- Pokémon HOME acts as the central hub, letting you send compatible species as visitors into Pokémon Champions while preserving their original data.
- Linking HOME and Champions is free and reversible for visitors, but Pokémon caught in Champions itself can never be exported back to HOME.
- Champions standardizes IVs and saves its own training profile, while EVs, Natures, shininess, moves, abilities, and marks still transfer from the original games.
- Training in Champions uses VP or training tickets to adjust stats, moves, and abilities without altering the Pokémon’s builds in their source games.
If you are itching to bring your favorite partners from Pokémon HOME into Pokémon Champions and keep using them in high-stakes battles, you are absolutely not alone. With the latest connectivity updates, the ecosystem around Pokémon HOME and the Nintendo Switch titles has become richer than ever, and Champions is right at the center of that web of transfers and training options.
This guide walks you through everything you need to know about moving Pokémon between Pokémon HOME and Pokémon Champions — from the basic link process, to every single restriction, hidden detail, and special case that can affect your monsters once they start visiting Champions. We will also touch on how this connection fits into the broader network of compatible titles, including Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Scarlet and Violet, Sword and Shield, and more.
How Pokémon HOME Connectivity Works Today
Pokémon HOME has become the central hub that lets you gather Pokémon from a large number of main-series games and compatible titles so you can move them around, store them safely, or send them on new adventures. Recent updates have expanded this hub significantly and added new rules you should know.
One of the biggest changes is full support for Pokémon Legends: Z-A. You can now send the Pokémon you captured in Lumiose City during your Legends: Z-A journey into the Nintendo Switch version of Pokémon HOME. This lets you preserve those partners, combine them with teams from other games, and eventually send compatible ones onward into Pokémon Champions.
To celebrate this integration with Pokémon Legends: Z-A, there is a special Mystery Gift campaign tied to Pokémon HOME. When you transfer a Pokémon from Legends: Z-A into the Switch version of HOME for the first time, the mobile version of Pokémon HOME will reward you with three special partners: an alpha Chikorita, an alpha Tepig, and an alpha Totodile, all delivered via Mystery Gift. These exclusive arrivals are perfect candidates to later travel into other titles where they are allowed.
However, connectivity does not mean unlimited back-and-forth freedom between every pair of games. Any Pokémon that you move out of Pokémon Legends: Z-A into Pokémon HOME will not be able to return to earlier main-series games. Likewise, if you bring an older Pokémon forward into Legends: Z-A, that Pokémon is effectively locked out of those previous titles going forward. The flow is mostly forward in time, not reversible.
On top of Legends: Z-A connectivity, Pokémon Champions has joined the list of destinations that can interact with HOME. Champions allows you to rally squads of familiar Pokémon by sending them from HOME as “visitors” that can battle and be trained in its unique system. At the same time, Champions introduces its own strict rules: some Pokémon can go in and out, while others can never leave, and some cannot be sent there at all.
Compatible Games and Where Champions Fits In
Pokémon Champions sits alongside a long list of games that can feed Pokémon into HOME, either directly or indirectly. Before focusing only on Champions, it is useful to understand the broader web of transfers, because HOME is the bottleneck through which most movements are handled.
From the point of view of Pokémon HOME, you may be sourcing Pokémon from many different titles: Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Pokémon Sword and Shield, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Pokémon GO (via the GO transfer feature), and even from Pokémon Bank on Nintendo 3DS. All of these, once correctly imported, can end up coexisting inside your HOME boxes.
If your goal is simply to bring older or external Pokémon into HOME, you will want a separate, dedicated guide about Pokémon HOME transfers that explains in detail how each source game connects, what items or special forms are affected, and the one-way limitations that apply to specific titles like GO or Bank. For the purpose of Champions, the key idea is that once your Pokémon are safely in HOME, you can evaluate which ones are eligible to visit Champions.
Champions uses HOME as a kind of staging ground or recruitment pool. Instead of pulling Pokémon directly from, say, Scarlet straight into Champions, you first move them into HOME and then mark them as visitors for Champions from within the HOME app. Champions then reads that pool and lets you “recruit” those visitors into your roster.
Keep in mind that Pokémon you recruit directly inside Pokémon Champions itself are treated differently. They can battle and be trained like any other team member within that game, but they are not allowed to be deposited back into Pokémon HOME. Only Pokémon that originate outside Champions and are sent in as visitors via HOME can make the round trip.
