Ever since Pokémon Go‘s launch this time last year, rumours about Legendary Pokémon joining the app’s roster have been circulating. Well, the wait is nearly over.
An official blog post from developers Niantic has confirmed these rare and powerful Legendary Pokémon are “coming soon”, with the first expected to appear at this weekend’s Pokémon Go Fest in Grant Park, Chicago. Pokémon GoFest is a ticketed event set up to celebrate the app’s first birthday (which took place on 6 July). During the festival, there will be three so-called Challenge Windows during which players globally will work with those in Chicago to unlock rewards.
During these challenges, players in Grant Park will attempt to unlock perks for Pokémon GO players by catching certain types of Pokémon and each Pokémon type will be linked to a different reward meaning attendees will need to be strategic about which creatures they choose to catch.
Reward examples given by Niantic include Stardust bonuses or treats that will see the distance needed to walk to hatch eggs or catch certain creatures being reduced. If you’re not going to Pokémon Go Fest, you can help the cause by trying to catch as many Pokémon as possible within the Challenge Windows. If enough Pokémon are caught, the first Legendary Pokémon will appear in Grant Park. Fest players will need to catch these Legendary beasts in order for them to start appearing in Raid Battles around the world after this weekend. You can watch Pokémon Go Fest on Twitch or YouTube.
Datamines have already given a clue to which Legendary Pokémon will appear and now the promotional video released as part of today’s announcement suggests Mew and Mewtwo, Articuno, Raikou, Entei, Suicune, Lugia, Ho-oh and Celebi are among the creatures entering the game.
Once Legendary Pokémon become more widely available, they will be accessible as part of Legendary Raids – higher level versions of the already difficult Raid Battles. Like with existing Raid Battles, it is likely you’ll need a Legendary Raid ticket to start a Legendary Raid and these will be earned by taking part in normal battles. It is also expected to only be open to players of a certain experience level.
Raid Battles formed part of a significant update, made by Niantic on 19 June, which saw a complete redesign of its gyms. Raid Battles add a cooperative mode to the game which involves players fighting an extremely powerful Pokémon also known as a Raid Boss found in certain gyms. Raid Battle countdowns can be seen above gyms are you’re walking around.
Prior to battling the Raid Boss, all assigned Pokémon will be returned to their trainers, at which point a very large golden egg will appear atop of the gym. These raids will be shown in a “Nearby” menu (much like Pokémon currently are), and will appear under a dedicated Raid tab. Here, you’ll see the number of players currently in a Raid or the amount of time you’ll have to wait for other players to join the Raid.