It’s that time of the month again where Pokémon GO Community Day arrives with a new family of shinies. This time, the lucky winner is Larvitar, who can evolve into Pupitar and then Tyranitar, making this arguably the most powerful featured Pokémon in GO’s Community Day yet. More so than last month’s Charizard, more so than Dragonite.
Tyranitar is simply incredibly useful for both gyms and most importantly, raids in Pokemon GO. Tyranitar’s rock/dark moves are a good counter to Zapdos, Articuno, Moltres, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Latios and Latias, and today you can get a one-of-a-kind double rock move Tyranitar if you evolve one during the event. The special move he’ll learn this time around is Smack Down, which for the first time, will make him rock-based powerhouse as he finally gets a quick rock move.
So when you can start hunting Larvitar? Here are the times for the event:
The Americas: 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. PT
Europe and Africa: 10:00 a.m – 1:00 p.m. BST
Asia/Pacific: 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. JST
Niantic has run into some server problems today, so the Asia/Pacific one was extended for two hours. Hopefully that does not become the case when the event reaches the Americas.
But while the goal of today will be to get a powerful, double-rock Tyranitar, why not make him shiny as well?
Shiny Tyranitar isn’t quite as cool as black Charizard or green Dragonite, but you’re going to want one all the same. His coloring is a bit lighted and he has a purple armor patch on his stomach instead of blue.
So, how best to hunt one down? As ever, this is going to be your best shot at getting one because Community Day increases shiny spawns dramatically compared to any other time you’re playing the game. There’s about a 3-5% spawn rate for shinies during Community Days, unless Niantic has changed something lately, which means that if you have any amount of luck, you should hopefully catch one in your first 20-35 Larvitar. But as ever, I know people that have gone through about 100 catches without one, as that’s just RNG for you, unfortunately.
Be sure to take advantage of 3-hour lures which are always active on Community Day. I also recommend using incense full time as that too will attract a lot of Larvitar, as the spawns are increased for that item as well. Between those two, hopefully you should have no shortage of Larvitar to catch, increasing your odds of a shiny. Also, the bonus for this Community Day is 3x catch XP, so all those catches are really going to add up. I’d also use Lucky Eggs today to really maximize those gains.
Unlike last month, I don’t believe a new raid boss is going live today (shiny Ho-Oh showed up alongside Charmander in May), but Tyranitar is enough to get you outside and hunting. He is by far one the best prizes Community Day has offered, and even if his shiny variant is a bit dull, his double-rock moveset is a must-have for any raider. Don’t miss your chance, and be sure to evolve at least one high IV Tyranitar today, shiny or otherwise.
Happy hunting! See you out there.
Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Pre-order my new sci-fi novel Herokiller, and read my first series, The Earthborn Trilogy, which is also on audiobook.
