How to raise friendship quickly in Pokémon Legends: Z-A

Raising friendship is one of many special ways to evolve your Pokémon in Pokémon Legends: Z-A.

Some of the Pokémon in Legends: Z-A will only evolve to their next form once they have a high friendship level, but the game doesn’t discretely tell you what increases or decreases the friendship between a trainer and their Pokémon. There are a few obvious methods like leveling up your Pokémon, but there are a few methods that’ll improve your friendship at a faster rate.

Here’s how to quickly raise your friendship with your Pokémon in Pokémon Legends: Z-A.

How to raise friendship quickly in Pokémon Legends: Z-A

There are four ways to raise friendship in Pokémon Legends: Z-A:

• Get a drink from a café with your Pokémon.
• Hang out with your Pokémon at a bench.
• Level up your Pokémon.
• Use an item on your Pokémon.

The best way to raise friendship quickly for a single Pokémon is to get drinks at a café. Drinks in Pokémon Legends: Z-A will increase your friendship level at the same rate,regardless of the cost, so we’ve found that the most efficient location is at Nouveau Café, which is found in the southeastern portion of central Lumiose.

Nouveau Café offers Fresh Water and Sparkling Water for $100, and they’ll increase your friendship just as well as any other coffee or tea. Buneary, who starts with a friendship level of zero, requires six outings at a café, so it will cost, at most, $600 to raise your friendship levels.

Graphic: Johnny Yu/Polygon | Source images: Game Freak/The Pokémon Company, Nintendo

To speed up the process even more, we recommend equipping your Pokémon with the Soothe Bell, which you’ll get as a reward for completing Side Mission 36, “Some Friendly Competition.” This side mission is unlocked during Main Mission 14, and can be started by interacting with Chou, the lady with the Clefairy and Lopunny, outside of Café Rouleau on Estival Avenue in the Bleu District.

If you’re looking to raise friendship for multiple Pokémon at once, it may be best to hang out with your Pokémon at a bench. According to X user Sibuna_Switch, hanging out with your Pokémon on a bench for at least 10 seconds at a time, will increase the friendship levels for all of the Pokémon in your party. We really only recommend this method if you have almost a full party of Pokémon that need high friendship levels, otherwise, stick to the cafés!

Where to find the friendship checker in Pokémon Legends: Z-A

There is an NPC who will check how close you are with your Pokémon at Café Pokémon-Amie on Autumnal Avenue. She will only show up after clearing Side Mission 25, “Trubblesome Patrons,” which should appear after you clear Main Mission 9.

Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source images: Game Freak/Nintendo, The Pokémon Company via Polygon

You hypothetically don’t really need to talk to her in order to evolve friendship-relevant Pokémon, but if you do want to see how much your Pokémon likes you, there she is.

Looking for more on Pokémon Legends: Z-A? We have a beginner’s guide to help you get started, as well as a type advantage chart, if you’re having a hard time remembering what’s good against what. We also have guides on how to find other early game Pokémon to help you on your journey, like the Kalos starters, the Kanto starters, and even an early spot to find Eevee. If you’re seeking out even more, we have an interactive map of Lumiose City, too.

We also have guides on special evolutions that require more than just leveling up, like Inkay and Malamar, and a list of when you can unlock all of the Mega Stones you’ll need to Mega Evolve.