As part of the upcoming Team GO Rocket Takeover event, Shadow Pokémon from Grunts are becoming shiny eligible in Pokémon GO. This will be a permanent change that will carry over to the future, and includes all Grunt-catchable Shadow Pokémon that are shiny eligible. How do we know? A Niantic Community Manager confirmed this to Pokémon GO Hub through Niantic’s Brand Ambassador program.
In order to find a Shiny Shadow version of a particular Pokémon, that Pokémon needs to be a catchable reward from defeating a Team GO Rocket Grunt. This extends over all categories of Pokémon, including regional variants if they are shiny eligible.
In addition to being catchable, the Pokémon needs to be shiny eligible in Pokémon GO. In other words, if a Pokémon can Shiny in regular game play, it can be Shiny in Team GO Rocket encounters as well.
About the upcoming Team GO Rocket Takeover
As we already said, this change is going live with an upcoming Team GO Rocket Takeover event. The event takes place from Saturday, March 25, 2023 at 10:00am, to Wednesday March 29, 2023 at 8:00pm local time.
During the Team GO Rocket Takeover event, Trainers can save Shadow Regice from Team GO Rocket Boss Giovanni, Team GO Rocket will appear more frequently at Pokéstops and from balloons, and they are armed with new Shadow Pokémon, including the following:
You can learn more about the event here, and prepare for the change by battling out with Cliff, Arlo, Sierra, and Giovanni today. Shiny shadow hunting time!
Removing Frustration as a Charge Move from Shadow Pokémon
You can use a Charged TM to help a Shadow Pokémon forget the Charged Attack Frustration during the Team GO Rocket Takeover event. Shadow Pokémon are incredibly powerful, so be sure to take advantage of being able to remove Frustration from them! This only happens a few times a year. You can search ‘@frustration’ in your Pokémon search bar to discover which Pokémon currently have the move Frustration, so you know which to TM it away from.
