Every Poké Ball Ranked Worst To First

Poké Balls are the most basic catching tool within the "Pokémon" universe. Premier Balls, just like Poké Balls, give no bonuses to catching Pokémon. They function the same way as Poké Balls except they are harder to obtain.

Released in Generation 3, Premier Balls only provide a 1x catch modifier with no conditional bonuses or special effects. Players can only purchase them in "Pokémon X and Y" and "Pokémon Black and White 2" for 200 and 500 Pokémon Dollars, respectively. Commonly described as "a rare ball made in commemoration of some event," this lower-tier option is better left as a memory in the minds of trainers looking to build out their Pokémon collections.

The Safari Zones within "Pokémon" titles offer players a unique Pokémon catching experience. For an entrance fee of 500 Pokémon Dollars, trainers receive 30 Safari Balls, a step counter, and access to rare and unique Pokémon within the area. Contrary to normal rules, trainers within the Safari Zone cannot battle the Pokémon or put them under any type of catch modifying conditions.

Unfortunately, the strength of Safari Balls leaves their effectiveness wanting. A mere 1.5x catch rate modifier on Wild Pokémon within the zone means that catching rare Safari Pokémon, which can run away at any point, turns into a tough game of chance. After Generation 8, beginning in "Pokémon Sword and Shield," players could use Safari Balls outside of the Safari Zones, but their catch rate modifier reduced to 1x everywhere, effectively making them camo-themed Poké Balls.

Of the event-specific balls, the Park Ball takes the cake in terms of uniqueness and utility. Its catch rate modifier, 255x, matches that of the legendary Master Ball, ensuring players catch their target Pokémon without fail. However, this comes with a major catch: Trainers can only use Park Balls on Pokémon transferred between Generation 3 and Generation 4 titles in Pal Park's Catching Show.

Generation 4 introduced Pal Park, a new area of the generic "Pokémon" region map that opens up after the player unlocks a National Pokédex. Trainers can catch transferred Pokémon that show up in Pal Park using one of six provided Park Balls. Despite their super strong catch rate, the fact that the player uses Park Balls to re-catch Pokémon they've already collected makes them a bit redundant.

One of the more unique Poké Balls with special effects, the Heal Ball, unfortunately, comes in at about last place for the overall strength and usefulness of its function: fully restoring the Hit Points, status, and PP (Power Points) of the caught Pokémon. Often, trainers catch Pokémon after reducing their Hit Points and inflicting certain status effects — like Paralysis, Sleep, or Freeze — to make them easier to handle. The Heal Ball negates all the damage, status effects, and move loss that the Wild Pokémon suffered before getting caught. 

While it has a nice feel to it and patches up the newly caught Pokémon, the Heal Ball has limited usefulness. Its global 1x catch rate modifier doesn't do it any favors either. With a standard catch rate and its special ability's less than optimal utility, the Heal Ball likely won't find a spot in many trainers' backpacks.

The Love Ball, which debuted during Generation 2, offers one of the best catch rate modifiers of any conditional Poké Ball at a maximum of 8x. Fulfilling the conditions to reach that 8x modifier, however, makes its usefulness and effectiveness much narrower. In order to get a full 8x catch bonus, the trainer must attempt to catch a Wild Pokémon that shares the same species as the trainer's active Pokémon but has the opposite gender.

In effect, the Love Ball charms a partner for a Pokémon that the trainer already owns. If the species and gender conditions go unmet, then the Love Ball just remains a basic, 1x catch modifier ball. Trainers generally catch wild Pokémon to fill out their Pokédexes or to add them to their core team of six. Given this, they rarely need to have a second copy of a Pokémon they've already caught, making the Love Ball one of the least useful of the more powerful Poké Ball varieties.

One of the newest additions to the Poké Ball roster, Dream Balls first appeared in Generation 5 before getting a design update in Generation 8. In "Pokémon Black and White," players could not obtain Dream balls through a normal method due to their inclusion in a specific event. When players went into Entree Forest, they had a special interaction with the Wild Pokémon they encountered and could catch it without battling it. This interaction placed a single Dream Ball in the player's bag that guaranteed a catch in Entree Forest. However, if they didn't use the Dream Ball in the encounter, it disappeared permanently from their bag.

In Generation 8, Dream Balls changed to give a 4x catch modifier on sleeping Pokémon and became easily attainable through Max Raid Battles. Its current form makes the Dream Ball quite useful because players already want to have their targeted Wild Pokémon in the Sleep status effect, so stacking those synergistic and common sense modifiers makes the Dream Ball a great choice.

Offering similar benefits to the Dive Ball, the Net Ball barely outperforms its relative due to an expanded list of catchable Pokémon. Just like the Dive Ball, the Net Ball provides a 3.5x catch rate modifier (starting in Generation 7) on qualifying Pokémon. But, instead of only working on Pokémon met through water-based encounters, the Net Ball gets the modifier bonus when catching all water-type and bug-type Pokémon.

