How to farm EXP and level up fast in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet

Want to quickly level up your Pokemon Scarlet & Violet party for competitive battling or to take on the high-level challenge of The Indigo Disk DLC? There are plenty of ways to do so. To help you out, here are the best EXP farming methods in the game, including special items and Tera Raid Battles.

Although your team will level up naturally as you play through Scarlet & Violet, there will be some situations where you’ll want to level up your Pokemon even faster than they normally would.

This could be because you’ve found yourself battling a Gym Leader who’s just too powerful for your team, or maybe you’ve caught a low-level Pokemon and you want to evolve it as fast as possible.

From hunting down Chansey to earning EXP Candy in Tera Raid Battles, here are some of the best EXP farming methods in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet.

Contents

• Use EXP Candy of Rare Candy
• Take part in Tera Raid Battles
• Eliminate Chansey
• Use a Lucky Egg
• Battle other trainers
• Take advantage of EXP Share
• Battle in the Academy Ace Tournament

How to level up your Pokemon fast in Scarlet & Violet

There are quite a few methods for farming EXP Points and leveling up fast in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, such as taking part in Tera Raids, battling specific Pokemon, or using items like the Lucky Egg.

To help you decide which method is right for you, we’ve included instructions for each EXP farming path below.

1. Use EXP Candy or Rare Candy

The simplest way to level up a Pokemon is to give it a Rare Candy, although we would recommend saving them for your high-level Pokemon, as they will require a lot more time and EXP to level up naturally.

Even better than Rare Candies are EXP Candies. These come in different sizes, but if you give a Large or XL EXP Candy to a low-level Pokemon they will most likely gain multiple levels from one single use. They can be found around the game hidden inside Pokeballs or given as a prize for participating in Tera Raid battles.

2. Take part in Tera Raid Battles

Tera Raid Battles are a great way to level up your favorite Pokemon, especially as you’ll usually get a bunch of useful items like EXP Candy (and sometimes even Rare Candy) as a reward for winning.

You can find Tera Raid Battles by looking for colorful stars with elemental symbols inside them on the Paldea map. Alternatively, you can use the Poke Portal feature to search for a Tera Raid Battle online.

The rewards you’ll earn get better as you participate in higher-level Tera Raid Battles, but you won’t be able to participate in 6-Star Tera Raids or 7-Star Tera Raids until you’ve finished the post-game story.

There are still regular Tera Raid events taking place, where rare and powerful Pokemon can be battled and caught. You can see all of the current and upcoming events with our Tera Raid schedule.

3. Eliminate Chansey & Blissey

One of the oldest tricks in the book for Pokemon players looking to level up fast is to find a Pokemon that gives a high amount of EXP Points when defeated and mercilessly hunt them down in large numbers.

In Scarlet & Violet, this poor Pokemon is Chansey. They often spawn in North Province (Area Three), but if you’re struggling to find them, you can eat a Ham Sandwich to increase your Normal-type encounters.

You’ll need four ingredients to make a Ham Sandwich: Ham, Pickles, Mayonnaise, and Mustard. Put them all together in Picnic mode, eat the sandwich, and you’ll have 30 minutes to knock out those Chansey!

In case you want to know more about sandwiches, you can check out our Pokemon Sandwich recipes in Scarlet & Violet guide or Best shiny sandwich recipes in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet if you’re planning to go shiny hunting.

You can also hunt Chansey’s, evolution, Blissey, as these also give out lots of EXP when defeated. These Pokemon are much rarer, as Blissey is only found in the North Province in Areas One, Two, and Three.

If you’ve reached The Indigo Disk DLC, then you can find high-level Chansey in the Savannah Biome, which will give a ton of EXP once defeated. Unfortunately, you have to take down these egg-wielding titans first, so make sure to have a high-level Fighting-type Pokemon with you.

4. Use a Lucky Egg

The Lucky Egg is an incredibly useful item that can be given to a Pokemon to boost the share of EXP Points they’ll get when you take part in battles against wild Pokemon, other trainers, or Gym Leaders.

So how do you get one? We’ve got more information about the Lucky Egg here, but the short and simple answer is that you’ll automatically be given the Lucky Egg by Jacq when you approach your sixth Gym.

5. Battle other trainers

Unlike previous Pokemon games, trainers in Scarlet & Violet won’t automatically start battles when you walk by them – so you could easily play through the entire game without battling a trainer in the wild.

That would be a missed opportunity, though, as trainers give out more EXP than wild Pokemon when you defeat them (and it’s also an easy way to get money and random items that will come in handy).

6. Take advantage of EXP Share

EXP Share remains a permanent feature in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. This means whenever you take part in a battle, all members of your party will get some EXP Points, not just the Pokemon that actually fought.

So if you’ve got a low-level Pokemon that needs to catch up with the rest of your team, place it at the end of your party and take on some high-level wild Pokemon – then watch it passively level up in no time.

You can also try the old-school method of sending your low-level Pokemon out at the start of a battle and then immediately switching them out, so they’ll get a bigger chunk of the EXP Points.

7. Battle in the Academy Ace Tournament

If you’ve completed Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s main story and unlocked all of the post-game content, chances are some of these methods we’ve listed like battling trainers and eliminating Chansey won’t be quite as effective as they once were.

In this case, one of the best post-game ways to farm EXP is to take part in (and win) the Academy Ace Tournament. This challenge pits you against four top-tier opponents for some great rewards, and you can enter as many times as you want.

While this might be one of the more time-consuming methods, it’s a guaranteed way to face off against high-level opponents and earn a nice chunk of EXP for both the high-level and low-level Pokemon on your team.

Now that you know how to level up fast, check out some more of our Pokemon Scarlet & Violet guides below:

Paldea Pokedex | Best starter Pokemon | How to get Marks in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet | Are Pokemon Scarlet & Violet compatible with Pokemon Home? | Unlocking 5 & 6-star Tera Raids in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet | How to unlock Rotom Phone cases in Scarlet & Violet | How to change clothes in Scarlet & Violet | How to co-op with friends in Scarlet & Violet | All Shiny forms in Scarlet & Violet | Sandwich recipes in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet | Pokemon Scarlet & Violet egg breeding guide | How to get Rare Candy in Scarlet & Violet