Pokemon Go Lunar New Year event: Mega Gyarados, lucky bonuses, date & time

Niantic have announced the details of 2021’s Lunar New Year celebrations, including the long-awaited debut of Mega Gyarados in Pokemon Go.

Every year, Pokemon Go celebrates the Lunar New Year with a special event. 2019 was the Year of the Pig, with Spoink as the focus, and 2020 was the Year of the Rat, with Minccino and Cinccino making their debuts.

As 2021 is the Year of the Ox, the featured Pokemon for this Lunar New Year event is the wild bull Tauros, which gets its own Timed Research for trainers to complete.

But that’s not all, as there will also be an increase in red-colored creatures in the wild, some enticing Lucky bonuses, and the major debut of Mega Gyarados in five-star raid battles.

Niantic

Niantic will be celebrating the Lunar New Year again in February 2021.

Pokemon Go Lunar New Year 2021 event features

The Lunar New Year event brings with it a number of features for trainers to look forward to. Red-colored Pokemon will be appearing more frequently in the wild, while Field Research tasks will lead to encounters with regional versions of Meowth.

• Read More: 10 best Water-type Pokemon ever

There will also be an increased chance of catching the rare Shiny Gyarados, which fits in with the ‘red’ theme of the Lunar New Year celebrations. If it’s missing from your collection, now’s a good time to go hunting.

You can see the full list of features below:

• Red Pokemon including Krabby, Golden, Magmar, Magikarp, Miltank, Meditite, and Tepig will appear more frequently in the wild.
• Trainers will have an increased chance of encountering the elusive red Shiny Gyarados.
• Event-exclusive Field Research tasks will lead to encounters with Meowth, Alolan Meowth, Galarian Meowth, Meditite, and Miltank.
• 5km Eggs will hatch Rattata, Ekans, Mankey, Ponyta, Mareep, Houndour, Miltank, Torchic, Baron, Buneary, Teig, and Litleo.

Pokemon Go Lunar New Year raid details

A number of Megas will be appearing in raids during the event, including Mega Pidgeot, Mega Ampharos, and Mega Gyarados, which makes its Pokemon Go debut. See the full list below:

• One-star raids: Meditite, Carvanha, Duskull, Skorupi, and Darumaka
• Three-star raids: Miltank, Octillery, Blaziken, Camerupt, and Absol
• Five-star raids: Latios and Latias
• Mega raids: Mega Pidgeot, Mega Gyarados, and Mega Ampharos

The Pokemon Company

Mega Gyarados is making its debut in February 2021.

Pokemon Go Lunar New Year lucky bonuses

During the event, you’re more likely to become Lucky Friends with your friends when you swap Gifts, battle in raids, and trade with them. Gifts will also contain more PokeBalls, so now’s a good time to do that.

• Read More: 8 Pokemon that should have been Legendaries

When you trade a Pokemon, it will be more likely to become a Lucky Pokemon. ‘Lucky’ is a special status that reduces the Stardust required to power a Pokemon up by 50%, which helps creatures reach maximum CP for a lower cost.

Pokemon Go Lunar New Year start date and time

The 2021 Lunar New Year event kicks off in the Pokemon Go app on Tuesday, February 9, 2021, at 10 AM local time and runs until Sunday, February 14, 2021, at 1 PM local time.

This means you’ll have six days to catch as many red-colored Pokemon as you can, take advantage of those Lucky bonuses, and give your best shot at taking down Mega Gyarados. Good luck, trainers!