The quickest way to heal in Pokemon Legends Z-A is to walk into any of Lumiose City’s nine Pokemon Centers and talk to the clerk, who restores your whole team for free. Away from a Center, you can buy a drink at any of the city’s cafes (every purchase heals your Pokemon), use Potions and Revives from your Satchel, or, during the nightly Z-A Royale, defeat certain trainers who offer to patch your team up. Below we cover each method, item use in real-time battles, which rest spots do not heal, and your own trainer’s health.
This guide covers Pokemon Legends Z-A on Nintendo Switch and in the Switch 2 Edition, verified against the official patch notes through version 2.0.2.
Pokemon Centers: The Full Heal
Lumiose has nine Pokemon Centers, and you walk straight in from the street. Inside, one clerk runs both the Pokemon Center side and the Poke Mart side of the counter, so after you talk to her you pick which service you want. Choose healing and your party is restored: HP, status conditions and fainted Pokemon.
- There is a mobile stand. Per the community wiki, a Pokemon Center clerk runs a traveling stand on the north side of Rouge Plaza. She heals for free but offers no shop.
- Centers double as fast travel points. Once you have visited a Center, it becomes a travel spot on your map, which makes “warp, heal, warp back” a quick loop.
- Blacking out sends you to the last Center you visited. Per the community wiki, that is where you land if your trainer’s health runs out, so it is effectively your respawn point.
Cafes: Heal and Build Friendship
This is the easiest method to overlook. Lumiose has 17 cafes, and per the community wiki, buying any drink heals your Pokemon and raises the friendship of your active Pokemon.
Prices vary by cafe and drink. Fresh Water and Sparkling Water are the cheapest options where they are sold, while house blends run into the four figures. Since friendship matters for several evolutions, a cafe stop is often a better use of money than a single Potion.
Healing Items and How to Use Them
Pokemon Center counters sell medicine, and their stock grows as you complete main missions. These are the prices the community wiki lists for a fully stocked counter:
| Item | What it does | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Potion | Restores 20 HP | 150 |
| Super Potion | Restores more HP than a Potion | 400 |
| Hyper Potion | Restores a large amount of HP | 600 |
| Max Potion | Restores all HP | 1,200 |
| Full Restore | Restores all HP and cures status | 1,500 |
| Revive | Revives a fainted Pokemon | 800 |
| Full Heal | Cures any status condition | 200 |
| Antidote, Paralyze Heal, Burn Heal, Ice Heal, Awakening | Cure one specific status | 100 each |
Items also turn up on the ground and as side mission rewards.
Outside battle: press X, open the Satchel, pick the medicine, then pick the Pokemon.
During a battle: battles run in real time and do not stop for menus. Let go of ZL (the lock-on button), press X, open the Satchel and use the item. Player guides put the cooldown between healing items at around 10 seconds, shown at the bottom of the screen, and report that the menu is locked while your opponent is switching Pokemon. The same guides say the cooldown resets when you knock out an opponent’s Pokemon, so the moment its replacement arrives is a good time to heal.
Healing During the Z-A Royale
At night, Battle Zones take over parts of Lumiose for the Z-A Royale, and trainers there will challenge you on sight. Two things help:
- Some trainers heal you. Per the community wiki, after you beat a Pokemon Center Clerk or a Waiter or Waitress inside a Battle Zone, talking to them heals your Pokemon.
- Losing costs you. Per the community wiki, losing to a trainer in the Royale costs you half of the Prize Medals you are carrying, so heal before you pick a fight, not after.
Benches and the bed in your Hotel Z room skip time to the start of the next day or night cycle. The community wiki lists both only as time skips, with no healing mentioned, so do not count on them to restore your team.
Before a big post-game fight, such as the one in our guide on how to get Mewtwo, a Center or cafe stop is the easiest win available.
Your Own Health
Your trainer has a health bar too, because wild Pokemon attack you directly in Z-A. Per the community wiki, it refills on its own whenever nothing is targeting you, drops only from Pokemon attacks (falling and status effects such as burns do not hurt you), and, if it empties, you black out and wake at the last Pokemon Center you visited. The Green Canari Plush raises your maximum health in steps as you upgrade it.
Mega Dimension owners should take extra care: per the community wiki, blacking out in Hyperspace Lumiose throws you out immediately and wastes any unused Donut Energy, so heal before you go in. Ranked Battles run on their own rules, covered in our Season 17 guide, and if you are importing a sturdier team from an older game, read our Pokemon HOME transfer guide first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is healing at a Pokemon Center free in Legends Z-A? Yes. Talk to the clerk, choose the healing service, and your whole party is restored at no cost.
Do benches heal your Pokemon in Pokemon Legends Z-A? Not according to the community wiki, which lists benches and your hotel bed only as ways to skip to the next day or night cycle. For healing, use a Pokemon Center, a cafe drink or items.
Can you use Potions during a battle? Yes. Release ZL, press X, open the Satchel and use the item, then wait out the cooldown of roughly 10 seconds that player guides report.
How do you revive a fainted Pokemon? Use a Revive (or a Max Revive if you have one) from the Satchel, or visit a Pokemon Center, which restores fainted Pokemon along with everyone else.
Do cafes heal Pokemon in Legends Z-A? Yes. Per the community wiki, buying any drink at any of the 17 cafes heals your Pokemon and raises your active Pokemon’s friendship.