Here’s the best approach to farming berries in Pokémon Sword and Shield
Berries are a useful item you can have your Pokémon hold to use during combat, or you can throw them into your curry, which is a new thing for Pokémon Sword and Shield. You can find them all over the place, but you encounter them frequently in berry trees. When you approach them, you can start shaking the tree to acquire them and add them to your collection.
You have a few methods available to you to farm these berries. The most straightforward technique requires you have the Rotom Bicycle, which you receive naturally by progressing through the story of the game. When you get it, use it in the Wild Area right outside Hammerlocke and Motostroke to find several of these berry trees. Walk up to them, shake them, grab the respective berries, and then move on to the next one.
By using the Rotom Bicycle, you can zip around the area to grab them all. The berries do not respawn when you go from area to area, so you want to rotate around the entire Wild Area on your bicycle and then return to your starting location. The berries take a day to return.
You receive rarer berries from harder to reach locations in the Wild Area, such as Azew’s Eye and Lake of Outrage. You can only enter these locations by acquiring the Rotom Bicycle upgrade to go across the water. When you have access to them, you should frequent these two locations during your rotation, and you should have access to a wider variety of higher quality berries. You’ll know you have rarer ones by the information in the berry’s description, which you can read at any time from the Berries item slot in your bag.
You won’t receive the same amount of berries from every tree. When you approach the tree and start shaking it, a handful of berries drop. If you continue to shake the tree, you increase the chances of a Pokémon to fall out of it. They land on your head, and you get into a battle with them. When it’s over, a good majority of the berries are taken by other Pokémon while you were distracted.
To help prevent the Pokémon from dropping down, you need to watch how the tree moves before you try to shake it again. If the tree’s branches are violently shaking at a quick rate, you have a high chance of one falling out of it. If it’s spaced out, such as every two to three seconds, you should continue to shake the tree and try for more berries.
Another alternative to grabbing berries is to complete Max Raids and fight Dynamex Pokémon in their dens. However, this is not always guaranteed, and sometimes you only get two or three for finishing a battle. These engagements can take a reasonable length of time and are far longer than purely running from tree to tree.
But if you farm dens, it’s good to note the harder Dynamax battles give you access to better berries. Because the berries take a long time to grow back on the trees, farming dens provide a good alternative once you’ve made the round through the Wild Area.
Make sure you’re visiting the merchants in the Wild Area who are wearing the green-and-red with a large backpack. Speak to them, and they have a variety of base curry items you want to throw in before tossing your berries into your meals. Creating the best curry takes a reasonable amount of time, and there are several techniques to approach the highest ranking. Using rare berries is vital, too.
