How To Unlock The Academy Ace Tournament In Pokemon Scarlet & Violet

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet might have their fair share of performance issues, but huge improvements to the story and open-world gameplay have resulted in a fresh and fun experience for many. After completing the various storylines, you can expect to have a variety of endgame activities to work on, including staples such as completing the Pokedex or Shiny Hunting.

RELATED: Pokemon Scarlet & Violet: Complete Shiny Hunting Guide

The Academy Ace Tournament ranks alongside these as a fun endgame mode, that will challenge you with a healthy choice of high-level battles, and can provide some great rewards. This guide will explain what exactly the Academy Ace Tournament is, what you can gain from competing in it, and how to go about unlocking entry, including tips and strategies for your Gym Leader rematches.

What Is The Academy Ace Tournament?

The Academy Ace Tournament is one of the primary endgame systems and sees you facing off against a random assortment (after your first time) of high-level trainers, that you have met along your travels. Their Pokemon are leveled up, with a minimum level of 65, so you better come prepared with some strong teams.

You will face trainers in a random order, although their teams will remain consistent between Tournaments. Your Pokemon will be able to earn experience points from every KO, and you will also receive Poke Dollars from every victory.

The primary reason you will want to run the Academy Ace Tournament, except purely for fun, is the low chance to receive important items from winning. These rewards are:

• Normal/Gold Bottle Caps
• Rare Candies
• Big Nugget/Nuggets
• PP UP
• Vitamins e.g. Protein

Many of these items will be very useful to you, especially the Bottle Caps and Vitamins, which can be used to develop your Pokemon into a competitive ready team. You are free to run the Academy Ace Tournament as many times as you like, so although these items have a low chance to drop, with some efficiency you can find yourself farming fantastic items in roughly 15-20 minute runs.

Gym Leader Rematches

To unlock entry to the Academy Ace Tournament, you must first complete the three main storylines in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. These will converge in the Great Crater of Paldea storyline, which will roll the game credits upon completion. Upon waking up in your dorm room, you will be met by Geeta, who offers you the opportunity to help her out, by going around to test out the strength of Paldea’s various Gyms, making sure they are providing an appropriate challenge to trainers. Once you have defeated all the Gym leaders, simply return to the Academy and complete the relevant conversations.

Cortondo Gym

The Bug-type Gym, Gym Leader Katy comes at you with a powered-up assortment of creepy crawlies, although none are particularly troublesome provided you have some strong Pokemon. A good Fire, Rock, or Flying type is essential here, although two of her Pokemon do carry the Rock move Stone Edge, so make sure you are appropriately leveled to avoid being hit hard in return.

Good Pokemon to take on the Bug Gym include:

• Skeledirge
• Arcanine
• Gyarados
• Staraptor
• Tyranitar
• Volcorona
• Glimmora
• Garganacl

Katy Rematch Team

Artazon Gym

Brassius leads the Grass-type Gym, and you can field a similar team to your Cortondo comp. Fire/Flying/Bug types are strong here, and a strong Poison type such as Toxicroak will also be useful against his Grass types. The Sudowoodo has good coverage, but his team lacks speed overall, so you can easily play around landing the first hit. Some good Pokemon for this gym will be:

• Skeledirge
• Salazzle
• Iron Moth/Slither Wing
• Volcorona
• Talonflame
• Venomoth

Brassius Rematch Team

Levincia Gym

A potentially tricky Gym, Iono uses Electric-type Pokemon to shock her opponents. As always against Electric, a strong Ground type is imperative, although her Bellibolt has Water Pulse to counter this. Her Mismagius also has the Levitate ability, which means that once it Terastillizes it will have no weaknesses. It has good coverage options but if you can defeat her early mons with your Ground types, then you should be able to batter down her remaining team member. Good Pokemon for this Gym include:

• Garchomp
• Tyranitar
• Hippowdon
• Krookodile
• Great Tusk/Iron Treads
• Toedscruel

Iono Rematch Team

Cascarrafa Gym

Led by Kofu, the Water Gym rematch shouldn’t be much of a problem if you come prepared with Electric or Grass types. With only a few coverage moves like Pelipper’s Blizzard, Kofu will probably struggle to land significant damage to you. His Crabominable hits hard with all his attacks, but you should be able to outspeed it with most teams. Good Pokemon for taking on Kofu include:

• Meowscarada
• Abomasnow
• Breloom
• Brute Bonnet
• Iron Hands
• Magnezone
• Luxray

Kofu Rematch Team

Medali Gym

Everyone’s favorite everyday Gym Leader, Larry comes a bit more prepared with some powered-up Normal types. His two Birds can put a significant dent in your Fighting types, and he features some fast and hard-hitting Pokémon. Ghost Pokemon are a good choice against Larry, with only Komala’s Sucker Punch being a threat. Your best options for this rematch are:

• Annihilape
• Hariyama
• Iron Hands
• Heracross
• Dragapult
• Flutter Mane
• Ceruledge

Larry Rematch Team

Alfornada Gym

One of the trickiest Gyms, Tulip’s Psychic types have a varied move pool and some fast and powerful offense. Her team is relatively frail, however, so making use of healing items or some bulky Pokemon can help ease your pain. Espartha in particular can be quite nasty, so having a good counter in the form of Dark, Bug or Ghost Pokemon will help greatly. Good choices for the Tulip fight include:

• Tyranitar
• Weavile
• Kingambit
• Scizor
• Lokix
• Ceruledge
• Flutter Mane

Tulip Rematch Team

Montenevera Gym

The only Double Battle Gym, Rhyme won’t waste as much time rapping, and instead uses similar Pokemon to your first fight. Good Dark and Ghost attacks will do well here, although a couple of Play Rough users can prove an issue. Spread moves such as Dazzling Gleam or Eruption will also be effective at burning down her team. Good Pokémon for the Ryme fight are:

• Kingambit
• Tyranitar
• Krookodile
• Roaring Moon
• Hydreigon
• Iron Jugulis

Ryme Rematch Team

Glaseado Gym

Many players’ last Gym fight was Grusha, with the Ice type user featuring some decently powerful Pokemon, with a particularly strong Altaria. Fortunately, Ice isn’t the best type around, and some good Fire, Rock, Steel, or Fighting moves should bring Grusha in a timely manner. Her first three Pokemon are quite slow, and Fire does especially well here, due to Grusha’s limited coverage options. Good Pokemon to bring here are:

• Skeledirge
• Arcanine
• Armarouge
• Iron Hands
• Tyranitar
• Iron Treads
• Tinkaton

Grusha Rematch Team

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