Are there held items in Pokémon Legends: Arceus?

Held items have been around in main-series Pokémon games since the days of Generation II.

All Pokémon had the capacity to hold items given by their trainer, like berries and stat-enhancing tools. When caught, some wild Pokémon would even come with their own held items, which could be removed and used as players saw fit. Held items are also important in the competitive Pokémon scene, where many devastating offensive and defensive combos rely on the smart usage of what a Pokémon is holding.

Held items have had an important role in previous games, but are they useful in Pokemon Legends: Arceus? Do they even exist? We’re breaking down the existence of held items in Arceus.

Does Arceus have held items?

Pokémon Legends: Arceus does not have held items. This means that wild Pokémon won’t be holding any items when they’re caught and the Pokémon in your party can’t be given items to hold. While Arceus includes many new items, including new Poké Balls and materials that can be used for crafting, held items have been removed from normal gameplay. Players are also unable to trade items with one another.

Pokémon that normally need to be traded while holding items to evolve, like Magmar, can be evolved by purchasing the relevant item (in this case, a Magmarizer) from the Item Exchange and using it on the Pokémon in question. Many other evolution items are available there as well, including the evolutionary stones. These items can be bought using Merit Points, which are obtained by finding lost satchels in the world.

Even though Arceus doesn’t have held items, it more than makes up for this absence with the addition of crafting and the ease of access to many difficult-to-find, one-of-a-kind evolutionary items. It’s not clear whether this will continue to be the case in the Pokémon series moving forward, but it’s likely that held items will come back in some form in a future series entry.