Pinap tier list — when to use Silver, Gold, or nothing

The Pinap family of berries is the most under-optimized item in most trainers' bags. Pinap doubles candy. Silver Pinap doubles candy AND adds a 1.8× catch-rate multiplier. Golden Razz is a 2.5× catch-rate multiplier with NO candy bonus. Most trainers reach for the wrong one every single raid. This post fixes that.

The decision tree, in 3 questions

1. Is the encounter a raid boss or rare wild? → Silver Pinap (default). You get the candy AND a real catch-rate boost.
2. Is the catch ring red and the mon is irreplaceable (legendary you missed)? → Golden Razz. Pure catch insurance.
3. Is it a common wild with green ring? → Regular Pinap (or nothing). You do not need the catch boost.

That's the whole strategy. The trap most trainers fall into is reaching for Golden Razz on raid bosses because the ring is red and scary. But you only get 5-10 raid balls — the catch-rate boost from Silver Pinap (1.8×) is usually enough, and the doubled candy compounds across hundreds of raids.

The 91% IV threshold rule

When you appraise after the catch and discover an 80%+ IV mon (3-star or higher), don't Power Up immediately. Check whether it's worth the Stardust against your current best. We use a 91% threshold — anything below that, and the Power Up calculator will almost always say 'save your dust'.

Why? Because the Stardust cost to L50 Best Buddy a single mon is ~250 000 dust. A sub-91% IV spread loses 1-4% damage vs hundo. That dust earns more in your account by going toward a mon that's actually optimal — see the Functional Hundos guide for why 91%+ is the magic line.

Per-species Pinap priority — the actual tier list

S tier — Silver Pinap every single encounter, no exceptions

• ▸Community Day featured species (3-hour candy multiplier matters here)
• ▸Legendaries you do not have hundo / shiny of
• ▸Mythicals from raids or research
• ▸Pseudo-legendaries (Dratini, Larvitar, Beldum, Gible, Deino, Goomy, Jangmo-o, Dreepy)
• ▸Regionals encountered during travel
• ▸Any boss with a guaranteed shiny event

A tier — Silver Pinap if you have spare; Pinap otherwise

• ▸Mons you are walking with as buddy (candy synergy)
• ▸XL-required ML picks (Garchomp, Dragonite, Tyranitar, Metagross — you need ~300 XL)
• ▸Niantic event spawns when you are short on time
• ▸Spotlight Hour featured species (2× catch dust + 1.5× candy already on top)

B tier — regular Pinap is fine

• ▸Common spawns you want candy for but already have ample raid balls
• ▸Lure-attracted spawns during incense use
• ▸Egg-hatched mons (cannot Pinap anyway, but mentioned for completeness)

F tier — do NOT waste berries

• ▸Magikarp (you need 400 candy to evolve to Gyarados, so candy seems valuable — but Magikarp spawns are common AND the Magikarp Community Day handles the bulk)
• ▸Pidgey / Caterpie / Weedle / Rattata / Sentret (XP fodder during Lucky Egg, save berries)
• ▸Spawns when your storage is full of candy already (Pokémon you've maxed)

Golden Razz — the emergency-only rule

Golden Razz Berry's catch-rate boost (2.5×) is the largest in the game, but it carries zero candy bonus. So you're trading 100% candy and the Silver Pinap catch bonus for an extra 0.7× catch chance. Math: if Silver Pinap catches a raid boss 40% of the time per ball, Golden Razz catches it 55%. A ~15 percentage-point edge in exchange for losing the candy doubler.

Bottle Cap eligibility — the post-catch IV question

After catching, the next question is whether to use a Bronze / Silver / Gold Bottle Cap (introduced in 2025) on a sub-hundo to max it. Same threshold applies: 91% IV is the floor. Use our Bottle Cap Eligibility calculator to see which mons in your collection are worth the Bottle Cap investment.

Bottom line

• ▸Silver Pinap is your default for any encounter you actually care about.
• ▸Golden Razz is emergency catch insurance on the last ball.
• ▸Regular Pinap for grinding common species you want candy from.
• ▸Below 91% IV, save the Power Up dust for a better mon.