Community Day December 2019 Guide

December 2019’s Community Day Weekend is a 2-day event on Saturday December 14th and Sunday December 15th, with each day containing an additional bonus window with increased features.

• 9 AM - 9 PM local time both days,

  • Pokemon featured in 2019 Community Days will appear more frequently in the wild (possibly with slightly boosted rates).

  • Pokemon featured in 2018 CDs will appear in raids.

  • A selection of Pokemon from both years will be available in eggs. This selection includes all previously featured CD Pokemon separated into different lists for Saturday and Sunday.

• 11 AM - 2 PM local time each day,

  • 3-hour Lure Modules

  • A selection of Pokemon from 2019 will appear even more frequently. This selection includes all 2019 CD Pokemon separated into different lists for Saturday and Sunday. This will likely have shiny rates similar to that of a traditional Community Day, roughly 1:24.

  • 2x Catch Stardust

  • 2x Catch XP

  • ½ Egg Hatch Distance

  • This bonus window last year also likely featured increased shiny rates.

• From 9 AM Saturday to 9 PM Sunday all featured Pokemon’s exclusive moves will be available through evolution.

  • Only Pokemon caught, hatched, or evolved this weekend will learn the exclusive moves.

  • TMing or unlocking a new move will not work.

  • Have a stable internet connection and consider doing a test evolve, as Niantic acknowledges server issues can and do happen during CD, yet refuses to compensate/correct this known issue.

  • Note that there is no additional time to evolve on Sunday night after 9 PM. Plan accordingly.

2018 Community Day Pokemon

The following Pokemon will appear in raids throughout the weekend (9 AM - 9 PM each day)

2019 Community Day Pokemon

The following Pokemon will appear more frequently in the wild throughout the weekend (9 AM - 9 PM each day)

Featured Spawns: Saturday

The following Pokemon will appear even more frequently in the wild 11 AM - 2 PM Saturday December 14th

Featured Egg Hatches: Saturday

The following Pokemon will be available to hatch from eggs obtained 9 AM - 9 PM Saturday December 14th

Featured Spawns: Sunday

The following Pokemon will appear even more frequently in the wild 11 AM - 2 PM Sunday December 15th

Featured Egg Hatches: Sunday

The following Pokemon will be available to hatch from eggs obtained 9 AM - 9 PM Sunday December 15th

Don’t forget to also prepare for the real weather and everything that comes along with that. Keep your real bag fully upgraded and, depending on the weather, make sure to bring along a jacket, rain poncho, water, sunscreen, as well as lunch, snacks, water, medical necessities, battery packs, fully charged devices, comfortable shoes, other protective gear, and water again, for good measure. Community Day weekend is 9 hours each day, so pace yourself and take breaks to not get burnt out.

Most importantly, keep it fun!

This guide will cover a variety of tips on Community Day related topics to help you prepare for a Pokemon-filled weekend!

Updates from New Zealand

Where applicable, this section will be updated to include new information as our friendly NZ “beta testers” experience CD before anyone else in the world. On Community Days with new, unpredictable features, the only way to know for sure how they’ll function is having others experience it first. Check back here before CD to see if there’s any last-minute tips you need to know!

Playing in NZ? Thanks! We monitor reports on The Silph Road carefully, though you can also submit reports here on GamePress or directly to NoLucksGiven on twitter. Additionally, it is even more recommended that you have a stable internet connection and consider doing a test evolve, as Niantic acknowledges server issues can and do happen (especially in your region) during CD, yet refuses to compensate/correct this known issue.

Celebrate 2019 Special research is added! 3 tasks ask you to catch 19 Pokemon (you only have to do this once) and reward 2019 XP. In addition, you'll recieve 20 Ultra Balls, 1 Unova Stone, and 9 Rare Candy! Happy 2019.

As this is the first event featuring CD spawns before the bonus window, it has been noted that Pokemon caught right at 11 AM have a chance to turn Shiny.

Eggs are reportedly "disappointing" as they are not limited to the featured species. Raids likewise seem to have added CD Pokemon to the list of possible bosses, meaning Terrakion and Tyranitar as well as other current bosses are still available and making it very difficult to hunt 2018 Pokemon.

