Everything is Better with Friends!

Everything is better with friends, including playing Pokémon Go. Having friends in-game is beneficial for a few different reasons. Having those friends play the game with you in real life is also very helpful! I’m going to get into why having friends is valuable and will absolutely change your gameplay. 

First off, friends can send you Gifts. These Gifts hold items that can be opened at any time by the trainer, making them a great tool for when you run low on Pokéballs or other items, such as Revives or Potions. A trainer can hold 20 gifts at a time in their Item Bag to send to other trainers. The number of gifts a trainer can receive is only limited by the number of friends a trainer has. But, if you are holding onto an unopened Gift from a friend, that friend cannot send you another one until you open it. So, it’s best to periodically open your gifts so that you can get new ones. A trainer can receive one gift from each friend per day, and vice versa when it comes to sending. 

When trainers send each other Gifts, their friendship level will increase. Trainers can also increase friendship by participating in raids together, battling each other, taking over a gym together, and trading. But, keep in mind that you can only raise your friendship level with that trainer once per day. There are four levels, and reaching a new level will grant both trainers a large amount of XP. By increasing the levels of friendship between you and another trainer, you will also receive benefits such as decreased trade costs. To trade, both trainers must be near each other and they will both pay Stardust to complete the trade. 

With that being said, once a set of trainers reaches the final stage of their friendship level, Best Friends, they have the chance to become Lucky Friends. It is said that the chance of becoming Lucky Friends is around 2% each time you raise your friendship level. If you get the chance to be Lucky Friends with another trainer, you should both strategize a trade since afterward, the traded Pokémon themselves will become Lucky! A Lucky Pokémon will have a guaranteed better stat floor compared to trading normally, which rerolls all of the stats at random. Plus, Lucky Pokémon also requires less Stardust to level up and will also receive a boost in its Combat Power.