Pokemon Unite is the Pokemon Company’s attempt at a streamlined MOBA like League of Legends or Dota, using their beloved 900+ Pocket Monsters as potential characters. And, for the most part, it's a great execution of an amazing idea. The way this game integrates well-established concepts like learning moves, evolving, fighting wild Pokemon, using Battle Items, and giving characters Held Items in a MOBA format is exceptional.
The Held Items play a big part in victory or defeat. As a players levels up, all the opponents they'll be matched with will likely have their three Held Items fully upgraded after a certain point. Here’s dedicated fans have found to be the best of the best-held items, ranked from worst to best.
Updated October 5th, 2021, by Jacob Buchalter: Pokemon Unite is still doing incredibly well, especially since its launch onto mobile devices, so there's never been a better time to jump in. It has new characters coming out constantly, new held items from time to time, and plenty of new cosmetics as well.
The developers at TiMi Studio have done a decent job updating the game, buffing certain characters and items while nerfing overpowered ones. With all the changes, the rankings for the best Held Items has changed, so this ranking has been updated to reflect the latest meta.
Disclaimer: The Primary Effect of each item caps out at Grade 20, while the Passive Stat Bonuses do increase marginally from Grade 20-30. The green text in the images will be the Grade 30 Passive Stats, while the standard text of the Primary Effect will be its Grade 20 bonus.
12 Wise Glasses
A lot of items, like the Sp. Atk Specs or the Attack Weight, can be a smidge deceiving in how much they'll "buff" a Pokemon. The bonuses for these items might seem big, and they are, but remember that Max HP in Unite isn’t like it is in the mainline Pokemon games. Rather than having a couple of hundred hit points, most Pokemon get up to a couple thousand HP by level three or four. This is why percentage buffs like the Wise Glasses, rather than flat buffs, are usually better.
But, all that considered, this is all the Wise Glasses do: they just buff the users Special Attack. Compared to something like the Choice Specs, which buffs Sp. Atk while also giving Pokemon bonus damage on moves that hit, the Wise Glasses are a bit too simple.
11 Float Stone
The Float Stone is a useful extra item to have equipped, especially for Attack-focused Pokemon. Junglers or Pokemon that plan to roam the map a lot will see the most benefit from this item. With this equipped, the user moves 20% faster (at Grade 20) when not in combat, as well as getting a passive overall movement speed and attack buff.
At the end of the day, movement speed is useful; however, it is still low on the list of important stats, being well overshadowed by Max HP, as well as attack and defense stats. Plus, there is rarely an occasion in Unite where a Pokemon isn’t in combat. Players are either catching Wild Pokemon, or picking at their lane opponents in the hopes of taking them out or denying them Exp. So, an item with a primary effect that only triggers when the user is doing nothing can only really make it this far on the list.
10 Shell Bell
On paper, Shell Bell sounds like one of the best items in the game. This held item recovers HP when a move successfully hits, and that HP regained is affected by the user's Special Attack stat. Such an item sounds perfect for any Venusaur main. However, the big catch is the Shell Bell's cooldown. This health regain only triggers once per ten seconds at minimum, which is much less useful than how it first appeared.
Plus, while the passive Cooldown reduction is nice, the Sp. Attack buff is pretty small. Basically, this is a great holdover item anyone in need of an item for their build to last, until they finish getting their main item to Grade 20 or 30.
9 Razor Claw
The Razor Claw is one of the newest items added into Pokemon Unite, and it’s a complex one. However,, but all players really have to know is that after using an ability, their next basic attack deals additional damage to the opponent based on their current Attack stat. And, if they’re a melee attacker, this triggered basic attack also slows enemies.
Now, that sounds pretty good, and it is, but its a bit specific in its usage over other items. It really only succeeds on characters who want as much burst as possible after landing a move, such as Absol, Greninja, or Gengar. Additionally, the passive stat bonuses are laughably small compared to just about every other held item (though this is likely to counterbalance its complex primary effect). Frankly, getting this thing to Grade 30 is a decent idea, but it takes awhile. Luckily, with the amount of tickets and Item Enhancers the new Battle Pass is giving out, it shouldn't take all too long.
8 Energy Amplifier
A lot of people slept on the Energy Amplifier at first. But, the longer Pokemon Unite is in the hands of MOBA pros, the more these dedicated players started doing the math, and discovered the utility of Energy Amplifier. It’s still not an incredible item, but it’s definitely a main-stay for a lot of Pokemon. Its primary effect is almost exclusively used by Pokemon with noticeably powerful Unite Moves, such as Machamp, Cinderace, Blastoise, and so on.
