This is the endpoint of your postgame journey. Inside, step forward a few paces to meet two of the toughest Pokemon trainers in the history of the Pokemon franchise. Of course, you won’t be able to back down without a fight, although you can pick which trainer to challenge.

Pokemon Trainer Red¶

Red is the protagonist of the original Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow and the Champion of the Kanto region AKA you in the distant past.

His Pikachu is the definition of a glass cannon; it can cause lots of damage with Volt Tackle, but is easily KO’d by most powerful hits, even if they’re not super-effective. It can also use Nuzzle to paralyse and Light Screen and reduce the power of special moves.

Lapras is where the real fun begins. This monster has high HP and solid bulk, so it’s tough to defeat, even with super-effective moves. Electric-types are best since it carries Blizzard. Beware of its Ice Shard when at low HP.

Snorlax is terrifying with high HP, Attack and Special Defence. Thankfully, it doesn’t have Rest, but it does have many coverage moves, such as the Steel-type Heavy Slam and Ground-type High Horsepower. Fighting-types are your best bets or any strong physical attacker

Charizard isn’t too bad. It’s immensely weak to Rock-types, but carries Focus Blast to make them squirm. If you have a fast Rock Pokemon like Lycanroc or Archeops, you could take the risk. In addition, it has Will-o-Wisp to punish physical attackers.

Venusaur has good all-round stats, with Special Attack and Special Defence being the highest ones. Besides its STAB moves, it has Leech Seed to drain HP and Bulldoze to mess up Fire-types. Hit it hard with physical attackers if you can, especially Psychic or Flying ones.

Finally, his Blastoise has high defensive stats, so you’ll want something fairly bulky to survive an inevitable attack. This turtle is an all-attacker with Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Dark Pulse and Flash Cannon. Electric or Grass-types will be key players.

Pokemon Trainer Blue¶

Blue is Red’s rival in the original Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow and the Champion before Red stole his title. In other words, Gary from the Pokemon cartoon. His team should be familiar to old-time players.

His first Pokemon Akalazam has Psychic and Ghost-type moves only, so an easy win for a Dark-type. However it loves to use Reflect to reduce the power of physical moves. It’s extremely fast as well, so it will probably manage to set it up.

Arcanine is a well-rounded Pokemon with a plethora of dangerous moves: Flare Blitz, Thunder Fang, Bulldoze and Extreme Speed. It also has Intimidate to reduce Attack. Ground-types are recommended, unless your Water and Rock-types can take a few hits.

Blue’s Exeggutor is the one not found in Alola, so it’s part Psychic rather than Dragon. Thus it’s exceptionally weak to Bug-types and typically weak to Fire, Flying, Ice, Ghost and Dark-types. Anything’s good, but keep in mind that it hits hard.

Aerodactyl has crazy Attack and crazier Speed, so you’ll want a bulky Pokemon, especially one that resists Rock-types. On top of STAB moves, it has Flash Cannon and Crunch. A good Steel Pokemon should do the trick. Beware of its annoying Sky Drop if you’re neutral to Flying.

Gyarados should be stopped with an Electric-type pronto, before it wreaks havoc with Dragon Dance. If you send out a neutral type, it can easily set up, then sweep your party with Aqua Tail, Ice Fang and Crunch.

Finally, Machamp has Knock Off to punish Ghost and Dark-types and Poison Jab to mess up Fairy-types. This leaves Flying-types as the only safe counter. The Superpower Pokemon is slow as heck so if you can land one super-effective hit, it should be plain sailing.

Hold your own against Red or Blue and you’re free to explore the Battle Tree. You don’t need to be disappointed about not fighting the other trainer, since you’ll meet both of them again if you progress far enough in the Battle Tree.

Up ahead, there’s an altar of sorts with an office worker in the middle. Chat to her to challenge the Battle Tree. Here, you’ll face off against computer-controlled Pokemon trainers in a never-ending gauntlet, until you lose or give up. Between battles, you are allowed to leave though.

The big thing to know is that the trainers here are much, much smarter and their Pokemon have competitive movesets. Furthermore, all Pokemon are set to Level 50 for the duration of battle. Therefore, the difficulty is lot higher than anything in the main story for a large margin.

So if you challenge the Battle Tree and immediately get trounced, do not panic and do not feel disheartened. It’s just that you weren’t properly prepared for the next level of play.

If hardcore Pokemon battling isn’t your cup of tea, that’s perfectly fine. We do recommend giving it a try eventually, but we do understand it’s not for everyone. Still, even if you’re not going to challenge the Battle Tree, you should continue to look around.

In front of the altar is a PC that you use to manage your Pokemon party etc. Useful for testing out new teams against the Battle Tree. To the right is an Ace Trainer who’s the IV Judge of this game. However, he may not be impressed when you first meet him.

To earn his favour, you need to show him a Pokemon with high IVs and you must have hatched 20 or more Pokemon Eggs. You can learn about IVs towards the end of our guide, in the Advanced Trainer Info section. But to save you the time, just show him a Legendary Pokemon.

Next, you can obtain Eggs from the Pokemon Nursery in Paniola Ranch on Akala Island. If you need help, check the Advanced Breeding section or flip back to the Paniola Ranch page. To help you, we recommend challenging Morimoto in the Game Freak offices at Heahea City.

You’ll earn the Oval Charm , which boosts the rate of finding Eggs. Next, you should catch a Magby or Magmar from Wela Volcano Cave until you have one with the Flame Body Ability. If a Pokemon with this Ability is in your party, Eggs will hatch much quicker.

The lady nearby can tell you your Battle Tree records. In the north-west corner are some BP merchants. These offer anything from rare evolution items, useful battle items to exclusive Mega Stones. You’ll need Battle Points (BP) earned from the Battle Tree, Battle Royal, etc.