How to raise friendship levels with your Pokémon in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Building a relationship with your Pokémon is important to their growth, and you can do a few things to help this process in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. You might want to track a Pokémon’s friendship because some need to reach certain levels to evolve, and they can become stronger. Here’s what you need to know about how to increase friendship levels with your Pokémon in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

The best way to increase Pokémon friendship in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

One of the best ways to increase friendship levels with a Pokémon is to have them battle alongside you in combat. You want to make them the lead Pokémon and have them fight against other Pokémon, whether wild or against other trainers. Although tedious, this is an effective way to increase these levels, so long as they don’t faint in combat. If a Pokémon faints in combat, their friendship levels go down, but you can pick it back up with successful battles.

Related: How to evolve Riolu into Lucario in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Another good way to build a friendship with a Pokémon is to hold a Picnic with them. You can hold a Picnic at any location in the open field while exploring the wild. While in this mode, you can play with them, make a sandwich to share, wash them, and interact with the Pokémon.

While walking around, have the Pokémon out alongside you using the Let’s Go feature. You can do this by clicking the ZR button, and the Pokémon will follow you as you run around the world. This is likely a smaller way to increase their friendship, but it’s a good way to increase friendship while you’re running around the game.

You can check the progress of a Pokémon’s friendship by visiting the Friendship Checker in Cascarrafa. She will be standing next to a Marill.