Pokemon GO

If you want to evolve your Pokémon in Pokémon GO, you're going to need stardust – and an awful lot of it. That's fine at the beginning, when you only have a few Pokémon, but when your collection grows into the hundreds, you're going to find it at very short supply.

That's why we've compiled this guide, to help you gather as much stardust as possible so you never have to stop evolving Pokémon. We'll also detail star pieces and how to get them, as they're a pretty vital component in your quest.

What is stardust in Pokémon GO?

You use stardust to evolve and power up your Pokémon in Pokémon GO, which is how you increase the total CP (combat power). So basically, if you want to compete in gym and raid battles at a higher level, stardust is absolutely essential.

How do I get stardust in Pokémon GO?

You can get stardust in numerous different ways in Pokémon GO. These are:

  • Catching Pokémon.
  • Hatching Pokémon.
  • Feeding Pokémon.
  • Daily and weekly bonuses.
  • Weather effect boosts.
  • Completing Raid battles.
  • Defeating Team GO Rocket members.

Now you're likely wondering how much stardust you get for performing each action. Well, fortunately for you, we've popped everything in a handy selection of tables for you.

Stardust rewards from catching Pokémon

Pokémon Evolution Stardust Reward Weather Effect
First 100 +25
Second 300 +75
Third 500 +125

Stardust rewards from hatching Pokémon

Egg Stardust Reward
2km 400 - 800
5km 600 - 1,600
7km 800 - 1,600
10km 1,600 - 3,200
12km 3,200 - 6,400

Stardust rewards from Team GO Rocket

Team GO Rocket Member Stardust Reward
Grunt 500
Leader
1,000
Giovanni
5,000

Stardust rewards for weekly bonuses

At 9 am local time every Monday, you'll be able to redeem weekly rewards based on how much you've walked in the past week. One guaranteed reward for most of these milestones is stardust. Here's how much you get depending on how much you've walked:

Distance Stardust Reward
5km
N/A
25km
1,000
50km
5,000
100km 10,000

Stardust rewards from specific Pokémon

Certain Pokémon award more stardust than the usual little creatures you can encounter on your walk. Here's a list of all of them along with the amount of stardust catching one gives you, so be on the lookout for them!

Pokémon Stardust Reward
Paras
500
Parasect
700
Meowth
500
Alolan Meowth 750
Persian 700
Alolan Persian 950
Shellder
1,000
Cloyster 1,200
Staryu 750
Starmie 950
Delibird 500
Shroomish 500
Breloom 700
Sableye 750
Chimecho 1,000
Combee 750
Vespiquen 950
Audino 2,100
Trubbish 750
Garbodor 950
Foongus 500
Amoonguss 700

Stardust rewards from the rest

Action Stardust Reward
Feeding Pokémon
30 per berry
Daily bonus
1,800 for first catch per day
Completing a Raid
1,000, even if the Pokémon runs away
Claiming a Research Breakthrough
2,000
Trainer Battle
Potential 300 - 1,000 (not guaranteed)
Gifts
Potentially 100, 200, or 300 per gift (not guaranteed)

What's the fastest way to get stardust in Pokémon GO?

The most reliable and fastest method is to do what you do best: catch Pokémon.

The amount of stardust you get when you catch a Pokémon is determined by its evolution. You get 100 for the first, 300 for the second, and a massive 500 for the third. And that's without taking into account the weather.

In all likelihood, you'll have a much easier time catching a Pokémon in its first evolution, so we recommend starting there. Also, target heavily populated areas like city centres.

Why? So you can catch as many as possible within a short timeframe. That way you'll have a plentiful supply of stardust whenever you need it. Oh, and look out for weather effects.

What about the other methods of gathering stardust?

If you paid attention to the charts above, you might be tempted instead to hatch eggs and focus on the various other bonuses. That's fair enough, their single reward is pretty high.

What you're not taking into context is how long it takes to perform those actions though. Hatching an egg requires walking that particular distance, and you can't just use berries whenever you want to.

However, you should definitely try and combine the bonuses to maximise your daily output. For example, if you have a ton of time on your hands, you could try and walk 10km with an egg and catch as many Pokémon as you can along the way. That means you'll get all of the stardust from the egg hatching, as well as any bonuses you get from catching Pokémon, fighting trainers, etc.

The only thing to bear in mind with this method is that it can be counterproductive to walk in a rural area, as you won't come across very many Pokémon. So you have to consider how long it takes you to walk 10km versus how many Pokémon you could catch in a busy area in that time.

Finally, target Pokémon that provide the current weather effect boost. You don't get showered with stardust for doing it, but for every four first evolution Pokémon you catch, you'll basically get the amount of stardust you would have caught from catching five.

What does a star piece do in Pokémon GO?

Star pieces provide a 50% boost in the amount of stardust you earn from all sources within a 30-minute period. Yes, that applies to every single source.

So ideally, you want to use it smartly and combine as many different actions into that period to maximise the output.

For example, you could wait to hatch a bunch of eggs, save your daily bonus, and go and catch as many monsters at once during the 30 minutes.

How do I get star pieces in Pokémon GO?

The quickest way to get a star piece is by picking one up in the in-game store. One piece will cost you 100 Coins, while a bundle of eight costs 640 Coins.

However, star pieces are also given out in Limited-Time Only bundles, and are often rewarded during Community Day quests. You'll need to buy a ticket in order to take part in these, however.


Did you enjoy this guide? Was there anything we missed? Do you have any Pokémon GO-related questions? Leave a comment below.

This article is part of our Pokémon GO walkthrough and guide series. We have articles that take you through the basics, covering How To Catch Pokémon: Throwing Tips, Poké Balls, & Capture Rates, How To Redeem Pokémon GO Promo Codes, How To Check A Pokémon's IVs Using An IV Calculator, How Trading Works, How To Track Pokémon Using Maps And Trackers, What Star Pieces And Stardust Do And How To Get Them, How Player Vs. Player Trainer Battles Work, and How To Complete Field Research And Research Breakthroughs And All Rewards.

We cover regular weekly and monthly Pokémon GO events, such as Spotlight Hour Times And Bonus Hour Times, and Community Days. We also have charts, including a Type Chart With Effectiveness And Weakness For All Types, an Egg Chart Explaining 2km, 5km, 7km, & 10km Eggs, and a Buddy Chart Explaining How To Earn Candy.

Elsewhere we cover Friend Code And Sharing Them For Easy XP and Which Pokémon GO 'Auto Catch' Companion Device Is The Best, plus more advanced tactics and info such as All Fast Moves And Charge Moves, How To Get TMs, And How It All Works, Shiny Pokémon And How To Catch Them, Glacial Lures, Magnetic Lures, Mossy Lures in Pokémon GO (And Their Exclusive Evolutions), How To Get Lots Of Candy Fast, How Lucky Pokémon Work & How To Catch Them, How To Catch All 27 Regional Pokémon, the Best Attackers And Best Defenders, All Raid Bosses And Best Counters Listed By Tier, What EX Raids Are And How To Get EX Raid Passes, What A Super Incubator Does And How To Get One, and How Get Mega Energy.

Pocket Monster-wise, we have specific guides for How To Get Pangoro, Sylveon, Glaceon, Aromatisse, Slurpuff, Sirfetch’d, Galarian Cofagrigus And More, How To Get Sylveon, Leafeon, Glaceon, Umbreon, Espeon, Vaporeon, Jolteon And Flareon, How To Evolve Wurmple Into Silcoon Or Cascoon, How To Get Tyrogue, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan And Hitmontop, How To Use The Weather To Get Each Castform Form, How To Catch And Evolve Into Galarian Slowbro, How To Catch Smeargle, How To Find And Evolve Burmy, How To Catch Spinda, Where To Find Unown, How To Catch Ditto, and The Rarest Pokémon Including Wild, Shiny, Mythical And Regional Catches.

We also cover timed research and special events, including Mew's 'A Mythical Discovery', Jirachi's 'A Thousand-Year Slumber', Celebi's 'A Ripple In Time', and Regigigas' 'A Colossal Discovery'. Other (past) event guides include Twitch Codes List - Pokémon World Championship 2022, How To Battle A Challenger (World Championships 2022), How To Battle Fashion Challengers, 'A Spooky Message' Spiritomb Quest, Kanto Event FAQ, and the Summer Tour 2018 Chicago GO Fest And Dortmund And Yokosuka Safari Zones.

Finally, there's our WIP Pokémon GO Pokédex, which currently goes up to 400 Pokémon: #1-50 | #51-100 | #101-150 | #151-200 | #201-250 | #251-300 | #301-350 | #351-400.