Pokémon Go General - MOVED TO www.pokegoguide.info

MOVED TO: WWW.POKEGOGUIDE.INFO

Pokémon Go General Guide v7.5.4

Last Update: July 30th 10:40p EST

Changelog:
08.11.16 FINAL - This guide has been moved and updated here: www.pokegoguide.info.
07.30.16 v7.5.5 - Edited information about levels.
				- Edited information about Eevee.
07.21.16 v7.5.4 - Edited information about CP.
				- Added Evolution CP Calculator.
07.18.16 v7.5.3 - Added Moves Ranking Chart under the "Catching Pokemon" section.
				- Added reference chart for type counters under the "Catching Pokemon" section.
				- Added "Starting Pokemon" section.
				- New server checking sites.
07.17.16 v7.5.2 - Added information about Eevee Evolutions under the "Catching Pokemon" section.
07.16.16 v7.5.1 - Added a "Myths" section to the bottom.


- IS THE SERVER DOWN RIGHT NOW? -

Probably, but they are getting better! If you want a place you can check, try these links:

Simplest with automatic refresh: https://ispokemon.online/

MMO Server Status: http://www.mmoserverstatus.com/pokemon_go

Crowdsourced Server Information: http://cmmcd.com/pokemonGo/


- IS IT BANNABLE TO DOWNLOAD THE APK? -

Short Answer: No. The game is fully out now! Version 0.29.2 of the App is out as of July 13th.

Long Answer: They redirected Google Play's given APK file. You are literally using the exact same version they released. Only bannable if it's an edited file; more money, more pokeballs etc.
The only reason they haven't released it in all countries yet is because of the server issues.
They are aware of those people, you know, the ones that download the game, play it 1-2 days and never touch it again.
It's pretty stupid to invest money into extra servers when, in the long run, you won't need them.
At the moment, the whole world plays on 1 server. They wanted structured released, one region at the time, to reduce server issues.
People went and downloaded it anyway.
>tl;dr
>Nothing wrong with downloading it, when it's not released in your country
>It's not bannable, only if you use a cheated/edited version.


- PLAYING ON PC -

BLUESTACKS IS KILL.

So you want to stay inside and play? Well yes, it's possible, and the end of this section will have a link to a guide. The only problem with this is that there is strong speculation that GPS spoofing will result in a ban for your account, with no ability to get it back. YOU WILL BE FORCED TO START A NEW ACCOUNT AND START OVER. The whole point of the game is to go out and play to collect items and battle against other trainers. If none of this matters to you, then you can try this method out, but YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Use NOX App Player to play on PC, located here: http://en.bignox.com/pokemongo

After you wait for NOX to install PGO itself, uninstall and install from play store. This stops all Nox users from having the same app ID.

This video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO0Bx-AkhOc contains a guide to downloading all the resources you will need and information to configuiring Bluestacks on your PC, which isn't terribly useful to Nox users, but might be helpful later on.

I'm not going to be held responsible for any bans that are received for doing this. Just go outside and play already!


- MAPS -

Here's a crowdsourced map of locations of Pokémon sightings, locations of Gyms, and Pokéstops: map.pokego.no

Please resist the urge to leave markers on the map that are false, or that are just used to make a picture. It will be removed, and you will possibly be banned from using the map.


- BATTERY SAVER MODE -

Right off the bat you're going to notice that this app needs data, a GPS lock, and a screen brightness that you're able to see in direct sunlight. This will likely destroy your phones battery and leave you wanting to play more. You'll notice that there is a 'Battery Saver' option in the settings. This setting works by turning your phones screen black when you point the top of your phone towards the ground. It will allow the game to keep running and give you a vibration when a Pokémon is nearby.

I would recommend not using this setting until all of the bugs are fixed. On multiple occasions users report bringing their phones back up and the screen activating, but not responding to touch input. This results in you needing to force-quit the game and relaunch it, and during delicate server times, relaunching the game could result in you not getting back in the game at all.

If you need extra battery, just buy a powerpack that's got a pretty large capacity for all day play. Something like 10,000 mAh or more. Charge your phone overnight and plug it into the powerpack when you go out to play, don't wait until your phone is on low battery to plug it into the pack.

Turn off AR mode, it's not really useful and only makes Pokémon harder to catch anyway. This will also help to save battery. Unless you are in a location that is hard to get a GPS signal, then turn your device location settings to GPS only.


