Gotta catch ‘em all. That’s always been Pokémon at its core, a series that started its life by figuring out a way to sell two copies of the same game because it knew how badly people were going to want to catch all these little things. And in no place is that organizing principle more present than in Pokémon GO, a game less focused on story and combat and much more focused on just building out a massive collection any way you can.
But if you’ve just got back into the game, the giant list of Pokémon can be a little intimidating, especially if you want to trade with established players that already have most of everything that’s been released over the years. But there are still a whole bunch of critters that are rare no matter who the player, and you never know when you might luck into one. This isn’t a comprehensive list, but this should be a good run-down on all the most valuable and rarest Pokémon in Pokémon GO.
Shinies: This is a big, amorphous category, and some of these are a lot rarer than others. But on the whole, be on the lookout for any Pokémon with a different color scheme than examples of the same species you’ve seen before: they’ll also come with a special shimmer effect when they appear just so you’re sure. These are shinies, and as a category, they make up some of the most desirable trading Pokémon in the game.
So if you get a shiny, hold onto it. If you’ve got enough to delete some, you probably don’t need this guide anyway. Hardcore players with complete Pokédexes pass their time by trying to collect as many shinies as possible, and you never know if you’ve got one that someone is missing.
Regionals: This a curious category, because the nature of what it means to be “rare” is totally different from place to place. Tauros is far from rare in North America, for example, but it’s going to be a hot commodity if you find yourself in Australia. Since the beginning, Pokémon GO has had certain Pokémon that only appear in certain regions of the world, making it much more difficult to build out a complete Pokédex without trading or spending a ton of money on plane tickets. One supposes that someone living in Central Asia has sort of a leg up on collecting these, but they’d still need to hoof it to Oceania and the Western Hemisphere to finish the collection.
Here are the current regionals in the game:
- Gen 1: Kangashkan, Mr. Mime, Tauros, Farfetch’d
- Gen 2: Heracross, Corsola, Torkoal, Seviper, Zangoose
- Gen 3: Tropius, Volbeat, Illumise, Relicanth, Tropius, Lunatone, Solrock
- Gen 4: Pachirisu, Carnivine, Chatot, Shelldos (available everywhere but in different colors)
For a complete list of where to find all of these, click here.
Azelf, Uxie and Mesprit: These are technically regionals, but they’re also legendaries. So far these have only been available for a brief window of time in their respective regions, and even then only in Tier-5 raids. This makes them a whole lot rarer than a normal regional, and that’s only going to increase as time goes on. If these ever show up again, stock up in case you ever plan to cross an ocean and want something to trade.
Deoxys: There’s a special kind of raid in Pokémon GO called an EX Raid: you need an invitation to attend, and they’re only held at certain gyms. And each year there’s a special Pokémon that’s reserved only for EX Raids–last year it was Mewtwo, this year it’s Deoxys. So if you get an invitation to an EX Raid, make an attempt to go, because it’s the only way to get this thing for now. It’s likely to be less rare soon if it comes up in Raids before we move to a different EX Raid Pokémon, but right now it’s still very rare.
Shiny event Pokémon: Shinies are rare, sure, but it’s sort of a big category. Anyone who’s played the game in any concerted way probably has a few Community Day shinies, but some of these things are a whole lot rarer than others. Some of the rarest in this category are event Pokémon: Shiny Pikachu with hats, Shiny Eevee with a flower crown, even shiny Squirtle with sunglasses.
Shiny babies: You can’t catch a baby Pokémon, and that already makes them rarer than normal Pokémon. Make one of these shiny, and you’ve got a highly desirable creature. Baby Pokémon include cleffa, igglybuff, pichu, wynaut, magby, elekid and bonsly. There are other babies too, and they’re
For a combination of event Pokémon and Shiny babies, try getting your hands on a shiny Pichu with a hat on. This is a tough one, but it’s very rare.
Gible: Gible is sort of a stand-in right now, because the adorable little shark thing won’t be the rarest Pokémon forever. But it’s certainly one of the rarest in the game right now, and it occupies a niche that many other Pokémon has occupied before: earlier this year it was Cranidos and Shieldon, and something else will come next. But there’s almost always some sort of incredibly difficult-to-find non-regional, nonshiny Pokémon that serves as the ultimate prize for a given moment in time, and right now that’s Gible.
At some point soon, we’ll see an event that makes Gible a lot more common, and then anyone who didn’t have it will be able to fill in that empty slot. After that, it’ll be replaced by something else in this cycle of Pokélife.
