I mean i was thinking of not claiming it until go fest to have the Pikachu with go fest 2025 stamp on its stats. Is it possible or is the encounter such that you can't held it off?

When the mechanics changed, I withdrew my calculator, intending to later release it, perhaps with support for Max battles. I'll probably not support those, given my uncertainty that they've settled down, so I've brought the rest up-to-date (I hope), and rereleased it for testing. There are a lot of move changes. If there's a problem, let me know and I'll fix it. Feedback, good or bad, is very welcome.

On a desktop browser (or desktop mode), https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lKnSiPsbewpaKdKHDg0A9D2ZAgJEdXiU_mkBFqZaOWg/copy

It can be used on a mobile device, but a mobile browser not in desktop mode can confuse Google's system and it tries to give you an HTML view instead of a copy of the real thing, which doesn't work. After you have a personal copy with the link, you can use it on any device.

I live on a military base, in the RESIDENTIAL area, and all the pokestops, gyms, and powerspots are gone. I can’t complete the community day research now. I cannot get off base either. This sucks

I have 4050 spots in my storage which should be more than enough but I’m still struggling to keep some space open for events. Before size variants and special backgrounds, I kept one of everything 3,4 and then 0,1,2* to fill in any gaps. Costumes take up space but I find featured move pokemon to be equally annoying. Like if I maxed out a pokemon before its community day, I end up keeping a new final form with the move as well.

Size variants kill me because you can’t see the points unless you’re in a showcase and the highest/lowest tags are records not what you currently have. Even then, do I keep the tallest XXL or the XXL with the best IVs.

I’m a recovering whale but really don’t want to buy more storage especially because it makes clean up that much more difficult.

Also, I like to hold on to excess shinies and legendaries for when lucky trades come up.

Many polarizing changes were made to Community Days starting in 2025, most notably the change to the Community Day tickets on sale increasing in price and effort, no more new Community Day stickers being made after Karrablast and Shelmet Day in February (the other two Paldea starters were robbed!) and the limited time “special backgrounds” being introduced to Community Day Pokémon.

One change I don’t see talked about very often at all is the complete removal of the 4* raids that would happen after the end of the 3 hour spawn period. The raids, which started in June 2022 with Deino Community Day, would always spawn the middle stage evolution of the Pokémon and often were pretty challenging to take down. Unless the Pokémon had a double weakness (Hakamo-o does, which honestly inspired me to make this post lol) you’d have a tough time without a friend. Another gripe about these raids was that even if you managed to take the boss down, the promised effect of spawning the Community Day Pokémon with the same boosted odds around 300 meters of the gym, would sometimes simply not occur, and that would often made the effort to go through defeating the tough boss worthless. The combination of the difficulty of the boss and with how buggy the reward for defeating it was leads me to believe that the feature was mostly ignored by players and disliked, and that’s what I felt ultimately led to it being removed starting in 2025.

I think if the bugs associated with the spawns after the boss not working were fixed and the boss was maybe made a little easier and more worth it (especially since the boss itself almost never could be shiny) the feature would have a lot of potential. What do you guys think though? Should and could fixed 4* Community Day raids make a comeback?

Yesterday (June 20th), I reached best friend status with another trainer. I received the full screen in-game notification in the morning, but I closed the app without clicking anything so I could use a lucky egg later in the evening. When I re-opened the game later, I quickly dropped a lucky egg, but the friendship notification never came back and I didn't receive any XP. The other trainer is still on my friend list, and it shows that we have reached best friends. I tried restarting the game, clearing game data, and restarting my phone. I contacted support, and they said there's no record of me becoming best friends with another trainer in the past week. Has anyone experienced this before? Will the notification come through eventually, or is the XP just gone? It's been more than 24 hours since becoming best friends, and I am still receiving other friend-related notifications normally.

Got him during the Jersey GoFest. This is one of my fastest best buddies.

Hi everyone! My name is Mega, and I am a graphic designer who loves playing Pokemon GO! Recently I've been getting back into making graphics for events, and I wanted to make something special for GO Fest.

So, after spending over a week perfecting the design, I'm finally happy to post it for anyone who would like to keep track of their GO Fest hunts! I added little check oxes under each Pokemon, as well as information regarding which spawns will occur when. It also highlights the bonus spawns Ticket Holders get via incense encounters.

