GO Hub Guide to Stardust Grinding

Whether you’re a day-one player or just started, I’m sure you have heard about Stardust. No matter the experience you have, we can all agree that stardust is one of the most essential resources in Pokémon GO.

Without this very much-needed dust from the stars, you can’t power up your Pokémon, which makes it extremely difficult for you to succeed on raids, PvP or against Team GO Rockets. A good example is if you need to unlock a second move on a legendary Pokémon. You will need 100,000 Stardust right away.

Obviously, the primary way to earn stardust is by catching, and there are even some species that reward extra stardust! You can read more about those Pokémon on a list we published a few months ago. But there are a few other ways to get stardust besides catching Pokémon.

So, get your Star Pieces ready and follow this guide.

Feeding Berries in Gyms

Remember those Pokémon you have defending gyms for hours or even days? They can make some profit for you. Well, at least you can get some Stardust from them and from other Pokémon of trainers in the same team as you.

If have Pokémon defending gyms, you can feed them berries to increase their motivation. When you do so, you also receive Stardust as a bonus. And maybe a candy of the Pokémon you are feeding! You can have up to 20 Pokémon in gyms and even feed them at a distance. This “trick” can earn you up to 30 stardust per berry, and with a Star Piece on, it’s 45.

We know that looks like a small amount but think about it: every Pokémon can be fed with 10 berries, but don’t use Golden Razz Berries, otherwise, they can’t be fed anymore. This means you can earn up to 450 stardust per Pokémon (with a Star Piece on). Now imagine a full gym, with 6 Pokémon. The total amount is 2700 Stardust for a feeding session.

Besides that, you can feed berries to any gym of your team, even if you don’t have a Pokémon there. You just need to be in range of the gym. On a route with a lot of gyms of your colour, you can earn a lot of stardust.

So take advantage of this strategy, earn a good amount of Stardust and dump those Nanab Berries that no one cares about.

Opening Gifts

Do you know that your friends can give you stardust as well?

By opening gifts, with the limit of 20 per day – except on some special occasions – you can get up to 200 stardust for every gift. On one of the most recent updates, Niantic made opening gifts possible even if you have the bag full. In that case, you will get at least 50 stardust per gift, guaranteed.

It is an easy way to get stardust, and Star Pieces work with gift stardust, so you can multiply your earnings—all thanks to your friends.

PvP

We know what you’re thinking, and yes, technically, you have to spend a lot of Stardust to be able to PvP. But you can earn a lot of Stardust as well!

If you turn out to be a good PVPer, you can make a lot of Stardust on a good PvP session.

During some events, with some timed research, you can even engage in a PvP battle with that 10cp Magikarp you have, lose the battle and gain a good amount of Stardust.

At the end of each season, you will win a good amount of Stardust. Just remember to turn on a Star Piece before entering the PvP tab on the menu, it will work!

Team Leaders and Team GO Rocket

Battling other people doesn’t need to mean battling other players. You can battle against NPCs such as Team Leaders and Team GO Rocket.

On the menu, go to the Battle Tab and scroll down until you find the Training section. There you can challenge the three Team Leaders: Blanche, Candela and Spark. Choose the leader you want to defeat and the type of battle.

At the end of each battle, you’ll be rewarded with some stardust, but the amount can vary:

Team GO Rocket members will also reward you with stardust. Grunts give you 500 stardust, and leaders a whopping 1000.

Hatching Eggs

Walking a lot can make you gather Stardust. Wanna know how? With two simple ways!

The first one is hatching eggs.

The amount of Stardust obtained depends on the type of egg you hatch. Right now, the 12km eggs are the ones that give the most Stardust. So take advantage of events that double or triple the amount of Stardust earned by hatching eggs.

The Adventure Sync Rewards

The second way walking can give you a lot of stardust is with the Adventure Sync. Walk. Walk a lot! And next Monday you will see all the Stardust you can get.

The amount depends on the kilometres achieved in the past week. The more you walk, the more you get.

The 100 km bonus gives you the same rewards as the 50 km distance, but there’s a boost to the Stardust!

You can get a guaranteed 16,000 Stardust from the 100 km distance rewards. With a Star Piece set, you can get up to 24,000 Stardust at one go! For 50km it is 6,000 base Stardust.

This handy chart illustrates how much you have to walk in order to reach each of the fitness goals listed above: