Budget picks and team setups in POCKET MYTH

Pokémon

First of all, apart from UR Pokémon, it is best to raise shiny versions of everything else (SSR and SR) because of the 10% bonus. If you can, UR Pokémon can be shiny too, but Awakening is harder, so think it over carefully.

Recommended budget Pokémon: Butterfree, Gyarados, Dragonite, Gholdengo, Skeledirge, Venusaur, Earth King and Garganacl.

• This game does need a fair amount of grinding. Butterfree is very useful through the early and mid game. Catch its pre-evolution in Viridian Forest, and it is recommended to merge 7 pre-evolutions into one 2-star Butterfree; 72 Butterfree are needed for full stars. With luck you can catch a shiny one, and if not, raise a normal one first, since you will run into a shiny eventually. A 5-star Butterfree is already very good early on: Bug Gem, ability unlocked, with Sleep Powder, Quiver Dance and Bug Buzz as a strong moveset. It is the one that handles Professor Oak's side quest, which gives a UR held item.
• Gyarados is usable early, mid and late. After beating the Elite Four at level 50 there is an Elite Four side quest: catch 50 Magikarp in exchange for a shiny Magikarp and a bottle of Golden Perfume. Again, merge 7 pre-evolutions into one 2-star to raise stars, with a Water Gem and an Apple or King's Rock as items. In the early and mid game it is the main carry with Dragon Dance, Waterfall, Crunch and Ice Fang, Tera Water; later it leans support with Taunt, Dragon Dance, Dragon Tail and Earthquake, Tera Ground, or with its exclusive item and Taunt, Dragon Dance, Waterfall and Crunch.
• Dragonite: damage early, support later. Try to collect some fragments from the 7-day new server carnival, and sometimes events give pseudo-legendary fragments too. Around level 60 you can get a shiny Dratini in the Dragon's Den.
• The Fire crocodile, Gholdengo, Venusaur, Garganacl and others all need saved fatigue (7,000 to 10,000) plus perfume (silver and gold can be used together, and perfume comes from some events) to farm their shiny pre-evolutions. If your Pokédex is above 60%, catch 32 pre-evolutions in a row first.

Special Pokémon: Gengar, Lucario, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Miraidon, Calyrex on its black or white horse, Princess, Shadow Lugia, Shadow Ho-Oh and Shadow Rayquaza.

• Gengar and Lucario can be obtained from card pack events. Gengar is very useful, but it needs the Perish Song and Protect TMs, and in battle it can basically trade one for one.
• Shiny Lugia, a special tank. New players can get it by placing in the top three of the Pokédex leaderboard in the first few days, which takes grinding: buy out fatigue every day and go catch new Pokémon, and if you can, spend 10 yuan on a Scyther to catch with. Shiny Ho-Oh, also a special tank, comes from placing in the top three of the gacha leaderboard in the first few days, which needs 68 yuan for the gacha fund.
• Groudon, Rayquaza, Miraidon and Calyrex on its black or white horse are all very strong main carries. Now that the Awakening system is out, free-to-play players are advised to use the non-shiny versions, which can be obtained for free from the Pocket Lucky Pool or other events. For shiny versions you can save green tickets from the card flip event (pity at 147 tickets, about 8 event rounds), but shiny UR Pokémon are not recommended for free-to-play players since you cannot afford to Awaken them.
• Princess: can deal damage or support, and is very useful. Obtained by exchanging gacha points. Awakening is relatively hard, but not too hard.
• Shadow Ho-Oh, Shadow Rayquaza and Shadow Lugia are extremely strong, and lucky free-to-play players can get them for free in some events.

Resources

• Held items: very useful later on. You can spend all your gacha tickets on held items, and you can run the Endless Tower for star-up materials.
• Evolution stones: do not use them carelessly. There will be an event where 3,000 exchange for one evolution stone for the three-fools trio (Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza), and you can also get them from the League Cup or Duel Master.
• Friendship: from the Trial Grounds, and also purchasable in the guild shop.
• EVs: from the berry shop, the ladder, the honor shop and the release shop. Run wild battles every day for berry drops, and play plenty of ladder for feathers.
• IVs: save more than 1,000 capsules before rerolling. After rolling 3V or 4V, use a crown. Capsules come from the nighttime Eevee dungeon, and crowns from some events or Duel Master.
• Quality: buy level 3 and level 4 charms and advancement stones in the shop (wait for a discount; level 3 ones are not discounted). For level 5 charms, farm fragments in dungeons, buy out stamina every day, and save the runs for Saturday and Sunday.
• Dynamax: prioritise using candy to raise Dynamax, and buy out the weekly dungeon attempts. It is not easy, so here are the battle plans.
• Attrition plan: after Mega Evolving Banette (holding a Life Orb or a needle) and Tricking, Pyukumuku keeps using Pain Split (it needs to be 5 stars; if your investment is short, first send out a few Whimsicott with Memento). This needs the Banette Mega Stone, and Pyukumuku is caught after level 75; a shiny Pyukumuku is sometimes on sale for 6 yuan, which is recommended.
• Damage plan: Grapploct (holding a Focus Sash or Quick Claw) lowers the opponent's Defense, then a few Whimsicott lower their Attack, then bring in the main carry to boost and attack. This needs the UR held item Focus Sash or the SSR Quick Claw, and a few Whimsicott from the Safari Zone with their abilities unlocked. If the main carry is under-invested, it must know how to boost and heal.
• Stellarization: a Tera raid battle updates every Monday and Thursday, and it is best done in a group. Save the Stellar Shards you get until you have a few hundred, then use them together. You need fast-boosting Pokémon (with Swords Dance or Nasty Plot) or Grapploct.
• Alpha: save 100 stones before upgrading, since they come slowly, and give them to the main carry.
• Events: if an event is not one-time (card flip, flowers, wishing star and so on), save the currency until you have a certain amount, then exchange it for Tier 1 legendary held items, evolution stones and more.