Trades & social
Legendary Pokémon require a Special Trade (one per day, two during +1 Special Trade events). Shadow Pokémon and most Mythicals cannot be traded. The few tradeable Mythicals also need a Special Trade.
Lucky trades
Lucky halves power-up Stardust and floors IVs at 12/12/12. The power-up cost for a Legendary built Level 20 to 50 drops from ~475,000 to ~237,500 Stardust. A 12/12/12 deals only 1–2% less raid damage than a 15/15/15, so the Stardust saving is the real prize.
Two paths to a guaranteed Lucky trade
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Guaranteed Lucky: trade a Pokémon caught in 2016–2020. The sender must have fewer than 45
lifetime guaranteed Lucky trades. Find your oldest candidates:
year2016-2020&!lucky&!traded - Lucky Friend: when a Best Friend reaches Lucky Friend status, the next trade between you is guaranteed Lucky. Status resets after one trade. Save it for the highest-value species in your current build queue.
Best Lucky Friend trade targets for raid attackers
Top 10 raid attackers. Lucky halves power-up Stardust and floors IVs at 12/12/12. Saves around 360,000 Stardust on a wild Level 1 build, around 237,500 on a Legendary Level 20 raid catch.
No PvP: Great League needs low Attack IVs, Master League wants 15/15/15. Purified stacks to 55% off.
Legendaries
Require a Special Trade (one per day, two during +1 Special Trade events). Best when you cannot grind raid passes for higher IVs. Lucky locks in 12/12/12 from a small candidate pool.
Paste in-game to find your un-Lucky, un-traded Legendary candidates.
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1st Dragon-type Attacker -
1st Ground-type Attacker -
1st Water-type Attacker -
2nd Normal-type Attacker -
2nd Fairy-type Attacker -
3rd Electric-type Attacker -
4th Fairy-type Attacker -
4th Psychic-type Attacker -
5th Fairy-type Attacker -
5th Fighting-type Attacker -
5th Ice-type Attacker -
6th Ground-type Attacker -
6th Fire-type Attacker -
6th Fairy-type Attacker -
7th Ghost-type Attacker -
7th Fairy-type Attacker -
7th Electric-type Attacker -
8th Steel-type Attacker -
8th Fairy-type Attacker -
9th Steel-type Attacker -
9th Ice-type Attacker -
9th Electric-type Attacker -
9th Flying-type Attacker -
10th Ghost-type Attacker -
10th Poison-type Attacker
Non-Legendaries
Regular trades, no daily limit. Highest absolute Stardust saving when powered from a low wild catch (Level 1 to Level 50): around 360,000 saved per trade.
Paste in-game to find candidates of these species in your storage.
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2nd Ice-type Attacker -
3rd Fire-type Attacker -
3rd Grass-type Attacker -
4th Poison-type Attacker -
5th Steel-type Attacker -
5th Bug-type Attacker -
6th Electric-type Attacker -
7th Fighting-type Attacker -
7th Poison-type Attacker -
7th Bug-type Attacker -
8th Ice-type Attacker -
8th Normal-type Attacker -
8th Dark-type Attacker -
9th Fighting-type Attacker -
9th Dark-type Attacker -
10th Rock-type Attacker
Mythicals and Shadows are not on this list because they cannot be traded; Megas are not on this list because the trade target is the base form. Dynamax-only specialists are excluded as a niche Max Battle meta. Regional forms (Galarian, Alolan, Hisuian, Paldean) appear in the visible list but are omitted from the search filter because in-game search behaviour for regional names is unreliable.
Trade candy bonus
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Trading Pokémon caught 100 km or more apart grants up to 2 bonus candy per trade. Find distant candidates:
distance1000- - Trade before transferring. You receive a candy chance from the trade, then another from the transfer.
Special Trade rules
Spend the daily Special Trade on Pokémon new to your Pokédex first: unregistered regionals and Legendaries. A species already registered costs about 1/20th the Stardust to trade, so those can wait.
- Legendaries require a Special Trade: one per day, two during +1 Special Trade events.
- Shadow Pokémon and most Mythicals cannot be traded. The tradeable Mythicals use a Special Trade.
- Reach Best Friends before trading Legendaries.