Held Item Tier List: Best Items to Upgrade (September 23 Update) | Pokemon UNITE

This is Game8's tier list for the best held items in Pokemon UNITE. Check here for our current rankings on the best Held Items as of September 23, best Held Items to buy and upgrade and the best Held Items for each role and each pokemon!

Tier Lists
Pokemon Tier List	Low-Elo Tier List	Held Item Tier List	Battle Item Tier List

Held Item Tier List (September 23rd Update)

List of Held Items and Effects

Held Item Tier List Updates (September 23, 2021)

Update Date	Pokemon	Summary
09/23	Razor Claw	・Placed to A tier after initial tests.
09/23	Choice Specs	・Placed to S tier after initial tests.
09/23	Weakness Policy	・Placed to B tier after initial tests.
09/23	Focus Band	・Placed to S tier after burst meta shift.
09/23	Assault Vest	・Placed to A tier after SP. Atk Pokemon overtakes the Meta.
09/23	Exp. Share	・Moved down to B tier after Meta shift.
09/23	Shell Bell	・Moved down to B tier as other SP. ATk items become more efficient to use.
09/23	Float Stone	・Moved down to C tier as its utility is not valued in the current Burst Meta.

New Held Items Added in Version 1.2.1.3!

Item	Effect
Razor Claw	After the Pokemon uses a move, its next basic attack deals a minimum of (10/15/20) damage. The higher the Pokemon's Attack, the more this damage increases. When this item is held by a melee Pokemon, this basic attack also decreases the movement speed of opposing Pokemon for a short time.
Choice Specs	Increases the damage of moves by a minimum of (40/50/60) when they hit. The higher the Pokemon's SP. Atk. the more the damage is increased
Weakness Policy	Increases the Pokemon's Attack for a short time by a minimum of (2/2.5/3)% when the Pokemon receives damage. This increase grows larger the more times damage is received

We are getting a ton of changes after the mobile release which includes three new Held Items! Stay tuned as we test out the new Held Items and see which will be the most effective items to use after the massive shakeup in Version 1.2.1.3!

Mobile Phone Release Date: iOS and Android

S Tier Held Items

Item	Summary
Buddy Barrier	Buddy Barrier is a defensive Held Item that grants large amounts of shields for its wearer and a low-HP ally whenever the wearer activates its Unite Move. Its effect is so impactful that it feels like having a second battle item. This is a particularly powerful pickup for Pokemon who utilize their Unite Moves to get into the frontlines of a fight so they can stay alive longer while also providing some support to their other allies.
Focus Band	Focus Band is a great item to bolster overall survivability. This item grants you Defense and Special Defense, and a burst of health regeneration whenever your HP falls too low. Extremely effective on All-Rounders and Defenders who can't get bursted down easily to maximize its critical HP regen effect.
Wise Glasses	Wise Glasses is a straightforward but effective item for boosting Special Damage and is a must-have for Special Attack type Pokemon such as Gengar and Gardevoir.
Scope Lens	Scope Lens is the only item that grants Critical Rate and Critical Damage. This is an amazing item for most Attackers, Speedsters, All-Rounders. Even Defenders such as Crustle and Snorlax benefit from this Held Item if the proper moveset is used.
Muscle Band	Muscle Band provides solid Attack and Attack Speed. It also grants wearers further attack boosts based on the target's current HP, which is extremely useful for tanky targets like Defenders. This is great for the current metagame since most top-tier Pokemon deal Physical Damage.
Choice Specs	Choice Specs is a solid SP. Atk item that can give the same amount of damage that Wise Glasses does. It works in tandem with SP Attack Specs and Wise Glasses as the bonus damage it gives scales off your SP Atk stat even if it forces you to wear 3 glasses at once.

