You’ve picked your starter, caught a fair few Pokémon, perhaps bagged yourself a few medals and joined Team Instinct, Mystic or Valor (make the right choice). So now all you have to do is become a stronger trainer, power up your Pokémon and remain steadfast in your commitment to catching them all. With all that in mind here are a few more tips to get you stronger, faster in Pokémon GO.
If you’re still just starting out in Pokémon GO, then head over to our beginner’s tips and tricks piece for some hints on how to improve your game. And if you want to check out a complete list of all the Pokémon you can catch or evolve in Pokémon GO, then head over to our Pokédex feature.
Get on my level
Pokémon GO has many facets, but above all else, trainer level reigns supreme. Raising your rank not only unlocks handy new items like super potions and great balls but also exposes you to rarer and more powerful Pokémon, so put leveling up your Pokémon and hatching eggs further down the list, they’re merely tools to creating a stronger you.
Use some restraint
A byproduct of gaining access to stronger Pokémon in the wild at higher trainer levels is that it makes all the more sense to hold onto your resources for as long as you can. Blazing through all that Stardust you amassed on that Drowzee you caught when you were level eight is only going to feel good in the short term. Chances are you’ll encounter wild Pokémon with much higher base CP (combat power) values by increasing your trainer level. So save your stardust for when the games really begin.
Over easy or sunny-side up?
Pokémon GO features two types of eggs, Pokémon eggs – which hatch a random Pokémon after you’ve walked/jogged/cycled a set distance (move too fast i.e. in a car, and the game won’t count your distance travelled) and lucky eggs – which once opened double the amount of experience you gain as a trainer for a set period of time. We’ll get to lucky eggs in the next tip, but with regards to Pokémon eggs, it’s all a matter of juggling incubators.
As you level up or if you’re willing to spend Pokécoins in the game’s shop, you’ll acquire incubators (cost = 150 Pokécoins), which have a three use limit. These are in addition to the special incubator you received when starting the game, which is decked out to work ad infinitum.
To get the most out of those three use incubators save them for your 5k, 10k or 20k eggs and leave the 2k eggs to the reusable incubator; this, in effect, gives you get better value for money (or rather, Pokécoins).
Appreciate the little guys
All this talk of restraint and patience we keep hammering on about is leading to a moment where you’ll be able to amass a ton of experience in an extremely short time. When that moment is, is up to you, but here’s how to get everythingset up first.
First thing’s first, catch as many Weedles, Caterpies and/or Pidgeys as you can; these three Pokémon are, believe it or not, the keys to success when it comes to trainer leveling quickly.
Evolving a Pokémon requires a set amount of candy and these three little guys cost the least of any Pokémon (just 12) to reach their second forms in Kakuna, Metapod and Pidgeotto respectively.
Once you’ve amassed a ton of these Pokémon and their respective candies, prepare to pop open a lucky egg. Evolving a Pokémon usually nabs you 500xp, so the 2x multiplier of the lucky egg jumps that to 1000xp per evolution and with an army of pidgeys just waiting to be evolved, you can see how this method helps you rapidly rise up the ranks, at least until the effects of those lucky eggs wear off, so use them wisely.
Getting your Rocky on
With Pokémon GO’s extremely bare bones tutorial shoving trainers out into the wide world with only a minimal understanding of what’s possible in-game, it’s fallen to the player community to figure out its intricacies, and gym battles have pretty much been guess work up until this point.
First, let’s talk battle tactics. Each Pokémon has a primary and a secondary attack. Tapping the screen launches your primary attack, whilst long-pressing launches your secondary attack (aka special attack), provided you’ve filled up the blue special attack bar first.
Speed is key, you want fast attacks that outpace your rival, especially if their Pokémon has a higher CP than yours, this way you can get more hits in within the same amount of time. Players have already started collating lists of fast primary and special attacks for various Pokémon online, so you’ll only need to perform a quick Google search to decide which Poliwag is worth levelling up.
As well as attacking, you’ll sometimes want to dodge to avoid enemy moves, especially when they pack a little extra punch. It’s not immediately obvious during battle, but if you look closely the edges of the screen should flash yellow for a brief moment before your enemy winds up for an attack, this is the time to swipe, even if it looks like your opponent isn’t yet in prime striking position. Swiping moves your Pokémon out the way of oncoming hurt and opens up more time for you to land a few extra hits of your own, you’ll have to be quick though.
Eeveeloution by name or nature?
As elemental stones aren’t part of Pokémon GO it seems that evolving Eevee into Flareon, Jolteon or Vaporeon has been potluck for most trainers, but there appears to be an unconfirmed, but reliable method of guaranteeing that you get the Eeveeloution of your choice.
Multiple players are reporting a 100 per cent success rate when naming their Eevees ‘Pyro’, ‘Sparky’ or ‘Rainer’ before evolving them. As you might have figured out, ‘Pyro’ results in a Flareon, ‘Sparky’, a Jolteon and ‘Rainer’ a Vaporeon. This method doesn’t appear to work on repeat attempts. So nab your favourite first.
Update 25/7/16: Niantic Labs’ CEO, John Hanke confirmed at San Diego Comic-Con 2016 that the Eeveeloution naming trick was actually an official easter egg, built into the game.
Watch the video version of our advanced tips & tricks here:
Want more Pokemon GO guides, features, news and funny stuff? Check out our Pokemon GO hub.
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