Finding a shiny Croagunk – the Toxic Mouth Pokémon – is a draw of the next Spotlight Hour in Pokémon Go.

While Croagunk and its evolution Toxicroak are both questionable in the mainstay of Go Battle League, they can occasionally be worth a look in the week-long limited metas that come and go with the seasons. As to using Toxicroak in Pokémon Go raids, it’s not great, so don’t bother. However, if you're still missing the a shiny or the 4* perfect Pokémon, this is your chance to try to find one, while also grinding the Candy and Candy XL you'll need to max out your Pokémon.

This week’s Spotlight Hour also comes with a double catch XP bonus that runs alongside the event, so make sure you catch as many Pokémon as possible!

Croagunk 100% perfect IV stats in Pokémon GoIs Toxicroak good in PVP?Is there a shiny Croagunk in Pokémon Go?What does shiny Croagunk look like?Other tips for this Spotlight HourWatch as battle Guzzlord - one of the Ultra Beasts in Pokémon Go

Croagunk 100% perfect IV stats in Pokémon Go

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

Croagunk.

'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 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 Croagunk based on the CP alone.

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

Level 30 (wild CP maximum) – 816 CPLevel 35 (weather-boosted wild CP maximum – 891 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.

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 Toxicroak good in PVP?

Sadly, not all Pokémon can be game-changers in Go Battle League, and not all Pokémon can be useful all of the time. Toxicroak, sadly, fits into this bracket of occasionally useful Pokémon. The recent Halloween Cup and upcoming Willpower Cup are two examples where it is actually worth considering, but outside of that, it’s not really an ideal choice.

Toxicroak.

No matter your cup or league, this Pokémon runs Counter, Mud Bomb and Sludge Bomb as a second charged move.

Counter is the best Fast move in the game, which obviously stands this spammy and flexible Pokémon in good stead. Sludge Bomb offers a decent STAB move that is fairly cheap to fire off, but it’s not as cheap as Mud Bomb. While Mud Bomb is technically Toxicroak’s weakest Charged move, the fact that it’s a cheap ground-type move (which a lot of top-tier Pokémon are weak to, including other poison-type Pokémon) is what really helps this move shine.

Toxicroak’s issues are two-fold: it’s double-weak to psychic (and weak to ground and flying), and has fairly low defence, placing it firmly in the 'glass cannon' bucket. As long as you know the 'Croak is here for a good time, not a long time, you should be ok.

Looking to the metas themselves, Toxicroak isn’t even a top-10 poison or fighting-type in the Great League. It loses pretty hard to Trevenant, Medicham and even the fairy-type tank Azumarill, which is pretty hard to swallow. The flip side is that it beats Registeel, Bastiodon and Galarian Stunfisk, which is all pretty important.

Looking to Ultra League, Toxicroak paints a similar picture — it beats a couple of Pokémon at the top of the meta, like Empoleon and Cresselia, but loses to five of the most common you're likely to see: Obstagoon and Walrein, but loses hard to Giratina, Talonflame, Cresselia, Nidoqueen and Swampert – all of which make our list of Ultra League recommendations. Don’t run Toxicroak in this meta if you want to win.

As for Master League, when your CP caps out at 2813, you’re not really fit for duty.

Is there a shiny Croagunk in Pokémon Go?

Yes, there is a shiny Croagunk in Pokémon Go and it’s a nice ice blue colour!

Everything in the Croagunk evolution line is a Poison- and Fighting-type Pokémon. (Image via pokemon.com) | Image credit: pokemon.com

The shiny form of Croagunk was released back in April 2020. If you catch one, you can evolve it into a shiny Toxicroak; however, you will need 50 Croagunk Candy to do so.

If luck is on your side, you may find a shiny Croagunk in the wild, but be aware that this is not a Community Day and shiny rates are not boosted, so the chances of catching one, let alone a perfect one, are very low. That said, each Croagunk you see has the potential to be shiny, so it’s purely a numbers game — tap each and every one of them and see what you get. Good luck finding the Croagunk you need!

What does shiny Croagunk look like?

As you can see, shiny Croagunk takes on a greenish blue hue, with the orange accents swapping to a pinking colour. Its evolution, Toxicroak, goes for a bluish green, with a darker purple hints. All in all, a pretty nice couple of shinies!

Croagunk family with shinies.

Other tips for this Spotlight Hour

Aside from trying to catch a shiny Croagunk in Pokémon Go, there are a couple of other good reasons to partake in this week's Spotlight Hour:

The best reason is, of course, the double catch XP bonus running throughout the hour. This applies to all Pokémon caught, so do your best to get good at Excellent Curve Ball throws on a Croagunk to quickly rack up the XP! If you're a newcomer, this Spotlight Hour is the perfect time to collect enough Croagunk candy to fully evolve this Pokémon and enter all of its evolutions in the Pokédex. Thanks to Croagunk being a poison and fighting-type, catching a bunch during this Spotlight Hour will add progress to your poison and fighting-type catch bonus medals.

Spotlight Hour events only last for an hour – 6pm to 7pm (local time). Next week, you can look forward to Porygon in the spotlight, with double catch Candy!

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