Explorers! Are you unsure exactly how some of the newer features of the game work? If so, you are not alone! With sometimes cryptic announcements/explanations given by Ludia, players can be forgiven for misunderstanding how a feature works.

We’re here to help!

In a couple of upcoming articles we will take a close look at some of the newer features of the game, explain the underlying mechanics, and enable you to make the most of them!

Hybrid Pursuit

First teased on Twitter and later formally announced by the forum post below, Hybrid Pursuit was introduced about a month after the release of 1.5.

In order to increase the accessibility of newly introduced dinosaurs and hybrids, (roughly) each week a different component of a new hybrid has been added as an anytime global spawn. What many players aren’t sure about is how exactly these spawns behave. This makes it hard to farm them effectively, and know what scent (if any!) is worth using.

Hybrid Pursuit Spawn Mechanics

Spawns are drawn from various possible ‘pools’ of dinos, as we detail in our article on spawn mechanics. Each pool has a weighting, which determines the percentage chance of each pool being selected. Each dino in that pool then has an equal chance of appearing.

Each week a different featured pool is added to the existing spawn and scent tables. This does impact the percentage chance of any particular pool being chosen / dinosaur spawning.

Thanks to Pocemon’s datamining efforts, we know the featured pools that can be added (along with the weighting of each) are as follows:

Wild Spawn / Common Scent Rare Scent Epic Scent Featured Common 35196 35196 35196 Featured Rare 4200 21000 12600 Featured Epic 400 400 8000 Featured Rare Hybrid 160 160 160 Featured Epic Hybrid 40 40 40 Featured Legendary 4 4 4

This means the overall spawn distribution for wild/scented spawns shifts based on what rarity is featured in a given week. Therefore, what we can expect to experience is as follows:

N.B. AS HYBRIDS/LEGENDARIES HAVE NOT YET BEEN FEATURED IN HYBRID PURSUIT, AND AS THEIR IMPACT ON THE SPAWN TABLES IS SO NEGLIBLE, THEY HAVE BEEN OMITTED

Common:

Rare:

Epic:

As you can see (and have no doubt experienced!), Featured commons have a massive impact on the spawn tables. They account for more than 1 in every 6 wild spawns you see. Featured rares and epics are a lot less common, but still appear at a reasonable rate of approximately 1 in every 40/400 spawns respectively.

Scents

As common scents don’t change the spawn table, but simply generate more spawns, they are useful for pursuing any desirable Featured dino. While they will only help you effectively farm Featured commons, the more spawns you see the more likely you are to see a rare or epic.

It is worth noting that when a common is Featured, the chance of rare/epic spawns when running a rare/epic scent is reduced. Without the Featured common, the average number of rares/epics you could expect a scent to generate (assuming the maximum 19 spawns) would be 7.08 rare spawns in a rare scent, and 2.73 epic spawns in an epic scent. With the addition of a Featured common, this falls to 6.13 and 2.36. This is not a drastic difference, but does mean overall we are losing almost 1 rare spawn every scent, and 1 epic spawn every 3 epic scents.

It isn’t all bad news though, it just means you may want to save your scents. A Featured rare/epic means a significant overall increase in rare/epic spawns generated by rare/epic scents. When a rare is featured, running a rare scent will spawn on average 8.09 rares, an increase of 1 rare per scent. And when an epic is featured, an epic scent will average 3.23 epic spawns, meaning an extra epic spawn every 2 scents.

Parting Words

This week, it’s the Epic Sinoceratops as the Hybrid Pursuit Featured dinosaur! Despite the numerous attempts we were treated to over the holiday period, more Sinoceratops is always appreciated as a key component in two great legendaries, both with excellent unique super-hybrids.

If you want to maximise your chances at Sinoceratops, running an epic scent in L1 at Night is your best bet, giving approximately 1.6 Sino per scent. Assuming you want more Sinoceratops, this week is a great time to run epic scents anywhere, as there will be more desirable epics in the pool and more epic spawns per scent!

Let us know what you think of this feature by commenting below, or by joining us on our Discord. Along with the latest news and discussion, our friendly and helpful community are always available for advice!