Hi there trainers!
The last new community day of the year has been and gone, (presuming of course December is the usual everyone-all-at-once), so we think it’s time to look back fondly (or not) on this years chosen special Pokémon. 2022 also saw the introduction of the Community Day Classic, bringing back popular past Community Day Pokémon with their special moves. We aren’t sure yet if the Community Day Classic Pokémon will be included in the usual final December Community Day round up event, but we have included them in this article in case they are.
January and Spheal
Spheal
Exclusive Fast Move Powder Snow and Charge Move Icicle Spear
The first community day of the year went to Spheal with the purple ball and fan favourite bouncing firmly into top picks for GBL and continues to crop up even during this years World Championships!
Worth grinding for in December? Walrein remains a solid pick for Great and Ultra League without needing XL so yes, go find those rank 1’s!
January and Bulbasaur (Classic)
Bulbasaur
Exclusive Charge Move Frenzy Plant
One of the first community days ever and only fitting it is the first classic (although not the first Pokémon to be featured in more than one community day). Frenzy Plant Venusaur and its shadow self continues to heavily feature in GBL and now has a powerful mega evolution available.
Worth grinding for in December? Absolutely. A solid pick in GBL for all leagues and a decent raid counter, who wouldn’t want a perfect to max, go for that XL!
February and Hoppip
Hoppip
Exclusive Charge Move Acrobatics
The news we were all dreading but had been rumoured for a while, was Hoppip being the pick for February! It was a brand new shiny and triple dust so there was mild interest on my part. This was where Niantic began to tempt us to play outdoors with the mid-evolution Skiploom spawning in parks with bonus XL chances.
Worth grinding for in December? Jumpluff has some use in Great League but that is about it. Maybe if you missed the shiny first time round but otherwise pass.
March and the Sandshrews
Sandshrew
Sandshrew (Alola)
Exclusive Charge Move Nightslash (Kanto) and Shadow Claw (Alolan)
In the Season of Alola, Kanto and Alolan Sandshrew both got the Community Day treatment, the shinies had already been out for some time so community response I remember as being lacklustre.
Worth grinding for in December? Shadow and non-shadow Sandslash are ok in Great League, but you will need XL if you want to use them in Ultra. For raids they do not enter the meta.
April and Mudkip (Classic)
Mudkip
Exclusive Charge Move Hydro Cannon
Our second Classic event and the return of the Hoenn water starter which had a generally positive response. On a personal note this was my first Community Day perfect shiny so I have fond memories of this one!
Worth grinding for in December? Swampert and shadow Swampert crop up in GBL at every level. Swampert has a mega to come that will you want to have your hands on. It almost seems counter-intuitive to prioritise the humble Mudkip but an XL Swampert will not let you down!
April and Stufful
Stufful
Exclusive Charge Move Drain Punch
A twist on the Community Day format – a Pokémon debuting on its Community Day? Unheard of until now. This was also a further temptation to go play outdoors with triple XP boosted to quadruple XP around PokéStops with enough capture activity.
Worth grinding for in December? Bewear has little use in GBL or in raiding…Unless you need the shiny or are short of the 400 candies to evolve then give it a pass.
May and Alolan Geodude
Geodude (Alola)
Exclusive Fast Move Rollout
Wrapping up Alola season was Geodude, curiously only the Alolan variant though, leaving Kanto Geodude out in the cold. I am still missing Kanto Geodude family so I’m slightly bitter over the decision still ha.
Worth grinding for in December? Even Rollout does not make Golem relevant in GBL or in raids, if you don’t need the shiny then use your Pokéballs elsewhere.
June and Deino
Deino
Exclusive Charge Move Brutal Swing
A shiny released for Go Fest 2021 to much hype, a rare spawn and even rarer hatch this was up until this point in the year the highlight of Community Day. Many people getting their dex entries for Hydreigon, Zweilous and maybe even Deino. There was a lot of controversy over the reduction of Community Day back to pre-pandemic three hours duration so a solution still in effect now is battling the mid-evolution (in this case Zweilous) as a level 4 raid boss and triggering more spawns. There was also an attempt to introduce mid-evolution spawns on Community Day from PokéStops but this was not universally popular as Zweilous spawns crowded out Deino which could be shiny eligible.
