How to Trade in Pokemon BDSP

In this guide, we’ll tell you how to trade in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl both locally and online.

Trading is an important part of Pokemon BDSP as it allows you to get desired Pokemon and evolve certain Pokemon that can only evolve through trade. In this guide, we’ll tell you how to trade in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl both locally and online

Pokemon BDSP Trading

Trading in Pokemon BDSP takes place both locally and online, so it is important to understand the different ways of trading to get most out of your trading.

While primarily made to trade Pokemon, players can also trade the items by giving that item to their Pokemon and sending it to the player with whom they wish to trade. There are certain Pokemon in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, like Graveler and Kadabra, that only reach their next evolution through Trading.

Let’s look at how to trade both locally and online in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

How to Trade Locally

For local trading in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, you need to access the Local room first. Local room is located inside the Union room which can be accessed by going upstairs in the Pokemon Center.

Now, talk to Nurse and you will receive a badge here. This is the 1st badge that you will receive in Oreburgh City.

Next, make your way to the basement of the Pokemon Center. Once you have visited the basement, then you are allowed to visit the Union room located anywhere in Sinnoh region.

To do so, just press Y and you are free to visit the Union Room. Once you get in the Local Room, start interacting with the players to begin with the process of trading. Players who wish to trade will have Pokeball icons above their heads.

Now, select Trade to start the process. At this point, make sure that only one player selects Trade. If both of the players select Trade, then the process will not start.

How to Trade Online

To trade online, you are required to access the Global Room. The purpose of Global Room is to communicate with the players around the world online.

The requirement for trading through the Global Room is to have a Nintendo Switch Online Subscription. However, you are allowed to access the Global Room after receiving your first badge in Oreburgh City and going to the basement.

You just need to press Y to visit the room. However, to access the Global Room and trade, you require a Nintendo Switch Online Subscription. The rest of the process is the same for trading.

If you have the Nintendo Switch Online Subscription, then just interact with the players carrying a speech bubble on their heads. Again, make sure that only one of the two players selects the Trade.

We hope that this guide helps you to trade both locally and online. So, get ready trade some exciting items by interacting with the different players.

Pokemon That Evolve Through Trading

There are a few Pokemon that can only reach their final evolution stage through Trading. Most Pokemon that evolve this way need to have some kind of item equipped to evolve.

These items are very rare. A lot of them are found after the main story ends and by farming wild Pokemon in the underground area.

There is no way to stop a Pokemon from evolving once the Trade is initiated and the evolving prerequisites are met. However, if you don’t want a specific Pokemon to ever evolve, you can just have them equip an Everstone. It prevents Pokemon from evolving.

Below is a list of Pokemon that evolve through Trading and their prerequisites:

Pokemon Evolving Prerequisites (Equipped Item)
Clamperl to Gorebyss Deep Sea Scale
Clamperl to Huntail Deep Sea Tooth
Feebas to Milotic Prism Scale
Porygon to Porygon-2 Upgrade
Onix to Steelix Metal Coat
Scyther to Scizor Metal Coat
Seadra to Kingdra Dragon Scale
Slowpoke to Slowking King’s Stone
Poliwhirl to Politoed King’s Stone
Kadabra to Alakazam   None
Machoke to Machamp None
Haunter to Gengar   None
Graveller to Golem None

Wonder Trade

Wonder trading is a feature that will supposedly allow you to trade your Pokemon with players all over the world. The GWS building has appeared in-game, but as of now, it is not functional. We may see this feature fully implemented in future updates.

Pokemon Home

Pokemon Home is a subscription-based cloud service. It is a feature that allows players of any and all Pokemon games to sync their Pokemon across all Pokemon gaming platforms that they hold.

For BDSP, it means more trading options and the ability to move Pokemon they own. This service has been announced to hit BDSP sometime in 2022.

We hope that this guide helps you to trade both locally and online. So, get ready to Trade some exciting items by interacting with the different players.

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Ali is a passionate RPG gamer. He believes that western RPGs still have a lot to learn from JRPGs. He is editor-in-chief at SegmentNext.com but that doesn't stop him from writing about his favorite video ...