Looking to catch Mew or Mewtwo in Pokémon Go? You're not alone. Mewtwo and Mew are some of the most coveted Pokémon in the entire franchise and catching them in Pokémon Go is no easy feat. Thankfully, there is a way you can get your hands on two of the most legendary Pokémon and we show you how to do just that.
Mewtwo is a Legendary Psychic type Pokémon and in terms of stats, it's considered to be one of the most powerful if not the most powerful Pokémon you can catch in the game. They have a max CP of 4178 and its base stats are 300 attack, 182 defense and 214 stamina. However, Mewtwo is vulnerable to Bug, Dark and Ghost type Pokémon, so if you’re planning an encounter with one, these are your best bets to weaken it.
Mew, on the other hand, is an extremely rare and mythical Pokémon and while it isn't as strong as Mewtwo, it's still a powerhouse with 210 base attack, 210 defence and 225 stamina and it's super cute to boot! Whether you're playing on the best iPhone or the best Windows laptop, trying to catch Mew or Mewtwo in Pokémon Go is hard going, but definitely not impossible.
With this in mind, we've put together this handy guide to show you exactly how catch Mew or Mewtwo in Pokémon Go. If you want more tips and tricks after you've captured Mew or Mewtwo, everything you need to know about Pokemon Go has got you covered. And if you're not fussed on this particular game in the franchise, check out our guide to the best Pokémon games for plenty of other great options.
How to catch Mew in Pokémon Go
The process to catch Mew or Mewtwo in Pokémon Go can feel extremely long-winded but it’s completely achievable if you’ve got the time and some patience. Let's start with Mew. When you get to the stage in the game to unlock Research Tasks, which is nice and early on, you’re going to want to focus on the one called “A Mythical Discovery” which should say 1/8 next to it.
Completing the eight steps will unlock a bunch of nifty rewards like Incense and Poké Balls, but the real reason to complete the quest is to catch the Mythical Pokémon Mew. Buckle up, here are all the steps you must complete:
Mew quest 1/8
- Spin five Pokéstops
- Catch 10 Pokémon
- Transfer five Pokémon
These steps are nice and straightforward and especially easy to start with. The Pokestops, which are typically landmarks, can be spun by physically going to them on the map and then swiping on them to spin them around. Each spin gives you plenty of rewards but the stops have a cooldown to stop you spamming them.
Catching 10 Pokémon is nice and easy and, if you happen to catch duplicates you can simply transfer them to Professor Willow which ties in nicely to the third objective here. To transfer a Pokémon, tap the Pokéball icon at the bottom of the screen and then tap on the Pokémon tab. This will bring up all the critters you’ve captured so far, so just choose one you don’t mind parting with and press the three bars at the bottom right of your screen and select ‘Transfer’.
You’ll get 500XP for clearing each challenge and once you clear all of these in step 1 you’ll get 10 Great Balls, 1 incubator and 3 lures.
Mew quest 2/8
- Earn 2 candies walking with your buddy
- Make 10 ‘Great’ throws
- Hatch 3 eggs
Now the tasks are ramping up a bit, with this one requiring you to walk about 6km.
Start by setting a ‘Buddy’ Pokémon which has a low candy distance, for example a Caterpie or a Magikarp, and we suggest the latter option as you’ll need all the Magikarp candy you can get your hands on for a later step – whatever you do, don’t use any to evolve your Magikarp yet. As you walk, you earn candy for the Pokémon you’ve chosen as your buddy and you can keep an eye on your progress by tapping your buddy’s icon and scrolling to the bottom of the page.
A Great throw is where the bullseye circle is around half its size and you get it right in the middle. If you go too small it’ll be ‘Excellent’, but this will still count as a ‘Great’ throw, so you just have to perfect your throwing to make sure you’re being as accurate as possible.
Hatching eggs is also fairly straightforward. Each egg has a specific distance you need to walk to hatch it, so take a look at the ones you have and use your lowest-distance incubator options. Once you’ve selected an incubator to place the egg into, you simply have to get walking, so take a trip with your buddy!
That’s step 2 done and dusted. Clearing these challenges will give you 1000XP each and net you 2000 Stardust, 3 incense and 20 Great Balls.
Mew stage 3/8
- Reach level 15
- Battle in a Gym x2
- Battle in 2 Raids
Reaching level 15 should be easy enough by just playing. To help you get there, taking part in Gym battles and Raids will give you a huge XP bonus, so all of these challenges synergise really well with each other. Make sure to use up some XP-boosting items like the Lucky Egg for some more rewards from Raid battles. The best part is you don’t have to win or catch anything, you just need to participate.
Each of these rewards will give you 1500XP each and you’ll also get 1 Quick TM, 1 Charge TM, and 2 Star Pieces.
Mew stage 4/8
- Earn a silver Kanto medal
- Evolve 20 Pokémon
- Earn 5 candies by walking with you buddy
Earning a silver Kanto medal requires you to catch 50 of the 151 original Pokémon, so you might already have this one done by the time you get to this part of the quest.
