3: Catching Pokémon
Probably the most important part of this game is catching Pokémon. After a while of walking around you will eventually encounter a Pokémon on your map. By clicking on this Pokémon it will send you into the battle Menu, from here you can do a few things.
- Pokéball: Probably the most common option, by placing your finger on the Pokéball at the centre of the screen and swiping towards the Pokémon you throw a Pokéball to try and catch the Pokémon. When holding the Pokéball you will notice a circle getting smaller before resetting. The smaller this circle is the better your chances are of the Pokémon staying in the ball. The colour of the circle is also an indicator of how hard the Pokémon will be to catch:
- Green is easy
- Orange is medium
- Red is hard
- Items: From here you can select an item to use in battle.
- Camera: You can take a picture of the Pokémon you are battling.
- Run: You run away from the current encounter, the Pokémon will still be on the Over world map.
3.1: Eggs
Eggs that you obtain from Pokéstops can be put into Incubators and then hatched by walking the required distance.
4: Items
Here is a list of the known items and their functions.
- Potion (Restores 20HP to a Pokémon)
- Super Potion (Restores 50HP to a Pokémon)
- Revive (Restores a fainted Pokémon to 50% of its maximum HP)
- Lucky Egg (Doubles EXP for 30 minutes)
- Incense (Lures Pokémon to your location for 30 minutes)
- Pokéball (Standard tool for catching Pokémon)
- Great Ball (Tool for catching Pokémon better than a Pokéball) Available from Level 12
- Lure Module (Put in a Pokéstops to lure wild Pokémon nearby the Pokéstops for 30 minutes)
- Razz Berry (Throw at a wild Pokémon to make it easier to catch)
- Camera (For taking pictures of Pokémon during Encounters)
- Egg Incubator: Infinite (For hatching Pokémon, can be used an infinite amount of times)
- Egg Incubator: Charges (For hatching Pokémon, can be used 3 times before breaking)
5: Important Areas
While travelling around looking for Pokémon to capture you will come across 2 different type of locations on your map.
5.1: Pokéstops
Pokéstops are small blue cubes until you get close to them then they turn into a Pokéball symbol. When you are close to a Pokéstops you can spin the picture and obtain a number of items as well as 50exp. Pokéstops are usually at well-known locations in your community. Pokéstops reactivate and can be accessed again once every 5 minutes.
5.2: Gyms
Upon reaching level 5 you can choose to join a team, either Team Valor (Red), Team Instinct (Yellow) or the best team which is Team Mystic (Blue). Once you have selected a team you can now participate in Gym Battles. A Gym can be one of 4 colours.
- Blue: Owned by Team Mystic
- Red: Owned by Team Valor
- Yellow: Owned by Team Instinct
- Grey: Not owned by anyone
If a Gym is controlled by a Team which isn't your own, then you can choose to battle it. You can choose up to 6 of your Pokémon to challenge the Gym with. The number of Pokémon you will have to battle is determined by the level of the gym, whatever level the Gym is that is how many Pokémon can be placed in that Gym. Every time you defeat Pokémon in the Gym it lowers the Prestige level of the Gym, which lowers the level of the Gym until 0 at which point it becomes unclaimed.
If a Gym is controlled by your team you can do 2 things. First of which is place a Pokémon of your own into the Gym if there are any free slots. Or you can train against the Gym, Training is similar to battling a Gym except you only select 1 Pokémon to use and for every victory it raises the Prestige level of the Gym.
If a Gym is Grey, it is not controlled by any team and you can freely put one of your Pokémon in without the need for a battle.
When you decide to either Battle or Train at a Gym you will then enter the Pokémon Go Battle system. It works fairly easily as you have 3 different types of moves.
1: Tapping on your Pokémon allows it to use its Basic Attack. (The first attack in its Pokémon Entry)
2: Tap and Holding for about a second allows it to use its Special Attack (The second attack in its Pokémon Entry)
3: Swiping left or right causes your Pokémon to Dodge, hopefully avoiding incoming attacks.
During a battle you also have the opportunity to switch out Pokémon or Run Away. In a battle remember to be quick as unlike previous Pokémon games battling in Pokémon Go is done in real time and is unforgiving to those who hesitate.
6: Evolving and Levelling
Evolving and Levelling up your Pokémon is an important part of any Pokémon game and I am here to tell you how to go about it.
6.1: Evolving Pokémon
Every Pokémon which can evolve needs a certain amount of Candy from its evolutionary line in order to do so. A Bulbasaur would need Bulbasaur Candy to evolve into an Ivysaur, an Ivysaur still needs Bulbasaur Candy to evolve into a Venusaur. Each Pokémon is different and needs a different amount of Candy to evolve. Every time you catch a Pokémon you receive 3 Candy and each time you Transfer a Pokémon you receive 1, just remember once you Transfer a Pokémon you can never get it back.
6.2: Levelling Pokémon
Levelling your Pokémon is the only way to make them stronger, every Pokémon has a CP (Combat Power) rating, the higher this number the stronger the Pokémon is. Every Pokémon’s CP rating can be increased by the Power Up option using Stardust and Candy. Each time a Pokémon is powered up with will cost more and more Stardust and Candy. Just remember the higher your character level the higher you can raise your Pokémon’s CP rating.
6.3: Levelling Yourself
There are a number of different actions you can perform to gain EXP, the more EXP you have the higher your Trainer level will be. Below is a list of known ways to generate EXP.
- 50EXP: Visiting a Pokéstops
- Variable: Train or Battle a Gym
- 100EXP: Catch a Pokémon
- 500EXP: Register a Pokémon for the first time.
- 500EXP: Evolve a Pokémon
- 10EXP: Nice Throw (Catch a Pokémon with by throwing the Pokéball within the circle while it is big)
- 50EXP: Great Throw (Catch a Pokémon with by throwing the Pokéball within the circle while it is at a medium size)
- 100EXP: Excellent Throw (Catch a Pokémon with by throwing the Pokéball within the circle while it is small)
- 10EXP: Curve Ball (Catch a Pokémon with by throwing the Pokéball in a curved motion)
- 1000EXP: Hatch an Egg