Pokemon GO players who participated in GO Fest 2020 managed to power through all the Global Challenges and unlock some amazing Ultra Rewards. The series of weeklong reward windows kicked off yesterday and players are now able to start enjoying Dragon Week and taking advantage of the special spawns, bonuses, and limited time Special Research available through August 7.
In addition to all the Dratini and Bagon spawning around the map, there is also an exciting 5-star raid boss appearing this week. Rayquaza is back in Battle Raids during Dragon Week and that means there's another change to encounter the amazing black shiny spawn after successfully completing the Raid for very lucky players.
Shiny Rayquaza has been one of the most popular models in Pokemon GO since it released and, before of its rarity, many players are still trying to get their hands on one. There's going to be a lot of luck involved, but there are some things players can do to attempt to maximize their chances.
First off, trainers are going to want to participate in as many Legendary Raids as possible this week. The chances of encountering a shiny Rayquaza after successfully completing a 5-star raid encounter are about 1-in-20. That means that players may want to count on doing as many as 20 Battle Raids between now and August 7 to ensure that statistically they should have a fair chance of running into the shiny Legendary at some point.
In addition to completing at least 20 Battle Raids, players will also want to make sure that they've optimized their battle roster for the Rayquaza battle so that they don't waste any time or Raid Passes on battles that are unsuccessful. There's a limited window of opportunity to encounter this shiny since Ray is only around for a few days, so there's no time for tons of rematches and failed parties. Ideally players will be able to successfully complete as many Raids as it takes to run into a shiny Rayquaza without draining all of their resources and efforts. They will already be needing to buy some extra Premium or Remote Raid passes, so be sure not to waste time, Revives, and tons of Potions, as well.
Rayquaza is a Dragon/Flying-type, which means players may want to stick with Dragon-, Psychic-, and Ice- counters. Go Fest participants who defeated Giovanni and earned a Shadow Mewtwo can definitely put those boosted Psychic-type moves to good use in this fight.
As always, it seems to be an unofficial rule that there is a 100% catch rate on shiny legendaries as long as the ball hits them. So if you do manage to encounter a shiny Rayquaza, don't stress trying to land a perfect Excellent Curveball. Just make contact and everything should work out.
As trainers continue working through these amazing events, they may want to keep hunting down the best Unova Pokemon in the game if improving their Battle Raid rosters and completing their Pokedex is their primary goal. Be sure to check back in the near future for more Pokemon GO strategy guides, news, and updates. Until then, good luck out there, trainers!
Pokemon GO is available now in select regions on Android and iOS devices.