'Pokémon Go' Water Event Guide: Tips and tricks to get the most out of the festival update

The latest Pokémon Go event, the Water Festival, has been announced and is set to go live around 4 p.m Eastern on Wednesday. If you're looking to get the most out of this weeklong, water type-heavy event, we've got some suggestions to help you catch smarter, not harder.

Pokémon Go water event guide: Use your pinap berries for extra candies

If you're anything like us, you tend to use your razz berries more than any other types of berries, since they make Pokémon easier to catch. However, since this event promises increased spawn rates for water types, you'll want to use your pinap berries on any water-type Pokémon with multiple evolutions you haven't gotten yet.

Pinap berries get you additional candies when you catch a Pokémon you've fed them to. So it's worth your while to feed them to any Totodiles and Squirtles you come across, instead of using a Razz Berry. This is going to be invaluable in getting them to their final evolutions, which take 100 candies each.

Pokémon Go water event guide: Spin those PokéStops

If you plan on being out and about a lot during this event (and why wouldn't you?), you should also make sure to visit as many PokéStops as you can. Although this is good practice in general, it's going to be extra important during the event since you're likely to be catching more Pokémon than usual — especially since using pinap berries instead of razz berries means you might be dependent on great or ultra balls to catch Pokémon. 

Make sure you keep your supplies topped off by hitting as many PokéStops as you can. As an added bonus, the most recent patch made it so you're guaranteed an evolutionary item every time you hit a seven-day PokéStop streak. So if you're looking to evolve that Seadra into a Kingdra, you've really got no excuse.

Pokémon Go water event guide: Head to the nearest body of water

The details for the event on the Pokémon Go website spell out pretty clearly if you head to areas where you'd be more likely to see water-type Pokémon, you'll have a greater chance of encountering ones that were originally introduced in Gen 2.

In layman's terms, head to your nearest body of water and start filling out your Pokédex with Gen 2 water types. This can be a great way to stock up on ones you'd like to evolve or just have a better shot at finding some that you're missing.

Pokémon Go water event guide: Practice those curve balls and incubate eggs

If you're going to be out and about during this event, it can be a great opportunity to practice your curveballs when catching Pokémon. This not only increases your chance to make difficult catches, it awards you bonus experience as well. You perform a curveball by spinning your PokéBall around clockwise or counter clockwise while you're on the encounter screen. It can be tough to get the aiming down since it makes the ball move in more of an arc, but the results are worth it.

Also, make sure you've got eggs in your incubators while you're out catching Pokémon. Hatching them is free experience and candy, and the new egg groups mean you'll be encountering new Pokémon to hatch.

The water festival ends at 4 p.m. Eastern time on March 29th. So make sure you make the most of it while it's here.

More Pokémon Go guides, tips and tricks

If you're booting up the game for the first time in a while to get ready for Gen 2, be sure to check out Mic's guides on how to get stardust, how to determine how long it will take you to reach level 40, the kind of Pokémon you get from 10-kilometer eggs, how to create new PokéStops, how to maximize your chances of catching Pokémon and how PokéStops distribute Pokémon eggs. Also check out how to catch Gen 2 baby Pokémon, our analysis of post-balance update Chansey and Rhydon and everything you need to know about finding the long-awaited Pokémon Ditto.