Pokemon Go Announces Release Dates for Moltres and Zapdos

Pokemon Go has announced plans to add Moltres and Zapdos later this summer. Both Legendary Pokemon will be available for one week windows beginning next week.

As we reported yesterday, Pokemon Go will make each Legendary Bird available for a limited amount of time. Articuno will only be available until July 31, before it’s replaced by a different Legendary bird.

Unfortunately, we don’t know whether Pokemon Go plans to continue cycling the Legendary Birds one at a time, or if these week long windows will be the only chance players have for catching the Pokemon.

Niantic gave no end date for Lugia’s presence in Pokemon Go, so we’re guessing that Lugia is either a permanent addition or will at least be around for a while longer than the other birds.

Keep Scrolling Down to See the Release Dates for Zapdos and Moltres:

Moltres

Moltres is the next Legendary Pokemon to be added to the game. Moltres will replace Articuno on July 31 and will remain in the game until August 7. 

Moltres is the team mascot for Team Valor, the game’s second largest team, so it makes sense that it would follow Articuno into the game. Moltres is a Fire/Flying type, which means it has a double weakness to Rock-Type attacks. While Golem hasn’t been super effective against Lugia or Articuno, it should have a much easier time against Moltres.

Water-Type Pokemon are also effective against Moltres, so you should have lots of choices to fill out your raid team. 

Zapdos

Zapdos will be the last of the three Legendary Birds to appear in Pokemon Go. Zapdos will replace Moltres on August 7 and will remain in the game until August 14. 

Like Moltres, Zapdos is also weak to Pokemon like Golem and Rhydon. While it doesn’t have a weakness to Ground-Type attacks like most Electric-Type Pokemon, its attacks still won’t be very effective against bulky Rock/Ground Pokemon.

While Zapdos is weak against Ice-Type attacks, remember that most Ice-Type Pokemon have a secondary type weak to Electric attacks. Lapras and Cloyster are both Water-Types, while Articuno is a Flying-Type Pokemon. 

What Comes Next?

While we don’t know what will happen after Zapdos leaves the game in mid-August, we’re guessing that Niantic is saving one more Legendary Pokemon announcement for next month. Pokemon Go is having a major event in Japan on August 14…which coincidentally happens to be when Moltres leaves the game. 

The obvious choice to replace Moltres is Ho-Oh, which was the fifth Legendary Pokemon featured in Pokemon Go‘s trailer earlier this month. Ho-Oh has been front and center in the promotion for the newest Pokemon movie in Japan, so it would make sense for it to get introduced in Japan. 

We’ll have to wait until August for that announcement, though. In the meantime, get out there and start catching those Legendary Pokemon before they fly off for good! 

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