G’day PoGO lovers! The Scorching Steps Event begins on Friday 10am local time, featuring another new shiny, shiny Larvesta, plus several event-specific mons hatching from 2km, 5km and 10km eggs throughout the event.
I must confess, I heavily contemplated whether or not to do my usual review of this event, considering there are:
- no featured event spawns
- no increased chance of actually hatching a Larvesta, let alone its shiny, and
- a general sense of “where is the excitement factor for this event?”
Let’s take a quick look at the event details and consider what opportunities may be worth your while throughout the event.
Date & Time 📅
- Starts Friday, June 21, 2024 at 10:00 AM local time
- Ends Tuesday, June 25, 2024 at 08:00 PM local time
Bonuses 🎁
2x Candy from hatching eggs
1/2 Egg Hatch Distance when Eggs are placed into Incubators during the event
1/4 Egg Hatch Distance for first three Eggs hatched during the event using the Pokémon GO Egg hatching widget
Increased chance to encounter and hatch Shiny Slugma and Shiny Litleo
Shiny Larvesta makes its Pokémon GO debut
Yveltal
Yveltal
Yveltal in the Master League
Yveltal returns to 5-star raids and will be featuring through the event, but without its signature move, Oblivion Wing. How much does that impact Yveltal’s performance in PvP? When running sims through pvpoke (for Master League), subbing in Focus Blast produces a stronger win/loss record across all shielding scenarios. As always, this must be taken with a grain of salt. Many of Yveltal’s wins through the sims are a result of successfully baiting with Dark Pulse, followed by the big booming Blast to nuke the various Steel types off the park. In reality… well it rarely plays out this cleanly. Still, Focus Blast has the potential to bring a significant number of wins:
New Wins / Losses with Focus Blast (compared to Oblivion Wing)
| Shielding Scenarios | New Wins | New Losses |
| 0v0 | Dialga (both forms) Excadrill Melmetal Rhyperior Ursaluna Yveltal (with DP/OW) |
Garchomp Tapu Bulu |
| 1v1 | Dialga (both forms) Excadrill Melmetal Rhyperior Ursaluna Haxorus Yveltal (with DP/OW) |
Yveltal (DP/OW) Tapu Bulu |
| 2v2 | Melmetal Rhyperior Swampert |
Yveltal (DP/OW) Tapu Bulu |
Alternatively, you could run with legacy Oblivion Wing and Focus Blast, which brings similar results in the sims. But when you look at the mons you are typically baiting against (Rock and Steel types), if they call the bait, Dark Pulse will at least hit for neutral damage, compared with the type damage being resisted. So it feels like a riskier moveset to run, without significant upside (you pick up wins against Tapu Bulu and the mirror match, but give up a lot of potential in the process).
What to do if you land the hundo during this raid rotation? You’ll need to consider how long will we need to wait until another Yveltal release, and whether you’ll land a hundo with the next one, if Oblivion Wing is available next time. My personal recommendation is to power it up with the Dark Pulse / Focus Blast moveset, and then make the call later whether to invest the Elite Charged TM to give it access to Oblivion Wing. Yveltal operates fairly similarly without it, which is today, just OK. Yveltal has the exact same stats as Xerneas, which is decent overall in terms of stat product, but without the crucial resistance to Dragon type damage which dominates the meta.
Will the release of Dusk Mane and Dawn Wings Necrozma see an increase in meta relevance again for Yveltal? I’d personally love to see it break out into the open meta again, but does it need a better fast move to help make that happen? Yveltal has such an expansive movepool already, it’s hard to see that happening, but it would be a shame for it to remain on the bench long term. Time will tell on how the meta shifts!
How about the Ultra League? Yveltal is just not tanky enough or fast enough to have a proper impact in the lower CP capped league, even if it picks up the win against Shadow Claw Giratina! If you’re looking for a project and some spice to run, then go for it, but it will be a pick for fun, not for climbing up the ranks.
Yveltal as a Raid Attacker
I should mention PvE… type damage isn’t super impactful in the raid scene with a limited number of legendary bosses weak to moves. Yveltal slots in as the #11 best type raid attacker in the game, but… with Gust and Oblivion Wing. It’s the #13 best Dark type raid attacker in the game as well, with Snarl and Dark Pulse, so there is a degree of utility in powering one up to L50 for Master League and PvE, if you are so inclined. It’s an expensive investment though, especially when regular Tyranitar and Hydreigon are both stronger and far more accessible. So I would say the PvE is a side-consideration, rather than the primary reason to grind for the hundo.
Yveltal is in raids until 28 June, which means you’ve got an extended window to raid for XL candy, if you’re investing in the build. The GOHub team have written up a range of articles to support you with your Yveltal priorities:
Larvesta
Larvesta
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Volcarona
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Volcarona in PvP
Volcarona will be available to hatch throughout the event. Volcarona is in a really strange place right now in the game. It’s exceptionally rare, incredibly expensive to build, and insanely difficult to use in PvP. Not a great combo! With the current moveset of Fire Spin, Bug Buzz and Overheat, it is too slow to put pressure on shields, so needs to be played in a closing role. Its stat product in the Master League isn’t quite where you’d want it to be to take on the big boys of Dialga and Palkia either. And the results speak for themselves.
