubles are separate ladders. At the end of the season, rewards range from 500 to 20,000 VP per format.

Outside the game, the community runs tournaments with Swiss rounds, top cut and private battles. On Caneko you can find open tournaments to play or create your own with automatic pairings and standings.