Everything you need to know about Poffins in Pokémon GO

Poffins are an important resource in Pokémon GO, providing a much needed boost to your buddy Pokémon. As a result, Poffins are very much a premium item and to have a steady supply you will need to either put some serious time into the game or spend hard earned Poké Coins in game.

So, here's everything you need to know about Poffins in Pokémon GO.

Poffins get your buddy Pokémon "excited", this has a couple of effects:

In addition, a Poffin will fill up all six (three plus the three extra from being excited) "Give your buddy a treat" hearts.

This means that with a Poffin you can earn 26 hearts from buddy activities. A Poffin will not increase hearts from Souvenirs, Gifts or GoPlus+ Sleep Tracking.

Overall, this means Poffins help you reach 'best buddy' status with a Pokémon quicker, as well as speeding up the rate at which you can get Candy, Candy XL and Mega Energy for a buddy Pokémon too.

So, how can you get your hands on such a useful item? There are a few ways you can get your hands on Poffins in Pokémon GO:

Poffins are often given in the $1 Community Day research quests. The most reliable way to get Poffins for free is with AR Field Research Tasks in Pokémon GO. These involve you submitting a scan of a PokéStop in game. It's pretty low effort, and well worth a Poffin in return.

So, when is the best time to use a Poffin in Pokémon GO? There are a few things to think about. The most important is if you will complete all the buddy tasks that day. There is no point in getting double the hearts if you aren't going to use a route, walk 6km and battle three times. The only heart you might struggle to fill is spin a new stop. That one should be considered a bonus.

Then, you should think about how far the buddy distance is for that Pokémon, if candy or Mega Energy is a concern. Legendary Pokémon, like Rayquaza or Mewtwo have a default 20km buddy distance. A Poffin reduces this down to 10km. Compare this with a Pokémon like Altaria. Altaria has a 1km distance, so this reduces it down to 500m. Saving 10km is clearly much more valuable than saving 500m.

Finally you need to think about if there are any events or challenges that require you to earn candy with a buddy. These tasks are a lot easier to complete with a Poffin. If there aren't any, consider saving your Poffin for times like this in Pokémon GO unless you have a surplus.

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