In the main series game, Volcarona has access to the signature move Fiery Dance, which could feature as a community day move down the line (likely a charged move) and hopefully change its prospects in the game. It can also learn the fast move Incinerate, which would greatly improve its prospects!
Volcarona in PvE
In the PvE side of the game, Volcarona is currently the #20 Fire type attacker in the game, which is fairly uninspring. It is the #4 Bug type attacker in the game today though, which is definitely an improved performance – but sadly Bug damage hits a limited number of legendary raid bosses for super effective damage. Could be worth it for when Mewtwo and Hoopa come back to the rotation!
I can’t possibly advocate for grinding for Larvesta throughout this event – the hatch rate odds just don’t justify the effort and expense it would take to reasonably obtain even one, let alone the shiny. However, if you are lucky enough to hatch one, and it’s the hundo, then it’s absolutely worth hanging onto for a future build.
Litleo
Litleo
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Pyroar
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Litleo is another hatch only mon available throughout this event. It might surprise you to learn this, but Litleo is actually fairly decent in the Great League! It tends to pop up every now and then, usually in limited meta cups. Since the introduction of Incinerate into its movepool, combined with Flame Charge, it can output a lot of Fire type damage. It has almost identical stat product to Skeledirge, which is certainly respectable. Probably the main thing working against it in the current meta is its Normal sub-typing, which helps it out against Ghost types, but adds an extra element of danger considering the amount of Annihilape and Poliwrath proliferating the open meta. In terms of IV’s, the good thing about Litleo is that with hatch level IV’s it operates with the same performance as the rank 1 (bulkier variant). It could definitely be worth going for some lucky trades with some friends to try and reduce the cost of the investment, as you’ll be dipping into XL candy territory to build one for the Great League. In the right time and place, it’s definitely worth it!
I get less excited about Pyroar to be honest. It has a similar moveset, but less bulk and instead of the cheaper Crunch (which Litleo has), it is instead forced to run with Dark Pulse, which is more expensive to reach. As good a move as Incinerate is, it doesn’t seem to be impactful enough to make it all that viable in the open Great League meta. It’s a similar story in the Ultra League, lacking the stat product and power to take on the bulkier mons that dominate the meta. With Poliwrath and Tentacruel being meta staples, Pyroar will definitely be more of a limited meta option.
Litwick
Litwick
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Chandelure
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Chandelure is the ultimate glass cannon in PvP, and given it is only available in eggs throughout this event, I’ll take a look at the Master League only. Because of its frailty, Chandelure struggles in matchups where its taking a lot of damage (ie: against most Dragon types) or where it is at a shield disadvantage. It needs shields to have any play, but with careful shield and energy management, Chandelure can output an immense amount of damage. Ghost type damage is largely unresisted in the Master League meta, so if you’re able to land a Shadow Ball, you’re going to be either threatening shields or landing big damage onto your opponents most of the time.
The key really is getting a shield advantage – in the 1v0 scenario (you have 1 shield, they have none), Chandelure has a 23 – 15 win loss record, which is much improved on even shield scenarios! You’re still losing to Water types and the bulky Dragon types, but you start to pick up some nice wins – Groudon, Dialga, Lugia, Ho-Oh and Yveltal to name a few! If you’re looking for a project, Chandelure also doubles up nicely as a very strong Ghost type raid attacker too. Definitely worth considering if you’re looking for a new Master League project!
Shadow Raikou
Raikou
I’m consider a proper Shadow Raikou writeup for PvP in the coming days. In the meantime, here is its Ultra League record (in the 1v1 shield), and here is its Master League record (again in the 1v1 shield scenario). Not a great ratio, but in PvE it is shockingly good – it’s the #1 Electric type attacker in the entire game today. An expensive build, but definitely worthwhile! Shadow Raikou is available in raids for the next 2 weekends in June, so it’s worth it if you can find a small team to take them on.
Turtonator
Turtonator
I’ve previously written about ole’ Turtonator here, and JRE has done some analysis in the past as well, so I won’t go on too much here. Overall, Turt is very average in the open meta, but shines brighter in the limited meta Fantasy Cup. If you’ve played this format in recent times, you would have seen Turtonator around quite a lot, as it is one of the unique Dragon types that can hit Steel types for super effective damage with its Fire type moves. If you’re working on an Ultra League build, Turt will be available in field research, so it could be worthwhile banking a heap and catching when there’s additional XL candy on offer.
Event Rating: 3/10
Overall, this event is pretty much a complete bust in my view. No exclusive moves. Egg-locked event features. An almost impossible shiny rate for the new release. No event spawns. The main thing I’m excited about is the return of Yveltal in 5-star raids to work on the XL candy for it!
It’s worth noting that it is almost certain that Larvesta will get a community day at some point in the future (maybe 2026?). With that in mind, I will leave it up to you just how hard you focus on purchasing incubators and hatching for the “very lucky” chance of obtaining shiny Larvesta. Even so, Volcarona is a fairly middling option for PvP and PvE today, so the incentive feels incredibly limited.
I hope this quick guide has helped you prioritise your hunting for this event! As always, you can find me on Twitter or Instagram for more.
See ya later,
JTizzle
