Poké Balls

Poké Balls are the items used to catch wild Pokémon. When a Poké Ball is thrown at a wild Pokémon, the game rolls a capture check based on the target's remaining HP, its species catch rate, its status condition, and the ball's own catch bonus. Weakening a Pokémon and inflicting a status condition before throwing greatly improves the odds.

Catch rate calculator

Pick a Pokémon and a situation to compare every Poké Ball's catch chance per throw. The calculator uses the formula below with each species' real catch rate.

Loading the interactive calculator… if it does not appear, JavaScript may be disabled — the tables further down list every ball's effect.

Catch formula

A thrown ball computes a modified catch value a:

a = (3 × HPmax − 2 × HPcurrent) ÷ (3 × HPmax) × catchRate × ballBonus × statusBonus

• HP_max / HP_current — the target's maximum and current HP. The lower its current HP, the higher the catch value.
• catchRate — the species' base catch rate (0–255); rarer Pokémon have lower values.
• ballBonus — the Poké Ball's catch bonus, including any conditional multiplier listed in the table below.
• statusBonus — 2.5× while the target is Asleep or Frozen, 1.5× while Paralyzed, Burned, or Poisoned, otherwise 1×.

If a is at least 255 the Pokémon is caught immediately. Otherwise the ball performs four shake checks; each has probability b = 65536 ÷ (255 ÷ a)3⁄16 of passing, and all four must pass for a successful capture. Under the modern Standard (Gen VIII) method, low-level wild Pokémon also receive an extra catch bonus.

Break chance is separate from the catch roll: when a capture attempt fails, the ball has this chance to break and be lost; otherwise it drops to the ground and can be picked up and reused. Ancient (Gen IV) balls — the Hisui-style balls crafted from tumblestone — use the older capture maths and tend to break far more often, but several are thrown much farther or with altered arc.

Poké Balls

Poké Ball	Catch bonus	Special effect	Break chance	Method
Beast Ball	1×	5x catch rate when used on Ultra Beasts. 0.1x catch rate for everything else.	0%	Standard
Cherish Ball	1×	—	0%	Standard
Christmas Poké Ball	1×	Ho ho ho	0%	Standard
Dive Ball	1×	3.5x catch rate if the Pokémon is in water.	15%	Standard
Dream Ball	1×	4x catch rate on Sleeping Pokémon.	0%	Standard
Dusk Ball	1×	3.0x catch rate in dark places.	15%	Standard
Fast Ball	1×	Increased catch rate on fast Pokémon.	15%	Standard
Friend Ball	1×	Greatly boosts the captured Pokémon's happiness.	15%	Standard
Great Ball	1.5×	1.5x catch rate.	15%	Standard
GS Ball	1×	—	0%	Standard
Heal Ball	1×	Fully heals HP and status of captured Pokémon.	20%	Standard
Heavy Ball	1×	Increased catch rate on heavy Pokémon.	20%	Standard
Level Ball	1×	Increased catch rate the lower the wild Pokémon's level is compared to the player's active Pokémon.	15%	Standard
Love Ball	1×	8x catch rate if the Pokémon is the same species and opposite gender of the trainer's active Pokémon.	15%	Standard
Lure Ball	1×	5x catch rate on Pokémon encountered by fishing	20%	Standard
Luxury Ball	1×	Causes captured Pokémon to gain happiness faster.	15%	Standard
Master Ball	Guaranteed	Will never fail.	0%	Standard
Moon Ball	1×	4x catch rate if the Pokémon's evolution line involves a moon stone.	15%	Standard
Nest Ball	1×	Increased catch rate on low-leveled Pokémon.	20%	Standard
Net Ball	1×	3x catch rate on Bug- and Water-type Pokémon.	15%	Standard
Park Ball	Guaranteed	Will never fail.	0%	Standard
Poké Ball	1×	—	25%	Standard
Premier Ball	1×	Captured Pokémon emit a red particle effect when sent out.	20%	Standard
Quick Ball	1×	5x catch rate if used on the first turn of battle. Standard rate if thrown outside of battle.	15%	Standard
Repeat Ball	1×	3x catch rate on species the trainer has already caught.	15%	Standard
Safari Ball	1×	1.5x catch rate in Plains.	20%	Standard
Sport Ball	1×	1.5x catch rate on Bug-type Pokémon.	20%	Standard
Strange Ball	1×	—	0%	Standard
Timer Ball	1×	Increased catch rate based on battle duration.	15%	Standard
Ultra Ball	2×	2x catch rate.	5%	Standard
Ancient Great Ball	1.5×	1.5x catch rate.	45%	Ancient
Ancient Heavy Ball	1.25×	1.25x catch rate.	45%	Ancient
Ancient Poké Ball	1×	—	50%	Ancient
Ancient Ultra Ball	2×	2x catch rate.	40%	Ancient
Feather Ball	1×	Travels farther when thrown.	60%	Ancient
Gigaton Ball	2.75×	2.75x catch rate.	35%	Ancient
Jet Ball	1.5×	1.5x catch rate. Travels much farther when thrown.	50%	Ancient
Leaden Ball	2×	2x catch rate.	40%	Ancient
Origin Ball	Guaranteed	Will never fail.	0%	Ancient
Wing Ball	1.25×	1.25x catch rate. Travels farther when thrown.	55%	Ancient