Pokemon GO A Challenging Development: Step-by-Step Guide

A new Special Research quest believed to involve the Team Rocket GO leaders, "A Challenging Development," has appeared in Pokemon GO.

As Niantic's Support website says, you can complete the Special Research quests involving the Team GO Rocket Leaders and Giovanni once a month. However, you need to have completed the Special Research quest for last month, "Looming in the Shadows," in order to complete this Special Research quest. You also need to complete the "A Troubling Situation" quest in order to complete "Looming in the Shadows."

Here's what the support website says on the matter:

Trainers can receive Giovanni Special Research once per calendar month. For example, if you complete your September Giovanni Special Research in mid-October, you'll receive new Special Research shortly after. If you complete the September Research in mid-September, you'll need to wait until midnight on October 1st (local time) to receive the Research again.

So far, players have only seen two of the six steps for A Challenging Development. However, since those two steps are the exact same as the first two steps of Looming in the Shadows, we can reasonably assume that all of the other steps are the exact same between the two quests. The only difference appears to be that Giovanni uses a Shadow Zapdos instead of a Shadow Articuno, as players have found. If it turns out that there are differences, then we'll update the article accordingly.

Here is the step-by-step guide for A Challenging Development:

Quest 1 of 6

Spin 10 Pokestops – Reward: 500 XP

Defeat three Team GO Rocket Grunts – Reward: 500 XP

Catch one Shadow Pokemon – Reward: 500 XP

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

Spin a PokeStop five days in a row – Reward: 750 XP

Purify 15 Shadow Pokemon – Reward: 750 XP

Win five Raids – Reward: 750 XP

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

Use six super effective Charge Moves in Gym Battles – 1,000 XP

Win three Great League Trainer Battles against another Trainer – 1,000 XP

Defeat six Team GO Rocket Grunts – 1,000 XP

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

Defeat Team GO Rocket Leader Arlo – Reward: 1,250 XP

Defeat Team GO Rocket Leader Cliff – Reward: 1,250 XP

Defeat Team GO Rocket Leader Sierra – Reward: 1,250 XP

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

Find the Team GO Rocket Boss – Reward: 2,500 Stardust

Battle the Team GO Rocket Boss – Reward: 1,500 XP

Defeat the Team GO Rocket Boss – Reward: 3 Silver Pinap Berries

Completion Reward: 3,000 Stardust, one Fast TM & one Charged TM (plus the rewards you get from Giovanni including Shadow Zapdos)

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.

Quest 6 of 6

N/A (Already Complete) – 2,000 XP

N/A (Already Complete) – 2,000 XP

N/A (Already Complete) – 2,000 XP

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.

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