Pokestop Item Drop Rates

This is a wee bit of useful data for Pokemon Go players. The following was determined by a Reddit user who visited 3,200 Pokestops and recorded the results. They assembled this data after unlocking all of the available items.

Types of Drops

• Poke Ball – 57.6%
• Great Ball – 11.1%
• Potion – 7.6%
• Razz Berry – 7.5%
• Revive – 7.4%
• Super Potion – 3.1%
• Ultra Ball – 2.9%
• Hyper Potion – 1.5%
• Max Potion – 0.8%
• Max Revive – 0.08%

Notes

• At lower levels the drop rates are different, depending on what items are available to be dropped.
• Presumably the numbers above are not completely accurate. They are probably reasonably close however thanks to that 3,200 Pokestop sample size.

According to a different source the drop rates are more precise numbers:

• Balls 65% (with an internal ratio of 80% regular, 15% great, 5% ultra)
• Potions 22% (59% regular, 23.5% super, 11.75% ultra, 5.75% max)
• Berries 7.5%
• Revives 5.5% (99% regular, 1% max)

It is unclear what the sample size of this secondary source is, but their numbers are pretty close to the ones further above. It also appears they may have rounded numbers up/down, or maybe this info was leaked from Niantic itself? Unclear.

What is the average number of items dropped?

We know 3 is the minimum, and I have seen Pokestops drop as many as 10 items at once. But what is the average? 3.5? 3.75? Inquiring minds would like to know. (According to one Reddit user the maximum is 9, but I have personally seen 10 items dropped on multiple occasions so the upper limit is definitely 10. Unless someone out there has seen 11 or 12...)

Before you ask, no, there was no egg in that drop of 10 items. It was 10 regular items, just balls and potions. (Eggs often drop as a bonus after a player has recently finished hatching an egg.)

I have a hunch the average number of items dropped from Pokestops might actually depend on the player's level. Meaning higher level players are more likely to get 4+ items dropped. I have no proof of this thus far, as it would require creating a new account and recording the results of every Pokestop visited while leveling all the way to 40, and then comparing drop rates according to level... and frankly I cannot be bothered. But if someone out there has no life and wants to attempt this, please feel free to do so and share your results.

Useful Tip: The 10th Pokestop goes Critical

If you hit 10 different unique Pokestops in a row, the 10th Pokestop will drop 6 or more items, and give 100 XP instead of 50 XP. Effectively they get double items, minimum 6 and maximum 10.

Thus if a person is hitting the same 9 Pokestops all the time, they will never get that unique bonus. This in turn would skew their average number of drops to be lower. A different person who is farming 10 different Pokestops would be getting the bonus every 10 Pokestops, and this would give them a higher average number (approx. 10% higher comparatively).

So what is all this useful for?

Well when it comes to farming items from nearby Pokestops it is useful to know what things you can expect to drop and how many Pokestops you will probably have to hit on average to fill up your inventory with Pokeballs and other items.

It also gives you an idea that if you are filling up your inventory and you want more balls, and consequently want to dump potions in favour of having more balls, that you will have a better idea of how many potions will accidentally get when trying to get balls.

The Future!

According to Niantic they are planning to add things to Pokestops in the future so that players can use Pokestops for more than just farming items. Some of the ideas being tossed out include:

• Players may be able to customize their local Pokestop.
• Some Pokestops might be more valuable / useful than others.

Niantic is also planning to introduce PokeCenters, where players will be able to heal their Pokemon without having to use a potion. These apparently will be rare. PokeCenters may also be used for:

• Trading Pokemon.
• Breeding Pokemon. (Niantic has currently stated they are not currently working on breeding, but this may be something added in the future.)
• Unknown other options.

The future of Pokemon Go is bright, but with all things concerning this game it will likely involve a lot of walking.