Battle Dome Guide

The Battle Dome is a 16-Trainer knockout tournament: win four battles in a row to win it, and your streak counts tournaments, not battles. Before each battle you see your opponent’s team and choose two of your three Pokémon. Dome Ace Tucker waits in the final of your 5th tournament for the silver Tactics Symbol and your 10th for the gold.

How the Battle Dome works

You enter three Pokémon, choose Level 50 or Open Level and Single or Double Battles, and are placed in a bracket of 16 Trainers. Each win moves you one round closer to the final, and a tournament takes four wins.

Before each battle you get two key tools:

• The opponent’s Trainer card. It shows their three Pokémon and three lines about them: how strong their seed is, the style of their moves, and which stats they’ve trained.
• Choosing two of three. Both you and your opponent pick two Pokémon from your three for that battle. You can change your pair for every battle.

You can also check the bracket at any time to see who has been knocked out.

How the bracket is seeded

Trainers are seeded by the strength of their teams, based mostly on their Pokémon’s combined base stats. The bracket pairs 1 vs 9, 13 vs 5, 8 vs 16 and 12 vs 4 on one side, and 3 vs 11, 15 vs 7, 6 vs 14 and 10 vs 2 on the other.

Two details matter:

• Tucker is always the 2nd seed in tournaments where you can meet him, and he always beats the CPU Trainers in his half, so he’s guaranteed to reach the final.
• A tied battle goes to the higher seed. You win ranking tiebreakers against any CPU Trainer, but a draw against a higher-seeded opponent knocks you out.

Battles between two CPU Trainers aren’t actually played out. The game scores each side on type matchups, base stats, seed and a random number, so the opponents you meet in later rounds are usually the stronger, better-matched teams.

How the AI picks its two Pokémon

The CPU scores each of its three Pokémon against your whole team of three, not just the two you choose. At random it uses either an offensive score (how well its attacks hit your Pokémon) or a defensive score (how well it resists yours), and sends out its two best.

It then leads with the lower-scoring of the two 60% of the time. So the Pokémon you expect to see second is often the one that comes out first.

Rules and bans

Three different Pokémon holding different items, and no Mew, Mewtwo, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Celebi, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Jirachi, Deoxys or Eggs.

Dome Ace Tucker

Tucker is the final opponent of your 5th and 10th tournaments in a row, in Single Battles only. He brings three Pokémon and uses two, chosen the same way as any CPU Trainer.

	Silver (5th tournament)	Gold (10th tournament)
1	Swampert (Focus Band)	Swampert (Leftovers)
2	Salamence (Lum Berry)	Metagross (Quick Claw)
3	Charizard (White Herb)	Latias (Chesto Berry)

• Silver: Swampert has Surf, Earthquake, Ice Beam and Counter, Salamence has Earthquake, Brick Break, Dragon Claw and Aerial Ace, and Charizard has Overheat, Rock Slide, Aerial Ace and Earthquake. Ice moves are your best answer to Salamence; Swampert is only weak to Grass.
• Gold: Swampert swaps Counter for Mirror Coat, Metagross brings Meteor Mash, Psychic, Earthquake and Protect, and Latias runs Calm Mind with Rest. A Fire, Ground or Dark attacker handles Metagross; Latias needs strong Ice, Dragon or Dark hits before Calm Mind stacks up.

Since Tucker scores his picks against your three, the Pokémon you enter decide which two you’ll face. Full sets and counters will be on the Dome Ace Tucker page.

Strategy: reading the bracket and choosing your two

Building for the Dome

• Three Pokémon that pair well in any combination. Every battle you’ll leave one out, so avoid a team where one member only works alongside a specific partner.
• Wide type coverage. The CPU picks its two Pokémon by type matchup against your three. A team with good coverage gives it fewer easy picks.
• Bulk over raw speed. Ties go to the higher seed, and the AI often leads with an unexpected Pokémon. Pokémon that can take a hit and respond are more reliable.

Choosing two of three

1. Read the card. Look at the opponent’s three Pokémon and the move-style line. “Willing to risk total disaster” warns of Explosion, Destiny Bond or Perish Song; “skilled at enduring long battles” means recovery and defensive moves.
2. Find their biggest threat to your team, and make sure at least one of your two handles it.
3. Expect either lead. With a 60% chance they lead with their weaker-scoring Pokémon, don’t build your plan around one specific lead.
4. Leave out your worst matchup, not your weakest Pokémon. A weaker Pokémon with good type matchups beats a stronger one walled by the opponent.

Common mistakes

1. Bringing a pair, not a trio. A team that only works as a fixed pair falls apart the moment you need to bench one of them.
2. Ignoring the Trainer card. It’s the only facility that tells you the opponent’s whole team before you choose. Use it every battle.
3. Playing for a draw. A tie against a higher seed eliminates you. Always play to win outright.
4. Underestimating Tucker’s Swampert. It appears on both teams and covers most of the Pokémon you’d use against Salamence, Charizard or Metagross.
5. Entering Double Battles for the symbol. Tucker only appears in Single Battle tournaments.

BP rewards

BP is paid per tournament won, the same at Level 50 and Open Level. Tucker’s tournaments pay 10 BP extra.

Tournament	1	2	3	4	5 (Tucker)	6	7	8	9	10 (Tucker)
BP	1	1	2	2	13	3	4	4	5	15

After that, Tucker returns every five tournaments and the amounts keep climbing slowly, reaching 15 BP per tournament (25 with Tucker) by the 29th–30th. See the Battle Points guide for what to buy.

FAQ

How many battles are in a Battle Dome tournament?

Four. A 16-Trainer bracket takes four wins, and your streak counts whole tournaments, so the tracker’s Dome counter goes up once per tournament won.

Does Tucker always reach the final?

Yes. He’s always the 2nd seed and always beats CPU Trainers, so if you reach the final of your 5th or 10th tournament in a row, he’s there.

Can I see my opponent’s Pokémon before choosing?

Yes. The Trainer card before each battle shows all three of their Pokémon, so you can choose your two knowing exactly what they might send out.