Easter Event: How to level up faster and hatch more eggs

Before the Pokémon Go Easter / Spring Event starts:

• Catch as many Caterpie, Pidgey, and Weedle, and low-candy evolution Pokémon as possible before the event starts.
• Catch their evolved forms, Metapod/Butterfree, Pidgeotto/Pidgeot, Kakuna/Beedrill, to get 5 and 10 candy, respectively.
• Use Pinap Berries, if you have them to spare, to double candy to 6, 10, and 20 respectively and get to your evolutions faster.
• Use Lures and Incense, if you have them or are willing to buy them, to increase your catches.
• Transfer 11/12 of every Caterpie, Pidgey, and Weedle you catch to maximize your candy for evolution. Likewise 24/25 Rattata, Hoddip, and other low-candy Pokémon.
• Maximize your storage in the Poké Shop if you have the coins and are willing to spend them.
• Walk all your 2 KM, 5 KM, and 10 KM, Pokémon Eggs until they're just about ready to hatch. Then stop walking them until the event starts.
• Get a Battery Pack for your phone. You'll need it.

As soon as the Pokémon Go Easter / Spring Event starts:

• Crack a Lucky Egg and mass evolve all the Pokémon you've been hoarding, especially 12-candy Pidgey, Caterpie, and Weedle, but also 25-candy starters, Rattata, Hoddip, etc.
• While you're evolving, finish walking your 2 KM, 5 KM, and 10 KM Pokémon Eggs.
• As soon as you finish evolving, start spinning PokéStops to replenish your Pokémon Eggs and take advantage of the increased rare hatches.

During the Pokémon Go Easter / Spring Event:

• Keep catching as many 12-candy and low-candy Pokémon as you can, including their evolved form for 5 or 10 candy each.
• Use Pinap Berries, if you have them to spare, to double candy to 6, 10, and 20 respectively and get to your evolutions faster.
• Use Lures and Incense, if you have them or are willing to buy them, to increase your catches.
• Hatch as many 2 KM, 5 KM, and 10 KM Pokémon Eggs as you can.
• Buy Incubators if you're comfortable doing so to increase your hatch rate.
• Prestige Gyms, if you're good at it and can get max XP in a time-efficient way. (i.e. Strat.)

Before the Pokémon Go Easter / Spring Event Ends:

• Crack a Lucky Egg and mass evolve any remaining Pokémon you have left, especially 12-candy Pidgey, Caterpie, and Weedle, but also 25-candy starters, Rattata, Hoddip, etc.
• While you're evolving, finish walking any remaining 2 KM, 5 KM, and 10 KM Pokémon Eggs.

Stop. Go back. What is this Pokémon Go Easter / Spring Event of which you speak?

Here's what Pokemon Go just announced:

Lace up your walking shoes and get ready to put a spring in your step—the Pokémon GO Eggstravaganza is nearly here! From 1:00 P.M. PDT on April 13 to 1:00 P.M. PDT on April 20, 2017, a greater variety of Pokémon can now be found in 2 km Eggs, so get cracking and see what you find! Your Egg-venture doesn't stop there, though—you'll also earn more Candy for every Egg you hatch!

Throughout this Eggstravaganza, you'll also level up even faster with double XP! Combine this Egg-cellent bonus with a Lucky Egg, and you'll earn four times the XP you normally would. To make this Eggstravaganza even sweeter, Lucky Eggs will be 50% off in the in-game shop!

When does the Pokémon Go Easter / Spring Event start and end exactly?

Here are the official times:

• Start: April 13, 2017 at 1 p.m. PDT / 4 p.m. EDT
• End: April 20, 2017 at 1 p.m. PDT / 4 p.m. EDT

So, a week of springtime fun.

How does 'double XP' peak down?

Think of it like having a free Lucky Egg running all the time, 24/7, for the duration of the event. You'll get twice the normal amount of XP for everything you do in the game. That works out to:

• Curve Ball bonus: 20 XP
• Nice Throw bonus: 20 XP
• Pokémon Flees: 50 XP
• First Throw bonus: 100 XP
• Great Throw bonus: 100 XP
• Excellent Throw bonus: 200 XP
• Spin a PokéStop: 200 XP
• Catch a Pokémon: 200 XP
• Hatch a 2K egg: 400 XP
• Hatch a 5K egg: 1000 XP
• Add a Pokémon to your Pokédex: 1000 XP
• Evolve a Pokémon: 1000 XP
• Daily PokéStop Streak (Days 1-6): 1000 XP
• Daily Catch Streak (Days 1-6): 1000 XP
• Hatch a 10K egg: 2000 XP
• Daily PokéStop Streak (Day 7): 4000 XP
• Daily Catch Streak (Day 7): 4000 XP
• Train at a Gym: Variable x2
• Battle at a Gym: Variable x2

Can you add a Lucky Egg as well for quadruple XP?

