How Battle Zones and the Royale work in Pokémon Legends: Z-A

In Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Trainers all around Lumiose City can join the Z-A Royale, a nocturnal tournament where Pokémon battles are held within certain sections of the city, known as the Battle Zones.

As one of the game’s core features, the Z-A Royale brings a competitive edge to the story and could easily be what keeps players hooked on Legends: Z-A for months.

However, since the previous Pokémon games never showed a mechanic that’s quite similar to the Z-A Royale, many new players encountered some trouble understanding its rules, especially if they just blitzed their way through the tutorial dialogue.

So, here's a complete compilation of all the things you need to know about the Z-A Royale, specifically the Battle Zones where you and Taunie/Urbain found yourselves trapped on your first night in Lumiose City.

The Z-A Royale isn’t your typical Pokémon League tournament where you need to face gym leaders or the Elite Four. Instead, participants are filtered through a reverse alphabetical ranking system, with Z as the lowest rank and A as the highest.

Any Trainer who accepts an invitation to join the Z-A Royale must prove themselves first by starting at Rank Z. To increase their rank to Y and so on, they need to fight other Trainers at night, and this is where the Battle Zones come in.

Remember the place with red holographic fences that you and Taunie/Urbain need to escape from? That place is called a Battle Zone, a section that’s only active at night, designed as an area for Trainers who are taking part in the Z-A Royale.

If you want to promote to a higher rank, the Battle Zones are the only places where you can find other Trainers to fight against. Once you enter a Battle Zone, it’s survival of the fittest, and all the Trainers inside will challenge you to a battle on sight.

Defeat these Trainers and you’ll receive various rewards, especially the prize medals and Ticket Points. Getting a certain amount of Ticket Points will then reward you with a Challenger’s Ticket, which gives you the right to play a promotion match.

Win that promotion match, and you’ll get a higher rank. Keep on doing the process at nighttime until you reach Rank A.

Prize medals are convertible to prize money once daybreak comes. More prize medals means more prize money, but you’ll lose half of your prize medals every time you lose a match in the Battle Zones.

As already mentioned, once you have enough Ticket Points, you can fight in a promotion match. To see the number of required Ticket Points, go to your menu by pressing the X button, then select the Z-A Royale app.

In the Z-A Royale app, press R to see the Promotion Match info. Under your photo, you’ll see the exact number of Ticket Points needed to acquire the Challenger’s Ticket.

You can usually see the details in the Z-A Royale app once you’re actively fighting inside the Battle Zone, or once your Rotom phone announces your next opponent for an upcoming promotion match.

Naturally, the higher you climb through the ranks, the tougher your opponents become, and chances are you’ve already crossed paths with some of them during the main story.

Note: Your map will also show the location of your promotion match opponent.

Here are some helpful tips to beat those battle-hungry Trainers faster and easier in Pokémon Legends: Z-A:

Get more tips and tricks for Pokémon Legends: Z-A here at esports.gg.