Buddy Pokmon - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokmon encyclopedia

August 19, 2024

Buddy redirects here. For the third episode of Pokémon: Twilight Wings, see TW03. Buddy redirects here. For the Chatot owned by an Officer Jenny, see Officer Jenny → Buddy.

A Buddy Pokémon

A Buddy Pokémon (Japanese: 相棒ポケモン Partner Pokémon) is a walking Pokémon in Pokémon GO. They allow the player to earn Candy for the Buddy Pokémon's family by walking with them. They walk alongside the player, similar to partner Pokémon in Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!. Buddy Pokémon were added to Pokémon GO in version 0.37.0 (labeled 1.7.0 on the iOS App Store), which was released on September 13, 2016.

Mechanics

The player earns Candy after walking a certain distance while the same Pokémon is equipped as their Buddy Pokémon. The distance required (1 km, 3 km, 5 km, or 20 km) depends on the Pokémon's evolutionary family. The player can only have one Buddy Pokémon at a time, and can only swap their Buddy Pokémon up to 20 times per day. Prior to the launch of Buddy Adventure, changing or evolving the Buddy Pokémon resets the distance until the next Candy is obtained. Additionally, a Buddy Pokémon cannot be transferred, traded, or placed in a Gym. If the player is level 31 or above, there is a chance that the Buddy Pokémon can drop a Candy XL in addition to the candy; Candy XL drop odds depend on the Buddy Pokémon's level, with higher levels increasing the odds. If Gimmighoul or Gholdengo is the buddy, it can sometimes drop a Gimmighoul Coin.

Starting in version 0.49.1 (labelled 1.19.1 on the iOS App Store) of Pokémon GO, which was released on December 8, 2016, the total Candy collected by a particular Pokémon as a Buddy Pokémon is displayed on the Buddy information screen, and the total distance walked with a Pokémon as a Buddy Pokémon is listed on that Pokémon's information screen.

Originally, the distance corresponded to half of the Pokémon's family's Egg distance (rounded to the nearest whole number), but since the introduction of Buddy Pokémon, Egg distances have changed often, whereas buddy distance has not changed. Aside from baby Pokémon and first partner Pokémon, all Pokémon with the same buddy distance require the same amount of Stardust and Candy to learn a second Charged Attack. The cost to purify a Shadow Pokémon also corresponds to its buddy distance.

If the player has previously Mega Evolved their Buddy Pokémon, or their Buddy Pokémon is part of the evolutionary family of a Pokémon that the player has previously Mega Evolved, that Buddy Pokémon will also reward Mega Energy when its buddy distance has been met. Regardless of species, 5 Mega Energy are rewarded for every 1 km walked. Therefore, a buddy distance of 1 km rewards 5 Mega Energy when the distance is met, 3 km rewards 15 Mega Energy, 5 km rewards 25 Mega Energy, and 20 km rewards 100 Mega Energy. This mechanic works identically with Pokémon that have undergone Primal Reversion.

For a list of Pokémon by their Buddy distance and other properties, see List of Pokémon by Buddy Pokémon properties

Evolution

Certain Pokémon can evolve if it has walked with the player for a certain distance as their Buddy Pokémon.

This evolution mechanic does not override the ability of Eevee's nickname or a nearby Mossy or Glacial Lure Module to cause it to evolve into a particular Eeveelution.

Position

Each species of Pokémon has a defined Buddy position. Medium Pokémon stand beside to the player, while large Pokémon stand behind the player. Flying Pokémon will fly or float next to the player.

Pokémon with a position of "Shoulder" or "Baby" sit on the player's shoulder or ride in their arms, respectively. Pikachu initially stands beside the player, but moves to their arms if it collects a total of 10 Pikachu Candy.

Buddy Adventure

Buddy Profile

On December 17, 2019, Buddy Adventure was launched to further expand features for Buddy Pokémon.

Activities

There are several activities players may partake in with their Buddy Pokémon. Interacting with a buddy may increase its Affection, which increases its Buddy Level, and reward Emotion Points (EP), which improves its Mood.

Each activity has a maximum daily limit of Affection hearts that can be earned, which is reset every day at midnight, local time. Accumulating enough Affection hearts will increase the Buddy Level, unlocking various Perks specific to that buddy. Without an Excited Mood or Bonuses, a buddy can earn up to 12 Affection hearts per day.

