This may be a little imminent for the Futurism Topic, but hear me out.
This also may be over-speculating, but remember how the Legendary Birds got an exclusive move during their Raid Days and the Ultra Bonus Week? (Articuno = Hurricane, Zapdos = Thunder Shock, Moltres = Sky Attack)? I was thinking that the Legendary Beasts might as well despite no announcement, so I decided to look at the move pools to see what they could be. I actually got a few hits:
Raikou could learn Spark instead of Thunder Shock or Volt Switch. According to simulations, Spark is SLIGHTLY better than Thunder Shock.
Entei could learn Ember instead of Fire Fang or Fire Spin. Sure. This wouldn’t improve it, but neither did Hurricane for Articuno.
Suicune could learn Waterfall instead of Extrasensory or Snarl. This would vastly improve Suicune. While it would still pale in comparison to other Water-type attackers, it would still greatly improve it from where it currently sits.
Like I said, this might not happen at all, but it would be interesting if they did since they did that for their days last year. Also, every other Raid Day (except Articuno at first) got an exclusive move, or in some cases, two exclusive moves.
One of the reasons I can see them not doing this is because it’s niantic and they just won’t give them moves. Other reason is it gives them a reason to do another mini event with them again but with special moves
Well, Niantic actually has made exclusive moves for the Birds. They didn’t do it for Articuno initially, but after Japan had a huge issue with Articuno Day, they got a do-over and added Hurricane as an exclusive move. Ever since then, every Raid Day Pokemon has featured an exclusive move, or even two of them.
Granted, for Lapras, Lapras had those moves before but they were made legacy. They were just briefly exclusive for its Raid Day.
Also, last year, Niantic waited almost to the last minute to announce the exclusive moves for Zapdos and Moltres on their respective events, and they were announced only on their website: www.pokemongolive.com . I’ll give it until Thursday this week to see if they do the same. If they don’t, I’ll assume that there isn’t an exclusive move. I won’t be disappointed for Raikou honestly since it already has an amazing set of moves, nor for Entei. Suicune could definitely use it though, just to make it a little better now that it has the chance with Waterfall.
All of those are exclusive moves that you can’t get conventionally now; you could only get them during their specified Raid Days or the Ultra Bonus Week (with the exception of Articuno as it was Japan-exclusive due to poor player experience, so it was re-released there with Hurricane, but was later released to the world for Ultra Bonus Week).
So if you’re going to go off, be less nonsensical.
All of those are exclusive moves that you can’t get conventionally now; you could only get them during their specified Raid Days or the Ultra Bonus Week (with the exception of Articuno as it was Japan-exclusive due to poor player experience, so it was re-released there with Hurricane, but was later released to the world for Ultra Bonus Week).
But you did alert me to a trend that I didn’t see. I’ll be diving into my archive of Articuno videos to see if all the Articuno I caught on Articuno Day last year did in fact all have Blizzard.
EDIT: The Blizzard trend did not work with me. The first Articuno I caught on Articuno Day had Icy Wind. Sounds like it was a fantastic coincidence on your end that all ended up with Blizzard. Can’t be mad since that’s its best Ice-type move.
If I were guessing, I would say that they will. My reasoning: we were inundated with this trio for months in the weekly research task. Adding an exclusive move would make their return mean a little more.
It certainly would, even beyond the Shiny. Not that Raikou really needs it, but it would increase trade value after the day is over, especially for the Shinies that have the exclusive move.
Sorry. After the second long post I kind of skimmed the third…
And my clues were limited to my Articuno catch, since I totally missed the raid days for both Zapdos and Moltres (and all I have of those came from research breakthroughs, which come at a lower level than the raid version).
I’ve got more than enough of Entei, Raiku, and Suicune; but the prospect of landing a shiny will make it worth trying to do all three events this time time around.
No kidding. The three I got from research breakthroughs later all had Icy Wind.
Me too. Although I would trade the Shiny Luck in the world for Raikou if I could just get one great Raikou. He’s one of the very few Legendary Pokemon that have eluded me as far as IVs.
Back to the topic at hand, I’m giving Niantic until tomorrow to see if they mention anything. If they don’t, I’ll have cause enough to think that an exclusive move won’t happen. Of course, for all we know, they’ll pull an Articuno and give it an exclusive move later.
Then don’t blindly deny someone’s explanations. If you have doubts that what you see is correct, make the effort to make a suitable counterargument supported with your findings.
