Pokemon Go (iOS, Android) Beginners Guide and Game info
Pokemon Go |
|
General information | |
Platform | iOS, Android (Mobile) |
Developed by | Niantic Inc. |
Published by | Niantic Inc. |
Players |
1+ |
Generation | Generation VI |
Release dates | |
Australia | July 6th, 2016 |
Europe | July 13th, 2016 |
Japan | July 22nd, 2016 |
United States | July 6th, 2016 |
Pokemon Go is an open world adventure featuring augmented reality mons that you can encounter and capture in real world locations. It's a free to play game essentially but if you really want to strive to be a Pokemon master there are premium upgrades that can help you level up faster and catch more Pokemon. The game is playable globally on both iOS and Android.
It's without doubt that Pokemon Go has been the most talked about game in the last couple of decades with July 2016 seeing Pokemon fans old and new alongside people who had never even played the core series games walking the streets with their heads stuck in their phones like something out of the walking dead. The game very much bought back a 90's level of Pokemania to the fore and put Pokemon back in the mainstream public eye; it also rendered people unable to log into their social media feeds without seeing a picture of an Abra on the toilet, a bellsprout in a flowerbed or a Machop riding someones cat.
There is an official Pokemon Go accessory called the Pokemon Go plus which enables players to catch Pokemon and rack up kilometers without having their phones out.
Official description
Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Pikachu, and many other Pokémon have been discovered on planet Earth!
Now’s your chance to discover and capture the Pokémon all around you—so get your shoes on, step outside, and explore the world. You’ll join one of three teams and battle for the prestige and ownership of Gyms with your Pokémon at your side.
Pokémon are out there, and you need to find them. As you walk around a neighborhood, your smartphone will vibrate when there’s a Pokémon nearby. Take aim and throw a Poké Ball… You’ll have to stay alert, or it might get away!
Search far and wide for Pokémon and items
Certain Pokémon appear near their native environment—look for Water-type Pokémon by lakes and oceans. Visit PokéStops, found at interesting places like museums, art installations, historical markers, and monuments, to stock up on Poké Balls and helpful items.
Catching, hatching, evolving, and more
As you level up, you’ll be able to catch more-powerful Pokémon to complete your Pokédex. You can add to your collection by hatching Pokémon Eggs based on the distances you walk. Help your Pokémon evolve by catching many of the same kind.
Take on Gym battles and defend your Gym
As your Charmander evolves to Charmeleon and then Charizard, you can battle together to defeat a Gym and assign your Pokémon to defend it against all comers. It’s time to get moving—your real-life adventures await!
Note: This app is free-to-play and is optimized for smartphones, not tablets.
Gameplay
Like in the core series games the player is introduced to the game by a Pokemon Professor, this time in the form of Professor Willow who will allow you to choose between the traditional three first generation starter Pokemon; Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur. Once the trainer has taken their first Pokemon the game is essentially played by loading the App on your mobile phone and walking around the real world. The types of places you go have some influence on the types of wild Pokemon you will encounter for example if you are near bodies of water you are more likely to encounter water types, grass and bug types might be a little more inclined to spring out and attack you in parks and fields.Catching Pokemon / Stardust and Candy
As the player walks around their phone will vibrate when a wild Pokemon appears and clicking/tapping on the Pokemon will begin a confrontation with that Pokemon and give you the chance to throw some Pokeballs at it in attempt to capture it for your team. The higher the Pokemon's CP level the more difficult it may be to catch.. how difficult a Pokemon will be to catch is indicated by the color of the ring around the Pokemon just before you throw the ball with a red ring indicating that it's very unlikely you'll catch it, a yellow ring being 50/50 and a green ring indicating it shouldn't put up too much of a fight.
As the player levels up and progresses in the game they'll get hold of berries and better quality Pokeballs such as Great Balls and Ultra Balls to make higher level Pokemon easier to catch. The higher the players level the stronger the Pokemon they will encounter in the wild.
Once a Pokemon is caught not only do you add that Pokemon to your Pokedex and team but you also gain Stardust and Candies. Stardust is used in conjunction with candies to power up a Pokemon and help raise its CP (combat power). Raising a Pokemon's CP will in turn result in a raise of it's vital stats like HP, attack power, defence and so on. A little bit more of an explanation on how candies work; each Pokemon has their own kind of Candy so catching a Pidgey will give you Pidgey candy, catching a Scyther will give you Scyther Candy and so on.
The number of candy you get from a catch depends on the level of evolution the target Pokemon was at. An unevolved Pokemon will award three candies, a Pokemon in it's middle evolutionary stage will give 5 and a fully evolved Pokemon such as a Pidgeot will give 10. When the game first launched all levels of Pokemon simply awarded 3 candies regardless of evolutionary state. Additionally transferring any Pokemon to Profesor Willow will grant another Candy.
Evolving Pokemon
So as I mentioned above you can use stardust and candies to power up a Pokemon's CP level. Candy's on there own however can be used to evolve Pokemon; the cost of those evolutions can be as little as 12 candies for basic evolutions such as Pidgey to Pidgeotto, Caterpie to Metapod and go right the way up to 400 candies for the most advanced evo's like Magikarp into Gyrados.
Evolving Pidgey's.... you'll get used to it.
PokeStops
PokeStop's are essentially real world landmarks which appear as a blue marker on your map - these could be anything from statues, to public houses, restaurants, supermarkets and you can tap them ingame and spin the PokeStops image to recieve items such as Pokeballs, Berries and even Pokemon Eggs. The PokeStops are refreshed and can be re used every five minutes.
Hatching Pokemon from Eggs
Every player starts the game with an egg incubator that can be used an infinite amount of times but can only incubate one egg at a time. If the player is lucky enough to get a Pokemon egg from a PokeStop they can put the egg into the incubator and walk a certain distance to hatch it. Eggs come in 2km, 5km and 10km versions and the version you have will affect what Pokemon you can get from it. 10km eggs have the potential to hatch the rarest and most powerful Pokemon... and I should think so too if you have to walk 10 kilometers to hatch them!
2km eggs have the chance to hatch common Pokemon like Ratatta, Pidgey and so on but also have the chance to hatch the starter Pokemon which are all fairly sparse ingame so don't discount these eggs entirely. 5km eggs offer fairly mid range Pokemon. Each time an egg hatches you not only have a new Pokemon for your team but you'll also get a big batch of stardust and the relevant Pokemon's Candy.
Gyms
Like PokeStop's gyms will often be found at real world landmarks and players will fight to control the gyms in order to obtain Pokecoins. A player is also rewarded with a basic level of XP for fighting for control of a gym or training at a friendly gym.
New style gym system
On June 23rd, 2017 Pokemon Go launched its overhauled gym system and added the raids feature. No longer do gyms work on prestige levels but instead defending Pokemon have a motivation level. Each time they are defeated they will become less motivated and weaker in battle until they are eventually knocked out. Motivation will also slowly decay over time even if no one is attacking the gym. Trainers who have a Pokemon stationed at a friendly gym can visit their Pokemon and feed them berries to keep their motivation and combat abilities up.
They also changed the way you claim your defenders bonus and set a maximum 50 Pokécoin's per day limit. The maximum garrison in a gym is now six Pokémon as opposed to the 10 it was previously. Additionally gym's also act as PokeStops so you can obtain items from them exactly as you would a normal PokeStop except if your team control the gym you get a Team Bonus and recieve some additional items.
The introduction of the raids feature means every so often a higher than normal CP Pokemon of varying difficulty levels will spawn at a gym and it will often take multiple players to bring it down. All three teams can work together during these battles to bring down the most powerful mons. Want to know more? Click here for our guide to raids in Pokemon Go.
How gym's used to work
When a player spars with the Pokemon at a friendly gym the gyms level of prestige is raised, the more prestige a gym has the more Pokemon can be stationed their from one team to defend it. Every 24 hours the trainers who have a Pokemon stationed at a gym can claim a Defenders Bonus by clicking the icon in the top right of the shop - this defenders bonus consists of 10 Pokecoins and 500 stardust per gym you have a Pokemon stationed at. A maximum 10 Pokémon could be stationed at a gym at once.
Pokemon Go Gyms.
Buddy Pokemon
This feature is something else that wasn't around when the game was initially released, you can now choose a buddy Pokemon who will travel around by your side on your adventures and every 1km, 3km or 5km walked (depending on the Pokemon type) it will find a candy. It's best to have a rare Pokemon or a Pokemon you particularly want to evolve and power up as a buddy as they'll find their own candy type as you walk around.
Medals
Medals are a form of ingame achievements that you display on your ingame profile. Whilst many of the medals are purely for vanity some of them do some with benefits a couple of examples of which are:-
- Bird Keeper - Catch 200 Flying type Pokemon. This awards a +3 flying-type catch bonus, meaning you have a better chance of catching high level flying Pokemon you encounter in the wild.
- Bug Catcher - Catch 200 Bug types. Again the same sort of bonus as above but for bugs.
- Hiker - Catch 200 Rock type Pokemon. You get the idea...
Whilst medals aren't something you can really proactively go out and decide to get hold of basically every Pokemon you catch will contribute toward a medal of some kind.
Character customisation
Pokemon Go offers a range of character customisation options. When you initially set up your character you can choose your hair, face and so on but there are further options ingame to choose from including hats, glasses, tops, bags, gloves, bottoms, socks and footwear. There are some things you can wear for free but other bits will cost Pokecoins for example tops which have your team's logo on etc... they aren't cheap!
Can I catch them all?
Well in short, no you can't. When Pokemon Go first launched back in July 2017 it was only first generation Pokemon in the game and even then not all of them... it's one year on and as I write this there have been no legendary or mythical Pokemon caught so far. Ditto for example was not initially available but was slipped into the game on November 23rd, 2016. Ditto can't be found as itself and often takes on the guise of common unsuspecting Pokemon such as Pidgey, Rattata, Zubat and Magikarp and your best chance of catching one comes simply from farming these more common mons.Less than a month later Gen II baby Pokemon were added to the game in the form of possible egg hatches. This included Cleffa, Elekid, Igglybuff, Magby, Pichu, Smoochum and Togepei.
Pokemon Go's implementation of Gen II mon's was complete on February 16th, 2017 when the vast majority of Gen II were introduced into the wild. This update also enabled the evolution of any Pokemon from Gen I that cross evolves into Gen II (Scyther to Scizor, Golbat to Crobat for example) to occur. Additionally Togetic can now be caught in the wild but in most places is Ultra Rare.
Shiny Pokemon made it to the game on the 22nd of March 2017 when Shiny Magikarp became introduced, Shiny Gyrados is also possible if you evolve the Shiny Karp when you have enough candies. Based on very limited research during the water festival this year it looks as though the odds of you getting hold of a Shiny Magikarp are about 1 in 400.
Don't be disheartened that you can't catch them all just yet... it's without doubt that Legendary and Mythical Pokemon will be saved for special world events such as anniversaries etc. And I dare say Gen III is in the pipeline already.
