Community Day January 2020 Guide

• Drastically increased spawns for the Pokemon Piplup

• The release of Shiny Piplup

  • Obtainable from catches, hatches, research, and raids

  • An increased Shiny rate (roughly 1 in 23) during Community Day hours

• Themed Field Research “Catch 3 Piplup” for balls, berries, and Stardust

• 3-hour Lures

• 1/4 Hatch Distance for eggs incubated during Community Day hours

  • Applies only to eggs that begin incubating during Community Day. Already incubating eggs are unaffected

  • Eggs in incubation will keep their reduced distance till hatched.

• All Prinplup evolved during Community Day hours learn the exclusive move Hydro Cannon

  • Charged TMs and learning a New Move will not give you this exclusive move

  • Must evolve a Prinplup during CD in your region (or up to two hours after)

  • 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.

Important note: This is the first time Niantic is trying out a Community Day with split starts for different hemispheres/seasons. Because of this, it is strongly advised that you pay attention to reports online and perform “test” evolutions as Niantic will not compensate for any issues that may arise.

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 is a full 5 hours, so pace yourself and take breaks to not get burnt out.

Most importantly, keep it fun!

This guide will cover all of the in-game knowledge you’ll need to make the most out of Piplup Community Day.

Before the Event

• Survey “Updates from New Zealand”

• Decide where to play

• Acquire Piplup and Piplup Candy

• Get your items ready

• Set reminder alarms

During the Event

• Check out key reminders for CD mechanics

• Consider the analysis for CD sale box

• Review additional ways to acquire Piplup (Piplup Raids, Eggs, and Rocket Battles)

• Research the Exclusive Move analysis

• Set goals accordingly

• Know when to Pinap and which balls to us

After the Event

• New Appraisal Tips!

• Find a trading partner

• Evolve your Pokemon

• Start preparing for the next event!

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 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.

Piplup spawns will be dramatically increased everywhere during the duration of this event. You aren’t required to play anywhere specifically, but here are some tips for getting the most out of the location you choose.

Time Travel

Since this event is 11AM-2PM based on local time, By playing near a timezone shift, players in some parts of the world can take advantage by starting an hour earlier or ending an hour later. Start East then make your way West sometime after the first hour. This shouldn’t affect most players but can be a nice bonus to players willing to travel a little more during CD. Remember to stay West as you evolve for the exclusive move.

This note is now also applies to several countries in South America and Africa that exist in two hemispheres. If you’re near the divide, let us know how those mechanics work! It's very possible that you can essentially double your Community Day hours.

Exploring the Community

Use Community Day, and Pokemon Go in general, as an excuse to explore local areas. If you’re blessed with multiple, good locations, make use of them throughout various Community Days!

Playing with Friends

Community Day should be about the community, both the area and your local PoGo Players. Get together with friends, find your local group using PokeNav, or be the first in your area to create a group. If you see other trainers in your gyms, that means there’s others out there playing! More trainers means more fun, and Lure Modules appear for all players, so you can all share the increased spawns. Returning and new players- ask around and figure out where established players are planning to play!

Gyms for Raids

Playing near gyms may lead to easy raid completion before or after the event, while everyone is already out playing. During many CDs you may not want to break to Raid, but playing near gyms still allows you to raid immediately following the event, should any eggs spawn for you.

Clusters and/or Lures

If you want to catch the most Piplup, focus on cluster spawns in areas with lots of network traffic such as parking lots and apartment complexes.

Pokestop dense areas that can be easily Lured up are another go-to. After the spawn shakeup from a few months ago, many players have turned back to playing in areas with as many Pokestops as possible.

Weather

Pursuing weather-boosted Piplup will grant you higher CP Piplup so it’s advised to hunt in forecasted Rainy areas. This comes with it decreased catch rates but is offset in Stardust gained and saved from catching weather boosted Pokemon. Pay attention to official weather reports as well as other trainers playing in different level 11 S2 cells (in-game weather boundaries).

