Nanab Berry

Overview

The Nanab Berry is an encounter item that calms an active Pokémon, stopping its sideways movement and attacks so you have a predictable opening for your throw. It is especially helpful when a Pokémon keeps dodging or jumping, or when a research task requires several accurate throws in a row. Unlike a Razz Berry or Golden Razz Berry, a Nanab Berry does not increase your catch rate, and it does not grant the bonus Candy of a Pinap Berry.

How to get it

• Spin PokéStops or Gyms, complete research tasks, or claim level-up milestones starting at Level 2 in the current leveling system.

How to use it

1. On the encounter screen, select the berry and feed it to the Pokémon before throwing.

2. Only one berry effect can be active. A miss does not remove it, but a breakout does; feed another berry after a breakout.

Worth knowing

Useful for consecutive throw tasks and very active targets. A calm target can make a careful Excellent throw easier.

Spare Nanab Berries can also feed your Buddy or restore motivation to friendly Gym defenders, restoring slightly more motivation than Razz or Pinap Berries.

Steadying the target versus boosting your catch rate

Shadow Pokémon move and attack almost constantly, making Nanab Berries a practical choice during Team GO Rocket encounters. A higher catch modifier from another berry does nothing if your throw misses or bounces off an attack; calming the Pokémon helps you land every throw and preserve a limited supply of Premier Balls.

Calming the target solves a different problem than maximizing the chance of catching a Pokémon once it is inside the ball. A Golden Razz Berry raises your catch rate on a landed hit, whereas a Nanab Berry helps you land the throw cleanly in the first place. Choose your berry based on whether you are losing Premier Balls to breakouts or to missed throws.

Unlocks and older guides

The current leveling system introduces Nanab Berries at Level 2, awarding 5 Nanab Berries at regular milestones from Level 2 through Level 37, 10 at Levels 41, 44, and 47, 15 at Levels 51 through 67, and 25 at Levels 71, 74, and 77. Older guides from the original progression era list Level 14, while some item references list Level 4 for PokéStop and Gym Photo Disc drops prior to the October 2025 rebalance.

These figures reflect earlier progression versions or specific drop routes; follow the current leveling system when planning a new account.

Release and changes

Nanab and Pinap Berries arrived with the Johto update on February 16, 2017. At launch, a Nanab Berry only slowed a Pokémon's movement and attack frequency rather than stopping it completely; the GO Beyond update in early December 2020 improved the item so that it fully calms Pokémon in encounters. Its name is a play on banana spelled backward, matching its pink-and-yellow bunch appearance.

Using Nanab Berries for throw tasks

For a task requiring several Nice, Great, or Excellent throws in a row, choose a Pokémon with a target circle you can hit consistently. Feed a Nanab Berry, watch the circle shrink to the size you need, then make the throw. The berry steadies the target but does not aim the ball for you or award an Excellent throw automatically.

If the Pokémon breaks out of the ball, the berry effect ends, so you must feed another Nanab Berry before your next throw if you still want a calm target. Because only one berry can be active at a time, you cannot stack a Golden Razz Berry or Pinap Berry on top of an active Nanab Berry.

After a breakout, however, you are free to switch to a different berry if increasing your catch rate or earning extra Candy becomes more important than steadying the target.

Using spare Nanab Berries

Nanab Berries also fill your Buddy’s hunger meter and restore motivation to friendly Gym defenders without applying their encounter calming effect. Feeding a Nanab Berry to your Buddy fills 2 of the 6 segments (one-third) of its hunger meter, meaning 3 Nanab Berries will fully feed a Buddy from empty so it joins you on the map.

At friendly Gyms, Nanab Berries are the strongest non-Golden berry for restoring defender motivation: feeding one in person restores 15% of a defender's motivation on the first berry (compared to 12% for a Razz Berry or Pinap Berry), followed by 6%, 3%, 1.5%, 1.2%, and 1% on berries 6 through 10, for 28.7% total across 10 berries (remote feeding restores one-quarter of those amounts, starting at 3.75%).

Each berry fed at a Gym also awards 30 Stardust and 50 XP, and you can feed up to 10 berries per Pokémon across up to 10 unique Pokémon every 30 minutes.