Pokemon Go December 2021 Community Day start time, every Shiny, and more

Pokemon Go December 2021 Community Day
(Image credit: Niantic)

The Pokemon Go December Community Day is upon us, and Niantic is ready to celebrate the plethora of Community Day events that the Pokemon Go player base have enjoyed over the year.

This weekend, a special two-day Community Day will allow trainers to encounter the spotlighted Pokemon from the past year more frequently and gain many of the in-game bonuses from those events including exclusive moves for PVP and much more.

There’s a lot that trainers will be able to do on Saturday and Sunday, and we’ve compiled this handy guide to get them through it.

Pokemon Go December 2021 Community Day Start Time

Pokemon Go December 2021 Community Day

(Image credit: Niantic)

The Pokemon Go December Community Day begins Saturday, December 18 from 11am to 5pm local time, as well as Sunday, December 19 from 11am to 5pm local time.

Each day will give trainers six hours to enjoy as many perks as possible. As we’ll get into in the sections below, each day will give different opportunities to catch Pokemon so trainers will want to participate, at least for a little while, on both days.

Pokemon Go December Community Day In-Game Bonuses

Here are the in-game bonuses trainers can enjoy during the event hours:

  • Incense activated during the event will last for three hours as opposed to the usual one hour
  • The distance to hatch Eggs will be reduced by half during the event
  • Stardust earned while catching Pokemon will double
  • Lure Modules activated during the vent will last for three hours
  • Experience earned while catching Pokemon will double

Trainers will also be able to perform one extra special trade per day during the weekend event, and the Stardust cost needed to perform a trade will be reduced by 25 percent.

Niantic is also permanently increasing the Pokemon Storage and Item Bag Cap in celebration of the Pokemon Go December Community Day. Trainers can purchase these upgrades in the in-game store with the Pokemon Storage max increasing from 5,000 to 5,500. The Item Bag Expansion cap will increase from 4,000 to 4,500.

The change will go into effect on Thursday, December 16 at 4pm EST.

Pokemon Go December Community Day Pokemon Encounters, Raids and Eggs

During the Pokemon Go December Community Day event, certain Pokemon will appear to trainers in the overworld just by walking around or popping an incense. 

The following Pokemon will appear more frequently on Saturday, December 18: Machop, Roselia, Swablu, Gible, Snivy, and Fletchling. The following Pokemon will appear more frequently on Sunday, December 19: Eevee, Duskull, Shinx, Tepig, and Oshawott.

It should be noted that all of the above Pokemon will be attracted to incense regardless of what day it is.

As for Eggs, there will be Pokemon from past Community Days hatching from 2km Eggs found in PokeStops during the two-day event. Charmander, Weedle, Abra, Gastly, Rhyhorn, Magikarp, Porygon, Elekid, Magby, Seedot, Piplup, and Budew will be hatching from 2km Eggs.

Raids during the two-day Community Day will also be populated by Pokemon that were originally spotlighted in 2020. This gives trainers another great chance to catch some powerful Pokemon with great stats.

Here are the Pokemon that will begin appearing in Raids on Saturday and Sunday: Charmander, Weedle, Abra, Gastly, Magikarp, Seedot, Rhyhorn, Piplup, Electabuzz, Magmar, and Porygon.

Pokemon Go December Community Day Exclusive Moves

Pokemon Go December 2021 Community Day

(Image credit: Niantic)

Community Days are great for introducing new moves to certain Pokemon and this month’s festivities are bringing back the ability to teach spotlight Pokemon from 2020 and 2021 these special attacks.

As a reminder, trainers just have to evolve particular Pokemon into their final evolution within a certain event window. However, for this event Pokemon Go will allow players to teach these exclusive moves starting Friday, December 17 at 1pm EST until Monday, December 20 at 1pm EST. 

Trainers will need to stock up on certain Pokemon’s Candy to get them to evolve. Using Pinap Berries while catching Pokemon will double the candy earned when obtaining Pokemon. It’ll make evolving Pokemon a lot easier. 

Anyone who misses out on this opportunity can still teach their Pokemon these exclusive moves as long as they use an Elite TM, but these are very hard to come by. So if you have a particular Pokemon you’re looking to teach these new moves to, you’re better off doing so using the evolution method.

Here’s the list of Pokemon that can learn exclusive moves this weekend:

Swipe to scroll horizontally
PokemonAttack
CharizardDragon Breath (Fast)
BeedrillDrill Run (Charged)
AlakazamCounter (Fast)
MachampPayback (Charged)
GengarShadow Punch (Charged)
GyaradosAqua Tail (Charged)
VaporeonScaled (Charged)
JolteonZap Cannon (Charged)
FlareonSuperpower (Charged)
EspeonShadow Ball (Charged)
UmbreonPsychic (Charged)
ShiftryBullet Seed (Fast)
AltariaMoonblast (Charged)
EmpoleonHydro Cannon (Charged)
LuxrayPsychic Fangs (Charged)
RoseradeBullet Seed (Fast), Weather Ball - Fire (Charged)
GarchompEarth Power (Charged)
RhyperiorRock Wrecker (Charged)
ElectivireFlamethrower (Charged)
MagmortarThunderbolt (Charged)
LeafeonBullet Seed (Fast)
GlaceonWater Pulse (Charged)
Porygon-ZTri Attack (Charged)
DusknoirShadow Ball (Charged)
SerperiorFrenzy Plant (Charged)
EmboarBlast Burn (Charged)
SamurottHydro Cannon (Charged)
TalonflameIncinerate (Fast)
SylveonPsyshock (Charged)

Pokemon Go December Community Day Field Research

First and foremost, Niantic will be selling a special research story for the Pokemon Go December Community Day event. For $1, trainers will be able to access this special story. These special stories usually reward trainers with special items and rare Pokemon encounters.

In addition, there will be a timed research starting Saturday, December 18 at 11am local time and expiring on Monday, December 20 at 10am local time. These tasks will be focused on all of the Pokemon that have been featured in Community Day events over the past two years.

And finally, there will be Field Research Tasks. Trainers can spin PokeStops starting Friday, December 17 at 1pm EST until Monday, December 20 at 1pm EST. While the tasks themselves are not yet known, Niantic has confirmed that these tasks will reward Mega Energy for Charizard, Beedrill, Gengar, Gyarados, and Altaria.

This is the best chance to obtain enough Mega Energy to Mega Evolve these Pokemon. Usually, trainers have to wait and battle them in Mega Raids, but by completing these tasks trainers will be able to unlock this powerful option in battles.

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Phillip Martinez

I'm currently a GamesRadar guide contributor with a specialty in everything Pokemon GO. If you've wanted to know the best way to take down a Rayquaza, there's a good chance you read one of my guides. I previously have written for IBT Media, Newsweek and Screen Rant. I'm a huge fighting game fan and everything Pokemon, but I've grown to love RPGs.