This week’s Spotlight Hour is all about the Dopey Pokémon, which means it’s the perfect time to catch a shiny Slowpoke in Pokémon Go.

If you’re a little surprised that October isn’t kicking off with a bunch of ghosts, fear not because the spooky Spotlight Hours are coming later this month. For now, we have the strange choice of Slowpoke – a Pokémon that has already had a Community Day event this year. I don’t think anyone was clamouring for a return of the Dopey boi...

Slowpoke is an interesting Pokémon in Pokémon Go, as it not only has two regional forms but and its branching evolutions across both – Slowbro and Slowking. As far as Pokémon Go is concerned, Galarian Slowbro is the only one likely to be of interest in Go Battle League. It’s a fairly bulky Pokémon, though somewhat slow, so it will get you through the early game if you’re short on Legendaries.

If you’re not keen on catching even more Slowpoke, you’ll be pleased to hear that the real draw for this week’s Spotlight Hour isn’t catching Pokémon, it’s transferring them – the first such Spotlight Hour bonus since August, which means you may well be sitting on a lot of Pokémon you need to clear out. It’s time to make the most of that double transfer candy bonus reward that runs alongside the event!

Slowpoke 100% perfect IV stats in Pokémon GoIs Slowbro good in PVP?Is there a shiny Slowpoke in Pokémon Go?What does shiny Slowpoke look like?Other things to know about Slowpoke Spotlight HourTo see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings Watch as battle Guzzlord - one of the Ultra Beasts in Pokémon GoWatch on YouTube

Slowpoke 100% perfect IV stats in Pokémon Go

This week’s Spotlight Hour is a great opportunity to catch an Slowpoke with perfect IV stats.

Slowpoke

'Perfect', of course, means two things in Pokémon Go. First, there’s the maxed out, 100% IV version, which is the 15/15/15 you’re looking for your 4* Pokédex, raids and Master League. Yet, because of how CP is calculated using these three stats, a perfect IV Pokémon is usually only ever the best version of itself in the Master League, raids and Go Rocket battles.

Of course, you can’t see the IV of a Pokémon without catching it first, so it helps to know the CPs that a perfect Slowpoke will spawn at.

If you’re at Level 30 (or above), you’ll ideally be looking for the following CPs for a perfect 15/15/15 Slowpoke:

Level 30 (wild CP maximum) – 1051 CPLevel 35 (weather-boosted wild CP maximum) – 1139 CP

The wild CP value aligns with your Trainer Level until you reach Level 30 and, due to the majority of the player base now being above this level, we’ve kept to these values for the sake of simplicity. These values will, however, be different if you’re currently below Level 30.

Are Slowbro and Slowking good in PVP?

There are four different options to talk about here, so we could cover a lot of time talking about rubbish Pokémon. Instead, let’s just cover the basics and the important stuff.

First, which Pokémon you can evolve your Slowpoke into depends on whether it’s a Kantonian (original) or Galarian Slowpoke. If it has the yellow head, it’s Galarian and will evolve into a Poison-type Galarian Slowbro or Galarian Slowking, depending on which special evolution method you follow.

Second, it’s worth noting that Galarian Slowbro is the Pokémon you want in Great League and Ultra League, with the Kantonian Slowbro being the best of a bad bunch for Master League. Slowking has the same stats as Slowbro, but worse attacks that you can run. Until this changes, Slowking doesn’t get a look in.

So, let’s talk moves and match-ups.

Slowpoke has four possible evolutions

In Great League, Galarian Slowbro runs Poison Jab, Surf (Legacy) and Psychic. This is spammy and offers great Fast move pressure, thanks to Poison Jab being one of the best attacks in the game. Importantly, this means it’s a decent counter against Deoxys, Venusaur, Azumarill, Alolan Ninetales and Medicham – some of which are important meta Pokémon. Losses, of course, will come from Galarian Stunfisk, Lickitung, Registeel, Gligar and Lanturn – again, some of which are important meta Pokémon. However, it’s far from being the best Poison-type in the meta; if you’re looking for that, you should look into Toxapex or (believe it or not) Golbat.

