Niantic
The leaders of Team GO Rocket are now live in Pokemon GO, and you can fight them through a new Special Research quest known as “Looming in the Shadows.”
To complete Looming in the Shadows, you need to have completed a previous Special Research quest known as “A Troubling Situation,” according to Niantic’s support website for Pokemon GO. You can receive this Special Research quest once per calendar month, according to the website.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on the Pokemon GO Looming in the Shadows Special Research quest.
Quest 1 of 6
Completion Reward: 500 Stardust, 10 PokeBalls, 10 Razz Berries
Tips: This is a pretty easy first step. You’ll find Team GO Rocket Grunts as you walk around spinning PokeStops. You’ll know they’re there because the PokeStop is noticeably darker and quivering.
Quest 2 of 6
Completion Reward: 1,000 Stardust, 3 Hyper Potions & 3 Revives
Tips: This step is going to take a bit more time, so just be patient and don’t forget to spin PokeStops each day for five days. Make sure that you have the Candies and Stardust to purify all those Shadow Pokemon. Shadow Pokemon like Shadow Ratata and Shadow Zubat are relatively inexpensive to purify compared to other Shadow Pokemon. As for the Raids, you can complete Raids of any difficulty tier and complete the task. You don’t need to go after the five-star Raids if you don’t want to.
Quest 3 of 6
Completion Reward: 1,500 Stardust, 15 Great Balls & 5 Pinap Berries
Tips: After spending five days in a row spinning PokeStops, you can really get the ball rolling now.
You can find other players to battle with pretty easily if you coordinate with them over dedicated Pokemon GO social media groups. You can find a lot of players around five star Raids, especially during the weekly Legendary Raid Hour. Just be aware of strangers.
Quest 4 of 6
Completion Reward: 2,000 Stardust, one Super Rocket Radar & three Golden Razz Berries
Tips: Here’s how to beat Cliff, Sierra and Arlo in Pokemon GO.
According to a new blog post from Niantic, Team GO Rocket Grunts may now drop Mysterious Components when defeated. Assemble six of those to make Rocket Radars that can be used to sniff out the Team GO Rocket Leaders and battle them. You should have picked up six Mysterious Components from the previous step.
Note: It looks like you can get components even if your item box is full, according to one user on The Silph Road Subreddit.
Once you craft a Rocket Radar, you can equip or unequip it from your bag. Tap the Rocket Radar button below the compass to activate the Rocket Radar. Using the Rocket Radar reveals all the Leader Hideouts in range, according to Niantic’s support website. They resemble regular PokeStops until you get within range of them, at which point the Team GO Rocket Leader will appear next to the PokeStop. Be careful as Leaders are more powerful than the average Grunt. If you lose a battle against the Leader, you can challenge them again until the Leader Hideout disappears from the map. Once you defeat them, the Rocket Radar breaks.
Even though players with Rocket Radars are the only ones able to detect hideouts for the leaders, they can still collaborate since hideouts appear to players in the same places, according to the blog post. After you create your first Rocket Radar, the items will then be available to purchase from the in-game shop with PokeCoins, according to Niantic’s support website. Only players level eight and above can get Mysterious Components and take on the Leaders, according to the website.
Quest 5 of 6
Completion Reward: 3,000 Stardust, one Fast TM & one Charged TM (plus the rewards you get from Giovanni including Shadow Articuno)
Tips: Here’s how to beat Giovanni in Pokemon GO.
The last step rewarded you with a Super Rocket Radar, which will help you locate the big boss of Team GO Rocket, Giovanni. According to a trailer released today, Giovanni will be able to use Shadow Moltres, Articuno and Zapdos. The Super Rocket Radar gives you the location of Hideouts, but there will be decoy Grunts disguised as Giovanni as well as Giovanni himself, according to the support website. Just keep looking at all of the highlighted PokeStops until you find him.
Update: It looks like so far Giovanni is only using Shadow Articuno according to reports on The Silph Road Subreddit. It’s possible that he may switch out what Legendary Pokemon he uses every month similar to the rewards for Research Breakthroughs, but that’s just speculation on our part.
Update (November 30, 2019): Players reported that Giovanni has Shadow Zapdos and Serebii confirmed that completing the Looming in the Shadows Special Research quest in December will let you fight and catch Shadow Zapdos from Giovanni. It looks like our prior speculation was correct. If it holds true, then Giovanni will use Shadow Moltres in January.
Quest 6 of 6
Completion Reward: 3 Max Revives, 20 Ultra Balls & three Rare Candies
Tips: There aren’t actually any tasks to complete for the final step since all three slots for the tasks are already complete. Just tap on them and the Completion Reward to collect the rewards.
Congratulations! You’ve completed the “Looming in the Shadows” Special Research quest. You can complete this quest again once per calendar month, according to Niantic’s support website.
See also:
- Pokemon GO Research Tasks: November 2019
- Pokemon GO Raid Bosses: November 2019
- Pokemon GO Cobalion: Max CP & Stats