S.O.S. Battles are the most noteworthy new battle element in Pokémon Sun & Moon because, well frankly, you will continually see them during your gameplay.
So what are they?
As you are battling a Pokémon, it will often call for help from another Pokémon, usually one of the same species, that will join the battle and give you a bigger challenge. Each Pokémon has a different chance of calling an SOS Battle, with Pokémon such as Pikipek being common while others such as Dratini are unlikely to put out a call. Totem Pokémon will always call for help as well.
This may seem like an annoying feature, and in some ways it can be, but SOS Battles provide a massive amount of perks, bonuses and even Pokémon to find, so it's always worth doing it. However, there are ways to stop it. Some Pokémon will never call an SOS Battle while the others won't call for one when afflicted by a status condition such as Poison, Paralysis or Sleep. This means you can catch a Pokémon without it calling for help.
Who Can't Call S.O.S. Battles?
Basically, any Pokémon you find in the wild naturally can call for SOS Battles except for multiples. Minior and Komala both can't call for SOS Battles due to how their abilities and concept work, they both act like they have a status condition so they will never call for it. In addition to that Legendary Pokémon, Ultra Beasts and Pokémon found through the Island Scan feature will also never call for support. The following other Pokémon cannot call an SOS Battle, even though they can be called themselves.
- Butterfree
- Poliwrath
- Gengar
- Exeggutor
- Chansey
- Starmie
- Snorlax
- Dragonite
- Crobat
- Sudowoodo
- Politoed
- Espeon
- Umbreon
- Sableye
- Castform
- Salamence
- Happiny
- Gabite
- Lucario
- Vanillite
- Vanillish
- Pangoro
- Goomy
- Sliggoo
- Mareanie
- Wimpod
- Minior
- Komala
- Kommo-o
Activating SOS Battles
While S.O.S. Battles may seem somewhat random, and they are, there is a way to make it more likely to be activated. First, get the opposing Pokémon down to low Hit Points. The lower the Hit Points, the more likely they are to call for help. The brand new item, Adrenaline Orb, when used in battle will also make a Pokémon more likely to call for help. This only works once per battle. Finally, if the Pokémon you have on the field has the abilities Pressure, Intimidate or Unnerve, then SOS Battles become more common as well.
Unique Pokémon
So, the most important thing about SOS Battles are that they will often call Pokémon that you will not usually find. For example, facing a Corsola has the chance of calling Mareanie, facing a Cubone has a chance of calling a Kangaskhan and, most hilariously, in Route 3 when you face a Bagon it has a very slim chance of calling a Level 9 Salamence. Yeah, you read that right. To top that off, there are times when the summoned Pokémon may actually turn on the starting Pokémon or vice-versa. The Mareanie you call may attack the wild Corsola. Same with Sableye and Carbink.
Some of these Pokémon can only be found in the wild through SOS Battles as well, so it's definitely a thing worth considering. The Pokémon that are found in the wild only through SOS Battles are as follows:
- Pikachu
- Clefairy
- Jigglypuff
- Slowbro
- Gengar
- Chansey
- Seaking
- Starmie
- Electabuzz
- Magmar
- Gyarados
- Snorlax
- Dragonair
- Dragonite
- Crobat
- Sudowoodo
- Espeon
- Umbreon
- Sableye
- Whiscash
- Glalie
- Shelgon
- Salamence
- Happiny
- Lucario
- Garbodor
- Pangoro
- Mareanie
- Hakamo-o
- Kommo-o
To top that off, there are also some Pokémon that can only be found when weather is in effect and they get called in an SOS Battle. This only happens in select areas of Alola: Malie Garden, Exeggutor Island, Lush Jungle and Route 17.
EV Training
As we touched on in our EV Training guide, S.O.S. Battles are great for EV training. As soon as a Pokémon is successfully called into battle, then the EV yield for all Pokémon is doubled. So if a Pokémon would give 1 point, it now gives 2 points. Teamed with the Power Items and Poké Rus, this means that you can max out a stat by defeating just 7 Pokémon in an SOS Chain, making it the fastest way to ever max out a stat in battle!
