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Pokémon Blaze OnlinePBO Guides

Co-op and hordes

You can play through PBO with a friend in a Co-op Duo party, and wild Pokémon can appear in hordes of several at once. This page explains how a Co-op Duo works and how to unlock natural hordes and Pure Nectar.

Veilstone CityNatural hordes and Pure Nectar both start at the Veilstone Research House in Veilstone City.

Co-op Duo

Section titled “Co-op Duo”

A Co-op Duo is a party of exactly two trainers. While you are both online and on the same map, you share wild battles and many NPC battles.

  1. Unlock parties. Meet Dawn on Route 202, early in the Sinnoh story. Your partner must have done this too.

  2. Create the Duo. Use the Party button in the top-right corner and choose Create Co-op Duo. The name must be 3–20 letters and numbers and start with a letter.

  3. Invite your partner. Click (or tap) the other trainer and choose Invite to Party. Only the leader can invite, and the other trainer must be online and not already in a party. When they accept, the Duo is full.

  4. Meet on the same map. The Party window shows Ready for wild co-op once you are both online on the same map.

An Expedition Group is the other party type: up to four players for multiplayer Expeditions, with no shared battles.

Shared wild battles

Section titled “Shared wild battles”
  • Encounters: when either of you meets a wild Pokémon on land, while surfing or while fishing, you both enter one battle against two wild Pokémon, one assigned to each of you.
  • Busy partner: if your partner is busy (already battling, trading, queued for ranked or using a PvP Team) or has no Pokémon able to battle, you get a normal solo battle instead.
  • Exceptions: shared battles do not happen in Spring Valley or on a competition map while a competition is running, and a shared battle is never a natural horde.
  • Catching: each of you can only catch your own assigned Pokémon.
  • Rewards: the money, experience, EVs and item drops from each wild Pokémon go to the trainer it was assigned to. The experience goes to that trainer’s Pokémon that took part.
  • Insta Battles: the leader can switch this on in the Party window. After the leader picks a move, the partner’s first available move is picked for them. Blaze Radar encounters stay manual.

Shared NPC battles

Section titled “Shared NPC battles”

Many NPC battles can be shared, such as Gym Leaders, the Elite Four, Champions, daily bosses and many route trainers. When you start one while your partner is online on the same map, free, and allowed to fight that NPC too, the two of you battle it together. Otherwise you battle alone.

  • Gyms: you can only share a Gym battle when you both have the same number of badges in that region and neither of you has this Gym’s badge yet.
  • Winning together: if your team faints but your partner wins the battle, it still counts as a win for both of you, and each of you gets the reward, such as the badge.

The PBO website also has a guide to co-op and hordes:

Co-op and hordes: your first shared battleThe PBO website's guide: starting a Co-op Duo, catching in shared battles, hordes and Pure Nectar.

Unlock natural hordes

Section titled “Unlock natural hordes”

Natural hordes do not appear for you until you finish a short field study in Veilstone City.

  1. Earn your fourth Sinnoh badge. The field study needs it.

  2. Visit the Horde Researcher. He is in the Veilstone Research House in Veilstone City and switches natural hordes on for you.

  3. Meet a natural horde. It can happen in normal solo encounters on land, while surfing or while fishing.

  4. Report back. Tell the Horde Researcher about it. This completes the field study.

Player talking to the Horde Researcher in the Veilstone Research House
The Horde Researcher in Veilstone switches natural hordes on.

If you forget where to go, Heather at the Great Marsh Entrance in Pastoria City reminds you of your next step.

Great Marsh EntranceHeather waits at the Great Marsh Entrance.

Hordes never replace party co-op encounters: when your Duo starts a shared battle, it is never a natural horde. Natural hordes also never appear in Spring Valley.

The in-game How Hordes Work panel shows the current horde chances, including the boost from an active Swarm.

A natural horde battle on a Sinnoh route with three wild Pokémon facing the player's Pokémon
In a natural horde, several wild Pokémon enter the same battle.

Pure Nectar

Section titled “Pure Nectar”

Pure Nectar makes natural hordes more common on land and makes those hordes bigger. It works on your next 750 solo land encounters; co-op, fishing and surfing encounters do not use it up.

  1. Finish the field study. Complete the Horde Researcher’s field study (above).

  2. Learn crafting. Finish Field Crafter Hale’s introductory crafting tutorial on Route 201. See Crafting.

  3. Talk to the Nectar Crafter. He stands next to the Horde Researcher and unlocks two Pure Nectar recipes: 1 IV Potion with either Honeyx3 or Leppa Berryx3.

  4. Craft one Pure Nectar. Use Skills → Crafting, then return to the Nectar Crafter to graduate.

After you graduate, Pure Nectar is on sale in the regular Poké Marts of every region for 5,000 F. You can keep crafting it too. Wild Combee can drop Honey, and wild Kakuna and Metapod can drop Leppa Berries; check the Pokémon locations pages for where they live.

Game HUD with the Pure Nectar indicator and its tooltip
The HUD shows when Pure Nectar is active.

Good to know

Section titled “Good to know”
  • Natural hordes also count for the Fishing skill when they come from fishing.
  • To meet more hordes while fishing or surfing, go to a map with an active Swarm. A Swarm raises the horde chance for land, fishing and surfing encounters there.
  • Every wild Pokémon you defeat in a horde gives its own experience. See hordes.
Section titled “Related pages”
CraftingUnlock crafting with Field Crafter Hale, the first step towards Pure Nectar.
FishingNatural hordes can bite while you fish, and they count for your fishing skill.
Pokémon locationsWhere Combee, Kakuna and Metapod live, region by region.