Team GO Rocket Event announced, brings shiny Ekans and Koffing

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Trainers! Team GO Rocket have officially arrived to Pokémon GO and have no intentions on leaving this time! Beginning July 25th, 2019 through August 1st, 2019 Pokémon significant to Team GO Rocket’s arrival will be appearing more frequently in the Wild, Eggs, and Raids, shiny Ekans and Koffing will be released and you will be able to catch as many Shadow Pokemon as you wish. Team Rocket Invasions are expected to become much more frequent than they were during the teaser event a few days ago.

Team GO Rocket Event

Team GO Rocket Event
Event	Team GO Rocket Event
Date + Time	START: July 25th, 2019 END: August 1st, 2019
Features	Increased encounters with Pokémon significant to Team GO Rocket! Select Pokémon significant to Team GO Rocket will appear in raids. Specific Pokémon will be hatching more frequently from Eggs: Rattata, Ekans, Sandshrew, Zubat, Meowth, Machop, Magnemite, Grimer, Gastly, Drowzee, Cubone, Koffing, Murkrow, Sneasel, Houndour, and Poochyena.
Bonuses	If you are lucky, you may encounter Shiny Ekans or Shiny Koffing in the Wild, Eggs or in Raids. Additionally, you may hatch Shiny Sneasel or Shiny Zubat!

Infographic

Shiny Ekans, Koffing, Sneasel, and Zubat Families

Two new shiny Pokemon are being released alongside the Team Rocket Event. Of course, it’s the iconic Team Rocket duo: Ekans and Koffing. We’re quite sure these two will be highly sought after by shiny hunters, as both Pokemon are iconic anime characters. Sadly, shiny Meowth wasn’t mentioned in the official announcement.

Normal Version	Shiny Version

Both Pokemon are Poison types whose spawns are boosted by Cloudy weather, but we expect these to be spawning like crazy during the event. Be sure to shiny check every Koffing you encounter, as these are quite rare outside of themed events. Ekans is found in the same biome as Pidgey, Rattata and other “trash tier” spawns.

Increased Spawns

The following Pokémon will appear more frequently the Team Rocket event:

Pokémon with Increased Spawns
Rattata	Ekans	Sandshrew
Zubat	Meowth	Machop
Magnemite	Grimer	Gastly
Drowzee	Cubone	Koffing
Sneasel	Murkrow	Houndour
Poochyena

Pokemon appearances will be increased in all places where they can naturally be found: Wild encounters, Egg hatches and Raid battles. Please be aware that these event spawns will take over some of your local spawns once the event starts and will stop spawning once it ends. It’s hard to predict rarity tiers at this moment.

Special Field Research

As of now it unknown if a complete Raid Boss shakeup will happen or if it will be just a few more Bosses added to the existing Raid pool. Keep checking back, as we will update as soon as we know what the Raid Bosses and Field Research are.

Team GO Rocket Research Tasks
Quest	Reward
Stage 1/4
Evolve 2 Pokémon	Murkrow
Power up a Pokémon 5 times	Sableye
Stage Rewards	1000 Stardust 2000 XP

Stage 2/4
Catch 2 Shadow Pokemon	Ekans
Defeat 3 Team GO Rocket Grunts	Koffing
Stage Rewards	2000 Stardust 2000 XP 5 Golden Razz Berry

Stage 3/4
Purify 3 Shadow Pokemon	3000 XP
Purify a Fire-, Water-, or Grass-type Pokémon	3000 XP
Stage Rewards	2000 Stardust 5 Silver Pinap 1 Rare Candy

Stage 4/4
Auto Complete	1000 Stardust (x2)
Auto Complete	1000 XP
Stage Rewards	1 Charged TM 1 Fast TM 3 Rare Candy

Special Raid Boss List

Raid Boss List: Team GO Rocket Has Arrived!
Tier	Boss	Raid Guide
EX	Deoxys (Speed)	Link
5	Mewtwo (Armored)	Link
4	Absol	Link
4	Houndoom	Link
4	Marowak (Alola)	Link
4	Victreebel	Link
3	Gengar	Link
3	Hypno	Link
3	Machamp	Link
3	Raichu (Alola)	Link
2	Gloom	–
2	Magneton	–
2	Muk	–
2	Sandslash	–
2	Sneasel	–
1	Cubone	–
1	Ekans	–
1	Koffing	–
1	Meowth	–
1	Zubat	–