 UPDATE ONE: Here's a new Palkia raid counter guide from the Pokemon Company, which explains: "Most of the best damage dealers for this encounter are Dragon-type Pokémon, so load up your party with them if your priority is earning as many Premier Balls as possible. Rayquaza's ability to deal sky-high damage with Dragon Tail and Outrage is unmatched, while the damage Dragonite deals with the same moves is next best. (Beware that Dragonite will be slightly less effective if it instead knows its Community Day move, Draco Meteor.) Palkia itself (if you've already caught one), followed by Latios and Salamence, rounds out the top flight of Dragon-types for maximizing damage. Each of these Pokémon resists both Fire Blast and Hydro Pump, which somewhat makes up for their guaranteed weakness to Palkia's Fast Attacks.
"Gardevoir and Togekiss are the strongest Fairy-type attackers available, but both will need to combine the Fairy-type Charged Attack Dazzling Gleam with a Fast Attack of a different type." ORIGINAL: The Sinnoh region legendary Water and Dragon-type Pokemon, Palkia, is coming to Pokemon Go. The Gen 4 beast is set to become the new Raid boss later this week and will be available to battle for a whole month. According to a new announcement from Niantic, Palkia will be the legendary raid boss to beat, starting from tomorrow, January 29. Palkia will be available to raid against at around 9pm in the UK, meaning most fans will have to wait until Wednesday. The Gen 4 legendary will appear in raid battles until February 28, and will likely be replaced by another high-powered opponent. “A new arrival to raids will test your strength in 2019!” a message from Niantic confirms. “The Water and Dragon-type spatial Pokemon, Palkia, will join raid battles across the world from January 29.” The Pokemon Company lists Palkia’s weaknesses as Dragon and Fairy types and also confirms that it does not evolve. Palkia is expected to have a CP level of around 2280 during normal weather and something even higher during windy or rainy effects. This could go as high as 2850, depending on your luck when choosing a Gym to battle in. Rayquaza is currently rated as one of the best Raid counters to deploy against Palkia, although that Legendary hasn’t been available to catch for a while. For those who don’t have one of those lying around, there should be plenty of alternative choices from the Dragons you have in your collection. Dragonite is another potential pick and is a Pokemon that has been available to add to your collection for longer. The Pokemon Go Hub has these moves as confirmed for the Pokemon Go Palkia Raid Boss: "Draco Meteor is Palkia’s hardest move set. DM is super effective against all Dragon typed counters and makes the whole fight much harder (like 30% harder). Be very careful against this move; it will wipe you if you’re not careful. "Hydro Pump is almost as dangerous as Draco Meteor. It deals a lot of damage, has STAB and it’s a great move in general, especially when used by a raid boss. Luckily, most counters take neutral or reduced damage from Water attacks. "Fire Blast is Palkia’s easiest charge move, as it deals significantly less damage than Hydro Pump and Draco Meteor, plus it doesn’t have STAB effect."
