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Pokemon Go’s Dual Destiny season trudges on in February, though there is at least some reasonable progress being made in terms of “getting” the playerbase. Thanks to the official statement on social media, we now know that Niantic learned from last year’s poop-show of using Valentine’s Day to introduce a new pokemon that’s useful but gate it behind the much-hated Elite Raids. Enamorous is back – but in normal 5-star raids this year! Raid and even Max Raid options are looking a bit better than January too, but don’t get too excited; this is the same company that’s pushed out legendaries in a system that seems to be loved only by those who have deep pockets and large local communities – and sometimes not even then.
So for today’s Massively on the Go, we’re going to go over the currently known facts of the February events while trying not to pull too hard at your heartstrings.
February 2025 Content Update 🫶
#PokemonGO pic.twitter.com/sk0Nw3lB9i— G47IX (@g47ix) January 23, 2025
First, raids. After January, anything would be nice, but February’s looking pretty good! Normal Dialga, Enamorous, Xerneas, and Yveltal? Those all have some uses and are top-end Pokemon, in both raids and PvP! The lineup alone feels like a make-up event for last year. To top it off, we have double special trades this month, and the Lunar New Year event ends February 2nd, so you can take advantage of some of that at the start of the month. The only downside is Shadow Regirock on weekends, which may be useable in PvP but otherwise blocks the odds of much better pokemon spawning.
Megas aren’t bad either. While Mega Medicham isn’t going to be outpacing the Mega Gallades we got in January in terms of raiding, it’s still a useful typing if you missed out, plus it’s a useful PvP ‘mon. Same goes for Mega Garchomp and Mega Tyranitar, except Mega Ttar’s only Community Day move is a Fast Attack. If you do routes, you can get Elite Fast TMs for completing them, making it at least somewhat accessible for new players.
Max Battles are where things get a little murky. I’m still not a fan of the system, and even though an old friend has talked about coming back, I’ve personally warned her of how bad it is, and I wouldn’t blame her for staying away, even though I could really use her help. That being said, especially for new players, the release of Moltres, lesser Flyer Pidove, and Darumaka are hard to ignore simply because all three are ‘mon you can use outside the Dyna-system pretty well, again, if you’re a new player.
For Moltres in particular, that could be very restrictive, as legendary Dyna-raids go best with four (out of a max of four) reasonably prepared players or two hardcores. Pid and Daru aren’t much better as 3-star raids, though. It’s kind of a chicken or the egg situation: If you can easily tackle these ‘mon, you probably have better, but if you don’t, you probably need these ‘mon. You really need a community to get the most out of this game, but especially now with the Dyna system, which understandably also seems like it’s driven off and fractured the community, oof.
Speaking of Dynamax, let’s jump into Max Mondays quickly. Moltres is not one you’ll want to miss, but it’s also tough to tackle due to being a legendary. You’ll probably want Blastoise as a tank that can DPS, but Inteleon and (if you’re ready to invest some RL cash, Gigantamax) Kingler can handle that better. For those who don’t know, you generally want a tank in the front of your lineup; then, when the Max Meter is full, you’ll quickly change to your DPS ‘mon or stay as your tank and use at least one shield while healing up so the others can last. Also, it’s counter-intuitive, but especially for difficult raids, do not use charge attacks! Fast attacks max out the meter faster, which means bigger damage, time to heal, and time for a tank to assume the throne.
Swkovet is a joke, so we’re just not talking about it. Pidove and Darumaka are new but 3-star raids, so they won’t exactly be easy, though like Machop, Daru isn’t tanky, so it shouldn’t be too hard. Moltres can do their jobs, but Daru can get higher DPS for more accessible candy, and Pidove can do Flying damage and has vastly more accessible candy. Beldum evolves into Metagross, and it’s one of the best tanks, so even though it’s a tough 3-star raid, do it if you don’t have a good one or need the candy.
Gigantamax Kingler is coming to #pokemongo during Max Battle Day 🦀 pic.twitter.com/HECIubmqIB
— G47IX (@g47ix) January 13, 2025
Next, let’s consider events. The first is actually missing from the above infograph, but it’s Gigantamx Kingler Raid Day on February 1st from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. You’ll want to use Venusaur as a tank, along with it, Rillaboom, Toxtricity, or (for big spenders) Zapdos to attack. It could be useful against Moltres, but as I’ll talk about in a separate article, the Dynamax bird event is kind of a resource hog that doesn’t pay out well, which is a problem with that whole system in general.
Second is Small but Strong from February 5th-8th. This is a new event, but it’s basically December’s Young & Wise event, a seemingly random mash of miscellaneous pokemon that honestly seems more spring-themed than anything else. Ignore Niantic’s lines about Flabebe; not only is that the current situation, but the pokemon is spawning in the wild as I write this and can be shiny. It’s just more of a feature of this event, along with increased XXS/XXL ‘mon and double catch xp. Some people are wondering if this may be the premier of XXS showcases, but I have my doubts.