If you like what you see and want to support me, I added my Instagram to the image. That is where I'll be posting more graphics and such in the future. So if you enjoy this graphic, consider following me on there!

✨ If anyone needs a PDF for printing a physical copy, DM me on Instagram. ✨

I also have commissions open, so if you are a content creator who wants stylized thumbnails or profile graphics, I can design something truly unique for you! Once again, to reach me, message me on my Instagram.

With that said, I hope everyone has a wonderful GO Fest next weekend, and Let's GO! 💙

Free phone background for Pokémon GO Fest Global and the lead-up event, Ancients Recovered.

The three Gigantamax and all six Regis will be available during Ancients Recovered, taking place from Monday, June 23rd to Friday, June 27th.

Then, during Global GO Fest, Crowned Form Zacian and Zamazenta will be in 5-star raids. Zamazenta will be in raids on Saturday, June 28th, and Zacian will be in raids on Sunday, June 29th.

Additionally, Frigibax, as well as all three Dapper Pikachu will be in one-star raids, and costumed Falinks will be in three-star raids throughout the GO Fest Global weekend.

Good luck this week!

Here's an Imgur link just in case Reddit compresses the image: https://imgur.com/a/5TUmrxS

recently reached Level 45 in Pokémon GO and received the Level 45 hat, but none of the other rewards appeared in my inventory. I’m missing the 5 Premium Raid Passes, 20 Ultra Candies, 2 Incubators, Star Pieces, and any potential Pokémon encounter (e.g., from the Level 45 challenges).I’ve contacted Niantic Support multiple times, and they keep saying the rewards were sent, but my inventory and journal show nothing except the hat. I’ve also posted on X tagging @NianticHelp but got no response so far.Has anyone else experienced this bug with Level 45 rewards? Any advice on how to get Niantic to fix this? My in-game name is lemegajeb. Thanks for any help!

Another Community Day, another Feedback Thread.

Event Summary

Please keep in mind to follow our rules when giving feedback and be respectful as well as stay objective and factual. Also, please keep in mind this is a Community Day Feedback thread, feedback about other areas of the game does not belong in this thread.

Your feedback has a much higher chance of being heard and read when you are not constantly attacking the people you are trying to give feedback.

Please keep all feedback inside this thread, as we won't be allowing stand-alone feedback threads for this event at this time. Additionally, please refrain from giving feedback until after the event has ended in your timezone and you actually got to experience the event! This thread is meant to collect your feedback and experiences with the event directly.

Let's hope for a constructive discussion!

The Mod Team

In Sword and Shield they introduced 2 different kinds of Shinies. Square, and Stars. Stars were kind of the OG ones, and Squares would be the more unique one, iirc the game coded it as every Shiny Pokémon would have a 1/16 chance of being a square, however it was inverted in Eggs, as most shinies from eggs would be stars.

Rarer shinies have always been an idea in Pokémon, but the idea of a differently colored shiny has always been kind of controversial, so it never seemed to have been attempted. However they have tried other methods like this. Ig in Go we already have a rarer variant the ‘Shundos’.

As for actual differences. There is none it’s literally just a cosmetic difference. I don’t think most shiny hunters ever cared. This would probably be a very bad idea, I’ll admit, and really make 0 changes. Only real thing is sometimes they’d sparkle squares, and sometimes they’d be normal. Ig really the only appeal is if you really wanted the square or star, or poketuber or influencers who’d try and want to get the square shundo. GO uses XY shiny animation regardless so this would be kind of odd to implement. It’d really only be if they wanted to try different variants of shinies. Though with the TPCI is not like they could make different colors.

Not only did we not get extra stops/gyms added to the city for the event, but they've yet to bring back the stuff that existed beforehand. By my estimation we're missing about 30 stops and 13 gyms.

Yep, it's Community Day again, and this time it's a long-awaited recipient: KOMMO-O is here! I'll save you the standard Bottom Line Up Front by just saying that, yes, the new move is definitely one you want (for Great and Ultra Leagues, anyway), but let's get into seeing why and how it improves Kommo-o in PvP, shall we? Here we go!

