10 Ways To Earn Stardust In Pokémon Go [2024 Updated]

Stardust is a critical resource in Pokémon Go. You can use it on a Pokémon to increase its combat power or teach it a new move. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to earn Stardust in Pokémon Go if you're low on this resource or want to increase your stock.

Wondering how? Worry not; this guide will discuss ways to get Stardust and how to do it effectively. Let's hop in!

Way 1 Use Star Pieces

Firstly, you can use Star Pieces to get Stardust in Pokémon Go. Buy them from Poke' Shops at 100 coins per Star Piece or in a bundle of 8 Star Pieces for 640 coins. They work similarly to lucky eggs and give you a 50% boost in stardust from all sources over the next 30 minutes.

While they may not be the rarest item, you'll want to use them wisely. Use a Star Piece when:

• You expect to hatch many eggs, usually 12 12km eggs.
• You are about to earn a lot of stardust from research rewards.
• You intend to harvest a 7-day catch streak.
• You're starting a new season of the Go Battle league.
• You're launching a Community Day with a double or triple stardust bonus.

Pro Tip: You can frequently get them in the Limited-Time Only bundles at the top of the store, and you often get them from buying a ticket to the Community Day event.

Using Star Pieces to get stardust

Way 2 Get Pokémon

By far, the easiest way to get Stardust is to get the Pokémon. However, Pokémons are created differently, and the evolution stage always makes a difference.

a. Catching Pokémon

The phrase old is gold applies to catching Pokémon. Farming first-form Pokémon gives you 100 Stardust and is usually the fastest formula to earn stardust since they're always available. Catching a stage two Pokémon earns you 300 Stardust, while a Pokémon in its third form earns you 500 Stardust.

b. Hatch Pokémon Eggs

Similar to catching Pokémon, hatching Pokémon also gives you stardust. The amount of stardust you get varies by the distance of the egg. Below is how much stardust you earn for each egg type:

For maximum Stardust, you need to get 12 12km eggs and hatch them simultaneously while using the Star Piece item, which multiplies all Stardust gains by 1.5x. If done right, you can get an instant bump of 57,600-115,200 Stardust, enough to unlock a second Charge move on the rarest Pokémon.

Pokémon eggs

c. Weather Bonuses

Depending on the weather, you earn 25 Stardust from Weather Boosted Pokémon. Also, based on the Pokémon's form, the first stage of a Pokémon offers 25 extra stardust, the second stage provides 75 extra stardust, and catching the final evolution of a Pokémon with a weather bonus earns you 125 stardust.

The following types offer a bonus for each type of weather.

Weather types that earn you stardust

d. First Pokémon You Catch Each Day

Yes, you earn a bonus for the first Pokémon you catch daily. The bonus offers 600 extra stardust for the first one to six days in the streak and 1,800 stardust if you catch a Pokémon on the seventh day.

As mentioned earlier, not all Pokémon are equal, and some Basic Pokémon project more Stardust than others. Here's a list of types to watch out for:

• Paras – 500 Stardust
• Parasect– 700 Stardust
• Meowth – 500 Stardust
• Alolan Meowth – 750 Stardust
• Persian– 700 Stardust
• Alolan Persian – 950 Stardust
• Shellder – 1000 Stardust
• Cloyster– 1200 Stardust
• Staryu – 750 Stardust
• Starmie – 950 Stardust
• Delibird – 500 Stardust
• Shroomish – 500 Stardust
• Breloom– 700 Stardust
• Sableye – 750 Stardust
• Chimecho – 1000 Stardust
• Combee – 750 Stardust
• Vespiquen – 950 Stardust
• Audino – 2100 Stardust
• Trubbish – 750 Stardust
• Garbodor – 950 Stardust
• Foongus – 500 Stardust
• Amoonguss – 700 Stardust

Pro Tip: Lastly, ensure you always catch more than one Pokémon daily, as the first catch of the day equals 1800 extra Stardust. Hence, you can get an enormous 9000 Stardust bonus by maintaining your streak for seven days.

