How to get it
- Win a raid or a Team GO Rocket battle to receive balls for its bonus encounter.
- Raid performance and applicable friendship or Gym bonuses can increase the allocation; Rocket medals and surviving Pokémon help in Rocket encounters.
How to use it
- Use the supplied balls in the encounter. Berries and throwing bonuses still apply.
- Unused balls disappear when that encounter ends; they cannot be stockpiled.
Worth knowing
Treat each throw as a limited opportunity: wait for a safe opening instead of throwing into an attack.
The initial ball modifier is comparable to a Poké Ball, but encounter mechanics can change the final catch chance.
Earn more attempts before the catch starts
Your ball allocation determines how many attempts you get, while catch probability determines the chance of success on each throw. For Rocket encounters, keeping more of your team conscious and developing the Hero and Purifier medals can increase the ball allocation. Raid allocations can also reward contribution, friendship, and other encounter-specific bonuses.
Those extra attempts matter because your ordinary Poké, Great, and Ultra Ball stock cannot refill this encounter’s allocation. Prepare the battle team and raid group before the fight, then use berries and careful throws during the catch.
Unused Premier Balls disappear at the end of the encounter. They cannot be banked for the next raid or used to refill an ordinary ball shortage.
Sources & further reading
- Pokémon GO: A Quantitative Approach by nick blackVersion 1.0.6 (October 4, 2026), §5.2, pp. 30–32; Tables 5.5–5.6; §5.2, p. 31
Event rewards, shop offers, and limits can change. Check the current in-game description for event-specific rules. Worked examples are illustrative calculations.