Increasing a Pokemon's friendship has its share of valuable effects. In Sword and Shield, these effects include 20 percent extra experience boosts, a chance to endure hits with one HP left, a chance to cure own status conditions, higher evade chances, and higher chances to land critical hits. In other words, friendship stats can make or break battles.

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Friendship is a hidden stat that can only be checked by the Friendship Checker in Hammerlocke. At the highest friendship, the NPC will say "You're best buddies! I can tell you're so happy to be together!"

Outside of boosts, there are also Pokemon that only evolve with high friendship. These include Eevee (if you want an Umbreon, Sylveon, or Espeon), Pichu, Cleffa, Budew, Togepi, Type: Null, Snom, Alolan Meowth, Riolu, Woobat, Munchlax, and Azurill.

There are six berries in all that can raise a Pokemon's friendship: Qualot, Tamato, Pomeg, Grepa, Hondew, and Kelpsy berries.

Berries as easy to acquire in Sword and Shield. They can be collected from various trees and they respawn after a day has passed. When shaking the trees, a Pokemon will eventually pop out to battle. To avoid that, pay attention to how much the tree is shaking. If it shakes fast, then you can stop harvesting. This is so you don't lose any berries, as some disappear after the battle.

Like in real life, spending time together is a great way to boost friendship. Doing that with Pokemon in Sword and Shield is no different. If the Pokemon is a favorite to use, this method is easy. Make it the first Pokemon in your party. Every battle will make it friendlier towards you.

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Increasing friendship by only this method will take a patient player though. Battles are a very slow way to raise friendship.

There are items Pokemon can hold to increase their friendliness. An item in Sword and Shield that does this is the Soothe Bell.

The Soothe Bell can be obtained in Hammerlocke, in the building across from the Pokemon Center. An NPC woman with blonde hair will give the item to the player. Conveniently, Hammerlocke is also where the player can find the boy that reveals the level of friendship the first Pokemon in the party is at.

Some Pokeballs can do some of the work for the player. These include Friendship and Luxury Balls. Friendship balls have no increased catch rate, but give the Pokemon caught friendship points upon capture. They can be obtained in Wyndon Station and Turfield. They can also be made with the Cram-o-Matic in the Isle of Armor DLC.

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Luxury balls can also be obtained at the Wyndon Station. Another option is to visit the various Wyatt Traders to see what they have in stock every day. They sometimes sell these Pokeballs.

This is easy, as it can work out no matter how weak or strong the Pokemon is. If it is strong, it can hold its own in battle. If it is weak, then it can easily be kept out of harm's way in the back of the party. However, this would be a very slow friendship-making process if the player only uses this method.

This method should be done in combination with others, like having the Pokemon also hold a Soothe Bell and fed it friendship-boosting berries.

A common tactic for gamer friends trying to complete their Pokedex is to trade Pokemon. Oftentimes, there is a double trade so that each player gets the Pokedex data and then return the Pokemon to the owner.

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This can be trouble for someone in the midst of raising Pokemon friendship. The Pokemon's friendship stat will reset to zero upon this trading method. It could undo some hard work on the players' part.

Every action that has to do with Pokemon Camp is the best way to raise friendship quickly. Curry is one such Pokemon Camp activity. Not only will it heal Pokemon without needing  Pokemon Center, but it will increase their friendship.

The better the curry, the better the friendship stat boost. To make the best curry, use rare berries, don't spill while stirring, and fan the curry flames without burning it.

There are useful items that can heal a Pokemon but at the cost of friendship. These items include energy roots, heal powders, revival herbs, and energy powders. Luckily, that is only four items to avoid. Most are used for healing, which can be done with curry instead.

Do not confuse bitter items with certain berries or curry. Berries and curry are safe.

Besides curry, it is best to play and chat with Pokemon in Pokemon Camp to increase friendship. This is much quicker than battle and does not risk them fainting and losing friendship points.

So when making curry, combine the time in Pokemon Camp with spending time with the Pokemon. Throw some balls to play catch with them, chat with them, and then make some of the best curry for them to enjoy.

Fainting makes a Pokemon lose friendship. If it is weak, keep it away from battles. While battles can increase friendship, that only counts if the battles have the Pokemon and player winning.

Luckily, if the Pokemon faints once, it is no big deal because a quick playtime and curry in Pokemon Camp can set them back up to where they were. Just make sure it is not constantly getting beaten.

NEXT: Pokemon Sword & Shield: Fan Challenges You Can Do To Make The Game Harder