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In Pokemon GO, Stardust is an extremely crucial item to get the strongest Pokemon; for powering up Pokemon requires both species-specific Candy and a lot of Stardust. Stardust is also used to buy secondary Charge Moves for battles, trading (the costs depending on your Friendship with other Trainers), and purifying Shadow Pokemon you got from the Team Rocket. Yeah, the need for Stardust quickly ramps up if you actually want to do all the content offered in Pokemon GO. This means you need to know how to farm — or at least learn which Pokemon GO activities can give you — Stardust.
1. Use the Adventure Sync Feature
Available once you reach Trainer Levels 5 and above, Adventure Sync allows the game to record your kilometers traveled even when the app isn’t open. When an Egg is about to hatch or a Candy is found, you will receive a push notification. You can turn the feature on by opening the Settings menu. By completing the Weekly Fitness Report, depending on how far you have walked (5, 25, and 50 kilometers a week), every Monday at 9 AM local time you can receive up to 1,500 Stardust.
2. Get Stardust from Capturing Pokemon
What is a Pokemon game without capturing the Pokemon? Well, I guess Pokemon Snap exists but anyway! Simply capturing those critters will also net you Stardust in Pokemon GO:
- 100 Stardust for one base-level Pokemon.
- 300 Stardust for a second evolution.
- 500 Stardust for a third evolution.
- 600 Stardust for each Daily Catch Bonus.
- 3,000 Stardust for the 7-day Weekly Catch Bonus.
There are also a number of Pokemon that will yield a higher amount of Stardust when captured. When they’re weather boosted, you will then gain an extra 25, 75, or 125 Stardust respectively:
Pokemon | Stardust | Weather Boosted Stardust |
Delibird | 500 | 625 (Snow/Windy) |
Foongus | 500 | 625 (Sunny/Cloudy) |
Amoonguss | 700 | 875 (Sunny/Cloudy) |
Meowth | 500 | 625 (Partly Cloudy) |
Persian | 700 | 875 (Partly Cloudy) |
Alolan Meowth | 750 | 938 (Fog) |
Alolan Persian | 950 | 1188 (Fog) |
Paras | 500 | 625 (Sunny/Rainy) |
Parasect | 700 | 875 (Sunny/Rainy) |
Shroomish | 500 | 625 (Sunny) |
Breloom | 700 | 875 (Sunny) |
Combee | 750 | 938 (Rainy/Windy) |
Vespiquen | 950 | 1188 (Rainy/Windy) |
Sableye | 750 | 938 (Fog) |
Staryu | 750 | 938 (Rainy) |
Starmie | 950 | 1188 (Rainy/Windy) |
Trubbish | 750 | 938 (Cloudy) |
Garbodor | 950 | 1188 (Cloudy) |
Shellder | 1000 | 1250 (Rainy) |
Cloyster | 1200 | 1500 (Rainy/Snow) |
Chimeco | 1000 | 1250 (Windy) |
Audino | 2100 | 2625 (Partly Cloudy) |
3. From Hatching Pokemon
Another option to get Stardust is by hatching Eggs; however, because there are five types of Eggs, the amounts you earn can vary:
- 2km Egg: 400-800 Stardust.
- 5km Egg: 800-1,600 Stardust.
- 7km Egg: 800-1,600 Stardust.
- 10km Egg: 1,600-3,200 Stardust.
- 12km Egg: 3,200-6,400 Stardust.
4. Opening Gifts
Opening gifts is another good way to farm Stardust in Pokemon GO. You can earn 100, 200, or 300 Stardust for each Gift you open, with a maximum of 30 Gifts you can hold. Make sure you add a lot of friends and send them Gifts, as this will increase your chances of receiving gifts and, as a result, Stardust.
5. Feed Friendly Gym Pokemon Berries
Giving berries to Pokemon guarding friendly Gyms earns you 20 Stardust in addition to keeping the defending Pokemon happy and fit for battle. Each Trainer can feed them up to 10 Berries, with Golden Razz Berry will fully restore Pokemon’s motivation and Nanab Berry increases the motivation by an additional 150%.
6. Participate in Raid Battles
Talking about Gyms, another way to get Stardust in that area is by participating in Raid Battles. Completing a Raid Battle for the first time will always award you and other Trainers 1,000 Stardust.
7. Beating Team Rocket
When you defeat members of the Team Rocket, you will get this amount of Stardust:
- Team Rocket Grunt: 500 Stardust.
- Team Rocket Leader: 1,000 Stardust.
- Giovanni: 5,000 Stardust.
8. Compete in GO Battle League
Only available to Trainers level 10 and up, this feature lets Pokemon GO players from all over the world compete with each other through online play. Apparently, some parts of the fanbase claimed that the GO Battle League is one of the best ways to gain Stardust.
At the start of each set of matches, Trainers need to pick the rewards they’ll receive from that set: the free Basic Rewards or Premium Rewards from exchanging the Premium Battle Pass.
For the Basic Rewards, usually, you will net a decent amount of Stardust after winning your first and fifth match in one round. Meanwhile, on Premium Rewards you need to win your third match of the round. Completing all five matches also gives you Stardust for both Rewards. The more you battle in GO Battle League enough and reach a high enough rank, the more Stardust you can farm at the end of each Pokemon GO season.
9. Participate in Events, Community Day, and Spotlight Hours
Niantic often releases a bunch of events for Pokemon GO, along with sought-after incentives such as double or triple Stardust. Of course, you should make the most out of these opportunities by collecting as many Pokemon as possible.
10. Using a Star Piece
At the end of the day, paying for Star Piece is the best way to rake in Stardust. These consumable items can be purchased in the Shop or earned as rewards from Special Research tasks to increase your Stardust yields by 50%.