February is off to a hot start for Pokémon Go. To kick it off, you have the chance to start working towards earning encounters with Woobat by completing research tasks. All you need to is complete a research task from PokéStops and completing them once a day to receive the Woobat encounter on the seventh day, in addition to the new A Professor’s Work is Never Done special research task. Later this month, a Sinnoh Region Celebration is happening that focuses on select Pokémon from the region, along with highlight Riolu and Hippopotas, giving you an increased chance to find shiny versions of them.
The Sinnoh Region Celebration starts on Feb. 7 at 8am and goes until Feb. 10, 10pm in your local time. The event will highlight all of the Pokémon that originated in the Sinnoh region by making them easier to encounter in the wild and during raids. For those wondering, these are the fourth generation of Pokémon. Niantic lists you can earn Bronzor, Budew, Combee, Gible, Hippopotas, Mantyke, and Riolu from seven-kilometer eggs during this time. Reach out to trainers on your friend’s list to send you gifts during the event to optimize on these eggs.
You can expect to see more Research tasks activating during the Sinnoh event to make it easier to encounter these Pokémon. You might even get lucky to locate a shiny version of Riolu and Hippopotas during the festivities. Niantic has not revealed the exact details of how you can increase your chances, but it promises to disclose further information closer to the event. Riolu is a Fighting-type Pokémon that evolves into Lucario (a Fighting and Steel-type), and Hippopotas is a Ground-type that later evolves into Hippowdon (also a Ground-type). Even if you don’t receive the shiny versions of these Pokémon, they’re worthwhile to go after.
If you’re looking to get the most from this event, you may want to start stockpiling on lure modules to place at PokéStops in your area, which attracts Pokémon to the location for 30 minutes. You can also begin to capture local Gyms to make it easier to catch any raid Pokémon that show up.
When we learn more about what Niantic has planned for the event, we’ll update this guide to bring you more details on what you can do to optimize your time. It starts on Feb. 7.
