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Our Mission

A Pokédex you can trust. Guides you can use. No filler.

Our Mission

Last updated: May 2026 · Author: Marcus K., Editor-in-Chief

Pogodex exists because most Pokémon GO resources on the web have, over time, drifted away from serving the player and toward serving the algorithm. Listicles padded out to 2,500 words to satisfy SEO assumptions. Raid tier lists updated every six months when the meta has shifted three times in between. GO Battle League tier lists written by people who haven’t played PvP in two seasons. IV calculators wrapped in five layers of pop-up advertising. Pages that are 80% AI-generated text and 20% actual information.

We are trying to do something different. The mission, in one sentence: build the Pokémon GO database we wish existed, and keep it that way.

What that means in practice

The mission breaks down into a few concrete commitments. They are connected to operational decisions that affect how the site is built and edited.

Source-verified data, not estimated

Every numerical figure on Pogodex — base attack, base defense, base HP, move base power, move duration, energy generation, dodge windows, candy XL drop rates — is verified against the game’s actual data files. We use the publicly maintained PokeMiners game master archive as the primary reference, cross-checked against in-game observation. When Niantic ships a balance update, we update within 24 hours. When the data is genuinely uncertain (newly introduced moves with unconfirmed mechanics, for example), we say so explicitly rather than guessing.

Hands-on testing for raid counters and team building

A counter that “should work” on paper is not a counter. We test in-game. Raid counters that we recommend have actually beaten the relevant raid boss in our testing, with documented setups (level, IVs, moveset) and documented results (time-to-kill, deaths). The full methodology is on How We Verify Data.

PvP tier lists by people who actually play PvP

Marcus and Aria play GO Battle League every season, in all three core leagues (Great, Ultra, Master) and in seasonal Cup formats. Tier list updates come out of actual ladder experience, not theory-crafted spreadsheet meta. We say which leagues we have personally laddered in this season, and we flag analyses where we are leaning on community consensus rather than personal experience.

Honest about Pokémon GO’s frustrations

Pokémon GO has aspects that are genuinely frustrating: stardust scarcity, Mega energy walls, raid pass costs, the Mega Beedrill question, the way the catch screen sometimes lies about throw bonuses. We write through these frustrations rather than around them. A guide to whether to power up a particular Pokémon is more useful when it explains the opportunity cost of stardust than when it cheerfully says “yes, it’s great!”

Respect for the player’s time and resources

Stardust is the limiting resource for the average trainer. Pokémon GO is a free-to-play game with optional purchases, but its real currency for most players is time. When we write a guide, the implicit question is: “is this worth your time and stardust right now?” We try to give a defensible answer.

No promotion of cheating or third-party tools that violate Niantic’s TOS

We do not promote, link to, or otherwise facilitate GPS spoofing, third-party software that reads game data, multi-accounting beyond what Niantic’s own family-account system allows, or account-sharing arrangements. The site is built for trainers who play the game. The full statement is on our Disclaimer and Terms of Service.

Who this site is for

Pogodex is built primarily for three player profiles:

  • The casual trainer who plays daily, is at level 35–45, has limited stardust, and wants to make smart investment decisions about which Pokémon to power up, which raids to pay for, and which events to plan around.
  • The returning trainer who lapsed during one of Pokémon GO’s quieter periods and is coming back to a game with new mechanics (Mega Evolution, Best Buddy boosts, Shadow purification, Routes, Party Play) and wants a brisk catch-up rather than a 10-part beginner series.
  • The competitive PvP player who plays GO Battle League seriously and wants tier lists and matchup spreads that reflect the actual current ladder, not last season’s meta.

It is not built primarily for the trainer who wants the kind of frame-by-frame raid timing analysis that requires a video recording rig, or for the very small minority of players doing competitive Silph Arena tournaments at the very top of the format. We respect those audiences; we are just not their best resource.

What we measure ourselves against

The signs that we are doing the mission well are concrete:

  • Time from Niantic announcement to updated content on the site — ideally same day, maximum 48 hours for substantive analysis.
  • Reader feedback that a recommendation actually helped them make a stardust decision they were happy with after the fact.
  • Raid coordinators using our counter lists in their own group plans without modification.
  • Returning trainers telling us they got back into the game faster because of our catch-up coverage.
  • PvP players telling us our matchup spreads are accurate to their actual ladder experience.

The signs that we are drifting from the mission are also concrete:

  • Articles whose primary purpose is keyword targeting rather than answering a question.
  • “Top 10 Pokémon GO” listicles that exist because they rank on Google.
  • Tier-list updates that are too slow to be useful.
  • Affiliate or advertising relationships influencing editorial recommendations.

If you spot any of these on the site, please email info [at] pogodex [punto] space. We want to know.

The longer view

Pokémon GO is in its tenth year. The game has survived its early hype, several near-collapses, the COVID-era boom, the 2022 community backlash over remote raid pricing, and continues to evolve. As long as Niantic maintains the game and the player base remains engaged, Pogodex will be here, updating raid counters, refreshing tier lists, and documenting the events that make up the rhythm of the trainer’s year.

If at some point the game ends, the site will document the closing well, archive what is worth archiving, and stand as a record of how the game played at the moment we stopped writing.

Related pages: About Us · Editorial Standards · How We Verify Data · Sources & Citations · Contact Us