The Secret to Evolving Every Pokémon Over 1,000 CP in 'Pokémon Go'

Pokémon Go
Pokémon Go

Although much of your focus playing Pokémon Go is to catch 'em all, battling other players to control Gyms is a huge part of the game, which means you'll need some damn powerful Pokémon if you want to win. Thankfully, some players have figured out exactly how to guarantee your prized Pokémon will reach at least1,000 CP in its final evolutionary form

As explained in a report by Mashable, a Reddit user who goes by Kyurun calculated the minimum CP a Pokémon must be if you want to ensure it has a CP of 1,000 after evolution. The numbers are based on calculations he made using Pokémon Go Toolkit, one of the many unofficial Pokémon Go players guides/tools that have appeared in the absence of official ones from the game's creators. 

Best of all, Kyurun put all of the numbers in a helpful, alphabetically sorted list:

Based on these numbers, you'll need a Grimer with a CP of at least 498 if you want a Muk with a 1,000+ CP (like the one pictured above). Or if you want a badass Charizard (and we're pretty damn sure that you do), you might want to start with a Charmander with a CP of at least 357. You're investing a crapload of time to collect all that Charmander candy, after all. 

Mashable tested the numbers by evolving a CP 630 Drowzee, which the Toolkit calculator predicted would reach between 1310 and 1316 CP as a Hypno. What they got was a Hypno with CP 1306, which isn't in the predicted range, but pretty damn close. In their original Reddit post, Kyurun also warns that the predictions might not be 100% accurate, but they should give you a good indication of what you need to build a killer lineup of Pokémon.

If you REALLY want more accurate numbers, you'll have to spend some time plugging in Pokémon's stats into an IV -- or "individual values" -- calculator, like the one created by Poké Assistant, according to the report. If you have no idea what the hell an IV is, don't worry -- it's not information that's displayed to you in the game. This Reddit post from Conan-The-Librarian offers a simple, ELI5 breakdown, if you're interested. 

The bottom line: do a little homework and check out the guides and tools other players are creating before investing your time and resources in evolving your Pokémon. In other words, don't blow it

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Tony Merevick is Cities News Editor at Thrillist and likes playing the game, but doesn't think he'll end up using tools and stats like this. Send news tips to news@thrillist.com and follow him on Twitter @tonymerevick.