Increasing your friendship with your Pokémon in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl gives your Pokémon advantages in battle. These advantages can come in the form of a number of different bonuses, which include increasing their chance of inflicting critical hits onto its target, surviving a fatal blow by holding on to just 1 HP when hit by a move that would have knocked it out, and may also heal its own status condition. With benefits like this, it is important to increase your Friendship with your Pokémon whenever you can. To do this, you first have to know how to do it. Luckily, I can tell you the different ways of how to level up your Friendship. This guide will show you How to Increase Friendship in Pokémon Diamond and Shining Pearl.
How to Increase Friendship in Pokémon Diamond and Shining Pearl
There are a number of ways that you can increase your Friendship. One of the easier ways to do so is to take the Pokémon that you want to increase your Friendship with and walk with them in the overworld. It will take some time as it is linked to the amount of steps you take, but it is a way to bond with the Pokémon while simply traversing the world. Two other ways involve getting your Pokémon a massage and getting them some vitamins. Vitamins are used to raise the base stats of Pokémon but will also raise your Friendship with them. You can purchase vitamins at the Veilstone City Department store or exchange them for Battle Points (BP) at the Battle Tower.
Related:
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl: How to Check Friendship
Pokémon caught in a Luxury Ball will receive a boost to their friendship growth, so if you see a Pokémon that you are going to want to increase your Friendship with, make sure to use this specific ball when capturing it. Similarly, a Pokémon that is holding a Soothe Bell will also give them this boost. Now you are going to want to be mindful of the ways that friendship can decrease so that you can avoid them. The most obvious one is to make sure you don’t let your Pokémon faint as when they do, it will decrease your friendship with them. The other way that friendship will drop is by feeding them Herbs. These Herbs are cheaper than potions but will affect your relationship with your Pokémon.
Both Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl are available now on the Nintendo Switch.