Razz or Pinap Berry?
Hi all,
By now most of us can agree that the Nanab berry is quite useless; the other two, however, have presented me with quite the dilemma (a good one at that) when catching rare mons.
The past two days I've come across Venusaur, Snorlax, and Dragonite, cps of which were all above 1300. My immediate intuition/gut feeling is that the razz berries are my best bet (perhaps due to its higher capture rate?). But wanting to maximize these rare chance encounters, I've also strongly felt the urge to pop them pinap berries to get more candies, the only downside of which is that mons may pop out and have a higher chance of fleeing (at least imo).
tl;dr: to gamble or not to gamble? Use razz berries to ensure better capture rates but only 3 candies or pinap berries for shakier capture rates but double candies?
I took my chances with the pinaps, didn't work (luckily they didn't flee); ended up razz-berrying all three and caught them. What would you guys do?
Answers
Razz Berries on difficult high level Pokémon (I.e. Dragonite or starters)
Pinap Berries if I'm short on candy and/or for evolutions I value (for example I'd use a Pinap on Growlithe because candies are hard to come by and I like Arcanine). If you're xp grinding and have Pinap Berries to spare using them on low level Pidgey could help too
Although Snorlax is a strong pokemon, it's not difficult to catch him. Even when I found 2000+CP ones, with ultraballs the circle is hardly darker than a dark-yellow or bright-orange. In that case, I'd go with Pinap. About Venusaur and Dragonite, it would depend on their CP. I think that if they were below 1500cp, I'd go with pinap + ultra, if above 1500cp, with razz + ultra.
Number one: Snorlax and Dragonite in 2 days? Really?.......Ok anyways just use the Pinap Berries for lower evolutions of something you are saving up candies for, and use the Razz Berries for highest evolved forms/ultra rares. The exceptions would be if you see a mid-evolution like a Dragonair or Pupitar with a low CP in which you would use a Pinap Berry + Ultra Ball, or if you saw a really low CP single evolution rare like Snorlax and you really just need the candies, not the mon’ itself. I would be hesitant to use it on a Dragonite or something unless it was less than 500 cp.
I had a Snorlax encounter today, around 1490CP. Two Pinap berries and two Ultra Balls later, I had 6 Snorlax Candy.
When it popped out of the first ultra ball I was scared - I need Snorlax candy (recently hatched ZH/BS 89% IV with 32 candies, so I was 34 short of getting it to level 30) so I want double, but also 3+1 is much better than 0.
My philosophy for these berries now though, will be as follows:
Dragonite-tier pokemon (includes all max evolutions of starters, and Tyrannitar): Use a Pinap berry if I expect the level is 15 or less. With an average 1.2 medal multiplier, ultraball great throw curveballs will net ~ 20% catch chance per throw and around 83% overall chance of capture. Since these guys are such a low level they won't get powered so it's strictly about getting 20 candies instead of 10.
Level 15-20: If someone is around that can confirm the moveset / IVs, I'll use a Pinap berry unless it's an extremely good pokemon (since these pokemon's candies aren't extremely rare so it may be worth powering).
Level >20: Razz Berry - getting to be too hard to catch, I don't want to burn half my ultra balls / all my Pinaps and then have it run.
Snorlax: If it's under level 25 I'll use a Pinap. It has over a 50% chance to capture per throw (with gold n medal, curve ultraball great throw) even at level 30. However levels >25 it's in gym defender tier already so I want to be certain I'll get it (i.e. having the pokemon is more important than the candies).
Other cases:
Dratini-tier (includes starters and Larvitar): You're looking at 75% chance per throw even at level 30, so Pinap every one. Will net the most candies this way. Only razzberry it if you suspect it has good IVs / it will be the best candidate to evolve compared to what you have.
Lapras-tier: Razzberry it - the candies aren't very useful any more, unfortunately.
In general:
If you're excited to find the pokemon because of the candies, use a Pinap. If you're excited to find the pokemon because you want that pokemon (either high CP/IV/good moves/combination of these/rare species you don't have/etc..) then use a Razzberry.
Here is my decision making process as of now. I take into consideration how rare it is for me, how many candies are needed for evolution, its level and whether is it first throw. I believe first throw not only gives an xp bonus, but also increases the odds of capture. If I feel I need the extra candy, I almost always use the pinap on at least the first throw. After that, i decide how hard it will be to catch. If I know it will give me difficulty, and I really to catch it to keep it, I will use razz. Hope this was helpful!
