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Getting TM's as a solo player

Is it possible to get TM's as a solo player? I got a sample of TM's during one of the Special Research quests and got quite the taste of these nifty things, but it seems the only other way besides this one-shot deal to get them is to go for high-level raids, which are undoable for a solo player of my level (30).

Asked by Grimgroove7 years 3 months ago

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Understand that Pokemon Go is designed to be a social game. It demands, and in the cases of certain aspects of the game, requires the help of other players. Legendary raids and their rewards are, by design, impossible to do without the help of others.

I will say once you get up a few more levels and can solo tier 3 raids you might stumble across TMs occasionally.

Best bet is to get onto a social app like Discord and find the players in your area. Playing Pokemon go by yourself works. But if you want the rewards that require groups of players - well, you need a group of players.

I fundamentally disagree with your post.

Pokemon go is NOT designed to be a social game.
If PMG was designed to be a social game, it would have a built in way to message other players and more importantly a Raid Scanner that worked so people could coordinate raids and come together socially.

Okay, I sorta lied. Raiding in PMG is meant to be social obviously but it is poorly designed and shouldn't require Discord or Scanning Bots to reach its potential. Though it really does.

That's an interesting reflection. In-game activity is meant to be social, but game design lacks the minimum necessary tools to make possible any social contact.

I agree wholeheartedly with your reply. There is some social engagement in PMG but it is coincidental except for raids which need multiple players at higher levels. The social interaction in more due to enjoyment of the game (showing off your Mons, encouraging others to share your enjoyment etc) and sharing tips / news / locations of a good Mon that others might catch etc. Niantic could further enhance the social interaction by adding suggested and new "group" features, but lets be honest how many of us play this game (and put up with the occasional flaws, glitches and BS) because we hope to meet other trainers? As the old saying goes, if you want a friend ... then get a dog!

You can get them from any level of raid, technically. The Level 4+ raids simply give you more chances to get them. I have gotten them from Level 3 raids on a semi-regular basis, but it all depends on the "R"NG of Niantic; I went literally months without getting a single TM from any level of raid, and now I'm sitting on 16 FTM's and 6 CTM's that I have no current use for because during the Lugia release, I was getting at least 1 TM every Lugia raid. I even got 3 FTM's in a single raid!

And while the likelihood is less for this from doing Level 3 and below raids... it's still there. You might find that you do a dozen Level 3 raids (try to choose raids at gyms your team controls; you get more rewards from gyms you control) and get a TM each time. Or might find that you get no TM's at all.

It's that "R"NG, man.

For successfully soloing a tier 3 raid, you get 14 balls if your team controls the gym and 12 if the gym belongs to another team, but there is no difference in item rewards (6 bundles, average 0.22 FTMs and 0.12 CTMs):

https://thesilphroad.com/science/raid-reward-odds-april-2018/

Any raid can give you TMs, I'm sitting on a pile of 7 FTMs just from doing T1-T3 raids. You could probably solo Piloswine if you have water / grass / fighting types.

Your level, paired with weather boosting, is plenty high enough to acquire teams to take down almost any Tier 3 Raid boss by yourself, especially if you take advantage of said weather boosts and use the right combination of Pokemon.

I've gotten the majority of my TM's from Tier 3 because I raid solo about 90 percent of the time. I don't recommend seeking out Tier 2 for the sole purpose of finding TM's but they will occasionally drop them too.

Use the Solo Guides from this very site and start taking on those Tier 3s! You may lose at first but you'll get better and better in short order

Upgrade your badge to GOLDEN at gyms you raid frequently. Your chances of getting tms and rare candy will increase!! I have received tms from lvl 2 raid at gym with golden badge. Lvl 3 is your best bet for tms. Look out for piloswine raids.. Superrr easy!!