Weather boosted Pokemon have an IV floor of 4/4/4. This means their IV spreads are more likely to be better for PvE, but likely impossible to have ideal IV for PvP.

Every Community Day is Different

From February to July of 2019, nesting spawns stopped or are at least extremely dulled during CD hours. Every Community Day is slightly different in regards to spawn rates but it is worth noting that players can likely visit nests and not worry about diluted Piplup spawns.

During Ralts Community Day, a forced nest shift occurred, causing many nests to be overrun in some regions with Poocheyena, Bulbasaur, or other spawns. This was fixed before the end of CD, but it’s a good reminder that every Community Day is different and presents a new opportunity for new/returning bugs. This guide covers what you can reasonably expect, but having backup plans is always smart!

Piplup is currently unavailable in research and Rocket Grunt battles. It is a nesting species, a 2km egg hatch, and a 3km Buddy Pokemon.

Prinplup can currently be encountered in 2* Raids. These can't be shiny, even if acquired during CD hours.

Any previous Piplup/Prinplup obtained with undesirable IVs should be traded at least for candy and to reroll IVs, preferably with a Best Friend. Using a Lucky Trade is also a good idea for players with limited CD time. Additional Piplup candy can be earned prior to the event by making Piplup your Buddy Pokemon, and by making Piplup a Gym Defender and stuffing it full of berries! If you have limited time to play this CD and are close to the candy needed for another evolution, these tips can put you over the threshold for evolving another Piplup for the exclusive moveset.

Players who haven't claimed their encounters for Jump-Start 4/6 can also claim the middle reward during Community Day for a chance at a high IV Shiny Piplup.

0-6 Incense

Having 6 Incense will let you crack open one every 30 minutes and make it last the entirety of the event. How many Incense you choose to use depends on availability, meta-relevancy, and rarity of the featured Pokemon. 25 Incense can be purchased in bulk for 1250 in the Shop (50 each) at any time for those looking at an alternative to various Legacy Special Boxes. 25 Incense is enough for 4 Community Days and an extra to spare.

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.

Lure Modules

Lure modules placed during Community Day hours will last 3-hours long. Playing in an area with a lot of stops will allow you access to a lot more spawns too.

This Silph Road study concludes that the new specialized Glacial, Mossy, and Magnetic lures double the amount of lured spawns, with half of the spawns coming from a specific list and half coming from the biome, which should be taken over during Community Day. Because of this, using a new, upgraded Lure Module quickly becomes worthwhile, during CD’s 3-hour lure bonus.

These lures can bring rarer catches including some evolved forms with bonus Stardust, but you may want to still focus on the feature Pokemon spawns with their limited window exclusive moveset and increased shiny chance.

If you don’t plan on purchasing Glacial, Mossy, and Magnetic lures yourself, it may be smart to plan for when you do run into them. Select and rename desired Eevee, Nosepass, and Magneton so that you don’t detract from your time playing during Community Day to fumble through your Pokemon Collection.

PRO-TIP: Use a new Lure right before CD ends. It will still last 3 hours and you can catch a few Pokemon while you evolve and trade Piplup. You won’t be able to lure anything Lured during Community Day, but there's usually a few unlured Pokestops, hopefully ones in air conditioning or with comfortable seating. This may not be possible in urban and extreme rural playing without a lot of communication.

0-1 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.

Berries and Great/Ultra Balls

These tips may be even more relevant this Community Day which immediately follows the Stardust Blast event.

It’s always a good idea to stock up before CD. The themed research “Catch 3 Piplup” can be easily accomplished to help keep the Pokeballs flowing during the event. So it may not be necessary to stock up beforehand in all areas. 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.

Should you be Incubating?

You’ll certainly want to keep an egg in your infinite orange incubator throughout the event, but don’t be tempted by the reduced hatch distance for paid incubation. For many players, this is not a bonus at all.