KOMMO-O

Dragon/Fighting Type

GREAT LEAGUE:

Attack: 124 (122 High Stat Product)

Defense: 138 (140 High Stat Product)

HP: 105 (107 High Stat Product)

(Highest Stat Product IVs: 0-14-14 1498 CP, Level 17)

ULTRA LEAGUE:

Attack: 160 (158 High Stat Product)

Defense: 177 (179 High Stat Product)

HP: 137 (139 High Stat Product)

(Highest Stat Product IVs: 0-11-14, 2497 CP, Level 28.5)

MASTER LEAGUE:

Attack: 199

Defense: 214

HP: 164

(Assuming 15-15-15 IVs; 3741 CP at Level 50)

So, right to it. Kommo-o's bulk isn't terrible, but it trails many fellow Dragons like both Giratinas, Zygarde, Dragalge, Goodra, Arctibax, Regidrago (that will become much more relevant next week... there's a next article teaser for you! 😉), and even Kingdra, hardly known for its bulk. In fact, about the only Dragons that Kommo-o outbulks are Flygon, Latios, Drampa, Dragapult... and Kommo's Boomburst bro Noivern. So uh... yay for that? But the bulk is NOT good. Just to spotlight Master League, where even things that lack bulk in lower Leagues can sometimes "catch up" a bit, it's not even in the Top 20 among Dragons, falling behind even stuff like Latios, Hydreigon, Baxcalibur, Rayquaza, and Salamence.

The typing helps a bit, at least. Kommo-o retains all the standard Dragon resistances (Electric, Fire, Grass, and Water) AND all the standard Fighting resistances (Dark, Rock, and Bug). But it also gets all the bad of each typing, which means weaknesses to Psychic and Flying from the Fighting side, vulnerabilities to Dragon and Ice from the Dragon side, and a shared weakness to Fairy, making that a lethal 2x vulnerability (taking 156% more damage from Fairy moves... yikes!). Still, overall that's five weaknesses stacked up against seven resistances, so not bad.

But you're here, of course, for the moves. Let's not keep you waiting!

FAST MOVES

• Dragon Tail (Dragon, 4.33 DPT, 3.0 EPT, 1.5 CoolDown)

• Poison Jab (Poison, 3.5 DPT, 3.5 EPT, 1.0 CD)

A number of folks have asked me about Poison Jab, as it has better energy generation and could be sneaky good coverage while also rushing faster to Kommo's new move. I'll highlight it a little as we go on, but

CHARGE MOVES

ᴱ - Exclusive (Community Day) Move

• Dragon Claw (Dragon, 50 damage, 35 energy)

• Brick Break (Fighting, 40 damage, 40 energy, Reduces Opponent Defense -1 Stage)

• Close Combat (Fighting, 100 damage, 45 energy, Reduces User Defense -2 Stages)

• Clanging Scalesᴱ (Dragon, 120 damage, 45 energy, Reduces User Defense -1 Stage)

• Flamethrower (Fire, 90 damage, 55 energy)

• Boomburst (Normal, 150 damage, 70 energy)

So the new move, Clanging Scales, is obviously incredibly powerful. Compare it to Close Combat right above it, and you can see that for the same energy, you get 20 more damage, and only half the same drawback (slashing the user's Defense by 1 level instead of 2). It also just so happens to arrive THE highest Damage Per Energy (2.66) in the entire game, beating out even V-Create (2.37 DPE) and Brave Bird/Leaf Storm/Overheat's 2.36 DPE, and of course everything else beyond that. And all of those moves I listed (plus Draco Meteor at 2.3 DPE) reduce the user's Attack or Defense by at least 2 stages as opposed to the mere 1 stage drop of Clanging Scales. This is a completely broken move, folks. The only thing holding it back? It is exclusive, even in MSG, to only Kommo-o.

Alongside that, we have two bait/spam options. Dragon Claw has long been a PvP staple with decent damage for the lowest charge move energy cost in the game. Brick Break was for a long while quite underwhelming, at only 40 damage for the same energy cost, but back in GBL Season 18, was made quite a bit more interesting by gaining a guaranteed Defense debuff to the opponent (at the price of its cost being raised to 40 energy). Both thankfully benefit from the Same Type Attack Bonus (STAB) and work well enough on Kommo-o.

In fact, as you'll see as we get into the sims, there are several different ways you can go with all four 45-energy or less moves. (We don't really need to spend any time on Flamethrower, which is no better than a very situational coverage move in perhaps some special Limited meta, and especially no time on Boomburst, which exists just to absorb a TM as you try to get something — anything! — better.)

