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These are some of the best held items for your Pokemon in-game. They will either give them a useful boost, extra recovery, or chip damage.
Held Items are a staple of the Pokemon games since Generation II. With some tough battles for you to face in these games, having your Pokemon hold these items will help immensely.
What these items do vary greatly. Some of them provide passive recovery, lessening the need to waste a turn healing. Others boost your Pokemon’s stats. These items have been ranked based on their usefulness, chance of activation, and the Pokemon that can hold them and reap the benefits of doing so.
The Best Held Items in the Pokemon Mainline Games
These items should be collected and give to your Pokemon to hold in which ever game they are available:
- Scope Lens
- Rocky Helmet
- Expert Belt
- Eviolite
- Leftovers
5) Scope Lens
The Scope Lens is a held item first introduced in Generation II. It increases the chance of the holder’s attacks being critical hits. While the chance is random, combined with the move Focus Energy, your Pokemon can land critical hits far more often. Additionally, if a Pokemon has an ability like Super Luck (boost crit chance) or Sniper (increases the damage from a crit), they should be given a Scope Lens to hold.
4) Rocky Helmet
The Rocky Helmet was introduced in Generation V. If the Pokemon holding it is hit with a contact move, this item deals some chip damage in return. This lets you use a slow wall, like Toxapex or Ferrothorn, and still do damage. Speaking of Ferrothorn, Rocky Helmet pairs well with its ability Iron Barbs, further wearing down any Pokemon coming into contact while attacking them.
3) Expert Belt
The Expert Belt was introduced in Generation IV. This held item gives a 1.2x damage boost to an attack user by the holder, if it deals super effective damage to its target. While the damage is lower than the 1.5 boost provided by type-specific held items like Mystic Water for Water-types or Miracle Seed for Grass-types, Expert Belt lets you use multiple moves on Pokemon, rewarding versatile play.
2) Eviolite
The Eviolite is a Generation V Pokemon. This item gives a massive 50% boost to its holder’s Defense and Special Defense as long as the holder isn’t a fully evolved Pokemon. It might not seem useful at first glance, but there are a few reasons behind its placement on this list. In the mid-game, when most of your Pokemon are either 1st stagers or middle evos, you can give them the Eviolite to hold.
A bulky Pokemon becomes bulkier, while a frail Pokemon can now survive a hit that would usually KO it. Additionally, if you aren’t using trade Evolutions, the Eviolite will make sure Pokemon like Kadabra, Rhydon, or Boldore remain viable until the late game.
1) Leftovers
The Leftovers is a held item introduced in Generation II. Not only is this item a competitive staple since its inception, but it’s more than useful in-game. Leftovers provides 1/16th HP recovery each turn.
While this may not seem very impressive if you are using healing items, remember that using an item from the bag will take a turn. If your Pokemon can keep itself healthy with Leftovers, you can use a move instead. Additionally, Leftovers’ passive recovery is significantly better than berries, which heal only once, or similar items like Shell Bell, which need you to deal damage.
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