2025 Lunar New Year Celebration: Your Ultimate Guide

This week’s festivities in Pokémon GO will spotlight the Lunar New Year 2025 celebration. Although this event might not be the most significant on the Pokémon GO calendar, it has previously offered exciting rewards, and this year’s version continues that tradition. Raids for the event remain unchanged, featuring the legendary Zapdos during Max Mondays.

The Lunar New Year 2025 event runs from Wednesday, January 29, at 10 AM, to Sunday, February 2, at 8 PM local time. While no new Pokémon are being introduced, players will have opportunities to catch various Pokémon that don’t usually appear in Pokémon GO, including some exceptionally rare Shiny options. While there is a paid ticket option available, most perks will be accessible to all players at no cost.

Increased Spawns & Wild Encounters During Lunar Year 2025 Event

Featured Normal And Shiny Versions

As is standard for many events in Pokémon GO, key Pokémon will be more abundant during this celebration. The Lunar Year 2025 festivities will feature multiple Pokémon that correspond with the Chinese Zodiac. This includes popular Pokémon from Generation One, such as Ekans and Onix. During the event, players will have an increased chance of encountering Shiny Ekans. Additionally, Dunsparce, Snivy, and Darumaka will also appear more frequently.

In addition to the above five, two rare original Pokémon from Generation One, Gyarados and Dratini, will also have a higher spawn rate, although they are still harder to find. These powerful Pokémon evolve into Dragonite, which is currently one of the top choices for battles in the Ultra League Cups.

Pokémon Hatching From Eggs During Lunar 2025 Event

Changes In 2KM Eggs

One of the key changes for this event is the Pokémon available from 2km Eggs. The usual Pokémon will be swapped out for Makuhita, Nosepass, Meditite, Duskull, and Skorupi. Trainers will likely recognize these Pokémon as they’ve appeared in previous events, so many may already have them in their Pokédex. However, keep an eye out for their Shiny versions, as Nosepass will have an even higher chance of hatching as a Shiny during the event.

All Lunar Year 2025 Event Rewards

Bonuses And New Research

Various event bonuses, rewards, and tasks will be available for trainers to explore during this event, similar to the recent Steel Resolved event in Pokémon GO. Participants will have an enhanced chance of obtaining Lucky Pokémon during trades throughout the celebration.

Additionally, players will enjoy an increased likelihood of becoming Lucky Friends during the Lunar Year 2025 event. Like other prominent events throughout the year, trainers can also expect a collection challenge that involves catching specific Pokémon for rewards and a new badge. The specific Pokémon required for this challenge haven’t been disclosed yet.

Four sets of themed tasks will be available for the Lunar Year 2025 Event. Trainers can acquire event-specific Field Research tasks by spinning PokéStops and Gyms, which will reward Stardust and encounters with event-themed Pokémon. Moreover, players will receive a daily field research bonus for logging in, which gives PokéCoins for various items available in the in-game shop.

Timed Research will also be part of the event, focusing on the routes feature in Pokémon GO. This research requires players to follow specific paths set by others, with rewards including XP, Stardust, and Zygarde Cells. Moreover, there will be an optional paid Timed Research available for $USD.

Purchasing this research will earn players two Lucky Eggs and one Incubator, alongside additional encounters with the two Pokémon that stand a higher chance of being Shiny, Ekans and Nosepass. While this event doesn’t introduce much new content, it still presents excellent opportunities for trainers to catch rare Shiny Pokémon in Pokémon GO.