The Teams
At level five every Pokemon Trainer will stop being in harmony with the world and will be approached by the leaders of the three real world Pokemon Teams; Team Instinct, Team Valor and Team Mystic who will present you with an intro to their team and try to entice you to join them. Here's a little bit about each team and their intro's:-Team Instinct is the Yellow Team and is led by Spark. The teams sigil features the Legendary Bird Zapdos. Hey! The name's Spark — the leader of Team Instinct. Pokemon are creatures with excellent intuition. I bet the secret to their intuition is related to how they're hatched. Come and join my team! You never lose when you trust your instincts! |
|
Team Valor is the Red Team and is led by Candela. Moltres is the chosen legendary bird for their teams sigil. I'm Candela — Team Valor's leader! Pokemon are stronger than humans, and they're warmhearted, too! I'm researching ways to enhance Pokemon's natural power in the pursuit of true strength. There's no doubt that the Pokemon our team have trained at the strongest in battle! Are you ready? |
|
Team Mystic is the Blue Team and is led by Blanche and the Legendary Bird which represents the team is Articuno. I am Blanche, leader of Team Mystic. The wisdom of Pokemon is immeasurably deep. I am researching why it is that they evolve. With our calm analysis of every situation, we can't lose! |
Which team to choose depends not only how you feel about each of the leaders descriptions as well as which color and legendary bird you like best but I'd also recommend taking a look at your area - which team controls all the gyms? in some areas it can be pretty one sided where others can be hotly contested by all three teams. If there is an obvious dominance in your immediate area from any one team it might be better as a new player to join em' rather than end up isolated and bitter like me ;-)
Once you've chosen a team it's currently permanent so be careful. So lets say you join Team Instinct, when you next go to a gym if it's already under your teams control you can battle/spar at that friendly gym to gain a little XP but also to level the gyms prestige level whereas if it's an enemy gym controlled by Valor or Mystic you will want to battle the gym and for every Pokemon you beat that gym will lose prestige until it becomes neutral enabling you to take the gym over for your team.
Another time when you'll be working with your Team's leader is when you want your Pokemon appraised. You can lean on the expertise of your Team Leader to provide you with information on your Pokemon's stats, combat abilities and attributes. Why would you want to do this? well let's say you have two Pokemon of roughly the same CP level and can't decide which to evolve the best course of action is to appraise both and evolve the one with the better combat ability appraisal. This is especially important if you are intending to be involved in gym battles.
Appraisals
So we touched on Appraisals above but they're pretty important so let's check it out in more detail. There are two things Pokemon are appraised on in Pokemon Go. Firstly the team leader will give you one of four ratings based on the Pokemon's overall statistics and secondly they'll rate the Pokemon's best stat, again from a selection of four different levels. Let's take a look at the appraisals and what they mean:-Team Instinct - Overall Stat Analysis
Giving a good overall impression of your Pokemon's combat abilities.
Appraisal | IV Range | |
Overall, your [Pokemon Name] looks like it can really battle with the best of them! | 82.2%-100% | |
Overall, your [Pokemon Name] is really strong! | 66.7% – 80% | |
Overall, your [Pokemon Name] is pretty decent! | 51.1% – 64.4% | |
Overall, your [Pokemon Name] has room for improvement as far as battling goes. | 0% – 48.9% |
Team Instinct - Specific Stat Analysis
This appraisal will tell you how much of a stat bonus the mentioned Pokemon has for it's best stat.
Appraisal | Stat Bonus |
|
Its stats are the best I’ve ever seen! No doubt about it! | 15 | |
Its stats are really strong! Impressive. | 13-14 | |
It’s definitely got some good stats. Definitely! | 8-12 | |
Its stats are all right, but kinda basic, as far as I can see. | 0-7 |
Team Mystic - Overall Stat Analysis
Giving a good overall impression of your Pokemon's combat abilities.
Appraisal | IV Range | |
Overall, your [Pokemon Name] is a wonder! What a breathtaking Pokemon! | 82.2%-100% | |
Overall, your [Pokemon Name] has certainly caught my attention. | 66.7% – 80% | |
Overall, your [Pokemon Name] is above average. | 51.1% – 64.4% | |
Overall, your [Pokemon Name] is not likely to make much headway in battle. | 0% – 48.9% |
Team Mystic - Specific Stat Analysis
This appraisal will tell you how much of a stat bonus the mentioned Pokemon has for it's best stat.
Appraisal | Stat Bonus |
|
Its stats exceed my calculations. It’s incredible! | 15 | |
I am certainly impressed by its stats, I must say. | 13-14 | |
Its stats are noticeably trending to the positive. | 8-12 | |
Its stats are not out of the norm, in my opinion. | 0-7 |
Team Valor - Overall Stat Analysis
Giving a good overall impression of your Pokemon's combat abilities.
Appraisal | IV Range |
|
Overall, your (Pokemon Name) simply amazes me. It can accomplish anything! | 82.2%-100% | |
Overall, your [Pokemon Name] is a strong Pokemon. You should be proud! | 66.7% – 80% | |
Overall, your [Pokemon Name] is a decent Pokemon | 51.1% – 64.4% | |
Overall, your [Pokemon Name] may not be great in battle, but I still like it! | 0% – 48.9% |
Team Valor - Specific Stat Analysis
This appraisal will tell you how much of a stat bonus the mentioned Pokemon has for it's best stat.
Appraisal | Stat Bonus |
|
I’m blown away by its stats. WOW! | 15 | |
It’s got excellent stats! How exciting! | 13-14 | |
Its stats indicate that in battle, it’ll get the job done | 8-12 | |
Its stats don’t point to greatness in battle. | 0-7 |
The appraisal system wasn't originally in the release version and was added in update 0.35.0. As well as combat abilities your Team Leader will also comment on how big or small your Pokemon is but it's unclear as to whether the size/weight of a Pokemon has any affect on anything as yet.
Gaining XP and Levelling Up
In Pokemon Go it's the player that earns XP and levels up as opposed to his/her Pokemon. Naturally most trainers are going to want to get stronger quickly in order to encounter and command more powerful Pokemon. The level cap currently sits at 40 and it takes a colossal amount of XP to get there. Here are some basic tips on where you are going to get that XP from.Catching Pokemon
You gain 100 XP for every Pokémon you catch. If it's a new entry to your Pokedex you get a further 500 XP. Additionally you also get a further XP bonus for different types of throws as detailed in the next section.
Throw Bonuses
- If you catch a Pokemon with the first throw of your Pokéball you gain 50 XP.
- Catch a Pokémon with a Curveball - 10 XP
- Catch a Pokémon with a Nice throw - 10 XP
- Catch a Pokémon with a Great throw - 50 XP
- Catch a Pokémon with an Excellent Throw - 100XP
The first throw, curveball and one of Nice, Great or Excellent XP bonuses do stack. So for example if you throw a curveball for your first catch and it hits inside the targetting circle for a Nice throw you'll get 50XP + 10XP + 10XP = 70XP throw bonus in addition to the usual 100 XP for catching a Pokemon.
Evolving Pokemon
If you're really serious about getting that level up the short story is that you want to catch as many Pidgey, Caterpie, Weedle as possible. The reason you want these is because a) they're really common and easy to find in large quantities in most places and b) it only takes 12 candies to evolve them. Each evolution will award you 500 XP and if it evolves into a Pokemon you didn't have in your Pokedex that'll net you another 500 XP so 1000 XP total not bad eh?
A common tactic for levelling up quickly is to farm lots of Pidgey, Caterpie, Weedle then pop a lucky egg which doubles your XP for 30 minutes and evolve them all. This makes it up to 1000 XP per evolution. I would recommend holding onto as many Pidgey and Pidgey candy as possible; waiting for special events and festivals ingame where they have a double XP bonus drop a lucky egg then and you are talking 2000 XP per Pidgey evolved.
Hatching Pokemon from Eggs
Each Pokemon you hatch from an egg will award XP (as well as candies and stardust)
- 2km Egg Hatch - 200 XP
- 5km Egg Hatch - 500 XP
- 10km Egg Hatch - 1000 XP
Daily Bonuses
First catch of the day. The first Pokemon you catch each day will award a 500 XP bonus, complete this daily mission 7 days in a row and on the 7th day that bonus goes up to 2500 XP. As an additional bonus you'll also get 600 Stardust per day for the first 6 days, and then 3000 stardust on the seventh day.
First PokeStop of the day. The first PokeStop you visit each day will award a 500 XP bonus and lots of items, visit at least one PokeStop a day for 7 consecutive days and get a 2500 XP bonus on the seventh day as well as a special item and lots of PokeBalls and berries.
Winning Gym Battles
You also gain XP by attacking gym's held by enemies to lower their prestige, or by sparring at a friendly gym to raise it's prestige level. Heres the XP you can gain:-
- Defeat one Pokemon at a gym - 150 XP
- Defeat two Pokemon at a gym - 250 XP
- Defeat three Pokemon at a gym - 350 XP
- Defeat four Pokemon at a gym - 450 XP
- Defeat five Pokemon at a gym - 550 XP
Watch out for special events. Most of the events we've seen in the first year of Pokémon Go have featured XP bonuses of some kind be that a generic overall double XP bonus, a big bonus on catching Pokemon with good throws etc. These events can help you decide when to play more actively and when to blow those lucky eggs and evolve new types etc.
Pokecoins
The currency in Pokemon Go is Pokécoins. Pokécoins can be earned by occupying gym's and claiming your daily defenders bonus (ten pokécoins per gym occupied at the time of claim) these coins can only be claimed once every 24 hours in this manner. Pokécoins can also be purchased with real world money. Check out the prices for Pokecoins below if we look at how these currencies convert some countries certainly get a better deal than others.Pokécoins | UK | USA | Australia | New Zealand | Europe | Japan | |
100 | £0.99 | $0.99 | $1.49 | $1.49 | €0.99 | ¥120 | |
550 | £4.99 | $4.99 | $7.99 | $7.49 | €4.99 | ¥600 | |
1200 | £9.99 | $9.99 | $14.99 | $14.99 | €9.99 | ¥1200 | |
2500 | £19.99 | $19.99 | $30.99 | $29.99 | €19.99 | ¥2400 | |
5200 | £39.99 | $39.99 | $62.99 | $59.99 | €39.99 | ¥4800 | |
14500 | £99.99 | $99.99 | $159.99 | $149.99 | €99.99 | ¥11800 |
Items
A list of all the items in Pokemon Go, what they do and where you can obtain them. I've split the tables into categories ie battle items, berries, special items etc.Potions and Revives
Medical items for reviving and healing your Pokemon after a gym encounter.
Item | Level Required | What it does | Obtained at |
|
Potion | Level 5 | A spray-type medicine for treating wounds. It restores the target Pokemon's HP by 20 points. | PokeStops | |
Super Potion | Level 10 | A spray-type medicine for treating wounds. It restores the target Pokemon's HP by 20 points. | PokeStops | |
Hyper Potion | Level 15 | A spray-type medicine for treating wounds. It restores the target Pokemon's HP by 20 points. | PokeStops | |
Max Potion | Level 25 | A spray-type medicine for treating wounds. It fully recovers the target Pokemon's HP. | PokeStops | |
Revive | Level 5 | A medicine which can resucitate a fainted Pokemon and restore 50% of it's HP. | PokeStops | |
Max Revive | Level 30 | A medicine which can resucitate a fainted Pokemon and fully restore it's HP. | PokeStops |
Pokeballs
There are currently three types of Pokéball available in Pokemon Go. Standard Pokéballs are the only ones which can be purchased in the Shop whereas the other two balls must be obtained from PokeStops.
