'Pokémon Go' Catching Tips: Calculator tells you the odds of catching the Pokémon you want

Catching Pokémon in Pokémon Go can be tricky, so here are a few tips. We may not have Pokémon tracking in Pokémon Go anymore, but we do have something to tell you whether or not you're going to definitely catch the Pokémon you eventually find. 

The Pokémon Go Hub fan community has put together a new web-based tool called the Pokémon Go Catch Chance Calculator. If you feed the calculator your trainer level, any catch bonuses you have running and the Pokémon you are trying to catch, the calculator will tell you the catch percentage for that species in Pokémon Go.

How to catch a Pokémon with a PokéBall in Pokémon Go: the basics

The first two fields of the Pokémon Go Catch Chance Calculator ask for the Pokémon species you're trying to catch, along with your trainer level. The more rare the Pokémon, the more difficult it is to catch. But the higher the trainer's level, the easier it is for them to catch Pokémon.

If you catch enough Pokémon of a certain type, you can win medals related to that type of Pokémon. Bronze, Silver and Gold medals also increase your base capture success chance for that type of Pokémon specifically. The better the medal, the higher the bonus, and the Pokémon Go Catch Chance Calculator allows you to select the level of medal you have, if any.

Finally, using a razz berry on a Pokémon increases your catch chance percentage, and if you hit a Pokémon with a curve ball, this also increases your capture chance. 

The Pokémon Go Catch Chance Calculator highlights the importance of Great Balls, Ultra Balls and good throws.

Great Balls are better than PokéBalls, Ultra Balls are better than Great Balls, and the better your PokéBall, the higher your base chance of catching the Pokémon.

The quality of your throw also matters. The colored circle that appears around a Pokémon on the capture screen when you place your finger on the PokéBall grows smaller over time. If your PokéBall lands inside the circle, you get bonus catch percentage points, and the smaller the circle, the larger the bonus.

For veteran Pokémon Go players, everything we've discussed here ought to be old news. What every Pokémon Go player both old and new should be able to appreciate, however, is how the Pokemon Go Catch Chance Calculator makes these odds so easy to figure out.

The Pokémon Go Catch Chance Calculator is another awesome example of the Pokémon Go community coming together.

What may be just as or even more awesome than the Pokémon Go Catch Chance Calculator is how this new tool came to be. It was designed by Pokémon Go Hub in conjunction with GamePress and The Silph Road, two of the best Pokémon Go communities on the web.

As long as community tools like the Pokémon Go Catch Chance Calculator keep being built, and developer Niantic constantly updates the game, we know that Pokémon Go's devoted player base is healthy and vibrant. 

If you're looking for more awesome Pokémon Go tools, check out the best Pokémon to defend a gym and how to track Pokémon nest migrations.