What are the best CD Pokemon?

Well… for each player, this answer may differ. Some players may choose to hunt Pokemon for candy to fill dex entries. If you’ve missed any past Community Days, you may lack certain Shiny Pokemon and thus decide to hunt for those. If you’re beyond just collecting dex entries and looking to increase the power of your battle parties, we have the resources for you!

Recent balance changes don't shakeup either list much. Hydro Cannon was nerfed for PvP but is still excellent. Dragonite can now learn Dragon Breath/Claw + Draco Meteor, which may give it slightly more flexibility in both PvP and PvE content.

Preparing for PvE

Make use of trading to look for high-IV and Lucky Pokemon that rank high on the PvE tier list. If you’ve got some Lucky Friends waiting to trade you, do so this week so you can evolve your new Lucky Pokemon this weekend.

In the linked tier list, don’t sleep on the honorable mentions. While those Pokemon don’t need to be evolved this weekend, they’re still great to gather candy for!

Many featured Pokemon are currently available in Eggs, Raids, Research, and Grunt battles, all of which are good options if you’re looking for high IV Pokemon. Weather-boosted purified Pokemon have the highest chance of being perfect, tied with Lucky Pokemon.

Hatching and raiding during the event can also give you another chance at high IV Pokemon.

Preparing for PvP

As discussed in Analysis of Ideal IV Sets for Pokemon GO PvP, you’ll (usually) get slightly more out of your PvP Pokemon for Great/Ultra League by looking for ones with low Attack and high Def and HP IVs. Before Community Day weekend, identify Pokemon in your collection that would be good to evolve for each league.

Our CP Calculator can help identify the CP of Pokemon before you evolve/power up. This can help you find Pokemon that will near the 1500 and 2500 CP cap for those leagues.

Pre-walk your Eevees for PvP. The move Last Resort is an excellent coverage move for all Eeveelutions, though is particularly noteworthy on Umbreon, who is great for PvP. You can pre-walk an Umbreon or two before the event and evolve during the weekend to get the exclusive move. Note: make sure you can see Umbreon/Umbreon’s silhouette before evolving and not a “?”.

After favoriting Pokemon you plan on evolving this weekend and trading the rest, clear out some Pokemon storage space! This event can easily have you catching hundreds of Pokemon- and you don’t want to have to spend half your time deleting things during the bonus window. An organized and trim collection is an important first step towards any successful Community Day.

Acquiring Pokemon and Candy Before Community Day

Acquiring Pokemon before Community Day can be a good option to look for desired IVs and stockpile candy. It’s never too late (or too early) to start grinding.

Nests

All starters, Pikachu, Eevee, and Swinub nest, while the other featured Pokemon do not. The start of the event may bring a forced nest shift, so pay attention to local reports. A scheduled nest migration is also happening soon (or just happened, depending on when you read this). Visit your local nests to stock up on candy and Pokemon to trade reroll before Community Day. Also, check the weather before you head out to find a good time to go if looking for boosted or unboosted Pokemon.

Raids and Eggs

Aggressively raiding and hatching are both not the best way to obtain CD Pokemon, but those who’ve missed a past Community Day may feel that it’s worthwhile.

For raiding, avoid fully evolved Pokemon Raid Battles, like Charizard and Blaziken. Barring special events, these Pokemon cannot be shiny- but they also cannot be evolved again to learn exclusive moves. Note: this isn’t true of Pokemon caught during Community Day weekend. If you complete a Metagross Raid during that time (if it were available), it would have Meteor Mash.

For hatching, this is a cheaper alternative and to raiding but there’s no way to guarantee what you’ll hatch (even on the event’s featured days). If there’s a lot of hatches you’d be happy with, hatching can find some good Pokemon, but it’s best to avoid it if you’re looking for something specific.

Research

Many featured Pokemon appear as Research encounter rewards. Currently, “Win a Gym Battle” rewards a Kanto starter and “Use 5 Razz Berries to help catch Pokemon” rewards a Swinub.

Swinub encounters can also likely be held and claimed during Saturday’s bonus window for a higher chance at a shiny. This may be true for the starters too, though it’s less likely.

