It's been one event after another in Pokémon GO and this train just keeps having fun with another. This time, the event is known as the Lunar New Year 2021 event, which honors the true Year of the Ox with an event that includes Tauros. As with other recent events, there's more than just one aspect, so we've put them all together in one Pokémon GO Lunar New Year 2021 guide to help you see everything that's going on.
Pokemon Go Lunar New Year 2021 Event Guide
The rest of this guide will give a brief description of the different parts of the Lunar New Year 2021 event, as there are several parts in progress. We'll also be linking to more in-depth guides for each of them, which can be a good way for you to learn the basics of the event and know where to look to dig deeper.
When is the Lunar New Year 2021 event, how long does it last?
It will begin on Tuesday, February 9 at 10 a.m. local time and run until Sunday, February 14 at 13 p.m. local time. This should give you plenty of time to complete the special Timed Research tasks.
What types of Pokémon will appear more often?
As with most Pokémon GO events, there will be certain Pokémon that appear more often that fit the theme of the event. For this particular event, the theme is pretty standard with red Pokemon appearing more often. This includes Krabby, Goldeen, Magmar, Magikarp, Miltank, Meditite, Tepig, and even the mention of Red Gyarados if you were lucky enough to find a Gyarados in the wild and it ends up being shiny.
What types of Pokémon will be in the eggs?
In addition to spawns, there will be special themed eggs during the Lunar New Year event, especially with the 5 km eggs. For the duration of the event, you'll find Lunar New Year-based Pokémon in these 5 km eggs, which include Rattata, Ekans, Mankey, Ponyta, Mareep, Houndour, Miltank, Torchic, Bagon, Buneary, Tepig, and Litleo .
What is Timed Research and what are the rewards?
We already have a full guide dedicated to Timed Research Tasks and Rewards for you to read, but we'll also give a simple description of them here. It even has four stages to complete during the event, with most tasks requiring you to catch or evolve Fire-type Pokémon, as well as doing other things like sending gifts. There are various rewards, including encounters with Pokémon like Tauros and Miltank, although the most important here is that you can earn Gyarados Mega Energy from each of the tiers, which was just added to the game this week as well.
Can you get Tauros outside the United States?
Up until this point, Tauros was a region-exclusive Pokemon in most of the United States that couldn't be obtained without trading or egg-based events. However, as the main star of this event and the Timed Research, those around the world can get Tauros just for completing parts of the new Timed Research.
What raids will be going on?
As soon as the Lunar New Year event begins, Suicune will leave five star raids and be replaced by two different Pokemon, Latias and Latios. These two will actually outlast the event, as they depart on Saturday, February 20 at 9 a.m. If you need help clearing them, you can check out our guide to the best counters to clear Latias and Latios. These aren't the only Pokemon added to raids during this event, as the aforementioned Mega Gyarados will also be added to the raid pool. Since this is Mega Gyarados' first time in raids, we also have a guide with the best counters to take down Mega Gyarados as well. Mega Ampharos and Mega Pidgeot will also be present in Mega Raids during this time. In addition to these, the one-star raid lineup will include Meditite, Carvanha, Duskull, Skorupi, and Darumaka, while the three-star raids will include Miltank, Octillery, Blaziken, Camerupt, and Absol.
Are there any special GO Battle League cups?
Although not fully part of the Lunar New Year 2021 event, the Love Cup kicks off this week in the GO Battle League. This is limited to officially red or pink Pokemon in the Pokédex and below 1500 CP. You can read our guide on the best Pokémon for your team in the Love Cup if you want to be ready for the competition.
What are the bonuses?
The Pokémon GO 2021 Lunar New Year event also features a number of very important bonuses, with a major focus on interactions with friends and trade. For starters, gifts from friends will contain more Poké Balls than usual. You'll also have a better chance of becoming Lucky Friends by exchanging gifts and battling in raids. Lucky trades themselves will also be more common. To improve this experience, the trading distance during the event has also been increased to 40km until Monday, February 15 at 13pm PST.
That's it for our Pokémon GO Lunar Near Year Event 2021 guide. As you can see, there's a lot to experience during this event, so make sure you don't miss it while it's still happening.
