'Pokemon Go' Makes Lucky Pokemon Stronger, Guarantees Lucky Pokemon Trades

Pokemon Go is making it easier for players to obtain Lucky Pokemon, and giving them a boost in usefulness.

Earlier this week, Pokemon Go announced some changes to how players get Lucky Pokemon. Lucky Pokemon require less Stardust to power up than normal Pokemon, which makes them easier to level up for use in battles and raids.

When Lucky Pokemon were first introduced earlier this year, Pokemon Go developers explained that trading away older Pokemon were more likely to become Lucky for their new owners. So, if you had a Pokemon that's been sitting in storage since July 2016 (when the game first came out), it was more likely to be a Shiny Pokemon than a Pokemon you caught last week.

Now, Pokemon Go has announced that any Pokemon caught in July or August 2016 will become a Lucky Pokemon if traded, provided that either the sender or the receipient of the trade has less than 10 Lucky Pokemon in their collection. This is a permanent change and not tied to any sort of event.

In addition, Lucky Pokemon will now have higher IVs than they did before. IVs are "secret" stats that determine the relative strength of a Pokemon compared to other Pokemon of the same species. Previously, Lucky Pokemon had IVs of at least 10, but now (according to the Silph Road), Lucky Pokemon will have IVs of 12.

Interestingly, the new changes encourage players to trade older Pokemon originally from the Kanto region. It seems that Pokemon Go is trying to get players to bulk up their Kanto collections before the release of Pokemon: Let's Go, which will allow players to transfer Kanto Pokemon from Pokemon Go into the game.

Trading is also a part of the current Celebi Special Research quest, so be sure to make a few new friends and start trading today!