Worth grinding for in December? Zweilous features in Great League and XL Hydreigon features in Master League, Hydreigon now features as a top Dark raid attacker. Absolutely go for the spawns whenever you see them!
July and Starly
Starly
Exclusive Fast Move Gust
Anything coming after June was going to have its work cut out for it to generate the same level of hype so Starly had a rough time of it. A new, slightly unremarkable shiny and a scorcher of a day in the Northern Hemisphere did not give Starly an easy ride, poor thing.
Worth grinding for in December? Erm, not really unless you missed the shiny release. No relevance in any GBL rank as far as I am aware…
August and Galarian Zigzagoon
Zigzagoon (Galarian)
Exclusive Charge Move Obstruct
A great shiny, slightly controversial as it had been previously released in raids and eggs so there were some trainers that had earned their shiny the hard (aka expensive) way. It was not one I’d had even a sniff of so I was pleased to see it at least!
Worth grinding for in December? Obstagoon is best in Ultra League, but does have some feature in Great League and as an XL version in Master League. It would be worth trying for GBL stats and maybe the XL if you don’t have enough.
September and Roggenrola
Roggenrola
Exclusive Charge Move Meteor Beam
A personal favourite, I was very pleased to see the little purple pencil sharpener featured even if the shiny has been out for a while previously (something we will see more of as events see new shinies released).
Worth grinding for in December? Meteor Beam is a good move, Gigalith is not able to do it justice sadly so unless you missed the shiny then skip over as there is little usefulness in GBL or raiding. (I still love you though!)
October and Litwick
Litwick
Exclusive Charge Move Poltergeist
As a community Litwick had long been campaigned for as a Halloween Community Day and this year it came true, hooray! Brand new shiny and a fan favourite gave this one the hype that had been missing since….. well June to be honest.
Worth grinding for in December? Not top-tier exactly as either a Fire or Ghost raid counter but it is still a very solid pick on either team past the legendary/mega/shadow options. Go for the XL and go for the spawns as it is not that easy to come by this spawn outside of events.
November and Dratini (Classic)
Dratini
Exclusive Charge Move Draco Meteor
Third and final Classic of the year and the third ever Community Day way back in 2018 there will be plenty who will have missed the first chance to get their green Dragonite and there will be plenty of others wanting XL, more shinies and candy.
Worth grinding for in December? It will have only just happened but if you didn’t get your fill during November then go for it again, Master League is where Dragonite truly shines and has consistently been a top Dragon choice.
November and Teddiursa
Teddiursa
Exclusive Charge Move High Horsepower
Teddiursa has been chosen as the final ‘new’ community day of 2022 and its newly released form Ursaluna will be making its debut and the evolution mechanic of evolving under a full moon. Plenty of trainers seem to have the green gummy bear as a shadow so shadow shiny Ursaluna could be seen in play very soon!
Worth grinding for in December? It has impressive stats but not necessarily the moveset to back it up in raiding and time will tell on GBL usefulness. It would not hurt to catch and grind for XL and the shiny as a move stat shake-up could easily turn this into a must-have.
TL;DR
There are some really good Pokémon options to grind for and I have broken them down as below to help prioritise!
S Tier
Mudkip
A Tier
Bulbasaur
Deino
Dratini
Litiwck
B Tier
Spheal
Galar Zigzagoon
Teddiursa
C Tier
Hoppip
Sandshrew (Kanto and Alolan)
Stufful
Alolan Geodude
Roggenrola
Starly
Thanks for reading trainers! It has most definitely been another year of highs and lows for the phenomena known as Community Day…. What will you be grinding for in this years round-up in December? Let us know in the comments!
