Pokémon Go Guide: tips, tricks, cheats and more to help you become a Pokemon Master

Everything you need to know to catch ’em all.

When Pokémon Go was released on iOS and Android last summer, it was almost an overnight hit. More than that: the game became a downright global phenomenon. The mainstream news went wild about it, it made a ton of money, you could scarcely go for a walk without encountering people trying to expand their Pokedex, and for a while you couldn’t escape it.

Things have calmed down a little now and much of the dust has settled from Pokemon Go’s explosive arrival, but people are still hooked on Niantic Labs, The Pokemon Company and Nintendo’s sweet little augmented reality app. The game isn’t always simple, however – and on that point we’ve got you covered.

If you’re a newcomer ready to embargo on your journey as a Pokemon trainer or a veteran just looking for some help with some of the deeper aspects of Pokemon Go, we’ve got you. On this page you’ll find everything from pointers to help beginners get to grips with the basics of catching, training and battling Pokemon through to advanced strategies for those chasing specific evolutions in order to become a Pokemon Master. So… enough nattering. Let’s start at the beginning.

Basic tips for beginners

Pokemon Go is fairly simple to start playing, and the basic structure of the game is very easy to understand and get to grips with. All you have to do is create a character and then begin searching for Pokemon in the real world. You use the map (which represents your local surroundings) to track down Pokemon which you then catch using pokeballs. Once you’ve caught a range of Pokemon you can begin using them for battles. It’s not dissimilar to the main Game Boy, DS and 3DS games in this regard.

Be prepared to move

The big difference that sets Pokemon Go apart is that you’re not just looking at your phone and moving a character around. You are the character, and as a result you have to get up and get moving. Be prepared to move around – and by that we don’t just mean moving around your house and garden but also hitting the streets and walking a significant distance.

Walking around will allow you to find new types of Pokemon to catch and also to check in with Pokestops, special places in the real world that when visited will give you additional items to use in the game free of charge.

Choose your gym team wisely – it’s a one-time deal

Once you hit level 5 you’ll be faced with a choice between three different gym factions: the yellow Team Instinct, the blue Team Mystic and the red Team Valor. Choose which of these you pick carefully, as once you choose there’s no way to choose again other than by deleting your account and standing over… which you obviuously don’t want to do.

If you want to learn more about the differences between the three Pokemon Go Gym teams, what do you know… we’ve got a page for that.

Turn on battery saver mode

Before you end up deep in the Pokemon Go hole we have one key piece of advice: turn on the battery saver mode. To do this, tap the Pokeball at the bottom of the screen to see the options menu, then hit the settings cog icon in the top right. The option to enable battery saver is in there.

When this mode is enabled your phone will preserve battery when it’s not held in a position where you’d be looking at it. This lets you keep the app running to track your steps and location but enables you to save a little battery compared to when it’s on full-on top-brightness, eye-blasting mode. It makes quite a difference, and short of picking up a Pokemon Go Plus it’s the most economical way of playing the game battery-wise.

The Pokemon in the world improve with your character level

Early on you might wonder why all the Pokemon around you are low-level, scrubby Pokemon. A person can only take so many Pidgeys and Ratattas before losing it, after all. Here’s the good news: Pokemon around the world actually get better as you do.

Your trainer level determines what’s around – so a great example is that while you might encounter the occasional Charmander out in the world early on, when you level up a way you might find yourself finding Charmeleon instead. If you’re really lucky or really high level, possibly even a Charizard. Keep leveling yourself up to boost the types of Pokemon you find available to catch.

There’s more to Pokemon battling and stats than meets the eye

Behind-the-scenes, Pokemon Go is just as complicated as the main Pokemon games to a point – the game has a lot of deeply complicated interlocking systems that determine Pokemon strength and such, making every Pokemon you catch unique. Two Pikachu can actually be enormously different in terms of their skill set, and in line with that it’s definitely worth learning more about the systems behind the game.

CP is the basic value that determines a Pokemon’s overall usefulness, but CP is just the start of it. Hidden away are Individual Stats for each Pokemon that can vary wildly. It all gets pretty complicated but if you want to learn about Pokemon Go’s secret secret Pokemon Go battle stats that help to decide fights, check out our page on the matter.

Pokemon Go Guide – Getting started

• Getting started and catching Pokémon

  Here, we give the ultimate beginners’ tips: how to get started with Pokemon Go and how to catch your first Pokemon.

• How to get Pikachu as your starter pokemon

  But wait! You have a first choice between Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle, but those of you who grew up with the Pokemon cartoon might want to put on your best Ash Ketchum impression. If that’s the case… well, here’s how to start with Pikachu instead.

• Levelling up your trainer and Pokémon

  Our top, hot tips on how the level up system in Pokemon Go works.

• More tips for gaining XP and leveling up fast

  As mentioned earlier, levelling up has as lot of benefits including boosting the range of Pokemon that spawn for you to catch. Here’s our tips for boosting your level quickly.

• Rewards, XP, and unlockable items for every level

  As you level up you’ll unlock new items and get other rewards – here, we list every reward for every level. Know what you’re working towards!

• Requesting Pokéstops, changing usernames, and the fine print

  How to change your username and other boring technical stuff you might want to know. We read the fine print so you don’t have to.

• Tips, Tricks & Basics: Everything you need to know about Pokemon Go

  While now a little dated, this general page will still give you a great overview of parts of the game, including Gym Battles.