Though you’ll hatch eggs faster, this bonus will not allow you to hatch more eggs. If you’re low on Incubators, this is basically an irrelevant bonus.

In the same way that we view Incubators and Super Incubators the same in price analysis on the legacy special box list, 1/2 hatch distance doesn’t really improve what you’re hatching. 

If you’re currently batch hatching, feel free to keep doing so, and do so throughout Community Day, if you please. If you’re not batch hatching now, there’s 0 reason to start during CD. It's not crazy to start incubating but this event shouldn't be considered as a factor as it wont give you extra candy, dust that it wouldn't outside of the event. Reasons to not hatch includes saving incubators for future, events, future Pokemon and shiny releases, as well as not wanting to bother with hatch animations during CD.

While the last point is certainly valid during Community Day, you should still keep an egg in your infinite orange incubator at all times. The 1/4 Egg Hatch Distance bonus actually does allow your orange incubator to hatch more eggs, since it has unlimited uses. Though mitigated with this bonus, 7km eggs in your orange incubator should still be avoided. Two more things to consider;

• Only incubations started during CD will have reduced distance

• Reduced distance remains in effect after the event ends

Avoid incubating as the Community Day hours approach (based on your level of activity) so you’re not left with half-baked eggs. It can be quicker to wait a few hours instead if you’re not playing or walking in the time leading up to Community Day.

Saving Incubators

One of the best uses in the game for paid Incubators is Community Day events featuring 10km hatchable Pokemon. During Ralts, Larvitar, and possibly Beldum CD, the featured Pokemon was obtainable via eggs at an increased rate. For Ralts CD, 100% of eggs acquired contained Ralts (Note: Egg contents are determined when the eggs enter your inventory, though the shiny rate is only increased if hatched during Community Day). Because of this, saving incubators to use for future Community Days featuring rare Pokemon is extremely advisable.

While it is unknown what percentage of eggs will hatch Piplup, this may be a feature worth taking advantage of, based on your personal preferences.

Piplup is largely considered meta relevant, meaning some players may chose to incubate this CD.

Here are a few other things to keep in mind right before Community Day starts for making the most of the granted bonuses.

• If Community Day is about to start, wait to Incubate your eggs. starting them during CD will give you the 1/4 distance.

• If coordinating Lucky Egg friendships, encourage your friends to egg and advance friendships before the event starts. This allows you to focus on catching once Piplup start spawning!

• Existing spawns can change to Piplup. Clicking on Pokemon to catch or even just to shiny check will prevent them from turning into Piplup. It’s fine though to check for shinies you don’t yet have. If you want to catch the most Piplup, avoid clicking on spawns as Community Day is about to begin. Catch them for triple dust instead!

• You can only complete research from each stop once daily.  If you complete a task at a given stop, you cannot receive the “Catch 3” task from that stop during Community Day. Occasionally, receiving the task from a stop will lock it into its non-CD task.

Now, with those in mind, there is still room for choice. If you’ll be playing all Community Day then you might not care about one spawn point here and there, and catching weather boosted Machop or shiny checking a Wailmer may be worth it to you. Likewise, you may not find it necessary to fill your inventory with Community Day eggs.

Use this time before the event starts to prep; spin stops, transfer Pokemon, open gifts (and level up friendships), Raid, check-in, and obtain/give out Meltan boxes.

Set Alarms for Items and Evolving

Before the event, consider setting an alarm on your phone for various CD intervals to remind yourself to reapply premium items if you’re using them. There’s a lot to keep track of during Community Day between quick catching, shiny checking, appraising, and talking and catching up with friends! Setting some alerts the night before could potentially earn you thousands of Stardust you’d lose out on if you forgot to break a Star Piece.

With 11:00AM Community Days, a wake up alarm doesn’t hurt either!

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

• 500 Stardust

• 2 Ultra Balls

• 5 Great Balls

• 2 Pinap Berries

• 1 Golden Razzberry

• Piplup encounter (CP range 426-460)

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 Piplup” 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 Piplup” 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

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.