Some outstanding special research may also reward some featured Pokemon.

The final reward here also rewards a guaranteed shiny Eevee, though claiming this won’t allow you to save the Piplup for February 2020’s Community Day.

Trading

Trading is one of the best sources of candy and chances at high IV Pokemon. It can also be used to roll down egg and research Pokemon to ones with better spreads for PvP. The real cost to trading is time as it’s much slower than catching, but if you can find someone willing to swap mons with you for a bit, it can be very worthwhile.Trade away Pokemon you want candy for and trade for Pokemon you want high IVs of.

Shadow Pokemon

The following featured Pokemon (and some of their evolved forms) are available from Rocket Grunt Battle encounters

Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Dratini, Mareep, Larvitar, Mudkip, Ralts, Trapinch, and Turtwig page links

To ensure these Pokemon receive their exclusive moves, Purify first, then evolve!

Weather boosted purified Pokemon have the highest chance at having high IVs over any other encounter option, tied with Lucky Trading. Their downside is they can be unreliable to find and cannot be shiny.

Purify Shadow Pokemon now for Giovanni Special Research that you plan on evolving during Community Day.

Niantic Support recently released a Frequently Asked Questions page, confirming and finally answering some random outstanding community questions.

https://niantic.helpshift.com/a/pokemon-go/?p=web&s=events&f=december-community-day-faq

The questions cover 3 main corner cases for featured event Pokemon.

1. Pikachu learns Surf. Riachu does not. Any Pichu evolved will learn surf, allowing you to evolve Pichu with hats as well.
2. Tyranitar's exclusive move, Smack Down, is a fast move. Because of this, Shadow Tyranitar will know Smack Down and Frustration after evolution. Purified Tyranitar will know Smack Down and Return after Evolution. Note: You probably cannot evolve then purify still.
3. Glaceon and Leafeon will know Last Resort if evolved this weekend.

This is also the only official source that mentions 3-hour Lure Modules. 

In addition to traditional tips highlighted in past CD articles, this event’s bigger time frame allows you to schedule playing around the weather. Check the forecast in surrounding areas to find the best places to play.

For PvE, pursue weather-boosted Pokemon. For PvP, you may consider pursuing unboosted Pokemon for IV purposes and so they evolve below League caps.

Pokemon obtained from raids can also be boosted, increasing their caught level. Check out the similar chart from last year’s guide to save some dust and candy.

Item Preparation

0-12 Star Piece

Double dust and a hardcore grind session is probably enough a reason as any to break a few Star Pieces. If you’re low, consider saving a few for future possible triple dust events.

Claim any outstanding Special Research that rewards dust and complete your research breakthrough during the bonus window if it falls on a Saturday or Sunday. Catch the breakthrough reward after though, as the legendary Pokemon breaking out will waste your bonus window/Star Piece time!

0-12+ Incense

Most players will probably trend closer to 0. However, if there’s a sweet shiny that you still don’t have, you may find it worthwhile to go harder and crack some incense. Having 6 Incense will let you crack open one every 30 minutes and make it last the entirety of the bonus window.

Keep walking! Incense spawns more Pokémon while you’re moving! Even if you’re stuck at work where nothing spawns during the event window, popping some Incense could help you nab a shiny or two. Remember that “quick catching” your Incense spawns will still make them visible on the map after the catch.

0-12 Lucky Eggs

Community Day can be a great time to coordinate Friendship level ups for both players to egg and receive double XP as it’s likely you’ll both be playing. Make sure to coordinate with your friends as it is usually easier to plan for level ups in the minutes before Community Day starts so that the actual event can be spent catching.

This event also features 2x Catch XP. While the XP you can recieve catching pales in comparison to the possibilities with friendship level ups, that still makes this Community Day a great time to coordinate those level ups and get even more out of each Lucky Egg.

Now that level 40 trainers in most areas can submit PoIs, many players will want to level up ASAP. Again, it should be noted that the best way to use Lucky Eggs and gain experience is entirely through friendship.

