When thinking about the “Pokémon” franchise, Poké Balls come to mind. After all, catching Pokémon is what the games are all about. With a wide variety of special Poké Balls available to the player, there is something for every encounter. But how do they all stack up?
Coming in last place is the Moon Ball. This is by far the most niche Poké Ball, only gaining a higher catch rate against Pokémon that evolve with a Moon Stone. This only causes improved odds against six Pokémon, four of which are from the first generation. The only tangible upside to this ball is that it looks neat and is fairly rare.
Next up is another niche Poké Ball, the Beast Ball. The Beast Ball has an insanely low catch rate against most Pokémon, but is the only Poké Ball that can effectively catch Ultra Beasts, the invading Pokémon of “Pokémon Sun and Moon” and their remasters. While not extremely useful, nabbing a Pokémon inside of one is quite a feat, especially a legendary.
Following up just ahead of the Beast Ball are the Lure Ball and Dive Balls, which fulfill the same goal of another Poké Ball later on in this list, but are fairly worse. They grant the player an increased catch rate for Pokémon caught in or on the water. This is… fairly uninteresting, but has some nice theming with a fish-based team, I suppose. Honestly, though? Players should just use Ultra Balls over these things.
Next up are two entries, tying for a low placement. These are the Friend and Luxury Balls, rare instances of Poké Balls that do not increase catch rate, yet still have a noteworthy effect. While Luxury Balls are the more modern version, both will increase a caught Pokémon’s friendship by a decent chunk, which is useful if one is planning on using a move like return or training for a friendship evolution.
The next entry to this list is the Love Ball, a gen two oddity. Like its cousins the Lure Ball and the Level Ball, the Love Ball has a unique capturing quirk based around a potentially annoying mechanic: gender. Nearly every non-legendary Pokémon has a gender, and this is determined upon encountering it for the first time. However, the Love Ball increases catch rates against Pokémon that have the opposite gender to the player’s active Pokémon. This can be potentially frustrating, but is otherwise just a catch rate increase. Nothing more, nothing less.
Coming up next is one of my favorites from when I was younger, the Heal Ball. The Heal Ball does not have any catch rate interactions. Rather, it heals the caught Pokémon to full health. This saves minor amounts of time when searching around in the box for a new party member, since the caught Pokémon does not need to be healed before using it. Sure, it is just seconds shaved off, but the convenience is always nice. A solid, simple Poké Ball with some nice, built-in quality of life.
Here in eighth place is another of my favorites, the Timer Ball. The Timer Ball grows increasingly more powerful as the battle goes on, reaching up to a whopping four times catch rate after thirty turns in battle. The downside? Well, the downside is that a player has to wait thirty turns in battle. This is tedious, but the design of the ball itself more than makes up for it to me. Additionally, while it may not be the best use for a standard wild Pokémon, they can be quite useful against legendaries, if other catching options like the classic Ultra Ball fail.
The Net Ball comes in at lucky number seven, a ball that increases catch rates on bug and water-type Pokémon. Here is the aforementioned improvement to the Dive and Lure Balls, scoring a catch bonus on two different types over a vast variety of habitats. Not only does it work on land, but it also works on all water types, not just the ones caught while surfing. There is not much else to say about the Net Ball. It is simply a versatile option.
Following the Net Ball is the Dusk Ball, scoring bonus points for looking pretty neat. What does it do? Simple, it increases the catch rate in dark areas. This includes caves, some interiors and, most importantly, at night. Since gen two, every mainline game has a day and night cycle, so the dusk ball is always an amazing pick, no matter what. Not only does it have a wide area of potential usage, but it is typically available to the player between the early to mid game, so it will get plenty of use time. Overall, an extremely good option with a lot of versatility.
The Dream Ball opens up the top five, with insane utility in the post-game of any playthrough. The Dream Ball vastly increases the catch rate of any sleeping Pokémon. Using this with the single most popular catching Pokémon, Breloom, is a dream team combination. The reason that Breloom is so good for catching Pokémon is that it has access to the key moves of Spore and False Swipe. The first of which puts the target to sleep guaranteed, and the latter always leaves the target with one HP. Then, the Dream Ball can swoop in and snatch up the wild Pokémon nearly guaranteed. The only complaint I have about this one is that it is not exactly common.
Up next is a generation three classic, the Nest Ball. All six of the games set in the Hoenn region have generally low-level wild Pokémon to encounter, so the Nest Ball tends to do wonders against them. After all, it gets an increased catch rate against lower-level Pokémon, and is available before the third gym in Verdanturf Town. It is a godsend in the early game, allowing the player to catch a wide variety of Pokémon to add to their team fairly easily.
Now onto the final three with the Level Ball. Similarly to the Nest Ball, the Level Ball allows for a higher catch rate against lower-level Pokémon. However, what it does that the Nest Ball does not is increase said catch rate by comparing the wild Pokémon’s level to the player’s Pokémon’s level. That means that, once in the post-game and using a level 100 Pokémon, the Level Ball will be able to reach its maximum potential. So, in contrast to the Nest Ball, the Level Ball is increasingly good in the post-game, as opposed to the early game.
Placing in second is a miracle worker for every shiny hunter out there: the Repeat Ball. The Repeat Ball has one simple trick: increasing catch rate on repeat captures. That means if the player has already caught a species of Pokémon, then catching another of that species will be easier with this ball. This comes as a saving grace to many a shiny hunter, since the process of hunting for a shiny often involves hundreds, if not thousands, of encounters. In “Pokémon Omega Ruby” and “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire” in particular, the player has access to a Pokéradar, which allows them to track and chain specific wild Pokémon. This leads to many things, like increased shiny odds, better IVs, egg moves and even hidden abilities. So, while hunting for that shiny, players like me will want to catch a few extras along the way, and what better way to do that than with the Repeat Ball? Seems like a no-brainer for sure.
Now, finally, in the top spot of the list is… the Quick Ball. To nobody’s surprise, the Quick Ball continues to reign supreme over all other options. For those who might not know what this does, think back to the Timer Ball and how it is more effective in a long, drawn out battle. Now, what if instead, that catch bonus was applied to the first turn of the battle? The Quick Battle induces an amazing burst of immediate adrenaline and adds suspense to any capture, since the whole thing could be over in just one turn. But, if the Quick Ball is not successful, one must either reset the battle or continue on to weaker Poké Balls. Put simply though, absolutely nothing in “Pokémon” games comes close to catching that legendary with the first thrown ball—not even a critical hit on the final hit of a super tough fight, winning the battle by the skin of one’s teeth. The absolute satisfaction of throwing a single ball and immediately catching that rare shiny Pokémon without risking it using Self Destruct or Metronome Memento or any of the other myriad things that could go wrong is unparalleled. That is why the Quick Ball continues to shine over all the other options.