Ralts and Turtwig Community Day introduced new ways to acquire high IV versions of the featured Pokemon during Community Day!

Updates to this section will appear in “Updates from New Zealand” at the start of the article, as Niantic and New Zealand reports offer us more information.

Raids

Piplup raid should appear as normal Tier 1 Raids during Community day. This means the earliest they can hatch is 12:00 (northern hemisphere), and some will extend past Community Day. Other raids will still spawn normally.

Prinplup can currently be encountered in 2* Raids. These can't be shiny, even if acquired during CD hours. Both raids will likely coexist during CD hours.

Eggs

Ralts hatched from every egg obtained during Community Day. The only non-Ralts eggs available were 7km gifted eggs (and those obtained prior to CD).

Turtwig certainly wasn’t in every egg. It was likely slightly boosted, like seen with Larvitar and Beldum, but specific rates are unknown.

There is limited data on this subject, but Piplup likely won’t hatch from every CD obtained egg.

Rocket Grunt Battles

A few Community Days have been followed by the release of the featured Pokemon available as a Shadow Pokemon from Rocket Grunt battles. With Shadow Piplup currently unreleased, it’s likely we will see it arrive after Piplup Community Day.

During Turtwig CD, a majority of Rocket Grunt encounters rewarded Shadow Turtwig. While you’ll have to decide if these are worth pursuing for yourself, it can be a fun way to obtain high-IV Pokemon.

Turtwig Community Day was the first to have Shadow Turtwig released prior to its featured CD. There has yet to be a Shadow Pokemon launched on its respective CD, though this is certainly possible. Piplup is still not encounterable from Rocket Battles. It is likely that future CD Pokemon may be introduced through Rocket Leader Battles following their Community Days.

Community Day has also been used as a time for Niantic to test/tease/experiment with new features. Shadow Empoleon isn’t totally out of the question for a last-minute addition. If you encounter one, remember it is weak only to Electric, Ground, and Fighting-type moves.

We’ll look into the DPS charts in a second, but one comparison that may be immediately understandable is Empoleon’s comparison to its Gen 2 counterpart. Empoleon gains a little bit of Attack for the most marginal trade offs in bulkiness.

Empoleon makes up for the loss in bulk by gaining the best secondary defensive typing; Steel. 10 Resistances, 1 Immunity, and 3 Weaknesses, the addition of Steel is an overall win for the Emperor Pokemon on a cursory glance.

Raiding and Battling

Water-types are Super Effective against 3 different types; Fire, Ground, and Rock. Of those three, Empoleon’s Steel-type couble be a negative more often than a positive. It picks up a Rock Resistance but loses one to Fire, while also gaining a weakness to Ground-type attacks.

Steel-type is more likely to be useful against a Pokemon's coverage moves though. In the case of Groudon, Empoleon is worse against 2/3 movesets, but better against those big bad Solar Beams! Because of those moves, Empoleon will certainly have a niche against multiple Raid Bosses.

Empoleon/Feraligatr trail Swampert in DPS and TDO, but are still very good. Empoleon easily makes the cut for unique teams and competitions like Pokedraft.

Empoleon also has the Fast Move Metal Claw against Rock-type Pokemon. Though this won't pull it ahead of Metagross, it does give it higher DPS than Swampert in neutral weather. 

How you view Empoleon likely mirrors how you view Feraligatr. Both are great Water types though some heavily invested players may struggle to find a slot for Empoleon. For new/returning players that have missed previous Community Days, Empoleon is a wonderful addition to power up your battle parties!

In Gyms

Empoleon isn’t a great defender due to its weakness to Fighting-type attacks. However, if you’re looking for a lineup that forces switches and wastes time, Empoleon’s Water-Steel typing will absolutely wall a Metagross.

Empoleon isn’t a super common defender at the moment and it doesn’t have Hydro Cannon yet, but there’s a decent chance Groudon is recommended against it, meaning Hydro Cannon will get to do some nice damage before Empoleon faints.

