Unsurprisingly for a franchise with the tagline “Gotta catch ‘em all”, Pokemon GO is a game that focuses on collection. And just like any other collection — be it stamps or coins — some of the ‘mons you’ve caught are more rare and valuable than others. That leaves most collectors with an impossible desire: to get the most rare creatures in Pokemon GO more often. But if you do, will those rare things still be that precious?
Many trainers we’ve asked answered: “If it’s just me who gets rares often, of course they will remain sought-after — and I’m perfectly fine with it.” So how do you make that dream come true for yourself — how to get a rare Pokemon in Pokemon GO faster?
As you might expect, it’s not an easy question. Some players choose not to bother at all and just purchase a Pokemon GO account that has all the rares they want. After dozens of hours trying to get that one particularly elusive critter, that sounds like the right thing to do. But let’s imagine you’re not at that point yet. If you want to give it a shot and are wondering what the best way to get a rare Pokemon in Pokemon GO is, you have to come prepared — and the knowledge we’re going to give you in this article will become one of your main tools in that hunt.
Below we’ll explain how “rare” should be defined in PoGO, show some examples of them, and share what you can do to generally improve your chances of ever getting one. Let’s get started!
What makes a Pokemon rare?
So we keep hearing that this Pokemon is so very rare and that one is even more so. But what exactly does it mean? Can we somehow determine what rarity is in this game?
We sorta can, but there’s no simple way to do it. We wish there were some ownership percentages for each ‘mon easily available online or even in-game — yet alas, there’s no such thing. So the community has to figure it out on their own — and here are several approaches they use:
- Do people often say this Pokemon is rare?
- Is it region-locked?
- Does it appear in special events, raids, or particular tasks?
- Has it been seen lately at all?
Do people consider it rare?
This point looks weird — don’t people say all kinds of things citing “trust me, bro” as their only source? They do.
But the idea is that many different people across numerous subreddits, Discord servers, forums, comment sections, and other places write similar things. Over time it becomes clear that Magikarp is very common, but, say, Kecleon is a pain to hunt down.
Is it region-locked?
If a creature is unique to one region, it surely adds points to its rarity. Some of them might be very common in one area, while virtually non-existent in another. A well-known example of that is Tauros, which is caught in droves daily by US players, but is barely ever seen by Europeans. The opposite is true for Mr Mime.
Some creatures go even further and, while they can only be found in a specific region, they are also very elusive — and very few people manage to get them, even if they live their whole life in that area.
Is it tied to events, raids, or tasks?
Some Pokemon are only obtainable during special events, from raids, or in particular tasks. Special events can also occur more often or less so. Think of another movie promotion event — it usually happens just once and that’s it.
If it came with some exclusive forms or ‘mons and you didn’t obtain them before it ended — well, good luck getting them after that. Armored Mewtwo and clone Kanto starters are a good example of that.
Other events happen more often than once in eternity, and theoretically the unique Pokemon they have are easier to catch. But practically? You have to be very, very lucky to get in anyway.
Legacy collection
Finally, some critters have just disappeared at a certain point, and no one has heard from them for a while. Sometimes there’s an official announcement, sometimes there isn’t. Anyway, the community just sighs and adds them to the legacy category, which means that the only way to get one is through trading.
What are the rarest Pokemon to get in Pokemon GO?
Taking all the points above into account, let’s figure out some of the rarest names in the game. Note that it’s not possible to rank them, since we can’t find one reliable value to compare them against. That means that we’ll just introduce you to four Pokemon that are widely believed to be extremely difficult to catch.
And yes — catch. We won’t mention the ones you can’t obtain yourself anymore and that can only be traded. So no, we haven’t included Armored Mewtwo or the clone starters.
Lake Guardians
The Lake Guardians, also known as the Lake Trio, are three Psychic legendaries: Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf. They were first introduced in Gen IV (Diamond, Pearl, Platinum) and came to PoGO in 2019. For some reason, Niantic decided to make each of these three region-locked, so it’s impossible to encounter them all in one area.
It’s actually quite difficult to meet even one, as their wild spawn rate is horribly low — still higher than zero though, as several cases of encountering them have been reeported. You’ll have much more luck in raids during special events when the guardians are available there.
Now let’s take a closer look at each of the trio:
- Uxie (yellow) — has high Defense, can unlock the Electric charged move Thunder, and is only available in the Asia-Pacific region
- Mesprit (red) — has balanced stats, can unlock the Ice-type skill Blizzard, and roams exclusively in Europe, Middle East, Africa, and India
- Azelf (blue) — has high Attack, can unlock the Fire charged move Fire Blast, and can only be found in the Americas and Greenland
Despite being related to sacred lakes in the Gen IV games, there is no evidence suggesting that they are more likely to be found near real-world lakes. So don’t try swimming with your phone to the deepest part of your local body of water — the only guardian you’ll likely get that way is a lifeguard.
Unown
Another Psychic Pokemon on our rarest list — the type choice doesn’t seem like a coincidence, since such ‘mons are absolutely capable of turning you into a psycho as you travel far and wide chasing them. And yeah, Unown takes that madness to the next level, as it has 28 separate forms — all of which are notoriously elusive.
The concept is pretty fun — each Unown represents one character: most of them (26) are letters of the English alphabet, while 2 more are punctuation marks for exclamation (!) and question (?). Introduced long ago in Gen 2 games (Gold and Silver), Unown was also featured in one of the most well-known movies of the franchise: Pokemon 3 — alongside other celebrities like Ash and Entei. So it’s “unown” in the name only — in fact, it’s quite recognizable, although not as iconic as Pikachu or Charizard.
