Pokémon GO: Items and their Usage

There are many items you will be unlocking while you are playing. Here is a brief description about the items:

Pokéballs

These are the principal items required for the capturing of a Pokémon. If you are out of Pokéballs then you will not be able to catch any Pokémons. You will be able acquire these Pokéballs at Pokéstops. 

Great balls

You can unlock Great balls when you reach Level 12. They function of Great ball is same as a Pokéball. The catching rate of a Pokémon with Great ball is higher than Pokéball. 

Ultra balls

You will be unlocking an Ultra ball after reaching Level 20. These have much better catching rate even when compared to Great ball. Use this type of ball when you trying to catch a Pokémon with High CP value. This is the best kind Pokéball you can receive as of now.

Lucky Eggs

By using a Lucky Egg you will be gaining 2x XP for thirty minutes duration. You will have to make use of Lucky eggs when you are reaching higher levels because you will have to gain a large XP to Level up.

Pokémon Eggs

These eggs are quite different from the Lucky eggs. These Pokémon eggs are of three types: 2 KM, 5 KM and 10 KM. You need to walk these KM distances in order to hatch the egg. After the egg hatches you will receive the Pokémon.

Egg Incubator
Egg incubator is used to hatch eggs that you have received at a Pokéstop.

Potions

Potion is used to restore a Pokémon's health by 20 HP. You will be unlocking this Potion at Level 5. 

Super Potions

You will be unlocking a Super Potion after reaching Level 10. A Super Potion restores a Pokémon's health by 50 CP

Hyper Potions

Hyper Potion is used to restore a Pokémon's health by 200 HP. If you reached Level 15 you will unlock Hyper Potion. 

Max Potions

You can unlock Max Potion at Level 25. This potion fully restores a Pokémon's health.

Revive
Revive is used when the HP of the Pokémon becomes zero after a battle. By using a Revive you will restore half of the life of the Pokémon.

Max Revive
It offers a full health recovery for a Pokémon that has fainted after a battle. Max Revive is unlocked at Level 30.

Lure Modules
It is unlocked at Level 8. A Lure Module can be activated when you are near to a Pokéstop. This module will be active for a duration of 30 minutes. All the players near this can take advantage of this module. This module attracts the Pokémon nearby at a frequency of at least one Pokémon for every five minutes.

Incense
Incense is similar to the Lure Module. Incense works on your character just like the Lure Module works on a Pokéstop. To make a best use of the Incense module, you will have to walk at least 200 meters for every minute. You will unlock Incense on reaching Level 5.

Razz Berries
Razz Berries are used when you are trying to catch a Pokémon. By throwing a Razz Berry at a Pokémon, the chances of the Pokémon getting captures in a Pokéball increases. 

Camera
Camera is used to capture a picture of a Pokémon when you are trying to catch it.

Pokémon GO: Candies required for evolution

You might have wondered what is the need to collect doubles of a Pokémon. By collecting doubles, you will be acquiring the candies of that Pokémon. These candies are required for the evolution of your Pokémon as well as for power up. Hence you should be collecting multiple Pokémon. If you catch a Pokémon, you will be receiving three candies of that species. If you hatch an egg, you will receive greater number of candies. And we also know that by transferring the Pokémon, we will receive one candy. Here is a table which shows the number of candies required for evolution of your Pokémon:

If you consider to evolve Graveler, you will have to collect Geodude candies. Even by catching a Graveler or Golem you will receive Geodude Candies only. You need 100 candies to evolve Graveler into Golem. So if catch 26 Pokémon of Geodude Species (i.e you should be catching Geodude, Graveler or Golem), then you will have 78 Geodude candies. Then transferring 22 of these will give you 22 candies. So now you have 100 Geodude Candies. You now have enough candies to evolve Graveler into Golem. Be careful while transferring your Pokémon because you won't be able to get them back.

Pokémon GO: Team Leaders

Now that you have got to know that you have to choose between Team Instinct, Team Mystic and Team Valor, lets get to know more about the leaders of these teams. 

