Pokemon Legends Arceus may be radically different from past mainline Pokemon games, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t retain some of the things we love about the series. One of these is making our Pokemon stronger through stat increases, known as Effort Levels.

Our guide has everything you need to know about improving these Effort Levels and the best methods to do so.

What are Effort Levels in Pokemon Legends Arceus?

Effort Levels essentially replace EVs and IVs from previous mainline titles. Each Effort Level is tied to your Pokemon’s base stats which are the following:

• HP
• Attack
• Sp. Attack
• Defense
• Sp. Defense
• Speed

By increasing these Effort Levels, you effectively improve these numbers, which make your Pokemon strong. In previous games, developing your EVs and IVs was an incredibly long, grindy process that involved some amount of complexity.

Legends Arceus has made this process much easier by making the Effort Levels easy to see (just go to the stat tab when inspecting your Pokemon) and straightforward to level. Each stat can go up to level 10. By achieving that for all of your Pokemon’s six stats and having the right Nature, you can create a genuinely monstrous lineup.

So, how do you improve Effort Levels? Simple. You need Grit Items.

What are Grit Items in Legends Arceus?

Grit items are consumables used to raise your Pokemon’s Effort Levels. There are four different kinds, each of which takes your stats to a different level bracket, as follows:

• Grit Dust – Takes all Effort Level stats to 3
• Grit Pebbles – Take all Effort Level stats from 3 to 6
• Grit Gravel – Takes all Effort Level stats from 6 to 9
• Grit Rocks – Take all Effort Level stats from 9 to 10

As you can see, understanding the use of each of these items is as straightforward as it gets. To increase a stat, all you need to do is select the relevant Grit item like you would any consumable, choose the Pokemon you want to use it on, then the stat you want to increase, and it’s done.

Gathering them is also quite simple, though it requires a bit of grinding if you’re hankering to make some perfect Pokemon. Even still, Pokemon Legends Arceus offers a few ways for you to get Grit Items, and they all involve doing regular activities.

How to Get Grit Items?

Acquiring Grit items to increase your Effort Levels is a diverse process but quite simple to grasp. You can use four methods, which you can mix up as you go or focus on one if you’d rather keep things easy.

Defeat or Catch Pokemon in Battle

Grit items are random drops that you can get by defeating Pokemon in battle or using your Pokeball to catch them while in combat. A few factors influence the type of Grit item you get:

• Enemy Pokemon level
• Enemy Pokemon evolution stage
• Whether the enemy Pokemon is an Alpha
• The general level of the area you’re located

There are no actual exact drop frequency numbers at this point. The general idea is that the more powerful the Pokemon, the more chances you have of getting Grit Gravel and Grit Rocks.

Mass Release Pokemon

You can also get Grit items by releasing your Pokemon from your boxes or pastures. This can be done by visiting the Galaxy Team member at any camp. Upon releasing a Pokemon, you’ll receive a Grit item in exchange. 

This also works for Alpha Pokemon, which can be caught repeatedly to get those higher-tier Grit items.

Since you need a lot of Pokemon to release in order to get the Grit items you need for your Effort Levels, releasing them one by one will take forever. Fortunately, Legends Arceus allows you to unlock a Mass Release feature to let go of large groups of Pokemon.

How to Unlock Mass Release in Pokemon Legends Arceus?

Unlocking this handy feature is quite simple. You need to catch four pastures worth of Pokemon, roughly 120. Once you’re all full up, pay a visit to Marie, who’s at the Village Pastures of Jubilife Village. Speak to her and use her menu to release one Pokemon. This will unlock the Mass Release option, which allows you to select as many Pokemon as you want to send back out into the wild. The option will be available by speaking to Marie and the Galaxy Team members at the camps.

Mass Release will be a crucial feature to have when using the following method to grind Grit items.

Catch Pokemon in the Wild Fast

Simply catching Pokemon out in the wild without battling also has a good chance of giving you Grit items. However, even if this doesn’t net you that many items, it’s still important to gather a lot of Pokemon for release since it guarantees Grit items.

To catch as many Pokemon as possible in the shortest time, you’ll need to stun them first before tossing your Pokeball. The best items for that are Spoiled Apricorns. Once you have a bunch, head out into the field, start tossing the Apricorns to stun Pokemon, and immediately throw out your Pokeball to catch them. Once you get the hang of this method, you’ll be capturing tons of Pokemon. This method works particularly well for low-level Pokemon, which means you can make A LOT of Grit Dust to exchange for higher-tier items.

Exchange with Zisu at Training Grounds

Zisu is the NPC located at the Training Grounds, and she can trade Grit items with you. The way it works is you need ten of a specific Grit item to get one of the tier above it. This is where the fast catching method comes in handy.

The math pretty much works out like this for a single stat:

• 3 Grit Dust = Level 1 to 3
• 30 Grit Dust = 3 Grit Gravel
• 3 Grit Gravel = Level 3 to 6
• 300 Grit Dust = 30 Grit Gravel
• 30 Grit Gravel = 3 Grit Pebble
• 3 Pebble = Level 6 to 9

And so on. On the surface, the numbers sound intimidating. Trust me when I say that this is nothing compared to EVs and IVs. And, of course, this isn’t necessary for every Pokemon you have. You can focus on increasing Effort Levels for your core team and Pokemon you value, such as shinies.