Zorua’s Going To Trick You, What A Treat! October Community Day

Welcome back, Trainers! We have another Community Day Spotlight for you, this time featuring Zorua and Zoroark!

The date and time are Saturday October 10th, 2:00pm till 5:00pm local time.

The bonuses you can expect are:

3 X XP for catches

2 X Candy

2 X chance for Trainers level 31 and up to get that sweet, sweet Candy XL!

Incense will last 3 hours when launched during the event

Lure Modules will last for an hour

Photobombs! Five is the standard number

One additional Special Trade can be made before 9:00pm local time

Trades will require 50% less Stardust up till 9:00pm local time

Evolve your Zorua into a Zoroark during event hours to have it know the Fast Attack Sucker Punch!

Now, let’s check out the little monster at the heart of October’s festivities!

Spotlight on Zorua

So, anyone else notice that Pokemon GO is leaning really hard into the foxy looking monsters for these Community Days? We had the Galarian fox Nickit just this past August, and Vulpix this past February! (I could have sworn that Fennekin was more recently done as well but that’s actually just me getting old, losing track of time and realizing it was all the way back in 2023.) Maybe this is just a commentary on exactly how many Pokemon are based on foxes overall, but y’know. We haven’t had a mustelid up for Community Day consideration in a while. Just saying, Sentret is right there.

Anyway! Zorua has the distinction of being the very first generation V Pokemon to be shown to the public. It was an integral character in the 2010 movie Zoroark: Master of Illusions, plus it was revealed alongside Zoroark in Japan’s Corocoro magazine. It’s clearly based on the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus.) which is actually native to the U.S. And can be found in New York state which is the real-world location Unova is based on. It does maintain some Kitsune elements, though, in its ability to show off a different form and its tricky nature. Very much a case of East meeting West.

The Pokedex informs us that this critter is generally shy and cowardly; it changes into the form of something else to hide its true identity and the moment things get scary, it will flee. It will sometimes take the form of a silent child and can replace a real child much like the changeling of European folklore.

Zoroark can take those illusionary powers to the next level and change scenery with enough range to trick literally hundreds of people at once. It can trap Trainers who mess with it in an illusion state and punish them as well. Far from being the scared little runaway of its prior stage, this Pokemon is fiercely loyal to its friends and pack and will do anything to keep them safe.

But can it win in Pokemon GO? Or is its potential for victory just an illusion?

With a Max CP of 2907, attack of 250, defense of 127 and stamina of 155… well. It can maybe fool you into thinking it’s going to win, but the outcome will be, in reality, about as dismal as that defense stat.

There are just better pure Dark types out there. Being a Dark type, it resists Psychic to an incredible degree and has regular resistances to Dark and Ghost type attacks. It takes extra damage from Fairy, Bug and Fighting type attacks, though.

In terms of what it can do, fast attacks are Shadow Claw and Snarl, the latter of which is STAB. Charged attacks are Flamethrower, Nightshade, Sludge Bomb and Foul Play, the last of which is the only STAB option. The Community Day exclusive attack, Sucker Punch, is going to be a better bet for fast attacks than either of the pre-existing options and you could couple that with Foul Play and buy Sludge Bomb for coverage against Fairy if you want to invest the candy and stardust.

Two caveats, here:

I didn’t bring up the Hisuian variants because nothing I can find suggests we’ll have access to them this Community Day, unlike Vulpix Day where we had both Alolan and Kantonian forms available.

I’m not sure if shinies are going to be easy to hunt due to the regular way Zorua are found. For anyone unfamiliar, Zorua usually mirrors your Buddy Pokemon. For example, if you have a Charmander wandering around you as your buddy, Zorua will appear as a Charmander but will be stationary. The rub is, if your Charmander is shiny… Zorua will appear as a Shiny Charmander, but when its true identity is revealed? It will generally not be shiny itself. It requires you to catch it to find out. That will make quickly shiny checking a bunch of Zorua impossible without catching every single one. That is assuming the aforementioned mechanic remains true on Community Day itself and I am really, really hoping that won’t be the case. Again, I’m just not finding any information to suggest we’re going to see Zorua overworld models as opposed to mirror images of our buddies.

Shiny Zorua is still a dark gray but trades its red fur for blue and is pretty cool looking. I’m a little less enamored with Zoroarks purple, but I’m sure it has its fans.

And that’s all I’ve got for you, Trainers! As always, I wish you the absolute best of luck out there! Stay safe, be kind and catch ’em all!