Pokémon GO’s Season of Precious Paths’ Precious Pals event guide

A friendship-focused event with your Buddy Pokémon awaits in Precious Pals! Of course, that means Team GO Rocket will crash the event partway through with Precious Pals: Taken Over and a Raikou Shadow Raid Day. Though, for the first few days of the Precious Pals event, Trainers can try and catch Shiny Fidough for the first time in Pokémon GO as well as evolve some Pokémon that have some beefy Buddy Pokémon evolution requirements.

Now, check out what’s happening during the Precious Pals event with our guide below:

 

Pokémon GO’s Season of Precious Paths – Precious Pals

Begins: Tuesday, January 20th, 2026 at 10 a.m. your local time.

Ends: Sunday, January 25th, 2026 at 8 p.m. your local time.

 

Pokémon debuts – Shiny Fidough and Shiny Dachsbun

 

 

During the Precious Pals event, Shiny Fidough will debut in Pokémon GO! If you encounter one and catch it, then you’ll be able to evolve your Shiny Fidough into a Shiny Dachsbun (provided you also have 50 Fidough Candies).

 

Event Bonuses

• Additional Candy XL when walking with your Buddy Pokémon
• Earn additional hearts with your Buddy Pokémon
• Increased chance to encounter Shiny Goldeen
• Increased chance to hatch Shiny Goldeen and Shiny Fidough
• Limited-time Evolution requirements (until Sunday, January 25th, 2026 at 8 p.m. your local time):
  • Evolve Eevee into Sylveon after earning 20 hearts with Eevee as your buddy
  • Evolve Pancham into Pangoro after catching 10 Dark-type Pokémon with Pancham as your buddy
  • Evolve Pawmo into Pawmot after exploring 5 km with Pawmo as your buddy

 

More bonuses will be available when Precious Pals: Taken Over and Raikou Shadow Raid Day happen during the Precious Pals event:

• Precious Pals: Taken Over (Friday, January 23rd, 2026 at 12 a.m. to Sunday, January 25th, 2026 at 8 p.m. your local time):
  • Team GO Rocket will appear more frequently at PokéStops and in balloons
  • You can use a Charged TM to help a Shadow Pokémon forget Frustration (Charged Attack)
  • Pokémon caught via 1-Star and 3-Star Shadow Raids during the event will have a wider variance of Attack, Defense, and HP
• Raikou Shadow Raid Day (Saturday, January 24th, 2026 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. your local time):
  • Up to five additional free Raid Passes from spinning Gym Photo Discs (for a total of six)
  • Increased chance of encountering Shiny Raikou from Shadow Raids
  • The Remote Raid limit will increase to 20 from Friday, January 23rd, 2026 at 4 p.m. to Saturday, January 24th, 2026 at 7 p.m. PST.
  • … and more if the paid event ticket is purchased.

 

Plus, the following Season of Precious Paths bonuses will be in effect:

• One additional Special Trade per day
• Increased Stardust for the first catch of the day
• Increased friendship bonus damage dealt by Pokémon in Raids

 

And if Trainers reach specific ranks in the GO Pass and/or GO Pass Deluxe, then the following bonuses will also be active until Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026 at 9 a.m. your local time:

• Tier 1 (Rank 25): 
  • Open up to 40 Gifts per day
  • Receive up to 125 Gifts per day from spinning PokéStop and Gym Photo Discs
  • Hold up to 10 additional Gifts in your Item Bag
• Tier 2 (Rank 50):
  • 2× Daily Adventure Incense duration
• Tier 3 (Rank 75):
  • Additional rewards for completing in-person Raids and Max Battles

If GO Pass Deluxe is purchased, then the following bonuses will also be active when Rank 25 is reached, until Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026 at 9 a.m. your local time:

• Tier 1 (Rank 25):
  • Open up to 50 Gifts per day
  • Receive up to 150 Gifts per day from spinning PokéStop and Gym Photo Discs
  • Hold up to 20 additional Gifts in your Item Bag

 

Event Boxes

If any special event boxes or bundles are released during the event, they’ll be listed here once the event is live. Daily bundles are also available and can be viewed online via the Pokémon GO Web Store.

• Precious Pals Ultra Ticket Box (US$4.99, purchase limit 1, Pokémon GO Web Store only): 1 Ticket (paid Timed Research), 1 Premium Battle Pass, and 60 Reward Points.

