Pokémon Go

I know very little about the other Pokémon games.

Fucking with the APK

The APK can be downloaded from APKMirror and analyzed with e.g. Apktool.

Important content includes (in base/assets/):

• the plaintext, key-value text/i18n_en-us.json (salt for your language)
• the binary bin/Data/Managed/Metadata/global-metadata.dat

On-device

• Android/data/com.nianticlabs.pokemongo/files/il2cpp/Metadata/global-metadata.dat (salt for your OS)
  • il2cpp indicates Unity stuff fwiw

Essential constants

CP multipliers are defined at increments of 0.5 for all levels 1 through 50 (plus a few more), constant across all species and stats. CPMs range from 0.094 to 0.8403.

Level	CPM	Stardust requirement
1	0.094	200
1.5	0.1351374318	200
2	0.16639787	200
2.5	0.192650919	200
3	0.21573247	400
3.5	0.2365726613	400
4	0.25572005	400
4.5	0.2735303812	400
5	0.29024988	600
5.5	0.3060573775	600
6	0.3210876	600
6.5	0.3354450362	600
7	0.34921268	800
7.5	0.3624577511	800
8	0.3752356	800
8.5	0.387592416	800
9	0.39956728	1000
9.5	0.4111935514	1000
10	0.4225	1000
10.5	0.4329264091	1000
11	0.44310755	1300
11.5	0.4530599591	1300
12	0.4627984	1300
12.5	0.472336093	1300
13	0.48168495	1600
13.5	0.4908558003	1600
14	0.49985844	1600
14.5	0.508701765	1600
15	0.51739395	1900
15.5	0.5259425113	1900
16	0.5343543	1900
16.5	0.5426357375	1900
17	0.5507927	2200
17.5	0.5588305862	2200
18	0.5667545	2200
18.5	0.5745691333	2200
19	0.5822789	2500
19.5	0.5898879072	2500
20	0.5974	2500
20.5	0.6048236651	2500
21	0.6121573	3000
21.5	0.6194041216	3000
22	0.6265671	3000
22.5	0.6336491432	3000
23	0.64065295	3500
23.5	0.6475809666	3500
24	0.65443563	3500
24.5	0.6612192524	3500
25	0.667934	4000
25.5	0.6745818959	4000
26	0.6811649	4000
26.5	0.6876849038	4000
27	0.69414365	4500
27.5	0.70054287	4500
28	0.7068842	4500
28.5	0.7131691091	4500
29	0.7193991	5000
29.5	0.7255756136	5000
30	0.7317	5000
30.5	0.7347410093	5000
31	0.7377695	6000
31.5	0.7407855938	6000
32	0.74378943	6000
32.5	0.7467812109	6000
33	0.74976104	7000
33.5	0.7527290867	7000
34	0.7556855	7000
34.5	0.7586303683	7000
35	0.76156384	8000
35.5	0.7644860647	8000
36	0.76739717	8000
36.5	0.7702972656	8000
37	0.7731865	9000
37.5	0.7760649616	9000
38	0.77893275	9000
38.5	0.7817900548	9000
39	0.784637	10000
39.5	0.7874736075	10000
40	0.7903	10000
40.5	0.792803968	10000
41	0.79530001	11000
41.5	0.797800015	11000
42	0.8003	11000
42.5	0.802799995	11000
43	0.8053	12000
43.5	0.8078	12000
44	0.81029999	12000
44.5	0.812799985	12000
45	0.81529999	13000
45.5	0.81779999	13000
46	0.82029999	13000
46.5	0.82279999	13000
47	0.82529999	14000
47.5	0.82779999	14000
48	0.83029999	14000
48.5	0.83279999	14000
49	0.83529999	15000
49.5	0.83779999	15000
50	0.84029999
50.5	0.84279999
51	0.84529999

Additionally, each Pokémon species has three base stats defined at each level:

• Attack (ATK): 17 (Shuckle) to 414 (Deoxys (Attack Forme))
• Defense (DEF): 32 (Igglybuff) to 396 (Shuckle again)
• Stamina (STA): 1 (Shedinja) to 496 (Blissey)

Effective stats

Each individual Pokémon augments its base species stats with three individual values (IVs) ranging from 0 to 15. Adding the former to the latter and scaling by the appropriate CPM generates an effective attack Eff_A, effective defense Eff_D, and maximum HP MHP for that Pokémon, all positive rationals.

