Catching Pokémon

You catch Pokémon in wild battles by throwing a Poké Ball from the battle Bag. This page covers how to make a catch easier, which balls are worth carrying and what happens to your Pokémon afterwards. For the battle screen itself, see battle basics.

How to catch a Pokémon

Find a wild Pokémon. Walk through grass, surf, fish or open a Pokémon chest. See where to find Pokémon.
Weaken it. Bring its HP down without knocking it out, and give it a status condition if you can. A Pokémon that faints can’t be caught.
Open the Bag. Press the Bag button in the battle menu. It lists your Poké Balls and medicine; see the Bag.
Throw a ball. Pick a ball. The ball is used up either way. If the Pokémon breaks free, it takes its turn and you can try again.

Bag panel open beside a wild battle with Great Balls, Poké Balls, Quick Balls and Ultra Balls above medicine — Pick a ball from the Bag during a wild battle.

In a horde, the game then asks you to Choose a wild Pokémon: pick the one you want to catch. Catching one doesn’t end the battle while others are left.

What makes a catch easier

Low HP: the less HP the wild Pokémon has left, the easier it is to catch. False Swipe is handy here, because it always leaves the target at least 1 HP.
A status condition: a sleeping or frozen Pokémon is the easiest to catch. Paralysis, poison and burn also help, a little less. See status conditions.
The right ball: better balls, and balls that suit the situation, catch more easily. See the Poké Ball list.

After the catch

The chat confirms every catch and says where the Pokémon went.

Room in your party: the Pokémon joins your party.
Full party: it goes to your PC, into the box your auto-sort rules pick or else the first box with space.

When a catch goes to your PC, press the Pokémon’s icon in that chat message for Show to Others or Release. Releasing a shiny or Ultra Rare Pokémon asks you to type a short code first; see releasing Pokémon.

What the new Pokémon is like

HP: it keeps the HP it had left when you caught it. Heal it at a Pokémon Center.
Nature: it is fixed the moment you catch it. A Synchronize lead helps; see Synchronize and other lead tricks.
Original Trainer: you become its OT. Quests that want a Pokémon you caught yourself check this.
Name: it keeps its species name, because PBO has no nicknames. See the FAQ.
Rewards: catching gives no experience, EVs or money. Knocking the Pokémon out does.

Where you catch it matters

A Pokémon belongs to the region of the map where you catch it. That region decides how it gains experience and battles in other regions. See Pokémon are tied to their region.

Chests: a Pokémon from a chest belongs to the region where you open the chest.
Seasonal event maps: a Pokémon caught there belongs to the latest region you are Champion of, in story order. If you aren’t Champion anywhere yet, it belongs to Sinnoh.

The Poké Ball list

The tables below cover every ball you can get in PBO, and each of them works in any wild battle. Competition Balls and Shiny Tracker Safe balls are the exceptions; see balls with their own rules. “Possible reward” means the ball is one of several items that a battle or activity can give.

Everyday balls

Ball	What it does	Where to get it
Poke Ball	The basic ball.	Every Poké Mart, 50 F
Great Ball	Catches more easily than a Poké Ball.	Poké Marts once you have 3 badges, 200 F
Ultra Ball	Catches more easily than a Great Ball.	Poké Marts once you have 5 badges, 600 F
Master Ball	Never fails on a Pokémon that can be caught. The game asks you to confirm before you throw it.	Rewards only; see Master Balls

Poké Marts in Hoenn and Kanto count your Sinnoh badges, and Jvaloh Marts count your Jvaloh badges; see Poké Marts. Poké Balls, Great Balls and Ultra Balls are also Game Pass rewards.

Balls for special situations

Ball	What it does	Where to get it
Quick Ball	Works much better on the first turn of a battle.	Ninja Boy Akira in Slateport City gives 3 every 6 hours, at night only. Also a possible reward from Zapdos and from mining.
Dive Ball	Works better on Pokémon you meet while surfing or fishing.	Poké Marts in Hoenn and Kanto, 500 F, after the Dive Ball delivery. After that quest, Diver Jamie in Mossdeep City also gives 3 every 6 hours.
Nest Ball	Works better on low-level Pokémon: the lower the level, the better. It gives no bonus from level 30 up.	Possible reward from the Queen Bee in Kanto’s Hollow Tree Zone; see Buzzing Hide and Seek
Level Ball	Works better when your Pokémon in battle has a higher level than the wild one, and more so the bigger the gap.	Possible reward from Registeel
Repeat Ball	Works better on species already registered as caught in your Pokédex.	Owner Mike in Mauville House #4, Mauville City, gives 3 every 6 hours. Also a possible reward from Regirock.
Fast Ball	Works better on fast Pokémon: those with a base Speed of 100 or more.	Possible reward from Moltres and Regice
Love Ball	Works better when the wild Pokémon and your Pokémon in battle are of opposite genders. Genderless Pokémon get no bonus.	Valentine’s event only: Luvdisc in Sweetheart Fields gives one every 6 hours, and Valentine chests can hold them
Heal Ball	Catches like a Poké Ball, and fully heals the caught Pokémon: HP, status and PP.	Possible reward from Articuno
Luxury Ball	Catches like a Poké Ball. It has no extra effect in PBO.	Possible reward from Regidrago. One also lies on the ground in Glassmoor City (Jvaloh).

