Summary
GivingPokemon Go’sRocket grunts and leaders both a challenge and a reward,Shadow Pokemonhave returned to the franchise as some of the most misunderstood Pokemon available. For players new toGo, or players generally unfamiliar with how Shadow Pokemon truly differ from their normal or purified counterparts, these Team Go Rocket-exclusive monsters may just seem like edgiercosmetics than hats or costumes.
Between offering incredible potential for Pokemon normally held back from stat distribution or abilities, and granting power that is only rivaled by Mega Evolutions, the true capabilities of Shadow Pokemon are often misunderstood, thanks to hardly being described in-game. With how encouraged the purification process is, most Shadow Pokemon don’t stick around for long. ForPokemon Goplayers of all kinds, there arethe basic facts about Shadow Pokemon that every player should know.
5Shadow Raids Only In-Person
Limited Catches And Limited Options
Perhaps the most annoying aspect of both Shadow Pokemon and the current state of raids inPokemon Go, any andall Shadow Pokemon raids can only be done in-person.While this isn’t an issue for Niantic’s target audience - players who live in massive urban areas with several friends who also playGo- for every other kind of player, it can be anywhere between annoying to downright disappointing.
For players living in suburban or rural areas, these Shadow Raids can be few and far between, and that’s without even considering having strong enough Pokemon to take down the raid boss. While there are level-one Shadow Raids that are easy to take down, the Shadow Legendaries are a completely different story. Since these raids only appear occasionally among other Pokemon in the raid rotation, a distinct group of players will simply never have proper access to Shadow Raids, with this lack of accessibility purposely caused by Niantic’s continued decision-making causing onlysome players to get the most out of playingGo.
4Shadow Swap
Line-Ups Change And Vary Often
Once players defeat six Rocket grunts,Go Rocket leaderswill start appearing in balloons and at PokeStops instead. While these leaders only offer one potential catchable Shadow Pokemon per battle, with three leaders to pick from, players often get access to some of the stronger options for Shadow Pokemon.
With past catches including Shadow Dratini, Beldum, Machop, and more, fights against these leaders are a worthy challenge. Cliff, Sierra, and Arlo always have fully-evolved Pokemon beyond the first, as well as actually using protective shields in combat. While the Go Rocket leaders certainly aren’t pushovers, catching powerful Shadow Pokemon is an easy trade-off.
3Banned From Mega Evolution
Limiting And Balancing Power Output
Since the ongoing story behindMega Evolutionis one of friendship and trust, it makes sense both narratively and mechanically that Shadow Pokemon cannot Mega Evolve. Beyond all the details provided from lore, having a Mega Shadow Swampert or Blaziken could be too much power for players to have.
Since Mega Evolution is still the reigning tier of power inPokemon Go, combining the power boost from Shadow Pokemon with thetemporary power spike from Mega Evolving would be absurd.With Primal Groudon and Kyogre and their Shadow variants already in the game (Pokemon already cited at the top of the power teir list) combining such strength is a nightmare most players are happy to avoid.
2Frustration Is Temporary
The Importance Of Rocket Events
The major downside to catching Shadow Pokemon most of the time is that the only charge move they have is the terrible move, Frustration. While it seemed that this would be a permanent feature for Shadow Pokemon, during Team Go Rocket Takeover events, playerscan use Charged TMsto remove this painful limiter.
Unfortunately, these events don’t appear as often as some players would hope, often making it a necessity to monitor when these events are coming to make Shadow Pokemon actually useful. Whenever these events appear, sometimes denoted by Giovanni himself appearing as a potential battle, players should ensure to have their Charged TMs at the ready.
1Stronger In Shadow
Purification Is A Scam
The most important factor to know about Shadow Pokemon is what actually differentiates them from their normal or purified counterparts beyond the particles. To create a challenge for players fighting against the Go Rocket leaders and Giovanni, as well as in Shadow Raids, all Shadow Pokemon have a 20% increase to their attack stat, allowing them to go toe-to-toe with even Mega Evolutions.
Even with this incredible boost coming at the cost of equally decreased defense, it is more than enough for some Pokemon to reach thebest attacker tiers, above even Legendariesand Mega Evolved Pokemon. Shadow Mewtwo, especially, is a threat, and is completely untouchable by other Psychic types. While powering up these Shadow Pokemon can be expensive, the reward of having these easily-obtained Pokemon far and away outweighs their cost. Purification may offer different bonuses, but those are nothing compared to the shadows.