Additional Perks
There are also some additional perks to S.O.S. Battles: The more Pokémon you defeat in a single SOS chain, the higher the IVs, Hidden Ability and even shiny chance!
For IVs, after you have defeated 5 Pokémon, the Pokémon you encounter are guaranteed 1 max IV. After defeating 10, they're guaranteed 2 max IVs. Defeat 20 and you're guaranteed 3 max IVs and after defeating 30 you're guaranteed 4 max IVs. This will make it easy for you to get your competitive Pokémon, and if you chain a Ditto to get 4 max IVs, that will really help with breeding for your competitive teams.
Hidden Abilities are a thing that have existed since Pokémon Black and White, and offer a unique new ability for a Pokémon that's hard to get. To get them in Sun & Moon, you have to go through SOS Battles. When you have defeated 10 Pokémon, there's a 5% chance of the Pokémon having its Hidden Ability. Defeat 20 Pokémon and there's a 10% chance and defeat 30 Pokémon and there's a 30% chance of getting a Hidden Ability.
Finally, Shiny Pokémon become more common as your chain continues. The specifics aren't yet known but it does increase it dramatically, with word being that it increases it by 3 times the normal rate!
These all make SOS Battles something worth doing. There's a lot more to them than meets the eye
How to chain SOS Battles
To chain SOS Battles you simply need to just keep it going. Keep one Pokémon on the field and defeat ones that it calls. This does eventually cause issues when the Pokémon run out of PP for their moves, but you can continue the SOS chain by KOing the original Pokémon and keeping a new one to call for help or just using Fling with a Leppa Berry to recover their PP. If the Pokémon doesn't call for help in a turn, simply use the Adrenaline Orb. It won't have any effect and won't use an item so it just wastes the turn.
However, if you KO a Pokémon and the one on the field is one that cannot call an SOS Battle, then the chain will end as it will be unable to call any additional Pokémon.
So there you have it, a guide to a key feature that can really help you level up and get prepared for the competitive season. If you want comprehensive details on all things Sun & Moon be sure to check out Serebii, too.
Comments 27
I hate SOS battles with a passion.
Something totally worthless ... No likes for that
Ah, SOS or no, as long my Pokemons on High level, I can get rid those Wild Pokemons easily. Bring it on !
Hi Joe, I didn't think the chance of finding a shiny increased with the length of the chain. Is this what people are finding to be the case? Only got the shiny charm yesterday so only just starting my shiny hunting, so would be pleased if this is right.
I'm not sure feel about S.O.S battles. I like the idea of it, but the RNG around it can be very very annoying at times.
Annoying, annoying and annoying... and i love it.
They usually aren't that annoying, except when RNG decides to screw you and start summoning help in every freaking turn. You defeat one, and another appears inmediately.
I frickin hate SOS battles and the fact that some Pokémon are even exclusive to SOS makes it even worse. Took me hours to finally catch a Mareanie.
Its nice to finally put a name with a feature. I had heard the term SOS Battle. But had no clue what ur was referring to. Though its kind of a "duh!" moment that it's Pokemon calling for help.
Personally, I find them to be slightly annoying. Only when I'm itching to catch a Pokemon. Though now that I know it's not just a random feature thrown in, but has some depth and real perks, I'll try to use it to my advantage now.
It's useful for getting good IVs and Shinies, but this feature is just annoying normally. It was just frustrating when I was playing through the main story.
"Minior and Komala both can't call for SOS Battles due to how their abilities and concept work, they both act like they have a status condition so they will never call for it."
Minior doesn't act like it has a Status condition. It's because Minior's shell is essentially that - a shell. And I imagine it's so tough that status just doesn't reach the Minior core. Making it immune while it has it's Meteor form up.
reads above comments Wow, so much hate already? I mean, you guys know you can just use multi-target moves to take them both out right? And as mentioned, if you're trying to catch one, just status them so they can't call for help. Why are people outright irritated with the coolest new feature?
SOS battles are great for getting IVs and natures! Wish they were a bit more consistent though, it's annoying when they call for an ally but one doesn't show.
