If the rings are white, the pokemon was there naturally.
If the rings are a purple-y pink color, it showed up because of a nearby lure module.
Youll know not to shout Squirtle!
when you see the incense ring andstart an unnecessary stampede.
When the encounter starts, youll notice a white circle around it.
Thats the target you have to hit for your PokeBall to work at all.
Your goal is to toss your PokeBall and hit theinsideof the shrinking, colored circle.
tosshappens when the colored circle is very small, and will grant you an additional 100 XP.
This also helps yousave a ton of battery.
Not only would you get 200 XP for the catch, but an Excellent!
toss and curveball bonus would add another 220 XP, making that little Pidgey worth 420 XP.
Its almost as much as the bonus for catching it for the first time.
Red means very hard, orange means hard, yellow means moderate, and green means easy.
For red, orange, and yellow pokemon, a few items will help ensure you make your catch.
If the pokemon breaks free, youll need to use another.
Once theyre evolved, it’s possible for you to worry about powering them up with stardust.
Only then do you begin to use the stardust you saved to power up your Charizard.
If you want to find pokemon with higher CPs, you oughta increase your trainer level.
Some species of pokemon have a higher maximum CP than others.
If your trainer level increases, the maximum CP of all your pokemon increases.
Evolving a pokemon will raise their current and maximum CP, but the percentage trained will remain the same.
But say you have two Charmanders that both have high CPs.
Which do you evolve?
If youre planning on battling with one of them, look attheir move sets.
Its best to have a pokemon with two different types of attacks.
This is especially important with stardust, as it becomes a much rarer resource the longer you play.
Be stingy with your resources and focus on building your trainer level first.
So, catch a bunch of Pidgeys, Rattatas, etc., and build up a stash of candies.
Now activate a Lucky Egg, then start evolving them all.
Youll get 1000 XP for every evolution instead of the standard 500 XP.
Pro tip: dont evolve Pidgeottos into Pidgeots while you do this!
Do the math before you undo all your hard work.
Go fight at an enemy gym with some pokemon and theyll be returned to full health once theyre evolved.
If you see no paw prints, youre practically on top of that pokemons location.
Dont select a single pokemon to track.
Keep the entire tracking tab open so you could see pokemon change order based on their location nearby.
Choose a pokemon you want to track on the list, then pick a direction.
Watch to see if its position or paw prints change.
If it moves down the list or gets more paw prints, you went the wrong way.
Different areas have higher chances of spawning certain pokemon.
Besides, most of the pokemon in the 2 km eggs are fairly common and easy to find anyway.
The pokemon in 5 km and 10 km are uncommon and rare (heres a complete list).
You also need to hatch your eggs as soon as possible when you get them.
The video above, from theTech Insider YouTube channel, demonstrates a better way to battle.
When the fight starts, wait for the screen to flash yellow.
When it does, swipe right or left and youll dodge their attack.
Not every ability is dodgeable, like Earthquake, but most are.
Dont attempt to attack too much after each dodge.
Its tempting to leave your best pokemon, but go for your second or third best instead.
Thiscomprehensive list from TheSilphRoad redditbreaks down every known item reward tier.
Illustration by Sam Woolley.
