There’s a lot we don’t know yet about the strategy behind Pokémon Go , but there’s one thing we do know: To get better and more powerful Pokémon and have any chance to compete in gyms , you need to level up your trainer. A lot. It can seem daunting or time-consuming, especially if you didn’t pick up the app in those first few days or just don’t have much time to play. But don’t worry. If you want to power level in Pokémon Go, look no further. This is a sure-fire way to level up fast. No, seriously!

How To Level Up Fast In Pokémon Go

It’s actually relatively easy to level up fast in Pokémon Go, although it isn’t totally intuitive at first. But this is entirely above board, and especially if you’re low-level, it’ll pump you up very quickly. Beyond level 15 or so, it’ll slow down, but this is still the fastest way to get experience when you’re starting out.

Here’s the gist of it: You’re going to use Lucky Eggs to double your experience while you camp near a PokéStop with a Lure module on it. At the same time, you’re going to use Incense. Most importantly of all, you’ll evolve all your Pokémon while the Lucky Egg is active.

Here’s why it works: It’s a little something called synergy. The Lucky Egg doubles your experience for everything you do for half an hour. The biggest single sources of experience are catching new Pokémon and evolving Pokémon, new or not. Placing a Lure on a Pokéstop attracts Pokémon to it and using Incense attracts Pokémon to you. With a Lucky Egg active, every Pokémon you find will net you 200 experience instead of the usual 100. Every new Pokémon will get you an extra 1,000 experience.

But the real juice, the best way to power level, comes from evolving Pokémon. That’s because evolving Pokémon always gives you at least 500 experience. It tacks on another 500 if you evolve a new Pokémon . With a Lucky Egg, that’s 1,000 experience at minimum, and 2,000 for new Pokémon. And this trick is the biggest reason to catch easy Pokémon you already have. You only need 12 Pidgey Candies to evolve a Pidgey—that’s four Pidgeys worth. Same for Weedles and Caterpies. A few other Pokémon only take 25 Candies. So catch as many of these low-level duplicates as you can. Release extras for additional Candies. Then go to your neighborhood bar or coffee shop that has a Pokéstop nearby, drop a Lure module and an Incense, pop a Lucky Egg, and evolve all your Pokémon (if you can time it so you hatch an Egg while the Lucky Egg is active, so much the better—but that’s a lot harder). You’ll quickly get thousands of experience more than you would have otherwise. You’ll level up fast and you’ll catch lots of Pokémon along the way.

It’s easy, it’s simple and it works.

Also check out our other guides to Pokémon Go:

• Beginner's Guide
• Leveling/Evolution Guide
• Gym Guide
• Healing Guide
• Battery Saver Guide
• Price Guide