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Earlier this year, Pokémon Sword and Shield released the first ever DLC for a Pokémon game, called the Isle of Armor. Just last week, the second portion of the expansion pass, the Crown Tundra, was added to the game. Today I will go over the main features of this new content, so I may guide those interested in purchasing the expansion pass. Please note that the expansion pass features both the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra, you cannot buy them separately. Let me show you what this extra content has to offer. There will be quite a few spoilers here, so turn back now if you wish to avoid them till later.
Most of what the Crown Tundra has to offer are new ways to obtain legendary Pokémon, as well as reintroducing some classic non-legendary Pokémon. Here’s a quick breakdown of some of the non-legendary Pokémon returning in the Crown Tundra.
- Nidoking and Nidoqueen
- All of the fossil Pokémon, such as Omastar.
- Many powerful Pokémon that aren’t legendary, such as Dragonite, and Metagross.
- Audino
- Carbink
- Cryoginal
- The Hoenn starters, Treeko, Torchic, and Mudkip can be transferred into the game using Pokémon Home.
- Crobat
- And most of the rest are legendary.
Now let’s look at the individual quests that are in the Crown Tundra.
Calyrex:
A new legendary Pokémon, Calyrex is found in the Crown Tundra. Before you can catch it, you have to complete certain tasks to help it out. These tasks are mostly fetch quests where you find an item and bring it to a specific location to move onto the next task. While they aren’t difficult, the game does give you more insight on the history of this Pokémon. Additionally, you have to make a decision which leads to obtaining one of two other Pokémon that happens to be a stead that Calyrex can ride on, once you catch Calyrex at the end of the mission.
Galarian Legendary Birds:
Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres have new versions exclusive to this DLC. Galarian Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres all appear in the Crown Tundra, and once you start this quest, you have to chase them down in three different areas:
- Articuno appears in the Crown Tundra. Once you get close to it, it will create illusionary doubles, and you have to find the real one to initiate the capture sequence.
- Zapdos appears in the Wild Area from the base game. You simply need to catch up to it to try and capture it.
- Moltres appears in the Ilse of Armor, from Part 1 of the DLC. You have to find out where it is moving and try to get in front of it to start to catch it.
This sounds similar to the roaming Pokémon from previous games, except you actually see them on the screen before you fight them. Also, they do not run away immediately, so you can just wear down their health and throw Pokeballs at your leisure. This was more interesting than I thought it would be, and was less of a hassle than other roaming Pokémon in past games.
The Legendary Titans:
There are four temples scattered in the Crown Tundra. You need to solve a simple puzzle to open the door to each one. Once there, you can catch the following Pokémon:
- Regirock
- Regice
- Registeel
- The fourth temple gives you a choice between the new Regieleki or Regidrago. You need the previous three to open this temple.
- There is also a dynamax den that is inactive. If you bring all five of the above Pokémon and have a wishing piece, you can face and capture Regigigas.
The Swords of Justice:
After completing the three above missions (you do not need to get Regigigas or have both Regieleki and Regidrago), you can find a footprint near the town in the Crown Tundra. This initiates another quest to find more Pokémon, by finding footprints in a few major areas. The Pokemon you can find are:
- Cobalian
- Terrakion
- Virizion
You have to find 50 footprints of each Pokémon and report them to Sonia to initiate ech encounter. You can also find the mythical Pokémon Keldeo after catching all three of these and by cooking curry by an abandoned cooking pot found near the Dynatree.
And there are a few more features to highlight:
Dynamax Adventures:
This new feature allows you to find the rest of the legendary Pokémon. Here are some things to keep in mind when playing this mode:
- You and three players or three computer allies team up using rental Pokémon to defeat four Pokémon in a row. You can catch each one, with a guaranteed catch rate.
- The last one is legendary.
- At the end, you can keep one of the four caught.
- One player can swap the rental they are using for the Pokémon just caught in-between battles .
- These fights are similar to raid battles, except none of the opponents have shields that have to be broken. The legendary at the end can use multiple attacks in a turn if its health gets low.
- If your team suffers four knockouts throughout the entire adventure, you will lose, but can keep one of whatever is caught.
- You are rewarded with Dynite Ore, which can be exchanged for rare items, including the new ability patch, which changes a Pokémon’s ability to its hidden ability.
- If a player disconnects, the other players will not complete the adventure, but still get dynite ore based on their progress.
- If you disconnect three times in a row, you have to pay 3 dynite ore to play again. This fee increases the more you do so.
- There is a version called endless dynamax adventures, where you play till you fail. You can’t keep anything you catch, but you get more dynite ore for your troubles.
Other features:
- The galarian star tournament opens up once you complete the main game, the isle of armor, and the crown tundra. Here you team up with a noteworthy NPC and face two opponents at a time. Like the champions cup rematches, you can get some rare rewards afterwards. You also get a lot of in game money!
- Dynite ore can be used on the cram-o-matic to make PP ups. Use this recipe in this order: one dynite ore, any item, and two more dynite ore.
- There are a variety of rare items found on the ground in the crown tundra, as well as some very rare berries in berry trees.
Pokémon Home Notes:
You can transfer any Pokémon from Pokémon Home that became available in the isle of armor or the crown tundra updates without buying the expansion pass. You can also trade for Pokémon exclusively found through these updates with other players without buying the expansion pass. If you are looking to get your own Pokémon through the Crown Tundra, keep in mind that these Pokémon are found exclusively in the Crown Tundra:
- Galarian Articuno
- Galarian Zapdos
- Galarian Moltres
- Glastrier
- Spectrier
- Calyrex
- Regieleki
- Regidrago
- Keldeo is not exclusive here, but the events to download it from prior games have expired, so the Crown Tundra is the best way to get it.
And that sums up this new content. I thought it was a little short for my likes, and that this batch of DLC offered fewer perks than the previous one. The expansion pass as a whole does offer a lot to hardcore fans if you include both the isle of armor and the crown tundra together. Most other players will just see it as optional content that makes up for the base game’s limited post game content. It can be fun, but it is tailored more to the most ravenous and competitive fans.
And that wraps up my Crown Tundra coverage. What did you make of this DLC? What is your favorite new Pokémon? Which did you find most interesting to catch? What new feature is your favorite? Let me know in the comments section below! If you enjoyed this article, then click that like button and share on social media. To keep up with That’s All Games, you can subscribe via email or WordPress. Until next time, have fun gaming!
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