Friendship, or “Happiness”, is one of those hidden mechanics that can really impact how your Pokémon grow in Pokémon Legends Z-A. If you’ve ever trained a Riolu or a Pichu before, you already know how important Friendship can be. In Pokémon Legends Z-A, this feature works much like it did in older games, but with a few new ways to check and increase it.
Pokémon Legends Z-A: How To Check Friendship Level
You can check your Pokémon’s Friendship Level by speaking to a specific NPC in Café Pokémon-Amie. The cage is located just north of the Magenta Pokémon Center. When you talk to her, she’ll tell you how friendly your Pokémon is toward you.
The best part is that you don’t need to have your Pokémon in your active party to do this. You can choose any Pokémon directly from your Boxes, which makes it really easy to check all your teammates without constantly switching your lineup.
The NPC will give you a short comment that describes your current friendship level with the Pokémon. For example, if she says your Pokémon is “somewhat friendly,” that means the bond isn’t too strong yet.
On the other hand, phrases showing affection or attachment mean your friendship level is high. It’s a good idea to check your friendship levels during early game so you can plan for evolutions that depend on high friendship, especially for Pokémon like Pichu or Budew.
This is the most reliable way to check how close you are to your Pokémon in Pokémon Legends Z-A. You can find this NPC early in the game, and once you’ve found her, you can visit her as often as you like to keep track of your progress.
Pokémon Legends Z-A: How To Increase Friendship Level
Building friendship in Pokémon Legends Z-A isn’t difficult, but it does take a bit of time and consistency. There are a few main ways to strengthen your bond with your Pokémon, and most of them can be done naturally as you play.
Visit Cafes Around Lumiose City
Cafes are one of the easiest and fastest ways to raise Friendship Levels. These are marked by coffee cup icons on the map, and you can find them scattered throughout Lumiose City.
When you visit a cafe, make sure the Pokémon you want to bond with is in the first slot of your party. Sit down, order something from the menu, and relax with your Pokémon.
Spending time at cafes instantly boosts friendship. You can even take pictures during these visits, which makes it more fun. By visiting a cafe several times in a row, you can quickly max out a Pokémon’s friendship.
Gain Experience Points
Simply battling and leveling up your Pokémon also increases their friendship. Every time your Pokémon gains experience, its bond with you grows.
You can do this by defeating wild Pokémon (like those found in Zone 2 and Zone 3), challenging other trainers, or breaking the Mega Shards that you find scattered across the map. Since the battle system in Pokémon Legends Z-A rewards active participation and teamwork, keeping your Pokémon involved in fights helps deepen their bond with you even faster.
Even feeding your Pokémon Rare Candies or Exp. Candies will help boost friendship, since they still count as experience gains. So if you’re trying to evolve a friendship-based Pokémon like Riolu or Buneary, make sure to include them in battles or feed them Exp. Candies regularly.
Give Your Pokémon Items
Certain items can also help raise friendship levels. Giving your Pokémon Berries, Vitamins, or other holdable items that benefit them will slowly increase how much they like you. Healing them or curing status effects with Berries counts as a positive interaction, too.
Another helpful trick is to use a Soothe Bell. This item boosts the amount of friendship gained from all activities by about 50%.
You can get the Soothe Bell by completing Side Mission 036: Some Friendly Competition. Once your Pokémon holds it, every activity, be it battles, cafes, or item use, will give an extra friendship boost.
Pokémon That Evolve Through High Friendship
There are a handful of Pokémon in Pokémon Legends Z-A that evolve only when their friendship level is high enough. Here’s a quick list of the ones confirmed so far:
- Pichu – Pikachu (Level up with high friendship)
- Cleffa – Clefairy (Level up with high friendship)
- Budew – Roselia (Level up with high friendship during the day)
- Buneary – Lopunny (Level up with high friendship)
- Riolu – Lucario (Level up with high friendship during the day)
Interestingly, four of these five evolutions, Pikachu, Clefairy, Roselia, and Lucario, can also Mega Evolve later on in Pokémon Legends Z-A. That makes building friendships with them even more rewarding since it unlocks their full potential later in the game.