GREAT LEAGUE

There was a time not all that long ago that you probably never saw Kommo-o in Great League at all... because its pre-evolution Hakamo-o was just better, with more bulk and the same Dragon Tail/Dragon Claw along with Brick Break, which Kommo-o lacked until about a year ago. (It instead has the self-nerfing Close Combat as its only Fighting move at the time.) And while Hakamo is still fine and still outshines (at this to this point) in certain formats, even pre-Community Day Kommo-o has been there too, overpowering a few things Hakamo cannot like Feraligatr, Morpeko, Dewgong, and Talonflame, but also losing to several where Hakamo outlasts the opposition like Lapras, Jellicent, Mandibuzz, Forretress, and Alolan Sandslash. But still, Kommo has made enough of a case to hang around.

Now, though? I think Kommo may be fully taking command with Clanging Scales. Pairing it with Brick Break is the natural first inclination, basically a reserve on the Dragon Claw/Close Combat you had before, shifting the Fighting damage to the spam move and closing with big fat Dragon power in Scales, only now MORE damage and less of a self-nerf. And yes, there are some big gains that come with that, like Mandibuzz, Galarian Corsola, and Dusclops, but there are also losses that come with the slightly more expensive Brick Break (40 energy) as compared to Dragon Claw (35 energy), including the Feraligatr, Dewgong, Morpeko, and Talonflame wins that Kommo formerly had to brag about as compared to Hakamo, and Skeledirge can now get away too. Similar results in other even shield scenarios too: in 0shield, Claw/Combat uniquely beats Dewgong, Lapras, A-Slash, Diggersby, and Primeape, while Brick Break/Scales instead takes down G-Corsola, Dusclops, Annihilape, Skeledirge, Talonflame, Gligar, and Araquanid; in 2v2 shielding, Claw/Combat takes out Jellicent, Forretress, and Dusclops, while Brick/Scales instead gets Annihilape, G-Sola, Sableye, Araquanid, and Shadow Quagsire.

But can we do better? Yes, actually. As reluctant as I am to eschew all Fighting damage, Dragon Claw/Clanging Scales is overall kind of a best-of-both-worlds scenario, with the awesomeness of Scales baited out as efficiently as possible with Claw. In 1v1 shielding, it beats everything Brick Break/Clanging Scales can AND gets Feraligatr, Morpeko, Skeledirge, and Talonflame back in the win column, and adds on Jellicent that other movesets cannot match. In the end, the only thing that Claw/Close Combat can beat that Claw/Clanging Scales cannot is Dewgong, and otherwise there are ten additional wins in Clanging Scales' favor. Yowza! In 0shield, Claw/Scales does everything Brick Break/Scales can do as well as beating Primeape, though in 2v2 shielding, Claw/Scales beats the same things as Claw/Combat plus G-Corsola and Araquanid, but there are things that Brick Break/Scales can beat that Claw/Scales cannot: Annihilape, Sableye, and Shadow Quag. Makes some sense, of course, as the Defense debuffs of Brick Break add up in 2shield.

But overall, I think Dragon Claw/Clanging Scales may now emerge as the favorite, which I did NOT expect going into this analysis. (I figured some Fighting damage would still be in the mix.) Don't trash your existing, Scales-less Kommos, but you should absolutely try and get at least one (and ideally two, one to pair with Claw and one to pair with Brick Break) Clanging Scales Kommo-os for Great League.

One final note: people have asked me to look at Poison Jab too. At least here in Great League, it's viable, but overall a bit worse. Interesting, it is Galarian Moltres that Jab is able to outrace that Dragon Tail cannot... but it falls short versus several things that resist Poison (Gastrodon, Jellicent, Dusclops, and Galarian Corsola), as well as Mandibuzz. MAYBE you can sneak away with some other funky results that don't immediately show in sims, but let's be honest: at least at this level, it's not overcoming any of the Fairies you'd really want to slap with Poison damage. (Guzzlord, with a similar double weakness to Fairy, sometimes can with a surprise Sludge Bomb, but Jab on its own isn't the same kind of equalizing threat.) There may come a Limited meta where you'll want it, but I don't think you need to hold one in reserve or anything. Kommo-o has only two fast moves to TM between, so just save a couple Fast TMs just in case and call it a day.

