Which Pokémon Unlock With Biome Upgrades In Scarlet & Violet Indigo Disk DLC

Summary The Indigo Disk DLC for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet adds new and rare Pokémon, but catching them requires fulfilling specific requests and upgrading the four biomes, which can be a lengthy grind.

Each upgraded biome in The Indigo Disk adds a different set of starter Pokémon from previous generations, allowing them to be found and caught in the wild.

The ability to upgrade biomes is unlocked fairly early in The Indigo Disk, but BP must be farmed in order to upgrade each.

Although The Indigo Disk adds a wide variety of new and returning Pokémon to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, not all of them can be found in the wild right off the bat. Some select, rare Pokémon, such as starters from previous generations or Legendary Pokémon, take some extra steps to catch, requiring players to perform certain tasks and unlock specific features before they can be caught. Unfortunately, the process of making every Pokémon available in The Indigo Disk can represent a lengthy grind.

Like the Paldea region of base Scarlet and Violet, The Indigo Disk's Terarium is split up into distinct areas, or biomes, each with its own unique terrain, weather conditions, and selection of wild Pokémon. Being smaller than Paldea, though, the Terarium consists of just four biomes - the Canyon Biome, the Coastal Biome, the Polar Biome, and the Savannah Biome - and while each biome adds new Pokémon to Scarlet and Violet, not every Pokémon in each area is available from the start of the DLC. To gain access to some of the DLC's rarer finds, players will first have to fulfill some specific requests from The Indigo Disk's Support Board, which unlock after reaching a certain point in the DLC's story.

Related "The Good Outweighs The Bad" - Pokémon Scarlet & Violet: The Indigo Disk DLC Review The Indigo Disk DLC for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet is an enjoyable addition, but it's bogged down by the same problems as the base games.

How The Indigo Disk's Biome Upgrades Work

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To catch past-generation starter Pokémon in The Indigo Disk, players must first complete specific Support Board requests aimed towards increasing the biodiversity of each biome. There are four requests in total, one for each biome, and each one makes a different set of starters appear as wild Pokémon in their respective area. Unfortunately, however, completing the requests and upgrading every biome in The Indigo Disk can make for a lengthy grind, which can be further exacerbated for players who can't make use of the Union Circle to speed up BP farming.

Which Pokémon Appear In Each Upgraded Biome

Upgrading any biome will add a different set of six starter Pokémon from previous generations to that biome, allowing them to be found and caught in the wild. Notably, this means that every traditional starter trio from previous generations before Scarlet and Violet are available in The Indigo Disk once every biome has been upgraded, with the only notable exceptions being the Hisuian starter variants from Legends: Arceus. Each biome has its own, specific set of starter Pokémon that can appear once upgraded - unlike the Legendary Pokémon from BBQs in The Indigo Disk, they aren't random outside of standard wild Pokémon appearance rates.

Notably, the starter Pokémon are largely not grouped by generation or type. Instead, which biome they appear in presumably has more to do with what their natural habitat would be. Piplup, as a Pokémon based on a penguin, for example, appears in the Polar Biome. While this makes sense for The Indigo Disk's theme of having distinct, open areas, it can make it difficult to discern which biome should be upgraded first for those looking to catch a specific starter.

Since it can take a significant amount of time to upgrade even just one biome, knowing which starters are included with which upgrade can help players prioritize which request to fulfill first.

The different groups of Pokémon that appear in each biome once upgraded are as follows:

Biome Pokémon That Appear Upon Biome Upgrade Canyon Biome Squirtle, Treecko, Turtwig, Tepig, Chespin, Litten Coastal Biome Bulbasaur, Chikorita, Mudkip, Froakie, Popplio, Grookey Polar Biome Cyndaquil, Torchic, Chimchar, Piplup, Oshawott, Scorbunny Savannah Biome Charmander, Totodile, Snivy, Fennekin, Rowlet, Sobble

How To Upgrade Every Indigo Disk Biome Fast

Fortunately, the process of getting the biome upgrades can be started relatively early in The Indigo Disk, as players simply need access to the League Club, which is introduced after the first story battle with Carmine in the Central Plaza. From there, accessing the Support Board allows players to spend BP on a variety of requests from different characters to unlock different features, including the four biome upgrades requests by an NPC named Terry. Unfortunately, however, each biome upgrade is significantly more expensive than other requests, with each one requiring 3,000 BP as opposed to the few hundreds of BP necessary for almost anything else on the Support Board.

There are multiple sources of BP in The Indigo Disk, but unfortunately, most of them are relatively slow and inefficient. BP is rewarded for battling a certain number of trainers in each of the biomes, but only as one-time rewards, limiting the amount that can be farmed through this method. In contrast, other sources of BP are unlimited and repeatable, but can still be slow and relatively inefficient - the Flying Time Trial minigame and solo Blueberry Quests (BBQs) both give BP, but only in small amounts, making them a tedious method for farming BP for the biome upgrades.