Every activity also has an associated amount of EP and a cooldown. After earning EP from an activity, the player must wait out a cooldown period before earning more EP from that same activity. If a buddy accumulates enough EP, it will temporarily reach an Excited Mood, during which the maximum daily Affection is doubled for all activity categories except "Bonus", and the buddy will earn double Affection per action; this effectively increases the total maximum possible Affection to 26 hearts per day, without Bonus activities.

The following lists all the Buddy Activities that can earn Affection hearts and EP. Activities in italics denote that the buddy must be walking in the overworld map to count towards points for Affection and Mood.

Activity	Details	Emotion Points (EP)	EP Cooldown (minutes)
Walk together	Walk 2 km with buddy	4	0
Give your buddy a treat	Feed buddy one treat	2	30
Play together	Play with buddy by petting it in AR mode	2	30
Battle together	Buddy participates in a Gym, Raid, Trainer, Training, or Team GO Rocket Battle. Buddy only has to have been present in the team that battled to count, even if it was never sent out. For Gym, Raid, and Trainer battles, the battle must be completed to count. For Team GO Rocket Battles, the user only has to attempt the battle; quitting it will still count. Prior to version 0.231.0 (labeled 1.197 in iOS), Battle Training also had to be completed to count, but as of this update, these battles only have to be attempted to count (the user can quit, as with Rocket battles).	2	30
Take a snapshot	Take a snapshot of buddy in AR mode	2	30
Visit a new place	Spin a PokéStop that hasn't been visited before.	2	30
Follow a Route together	Complete a Route. Buddy only needs to be walking at the time of Route completion to count.	3	0
Bonus	Each of the following earns one Affection heart (except for tracking sleep) and is not affected by an Excited Mood: Receive a Present from buddy Receive a Souvenir from buddy Spin a PokéStop found by buddy Track sleep in Pokémon Sleep (2 Hearts)	4	0

Buddy Levels

Best Buddy Ribbon

Similar to Friendship Levels, players can perform various related activities to increase a Buddy Pokémon's Buddy Level. As the Buddy Level increases, Perks are unlocked for having that same Pokémon as the Buddy. If a Pokémon that has been a buddy is traded, then its Affection and Buddy Levels will be reset.

If a Pokémon with the Best Buddy Ribbon is sent over to Pokémon HOME or other games, the ribbon is not transferred with the Pokémon.

Hunger

A buddy's hunger can be gauged by its hunger meter, the circle around its icon at the lower-left corner of the map view. In order to walk with the buddy, it must be fed treats until the hunger meter is full. Each hunger point takes half an hour to fully decay; so once fully fed, a buddy will walk with the player for three hours. Once that meter depletes completely, the buddy will return to its Poké Ball.

The hunger meter is broken up into six segments, each representing one hunger point. The amount of hunger points satisfied depends on the treat.

When a buddy is fed a Poffin, the hunger meter becomes yellow instead of pink, and the buddy will walk with the player for six hours instead. During this time, the Buddy remains excited regardless of any interactions. Feeding any Berries do not change the hunger meter, and feeding of Poffins is disallowed while a buddy has the yellow Poffin hunger meter active.

Mood

A Buddy's Mood is determined by the amount of Emotion Points it has accumulated from engaging in activities. Players can check a Buddy's Mood by viewing the Buddy screen or tapping an Adventuring Buddy on the map. Feeding a Poffin instantly puts the Buddy in an Excited Mood. Mood can decay over time, and players can maintain or improve it by engaging their buddy in further activities. Mood decays by about one EP every 30 minutes of non-interaction, regardless of whether that interaction was on an EP cooldown.

The following lists all the possible moods in increasing positivity, along with the minimum EP needed to maintain each mood.

If the Buddy Pokémon reaches an Excited Mood, it temporarily unlocks the following Perks:

Half the walking distance required to find a Candy
Double Affection hearts earned per action
Double the daily limit for Affection hearts per action

Souvenirs

Once a Buddy Pokémon becomes an Ultra Buddy or higher, it may collect Souvenirs for the player, similar to gifts from a Partner Pokémon in Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!. However, these items are not placed into the player's Bag, but instead added to the Buddy Pokémon's information. A player may view the Souvenirs collected from a Buddy at the bottom of the Buddy screen.

Trivia

The Pikachu Visor souvenir is based on real paper hats that are given out during various Pokémon events.
When a Zorua is on the map, it will always appear disguised as the player's Buddy Pokémon. Zorua can therefore be easily identified if the player's Buddy Pokémon is unavailable in the wild, such as Legendary Pokémon, or if it is a Shiny Pokémon (since wild Pokémon will never appear Shiny on the map).

In other languages

External links

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