Welcome to the latest One More Catch weekly newsletter, offering you a guide to the week ahead in Pokémon Go.
The game's one week on, one week off event schedule enters a busy period with the 'Spring Marathon' event and the debut of two unreleased Pokémon. Elsewhere, regional Ultra Beasts hit raids from Wednesday, and there's yet another Community Day on Saturday - this time for a fan-favourite Dark- and Dragon-type. A lot going on, in other words.
So here's a snapshot of everything coming to Pokémon Go in the days ahead, the biggest opportunities available, and a roundup of Pokémon news and site updates you may have missed.
Events in Pokémon Go this week (11th to 17th May)
All times are at your local time, unless otherwise stated.
What to focus on this week
Here's the biggest opportunities to look out for:
Highlight of the week...
Flittle and evolution Espathra debut as part of the 'Spring Marathon' event starting on Tuesday. Going by the official blog post ahead of time, it can be found in 5 km Eggs as well as the event Go Pass. What we don't know is: how common it is within that Egg pool; whether it'll stick around after the event within 5 km Eggs; and for those who would rather not go down the Egg route, whether Flittle features in Go Pass's free or Deluxe track.
Either way, gathering and walking 5 km Eggs is your best bet, and know there's a 1/2 Egg Hatch Distance bonus by progressing the Go Pass during the event to help. And once you do get a Flittle, the evolution into Espathra is straightforward - you just need 50 Flittle Candy.
For new or lapsed players...
A set of regional Ultra Beasts will return from Wednesday, with them appearing across the globe for a week in the following regions:
- Buzzwole (Americas)
- Pheromosa (Europe, Middle East, Africa, India)
- Xurkitree (Asia-Pacific)
This means to get each one, you'll have to remote raid in one of those regions. (Or time a trip just in time - though using a Remote Raid Pass will be a lot, lot cheaper.) Either way, Ultra Beasts reappear in the game semi-often, so don't worry if you miss out.
While Buzzwole and Pheromosa - both dual Bug- and Fighting-types - are Pokédex fillers only (unless you're into Go Battle League) it's worth noting that Asia-Pacific regional Xurkitree is an excellent Electric-type attacker that's worth paying attention to.
At the weekend...
Deino sees a Community Day Classic on Saturday, which means boosted spawns during event hours (2pm to 5pm, with extra spawns appearing at Lure Modules until 9pm) with an increased chance of finding a shiny.
End stage evolution Hydreigon is an excellent Dark-type attacker, and well worth adding to your collection if you haven't already got a decent one. And if you do - especially if it's a Shadow version - it's the perfect opportunity to get plenty of Candy and XL Candy to fully power one up, even if the double Catch Candy bonus is absent.
Either way, be sure you fully evolve your Deino before 9pm to get Hydreigon's charged attack Brutal Swing, which is what tips it into powerhouse territory.
Deino and Hydrigon, and their shiny counterparts. Credit: One More Catch (via Niantic / The Pokémon Company)
- Some extra Community Day tips:
- Don't forget to have a Mega Evolution active for additional Catch Candy. With the dual typing, there are a lot of options available - simply pick the one you have most levelled up for the biggest gains:
- Dragon: Altaria, Ampharos, Charizard X, Garchomp, Latias, Latios, Rayquaza, Salamence, Sceptile
- Dark: Absol, Gyarados, Houndoom, Tyranitar, Sableye, Sharpedo
- Don't forget to have a Mega Evolution active for additional Catch Candy. With the dual typing, there are a lot of options available - simply pick the one you have most levelled up for the biggest gains:
- There's a 3x XP Catch bonus during event hours. If you're a dab hand at throwing and can land consistent Excellent Throws, it's well worth sticking on a Lucky Egg for further gains.
- It's also a good time to make progress on the following:
- Pancham's Special Evolution into Pangoro (catch 32 Dark-type Pokémon with Pancham as your Buddy)
- Poipole's Special Evolution into Naganadel (catch 20 Dragon-type Pokémon with Poipole as your buddy)
- Dipplin's Special Evolution into Hydrapple (catch 7 Dragon-type with Dipplin as your Buddy)
- Progressing Dark and Dragon-type Catch medals that aren't Platinum yet
- Finally, if you need to fully power up a Pokémon for the various Level 70 to 80 challenges, then Community Day is the perfect opportunity with the abundance of Candy and XL Candy you'll receive from catching the highlighted Pokémon.
What's new in Pokémon and Pokémon Go?
- As confirmed by One More Catch ahead of time, the 'evergreen weeks' feature debuted last week with branching 'Explore, Catch, Battle' Timed Research, giving players an XP bonus and various challenges based on their choice.
- If you are reading this at the start of the week, you still have until 8pm Monday before the bonus and challenges expire. But not to worry if you don't - you'll get another chance next Tuesday as it's a non-event week.
Matthew Reynolds
- In England and Wales, The Pokémon Company is teaming up with the National Trust to offer themed walking trails at various properties. There's also some TCG-related activities at more locations later in the year, too.
Matthew Reynolds
- We've seen a datamine that suggests a new raid type will be debuting at the in-person legs very soon. Dubbed 'Unity Raids', this requires participants to hold their phones in the air at set moments to charge up attacks. Not only that, but the catch phase might be a co-ordinated affair, too.
- As a datamine, it's all unconfirmed and prone to change, but with the mention of a "massive number of Trainers" required, it sounds perfect for in-person events to me. Perhaps we'll see it as soon as Go Fest 2026, which kicks off in Tokyo at the end of the month?
Matthew Reynolds
- In further leaked info, it looks like Mega Skarmory will get the Super Mega Raid treatment towards the end of June, going by this reddit post.
- Finally, Switch 2 hardware will go up price to become a tidy $500 in the US, with similar increases elsewhere across the globe, from 1st September. (VGC has the details.)
- If you do plan on getting a Switch 2 at some point - particularly for next year's Pokémon Winds and Waves - you have until the end of August to save up and get one a little cheaper.
Andy Robinson
One More Catch notes
There's little news from the site itself this week beyond that's been published above (I'm starting a new part time gig next week, so I've been heads down on drafting articles and setting up new site features for the week ahead and beyond).
So instead, I'll use this opportunity to give a shoutout to fellow indies and their various projects which might be of interest:
- Ninty Media's Pokebook launched on Kickstarter last week and has cheerfully already hit its goal. There's still 10 or so days to back if you want to get yourself a copy, and help usher in a few more stretch goals.
- If you want to read something Pokémon right now, however, I'd recommend this excellent comic by Mothership...
Ellie Black
- ...and this superb piece by Jank, if you fancy discovering a Pokopia-style game on PC:
Graham Smith
- Friend of the site and fellow former Polygon staffer Pete Volk runs the brilliant PV Guide, a site which offers weekly movie and TV recommendations, action movie retrospectives, and the occasional Taskmaster interview (which I'm incredibly jealous of). There's a 20% off annual subscriptions deal on right now if you want to lend your support.
Sophie Bee
- And finally, a reminder that the likes of Rogue, Rascal and Aftermath are part of a bundle where you can access each site at a 50% discount:
Riley MacLeod
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Hope you have a great week!
