How to Raise Friendship in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

I think if Pokémon ever spontaneously became real, I would make it my personal mission in life to hug all 898 of them. Every Pokémon has the capacity to be cute and loveable, and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise. Being a Trainer isn’t just about lobbing your Pokémon at things until they stop moving, it’s about forming a bond of trust and friendship that can endure anything. Speaking of friendship, here’s how to raise Friendship in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

As is the case with most mainline Pokémon games, Friendship is a sort of invisible stat that determines how much your Pokémon likes you. This stat can affect all sorts of things; for example, a handful of moves do more or less damage depending on your Friendship, and some Pokémon need high Friendship in order to evolve. In the most recent Pokémon games, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl included, having high Friendship can also occasionally bring positive effects in battle, such as higher crit rates, enduring lethal blows, and automatically recovering from status conditions. Basically, there’s no reason not to be friends with your Pokémon, but there is a particular method to it.

How to Raise Friendship in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

You can raise a Pokémon’s Friendship stat by doing the following things:

• Catching them in a Luxury Ball
• Feeding them vitamins
• Giving them a Soothe Bell to hold
• Walking around with them in your Party or following behind you
• Feeding them particular berries (though these lower EVs)
• Using them in battles
• Leveling them up
• Getting them a massage at Veilstone City
• Entering them in Super Contests

Conversely, doing the following things will lower a Pokémon’s Friendship stat:

• Letting them faint in a battle
• Leaving them stored in your PC for long stretches
• Trading them
• Feeding them bitter medicine like Energy Powder

At any time, you can check your Pokémon’s Friendship using the Friendship Checker Poketch app. A girl in the Eterna City Pokémon Center will give it to you; just tap on the Pokémon you want to check, and the size of the hearts that pop up will show how much they like you.

For informative purposes, here are all of the Pokémon that require high Friendship in order to evolve:

• Eevee into Espeon
• Eevee into Umbreon
• Pichu into Pikachu
• Cleffa into Clefairy
• Togepi into Togetic
• Azurill into Marill
• Budew into Roselia
• Munchlax into Snorlax
• Riolu into Lucario