Pokemon Go still entices players years after its launch. But even if you’re familiar with the hit game, there’s always more to learn. With that in mind, here are the biggest and best Pokemon Go tips and tricks to help you get more out of the game.
1. Don’t Power Up Pokemon Right Away
It’s tempting to immediately try to make your Pokemon as powerful as possible, but this Pokemon Go tip is essential for beginners: don’t power up or evolve them right away. After you catch a Pokemon, you’ll see a Power Up option underneath it.
Each level of powering up consumes candy and stardust. It increases the combat power (CP) of the Pokemon, but the cost of powering up increases too. If you waste all your candy powering up your first Pokemon, you’ll never have enough to evolve them. Furthermore, you’ll also likely just end up catching a better Pokemon out in the wild.
2. Check Stats to Get the Best Pokemon
Pokemon have different attributes which determine how well they perform in a fight: their combat power (CP), their individual value (IV) stats, and their attack types.
You don’t want to waste candy evolving Pokemon with low IV stats, since they will be easily beaten by other Pokemon. There is no way to directly check the IV stats in Pokemon Go. But you can get your team trainer to give you an overview of how your Pokemon measures up.
To check your Pokemon’s stats, select the Pokemon you want to evaluate. Tap on the menu icon on the bottom right of the screen, where you’ll see the Appraise option. Your team leader will then give you an analysis.
Pokemon with high overall stats will get these responses from the trainers:
- Overall, your Pokemon is a wonder! What a breathtaking Pokemon!
- Overall, your Pokemon simply amazes me. It can accomplish anything!
- Overall, your Pokemon looks like it can really battle with the best of them!
Pokemon with at least one stat that reaches the maximum value will get these responses:
- Its stats exceed my calculations. It’s incredible!
- I’m blown away by its stats. WOW!
- Its stats are the best I’ve ever seen! No doubt about it!
These are the Pokemon you should aim to evolve if you want to use them in raids and gyms.
3. Save Your Lucky Eggs
If there’s one Pokemon Go tip that many players wish they’d known when they started, it’s this one… Save your lucky eggs!
Lucky eggs are in-game items that give you double XP for 30 minutes, but you should use them sparingly. When you first start your account, frequent leveling means you’ll end up with quite a few lucky eggs. However, as you progress, they become much rarer.
Considering that the XP required to level up your account increases exponentially, save these lucky eggs for when it counts.
Use them in places where there’s a high density of Pokemon and Pokestops, when you candy to evolve multiple Pokemon, and you have Pokemon eggs that are close to hatching.
4. Take Part in Gym and Raid Battles in Pokemon Go
If you really want to get the best out of the game, you should take part in Pokemon Go gym battles and raids. When your team owns a gym, check if you can add your Pokemon. If another team owns a nearby gym, try to fight off their Pokemon.
The benefits to fighting in and defending gyms include:
- XP for defeating an opponent
- XP for defeating all enemies in a gym
- Bonus XP and items when you spin a team-owned gym
- Coins and badges for defending gyms for enough hours
To add your Pokemon to a team gym, your account needs to be level five or higher. If there’s a free slot in the gym, you will see an icon with a plus icon when you select the gym.
Meanwhile, raids—combat events with rarer Pokemon—spawn in gyms every few hours. Raid levels vary from level one to five. While the game provides a recommended number of group members, the difficulty depends on your trainer level and Pokemon. A level 29 trainer can often complete a level one or two raid by themselves.
Rewards for winning raids include:
- Bonus XP
- Rare candy, technical machines, stardust, and golden razzberries
- A chance to catch the raid boss Pokemon
5. Enable Adventure Sync
Walking is still a core mechanic in Pokemon Go—and one of the reasons Pokemon Go is good for your health. You use walking to hatch eggs and earn candy from your buddy Pokemon.
But it’s impossible to keep the app open at all times. That’s where Adventure Sync comes in. The feature lets Pokemon Go use data from Google Fit or Apple Health to track steps taken when the game isn’t running. This can more than double your distance traveled.
To enable Adventure Sync, go to to your main menu by clicking on the center icon in the app. Then go to Settings, scroll down and tap the checkbox for Adventure Sync. Grant the relevant permissions and the feature will be enabled.
6. How to Get Candy in Pokemon Go
In Pokemon Go, you earn candy whenever you catch a certain type of Pokemon. But the resource is often in short supply with rarer monsters.
There are a few Pokemon Go tricks you can use to earn extra candy. These include:
- Using Pinap berries to increase the candy you get from catching a Pokemon
- Equipping a Pokemon as your buddy to earn candy while walking
- Trading Pokemon with friends
When it comes to trading, the distance between where the Pokemon was caught and where your current location counts towards more candy. You can earn a maximum of three candy from trading.
7. Friends Have Benefits in Pokemon Go
Pokemon Go encourages you to add other players to your friends list. Luckily, there are tons of perks to having friends in Pokemon Go. Firstly, you get XP every time you send a gift to a friend. When you receive a gift, you will get items such as stardust, pokeballs, and hatchable eggs.
As your friendship level increases, you get more bonuses. These include raid and gym bonuses for fighting with friends. Furthermore, every time you reach a new tier of friendship, you will get a significant chunk of XP.
8. Do Special Research, Daily Missions, and Daily PvP
Special research and field missions come with a variety of benefits. Firstly, there’s the XP benefit. But the biggest reason to do them is the other rewards—such as rare Pokemon spawns and special items.
When your entire special research quest line is completed, you will be awarded mythical Pokemon that do not appear elsewhere. For field research missions, you get one stamp per day for completing a mission. After seven days, you get a bundle of rewards and a rare Pokemon spawn.
One Pokemon Go tip that is not highlighted nearly enough is the importance of getting your daily PvP rewards. You can get one daily reward for challenging a team leader, and three rewards for battling other players. These rewards include stardust, but also the chance to get Sinnoh Stones and rare candy.
9. How to Earn Coins in Pokemon Go
While you are able to buy in-game currency in Pokemon Go with your credit card, you can also earn this currency for free. You earn up to 50 coins a day from Pokemon defending gyms. The number of coins depends on how long your Pokemon defends a gym. When it is defeated, it will return with the coins.
This amount is capped at 50 coins a day. So try spread out your Pokemon defenses and feed berries to Pokemon you want to remain in a gym until the next day.
10. Keep Track of Community Days and Special Events
Once a month, Pokemon Go holds a community day where a certain Pokemon will spawn at a much higher rate. Evolving this specific Pokemon during the event earns it a special attack. However, these events come with other perks too—including egg hatching bonuses, candy bonuses, and other rewards. Usually, these events are a great place to use your lucky eggs for bonus XP.
The game also has other special events every few weeks. These events see the increased spawn rates of certain Pokemon types as well as hatching or candy bonuses.
Unlike festivals, you do not need to be in a specific location to take part in these events. You can check a full list of events on the Pokemon Go events website.
Pokemon Go Tips and Tricks for Raids and Gyms
Now that you know some of the most useful Pokemon Go tips and tricks, you may want to know more detail on how to best battle in raids and gyms in the game.
To make sure that you make a formidable opponent, check out our guide detailing how to master Pokemon Go gyms and raids.
Read the full article: 10 Pokemon Go Tips and Tricks Everyone Should Know
