Pokémon players are taking extra steps to make The Teal Mask DLC challenging

Some avid Pokémon Scarlet and Violet players like myself are a worried that the upcoming DLC, The Teal Mask, will be too easy for their teams full of EV-trained, IV-maxed, level 100 Pokémon. This is why many players are adding some spice to their adventure by building a new team of weaker Pokémon to tackle the DLC, rather than steamrolling it with powerhouses like Flutter Mane and Iron Hands.

The Pokémon series, unlike other games, rarely scales the levels of story opponents based on player levels. The Sword and Shield expansions did feature some level scaling, but it capped at around level 60 and was based on the number of gym badges the player earned in the main story. So, if you got all eight badges and defeated Leon, all wild Pokémon would be at the level cap of 60.

Given that level scaling is not tied to the player’s Pokémon levels, Scarlet and Violet fans are keeping their expectations low for this feature to appear in The Teal Mask and are building new level 60 teams instead.

In response to a Reddit post asking players if they would change their team for the DLC, one player said: “Considering how my team is all at level 100, yes I will get a new team”. Others echoed the sentiment and said they “want to bring a team of around level 50-70 to keep things challenging”.

Some Pokémon community members are so hopeless that The Teal Mask will feature level scaling that they dismissed suggestions it might appear as a “nice joke”.

Other players are choosing to add an extra layer of randomness to the challenge: “I asked my wife to pick a random number between 1 – 400 and I would hunt the respective shiny to use as a starter for the DLC”, one player wrote, revealing that they would be starting with a Cubchoo. I personally wouldn’t mind having Beartic on my team for a story run at all, so I think they got lucky.

This isn’t the first time Pokémon fans have increased the game’s difficulty with self-imposed challenges, and making a new team is probably the easiest one the community came up with. The Nuzlocke challenge is probably the most popular, which imposes the famous rule that fainted Pokémon are considered “dead” and can’t be used again.

I think I’ll follow these Reddit users’ lead and make a new team for my The Teal Mask run as well. I have a bunch of level 50 to 60 shiny Pokémon from when I went shiny hunting in Scarlet and Violet, so it’s time to put them to use. Kingambit, Dragapult, Mismagius, Tinkaton, Kilowattrel, and Cloyster will be my party. What about you?