Levelling up your buddy isn’t the most intuitive practice in Pokemon Go; some veteran fans who recently returned might not even realize what exactly this “newer” system even is. We put together a small guide to help getting consistent levels and develop a routine for your buddy.
Buddy Rank & Perks
Your chosen buddy can get up to a maximum capacity of four hearts. The corresponding levels for each rank are as follows:
Rank
- Good Buddy (1 Heart): takes 1 heart to unlock
- Great Buddy (2 Hearts): 70 hearts to unlock
- Ultra Buddy (3 Hearts): 150 hearts to unlock
- Best Buddy (4 Hearts): 300 hearts to unlock
Perks
- Good Buddy – see your buddy’s mood and they show up on the map
- Great Buddy – get presents from your buddy and catch assistance from a failed throw (by random chance)
- Ultra Buddy – locate Pokestops with item bonuses with your buddy and buddy brings back souvenirs (collectables)
- Best Buddy – get a Best Buddy Ribbon and your buddy will get a CP boost in combat (while set as your buddy)
Levelling Rank
Setting up a daily routine to level up your buddy is key. Here is the list of tasks and the number of times you can complete the task per day.
- Walking with Your Buddy
- Giving a Treat to Your Buddy
- Playing with Your Buddy
- Battling with Your Buddy
- Take a Snapshot with Your Buddy
- Visiting a New Place with Your Buddy
Playing, taking a snapshot with your buddy, and giving a treat are the easiest tasks to complete each day. Walks might need to be planned out in advance, additionally to walking, you can get extra distance by feeding your buddy poffins.
How to Play with Your Buddy
- Using your main menu, head to the Buddy screen
- From there, tap on “play”
- Your Buddy will appear infront of you, swipe your screen to imitate virtual “petting” on your Buddy
- Repeat this a few times and your Buddy will begin to sparkle
- Once you finish playing with your Buddy, you will see a heart pop up on your screen as a result
Note: if you have AR experience disabled, Pokemon will just appear in a grassy area instead of your camera’s environment.
How to Take a Snapshot with Your Buddy
- Using your main menu, head to the Buddy screen
- From there, tap on your Buddy
- This will send you to your camera, and from there tap the camera icon. This will take a snapshot of your buddy
- Only one photo of your Buddy is enough to complete the daily activity
Note: if you have AR experience disabled, Pokemon will just appear in a grassy area instead of your camera’s environment.
Maintaining Buddy Levels
Worried about potentially losing progress when leveling up your buddy when you plan to switch? Fortunately, your progress on buddy rank gets saved, but any progress on tasks (candy/walking) does not. So if you reach “Great Buddy” level with your old Buddy, it will still be there when you swap them back in later.