It’s time Trainers! Blanche’s Stardust Research Challenge has been succeeded! With each Team completing 25 million Research Tasks at GO Fest Yokohama, and 2 million Tasks being completed by Trainers globally, we rounded off the third and final installment in Professor Willows Global Research Challenge! We all know what this means… Stardust overload!
Let’s take a look at what this means:
Blanches Stardust Research Challenge
| Event | Blanches Stardust Research Challenge |
|---|---|
| Date + Time |
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| Features | |
| Bonuses |
Rewards
Suicune Raid Day
Suicune will be returning to Raids on Saturday, August 17th, 2019, 4:00 – 7:00 PM Local Time. Similar to previous Raid Days, you will receive up to 5 Free Raid Passes. Shiny Suicune will also be available. Be sure to check our Suicune Raid Guide and Heat Map to help you defeat this Legendary Johto Beast!
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3x Catch Stardust Chart
Wild encounters will net you 3x more Stardust than they usually do. Here’s how it breaks down with respect to various evolution stages and scenarios:
| Catches | Base Stardust | With Star Piece |
|---|---|---|
| Base Stage Evolution | 300 (375 ☁️) | 450 (562 ☁️) |
| Second Stage Evolution | 900 (1,125 ☁️) | 1,350 (1,687 ☁️) |
| Third Stage Evolution | 1,500 (1,875 ☁️) | 2,250 (2,812 ☁️) |
| Daily Catch Bonus | 1,200 | 1,800 |
| 7-Day Weekly Catch Bonus | 9,000 | 13,500 |
☁️ => Weather Boosted
These numbers also apply on Field Research encounters (except for the Weather Boost numbers), meaning that Pokémon that are currently in your Field Research stack will also grant triple catch Stardust during Blanche’s rewards period.
3x Hatch Stardust Chart
Stardust from Eggs comes in different ranges per Egg Type. The maximum amount of Stardust you can receive during this event is 126,000. This would be by hatching nine 10km Eggs on a Star Piece.
| Egg Type | Stardust Range | Stardust Range with Star Piece |
|---|---|---|
| 2 km | 1,200 – 2,400 | 1,800 – 3,600 |
| 5 km | 2,400 – 4,800 | 3,600 – 7,200 |
| 7 km | 2,400 – 4,800 | 3,200 – 7,200 |
| 10 km | 4,800 – 9,600 | 7,200 – 14,400 |
3000 Raid Stardust
All Raids will award 3,000 Stardust! With a Star Piece on, this will be a whopping 4,500 Stardust per Raid. Suicune Raid Day is happening during the Stardust Bonus Week, so don’t forget to put those Star Pieces on.
1 Hour Star Pieces
This brings us to the last bonus: 1 Hour Star Pieces! Star Pieces activated AFTER the event starts will last for 1 hour. One Star Piece, twice the fun, nothing out of the ordinary, but this allows for some crazy Stardust stacking.
Blanche’s Stardust Rewards Infographics
Prepare for the event
- Bring your Egg hatches to “just about to hatch” values and turn off Adventure Sync. You want to hatch them after the event starts, regardless of which distance they are.
- Do not catch Field Research Pokémon before the event starts – just complete the quest and let them stay in the encounter stack. Especially important for higher evolution stages.
- Check your bag and Pokémon storage. See that you have enough Star Piece, PokéBalls and Incubators. You will be catching and hatching a lot during the event, so you will need those.
Tips for maximizing Stardust gains
First, check out our The Ultimate Stardust Guide: Farming, Trading, Second Charge Move, Powering Up. It’s a massive piece that lists Stardust costs of everything in the game (more or less) and it will help you to plan ahead for the amount of Dust you want to collect during the event.
Next, set a reasonable daily target. For example, catching 100 Pokémon will grant you 30k Stardust (45k with Star Piece), which means you will reach 210k Stardust by the end of the event. Kinda low if you ask me, so maybe you should set a higher target and combine it with Egg hatches.
In general, hatching Eggs is not as lucrative as it can feel like when you consider the number of Pokémon you need to catch to get the same amount of Stardust:
- 2 km egg is equal to 4 – 8 Pokémon catches
- 5 km / 7 km egg is equal to 8 – 16 Pokémon catches
- 10 km egg is equal to 16 – 32 Pokémon catches
What this means for you is that you should prioritize catching over hatching, and more importantly, don’t be pressured to spend money on Incubators unless there’s a crazy good sale coming. Opening Eggs and walking is noble and just, but we all know that quick catching 30 Pokémon is faster than walking 10 kilometers.
Raids are a good opportunity to farm dust as well, especially during Suicune raid day. Even if you don’t enjoy raiding, there’s a case to be made for using your daily free pass on a Level 1 Raid to get 3000 guaranteed dust.
Overall, here’s how we would approach this event:
- Keep catching at all times!
- Use Star Piece liberally, especially when playing with a GO+ / Gotcha / PokéBall Plus
- Always put on a Star Piece while hatching eggs
- Always keep an Egg in an incubator, but don’t feel pressured to hatch
- Use your daily free raid pass every day of the event
- Attend Suicune raid day and spend all passes
To summarize it all, the amazing Couple of Gaming made this handy and sharable infographic to help you become a Stardust Millionaire!
Conclusion
This is the event everybody waited for, Trainers! Try to catch, hatch, and Raid as much as you can to gain as much Stardust as possible during Blanche’s Stardust Research Challenge, but most of all, enjoy your Pokémon GO journeys with fellow Trainers and friends.
