Pokemon Sword and Shield Pokerus Guide – How-to Get It!

We're taking a look at Pokerus in Pokemon Sword and Shield! If you're wondering how-to get this mysterious "virus" that increases your ability to upgrade your Pokemon, we're taking a look at everything you will need to know about it.

What is Pokerus?

Pokerus is essentially a "Pokemon virus" that can attach to Pokemon. Unlike most viruses, you actually want to catch this one! What it does is it will double the effort values (EVs) that Pokemon gain from battles. These values give bonuses to that particular Pokemon's stats. These are generally only important if you want to have the absolute strongest of Pokemon, or you plan to play the game competitively.

How-to Get Pokerus

Pokerus in the past is exceptionally rare to get naturally, there was something like a 1 in 21,845 chance of it manifesting on one of your Pokemon after a battle. In Sword and Shield, it's not currently known what the odds are to receive it, but early on it seems like it might not be as rare as it was. There has been multiple reports of Grookeys obtaining it naturally in the game. We don't know officially if Grookey is more likely to get Pokerus, but the fact that it's popping up so quickly and on that Pokemon in particular is intriguing.

The easiest way to get it is to have someone who has a Pokemon with it trade you it. You can then spread the virus to your other Pokemon by placing the infected Pokemon in your party and battling with them. In the past you needed to have the Pokemon adjacent to each other in your party for them to get infected.

If you have a Pokemon with Pokerus, make sure to spread it to another Pokemon you have no interest in playing with and place that Pokemon in your PC. The virus can be cured if the Pokemon that has it remains in your party. The amount of time appears to be random, it varies between one to four in-game days. Once a Pokemon has become cured, it will be immune to the virus going forward.

How Do I Know If a Pokemon Has Pokerus?

Credit to LookinForDatSixPack

If you take a look at your Pokemon's information in the menus, you will possibly see the Pokerus label right below the Points needed to level up menu item. This denotes whether or not your Pokemon has the virus and can spread it to other Pokemon!