Bottle Caps in Pokémon GO: How Hyper Training Works and Which Mythical to Use It On

How Bottle Caps work

Bottle Caps let you hyper train a Pokémon’s IVs up to 15.

• Gold Bottle Cap: trains all three stats, turning the Pokémon into a hundo.
• Silver Bottle Cap: trains one stat. Use it on a Pokémon with two 15s already, so you can tick off its hundo in the Pokédex.

A few things to know:

• One Bottle Cap, one Pokémon. Like an Elite TM or a Master Ball, each one can only be used once.
• The boost is permanent. You have a set time to finish the training, but once it’s done, it’s done for good.
• Event Bottle Caps have had deadlines. The first Gold Bottle Cap expired a few weeks after the event, with 50,000 Stardust as compensation if you didn’t use it. Check the details whenever you get one.

Which Pokémon should you use it on?

As I’ve said before, IVs barely affect how hard a Pokémon hits, so a Bottle Cap is mostly about completing your Pokédex or upgrading a favourite. That’s why Mythical Pokémon are the best use: you usually only get one or two, and you can’t raid for another.

Something like Mewtwo will come back in raids, so you’ll get more chances at a hundo. A Mythical won’t.

How to find Pokémon for a Silver Bottle Cap

A Silver Bottle Cap only makes a hundo if the Pokémon already has two perfect stats. To find all of yours, paste this into the search bar in your Pokémon storage:

4attack,4hp&4attack,4defense&4hp,4defense&!4*&!shadow

It shows everything that would be a hundo after one Silver Bottle Cap. It’s also a one-tap preset, “Silver Bottle Cap hundos”, in my search string builder.

The best Mythicals for a Bottle Cap

Ranked for raids, with their current standing on Pokémon GO Hub:

• Keldeo (Resolute Forme): the 4th best Fighting attacker with Low Kick and Secret Sword.
• Zarude: the 7th best Grass attacker with Vine Whip and Power Whip.
• Diancie: fairly average on its own, but Mega Diancie is the best Rock attacker in the game with Rock Throw and Rock Slide.
• Marshadow: the 30th best Fighting attacker. Good to have, but well behind Keldeo.
• Volcanion: the 28th best Water attacker. Fun to own, but not a raid priority.

Zygarde is another option since you only get one, and if you just love a Mythical like Mew, upgrading your only copy is a perfectly good reason too.

Matt's takeUse your Bottle Caps on Mythicals, because you can't get another copy. For raids, Keldeo, Zarude and Diancie are the ones I'd pick.