Combat Power.

The unit in which we measure the “power” of a Pokemon in Pokemon GO!

The question on most trainer’s minds…

“How do you increase a Pokemon’s CP?”

Catching/Hatching Pokemon

For starters, you must acquire Pokemon.

Whether you hatch an egg or catch a wild Pokemon, you earn EXP, Stardust and Candy relative to the Pokemon.

You can also earn Candy by transferring Pokemon to Professor Willow.

Earning loads of EXP, Stardust and Candy are all beneficial to reaching higher levels of CP.

EXP

The more EXP you earn, the more levels you will reach, the higher a wild Pokemon’s CP will be – simple.

Stardust

Stardust is used in combination with Candy to Power Up Pokemon. The amount you earn can be used for all Pokemon, unlike Candy.

Candy

Candy, unlike Stardust, can only be used with the corresponding species of Pokemon.

Example – NOTICE “PIDGEY CANDY”

Catching a Pidgey grants you “Pidgey Candy”.

Pidgey Candy can only be used for Pidgey and it’s evolved forms, Pidgeotto and Pidgeot.

A small amount of Candy can be used in combination with Stardust to Power Up Pokemon.

A large amount of Candy can be used to Evolve Pokemon. Depending on how many

stages of evolution your Pokemon can go through, the amount can vary.

Increasing CP Efficiently

Now that you know how to increase your Pokemon’s CP…

“Should I Power Up or Evolve my Pokemon?”

If you want to save resources, in my opinion, it’s better to Evolve your Pokemon

before choosing to Power Up.

Example – NOTICE THE CP DOT/CURSOR ON THE CP BAR ABOVE BOTH POKEMON

Evolving will dramatically increase your CP, also giving your the same amount of room (see CP Dot/Cursor Position) to increase your CP through Power Up.



If you aren’t bothered by the CP limit and/or comfortable with your current Pokemon’s moveset typing, you might want to hold off from choosing to Evolve.

There’s a good chance you will lose your current moveset after you Evolve.

Example – MOVESET COMPARISON

It may be more CP efficient to Evolve the higher CP Pidgey, but you might prefer

to Power Up a Pidgey with the ability to use Dragon-Type Move, “Twister”.

Measuring CP Potential

As you continue your journey as a Pokemon trainer, naturally, you will find the more rare the Pokemon, the higher the CP potential, and vice versa.

This means Pokemon such as Pidgey or Zubat will have both a lower CP average and limit vs a Pokemon of the more rare kind.

Example – COMMON POKEMON CP VS RARE POKEMON CP

Again, looking at the CP cursor, Vulpix, a Pokemon I’ve found more common in comparison to Ponyta, seems to have lower CP potential.

The only drawback to more rare Pokemon, is finding enough of the rare species to earn the corresponding Candy in order to reach the CP limit!

Also take note of a Pokemon’s [in]ability to Evolve, like Pinsir for example, when measuring CP potential!

TLDR;

High Level Trainer = High CP Wild Pokemon

It’s more CP efficient to Evolve before Power Up

Common Pokemon = Low CP Potential

Rare Pokemon = High CP Potential

…and that’s my understanding of CP since playing Pokemon GO!

So, take this information with a “grain of salt”, and further solidify your own knowledge

of CP by playing more!

Maybe leave of comment below, sharing your own take on Pokemon GO! 😉

See you trainers out there!

– Dustin