 

Wild Encounters

• The following Pokémon will appear more frequently in the wild: Goldeen*, Magikarp*, Eevee*, Swablu*, Stufful*, Wimpod*, Pawmi*, and Fidough*.
  • If you’re lucky, you might encounter the following Pokémon: Zorua*, Pancham*, and Espurr*.

 

Note: Pokémon marked with an * means that “If you’re lucky, you might encounter a Shiny one!”

 

Eggs

The following Pokémon will be hatching from Eggs that are obtained during the event:

• 2 km Eggs
  • 1-Egg Rarity: Goldeen*,Togepi*, Happiny*, Riolu*, and Fidough*.
  • 5-Egg Rarity: Larvesta*.

 

Note: Pokémon marked with an * means that “If you’re lucky, you might hatch a Shiny one!”

 

Raids

Standard and Shadow Raids will be active during the event.

 

Standard Raids

The following Pokémon will be appearing in Raids:

• One-Star Raids:
  • Ekans*, Vanillite*, Sinistea*, and Smoliv* (until Sunday, January 25th, 2026 at 10 a.m. your local time)
  • ??? (starting on Sunday, January 25th, 2026 at 10 a.m. your local time)
• Three-Star Raids:
  • Chimecho*, Greedent, and Cetitan (until Sunday, January 25th, 2026 at 10 a.m. your local time)
  • ??? (starting on Sunday, January 25th, 2026 at 10 a.m. your local time)
• Five-Star Raids:
  • Thundurus (Incarnate Forme)* (until Sunday, January 25th, 2026 at 10 a.m. your local time)
  • Tornadus (Incarnate Forme)* (starting on Sunday, January 25th, 2026 at 10 a.m. your local time)
• Mega Raids:
  • Mega Sceptile* (until Sunday, January 25th, 2026 at 10 a.m. your local time)
  • Mega Ampharos* (starting on Sunday, January 25th, 2026 at 10 a.m. your local time)

 

Shadow Raids

The following Pokémon will be appearing in Shadow Raids:

• One-Star Shadow Raids: Shadow Drowzee*, Shadow Ralts*, Shadow Bagon*, and Shadow Snover.
• Three-Star Shadow Raids: Shadow Scyther*, Shadow Aerodactyl*, and Shadow Sableye*.
• Five-Star Shadow Raids:
  • Shadow Raikou* (Saturday, January 24th, 2026 from 2 p.m to 5 p.m. your local time)
  • Shadow Cresselia* (when Shadow Raikou* is not active in Five-Star Shadow Raids).

 

Additional Notes:

• Pokémon marked with an * means that “If you’re lucky, you might encounter a Shiny one!”
• Standard Raids:
  • Tornadus (Incarnate Forme)* will be available after the event (in Five-Star Raids), until Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 at 10 a.m. your local time.
  • Mega Ampharos* will be available after the event (in Mega Raids), until Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 at 10 a.m. your local time.
• Shadow Raids:
  • One- and Three-Star Shadow Raids will be available daily.
  • Five-Star Shadow Raids will be available on weekends (Saturday and Sunday), unless otherwise stated by Niantic.
    • Shadow Raikou* will be given priority during their Raid Day event on Saturday, January 24th, 2026 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. your local time.

 

Max Battles

Max Battles will be active during the event.

• One-Star Max Battles: Dynamax Bulbasaur*, Dynamax Charmander*, Dynamax Squirtle*, Dynamax Caterpie*,Dynamax Abra*, Dynamax Gastly*, Dynamax Krabby*, Dynamax Omanyte*, Dynamax Kabut0*, Dynamax Ralts*, Dynamax Spheal*, Dynamax Pidove*, Dynamax Woobat*, Dynamax Drilbur*, Dynamax Trubbish*, Dynamax Inkay*, Dynamax Bounsweet*, Dynamax Grookey, Dynamax Scorbunny, Dynamax Sobble, Dynamax Skwovet*, Dynamax Rookiedee*, Dynamax Wooloo*, and Dynamax Hatenna.
• Two-Star Max Battles: Dynamax Machop*, Dynamax Eevee*, Dynamax Shuckle*, Dynamax Wailmer*, and Dynamax Darumaka*.
• Three-Star Max Battles: Dynamax Chansey*, Dynamax Sableye*, Dynamax Beldum*, Dynamax Cryogonal*, Dynamax Passimian*, Dynamax Drampa*, and Dynamax Falinks*.

