Walkthrough Glossary for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
This is a glossary of answers and explanations for the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet games. This is meant for those who played through another generation of the main-series games, and simply needs the explanation of how familiar tasks and actions got changed. Place names, an ordering for the major goals, and important changes related to storyline, region-specific rules, motivating goals, etc.
This glossary is incomplete. Contact me with any specific requests for additions or corrections.
Arven : The guy (with a backpack) who you meet at the lighthouse in the beginning of the game. He wants your help with the titans.
auto battles : While in the wild, hit R to send out the first Pokémon in your party; it will wander around near you and attempt to battle any wild Pokémon it finds. You get dropped items (feathers, scales, etc.) that are used for making TMs and can be sold. It also picks up any items (e.g. Poké balls, berries, etc.) it comes near.
Cascarrafa : northeast of dark Star base
Cassiopeia : The mysterious person who you only know from phone calls. She wants your help dealing with Team Star.
Colonnade Hollow : caves under a large stone overhang, on the route between Medali and Porto Marinada.
Cortondo : west of Mesagosa, past olive orchards
Ditto : Go to Medali (the town with the Normal gym, which you can fight once your Pokémon are up to level 35-36); search the grassy areas around the town using the lock-on technique for "???", which will be Ditto after you have caught all the other species that spawn in this area.
eggs : There is no nursery; instead you get eggs by putting the two Pokémon you want to breed into your party, and no other Pokémon (i.e. four empty slots) and having a picnic. As usual make sure they are of opposite gender or use a Ditto. To decrease the wait to actually get an egg, eat a meal with Egg Power level 2 (such as the Alfornada shop "Gastronome en Famile", the 2nd item on the menu "Compote du Fils" is ₽2800, or in picnic mode make your own sandwich using recipe #17 "Great Peanut Butter"). Then start a picnic and wait, and keep checking the basket by the table.
False Swipe : This move is useful for catching a wild Pokémon by getting it into the "red zone" (less than 10% of its max HP), and can be taught to (among others): Chewtle/Drednaw, Kricketune, Gallade, Gible/Gabite/Garchomp, Meowth/Persian, Pawniard/Bisharp, Sandshrew/Sandslash, Scyther, Shroomish/Breloom, Sneasal/Weavile, Tarountula/Spidops, Vigoroth/Slaking, and Mew (only available from an event in 2023). Gallade (evolved from Kirlia with a Dawn Stone) can also learn Hypnosis and Thunder Wave, and Breloom learns Spore; all useful for catching.
You get three False Swipe TMs from the Biology professor Jacq after filling 30 entries in the Pokédex (30 caught, not simply battled). Some sources claim that you get get these TMs from Jacq sooner, by taking one Biology lesson and speaking to Jacq "twice". However, these steps alone are not sufficient — there is at least one further requirement.
If you happen to need to teach False Swipe to 4th Pokémon, you can use the TM Machine to make another False Swipe if you have Chewtle Claws and Kricketot Shells.
Fly : You can use the map to fly to any previously-visited Pokémon Center, once you get to school and then are able to leave for the first time.
friendship : Building friendship with your Pokémon is done by washing.
gym order : In this chart, "levels" indicates the levels of the Pokémon you will be battling. (See also obediance)
| group | type | levels | Name/Location | group | type | levels | Name/Location | ||
| gym | bug | 14-15 | Cortondo | star | poison | 32-33 | N of Zapapico | ||
| titan | rock | 16 | E of Mesagosa | gym | normal | 35-36 | Medali | ||
| gym | grass | 16-18 | Artazon | gym | ghost | 41-42 | Montenevera | ||
| titan | flying | 19 | NW of Cortondo | titan | ground | 44 | NE of Cascarrafa | ||
| star | dark | 20-21 | N of Cortondo | gym | psychic | 44-45 | Alfornada | ||
| gym | electric | 23-24 | Levincia | gym | ice | 47-48 | Glaseado | ||
| star | fire | 26-27 | N of Artazon | star | fairy | 50-51 | |||
| titan | steel | 28 | N of Levincia | titan | dragon | 55 | |||
| gym | water | 29-30 | Cascarrafa | star | fighting | 55-56 |
hatching : Once you get Pokémon eggs that you want to hatch, have the eggs in your party and a single non-egg Pokémon in the lead, having the ability Flame Body (e.g. Talonflame), Magma Armor (e.g. Camerupt), or Steam Engine (e.g. Coalossal). Get on your ride Pokémon and roll up and down streets for a while. Distance to hatch varies by the species in the egg.
Herba Mystica : These ingredients are used by Arven to boost your ride Pokémon's abilities, and are also a very useful (but very rare) reward from raids of level 5 or higher. Most players use them to make sandwiches with shiny hunting power level 3.
