How to Catch Ditto in Pokemon GO

Catching a Ditto is one of the harder tasks in Pokemon GO. Since Ditto is elusive, it is a Pokemon frequently used as a quest requirement in field research and special research tasks. 

In fact, January 2020’s Field Research tasks include catching a Ditto, with a handsome reward should you succeed:

• 1,500 Stardust
• 3 Rare Candy
• 2 Golden Razz Berries
• or 10 Ultra Balls

How to Catch Ditto in Pokemon GO

Niantic took Ditto’s signature Transform ability to heart. You won’t ever encounter plain Ditto in the wild. Instead, you’ll encounter Pokemon that Ditto transformed into.

How do you know if a Pokemon is Ditto? Catch it! If it’s Ditto, a different message will display instead of the “Gotcha!” message that normally appears.

Pokemon Ditto Can Transform Into

Fortunately, the pool of Ditto-potential Pokemon is fairly limited:

• Weedle
• Paras
• Venonat
• Hoothoot
• Hoppip
• Spinarak
• Ledyba
• Remoraid
• Skitty
• Numel
• Whismur
• Seedot
• Gulpin
• Bidoof

Ditto has much higher CP than the average Pokemon, so if you come across a Whismur (for example) that’s surprisingly difficult to catch, it could very well be a Ditto in disguise. Keep a stock of Razz Berries and Ultra Balls on hand when you go Ditto hunting.

There have been rare cases of Ditto encounters offered for completing Field Research, though these instances are the exception, not the rule.

Fortunately, if you’re trying to complete the Meltan or Mew quest lines, or any other similar quests, they don’t disappear like the timed research tasks. You’ll have plenty of time to scour the fields and forests for the little goo blob.

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On top of this month’s research tasks, don’t forget the Looming in the Shadows quest line restarted on the first of the month as well.

That’s all you need to know for how to catch Ditto in Pokemon GO, but be sure to check out our other Pokemon GO guides for more tips and tricks to keep you at the top of your game.