As Pokemon GO begins its total takeover of America, some fans are expressing frustration as how to find and catch different Pokemon. Pokemon GO doesn’t come with much of an instruction manual, which means players could be missing out on some features that make the game a little more enjoyable.Luckily, our crack team of Pokemon GO experts have found a few hidden tricks to making catching and finding Pokemon a little bit easier. Here’s a few tips on how to find and catch Pokemon in Pokemon GO:
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Tips for Catching Pokemon
1) Timing Your Pokemon Throws
When encountering a Pokemon in the wild, players will see a shrinking green, yellow, or red circle around the Pokemon.ย The circle has two purposes: to give players an idea of how hard it is to catch that Pokemon and to show when they should throw their PokeBall.ย A green circle indicates that Pokemon is easy to catch, while yellow and red circles indicate increasing levels of difficulties.ย However, if you wait to throw the PokeBall until the circle is at its smallest point, you’re more likely to catch the Pokemon on the first try.ย Adding spin or a curve to your throw will earn you extra XP, but it doesn’t seem like it increases your probability of catching the Pokemon.
2) Use the Nearby Pokemon Screen
On the bottom right corner of the main Pokemon GO map screen, there’s a small window that shows up to three Pokemon.ย If you tap on that window, it brings up a larger window that shows all the Pokemon that are nearby.ย Under each Pokemon/Pokemon silhouette, there are between one and three pawprints.ย Those pawprints indicate how far away the Pokemon is.ย The less paw prints, the closer the Pokemon is.ย If you tap on one of the Pokemon in the nearby window, it will become the only Pokemon that appears in the small nearby window on the map screen.ย When you get closer to that Pokemon, the window will flash to show that you’re heading in the right direction.ย Once the paw prints disappear, you’re in the right area to find (and catch) that Pokemon.
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Tips For Finding Pokemon
1) Look For Shaking Grass
Occasionally, you’ll see shaking grass pop up at random on your map.ย While that isn’t a guarantee that a Pokemon is lurking in that spot, there is a much higher likelihood that a Pokemon will appear if you walk close to that spot. So, if you’re having trouble finding Pokemon in your neighborhood, try to find a spot of grass and see if anything jumps out!
2) Use Incense and Lure Modules
There are two items that increase the likelihood of Pokemon appearing around you: incense and lure modules, both of which can be purchased in Pokemon GO‘s shop.ย Incense lasts for 30 minutes and will occasionally attract Pokemon around you, although it seems like it doesn’t increase the likelihood of a rare Pokemon appearing.ย Lure modules can be connected to a PokeStop and cause Pokemon to congregate around the PokeStop for 30 minutes.ย The nice thing about lure modules is that if one player uses a Lure Module, other players will also be able to see an increased amount of Pokemon at that PokeStop.ย So, lure modules might be the way to go if you’re playing with friends.
3) Head to the Center of Your Community
Pokemon GO uses some of the same concepts as Ingress, another game also made by Niantic Labs.ย In Ingress, well trafficked areas generated more energy and items, which players needed to attack and defend portals.ย Pokemon GO appears to function on the same concept.ย Players have noticed that more Pokemon pop up in high traffic areas like parks, zoos and downtown areas, while Pokemon are a little rarer out in the suburbs.ย So if you’re struggling to find Pokemon in your community, head to an area where lots of people tend to congregate.ย If you travel far enough, you might find a few Pokemon that you haven’t seen before!
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Other Handy Tips
1) Hatch Your Pokemon Eggs
Player will periodically get Pokemon eggs from various PokeStops. You can get an idea of how rare the Pokemon inside is by how long you have to walk to hatch the egg.ย An egg that requires 2 KM will probably have a common Pokemon inside, while a 10 KM egg will have rarer Pokemon (like a Lapras). So if you’re having trouble finding a particular type of Pokemon, try hatching some of your eggs.ย And don’t forget to put your eggs inside an Egg Incubator, or else you won’t get credit for walking around!
2) Transfer Extra Pokemon to Get Extra Candy
Eventually, you’ll need to “transfer” Pokemon to Professor Willow in order to free up space in your Pokemon Box.ย There is an extra benefit to transferring Pokemon: you get an extra piece of candy to help evolve your Pokemon quicker.ย So don’t wait to get rid of your extra Pidgeys, Rattatas and Weedles. Transfer them to help evolve and power up your Pokemon a little more quickly.
3) Different Pokemon Appear at Night
Pokemon GO uses biomes to determine what sort of Pokemon appear in what areas.ย Water type Pokemon will appear near water, while Electric types are more likely to appear in urban areas.ย However, what time you play Pokemon GO also affects what Pokemon you will see.ย Ghost and Fairy type Pokemon seem to pop up only at night, as do Drowsees and Hypnos. We’re not sure what time Pokemon GO switches over to “night mode”, but the map will change color when it switches from day to night mode.
