Incense + Middle of Nowhere = Random (awesome) spawns

[yuuago]

So, some of you might have seen discussions about using incense in areas with zero potential spawn points, with the result of random pokemon appearing, including pokemon that you might not normally see. If you haven't seen that, take a look here: PokemonGo Hub post and Reddit post on required distances.

tl;dr: you need to be 1km from a potential spawn point in order for random spawn effect with incense. Do give the reddit post a look; I found it really interesting.

Has anyone here tried it out? How did it go?

I usually don't use my incense immediately, so I had three saved up to use for testing. It went pretty well. :D



I put the incense to use this week while whale watching around Victoria, BC. Obviously, this required being on a boat far from the shore, which means both distance + transport-time spent without much to do aside from admiring the view. I figured it would be a perfect opportunity to test this idea.

Under normal circumstances, I don't catch anything interesting with incense; typically Drowzee, Krabby, Zubat, Pidgey, Rattata, and Spearow. Maybe Gastly if I'm lucky. Out in the middle of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, however, I had some pretty cool results.

I saw and caught pokemon that I've never seen in the wild, as well as several that were new to me.

New to me:
Dratini
Ekans
Doduo
Diglett
Starmie
Charmander
Pikachu
Golduck

Hatched, but never seen wild:
Sandshrew
Cubone
Ponyta
Rhyhorn

Rarely seen in my area:
Abra
Tentacool
Slowpoke
Geodude
Jigglypuff
Omanyte
Bulbasaur
Meowth
Psyduck
Tauros

I was also able to catch many that I do see occasionally but not rarely, like Polywags, Magikarp, and Venonats. (And of course, there were appearances by the common stuff that one sees everywhere.)

So, basically, to the question of "Was it worthwhile to give this a try", I definitely say YES. I'm so happy that I was able to catch that Pikachu, you guys. I've never seen one ever, even from other players in gyms and so on.

A few things to consider:

-Stock up on pokeballs before you attempt this. I almost ran out. It was easy for me to fill my bag with pokeballs, because I was on a boat that had left from a city; in downtown Victoria you can't swing a cat without hitting a pokestop. It would be a lot harder if you're starting from a rural area.
-Save up incense before attempting this. I did not purchase any of my incense; I only used the free ones that you receive through levelling. I used 3, and toward the end, I started getting common pokemon because we were heading closer to shore.
-It's mainly worth it if you're in an area where this is possible to do without travelling too much (like the guy in the reddit post) or if it's for an unrelated occasion that you have planned for, like in my case. Basically - it was cool, but I don't advocate going out of your way to spend unplanned time/money to do this. ;p

I'd love to hear from anyone else who's tried this.

Comments

[ephemera]

That's so cool! I was out in the countryside right when I started playing PokemonGo with literally not a poke-thing for miles around. Next time I'm back there, I will be trying this trick ... Congratulations on the Pikachu, especially!

[yuuago]

:D Hopefully it'll work out for you! The key seems to be to get at least 1km from anything that could be defined as civilization. Report back on how it goes? *_*

[melannen]

...I'm just amazed at your numbers, I rarely get more than half-a-dozen pokemon from an incense and there's been a couple times I've gotten none, which I assumed was lack of good spawn points, so I've mostly stopped bothering at all. Does incense work a lot better if you're moving around while you use it or do I just have bad luck?

[inkstone]

Yeah, incense works better if you're moving. If you're stationary (or close to it), it spawns about 1 mon per 5 minutes. If you're moving, it spawns 1 mon/200km up to 1 spawn/min. (So there's a speed limitation.)

[melannen]

Ah, that makes sense. I'd better use up all my incense in the next couple days while I still have access to a borrowed data plan, then!

[yuuago]

To be honest, I was amazed at the numbers too; I forgot to mention it in the post, but a pokemon was appearing every 2-3 minutes. It was pretty awesome.

Yes, incense does work a lot better if you use it while moving! I've tried it while staying still, but it just doesn't have much of an effect. Walking, or using a vehicle which moves at speeds that don't register as a car, like a bike or a boat, works MUCH better.

[melannen]

That is a pretty amazing pokemon haul.

[inkstone]

I've heard about this trick. That's awesome that it really works!

[yuuago]

I'm just so glad that I was able to try it. In my home area, it's hard to get far enough away for it to work and for cell service to be functioning properly.

[kittydesade]

.... I have a long bus trip coming up, I may have to try this. Thank you for the data!

[surpassingly]

That is super cool, thank you for all the info! We're taking a very long walk in the countryside this month, might be time to try it :D