By far the fastest method to farm BP is to do group BBQs in a Union Circle - unlike in solo play, doing enough BBQs in co-op through a Union Circle will regularly give players the opportunity to do rare, gold-colored group quests, each of which can give up to 600 BP per quest. Combined with the blue and red quests that are required to gain access to a gold quest, doing BBQs in Union Circle co-op is the fastest method of gaining BP in The Indigo Disk - significantly faster than solo, offline BBQs - making it the best option for any player with online access, and allowing them to farm the Legendary Pokémon exclusive to Union Circle BBQs at the same time.

Upgrading each of The Indigo Disk's four biomes takes a hefty time investment, even with the faster BP farming method of Union Circle BBQs, but the opportunity to catch starter Pokémon from past generations will be well worth the cost for those with a favorite starter, or players who may have missed out on a past generation of games.

How To Improve Your Odds Of Finding Pokémon Starters In Indigo Disk Biomes

In addition to unlocking the beloved starter Pokémon by upgrading the biome in which they may appear within Blueberry Academy’s Terarium, players may want to improve their odds of encountering the creatures. Although they may have been unlocked, it is not a guarantee players will now have an easy time hunting them down when trying to complete the full Pokémon Indigo Disk Pokédex. This is especially true if players are considering to Shiny hunt these starter Pokémon instead of just catching regular versions of each one of them.

Naturally, outbreaks in the Terarium could help players find the Pokémon.

Nevertheless, they do not need to be reliant on the randomness of how outbreaks work. Instead, players can optimize their gains and find the starter creatures they are looking for with more ease by making the proper sandwiches that will boost the spawn of certain kinds of Pokémon. Essentially, there are only three Types of Pokémon that players need to prepare sandwiches for when looking for starters: Grass-, Water-, and Fire-type. As such, they need only follow three different types of recipes, based on what Pokémon they are looking for, specifically.

The table below lists the simplest sandwich recipes to help find each type of Starter in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s Indigo Disk DLC, as well as how to make sandwiches that boost the odds of encountering Shiny Pokémon:

Best Pokémon Sandwiches For Starters In The Indigo Disk DLC Desired Pokémon Sandwich Type Recipes Treecko, Turtwig, Chespin, Bulbasaur, Chikorita, Grookey, Snivy, Rowlet Grass-Type Encounter / Catching Power Sandwich Red Onion Sandwich (Lvl. 1 Grass Encounter Power): Red Onion 1x

Olive Oil 2x Treecko, Turtwig, Chespin, Bulbasaur, Chikorita, Grookey, Snivy, Rowlet Grass-Type Shiny Sandwich Easiest Grass-type Shiny Sandwich (Lvl. 3): Lettuce 1x

Salty Herba Mystica 1x

Sour Herba Mystica 1x Squirtle, Mudkip, Froakie, Popplio, Piplup, Oshawott, Totodile, Sobble Water-Type Encounter / Catching Power Sandwich Rice-Chili Sandwich (Lvl. 1 Water Encounter Power): Rice 2x

Chili Sauce 1x

Cheese 2x Squirtle, Mudkip, Froakie, Popplio, Piplup, Oshawott, Totodile, Sobble Water-Type Shiny Sandwich Easiest Water-type Shiny Sandwich (Lvl. 3): Cucumber 1x

Salty Herba Mystica 2x Tepig, Litten, Cyndaquil, Torchic, Chimchar, Scorbunny, Charmander, Fennekin Fire-Type Encounter / Catching Power Sandwich Pickle Sandwich (Lvl. 1 Fire Encounter Power): Pickle 1x

Olive Oil 1x Tepig, Litten, Cyndaquil, Torchic, Chimchar, Scorbunny, Charmander, Fennekin Fire-Type Shiny Sandwich Easiest Fire-type Shiny Sandwich (Lvl. 3): Red Bell Pepper 1x

Salty Herba Mystica 1x

Spicy Herba Mystica 1x

Of course, these are only some of the simplest sandwiches to make in the game. There are, however, several other sandwich recipes in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, some of which can boost players’ chances of encountering the desired Type of creature beyond level 1 recipes. It is also possible to mix and match ingredients to not only boost Encounter Power or Catching Power but try and fit both into a single meal.

It should not be difficult to find the starters after unlocking them by upgrading their respective biomes, but sandwiches can give players the upper hand. The opportunity to catch every single starter Pokémon from the mainline games in the wild has rarely been implemented in the past, making the biome upgrades of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's Indigo Disk DLC a worthy investment for enthusiastic collectors.