Pokemon Go: What Time Will Zapdos Be Released?

Niantic

Zapdos is seen in a trailer for legendary Pokemon in Pokemon Go.

Zapdos is about to be released in Pokemon Go. So for those players who are anxious to catch one of these legendary birds as soon as it becomes available, when will Zapdos start showing up in Raid Battles?

Niantic has said that Zapdos will be released on Monday, August 7th. But more specifically, the legendary bird is expected to first start appearing around 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time. That’s when Moltres started to appear in Pokemon Go on July 31st, although at first it only showed up in one specific location. A screenshot of a Moltres was posted on Reddit in the early afternoon, but it took a little bit for the Pokemon to start spawning for everyone else.

By 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time on Monday, Moltres began appearing in places other than Bellevue, Washington, which is where that original Reddit user was from. Unfortunately, by then Raid Battles had closed in a lot of time zones, and so these players – including those on the East Coast – had to wait until the following morning to catch a Moltres.

Assuming Niantic follows the same schedule this week, then, Zapdos should start showing up for the average person sometime after 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time, likely a bit closer to 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time. If Raid Battles are open for you during that time, you should be able to come across a Zapdos today. If they’re closed, you’ll have to wait until the morning of August 8th.

For those who haven’t yet caught a Moltres, you still have some time to do so. After all, when Moltres launched last week, Articuno was still available all morning. Then, when Moltres launched, there was a period of time when both Articuno and Moltres were available in gyms. This is all to say that even though today’s the day is when Zapdos launches, Moltres will still be around for most of Monday.