PoGO – Pokémon Go: Catch Ditto - this is how the shapeshifter currently “disguises” itself

Pokémon Go newcomers and casual players will want to catch a Ditto at least once in their career as a trainer, namely to complete the Meltan Special Research “More on Meltan” and the Mew Special Research “A Mysterious Discovery.” Once in a blue moon, when a new generation is available in Pokémon Go, Ditto changes the “form” it appears in in the wild – we’ll tell you which Pokémon it’s currently “hiding” as in the wild.

Update from June 23, 2020: Since the last update of our “disguise” guide for Ditto in Pokémon Go, all sorts of new mon have come into the game, which at first glance appear different in the wild than you will then discover when you catch them. And newcomers and casual players alike may want to complete the special research on Meltan (“More on Meltan”) and Mew (“A Mysterious Discovery”) at some point. After all, both special researches require players to banish a Ditto into their Pokéball.

You may also want to combine this so that you only need to catch one Ditto for both researches in the end. Since the first steps of researching Meltan and Mew are identical, even if you’re a newbie, you’ll be able to match the timing with no trouble at all. You should play “More on Meltan” to step 3 and then take “A Mysterious Discovery” to step 5 so that you have to catch a Ditto for both special researches. And hope for your luck afterwards that you find a transformed Ditto, because you can’t really target it. The following Pokémon in the wild of Pokémon Go can currently turn out to be Ditto after being caught. We wish you good luck in the hunt!

Hornliu (Gen 1)
Paras (Gen 1)
Hoothoot (Gen 2)
Ledyba (Gen 2)
Webarak (Gen 2)
Hoppspross (Gen 2)
Remoraid (Gen 2)
Flurmel (Gen 3)
Schluppuck (Gen 3)
Camaub (Gen 3)
Bidiza (Gen 4)
Tarnpignon (Gen 5)

News about Pokémon Go can also be found regularly on the blog of developer studio Niantic.

Original news from February 28, 2018: Ditto, the shapeshifting Pokémon, has long been scarce in Niantic’s Pocket Monsters app. It wasn’t until November 2016, several months after Pokémon Go launched, that the “normal” type shifter Pokémon was spotted and could then be caught by trainers around the world. The main attraction of Ditto is its uniqueness. Ditto can’t just be caught in the wild… whereas…. actually he can. However, the pink blop does not reveal itself as Ditto.

It’s only after you’ve caught a Pokémon that it may reveal itself to be a Ditto. That’s why it’s worth the trainers’ while to hunt for any Pokémon on the side of the road, no matter how unimportant and harmless it may seem – at least if you haven’t caught a Ditto yet. Because with a Ditto to fight in the arena, you should safely forget. We’ll explain why in more detail later.

For those of you who haven’t had a Ditto yet, it’s interesting to see what other Pokémon the shapeshifter can pretend to be. The PoGo fans at PokémonGoHub have created a handy overview for you. Ditto is far from being able to impersonate any other Pokémon; it can currently only “disguise” itself as one of eight Pokémon. Ditto is also more difficult to catch than the Pokémon it claims to be – the chance is 20 percent of the value of the mons whose form Ditto has taken. So, assuming you have a Zubat or a Taubsi in front of your Pokéball that has escaped the ball a couple of times, in theory the odds are that you are actually in the process of catching a Ditto. Theoretically. Practically, of course, you may just be unlucky in catching it. So, Ditto can turn out to be the following Pokémon:

Karpador (Generation 1)
Rattfratz (Generation 1)
Taubsi (Generation 1)
Zubat (Generation 1)
Hoothoot (Generation 2)
Wiesor (Generation 2)
Yanma (Generation 2)
Schwalbini (Generation 3)

Once you’ve caught Ditto, it’s interesting for you to know that as a Normal Pokémon, Ditto benefits from a bonus especially in partly cloudy weather. By the way, if the mon you originally targeted is a Shiny and it turns out to be Ditto, unfortunately Ditto will not be entered into your PokéDex in its Shiny variant.

Now for the battle: When you attack an Arena Team with a Ditto, Ditto will mimic the Pokémon it first encountered throughout the battle. If that Pokémon is a weak-breasted Golbat, then you’re out of luck. If Ditto “copies” a stronger mon, you have a better chance of success. Nevertheless, Ditto’s health points remain low even then, which makes him the PoGo equivalent of the mage in WoW: he can dish it out well, but he can’t take it. Just a glass cannon. If you ever encounter a defending Ditto, the PokémonGoHub writers recommend sending a Chaneira into battle. While Chaneira has a lot of health, Ditto can’t mimic it, only the Chaneira’s rather weak defensive and attack stats – so you should have an easy time of it.

The conclusion: catching Ditto is quite cool to complete the collection. In battle, however, the Pokémon doesn’t do very much because its health remains the same.

Pokémon GO

Pokémon Go is the mobile spin-off of Nintendo’s popular Pokémon game series for Android and iOS. It is a so-called “location-based game”, i.e. a game that uses the player’s immediate surroundings. It is based on the principle of augmented reality.

Pokémon Map: Between landmarks and sights

Pokémon Go uses a Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine the player’s location and displays it on a map that also represents the playing field. The map is based on OpenStreetMap maps. The game is played mostly outdoors and uses landmarks, landmarks and other notable or eye-catching objects in the world to position either PokéStops or arenas there for you to battle for supremacy. Join either Team Intuition (Team Yellow, Zapdos), Team Wisdom (Team Blue, Arktos), or Team Daring (Team Red, Lavados). Under their flag you can then fight for the arenas, which are placed at hotspots like churches or similar. Pokémon can appear anywhere, though.

Pocket monsters visible on the Pokémon Go Map are randomly loaded into the game’s virtual map by the game server. If several players are playing in the same location, each player can see and catch the Pokémon independently of the others.

Pokémon Go Updates, News, Raids and More

The developers at Niantic regularly provide Pokémon Go with new updates or special raids that should only be tackled in a group of several people. The Pokémon Go Raids are therefore very popular, as they also offer the prospect of particularly rare Pokémon. For example, in the past, legendary Pokémon could always be caught on special occasions (Pokémon Go events). For particularly eager mobile or smartphone Pokémon trainers, there is also an external IV calculator, such as the online tool from Pokemon.gameinfo.io or on Pokefans.net, to check the values of your Pokémon.