Good Luck with Disguised Pokemon

Back when I was new to Pokemon GO, I had a bit of a problem. I needed to catch a Ditto in order to proceed with special research. It took me a while, but I eventually got one when Meltan was first teased as a new Pokemon, just after the Chikorita Community Day. And later on, for another quest, I needed another Ditto to proceed. I actually got lucky and didn’t have to travel far, as I found a Ditto disguised as a Rattata, about twenty minutes after I got that research.

However, most people aren’t that lucky. Most early special research tasks require catching specific Pokemon, and Ditto is by far one of the hardest to obtain. Why? Because encountering one is pure luck. There’s no way to tell if a Pokemon is a Ditto or not. In order to catch a Ditto, you have to catch a Pokemon that the Ditto is disguised as. There’s about 10 Pokemon that can spawn as a Ditto now, and these change occasionally.

As of writing, there is currently a Ditto mini event. The Pokemon that Ditto can be disguised at have all changed, and we’re getting a few days of just those Pokemon spawning, with increased chances of Pokemon to be Ditto in disguise. Ditto can apparently be shiny now, so it’s worth hunting for them while they’re more common. The problem though is that, well, we can’t tell. In order to find a Ditto, all you can do is catch every single Pokemon you see, that can potentially be a Ditto.

The only other shiny Ditto you can get was the one I caught during the Kanto Tour, which I got on the path to getting a shiny Mew. Wild Dittos don’t have boosted chances or anything. You literally just need to keep on catching these Pokemon.

However, the other disguising Pokemon, Zorua, doesn’t have the same problems that Ditto has. At least Zorua is much, much easier to spot. Well, it depends on your buddy. Zorua always spawns as a copy of your buddy, but stationary on the map. If you’re walking a shiny Groudon for example, that Zorua will stick out like a sore thumb. If you’re walking a shiny, the Zorua’s disguise will be shiny too, but when you catch the Zorua, it’s not shiny at all, and gets no stats from the Pokemon it was disguised as. A Zorua’s disguise is only hard to see if you’re walking something basic, like an Eevee.

Still, Zorua is still a pretty rare Pokemon. It’s just obvious. If there is ever an event with lots of Zoruas, then it’s definitely worth making your buddy something interesting, like a Dialga or a shiny Groudon, like the one I’ve been walking.

At the end of the day though, there’s no way around it. If you want a Zorua, you can see them easily. But if you are searching for Dittos, then good luck catching everything you see…

Editor’s note: Funnily enough, the day after I wrote this article, I actually caught a shiny Ditto. Talk about luck and irony…