Pokemon Sword and Shield gives you the option to play with your friends or fight to see who is the greatest Trainer. To do this, you will need to have access to Y-Comm. This will open to you after you reach Route 2. The Y-Comm will give you the ability to play with friends, fight them, and trade Pokemon with them.
How to play and fight your friends in Pokemon Sword and Shield
To fight your friends in Sword and Shield, do the following:
- Press and hold the Y button to open the Y-Comm menu.
- If you want to play with a friend online, press the + button to connect to the Internet. If you want to play locally, select Link Battle.
Make sure you set up a linking code before you start playing, otherwise your session will be public and other people will be able to join. A link code is a four-digit code that up to four players can connect. Y-Comm also works directly from the Switch friends list, so your friend who plays Sword and Shield will automatically populate the Y-Comm stamps and alerts for you in the game.
After entering the code, press “Search for players” and you will be automatically connected to your friends using the same code.
There are three different types of battles you can take part in:
- Single Battle: Two-player battle where each player sends a Pokemon into battle.
- Double Battle: Two player battle where each player sends two Pokemon into battle.
- Multi Battle: A four-player battle, with two players on each side. Each player sends one Pokemon into battle at a time.
And that's all, everything you need to know to start fighting against your Pokemon Sword and Shield friends.
