Today, I’ll be going over the top 12 things you should avoid doing in Pokémon Unite.
Common Pokémon Unite mistakes you should avoid doing include not giving your Pokémon items to hold, surrendering a battle, holding onto your points for too long, and ignoring the mini map along with over a half dozen other key blunders many players make.
Avoiding these Pokémon Unite mistakes is easy to do once you know what they are and how to prevent them.
Continue reading to learn the most common 12 mistakes to avoid in this helpful Pokémon Unite guide.
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What is Pokémon Unite?
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Pokémon Unite is a battle arena game featuring the globally popular Pokémon creatures.
Players select a monster and do battle online in teams of 5 versus 5.
Read this informative article I created that goes over Pokémon Unite’s core tenants and what makes it so much fun.
12 Mistakes You Should Avoid Doing In Pokémon Unite
Pokémon Unite is a team-based battle game that relies on a wealth of strategy and nuances that aren’t necessarily explained in-game.
These nuances can be learned over time but aren’t detailed for beginner or intermediate players that need them the most.
Even advanced players will blunder due to a lack of battle info.
Follow this guide to learn how to avoid 12 common mistakes players make in Pokémon Unite along with solutions and battle strategies for each one.
The 12 Pokémon Unite Mistakes To Avoid:
- Not Equipping A Held Item
- Sticking With The Potion
- Playing Matches Solo
- Surrendering
- Holding Onto Aeos Points
- Ignoring The Mini Map
- Stealing Kills
- Ignoring Shout Outs
- Not Sticking To A Lane
- Playing With One Pokémon
- Purchasing Pokémon With Aeos Gems
- Not Upgrading Held Items
- BONUS!
1) Not Equipping A Held Item
Held Items boost your Pokémon abilities in battle and should always be equipped.
Up to 3 Held Items can be equipped to a single Pokémon at one time (as long as your Trainer level is high enough), allowing for a wide range of customization.
Held Items Examples
- The Float Stone causes your Pokémon to move faster when not in battle. This allows you to cross long distances quickly for the majority of a match
- The Muscle Band enhances your basic attacks and increases your attack speed–do more damage and do it faster than the opposition
Heading into a Unite Battle without a Held Item (or three) will place you at a competitive disadvantage in battles against the opposing team.
Learn How To Equip Held Items To Pokémon by following this Pokémon Unite picture guide.
SOLUTION: Equip as many Held Items as you can before starting a match.
Choose Held Items that compliment your chosen Pokémon.
2) Sticking With The Potion
Battle Items also play a key role in winning Unite Battles.
What Are Battle Items
A Pokémon can hold one Battle Item at a time and use it at-will throughout an entire battle.
Battle Items
- grant your Pokémon a beneficial effect depending on the item
- have a cool-down period before they can be used again
The default Battle Item is the Potion: this heals a bit of health when used.
This item seems great at first glance, especially to beginners. But it’s not the best item to use for most occasions.
How To Restore Health Without A Potion
Health can be regained by
- visiting your goal zones
- picking up a yellow berry
- retreating back to base
- by teammate Support Pokémon
The amount of health restored by a Potion is usually less than these other methods of healing.
Therefore, selecting the Potion does not provide a higher benefit than choosing one of the many other Battle Items in the game.
Try Other Battle Items
Definitely try new Battle Items as you unlock them.
NOTE: More Battle Items are unlocked by increasing your Trainer level.
- X Attack will boost your attack and special attack damage
- Slow Smoke will slowdown opponent’s movement speed
- Fluffy Tail allows you to deal more damage and stun wild Pokémon
Select X Attack to deal more damage, Slow Smoke to help trap or flee opponents, and Fluffy Tail to speed up leveling and defeating wild or Legendary Pokémon.
There are so many other Battle Items that are better than the Potion. So give them all a try.
SOLUTION: Try out all Battle Items and find the best one that works for you, the Pokémon you’re using, and the battle arena your battling on before sticking with Potion.
3) Playing Matches “Solo”
Pokémon Unite is a team-based game. Period and end of discussion.
The Goal Of Pokémon Unite Battles
The goal of a match is to work together and score points in the opposing team’s goal zone.
