New year, new Pokémon Go events. Pokémon Go is celebrating the new year with a whole host of in-game events. With new special research Pokémon, a new shadow Pokémon for Giovanni, Pokémon with party hats and a shiny legendary, there’s plenty to keep you interested.
Lapras Special Research | January 1st – February 1st
Every day you have a chance to earn a stamp by completing a research task given to you from a Pokéstop. Once you have earned 7 of these stamps, you will encounter a special research Pokémon to catch. For the month of January, this Pokémon is Lapras. Not only is there a chance of a purple shiny Lapras, but this Pokémon will also have the move set Ice Shard and Ice Beam. This move set is currently legacy, which means it isn’t currently available in a wild caught Lapras. Ice Shard and Ice Beam is also a good move set to have on Lapras for PvP, as it charges fast and hits hard.
Adventure Sync Hatchathon | January 2nd – January 16th
If you spend a lot of time walking while playing on Pokémon Go, chances are you’ll hatch a lot of eggs. Well, get that Adventure Sync connected because this is the event for you. For every egg you hatch, you’ll earn double the candy and double the stardust, and if you manage to walk 50km in any of the weeks during this event, your rewards will be 50,000 stardust, 15 rare candies and an Unova stone, which you can use to evolve some of the other newer Unova Pokémon such as Pansage, Pansear and Panpour.
As well as the egg rewards, there are also some new special Pokémon released. Pichu, Pikachu, Raichu, Raticate, Wobbuffet and Wurmple are all available, either in the wild, eggs or raids, wearing party hats and all with a chance of being shiny. Wurmple hasn’t been released as a shiny before, and Wobbuffet, Raticate and Raichu were only previously available shiny through evolution.
Heatran Raids | January 7th – February 4th
Once Virizion T5 raids come to an end, the legendary Pokémon Heatran is back. This Steel/Fire type Pokémon is fairly easy to take down with a handful of players, and you are looking for Ground type counters to do the most damage. Groudon with Mud Shot and Earthquake is your best bet, otherwise look for double Ground Rhyperior, Garchomp, Rhydon or Excadrill. If you are struggling to find any of these Pokémon, look for Golem, Donphan, Swampert, Flygon or Mamoswine, a chunk of which you should have from Community Day. If you want extra incentive, there is a chance for Heatran to be shiny. With a lighter body and glowing eyes, the shiny differences are minimal, but a shiny is still a shiny.
The game also has a new loading screen for the New Year, which features the Unova region Pokémon Axew, Scolipede and Sewaddle, which hopefully means a wave of Unova Pokémon coming to the game soon.
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