The Sword & Shield Expansion Pass promised to add many new features that would keep players engaged long after they had completed their Pokédex and become the Pokémon League Champion. One of the new surprise features that came with the Isle of Armor DLC was the Cram-o-Matic, a strange device shaped like the newly introduced Cramorant that takes a player's unwanted items and turns them into something new.
Because the number of items available in-game, as well as the fact that recipes aren't saved after they have been made, there are many aspects of the Cram-o-Matic that could go unnoticed if players don't use a particular combination. As a result, there are many items that players may not realize they can make using this new feature.
10 Competitive Items
One of the most frustrating aspects of Pokémon Sword & Shield was how hard it was to get some of the competitive battling items. The Life Orb, Assault Vest, and Choice Items were easy enough to get in the Battle Tower, but, for whatever reason, the Flame and Toxic Orbs were both locked behind the Pokéball Guy, who would only gift them to the player at random.
Now, players can create their own. Two Cherri Berry and two Rare Bones would need to be combined to make a Flame Orb, while three Oran Berries and a Star Piece will make a Toxic Orb.
9 Off-Loading Dynamax Candies
With the number of Raid events consistently going on, it's likely that players have amassed a huge number of Dynamax Candies that, unfortunately, can't simply be sold off to make some more cash.
Using the Cram-o-Matic, players can fuse four Dynamax Candy together to make a Dragon Fang, a decent hold item that can actually be sold off to remove some of the dead weight in players backpacks.
8 Digging Duo Items
The Digging Duo was a neat addition to Pokémon and allowed players to offload some of their Watts in exchange for some rarer items, particularly the four different Fossils or some Nuggets. The only problem with using this feature often was that players were likely to be given a bunch of Iron Balls and Everstones that simply took up space.
Now, these items can be turned into something substantially more useful or valuable, such as combining four Everstones to make a Rocky Helmet or four Iron Balls to make a Metal Coat. Arguably the best use of this feature is turning all those Stardusts into Star Pieces or even Comet Shards.
7 Evolution Items
With the addition of Porygon, Seadra, and Scyther to the Isle of Armor, players have even more Pokémon that need a particular item to evolve them, with Porygon's in particular only being a one time find in the overworld.
Using the Cram-o-Matic, players are able to create more Upgrades and Dubious Discs, should they want to evolve more Porygons than the one gifted by Mustard. Upgrades can be made with four Magnets and a Dubious Disc can be made with a Light Ball and three Wishing Pieces. For Kingdra to evolve, players can either hope they catch a Horsea that is holding a Dragon Scale or combine four Dragon Fangs to make one, an item that is very easy to make using Dynamax Candy.
6 Wishing Pieces
Although Wishing Pieces are rather easy to buy using Watts, there can be times when the player is quite low on the currency, particularly if they are in the process of unlocking the Restricted Sparring in the Master Dojo.
Wishing Pieces are easy enough to make in the Isle of Armor. They can be created by combining four Apricot or Ganlon Berries, or by using one of each weather stone – Icy Rock, Heat Rock, Damp Rock, and Smooth Rock – obtainable by the Digging Duo.
5 Breeding Items
If, for whatever reason, players haven't yet gotten into breeding for perfect IV's and Natures for competitive battling, and haven't obtained the Destiny Knot or an Everstone, the Cram-o-Matic makes both of these items relatively easy to obtain.
A Destiny Knot can be made with a Pink Apricorn and three Wishing Pieces, while an Everstone can be made with four Hard Stones, an item that is easily found by using the Digging Duo.
4 Training Items
After breeding the perfect Pokémon, they will need to be trained up to be battle-ready if players want to use them in online and competitive battles, which usually means simply giving them a load of vitamins and XP Candy. However, sometimes a player wants to make a Pokémon they caught more viable; consequently, they might need to get items like Bottle Caps and Ability Capsules to get the job done instead.
Luckily, the Cram-o-Matic can also make these items. Combining two Big Nuggets and two Comet Shards will spit out a Bottle Cap, and four Rare Candies will make an Ability Capsule. To go one step further, players can also combine four regular Bottle Caps to make a Gold Bottle Cap.
3 Making Money
Although the main goal of using the Cram-o-Matic seems to be to make some difficult to find items more accessible, it also functions as a great way for players to make a bit more money that doesn't involve buying and selling 999 Luxury Balls in the Wild Area.
Combining four lesser items into a better version, such as Nuggets into Big Nuggets or Stardust into Star Pieces, usually creates an item that sells for more money than would be obtained had those four items been sold individually.
2 Technical Records
In a strange move by Game Freak, Pokémon Sword & Shield reintroduced the concept of one-time-use TMs, this time being labeled as TRs, or Technical Records. For the most part, these are more powerful moves than TMs, though they are only found with Wild Area merchants or as prizes for beating a Raid Den.
The Cram-o-Matic makes obtaining particular TRs significantly easier. Moves such as Shadow Ball can be made with a Dusk Stone and three Rare Candy, while Taunt requires using a Black Apricorn and three Rawst Berries.
1 Rare Pokeballs
When the Cram-o-Matic was revealed, it was also shown that Apricorns would be making a return to Pokémon. They have not been seen since HeartGold & SoulSilver, when they were an easy way to obtain rare Poké Balls such as the Heavy, Lure, and Fast Balls.
Unfortunately, even though these balls are obtainable by using the Cram-o-Matic, there is only a 1% chance of any combination of four Apricorns producing them. Although, for any player willing to put in the time and energy, there is a 0.1% chance of the result being a Safari or Sports Ball, the unique balls from the Safari Zone and Bug Catching Contest respectively.