The Galarian Star Tournament is one of the most useful and entertaining new features of Pokemon Sword & Shield to come in the Crown Tundra DLC. This series of multi-battles include some of the highest-level opponents in the entire game, alongside some amusing dialogue between opposing partners and tons of experience points.
The ability to choose your partner from any rival or Gym Leader is another huge benefit of this new battle format, but not all of your potential allies are worth your attention. Among all the trainers you can choose to fight alongside you in this new challenge, these are the only ones that you should bother fighting next to.
Updated March 8th, 2021 by Gene Cole: Since the release of the Crown Tundra, players have quickly found that this mode is much less valuable for casual players as a challenge. Instead, this is a great grinding tool for experience and money, and there are some different trainers and strategies that experienced players should consider if they want to make this grind much quicker and easier.
10 Leon
As a former champion, it should be no surprise that Leon is as powerful an ally in double battles as he is as your opponent in the Battle Tower. His team is backed by a Charizard and Galar starter Pokemon, both of which are almost sure to be some of the strongest speedy attackers in the game.
However, his Aegislash might be more interesting, as it has tons of immunities that might make it more worth building your team around if you plan on getting through battles fast. Having invincibility to Normal-type moves means you can use attacks like Explosion with zero consequence, while its defensive King’s Shield attack can let you freely use moves like Surf that deal damage to all foes.
9 Opal
Opal might not seem that significant compared to the other teammates of yours, since her middle Pokemon of Togekiss is the only main attacker. The reason she’s so powerful an ally, though, is that her opener Weezing has the powerful Levitate ability to avoid Ground-type moves.
This means you can use the arguable strongest move in the game, Earthquake, to hit both your opponents without dealing any damage to your partner. Being able to get through the tournament without your ally fainting will save you tons of time, and Weezing’s defenses will help you avoid too many awkward Pokemon swaps.
8 Allister
Exclusive to Pokemon Shield, the Ghost-type trainer Allister is an underrated member of the Galarian Star Tournament selection due to his remarkably defensive Pokemon. This particularly features a Dusknoir, which has great bulk while also having multiple elemental punch attacks to guarantee Super Effective moves.
To really maximize this, running a Pokemon that can create harsh sunlight will help you use Dusknoir’s Fire Punch with much greater strength than its unfortunate amount of offense. If it dies, the Cursola that follows will have just as much defense to prevent any unnecessary fainting from slowing you down.
7 Mustard
Despite being a champion of many types, Mustard’s team is entirely made of Fighting-types in the Galarian Star Tournament. This includes both an Urshifu and Kommo-o with great speed and damage, but also a very supportive starter of Mienshao to speedily hit opponents.
If you don’t want support and want raw damage, though, you might want to look elsewhere. One of Mienshao’s moves is Fake Out, which it will likely use on the first turn to make an opponent flinch without damage. This means you’ll be able to win the battle with Mustard easily through disruptive effects, but he won’t deal as fast damage as you probably should.
6 Nessa
The popular Gym Leader Nessa also starts with a priority move in her arsenal, but a much more useful one in the form of her Golisopod’s First Impression. This Bug-type move deals great damage as long as it’s the first move in the battle, and will even hit before any other Pokemon’s moves.
The rest of Nessa’s team is slightly more anticlimactic, with Toxapex and Dreadnaw being quite slow compared to her first move. It’s great if you want a reliable source of instantaneous damage each round, but will likely lag in longer battles if you don’t deal with fast Pokemon before Nessa’s turn arrives.
5 Hop
Hop is a similarly variant ally to Leon, as his team will be based around your chosen starter at the beginning of the game and the version of your game. This is because his last Pokemon will always be the starter weak to your original choice, while he will also feature the legendary Zacian or Zamazenta.
However, the main priority for using Hop is his affectionate Dubwool, the first Pokemon he sends out and one of the bulkiest options you can get in Double Battles. It won’t likely die from AOE attacks like Earthquake, but when it does he’ll have way more powerful Pokemon to follow it up if you can’t carry your team single-handedly.
4 Raihan
The four greatest partners are substantially stronger than your other options in the Galarian Star Tournament, with Hammerlocke’s Gym Leader Raihan being the most broadly powerful attacker in the roster. His Dragon-types already lack several weaknesses, but most incredible is his leading Flygon with great speed and physical strength.
Be warned, though, as one of Flygon’s go-to moves includes Earthquake, which deals great damage to both opponents, but also great damage to your Pokemon as well. On the plus side, Flygon also has the Levitate ability to prevent Ground-type moves from hitting it as well, meaning you can go for a dual Earthquake team to run over your opponents.
3 Bea
Another version-exclusive Gym Leader, Pokemon Sword’s Bea, is another remarkable partner with some slight risks. Her Fighting-types have some solid defenses in the back, but starting with Hawlucha provides her with an incredibly strong pair of Flying and Fighting-type attacks.
Its main issue involves the attack High Jump Kick, which has a fair risk of missing and will deal great damage to Hawlucha when the move fails. However, a great way to solve this is to find a Pokemon that can create a Gravity effect with a move, as this will lower the evasiveness of all Pokemon and ensure High Jump Kick hits with every strike.
2 Marnie
Much like Raihan, your former rival Marnie makes for an extremely fast and aggressive ally. Marnie leads with her signature Morpeko, which has great physical strength alongside its Aura Wheel attack to increase its speed with each strike with types that aren’t common among the other Gym Leaders.
Having Marnie’s Pokemon switch forms each turn also makes her more predictable to fight beside. She’ll usually gravitate to using Super Effective attacks, meaning you can easily tell if she’ll use her signature move on a foe that you need to pile on together, or leave to Morpeko to deal with a foe on its own.
1 Kabu
Nearly any competitive Pokemon player can tell you how effective weather can be for your battle strategy. Many trainers can build entire teams around conditions like rain and sandstorms, but the Galarian Star Tournament’s Kabu can do this for free by starting on a Torkoal with the Drought ability to bring harsh sunlight into battle right out the gate.
Despite being one of the weakest Gym Leaders in Pokemon Sword & Shield, it’s impossible to understate how helpful he is because of this. This Sunny Day effect means you can easily run Pokemon like Venusaur and Vileplume with abilities to double their speed, while using your own Fire-types to deal explosive multi-target hits with moves like Burning Jealousy to make a joke out of any opponent.
