Daily Run is an alternate game mode that offers a more limited challenge than Classic or Endless. It can be accessed from the main menu under “Daily Run (Beta)” and a new challenge rotates in every 24 hours. Unlike other game modes, everyone playing starts with the same challenge based on a set seed for that day.
Instead of picking starters, each run begins with a premade team of three level twenty Pokémon, each with set items, natures, abilities and movesets. The total cost of the starter team adds up to ten points, with at least one Pokémon in the 4+ value range. Duplicate starters are not generated. Credit for owning the three starter Pokémon is not added to your Dex. Additionally you start with three EXP. Alls and three Golden EXP. Charms.
Each Daily Run is composed of 50 waves, divided into five biome zones. Each 5th wave (5, 15, 25, etc.) is a trainer battle, every 10th wave is a boss Pokémon (10, 50) or Gym Leader (20, 30 and 40). All the other waves are wild Pokémon encounters which can be captured. The final boss on wave 50 in the End biome can never be caught, not even with a Master Ball. Any Pokémon caught in a Daily Run are added to your collection as normal.
Daily Run Schedule
The daily run resets at 12AM UTC / 8PM EST / 5PM PST, the same time the PKRS starters rotate.
Dailies saved in slots prior to rollover can still be completed for rewards, but no new instances of that daily can be made as it will have been replaced by the new day’s challenge. Depending on server load it can take up to an additional minute or so after rollover for the daily to actually change.
Daily Run Rewards
Beating the final boss awards a 1x Egg Voucher Premium . Three 1x Regular Egg Vouchers are awarded by the Gym Leaders, or a 5x Egg Voucher Plus if that Gym Leader has never been defeated before. Only one 10x voucher can be obtained per daily puzzle, but the gym leader tickets can be earned multiple times. A previously saved Daily can be completed at a later date and still earn the 10x ticket, however no new runs of the previous day can be started after rollover.
Due to their seeded nature, Daily Run can also be a good way to capture specific legendary or rare Pokémon, if one happens to show up that day.
Rare Encounters
The main attraction of Daily Runs outside of the pure challenge or puzzle aspect is the possibility for guaranteed spawns of rare Pokémon, IVs, or abilities. There are always multiple 31 IVs found in any daily, occasionally a Hidden Ability (HA), and rarely legendary or sub-legendary encounters. When such finds are located they will be listed in the pinned message of the Discord channel or featured in guides/videos with the steps necessary to reproduce the encounter.
HAs and rare encounters may require a specific number of active Lures, and often duplicate across alternate routes but with different Pokémon. For example, if an Ultra Rare Suicune is found in Lake on wave 45, it’s possible an UR Kartana or Wo-Chien could be found in the w45 Forest, as both are possible exits from Snowy Forest. Sometimes alternate paths do not have parallel encounters, either due to whims of the RNG or there being no entry for that category (Super Rare/Ultra Rare) in the second biome. Hidden Abilities often duplicate themselves across alternate routes as well, unless the encountered Pokémon doesn’t have a HA.
Shinies
While shiny Pokémon can appear in dailies, they are client-side and set by the player’s Trainer ID, and thus are not shareable. Starters can be shiny, which may change the other starting members of the team and biomes, and will definitely alter the rewards the player recieves due to Luck. The final uncatchable boss and trainer Pokémon can also be shiny.
Completion Hunting
Certain Pokémon are only available to be seen in Daily Run. This includes legendaries like Mew, Celebi, Victini, Deoxys, and Pecharunt which can appear as the wave 50 final boss. Trainers in Daily Runs may also have Pokémon that do not otherwise appear in the wild or are extremely difficult to see/encounter. PokéRogue keeps separate track of “Species Seen” – met in the wild or evolved, and “Starters”, which can be hatched.
Daily Run Biomes
Each Daily Run begins in a randomized biome based on the daily’s seed. Similarly to Classic, every ten waves the biome will change following this chart.
Whenever the biome changes, all of your Pokémon will be returned to their Poké Balls and be fully healed. This also removes any stat changes and statuses. Each daily run follows a set default path through five connected biomes, but sometimes the next biome can be switched to an alternate route by taking Lures.
Alternate Lure Routes
Alternate paths can sometimes be reached by having three or more Lures active (Lure, Super Lure, Max Lure) during the transition between biomes. Rarely two lures is sufficient and even more rarely more than three are needed. Three lures is the standard threshold for switching to an alternate route, if one exists.
Not all biomes have alternate exits. For example, Desert always leads to Ancient Ruins and then Forest, but Volcano can lead to either Beach or Ice Cave. This means that some dailies have branching paths, changing the Pokémon and gyms that will be encountered. Lure routes are considered harder on average to the default route because they require taking Lure rewards over other useful picks and result in more double battles.