Linking Pokémon HOME with Pokémon Champions
Before you can send any Pokémon into Champions, you need to link your Pokémon HOME account with your Champions account. The good news is that this link is free to use, does not require any paid Premium plan in HOME, and can be set up from both the Nintendo Switch version of the HOME app and the mobile version.
The linking process only works if your Pokémon HOME app is updated to version 4.0.0 or later. On most consoles, this update will install automatically if you are connected to the internet, but if you have not used HOME in a while, double-check that you are not running an outdated build before starting the connection steps.
Once everything is updated, open Pokémon HOME on your Nintendo Switch and sign in to your account if you have not already. From the main screen of the Switch app, look toward the bottom right corner: you should see a Pokémon Champions icon there. Selecting this icon is the entry point for configuring the link and preparing transfers.
When you select the Champions option inside HOME for the first time, the app will show you the Champions account details it is about to associate. Take a moment to confirm that the profile name, region, and any other information truly match the Nintendo Switch user and Champions save data you intend to use. If all looks correct, confirm by choosing “Yes”. This one-time confirmation establishes the basic connection path.
After that confirmation, Pokémon HOME will guide you to the send screen, where you can start choosing which Pokémon will be allowed to visit Champions. Think of this as setting up a special battle box: you are not instantly moving the Pokémon into Champions, but you are flagging them as available to be recruited by that game. The rest of the process continues inside Champions itself, but without this initial link and selection, Champions will not see any candidates.
Step-by-Step: Sending Pokémon from HOME to Champions
Transferring Pokémon from HOME to Champions is done in two big stages: first you prepare and send them on the HOME side, then you receive them in Champions. You will follow this flow every time you want to bring in new visitors, so it quickly becomes routine once you have done it a couple of times.
The first stage is to ensure the link between your Pokémon HOME and Pokémon Champions accounts is fully active. If you already followed the linking instructions above, you do not need to redo them for every send, but if you ever change consoles, profiles, or saves, you may be required to reconfirm or repeat the linking step so HOME knows which Champions save to target.
Next, from within the Switch version of Pokémon HOME, navigate to your boxes and select the Pokémon you want to dispatch to Champions. You can scroll through your storage and highlight any compatible Pokémon; those that you mark for a visit will show an orange tick. Treat this like composing a temporary squad: you can pick only a handful or an entire group, as long as they meet the Champions rules.
Once you have finished selecting your candidates, press the Y button to confirm that these Pokémon are being sent “on a visit” to Champions. The interface will display a confirmation message or warning, letting you know that you are about to send the chosen Pokémon as visitors. If everything looks right, choose “Yes” to finalize the send operation from the HOME side.
At this point you are done with the HOME portion of the transfer, but the Pokémon are not yet usable in Champions until you complete the second stage there. Think of the visitors as being in transit: they are temporarily unavailable for other transfers until you go into Champions, enter the appropriate menu, and actually receive them into the game’s recruitment system.
Receiving Your Visitors Inside Pokémon Champions
After sending your Pokémon from HOME, launch Pokémon Champions on your Nintendo Switch to pull them into your active pool. Champions has a dedicated menu that deals exclusively with recruitment and connections to HOME, so you will not find the option in the usual battle or story menus.
From the main menu or appropriate in-game interface, choose the option labeled “Recruit” (or “Fichajes” if your game language is Spanish). This is the central hub where you recruit new Pokémon into your squad, manage your visitors from HOME, and also handle any returns back to HOME when you are done with them.
Inside the Recruit section, pick “Collect from Pokémon HOME”. In some versions or languages, you may need to confirm this same option a second time: the game effectively asks you twice to ensure you truly want to pull in any Pokémon that are currently waiting as visitors. After confirming, Champions will look up your HOME link and search for those flagged Pokémon.
Once the process finishes, your selected Pokémon will appear as recruits ready for battle in Champions. Depending on current events, you might also receive bonuses or small rewards for having linked to HOME or for completing your first transfer. These can range from in-game items to small perks, so it is worth checking after a successful reception.
