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Thanks to Pokemon Go, fans of the Pokemon franchise can finally bring their Pokemon experiences with their phones. With this augmented reality game, players can become Trainers and catch Pokemon right on their doorstep or while traveling! Given how Pokemon Go brings a new personal dimension to Pokemon through smartphones, it makes sense for the game to let players choose a Pokemon to accompany them even when exploring.
Known as the Buddy, a Pokemon assigned to this role is given a lot of benefits, especially when players spend more time with them. This is particularly the case with a boost in CP or Combat Power, a determining number in Pokemon Go battles. If players spend enough time with a Pokemon Buddy, they can become a Best Buddy, reaping more benefits along the way. However, just why is transforming a Pokemon into a Best Buddy so attractive in Pokemon Go? And more importantly, how exactly is this achieved?
Updated July 3, 2022 by Rhenn Taguiam: With Gen 4 Starting Pokemon Starly being the star of the show in the Pokemon Go Community Day on July 17, 2022, fans of the hit augmented reality game might want to look into ways of strengthening their team to maximize the chances of acquiring this adorable starting Pokemon.
Thankfully, tapping into more options inside the Buddy System may be able to help players make the most out of their favorite Pokemon - and from Starly, once they acquire the Pokemon for their collection!
Back To Basics: What Is A Buddy?
Before players understand the intricacies of Buddy CP Boosts in Pokemon Go, it helps to remember how the Buddy System works first. At its core, the game lets players assign a Pokemon as their Buddy Pokemon, essentially a “favorite” Pokemon that appears beside player avatars as they conduct adventures in the game world.
Players can change their Buddy Pokemon whenever they want to, and Buddy Pokemon can confer various benefits to players depending on how “strong” their bonds are. Buddy Pokemon can become a Good Buddy until the Best Buddy Rank, with multiple reward options and intricacies along the way. The Best Buddy, in particular, will confer CP Boosts to help Trainers earn the advantage in Pokemon Battles!
How To Add And Change Buddies
Before proceeding to focus on boosting Buddy levels throughout the game, it helps to understand just how exactly the Buddy System even begins in the context of the game. Thankfully, choosing a Pokemon as a Buddy isn’t necessarily difficult in the game.
To assign a Buddy, players need to access their Menu via the Trainer Avatar and then select the “Buddy” menu. Once they have chosen a Pokemon as a Buddy, they tap on “Change” and then “Yes” to formally confirm the selection. Pokemon available for Buddying Up are those that aren’t assigned to Gyms. Players need to note that they can’t “remove” their Buddy from their Avatar, but rather only replace them with another Pokemon.
Enter The Heart System
In order for a Buddy to progress through Buddy Levels and reach the coveted Best Buddy Rank, they need to earn Hearts. Players can do various activities with their Buddy to earn Hearts in various numbers, with each Buddy Level requiring a certain number of Hearts to make progress.
How Many Hearts Are Needed Per Buddy Level?
As players may notice, the steps needed to progress a Buddy’s level from Good Buddy to Best Buddy become more arduous than the last, requiring more Hearts than usual to proceed. Here are the numbers of Hearts needed per level as a quick reference:
- Good Buddy: 1 Heart
- Great Buddy: 70 Hearts
- Ultra Buddy: 150 Hearts
- Best Buddy: 300 Hearts
How Do Players Get More Hearts?
Similar to other pet simulation games, the Buddy Levels are easily attainable if players know what activities to do in order to earn Hearts with their Buddy. At its core, players need to do these things repetitively in order to earn Hearts:
- Visiting a New Place: 2 Hearts are earned when a player and their Buddy visit a Gym or a PokeStop they haven’t visited before.
- Taking a Snapshot with the Buddy: 2 Hearts are earned when players take a snapshot of their Buddy.
- Battling Together: 2 Hearts are earned when players use the Buddy to fight in Trainer Battles, Gyms, Raids, or even in Team GO Rocket Events. Thankfully, Leader Training also counts as a Trainer Battle!
- Playing Together: 2 Hearts are earned when players go to AR Mode and tap their Buddy for a few seconds. Called petting, this move is successful once the Pokemon spins and jumps in happiness.
- Giving Buddy a Treat: Up to 4 Hearts can be earned whenever a Buddy is given a treat. If a Buddy starts at 0 Treats a day, it would take around 12 Berries to reach the 4 Hearts bonus.
- Walking Together: Up to 4 Hearts can be earned when players walk together with their Buddies. Take note that replacing Buddies will be resetting the step count to the next Heart!
Consider Some Tricks First!
Before players proceed to do the activities above to increase their Hearts with their Buddies, they might want to see if they can pull off some “tricks” to boost their Heart acquisition rate. That way, players have an edge when it comes to boosting their relationship with their Buddies, resulting in earning that coveted Best Buddy badge faster. Here are some things to consider:
A Berry Instantly Grabs The Good Buddy Award
As players might notice, feeding their Pokemon a Berry will immediately confer the Good Buddy Award to them, especially if this is their Buddy. Feeding them with a Poffin, specifically, will boost the time a Buddy will stay with the Map, giving players more room to play with them.
Get Your Buddy Excited
One of the best things to do when aiming for that Best Buddy title is to get your Buddy in an Excited Mood. When a Buddy has this mood activated, they can gain the following benefits, which can be useful when trying to level up a Pokemon in preparation for a fierce battle:
- Find Candies at half the time and half the distance.
- Double the Hearts earned for every action.
- Trainers can earn bonus Hearts on top of what they earn.