Team Valor - Candela

Candela is the head of the red team. Her M.O. is very much in line with what Pokémon trainers have been taught from the get-go: To be very best Pokémon master, you've got to train for it. Bonding with your Pokémon helps to tap into their strengths, according to Team Valor. If that sounds good to you, go Valor. Also, if you like the fire bird legendary Moltres, that's another reason to go with Valor. Moltres is its mascot. 

Team Mystic - Blanche

Blanche is in charge of Team Mystic, the brainiest of the bunch. The blue team is most interested in evolution; beyond that, the members of this faction are cool to a point of intimidation. If you're interested in the science behind what makes Pokémon tick - and are convinced that keeping calm is all it takes for success - choose Team Mystic. Mystic is represented by Articuno, the icy legendary. 

Team Instinct - Spark

Spark is the leader of Team Instinct, the yellow team. Spark is all about trusting your instincts - hence the name of the team. If you feel that Pokémon are innately talented, and that success in battle can be chalked up to trusting your gut, Instinct is probably the way to go. Team Instinct's mascot is the legendary bird Zapdos.

Pokémon GO: Training at a Gym

Conquering enemy gyms is one aspect of battling at gyms. In addition to that, you will also be able to train your Pokémon's at friendly gym's (gym's owned by your team). By training your Pokémon, you will be able to increase the maximum CP your Pokémon can reach while Powering it up. And also you will be able to increase the gym prestige i.e. leveling up friendly gyms. By leveling up a friendly gym, you will be able to become a trainer at the gym and place a Pokémon of your choice. The following table shows the minimum Prestige points required to become a trainer at the gym:

Pokémon GO: Level up Goodies

After you level up each time in the Pokémon GO, you will be receiving few items as level up rewards. After certain levels you will also be unlocking new items. Here is the list of items that you will be receiving as rewards after you level up:

Pokémon GO: 1000 CP Pokémon Evolution

People are reaching higher and higher levels and the gym battles are now going to be tough enough as everyone has Pokémons with higher CP. A user on Reddit has posted a table which gives us information about the minimum CP your Pokémon has to be to finally evolve into 1000 CP Pokémon. I verified few of the evolutions with the Pokémons which I have and updated the list. I have made use of Pokémon Evolution Calculator tool to predict the CP of my Pokémon during evolution. Take a look at it and evolve your Pokémon accordingly:

Pokémon GO: Battling at a Gym

Battling at a gym is a major aspect of the Pokémon GO. Unlike the other Pokémon games, we don't get to battle our opponent Pokémon with multiple types of attacks. The Pokémons which we catch will posses two kinds of powers, a regular attack and a finisher. 

Attacking: to attack your opponent, you will have to just tap continously on your Pokémon to perform its attack. To use the finisher move, you will have to fill up a bar that can be seen just below the health of your Pokémon. After the bar gets filled up, you will have to press and hold your Pokémon. Just below the finisher bar a running blue line appears. You need to hold the screen till this line stops running. Then your Pokémon will perform its finisher. 

Defending: to dodge an attack performed by your opponent Pokémon, you will have to swipe your screen left or right. Once you start battling you will improve your dodging skills. 

Depending upon the moves your Pokémon has got, the impact on your opponent will be evaluated. Here is the chart that shows the Attacking and Defending Pokémons impact on each other:

Pokémon GO: Level up trick

Leveling up after Level 10 is a time consuming task. So to Level up quickly you will have to make use of Lucky eggs. By using a Lucky egg you will be able to gain double the XP for 30 minutes duration. Pile up all the Pokémons that are ready for evolution. By evolving a Pokémon you will be receiving 1000 XP. If it is a new Pokémon then you will be receiving 500 XP. So if you evolve your Pokémon by putting on a Lucky egg you will be receiving 3000 XP for every new evolution that you make. So if you make about 4 evolutions, then it is 12000 XP in just few  minutes. You can also make use of the Incense module to gain XP when you are using the Lucky egg. As more Pokémons get attracted to the insence module, you will be able to get 200 XP for every Pokémon you catch for the 30 minutes duration.

