Pokemon Go: Best Buddy CP Boost (2024)

This article is part of a directory: Pokemon GO: Full Game Guide | Tips, Tricks, and Events

Thanks to Pokemon Go, fans of the Pokemon franchise can finally bring their Pokemon experiences with their phones. With this augmented reality game, players can become Trainers and catch Pokemon right on their doorstep or while traveling! Given how Pokemon Go brings a new personal dimension to Pokemon through smartphones, it makes sense for the game to let players choose a Pokemon to accompany them even when exploring.

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Known as the Buddy, a Pokemon assigned to this role is given a lot of benefits, especially when players spend more time with them. This is particularly the case with a boost in CP or Combat Power, a determining number in Pokemon Go battles. If players spend enough time with a Pokemon Buddy, they can become a Best Buddy, reaping more benefits along the way. However, just why is transforming a Pokemon into a Best Buddy so attractive in Pokemon Go? And more importantly, how exactly is this achieved?

Updated on July 17, 2024 by Rhenn Taguiam: With 2024’s Pokemon GO Fest offering special and Legendary Pokemon such as Necrozma up for grabs, players may want to catch their favorite Pokemon and transform them into their in-game Buddy before the AR title releases more Pokemon in their roster. However, while players can easily just designate a Pokemon as their Buddy, there’s a lot to consider for players who want their Buddies to become their Best Buddies and enjoy various buffs. While it’s perfectly possible to play passively while building up Hearts with a favorite Pokemon designated as a Buddy, there are ways for players to speed up the process to become Best Buddy - especially for the CP Boost when the said Pokemon is fighting. Among tips for players to consider would be taking into account their potential Poffin sources, spotting a Zorua in the wild, securing their Daily Battles for bonuses, and developing a large Buddy roster.

Back To Basics: What Is A Buddy?

A Representation Of Pokemon-Trainer Bonds

Before players understand the intricacies of Buddy CP Boosts in Pokemon Go, it helps to remember how the Buddy System works first. At its core, the game lets players assign a Pokemon as their Buddy Pokemon, essentially a “favorite” Pokemon that appears beside player avatars as they conduct adventures in the game world.

Players can change their Buddy Pokemon whenever they want to, and Buddy Pokemon can confer various benefits to players depending on how “strong” their bonds are. Buddy Pokemon can become a Good Buddy until the Best Buddy Rank, with multiple reward options and intricacies along the way. The Best Buddy, in particular, will confer CP Boosts to help Trainers earn the advantage in Pokemon Battles!

How To Add And Change Buddies

Players Can Switch Buddies Up To 20 Times A Day

Before proceeding to focus on boosting Buddy levels throughout the game, it helps to understand just how exactly the Buddy System even begins in the context of the game. Thankfully, choosing a Pokemon as a Buddy isn’t necessarily difficult in the game.

To assign a Buddy, players need to access their Menu via the Trainer Avatar and then select the “Buddy” menu. Once they have chosen a Pokemon as a Buddy, they tap on “Change” and then “Yes” to formally confirm the selection. Pokemon available for Buddying Up are those that aren’t assigned to Gyms. Players need to note that they can’t “remove” their Buddy from their Avatar, but rather only replace them with another Pokemon.

Enter The Heart System

Hearts Are The Centerpiece Of Buddy Growth

In order for a Buddy to progress through Buddy Levels and reach the coveted Best Buddy Rank, they need to earn Hearts. Players can do various activities with their Buddy to earn Hearts in various numbers, with each Buddy Level requiring a certain number of Hearts to make progress.

How Many Hearts Are Needed Per Buddy Level?

As players may notice, the steps needed to progress a Buddy’s level from Good Buddy to Best Buddy become more arduous than the last, requiring more Hearts than usual to proceed. Here are the numbers of Hearts needed per level as a quick reference:

• Good Buddy: 1 Heart
• Great Buddy: 70 Hearts
• Ultra Buddy: 150 Hearts
• Best Buddy: 300 Hearts

How Do Players Get More Hearts?

