You've been there. You spend twenty minutes chasing a silhouette on your nearby tracker, finally corner that rare spawn, and click. It's a high CP Charizard. Your heart thumps. You catch it, appraise it, and... zero stars. It’s basically a paperweight. Honestly, it’s one of the most frustrating parts of the game. Most players think catching a "good" Pokemon is just about tapping on every single monster that pops up on the map, but that’s actually the slowest way to build a competitive team.
When we talk about how to get a good pokemon in pokemon go, we aren't just talking about high Combat Power (CP). CP is a lie. Well, not a lie, but a temporary mask. A 3000 CP Slaking is often worse than a 1500 CP Medicham depending on what you're trying to do. You want Individual Values (IVs)—those hidden stats for Attack, Defense, and HP that determine if your Pokemon is actually a "hundo" (100% IVs) or just another candidate for the Professor’s candy grinder.
Stop Catching Everything and Start Targeting the Right Encounters
Wild spawns are the Wild West. Most of the time, the IV floor for a wild catch is zero. This means the odds of finding a perfect 15/15/15 Pokemon in the wild are 1 in 4,096. Those aren't great odds. If it’s "Weather Boosted," that floor jumps to 4/4/4, which improves your chances to 1 in 1,331. Better, but still a grind.
If you want the good stuff, you have to look where the floors are higher. Research tasks are your best friend here. Whether it's the Field Research you get from spinning a PokeStop or the long-form Special Research, these encounters have a guaranteed IV floor of 10/10/10. Suddenly, your odds of a hundo jump to 1 in 216.
Eggs are another massive engine for quality. Like research, eggs have a 10/10/10 floor. If you're walking anyway, you should always have an incubator running, specifically for those 10km or 12km "Strange" eggs. But don't sleep on the 7km Friendship eggs either, especially during events where specific regional variants or babies are in the pool.
The Secret of Lucky Trades and IV Rerolls
Trading is the only way to "fix" a bad Pokemon. Let's say you and a friend both caught a high-level Larvitar but they both have terrible stats. Trade them. When you trade, the IVs are completely rerolled.
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If you become "Best Friends" with someone, you have a small chance of becoming "Lucky Friends" on your first interaction of the day. This is the holy grail of how to get a good pokemon in pokemon go. A Lucky Trade guarantees two things:
- The IV floor is a massive 12/12/12.
- The Stardust cost to power it up is halved.
It’s almost impossible to get a "bad" Lucky Pokemon. Even the worst possible Lucky roll is still better than 80% of what you'll find in the wild. If you're sitting on high-level Legendaries with bad stats, save them. Never transfer a bad Rayquaza or Mewtwo until you’ve tried to mirror-trade it with a friend.
Why Shadow Pokemon are the Real Powerhouses
Here is where it gets complicated. A "good" Pokemon isn't always a 100% IV one. If you’re looking for pure raid damage, a 0% IV Shadow Pokemon actually deals more damage per second (DPS) than a 100% IV non-shadow version of the same species.
Shadow Pokemon receive a 20% attack bonus. They also take 20% more damage, making them "glass cannons," but in raids where you're fighting against a clock, damage is king. Don't be too quick to "Purify" your Pokemon just to see those IV bars turn red. A 13/13/13 Shadow Mamoswine is a god-tier ice attacker; purifying it makes it "perfect," but it actually makes it weaker in battle.
The only time you should really purify is if the Pokemon has a Mega Evolution that isn't out yet, or if the IV boost (which adds +2 to every stat) will specifically push a Pokemon to a 100% IV for your collection's sake.
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Raiding Smart, Not Hard
Raids are the most reliable way to get high-stat Legendaries and Mythicals. Like eggs, raids have that 10/10/10 floor. However, the real trick is knowing when to use your passes.
Raid Hours occur every Wednesday from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM local time. This is when almost every gym hosts a Tier 5 raid. If you're looking for a "good" legendary, this is the time to find a local group or use remote raid passes. Sites like PokeBattler or apps like PokeGenie are essential here to ensure you aren't wasting passes on raids you can't win.
The PvP Exception: Why Low Attack is Sometimes Better
Wait. Stop.
If you are trying to get a good Pokemon for the Great League (1500 CP cap) or Ultra League (2500 CP cap), you actually do not want a 100% IV Pokemon most of the time.
This sounds backward, right? It’s because of how CP is calculated. The Attack stat weighs much more heavily on the CP formula than Defense or HP. By having a low Attack stat (like 0 or 1) and high Defense/HP (like 15/15), you can level your Pokemon up much higher while staying under the CP cap. A Level 35 Bastiodon with low attack will survive significantly longer than a Level 30 Bastiodon with high attack, even though they both have 1500 CP.
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Always check a PvP IV calculator before you toss a "zero star" bulky Pokemon like Galarian Stunfisk or Azumarill. You might accidentally be holding a Rank 1 PvP beast.
Master the Catch Circle
You can't get a good Pokemon if it runs away. The "Circle Lock" technique is a mandatory skill. Hold the Poke Ball until the target circle shrinks to "Excellent" size, then let go without throwing. Wait for the Pokemon to attack. As the attack animation is about 70% finished, spin and throw. The circle will stay at the exact size you locked it at.
Combine this with Golden Razz Berries for Legendaries. If you aren't hitting Excellent throws consistently, you’re essentially throwing away the best Pokemon in the game. It takes practice. You'll drop a few balls. You'll miss. But once you get the rhythm, your catch rate for high-IV raid bosses will skyrocket from 50% to over 90%.
Practical Steps for Your Next Session
- Check your local Discord or Campfire map. Look for "called out" hundos. In many cities, players will alert others if a 100% IV Pokemon spawns in the wild. Since wild IVs are the same for everyone Level 30 and above, you can literally just drive there and grab it.
- Clear your stack of Field Research. Don't let those encounters sit. They are guaranteed high-IV opportunities that don't cost Raid Passes.
- Tag your trade bait. Create a tag called "Trade" and dump every high-level, low-IV Pokemon there. Find a local buddy and swap 100 of them a day. You are statistically likely to get at least one or two "Lucky" outcomes per session.
- Focus on Community Days. The sheer volume of spawns increases your "shiny" and "hundo" chances through brute force. Plus, the exclusive moves often make those Pokemon much better than they would be otherwise.
- Be patient with Shadows. Wait for a "Team GO Rocket Takeover" event to use a Charged TM to remove the move "Frustration." A Shadow Pokemon with Frustration is almost useless, no matter how good the stats are.
Getting a truly elite team in Pokemon GO isn't just about walking; it's about resource management. Stop spending stardust on mediocre "cool" Pokemon. Save your millions for the ones that hit the IV thresholds or serve a specific purpose in the current meta. Watch the seasonal rotations, keep your storage organized, and always, always check the appraisal before you hit that transfer button.