Pokemon Go is a special alternate reality (AR) game that is beloved all over the world, even after many years. In it, you can do all your favorite Pokemon things: trading, battling other trainers, defeating Team Rocket, and, of course, catching Pokemon; all at the palm of your hand.
One phenomenon is unique to Pokemon Go, though: Lucky Pokemon, a special variety of Pokemon that are typically very difficult to acquire! This guide will help you understand what these special Pokemon are and how you can get them to take your team to the next level.
Updated on April 3, 2025, by Christian Pellegrino: Since Lucky Pokemon and Lucky Trades have been introduced in Pokemon Go, there have been a few noteworthy changes and updates to this feature. We have updated our complete guide below to reflect the most up to date information on everything there is to know about Lucky Pokemon.
Why Lucky Pokemon Are So Good
Lucky Pokemon are marked by a shimmer effect on their summary and a little note under their name.
They’re beloved by trainers for two reasons: one, they’re guaranteed to have excellent stats, and two, it costs half as much stardust to power them up. As you can imagine, that makes it drastically easier to boost a Pokemon’s CP, especially for Legendary and Mythical Pokemon.
How To Get Lucky Pokemon
Lucky Pokemon are obtained by trading Pokemon with friends. Each time you make a trade, there’s a small chance the Pokemon you receive will be Lucky. Lucky Trades look exactly like a regular trade and cost the same amount of stardust; you’ll only know it’s happened when you see the summary for the Pokemon you received.
When a Lucky Trade occurs, both players involved get Lucky Pokemon.
Your Odds Of Getting A Lucky Pokemon
You’re more likely to earn a Lucky Pokemon if you, or the Trainer you are trading with, is trading a Pokemon that was caught a long time ago. Niantic hasn’t confirmed the odds, but these are what the players have observed over the years:
|
Time You Caught The Pokemon |
Odds Of Getting A Lucky Trade |
|---|---|
|
Less Than 1 Year Ago |
5 Percent |
|
Between 1 And 2 Years Ago |
10 Percent |
|
Between 2 and 3 Years Ago |
15 Percent |
|
Over 3 Years Ago |
20 Percent |
How To Get A Guaranteed Lucky Pokemon
There are two ways that you can get a guaranteed Lucky Pokemon.
The first way is via a phenomenon called Lucky Friends. When you’re Lucky Friends with another trainer, the next trade you make with them is guaranteed to give you a Lucky Pokemon.
To become Lucky Friends, you have to reach the Best Friends level, first. There’s a chance you’ll become Lucky Friends with them upon reaching the Best Friends level. If this does not happen, there’s a chance you’ll become Lucky Friends each time that you interact with your Best Friend in a way that would normally increase your Friendship level (i.e. doing raids, opening gifts, etc.) once per day.
It’s a very low chance, but it happens just often enough that you should get one or two. You can even become Lucky Friends more than once with the same player.
The second method is by trading any Pokemon that was caught in 2019 or earlier, typically guaranteeing that a Lucky Trade will occur. That being said, there are a few limitations when it comes to this method.
There is a maximum number of guaranteed Lucky Trades that each player can make: 35. For this reason, the player who is trading the guaranteed Lucky Pokemon needs to have been involved in less than 35 guaranteed Lucky Trades, whether that be as the sender or the receiver.
You may have accidentally completed a guaranteed Lucky Trade unknowingly in the past.
Make sure to keep this in mind if you are approaching the maximum number of guaranteed Lucky Trades you can make.
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The Lucky Trinket
The Lucky Trinket is an item that was recently added to Pokemon Go. When this item is used, it will automatically upgrade you and a chosen friend’s friendship level to Lucky, guaranteeing that the next trade you make is Lucky.
Unfortunately, not all players currently have access to obtaining the Lucky Trinket. As of right now, the only way that you can obtain a Lucky Trinket is through the April Go Pass, a newly added feature that they are currently testing out.
This new in-game battle pass is only being tested in select regions, meaning that only specific players will have access to it. Those that do have access to the April Go Pass will have the opportunity to acquire a Lucky Trinket through its rewards.
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