With less than 24 hours to go for the Johto Tour on 26th February, here are some last minute tips for prepping and making sure you can enjoy your day to the fullest.
Be aware that you will be picking a version of the GO Fest you will be playing as.
A more detailed guide is available here: Johto Tour Gold vs. Silver: which version should you choose?
Pokémon Storage Space
With a whopping 12 hours of play time, that is a serious amount of Pokémon to catch! Give your Pokémon storage a huge clear out and be brutal.
If you keep a living dex, make sure you only have multiples of the meta relevant Pokémon. Transfer community day shinies to Pokémon HOME or to the Professor. You are never going to need 20+ shinies of one particular Pokémon (unless it is your fave, I get it, I hoard shiny Turtwig!), it’s time to say goodbye to them.
If you can, meet up a friend and reroll trade some of your more rare Pokémon that you have saved, but you are going to have to be brutal. If you don’t have your bag space maxed out, the morning of the Johto Tour is the time to go for it. I’m going to wait until the morning of the Tour to max out my bag space, because otherwise I know it’s just going to fill up without me realised. I know I can’t be trusted not to fill that space!
Do you need one of every Spinda pattern? Do you need to keep that 93% Phanpy when you have the hundo? Now is the time to get tough on your collection and get transferring. Have you hoarded a whole bunch of legendary Pokémon for trades? Sorry but it is time to let them go! You don’t need 20 of each legendary, keep your best teams of 6 if you must, but make sure you go through them, you’ll be surprised how many you have. Ultimately, they’ll all be back in raids eventually.
One to keep an eye on is also Costume Pokémon if, like me, you are a fan. I was horrified to discover I had 4 or 5 of some costume Pokémon, for no real reason! Most don’t evolve, so unless they have a gender difference (i.e. Pikachu), I cut it down to one of each.
I also recommend going through your Shadow Pokémon and purifying and transferring them. I say purify first because to hit level 50 you need a lot of platinum badges, and that is a badge you can work on passively. Mind your stardust though, I don’t recommend purifying those 5000 dust Pokémon! You don’t need to keep them all (unless you love them for AR), so get rid of what you don’t need.
Take inspiration from Marie Kondo, does this Pokémon spark joy? No? Off to Professor Willow you go!
Item Prep
Balls, balls, balls, that is all you need to care about this week and next. Potions and revives soon fill up when raiding, so keep them to a minimum, keep your berries in check, and focus on those balls.
If your bag space is always about full, check why, have you been raiding a lot lately? You’d be surprised how quickly rare candy can fill up your bag, so get it invested in Legendaries and other rare Pokémon.
The Poké Ball Prep Rally Event taking place February 18th to 25th is also designed to help you stock up on balls pre Johto Tour.
Your Buddy is going to bring your balls in gifts, so make sure you are opening them when they bring you them, there is a Timed Research for balls, and research rewarding Pokéballs, Great Balls and Ultra Balls, so it is sure to be a big help!
Other surprising items taking up your bag space might be an excess of berries, so get feeding them into gyms for stardust, or evolution items. You don’t need a whole bunch of each evolution item, either use them or throw them, keep just a couple of each safe for evolutions.
You will need Sun Stones for evolving Sunflora and Bellossom, a Dragon Scale for Kingdra, two King’s Rock for Politoed and Slowking, and an Upgrade for Porygon-2.
Opening your maximum amount of gifts every day pre event will help you with your ball hoarding, so make sure you are sending out as many gifts as you can, and be sure to open your full amount each day. Make sure you hit your limit each day.
If you need more friends, check in your local groups, discords etc, post on social media, fill up that friends list and get yourself more gifts. Just popping your friend code on Twitter can grab you a bunch more friends quickly.
If you will be using a GO Plus or similar, make sure you have plenty of Pokéballs over Great Balls, it soon gets through them, so use Great/Ultra balls to manually catch, and leave your Pokéballs for the GO Plus.
