How to Catch a Pokemon

Hey Pokemon Dungeon! Patrick Here.  A new Generation, and promises of the whole Pokemon dimension changing from the handheld, the card game through to the anime. I’ve always wondered about the game code behind my inability to catch Pokemon, or the strange times when my Great Ball snags me that Legendary. I’m not going teach you how to catch Pokemon (old man already did that), but I will show you the way the game works it out and hopefully you can have a less frustrating time catching.

Hit the Jump to learn more and increase your catch rate.

Ok, so your walking along and Oh My God, it’s that Entei that keeps running away. You throw an Ultra Ball right? Turns out that might not always be the best choice. And let me explain why, but first we need to know some basics. There are 2 formulas that determine a successful catch,
the first is

CatchValue=(((3 * Max HP – 2 * HP) * (Catch Rate * Ball Modifier) / (3 * Max HP)) * Status Modifier

Where if CatchValue is greater than 255, your successful. If not we use the second formula.
Take that CatchValue that is less than 255 and put it into this

Catch = (2^20 – 2^4) / √(√((2^24 – 2^16) / CatchValue))

A random number is generated, and is checked to see if it’s lower than Catch. This happens three times, and if it does then you have also caught the Pokemon.
Now let me explain some of this. I don’t want you to think this is too complicated.

The first formula is easiest to work with, so we divide it up. (3 * Max HP – 2 * HP) is one part.
Max HP is the HP the Pokemon has at full health, and HP is the current HP of the Pokemon. We want this number to be as big as possible.

Next we have our catch rate and ball modifier. These two are numbers, CatchRate being a number to see how easy it is to catch a Pokemon. The bigger the number the easier it is to catch. So Abra would have a catch rate of 200, and most Legendary Pokemon have a catch rate of 3.
And the Ball Modifier? Well a PokeBall has a value of 1, GreatBall a value of 1.5, UltraBall is 2.

Each Ball has their own unique modifier. Get these two numbers than divide it all by three times the Max HP, multiplied by a status modifier.

Now this is where it gets interesting. A status that you inflict on the other Pokemon can drastically change the chances of catching. The value of StatusModifier is 2 for sleep and frozen, then it is 1.5 for poison, burn, paralysis and it is 1 for no status inflicted.

Now I won’t walk you through all the math, but a Legendary Pokemon has a low Catch Rate, and lowering it’s health to 1 HP is almost not worth doing. It would increase your chances by ~5%. And by default, if the Pokemon’s Health is over half full, a Great Ball is sometimes the better option. So just by using the right ball and always putting the Pokemon to sleep you can save plenty of time wasted lowering health, and more time chuckin’ balls at the Pokemon. Of course there is the other end of this, if a Pokemon is pretty common (giving it a high catch rate number) and lots of health, then lowering it’s health is by far the best option. And the last pieces from 20HP to 10HP make about 3% chance higher.

I will leave you with that information and I hope you are able to use it to help you catch more Pokemon.
Hopefully I have helped answer some problems you have been having when getting frustrated.

Have you always known that Pokemon was this complicated? Or have you ever had just rotten luck in catching? Leave your comments below

Categorized under: Pokeditorials, Pokemon Trivia
Tagged: Catching, pokemon, pokemon dungeon

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