Bottle Caps are a very rare item added to Pokémon games in Pokémon Sun and Moon, and after many years, you can grab Gold Bottle Caps in Pokémon Go.
These items are still exceedingly rare to find in mainline games, which makes sense, as they’re used for increasing your Pokémon’s stats. It’s no different in Pokémon Go. That’s right — you can turn that 80% IV Mewtwo into a hundo with a Gold Bottle Cap.
Below we explain how Bottle Caps work in Pokémon Go and how to get them.
What Bottle Caps do in Pokémon Go
Pokémon Go doesn’t seem to have regular Bottle Caps yet (and we don’t know if Scopely is planning on adding them), but it does have Gold Bottle Caps, the premier version of the item, allowing you to max out a Pokémon’s stats. In the mainline games, regular Bottle Caps can max out one stat, but Golden Bottle Caps will max out all six (though yes, Pokémon Go only has three stats).
These one-time use items can be used on any non-shadow Pokémon that is a Good Buddy or higher. Once you use it on them, you’ll be given a set of research tasks referred to as “Hyper Training” to complete with this Pokémon, like winning gym battles with your target Pokémon in your party or spinning PokéStops with the Pokémon set as your buddy.
The exact details aren’t 100% known yet, as nobody has a Gold Bottle Cap yet, since it needs to be earned from a battle pass with daily limits (more on that below).
There is also a time limit for this. If you don’t complete the Hyper Training research tasks within 365 days of starting it, it will expire.
How to get Bottle Caps in Pokémon Go
As of this writing, there’s only one way to get a Gold Bottle Cap: buy and complete the deluxe version of the “Go Pass: Ancients Recovered” battle pass ($20). Yep. ☹ This cap also expires on Sunday, July 6, at 11:59 p.m. in your local time, so make sure to use it before then, if you do choose to buy it.
This battle pass works the same as the previous Go Passes, so you can rank up to 100 and then choose to buy the deluxe version, retroactively earning all the premium rewards including the cap, if you want it. Note that from June 23-27, you can only earn 1,000 pass points per day, though this limit will be lifted during the Go Fest Global event on June 28 and 29. You will need to complete and claim all the rewards from this pass by June 29 at 11:59 p.m. in your local time or else they will vanish to the aether.
Image: Scopely
Just like the Lucky Trinket, there will likely be more opportunities to grab this very-rare item, but I wouldn’t put your hopes into any of said methods being free-to-play.
Is the Gold Bottle Cap worth buying?
Just like the Lucky Trinket, the item doesn’t have a coin value and its worth comes from how badly you may want to turn one of your beloved Pokémon into a hundo (100% IV Pokémon).
In this specific case, the “Go Pass: Ancients Recovered” battle pass is pretty underwhelming — there’s no raid passes or Rare Candy XL, with most of the premium rewards being things like Lucky Eggs and Lure Modules.
That is to say that while $20 could net you around 30 Premium Battle Passes (potentially more, if there’s a good bundle), there are some Pokémon that are rare enough that you may want to just use a bottle cap on them if you like them enough. The Galarian birds come to mind with this, or maybe even if you have an old armored Mewtwo, that’s another option. (When is armored Mewtwo coming back, Scopely? Hmm..?)
