Finding those elusive Pokemon can be tough!
You see one that you haven’t caught before, and go on a mad dash to find it...only it’s
seemingly nowhere to be found!
And it doesn’t help that Go doesn’t really explain how to track Pokemon either...like,
at all.
But we’re here to change that, with a useful method that’ll help you find and capture
the Pokémon you really want..
Now you’re likely already aware of the Nearby List which by default shows the three closest
Pokémon and occasionally pulsates when a new Pokémon enters the List.
You can see what it is by tapping the icon and popping open the List, which expands to
display the nine closest Pokémon.
The footprint icons beneath each of them denotes how close--or far--that Pokémon is from you.
Three footprints means it’s within a kilometer, two footprints a hundred meters, one footprint
means it’s just ten meters away, and if there aren’t any footprints at all, then
that means you’re practically on top of it and should encounter it soon.
You can then tap one of the Pokémon icons in order to highlight it on the Nearby List
icon, allowing you to constantly see the amount of footprints it has while walking around,
which can help track it down.
But here’s the catch--because of the distances involved, those footprint icons don’t update
all that often, making this task a lot harder than it needs to be.
So we have a better way.
As you might have noticed, the Pokémon on the expanded Nearby List sometimes switch
positions as you walk.
This is because the Pokemon are actually listed in order from closest to farthest, starting
from the top-left corner and going down to the bottom-right.
So if a Pokémon you want is moving toward that top-left position, congrats, you’re
getting closer to finding it, but if it’s moving down to that bottom-right spot, then
it’s getting farther away.
What this means is that if you want to track a certain Pokémon, instead of highlighting
it, it’s better to keep the Nearby List open to act as a radar to help narrow down
where exactly that Pokemon is located.
So for example, let’s say we’re tracking a Bellsprout that’s 3 footprints away and
in the center of the Nearby List.
Since we don’t know where it’s located, we’ll just pick one direction and start
walking.
Let’s say South.
Now if Bellsprout starts dropping down the list, then we know we’re heading the wrong
way.
So we should turn around and walk back the way we came to the North, keeping an eye on
its movement to see if it returns to a higher spot on the list.
If it does, we’ll see its footprint counter eventually begin to decrease, but if it falls
farther down the list, then we know that we’re going in the wrong direction again.
If this does happen, we would return to the location where it was highest on the list
and head either East or West from that point and repeat the process.
If it decreases again, we know it has to be in the only remaining direction.
Now once the Pokémon’s footprints drop from 3 down to 2 or 1, it should be easier
to repeat this process to further narrow it down until it appears on the map.
Then bam, we’ve just snagged ourselves a Bellsprout!
And if you have some friends who want to get in on the hunt, it’ll be even easier since
that one Pokémon will appear for everyone.
This makes it possible to split up and work together to comb an area for rare Pokémon--and
don’t worry, everyone can capture the same Pokemon.
We should mention that the Pokemon probably won’t all appear in the exact same spot,
but they should be in that same general area.
Keep in mind that the Pokemon do move around throughout the day, so if you take too long,
you may just lose the Pokémon you’re trying to track.
In addition, while we haven’t tested this ourselves, we have seen a report on forbes.com
by Paul Tassi that attempted to confirm the existence of Pokémon Fishing.
And no, we don’t mean with a Super Rod.
Instead, it seems that some Pokémon will often appear in the exact same spot after
a certain amount of time has passed.
So if you’ve found a Growlithe in one place before, another may very will appear there
again a few hours later.
The exact time is currently unknown though, but it’s something to test for yourselves
with the Pokémon around you.
And finally, we should note that the Pokémon that appear on your Nearby List are not always
the ones that will appear when an Incense is used.
Incense doesn’t bring the Pokémon on your List closer--they will remain in their same
spots, but it is possible for it to attract potentially rare Pokémon that aren’t on
the list at all.
However, based on our experience, we don’t believe Lure Modules have the same effect.
So there you have it.
Hunting specific Pokémon can be a trial at times, but this guide may make it easier for
you to find the ones you want.
Of course, if you have any tips of your own, please share them in the comments.
We’re all in this together to catch ‘em all!
Thanks for watching and if you liked this video, be sure to subscribe for more on Pokémon
and other things gaming.