Catch Rate Calculator
Select a Pokemon above to calculate catch probability.
Try searching for Mewtwo, Garchomp, or any Pokemon you are trying to catch.
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Pokeball Progression
Pokeball progression data is being added for Black 2 & White 2
Pokeball progression is currently verified for Red & Blue and FireRed & LeafGreen. Other games will be added as we verify mart inventories and pickup locations against authoritative sources.
How to Catch Pokemon
In Black 2 & White 2, every wild Pokemon has a hidden number called its catch rate, somewhere between 3 and 255. The higher that number, the more likely the Pokeball is to stay closed when you throw it. Common Pokemon like Patrat sit at 255. The Tao trio Kyurem hits the floor at 3, which is why high-stakes legendary catches still take so many tries here.
Three things change your odds the most: how low the wild Pokemon's HP is, what status condition you put it in, and which Pokeball you throw. Drop HP first, apply Sleep or Freeze for a 2.5x bonus (Paralysis, Burn, or Poison gives a smaller 1.5x boost if Sleep is not an option), then throw the situational ball. Generation V is where the Sleep multiplier jumped from 2x to 2.5x, and Quick Ball ramped from 4x to 5x at the same time. The same opener pays more here than it did in Gen IV.
How to Increase Your Catch Chance
Multipliers compound. The standard sequence is weaken HP, apply Sleep, throw the situational ball. With the Gen V status math, the cumulative gain over a no-prep Ultra Ball throw is bigger than any earlier generation.
1Weaken HP with False Swipe. Knock the wild Pokemon to 1 HP without knocking it out. False Swipe caps damage at exactly 1 HP when the hit would otherwise faint the target. For Ghost-types (immune to Normal moves), use Night Shade instead and watch the HP bar.
- Power
- 40
- Accuracy
- 100%
- PP
- 40
- Power
- —
- Accuracy
- 100%
- PP
- 15
2Put the target to Sleep for a 2.5x catch bonus. Sleep is now the strongest status multiplier in the catch formula at 2.5x, beating the 2x value it held in Gen III and IV. Four primary sleep moves, ordered by accuracy:
- Power
- —
- Accuracy
- 100%
- PP
- 15
- Power
- —
- Accuracy
- 75%
- PP
- 15
- Power
- —
- Accuracy
- 60%
- PP
- 20
- Power
- —
- Accuracy
- 55%
- PP
- 15
3Throw the right ball. The right ball depends on the situation, not on rarity. Walk through the questions below in priority order. Stop at the first YES.
Walk through these questions in order and stop at the first YES — that is your ball. If none of the questions apply, throw an Ultra Ball.
Quick Ball5x bonus
Repeat Ball3x bonus
Net Ball3x bonus
Dive Ball3.5x bonus
Dusk Ball3.5x bonus
Timer Ball~4x bonus
Ultra Ball2x bonus
Great Ball1.5x bonus
Poke Ball1x (no bonus)Skipping any step costs you catch odds. The full sequence is weaken HP, apply Sleep, then throw the situational ball. Gen V is the first generation where critical capture exists, so a fully prepped throw can sometimes succeed on a single shake check.
Generation V introduces critical capture: when your Pokedex completion is high enough, the ball runs just one shake check instead of three, and that check is much more likely to succeed. The chance scales with how many species you have caught (not just seen). Filling out the dex pays off in future catch attempts. This was the headline catch-mechanic addition in Black and White.
Black 2 and White 2 expand the regional dex significantly compared to the original BW. More sleep-move users are available without National Dex unlock, including Breloom in a Hidden Grotto for Spore access. Hidden Grottoes also reintroduce Pokemon like Drowzee for early Hypnosis access, which BW1 gated behind National Dex. Critical capture carries forward unchanged from BW.