• Eff_x = (Base_x + IV_x) * CPM(Level) = Base_x * CPM(Level) + IV_x * CPM(Level)

Shadow Pokémon have their A divided by ⅚, and their D multiplied by ⅚.

FIXME need hitpoint calculation

Battle mechanics

Each named Attack (both Fast and Charged) has a base power P, a non-negative integer. This P can (and usually is) different depending on whether it's a PvE (raids, Team Rocket, gyms, Max) or PvP battle. PvE Power ranges from 0 to 32, while PvP Power ranges from 0 to 20.

Attack	Power	Energy	Cooldown	DPS	EPS	Power	Energy	Turns	DPT	EPT
Acid	11	10	1	11	10	6	5	2	3	2.5
Air Slash	12	8	1	12	8	9	9	3	3	3
Astonish	7	13	1	7	13	12	10	3	4	3.33
Bite	6	4	0.5	12	8	4	2	1	4	2
Bubble	10	12	1	10	12	8	11	3	2.67	3.67
Bug Bite	5	6	0.5	10	12	3	3	1	3	3
Bullet Punch	10	11	1	10	11	6	7	2	3	3.5
Bullet Seed	7	13	1	7	13	5	13	3	1.67	4.33
Charge Beam	7	14	1	7	14	5	11	3	1.67	3.67
Charm	20	11	1.5	13.33	7.33	15	6	3	5	2
Confusion	19	14	1.5	12.67	9.33	16	12	4	4	3
Counter	13	9	1	13	9	8	6	2	4	3
Cut	5	5	0.5	10	10	3	2	1	3	2
Double Kick	10	13	1	10	13	8	12	3	2.67	4
Dragon Breath	6	4	0.5	12	8	4	3	1	4	3
Dragon Tail	14	8	1	14	8	13	9	3	4.33	3
Ember	10	10	1	10	10	7	6	2	3.5	3
Extrasensory	11	11	1	11	11	8	10	3	2.67	3.33
Fairy Wind	9	13	1	9	13	4	9	2	2	4.5
Feint Attack	11	10	1	11	10	6	6	2	3	3
Fire Fang	13	9	1	13	9	8	6	2	4	3
Fire Spin	13	9	1	13	9	11	10	3	3.67	3.33
Force Palm	10	16	1	10	16	13	10	3	4.33	3.33
Frost Breath	11	9	1	11	9	7	5	2	3.5	2.5
Fury Cutter	4	8	0.5	8	16	2	4	1	2	4
Geomancy	20	14	1.5	13.33	9.33	4	13	3	1.33	4.33
Gust	25	20	2	12.5	10	16	12	4	4	3
Hex	8	13	1	8	13	7	13	3	2.33	4.33
Hidden Power	15	15	1.5	10	10	9	8	3	3	2.67
Ice Fang	12	20	1.5	8	13.33	8	6	2	4	3
Ice Shard	10	10	1	10	10	9	10	3	3	3.33
Incinerate	32	22	2.5	12.8	8.8	20	20	5	4	4
Infestation	9	13	1	9	13	6	12	3	2	4
Iron Tail	14	6	1	14	6	10	7	3	3.33	2.33
Karate Chop	10	13	1	10	13	5	9	2	2.5	4.5
Leafage	6	4	0.5	12	8	6	7	2	3	3.5
Lick	5	6	0.5	10	12	3	3	1	3	3
Lock-On	2	10	0.5	4	20	1	5	1	1	5
Low Kick	5	5	0.5	10	10	4	5	2	2	2.5
Magical Leaf	17	17	1.5	11.33	11.33	10	10	3	3.33	3.33
Metal Claw	6	5	0.5	12	10	5	7	2	2.5	3.5
Metal Sound	4	6	0.5	8	12	3	8	2	1.5	4
Mud Shot	4	6	0.5	8	12	4	8	2	2	4
Mud-Slap	19	13	1.5	12.67	8.67	12	10	3	4	3.33
Peck	10	10	1	10	10	6	5	2	3	2.5
Poison Jab	13	9	1	13	9	7	7	2	3.5	3.5
Poison Sting	4	6	0.5	8	12	4	9	2	2	4.5
Pound	6	5	0.5	12	10	4	4	2	2	2
Powder Snow	6	15	1	6	15	5	8	2	2.5	4
Present	6	23	1.5	4	15.33	3	12	3	1	4
Psycho Cut	4	7	0.5	8	14	3	9	2	1.5	4.5
Psywave	4	7	0.5	8	14	3	4	1	3	4
Quick Attack	10	13	1	10	13	5	8	2	2.5	4
Razor Leaf	13	7	1	13	7	9	4	2	4.5	2
Rock Smash	17	12	1.5	11.33	8	9	7	3	3	2.33
Rock Throw	13	8	1	13	8	8	5	2	4	2.5
Rollout	15	19	1.5	10	12.67	7	13	3	2.33	4.33
Sand Attack	4	7	0.5	8	14	2	4	1	2	4
Scratch	6	4	0.5	12	8	4	2	1	4	2
Shadow Claw	6	4	0.5	12	8	6	8	2	3	4
Smack Down	13	7	1	13	7	11	8	3	3.67	2.67
Snarl	11	13	1	11	13	5	13	3	1.67	4.33
Spark	4	6	0.5	8	12	5	7	2	2.5	3.5
Splash	0	17	1.5	0	11.33	0	12	4	0	3
Steel Wing	14	8	1	14	8	7	6	2	3.5	3
Struggle Bug	15	15	1.5	10	10	9	8	3	3	2.67
Sucker Punch	5	6	0.5	10	12	8	7	2	4	3.5
Tackle	5	5	0.5	10	10	3	3	1	3	3
Take Down	7	8	1	7	8	5	8	3	1.67	2.67
Thunder Fang	10	13	1	10	13	8	6	2	4	3
Thunder Shock	4	7	0.5	8	14	4	9	2	2	4.5
Transform	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	3	0	0
Vine Whip	6	5	0.5	12	10	5	8	2	2.5	4
Volt Switch	13	20	1.5	8.67	13.33	12	16	4	3	4
Water Gun	5	5	0.5	10	10	3	3	1	3	3
Water Shuriken	9	14	1	9	14	6	14	3	2	4.67
Waterfall	13	7	1	13	7	12	8	3	4	2.67
Wing Attack	10	11	1	10	11	5	7	2	2.5	3.5
Yawn	0	13	1.5	0	8.67	0	12	4	0	3
Zen Headbutt	11	9	1	11	9	8	6	3	2.67	2

