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These Pokemon Go cheats won’t get you banned

Published Aug 19th, 2016 11:39AM EDT
Pokemon Go Cheats For Android
Image: YouTube

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Not all Pokemon Go players have the time and resources needed to play Pokemon Go as it should be played – and the game’s bugs and lack of a proper Pokemon tracker don’t make things any easier – so it’s understandable that some players are resorting to cheats. After all, catching them all is so appealing! But Niantic doesn’t like cheaters, and it recently revealed that bans could become permanent when it catches players cheating. That makes using third-party Pokemon Go mapping apps, GPS spoofing and other sophisticated hacks rather risky.

On the other hand, there are still plenty of cheats out there that work and won’t get you banned.

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These aren’t necessarily as “dangerous” as faking your location in Pokemon or using a jailbreak iPhone app to pretended that you’re walking the map when in fact you haven’t even left the house. These are tricks that power users have figured out after extensive playing, and “cheats” that work because of the way the game is designed. Business Insider listed some of these handy tips that can help you make the most of your Pokemon Go experience, without risking account bans.

If you’re just starting out, then you may want to grab Pikachu as your first Pokemon. Just ignore the first five things that pop up and Pikachu will appear. A similar Easter Egg concerns the evolution of Eevee. Name an Eevee “Rainer” and you’ll evolve it into Vaporeon, “Pyro” becomes Flareon, and “Sparky” becomes Jolteon. It only works once, so choose wisely.

To level up faster, especially when you’re starting out, keep evolving Pokemon to get experience points. Combine evolution with Lucky Eggs and Incense to double your experience points – there’s also one shady trick that lets you extend the duration of some of these perks, but it might be the kind of cheat that’ll get you banned so we won’t explain it here.

One pro tip included in the list concerns Stardust. Definitely don’t use it until you hit level 12 or 15, as you’ll waste it on Pokemon that won’t be useful when your Trainer level increases.

Another thing you should know about is that the gym battles aren’t really balanced. They appear to favor the attacker, and you’ll be able to win each one if you know one important thing: the yellow “flash” that appears on the screen signals an incoming attack from the opponent, which means you can safely dodge and avoid it. Then hit back. Rinse and repeat until you’ve won. Watch this video to see what we mean, and you’ll win every single battle once you get the hang of it.

Read Business Insider’s full article to find a few more handy tricks to help you catch them all and level up faster.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.