The final confirmation screen within the Recruit menu also lets you send visitors back to HOME directly if you pulled them in by mistake. Rather than having to wait or go through an extra cycle, you can immediately choose to return them, which is especially handy if you realize you brought the wrong form, a duplicate, or a Pokémon you actually need for another game.
Sending Pokémon Back from Champions to HOME
If you ever decide that a Pokémon has finished its stint in Champions and you want it back safely inside HOME, the return process is just as straightforward. Returns are handled symmetrically from both games: you initiate the send-back in Champions and then complete it in the HOME app.
In Pokémon Champions, go back to the “Recruit” or “Fichajes” menu from the main menu or hub. Instead of choosing the option to collect from HOME, you will now look for the option named “Send Back to Pokémon HOME” or “Devolver a Pokémon Home”, which is dedicated specifically to returning visitors.
Select the Pokémon you want to send back to HOME from the list of visitors currently registered in Champions. Only those Pokémon that originally came from HOME and were brought in as visitors can be chosen here; any Pokémon that were caught, recruited, or obtained directly inside Champions will not appear, since they are permanently tied to that game.
After highlighting all the visitors you wish to return, press the X button to confirm the operation and review your HOME account details. Champions will display which HOME profile it is about to send these Pokémon to, giving you a chance to verify that the link has not changed. If the details match, confirm by selecting “Yes” so the game can ship those Pokémon back into the HOME environment.
Then swap over to the Nintendo Switch version of Pokémon HOME and access the Champions icon again in the bottom right corner. The app will show you the visitors currently on their way back from Champions, and you will need to accept the dialogs until it confirms that the Pokémon have been placed back into one of your HOME boxes. After that, they behave like any other HOME-stored Pokémon and can be directed to other compatible games as the rules allow.
Champions Transfer Rules You Must Respect
Although the link between HOME and Champions is powerful, there is a long list of restrictions that control which Pokémon can visit, how they behave, and what happens to their training. Ignoring these rules can lead to confusion or lost progress, so it is worth going through them carefully before moving entire teams.
First, only Pokémon that are actually part of the Pokémon Champions Pokédex are allowed to visit that game. If a particular species does not appear in Champions at all, you simply cannot send it from HOME. HOME will help by showing a prohibited icon — a red circle with a diagonal line — in the corner of a Pokémon’s icon when it is clearly incompatible with Champions.
That said, not every incompatible Pokémon will always carry that forbidden symbol inside HOME. There are edge cases where a Pokémon might visually look sendable but is rejected later in the process due to details like unavailable forms, special moves, or other constraints. In such cases, the game itself will display a dedicated message explaining that the Pokémon cannot be moved when you try to complete the transfer.
Any Pokémon obtained directly inside Pokémon Champions is permanently bound to that game and cannot be deposited into Pokémon HOME. This rule is important because it prevents you from farming special Champions-only recruits or rewards and then exporting them to other titles. Champions-origin Pokémon live and die inside Champions, even though they can fight alongside the visitors that did come from HOME.
More broadly, Pokémon can only be sent through HOME to games where they are officially supported. This general rule applies across the entire HOME ecosystem: a species cannot be transferred to a title where it does not exist in the regional Pokédex or supported dataset. Champions follows exactly this logic, which is why checking its Pokédex before planning large transfers makes things much easier.
When a visiting Pokémon knows a move that is not allowed in Pokémon Champions, you will be forced to change that move if you want to use the Pokémon in battles. This often happens with legacy or event-exclusive moves that Champions does not support. You will need to retrain the Pokémon inside Champions so it learns a compatible move set, which can alter its role in your strategies while it is visiting.
The training you do in Champions — EV spreads, stat boosts, moves, and similar tweaks — does not overwrite the training the Pokémon had in its original game. When you return the visitor to HOME and then send it back to its main-series game, its stats and configuration from that original title are preserved. Champions essentially keeps a separate record of its own training profile per visiting Pokémon.
If a Pokémon comes back from Champions to HOME and later visits Champions again in the same form, the training results you applied in Champions will be restored. This means Champions remembers your custom builds for visitors, allowing you to send a Pokémon back and forth without having to retrain it every time, as long as you are not changing its form or other key attributes.