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 If you are a player who enjoys doing lots of trading or powering up your Pokémon to the best they can be for raids (soloing and duoing especially), then you might be in that population of players that struggle with their stardust numbers. In this article, I hope to shed some light on the perspective of stardust grinding and use in different aspects of the game. Getting Dust First, we much touch a little bit on how to get this precious stardust. Stardust is gathered a few different ways. The easiest and most common is by simply catching Pokémon. The third evolution catch dust is definitely the most alluring, but also the rarest. Most players catch all base evolution Pokémon with the rare sighting of a second evolution mon. Word on the street says that the rare Chimecho will give a base of 1000 stardust when caught, so if you find yourself with a Chimecho spawn, be sure to catch it! As mentioned in our last Stardust Article, catching 100 base evolution Pokémon with no weather boost is a simple 10,000 stardust, which will get you very little in the world of stardust. There are a few ‘fixes’ to the stardust system mentioned in this article as well, so there is no need to go into that topic here. Egg hatching is another one of the more common ways to obtain stardust, although it is much slower. Egg hatching can grant quite a lot of dust, especially during double dust for hatching events. As you can see, if you have a batch of eggs ready to pop it is in your benefit to pop a star piece, hopefully before they start hatching! You can maximize stardust gains from eggs this way! Gifts and PVP grant a random chance to receive stardust. Gifts can give 100 stardust per bundle, up to a bundle of 3, for 300 stardust. Star pieces do affect this, giving 150 stardust per bundle, up to a bundle of 3 for 450 stardust. PVP can give 500 stardust in real time battles and master league battles against the team leaders, per bundle up to 2 bundles for 1000 stardust. Star pieces also affect this, giving 750 stardust up to 2 bundles for 1500 stardust. You can open 20 gifts a day, and get rewards from 3 PVP battles every day, so though it is a limited and random chance amount, every little bit counts. Quests can also give you stardust with rewards ranging from 100-1000 stardust per quest and 150-1500 stardust per quest with a star piece running. Raids also give you stardust, 750 stardust for each raid whether you win or not. This is 1,125 stardust with a star piece running. This last method is reliable yet expensive but can get you a little push in dust fast. Many people call the nanab berry the ‘gym fodder berry’ and for good reason. Never delete them out of your bag! They can be put to use in other ways than making your Pokémon less jumpy. When you pass by a gym occupied by your team or click ‘go to gym’ from the defending Pokémon page, you can feed berries. Each berry gives 20 stardust. You can feed 10 berries per Pokémon every half hour, for every Pokémon in the gym. If you feed 10 berries to 6 Pokémon, you make out with 1200 stardust. Star pieces do affect this, making each berry worth 30 stardust. Feeding 10 berries to 6 Pokémon with a star piece, you get 1800 stardust. As mentioned, this does take 60 berries for every time you do this. It is a more passive method, for when you have too many berries and not enough space. Using Dust Trading By this point, we all are very familiar with trading, but here is a reminder of how friendship level affects the stardust cost for trades.  Yikes, that can get expensive. Our first tip, save those new shiny and legendary trades for Best Friends only!!! (Yes, even if they cry that Ultra Friends is ‘close enough’). Our second tip is to catch enough Pokémon to make up for what you trade. One normal Pokémon = One normal trade. The trading limit for each day is 100, and though the majority of players do not hit that goal each and every day, trading 100 normal Pokémon back and forth costs 10,000 stardust. That is a lot of stardust I know I do not consider when I go on a back and forth trading spree with my friends. Second Charge Move Another very simple use of dust, you can use stardust and candy to unlock a second charge move on a Pokémon! Sadly, this is not cheap, especially in the case of legendaries. There are a few niche situations where good Pokémon have a cheaper cost for a second move, for example, the babies which only cost 10,000 stardust and candy. If you plan to give your baby Pokémon a new move, always do it before you evolve! After you evolve, it can start costing upwards 50,000 stardust! Honestly, there is no other tip I have for giving your Pokémon a second move. If you want to give your Mewtwo Thunderbolt and Shadow Ball, you will just have to bite the bullet on that one. Choose wisely, 100,000 stardust is 1,000 regular caught Pokémon, or 800 weather boosted base evolution Pokémon. Below is a chart of what classes of Pokémon require what dust and candy cost to give a second move, for your viewing pleasure.  Powering Up
Now to the most important part, powering up. In the past and even now, powering up Pokémon is the heart and soul of a good PVP and raiding team. One can only get so far using all level 15, 20, and 25 research and raid rewards. Niantic has recently made powering up a little bit easier in the form of lucky Pokémon, but some people do not seem to realize the full impact of lucky Pokémon on the cost of powering up. The cost of powering up a lucky Pokémon is a fantastic investment of stardust. Having access to luckies basically allows you to ‘max two for the price of one’. It costs less stardust to max a level 1 lucky Pokémon than it costs to max a level 25 weather boosted raid boss, or even a level 30 wild find if that speaks anything to you. Luckies also have an IV floor of 12/12/12, giving them a higher chance of being worthy of powering up. Sometimes, it is even worth it to max a lucky Pokémon just because (usually if it has 15 attack), even if it is not 90+% IV, because it is an easy investment (considering you have the candy, which in the case of legendaries, is the real issue here). There are also more flaws with luckies, as they were introduced long after the trading feature was announced, and then after everyone traded away all their old Pokémon, Niantic announced a guaranteed lucky system! Not to mention, child accounts that have not been restarted entirely from scratch on Niantic Kids, still do not have access to ANY friend features, including trading, blocking them from getting luckies at all. Final Words This article is meant to get you to think about all the different ways you can gain stardust and all the different ways you can use stardust in relation to how much of it you can get. This does not mean you have to go out maxing lucky Pokémon just because you can max two of them instead of one, but it does help people realize that maybe they should try to get more luckies (even though it is just that… luck based) and maybe even get some good power up worthy Pokémon. Never be ashamed of maxing a Pokémon, trading a Pokémon, or giving a Pokémon second moves. People will always come at you with the “I only power up hundos” or, “I never make special trades” or, “Using stardust? I’ve never used it, I have 10 million”. What you do with your stardust is what you want to do with it. It can be replenished in more ways than one.  February is quickly approaching, which means another Pokemon Go Community Day is just around the corner. Niantic has shared the first details about next month's event, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday, February 16, and will feature the Ice- and Ground-type Pokemon Swinub.