Everything you do during a Unite Battle should focus on helping and winning as a team:
- selecting a Pokémon along with its items
- choosing a lane at the start of a match
- leveling up by battling wild Pokémon
- teleporting back to base
- defending a position on the map
- assisting a teammate
- going after Legendary monsters
- and so forth
Every action you make is about the team.
A single Defeat of a solo-minded play can cost the team the entire match
Pokémon Unite Isn’t A Team Death Match
This isn’t a team death match.
Do not fight the enemy team alone unless your are severely over leveled and have back-up or an escape plan.
Pokémon Unite Isn’t A Battle Royale
This isn’t a battle royale, one versus one hundred players.
Do not push to an area of the map where you know the entire enemy team is waiting.
Work Together, Win Together
Pokémon Unite is a team versus team battle. Work together, win together.
There is little else more off-putting to your teammates than trying to “solo” a match (what solo means) without assisting or thinking about how your actions will affect your comrades.
A single faint of a solo-minded play can cost the team the entire match.
SOLUTION: Even when you are leveling up by yourself or traveling down one of the lanes alone, understand everything you do is to assist your team in winning.
Play with the team in mind which is a skill you will assuredly learn the more matches you play.
4) Surrendering, Surrendering, Surrendering!
You can surrender a Unite Battle in Pokémon Unite, but you really shouldn’t.
Never. Ever.
What Is Surrendering
Members of your team (including yourself) can cast a surrender vote at any time.
The match will end and your team will lose if enough players on your team decide they want to quit.
Quitting Is Not An Option. Here’s Why.
Spoiler alert: if you want to get better, quitting is not an option.
Becoming a better player doesn’t mean winning a match or being a quitter.
Becoming a better player comes from being put into challenging and dire situations but being able to learn, adapt, and come up with strategy to eventually know how to navigate those situations better than ever before.
Why Quitters Won’t Prosper
All of these moments usually happen during the middle to the latter part of the match.
These are moments of the game quitters will always miss out on while top ranked players will always play.
If you quit, you’ll never know how to
- make epic comebacks
- win battles when outnumbered
- figure out the best moment to sneak around the rival team when their distracted
- win a Legendary Pokémon turf war
- and many more mid/late/end-game skills
I’ve learned all of these important strategies and so much more by playing to the very end of every match regardless of the outcome.
And you can learn these same invaluable skills, too.
Rally with your team, learn better strategies, and become a better player instead of surrendering
Short Battles Are Short
Surrendering is pretty useless when the battles in Pokémon Unite are 5 or 10 minutes long at most.
These matches are short.
If you focus on becoming a better playing rather than giving up, the time will go by rather quickly even when your team isn’t doing well.
Then you’ll hit the results screen thinking about what you can improve, what worked, and what didn’t work during the match.
All things that won’t happen if you’re too focused on surrendering.
You Can Always Make A Comeback
Arguably the most important to those who want to win, is that a team can always come back from what appears to be a losing battle.
The teams I’ve been on have done this dozens of times over the course of my play sessions!
I’ve experienced matches that seemed lost, rolled my eyes when the surrender vote popped up on screen, and then proceeded to win the match.
And I’ve read countless other stories like this in Pokémon Unite communities across the web.
You can always win. Remember this.
Even when the game is telling you how far behind you are, you can still make a comeback and win.
SOLUTION: Rally with your team, learn better strategies, and become a better player instead of surrendering.
Surrendering prevents you from being the best player you can be.
5) Holding Onto Aeos Points Too Long
Pokémon can only hold a certain amount of Aeos points depending on their level.
Aeos Points Max Capacity
Your Pokémon won’t be able to obtain more Aeos points when maxed out.
- Wild and player Pokémon will drop Aeos point orbs on the ground if your Pokémon is at max capacity
Also, holding onto Aeos points for too long puts a target on your back.
- You drop a chunk of Aeos points when defeated, allowing the rival team to pick up your point orbs
These are both reasons why you should score your Aeos points in the opposing team’s goal zones whenever you can.
