In Pokemon Go, water types like Vaporeon can be found near real bodies of water. (Pokemon Wiki)
Before setting out on your first expedition in Pokemon Go, one thing you should know is where to find specific types of Pokemon. As it turns out, various species in the game are generally found near the real world environments they are associated with, and so if you’re looking for a water type, you can find them near actual bodies of water.
At first, it was unclear whether the species and the environments were actually correlated, but some data from The Silph Road determined that water types do indeed spawn near real water more often than they do at any other location. According to their research, here are some of the environments you’re most likely to find water type Pokemon:
- Riverbanks
- Wetlands
- Saltwater beaches
- Canals
- Docks
- Parks with water features like ponds
Some have even found water type Pokemon in parks that have no major bodies of water but that have a lot of fountains or other water features.
Riverbanks are the best place to look, as The Silph Road found that 76 percent of spawns near riverbanks are water types. Meanwhile, 61 percent of spawns near wetlands are water type, and 50 percent of spawns at saltwater beaches are water type as well. This is not to say that no water type Pokemon will ever spawn anywhere else, but if you’re specifically searching for a Vaporean or a Lapras, the data shows that heading to water will significantly increase your odds of finding one.
Another element to take into consideration is the fact that more Pokemon will spawn based on where cell phone data is being used. In other words, you’ll want to head to areas that both have bodies of water and that are heavily populated. That’s why, for instance, a few weeks ago Santa Monica Pier became the location of a Lapras spawn; it’s both a big body of water and an area with a lot of foot traffic and cellphone usage.
If this all just sounds like fan speculation or confirmation bias, John Hanke, CEO of Niantic, confirmed at Comic Con last week that Pokemon do indeed spawn based on related environments.
“Yeah, we try to spawn the Pokemon based on where they’d actually exist in the real world,” Hanke said.
The areas where other types of Pokemon spawn is a bit unclear, but there’s no ambiguity with water types: their spawn rate definitely does increase near bodies of water.
Here are the water type Pokemon currently available in Pokemon Go:
- Blastoise
- Cloyster
- Dewgong
- Goldeen
- Golduck
- Gyarados
- Horsea
- Kabuto
- Kabutops
- Kingler
- Krabby
- Lapras
- Magikarp
- Omanyte
- Omastar
- Seadra
- Seaking
- Seel
- Shellder
- Slowbro
- Slowpoke
- Starmie
- Staryu
- Squirtle
- Poliwag
- Poliwhirl
- Poliwrath
- Psyduck
- Vaporeon
- Wartortle
For more information about how to catch some of the most uncommon water types like Lapras, check out our breakdown of the rarest Pokemon species in the game:
