Legendary Pokemon Will Be the Hardest Pokemon to Catch in Pokemon Go

Yesterday, a Niantic employee warned that Legendary Pokemon will be pretty difficult to catch in Pokemon Go. Thanks to an update to the game's GAME_MASTER file, we now know exactly how difficult catching one of these powerful Pokemon will be.

Every Pokemon in Pokemon Go has a "base capture rate" that determines the probability of catching a Pokemon with a single PokeBall throw without any catch bonuses or modifiers. A Pokemon like Pidgey has a base capture rate of 50%, while rarer and fully evolved Pokemon have a significantly lower base capture rate.

Previously, the hardest Pokemon to capture in the games were Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Meganium, Thyphlosion, Feraligatr, Dragonite, Blissey, Togetic, and Tyranitar, all of which had a base capture rate of 5%.

However, we now know that Legendary Pokemon will have a base capture rate of 2%, officially making them the hardest Pokemon to catch in the game.

Complicating matters is the fact that players will likely not have access to their Ultra Balls, as Legendary Pokemon are Raid Bosses that can only be caught using Premiere Balls handed out as bonuses.

However, there are a few things that will increase a player's chances significantly. Players will get a 1.3x catch bonus if they have a gold medal for one of those Pokemon's type. They'll also earn bonuses for accurate and curveball throws.

In total, if a player lands a perfect curveball throw on a Legendary Pokemon and has a gold medal for one of that Pokemon's types, they can increase their percentage of catching that Legendary Pokemon to about 16% per throw.

Luckily, Legendary Pokemon will also have the lowest flee rate of any Pokemon in the game, so players shouldn't be too concerned about a Legendary Pokemon running after a single PokeBall throw. All Legendary Pokemon will have a base flee rate of 4%, which is lower than even fully evolved Pokemon in the game.

Pokemon Go Fest runs all day today, so stay tuned to WWG for complete coverage of the big event.

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