Tech

3 quick ways to rack up experience points faster in 'Pokémon GO'

Kirsten Acuna

2016-07-11T16:49:00Z

So you're a few days into "Pokémon Go" and you want to be the best, the very best, like no one ever was.

But on your quest to become a Pokémon master you may be struggling to keep up with your friends who are already level 15 Pokémon trainers (or higher), are in charge of gyms, and have stumbled upon rare finds while you’re stuck catching wild Pidgeys and Zubats.

We know it’s not easy out there. So here’s a few quick tips and tricks to help keep you up with the competition even if you’re stuck in an administrative office all day.

Save those Pidgeys, Caterpies, and Weedles.

Some Pokémon are more common than others. You may find yourself catching a bunch of them and automatically trading them off to Professor Willow in exchange for Pokémon candy, but you may want to consider otherwise.

Pidgeys, Caterpie, and Weedle all need 12 candies each to evolve. Even a Rattata, which are pretty common where I am, only require 25 candies to evolve. Every time you evolve a Pokémon you get an extra 500 xp.

But it gets better!

Pair a Lucky Egg with an incense item or lure module.

If you get a Lucky egg, it allows you to earn double experience points for 30 minutes. Two easy ways to earn a lot of XP points are by catching or evolving Pokémon. Catching a new Pokémon gives you 100 XP. Evolving Pokémon gives you 500 XP. When you have the Lucky Egg in play, you'll gain 200 XP for any new captures and 1,000 XP for any evolution.

If you have a lot of Pokémon to evolve wait to do it until you have a Lucky Egg.

Why add the incense or lure modules? Those attract Pokémon for 30 minutes exactly. Time a Lucky Egg to go at the same time as a Pokémon lure and start watching the experience points roll in as Pokémon after Pokémon comes to you.

When all else fails, head to a Pokéstop. It's an easy way to gain 50 experience points.

The nice thing about Pokéstops is that you can always return to them for free items even after you've used them. And each time you head there, even if your item bag is full, you still walk away with an extra 50 XP.