Since Pokémon Scarlet and Violet allows you to choose the Starfall Street, Victory Road, and Path of Legends stories in any order, you may come across difficulty spikes more often than most Pokémon games. It’s here that finding a solid EXP farming method comes in handy, allowing you to quickly and efficently level your party to continue your desired objective. If you don’t fancy that, then finding a Lucky Egg to increase EXP gains passively is otherwise recommended. If you’d like to learn more about your Paldea adventure, visit our Pokémon Scarlet and Violet walkthrough. On this page:
Lucky Egg location in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
The Lucky Egg item increases EXP gains for the Pokémon holding it by an additional 50% - useful if you want to get to an evolution faster, or boost a specific type ahead of a particularly difficult encounter. To get a Lucky Egg in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, you must have collected five gym badges before visiting another gym. It’s upon entering this sixth gym that you’ll be given the item on your arrival. Though simple on paper, this requires a degree of playtime first - and our gym order explainer can recommend the best route to do this fastest. Our Pokémon Scarlet and Violet walkthrough can take you through the entire game - including The First Day of School, Victory Road, Starfall Street, Path of Legends and when you’re ready, The Way Home and the final boss. Elsewhere, we can help with the Normal Gym test Secret Item menu, version differences, the best Scarlet and Violet starter, EXP farming, shiny Pokémon and learning how to fly, swim, climb and dash. When it comes to individual Pokémon, we can help with Gimmighoul, Ditto, Bellibolt, Pawmot, Scovillain, Frigibax, Sinistea, Brambleghast, Annihilape, Farigiraf, Dudunsparce, Lycanrock forms, Armarouge and Ceruledge.
Easy EXP farming method in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Apart from getting the Lucky Egg to increase the EXP for a single Pokémon, there’s an EXP farm in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet that comes highly recommended. With thanks to Arekkz Gaming on YouTube for bringing this method to our attention, the easiest way to farm EXP in Scarlet and Violet is to defeat high level Chanseys found in North Province (Area Three). Doing so will net you around 2,000 to 3,000 EXP per Chansey defeated - which at earlier levels, is easily a level or two per battle. Pretty efficient! There is some preperation for this farm, including reaching the location, buying the right sandwich ingredients and also having high enough level Pokémon make use of a buff (a mid-20s Pokémon with a strong fighting type is our recommendation). With that in mind, we recommend you start this after beating a few gyms and Titans - however, it is technically possible to start as soon as you have completed The First Day of School if you wish.
How to reach North Province (Area Three)
The nearest Pokémon Centre to North Province (Area Three) is here on the map: Though it appears in a high level area, it’s very possible to reach it from the start of the game without any ability upgrades, provided you know the broad route. First, you have to reach Glaseado Mountain - also known as the icy area to the north. The easiest way to do this is to go west out of the starting central city of Mesagoza and follow the route round and north to Asado Desert, taking you past the bug gym in Cortondo and Open Sky Titan along the way. If you continue the path going alongside Asado Desert, you’ll discover the route east is blocked by the Dark Crew base - but fear not, as you can simply go north, drop down the cliff, and cross the desert to Porto Marinada to the north. From here, follow the path east until you finally reach a split in the road just before Glaseado Mountain. Look at the map; there are two Pokémon Centres north of here, which is where you need to go in sequence. To reach these Pokémon Centres, go east at the split on the approach to Glaseado Mountain so you go up the mountain to reach the first Centre. Now, go north-west, so the river is to your left, until you come to a waterfall and series of high cliffs. Head down these - there’s no fall damage, so don’t worry about a long drop! - and you’ll see the second Pokémon Centre in the distance, far down below. This is the one we are looking for - so be sure to rest there so you can return to it at any time. This is where Chanseys can spawn. Though you may encounter one if you go north without any buffs, their appearance rates are very low. To increase this, we must make a sandwich to boost Normal types - which requires a visit elsewhere first, but is all thankfully cheap and easy. Let’s pop to the shops.
