The new Pokémon UNITE Boost Emblem system: How does it work?

The first anniversary of Pokémon UNITE has introduced the boost emblem system. Like rune system in League of Legends, this allows for added customizability to the game. There are 99 different boost emblems in all. Emblems provide stat changes, color bonuses, and have different effect levels.

How to get Pokémon UNITE boost emblems

Players can obtain emblems two ways, through energy rewards and season points. Energy rewards, once a way to get useless fashion tickets, can now be used for emblems. Players who stockpiled their energy awards are able to exchange for up to 30 new emblems each day. Season points are a new mechanic and are earned in the same way points are earned to increase trainer level. Unlike your trainer level, season points will reset at the end of each season.

Stat bonuses and effect levels

Each emblem increases one stat and decreases another. The stats have a clear linear formula to them: 1 attack = 1.5 special attack = 3 defense or special defense = 21 movement speed = 30 HP = 0.6% critical hit chance. There will always be a roughly equivalent exchange between stats so whenever one goes up another stat will go down based on the above values.

Critical hit chance is the most important stat emblems provide. For Pokémon with innate critical hits it helps increase damage output, and for Pokémon without critical hits it can be used as a dump stat. Dumping special attack on physical attackers can also be done to come out ahead.

Effect levels can be either bronze, silver or gold. Bronze emblems are more common with weaker status effects, while gold emblems are rarer and are up to twice as powerful. Players can combine three bronze emblems of the same type to create a silver and three silver emblems to create a gold at the cost of 100 coins.

Color bonuses

There are nine different emblem colors, with each emblem given one or two colors each. When enough emblems of a color are assigned to a loadout they will provide an additional stat boost. These stat boosts are the main benefit of the emblem system, providing much better effects than the individual emblems.

The best color matching bonus depends on which Pokémon the loadout is for. Green increases special attack, which is good for supporters and some attackers. Red increases basic attack speed, a convoluted system that will only benefit very specific Pokémon. White increases HP, which is a good general boost for most Pokémon. Black provides cooldown reduction, something that when coupled with Shell Bell and Energy Amplifier could be very powerful. Orange increases attack, which is great for speedsters and all-rounders.

Blue and purple increase defensive stats, but are eclipsed by the HP bonus of white. Yellow provides movement speed but only when out of combat. Pink increases resistance to hinderances, something that the community hasn’t fully explored.

How to use Pokémon UNITE boost emblems

Players can hold up to 10 emblems in a single loadout and are able to save up to three loadouts. There are a lot of possible combinations with 10 slots, but with only three loadouts, it can get difficult to store multiple combinations.

For now, the best way to create your loadout is to use the stat optimizing builds the game generates, then add extra emblems to get a second or third color bonus. As players gain more emblems the amount of options available will increase and it would be a good idea to revisit loadouts, change and upgrading emblems to further optimize.