Item | Level Required | What it does | Obtained at |
|
Pokeball | None | A device for catching wild Pokemon. It's thrown like a ball, comfortably encapsulating it's target. | PokeStops, Shop | |
Great Ball | Level 12 | A high-performance Ball with a higher catch rate than a standard Poke Ball. | PokeStops | |
Ultra Ball | Level 20 | An ultra-performance Ball with a higher catch rate than a Great Ball. | PokeStops |
Berries
Berries can help you capture Pokemon more easily or increase the candy reward. Nanab berries are best used on aggressive Pokemon or ones that dart about quickly such as Zubat.
Item | Level Required | What it does | Obtained at |
|
Razz Berry | Level 8 | Feed this to a Pokemon and it will be easiest to catch on your next throw. | PokeStops | |
Nanab Berry | Level 14 | Feed this to a Pokemon to calm it down, making it less erratic. | PokeStops | |
Pinap Berry | Level 18 | Feed this to a Pokemon to recieve more Candy when you catch it. | PokeStops |
Special Items
These special items are recieved if you complete your daily PokeStop visit for 7 consecutive days. On the seventh day your first PokeStop will award one of the below items as well as the usual abundance of standard items and XP.
Item | Level Required | What it does | Obtained at |
|
Dragon Scale | Level 10 | A scale that can make certain species of Pokémon evolve. It is very tough and inflexible.. | PokeStops | |
King's Rock | Level 10 | A rock that can make certain species of Pokémon evolve. It looks like a crown. | PokeStops | |
Metal Coat | Level 10 | A coating that can make certain species of Pokémon evolve. It is a special metalic film. | PokeStops | |
Sun Stone | Level 10 | A peculiar stone that can make certain species of Pokémon evolve. It burns as red as the evening sun. | PokeStops | |
Up-Grade | Level 10 | A transparent device that can make certain species of Pokémon evolve. It was produced by Silph Co. | PokeStops |
Premium Items
These items can sometimes be obtained for free by hitting certain milestone levels but for the most part if you want em, you gotta get your hands in your pockets! Player's who have been spending money on the game hit level 40 a long time ago by combining 9x Incubators and the use of a lucky egg just before the nine eggs were due to hatch for huge XP bonuses. It should be noted that all players start with one egg incubator that can be used an infinite number of times.
Item | Level Required | What it does | Obtained at |
|
Egg Incubator | None | A device that incubates an Egg as you walk until it is ready to hatch. Breaks after 3 uses. Cost: 150 Pokecoins each |
Milestone Levels, Shop | |
Lucky Egg | None | A Lucky Egg that's filled with happiness! Earns double XP for 30 minutes Cost: 80 Pokecoins for 1, 500 Pokecoins for 8 or 1250 Pokecoins for 25. |
Milestone Levels, Shop | |
Lure Module | None | A module that attracts Pokémon to a PokéStop for 30 min. The effect benefits other people nearby. Cost: 100 Pokecoins for 1, 680 Pokecoins for 8. |
Milestone Levels, Shop | |
Incense | None | Incense with a mysterious fragrance that lures wild Pokémon to your location for 30 minutes. Cost: 80 Pokecoins for 1, 500 Pokecoins for 8 or 1250 Pokecoins for 25. |
Milestone Levels, Shop | |
Bag Upgrade | None | Increases the max number of items you can carry by 50. Costs: 200 Pokecoins. |
Shop | |
Storage Upgrade | None | Increases the max number of Pokémon you can carry by 50. Costs: 200 Pokecoins. |
Shop |
Limited edition shop items
These gift box items are seasonal, limited time items. I would expect that they will return for Christmas again this year in one form or another.
Item | Level Required | Whats inside? | Obtained at |
|
Special Box | None | 10 Great Balls, 2 Egg Incubators Cost: 250 Pokecoins. Was available: December 25 to 30, 2016 |
Shop (Seasonal) | |
Great Box | None | 20 Great Balls, 2 Incense, 4 Egg Incubators Cost: 550 Pokecoins. Was available: December 25 to 30, 2016 |
Shop (Seasonal) | |
Ultra Box | None | 20 Ultra Balls, 25 Incense, 6 Egg Incubators. Cost: 1500 Pokecoins. Was available: December 25 to 30, 2016 |
Shop (Seasonal) | |
Bronze Box | None | 100 Poké Balls, 8 Lure Modules. Cost: 460 Pokecoins. Was available December 25 to 30, 2016 |
Shop (Seasonal) | |
Silver Box | None | 8 Incense, 8 Lucky Eggs, 8 Lure Modules. Cost: 980 Pokecoins. Was available December 25 to 30, 2016 |
Shop (Seasonal) | |
Gold Box | None | 50 Great Balls, 25 Incense, 25 Lucky Eggs, 16 Lure Modules Cost: 2480 Pokecoins. Was available December 25 to 30, 2016 |
Shop (Seasonal) |
Reviews
Theres no doubting that Pokemon Go is a unique and pioneering title which added a real world social experience to a popular gaming franchise ... in the beginning at least. And whilst it is difficult to review Pokemon Go in the same way you would review a traditional Pokemon title due to the fact it's a) a free game and b) constantly being worked on here are what the major review sites and critics had to say:-- Kallie Plagge from IGN scored the game 7 out of 10 and described it as "A simple collection game made memorable by its community experience."
- The Guardian's Kat Brewster described it as "as "not a good game, but a great experience" and scored it 2 stars out of 5.
- Metacritic currently has Pokemon Go at a score of 68% across it's aggregation of 36 critics scores (true 16/06/2017). The game also won the award for most discussed game of the year and most shared game of the year on Metacritic.
- GameSpot's Miguel Concepcion gave Pokemon Go a 7 out of 10 in his review and commented "When it works, Pokemon Go feels like a natural evolution for the series".
It should be noted that these reviews are from July 2016 when the game launched, if they were to be written now I think they'd be different as most of the consensus of the reviews is that the game is bad, buggy, broken and the servers can't cope but the social experience when it worked was great. The situation now as I write this a year on is that a lot of stuff has been fixed, the game has been enhanced but the novelty social experience that was associated with the game at launch has diminished. It would be interesting to see what the same reviewers would score the game a year on.
Opinions on Pokemon Go remain mixed due to issues with massive dominance of certain teams in some areas and a gym system which further contributes to this misery, an abundance of spoofers who cheat their way to the best Pokemon etc have contributed to a reduction in playerbase since the game launched. However since launch Niantic have introduced various improvements and special events to make the game more enjoyable for those who still play it (approx 5 million daily active players as of April 2017).
Videos & Media
Check out these Pokemon Go videos, trailers, commercials and more.The official launch trailer for Pokemon Go. "Get up and Go!"
December 2016 announcement trailer for Togepei and Pichu being added to the game.
Trivia and Facts
- The game was released in celebration of Pokemon's 20th anniversary.
- The idea for the game was conceived in 2013 by Satoru Iwata of Nintendo and Tsunekazu Ishihara of the Pokemon Company as an April Fool's Day collaboration with google called Pokemon Challenge. At the time they had worked with Tatsuo Nomura from Google Maps who has since become a senior project manager at Niantic.
- Unlike other games in the Pokemon core series players don't have to battle a wild Pokemon before capturing them
- In 2015 Ishihara did a speech about Pokemon Go which he dedicated to Iwata who had sadly passed away two months before
- It was decided to create the Pokemon Go plus accessory rather than add an app to smartwatches because that would have limited the player base to those that could afford smartwatches. Or it would've certainly given them an unfair advantage.
- A Japanese exclusive beta test was announced on March 4th, 2016 for Pokemon Go in an effort to eliminate bugs etc from the game prior to it's full release.
- When the game released in the first few countries it was so popular that the servers were regularly overloaded and John Hanke, Niantic's CEO said release to the remaining regions would be delayed while they fixed the issues.
- Within 24 hours of it's release in the USA Pokemon Go had topped all App store charts for free games and top grossing apps.
- The incredible popularity of Pokemon Go resulted in a 10% share price increase for Nintendo and days later by July 11th this figure had risen to a 23% increase.
- Within 2 days of release Pokemon Go had been downloaded to 5.6% of all Android devices in the USA. Even more than Tinder.
- Also within 2 days of release Pokemon Go had raised safety concerns with emergency services because people were putting themselves in dangerous positions by a) trespassing where they shouldn't to look for Pokemon and b) not even looking up from their mobile phones to cross the roads. The Northern Territory Police Fire and Emergency services issues a statement to players to “look up, away from your phone and both ways before crossing the street”
- Stats provided by Similar Web say that over 60% of people who downloaded Pokemon Go in the USA are/were using it daily.
- On launch day a player in Wyoming wandered off the beaten track in search of Pokemon and was walking alongside a river where they discovered a dead body.
- Meanwhile in O'Fallon, Missouri a shocking ELEVEN teenagers were subject to armed robbery by a group of guys in a black BMW at a shopping centre. O' Fallon Police department apprehended the four suspects later that evening who then went on to admit they were using ingame lures to attract Pokemon and thus Pokemon Go players.
- Plays of the original soundtrack of the Pokemon Animated series increased by 362% across the glove following the games release.
- Some of Pokemon Go's soundtrack was composed by Junichi Masuda.
- To celebrate the first anniversary of Pokemon Go, Niantic announced the games first major event; Pokemon Go fest in Chicago. The event was held on 22nd of July 2017 and very much didn't go to plan, with huge queues to get into the arena due to single file security searches followed by major technical difficulties and thousands of fans booing Niantic CEO John Hanke pretty badly when he came on stage. Some fans even saw fit to file a lawsuit against Niantic in the wake of the disastrous event.
- In the wake of the disaster that was Pokemon Go fest, Niantic appeased fans somewhat with the release of Legendary raids. The first legendary raids began on July 23rd 2017 with Articuno and Lugia; Articuno was chosen from the original trio of legendary birds due to Team Mystic contributing the most to a global catch 'em all event on July 22nd. Articuno was only around for a week, with it's final appearance coming on 31/07/2017.
- Moltres was released from 1st of August 2017 to the 8th of August 2017 and is planned to be followed up by Zapdos.
Other Pokemon Go Links
Alright, so this article gave you the basics on Pokemon Go, check out the links below for more advanced stuff and other special articles to help you on your way.
Attacking and defending gym's is the staple of competitive play in Pokémon Go, especially given the new, more generous Pokécoin rewards since the June 23rd 2017 update. Due to the shere number of Pokémon in the game and with more undoubtedly on the way it's hard to know which mon is best for which and thats before we even start looking at the movesets. At the time of writing this guide Pokémon Go has been out nearly a year and mon's from both of the first generations have been fully released into Pogo's wilds.
This is a basic guide on who are the best gym defenders and best gym attackers in Pokemon Go; some mon's may have great HP and Defence ratings where others might be incredible damage dealers. Learning which mon's to use in which situations will help you not only take over gyms efficiently but also give you a better chance of holding onto them for longer thus gaining more Pokécoins. More Pokécoins = more premium items to help you level and get more rare and powerful Pokémon = even more gym dominance, so lets get started.
Quick menu: Ideal Defenders / Accessible, Strong Defenders / Ideal Attackers / Accessible, Strong Attackers
Top 4 ideal defenders
If RNG was no object, and we could just decide what Pokémon we had access to, you'd pretty much just be using these four (if you were creative enough to not just use an army of Blissey).
Other strong defenders of note
For those of us who don't have Snorlax', Tyranitar's, Blissey's and Dragonite's falling into our laps here are some more realistic and easier to obtain gym defenders who are still forces to be reckoned with on the gym circuit.
