How to Power Level 51,800XP+ in 30 minutes
Posted on July 21 2016
3 min read
TL;DR - Save lucky eggs for evolving 50-60 Pokémon at 1000XP a pop while collecting 3+ nearby PokéStop rewards every 5 minutes.
End result 51,800XP+ in 30 minutes. That's level 9 to 14.
Background (optional)
There're 3 parts to power leveling in Pokémon GO: lucky eggs, evolving Pokémon, and PokéStops.
1. Lucky Eggs
Gives 2x XP for 30 minutes. Get them by leveling up (you get your first one at level 9) or buying them through the shop.
Tips
- Save these until you can evolve A LOT of Pokémon and are near many PokéStops (see below)
2. Evolving
Use Pokémon candy (you get 3 for catching a Pokémon, 10+ for hatching eggs) to evolve a Pokémon. Gives 500XP, or 1000XP with a lucky egg.
Tips
- Pidgeys, caterpies and weedles are the best (12 candy per evolution, very common)
- Animation takes ~30 seconds to finish, so keep that in mind!
- Evolve new Pokémon for 1000XP, or 2000XP with a lucky egg
- Side note: Don't waste Stardust powering up Pokémon, you don't get any XP (more about this in a later guide)
- Star the Pokémon you want to evolve and sort by "Favorite" for quicker access
3. PokéStops
Blue floating cubes with circles around them on the map. Gives items and 50XP, or 100XP with a lucky egg. Resets every 5 minutes.
Tips
- Save > 72 item spaces for 3 PokéStops (3 stops x 24 items per in 30 minutes = 72 items)
The strategy
-
Save up 50-60 evolutions worth of Pokémon and Pokémon candy
- e.g. for 50 pidgeys, you'll need 600 Pidgey candies (50 pidgeys x 12 ea. = 600 total). # of candy will depend on the Pokémon (click on the Pokémon to see how much you need)
- You can mix and match! (e.g. 20 pidgeys, 30 weedles, and 10 drowzees)
- Why 50-60? Animation takes ~30 seconds to finish, so 50-60 is about the maximum count for 30 minutes
- Stand in an area where you can click on 3+ PokéStops
- Be aware: every 5 minutes you'll have to click on them, so make sure they're in range from where you stand!
- Use your lucky egg (lasts 30 minutes)
Repeat this every 5 minutes for the next 30 minutes:
- Click on all nearby PokéStops immediately
- PRIORITIZE THIS: evolve your Pokémon until PokéStops reset (5 minutes)
Why this is the best method
Evolving Pokémon currently gives the most XP (500 each). Catching/evolving a new Pokémon or hatching a Pokémon also gives 500XP.
Problem: hatching can only happen if you walk a certain distance, and catching Pokémon is unreliable and random.
On the other hand, you can easily save up a lot of Pokémon and Pokémon candy for evolutions when you're ready to use the lucky egg.
Common mistakes
- Not saving enough Pokémon and candy for evolving in the 30 minute time period
- Distracted by catching nearby Pokémon: at most it's 400XP (with lucky egg) per catch, but it's way too unreliable
Results
With some quick number-crunching, we can see how rewarding this method is:
|
Total XP (in 30 minutes) |
# of evolved Pokémon (1000XP each) |
# of PokéStops (100 x 6 times = 600 XP each) |
| 51 800 | 50 | 3 |
| 52 400 | 50 | 4 |
| 56 800 | 55 | 3 |
| 57 400 | 55 | 4 |
| 61 800 | 60 | 3 |
| 62 400 | 60 | 4 |
I was able to evolve 49 eggs and hatch 3 eggs with a bit of lag, so roughly 55K XP in 30 minutes (there were some new Pokémon).
Advanced (optional)
- Time your Pokémon eggs so they're just about to hatch when you use your lucky egg. Walk a bit more while evolving to hatch those eggs and get even more XP!
- To see the highest CP Pokémon to evolve, sort by "Name"
- Try to evolve new Pokémon, since they give 1000XP or 2000XP with a lucky egg
- You don't have to stay in 1 place for PokéStops! You can walk around while the evolving animation happens to maximum XP
This is one of several guides in the Pokémon GO Short, Sweet and Sexy Guide. You can check out more of these here or you can follow us for updates on our Facebook page.
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