Pokemon Unite is the Pokemon Company’s attempt at a streamlined MOBA like League of Legends, Smite, or Dota using their beloved 900+ Pocket Monsters built up over the years as potential characters. And, for the most part, it's a great execution of an amazing idea. The way this game integrates concepts well-established in the franchise like learning moves, evolving, fighting wild Pokemon, using Battle Items, and giving characters Held Items in a MOBA format is exceptional.
RELATED: The Best Dog Pokemon of All-Time, Ranked
That said, the Held Items play a pretty big part in victory or defeat as a players levels up more and more since all the opponents they'll be matched with will likely have their three Held Items fully upgraded after a certain point. Here’s what we and many other dedicated fans found to be the best of the best-held items, ranked from worst to best.
Disclaimer: While the passive stats for Held Items increase with every level from 1-20, the primary effect of each Held Item only jumps to the next "tier" at 1, 10, and 20. So, with that in mind, this list will primarily be talking about the stats of each item at level 20. Yes, the items do go higher than 20, but the stat increases start to heavily depreciate past this point.
10 Leftovers
The Leftovers are a free item given to players right after they finish the tutorial. But, even though they’re free, this item shouldn’t be underestimated. Sure, until Lvl 10 it only recovers 1% HP out of combat every second, but those passive bonuses are incredibly helpful for sustainability in lane.
And, at Lvl 10+ those bonuses really start to shine. That said, there are rarely any moments in a Unite game where players aren’t in combat if they want to win, so it’s pretty situational to have enough time with this triggered for players to actively heal for a large amount.
9 Wise Glasses
Moving on to the second choice for the bottom of the list, the Wise Glasses, which are the best of the flat damage buff items. A lot of these items like the Sp. Atk Specs or the Attack Weight can be a smidge deceiving. The bonuses for these items might seem big, but getting an extra 40-60 Attack/Sp. Atk, when the Max HP for an enemy in-game at level 15 is in the thousands, is helpful, but not as much as a gamechanger as it probably seemed at first glance.
Luckily, the Wise Glasses work off a percentage rather than a flat bonus, meaning that they are fantastic paired with other Held Items that buff Sp. Attack as well.
8 Score Shield
Once again, here's another item for players who like to play supporting or tanky roles. While this item seems situational, scoring goals is sort of the whole point of the game, so the situation does come up pretty often. At Lvl 20, a 10% Max HP Shield for a Pokemon with low max HP isn’t great, but imagine that on a Snorlax with other HP-boosting Held Items. They’re basically unstoppable while scoring if used correctly.
RELATED: Things You Need To Know Before Starting Pokemon Reborn
This item also passively boosts Max HP the same amount as the Leftovers at Lvl 20 (+240), which is nice too. Still, because this item doesn't exactly "overpower" any characters, and it also only buffs one stat passively, this is as high as it goes.
7 Scope Lens
The Scope Lens is likely the most overpowered Held Item in the game currently, but only for one specific character. If a player spends all their Item Enhancers to get this to Lvl 20 ASAP, they can solo-carry a game on their own as Absol.
Absol, a Speedster-class Pokemon is already a Critical Damage/Critical Chance sort of character, but with a Lvl 20 Scope Lens Absol can unleash 1500+ damage attacks like it's nothing. Sadly, because it’s so specialized, this is as far as this held item can go, but it’s still pretty nutty.
6 Focus Band
The Focus Band is another item that is pretty useful for its primary ability but is actually deceptively more useful for its passive benefits. By default, the Focus Band will automatically recover a decent chunk of HP at low health. That, combined with a Potion and an HP-recovering Move like Giga Drain on Venusaur, gives a player a ton of longevity in lane and self-sustain.
But, what really turns this from a helpful item into a perfect one for tanky Pokemon, is the passive +30 gives to both Defense and Special Defense at Max Lvl.
5 Rocky Helmet
The next one, the Rocky Helmet, might seem like a specialized item, but it really isn't. Battles happen often in Pokemon Unite, which means this thing is constantly going off, as opposed to say the Leftovers which only turn on outside of combat, making it a great item to hold for any type of Battler.
Not only that, all Pokemon in the area are hurt when its effect is triggered, not just the attacking Pokemon. And, it's for a percentage of their Max HP. So, if an Absol attacks a Slowbro wearing a Rocky Helmet, and the Absol’s Snorlax teammate is nearby, both will get hurt. Because it’s based on Max HP, the damage Snorlax takes will be a lot more noticeable than the Absol’s. As for the additional stat bonuses, the Rocky Helmet buffs both Defense and Max HP, sort of combining the stat bonuses from Leftovers and Focus Band.
4 Buddy Barrier
Some Pokemon use their Unite Moves often, some don’t get to use them much at all. But, for the specialized support/tank characters that do, like Venusaur and Snorlax, this Held Item is a must if they want to be a team player since the primary effect is a big help in a desperate brawl.
Normally, just that benefit wouldn't be enough to make it on this list, let alone get this high up. But, the passive buff the Buddy Barrier gives to Max HP is the real breadwinner. For reference, the Leftovers give about +240 bonus HP at Lvl 20. The Buddy Barrier? +600! Sure, the Buddy Barrier only buffs Max HP while most other Held Items passively buff two different stats, but this huge chunk of bonus health is more than worth it.
3 Float Stone
Compared to all the other "slightly" deceptive item descriptions in the game, the Float Stone takes the cake. On paper, its Primary ability seems marginally useful at best. But, The Float Stone is actually far and away one of the best items, and one that helps just about every type of Pokemon as well, from Attackers to Supports and even Speedsters.
Essentially, whenever the Pokemon holding this isn’t in combat, their movement speed is increased by 10/15/20%. Any, for how often players get ganked in this game or surprised by a sudden group of enemies, being able to quickly go and support the team is a huge deal.
RELATED: The Best Electric Pokemon, Ranked
Not only that but the Float Stone also passively increases both Movement Speed and Basic Attack Damage too. Now, players might be wondering why the Float Stone, an out-of-combat item, is so good when Leftovers are much lower. That's because the ability to run and support teammates on the other side of the map is a better use of non-combat than waiting around for Leftovers to heal enough. This is especially true since players can just recall back to base and get a full heal anyway.
2 Muscle Band
A lot of the items on here have been pretty focused on Special Attack Pokemon, but what about the ones who get a lot of their damage from Basic Attacks, like Absol or Zeraora? For them, and even for some Special Attackers as well, the Muscle Band is a must-have.
This item not only increases the damage Basic Attacks do by a percentage of the opponent's HP, but they also give a passive Attack Buff and even increase Attack Speed as well. For pure Attackers, there's no better offensive-focused item to have equipped and upgraded.
1 Shell Bell
Last up is the Shell Bell in the number one spot and the obvious choice for the winner. Shell Bell is hands down the best item for any Special Attack Pokemon, but it’s also basically a must-have for just about any Pokemon in general. There are few Pokemon that actually should use other items instead of Shell Bell if any at all.
But why is it so good? Well, if the Leftovers heal is great, but players are rarely outside of combat, what about an item that heals the player for being in combat? And that’s exactly what the Shell Bell does. For every Move landed (keyword Move, not Basic Attack) the Shell Bell heals for them for a pretty sizeable amount.
And, the higher a Pokemon’s Special Attack is, the more they’re healed. Sadly, the passive benefits of this item are the weakest part, but that main ability is incredibly enough for this to rank #1, even with lackluster passive effects.
NEXT: Popular Pokemon Myths That Aren't True