Lure Modules - Including A Glacial and Mossy Lure Module

Niantic has now announced that Lure Modules will last 3-hours during the bonus window only. Feel free to lure up some stops to increase your spawns even more. Special Lure Modules started at any point during the bonus window will last the full three hours long, meaning it may even be beneficial to drop a lure closer to 2 PM.

This weekend is the first time Glaceon and Leafeon can learn Last Resort. If you’re looking to use those two in PvP, make sure you evolve some under the Great/Ultra League cap. Identify Eevee you wish to evolve beforehand in case you stumble upon a Lure about to expire!

Raid Passes

There’s a chance that the only raids over the weekend will be the featured Pokemon listed above, though it seems likely a 5* boss will still be available. Save Friday’s free daily pass if you’re planning on raiding the featured Pokemon, or ignore this aspect of the event altogether. We’ll try to update the Updates from NZ section with shiny rates if we can get reliable data. Boosted Beldum, for instance, may be worth raiding.

Incubators

Remember that Egg contents are determined when they enter your inventory and plan accordingly.

Despite Incubators being a cheap way to obtain high IV Pokemon, there’s no guarantee you’ll hatch the Pokemon you want, even with 11 possible options.

Now, if Pokemon appear in their normal distance eggs, there will be potential to narrow down egg contents. For instance, a Sunday 10km egg can only contain Ralts and Beldum.

This could also provide a higher percentage of 10km eggs in general, which partners well for trainers planning on using Star Pieces.

Sinnoh Stones

Mamoswine and Gallade both require Sinnoh Stones to evolve into. Save a few if you want to evolve these Pokemon with their exclusive movesets. Players low on Sinnoh Stones can earn more through daily PvP rewards (3 per day from players, 1 from team leader training).

Saving TMs

Speaking of Mamoswine and Gallade, several Pokemon don’t actually (currently) benefit from their exclusive moves. While these moves may have some benefit in PvP or in the future from various updates, players low on TMs may wish to evolve without the exclusive moves. Despite this guide’s insistence on mentioning Last Resort, many players may wish to evolve their Eevees without the move. If you want to TM the move away anyway, save a TM by waiting and evolving later. Note that doing so will prevent that Pokemon from ever learning that move.

Berries and Balls

It’s always a good idea to stock up before CD. Active Pokemon from Lures and Incense can also deplete your resources. Players low on resources should remember to always open 20 daily gifts and to upgrade item bag storage as soon as possible. It is an investment that quickly pays for itself, especially if you’re able to occasionally grind and stock up on items.

Research

During Community Day, Research Tasks are changed to “Catch 3 Pokemon” with the following rewards;

• 500 Stardust.

• 2 Ultra Balls.

• 5 Great Balls.

• 2 Pinap Berries

• NEW: 1 Golden Razzberry

This allows you to not stress about Research during the event and concentrate on catching. It also means that Trainers can rest easy knowing that Community Day itself will help provide them with additional Pinaps, Ultra Balls, and Great Balls! There are a few additional things to keep in mind as far as how this functioned last Community Day;

• Research from each stop can only be completed once each day. If you complete a task at a given stop, you cannot receive the “Catch 3 Chimchar” task from that stop.

• Tasks revert to their pre-CD tasks when CD is over but you cannot receive research from Stops where you completed “Catch 3 Chimchar” or the original research.

• Because of this, you may decide to skip over stops during CD that you know give desirable research (from Discord, Facebook, etc.) or complete them before CD starts.

• Many players may do the opposite, choosing not to complete Research in areas they know they will be during CD for easy rewards.

• Check to see if you have completed the Research Task of a given Pokestop by the indicator in the top right corner of a Pokestop

What’s in the Box?

Legacy Community Day Special Boxes have held a variety of supplies and are available shortly before the start of Community Day. A list of previous and current contents can be found on our Legacy Special Box list (as well as cost analysis breakdowns). Some Community Days also feature Great and Ultra Boxes, which can be amazing deals for an extremely limited time, disappearing at the end of CD in America. This section will include a more thorough breakdown upon release of the Special Boxes in the Shop.

Expect 0-3 new boxes to be added during CD and removed shortly after.

