Pokemon Go 1000 CP Guide

Pokemon Go 1000 CP Guide by PHETZ

So I’ve been playing Go since it dropped in Australia and I just reached over 1000CP on my Jolteon at level 16.

To celebrate, here’s a quick guide to (what I believe) is the most efficient way to reach this point. Some of this may have been mentioned in other Q&A threads and guides, but regardless…

General Gameplay

• Catch every Pokemon you run into. This seems like a no-brainer, but after talking to some people at work today I found that ignoring common spawns seems to be fairly prevalent. Even if you’re not interested in the candy for that specific type, the experience and stardust are always worthwhile.
• Don’t focus entirely on trying to find rare spawns. This ties into the above situation. It’s cool to get a Snorlax or Charizard, don’t get me wrong. But playing with the specific goal of finding one of these Pokemon will lead to extreme depression.
• Keep an eye on the nearby bar and learn to efficiently track Pokemon. See this fantastic guide by TheColorlessPill
  
• Visit any and all PokeStops that you can. Not only do they keep you stocked on PokeBalls, potions, eggs and other sick gear, they give a moderate EXP bump every time.
• Once you’ve reached level 5, choose your team and scope out the gyms in your area. If it’s vacant, throw a Pokemon in there. Make sure it’s one that you won’t miss, because you’ll need your strongest for taking over new gyms!
• When you do find a gym occupied by an opposing team, consider weaknesses and strengths. It’s probably not a good idea to take on a Vaporeon with your Magmar.
• If you find a gym occupied by your current team, spend a moment to train there and boost the prestige level of that gym. Once the prestige level reaches certain checkpoints, it’ll allow extra Pokemon to be stationed there. Throw yours in if there’s room! The more PokeMon at a gym, the harder it will be for other teams to take over.
• The bars below your PokeMon’s health are used to power up your secondary attack (triggered by holding down on your PokeMon rather than just tapping). If only one large bar is present, it must be filled entirely before the second attack can be used. If two or more bars are present, only one needs to be full, however more full bars appear to equal more damage.
• Expand your inventory! Trust me, you’ll need it. I currently have 500 slots and still frequently reach capacity. Extra inventory space can be bought from the store. You can spend money to do this, but there is another way! Every 21 hours, you can head to the store page and tap the shield in the top right corner. Doing this will award you 10 coins and 500 dust for each gym you currently occupy (up to 10 gyms, that’s 100 gold and 5000 dust every 21 hours!). I recommend doing this at whatever point in each day that you control the most gyms, typically after you’ve gone on a bit of a spree.
• Consider the best playstyle for your area and create a bit of a game plan. Pick a walk (with or without driving involved) that you enjoy. Figure out the best path to take, allowing you to visit the most PokeStops and gyms. These should be like markers. However, don’t be afraid to stray from your path if the nearby bar indicates a payoff if you deviate.

Powerup & Evolve

So you’ve got a sweet stack of 20 Weedles and wanna step your game up? Let’s do it!

First, pick the Weedle (or whatever PokeMon, I’m just using this as an example) with the highest CP. This will be the one you level up. Next, trade off all the other Weedles you have. Each trade off (like releasing a PokeMon) will award one candy of that type. Power up your main Weedle until you have the amount of candy required for evolution remaining. You’ll see the “arc” shape at the top of that PokeMon’s profile fill up as you do so. Once it’s at the desired CP, hit the evolve button and enjoy!

Evolving PokeMon will grant you experience! Use this to your advantage. If you have a ton of Dodrio sitting around, transfer a bunch and then evolve the ones remaining for a nice boost.

Powerup & Evolution Mechanics

It seems that each evolution has a different “maximum” CP, based on that PokeMon, its evolutionary stage and your trainer level. When you evolve, this ceiling rises, but the bar stays in the same place.

For example, let’s say your Weedle’s current maximum CP is 100 and its CP is at 50 right now. This means the arc bar is 50% full. You now evolve it to Kakuna, which has a maximum of 1000. Because the bar was half full before, it now jumps up to 500CP (50% of 1000).

There may be other nuances to this, but that’s my impression of the system so far. I currently have many PokeMon between 500-1000CP, and this theory has applied to all of them. If I’m wrong or you can add clarity, please let me know!

It does not appear to make a difference whether or not you power up before or after evolving. The further through the CP arc you get, the more expensive these upgrades become, however they do not seem to focus on the specific number. If you have experience and evidence otherwise, please let me know!

I have not found any tangible effects caused by differences in height/weight of PokeMon.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading, this ended up way longer than I expected. If you have any questions, criticisms or additions, please let me know and we can all figure this game out together!