Latest changes to Pokémon Auto Chess, summarised for competitive play.
Patch 6.10CURRENT
May 31, 2026
Pokémon Changes
Vespiqueen — rarity changed from Epic → Unique. New ability: Vespiquen Orders — position-adaptive: Defend Order (front row, shields user + Combee allies), Heal Order (mid row, heals adjacents + clears status), Attack Order (back row, Combee allies gain RAGE, bonus SPECIAL per Combee). Combee no longer evolves into Vespiqueen.
Scizor & Kleavor — moved to Regional pool.
Spiritomb — reworked ability.
Mothim — added as a divergent evolution from the Burmy line.
GalarianWeezing — reworked.
New abilities added to the game — Dragon Energy, Oblivion Wing, Defend Order, Attack Order, Bug Bite, Darkest Lariat. Pokémon assignments TBC.
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.
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Synergies
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.
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 List31 Comps
31 comps ranked by synergy efficiency and combat power. Each comp includes exactly 1 Unique, 1 Legendary, and up to 1 Hatch. 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!