Everything Eevee

Eevee has been mentioned many times throughout this article, and for good reason. It’s exclusive move was seen as useless until the introduction of PvP. Leafeon and Glaceon are also the only new Pokemon receiving exclusive moves this weekend, making them a standout. Be sure to set aside a few Eevee to evolve at Mossy/Glacial Lure Modules!

As a reminder, existing Eeveelutions evolve randomly for the first 3; Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon. Evolving in this way will show a “?” on the evolve button. Trainers can also use a one-time “name trick” to guarantee any of the 7 currently available Eeveelutions. Espeon and Umbreon can be obtained by making them your buddy, walking them for 10 km, and evolving during day or night respectively. Leafeon and Glaceon can be obtained by evolving near a Mossy or Glacial Lure Module, respectively.

 You can start pre-walking multiple Eevee right now for multiple Espeon and Umbreon with Last Resort this CD.

1. Make an Eevee your Buddy Pokemon and walk 10km.

2. Make another Eevee your Buddy and walk it 10km.

3. Ensure you have a good connection, double check buddy distances, and potentially restart the Pokemon Go app to double check distances were properly tracked.

4. During Community Day's window, make any walked Eevee your Buddy Pokemon again and evolve. Again, perform a restart if experiencing connectivity issues and check that the “?” changes to the desired silhouette.

It’s advised to do your Umbreon evolving Saturday Night as you’ll only have till 9 PM Sunday.

All eeveelutions have different stat distributions. Use our CP calculator to see which Eevee should evolve into what for PvP. Name them and give yourself a few options for Vaporeon, Flareon, and Jolteon, as they are random. Some will work well for multiple options, making it a bit of a puzzle. Evolve ones first that you’re happy with multiple Kanto options.

Exclusive moves returning also means a chance to obtain desired ones for the new feature Rocket Battles! This section will cover Pokemon good against Rocket Leaders and Giovanni, with some mentions for specific Grunt Pokemon.

While you can probably use the same Pokemon you've powered up for PvE, Rocket Battles do have slight differences that make certain Pokemon stand out more.

Instances where the Pokemon is the best counter are bolded.

Check these specific guides for even more precise tips on Rocket Leader Battles.

Our individual Pokemon pages also cover all of the featured Pokemon evolutions and their best movesets and uses. If you’d like to read more about any of the Pokemon you can evolve this event, check out their individual pages here. 

Listed Pokemon have PvP or PvE relevance, though some less than others.

New Appraisal Tips

Note: The event ends at 9 each day. Saturday after 9 PM you can evolve and get exclusive moves. On Sunday this is not possible. Please leave yourself time to appraise and evolve on Sunday, or else you’ll be waiting another year to do so.

Many Pokemon IVs can now be quickly viewed using the new visual IV system. It should be feasible to scan all caught Pokemon for optimal IVs. But what should you look for while IV scanning?

For PvE (and Master League PvP), you’ll want to sort by CP, search “3*” and save any with 15 Attack IV. Rename them in a way you can easily recognize without having to check again. If you need more with high IVs, consider repeating this process and looking for 14 Attack IV or searching “2*”. If you have more than your set goals, trim from the worst you’ve selected.

For PvP, optimal IV sets will almost all be 1* options. 2* will contain some ideal IVs as well though 1* will be better on average as that allows for 0 attack IV combinations. Scanning the search range "1*,2*" for low attack and high defense and stamina will allow you to look for ideal PvP IVs. Consult with a CP calculator to verify the Pokemon will evolve under the cap. Some trainers may also chose to skip IV checking during this step or/and evolve shiny Pokemon. Evolve extra below CP caps for future trade fodder.

Then trade any Pokemon you haven’t marked as favorites (for this event, this part is more applicable for Saturday night, as Sunday does not have any bonus time for evolving). Leave yourself time to evolve at the end of this process. Searching “Traded” or sorting by new can allow you to easily view your new Pokemon. Compare these to your previously selected best options. Consider evolving any Lucky Pokemon for a huge dust discount. After evolving to satisfy your goals, evolve extra Pokemon with high CP, below PvP caps, or shiny for future trade fodder. Remember to save some candy if you wish to power some up!

Make sure to check back on this guide for updates as we learn more during the event!