The Z-A Royale is a competition held in Lumiose City in which Pokémon Trainers compete to see who is the strongest. Players will need to start at Rank Z and make it all the way up to Rank A. It takes place at night and you’ll see large red holographic gates marking an active “battle zone” and the area will also show up on your in-game map.
When in an active battle zone, any Trainer that sees you will initiate a battle — but you can catch them off guard by launching a preemptive attack on their Pokémon for a substantial advantage.
You’ll also be competing alongside your rival, either Urbain or Taunie.
How to rank up in the Z-A Royale
Climbing up the ranks of the Z-A Royale is done by beating Promotion Matches, which require a Challenger’s Ticket to take on. Challenger’s Tickets can be earned by beating trainers in battle zones to earn Ticket Points.
Another way to earn Ticket Points is through “bonus cards” which have small mission to complete such as using a super effective move in battle.
Promotion matches
When you finally have a Challenger’s Ticket, you’ll face off against a trainer to see who will move up a rank in the Z-A Royale. These matches will be part of the main story that you progress.
You can read more about the teams used by trainers in promotion matches on a dedicated page here.