How to get ingredients to boost Normal appearance rates
To increase the rate of Normal type Pokémon, you’ll need to make a sandwich with that specific type boost. We can recommended two cheap options available to you at any time, both of which use common ingredients you can find at various shops from the outset. Two examples of sandwiches with Encounter Power: Normal boosts include:
Ham Sandwich: Mustard, Mayonnaise, Pickle, Ham Creative Mode ‘Tasty Original’: Chorizo, Mayonnaise
If you’re after ingredients for either of these, head to Mesagoza and visit Sure Cans and Artisan Bakery to get four ingredients between the two stores - Mustard, Mayonnaise, Pickle and Ham. If you want Chorizo in particular, then visit Deli Cioso in south-east. Whatever you choose, get a handful of each to save on return trips - though know each sandwich made consumes only one of each ingredient each time. Our Pokémon Scarlet and Violet walkthrough can take you through the entire game - including The First Day of School, Victory Road, Starfall Street, Path of Legends and when you’re ready, The Way Home and the final boss. Elsewhere, we can help with the Normal Gym test Secret Item menu, version differences, the best Scarlet and Violet starter, EXP farming, shiny Pokémon and learning how to fly, swim, climb and dash. When it comes to individual Pokémon, we can help with Gimmighoul, Ditto, Bellibolt, Pawmot, Scovillain, Frigibax, Sinistea, Brambleghast, Annihilape, Farigiraf, Dudunsparce, Lycanrock forms, Armarouge and Ceruledge.
Chansey EXP farm in action
Now we have the location, and the sandwich ingredients, return to North Province (Area Three). Picnic nearby - you can do this by pressing X to open your menu. We recommend the tree just to the north of the Pokémon Centre, as otherwise the incline is too high to set a table. Interact with the picnic table with the A button, and choose to make a sandwich. Choose Ham Sandwich from the list - it should be unlocked for you already - or if you are going for the sandwich that’s simply Chorizo and Mayonnaise, select the Creative Mode option and go for just those two ingredients. Now you will have to manually make the sandwich. You must successfully lay all ingredients on the bread. It doesn’t matter where, as long as all are added; if you miss one (we made the mistake of pressing A to grab, then releasing right away at first) then the sandwich will become a ‘special’ with different buffs. If this happens, then you can simply make it again to reset the buffs. If successful, you’ll make a sandwich with a Normal encounter rates boost, which will then be active for the next 30 minutes of in-game time. You can press Right on the D-Pad to see how much time remaining, and know the buff lasts even if fly to a different location or rest at a Pokémon Centre - useful your team faints or runs out of moves. With the buff active, go north, and you should see Chanseys appearing. If not, roam around - for us, we spotted multiple groups, allowing us to start farming with ease. Though Chansey isn’t particularly strong offensively, it will be in the 40s and has high defense, so a strong counter to Normal types is recommended. For us, we managed to roll up with a level 30 Primeape with fighting move Cross Chop and the Normal-but-powerful Thrash, taking it down in a single attack each time. If this is a struggle, then remember Chanseys can appear elsewhere across the map at lower levels, with the Normal boost technically applying elsewhere. That said, in our experience, success is limited; we suspect the reason why this works so well in this specific location is because Chansey is one of the few Normal spawns, and that combined with its higher level, makes it a more efficent farm than most.
How to get the most out of the Chansey EXP farm
A few other things worth knowing to make this farm a little more efficient:
It’s worth clearing the Fairy Crew Team Star base to the north when you are high enough level (we recommend in the high 40s to 50s) as that’ll interrupt your search whenever you get too close. We lost far too many Chanseys who have fled towards the gate! Ride Koraidon and Miraidon while you go from Chansey to Chansey. Not only is this faster, but Chansey will often outrun you on foot, so is often a necessity. Also, it’s worth learning dash from the Stony Cliff Titan to speed up the process even more. Though you can auto-battle here, we’d advise against it. Not only are the EXP gains are much lower - 350 to 700 or so EXP per Chansey - as mentioned, you’ll often see each one escape before your Pokemon can reach them in time.
Remember to use this farm sparingly if you haven’t completed Victory Road, otherwise you’ll run the risk of levelling overpowered Pokémon beyond your gym badge progress, making them difficult to command. Provided you can take down Chanseys in a single attack, and remain close to the Pokémon Centre to replenish moves and health, you can make good use of the 30 minute buff - and when it ends, the sandwich ingredients are cheap enough that repeating it is very straightforward.
Now that you know how to farm EXP in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, for more help in Paldea, check out our walkthrough, including help with the Starfall Street, Victory Road, and Path of Legends stories.
