Your buddy Pokémon is about to start lying to you. On Saturday, Oct. 10, every one of them you spot on the map could be a Zorua in disguise, and Pokémon Go is building a whole Community Day around the trick.
The event runs from 2-5 p.m. in your local time. One thing to know before you head out: this one features only the original Unovan Zorua. The normal- and ghost-type Hisuian Zorua isn’t part of it.
The fox wears your buddy’s face
If you’ve never chased one, here’s how it works. Zorua shows up looking like whatever Pokémon you’ve set as your buddy. Catch it and it turns back into a Zorua, the same way Ditto drops its disguise.
That reveal comes with an “Oh?” animation, and you’ll be sick of it by about 2:15. You can skip it two ways. Set a Zorua as your buddy, or use quick catching. Either one speeds up your catches.
It’s Community Day, so Zorua will spawn in large numbers with a high chance of showing up shiny. Old community research puts Community Day shiny rates at about 1 in 24. Play through the whole three-hour window and you should end up with quite a few shinies.
How to hunt shinies when you’re short on time
Low on Poké Balls or free hours? Pop an Incense, tap each Zorua fast to check whether it’s shiny and run from any that aren’t.
There’s a handy tell here. Any Zorua you’ve already tapped turns to face where your player is standing, so you can see which ones you’ve checked.
And if you can Mega Evolve Gyarados, Houndoom, Tyranitar, Sableye, Sharpedo, Absol, Greninja or Malamar, you’ll get extra Zorua Candy for every catch. A Lucky Egg and an Incense are worth popping too, so you can grab some powerful Zorua.
Use the event to farm excellent throws
Working on a Masterwork Research, or a higher-level requirement that asks for excellent throws? Use the buddy disguise to your advantage.
Set your buddy to a Pokémon with a large catch ring, and every Zorua on the map will wear that big target. Snorlax, Wailmer or Gourgeist all work. So does whatever Pokémon you’re best at landing excellents on.
Sucker Punch, and the honest truth about Zoroark
Evolve Zorua into Zoroark between 2-9 p.m. in your local time and it’ll learn the fast move Sucker Punch.
Miss that window and you’ll probably get another chance. A Community Day weekend event in December will likely let you evolve it for Sucker Punch again. If you’d rather not wait, an Elite TM will teach the move.
Don’t get attached to it, though. Zoroark isn’t good at anything. Raids, gyms, PvP: it struggles in all of them. You can give it Sucker Punch and Foul Play if you want the set for your collection. Just don’t bring it into raids or PvP.
The lures keep going after the event ends
Scopely Explore is keeping the “Lure Module Bonus” it’s run for the last year. From 2-9 p.m., placed Lure Modules will pull in Zorua in high numbers.
So the hunt doesn’t stop at 5 p.m. For four more hours, lures will keep pulling in Zorua at the boosted Community Day shiny rate. One of them could still be a shiny, or a Zorua with a Special Background, looking exactly like your Snorlax.
