The annual celebration of the Chinese New Year in legendary Zapdos featuring in Max Mondays.

The Lunar Year 2025 will run from Wednesday, 29 January, at 10 am until Sunday, 2 February, at 8 pm local time. While there are no new additions, it will allow trainers to catch several Pokémon that rarely appear in Pokémon GO and the chance to get some even rarer Shiny versions. While there is a paid ticket as part of the event, most bonuses are available for all players for free.

Increased Spawns & Wild Encounters During Lunar Year 2025 Event

Featured Normal And Shiny Versions

As with most events in Pokémon GO, key Pokémon have increased spawn rates during the period. For the Lunar Year 2025 event, several Pokémon that resemble animals from the Chinese Zodiac. These include Generation One favorites Ekans and Onix. The former, Ekans, is more likely to be found in its shiny form during the event. On top of this, Dunsparce, Snivy, and Darumaka also have an increased chance of spawning during the event.

All five of these Pokémon have the possibility of spawning as their shiny variants.

The above five Pokémon will all spawn regularly, but two additional rare Gen One originals also have an increased rate but remain much more challenging to find. These are the powerhouse Gyarados and Dragon-type Dratini, who evolves into one of the most meta Pokémon for battles in Pokémon GO Dragonite. Both Gyarados and Dragonite remain some of the best Pokémon to use in the current Ultra League Cups.

Pokémon Hatching From Eggs During Lunar 2025 Event

Changes In 2KM Eggs

The other significant change for the event is the Pokémon that can be hatched from 2km Eggs. The normal Pokémon in the rotation will not be able to be found during the event; instead, they will be replaced by Makuhita, Nose, Meditite, Duskull, and Skorupi.

These Pokémon have featured in previous events, so most trainers will likely already have them in their Pokédex. However, these can be hatched as their shiny versions. Nose has a further increased chance of hatching as shiny Pokémon during the event.

All Lunar Year 2025 Event Rewards

Bonuses And New Research

There are several different event bonuses, rewards, and tasks for trainers to complete during the event, similar to the recent Steeled Resolved event in Pokémon GO. All trainers will have an increased chance to get Lucky Pokémon in any trades you complete during the event.

There are no debuting Pokémon during the event or changes to the current set of raids in rotation.

On top of this, there is also an increased chance of becoming Lucky Friends in the Lunar Year 2025 event. As is often the case with the bigger events throughout the year, there will also be a collection challenge for trainers to complete. This will require players to catch certain different Pokémon to earn rewards and a new badge. The Pokémon required haven't yet been confirmed.

There are four sets of tasks for the Lunar Year 2025 Event. Event-themed Field Research tasks will be available throughout the event. These can be found by spinning Pokéstops and Gyms, rewarding players with Stardust and event-specific Pokémon encounters. In addition, you will receive a daily bonus for field research when you first for the day. This will award you PokéCoins, which can be used on various items in the in-game store.

The individual tasks for each of the types of research will only be confirmed once the event has started.

The Timed Research will also feature during the event based on the routes aspect of Pokémon GO. This requires you to walk along set journeys that other players have set. XP, Stardust, and Zygarde Cells can complete the tasks. Finally, there is a USD $ paid timed research option for trainers.

The additional rewards for those who buy this research include two Lucky Eggs and One Incubator and additional encounters with the two Pokémon that have increased chances of being shiny, Ekans and Nose. While not providing much new content, the Lunar Year 2025 event does provide worthwhile opportunities for trainers to bag themselves rare shiny Pokémon in Pokémon GO.