These are the mon's you'd have on the front line to hit enemy gyms with if RNG was no object and you could have any mons you liked with the best stats and fully powered up.
Realistic best attackers if you aren't lucky with ultra rare spawns.
These are the most accessible primary attackers of key importance, based on attacking gyms with 'strong, semi optimised setups' and the strongest defenders.
It goes without saying that other strong situational attackers have been omitted from this list such as Alakazam, Gengar, Lapras, Charizard, Espeon and Flareon which have great DPS but might not commonly be useful based on attacking gyms with the current 'best' defenders. But here are their honourable mentions and optimal movesets.
In my own experience and the opinions/responses I got from people I asked across Twitter, Google+ and other players I know IRL these are the main ones worth mentioning. Should I have missed anything feel free to give me some abuse on Twitter.
This is a basic guide on who are the best gym defenders and best gym attackers in Pokemon Go; some mon's may have great HP and Defence ratings where others might be incredible damage dealers. Learning which mon's to use in which situations will help you not only take over gyms efficiently but also give you a better chance of holding onto them for longer thus gaining more Pokécoins. More Pokécoins = more premium items to help you level and get more rare and powerful Pokémon = even more gym dominance, so lets get started.
Quick menu: Ideal Defenders / Accessible, Strong Defenders / Ideal Attackers / Accessible, Strong Attackers
The best gym defenders in Pokémon Go
This list of gym defenders is updated to include the Gen II update and ranks from very best defender to lesser defenders; although every mon we mention can be more than viable in terms of gym defence:-Top 4 ideal defenders
If RNG was no object, and we could just decide what Pokémon we had access to, you'd pretty much just be using these four (if you were creative enough to not just use an army of Blissey).
Blissey The colossus of gym defence. Her shere amount of HP and the fact she's a normal type Pokémon with very little in the way of weaknesses can make this a nightmare to oust from gym's. The ideal moveset for defence being Zen Headbutt and Dazzling Gleam. I recall a local gym by me with 4 of these at near 3k CP prior to the gym update, needless to say they held that gym for a seriously long time. Same old Valor, always cheating. ;-) You're best off countering this with Machamp, as fighting types are strong against normal - even then victory is far from assured. |
|
Snorlax The undisputed heavyweight champion of gym defence, Gen I's Snorlax reigned supreme as an unmatched defender until Gen II weighed in with Blissey. Even now Snorlax and his normal type and formidable HP are extremely difficult to knock over within the time limit. He also puts out some good damage. His ideal moveset is Zen Headbutt coupled with Body Slam or Hyper Beam but to be honest no Snorlax is a bad Snorlax. Like Blissey, the best way to counter Snorlax is witha Machamp or other strong fighting type with Fighting moves. |
|
Tyranitar Gen II also bought in Tyranitar, another big hitter on the gym circuit. Tyranitar whilst it doesn't have the staying power of the Blissey's or Snorlax of this world does have a better than average 200 HP base stamina, 212 base defence and can dish our some serious damage to anyone trying to wrestle him out of a gym. His best defencive moveset is Iron Tail and Crunch. Very weak against fighting types and fairly weak against grass types, ground types, steel types, water types, bug types and fairy types. |
|
Dragonite Another strong choice is Dragonite who, like Tyranitar is a good allrounder. This mon dishes out powerful damage to attackers and boasts a formidible defence rating of 201 coupled with above average base stamina at 182. Dragon Tail and Outrage are a particularly good pair of moves for defence. Dragonite has very few weaknesses though it's very weak against Ice Types (Cloyster, Lapras for example) and it's also quite weak against Fairy Types, Rock Types and other Dragon types. I have beaten 3k CP~ Dragonite's with a 2k CP Jynx (Fairy) of reasonable stats quite comfortably on numerous occasions so thats a counter to bare in mind if your enemy is stacking Dragonite's. |
Other strong defenders of note
For those of us who don't have Snorlax', Tyranitar's, Blissey's and Dragonite's falling into our laps here are some more realistic and easier to obtain gym defenders who are still forces to be reckoned with on the gym circuit.
Rhydon Rhydon puts out strong damage and stands up pretty well especially given it's very high relative max CP. Rhydon boasts a strong 206 defence rating and 210 base stamina with an enviable max CP of 3300. Though it is unfortunately plagued by a couple of double weaknesses in the forms of Grass Types and Water types and also doesn't perform particularly well against Ice, Fighting, Ground and Steel moves it's still a better than average defender. Rhydon's ideal moveset for defence is Mud Slap and Stone Edge. |
|
Gyarados Like Rhydon Gyrados has a better than average defence rating at 197 base, better than average stamina at 190 and an intimidating max CP of 3281. The main bane of this otherwise strong mon is it's terrible weakness against Electric attacks, it's also not too good against Rock types. Dragon Tail is THE best move for defence with Gyrados as barely anyone is reistant to it; Outrage and Hydro Pump are also OK. |
|
Lapras Despite it's base stats taking a pasting around the Gen II update Lapras remains a well rounded gym defender with better a better than average defence of 190 and better than average stamina of 260 meaning it can outlast most other Pokémon in battle. It's also got a Max CP of 2980. The move set of your Lapras will largely decide what it's strong against, double ice moves will mean it's good at keeping the Dragonite's out, but will fall short in battle against Tyranitar, where Hydro Pump will fail to stop the Dragonite. It seems sort of wrong to me that a Lapras has a lower max CP than a Vaporeon etc but oh well. Weak against Electric, Grass, Fighting and Rock types. Strong against Ice and Water. |
|
Cloyster Cloyster is fairly tanky and can stand up against punishment for longer than most other Pokémon in a battle. It's stamina sits at only 100 which isn't particularly high, however it's defence is a near unmatched 323, the highest in Gen I and only surpassed by Steelix in Gen II. Ideal moveset for defence: Ice Shard and Avalanche. It's a good Dragonite deterrent too as Dragonite is weak against Ice. Cloyster is weak only against Electric, Grass, Fighting and Rock. |
|
Steelix For much the same reasons as Cloyster, Steelix gets an honourable mention here. It's base stamina is 150 and it's defence rating is the current best in the game overall at 333. Ideal defencive move set: Iron Tail and Heavy Slam. Weak only against Fighting, Fire, Ground and Water. And basically strong against everything else. Steelix will do your local gym proud in most situations. Steelix can really slow down enemy Dragonites is only surpassed in staying power by Blissey, it's also really good against Tyranitar. |
|
Vaporeon A good readily available defender in most areas with an excellent max CP of 3157. When the trainer is level 30 or above Vaporeon can have higher CP than Blissey. It's 260 base stamina and 177 base defence make Vaporeon a stronger than average mon to run down the timer for attackers on your gym. Vaporeon has pretty powerful charge moves which unfortunately can be dodged by a half decent attacker, reducing it's effectiveness. The good news is this mon is only weak against Electric and Grass types. It's strong against Fire, Ice, Steel and Water and neutral with everything else. I would recommend Water Gun and Aqua tail as the best defencive moveset. |
|
Wobbuffet This ones a bit of a token gesture as Wobbuffet features a bit of a meagre 106 defence which his made up for somewhat by it's impressive 380 Stamina. It's rather unfortunate that its max CP is only 1024 but it's still a good bit of bulk to throw behind your gym if you have nothing else available. |
The best gym attackers in Pokémon Go
Ideal world best attackersThese are the mon's you'd have on the front line to hit enemy gyms with if RNG was no object and you could have any mons you liked with the best stats and fully powered up.
Blissey Armed with Pound and Hyper Beam (best offencive moveset) and a modest 129 base attack stat Blissey's shere huge HP will allow her to tank through most enemy gym's without much trouble, especially if you are good at avoiding charge attacks. Though against other Blissey's or Snorlax you probably don't want to use her - unless you WANT to be attacking the gym all day that is. The optimal choice for those who can't be bothered to exploit type strengths and weaknesses and just want to faceroll through gyms (gradually). |
|
Dragonite Dragon Tail and Outrage or Dragon Breath and Dragon Claw are best for attacks. It's simply got massive DPS output and very few mons are resistant to it's attacks. It's base attack stat of 263 is unsurpassed at the moment, even if we include datamined stats of the Legendary birds! And it's max CP is really high at 3581. Steelix and Lapras (with Ice moves) are probably the only two real deterrents to a Dragonite on attack. |
|
Exeggutor Extrasensory and Solar Beam are the optimal dps moveset and coupled with a formidable base attack stat of 233 Exeggutor packs quite a punch on attack. Exeggutor is hampered by one main thing in real endgame areas with lots of high mon's, it's max CP is only 2916; this isn't much of a problem in most places at the moment though - just in that parralel universe where everyone is level 40 with maxed out mons. Weak against bug, flying, fire, ice, poison, dark and ghost but strong against electric, grass, ground, water, fighting and psychic. If played to it's strengths Exeggutor is a must have in your attack team. |
|
Tyranitar Bite coupled with Stone Edge or Crunch is the ideal moveset for DPS output. Tyranitar is the big boy attacker of Gen II and sports a mean 251 attack base coupled with a huge max CP of 3670. It's pretty good at ousting Snorlax and Espeon from their gyms. Tyranitar is very weak against fighting, weak against grass, ground, steel, water, bug and fairy but strong against Flying, Fire, normal (cough Blissey), Poison, Dark, Ghost and Psychic types. |
|
Snorlax Lick and Hyper Beam are the best DPS moves for a Snorlax being used on offence. He is weak against only fighting types and like Blissey can basically tank his way through a vast majority of matchups. His attack base stat of 190 makes him mediocre at tearing down enemies, there are more time efficient mons to use for attack but on the other hand if you've got Max Potion's available then attacking regularly with Snorlax will make very effective use of them. |
Realistic best attackers if you aren't lucky with ultra rare spawns.
These are the most accessible primary attackers of key importance, based on attacking gyms with 'strong, semi optimised setups' and the strongest defenders.
Vaporeon Water Gun and Hydro Pump make up the best moveset for this mon in most situations. It wipes out enemy Rhydon and Golem rapidly it's also strong against Tyranitar. Vaporeon is only weak against Electric and Grass types and is strong against Fire, Ice, Steel and Water types. It has a high CP ceiling at 3157 and remains a viable attacker at any level. |
|
Machamp Counter and Dynamic Punch or Close Combat are optimal dps moves for attack, and taking into account Machamp's strong base attack of 234 that leaves him packing a punch quite literally. There are very very few mon's who can match Machamp's usefulness when it comes to bringing down Blissey and Snorlax. Machamp is a must have if you are taking on decent gyms. A Machamp of similar CP to a Blissey won't necessarily win but will bring Blissey so low you are no longer running the risk of running out of time. Notable weaknesses include: Fairy, Flying and Psychic types where Machamp will put on a good show against Bug, Dark and Rock types. |
|
Jolteon Thunder Shock and Thunder Bolt is the best move combo for dps. Jolteon has a good base attack at 232 and modest max CP at 2730. A quick and easy solution for putting down a defending Gyarados or Vaporeon. It's only weakness of note is against Ground types and it's strong against other Electric types, Flying types and Steel types. |
|
Jynx Frost Breath with Avalanche or Draining Kiss are the best movesets, it has a base attack of 223. Jynx is a great antidote to oust Dragonite's defending gyms. Jynx is hampered somewhat by a lower than average Max CP of 2512 but I wouldn't let this put you off too much, a 2k CP Jynx can make quick work of a 3k CP Dragonite if you dodge it's charge attack. Overall Jynx is weak against Fire, Rock, Steel, Bug, Dark and Ghost types and strong against Ice and Psychic types. Use Jynx just to bring down defending Dragonite's and then sub her out against others. |
|
Heracross Counter and Close Combat as the optimal moveset and a strong 234 base attack stat makes this mon a very viable attacker. It's a region specific but if you happen to live in Latin America, South Florida or Texas Heracross is another excellent option to help bring down defending Blisseys and Snorlax' with it's fighting type moves. It can be used in combination with or instead of Machamp. It has equal attack power and similar movesets to Machamp and a max CP of 2938 keeping it viable right up to endgame. Heracross is very weak against Flying, Fire, Fairy and Psychic but is strong against Fighting, Grass, Ground, Bug and Dark types. |
It goes without saying that other strong situational attackers have been omitted from this list such as Alakazam, Gengar, Lapras, Charizard, Espeon and Flareon which have great DPS but might not commonly be useful based on attacking gyms with the current 'best' defenders. But here are their honourable mentions and optimal movesets.
