In Pokémon GO, the new Master Ball has been active for a few weeks now and is supposed to guarantee you a catch. A trainer wanted to find out if the ball actually catches everything and sacrificed it for you. We from MeinMMO will show you what he tried and how his attempt turned out.
What is the Master Ball? Since May 2023, one of the most valuable items in Pokémon GO is finally available: the Master Ball. It promises you a guaranteed catch. Due to a special animation that starts when the ball is activated, discarding is no longer possible. However, your choice of Pokémon should be well thought out, as you only have one of these balls in your inventory.
For many players, it has been clear for weeks that they want to use it for one of the rare Galar birds from the adventure smoke. That’s why you can now see a series of pictures of caught Galar Articuno, Galar Zapdos, and Galar Moltres in social media. This is mainly because they not only spawn rarely from the daily adventure smoke, but also have a high flee rate.
A trainer has now attempted to catch these monsters under difficult conditions. What those were and whether he succeeded, we have summarized for you below.
Trainer catches Galar birds at excessive speed
What did the trainer test? The new Master Ball now finally offers many trainers the chance to guarantee a specific Pokémon catch. The rare legendary Galar birds are particularly sought after by players. But does this ball also reliably catch when you’re on the move and exceed the speed allowed by the game?
The Reddit user SlayerOfTears wanted to find out and tried it as a passenger for you. He lit the daily adventure smoke on his mother’s and brother’s accounts while they were in the car traveling at a speed of more than 50 miles per hour, or about 80 kilometers per hour. When a Galar bird appeared, he attempted to catch it with a Master Ball.
Did he succeed in the attempt? Yes, as he explains in his post, he encountered a legendary Galar bird on both accounts. He used the Master Ball for both and, despite the excessive speed, was able to catch a Galar Zapdos and a Galar Moltres.
He writes (via reddit.com): I can now confirm twice that the Master Ball still works at a speed of 50 MPH and above and catches the Pokémon you want to catch with it. I caught Galar Zapdos for my mother and Galar Moltres for my brother while we were driving to her new doctor.
Why is speed so relevant? In Pokémon GO, there is a kind of speed limit that is supposed to prevent trainers from playing during a car or train ride. How high this actually is has not been officially confirmed.
However, trainers found out in 2019 that the original limit of about 10.5 kilometers per hour was slightly raised to also allow bike playing. The game determines the speed using your GPS data. It recognizes how long it takes you to get from one point to the next and calculates your speed from that.
If you’re going too fast, you will receive a warning. Monsters will continue to appear in the vicinity and can be clicked on, but they usually cannot be caught then. They generally escape from the ball and flee directly.
Sometimes these determined speeds are incorrectly recognized, for example due to GPS drift. This can lead to trainers being unable to catch special monsters. For instance, a trainer lost 3 shinies due to nasty GPS drift.
After the attempt of SlayerOfTears, it is now clear that the Master Ball is indeed an exception and you can probably catch any Pokémon with it.
Trainers celebrate the attempt: “Thank you for being so brave”
Even though SlayerOfTears will surely not be the first to wonder whether you can guarantee catching Pokémon with the Master Ball at high speeds, the Master Ball is so unique to many that they wouldn’t want to risk it.
For this reason, SlayerOfTears is celebrated in the comments for his attempt. Many admire his courage. You can read the following in the comments (via reddit.com).
- Shiny_Deleter:
You played with fire.
- mtgspender:
I was also curious about that on our last road trip. Thank you for being so brave.
- DemCookies18:
Kudos for taking the risk.
For SlayerOfTears, this will not be the last attempt of this kind. As he reveals in his post, he would have liked to make a video of the capture. But that will be postponed for another time.
What is your opinion on the attempt to use the Master Ball at high speed? Would you have dared to do it? Or would you be afraid that it might not catch reliably? Feel free to let us know here on MeinMMO in the comments and exchange ideas with other trainers.
In July, a cool, rare shiny will return in the Community Day Classic. We will show you what monster it is.