Way 3 Win PVP rewards

The PVP battles also offer Stardust as a reward plus additional stardust for leveling up in a league. The amount you get varies based on:

• Number of wins
• Number of battles

However, if you're not interested in climbing the ladder, you can participate in PVP-friendly matches with a nearby trainer on your Friend list to garner additional stardust. Similarly, battling with your Team Leader in the Training section of the Battle page earns you extra stardust as shown below:

• 300–600 Stardust for a Great League Team Leader.
• 400–800 Stardust for an Ultra League Team Leader.
• 500–1000 Stardust for a Master League Team Leader, or a local friendly Trainer battle.

Pro Tip: According to Reddit user @Easy_Money_, the bonus ranges from 2000 at Rank 2 to 200,000 at rank 24 or Legend. For bonus increment, use a Star Piece before clicking into the Battle screen at the beginning of a season to multiply your stardust by 1.5.

Earn stardust through rewards

Way 4 Opening Gifts

Consistently open your daily gifts, as Stardust is a potential reward for opening gifts. It's possible not to get any as they contain a bunch of items, or you might be lucky and get all Stardust. You can receive gifts from your friends and get gifts at PokeStops.

With a daily limit of 30 gifts, gifts offer 100, 200, or 300 Stardust upon opening. Though it rarely happens, you can amass 9000 Stardust daily by stockpiling opened gifts.

Pro Tip: If sitting through the Gift-opening animation is frustrating, you can skip it by squashing the X button below Open Gift when going through the motion, and you'll still get the items.

Open gifts to earn stardust

Explained above are some of the most common and useful ways to get stardust. Nonetheless, there are more ways to get it.

Way 5 Raid rewards

Raids are a great way to earn Stardust through battling in Pokémon Go. The game only awards Stardust from each raid once, and every Raid Battle you complete grants you 1,000 Stardust.

You can find Raids in any gym with an egg icon where you can challenge a Raid Boss at the gym when the egg hatches.

Pro Tip: Pokémon GO players can also obtain Stardust from a loss in a raid battle. Also, the Pokémon you battle will vary at each Raid, but you can always ask for help from your friends.

Perform raids to earn stardust

Way 6 Rocket rewards

Battling and defeating Go Rocket members is a sure way to farm stardust. Though, only gamers with a level 8 ranking can do this. Earn stardust by winning over the following Go Rocket associates.

a. Defeat Team Go Rocket Grunts

By defeating a grunt, you get 500 Stardust. You can battle these members when they invade PokeStops. Usually, they appear as a black version of a PokeStop when you walk near them.

b. Defeat Team Go Rocket Leaders

Team Go Rocket Leaders cough up 1,000 stardust when they lose a battle. The leaders include Cliff, Arlo, and Sierra and can appear at black PokeStops or in Team Go Rocket hot air balloons. Interact with either of these objects to start a battle.

c. Defeat Giovanni

Team Go Rocket leader Giovanni

For defeating Giovanni, the leader of Team Go Rocket, you get 5,000 Stardust. But first, you need to complete some tasks, which include;

• Assemble a Rocket Radar by defeating six Grunts. This Radar helps you find one of the Go Rocket Leaders and is only spent once you defeat them.
  

  Assemble a Rocket Radar

• Assemble a Super Rocket Radar by defeating the Go Rocket Leaders three times. Luckily, you can fight the same person more than once.

To search for Giovanni, activate the radar from your bag and travel to various PokeStops. You'll likely encounter Team Go Rocket Grunts disguised as Giovanni at the first PokeStop you visit, whom you'll have to fight. Keep searching PokeStops until you encounter Giovanni.

Way 7 Completing tasks

More often than not, Niantic offers a huge amount of Stardust as a reward for completing research tasks. The stardust rewards can be different for each research, as discussed below.

a. Completing Field Research Tasks

Most of these tasks involve catching certain Pokémon, using berries, making better-than-standard throws, and battling. They are collected by spinning the disc at PokeStops, and you can only get one Field task per PokeStop daily.

Finishing a Field Research Task earns you a stamp per day. Seven stamps earn you extra rewards, which may include 2,000 stardust. Some can pay up to 4,000 Stardust or even 10,000 for Special Research tasks.

Completing Field Research Tasks

b. Complete Special Research and Timed Research Tasks

Special Research tasks are offered by Professor Willow and are mostly available once you reach level five. They are known to change over time, but some Special Research tasks grant stardust as a completion reward.

