How to level up quickly in 'Pokémon Go' without spending money
Being "the very best" means different things to different people. Some people might want to fill up their Pokédex as quickly as possible, for instance, while others may want to be the strongest and cruise around town conquering gyms.
The thing is, the two sort of go hand-in-hand in Pokémon Go. Catching 'em all and being a gym-annihilating badass both come down to one key thing: your level.
The higher your level, the higher CP Pokémon you'll encounter. The higher CP Pokémon you have, the more chance you'll have of conquering gyms.
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So basically, the quicker you can churn through those levels the better.
How does leveling up actually work?
Basically, you need to acquire a certain number of experience points (XP) before you progress to the next level. To start with you only need 1000 XP points to jump up to level two, but the number gets bigger and bigger the higher the level you are.
I'm currently a level 12, and I need 10,000 XP points before I jump up to level 13 (and if you want to know how many XP you need to jump up each level beyond that, some helpful person on Reddit has broken them all down here).
How do you get XP?
Loads of different ways. Visiting PokéStops, catching Pokémon, finding new species of Pokémon, evolving Pokémon, training at the gym, conquering enemy gyms -- all of these things will give you a varying amount of XP.
Here's a breakdown, via Reddit, of how much XP you get for doing different things in the game:
As you can see from that list, finding new Pokémon and evolving Pokémon gives you the most XP (more on why that's so useful later, though).
How to level up quickly...
As you can see from the list above, there are plenty of ways to gain experience. But the key is to be efficient. There's no point running around for hours in an area with no stops, gyms or Pokémon -- you might get some egg-hatching km under your belt, but you're not going to grab any other stuff along the way.
This is the first point -- it's a hell of a lot easier to level up quickly in a busy area (like the centre of a town or a city) than it is in a more rural location. A lot of people have been raising this issue online -- and it's always possible that more stuff will be added to rural settings in a future app update -- but for now the best place to gain experience is in a busy town or city.
1. Catch everything you can.
Every single time a Pokémon pops up on your screen, you need to catch that thing (the only exception to this rule might be if you're tracking a Pokémon you don't have and want to focus on finding it).
Catching something gives you at least 100XP (not a lot, but it stacks up) and -- more importantly -- you get lots of spare Pokémon that you can either evolve or transfer for candy (more on this later).
Short on Pokémon in your immediate vicinity? Pop down an incense or a lure to attract them (or even better, find an existing lure -- indicated by the falling petals in the picture above -- and reap the benefits).
Go out of your way to track down Pokémon you don't have.
A new Pokémon is worth five times more (experience wise) than one you've already caught. If you're a level five, for instance, you only need to catch 10 new Pokémon to shoot up to level six (probably less than that when you factor in other XP you might pick up along the way from curveballs and Pokéstops).
If you spot a silhouette in your "Nearby" box, it's therefore worth going a little bit out of your way to try and track down the shadowy beast.
Store up Pidgeys, Weedles and Caterpies.
You're probably getting fed up with Pidgeys by now, right? Whatever location you're in, the feathery little critters are never too far away. You may have even been tempted to start ignoring them so you can focus on catching more interesting stuff.
This is a huge mistake, though. In a lot of ways, Pidgeys, Weedles and Caterpies are the most valuable Pokémon in the game. The reason for this is that all three types only need 12 candies to evolve, and evolving a Pokémon gives you a delightful 500XP.
You get three Pidgey candies for each Pidgey you catch, which means you only need to catch four of them in order to evolve one to a Pidgeotto.
Look at it another way: four Pidgeys = 400XP (which you get for catching them) + 500XP (for evolving them). That's a decent amount of XP for something relatively easy to catch, and -- especially if you combine it with the next trick -- a great way to level up fast.
Finally, time your Lucky Eggs to perfection.
Lucky Eggs, which you get for the first time when you reach level nine (and then subsequently at level 10, 15, 20 and 25, etc.) are the single best item when it comes to leveling up fast.
It's tempting to use one as soon as you get it, but the best idea is to wait and play it tactically. Store up as many Pidgeys, Weedles and Caterpies (plus any other Pokémon you can evolve) as possible, and then evolve them all at the same time after you've used your Lucky Egg.
A Pokémon takes about 30 seconds to evolve, so you could technically evolve 60 odd Pokémon per Lucky Egg -- considering all XP is doubled, that would work out as 60,000 XP. That's a lot of experience, and -- depending on what level you're on currently, of course -- most likely a big jump in levels.
Realistically you probably won't have 60 Pokémon to evolve, but don't worry about that -- as long as you can evolve 10-20, hit a few PokéStops, catch some Pokémon and maybe duke it out at a nearby gym, you'll still get a ton of XP for your troubles.
And if you can time your 30-minute window to coincide with a couple of your eggs hatching? Even better.
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Topics Pokemon
