Just when I thought I’ve seen it all and then from nowhere an ‘Expert Handler’ from Chicago throws a PokeBall, catches the Pokemon and earns more than 19k Stardust for one catch..yes, you’ve read it right, 19K Stardust!
Izz-Rei a Pokemon Go player from Chicago took advantage of the ongoing Stardust event and got 19,237 Stardust for one catch.
The Stardust event or the third Global Challange event started on August 13 and will end on August 20. During this period players around the globe will have the following bonuses:
- 3× Catch Stardust
- 3,000 Stardust per raid
- 3× Hatch Stardust
- 1-hour Star Pieces
Our ‘Expert Handler’ took the event bonuses very seriously and he caught Weather Boosted Chimecho on his 7-day streak using Star Piece and AR+, which made him an Expert Handler, as the cherry on the top. Still not buying it? Take a look at the image below.
Now, for those wondering what is the Expert Handler and how to get it, I have the perfect answer.
First, you’ll have to enable AR+ mode on your device. When you activate it, the wild Pokemon will no longer just appear in front of you when you first encounter them. Instead, AR+ will activate when you tap on a Pokemon. The Pokemon will hide in the tall grass and when you tap the grass the Pokemon will jump out.
Sneak up on the wild Pokemon by walking toward it carefully so you don’t alarm it. Pay attention to the wild Pokemon’s awareness meter as you approach – if the awareness meter fills up, the Pokemon may flee. Walk slowly while holding your iPhone or iPad steady to avoid scaring the Pokemon. If you see its awareness meter is starting to fill up, stop immediately. Take your time and don’t move too far all at once. You’ll have better luck if you concentrate on not spooking the wild Pokemon rather than approaching in a rush and hoping the Pokemon calms down.
If you’ve encountered a rare Pokemon, you may want to give it a Nanab Berry before you approach it. This will make it easier to sneak up on, and it’ll be much less likely to run away!
Once you’re close enough to the Pokemon, the awareness meter will be replaced by a marker indicating that you’ve achieved the Expert Handler bonus. You’re now good to start throwing Poke Balls, but take a moment to center your camera and judge your distance from the Pokemon. You’ll likely be much closer to the Pokemon after the Expert Handler bonus appears than you would normally be out of AR+ mode. Be careful not to overshoot – make a very short, quick motion to throw.
If you like, you can continue to approach the Pokemon after the Expert Handler bonus appears. You may still spook the Pokemon by making sudden movements, and if you back up, the awareness meter will return. Pokemon in AR+ mode won’t move side to side or jump around like other wild Pokemon, but they can still act up and block your Poke Balls, even once you’re up close.
Hey that’s me!
That’s my 2nd highest dust catch; the highest was around 25k and was also off a weather boosted Chimecho catch during the Cyndaquil cday Nov 2018 which had a cday dust bonus on top of an event dust boost.
This pictured 19k dust one though was a harder catch due to the expert handler.
You rock! Keep it up! Have a great day!
I broke the record again today, smashed it! I got 27,187 stardust from one catch and here is how.
I caught a research reward Audino which has a base 2100 stardust bonus. This pokemon has the highest stardust bonus out of them all; for comparison, the Chimecho in this article only has a 1000 base stardust while most Pokémon only give 100.
I used a starpiece which gives 50% increase to stardust gains. With the Audino that’s 3150
The catch was during the 3 hour window for Froakie community day which gave x3 stardust for catching Pokémon
The catch was my 7 day streak which awards a base 3000 stardust but with the star piece it becomes 4500.
The month of Aug 2023 had additional stardust and xp rewards for 7 day streaks.
Lastly, expert handler which gives 25 dust…. Yah.
Altogether that’s 27,187 stardust. This is 2nd highest theoretical stardust amount that I know of in the game’s history. The highest is this exact same day, time, and Pokémon but weather-boosted which has to be found in the wild instead of the research task (research rewards can’t be weather boosted). I made a post on theSilphroad subreddit with the screenshot and asking if someone had a higher amount. We’ll see.