However, if you return a visitor to HOME and then alter it significantly before sending it back — for example, by changing its form — the previous Champions training data for that Pokémon will be lost. In that case, when the Pokémon comes back to Champions, it is treated as a fresh visitor with no saved training profile, and you will have to invest the time and resources again to rebuild its stats within Champions.
Technical Details: Stats, IVs, and What Transfers to Champions
One of the most interesting aspects of the HOME-Champions link is how it handles competitive stats, training, and cosmetic data. Champions simplifies certain aspects like IVs while faithfully carrying over others from the original games to keep your Pokémon feeling familiar.
According to the official information shared by players experimenting with the feature, linking is completely free and unlimited. You do not have to spend any in-game points, VP, or pay extra subscription fees in order to keep sending visitors back and forth between HOME and Champions, aside from any usual constraints of the base games.
When a compatible Pokémon travels from its original game into Champions via HOME, the following attributes are preserved as-is: effort values (EVs), Nature (including changes introduced by mints), moves (subject to the availability rules explained above), abilities, shininess, the type of Poké Ball in which it was caught, and any marks or similar cosmetic tags. This ensures that competitively trained or rare Pokémon retain their personality and uniqueness inside Champions.
Individual Values (IVs), however, are standardized within Pokémon Champions. Upon arrival, a visiting Pokémon’s IVs are effectively set to 31 in all stats while inside Champions, so breeding or carefully cultivating 0 IVs or very specific spreads in other games has no strategic payoff once the Pokémon is actively battling inside Champions. Everyone is on an even IV playing field there.
Crucially, Champions does not erase the IVs and other stat details from the original games. Once a Pokémon is sent back to HOME and then re-imported to its main-series title, it regains its original IVs, EVs, and full training profile exactly as they were before the visit. Champions’ internal stat adjustments only apply while the Pokémon is actually being used in that game.
This separation of data explains why the Champions-specific training is saved independently. Any EV manipulation or move tweaks made in Champions are recorded on a per-visitor basis, but they do not feed back into HOME. Instead, when the same Pokémon comes back to Champions in the same form, the game re-applies its internal Champions training profile so you can pick up where you left off without interfering with your original game’s build.
Training Your Team Inside Pokémon Champions
Once your visitors have arrived, the real fun begins: training and customizing your squad within Pokémon Champions itself. The game includes a dedicated training feature that lets you fine-tune how each Pokémon performs in battles, regardless of where it originally came from.
Inside Champions, you can use Victory Points (VP) to enhance different aspects of your Pokémon’s stats. This can include boosting Attack, Defense, and other core stats so that your team better matches your preferred playstyle, whether that is bulky stall, hyper offensive, or something in between. The system provides a structured way to invest in your favorite visitors to make them shine in the Champions format.
Beyond raw stats, Champions’ training tools also allow you to tweak abilities and moves. Adjusting abilities can completely change how a Pokémon functions in battle, while carefully curating its moveset lets you adapt it to the metagame or to a specific strategy you are trying to execute. Just remember that if a move is unavailable in Champions, you will be forced to swap it out, even if it is legal in the original game.
There is an important limitation: you cannot train Pokémon that are currently on a trial period. If a visitor is being evaluated or is in some sort of temporary test state, the training features will be locked for that Pokémon until it is fully confirmed in your lineup. Make sure to check each visitor’s status if you do not see the expected training options.
If you are running low on VP, Champions offers an alternative through training tickets. These tickets allow you to train a Pokémon without spending any of your accumulated Victory Points, effectively acting as consumable passes for free stat adjustments. Using training tickets wisely can help you optimize key members of your roster without constantly grinding for VP.
Because training in Champions does not bleed back into HOME or the original games, you are free to experiment with bold or unusual builds. You can maintain a standard competitive set in your main game while running a completely different, Champions-specific build on the same Pokémon during its visits, giving you a lot of creative freedom with minimal risk.
Altogether, the link between Pokémon HOME and Pokémon Champions opens up a robust ecosystem where your long-time partners, alpha starters from Legends: Z-A, and cherished shinies can continue to see action under a fresh set of rules. By understanding exactly how to link accounts, send and receive visitors, respect compatibility restrictions, and make use of Champions’ training tools, you can keep your favorite Pokémon active across multiple titles while preserving their original builds and uniqueness where it matters most.
Engineer. Tech, software and hardware lover and tech blogger since 2012