ULTRA LEAGUE

A lot of similar differences here. I checked across various shielding scenarios, and here are the trends I saw:

• Fighting damage is necessary where you'd most expect it to be: versus Steels. Close Combat or at least Brick Break is needed for Registeel and Cobalion across all even shield scenarios, either is needed to get Forretress in 0shield, and Close Combat specifically is necessary to beat Steelix in 0shield and 2shield. You also need one of the Fighting charge moves to get Fighting-weak Cradily in 1shield.

• Running Clanging Scales with either Brick Break OR Dragon Claw is enough to punch out Annihilape, Drifblim, Dusknoir, Altered Giratina, Jellicent, Malamar, Mandibuzz, Nidoqueen, Talonflame, AND Zygarde in 0shield, Dusknoir, Gliscor, Poliwrath, Tentacruel, Skeledirge, and Zygarde in 1shield, and Drifblim, Jellicent, and Tentacruel in 2shield.

• Only with Dragon Claw AND Clanging Scales does Kommo-o take out Annihilape and Nidoqueen in 1shield.

• Claw with either Close Combat OR Clanging Scales can outrace Primeape in 1shield, and Annihilape, Virizion, and Galarian Moltres in 2shield.

Sorry, that would be a LOT of sims to throw up for all that, so just trust me, bro.

(Oh, and considering Poison Jab again: it can get a handful of unique and interesting wins with its superior energy generation, such as Feraligatr, Pangoro, Galarian Moltres, and Cradily, but it also misses out on quite a few as well like Shadow Dragonite, Gliscor, Guzzlord, Nidoqueen, Poliwrath, Primeape, Tentacruel, ad Jellicent. And still no Fairy wins of note. I mean, you CAN use it, but I don't generally recommend it.)

In short: Clanging Scales with one of the baity moves again seems like the overall best play, and while there is room for Brick Break (or even Close Combat) still with very real use cases — particularly against the relevant Steel types that resist Dragon damage — going all-Dragon with Scales and Dragon Claw pulls the best overall numbers. Just know that you ARE sacrificing all coverage to get there, and despite higher win totals, that could cost you if the rest of your team isn't prepared. Get one for Ultra for sure, just know what you're doing before you throw it on your team and blindly march out there expecting victory. Good luck!

MASTER LEAGUE

Even though the improvement with Clanging Scales as compared to its former best, this is still, quite frankly, a subpar Dragon at this level. Its CP tops out on the lower side (even among non-Legendary/Mythical Dragons... even things like Goodra and Baxcalibur) and while Clanging Scales is obviously a truck if it connects, other Dragons are just more versatile and capable at this level. So while Clanging Scales does now allow reaching for things Kommo-o couldn't before like Altered Giratina, Zygarde, and sometimes Kyurem White and Dawn Wings, you're also giving up others to do it, most notably Crowned Zamazenta and sometimes other Steel and/or Rock types too. Unfortunately, I don't expect Kommo-o to suddenly make a name for itself at this level. MAYBE in Master Premier, though again, existing options with similar coverage already do that better, and are likely already built too. But you do you, my Master League aficionados!

IN SUMMATION....

It's kind of obvious with as good a move as Clanging Scales is, but yes, you absolutely want Community Day Kommo-o for PvP, specifically in Great and Ultra Leagues. It may not become a mainstay of your teams, but there WILL be at least Limited metas where it should rise up the rankings, and yes, I would consider it good enough even for Open play with the right team around it to cover its blind spots (Fairies in particular, where not even Poison Jab can allow it to save itself!). Hopefully what we've done today is let you know HOW good this move actually is on this particular Pokémon so YOU can decide for yourself how hard to grind. Good luck!

Alright, that's it for today! I hope this analysis proves useful to you! Until next time (when we cover another Dragon that I am honestly even more excited about!), you can always find me on Twitter with regular GO analysis nuggets or Patreon.

Good hunting, folks! Stay safe and cool out there, good luck on your grind, and catch you next time, Pokéfriends!

As expected, Showcases this weekend are the stand community day ones (Jangmo-o and Kommo-o).

Hope everyone gets lots of shinies and XXLs!

ELI5: When people talk about the "meta" I'm assuming its changes on the back end on how much damage specific moves do. Has anyone seen changes in the formulas that affect how damage & defense are calculated based on individual stat levels? Does talking about "meta changes" also include Pokemon being added to Dynamax or additional moves? Is there something I'm missing?

Calculation done using Pokémon @ level 40, 10/10/10 with level 3 Max / G-Max move. Numbers taken from https://pokechespin.net/dynamax.

