With the Team Go Rocket Fashion Week: Taken Over event in Pokemon Go, players are tasked with taking on more Go Rocket Grunts and Leaders. The event, which begins on January 15th and runs through January 19th, adds Shroodle to Pokemon Go. As with any Go Rocket takeover, trainers will also have the chance to catch a Legendary Shadow Pokemon, freeing it from Giovanni’s clutches. However, Niantic seems to have made another sneaky change to increase the Shadow Pokemon pool even more with this latest event.
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Players are already getting an increased opportunity to snag Shadow Pokemon thanks to the surprising update to Shadow Raids. Niantic is finally letting trainers participate in Shadow Raids remotely, increasing the odds for many players to take on big boss Shadow Pokemon like Palkia and Ho-Oh. The remote raid pass is a constant point of contention for Pokemon fans, who have been frustrated with Niantic’s insistence on in-person raids. That makes this change an exciting one for those in rural areas and with limited mobility. But that isn’t the only way this latest Go Rocket event expands the possibilities when it comes to Shadow Pokemon in Pokemon Go.
When battling Go Rocket Grunts, trainers always get a chance to catch one of their Pokemon after successfully defeating them. Typically, the Shadow Pokemon encounter will be with the first Pokemon that Go Rocket Grunt sent into battle – but not always. For many types, you could sometimes encounter the second Pokemon in the lineup. However, this is pretty rare compared with the first Pokemon, and not all trainer types were included. Some, like Dragon-types, have been limited to the first member of the team only – until now.
Pokemon Go Players Can Now Catch More Dragon-Type Shadow Pokemon
While this information wasn’t shared in the blog posts leading up to the Fashion Week: Taken Over event, players have noticed an apparent update to the Go Rocket Grunt battles. Specifically, players have been encountering Shadow Dragonair, the second Pokemon used by some Dragon-type Go Rocket Grunts.
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Prior to this event, it wasn’t possible to wind up with an encounter for a Dragon-type Grunt’s second Pokemon. That means trainers are getting more opportunities to encounter Shadow Dragonair during this event, which features more frequent appearances from Team Go Rocket. Due to Dragonair’s snake-like shape, some fans speculate this is a nod to the upcoming Lunar New Year event, which celebrates the start of the Year of the Snake. It’s also the end of 2024’s Year of the Dragon, so it could well be a last hurrah for celebrating Dragon type Pokemon and the trainers that use them.
Shadow Dragonair isn’t the only new addition to the pool of possible encounters from Dragon-type Go Rocket Grunts. Other trainers have noted running into Shadow Gabite as a newly catchable Dragon-type Shadow Pokemon, as well as Alolan Exeggutor, which is a dual-type Grass/Dragon Pokemon.
While adding these additional chances for Go Rocket encounters is an exciting change, some trainers are disappointed that Shadow Dragonair still can’t be Shiny. For those who want to catch the rarest of creatures for their teams, a Shadow Shiny Dragonite would be a better prize – but for now, that’s still not an option. Shiny or not, this change and the shift to remote Shadow Raids will give trainers an easier time expanding their collection of Shadow Pokemon in 2025.