 

Additional Notes:

• Pokémon marked with an * means that “If you’re lucky, you might encounter a Shiny one!”
• Max Battles require Max Particles (MP):
  • One-Star Max Battles cost 250 MP.
  • Two-Star Max Battles cost 400 MP.
  • Three-Star Max Battles cost 400 MP.
  • Six-Star Max Battles cost 800 MP.

 

Field Research Tasks

There will be event-exclusive Field Research Tasks available and the rewards include the following: berries and encounters with event-themed Pokémon. These Field Research Tasks can be found when spinning PokéStops (and acquired if you have an open slot in your Field Research menu) when the event is active.

A complete list of tasks and rewards will be shared here once the event is live.

 

• Task: Give your Buddy 1 treat
  • Reward: 5 Razz Berries OR 5 Nanab Berries OR 5 Pinap Berries
• Task: Earn a Candy exploring with your Buddy
  • Reward: Fidough* encounter
• Task: Take a snapshot of your Buddy
  • Reward: Goldeen* OR Eevee* OR Pawmi* encounter

 

Note: Pokémon marked with an * means that “If you’re lucky, you might encounter a Shiny one!”

 

PokéStop Showcase

During the event, PokéStop Showcases will be active. The theme of these contests is to submit the biggest Pokémon being requested. This section will be updated once the PokéStop Showcases are active.

• Monday, January 19th, 2026 at 10 a.m. to Wednesday, January 21st, 2026 at 8 p.m. your local time: Fidough and Dachsbun
• Saturday, January 24th, 2026 at 10 a.m. to Sunday, January 25th, 2026 at 8 p.m. your local time: ???

 

Collection Challenges

Special, event-exclusive Collection Challenges will be available. These Collection Challenge will reward Trainers with XP, Stardust, Fidough* encounters, and an addition to the Elite Collector medal (for each Collection Challenge completed). A complete list of what Pokémon must be caught/traded/evolved and the associated rewards will be added here once the event is live.

 

Precious Pals Collection Challenge: In Knead of a Friend

• Catch: Fidough.
• Evolve: Fidough to Dachsbun.
• Completion Rewards: 5,000 XP, Fidough* encounter, and 5,000 Stardust

 

Precious Pals Collection Challenge: Little Friends, Big Potential

• Catch: Magikarp, Swablu, Wimpod, and Stufful.
• Completion Rewards: 5,000 XP, Fidough* encounter, and 5,000 Stardust

 

Note: Pokémon marked with an * means that “If you’re lucky, you might encounter a Shiny one!”

 

Paid Ticket – Precious Pals Premium Timed Research

During the Precious Pals event, Trainers can purchase a ticket to access an event-themed Timed Research. For US$4.99 OR US$5.00 (or the equivalent pricing tier in your local currency), you’ll get the Precious Pals Premium Timed Research which rewards Trainers with the following (if tasks are completed within the time limit): 1 Poffin, event-themed Avatar Pose, encounters with event-themed Pokémon, and more.

According to the fine print, “[t]ickets are nonrefundable (subject to applicable law and the exceptions set forth in the Terms of Service).” Tickets can also be gifted to Trainers you’re friends with provided that you have a Friendship level of Great Friends or higher with them. This can be done via the in-game shop and by selecting the “Gift” button instead of the “Buy” button. Tickets purchased for friends are nonrefundable as well.

Please keep in mind that Timed Research quests have deadlines. Trainers must complete this Timed Research and claim all rewards before Sunday, January 25th, 2026 at 8 p.m. your local time.

Detailed tasks and rewards for this Timed Research will be shared here once the event is live.

 

• Task: Earn 5 hearts with your Buddy
  • Reward: Wimpod* encounter
• Task: Earn 10 hearts with your Buddy
  • Reward: Swablu* encounter
• Task: Earn 15 hearts with your Buddy
  • Reward: Pancham* encounter
• Task: Feed your Buddy 1 time
  • Reward: Magikarp* encounter
• Task: Feed your Buddy 3 times
  • Reward: 1 Poffin
• Completion Rewards: Heart Pose (Avatar Pose), Fidough* encounter, and 3,000 Stardust

 

Note: Pokémon marked with an * means that “If you’re lucky, you might encounter a Shiny one!”

 

 

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