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Pokemon GO's medal system is vast and provides trainers with ways to gain passive benefits (depending on the medal leveled up) as well as share their accomplishments within the game. However, not all medals are created equally, and some are incredibly difficult to complete. It's understandable for players to still work towards progressing these medals, though.
With that in mind, let's take a look at some of the toughest medals to level up in Pokemon GO as well as some tips on how to make the process of doing so easier.
Note: This list is subjective and reflects the opinions of the writer
5 of the toughest Pokemon GO medals to rank up and tips to complete them
1) Sightseer
Pokestops in Pokemon GO can be either easy to find or incredibly tough depending on where trainers are. This is part of the reason the Sightseer medal, which requires unique Pokestop visits, can be challenging. A platinum Sightseer medal requires 2,000 unique Pokestop visits, meaning visiting a Pokestop that hasn't already been visited by the player before.
Short of using Niantic Wayfarer to submit new Pokestops and hoping they get approved, there aren't many concrete solutions to level this medal up quickly. It all comes down to running the game and visiting new Pokestops whenever a player is traveling somewhere they haven't been before.
Obviously, major cities and metropolitan centers will be more rife with stops, making them preferable areas for Pokestop visits compared to rural areas that don't often have as many. While a player's respective means may create hurdles for progressing this medal, reaching the maximum rank is still possible as long as trainers never forget to open the game while they're traveling.
2) Gentleman
Trading in Pokemon GO can be tricky from the start because there's no remote method of swapping Pocket Monsters, forcing trainers to meet personally and conduct trades. Throw in the fact that trading costs Stardust, sometimes quite a lot, and things are only complicated for the Gentleman medal, which requires players to conduct 2,500 trades for the platinum rank.
Fortunately, there's still hope even for trainers in rural areas where player communities are threadbare. Apps like Niantic Campfire can help trainers link up and trade once they've gotten to know one another. Moreover, if they can travel to real-world GO events or even to local events, there should be more than a few fellow players to trade with.
Progress to this medal can be made with incredibly cheap and simple trades, as well as repeat trading with the same partner. Players can leverage this information to their advantage.
3) Friend Finder
Contrary to the title of this medal, Friend Finder requires players to invite friends to Pokemon GO using the friend referral mechanic. A platinum medal requires 50 friends to be referred and added to the game, which can be a very tall task considering the title is eight years old and the pool of prospective new trainers is much slimmer compared to 2016.
Short of multi-accounting, which is technically cheating according to Niantic (playing on the same account with multiple devices is permitted, however), trainers will have some convincing to do. However, if they have any friends or family they enjoy spending time with, it might be worth asking them if they'd be willing to create an account even if they don't play much.
Referrals will likely only get tougher to make as Pokemon GO continues to age and more prospective players try the game on their own. However, there are still plenty of individuals who would likely be willing to do a trainer a favor to help them make progress on their Friend Finder medal.
4) Wayfarer
Pokemon GO utilizes the Niantic Wayfarer program as a means to submit new Pokestop suggestions, which can then be approved and added to the game or denied. The Wayfarer medal, as one might expect, is connected to how many approved Wayfarer submissions players have made, requiring 1500 approvals for the platinum rank.
This is arguably the hardest medal in Pokemon GO, as approvals and denials are largely handled by volunteers from the community, and some players have reported receiving temporary bans for having their submissions rejected. With that in mind, trainers must do their utmost to recommend Pokestops that are genuinely unique in their areas instead of simply being convenient.
With the Wayfarer medal, patience and attention to quality pay off. A lot of submissions can be rejected before a few get approved. However, if trainers review Niantic's submission guidelines, they may find that they can get more approvals in a short time.
5) Vivillon Collector
Vivillon isn't always sought after in Pokemon GO since it's not particularly useful in battle. It does have 18 different wing patterns, all of which make progress toward the Vivillon Collector medal. However, the catch is that Vivillon is traditionally obtained by evolving Scatterbug and Spewpa, and these two prior evolutions are hard-coded to evolve into certain Vivillon wing patterns.
To make things trickier, Scatterbug is only obtained through the use of the postcard book feature, where players can save the location of a Pokestop in their postcard book when they receive a gift from a friend. Certain regions cause certain Scatterbugs to spawn, which will ultimately evolve into one of the 18 Vivillon patterns based on where players received their gift.
For example, a Pokemon GO trainer who saves postcards from gifts sent from southeast Asia will spawn Scatterbugs that will evolve into Vivillon with the Monsoon wing pattern. The Vivillon Collector medal requires trainers to catch different Vivillon with different wing patterns. A platinum medal rank will require players to catch all 18 currently available Vivillon patterns.
When it comes to completing this difficult Pokemon GO medal, the best advice is to use online resources to find sites where trainers post their friend code, add them as friends, and swap gifts. By keeping track of which regions players have collected postcards from, they can slowly narrow down the Vivillon they still need to evolve until the medal is completed.