Would it be possible to get a step-by-step guide on Festival Plaza if there isn't one already? Finding it really hard to get to grips with...
I pretty much like sos battles, even if I was troublesome in the beginning. I guess it's because I have the pokemons to control the flow of battle and the perks have become more useful to me now.
My favorite/handy Pokemon to use for sos battles is
Pangoro with HA-Scrappy (to hit ghost types)
Thief (item gathering)
False Swipe (obvious reason)
Entrainment (Hidden Ability search)
Hammer Arm (just because)
I also use a Static Electabuzz with Thunder Wave for the status change and Thief for a second item gatherer.
@GoldenGamer88 That's a shame, took me a few minutes to catch one in the wild (got one on the GTS for a Dewpider).
I used to dislike SOS Battles until I realised how good they were for IV training & finding high IV pokémon... especially if you know how to game the system. Also... Pokémon don't call for help if they have a status condition.
I read that whole article and at the end I've come to the conclusion that I'm glad I'm not into the meta numbers of Pokemon lol. What a chore.
SOS battles can be frustrating, but I don't hate them at all, they can actually turn out to be helpful. Sometimes I'll want to catch a pokemon, but I know I need to hurt it one more time before I should throw a pokeball, but at the same time, one more hit could kill it, but bam suddenly they've called for help, so I can take that shot at pokemon and if it faints I can try and catch the other pokemon instead. Or, sometimes the called pokemon will be a higher level or the other gender which I might be more interested in catching. SOS battles have proven effective in helping me to catch pokemon, and for that I really actually like them. However, there are times when you do not want to be fighting the pokemon and you just want your battle to be over, and then they go and frustrate you by calling for help, that can be annoying as all hell.
@ultraraichu Why would you use Scrappy Pangoro, using its only ability slot, just so that you can hit ghosts with fighting and normal types moves, rather than having a different ability and teaching Pangoro a dark type move, which you would still get STAB from, and it would hit harder because it's super effective?
Can be a bit annoying when they occur randomly, but I found them handy for getting Pokémon for the living dex without having to go through the hassle of evolving them.
Best moment for me was when I was chaining Riolu in order to get a Lucario... ended up with a shiny Chansey.
And this feature gives much more value to pokebank.
You just horde train your not gen 7 pokemon, transfer them and be done with it.
oh yeah, and it gives much more value to pokemon colosseum/XD too
considering a gamecube game let you throw a pokeball in a double battle ¬¬.
I am not a fan of the SOS system. It is novel that certain Pokémon call in their natural predators when in distress, but overall it is more of an annoyance.
Very good to know. Thanks for the guide!
@greengecko007 With a Scrappy Pangoro, I'm able to use False Swipe, a normal type move on ghosts types to get them on 1hp to catch or call in reinforcements.
Also I have Thief, which is a dark move.
SOS battles can be incredibly frustrating. There are some perks like catching rare pokemon earlier than you should as mentioned in the article (Heck my gyarados on my team came from an SOS battle with a magikarp). With that said, I can make catching certain pokemon a HUGE pain. In addition, I also hate how some pokemon are exclusive to SOS battles. I think this game is pretty good but it's features like this that make me feel like this game likes to waste my time
Or just use quick balls to bypass the entire damn process and kill the mon if it resists.
I only tolerated SOS battles because of the above tactic. If this garbage mechanic appears in another Pokemon game, I'm skipping it. I loathe it that much.
I think SOS battles are annoying when not SOS chaining, but really an interesting new pokemon mechanic when you are. What other game can you catch WILD Gengar, Snorlax, Dragonite, level ~10 Salamence, and more. It's a really cool feature.
Not Game Freak's best choice for an addition to the game. Cool in concept, but honestly feels more like a waste of the player's time in comparison to the old DexNav for finding Pokemon with their hidden abilities.
Defeat 20+ Pokemon for a CHANCE to find the hidden ability? AND it does not carry over like the DexNav did!? Can be useful for getting EPs I'll admit, but a Pokemon calling for help and not finding it repeatedly is just infuriating.
In USUM this is how you get a Level 3 Alolan Raichu
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