Fixed 3 bugs on HP Swap Wand: stolen max HP was also being removed as current HP after damage already applied (effectively doubling the HP loss); stolen max HP was calculated from pre-mitigation damage instead of post-mitigation (Special Defense, flat reduction, etc.); the effect on a target holding Twist Band now correctly prevents the attacker from stealing max HP.
Ranked and Tournaments now require an account of level 10 or higher, to discourage smurfing and leaderboard pollution from alt accounts.
Synergies
Fairy rework — Fairy Pokémon now use wands for additional special damage and effects; pick 1 of 3 wands at each Fairy stage. 12 new wands added: Blast, HP Swap, Spirit, Long, Confuse, Petrify, Slow, Slumber, Guiding, Surround, Pounce, Two-Edged, Warp, Switcher, Whirlwind, and Tunnel Wand. Fairy 8 now also grants 20 Luck to all Fairy allies.
Flying — smarter fly-away destination logic: now targets the farthest free cell with at least one enemy in range, minimizing surrounding threats.
Dark melee Pokémon get increased priority movement on their first jump (~200ms faster first attack), preventing the backline from repositioning out of assassin range.
Fighting 8 — "Justified" reworked into "Coaching": no longer reduces hits taken before throwing; instead grants a Training Bag. Each round, benched Fighting Pokémon next to a Training Bag or pillar train, permanently gaining +4 Attack and +10% base max HP. Pillars can now be placed on the bench.
Human TM is now removable simply by benching the Pokémon.
Psychic — Unowns no longer disappear after one fight if their ability didn't cast, and now leave a "reminiscence" worth 1 Psychic point for the next automatic shop assignment only, allowing Unown shops to chain at Psychic 7.
Field Gem, Ground Gem, and Amorphous Gem can now be found buried in the ground.
Nerf Rock — Defense 10/30/60 → 10/25/50.
Nerf Amorphous 7 "Ethereal" — 6 → 5 speed, 12 → 10 HP per active synergy.
Buff Steel — activating now gives the whole team +3 Defense; Steel 8 Max Meltdown 120% → 125% of Attack as true damage.
Pokémon & Abilities — Distribution
Hoppip line — Grass type removed; Attack 4/8/12 → 5/10/15.
Chikorita — added Fairy type; PP 90 → 100.
Oddish — Grass type removed; HP 80/150/230 → 80/150/250.
Bellossom — Grass type removed; HP 250 → 300.
Bagon line — now Regional in Dragon/Monster regions.
Deino line — no longer Regional.
Buneary line — Uncommon → Rare, stats adjusted.
Vespiquen — now Unique with a new passive letting you choose between 3 different abilities. Combee is now Special category; stats adjusted for both.
Dunsparce & Dudunsparce — retyped Normal/Ground/Bug (was Normal/Ground/Flying); new evolution condition: dig the ground 20 times, via ability or Ground synergy.
Pokémon & Abilities — Buffs
Roost (Pidove), Firestarter (Fletchling), and Plasma Tempest (Rotom Fan) now use the new smarter flying-away logic, and proc Flying synergy's protection/aggro-reset effect if active.
Scream Tail — Attack 14 → 16, Defense 8 → 12.
Ralts line — PP 95 → 100; Future Sight now also deals 20% damage to adjacent targets, with a new animation.
Dream Eater no longer cast-loops against sleep-immune targets, and retargets to a Pokémon that can be put to sleep instead.
Fennekin — Mystical Fire's Ability Power reduction 10 → 20, new animation.
Exeggcute — Egg Bomb's eggs now hatch the very next round.
Wishiwashi — Schooling special damage 10% → 15% of max HP.
Pyukumuku — Purify now also cures negative status conditions on adjacent allies.
Blipbug line — PP 100 → 85.
Necrozma line — PP 110 → 100.
Solgaleo — PP 110 → 100.
Stonjourner — spotlight passive now gives 100 Ability Power to adjacent allies (was 50) when in the spotlight.
Pokémon & Abilities — Nerfs
Chimecho — range 3 → 2; passive reworked to gain 3 PP when adjacent allies cast their ability, replacing the old full-surround Sound-scaling passive that was overtuned at high elo.
