Team GO Rocket is starring as the big bad villain in Pokémon GO’s Season of Rising Heroes. With the season ending this month, there has to be a big final battle/showdown, right? So Team GO Rocket is just going a standard event takeover. Nope! They’re infiltrating Raids and dropping Shadow Pokémon into Gyms. Giovanni isn’t playing around and will be putting Shadow Mewtwo in Shadow Raids too.
Get all the details for the Rising Shadows event with our guide below:
Pokémon GO’s Season of Rising Heroes – Rising Shadows
Begins: Monday, May 22nd, 2023 at 10 a.m. your local time.
Ends: Sunday, May 28th, 2023 at 8 p.m. your local time.
Pokémon debuts – Shiny Shadow Mewtwo
Along with Shadow Raids debuting in Pokémon GO, Shadow Mewtwo* makes a return. Not only that, but there’s a chance you can encounter Shiny Shadow Mewtwo, but only if you and your fellow Trainers can defeat Shadow Mewtwo in a Five-Star Raid!
For more information on Shadow Raids and how to prepare for these tough battles, you can read the dedicated Shadow Raid blog post on the official Pokémon GO blog.
Note: Pokémon marked with an * means that “If you’re lucky, you might encounter a Shiny one!”
Event Bonuses
- Team GO Rocket will appear more frequently at PokéStops and in balloons.
Event Boxes
If any special event boxes or bundles are released during the event, they’ll be listed here once the event is live.
- Training Box (350 PokéCoins, no purchase limit): 3 Premium Battle Passes, 3 Mysterious Components, 2 Star Pieces, and 1 Lucky Egg.
- GO Rocket Box (900 PokéCoins, purchase limit 1): 3 Max Potions, 3 Rocket Radars, 3 Super Incubators, and 3 Max Revives.
- Legend Box (4,000 PokéCoins, purchase limit 1): 2 Elite Fast TMs, 2 Elite Charged TMs, 10 Rocket Radars, and 10 Poffins.
Wild Encounters
- The following Pokémon will appear more frequently in the wild: Ekans*, Golbat, Koffing*, Houndour*, Poochyena*, Stunky, and Skorupi*.
- If you’re lucky, you might encounter the following Pokémon: Hisuian Qwilfish and Scraggy.
Note: Pokémon marked with an * means that “If you’re lucky, you might encounter a Shiny one!”
Eggs
Despite being a Team GO Rocket-focused event, it appears that 12 km Eggs won’t get a shake-up this time around. If anything changes once the event starts, this section will be updated. For now, the current Egg Pool for 12 km Eggs during the Season of Rising Heroes is the following:
- 12 km Eggs
- 1-Egg Rarity: Larvitar*, Scraggy, Pawniard*, and Vullaby*.
- 2-Egg Rarity: Sandile and Pancham.
- 3-Egg Rarity: Absol*, Skorupi*, Deino*, Skrelp, and Salandit.
Notes:
- Pokémon marked with an * means that “If you’re lucky, you might hatch a Shiny one!”
- 12 km Eggs can only be obtained when defeating a Team GO Rocket Leader (Cliff, Arlo, or Sierra) and you have an open slot in your Egg Inventory/Bag/Storage.
Raids
Please read the Additional Notes section concerning times for specific Pokémon appearing Raids. It’s also recommended to read the dedicated Shadow Raid blog post on the official Pokémon GO blog before participating in Shadow Raids.
The following Pokémon will be appearing in Raids:
Standard Raids
- One-Star Raids: Clefairy*, Tentacool, Marill*, Skrelp, and Popplio (See Additional Notes).
- Three-Star Raids: Magneton, Lapras*, Mawile*, and Empoleon (See Additional Notes).
- Five-Star Raids: Tapu Fini* and Regigigas* (See Additional Notes).
- Mega Raids: Mega Pinsir* and Mega Altaria* (See Additional Notes).
Shadow Raids
- One-Star Raids: Shadow Poliwag*, Shadow Machop*, Shadow Bellsprout*, and Shadow Beldum* (See Additional Notes).
- Three-Star Raids: Shadow Bayleef, Shadow Quilava, Shadow Croconaw, and Shadow Sneasel* (See Additional Notes).
- Five-Star Raids: Shadow Mewtwo* (See Additional Notes).
Additional Notes:
- Pokémon marked with an * means that “If you’re lucky, you might encounter a Shiny one!”
- Standard Raids (One-Star, Three-Star, and Five-Star):
- One-, Three-, and Five-Star Standard Raid lineup was available prior to the event.
- One- and Three-Star rosters were active starting on Wednesday, May 17th, 2023 at 8 p.m. your local time.
- All Standard Raids will not be active on Saturday, May 27th, 2023 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sunday, May 28th, 2023 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. your local time.
- Tapu Fini* will be available in 5-Star Raids until Wednesday, May 24th, 2023 at 10 a.m. your local time.
- Regigigas* will be available in 5-Star Raids starting on Wednesday, May 24th, 2023 at 10 a.m. your local time.
