Candy (GO)

Candy (Japanese: アメ Candy) is a type of currency in Pokémon GO. Each evolutionary family has its own kind of Candy, usually named after the lowest stage of each evolutionary family, which can only be used on members of that family. For example, Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, and Venusaur all require Bulbasaur Candy to Power Up. The Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂ evolutionary families have separate Candies. Each Candy has its own color scheme based on the Pokémon it is named after. Prior to the addition of Generation II Pokémon, Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan had their own Candies, which were later converted into Tyrogue Candy.

Generic artwork of Candy in Pokémon GO

On December 7, 2020, the level cap was increased from 40 to 50. Candy XL was introduced as a requirement for powering up Pokémon beyond level 40, taking the place of standard Candy. Players could start acquiring Candy XL after reaching level 40. Candy XL is acquired randomly through most other activities that reward Candy. Players may also convert 100 regular Candy into one Candy XL. On June 1, 2022 at 10 a.m. local time, the level cap for Candy XL was reduced to level 31.

Acquisition

There are several ways to earn Candy. Most of these methods also have a chance of also rewarding Candy XL for level 31 and higher players. In addition to the listed methods, using a Rare Candy or Rare Candy XL on a Pokémon yields a Candy or Candy XL, respectively, for that Pokémon's evolutionary family.

Method Candy Candy XL
Catching Pokémon
Unevolved Pokémon  3  0 - 3
Second-stage Pokémon  5  1 - 4
Third-stage Pokémon  10  2 - 5
Legendary Pokémon
Mythical Pokémon
Ultra Beast
 3  3 - 6
Using a Pinap Berry ×2 N/A
Using a Silver Pinap Berry ×2.3334
Active Mega-Evolution Bonus (Base or High Level) + 1
Active Mega-Evolution Bonus (Max Level) + 2
Hatching Eggs
Hatch a 2 km Egg  5 - 10  0 - 8
Hatch a 5 km Egg  10 - 21  0 - 16
Hatch a 7 km Egg
Hatch a 10 km  16 - 32  0 - 24
Hatch a 12 km Egg
Trading Pokémon
Obtained <10 km apart  1  0 - 1
Obtained ≥10 km and <100 km apart  2  0 - 1
Obtained ≥100 km apart  3  1
Transferring Pokémon
Transfer Pokémon to Professor Willow  1  0 - 1
Transfer Pokémon to Let's Go, Pikachu! or Let's Go, Eevee! or HOME
Other
Evolve a Pokémon  1  0 - 1
Walk a Buddy Pokémon a certain distance (1, 3, 5, or 20 km)  1  0 - 1
Feed a Berry to a Gym defender  0 - 1  0 - 1

Prior to February 16, 2017, all Pokémon gave  3 when captured.

Pokémon that can evolve from Baby Pokémon, except Togetic and Lucario, are considered to be unevolved Pokémon, so only award  3 when caught, and their evolved forms only award  5 when caught.

Candy XL

The amount of Candy XL that can be randomly received has been observed to follow a weighted coin-toss model with two parameters: a maximum number of coin tosses (or maximum number of random Candy XL), n, and the probability of receiving a Candy XL for each coin toss, P.

Catching and Evolving Pokémon

For catching Pokémon, n is fixed at 3, and P depends on the wild Pokémon's level.[1]

The probability of obtaining Candy XL from evolving a Pokémon scales similarly to catching, except n is fixed at 1.

Since April 28, 2022, having an active Mega-Evolved Pokémon may increases P for Pokémon that share at least one of the Mega Evolution's types, depending on its Mega Level. P is increased by 10% for a High-Level Mega Evolution and 25% for a Max-Level Mega Evolution.

Level n P  0  1  2  3 Average
1 - 14 3 (Catch)
1 (Evolve)
0.01 97.03% 2.94% 0.03% 0.0001%  0.03
15 - 19 0.05 85.74% 13.54% 0.71% 0.01%  0.15
15 - 19 0.1 72.90% 24.30% 2.70% 0.10%  0.3
23 - 25 0.15 61.41% 32.51% 5.74% 0.34%  0.45
26 - 30 0.2 51.20% 38.40% 9.60% 0.80%  0.6
31 - 35 0.3 34.30% 44.10% 18.90% 2.70%  0.9

In addition to the above, catching evolved, Legendary, or Mythical Pokémon reward a guaranteed base amount of Candy XL.