In order to get your Buddy in an Excited Mood, players need to do any of the activities below to earn a total of 32 points:
- Visiting a New Location (1 Point)
- Taking a Snapshot (1 Point)
- Battling in any way (1 Point)
- Playing with the Buddy (1 Point)
- Feeding the Buddy (1 Point)
- Walking at least 2km (3 Points)
- Opening a Souvenir/Present (3 Points)
- Visiting a Location the Buddy found (3 Points)
Unlock That Best Buddy: Go On A Buddy Adventure!
When a player decides to assign a Pokemon to be their Buddy, they can embark on a Buddy Adventure. This is the formal term used when a player attempts to raise the level of their chosen Buddy to the Best Buddy level. Here are each Buddy Level and their corresponding benefits:
Good Buddy
Considered the first Buddy Level, this is the easiest to attain and unlocks the bare minimum requirements to keep a better eye on a player’s Buddy. All Buddies almost always begin at the Good Buddy Level, and players need to do a bit of playing in order to raise this Level high enough to attain the Great Buddy Level.
- Hearts: 1
- Benefits: This will let players see their Buddy follow them around the map. This also unlocks the ability to view the Buddy’s Mood on their Profile Page. Moods range from Tired to Happy to Smile to Excited.
Great Buddy
This is considered a bit of a middle ground when it comes to Buddy Levels, especially since players who play for a few hours a day could easily attain the 70-Heart requirement. However, the benefits that the Great Buddy confers to players while playing can be quite interesting, as the Buddy who reaches this stage can have a more active role in catching Pokemon.
- Hearts: 70
- Benefits: Buddies at this stage can help players catch Pokemon. Moreover, Buddies can find presents, which have items that can help Trainers in their journey.
Ultra Buddy
Considered as perhaps one of the harder Buddy Levels to reach, the Ultra Buddy status confers more benefits to players as their Pokemon will have a more “active” role on the sidelines. Pokemon who reach this stage are quite close to the Best Buddy status, and the benefits from the other Budy Levels carry over to this Level as well.
- Hearts: 150
- Benefits: Buddies now let players know if locations of interest are nearby. Moreover, Buddies can now get Souvenirs that players can track off. These are knick-knacks that definitely spice up overall exploration.
Best Buddy
The most coveted status of a Buddy Pokemon, the Best Buddy Level is the highest stage a Buddy could reach while being with a trainer. If a Pokemon attains this, they not only get a Badge they can show off but also have a more mechanical boost in combat.
- Hearts: 300
- Benefits: Buddies of the Best Buddy status can now wear a “Best Buddy Ribbon,” and they also get a CP Boost when used in combat!
Buddy Up To Power-Up In Matches
One of the most efficient ways to use the Buddy CP Boost is to give particular Pokemon a much-needed power boost in matches. And while almost any Pokemon can benefit from this system once they’ve been raised to their maximum, players may want to take advantage of this perk when their chosen Pokemon are still in their earlier evolution states. This maximizes the power-ups players can give to their Pokemon and raise them properly before they even evolve.
In the context of the meta, here are ideal Pokemon that players might want to Buddy Up with in order to dominate matches:
- Snorlax: At its core, a fully powered-up Snorlax can become a beast of a tank in a PVP match, especially when at the maximum Buddy Level.
- Chansey: When evolved into Blissey, Chansey can grow up to become one of the most potent Defenders in the game.
- Machop: When evolved into Machamp with Counter and Dynamic Punch, a Buddied Up Machop can lead into one of the earliest raid-ready Pokemon.
- Dratini: Gaining access to Dragonite via Buddy Up and evolutions can transform Dratini into one of the most potent Dragon Types in the early part of the endgame.
Buddy Up For Evolutions
Another efficient way to use the Buddy Up system is to boost Pokemon to make them evolution-ready. That way, they can accumulate enough Candy to evolve said Pokemon without having to wait for a separate copy of that evolved Pokemon to appear. This is extremely efficient for players who travel or manage to secure rare Pokemon in the area, which can make evolving them especially tricky if they can’t secure enough Candies via capturing similar types.
Given this particular problem, here are some nifty Pokemon players should immediately Buddy Up with to accumulate a lot of Candy for quick evolutions:
- Togepi: Adorable Togepi can become Togetic thanks to Candies and constant companionship, which is similar to how Misty evolved her Togepi in the anime.
- Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile: Generation 2 starters Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile can evolve into their second and final evolution through the Buddy Up system. With enough patience, players can get these Pokemon to their states as Meganium, Typhlosion, and Feraligatr very quickly instead of waiting for copies of them to appear.
- Mareep: One of the most efficient Electric Types in the game come in the form of Amphoros, which is unfortunate as he’s not a frequent Pokemon to appear in the game. Thankfully, securing a Mareep could be more than enough, as getting Mareep to evolve via Buddy Up can make Amphoros an easy acquisition.
How Much Is The CP Boost?
When a Buddy reaches the Best Buddy status, part of the best benefits attained here is the CP Boost they get when used in combat. However, the calculations for the CP Boost can get quite tricky at first glance but are thankfully straightforward. Here’s how it works:
- CP Boost Equivalent: When a Best Buddy is used in combat, it gets a CP Boost that is the equivalent of two extra Power-Ups, or a single-level up. For instance, if a Best Buddy Pokemon is at Level 50, its CP Boost will put it at a CP equivalent to a Level 51 Pokemon.
- Only Applies To The Buddy: However, it’s important to understand that this CP Boost only applies if the Pokemon in question is assigned as the Buddy. As such, players can’t have a team that they’re Best Buddies with and with all CP Boosts. They need to choose only one Pokemon to receive the said boost.
Pokemon Go is currently available on Mobile.