What is the catch rate based on?

I know that certain Pokéballs have different catch rates, but I'm wondering if it's harder to catch a Pokémon with a higher stat. (like higher evasiveness or something)

I started wondering this when I was trying to catch Terrakion in White 2. I just couldn't catch him at all! I used Ultra Balls, Timer Balls, I even got him down to something like 5%!

They probably have it like

Chance of failing = (100 - BALL_CATCH_RATE + Evasiveness) / 2

or something along those lines

Cool, thanks! BTW, how would the Master Ball work? Would it just take it into negative numbers? Or just set it to 0?

If you're interested into the maths behind it:
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Catch_rate

It's a little bit more complicated than you'd think.

Bulbapedia sums up the four main factors really well.

Bulbapedia said:

Approximately, the probability of catching a Pokémon starts with the species' catch rate divided by 255. Then it is multiplied by the following factors:
The health of the Pokémon (relative to its full health), which can reduce the probability to ⅓× at full health.
The type of Poké Ball, which can augment by some ×.
Any status condition of the wild Pokémon (i.e. 2.5× increase for sleep or freeze, and 1.5× for paralyze, poison, or burn).
Any active Pass Powers (in Generation V) or O-Power (in Generation VI).

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Unique to this generation (XY) is O-Powers, which don't exist in W2/B2. However, you'd be pleased to know that most people get by without them, myself included, so it's not that big of a deal.

Bulbapedia said:

The rarity of the Pokémon (i.e. how often it appears in the wild) is totally independent from its catch rate after it is encountered. Even rare Pokémon may have high catch rates, making them relatively easy to catch in battle, such as Nosepass, who has a catch rate of 255.

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Terrakion has a set catch rate of 3, which is modified by the above factors. Why don't you try using a status inducing move on him that dosen't deduct HP, such as Burn or Poison? Paralysis and Sleep are the most effective ones. Anyway, catching Legends have never been easy, so work at it and I'm sure you'll get there eventually. ^~^

Musicality said:

Anyway, catching Legends have never been easy

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Before Dusk Balls. :P

Ultra Balls suck, try Dusk Balls at night or in a cave.

Timer Balls work better when the battle drags on and on, but they take very long to get to an acceptable level.

If your problem is a roamer, Quick Balls are the best, since the battle only lasts one turn anyway. Or trap him and use Dusk Balls.

Cerberus87 said:

Before Dusk Balls. :P

Ultra Balls suck, try Dusk Balls at night or in a cave.

Timer Balls work better when the battle drags on and on, but they take very long to get to an acceptable level.

If your problem is a roamer, Quick Balls are the best, since the battle only lasts one turn anyway. Or trap him and use Dusk Balls.

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Dusk Balls do work wonders, however not all legendaries are in a cave, so the right ball for the right situation is still essential. However, Quick Balls are a topic of interest here. I've seen many legendaries caught in Quick Balls, because even with the low catch rate of the Pokemon they seem to be astonishingly effective when used on turn one.

Musicality said:

Dusk Balls do work wonders, however not all legendaries are in a cave, so the right ball for the right situation is still essential. However, Quick Balls are a topic of interest here. I've seen many legendaries caught in Quick Balls, because even with the low catch rate of the Pokemon they seem to be astonishingly effective when used on turn one.

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They work well at night, too. You can just wait until it's night.

I've had no success catching legendary Pokémon with Quick Balls, but I believe it's the most effective way of catching roamers if you can't trap them. And well, it can't hurt to spend one turn trying the Quick Ball, can it? It's only effective on the first turn, so, if you have them, might as well use them before trying something else.

According to my experience- it's inversely proportional to how much I want the Pokémon.


Nevermind status effects, amount of HP, or whatever balls I decide to throw at it.


So many balls.

So many wasted.

PumpJack said:

According to my experience- it's inversely proportional to how much I want the Pokémon.


Nevermind status effects, amount of HP, or whatever balls I decide to throw at it.


So many balls.

So many wasted.

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This. I swear, catch rate is based on how vindictive the game is feeling at any given moment in time, and the more you want the Pokemon, the more it's going to put you through to get your hands on it. The Random Number God has never been a benevolent deity, even when you stack the odds in your favour as much as possible.

That said, I did find the mechanics behind it quite interesting...although it did cause me a little grief when I knew I had a high chance of catching something with the conditions I'd set up (False Swiped down to 1HP, Asleep and throwing Dusk Balls, then Timer Balls) and it STILL didn't want to stay in the damn ball. Knowing how it works makes it worse when it doesn't work and you know it should and would if it was even remotely fair. xD

To be honest, I don't usually consider catch-rate when using Poké Balls; I throw whatever I happen to have in my backpack when battling (which, oftentimes, is Ultra Ball), and hope for the best!

Zeria said:

This. I swear, catch rate is based on how vindictive the game is feeling at any given moment in time, and the more you want the Pokemon, the more it's going to put you through to get your hands on it. The Random Number God has never been a benevolent deity, even when you stack the odds in your favour as much as possible.

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This is why we must pray to them every once in a while before going to bed at night.

What's catch rate based on?(long pause) ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!

Catch rates range from 3 to 255. Generally the rarer and stronger Pokemon have lower catch rates (and legendaries have the lowest with 3) while the commonly found mediocre Pokemon have higher catch rates.
Here's the list of all Pokemon with their catch rates.
A catch rate of 3 means 0.4% chance of capturing the Pokemon in a Pokeball at full health and no status. And a catch rate of 255 means ⅓rd chance of capturing it in a Pokeball at full health with no status.

You can raise the chances of catching even further by weakening the Pokemon and using better balls. UltraBalls are 2x as effective as normal Pokeballs, DuskBalls are 3.5x effective (but only in caves or at night), and so on. Status problems raise the chances 2.5, 2 or 1.5 times, and reducing the Pokemon to minimum health raises the chances roughly 3 times. When you do all this the probability for catching a legendary with a catch rate of 3 rises to around 10%, much better than the 0.4% earlier.
Of course it is just a probability and nothing is certain. You could throw 50 UltraBalls at a minumum health sleeping Mewtwo and still not manage to catch it, or you could catch it on your first throw (like I did once with Suicune).

The raw catch rate that a Pokemon has based on its species is just an independent variable, so it's not based on anything really, except for how difficult the developers felt that it should be to catch.

It varies with the Pokemon and its nature maybe, as far as I have heard, being a ROM hacker I have seen its different in all pokemon even having same nature, so it depends on nothing, just varies with what pokemon it is

I'm convinced the catch rate numbers don't mean anything. I was just trying to catch a Level 16 Cottonee in Black 2, which had 30% of its HP, and I had nine Great Balls and three Poké Balls that I was throwing. After all three Poké Balls failed, I started throwing Great Balls, and after a few that did not even shake twice, I got fed up with it and looked up the conditions on Serebii - 190 catch rate. Then MetalKid's calculator. I thought, 90.2% to 90.6% chance. With those conditions. With a Great Ball. I was like, there is no way that is true, either that or this Cottonee is some legendary in disguise that just refuses to be caught. Or my game is rigged beyond belief. Or MetalKid's calculator is not done right.

I had six left after that, and I ran out of Great Balls. Not one of my remaining ones shook more than once. 90% chance? That couldn't have been less true. (Ironically enough, as i'm typing this, the very next one I caught was with one Poké Ball at 1/3 health.)