Exciting December events in Pokémon GO

Category : News Views: 624 Reading Time: 4 Minutes

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November has been an exciting month for Pokémon GO players. We got unprecedented two community days of Electabuzz and Magmar; the return of the Swords of Justice and the Lake Legends in raids; and the ability to send Pokémon from your GO account to Pokémon HOME to receive the Mystery Box that spawns Meltan for an hour.

December is shaping to be even more thrilling. The last month of the year brings several new features, brand new Kalos Pokémon, and a new Mega Pokémon.

Changes to available Mega Pokémon and the return of Kyurem

Starting from December, a new Mega Pokémon will be available in Raids - Mega Abomasnow, known as the Frost Tree Pokémon. With the arrival of Mega Abomasnow, several Pokémon, like Mega Blastoise, Mega Charizard Y, Mega Pidgeot, and Mega Houndoom will be leaving Mega Raids.

That means that along with Mega Abomasnow, only two other Pokémon -  Mega Charizard X and Mega Gengar will be available in Mega Raids.

First debuted in May of this year in Pokémon GO, the Legendary Pokémon Kyurem is returning to five-star raids in December. The Boundary Pokémon is a strong Dragon/Ice Type, so make sure to have your best Dragon types ready to take on the five-star raids with your friends this month.

Kalos Special Event

Pokémon first discovered in the Kalos region are finally coming to Pokémon GO. To celebrate, a special event will run from December 2 at 10:00 a.m. to December 8 at 10:00 p.m. local time. During the Kalos Special Event, the newest Kalos Pokémon will be appearing more often in the wild.

Make sure to take full advantage of the event and stack up on candy to get all the latest Kalos additions to the game.

The first wave of Kalos Pokémon will include the starters - Chepsin, Fennekin, and Froakie and their Evolutions. Others include Bunnelby, Fletchling, and their evolutions. Litleo and Pyroar in both of its forms will also make their Pokémon GO debut on December 2. Additionally, France will be getting its very own regional Pokémon – Klefki.

Research Breakthrough encounters

The Research Breakthrough encounters in December will be two lovable Ice and Fire Types – either Lapras or Unovan Darumaka. Lapras is hard to come by outside of special events and Unovan Darumaka is currently only obtainable through 10 KM eggs. So, if you need candies for these Pokémon, make sure to complete daily research to get access to the Research Breakthrough.

Pokémon Spotlight Hour

As per the tradition, Pokémon Spotlight Hour will take place every Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. local time in the month of December. Each Spotlight Hour features a different Pokémon and a special bonus. Following the Ice Type theme for the end of the year, most of the Pokémon featured this month are Ice Types.

On December 1 Seel will be in the spotlight, and you’ll earn twice the XP for evolving Pokémon.

On December 8 Swinub will be in the spotlight, and you’ll earn twice the Stardust for catching Pokémon.

On December 15, you will have the chance to catch yet another Pikachu with a hat. This time around, Adventure Hat Pikachu will be in the spotlight, and you’ll earn twice the Candy for catching Pokémon. The latest costume Pikachu is based on Ash’s Pikachu in Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle. The new film is set to be released in Japan on December 25, followed shortly by releases in other countries in early 2021.

On December 22, Snorunt will be in the spotlight, and you’ll earn twice the Candy for transferring Pokémon.

On December 29 Snover will be in the spotlight, and you’ll earn twice the XP for evolving Pokémon.

On top of the bonuses, for the whole month of December, the Double Catch XP bonus will remain in effect as a part of the huge GO Beyond update.

Update to Pokémon search

Niantic occasionally comes out with quality-of-life updates for Pokémon GO players. After slightly revamping the search system a few months ago, Niantic is taking further steps to make searching for your favorite ‘mons even easier.

A new feature called Pokémon tagging “will allow you to create different colored tags, apply them to Pokémon, and use them to filter Pokémon in your collection,” according to Niantic. Furthermore, searching Pokémon in your inventory will be a smoother experience, with a new screen appearing when you tap search. The screen will show you recommended search terms, like Pokémon Type, Region, Buddy Level, Shiny, etc.

December Community Day

Since the introduction of Community Day in 2018, every year, players are eagerly awaiting the December Community Day. Over the year, each month for a single day certain Pokémon are featured, with boosted shiny rates and special moves that players can only access that day.

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