Best Methods for Powering Up & Evolving Pokémon

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One of the most popular questions among Pokémon Go players is when should I Power Up and/or Evolve my Pokémon? The video above does a good job of explaining and summarizing the best time and way to do so.

Here are the two main strategies from this video:

#1. Average Player: Efficient Stardust Usage 

- Be patient and save your Candy until you have enough Candy to evolve a Pokémon to it's final form. 

- For example, if you have a Bulbasaur you will want to wait until you have 125 total Bulbasaur Candy to Evolve it to Venusaur (25 to Ivysaur and 100 to Venusaur). 

- By the time you have enough Candy to Evolve into a Venusaur, you will have found a much stronger Bulbasaur to evolve (as you will be at a higher Trainer Level at this point). 

- Wait until around Level 20 before Powering Up your Pokémon. This will result in a much more efficient use of Stardust as it will take less overall Stardust to maximize your Pokémon's CP. 

#2. Advanced Player: IV's, Maximizing CP

- This method involves finding Pokémon with the highest CP potential. This method is much more technical as it involves hidden base stats such as Attack, Defense and Stamina. Pokémon can be about 10% stronger by using this method.

- Each Pokémon species has the same base hidden stats. However, these stats may be greater based on the Pokémon's Individual Values (IVs).

- Individual Values are completely random and are different for every Pokémon you catch. 

- IVs can add up to 1 to 15 Attack stat points, 1 to 15 Defense stat points and 1 to 15 Stamina stat points. 

- For example, a Charmeleon will have base stats of Attack: 160, Defense: 140 and Stamina: 116. With Max IV, a Charmeleon would have Attack: 175, Defense: 155 and Stamina: 131. The Stats of all Charmeleon's will fall in the following range:

Attack: 160 - 175

Defense: 140 - 155

Stamina: 116 - 131

- Trainers will want to Evolve/Power Up their Charmeleon with the highest total base stats.

- Use the IV Calculator from Pokeassistant.com to determine the IV of your own individual Pokémon.

Which Pokémon have you caught with the perfect IV's? Let us know in the comments below!