So how do you catch it? While it is possible to get it in the wild, it’s not probable at all — one estimate had its spawn rate at 1 in 6 million among Gen 1 and 2 Pokemon. Obviously, that’s not how players usually get it — instead, they wait for a major event to take place in their area and attend it. Most such events have a raised spawn rate for Unown — but not all of its forms, just the ones that match letters used in the event’s name. So you can imagine how frequently the ! and ? forms are seen, right?
Examples of events featuring boosted Unown spawns:
- GO Fest (only for ticket holders)
- Safari Zone events (free but require signing up)
- GO Week / Weekend
- Pokemon World Championship
- Major conventions like Gamescom, E3, San Diego Comic Con, PAX, and more
- FIFA World Cup
And more. There’s also one global event to note — Global Unown hatching event. It makes it possible to hatch an Unown from a 10km egg. While this seems to be the easiest way to get this ‘mon, it’s not very reliable schedule-wise — we don’t even know when the next one arrives, if at all.
Salandit
Let’s clear one thing up right away: you can’t directly capture Salazzle. It’s only possible to evolve it — from Salandit, to be precise. But there’s a catch and that’s the reason it’s on this list — the Salandit must be female. Since the gender ratio is estimated to be about 7:1, you’ll likely be chasing this girl for quite a while.
So where do you get a Salandit in the first place? That’s a Strange Egg you have to hatch for 12km. How do you get this egg? By defeating the Team GO Rocket’s officers. It can be Giovanni but not necessarily — other, lower-rank ones will do too. How do you fight them? You need a Rocket Radar to locate them first — and that’s built from 6 Mysterious Components dropped by Team Rocket Grunts.
Oh my, and those Grunts — where do you find them? At taken-over PokeStops. Occasionally, one can randomly become taken over, so there’s where you go to fight the Grunts. Takeovers happen reasonably often, but they are unpredictable, so it’ll take some time to collect the 6 components.
Phew, that’s it. It’s going to be quite a ride — but what are you even getting for it? Both Salandit and Salazzle are Poison-Fire types. Salandit isn’t something very special but Salazzle has impressive Attack and might become a great addition to your team. Don’t forget that you’ll also need candies (50 of them) to evolve your Salandit — so that’s even more work.
Kecleon
Oh, Kecleon — how many people lost their wits trying to find you, you sly little lizard. This chameleon is true to its nature — that’s why it’s always… invisible. Now that’s just great — how are you supposed to see an invisible creature? You just have to know a couple of tips.
First of all, where to find it: at PokeStops. Some stops can’t be spun for some reason — you might think it’s a bug, but actually, it’s more likely that it has a Kecleon hiding on one of its walls.
Second, how do you interact with it? Look closely at the PokeStop and see if there’s anything suspicious. Kekleon isn’t fully transparent — it’s rather translucent, and the red zigzag on its chest is particularly visible. So you can actually notice it, although not right away. When you do, tap on it several times to make it jump away. If the stop is taken over by Team GO Rocket, first defeat the Grunts to be able to interact with the ‘mon.
Third, how do you catch it? Once a Kekleon is no longer stuck to the PokeStop, it appears on the map and you can interact with it like with any other wild ‘mon — and of course you can spin your PokeBalls at it all you want.
So what exactly do you get when you add it to your team? A Normal-type fighter with a versatile arsenal, including moves of various types: Ghost (Lick), Ice (Ice Beam), Fire (Flamethrower), Electric (Thunder), and so on. It might not be among the best options in terms of stats and you won’t often see it in meta tier lists (not at the top of them at least), but it’s a solid pick for any team with Defense as its highest stat (189).
How do you raise your chances of catching a rare Pokemon?
As you can see, rare Pokemon are all very different, and the methods you’d use to track down one of them won’t work for another. So unfortunately, there’s no secret rule to follow to catch rares more often. There are a couple of things we believe you should bear in mind though:
- Be curious and look for new info about the game’s creatures all the time
- Keep track of events and learn what bonuses and spawn boosters they bring
- Don’t disregard professional boosting services
The first two are straightforward: the more you know about the game, the more chances you have to spot an opportunity where most players don’t. Mind you that Pokemon GO won’t always make it simple to figure out how to get a rare Pokemon — sometimes it’ll take doing research with the help of community data and more. So in this regard, the game’s fully in line with others from the franchise — it’s always been about not just collecting, but also exploring and discovering.
As for the third point, it’s absolutely okay to just hire a pro player to get you a desired critter. Let’s be honest: when you try to do it yourself for a very long time with no progress, it can make you feel burned out, or even depressed.
Games shouldn’t be a source of bad emotions, so it’s a smart move to get help and turn that page once and for all. Say, ArmadaBoost has a service that makes it even easier than just getting a single rarity caught for you — purchase a Pokemon GO account full of rare ‘mons instead. Hours you could waste chasing a catch can easily turn into hours you’ll enjoy fighting tough opponents with your all-star lineup.
While PoGO is a great game that we all love, it’s hard not to admit that sometimes the devs make questionable decisions. Sure, some creatures should be particularly hard to obtain — but doesn’t the game already have too many of them with absolutely sadistic requirements? That’s why, in our view, just getting a Pokemon to your team is justified — but be smart about it. If you think you first want to try doing it yourself — you definitely should, as you’ll always have this Plan B available and ready to save you tons of time.