Community Day is February 9th, and it’s going to be a problematic couple: Karrablast and Shelmet. Per Pokemon lore, when you’re trading the two, Karrablast steals Shelmet’s armor to evolve, but in POGO, it’s just a free-candy trade if either ‘mon is traded, not necessarily for its counterpart. Neither is becoming more useful in raids, and PvP doesn’t seem promising either, so it should be low-key event with triple catch xp for grinders. One nice bonus, though, is that, like the recent Ralts Community Day Classic, is that you’ll have the week to evolve your ‘mon to get the event move, which is a nice direction for these events.
Beloved Buddies sounds as if it’ll be replacing traditional Valentine’s Day events. As it’s held from the 11th to 15th, we can only guess it will be somewhat similar to what we normally get: extra candy in some fashion, hatching theme(s), and pink stuff. As usual, we’ll have to wait and see what the event has in store as details emerge.
Beloved Buddies ❤️
Dhelmise is coming to #pokemongo in raids
Shiny boost for Skrelp, Diglett, Dunsparceand more! pic.twitter.com/BxYX8BEwlz
— G47IX (@g47ix) February 3, 2025
2/3 Update: We now have the event details and it’s very different than what we usually get. It seems Niantic is doing XP and Stardust instead of candy, nothing with hatching but premiering Dhelmise as a raid only ‘mon, and barely any pink. To note, Dhelmise is not even legendary and is, according to JRE, “a worse Trevenant/Decidueye in PvP.” So far, in terms of moves, it only really acts as a Ghost Attacker and can’t compete with Gengar in the least, so it’s basically a wash in terms of making any kind of splash in the POGO meta-sea. I guess I can give Niantic some props about being a Valentine’s event that isn’t Valentine’s at all and embraces the power of pokemon-on-pokemon friendship, but it’s hard to get excited about events with mostly repeat ‘mon and trashy new ‘mon requiring a raid pass to nab.
During that event, we have a Raid Day on the 15th. While some people hope it’s Hoopa, I see no reason to get your hopes up. I can imagine Mewtwo landing again sooner than Hoopa, but again Niantic, prove me wrong.
Hoopa Unbound Raid Day
⚠️ Please note that the Shiny will not be available.
🎟️ 5 additional free passes from Gyms#pokemongo pic.twitter.com/lIr0B1ofex— G47IX (@g47ix) January 30, 2025
1/30 Update: Wow! While I was correct that Niantic wouldn’t release Hoopa as a raid day, it did re-release Hoopa Unbound. The difference is significant, as normal Hoopa would have been new and is doubly weak to Dark and Ghost, which would be an easy raid. As a reminder, Hoopa Unbound was a train wreck elite raid at release that forever colored the feature as out of touch, poorly implemented, buggy, local-only, and Niantic at their overall worst. Being a non-elite raid is good, but as a prize, it leaves much to be desired in its current form, as it’s not even in the top 20 against a pokemon it should be dealing massive damage to. It has yet to receive its signature move, but as this event lacks that and a shiny, I wouldn’t suggest hitting this event too hard. Hope ya’ll farmed Grubbins, as its final form with its non-Bug CD moves is your most accessible bet for this battle.
A mini event, Scattered to the Winds, takes place February 18th-20th. Many fans seem to think this will be an event about Scatterbug, and I can see that happening, especially as a way to release the Pokeball pattern that’s not currently available. As usual, come back later when we may have additional information.
#PokemonGO Scattered to the Winds (Feb 18–20)!
• 2×/5× XP on PokéStop spins
• More gifts 🎁
• Shiny boost for Pidgey and Scatterbug 🌟
• New shiny debuts: Scatterbug 🐞, Spewpa 🐛, Vivillon 🦋
• Guaranteed Lucky trades update🍀 pic.twitter.com/O0rLEm8WUc— G47IX (@g47ix) February 4, 2025
2/4 Update: Via official details, this is a Scatterbug event for the most part, but rather than adding a new variant, they’ve added the shinies. Whether or not they’ll be available after the event is anyone’s guess, so get’em while they’re hot I guess.
In Taipei and Los Angeles, the Unova Tour will have a local event February 21st-23rd. The Global Tour is March 1st-2nd, and we’ll help prep you for that in February.
Road to Unova Event Details ⚫️⚪️ #pokemongo pic.twitter.com/UTkxtn8sZK
— G47IX (@g47ix) January 22, 2025
Finally, February 24th to March 1st is the Road to Unova event for the, well, event above, obviously. Terrakion is great, as is Therian Landorus, so hit those hard. Obviously Reshiram and Zekrom are good too, but they don’t have competition on their raid days. There are event tickets, but I should note that the Raid one has less value than last year’s Sinnoh Tour, as it gives only one additional pass when last year gave two. Admittedly, we also have two daily passes now, but just the same, you’re paying the same price for less. Unless you plan on using a lot of raid passes/cash, its lesser value should be a major factor in your decision-making process.
Now let’s close out with Spotlight Hours, which are pretty forgettable this month. Carvanha gets a Mega (one day) but it’s not gonna shake things up and double evolution xp is meh for most of us, Luvdisc is forgettable but double Stardust means you should probably go out anyway, and Inkay is probably the highlight here for its PvP use, plus double catch xp. February 25th obviously has the starters, but of them, Snivvy is probably the most useful, though Oshawott has a Hisui form we may be able to evolve into one day, so it could be worth the extra candy effort.
Again, we’ll update this post as we learn more. Stay safe out there, trainers!
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