Pokemon Shiny Diamond and Shiny Pearl: Held Items Guide

There are virtually no exceptions to this rule. Pokémon that face their opponents with no items held in tow will be at a significant disadvantage. Held items simply have too many advantages and either help to fill in a Pokemon’s glaring weaknesses or emphasize its strengths even more.

But with so many different held items available in the game, casual players looking to engage in competitive battles may have a hard time discerning which ones are actually worth bringing. Berries, plates, choice items – there’s often too much for new competitive players to handle. That’s where we come in, with our hands-on primer on all the objects in Pokemon Shiny Diamond and Shiny Pearl.

What items are held in Pokemon Shining Diamond and Shining Pearl?

Simply put, a held item is an item that can be worn by a Pokemon – both in the overworld and in battle. Each Pokemon has a held item slot, which will be filled if its trainer gives it an item. Each Pokemon can only contain one item at a time. Any other given item will force the previously held item back into the player’s inventory.

Technically speaking, a Pokémon can contain any object (with a few exceptions) as long as it is not a Key element. This means that things like potions, evolution stones, vitamins, etc. can be considered as possessed objects. But most of them will have no effect when held. Only “dedicated” held items, such as the three types mentioned in the introduction to this guide, have an effect in combat.

Held items that are actually useful in combat can be classified into two main categories: consumables and persistent items.

Consumables

Consumable items are exactly what they say on the label: they are consumed automatically in battle when certain conditions are met. For example, a Pokémon holding a Sitrus Berry will recover HP equal to 25% of its maximum health, when its HP drops below 50%. This doesn’t force the Pokémon to give up its turn, making it ideal for maintaining momentum while simultaneously healing itself.

Other consumables have different usage conditions than Berries. The Weakness Policy, for example, activates when the Pokemon holding it takes a move that’s super effective against it. When activated, the Weakness Policy automatically increases the Pokemon’s offensive stats in battle.

Consumables disappear upon activation. The Normal Recycle type move circumvents this rule somewhat, as it allows Pokemon to recover held items previously consumed in the same battle.

Persistent

Persistent items, on the other hand, do not disappear when used. They persist in the item slot held by a Pokémon, whether their effects are passive or active. For example, a Pokémon holding an expert belt gets a 20% power boost for all of its super effective moves. This effect persists throughout the battle, as long as the Pokémon has the Expert Belt in its possession.

Meanwhile, there are also persistent items that require activation before applying their effects. One such item is the Flame Orb, which applies burn to the Pokémon holding it at the end of the turn. The flame orb doesn’t despawn after that, meaning it can still apply burns later in the battle if something heals the status effect.

What are the most common items in competitive play?

As you would expect from the information above, only consumables and persistently held items are useful in competitive play in Pokemon Shiny Diamond and Shiny Pearl. A Pokemon can’t use a Hyper Potion in battle, for example, so it’s important to only choose those that can actually be used as such.

Even more important is knowing which of these held items are actually good in competitive play. The Focus Band, for example, is strictly inferior to the Focus Sash – because the former only protects against fainting 10% of the time. The latter, on the other hand, does it without fail. Therefore, it’s crucial for new players to weed out items that don’t provide much competitive value or items that have stronger counterparts like the Focus Band.

In this section, we’ll give examples of the most commonly used held items in competitive play, and why they’re what you should bring against other players.

Berries and other consumables

• Sitrus Berry – Perfect for Belly Drum strategies, like with Azumarill. Strictly better than Oran Berries.
• Lum Berry – A favorite of setup sweepers like Dragonite and Garchomp, as it helps them ignore burns and paralysis after setup.
• Custap Berry – Great for dedicated suicide lanes with the Hardy ability like Skarmory, as it allows them to reduce entry chance even at low health.
• Chesto Berry – One half of the “ChestoResto” strategy, which involves using rest for recovery and a Chesto Berry to wake up immediately.
• Resistance Berries (Colbur, Chople, Wacan, etc.) – Halves the damage of incoming super effective moves, depending on type. Colbur’s Berries, for example, reduce the damage of super effective dark-type attacks by 50%.
• Boost Berries (Liechi, Petaya, Salac, etc.) – Automatically boosts a specific stat when the Pokemon holding the berry drops below 25% health. Ideal on Pokemon that can fire shots when setting up.
• Mental Herb – Eliminates the drawbacks of Shell Smash. Commonly carried by Cloyster and other Pokémon with access to Shell Smash.

Persistent elements (passive and active)

• Focus Sash – allows a Pokemon to survive a hit that otherwise OHKO is guaranteed. Doesn’t work on multi hits like Bullet Seed. Only works once in a battle, but does not disappear – so Knock Off will still deal bonus damage to a Pokemon with a Focus Sash used.
• Life Orb – Exchanges 10% of a Pokemon’s max HP with each attack move, in exchange for 30% more base power. Useful for all-out attackers like Lucario, who need an extra kick for their moves.
• Expert Belt – Increases the power of super effective moves by 20%. Great item for Pokemon with wide coverage in their movepool.
• Choice Items (Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Choice Band) – Boosts a specific stat by 50%, in exchange for being able to freely choose moves beyond the first when the Pokemon enters. Choice items are incredibly powerful and will give certain Pokemon immense power without the need for any setup. Meanwhile, Choice Scarf’s speed boost allows slower Pokemon to immediately jump on faster opponents.
• Weather Rocks (Damp Rock, Heat Rock, Icy Rock, Smooth Rock) – Essential for weather teams and their weathermen, after Gen VI removed permanent weather effects.
• Status Orbs (Flame Orb, Toxic Orb) – Excellent on Pokemon with Guts and Poison Heal abilities. Flame Orb is preferred over the former, as the Burn hurts less per turn compared to the Toxic Poison.
• Scope Lens / Razor Claw – Doubles a Pokemon’s critical hit rate. A favorite Pokemon with the Super Luck ability, like Absol.
• King’s Rock – Adds a chance to flinch to a Pokemon’s attack moves. Good for stealing games that you would surely lose if you were lucky.