Pokemon Go Guide [Tips and Tricks] to Catch Them All!

It’s Pokemon Go time! If you’re ready to be the very best at the game, this is the tips and trick guide for you. From starter Pokemon to Egg Hatching, we’ve got you covered.

Starter Pokémon Choices

After character creation in Pokemon Go you will be greeted with 3 familiar faces from previous iterations of Pokemon Red and Blue. Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur. At this point you can choose either of the 3 Starter Pokemon  by tapping on them. There is very little difference between their starting stats besides type advantage. You can also ignore them completely, and walk away from this selection. Walking away 4 times will allow you with the option to choose Pikachu as your starter.

By walking away from the 3 Starter Pokemon after they spawn next to you several time (Up to 4 times in some cases) you will trigger the starter Pikachu spawn. This easter egg tip is a fast way to get a hold of an electric type from the get go. There are Pikachu spawns in the game but there is no guarantee you will have one in your area. The choice is ultimately up to you. If you want to redo character selection, you will likely have to delete the game and or log in with a different account.

Capturing Pokémon

When you encounter any random Pokemon, the first things to note are its HP (Health Points) and CP (Combat Power) level to decide if its strong enough to be worth catching (Unless you are grinding for exp/evolves). Pokemon will have varying difficulty levels in the form of a colored capture ring, with a color indication system of Green, Yellow and Red. Green being the easiest, and Red being the hardest.

To increase your chances of capturing a Pokemon and earning more xp points, tap and hold onto your Pokeball until the ring has almost completely shrunk before you toss it. You receive 100 XP for Excellent throws (Small), 50 XP for Great (Half), and 10 XP for Nice (Full). If you find the Pokemon too hard to capture with your regular Pokeball, switch up to another type, and use a Razz Berry to make it easier following the steps above. This will increase your captures in most cases, the only cases where it won’t help is when you run into a Pokemon with “???”for its CP value and its still a red capture ring.

Picking a Team

After you reach level 5 it’s time to step foot into a Gym and choose a side. Like the starting Pokemon, there will be 3 options and it’s a permanent choice(at the moment anyway). Either choosing Team Valor (Red), Team Mystic (Blue) or Team Instinct (Yellow).

There is no difference between the teams so far, although each team’s icon is a different Legendary Bird Pokemon, Moltres, Articuno and Zapados. Which has lead to the rumor that this could play into how you unlock one of the three Pokemon in the future.

Ideally you want to go to the same team as your friends or If you know who is controlling the area and you don’t want to fight against them pick that team. Because after you’ve selected a team you can then fight for control over Gyms with the remaining two teams.  Depending on your area you may be outnumbered, meaning you will either have to have very strong Pokemon to defend and hold Gyms or to defeat the current holders of a gym.

Once your respective team has taken control of a Gym your options are to train there or add one of your Pokemon to the defend slots. Training your Pokemon and winning the fight will help raise your Gym’s prestige level. Leaving a Pokemon to defend the gym will keep your Pokemon there until it is defeated or the gym switches to another team.

You receive stardust and Pokecoins for defending a gym or being the gym leader. You will not be able to level or evolve it while it’s defending a gym so be careful about which Pokemon you choose.

Pokestops and Pokestop items

Pokestops are typically stores, land marks or something of importance in your area. If you’re unlucky to live in a very rural area you may have to go into the near by city to visit one. In most cases Pokestops are not only great for shopping, items and conversation with other players, but they will have a Pokelure running.  The Pokelure increases the chances of Pokemon appearing in that general area.

Currently at the moment of this post, there are several item types that a Pokestop can reward players with upon use. Tap the image to collect items. Pokestops have a 5 minute cool down before they can be used again. (Blue its available, Purple if its used.) This list might change in the future but here’s whats currently in the game as of the 0.29.0 patch.

• Pokeballs — This is the most common reward from the Pokestops, so you definitely want to hit Pokestops whenever you can as they are most cost effective way to stack up on regular pokeballs.
• Potions — The potions are used to recover the HP of your Pokemon after you’ve had a battle.
• Razz Berry — This consumable is an item that makes it easier to capture a particular Pokemon. Usually something you will only use on more difficult, yellow or red difficulty Pokemon.
• Revive — This is used for when your Pokemon faints in a gym battle. The revive will will restore the Pokemon to half of their maximum health.
• Lucky Egg — This is a consumable item that doubles your experience gained for thirty minutes upon activation.
• Egg — A Pokemon egg that will only hatch after you walk 2KM, 5KM, or 10KM while it’s stored in an egg incubator.

