‘Pokémon GO’ Piplup/Empoleon Community Day: Start/End Times, Special Move, Shiny And Bonus

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Pokemon GO

Credit: Niantic

When is it? This one is a little more complicated, taking into the account that Pokémon GO is a global game played outside under wildly different circumstances. Niantic typically adjusts the time for winter and summer, taking into account weather and sunlight. The only problem is that those things are different for different places, and today’s timing attempts to take this into account. For that reason, there are two Community Day times, one for the Northern and one for the Southern Hemisphere:

Northern Hemisphereâ€"Sunday, January 19, 2020, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in your local time zone

Southern Hemisphereâ€"Sunday, January 19, 2020, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in your local time zone

The Pokémon: Piplup is an ace starter, one of the best. Meta-wise they’re not all that useful, but just look at that jaunty little beak. Piplup also suffers from a common malady, however, where creatures just sort of lose their charm as they evolve. Such is the case with Prinlup and Empoleon, neither of whom I can really vouch for. Empoleon just feels like a mess to me, like some kind of cut character from Hannibal.

The Move: Any Empoleon evolved up to two hours after the event ends will now hydro cannon, a perpetually useful charged Water-type attack. This appears to be the best Charged attack you can get for your Empoleon, so go ahead and grab it.

Shiny: The Shiny version of this family all follows the same rule: a kind of lighter blue that looks either a little more dignified or a little washed out, depending on your perspective. I like it, even if it doesn’t mean that I like Empoleon’s design any more.

Extra Bonus: In addition to increased Pokémon Spawns, we’re also getting 1/4 hatch distance for all eggs, so shell out some cash if you want to take full advantage and get a chance at those new regionals.