Ever since the introduction of held items in the Generation 2 Pokemon games, they have been a staple of Pokemon battles, both in the main game and in PvP battles. While a handful of these items have been seen as the best of the best, such as the Focus Sash, Leftovers, and Choice items, there are many, many more items that can be left by the wayside as a result of the sheer number available.

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Some of these items are great for battling, while others have a far more niche use and shouldn't be left on Pokemon should players choose to attempt some of the more difficult battles. But all of these items have their use, and trainers should seriously consider giving them to their Pokemon in the right situations.

10 Luck Incense or Amulet Coin

Ash with the Amulet Coin Pokemon anime

Crucial healing items, Vitamins, and TMs can all rack up a considerable cost, particularly once the main game is over — so having a way to increase the money won in battles can help a lot in this regard. While not overly useful in battles, the Luck Incense and Amulet Coin are great held items to give a Pokemon during battles where the player obtains a large quantity of money as they double the amount of money gained. When this item is combined with the move Pay Day, this can increase the amount of money gained even further.

9 Pure Incense

Wild encounter in Pokemon Sword and Shield

Before the Let's Go titles and Sword & Shield did away with randomized encounters, surfing over water or diving into caves had some of the better exploration sequences, but the fact that every tile potentially held a wild Pokemon made exploration tedious at worst and downright frustrating at best. Players can get around this headache through several means, but one of these involves the Pure Incense held item, which lowers the wild encounter rate. This is a lot less useful in the most recent games, but if players are going back to older titles, it can mean the difference between enjoying a game and being frustrated by it.

8 Type Enhancing Items

Black Belt item in Pokemon anime

Items such as the Choice Band, Choice Specs, and Life Orb are generally the go-to items when it comes to increasing a Pokemon's damage output. However, there are far more items in the Pokemon series that can be used to improve the amount of damage an attack will do, though they are generally type-specific items.

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These items, such as the Black Belt, Mystic Water, and Silver Powder are all fairly easy to come across in any Pokemon game as they are either items found in early areas or commonly held items on wild Pokemon. Some are a little harder to come across, such as the Metal Coat or Dragon Scale, due to them also being evolution items, but they are still worth using.

7 Quick Claw

Galarian Slowbro on grass

The Quick Claw is a nifty little item that has been around since Gold & Silver but doesn't see a lot of use in online or PvP battles due to its inconsistency in activating. That being said, it got something of a buff in the Isle of Armor DLC and the release of Galarian Slowbro. While most Pokemon can't make good use of the Quick Claw, a Galarian Slowbro with the Quick Draw ability, which functions in much the same way, will allow this normally slow Pokemon to act first the majority of the time without any Speed EV investment.

6 Power Items

BP store in Pokemon Sword and Shield

Speaking of EVs, before the release of the Power held items, there weren't many ways to consistently increase the amount gained after a battle outside of using the Macho Brace or being lucky enough to find the Pokerus condition. Power items in Sword & Shield are not only fairly easy to get, as they can be obtained from the BP trader in Hammerlocke, but their effects also affect Pokejobs EV training as well as standard battles, making it a very easy way to EV train many Pokemon at once.

5 Grip Claw

Binding moves are nowhere near as powerful as they once were, with Wrap being almost a death sentence in the original Red & Blue games thanks to it preventing the Pokemon affected from acting until the effects had finished. While binding moves are generally inconsistent thanks to the randomized number of turns they last, there is a way to guarantee that they will always last for seven turns by giving a Pokemon the Grip Claw. The damage output may not be much, but when used by particularly defensive Pokemon like the Slowpoke line, it can quickly improve damage output on Pokemon with no offensive investment.

4 Black Sludge

When it comes to healing held items, the go-to choices are normally berries or Leftovers due to the fact that most online or PvP battles won't allow multiple Pokemon to hold the same item, allowing for similar effects to be had on more than one Pokemon on the team. One such item, which also has a secondary effect, is the Black Sludge.

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When held by most Pokemon, it will cause damage at the end of every turn so long as it is being held, but if it is being held by a Poison-type, it instead works like Leftovers. This item can also be swapped with the opponent using Trick to make them take damage instead and can be very useful against common Pokemon that need healing items to be viable.

3 Weather Rocks

Pokemon Anime Sunny Day Castform

Weather conditions are some of the easiest themes to base a team around since the majority of Pokemon will benefit from at least one of them while also being negatively affected by another. While the cap on these effects has been set to five turns since X & Y, there is a way to increase weather duration to eight turns by giving a Pokemon either the Damp, Smooth, Heat, or Icy Rock. Since most Pokemon that have a weather condition triggering ability would prefer for that weather to last as long as possible, this can be a great option if players are struggling to think of something to give their Pokemon.

2 Terrain Extender

Just like the weather conditions, terrains can be extended in a similar manner via held items from five to eight turns in length, but the way in which it happens is a little different. Instead of needing a different item for each terrain, you only need to use the Terrain Extender held item, which works on Electric, Misty, Psychic, and Grassy Terrain as well as their respective abilities that trigger the effect.

1 Terrain Seeds

Pokemon Rillaboom using Grassy Glide in Pokemon Sword and Shield

While terrains don't have individual items that help extend their longevity, they do have individual items that benefit Pokemon who are in battle while they are active. These terrain seeds, the Grassy, Misty, Electric, and Psychic Seeds, increase Defense on Grassy and Electric Terrain and Special Defense while on Misty or Psychic Terrain and are great for common partners of Pokemon with terrain triggering abilities or even those Pokemon themselves, particularly since most terrain triggering Pokemon have decent defenses already.

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