A Tier Held Items

Item	Summary
Assault Vest	Assault Vest is a solid defensive Held Item that helps you withstand attacks from Special Attack type Pokemon such as Gengar and Alolan Ninetales. Aside from granting wearers Sp. Def and HP, this item also grants a shield that nullifies a certain amount of Special Damage as well!
Score Shield	Score Shield is a niche item that can be extremely useful for certain playstyles, particularly in aggressive goal scoring. It is also an effective item for diving if your team is sieging the enemy goal post as you can score a goal in the middle of a fight to dodge attacks and recover HP.
Energy Amplifier	Energy Amplifier is a solid item for bolstering damage through correct Unite Move usage. With players learning to play their Unite Move around Objectives, the item's value just goes higher. The cooldown reduction from the item is also a nice bonus.
Razor Claw	Razor Claw provides solid Attack and Critical Hit Rate. It also grants you a damage bonus to your next standard attack if you used a move beforehand, so it's a particularly useful item for Pokemon who can chain low cooldown skills and standard attacks together like Cinderace.

B Tier Held Items

Item	Summary
Exp. Share	Exp Share is a solid item that grants comfortable stats such as HP and Movement Speed. Its special effect also allows your laning buddy to gain a levels and become stronger faster.
Sp. Atk. Specs	Sp. Atk. Specs is a great item for scaling Special Damage into the later stages of a match. This Held Item boosts your Special Attack whenever you score a goal, making it incredibly useful for hyperaggressive special attackers like Gengar. The only thing holding this back from reaching higher tiers is its reliance on the player's ability to score goals.
Attack Weight	Attack Weight is a held item that increases your Attack Damage whenever you score a goal, making it incredibly useful for physical damage dealers like Machamp and Cinderace. Similar to Sp. Atk. Specs, this item's effectiveness is held back by how often the wearer can score goals.
Shell Bell	Shell Bell is another item catered for Special Damage Pokemon. Aside from boosts to Cooldown Reduction and Special Attack, this item also grants you the ability to heal some HP whenever you hit targets with Special Damage moves.
Weakness Policy	Weakness Policy is an item thats focused on All-Rounders due to its damage oriented effects that needs you to take damage first. Unfortunately, it's not too reliable in its current form and the number of Pokemon that can use it is limited.

C Tier Held Items

Item	Summary
Rocky Helmet	Rocky Helmet is an amazing tank item. It falls lower on our tierlist due to its effect needing an instant burst amount of damage instead of gradual making its return damage non-existent. Its stat boosts are still great and can be useful for defenders.
Aeos Cookie	Aeos Cookie is a Held Item that rewards you with increased HP every time you score a goal. This isn't really efficient as an item in the current metagame since there are better goal-centric options that reward you with better stats.
Float Stone	Float Stone is a nice pickup for Physical Damage dealers who prefer to roam the map such as Machamp and Garchomp. Other than the movespeed bonus, the item doesn't really offer any stats or effects that would be useful in a teamfight.
Leftovers	Leftovers is a straightforward item that grants you passive HP regeneration when out of combat. While nice at the start, this Held Item starts to lose its appeal as you unlock better and more efficient alternatives later on.

Best Held Items for Each Role

Attackers

Item	Summary
Scope Lens	Scope Lens significantly increases Physical Damage via Critical Rate and Damage.
Muscle Band	Muscle Band is an effective item to further boost basic attack damage. This item is especially useful against tanky targets such as Defenders.
Attack Weight	Attack Weight is a solid pickup for Physical Damage Attackers such as Cinderace. This held item improves your attack everytime you score a goal, allowing you to scale well into the late game.
Energy Amplifier	Energy Amplifier increases overall damage whenever you activate your Unite Move. This is great for players who use their Unite Move with great timing and positioning.
Shell Bell	Shell Bell is a very versatile item which bolsters a Pokemon's Special Damage moves by increasing their damage, reducing their cooldown, and healing you for a certain amount whenever they hit.
Sp. Atk. Specs	Sp. Atk. Specs lets your Special Damage scale even higher whenever you score a goal. This is great for Pokemon such as Alolan Ninetales and Pikachu.
Wise Glasses	Wise Glasses is a straightforward held item that increases your Special Damage by a certain amount.
Float Stone	Float Stone is a solid pick up for Physical Damage Attackers such as Cinderace and Greninja.
Choice Specs	Choice Specs works similar to Wise Glasses but with the added bonus of increasing your moves' damage output by a flat amount. This is perfect for Sp. Atk. Attackers like Gardevoir, Pikachu, and Venusaur.

