'Pokemon Go' Adds Its First Shiny Legendary Pokemon

Pokemon Go players have one more reason to battle Lugia for the next two weeks.

Multiple players are reporting that they are catching Shiny variants of Lugia after beating the Legendary Pokemon in Raid Battles.

Shiny Pokemon have variant coloration from their non-Shiny counterparts and are highly prized for their rarity. A Shiny Lugia has magenta markings in places where it would usually have deep blue skin. You can check out a video of one of the first Shiny Lugia to be caught in Pokemon Go in the tweet below:

@trnrtips @StarDustFarmPG @ProdigiesNation @OfficialJTGily @PokemonGOHubNet @DX1Tweets @PkmnMasterHolly @MYSTIC7 pic.twitter.com/0wys6uSY73

— Justmenolimit TL 40X3 and counting (@cannonjason) March 16, 2018

While Pokemon Go has over 20 species with Shiny variants available in the game, this is the first time that a Legendary Pokemon has had a Shiny variant available. In a way, it's fitting that Lugia was the first Legendary Pokemon to get a Shiny variant, as it was also the first Legendary Pokemon to appear in the game.

Lugia first appeared in Pokemon Go last summer, but it was cycled out of the game in favor of Ho-Oh and the Legendary Beasts last fall. Pokemon Go added Lugia back to the game to help promote the upcoming Pokemon the Movie: Everyone's Story, which will feature Lugia as a central character. The Pokemon Company is also distributing Lugia to fans in Japan who pre-order tickets.

All Lugia that appear in Pokemon Go for the next two weeks will have Sky Attack as a charge move. Pokemon Go increased Sky Attack's base damage rate from 70 to 80, so Lugia is now marginally more effective as a Flying-Type attacker than before. Of course, no one cares what sort of attacks Lugia has, as long as it's Shiny.

As of right now, we don't know if Shiny Lugia will appear at the same rate as other Shiny Pokemon in the game (as in, not very often) or if it will have an increased spawn rate like Shiny Pokemon often have during Community Day events. Regardless, your best way of getting a Shiny Lugia is to attend as many raids as you possibly can. Lugia will always appear as a non-Shiny Pokemon during the actual Raid Battle, so you'll have to wait until the catch screen to find out whether it's a Shiny Pokemon or not.

Lugia and its Shiny counterpart will be available in Pokemon Go through April 2nd.