Pokemon Go players have certainly had a busy summer. Team Rocket recently made their long-teased debut in the game, and Shiny Rayquaza has joined Raid Battles for the next few weeks. Now the game's next Community Day is officially here. This month's event takes place today, Saturday, August 3, giving players around the world another opportunity to catch a rare Pokemon and add a special event-exclusive move to their repertoire.
Traditionally, each Community Day only runs for three hours, but the specific details of the events--such as what Pokemon will appear more often in the wild and what other bonuses will be available--tend to vary month by month. To help you prepare for this month's event, we've rounded up all of the most important details about August's Community Day below, from its start times to its featured Pokemon and everything else you need to know.
What Is August's Featured Pokemon?
Every Community Day revolves around one "featured Pokemon," which serves as the sort of star of the event. Not only will this monster spawn in the wild much more often than it normally does during the Community Day hours, you'll also have your first opportunity to find and catch a Shiny version of it. This month, the featured Pokemon will be Ralts, a Psychic/Fairy Pokemon originally introduced in Ruby and Sapphire.
Throughout the Community Day, Ralts will spawn in the wild much more frequently than usual. It will also appear in Raid Battles and hatch from Eggs during the event, making this a good opportunity to catch as many as you can and stock up on Ralts Candy, which you'll need to power up its CP and evolve it. On top of that, you'll have your first chance to catch a Shiny Ralts during the Community Day hours. Shiny Pokemon are a rare sight in Pokemon Go, however, so you'll want to stay out as long as you can to ensure you encounter one before the event ends.
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What Is August's Community Day Move?
In addition to appearing in greater numbers than normal, each featured Pokemon is capable of learning a special event-exclusive move that it otherwise couldn't normally use in Pokemon Go. To obtain this move, you typically need to evolve the featured Pokemon into its final form by the end of the event. Ralts is unique in that it has two possible final evolutions, Gardevoir or Gallade, but regardless of which one you choose, it will learn the Psychic attack Synchronoise if you're able to evolve it up to an hour after the Community Day ends.
Any Gardevoir or Gallade you obtain during August's Community Day will learn Synchronoise, even if you originally captured their pre-evolved forms before the event. However, they'll only learn the special attack if they're evolved during the aforementioned time frame. Evolution is a costly process in Pokemon Go, so you'll need to capture as many Ralts as you can during the event to amass enough Candy.
What Time Does August's Community Day Start?
Community Days typically run from 3-6 PM local time, but much like last month's event, August's Community Day will take place from 4-7 PM local time instead. According to developer Niantic, the hours were pushed back slightly to make the event more enjoyable during the hot summer months. This is only a temporary change, however; Niantic says the schedule will return to its normal times once summer is over.
What Other Bonuses Are There?
Along with increased Pokemon spawns, Niantic offers a few other bonuses during each Community Day as another incentive to participate in the event. As usual, any Lure Modules you use will last three hours during the Community Day, rather than their usual 30-minute duration. On top of that, Incubators will be four times as effective as normal; that means Pokemon Eggs will hatch at a quarter of the distance they normally require. You can read more about August's Community Day on the official Pokemon website.