- They will be available in 5-Star Raids after the event, until Thursday, June 1st, 2023 at 10 a.m. your local time.
- One-, Three-, and Five-Star Standard Raid lineup was available prior to the event.
- Mega Raids:
- All Mega Raids will not be active on Saturday, May 27th, 2023 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sunday, May 28th, 2023 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. your local time.
- Mega Pinsir* will only be available in Mega Raids until Wednesday, May 24th, 2023 at 10 a.m. your local time.
- Mega Altaria* will be available in Mega Raids starting on Wednesday, May 24th, 2023 at 10 a.m. your local time.
- They will be available in Mega Raids after the event, until Thursday, June 1st, 2023 at 10 a.m. your local time.
- Shadow Raids:
- Shadow Mewtwo* will only be in Five-Star Shadow Raids from Saturday, May 27th, 2023 at 10 a.m. to Sunday, May 28th, 2023 at 8 p.m. your local time.
- This is Shiny Shadow Mewtwo’s debut in Pokémon GO.
- Shadow Raids will be taking over all Raids on Saturday, May 27th, 2023 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sunday, May 28th, 2023 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. your local time.
- Shadow Mewtwo* will only be in Five-Star Shadow Raids from Saturday, May 27th, 2023 at 10 a.m. to Sunday, May 28th, 2023 at 8 p.m. your local time.
Field Research Tasks
There will be event-exclusive Field Research Tasks available and the rewards include Mysterious Components and Stardust. 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: Catch 10 Dark-type Pokémon
- Reward: 500 Stardust
- Task: Catch 10 Poison-type Pokémon
- Reward: 500 Stardust
- Task: Win a Raid
- Reward: 1,000 Stardust
- Task: Defeat 2 Team GO Rocket Grunts
- Reward: 1 Mysterious Component
Note: Pokémon marked with an * means that “If you’re lucky, you might encounter a Shiny one!”
Special Research – Let’s GO! + An Everyday Hero
Initially released during the Let’s GO! event in March, Niantic included a reminder for this free Special Research in A Mystic Hero, An Instinctive Hero, and A Valorous Hero’s official Pokémon GO blog posts (but referred to it as “An Everyday Hero” instead of “Let’s GO!”). During the Rising Shadows event, the remaining steps will be released and Trainers will be rewarded with a Master Ball. The chart below will be updated with Steps 4 – 6 once the event is live.
| Let's GO Special Research | |
|---|---|
| Step 1/6 | Reward |
| Catch 10 Pokémon | 5 Poké Balls |
| Make 10 Curveball Throws | 5 Razz Berries |
| Power up Pokémon 5 times | 1,000 Stardust |
| Completion Rewards | 1,500 XP and Mankey Encounter |
| Step 2/6 | Reward |
| Catch 15 Pokémon | 10 Poké Balls |
| Make 10 Great Throws | 5 Pinap Berries |
| Transfer 20 Pokémon | 5 Great Balls |
| Completion Rewards | 2,000 XP and Meditite Encounter |
| Step 3/6 | Reward |
| Power up Pokémon 10 times | 10 Great Balls |
| Make 7 Great Throws | 1 Lure Module |
| Defeat a Team GO Rocket member (Grunts only) | 3 Revives |
| Completion Rewards | 2,500 XP and Machoke Encounter |
| Step 4/6 | Reward |
| Catch a Pokémon | 500 XP |
| Completion Rewards | 1,000 XP and 1,000 Stardust |
| Step 5/6 | Reward |
| Catch 25 Pokémon | 2,500 Stardust |
| Defeat 3 Team GO Rocket Grunts | 3 Hyper Potions |
| Make 3 Excellent Throws | Galarian Farfetch'd* Encounter |
| Evolve 5 Pokémon | 2,500 Stardust |
| Battle in a Gym 3 times | 5 Revives |
| Completion Rewards | 1 Master Ball, 1,000 XP, and 1,000 Stardust |
| Step 6/6 | Reward |
| Claim Reward! | 10 Ultra Balls |
| Claim Reward! | 2 Silver Pinap Berries |
| Claim Reward! | 1 Star Piece |
| Completion Rewards | 3,000 Stardust and 3,000 XP |
This Special Research is free and can be claimed in-game until Thursday, June 1st, 2023 at 10 a.m. your local time. The complete list of tasks can also be found on the Pokémon GO Season of Rising Heroes guide hub page.
Avatar Items
A new avatar item – a pose – will be released during this event. The pose will be available for purchase (with PokéCoins) via the in-game shop. Niantic does clarify that this avatar pose will be available after the conclusion of this event.
The new avatar pose: Rising Hero Pose (500 PokéCoins)
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Written by Jennifer Burch
Illustrator, designer, writer and big Nintendo geek, you can find Jennifer with an N3DS within reach 24/7. As the oldest of three, she has survived many Mario Party, Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart sessions intact in addition to getting her brothers hooked on some really weird games. (Cubivore anyone?)
