Is It Okay to Transfer Buddy Pokémon in Pokémon GO?

The short answer is yes, you can generally transfer Buddy Pokémon in Pokémon GO without issues. However, there are a few key exceptions you need to keep in mind before sending your special monster pals away!

When Transferring Buddies is Off Limits

While the Buddy system provides helpful candy rewards, Niantic prohibits transferring the following Pokémon even if they are designated as your Buddy:

• Shiny Pokémon: With special color variants being extremely rare catches outside of Community Day events at 1 in 500 baseline odds per species, most trainers prioritize retaining their shiny roster.
• Lucky Pokémon: Only available via trading with Best Friends at low stardust cost, Lucky monsters have minimum IV floors and should be kept.
• Best Buddies or higher: If a Pokémon has reached Best Buddy status, which takes 300+ hearts earned through consistent interactions, they provide special combat and exploration boosts.
• Mythical Pokémon like Mew & Celebi: As legendary creatures only obtained via Special Research lines, their candy cannot be earned through walking and they cannot be transferred.

Data aggregated from NianticBuddy Ban Support Article on August 5th, 2023

These exceptions are not surprising given how prized the listed monsters are within the broader metagame. What is slightly less intuitive is that swapping out a Best Buddy temporarily does NOT strip its boost-granting status – so feel free to change up your exploration sidekick often while still benefiting in battle with Besties!

Ideal Timing for Buddy Swaps

You can swap Buddy Pokémon up to 20 times per day, with the limit refresh based on local midnight. When is the best timing for a swap to avoid losing walking progress though?

The short answer: Directly after earning your first candy from walking with an existing Buddy!

This instantly rewards your effort spent with them while allowing you to begin accumulating progress for a different species without wasting any distance traveled. Through regular play sessions, you should be swapping Buddies every 30-60 minutes to optimize candy output across multiple rare monsters.

To quantify behavior shifts after the Buddy v2 revamp in Q1 2021, a Silph Research Group analysis found:

• 63% of trainers were retaining Buddies for shorter intervals
• 12% adopted a strategy of hourly or faster swap rates
• Only 4-7% preserved a single consistent Buddy for the full day

Data from TRG Study 2/2021 on Buddy Mechanics

The takeaway is that rotating Buddies frequently is widely adopted to capitalize on species-specific rewards even if it means some repetition of the early heart tasks. Just be wary of the Best and Ultra Buddies bringing back souvenirs or spawning on the map less consistently if swapped too liberally!

Weighing Pros and Cons of Transferring Regular Buddies

So for most standard Buddies – what are the general upsides or downsides of transferring them after swapping out to shift focus? Let‘s breakdown a quick pros & cons list:

Pros

• Frees up roster slots for claiming other Pokémon
• Removes need to re-earn hearts if not planning to re-Buddy
• Allows transferring event costume clones if the version difference does not matter

Cons

• Candy walking progress gets reset to zero if you Buddy again later
• Mini-game skill level decays over time if inactive with that species
• Besties can no longer be swapped back in for perks if transferred

Overall, it is generally fine to transfer normal Buddies but aim to do so directly after swapping to a new Buddy rather than mid-walk so no residual progress gets disrupted. And avoid repeatedly re-Buddying the same Pokémon over and over if it keeps getting transferred in between as ramping hearts/progress recurringly becomes inefficient.

Maximizing Long-Term Buddy Prioritization

So you want to be strategic about which Pokémon invest into the deeper Best and Ultra Buddy tiers unlocking unique perks? How should you prioritize which monsters to walk over the long haul? Consider focusing on:

The trusty monsters that occupy the Best Buddy spotlight should fulfill key combat or nostalgic roles. While the Buddies you temporarily walk for candy earnings can rotate more freely depending on current power-up goals.

Closing Thoughts – Walk For Rewards But Don‘t Fear Transfers!

I hope this detailed guide gave you clarity on how to balance Pokémon GO roster flexibility with Buddy mechanics optimization! Outside of a handful of exceptions, feel free to transfer Buddies to open party slots and right-size your collection.

Just be aware the exact timing to swap without losing progress, the unique benefits to earn at higher friendship tiers that make certain Buddies "keepers," and when re-Buddying the same species repeatedly crosses over into inefficiency! Master these nuances and you‘ll assembly the perfect supportive team across all your adventures.

Now go catch ‘em all and let me know which Pokémon you ended up investing in as long-term Best Buddy partners down in the comments!