Throughout the event, Swinub will spawn much more frequently in the wild than it normally does. Based on previous Community Days, players will also presumably have a chance of encountering a Shiny Swinub during the event, and any Swinub that evolves into its final form--Mamoswine--up to an hour after the Community Day ends will learn a special move, although Niantic has not yet confirmed what that will be. Mamoswine was one of the many new evolved forms first introduced in the Pokemon series' fourth-generation titles, so to get it in Go, you'll need to have a Sinnoh Stone--a new evolutionary item in the mobile game. One of the ways these can be obtained is through Trainer Battles, and during the Community Day, Niantic says you'll have a chance to earn up to five Sinnoh Stones by battling other players. You'll also receive five rewards per day from Trainer Battles during the Community Day weekend. On top of that, you'll receive triple the normal amount of Stardust for capturing Pokemon during February's Community Day. Finally, any Lure Modules that you use during the event will also remain active for three hours, rather than their usual 30-minute duration. You can read more about the event on the Pokemon Go website. As usual, February's Community Day will only run for three hours, and it'll take place at different times depending on where you live. You can find the hours for each region below. Pokemon Go February 2019 Community Day Hours The Americas and Greenland
Europe, Middle East, and Africa
Asia-Pacific
 Niantic swerved the Pokemon GO community when it introduced Gen 4 evolutions of previous gen Pokemon by forcing players to collect a Sinnoh Stone to evolve them. Sinnoh Stones were previously guaranteed rewards after Pokemon GO players managed to get a seven day PokeStop streak, but they’ve since been added to the mix of other evolution stones, making it harder for players to fill out their Sinnoh region Pokedex.
However, Niantic is making it much easier to get Sinnoh Stones in Pokemon GO as part of a limited-time event. During the upcoming Swinub Community Day on February 16, Pokemon GO players will have the chance to earn five Sinnoh Stones as rewards by participating in trainer battles. While Pokemon GO fans will undoubtedly want to use at least one Sinnoh Stone they get on Community Day to evolve Piloswine into a Mamoswine with an exclusive move, the other Sinnoh Stones they earn can presumably be saved to get other Gen 4 Pokemon. This means anyone who has been struggling to add Pokemon like Electivire and Magmortar to their collection should have their best chance to do so during the February 16 Community Day event. Some Pokemon GO players who have been out of the loop may not realize what “trainer battles” are, but they’re the game’s PvP mode. Added just a few months ago, PvP in Pokemon GO lets trainers battle other players nearby in exchange for various rewards. During the three hour Community Day window, those rewards will also apparently include Sinnoh Stones, possibly as a way to convince more people to use the game’s PvP feature. Since Sinnoh Stones are generally hard to come by in Pokemon GO, it will be interesting to see if even more ways to collect them are added in the future or featured as bonuses during Community Day events. That will likely depend on how fans react to Sinnoh Stones being incorporated in the upcoming Swinub Community Day on February 16, so fans of the popular mobile game will just have to stay tuned for more information on that front.  February is nearly here, which means it's almost time for another Pokemon Go Community Day. Niantic has now shared the first details on next month's event, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday, February 16, and will feature another Gen 2 Pokemon: the Ice- and Ground-type Swinub.
