Solstice Event And Bug Out Event

Hey, Trainers! We have two events to talk about today; the Solstice event and Bug Out.

Solstice Event

The solstice marks the longest day of summer or the shortest day of winter, depending on where you are in the world. It’s a time of great significance in many cultures and so it’s fitting that we get an event dedicated to it in Pokemon GO. On Friday, June the 19th at 8:00am until June 24 at 10:00pm you can expect the following things to happen:

Solrock spawns will rise in the western hemisphere – June 19 until June 20

Lunatone spawns will rise in the eastern hemisphere – June 19 until June 20

Both will spawn in all regions – June 21 until June 22

Solrock spawns will increase in the eastern hemisphere – June 23 until June 24

Lunatone spawns will increase in the western hemisphere – June 23 until June 24

I find this pattern interesting – it’s almost like they’re migrating, meeting in the middle and then continuing on their journey until they’ve reached their new regional homes for a while.

Both Solrock and Lunatone will appear in both tier-three Raids and 5km Eggs in all regions!

Pokemon with connections to either the sun or the moon will spawn more frequently, including Sunkern and Clefairy, both of which are available in Shiny. (Clefairy via hatching a Shiny Cleffa at this time, but the Solstice event will mark Shiny Clefairy’s debut in the wild.)

Bug Out

This is an event we’ve had before, but with the introduction of the Unova region’s Pokemon, there’s been a drastic increase in Bug Type variety since the last time.

This event runs right after the Solstice event, starting on June 26th 1:00pm and running through until July 1st 10:00pm. You can expect these bonuses:

Increased spawn of Bug Type Pokemon including Venipede, Scyther, Nincada, Wurmple and Dwebble which will be available in Shiny for the first time.

More Bugs available in Raids and Eggs.

Double XP during the event.

A rotating Incense based event where you’ll be more likely to catch certain Bug Types on certain days while using Incense – the 26th and 27th for Nincada, the 28th and 29th for Wurmple and the 30th and 1st of July for Scyther.

On Sunday the 28th, there will be a special Pinsir raid day. Accompanying this will be a 1 coin bundle for three remote raid passes. The Raids will take place between 11:00am and 2:00pm.

So, I normally do a breakout on the newest member of Team Shiny for the Pokemon Spotlight portions of these articles, but I’ve already broken down Dwebble and Crustle Here, and Here so, I thought I’d go with the slightly more meta-relevant Pokemon in Pinsir.

Spotlight on Pinsir

Pinsir, that big, buggy brawler from Generation 1. Originally a very rare spawn in the Safari Zone, it was a prized Pokemon to have in your collection. Only available in Blue Version, they could be hard to come by if you owned the Red cartridge! The Pokedex tells us that this Pokemon’s horns are covered in sharp thorns that hold tight to prey. It tears its enemies apart with its horns, but anything it can, it rend in twain, it tosses far with its huge physical strength. Its key weakness is the cold, as feeling chilly will cause its movements to slow up. Maybe this is why it is so widely available in Alola? In those tropic climes, it’s developed a fierce rivalry with Vikavolt, but it’s chill in regards to Heracross.

It has a Mega Evolution, too, which adds wings and more spiky parts. It’s one of the few Megas that seems to be happy and well adjusted after the process of Mega Evolution – it’s so happy it can fly, it barely touches the ground. Compare this to Tyranitar or Aerodactyl’s Mega Evolution Pokedex entries… it’s a big difference.

How does it rank in Pokemon GO, though?

Max CP of 2959, Attack of 238, Defense of 182 and Stamina of 163? Not bad. It’s comparable to Scizor in regards to stats barring Scizor’s superior Stamina (172 vs Pinsir’s 163.) but without that crippling double weakness to Fire Type Attacks, being Pinsir is pure Bug Type. As such, it’s weak to Fire, Flying, and Rock Type Attacks, with resistances to Fighting, Grass, and Ground.

In terms of Attacks, you’ve got Rock Smash, Fury Cutter, and Bug Bitye for Fast Attacks. The latter two of these are STAB. You have Vice Grip, Super Power, Close Combat, and X-Scissor for Charged Attacks, the last one of which is STAB. You also have a Legacy move in Submission. Fury Cutter and X-Scissor are your best bet for damage output.

This Pokemon is indeed available in Shiny as well, swapping its dowdy brown carapace for a striking purple one!

To go up against it in Raids, you’re going to want to use powerful Fire, Flying, and Rock Types. Moltres, Tyranitar, Dragonite with Hurricane, Magmortar, Aracanine, Heatran, just to name a few. You have plenty of options.

Well, that’s what I have for you on these two events, Trainers! Good luck out there! Be safe, have fun, and catch ’em all!