Timed Research works similarly but is limited to a certain period, usually ongoing events.

Way 8 Use Adventure Sync

Adventure Sync functions are unlocked at level five and present an opportunity to earn additional Stardust each week. To activate Adventure Sync, go to the Settings menu. This feature tracks your distance traveled while the Pokémon Go application is closed or in use. You can earn:

• 500 stardust for 25km.
• 1,000 stardust for 50km.
• 16,000 stardust for 100km per week.

Pro Tip: Though your phone tracks this distance natively, you can always spoofer Pokémon Go to fake your location and distance to collect more stardust.

Use adventure sync to farm stardust

Way 9 Going to the Gym

While walking, you can stroll to a gym and feed each Pokémon a few berries to earn 20 stardust per berry fed. You can still catch a Pokémon as you walk past a gym using a peripheral like the Go Plus and cram its belly with berries.

Note: A Pokémon can only eat ten berries every 30 minutes, from which you can earn 2000 Stardust per 10 Berrys fed to 10 friendly Pokémon in Gyms.

Way 10 Follow the event

Events are uncommon but often offer a particular type of bonus. Pokémon Go regularly holds events that provide bonuses or multipliers to Stardust.

Earlier, events were shallow and would provide 2x Stardust for a week or ten days. Recently, Community Days sometimes offer 3x Stardust but only on catches. For example, the Season of Heritage, which is currently ongoing, has a stardust bonus for your first catch of the day during December.

Follow community day events

Basic Information About Stardust

Stardust is referred to as the currency of Pokémon Go, and there are many ways to harvest it, either directly or passively. For instance, fighting Giovanni, The leader of a team of bad guys called Team Go Rocket, involves direct action to farm stardust. Such a quest requires you to have a Super Rocket Radar to trace him and fight through his legendary Shadow Pokémons.

How Much Stardust Can You Collect?

The table below highlights the amount of Stardust you can get in Pokémon Go from various methods.

After learning how to collect Stardust, let's see how you can utilize the resource.

How Do You Use Stardust In Pokémon Go?

Stardust in Pokémon Go is valuable on its own and has several uses, among them being;

Powering Up Pokémon

This is the primary way to use stardust. The higher the Pokémon level is, the more stardust you require. Using stardust on a Pokémon, along with Candy, gradually increases the Pokémon's CP and HP.

Steps:

1. Select your desired Pokémon.
2. Dump Stardust into the Pokémon.
3. Click the Power Up button to power it up.
4. Adjust the CP by hitting the plus and minus buttons to know how much Stardust and Candy are needed to get the desired result.
   

   Use stardust to power up your Pokémon

Unlocking Second Charge Moves

Stardust is necessary to unlock second-charge moves for your Great League, Ultra League, and Master League Pokémon battles.

Steps:

1. Pick your preferred Pokémon.
2. Click New Attack.

Though, this process is costly and should only be used on your best regular Pokémon. The cost depends on the walking distance of the Pokémon, as indicated below:

• 1km Pokémon cost 10,000 Stardust and 25 Candy
• 3km Pokémon cost 50,000 Stardust and 50 Candy
• 5km Pokémon cost 75,000 Stardust and 75 Candy
• 20km Pokémon cost 100,000 Stardust and 100 Candy

Purification

Purification is when you take a Shadow Pokémon and remove its evil aura. The cost is usually as little as 1000 Stardust for a basic Pokémon such as Shadow Rattata and 20,000 for a legendary such as Shadow Mewtwo.

Note: Don't rush to purify your best Shadow Pokémon, as the +20% damage included in a Shadow Pokémon is more potent than anything except being a Mega Pokémon.

Use stardust to purify Pokémon

Trading Pokémon In Pokémon Go

Lastly, you can use Stardust to trade Pokémon in Pokémon Go. Trading is a part of the play that came with the Friendship update and is the most expensive way to spend Stardust.

The cost to trade varies depending on the type of trade and the level of friendship you have earned. If you're best friends, a regular exchange for what you both have will cost a paltry 100 Stardust.

On the other hand, trading for a Pokémon you never caught will cost at least 20,000 Stardust. However, trading for something like a Shiny Pikachu requires you to dispose of 1,000,000 Stardust.