Attacker Guide: How to Play Attackers

Speedster

Item	Summary
Scope Lens	Scope Lens significantly increases phsyical Pokemon's damage via Critical Rate and Damage.
Muscle Band	Muscle Band is an effective item to further boost basic attack damage. This item is especially useful against tanky targets such as Defenders.
Attack Weight	Attack Weight is a solid pickup for Physical Damage Speedsters such as Absol and Zeraora. This held item improves your attack everytime you score a goal, allowing you to scale well into the late game.
Energy Amplifier	Energy Amplifier increases overall damage whenever you activate your Unite Move. This is great for players who use their Unite Move with great timing and positioning.
Shell Bell	Shell Bell is a very versatile item which bolsters a Pokemon's Special Damage moves by increasing their damage, reducing their cooldown, and healing you for a certain amount whenever they hit.
Float Stone	Float Stone is a solid pick up to bolster Physical Damage. The added movement speed is also great for Speedsters since they prefer to start in the jungle and gank lanes afterward.
Razor Claw	Razor Claw is another damage item suitable for Speedsters. The bonus attack damage after using a move fits a Speedster's aggressive playstyle, not to mention its 2-second cooldown. Also, the movement speed reduction is perfect for Speedsters since all of them are melee.

Speedster Guide: How to Play Speedsters

All-Rounder

Item	Summary
Scope Lens	Scope Lens significantly increases phsyical Pokemon's damage via Critical Rate and Damage.
Muscle Band	Muscle Band is an effective item to further boost basic attack damage. This item is especially useful against tanky targets such as Defenders.
Focus Band	Focus Band is a great defensive pickup to increase overall survivability in the middle of fights, a place where All-Rounders want to be.
Energy Amplifier	Energy Amplifier is a great pickup for boosting damage via proper Unite Move usage and timing. This is especially effective for All-Rounders who can activate their Unite Moves twice like Machamp and Charizard.
Rocky Helmet	Rocky Helmet is another good pickup to improve survivability in teamfights. This held item unleashes an AoE damage whenever you receive enough damage, which synergizes perfectly with an All-Rounder's in-your-face playstyle.
Assault Vest	Assault Vest is a solid defensive pickup. This held item grants you a shield that negates a certain amount of Special Damage.
Weakness Policy	Weakness Policy enhances an All-Rounder's playstyle of tanking and doing damage simultaneously via its stacking damage increase. It's quite easy for an All-Rounder to stack the damage increase since they like to be in the middle of fights to soak damage.

All-Rounder Guide: How to Play All-Rounders

Defender

Item	Summary
Rocky Helmet	One of the best pickups for Defenders. Rocky Helmet bolsters your defense and lets you reflect damage after you receive a certain amount, making you an even tougher target to take down.
Assault Vest	Assault Vest bolsters your Special Defense, which is great for tanking the front lines against pokemon such as Gengar and Alolan Ninetales.
Buddy Barrier	Buddy Barrier is a solid pickup for improving your HP. The main reason to get this item is for its special effect, which grants you and a low-HP ally a massive shield upon activating an Unite Move.
Focus Band	Focus Band is a nice pickup that improves overall survivability. This held item also grants you a sudden burst of HP regeneration whenever you fall too low.
Exp. Share	Exp. Share is a niche pickup, but one that can be useful in certain scenarios and matchups. Aside from the HP and movement boosts, you also gain passive exp gain whenever you're the lowest on the team in terms of level. This allows you to funnel all of the last hits to your Attackers instead, which can lead to lane domination early on.
Score Shield	Another niche pickup, Score Shield makes your goal attempts uninterruptible. This can be extremely useful for certain scenarios and close matches.

