'Pokémon Go' Gen 2 Egg Update: Lists, hatching tips, charts, hacks, chances and more
Pokémon Go's first Gen 2 update only recently went live, and already the internet is abuzz with the handful of new creatures from the Gold and Silver's Johto region that are now available to players in Niantic's mobile game.
Whether you never stopped playing Pokémon Go or you're just looking for an excuse to get back into the saddle, we've got you covered with all the information about how to catch the new Gen 2 releases, how to hatch those 10km eggs you've been sitting on since the fall, updates to the egg groups and some tips to make your Pokémon Go experience the best possible.
Pokémon Go Gen 2 egg list: Cleffa, Elekid and Smoochum show up alongside Pichu and Togepi
Although Niantic was inexplicably tight-lipped about what Pokémon players could expect outside of Togepi and Pichu in their release video (the latter is already less exciting if, like us, you were pleasantly surprised at how early you could catch a Pichu in Pokémon Sun and Moon), Forbes reported that the new Pokémon are now showing up in Pokémon Go's Pokedex, making it easy to deduce what the new ones are.
The five other Gen 2 Pokémon (besides the previously released Pichu and Togepi) available in the new update are:
• Igglybuff, the baby form of Jigglypuff
• Cleffa, the baby form of Clefairy
• Magby, the baby form of Magmar
• Elekid, the baby form of Electabuzz
• Smoochum, the baby form of Jynx
If you were hoping to catch a Heracross or a Tyranitar, you're sadly out of luck for the moment. On the bright side, now we're down to waiting for 93 new Pokémon, as opposed to 98, and the game's code seems to indicate we'll be getting more Generation 2 Pokémon at some point.
Pokémon Go Gen 2 egg groups: Which eggs do Igglybuff and Magby hatch from?
Per Niantic's announcement, the new Gen 2 Pokémon only hatch from eggs. Kotaku found that the rate at which these Pokémon hatch is different as well. The specific breakdowns of what eggs hatch what Pokémon are as follows:
• You can get Igglybuff and Cleffa from 2-kilometer eggs
• You can get Pichu and Togepi from 5-kilometer eggs
• You can get Magby, Elekid and Smoochum from 10-kilometer eggs
Regrettably, it's going to take a lot of dumb luck (and walking) to find any of the new Gen 2 Pokémon. There's no way to predict exactly what's going to come out of your egg until you hatch it in an incubator, which can lead to a lot of wasted steps and wasted incubators.
Pokémon Go Gen 2 egg hatching tips: Why incubators are even more of a necessity post-update
In short, because the new Gen 2 Pokémon can only hatch from eggs, you're going to need more incubators available to increase your chances of getting that Magby or Smoochum. This is especially bad if your trainer level is sitting somewhere around the mid-20s when it takes upwards of 100,000 experience to reach the next level, since you'll only get three incubators per 10 levels at that point (not exactly conducive to quickly hatching those 10km eggs you've had stuck in your bag for the past four levels).
Once you've reached that point, your options are to either tough it out with your one reusable incubator (not recommended) or purchase more at the store with PokéCoins you've earned from defending gyms (or bought with real money). Although technically free, getting coins through taking gyms is very labor intensive, and requires having both good attackers for taking gyms and good defenders for holding gyms you've taken. Additionally, you can only collect coins from gyms you're defending once every 20 hours, which means casting a wide net to get the most Pokémon at gyms per day or already having a few incredibly strong Pokémon that can hold gyms for a few days.
If your time is more valuable to you than your money, the best way to ensure you can hatch those baby Gen 2 Pokémon is to pony up the cash for some more incubators, though some players are sure to chafe about that on principle alone.
Pokémon Go egg group changes: how will the new Gen 2 Pokémon affect the groupings?
Since the update only dropped yesterday, there isn't really any data to draw from yet about how common the new Gen 2 Pokémon are within their respective egg groups. That doesn't mean Niantic hasn't made any changes to the groups themselves though: back in the autumn update, they removed Pidgey and Rattata from the 2km egg group altogether, and made it so Eevee would only hatch from 5km eggs, allowing players a better chance to fill out their Pokedexes with some of those rarer catches.
Additionally, Nether Fable has set up a user-curated tracker to see what the average percentages are of getting various Pokémon out of the different eggs, which players can contribute to using a simple web form. However we already know what the various egg groupings are (and how the Gen 2 Pokémon fit into them), so knowing the exact percentage chance isn't likely to help you outside of allowing you to feel smug about knowing exactly how unlikely it was that you hatched an Omanyte from your 10km egg.
Pokémon Go egg hatching tips, tricks, hacks and cheats for getting the new Gen 2 Pokémon
Most players would likely love a Pokéwalker-style peripheral that works with Pokémon Go and allows them to hatch eggs without having the app open at all times, but, unfortunately, that's just not in the cards right now. You can preorder the official Pokémon Go Plus accessory from Best Buy right now, but that will only help you catch wild Pokémon and utilize PokéStops. It won't help you hatch those eggs any faster.
Although some "hacks" like taping your phone to your ceiling fan do technically work, for the amount of time it'll likely take you to secure your phone to one of the fan blades and get it down from there once your eggs hatch, it doesn't really seem worth the effort. If you're truly trying to avoid going outside, you can also build a rudimentary pulley system to drag your phone back and forth across your house, but bear in mind that this will require you to do some home soldering in order to build the motor for the pulley and probably isn't the safest way to avoid walking around to hatch some eggs.
That said, there are a few tips out there to help you get the most out of your incubators. Eurogamer recommends saving your disposable incubators (the ones you buy with PokéCoins and get from level ups) for 10km eggs and using your infinite use one for 2 and 5km eggs, since you'll cycle through those anywhere from 2 to 5 times as fast as you will a 10km one. You can also save precious battery power by turning on battery saver mode in Pokémon Go's settings and turning off the Augmented Reality setting when you're out catching Pokémon as well. Finally, it seems like the CP of the Pokémon you hatch out of eggs is tied to your trainer level when you received the egg, not when you hatch it. So it's worth it to try and cycle through your eggs as quickly as possible.
Although these tips can't guarantee you one of the Gen 2 Pokémon in the new Pokémon Go update, they can at least make your life a little easier when it comes to looking for Cleffa, Magby and Pichu. So make sure you bundle up when you go out to catch them, and happy hunting!
More Pokémon Go hacks, tips and tricks
If you can't get enough Pokémon content, don't worry: Mic's got you covered. Check out our coverage on everyone's favorite copycat Ditto, how to request new PokéStops, maximizing your chances at catching wild Pokémon and how to get more 5 and 10km eggs from PokéStops.
