Pokémon Legends: Arceus – Daybreak update, explained

Here’s everything you need to know about the new Daybreak update in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

While it’s not necessarily the Pokémon Legends: Arceus DLC fans had in mind, the recently announced Daybreak update for Game Freak’s latest title is still substantial enough for trainers to consider a return to the Hisui region. If you’ve already rolled credits, completed your ‘Dex research, and committed arguably too much time to shiny hunting, there is now a narrative incentive to come back for an all-new mystery. 

Daybreak introduces several changes to Legends: Arceus, although the biggest of these is the implementation of Massive Mass Outbreaks. They’re not too dissimilar from the standard Mass Outbreaks you’ve already seen — the only real difference is that the Pokémon are, well… massive. Obviously.

[mm-video type=video id=01fwkyneznamf497sd03 playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fwkyneznamf497sd03/01fwkyneznamf497sd03-d76081df5f77dfa860c335293d1c6a5e.jpg]

If you tuned in to Pokémon Presents on Feb. 27, there’s a good chance you’re aware of Daybreak without knowing what exactly it entails. If you didn’t catch the presentation, there’s also a possibility you’ve heard about a new Arceus update on social media without knowing what it’s all about. Regardless of which camp you fall in, we’ve got you covered with our comprehensive breakdown of everything new in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

Here’s everything you need to know about Pokémon Legends: Arceus – Daybreak, including a list of version 1.1.0 patch notes, Massive Mass Outbreak details, and more.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus version 1.1.0 Daybreak patch notes

Hisuian Growlithe and Arcanine

The full patch notes for Pokémon Legends: Arceus – Daybreak were recently published by Nintendo, although they’re quite wordy and technical. Because of this, we’ve taken the liberty of summarizing the patch notes into a more condensed version that’s more easily parsed.

Here’s everything introduced in Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ Daybreak update.

Massive Mass Outbreaks

As mentioned above, Massive Mass Outbreaks are similar to ordinary Mass Outbreaks aside from the fact that the Pokémon included in them are physically bigger. This could mean that they’re more likely to be evolved forms than pre-evolved forms, or that the Pokémon in question are all Alpha Pokémon

At the time of writing, it seems like most of the Massive Mass Outbreaks are generated randomly. You can figure out where Massive Mass Outbreaks are going to occur by feeding Mai’s Munchlax five Aguav Berries. Obviously you need to start the Massive Mass Outbreak side-quest first, which you can do by completing the main story, downloading the update, and meeting with Mai after receiving a request called ‘A New Anomaly’.

New requests

Speaking of new requests, Daybreak adds a bunch of them to Pokémon Legends: Arceus, from taking on new trainers in Ingo’s Training Grounds to learning how to win a match by swapping Bastiodon’s offensive and defensive stats. To access these requests, you first need to complete the main game.

Eternal Battle Reverie

You can now contact Arceus itself in your dreams, allowing you to challenge Arceus, Dialga, and Palkia in a new format called the Eternal Battle Reverie. This becomes available to you after you complete all the new Daybreak requests pertaining to Massive Mass Outbreaks.

Training Grounds update

There are two new gauntlet-style challenges in the Training Grounds: The Path of Solitude and the Path of Tenacity. The former involves using individual Pokémon in challenges that are custom-made for them, while the latter resembles a more traditional tournament in which you take on trainers you met during the main story.

Wurmple taking on Staraptor

Photography

If you ever wanted to get a photo with Adaman, Irida, or any of the other main characters you met during the main story, you’re in luck — the Photography Studio in Jubilife Village now allows you to take photos with other NPCs.

Balloon challenge changes

You know that guy with the balloons? He’s set up an even harder course in the Coronet Highlands, which he claims offers better rewards than before. We haven’t tried it yet, so we’re not quite sure what his definition of “better” is. Fingers crossed it’s Master Ball galore, eh?

Changes to berry growing

You can now grow even more berries on Jubilife Farm. Pretty self-explanatory.

Changes to the Ginkgo Guild

Instead of offering you one random item per day, Ginter now has a wider range of wares. 

As well as all of the above, the Daybreak update is also set to fix some known bugs and issues. Somewhat controversially, this includes a minor exploit that has been widely used to increase the efficiency of shiny hunting.

Given that Legends: Arceus lacks a competitive circuit, shiny hunting was likely one of the main reasons for players sticking around after rolling credits. It will be interesting to see how the community responds to this change over the next few weeks.

Other than that though, Daybreak looks like a great update that should give players who were growing jaded with Legends a whole new lease on life.

Written by Cian Maher on behalf of GLHF.

[listicle id=1850335]