Pokemon Go seems to be skipping the Turkey and giving us a lean-looking November, at least based on the leaks so far. That’s not to say it looks bad, but the new stuff still is more “interesting” than good, though after the above-average Halloween event, perhaps Niantic feels it can take a break.
Once again our trusty leaker has been validated thus far, partially thanks to Niantic Indonesia accidentally leaking the November lineup itself. Niantic had also announced the double Wooper Community Day, giving us both the old Johto and new Paldean Wooper lines for new PvP pokemon picks we’ll discuss later, as there’s been a second leaker who is also looking fairly accurate.
So, you can see the overall November plan above, and as per all the various changes, most months are basically the same season-wide bonuses with only events and raids offering any differences. However, I want to go over the events first this time since you can kind of see that at least one of them may affect the raids we have available.
First for events, we have Dia De Muertos coming back for November 1st and 2nd. As usual, “Latin America and the Caribbean” have different bonuses than the rest of the world. For most of the world, the event is simply double candy and 90-minute lures and non-Daily-Adventure incense. While the new flower crown Cubone family is cool, it’s got limited use, similar to the Duskull line from last time, which also makes its return. Phantump and Sableye for PvP plus Litwick, Roselia, and Sableye (as a Mega) for PvE are solid picks, if not a bit old hat for veteran players.
November 5th’s Wooper Community Day is nice for collectors and PvP fans, but sadly that’s all, as both final forms are too weak to really use in raids. Assuming there are no big surprises, our oft-referenced JRE notes that while Quagsire will get a lot out of its CD move, the new Clodsire oddly won’t, but it’s got a good enough move pool that there have already been people worried it might need to be nerfed. At the least, the 1/4 hatch distance bonus will be a good opportunity to clear out any eggs you’ve been itching to ditch. Note the Showcase lineup above lacks Wooper, though. Like Pumpkaboo, it was cancelled, but at least we have a heads up this time, or so it seems.
Then there’s the Festival of Lights (November 7th-12th), which both leakers predict will feature Tadbulb. There’s not much else to report now, as this is only the third time the event will be run and there’s historically nearly no big mechanic linking the events. As always, we’ll update this as we learn more.
10/25 Update: We have event details and the leakers again proved to be correct, in that Tadbulb will be released for the event, as predicted. That being said, aside from that, Darumka via research for those who need good Fire raiders, and Morelull and it’s shiny coming out (it’s worth extra stardust), there’s not a lot to be excited about for this event.
November 11th’s Raid Day is when things get interesting. No, not because of Virizion but because of the ? pokemon. There have been conflicting rumors between Mega Gallade and Mega Garchomp coming out in November. Niantic may be releasing one of those long-term for the November 12th-16th mystery Mega raids, or it could be releasing a different one beforehand. Then there’s a traditional infograph maker who released info that says specifically that Mega Garchomp is the one-day appearance, and Mega Gallade is the long-term raid option. Naturally, there’s also the chance that (as usual) Niantic simply had editing issues. Either way, don’t be too surprised if one of the Mega Gs appears this month.
11/2 Update: And as leaked, Mega Garchomp will be the featured ‘mon for Raid Day. The event grants five free Daily Passes, increased shiny rate for Garchomp from raids, and an event ticket for $5 granting 50% bonus raid xp, double stardust from raids, and “increased XL candy” (but especially after the Halloween event fail, keep expectations extremely low). That being said, Megas generally only need to be done a few times, like once or twice for the most part, at which point you can simply walk for Energy.
As Garchomp’s had a Community Day and round-up, many players with a trading partner/community have perfects and/or shinies, further taking hype out of the event. Normally I’d recommend players seek to use their passes for other raid options once done with Garchomp, but Virizion being the alternative makes this event feel only relevant for collection purposes: unlock your Mega Garchomp and don’t feel bad about going home. The raid value is low unless you’re desperate to finish the season’s Masterball quest line and need the extra raids. Have those Ice teams ready for Saturday though!
11/12 Update: Mega Garchomp is still in raids as of now, with no communication from Niantic on the situation. While it’s naturally possible for leaks to be wrong, the problem here is that Raid Days historically involve rare pokemon, a new short-term pre-release of a pokemon, and/or special event moves. None of those apply to Mega Garchomp, as we noted it’s had a Community Day, Megas are often a get-the-energy-and-walk-it raid as opposed to something most players farm, and it did not come with its CD move or a new one, making the event a cash-grab at worst or simply a paid make-up event for players who have missed previous Gible/Garchomp events, though again, lacking its special move. As Mega Chomp is largely outclassed by other Megas/Primals, the best case scenario is that players who need good Garchomps and have Elite Charged TMs to burn benefitted, but that’s an extremely rare and small niche of players.
