Team Rocket have officially invaded Pokemon Go with their dangerous new Shadow type Pokemon.
Now dubbed Team GO Rocket, the dangerous shadow organization popularized in the mainline Pokemon games and anime have finally arrived to wreak havoc. They bring with them strange new Shadow Pokemon exhibiting odd behaviors that are in dire need of help from trainers like you.
As part of their inclusion in the game, some PokeStops will appear discolored on the map, indicating they’ve been tainted by evil purple and black shadow powers. If you tap on the discolored PokeStop then you’ll encounter a member of Team Rocket for a battle. If you win the Shadow battle, then you’ll have the opportunity to try and catch an abandoned Shadow Pokemon that you can purify.
Once purified, it can actually “become strong than their standard counterparts” according to the official Pokemon blog post. The purification process results in a Pokemon auto-leveled to 25 if you’re at least that level already, plus a big bump to all of its stats. This makes them a new special type similar to Shiny and Lucky Pokemon.
However, if you purify them, then they are no longer considered Shadow Pokemon. So if you want to collect and leave them stylized as Shadow, then you can’t purify them even though that would make them more powerful. You’ve just got to weight the results and pick for yourself.
Are you still playing? Let us know down in the comments below if you’re still trying to catch them all or if you’ve moved on to Niantic’s newest game, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
