Pokemon GO Buddy System: Best Buddy, Candy and Perks

Pokemon GO Buddy System lets you assign one Pokemon to walk beside you, earning Candy, affection hearts, and powerful perks that range from bonus items to a permanent Combat Power boost. As of September 2026 the buddy system is one of the highest-value free systems in the game, feeding everything from evolution requirements to Mega Energy. This guide covers walk distances, the four affection tiers, and how to reach Best Buddy efficiently.

How buddy candy works

Your buddy earns Candy by walking a set distance, and that distance varies by species. The standard tiers are:

This is the only reliable way to farm Candy for Pokemon that rarely spawn, such as regionals or Legendaries you caught once. A buddy also has a chance to bring Candy as a "find" at higher affection, which our rarest Pokemon guide notes is useful for species you cannot catch in the wild.

Affection levels and hearts

Buddy affection is measured in hearts earned through daily interactions. The four tiers are Good Buddy, Great Buddy, Ultra Buddy, and Best Buddy, reached at 1, 70, 150, and 300 hearts respectively. You can earn a limited number of hearts each day, so reaching Best Buddy is a multi-week commitment for a single Pokemon unless you optimize.

Daily heart sources include feeding three berries, playing together, taking a snapshot, battling in a Gym or raid, visiting a new location, and walking at least 2 km with the buddy. Keeping the buddy "Excited" by interacting regularly doubles the heart cap for that day, so a fed, played-with, snapshot buddy racks up hearts far faster than a passive one.

Best Buddy CP boost and perks

At Best Buddy, a Pokemon displays a ribbon and receives a permanent CP boost equal to two full upgrade levels, applied as if its level were two higher. This does not change IVs, but it can push a Pokemon above a PvP breakpoint or just make your favorite look stronger. The boost is cosmetic in stats terms yet meaningful in close battles.

Best Buddy also unlocks the single most useful buddy perk for raiders: a Best Buddy Pokemon can mega evolve once per day for free, without spending Mega Energy, provided its species has been mega evolved before. Our Mega Evolution guide explains why this saves enormous energy over time.

Ultra Buddy and exploration perks

At Ultra Buddy, your buddy starts bringing presents (sometimes with items), and it can highlight nearby points of interest, suggesting location names as you walk. The present feature occasionally yields useful items, and the location suggestions help complete Field Research that requires spinning new Pokestops. These perks make Ultra Buddy the recommended tier for a "daily walker" buddy even before Best.

Picking the right buddy

Choose your buddy based on your goal:

• Need Candy? Pick a species with a short walk distance or one you are trying to evolve or power up.
• Want a free daily mega? Make a frequently used Mega-capable Pokemon your Best Buddy.
• Chasing PvP? Best Buddy a core team member for the CP boost; the Great League guide and Ultra League guide list strong picks.
• Hunting rare Candy? A regional or Legendary buddy slowly banks Candy you cannot farm otherwise; our regional Pokemon guide shows which species are worth the walk.

Managing multiple buddies

You can only have one active buddy, but swapping is free and instant, so many players rotate: a Candy buddy during the week, a Best Buddy mega for raid days, and a PvP buddy before league seasons. Because affection is per-Pokemon and persists, you can build several Best Buddies over months without losing progress on earlier ones.

Storage matters here too; keep your buddy candidates tagged and protected using the Pokemon storage tips so you never transfer a half-built Best Buddy by mistake.

Farming hearts without wasting a day

The fastest route to Best Buddy is stacking every daily heart source while the buddy is Excited, but you can be smart about the order. Feed three berries first thing, snap a photo, battle a low-cost raid or Gym, then walk 2 km while the game is open so the distance heart and the new-location heart both trigger. Visiting a Pokestop you have never spun also grants a discovery heart, so route your walk through fresh stops. The Excited mood doubles the daily cap, and it is lost if you swap buddies or skip interaction, so pick one Pokemon and stay loyal for the day. Players building several Best Buddies rotate targets weekly rather than daily to preserve Excited status and avoid resetting progress.

Best Buddy for PvP leagues

The Best Buddy CP boost equals two level equivalents, which can flip PvP matchups in the Great League and Ultra League where small stat edges decide outcomes. A Pokemon sitting just below a key breakpoint gains that edge while buddied, letting you win charge-move races you would otherwise lose. The boost disappears if you switch buddies, so keep your league core as the active buddy during a season. For raid players the bigger buddy prize is the free daily mega, detailed in our Mega Evolution guide, which often matters more than the CP bump for damage-focused players who mostly raid.

FAQ

How do I reach Best Buddy fast?

Earn the daily heart cap every day while keeping your buddy Excited, which doubles the cap. Hit all sources: feed three berries, play, snapshot, battle, visit a new stop, and walk 2 km. With the Excited bonus you can approach the per-day maximum, but reaching 300 hearts still takes weeks, so consistency matters more than any single trick. Swapping buddies resets the Excited mood, so stay loyal to one at a time.

Does Best Buddy change IVs or just CP?

Best Buddy adds a CP boost equal to two level equivalents but does not alter Individual Values. The Pokemon's underlying stats stay identical; only the effective combat power rises while it is your buddy. This is enough to nudge some PvP matchups but will not turn a bad-IV Pokemon into a perfect one, so choose high-IV candidates for the boost.

Can my buddy find Candy and items?

Yes. At higher affection tiers, especially Ultra and Best Buddy, your buddy can present you with gifts that sometimes contain items, and it has a chance to surface Candy for its own species. The Candy find is slow but valuable for Pokemon you cannot catch in the wild, such as regionals or one-copy Legendaries you are trying to power up.

Is the free daily mega worth building Best Buddies?

For players who raid or mega evolve often, absolutely. A Best Buddy Charizard, for example, can mega evolve every day at no energy cost after the first, which saves the energy you would otherwise farm from repeated Mega Raids. Our Mega Evolution guide details the energy savings, and the remote raid pass guide helps you join those raids.

Can I change my buddy without losing progress?

Yes. You can swap your active buddy at any time, and the affection hearts and Best Buddy status on the previous buddy are preserved. Swapping does reset the Excited mood and the daily progress toward that day's hearts, so avoid needless switching mid-day. Many players keep one Best Buddy as a permanent mega source and rotate a second buddy for Candy.