Waterfall + Hydro Cannon + Flash Cannon

Hydro Cannon is a huge boon to Empoleon for PvP. While the Pokemon still isn't spectacular, Hydro Cannon allows it to pick up some wins in the Great League. It's Steel-typing sets it apart from other Water-types common to the GL. Empoleon struggles in the Ultra League due to common anti-Steel meta choices. Empoleon simply doesn't have the stats to compete in the Master League

Look for PvP-ready CPs

Finding Pokemon that can be evolved to be near the CP-cap in PvP leagues can save a lot of Stardust. Before evolving, consult a CP/IV calculator to confirm your Piplup will stay below the CP thresholds. Looking for Piplup with CP around or below these thresholds can be great for trainers interested in PvP with limited resources;

For Great League Empoleon, look for Piplup with CP 506-551 and below. Prinplup will have CP 843-876 in this range.

For Great League Prinplup, look for Piplup with CP 899-945 and below.

For Ultra League Empoleon, look for Piplup with CP 842-920 and below. Prinplup will have CP 1403-1460 in this range.

Determine how many Prinplup you want to evolve this Community Day and plan accordingly as far as resources and acquiring high IV Piplup goes. Set goals and pay attention to how much candy you earn. Keeping track can help you determine play patterns for future CDs.

As mentioned previously, especially if your CD availability is low, swap Piplup with local players leading up to CD and make use of the Lucky friend feature if you're desperate and don’t want to wait till December to evolve them.

Set goals based on previous Community Days as a benchmark. Use this to let you know how aggressively you need to hunt and Pinap, as well as how many high IV options to target.

Each evolution costs 123 Piplup candy which is 31 catches + transfers or 18 catches w/ Pinaps + transfers. Maxing out a Pokemon will cost between 118-304 candy depending on the level (248 for level 20 Pokemon). Evolving and Powering Up a full team (with average level 20) will cost 2227 candy. This can be accomplished with 382 Pinap catches + transfers or 557 catches + transfers. Adjust your goals to make the most out of your Piplup candy. However, you only have to evolve them today, not power them up. You can continue to earn Piplup candy after the event to Power Up evolved Empoleon!

As noted in “Looking Forward” evolving extra Shiny Piplup with the exclusive move may make great future trades with Lucky Friends.

Making Trades

You (probably) have until 1 hour after the event ends to IV check, trade, and evolve for the exclusive moveset. Set alarms and keep track of how long different activities take you so you can be better prepared for future CD events.

When picking a trading partner, there are now three different options to consider each with their own benefits.

Play Community Day with your trading partner.

• Carpool

• Catch the same spawns (for even trades) and split the role of IV checking

• Can start trading even before CD ends

Play 10km (6.21 mi) distance from your trading partner.

• 1 additional candy per trade.

• Very possible this CD if you meet someone at an EX Raid, though Piplup aren’t super useful.

Trade with a Lucky Friend!

Obviously, this will can a combination of one of the previous two options. Coordinating with a Lucky Friend during CD can allow you to swap a day 1 shiny Piplup to reroll IVs. Coordinating with multiple Lucky friends can allow you to reroll a few for IVs, though you can only do one special trade each day.

Here are some additional features to keep in mind about trading:

• Players are limited to 100 trades + 1 special trade per day. This is reset after your phone goes past midnight.

• Swapping a Shiny will count as a Special Trade and can also be done once daily.

• Pick a trade partner you have high friendship with. IV floor increases with friendship tier.
  Good Friendship - 1/1/1 IV floor
  Great Friendship - 2/2/2 IV floor
  Ultra Friendship - 3/3/3 IV floor
  Best Friendship - 5/5/5 IV floor

• Pokemon caught farther than 10km (6.21 mi) apart award 2 candy when traded.

• Lucky Pokemon have an IV floor of 12/12/12. Read more about Lucky Pokemon here

Piplup will likely have its Base Catch Rate changed to 40% as we have seen with previous CD spawns.

