If there is a Pokémon unable to be recruited, it might be a Mystery Egg.
To check the Pokémon's Recruit Rate, the player must click on the Pokémon sprite. This will result in a message in the chat that shows the player whether or not the Pokémon is recruitable. The message "You see a [Pokémon name]. [Pokémon name] is not recruitable in this area." will appear if the Pokémon is unrecruitable. If it is recruitable, the message will instead say, "You see a [Pokémon name]. You have a [percentage] of recruiting [Pokémon name]!". Most often the percentage will be a positive number; however, some Pokémon have a negative recruitment rate.
NPC Pokémon are not recruitable.
Recruitment Criteria
If a Pokémon is listed as recruitable, there is a chance that it will want to join the player's team upon defeating it. In order for this to occur, certain criteria must be met.
Recruit rate.
- The player's level must be higher than the defeated Pokémon's.
- The higher the player's level, the greater the chance of recruitment.
- The player must have one open slot in his or her party.
- The Recruit Rate of the Pokémon must be a positive number.
Other factors apply to recruiting. For example, the Pokémon's spawn rate will affect it's Recruit Rate, as well the specific dungeon itself.
Applied Recruit Rate
The Applied Recruit Rate refers to the bonus percentage added to a Pokémon's Recruit Rate depending on the player's level.
Pokémon Level
The higher the level of the player, the more his or her hidden Recruit Rate increases. The increases follows the formula:
$ (Level) * (.1) $
For example a level 10 will have a bonus recruit rate of +1% while a level 100 will have a bonus recruit rate of +10%
These Recruit Rates are not shown separately in the chat message and are instead added to the original recruit rate. For example, a Pokémon with a Recruit Rate of 7% will have a 17% recruit rate if a Level 100 is being used. This means that the message will show a 17% rate instead of the 7%.
Explorer Rank
The Explorer Rank of the player gives an additional applied recruit rate. It begins at Bronze Rank and ends at Guildmaster Rank. Guildmaster rank gives the maximum of +11% applied recruit rate. Complete missions to increase Explorer Rank.
| Rank | Explorer Points | Bonus Recruit Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | Start | +0% |
| Bronze | 100 | |
| Silver | 300 | +3.5% |
| Gold | 1600 | +6.5% |
| Diamond | 3200 | |
| Super | 5000 | +8.5% |
| Ultra | 7500 | +8.5% |
| Hyper | 10500 | +8.5% |
| Master | 13500 | +8.5% |
| Master* | 17000 | +9.0% |
| Master** | 21000 | +9.5% |
| Master*** | 25000 | +10% |
| Guildmaster | 100000 | +11% |
Items
There are three items that give a bonus to the recruit rate of a Pokémon.
- Friend Bow
Friend Bow gives a +10% recruit rate and is a team item, meaning any Pokémon may hold it. It is found at the end of Friendship Forest.
- Golden Mask
Golden Mask gives an additional +24% recruit rate. It must be held by the active Pokémon to take effect.
- Soothe Bell
The Soothe Bell item adds an additional hidden Recruit Rate of +1%. It must be held by the active Pokémon to take effect.
Previous Event Pokémon
Certain Pokémon, such as Eevee, were unobtainable outside of events. The current event-exclusive Pokémon in PMU are as follows:
- Gible
- Lillipup
- Pansage
- Pansear
- Panpour
- Audino
- Flabébé
- Pumpkaboo
- Klefki
- Rowlet
- Popplio
- Litten
- Stufful
- Salandit
- Mimikyu
List of Recruitable Pokémon
Check the List of Recruitable Pokémon.
Trivia
- The Soothe Bell item gave a Recruit Rate boost of +6% in PMU 6.
- In PMU 6 and the beginning of PMU 7, Recruit Rates were out of 1000.
- A Pokémon would have a +64 Recruit Rate, which equates to +6.4%.
- Some Pokémon that have a -100% Recruit Rate can be recruited.
- If Honey is used in the final room in Sunny Hillside, it used to spawn recruitable Level 32 Sunflora. Now, recruitable Sunkern will spawn instead.
- Pitch-Black Abyss
is currently the sole dungeon where Pokémon can only be recruited from eggs.