  •  1 for second-stage Pokémon (maximum   4)
  •  2 for third-stage Pokémon (maximum   5)
  •  3 for Legendary and Mythical Pokémon (maximum   6)

Transferring and Buddy Pokémon

For transferring Pokémon and walking buddy Pokémon, n is fixed at 1, and P depends on the Pokémon's level.[2][3]

Level n P
1 - 14 1 0.025
15 - 19 0.125
20 - 22 0.25
23 - 25 0.375
26 - 30 0.5
31 - 50 0.75

Hatching Eggs

For hatching Eggs, P is fixed at 0.2 for all distances, and n depends on hatch distance.[4]

Distance n P Average
2 km 8 0.2  1.6
5 km
7 km
16  3.2
10 km
12 km
24  4.8

Trading

For trading Pokémon, n is fixed at 1, and P depends on the distance between the locations of origin of the traded Pokémon.[5]

Distance n P
<10 km 1 0.1
≥10 km and <100 km 0.25
≥100 km 1

Feeding Gym Defenders

When feeding a Gym defender, if a regular Candy is obtained, then there is a small chance (≈4%) that a Candy XL will also be obtained.[6]

Uses

Evolution

Main article: List of Pokémon by evolution family (GO)

With the exception of Gimmighoul, Candy is required for Pokémon to evolve. The cost in Candy to evolve a Pokémon is typically based on its number of evolution stages, but with some exceptions:

Generation II evolutions which require a Sun Stone or evolution item in the core series games also require that same item in Pokémon GO (in addition to Candy). Most Pokémon with cross-generational evolutions introduced in Generation IV require a Sinnoh Stone and  100 to evolve. For evolutionary families introduced prior to Generation V, other Evolution stones (including the Ice Stone) are not required in Pokémon GO. The Unova Stone is required for all Unova-based evolutions that require some Evolution stone, except for Cottonee and Petilil, which require a Sun Stone instead. Helioptile also requires a Sun Stone to evolve, currently being the only Generation VI Pokémon to require an evolution item in Pokémon GO.

In past updates, two-stage Pokémon that cost  50 to evolve have their cost reduced to  25 whenever a cross-generational third-stage is added, such as Zubat and Duskull. Snorunt's evolution cost was increased when Froslass became available: due to it requiring a Sinnoh Stone to evolve into Froslass (and all Sinnoh Stone evolutions cost  100), the cost to evolve into Glalie was increased to match.

Purified Pokémon require 10% less Candy to evolve, with costs rounded down. For instance, a Purified Rattata, which would normally cost  25 to evolve, would instead only require  22.

Power Up

Main article: Power Up → Levels

Powering Up Pokémon costs both Stardust and Candy. The cost to Power Up increases with the Power Up level. If a Pokémon were to be Powered Up from level 1 all the way to the maximum level 40, it would require  304 total (not including any used for evolution).

Shadow Pokémon require 1.2× Candy and Stardust to Power Up at all levels. Once purified, they require 10% less Candy and Stardust to Power Up than normal (with decimals of 0.5 or lower rounded down).

New Attack

Main article: Move (GO)

The player can spend Stardust and Candy to teach a Pokémon a second Charged Attack. In addition, Wobbuffet, Smeargle, Taillow, and any Pokémon that learns Struggle cannot learn a second Charged Attack, except for Shadow or Purified forms that already know Frustration or Return.

The cost varies depending on the Pokémon species and largely corresponds with the distance needed to walk for a Buddy Pokémon to find a Candy. In addition Shadow Pokémon, compared to their base forms, requires 1.2× Stardust and Candy to learn a second Charged Attack, while Purified Pokémon require 0.8× the base amounts.

Buddy distance Stardust Candy
1 km  10,000  25
3 km  50,000  50
5 km  75,000  75
20 km  100,000  100

In addition, these are the exceptions to the above:

Purification

Purifying a Shadow Pokémon requires both Stardust and Candy, with the amount required proportional to the Shadow Pokémon's Buddy distance.

Appearance

Main article: List of Candy (GO)

Trivia

 
Evolution Shards
  • In pre-release screenshots of Pokémon GO, Evolution Shards (Japanese: 進化のカケラ Evolution Shards) take the role of Candy, being earned by catching multiple instances of the same Pokémon and being used to evolve Pokémon. They did not have unique names or designs for each evolutionary family.
  • The maximum possible amount of Candy that can potentially be used on a single Pokémon in GO is  804 on Melmetal, which include:
    •  304 to power up from level 1 to level 40
    •  400 to evolve
    •  100 to teach a second Charged Attack
    • In addition to the above, it will also require  296 to power up to level 50. This may be acquired by converting  29,600, thereby increasing the theoretical maximum to  30,404.
  • Prior to their removal from Pokémon GO, Hitmonlee Candy and Hitmonchan Candy had the following appearances.
   
Hitmonlee Candy Hitmonchan Candy

In other languages

Language Title
Chinese Cantonese 糖果 Tòhnggwó
Mandarin 糖果 Tángguǒ
  French Bonbon
  German Bonbon
  Indonesian Permen
  Italian Caramelle
  Korean 사탕 Satang
  Brazilian Portuguese Doce
  Russian Конфета Konfeta
  Spanish Caramelo
  Thai ลูกอม Lukom
  Turkish Şekeri

References

See also


  This article is part of both Project Sidegames and Project ItemDex, Bulbapedia projects that, together, aim to write comprehensive articles on items in the sidegames.