Similar to other pet simulation games, the Buddy Levels are easily attainable if players know what activities to do in order to earn Hearts with their Buddy. At its core, players need to do these things repetitively in order to earn Hearts:

• Visiting a New Place: 2 Hearts are earned when a player and their Buddy visit a Gym or a PokeStop they haven’t visited before.
• Taking a Snapshot with the Buddy: 2 Hearts are earned when players take a snapshot of their Buddy.
• Battling Together: 2 Hearts are earned when players use the Buddy to fight in Trainer Battles, Gyms, Raids, or even in Team GO Rocket Events. Thankfully, Leader Training also counts as a Trainer Battle!
• Playing Together: 2 Hearts are earned when players go to AR Mode and tap their Buddy for a few seconds. Called petting, this move is successful once the Pokemon spins and jumps in happiness.
• Giving Buddy a Treat: Up to 4 Hearts can be earned whenever a Buddy is given a treat. If a Buddy starts at 0 Treats a day, it would take around 12 Berries to reach the 4 Hearts bonus.
• Walking Together: Up to 4 Hearts can be earned when players walk together with their Buddies. Take note that replacing Buddies will be resetting the step count to the next Heart!

Consider Some Tricks First!

Use Berries And Excitement To Maximize Hearts

Before players proceed to do the activities above to increase their Hearts with their Buddies, they might want to see if they can pull off some “tricks” to boost their Heart acquisition rate. That way, players have an edge when it comes to boosting their relationship with their Buddies, resulting in earning that coveted Best Buddy badge faster. Here are some things to consider:

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A Berry Instantly Grabs The Good Buddy Award

As players might notice, feeding their Pokemon a Berry will immediately confer the Good Buddy Award to them, especially if this is their Buddy. Feeding them with a Poffin, specifically, will boost the time a Buddy will stay with the Map, giving players more room to play with them.

Get Your Buddy Excited

One of the best things to do when aiming for that Best Buddy title is to get your Buddy in an Excited Mood. When a Buddy has this mood activated, they can gain the following benefits, which can be useful when trying to level up a Pokemon in preparation for a fierce battle:

• Find Candies at half the time and half the distance.
• Double the Hearts earned for every action.
• Trainers can earn bonus Hearts on top of what they earn.

In order to get your Buddy in an Excited Mood, players need to do any of the activities below to earn a total of 32 points:

• Visiting a New Location (1 Point)
• Taking a Snapshot (1 Point)
• Battling in any way (1 Point)
• Playing with the Buddy (1 Point)
• Feeding the Buddy (1 Point)
• Walking at least 2km (3 Points)
• Opening a Souvenir/Present (3 Points)
• Visiting a Location the Buddy found (3 Points)

Check Easy Ways To Get Poffins

Aside From 100 PokeCoins, Consider Other Tasks

Aside from Berries, players can also feed Poffins to their assigned Buddies in order to gain boosts while bonding with them. Poffins can only be given to a Buddy when their Hunger Meter is filled, and can only be given again once the current Poffin has expired.

What Happens After Eating The Poffin?

Upon consumption, the Buddy becomes Excited and auto-earns six (6) Hearts from the daily feeding task. Not only does a Poffin make the Buddy last for up to six hours on the map, but they also earn twice the Hearts from other categories.

How Do Players Get Poffins?

Unfortunately for players, Poffins are extremely rare rewards in the game. They are randomly awarded from Special Research and Timed Research, as well as AR Mapping Field Research tasks. Players also need to be careful when doing PokeStop scanning, as Niantic may ban accounts who regularly submit bad scans.

What’s The Fastest Way To Get Poffins?

The guaranteed way to get a Poffin is to buy it from the Store for 100 PokeCoins. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that players have to spend real world currency to purchase a Poffin as the game does offer another opportunity to secure PokeCoins: defending a Gym.

Players get 1 PokeCoin for every 10 Minutes their Pokemon spends defending the Gym. They can’t earn more than 50 PokeCoins per day. Should players have a Gym conveniently near their location, it should be possible to earn the full 50 PokeCoins everyday. If players live in locations where there are contested Gyms, it’s possible to simply scatter their defenders across Gyms to ensure they at least slowly work their way to the cumulative 50 PokeCoins limit.

Watch For The Guaranteed Zorua In The Wild

Simply Look For A Buddy’s Doppelganger

Introduced in Generation 5 and hailing from the Unova Region, Zorua is a Dark-Type Pokemon recognizable for their small fox-like body and rather edgy purple-grey-red coloration. The series established Zorua as a timid Pokemon, often resorting to illusion to protect itself and frighten enemies. As such, its presence in Pokemon GO gameplay is unique in that it doesn’t ordinarily appear in the wild.

