Beginner's Guide To Power Up Pokemon At Low Cost

Powering up Pokemon is one of the most exciting parts of the game. At first glance, the investment looks like a resource-draining process, but what if we told you that you can power them up with less Stardust and candy cost? Every trainer dreams of sending a six-Pokemon army of Dragonite for raid battles or a three-Pokemon army of Machamp to max battles. For the beginners who have just started the game, making a raid or max battle army is not feasible due to limited resources. Be it Stardust or candies, wasting these valuable resources on the wrong Pokemon can impact them negatively on their quest to level up faster in the game.

If you are a beginner who has just started the game, the key to powering up Pokemon is to know when and how to invest your resources. The good news is you are not required to invest millions of Stardust to power up a single one. With a couple of tricks, you will be able to power up multiple at the cost of one. Go through our beginner-friendly guide to power up Pokemon at low cost and build your lineup of powerful CP Pokemon today!

When Should We Power Up Pokemon in Pokemon GO?

There are many highest CP in Pokemon GO that you can consider to power up first, as they can serve multiple purposes in the game. But before you begin your journey, let us take a look at when we should consider powering up Pokemon:

• Post Evaluation: Unless it serves a specific purpose, trainers should always wait for the significant CP increase after evolution before powering it up to higher levels. Moreover, trainers should make it a priority to consider the meta picks of each typing in the game first before they consider maxing out their favorite. For example, if your favorite Pokemon is Hitmonchan, consider powering up a Machamp first, as its moveset and max CP serve various purposes in the game. Once you are set with your builds, you can then make a level 40/50 army of your favorite Pokemon.
• Good IVs and Moves: When it comes to powering up a Pokemon, trainers generally look for two sets of IVs. One is hundo or closer to it (all max stats among attack, defense, stamina). Then there is another set of IVs, which is known as PVP IV. In here, the attack is preferred to be the lowest, while the defense and stamina are preferred to be the highest. Unless you are considering building Pokemon for PVP, consider only the good IV and meta move for powering up.
• Specific Battle Teams: Last but certainly not least, only consider Pokemon that are strong in the current meta and are useful for PVP, raids, gym defense, and max battles.

How to Power Up Pokemon at Low Cost?

Let us now take a look at the beginner-friendly tips to power up Pokemon at low cost:

Weather-boosted Wild Spawns and Raids

First and foremost, unless you have caught a hundo or a shiny one, always opt to consider the weather-boosted Pokemon to power up. There is a massive CP difference between those that are non-weather boosted and those that are weather boosted. For example, if you power up a weather-boosted hundo Metagross, you start with 2598 CP.

When you power up a non-weather boosted hundo Metagross (from raid), you begin with 2078 CP (from raid). That is a significant CP gap that will cost you a lot of stardust, should you decide to close. Keep that in mind when you take part in Pokemon GO Mega Metagross Raid Day.

Lucky Pokemon Only At First

If you do not have a hundo or a shiny one of a certain species that you would like to power up, consider powering up a lucky Pokemon. Now, obtaining a lucky confirmed one requires a lot of time and luck, as it needs you to be best friends with someone first! However, there's a way around it. When you trade multiple times with someone, there's a chance that one of those trades will be randomly transformed into a lucky trade, and both of you will receive a lucky Pokemon. For instance, if you are trading 20 mirror Gastly trades with someone (irrespective of friendship level), you have a high chance of getting one of them as lucky.

• When you have a lucky one, you will have better IVs in your Pokemon as 10/10/10 can be the least and 15/15/15 can be the highest through a lucky trade.
• It will take you half the Stardust to power up for each level. For example, if a non-lucky one requires 200 Stardust to power up, a lucky one will need 100 Stardust.

Trading Saves Your Resources

There are many Pokemon that require you to have 0 candy for evolution if you received it via a trade. These may not be legendaries, but they are quite great alternatives and will not drain your candies for evolution. Why does that help? When you evolve them by saving your candies, you will have more candies to power up those Pokemon. Over time, these add up and you will be able to power up multiple of the same species at the cost of one or two. Here are some that are free to evolve once you have them traded to you:

• Kadabra
• Graveler
• Boldore
• Haunter
• Machoke
• Gurdurr
• Phantump
• Pumpkaboo
• Shelmet

Alternatives to Legendaries

When you are at the lower levels of the game, avoid powering up legendaries at all costs. Until you are at level 35-40, many pseudo-legendaries and starter Pokemon evolutions will not only be resource-friendly but will also serve multiple purposes.

In addition to all these, as a trainer who wants to be the very best, make it your priority to periodically check the upcoming events. From community days to spotlight hours and even week-long events, there are often events introduced in Pokemon GO that offer a 2x and 3x Stardust per catch bonus. Make use of these events to stack up multiple Stardust. In addition to that, always keep an eye on the spotlight hours of those Pokemon that give you boosted Stardust per catch, such as Combee and Trubbish. Always use a Star Piece to enjoy 1.5x rewards.