Apricorn Press #2: Alphas don't run
How to tell an Alpha from a jumbo spawn, what the roar does to its level, where they actually come from, and whether you should faint it or catch it.
An Alpha is not a shiny and it is not “a big one.” It is a species flag: oversized, glowing red eyes, Alpha mark + Jumbo (the Great) mark, a deeper cry, and a wild AI that fights back. Regular wild Pokémon still bolt. This one does not. Natural herd Alphas spawn fully evolved, with a pack of their baby stage following. You are not peeling one off a hillside like a houndour. What happens when you walk up Get close and it cries, throws Wild Might particles, then relevels off the highest-level Pokémon in your party. Official wiki lists the sensor at 16 blocks. Cobbledex and CobbleWiki both measure it at 32 blocks, checking about once a second while it is still wild. If you heard the roar, the level already moved. Your strongest party Pokémon Alpha becomes --- --- Lv 1–20 +4 Lv 21–30 +8 Lv 31–45 +12 Lv 46–65 +16 Lv 66+ +20, capped at 100 Leave legends in the PC if you want a catchable fight. Bring them if you want the loot table to roll high. Mixing them by accident is how you get a 90 that you cannot finish. The level cannot drop below that species’ evolution requirement, so a fully evolved herd lead can still outscale a low party even when the table looks gentle. The fight is worse than the sprite - It always retaliates. Hit it and it turns around. That is the behaviour, not a mood. - Two TM slots. Slots 3 and 4 try to roll TM-learnable moves (not Tera Blast). If no TM fits, they fall back to level-up. Pack coverage you did not bring for the wild set. - Wild Might. Wild battles only. One random non-HP stat allocation, plus one more per 10 levels (floor(level / 10) + 1). A level 50 Alpha gets 6 allocations; 100 gets 11. Attack / Defence / Sp. Atk / Sp. Def / Speed only. HP, accuracy, and evasion are not in the pool. A captured Alpha does not keep Wild Might in trainer fights. Where they actually come from There is no “1% of all grass.” Dedicated alpha herd spawn files exist (CobbleWiki counted 396 files / 1,082 encounters / 418 leader species, including Ditto). Plus the machine and bait paths: Source Chance (mod default) Notes --- --- --- Wild alpha herds Guaranteed when that spawn fires Fully evolved leader + baby herd. Rare. Certain fishing Forced Alpha on those outcomes No herd. Can be an earlier evo. Hopo Berry seasoning / bait +2% per effect, stack to 100% Same influence on Poké Snacks and baited rods. Honey on a Saccharine Log 1 in 100 Shiny rolls separately. Fossil resurrection 1 in 20 Best unstacked machine rate. Shiny independent. Data Monitor (Upgrade / Dubious Disc → Porygon line) 1 in 40 Porygon / Porygon2 / Porygon-Z path, not “any fossil on a screen.” Hopo is the farm you can set and forget. Honey logs are an hour of standing around. Fossils are for people who already have a lab. Herds are the ones that make you stop walking. Config knobs exist (honeySlatherAlphaChance, fossilMachineAlphaChance, monitorAlphaRate). Treat the table as 1.8 defaults, not a contract. If staff retune Eternals, this page will say so. Size Alpha scale is based on the species hitbox at 1×, not “everything becomes a boss.” Official wiki buckets: 1× hitbox Alpha size --- --- under 0.5 blocks +85% under 1.5 blocks +66% under 10 blocks +50% over 10 blocks +33% Small things look absurd. Garchomp just looks like Garchomp. The Pokédex has an As an Alpha panel — check it. Baby growth while levelling (small at 1, normal around 10) is a different system. Alphas also cannot sit on your shoulder. After you catch one, the Alpha Mark can toggle the red eyes on that Pokémon. Drops: faint it or keep it Bonus loot only runs when a wild Alpha faints. Catching it skips the candy / gem / berry tables. Species drops can still happen separately. You keep Alpha size, marks, moveset, and the level it had when the ball clicked. It will not keep releveling off whoever is nearby. Base candy (level tiers) - 1–30: Exp. Candy XS / S / M - 31–50: S / M / L - 51–65: M / L plus a chance at stat candies (Health, Mighty, Tough, Smart, Courage, Quick) — or nothing - 66–100: L / XL / Rare Candy, plus more stat candy Exact weights are on the wiki drop tables. High-level hunts are how people fund TMs. Type loot Each of its types gets an independent 50% roll. Single-type Alphas roll the same type twice (so 25% chance of zero type rewards, 25% chance of two). When a roll hits: 75% Type Gems, 25% the matching resistance berry (Occa for Fire, Rindo for Grass, Haban for Dragon, and so on). Quantities bump at level 51 (gems 2–3, berries 1–2). That is why people faint Alphas they do not want to keep. Gems feed the TM machine. The two systems are attached on purpose. IVs, EVs, catch rate: no Alpha bonus in base 1.8. Harder fight, same ball math. Shiny and Alpha are separate rolls — fossils and honey can produce both. Advancements - Follow the Leader — catch one Alpha. The game also tracks a lifetime catch count. - Records of the Past — a strong ancient technique from ruins or an Alpha. - Call me Ishmael! — Alpha Wailord, after the first Alpha catch. - Alpha PC wallpaper unlocks on capture. Field notes Do not wander a herd biome with your ranked team in slot 1 unless you want the roar to match that team. Do not poke it “to see.” It does not flee. If the eyes are red: commit to a ball or commit to a KO. Standing there with a level 14 out is how the death screen happens. Sources Wiki screenshots on this page are copied from the Cobblemon Wiki for reference and stay copyright their authors. 1. Pokémon/Alpha — Cobblemon Wiki. Herds, level table, size buckets, two TM moves, drop tables, advancements, Pyroar render, Alpha Mark, wallpaper. 2. Alpha Pokémon Guide — Cobbledex. 32-block sensor, spawn sources (herds / fishing / Hopo / honey / fossils / monitor), faint-loot overview. 3. Alpha Pokémon in Cobblemon 1.8 — CobbleWiki (source-checked against 1.8, September 9, 2026). Wild Might formula, Hopo stacking, catch-vs-faint, herd file counts, config keys. 4. Hopo Berry — CobbleWiki. 2% Alpha on Poké Snack / bait seasoning. 5. Data Monitor — Cobblemon Wiki. Upgrade / Dubious Disc Porygon path (higher Alpha/shiny chance). 6. Fossil — Cobblemon Wiki. Resurrection Machine. 7. 1.8.0 Make Your Move — Cobblemon Wiki. Feature ship notes and Wild Might particles.
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