Pokemon Go Launches Team Go Rocket Celebration Event

Pokemon Go's newest Team Rocket event begins today. Team GO Rocket (the Pokemon Go branded version of Team Rocket) is invading Pokemon Go once again, providing players with more opportunities to battle Team Rocket Grunts and leaders and catch new Shadow Pokemon. The event kicks off today at 10 AM local time and runs through February 7th at 8 PM local time. In addition to Team Rocket grunts appearing more often in balloons and at PokeStops, players can also find more Dark-type and Poison-type Pokemon in the wild, and can work on the two stage Timed Research event that culminates with an encounter with a Ho-Oh with the move Earthquake, a move it can't usually learn when encountered during normal raids.

Here's a full breakdown of this week's Pokemon Go event:

Pokemon GO Rocket Celebration Event - Date and Times

The Team GO Rocket event runs from today at 10 AM local time through Sunday, February 7th at 8 PM local time.

Pokemon GO Rocket Celebration - Bonuses

The event will feature halved egg hatch distances and more Team GO Rocket balloons appearing to challenge players. Team Rocket balloons will appear every two hours. Team GO Rocket will also appear at more PokeStops.

Pokemon GO Rocket Celebration - Boosted Spawns and Eggs

The following Pokemon will appear more often in the wild during the event: Golbat, Koffing, Ariados, Qwilfish, Sneasel, Houndour, Nuzleaf, Stunky, Skorupi, Venipede, and Scraggy.

Additionally, Qwilfish, Larvitar, Corphish, Absol, Skorupi, Sandile, Scraggy, Pawniard, Vullaby, and Deino will all appear in 12 KM Strange Eggs collected during thevent.

Pokemon GO Rocket Celebration - New Shadow Pokemon

Team Rocket Grunts and Leaders are shuffling their Pokemon line-ups, which means new Shadow Pokemon available to capture. The new Shadow Pokemon include Swinub, Nosepass, Aron, Spheal, Lileep, Anorith.

Notably, Sierra, Cliff, and Arlo all have different Pokemon line-ups, with new Shadow Pokemon as a reward. Sierra will reward players with Carvanha, Cliff will reward players will Aerodactyl, and Arlo will reward players with Beldum. All three Shadow Pokemon can be Shiny as well.

Pokemon Go Rocket Celebration - Timed Research and New Field Research

While there's no new Timed Research this week, players should be able to make good progress on the Timed Research introduced last week that involves battling Team Go Rocket leaders and capturing Shadow Pokemon. That Timed Research includes a reward featuring a Ho-Oh that knows the move Earthquake. Additionally, new Field Research involving Shadow Pokemon is also available.