Level Rewards*:

Level 1: 1000 XP No reward No unlock

Level 2: 2000 XP 15 Poké Balls No unlock

Level 3: 3000 XP 15 Poké Balls No unlock

Level 4: 4000 XP 15 Poké Balls No unlock

Level 5: 5000 XP 1 Incense, 10 Potions, 10 Revives Gyms, Potions, Revives unlocked

Level 6: 6000 XP 15 Poké Balls, 10 Potions, 10 Revives, 1 Egg Incubator No unlock

Level 7: 7000 XP 1 Incense, 10 Potions, 10 Revives, 15 Poké Balls No unlock

Level 8: 8000 XP 10 Potions, 15 Poké Balls, 5 Revives, 10 Razz Berries, 1 Lure Module Razz Berries unlocked

Level 9: 9000 XP 15 Poké Balls, 10 Potions, 3 Razz Berries, 5 Revives, 1 Lucky Egg No unlock

Level 10: 10,000 XP 15 Poké Balls, 10 Super Potions, 10 Razz Berries, 10 Revives, 1 Lucky Egg, 1 Incense, 1 Lure Module, 1 Egg Incubator Super Potion unlocked

Level 11: 10,000 XP 10 Super Potions, 15 Poké Balls, 3 Revives, 3 Razz Berries No unlock

Level 12: 10,000 XP 20 Great Balls, 3 Revives, 10 Super Potions, 3 Razz Berries Great Balls unlocked

Level 13: 10,000 XP 15 Great Balls, 10 Super Potions, 3 Revives, 3 Razz Berries No unlock

Level 14: 15,000 XP 15 Great Balls, 3 Revives, 10 Super Potions, 3 Razz Berries No unlock

Level 15: 20,000 XP 15 Great Balls, 20 Hyper Potions, 10 Razz Berries, 10 Revives, 1 Incense, 1 Egg Incubator, 1 Lure Module, 1 Lucky Egg Hyper Potion unlocked

Level 16: 20,000 XP 10 Hyper Potions, 10 Great Balls, 5 Revives, 5 Razz Berries No unlock

Level 17: 20,000 XP 10 Great Balls, 10 Hyper Potions, 5 Revives, 5 Razz Berries No unlock

Level 18: 20,000 XP 10 Great Balls, 10 Hyper Potions, 5 Revives, 5 Razz Berries

Level 19: 25,000 XP 15 Great Balls, 10 Hyper Potions, 5 Revives, 5 Razz Berries No unlock

Level 20: 25,000 XP 20 Ultra Balls, 20 Hyper Potions, 20 Revives, 2 Incense, 20 Razzberry, 2 Lure Module, 2 Egg Incubator, 2 Lucky Egg Ultra Balls unlocked

Level 21: 50,000 XP – 10 Ultra Balls, 10 Hyper Potions, 10 Razz Berries, 10 Revives

List Source*

Who’s that Pokemon!?

Below is a comprehensive list of the Pokemon you can find through  current hatchable Pokemon Eggs.

2 kilometer eggs

5 kilometer eggs

10 kilometer eggs

General Tips and Tricks

1. Check local business social medias for advertisements on Pokemon types and lure activation.
2. Rustling leaves show where wild Pokémon could be lurking.
3. When you hit the PokeStop and spun the sign you can tap the X at the bottom to collect all the items.
4. If you’re suffering from low battery problems look into buying an external battery.
5. Farm common Pokemon for Candy and Stardust. You obtain candy for capturing Pokemon and for transferring your Pokemon to the Professor.
6. Tap the pencil icon next to a Pokemon name to rename it.
7. Turn your phone face down to conserve battery with the power saving mode.
8. Lower phone brightness levels to help battery drain
9. Use your lucky Egg right before your eggs are about to hatch / evolve Pokemon when your Lucky Egg is running
10. Prioritize Pokeballs then Razzberries, then potions and revives.
11. Focus on leveling first, then powering up Pokemon later. Pokemon base CP level is based around character level.
12. Incense stack with Pokemon Lures.
13. You can only hatch eggs in an Incubator, buy multiple when you can to decrease how much walking you need to do.
14. Pink petals around a Pokestop means a Pokelure is active.
15. Take over and hold a Gym to get Pokecoins every 21 hours!
16. To become the Gym leader you must have the highest CP Pokemon on the defense team.
17. If the enemy Pokémon has 1HP and won’t die, you need to restart your client to fix this bug.
18. Pokemon type can change from day to night. ex: Ghost type have a greater chance of appearing at night.
19. Neutral / Unclaimed Gyms are colored Silver.
20. Drop an occupied gym to prestige 0 to capture it.
21. Turn off AR (Augmented Reality) to save battery and to make it a bit easier catching Pokemon.
22. Keep the app open or have the battery save option enabled or your walking distance won’t count when it closes!
23. Shake Pokeball until its sparkling to get curveball bonus.
24. If you have public transportation such as trains or buses in your area you can use those to quickly visit Pokestops.
25. Near By pokemon goes from closet to furthest. top left to bottom right. Row 1 being closet, row 3 being the furthest.
26. Distance to a Pokemon – 1 footprint = within 10m / 32ft, 2 footprints =within 100m / 328ft,  3 footsprints= within 1km/3k feet.