Should you purify shadow Regice in Pokémon Go?

Whenever catching a shadow Pokémon in Pokémon Go, there’s a difficult decision that you have to make where you need to decide if you plan to purify it or not. When you purify a shadow Pokémon, it loses the attack stat increase, but it also regains its defense stat, both of which changed while in its shadow form, reverting it to its normal form. Some Pokémon work extremely well as a shadow version, while others do not. When it comes to legendary Pokémon like Regice, it’s a difficult decision to make. Here’s what you need to know about if you should purify shadow Regice in Pokémon Go or keep it as a shadow.

Should you keep shadow Regice or purify it in Pokémon Go?

A legendary shadow Pokémon only appears if Giovanni has captured them. You’ll need to complete a Special Research ticket to track down Giovanni and rescue the Pokémon, which rewards you with a Super Rocket Radar. The Radar is the only way to locate Giovanni, and the legendary Pokémon won’t be on Giovanni’s team forever. He swaps out these Pokémon every few months, giving everyone a limited time to complete this Special Research, find Giovanni, and catch the Pokémon.

Related: All Giovanni weaknesses and best Pokémon counters in Pokémon Go for March 2023

This makes legendary shadow Pokémon challenging to find. They only appear occasionally, and Giovanni’s roster constantly switches between them, so if players acquire this shadow Pokémon, it’s in their best interest not to purify it.

However, for shadow Regice, we’d like to make an exception. This is one of the few legendary shadow Pokémon that is significantly worse off for this transformation. This boils down to Regice’s overall moveset and its stats. Unlike Registeel or Regirock, Regice needs a slightly higher defense to be worthwhile. Its stats feature it with a subpar attack and a decent defense. If you give its attack stat a slight increase and take a large chunk of its defense away, you’re left with a lesser Pokémon, making the standard form far more worthwhile.

For anyone with a standard Regice in their roster, it doesn’t hurt to keep the shadow Regice version, so long as you’re a collector. Outside of this reasoning, the standard Regice is a better companion and superior to the shadow Regice in every regard.