How Many Lucky Trades a Day in Pokémon GO?
Hey there! As a fellow Pokémon GO trainer, I know how valuable lucky Pokémon can be. Who doesn‘t want Pokémon that cost half as much stardust to power up and have guaranteed decent IVs? But with the limit of only 1 guaranteed lucky trade per friend per day, it can be tricky to optimize your daily lucky trade chances.
In this guide, we‘ll break down everything you need to know about lucky trades so you can make the most of them and get your hands on as many lucky Pokémon as possible!
What Does "Lucky" Mean in Pokémon GO?
When you trade Pokémon in Pokémon GO, there‘s a chance the Pokémon can become "lucky." This means they get a sparkly background and several awesome benefits:
- Costs only 50% the normal stardust to power up
- Has an IV floor of 12/12/12 (so IVs will be decent)
- Gains a cool flair to show off they are lucky!
Because lucky Pokémon are so much cheaper to power up and have good IVs, they are highly coveted by trainers. But how do you get them?
Limits on Guaranteed Lucky Trades Per Day
There are a couple key limits when it comes to guaranteed lucky Pokémon from trades:
- You can only get 1 guaranteed lucky per friend per day from a trade.
- After the first guaranteed lucky trade with a friend each day, additional trades have an approximately 5% chance of triggering a bonus lucky Pokémon.
So in summary, you are limited to:
- 1 guaranteed lucky with each friend daily
- ~5% chance of extra luckies after the first
To put some numbers to it, let‘s say you have 5 best friends in Pokémon GO that you trade with every day. Here‘s how your daily lucky trades might look:
- 5 guaranteed lucky trades (one with each friend)
- Approximately 1-2 extra lucky Pokémon from the ~5% bonus lucky chance on additional trades
So with 5 friends, expect around 6-7 lucky trades each day on average. The exact number will depend on how lucky you get with those bonus rolls!
Ways to Increase Your Lucky Chances
While you only get one guaranteed lucky trade per friend daily, there are a few things you can do to boost your chances of extra lucky Pokémon beyond the first trade:
1. Trade Older Pokémon
The age of the Pokémon being traded impacts the chance it will become lucky.
- For every year a Pokémon has been in your storage, the lucky chance increases by 5%.
- The maximum boost caps at 20% for Pokémon 4+ years old.
- But trading a 2-3 year old Pokémon still doubles or triples your base 5% lucky chance!
The older your Pokémon, the better chance it will become lucky in a trade!
2. Increase Your Friendship Level
Higher friendship levels with the person you are trading with will improve your lucky chances.
- Good friends have a 5% increased chance.
- Great friends get a 10% boost.
- Ultra friends have a 15% increased chance.
- But Best friends have the maximum 20% boost to lucky rates!
So aim to trade with Best friends as much as possible to maximize your lucky odds.
3. Coordinate Lucky Friends
Lucky friends are a special trade perk for best friends in Pokémon GO.
- You can trigger a lucky friend status with a best friend once per day. This guarantees your next trade will be lucky!
- Do your daily trades and battles with best friends to try and get lucky friend status.
- Coordinate lucky friend activations with your best friends so you can align multiple guaranteed lucky trades in a day!
4. Trade July/August 2016 Pokémon
Any Pokémon caught during the first couple months of Pokémon GO‘s launch will have a very high chance of becoming lucky when traded – estimated to be over 75%!
So if you or your friends have Pokémon from July or August 2016 stashed away, trading them is a great way to get guaranteed lucky Pokémon.
Ideal Pokémon to Use Your Lucky Trades On
Since lucky trades are a somewhat limited resource, you want to use them on Pokémon that will benefit the most. Here are the top Pokémon I try to save my daily lucky trades for:
Legendary Pokémon
Trading legendary Pokémon like Mewtwo, Rayquaza, Kyogre, Groudon, Moltres, etc can save you hundreds of thousands of stardust since they cost so much to power up normally.
Lucky legendaries are one of the best investments you can make for raid and gym battling. Always prioritize making your best legendaries lucky if possible.
Meta and PvP Relevant Pokémon
There are some Pokémon that are just really strong and useful attackers for raids, gyms, and PvP leagues.
Some great examples are:
- Metagross
- Machamp
- Medicham
- Sableye
- Bastiodon
- Azumarill
Maxing out these meta Pokémon as luckies will give you an edge. A lucky Metagross costs 124,000 less stardust than a normal one to max out!
High IV Shadow Pokémon
Did you get a strong shadow Pokémon from a Team Rocket battle that you are thinking of purifying?
Trading it first to make it lucky means you‘ll save a bunch of stardust on powering up the purified version. Some top picks are Shadow Machop, Dratini, and Beldum.
Shiny Pokémon
One of the most swag types of Pokémon you can get are shinies. So trading an extra shiny to turn it lucky is a great flex. Nothing like a sparkly lucky shiny Gyarados!
Odds of Getting a Perfect IV Lucky Pokémon
Because lucky Pokémon have an IV floor of 12, there are only 64 possible IV combinations they can have.
This means when trading a guaranteed lucky Pokémon like with a lucky friend, you have approximately a 1 in 64 chance of getting a perfect 100% IV lucky Pokémon!
So while not super common, lucky friend trades give you the best shot at scoring that elusive max IV legendary Pokémon you‘ve been hunting. I have my fingers crossed that my next lucky Mewtwo trade will hit the IV lottery!
Stardust Savings for Powering Up Lucky Pokémon
To demonstrate the significant stardust savings you get from lucky Pokémon, check out this comparison of power up costs between a normal and lucky Machamp:
| Power Up Level | Normal Machamp | Lucky Machamp |
|---|---|---|
| 20 to 30 | 60,000 | 30,000 |
| 30 to 35 | 75,000 | 37,500 |
| 35 to 40 | 100,000 | 50,000 |
| Total to 40 | 235,000 | 117,500 |
As you can see, a lucky Machamp costs 117,500 less stardust to max out than a normal one! That‘s half the cost.
The higher the Pokémon level and rarer the Pokémon, the greater your stardust savings will be from lucky Pokémon.
Limitations and Mistakes to Avoid With Lucky Trades
While lucky trades are awesome, there are some limitations and mistakes to watch out for:
- You can only get 1 guaranteed lucky friend trade per day per friend. Don‘t waste them!
- Lucky chance caps at 20% so old Pokémon don‘t always go lucky.
- Legendaries and shinies aren‘t immune to bad IV luck despite being lucky.
- Trading away a Pokémon‘s legacy/exclusive move accidentally. Be careful!
- You can‘t get a lucky Pokémon back unless they are traded again. No tradebacks!
So be selective and strategic with which Pokémon you make lucky. They will be cheaper to power up, but they can‘t be undone!
Key Takeaways on Maximizing Lucky Pokémon
To recap, here are my top tips for maximizing your lucky Pokémon opportunities:
- Prioritize legendaries and useful meta Pokémon for lucky trades. These will save you the most stardust in power ups.
- Coordinate daily lucky friend trades with best friends for guaranteed luckies.
- Trade older 2016 Pokémon for high lucky chance.
- Boost friendship levels with trade partners and trade older Pokémon to increase lucky odds.
- Be selective and tactical with which Pokémon you make lucky since the trade is permanent!
With a bit of planning, you can average 6-7 lucky trades per day reliably. More if you get extra lucky!
I hope these tips on optimizing your daily lucky trades help you get your hands on as many of these powerful Pokémon as possible. Happy hunting and may Arceus bless you with perfect IV lucky legendaries!