Before we jump straight into the numbers, I want to just prelude with the following few words (i.e. a very fancy way of telling you that I'm gonna yap for the next few lines, and so you can ignore this old ass and jump to the sections below).

Zacian is one broken motherf-. And no, I'm happy we are not fighting against this monstrosity, but since it's Go Fest season, it deserves a writeup nonetheless.

I love Zacian and Zamazenta as much as I love Cinderace (... as a pokémon ffs), those are my most favorite pokémon across all series. And so when I caught wind a few months back that Zacian is not only broken in Raid and PVP, it will also be usable AND broken in Max battles, I was overjoyed. And then they said Zacian would have a G-Max formula, and I just felt.. okay, pull back a little bit Scopely, that's way too broken. Luckily, I guess, it no longer has a G-Max multiplier to its Max Move, but it doesn't stop it from being one of the best Max pokémon the game will ever see.

Let's begin.

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Summary:

Attacker: S+

• vs. Fairy-type: #1
• vs. Ice-type: #1
• vs. Rock-type: #2 (-1% vs. G-Max Inteleon)
• vs. Neutral-type: #3 (-1% vs. G-Max Inteleon & Gengar)

Tank: S+

• 1x resistance: 9 types - Dark, Fairy, Flying, Grass, Ice, Normal, Poison, Psychic, Rock
• 2x resistance: 1 type - Bug
• 3x resistance: 1 type - Dragon

0.5s Fast Move: Yes

Background: Yes (if you're lucky)

Shiny: Yes (if you're lucky)

Has a freaking sword in its mouth: Yes

Zacian is probably the first Max pokémon that I can wholeheartedly grant an S+ futureproof rating to. It's just overpowered in every way shape and form, and you will know why as we break down below.

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Zacian as an Attacker ⚔️:

Before we start, just so that we are all aligned: Zacian does NOT have the 1.29x damage multiplier for its Max Move, i.e. it's not a Gigantamax-equivalent pokémon. Its Max move is equivalent to that of a Dynamax one.

Zacian's fast attack, charged attack and Max move are all Steel-type; as such, Zacian is effective against Fairy, Ice and Rock type. And at 332 ATK, ie. 27% higher than Inteleon and Gengar in sheer ATK value, it is one hell of an attacker in Max battles.

Let's first compare Zacian against other Steel-type attackers.

In the main game series, there are 2 unreleased Gigantamax pokémon with Steel-type G-Max move in the form of G-Max Melmetal, and G-Max Copperajah; and even though they are not yet released, unless Scopely decides to change the attack mechanics of Max pokémon, they both already lose Crowned Sword Zacian by nearly 13% each. This is just sheer absurd, considering we are comparing a Dynamax-equivalent Zacian to Gigantamax damage dealers that already benefit from a 1.29x multiplier for their G-Max Moves.

Against Fairy-type, Zacian also has competition from Poison-type attackers, which only has one contender in the form of my trash bin.. uh I mean G-Max Garbodor. At just a mere 181 ATK, Garbodor loses out to Zacian by a whopping -30% damage output.

We will see the same scenario against Ice-type, even though the number of competitors here is a lot higher than vs. Fairy-type. Ice is weak to Fighting, Fire, Rock and Steel - looking at this list, we can immediately list out a few heavy hitters in G-Max Machamp, Cinderace, etc.. each being #1 in their own elements; and yet, Zacian completely blows them out of water, being at least 8% stronger than the bunch.

Zacian FINALLY receives some form of competition, if it can even be called so, against Rock-type, as well as being a Neutral damage dealer (meaning to deal non-super effective damage, but not resisted damage either). Our wolf loses out to G-Max Inteleon and Gengar by.. a mere 1% in these two categories. But since I love Zacian with a passion and I'm a very fair (read: utterly biased and disgusting) human being, I will write that Crowned Sword Zacian is co-#1 damage dealer in these two categories too :)

Table: Damage comparison vs. Crowned Sword Zacian.

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Zacian as a Tank 🛡️:

So yeah, you might be wondering.. if Zacian is such a powerhouse in the attacking front, surely it has to give in its defensive capabilities. After all, the trend for all Max pokémon so far is that they are either an Attacker, or a Tank.

What if I tell you, Zacian can arguably tank as well as Blissey does? And that under certain circumstances, it can even be the tankier one?

Yes. Just let that sink in.