Sometimes Scoring Isn’t Possible
There will be times where your Pokémon is at max Aeos point capacity and you may have no way to score for a litany of reasons:
- you’re under leveled
- the enemy is over leveled
- you’re out numbered
- the goal zone is too far away
- and so forth
Score As A Team
Stick with your team and push towards a rival goal zone to score points, especially when you’re having trouble scoring alone.
Again, this is a team-based game and the best way to score is alongside your teammates.
Distraction Technique
You can also try to score by using the stealth technique.
Make sure the rival team is perfectly distracted by the rest of your team.
Then, sneak off to score by paying attention to ally and enemy Pokémon locations by reading the mini map.
Keep in mind this is an advanced technique so it’s okay if you’re not comfortable with stealth maneuvers at first.
SOLUTION: Deposit your points in the rival goal zones as soon as possible by rallying with and pushing with your team to score as a collective unit.
6) Ignoring The Mini Map
The mini map is one of the most important assets you have during a Unite Battle in Pokémon Unite.
Please, use it!
Glance At The Mini Map Often
I glance at the mini map every second or two during a match as long as I am not in a heated battle.
I implore you to use this technique as well to gain a competitive advantage.
Gather Information
Looking at the mini map allows the player to gather so much information about the battle arena that is undeniably beneficial to deciding the outcome of a Unite Battle.
The mini map shows you
- your teammate’s locations
- the remaining goal zones for both teams
- the spawn areas and levels of the wild Pokémon across the map (the yellow dots are wild Pokémon; the bigger the dot, the higher the level)
- Legendary Pokémon locations and spawn countdown timers
- temporary locations of enemy player Pokémon when spotted
- temporary locations of player Pokémon scoring in your team’s goal zone
- player shout-outs
- additional info and countdown timers
- and of course, your current location
Every single one of these info points provided by momentarily glancing at the mini map will help you make better decisions and learn what to do at any given time.
The mini map provides a wealth of important battle information everY second of the match
How To Use The Mini Map
Use the mini map to
- learn where wild Pokémon are so you can level up
- see if your teammates need assistance
- avoid being outnumbered at a certain part of the map
- know which rival goal zone your team should attack
- see which of your team’s goal zone needs protecting
- when to position yourself near the Legendary Pokémon spawn points
- along with so much more
The mini map truly is one of the strongest tools available in Pokémon Unite.
Use it!
SOLUTION: The mini map provides a wealth of important battle information every second of the match.
Pay attention to the mini map throughout the entire battle.
7) Stealing A Kill (Never Do This!)
Never steal a teammate’s wild Pokémon kill in Pokémon Unite.
Your teammates HATE this!
Never Steal your Teammate’s Kill
Why shouldn’t you swoop in and take a teammate’s wild Pokémon kill?
For one, it’s just rude and bad gaming etiquette.
You wouldn’t want a teammate swooping in and finishing the wild Pokémon you put all the effort into weakening.
This is very frustrating and you will inevitably feel this too if you play enough matches.
Focus on defeating and delivering the final blow to your own wild Pokémon . . . and never steal a wild Pokémon kill from your allies
Secondly, it’s actively detrimental to your team as a whole.
Stealing Kills Makes The Team Weaker
The player who defeats a wild (or player) Pokémon by dealing the final blow receives the most experience points.
Team members who steal your kill are actively preventing you from
- gaining experience
- leveling up
- learning moves
- and growing stronger during the course of a battle
Stealing kills puts you and–therefore–your entire team at a disadvantage.
Why You Shouldn’t Steal A Kill
There have been so many moments where team members have stolen the final wild Pokémon blow from me.
And this has prevented me from leveling up, causing me to be weaker than needed.
In turn, my under-leveled state compounded during the rest of the battle and usually ended with a loss for the team.
What Should You Do
Never steal a teammate’s kill (concerning one-on-one wild Pokémon battles for purposes of leveling up).
Instead, look at your mini map to find wild Pokémon your teammates aren’t going after and battle them instead.
SOLUTION: Focus on defeating and delivering the final blow to your own wild Pokémon, let your teammates defeat their own wild Pokémon, and never steal a wild Pokémon kill from your allies.
8) Ignoring Shout Outs
Always listen to your teammate’s shout outs.