Fashion Week is certainly a misnomer, like many other Niantic events, as it’ll run only from November 15th-19th, clearly less than a week, but Niantic’s always been bad about time when it comes to POGO (looking at you, three-hour-long Community “Day”). There have been Discord rumors among the Pokeminers that there will be new costumes for “Wooper, Dratini, Gothita and [the] debut of Shiny Gothita,” but we’ve yet to see evidence. As usual, we’ll update this space as we learn more.
11/8 Update:Â And most of the leaks have been proven true via the official details, minus Gothita getting an outfit. Remember, save your best costume Woopers for the December Community Day Round Up, which we know will be December 16-17. Sadly, neither Kirlia, Shinx, Blitzle, Smoochum, nor Sneasel’s evolved forms will be available, so those ‘mon simply remain collector’s items taking up storage until Niantic may one day randomly change that, just as we’re getting Summer Hat Pikachu line coming in the middle of Fall. Double catch candy is nice but unless you’re a new player or very casual, it’s just not useful for anything we’re seeing in the spawn pool, even with the legendary options (Virizion and Cobalion, which aren’t terribly useful).
It seems obvious that the November 22nd-27th event, Party Up!, is related to Party Play, but unless something big changes from what we’ve seen, all I can do is cringe at the potential chores ahead of us. We’ll see how things play out, though. The fact that the Paldea starters are being featured for Showcases during that time makes it seem Paldea-related, and I half wonder if we will see the release of Finizen’s line, as it requires something akin to a party for it to evolve in the main games series.
10/25 Update:Â We may have a hint, as Niantic’s news mentions some new party mechanics coming, few of which address our concerns with the system and go with the same kitchen sink approach used to “fix” Megas, though thankfully without further burdening the already bloated Buddy system.
11/16 Update:Â And now we have official details, which, uh, really don’t do anything for the system. The 5 special trades per day, extra (XL) candy from trades, and double raid xp are appreciated, the whole event seems more geared towards advertising the Party feature and getting people to play in groups, probably so the playerbase can be marketed to whoever Niantic is courting. The Timed Research from doing parties already sounds like a one-and-done situation, reinforcing the feeling that Partys are only useful for raids, not their tasks.
Community Day Classic on November 25th aligning with Mareep and Ampharos Showcases proves that the electric sheep ‘mon will be featured, just as the leakers predicted. Again, it’s not terribly useful as a fighter, but Dragon and Electric as a Mega may be useful for certain events, raids, and weather conditions, so it’s good to have.
11/8 Update:Â And the rumor has been confirmed. It’s another 1/4 hatch bonus too, though we know of no reason to really focus on it except for making egg space.
Trainers, please note that Squirtle will be appearing as the featured Pokémon in PokéStop Showcases during Mareep Community Day Classic instead of Mareep. We apologize for the inconvenience.
— Niantic Support (@NianticHelp) November 25, 2023
11/24 Update: And, somehow, Niantic screwed up Mareep Showcases, once again being replaced with Squirtle, most likely because it was the first Showcase since they seem to default to that every time there’s an issue.
Briefly, if we go over the raids and skip what we said about the Megas, you may want to note that Mega Kangaskhan returns November 16th-30th. It’s not a good pokemon or Mega, but it is regional, so you may want to do it for collection purposes. For regular raids, Douse Drive Genesect is generally the best “Drive” one as it has a quad weakness to Fire, so a Water move pairs best if you want to use it in PvP. The two of the three Swords of Justice are OK (sorry, Virizion), but Terrakion is quite useful as a Fighting type, being better than the current Mega Fighters in at least some situations. Don’t skip its November 23rd-30th availability!
As usual, let’s conclude with the Spotlight Hours. Nothing here is terribly useful for the pokemon, but November 7th finally gives us another opportunity for transfer candies after a month-long of new costumes, though it’s sadly after a Community Day. I don’t normally say this, but especially because Niantic has been flooding the game with new ‘mons and hats plus Shadow ‘mon in October while also failing to put out more storage, you may want to save only the rarest of rares for this transfer if you’re low on space. The other dates are useful.
As always, we’ll update this article throughout the month as more information is slow dolled out. Stay safe out there, trainers!
Massively OP’s Andrew Ross is an admitted Pokemon geek and expert ARG-watcher. Nobody knows Niantic and Nintendo like he does! His Massively on the Go column covers Pokemon Go as well as other mobile MMOs and augmented reality titles!
