This week’s Spotlight Hour is all about the original Puppy Pokémon, meaning it’s the perfect opportunity to catch a perfect Growlithe in Pokémon Go.

While Arcanine, Growlithe’s evolution, used to be a top-tier Fire-type Raid attacker, it has long since fallen from grace in Pokémon Go. That said, a chance to catch the goodest pupper is always appreciated — just cast your mind back to when Hisuian Growlithe almost broke the internet with how adorable it was...

Alongside cuteness spawning en mass during this Spotlight Hour, there is bonus to be aware of, and this week it is the double catch Stardust bonus!

Growlithe 100% perfect IV statsIs Arcanine good in PVP?Is there a shiny Growlithe in Pokémon Go?What does shiny Growlithe look like?Other tips for this 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

Growlithe 100% perfect IV stats in Pokémon Go

This week’s Spotlight Hour is the perfect opportunity to catch a Growlithe with perfect IV stats.

'Perfect' means two things in Pokémon Go, depending on how you plan to use a given Pokémon. 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 three stats, a perfect IV Pokémon is generally only ever the best version of itself in the Master League.

Of course, you can’t see the IV of a Pokémon without catching it first, but, with a little research beforehand, you can quickly spot a perfect Growlithe based on the CP alone.

Arcanine – Growlithe’s evolution – is an excellent Fire-type choice for newcomers, despite being one of the first Pokémon released, but is rapidly outclassed by the actual Legendary Pokémon (despite Arcanine being the Legendary Pokémon, it is not a Legendary Pokémon).

The CP values that correspond to perfect 15/15/15 values are as follows:

Level 30 (wild CP maximum) – 1066 CPLevel 35 (weather boosted CP maximum) – 1154 CP

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

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 Arcanine good in PVP?

Arcanine.

Sadly not, Arcanine has not been a serious contender in Go Battle League for several years — given how it skews towards attack (famously the opposite of what you want in PVP) and how there are just so many better Fire-type options in the game these days, running Arcanine is just a liability.

If you do fancy giving Arcanine a try, then we recommend Snarl as a Fast Move and Wild Charge and Psychic Fangs as its Charged Moves.

There’s no point in going through the match-ups here; it’s that disappointing. If you’re desperate to run a mono-Fire-type (though you really shouldn’t be), Kantonian Ninetails will do the job, but going for a dual-type such as Charizard or Talonflame is almost always going to be better.

Is there a shiny Growlithe in Pokémon Go?

There is a shiny version of Growlithe in Pokémon Go.

Everything in the Kantonian Growlithe line is a Fire-type Pokémon. (Image credit: pokemon.com)

This form debuted in September 2018 when the field research tasks for that month changed. By using 50 Growlithe Candy, you can evolve a shiny Growlithe into a shiny Arcanine – adding another entry to your shiny Pokédex.

Remember – the Spotlight Hour only increases the number of Growlithe spawning in the wild, not this Pokémon’s shiny rate. This means that, unlike a Community Day, the shiny rates for Growlithe won’t change during a Spotlight Hour.

What does shiny Growlithe look like?

As you can see in the pictures below, shiny Growlithe has a yellow colouring, which is quite similar to traditional Growlithe’s orange fur. Shiny Shadow Growlithe also looks quite monstrous!

Traditional Growlithe, Shiny Growlithe and Shiny Shadow Growlithe.

Other tips for this Spotlight Hour

Aside from the chance to catch a shiny Growlithe, there are a number of other reasons to partake in this week’s Spotlight Hour:

This week’s bonus is double catch Stardust, which makes it the perfect time to gather some Stardust. You can further increase the amount you receive by using a Star Piece for 30 minutes.If you’re a newcomer to Pokémon Go, this is the perfect chance to gather enough Growlithe candy so you can add Arcanine to your Pokédex.Since Growlithe is a Fire-type Pokémon, catching them will add progress to your Fire-type catch bonus medal.

Spotlight Hour only lasts for an hour – 6pm to 7pm (local time) – but don’t worry if you can’t partake in this week’s event. Check back next week to see what October brings! (Spoiler warning, it’s almost certainly going to be a Ghost-type Pokémon!)

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