Pokemon Unite is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game set in the Pokemon Universe. Although hugely popular amongst Pokemon fans, it really is fantastic in its own right. Indeed, it made our list of the Best MOBA Games for Mobile! In this Pokemon Unite Beginner’s Guide, we will help you get started with some great tips on how to win.
Table of Contents
Pokemon Unite: A Unique MOBA Experience
In Pokemon Unite, you play out (usually) ten-minute matches, in which you team up with 4 players against a team of 5 opponents for control of the map. If you ever played DOTA or League of Legends, you get the idea of how the game usually plays out.
However, on that note, Pokemon Unite took some pretty drastic steps to make this MOBA a unique experience. This may come as a surprise to hardcore fans of the genre. Therefore, you need to leave some of your know-how at the door and re-learn priorities. In particular, you are looking to collect points and deliver them to the enemy’s goal. Keep reading for all our Pokemon Unite Beginner’s Tips and Guide.
Kills DO NOT Matter (If You Cannot Score)
In other MOBAs you usually strive to gain as much gold, exp, and map control advantage over the enemy team and use that to destroy their base. However, Pokemon Unite is not that streamlined, while also being way simpler in some other aspects!
Winning a match is decided by one thing only: how many points your team scored. So it doesn’t matter how many kills you get, how much exp advantage you get, or how many structures you destroy. You can still lose when points get tallied up. Defeat opponent players and wild Pokemon (neutral monsters in the jungle) to get points, then deliver those points to an adversary’s goal to score them.
So you go around the battlefield, the lanes, and the jungle, killing wild Pokemon, and enemy players. Which gives you points you hold on to, and EXP that raises your level to increase your attributes and unlock new moves. You then need to transport the points you are holding to the enemy’s goal. If you die, you will drop your points.
The number dropped depends on how many kills you scored up to now without dying, what kind of EXP advantage you have over the enemy, and so on. It’s pretty complex, bottom line is, you will drop ALL your points if you die when doing super good. So don’t die! Transport the points to the enemy goal and begin to channel a score, which can be interrupted by enemy Pokemon. The more points you carry, the longer the score will take.
You Seriously, SERIOUSLY, Need To Score Them Points!
Unless they are scored in an opponent’s goal, points do not count against your team’s total score. If you don’t use those 50 points you are carrying around before the game ends, then you wasted them. If you kill an opponent while carrying the maximum number you can, those are left on the ground, essentially wasted.
Scoring makes you temporarily invincible, and it also heals your Pokemon! Keep this in mind when fighting, as slipping away to score could just give you the health boost you need to survive. This will always help widen the gap between your team and the enemy team’s score.
The speed at which you score points is influenced by how many teammates are around. At 1 buddy, you get a whopping 30% increase, so always try to score with a teammate. This goes up to a maximum of 60% with 4 teammates being around. But going from 1 to 4 gives you serious diminishing returns, the first buff is the most important one.
The other important thing is how many points you can carry. Up to level 8, you can only carry 30 points. From level 9 up to 11, you can carry 40. And from level 12 onwards you can carry 50 points.
Get To Know Your Playground!
Understanding Pokemon Unite’s map design is crucial to understanding the gameplay itself. There are five goals on either side of the map. 5 enemy team goals, and 5 that belong to your team. As with most MOBAs, the map is mirrored. Meaning that both halves are identical in look and function.
The game also rotates the entire game for you, no matter which side of the map you are playing. As a result, both sides will always begin on the left side of the map (from their perspective at least) and play from there.
The wild Pokemon camps are also mirrored between the two sides, thus it makes no difference which side of the map you are playing. To offer both teams an equal opportunity of capturing them, important boss Pokemon are found on the center of the map. Usually the dead middle of it, and two additional spawns on the top middle and bottom middle of the map.
Get To Know Your Role!
Pokemon Unite has three lanes: the top, middle, and bottom. There are no unbreakable laws that you must obey when choosing to go either top, middle, or bottom. But be aware that some Pokemon are simply better suited for some lanes. What is more important than what lane you go to, is the role you are supposed to fill on your team.
You can find stereotypical “types” of characters in Unite, much like in any MOBA. Depending on the part you play, you should expect your playstyle to differ dramatically. Therefore it’s essential to be informed of what is expected of you. Also, I cannot stress this enough. Playing according to your role can influence whether your team wins or loses.
Here’s a breakdown of what is expected of each role:
| Attacker | The spears of your team. They specialize in dealing CONSISTENT damage throughout the fight. They are key to winning but are also fragile, therefore need to be protected from assassins and crowd control. |
|---|---|
| Speedster | The assassins of your team. They are very mobile, and can dash/jump into the fight to quickly take out key targets in the opposite team and vanish just as fast. |
| Defender | The shield of your team. They are hulking, heavy Pokemon with massive HP pools. Specializing in defending goals to deny the enemy team any points. When a fight breaks out, they are expected to be on the front lines, taking enemy abilities to buy their team time to put down the enemy. |
| Support | The “medic”. While not every support can heal, they all have one goal: to keep everyone alive as long as possible. They usually have amazing skills capable of buffing the offensive and defensive capabilities of their team. |
| All-Rounder | The swiss army knife of your team. A jack of all trades, master of none. All-Rounders can take over for Attackers or Defenders of their team, depending on what your team needs at that moment. Just don’t expect them to excel at either. |
Final Pokemon Unite Beginner’s Tips
In particular lanes, various roles often perform better. Speedsters should usually take the middle jungle, while Supporters should team up with an Attacker or All-Rounder. There are also certain exceptions in each role, but you have to figure out these kinks yourself!
Unfortunately. there can only be one unique Pokemon per team, therefore you cannot select the same Pokemon as your teammate. Pokemon types and elemental-type attacks do not matter in Unite! Which is a pretty huge departure from mainline Pokemon games, and even spinoffs like Pokemon Go. So grab a pocket monster you like and get out here!
This Pokemon Unite Beginner’s Guide and Tips should help you get started in the Pokemon Unite MOBA universe. Make sure to check out our other Pokemon Unite Guides for more information on how you can improve your game.
More Pokemon Unite Guides from OCG
- Best Attacker Pokemon
- Best Defender Pokemon
- Best Speedster Pokemon
- Best Support Pokemon
- Best All-Rounder Pokemon
- Clefable Guide
- Azumarill Guide
- Absol Guide
- Venusaur Guide
- Eldegoss Guide
- Gardevoir Guide
- Decidueye Guide
- Snorlax Guide
- Dodrio Guide
- Mamoswine Guide
- Dragapult Guide
- Pikachu Guide
- Urshifu Guide
- Blastoise Guide
- Espeon Guide
- Wigglytuff Guide
- Dragonite Guide
- Zacian Guide
- Hoopa Guide
- Tips for Beginners
- Item Guide and Tier List
- Theia Sky Ruins Map
- Glaceon Guide
- Aegislash Guide
- Scizor Guide
- Greninja Guide
- Zoroark Guide
- Mr Mime Guide
- Mew Guide
- Sylveon Guide
- Alolan Ninetales Guide
- Cinderace Guide
- Sableye Guide
- Slowbro Guide
- Blissey Guide
- Delphox Guide
- Lucario Guide
- Machamp Guide
- Gengar Guide
- Tyranitar Guide
- Comfey Guide
- Trevenant Guide
- Pokemon List
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