Pokemon Legends: ZA is receiving an update that will make it much easier to obtain rewards from Ranked Battles, especially the coveted set of Mega Stones.
In official news postThe Pokemon Company has revealed that at the start of Season 2 of the Online Ranked Battles mode, players will be able to obtain Y-Rank Greninjite and S-Rank Delphoxite. Previously, in Season 1, players had to reach K Rank to receive Greninjite (Delphoxite was not yet available).
This is quite a massive deal, as the difficulty of obtaining these Mega Stones has been the subject of criticism from the community since they were first announced as rewards. The trio of original Kalos starter Pokemon: Fennekin, Froakie, and Chespin are available fairly early in Pokemon Legends: ZA, and all three have up-to-date Mega Evolutions. However, these Mega Evolutions can only be unlocked using items obtained as rewards in Online Ranked Battles and are not available in the Story Campaign at all. This was frustrating for many players, as many people had no exposure to online gaming at all and preferred to just play the story-only game.
This update does not allow you to earn rewards without engaging in ZA’s online component, but it does make it much easier to earn them. In Season 2, you will essentially be able to earn Greninjite in one Ranked Battle even if you lose, as you can earn Rank Points for actions you take in the battle as well as for actually winning. You can also advance several ranks in one go if you play well enough, which makes the transition from Z to S for this Delphoxite quite quick. AND it looks like Game Freak is updating the way points are distributed to make rankings even easier.
Additionally, if trends continue in this direction, it looks like the Season 3 update will introduce Chesnaughtite at a level similar to S Rank and lower the rank requirement for Delphoxite to something even easier. According to the announcement, “Mega Stones will continue to be renewed frequently in future seasons.”
Overall, this is a pretty good change for people who want to collect all the Mega Stones. A few Ranked Battles in Season 2 and 3 will allow you to earn all three stones with little effort, and if you prefer, you’ll never have to play Ranked mode again.
Pokemon Legends: Season 2 ZA starts on Wednesday, November 5.
I reviewed Pokemon Legends: ZA and gave it a rating of 8/10, stating that “I finally feel like Game Freak is getting on track in the 3D Pokemon era, with an interesting setting to explore, a well-written story, and a complete overhaul of the fighting system that works surprisingly well.” The game sold almost six million copies in its first week.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Her posts can be found on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Have a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