It’s key to also make sure you have any incense, star pieces or lucky eggs you might want to use, and remember you can stack them up now, so get them on at the start of the event and then you won’t have to worry about them running out during.
The exclusive spawns are incense only, so you you will need incense to get them!
Raids will be a big part of Johto Tour, so it is worth making sure you have some coins ready to go in your bag, rather than needing to buy them on the day. Utilise those free passes where you can, but don’t miss out on raids because you needed to buy coins.
Some Pokémon will also be egg exclusive, so it may be worth trying to empty out your eggs the night before, so you have an empty egg storage ready for the event to begin. Make sure you remember to incubate once you have some eggs, and maybe buy some incubators in advance if you are hoping to hatch a shiny.
Make a Shiny Checklist
Before the day itself, I’d recommend making yourself a shiny checklist of what you need from the Johto region. Go through your Pokédex and make a note of what you are missing, you might be surprised to realise how many you need, or realise you have shinies you had forgotten about.
Having a list will help you prioritise what you are going to click on in a cluster of spawns. I’m going old school and am going to make a paper list I can keep in my pocket, rather than a note on my phone, as I don’t intend to be off the app at any point.
Every single Johto Pokémon will be available shiny, so it will be a great chance to snag yourself those shinies you are missing.
Pick Silver or Gold with a Partner
With two different ticket options, Silver and Gold, and exclusive Pokémon to each version, talk to your friends before you pick if you haven’t already.
Check with your local raid groups and community and pair off, or at least make sure there is a good mix of you with each ticket version, so on the day you aren’t panicking about finding someone to trade with.
Buddy up! My local group seem to be swaying towards Silver, so I think I’m going to pick Gold because we do need to trade to be able to complete the Johto Dex.
Also, make sure you actually pick your ticket option before the event starts to save time!
There will be multiple choices to make throughout the day, including which Johto starter you want to accompany you along the way, so it might be worth having a think about which starter Pokémon you are going to pick before the day is started, so you aren’t faced with a tough decision on the day itself. This will be a key part of your Special Research.
Batteries, Chargers and Phones
If you live somewhere you can legally and safely play outside, make sure you have portable battery packs charged and charger cables at the ready. It is a long event, you are gonna need those chargers!
Even if you are playing from home, making sure you know where your chargers are and keeping an eye on that battery power can save you.
With extreme weather in a lot of the world, battery percentages can drop suddenly, so don’t let it get too low!
Make sure you charge overnight so your phone is ready to go, and that you have plenty of data left if you won’t be on WiFi all day.
The last thing you want to happen is to run out of data a few hours into the event!
Suitable Clothing for GO Tour
We have some serious extremes weather-wise right now, so making sure you are dressed suitably is so important.
If it is spring/summer where you are right now, sun screen is key! Don’t burn or give yourself heatstroke, or you’re gonna have a bad time. Make sure you have access to cool drinks, shady spots, and wear light airy clothing that is going to keep you cool, whilst protecting your skin.
If you wear your hair in a part, make sure that part is covered in sun screen too, it’s easy to forget. Set timers to reapply and make sure you apply a good half an hour before you go out into the sun to let it sink in and work. Sunglasses and sunhats will help protect you too.
If it is winter/autumn, wrap up warm! Multiple thin layers are better than one or two thick layers, and a good waterproof coat.
Sun screen is still needed in winter, that sun can be incredibly harsh, especially glancing off the snow.
Gloves you can use your phone with, and good sturdy walking boots to keep you from slipping are great too.
Keep an eye on the weather, it isn’t worth risking your health for Pokémon, so stay indoors if the weather is extreme and keep safe!
Check your Local Covid 19 Guidelines
Check up on your local laws and guidelines regarding Covid 19 and make sure you are protecting yourself. We know a lot of the world has opened up, but others haven’t, and cases are still high for a lot of the world. Make smart choices!
Mask up, keep 6ft apart, wash your hands, and use sanitiser when you can. Don’t risk getting yourself in trouble for breaking the rules, or at risk of spreading the virus.