• Pokemon Go Server Status: how to easily tell if there’s a problem

  Game not working? Here’s the quickest and easiest way to figure out if it’s you or the game servers.

Pokemon Go Guide – filling in your Pokedex by catching and evolving Pokemon

• Pokemon Go Pokedex: A complete list of every Pokemon, plus their types and moves

  Every Pokemon available in the game, plus what their types are for gym battling and what moves they have access to.

• Where to find all Pokemon types

  Okay, so, you know you want a specific type of Pokemon to block a weakness in your team. Where do you find ’em? Here, we explain where to head to find each type.

• Advanced tips and tricks for catching pokemon

  If you want to be a Pokemon Master, you need to make sure that you don’t let those rare Pokemon slip through your fingers. To do that, you’ll want to know the best techniques for tossing Pokeballs and catching them.

• Pokemon Go: Using Incense correctly to catch more Pokemon

  Incense might seem a little dubious in usefulness early on, but if you know how to use it right it can seriously up your Pokedex-filling game.

• How to find rare and legendary pokémon – where are Mew, Mewtwo, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres?

  Some Pokemon are just downright rare. Legendary, as the traditional Pokemon games teach us. But can you get them in Pokemon Go?

• Meet Pokemon Go’s region-exclusives: Tauros, Kangaskhan, Mr. Mime and Farfetch’d

  While some Pokemon can only be found in certain locations locally, others can only be found in certain bits of the world – which is a bit more complicated. Meet the region-exclusives. Fancy a flight to catch one?

• How to get a shiny red Gyarados

  Shiny Pokemon have finally arrived in Pokemon Go with the addition of a shiny golden Magikarp and shiny Red Gyarados. These things will really let you boast. Here’s how to get them.

Pokemon Go Guide – evolutions, candy and evolution stones and items

• Pokemon Go: How to use the Buddy Pokemon System

  Pokemon Go’s buddy system is vital for evolving, since it gives you precious candy you can use to force Pokemon to evolve. Here’s how it all works.

• Pokemon Go: How much candy each Pokemon earns as a buddy

  Once you’ve got your head around the buddy system, you’ll likely want to calculate how much your hard walking work is earning you. We’ve done it for you.

• Pokemon egg chart for hatching – all Pokemon for 2km, 5km and 10km eggs

  One of the best ways to obtain new and rare Pokemon is by nurturing eggs. There are three different types of egg, and each can hold different Pokemon. We explain what to expect from each.

• Eevee Evolutions – how to choose Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, Espeon or Umbreon

  Eevee is a bit of a complicated Pokemon since it can evolve into a number of different forms. Here’s how to choose which of them you get when you feed Eevee the candy to evolve it.

• Tyrogue evolution guide – how to evolve into Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan and Hitmontop

  Like Eevee, fighting-type Tyrogue can evolve in a number of different directions and you might want to know which you’re most likely to get. Here, we explain just that.

• How to evolve Sunkern into SunFlora, Gloom into Bellossom using the Sun Stone

  The Sun Stone is a special, rare item in Pokemon Go – and it’s particularly useful, since it allows you to evolve some Pokemon into their rarest forms.

• How to evolve Slowpoke into SlowKing, Poliwhirl into Politoed using King’s Rock

  The King’s Rock is another rare evolution stone item in Pokemon Go, and it can be used to evolve water-types Slowpoke and Poliwhirl. Here’s how to get one and use it.

• How to evolve Scyther into Scizor, Onix into Steelix using Metal Coat

  The metal coat is a particularly cool evolutionary item since it lets you turn a grass type and a ground type into two cool steel-type Pokemon. Here’s how to do it.

Pokemon Go Tips – Teams, Gyms and Battles

• Which team should you join?

  Team Mystic, Team Instinct or Team Valor? Blue, Yellow or Red? These are classic Pokemon choices under another name. Which should you join?

• Gyms, Teams, and Pokémon battles

  So, you’re ready to battle for your team? Here we break down the basics of gyms, teams, and the battles between them that take place within.

• Battle type strengths and weaknesses explained

  Key to all Pokemon combat are Pokemon types and the inherent strengths and weaknesses each has. You absolutely need to know all about these to succeed in the unforgiving world of gym Pokemon combat.

• Battle tips for taking down gyms

  Once you understand Pokemon strengths and weaknesses via types, it’s time to hop into battle proper – and these final tips will help you to win.

• Revealed: the secret Pokemon Go battle stats that help to decide fights

  Hidden beneath Pokemon Go’s hood is a major mechanical system that actually gets quite complicated, with each Pokemon having a variety of stats that are actually hidden from the player. Fans have figured them out, however.

• Pokemon Go: The most powerful Pokemon in battles ranked

  You want to be a Pokemon Master, but which are the Master Pokemon? Balance be damned, some Pokemon in Go are just better than others – so here they are, ranked.

• Pokemon Go: The most powerful moves to use in battle ranked

  If not all Pokemon are born equal, why would all moves be likewise? The answer is… they’re not. We’ve ranked the moves, too.

• Check out these cool Pokemon Go accessories from our friends at Jelly Deals.

Pokemon Go continues to grow, and the developers at Niantic Labs and the publishers at The Pokemon Company have been clear that this is only the beginning: the game will slowly update with more features to match up to the main Pokemon games including the likes of trading and hopefully trainer-versus-trainer battles.

This page will be updated to keep up with the latest developments. That goes for everything from fans data-mining new strategies and information out of the game right down to information on how to tackle the latest updates and additions to the game – so be sure to bookmark us!

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