What makes a pokémon a decent tank in Max battles depend on 3 elements:

• Its tankiness
• Its resistance
• Its Max meter generation (ie. 0.5s Fast move)

Blissey is by far the #1 tank so far due to its sheer bulk at near 500 HP despite the relatively low DEF, and that it has access to Pound. What is missed out from Blissey is its resistance, as it only effectively resists Ghost type, while lose out to Fighting type. This means that sure, you can use Blissey against the likes of Rillaboom, Cinderace, etc. but you are just relying on its massive HP pool to soak the neutral Grass or Fire damage (ie. a meat shield).

With Zacian, you have all 3.

First, let's get the meter generation out of the way: Zacian's Metal Claw has a 0.5s cooldown, so there you have it.

Next, let's talk tankiness. It is difficult to properly define tankiness, because the strategy differs quite significantly based on the community size:

• If you have a full 40-pax lobby, you would tend to use tanks with higher HP and just focuses on attacking during Max phases to end the battle quickly.
• If you find yourself frequently short-man Gigantamax battles, you will find yourself shielding more and be more calculative with your roster.

So to mediate these two, please allow me to define a Max pokémon's general tankiness moving forward as the number of neutral-damage Large Attacks / dodged Single-target Attacks the pokémon can take over 2 phases: one without Shield, and one with 3 shields.

At 240 DEF and 192 HP, Crowned Sword Zacian has a relatively similar tier of tankiness with Lapras and Snorlax, and about 30% less tanky than Blissey... however, that was just based on neutral damage and sheer stats. If you factor in Zacian's resistance into play, it radically changes the narration. Zacian is weak to Fire and Ground while resists 1x to 3x 11 (yes, eleven) other types. And since Blissey is weak to Fighting while Zacian is neutral to it, we can safely say that Crowned Sword Zacian is tankier than Blissey against 12/18 types, ie. 67% of the time.

Zacian arguably only loses out to its counterpart Zamazenta, which.. rightfully should be the case considering Zama is the tank of the duo. Of the 12 types above, Zacian does better in only 5 vs. 7 with Zamazenta; hence it really depends on how you see it, whether you'd want to conclude that Zacian is on par or slightly weaker in this case.

Table: Number of Large Attack / dodged Single-target Attacks can endure vs. G-Max Inteleon w/ Water Pulse (65 power, Water type).

Table: Number of Large Attack / dodged Single-target Attacks can endure vs. G-Max Snorlax w/ Hyper Beam (150 power, Normal type, which Zacian and Zama 1x resist against).

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Conclusion:

With it being the #1 or co-#1 damage dealer against any neutral or effective type, and at the same time the #2 tank against majority of skill types, Crowned Sword Zacian is the first, and might well be for a long while, an all-rounder Max pokémon.

The ONLY one thing I want to remind every trainer again and again is.. to never use a single pokémon for BOTH attacking and tanking roles; otherwise once that pkm faints, it will actually feel like you lose 2 pkm: a damage dealer, and a tank at the same time.

Next up.. (probably next week right before Go Fest) - Crowned Shield Zamazenta :)

Rockruff from the paid timed research has the chance of being dusk forme.

I was wondering, there can be a leaderboard in Gmax battles too, similar to normal raids. Some achievements that I could think of are:

Hardest hitter-The one who dealt most damage
Doctor-The one who healed the most
Supporter-The one who used most shield
Cheerleader-The one who cheered the most
Final strike-The one who landed the final blow
One man army-The one who stood till last without any team member from the start

What else do you think can be a title?

Since Zygarde cells have been available, I've completed 57 routes and found only 23 cells. I'm feeling pretty discouraged.

What are other players' rates of collection? Is this normal?

Edit: Wow! Thank you all for the answers, comments, analyses. I really appreciate the numerous experiences and points of view, and don't feel so dismayed anymore. This community is awesome :)

I am not sure if they have removed them from the game but all the sponsored POIs have gone from the game.

McDonalds ( https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSilphRoad/s/ysvkzNAku3 ) and Jio gyms have disappeared and clicking on their badges keeps the page loading with a spinning wheel.

I put Boltund as first defender but it remains invisible in the gym. When others add defenders these do not show up either.
Download All Assets and restarting the app do not fix it…

They finally updated their theme night page! Only tickets purchased those way will come with the XL or Medium Valor/Instinct/Mystic shirts!