Evolving Pokémon is also nice and easy, just make sure you go for ones which can evolve quickly, so either a Pidgey, Wurmple, Caterpie or Weedle. Mass catch them for the candy and then evolve them all at once! All of these are cheap to evolve and will give you about 500XP per evolution.
Again, with getting candy, make sure you pick a low-distance travelling buddy to blast through this challenge. Completing all of these nets 2000XP for each one and you’ll also get 20 Great balls, 3 lures and 4000 stardust for your troubles. You’re now half way to catching Mew.
Mew stage 5/8
- Catch a Ditto
- Make 20 ‘Great’ throws
- Catch 10 Ghost Pokémon
This might be something of a wall for a lot of players as catching a Ditto is no easy feat. In fact, it’s definitely one of the most difficult ones to nab because you can’t actually see a Ditto on the field, you will only find out if it was one after you catch it. Fortunately, Ditto can only take on the appearance of a select number of Pokémon, which helps in narrowing down the search,
You’ll want to look out for the following Pokémon and just capture any of them you come across:
- Paras
- Hoothoot
- Spinarak
- Hoppip
- Remoraid
- Whismur
- Gulpin
- Numel
- Bidoof
- Foongus
This part will take a great deal of time because there’s no surefire way to tell which one is a Ditto, so be prepared for a long slog. A good strategy to use here is some incense and lures to bring these specific Pokémon to you, eventually one of them will be a Ditto. It’s important to note that if you caught one before the challenge asks you to, it will not count.
Once you’ve nabbed yourself a Ditto, you’ll want to start catching those Ghost Pokemon. Ghost types, as you might guess, are more common when the sun goes down in-app, which is typically around 8pm and before the sun rises at 8am. Checking around these times will be the best time to net yourself some Ghost Pokémon.
If you manage to pass these gargantuan tasks, you’ll get a measly 2500XP for each but you’ll also get 1 Premium Raid Pass, 1 Lucky Egg and 15 Revives for your efforts. Still with us? Read on for the final few steps.
Mew stage 6/8
- Reach level 25
- Battle in 10 Raids
- Evolve a Magikarp
You’ve most likely gotten yourself to level 25 simply by playing through these challenges (and all the attempted Ditto captures) at this point, but if you need extra XP make sure you’re using your Lucky Eggs when you’re Raiding or evolving Pokémon for that extra boost!
Evolving a Magikarp requires a whopping 400 candies to turn it into a Gyarados. If you need extra candies, stuffing your Magikarp with plenty of Pinap Berries will net you double candy. Once again, however, this process will require patience but it’s definitely worth it. Think about the Mew-shaped reward which is slowly but surely coming your way.
As ever, each step cleared gives you 3000XP and for completing this step you also get 6000 stardust, 5 Rare Candy and 3 incense.
Mew stage 7/8
- Catch 50 Pokémon using a berry
- Make 1 Excellent Curve throw
- Earn a gold Kanto medal
We’re in the home stretch now. While the first challenge asks you to catch Pokémon with a berry, there is something of a glitch where you can simply feed a berry to the Pokémon and not throw a ball at it will register progress towards the task. This method, however, does mean that you won’t be capturing Pokémon, so you’ll miss out on XP and stardust, so it’s up to you whether or not you use this method. Otherwise, just throw some berries at a Pokémon and catch it.
An Excellent Curve throw is definitely more challenging to complete. For this one, you want your bullseye to be as small as possible before you throw. Also, for the curveball, you need the Poké Ball to have stars circling it before you release, so you have to tap and hold to get the spin going before you release it.
You might have earned yourself a gold Kanto medal on your way to through this, as it requires you to catch 100 of the Kanto region Pokémon.
With all that done, you'll get 3500XP for each and 8000 stardust, 20 Ultra Balls and, what you’ve been waiting for, a Mythical Pokémon Encounter. This is it, time to capture your well-earned Mew.
Catch Mew
Mew won’t even run so you have zero chances of failing this. Just throw a ball at Mew and eventually it will stick. You’ll get 4000XP for the catch, 10,000 stardust, 1 super incubator and 20 Mew candy.
Congratulations, you’ve nabbed yourself the Mythical Pokémon Mew, now you can marvel at how adorable it is.
How to catch Mewtwo in Pokémon Go
Mewtwo has been popping in and out of Pokémon Go since the launch of the game, only being available at certain points through special Raid battles and events.
Unfortunately, unless you were quick and paid for a spot in the recent Pokémon Go Tour: Kanto event, there is currently no way to catch Mewtwo in Pokémon Go at the moment. Previously, Mewtwo was available during Raids in 2018 as well as a special Armoured version not too long ago, but these appearances were only available for a limited time.
Fret not, however, as Niantic will no doubt throw everyone’s favorite Legendary Psychic Pokémon back into the mix in the near future. The bad news is that all we can do now is wait. At least there’s plenty to do in Pokémon Go to keep us all entertained until this happens, like gazing lovely at your newly-captured Mew.
And there you have it - you now know how to catch Mew or Mewtwo in Pokémon Go!