- Lapras with Frost Breath and Blizzard or Ice Beam.
- Espeon with Zen Headbutt or Confusion and Future Sight.
- Flareon with Fire Spin and Overheat.
- Alakazam with Psycho Cut or Confusion and Future Sight.
- Charizard with Fire Spin and Overheat.
- Gengar with Shadow Claw and Shadow Ball.
In my own experience and the opinions/responses I got from people I asked across Twitter, Google+ and other players I know IRL these are the main ones worth mentioning. Should I have missed anything feel free to give me some abuse on Twitter.
Trainer's in Pokemon Go level up by gaining XP and every time you level you are more likely to find stronger, higher CP Pokémon in the wild to capture and bolster your team. It's also said that the higher your level the more chances of discovering rarer mon's.
As you are rising through the ranks on the way to level 40 you'll recieve rewards each time you level and at certain milestone levels you'll unlock new items that weren't previously available to you. Also remember that if you're a level 15 for example and you have some of your best mon's on maxed out CP that once you level you'll be able to power them up to a new maximum... so each level you gain also raises the max CP ceiling for all existing Pokémon in your party and they can grow with you if you put the stardust in.
So in short the main benefits of levelling up? it enables you to obtain better Pokéballs and more potent potions, encounter stronger Pokémon in general and increase your chances of bumping into some rare mon's. Check out the XP and Levelling section of our Pokémon Go page to find out the best ways of getting XP fast.
You may notice from this table that you get more item rewards at milestone levels - that's any level that can be divided by 5. Also when you first unlock a new item you get more of that item than you'd normally get, for example when you unlock Hyper Potion at level 15 you get 20 of them.... even on the levels that follow you won't get that many again.
As you are rising through the ranks on the way to level 40 you'll recieve rewards each time you level and at certain milestone levels you'll unlock new items that weren't previously available to you. Also remember that if you're a level 15 for example and you have some of your best mon's on maxed out CP that once you level you'll be able to power them up to a new maximum... so each level you gain also raises the max CP ceiling for all existing Pokémon in your party and they can grow with you if you put the stardust in.
So in short the main benefits of levelling up? it enables you to obtain better Pokéballs and more potent potions, encounter stronger Pokémon in general and increase your chances of bumping into some rare mon's. Check out the XP and Levelling section of our Pokémon Go page to find out the best ways of getting XP fast.
Level rewards and item unlocks chart
This table shows what level rewards you'll get each time you level up as well as any new item unlocks and the amount of XP you'll need to get there. For me personally the levelling process felt like it was going to be a breeze but once you pass level 20 and the amount of XP needed for the next level starts to rise rather sharply I soon woke up to the harsh realities which lay ahead and you will too! ;-)Level | XP Required | Total accumulated XP | Item rewards | New unlock(s) |
1 | 0 | 0 | Sweet nothing | N/A |
2 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 10x Pokéball | N/A |
3 | 2,000 | 3,000 | 15x Pokéball | N/A |
4 | 3,000 | 6,000 | 15x Pokéball | N/A |
5 | 4,000 | 10,000 | 20x Pokéball, 10x Potion, 10x Revive, 1x Incense | Gym access, Team selection, Potions and Revives |
6 | 5,000 | 16,000 | 15x Pokéball, 10x Potion, 5x Revive, 1x Egg Incubator | N/A |
7 | 6,000 | 21,000 | 15x Pokéball, 10x Potion, 5x Revive, 1x Incense | N/A |
8 | 7,000 | 28,000 | 15x Pokeball, 10x Potion, 5x Revive, 10x Razz Berry and 1x Lure Module | Razz Berry |
9 | 8,000 | 36,000 | 15x Pokeball, 10x Potion, 5x Revive, 3x Razz Berry and 1x Lucky Egg | N/A |
10 | 9,000 | 45,000 | 20x Pokeball, 20x Super Potion, 10x Revive, 10x Razz Berry, 1x Incense, 1x Lucky Egg, 1x Egg Incubator, 1x Lure Module | Super Potion |
11 | 10,000 | 55,000 | 15x Poke Ball, 20x Super Potion, 3x Revive and 3x Razz Berry | N/A |
12 | 10,000 | 65,000 | 20x Great Ball, 10x Super Potion, 3x Revive, 3x Razz Berry | Great Ball |
13 | 10,000 | 75,000 | 10x Great Ball, 10x Super Potion, 3x Revive, 3x Razz Berry | N/A |
14 | 10,000 | 85,000 | 10x Great Ball, 10x Super Potion, 3x Revive, 3x Razz Berry | N/A |
15 | 15,000 | 100,000 | 15x Great Ball, 20x Hyper Potion, 10x Revive, 10x Razz Berry, 1x Incense, 1x Lucky Egg, 1x Egg Incubator, 1x Lure Module | Hyper Potion |
16 | 20,000 | 120,000 | 10x Great Ball, 10x Hyper Potion, 5x Revive, 5x Razz Berry | N/A |
17 | 20,000 | 140,000 | 10x Great Ball, 10x Hyper Potion, 5x Revive, 5x Razz Berry | N/A |
18 | 20,000 | 160,000 | 10x Great Ball, 10x Hyper Potion, 5x Revive, 5x Razz Berry | N/A |
19 | 25,000 | 185,000 | 15x Great Ball, 10x Hyper Potion, 5x Revive, 5x Razz Berry | N/A |
20 | 25,000 | 210,000 | 20x Ultra Ball, 20x Hyper Potion, 20x Revive, 20x Razz Berry, 2x Incense, 2x Lucky Egg, 2x Egg Incubator and 2x Lure Module. | Ultra Ball |
21 | 50,000 | 260,000 | 10x Ultra Ball, 10x Hyper Potion, 10x Revive, 10x Pinap Berry | N/A |
22 | 75.000 | 335,000 | 10x Ultra Ball, 10x Hyper Potion, 10x Revive, 10x Razz Berry | N/A |
23 | 100,000 | 435,000 | 10x Ultra Ball, 10x Hyper Potion, 10x Revive, 10x Nanab Berry | N/A |
24 | 125,000 | 560,000 | 15x Ultra Ball, 10x Hyper Potion, 10x Revive, 10x Razz Berry | N/A |
25 | 150,000 | 710,000 | 25x Ultra Ball, 20x Max Potion, 15x Revive, 15x Pinap Berry, 1x Incense, 1x Lucky Egg, 1x Egg Incubator and 1x Lure Module. | Max Potion |
26 | 190,000 | 900,000 | 10x Ultra Ball, 15x Max Potion, 10x Revive, 15x Razz Berry | N/A |
27 | 200,000 | 1,100,000 | 10x Ultra Ball, 15x Max Potion, 10x Revive, 15x Nanab Berry | N/A |
28 | 250,000 | 1,350,000 | 10x Ultra Ball, 15x Max Potion, 10x Revive, 15x Razz Berry | N/A |
29 | 300,000 | 1,650,000 | 10x Ultra Ball, 15x Max Potion, 10x Revive, 15x Pinap Berry | N/A |
30 | 350,000 | 2,000,000 | 30x Ultra Ball, 20x Max Potion, 20x Max Revive, 20x Razz Berry, 3x Incense, 3x Lucky Egg, 3x Egg Incubator and 3x Lure Module | Max Revive |
31 | 500,000 | 2,500,000 | 10x Ultra Ball, 15x Max Potion, 10x Max Revive and 15x Nanab Berry | N/A |
32 | 500,000 | 3,000,000 | 10x Ultra Ball, 15x Max Potion, 10x Max Revive and 15x Razz Berry | N/A |
33 | 750,000 | 3,750,000 | 10x Ultra Ball, 15x Max Potion, 10x Max Revive and 15x Pinap Berry | N/A |
34 | 1,000,000 | 4,750,000 | 10x Ultra Ball, 15x Max Potion, 10x Max Revive, 15x Razz Berry | N/A |
35 | 1,250,000 | 6,000,000 | 30x Ultra Ball, 20x Max Potion, 20x Max Revive, 20x Nanab Berry, 2x Incense, 1x Lucky Egg and 1x Lure Module | N/A |
36 | 1,500,000 | 7,500,000 | 20x Ultra Ball, 20x Max Potion, 10x Max Revive and 20x Razz Berry | N/A |
37 | 2,000,000 | 9,500,000 | 20x Ultra Ball, 20x Max Potion, 10x Max Revive and 20x Pinap Berry | N/A |
38 | 2,500,000 | 12,000,000 | 20x Ultra Ball, 20x Max Potion, 10x Max Revive and 20x Razz Berry | N/A |
39 | 3,000,000 | 15,000,000 | 20x Ultra Ball, 20x Max Potion, 10x Max Revive, 20x Nanab Berry | N/A |
40 | 5,000,000 | 20,000,000 | 40x Ultra Ball, 40x Max Potion, 40x Max Revive, 40x Razz Berry, 4x Incense, 4x Lucky Egg, 4x Egg Incubator and 4x Lure Module | N/A |
You may notice from this table that you get more item rewards at milestone levels - that's any level that can be divided by 5. Also when you first unlock a new item you get more of that item than you'd normally get, for example when you unlock Hyper Potion at level 15 you get 20 of them.... even on the levels that follow you won't get that many again.
Level Cap
The initial and current level cap in Pokemon Go is 40. Given how few people have actually made it there via legitimate means even a year on from launch this isn't too restrictive, and infact for most normal trainers will actually be helpful. No one wants to be struggling through the 20's and early 30's and be bumping into level 100's at gyms. Pokemon Go is likely to be around for many years to come however so we are definitely expecting to see that cap lifted as time goes on. We'll update this page with the new rewards if/when that happens.
Pokemon Go has three different types of eggs each of which hatches different kinds of Pokemon; so if you want to know which Pokemon comes from which egg you've come to the right place.
A player can carry a maximum of nine eggs at a time including the one(s) that are currently being incubated. All trainers are issued with one incubator at the beginning of the game which can be used an infinite amount of times - further incubators can be purchased from the shop for 150 Pokécoins a piece, these purchased incubators have a maximum three uses before they break though.
Hatching eggs is a great way of filling up your PokeDex and getting hold of some mons with good stats, based on quite a lot of feedback from players I know personally and in online communities it seems quite often that hatched Pokemon come with decent appraisals/IV's.