The legendary birds are the Kanto legendary bird bosses, and the Regis are in the Regi caves. Each one can be beaten once a day.

PBO-only balls

Ball	What it does	Where to get it
Starter Ball	Catches like a Poké Ball.	Dawn gives you 5 on Route 202, and the PBO Helper Clown on Route 203 gives 2 for answering his question
Hp EV Master Ball Atk EV Master Ball Def EV Master Ball SpAtk EV Master Ball SpDef EV Master Ball Speed EV Master Ball	Never fails, like a Master Ball. The caught Pokémon also comes with 252 unallocated EVs in the ball’s stat.	The Casino Token Store in the Veilstone Game Corner, 500 Casino Tokens each

To use the EVs from an EV Master Ball, allocate them on the Pokémon’s EVs tab; see allocated and unallocated EVs.

Master Balls

A Master Ball can’t be bought. These give you one:

Silph Co.: the Silph Co.'s President thanks you with one after you beat Giovanni on 11F. See the Kanto walkthrough.
Ranked Reward Ladder: one of its steps, and the ladder starts again every month. See Ranked Reward Ladder.

It is also a possible reward from battles and activities you can repeat:

Professor Rowan’s Champion battle on Hard, once a week
The four Regi caves bosses, once a day each
The Karate Master in the Sacred Fist Sanctuary, once a week
The Hex Maniacs’ weekly reward on Mt. Pyre
Mining
The Gold chest in an underwater den

Special cases

Balls with their own rules

Competition Balls: Competition Balls are for the Bug Catching and Fishing Competitions, and what they catch is released. See Competition Balls release what they catch.
Shiny Tracker Safe balls: they only work on event maps during events, where they don’t break your Shiny Tracker. See Shiny Tracker Safe balls only work at events.

Legendary Pokémon

Legendaries from chests, roaming legendaries and wild ones are caught like any other wild Pokémon. Most are much harder to catch than ordinary Pokémon, so bring plenty of balls. Legendary Pokémon lists every one and where it comes from.

Shiny Pokémon

A shiny is caught like any other Pokémon. If a ball would break your Shiny Tracker, the game asks you first. See shiny hunting and what breaks a tracker.

Pokémon you can’t catch

Trainers’ Pokémon: in Gym, NPC and PvP battles, balls do nothing.
Bosses: boss battles such as the Kanto legendary birds and the Regis are trainer battles, so their Pokémon can’t be caught.
Dynamax Invasion bosses: everyone battles them together, and they can’t be caught. See Dynamax Invasions.
Your partner’s Pokémon: in a Co-op Duo’s shared wild battle, you can only catch your own assigned Pokémon. See shared wild battles.
A few special wild Pokémon: such as those in Snowpoint City’s Gym, the Diglett in Kanto’s Diglett’s Cave and the Mega Gardevoir on Celestial Peak. A ball thrown at one of them fails but isn’t used up.

The Pokémon locations pages only list wild Pokémon you can catch.

Synchronize and other lead tricks

Some abilities of the first Pokémon in your party work outside battle, even when it has fainted. A Synchronize lead makes the Pokémon you catch more likely to share its nature. Abilities such as Static or Flash Fire make Pokémon of one type appear more often. See field abilities.

Where to find Pokémon

The Pokémon locations pages list every wild Pokémon by area, with its rarity and when it appears. In game, the Locations tab of the Pokédex shows where and when a Pokémon appears.

SinnohEvery wild Pokémon in Sinnoh, area by area.

JvalohEvery wild Pokémon in Jvaloh, PBO's own region.

HoennEvery wild Pokémon in Hoenn, area by area.

KantoEvery wild Pokémon in Kanto, area by area.

More ways to meet Pokémon:

Swarms bring certain Pokémon to a map for a while. See swarms.
Hordes put several wild Pokémon in one battle. See natural hordes.
Fishing and diving have Pokémon of their own. See fishing and diving.
Pokémon chests start a wild battle when you open them. See Pokémon chests.
Gifts from a few NPCs, such as Cynthia’s Rockruff, need no battle at all. See gift Pokémon.
Lures and Luck Protection help you meet rare Pokémon. See Lures and Luck Protection.

Battle basicsThe battle screen, moves, switching, running and status conditions.

PC StorageBoxes, auto-sort rules, searching and releasing Pokémon.

Shiny huntingThe Shiny Tracker, the Blaze Radar and Swarms.

Legendary PokémonEvery legendary and where it comes from.