Additionally, the passive effects not only make it easier for these Pokemon to generate their Unite Moves overall, but it also lets them use their standard moves more often. This makes it a fantastic item for Special Attackers, specifically ones with moves that buff their allies.
7 Exp. Share
Ah, Exp. Share, an item almost exclusively used by one Pokemon, Eldegoss. That said, it’s Eldegoss’ most important item. Exp. Share is used by support Pokemon players so that they can still level up decently well even after leaving all the lane farm to their laning partner.
That way, by the first fight in the game, their lane partner should be at least level 5, ahead of the two or three opponents on the opposite side. And, just because it’s recommended to use almost always on Eldegoss, doesn’t mean players can't try it on the other supports and see how they like it. Many players seem to like it on Blissey as well, thanks to the decent bonus Max HP it gives on top of Blissey's already absurdly high HP.
6 Score Shield
Here's another item for those who like to play support/tank roles. While this item seems situational, scoring goals is sort of the whole point of the game, so the situation does come up pretty often. At Grade 20, a 10% Max HP Shield for a Pokemon with low max HP isn’t great, but imagine that on a Snorlax or Blissey with other HP-boosting Held Items.
With it, these Pokemon become unstoppable while scoring. This is especially true if they’re scoring a bunch of bundles of five to fifteen points, rather than one big score of 40 (a very common mistake a lot of players make).
5 Muscle Band
A lot of the items on here have been pretty focused on Special Attack Pokemon, but what about the ones who get a lot of their damage from Basic Attacks, like Absol or Zeraora? For them, and even for some Special Attackers as well, the Muscle Band is a must-have.
This item not only increases the damage Basic Attacks do by a percentage of the opponent's HP, but they also give a passive Attack Buff and even increase Attack Speed as well. For pure Attackers like Machamp or Cinderace, it’s a mandatory item.
4 Choice Specs
These are another new item added along with Weakness Policy and Razor Claw. But, while Weakness Policy sits comfortably at the bottom of the held item rankings and Razor Claw sits in the middle, the Choice Specs are among the greats. When equipped, a Pokemon that lands any move will deal additional damage to 1 of the targets hit, based on their Sp. Attack stat. Sounds okay, right? Well, that additional damage is based on 40% of their Sp. Attack at Grade 20, which means it can almost double the damage of a move depending on the circumstances.
The only real “downside” of this item is that this bonus damage can only trigger on one enemy, and only once per 8 seconds, but that’s really it. The passive bonus of +39 Sp. Attack at Grade 30 is remarkable, though it takes a while to get to this Grade without a Super Item Enhancer. Overall, it’s a great damage-buffing choice for Special Attackers.
3 Scope Lens
The Scope Lens is likely the most overpowered Held Item in the game, but only for one specific character. If a player spends all their Item Enhancers to get this to Grade 20 ASAP, they can solo-carry a game on their own as Absol.
Absol, a Speedster-class Pokemon, is already a Critical Damage/Critical Chance sort of character. With a Grade 20 Scope Lens, Absol can unleash 1500+ damage attacks like it's nothing. Sure, other Pokemon like Machamp or Garchomp use it too, but because it is so specifically overpowered on Absol alone, its ranking ends here.
2 Focus Band
The Focus Band is another item that is pretty useful for its primary ability but is actually deceptively more useful for its passive benefits. By default, the Focus Band will automatically recover a decent chunk of HP at low health. That, combined with a Potion and an HP-recovering Move like Giga Drain on Venusaur, gives a player a ton of longevity in lane and self-sustain.
But, what really turns this from a helpful item into a perfect one for tanky Pokemon, is the passive +30 gives to both Defense and Special Defense at Grade 30. These defensive buffs are insane, the health regain (when combined with other recovery held items) can make or break some team fights, and the overall utility of this item is basically second to none.
1 Buddy Barrier
This item is deceptively good, as giving a shield to a Pokemon and their nearby ally after using their Unite Move doesn’t sound incredible, but it is. First of all, that shield lasts for 5 whole seconds, which is a sizeable amount of time. Second, the shield is based off the user's HP, not the ally Pokemon's, meaning a Snorlax can grant a huge shield to their nearby damage dealer. And third, it has a 30 second cooldown. For comparison, Focus Band’s primary effect has an 80 second cooldown at Grade 30, but this primary is less than half of that.
But all that pales in comparison to the sheer number that is the +600 bonus health this item passively grants the holder. That passive HP boost alone could’ve propelled this item to almost top rank, but when combined with that useful primary ability, its clear that nothing beats the Buddy Barrier.