Dewpider — Sticky Web damage now correctly applies to all hit targets instead of just the main target, but the web's range shrinks from a 2-tile cone to a 1-tile cone.
Tapu Lele — Psychic Surge shield 40 → 30.
Cherrim Sunlight form — Attack 30 → 25; Natural Gift heal 120 → 90 HP.
Swinub line — Defense 6/10/16 → 5/8/16, Special Defense 4/8/12 → 3/6/12.
Pokémon & Abilities — Reworks
Tropius's dish changed to Nanab Berry — below 50% HP, heals 50 HP and gives 1 gold.
Shuckle — PP 90 → 50; no longer gains PP during Bide.
Archen — now 2-range; Attack 4/10 → 6/13, Defense 4/8 → 3/6, Special Defense 4/8 → 3/6.
New visual animation for Doom Desire.
PvE legendary abilities now scale damage per rank instead of a flat amount, now that Skill Swap TM exists: Psystrike (Mewtwo) 80 flat → 20/40/80; Origin Pulse (Kyogre) 100 flat → 25/50/100; Precipice Blades (Groudon) 100 flat → 25/50/100; Sky Attack (Lugia) 120 flat → 30/60/120; Overheat (Moltres) 50 flat → 12/25/50.
Revert Mach Ribbon nerf from 6.9 — 15 → 20 Speed every 3 seconds.
Friend Bow — can now be held by Pokémon already Normal-type, to benefit from its Shield base stats.
Gameplay
Locked status now also prevents forced displacement (Aquatic tidal wave, Fighting knockback, etc).
Storm weather — lightning strikes more often, and Electric Pokémon are supercharged when struck by lightning.
Item carousel phases in town get +5 seconds when there's a town encounter, to allow more time to read and react.
Events
Expedition mission objectives retuned based on player feedback.
Revert Mission Order - Diversify! — back to reaching 8 different active synergies (was raised to 9 in 6.9).
Mission Order - Evolve! — now requires 4 fully-starred Pokémon on board instead of 5.
Mission Order - Prosper! is no longer offered if stage 1 was a shiny PvE round.
New town encounter: Ludicolo.
UI
New gadget: Smeargle's Palette — customize the game's theme and colors; 10 themes at launch, more planned, some unlocked via specific titles.
Items on the item bench are now sorted by category, with categories ordered by importance (special/shiny items first, berries last).
Added a win/loss streak counter in the game UI next to life and gold.
Added an Elo tab on the profile menu with Elo decay info and max Elo reached.
Added Pokémon Auto Chess Twitch streams to the main lobby.
Added a Game Activity tab in Meta Report showing game-count trends over the last 30 days.
Pokémon sprite size scaling based on max HP now scales quadratically instead of linearly, so sprites no longer balloon at very high HP.
Bugfixes
Lingering Aroma's on-hit damage now only applies to melee-range attackers, as intended.
Fixed Smeargle permanently losing Sketch when copying and using Skill Swap.
Fixed a second dish being lost when evolving while holding Big Eater Belt.
Fixed losing a Skill Swap TM-learned ability on evolution.
A Gourmet Pokémon holding a Chef Hat on the bench will now only distribute dishes to adjacent benched Pokémon.
Misc
Added Twitch account verification and linking in Profile > Account, with a secure OAuth flow.
Added a Twitch stream panel in the main lobby to surface live PAC creators — stream title, viewers, uptime, language/tags, and direct channel links.
Added a player Elo distribution report tab in Meta Report, showing rank distribution by Elo.
New gadget: Sprite Tracker — shows SpriteCollab entries missing in PAC, with smart form filters, grouped normal/shiny previews, and direct SpriteCollab links.
Added a keyboard shortcut to open Meta Report (default M, remappable in options).
New title: Legionnaire — obtained by forming a Falinks formation with 8 or more troopers.
New accounts now start with their random starter Pokémon's normal emotion already unlocked.
Thanks to John Rei, a new jukebox track was added along with 3 alternate versions of the Treasure Town music.
