The online modes in have been revealed in an update on the official website for the games and it seems that players will be able to rent out Pokémon in a manner similar to the Pokémon Stadium games of old.
Pokémon Sword & Shield will require the player to have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription to use the online modes, which marks the first time that mainline entries in the series will have their online features gated behind a paywall. The sad thing is that Pokémon Sword & Shield likely won't allow cloud saves, as the Let's Go games didn't use them, which is one of the main benefits of a Nintendo Switch Online s🧸ubscription💛.
The for Pokémon Sword & Shield has revealed that the online modes will part of something called the Battle Stadium. There is a Ranked Battle mode that will allow players to increase their rank through winning victories, which puts players into tiers based on Poké Balls, with the best players falling under the Master Ball tier. The player can use the Dynamax power-up in Ranked Battles and it's possible to win items by meeting different requirements. It will be possible to use the Pokémon Home app to keep track of different rankings. The Ranked Battles will be ꦺbased on seasons and each player's rank will go down at the start of a new season.
The Battle Stadium allows the player to take part in Casual Battles, which won't affect rankings and will allow any Pokémon, including Legendaries. There will be separate Single Battle and Double Battle rules for both Ranked and Casual modes. Pokémon Sword & Shield will include online competitions, with Official Competitions allowing players to win a chance to enter the Pokémon World Championships, while the Friendly Competitions are hosted by players and they can use their own custom rule𒁏 sets.
One of the most interesting new features in the Battle Stadium is the ability to rent or lease Pokémon. A player can put their team up for public use with the help of an ID code and that team can be used in different online modes by other players. It's possible for a player to keep five rented teams at once. It's currently unclear how limited these rent꧃ed teams will be in terms of what modes they will be allowed in, as they have only been confirmed for Ranked Battles so far, or if multiple people can use the same team at once.
Pokémon Sword & Shield has some intere🅠sting online modes and the ability to rent out teams mean that players won't have to endure the grind of creating a powerful team in order to enjoy competitive Pokémon battles.
Pokémon Sword & Shield will be released for theꦦ Nintendo Switch on November 15, 2019.