Pokémon GO: Choosing a Team

When you reach Level 5 you will be prompted to choose between team Instinct (Yellow), Valor(Red) and Mystic(Blue). Don’t choose your team by your favorite color. Take a look at the city you play in. Identify which team owns the maximum gyms and minimum gyms in the city. The advantage of owning a gym is you will be able to claim Pokécoins and XP depending upon the number of gyms you own. If battling is your priority, then choose the team that owns the minimum number of gyms. If you go by majority, then you will have to train your Pokémons in the gyms that your team owns and increase the gym prestige. You will have to Level up the gym to become a gym trainer at that gym. If you have a bunch of friends on the same team, then you can go on a Pokémon journey together and conquer gyms.

Pokémon GO: Catching a Pokémon

                Catching a Pokémon is one of the task you have to master to play Pokémon GO. Initially when you are on lower level you get to find Pokémon's with lower CP. When you keep leveling up, you will be finding Pokémon's with higher CP which are difficult to catch. Initially you will be using only Pokéballs to catch a Pokémon. At Level 12 you will receive Great Ball to catch the Pokémon. You will also be receiving these Great Balls from Pokéstops henceforth. Similarly, at Level 20, you will receive Ultra Ball which is even more powerful Pokéball. After reaching Level 8 you will receive Razz Berries. By using these razz berries, you can calm down the Pokémon and increase your chances of capturing it easily. 

                When a Pokémon appears near your character, you have to tap on the Pokémon in order to capture it. You can see the name of the Pokémon and also CP of the Pokémon after taping on it. Then, if you feel that the CP of the Pokémon is high and you have a razz berry in your items bag, then tap on the bag present on the bottom right side of the screen. Scroll down to razz berry and select it. Throw the berry onto the Pokémon (berry has got 100% strike ratio. So you won't be missing the throw even if the Pokémon attacks you). Press and hold the Pokéball. You need to time the throw in such a way that your Pokéball hits the Pokémon. 

                If you have observed there is a colored circle around the Pokémon which gradually decreases its size. To gain some bonus XP, you need to time and throw Pokéball inside this colored circle and hit the Pokémon. The smaller the size of the circle the higher the XP you gain. By default you will be receiving 100 XP for every Pokémon you catch. Here is the list of XP that you can gain depending on the throw you make:

• 10 XP      –  Curve Ball
• 10 XP      –  Nice Throw
• 50 XP     –  Great Throw
• 100 XP   –  Excellent Throw

Pokémon GO: Hatching eggs

There are three different eggs that you may get from a Pokéstop. To hatch an egg you will be required to walk certain distance after placing it in an incubator. By default, you will have one egg incubator which can be used infinite number of times. You can incubate only one egg at a time in any incubator. After reaching Level 6, for every five Level ups,  you will be receiving an incubator which can be used 3 times. You will be able to carry at most 9 eggs at a time in your bag. The three types of eggs based on their walking distances are 2 KM, 5 KM and 10 KM. For example, if you put a 5 KM egg in an incubator, then you will have to walk for 5 KM with the Pokémon game running on your device. Here is the list of Pokémon's that you can get by hatching an egg.

Pokémon GO: Getting to know your Pokémon

If you have been catching Pokémon's for a while you might have noticed that your stardust has been increasing, you were gaining some XP (experience points) and leveled up, etc. Here is a brief description about all these followed by few quick suggestions. 

