Pokemon GO: When To Throw a Poke Ball

Pokemon GO is all about finding and catching the best Pokemon you can in the real world. With that being said, Poke Balls and perfecting when to throw them is an essential part of the game. You can pinpoint the toughest and rarest Pokemon you desire, but what good is that if you don’t know how best to capture them? There are a ton of different procedures on perfecting your throw, but we’re going to focus on when to throw your Poke Ball.

The first is finding which Pokemon you want to catch. It is worth mentioning, no matter which Pokemon you are trying to catch, with bad timing any Pokemon can swat a Poke Ball away (yes, even a Rattata). Also, you will not want to throw your Pokeball while the Pokemon is trying to attack your trainer. This will automatically mess up and affect your throw.

When using AR, you will want to center the Pokemon you are catching directly in the middle of your screen. This will help you to line up a more precise shot, otherwise, there is a better chance your Poke Ball will miss the target and drift to the side.

One last thing worth noting – the XP boost is different depending on the size of the circle. Close to the outer circle, when the green/yellow/red circle is near the edge, hitting inside the designated area will give you a nice shot bonus of 10 additional XP. If you hit it halfway you will get a XP boost of 50 points. Lastly, if it the circle is very small, roughly 25% of the larger circle, you will receive an excellent shot worth a 100 XP boost.

Check out our ever-expanding Location Guide, and for everything else Pokemon GO, here’s our Ultimate Guide filled with everything you need to know.