Our easy-to-use catch rate calculator can be found here if you’d like to do your own calculations. Here are the breakdowns for players with a Gold Grass badge. These calculations also assume maximum radius Great! throws. Your ability to reliably throw into smaller bonus radiuses may also increase throughout the day, increasing your catch rate.

• Piplup levels 1-7 (209 CP and below) have an 89% chance or higher to be caught with a curved Poke Ball Great! Throw. 

• Piplup level 12 and below (368 CP and below) have a 90% chance or higher to be caught with a curved Great Ball Great! Throw.

• Piplup level 20 and below (614 CP and below) have a 90% chance or higher to be caught with a curved Ultra Ball Great! Throw. Even a level 35 Piplup has an 82% chance to be caught per throw using a curved Great! Throw Ultra Ball, allowing for proficient throwers to utilize Pinap berries every throw. 

Throwing with no bonus will eat through your resources faster making it worthwhile to learn how to consistently throw Great! Throws (+ video link) The following will result in a 90% catch rate with curve balls and no throw bonus:

• Poke Ball Piplup levels 1-4 (112 CP and below)

• Great Ball Piplup levels 8 and below (242 CP and below)

• Ultra Ball Piplup levels 13 and below  (399 CP and below)

• Ultra Ball Razz Berry Piplup levels 25 and below (767 CP and below). Great Ball Golden Razz Berries can be used on higher level Piplup to ensure a 90% catch rate per throw.

Searching “4*” will display all perfect Pokemon. Searching “4*&Piplup”, ”4*&328”, or “4*&+Piplup” will display all perfect Piplup. 4* and sorting by recent should also suffice. More tips on using the new appraisal system to its fullest can be found in the below section New Appraisal Tips.

Knowing how dust cost relates to Pokemon level can also help in quickly determining a Pokemon's level and IV. Here are the associated dust costs for the following levels;

35 - 8000

34/33 - 7000

32/31 - 6000

30/29 - 5000

28/27 - 4500

26/25 - 4000

These values can be used to determine high-level Pokemon at a quick glance.

Many Pokemon IVs can now be quickly viewed using the new visual IV system. It should be feasible to scan all Piplup within the 1-hour timeframe to scan 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. Consult your set goals and Piplup candy. 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. Remember to look below the previously specified IV caps from the section “Look for PvP-ready CPs”. 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. 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 Piplup with high CP, below PvP caps, or shiny for future trade fodder. Remember to save some candy if you wish to Power Up some Empoleon!

When Piplup’s Community Day is over, there are still plenty of opportunities to get good Empoleon with the exclusive move through trading. Evolving extra Prinplup can be a great idea to attempt to trade with friends afterward for high IV rerolls.

Lucky Friendship is a total game-changer for exclusive movesets. Interacting with Best Friends can now create Lucky Friendships! This will make your next trade a guaranteed Lucky! One of the best uses for these trades will be shiny Pokemon, rare Pokemon, and Pokemon with exclusive legacy movesets. CD brings all three! For this reason, evolving extra shiny Piplup gives you the perfect Lucky Trade fodder. Encourage your Best Friends to do the same.

Using up all your Piplup candy on evolutions gives you an additional incentive to catch future Piplup, which will then allow you to power them up and unlock additional moves. Piplup in Raids and Rocket Grunt Battles will provide future Piplup candy income to take advantage of. In addition, these options could provide high IV Piplup to make use of.

It’s not too late to find some high IV Piplup too. Whether it be Piplup in your collection you didn’t notice/have the time to evolve during CD or new ones you catch, December is likely to have another CD weekend where exclusive moves become available again. If you don’t manage to find a good Piplup worthy of your Stardust this weekend, evolve some anyways, attempt some lucky trades (on evolved and unevolved), keep looking, and evolve some in December! Note: This event is not confirmed for December, it's just what happened in 2018 and 2019.