It’s been out for over two weeks now, so either you’ve already given up on Pokémon GO and are sick of hearing about it (in which case we don’t know why you’re reading this) or you need to go deeper.
On the face of it Pokémon GO is an extremely simple game, with nothing like the depth of gameplay of the console titles. But although that’s true, the pokémon themselves have lots of hidden stats that work in a very similar way to the DS and 3DS games.
Everyone knows about the elemental types for pokémon and their moves, but there are also secret, hidden stats that determine their CP (Combat Power) rating and how well they do in gym battles. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Pokémon GO’s hidden features…
Attack, Defense, and Stamina
Tap on your pokémon for info and you won’t find any mention of Attack, Defence, and Stamina stats, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there. These stats are the same for every pokémon of the same species and explain why, no matter how much you power them up, a Rattata is never going to be a powerhouse like a Snorlax or a Lapras.
The Attack and Defense stats are pretty straightforward, but the Stamina one is what limits your secondary special move in battles. The higher that stat the faster the special bar will fill and allow you to perform the move.
Since the stats are the same for each species you can bone up on each pokémon long before you enter battle and determine which is worth concentrating on. All of the pokémon are detailed here on fan site Silph Road, which also allows you to sort them by individual and combined stats (no surprise, Mewtwo is the best overall).
Individual Values
This is where things get really serious. Individual values (IV) have been a thing in Pokémon for years now, but so-called IV training is so hardcore that even most console players don’t do it. And it was quite a shock to find that it’s actually a part of Pokémon GO.
Remember when we said the Attack, Defense, and Stamina stats are the same for each species? Well, that’s true but each individual pokémon also has an extra set of individual values for those three stats that can have a rating of 0 to 15.
The problem is though, there’s no way to know exactly what they are. Except the fans at Siph Road have worked out a method to guesstimate the Stamina and combined Attack and Defence.
Just visit this site and follow the instructions about entering the IV Rater info for your trainer and the pokémon you want to test. Hit RATE MY POKÉMON! And you’ll be told what its IV is likely to be.
Once you’ve done that you can pick which pokémon in your collection are the most powerful. Although bear in mind what their moves are as well, because you could still have one with a high IV but relatively useless moves.
When to evolve
One of the big decisions in the console Pokémon games is when to evolve your pokémon. Because if you do it straight away you can miss out on earning them extra moves and an increased stat bonus when they finally do evolve. But that at least is not a factor in Pokémon GO.
The CP boost you get in Pokémon GO when evolving a pokémon does not depend on what level you are as a trainer, but instead what species the pokémon is and the other hidden stat info we’ve already covered.
Or at least that’s the current theory. No one involved in the game has actually told anyone any of this, and all the info has come from fans experimenting and working things out. So it could be that discoveries will be made in the future that reveal further secrets. If you want to keep up with the cutting edge of Pokémon GO theory then it’s best to join an online community on Reddit or elsewhere.
Grind House
The other important fact that separates the pros from the wannabes is the realisation that until you reach at least trainer level 20 it’s more or less pointless to power up any of your pokémon.
The reason for this is simple: as you level up your trainer you’ll automatically start to find stronger and rarer pokémon and trying to keep the ones you’ve got up to speed just isn’t worth the Stardust and Candy you’ll spend on them.
The best thing to do instead is a trick involving a Lucky Egg (which doubles all the XP you earn for 30 minutes) and evolving as many pokémon as possible at once – which in itself generates large amounts of XP.
You can industrialise the whole process by collecting as many Pidgey, Weedle, and Caterpie as possible (because they need only 12 Candy to evolve – the lowest amount in the game) and then using a Lucky Egg and getting a massive XP boost that way.
There’s even a website app to calculate how much you can get at once. Keep doing that and you’ll get to level 20 much more quickly, and then you can start worrying about powering up your star pokémon.
Further tips
There’s lots of other top tips for those that play to win with Pokémon GO. From learning how to ensure what your Eevee evolves into, to making sure you get Pikachu as a starter pokémon.
It’s also fairly easy to trick your phone into thinking you’ve walked more than you have (in order to hatch your eggs) by either keeping the game turned on all the time when you’re in the office or at home, or by strapping it to your dog so it does all the work.
The other major weapon in a profession Pokémon GOer’s arsenal is one of the various maps that show you exactly where pokémon are around you and how long they’ll stay there for. The Pokémon Radar app was one of the first to appear but Pokévision is particularly good for keep an eye on things when you’re supposed to be working.
Source: metro.co.uk
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