How to Get & Transfer Hidden Ability Starters from Pokemon HOME

This is a guide to obtaining the Galar Starters Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble with their new Hidden Abilities, available free through Pokemon HOME for players who connect to their copy of Pokemon Sword or Shield. Learn how to get your own Grassy Surge Grookey, Libero Scorbunny, and Sniper Sobble!

How to Get the Hidden Ability Starters

Download Pokemon HOME

You can receive the three Galar Starters as a free gift in Pokemon HOME. Although some features of Pokemon HOME are paid, the Starters can be received in the free version of the app. To transfer these Pokemon to Pokemon Sword and Shield, you'll need to download both the mobile and Nintendo Switch versions of the Pokemon HOME app, so first things first, you'll want to download the app via the Nintendo eShop and Apple Store or Google Play Store. You'll also need to create a Nintendo Account to transfer Pokemon if you don't have one already.

Be sure to link both versions of the app to the same Nintendo Account, or transfer between the mobile and Nintendo Switch versions will not be possible.
How to Download Pokemon HOME

Receive the Mystery Gifts

1. Send any Pokemon between Pokemon HOME on Nintendo Switch and Pokemon Sword or Shield

For the first step, you'll be using the Nintendo Switch version of Pokemon HOME – there's no need to open the mobile app yet for this step.

Even if you've used Pokemon HOME in the past, all users are required to send one Pokemon between the Nintendo Switch version of Pokemon HOME and their copy of Pokemon Sword or Shield – either direction is fine – at any time after 13:00 UTC on June 2nd, 2020. If you haven't transferred a Pokemon since that time, and attempt to receive the Mystery Gifts before completing this step, you'll find a message that no Mystery Gifts are available, so be sure to complete this first!

2. Start up the Mobile Version of Pokemon HOME

First, close the Nintendo Switch version of Pokemon HOME. Then, start the mobile version of HOME, and on the main menu, tap the menu button at the bottom to open up the options.

3. Tap “Mystery Gifts” -> “Gift Box”

From the menu options, select “Mystery Gifts”.

On the next screen, select “Gift Box”.

Receive the three Galar Starters from the Gift Box

Inside the Gift Box, you'll be able to receive the three Galar Starters! If you still don't see them here, try closing the app and reopening it to reset the data.

Send the Starters to Pokemon Sword and Shield

Close the mobile version of Pokemon HOME, and open the Nintendo Switch version of Pokemon HOME. You'll now see your new Starters reflected here as well, and can freely transfer them to Pokemon Sword and Shield.

And there you have it! All three starters are EV trained with Hidden Abilities, and ready to fight and level up. Now check out our guides below to learn how to use them!

Galar Starters and Hidden Abilities

Pokemon	Ability	Effect
Grookey	Grassy Surge	Causes Grassy Terrain to automatically be created when entering battle.
Scorbunny	Libero	Changes its type immediately before it uses any move to match the type of that move.
Sobble	Sniper	Causes critical hits to deal 2.25x damage instead of the standard 1.5x.

For the first time, the Galar Starters are available with their Hidden Abilities. Each of them are powerful and suit the Pokemon's strengths, so be sure to consult our new Best Builds for each of the Hidden Abilities to learn how to best use them in Ranked Battle.

Galar Starters - Hidden Ability Builds
Cinderace Libero Build	Rillaboom Grassy Surge Build	Inteleon Sniper Build

Related Links

Pokemon HOME

All About Pokemon HOME