Almost all the Pokémon encountered while fishing, surfing, and underwater are water-type, so the Net Ball does the same job as the Dive Ball but better because of its additional bug-type modifier. Catching bug-type Pokémon, however, generally doesn't matter because they are among the weakest in the game. However, players can make quick work of filling their Pokédexes with bug-types thanks to the Net Ball.

A relative of the Love Ball, the Repeat Ball also determines its catch bonus by checking the player's Pokédex for Pokémon they've previously caught. The Repeat Ball provides a strong 3.5x catch modifier for Pokémon the trainer has "already registered as owned" in their Pokédex.

Repeat Balls have quite a lot of utility for their conditional requirement. Players will find them especially useful for catching shiny Pokémon. In fact, they're so good at this task that some fans have taken to disliking the Repeat Ball because so many cool Pokémon end up housed in the rather mundane-looking container. As a result, trainers interested in trading may want to avoid using Repeat Balls on more prestigious Pokémon altogether.

Like a few of its brethren, the Fast Ball didn't work as intended when it debuted in Generation 2 due to a bug. Though the developers designed this iteration to give a 4x boosted catch rate against Pokémon likely to flee, the code only checked Magnemite, Grimer, and Tangela. No other Pokémon received the 4x catch modifier outside of that short list — not even if they met the requirements.

From Generation 4 onward, the developers changed the Fast Ball to give a 4x catch rate modifier when used against Pokémon with a Speed stat of 100 or greater. Most low level Pokémon won't satisfy this condition, but some of the strongest and more rare Pokémon players encounter as they progress through each game surpass 100 Speed.

Another stand-out for its specific use case, the Friend Ball provides juicy friendship points often hard to come by in Pokémon games. Even though it only has a 1x catch rate modifier, the same strength as a basic Poké Ball, it gives 200 friendship points (changed to 150 for Generation 8) to Pokémon caught with it — a valuable advantage in certain scenarios.

18 different Pokémon require a friendship level of above 220 to evolve, with classics like Eevee and Pichu's evolutions locked behind their happiness levels. This makes the Friend Ball a necessity for evolving the Pokémon on that list. Players must trade a Green Apricorn for each Friend Ball, making them a powerful and rare commodity best saved for the right situation.

Generation 3 boasted many Poké Ball innovations, with the Timer Ball offering yet another unique take. This variety provides a catch rate modifier that increases the longer the encounter lasts. On turn 1 of a Wild encounter, the Timer Ball has a normal 1x catch rate modifier, but it ramps up to a maximum of a 4x catch rate modifier on turns 10 and above.

Without any other conditions to meet, piled on top of its widespread availability, the Timer Ball is one of the best options in any situation. Unless they want to catch a Pokémon on the first turn, players typically spend some time lowering a Wild Pokémon's HP while also applying a status effect. With that natural progression, the Timer Ball fits right in and serves up great utility in nearly every scenario.

The Level Ball provides a catch bonus modifier based on the level of the Pokémon the trainer is currently using. Starting at a 1x catch rate modifier for Wild Pokémon with a level equal to or greater than the trainer's Pokémon, the Level Ball ramps up from there to a maximum of an 8x catch rate modifier for Wild Pokémon at a ¼ of the level of the trainer's Pokémon.

For example, if the trainer uses a level 99 Pokémon, as is very common in the late game, then all Pokémon level 24 and below will have an 8x catch rate modifier when targeted by a Level Ball. This is in league with the highest catch rate modifiers in the game outside of automatic-catch balls, making the Level Ball one of the best additions to any collection.

Most unique Poké Balls don't offer flexibility across many different types of situation, making the Dusk Ball something of an exception. An even better version of the Ultra Ball, the Dusk Ball provides a 3x catch rate modifier for Pokémon caught either in a cave or at night. 

While the cave component doesn't boast as much use as the global nighttime modifier, players should not have much trouble fulfilling this combination of conditions. Trainers who want to stock up on strong Poké Balls that provide a 3x catch rate modifier for basically any Pokémon (and who don't mind battling after nightfall) can't go wrong with the Dusk Ball.

While most other Poké Balls need to follow some sort of rule or fulfill a conditional guideline, the Master Ball eschews convention in favor of raw power. Just about everybody familiar with the "Pokémon" franchise knows that the Master Ball automatically catches any Pokémon it gets thrown at. No ifs, ands, or buts about it: the Master Ball always accomplishes its task with a 255x catch rate modifier.

As players can only obtain one Master Ball per playthrough, some people design their entire run around the Pokémon they will use their Master Ball on. Chucking a Master Ball at a Legendary Pokémon in the late game can feel fantastic, like the player has truly mastered the art of being a Pokémon trainer.