Pokemon Go: advanced tips and tricks for catching pokemon

The best advice for catching pokemon, how to get PokeCoins and use the Lure Module successfully.

Before we dive in, the most obvious tip of all is not to be a plonker. Don't walk around with your phone in your hand, not looking where you're going, and being totally oblivious to your surroundings at 2 a.m. You will get robbed. Or run over.

Saving battery life

The Pokémon Go app will suck the life out of your battery before you know it. To stop it doing so quite as fast, head into the settings and turn on the battery saver option. If you sign out or shut down the app, you'll need to go back into the settings to turn it on again. It's worth noting this because with the sheer amount of crashes and server issues going on, you'll be shutting it down a lot.

If the app crashes just as you've caught a pokémon, head into your phone's settings and force stop the app rather than just closing it. If you force stop, your catch will be recorded when you log back in. If you simply closed it down, it won't be. It worked for me.

Also, be mindful of your data. You need to be online to play, with your GPS on, so ideally you want to make sure you connect to Wi-Fi where possible.

Best tips for catching Pokémon

We've already covered the basics, but these tidbits will help you on your hunt.

You can use the bar at the bottom right of the map screen to see which pokémon are nearby. The distance is indicated by the footprints. As you walk around, getting closer to some pokémon and further away from others, the bar will refresh - you'll see it blink - and you can check to see if you're getting warmer. Use it often if there's a specific pokémon you're looking to get your hands on. Just tap the one you want to track and keep an eye on the bar as you wander around. Don't forget to investigate areas with rustling leaves - it's likely a pokémon is grubbing around there.

Pokémon's locations are related to their surroundings and time of day, and this applies to rare pokémon most of all. For example, water types will be near the water, and those that only hang around at night in the original games will, similarly, only come out in the evening.

Your trainer level dictates the level of pokémon you'll encounter, and generally you'll run across the evolved versions of pokémon in the same area as their unevolved forms.

When you find your quarry, the coloured ring around them will indicate how tricky they'll be to catch. The more difficult ones tend to have a higher CP. There are items you can use to increase your chances of successful catch, but they unlock as you level up, eventually acting as rewards for checking in at pokéstops, and leveling up.

There are three additional tiers of pokéballs. Great Balls unlock at level 12, Ultra Balls unlock at level 20, and at the moment, it looks like Master Balls may unlock at level 30. Save these for rare and legendary pokémon and if you use a Razz Berry beforehand (unlocked at level 8), the capture rate for the next ball will get an additional bump.

When you encounter a pokémon, they'll move around if you're not quick enough to catch them straight off the bat, so if you're burning through pokéballs or just getting a bit nauseous from all of that spinning around, you can turn the AR off in the top right corner. They'll appear in a virtual setting instead and won't move from the centre of the screen, making it much easier to catch them.

Using the Lure Module

To make pokémon appear more frequently, you can use Incense to draw in nearby pokémon for 30 minutes, or a Lure Module to attract pokémon to a pokéstop for 30 minutes. Only one trainer needs to activate a Lure Module at a pokéstop for everyone to benefit, so don't toddle down there with a friend and both use one.

If you haven't commenced your journey yet, when the time comes to catch a starter pokémon, it's entirely possible to bypass the three of them and hold out for a Pikachu. When the trio pop up on your map, walk away. They'll soon appear again, but ignore them and walk away again. Do this at least four times, and eventually a Pikachu will materialise for you to nab.

How to get PokéCoins and must-have items

As you level up and unlock items, you'll find that the ones you need and use most frequently will be handed out as rewards for levelling up and checking in at pokéstops. But there are some that may not appear that often, or are so invaluable that they're the first thing you should be buying when you gather enough coins.

First things first; how do you amass PokéCoins to begin with?

Aside from spending real money on them, you can get them by visiting pokéstops, and although it's a rare occurrence, if there are a few in your area, swing by all of them just in case.

A more reliable way to earn coins is to station your pokémon at gyms as a gym defender. You can have up to 10 of them allocated to different gyms at any one time and for every 20 hours a pokémon remains in a gym, you'll be rewarded 10 pokécoins. So in theory you could earn 100 coins every 20 hours.

Need more Pokemon Go help?

There's also word of Nintendo and Niantic events that will give out pokécoins as rewards, so we'll keep an ear out for any news on that and update you when we hear more.

What do Lucky Eggs do?

When it comes to spending your pokécoins, there's no point frittering them away on items that you can easily collect at pokéstops. The best item to buy that will also yield more items as a byproduct of being used, is the Lucky Egg.

Lucky Eggs will allow you to earn double XP for 30 minutes, and every time you level up, you're given more items. If you really want to maximise your XP, use it with an Incense or Lure Module, and get out and about to those pokéstops.

The Bag Upgrade and Pokémon Storage Upgrade are only available in the shop, so if you've been transferring your duplicate pokémon for candy and are still running out of space, it's worth investing.

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