Patch 6.9
April 2026
Pokémon Changes
Bagon line — Bagon added to Regional pool (still Uncommon rarity, standard Bagon→Shelgon→Salamence evolution).
Deerling seasonal forms — all 4 seasonal Deerling/Sawsbuck forms properly added.
Pillar obstacles — Wood, Steel, and Concrete pillar board elements added.
📋
Know something we missed?
Patch notes are community-maintained. If you spot a missing change, suggest an edit.
Synergies
Community Suggestions
Community-submitted suggestions for new comps, comp changes, strategy updates, and bug reports. Upvote ideas you like or post a comment!
Items
Items in PAC are crafted from components or found during PvE rounds. Hover over an item to see its stats, recipe, and effect.
⚠️ Work In Progress ⚠️
This website is a work in progress! I haven't added items or proper placement formations for Pokémon yet.
Map placement is currently based simply on the range of the Pokémon.
The written strategies aren't fully correct yet and will have some errors — I'm still working through them.
These comps are based on the highest win rates on the Pokémon Auto Chess website — I'll continue to update it!
Please feel free to send me any information, suggestions, or ways to improve the website at my Twitch stream: 📺 twitch.tv/chrisistofu
Synergy Tier ListComps
Comps organized by primary synergy. Click a synergy folder below to see its comps, then click any comp to view team, board, items and synergy breakdown.
Game Mechanics
Deep-dive explanations of PAC's core systems, compiled from John Rei's guide (1490 peak Elo, code-level understanding of the game) and StrongDonk's guide (rank 1, tournament winner).
🛡️ Defense Formula
Damage = Attack ÷ (1 + 0.05 × Defense)
Defense has diminishing returns. A unit with 20 DEF takes 50% physical damage. A unit with 40 DEF takes 33.3% — the "sweet spot" per John Rei. A unit with 60 DEF takes only 25%, but going from 40→60 DEF only saves an additional ~8%.
10 DEF →67% damage
20 DEF →50% damage
40 DEF →33% damage ← target
60 DEF →25% damage
This formula applies equally to Special Defense vs Special Damage. True Damage ignores this formula entirely.
⚡ Speed & Actions Per Second
APS = 0.4 + (Speed × 0.007)
Speed determines how fast a Pokémon walks, attacks, and casts abilities. 50 Speed = 0.75 APS (the baseline). Speed also affects animation speed of abilities.
0 Speed →0.40 APS
50 Speed →0.75 APS (baseline)
100 Speed →1.10 APS
300 Speed →2.50 APS
Important: The first action of every Pokémon is determined by BASE Speed only, not Speed gained from items. This is why a Tyranitar (45 Base Speed) can move after a Wartortle (50 Speed) even with Speed items equipped.
🍀 Luck Formula
Chance = BaseChance ^ (1 − Luck ÷ 100)
Luck improves proc chances exponentially, not linearly. Example: ICE synergy gives a 20% base freeze chance. Loaded Dice gives +20 Luck.
Luck only considers raw Luck stat for effects outside of battle (e.g. Victini's passive doesn't work outside of combat).
🌤️ Weather System
Weather is set when 8 or more Pokémon of a certain type are present on either side of the board. It counts literal units on field (including duplicates), not Active Synergies. In a tie, no weather is set.
❄️ Snow (ICE)
+10 Speed to ICE units • +30% Freeze duration Dramatically extends every freeze your ICE units apply.
🌑 Night (DARK/GHOST)
+10% Crit Chance • +30% Sleep duration Stacks with DARK synergy's inherent crit bonus.
🏜️ Sandstorm (GROUND/ROCK)
5 SP damage/sec to non-GROUND units • GROUND immune Free chip damage — your team is completely immune.
🌧️ Rain (WATER)
+3 PP/second • -30% Burn and Poison damage Strong counter to Tempo Poison and FIRE opponents.
🌫️ Misty (FAIRY)
+20% Special Damage • +30% Infatuation duration Boosts Tinkabell and Fairy comps' wand damage output.
☀️ Zenith (NORMAL/FIRE)
+20% Healing from all sources • -30% Sleep duration Boosts GRASS overheal and all healing-based comps.
