The Rarest Pokemon in Pokemon GO Explained (2024)

Part of the charm of playing Pokemon games is catching rare monsters, some of which require a variety of obscure techniques to be discovered. Pokemon GO is no exception, with many elusive Pokemon players can only encounter when certain in-game and real-life conditions are met. As such, one could argue that catching the rarest critters in Pokemon GO can be more difficult than in the mainline games.

Pokemon GO was released back in 2016, and it continues to be successful and popular mostly due to its innovative alternative reality-based gameplay. The game also consistently releases new updates and events, like the Pokemon GO January 2024 Community Day Classic, that give players increased drop rates for a featured Pokemon, as well as items. Pokemon GO has also acquired a hardcore player base who are dedicated to catching them all, especially the rare Pokemon.

How to Get the Rarest Pokemon in Pokemon GO

See Also

Why Your Pokémon's CP Matters in 'Pokémon GO'Appraising your Pokémon — Pokémon GO Help CenterPokemon GO: When Should You Evolve Pokemon?Pokémon Go IV vs. CP – The differences explained-Dr.Fone

Various factors affect a critter’s rarity in Pokemon GO:

• Location and Climate: Pokemon in GO tend to reside in their natural habitats. So, trainers are more likely to find Water Pokemon when it’s raining or if they live near a body of water. There are also ‘mons that can only be found in certain parts of the world.
• Time: Some rare Pokemon can be easier to acquire during in-game events, like Special Raid Events and Community Days.
• Trainer Level: Many players have noticed that the higher one’s trainer level is, the wider the spawn pool of the Pokemon they can encounter.

Here are some of the rarest Pokemon in GO and how players can get them.

Sinnoh’s Lake Guardians

The Legendary Pokemon Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie can be found in the wild, but they have very low spawn rates. Each critter is also region-restricted. Azelf can only be found in the Americas and Greenland. Mesprit is in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region, while Uxie can be acquired in the Asia and Pacific regions. Players can try their luck by trying to find their regional Lake Guardian in the wild or wait for another Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie Raid. For ones outside their region, however, they’ll need to trade with other trainers or look out for Special raid events.

Volcarona

This Pokemon is especially hard to get because players need to get its pre-evolution, Larvesta, which can only be acquired through egg hatching. To add salt to the wound, evolving it to a Volcarona requires 400 Larvesta candies. As such, players need to hatch multiple Larvestas and set the ‘mon as their buddy to get candies. Other ‘mons can also hatch from eggs, of course, so it may take even the most dedicated trainer a long time and plenty of steps before they can evolve their Larvesta into Volcarona.

Unown

These monsters are notoriously difficult to find in GO. They have low spawn rates in the wild. As such, players should do their best to increase their chances of capturing them by using Ultraballs and Golden Razz Berries. Catching one Unown is only the start, as this Pokemon has 28 forms. Players should also be on the lookout for events featuring increased spawn rates for this Pokemon if they want to complete their collection faster.

These three groups of Pokemon are already difficult to catch in their base forms, so trainers can only imagine how hard it is to acquire their shiny versions. There are also costumed versions of critters, like Pikachu Libre, that can only be obtained after achieving difficult tasks like reaching Rank 24 in the PVP Pokemon GO Battle League. Some Pokemon, like the different Rotom variations, had short release windows during events. Therefore, they can only be acquired via trading or another event, if they ever appear in one again.

Pokémon GO

Franchise

Pokemon

Platform(s)

iOS , Android

Released

July 6, 2016

Developer(s)

Niantic , The Pokemon Company

Publisher(s)

Niantic

Genre(s)

Augmented Reality

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Engine

Unity