Catch rate (GO)

From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.
Jump to navigationJump to search

The calculation of catch rate is among the several mechanics that differ in Pokémon GO compared to the core series. Every species of Pokémon is assigned a base capture rate, a raw percentage that determines how difficult that species is to capture. This base rate is then modified by several factors, such as the wild Pokémon's Power Up level and how skillfully the player threw the Poké Ball, to determine the final catch rate.

Calculation

050Diglett.png This section is incomplete.
Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it.
Reason: GO Battle League encounter multiplier?

The chance for a thrown Poké Ball of successfully capturing a wild Pokémon, P, is [1]

where

  • baseCaptureRate is the base capture rate of the wild Pokémon's species.
  • CPM is the CP multiplier corresponding to the wild Pokémon's Power Up level.
Encounter Level range CPM range
Wild 1 - 30 [0.094, 0.7317]
Wild (weather boosted) 5 - 35 [0.29024988, 0.76156384]
Raid Battle
GO Battle League
20 0.5974
Raid Battle (weather boosted) 25 0.667934
Research 15 0.51739395
Team GO Rocket battle 8 0.37523559
Team GO Rocket battle (weather boosted) 13 0.48168495

and

where

  • Ball =
Ball Value
Poké Ball Poké Ball 1
Great Ball Great Ball 1.5
Ultra Ball Ultra Ball 2
Premier Ball Premier Ball 1.05N [2]

N is the number of balls already thrown during the same bonus challenge[3]

Beast Ball Beast Ball 20[4] (for Ultra Beasts)
Master Ball Master Ball N/A (guarantees capture and ignores catch rate formula)
  • Berry =
Berry Value
Razz Berry Razz Berry 1.5
Silver Pinap Berry Silver Pinap Berry 1.8
Golden Razz Berry Golden Razz Berry 2.5
Otherwise 1
  • Throw = if the Ball hits within the target ring, where , and
Throw Range
Nice [1, 1.3)
Great [1.3, 1.7)
Excellent [1.7, 2)
None 1
  • Curveball =
    • 1.7 if the Ball is spun before being thrown
    • 1 otherwise
  • Encounter =
    • 2 if the Pokémon encounter is a Research task reward
    • 10 from Raid Battles during Pokémon GO Fest: Global [5]
    • 1 if otherwise
  • Medal is based on the player's type-specific medals that matches the wild Pokémon's type. If the wild Pokémon has two types, Medal will be the average of the types' multipliers.
Medal Value
No Medal Pokémon GO.png None 1
Bronze Medal Pokémon GO.png Bronze 1.1
Silver Medal Pokémon GO.png Silver 1.2
Gold Medal Pokémon GO.png Gold 1.3
File:Platinum Medal Pokémon GO.png Platinum 1.4

When capturing Pokémon using a peripheral device, such as the Pokémon GO Plus or Poké Ball Plus, only the Ball and Medal modifiers are applied. While past devices were only able to use regular Poké Balls, the Pokémon GO Plus + is the first device that can use Great Balls and Ultra Balls.

For these encounters, where only the Premier Ball can be used, Pokémon is guaranteed capture on the first ball that hits, bypassing the catch rate calculation. These encounters include

Target ring colors

Colored target ring of Rattata at different sizes

The color of the target ring allows players to gauge the probability of a successful capture, factoring in all bonuses for modifier except for Throw, Curveball, and increases in Ball multiplier when using Premier Balls. Switching Poké Balls or feeding Berries may change the color of the ring. The greener the ring, the higher the catch rate; the redder it is, the lower the catch rate.

Catch rate by color
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%

Critical capture

A critical capture is a rare phenomenon that was first observed in Pokémon GO in February 2017, alongside the release of Generation II Pokémon. Every time a Poké Ball is thrown, there is flat 1% chance that it will bypass catch rate calculations and guarantee a capture.[6] Instead of shaking three times, a thrown Poké Ball will only shake once, and the Pokémon will be confirmed caught. XP bonuses such as from Great or Curveball throws are still included.

Examples

Poké Balls and Berries

Consider a wild Pikachu with 343 CP, with an estimated Power Up level of 14. Pikachu has a base capture rate of 20% and a CP multiplier of 0.49985844 at level 14. Without any bonus modifiers, the catch rate will be .

The following table shows what this Pikachu's catch rate would be if bonuses for Poké Balls and Berries were applied, assuming no bonuses from throws or medals.

Poké Ball Great Ball Ultra Ball
GO Pinap Berry.png 20.01% 28.45% 36.01%
GO Razz Berry.png 28.45% 39.48% 48.81%
GO Silver Pinap Berry.png 31.58% 43.40% 53.18%
GO Golden Razz Berry.png 42.77% 56.70% 67.24%

Throw technique

Consider a wild Tauros of 1252 CP, with an estimated Power Up level of 18. This means it will have a base capture rate of 30% and a CP multiplier of 0.56675452. Without any additional bonuses, the capture rate will be .

The following table shows how the capture rate will be affected by throwing techniques, assuming no additional bonuses and only regular Poké Balls are used; throw bonus modifiers will be averaged between the highest and lowest possible values.

None Curveball
None
(×1.0)
26.47% 40.70%
Nice!
(×1.15)
29.78% 45.17%
Great!
(×1.5)
36.94% 54.34%
Excellent!
(×1.85)
43.38% 61.97%

Medals

Let's now consider a wild Abra that has 670 CP, estimated to be Power Up level 20. Given that Abra has a base capture rate of 50% and its CP multiplier is 0.59740001, the catch rate without bonuses will be .

The following table shows the effect on catch rate via medals for each Poké Ball type, assuming no other bonus modifiers.

Poké Ball Great Ball Ultra Ball
None 41.85% 55.65% 66.18%
Bronze type medal 44.92% 59.12% 69.66%
Silver type medal 47.82% 62.31% 72.78%
Gold type medal 50.58% 65.25% 75.57%
Platinum type medal 53.19% 67.97% 78.09%

Trivia

  • For all species, the base capture rate is approximately equal to the probability of capture for a Level 14 Pokémon with no bonuses.
  • The highest theoretical that can be attained is ×47.6, which includes:
    • Using an Ultra Ball (×2.0)
    • Feeding a Golden Razz Berry (×2.5)
    • Throwing a Curveball (×1.7)
    • Making a perfect Excellent throw (×2.0)
    • Having a platinum type medal bonus (×1.4)
    • Encountering via Field, Special, or Timed Research (×2.0)

See also

References


Project Sidegames logo.png This article is part of Project Sidegames, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon Sidegames.