Depending on the starting biome and whims of the RNG, there can be multiple alternate paths or forks in the biome choices in a single Daily Run. Alternate routes are most valuable when a seeded HA (Hidden Ability) or ultra rare Pokémon spawn exists. Even if a biome has multiple exits, it will not always be possible to switch using lures.
Daily Run Items
Each of the three starters is given three items to begin the run with. These can be any held item such as berries, move type boosters, utility items or vitamins. Duplicates are allowed, and type boosters are often not assigned to the correct Pokémon initially. If the RNG attemps to assign an ineligible item (“The stack for this item is full.”, the run will start with extra Poké Balls instead. This happens when a second Reviver Seed is rolled or vitamins a Pokémon’s IVs are too low for.
After any successfully completed wave that does not change biomes and fully heal the party, the standard reward screen will be offered but with no purchasable items. Only free rewards are available in Daily Run, and money is exclusively used for rerolls. Egg vouchers are also not possible as random rewards in Daily. There is no candy from captures either, unless it’s a new dex registration.
The viability of many items is different in Daily vs. the more familiar Classic or Endless modes.
Item ⇅ | Details | |
|---|---|---|
 | Poké Balls | More valuable the higher tier they are and the earlier the better.Catching Pokémon can often cost less resources than fighting them. |
 | TMs | Strong attacks for type coverage or raw power are always useful.Most TMs are easy skips.TMs Page |
   | Mega Bracelet, Dynamax Band and Tera Orb | Mostly dead picks due to the short nature of Daily and much more limited team choice.The odds of getting the actual evolution item afterwards are low. |
  | Evolution Items | Can be challenging to find, extremely strong if located early in the Daily.Well worth checking rerolls for. |
 | Lock Capsule | Too expensive to use with limited funds and floors. |
   | Money | Helpful for attaining extra rerolls.Since there are no purchasable items, rerolls are highly incentivized.Diminishing value in late game for Golden Punch/Amulet Coin. |
 | Memory Mushroom | High priority to fix newly caught Pokémon who are missing a key levelup move.More valuable in the later stages or after evolutions. |
 | Reviver Seed | High priority pick at any point, can be critical for setting up against a boss. |
  | Berries | Sitrus, Enigma and Lum are good if you don’t need immediate healing.Leppa can be clutch for a strong move with low PP.Low priority choices if none of the other rewards are better. |
  | Rare Candies and Candy Jars | Power levelling a single ace can make tough fights much easier and gives access to more moves.Candy Jars are hard to find but valuable early. |
  | Type Boosting Held Items | Rare and desirable regardless of progress.Even 2-3 of these can dramatically improve an otherwise average sweeper.Worth considering catching & releasing any Pokémon with a held item that your team can use. |
 | Vitamins | Not as useful as item boosters since they cannot be transferred.Protein/Calcium/Carbos worth taking for a high base stat ace / designated sweeper. |
   | Grip Claw, Quick Claw, King’s Rock | Nice to have but not a necessity.Flinch and priority are unreliable.Daily doesn’t have as many good items to steal and only 50 waves.Can alter the RNG. |
Daily Run Randomization
Daily Runs are generated by RNG (Random Number Generator) – an algorithm determines the starters, moves, items, biome, encounters, rewards, hit chance, basically everything from the predefinied parameters for PokéRogue and the randomized starting seed. Dailies are also specifically set seed, in that the same random number is used for everyone. That’s why all players get identical starters unless their Trainer ID produced a shiny.
While the starting point is fixed, the player’s actions immediately begin to influence the outcome of the run. Actions known to affect the RNG include:
- Catching vs. KO’ing a Pokémon
- Number of turns taken
- Moves used / PP remaining
- Number of Pokémon
- Party order
- Party moves known
- Total party health / status
- Luck (from shinies)
- Browser
- Reloads
Not all elements of a daily are equally influenced by player actions. The final boss is static, as is the starting biome barring the very rare shiny starter circumstance. Gym Leaders only change if the a biome switch is possible or a double gym leader fight, which seem to not be seeded. Pokémon encounters are mostly affected by the presence or lack of lures, but may be influenced by reloads rarely. Item rewards are the most variable and sensitive to player actions, and can vary widely almost immediately.
The effects of different browsers and reloads influencing RNG are not intentional and the development team is actively working on eliminating these triggers.
The RNG determines the likelihood of success for Pokémon captures, if a move hits or misses, triggers of percentage items such as Quick Claw and secondary move effects like poison burn and freeze. Doing the same set of actions repeatedly in the same circumstances yields the same results – for example if a Pokémon can be immediately caught turn 1 with a Poké Ball at full HP, it should be catchable like that for everyone doing the same daily.
Daily Run Score
The score, previously used for global leaderboards, is calculated based on the experience value, quantity and speed of Pokémon defeated, either via KO or capture. For a high score, ideally you want to defeat as many Pokémon as possible in as few turns as possible. Lures are key to getting a higher score, as they increase the number of double battles. 2500 points are also awarded for beating the final boss. Money does not influence final score.