- STARTING POKEMON -

At the beginning of the game, you will see three starting Pokemon on your screen; Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle. Catching one of these Pokemon will be the Pokemon that you will start the game with, and you can always encounter the others on your travels.

If you decide that you do not want to start with one of these three starters, walking away from them 4-5 times (i.e., putting them out of your range on the screen) will spawn a Pikachu as a 4th starter.


- WHAT THINGS MEAN -

In case you're wondering what a lot of the things you see on the screen are, here's a quick list:

Grass Shaking: A Pokémon may or may not reside there. Higher chances of encountering a wild Pokémon. Just because you see the grass doesn't mean anything is there.

Swiveling White PokeBall Icon in the Top-Left Corner: It means content is loading.

Pokémon Tab in the Bottom-Right Corner: Shows you wild Pokémon in your vicinity. Select the Pokémon you wish to encounter, and it makes it easier for you to hunt for it.

Footprint Next to Pokémon Tab: Lets you know the proximity of a wild Pokémon. The closer you get the less footprints there are.

Color of the Ring When Catching a Pokémon: Refers to the difficulty of catching the Pokémon. Green = Easy, Yellow = Moderate, Red = Difficult.

CP = Combat Power: "Each individual Pokémon is assigned CP at capture, which indicates how well that particular Pokémon will perform in battle. As you gain XP and become a higher level Trainer, the CP of the Pokémon you capture will generally be higher."

Stardust: Used to level up your Pokémon. Is acquired through capturing any Pokémon. You can also obtain it daily by being in control of a gym.

Candy: Used to evolve and level up your Pokémon. Is acquired through capturing the same Pokémon. Candy is also obtained through hatching eggs.


- WHERE TO GET THINGS -

Eggs: Pokestops. Use an incubator to hatch it.

Lucky Eggs: Can be purchased in the shop. They are also granted from leveling at certain milestones.

Coins: Purchase at the shop for actual currency, or having a Pokémon defend a gym for a certain amount of time (Defender bonus in shop, top right icon, 21 hour refresh). Once you have a Pokémon on a gym, the shield will indicate the number you have on defense. Pressing the shield will grant you 10 coins per Pokémon on a gym at the time of pressing the button. It cannot be pressed again for 21 hours, so make it count.

How to Join a Team: Reach level 5 then visit a gym.

Leveling/Evolving a Pokémon: Capture the same type Pokémon to earn Stardust and Candy. Each Pokémon require different amounts of Stardust and Candy to either level up or evolve. Transferring Pokémon to the Professor will earn you one candy. You can view how much Stardust or Candy required by viewing your caught Pokémon.

Transferring Pokémon: You can transfer your caught Pokémon to Professor by selecting the Pokémon, scrolling down in its bio and selecting TRANSFER. You will gain one candy for transferring. You cannot get your Pokémon back once it is transferred. Transferring multiples of the same Pokémon will not delete the stardust or candies collected for that specific Pokémon.

How do eggs work?: You can collect eggs at Pokestops. They are stored under your “caught Pokémon” screen (swipe to the right). Eggs can be placed in an incubator by selecting the one you would like to hatch. The distance needed to travel to hatch an egg is under each egg (e.g. 0km/5km or 0km/10km). Once in an incubator, walk around, and it will hatch once you meet the distance quota. Candy is also obtained by hatching eggs.


- CP SYSTEM -

At the Pokémon stat screen, you'll see a semi-circle with a dot. It shows the % trained of the current maximum CP the Pokémon can have.


Certain species of Pokémon have a higher maximum CP than other species. A Magmar will probably be stronger than a Raticate at the same level.

Finding and training a 90 CP Pidgey, will not give you a stronger Pidgey than training a 70 CP Pidgey. The max is still the same. It just means the 90 CP Pidgey has a higher % trained. Training the 90 CP Pidgey is more efficient, however, as you need less candies.

Evolving a Pokémon raises the min/max, but the % trained stays the same. Some people believe that you should train then evolve which will cause the resulting evolution to have higher CP. This claim is unconfirmed and anecdotal. Some believe that you should evolve and then train because you can check out the moves that the evolution will receive before investing more dust/candies into it. So far there is no confirmed formula supporting either side being correct.

Max CP for Pokémon rises with your trainer level. This also works for Pokémon you have already captured. This means it doesn't matter if you train a Pidgey at level 5, or at level 15!

