Pokémon Refresh

Pokémon Refresh is the successor to Pokémon Amie which was introduced in Pokémon X & Y. This feature allows for you to interact with your Pokémon in your party in order to gain various bonuses.

Pokémon Refresh is a more streamlined variant of the concept introduced before, with mini-games removed and no attempt at facial recognition for the Pokémon. Instead, you will just feed and pet the Pokémon. Like before, each Pokémon has a specific area they enjoy being petted and some have one that they don't like being petted. Various Pokémon like Slugma and Pikachu have areas that will cause harm if petted.

To access Pokémon Refresh, all you need to do is access the menu in the game and it'll be one of the options in Page 2. Alternatively, when certain circumstances happen in battle, you can press Y at the end of battle to activate Pokémon Refresh to care for your Pokémon.

Pokémon Refresh Stats

Like previous secondary features, Pokémon Amie has a few ways to track the progress of your Pokémon. There are three stats, each measured by five icons to deterine how well they have been trained in that field:

  • Affection: Determines how happy your Pokémon is with you
  • Fullness: Determines how many Poké Beans your Pokémon need to be fed
  • Enjoyment: Determines how much your Pokémon has been played with

Each value can be altered slightly by participating in certain things. Enjoyment and hunger will gradually go down, while affection will remain for as long as you own the Pokémon. When you trade the Pokémon, if it's not traded back in the same day, it will lose the affection.

To get the Affection stat up, which is the most important stat, you can do a variety of things including petting and feeding the Pokémon. This will increase the stat by a little amount. Each value is denoted by the small hearts that come out of the Pokémon whenever you feed or play with it. The ranking goes as follows

Affection Value Small Hearts Required
One Heart 1
Two Hearts 50
Three Hearts 100
Four Hearts 150
Five Hearts 250

Petting your Pokémon will give between 3 and 5 hearts, while feeding them will give a varied amount of hearts depending on the type of Poké Bean. Poké Beans can be obtained predominantly from the Poké Pelago but you may also get them randomly from Café owners. After you have fed your Pokémon a multiple of 10 Poké Beans, the café owners in Alola will also give you a Rare Candy!.

When a Pokémon is at max hearts, take it to Malie City's Community Center to get the Best Friends Ribbon.

Pokémon Refresh Care

Under some circumstances, when a battle ends you can press Y to automatically go into Pokémon Refresh. This allows for you to care for your Pokémon. This will activate when you have been afflicted by a Status Condition, or hit by moves that will make your Pokémon dirty such as Muddy Water or Bubble Beam. When in, you can use one of the various tools to heal the Pokémon. This means any status affliction your Pokémon has can be removed right after the battle. All it needs is for you to use the item over the Pokémon repeatedly. This then increases its affection and enjoyment

Picture Item Effect
Medicine Heals your Pokémon of Poison, Sleep, Burn, Paralysis or being Frozen
Comb Allows for you to straighten up a Pokémon's fur
Towel Removes dirt from your Pokémon
Brush Removes sand from your Pokémon
Dryer Removes water from your Pokémon
Effect In Battle

The unique feature with Pokémon Refresh, carried over from Pokémon Amie is that after you have utilised the feature, you will come to see various effects in battle. These features range from superficial to largely beneficial for the trainer which allows for greater strategy in battle. Most of them occur randomly, with the rate increasing based upon the Pokémon's affection towards you. The effects are as follows

Affection LevelEffects
2 HeartsExperience gained in each battle is boosted by 20%
Different messages when waiting for instructions
3 HeartsIf the Pokémon was to be knocked out, it has a chance of surviving with 1 Hit Point - Chance increases the higher the affection
Different text when Pokémon is sent into battle
4 HeartsMay evade the opponent's attacks
May cure itself of status conditions
May look back slightly at the start of battle
5 HeartsHigher chance of Critical Hits