In Ultra League, where a 1/15/11 can hit Level 48.5 at CP 2500, this bulky Pokémon is perfectly reasonable option. It performs very similarly to Great League, taking down the likes of Charizard, Cresselia, Tapu Fini, Cobalion and Obstagoon. Alas, you can’t win ‘em all, and you will lose to Swampert, Giratina, Walrein, Trevenant and Pidgeot.

It may be tempting to run Slowbro in Master League, especially when you look at the Ice Beam it has access to, but don’t fall for it. Just run a decent Ice-type and save yourself the hassle/Stardust.

The Season of Adventures Abound is here! The Halloween event has returned, bringing with it Greavard and Houndstone.Party Play - Pokémon Go's multiplayer feature - is here, along with the Welcome Party quest.You can also work on the Timed Investigation: Master Ball quest and compete in the Go Battle League.Be sure to compete in Shadow Raids, complete Routes, use Daily Adventure Incense for the chance of encountering Galarian Articuno, Galarian Zapdos and Galarian Moltres. This incense may also give you encounters with other rare Pokémon in Pokémon Go.

Is there a shiny Slowpoke in Pokémon Go?

Yes, there is a shiny Slowpoke in Pokémon Go!

The Slowpoke and Galarian Slowpoke evolution tree is the same; the main difference is that the Galarian line swaps Water for Poison typing. (Image credit: pokemon.com)

Shiny Slowpoke was released in November 2020, as part of the Pokémon Home event, and the Galarian shinies were released this year in March’s Slowpoke Community Day event.

What does shiny Slowpoke look like?

You can see the two shiny Slowpoke families in Pokémon Go below:

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Thanks to Reddit user bigbaldheadNR for the preview!

As you can see, Slowpoke is much of a muchness, but Slowbro goes for a much deeper purple with a golden shell. This colour scheme is conserved in its Mega Evolution, of course! Slowking, meanwhile, goes for a skin tone halfway between the two, and opts for blue and white frills on its very regal collar.

But it’s the Galarian shinies that we’re showing up for:

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Thanks to Reddit user Jacobcornwell_ for the preview!

As you can see, shiny Galarian Slowpoke goes for a yellow body with a darker forehead. It almost looks like a Slowpoke in Psyduck cosplay, which is pretty cool. Shiny Galarian Slowbro, meanwhile, follows in the footsteps of its Kantonian cousin, opting for a golden Shellder and a purple and orange body. That’s a decent shiny and we like it.

Much like in Go Battle League, shiny Galarian Slowking is underwhelming. It’s a much subtler shiny – more saturation in the body, dark blue instead of black frills and a red instead of green gem in its shell crown. Can’t win ‘em all!

Other things to know about Slowpoke Spotlight Hour

Spotlight Hour always brings a bonus for you to exploit, and this week it’s double transfer candy. As always, this runs throughout the hour and affects more than just the Pokémon in the spotlight.

This is a very important bonus to make the most of, especially for lower-level trainers looking to fill out their Pokédex. The smartest way to maximise do this is to create a Tag in your Pokémon storage just for this purpose.

We recommend creating one called 'Transfer', where you can place Pokémon you don’t want or need. Instead of transferring them as and when you catch them, hold them back for events like these, when you can bulk transfer them. All that Candy adds up very quickly, and is especially useful when transferring something like a Mewtwo for double candy, or after a huge event like Go Fest Global!

It’s also good to note that, thanks to Slowpoke being a Water and Psychic-type, catching a bunch during this Spotlight Hour will add progress to your respective catch bonus medals.

Spotlight Hour events only last for an hour – 6pm to 7pm (local time). Check back next week for a primer on Shroomish, and its double evolution XP bonus!

Good luck finding a perfect shiny Slowpoke!

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