Pokémon Go: Team Rocket event could be adding Giovanni

Prepare for trouble, and make it double, because Team Rocket has arrived in Pokémon Go. To protect the world from devastation, they are taking over select Poké-Stops. To unite all people within our nation, they are corrupting iconic critters and turning them into Shadow Pokémon. And soon, their leader Giovanni could be joining the fray.

Since late July, Niantic has been running a Pokémon Go event that is based around this iconic evildoing squad from the Pokémon video games, movies and animated series. And now, at Pokémon Go Fest in Japan, players have begun noticing that Giovanni is partaking in some dastardly photobombs like so…

ファッ！？！？！？ pic.twitter.com/lVMEI37ZRr

— やまだ/YAMADA (@YAMADA_N_DoMo) August 6, 2019

This seems like a fairly clear-cut clue that Giovanni will show up in Pokémon Go at some point soon, although we don’t know exactly what he will be doing. Will there be more than photobombs? Could he even try to recruit players to join Team Rocket? Could he dish out evil equivalents to the usual research tasks? We’ll just have to wait and see. 

In the meantime, if you’re wondering what this Team Rocket event actually entails, you’ve come to the right place. The event can currently be broken down into four steps, which we’ll sum up for you now…

Step 1: Look out for invaded Poké-Stops

Team Rocket has taken over some Poké-Stops, and you should be able to spot your nearest one from the map screen. You can spot an invaded Poké-Stop from a decent distance away, because the floating cube above it has turned a darker shade of blue than usual. The cube will also be spinning in a slightly glitchy-looking way. And when you walk towards it, the Invaded Poké-Stop will open up to reveal a dark discolouration and the red ‘R’ of Team Rocket’s logo.

Step 2: Defeat the Grunt nearby

As you approach an invaded Poké-Stop, a Team Rocket Grunt appears. You can tap them to challenge them in a battle. These battles play out just like any other battle in the game, so you’ll need to tap on the screen to dish out quick-hitting Fast Attacks and slowly-powering-up Charged Attacks. The only difference between this and a normal Trainer Battle is that Team Rocket’s Pokémon are surrounded with a dark aura. If you lose the battle, you can either agree to a rematch or retreat with your tail between your legs to the map screen. Once you’ve managed to win, there is a treat in store…

Step 3: Catch a Shadow Pokémon

Team Rocket’s Pokémon, those ones with a dark aura, are known as Shadow Pokémon. With red eyes and a purple hue, these evil-looking Pokémon are a bit reminiscent of the drugged-up pocket monsters from the Detective Pikachu movie. After you defeat a Team Rocket Grunt, they will run away and leave one Shadow Pokémon behind. You can then try to catch it, using some special Premier Balls that you’ll be given especially for the task. Numerous fan-favourite critters have been confirmed to have Shadow iterations, including Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Rattata, Zubat, Snorlax, Dratini and Mudkip. You’ll want to catch one if you can, because these Shadow Pokémon have a unique trick up their sleeves…

Step 4: To purify or not to purify?

Shadow Pokémon tend to have a low CP, but they also come with an added bonus: they know a special Charged Attack called Frustration. You can choose to keep this attack by doing nothing, leaving your Shadow Pokémon in its sinister state. Or, if you’d rather get rid of the aforementioned dark aura, you can select an option to Purify your Pokémon and replace the darkness with a pure and sparkly sheen. If you do this, the Pokémon’s CP will increase and Frustration will be replaced by a Charged Attack called Return.

That’s it, then, the Team Rocket event in a nutshell. Get yourself on the app if you want to get involved, or check out our list of free Pokémon games if you want to try something different…