Pokemon Sword and Shield: ‘You Can’t Throw a Poke Ball, It Won’t Let Its Guard Down’ Explained

You’ll run into some seriously strong Pokemon while exploring the Wild Area in Pokemon Sword and Shield. You might be greeted with the following message while trying to catch them: ‘You Can’t Throw a Poke Ball, It Won’t Let Its Guard Down’, but what exactly does this mean? We’ll explain what this pop up means, and how to get around it.

‘You Can’t Throw a Poke Ball, It Won’t Let Its Guard Down’ Explained

The Wild Area is a brand new addition to the Pokemon series. It allows players to encounter high-level Pokemon much earlier than they would be able to normally, making it easier to grind for EXP. While exploring the WIld Area, you’ll notice larger Pokemon wandering around outside the patches of long grass. These Pokemon will be a higher level than normal.

In previous Pokemon games, you could catch higher level Pokemon, though they wouldn't always obey you without the correct Gym Badges. In Sword and Shield, you actually can't catch Pokemon that are too high level without the right badge. For example, if you only have the first three badges, you can only catch Pokemon up to level 35. If you try to throw a Poke Ball at say, a level 36, you’ll be greeted with the following message: ‘You Can’t Throw a Poke Ball, It Won’t Let Its Guard Down’.

So How to You Catch High-Level Pokemon?

To make sure you don’t get the ‘Can’t throw a Poke Ball’ message while exploring the Wild Area, you will need to collect more Gym Badges. At the end of each Gym battle you’ll be told the maximum level of Pokemon you can now catch, so keep it in mind while facing new Pokemon.

That’s everything on the ‘Can’t Throw a Poke Ball’ message in Sword and Shield. For more on the game be sure to check out our guide on all of the TM Move Locations. There;s also our detailed breakdown on all of the Evolution Stones in the game, and info on getting a Charmander.