Calculating an Attack's damage requires the attacker's Eff_A, the defender's Eff_D, two multipliers M and M_M, and the Attack's P. The result is subtracted from the defender's HP. We will see that damage is always a positive integer, and thus HP is always an integer.

Multiplier M is defined as the product of:

• the Attack's type effectiveness relative to the defender (see below)
• the Attack's type effectiveness relative to the attacker
  • 1.2 if the attacker shares type with the Attack, 1 otherwise (Same Type Attack Bonus, STAB)

A subsequent multiplier M_M is different depending on whether the battle is PvE or PvP.

PvE mode

Multiplier M_M is defined as the product of

• 0.5
• 0.25 if the Attack is dodged, 1 otherwise
• 1.2 if the Attack is weather-boosted, 1 otherwise
• A friendship bonus: 1 unless
  • 1.03 if battling with at least one Good Friend, unless
  • 1.05 if battling with at least one Great Friend, unless
  • 1.07 if battling with at least one Ultra Friend, unless
  • 1.1 if battling with at least one Best Friend
• A Mega bonus: 1 unless
  • 1.1 if battling with at least one Mega Pokémon, unless
  • 1.3 if battling with at least one Mega Pokémon of the Attack's type
• A Max bonus at Power Stops: 1 unless
  • 1.1 for level 1 support (1 placed Pokémon), unless
  • 1.15 for level 2 support (2–3 placed Pokémon), unless
  • 1.188 for level 3 support (4–14 placed Pokémon), unless
  • 1.2 for level 4 support (15+ placed Pokémon)

PvP mode

Multiplier M_M is defined as the product of

• 0.65
• Minigame score for Charged Attacks, ranging from 0.25 to 1
  • "Excellent!" is necessary and sufficient for a 1
  • "Great!" maps to [0.75, 1)
  • "Nice!" maps to [0.5, 0.75)
  • otherwise [0.25, 0.5)

Damage calculation

At this point, P is a non-negative integer, while Eff_A, Eff_D, M, and M_M are positive rationals.

