Trainers,
We’ve received reports of developments regarding Shadow Pokémon. Whatever Team GO Rocket is doing seems to be making these poor Pokémon stronger as long as they remain Shadow Pokémon. Details are as follows.
- Shadow Pokémon now deal more damage (1.2x Attack increase) with their Fast and Charged Attacks, but they also take more damage when attacked (0.83x Defense decrease).
- The new bonus is called Shadow Bonus
- Powering up a Shadow Pokémon and teaching a Shadow Pokémon an additional Charged Attack now cost less Stardust and Candy. Examples:
- 12000 Stardust and 30 Candy, down from 30k Stardust and 75 Candy
- 60000 Stardust and 60 Candy, down from 150k Stardust and 160 Candy
- Legendary Shadow Pokémon that you save from Giovanni are now more powerful.
Additionally, Frustration will be TM-able soon, but no additional details have been shared at this point.
The effects of this change are interesting, although the 20% damage increase does seem quite overpowered and prone to be nerfed in the future. In raids, Shadow Pokémon are now quite stronger than their Normal counterparts. In PvP, Shadow Pokémon don’t perform as well, as their potential damage output is thwarted by their lower bulk.
The biggest winners of this change are Shadow Electric Pokémon, as Shadow Electivire deals more damage than Raikou, Magnezone and Zapdos. Pokémon that were fragile before this change, are even more fragile now.
At this moment, we don’t suggest spending Stardust and Candy to power up your Shadow team. Give this change a week or two, let’s see if Niantic decides to nerf the damage output or to reduce their defense even further.
Source: Niantic
