What To Know About HP In Pokémon Go

In the past few weeks, Pokémon Go has taken over the country — but that doesn't mean the game is always intuitive; in fact, there are plenty of things about it that don't always seem obvious. So what does HP mean in Pokémon Go? Well, the short answer is that it stands for Hit Points — and here's what that means.

Every Pokémon in the game starts off with a certain number of HP, or Hit Points, when they're captured. When you use your Pokémon in a battle against other players — say, when you're attacking or defending a gym — any damage done to your Pokémon subtracts from the Pokémon's total number of Hit Points. So HP is kind of like a measure of your Pokémon's stamina and health. And some have a lot more than others.

If you want to make sure your Pokédex is padded out with lots of HP, there are definitely some specific Pokémon to look for. The Pokémon with the most HP is Chansey with a total of 500, well above any other Pokémon,so it can survive quite a few hits:

The Pokémon who ranks second best in terms of HP is Snorlax, with a total of 320:

After that, Wigglytuff, Lapras, and Vaporeon round out the top five; all of them have at least 250 HP.

Though notably, none of those three are among the top five Pokémon in terms of maximum CP, or Combat Power. So I guess you can't have everything in life — or in Pokémon.

What do you do if your Pokémon has been injured in battle and lost HP? Fortunately, there are potions you can acquire that will help revive any Pokémon that have fainted and restore their HP. So they aren't out of commission forever; don't worry. You can find these and other items at Pokéstops. To use them, go to your Main Menu and select "Items."

Enjoy your Pokémon battling!

Images: Giphy (3)