If you want to know an estimated amount of CP that a Pokemon will have after it's evolved, you can check here: http://pogotoolkit.com/ . You simply choose the Pokemon you want to know about, type in it's current CP and hit 'Calculate'. This will give you an estimated amount of CP after you evolve.

Extra: It SEEMS like if your Pokémon is XL or XS, it will influence their HP and maybe even their max CP and dodge speed.


- XP SYSTEM -

Wanna know how much XP you get for doing what? Check here for a full chart: http://www.serebii.net/pokemongo/trainer.shtml

As with most games, XP or Experience is used to raise your player character level. So far as of this writing, the maximum level that can be achieved in the game is level 40.

XP Grinding: One of the most consistently lucrative sources of XP in the game is evolving, providing you with 500XP per evolve for a Pokémon that you have evolved before, and 1000XP for a new evolve. One method to maximize your XP gain is to do a mass evolving while using a lucky egg. Begin by farming a massive amount of low level Pokémon such as Pidgey, Weedle, Rattata, etc. Pay attention to the amount of candies you need to evolve per Pokémon (e.g. 12 candies for one Pidgey > Pidgeotto evolution), and save up candies for a significant amount of evolutions (e.g. 144 candies for 13 evolutions). Keep in mind that your default maximum inventory of Pokémon is only 250, so it might be best if you transfer these Pokémon as soon as you catch them. Whatever you do, DO NOT waste Lucky Egg time transferring these Pokémon. Always do the transfers on normal XP time. You also need to make sure you keep enough Pokémon left in your inventory so you have some to actually evolve. Taking your 144 Pidgey candies and evolving 12 Pidgeys during Lucky Egg Double XP would yield 12,000XP and result in you being able to evolve a 13th Pidgey from the candies rewarded during an evolve, bringing you a total of 13,000XP. This same formula can be applied to other Pokémon, for massive amounts of XP. It's recommended that you save up for several species of Pokémon, as to not waste Lucky Egg Double XP time.

At the time of this writing, the evolution animation that is played during every evolution cannot be skipped. This will impose a physical maximum number of evolutions that can be done within the 30 minute time slot.


- ITEMS -

The items menu contains everything you have picked up in the world, and all of these items are kept in a bag with an item limit of 350 items. This will include your potions, revives, eggs, lucky eggs, lure modules, Pokéballs of all types, etc. You can expand your current bag to hold 50 more items by purchasing the 'BAG UPGRADE' in the shop.

In the event that you spin a Pokéstop with too many items in your bag, the items will not be collected, but the XP will still be granted.

Potion: Restores HP of one Pokémon.

Revive: A medicine that can revive a fainted Pokémon. It also restores half of a fainted Pokémons maximum HP.

Lucky Egg: Earns double XP for 30 minutes.

Incense: Lures wild Pokémon to your location for 30 minutes.
*Information about Incense* Its believed that incense lure Pokémon to your location at a rate of an average of one every five minutes. This incense lure does not increase your chances of catching Pokémon that are rare OR nearby. This simply spawns Pokémon near your area for 30 minutes. Its also speculated that even though the incense is only supposed to apply to the player that used it, people nearby can also see Pokémon spawn in the area, despite not seeing the lure.

Pokéball: A device used for catching Pokémon.

Lure Module: A module that attracts Pokémon to a Pokéstop for 30 minutes. This effect benefits other people nearby.

Razz Berry: Feed this to a Pokémon and it will be easier to catch on your next throw. Can only be used once per throw.

Egg Incubator: A device that incubates an egg as you walk until it is ready to hatch.


- EGGS -

As is says earlier in the guide, you have to put your egg into an incubator and walk around with the game open in order to achieve the amount of distance indicated by each egg. After walking either 2KM, 5KM, or 10KM your egg will hatch and produce a Pokémon.

Wanna see a chart that tells you which Pokemon are supposed to come out of which egg distances? Here you go: https://imgur.com/a/pPDl1

2KM is pretty low tier stuff. The best you can get is the 3 starters, Clefairy, Jigglypuff, Geodude or Eevee. Usually you just get garbage like Pidgeys and Rattatas.

5KM can get you some better stuff like Porygon, Sandshrew, Rhyhorn, Horsea, Cubone, Tangela, Tauros or Machops. Stuff that's way more uncommon to catch in the wild.

The 10KM eggs get you stuff that you barely ever see in the wild like Snorlax, Lapras and such.