Throughout the event, Swinub will spawn much more frequently in the wild than it normally does. Based on previous Community Days, players will also presumably have a chance of encountering a Shiny Swinub during the event, and any Swinub that evolves into its final form--Mamoswine--up to an hour after the Community Day ends will learn a special move, although Niantic has not yet confirmed what that will be. Mamoswine was one of the many new evolved forms first introduced in the Pokemon series' fourth-generation titles, so to get it in Go, you'll need to have a Sinnoh Stone--a new evolutionary item in the mobile game. One of the ways these can be obtained is through Trainer Battles, and during the Community Day, Niantic says you'll have a chance to earn up to five Sinnoh Stones by battling other players. You'll also receive five rewards per day from Trainer Battles during the Community Day weekend. On top of that, you'll receive triple the normal amount of Stardust for capturing Pokemon during February's Community Day. Finally, any Lure Modules that you use during the event will also remain active for three hours, rather than their usual 30-minute duration. You can read more about the event on the Pokemon Go website. As usual, February's Community Day will only run for three hours, and it'll take place at different times depending on where you live. You can find the hours for each region below. Pokemon Go February 2019 Community Day Hours The Americas and Greenland
Europe, Middle East, and Africa
Asia-Pacific
 Pokemon GO fans, the fun never stops - no sooner have we seen the end of the Feebas Special Research event than we're waiting for the next big event: the February 2018 research date.
On January 12th, we saw the first Community Day of 2019 - and it offered Gen 2 starter Pokemon, Totodile, with the special move Hydro Cannon. The Pokemon carried a good amount of utility for meta Pokemon Go players, with Totodiles with Hydro Cannon and Waterfall offering the second-best Water-type DPS in the game. Will our next Pokemon Community Day offering be as useful? We're really hoping so. But when can we expect to hear about it? Niantic usually reveals more information about upcoming Community Days shortly after the previous one is over (typically within about 4-5 days), but we've heard precious little about February's Community day just yet - and it's been the better part of 10 days since Totodile swarmed our screens. Pokemon GO Community Day February - What Pokemon can we expect? When it comes to working out which Pokemon will be headlining next month’s celebrations we have a few ideas based on the usual pattern which Niantic has adopted in 2018. Although Pokemon GO Gen 4 starter Pokemon were launched towards the tail end of last year, we wouldn't expect to see any Sinnoh region starter Pokemon - such as Turtwig, Chimchar and Piplup - as the headline pokemon. It's simply far too early for Niantic to start doing that, especially given that Gen 3 starter Pokemon haven't featured yet and there's many 10KM Pokemon who also haven't been given their chance to shine in the spotlight. In the past, the pattern has usually seen Community Day Pokemon consisting of either a starter pokemon or a Pokemon who hatches from 10km Eggs. And these two types alternate with every month that passes. And given that we've just had Totodile (a Gen 2 Starter Pokemon), the obvious contenders for the next event is one Pokemon from a 10km egg. Below, you can see three Shiny Pokemon that we've not yet had Community - Bagon, Ralts and Trapinch, all mocked up by Twitter user DisneyGamer. All Gen 3 Pokemon - are we likely to see them take center stage in February? It's a possibility. With this in mind it's quite likely we'll see some new 10km egg Pokemon. But even then, nailing down which Pokemon could headline the next event is tricky, as there isn't that many 10KM egg hatches left with a three-step evolution. So far, we've had Dratini, Mareep and Larvtitar, Beldum. But looking at the existing 10km egg pool, our only options are Gen 3 Pokemon, who, so far, haven't been used in the Community Day. If Niantic decides to go down this route, then it's possible we could see Slakoth, Trapinch or Bagon fronting the event. Equally, this could mean shiny variants of the aforementioned Pokemon too. The only other possibility is that Niantic deviates from their usual pattern, either with another Gen 1 Pokemon (Machop?) or, potentially something else from Gen 2. As mentioned though, this is still unofficial (whilst extremely likely) and we should hear more potentially very soon.  Pokemon GO players set out to catch a shiny Feebas as part of a new type of in-game event: limited-time research. This event was incredibly similar to the well-received monthly Community Day events, as it was set to occur during a three-hour period. However, unlike Community Day, it did not receive the same initial reception, with several players upset about the results and calling for Niantic to make a change.