• Pokéstop: These are the locations where you can collect Pokéballs, revive potions and eggs. 
• Gym: These are the locations where you can battle with a team or train your Pokémon.
• XP: You gain XP by catching Pokémons, fighting and training Pokémon, collecting collectibles at Pokéstops, etc. Here's a table about the amount of experience you gain from a particular act:
• 10 XP      –  Curve Ball
• 10 XP      –  Nice Throw
• 50 XP     –  Great Throw
• 50 XP     –  Checking in at a Pokéstop
• 50 XP     –  Beat a Pokémon in training at a Gym
• 100 XP   –  Excellent Throw
• 100 XP   –  Pokémon Caught
• 100 XP   –  Battling a Pokémon Trainer at a Gym
• 150 XP   –  Beating a Pokémon Trainer at a Gym
• 200 XP  –  Hatch a Pokémon
• 500 XP  –  New Pokémon
• 500 XP  –  Evolve a Pokémon
• Stardust: You gain stardust when you catch, hatch or transfer a Pokémon. You can use this stardust to Power up your Pokémon.
• Combat Power (CP): It indicates how well the Pokémon can perform in a battle, higher the CP the more Powerful the Pokémon.
• Hit Power (HP): It indicates the life of a Pokémon, i.e when in a battle the HP of the Pokémon decreases when it is attacked.
• Pokémon Candy: It is used to evolve and power up Pokémon's. You can collect the candies by catching the same Pokémon or an evolution series of the Pokémon. You can also gain Pokémon candy when you transfer the Pokémon to Professor. By transferring the Pokémon, you can reduce the redundant Pokémons and create space for new Pokémons.
• Pokémon move's: These are the attacks your Pokémon can perform. The numbers on the right of these attacks indicates the impact your Pokémon can create on the opponent in a battle. The first move is the basic attack while the second one is the finisher of your Pokémon.

Pokémon GO: Starting with a Pikachu

Pikachu

Pikachu is definitely one of the most loved Pokémon for all the Pokémon lovers. If you haven't chosen your starter Pokémon as Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle, then here is a chance that you could catch a Pikachu. First, when you see Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle together on the screen, start walking away from them. They continue to appear on your screen after you travel certain distance. This generally happens for at least three to four times. After you do this, you get to see Pikachu along with them. Tap on Pikachu and throw your Pokeball onto it accurately. Once you catch Pikachu, you can view its type, weight, height, Combat Power (CP), Life (HP),  attacking move and finisher move  with its effectiveness.  You can also see how much stardust and Pokémon candy you have got. I will brief you about this in my future posts.  If you have any questions, please post them on my wall. I hope you find them useful. 

Pokémon GO: Eevee's Evolution Explained

Jolteon, Vaporeon, Flareon

If you remember the  Pokémon Season 1 Episode 40 "The Battling Eevee Brother's", Ash gets to meet the trainers of Jolteon, Vaporeon and Flareon. The trainers of these three  Pokémon's were Sparky, Rainer and Pyro. In order to evolve your Eevee into any of these three, then you have to rename your Eevee to the respective trainer's name, i.e, Sparky, Rainer and Pyro to evolve to Jolteon, Vaporeon and Flareon respectively. Here is a link showing the evolution of Eevee into Vaporeon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky-WW8tUIQQ. If you have any questions, please post them on my wall, I will guide you with my experience. I hope you find them useful.

Pokémon GO: Catching your first Pokémon

Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle

Now that you have created your user account you will be given a choice to design your Character. Make a best design of your character because you will not be able to edit the Character again. You will be prompted with a series of messages from Professor Oak. You need to choose a starter Pokémon. A Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle appear near your character. You can tap on any one of these Pokémons. Remember  you can catch only one among them. So choose your favorite one. Once you tap on one of them, you will have to throw a Pokeball on to the Pokémon. If you're lucky, you will catch the Pokémon in one go or else you will have to use few more Pokeballs. Once you catch the Pokémon, you can view its type, weight, height, Combat Power (CP), Life (HP),  attacking move and finisher move  with its effectiveness.  You can also see how much stardust and Pokémon candy you have got. I will brief you about this in my future posts.  If you have any questions, please post them on my wall. I hope you find them useful. 

Pokémon GO

The Pokemon GO app has taken down all the people around the globe by a storm. The main reason being it was one of the most viewed cartoon TV show since late 90's. Pokemon GO game being an Augmented Reality(AR) game makes it a refreshing game for the viewer to experience a new style of gaming. In fact this AR game is giving a chance to the player to visit their childhood dream of catching a Pokemon character in real life. If you are a new player and want to start playing Pokemon GO, please follow my Blog for quick tips and strategies. If you had already started playing Pokemon GO and need help, please post your questions on my wall, I will guide you with my experience. I hope you find them useful.