Pokemon GO – Trainer Guide

PoGo as it is also known has taken the world by storm. It was so popular in

fact that the servers have experienced issues and the UK launch has been delayed.

So before the official Pokemon Go launch we thought we would put together this quick guide to help you on your way.

Catching Pokemon

You encounter Pokemon by walking around. The game tracks your GPS and moves you in game as you physically walk around. Pokemon appear randomly and you have to quickly tap on them to trigger an instance battle where you can capture the Pokemon.

Once in the Instance you are able to 'throw' a pokeball by swiping the screen. You can press and hold the ball and a circle will appear. Getting the inner circle as small as possible increases your chance of getting the Pokemon. The better your aim also drums up extra EXP.

Throwing the ball does not always grantee a Pokemon and some times they get back out. At higher levels you can also get Razz Berries which encourage the Pokemon

to like you and even Great Balls. You can also spin the ball (somehow I can never do it) which can stop Pokemon from knocking the ball away.

Your map also has a function that lets you know how close and what kind of Pokemon there are in your area. Although the number of feet suggest how close a Pokemon is to you all the methods we have currently used don't seem to work to utilise this system very well. However, people across the globe seem to be having different results to us!

Be sure to adventure into different locations at different times to ensure that you get a wide range of Pokemon and a chance of catching something awesome and rare.

Levelling and Evolving

You can power up your Pokemon by spending Stardust and Pokemon Candies on them. Unlike previous game where there was a bigger focus on Battles (more on that later).

You can collect Pokemon Candies by capturing and 'transferring' Pokemon. Each Pokemon requires a large number of Candies and Stardust to become max CP (Combat Points).

Although you dont have to evolve a Pokemon before it is max CP, it is advised that you fully evolve a Pokemon before levelling to ensure that it has the best possible CP.   This is because the amount of CP a Pokemon can have is based on your Avatars level and the max CP of a Pokemon increases when you do.

It should also be noted that Pokemon have different attacks and so the biggest CP is not necessarily the Pokemon which you should level up however they do loose these moved when evolving...

You can level up your Avatar as you catch Pokemon, defeat gyms etc and as you level up stronger Pokemon become available to you as well as increase the CP of your Pokemon. You also unlock better items such as hyper potions and great balls.

Teams

There are three teams in Pokemon based around the three legendary bird Pokemon, Articuno, Moltress and Zapdos (blue, red and yellow). Each team must work together to capture gyms and increase the Gyms level and 'prestige'.

Pokestops

Pokestops are locations on the map that you can go visit in order to get some goodies, such as Poke Balls and Potions. They are located around the map and you can use a 'Lure Module' it increase Pokemon coming to that stop for all trainers. Although we are not sure that it is a way forward if you do have the option to continue walking. Pokéstops also give you some EXP.

Gyms

At the moment you cannot face off against your friends in battle. However you can go to gyms and battle against other trainers. The battles are based around tapping the screen to make your Pokémon attack and holding the screen for it to do a bigger attack once they have filled their power bar. You can also dodge attacks by swiping the screen left or right. Strengths and weaknesses also come into play with these attacks.

If you are a part of the gym you can train your Pokémon at the gym to earn prestige for your gym and also a small amount

of EXP for you trainer. You cam place one Pokémon to protect the gym per Gym level and one Pokémon per trainer. This means a level five gym can have five trainers and five Pokémon protecting it.

However, opposing teams can attack in groups with up to six Pokémon each. Making it much easier for trainers to attack a Gym they wish to take over if they have strong enough Pokémon. To take over the gym they must defeat the Pokémon at the gym lowering its prestige until it has dropped below level 1. Then you can replace the Pokémon with your own and level the gym up for your friends to come and join you.

Although Gyms are perhaps not the best way to gain EXP, been a part of a gym goes towards your daily bonuses and the more gyms you are in the more coins and stardust you will receive.

Eggs

Eggs are items that you receive from Pokéstops. You place them in incubators so that they will count the steps that you are taking toward them hatching. Each Egg counts in kilometres (km) and can range from 2km to 10km.

We have seen a distinct correlation between the length of the Egg and the rarity/quality of the Pokémon, however as my friend got a 200 CP Pikachu from a 2km Egg it seems there is still a lot of luck involved.

Items

There are several additional items at the moment that you can purchase in the shop. As well as additional Pokéballs and bag upgrades you can purchase incense, lucky eggs, lure modules and egg incubators.

Incense and Lure Modules are used to draw Pokémon to your location, except that Incense can be used anywhere and only works for you. Lucky Eggs increase the amount of EXP you receive and Egg incubators are additional incubators that wear out over three uses. All rather useful but can also be collected at Pokéstops and when you level up.

Medals

The world we live in likes to reward us for our efforts and in PoGO you get medals for collecting large numbers of Pokémon, walking, training, evolving, hatching.... pretty much everything! Although they are mostly just for you so you can show off to your friends.

AR

The Augmented Reality for PoGO has been faulty at best for myself and an even bigger drain on your battery than it normally is. There have been announcements to make this more fluent within the next few updates.

The Pokédex

Last but not least the wonderful Pokédex. Showing you all the wonderful Pokémon that you have caught or seen and giving you the all faithful Pokémon profile.

There are still many things that we have to learn and we will keep you updated!

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