Instead, players need to spot their Buddy Pokemon spawning in the wild. If they see a Pokemon identical to their Buddy appear nearby that isn’t in the radar, then chances are it’s a Zorua. The odds are increased further once players take a Legendary, Shadow, or Shiny Pokemon as their Buddy, as they don’t necessarily appear in the wild.

Secure Daily Battles Quickly

Quitting Works Against Trainers

One of the major Buddy Activities players have to do to earn Hearts with their Pokemon GO Buddy would be the Battle Together objective. This simply means that players need to use their Buddy Pokemon in a Battle Party, wherein fighting Team GO Rocket, Trainer Battles, Gyms, and Raid Battles count towards the objective.

However, players looking for quick Hearts should consider Training Battle. This allows them to fight their chosen Team Leader, effectively training their skills. The thing is, this gameplay mode works well with another aspect of the Battle Together objective: the Buddy Pokemon only needs to be in the party, it doesn’t need to actively participate in battle, and most importantly, it doesn’t matter if the player loses. As such, players can simply challenge their Team Leader in a battle and quit as soon as combat begins.

Swap Buddies For A Larger Buddy List

Take Advantage Of The Swap Count

Players who are trying to boost a Pokemon towards the Best Buddy position might see in their Pokemon GO gameplay that they can swap their Buddy up to 20 times per day. Considering the number of tasks players have to do with their Buddy, the 20 swaps can seem excessive. However, players should capitalize on this mechanic even if they’re just raising Buddies on a casual level. While earning 300 Hearts to transform a Buddy into a Best Buddy seems daunting, players can do this to multiple Pokemon by taking advantage of the swap limit:

• Step 1: Give Buddy 1 three Berries. In the same instance, play with them and take a picture. This can provide three (3) Hearts and should only take a minute or two.
• Step 2 (Optional): Use the Buddy in a Battle for one (1) Heart. If possible, take a walk with them. One (1) additional Heart is earned for every 3km walked.
• Step 3: Swap Buddy 1 with Buddy 2 and repeat Step 1. Repeat with up to six (6) other Buddies, for a total of seven (7) Buddies to interact with.
• Step 4: Do Step 1 and Step 3 for two (2) cycles. This should give them two (2) extra Hearts for giving them Berries.

Doing this should earn six (6) Hearts per Buddy, with the possibility of an additional three (3) Hearts for every 9-kilometer walk taken with them. When done religiously, a Buddy can be boosted into Best Buddy status within 50 days except in double-Heart days.

Unlock That Best Buddy: Go On A Buddy Adventure!

The Journey To Best Buddy Begins With The Buddy Adventure

When a player decides to assign a Pokemon to be their Buddy, they can embark on a Buddy Adventure. This is the formal term used when a player attempts to raise the level of their chosen Buddy to the Best Buddy level. Here are each Buddy Level and their corresponding benefits:

What Is A Good Buddy?

The First Stages Of A Buddy's Journey

Considered the first Buddy Level, this is the easiest to attain and unlocks the bare minimum requirements to keep a better eye on a player’s Buddy. All Buddies almost always begin at the Good Buddy Level, and players need to do a bit of playing in order to raise this Level high enough to attain the Great Buddy Level.

• Hearts: 1
• Benefits: This will let players see their Buddy follow them around the map. This also unlocks the ability to view the Buddy’s Mood on their Profile Page. Moods range from Tired to Happy to Smile to Excited.

What Is A Great Buddy?

Building Up Hearts Through Play

This is considered a bit of a middle ground when it comes to Buddy Levels, especially since players who play for a few hours a day could easily attain the 70-Heart requirement. However, the benefits that the Great Buddy confers to players while playing can be quite interesting, as the Buddy who reaches this stage can have a more active role in catching Pokemon.

• Hearts: 70
• Benefits: Buddies at this stage can help players catch Pokemon. Moreover, Buddies can find presents, which have items that can help Trainers in their journey.

What Is An Ultra Buddy?

