Clear Your Calendar, Pokemon Champions is a Grind Fest

It's a good year for Pokemon spin-offs, with Pokemon Pokopia performing well and the strategy title Pokemon Champions debuting in April 2026. Champions gives center stage to the series' battle mechanics, from ultra-competitive Ranked Battles to the more relaxing Casual Battles. The game's announcement revealed that progression will center around earning and spending Victory Points, which can be used to recruit new Pokemon, change their natures and abilities, and more. However, new information seems to indicate that earning enough VP to make significant progress in Pokemon Champions will be quite the grind.

Pokemon Champions Pikachu and Charizard battle

Some Fans Will Get to Play Pokemon Champions Before Others

Lucky players will get a chance to play Pokemon Champions ahead of the game's release next month on Nintendo Switch 1 and 2.

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By Marc Deschamps

Pretty Much Everything In Pokemon Champions Will Cost VP

Victory Points, or VP for short, are the primary currency in Pokemon Champions. Players earn Victory Points by competing in Ranked Battles, with the official Website for the game stating that VP earnings vary "depending on the outcome" without providing further details. At this time, it seems that Private Battles and Casual Battles, the other two modes available in the game, do not provide any VP for winning.

The X account CentroLeaks made a post sharing details about the Victory Points system on March 24, 2026. This account has previously provided accurate information about Pokemon games on multiple occasions, including the 2025 "Teraleak 2" that revealed Pokemon Winds and Waves before their official announcement. According to CentroLeaks, players will receive 200 VP for completing a battle, with the VP costs for various features as follows:

Recruiting a new Pokemon: 2500 VP
Changing a Pokemon's moves: 250 VP per move
Maximizing a Pokemon's stats: 330 VP per stat
Changing a Pokemon's Ability: 500 VP
Changing a Pokemon's Nature: 500 VP
Purchasing a Mega Stone, allowing for Mega Evolution in battle: 2000 VP

If CentroLeaks' information is indeed accurate, the gameplay of Pokemon Champions seems poised to be quite the grind. As it stands, players would have to compete in 13 battles to recruit a single new Pokemon — and CentroLeaks does not state if the 200 VP is for winning a battle or simply participating. Outfitting a desired Pokemon to be competitively viable is an even bigger task. If all six members of a player's competitive Pokemon team require a complete reworking of their stats, moves, Ability, and Nature, players would have to complete approximately 165 battles at the current VP rate.

VP Rewards Could Increase Depending On Tier

Some commenters on X did point out that, in the screenshot shared by CentroLeaks, the player receiving 200 VP was ranked as Tier 1, or "Poke Ball Tier." A progress bar at the bottom of the screen indicated that players can reach higher tiers, and it is definitely possible that the VP rewards would increase, perhaps exponentially, at higher tiers. It is also very likely that Pokemon Champions could host limited-time events or tournaments that would feature higher VP rewards for participants.

Players Can Build Their Champions Team Using Pokemon Home

It has also been confirmed that players can connect Pokemon Champions with the existing Pokemon Home system, and import Pokemon from Home into Champions. This would allow players to skip the 2500 VP fee required to recruit Pokemon directly from Champions. There are some restrictions — only Pokemon appearing in Champions can be imported, and moves not featured in the game must be replaced before the Pokemon can battle — but it does mitigate the grind significantly, especially for players who already have a large Home collection.

It is also confirmed that any training Pokemon receive in Champions will carry over, even if they are taken back to Home and returned to Champions at a later date. However, players who do not have a Pokemon Home subscription, or who do not have a large collection of battle-ready Pokemon prepared, will have no option but to grind out VP in Champions. Newer players who have not previously built competitive Pokemon will likely find Champions significantly more of a grind than veterans who can bring in their longtime battle partners on launch day.

The Victory Points Grind Potentially Points To A Major Microtransaction Focus

It was confirmed shortly after the announcement of Pokemon Champions during the Pokemon Day 2026 broadcast that the game will feature microtransactions. Currently, the official Champions Website mentions purchasable cosmetic rewards, including clothing, poses, and Poke Ball throwing animations, a paid membership, a Starter Pack, Battle Passes, and Premium Battle Passes. While few details have been confirmed, it has been stated that the Battle Pass and Premium Battle Pass will include valuable rewards such as Mega Stones and even Pokemon like Emboar.

A statement on the official Pokemon Champions Web site reads "VP cannot be directly purchased, so keep battling and gaining VP to power up your team even more." This statement does not exclude options such as the Battle Passes or paid membership featuring items that boost VP rewards, or perhaps discounted VP prices for changing stats or recruiting Pokemon. The paid membership is confirmed to include "membership-exclusive missions," which could definitely feature some hefty VP rewards.

Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.

Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)

If the Pokemon Champions grind is as intense as CentroLeaks indicates, players may be incentivized to spend real money on the game. Players who are unwilling or unable to spend money could find themselves unable to keep up competitively, which is concerning for a game as battle-focused as Champions. Already, with the game not even released yet, some fans on sites like X and Reddit are writing off Champions as being hostile to free-to-play players, comparing it to various mobile and gacha games. While nothing will be confirmed until Pokemon Champions officially releases, it definitely seems like players looking to move up the Ranked Battle tiers with a competitively viable team will have quite the grind ahead of them.