Lugia Returns to Pokemon Go on March 16th

Pokemon Go's first Legendary Pokemon is returning to the game for a two week period.

Pokemon Go announced that Lugia would be returning to the game beginning on March 15th and would be the game's featured Legendary Pokemon for the rest of April. In addition, Lugia will know a "newly improved" version of Sky Attack, a Flying-Type charge move. This likely means that Sky Attack's base attack strength is getting an upgrade to give it more use in battle. As of press time, no change has been made to Sky Attack in the server.

Lugia was the first Legendary Pokemon to appear in Pokemon Go, a Psychic/Flying-Type Pokemon that was most useful as a Psychic-Type attacker in gyms. Pokemon Go uses Lugia's head as the symbol for Legendary Raid Battles, and Lugia appeared in the game for nearly a full month, even while rotating through other Legendary Pokemon.

Because it appears that these new Lugia will exclusively have Sky Attack as a charge move, it means that Golem and Rhydon are your best bet for quickly taking down Lugia during raids. While both Golem and Rhydon would get wiped out by one of Lugia's Hydro Pump attacks, they can easily withstand at least a few Sky Attacks.

Pokemon Go bringing back Lugia is an interesting move, as it's the first time in months that Pokemon Go hasn't cycled in a new Legendary Pokemon. Since August, players have had an almost non-stop cycle of new Legendary Pokemon to fight in raids, which has drawn complaints of "raid fatigue" from players who don't want to head out every week to find a new Legendary Raid Battle to beat. By bringing back Lugia, it gives some players a much needed reprieve while giving players who want to keep battling a chance to grab a new and improved version of an already powerful Pokemon.

Lugia is also the focus of the upcoming Pokemon the Movie: Everyone's Story, and the Pokemon Company is distributing a special version of Lugia in Japan for pre-ordering tickets to the movie. It's possible that Pokemon Go is trying to sync up their in-game activities with the Pokemon Company's promotions.

Lugia will appear in the game between March 15th and April 2nd. We'll see whether Pokemon Go plans to cycle in other older Legendary Pokemon into the game, or will proceed to the still unreleased Latias and Latios and the Legendary Golems.