Each Pokemon you can hatch from a 2km egg has a specific chance of being hatched, check it on the chart below - you may notice there are also some Pokémon which previously hatched from these eggs which are no longer hatched anymore for example Caterpie, Weedle, Spearow. I can only assume that the crushing disappointment of recieving one of these from an egg (you know, at a time thats supposed to be joyful) didn't just upset me, and caused distress to enough people for Niantic to make some changes.
First gen hatches from 2km eggs
Second gen hatches from 2km eggs
These second gen hatches were added to the 2km egg hatch possiblities in December 2016. Pichu, Cleffa and Igglybuff actually replaced Pikachu, Clefairy and Jigglypuff as it made 'more sense' to hatch the baby versions than the second evo's.
The following Gen II Pokémon hatch from 5km eggs, they were added to the possible hatch list in December 2016. Elekid, Magby, Smoochum and Tyrogue replacing Electabuzz, Magmar, Jynx and Hitmonchan/Hitmonlee respectively. Gen II starter Pokémon were not previously available from eggs but following on from the Eggstravaganza event this year have been 'permanently' added to the lineup of possible hatches for 5km eggs.
Gen 1 hatches in 10km eggs
Gen II hatches in 10km eggs
All of the chance to hatch stats and egg drop stats are based on the culmination of a years worth of play from multiple players across the globe and are pretty accurate at the time of writing this. Niantic is constantly developing and evolving the game, adding new hatches etc which may affect these stats but we'll update this page and try to keep it as accurate as possible. If anyone gets a hatch that isn't mentioned on this page at all please report in to luke@pokemondungeon.com - thanks! :)
Egg types & hatching basics
Eggs are obtained as random drops from visiting PokeStops and they come in three different types. Eggs are hatched by placing one in an incubator and walking a certain distance: 2km for a green egg, 5km for a yellow egg and 10km for a purple egg. The purple 10km eggs are very rare and as such contain the rarest Pokémon, the 2km eggs tend to be more popular than their 5km counterparts because they are the ones that give potential for starter Pokémon from Kanto - that previously included Pikachu but he was replaced by Pichu after the first Eggstravaganza event.A player can carry a maximum of nine eggs at a time including the one(s) that are currently being incubated. All trainers are issued with one incubator at the beginning of the game which can be used an infinite amount of times - further incubators can be purchased from the shop for 150 Pokécoins a piece, these purchased incubators have a maximum three uses before they break though.
Hatching eggs is a great way of filling up your PokeDex and getting hold of some mons with good stats, based on quite a lot of feedback from players I know personally and in online communities it seems quite often that hatched Pokemon come with decent appraisals/IV's.
Stardust, Candies and XP
Hatching a new mon is a special time in any trainers life no doubt, but it's hard to deny that the other benefits of hatching eggs are not to be sniffed at. Heres what you get for hatching each type of egg:-- Hatching a 2km egg: 5-10 candies of the hatched Pokemon's type, 400-800 Stardust and 200 XP
- Hatching a 5km egg: 10-21 candies of the hatched Pokemon's type, 800-1600 Stardust and 500 XP
- Hatching a 10km egg: 17-30 candies of the hatched Pokemon's type, 2000-3000 Stardust and 1000 XP
Pokemon that hatch from 2km eggs
These little green 2km eggs are pretty easy to come by with a 36.51% drop chance. At 2km they are the quickest to hatch but not necessarily the least useful... for those who are still trying to get Charizard's, Venusaur's and Blastoise or even a Gyarados or Alakazam you have a shot at getting their unevolved versions plus a pile of their candies. The great news is there are only 2670 of the average persons steps between you and hatching one of these guys.Each Pokemon you can hatch from a 2km egg has a specific chance of being hatched, check it on the chart below - you may notice there are also some Pokémon which previously hatched from these eggs which are no longer hatched anymore for example Caterpie, Weedle, Spearow. I can only assume that the crushing disappointment of recieving one of these from an egg (you know, at a time thats supposed to be joyful) didn't just upset me, and caused distress to enough people for Niantic to make some changes.
First gen hatches from 2km eggs
Bulbasaur 1 in 28 chance |
Charmander 1 in 28 chance |
Squirtle 1 in 28 chance |
Caterpie no longer hatches |
Weedle no longer hatches |
Spearow no longer hatches |
Ekans 1 in 14 chance |
Nidoran F 1 in 14 chance |
Nidoran M 1 in 14 chance |
Zubat no longer hatches |
Oddish 1 in 28 chance |
Venonat no longer hatches |
Diglett 1 in 28 chance |
|
Machop 1 in 28 chance |
Bellsprout no longer hatches |
Geodude 1 in 14 chance |
Slowpoke 1 in 28 chance |
Gastly 1 in 28 chance |
Krabby 1 in 14 chance |
Exeggcute 1 in 28 chance |
Goldeen 1 in 14 chance |
Magikarp no longer hatches |
Second gen hatches from 2km eggs
These second gen hatches were added to the 2km egg hatch possiblities in December 2016. Pichu, Cleffa and Igglybuff actually replaced Pikachu, Clefairy and Jigglypuff as it made 'more sense' to hatch the baby versions than the second evo's.
Cleffa 1 in 28 chance |
Igglybuff 1 in 28 chance |
Aipom 1 in 28 chance |
Misdreavous 1 in 115 chance |
Pichu 1 in 28 chance |
Remoraid 1 in 57 chance |
Slugma 1 in 28 chance |
Togepei 1 in 28 chance |
Pokemon that hatch from 5km eggs
The following Pokemon hatch from 5km eggs. 5km eggs are strangely the most common eggs in the game every time you get an egg from a PokeStop there is over a 51% chance that it'll be a 5km egg. How useful the hatches from these eggs are to you I guess is down to what sort of incumbent mon's you have living in your area normally.Vulpix 1 in 40 chance |
Meowth no longer hatches |
Mankey no longer hatches |
Growlithe 1 in 40 chance |
Poliwag 1 in 20 chance |
Ponyta 1 in 20 chance |
Magnemite 1 in 40 chance |
Doduo 1 in 40 chance |
Seel 1 in 80 chance |
Grimer 1 in 161 chance |
Shellder 1 in 40 chance |
Onix 1 in 80 chance |
Drowzee 1 in 40 chance |
Voltorb 1 in 40 chance |
Cubone 1 in 40 chance |
Likitung 1 in 161 chance |
Koffing 1 in 161 chance |
Rhyhorn 1 in 40 chance |
Tangela 1 in 80 chance |
Horsea no longer hatches |
Staryu 1 in 20 chance |
Scyther 1 in 40 chance |
Pinsir 1 in 80 chance |
Porygon 1 in 161 chance |
Eevee 1 in 40 chance |
Gen II hatches in 5km eggs
The following Gen II Pokémon hatch from 5km eggs, they were added to the possible hatch list in December 2016. Elekid, Magby, Smoochum and Tyrogue replacing Electabuzz, Magmar, Jynx and Hitmonchan/Hitmonlee respectively. Gen II starter Pokémon were not previously available from eggs but following on from the Eggstravaganza event this year have been 'permanently' added to the lineup of possible hatches for 5km eggs.Elekid 1 in 40 chance |
Girafarig 1 in 161 chance |
Sneasel 1 in 161 chance |
Yanma 1 in 161 chance |
Magby 1 in 40 chance |
Phanpy 1 in 20 chance |
Qwilfish 1 in 161 chance |
Shuckle 1 in 161 chance |
Smoochum 1 in 40 chance |
Stantler 1 in 40 chance |
Tyrogue 1 in 40 chance |
Wobuffet 1 in 161 chance |
Dunsparce 1 in 161 chance |
Chikorita tbc - rare |
Cyndaquil tbc - rare |
Totodile tbc - rare |
Pokemon that hatch from 10km eggs
These purple/white eggs are rare, with only a 12 percent drop chance of getting one each time you pick up an egg. However this is justified by the much better than average Pokémon you are likely to recieve including a high percent chance to get hold of a Dratini and a pile of candies toward your dragonite, as well as chances to get the bigboy gym defenders like Chansey (Blissey) and Snorlax.Gen 1 hatches in 10km eggs
Lapras 1 in 5 chance |
Hitmonlee no longer hatches |
Hitmonchan no longer hatches |
Chansey 1 in 20 chance |
Omanyte 1 in 5 chance |
Kabuto 1 in 5 chance |
Dratini 1 in 5 chance |
Aerodactyl 1 in 39 chance |
Snorlax 1 in 39 chance |
Gen II hatches in 10km eggs
Skarmory 1 in 39 chance |
Miltank 1 in 39 chance |
Mareep 1 in 20 chance |
Pineco 1 in 5 chance |
Mantine 1 in 10 chance |
Sudowoodo 1 in 20 chance |
Larvitar 1 in 10 chance |
Gligar 1 in 10 chance |
All of the chance to hatch stats and egg drop stats are based on the culmination of a years worth of play from multiple players across the globe and are pretty accurate at the time of writing this. Niantic is constantly developing and evolving the game, adding new hatches etc which may affect these stats but we'll update this page and try to keep it as accurate as possible. If anyone gets a hatch that isn't mentioned on this page at all please report in to luke@pokemondungeon.com - thanks! :)
Pokemon Go Raids were launched on June 23rd, 2017 when Niantic finally overhauled the games gym system. There are few who would argue the fact that the gym's were stagnated and something needed doing to maintain the interest of existing players and to try and ressurect lapsed & attract new players. It looks very much as though the introduction of raids and raiding in Pokémon Go may well remedy that somewhat so lets take a look at Pokémon Go raids in full detail.
Quick menu: Raiding Basics / Rewards / Raid difficulty levels / Raid Bosses and Tiers / Legendary Raids
Raid explanation (left), waiting for a Tier 1 raid boss to hatch (centre), selecting a team and waiting for players before engaging a raid boss (right)
Once the timer finishes counting down the timer and egg icon above the gym will disappear and the boss will arrive. As players arrive they can organise their Pokémon into their most appropriate six for that battle, and even group up with other players using by sharing their group code. Your group code is the three little Pokémon icons in the top right while you're waiting for the battle to start.
Raid access
Every day a player will get one RAID PASS for free from the first PokeStop or Gym they visit - as long as they don't already have one. The raid pass is an item that is required to participate in raid battles. You will not be given raid passes until you are of the required level (currently level 20). If you didn't use your raid pass in the previous day, you can get your daily pass, use it, then get another one on the same day.
If you want to participate in more raid battles you'll have to purchase a Premium Raid pass from the Shop at the cost of 100 Pokecoins. Although this is yet more Pokecoin outlay this is offset a little by the fact that the new gym system is somewhat more generous than the previous one.
In the very first few days of raids they were only accessible to trainers of level 31 and above however after much protesting from the communities slacker trainers this level was dropped ;-) Initially dropped to 28, then to 25 and now raids are available to everyone level 20 and above making them much more accessible to the playerbase.
Battling the Raid boss
When the battle begins it's a free for all and multiple trainers and Pokémon can attack the raid boss at once but don't allow that to make you slack combat-wise because the rewards you are given from a raid are based on a number of factors including these:-
All of the above factors contribute to how many Premier Balls you are given to use in the bonus game. A damage contribution of +1 will yield you an extra Premier Ball, your team controlling the gym the raid took place at will give you an extra 3. If you are planning an afternoon of raiding in your local area, it's a great idea to go and take some gyms for your team first, ensuring you and your team mates have the best chance possible of catching any local raid bosses.
