Pokémon Spotlight Hour will feature a different Pokémon and a special bonus for one hour at 6:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday during the month of July. Pikachu Spotlight Hour takes place on July 1st, 2025, from 6:00 to 7:00 pm local time, with a bonus of 2x Stardust for catching Pokémon.
This Spotlight Hour is the first July 2025 Pokémon spotlight, and it is especially interesting as Pikachu can be shiny!
Trainers who plan to participate should be prepared with a Mega Pokémon to maximise candy gains per Pokémon caught. Here’s everything you need to know!
Pikachu Spotlight Hour
Bonuses
You will get 2x Stardust for catching Pokémon
Shiny Pikachu and its evolution is available in Pokémon GO
Note on Stardust Bonus
Pikachu is unfortunately not one of the rare Pokémon that give extra Stardust on catch, so there is the usual base rate of 100 Stardust per catch which increases with weather-boost and a Star Piece.
Here’s how much Stardust you can get during Pikachu Spotlight Hour in July 2025, thanks to the 2x Stardust bonus:
| Type of catch | Stardust |
|---|---|
| Regular catch | 200 |
| Weather boosted catch | 250 |
| Regular catch with Star Piece | 300 |
| Weather boosted catch with Star Piece | 375 |
The best possible scenario you can have is to catch a weather boosted Pokémon with an active Star Piece. As Pikachu is an Electric-type they are boosted by Rainy weather.
To maximise Stardust caught you’ll likely want to use Great Balls to ensure the catch and use a quick catch technique. Otherwise, you could be spending too much time attempting to catch, rather than just catching.
We believe that the baseline for calculating potential Stardust during this hour should be 60 ‘mon. You should be able to get 60 Pokémon during one hour, regardless of if you are using the Fast catch trick, or just catching slowly.
Here’s how much Stardust you should be able to earn during the Spotlight Hour:
| Star Piece active | Weather is Rainy | Stardust |
|---|---|---|
| ❌ No | ❌ No | 12,000 |
| ❌ No | ✅ Yes | 15,000 |
| ✅ Yes | ❌ No | 18,000 |
| ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | 22,500 |
- 12,000 Stardust is your minimal Stardust goal. This means you caught 60 Pokémon, but there was no weather boost and you did not activate a Star Piece.
- 15,000 Stardust is your minimal goal if the in-game weather is Rainy.
- 18,000 Stardust is the minimal amount you are looking for with a Star Piece activated. This should be easy to get if you activate two Star Pieces, regardless of in-game Weather. Star Piece increases your Stardust gain by 50%, which is an additional 3,000 Stardust over the baseline.
- and finally… 22,500 Stardust is the amount of Stardust you will get if you catch 60 Pokémon, with a Star Piece active, during Rainy weather.
The only downside of this event is that Pikachu is relatively difficult to catch, and you will probably want to use Great Balls or Ultra Balls during the event. Otherwise, you could be spending too much time attempting to catch, rather than just catching.
Pikachu
wearing a purple party hat
Pikachu is a Electric-type Pokémon in Pokémon GO, with a maximum Combat Power of 1060 CP. Pikachu best moveset in Pokémon GO is Thunder Shock and Wild Charge.
Pikachu is weak to Ground moves. It is strong against Electric, Flying, and Steel moves. Shiny Pikachu is available in Pokémon GO. Pikachu is boosted by Rainy weather.
Pikachu with a purple party hat can evolve into Raichu with 50 Pikachu candy.
Shiny Pikachu
We all know shiny Pika by now, but it’s time to get your hands on the costume shiny if you don’t have it already! Shiny Pika is a slightly darker yellow/orange tone. Remember there is a gender difference, with female Pika having a rounded tail shape!
| – | Regular | Shiny |
| Pikachu (M) |  |
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| Pikachu (F) |  |
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Pikachu CP and IV Chart
| LVL | CP | LVL | CP | LVL | CP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 CP | 2 | 41 CP | 3 | 69 CP |
| 4 | 98 CP | 5 | 126 CP | 6 | 154 CP |
| 7 | 183 CP | 8 | 211 CP | 9 | 239 CP |
| 10 | 268 CP | 11 | 294 CP | 12 | 321 CP |
| 13 | 348 CP | 14 | 375 CP | 15 | 402 CP |
| 16 | 428 CP | 17 | 455 CP | 18 | 482 CP |
| 19 | 509 CP | 20 | 536 CP | 21 | 562 CP |
| 22 | 589 CP | 23 | 616 CP | 24 | 643 CP |
| 25 | 670 CP | 26 | 696 CP | 27 | 723 CP |
| 28 | 750 CP | 29 | 777 CP | 30 | 804 CP |
| 31 | 817 CP | 32 | 830 CP | 33 | 844 CP |
| 34 | 857 CP | 35 | 871 CP | 36 | 884 CP |
| 37 | 897 CP | 38 | 911 CP | 39 | 924 CP |
| 40 | 938 CP | 41 | 949 CP | 42 | 961 CP |
| 43 | 974 CP | 44 | 986 CP | 45 | 998 CP |
| 46 | 1010 CP | 47 | 1022 CP | 48 | 1035 CP |
| 49 | 1047 CP | 50 | 1060 CP |
Mega Pokémon that boost Pikachu
The following Pokémon will grant you extra bonuses when catching Pikachu if they are Mega/Primal evolved (but you probably have enough Pikachu candy by now!):
A Note on Mega Catch Bonus
While a Pokémon is Mega-Evolved, additional XP and Candy is granted when catching a Pokémon that shares a type with it, or for any raid boss caught. These do not stack with each other. Additionally, High and Max Level Mega-Evolved Pokémon grant an increased chance to obtain Candy XL when catching a Pokémon that shares a type with it.
Is it worth evolving Pikachu?
PVE
Raichu is often ignored courtesy of its iconic pre-evolution, Pikachu.
Sadly, there’s no revenge arc for Raichu as it’s just plain bad in PvE.
⚔️ Raids – Not powerful enough as a Raid counter 😩
🛡️ Gyms – It doesn’t work out.
PVP
Raichu tries its best! A genuinely good moveset comprising of Volt Switch, Wild Charge/Thunder Punch, and Brick Break gets some shine in the Great League ✨
🔵 Great League – Victories against the likes of Azumarill, Oranguru, Malamar, Sableye, Feraligatr, Krokorok, Wigglytuff, and more make Raichu a legitimate threat in the Great League ✌️
🟡 Ultra League – It doesn’t function well in the Ultra League.
🟣 Master League – Not a chance 😮💨
