Pokémon GO – Your questions answered: We’ve already put together a ton of content from tricks and hacks to a full-blown Pokédex, but we keep seeing new players asking the same questions, so we’re hopefully going to give you the answers you need, right here.
Can I use Pokémon GO with just GPS?
Afraid not, Pokémon GO is a notoriously power-hungry game because it requires the game to be open, the screen needs to be on, you’ve got to be connected to GPS and have an active mobile data connection, so your device can synchronise with the game’s servers.
Some intrepid players have tried playing over WiFi-only, but let’s just say you won’t be able to search particularly far and wide without some amount of data.
Does the game still count distance in power saving mode?
Don’t worry, power saving mode only darkens your screen when you turn your phone upside down, the game still counts your distance travelled and will buzz when wild Pokémon appear in your vicinity.
How do I train Pokémon?
There are two answers to this one. If it’s your actual Pokémon you’re looking to strengthen, simply tap on the desired ‘mon from your collection and, provided you have enough stardust and candy, choose ‘power up’ to raise their combat points or CP.
You can also power up gyms if you’re on the same team. Head to a friendly gym, open it up and tap the boxing glove icon, then you’ll get to use one of your Pokémon against the whole gym; the more pokémon you defeat the higher its prestige, the higher the prestige level, the more Pokémon you can post to that gym to fend off rival trainers.
How do I get, and what do I do with eggs?
There are two types of eggs in Pokémon GO: Pokémon eggs and lucky eggs. You can receive Pokémon eggs from Pokéstops and once you’ve slapped them inside an incubator they’ll hatch into a Pokémon once you’ve walked, jogged, run or cycled 2km, 5km or 10km depending on the egg.
Lucky eggs meanwhile, double the amount of experience (XP) you earn in-game for 30 minutes. You pick up lucky eggs when you reach trainer levels 9, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30, but you can also buy them from the shop for between 80 and 1250 Pokécoins, depending on how many eggs you fancy.
What does it mean if my Pokémon is XS or XL?
Every Pokémon you capture has its own height and weight value, and sometimes you’ll see XS (for extra small) and XL (for extra larger) next to these numbers. But what do they mean?
Whilst there are lots of conflicting reports online, there doesn’t appear to be any correlation between different sized or weighted Pokémon of the same type and their CP or HP, but size and weight can help you obtain certain achievements, like ‘Youngster’ for catching Rattata under 1kg or ‘Fisherman’ for landing Magikarp over 1kg.
What do the coloured circles mean?
When you encounter a Pokémon in the wild, you’ll see a coloured reticle around the beasty when you’re aiming your Poké Ball. These denote how hard the monster is going to be to capture, so a green ring alludes to a much easier catch than an orange or a red one.
Jumping to a more reliable ball and feeding them a razz berry first should help tip the odds in your favour, but excluding the master ball, success is never guaranteed.
Is it possible to get better versions of Poké Balls?
Yes! When you start the game you have access bog standard Poké Ball to lob at Pidgeys, but come level 12 the Great Ball is unlocked and at level 20 you can get your hands on Ultra Balls. No word on the elusive Master Ball yet, though.
Can I change my Pokémon’s attacks?
Unfortunately unlike the conventional Pokémon games, you can’t teach your monsters new attacks manually. Evolving Pokémon does have the potential to result in re-rolled attacks, but it’s random as to what you’ll get.
Can I get more than one starter Pokémon?
Whilst Pokémon GO starts as the original games did, with a choice of Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur or Pikachu, you don’t have to worry about losing out on the ones you didn’t pick for the rest of the game, as they and their evolved forms also spawn naturally in the wild and can hatch from eggs too.
How do I get rid of extra Pokémon?
Simple, just open up your Pokémon collection, tap on a monster and scroll down to the transfer button at the bottom of the page. From here you can send your unwanted Pokémon to Professor Willow, who’ll dish out an extra candy as payment.
All the questions answered in the feature were taken from comments on our ‘Pokémon GO Tips & Tricks: How to catch ‘em all (and more)‘ video, which you can watch below:
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