Pokemon Go Team Go Rocket Takeover: Shiny Skorupi and More

Trainers, the Team Go Rocket Takeover event is happening now in Pokemon Go!

From March 6 at 8 a.m. to March 9 at 10 p.m. local time, Dark- and Poison-type Pokemon, as well as Pokemon that are associated with Team Go Rocket, will appear more frequently in the wild. This will include Absol, and you’ll also have the chance to encounter Shiny Skorupi.

Plus, during this time, when you defeat a Team Go Rocket Grunt, it will drop two Mysterious Components, rather than just one, which will allow you to create a Rocket Rader faster than normal.

As part of this event, on March 7 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. local time, Team Go Rocket Grunts, the three Team Go Rocket Leaders (Sierra, Cliff, and Arlo), and Giovanni will be more active in the game. If you have a Rocket Radar or Super Rocket Radar, you should be able to find the Leaders and Giovanni more easily during this three-hour window.

There are a few other bonuses or changes that will be active during this three-hour event on March 7. Here’s a breakdown of what we can expect to see:

• You’ll be able to collect all six of the Shadow Pokemon that Sierra, Cliff, and Arlo have left behind after you battle them.
• You’ll receive twice the normal amount of Stardust when you defeat a Team Go Rocket Grunt or Leader.
• You’ll be able to use a Charged TM on a Shadow Pokemon to change the move “Frustration” into another Charged Attack that the Pokemon can normally learn. On the Niantic Support Twitter account, Niantic, Pokemon Go’s developer, said that if you use a TM during this event to make a Shadow Pokemon forget the move Frustration, “your Pokémon will be able to evolve to learn exclusive attacks during future specified events!”
• Team Go Rocket’s music will play during this event.

Finally, with the launch of this event, Niantic announced a few general updates that have been made to Shadow Pokemon (these will remain in effect even after the Team Go Rocket takeover event ends):

• Shadow Pokemon will now deal more damage with Fast and Charged attacks, but they will also take more damage when they are attacked.
• It now costs less Pokemon Candy and Stardust to power up Shadow Pokemon and to teach them an additional Charged Attack.
• The Legendary Shadow Pokemon that you rescue from Giovanni “are now more powerful.”

Are you excited about this Team Go Rocket Takeover event in Pokemon Go? Let us know in the comments, or tweet us at @superparenthq.