And there have been countless different berries introduced over the years. Some of these you wouldn’t eat if you were starving. Some of them, though, have won people championship titles. I’m going to take a look at the best of the best over the years and pick out what I think are the best berries in Pokémon history. Gotta plant ‘em all, right?
10. Silver Pinap Berry
I’m starting off with a bit of a controversial pick. The Silver Pinap berry is exclusive to Pokémon Go, so some of you might think that it doesn’t belong on this list. To those, I say that this entire list could have just been the different damage reduction berries, so let me take some liberties. To this day I still play Pokémon Go. And so do thousands of others around the globe. Whether you love it or hate it, though, you can’t deny that it’s a grind fest. Silver Pinap helps to reduce the number of hours you need to spend powering up your team, if only by a little bit. It gives you double the candies when you catch a Pokémon. If you’ve played Go for any long stretch of time, then you know how powerful that is.
9. EV Deleting Berries
These berries are a part of the main game series, but you don’t use them for battle. If you’ve ever spent a good amount of time EV training, then chances are you’ve accidentally allocated a few EVs to the wrong stat on a Pokémon by accident. This completely messes up your training. And if you don’t have the right save, it can mean hours of work breeding a new competitor. The EV Deleting berry acts a failsafe in case that happens, saving you a lot of pain in the process.
8. Golden Razz Berry
I swear this is the only other berry on the list that isn’t from a mainstay title. The Pokémon Let’s Go games were released to massive praise, even if they were aimed towards kids. There’s still plenty of content for old-school players to sink their teeth into, though. In particular, shiny hunting. Shiny hunting was more enjoyable in Let’s Go than any other Pokémon game to date. However, the game’s battle mechanics meant that a bad bit of luck could end up costing you your shiny. The Golden Razz Berry prevents that. It massively increases your Pokéball’s chance of success, which is sometimes needed for higher-level ‘mons.
7. Leppa Berry
The Leppa Berry is particularly useful in regular playthroughs, and has one extremely entertaining competitive use. Under normal circumstances, the Leppa Berry restores 10PP to a move of your choice. I’m thinking back to the old GBA days of running out of PP midway through the Pokémon league. If you can relate to that, then you’re going to enjoy having Leppa Berries at your disposal. In competitive, though, the Leppa Berry is used in what’s called the infinite combo. If a Pokémon is holding a Leppa Berry, has a trapping move, has a healing move, Recycle, and Heal Pulse, it can effectively trap forever. This obviously doesn’t see any professional play. But it can be extremely entertaining to take it into some casual online matches.
6. Custap Berry
The Custap Berry is an interesting technical item that does actually see some competitive play, usually on a hazard Pokémon. It allows you to move first when you’re Pokémon’s HP falls below 25% percent, making it especially effective on Fortrrtress, Toxipex, and Ferrothorn sets. It essentially acts as a last hurrah, giving you the opportunity to set up one more hazard that you otherwise wouldn’t have. And it lets you get the most out of your slower Pokémon, which makes it notably powerful.
5. “Pinch Berries”
Now we’re getting into the real competitive berries.
The Custap is technically one of these berries, but distinct enough to warrant its own entry.
When your Pokémon’s HP hits 25% percent, these berries activate and give your opponent a stat boost depending on what kind of berry it is.
Given how universally popular setup moves like Swords Dance and Calm Mind are, it shouldn’t take too much explaining to understand how useful these berries are.
Using one can literally be the difference between a victory or a defeat. Which is exactly what you want from your Pokémon’s held items.
4. Damage Decreasing Berries
Like the “Pinch” Berries, this entry is a set, not an individual berry. Instead of a stat buff, though, you can find general damage decreasing berries that lower the power of a super effective move that corresponds to the berry type. Here’s a list. You see a lot of these on dragon type sweepers that can’t afford to get hit by moves like Ice Punch. However, you can use them on whatever Pokémon you want to great effect.
3. Chesto Berry
Ah, the Chesto Berry. It has been a staple of the competitive world for a long time now. And it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The effect of Chesto Berries is simple. It wakes your Pokémon up when it goes to sleep. While this isn’t all that good if we’re talking about opponents using Sleep Powder, it is when it comes to self-inflicted sleep. Rest has been a move that has defined various competitive Pokémon sets. It fully heals your HP, but puts you to sleep. If you’ve been playing since the Kanto days then you probably know this, yeah? Use a Chesto Berry on your Rest Pokémon and you essentially get one free max potion per battle. This is the type of strategy that wins championships. So it’s no surprise that it’s used by trainers sitting at the top of the professional world.
2. Sitrus Berry
Like Chestos, the Sitrus Berries have been around for a long time. Also like Chestos, it’s got an effect that keeps it in the meta year after year. When your Pokémon’s HP is low enough, it heals it for 25% percent. It’s simple and effective. Whereas Chesto Berries have limited uses, Sitrus Berries can be used almost universally, which is why it gets a very high spot. Frankly, a well-deserved spot too.
1. Lum Berries
In my not-so-humble opinion, the king of the berry tree is the Lum Berry. This one is simple, too. It heals your Pokémon’s status condition. Unlike Chesto Berries, though, it heals any status condition. You can put a Lum Berry on quite literally any Pokémon and get use out of it. Especially in a meta in which stallers and status effects are plentiful.