More Proactive Role Even When Passive

Considered as perhaps one of the harder Buddy Levels to reach, the Ultra Buddy status confers more benefits to players as their Pokemon will have a more “active” role on the sidelines. Pokemon who reach this stage are quite close to the Best Buddy status, and the benefits from the other Buddy Levels carry over to this Level as well.

• Hearts: 150
• Benefits: Buddies now let players know if locations of interest are nearby. Moreover, Buddies can now get Souvenirs that players can track off. These are knick-knacks that definitely spice up overall exploration.

What Is The Best Buddy?

The Highest Buddy Level

The most coveted status of a Buddy Pokemon, the Best Buddy Level is the highest stage a Buddy could reach while being with a trainer. If a Pokemon attains this, they not only get a Badge they can show off but also have a more mechanical boost in combat.

• Hearts: 300
• Benefits: Buddies of the Best Buddy status can now wear a “Best Buddy Ribbon,” and they also get a CP Boost when used in combat!

Buddy Up To Power-Up In Matches

Boost Available Power-Ups Pre-Evolution

One of the most efficient ways to use the Buddy CP Boost is to give particular Pokemon a much-needed power boost in matches. And while almost any Pokemon can benefit from this system once they’ve been raised to their maximum, players may want to take advantage of this perk when their chosen Pokemon are still in their earlier evolution states. This maximizes the power-ups players can give to their Pokemon and raise them properly before they even evolve.

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In the context of the meta, here are ideal Pokemon that players might want to Buddy Up with in order to dominate matches:

• Snorlax: At its core, a fully powered-up Snorlax can become a beast of a tank in a PVP match, especially when at the maximum Buddy Level.
• Chansey: When evolved into Blissey, Chansey can grow up to become one of the most potent Defenders in the game.
• Machop: When evolved into Machamp with Counter and Dynamic Punch, a Buddied Up Machop can lead into one of the earliest raid-ready Pokemon.
• Dratini: Gaining access to Dragonite via Buddy Up and evolutions can transform Dratini into one of the most potent Dragon Types in the early part of the endgame.

Buddy Up For Evolutions

Certain Pokemon Need To Buddy-Up For Evolutions

Another efficient way to use the Buddy Up system is to boost Pokemon to make them evolution-ready. That way, they can accumulate enough Candy to evolve said Pokemon without having to wait for a separate copy of that evolved Pokemon to appear. This is extremely efficient for players who travel or manage to secure rare Pokemon in the area, which can make evolving them especially tricky if they can’t secure enough Candies via capturing similar types.

Given this particular problem, here are some nifty Pokemon players should immediately Buddy Up with to accumulate a lot of Candy for quick evolutions:

• Togepi: Adorable Togepi can become Togetic thanks to Candies and constant companionship, which is similar to how Misty evolved her Togepi in the anime.
• Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile: Generation Two starters Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile can evolve into their second and final evolution through the Buddy Up system. With enough patience, players can get these Pokemon to their states as Meganium, Typhlosion, and Feraligatr very quickly instead of waiting for copies of them to appear.
• Mareep: One of the most efficient Electric Types in the game come in the form of Amphoros, which is unfortunate as he’s not a frequent Pokemon to appear in the game. Thankfully, securing a Mareep could be more than enough, as getting Mareep to evolve via Buddy Up can make Amphoros an easy acquisition.

How Much Is The CP Boost?

Take Note Of Power Ups

When a Buddy reaches the Best Buddy status, part of the best benefits attained here is the CP Boost they get when used in combat. However, the calculations for the CP Boost can get quite tricky at first glance but are thankfully straightforward. Here’s how it works:

• CP Boost Equivalent: When a Best Buddy is used in combat, it gets a CP Boost that is the equivalent of two extra Power-Ups, or a single-level up. For instance, if a Best Buddy Pokemon is at Level 50, its CP Boost will put it at a CP equivalent to a Level 51 Pokemon.
• Only Applies To The Buddy: However, it’s important to understand that this CP Boost only applies if the Pokemon in question is assigned as the Buddy. As such, players can’t have a team that they’re Best Buddies with and with all CP Boosts. They need to choose only one Pokemon to receive the said boost.

Pokémon GO

Augmented Reality

Platform(s)

iOS , Android

Released

July 6, 2016

Developer(s)

Niantic , The Pokemon Company