Image via Niantic

Pokémon Go Reveals Team Rocket-themed Shadow Raids

Shadow Raids are making their debut during the final Pokémon Go event of May 2023, with the return of Shadow Mewtwo.

With announcing a new challenge awaiting Pokémon Go players from Team Rocket, Niantic has unveiled that a new type of raid is on the raid. Shadow Raids will be making their debut to Pokémon Go, offered by Team Rocket, who have gone out of their way to create a new series of raids for players.

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The first Pokémon to appear in the upcoming five-star Shadow Raids will be Shadow Mewtwo, one of the more notorious and powerful Pokémon that can appear in Pokémon Go.

Shadow Raids Give Players More Chances To Catch Shadow Pokémon

The announcement was made this morning following a Team Rocket-themed countdown revealed yesterday. As predicted from the PokeMiners data mining, the Shadow Raids were finally announced.

How Shadow Raids work is that many raids from May 22, 2023, to May 28, 2023, will be controlled by Team Rocket, and these controlled raids will contain various shadow Pokémon. These encounters will range from one-star to five-star raids, giving all players the opportunity to catch a variety of Shadow Pokémon during this limited event.

Unlike the other shadow Pokémon in Pokémon Go’s Shadow Raids, Shadow Mewtwo will be more exclusive. Shadow Mewtwo’s five-star Shadow Raid will only appear from May 27, 2023, at 10 AM to May 28, 2023, at 8 PM, giving players a far more limited window to catch this legendary Pokémon.

The Shadow Raids will be slightly different and offer a more difficult challenge than the traditional ones in Pokémon Go. As the battle rages on against a Shadow Pokémon in these raids, the Shadow Raid Pokémon will be engaged, increasing their Attack and Defense, making them more challenging to take down. Players can subdue these Pokémon using Purified Gems, which they acquire from Shadow Shards, which will be dropped by Team Rocket.

These new raids offer a new variety of flavors to the traditional ones, and fans might find them an interesting twist on the already commonplace raids that they can find throughout Pokémon Go. We’ll wait and see the community response to these raids, especially after Niantic has now openly spoken about the HearUsNiantic movement.


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Zack Palm
Zack Palm is the Senior Writer of Gamepur and has spent over five years covering video games, and earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Oregon State University. He spends his free time biking, running tabletop campaigns, and listening to heavy metal. His primary game beats are Pokémon Go, Destiny 2, Final Fantasy XIV, and any newly released title, and he finds it difficult to pull away from any Star Wars game.