Listen To Your Team
Ignoring your team’s requests means you’re basically playing solo (as you have already read above, playing solo is a no-no).
Therefore, heed the call of duty when your team members need it.
Doing so can help keep your teammates alive and help you win the match.
Automatic Shout Outs
Some shout outs are automatic such as when player Pokémon are attacking a goal zone you’re defending.
A message will appear on screen notifying you which player is defending a goal zone.
Backup may be needed in instances such as this which makes listening to shout outs pivotal.
Read your team’s messages that appear on your screen and assist when you can
Manual Shout Outs
Additionally, Pokémon Unite provides a host of manual shout outs from a list of useful choices.
Just press the top directional button on the Nintendo Switch controller by default.
Sample shout outs players can use at any time during a battle include
- asking for backup
- declaring what lane they’re moving to
- making retreat plans
- announcing when a Unite Move is ready
- along with a few other helpful declarations
Where Shout Out Messages Appear
The message will appear on the screen above your Pokémon and below the remaining time.
Pay attention to these shout outs and do your best to logically deduce if you can assist in what is being asked of you.
Sometimes you’ll be able to help, sometimes you won’t. And that’s okay.
As long as you don’t ignore your team, you’ll do fine in the long-term.
SOLUTION: Read your team’s messages that appear on your screen and assist when you can but never ignore these messages.
9) Not Sticking To Your Lane
Selecting a lane at the start of a Unite Battle and sticking to it plays a big part in helping your team win battles.
Pick A Lane
Pokémon Unite arenas are split up into multiple lanes (also know as paths).
The main mode map (Remoat Stadium) splits the map into three distinct paths:
- upper
- center
- lower
Each pathway has its own distinct features from the type of wild and Legendary Pokémon that appear to the actual terrain.
Some paths (usually the top and bottom) even have goal zones for your team as well as the opposing team.
This is where picking a lane and sticking to it–especially at the start of a battle–is very important.
Goal Zones Are Defenseless Without You
Lanes with goal zones must be protected from attacking player Pokémon.
Paths without you or a member of your team guarding it will go defenseless, allowing enemy Pokémon to score in your goal zones.
Pick a lane at the beginning of a match, let your other teammate know which lane you’re heading within the lobby, and then stay on your path as good as you can as long as you can.
Communicate Your Position
Defend your path’s goal zones and call for backup by performing shout outs if you need an assist.
If you ever decide to leave your path, shout out where you’re heading.
Leaving your path will be necessary throughout the match for many reasons. Just remember to communicate to your team if you do.
SOLUTION: Leaving your path will allow opposing players to capture your lane and score in your goal zone.
Stick to your path as well as you can throughout a battle to keep that specific lane properly defended.
10) Playing With One Pokémon
Play as more than just one Pokémon to put yourself at an advantage during the Pokémon selection process and help balance out your team.
Only One Pokémon Per Team
Pokémon Unite only allows one unique Pokémon to be selected per team.
That means, a team can only have one player as Pikachu, Charizard, Zeraora, and so forth.
Putting Yourself At A Disadvantage
You’re simply out of luck if someone picks the one and only Pokémon you know how to play as before you do.
You’ll have to select a Pokémon you aren’t familiar with and do not know how to play.
Doing so can have a negative affect on the entire match–just think of how well you’ll fair not knowing what moves to use or strategies to implement by selecting an unknown Pokémon.
Simply put?
You’ll be putting yourself and your team at a disadvantage if you only know how to play as a single Pokémon on the roster.
Learn how to play as more than one Pokémon to give you more choices and to help round-out your team
Practice With Other Pokémon
Get used to playing as other Pokémon. Diversify.
- Choose a Pokémon that looks interesting to use then play practice battles by yourself
- When you’re familiar with that Pokémon, battle against the CPU alongside real players
- Graduate to battling against other teams of real players once you are comfortable with the new Pokémon
Round-Out Your Team
Playing as more than one Pokémon can also benefit the team in another way.
Each Pokémon has a class:
- attack
- ranged
- support
- etc.
A well-rounded team has a member of each class.
As long as you know how to play as a Pokémon of each class, you’ll be able to round-out your team with whatever missing class your team needs during the Pokémon selection process.
