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Guides

SOS Battle Chaining

After you clear the first Island Trial, wild Pokémon gain the ability to call an additional Pokémon (an ally) to its side in battle. This is called an SOS Battle. When you defeat the ally Pokémon, a new ally can be called and this can go on indefinitely. Defeating multiple allies in a row is called chaining, and making long chains increases the chance of a called ally being shiny, having high IVs, and having a Hidden Ability. The appearance of an ally also increases the amount of EVs it gives. So the more allies you defeat, the better the next ally can be.

Important to Know Before Chaining

The ally is mostly of the same family as the caller. This includes pre-evolutions and evolutions of the caller. However, exceptions exist. For example, a Corsola can call Mareanie.

The lower the caller’s HP, the higher the chance it will call for allies. So it is advised to lower its health as much as possible.

All Pokémon have different call rates. The higher a Pokémon's call rate, the more often it will call for help.

Some Pokémon do not call for allies at all. These Pokémon have a call rate of 0. A list of these Pokémon can be found at the bottom of this guide.

An Adrenaline Orb increases the chance of allies being called. You can buy Adrenaline Orbs for 300P a piece as soon as you have finished Kiawe's trial, and using one is enough to increase the chance for the rest of the battle. Next to this, sending out a Pokémon with the Ability Intimidate, Pressure, or Unnerve also make it more likely for Pokémon to call for help.

If the caller faints, the ally becomes the new caller. However, be aware of Pokémon that do not call for allies. If the caller faints and such a 0 call rate Pokémon remains, the chain breaks.

A Pokémon with a status condition has a lower chance of calling allies. This is useful when you want to catch the Pokémon, but should be avoided while still building a chain.

Some allies attack their caller. For example, Mareanie are known to eat Corsola branches. If a Corsola calls a Mareanie, the Mareanie will attack the Corsola. If the Corsola faints, the Mareanie will not call for new allies, which will break the chain.

If the caller runs out of PP, it will use Struggle. This may cause it to faint eventually and if it faints without an ally, the chain will break. So make sure to regularly faint the caller before it runs out of PP, to make the ally the new caller.

 

How to Chain

  1. Find a wild Pokémon that calls the Pokémon you are looking for. This can be anywhere; in grass, in caves, while fishing, etc.
  2. Lower the caller’s health as much as possible to increase the chance of calling.
  3. Use an Adrenaline Orb to increase the chance of calling even further, or send out a Pokémon with the Ability Intimidate, Pressure, or Unnerve.
  4. During turns when no ally is called, use another Adrenaline Orb. This will not damage the caller further (you don't want it to faint) and it will not consume the Orb, it will stay in your bag.
  5. Keep defeating called allies until you have reached your goal; either finding a rare or good Pokémon, or EV-training your Pokémon.
  6. If your goal is to catch the Pokémon, inflict it with a status condition, so it has a lower chance of calling new allies, which makes catching it easier. You cannot catch a Pokémon while its ally is present.

 

Chain Lengths

The longer the chain, the bigger your chance of having to find a Pokémon that is shiny, has a hidden Ability, or has perfect IVs. After a chain of 255, the counter goes back to 0 again.

 

Perfect IVs

 

Hidden Abilities

 

Shiny Chance

A chain length of 70 to 255 gives you a 1/1024 chance of encountering a shiny (normally 1/4096). If you have obtained the Shiny Charm, the chance becomes 1/683.

 

Breaking the Chain

The following actions will break a chain:

The caller calling a Pokémon that is not of the same family as the caller does not break the chain.

 

Chaining for EV-training

Chaining is useful for EV-training, because a called ally doubles the amount of EVs it gives when defeated. For example, a Caterpie normally gives 1 HP EV, but a Caterpie called as an ally in battle will give 2 HP EVs.

With the Power Items now giving 8 extra EVs (4 extra EVs previously), a stat can be maxed at 252 EVs with an ally chain of 14, or 7 if the training Pokémon has Pokérus. This works as follows:

A Caterpie gives 1 HP EV. This becomes 9 HP EVs if the training Pokémon is holding a Power Weight (1+8). If the Pokémon also has Pokérus, the EVs are doubled to 18. And if the Caterpie is a called ally, the EVs will be again doubled, to 36. Defeating seven called Caterpies would therefore give 252 HP EVs (7x36).

You can check a Pokémon's EVs by viewing its summary and pressing Ⓨ.

 

If you turn on the Exp. Share, all Pokémon in your party will receive the EVs. So the Pokémon you want to train doesn’t have to be the one who defeats the called allies, and you can EV train multiple Pokémon at once this way.

 

Useful Moves and Abilities

 

Moves

 

Abilities

 

Other Tips and Tricks

Learn more about raising Affection in Pokémon Refresh.

 

Pokémon That Do Not Call Allies

As explained before, some Pokémon have a call rate of 0 and therefore never call for allies. This goes for the following Pokémon:

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