Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: How to get high friendship with a Pokemon

Friendship is one of the many key mechanics that have been present in the Pokemon franchise since the second generation, with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet being no exception. In newer iterations of the beloved series, friendship has become a mechanic to make the game significantly easier by giving creatures passive buffs in combat.

There are many ways to grind these unseeable friendship values. Simply playing through the game will practically guarantee a friendship value for at least one member of your team. However, one of the most valuable traits that friendship brings is the passive increase in EXP gained, which can be crucial for players looking to reach level 100 with a certain creature.

While friendship grinding can be time-consuming, there are several methods available to make the process easier and faster in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.

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Grinding for friendship in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: Everything to know

An official screenshot from Pokemon Violet (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Much like in the eighth generation, a single Pokemon's friendship actually caps at a lower value than it normally would. Although the value is capped through normal gameplay, this does not mean the trait is maxed out. To do so, you will need to make use of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's new picnic feature.

Similar to Pokemon Sword and Shield, you can quickly increase your Pokemon's friendship values in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet by making and sharing food with your team. By using this method, you can accumulate friendship much faster than by simply playing through the game.

While there is no particular sandwich that generates more friendship than others, it can be assumed that the amount of friendship gained scales with the quality of the meal. In addition to sharing food, other picnic activities like playing with a ball toy or washing Pokemon can also increase friendship levels with teammates.

Of course, when it comes to friendship, you do not need to max out these values. There are creatures like Eevee and Lucario that evolve through this feature, but they don't require the full 225 to evolve. They only need to have 160, which is the maximum amount that players can get without using the picnic feature.

For those just looking to reach this stage with their Pokemon, there is a much faster way, and it does not require trainers to partake in the sandwich-making minigame multiple times.

There are many different types of berries that increase the friendship stats of a Pokemon in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet at the cost of Effort Values. Collecting an abundance of these berries and then using them on a fresh Pokemon is a great way to get free friendship without tanking a particular stat.

Pokemon like Riolu, Eevee, Pichu, Snom, and many more are all creatures that greatly benefit from the latter method in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. However, maxing out the friendship value can only be done through picnicking.