Bonus game
The bonus game is where you get the chance to capture a scaled down version of the raid boss that was just defeated. Raid bosses can only be caught using Premier Balls awarded for your efforts in battle - the better you did in the fight the more balls you'll get and the more chance you'll have to catch the boss. In the screenshots below you can see from left to right: me finishing off an easy level raid boss, being awarded premier balls based on my contribution to the raid and finally the scaled down version of the raid boss that I caught.
Tier 1 raid boss Quilava falls to my Vaporeon (left), Recieving my premier balls for the bonus game, based on my contribution (centre), my captured Quilava (right).
If you are a reasonably good level 25+ with decent Pokémon you should be able to solo the easiest levels of raids as I did above without much trouble. This is some consolation for those players who don't have a big Pokémon Go precense in their area as you'll still get to catch a Pokémon you might not commonly see in the wild. It should also be noted that of the 4 raid boss Pokémon I have caught so far all of them have had top level appraisal values and stats.
Update 02/09/2017: After participating in lots of raids at all levels I can confirm that the appraisal values of Pokémon caught in these bonus games are always going to be within the top 2 tiers of appraisal and stats, however their bonus stats for attack, defence, HP (if any) are a lot more random. Hence even with Legendaries you'll see people who already have 5-6 Articuno's turning up to Articuno raids to try to get one with a better overall IV value.
In an update in August 2017, Potions were added as raid rewards, although on the surface no one would particularly want potions as a reward compared to say rare candies etc anyone who raids frequently will tell you that Potions have once more become a valuable commodity, getting 6-10 Pokémon knocked out in each Legendary raid you go to soon adds up to a lot of mon's in casualty waiting for treatment.
The higher tier boss you defeat the more special items you are likely to recieve and the higher percentage chance you have of getting a rare drop like a TM. It's not totally apparent whether your personal contribution (in terms of damage etc) has any affect at this point.
Tier 1 Raid bosses: How to beat the easiest bosses in Pokemon Go with Best Counters
The easiest raid bosses consist of the second evo's of the Johto starter Pokemon and the mighty Magikarp. These guys all spawn from Pink/common eggs and should be comfortable to solo for most decent trainers.
Tier 2 bosses: How to beat Muk, Electabuzz, Exeggcutor & Best Counters
Things get tougher in tier 2 and you'll need a reasonable team to beat these. You will obtain greater rewards in terms of items for defeating one of these bosses then you would from a tier one boss.
Tier 3 bosses: How to beat Alakazam, Gengar, Machamp etc & Best Counters
This is where the solo party ends. You'll need to team up with at least two or three other strong trainers to take down one of these tier three raid bosses but the reward is also much greater particularly in the cases of the harder to get hold of Alakazam and Machamp. Once more you are likely to recieve an increased amount of item based rewards for conquering one of these guys, that reward will be shared with the player's that you'll need
Tier 5 Raid Bosses: How to beat Pokemon Go's Legendary Bosses
Following the one year Anniversary events of Pokémon Go, including the disaster that was Pokemon Go Fest Chicago we began to see the release of our first, much anticipated Legendary raids. These came in the form of Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres and Lugia. After this August 2017 saw Mewtwo raids getting tested out in Japan, so it's inevitable that the rest of the world will encounter the most powerful Pokémon of all fairly soon.
On the 1st of September 2017, Niantic let the dogs out, with Entei, Suicine and Raikou unleashed on the world as raid bosses. Each region got one Legendary Dog each and it's due to be rotated monthly until every region has had it's turn.
I have no doubt that we have many years of Pokémon GO raids ahead, as we still have another 5+ gen's worth of Legendaries/Powerful mons which no doubt Niantic will drip feed us with over the next half decade. But beware of that raid fatigue, it's real!
All in all Pokemon Go's raids have injected a new element of fun and invigorated the social aspect of the game. A week after the gym overhaul and raid release Pokemon Go has shot back up in the app charts. In the U.S App store it had risen from around 130th most downloaded to around the 70th.
Quick menu: Raiding Basics / Rewards / Raid difficulty levels / Raid Bosses and Tiers / Legendary Raids
Raiding basics
Raids are an exciting new feature whereby a much more powerful than normal Pokemon will spawn/hatch at a gym. These boss type Pokémon are on average 7-8 times+ higher in CP than the average trainers equivalent version would be, and depending on what tier of boss they fall into, potentially even higher. Players will recieve a notification stating that a raid is going to start by them soon and an egg will appear above the host gym alongside a countdown timer of one hour plus which is intended to allow time for an adequate number of players to gather to take on some of the tougher raid bosses.Raid explanation (left), waiting for a Tier 1 raid boss to hatch (centre), selecting a team and waiting for players before engaging a raid boss (right)
Once the timer finishes counting down the timer and egg icon above the gym will disappear and the boss will arrive. As players arrive they can organise their Pokémon into their most appropriate six for that battle, and even group up with other players using by sharing their group code. Your group code is the three little Pokémon icons in the top right while you're waiting for the battle to start.
Raid access
Every day a player will get one RAID PASS for free from the first PokeStop or Gym they visit - as long as they don't already have one. The raid pass is an item that is required to participate in raid battles. You will not be given raid passes until you are of the required level (currently level 20). If you didn't use your raid pass in the previous day, you can get your daily pass, use it, then get another one on the same day.
If you want to participate in more raid battles you'll have to purchase a Premium Raid pass from the Shop at the cost of 100 Pokecoins. Although this is yet more Pokecoin outlay this is offset a little by the fact that the new gym system is somewhat more generous than the previous one.
In the very first few days of raids they were only accessible to trainers of level 31 and above however after much protesting from the communities slacker trainers this level was dropped ;-) Initially dropped to 28, then to 25 and now raids are available to everyone level 20 and above making them much more accessible to the playerbase.
Battling the Raid boss
When the battle begins it's a free for all and multiple trainers and Pokémon can attack the raid boss at once but don't allow that to make you slack combat-wise because the rewards you are given from a raid are based on a number of factors including these:-
- How much your own team contributed to the downfall of the boss (ie Instinct, Valor, Mystic)
- How much damage YOU did personally to the raid boss
- Whether or not your team controlled the host gym at that time
All of the above factors contribute to how many Premier Balls you are given to use in the bonus game. A damage contribution of +1 will yield you an extra Premier Ball, your team controlling the gym the raid took place at will give you an extra 3. If you are planning an afternoon of raiding in your local area, it's a great idea to go and take some gyms for your team first, ensuring you and your team mates have the best chance possible of catching any local raid bosses.
Bonus game
The bonus game is where you get the chance to capture a scaled down version of the raid boss that was just defeated. Raid bosses can only be caught using Premier Balls awarded for your efforts in battle - the better you did in the fight the more balls you'll get and the more chance you'll have to catch the boss. In the screenshots below you can see from left to right: me finishing off an easy level raid boss, being awarded premier balls based on my contribution to the raid and finally the scaled down version of the raid boss that I caught.
Tier 1 raid boss Quilava falls to my Vaporeon (left), Recieving my premier balls for the bonus game, based on my contribution (centre), my captured Quilava (right).
If you are a reasonably good level 25+ with decent Pokémon you should be able to solo the easiest levels of raids as I did above without much trouble. This is some consolation for those players who don't have a big Pokémon Go precense in their area as you'll still get to catch a Pokémon you might not commonly see in the wild. It should also be noted that of the 4 raid boss Pokémon I have caught so far all of them have had top level appraisal values and stats.
Update 02/09/2017: After participating in lots of raids at all levels I can confirm that the appraisal values of Pokémon caught in these bonus games are always going to be within the top 2 tiers of appraisal and stats, however their bonus stats for attack, defence, HP (if any) are a lot more random. Hence even with Legendaries you'll see people who already have 5-6 Articuno's turning up to Articuno raids to try to get one with a better overall IV value.
Rewards
As well as getting the chance to capture the boss Pokemon to serve in your ranks you also get given a good couple of items for successfully completing a raid. You may get a stack of normal items like revives but also special items such as:-- Golden Razzberry: Makes a target Pokemon MUCH easier to capture
- Rare Candy: This mysterious candy can be turned into ANY Pokemon's candy type. Obviously best used to get additional candies for rarer mons ie Dratini Candy.
- TM's or Technical Machines: Teach your Pokemon a new move. This can either be a fast type move or one that you have to charge up. Very rare drop chance.
In an update in August 2017, Potions were added as raid rewards, although on the surface no one would particularly want potions as a reward compared to say rare candies etc anyone who raids frequently will tell you that Potions have once more become a valuable commodity, getting 6-10 Pokémon knocked out in each Legendary raid you go to soon adds up to a lot of mon's in casualty waiting for treatment.
The higher tier boss you defeat the more special items you are likely to recieve and the higher percentage chance you have of getting a rare drop like a TM. It's not totally apparent whether your personal contribution (in terms of damage etc) has any affect at this point.
Raid difficulty levels / Tiers
There are five tiers of raid difficulty levels in Pokémon Go at present. The boss difficulty levels are represented by a little skull icon one skull being the most difficult, two being more difficult and so on. The colour of the egg above the gym where a raid is due to start will indicate what level of rarity/what tier the raid boss is going to be from.- Pink Egg's are the most common and will hatch tier 1 and 2 raid bosses.
- Yellow Egg's are rarer than their pink counterparts and will hatch tier 3 and 4 raid bosses
- Dark Egg's are the rarest of all and contain the long awaited Legendary Pokemon. These raid bosses are the rarest and the strongest, but they also offer the greatest rewards.
Raid Bosses and Tiers
Lets take a look at all the raid bosses that are currently available and what tier they are in etc:-Tier 1 Raid bosses: How to beat the easiest bosses in Pokemon Go with Best Counters
The easiest raid bosses consist of the second evo's of the Johto starter Pokemon and the mighty Magikarp. These guys all spawn from Pink/common eggs and should be comfortable to solo for most decent trainers.Boss | Egg | CP in Raid | Max Captured CP | Best Attackers | Can be solo'd? |
Bayleef |
4375 | 740 | Flareon, Charizard, Gengar, Typhlosion | Yes | |
Croconaw |
5207 | 913 | Exeggutor, Flareon, Jolteon | Yes | |
Magikarp |
1165 | 125 | Everything | Yes | |
Quivala |
5085 | 847 | Vaporeon, Starmie or Golem | Yes |
Tier 2 bosses: How to beat Muk, Electabuzz, Exeggcutor & Best Counters
Things get tougher in tier 2 and you'll need a reasonable team to beat these. You will obtain greater rewards in terms of items for defeating one of these bosses then you would from a tier one boss.Boss | Egg | CP in Raid | Max Captured CP | Best Attackers | Can be solo'd? |
Electabuzz |
11311 | 1255 | Gengar, Dragonite, Alakazam, Flareon | Yes | |
Exeggutor |
12633 | 1666 | Pinsir, Gengar, Heracross | Yes | |
Magmar |
11610 | 1288 | Golem, Starmie, Vaporeon | Yes | |
Muk |
11200 | 1548 | Alakazam, Espeon, Exeggutor | Yes | |
Weezing |
11245 | 1247 | Alakazam, Espeon, Exeggutor | Yes |
Tier 3 bosses: How to beat Alakazam, Gengar, Machamp etc & Best Counters
This is where the solo party ends. You'll need to team up with at least two or three other strong trainers to take down one of these tier three raid bosses but the reward is also much greater particularly in the cases of the harder to get hold of Alakazam and Machamp. Once more you are likely to recieve an increased amount of item based rewards for conquering one of these guys, that reward will be shared with the player's that you'll need Boss | Egg | CP in Raid | Max Captured CP | Best Attackers | Can be solo'd? |
Alakazam |
22646 | 1649 | Gengar, Houndoom, Tyranitar | No. 2-3+ Players | |
Arcanine |
17832 | 1622 | Golem, Starmie, Vaporeon | No. 2-3+ Players | |
Flareon |
21155 | 1659 | Golem, Starmie, Vaporeon | No. 2-3+ Players | |
Gengar |
19768 | 1496 | Gengar, Alakazam, Espeon | No. 2-3+ Players | |
Jolteon |
19883 | 1560 | Gengar, Dragonite, Alakazam, Flareon | No. 2-3+ Players | |
Machamp |
18144 | 1650 | Alakazam, Espeon, Exeggutor | No. 2-3+ Players | |
Vaporeon |
16696 | 1804 | Exeggutor, Venusaur, Jolteon | No. 2-3+ Players |
Tier 4 Raid bosses: How to beat Blastoise, Charizard, Tyranitar etc with Best Counters.
