GrowlitheGirl
In the second half of May 2021, Pokémon GO launched the Luminous Legends Y event. The event followed the Luminous Legends X event, which was one of the most successful events in Pokémon GO history. The Y event had a lot to live up to, and unfortunately, it did not quite meet the high bar set by the previous event.
Still, it offered a new Pokémon, great bonuses, and lots of Team GO Rocket fun. The event was split up into two parts. The first week focused on the launch of Yveltal with a plethora of dark-type spawns in the wild. The second half celebrated the debut of Sylveon with the return of more fairy-types and other Eeveelutions in raids. This made the event feel a bit disjointed overall – let’s break it down.
Spawns
The spawns were probably the weakest part of the event. After 2 weeks of Dratini and Bagon spawning in the wild, the dark-type and Fairy-type spawns were a little disappointing. We had already had enough of Swirlix and Spritzee, and certainly didn’t need two more weeks of them.
The increase in Eevee spawns for the second part of the event was good for the chance to grind candy XL and finish off any evolution dex entries. Togetic were also spawning in the wild but seemed incredibly rare. For trainers still trying to evolve their Pancham, or finish off their Timed Research, the sudden reduction in Dark-type Pokémon was a bit of a problem. And it was a shame that Sableye wasn’t part of the event spawn pool.
Bonuses
Team GO Rocket was boosted throughout the event, helping trainers complete their Timed Research and meet the Global Challenge target. For the latter, players had to beat 25 million Team GO Rocket grunts collectively. Although not every trainer enjoys the TGR mechanic, the challenge was free to play and achievable. As a community, we smashed the target in a record-breaking 2 days.
Beating the Global Challenge unlocked shiny Galarian Zigzagoon and triple catch XP. Again, the bonuses were top tier and felt worth the hard work of battling 25 million grunts.
Trainers were also able to TM away Frustration for Part 1 of the event, which was a great opportunity for all the Battlers out there.
Research
The research tasks during this event were pretty average. The first week was poor with difficult tasks and no exciting rewards. The task for Galarian Zigzagoon was ‘Defeat a Team GO Rocket Leader,’ which was extremely time-consuming, and the shiny wasn’t even available.
Once the shiny was released, the field research task that rewarded Galarian Zigzagoon became ‘Win a raid.’ Although this is obviously better than the infamous ‘Win 2 raids’ task, it still felt a bit wrong that trainers had to use raid passes to encounter a Galarian Zigzagoon, especially as it was the new, coveted shiny.
With the release of shiny Galarian Ponyta in the previous event, trainers could catch 25 Fairy-type Pokémon for the chance to encounter one. The task was a bit grindy but free to play. Why couldn’t Galarian Zigzagoon also have had a field research task based on catching?
The fact that the daily free research task during the first week encouraged trainers to battle a Team GO Rocket grunt in return for a Dark-type Pokémon was a nice touch. The task then changed to reward an Eevee in the second week.
The Timed Research was one of the best parts of the event. As with the previous event, it was much more difficult and time-consuming than other research quests, but it had great rewards. The research line rewarded trainers with a Poffin, Mossy Lure, Glacial Lure, and several great encounters, including Absol, Galarian Zigzagoon, and Deino.
Raids
Yveltal swooped down into 5* raids for the event. It’s a top-tier attacker and a new threat in the Master League. It also looks badass.
Galarian Zigzagoon also appeared in 1* raids for the second part of the event, although they seemed to have a low spawn rate. The 3* raids were dominated by the Eeveelutions, offering trainers a quick way to catch them or grind for Eevee XL candy.
Eggs
The 7km egg pool was shaken up again for the event. It was great to see an equal hatch pool and a return of some of the baby Pokémon, including Togepi.
Pancham was moved into 12km eggs, making this Pokémon and the evolution quite difficult to obtain. Not only do trainers need to hatch a Pancham from a 12km egg (which is a lot of walking), but they also need to catch 32 Dark-type Pokémon to evolve it. Outside of an event, this seems almost impossible.
Overall
The Luminous Legends Y event was decent. It’s a shame that the previous event overshadowed it, but it deserves credit for the good aspects.
Luminous Legends Y scores 7/10. It was nice to have another long event, especially one that introduced a new Eeveelution and a great Legendary Raid Boss. We would have liked to have seen Galarian Zigzagoon in the wild, or the field research task changed to something more accessible for free-to-play trainers.
As the event was 2 weeks long, it would have also been nice to have some spicier spawns. The previous event gave us Bagon and Dratini. This event could have given us Sableye, Larvitar, Deino, or even Absol as part of the dark-type spawns. Larvitar might not be a Dark-type, but its evolution is, and we’re all in need of more accessible candy XL for our Tyranitar army. Unless we’re going to get a Larvitar Comm Day 2.0?
What did you think of the event? Did you manage to complete your Team GO Rocket badge? Did you get any new shinies? Let us know in the comments, in our Discord server, or on Twitter!
