Pokemon GO Buddy Guide: Friendship Levels, Candy Farming & Best Buddies

The buddy system is one of those Pokemon GO features that looks simple on the surface but hides a surprising amount of depth. Pick a Pokemon, walk some kilometres, get candy — sounds straightforward. But once you understand friendship levels, the Best Buddy CP boost, and which Pokemon are actually worth walking, you start squeezing a lot more value out of every step.

I’ve been using the buddy system to steadily build candy for a Dragonite and a Tyranitar over several months, and the difference it makes for powering up rare Pokemon is huge. This guide covers everything from the basics to the strategies worth your time.

How the Buddy System Works

Set any Pokemon as your buddy from the buddy profile screen (tap your avatar, then the buddy icon). Once assigned, that Pokemon appears on your map and starts earning hearts as you interact with it. Earn enough hearts and your friendship level climbs. Hearts are capped at 10 per day across six activity categories:

Walk together — walk the required km distance
Give a treat — feed berries (up to 3 treats per heart)
Play together — tap your buddy on the map screen
Battle together — use your buddy in a Gym, Raid, or Trainer Battle
Take a snapshot — AR photo of your buddy
Visit a new place — spin a PokéStop your buddy hasn’t been to

You earn one candy for every km walked (based on the Pokemon’s candy distance), regardless of friendship level. Friendship levels unlock additional perks on top of that.

Buddy Friendship Levels and Perks

There are four friendship levels, each unlocking progressively better perks.

Good Buddy (1 heart)

Your buddy appears on the map beside you. This is the entry level — you get the visual companion and can start earning walking candy. No major gameplay perks yet.

Great Buddy (70 hearts)

Your buddy finds you gifts and items during walks, and occasionally helps you catch wild Pokemon by distracting them (makes the catch circle larger and easier to hit).

Ultra Buddy (150 hearts)

Your buddy brings you Souvenirs (cosmetic collectibles) and also alerts you to nearby PokéStops, showing them on your map even outside normal range. At this level your buddy will also occasionally find Eggs at PokéStops.

Best Buddy (300 hearts)

The top tier. You get a Best Buddy ribbon on your Pokemon’s summary screen, and — most importantly — a permanent +1 CP level boost when that Pokemon is your active buddy. This effectively makes the Pokemon behave as though it’s one power-up level higher. The boost only applies while the Pokemon is set as your active buddy.

Reaching Best Buddy takes time (roughly 30 days of consistent daily hearts), so it’s worth being strategic about which Pokemon you prioritise.

Candy Walking Distances

Every Pokemon species has a set candy distance — the km you must walk to earn one candy. Rarer and more powerful Pokemon generally require longer walks. Here are the four tiers:

Distance	Example Pokemon	Notes
1 km	Caterpie, Pidgey, Magikarp	Fast candy — great for evolutions needing 400 candy (Magikarp → Gyarados)
3 km	Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Eevee, Pikachu	Standard distance for most common starters and fan favourites
5 km	Machop, Larvitar, Dratini, Beldum, Feebas	Power-up targets — these Pokemon need a lot of candy and are worth the walk
20 km	Legendaries (Mewtwo, Rayquaza, etc.)	Very slow — only worth walking if you have no other candy source for that Legendary

Note: Some Pokemon shift candy distances after evolution (e.g. Magikarp is 1 km but Gyarados is 3 km). Always check the buddy distance before evolving if you want to farm candy faster.

Best Buddies to Walk

Not every Pokemon is worth the investment. Here are the categories where buddy walking pays off most.

400-Candy Evolutions

Two Pokemon require 400 candies to evolve — Magikarp (→ Gyarados) and Meltan (→ Melmetal). Magikarp is 1 km per candy, making it the single most efficient candy-farming buddy in the game. If you don’t have a Gyarados yet, walk Magikarp until you do. Meltan requires a Mystery Box to catch, but walking one as a buddy speeds up the candy grind significantly.

Eevee Evolutions

Eevee is 3 km per candy and evolves into eight different forms. If you’re building toward Espeon, Umbreon, Sylveon, or any other Eeveelution and are short on candy, Eevee is a solid long-term walk. Sylveon specifically requires earning 70 hearts with Eevee as your buddy before evolving — so you’ll be walking it anyway.

Rare Power-Up Targets (5 km tier)

This is where buddy walking has the biggest impact on your team strength:

Larvitar (→ Tyranitar) — one of the best Rock/Dark attackers; candy is scarce outside events
Dratini (→ Dragonite) — classic Dragon attacker, still relevant for raids
Beldum (→ Metagross) — top Steel/Psychic attacker; very rare spawns
Gible (→ Garchomp) — arguably the best non-Legendary Dragon attacker; extremely rare
Deino (→ Hydreigon) — Dark/Dragon; rare and candy-hungry

If you have a strong IV specimen of any of these and not enough candy to power it up, set it as your buddy and leave it walking in the background. Even at 5 km per candy, consistent walking adds up over weeks.

Feebas

Feebas deserves its own mention. It evolves into Milotic at 100 candies and requires walking 20 km with Feebas as your buddy before the evolution option appears. You have no choice but to walk it — so plan ahead and keep Feebas as your buddy until you hit both the km and candy requirements.

The Best Buddy CP Boost — Is It Worth It?

The Best Buddy boost is real but conditional. It gives your Pokemon a +1 CP level boost (equivalent to two power-up presses), but only while that Pokemon is your active buddy. Switch buddies, and the boosted CP disappears from that Pokemon.

This matters most for your primary raid attacker. If you have a Mewtwo or Garchomp you use constantly in raids, getting it to Best Buddy status gives it a permanent edge as long as you keep it set as your buddy. For most casual players, the boost is a nice bonus rather than something to chase aggressively — but for PvP players and hardcore raiders, it can push a Pokemon over key CP thresholds.

Check our IVs guide for how CP and IVs interact, and why a high-IV Best Buddy will outperform a low-IV one even with the boost.

The Mood System: Keeping Your Buddy Happy

Your buddy has a mood meter with six states: Tired, Hungry, Neutral, Happy, Very Happy, and Excited. The higher the mood, the more efficiently it earns hearts (Excited mood means extra buddy candy when walking).

To raise mood:

Feed berries — the fastest way to boost mood; any berry works, Pinap or Razz are fine
Play — tap your buddy on the Adventure Map (the buddy on your main screen)
Walk — simply walking together slowly raises mood over time
Battle together — using your buddy in any battle type helps

The Excited state also grants one bonus candy per km walked on top of the standard candy rate — so keeping your buddy excited when you know you’re going for a long walk is worth the berry spend. Mood decays over time, so top it up at the start of a play session.

Tips for Efficient Buddy Candy Farming

Adventure Sync — walking distance counts even when the app is closed. Enable it in settings so every step you take contributes to buddy candy.
Prioritise one buddy — switching buddies doesn’t reset hearts but it pauses your streak. Pick a long-term target and stick with it.
Pair with egg hatching — both buddy candy and egg hatching reward kilometres walked. Use a 5 km egg slot while walking your buddy for double value. See our hatch eggs faster guide for the full breakdown on Adventure Sync and incubator strategy.
Use Poffins — Poffins (available in the shop) instantly boost your buddy to Excited and keep them in that state longer. Worth using before long walks if you have some.
Daily hearts first — complete all six heart activities each day before focusing on walking. The snapshot, play, and battle hearts take under a minute and significantly speed up the road to Best Buddy.

Buddy candy farming is one of the most reliable ways to build stardust-efficient power-up progress. Pair it with our stardust farming guide to make sure you always have enough dust to use the candy you earn.