Difference Between Bulk Up and Calm Mind in Pokemon Legends: Arceus

The mechanic changes in Pokemon Legends: Arceus are pretty apparent, and were advertised by the makers themselves in their various promotional and gameplay trailers, so it’s no surprise that a lot of the moves that worked in a certain way in previous mainline series games function differently in Pokemon Legends: Arceus. This guide will help you differentiate between how each move works.

How do Stat-Boosting Moves Work in Pokemon Legends: Arceus?

One of the major changes is how stat-boosting moves now work. Where a stat-boosting move would boost a single offensive stat, such as attack or special attack, it now raises both. The text reads “raised offensive stats,” which means both your attack and special attack get raised, even if you use a move such as Howl, which only raises your attack.

This works the exact same way with defensive stats. If you were to use a move such as Harden that raises your Defense, the text will read “raised defensive stats,” which means both your defense as well as special defense gets raised.

What is the Difference Between Calm Mind and Bulk Up in Pokemon Legends: Arceus?

With this in mind, you can already infer that in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Calm Mind and Bulk Up essentially have no difference. They have the same effect as each other. Calm Mind would usually raise special attack and special defense only, but now raises your attack and defense as well, and vice versa for Bulk Up.

This makes the gameplay and strategy a little simpler. Whether that’s a good or bad thing, we’ll leave that up to you to decide!