Have you been living under a rock? If you have, and haven’t started playing Pokemon Go yet, here are 9 tips to get you to a level 30 in no time
Have you started playing Pokemon Go yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Now you can avoid all the drama of not knowing how to hatch eggs or evolve Pokemon. Here are some tips and hacks to help you get started.
1 Save the stardust
I’ll admit I had to ask one of my friends about this, but yes, you need stardust for everything, so be careful to save enough of it. Don’t waste it on low-level evolutions when you can be using it for far greater things.
2 Don’t diss the tiddlers
Any Pokemon you catch brings you stardust, and if you catch a lot of little ones, it will be a bigger stardust boost than one big Pokemon.
3 Save your Magikarp
Not many people give Magikarp the respect it deserves. In fact many players wonder why it even exists. It’s name just lends itself to naughty mispronunciation. What could a lopsided goldfish bring, except a few XP points? You need 400 pieces of candy to evolve it, more than any other Pokemon, but it’s worth it. Once evolved, Magikarp turns into Gyarados, a water dragon with a massive CP (combat power) boost. It also brings bragging rights as having endurance as a trainer.
4 Save your lucky eggs
While you might think that using a lure and a lucky egg at the same time will bring you mega XP points, you need to save them for when you’re evolving. So do all your catching while you’re out, and save the evolving for when you are indoors. Sadly you need to buy lucky eggs, so use your freebies wisely. Oh, and if you see pink hearts floating around at a pokestop, that’s someone else’s lure, so you can muscle in on the action without using any of your own.
5 You can get Pikachu as your first Pokemon
If you’re just setting up your account, here’s how to do it. Instead of choosing Squirtle, Charmander or Bulbasaur, walk away. Four is the magic number; once you have shown that you won’t just take any old Pokemon, Pikachu himself arrives. You’re welcome.
6 You don’t need to keep things in your bag that you won’t use right away
When you find a Pokestop you get potions and revivers that you’ll only use if you’re going into battle. But these can fill up your bag and stop you snagging pokeballs at each pokestop. There’s nothing more frustrating than finding Pokemon and having nothing to throw at them. So chuck the excess out or consider buying a bigger bag.
7 You can hatch eggs, well, pretty much anywhere
Although the game tells you that you have to be walking, there are a few things you need to know if you think you can beat the system. While there is no official speed limit from Niantic, users report that the maximum speed you can be travelling at is between 16 and 24km/h. So that rules out the MTR, buses, cars and even bikes. Even the treadmill doesn’t count, as you need to be physically moving on the map.
8 If you pass a vacant gym, grab it
Your Pokemon won’t die, but might need reviving when someone stronger comes along.
9 Incubators are where it’s at
If you are going to spend money in the game, then Nick Johnson, the first Pokemon Go player to publicly confirm that he had caught all 142 unique Pokemon that are available in the US, believes that egg incubators are the way to go.