Defender Guide: How to Play Defenders

Supporter

Item	Summary
Rocky Helmet	A supporter's goal is to survive as long as possible to bolster their teammates. Rocky Helmet is a great way to increase your HP and Defense, while turning you into a difficult target to take down due to its special effect.
Assault Vest	Assault Vest grants you a barrier that negates a certain amount of Special Damage, improving overall survivability.
Buddy Barrier	Buddy Barrier grants you and a low-HP ally a massive shield whenever you pop a Unite Move. This is extremely useful for keeping yourselves alive in dire situations and can be the difference between victory and defeat.
Focus Band	Focus Band is another solid item that improves overall survivability. Its special effect grants you a burst of HP regeneration once you drop too much HP, potentially giving you enough time to turn things around for you and your team.
Wise Glasses	Wise Glasses is a straightforward item that increases Special Damage. This is a great pickup for Supporters since they primarily deal Special Damage.
Shell Bell	Shell Bell is another great pickup for Supporters because it improves Special Damage, reduces move cooldowns, and lets them regenerate HP whenever their moves hit a target.
Exp. Share	Exp. Share is a decent pickup with great stats for Supporters. Its special effect lets Supporters funnel exp towards their teammates instead, which usually leads to a smooth and dominant laning phase.

Supporter Guide: How to Play Supporters

Best Held Items for Each Pokemon

Attacker

Pokemon	Best Held Items
Alolan Ninetales	Exp. Share Buddy Barrier Focus Band Wise Glasses Muscle Band Choice Specs
Cinderace	Attack Weight Buddy Barrier Scope Lens Muscle Band
Cramorant	Buddy Barrier Energy Amplifier Wise Glasses Shell Bell Choice Specs
Gardevoir	Sp. Atk. Specs Energy Amplifier Wise Glasses Shell Bell Choice Specs
Greninja	Buddy Barrier Focus Band Scope Lens Muscle Band
Pikachu	Exp. Share Buddy Barrier Wise Glasses Choice Specs
Sylveon	Buddy Barrier Focus Band Wise Glasses Choice Specs
Venusaur	Assault Vest Sp. Atk. Specs Buddy Barrier Focus Band Wise Glasses Choice Specs

Speedster

Pokemon	Best Held Items
Absol	Attack Weight Score Shield Focus Band Scope Lens Muscle Band Razor Claw
Gengar	Sp. Atk. Specs Wise Glasses Choice Specs
Talonflame	Assault Vest Attack Weight Buddy Barrier Focus Band Scope Lens Muscle Band Razor Claw
Zeraora	Attack Weight Score Shield Buddy Barrier Scope Lens Muscle Band Razor Claw

All-Rounder

Pokemon	Best Held Items
Charizard	Buddy Barrier Energy Amplifier Focus Band Scope Lens Muscle Band
Garchomp	Buddy Barrier Focus Band Scope Lens Muscle Band
Lucario	Buddy Barrier Focus Band Muscle Band Razor Claw Weakness Policy
Machamp	Energy Amplifier Focus Band Scope Lens Muscle Band Razor Claw

Defender

Pokemon	Best Held Items
Blastoise	Buddy Barrier Focus Band Wise Glasses Muscle Band
Crustle	Attack Weight Score Shield Float Stone Focus Band Weakness Policy
Mamoswine	Buddy Barrier Focus Band Muscle Band
Slowbro	Exp. Share Buddy Barrier Energy Amplifier Focus Band Shell Bell
Snorlax	Score Shield Buddy Barrier Energy Amplifier Focus Band Scope Lens Muscle Band

Supporter

Pokemon	Best Held Items
Blissey	Exp. Share Score Shield Buddy Barrier Focus Band Wise Glasses
Eldegoss	Exp. Share Buddy Barrier Focus Band Wise Glasses Choice Specs
Mr. Mime	Assault Vest Exp. Share Sp. Atk. Specs Wise Glasses Choice Specs
Wigglytuff	Exp. Share Buddy Barrier Focus Band Wise Glasses Weakness Policy

Tier List Criteria

Full Criteria

Each of these factors determine the Held Item's place within the tier list. Read on to learn what they refer to exactly:

• Item Stats: We looked at the Held Item's basic stats and how efficient they are within the current metagame.
• Effect Impact: Determines the overall power level of the Held Item's special effect and its scaling — How powerful is this effect overall and how does instrumental it is for a Pokemon's success?
• Accessibility: Determines how useful the Held Item is across multiple Pokemon, regardless of role.
• Rank Usage: We gauged the Held Item's performance in high-ranked matches to get a better glimpse at its overall effect in high-level scenarios and play.

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