Rejoice ultimate Poke-Fans, a new groundbreaking mobile game has arrived! Pokemon Masters transports players to the magical island of Pasio, for a major and competitive tournament. The Pokemon Masters League is absolutely one of a kind.
With exciting 3 vs 3 party style battles, be sure to "sync" up with other trainers and their Pokemon to create effective, powerful elemental trios in order to defeat other rival teams. Collect more of these "pairs" as you discover this new world. To help those new to Pasio, here are some essential things to know before playing Pokemon Masters.
10 Downloading
With so many different (and detailed) types of trainers and Pokemon to program, it's no wonder Pokemon Masters has such a hefty download size of 666.7 MB. But with all that data, players need a smartphone or tablet that can handle the load. The developer (DeNA) recommends having a phone with iOS 11 (OS 7.0).
These specs may seem daunting but haven't kept avid Poke-Fans from downloading like crazy, having reached 10 MILLION downloads in just four days after launch. As both app stores have this record-setting game at around 5 stars, this number is sure to rise, maybe even passing Pokemon GO.
9 Load Time And Crashing
It took months before Pokemon GO wouldn't take forever to connect to a server due to such high traffic and even when those who were lucky started the game, overload caused lags and crashes.
The same in avoidable problems are true for Pokemon Masters. Although DeNA recommends iSO 11 (OS 7.0) or higher and using a device with at least 2.0 GB of RAM, the app store's description says, "We do not guarantee functionality on all devices listed above." When first launched, it took several reloads of the app to get to the game itself and would even crash in the middle sometimes, losing progress, this has since improved greatly.
8 Combat Based, Not Collecting Based
If there's one thing players should know before starting Pokemon Masters, it's that the game is centralized around battles. So for those who were more "Gotta Catch Em All" kind of players in the original, this may not be their cup of tea.
Unique to Pokemon Masters is that players don't collect Pokemon, they collect other trainer teams. The goal is to find the best teammates to partner up with to create effective "pairs" in order to guarantee success against other teams. Trainers are given a star rating depending on their rarity and more stars mean they'll be more of an asset.
7 Sync Pairs And Sync Moves
Sync Pairs are the trainer-Pokemon teams that partner up with players in three versus three battles. Each trainer comes with a different elemental type Pokemon so it's essential to "scout" for many different pairs to build the most effective trios. One way of meeting them is by playing through the main storyline.
Another way is to use "Gems" at the shop (left of the Pokemon Center). This is where players can purchase Gems and use the Sync Pair Scout. It cost 300 Gems to scout for one sync pair (or use the "Daily Discount" button for only 100 Gems), or 3,000 Gems to scout for 10 sync pairs.
6 Pokemon Typing Is A Bit Different
The elemental typing for some Pokemon has become more simplified in some cases. For example, Houndoom is now just a singular Dark-type instead of a Dark/Fire-type Pokemon. This means secondary moves (such as water type in this case) won't be as effective as in the original game.
Planning moved carefully and accordingly will help. Also sticking to the "Recommended Type" area before battles to choose the best type for the job. This area usually displays two elemental types so be sure to choose two that fall under one type, and one that falls under the other for the most impact in battles.
5 Do Story Quests Before Buying At The Store
Before players run to the in-game store to spend an arm and a leg on Gems, they should actually play the game first. Daily, Special Daily and other login bonuses are one easy way to get Gems and even specialty items.
Another way is by simply completing scenes and battles. Coins are also important to exchange for key items. These are easily obtained by completing "Field Work" tasks within the main story. But be sure to keep an eye out for hidden items during these tasks, because players may be rewarded with thousands of coins! The easiest way to get coins is by winning battles.
4 Training Missions
The Training Area is really helpful when looking to find party improvement items and XP. Players should make sure their party is prepared before taking on these challenging battles, however, because the difficulty increases as they progress. Making sure players have the most effective elemental types for these battles is crucial.
If they do well enough in the original training area, players can unlock "Supercourse" battles that are timed and have a set number of chances to complete them. Playing these Supercourses over and over is a great way to farm for essential party items.
3 Mission Rewards
Pokemon Masters has an extensive set of missions to complete such as "Event", "Daily" and "General" missions. Completing these can give much needed level-up materials, Training Machines, and even Gems. Players must complete ALL of these before logging off to get a completion bonus of even more Gems!
Make sure to log in every day to collect any items to create a nice stockpile for when you're ready to play longer. It's often easy to forget about these great free items due to a lack of a better alert system to remind players they have these waiting for them.
2 Evolutions
Leveling up and Evolutions are definitely different in Pokemon Masters. First of all, only certain Sync Pairs can evolve. At level 30, some pairs can evolve such as Pryce and Seel (Seel to Dewgong).
To activate this evolution, players will need to purchase five "Evolution Shards" then will need to complete that Sync Pair's story mission attached to it. The result is a stronger Pokemon and unlocking new Sync Moves. At level 45, another set of special Sync Pairs can Mega Evolve such as Agatha and Gengar. The only difference to activate this is purchasing five "Evolution Stones" instead of shards.
1 New And Old Characters
There are currently sixty-seven known Sync Pairs in Pokemon Masters. But players are sure to see much more recognizable ones in the future. Some currently well know Sync Pairs to players of the original game are Blue and Pidgeot and Rosa and Snivy. Some are a little better know to generation one Pokefans such as Erika and Vileplume and Lt Surge and Voltorb.
It's easy enough to find a complete list of all Sync Pairs online, but why ruin the fun of discovering them? Some five-star pairs are even available as specials in the Sync Pair Scout such as Phoebe and Duclops.