How to Disable EXP Share in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

EXP Share has been one of the most contentious features in Pokemon ever since it was changed into a key item in the sixth generation of mainline games. While some players have appreciated the ability to level all of their Pokemon without battling with them, others feel that it makes the games too easy. With EXP Share returning in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, many fans are asking how to turn EXP Share off.

Unfortunately, the short answer is that as of now, you can’t. Players looking to turn EXP Share off might have checked for it in the key items compartment of their bag, but in the most recent games, EXP Share isn’t even treated as an item. Instead, it simply applies to all of your Pokemon passively, with no toggle available for disabling it.

If you passionately want to avoid getting experience across your entire party, however, there are a couple of workarounds. For one thing, fainted Pokemon don’t get experience, so not reviving your team after some of them faint will diminish the experience that your Pokemon get. Unfortunately, this isn’t exactly a fluid solution and it also puts you at greater risk of losing a battle altogether.

Another option is to simply store Pokemon that you don’t want to passively level up in a PC. This is a bit easier than it would have been in the earliest games since PC storage is now accessible nearly anywhere in the game, but again, it still takes extra time and seriously reduces the fluidity of your gameplay.

So How Do I Turn Off EXP Share?

Regrettably, it’s impossible to turn off experience share in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl at this point. The only ways to keep Pokemon from getting experience are by storing them in your PC boxes or letting them faint and not reviving them. While these are less than ideal solutions, they’re just about all that we have to work with.