Damage = ⌊P * Eff_A / Eff_D * M * M_M⌋ + 1

Some notes:

• A / D yields a positive rational
  • The floor function yields an integer, but A / D is calculated with reasonable precision
• Damage is always a positive integer
• P is typically the dominant term
• Maximum A / D is 414/32 = 12.9375, worst A / D is 17/396 = 0.0429
  • Maximum (Base+IV)_A / (Base+IV)_D is 429/32 = 13.40625, a ~3.6% gain
  • Minimum (Base+IV)_D / (Base+IV)_D is 17/411 = 0.0413625, a ~3.4% loss
  • Now make both sides 15: for A, 429 / 47 = 9.12765, a ~29.5% loss
  • Now make both sides 15: for D,
• All CPMs are less than 1, shrinking the effective values
  • We can factor out the CPM ratio and define a constant 100x100 symmetric matrix
  • Minimum value: 0.094 / 0.8403 ~= 0.11186
  • Maximum value: 0.8403 / 0.094 ~= 8.939

Type effectiveness

Attacker	Normal
Normal
Fire
Water
Grass
Electric
Ice
Fighting
Poison
Ground
Flying
Psychic

XP rewards

Many events in Pokémon Go result in XP. Lucky Eggs double XP rewards while active (only one can be used at a time). Certain events double XP as well (this stacks with a Lucky Egg). Research can award various amounts of XP; a Research Breakthrough always awards 3000 XP.

Things which typically do not reward XP include:

• opening the game or leaving it running (whether moving or stationary)
• accepting or sending a Friend request
• interactions with Team Rocket
• PvP battles
• buddy hearts and buddy level progression
• trading Pokémon
• use of berries in an encounter
• creation of a Route or Pokéstop
• any non-capturing throws in an encounter
• opening gifts (from Friends or Mateo)
• receiving items (from gifts, Pokéstops, route completion, or battles)
• using items
• and transferring Pokémon to the Professor for soul harvesting.

Of course, XP can result when these are part of Research tasks.

Encounters

An "encounter" includes all interactions with a distinct Pokémon, including those following wins against Team Rocket and those following wins in Raids and Max Battles. Leaving the encounter screen and returning to the same Pokémon, even multiple times, is all one encounter. An encounter does not end until the Pokémon is captured or flees.

• If the Pokémon flees, the reward is 25 XP.
• If the Pokémon is captured, the reward is 100 XP, plus zero or more bonuses:
  • A possible bonus for capture with a high-quality throw:
    • 1000 XP for Excellent, or
    • 100 XP for Great, or
    • 20 XP for Nice.
  • 20 XP for capture with a curveball.
  • 50 XP for capture with the first throw of the encounter.
  • 100 XP for 100th collection of each species (all subtypes count as one species) ("Collector")
  • 300 XP for using AR Plus ("Expert Handler")
  • A possible bonus for first capture of the day:
    • 6000 XP for a 7 day streak of at least one capture (the streak resets), or
    • 1500 XP otherwise.
  • 1000 XP for capture with a Master Ball.

Hatching eggs

Hatching an Egg yields XP corresponding to the class of the Egg as expressed in kilometers.

Km	XP
2	500
5	1000
7	1000
10	2000
12	4000

Battles

No XP is awarded for battling Team Rocket, nor PvP games.

Event	XP
Giving a berry to a Pokémon in a gym	50

Friendship

200 XP is awarded whenever one sends a Gift (this is awarded when the Gift is sent, not when it is opened). You can open up to 30 and send up to 200 Gifts per day.

XP is awarded whenever a friendship reaches a new level.

Level	XP
Good Friend	3000
Great Friend	10000
Ultra Friend	50000
Best Friend	100000

Removing a friend does not reset the friendship level until 120 days (of Sodom?) have passed. Adding the friend back during this period will reset the counter.

Routes

Completing a Route always awards XP. The first Route completed on a given day yields 4000 XP. Subsequent Routes award 2000 XP each. Route awards are limited only by time.

A streak of seven days with completed Routes awards 12000 XP, and resets the streak counter.

Strategy

Leveling up

Leveling up (through Level 40) is strictly a matter of accumulating XP. Level 2 requires only one thousand XP; Level 40 requires five million beyond Level 39, for twenty million total. Levels 41 through 50 have additional, formidable Research requirements beyond their already brutal XP demands.