Pokemon Unite got a lot of attention when it first launched back in July of this year. With a solid roster of playable Pokemon to start with and a unique take on MOBA mechanics, Pokemon Unite seemed to hit a sweet spot that garnered it a lot of positive feedback. Even as players enjoyed the game though, many fans began to notice that there may be a problem with pay-to-win mechanics.

Taking form in the shape of Item Enhancers, players realized early on it was possible to dump money into Pokemon Unite to make it pay-to-win. It wasn’t much as Item Enhancers could be obtained without real-world currency, but they still acted as a barrier to many players. Recently Pokemon Unite has begun celebrating the game’s success with events that reward players with these key currencies and help make upgrading held items in the game a little easier.

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Pokemon Unite Item Enhancers and Super Item Enhancers

​​​​​​Amongst the several different events taking place in Pokemon Unite currently, there are two in particular that players should dive into the game to take advantage of. Anyone that felt pushed aside by Item Enhancers and pay-to-win in the past should look at the Held Item Enhancement Support Missions and Super Held Item Enhancement Missions as a way to test the waters again. These missions are based around rewarding players for playing the game and offering a simple way for them to upgrade Pokemon Unite’s held items without having to shell out any real-world money.

The Held Item Enhancement Support Missions event is comprised of ten different completable tasks that will give out a total of 1700 item enhancers. Because upgrading held items can become incredibly expensive, and each of the items in Pokemon Unite has 30 possible levels, this event is ideal for new players. The Held Item Enhancement Support Missions also incentivize players for simply participating in the game and playing through different character roles while making Pokemon Unite feel less pay-to-win.

Split between two different cumulative tiers, the first tier rewards Item Enhancers for just five games. Each task requires the player to participate in five battles in each different role: the Attacker Role, Supporter Role, Defender Role, All-Rounder Role, and Speedster Role. The second tier of rewards for the Held Item Enhancement Support Missions event requires five more games in the same categories but rewards even more at 190 Item Enhancers for each task completed, but each role type must participate in 10 battles.

Alongside these Held Item Enhancement Support Missions are the Super Held Item Enhancement Missions. These three missions equally reward players for playing Pokemon Unite but in a more passive manner. Each task in the Super Held Item Enhancement Missions requires players to hit levels 10, 12, and 14 with their trainer. Since the player's trainer gains experience just from completing games this is something that can be done by going into any of Pokemon Unite’s game modes and having a good time.

The Super Item Enhancers are incredibly valuable to any player that is just starting or has taken time off from Pokemon Unite. Super Item Enhancers boost any held item to level 30, and if players have already used Item Enhancers on the selected held item they will be refunded. Since Pokemon Unite recently added Mamoswine and new held items, this is great for being able to experiment with builds or advance an item to the max while using previous Item Enhancers on something new.

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Free Unite Licenses

Pokemon Unite is also currently rewarding dedicated players with Zeraora and Pikachu for completing certain events. Since the game's roster is always growing, with Sylveon being added to Pokemon Unite next week, and grinding for Aeos coins to obtain Unite Licenses for different Pokemon can take a lot of time using this opportunity to essentially get two free Pokemon is something everyone that doesn't have them should look into.

To obtain the Unite License for Zeraora, players will have to win a total of 32 battles, which will take some time. As some extra incentive, players who do participate in this event for Pokemon Unite will receive 100 Aeos tickets, 450 Aeos coins, and 50 item enhancers for 2, 8, and 16 wins respectively.

Through an easier manner, Pikachu can be obtained by Pokemon Unite players that participate in the preregistration event, which boasts some equally useful rewards. It currently rewards a total of 2,000 Aeos tickets, Pikachu’s Unite License, and the Pikachu Festival Holowear. The free Unite License will be helpful to new players and anyone looking to expand their roster of available characters, but the 2,000 Aeos tickets will also help with obtaining extra Item Enhancers and other items.

Even though Pokemon Unite’s tier list is pretty solid right now, the use of leveled-up held items is still important when it comes to being a competitive opponent in games. Since every Item Enhancer costs ten Aeos tickets the current events and missions are great for quickly getting builds ready without having to spend money. This is important for any fan that is looking to play more Pokemon Unite and be able to compete against those players that have already invested a lot into the game and its held items.

Keeping the game free, balanced, and fun is important, so seeing events like these that already benefit the fans to such an extent is also great for the future of Pokemon Unite. It is likely a game that will be made by the community it is able to build over its first year. If more fans feel they can easily become a part of a community filled with fair and competitive matches they’ll likely be incentivized to stick around but this means Pokemon Unite also needs to prevent bugs affecting ranked matches. Getting stuck in a game space with pay-to-win and players who exploit can be infuriating and right now is probably going to be one of the best times for players to subvert that and get into Pokemon Unite with as few strings attached as possible.

Pokemon Unite is available now as a free download on Mobile and Switch.

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