- TRACKING POKEMON -

The 3 Pokémon, bottom right, in the white rectangle are the 3 Pokémon you are walking towards. If one disappears, you are walking away from it.

More paws = more distance between you and the Pokémon.

You can click on one of the Pokémon in the nearby panel and this will allow you to track it.

About finding certain types: Different kinds of Pokémon can be found in their corresponding areas, i.e., water Pokémon can be found near water and when RAINING, grass Pokémon can be found near fields, etc.


- CATCHING POKEMON -

When you see a Pokémon on the screen (or feel the vibration), you can click on the Pokémon to begin a catch. Once you have clicked on the Pokémon to begin the catch, you location is no longer relevant. You can continue to walk along your path and you do not need to stay where the Pokémon was originally seen.

Once you click on your Pokéball, a colored ring will begin to show up and change size around the Pokémon. The colors of the rings were discussed earlier in this writing, but in case you didn't read: Green = Easy, Yellow = Moderate, Red= Hard. These colors, along with the CP of the Pokémon correlate to how difficult it will be to catch this particular monster. Touch and flick your Pokéball to throw it at the monster, aiming for it's head, and as long as the monster did not dodge, attack, or run, you will begin a catch.

How do I throw a curveball?: Spin the ball either clockwise or counter-clockwise before you throw it and the ball will curve in the direction that it was spun. This requires that you throw the ball in the opposing direction of the spin. Study the angles that you throw at, and you will learn that there are three different angles to aim catches at different distances. Landing a catch with a curveball will net you an extra 10XP upon success, although in my experience it's not consistent.

Once you begin a catch and the monster enters the Pokéball, it will have 3 shakes to exit the ball. If three shakes do not let the monster out of the ball, the catch is confirmed.

If one of the shakes does allow the monster out of the ball, you have a few different choices as the player:

Try again: Simply throw another Pokéball and land a hit to attempt to catch the monster again.
Try a more powerful Pokéball: If you have better Pokéballs and this is a particularly good monster, try using one of those.
Try using the Razz Berry: If you have any Razz Berries, you can try using these to get the Pokémon to be more likely to stay in the ball, and thus confirm a catch.
Run: If you don't feel like wasting time or Pokéballs on this monster, you can just run to leave the encounter.

If the monster escapes the Pokéball, is has the opportunity to run, which will cancel the encounter. If a desireable monster keeps escaping your ball, the chances are higher each time it will run. I have noticed that pressing the item inventory button to open that screen will cancel a run until at least one more throw, so tapping this button after every escape for a valuable monster may better increase your chances of catching him.

Information about the size of the circle system is being researched now, but as of this writing, it seems that throwing the ball when the colored circle is the closest to matching the white circle, will get you bonus points in the form of XP.

About Weight and Height:
XS Weight = Easier to dodge with.
XL Weight = Small damage reduction.
XS Height = Easier to dodge with.
XL Height = Small damage increase.

EEVEE EVOLUTIONS:
So far as of this writing, it has been discovered that your Eevee evolution can be determined by giving your Eevee certain nicknames. Here are the names:

"Sparky" = Jolteon
"Pyro" = Flareon
"Rainer" = Vaporeon

Link to thread on reddit: https://goo.gl/76sL1q

A ranking list to the different moves that all the Pokemon can do is here: https://goo.gl/WpmyX0

- POKESTOPS -

Pokéstops are significant landmarks or points of interest in the surrounding area. When you bring a Pokéstop in range of your character, it will open up and form a spinning disc shape. You can click this to open it. Swipe across the disc in the middle of the Pokéstop for it to drop items. Items include things like Pokéballs, Potions, Revives, etc.

You can choose to pop the bubbles to release the items, or you can simply click the 'X' at the bottom, and the items will be added to your inventory anyway. Walking away from the Pokéstop while the items have been released will also add them to your inventory.

Each Pokéstop also grants you 50XP for each spin.

The timeout to re-spin a Pokéstop is ~5 minutes, so if you happen to work at a place that is a Pokéstop, you can spin roughly every 5 minutes, generating you about 10XP per minute.


- GYMS -

Gyms are the main reason you spend time powering up your Pokémon, to battle and take over a Gym! Gyms are also arguably the most broken thing in the game right now. To battle, visit a Gym and begin by choosing your team. If you have already chosen a team, and the gym is occupied by an opposing team member(s), then engaging in battle can reduce that Gym's PRESTIGE, and eventually make the Gym uncontested. After that, you can claim the Gym for your team by leaving a Pokémon there to battle for your team.

