Pokemon Go fan highlights just how rare certain Shadow Pokemon are
NianticA Pokemon Go fan has crunched the numbers surrounding the rarity of Team Go Rocket encounters for October 2023, which may leave some trainers surprised.
Pokemon Go’s Team Go Rocket takeover event for October 2023 is finally here, meaning trainers can take on the various Rocket Grunts around the map to catch different Shadow Pokemon.
Team Go Rockets can show up specializing in a certain type, with each type having the chance to use a certain Shadow Pokemon. October’s event in particular has fans excited about catching Shadow Rhyhorn and Drilbur.
However, one dedicated trainer took the time to analyze some data surrounding Team Go Rocket spawns which highlighted just how rare it is to encounter the most sought-after Shadow Pokemon.
Pokemon Go fan breaks down Shadow Pokemon rarity
A post on TheSilphRoad subreddit from user loroku broke down the data in a thread titled, “PSA: your chance of actually encountering a shadow Drilbur or Rhyhorn is less than 1%.”
The trainer broke down the data surrounding the estimated odds of encountering some of these Shadow Pokemon, thanks to handy spreadsheets and other community-made materials to highlight the odds.
For example, they found that encountering a Shadow Drilbur was likely close to 1.7% while Rhyhorn was around 0.6%. In a similar vein, encountering a Shadow Cranidos was around a 0.5% chance and Shadow Gible floated around 0.7%.
The community has recognized that Shadow Gible is an extremely rare encounter after it was first introduced in June of 2023.
Many trainers shared their own struggles at finding these new Shadow Pokemon, with some arguing the Shadow Pokemon pool is too diluted overall.
However, other lucky trainers noted just how fortunate they actually were. “Wow that’s really low. I was disappointed that I only got one Drillbur yesterday by walking around 2-3 hours, but looking at these numbers it seems that I was actually lucky in the end.”
Should Pokemon Go players manage to land a Shadow Rhyhorn, Cranidos, or Gible, consider yourself quite fortunate.