Houndour : You see these Pokémon early in the game while in a cave with your future ride Pokémon. After gaining the ability to ride, you can return to the cave to catch a Houndour.
Levincia : east coast northeast of Artazon
lock on : Press and hold ZL, and while holding ZL use the right control stick to rotate the camera. When a wild Pokémon is near the centre of the screen it will be labeled with a species and level. At this point you can initiate a battle with that specific Pokémon by pressing ZR. If it is a species you have not yet caught, it will show "???". Lock-on identification even works for Ditto and Zorua disguised as another Pokémon.
Medali : east from Porto Marinada (long trip, stay left at the fork and through Colonnade Hollow)
Mesagosa : north of the game start location, and location of the Uva Academy; the game guides you there.
money : In addition to Poké dollars (₽) won through battling NPC characters in the wild and in plot advancement events (gym challenge, etc.) you can also buy all the same items with "league points" (LP). LP can be farmed by acquiring dropped items (feathers, scales, etc.) by battling wild Pokémon or through auto battles, then selling the excess to the TM Machine at any Pokémon Center..
Montenevera : northeast from Medali, turn east at the sign for the mountain pass, find your way to a Pokémon center, then further north and east from there.
Nemona : The girl who lives near your house, who you meet at the beginning of the game. She is school council president and a league champion. She wants you to beat all the gyms and become a champion too.
obediance : As in most main series games, "obediance" of a traded Pokémon depends on their level and the number of gyms you have completed. However, for Pokémon you have caught (and not traded away and back again) obedience depends only on their level when caught. Your starter and anything you catch at level 20 and below will obey your commands consistently, no matter how much you level them up, without the need to complete any of the gyms. This number 20 increases by 5 for each gym completed — so for example completing 5 gyms means you can use anything that was caught at level 50 or less — and after completing all 8 gyms there is no limit.
picnic : This is where you play with Pokémon in your party and also how you acquire eggs. Hit X, then select Picnic from the main menu. Eggs will appear in the basket that is next to the table (not the one on the table). Eggs appear in the basket after some amount of time, shortened by eating a meal as described in the egg description.
play : You play with Pokémon by having a picnic (hit X, then select Picnic from the main menu), then washing a Pokémon.
Porto Marinada : west coast, west of Cascarrafa (through desert)
raids : The large glowing crystals of various colours allow you to enter "tera raid battles", similar to the raids in Galar (gen 8). You can do these raids as a solo player. Raids of level 3 are available afer completing 3 gym badges; level 4 raids begin appearing after you have 6 gym badges; level 5 raids require that you see the game's "end credits" (i.e. after completing all three main storylines plus Victory Road); level 6 raids appear after you complete a postgame story involving Jacq; and level 7 raids have been offered only at specific times such as the Mewtwo event in 2023 September. (more at serebii.net)
ride Pokémon : The exotic Pokémon you interact with at the very start of the game (Koraidon in Scarlet, Miraidon in Violet) serves the function of the bicycle in earlier generations (except Alola, which also has ride Pokémon). You can start using Koraidon/Miraidon after getting to school and then progressing through the initial plot interactions before then being allowed to leave school for the first time. Later Koraidon/Miraidon acquires the Surf ability, is able to move faster ("dash"), jumps over obstacles (including wild Pokémon you don't wish to fight), and climbs cliff walls. Each ability is acquired after completing one of the five Titan Pokémon battles. (The ability to Fly is fulfilled through the map.)
sandwiches : A craftable food item through which you can get 30-minute boosts for many things, including: getting eggs; finding Pokémon that are shiny, extra-large, extra-small, of a certain type, etc.; catching Pokémon; fighting in Tera raids; etc.
Slakoth : This Pokémon often appears on the nearby map scan (little circle in the lower-right), but only actually spawns in one or two places. It is a very rare spawn and must be boosted by eating sandwich recipe #34. See this video for details and the location where it spawns. If you just want the Pokédex entry, it is probably far easier to catch Vigoroth or Slaking and then breed a Slakoth.
titans : The five giant Pokémon (of types rock, flying, steel, ground, and dragon) that Arven wants your help in defeating. Each is found in a specific place in Paldea; after defeating each one your ride Pokémon gains abilities. See gym order and Herba Mystica for more info.
washing : This is an interactive method of building friendship. Start a picnic (hit X, then select Picnic from the main menu), stand near the Pokémon you want to play with, hit X and then follow the on-screen prompts to go through two stages (lather, then rinse).
Zapapico : from Levincia head north, then west past the mines.
This page was written in the "embarrassingly readable" markup language RHTF, and was last updated on 2023 Sep 18.
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