Guidelines can vary town to town, state to state, country to country, so make sure you are aware of your specific local guidelines.
Under some lockdowns you may only be allowed to leave your homes for essential reasons or exercise. Stay safe and legal, and protect your health service and those around you.
Food and Drink
Plan ahead for snacks, lunch and drinks, as well as bathroom breaks. Maybe lunch time is the time you go home so you can have a rest, charge your phone, and refuel with a decent lunch.
Keep hydrated and fed and you’ll have a much more fun day. In extreme weather conditions this is even more important.
Johto Tour Last Minute Prep
If you are in the Western Hemisphere, we do have an advantage over other parts of the world.
With the likes of New Zealand, Australia and Japan starting so long before us, there will be a lot of available data on social media about the quest lines and what you need to do.
It’s worth checking our social media and website to see what the day entails so you can plan ahead, and keep your expectations in check. Follow us on Twitter!
Make sure you know you are following a reputable, trusted source, there are bound to be dodgy photoshops making the rounds, so check your sources.
Johto Tour General Tips and Tricks
Check out our Johto Tour Guide to find out all the details of the event, to help you plan.
If you are planning to really grind, learning the ‘Quick Catch‘ trick can be a real help (though I have to admit, as a leftie, I find it tricky, but I’ve just mastered it recently). There are a bunch of videos on how to do this on Youtube, so check them out here.
Another nifty tip is that when you have clicked on a Pokémon to shiny check it, it will turn to face you. So when you are checking a cluster, the ones you haven’t checked, won’t be facing you, so this should save you time on checking the same Pokémon twice.
Be sure to prioritise checking an incense spawn over wild spawns, as incense spawns will only last for a very short period of time with one spawning every minute, and you don’t want to miss out on that shiny check!
Don’t forget to take your snapshots!
Keep on top of your Special Research, and make sure you catch Celebi on the day if you want the special move Magical Leaf.
Mega Evolve a Pokémon
Mega evolve a Pokémon! When you have a Pokémon as a Mega, you are rewarded with a bonus catch candy for catching any Pokémon that share the Mega typing. For example, if you have a Mega Venusaur evolved, you’ll get an extra catch candy for catching any Grass or Poison type. For Johto Tour, it’ll be worth considering the rare spawns, and version exclusives. Tyranitar is a PvE monster, so if you have picked Silver version, consider evolving Mega Aerodactyl to gain that extra Larvitar candy with each catch. We would recommend picking a dual type in order to gain additional candy for two different types of Pokémon, rather than just a single typing.
The following Mega Pokemon will reward the following extra candy:
Venusaur (Mega)
|
Grass and Poison |
Charizard (Mega Y)
|
Fire and |
Charizard (Mega X)
|
Fire and Dragon |
Blastoise (Mega)
|
Water |
Beedrill (Mega)
|
Bug and Poison |
Pidgeot (Mega)
|
Normal and |
Slowbro (Mega)
|
Water and Psychic |
Gengar (Mega)
|
Ghost and Poison |
Gyarados (Mega)
|
Water and Dark |
Aerodactyl (Mega)
|
Rock and |
Ampharos (Mega)
|
Electric and Dragon |
Steelix (Mega)
|
Steel and Ground |
Houndoom (Mega)
|
Dark and Fire |
Manectric (Mega)
|
Electric |
Altaria (Mega)
|
Dragon and Fairy |
Absol (Mega)
|
Dark |
Lopunny (Mega)
|
Normal and Fighting |
Abomasnow (Mega)
|
Grass and Ice |
Conclusion
The Kanto Tour had some mixed reviews last year, but we had high hopes for a take two with a Johto Tour and here it is. Don’t go into the event expecting Community Day rates of shinies, shiny rates are increased, but not to the level of a Community Day. If you keep playing, and are able to go out safely and legally, you can still bag yourself a bunch of shinies and have a great day.
Stay safe, have fun, and look after yourselves!
