Niantic Legendaries are now available in Pokemon Go.
Pokemon Go players who were hoping to capture an Articuno better do so quickly, as it looks like this creature may not be available for much longer.
This past weekend, following the end of Pokemon Go Fest, Articuno was added to Raid Battles around the world. Almost immediately there was confusion about whether Articuno would be showing up in raids temporarily or whether it would be a permanent part of the rotation from now on.
Now, a new post on the official Pokemon website implies the former. As originally pointed out by Serebii, a page added to the Pokemon website on Monday includes the sentence, “Now everyone can catch Articuno, but it will appear at Gyms only for a brief while, so join your friends and try to defeat this awesome Pokémon.”
No other information was provided about for how brief a while Articuno will be made available.
This news came as a surprise to fans everywhere, especially because when Niantic announced the release of Articuno, they never made any mention of the fact that this might be a temporary thing. They just said, “To celebrate this victory, Articuno will join Lugia in Raid Battles everywhere starting immediately.”
The reason Articuno started appearing in raids after Pokemon Go Fest is because Team Mystic caught the most Pokemon at that event, and Niantic has said that Zapdos and Moltres will be added to Raid Battles as well.
“Don’t worry, Team Instinct and Team Valor, the Legendary Pokémon Zapdos and Moltres will also make their way into the real world soon, so stay tuned for more information,” Niantic said.
It’s possible, then, that these three legendary birds will rotate so that only one spawns in gyms at any given time. That would mean that when Niantic says that Zapdos and Moltres are coming soon, what they mean is that Zapdos or Moltres will be replacing Articuno soon.
However, the new page on the Pokemon website does not say anything about Lugia being temporary; it’s just Articuno that will supposedly only be in gyms for a “brief while.” This suggests that it’s not as if legendaries appearing in Raid Battles in general is temporary, and it’s just that Articuno will at some point be swapped out for another Pokemon.
Hopefully, Niantic will clear this up sometime soon. For now, nobody knows for sure when Articuno will disappear from Raid Battles.