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Pokemon Go Buddy System - How To Get Best Buddy

February 23, 2023

The Buddy System in Pokemon Go allows you to attach a Pokemon to your player that will follow you around as you play the game. Like the friendship system, players can increase the buddy level to Best Buddy for in-game rewards when playing Pokemon Go.

Once you add a buddy, you'll be able to interact with them in several ways. Interacting with your buddy will earn it Hearts, which go towards leveling up your Buddy Friendship Status.

How To Add A Buddy In Pokemon Go

Buddy Select

Adding a buddy in Pokemon Go is easy. You simply click on your Profile Icon in the bottom left corner of your screen. Then select the Me tab and choose the Add Buddy icon.

You can select any of your Pokemon you have caught to be your buddy. Once you've added a Pokemon as a buddy, you'll be able to interact with them.

To interact with your Buddy, tap your buddy when viewing the Me page.

Play Buddy

If you'd like to change your buddy, you can scroll to the bottom of the Buddy overview page. You can swap your buddy up to 20 times per day, allowing you to earn more hearts with more Buddies!

Pokemon Go Buddy Friendship Levels

Best Buddy icon

As you play and interact with your buddy, you'll earn Hearts. As you earn more and more hearts, the friendship level with your buddy will increase. Below are the following friendship levels:

Buddy Level Hearts Required Perks
Good Buddy 1 Heart
  • Can adventure with Buddy
  • Readable mood
Great Buddy 70 Hearts
  • Catch Assist - throws deflected Pokeballs back at wild Pokemon
  • Presents - Buddy will occasionally give you presents when exploring together
Ultra Buddy 150 Hearts
  • Souvenirs - your buddy will find souvenirs as you explore together. These are collectable items and have no real use.
  • Find Locations - Your buddy will point out interesting PokeStop Locations; spinning will earn you a bonus heart.
Best Buddy 300 Hearts
  • CP Boost - small damage boost when fighting in Gyms, Raids when your buddy is set as active
  • Best Buddy Ribbon attached to your Pokemon.

How To Earn Buddy Hearts in Pokemon Go

There are various ways you can earn Hearts for your Buddy in Pokemon Go.

Action Description Hearts Limit
Walking Walk 2KM with your Buddy exploring with you. 3
Feed Buddy Feed your Buddy a treat in "Play" mode. Feeding a Poffin gives +3 Hearts and makes the buddy excited automatically. 3
Play together Play with your Buddy in the Play mode. 1
Battle Together Have your buddy in your Battle Party when fighting in Gyms, Raids, Trainer Battles and Team Rocket Battles. 3
Take A Snapshot Take a snapshot of your buddy in Play mode. 1
Visit a new place Visit a new Pokestop/Gym with your Buddy active that you haven't spun before. 1
Bonus Collect items from your Buddy such as Presents/Souvenirs, spin PokeStops that your buddy points out. 3

 You can earn up to 10 hearts per day, unless your Buddy becomes "Excited", in which it can earn up to 20 Hearts a day.

How To Get Pokemon Go Buddy Excited

Mood Icon

When you add a Buddy in Pokemon Go and get it to Good Buddy status, they will have a mood icon that you can view on their page. Your Buddy's mood will increases the more you interact with your Buddy.

Your Buddy's mood will start off in Normal mood, but it can increase to Excited Mood by interacting with it. Once a Buddy is Excited, you'll be able to earn double the amount of Hearts.

The mechanics behind a Buddy's mood are hidden, so you'll have to manually keep track of your Buddy interactions in order to get them excited.

Poffin

Alternatively, you can automatically set your buddy in Excited Mood by feeding them a Poffin item. You can earn Poffins as rewards from Raids or buy them from the Shop for 100 PokeCoins.

Mood Points

Each Buddy has a hidden stat that will will call Mood Points.

You obtain Mood Points by interacting with your Buddy. In order to get your Buddy's mood to Excited, you need to get 32 Mood Points.

Each interaction has a 30 minute cooldown for that specific action (i.e. you cannot continually Feed your Buddy to gain mood points). Below are all the ways to gain Mood Points:

Action Mood Points Cooldown
Play with Buddy +2 30 Minutes
Feed Buddy +2 30 Minutes
Take A Snapshot +2 30 Minutes
Battle with your buddy in your Battle Party
  • Leader
  • Gym
  • Raid
  • PvP
  • Team Rocket
+2 for each battle type 30 Minutes
Claim Presents & Souvenirs +4 None
Walking 2KM +4 None
Swap Your Buddy +2 Once per day

Your Buddy will also lose 1 Mood Point every 30 minutes or so unless you interact with it at least once in that time period.

You'll know when your Buddy is excited by the icon in it's profile. You'll also see that Hearts you've earned have an extra heart icon over them to show you can earn double hearts.

Best Way To Get Excited Mood for Pokemon Go Buddy

Now that you know how getting to Excited Mood works, you can make a plan for increasing your Buddy's Mood Points to 32.

Follow these steps:

  1. Swap in your buddy (if it's already active, just swap it back in) (+2)
  2. Play with Buddy, Feed Buddy, Take Snapshot, Battle Team leader (+8)
  3. Wait 30 minutes (interact with your Buddy once to prevent losing 1 mood point)
  4. Play with Buddy, Feed Buddy, Take Snapshot, Battle Team leader (+8)
  5. Wait 30 minutes
  6. Play with Buddy, Feed Buddy, Take Snapshot, Battle Team leader (+8)
  7. Wait 30 minutes
  8. Play with Buddy, Feed Buddy, Take Snapshot, Battle Team leader (+8)

That should get you to +32 Mood Points.

You can get there quicker, as mentioned, by also fighting Team Rocket Balloons, Gyms, Claiming Presents and Walking your buddy (but these are not always available to players).

Earn Candy Walking Your Pokemon Buddy

Walking Distance

You can also earn Pokemon Candy when you walk a certain distance. Each Pokemon has it's own Distance Requirement in order to earn 1 Candy.

  • 1KM - Common Pokemon
  • 2KM - Uncommon Pokemon
  • 5KM - Rare Pokemon
  • 20KM - For Legendary Pokemon

When your Buddy becomes excited, the distance required to earn Candy is reduced.

Content within this article contains copyrighted material of Nintendo. We are not affiliated with Nintendo or Pokemon in any way.

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