Pokemon Go Team Go Rocket Invasion Details, Analysis, & Purified Pokemon benefits

Team Go Rocket is finally live in Pokemon Go game, and they have invaded the Pokestops as predicted earlier. Team Go Rocket is using three Pokemon of the same type. All Team Go Rocket Pokemon are Shadow Pokemon with increased CP.

The battle with Team Go Rocket includes a Trainer Battle and a Catch encounter. Two new badges, Purifier and Hero, have been added to the game.

After catching the Shadow Pokemon, they need to be purified. Purification of Shadow Pokemon increases Pokemon IVs and level.

Initially, when players interact at Pokestop, they receive a warning from Team Mystic Leader, Blanche, who says that some shadowy figures have been seen at Pokestops and suggests a cautious approach.

Team Rocket Grunt will appear when players spin Pokestops, and its colour will change from grey to purple. The battle with Team Go Rocket will feel like Trainer battle, and it also has minigames pattern which players need to follow to launch a charge move.

Upon winning against Team Rocket, players will be rewarded with Premier Balls, and players can get it more from raising the new Badges. Mentioned below are the details of the new badges.

Hero – Defeat 10 / 100 / 1000 Team GO Rocket Grunts
Purifier – Purify 5 / 50 / 500 Shadow Pokemon

Once the players defeat Team Go Rocket Grunt, they will have to catch and purify the Pokemon. Early reports suggest that purification costs vary with stages, as Charizard costs 5000 dust and 5 candies.

Reports are also suggesting that Shadow pokemon can be weather boosted to level 1-10, and once purified it will be at Level 25 like non-weather boosted mons.

A new move ‘Return’ is now available for the game. Check out the stats for the new move in the image below, which has been data-mined from the game files.

Many initial reports are suggesting that trading shadow Pokemon for lucky trades gives a 14/14/14 minimum when purified. Many players are also reporting that they have not been able to trade purified pokemon. The purified version of Pokemon seems to increase +2 IV on each stat.

Also, a purified Pokemon will cost less to evolve. A Reddit user’ControvT’ listed out the benefits of Purified Pokemon which can be seen below.

When you purify a shadow Pokémon (which you can get after a Team Rocket encounter), the Pokémon that you obtain has some new characteristics:

Its level is increased (up to lvl. 25.)

Its IVs are increased by 2 in every stat (so a 13/13/13 shadow Pokémon will be perfect when purified.)

It gains the move “Return” (a 3-bar Normal type move, defenders Snorlax and Chansey would probably benefit from this the most.)

10% less candy in every power-up or evolve.

20% less stardust in every power-up or evolve.

Discounts also include second moves (a purified legendary would theoretically cost 90 candies and 80K stardust to unlock a second move)

Have a look at the Team GO Rocket encounter images below.

A user named Tmathmeyer has also shared a video on Reddit, demonstrating complete Team Go Rocket Battle.

We will update this story if we receive any more information on Pokemon Go Team Go Rocket invasion at Pokestops.

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