Trainer Battles in Pokemon Sword & Shield are a great way to gain both experience and money. Everybody focuses on the story battles, but what about the normal Trainer Battles?

Today we’ll detail the first non-story Trainer Battle in Pokemon Sword & Shield, and guide you through how to defeat them!

Youngster Jake

Location: Route 2

Pokemon: Skwovet – Lv.6

Youngster Jake is the first trainer that you will face in Pokemon Sword & Shield. The battle against him serves as an introduction to trainer battles and how they work in the game. Much like previous entries in the series, he’ll engage you once you walk into his line of sight.

His lone Pokemon, Skwovet, is a Normal Type. These are weak to Fighting attacks and immune to Ghost type attacks.

Guide

In truth, you aren’t likely to struggle here. His Skwovet is only level 6 and it doesn’t possess any dangerous abilities. You’ll be unable to hit his weakness, unless you’ve done some seriously crazy amount of levelling in the first patches of grass, but that really doesn’t matter at this point. Hit it with your basic attacks, Tackle or Scratch for example, and you’ll soon be victorious.

Your starter choice will make no difference here – we’ve gone through the game with all three and had no issue. The only risk we could think of is that perhaps you went back to Route 1 to capture more Pokemon and forgot to heal. Take advantage of those Poke Centres people!

Recommended Pokemon

Bring anything you like really! Any starter will do fine, though you might struggle to win the fight should you decide to shuffle one you’ve just caught into your first slot without giving it a few levels.

As we fly inexorably into 2020, spare a thought for your unfortunate local trainer. Resigned to their win-less fate, glued in position and destined to be nothing but a stepping stone for players everywhere. For some, the world of Pokemon is a truly cruel one.

Still, if Pokemon has taught us anything, it’s that there’s no room for losers here. Onward! No mercy!