For those unaware, Community Day sees a massive increase in spawn for the featured Pokemon typically during a three-hour period on one day (though certain featured Pokemon like Eevee received two days). This increased spawn kept players engaged and on the hunt for the featured Pokemon’s shiny sprite, with Pokemon GO players walking away with at least one most of the time The Limited-Time Research event followed a similar pattern with a three-hour period, but instead of increased spawns, players needed to complete certain tasks to spawn a Feebas encounter. This was complicated by the fact that the associated Pokemon GO tasks were by no means simple, thus throttling the number of encounters more casual players could actually complete. Although there was a method or two to help some players complete more tasks, many expressed their concerns and offered up ideas for improvements if Niantic decides to run another event like this. Some of these issues were localized, as severe weather dampened the spirits of several players. For some, it was the restraining time limit that ultimately hurt the event, as hatching an egg within a three-hour period with the right tasks is highly demanding. Many proposed the idea that, instead of a three-hour time limit, this event should last for a full day, if not a full weekend. Many were also upset due to not catching a shiny, so increasing the spawn limit slightly more than on Community Day (due to the fewer encounters) could make a world of difference. Increasing the spawns of Pokemon, in general, could also be of benefit considering the number of throws required by this event, though some argued for reducing the number of throws for the tasks. Perhaps the most notable commentary on this event is that many loved the concept, but felt the implementation could be improved. With this in mind, hopefully, Niantic will return to this idea in a more refined rendition of the Limited-Time Research event. Until then, many are likely looking to the February Community Day event to undo the damage caused by this Feebas Research event.  UPDATE ONE: It has been revealed that Niantic, the makers of Pokemon Go, is now valued at $4 billion, with the Pocker Monster game for Android and iOS bringing in $2 billion in revenue since its launch in 2016.
The company recently finished its Series C funding with another $245 million secured, with CEO John Hanke telling Fortune: “It’s extra capital in the bank. “It’s extra firepower for us to use if we want to do M&A or build out our global events strategy. The main driver, though, was getting…formally aligned with some of these companies, getting some skin in the game.” ORIGINAL: A new type of Pokemon Go event is coming soon to Android and iOS. Named Limited Research, the new celebrations will function very much like the Community Days fans have gotten used to. But instead of seeing higher spawn rates and special moves launched for a short period, players will instead need to complete Limited Research tasks to unlock special encounters. Completing the Limited Time Research tasks unlocked through spinning PokeStops during the allotted three-hours will reward you with a Feebas encounter. The first Limited Field Research event will go live on January 19 and run for three hours. Players will even have the chance to encounter a shiny Feebas, which also means a shiny Milotic down the road too. So what Field Research tasks will Trainers have to complete on January 19? According to the latest data miner leaks from Pokemon Go source, Chrales, Feebas Research will include the following goals to complete:
We don’t know yet just how many throws a player will need to complete during the event, although it looks to be the hardest part of the new Research tasks. So as a recap, these will be goals during the Limited Research Feebas event:
The Event Date and Times according to Niantic:
Here’s more from Niantic, who explains in a new statement: “It’s time to put your research skills to work and collect Field Research that looks closely at a certain Pokémon species -- let’s do some Limited Research. “While the Water-type Pokémon Feebas may not look like much, there’s plenty to learn about the Fish Pokémon! Spin the Photo Disc at nearby PokéStops to obtain Field Research tasks that lead to encounters with Feebas. And, if you’re lucky, you just might find a Shiny Feebas.”  Pokemon Go's ongoing Adventure Sync Hatchathon may be coming to an end soon, but a new event is set to kick off immediately afterward. Beginning January 15, Niantic will hold a two-week-long celebration of the Hoenn region, featuring a ton of Pokemon originally from Ruby and Sapphire.