You can! And you'll get 4x on your XP for the 30 min. duration of the Lucky Egg! That works out to:

• Curve Ball bonus: 40 XP
• Nice Throw bonus: 40 XP
• Pokémon Flees: 100 XP
• First Throw bonus: 200 XP
• Great Throw bonus: 200 XP
• Excellent Throw bonus: 400 XP
• Spin a PokéStop: 400 XP
• Catch a Pokémon: 400 XP
• Hatch a 2K egg: 800 XP
• Hatch a 5K egg: 2000 XP
• Add a Pokémon to your Pokédex: 2000 XP
• Evolve a Pokémon: 2000 XP
• Daily PokéStop Streak (Days 1-6): 2000 XP
• Daily Catch Streak (Days 1-6): 2000 XP
• Hatch a 10K egg: 4000 XP
• Daily PokéStop Streak (Day 7): 8000 XP
• Daily Catch Streak (Day 7): 8000 XP
• Train at a Gym: Variable x4
• Battle at a Gym: Variable x4

So, basically, the best time to level up ever?

Absolutely. Here's what you want to do:

1. Catch as many 12-candy Pokémon as you can: Caterpie, Pidgey, and Weedle; and as many low-candy Pokémon as you happen to: Rattata, starters, Nidorano, Oddish, Poliwag, Apa, Machop, Bellsprout, Geodude, Gastly, Eevee, and Hoppip.
2. If you have a vast surplus of Pinap Berries you're not saving for rares, use them to double your candy on catches.
3. Any time you have enough candy and Pokémon for around 80 evolutions, drop a Lucky Egg and do a mass evolution.
4. Make sure you get all your daily streak bonuses, especially your 7-day streak if it falls during the event.
5. Hatch as many Pokémon Eggs as you can, especially all the 10 KM eggs you get.
6. If you have extra Lucky Eggs, or can time your streaks and hatches with your mass evolutions, profit!
7. Prestige as many Gyms as possible, if you're great at it and you can get the max XP for each battle. (Otherwise it's not time efficient.)
8. Add any Pokémon you're still missing to your Pokédex.

All of that should help you get to your next level(s) as fast as possible.

Should you stock up on Lucky Eggs since they're now 50% off?

The event essentially gives you a "free" Lucky Egg, 24/7, for the duration. So you're already getting XP at double the normal rate. If you really care about leveling up as fast as possible, though, and you have the Poké Coins to spare, then getting a pack of Lucky Eggs and dropping them before you mass-evolve, mass-hatch, or mass-prestige, will give you quadruple the normal rate.

That's like getting your next level in three days instead of a week, or a week instead of a month.

And at 50% off? You can level as fast as possible for the least amount of coins as possible.

So... 25 Lucky Egg pack for 625 coins?

If you're serious about leveling up, that's the best deal in the Poké Shop this week.

Double candy for everything or just Pokémon Egg hatches?

Just Pokémon Egg hatches, but don't look a gift Pikachu in the mouth! Here's what you'll get:

• 2 KM: 10 to 30 candies.
• 5 KM: 20 to 42 candies.
• 10 KM: 32 to 64 candies.

That could easily be enough to push you over the edge and get you that Tyranitar, Amphoros, Dragonite, or other evolution you've been waiting for, or to power you up for Gyms!

What does a 'greater variety of Pokémon can now be found in 2 km Eggs' mean?

When you get a Pokémon Go egg, the game decides which Pokémon is inside it, the wraps it in the appropriate egg color / distance and gives it to you to go out and hatch.

• 2 KM / green
• 5 KM / yellow
• 10 KM / purple

We'll have to wait for the event to start to see exactly how this translates, but it could mean:

• Pokémon that weren't previously available, like Totadile, Cyndaquil, and Chikotoria, can now be found in 2 KM Eggs
• Magikarp and other previously removed Pokémon are now back in 2 KM eggs
• Pokémon prevously found in 5 KM or 10 KM Eggs, like Grimer or Snorlax are are found in 2 KM Eggs.