🩸 Blood Moon (GHOST+DARK)
+20% Special Damage • +30% Wound duration Triggers from combined GHOST and DARK unit counts.
🌿 Drought (GRASS/FIRE)
+30% Burn damage • +30% Freeze duration Boosts FIRE burn damage — pairs well with Fire comps.
Weather Rocks each add 3 to a weather's count. Pokémon with weather-setting passives count as 100 toward that weather. Some addpics (Wattrel, Hippopotas, Wingull) count as 3 instead of 1.
🌀 Portal Generation (Stage 9 & 19)
Your active synergy tiers during the Gary/Legendary fight determine which portal symbols spawn. Understanding this system lets you engineer the Unique or Legendary you need.
Every active synergy tier is added to the candidate pool (max 7 tiers, min 4).
Synergies with multiple tiers get priority — e.g. GROUND 8 = 4 Ground symbols added first.
4 symbols are chosen at random from the pool to become portal symbols.
Light, Flora, and Gourmet are restricted — they donate fewer symbols than other synergies.
If you have fewer than 4 active tiers, the pool is filled with inactive synergies.
✅ All addpics are now present — rolling first means uncontested picks
✅ Addpic quality is very high (evolved Rare addpics ≈ Uniques per John Rei)
✅ Rolling early prevents getting contested later
✅ Strong board early = less dependent on Legendary
❌ Only 1% Ultra odds
Best for: DARK, POISON, ROCK/FOSSIL, FAIRY, FIELD comps with strong addpic presence
✅ Much better Epic and Ultra odds (5% vs 1%)
✅ Less reliant on addpics — works even when addpics aren't ideal
✅ Strong power spike at Level 8 for ICE, GHOST, AQUATIC
❌ May lose HP before Stage 16 without a strong Unique
❌ Addpics may be contested by other players
Best for: ICE, GHOST, AQUATIC, GROUND, GRASS/FLORA, SOUND — any comp needing 2★ Ultra
🎠 Town Carousel Guide
Each Town Carousel has a 5% chance of appearing (Celebi: 2.5%). They never repeat in a game. Per John Rei's probability analysis:
Kecleon (9.75%)
Offers synergy items matching your top synergies. Don't roll away gold on Stage 11 or 21 — you don't want to miss this carousel with empty pockets.
Duskull (5%)
Never take the coin. Per John Rei: giving up an item component limits your crafted item options. You'll spend the extra gold leveling anyway, wasting 4-6 rounds of interest advantage.
Meowth (5%)
Amulet Coin caps interest at 40g but gives you gold on kills. Best with high-tempo synergies. Per John Rei: ideal for Ground/Mamoswine to justify the gold spend on rerolling at Level 8.
Kangaskan (5%)
Sells complete craftable items. Per John Rei: you don't have to buy an item. Only buy if it makes your board at least 10g better. Never buy just because it's available.
Cinccino (9.75%)
Offers a Silk Scarf or component. Per John Rei: Silk Scarf items have quality similar to regular crafted items — taking a scarf is very low risk. Especially appealing at Stage 12 mid-rolldown.
Electrivire (22.6%)
Sells tools for 10g. Per John Rei: most tools are situational — only buy if it makes your comp at least 10g better. Don't buy a tool just because it's available.
✏️ Suggest a Change
All suggestions are reviewed before going live. Thank you for helping improve PACademy!
Build a Team Diagram
Click an empty slot to add a Pokémon. Click a filled slot to manage its item sets. Hover any Pokémon for a quick summary, or click it to see full details.
Temp Item Holders (optional — items parked on a unit that gets sold, moving to a real carry later)
Choose an Item
Choose a Pokémon
Item Recommendations
Add up to 3 item sets, up to 3 items per set — e.g. a "tank" set and a "damage" set for the same Pokémon.
Build an Item Tier List
Click "+" on a tier to add an item to it. Click a placed item to remove it. Each item can only be in one tier at a time.
Choose an Item
Build a Synergy Tier List
Click "+" on a tier to add a synergy. Click a placed synergy to remove it. Each synergy can only be in one tier at a time.