Throughout the event, Gen 3 Pokemon such as Numel, Zigzagoon, and Taillow will spawn much more frequently in the wild. On top of that, players will have a chance to encounter Shiny forms of Zigzagoon and Taillow, while any Shroomish that evolve into Breloom during the event will know the Grass-type attack Grass Knot. Raid Battles will also feature Gen 3 Pokemon, including the Legendaries Groudon and Kyogre. Gen 3 Pokemon will be much more likely to hatch from 7 km Eggs during the event as well. There will also be new Field Research tasks themed around Gen 3 Pokemon. Rounding out the celebration, Niantic will offer new avatar items based on Team Aqua and Team Magma--the villainous teams from Ruby and Sapphire--in the game's Style Shop. The Hoenn event is scheduled to end on January 29. You can read more details on the Pokemon Go website. On top of the Hoenn celebration, Niantic is hosting a new Limited Research event this Saturday, January 19. Much like a Community Day, it will only run in each region for three hours. During this time, players will be able to get special Limited Research tasks from PokeStops, each of which ends with an encounter with Feebas.  Pokemon Go fans will no doubt back in the groove of things after the successful January 2019 Community Day, but in the back of their minds they will also be counting down the days until they learn more about the next Community Day event in February.
The January event involving Shiny Totodile has only just finished around the world, but information on the next Community Day update for the game is, in theory, right around the corner. In the past, developer Niantic has usually announced their plans for the next Pokemon Community Day just a few days after the conclusion of the last Community Day. The only the exception being the most recent January event which took an ice age to announce. But, we'll put that down to Niantic having some well earned time off in December following an exceptionally busy year. We'll also find out fairly soon when this next Community Day is scheduled to take place, which again it sometimes announced quite a way in advance. When it comes to working out which Pokemon will be headlining next month’s celebrations we have a few ideas based on the usual pattern which Niantic has addopted in 2018. Although Pokemon GO Gen 4 starter Pokemon were launched towards the tail end of last year, we wouldn't expect to see any Sinnoh region starter Pokemon - such as Turtwig, Chimchar and Piplup - as the headline pokemon. It's simply far too early for Niantic to start doing that, especially given that Gen 3 starter Pokemon haven't featured yet and there's many 10KM Pokemon who also haven't been given their chance to shine in the spotlight. In the past, the pattern has usually seen Community Day Pokemon consisting of either a starter pokemon or a Pokemon who hatches from 10km Eggs. And these two types alternate with every month that passes. And given that we've just had Totodile (a Gen 2 Starter Pokemon), the obvious contenders for the next event is one Pokemon from a 10km egg. With this in mind it's quite likely we'll see some new 10km egg Pokemon. But even then, nailing down which Pokemon could headline the next event is tricky, as there isn't that many 10KM egg hatches left with a three-step evolution. So far, we've had Dratini, Mareep and Larvtitar, Beldum. But looking at the existing 10km egg pool, our only options are Gen 3 Pokemon, who, so far, haven't been used in the Community Day. If Niantic decides to go down this route, then it's possible we could see Slakoth, Trapinch or Bagon fronting the event. Equally, this could mean shiny variants of the aforementioned Pokemon too. The only other possibility is that Niantic deviates from their usual pattern, either with another Gen 1 Pokemon (Machop?) or, potentially, a Gen 2/Gen 2 starter Pokemon. This mean's we'll likely see one of either Cyndaquil or Totodile as our next Community Day Pokemon. As mentioned though, this is still unofficial (whilst extremely likely) and we should hear more potentially today or in a couple of days time. In the meantime though, Niantic are also planning a new type of event which sort of touches on the same style as the Community Day events. From next Saturday Niantic will hold a brand new limited research event will, however, see Feebas take a starring role. "While the Water-type Pokemon Feebas may not look like much, there’s plenty to learn about the Fish Pokemon!" reads a Niantic post. "Spin the Photo Disc at nearby PokeStops to obtain Field Research tasks that lead to encounters with Feebas. And, if you’re lucky, you just might find a Shiny Feebas! The event takes place on January 19, next Saturday, and will give fans a chance to encounter a Shiny Feebas. Here's a quick recap of the main features for the event: Feebas Event Features
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