Information about Gyms:
Upon visual inspection, you can see when a Gym is in battle even if its out of your range. There will be swirling Pokémon attacks happening on the platform (lightning, tornadoes, dust, etc.) when a battle is in progress.

It's worth noting that any Gym within distance of popping up on your screen can be clicked on and inspected from afar, no matter how small and difficult to click they might be.

Some things about Gym battles:
So as of this writing, the current iteration of Gym battles goes like this; There are a number of Pokémon dropped on a gym, depending on the number of team members who left a Pokémon on the gym, with only one being allowed per gym per member. This raises the Gym's Prestige, and the Prestige is what needs to be reduced to 0 before the Gym becomes Uncontested. You go into battle with 6 Pokémon, no matter how many Pokémon are deployed on that Gym. Beating all the Pokémon deployed on that Gym results in 2,000 Prestige removed from the Gym. A full complete also results in the weakest Pokémon that was deployed on the gym being returned to it's owner. This applies for each run of the Gym. What does all that mean? Well it means that no matter how bad you are, you can just keep trying and reducing the Prestige of a Gym time after time until it's finally at 0. Your Pokémon don't actually have to be "better" than the ones there, you just have to have the time and patience to do it until it hits 0. A Gym's Prestige can be raised by battling, and winning, in Gym Battles against a Gym that is taken by your own team.

After two Pokémon are dropped on a Gym, the Gym's Prestige must be raised to the maximum amount by battling against your own team to open a new slot for another trainer to drop a Pokémon. A maximum of 5 trainers can leave Pokémon on a Gym.

Given the current iteration of the Gym Battles, they only serve for bragging rights, and the Coin bonus discussed in the "Where to get things" section above. There is no point system for your team's color claiming Gyms, or really any point system at all. You do receive an XP bonus as well for claiming a Gym, although this is based on your performance during battle, i.e., how many Pokémon you can defeat at that Gym. Finding a Gym with a high amount of Prestige that seems unbeatable will only take time, patience, and a good amount of Revives and Potions.

Deploying your Pokémon on a Gym will result in it staying at that Gym until it is returned to you defeated, and deploying multiple Pokémon on a Gym with your team members will serve to make the Gym more intimidating and take longer to defeat. It's recommended that you leave your next-to-highest Pokémon on a Gym, should you choose to do so, that way you have your strongest Pokémon to do battle with at Gyms that you want to take over. Your strategy may vary.


- BATTLE SYSTEM -


Right now it seems like the battle system is bugged out, but there is an actual way to do battle.

Swiping to the left or the right makes your Pokémon dodge. The effectiveness of a dodge is based on watching the attacking Pokémon and timing your dodge. Simply spamming dodges will only have about a 50% effectiveness rate.

Single tapping will perform your Pokémons basic attack which can be found on the stat screen for that particular Pokémon. There you will also find the amount of damage that that attack will do, and it's effectiveness is based on the counter system from the Gen I Pokémon. Underneath your Pokémons HP bar you will see a small bar with notches filling up, this is your special bar.

Tap and hold will perform a special attack. This will consume one special bar fill-up and perform the special attack for that particular Pokémon listed on that Pokémons stat screen. These also adhere to the counters set up with the Gen I Pokémon.

Right now, the biggest problem with doing battles to take gyms is what is being called the '1HP Glitch'. This bug occurs when the player beats the opposing Pokémon, but is not be able to complete the battle because the opposing Pokémon is left with 1HP and cannot be defeated. I have noticed that this glitch seems to take place more often when you are fighting the last Pokémon in the list to take a gym, or you are doing the battle that is going to result in the gym becoming uncontested. As of this writing, I do not know of a way around this glitch, and would only recommend exiting the game and trying again (if the servers are even up).


- MYTHS -

Below are going to be a list of myths about the game that have been debunked.

EEVEE AND EEVEELUTIONS

So I bet you've read that chart that tells you that there are certain evolutions of eevee based on her move set. Well that chart is wrong. Completely wrong. You can determine the evolution of your Eevee by it's name though.

Once again:
"Sparky" = Jolteon
"Pyro" = Flareon
"Rainer" = Vaporeon


PICKING UP MISSED BALLS

You CANNOT pick up Pokéballs that you threw and missed. This "trick" does not work.