SOLUTION: Learn how to play as more than one Pokémon to give you more choices and to help round-out your team.
Do so by playing practice matches and CPU battles with a new Pokémon before playing against actual people.
11) Purchasing Pokémon With Aeos Gems
Playable Pokémon can be earned in Pokémon Unite by simply playing the game over a period of time and earning in-game coins.
Avoid spending real money to obtain them (unless you are just really, really impatient).
Unlocking Pokémon With Aeos Gems Is Expensive
Pokémon can be purchased with Aeos gems, in-game currency purchased with real money.
Unlocking Pokémon with this method is effective, fast, instantaneous, but also expensive.
There are over 20 Pokémon and the roster will only grow over time (a new Pokémon has already been added) which means this method of using real money isn’t sustainable for most players.
Therefore, I suggest using Aeos coins to purchase your next playable Pokémon in Pokémon Unite.
Purchase playable Pokémon with free Aeos coins earned by playing the game
Unlock Pokémon With Aeos Coins
Aeos coins are free and are obtainable by many different methods in Pokémon Unite.
Obtain Aeos coins by
- increasing your Trainer level
- obtaining your daily Fair Play Points
- playing Unite Battles of any kind
- and completing Events and Challenges
Accrue and save these points and then use them to purchase Pokémon for free.
It might take a while, but you’ll save money this way.
Use your Aeos gems on the Battle Pass and thank yourself later.
Learn How To Purchase Aeos Coins In Pokémon Unite by following this detailed picture guide.
SOLUTION: Purchase playable Pokémon with free Aeos coins earned by playing the game.
Save your Aeos gems for purchasing the Battle Pass among other items.
12) Forgetting To Upgrade Your Held Items
Upgrade your Held Items to make them the strongest they can be.
Making sure your Pokémon is equipped with a Held Item is just the start.
Held Items Start Off Weak
All Held Items begin at level 1 and can be upgraded to higher levels, providing better benefits.
A Held Item at level 20 or 30 will provide vastly better Pokémon stat increases than a Held Item that is only level 1.
Upgrading your Held Items is how you gain the greatest competitive edge in Pokémon Unite.
How To Upgrade Your Held Item
This can be done by using Item Enhancers to upgrade your Held items via the Held Items menu.
Earn Item Enhancers by completing Events, Challenges, and purchasing them in the Shop with Aeos tickets.
Learn How To Upgrade Held Items in Pokémon Unite by following this detailed picture guide.
SOLUTION: It is important to remember to equip Held Items to your Pokémon before entering a Unite Battle.
But it is equally important to strengthen these items. Upgrade your most used Held Items often.
BONUS: Standing Still
Always be doing something!
You should always be active in Pokémon Unite and never remain idle.
Standing idle and not utilizing your time will leave yourself and your team at a disadvantage.
Luckily, there are so many options available for you to do at any given second of a Unite Battle.
Continue Being active during every step of a battle to be the most efficient team member you can be
Pick Something To Do
There are a host of actions you should be doing during a match:
- leveling up
- traveling the map
- defeating wild Pokémon for points
- defeating wild Pokémon for experience
- assisting your team
- positioning yourself somewhere advantageous
- grabbing a yellow berry to heal
- scoring a goal
- attacking a Legendary Pokémon
- pushing with your team
- communicating with your team via shout out
- teleporting back to base to heal or fast travel
- protecting your goal zone
- attacking the opponent’s goal zone
- and so on
Always do one of these things during your match to be a productive member of your team.
The only exception to this rule? When you are in a goal zone, defending it. Stick to your position.
Even then, you’ll most likely be battling with members of the rival team while situated on your goal zone.
SOLUTION: Continue being active during every step of a battle to be the most efficient team member you can be.
Read More Great Articles
Now you know the top 12 mistakes to avoid while playing Pokémon Unite for Nintendo Switch and mobile devices.
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(Screenshots taken by me. Images sourced from product pages, websites, or social media and are credited appropriately. Logos, images, etc. belong to their respective owners. All information current at time of publication.)
IMAGE: Pokémon Unite website | Nintendo / Creatures Inc. / GAME FREAK inc / Tencent
