How to catch rare Pokemon in Pokemon GO

Ready to move past Pidgey and go for some rarer Pokemon in Pokemon GO?

Pokemon GO has been rather popular since its release, which may actually qualify for the understatement of the year. By now, you’ve probably caught plenty of Pokemon … plenty of the same Pokemon, that is. Not to knock the ubiquitous Zubat, but once you’ve caught one sufficiently powerful enough, catching the others just to trade them in for candies gets boring.

So how do you go about acquiring some of the cooler Pokemon available in the game? Move over, Ekans and Rattata. We’re talking Dratini, Magmar, Scyther, and Lapras, among others.

First off, as you level up, rarer Pokemon will start appearing in your local area. That’s been confirmed by outlets like Forbes, where writer Dave Thier mentions catching a Scyther with a CP of 512 recently, for which he has automatically become the envy of many a Trainer. This also includes seeing evolved forms of more common Pokemon.

Second, and perhaps more reliably, you can hatch rare Pokemon from those Pokemon Eggs you pick up at PokeStops. Eggs which take 10 km to hatch can produce Dratini, Aerodactyl, Lapras, and Eevee. And yes, Scyther has been found in a 10 km Egg. Even 5 km Eggs can produce Vulpix, Ponyta, and Staryu among others.

As for the actual catching process, should you encounter these Pokemon in the wild, your standard Poke Ball may not do the trick. Fans of games like Pokemon X and Y can probably rattle off the entire list of Poke Ball types, but for now, Pokemon GO users need only concern themselves with three.

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First is your normal, red-and-white Poke Ball. That’s the kind you start with. As for the blue-and-red Great Ball, you’ll be able to start using those after you reach level 12 in the game.

Then, you break out the big guns. We’re talking Ultra Balls here. The grey/black-and-yellow type is currently the strongest you can acquire in the live form of Pokemon GO. Trainers can start using these at level 20. Want to make sure you snag that Dragonair? Ultra Ball.

What about the Master Ball? Well, right now, they aren’t available in Pokemon GO, though reports have surfaced that they were available in the beta.

As for legendary Pokemon, they exist in the game code, but haven’t been spotted in the wild yet. Your dreams of assembling the legendary birds Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres will have to wait.

Armed with this new knowledge, go forth and complete your Pokedex.

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