When throwing PokéBall at a Pokémon, your aim is to catch it. In Pokémon Go, you can increase your chances depending on how well your throw. It takes practice but, getting a good throw pattern down is key to capturing some rare spawns and Legendary Pokémon. Being consistent is a big part of getting good at the game. When throwing your balls, pay attention to the white circle around the Pokémon. This circle will shrink and if your throw lands in the shrunken circle, you can get a Nice, Great, or an Excellent throw. The Excellent Throw in Pokémon Go is the hardest to get, but has the best capture chance.
The different throw types carry experience (XP) bonuses as well. This makes getting solid throws a good idea if you’re a new player looking to level up. You can earn as much as 200 XP for a successful capture with an Excellent Throw in Pokémon Go. It’s important to get the technique down now so you don’t have to rush to complete Research Tasks while practicing your throw.
To get a solid throw, you need to pay attention to the smaller circle. The inner circle will constantly retract and reset. The key is to release your throw at the right time to have the PokéBall land inside of the circle at its smallest point. You will want to throw before the smallest circle appears. Timing is everything here. Get a feel by practicing throws on common spawns, eventually, you’ll get the timing down.
There’s another layer though, Curveballs
Curveballs in Pokemon Go: how to do them, and how to throw an Excellent Curveball
Throwing a curveball is the best way to get captures, in addition to getting excellent throws. The successful curveball that lands on the monster has a 1.7x bonus to catch rate when done right.
When you then throw, the ball will curve based on the spin you put on it – it’ll curve left for clockwise spin and right for anti-clockwise spin. Throw in the opposite direction of the spin in order to send the ball to the middle of the screen. Getting the feeling for the timing of the release is the next step. it’s also important to keep in mind that where you release is important.
The aim is to hit the monster in the dead center of its head, or as close as you can manage. To really nail down that capture chance, combine this curveball with the excellent throw to have the ball land in the center of the smallest circle. The general principle is just to practice the timing. Get a feel for the spin of the ball, and ingrain the idea that you want to release your curve near the edges of the screen.
If you want a pretty thorough breakdown of how this is done, check out the video below.
When the icon becomes smaller enough, you throw you PokéBall at the one in front of you and hope it hits the icon. You will know if it hit the smaller one because it will have a notification and tell you if it was a Nice, Great, or an Excellent Throw. You will likely switch between it being a Great or Excellent throw, especially when you attempt to wait for it to become smaller.
A great way to rack up Excellent Throws is to do it on more common Pokémon, such as those you encounter while walking around or hanging new PokéStops. It’s much more challenging to have it happen against Legendary Pokémon and research task encounters. When you land the Excellent throw, it increases the chances you catching that Pokémon.
