Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming

The best settings for Pokémon Unite on mobile

Jon Bitner
By

Pokémon Unite is now available on mobile, offering the same experience you’d find on Nintendo Switch — just on a much smaller screen. Like all games that make the jump from console to mobile, a few concessions had to be made for things to run properly, and you’ll need to spend a few minutes fiddling around in the Settings screen to optimize your performance.

Whether you’re a returning Pokémon Unite player or picking up the game for the first time, here are a few ways you can make the mobile experience just as incredible as it is on Switch.

Recommended Videos

Further reading

Find the settings menu

Finding the Settings screen in Pokémon Unite.

Before you can start changing all the available gameplay options, you’ll first need to find the Settings menu — and if you don’t know where to look, it’s a bit difficult to find.

  • Go to the Main Menu of Pokémon Unite.
  • Click on your player’s portrait at the top left of the screen.
  • Scroll to the bottom of the menu, and you’ll see the Settings option near the very end.

Once you’ve found your way to the Settings screen, there are dozens of options for customizing your gameplay experience. Many of these are up to personal preference, but there are a few that all players will find beneficial.

Adjust your graphics for optimal performance

Adjusting graphic settings in Pokémon Unite.

The easiest way to improve Pokémon Unite‘s performance is by changing its graphical fidelity. There are two ways to do this on mobile — changing your Graphics Quality and changing your Frame Rate. Pokémon Unite will automatically suggest the best settings for your device, but feel free to lower your graphics quality to optimize your frame rate. While fancy effects are nice, getting a stable 60 fps results in a remarkably smooth experience and has a direct impact on your performance.

You might also want to turn off the Vibrate Function, as it can get a bit annoying at times. It can even cause you to misclick an icon if it happens at just the right time during combat or while trying to score points for your team.

Switch up your control scheme

Changing to Advanced Controls in Pokémon Unite.

Like any competitive multiplayer game worth its salt, Pokémon Unite provides you with a variety of ways to customize your control scheme. One of the first options you’ll want to explore is Opponent Lock-On Priority. This determines where your attacks will aim by default — and most players will want to make sure this is set to Lowest Remaining HP. Pokémon Unite rewards final hits with more experience than other combat contributions, and targeting nearby opponents with little remaining HP is an easy way to ensure you’re pulling in decent XP during battles.

You should also explore the Advanced Controls scheme, as it’ll provide you with a bit more control over aiming your attacks than the standard settings. It’s still best to keep automatic basic attacks on, as this will allow you to focus on cycling through your skills and abilities without getting bogged down with monotonous button presses.

Modify your Battle Info

Displaying Boosted Attacks in Pokémon Unite.

Speaking of skills and abilities, one key option you’ll want to enable is Show Cooldown Decimal Values. This will provide you with more accurate timing for your skill cooldowns and makes it incredibly easy to queue up your next attack and efficiently cycle through them in combat.

Along those same lines, ensure your Boosted Attack Gauge is turned on. This will remind you when you’re about to deliver a powerful basic attack — which is activated at different times for each character. If you’re a new player, knowing when you’re about to deliver this attack can help you plan out an effective combat strategy — and ensure you live to fight another day.

Don’t jump right into Ranked Matches

Charizard attacking an enemy in Pokémon Unite.

Even if you’re a long-time Switch player, run through a few Standard matches to perfect your control scheme before diving into Ranked. Make sure you’re pulling a good frame rate, test out your performance on both Wi-Fi and cellular data, and ensure you’ve personalized your control scheme and Battle Info to your liking. Each player will have a different preference for mobile controls, and the above list should just be considered a starting point.

After toggling back and forth between each option a few times and testing them out in unranked matches, you should finally have a good grip on how Pokémon Unite handles on mobile. Just remember that there’s a strong chance you’ll be paired up against players on Nintendo Switch — thanks to a robust crossplay option — and you’ll need to put your best foot forward if you’re hoping to walk away victorious.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Jon Bitner
Jon Bitner
Jon Bitner is a freelance journalist whose gaming addiction began with the SEGA Genesis. His work has been published on…
After 25 seasons, Ash Ketchum is retiring from Pokémon
Ash holds a Pokeball while a lot of iconic Pokemon stand behind him.

The Pokémon Company confirmed that Ash Ketchum will no longer be the main protagonist of the series' anime starting in 2023.
Ever since Pokémon! I Choose You! first aired in Japan on April 1, 1997, the Pokémon anime has followed the exploits of 10-year-old Pokémon trainer Ash Ketchum on his quest to become Pokémon Master. After trying and failing many times across 25 seasons, Ash finally managed to become the world's greatest Pokémon trainer in Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series after winning the Pokémon World Coronation Series.
The Pokémon Company is deciding to leave Ash's journey on a high note and will retire his character as the protagonist of the Pokémon anime after the current season. Thankfully, he is getting a proper send-off across the final 11 episodes of Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series, with classic anime characters like Misty and Brock returning to help tell "the final chapter in Ash and Pikachu's story." These final 11 episodes will start airing in Japan on January 13, 2023.
This won't be the end of Pokémon anime adaptions, though; The Pokémon Company will start a new series later next year, following two new characters named Liko and Roy. Details on this new series are still scarce, but we know it will also feature Sprigatito, Fuecoco, Quaxly, and a Shiny Rayquaza in significant roles. We're likely to see them venture through Paldea, the region Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are set in.
While the announcement that Ash Ketchum will no longer be the protagonist of the Pokémon series is bittersweet for those of us who grew up with the Pokémon anime, we can hope that the series will give him a beautiful farewell, and that Liko and Roy's series can successfully capture the hearts of a whole new generation of Pokémon fans. 

Read more
How to EV train in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Gengar in a city.

Even though Pokémon has reached mass appeal thanks to its cute monsters and simple RPG mechanics, it has also fostered a community of more hardcore trainers. These trainers don't necessarily want to catch 'em all, but rather catch and train the best. To the untrained eye, any two Pokémon of the same species would be identical, but Effort Values, aka EVs, have existed for generations and make a massive impact on how your Pokémon's stats work. This can get very complicated, especially if you're new to EV training, so we'll fill out your Pokédex entry with everything you need to know about EV training in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. 

See more

Read more
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet gym rematch guide: teams, weaknesses, and more
The pokemon champion glaring.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet offer trainers three unique quests to pursue through the new Paldea region. This not only adds variety, but plenty more content to do after you accomplish any single task. One of these main quests is the familiar journey to beat all eight gym leaders, claim their badges, defeat the Elite Four, and become the region's Pokémon League Champion. This has been the main goal of essentially all mainline Pokémon games and is just as fun to complete this generation as ever before.

Once you've done all that, however, you might be at a loss for challenging opponents to battle in Paldea. You won't have to restart your entire adventure to get another crack at facing off against your favorite gym leaders, though. So long as you've gotten all the badges, beaten the Elite Four, and become the Champion, you'll be given the option to challenge all the gym leaders to a rematch. However, this isn't a simple repeat of your first fight with them. Every gym leader is far stronger the second time around, so here's how you can best prepare for your rematch in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

Read more