Pokemon GO Guaranteed Lucky Trades: Everything you need to know

Lucky Trades are some of the most coveted interactions in Pokemon GO because they are the only ways for players to obtain Lucky Pokemon. Thankfully, Niantic has recently released an update to Pokemon GO's Lucky Trade system to incentivize previous players to return to the game.

In essence, players trading a creature that has been in storage from 2019 or earlier will trigger a Lucky Trade, rewarding both users with a Lucky Pokemon. However, there are some specifics and restrictions to using this method. Here is everything to know about triggering Lucky Trades in Pokemon GO.

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What are Lucky Trades in Pokemon GO?

Lucky Pokemon are incredibly valuable among those who partake in the Battle League (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Lucky Trades are special trades where each of the traded creatures becomes lucky. Lucky Pokemon have special backgrounds, and require less stardust to power up, halving the cost to do so. This bonus also stacks with other discounts to Stardust costs, like purified creatures as well. For this reason, Lucky Trades are valuable among those who participate in raids and PvP battles.

Lucky Trades have a base rate of occurring 5% of the time when users trade creatures among one another. However, being lucky friends with someone will guarantee the next trade with that user becomes a Lucky Trade. Players have a 1.1% chance of becoming lucky friends with another user, ranking as their best friend or above, whenever they interact with one another for the first time of the day.

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How to guarantee Lucky Trades in Pokemon GO

Players can trade creatures from 2019 or earlier for a guaranteed Wonder Trade (Image via The Pokemon Company)

As briefly mentioned earlier, Niantic has updated their Lucky Trade system as a way to incentivize players to return to the game. Before the Scattered to the Winds event in Pokemon GO, players could only make 25 guaranteed Lucky Trades on creatures from 2018 or earlier, but this restriction has now been increased to 35 Lucky trades on creatures from 2019 or earlier.

There are some important details to know about these types of guaranteed trades. When one player trades a creature from 2019 to start a guaranteed Lucky Trade, the limit count increases for both players, even if the other did not trade an older Pokemon. It is also incredibly difficult to keep track of how many guaranteed Lucky Trades a user has left, as there is no in-game indicator.

Also, it would seem that players who reach this limit of 35 trades can no longer instigate one of these Lucky Trades, as those on the receiving end still get their guaranteed Lucky Trade counter increased and receive a Lucky Pokemon. This could change in the future as this seems like an oversight with how the feature is coded.

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For more information on the game, check out the articles below:

• Ditto disguises
• Sierra counters
• Cliff counters
• Arlo counters
• Giovanni counters
• Team GO Rocket Grunts