The most powerful non-legendary raid bosses. It'll take 5-6 strong trainers with the right type of Pokemon Teams to bring these guys down. But for the chance to grab Snorlax's and Tyranitars it's definitely worth coordinating with some others and attacking together.Boss | Egg | CP in Raid | Max Captured CP | Best Attackers | Can be solo'd? |
Blastoise |
24162 | 1309 | Exeggutor, Venusaur, Jolteon | No. 5-6+ Players | |
Charizard |
28485 | 1535 | Golem, Omastar, Sudowoodo | No. 5-6+ Players | |
Lapras |
21768 | 1487 | Machamp, Heracross, Exeggutor | No. 5-6+ Players | |
Rhydon |
30512 | 1886 | Exeggutor, Venusaur, Victreebel | No. 5-6+ Players | |
Snorlax |
25419 | 1917 | Machamp, Heracross, Alakazam | No. 5-6+ Players | |
Tyranitar |
34707 | 2097 | Machamp, Heracross, Primeape | No. 5-6+ Players | |
Venusaur |
26921 | 1467 | Alakazam, Flareon, Espeon | No. 5-6+ Players |
Tier 5 Raid Bosses: How to beat Pokemon Go's Legendary Bosses
Following the one year Anniversary events of Pokémon Go, including the disaster that was Pokemon Go Fest Chicago we began to see the release of our first, much anticipated Legendary raids. These came in the form of Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres and Lugia. After this August 2017 saw Mewtwo raids getting tested out in Japan, so it's inevitable that the rest of the world will encounter the most powerful Pokémon of all fairly soon. On the 1st of September 2017, Niantic let the dogs out, with Entei, Suicine and Raikou unleashed on the world as raid bosses. Each region got one Legendary Dog each and it's due to be rotated monthly until every region has had it's turn.
Boss | Egg | CP in Raid | Max Captured CP | Best Attackers | # of Players Required |
Articuno |
37,603 | 1676 (min 1599) |
Tyranitar (with Stone Edge), Golem (with Stone Edge), Flareon/Moltres (with Fire Spin and Overheat) | Has been done with 6 Pro Players. I would advise 8+ trainers at 30+ to be sure. |
|
Zapdos |
42,691 | 1902 (min 1820) |
Golem (Rock Throw + Stone Edge), Tyranitar (with Stone Edge) are best Dragonite (with Dragon Tail and Outrage) is good dps, but a glass cannon vs. Zapdos. |
Has been done with 6 Pro Players. I would advise 8+ trainers at 30+ to be sure. | |
Moltres |
41,953 | 1870 (min 1788) |
Golem (Rock Throw + Stone Edge), Tyranitar (with Bite + Stone Edge) are best Vaporeon with Hydro Pump is another very strong option. | Has been done with 5 Pro Players. I would advise 7+ trainers at 30+ to be sure. | |
Lugia |
42,753 | 2056 (min 1969) |
Tyranitar (with Bite & Crunch) is best. Followed by Houndoom (with Snarl & Foul Play). Jolteon (with Thunderbolt and Thundershock) is also a great choice. | Lugia is the tankiest of the Legendary Birds. I would advise 10+ trainers at 30+ to beat him in time. I've been in groups who failed by 2-3 seconds with 8-9. | |
Mewtwo |
49,430 | 2275 | Houndoom (with Snarl & Foul Play), Tyranitar (with Bite & Crunch) are best Scizor (with Night Slash) is also a good shout. | Tbc | |
Entei |
38,628 | 1930 (1847 min) |
Rhydon/Golem (with Mud Slap & Earth Quake) are best, Omastar and Vaporeon (with Hydro Pump) are excellent secondaries. | Can be done with 5-6 level 30+'s. Recommend 7 to be safe. | |
Suicine |
34,471 | 1613 (1538 min) |
Jolteon (with Thunder Shock + Thunderbolt) is the star of this show. Exeggutor or Venusaur (with Solar Beam) are also strong here. | Can be done with 5-6 level 30+'s. Recommend 7 to be safe. | |
Raikou |
42,932 | 1913 (1831 min) |
Golem or Rhydon (with Mud Slap and Earth Quake) are best, Tyranitar (with Bite & Stone Edge) is also a good option. | Can be done with 5-6 level 30+'s. Recommend 7 to be safe. | |
Ho-Oh |
55,251 | 2657 | Golem (with Rock Throw & Stone Edge), Rhydon (with Mud Slap & Stone Edge), Omastar and Tyranitar also good. | Tbc | |
Celebi |
37,726 | 1766 | Tyranitar (Bite + Crunch Moveset), Flareon (Fire Spin & Overheat) Scizor or Pinsir (with X-Scissor and Fury Cutter.) |
Tbc |
I have no doubt that we have many years of Pokémon GO raids ahead, as we still have another 5+ gen's worth of Legendaries/Powerful mons which no doubt Niantic will drip feed us with over the next half decade. But beware of that raid fatigue, it's real!
All in all Pokemon Go's raids have injected a new element of fun and invigorated the social aspect of the game. A week after the gym overhaul and raid release Pokemon Go has shot back up in the app charts. In the U.S App store it had risen from around 130th most downloaded to around the 70th.
How to evolve Eevee was one of the very first little easter eggs in Pokemon Go at the beginning and most people by now at least know how to evolve it into Jolteon, Flareon and Vaporeon.
In core series titles Eevee was known to evolve into different types by the use of special items with variances depending on the time of day the evolution took place and the Eevee's happiness levels. In Pokemon Go however things are somewhat different and somewhat easier if you know how.
- Rename Eevee to Rainer to evolve into Vaporeon & hit evolve
- Rename Eevee to Sparky to evolve into Jolteon
- Rename Eevee to Pyro to evolve into Flareon
If you are a fan of the Pokemon Animated Series as well as the games you'll probably remember that Rainer, Sparky and Pyro are the names of the Eevee brothers who Ash and his friends encounter in Episode 40 of the anime. The episode was aptly titled "The Battling Eevee Brothers". Each of the brothers is an advocate of one of the original three Eeveelutions.
The Eevee brothers also had a little brother who liked his Eevee just the way it was so if you feel a deep bond with your Eevee and care more about it's heart and courage than it's CP then just don't bother evolving it.
- Rename Eevee to Sakura to evolve into Espeon & hit evolve
- Rename Eevee to Tamao to evolve into Umbreon & hit evolve
The names Tamao and Sakura are again references to characters from the anime. This time it's a reference to the name of two sisters in episode 183 in the Johto League Champions series.
Sakura and her Eevee
It should be noted you can only specify which evolution you want once per type using the naming method so make sure you are choosing one with not only good CP but a nice appraisal rating too.
It's also believed by users on TheSilphRoad subreddit that there is infact a second way to evolve into Umbreon and Espeon. This method involves the buddy system; make Eevee your buddy and walk 10km... evolve it at night timein order to get Umbreon, walk 10km and evolve during the day to get Espeon. Although this has not been officially confirmed by Niantic I've tried it myself and it's worked for Umbreon.
As most of us are aware there are more Eevee evolutions but they haven't been added to Pokemon Go yet. If we want to get our hands on Glaceon, Leafeon or Sylveon I suspect we may be waiting a little while yet.
Hope this article helps someone - enjoy your Eeveelutions!
In core series titles Eevee was known to evolve into different types by the use of special items with variances depending on the time of day the evolution took place and the Eevee's happiness levels. In Pokemon Go however things are somewhat different and somewhat easier if you know how.
How to evolve Eevee into Jolteon, Vaporeon and Flareon.
The naming trick to choose which Eevee evolution you get has been in Pokemon Go since the beginning. Name your Eevee a certain name and hit evolve to choose what it will become.- Rename Eevee to Rainer to evolve into Vaporeon & hit evolve
- Rename Eevee to Sparky to evolve into Jolteon
- Rename Eevee to Pyro to evolve into Flareon
If you are a fan of the Pokemon Animated Series as well as the games you'll probably remember that Rainer, Sparky and Pyro are the names of the Eevee brothers who Ash and his friends encounter in Episode 40 of the anime. The episode was aptly titled "The Battling Eevee Brothers". Each of the brothers is an advocate of one of the original three Eeveelutions.
The Eevee brothers also had a little brother who liked his Eevee just the way it was so if you feel a deep bond with your Eevee and care more about it's heart and courage than it's CP then just don't bother evolving it.
How to evolve Eevee into Umbreon and Espeon.
So we've covered our Fire, Water and Electric type Eevee Evolutions above but since Gen II landed in February 2017 that bought us a couple more options for Eevee evolution now bringing the Psychic type Espeon and Dark type Umbreon into the mix. Here's how to get them:-- Rename Eevee to Sakura to evolve into Espeon & hit evolve
- Rename Eevee to Tamao to evolve into Umbreon & hit evolve
The names Tamao and Sakura are again references to characters from the anime. This time it's a reference to the name of two sisters in episode 183 in the Johto League Champions series.
Sakura and her Eevee
It should be noted you can only specify which evolution you want once per type using the naming method so make sure you are choosing one with not only good CP but a nice appraisal rating too.
It's also believed by users on TheSilphRoad subreddit that there is infact a second way to evolve into Umbreon and Espeon. This method involves the buddy system; make Eevee your buddy and walk 10km... evolve it at night timein order to get Umbreon, walk 10km and evolve during the day to get Espeon. Although this has not been officially confirmed by Niantic I've tried it myself and it's worked for Umbreon.
Team Eevee
If you aren't lucky enough to bump into Snorlax, Dragonite and Blissey on your daily trip to school, the office or the corner shop then a strong team of Eevee's evolved forms can still help you form the basis of a really strong team. Between the five of them you are covered against almost every type and their max cp level's are quite generous for Pokemon that only cost 25 candy's to evolve. They are also fairly common to find in most places.As most of us are aware there are more Eevee evolutions but they haven't been added to Pokemon Go yet. If we want to get our hands on Glaceon, Leafeon or Sylveon I suspect we may be waiting a little while yet.
Hope this article helps someone - enjoy your Eeveelutions!